Torin was a little alarmed when he saw Brody looking worried about something. But then he figured that it must be Lori. She was one of Brody's best friends, and they had both been with her on the train.

He had been worried about her too ever since then. Though not being sure what he could say to the girl, he hadn't really seen her since she had been crying on his shoulder. He felt bad about it, but he really hadn't seen her around anyway.

He joined her on the couch. "I'm worried about her too." Because she was one of his best friends.

Ericks Ebony entered the Hufflepuff Common Room. He sat down on the sofa(very comfortable) and looked at the other Hufflepuffs.He heard lots about Hogwarts and was excited about what was going to happen.

Brody really was in her own thoughts. So much so that she didn't even notice Torin joining her until he had spoken. Looking a little alarmed, because he had surprised her, but she smiled at what she saw, before frowning. He really did know her too well, if he could tell what was wrong straight away.

She sighed, resting her head in her hands. She didn't want Lori to be upset; she hated her friends being upset. But she didn't know how to go around this. It was hard knowing that she had exactly what the girl wanted, but couldn't have. How selfish did that make her feel? "I don't know how to help her Tor...." She was useless at this, when it came down to it really.

At first he wasn't sure if she had even heard him or anything. Because when she looked at him, she seemed a little startled. Hmm. He would need to stop sneaking up on people like this or something. But that was for another time really.

He watched as she put her head in her hands, feeling bad because she was feeling bad. And that wasn't very good because he had already been feeling bad for Lori as it was.

Hmm. Brody needed a hug. So he gave her one because he didn't want her to be upset anymore. It wasn't cool. "You're helping her by being her friend." How cheesy did that sound? But really it was true.

"You're so cheesy." Brody giggled, as she leaned into his hug a little, smiling. It was odd how he could just make her better by just being here. She pulled away, looking up at him. She was glad he was here, because at least she wasn't going to worry on her own. That would be bad, because she knew Lori wouldn't like it. If she was anything like Brody she wouldn't like people worrying about her.

"I really want to help her Tor....but how can I when I having everything she wants." She ran her fingers through her hair sighing. This was too much, but she still wanted Lori to know that she was there for her.

"I know. It sounded less lame in my head." He laughed. Well, cheesy was good sometimes, because it made you happier and able to laugh. So he was glad that he got her to giggle.

He wasn't really sure what he could tell her, but he wanted to try his best because he didn't like his girls being sad, and if he had an idea, both Brody and Lori could be happy. He mostly wanted Lori happy, because she was the one that didn't have a mother. "Maybe just having her welcome at your house at any time would help. Letting her feel like a part of your family. And always being there when she needs to talk."

"Yes it was great fun. Jason has a pitch in the back and I got to fly everyday." Kay said seeing Sarah yawning. She didn't realize how tried she was until she too started to yawn. "I'm glad you had a great time." Kay said laying her head down on her favorite sofa and started to watch the fire. Yawn!! "Soooo....Did you buy anything good when you went sh - shopping?" She asked as she yawned again.

Melanie slipped into the common room. She did a quick scan of the place, looking to and fro.

Melanie sighed.

Cadence didn't appear to be there. Which, (DUH!) totally sucked. She wanted to talk to her so bad! It was only natural to miss her after a whole summer apart. A bit disappointed, Melanie walked over to one of the fat armchairs and flopped onto it, bouncing a little at first.

She sighed some more.

Melanie reached into one of the pockets of her robes, and a few seconds later her hand emerged holding a paddleball.

She would just wait right THERE until Cadence arrived. The girl would have to come to the common room sometime. Meanwhile, Melanie would have some fun.

Bounce. Bounce. Bounce!

She whacked the ball against the paddle, watching it with two wide green attentive eyes, counting how many times the little red ball hit the paddle.

1...2...3...4...5....

Cadence climbed through to the portrait hall after saying goodnight to Jude. To put it simply, she was pretty exhausted, but there was one very important person that she needed to find before she went to bed. And then she saw her, sitting in an arm chair playing with one of those Muggle ball-on-a-string things. She walked over to her, smiling, and said, "Now THAT just looks like a whack in your face waiting to happen, Lanie." And then she laughed and threw her arms around her best friend in a hug. "LANIEE!!!! I've missed you so much! How was your summer? What did you do? Tell me anything!" she said, curling up in the chair next to hers.

"Nine, Ten, Elev-"

"Cadence!" Melanie's head snapped up at the familiar voice, the little ball missing her nose by a quarter of an inch as she lost her concentration. Melanie didn't even take notice though.

"Nu-uh." she argued stubbornly, at her comment on how her toy was 'a wack in her face waiting to happen'. "I'm actually pretty good at it." she informed her, a half-smile on her face that looked something like a smirk.

Melanie hugged her back. "Hi!" she replied cheerfully, tucking her paddleball into her pocket. "I missed you too. I was looking for you, you know." Truuue.

She frowned slightly at her friend's inquiry. "My summers are borrrring."she complained, drawing the last word out for emphasis, on just HOW incredibly boring they really were. "I mostly just hung out at home. Cept' for when we went to Diagon Alley, of course'." she smiled warmly at the memory, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear.

"The question is, was your summer good? Do you like living with your parents and all still?" she asked curiously, twisting around in the chair, and drawing her knees up, so she could face Cadence sitting beside her.

Cadence giggled as the ball almost hit Melanie in the face. She had warned her, had she not? It was nice to finally see the face of her best friend, especially since they hadn't been able to see each other all summer. It seemed like Cadence had grown up a lot since the last time she saw Melanie, she felt different, but she wasn't sure if Melanie would notice. Cadi smiled politely as her friend explained that her summer was boring; Melanie should really start spending her summers with Cadence.

