Zara didn't see Matt blush, actually. She's been seeing enough red and scarlet that she could hardly tell colors anymore. If someone showed her an orange right now and asked her what color it was, she'd definitely answer a straight, "red," right away.

Did he just call her evil? Zara pouted playfully, then pretended to sniff as if she were about to cry. Blinking constantly matched her sad face perfectly. Then she looked down. "You just called me evil," she said then let out a loud sigh. Well, she was just goofing around, really. Anyone could tell that right away by the way she's acting. If Matt knew that she's just playing, she didn't know. She couldn't tell either. His brain worked in a way that she couldn't figure out. He'd probably think she was really hurt he called her evil.

Well, Zara didn't see Ella coming. And Ella didn't hear her call her. This was pretty funny. Zara tried again. "Ella?" she asked while waving her hands in front of Ella's face trying to attract her attention. "Helloooo. Ellie ellie Ella? Earth to Ella, earth to Ella."

Alice had been examining her nails somewhat thoughtfully when she heard a voice close by. Looking up to an expectant face Alice realized that the boy was indeed talking to her. "Oh, yeah, I do know a bit," Alice said with a warm smile. "My name is Alice Page and I'm a third year." Alice extended her hand out warmly to the boy in front of her...he was kind of cute. "Nice to meet you William." The classes...err. "They're a lot of fun...although watch out for Professor Hecate...she can be a little testy," Alice said with a chuckle.

"Yes I can. I guess my siblings and I could have a bad. There's ten of us and we each play instrament, so it would be a very disfunctional band though." Cove laughed. "Alright then William, so what hobbies do you have?"

Ella jumped and turned around in her chair. 'Zara!' A grin broke out on her face. 'Sorry! Miles away..' she waved her hands.

"Soft?!" he said, exasperated. Oh, brilliant. He was soft. So much for a blossoming masculinaty. Oh no, never. He was soft. Softy soft soft. Like a marshmellow... "I'm Marshmellow Matt." he said, slapping a hand to his forehead in partially-feigned despair. "All..squishy." He poked his scrawny stomach with a sigh. He didn't mind really; he knew she didn't mean any offence by it.

"Weell.." he said, trying to think of a time that would match any of what she'd just told him. Her family sounded like a barrell of monkies. "A cow gave birth on our dinner table one time." he recalled, frowning. "That was so cool. There were cow guts everywhere!" He grinned. "Then my pa dropped a chicken in mum's bath 'cause he was so stressed about the cow that he thought it was a sponge...Poor pa. Mum had a right go."

"It's 'cause you are." He said, eyes gazing at the fire, legs stretched out in front of him, an amused expression on his face. "You've been cursed with...the evil sniff..." He wiggled his eyebrows. "But it's ok." The first year smiled up at her, feigning reassurance. "I'm sure you'll live." Just banter. He liked banter. Banter was fun. 'Cause no matter how much you insulted someone, you knew they didn't mean it. All his friends back home...*sniff*...They'd do it all the time.

Zara chuckled, "It's okay. I'll just rest here." She said, closing her eyes.

Ella nodded. 'Mhm.. lovely.. ' Ella just.. nodded.
'Well you're not as soft, I'm training you up, see.' Ella grinned, her eyes narrowed slightly. 'Then at my house you're gonna ride my ponio and play Quidditch with the five other hooligans and Zara, who's possibly worse..' Ella grinned. She prodded his stomach. She was suprised at how not soft it was. She rubbed her finger. 'Ow.. freaky belly boy!' She burst out laughing.
'Don't worry though Matt, Mam'll probably want to adopt you on the spot.' She could imagine her Mam's face as she presented her with messy haired Matt. 'She'll think you're sweet.' Ella wrinkled her nose. 'Can't imagine why.. but you are compared to all of us. '

Ella frowned. She closed her eyes like that a lot. 'You okay Zara? You're up for mine at Christmas, right?' She grinned.

Septimus had a feeling he knew one of the things she was thinking about. "Is...is it Adam?" he asked her with caution. He didn't want to make her angry because he had brought up a touchy subject, but he didn't wan to act like he couldn't be there for his friend.

Merlin was like an overgrown kitten... always wanting to play. He wiggled around a bit and mewed at the other kitty. My name's Merlin, what's yours? I belong to the pretty girl that smells like catnip. Isn't that odd? That she smells like that? Anyway.. wanna hide under the sofa and attack people's ankles when they walk by or sit down? Or have you got something better in mind? He too began to flick his tail back and forth and twitch his whiskers a bit. Hehe. FUNTIMES!

