With a sigh and a little pat on Rumba's head, Coral-Bay edged into unfamiliar territory without her sister.

She'd never done anything without her sister. They'd never been apart for more than a few hours and she hadn't seen her since just before they placed that awful awful hat on her head. Just after that, she'd been whisked away to with a bunch of first years. They were all SO little. But... there had been a few nice looking transfer boys. Hehe. And through the castle the went until eventually.. they arrived in the lounge area. Common lounge. Something. Her memory tricks weren't any help with SO MUCH INFORMATION. And then they had said to explore. So that's what she was doing. Sorta. Finding her room and trunk and staying her all night was a good idea, wasn't it?

Yeah.

CB took a seat on her trunk and pulled Rumba into a great big snuggle hug.

No tears.

None for her.

After sneaking off to chat with Professor Culloden right after the feast, Sophie had reluctantly made the journey up to the common room. It was probably almost past curfew and she knew she was cutting it close, but... well, she had a valid excuse, didn't she? That she had been with a professor? Totally supervised. Sophie knew how to get herself out of trouble, if needed.

Looking forward to opening a window and sitting on a windowsill to overlook the grounds for awhile in solitude to reflect on how great it was to be home, Sophie started into the third year dormitory for girls. And then she stopped.

............

Someone else was already in her dormitory. Someone she'd never seen before. Wait... one of those transfer students, yeah? But... she was a third year? Sophie's age? But... Sophie had never had a dormmate. She'd always been the lone third year girl. She... she had to share a ROOM with someone?

After a moment of processing the sight of another girl setting up camp in the dormitory, Sophie smiled. "Hi." Pause. Paaaaaaaaaaaaause. "I've never had a roommate before. In my whole life, actually - only child - b'you're really a third year?" As she spoke, Soph decided it was okay to move further into the dormitory and realized the girl was hugging some sort of creature - "Nuh uh. Is that... a... a pig?" No way. It couldn't have been, but the very thought had her giggling, and Sophie had no idea if the world was playing some kind of bizarre joke on her today or if this new girl in the dormitory thing was actually totally awesome. Too soon to tell, she decided.

Coral-Bay hummed along to the little nursery rhyme she and Hallie had made up when they were younger, feeling a bit of comfort in it. She couldn't yet determine if being totally alone, besides Rumba, in a dorm room was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe not so bad. Cause Rums was here and that made her feel a liiiiiittle better. If she had been totally alone and it was dark, because it was getting late and all.. it would be TEN times scarier. At least. Not that she was afraid of the dark. No way. Not her.

Coral picked up one of Rumba's hooves in her hand and rubbed her fingers along it as she was greeted by a voice. Her head snapped up and she was greeted with the sight of a super pretty girl. She had that sort of perfect skin CB always wanted and could only achieve after long LONG hours in the sun.

"Hi." she returned the greeting with a tiny smile. She was so good at being polite. Prided herself even. She would have done a little curtsy too, but Rumba was on her lap and she was preeeeetty sure the little piggy would be less content elsewhere.

Head tilt. She lifted Rums a little closer to her tummy and sat up a bit straighter. Posture. She could hear her mother's voice in her head. "Me either.. I've shared a room by choice though. Like on vacation... and for sleepovers. Have you done that?" Nod nod nod. "Third year. Yeap! That's me." She was SO pleased by this distraction. Needed it, even. So it was confirmed now. Where she'd thought this could have been a joke, and they'd bring Hallie in and have them share a room, she'd been wrong. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad though..

She glanced at Rumba, then back at the girl, a grin spreading. "Her name's Rumba." Cue the behind the ear scratches. "Wanna pet her?"

Sophie was watching the girl curiously, trying to pick up on any hints to her true personality, as most people would smile and be polite upon greeting someone, but this one seemed truly genuine. It was easy for Soph to return an equally genuine smile. "Yeah, I've done those kind of things. Just not to live, y'know? Sleepovers are fun, though, and... well, yeah, I guess that's kind of what this could be. A... long-term kind of sleepover, every night?"

When she put it that way, sharing a dorm with someone didn't seem so bad at all. Her eyes were positively sparkling with possibilities. NEW BEST FRIEND?

