Samantha entered the Common Room after spending some time walking around the grounds. She had been doing some of her artwork. Sitting down in one of the comfy chairs near the fireplace, Sam continued her drawing. Now she was drawing an eagle to represent her house. Carefully, she incorporated shades of blue and bronze into the picture. Her mind was totally focused on getting this drawing right as she didn't want anyone to feel offended by the picture. This was a tribute. As Sam continued with her masterpiece, a tiny meow came from beside her feet.

"Oh, hello Tabitha!" she exclaimed to her now purring black kitten. The art could wait so Samantha placed her drawing by her feet and picked up Tabitha. The kitten was now sitting in her lap, purring away.

Jasmine walked into the Common Room and was glad to see that it was not crowded. She was not particularly in the mood for a lot of confusion right about now. Finding a comfortable chair, Jasmine plopped down in it. Dropping her bag on the floor, she took a moment to close her eyes. When she had finally relaxed, she opened her eyes. Then Jasmine reached down into her bag, pulled out a book and began to read. Hopefully she could get a few chapters in before the traffic picked up.

Abby walked into the common room and sighed it was a long day and she saw Jasmine reading and said "Hey Jasmine" Abby was glad that the common room was quite quiet

Jasmine had just finished the second chapter of her book when she looked up and saw her younger housemate. "Hi Abby. How's it going?" Abby looked like she had had a rough day. "Is everything OK?" Maybe she was just tired like Jasmine was.

Abby smiled at Jasmine and said "Everything is going good and everything is ok just a minor falling out with my sisters but everything is all good now" Abby was tired she had forgotten how big the castle really was

Ophelia walked into the common room and sat down on the first empty chair she found. The firstie didn't want to be here long, classes and exploring and all of that, but there had to be SOME break between all of the excitement. Her mother taught her that. And by George, she agreed. Especially since running around was making her tired, and walking up all of the stairs to get to the common room wasn't helping. Even if her arm muscles were going to go because of lack of climbing, that did NOT mean her leg muscles would follow. All of the running around she did and all of the climbing of stairs? Merlin.

Anyway, actually catching her breath for once made the short girl see all of the beauty of the common room. The dark blues and the comfortable chairs and everyone in it that the kid would probably barely see except in classes or the hallway. But still, it was so pretty! JUST as pretty as Newton said it would be. Which was perfect. Because if her sister let her down, it would be horrific. Completely horrific.

Anyway, there wasn't much to do in here except grab her journal on her way down to get food. But the chairs were SOOO comfortable.... maybe she would sit for a few minutes. That wouldn't hurt anybody, right? There was no point in running away tooo soon. Especially since she had all year to explore. Now for the task of not falling asleep.

Austin walked into the common room, exhausted from all the walking around. He had classes non stop, and non of them were close to each other. Going from Potions to Astronomy was terrible, and probably the worst thing he has done in his little time at Hogwarts. This was, of course, excluding the terrible, terrible winter they had last term. Nothing could beat that horror.

Looking over at the chairs, he saw an anxious looking girl. She was probably a first or second year, given the amount of excitement she had in her eyes. If there was anyone who could tell when someone was excited it was Austin. Mainly because he was the same was last term. By now, though, the majority of his excitement was replaced with annoyance as his classes were harder.

"Excited there, huh?" He said as he plopped himself in the chair next to her.

Ah yes, Jasmine had heard that the Valentine girls had had a bit of family drama at the Feast. Hopefully they had been able to work things out because nothing was more important than family. Abby was so lucky that she had her sisters here with her. At Hogwarts, one could use all the support you could get.

"I'm glad things are better, Jasmine said. "How are you enjoying your classes so far?" Was it too early in the term to ask that question? "I tell you one thing, I'm so glad the weather is nice again." At least they could go outside to get a break from classes now.

