Karina assumed the air of casually walking as she stepped into the common room after a very frustrating attempt to navigate the caste. She had been stranded twice on the staircases that moved (honestly, how did anyone get where they wanted to go on time) and had gotten her foot stuck in some "hidden" staircase she had taken while following some Gryffindors, trying to get back to the common room. Well, here she was now, and was grateful to see the burning fire going in a relaxing, cozy manner.

Her navy blue eyes flashed around the room and she noted that the only Gryffindor she knew was in the room- Alexa. They met in Hogsmeade, correct? Vilhelm was here as well, Karina had forgotten that he was staying with the Gryffindors, and there was another boy there that just screamed Beauxbatons. "Hello everyone," she said simply. Respond or not, she had done her part and had said hello.

After muttering, "Flibbertigibbet", Lilly made her way through to the common room and found an armchair. She sat down and curled up in a tiny ball, hugging her knees tightly. The young girl was breaking down and she didn't know what to do. She'd hardly been around the castle at all, just going to minimal classes, sleeping, eating and hiding in a corner of the common room.

For a while she just sat there motionless, lost in thought. Then she remembered her twin's notebook. Lilly opened her bag and took out the little sketchbook. She flicked through the pages, smiling at Violet's drawings. There was one of the lake, Rose, the two of them together, everything. And she could remember every single one.

The foreign students filed into the common room, almost all together. Were they all coming from some tournament meeting or something? The French boy seemed to scan the room for a partner in conversation, and Schuyler didn’t think it would take long for him to find one. The boy from Durmstrang, though, appeared less eager to talk to anyone, let alone meet someone’s eye. Okay. Maybe he was the strong, silent type. And, look at that. Beauxbatons was showing off his accent in no time. Lastly was the girl who greeted the whole room with a general ‘hello.’ Schuyler’s eyes stayed on her longer than the other two to take in the pretty eye color and nice hair. She wondered if it was her natural color.. Regardless, Schuyler offered a friendly smile.

So, her conversation with Alice was not over. Which Schuyler was glad for, seeing as they hadn’t exchanged much at all, really. “I was,” she answered, now flashing a smile as she thought back to the party. “We modified the tale and made it two blind mice.” Which Schuyler now liked much better than three blind mice, mind you. She nodded to confirm the question about her name. “And you’re Alice.” And what she generally knew about Alice, ordered chronologically as she discovered them, was that Alice was Dora’s best friend, she bit people, she was the Gryffindor quidditch captain, and she was West’s girlfriend. So, if the sixth year had such close ties to two people whom Schuyler liked very much, then she was rather curious to see how she fancied this other Gryffindor.

“So, I saw you were in the tournament. That’s cool.” Represent Hogwarts and Gryffindor.

Vilhelm eyed the boy who spoke to him in that questioning voice. Was he really that confused on how to say hello? Vilhelm raised an eyebrow and answered him.

"Hello." Need he say more? Vilhelm sighed. So much talking was required at Hogwarts. The Brits were very vocal, apparently. Vilhelm looked up when he heard Karina's voice, and nodded at her, then inclined his head at the seat beside him. Maybe she would join and he wouldn't need to talk as much. Sigh.

Finally. Some recognition. Only it was very short lived. Sadly enough.

Tag furrowed his eyebrows at this guy. So, did he not know how to speak? 'Hi my name is...Hi, I'm from...Hi, I'm here because'. No? It didn't seem like it right now. So the blonde just nodded at him, and then at the girl this guy was nodding at. Quite the chatterboxes they were. Quite the chatterboxes. Leaning forward Tag extended when of his hands and said, "I'm Tag. Tag Kildare. Fifth year Gryffindor..." The gryffindor was obvious. Unless the guy didn't know where he was at. Maybe he could tell Tag his name and where he was from?

By the way Tag was not British he was Irish. There is a difference.

Karina nodded towards Vilhelm and joined him in the seat he had indicated in front of the fire. "How did you like the first task?" She asked softly her native Swedish, no one else but the other Durmstranger needed to understand her. Several Durmstrangers spoke Swedish, but Karina couldn't remember if Vilhelm was one of them. They hadn't had much contact back at their own school.