So it wasn't a mistake. This girl really was meant to be here. Huh. The piglet, though... that was a little strange. Sophie didn't mind it, personally, and actually thought it was really, really cool as she showed by gladly heading over to pet Rumba, but... "Hi Rumba. M'Sophie, your new dormmate." Pet, pet. The pig was cute, really. "Is she approved? I mean, I don't mind, and I'm not gonna tell anyone, but I don't wanna get too attached to a new little buddy in case... well, does Headmistress Truebridge know we've got a pig with us?" Her gut said no, which was why she was asking. Truebridge didn't seem the sort to approve of a pig living inside her castle, did she?

It was strange not meeting new people with Hallie. She already felt a slight difference in herself. She was definitely trying to be more mature than normal, less annoying and she wasn't going to bombard the girl with questions any time soon. She'd have to test out the waters a bit first. "I know what you mean. The room is sorta... well it's huge so there probably won't be space issues?" That was probably the first thing she worried about. "We could always build blanket forts or something to make it really feel like a sleepover sometimes." And talk about boys. And play games. And paint eachothers nails. And all of the fun things. EEEEP.

Oh.... Well... that hadn't crossed her mind. "Um.... Not really? Could I get into big trouble? Do you think the Headmistress would kick me out or hate me? Should I bring her home over break?" OOPS. There was a break, wasn't there? Like for Christmas. That was sorta soon.. Rums could hold out until then.. hopefully. "I mean, she's kinda like a cat? Not smelly.. she has a litter box...?" And she has super cute little outfits too. But that probably wouldn't help sway anyone to let her stay..

"So, your name's Sophie? Such a pretty name." she grinned and extended her hand slowly, a little cautiously before adding her own name. "I'm Coral-Bay." Or CB. Or Cors. Or Coral. Lots of options.

Dora wasted no time chatting up anyone in the common room seeing how she'd spoken to two of the boys she liked most in her house, and all the girls she favored were going to be in the same with her for the last time.

A weird feeling, really. The last time.

Mostly good, since she didn't think the term was starting off so good with Mo making her sulk more AND encouraging a first year to keep up conversation with her, and with Quidditch being cancelled. That meant less visits from Alice, right?

She trudged up into the dorms that were hers, and picked out a bed beside the window, claiming it by levitating all of her belongings onto said bed. Once her jarvey was released to roam about, she began unpacking.

Peering around the room, Sophie nodded thoughtfully. Spacious, but not TOO terribly open. She was grinning like an idiot at the other girl's ideas, though. "I like the way you think." Who didn't love a good blanket fort? This girl could stay for sure.

Honestly, this particular third year was very concerned that Truebridge would find out about her dormmate's pet pig and make it into bacon, but Sophie just shrugged casually. "Dunno. I don't think she'd kick you out, but... I know she likes to approve any pet that's not one of the standard ones on the list, like an owl or toad or whatever. But... well, she's here now," Sophie grinned, lightly scratching under Rumba's chin, "and your secret's safe with me." Which was her way of saying that she wanted to be friends, and though the girl didn't know it yet, that was, strangely, a big deal.

Surprised with such formality of a greeting, Soph shook the girl's hand, a genuine smile still shining brightly on her face. "Thanks - Coral Bay? Like, your first name's Coral, last name's Bay? That's really pretty." A good choice on her parents' part.

Crossing the room to her own trunk, she began to unpack her things, searching for a few select items and asked suddenly, "Hey, so where've you been, then? Why Hogwarts now?"

Penelope looked around the first year dormitory. Everything was so... blue. She hadn't met any of the other first year girls in her year yet. Looking around the room, Penelope saw that all the beds had a bedside table with a mirror, found the bathroom, and gazed down upon the school grounds, which looked tiny from the tower window. Having looked around the room, Penelope thought about what she should do. She really wanted to find out if there was a piano somewhere that she could play, and if there was somewhere she could play flute. She couldn't just go all year without practicing, so she would have to ask an older student or professor about it. Penelope sat on her bed and unpacked.

Coral liked this girl. She liked her very much.

