Heheh. Milton saw that blush. And he laiked it, he did. Milton smirked at Ellie. Even if he wasn't necessarily him that made her blush. He contributed. So there.

"Good match indeed. The beginning of many wins, I think." His smirk stayed solid. Wait. Correction: "I know, actually. We kicked butt." And he was quite confident they would do it again.

He played great too. Heh. "I know," he said simply.

Paulie smiled and added casually, "Knowing my luck, that would happen." But Paulie supposed he liked crazy and bizarre things. How appropriate. The Head Boy pocketed his hands and eyed the portrait who had just been eying up Stella. CREEEEEEEP. Like, he was stuck in a painting; how far did he think he was gonna get?

But, who cared about that - Stella was ENGAGED! Or.. was she? He smiled just a bit when he noted the blush on her cheeks. Geez Louise, he needed to start tallying how many people he got to blush! Usually it was a result of blunt questions about their love lives. heh. Nosy. "A promise ring?" His forehead wrinkled in confusion. What the heck was that? It sounded an awful lot like an engagement ring. "So, how's that different from an engagement ring?" Man, jewelers were totally making out like bandits. Promise rings. Engagement rings. WEDDING rings. Next thing you know, they'd be having HONEYMOON rings!

Hmm... Apparently Paulie hadn't thought her teasing idea of him actually trying to kiss a portrait or two wasn't as insane as Stella had thought. Amusing, but still insane. Actually, it oddly seemed like something she would have seen Risa get talked into, if they'd had flirtatious portraits back at Beauxbatons. Maybe Paulie was more like her best friend than she'd ever thought. But then he'd eyed the old man who'd spoken to her like that idea was completely wrong, which made her wonder if the previous conversation was an act. Either that or he was strangely protective over her, or the girls of Hogwarts in general. He was Head Boy, after all, but she had never thought that was part of the job description. "No harm done," she said hesitantly, if anything to stop the weird portrait eyeing.

At least his surprise at her promise ring had changed the subject. At least, the focus wasn't on the poor old portrait man she'd turned down, but then, it was on her and that only made her feel awkward again. Especially at the smile that had appeared on his face again, like he was analysing her. She started wondering if he'd even understood her attempt at an explanation, and that only furthered as the smile turned to confusion. "A promise ring," she repeated, nodding slightly, although the surety faded a little at his next question. "It's different because there are less expectations?," she replied. There wasn't any planning at least, and engagement rings meant wedding planning. Although, if she thought about it, it wasn't really that different. It was still a promise to be there forever, and that brought her back to the conversation she'd overheard last summer.

For some reason, Gwen found herself walking along the first floor corridor. Wonder why she didn’t really like this place. The fourth year looked at a few portraits, and then immediately remembered why she didn’t feel particularly well hanging around that place. She got lost once in her first year here and it was hard enough to find her way back to the Common Room. Even though she found it really stupid when first years asked her in which direction they should go to find the library, or any other place at Hogwarts, Gwen had to admit that the castle seemed much more bigger three years ago. Perhaps it was only because she was so small back then. Or because the whole castle was something new for her? With lots of unfamiliar places?

Gwendolyn made her way back to the Common Room, but stopped as she passed by a portrait which she could remember very well from the time she got lost here. ‘Are you lost, little miss?’, she could recall the exact words of the man in the portrait. Some help would have been nice, the Ravenclaw thought, but it was sort of her fault that she was so stubborn, she couldn’t admit she was lost and ask for help. And even more than that- she couldn’t admit that she had failed to find her way to the Common Room. Something that was supposed to be easy. As she stood there looking at the portrait, Gwendolyn had sort of expected to hear him ask her the same line again, or at least remind her of the time she last spoke to the man in the frame. Instead, the wizard only gave a small smug as she walked closer to it. Hmph. Gwen moved on, eyeing the portraits as she was passing by them.

Brooke skipped, twirled, and hopped in that order along the corridor unsure of what else to do to occupy her time. She was having so much fun at hoggiewarts she loved it so so much here. She never ever wanted to leave, okay no that was a lie. She liked going home during the holidays because she got to spend ALL her time with Dar instead of just sometimes and she didn't have to sleep in a room with girls she didn't really know very well because actually, she wouldn't have to share a room with ANYONE which was super fun but sometimes boring. eek. Hoggiewarts had more pro's than cons thats all Brooke knew.

She spotted a girl, looking at the portraits not that Brooke noticed what she was doing so she skipped over anyway forgetting to hop and twirl in whatever order she had been. "HI THERE!" she called out as she got closer to the girl, hehe.

