"Eh, I'll make 'em all bald soon enough. Dontya worreh, eh? You ain't gunna see no 'airy guy in 'Ogawrts no more! Unless they be them professah, then I can't do ye nothin'. Nothin'," Willie informed him, shaking his head.

Willie was now grinning wickedly at how red Raiden was turning. He patted his shoulder now. "There's nuthin' ter be ashamed of, mate! Ye got yerself a woman, and a fine one from the sounds of it. If ye like 'er so much, ye should be shoutin' it te the whole world! Like this: I LIKE EMMAAAALEEEEEEE!" He demonstrated by throwing his arms into the air as if he were in prayer.

And while he was demonstrating, some idiot had the nerve to bump into him. Willie was about to clobber the boy, but when he heard his name being called he blinked. Wait a second...

"Gareth me mate!" Willie laughed, now smacking Gareth on the back. Hard. "Nice te see one of the juvvie boys out 'ere on the streets. Ye been doin' anythin' lately? Oh, and anothah thin... Don't ye snap at me again, or I'll snap somethin' ye like." Wilile told him with a big smile. Gareth knew what he ment. It was an inside joke.

Hopefully.

Gareth laughed with his old friend slapping Willie's back in return. "Aye it's good to be out terrorizing the streets again." Gareth chuckled "Well I've been sorting me stuff for Hogwarts." Gareth understood Willie's little inside joke but he reacted to it calmly as usual. "Heh, if it weren't for me you wouldn't have fingers to snap with. Bloody loon stealing from guards."

That's when Gareth realized that there was someone else there, he didn't notice him before because of the sudden reunion with Willie. "Ey mate, name's Gareth Moody." He said extending his right hand to the other boy. "How long have you known good old Willie here? I hope he hasn't given you too much grief." He said shooting a smirk at Willie.

"I wouldn't suggest doing that... somehow, they all seem to be getting bigger and stronger lately." Raiden was by no means small; in fact, he was pretty damn tall now, and wasn't exactly slight by any means anymore. Lithe, but not easy to push around... and yet, everyone still seemed to be taller and bigger than he. It was terrifying. If this kept up, these guys would be eight feet tall and tearing autos in half.

Willie's little 'love demonstration' was wholly horrifying, and Raiden immediately grabbed one of the boy's outstretched arms and yanked on it to get him to stop.

"Oiii knock it off she might be around here. I don't know exactly when she gets off work today." Biting down on his lip, he looked around, half-expecting her to appear out of nowhere and demand to know why some random guy was declaring his love to her.

"Ah, nice to meet you, Gareth. 'm Raiden Kururugi." He took the extended hand and gave it a shake. "I've known Willie... er... since I was twelve, I think? We actually met in Diagon Alley between terms."

Willie cackled at Gareth's words. It was true that the boy had saved him from the guards cracking his fingers. He was going to steal the keys and run on away the first time he was put away, but luckily Gareth caught him and told him to basically calm down. And that he did.

He ran away the next day.

He turned back to face Raiden, a wide grin on his lips. "Pshttttt. Ye know yer woman would be likin' it. Try it out, Raiden. She'll like it! Come on, mate! Try it! Try it!" Willie urged, gently pushing Raiden.

"Yeaaaaaaah, 'ed almost died!" Wilile laughed, grabbing Raiden from the shoulders and pulling into a side hug. "This fellar right 'ere was a tad taller than meself and 'e fell down when I bumped into 'im, 'e did! Then 'e started ter bleeeeed. I though' fe sure 'e was a gonna. So I grabbed 'im and saved him. That I did."

Liar.

Athena blushed a little. Her name would follow her everywhere. Thank God she has no clue about the rest, she decided, mentally reviewing her complete name. Well, wouldn't that be a shame?
"Yes, like the greek goddess." she nodded, a little embarassed. She was nothing the brave Athena, daughter of Zeus, from the Greek Mythology. She was shy, sweet and a helpless day dreamer, much more like her Ms. Hufflepuff.
"My mother is greek. She knows all about mytholgy, back and forward.. Athena turned out to be her favorite goddess." she explained briefly in a slightly lower voice. She was very proud of her routs, but her greek family was just... huge and crazy. "I grew up hearinhg those stories. If there is anything you want to ask or talk about, I'm all ears." she offered wit a brighter smile. Now there was something she could talk about without stutter.

