Ellie shrugged at Dianna's question. "Well I love astronomy, and I like nature, but I just don't like working with it like in Herbology class. I just enjoy being in it." She explained. "If that makes sense." She added with a light laugh. "What about you? What makes you... tick?" She asked, nudging the girl lightly in the arm.

Dianna nodded. "Oh I see." she smiled at Ellie.

"What makes me tick is...." Di thought for a while. What does make her tick? "Let's see.. My brother, insects, dirt, homework and the occasional visit of my grandparents." she said with a small laugh. Don't get her wrong she loves her grandparents it's just that they can be too old style in the way they think.

Walking around, Stephen was deciding whether or not to stay at Hogwarts for break or go back home. Sure he missed his mom's cooking and so on, but school was actually quiet during these times. But then back home his brother would torture him. The usual things every single day. Sighing, Stephen kept walking, not really caring where'd he'd end up. It was probably going to be more excited than this.

Leaving the Common Room, Aimée wandered down the halls of the school. She wasn't sure where she wanted to go, just to wander and walk, and think about stuff. She smiled to herself as she thought about her Hogsmead trip with Dallin, and kind of shivered at the memory of the cold. Okay, admittedly the shiver was only half about the cold - Dallin was rather cute.

Deep in thoughts, she didn't notice when she brushed past someone in the corridor. Sighing, she paused and looked up at them, mentally shaking her thoughts away. And look who it was, Stephen? Why was it that they always seemed to meet like this? At least this time it hadn't been a hard knock, just a brush against his arm. "Oh, sorry," she muttered quietly.

Slightly humming now, Stephen rubbed his face until he felt someone brush past him. Looking down and around him, he smirked and saw that one person who's probably been avoiding him since the first day here. Jeez, that was months ago. "Well, look who it is. Short, blonde Aimée, that one person who's been avoiding me since we got here. How have you been?" Stephen asked, with a small smirk on his face. But he always had one on. Nothing unusual.

Avoiding him? "I 'ave not been avoiding you. And I am not short," she said, huffily. Okay, so she had kind of been avoiding him; last time she'd seen him, he'd stolen her book, and wouldn't give it back. Which had annoyed her. "I am average 'eight." she added, in an informative tone. Because it was true. She wasn't short. Hrmphhh.

"I am... alright, zank you," she addmitted, a little taken aback by her question - it didn't seem like him to be the kind to ask how she was. "And you?" Well, she wasn't going to be impolite.

"Yes you have. You haven't talk to me since the time I took your book, but I gave it back," Stephen pointed out. That was the last time, right? Ehh. "Obviously to me you're short considering I'm tall for my age," he chuckled lowly. Did girls really not get jokes nowadays? It's like guys had to be literal with them. Which wasn't always fun. Only needed in serious conversation, far from this one. But their "conversations" were always awkward.

"Me? I'm okay. Just wondering if I should go home for break or stay here. And I have something for you," Stephen said and dug into his box and took out a small box, which contained a bracelet inside. "It's a peace treaty. I forgive you for almost killing if you forgive me for taking your book," Though the almost dying was a lot more complicated than a book.

"Zat doesn't mean zat I 'ave been avoiding you. Maybe we just 'aven't seen each ozer around," she pointed out, not wanting to admit that the boy was right; that was something Aimée had always been terrible at. Laughing a little at what he said, she gazed up at him and for the first time really realised how much she had to lean her head back to see his face. "Yes, I guess I must be short to you zen, just as you are tall to me."

Go home or stay? "I would go 'ome," she said to him, thoughtfully. "Christmas es meant to be spent wiz family, no?" That was her view on it, anyway. "I am staying," Aimée said, for no apparent reason - it wasn't like he'd care what she was doing.

When he pulled out the little box, the blonde girls mouth dropped open a little, and she hastily closed it. Closing her hand around the box, she opened it and closed it swiftly, but not before she had let out a little gasp. "I can't accept zis," she muttered softly. "Eet es beautiful... but a treaty es about a 'andshake, not gift zat I don't deserve."

"Right, anyways," Stephen laughed, not really wanting to get into the whole height thing once again. But then Aimee finally realized the joke and laughed. Good. "I guess. So maybe I would go home, just to get tormented by my brother as always," But they would eventually break something in the house and get grounded. But that never did anything for them. "But you just said Christmas is meant to be spent with family. Then why are you staying here?" Stephen asked. Very contradicting. Oh well.