Abby smiled and said "I have been enjoying the classes so far and yes the weather is nice again i do like to spend time outside exploring the grounds"

The girl could only nod as she watched the unidentified boy plop in the chair next to her. Her blonde waves of hair bounced around her oval shaped head as she expressed her agreement. Why did heads have to have classified shapes by the way? Weren't heads just supposed to be happy being heads? What was wrong with just saying this head and that head? Why did everything have to be oval shaped, or round shaped, or octagonal shaped? But anyway, strange boy.

What could she say to him? Of COURSE she was excited! There was so much to do, so many places to go, so many classes to go to! It was like new things were happening around every corner! Especially outside, which was her all time favorite place to be. So yes, excitement was washing over her in waves. In fact, the shorter girl wanted to get up and start moving now. But that wouldn't be right, as there was another person present who wanted to talk, not run around with her on the pathways like an idiot.

"Of COURSE I'm excited! There's so much to do and explore! I'm working my way down the pathways now, and then I want to go lake-watching to see what's down there without actually down there! " It was hard to hide her rising voice just then. Her deep brown eyes grew into silver dollars and shone with happiness. Maybe Ophelia could be an explorer when she grew up. Were there any exploring jobs left? Umm, okay that might be hard to get a job in. But anyway, this school was just so fun and exciting!

Wow. This girl really was excited. Austin's blue eyes shone with mischief as the young girl began talking about the places to discover. "The lake really is fun and all... But..." He let his voice trail off. He was hoping she could be the one to help him out. There was one place that he has been trying to find since last term. His dad had told him about it, but he never told him where it was. 'Have to figure out all of the secrets on your own. Otherwise it wouldn't be much fun.' And although he was right, it wouldn't be, Austin still wished he knew where it was.

It wasn't that the lake wasn't exciting, it was. It had spent the majority of last term being frozen over with three feet of snow on it. And because of that, Austin had been meaning to go down and explore that himself. Maybe take a dip in it. Hopefully the young Ravenclaw would join him after this adventure.

A few moments had elapsed and Sam had placed her artwork and kitten on her bed in her dormitory. She was now back in the common room, carrying a large box full of spare art supplies. Inside there was two blank sketchbooks, two boxed of coloured pencils, a box of lead pencils and two paint sets that each consisted of two small and two large paintbrushes and a tray of twelve paints with a lid.

Samantha saw Abby talking to Jasmine and carefully approached the two of them. "Hello, I am sorry if I am interrupting the two of you. Abby, could I have a word with you when you're free?"

"I think there are still places here that I haven't discovered. I finally made it to the treehouse and I love it. What's your favorite spot at Hogwarts?" Jasmine just wondered because you might ask a hundred people and get a hundred different answers.



Jasmine noticed a girl approaching them tentatively. When she spoke, Jasmine responded pleasantly. "Hello there" The girl clearly needed to discuss something with Abby and Jasmine didn't mind the interruption. Turning to Abby, she said, "You go ahead. We can talk more later." No worries. They had plenty of time to chat with each other.

Abby smiled at Jasmine and turned to Samantha and said "So what is it that you want to talk to me about Samantha"

Samantha smiled at Jasmine and said, "Thank you."

Samantha guided Abby to a corner of the Common Room. She handed Abby the large box of art supplies as she said, "This is for you, Abby. Just a few art supplies. I hope you enjoy them."

"But? But what? Is there somewhere else that's more exciting?" The firstie was always down for some adventure. Even if it were against her plans for today. Scratch that. Especially if it were against her plans for that day. Plans were for losers. Ophelia didn't plan anything. Just let everything happen, and whatever tended to work... worked. Simple as that. And if this kid wanted to shake up her day and make it even more fun, then... go ahead kid! Because she was down for any kind of exploring. Especially if it was more exciting than a lake.

But any excuse to go outside again and feel the fresh air on her sort of tan face. Classes kind of stopped that for a bit, making sure she passed and all, but today was the day when it would happen again! And now the child had someone to accompany her on her awesome explorations! Exciting! Tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder, the firstie smiled and decided to ask another question. Making conversation, ya know?