She also nodded to the second question.
"Yes. This is all quite... different from what I'm used to. I'll be a second year. What about yourself?" she asked in return, convinced that she liked that girl already.

Bradin smiled. Now he was getting somewhere. "That helps a lot more. I'll work on it" he said. Now what to get. Her cousin liked necklace's, hated pink and loved orange. Hmm.

"I dont have a mother. I live with my father. He doesnt talk to me much anymore." Sofia sighed. Her mother died when she was little. Sofia was an only child. Her mother died before she had anymore children. "Ill be a third year. But this is my first year at Hogwarts. I used to go to durmstrang so im more of a tomboy I guess."

"Yeah, nice to meet you too," Carin shook the proferred hand, suddenly feeling a bit shy and awkward.

"So, um... which House are you in? Which year?" she asked. These seemed to be the standard questions to ask in this situation, right? Carin really didn't want to say something wrong, she had been rude to enough people last year to want to stop making that mistake. But it was hard to be nice when it's not in your nature.

Forrester made it to the north end of the street. Hour one of the first shift! He wasn't sure what to look for but he'd do what he was told. Where is Edward already? Hope he didn't have to go to the restroom! Forrester thought as he looked around him. Nothing suspicious here

Oh. Ooooh.
"You know... The goddess Athena grew up without her mother. In current mythology history, nobody can really tell who her mother was." the young twelve year old had no clue what to say in response to Sofia's confession. So, she did the best she could. "And she was the strongest goddess. Ares, the god of war, should be the only one capable of defeating, I suppose". yes, there was a little encouragement hiden there. People had the power to rise above the circumstances and make something good of themselves, even if life had taken then away something.
She listened, interested. Her blue eyes were wide open, as she let her imagination fly to distant countries, picturing the unknown:
"Really? How was it?"

"Pleasure meeting you too mate. " He said, he ran the boys last name in his mind, he imagined having trouble pronouncing it in his accent. He wondered how Willie would say it, that thought gave him a mental chuckle.

Gareth laughed some more, aye it was good being reunited with his partner in crime. "I'm sure Raiden could tell that story differently." He said giving Willie a smug smile, Gareth was a master of lies and it became quite easy for him to spot one himself. Especially if you've shared a cell with the guy. "Say, you guys wanna head to the Leaky Cauldron, have a few drinks and catch up?"

Oh yes, houses. Why hadn't Vashti thought to ask that? Ah well. That was okay. She couldn't hog the conversations starters, now could she? Well, she shouldn't at least. Anyway, at least the girl seemed pretty nice. She just seemed a little shy as well. Vashti knew how that felt - her first year at Hogwarts especially.

Grinning, she answered, "The best house of all - Ravenclaw!" Hehe, yup, Vashti had house pride. And hey, that had rhymed! How cool was that? "And I'll be a third year this coming term. What about you?"

"Somehow I don't think she would," he said dryly, hands in his pockets. Emmalee was more likely to turn bright red and hex his mouth shut than to swoon over screams of love in public.

He... he had not almost died! Well he could have, if he'd not let Professor Truebridge use his wand. Because Truebridge's was all broken and stuff.

"I only bit my lip, Willie," he protested, nudging him with an elbow. "I just... bled easily when I was a kid. And a lot."

That was what happened when you had thinner blood than usual. Hmph.

"You know, Truebridge won't be at the school this term..." Guh. That sucked a bit. Even though he was going off to do things for himself, it still sucked. Still, he looked at Gareth and nodded. "That'd be great actually."

...just... no butterbeer. He'd get something else, please. He still had a... a thing about butterbeer, after the beginning of the summer.

