Tay looked at him, "I seriously am only thinking, okay?"

"Yeah, sorry..." He said looking up at the starry ceiling to hide that his feelings had been hurt, if his dorm room had been open or if he just knew the password to the common room he would have left, but it wasn't an option, so instead he hid that he thought he might be slowly losing her.

Tay twisted her family ring and it flew off. She frowned and tried to go after it.

What had she just been doing? Jezzabelle shrugged looked around as she was standing near the Gryffindor table. It was packed full of students all sitting around and talking. She shrugged off the weird feeling in her stomach and made her way to sit down next to Kurumi and OH MY MERLIN a house elf!?

This must have been the baby elf everyone had talked about last term. It seemed so small and innocent and adorable. She looked at the older lion that was like a sister to her and smiled, "What is his name Kurumi?" It was a he right? Again she shrugged off the feeling that something was wrong. How can anything be wrong when she was at the place she considered home? "How was the rest of your summer?"

Kurumi chewed on her lip nervously when she saw that Toodles hadn't taken too well to the Headmaster's cheating banishing of the orb, but a smile tugged at her lips when he seemed distracted by the bubbles. Oh good, a happy baby house elf. That meant no more trouble...for now...right?

Kurumi began clapping in rhythm to Toddles' dancing when she caught the Headmaster giving her and Paulie looks. Oh, it was just about keeping an eye on Toddles. She could do that. "Of course, Headmaster," she smiled. She was more than willing to look after the elf since he was like family anyway.

"Toddles, you are a lovely dancer," she commented, popping a few more colorful bubbles around him as he did.

When the Headmaster left for the staff table, Kurumi took that as a cue to alert the rest of the table that they ought to start settling down.

"E-E-Everyone! If you could please return to your seats and your respective tables as soon as possible, please," she called out. "The Headmaster will be giving his speech soon." And everyone ought to be paying attention to this. Yep.

Standing to make sure everyone did as she had just instructed, Kurumi looked at Jezz. "His name is Toddles," she chirped. And he was the most adorable little baby house elf ever!

Kurumi was too distracted watching Toddles dance and enjoy his new toy to really hear the rest of what Jezz had to say. Just look at how cute he was!

Maxwell noticed she dropped the ring and stood. He saw where it went and retrieved it handing it back to her without saying a word. 'I don't want to interrupt your thoughts, Songbird.' He thought trying to think of something else. Quidditch, New York, London, Transfiguration....none of it worked.

Tay smiled, "Thanks." She sighed as the perfect said that they all need to go to their apporipate table, "Got to go, see ya later." Taylor kissed his cheek.

Maxwell smiled a little. "Bye!" He said knowing he wouldn't be able to focus on the speech...This year wasn't starting at all like he'd thought.

Tay waved and walked back to her table.

"Good idea Mister, the other House Elfs will be very happy that you gave Toddles this new toy for us to play with." They probably wouldn't let him play with it all the time, they wanted him to cook. Bleh.

"Bye sir!" the baby elf continued to dance but waved at the man's retreating back. So nice of him to give Toddles the bubble-maker.

"Misses studensie thinks so?" Toddles was happy to hear she liked his dancing. Her clapping made him even more excited and he hopped around quickly to the beat of it but then slowed it down to a dramatic waltz-like ballet completely with jumps and staggered arm waving.

Yes, baby elves were the best dancers.

"Thank you." He blinked at her slowly while leaning over backwards during mid dance move. After a minute more of dancing he heard the studensie calling the other red kids so they could listen to Mister talk.

Toddles should go. "Toddles is out too late, the other Elves will be looking for him. You know Toddles isn't supposed to go out and play during mealtimes?" Yeah, crazy huh? He never understood it either.

The red girl was partially responsible for the new toy so Toddles had to thank her with a hug or something like it at least. "Goodbye misses!" He walked over to her and leaned against her awkwardly and then disapparated with a snap.

*Crack!*

Toodles. "Such an adorable name." It tickled the back of Jezzabelle's brain but again she shrugged it off. What she really needed was some good food and a nights rest. She watched as Kurumi was entertained by the house elf and smiled.

Look at that! Look at how dynamic a dancer Toddles was! It was brilliant. Maybe she should ask him to teach her how to dance one of the times she went to the kitchens? She was rather awkward when it came to the whole dancing bit, unless it was traditional Japanese dance which was very rigid and set. Hard to mess anything up there really. Although...her mother had always told her that her hands were too harsh when it came to fan dances. Something Kurumi never managed to get right...

