"I was saying," Lilah began, no trace of eye rolling or annoyance at her brothers moment in space: after all, with a brain as big as Ringo's, Lilah often wondered how on Earth he kept track of everything that was going on around him. "That I want to do a talent show or something, with the House kids, at the end of summer."

Her and Nana had discussed it, but of course she needed Ringo's opinion. Ringo's approval. If he didn't think it was a good idea, if he didn't think it would be fun, or if he thought that it would go badly, then there was no way it was happening. "What do you think?"

"I'm sorry I'm late, but my dad was being a dad and talking to me about hanging out with boys," Junia announced as she slipped into the seat across from the Gryffindor and gave him an apologetic smile. "Apparently you're a scary lot that can't be trusted." She squinted at him, as if trying to see past the outer facade for any signs of said scariness. Her expression turned to one of amusement as she added, "I like to think we're the scary ones-girls. What do you think?" Propping her chin on her hand, she watched him expectantly. She really was very curious to hear what he had to say. Then ice cream. She was hungry too, you know.

Ringo glanced at his hand, and sighed, wiping the ice cream with a napkin. That would be sticky in a few minutes, which was looking like it would ruin his day completely. He finally looked back at Lilah and shrugged. "Do you think they'll enjoy it? What if they get upset that they don't win? What will you make as prizes? Will you have a ban on stupid or dangerous talents? What if someone wants to join in but doesn't have a 'talent'?" Ringo was all for his sister and her kind hearted plans, but he also wanted to make sure that she had thought everything through and didn't get her own heart broken.

"I think if you can get Mum involved, she could organise something to promote the house again..." You know...for adoption reasons.

Ringo. Ringo, Ringo, Ringo. Of course he could know about the idea for all of nought-point-seven seconds and have thought it through completely thoroughly so that Lilah knew exactly what could possibly go wrong. She did frown a little, and bit down slightly on her bottom lip before returning her spoon to her mouth and sucking on it thoughtfully. If it had been anyone else who's said it, even if she'd been anyone else, there would have been tantrums and maybe even tears...

But not with her and Ringo. Lil was quiet for a while, before eating another spoonful of ice cream and leaning back in the booth. "I.... I don't know," she finally said. "I guess I'll have to think a lot more. I mean, of course we can't have anything too dangerous, but maybe Tak could play his Ukelele and..." She trailed off, deep in thought.

"Yeah, I'll definitely speak to her."

Sam was in the midst of some casual people watching when his friend showed up and claimed the place across from him. His eyes relocated to Junia as she explained the reason behind her tardiness. A talking-to from her dad about spending time with boys? For a moment Sam was unsure of how to respond to that, but then he caught a smile on her face and gave a light smile of his own. Clearly the conversation had not deterred her from hanging out with him just yet.

His grin tugged a little further as she explicitly surveyed him. "Scary, hmm?" Sam didn't believe he'd ever been called scary, except perhaps in the mornings when his hair was uncommonly messier than usual. "Your dad is quite severe upon his own sex. Then again, it also sounds like he's just being a dad." And some boys were jerks.

Granted, so were some girls.

She appeared very curious about the topic though, and he had to admit, he was enjoying such steady attention from her. "I think boys and girls can both be scary in their own right. But I think boys have a harder time understanding girls than girls do understanding boys, so I think that makes girls generally more intimidating." A very logical, Sam answer.

"Why do you think girls are scarier?"

Ringo offered Lilah his ice cream and frowned too. "I can try help, too. They're not like Jorgie, Maverick and McCartney. They won't just throw themselves into something like this without there being benefits for them..." Ringo was more than used to hearing the kids at Stemp House ask 'what's in it for me?' and similar things. It didn't upset him, because he was well aware that he didn't understand their struggles or them as a whole. But Lilah? She was easily upset and Ringo wasn't feeling very optimistic about his Lilah-fixing powers now that she was getting older.

"I don't think Tak would want to play in a kids talent show." Ringo knew enough of the boy to expect nothing less.