"And if the lake isn't so fun, where's your favorite place to explore?" Yes, the girl was still hung up on the exploring thing. Because NO ONE in her family talked about or took part in exploring in any way, and that meant that he was the first person to talk to her about exploring anywhere. Well, him and the neighbor boy, but he didn't count.

WOULD JUSTINE GET THE RIDDLE RIGHT?

Hehehe. Eden had her bag of chocolate kisses AT THE READY if so. She was sure she would, though. Justine seemed very smart and stuff. She unwrapped one kiss and popped it into her mouth--chocolate was the best.

The brunette sat back on the couch and waited. She was SO happy with herself. And if she was friends with Jun right now, she would so be bouncing up and down to tell him. Alas, though, she was still VERY much angry at the boy. But she hoped that...one day she'd get to tell him. HM.

Eden loooounged about and sighed, waiting. Justine had to be smart, too, right? She was a 'claw. "Having a HARD TIME WITH THE RIDDLE?" she called out, hoping that she wouldn't have to get up to let the older girl in. Because Eden was now feeling comfy and LAZY.

The riddle had been almost boringly easy. Justine was almost disappointed by the bronze knocker, it was safe-guarding the home of the clever and the witty, there fore the knocker’s riddle should have been impossibly tricky.

Well, whatever, it was no skin off Justine’s nose, and besides, this meant she would get that chocolate Eden had mentioned all the quicker. Flipping back her long brown hair, Justine entered the Common Room with a lazy smirk, just as Eden called out, asking her if she were having trouble with the riddle.

“Not in zee slightest.” Justine said, smirking playfully at the younger girl as she sat down beside her. “It vas child’s play.” She added for emphasis, her bright green eyes zoning in on the chocolate kisses in Eden’s hands.

“And Vhere is my reward?” smirk.

Eden watched as the older girl waltzed back, oooozing grace and eloquence--Wow. Eden had never noticed before, but, Justine was definitely cool. And also very pretty. And like, a LADY and stuff. The smirk on the girl's face was the answer Eden needed--she had gotten it right!

She grinned and held up the bag of Hershey Kisses. "Here. Take as MANY as you want," she said. "I need to go try again, eh?" She wanted to make sure that she was getting good at this whole...riddle thing. "So..it just comes easily to you?" she asked softly. "I've had to try so hard just to get one riddle." There MAY be a little jealousy there, hmm?

Eden tucked some of her hair behind her ear...and smirked. "So..hows the boyfriend? Ian?" she asked, winking. Ian was nowhere NEAR Justine's boyfriend, BUT...it was fun to tease the French girl about it. hehehe.

The smirk softened to a a playful grin. "In zat case, I'll take all of zem," Justine said, taking the whole bag from the younger girl's paler hands and plopping them into her lap, she casually unwrapped one and popped into her mouth. Justine chuckled. "Only if you really vant, you shouldn't vorry yourself about it." As funny as it would be to watch Eden struggle with the knocker's riddle, Justine wasn't feeling very mean today, and as she liked the sweet, and funny Eden, she decided to be nice. At the girl's next words Justine shrugged, and leaned back into the couch. "Pretty much... I zink maybe you try too 'ard, zee knocker isn't about proving 'ow brilliant you are, it's about making you zink outside zee box... You don't need to answer zee riddle perfectly, because zere is rarely a perfect answer."

Ian. Just the sound of the boy's name was enough to put Justine in a bad mood. Haughtily, Justine flipped back her long hair. "Ian wishes," Justine arrogantly said. "I tried to strangle 'im a few days ago, but 'e just liked it." The faux-Parisian casually added, as if her attempt to murder the boy had been totally normal.

Eden's eyes wiiiidened--ALL of them? She made a face. "No--not ALL of them--" but then, she remembered--she had a lot of candy, right? "Well. Fine. Take it. I don't need it anyways--" she said as she looked down at her stomach. She was kind of big already ANYWAYS. So no need to like...eat more than she needed to. Oops. She hadn't been doing that whole...diet thing she wanted to try.

Aaaand now Justine was EATING the kisses and it just looked SO good UGH. She refrained from taking any, though. She had eaten a few earlier from another bag. GOSH Eden. Such a pig.

