Elyon skipped down to the kitchen. She'd wanted to bring a gift for the elves as a thank you present for the wonderful feast they made, but she wasn't sure what a house elf liked. Maybe she would read about it somewhere. She tickled the pair and walked inside, smiling at the elves. She wanted to ask them, but they all seemed very busy, so she walked over to the counter and helped herself to an apple.

The emotions he felt back in Diagon Alley washed over him again, this time more intensely. He brushed his hand against Lexi's neck as he felt her arms around his "Yeah quite a bit more actually.... " he smirked and leaned in for another kiss....

Until the sky fell.

Or rather a whole bunch of cookie dough rained on their heads.

He bolted upright as more cookie dough pelted him "Hey! What the??? Go away birdies SHOO SHOO!! " he yelled, swiping at them blindly with his arms. He stood up, tripped and fell to the floor. Looking up, he saw Ivan, pointing a wand at someone.

"Ivan!" he recognized the lad instantly from Jake's party. Is he gonna get rid of those birds? Salander trained his eyes at where he was pointing at-- and saw Kurumi with her salvo of feathered friends.

"No! Put that away!" He yelled at the Ravenclaw boy, thinking he was gonna hit the young Gryff. "The heck's the matter with you?"

Hearing Kurumi's words, the girl cringed inwardly. If only Kurumi knew the whole situation, But Em knew she didn't have the courage to tell her. Taking the towel, Emmaleigh nodded. "Thanks." she said as she wiped her face off. Setting the towel down on the counter, the young girl hugged her friend once again. She looked at her two friends a moment before saying. "I guess I should be heading to bed." She started to head out before turning around. "Thank you both." and with that, she exited the kitchen.

Oh.my. She caught herself giggling as Sal leaned in for another kiss. Oh hell... She enjoyed kissing him and he was so cu... what. the. heck. Something hit her in the side of the head and she looked up as a bird dropped cookie dough on her FACE.

"ARGH! Incendio!" she shouted after she flexed her wrist and released her wand and immediately pointed it at the rebel birds with the cookie dough. COOKIE DOUGH! Lexi's head whipped around and oh my.

...

"Ivan! Don't! You'll scare her to death!" Lexi said in a high pitched voice. She tried to disentangle herself from Sal and fell off of the bench and toppled over into the floor. Groaning slightly she looked up at her boyfriend... the boy she had just been kissing... and the obviously crazy girl with the cookie dough and a flock of crazy birds. "There is a reason birds are called fowl you know." Muttering to herself she lay in the floor a bit longer even as the house elves scuttled about.

Oh man... what was she going to do now? Curl up and die? Pretend that she wasn't there. Perhaps if she closed her eyes they wouldn't see HER. Testing this theory she closed her eyes tight and wished she was somewhere else. Anywhere else in that moment.

Sweetie?! Was this new boy aware that his sweeties was really a life sucking rock demon who had transfigured themselves to look like a human?! Come to think of it, when Kurumi said that out loud in her head it made very little sense.

...

OOPS...

Next thing she knew, the boy had pointed his wand directly at her and she felt her knees begin shaking and her entire body trembled. Kurumi was bright, perhaps the brightest second year, but there was no way that she was going to win a duel with an older student, especially not when her hands were still a little gooey from all the cookie dough. "I-I-I-I-I didn't m-m-m-mean..." Kurumi stammered with her arms held high in the air.

Then, there was a thud as Salander fell to the ground covered in cookie goo. As if things couldn't get worse, her little bird friends were now going down in flames. Kurumi frowned as she watched them fall to the ground in little piles of burning feathers and cookie dough. The girl didn't have to go and blow them up. Birds, even of the charmed variety, had feelings too."

Ivan's eyes grew wide as people started yelling at him and falling off benches and birds were flying and...flaming. What in the world?! Putting his wand away he looked at the damage. "I didn't mean to scare her she was pointing her wand at you..." he said to Lexi. He hadn't been about to do anything...really. Well unless she did something then he'd protect Lexi. But noooooo he was the bad guy.