"No, a treaty is a written form. But take it, it's Christmas and the green beads match my eyes!" Stephen batted his eyelashes and laughed. Well it was true. The beads were almost the same color was his eyes.

"You 'ave a brozer?" Aimée said before she could stop herself. Biting her lip, she looked down apologeticly; they weren't exactly friends, so why was she asking? He would probably think her incredibly rude, prying like that. Looking up when he asked her why she was staying here, she shrugged. "Because, like you, I will get tormented by male siblings. Two of zem. Zay are annoying. Plus, my dad is working over ze break, so it would just be me and zem," she explained. Not that it was much of an explanation, seeing as it didn't make much sense, but she knew what she meant, and she shuddered at the thought of the twins.

"Exactly! Eet es not a present!" she said barely suspressing a giggle as he batted his eyelashes. Pretty green eyes, huh? Which they were, not that she would admit. "B-but..." she added, her voice taking a slight tone of desperation. "Fine," she muttered, not ungratefully as she slipped the bracelet on with a small smile. "Thank you."

And now her mind was whirring at what she could possibly get him..

"Yeah. His name is Leonard and he's about," Why couldn't Stephen ever remember how much older his brother was? REALLY bad memory. "3 years older than me. Yeah, that seems about right," he nodded, making sure he had gotten the age difference right. "Ohhhhh, see we have something in common already," Stephen patted Amiee's head and smiled. But she had two brothers instead of one. Oh, dad traveling on breaks. Stephen knows that feeling. "I know how that feels. My dad travels a lot so we barely see him, even on breaks and such," Stephen sighed, knowing he couldn't do much about it anyway.

"If you don't take it, I will place it on your wrist and charm it," he smirked, which he would actually do without hesitation. Or regret. But then Amiee ACTUALLY took the bracelet of the boy she almost killed. "Okay, now we need to close this out in a hug," Stephen chuckled and hugged Amiee. "If you don't hug me back, I will stay here until you do. So you better hug me!"

Watching as Stephen struggled to remember how old his brother was, Aimée frowned. "Eet es not normal to forget 'ow old your brozzer is, you know," she said, her frown melting into a little laugh. Because, strange as it was, it was a little funny, too. Dodging away from the taller boys hand, Aimée checked her head with her own, a scowl around her lips. Did he not know that you didn't touch a girls hair? Obviously not. "Yes, we do. Alzough my brozzers are three years younger," she said as she realised her hair was fine and therefore her scowl faded.

"Yeah. I guess we always saw a lot of 'im in France 'cause 'e 'ad 'is own business and did a lot of work from 'ome. Now, zough, 'e works in London and is never in," she said with a shrug. She wasn't used to it, but she wasn't used to England yet, either.

"You wouldn't do zat zough, would you?" Aimée asked hesitantly as she slid the bracelet onto her wrist. Looking back up at the boy she had 'almost killed', she only saw his face for a second before her had her in a hug.

"GET OFF ME NOW MEESTER."

"Yeah, I know. But he's not my actual older brother, so I don't really remember much except that he's older," Stephen said, then quickly realizing what he said. GREAT. Stephen pouted a bit when Aimee moved away from his patting. Of course, it was a girl thing to care too much about their hair. It was something he was never going to understand. "Oh, so you're the oldest of all the kids?" He asked. Stephen wondered what being an older child was like. Too bad his parents didn't have anymore kids. Well, the ones in Italy didn't. Whoa, what? "You're from France?" That explains the accent. "I used to go to school over there, after I practically got kicked out," Oh well, there were many other schools that didn't know Stephen.

"Trust me, I would," he smirked and shrugged. No really, Stephen would do it. Ugh, so rude. "Sheesh, woman! I'm trying to be nice here but I'm sorry I annoyed you with my friendship!" Stephen's voice got a bit louder and decided to just let go of Aimee and leave. "I'll leave you to your peace. Have a nice day," he said and turned his back towards her.

Oh. Aimée felt a bit rude now. "I didn't mean to pry," she explained. Was he adopted then? She wasn't going to ask, but it seemed that way, to Aimée anyways. So no more on that topic - purely because she wasn't sure how Stephen felt about it, and she didn't want to seem rude or obnoxious, or well... everything she actually was at times.

