One Ethan Mordaunt woke up extra early that day to get some stuff done. As prefect, he had some things in mind that can help his fellow housemates, whether they are new or returning, on how to snag the House Cup. He thought that letting them in some information he gathered from his first term last year would be a great help for the others.

Emerging from the boys’ dorms, Ethan was delighted that the Common Room was still empty. He decided that he will start from there. He got his wand out and duplicated the piece of parchment he had in his hand and placed it on the table for everyone to see and get a copy.

He performed another duplicating charm, and placed the small pile of parchment just outside the door of the Girls’ Dormitory. He wasn’t allowed in there of course, and he forgot to tell Beverly about this, so leaving the pile there will have to do.

He also considered posting the same note on their Noticeboard, but decided against it. He's got reasons. Mhmm.

Now…moving on…

Cutty emerged from the common room. His hair was a RIGHT MESS and he didn't seem to care. Three years later and his hair still maintained a texture that allowed for extra responsiveness to touch and tossling. Just ask Alec Summers. He was thinking about going for his usual swim anyway. Maybe even with clothes on so as not to jar the new Slytherin students who might be maxin' out in the dungeon that morning. Best to ease them into the insanity sloooowly. Yes.

His palid and befreckled face caught the green light from the flames on one side as he headed toward the sofa. His eye caught sight, however of a small stack of parchments. The inscription below stated that they were from Ethan. Oooh, a little love letter was it? Hehehee.

The lifetime member of the bandar log swiped up a copy and flopped down, spreading out and occupying as much space as one boy possibly could in West Odessa's old spot on the sofa. He held the parchment up to his face and read it. Studied it, even. Ethan had a desire. A wish. A dream. And Cutty had been waiting a long time for a student like this to come along. The letter made him feel energized and inspired, but possible for reasons that Ethan did not consider when he wrote it.

Sitting in a corner of one of the large couches was tiny little Hadleigh her legs folded up underneath her and her head resting back and turned to the side to look out one of the windows. She had woken up a bit early this morning and not wanting to disturb her dorm mates she had ended up down in the common room.

Hearing some movement around the room she shifted slightly to peer around the couch, spotting the older boys she slipped back into her spot fixing her gaze on the window. She was hoping to see something swim by having a strong heart for animals this fascinated her.

Agatha walked back into the Common Room, limping and holding a pack of ice. The frown had been part of her facial expression for a while, especially now that she couldn't do her precious ballet. She hasn't been able to even stretch properly in WEEKS now and that was killing her and her mood. Not that it needed that much help anyway.

She walked over to the sofas and noticed Cutty reading something right before her eyes glanced over to the nearby table where a stack of parchment was. Agatha was not that curious, but she limped over and grabbed herself a copy just to see what that was about.

Before reading it, though, she had to sit down because her leg was bothering her big time. She sat down on another sofa as gracefully as she could and placed the ice pack under her left thigh before seeing what the parchment said.

The first thing she saw was the signature at the bottom. "Pfffffft."

Dorm room's were weird. All the other people in there with him and him not being by himself. He liked his own room, thank you very much. Nice, quiet and he could do what he wants. Though Hugo was cool...and the bed's were nice. He had to admit that. Good for jumping off of.

The one thing he noticed right away beside the obvious that this was not a dream and he was not at home. Was the parchment on the table. Well Dante had nothing to do, so why not read it. Dante jumped into an open seat and read the thing. Oh it was all a pep thing. About a points race that he was not here for. Points were cool to get. But did not really matter to Dante.

Plus this was way to much to read. At least make it funny if you want people to read the whole thing, really.

He would not admit the info at the end was helpful...just it should have been at the beginning and Dante would not have had to read the whole thing.

It was a bit cool in the common room, and the fact that the fire was green didn't comfort Dot much. She dragged a bean bag chair across the room, pausing a few times to adjust the small kneazle kitten she'd tucked into the front of her shirt and who kept trying to wriggle free.

The bean bag chair went in front of one of the windows, where another girl was already posted, and Dot settled in there. "Have you seen any mermaids? Or the squid? I heard he sometimes visits." She finally freed the kneazle, who immediately scarpered off to sniff at people's ankles.

Stretching like a baby snake, Beverly wandered out to the common room. This felt nice. Familiar territory. As she stretched her arm behind her back she noticed a pile of parchment and picked one up.

War. Yes. They were at war against the Lions. The Snakes better be ready.

"I like this," she said as a way of greeting to Ethan. She would have liked to know about this so she'd know they were thinking the same way. Either way, she liked that her partner was on his toes.