Bending down he reached for Lexi's hand to help her up, "Come on sweetie. You okay? Anything broken?" he asked with a smirk completely forgetting the scene he had walked in on. "I'll drag you to the healer if I have to." And unlike her he'd succeed this time. Looking around at the cookie dough mess he shook his head, "Why did you do that?" he asked the young girl. Seriously....what a mess. NOOOOOOOOOOO and on his clothes too! His clothes were coated in the stuff and a frown came to his face. Now he'd lost two sets in a matter of days. Faaaaaaaaantastic.

Patroclus was starving, no Train had meant no Opening Feast, and the soggy sandwich offered to him on the KnightBus seemed to be breathing, so it was small wonder why he had pleasently denied the offer and was now starving.

However upon his entry into the kitchen, it seemed his hunger was going to have to wait, as the Kitchen was a mess. Singed feathers, glumps of dough, and exposed wands. "Wow." Patroclus breathed, "what happened here?" he asked, staring around at the mess and the students that were amoungst it.

Not only was the sky falling, it was bursting into flames too.

Salander looked on, its like the plague of Egypt rolled into the kitchen, cookie dough and roasted birds falling all around him. If it wasnt such a mess this would actually look like another good meal...

Stop thinking about food.

He scrambled to get up, and took a quick glance at Kurumi. Oh no she looks like she was gonna lose it. "Kurumi are you ok?" Confused he was but now he was slowly realizing it. The cookie dough and the birds came from the young Gryffindor girl. "Why Kurumi?" he uttered quietly, trying to keep his voice steady. Another moment with Lexi ruined....

And out of the corner of his eye he saw Ivan putting his wand away and helping Lexi up. And calling her "sweetie"

His head spun towards them face totally perplexed. Huh? Did he miss something here?

Then he heard someone else speak. Someone with a shiny red badge on his shirt.

Oh this just keeps getting better and better.

Lexi still had her eyes clenched shut. She was NOT there. It was not going to get worse. It really wasn't. ... Much. She heard the little weird girl talk about she didn't mean. Didn't mean what? "What did you not mean? Did you not mean to set a flock of dough carrying birds on us, then? Because that looked pretty intentional to me," she said loudly as she opened her eyes and saw that Ivan was standing over her with his hand extended. Sweetie.

He called her sweetie and it seemed that all of them were perplexed. Sighing she took his hand and hoisted herself up. Not even ATTEMPTING to brush the bits of feather and dough off of her she looked at Ivan and said, "I k-k-kissed him. It was all my fault and I would have kissed him again. I AM SO SORRY!" Her pretty brown eyes began to brim with tears.

Turning her head to look at Salander she said, "I am so sorry... Ivan's my boyfriend, Salander. I was going to tell you... I was just so confused. I really... I like you, Sal." Her throat felt like it was going to close up. She blinked several times to keep from crying and looked up as...

Really? A Prefect. And not just any Prefect HER Prefect. The Lion badge boy. Great. She sighed and looked at Patroclus. "It was my fault, Patroclus. I set the birds on fire..." she said in a small voice. It was true. It was ALL her fault.

Kurumi's cheeks flushed and she began running her fingers through her long black hair, only to get snagged a few times on bits of cookie dough. Sheepishly, she looking up at Salander. "I-I-I-I saw her put her l-l-l-l-lips on y-y-y-y-yours a-a-a-a-nd you looked d-d-d-d-d-dazed," Kurumi mumbled now looking at the ground and shuffling her feet a bit. "I-I-I-I j-ju-just thought that she m-m-m-m-might be sucking....thelifeoutofyouandIgotscared." If Kurumi hadn't been so flustered right now, she would have realized how silly her story sounded. "I-I-I-I thought she-m-m-m-ight be a transfigured pogrebin." Eino would have done something similiar, she was sure. He had just thrown his pet cactus off the top of the Owlery because he was trying to teach it how to fly.