"Yes," Aimée admitted glumly. "Sometimes I wish I 'ad older brozzers or sisters; I would not get blamed for everything zat goes wrong at 'ome." At least staying for the holidays meant that she couldn't be blamed. Plus she wouldn't have to look after the boys when her father was at work during the summer.

Was she from France? Laughing a little, Aimée nodded. "I zought you would 'ave guessed from the accent," she admitted, still giggling a little. "Oh, whay school were you at?"

Annoyed her with his friendship? Talk about mood swings! Wasn't it girls that boys were always blaming for having moodswings? If only she had a video recorder. But no, she shouldn't be thinking about that. She hadn't meant to offend him. Oh gosh. Running after him a little, Aimée sighed. "I'm not annoyed at your friendship," she said, a little exasperatedly. Catching up with him, she lay a hand on his back. "I just don't do 'ugs," she said softly. "Sorry."

"Don't worry, it's really a big deal anyway," Stephen shrugged, knowing it really wasn't since he had gotten used to that whole situation. "But older brothers and sister can cause mayhem for yourself as well. My brother and I are always fighting and breaking things so we both get in trouble. There's always good and bad thing about having siblings or being an only child," Stephen pointed out. If he was an only child, he'd be lonely in his house, though Lexi would probably always be there. But still, Stephen didn't like to be alone sometimes. "Took me a while to sink that in," Stephen laughed. "I went to the Beauxbatons Academy,"

Stephen chuckled and slightly shook his head. "Relax, I was only joking. Wouldn't matter if you hugged me or not, but it would've been a nice gesture,"

"Are you sure?" Aimée said, slightly apprehensively, biting her bottom lip. She didn't want to seem rude of offensive, and she was scared she'd seemed exactly that. That, plus the fact that Stephen thought she'd 'nearly killed him' (which she really hadn't - he was still alive, and hadn't been hospitalised, wasn't he?!) didn't exactly put her in a good light in his eyes. "Hmm, I s'pose zey would..." she said thoughtfully as he explained how his older brother caused trouble for him. But still, it would have been nice to have someone to look out for her and stuff, rather than her looking after the two idiots that happened to be related to her.

He'd gone to Beauxbatons? "Oh, zat is where I went!" she said with a laugh. Well, it was the biggest Wizarding School in France, so it probably wasn't that much of a coincidence. But still, it was nice to have something in common with him, she thought.

Sighing slightly, she felt a little put out that he hadn't actually been upset and rolled her eyes. Seriously? He'd made her feel all guilty and bad and stuff, which wasn't nice. "Hmmmph, I s'pose it would 'ave been. But I stand by ze face zat I don't do 'ugs."

Stephen nodded. "It's not a big deal being adopted, in a way. Once you realize that maybe you were better off adopted, it's not so bad," he shrugged his shoulders. Then again, Stephen never knew his birth parents but he did love the family he had now. Even his psychotic older brother who likes to torment him. "Being oldest can have benefits, I guess. Even though you'd have to look after your younger siblings, you can sometimes do what you want," Well, at least his brother did that.

"Well, look at that. Such a small world," Stephen chuckled. He had obviously not seen her around school since Stephen hadn't noticed her in Diagon Alley. Then again, most girls that went there had blonde hair. Even Lexi had blonde hair but thank Merlin she dyed it brown now. "Fine, no hugs then. How about a handshake?" Stephen stuck out his hand and gave her a small smile. At least it was some small gesture.

Selina was walking down the corridor with her sketch pad in hand. Ever since her work on the Pitch the other day she had been looking for a good time to get to draw out some of the inspiration she had gotten from flying. Between classes, and practices, and more personal practice Selina had not gotten the chance to get to sketch. She had missed her sketch pad.

As she found a nice bench Selina sat down in the empty corridor and flipped open the sketch pad. From page to page she saw her friends who had posed for her, many images of the lake from all of her times down there, and most recently the sketches of all of the creatures they had seen on the CoMC trip.

Throwing her red hair over her shoulder Selina bit down on her lip and began to draw the fine, thin lines of the Pitch in winter.

With a bit of free time between classes, homework and quidditch, Simon had found himself leisurely walking around the castle , no desire to step out into the brisk air outside. Letting the moving staircase set him on a path to a random corridor, eventually leading him back to another staircase which lead him roundabout to the 5th floor. In fact the only reason he knew it was the fifth floor was the features like the ancient runes classroom along it length. The quidditch captain had just come to realize this bit of information when he spotted a familiar presence ahead of him as he walked...Selina.

