He managed to keep the fist pump in his head, since he wasn't all that sure that Professor Lafay was the fist-pump-accepting-type.

"West Odessa." He supplied his name cheerfully enough, not too bothered about piping up now. Whether or not she recognised his name didn't bother the firstie, even if his dad was super important and used to be the head cursebreaker for the whoooole of Gringotts and was friends with the Minister. He didn't know if his dad knew Lafay or vice versa. But she would know West now!

Wait. If he was right... did that mean they had to clean up the common room now? But he hadn't even made any mess to contribute to it yet!

Also, he was a bit curious. What happened if Slytherin got all the cups? Aside from lots of the pride thing and -something else he'd picked up on- the chance to rub it in the faces of the Hufflepuff ones? He considered asking and then decided... those things were good enough.

Ah! The wonderful world of the common room which he STILL hadn't visited since the start of term feast. Why? BECAUSE HE WAS WAY TOO BUSY EXPLORING THE REST OF THE CASTLE! Duh! He glanced around for somewhere to sit not noticing a group of students crowded around someone. He wasn't really interested in the people crowded around someone. They were probably gossiping. Or something. HOW WAS HE SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT THEY WERE DOING? He didn't! So no-one could ask what he was doing.

He wandered further into the common room still in search of somewhere to sit and someone to talk to. The place was crowded and he didn't know many people in his own house. As far as he knew, he only knew... One... Maybe two? But he was certainly going to make sure people knew him. Or that people wanted to know him. Even if it was as the boy who came in with a loud scream. But he hadn't screamed... Yet! But he probably would end up screaming... Or shouting... By the time he'd got into the common room completely.

And now he couldn't HELP but giggle at the idea. And actually consider doing it. He took a deep breath still looking around for anyone he might know. NO-ONE! He NEEDED to get more involved with his own house instead of hanging around with everyone he knew in other houses. But he'd not seen Alec since the summer so he wasn't involved in this. But Bethan and Jezzabelle were. And they weren't in this house! Unless they were Slytherin's disguised as Ravenclaws and Gryffindors. That was an interesting thought! A VERY interesting thought.

"HELLOOOOOOOOOO EVERYBODY!" he finally shouted out to everyone that was in the common room in the hopes of at least one person responding to him. Well, NOW people could remember him as the little third year who shouted in the middle of the common room completely oblivious to what was going on in there.

O___________________O

OH MERLIN!!!!!!

Kennedy's cheeks instantly flared up bright red. He hadn't meant to disrespect Sierra or Lafay. In fact, he didn't even notice they had been sitting so close. They were just talking and...crud. This wouldn't affect his grade in Potions, would it? Lafay didn't actually think he was trying something funky with her daughter, did she?

'Cause he wasn't.

The Prefect didn't know how to respond. She obviously didn't like it when people stayed quiet, so he settled for a short answer. "I understand," he nodded and tried to keep from gazing over at Sierra.

Was there anything missing?

Well... more colours was one thing. And an ice cream bar. Also monkey bars. They were missing too.

There were actually LOTS of things that could potentially be missing from their common room... perhaps Professor Lafay could have been more specific as to what she thinks is missing... That would have helped Delilah's thought process a little bit more.

But then some people started talking about the house cup. Oooooohhhhhhh. THAT made far more sense.

Delilah just chose to stay quiet.



She listened quietly to the woman whilst hiding half her face behind her book. Things had to change. They had to earn points. They had to win. Blah blah blah. Delilah supposed she'd have to work extra hard with her homework... She didn't like speaking up in class...

Nodding slightly in understanding to her Head of House's words, Delilah glanced to the floor. Were they allowed to leave yet? She wanted to finish her book... the story she was in the middle of was really good...

Angelina had a feeling that was a bad way to reply. Taking a deep breath she said, "We will not let you down Professor. We'll make you proud." Angelina never wanted to let her head of Slytherin down. Except last year that they did. If they haven't this wouldn't be happening.

