"Fifth year?" Aw. Now she felt bad. She mentally kicked herself for not being observant enough to notice a charming young man like this. "This is my last term at Hogwarts," Becca mourned. "Are you, uh, athletic or anything? Ever thought about Quidditch?"

She took another munch on her cupcake. Becca chewed slowly, swallowed, paused momentarily, then her eyes grew wide. She bent over and started coughing hard, pretending to die. Not more than a few seconds later did she stand up straight with a normal expression on her face and simply stated, "Naw, it's pretty good." Insert calm smile here. Hopefully he had a sense of humor.

A seventh year, cool; Theo couldn’t wait to be almost done with the learning part. He had always hated school, muggle or magic. ”Nah, I was muggle-born, didn’t get a chance to ride a broom until first year and and that's where I learned I’m not that good. I can play muggle sports though." He really was an awful flyer, good enough to pass but trying out for the the Quidditch team would not be a good idea.

"What abo-” Becca folded over in front of him and started coughing. Oh god, was the cupcake actually poisoned? Not sure what to do Theo just watched in horror. At least until she stood back up.

Oh thank god.

Theo laughed and smiled, “Well, good I’m glad. That one looks like it has more frosting on it anyway.” Oh, the frosting. Holding up a finger he asked her to hold on before cleaning up the blob of frosting from her previous cupcake. Luckily no one had stepped in it yet.

Finishing his cookie as he made his way back to her, Theo thought back. “Oh, um… Are you any good at Quidditch?”

Looking around Shayna noticed that it was set up for a party. But she couldn't help wondering what for. Again she looked around and saw the banner.
I'd love to join the party, but what's it for. I totally understand House Cup champions. That is so exciting. But what's Gobstones?

Party Party Partayyyyyy!

Hehe. Adam abandoned his music book, abandoned his attemp at writing a song and made his way over to where most people were congregating. And why where they partying? Because Ravenclaw had won the House Cup AND Gobstones. Because the Eagles where AWESOME.

Yes they where.

Victoria sighed and looked looked round for her friends in her year, she was missing Jason and the castle.

Bonnie saw Victoria in the corner of her eye. She smiled and walked over to her.

Baha.

"As long as they make us blue cupcakes," she said with a grin. Kel must have reeeeally liked those things. He must have been on his third already and everyone else didn't stop at just one either. Hmmmmmmmm. Abby reached for another one, but stopped midway. Yeah, they were good. Well okay, they were AMAZING. But she had to try some of the real food. So she ended up picking up a half of a diagonally cut sandwich. Which sadly, was not blue.

Ohh, so he hadn't been a firstie here either. "I'm assuming you transferred in your third year?" Abby said. There wasn't a lot of other options. Unless he didn't discover he was a wizard until he was around thirteen! Ehh. But that was highly unlikely, right?

Abby thought for a minute. Was it the classes or the teachers she was worried about? Pfft. Definitely the teachers. "What was wrong with Professor Kazimirez?" she asked inquisitively. Ooh, new teachers! Abby wasn't sure if that was particularly exciting for her, being a new student and all. But if she was an existing Hogwarts student, that definitely WAS exciting.

"Oh, well I like Arithmancy," Abby offered thoughtfully. Ancient Runes, she was a little bit iffy about, honestly. "I can hardly wait to get started on all of it, regardless." Yep! She had sooo many questions. How did the teachers differ from Salem? Was there more homework? Were the lessons taught a different way? Gah!

Victoria was happy to see Bonnie, "Hey Bonnie, how are you? I can't believe that we are in our fourth year" she told her.

Alcemee was surprised, and interested. She said, "Really? What school were you at before?"

"I'm Muggleborn, too," Becca grinned. "But... Muggle sports, huh?" There was a lot of potential excitement here. "Like what?" She suddenly imagined Theo and herself going into the courtyard and playing one-on-one football(soccer). She would totally kick his butt, of course.

She smiled down at him as he cleaned up the frosting. Aw, what a responsible young lad. Heh. Quidditch? Wellll... "I guess I'm all right," she shrugged modestly. "I haven't played as a part of the team since my third term, but I love it all the same - and I'm trying out again this year. Y'know, I want to be involved in everything I can for my last run and go out with a bang!"

Satine hurried in with her favorite blue dress and blue heels on. She couldn't wait to get to the celebration. She loved parties!!!

