So...

...

...

yeah he had no knuts on him. It wasn't like anyone had said to bring enough knuts to at least manage to get into the common room once a day, essentially ten sickles and thirteen knuts by his quick calculations (give or take a day and not accounting for Christmas or Easter holidays), or 303 knuts really, which was physically if not monetarily a lot of coin to carry without having been told to bring any.

So...

West just slumped down against the wall and waited. For what? Who even knew.

Walking into the common room she saw the turnstiles and just stared. How was she supposed to pay a knut? Her mum never gave her money when she went to Hogwarts because she was too young to go to Hogsmeade! All her things were in the dormitories and all she had with her were the items they'd gotten at the feast so they would have something to eat with all year long!

Where was she supposed to sleep? The forest? Well she certainly wasn't going to stay with auntie. Nor was she going to ask her for money to get in...

Looking around she saw West slumped against the wall. "You can't get in either?" she asked softly. Moving to the wall, she slid down it next to him and sat down on the floor with her arms around her knees after setting her cup, plate and plastic silverware on the floor beside her. Sighing she looked at the turnstiles again with worry on her face.

Jeez.

Tonight had been beyond entertaining. Everyone had been acting like a heap of spoiled brats at the dinner tables when they had sporks and stuff. Eh, suck it up. They could all deal. Besides, that wasn't so bad. There were worse things in life then-

Were those TURNSTILES?!

This was a joke. This was some ruddy, horrible joke. What kind of idiots installed turnstiles to get into a Common Room? Did they have to like, you know, have a pass or something to get through? Yeah, that seemed reasonable.

But as he got closer he saw that it was money. Pfft. Yeah, no that wasn't happening. He'd jump the turnstile. And if they wanted to say something to him. Whatever. Leggo.

Right before he jumped over it he saw that West guy and paused, "Yo. Is this normal?" 'Cause if so, he was jumping.

"Hey, Zoe." West greeted. "I didn't bring any knuts with me. Did I miss a memo? Its dumb. My dad would have paid money if needed, and then I wouldn't have to worry about it." For real. He eyed the barrier things. "I got some galleons in my trunk... but no change and nothing on me."

"Nope. Never seen them before. Are you gonna jump them?" Because West had considered it but no way was he gonna do it first in case of death.

Well what? It was Hogwarts, stranger things had happened right? West wasn't going to risk being the first one to try it.

Shaking her head she shrugged "Mum never gives me any money because I'm too young for Hogsmeade, and tells me just to let her know if I need anything, so I've got nothing." Looking up as another boy appeared, she had a hopeful look on her face. What if he did jump over, what would happen? If nothing bad maybe she'd do it too, and get her things and find somewhere else to live sleep.

Because once she was out she'd never be able to get back in again, so she might as well collect all her things! Hey weren't the house elves all gone, except one? Why not move down there...the house elves slept somewhere right? And Zoe was short...

Huh.

He had never seen them before, which meant that this was just as it looked- Stupid. Okay. Well then, he was going to have to handle this the only way that he deemed fit. Yep, he was gonna jump it.

"Thought so," Initiate sleeves being rolled up, "Looks like it." Stand back. He needed some momentum.

Derry wanted to just go to bed... she got to the door to the common room after a moment of getting lost - she hadn't been paying attention when the new students had been led off - to see people stood outside of it and... were those turnstiles..?

O____O

Did they have to pay to get in? Derry didn't have any money. Any money... her mam had promised to get her dad to send some wizarding money before the Hogsmeade weekends but they weren't able to spare much. Certainly not enough for every time she had to enter the common room.

Derry hated Hogwarts already. She really wanted to go home... and she didn't know what she was going to do about the common room situation...

"Yeah." West nodded, understanding. "I had to make my own money before third year, me and Theo." He wasn't mad about this stuff yet so much as puzzled. And also wondering about how many people would freak out completely since that'd be fun to watch. As long as there was food, he was okay.

... even if it was crap food.