After she had passed by several portraits and was finally a bit further away from the annoying one she had met when she was a first year, Gwendolyn made her way back to the Common Room, walking with hasty steps along the first floor corridor. As she was looking at some of the portraits, actually willing to start talking to them... because it would be really fun to have some sort of an argue with them, Gwen heard a rather cheerful voice greeting her. The fourth year drew her attention towards the place where the voice seemed to be coming, and noticed a younger girl coming closer to the place where she was standing.

Hyperactive firstie?

Gwen looked at the girl, but she wasn’t able to decide in which year she was. Hmm. Well... she looked like one of those hyperactive firsties, but perhaps she was a year older? Anyway, one thing was sure- Gwen knew they hadn’t met before. ‘Hello’, she gave a small smirk, greeting the younger girl and then glimpsed back at the portraits.‘What are you up to?’, the fourth year asked the other student, not minding to look away from the portrait she was examining.

For someone who liked to notice things Brooke was very unobservant. She'd always thought she was good at noticing things, good at spotting things that others didn't see. For instance she could be stood in a room and pick out the teeniest tiniest crack on the wall or something unimportant like that. But she'd been skipping up and down corridors and what not and she hadn't been paying any attention to anything. Even now she was showing no interest what so ever in the portraits that surrounded her. She twirled a few times, still not taking in any detail from any of the pretty portraits around her. Well, some of them weren't so pretty but she wasn't paying much attention nonetheless.

Brooke looked up at the girl as she looked at her, they were both looking at one another but Brooke wasn't paying attention still. She was just looking at the girl; not thinking about anything, not judging, not even making assumptions to the girls age or year or anything. "Hi!" The younger girl spoke enthusiastically, a huge smile on her face as she did so. What was she up to ? Brooke paused for a few moments, standing absoloutly still for the first time in forever. "I..I dont know." and she began to sway again. "what are you up too ?"

Well. Gwen was getting sort of bored of examining the portraits. And this was odd, since she really was one of those people who appreciated pretty much anything that had to do with art. Hmm. As soon as the hyperactive younger student (whose year Gwendolyn still couldn’t figure out) started talking, the Ravenclaw got distracted and stopped examining the details of the portraits. She simply made her way along the first floor corridor, trying to find something interesting enough to draw. Something inspirational. But this didn’t seem to be the place she was looking for. Not really.

And the younger girl didn’t seem to be very preoccupied with something either. Because to Gwen, she seemed to be just killing some time twirling around here. Hehe. Err. What was she up to? ‘Not sure...’, the fourth year mused as she eyed one of the portraits. ‘I’m looking for something to draw... something interesting...’, she went on talking and started speeding up a little. Pfft. This was clearly not the place where she would find the subject for her next sketch. Perhaps a jelly bean would help her think of a better place? Gwendolyn picked a random sweet from the box of Bertie Bott’s, but immediately frowned.

Ewww.

Ear wax. She was one of those ‘really lucky’ people who always came across the worst possible flavours. ‘Want some?’, she asked with a small smirk, extending the hand in which she held the box of Bertie Bott’s towards the girl. Good thinking, the fourth year 'congratulated' herself. If she is already hyperactive, a few more sweets would definitely help. Psh. ‘I don’t think we met before...’, the Ravenclaw mused as she drew her attention back to the younger girl. ‘I’m Gwen’, she finally introduced herself.

...Paulie looked at Stella. Huh. It seemed like she really thought about things. Like, maybe TOO much. Paulie did that sometimes. Read into things and stuff. Although sometimes, he did the exact reverse. He shrugged it off and remembered the 'promise ring' conversation at hand.

His blue-green eyes lowered to the ring once again as she spoke, though they lifted soon after. Less expectations? He tilted his head and it was plainly evident that he was still rather confused. "Less expectations.." He repeated, slowly. Then why not just wait for the engagement ring? Well, this is what passed through the Gryffindor's mind, but he had to tell himself that things were different for different people. Maybe Stella just liked jewelry a lot, or maybe they wanted to be engaged but were too young, or maybe Paulie was just thinking too much about things that didn't even concern himself. This was not uncommon for the seventeen-year-old.

Deciding not to comment further on the whys of promise rings, he instead chose to ask of the whos. Easing back into his usual smile, he spoke. "So, your man sounds like a romantic!" He didn't say this negatively, just with enthusiasm. "Who is it anyway, Juliet Capulet?" He liked the way that name rhymed. "Who's your Romeo?" He grinned.