Sierra smirked at the comment regarding Pygmy Puffs. Selena's comment was amusing, but Lafay's response to it was hilarious. At the reminder of the fact that Hufflepuff now held Slytherin's cups, Sierra's smirk quickly changed to annoyed frown. She had done everything she could to keep those cups, even coming slightly close to beating Hollingberry in the standings. "Well, you have my word that I'll do everything I can," she said with a grin. She glanced around the room. "...and after today, I'm not sure we'll have a big problem from the others either."

Well, she was grinning until this comment came along. Sierra spun around and faced Lafay, her face painted a scarlet shade of pure embarrassment. "I..." Pause. "I..." She wouldn't dare look at Kennedy. She just couldn't right now. What could she say? There was so much she wanted to say, but the words just wouldn't come to her.

...but--this has been a whole common room full of students, and Kennedy was her crush!

OOC: Continued under the next two quotes.



Suddenly, she was thankful for the clueless kid who'd come into the room shouting. Maybe it'd take some of the focus off the fact that her face was now a scarlet shade that would make Godric Gryffindor swell with pride.



...but Kennedy!

Oh my Merlin, would he be angry at her?! She chanced a short glance his way, and she noticed that his face was a mirrored shade of her own. She stepped back a few steps, retreating into the crowd. Coming up to Kennedy's side, she whispered, "I'm so sorry."

Then she turned and looked back at Lafay. So much she wanted to say... She had to go. Something had suddenly come up. She retreated into the crowd a little more and then, when she thought no one was even paying attention to her, she slipped toward the stairs that led to the girls' dorms.

"Can you NOT see I'm holding a meeting?" She said with a hiss. How dare he interrupt! Still she'd not punish him... She was in their common room... and there was a crowd. Sitting on the chair, she was probably not able to be seen.

"Good." She said and smiled.

That one looked bored. She was going to keep an eye on this one...

"See that you don't let me down." She told her.

"Prefect Greingoth..." she said, catching the girl trying to escape, "I trust you understand as well?"

Carson's head shot up hearing someone speak. Uh-oh! He turned to see who was talking to him. O boy! Did he dare say anything? He was scared to in case he said the wrong thing but how could an apology be the wrong thing. But if he didn't say anything, he'd probably never be able to say anything to the much older woman speaking to him. "Sorry..." he responded kind of quietly in the hopes that she'd hear him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Droo

"Can you NOT see I'm holding a meeting?" She said with a hiss. How dare he interrupt! Still she'd not punish him... She was in their common room... and there was a crowd. Sitting on the chair, she was probably not able to be seen.



"Good." She said and smiled.



That one looked bored. She was going to keep an eye on this one...



"See that you don't let me down." She told her.



"Prefect Greingoth..." she said, catching the girl trying to escape, "I trust you understand as well?"

"How are we going to try and win, when the hufflepuffs keep getting all of our chances for points to get the house cup?" She remebered last year when the puffs kept getting points more and more then the other houses.

Sierra was almost to the staircase when she heard her name. She should have suspected as much. The woman who'd called her name was way too intelligent to miss Sierra slipping away. There was really no point in her taking off for the dorms now, so she turned slowly back around to face Lafay. "Yes," she said, nodding. "I understand."

No more sitting that close to Kennedy Escalante. At least not in the common room.

...and this girl. This girl snapped Sierra back into having the mindset for this meeting. "We're Slytherins. That should be a no-brainer," she replied. "We show up for class, do the assigned homework, and most importantly, we don't get caught." Speaking of getting caught, Sierra turned toward Lafay again. She'd just gotten caught. By the one person who shouldn't see her sitting that close to boys.

Well, she'd just have to talk to Kennedy Escalante when Lafay wasn't around.

Adarian nodded. He wanted to win, he wanted to be an asset to his House. "I'll do my best Professor" he vowed it and meant it. He already had his Herbology homework done so hopefully that would help.

"It's alright, I'm leaving anyway" she said and turned towards the portal, "I am going to be checking up on you..." and she quickly added "All of you."

"I do believe we are currently in the lead..." and.. they were Slytherin... they always found a way.