Junia's dad was the most dad-like dad she'd ever met and while she felt he was being too overprotective, she liked that he cared so much. She never ever doubted that.

Pleased with his answer, Junia's smile grew considerably. There was something satisfying about knowing she could be intimidating, 'specially because her family was full of strong women that she hoped to be like. Wait until Rula heard about this! She'd be pleased too, surely.

"I think it's harder to read us, like you said. We can feel and think about all kinds of things at once and it's hard to know what to expect. Girls are definitely more unpredictable." She nodded solemnly and then sat up straighter. "It's our secret weapon." Had to be on their toes, boys did. The smart ones, anyway.

"What flavor ice cream do you think a scary girl like me should get? Her eyes lit up, looking around to check out what those around them seemed to be eating. For inspiration, you know. Her tummy would start grumbling soon if she didn't eat something.

Eager for some cold ice-cream, Isabel ordered two scoops of her favorite muggle flavor: cookies and cream. Since she had tasted this fascinating flavor, she'd drool over trying some whenever she knew a new year at Hogwarts was coming. Having bought new robes and school uniforms for her new year with her father, she'd dropped him at the Quality Quidditch Supplies shop before she'd landed her eyes on the ice-cream shop. Isabel knew that when he'd notice her gone, it would have taken a couple of ice-cream flavors before he came to fetch her to continue their adventure through Diagon Alley's shopping.
Sitting inside the ice-cream shop, Isabel grabbed a plastic spoon from a wooden stand in the center of the table and proceded into her cookies & cream. She looked around the blue leather chairs in search of anyone she knew.

Junia did appear to be rather pleased by his answer. So, she liked to be considered intimidating. Interesting.

"Although let's not forget that boys can feel and think about all kinds of things at once as well," Sam added with an easy smile. If unpredictability was the secret weapon of females, he looked forward to some of this unpredictability from her. Good unpredictability. Not, say, getting hit over the head with a beater's bat or something. CoughGennycough.

But now she was having him guess. Which flavor, hmm? Sam put his hand to his chin and set his eyes on her - this time he was the one analyzing her. About ice cream flavors, mind you. " I think chocolate chip cookie dough."

When he, his mum and his little sister had gotten into Diagon Alley earlier, he knew he would have two option; accompany them into the Beauty Shop or ask for a few sickles to get himself a treat while he waited. His mum was reluctant at first, but then he reminded her of last summer, and how he'd gone and broken things in Madam Primpernelles. It was enough to have her second guessing her decision to drag him in their against his will after that and earned him enough sickles to get himself a double scoop of jelly slug flavoured ice-cream.

Blaise thanked the shopkeeper before turning to take a look at the seating options. His quick quotes quill that usually accompanied him everywhere, hovered just above his shoulder on the alert in the event something interesting happened.

Brown eyes swept the shop, finally landing on a familiar face. Someone he could while away the time until his mum was ready to take him and Julie book shopping.

"Hey Isabel." He said, flopping into the seat opposite her at the table. "Fancy running into you here. Break from school shopping?"

Junia wasn't so sure she believed that, but she'd give Sam the benefit of the doubt. He was her friend, after all. He probably had to think about how pretty she was while also thinking about how smart and endearing she was, all at the same time. If that wasn't multitasking, she didn't know what was.

Being analyzed was nice, the brunette decided. It made her feel interesting, more so than she usually did. She found herself holding his gaze, a smile in place the whole time. He looked older since she'd last seen him at school, she thought. Taller, too. Luckily she seemed to be experiencing a growth spurt, so she'd be catching up to him in no time at all. Heh.

"Yum." Chocolate chip cookie dough wasn't her favorite, but it was delicious. "That's an excellent choice, but you forgot the chocolate sauce on top. Chocolate sauce is a must." Those were the rules. "In a cup, please." Because a cone would be too messy and she was a princess, remember?

...This was still his treat, right?

Glancing up from her ice-cream, Isabel recognized Blaise's familiar face. Although she hand't talked to him much, his hovering quill over his shoulders was something that characterized his presence.

