Celandine looked up with a bright smile.

"I'm one of them!" She agreed with a laugh. "I'm Celandine, Call me Cela though. I'm in my 6th year. You're new right? Pretty sure I'd have noticed you if you were here last term on account of you're kind of cute, you know?"

We have no shame.

"Did you hear about Pr... Mister Truebridge getting arrested? Do you think he murdered Professor Forrester and all those Hufflepuffs?" Cela didn't. She intended to ask Professor Kazimeriz about it though. Was that why he'd fired him and tossed him out the window?

"I usually just buy whatever stuff I like." Cela explained, "Then I noticed after the fact that I sort of stick to the same designers and brands without even realising it when I buy them."

She nodded enthusiastically. "Well I like chosing my own. I do the orders by owl too, with the catalogue numbers and stuff."

"Thats an interesting balance for a wand." Cela mused. "Oak is for strength and endurance. Good for defensive magic. Veela hair core is pretty rare and fickle, works best for magic that comes as a passionate response, like if you get super angry or something. Thats what I've read anyway." She shifted slightly, crossing one leg over the other and bouncing her foot.

"I got my wand from Gregorovitchs'. Its 10 inch Ebony with a unicorn hair core."

She blinked at Allison and tipped her hair to one side. "Well sure fashion stuff comes and goes but some things stay gone for good or they don't come back into fashion for years and years." She shrugged. Cela just liked nice stuff. Mostly short dresses and pretty shoes.

Oh hmm. That was an interesting question that Allison asked the Quidditch Captain. It wasn't one that Cela was particularly prepared to answer herself. For one thing, she didn't know. For another, she didn't much care.

"I know." Cela answered. "He was your boyfriend right? Made you and Livvy all angsty for some reason last term?" She smiled comfortingly. "And Copernicus is in Egypt." Which was closer for sure, but Cela had two years without him where Rachel, if she wanted to, could go be with Reid after only one.

"Its okay though. We're writing and stuff. He already wrote to me and sent an owl while I was on the train."

Nina entered the common room.
"Hey Cela. Hey Allison." turning to Adrienne, "Hi, I'm Nina." she introduced herself.

Adrienne had to shift position rather quickly as Allison changed position next to her, after she'd listened to the first year's conversation with Cela about wands and then fashion. Looking around, she tried to figure out what had bothered the girl, but coudln't figure it out before she was being addressed again and she had to turn to look at her.

Tilting her head slightly to one side as she thought about the question that had been asked, she then shrugged. "I don't know. Are you asking how much at one time, or how much I've spent total? I mean, not all my shoes were bought by me, some were gifts." She really didn't pay much attention to how much she spent when she bought her shoes, since she tended to stick with the designers she liked, along with random pairs she just felt she had to have.

Turning back to the rest of the group as Rachel spoke, she laughed at the surprised sound in the other girl's voice. "No, I wasn't wearing it then. It was on the basket I was carrying my pygmy puffs in, which was next to me on the seat," she explained, trying to reassure the former prefect that she wasn't completely unobservant. Besides, it had taken ages for Torin to notice her badge in Diagon Alley too, so it wasn't just her.

And then Cela was talking to her again, and she transferred her attention to the blonde. "I did," she said with a glance at Phoebus. "And no, I don't think he did. I have no idea who might have actually done it, but something tells me he wasn't the one who did." She was kind of curious what Cela believed, though. It seemed she didn't, but then there was always Kazi to throw into the mix, and she thought the other girl liked the Potions professor.

"Yeah, that happens to me a lot too," she said in response to the designers talk, echoing what she'd told Allison a few minutes before. "And don't get me wrong, I like being able to choose them myself too. But my grandmother's awesome, and it's easy for me to delegate to her when I can't buy them myself. The catalogue thing sounds like a good idea too."

As she finished her comment to Cela, Adrienne noticed yet another girl heading their way, and listened as she greeted Cela and Allison. But as the girl turned to look at her, she smiled. "Hi," she replied, "I'm Adrienne. It's nice to meet you, Nina." She decided to leave her whole Quidditch captain thing off her introduction, since she had a feeling most people were going to find out anyway. And she felt weird announcing it, even now.

