Thriftwood Manor
 

After graduating from the clutches of University Dia agreed to move in and share an apartment with her three bestfriends: Lizzie, James and Cameron. It hadn't been very long into the move that Lizzie ran into a very interesting girl, Scarlett, who was in a bit of a fix until her and her fiance could find a place of their own. Well...they had been meaning to move into a house soon anyway, especially with Dia's mother breathing down their necks to get their life into order. In an effort to please her mother and help a new friend in need Dia contacted her mother and asked her to fund Thriftwood Manor--the house of their dreams. Glad that her daughter was finally getting a proper place of abode away from Muggle London Allison happily paid the price and had the house handed over to them. Now with two knew members to their little 'family' the boys must try to learn a little thing called civility and a few lessons in manners that Lizzie has been trying to teach since the day they met each other in the halls of Hogwarts. Will the move draw them closer or show them that it really is time for them to go their separate ways after over a decade of friendship?

Will all the new relationships developing cause dissension among the friends? Can Dia and Lizzie handle the women that the boys bring through the house day in and day out? Can the boys take things seriously long enough to realize that they can't keep messing with every relationship that starts to blossom for the girls? Will Scarlett and Chris Hawkins survive living in such a chaotic household or will they decide to just try their lucks back on the streets after just one month of childish pranks and inconsiderate gestures?

Thriftwood Manor, the things of dreams...step inside at your own risk.

Characters:
Dia Thriftwood
Lizzie Courwell
Cameron Grail
James Pickerton

Friends who stop by or spend some time at the manor:

SIDE STORY: can't edit the title but bear with me Arisa has left Hogwarts and is not too sure what to do with the rest of her life. Still with her parents she tries to figure life out as much as possible. Can she survive her chaotic parents and a lonely house?

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...twoodManor.jpg

First event: A house warming party thing to celebrate their move to the manor; compliments of Allison Thriftwood herself.

Lizzie walked around the room trying to get every last detail in order before anyone started arriving. Gosh, you would think that since this whole party was Dia's idea she would have been more keen to help. There would have to be a new rule: If anyone wanted a party they would have to set it up themselves. She felt her eyes twitch when her hands landed on a soiled glass cup.

"Guy's this seriously isn't funny, no one is here yet and you guys are already messing with the stuff!" She fumed. Leave it to her to find some reason to yell at them. Half the time she just thought they were intolerable.

Lighten up, Liz, it was only one drink and hey if it makes you feel better we shared the glass, Right Dia?" Cameron said with a smirk as he entered the room and watched the frantic motions of his dear friend. He had to admit that he wasn't thirsty when he dirtied that glass but just thinking about her reaction was enough reason to. She was the best person to mess with. Adding Dia's name was a bonus. According to her they needed to know their boundaries when it came to Dia, but who was she to say that? They had known Dia all their lives.

"Yup." Dia chimed cheerfully. She was glad to be having people over. Her smile quickly disappeared when she walked into the livingroom and saw how annoyed Lizzie looked. "You know it was all his idea I just saw him drinking something and he offered but I had no idea it was your freshly cleaned glass..." She wasn't trying to rub it in but clearing her name early was always a good thing. Soon after she averted her gaze and found something else to occupy herself with.

James heard the shouting and thought better about entering the livingroom. Great, she was in one of her "Lizzie rants" again. He never did enjoy those--especially since her want tended to spring into action shortly afterwards if she didn't get her way. Though she didn't want to admit it she was just as spoilt as Dia. He shook his head, entering anyway and was relieved to see that she didn't look as angry as she sounded. "Let me guess, someone annoyed her."

"Nail on the head Einstein!" Cameron congratulated sarcastically but the two quickly quieted down after one look at her glare.

Ashley was quite excited as she headed to her newest friend's house. She had only just met the girl this year but already felt that Dia was someone she could trust. The blonde was also quite anxious to meet the friends that Dia was always going on about...the boys in particular, since they were the reason Dia and Ashley had met in the first place.

When she arrived at the manor, Ashley gaped at the outside of the place. It was HUGE. And gorgeous. She fidgeted with her coat, suddenly feeling very out of place. Compared to her tiny flat, this place was a palace. Taking a deep breath, the blonde held the bamboo she had brought for her friend a little tighter and stepped up to the door. After knocking a few times, she took a step back and waited anxiously for someone to answer the door.

