Daydreaming of partial upsweeps and french twists, Mariel turned back to Nia at the mention of their captain. "Willow? Hmm, maybe... she seems quite fond of her hair." The third year was sure she had seen the older girl change her hairstyle on occassion and thought she had caught her a time or two checking out her reflection in the locker room. "Maybe all the girls on the team could go for matching hairstyles... Who else? Elizabeth? Although her hair is kinda short, so maybe not... I guess we'll have to see who makes the team." Which made her think something entirely unpleasant. Mariel did not want to admit to Nia or anuone else for that matter that she was afraid of not making the team - which is partially why she acted so confident about it in front of everyone.

She frowned slightly, but only briefly because when Nia talked of her detangling cream, Mariel offered her a small, but grateful smile. "Well, I'm glad you like it. My mum was so good at that kind of stuff. She experimented with all sorts of potions for hair and skin." Which was certainly helpful in a house full of beauty-concious girls. "Madame Primpernelle's stuff is good and all, but even some of the product there is a bit lacking... I have a notebook that I wrote down some of the recipes for the potions that she invented." Smiling brighter as Nia offered her help, she added, "Oh, that would be great. We can get started on it this week, if you want, after we talk to Professor Shackleton." Certainly Professor Bontecou wouldn't tell them no, would he?

"Sure," she nodded as Nia asked to borrow her magazine. "Yeah, that one has a lot of good articles... It's my favorite one and I normally subscribe, but I inadvertantly let it lapse. Good thing Sarah picked it up for me." And very thoughtful too. Sarah didn't seem to be that much of a fan herself, at least not without Mariel's prodding. The third year nodded again at mention of Marco Denver. "I did... well, from across the store anyway. He had quite a crowd surrounding him." She giggled slightly, not sure if it was because she had been in his presence or from remembering all the fans crowded about him. "He did come over to make sure I had the proper permission to purchase the practice set, but he didn't say anything to me... and I didn't want to bother him." Or seem too fangirlish. "Did you... get his autograph?" she asked, genuinely curious. Of course Nia was probably used to meeting famous Quidditch players with her dad being a former pro.

Mariel's mind drifted somewhat as they talked about foreign places - Lasca's ranch in America and the oldest Morgan sister in New Zealand. And even though she hadn't been all that close to M'Lynn whe she was younger, she still thought maybe it would be a good idea to visit her - maybe over the Christmas break. Focusing her attention back on Nia as she spoke of her twin, she nodded slowly in understanding. Not a disease, but a Muggle film. "I'm afraid I don't know much about those... just the little that I've learned here. My friend Sarah is a Muggleborn as she fills me in on some things... Oh, and we watched a film last year in Astronomy... nothing with a Buzz in it though, I don't think." Odd that going to a magical school would be the place that she learned most about Muggles. She listened to her speak of Theo's obsession with the talking toy and grimaced slightly thinking of a thirteen year old with a temper tantrum. "Yes, I suppose a bat is better than a teenager carrying around a toy... er, the bat's not a toy, is it?" How was it that Nia seemed so sane, yet, from her description, her twin was the polar opposite?

And then talk turned back to Elan, Italy and the 'mid' something 'iss' thing - talk that had started to make her feel slightly uncomfortable because of what her mind worked out what she thought Elan might have meant - or was her imagination just running away with her? Yeah, that was probably it... Nodding as she kept her gaze on her hands, she said, "Yeah, you're probably right. I'm sure he didn't mean anything about kissing... That would be weird."

Because in Mariel's young mind, kissing was only meant for adults... or at least older kids, like seventh years, or something like that. This whole boy and girl liking each other thing was weird to the third year, and yet it seemed like everyone around her did not share her opinion. Was she meant to like boys already too? She thought of the few boys she had as friends and shook her head no - they were far too strange and just plain boy-like for her to think of them that way... or were they? She was so confused and her mind drifted to one of last year's Quidditch games when that boy kissed Willow. At the time Mariel was sure that her captain told him off... but maybe she didn't... And then there was Lasca and the very reason she was waiting for her to come through that door... Not to mention Jenn and Biff in their first year. Had the whole world gone mad? Mariel put her hands over her face and tried to clear her head. Could Elan have really said what she thought he might have said? Maybe... or not, but Nia was her friend and she couldn't just not tell her what she thought, especially if it seemed important. She'd want someone to tell her the same if the situation were reversed. Oh, and now Nia noticed that she looked odd anyway.

"Oh, I'm fine," Mariel said as she looked up and managed a weak smile. "I, uh, just thought of something when we were trying to work out what Elan said... I remembered something my sister Meloria told me once. She was always so boy-crazy and would come home telling us about different boyfriends she had... Anyway I remember this one year she came home over the Christmas holiday and went out with her boyfriend for New Year's Eve. The next day she told me about how you're supposed to kiss your boyfriend at midnight for good luck..." Slowly she added, "So when I was thinking about those words, the phrase 'midnight kiss' popped into my head." Then she said quickly, "But that's probably not what he meant... I mean, he's not your boyfriend, right? It was probably just some Italian word, like I said." Mariel took a deep breath as she watched for Nia's reaction, hoping that she hadn't just said the wrong thing and upset her.