"Wait, let a first year do it." West suggested. "In case its cursed to explode people or something."

Firsties were expendable, obviously.

"Wanna sit?" West patted the ground next to him. He wasn't going nowhere and Derry looked confused and not so happy.

"Its not normally like this." And West was waiting for Dylan to turn up and explain it all. Dylan either knew things or knew how to get the answers as a rule.

Oh... at least there was West Odessa. Someone she knew... Derry nodded and sat next to him, pulling her robes closer around her. She hate those too. They were all... flow-y and weird and she had to wear her uniform under it and... she just wanted to go back to her oversized school sweatshirt that she could hide under...

It's not normally like this..? Well... would it change then..? "Will it be here all year?" she asked, biting her lip. "I... I c-can't afford it all year..." she added in a little voice.

And Ascanius was going to run for it in three, two and-

Woah, woah, woah. Slowing down. The West guy had a good point. Right before he made it to the turnstile, he put on the breaks and came to a complete stop.

Blink. "Good call." Anyway, these magic folk always did tend to find every way to cheat the system. Looking over at West he added on, "So then what do you suggest we do?" Because he was tired and stuff. He could rock the rugged look in the morning if he didn't get much sleep, but he'd much prefer to have his natural morning glow, thank you very much.

After the feast, Christina walked to the dungeon to reach the Slytherin common room. Yep! She was very tired and all she wanted to do now was touching her new bed and sleeping with his Hello Kitty plushed toys. Yaaaaaaaaaaawn... She was so sleepy. But then she noticed that so many students just stood up in front of the turnstiles. Meh, what's going on here? She was new here and she completely no idea about that.

O_________________O

What was this madness? Did they really need to pay? Okay, 1 knut wasn't a big deal but the problem was she didn't have money on her pocket right now. Her purse was inside her rucksack and... She left it with her other trunks which probably they were already inside. "Is this normal?" She asked to the people there. "So, all of you can't get it because you don't have knuts with you now?"

Pulling a face when he said he'd had to make his own money. Eh, that was sad. Snorting when he said that they should let a firstie go first with jumping over it, she ducked her head in laughter resting it on her knees. Thank merlin she wasn't a firstie anymore! "Good idea I think." she said as she lifted her head again her eyes dancing in laughter.

Looking up as another girl appeared, she shrugged "Who knows. All I know is if I get in there I'm grabbing all my things and finding somewhere else to sleep. Maybe the kitchens...then we can make our own food properly." And now another girl! Shaking her head as well "Nope, can't get in, no knuts...."

"I have no idea." He looked at her and then smiled reassuringly. "We'll figure something out." By which he sort of meant that Dylan would. Or Dylan would help him to figure something out, one of the two.

"Wait for Dylan or for Lafay to show up." He paused and clarified, "Our Quidditch Captain or our Head of House that is." Someone would show up anyway to check they weren't breaking things or dead or anything.

"Nope. Not normal." West said, as another girl around his age showed up. Who was this one? What was with all the new kids? They had crap timing huh? "And yeah, got no money and in case its cursed or something, letting someone stupider try jump it first."

West winked solemnly, apparently perfectly content to just sit there against the wall, legs sprawled in front of him.

"Maybe that might work but I bet all the other houses will have the same situation and they'll all be thinking about other places to go as well." He paused and added thoughtfully, "And maybe other areas are blocked off too. We'll work something out once Dylan gets here."

Welp, dinner had been crap. Seriously, she knew now that Hogwarts was poor and all but one house-elf was gone, but couldn't they've made sure that the lone elf who stay actually knew how to COOK?! That was slightly degrading to come from a home where your mother was a professional chef to a school where you had to eat dry chicken and watery mashed potatoes. And she hadn't even touched her broccoli. Nope, that was replaced by the ice cream.