The look Paulie had given her before their conversation had continued momentarily made Stella wonder if he didn't believe her. There really hadn't been any harm done by the painting, not to mention she still couldn't quite tell if he really would have considered kissing any of the other paintings, but it was all just odd. Not to mention that look was kind of odd, but then he didn't say anything to make the oddness dissipate. It just stayed quiet and odd, and she watched him as his gaze had suddenly lowered to her hand again. Yet another half-awkward conversation, and she looked back at him as his blue-green eyes finally came back to hers. Hmm, she thought, as he'd simply repeated her phrasing. It seemed like there were more questions behind that, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to, or even would be able to answer them. She definitely didn't want to explain how much the promise ring had helped after she'd explained what Ethan had done to her to Matt. Just the promise that he wouldn'thurt her, let alone not go anywhere.

She felt like something needed to be said, though, so after another moment, she spoke. "It helps remind me of him while I'm still here," she replied, "And I'm only seventeen, anyway. I'm not about to get married any time soon." She'd laughed softly as she'd finished speaking, even though the statement made her go back to wondering about the declaration she'd eavesdropped on in France yet again, too, and she'd glanced back down at her hand yet again. The fact that Matt had said, to Risa, that he could honestly see himself asking her to marry him. Either way, she'd returned her gaze to Paulie sharply as he'd spoken again. Just at the enthusiasm behind the statement, and she found herself smiling a little at the concept. "I don't know how he'd take you saying that," she responded, before raising an eyebrow in amusement as he'd continued speaking, calling her Juliet. "You know, I've always wanted to play that part on stage," she said conversationally. That wasn't his point, however, so she quickly brought herself back on topic. "Matt Stevenson. He graduated last term, as a Slytherin," she answered. Honestly, she didn't even know if Paulie would recognize the name, but he'd asked. She wasn't about to refuse to answer.

These portraits always freaked Theodore way OUT. Supposadely, coming from the muggle world, that kinda thing would be extremely odd. But in all honesty, they actually scared him more than anything. He rushed his way through the first floor, knowing that he'd have to run past them at some point. They never usually bothered him, but...

"HEY, YOU. RUNNING BOY."

Theo froze in his tracks and turned around to study the portrait that was yelling at him. It was an old man. The pair STAAAARED at each other for a few moments, clearly freaked out by each other.

Blue was on frickin' mission.

TO HUNT DOWN ALICE AND/OR EVE AND FIND OUT IF THE WHOLE RUMOUR WAS TRUE. Even if she had to walk ALL around Hogwarts till she found them. But, yea...That was proving difficult. Mainly because she was only on the first floor and already tired. So...that wasn't really working out all too well. But she did really need to find out if it was true about her sister and that boy. Twas very important. She couldn't let Evelyn get love germs and die right? Nope. Deffinetly not.

Also. She was kinda MISERABLE. The year was almost ovah. Which meant only six more terms. She had sooo much stuff to do. Starting with BANNING chocolate frogs, which was going nowhere by the way (kids in Hogwarts are cruel.), and eventually taking over Hogwarts and helping Alice rule the world. While working with ERIN of all people. Twas sickening stuff. Absolutely sickening.

"HEY, YOU. RUNNING BOY!"

Whaaaaaaa? Seriously? Anuzzer senile portrait? What did West say you do to shut paintings up? Hit them or something. Well, time for a serious portrait whopping. One simply did not get away with calling BLUE a BOY. She wasn't even running!!!

She came pouting 'round the corner.

"HEY. Am not a bo--"

Theo?! What the heck? Oh riiiiiiight. The portrait was talking to her bestie. ...Not her. Um. ...Slightly embarressing much? Quick! Say something... Stick up for yo bestie! "SHUT IT...?" That worked right?!?! Though she kinda made it a bit of a question cause she wasn't exactly used to telling people or portraits to shut it... "Some people are walkin' here and don't need you yellin'!"

So there.

"Hey Theooo!"

The silence going on between Theodore and this old man was going on EERILY long. To a point where the old man looked away from the first year, and tried to ignore him. OH, now who was freaking who out! Wasn't NICE was it? Being watched by people. Oh no. Theodore continued to stare. And stare. And STAAAAAAAARE.

"STOP IT RIGHT NOW, BOY."

"MAKE ME! OH, THAT'S RIGHT. YOU CAN'T COS YOU'RE A PICTURE ON THE WALL." Hahaaaa, hoo, hooo..

But suddenly, a wild BLUE appeared around the corner, shouting the same kind of abuse at the old man as he was. Right on, sista! "Hai, Bluuuue!" He beamed, then turned back to look at the old man, all attitude-like.

"What is this? Curse of the eleven year olds? Off with you!"

Theodore giggled. Pssht, why was he ever afraid of these portraits? They were kind of FUN.

Cool. Theo was all beam-y so that meant Mr. old!mean!Portrait wasn't bullying him too bad.

"Been buggin' old men in portraits?" Fair nuff. Blue wasn't about to judge.

Nope.