"I'll get it! Dia blurted before rushing over to the door. As she slipped pass Lizzie she gave her a warm smile to affirm how much her doing this without much complaint meant to her and she giggled when she saw Lizzie roll her eyes jokingly of course. Yup. There was love...somewhere deep down there.

"We'll help you get it." James said, after seeing another full on glare. Just how many warnings did she think they needed for them to know they had to behave. This was a big thing for Dia and it was the least they could do after nearly having her get a tattoo.

Dia threw the door open and a large grin spread across her face. "Ashey!" She squealed before eagerly pulling her friend inside and slamming the door behind her. "I'm so glad you could make it. Her speech was now going a mile a minute; as it always did when she was excited. "Guys..." She said with a mischievous smile. "This is the genius that helped me outsmart you two."

"No kidding?" Cameron said with a reflective smile as he sized up the woman. He didn't know how he felt about being outsmarted by a woman but eh geniuses came from everywhere. "Well then it's a pleasure to meet you." He said, while extending his hand to shake hers. See? He could be decent.

"Very much so." James said, from inside his own thoughts. They had really been worried when Dia started crying and he was wondering if that was her doing as well. Quite the cunning one.

The squeal and grin that greeted Ashley at the door caused her to forget her nerves. She returned the wide smile and held out the bamboo plant sheepishly. "Hey, lady! For your new place...for luck and all." And then she was being pulled inside by a very excited Dia. She laughed, letting it happen without any complaints.

The fast talking Dia thing was actually quite amusing to the blonde. She smiled at her friend and then at the two men who were standing in front of her. What would they make of the so-called genius that Dia was introducing?

The first guy, Ashley could tell he was studying her. She raised an eyebrow at him but her smile didn't falter. She actually didn't mind being sized up. When he extended his hand, Ashley's went out to take hold of it. "It's nice to meet you too,-" Wait, which one was he again? "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

And then there was the other guy, the one who seemed to be talking to himself. She looked from him back to Dia, eyebrows raised again. Did he normally do this, the zoning out thing?

"Ooh for me? You shouldn't have." She said wistfully as she took the bamboo. "I Know Lizzie will especially love this, she's always looking for things to make the place look better." And for luck huh? Her mother had told her never to rely on such things...but then again her mother told her not to hang out with the boys too. Eh, it didn't matter. She reached over and handed it to Lizzie.

"Wow it looks amazing." She just felt she had to tell her. These would make a nice addition to the ones she had put the kitchen window. It was going to look so nice. She gave her a polite smile. "Thank you, I'm Lizzie by the way, Lizzie Courwell." She made a beeline fo the kitchen. "Excuse me for just a second."

"Cameron." He told her without dropping his smile. Well this was already an interesting encounter. Usually when the two started smiling a certain smile at a woman she got suspicious but this one seemed to smile as if she had no clue. All the better, maybe they could have some fun--no...Lizzie was still in the house and sadly enough, she would have killed them. He sighed to himself, she was such a kill joy sometimes.

"I must say that was clever thinking. I can't remember the last time I had seen a water tattoo before Dia came home with one. Of course with all her crying I had no time to notice. Another clever plan by you I suppose?" Unless, of course, the crying bit was Dia's idea. That also seemed possible.

Dia couldn't help but laugh at her friends puzzled look. Funnily enough she knew what she was thinking because they got it alot when they went out. "Don't mind him, he's a bit more calculative when he's sizing people up-nothing to worry about." She assured her before giving him a playful punch.

James chuckled. He had to stop doing that. "Ah, I'm James, nice to meet you." He said, briefly offering his hand. She was pretty quick. Most girls would be too busy talking about themselves to notice...or see the next thing coming. He nodded his agreement when Cameron mentioned the water tattoos. They hadn't seen them in ages.

Good. So Dia liked bamboo. That was a relief. Ashley was unsure whether that was an appropriate house warming gift. Truth be told, she had never actually been to a house warming before. "I'm glad you like it." The gift that is.