But thoughts about her mother were almost forgotten when the little elf was HUGGING her! If Kurumi had been capable of doing so, there would have been sparkly starts and hearts floating around her head right now. Toddles was hugging her! BEST.FEAST.EVER!

Well, that wasn't entirely true. There were a few things that could make this feast better. August still being at Hogwarts being one. The confusion about Lewis and Jonathan not being there was another. Yes, there were a few things, but it was still AMAZING that the little house elf was hugging her.

"I'll be seeing you soon, Toddles," Kurumi smiled as the little guy dance off and poofed.
"It really is," Kurumi nodded. "He was only named recently." Or, she thought it was recently at least. She was a little fuzzy on the timing of it all to be honest.

Kurumi was about to ask Jezz something else, probably about the strawberry cookie dough ice cream, when she heard the Headmaster begin his speech. All the Gryffindors had heard her announcement, right? They were ALL paying attention?
Blink blink.

Wait...that was it? What about telling them not to die? And constant vigilance? Had the Headmaster forgotten to include those in his speech? He had last term, right? Kurumi really couldn't recall at the moment, but she had nearly been eaten twice by two different magical creatures so a small reminder about not dying would have been appreciated.

Kurumi scanned the staff table again, frowning a bit to herself at not seeing Professor Schirmer present. She had been a bit sad when she had gone to deliver her colorful macaroons earlier, but now it really sunk in that she wasn't there. Come to think of it...neither was Professor Roslund. He was probably still chasing after her, hence why he wasn't teaching either. Kurumi wrinkled her nose for a moment at the memories of him using students to deliver love letters to the Charms professor. It had been so....weird. Sort of creepy in Kurumi's mind as well.

Food soon filled the table, but Kurumi's eyes were on one thing and ONE thing only: pumpkin juice.

FINALLY!

Grabbing a goblet full of the liquid, Kurumi raised her glass to all those at the table. "Here's to an excellent term lions!"

"You like house elves a lot, don't you?" Jezzabelle had watched how Kurumi lit up around Toddles. It was like she was surrounded by family. Before anything else could be said she fell quiet so that she could listen to the Headmasters speech. It was short, the way she liked it although it was lacking in something. She wasn't sure what, but something was missing.

Just then Kurumi raised up a cup and shouted really loud about the lions having and excellent term. Jezz reached for her own cup of tea and smiled happily, "To an excellent term." Hopefully it would be one she would never forget. She took a sip of her tea and then began to pile up her plate with more food than any normal twelve year old could eat.

Anya smiled enthusiastically. She was mentally imagining all the cute pictures she was going to take. It was a good thing that their uniforms were pretty matchy matchy. She figured it was unlikely she'd get the Prefect to wear costumes for a photo shoot.

"Oh. That's fun. Was it a birthday party?" she asked. She LOVED birthdays. Hers was in November. November 11th to be specific. Maybe she'd know enough people to have some kind of party this year.

Anya smiled. "Please do." she said simply. And that was as far as she was going to push the subject.

She just hoped Kurumi would take advantage of that. She was pretty good at just giving hugs and none of the other judgy stuff.

And she was in the process of wondering what to talk about next when ickle!elffie came back! Aww. And so was the headmaster! Except... why didn't the Headmaster want to play catch too? And he sent away the shiny!

BORING!

But that meant the feast was starting now, right?

Anya nodded. "Tomorrow it is." She'd probably tackle him. She liked tackle hugs. They were the bessssst!

She giggled. "Most guys I know do get grouchy without food." Silly boys.

"Oh. I just meant. If he were a wizard he'd probably be a smart birdie." she said with a shrug.

And... after the crazy house elf business... the speech was FINALLY given.

She leaned toward him and whispered, "He usually reminds us not to die." Not this time though.

And then she eyed the table. Where should she start? Hmm... Carter always told her the potatoes were delicious. She'd start with that.

Definitely not a happy person. It reminded Zeke of himself from last year. He should go back to being like that, life was much easier. Not having to keep up with conversations and pretend to care.