"Nice to meet you. What year are you in?" Nina was very eager to meet new people. Especially older ones that she could ask questions to. She was bound to have many many questions.

Damien looked up from the purring cat and noticed Kellen sprawled out on one of the lounge chairs. Deciding that the boy looked far too confortable just sitting there, he thought that Emilia and he should go bug him. Saying a quick word to Emilia, he slowly made his way over to Kellen, hoping she'd soon follow.

Emilia watched as the cat pricked up its ears and answered Damien's voice. She was even more surprised when Damien introduced "her" as his cat. She had never really thought of him as a cat person, he had surprised her. She loved that Damien was quietly sentimental and caring, it tugged at her heart in a funny way.

Emilia noticed Kellen about the same time Damien did and with a little prodding she followed Damien over to Kellen. "Why did he have all his stuff with him?" she wondered, had she missed something.

He stoped beside the chair Kellen was currently occupying and looked at all the things littered around it. He had thought Kellen to be more organized than this. Oh well, to each his own as he said.

"Hey there Stern." he said, letting Tora jump out of his arms and onto the boys chest. He laughed quietly at the cat. She sure knew how to greet people. Hopefully Kellen wouldn't mind.

The first notice Kellen had of their approach was when Damien's cat jumped on him. He'd been busy staring up at the ceiling, irritated at how his eyes kept picking out a constellation in the shape of a scorpion. He needed to find the creepy-crawly, and fast. He was devising a plan when the cat landed, and his body curved inwards as a reflex.

He stared down at the cat, wondering why it didn't jump off as most cats would when thrown somewhere, and held it gently under the front legs, bringing its face level with his, "Oh, lovely huntress, would you be so kind as to stake out my bed and catch Charlotte Marie? I'll let you eat her if you do."

Only when he looked up at Damien did he remember what he looked like; messy hair, undone buttons, untucked shirt... "Sorry Elric, I must look a right mess."

The cat stared at Kellen intently, giving him that almost human stare before jumping off him and prowling back to the staircase. Damien watched her go, shaking his head. He hoped she didn't find that bug, but for her sake or its, he wasn't sure.

"A right mess you are Stern. What did you do? Get dressed blindfoled? If your cousin were to see you like this I'm sure he'd be ashamed. Or maybe not, I haven't quite figured him out yet." He said, placing a hand to his chin as he pondered. "But either way you should straighten up."

Upon finishing that remark, Tora pranced back into the room with something dangling from her mouth. Well it wasn't the bug in question that was for sure. It looked like...a sock? It was black, with the image of a scorpion stitched onto it. She lept back up and sat on Kellens knee, presenting him proudly with her find.

After wandering around for a few hours, William had considered heading to bed early, even though he wasn't in the least bit tired. Stopping at the portrait he mused for a minute before giving out the password and wandering into the common room not even bothering to check to see if anyone was in his way. He didn't really care one bit. He didn't care about anything right now, only his supply of chocolate frogs that he had put there before scurrying off to the feast. If it wasn't there he'd be angry. Nt just a tiny bit angry, but seriously red-eyed angry. No one touch his frogs, no one.

Stopping at the massive fireplace William ducked down and looked for the loose brick no one knew about. Carefully moving it he took out the blue sparkly bag and placed it on his lap before replacing the brick and getting up again and moving to his normal spot at the edge of the room in the dark corner. He liked dark corners, they were comfortable.

Man he was bored.

"Huh," Kellen watched Tora go with amusement, "she actually went. That's unusual."

Kellen glanced down at himself, "You're right. Chaucer certainly wouldn't approve. Then again, if he was getting dressed and saw a scorpion climbing up his pants he'd do more than shake it off and move out of the room." He got up and straightened out his shirt, doing up the buttons. Tucking it in would have to come later, maybe on the way to breakfast, but he flipped the end of his tie around his neck and secured it into the proper knot as if it were second nature.

Once that was done he sat back the chair in the same manner as before; legs draped over one arm, neck resting on the other. He turned his head back to Damien with a lazy flop, "Sit, would you? It's creepy when you just stand there."

