He felt a bit of relief sweep over him as she encouraged him on. She was awfully sweet to do that. Dylan gave her a smile and nodded. The girl was right, practice did make perfect. He then leaned on the arm of the chair again as she demonstrated once more for him. Once she finished, he gave a nod and turned back to the paper. "Siccus Aerous!" he said, moving his wand in the correct way. Then sure enough, hot air blew out upon the parchment, drying it in a flash. Dylan beamed at his work as he picked up the paper and eyed it all around. It didn't seem wet at all! In fact, it looked like it hadn't even been wet before. Smiling still, he turned towards her and raised an eyebrow as he showed her. "Good?" he asked.

This whole topic of conversation would DEFINITELY come up again. Definitely. Only later. Not now. Not here. As much as she had originally despised the idea of having a room mate, Olly had come to quite like their batcave dorm. It was just them there (usually). Actually now that she got to think of it, she REALLY hoped there wouldn't be any sixth year transfers next year. If so the new girl couldn't sleep with them. Nope.

Their dorm was Olly and Elodie only.

Her new pillow? Of course she'd noticed that. She wasn't blind. She was actually quite observant. But ADMIRED. "I've seen it, if that's what you mean." She replied with a smirk on her lips. Probably not what Elodie had wanted to hear but you couldn't have everything. "Y'know what else would be cool? A pizza pillow." Or blanket. Or something. Yes.

This was getting sooooo exhausting. Talking about this. Imagine talking about your own problems. If they were talking about Olly's own relationship problems - HYPOTHETICAL relationship problems - she assumed it would be even more tiring. She actually felt bad for Els there. Only a little though because it WAS kind of her fault for doing the whole thing in the first place. And maybe was a good enough answer for Olly right now. They probably wouldn't be getting any further than this. Not today anyway.

Food. The fact that Elodie was not so subtly trying to steer their conversation AWAY from herself and the boyfriend did not escape Olly. She welcomed it though. "You know what would be great? Having a servant that always brings you food when you want it." She grinned at the other girl without moving from the armchair. They could get a bell and everything. Hmm. Maybe they coouuuuld get someone to do that for them.

Also that answered Els' question, yeah?

"We need to redecorate, by the way." New influx of streamers and things. Elodie's lists needed to come down. She'd listed things for things that hadn't happened and they were of no use now sitting up in the dorm for both of them to just see. She wanted to make a list of things to do this year now though, and then things to do next year and she had plans. Elodie had too many plans for a human her age.

Lots of Olly and Elodie plans. (But shhhhhhh secrets!)

"We should get you one! A pizza pillow. Not a bacon pillow." Bacon was her thing. Kinda. Probably not. But the pillow was hers. "I'll let you borrow it if ever I fall asleep elsewhere." Like the common room near the fire. It was nice and cosy there and her cat loved it. It probably smelt a lot like Elodie though, so Olly was probably going to turn it down because she had issues with PILLOWS that OTHER PEOPLE HAS SNUGGLED WITH. Mhm. It made for a good pillow throwing session, though. Later. Definitely later.

Huh. A servant? Els grinned and nodded a bit. "I say we find a first year willing to like us both and bring us food because we're obviously such busy fifth years." Obviously. SO BUSY.

It turned out that the two coats of polish covered her nails perfectly. But still there was something lacking. Fern squinted at her toes for a moment, before deciding that that something was most definitely polka dots. She was in desperate need of some white polka dots, and she set about to adding them immediately.

She finished dotting her nails at the same time Dylan finished his spell, and looking up, the Hufflepuff poked the parchment he was holding with her index finger. It was completely dry. "YES!" she agreed enthusiastically and gave him a double thumbs up in congratulations.

Then, turning back to her manicure, she picked up her wand and with the two clockwise circles, moving her wand across her toes, she carefully said, "Siccus Airous." Again, hot air came blowing out, and the 11-year-old stretched out her legs so she could smugly examine her handiwork.

She was all done. And they were beautiful.