He was about to back to minding his own business and just talking to Kurumi and Mordred when he overheard Penelope's conversation with others saying she was hungry. It made Zeke let out a chuckle once and shook his head, she definitely reminded him of the old Zeke, the real Zeke. Especially during the end of the term feast. This new 'be nicer this term' attitude was not as good as he hoped it would be. Oh well, he found it best to leave her alone. She was stuffing herself with the cookies anyway.

Like him. Mehehe, he grabbed another one and ate it. Then turned back to speaking with the others.

Right, Cinderella. He half-smiled and nodded. Well, now how was he going to respond to that? His little talk with Penelope reminded him too much of the old Zeke that he was turning back to it again. The silent, non-talkative, non-conversationalist Zeke. Ohdear.

He was distracted yet again as the Headmaster went their way, finally searching for that thing the baby house elf was throwing around. Zeke wanted to help so that he could get to their food soon, but he wasn't one to meddle in things. So he just watched their attempts to lure Toddles into giving them the ball.

Finally it was all settled. And was that right what he heard? He was gonna give the speech. YES, THANK YOU!

He didn't really pay attention much to the speech and just stared at the table, waiting for all that wonderful pile of food to appear.....

ANDTHEREITWAS. Zeke grinned to himself. Everything he's been looking forward to the entire time. Without another word to anyone else, he minded his own business and got the food he wanted on to his plate and began to eat nonchalantly even if deep inside he was so eager to finish up everything.

Adjusting her tie for a moment, Kurumi looked over her shoulder at Jezz spoke again. "I feel like I can relate to them," she shrugged. "They are also always very kind and hospitable. I'd never met one before coming to Hogwarts and, well, I felt like I fit in with them at first." Back when she was so timid that she was almost afraid of her own shadow. The house elves had never passed judgement or given her looks like people had. She had felt safe, which is what had first drawn her to the kitchens to begin with. Of course, the rumors spread like wild fire about her being part house elf which she still sort of believed, but she didn't mind it at all. She found it to be a compliment really.

Kurumi raised her HIGHLY anticipated glass of pumpkin juice in Jezz's direction and slowly sipped on it. HEAVEN IN A GLASS!

Nodding her head to Anya and taking another blissful sip of her pumpkin juice, Kurumi couldn't help but laugh when she saw just where Anya was starting.

The potatoes.

She seemed to remember one term Carter eating all the potatoes at the table before anyone else could so much as get a spoonful of them. "Just like your brother," she mused, sipping more on her pumpkin juice. Food could wait for Kurumi. She was only interested in the orange beverage in her goblet.

Merlin how she had missed pumpkin juice. Kurumi frowned midsip, wishing that her mother had been able to taste it at least once. There were a lot of things she wished that her mother had done, like visit Diagon Alley, see Kurumi in her school robes, see her perform magic... but those chances were all gone. Never to come back.

Kurumi finished her beverage and set it on the table before serving herself a humble plateful of lasagna. She sort of poked at it with her fork before cutting herself a small bite and popping it into her mouth.

She glanced over at Zeke, who had grown silent all of a sudden, and chewed on her pasta dish for a moment before grabbing the pitcher of pumpkin juice to pour herself another glass. "Zeke, do you want some too?"

Hearing a familiar voice, Thea's head turned so fast it almost snapped off her neck. Almost.
Scooting along the bench, Thea prodded Paulie's sticky robes. 'Eurgh, why are you all sticky?!' Thea cried out, bringing her finger back quickly. Oops.. brilliant greeting. 'HI Paulieee..' Then narrowing her eyes and smiling, she spotted the SHINY badge. 'Oooo.' Thea prodded it. 'What happened here then? Head BOY?' Thea leant in for a closer look. 'Has there erm.. been some sort of.. mistake?' Leaning back, an expression of mock puzzlement appeared on Thea's face.

Picking it a tissue, Thea pretended to rub his badge with it. 'Merlin, you can't get the BADGE all sticky with that drink you seem to be wearing Paulie. Jeez..' Shuffling back a few steps JUST INCASE, Thea smirked and laughed. 'WOO, congratulations.' And held up her hand for a high five with the cheeeeesiest grin ever on her face.

Yeah.. this whole being really nice thing was going to be difficult..

