Sam hadn't stepped foot in London since he had packed up and left to go to America after he resigned his position at the Ministry. More or less, he had missed this place. No doubt about it. All his friend's were here, and, being honest, he hadn't really spoken to any of his friends since he left. It was sad. But here he was! He had taken off work today -- his excuse was that he needed personal day -- and he had come to London hoping to run in some of his friends. Mostly Wes or Erik, his two best friends that he had abandoned.

As he walked down the streets of Diagon Alley, he noticed the sign that said "Sugarplum's". He was never much of a candy person... okay, that was an understatement. He was a BIG candy person. Always have been, always will be. Trying to decide whether or not to enter or head on down the street, his sweet tooth got the best of him and he entered the store only to notice two very familiar faces near the entrance.

"Wesley Kutcher," he said. He was only giving him a hard time with the full name, mhmm. "And Allie Carlton. Long time, no see."

His attention then turned to the gumball machines.

GUMBALLS!

Dan had this strong craving for gum, and that was the only reason why he was in this candy store. And it made him feel sort of like a kid again, because he used to love candy.

Spotting a familiar hottie, he started making his way towards Allie, noticing that she was with Wes. "Hey dude and dudette." It had been a while since he had seen either of them.

And then there was Sam. Great.

"What are you doing here, you lamewad?"

Hayley turned hearing someone talking to her and she smiled at the girl. "I'm Hayley and I don't think either. It's nice to meet you though." She stated, looking back at the gumball machine and taking out the gumball that she had just purchased. She turned back towards the girl, popping the gumball into her mouth, chewing it up. "I'm guessing you go to Hogwarts as well?" She asked curiously.

Hayley then turned as another person said hello to her. She noticed her accent and knew that this girl would be one of her great friends. Almost ALL of her friends had awesome accents! "Hi there. Where are you from? I loveee your accent!" She said being upfront once again.

Wes heard the familar voice of Allie come up behind him, and he concluded that he LOVED this store of ALLIE hung out here. He'd spend a LOT more time here. As he turned around however, he saw someone else familar approaching the scene. OH EM GEE it was SAM!

"SAM!" he exclaimed, bounding forward and hugging his friend with one of those manly bro-type hugs. He didn't even care that he'd called him Wesley. He was allowed to. Only good friends of Wesley Kutcher could get away with that without him punching them.

"I haven't seen you in forever!" he said with a grin. Where had he even gone? One day he was there and the next he...wasn't.

"Oh, hey Allie! Hey Dan," he added. He also momentarily forgot that Sam was his rival when it came to Allie. Ah well. He was too happy!

Viktoriya smiled happily as the girl actually complimented her accent. How great was that?! The only person to notice it who didn't laugh or make fun, like Eliza had. 'I'm Russian' she said with a grin 'I actually only got to England three days ago. And thank you' she thought that this girl might end up being a good friend. She seemed really nice, anyway.

'I'm Viktoriya, by the way. Viktoriya Alexandrovna Johannsen. What's your name?' she asked, pushing another two knuts into the machine and taking the gum. Yellow this time.

"Nice name," Stella said, curling the tip of her long blond hair around her finger. "I don't mean to insult but your name reminds me a bit of Astronamy. Are you named after some sort of galaxy, comet or something to do with space?" she asked curiously. When Hayley said that Stella probably goes to Hogwarts she nodded with a grin, "Yes I go to Hogwarts, if I wasn't would I be forced to were a pointy hat and these horrid 'things' that you call robes?" she said remembering her first expression when she saw the school clothes. "If I was still in Beauxbatons, I would be wearing those cute little skirts and hats," she added remembering the good old days. "So in which year are you in?" she asked and suggested, "Sixth, Fifth or Fourth year?"

Stella saw Hayley was talking to another girl, so she pulled out her hand to high-five her and said, "Hi, I'm Stella and you are..." It was lovely talking to new people.

First, Allie heard Wes' name being called out...then, she heard her own name. It was bound to be someone from the Ministry who'd seen them. That was usually the only sort of people who knew both Wes and Allie. Sure enough, when Allie turned around, there stood a sight for sore eyes---"Sam!" she excitedly said, a huge smile breaking out across her face. "Look at you! It's been...too long! Where are you at now? America, I've heard..." Much to Allie's surprise, Sam had packed up and left the British Ministry of Magic a couple of months earlier. She was sad to see him go, too. He'd always helped make things just a little more interesting, yup.

Dude and Dudette? That sounded like a line only someone like Dan was capable of. Dan was a good friend, too, though, and he certainly had his fair share of interesting moments. Merlin, she was getting good at guessing games, for when Allie turned around, there stood Dan, just as she'd expected. "Hey, Dan! It's been a while since I've see you, too...even though we work in the same building," she said, laughing. "How've you been?"