Oh! And this was the Lizzie person Dia had talked so much about. Ashley was a little apprehensive to meet the girl, especially since she didn't like jokesters and Ashley had helped with the whole tattoo thing. She seemed nice enough though, and she was smiling so that was a good sign. "It's really nice to meet you, Lizzie." Ashley said, returning the smile before watching the girl disappear as quickly as she had come.

Cameron, huh? Ashley nodded with a smile. That was a good strong Irish name. She listened, amused, as this Cameron character spoke of the little scheme her and Dia had thought up. "Well I couldn't very well make Dia get a real tattoo. She was horrified at the thought of one. A water tattoo just seemed like the best option." She said with a nod, proud of her idea. As for the crying part..."Oh no, that was totally Dia. From what she tells me, she had you lot quite worried." And the blonde laughed, looking at her friend.

Ashley nodded as Dia explained about the other character who was still looking at her. "Right, Noted." She said with a smirk, observing the guy curiously. So his name was James, good to know. "Nice to meet you, James." She said, extending her own hand and shaking his.

"It looks perfect where I placed it." Lizzie said, absolutely beaming as she walked back into the room. She stopped short of the others when she caught their conversation and the mention of tattoos. So this girl was involved with that too? She nearly sighed. The last thing she needed was another James or Cameron being around Dia. But she wouldn't go all beserk just yet; it was always good to give people the benefit of the doubtbefore yelling at them for being irresponsible.

She forced on a smile. "Oh...so you were apart of that whole..." She coughed. "mishap with the tattoo." She had to fight to not roll her eyes at the two. Of all the bone headed things they could have done they chose the ONE thing that Dia was terrified of?! And here she thought they at least had more sense than that.

Cameron's eyes drifted over to Dia. He wasn't sure just how proud to be for her thinking up that all by herself. So they were rubbing off on her afterall. Nice try Lizzie but they were contagious and this Ashley person was proof. "Nice going D." He said, reaching over to ruffle her hair but he was stopped at the last minute by the lethal glare on Lizzie's face. Normally he wouldn't have cared but earlier Dia had to spend nearly two hours up in Lizzie's room getting her hair done even though it didn't look much different and he couldn't let that go to waste. He just sighed instead then turned to Ashley once more. "Well it was an interesting twist. I had almost forgotten that such things even existed." He chuckled just a bit. Yeah...he knew she was terrified of needles, but that was half the fun!

"If you don't mind me saying." James added, seemingly reading Cameron's mind with just a glance. "her terror is half the fun."

"Yeah that's pretty much true."

"It most certainly is not--what if she never came home?" Lizzie questioned. The two shrugged indifferently.

"Hey!" Dia protested with the tone of a spoilt child. When she did both guys winked at her and she giggled. Seeing this made Lizzie lose the power to hold it in anymore and indeed she rolled her eyes. you'd think they would act a little better in front of the guest.

Ashley heard Lizzie enter the room again and frowned before she realized she was doing it. So she knew Ashley was involved now...did that mean she would be yelled at? Probably not though, right? That wasn't something that went on at House Warming parties...and then she was asking her. Actually making her admit her role. She matched the woman's forced smile with one of her own before speaking. "I helped Dia, if that's what you mean. She didn't want a real tattoo so I only gave her a way around it." So she had really prevented a real tattoo from happening, which was a good thing right?

The blonde enjoyed watching the interaction between Dia and the two boys. It was quite amusing, the way they acted like older brothers towards her. It made her smile return, a real one this time. "Yup, they still exist. And still work pretty well too, apparently." Ashley said with a smirk in response to Cameron's comment.

She laughed as the boys joked about Dia's terror being fun. Eyeing her friend, she turned to give it back to the men. "From what Dia told me about your reactions, your terror is quite fun to witness as well."

And then Lizzie, who didn't seemed pleased at all about this conversation, was scolding the boys. Ashley decided to stop talking at that moment, just watching the scene. At least Dia didn't seem bothered. She looked like she was pretty used to this type of thing.

"Oh." she said, finding herself calming down again. Well so long as she wasn't actively helping them to corrupt the only friend she had managed to make at Hogwarts then she was fine and this girl could pass the inspection--it also helped that she had messed up the guys' plans by getting Dia a fake one. Merlin knew she would have turned them both into frogs for a month if Dia had come home with a real tattoo and she knew that they knew that too. That was one of the reasons they weren't so disappointed when she came home that night with a fake tattoo. Her smile became genuine. Well I'm glad you did. you saved a lot of people by doing that. she said before flashing an innocent look over at the guys who averted their gazes immediately.