And then they were on the subject of her summer, and she smiled even brighter. "Well, my parents are... brilliant. Everything I could have hoped for. Our house is huge! I have a full-size training gym for gymnastics, a dance studio, a pool, a mini-movie theatre... my mum is really good at magic," she explained. "But as far as what I did this summer... gymnastics, dance, school... Oh! I'm a fifth year now, by the way! And Torin came over a bunch, and I spent at least one day a week in Diagon Alley. Oh! And guess what!" she finished, blushing and giggling slightly, her expression showing Lanie that her next statement would obviously be about a boy.

"Hi! I'm Sophia. Nice to meet you Kay." Sophia said. "I'm okay. A little excited for this year. A little nervous too." Sophia added.

Esme's heels clack-clack-clacked against the the stone floor as she made her way into the common room. Her face was a picture of disdain as she looked around. This place gets worse with every room...

She plopped down into the first availiable armchair and let her legs dangle, albeit not very far, over one arm while she closed her eyes. "Maybe if I go to sleep, I won't actually be here at all when I wake up." she murmured to herself.

Simon walked into the common room, he had gotten lost on his way here somehow, well saying that Hogwarts was a huge place for a first year, he had been looking around, trying to figure out where everything was.

Simon sat down on a chair and got a book out, he decided it was the best thing to do, he was scared of hogwarts and didn't want to leave the common room ever again, but he knew he'd have to otherwise he wouldn't get to classes.

"Hi too! Yes, I saw you at the feast. I'm Sophia Diggory." Sophia said. "It's really nice to meet you."

Making her way through the painting with Perseus in her arms, she strolled into the common room, plopping down into the plump sofa near the fire with a satisfied sigh. She was tired, stuffing your face at the feast could do that to you, which probably wouldn't have happened had she found atleast one of her friends. Arya hadn't even been able to find Ivory, maybe because all the commotion had distracted her. No matter, tomorrow she would go on a one man search for her friend. Stroking Perseus, she kicked off her shoes and let her eyes glance at the fire place before settling on the group of students in the room. Some were new and some were old, all made her glad to be back at Hogwarts. Smiling she made herself more comfortable before speaking to everyone. "Hey guys."

Amy plopped into the chair with her book from the bookshelf in her hand, she sunk down, as she was sitting she noticed someone else, who looked lost and new. Hi, she said, smiling at him. First year aswel?

Melissa walked into the Common Room with a cheerful expression on her face. She happily plopped down onto a armchair when she heard someone say something. "Hey too you to," she smiled at the girl, and introduced herself. "My name is Melissa by the way. Now, who it this?" she asked gesturing to the kneazle, it was a shame she had to let Tabby at home but she couldn't help it.

"Hey Melissa, I'm Arya and this..." She looked down at her sleepy kneazle. "is Perseus." Looking back at the girl she pulled her legs into the chair. The other girl seemed young, it felt weird not being the youngest one in the castle, but it felt good to since it meant a another fun hopefully safe new term. "What year are you Melissa?"

"Cool, nice to meet you Arya," Melissa smiled at her then paused and turned to her head to the kneazle named Perseus, "and you too Perseus. Nice name," she now spoke to Arya. "Year, oh I'm a first year," she was actually proud of it, she didn't care that she was a first year, she was here and that was all it mattered. "What about you?" she asked.

"Thanks, a friend of mine named him before last term." She looked down at Perseus, who was snuggled into her lap, tail flicking idly as he looked over at Melissa before closing his eyes again. "I'm a second year," She stated proudly, though it still felt weird to say. "Any classes you looking forward too?" By now she had looked back up at the first year, stifling a yawn.

Simon looked at the girl and smiled. "Hi, I'm Simon." He said as he looked at her from behind his book. "Yeah I'm a first year too." He looked around the room, before turning back to the girl. "Want to be friends?"

Melanie smiled, nodding every once in awhile as Cadence explained how great her summer and her new home had been. It was good news, of course. Melanie had hoped for a response like that. Melanie just... Well... She was a little jealous, to be honest. But she would never tell Cadence.

"That's great, Cady." Melanie smiled softly. "It sounds amazing, really. And yay for you being a fifth year now! You can be in the same dorm and everything again!" Melanie was sincerely happy for her. It sounded as if her current conditions, with her parents, were a lot better than than they had been when she was living with her grandparents. And it was nice to see her genuinely happy after a) Learning the fact Nate wouldn't be coming back to Hogwarts this term, and b) Last Term's Fiasco

OoOOoh! Guessing Games! "Yooooou found an enchanted sock and it led you to a buried treasure chest filled with chocolate, which you saved for me?" she grinned, obviously joking around. "What?" Melanie asked after a second, raising an eyebrow quizzically, and waiting for her to spill the beans.

The girl was absolutely oblivious to the blush coloring her friend's cheeks.

"Your welcome," Melissa smiled at Arya and looked down towards Perseus who opened his eyes and looked at her before closing his eyes again. "He's cute," she stated smiling at the kneazle. "Second year huh? That's cool," she nodded. Classes? "I'm looking forward to all really because they are something new to me because I'm a muggle born," she never got taught half the classes here at her muggle school. "Tired?" she asked her seeing her slight yawn.

Amy smiled at Simon, I don't see why not she said gigiling I'm amy by the way she said as she- weirdly shook his hand, she never shook hand with people, not even the queen- mind you shed never met her but still this boy had an air of authority and importance around him and it seemed right to shake his hand