Then, little hot droplets began forming in the corners of Kurumi's violet eyes as the older Gryffindor girl let her have it. It was then that she recognized the girl as the same Gryffindor she had been smiling at during the opening feast. The same girl who had taken one of her cookies, eaten it, and given her the sweetest smile of the night...and Kurumi had attacked her with cookie dough wielding birds because the thought the girl was a crazy rock demon sucking the life out of Salander like a dementor. "I-I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-s-s-sorry," Kurumi said crashing to the ground with her knees tucked under and her hands pressed against the floor in the deepest bow she had ever done. She had really made a mess of the kitchen.

Peeking up, Kurumi saw Patroclus standing over her looking in absolute shock at the chaos. "P-P-P-Please d-d-d-d-d-on't b-b-b-b-blame them," well, the girl had been cheating on her boyfriend, so maybe she deserved some of the blame. After all, had she not been kissing Kurumi's Slytherin Prince and making him look like a sappy puppy, she wouldn't have summoned the birds in the first place. "I-I-I-I-I s-s-ss-sta-started it." And her face was back in the ground.

Isobel wandered down the hallway to the kitchen. It was so close to her common room, cool! She walked over to the oven and took out her recipe for cupcakes. Katie always had the awesome cupcakes, but now she would. Hehe . Anywho...Isobel got to work. She didn't even pay attention to the people around her, they might not'v even been there for all she knew.

Smiling at Lexi as he helped her up he eyed her outfit which probably mirrored his own. His good mood quickly vanished though as he heard what she said. She had...WHAT? Feeling like his heart was in his stomach he backed away from her his eyes wide again. "You..." Swallowing he looked at the Slytherin and then back at Lexi he didn't even care anymore that his clothes were dirty as his world right then was completely falling apart. His throat going raw he couldn't hide the pain in his eyes at what she'd said.

Gathering himself together he hardened his expression trying his best not to show how much she'd just hurt him. She liked him.... "Funny I thought you cared more about me than 'like'," he said harshly. Ignoring the Gryffindor prefect that had come in he pulled his eyes from Lexi's so she couldn't see how hurt he was, "I think I need to go," he said swiftly. Yup go that's what he needed to do. And talk to James and...clean himself up. He'll deal with this later. Much later. He turned and brushed past the Prefect not even stopping and out the door. As soon as it closed behind him he took off running to his dormitory a small voice in his head laughing at his stupidity all the way up the stairs.

Patroclus looked at each person in turn, and then realised for the first time that he was a prefect, like an actually prefect, but it was in that moment he was not going to abuse that power and go on some wild power trip.

"Lexi and Kurumi, it seems you both see that you are at fault so that's a good thing, so let's hug it out Lions!" Patroclus joked with a laugh, "You don't really have to hug." This was not at all waht Patroclus had been expecting when he had decided to come to kitchens.

However the two other boys were silent, and Patroclus went to speak to them, when the Ravenclaw one pushed past him and hurried off. "Okay..." the fifth year muttered, slightly shocked, "I am going to guess that it was more than Cookies and Birds that have upset him, so I wont get involved with that. But the rest of us, is everyone cool?"

The elves however didn't look so cool, perhaps he should offer to help clean.

Salander stared at Kurumi as if she sprouted another head. Did she just say???.... Nawwww she couldnt have "Lexi a... pogrebin?.... sucking the life out of....?" he repeated dumbfounded, shifting his head between the two Gryffindor girls "But Kurumi, a pogrebin has a head of a giant rock. We had that in a glass case in DADA last term." It was part of the finals, didnt she remember? He spared a look at Lexi, momentarily distracted by what she would look like with a head of a boulder.....

Until Kurumi crashed to the ground bowing and crying.

Oh no. No tears. Salander cant handle a girls' tears. "No Kurumi uh....." he said wanting to just walk over and comfort the poor girl. But he couldnt even move a inch when Lexi began to speak.

There has got to be something wrong with his ears tonight. First Kurumi said Lexi was a Pogrebin and now Lexi says that Ivan is her boyfriend.