James and Cameron began laughing in spite of themselves. It was true. When Dia had come home crying her eyes out, shaking like she'd just gone through something rather traumatizing they couldn't help but automatically assume the worst. They knew she was terrified of needles but even when she was terrified she never cried like that. What were they to do? "Yeah, I admit that wasn't one of our better moments." he said. They had been a real wreck when they saw her. So many thougths ran through their heads like: What would her mother do to them? What would Lizzie do to them? and most importantly: What had happened to make her so ... he didn't even know how to describe it but he never wanted to see her like that again. Not that they would lay of the pranking though, those were too fun.

"Yeah, you really had us worried their for a second D." James elaborated just a bit more as he nudge her on the cheek with a slack fist. "We thought you might have seen something terrible right before getting it, or maybe something awful happened to you afterwards. I mean the only tears you cry are fake! There was no end to how worried they were when they saw her crying--especially since she rarely cried in the first place. They had seen her tumbled down a hill once when she was six okay maybe they had pushed her but when she got to the bottom she just got up and asked if she won. Such a trooper she was so crying...definitely a new sign for them.

Dia smiled sheepishly at the two. it had been endless fun making them worry the way they did and she kinda wanted to do it again...but not so soon. She turned to her friend again. "You see what I have to live with? Now can you honestly blame me for how I reacted? I swear they really would have cut my head off if I didn't--"

"What?!"

"Nothing!" The three chorused. Dia had forgotten that Lizzie didn't know about that part of the bet. She quickly turned her attention to Ashley again. "So um are you hungry? There's plenty of food, I can go get you some." She offered.

So this was the moment Jade was randomly looking forward to. She wasn't sure why but she was. Maybe it was because of the opportunity to meet more people. She'd be able to meet some of the people James knew. And maybe even become even closer friends with James himself. She had to admit it, there was something about him she quite liked. A lot! Though she just couldn't put her finger on it. And she probably wouldn't be able until she had gotten the chance to get to know James a little better. But this would be the perfect opportunity. He'd invited her to a house warming party and she wasn't one to turn down a party invite. Oh no! She would never turn down that kind of offer. Especially if she didn't know all that many people and there would be plenty of other people there.

She made her way toward the large manor scanning the building from top to bottom as she got closer. So this was where he lived. It was where he lived, right? He wasn't there just for the sake of it? Well, she would soon find out. She walked to the door and knocked kind of quietly hearing voices inside. Would they hear her knock over the many voices inside? She'd find out soon enough.

"Oooooh I'll get it!" Dia said, almost forgetting that she had offered her friend something to eat. Not that she wasn't going to get it for her but she was just excited that someone else had shown up. She ran to the door and threw it open with a wide smile. Her expression became curious when she saw a woman she had never met before standing at the door. "Hi." She said, "Who are you?" Hopefully she didn't come off as being rude, she was just happy to see a new face.

James became suspicious at hearing his friends question. Someone Dia didn't know...? Well they had all invited people they had met so...just maybe...--

He hurried over to the door before his friend could scare her off in anyway at all. He found himself smiling as he looked over at Jade. There was just no hiding his delight at seeing the woman again. After their encounter in the candy store he had wanted to see her again and when Dia decided that she wanted to throw a party to celebrate their new house he found the perfect opportunity. He didn't know what it was about her but seemed like one of the only femal he would have ever tried taking the time out to know. Yes that was it actually. He wanted to know more but how he would do that still had him wondering...

"Jade, so glad to could make it, well come in." He said, gesturing for her to step inside. He led her through the small hall that led to the living room where everyone was still having a conversation. "Everyone, this is Jade."

"The woman you ran into at the Candy Store?" Cameron asked for clarification. He had been told about her, in fact the day James met her that was all he was told about. He had to admit it was a little annoying at first but after seeing her he could understand why.

James cleared his throat. Um, yes. Jade these guys are my closest friends: Cameron and you've already met Dia. Then you have the most vicious woman you'll ever meet over there, Lizzie." He said giving her a sarcastic smile.