Isabel wasn't a loner, but she had barely made herself notice until now. She'd decided she'd stand up, throw herself into new adventures, not care what people thought about her, but most importantly: she'd decided to let her true personality brighten up.

"Hey Blaise," Isabel said softly, her sweet voice was accompanied by a hand gesture pointing at the seat in front of her. "Mind making some company? My feet hurt from all the walking, and still..." she scooped some ice-cream in her plastic spoon's tip, "...My dad and I are missing a lot of items." She frowned, making a mouth gesture, followed by a small giggle.
"How's your shopping coming? Found anything interesting yet?" Her green eyes looked around at Blaise's silhouette for shopping-bags.

"I don't mind at all. Got nothing else doing 'til my mum and sister get done over at Primpernelles." As it happened, Blaise Bellaire was not the type to necessarily sit around eating ice-cream alone. There were exceptions, of course, like when he got into people watching and dictating their lives for his quill to embellish. There looked to be some interesting people out in the courtyard but this seat suited him just fine.

"I don't think I ever find anything interesting about school shopping." The 15 year old's off-handed comment was punctuated by the ice-cream that was promptly popped into his mouth. "I mean, back in my first year sure but now...it's just the same old same old." Getting books he had no intention of using because of classes he had every intention of skipping; getting fitted with new robes for a school he never wanted to go back to; getting potions and stationery equipment that he had no interest in using.

"Won't get any real shopping done 'til I come back with my cousin." A typical sight really. Being in the same house, year and dorm as Bentley, they were usually seen together. "We'll likely hit the joke shop and I wanna try talking him into getting fake tattoos. Mum will flip but it'll be cool til then."

Junia was pretty, smart, and endearing. And for the record, Sam had no trouble thinking about all of that at the same time.

He'd initially been analyzing her with a very serious, or at least mock-serious, expression on his face, but this seemed to break when she smiled and kept his gaze. So much for that poker face.

And..? He was right! Hah. There. Sam very much liked to be right, and a satisfied smile followed soon after. "Chocolate chip cookie dough with chocolate sauce on top, in a dish," he repeated, getting her order right aloud. Sam also preferred a dish to a cone because of the fact that it was less messy. Good choice, Junia. "Okay, you stay put, " he said as he got out of his seat. "And I'll be back with some ice cream."

"A fake tattoo?" Bell asked, raising an eyebrow, curious about it. She'd thought about talking her father through the need of a tattoo on her wrist. "I'd like to get a permanent one...on my inner wrist," she continued, as she raised her pale-white hand and showed the inner side of it. Isabel was so pale you could even notice her green veins. "I wanted something small, green, a tribal that only meant something to me..." She'd thought about having a tear drop within a tear drop, but green? She'd fallen in love with green ever since she was a little girl.

"How about you? Where would you get that fake tattoo?" she emphasized her word fake. It would be nice talking Blaise into getting a perm tattoo with her, maybe his cousin would get one too, a nice discount. She grabbed from the wooden stand a napkin, and tore a small piece of the corner and placed it in between her fingers, making a round ball. Placing the piece of paper in between her thumb and index finger she catapulted the napkin at Blaise. It hit him in his right eye. Isabel laughed. "I'm sorry, I usually can't seem to keep my hands entertained for too long!" Isabel grinned at Blaise. She felt comfortable around him, enough to be silly and such.

"Mhm, just a fake one." He confirmed, not at all bothered by the curious looks. "Doubt my parents would be thrilled about a real one and I can't get a permanent one without direct permission from them so it's a lost cause really." Besides, tattoos--real ones--were so...you know, permanent. What if he woke up one morning and decided he didn't like it anymore? What would he do then? Grow a new patch of skin? And even if that WAS the answer, no thanks. He didn't need unnecessary magic being used on ANY part of him.

He might have gone on to answer the question she'd asked but the Fifth Year soon found himself distracted by the rolling of the napkin that got the attention of his quill. There was hardly any time to react to the projectile being sent at him, leaving it a wonder he got it to avoid his eye at all. Quick reflexes had him swatting it at the very last minute and sending it tumbling off the table.