The Scandinavian then turned her attention on Gryffindor who was attempting to get Vilhelm's attention. She rolled her eyes at the student- Tag, wasn't that a child's game? If she knew nothing else about Vilhelm, it was that he was secretive, and the boy wasn't going to get anything out of her schoolmate. Not wanting to bother with his chattering, nagging, and the like, she looked him directly in the face and said quite plainly in English, "You're wasting your time." This was accompanied by a look that clearly said "leave me alone, you're annoying," and then turned back to Vilhelm and more important conversations.

Well. That was extremely rude. But at least honest. There was some clearing of his throat from Tag and he dropped his hand and put it back at his side. No point in trying to shake the guys hand, yeah? Apparently his girlfriend could speak for him. "Maybe I like to waste time." Tag said with a casual shrug. Let's see how long he could talk, annoying them, till they got irritated, caused something, then he or Biter would attack them with their bats or Biter would bare her teeth at them.

Obviously Tag was being a good host student here.

"I've got nothing better to do. Yeah." He said with a smirk. So, yeah, let's see how long this will last.

Also Tag's name was a child's game. That's what made it special. In fact he stressed that whenever he told people his name. He liked it for that very reason, he could make a short story out of it.

Believe her, she was completely listening to every word he was saying, even if it looked like she didn't as she stuck her head under another couch. Felix was good at hiding, and clearly he wasn't in the mood to come when called so she'd have to put out the extra effort. As she stuck half her body under the couch she heard him say something along the lines of eating? No? He said something and a nod was all she would need to respond, 'cept her head was under here.

Lex pulled out from there as he asked what she was doing. "Looking for my kneazle. You haven't happened to see him, have you? His name's Felix and he's a silvery grey kinda colour with a bushy tail." All descriptions were needed.

She flopped on the carpet by his chair, taking a break as it were before sticking her head under another bit of furniture. "If you had an owl we could lure him out."

And all around her the common room was getting crowded. There was a Durmstranger, the one from the first task and Tag trying to have a conversation with him? Were she not suddenly distracted by Karina's entrance and greeting she would have said something sooner. For now, "Hey Karina!" Because the girl had greeted her first. "You wouldn't happen to have seen a kneazle running around, have you?"

And another girl (Lilly), just sitting by herself. That must have been awfully lonely....or just plain boring. "HAI you! Whatchu doooin'? Something we can all join in on?" Or not all seeing as SOMEONE (Vilhelm) was being a spoil sport. "Oi! We believe in thorough communication and camaraderie in this den. You either make nice with us or sleep outside with the fat lady. No exceptions. Tag, you should have mentioned that." They were a close knit Pride, one didn't simply come in and snub them. Ruuuuude.

Yup. She was just sitting there, drowning in her own sorrow. Lilly was never good at getting over things. So irritating fourth-years didn't help. Must be sugar rush. Ooooh, she knew that feeling. From those happy little firstie years. The tiniest trace of a smile appeared on her lips.

"Not really," she said quietly. "But-"

Oh. She was gone.

"You and Olly." The way they'd been staring at West though, definitely not blind. Alice tapped the tip of her quill against her notes, a couple of ink drops splattering against them as her blue eyes rose to meet the female Durmstraggler's. How many of them were there? The foreigner was only spared a glance, though; the sixth year's gaze flickered back to Schuyler soon enough.

"For Astronomy, yeah. I like that subject." Pause. Was telling this girl what subjects she enjoyed letting on too much about herself? Alice started over thinking it immediately, leading herself to prompt Schuyler to a similar answer so she could feel like she possessed the upper hand again. "What classes do you like best here? Or at your old school?"

Schuyler wore lots of flowers. Alice guessed Herbology. Or maybe Charms. Her face seemed charming enough. Did that count?

Vilhelm eyed the boy. Taking his hand cautiously, he muttered "Vilhelm. Fifth year." No more detail was needed, didn't these hyper Brits know? The body can communicate just fine alone.

Vilhelm gave a small smile to Karina as she joined him. Ah, she was a Swede, yes? Vilhelm leaned forward and answered, still in Swedish, "It was okay, yes. I am more nervous for the second one though. And you?" As Karina spoke to the Hogwarts boy, he nodded the smallest bit to show his approval. Karina spoke the truth, talking boy.

