That's the price I must pay

Zandell really had no idea what to do anymore. Sam had told him not to tell Sarah about anything that was going on, at least not until he could tell her. But it was hard to keep that from her, for both jim and Sam. Zandell tried to seem as normal as possible when he was around Sarah, but it didn't exactly work for him. He was sure that Sarah knew something was up with him and her brother.

He just hoped Sam was ready to tell her soon.

It was lunch time now though, and Zan hurried into the Great Hall after a few of his friends. They were all busy chattering away about something having to do with the Divination professor. A few of the comments he heard rose a giggle out of him, But for the most part, he sat there looking at his plate and tried to get his mind off of the whole situation with Sarah and Sam.

Taking another bite of her food, Alice almost threw it back up on the plate. Her friends couldn't stop making jokes the whole day and that certainly didn't help with Alice's eating habits. "Shush already! I really need to eat... I'm starving. And you're not exactly letting me do that." said Alice with a giggle. Taking another bite of her food, she tried not to pay attention to the laughing and giggling girls around her.

Her eyes came across a familiar boy that was sitting near her. She was sure she knew him already, as an aquaitance at least from a few classes they took together. And he was a Hufflepuff after all. He seemed rather troubled for some reason, like his mind was wandering to many places at once. She knew very well how that felt, so she decided to try and talk to him. "Loud isn't it?" Alice asked the boy and gave him a soft and small smile. "You must forgive my friends. They are not that loud all the time..." she commented with a laugh.

Zandell had never heard the Hufflepuff table that loud ever, it was really odd for him right now. They were roudy, he would admit to that, but never this much, he was sure that everyone else was annoyed of their talking by now. Zan knew that he was. He didn't blame them all though, they were just having fun, so it didn't really matter. Still, he couldn't help but feel that glares the table was receiving from other students.

The boy just stared down at his plate, pushing the food around until he was approached by someone. He lifted his head to find that the person talking to him was none other than Alice Longbottom. Their parents had been friends in Hogwarts, so it was logical that Zandell would remember who she was. Although it seemed she didn't quite remember him, which was a bit odd, considering he, Sarah and Alice used to play around a lot before Sarah left. "Hey Alice. Don't tell me you don't remember who I am?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.