But Justine was being such a doll right now. Eden had to smile. "Aww. Thanks. Maybe I am trying too hard. Maybe I should just...try to think out of the box, like you've said--" she was so wise! Were all older kids wise? HM. "Next time I come in--I'll have to just...go with the flow." And she needed to return those books on riddles to the Library yessss. And soon. Not that the librarian seemed super mean. He actually seemed really cool and stuff.

HA. She had tried to STRANGLE Ian? "I assume you didn't succeed--" she joked, curling her legs up on the couch and getting comfy. "Because you didn't say that you KILLED Ian." hehehe.

Justine’s face was totally impassive, you couldn’t tell at all how amusing the girl found Eden’s look of displeasure, it wasn’t until she spoke, denying Justine’s claim to the whole bag of delicious chocolate kisses, that the girl’s green eyes began to sparkle with mirth. Pshhh, this was too easy. “Are you sure?” She asked, her eyes widening, feigning innocence as she devoured another chocolate.

She ought to send some of these chocolates to Louis and force him to make her some special treat with them… It’d been ages since she’d properly bugged the boy; she ought to amend that.

Merlin, Eden was really too nice, here Justine was eating all her sweets and Eden was pleasantly sitting by, chatting happily and thanking her for her advice. It was funny in a way. “Oui, just try to relax, let zee answer come to you,” she said. “I’m sure you’ll get it right if you do zat.” Eden seemed like a smart girl, her real problem seemed to be more about her confidence than anything else.

Snort.
“No, sadly ‘e began kissing my ‘ands and I naturally ‘ad to leave immediately to ‘ave it chopped off.” Justine dryly said, popping another chocolate into her mouth. She’d expected a different reaction, something more along the lines of; Dear God Justine!! Murder is not the answer. But then, Justine was used to people ignoring her rougher edged by now.

“ow’s faking your lesbian relationship going? Is ‘e still fooled by it?” Smirk.

Eden was torn. WAS she sure? She eyed the kisses--and she siiiiiiighed. "SHARE with me..but you can keep the bag whatever we don't eat." THERE. Problem solved. She held out her hands for some KISSSSIES. They were sooo nommy, hmmm!

Justine's advice seemed so nice and lovely and made Eden feel smart. And warm and fuzzzzzzy. FUZZY. Like a teddy--but she shook her head to get her thoughts back on track. MERLIN. "I know. Just need to...have FAITH in myself. " She admitted. "I feel like that's my main problem with everything." Not having confidence in herself. It actually made her frown a bit, and she tucked some hair behind her ear. She just thought it was hard...when surrounded by people who were really smart..and beautiful...and stuff.

HAHAHAHAHA

Eden broke into gasping laughter--MERLIN--she eyed Justine's hands. "You 'aven't chopped them off yet--" she mocked her accent, but really butchered it, and giggled a lot. "I love the accent so much--" better than her dumb Irish one.

Annnnd that. Ahem. "I think it's working. He hasn't bothered me in AWHILE. And I don't think he shows up to classes a lot." She could only imagine what he did with his free time. -___-

Should he tell her? Well, there wasn't any harm in exciting a young girl. He glanced around, to make it more dramatic, and lowered his voice. "Rumor has it, that there's a room, that will change to your needs. But no one knows where it is." He wasn't going to mention that he himself didn't know. He had a general guess to where the room was, but he wasn't sure the exact location. He guessed he didn't have much of a need for it in the first place. But maybe the need to show this girl where it is will be enough for the room to show itself.

He thought to himself for a moment at the young one's next question. Where was his favorite place to explore? That was a hard one. There was always the kitchen, that had warm food and rude house elves. But there was also the stairs that moved to new locations, and just staying on one of those for long enough was fun. Especially when you didn't know where you ended up. "I would say..." He began. "That my favorite place to explore would be the grounds. It's not that the lake isn't fun, it's just that all there is is the lake. But if you wonder around the grounds, or along the forbidden forest, you'll find some awesome things."