Taking a few of the duplicate parchments she took it upon herself to distribute them to those who didn't have one yet. Approaching the little ones first, she handed them both (Hadleigh and Dot) a copy. "Welcome to Slytherin, lets make our house proud, okay." Look at her! She was being nice. Sure...she'd only keep it up if they didn't mess up. That message was underlined in her tight features.

A younger boy (Dante) already had a copy. Good, he was on top of things. He earned a nod from the Prefect. There was also Agatha and Cutty. Her two favorite Slytherins. Agatha, though, had an ice pack. "You should have Healer Murdoch take a look at that before the damage becomes permanent." She...cared, okay. Get that checked out, Hapgood.

Coming to a stop behind Cutty - who was in West's seat, she noticed - Beverly ruffled his hair. What? She was curious of how it felt, okay. Pfft. Did she need a reason? He was her best bud.

"Mordaunt," she greeted as usual, and perched herself on the arm of the sofa. She had half a mind to claim this seat. Even if she had to squish herself in it with Cutty Mordaunt. Maybe. "I busted your pinata. It was lovely." The hunting it down and the sweets. It made Beverly a happy Beverly.

It must be a decent hour now as slowly one by one more of her housemates entered into the common room. Out of the corner of her Hadleigh could see a young girl tugging a beanbag chair across the room stopping in front of the window as well. When the girl (Dot) spoke it took a few moments for Hady to realize it was to her. "Oh...oh um no. There hasn't been anything at all just yet. I'd like to see something though." She replied softly gently chewing at her bottom lip as she looked at the other girl.

There was something moving around in the other girls shirt that she appeared to be holding. When it was put down on the floor and made it's way around the room it instantly caught her attention being an animal lover. Watching it for a moment she remembered she was talking to someone and turned her attention back. "I'm Hady by the way."

Just as soon as those words were out of her mouth an older girl (Beverly) was before her handing her a piece of parchment. Taking it she glanced over what it said before lifting her head back up and offering a smile and nod of her head. "I'll do my very best." Hady responded politely wanting the girl to know she wasn't rude and she certainly would do what she could to help out her house.

So small. Sooo smaaall. Was it just him or did the firsties seem to be getting smaller and smaller? This one looked like a fine specimen anyway. He was paying attention to the next batch of Slytherin students for two obvious and one not-so-obvious reasons, the most important of which was to build up his buyer base for the sweets he sold.

He watched the interaction between the new student (Hady) and Wayne. This one seemed mellow or at least with the charisma to project that.



Cutty had code names for everyone more or less and they were usually horrible. Even in cases where he didn't find the individual themselves unpleasant. Such was the case with Chablis (Dot), which she was filed away under for horrible, horrible reasons. As was consistent with him, he did not consider her unpleasant despite this. Quite the opposite was true as she displayed what he thought of as a true grasp of discretion at the opening feast.

Which meant he would say nothing about her wriggling shirt.



That little sound of disapproval. Cutty chuckled at it. One could hardly be oblivious to the fact of this little feud between Hapgood and the prefect. What he did not know was how deep it ran. There again, Fern bore him ill will at every chance she got and he'd done nothing to her. She liked him. This was probably the case with Hapgood too.

"Yer limping, Hapgood. Why?"



The litl'un from the train had entered and had also found his way to the love letter. "Do yew know about the points race..." A myriad of names flipped like on a rolodex through Cutty's mind from the night of the opening feast before he remembered the name to which the face belonged. "Barrington?" Barrington. He wondered if there was any relation to Dead Kneazle and former Claw King, Nigel Barrington. Probably not. It was probably just a coincidence like he and Ethan both being Mordaunts. "Yew don't know anyone named Nigel, d'yer?"



That could've been code for something, and briefly, oh so briefly Cutty's paranoid brain thought Beverly was referring to something of his that she might have some how broken. Then he remembered her birthday. Then he remembered having gotten her something.
"I'm glad it pleased you, Wayne." He said in response, his pliable hair remaining in the exact position more or less in which Beverly ruffled it. Small black tufts going this way and that. "It's a new thing I'm working on. Adding a sense of play to some of the sweets. Took me a while to pehfect that charm."

"Ethan, this is poetry, mate!" He said addressing the other Slytherin prefect. "Very inspiring!" Aaand, wait for Hapgood's response. >:]

Well now that this thing was just a bunch of words that had no meaning to Dante. He could make a paper football later and have fun with that later. Yeah, he would do that. He was wondering why the Girl Prefect was nodding at him. Did she have something to do with this paper. Prefects were a little weird. The nice kind of weird though.

Oh, it was the dude from the train. "Yeah, and are they really as serious as this makes it seem?" Dante asked holding out the parchment thing. Because Dante could care less. And yes, that was his awesome last name.