"What do you think we're going to use this spell for in class?" Fern asked Dylan at last, lifting up her feet into the seat and turning so she could better see him. Her socks were still neglected on the floor. Fern hated socks. That was why Professor Dursley was one of her favorite teachers. He understood her.

Staaaareeee.

That didn't sound like something she was going to like. "What?!" It was bad enough that Els had decided to put up what they'd colored. And Olly had actually come to quite like how their dorm looked like right now. "Why do we have to redecorate?" She groaned like this was the worst day of her entire life. If Elodie started putting up pictures of celebrities she fancied, Olly was going to personally tear them down. Because no, that was just pathetic. So hopefully what her room mate wanted to do would be better than this.

"My birthday's in June." Hint hint. Olly smirked at the other girl then. She didn't want the same thing Elodie had anyway. So, pizza pillow. There WAS something like this yeah? There just had to be. Yes. Her smirk grew a little wider at Els' next words and she raised her eyebrows, tempted to ask where else she would be sleeping. She assuuuumed she knew what her friend meant though. "'kay. I'll take good care of it." Whatever that was.

And she would have done that anyway. Even without Els' permission.

There, Elodie understood her. When it came to this anyway. "Hmm. They don't have to like us." At this her smirk grew almost mischevious. Fear worked just as well. Even better probably. Only whooo to choose. Hmm.

"Because. New year. We needs to change it up. We can't be predictable." If any of the younger or older students came by and saw they were all cluttered with old drawings! Then they'd get into trouble. Plus, Elodie had pictures she wanted to put up, so Olly was going to have to deal with the fact her face was in a few and they would be on display. Deal. With. It. Boom. "We should take down the streamers. Maybe we can make paper chains!" Like daisy chains. But with paper. The daisy chains weren't ready to be made yet.

June? Elodie squinted at her friend and nodded. "Mine too. What date?!" It'd be so much freaking cooler if they shared a birthday. Born on the exact same day and EVERYTHING. But June was a whole month, so Olly could have been born on any one of those days. Any one of them. "Don't try eat it. It's not real bacon." She'd tried. Mr. Bacon was not what he seemed. He was a fake bacon. But he was comfy and her spooning buddy.

They didn't have to like them? Mmm. Maybe. Els shrugged, and held a finger up to signal to give her a moment as she looked around the common room......

....AHA.

"Oi! ...Uh.. Hey! Little...person?" C'meeeeeeeeeeeeeeere.

The first year jumped slightly at her loud 'yes!'. He smiled though, and did a dramatic bow. "Thank you, ma'dam." he told her, grinning as he rose back up. Dylan felt proud of himself. He had struggled with spells ever since his first lesson in charms, but she had just helped him get slightly better. "And thank you for the help as well," he added. "I've never been too good with spells." he frowned at this. Hopefully, he'd get better. Practice was most likely what he needed to do more.

Then, she was practicing her spell. Dylan leaned in, watching as she dried her toes with the spell. She was quite brilliant with this whole spell thing, there was no denying. "Good job," he said with a few nods of his head. Deciding to practice the spell once more, he did the water charm upon his parchment once more and was about to dry it when she asked him something. Glancing up, he looked at her thoughtfully for a second. "Y'know, I can't be sure! What do you think?" he asked, looking at her with interest.

Oh! Fern loved it when people bowed before her! First Benzi and now Dylan. It made her feel like royalty, and for a moment she thought maybe she had better change her plan from marrying a pop star to marrying a prince. But then she decided against it, because she had pledged her heart to Dante Dark, and nothing could ever replace the special connection they shared.

But besides the bowing, Fern was also completely delighted over the fact that he had called her ma'dam, which was just so, so fancy! And perfect!

She nodded back with the benevolent, collected expression she thought fitted a ma'dam, and when he thanked her, she replied formally, "You are very welcome. And don't worry. I'll help you whenever you like." Especially if he kept on bowing to her and using "ma'dam."

As for the compliment, Fern gave a very smug, "I know, it was, wasn't it?"

Before Fern could try and come up with her own answer to the Herbology question, however, she was distracted by someone yelling from across the room - yelling at her, she thought. Turning around to see who it was coming from, Fern quickly made eye contact with the voice's owner.

