The first thing Ian did upon entering the boys dormitory was discard his shoes in some corner of the room, shrug off his cloak -leaving it laying in a bed that was definitely not his- and shove his Ravenclaw tie somewhere far away from his neck.

Like, for example, under the bed.

Squatting down to look inside his trunk, Ian made a small mess around his bed-area as he looked for some parchment and ink. Finding it, the boy leaned his back against the bed, flattened the parchment as bed as he could on the carpeted floor, dipped the tip of his quill on the small bottle of ink, and started to write.

Quote:

Dear Mum,

Colby dumped me as soon as we arrived Hogwarts and took No Name Jarvey with him.

Love,
Ian.

PS. Yeah, yeah - I'm FINE, and will also remember to shower. Chill. Breathe. Have some cookies and read a book.

Clearly satisfied with his letter, Ian began to carefully fold it and made a mental note to pay a visit to the owlery after class the next day.

Avoiding the cats, Owain made his way toward his new bed,determined to personalise it a little, even with muggle posters and artifacts.
Soon there were posters relating to his favourite band - The Offspring - and his favourite rugby team - a concoction of pale blue and black to show his support for Cardiff. In a small space, almost as an afterthought, was the Holyhead Harpies fixture and squad lists.

Happy with his surroundings, Owain clambered into bed, utterly exhausted from the day's activity.

Before dropping off, Owain chanced a look at the other occupant - he seemed more relaxed away from... Allison?
He couldn't remember, only that she was another first year: He bolted upright in panic: Was he the only 1st year male ravenclaw?
His eyes widened in fear and his mouth opened and closed mechanically as he tried to work up the courage to ask someone if that was the case.

Kellen walked up the steps and into the dorm, feeling a smile cross his face as the voices of girls were left behind. It was more a reflex than anything else; it was the same feeling that passed through him every day at home when he closed his door for bed and locked it. No girls allowed.

He searched for the bed with his trunk by it and noticed a coat draped - no, thrown - across it. Seeing as how Owain was much too small for it to belong to, the culprit could only be Ian. Kellen picked the coat up and held it up, examining the clothing and putting admiration in his voice, "Why, look at this! They've left me a welcoming gift of a coat! That was nice of them!" And proceeded to fold it and set it on his trunk.

He only looked at Ian once, and that was to comment "Origami?"on the paper he was folding, before sitting on his bed and kicking off his shoes.

With the sight of another eleven-year-old, Ian made the resolution to get more candy as soon as he was allowed to visit Hogsmeade. Candy was a great thing one could use to both bribe kids and keep them on line.

Or make them do what you wanted.

"Yo." Greeted the fifth year with a nod of his head, and failing to notice the little one's distress.

Depositing the letter on the night table, Ian clumsily stood up and took seat on his bed. Then he began to slip out of his socks, slowly and one and by one.

And there they went to someone else's bed.

"Watch for the scorpion on its pockets," Ian said cheerfully to Kellen, and not at all bothered that his cloak was no longer his. Losing stuff was a pretty normal thing, as far as he knew, too bad mum thought differently.

Binking quizzically at the other boy, because ... well, Ian did not KNOW what Origami was, the boy resorted with shrugging and slipping into his pajamas. "Sure, I guess, whatever that is." If he was an insult, Ian was positive he'd had worst. "Do you think they'll let me use school owls. Mum would freak if she doesn't get a letter by tomorrow night."

Kellen shot a quizzical look at the coat, "On or in?" Because if there was a live scorpion in one of the pockets, he certainly hadn't felt it. Hmm, might be a good idea to check his blankets and sheets before getting into bed.

"It's folding paper into shapes." Kellen hated to bring up Allison in the boys' dorm, but she was the only example he could think of, "Remember how Allison sent that paper bird to her friend? That's Origami."

Was that movement under his blanket? No, just the light shifting as Ian got ready for bed, "You can use my owl if you'd like. Her name's Mary Tsu and she's a little bit of a weirdo, but if you bring her sugar she'll take it for you. It's just a letter, right? Nothing heavy?"

Jude walked up the stairs to the boys dormitory with a determined look. He no longer wanted to look meek or lost just because he was new to the school. Opening the door to the boy's dormitory, he looked around at the other boys, giving them a weak grin and heading to the empty bed where his suitcases were.