Actually, she was quite proud Theo was giving out to the painting. It totally deserved it.

He got a Blue BEAM right back and the eleven-year-old turned back to the painting. GLARE. "Curse of the eleven-year-olds? What are chu talkin' 'bout?" Time to LIE. Coz apparently she needed to practise. And, lying would play a HUGE part in her new plan to ban chocolate frogs. That was, if the whole thing with Williamson flopped. "WE'RE fifteen." She jerked her head towards Theo.

Yeeeeah.

That was probably a bit of a stretch. She made a confuzzled-frown-y-face. Maaaaybe she should have gone with, like, thirteen? They were pretty short after all.

And one of the youngest kids in the whole school...

"Not BUGGING. I was running by, minding my own business, and he started shouting at me!" Theo folded his arms all moodily. Perhaps a letter of complaint to the headmaster was in order. Rude portraits ruining days with their terrifying outbursts!

It was outrageous.
Uh-huh.

Theo was PRETTY sure that neither of them could pass as fifteen year olds, however, he would play it out. Because acting older was way COOL. "YEAH. We are totally fifth years. Just took our OWLs, and we passed them ALL." Yeah, even Arithmancy!

Once the firstie looked back to the old man from Blue, he raised a brow as he seemed to have vanished.

Oh, okay. They'd scared him off.
"BLUE. WE'RE GONNA BE SECOND YEARS SOON." He said, bouncing a little. Now seemed like a good time for flailing about old age.

He couldn't wait. Primarily about purchasing his OWN broomstick.

Mean old man portrait thingy.

She tried not to giggle when Theo started talking about OWLs. Nice one. Only problem...um, they kinda hadn't been taking yet by even the actual fifth years. But why would a painting know that? So, she nodded eagerly, BEAMing at her bestie and his quick thinking.

ANOTHER BEAM.

And a flail for good measure.

"I KNOOOW. And TWELVE." Big people. Practically adults! They wouldn't be ickle firsties no more. NOPE. BEAMBEAMBEAM. Turning twelve was like a huge thing to this eleven-year-old. Fo' two reason. A) she was about to be the only eleven-year-old in her year 'cause there was only like, two, other people and they were turning the big one two this month... B) It meant she only had a YEAR to figure out how to skip teenagerdom. EEP. Not good. Such a waste of a year not finding it out.

Ah well. She still had a year, right?

"Whatcha doin' this Summerrrrrrr?"

TWELVE. That was one year away from being a teenager! Theo couldn't imagine himself as a teenager. Though, he DID worry that his voice would stay so high forever. He really does sound like a girl this time. "It'ssocool. One day, we're gonna be seventh years." His brain wondered off to the day when he becomes Head Boy. It was gonna HAPPEN...

Oh. "Are you trying out for Quidditch next term? I AM, DID YOU SEE MY GOALS?" Slytherin hadn't won, but that didn't matter. THEODORE HAD SCORED. THREE WHOLE TIMES.

Ummm........

Probably nothing. His family were boring.
"Iunno. I'm going broom shopping with West. You should TOTALLY come, too." Because Blue was gonna be a second year, too. And second years needed their own brooms. UHUH.

"What're you doing?"

Woah.

She blinked for a second. She hadn't even THOUGHT of that, weirdly enough. Other than, wearing the badge Cherry wears won day. And she hadn't really told anyone about the whole Head Girl thing. Mainly because Laura had probably ruined Blue's chances with her 'genius' plan to set up a swamp. "And graduating..." And she hadn't even THOUGHT about what she was gonna do when she finished school. Ya know...if the whole ruling the world with Alice thing didn't work out. She really needed a back-up plan...

Yaaay! Quidditch!

"Sure am!" And this time, she was gonna make the PROPER team. Not the stinkin' reserve. And as chaser. Being a beater sucked. Hurt her arm hitting 'em bludgers. BEAM. "Did. You and West were EPIC." Like seriously. That guy, what was his name? Nathan or Nigel (whatever) was pretty shocked they'd scroed nine goals together. He kept going around talking about it. A bit annoying really.

"COOL. I shall, I shall. I need mah own broom. These school ones are TERRIBLE." Though, weren't broomsticks, like, thousands of galleons? Yeah. She didn't have TEN galleons. She'd hafta beg..and beg and beg. And probably end up getting an old Cleansweep model. But ah well. Broom was a broom right? "What kinda model, dya want?" Makin' conversation.

Shrug. "I'm going to Italy for like, ten days?" And head to Diagon Alley in time for her birthday. "And then go to Scotland fo' a couple of days." Pouty face. That would not be a happy holiday. Visiting Evelyn before school. And wouldn't see her till Christmas.

HOW WAS SHE SUPPOSED TO SURVIVE?!