Hey! She protested.

Dia giggled. "And this is my friend Ashley. It's nice to meet you."

Jade looked at the person in front of her blankly. James hadn't told her about her? Clearly she was a friend of James' otherwise why would James be here. If he even was here. "Hi! I'm a friend of James'" she responded. Well duh! Why else would she be here? She didn't know anybody else here. She'd only met James in Sugarplums. Unless there was some invisible person around in there too.

She looked at the person walking up behind the girl, a smile instantly covering her face. "Hey!" she smiled cheerfully. If she was honest, she was glad she could make it too. She walked in as James instructed and smiled at the girl stood at the door. Following James into the living room, she folded her arms across her chest a little awkwardly. She didn't know anybody here but hopefully she was soon going to find out who everyone was.

She smiled as James began introducing everyone. "Nice meeting you all" she smiled. Why was she smiling so much?

Dia looked on at the woman curiously. She sure was smiley wasn't she? That, however, was great! Dia loved meeting people who knew how to smile. People who didn't tended to be sticklers who didn't know how to have fun and those types of people always ruined parties. Plus she found this whole thing very fascinating. When she had been invited to Scarlett's house she had the opportunity to see Lizzie blush and now that James had invited this Jade person she had the opportunity to see another one of her friends blushing--even if his was less noticeable. She nearly laughed at the thought.

"Jade huh?" Cameron said, sizing her up. Just the name brought back horrible memories but of course James wouldn't have been crazy enough to bring that creature anywhere near them after they had managed to get rid of her. "Why don't you tell us a little about yourself. Dia and I would be eager to learn." He said, fitting on an innocent smile. He would find out soon enough.

James found himself chuckling nervously. Seriously she had just gotten here, they didn't need to put her on the spot so soon. Was he trying to make her feel all awkward? "Why don't we save that until after we've all eaten." He tried suggesting so she wouldn't feel all pressured into saying anything. It must have been hard enough just standing in a room with people you didn't know...though when it came to Dia it never really did matter whether you knew her or not, she was always friendly. Looking over at her he saw her smiling. Good. That was a good sign. At least she was smiling.

Ashley laughed as she watched the interaction between the housemates. She was definitely aware of the fact that Lizzie was the protective one and that the other three were quite a handful when together. It made her smile. When Dia offered her food, the blonde nodded. Food would be AWESOME. But before she could say so, someone was at the door.

So this woman was Jade? That was a nice name. She gave the girl a genuine smile and a small wave. "Hey Jade, it's nice to meet you." She was doing a lot of that lately, meeting new people. It was actually really nice for a change.

And then the Cameron guy was getting ready to study Jade. She smirked at this. Those boys liked to do that, huh? Size people up? Ashley just watched with an amused look on her face.

Jade glanced at the person James had introduced as Cameron with an awkward look on her face. Why was he looking at her like that? Was he checking her out or something? Wait, was the same look James had at recognising her name? She wasn't sure but this guy sure was making this encounter a little awkward. Though she'd get over it. Tell them a little about herself? Where did she start? She glanced at James silently breathing a sigh of relief. He'd saved her from that one! All she could think in her mind was how thankful she was. But she didn't dare say anything. She didn't want to say the wrong thing then look like a total idiot for saying it. She'd had enough boys laughing at her without strangers laughing at her too.

She glanced at the other girl in the room with a more polite smile. So this must have been Ashley! The girl Dia had introduced."It's nice meeting you too" she responded.

"Okay!" Dia said in thet overly pleased voice of hers. She couldn't help but noticed how relieved Jade looked when James suggested they eat first or how quickly James had suggested it in the first place. So this was going to be an interesting evening afterall. "Everyone please follow me into the dinning room--oooh you guys will love it, my mother picked the design herself. And she loved it because it reminded her so much of her old home. She took hold of Ashley's hand and led the way down to the great display of food that Lizzie had so nicely set up.

Lizzie followed shortly behind, a little apprehensive about the dinner. They had been a last minute cancellation and one of the items was no longer on the menu. Secretly she was praying that that wouldn't ruin everything.