Lexi watched as Kurumi correctly put her s'more together and began to roast her marshmallow. Good girl took direction well. Hehe. Lexi actually followed suit and when her graham cracker and chocolate were prepared she skewered her mallow and stuck it directly in the flame.

FIRE. Gah how she loved it so. She bet she could make THIS fire bigger... wonder if Pat would say something about it though? Prefects. Pfffffft.

OH she actually knew this one!! All that research about America she had been doing was being useful already. Hehe. "Well historians think that perhaps the Girl Scouts of America may have been the first ones to make them... they camped out a lot or something... but, yeah. Americans like, invented the s'mores," she said proud that she knew something that Kurumi didn't. It was juvenile, she knew, but it felt nice sometimes...



Lexi was not very surprised to see Pat doing jumps and such in the common room. Try sleeping in the guest quarters of his family boat... Pat liked to come in and JUMP around while she overslept... everyday. Hehe.

Smiling broadly she pointed to the pile of s'more making goodies and said, "Well come on then. Have at it. And how are Pollux and Pandora? I need to send them something. A thank you. I picked it up in Thira and have been meaning to send it and have yet to do so. And I have something for you as well. For you lot being so gracious as to let us hijack a ride to Santorini." The Hudson's were fabulous people... and all VERY pretty too.

"I thought so. Besides... I am trying to make it a tradition I suppose... Let all of the kiddos know that we are not going to bite them or anything... they can come share our s'mores and talk to the upperclassmen."



Then turned her head she flicked her wrist, sending her wand into her hand and with a quick NONVERBAL (CHYEAH) Sonorus she called out to the common room as a whole, "Anyone who would like to come join us for s'mores, please come. Everyone is welcome. It is our start of term tradition. There is hot cocoa as well courtesy of our lovely house elves." She flicked her wand and gave the counter, Quietus and smiled brightly at the young, fresh faces around them. The older kids knew they could join. She was more worried about making the newbs feel welcomed.

Ariadne took a few seconds to think if she was looking forward to DADA. 'It sounds interesting, and it was my mum's favourite subject in school, but it just doesn't appeal to me that much.' she replied sincerely. 'I'm mostly looking forward to History of Magic and Divination.' the firstie confessed.

'I miss my mum a little, and our house in Yorkshire. I've never been away from my family till now. What about you? Do you miss them?' Ariadne asked Jordan.

'Ah, Divination!' Ariadne joined in with excitement. 'I can't wait to try that, even Muggles are fond of it, with their horoscopes and palm readings.' she chuckled. 'I once went to an amusement park with my mum and there was a fortune-teller there who told me I would inherit a huge fortune. I can't see that coming.' Ari laughed. 'Have you ever had anything predicted to you?' the firstie was curious.

'I'm sure you'll do good, the only thing is not to give up. But you won't, you're a brave Gryffie.' the girl smiled. 'If you want we could learn French together, for when we go back to France.' she suggested.

'Yes, Muggleborn's the word.' Ariadne nodded. 'But many Muggleborns have proved to be extremely talented witches and wizards.' she added. 'Oh, I hope her jealousy won't last long.' Ari said, sincerely.

Ariadne couldn't understand the behaviour of the other girls in the common room. Alas, she was only eleven, and was clueless about boys. For her, this older Gryffindor was an adult, and she liked talking to adults.

'Nearly there, anyway. It wasn't such a bad guess, after all.' she grinned. Ariadne nodded in understanding. 'So the ship is a total mystery. Do you reckon we'll be allowed to explore it later this year?' she asked for the boy's opinion.

'What's your name?' was the next obvious question. 'I am Ariadne Marchbanks, a firstie, as you might have guessed.' she introduced herself. 'So what was your favourite thing at Hogwarts over the past six years?' the girl was curious to know.

'Sure. The kitchen.' Ari muttered. Of course, it was the obvious, logical choice, but she had to go over the top and suggest the Room of Requirement. Better move on to the question.

'My mum was. She was a Ravenclaw, she's been telling me stories about Hogwarts ever since I can remember, she is still very fond of the place. Her family, the Marchbanks, have beein in Ravenclaw for generations, and here I am, breaking the tradition.' Ariadne said, proudly. She hoped Kurumi wouldn't ask her why she had her mother's surname and never even mentioned her father.