Lewis closed his eyes for a moment to sort out his thoughts, almost waiting for Kurumi to disagree with him. Both of them liked taking blame for things somehow so he was kind of expecting her to say that it had been her fault, and her fault only. But she didn't. Which made him open his eyes again and drop his hand from his face. She was right of course and he had been serious about what he'd said. Only he wouldn't have thought she would agree with him. "S-so...I'm sorry too." Since she had already apologized and all.

Somehow it felt like he wasn't only apologizing for the confusion related to this conversation.

He shouldn't have said that. The moment the words had left his mouth, Lewis bit his lip, wishing to take them back. Not because they weren't true but...this just wasn't the time or place to discuss this. When was there ever the place or time to discuss this though? Somehow they both always postponed this. Then again, the right place was definitely not in the middle of the Great Hall with all those other students around. It had to be somewhere private. Somewhere they could be alone.

Even though, they somehow never got to talk much when they were alone somewhere.

Hearing her gasp was even more proof for what he already knew: saying those words had been a mistake. When he glanced back up at her however, it was Lewis' turn to gasp and his eyes widened slightly, looking back into hers. Had they just...but they were back to brown so quickly that there was a part of him which almost immediately dismissed it as an optical illusion or something. But then there was that other part of him that just KNEW what he'd just seen. Her eyes had changed color, if only for a second. Did that mean that her abilities were slowly coming back?

And there it was again. The second time he was absolutely certain about he'd seen which caused him to just gape at her for a moment, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "It's working. They're working. Your eyes." No, he probably wasn't making too much sense right now in Kurumi's eyes but this whole thing was making it very hard to think and form coherent sentences. Plus maybe she wouldn't believe him seeing as they were back to brown now. But they HAD been violet for a moment. He was sure of it. And something about that fact made him feel...happy. Even though he didn't even quite know why.

Their glances at the Slytherin table made Lewis want to go back to his own even more. He didn't really want to look at Jonathan. For various reasons. It actually hurt to look at him. Even though the Slytherin of course wasn't at fault. At all. And of course there was the feeling of guilt washing over him every time he glanced at the other boy. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. He felt terrible for doing what he'd done. If only there was a way that would give them all a happy ending without heartbreak and hurting each other.

He held on to her pinky a little while longer before finally pulling his hand back a little and thereby disentangling their pinkies. There, it was done. And now he really should go back to his table. Or else he was never going to leave. "See you soon." Lewis echoed her words, biting his lip a little subconsciously as he glanced at her eyes one last time before turning around and hurrying back to the Hufflepuff Table.

The day after tomorrow in the owlery.

It made sense once Kurumi had said it and Jezzabelle nodded. "I could see how you would feel like you could relate to them." However, no matter how cute Toddles appeared she could never imagine befriending the little elf. Maybe making him an acquaintance, but never being like the older lion and allowing for hugs and a feeling of family.

She raised her cup towards Kurumi and took a sip. It was good to be home. Placing the cup she moved to start on the food sitting on her plate. She had never felt so hungry but that didn't stop her from taking small civilized bites and using her table manners. "So are you going to tryout for Quidditch this year?" She asked during a break in her eating.

As he was reaching out to grab some chicken and place it on his plate, he looked up at Kurumi who suddenly spoke to him again. His eyes drifted off to the pitcher she was holding. Oh, pumpkin juice. "Erm, okay." He could try some, there wouldn't be a guarantee he'd like it. But sure.

He got the chicken he reached out for earlier and took a bite out of it before he got his glass and placed it within Kurumi's reach. He continued to eat the chicken as he waited for her to pour him some of that pumpkin juice that she loved so much.

The boy crossed his arms and placed it on the table. Mordred let out an exasperated sigh. He simply nodded at Zeke and continued to contemplate on the plate. Those blasted memories he had at Durmstrang should be kept in a Pandora’s box never to be opened again. The palace, his uniform—the compulsory shaving of the head, his cousins. Everything about that bloody school and its students made his blood seethe. “You are your own man in that school. No friends, just you and your studies, and your reputation.” He said as his jaws clenched hard. He had no problems with his studies. His academic expectations of the school did not fail him—but the people that ran it were enough for him to become pure evil. During his stay, he did nothing but practice his skill as a wizard and prove to everybody that he deserves the name Mordaunt.