When James saw the look on Jade's face he nearly got annoyed at Cameron. He could tell that what Cameron had said had made her feel awkward which was the last thing he wanted because he was trying to ensure that she enjoyed the evening. If she hated the place she would probably never come back! He was definitely trying to avoid that. When Dia offered to lead the way to the dinningroom he nearly breathed a sigh of relief. Good. things could move smoothly.

"let's go." He said to her with a warm smile. That's right...just make it not awkward...unless that was exactly what the smile was doing...

Ashley let Dia lead her into the dinning room, eager for some food. It always was nice to get away from the awkwardness that was Cameron trying to question this Justin guy's...well it seemed like Jade was his date, so that's what Ashley was going with.

Jade took a deep breath looking at James. Was she making her clear attraction to him a little too obvious? She thought she was. Even if nobody had seemed to have picked up on it. But surely they would eventually? Considering it was only James she wasn't really feeling awkward around nobody seemed to be noticing it. She just hoped they wouldn't do either. Otherwise they would probably put her on the spot and ask her straight out. Or James might have himself. That prospect only made her feel a little more awkward but this time it was her own fault.

She smiled at him following behind but not saying anything. Her quietness was something she really wasn't keen on. In fact, she was horribly unkeen on the idea.

Dia was extra excited about the dinner because it would be the first time they all sat down to eat in here. Since they moved here they just kept having dinner around back or in the living room or somewhere besides the diningroom but she could never understand why. It was built for this very purpose afterall.

"You can sit here!" Dia told her friend, right before reaching over and placing a plate there. She waved her wand and food began accumulating on Ashley's plate. "By the way you must tell me how that ordeal with you're sister-in-law went. Did she still buy the cake with the nuts?"

"Dia are you being nosy again?" It may have seemed strange but Lizzie had to ask. Most times Dia couldn't tell when she was being overly inquisitive unless someone pointed it out to her and by then most people would decide to end the conversation. The dinner had barely started, she didn't want Ashley feeling all out of it already--or at all for that matter but nothing was guaranteed with the guys present.

Cameron didn't say a word as he took a seat at the table. he never did see the point of this room before now because they never ate in it. It was actually a little nice. He guessed spending some time in here enjoying a meal wouldn't be so bad--definitely not as bad as Lizzie had to described it.

James couldn't help but stop short of the diningroom when he realized just how quiet Jade was being. Was something wrong? Maybe she felt sick? He turned to look at her. Oh good she was still there. for a second he thought he might have been walking alone. "Are you okay, you seem abit quiet--er well, quieter than usual." He wasn't trying to be all weird or anything but he didn't want her to think that he was saying she was usually chatty either. Perhaps he should have just kept walking, then he wouldn't be making himself look like an idiot. All for the sake of finding out if she was alright...

Ashley took the seat that was offered and sat down with a smile. "This room is lovely." She said, looking around at the beautiful set up. Her attention was only brought back to the table because of the massive amount of food that was now piling onto her plate. "This looks great." She added with a smile.

She was just about to pick up her fork when Dia asked her about Leila. She groaned and sat back in her chair, getting ready to share the ordeal. When Lizzie asked Dia if she was being nosy, the blonde gave Lizzie a kind smile. "Oh it's fine, really. She already knows a lot so I don't mind."

Turning back to Dia, Ashley finished the story she had started telling her friend at the cafe. "Well as I said, she picked out a cake with nuts!" she said, rolling her eyes. "And my dad is allergic." She added this bit for the others, in case they were wondering why it was a big deal. "And my mother was horrified and looked at me to say something...so I did." And she leaned forward a bit then, a smirk on her face. "I pulled Leila to the side and told her that unless she wanted a red wedding dress, she'd better not buy that cake...you see, she's keeping her dress at my place so my brother doesn't see it." And sure, threatening people was wrong, but the brunette was trying to OFF her father!

Jade glanced at James again hopefully not making it as obvious as she thought she was. Was it her fault she found him attractive? Wait, his friends weren't going to be all protective were they? She sure hoped not! She felt awkward enough as it was through paranoia without the idea of them being protective over him added on top. Though she understood why they would be. They were his friends and they hardly knew her. They would naturally want to protect him from getting hurt. Though hurting him was something she really had no intentions of doing. She listened as he spoke and instantly nodded. "I'm fine... Honest" she answered truthfully. She really was fine. She was just thinking things through. Like how much of an idiot she would look like if she did something out of the ordinary.