"They do." Finn agreed, although it was starting to die down a little now, which was probably a good idea, because at least they wouldn't get trodden on now, which he much preferred. Although there were a few hot girls that looked a little terrified. He grinned at them, he probably would've gone to comfort them, had he not got Grayson with him. Winking at them, he decided that he would come find them later, and comfort them totally?

"Different things?" He inquired as she turned to look at her. That was interesting, so maybe they'd be able to do some more awesome pranks when they got to school. "Like what?" He asked, very curious.

Cameron felt like the banter was covering up, quite well, the fact that they were both really hurt. She wasn't a big evader of things - in fact most of the time she faced her problems head on, but with this? She wanted nothing more than to just forget it all happened. But she didn't think she could actually do that. Not when him leaving her had cut her so totally dry.

"Pretty retarded duo, aren't we?" She mumbled humourlessly. Cameron was defensive and lashed out under attack with a really short fuse and Oliver just stewed until when he finally got angry he would say the things that really. really. hurt.
She wondered, if perhaps, despite the sombre situation, he wanted to stay. She wouldn't blame him for leaving, perhaps yell a little, cry.. but in the end she really had been an utterly heartless cow. In a way, she could understand him leaving her [her insecurities could patch up what his actions had not] but she'd really thought he'd liked her.. perhaps even..

The air hit her, a hot wind as they walked out and she saw a park bench, towards one side of the street. "There?" She asked, pointing towards it.

Pretty retarded duo? Oliver would have cackled at that comment if the situation and mood was different, but instead he just nodded, that hint of a smile still on his lips. But hey, at least Cam was still thinking of them as a duo. They were the Unstoppable Tree Climbing Sarcastic Duo.

The air was hot outside. Unexpectedly and disappointingly so. Oliver could have done with a nice cool breeze to help clear his head for this 'conversation'.

He nodded, still with Cam's hand in his, not wanting to let go and break the connection, as they headed towards the bench. He sat, and finally let go of her hand wishing he hadn't because he missed it already. He patted the bench beside him, trying to think how to begin this.. because he didn't have a clue. He'd never been in a situation like this before. He was also a social retard in his own way - an emotional retard.

“So..” He said and looked at the redhead. “H-how have you been, ba..” Urgh.. He pulled a face, having to stop himself from calling her 'babes'.

What a terrible, terrible start...

She hadn't expected a laugh, but she'd wanted to hear it. The mood was making the upcoming conversation even more foreboding. She didn't want to talk about it. Not now.. not ever - if she could. Wasn't there like a rewind button on life? She sighed.

It helped that he was holding her hand. She didn't think she could've bared it if he'd been as detached as she felt. She knew they had to sort this out. Whether it ended up with them together.. or not. When he let go of her hand, she frowned and tried to think to much into it. This was such a futile excersise. If he told her what she was expecting to hear, she didn't know what she would do with herself.

Was that a stutter? Cameron glanced at him for a moment before her eyes flitted back over to the crowd. She didn't know what to say. Horrible? Terrible? Miserble? Depressed? Moody? She bit down the array of synonyms for her state and just shrugged. "Surviving." That was the simplest way to put it.

She looked back at him and sighed. She wasn't interested in chatting. This was pointless. "Cut the chit Oliver.. how I've been doing is hardly important." Their relationship was on the rocks and he was asking stupid questions. Cameron had always been rather succinct.
"I have to apologise. I don't even think an apology covers what I said.. but.. I'm going to try. For pity's sake." She wanted to look away - avoid seeing the pain she'd caused in his eyes - even less the hatred for her. "I never, ever meant to hurt you. In my own, stupid way, I was trying to help.. but I'm rather a useless girlfriend as it happened.." She tried to smile, but her lips twitched and fell. "I just.. if you hate me and never want to see me.. I-I understand.." Did she? She wished she could take it back but she couldn't.