Then her jaw dropped. And her face turned rather red.

Because! Because the person calling over to her was A TEENAGER! A teenager that Fern had seen around all year but hadn't talked to because she was only a tween, and this girl was a teenager, and tweens couldn't talk to teenagers first. That was just not okay. They had to wait until they were addressed.

And not only was this girl a teenager, but she had great hair and was so cool and mature, and she was also sitting next to ANOTHER TEENAGER, who was equally as cool and mature and had amazing hair as well! And Fern didn't know what to say! She didn't know what to do! She wanted to know what shampoo they used, and she wanted to know what magazines they read, and she wanted to be their best friend forever so that maybe some of their awesomeness would rub off on her.

Oh no, did that mean they were going to redecorate EVERY YEAR now? So that meant...she was going to be part of that another two times, not counting this upcoming one. Great. "When did I start giving off the impression that I'm interested in making paper chains?" This question, while out loud, was more directed at herself than Elodie. Though, the answer was probably around the time she'd started filling in coloring books. And caring about other people's love lives and whether they were happy with their boyfriends or girlfriends.

Seriously, what was happening to her? And yes Olly partly blamed Elodie for some of these changes.

With aaallll the time and energy Elodie spent on decorating their dorm, Olly was actually quite surprised that they didn't have a calendar of some sorts. Which would of course include their birthdays. "12. June 12." Huh. Actually now that she got to think of it, they never had talked about this. "When's yours?" Seriously, why did she know when this one girl Sarah's brother's birthday was but not Elodie's? There was something seriously wrong there. Not that she was all about birthday parties (well, that depends) but still.

And the bacon comment earned the other Hufflepuff an unimpressed look. "You don't say." Though, it WOULD be cool to have bacon this big.

Oh. OOoooooooooh. Elodie had already found the perfect victim for their plan. Throwing the other girl a quick smirk, Olly straightened up in her armchair slightly to be able to see who had been chosen. Perfect. This one looked absolutely perfect. "Yeah, you, come over here for a sec." No, she didn't care if the little girl was studying or doing her homework or anything right now. They had things to discuss.

Olly was such a spoil sport. Paper chains were awesome. Hmpf. Els shrugged her shoulders though. "Seeing as we'll move dorms each year it figures that we'll redecorate all the time. So why not have a half-year one? You know..." Because they weren't total STRANGERS now and Elodie wasn't calling her 'B' anymore. Which was a total step in the right direction because she'd generally felt awful for that afterwards. Maybe it was the missing Bliss, or just the new person. She wasn't sure. BUT PAPER CHAINS, OLLY.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE TWELFTH?! OH OH WOW. "A weeeeeeeeeek before mine then, mhm." Which meant hers was the 19th, if Olly needed help with the maths of it.
Now that they knew birthdays, did this mean they needed to do presents? Was Olly a present person? Huh? Was she? Elodie would probably get her something, even if it was something small. Because their birthdays were close and by their next birthdays, they'd have survived a whole school year living together. And it hadn't exactly been awful. Yet. It wouldn't be awful though.

She was sure of it.

"Mr. Bacon likes being cuddled." Just so she knew.

Aha. Child. Elodie beckoned her over some more. "Coooooooome to us, little one. We have things for you." Like a job offer, and maybe a lollipop if she seemed nice enough. It was a fair bargain. She could get them food, because they were growing girls who needed to study and keep their energy levels up with food. FOOD.

"Got a job for you." Olly, explain.

Fern couldn't believe her ears. She had to pinch her arm to make sure it was true.

THEY wanted to HER to COME OVER WITH THEM!? THEY had THINGS for HER!? THEY had a JOB for HER!?

THEY thought FERN was WORTHY of THEIR COMPANY!?

THEY THOUGHT SHE WAS THAT COOL!?

Fern had always known she was one of the coolest first years at Hogwarts, even cooler than practically all of the second years. But even though Minnie and Claudette had wanted to paint nails with her and talk with her, a large part of her assumed that that was only because they were the nicest teenagers at Hogwarts. Correction - the nicest teenagers in THE WORLD.