He blinked when Tora came back so soon, and tried not to roll his eyes at the scorpion-stitched sock. Instead, he smiled at her and reached out a hand to take the sock, scratching her on the jaw with the other, "Clever huntress, that didn't take you long at all, did it?" He turned to Damien, "Whose do you think this is?"

Damien sank down into the other chair, leaning back and making himself comfortable. "I'm not as creepy as a scorpion crawling up your pant leg." He shuddered at the thought. If it had been him, he would have taken the pants off and stomped on it. Probably yelling for good measure.

He watched as Tora gave Kellen the sock. She was so human sometimes it was scarry. Looking at the sock again he replied "Not sure, but best keep an eye out for a one socked boy. Then we can return it." He snickered, imagining the look on someones face when they realized a cat had stolen their sock. He found it quite amusing.

Tora jumped back over to Damien, having done her good deed for the day, and curled up again. He absentmindedly scratched her ear again, wondering what today would bring.

Suddenly space was even more limited on the couch, Phoebus noticed with a slight flushing of his cheeks. Cela was pressed up against him more, side to side. " Mmm yes. I will have to plan ahead and get a much more exciting line up than this previous summer." Like finding a job and a way of life outside of school. " No, no traveling for me. I like it here just fine." He insisted, wondering why it seemed so warm all of a sudden. " What about you Cela? Good summer?" he asked, talking to make himself stop thinking about how she was sitting really really really close to him.
Phoebus grinned at Adrienne in a rather sheepish way when she made his already flimsy excuse just blow away in the proverbial wind. " Well..yeah?" He offered, casting another abashed glance her way. Then he nodded. " Good, I"m glad you're okay." He kept thinking about the summer. And how...well it was going to change a lot of things. A lot of...things. Then Adrienne and Cela were off, discussing clothing and designers. Things Phoebus knew nothing about. Save for Tory, Dolce and Christian, he knew nothing, zip, zilch...zero. So he just sat there, wondering why that odd little girl still kept looking at him with that intense dislike.

"Nagging does work sometimes!" Chelle agreed.
"mMe? Oh, I just stayed in with my mum and my sister! My vacations weren't that interesting, pretty boring actually. The only exciting thing is that an Indian family has moved into the house next to us. There are two children in the family, and one of the boys is my age." she said.
"He is also pretty cute", she thought.

"hey, you have Indian acestors, don't you? Aymaan- I mean, the boy's family - they seem pretty nice. They are Muslims," she said, blushing again as she said the name.

Allison grinned, smiled, nodded at everything that was going on around her. She gave Nina a nod and Phoebus a very small tight smile. It was difficult for her to keep up, and she was usually used to the fast pace--and that was an understatement. Yes, she knew that fashion could go wrong and certain items would be forever lost in transition. Yes the catalog system for shoes was really fantastic--Allison had no clue. Yes she wanted to know how much Adrienne spent each time she shopped, although it wouldn't be bad to know how many shoes she had. And yes it was an interesting wand the one she possessed...and it was weird too. However according to her mother, the best are the oddest things and people. To have a defect means you are more than worthy. Of what she had no idea.

As the world continued to revolve, Allison knew that sooner or later she'd have to go to the owlery and send her letter. However the conversation was quite interesting. A thing she learned very fast was that, at Hogwarts, people were great with meeting others. And this left Allison at loss. She was not antisocial, she was just extremely awkward, and usually met people by accident. Whether she'd crash into them, was caught staring, or just so happened to walk into a wrong room, she felt an obligation to introduce herself.

Yet here was Cela calling over random boys. Adrienne chatting along, Livvy and Rachel, being happy and themselves. Even Phoebus--that boy, sitting awkwardly and blushing managed to carry out a conversation. Although she did notice he seemed uncomfortable. All of this strangely motivated Allison to do the same! But she went about it in a different way, she sat there and listened.

What a bore.