With all the new people coming in and joining them, Allie had sort of forgotten that she'd been talking with Wes just before Sam and Dan arrived. Of course, she didn't forget about Wes...she forgot what they'd been talking about. She guessed it didn't matter, though, because apparently, he'd moved on to talking about something else, too. "Hey, Wes? Can you move about two steps to the left?" she asked. "You're standing right in the front of the gumball machines..." She playfully smiled and held up two knuts, showing that she was ready to put in her money and receive a tasty gumball...if he'd politely get out of the way, that is.

Sam knew that voice. How could he forget that voice? It was the voice of the man he had grown up with and it was the voice of the man that he had been trying to get away from, but alas, his strategies of trying to avoid Mr. Daniel McDean weren't all that great... if it wasn't noticeable already. Dan was like a flea. You couldn't get rid of him once he noticed you, especially when he's on a roll with insults.

"I'm getting some candy," he simply replied. "That's all." His visit back was not turning out so great.

Before he could speak another word to his brother, Wes had come right on over to him and gave him that brotherly hug that he never got in years from his real brothers because of his dysfunctional family. "WES!" He exclaimed. "I haven't seen you in forever either!" Ohhh this was such a happy friendship reunion! "So what have you been up to? How's Level Three?"

Thinking about Level Three reminded him of Tasha. He needed to catch up with her as well!

He turned towards Allie with a grin on his face. "No, look at you. You've gotten much prettier since the last time I saw you," he replied. "I did move to America. I'm actually a Division Head for the Law Enforcement at the Ministry over there, and I'm hoping a Department Head opening will be available soon." He truly missed being a Department Head, but he was lucky enough to grab a Division Head opening while he had the chance. "How have you been?" He asked her.

Viktoriya turned slightly to face the other girl talking as well, and looked slightly bemused as she held up her hand for a high-five. Was this a normal greeting in England? It certainly wasn't in Russia... oh well. High-fiving the girl, she gave her a shy smile as she introduced herself 'I'm Viktoriya Alexandrovna Johannsen. And before you ask, I'm not English. I'm Russian. It's nice to meet you, Stella

Stella noticed that the girl didn't high-five her as she excepted. "Nice to meet you Vik. Can I call you Vic as a nick-name?" she asked slightly impressed that she's met a girl from Russia. "I'm from France," she added flicking her blond hair back. "So is this first year in Hogwarts?" she taking out of her pocket two knuts and put them in the machine waiting for gumball to come out.

It was weird how he could work with people and never see them. "So how are you two?" Obviously referring to anyone other than his brother, because he never cared about how Sam was. More than anything, he usually wanted Sam to go far away and never come back. "I've been good, Allie. Better now that I've seen your pretty face." He smiled at her. This wasn't a come on. He just liked her in general. The being hot factor was just a bonus.

"So Sam. I see that this time you haven't totally ditched people. It's quite a change."

Diggy stepped to the side so that Cedric wasn't stepping in his shadow. The taller boy was casting a larger shadow over Diggy and that was making him feel shorter and shorter. "Oh his this real character. Just likes to start fights because he can," he explained to Cedric.

They walked into Sugarplums and headed over to the gumballs. He smiled, "Well if you insist," he wouldn't turn down someone offering to buy him something. That was a treat.

Walking round the shelves trying to pick some sweets, Maddie almost walked into... Sel's new boyfriend. Eh, Diggy... that was his name. She wondered if she should talk to him... it would be nice. Maybe she would... but he looked like he was talking to someone else. She she;d talk to him another time.

Turning back to the candy, she picked up a few sugar quillsand some fudge. What she REALLY wanted was some more of that strawberry popcorn, though. She'd have to buy loads and take it all to Hogwarts... yumm. Canddyyyyy!

Allie smiled and playfully struck a little pose when Sam told her she'd gotten much prettier since the last time they'd seen one another. As she relaxed from her pose, she laughed a little, enjoying the playful banter that she, Sam, Dan, and Wes had always had with one another. "Oh, Sam! You're too good to me, ya know? You need to move back to Great Britain. I miss you too much," she said. She eyed him when he said he was hoping a department head job in the American Ministry would open soon. That didn't sound like he was planning on moving back to Great Britain anytime in the near future. "Well, good luck then. Keep in touch, mmkay? Tell everyone I said hello, too. The American Ministry is my old place of employment."