As she walked in she looked around for new faces. She had tons of muggle games in her bag ready to play.

She quickly found a spot and started unloading them all. Monopoly, Life, Cards, her favorite, TWISTER!, Clue, Dominoes, etc.

She glanced around and said, "Anyone want to play?"

Alcemee saw her enter the room and walked closer. When Satine asked if anyone wanted to play, she replied, "I do! Which game do you want to play?"

Cool, she had gotten the girl somewhat interested! "I went to the Salem Witches Institute in America," Abby replied. Go Salem! Er... well now that kind of school spirit wasn't going to get her far in Hogwarts.

Go Hogwarts!

Uhm. Whoa. Was that-?

"TWISTER!"

Abby grinned broadly at the girl with both the awesome games and the awesome hair. There was no chance in the world she was playing Twister in public in a new school, or at least not unless she was ready to make a fool of herself already, but stilllllll.

As Mariel sat back into the sofa following Nia's embrace, she eyed up her fellow sixth year's cupcake. It did look rather tasty. And while she had just finished devouring a feast for an army, certainly she could find enough room for one small cupcake? Turning her head in the direction of the food-laden table, green eyes lingered on the snacks there and, after brief contemplation, she quickly Accioed a chocolate cupcake.

Once in her hands, Mariel began to distractedly pick at the delectable treat as she listened to Nia speak. "Oh, that's good," she replied with a smile as Nia seemed to be in a good mood about the start of term. It was seeming to go well for her too, she thought, after she was so nervous about coming back and starting to question her decision. The Ravenclaw girl quickly looked down at her cupcake at Nia's next question and took a bite of her dessert to give her a little time to think of an answer while she chewed.

Swallowing hard, she then took a deep breath before she began. "I was at Durmstrang for about a year and a half," she said, looking up. "My father pulled me out of school near the end of term, the term before last. He was never happy with the werewolves that were here, especially with the attack during that assembly we had to go to." That seemed so long ago, yet she would never forget how terrifying that day was. "Anyway," she continued. "My father wanted me to go to Durmstrang then, but I convinced him to let me stay at Hogwarts. He agreed as long as I kept in touch on a weekly basis and let him know what was going on here. The Ministry assured him that the werewolves would be no problem and that the incident was a one-time, extremely rare, occurence, and that there would be safety measures in place. As long as everything was okay, I was allowed to stay here." Mariel paused and lowered her voice so no one around them would overhear. "So, when it was discovered that several students were killed that term, my father immediately came to get me out of here. I've been at Durmstrang ever since." There. That seemed like a good place to end things. But would Nia want to hear more? Mariel looked at her appraisingly, trying to gauge her reaction, not sure if she was ready to go into much detail.

Green eyes followe Nia's as she looked at the banner at Mariel's mention of it. Turning back to her housemate, she watched her eyes widen, slow realization dawning on Mariel as she covered her mouth in surprise. Oh no, they had lost, she realized, slowly shaking her head. How could that possibly have happened? They had the best team in the school. It seemed as though Nia blamed herself and Mariel felt just terrible for bringing it up. "Seeker's a really difficult position," she said, laying her hand on her friend's shoulder. "I never liked playing it. Too much pressure. Keeper's where it's at," she added with a grin. That had always been her favorite position, or at least ever since she played it on her house team. "Don't worry. We'll get the cup back this year, especially now that you're captain. And especially now that we've lulled the other teams into a false sense of security," Mariel added with a wink.

Try out? Mariel actually hadn't thought about it, having not played in so long. Biting her lip, she stared at Nia for a moment before answering. "Uhm.. I'm not sure... I mean, I haven't played in so long, I don't think I'd be any good anymore."

"Do you think that's likely?" Kel asked, surprised. He hadn't met the new Nurse - he didn't much like the hospital wing - so he didn't know about her putting cheering potion in her cookies. Would Professor V put, like, Awesome Potion in the cupcakes?

...Well, if so, they were still yummy.

Kel laughed, nodding. "Blue cupcakes are definitely a must." he said happily. Plus, it'd be cool to meet the Hogwarts house elves. He'd never met a house elf besides his own. And after living with one house elf for almost seventeen years, the excitement kind of wore off.