But now these two super fabulous teenagers wanted her to come over, and they wanted to give her things (cool teenager things, obviously), and they trusted her to do a job (a cool teenager job).

Fern wasn't really sure if she could move her legs in her state of shock, but she found herself standing up and walking over. She had completely forgotten about Dylan, not to mention her socks and shoes.

The barefoot 11-year-old came to a stop at a distance respectable of their teenager status - 3 feet away from their chairs. Then she just sort of stared reverently.

Why not redecorate every half year? Olly could think of oh-so-many reasons why. But mainly: "Because we're redecorating every year?" And she hadn't actually thought of that. The whole moving thing. They would be moving out in June and then IN again in September. That seemed quite tiring. Couldn't they just leave most of their stuff here over the summer? And now THAT got her thinking what was going on at Hogwarts during the summer months. Was it empty? Was it just the house elves? What would happen if they just came here in July or something? Hmm...

A week before hers? So the 19th then. "We should put up a calendar in the dorm. We can add important dates then." Like their birthdays. That WAS pretty much the most important dates anyway. Maybe Schuyler's birthday too. And the occasional party dates. In case there were more parties like the Halloween party to come. She VERY MUCH hoped there would be more.

"I'm not much of a cuddler." Which Elodie had probably guessed already. Which was why Olly grinned at her to show that she would still keep that in mind. Maybe she'd make an exception for the bacon pillow. Possibly. If she felt like it.

But back to the first year. Their new slave servant.

Who wasn't wearing any shoes. "You really think she's up for this?" Olly asked Elodie without turning her head away from the first year. Well, she would just have to do. Back to fully focus on the girl though. "What's your name?" First question. "You know where the kitchen is, yeah?" Second question. There were A LOT more to come but first Olly had to make sure she was Elodie/Olly-servant material in the first place.

"Important dates like my birthday, your birthday and the date we're going to throw a party or something? Sure. I can colour us a super cute calender." Which was now going to go next on her to-do list. Over the studying and homework and everything possible. With a calender, they could schedule proper colouring and knitting dates. Not actual dates because...just not actual dates. But dates all the same. Friend dates. Dorm dates. Oh how awesome!! It was enough to bring Elodie's mood soaring high and she was grinning.

"You're not much of a people person either." Which was the main reason Els was certain they'd not have gotten on. For sure, Elodie hated people in a general consensus, but she had more people skills than Olly tried to have.

She left her fellow fifth year to start the questions off, but gave her a curt nod to the one aimed at her. Once she'd finished, Elodie asked her own questions. Quick fire round for the first year. See how she dealt under pressure. "Are you a brat?" It was important, okay? "Also..where are your shoes? If you step on something pointy, I'm not carrying you to the Healer. I hope you understand that." And then there was also the possibility of cheesy feet. Did her feet smell? Elodie didn't dare ask or sniff or anything.

Who said you could only service your broom in the Broomshed? Exactly. Why not do it here, after curfew, when you weren't supposed to be somewhere else? That's what Lottie will be doing, though, since they had to be here and whatnot.

Plus, they were very close to a game, what better time to service a broom than this?

Placing the broom on a nearby table, the Hogwartian took a couple of steps back... to try something. Quickly, she did that whip-like movement, "Carpe Retractum!" and watched as a purple rope wrapped itself around the handle. Lottie pulled it real quick - it wasn't heavy, like a bed or a suit of armor - and miscalculated the strength, "Idiot!" Either her, or the broom, because the handle hit her on the shoulder as she tried to seize it.

Honestly, stupid broom.

The girl levitated it back to the table and then Accio'd it. Done. Her hand was on the handle. So, it was her fault, not the broom. Okay, back to the table, and back to whipping the wand at the broom, "Carpe Retractum!" Purple ropes as always. This time she didn't pull it with too much strength, so she was actually able to seize it before it hit her. Coolness.

She'd continue to Accio stuff, by the way.

As for now, she had tail twigs to clip and whatnot.