Eye no longer in immediate danger, the boy allowed a chuckle. "No harm no foul, not unless we listen to my quill anyway." It had no doubt documented the harmless gesture as a full on assault and while it could certainly work to his advantage, he had very little reason to play it up. Isabel wasn't one of the several girls he frequently ran into at Hogwarts that were ready to rip him, his ideals and his quill to shreds so it was all good. "Reckon I could help you with that problem though." Blaise reached for the napkin he'd swatted off the table just now but without much explanation, he flicked it right back at her.

"I'll be here," She called after him, smile in place. She liked having the last word, Junia did. She also hoped that the queue wasn't too long because sitting here by herself ice cream-less and lonely wasn't much fun at all.

People watching served as a good distraction so she sat back in her chair and got comfortable, gaze shifting from one table to the next. Hm.

Not too long after, Sam came back with both of their orders: one chocolate chip cookie dough with chocolate sauce in a dish and one chocolate frog flavor with no toppings, in a dish.

"One for the princess," Sam noted, setting hers before her. "And one for me," he finished as he reclaimed his seat across from her. He almost always got Chocolate Frog. Anything Chocolate Frog flavored he liked. After taking a sizable bite, he let it melt between his tongue and the roof of his mouth before speaking.

"So, if you weren't in Slytherin, what house do you think you'd be in?"

The grin she was currently wearing? Yeah, that was because he called her a princess. Good on him for remembering and for humoring her. He was earning major friend points today, did he know? Redeemable for things like future hangouts and original, Junia-made drawings. This was very exciting stuff.

Digging into her ice cream, the thirteen year old took a moment to consider Sam's question. She'd always seen herself as a Slytherin, but there was another house that she would be proud to belong to for reasons. "It's sort of a Botros tradition-with a few exceptions-that family members are put into Slytherin house or Hufflepuff house. I guess if I wasn't a snake, I'd want to be a badger. I think I'd feel at home there, too." She paused, taking another bite. "What about you?" He had her full attention again, wasn't he lucky?

Sam noticed the way her lips curled into a grin when he called her a princess. Well, well. Pat on the back for him. It paid to have a good memory.

He scooped up a bite with a big chuck of chocolate frog as she contemplated her answer. So she came from a family of Slytherins and Hufflepuffs, which explained why her next choice would be a badger. Okay, that made sense. "Interesting. Clearly Slytherin suits you better, though," he added. When she directed the question back to him, Sam didn't need time to think about his answer. "Ravenclaw. I was actually really surprised to have gotten Gryffindor." And with how long that hat took to put him in a house, he had almost begun to believe that he'd never get sorted at all.

The napkin piece hit Isabel on her hair, and she giggled. She ran her fingers through her silky hair, trying to get the projectile out of it, which she found hard. Her hair was silky and long, but it was so thin it made her hard to reach. She frowned and curled her lips, as she managed to place her green eyes upon her victim. "I can't get it out," she pouted, her lips still curled, making a puppy-pout face. "Mind some help here, pwease?" She liked making faces and being silly. Being spoiled was something her father had developed through the many years of her life, she was the little: daddy's girl.

Feeling curious about the floating quill, Bell pointed her pale finger at the floating object, and whispered: "Are we in an interview?" Her soft giggle turned into a grin, complementing: "Because if we are..." She corrected her position, sitting straight, "...You can proceed with the questions." She'd seen Blaise around, sitting a few seats away during classes or staring at him during study periods or just seeing him around the Common Room. Isabel looked down at her lap, feeling worried. She'd been a lonely girl, until recently, throughout vacations she'd thought about being a different person; about being more herself. Isabel had always been the kind of girl that followed the rules, who'd never skipped class or missed a homework; she'd been everything she hated, until this summer. She'd contemplated the idea of being fifteen, young and beautiful; the idea of being and doing reckless things.