"Yep. I was homeschooled before." Bleh. Hogwarts was sooo much better than home school. "What about you? Where were you before Hogwarts?" he questioned, slowly continuing to eat the cupcake that Cela had summoned for him.

He paused for a second before answering. "Well, he wasn't that horrible, I suppose. But he was old. Very, very old." He smiled slightly when she said she liked Arithmacy, and that she was excited to get started. "Same with me." he said cheerfully. He liked school.

That had to be - Yep! Satine. Kel knew it.

"I'm in!" he exclaimed, grinning at his little sister. He eyed all the games, then bit his lip, realizing something. "I don't know how to play any of those." he said, sounding surprised. Gah. Oh well, someone could teach him, right?"

Oh boy.

Abby tried her best not to look appalled when she realized what the seventh year girl had been saying to Kel, in case she was only kidding. "Would they really do that?" she asked, adding in a gigglesnort so she wouldn't look silly when this all turned out to be a joke. What she meant to say was WAS THAT EVEN LEGAL!? But really, she wasn't sure whether to take the comment seriously or not.

Ahh homeschooling. How practical! "And how did you like that?" she asked.

"I went to Salem Witches Institute," Abby said with a shrug. Just saying the name of the place made her miss it a little.

NOOO. Bad Abby. You like Hogwarts. Youu liiike it. And you're stayin' here now, honeykins.

Heh.

"Oh, I see," she said in response to Kel's explanation of the old professor. "We have old teachers at Salem too. But mostly their a little weird at worst and force upon us poor students their wisdom-filled stories of old." Yep. Personally, Abby liked old people in general.

"I didn't like it at all." Kel answered, his eyes wide. "I like Hogwarts a ton better." Which wasn't surprising, since Hogwarts was a lot more exciting - and happier, usually - than his house.

He thought for a second after she answered him. "I think I've heard of that before...maybe." he frowned. Maybe he hadn't. "Where is the school?"

"Ha. That's the way my grandfather is." Kel liked his grandparents, although he didn't get to visit them often. "Always telling stories, and things. It can be interesting, or really boring, depending on the story." His grandfather's days at the Spanish ministry were usually cool to hear about, but things about his, er, elderly days were really, really boring.

Abby laughed at the irony. All of the students here, and the girl she was talking to had the same name as her! Still smiling, Abby said with more confidence, "It's nice to meet you too. And actually, my real name is Abigail, but I like to be called Abby better. I'm a first year." (stating the obvious, Abby thought to herself.) "What year are you?"

Ellie grabbed a cupcake and licked the vanilla frosting off the top. "Frosting's always my favourite part. I could eat an entire cupcake of just frosting," she daydreamed, licking off the frosting until her tongue hit the actual cupcake.

She gingerly took a bite. "But the cupcakes are real good, too," she laughed. Taking a sip of pumpkin juice, she washed down the remainder of her food. She figured talking with her mouth full was somewhat impolite. "Ferret's are just under two feet long, and I got Lance when he was just a baby. So he's still got a ways to go."

She tightened one of her pigtails. "My parents don't think I need an owl, 'specially when the school has 'em," she shrugged. She had wanted her own, but they were too expensive for her family. Living on a farm was a unique way of life, one Ellie wouldn't trade for anything, even one with more money.

Breaking off some more of her cupcake, Nia ate it slowly as she patiently waited for Mariel's explanation. Something told her that her friend needed to do it in her own time - and she felt a little guilty that she had been so overenthusiastic to know what Mariel had been upto, she'd overlooked the fact it could be a negative or uncomfortable reason.

She nodded as Mariel explained about the werewolves. That had been pretty scary, and although she'd convinced her parents it was okay and she wanted to return, Theo had seemed completely the opposite. Mariel's father's reaction was totally natural really. And then Mariel lowered her voice, and Nia swallowed. That had been a bit of a shock at the time. Even though she barely knew the people involved.

"Understandable really," Nia said after a moment's thought. "I mean, in hindsight it all makes sense. Even if I missed you tons. I think quite a few moved on that year, worried about the safety issues." She offered a kind smile. The friendly warmly type, that shows she understood and cared. And that she would always be there. "Soooooo," she said with a twinkle in her eye. "Durmstrang! What is it like? Isn't it mainly boys...anyone cute?" The thing about wizarding schools was that they were so secretive...so inside information about the reality of being at one, Nia wanted to know.