Fern heard the dark haired girl's question, but it didn't bother her, only snapped her out of her disbelieving awe. She knew that since they needed her for a super cool and important teenage job, it was critical that she be equally super cool and important, and she was used to her family asking these same pointed questions whenever they were hiring jockeys.

...well maybe not this pointed. But obviously these were necessary questions because why else would teenagers be asking them?

Squaring her shoulders, Fern's watched very seriously as the blonde teenager nodded in answer to the first question. Then she stoically replied, "My name is Fern Quimbley, and I do know where the kitchen is. Behind the bowl of fruit picture. You have to tickle the pear."

Turning to face the other girl, she added, "No, my manners very good."

Fern was feeling very proud of herself. She thought she was doing an excellent job being mature. She had to have been at least as mature as a 13-year-old. But at the shoe question, she forgot herself and let out a little cry of surprise. Glanced down, the 11-year-old quickly curled her toes under the hem of her pants in an effort to hide her feet, and her face which had been slowly turning back to a normal color, flushed red again. "My shoes!? They're over there," Not moving her eyes from the blonde's face, she waved a hand towards Dylan and the couch she'd been sitting in, "And I understand! I do, I do!"

Olly wasn't entirely sure she liked the idea of a 'super cute calendar' but decided to just let Elodie do her thing there. She'd learned that that was a lot easier than getting into an argument with her. That only led to tension in the dorm and that was not really something she needed right now. Sad!Els was bad enough to deal with. But wait, hang on a second...had she said party? "Like a birthday party?" They should TOTALLY do this. Make it a end-of-term party too or something.

Right, they should start planning this tonight actually.

"No." She wasn't. Olly even shook her head to put further emphasis on this fact. That didn't mean that she didn't do well with people she WANTED to interact with. Obviously. But Elodie knew all that, didn't she. Though, Olly was probably more of a people person than a cuddler. Just saying.

To the first year though.

She seemed to be taking this very seriously. Olly liked that. She briefly turned her head to look at Elodie when she added a couple of totally legit questions as well before returning her gaze to the first year. Now, answer, child. And answer she did. Olly nodded approvingly when Fern explained where the kitchen was. Yes, well done. "Good. Are you any good at carrying food too?" That would work out just perfectly then. She definitely met the requirements so far.

"Well, go get them then." The shoes.

Elodie grinned at Olly and nodded. "Exactly." Wasn't she a genius? Huh? Birthday party. Their birthdays were a week apart. They could do it some time in between or after both or whatever. Summer party? BBQ? Pool party? Hogwarts party? The list was endless. "Our birthdays will be near graduation too, you know." In case Olly wanted to make plans for that TOO. There were endless possibilities. Graduation wasn't for a few years anyway. But Elodie was happpppy to discuss things. Happpppppy. "We'll talk later." They could talk later about that and study rewards and everything possible that needed to be away from prying ears. First years didn't need to know about their BIRTHDAY PARTY though. Gah.

Fern.

Elodie nodded. That was an okay name. She could work with that name. It might slowly be shortened down to 'F', or lengthened to something else. She wasn't on her proper game recently. She barely remembered to change her clothes on a daily basis, let alone come up with new names for people.

She was impressed though. The girl seemed more mature than she looked. "What year are you, Fern? First? Second? Third?" She hadn't been around longer than September though, because Elodie was certain she'd have remembered someone so..peculiar as to take her shoes off. Her manners seemed good, just like she had said. So, that was a plus.

"Yes. Get the shoes. And...don't take them off again, m'kay? Not in here. Or leave socks on." Eugh. Els shot a look over to where the girl had pointed and raised an eyebrow. "Shoes, and ditch the boyfriend."

Small helpers had no need for those.

When the brunette teenager said, 'good,' Fern thought, for a moment there, she was going to pass out in disbelief. This was like a dream come true, and she couldn't believe it was happening to HER, FERN QUIMBLEY, FIRST YEAR.

But it was! It was happening to her! And she was trying maintain her seriousness, but it was almost impossible, so she just nodded in response to the question about being a good carrier. Because if she opened her mouth, she was almost 100% positive that delighted squeals would come out.

And it only got better. The blonde teenager THOUGHT SHE WAS A THIRD YEAR!! A TEENAGER!!