"...and listen to you, too, Dan! You McDean boys always give me the big head," she remarked, although, she really enjoyed the compliments a little too much. After all, what young woman didn't love comments? "I've been doing well, too, though. I can't complain, at least," she answered. She paused for a second to check the time, and when she saw how late it had gotten, she frowned a little. "Oh, man...I gotta get going. Owl me, Sam," she said, swinging her bag over shoulder to get ready to leave. "See ya at work, Wes and Dan." She gave each man a little smile then turned and headed out the candy shop.

OMG. Gumball machines!

Iris giggled when she saw them, and hurried over to them. No, it didn't bother her that there was people around. Or the fact that she was soon to be a sixth year. Or even the fact that she as a prefect.

Nope. It was gumball machines. And Iris felt like she was six again.

Hehehe.

Digging through her pockets for a couple of spare knuts, Iris quickly popped them into the machine and turned the little wheel. As a little red gumball rolled down to the bottom of the machine, Iris frowned. Hmpf. I wanted a green one.

Oh well. It was still gum. Omnomnom.

Now. Time to make giant gum bubbles. Hehe.

Gum? Chandler didn't really like gum, that was basically the only thing he didn't really like which were sweets but being a good friend and brother. He was going to get some for Leo and for Cyprien maybe. But he had no idea if Cyprien even liked gum or not. Oh well, too late now! He grabbed a small bag and dug into his pockets (not that it was really hard to get any money out) and got out at least 12 knuts and this was when he saw a girl who already was in front of him eating a gumball. Well it was always polite to say hello wasn't it? "Bonjour."

Right.

Now, Iris was going to make a giant bum bubble. She was determined to. The muggle way, too. No magic to stop it from popping.

Hmm. She'd probably regret this later, but whatever.

Not even bothering to move away from the gumball machine, Iris started to chew the gum. Then she started to make a bubble... At first, it popped. And again.

But, it wasn't long until she'd successfully made a huge bubble. Well, it wasn't huge, really. But Iris thought it was.

...

Then someone said "Bonjour" to her. The bubble popped. Oops. It was a good job that the bubble wasn't that big really, or Iris would have been REALLY embarrassed. OH DEAR MERLIN! Can you imagine if the bubble popped OVER this person?! "Um... Bonjour." Iris finally said, after just looking at the boy blankly for a few minutes. "Am I in your way?" She added, remembering that she was still stood in front of the gumball machine.

Whoops. Not a good idea Chandler not a good idea he knew it wasn't because a bubble popped and he just hoped it wasn't big otherwise the girl would probably have it all over her face and he would probably be dead. "Your bubble, did it not get big enough to go all over you before it popped?" Hopefully, there were no sign that it did so good luck so far. He smiled slightly at her in reply and then he DID wonder why she was looking at him for AGES. "You...alright?" He asked when she was still practically staring at him. "Non, you aren't. It doesn't matter now." Eh, he would get something for Leo later and...never mind Cyprien. "I'm Chandler by ze way, Montague. Chandler Montague."

Iris looked at the boy as he spoke. Oooh. French? She shook her head at his words. "Nah.... I don't think I could make a bubble THAT big. I'm trying though." She nodded and grinned. Yeah. She WOULD make a giant gum bubble. No matter WHAT.

The prefect frowned when he asked if she was alright. Of COURSE she was okay! ... Why would he ask that?

Then she realised that she'd been looking at him for a long time. Oops. Iris really had a habit of doing that.... Maybe she should try to break that habit, too. "I'm perfectly fine, thank you." She said, plainly. Pfft. Just pretend that you weren't looking at him so intensely.... Blame the heat. Say he's going nuts. hehehehe.

"Oh, I'm not? .... Well. Good. I wouldn't want to seem rude." BAH... Bit late for THAT. Staring was very rude.

Oh. Introductions? ... Um. Okay. Usually, Iris would have just smiled sweetly and dashed off elsewhere, but introductions work, too. "Nice t'meet you, Chandler." She offered him her hand. To shake, obviously. "I'm Iris. Iris Beaumont. You're French, aren't you?"

Fee walked her way to the gumball machines. She loved the gums there.Okay,okay maybe she was addicted to them.Oh a pink one.Hehe.
Getting out two knuts again and again she had a huge bag full of gum balls after a short time.Wouldnt hurt to save some for Hogwarts would it?!

And besides that she needed some sweets now,they sere always good if you had a broken heard.Chocolate was her fave but still gum would do it.

Phew. Thank goodness for that. At least Chandler didn't make it pop on her, it WAS his fault, he was the one who spoke to her remember? And if it wasn't his fault he would of probably blamed it on himself anyway. "Oh, well zat's good zen." He nodded, grateful that he didn't cause any damage or anything. He didn't want to be an enemy or anything, he wasn't looking for that.