Not that she was all to blame but she felt like mentioning the fact that he'd practically cut her heart out mentioning Trixie and her vulnerable mental state and then leaving seemed like salt stuck over with a bandaid so she just kept her mouth shut. She would swallow her own pain if he would just forgive her.

Surviving? Yeah... Oliver felt pretty much the same way. He wasn't so much living life right now, as merely surviving it... and it well and truly sucked. “I get that.” He said softly. Maan this was so difficult.

But it seemed Cam wanted to skip the small talk and she told him in her usual blunt way and that made him feel incredibly foolish. He chewed the inside of his cheek. Of course it wasn't important. Sigh. Idiot.

He was a leetle bit surprised when the girl launched straight into an apology. His eyes widened for a moment before they softened as she put herself down. Same old Cam. “I understand you were trying to help. Lori said...” He swallowed. Well Lori had nothing to do with this.. but she and Oliver had talked about Cam. “I should have just told you what was wrong. I suck at that stuff, seriously, Cam. And Merlin...” He sighed. “...I'm so so sorry I said what I did. I'm an evil sod when I'm angry and I wanted to upset you. I knew the spots to aim for. I'm... I'm.. sorry.” He said again, his voice cracking a little. “I walked away... because I KNEW if I stayed it would only make things worse.” Because Oliver, although cocky and arrogant on the outside knew himself oh so very well. Too well maybe.

He shook his head when she said she was a useless girlfriend. She wasn't – she was awesome.. she just had a few problems relating to others. “I don't hate you.” He said quietly. Quite the reverse in fact. He took her hand again, giving it a small squeeze. “Cam, you're the only girl that...” He trailed off. He didn't need to say that. “I've been a complete mess without you.” He corrected himself looking at her little pale, lost looking face. God, she looked so sad...

Cameron sighed. This wasn't any use to her. She didn't want to talk about how she was - he could ascertain that from the way she looked: worn out, tired, gloomy, thin. She wanted to skip to the conversation. The faster the bad part was over the better, right? She thought of it like ripping off a bandaid - do it fast and it doesn't hurt.

Oh but she knew this would hurt.

He got it? What did that mean? What was she supposed to gauge from that? She frowned and looked out at the sea of people and saw two girls having a conversation. When had it become so difficult? She didn't know what to say. They'd hurt each other and now they were sitting here and Oliver was discussing something as trivial as the weather. How she was doing was neither here nor there. She'd live. It didn't matter otherwise.

It was because SHE stepped three light years out of her comfort zone to apologise that the ball started rolling. She frowned at him as he trailed off. Lori said what? When had to spoken to her Lolly? Knowing her, she would've tried to patch things up. He understood and yet he'd still walked out. The red-head bit down that comment and looked away as he regretted being so stubborn and not telling her. "Do you trust me?" She mumbled, looking out at the people. He kept going and she sighed. This was bringing up all the memories she'd tried to repress. She felt compunct and yet she was hurt. Yes. Hurt. He was sorry but she felt like.. it'd been said. When Cam had said what she'd said, she might not have been intentionally trying to wound, but it had still been the truth. What he'd said had rung so frighteningly true she'd fallen apart. I wanted to upset you.. Her eyes flashed back at him but she'd stuck to her rule. No speaking. She cringed as he mentioned his leaving. "You made it worse by leaving.." She muttered bitterly. It had hurt so much. The hot air stung her eyes and she continued in the same tone.

"And it was true, though.. wasn't it? I mean.. that's what people say when they're angry - they tell you the truth. I am crazy to you.. and I am inferior to Trixie, heck you couldn't even.." What had happened to keeping her mouth shut? Cameron stilted and sighed. This hurt. She closed her eyes and shook her head. She didn't know whether to scream or cry.

She had a short temper. He had no way with words. "What Oliver? I'm the only girl that what!? That's mental? Stupid? Naive? What? ..merlin, tell me because I'm sick of hearing people sugaring the truth." She'd spent fifteen years being labelled and medicated and boxed into a little 'mental' check box.