Feeling more and more comfortable with her new roommate, CB felt herself relaxing with each passing minute, her original stiff posture having relaxed greatly. "Well that's a relief... I'll probably ask over break if she'd allow Rumba. That way I can just leave her home if it's a problem." And maybe probably ask about the other pet options, since she didn't have a cat or a toad or an owl, but her own little menagerie of friends.

Returning the other girl's smile with equal intensity and breaking eye contact to peek at Rumba, Coral took her hand back. "No, no. It's a hyphen name. My last name's Aldrich."

CB leaned against the post of her bed as Sophie went over toward her own, trying not to watch too much so that she wouldn't seem like the nosy person she was. "Hmm?" she lifted her head and tucked hair behind her ear. "Oh, I was homeschooled sorta. My parents travel a lot for work, so my sister and I would tag along and our nanny doubled as a tutor." And... why now? Coral bit her lip a little and briefly contemplated holding back information. "They don't really want us traveling with them anymore.. It's a long story."

Sophie would hate to see Rumba go, but she nodded solemnly. It was probably best if CB tried to get her approved, rather than keeping her a secret until they graduated. But... "How big will she get?" Was she going to be a full-grown pig? That could get weird.

"Oh." So it wasn't a lucky coincidence. Still, the parents knew well enough to give their kid a sensible hyphenated first name that was really cool, yeah? "Still pretty." Grin.

Sophie pulled out a few things from her trunk - her own pillow, her own blanket, both of which she tossed up onto her bed, then she pulled out her bag with an undetectable extension charm on it, still listening to CB as she spoke. "Huh." Homeschooled? That sounded cool. Though Soph could tell Coral obviously didn't want to elaborate on things too much, she did dare to inquire while hopping up onto her own bed, "What do your parents do? For work?" Why did they travel and put their work ahead of their kids, hm?

-------------

Upon entering the dormitory in the evening, Sophie sort of hoped her new friend CB wasn't there, with her likely forthcoming breakdown - she had seemed to luck out for now as the girl was nowhere to be seen. Probably back in that packed common room, then. Good. For now, she had the dormitory all to herself to cry or punch a wall or do whatever she needed to, whenever she allowed her emotions from the common room incident to flourish.

She moved to go flop down on her bed to try to properly process all that had just happened, but she stopped abruptly. Why... was there a small box with a note atop it on her bed? Was it some kind of glad-to-meet-you, glad-we're-roomies present from Coral? Curious, Sophie sat beside the gift on her bed and opened the letter to read:

Quote:

Dear Sophie,

I hope you aren't too angry with me - I couldn't help it. I'm one big nerd trying to entertain you and teasing is my way of doing it. You deserve all the potions more than anyone else, my sweet Tiny. I didn't know I could love a student this much - I didn't even think I would love anyone here, to begin with - but you have shown me how enjoyable not worrying about titles and respect is, that sharing a moment of joy is worth all life's pain. I love you and I can say it, because I also trust you. I'm glad I accepted the job, and I'm the luckiest for getting the chance to teach you. Here is a vial of Felix Felicis - I hope your life will always be great and that you'll never have to use liquid luck. Still, I wanted to return some of the luck and happiness you've given me. Are we good?

Your Great One

PS: I've written this letter before I came to your tower, judging that you will be heartbroken because they are getting the first real treats from me, but technically, this was here before they got their vials (house elves have also been thanked for). So I'm still fair and great.

Culloden.

Halfway through the note, tears had formed in her eyes without her permission and soft laughter was bubbling in her throat. She was smiling big at the thought of teaching him such a lesson - that a moment of joy could be worth more than all of life's pain - and a startled sort of choking noise caught in her throat. Hold up.

Felix Felicis?

Throwing the note aside, Sophie tore open the box to find a vial of a molten gold-colored potion. And she stared. "Get outta here. You did not." Her face broke into a smile once more, picking the letter back up to finish reading, giddy astonishment apparent on her features. At the end, she laughed aloud. Idiot, he was. "You think you're so funny." And maybe he was. He put her through that minute or two of torment just to tease her. Awful of him. Horribly rude. But sort of funny. And forgivable.

After re-reading the note once more, Sophie folded it up, set it on her bedside table, and grinned at the vial of Felix Felicis. It felt... powerful to be holding it, but what would she even USE it for? The possibilities were endless. Merlin. Maybe she'd have to consult with Tobes, Cat, and Mo. They'd have good opinions on the matter.