Sitting down on the bed with a sigh, Jude rubbed his eyes which hurt a bit from the low lighting in the Great Hall. He had to get used to not having electricity again. Pulling open his trunk, he took out a picture of his mum waving and smiling up at him from the picture frame. He smiled down at the picture and looked around to see where he could put it.

Barry walked into the dormantry. It seemed that he was the only seventh year boy Ravenclaw here. That made him in charge, right? Barry smilled to himself. This would be a great year.

He kept walking with his trunk and didn`t know if it had hit anyone. He then took off his cloak and tie and lay back on the bed head slightly tilted watching the others

Damien walked in and watched as Kellen looked at his blanket. What was he looking for? And did he hear something about a scorpion? He raised an eyebrow but pushed the thought aside. "Hey Kellen." He greated, before striding over to an empty bed that had his trunk next to it, and sat down. This place was really nice, and the bed was bouncy too! He was feeling a little homesick though.. As that thought passed his mind he felt something paw at his knee. Looking down a gentle smile came to his face.

"So there you are, I was wondering when you'd show up. Find any mice yet?" Sitting beside him on the bed was his cat 'Tora'. She was silver in colour, and covered in thin black stripes. She really was quite something to look at. But she did have a bit of an attitude at times, he decided it was just a girl thing. He smiled and reached down to scratch her behind the ears. Purring, she curled up on his lap, enjoying the attention. There were times where she was as sweet as a kitten but others where she lived up to her name, Tora, also meaning Tiger. And that she could be at times! He had the scratches to proove it!

Kellen looked over at Damien and let a small smile pass over his face. Oh, so now they were on a first-name basis? All right, "Hey Damien." He couldn't tell whether or not Damien got the bed with Ian's socks on it or not, and nudged one of Ian's discarded things back towards the older boy's bed.

He looked around the room at everyone in it; there were six boys already, and more to follow. Feeling rather lighthearted now that he no longer had a strange little girl sending him dirty looks, he asked, "Has anyone ever shared a room with this many people before?"

What was the etiquette? Should they establish rules? Please, please don't let there be someone who draws chalk lines...

Ian? said "Yo!" to him, making Owain jump a little and lose his deer-in-front-of-headlights look.
"'Lo," he replied, "relieved for the peace of no girls? I know I am"

Thoughts of being alone forgotten as he realised he wasn't alone when it came to boys v girls, Owain's good mood quickly returned.

He was tired but also determined not to miss out on too much talk between his dormmates.

When Kellen mentioned ground rules, Owain immediately sat upright, hoping that hogwarts was not a stereotypical english muggle boarding school.
"How about we just respect each others possessions?" He piped up.

Or, in, there was no difference in Ian's mind. "Dunno. But it's probably there, somewhere - my sister probably put Charlotte Marie there while I said good-bye to my parents at King Cross. She's funny one." The boy's tone implied that he thought Morgan was anything but funny.

But he was used to it. "... Oh. Right. Allison." Ian's brow puckered, but he quickly shook his head and shoved the little monster away. She had to give it to her, though - doing that thing with the paper was kind of cool. "Does Mary Tsu bites? My mum's owl ... little pest doesn't like me much, you see." Probably because Ian had forgotten to fed it in more than one occasion.

Ian started to run his fingers through his wild hair, but quickly gave up, realizing that there were a few knots on it here and there that he really didn't to untangle tonight. Or any time soon. Maybe he should just cut his hair off. "Yup, it's nice to be away from all their giggling." Ian didn't like giggles. "I'm allergic to them." No, you are not. "You enjoying it here so far?" Was he not homesick? Ian was sure he would have been, had he been eleven-years-old right now.

Watching with mild interest as more guys strolled inside the room, Ian began to do something he had NEVER done before in his life - he started to gather the stuff he'd left hanging around the room and shoved them under his bed. He was trying to be organized, clearly. "Not really," admitted the boy with a nonchalant shrug. Back home, he didn't have to share his room with Colby - probably because his brother refused to live with Ian's mess. "But I'm fine with it, as long as you don't try to talk me into folding my clothes and ... stuff like that. I'm cool with my mess." Truth.

Kellen sighed, "You wouldn't happen to have a tank or box or something we could put it... her... in, do you?" Because there were a couple of things that could happen if they didn't. Someone could get stung. The scorpion could get squished. Or one of the other pets might eat it. He knew Mary would, as soon as she found out it was a female scorpion and most likely somewhere in Kellen's bed.