"I'm trying to change," she confessed to Blaise, looking up from her lap and into his eyes. "I've been a different person up until now. I want to be..." she paused and smiled, "...More myself. I'm sorry if that scared you."
Staring back again at his dangling quill, she asked: "Now really, I haven't asked about your Hovering Quill, want to explain it to me?" She smiled gently.

"I would agree with that. Plus my sister is there, which I like. We're quite close." So close that Junia felt comfortable borrowing-using the term loosely here-just about anything she pleased from the older Botros girl.

"My cousin Lilian was in Ravenclaw. First girl in our family in ages, probably." Junia wasn't sure on the specifics, but she knew that Lil had broken the mold when she was placed there. "She's just about the smartest person around. You're smart, too. I could see you there." She could. "You like it though, don't you? Gryffindor, I mean." Adrastos and Astrea seemed to enjoy it.

...Also, it was sort of funny, Junia starting her own Gryffindor collection. Most of the people she enjoyed at this school seemed to be in that house. Interesting, very interesting.

Lucky for her, Blaise Bellaire was the most helpful person in existence--when he had a mind to be. "Only because that pout is so convincing." He teased as he reached across the table to remove the lodged napkin. "I happen to be very good at removing things from girl hair." Usually after putting it there himself, or when Bentley did in cases with Clara. Sometimes it was necessary in order to keep the peace, but most times there was no peace with those two.

The Gryffindor settled back into his seat with an amused grin. "S'not an interview unless you want it to be--most never do." Which was a shame really. His quill could make them into the most dead interesting people in existence if they'd only give it a chance. "I'd say outside of yearbook, I hardly get anyone to proper sit down for an interview." And outside of his interviews with Norah, there weren't any he was particularly keen on conducted. The one with Rooney before term let out was....interesting, to say the least. Strange boy that one.

Blaise might have indeed begun his questioning when she offered up information on her own. He could understand where she was coming from. Not necessarily from a personal standpoint as Blaise was simply Blaise and changed for no one, but he DID know how great it felt to just be yourself and wished the same on others. "No better time to start than now. You just gotta dive into stuff, really. Being a Gryffindor makes it even easier. Preeeetty sure we get away with a whole lot more." Which said a lot in a castle where students could do just about whatever they wanted. The possibilities were endless.

Brown eyes briefly glanced over at the quill that was hovering above his shoulder, diligently embellishing the conversation. "Nothing much to say. I take it everywhere I go and it makes life seem more interesting." He could have gone on and on about his obsession with it and with documenting, but that was hardly an ice-cream conversation.

Sam had gathered that Junia and her sister were close without his friend needing to mention it. Rula, was it? Yes, Junia had mentioned her before. On multiple occasions, actually. "My sister is a Slytherin, you know," he added, "She's a second year - Olivia." So, Junia had probably seen her around the common room or something. And although there were similarities in their physical appearance, Sam would wager that Junia probably hadn't guessed any relation between them merely because of the fact that Liv was noticeably more sociable, and more troublesome, than her older brother.

He nodded as she mentioned that her cousin was in Ravenclaw. "Had to be the different one in the family," he said with an easy smile. "Oh, don't get me wrong - I really like being in Gryffindor. I was just surprised, that's all." Maybe it had been because he wanted to be there. He liked the brave and gallant acts that those heroes performed in all those books he read.

His ice cream was not disappointing, by the way. Totally hitting the spot right now. "You want to try some of the chocolate frog flavor?"

"Olivia..." Did she know an Olivia? The name sounded familiar, though she didn't recall ever chatting with the younger snake. "I'll have to meet her properly when we get back to school. See what kind of things she can tell me about her big brother." Her eyes sparkled mischievously and then she laughed. She was teasing. Mostly teasing.

"Sometimes surprises can be good. I've always liked them." And maybe being a Gryffindor would help Sam be the kind of guy he liked to read about. Junia believed he could be one, just like she believed that she could be a princess. They were destined for greatness, she'd decided. She also decided it'd be nice if she could be around to watch him achieve his greatness. That could be arranged, yes?

"I sure would." The thirteen year old smiled and pushed her bowl towards him. "You can have some of mine, if you want." Only a little bit, though.