"Yeah, that is my brother's name"

Did everyone know him?

Welcome to Slytherin. Here's something boring to read. Dot accepted the piece of paper with a completely placid expression, which continued on as she studied the paper. Briefly. Got it. Be good, work hard, win win win. She was on board with this plan.

"Houses can't be proud. They're inanimate." Not to mention that her mum had told her she didn't have to do things to please other people, just herself. She was a strong, independent woman. Rawr.

Where was her kitten?

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Originally Posted by SpiritWolfe Malfoy

It must be a decent hour now as slowly one by one more of her housemates entered into the common room. Out of the corner of her Hadleigh could see a young girl tugging a beanbag chair across the room stopping in front of the window as well. When the girl (Dot) spoke it took a few moments for Hady to realize it was to her. "Oh...oh um no. There hasn't been anything at all just yet. I'd like to see something though." She replied softly gently chewing at her bottom lip as she looked at the other girl.

There was something moving around in the other girls shirt that she appeared to be holding. When it was put down on the floor and made it's way around the room it instantly caught her attention being an animal lover. Watching it for a moment she remembered she was talking to someone and turned her attention back. "I'm Hady by the way."

Just as soon as those words were out of her mouth an older girl (Beverly) was before her handing her a piece of parchment. Taking it she glanced over what it said before lifting her head back up and offering a smile and nod of her head. "I'll do my very best." Hady responded politely wanting the girl to know she wasn't rude and she certainly would do what she could to help out her house.

Dot settled back into her chair, working the piece of paper from the badged girl into a little ball for Nimbus to play with. It was about the only way to get him to come back and be her friend when there were so many interesting things to sniff in the room. And it worked, too, as the kneazle kitten returned to Dot's side in order to pounce the ball of paper.

"I'm Dot. We should keep a log of what we see, 'cause maybe they only come by at certain times. I wonder what else lives in this lake." Maybe a shark that liked to fight the squid for buried treasure. Maybe a sunken pirate ship with ghosts. Maybe a manatee. Probably not a manatee, but MAYBE.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SlytherinSistah

Cutty had code names for everyone more or less and they were usually horrible. Even in cases where he didn't find the individual themselves unpleasant. Such was the case with Chablis (Dot), which she was filed away under for horrible, horrible reasons. As was consistent with him, he did not consider her unpleasant despite this. Quite the opposite was true as she displayed what he thought of as a true grasp of discretion at the opening feast.

Which meant he would say nothing about her wriggling shirt.

It was the boy again. The interrupting one. Dot rolled over in her bean bag chair so she could watch him across the common room. He had a sort of sulky face, not unpleasantly so but definitely not one that looked like it was meant for grinning. Dima and Kyroh had grinning faces. This boy... at least he was interestin'.

Dot sunk down deep into the chair so that all one could see was the glint of blue eyes and a ginger plait, and she regarded him with that same sort of air she'd had at the table during the feast. A little 'go away go away', and a little 'stay stay stay so we can watch you'.

It was very confusing being a Dot.

Agatha had no time for this, so she didn't read the parchment at all and tossed it on the floor. Don't care.

She shifted on the seat to fix the ice pack when Cutty asked her why she was limping. "Pulled a muscle. This sometimes happens to ballerinas." And you know, she was a ballerina. An excellent one. "It's normal and I'll be beter in no time." Nevermind it had been a few weeks since she had pulled it and it still hurt like urgh. But people didn't need to know that.

The boy then started speaking to that first year she saw attacking Ethan (Dante). He was a promising one, she could tell. Agatha could swear she saw a sparkle in his eyes as he looked at Ethan's leaflets and she just KNEW he wanted to destroy them all. Morgana, such a good kid. Just like that over there who was making a little ball out of the parchment (Dot). Mwahahaha. The redhead got a smirk and an encouraging nod from Agatha. Go on, little ones. Destroy all of Ethan's parchments. She'd help.

Sort of. Beverly seemed to be on it and was handing the parchments out. Since the girl was her friend, Agatha didn't react badly to it and just looked at her when she sat next to Cutty. "Healer Murdoch? What happened to Healer Tillstorm?" The woman was still in the school because Agatha had seen her being SO rude speaking to professor Bellaire at the feast.

But hold on a second, did that little boy just say he was NIGEL's brother?? Nigel as in... NIGEL?? No.... no, it couldn't be. She tried her hardest to remember his last name. She'd seen it written in an Arithmancy parchment................

..........

...Barrington.

The fourth year deadpanned and just stared at the little boy. A very long stare. It couldn't be... "Was he a Ravenclaw?" She butted in. She HAD to make sure.