Now he sees why his parents did not want him to go there, even if his father was a proud son of that school. Aldrich Mordaunt became a whole new man when he met Catherine, Mordred’s mother. It was then that Aldrich realized that Hogwarts was the best school for his son. They have been fighting the stereotypical people who brand their family as a group of dark wizards. Getting sorted to Slytherin did not help the young Mordred, but he was brought up to be a level-headed, decent young man. All thanks to his parents, and to Hogwarts.

“That someone must be really special.” He smirked at his comment. Heck, he transferred schools because his Father needed to be up north to be cured. Transferring was hard anyway, leaving everybody you know without any assurance that you’ll see them again. “You’ll enjoy the rest of your stay here in Hogwarts…I mean…” he trailed off as he pointed at Zeke then to himself, as if to say that they have both witnessed how much better this school was.

Then from the corner of his eye, he saw the Headmaster FINALLY standing on the dais. “About time.” He said as he tapped the table and gestured his head toward the man. “Hungry boys over here, Tate.”



“Creatures coming out of the Forbidden Forest?” a smile was on the boy’s face. “Cool, instant practicals.” He said to Zeke. They do that a lot at Durmstrang, right? The rest of the Headmaster’s speech became gibberish to Mordred as he stared at the plate. Any moment now.

…

FOOD!

Kurumi was a little relieved when his hand left his nose, implying that perhaps she had said the right thing. Or, well, that her silence had been the right thing. When he apologized, all she could do was smile. It wasn't a very bigone, and was more shy than any other emotion, but it was there. In some way, this moment of them both apologizing for one thing but really meaning something much more implied that they were taking ownership of their actions. Ownership of everything that had happened...that was happening. It was almost refreshing, although that wasn't the right word by a long shot. "It's....it's alright....Lewis," she said, her faint smile still tugging at her lips.

Really. Despite the fact that they both were constantly apologizing for everything...Kurumi still didn't really feel regret. Guilt. Yes. That was there. That would probably always be there. But regret? Never.

Heart still pounding in her chest louder than a taiko drum, Kurumi caught herself just staring into his green eyes, getting lost there. Being found there. Her breathing was still shaky as her mind tried to overpower her emotions so that she could regain some sort of control over the situation she now found herself in. But this was proving to be difficult. Very very difficult.

Closing her eyes for just a second, Kurumi took a deep breath and opened her eyes again - the violet color still lingering there for another few seconds before vanishing. Kurumi's heart had found a rhythm now, a fast one, but it was still a steady one as she thought more on what he had just said to her. The he wanted her. He wanted them. Another faint smile tugged at her lips and Kurumi's hand reached up to her chest to grip the fabric of her shirt when...

....what?

Kurumi's eyes widened to match his and lowered to his mouth that was currently hanging open. "W-What's working..." she whispered before he finished his thought. But when he did, her eyes widened even more and both hands went to her temples and her two medicine fingers traced over her eyelids as if in doing so she would be able to feel the color. Her eyes, back to brown now, were back to searching his again and the smile tugging at his lips did not go unnoticed. Her cheeks rose in color again and her heart was back to beating at all sorts of rhythm.

Averting her gaze from his for a moment, Kurumi lifted her goblet up just long enough to be able to look at herself in its reflective surface, only to see that her eyes were not violet but brown. Lewis wouldn't lie to her, not about this, which only confused her now. It had been temporary? Only for a moment? But why? What had caused them to...

Lewis.

Kurumi tried to hold on to his pinky with her own for just a little longer, but she eventually surrendered to the truth and watched as their fingers left each others. Her hand slowly closed into a small fist before dropping back to her lap. She didn't say anything else as he walked away, but her eyes never left him. Not until he was back at the table and sitting down. Even then, she couldn't take her eyes off him. Not yet. Her eyes did look to the Slytherin table again. To Jonathan. Breathing in heavily, she closed her eyes again. I'm sorry....

**********
Kurumi simply nodded enthusiastically as she continued to sip on her pumpkin juice. Yep. That was about it. She was sort of one of them and they were never exclusive when it came to who they spoke to in the kitchens. They were such lovely creatures. She simply couldn't understand why Jonathan always wrinkled his nose and gave her weird looks when she spoke of them as friends. Nothing strange about that at all, right?