'What about you? Are you the first of your family to come to Hogwarts?' Ari hastened to ask. 'So it's home...Do you have any pictures with it, though? I'd love to see some.' she wondered.

'Sure. But do you mind if I bring some friends? There is a Hufflepuff in particular, whom I promised we'd explore every nook of Hogwarts together.' Ariadne explained.

Ari looked at the locket curiously. 'It's beautiful.' she gasped. 'Maybe there's a sort of incantation you have to say for it to open.' the girl suggested. 'Maybe it's something related to your grandmother. If I were you, I'd go to the library and check the yearbooks, you'll definitely find out something about your grandma there.' Ari added, with increasing excitement. 'If you want, I can help, I love doing research.' she offered.

"I love playing Quidditch! I'm so excited for that. I'm also excited for Charms class....and Transfiguration!" Ariella replied.

"It does look that way, doesn't it?" Lucas commented with a chuckle. "Diego is a little egocentric. I should have expected this." He scratched Diego's head with a grin.

He was a little surprised when Kurumi asked if she could ask him a personal question. What did that entail? Thankfully, it wasn't anything big. "Oh, it's not really an interesting story or anything." He shrugged. "I actually went to school until my second year, but I never really kept in touch with any of the friends I made back then, so I kinda feel like I'm starting fresh. Anyway, my granddad got sick a couple of years ago and came to live with us. There were four of us kids, and my mom was pregnant with another one. My dad works a lot, so he couldn't be at home as much as he would have liked. It was really just because my mom needed an extra pair of hands to help out with Granddad and the other kids." He smiled. "Granddad's fine now, by the way. Recovered quite nicely. Although he is pretty cranky... But he was sort of like that before. There might have actually been improvement in that department." He laughed lightly. "I'm back because Granddad's alright, and the kids are older now, plus Mum had the baby a year or so ago. Kind of a boring story. Sorry. Why do you ask?"


"We should jam together sometime," Lucas said with a grin. "I need a music buddy!"

"This is, the first time I've been away from my Uncle. But it's great here, it's everything I'd like out of a school. Twenty times better than muggle school, that's for sure. You'll get used to it, hopefully by year two." Jordan replied explaining to Ariadne about how he loved Hogwarts. It was his home, and it was just like his home with his Uncle. A place filled with Magic, and his favorite hobby, Quidditch. How couldn't he love this place.

John entered the common room and found an empty spot on a couch. He sat there staring at the flames in the chiminey. He simply sighed and rested his head on the couch...

Nika turned a deep shade of crimson. Jeez this Willie guys knows how to make girls blush. "Actually a year younger can't be too bad." Love has no real age anyways. "YAY! That's so good! I hope Rex doesn't drown. He didn't do anything wrong." Good people should not be punished.
"What's up?" Nika asked her friend with a wide smile. She was glad to find Ella. They didn't really have much of a chance to talk during the feast. And this term the first years are always making plans to go hang out with each other.
Nika smiled at another girl who walked into the common room. She didn't see the girl around last term, but they looked around the same age. "Hiya!" She said as she waved towards her.
Nika nodded her head enthusiastically. "Yeah a lot of the muggles who are really superstitious believe in that type of stuff! And I'm probably one of them." She said with a chuckle. "Well in divination I basically get the usual stuff. Like I'm going to be laughing a lot and all of that normal stuff. Or maybe I just read the tea leaves wrong..." Because that is possible too.

"Yeah this term I'm going to work really hard to do well! I've promised my professors and I'm asking some friends for extra help so hopefully it shouldn't be too hard." So determined, bless her. "I've always wanted to learn another language! It would be so cool to learn!!" Nika bounced excitedly.

"YEAH! A jam out session! That would be so cool!" Nika smiled excitedly. "Maybe if I pay extra attention to your playing I might be able to learn a few chords on the guitar!" Nika smiled at the thought. "Oh it would be so much fun!" Music buddies.
Nika looked up and noticed a older looking boy sitting on the couch next to her. She couldn't help but smile and say 'hello'. "Hi there! I'm Nika." She is very eager to meet her fellow Gryffindors.

Just as soon as John was going to fall asleep, he heard a girl's voice speak to him. He looked up and smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Nika" John said with a bright smile, that showed off his dimple.

"I'm Johnathan, but call me John" he added.

Jump up step. Jump up step. Utter ridiculous password. This process had become so...routine. Legend didn't even have to think about entering the Common Room. As the door swung open and he made his way up the small flight of steps his eyes glazed around at the full room.