"Nah, she doesn't bite boys," Kellen took off his tie and rolled it around his fingers neatly. "Only girls."


Wow. For once in his life he wasn't among boys trying to out-do each other with their neatness. It was a strange feeling. He let his tie unwind from his fingers and grinned, "Fine by me. If one of my things gets too close to your bed just toss it onto mine, or kick it, or dance across the room and deliver it daintly, I don't care. I'm usually pretty neat," only a slight understatement there, "but sometimes I get distracted and things travel. But I mean..." He rubbed the back of his neck; he tended to do that when faced with breaking new social ground, "Do we do stuff together? Like go down to breakfast as a group and do homework?"

His eyes slid to the boy in the room definitely older than the rest of them. Maybe he could chip in some advice.

Ian squatted down and looked under his bed for one of the things he'd shoved there earlier. After a few curses and groans because he kept banging his head against the bed by accident, he ermeged with a small, transparent container. It was full of treats for No Name Jarvey, but Ian figured that the thing couldn't miss what it never really had, so he opened his trunk and dumped the treats inside.

He did, of course, grabbed one first. Ian popped it inside his mouth, and upon tasting something not particularly pleasant, the boy made a face and shuddered dramatically. He lightly tossed the now empty container on Kellen's bed. "Don't worry about her; Charlotte Marie doesn't let people find her - she finds you. She'll probably snuggle against your chest or get herself comfortable in your hair while you sleep, though, so don't worry." Ian nodded enthusiastically as he bent down to his trunk again, and fetched his pink-coloured blanket. He was thoroughly unashamed of it. "And don't call her It to her face. She's a very sensitive one." Like Morgan, Charlotte Marie had the tendency to bite a little bit when angered. It wasn't pretty.

Scratching his head at Kellen's questions, Ian shrugged. There was no reason for that shrug, but shrugging was something he did often. Instead, he gave the older boy in the room a quizzical look before sitting indian style on top of his bed.

Kellen grinned at him, "Why would you eat that?" and tried not to raise an eyebrow as the treats disappeared into Ian's trunk. He picked up the container and set it on his trunk, "Thanks for this, and thanks for the warning." He moved the container temporarily to open his trunk and take out a shirt, which he proceeded to tie around his head.

"I don't like things in my hair," he commented to no one and everyone; if Ian could have a pink blanket, Kellen could protect his hair from creepy-crawlies. Seeing that no one else was particularly communicative at this time, he changed into his pajamas and crawled under his covers. After giving each layer a thorough inspection, of course.

"Good night."

Barry looked up. What was the big deal? They were just sharing a room together. That didn`t mean they had to become best buddies or anything. But it couldn`t hurt. He needed more male freinds. Even if they were younger then him

"It ...um..depends" started Barry. He had never been the leader before. Apart from with his family. But he tried " ... do you want to? I`m all with you with the homework thing. Sometimes I struggle with things too and this could be something on top of the library sessions. If you want that is.." then he thought of something else to say " ..If not then just don`t fight in here and stuff" Stuff? Really was that the best he could do "Don`t take peoples things and get to know each other. You don`t have to ask anyone. Just do what you want" Barry finished off. "Boy, I sound like a teacher" he said himself quitely.

Why would he eat Jarvey treats? Why was he always busy to shower? Why had he left that bunny at the park or forgotten to feed the chicken? These were questions Ian had no answer for (except for the bunny one, but that beast did not matter) so he shrugged, but mostly to the air, because Kellen had smartly gone to sleep.

He should follow the other boy's example, too, Ian figured. "I always have trouble with homework," Ian admitted without a trace of shame of his tone. Thanks to his ADHD, it was impossible for the boy to focus in one thing for too long. "And you actually sound more like my mum. Which reminds me that I should sleep." Ian began to close the curtains around his sleeping area. "Good night."

Kellen strolled into the boys' dorm, looking for Damien or Ian. He hadn't talked to either of them in a while, strange considering that they shared a room, but he had news for them both that he thought they'd like. Who wouldn't want to know about a ready-made clubhouse that just needed some cleaning? Fact that it was a bathroom aside... besides, one of them might be really good at conjuring.

He made a point of sitting on Damien's bed and not his own, for two reasons. First, it would make it obvious that he wanted to talk to him. Second, Charlotte Marie was still on the loose somewhere and he didn't feel like trying to catch her by himself.