Simon hesitated as he neared, seeing the first year apparently deep in thought and unaware of his nearing presence. A good thing for now since he knew enough to know she tended to flounder in his presence and he didn't wish to disturb her especially when he noticed the sketch book and pencil in hand. So he simply moved up beside her, just close enough to see her work not knowing she could draw.

Selina's pencil was dancing along the paper. Every stroke was clean and clear as the pencil moved from place to place. As she began to shade the finer details she felt a piece of her red hair fall in her face. She moved to cast it away when out of the corner of her eye she saw a figure that was beside her. Suddenly feeling very exposed she turned around to meet the eyes of her Quidditch Captain, Simon.

She was in startled to see him and jumped in her skin. "Oh Merlin. You scared me." Then finally registering who it was Selina grew quiet, "I mean, uh, hello. What brings you up here? No one's every up here." That's why it was one of her favorite places to draw.

Simon continued to watch as the blank paper grew into an almost three dementional image with the shading included in her work. He frowned however as Selina reacted in sudden surprise when she finally noticed she wasn't totally alone, having been trying to best to stay out of the way. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to. Actually hoped not to," he replied appologetically.

"Just randomly wandering. Good way to clear the head and relax from everything else going on," the captain answered in explaination. Usually reading and such helped him but lately even that seemed to be too much for the sixth year especially after the crazy studing he had done the previous years for his OWLS. "KInda let the moving staircases guide my steps and I would up here."

iPod Touch, check. Awesome songs, check. Bryce singing? Not yet but soon. Very soon.

"Can't read my, can't read my, no he can't read my poker face." Bryce sang in a good voice. "Yeah can't read my, can't read my, no he can't read my poker face. She gotta love nobody." Bryce kept singing.

Boy was he weird.

Now what to listen to? He didn't know. "Some things we don't talk about rather do without just hold the smile. fallin' in and out of love ashamed and proud of..." Bryce sang. "You can never say never while you're runnin' time and time again." Bryce sang again before falling flat on his face.

Cassie was walking along from her dorm when she heard...[I] singing[/s]? Ok so that was a lot weird. She decided to walk towards the singing to see who was making so much noise in the school. Ok so she had no problem with people singing and stuff but this was just simply funny.

When Cassie finally saw who it was she didn't try to hide her laughter. Instead she walked up to him with a huge grin on her face." Bryce Russell, what is the meaning of this racket?" she asked with her hands on her hips. The boy was just plain silly, but it amused her greatly. Hmm, she also didn't know that those things worked at Hogwarts :/

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davvy_Wavvy

Cassie was walking along from her dorm when she heard...[I] singing[/s]? Ok so that was a lot weird. She decided to walk towards the singing to see who was making so much noise in the school. Ok so she had no problem with people singing and stuff but this was just simply funny.

When Cassie finally saw who it was she didn't try to hide her laughter. Instead she walked up to him with a huge grin on her face." Bryce Russell, what is the meaning of this racket?" she asked with her hands on her hips. The boy was just plain silly, but it amused her greatly. Hmm, she also didn't know that those things worked at Hogwarts :/

After Bryce fell face first on the hard, cold stone floor he stood up and heard the song change. "Want you to make me feel like I'm the only girl in the world, like I'm the only girl that you'll ever love. Only girl in the world." Bry, Bry sang. Hehehe. He was an odd kid. Then he heard someone talked to him. He turned around. It was...

HOLY LLAMAS CHIZ...IT WAS CASSIE!!!

Well now he felt like a complete idiot. AN IDIOT!! He took his ear phones out and put his iPod in his pocket. "Err...hello...Cassie" Bryce said awkwardly in his German accent.

Cassie giggled as she watched Bryce pull himself. She shook her head but moved closer to him still. What was he doing wondering the halls by himself, singing at that. Boys were so weird. Well Bryce was so weird. But he was fun and she liked that about him.

Aww and his accent was cute, too bad he was with that uncool girl Hannah or not, she wasn't suranymore about what was going on with him in that area." I didn't know you liked to sing." well that goes to show you never really know as much as you think." So what have you been up to Brycie?"