For now, she definitely knew she had to go visit Culloden when he wasn't surrounded by people and she could talk to him in private. So... tomorrow.

Hope had become reclusive, hiding in all sorts of places around the castle. Sure, she attended classes on a regular basis but she wasn't really surround by her friends as much as the last year. Wasn't really chatty and bubbly and all going as she had been. She had managed to put on a front early in the term, trying to boost up everyone's spirits at the feast, but now...she was just losing a bit of herself. Sure she still smiled when surrounded by people but now...

She looked out the window across from her bed and she sighed quietly. No, she was not the same Hope. Things had changed over break. Things she couldn't really understand. Things her parents had tried to hide were coming out, like sand through their fingers, things were slipping.

"Paris was still beautiful." She was talking to no one, not even Poppy. Just a wall...maybe the window...maybe herself. Things just weren't the same. She took to her feet and looked into her mirror pushing her blonde hair out of her face. She gave her reflection her best nothing-can-go-wrong smile, the one that said not all hope is lost. A lie. Just one well played lie...right?

With a final sigh she slipped on a pair of shoes and took off to the...well somewhere. She just needed fresh air and an open view of the sky.

Ooh. She knew this answer. Coral had done a lot of research on pet pigs before they'd gotten Rumba. There were so many different kinds. "Juliana mini pigs average about.." she furrowed her brows "35 pounds. Well, at least the lady we bought her from said that. And all her piggies were about that size." Much smaller than the average pet pot-bellied piggies.

CB grinned, beamed even. "Thanks." Hehe. She loved her name.

With crossed legs now, she adjusted herself once again, as sitting like this was not ideal for comfort and gave Rumba some more ear scratches. "Well, they work for the ministry." She fidgeted a bit. "They're like.. ambassadors? So my sister and I travel with them when they go to places to deal with things." Not so slyly trying to change the subject Coral said, "So what about you? Have you always gone to Hogwarts? Do you have magical family?" Was this stepping over boundaries?

Whoa. 35 pounds was still quite a bit, Sophie gandered, and eyed Rumba, a small smile playing upon her lips. "So Rumba's gonna get pretty big here, huh? We might as well invest in a big ol' bed for her." Hehe.

Setting up her bed with her pillow and blanket the way she liked it, Soph nodded to show that she was listening before laying down on her stomach and shoving her hand deep into her bag, pulling out a handful of sweets. "That's cool. Ambassadors, huh?" She wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but she smiled and nodded anyway as if she understood. Sure. She wouldn't press the matter any further. They'd only just met anyway, and she was sure she had to earn CB's trust over time if she didn't want to share details now. No big deal.

"Oh, yeah. Purebloods. M'dad's a Hit Wizard, and m'mum's a Herbologist. She works from home, so we have a massive greenhouse out back with all sorts cool things in there that she studies. An'yeah, I've always been here at Hogwarts. The lone Ravenclaw girl in our class, till now. Both of my parents were actually Gryffindors, by the way, and they thought I'd be one, too, so if I had gone that way, you'd be here all by yourself." Sophie shook her head. Shame, that would've been.

Sorting through her cauldron cakes, chocolate frogs, and various other sweets, Sophie noted, "All these are free game, by the way. This bag's loaded - like our own personal sweets shop. Should last us till the holidays. Anyway, Ravenclaw's great, though," she grinned, unwrapping a chocolate frog. "Y'should be glad you're here. Everyone's super nice and we're not all that cliquey and I can take you 'round to meet all the ones you'll really want to know, if you haven't already met 'em, like the prefects and our former Quidditch captain, Mo. He's cool. Like... everyone's big brother." She bit into the frog, then, and set the card off to the side without looking at it. Eyes narrowing in thought, she swallowed the chocolate and suddenly turned to ask, "You said sister - she's not homeschooled anymore then, yeah? She here, too?"

Yeahhhh.. she hadn't really thought about how big the painted pig would get. Just sorta.. hoped she might reach the smallest weight for a pig of her breed which would probably be about the same size as her dog. But the average was probably closer now that she thought about it. "I'm not really sure how big a 35 pound pig will be but... i don't think i'll be able to put her on my bed anymore." Lifting her piggy was going to be a struggle.. "Oh yeah! Like a pillow-looking doggy bed. Maybe with her name on it." HOW CUTE. Good idea new roomie.