Well, Vilhelm felt a bit bad for the boy. He didnt say anything though - camaraderie was not meant for Hogwarts students. Durmstrang was obviously above them.

Did everyone at Hogwarts HAVE to speak so loudly? Vilhelm leaned back in his chair and hoped no one else would talk to him.

Karina shrugged. It wasn't up to her what "Tag" did with his time; if he wanted to question her schoolmate, go right ahead. It was time that could probably be put better towards studying, homework, or acquiring social skills and the ability to notice social ques. Didn't he realize that Vilhelm didn't want to talk?
Kneazle? No kneazles around here, were Hogwarts students even allowed to have a kneazle as a pet? Karina shook her head slightly, because she knew that if she didn't give some sort of response to this particular Gryffindor, she would just be pestered for the rest of the night. Alexa was her name, correct? Yes, Karina remembered this one from Hogsmeade, and she remembered the other girl was very talkative. And curious about Karina in general. The other reason why she acknowledged the girl was because she didn't want to be left outside the common room to sleep. She was sure it would only happen for one night until they realized that they probably shouldn't mess with Karina Wozniacki, but it would still be a long night in the hallway. So she remained polite to the Gryffindors, but still did not speak.
After focusing on Alexa began to give her a headache, she roamed her eyes around the room until they locked with another Hogwartian. She raised her eyebrows questioningly- was there a problem? Before moving her gaze past the girl and back to Vilhelm when he spoke. Thankfully in Swedish.
Speaking in Swedish, she responded. "I am not nervous, but just... I have anticipation. I don't know how this next one will go, and we cannot get second place again." she nodded once firmly to show her resolve, a resolve she knew the rest of her team shared.

Schuyler nodded. Yes, she and Olly. She didn't quite remember what Alice had been dressed up as, so she neglected to comment on that. But, moving on. On to Astronomy. Alice said she liked Astronomy. And she must have been good at it too if she had been chosen to participate in that tournament. "Nice. There's a lovely Walt Whitman poem about Astronomy that I like." Maybe she knew it. It basically expressed her own sentiments towards the subject.

When the other girl returned a similar question, Schuyler looked to the ceiling and mulled this over for a second. "I like herbology a lot, but the professor who taught it at my old school wasn't that great." Another good thing about being at Hogwarts, she supposed.

Anya sauntered into the common room with boyfriend in tow.

... and did a double take.

What was with all the accents in her common room? Did Jake know they were staying? Because... if he did... he should have told her.

She then glanced at the badge on her boyfriend's shirt. He probably should go introduce himself. He was the Prefect.

Jake was busy in his own mind as he walked into the common room, so it took him a second longer than Anya to realize what was different about his common room once he walked inside.

People. Non-Hogwarts people. He took a quick glance around and thought he might recognize some faces from Durmstrang... but not enough that he knew names and he was sure they wouldn't know him either. It'd been a long time, anyway.

So... the foreign students were staying in their common room. Cool. Jake glanced at Anya and saw her looking back at him. What now?

"Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" Anya asked with a raised eyebrow. "You're the Prefect and they're visitors." Just sayin'.

Or they could just watch the pretty foreign boys. She'd be okay with that too.

At least there was a logical reason for what she was doing and the answer wasn't weird. The boy started to doubt other people's opinions on the Gryffindors. Maybe the lions were the normal ones while the others were the weird ones. However, he didn't dwell on that much. It seemed like a lot of effort to figure out the houses and their relationships. Most opinions seemed to be personal rather than logical. Exactly what he expected from the Hogwartians. Letting their emotions in the way and lay there like an open book. So many proofs as to why they shouldn't and couldn't have got first place.

"I 'ave not," He shook his head at Alexa putting his perfect apologetic look on his face. "But I weell keep an eye out," he said. Although he wondered why did she have to tell him her kneazle's name. Calling him obviously wasn't going to work. But maybe she just liked sharing. "Does 'e always run?" He asked her once she sat on the carpet.