So with a nudge here and there she finally spoke up--and it was not anything particularly relevant. "Do you all follow muggle movies?"

ooo...now this is interesting she said and turned and sat facing Chelle her face sporting a huge teasing smile
oh well, yeah i do have Indian connections my maternal grand mum is from India she said
and my black hair and brown eyes does speak out that.but my brother though he does inherit more of my matrenal grandma's genes she said.
oh they must be nice people.i havent visited India.i mean once i did go but i was too young then i dont even properly recognise which place we went in India she said
so are these new neighbours of your muggles or is any one of the kid wizard she asked winking
your vacation seems to be interesting she said and smirk on her face.
well my vacation could have been boring hadnt been it for the QWC she said
and unfortunately no guy shifted into the house next door in my place so i guess QWC saved my life she said and the teasing smile was up again.

... Maybe she did know Reid then. Hmm. "Yeah - we had a run in with a spoiled superstar slash one of the most prettiest girls I've ever met slash his psycho exgirlfriend. Oh, and his parents LOVE her," Rachel nodded, frowning as she recalled that awful period of time where she and Livvy had been... Well, not friends. Oh, how she LOATHED that Sienna.

"Wow - Egypt. What's he doing there?" she asked, suddenly VERY interested. Egypt was one of the bigger - maybe even the biggest - hot spots for people who did what she wanted to do after graduation. A career which she thought was AWESOME but often caught herself imagining doing stuff that Rachel knew she was definitely not brave enough for.

And Copernicus was. "That's nice. Reid's filming and I really don't want to distract him - plus, I'd have to use special owl services since I highly doubt Sky will make it all the way to Australia and back without dying at least a couple of times," the seventh year stated plainly, staring quietly at the hem of her skirt as she absentmindedly played with it.

"Good - I thought I was going senile for a minute there," Rachel relaxed, nodding and smiling at Adrienne while at the same time a little confused. If she hadn't been WEARING it, HOW was Rachel supposed to- ahh. "Well, I didn't really examine the basket - I was too preoccupied with trying to keep my cat from stopping the blood circulation on my thighs," she pointed out, looking around to see whether fat Cloud was around here somewhere.

"As a proud muggle born myself, I'm delighted to say that I do. I LOVE all that romantic stuff," Rachel nodded enthusiastically at Allison, remembering the last one she'd seen. It had been so CUTE!

And, er, it didn't hurt that her boyfriend was an international mega superstar. Hehe.

Jude shook his head. "No, I'm from Australia. I just moved here with my father about 3 months ago." he explained with a weak smile. He hated his different accent and how many people asked him about Australia. It was really getting a bit tedious.

"Interesting" She said, before laughing. "Where do you like better, here or Australia?" she asked. Isabella looked into the fire again, then around the common room at all the other students talking.
it feels soo good to be back she thought smiling to herself

"Australia. It's so cold here all the time." he said shivering and then grinning wickedly.

"It does get cold in Australia and all, but not like here. It's just not that pleasant." Jude further explained.

"Id never know, i've never been" She explained,
"You looking forward to come back here?" she asked Jude, changing the subject.

"Well it'd be wicked if you came with me to visit one time. That is, if you'd care to." he said in a quiet tone.

"This is my first year Bella, I'm just getting used to the castle." Jude said with a hearty laugh. At least it looked like he belonged in his new environment. That gave him a bit of a confidence boost that he needed.

Having reached where Damien and Kellen were now sitting she rested her arms and chin on the top of Kellen's chair and listened in on their conversation.

Tora was sitting happily on Damien's lap, while Kellen looked slight more put together, however she did wonder why he was in the possession of only one sock and it had a cartoon scorpion on it at that.

"Hey Kellen, what's with the sock? I thought something like that would be a little immature for your tastes." she smirked.

Bella's face broke into a smile, "Australia, just imagine" She said dreamly, laughing she broke from her dream, "I dont know"
"Your first year? wow where did you go before?" She asked

Jude sighed as the girl seemed confused as everyone else.

"I'm a transfer student, fifth year since I am fifteen and I was at the level where I should go for my O.W.L.s. Before coming here, I went to a wizarding school in Australia, right in Sydney." he explained.

"Then my father's work called him to London and that's when we moved after my term at my old school ended for the summer. We've been in England since June."