Can't pets stay little and cute forever? She nodded at the Ambassadors remark. "Uh-huh. Keeps them busy or whatever."

Ooh. Good. So she hadn't offended her on the first night. CB was pleased with herself. "Oh wow. That's super cool. A hit Wizard is kinda like an Auror, innit?" There's gotta be a difference though. She wondered if Sophie knew exactly what that difference was. "You must be really good at Herbology, then. Does she show you a lot of her stuff? Or are you not allowed in it because it's for her work?" Herbology was one of her favs. Next to Care of Magical Creatures and History of course. "That's too bad.. There's other girls in our year though, right?" Not that she needed any other female friends. Hallie was plenty enough and.. Well.. Sophie could fit the bill pretty well too in time. "Is it selfish to say i'm glad you're different?" GRIN. As much as she had wanted a room by herself.. This was gonna be fun. She could feel it.

Moving from her uncomfortable position to the bed, Coral's eyes wandered over to what Soph was doing before she got resituated. "Really? All of it? That's... Wow, that's really nice of you." Free candy????? Did she know how many brownie points she'd just gained???? Like all of them. CB nodded. "I haven't really met anyone but you so far. Well, not really. I talked briefly with a few people but didn't get any names." Like that kid in the common room. She nodded some more. "I'd really appreciate that." Meeting new people is kiiiindaaa... well.. nerve wracking? Without Hallie, really.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. My sister. She's.. in that yellow one. Hufflepuff, was it?"

Yeah! Sophie giggled as CB gave a description of what kind of bed Rumba might need. "I think that'll be perfect. And plenty of time to get it, I think. So she'll sleep in your bed till she gets too big, then?" That was kind of adorable. Like, super adorable.

...Would she try to climb up into Sophie's bed, too?

"Yeah, Hit Wizards are kind of specialized Aurors 'cause they arrest the really dangerous criminals. Real risky business and all, but he's come out of it okay so far." At least, he wasn't out of work and in a permanent bed in St. Mungo's. She was quite good at Herbology - it was her best subject, aside from Potions - and Sophie grinned at the suggestion. "Uh huh. As long as she's with me, I can be in there." Because there were some flesh-eaters in there, but she wasn't going to tell CB that, unless she asked. Heh.

Meeeh, though. The other girls in their year. "Yeah. I guess. There are some Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs that are cool." But the Slytherin third year Sophie? BLECH. Gross. Perhaps this Sophie should warn CB about the other one, but... she'd let her find out on her own. Sigh.

Soph reeeeally liked CB, though. She was totally nice and interesting so far and had a cool pet and wasn't annoying or smelly or anything alarming. She would most definitely love to introduce Coral to all the cool kids. Mmmmm. But her sister was a Hufflepuff? That was interesting. At least CB would have a connection to all the Hufflepuff cool kids now. "Hufflepuff's a good house." Says the Ravenclaw/Gryffindor/Slytherin hybrid. Heh. "My bestie's in that house. Stinks that you guys got separated, but... maybe sometimes when I'm headed down to meet him outside their common room, we can head down together? You can see your sister?" Of course, they couldn't go inside, but if they planned well, there would be no problems seeking out their respective Hufflepuffs together.

Well, here we go. Tora scrambled through her trunk to find a suitable light source to use as a sun in her demonstration of Astronomy things. No, no, no... finally, she remembered that she was a witch and owned a wand and could light said wand to make a sun. Right. "Lumos Maxima," she muttered, a bit cross that she hadn't thought of this earlier. She flicked her wand in such a way as the ball of light was sent in front of her, like a sun. Satisfied, she pulled out her beloved Astreglobe (because what was more fitting?) and levitated it with a "Wingardium Leviosa." Swish and flick. There. Now to start. She looked about the mostly empty room. Someone's cat watched her from the bed across the room and she could just see a pygmy puff bouncing around a cage. Lovely. Now if someone walked in they would think she was just talking to the animals (something slightly less crazy than just talking to thin air as she had planned).