Kurumi's eyes widened and she sort of just gawked at Jezz for a moment. Had she told her about her...broom experience the last match she had played Seeker? That had been her second...no...third...no...wait, yes. Yes, third year. She thought. Time was a little fuzzy right now. "No, I don't plan on it," she said, shaking her head. Never again, thank you very much.
Smiling, Kurumi grabbed Zeke's goblet and began to pour him some pumpkin juice when she sort of just froze. The juice continued to slowly pour out of the container, coming dangerously close to the brim of the cup, but Kurumi showed no signs of realizing this. In fact, her eyes were just sort of glazed over as if deep in thought about something. Only she wasn't thinking about anything at all.

Her eyes refocused and the muscles in her arms suddenly relaxed, but it was too late. Pumpkin juice was now all over the table and trickling in every which direction. "Oh my stars! I-I-I'm so sorry!" she squeaked, immediately setting the filled to the brim of pumpkin juice goblet on the table and removing her wand. "D-Did any of it get on your robes?"

Maxwell began to eat, he was hungry but also tired. All he wanted to do was go back to his four-poster and pass out until tomorrow.

Mr. Gideon? Selina could not help but smirk at the nickname. It did not seem like Gideon to allow people to give him the prefix of Mr., but the redhead now knew what her new nickname for the term was going to be. The little blonde Irish kid did not even know it, but he had just given her some prime material for the upcoming term. The prefect boy was going to rue the day he allowed someone to call him Mr. because Selina was not going to let him forget it.

However, this kid liked to talk and just talk about nonsense. He could make his points in a lot fewer words and stating the obvious was a little tiring on the ears, but he was one of the younger students and Selina remembered being that excitable at his age. Merlin, she was still that excitable and she was three years his senior... or was he a first year? Regardless, the Irish boy was younger than her. "Yeah, the loud voice comes in handy. Especially when I need to make a message in the Common Room for Kurumi, your prefect." Because everyone knew that Selina was much louder than Kurumi, which was not necessarily a good thing.

However, when he told her his name she could not help but cock and eyebrow. Tag? What sort of name was that? It sounded like he was playing a joke on her, but she did not want to be rude and call him out on it if it really was the poor boy's name, "Well it's a pleasure to meet you Tag. And I can tell your Irish. I'm half so my Da's side of the family sounds just like you."

She watched amusedly as the young girl scarfed down the two cookies that Selina had offered her. Honestly, this girl's appetite reminded her a lot of her own passion for food. Eating was an art that most people ignored because, well, it could get gross at times. But Selina did not care about that... food was food and it was always delicious.

As the girl swallowed her cookies she questioned if Selina had anymore cookies. With a chuckle Selina replied, "Yeah... they are over there by the Gryffindor female prefect. Good general rule, if you are ever hungry you find her," she said pointing out Kurumi, "she always has food on her... usually cookies."

Then she smiled and offered her hand, "I'm Selina, you are?"

Gideon's comment about righting up the rule breaker finally made Selina erupt with a laugh. She had been holding it in their entire poker faced match and that comment had pushed her over the edge. In her head, she could just see Gideon going to Bentley and telling her that Selina needed detention for yelling. What an awkward scene that would be because it was common knowledge that Selina and Gideon were dating. Although, she internally really wanted him to write her up to just see what Bentley would do when handed the sip. She would pay five galleons to see that.

But her laugh stopped short when Gideon threatened potions detention. It was not funny anymore and her mouth hung open in shock, "You would not DARE put me through the torture.... would you?" Oh Merlin, it was like a nightmare. It was not that she did not like Lafay except that fact that Lafay terrified Selina, it was just that she hated potions. It was nothing to be bashful about... it was the truth.

She did not have time to comment about it when she was flown forward toward Gideon, but she stopped herself. The Great Hall was no place for romantic canoodling even if Selina wanted to. She was a mature fifth year hardly and she was going to show the younger students how to behave... kind of... maybe screaming was not good role model behavior.

Gideon cleared up all of her confusion with Anya though when he explained about the hand holding lost concept. She blushed and looked down at the ground not wanting to meet his gaze, "Well it is logical and all... perhaps you should try not to lose me more often." Because she liked the handholding thing.

Then Grayson had entered with his smirk that Selina wanted so desperately to tell him to wipe off of his face. But after knowing Grayson for a year asking him to lose the smirk was like asking a penguin to fly... it was sadly impossible.

So she brushed off her secret wish and listened to him talk about his summer. It would have been nice to see him over the summer after they had sort of come to an understanding the year before. Everything between them was not sunshine, lolipops, and rainbows, but it was better than it had been before. Grayson was a nice guy underneath the not-so-nice guy, "Holiday was good. I got to hang out with my Da for a majority of it at summer training. It was brilliant."