Oh, well that was fine then, just so long as she wasn't being all overbearing like she could be sometimes. This conversation was fine then. She took a seat and decided to listen as the girl shared her story. she was however shocked at the mention of someone purposefully wanting something that someone else was allergic to. That person lacked a great deal of common courtesy and she was sure she never wanted to meet her. As for threatening the girl...sadly she would have done a bit worse, though she wasn't proud to admit that so she sat quietly and waited for those two to give their opinions as she knew hers would somehow get mixed in.

Cameron couldn't help but laugh. Boy this girl meant business didn't she? A red dress? She wasn't half bad. He and James would most likely have done the same thing. "That's quite good!" He told her in a congratulatory tone. "That was some quick thinking, I bet she turned something near pale after you told her that!" Any woman would have. It's was a wedding dress afterall which gave this Ashley woman an even bigger advantage.

Dia too was laughing. It served that Leila right. She had had a bad feeling about her when she heard about her and after hearing about the whole nut thing she was sure she as no good. "Cameron's right, that is good!" It was obvious why she thought her to be a genius now; she was clearly thinking straight enough when she made that threat. "So what did she do when you told her that?" She asked, eager to hear more.

He was going to go out on a limb and say she was nervous. It wasn't exactly unexpected seeing as she was in a house full of his friends who she didn't know much about. It would have made anyone a little nervous. He wanted to make her feel better. "hey don't worry about those guys; there's idiots nce you get to know them--especially Cameron. Plus you'll like Dia and once you don't mention any kind of mischief you'll be good with Lizzie." Which was all pretty much true. While at Hogwarts a lot of people confessed that watching them the seemed a bit intimidating but that was just a bit of overconfidence that they had. They loved to laugh and act like the school belonged to them because then it would almost seem that way and so they started approaching life in the same way.

Oh...she said she was fine...great, now he looked like he was being all overprotective or something. He didn't want to have her thinking he was smothering her or anything and he was really trying to not make it obvious how much he liked her. The last thing he needed was Dia bouncing off the walls with even more excitement. He remembered clearly the night they went out and Lizzie found a guy she liked; Dia didn't give her a break for weeks! He couldn't take that and he was sure Jade wouldn't have wanted to got through that. "Okay, just checking. I guess we can head inside then."

Ashley looked down at the table, a smile on her face, as Dia and Cameron expressed being impressed with her threat. She looked up again and began to laugh, recalling what Leila's face had looked like. "Yes, she definitely turned pale and her eyes were as big as saucers." She said cheerfully.

And then to answer Dia's question, "She just stood there gaping at me for a few minutes, probably unsure of whether she believed me or not...she used to be the bully back in school, you see." But Ashley wasn't the same little girl anymore, she didn't back away from a challenge anymore. "And I stared at her, arms crossed, and said 'Oh please believe I'm not joking with you.'" She smiled here, pleased with herself. "And in the end, Leila settled on a marble cake..." GRIN.

So this girl had a backbone. That was good and definitely needed when dealing with certain people in the world. Certainly she had a good level of patience Lizzie herself wouldn't have given her the chance to decide but oh well, that was just her.

"Oh my gosh didn't I tell you she was amazing!" Dia squealed at hearing all that happened after she threatened her. It was even more impressive because it was someone she used to be bullied by. Dia kinda wondered what it would have been like being bullied but she never really had the chance to experience it... "Hey...." She complained to Cameron as it hit her. "How come we never had any bullies that we can stand up to now and feel all triumphant like Ashley? That doesn't seem fair."

Lizzie looked over at her friend, refusing to believe that she was being serious. Didn't she know what bullies did? She was glad they never ran into any.

Cameron found himself a little confused by Dia's very...very odd question. Why would she have wanted one of those??? "Um Dia, half the school was afraid of us and the other half didn't think we were worth their time. Where would we have found in a bully in all that? Plus you have to care for a bully to really affect you and let's face it, we were air-heads in Hogwarts--the most we cared about was what our next meal would be...remember?"

"I was never an airhead." Lizzie corrected.

"Right," he said with a roll of his eyes. "You were the abnormal one, how could I forget?"