"Okay everyone! So this ball of light is the Sun. And this," she tapped the floating Astreglobe, "is Earth. I'm going to, um, explain why there are different season on Earth. The Earth is tilted on an axis here," she sent the Astreglobe tilting to one side as it revolved the glowing light, " and what season you are in depends on how close to the sun you are. Um. In your tilt." she discovered that she was really awful at teaching this. Ummmm. "Sorry guys, let me start over." She sighed, closed her eyes, gathered her thoughts, and then began again.

"As you all know, sorta, the Earth goes through several different seasons. This is because the Earth," she tapped the Astreglobe again,"is tilted on an axis and the closest parts to the Sun," here she pointed to the light orb,"are the warmest. This means that it can be a lot colder or a lot warmer depending on where the Earth is positioned at the time in regards to it's tilt and the Sun. This is also why the Southern Hemisphere has Summer when we have Winter, their tilted towards the sun while we are tilted away." she paused to see if she was forgetting anything important. No... not really. "And so you see, the light falling on the Astreglobe, er, Earth, is different depending on what season and so warmth is different." The end. Yay! "Any questions?" she couldn't help but add giggling a bit because she was talking to an empty room.

How was it that Maddison didn't properly know the girls she lived with yet? WELL, actually she DID know why but STILL. What if she needed to borrow something for homework OR secret club reasons and she COULDN'T because she hadn't ever spoken to the girls sharing the room? And okay, NORMALLY the small brunette didn't get ALONG with other girls but THAT'S only because they were always terribly whiny and emotional and Maddie WASN'T those things, not EVER. And seeing how the girls in HERE would be fellow RAVENCLAWS, perhaps they'd be similar to MADDIE and then they could get on JUST FINE.

The small first year hid under her bed contemplating ALL of these things and going over the BEST way to introduce herself to these GIRL people. WHY couldn't she have had a sister, again? THEN at least she'd have SOME knowledge of how to be around other females without wanting to seek out an immediate escape route. What did girls even DO when they hung out? She didn't have to braid anyone's hair, RIGHT?

Sigh.

She was such a horrible girl.

Penelope came into the dormitory after class. She had never really spoken to any of the other first year girls, and was surprised to see someone under a bed. Why had she never talked to any of the other girls? She knew it was because she wasn't really the kind of person who just started talking to people unless they spoke to her first. It was kind of weird to think that she had never spoken to the girls that would be living with for all of her years at Hogwarts.

She would have to speak to them sometime, right? Penelope walked over to the bed that the other girl was under. If she was going to speak to another girl in the dormitory, she might as well start now. "Hi," What was her name? Penelope must have heard it somewhere, but she couldn't remember what her name was. They could do names later. "Why are you under the bed? Is something wrong?" Now would probably be a good time to properly introduce herself, as she hadn't done so already. "I'm Penelope. What's your name?" It felt kind of embarrassing to not even know the names of the people you live with. That would change.

Wait, WHAT? This was happening NOW? Maddie had wanted to interact with her dorm mates but she never knew it'd be happening so SOON. ...UH. "Hey." Yup. HEY. This whole chatting thing was going to go SO smoothly, she could TELL.

"No, nothing's wrong. S'just one of my think spots." Only now that she had been discovered, she should probably come out and actually LOOK at the person talking to her. The twelve year old wiggled her way out from under the bed and then stood, wiping at the dust on her clothes. "Penelope, good to know." PAUSE. "I'm Maddie...or Coop." Never Maddison OR Chicken Coop. Just no.

"So we're dorm mates." UH-HUH.

"Hey Maddie," she said. Coop. That must come from her last name. Penelope had never really thought about nicknames. Should her friends have a nickname for her? "Most people always call me Penelope, but you can give me a nickname if you want to." Would it be weird to have a nickname? Maybe if Maddie had a good nickname for her, she would keep it.

As she was looking at the snowy grounds, something unlike anything she had seen before happened. Every owl in the whole school flew by. It looked like the owls were leaving Hogwarts. "Maddie, all of the owls are leaving!" Her owl, Ophelia must be leaving with all the other owls. It looked like they were all heading for Hogsmeade. Hoping her owl would be safe, she said, "I have an owl, Ophelia. She's a barn owl. Do you think the owls will be safe?" What would happen to Ophelia? Penelope was worried about her owl. Would she ever see her owl again?