A mess? If he was a mess then she was a gonner. At least Oliver had always been mentally stronger. Merlin, if only he knew..
"This summer was chit." And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Cosette let out a huff, placing her hands on her hips and looking to the right and then to the left of where she stood. She was near the end of the street in Diagon Alley, where she should be shopping for supplies. But no, she was hot, bothered, and her hair was unkempt and crazed in a bed-head kind of way. Today was just not her day. Besides looking like a crazy woman, her cat decided to bolt out of the shop she was just in and make a dash down the street.

Kicking the cobblestone path, her black combat boot scuffed at the rim. Scoffing at herself, she looked before her and saw a bunch of kids. Smiling, laughing, enjoying their summer. If only she could without another stupid disruption.

There! She saw a glimpse of a black cat dash near a few lads.

"Lucian!" She exclaimed, making a run to grab the cat. Dodging a random passerby, she was able to make it to the cat and pick him up.. and to step on a guys foot. Hard.

Looking up, she winced. Great. Stepping on someones shoes is a great way for a conversation starter. "Bonjour." She said, closing her eyes and mustering up a genuine 'Sorry bout that!' smile. Crap.

He watched her face as he spoke. She was frowning.. that wasn't a good sign. Curse his gob! He shouldn't have mentioned Lori. The Huffie was just trying to help in her own retarded way. She loved Cameron afterall.. even if she wasn't all that fond of her best mate's taste in boys, she was just trying to help.

Did he trust her? He swallowed... staring wide-eyed at the girl. He hadn't been expecting that question. “I..” But he nodded instead. “...course I do.” And he truly did. But he'd never opened up to anyone before. No one had really cared enough to ask because he always seemed so fine. But it was for that reason that it was a real struggle for the Snake - he was far too good at blocking things.

He flinched when her eyes flashed at him. She was going to explode again wasn't she? He frowned. “Cam...?” He said softly, his tone coming out in a plea he hadn't expected. He sort of hoped they would apologise to one another and that would be it. End of. Forgive and forget and go back to normal.. but Cam was having none of it. “You hurt me too.” He muttered, focusing on the ground. He took a breath. “I walked away because I didn't want to be responsible for my own actions. I was so angry.” And Cam had been the one who pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed with her snide comments and sarcasm when he was clearly depressed, until he exploded. He couldn't have stayed.. not feeling that way. “I needed to get out of there and cool off. It would have been worse if I'd stayed, believe me.” Because he was Emmanuel's son. He knew what he was capable of – learned from the best, right? Like father like son and all that crap.

His eyes snapped up to meet hers. Why was she making this so much harder? He shook his head and swallowed, frowning. “I don't think you're crazy.” He mumbled. And... oh.. she was doing it again. Maybe there was no way of salvaging this. Maybe Camiver were eternally doomed. “YOU practically told me I should be dating someone else!” Trixie.. he didn't fancy Trixie – she was a friend – a good one, but that was all. He was angry and he knew using her would hurt. What could he say? He was an evil sod. “I couldn't even what?” He questioned, his eyes narrowing slightly. But Cam looked like she was on the verge of tears again his body language visibly shrank. Deja vu. Crapola.

Oh my... JEEZ! He groaned audibly and covered his face with his hands, rubbing his eyes. She was totally off track! Like waaaaaaaaay off the mark she was likely to colide with PLUTO! She was paranoid and angry – one of the worst, hopeless combinations. He lowered his hands and looked at her, blinking. “...No.” He said flatly. "The only girl I've ever loved.” His eyes stung. He sighed and looked away. He couldn't do this. He was so emotionally drained and Cam was so stubborn and insecure and this was made a million times harder because of it. He focused on the crowds of people passing. He'd said it. It had been coaxed out of him in the same way as his problems had been in the Leaky Cauldron, but this time he wasn't angry. This time he just felt so so drained and empty. He wanted to walk away and not for the same reasons as last time. He wanted to be alone so he could cry.

Maan, he was a complete mess....