"Listen to your prefect!," she said to the rest of the house, "She may be young but she's been Slytherin top point earner since she was a first year..." She glanced at Kennedy... and then the others, "I'm in my quarters if anyone has need of me." and with that she left.

"Oh ten years? WOW! Well... I suppose when the twins are at Hogwarts they will be saying the same thing about me," Zhenya said laughing. She was 12 years older than them, and that was a lot! But Dimitri was 19 years older than them which was even MORE!

"Oh you've been all over the place! Well I used to live in Russia and my grandparents used to take me to all the European countries. It worked well because we were already near so many of them, like Poland and Germany and France, we went there. But it was all so easy because there wasn't a long distance to travel. I haven't been to America, or anywhere else but one day I really want to," Zhenya said. She really missed Russia, and hadn't been back there since her Grandparents had their funeral which was the most worst day of her life.

"I think we will win the Quidditch and the house cup this year. Look at everyone on our house, it looks like a winning year! Last year was just so hard with Quidditch because we lost some of the best players and the new ones that joined, like me, weren't as talented as they were... but it will all come with practice!" she said.

Kennedy was still standing stiffly when Sierra whispered an apology. He then dared a glance at her and tilted his head to the side. Why was she apologizing? It had been him that had not noticed how close they were sitting. He was about to comment on that when she began to retreat.

Ah great. Sierra probably didn't want to talk to him again and...what about Quidditch practice? Was she going to back out?





She smiled. That should have made him feel better, but this was Professor Lafay. What if she was smiling for other reasons? Hmm, maybe he should talk to her later and clear things up since they weren't doing anything wrong. But then again, time has proven that Kennedy should not meddle with parents.

He caught the stare and nodded. He didn't what he was nodding at, but he did.

---

When their Head of House left Kennedy stood there waiting for his housemates to return to what they were doing and mostly not knowing what to do next.

Delilah sighed when the Head of House left. Do housepoints. Go to class. Don't get caught. Don't get caught doing what? Right. She hugged her book closer to her, glanced around, frowning a little bit. Noone ever noticed her.

At least that meant she'd be able to read the end of the story about the knights in peace... Even though it would be cool if there were someone to read the stories with. The girl stalked off back to the corner she was sat in before Lafay came in, sat down on the floor and curled up...

Carson raised an eyebrow. Checking up on him? Had he done something wrong. Apart from interrupting a meeting. That was probably the biggest mistake he'd made since he'd got here. But it wasn't going to be the worst.

Oh! It wasn't just as him. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Anyone wanna fill me in?" he asked. He'd missed the whole thing so he honestly had no idea what this was all about.

And now that Lafay had leffftt....

"Coconuts are funny," Selena said with a shrug, petting her cruppy's head as she looked at the younger and taller Slytherin. Selena was pretty sure that everyone liked fruits, so a coconut seemed like a perfectly reasonable nickname. The Slytherin's cruppy let out a bark of approval. Yes. Coconut seemed absolutely fitting.

And what did he say...?



"We can't be friends."

Because he didn't like sweets. What type of person didn't like SWEETS?! He was insane.

Once Professor Lafay left Angelina looked at the boy that was nearby. He looks about her age, she has never meet him though. All together it wasn't his fault much, is seemed he didn't know the meeting was going on. Unless he was there the whole time and Angelina just didn't see him.

Walking up to him she said, "Basically Lafay was wondering and telling us to win back the two cups. The Quidditch cup and the Gobstone cup. She wants us to all stay out of trouble and attend anything that will award us house points." That was all it really was about. After she explained everything she smiled and said, "I'm Angelina by the way."

Laughing Angelina said, "Well normally I could be happy I didn't go to school with any of them. But we get along so well it wouldn't be bad." Age difference was strange when they talk about when they went to school and its totally different than now. That is what is scary.

"That sounds so cool. When did you move out of Russia? If you did," she asked. SHe never lived out of London. By changing countries would be a big change!

Nodding in agreement Angelina said, "I think so as well. Last year seemed to just please the Hufflepuffs for once. Now that thats over we can keep winning again. Oh really? Yeah I saw the team was a big difference from first year." This year didn't seem like a big difference though than first and second. "If you get on the team you have to tell me! I probably wont," she said.