Anywho, she made her way down to the dungeons to hopefully salvage the rest of the evening (and to send her parents and aunt each an owl begging them to at least send her some food stuffs and dinnerware). When she got there, though, all hopes of salvaging the evening were gone, replaced by some ridiculous turnstile contraption. So, appearently they now had to get into their own common room. This was going to get expensive fast. At least her family would be alerted to the fact that something was rotten in Denmark quickly, thanks to constant owling for money. Unfortunately, some of her housemates didn't seem as lucky. As proven by the fact that their star beater and some second year were sitting on the floor and Ascanius was talking of jumping over the thing. "Yep, I wanna see how this works out, but West is right. Let a firstie try it first." And if it worked, well there went the need for money. Yay!

Then a new girl walked up. "Nope, definitely not normal," Sky replied, sliding down the wall so that she too was sitting on the floor against the wall. Sigh.

Well this was sort of odd. At least, she thought so, having no prior knowledge to go on. Cat had simply been worried about remembering the password to get in, she hadn't thought there would be more obstacles ahead. The brunette paused and took in the small group of her fellow housemates and the turnstiles that required money. Couldn't they all just have like... passes or something? Huh?

Hogwarts was so weeeeird.

"Oh hey." Cat waved at West and headed in his direction. He didn't seem to be in much of a hurry to shell out coin. "What's going on here?" Had anyone like... tried it yet? No?

The feast was over and Kat was REALLY looking forward to going back to her Common Room. She needed her bed okay? She was tired and the food from the feast didn't really help at all. The ice cream did but it was different eating real food.

When she arrived the first thing the prefect noticed was the Slytherins outside the common room. They weren't locked out again, weren't they? That was when she saw the turnstiles.

...

This was not charity, for Merlin's sake.

The sixth year crossed her arms while she watched this. She had NO knuts with her at the momet. A few galleons, yes, but breaking it down to knuts would be a problem. No money changers around either. Her first year as the Slytherin Prefect and this happens? This was not written in the cards. Kat checked the Slytherins around. Nobody hurt, and that was good. So, let's wait for a miracle to happen? Or maybe just wait for Lafay.

Juliet finally reached the common room only to discover that they had these weird machines lining before the entrance to the common room. "What in Merlin's beard---" she blurted out as she looked at it confused. Hogwarts was now asking them some fine to enter their own rooms? There must be some kind of catch. Or a joke. Is this a joke?

1 Knuts is needed to get inside, Juliet's hand reached for her pocket and then only to realize that -- GREAT, just great-- her pocket is empty because first of all, no one warned them these things would be here and second, who brings pocket money when they're having the welcoming feast? Juliet just stood there and stared at the other fellow Slytherins who are also standing around the area.

West nodded, looking over at Sky, not bothering to say hi just acknowledging with a wry smile. Not much point in welcoming anyone right? It wasn't exactly the most comfortable spot to be and soon there'd be a bottle neck of students so it was good that Sky had pulled up a patch of wall so to speak.

West looked up at Cat when she arrived and grinned. "No Earthly clue. This is new. So... just waiting for something to happen and all that. Pull up a patch of wall." Did SHE have any knuts on her?

Oh look, other Kat. The one he'd kissed. And such.

"Maybe go see whats up and ask Lafay?" West suggested, peeking at Kat. "Especially about the whole... not having knuts on us thing. Unless you have some. We could try duplicating if anyone does...?"

West stayed sitting on the floor, looking pretty well unconcerned overall.

It was interesting at least.

So basically what he was saying was that they were just going to sit here until some authority showed up. Yeah, psh, okay. When in the history of forever did THAT ever help. Free the people.

Ahem. Anyway, he sighed and sat down on the ground with all of the people waiting around for these authority figures. If they could really help they would see. It was all up to interpretation.

"Yeah, I got it," he nodded. Let's wait.

Huh. Interesting, anyway. Apparently nothing was going to be ordinary around here so that was actually kind of cool. "Has anyone gone in yet?" Cat moseyed over toward him, slid down the wall and parked her bottom on the ground, "Maybe they could bring us some money over. I have some, but it's with all of my stuff." She hadn't been planning on needing it quite yet, soooo..