A TEENAGER!!!!

Fern's face was starting to get very hot, and she was squirming because she was trying to suppress all of these squeals, and on top of that, now she had this incredible urge to start jumping up and down and/or rolling on the floor giggling. But she couldn't do any of that, not in front of these teenagers, and so with extreme effort she managed to keep a mostly straight face (one corner of her mouth was twitching) and hold up her right index finger to indicate she was a first year.

The order to retrieve her shoes came at just the right moment, and she was grateful for the excuse to let off some of her excitement by running over to her shoes and socks. She started to turn back towards the couch in order to retrieve them, but she stopped when the blonde called Dylan her boyfriend. Fern's flush face paled, and eyes wide, she jerked her head in agreement, not wanting to correct the older girl.

Then she was off sprinting to her things. Sliding to a stop on her knees, Fern quickly stuffed her feet into her socks and shoes. She was never going to take either of them off again. She was going to sleep in them. And shower in them. Anything to be the teenager's best friend.

When she arrived back, three feat away from where the teenagers sat, Fern was breathing heavily from running so fast. Hopefully they were super impressed by her speediness. Fern was pretty sure her running was of Olympic-level quality.

Marigold skipped into the common room. Mmm, was it just her or did it smell like cinnamon? She took another deep breath. She looked around and noticed a boy - from the looks of him a first year - sitting alone. She decided to join him and bounced over to the seat next to him.

"Hi."

Henric felt someone sat beside him and coming nearer. Uncertain whether that person might have seen him sitting there or not, he pretended he didn't notice and leaned in closer to his book. A girl voice suddenly greeted him from his left side, he thought..."Is she talking to me?" he glanced over to his right for a moment to see if there was someone else she was talking to but there was nobody else but him on that couch. He looked back up at her and blinked a few times. She never seen her before during the sorting hat ceremony, but she looked young not much older than him most probably.

"Oh..hello,"he replied quite nervously.
"Umm..sorry..I was just reading here...d-do you need anything?"he asked politely.

Forrest entered the common room, returning from a study session in library by himself. It wasn't like he had started studying for real, it was simply an act to relieve his conscience. Hardly an hour by the lesson books, and he was suffocated already. Reading a book in the common room was the solution.

...only...was that a new Aparecium paper on his favourite couch?

Grabbing it, he started to read with a deep frown on his face. It was hard to believe, but the frown got deeper and deeper with every sentence and... he had a difficulty in gulping. Alec, his idol... and Ella, his other idol.

Had she seen this?

She was tired and on her way back from the owlery, the latest letter from home in hand. Dad was still being pretty vague about everything but she was still worried. He'd never kept stuff like this from her before. It was just...bad timing considering she couldn't be home.

The blonde's expression softened a bit as she entered the common room and found Forrest there. It was nice to see a friendly face and she could honestly use a distraction. "Hey Forrest." He wouldn't mind some company for a little while, right? Not that he had a choice. The seventeen year old was already moving to sit next to him, letter tucked safely into her pocket as she went.

Forrest looked around and upon seeing no traces of Ella or Alec, he started to read it again. It just... didn't make sense! They were in love! They were even going to marr--

Gasp!"Ella!"gasp!

"Whaddaryadoinhere?"

Needless to say, the Aparecium paper went under his butt. She wouldn't dare pick it from that, right?

O_____O

Ella jumped a bit, startled by his reaction. Her hair looked okay, didn't it? The blonde's hand immediately went to her head and she smoothed down her locks. Merlin.

Once she was sure she was looking presentable, attention was back on the second year.

"I live here, y'know. Badger, captain, housemate." She smiled a little and raised her eyebrows at the younger boy, wondering what it was he was slipping underneath him.

"What are you doing here?" BROWS.

She lived here, right. She was the perfect captain. Of course.

"Right. Um..." What did he do here? "Rrrreading." And eyeing her. And wondering whether she knew. And wondering whether Alec knew--but of course he did. He was the one that cheated on her.

Merlin. How could he? He certainly wasn't Forrest's idol anymore.