Why would the owls just leave like that? It had been cold for months, so why leave now? Was the blizzard only at Hogwarts? Was something even more dangerous coming? Penelope was thinking about how this might all be connected. "The owls are going somewhere safe, right? If the owls are flying away to somewhere safe, do you think the weird cold weather and blizzard is only affecting Hogwarts? A blizzard and unusually cold weather that only affects Hogwarts can't be natural. Do you think something even worse could be coming? Could this have anything to do with the cold ones that we learned about in defense against the dark arts?" She really hoped that they were not going to die. What if there were cold ones, or worse about to attack the school?

Did Maddie want to give Penelope a nickname? The brunette considered this, eyeing her roommate thoughtfully. She could think of PLENTY but nicknames were BEST when they fit your personality and Maddie didn't know Penelope well enough YET to decide. "I'll get back to you on that, okay?" She needed time to THINK.

...

Wait, WHAT?

Maddie eyed Penelope and her eyebrows raised considerably. ALL the owls were leaving? "Maybe they're running away from home," She offered helpfully. And NO, she wasn't serious. "Honestly, I'm sure if they stick together, they'll be okay." Except that she didn't know WHY they were leaving or WHERE they'd seek shelter so...yeah.

And. more. questions. SO. many. questions.

"I have no idea." Honestly, she didn't even know where to start. If the owls only JUST left, how was she meant to have answers so quickly?

"If it is Cold Ones, at least we're well versed in blasting them to bits now."

Samantha entered the dormitory with a weary expression on her face. She had just returned from a serious studying session in the library. Placing, her parchment and quill back in her trunk and taking off her shoes, she laid down on top on her bed covers.

Samantha vaguely listened to the conversations going on around her but wasn't really taking much notice.

It was time to do her Charms homework and Jasmine decided that the first place she would insulate would be her dorm room. Of course a person wanted the room where they slept to be nice and toasty, no? She waited until all of her roomates had left beore getting to work. Picking a section of wall near her bed, Jasmine walked over to it.

Jasmine took out her wand and began to concentrate on what she wanted to do. She pictured carrying out the spell and thought nice warm thoughts, just like in class. Pointing her wand at the desired spot, Jasmine made a sideways figure eight. At the same time, she said "Caelum Saepio". Looking at the wall, she saw a little fog cover the target spot so she knew she had been successful. Just to be safe though, she repeated the spell one more time. More fog, yay!

Last but not least, Sophie's primary safe haven of the third year girls' dormitory was a top priority to get insulated as best as it could be. She and CB had done a dynamite job of combating the heat with cuddles with Rumba, their fort of abundant blankets, and hot air charms, but actual insulation of the room? This had to make a difference, she was sure of it. Hopefully CB would notice the difference as soon as she walked in the room.

Being comparably as careful as she had been in Culloden's office, Sophie moved about the room, casting "Caelum Saepio" with a sign for infinity-shaped wand movement as she went, repeating the process over and over as she covered the entirety of the walls from floor to ceiling, sure that the fog blanketed every inch of it. There wasn't much time left in the term, but as far as she was concerned, there was no end in sight to their eternal blizzard, so... might as well get the dormitory as insulated as possible, right?

She paid close attention to the windows, too - she and CB had hung up blankets over them to try to keep some of the cold air out, so she had to pull them back to wave her wand at the glass properly - and took a moment to squint out at the snow that still continued to fall and pile up alongside the castle. What was the rest of the wizarding world doing to prevent this? Were they even trying? Couldn't they... shoot massive fireballs at the school or something to melt the snow and give them a source of heat? Couldn't the the Board of Governors or minister get the okay to take drastic actions to save them? Merlin.

With a final grumpy "Caelum Saepio" and a wave of her wand, Sophie flopped down on her bed and grumbled a little, suddenly very bitter. Did the world want to leave Hogwarts there to die? Had they finally decided all the crazy events that always happened at Hogwarts were enough and it was best to just let the school be destroyed with everyone in it?

She knew it would happen some day. Just knew it.