"HELLO GRYFFINDORS" His loud voice boomed in the room. With a satisfied smirk on his face be plopped down into his favorite arm chair facing the on going fire.

Evie dawdled up the stairs to get to the Gryffindor common room after a long welcome feast, now all she wanted to do was rest. maybe she will meet some more people. She approached the portrait of the Fat Lady and quietly said "oddsbodikins", for that was the password they'd been given.
"oh, another first year" replied the Fat Lady "Well in you go dear you look like you need a rest," and with that the door opened and Evie went in. She stood in the door way and saw that there were a lot of boys and girls around Evie couldnt see the girl she met at the feast so she walked over to one of the plushy armchairs and sat down "now this is relaxing," she felt all of her muscles relax and shut her eyes she couldn't be bothered going anywhere else.

Selina heard the booming voice of Legend Chosen blast through the doors of the Gryffindor Common Room. The two had both been on the Quidditch team together last year, of course she was the only regular first year on the team so she usually kept to herself. She wasn't even sure if he remembered who she was. Now that she had a year under her belt she was ready to open up more to the upper class-men. Besides she only had another year with them before they all packed up and moved on with their lives.

"Hey Legend," Selina called across the room.

"Nice to meet you too John!" She smiled back. 'This guy seems pretty nice.', she thought.

"Sooo John... What do you like to do?" Hobbies, interests, anything? Nika didn't know how else to start a conversation.
Nika turned around at a very loud "hello". She recognized the boy from the feast. He was the one who cost Gryffindor 15 house points. Grr... Although it made Nika mad she decided to put it aside. Maybe he'd earn them back some how?

"HELLO OTHER GRYFFINDOR!" Nika replied in the same volume.

Lucas grinned. "Then it's decided," he said. "Jam-out session. Soon!" Nika seemed really cool. Her happiness was catching.

A look of disbelief spread across Christopher's face. How could she even think that? After all he'd been through with Violet, he'd thought she might trust him just a little bit. "Selina.... you know I would never do anything to hurt Violet! Especially not cheat on her with one of my friends!" He sputtered out, "How could you even think that?" It was Nathan she should be worried about, certainly not Christopher.

He look at her with utmost uncertainty upon his face. "Are you sure? I mean, you should have seen the way she swooned when she read the letter, how happy she looked. The way you used to look at that Quidditch boy," he said the last part softly incase that boy was around. He didn't want to embarass the spunky second year. He just wanted to make a point. And he was sure it was a good one.

John sat up and rolled up his sleeves up to his elbows.

"...well Ms. Nika, i like to play the guitar and drums" John said as he wiggled his eyebrows and chuckled

"I also, like to fly either on broom, or an actual small plane" he said as he smiled and nodded.

"what about you, what are you hobbies?" John asked, with a soft smile.

Selina sighed. She had not meant to make Christopher defensive, she was just reassuring him of Violet's affections. Then again Selina did make a habit of coming on strongly- she had never meant to it was just her way. "I know you wouldn't, I'm just not sure of her. I know for a fact that Cass likes you. All of the girls talk about it. Just keeping what you already know subconsciously a conscious thing."

He then redirected the conversation at Nathan and Selina sat back into her chair. Before she could even address the Nathan issue he brought up Simon and she shot Simon a side glance across the Common Room. He was talking to Kurumi. She stared for a moment and then turned away with a blush, "Look Chris, I know she cares about you more than anyone. She doesn't like boys easily. It's probably because she can get anyone she wants and doesn't even need to think twice about it. So boys are not special to her, but you are. For some reason you are different to her. I mean she looks at you when no one else is looking like you are the most fantastic thing she has ever seen. She only got on with Nathan so well because they both played Seeker and so when my whole family played against each other on our Pitch the two would hang out on their brooms for half of the game until they needed to get the Snitch. They had a lot in common. But she really cares about you."

Then Selina said the defining statement, "If it really bothers you... ask her."

"It must be fun having such a big family. And yeah, good think no one's a vampire," Tayla chuckled. "I suppose your non-magic siblings know all about Hogwarts and wizards now? Did they come with you to Diagon Alley?"


"I won't mind at all," Tayla replied, tucking the locket back inside her uniform. "I was planning to go to the library, but I didn't think about yearbooks. Thanks! And you can definitely help." Tayla paused for a moment. "If you want, we can go to the library right now."


Tayla jumped at the sudden loud voice. "Hello to you, too," she chuckled. That was the second time she heard a Gryffindor greet that way. She loved her House.