Chandler REALLY didn't like the staring. He never liked staring, well when people were staring at HIM. It made him uncomfortable and sometimes made him blush. Ugh. Stupid blush but thankfully he wasn't, he just didn't stare back. "...Good." He said, knowing full well that he didn't actually say it like 'is something wrong with you' because he didn't think that, he was just asking if she was alright. That's all and he hoped that she knew that.

"Non, you aren't. Anyway, it wasn't of an importance of me to use the Gumball Machine." He shrugged and offered a small, reassuring smile at her. It wasn't like he was asked to go and get some, he did it at free will.

How...formal? She took her hand out for Chandler to shake? Oh well then, so he did. "Nice to meet you too Iris. I am French and Beaumont iz a French surname izn't it? I've come across it lots of times." Starting off with Aimée. HER last name was Beaumont. But it could have just been a coincidence and they are probably not related at all so Chandler didn't bring Aimée up.

OMG. Caaaaaaandy. Leopold O'Donald certainly LOVED his candy, AND GUM BALLS WERE TOTALLY YUMMY TOO! The 14 year old had his hands in his pockets, surprisingly calmish in appearance. HE WONDERED IF THE HAD SUPERHERO GUMBALLS!?......probably not but whatever. With his water gun and game boys in his back pockets, Leo wandered up to the gumball machines. Right, the weird money things...knuts. Leo still wasn't used to Diagon Alley's ways after all,all of his wizarding life was spent getting bullied at Beauxbatons. -snort-

Putting the knuts in place, Leo's eyes started to wander like usual before landing on a girl...a pretty girl obviously younger than him. A normal teenage boy would have talked to the girl, perhaps even flirted or something. Leopold O'Donald was far from normal, extremely far from normal. So he just kind of sat there, eyes a bit wide and gulped as he looked at her.

OMG he was an epic fail.

Carson was walking through the candy shop with mild interest, but not looking for anything in particular - just looking. She should have been looking where she was going, of course, buuuuut.... "Ouch! Sorry, I----" Carson turned too look at who she had tripped over when she saw that it was a boy probably near her age staring at a pretty girl near him. A small grin appeared on her face at this. "You can just talk to her, you know," she said in an undertone with a small laugh. "Sorry, should have introduced myself - Carson Dailey." She smiled at him.

Craving, craving and craving some more.
He was actually on his way to the candy displays when he saw the gumball machine. It was like some sort of magnetic force pulling him towards it. If he didn't know any better he'd say the thing was charmed to make him want to put his money into that tiny little slot. But he knew full well that it was all him. That didn't stop the fact that he couldn't control the direction he was moving in when he walked towards it. He didn't even mean to go anywhere in the first place but he was already in front of the machine.

Well. Better not to use perfectly good energy to backtrack.

Jimbo rummaged in his pockets before taking out the exact two knuts needed to get himself a gumball. Putting each of them in, he turned the knob and waited for the lovely clinking sound that meant the gumball was patiently waiting for him behind the tiny swinging metal door.

But that's not what happened. That is not what happened at all.

Instead, he found himself in a panic. He wasn't sure whether it was a good or a bad type of panic. He just knew he was in a panic. Gumballs were flying everywhere. They were falling quickly, shoving each other out of the way to try and get through the metal doorway first.

It was raining gumballs.

He must have been attracting attention, but he didn't bother to look. He had to solve this because they wouldn't stop. Being an idiot, he tried to use his shirt to catch as much as the gumballs as he could. When that didn't work, he tried using his hands to block them from coming forward. And when THAT didn't work, he resorted to trying to stuff them all into his mouth. He ended up tripping on the gumballs and falling to the ground with a big THUD.

Vashti went to the candy store first because, well, if she was going to have to stay here all day and "shop" she might as well get some candy to enjoy it. She went to the gumball machines first because she knew that if she went straight for the candy displays, she'd be more likely to spend all a lot of her money on it, money that she needed for some of her school supplies. Mum wouldn't be happy if all Vashti brought home was candy.

It wasn't until she got closer to the gumball machines that she realized something was wrong. Gumballs were rolling everywhere on the ground and there was a boy - maybe a year or two older than her - who was trying to stifle the flow of gumballs in various, unsuccessful ways. Both eyebrows raised in surprise, she rushed over, pulling out her wand; not really for any reason, it was just a reflex reaction, something she was used to doing. No spell came to mind that would stop the falling gumballs.

"What on earth happened?!" she asked the boy, trying to use her hand to cover the opening and prevent any more gumballs from falling. It was working - for the moment.