Carson looked up at the girl who was walking toward him with a slight smile on his face. Was she going to explain what he'd so rudely interrupted? It seemed so. He had asked someone to, after all. He'd need to know otherwise he'd be completely clueless. What if it wa... O wait, she was explaining.

He listened as the girl who looked around about his age explained what he'd just missed. He nodded in understanding. So in other words, Lafay was all about winning. "So basically do anything that's going to show we're proud of being in Slytherin" he replied. It was the same thing, wasn't it? He sure hoped so. Or he'd look an idiot for getting the wrong end of the stick. He smiled when the girl introduced herself. "I'm Carson..." he smiled. "...It's a pleasure meeting you" he added.

Sierra raised her eyebrows, mostly out of surprise from what Lafay had said. She felt a pride swell inside of her, and despite how embarrassed she felt at being called out on something in front of the entire house, this made up for it just a little. She chanced a slight grin at Lafay before turning to leave herself.

...and of course she had to pass by Kennedy on her way out. She paused right beside him, facing the opposite direction he was, and said, "You know I'll still practice with you if you still want me to," she said. "I think I'm going to head to bed early tonight. I'll catch up with your tomorrow, and we'll talk Quidditch." She even managed a small smile his way before walking off to the stairs and headed down to the girls' dorms.

Kennedy stood still as Sierra walked in his direction. He wasn't scare to talk to her nor intimidated. He just wasn't sure if she was willing to talk to him. Shortly, a grin tugged at his lips at her words. She didn't know how relieved he was that she wasn't backing out. He nodded and as she left and wondered if she caught it.

Either way, he was going to be down at the pitch waiting for her tomorrow. He just had to follow an advice that was given to him a few minutes ago.

Don't get caught.

With that decided Kennedy walked up to the boys dorms.

Angelina chuckled and said, "Yeah that basically it. Lafay just wants us to keep winning. We are Slytherins after all. She wants us to take pride in ourselves for being a Slytherin." She really hasn't been doing that at all last term. She has so many Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends. What would Lafay say? But wait, Angelina really doesn't want to know!

She smiled at Carson. "It's nice to meet you as well Carson," she said. Then asked, "What year are you in?"

Victoria eyed the familiar armchair near the blazing, green fireplace with an expressionless face. She's obviously unsure what to think. She has befriended with this wonderful chair for two years, now starting her third...and last.

Gradually, she forced her blank thoughts away and lowered herself in the armchair, feeling the soft, gentle, velvet material beneath her. As a Snakie, this year, Victoria's ambition for her very last year at Hogwarts School fo Witchcraft and Wizardry is this: Forget the classess, the lessons, the tests and exams, and have fun in mind for the last chance to do something silly and FUN.

Victoria hasn't exactly figured out a shorter version of her motto, but she's definitely working on it.

Stroking the side of the armchair with her fingers, Victoria glared envily at the younger students, who can still enjoy the fun in this school, or rather, any magical school.

Coconuts were.. funny?

The blonde guy didn't think that coconuts were funny. Because it only had a round-shaped and it tasted plain too. He didn't like coconuts. This head girl seemed quiet ridiculous but funny. And she said that they couldn't be friends just because he didn't eat sweets?

He couldn't say anything but chuckled. "You're so funny." Slowly he became laid back to her.

Zhenya smiled, thinking of how much fun she and Dimitri would have at Hogwarts. He would probably get her into trouble...

"I... er... when my grandparents died. I was 9 and couldn't live there anymore so I had to move back home with my parents. I miss it there, so much. It was so nice there and peaceful. Well, it was home," she said.

"Yeah I suppose it was good seeing the Puffers winning the cup, but I do agree that this year is for the Snakes," she smiled. "I don't know when I will go to try outs, or if I will. I want to though! Oh I remember that bludger that hit me in the face at the end of our first game, it was horrible! Hurt so much," she laughed. But honestly, it was the most fun pain she had ever had.