He followed her gaze and saw as well as heard the Durmstrang girl (Karina) greet everyone. He nodded at her. Her friend (Vilhelm) however didn't look like a people person. Sébastien looked at him curiously. Him and the Gryffindor boy (Tag) who was trying his hardest to get him to talk or something. Where that boy and Alexa the welcoming community or something? He noted that.

The fifth-year was very aware of people glancing his way and others watching. That didn't bother him. Not with his high self esteem. He in fact, popped his shirt's collar and arranged his sitting position on the armchair's arm as if posing for all of them.

Another girl caught his attention (Anya) who was talking to another boy (Jacob) who had a badge on his robes. Another interesting fact to note.

Introduce himself? Jake glanced around at all the faces that usually weren't in his common room. Anya had a point. He was a prefect. Did that mean he had to welcome them?

"...Should I?" He turned toward Anya, lowering his voice slightly so no one else could hear "Do I just... walk up and say welcome to Hogwarts?" That seemed a little weird to him. Especially since, given the way that one boy was lounging on the chair, the visitors seemed pretty comfortable in their space already.

Anya rolled her eyes. Jake needed to be such... a guy. He was a Prefect. It was his job to be responsible.

... oh well. It was a good thing he had her. Dragging Jake by the hand she went up to the foreign kid.

"Hello. I'm Anya Phillips." she greeted with a smile and an extended hand.

...Okay. So they were doing this.

Jake allowed himself to be dragged. He tried not to look too annoyed as Anya looked very happy to introduce herself to the foreign guy. After a glance at his girlfriend, Jake turned to look at the guy he was apparently supposed to welcome to their common room.

"I'm Jake Keller," he introduced himself, doing his best to sound friendly and welcoming. "Welcome to Hogwarts, and to Gryffindor. Sort of. I'm one of the Prefects for Gryffindor House, so I'd be happy to help with anything if you need assistance." Not really. But it was a nice gesture, right?

Jake resisted the urge to look at Anya for approval. Was that acceptable?

He was aware of the hushed conversation between the older girl and boy who seemed to be quite close. He, however, wasn't staring or even looking that way. Whatever they were talking about might be personal. Instead, he watched the fireplace and listened to the fire cracking. It was relaxing which added up to his already relaxed posture.

But then he caught movement at the corner of his eye. He turned to see the other couple themselves. "'Ello," He replied smiling lopsidedly pushing himself off the armchair and standing straight. All six feet. "Nice to meet you, Anya, I am Sébastien Voclain," He introduced himself taking her hand in both his hands. He was friendly. Her hand was warm unlike his. He still hadn't got used to the weather and still felt cold most of the time.

Prefect then, explains the badge. The French boy nodded releasing Anya's hands, " Sébastien." He repeated in case Jake didn't catch his name the first time. "Merci, I weell keep zat een mind," And it would be interesting to know if the prefect was not saying that because his position implied so.

Tag looked more at these people. Dear lord, had they been silenced or something? Mean looks and no speech. Maybe they were trolls. Maybe Tag should just point and grunt at them and then maybe they would respond.

Vilhelm? What type of name was that? It sounded like when someone had a really bad cold and had something stuck in their throat that they needed to yak out. Weird name was weird. And sounded like an illness. But at least he spoke, but barely gave any information to who he was. Tag shook his head at that. Wasn't he just a bottle of sunshine?

Then Lex was speaking up! Ahhh, nice to hear from you Candy girl! Tag smirked when she had finished speaking. If anyone was going to kick these rude people out of here it would be Lex. Without hesitation or doubt, it would be here. And Penelope. Was Penelope in here? "Yeah. Maybe you guys should try to get to know us better? Or at least be nice and stuff that you have a place to sleep? An if you don't respect that then I don't doubt that Lex will kick you out of here." That sounded kinda mean? Was it mean? Tag tried to use his best angry!voice but it rarely worked for him. Pride and all that stuff yeah? They won't be disrespected.

Also, did Tag make it worse? He glanced at Lex to see her reaction.

But yeah, they should be grateful they have a place to stay. At least pretend to get along. Hermits.