And scowls at you, C. Mordaunt, for making such ridiculous comment on the leaflet. But Agatha wouldn't SAY anything for now because otherwise she'd be the 'troublemaker', like that silly superlative said. She was no troublemaker. She would never end up in Azkaban. How dare they think that of her. The girl sent scowls at E. Mordaunt too because it was all his fault.

"They're a good tool. If one is after some notoriety of the positive sort." Cutty was not. It didn't stop him from being a top points earner. He simply had other reasons. This year, though he was considering talking it over with the Headmistress to see if he could donate all of his pints to another house entirely.

Just to anger Sophie Newell.




Or anyone, really.


"Yer Nigel's brother. Want to see something?" The older boy with the ferocious case of bedhead asked, thinking it a good time to show off his artistic skills.



If he were looking, not busy trying to tempt vice and misdeeds via example, Cutty would've felt the little blue burs boring through his practically colourless skin. He was oblivious at the moment, a lopsided as anything smile readying itself at the corners of his mouth as he was about to show the little Slytherin boy the Dead Kneazle beneath the coffee table.



This girl. She never disappointed Cutty. He was starting to feel that he could set a clock to her temperament and it would always be chaos 'o clock. Merlin bless her so!

The second Mordaunt to attend the school shifted in his seat to turn to Happygoody. He would keep his mouth shut on the healing time being possibly shorter than Agata could've imagined as her Head of House was also the school's healer. Cutty figured Agatha was faking her infirmity just as she was faking her ineptness at magic. He was not about to blow her cover. "Let me know when yer classes are, Hapgood. I'll carry yer books fer yer."

So if you wanted to be a teacher's pet. Points where the way to go. Well it was good information to have. "Do you win anything by having the most points?" If not than why care so much. They were pointless. Hehe, a unintentional pun.

"Yeah and sure" Dante was bored enough, did not really want to walk far, and did not want to read the Prefect's thing again. So sure. Maybe it will actually be interesting.

Who knows

"Braggin' rights, I suppose." He said with a shrug. It might have also said something of a student's commitment since they were oddly, given for academic participation. So in cases where two candidates for a university might be otherwise matched, they probably mattered and possibly also for early career criteria. It was something Cutty's brain went over as he considered why he earned points himself. The emotional reaction was really where it was at for him. He was a horrible human being.

"Lay on yer back. And put yer head right there." He said pointing with his wand to the low coffee table the underside of which hid a terrible drawing, though a drawing nonetheless of the dead kneazle that made up the band's logo. He'd carved it at the beginning of last year using itaglio.

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Dot settled back into her chair, working the piece of paper from the badged girl into a little ball for Nimbus to play with. It was about the only way to get him to come back and be her friend when there were so many interesting things to sniff in the room. And it worked, too, as the kneazle kitten returned to Dot's side in order to pounce the ball of paper.

"I'm Dot. We should keep a log of what we see, 'cause maybe they only come by at certain times. I wonder what else lives in this lake." Maybe a shark that liked to fight the squid for buried treasure. Maybe a sunken pirate ship with ghosts. Maybe a manatee. Probably not a manatee, but MAYBE.

"That's a good idea. When we see something we can jot it down along with the time." Hady agreed giving a small nod of her head. Why hadn't she thought of that? Shifting in her seat she watched the kitten pouncing on the paper with a soft laugh. It made her wonder if her own kitten was still on her bed in the dorm room.

Hadleigh glanced around at the others in the room making sure she hadn't missed anything other then the paper that had been handed to her earlier which she had seen but didn't pick up as the older girl gave her one.

Walking into the common room, Gregoire was destined to have an amazing term at Hogwarts. Even though it was his first year at Hogwarts, he was still considered a third year. Due to some events happening, his father needed to move to this Ministry of Magic in England from the one in France. Before, he went to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic in the City of Lights! Paris, France! He had to admit that he was a bit homesick for Paris. The thing- well, person that he missed the most was his girlfriend, Giovanni. It was a sad thought that he had to leave literally months after they met. You see, she too was a transfer student. But she was from Salem Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the US.

"Arretez Gaston!" (Stop Gaston!)

His cat, Gaston, was digging his claws into Gregoire's shoulder. This was getting extremely annoying. Gregoire didn't want to have to deal with this while he tried to make new friends. So he set his cat into his cat bag, and made sure to close it so that way he wouldn't be able to run away. With that situation out of the way...

Gregoire started to walk around. Today he would make new friends.

Maybe if you were trying to impress someone or annoy someone. Then they sounded fun. Big this was still a big old pile of nope. Though getting points randomly sounded cool and fun. Well as long as you don't take them seriously.