The younger girl was always soft spoken, but she was really testing the theory of near silence when she spoke. Selina had to lean into make sure that she had really heard the girl correctly. When she caught onto what she was saying Selina nodded curiously. The girl was not being clear as to how she was, but perhaps she was just thinking of something that made her awkward transition in wellness more understandable, "Well that's good... you ready for the new term?"

Selina could not help but laugh at the image of herself flying through the air dressed as a lion. She started off replying to Kurumi, "Aww come on, you know I would never, ever dress up as a li-" when she suddenly stopped short at Kurumi's logic. The redhead's demeanor completely changed. All of the sudden she was serious and thinking about strategy for Quidditch.

Her blue eyes flicked up to Kurumi when she said, "Do you really think that could help? The bulky clothes thing I mean? The agility factor could definitely make us more of a threat... Yeah.. hold on... I have to right that down." Now Selina was in Quidditch mode good job Kurumi.

Selina was suddenly very caught off guard by Anya. It was not that she did not love the little munchin, the kid had a way about her that always brought a smile to Selina's face. But the smile usually came after Selina had time to calm down from the wave of Anya's energy that always hit her like a force. The girl had a strong personality.

Just in typical Anya style, one moment they were talking about the summer and the next she was going on and on about matchy-matchy. Once Gideon caught her up to speed she nodded and narrowed her eyes at Anya, "Anya, you do know that holding hands isn't for loosing people right?" Because Selina had heard some rumors about a certain Hufflepuff.

WAS SHE READY FOR THE TERM TO START? Merlin, if she could wear war paint everyday to show how ready she was for the term to start she would. Although, something told her that Lafay would not like it if Selina randomly walked into potions with red war paint on both of her cheeks. No doubt she would be told it was a distraction, but that was the point. What was the problem, though, with showing a little pride? Pride was exactly what the Gryffindors had, which was ironic considering they were lions.

In response to Jezz, she said, "Yeah I am ready for this term start, already. Merlin, its like I'm so excited I can't sit still. Do you ever get like that? Because I know I do." Roaring at inappropriate times was usually the way that manifested itself.

As the headmaster spoke, Selina caught sight of a form walking in late to the feast. Her eyes noticed the red and gold emblem and she was tempted to motion to the person to sit down, but then the person seemed to already know where to sit. At a closer look the person was way to tall to be a first year or a second year. Why was such an older student walking in so late to the Feast? Selina herself had been late, but not as late as the person. And their entire stance emitted an aura of defeat. Who was this sad, sad person?

Quietly, trying not to disturb the Headmaster, Selina tip-toed over to the figure and attempted to sit beside him. She was close enough to make out the figure...

...Then her eyes flashed with recognition. She felt her stomach drop into her shoes and she wanted to do a plethora of things- scream, yell, punch, bite, kick. All she could muster was a whisper and it just slipped out as the Headmaster finished, "Christopher..."

Deriick. That was a cool name. And he really was new here. "Which year are you in?" Ira asked him, because he seemed older than her, but she wasn't sure.

Would it be too personal to ask where he was from?

Why was Lilly looking so lost? Like she was in her own world, away from Hogwarts. Ira wondered about it but didn't comment.

Branches? "I've never climbed trees.." Ira replied. "Is it easy? And what if you fall down?" Ira asked. Yep, Ira was a bit afraid of that. But of course, she didn't like to admit that fact.

Wow! Lilly had written her own songs over summer? How nice! "I have to listen to them sometime in the common room, yeah?"

"It was meant to hurt... just a lil bit!" Ira replied grinning at the small boy. Aww! He was so adorable! And that was precisely the reason that she remembered him being sorted, and she was pretty sure that he had been sorted in Slytherin. So why was he insisting on being a Gryffindor?

Well, in a way, that was good too. Maybe he could be something like a spy? Ira smirked at the thought, but brushed it aside.

"I'm never mistaken, okay?" Ira said. "And your EXCUSE is so... laughable!" Ira replied. Because, there was never a shortage of house robes. Nope, never!

Ira giggled as he stuck out his hand in front of her. He WAS a CUTIE! "By the way, what's your name? I'm Ira."