TAKE BACK GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM! Yeaaaahhhhh

At first Lex thought she might not have gotten a response. The girl didn't seem all that interested in talking to people...not that that ever stopped Lex before but today she was kinda having a problem to handle while trying to be super friendly. This made paying attention to everything much harder but she caught the hesitation in the 'but' and turned to face the girl again. "Hm?? You were about to say something? I'm sorry, I have a habit of being all over." Nodnodnod. Like right now when her hex would be all over that Durmstrang boy.

"I'm Lex by the way, and you are?" Remain friendly. That was key in a situation like this.



Oh, pity, she hadn't seen Felix either. That kneazle got some distance, she'd give him that but he'd be back, he always came back. Unless something terrible happened to him--Merlin she hopped not. "Keep a look out for him, especially if you brought a pet. He likes getting acquainted with them but not in the right way." Look at this. A perfectly normal conversation going on right here. Not at ALL like the Durmstrang boy who was about to find himself face to face with the Fat Lady. If she could find a way to change the password without the Head of House, one night wouldn't be the only length of suspension he got from inside.

For now, focus on being nice. Setting an example and not looking like she was anything like them. If anything, rude boy proved they were better. Not knowing the proper way of communicating with others, being intentionally rude, it said volumes and made her happy her father sent her here. "Are all your people this rude?" Karina was nice enough, not nice, nice enough. Lex wasn't so naive that she couldn't see the girl's constant reluctance but effort was made when it came to her so it was tolerable.



You wanna know who was nice? Sebastien. He was the nicest of the foreigners she'd run into but she was willing to chalk to all up to luck. They were all kinda distant, stand-offish mostly. Like they didn't want to be a part of them, which was fine, they didn't ask for them to come here, but the least they could do was be grateful. Hogwarts students could get nasty but they chose to be nice first and this was how they were repaid. Sigh.

"Not always." She gave a shrug, trying to consider the question. "But he's been doing it a lot more frequently lately and I'm worried he'll run off and get himself hurt somehow. He's not exactly the safest kneazle unless he's walking with me." Because one of them had to be responsible and he knew it wouldn't be her. Lex gave him a curious look. "Do you have a pet? Are you allowed them at Beauxbaton?" Had to be sure. From what Clio said, they sounded kinda strict on rules up there. Detention for trying to smuggle food to starving kids at Hogwarts, that was harsh.



Tag was being good back, reaffirming the fact that she wouldn't in fact hesitate to remove him and any other rude people from their Common Room. It was theirs and no one bothered to ask if they were willing to share. They were, but NOT with rude people who felt they had more right than the actual residence here. That's not how it worked.

Her eyebrow raised high when the rude boy ignored Tag and it got even higher when he ignored her. Like she hadn't JUST been talking about the hospitality thing.

Ugh. Dense people annoyed her the most. Why couldn't they at least get a smart Durmstrang boy? It would have made this less irksome. As it stood, stupid and rude were a bad combination that they couldn't allow to remain and infect the rest of the Common Room. Lex got up from her spot on the carpet by Sebastien, wand now aimed directly at Vilhelm. "Technically," She was talking to Tag right now, completely ignoring Jake because he told her not to let him be there when she was doing something against the rules, "they can't blame us for this. We warned him fair and square." And a firm nod because it was the obvious truth.

"Levicorpus!"

D'aww. Look at Jake playing nice with foreign kids. Anya liked when he was being responsible. Even though, she knew, he was really only introducing himself out of obligation. It was still cute.

The Gryffindor smiled up at the tall French kid. D'aww. Look at him being all tall and hand holdy.

"Seebastieen." Anya said slowly repeating his name. Not that she did it justice. French was just a pretty language.

"When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer." Alice spared her a tiny bit more of a smile. "I like that one. You have good taste in poems." She could feel the gaze of the Durmstraggler back on her, but the Gryffindor had chosen to direct her attention towards Schuyler now instead, and Karina was ignored for the time being.

Blowing a little on the ink of her notes as to keep them from smearing, she focused on a sketch she'd done of a play while the other girl spoke. "You're in luck, then. Bentley is a good one." Herbology. Her assumption had been correct? Alice let her eyes wander back over to Schuyler. She didn't seem like the type to make facts about herself easy to guess.

Hm. It was mulled over in her head while she absentmindedly shaded in a Quaffle.