Nia grimaced at Mariel's look of surprise at Ravenclaw having lost. "I know," Nia said, finding her friends hand actually quite comforting, considering she'd been reliving not catching the snitch quite a lot over the summer. "Not many can have claimed to have semi-crashed into Prof V and knocked him into a muddy puddle in their first match as seeker, and then knocked themselves out and broken their broom in two in their second." Ravenclaw Seeker's curse, definitely.

"Keeper is where it's at," Nia agreed with a smile. She'd had pretty much a clean sheet last year as Keeper. And then Tibi had got himself injured...and that's where it went wrong. She broke off a bit of cake, and chewed it thoughtfully. "Though I'm not sure whether to Keep, Beat or Chase this year." It was hard, having to make the decision for herself. She liked playing all three. Perhaps she'd decide after seeing who else she had at tryouts. "I like them all, and for different reasons." But would Captaining as well make them harder?

She laughed. "We will indeed. I'm going to try my best." Oh yes, Captain was something she'd dreamed about. And now she was there, she wanted to hold the Cup in her hands. Actually, in her hands both years would be perfect. "Ahhh, yes, that's what we were doing. False sense of security - it was all a clever tactical decision." Her turquoise eyes twinkled as she mocked nodding knowingly.

"You should, you really should!" Nia almost gave Mariel a stern look for doubting herself, but instead settled for some motivation. "You were a natural flyer, talent doesn't desert you that easily. And I'm willing to do extra practice to get you on top form..." She raised her eyebrows hopefully. She'd tryout? Yes? Yes.

"Hey Kel!" Satine said towards her favorite Ravvie...she turned towards the new face, "And hey to you too, I'm Satine!" she said as she extended her hand in greeting. "Well, i have plenty of games. My dad is a muggle so I borrowed tons of his games this year." she glanced at all the games on the floor and decided they needed to play a loud game. "Would ya'll like to play Yathzee?"

Alcemee said, "That's cool. How was it different from Hogwarts?" Alcemee wondered if Abby missed her other school a lot, and if she had many friends there. She thought it would be cool and interesting to go to a different magic school than Hogwarts, but changing schools would be confusing and a little lonely since if someone was in a different school than before, they wouldn't know anyone in the new school.

Alcemee said, "Hi Satine! I'm Alcemee." She didn't know how to play Yathzee, so she'd ask, but not at this minute. She said, "Yeah, that'd be fun."

Party for winning Ravenclaws? How could Lainey not make an appearance. She'd dressed up for the occasion, wearing a her shocking bright blue robes with the sparkly fringed hems. Might have been gaudy for some, but Lainey somehow made it work (or, so she thought, at least). She popped in, head first, looking for Vindictus.


Errrrm....


... No Max. Well alright. Lainey would just be stag (not that she wasn't anyway, mind. Only mild fantasies going on here).



Moseying in, trying to seem cool, and failing with flair, Lainey circled the room. She mumbled little greetings here and there to whoever would listen, but she was full aware that she was the odd man out.


Though that was certainly nothing new.

Ohh.

"I see," Abby said, nodding seriously. She had heard plenty of stories about Hogwarts and its sheer EXCITINGNESS, so she figured it was no surprise that he would prefer going to school here than being homeschooled. She had a feeling she would find Hogwarts exciting too. More exciting than Salem? Erm. Only time would tell.

Then again, Hogwarts was old and castle-y. And as previously stated, that made it that much more AWESOME.

"Oh, it's in New England in the States," she replied to his question about Salem. She was almost sure that he probably had heard of it before. Salem was one of the top magical academies in America.

Abby smiled. "Yes, same here. My real name is Abigail, too," she said. Awh, so she was a first year. That made her... eleven, right? "I'm a sixth year," she replied. "How're you liking Hogwarts so far?"

How was Salem different from Hogwarts? Hmm, where to begin?

"Well, for one, Salem's an all-girls academy," she offered.

Heh.

Hogwarts was getting plenty of awesome points just for being coed.

He was standing by the food with his back to the entrance and didn't see Anj enter the room. Only when he heard a few hushed whispers did he turn around.

She got his owl.

"PROFESSOR LAINEY, 'OL GIRL!" Vindictus whooped loudly and bounded over to her side like a hyper little kid. "Glad you made it! Maybe you can help me show these uptight Ravenclaws how to let loose and party!"