Grayson nodded as Finn agreed with her random observation about explosions and chaos. Part of her was actually a bit disappointed the chaos that had been occurring around them was dying down, since it made her feel like she hadn't made enough of an impact, but she also preferred not getting squished by rampaging wizards and witches. At least Finn had the height to avoid that. She bit back a giggle as she noticed him winking at several girls who were still apparently a little panicked, though. "D'you think they know it was us?," she asked then, amused and curious. She'd make a bet he didn't care if they did. She wasn't completely unobservant, and besides, she'd seen how he and Jimmy were back before they'd left.

But a big mischievous grin lit up her face as he returned his attention to her, expressing an interest in her vague comment about pranks earlier. "Well, I kind of slipped babbling beverage into some of the drinks at the alumni ball we had at Hogwarts last year. Thought I was caught, too, but then I got away. It was funny listening to Mr. Masterson babble about liking pie, though." Or it was funny once she'd gotten over the weird surreal-ness of the whole thing. "I tend to be coming up with ideas a lot, and it's amusing to put them into practice." And there was still also her goal to slide down the railing of the moving staircase, once she got to the castle. But she was curious what Finn would say to her existing story.

Carin felt her eyes widen at Vashti's response. "Ravenclaw? No way, that's my house too!" she replied, wondering how she had missed her last year. She was probably too busy reading and avoiding people in general though.

"Third year? Oh... I'm going into second now," she added. So, Vashti was a year older. That was good, Carin decided - being friends with older students might make her life at Hogwarts easier, sociably wise. Perhaps.

"So, um... how was your summer?" Carin asked, for lack of better inspiration to continue talking.

It was a nice day today. The sun was out, and it was reflecting off everything; bald heads, metal things, windows and mirrors. One ray of sun reflected awkwardly off a metal badge in the hands of a seventeen year old Hufflepuff. The metal badge? The badge that was mailed to her, in her letter saying she was prefect. And not yet had she pinned it to anything. She had just sat with it in her hands, whilst trying to draw conclusions as to how her name had came to be on that letter.

Sarah was Prefect. So.. either she had left, aswell.. And just not told Lori [which was really unfair, now she came to think about it]. OR, she had been deemed not good enough, and LORELAI OF ALL PEOPLE had gotten her badge.

So, leaning against a lamppost, Lori placed the badge into the pocket of her bag, and sighed to herself before leaning her head back and closing her eyes. This wasn't fair. Lori wasn't UGLY! So why were people just finding it fun to leave her, and give her RESPONSIBILITIES? This. Was. NOT. Fair.

Inwardly protesting to the sun now beaming on her closed eyes, she ran a hand down her plait carefully, and willed the sun to swallow the badge up.

Pretty please?

Sarah was stuffing her face full of popcorn as she meandered her way down the North end of Diagon Alley. The street vendor had been just TOO GOOD to pass. Of course it didn't look particularly pretty - eating never did - but she was hungry, and hot, now she came to think of it.

Stopping by one of the benches, she placed her box of popcorn down on it, and her bag on the floor. Stretching her arms above her head, she roughly pulled off the top she'd been wearing, exposing the spaghetti strapped t-shirt underneath, and leaving her hair all messy. "That's better," she mumbled, mouth still full, but body feeling slightly cooler. Stuffing the top into her bag, she slung it back over her shoulder, and re-grabbed her popcorn.

Spinning around, she caught sight of a familiar face leaning against one of the lampposts. Swallowing hard so not to choke - and you know darn well she would have done - Sarah waved like a manic with her free hand, before jogging over. "LORIIIIIIIII! Oh. My. God. I've been looking for you all over. Where you been?" She would have asked why so sad, but they both knew the answer to that. And it was a subject they'd cover many a time, she was sure.

SQUISHY!HUGS....And popcorn spilling onto the floor. "Ohhh. Meh. I can get more." Sarah tried to remain calm, but inside she was busting to tell someone her news for the first time. She just also wished Miranda was there to share it as well. Owling just seemed so much less personal. Sigh.