He stared at the blonde, completely immobile. He waited for her-- for all of them-- to crack up laughing and call out that the joke's on him.

But Lexi started to weep. And in his shell shock he could vaguely make out what Ivan was saying before stomping off. But he kept his eyes on Lexi. That beautiful moment they had earlier was now replaced by the ugly reality of this.

He wanted to reach out and wipe her tears away, tell her its gonna be ok.... and at the same time he didnt want to see her at all.

And like a thunderclap someone said something about Lions. And hugging.

He blinked, shifting his eyes towards the Prefect, what was he saying? He was punishing them by hugging carnivorous beasts?

He needed to leave. Stat.

"I'm sorry about the mess." he mumbled half-haphazardly. "I'll clean it up in the morning." his usual excuse at home, completely forgetting where he was or that elves are scuttling about. Without looking at any of them, he made for the door and walked quickly towards the dungeons.

Lexi's bottom lip began to quiver and tears spilled from her eyes as she watched the little Gryffie begin to cry. Maaaan. She hadn't meant for ANY of this to happen. She started to move forward and help her up when Ivan began to speak. The look in his eyes and the feeling of utter uselessness they evoked in her made her want to crumble.

"Iv..." she began. She watched his back as he left the kitchen and her heart sank. Not as much as it did when Salander's face came into view when she turned to face him. The tears came faster and she choked out, "I'm so sorry Salander. Please..." Then he was gone too. Without acknowledging Patroclus she turned, in a daze and began to walk through the mess that they had made and went out the door. Her heart was torn to pieces. She wanted to go after Ivan, but she also wanted to go after Salander. She had successfully hurt two people she cared about. Yay for her. :/

Kurumi watched as each of the older students left the kitchen one by one. Instead of saying anything, Kurumi remained on the floor in her bowing position until the Gryffindor girl had left. Peeking up and seeing that only her prefect remained, Kurumi rolled onto her bottom and hugged her knees to her chest. What was she going to do now? Had she been the cause of those three falling out? She had only been trying to protect Salander, who probably hated her now. Kurumi sniffled a bit and used the sleeve of her robe to wipe her nose and her tears away. Was there anything she could do? The only thing she knew how to do was bake.

Resting her head on her knees, Kurumi looked around at the panic stricken house elves that was running around trying to clean up the mess that she had started. She turned to her favorite house elf, Twinkle. "No, you guys leave it," she whispered swallowing back another wave of tears. Tears that had been caused by her own innocence and stupidity. "I'll clean it up. After all, I started it." She took the rag from the elf and began scrubbing the floor. No sense in using magic. She didn't deserve an easy way out of this one.

As Kurumi scrubbed and scrubbed, she knew she was going to have to make it up to all of them...somehow. This was going to require cookies...lots and lots of them. Even with class the next day, Kurumi vowed to not sleep until she had baked herself an apology.

Well his first venture as Prefect had failed.

No one hugged, and everyone had left and looked as though they were all on the edge of tears, in fact Lexi was crying.
Patroclus watched as they all ran out, and turned back around to see Kurumi sitting on the floor, trying to scrub away the cookie dough and feathers, "Kurumi, get up," Patroclus whispered in his best big-brother type voice offering his hand, "I'll take care of it". Pulling his wand out from beneath his robes, he waved it over the mess and declared "Scourgify!" Patroclus was excellent at cleaning spells, he had Lafay to thank for it.

Once everthing spotless once again, the elves seemed to be no longer on edge, "I think we should head up to the Common Room, leave the elves to have their Kitchen back to themselves for awhile, come on" Patroclus grinned, pulling a tea towel off the bench for Kurumi to dry her tears on.

"T-T-T-Thanks," Kurumi whimpered as she took the towel from Patroclus. She was a little relieved that he had helped her clean up. It was going to be a mountain of a task for barely 5 feet tall her to do on her own. Still, she couldn't help but feel that she should have cleaned everything up by hand and not with the use of magic. After all, it had been magic that had caused all the trouble. Kurumi shyly took hold of the boy's hand like a terrified child does when they want their father or older brother to protect them.