"Okay"

Dante flopped onto the floor and moved his head underneath the table. He squinted trying to see at what he should be looking for. There was a drawing and that should be it then. Terrible drawing it was. But he was not going to say that out loud. "Is that a Dead Kneazle?"

Could have been something else...like a dead hufflepuff.

Was that little boy ignoring her or something? Agatha stared at Dante as he obeyed Cutty and went under the short table in front of them. Hm. At least he proved himself to be obedient. At least that was good news. "Is your brother Nigel from Ravenclaw?" She asked again, eyes still on the ickle. It couldn't be. Agatha had already approved of Dante and she most definitely did not approve of crazy Nigel.

Dead kneazle? What the heck?

Agatha might have been a little curious herself to see what Dante was looking at. Why would anyone ever look underneath a table anyway? Was that Cutty's idea? It probably was, as the boy was a bit strange. But oh, look at that, he offered to carry her books to classes. Huh. Now that was a gentleman, right there. Did you hear this, Ethan? Something YOU'RE not. Hah. Agatha shot the other Mordaunt a LOOK and then gave Cutty a polite nod. "Thanks. My classes are probably the same as yours." Brilliant, she had gotten herself a slave! But wait a minute... "You're not going to charge me for it, are you?" Staaaare.

He was still trying to decided if it was a dead hufflepuff or a Dead Kneazle. He could not really tell. But his thoughts were interrupted by that girl Agatha. Did she know his brother too. And to think he thought Nigel would be an unpopular idiot. How wrong he was on one of those.

"Yeah Nigel Barrington is my brother"

Maybe it was best he was not in ravenclaw. He would be saying that constantly.....probably

"Yeah. Yeah, it's a dead kneazle. Yew see the eyes...how they're all...exed out. It's definitely dead. And a kneazle." Said the older boy with messed up hair a bit defensively. Cutty imagined himself a brilliant artist, you see.

"Their legacy shall live on. Yew should owl yer brotheh and tell 'im." And anything could happen from there. Anything or nothing, but it was no loss to Cutty Mordaunt. Maybe if the band became even larger, he could start charging people for introducing them to Dante. And in the few years, there could even be groupies if there weren't some already.



Cutty's jaw dropped at Agatha's reaction as he began to look quite affronted. "I wasn't going to have you pay one bronze knut, Agatha. Booht, is that what you think of me? That I'm joost soom greedy charlatan owtfer a quick buck?! I've half a mind to not carry yer books at all now. Forget I offered!" He stated plainly pulling away from her on the sofa as he waited for her reaction in 3,...2...!

Zander yawned as he rested his head back against the chair, glancing around the common room his thoughts wandered to food.... hmm... chicken would be good, in the back of his mind he could hear his Mother telling him all he ever does his eat, a small smile crept onto his face.

It actually seemed like a lot of work. Maybe if loads of people kept track, but if it came down to just Hadleigh and Dot, then Dot wasn't sure she wanted to play this game for very long. Like, what if they saw loads of little fish every day but never any mermaids, and there was Dot committed to writing down every flip of a fin. Or what if they never saw anything? Or what if they saw the darn squid and loads of mermaids every day?

"His name is Nimbus. 'Cause he's the color of a rain cloud." She poked Nimbus on the nose and got batted at for her troubles. "He likes to sleep in my bed." Which was kind of nice, actually, since she got cold at night. Nimbus was a cuddly little furnace, an unexpected bonus to having a kneazle. "Do you have any pets?"

Quote:

It actually seemed like a lot of work. Maybe if loads of people kept track, but if it came down to just Hadleigh and Dot, then Dot wasn't sure she wanted to play this game for very long. Like, what if they saw loads of little fish every day but never any mermaids, and there was Dot committed to writing down every flip of a fin. Or what if they never saw anything? Or what if they saw the darn squid and loads of mermaids every day?

"His name is Nimbus. 'Cause he's the color of a rain cloud." She poked Nimbus on the nose and got batted at for her troubles. "He likes to sleep in my bed." Which was kind of nice, actually, since she got cold at night. Nimbus was a cuddly little furnace, an unexpected bonus to having a kneazle. "Do you have any pets?"

Hady shifted in her seat pulling one of her legs up under her to get more comfortable. "Nimbus? That's a really cute name" She answered smiling softly as she looked at the kitten. He was cute and his name did seem to fit him. It made her think about her own kitten and she nodded her head slightly in reply to Dot's questions. "Yes I have a kitten as well though she's up in the dorm room right now. Her name is Hagan and she's a calico."