While he was waiting he glanced at Damien's pillow, and a little grin came to his face. He took out his wand, gave it a swish, and "Orchideous!"

A small bouquet of wildflowers appeared on the pillow, and he quickly fetched a scrap of parchment from his trunk and wrote in a loopy hand that definitely wasn't his 'To Damien, Love Emilia.' He tied it to the bouquet, and then he got up and went back to his own bed. News of the clubhouse could wait. This would be much more fun.

Damien strolled into the room deep in thought. Not noticing anyone else in the room right away, he made his way over to his bed and sat down on the edge. The recent events with Emilia and Kellen confused him to no end! Was Kellen upset? Was Emilia serious? Or was she just tired....so many questions!

Flopping back onto the bed, something squished under his head. He froze not knowing what it was, then something caught his eye. Floating down towards him was what looked like a petal. He watched as it slowly decended and landed square on his nose. Now this was unusual. Highly unusual....This could in fact be the weirdest thing to happen to him all day.

Damien swatted the petal off his face and sat back up. Turning around he finally noticed a, slightly squished, bouquet on his pillow. Ok...scratch the previous statement...this was the wierdest thing to happen all day. Why were there flowers on his bed? Picking it up something happend to fall onto his hand. Looking down all he saw was something dark. Imediately thinking of the scorpion that was supposed to be in the room, he flung the flowers away from himself as fast as he could, emiting a high pitched yell. He barely registered that it landed on Kellens bed, and that Kellen himself was actually there.

A piece of parchement had landed on his bed. He picked it up, and his face instantly turned red. He could do nothing else but just stare at it...

Kellen, his face half-hidden behind a magazine, had been intending on watching Damien's face as he read the parchment and laughing at him. Now, however, he was totally focused on the bouquet sailing through the air towards him, Charlotte Marie riding at the front like some type of demented figurehead.

He scrambled off his bed as quickly as he could, the magazine flying in the air in a missed attempt to deflect the bouquet. His yell was the same pitch as Damien's, and he lunged for the empty treat container Ian had given him even as the scorpion scuttled for a fold in his covers.

"Come back here, you!"

Damien, startled by Kellens identical yell, wrenched his gaze away from the parchment in order to watch Charlotte Marie scurrie for cover. Kellen in hot persuit. It seemed that the scorpion just might be able to avoid Kellen's attempts to capture it.

All of a sudden the dreaded creature lept of Kellen's bed in a last attempt to escape the boy. Damiens eyes went wide and he jumped back onto his bed, out of the creatures path. There was no way he was getting near that thing again! Kellen could deal with it. He was the one, after all, who had an empty container in which to catch it.

Kellen leapt at the scorpion with the container, but she dodged it and thudded onto the floor, scurrying for Damien's bed. He rolled off his own bed and chased after her, "Come on Damien, block her with something!"

Maybe, finally, they could send the little critter back to her owner. And good riddance!

"Block her with something?! You want me to go near it?!" Of all the things to do... "Fine!" He sprang off his bed and scooped up a book from the floor. Keeping an eye on the little creature, he lunged and ploped the open book down infront of it. It was now cornered between the pages of a book and Kellen.

Damien looked at it uneasilly....he really didn't like the thing. "Would you hurry up Stern??? It's staring at me!!" And it was indeed staring at him. He could swear that it was glaring at him...could scorpions glare? This one sure seemed to be able to.

"Nice one!" Kellen slid across the floor with the container ready to catch her, but Charlotte Marie had other ideas. Those other ideas included scuttling to the side, so that the container zipped past her and slammed into the book instead.

Eye-contact with Damien disturbed, if that's what it could be called, the scorpion turned to Kellen and raced up the arm of his robes. With an undignified "Nya!" Kellen released the container and threw his arm upwards, sending the arachnid into the air. From the way she began to fall claws-down, he didn't want to try catching her with his bare hands.

Damien watched as Kellen flung his arms, and the scorpion, into the air. That thing was falling down claws first, and there was no way either he or Kellen were going to catch it until it landed again, so he jumped back out of its landing zone. He watched it carefully as it landed with a soft 'thump', and seemed momentarilly dazed.

"Get it, get it, get it, get it!!!!" he yelled to Kellen, pointing at the creature. He was certain that it wouldn't be dazed for long.