Hey look! A prefect! COOL.

So she was going to show up here,and go sit in her favorite chair in her common room and relax after that ....... dining experience. Making her way down to the familer common room she stopped suddenly as she saw people gathered around.. some weird turnstile contraptsion "what the hell?" this was stupid! She stepped closer seeing that they had to ............... PAY!?!?!?!?! That was outrageous!!! Just cause hogwarts didnt have their money anymore did NOT mean they got hers...

After the start of term fast was over, the Slytherin Prefect walked away from the great hall and down the steps towards the dungeons. He was getting sleepy from the journey to the castle and as he rubbed his eye with one of his hands he turned the corner to see...

Everyone standing there. He halted for a moment and looked at the students gathered around..something. "Why aren't you all going inside?" he asked as he stepped closer. They weren't tossed out like two years back right? .... " is that some kind of muggle payment thingy...like those in metro stations?" he asked and scratched the back of his head before reading the instructions.

1 KNUT EVERYTIME THEY WANTED TO GO INSIDE THE COMMON ROOM?!

"Merlin what are they playing at?" he mumbled to himself before turning around. "You all don't have money with you?" he asked and felt his own pocket. There was some rinkling sound and as he took out his hands he opened it. 3 sickles and 2 knuts... "I only have two knuts.." he said and turned to face the ...thing.

AWW man! he could get inside. But being a Prefect he just couldn't leave the others behind. And NO , he was NOT giving his other knut to someone else. He needed it himself.

"Daichi could go first to test it." West said to nobody in particular. So the prefect wasn't a first year, it'd still serve the purpose of seeing about what would actually happen.

But he had a knut, apparently, so that wasn't going to be as interesting to see as the whole jumping over thing would be. Actually maybe West could make some money on that, a wager on what would happen if you jumped it and didn't pay.

Now that would be interesting!

After an interesting Feast, Dylan slowly made his way towards the Slytherin dungeons. If he were being honest, the Snake Captain would admit that he didn't know what to feel at the moment...Was it an elaborate prank?

He thought it...but quickly dismissed the idea. Professors and Staff of Hogwarts didn't have senses of humor...Save for Flamsteed, maybe. Perhaps even Bentley...

Merlin, this was a mess.

The dinnerware had been...plastic. The food...laughable, at best. All that had been really edible was the ice cream...and with Quidditch season looming, Dylan couldn't eat just dairy and sugar. He had a meticulous regimen to uphold...as did his team.

...Speaking of which...


...West Odessa was surrounded by Snakes...and explaining something. Dylan overheard briefly and caught his name.

Clearly his throat, he continued forward. "What's going on here? Why are we waiting......"

What...in the hell...was that in front of the entrance? Or, better yet...Dylan knew what it was...but what was it doing there? Did the London subway suddenly lay tracks through their common room? Was that a way they were intending to earn money for the school? Renting out Slytherin?

"Move aside, everyone." Dylan didn't paused after he said it...Just proceeded forward, carefully nudging his house mates out of the way...and there it was.

A knut. To enter Slytherin.

One. Knut.

SQUINT.

He looked over his shoulder to West, giving him looks...


"You can't duplicate money." Gamp's Law and all that.

...Then he was back to sharing significant looks with Odessa, noting what Katty was saying and shaking his head. "I feel sure she's aware of this...and will be popping up soon." She was the Slytherin Head of House. So, Dylan felt confident she'd be there.

...and EYES to you, Duck. "If you only have two, don't say so." He looked to the other Slytherins gathered around and nodded his head. "Okay, this is what we're going to do..." Ellaphant had given him a knut. Dylan wondered idly how she knew he'd be needing it...but then rubbed at his face. "I'll go in and get my money bag...I'll cover you guys this time."

As a Seventh Year and Captain, he felt responsible. Just like Duck was...and Hudson. "Is that straight with everyone?"

...And a look for Odessa...because they were doing that 'understand each other' thing.