"Oooh. Accents. They always made even the most mundane conversation topics sound so much more interesting."

Case in point, those Tri-wizard tournament students last term.

"Sounds like a plan" After she finished her Shepard's pie of course. Thanking the house elf and accepting a refill of pumpkin juice as well, Ivory poked her fork into the fluffy crust just smelling the homey smell of it for a second. Oh food. Guilty pleasure that it was.

Savoring the first bite of carrot and peas, she almost didn't catch what Arya said. Almost. It was the hesitancy and facial expression that got her.
"The healer?" Her mind flashed uncomfortably to thoughts of the hospital wing. Sure, she'd go if she had to, mortal peril and all or helping someone else. But it didn't seem to be the best place to go meeting and greeting. "Maybe she has another office outside of the wing?" Maybe? Probably not.
Thoughtful expression on her face, Ivory took another bite of pie. "She can't stay in there aaall the time. I'm sure if we hang around the third floor we'll meet her eventually." Cheerily poking her friend, she grinned knowingly. "We'll figure something out, no worries."

[b]"

After getting lost around the corridors, Cass had finally found her way to the kitchens. She couldn't believe she forgot how to get here.

She looked around and tried to decided what she wanted for a snack..

After Isobel had put her cupcakes in the oven she looked around the kitchen. Hmm; apparently she had missed a lot while she hadn't been paying attention. There were cookie bits everywhere, but two people were cleaning them up. One of the girls was close to Isobel's age, and Isobel noticed that she had tears in her eyes. "H..hey," she said. "A..Ar..Are you okay?"

Arya nodded her head in agreement, taking another bite out of her meat loaf. Accents did make conversations more interesting, but only the new ones. After all, just about everyone in the school had an accent different from hers, mainly British. After a while, they become the norm.

The young girl nodded her head again, this time more solemnly as memories of the place, and hospitals in general, flooded her mind. Unlike her best friend, she wouldn't willingly go for her own personal health. Her friends yes, but not her own. "I don't know....don't think its outside of the hospital wing." Which was why she couldn't visit the woman. "But I do plan on sitting out in the corridor and waiting for the woman." Grinning at Ivory, she finished off her meat loaf. They would figure something out.

Satine shook her head, "O dang it...I wear a size 7....I think I know a shrinking and stretching spell that Professor Bunburry from a few years back taught me..." she said thoughtfully as she turned back to the cookbook floating..."Let's see it says we need sweetened condensed milk...Would you like to accio it for us?"

Dozer had an odd hankering for something but he wasn't exactly sure what. Walking into the expansive kitchens he did a circuit around the place. It was nice and cozy. Seemed like everything was set up so that it was fairly easy to find.

Wait....That was it. Omelets.

Yuummmeh.

Striding over to the fridge he fished out some eggs, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and jalapenos. Setting his things on the counter he paused and then went to the pantry. Homemade hash browns would go well with omelets...oooo and toast too. Getting warmed up to his little meal, Dozer reached for a cutting board. Reaching up he loosened his tie so that it hung out of his way. Running a hand through his hair he searched for a knife and then set to his task.

He started whistling a tune while he worked.

Running her hands through her dark hair, letting out a soft sigh, the Slytherin girl made her way to the kitchens from the common room in the dungeons, craving her tea at the moment. Having placed the container of her tea mix in it's usually hiding spot in the kitchens, she knew it certainly would be there. Especially considering she had asked her new house elf friend to keep an eye on it.

What she did not count on was the fact that someone else may have found it necessary to take a little trip to the kitchens at the same time she thought to do so.

Quietly letting the portrait door close behind her, the hazel eyed girl stared at the back of the boy's head for a moment, quite alarmed, before moving more into the kitchens and to where her tea mix was. Silently of course. However, as she passed the Ravenclaw, she did look at what he was doing.

Erm...what was he making?