The charms textbook was indeed open, but not having found what he was looking for in it to save his common room from all of the pink, Cutty decided to crack open a book series on glittery vampires which he'd found in the Muggle section of the book shop. A slow, monkey-like grin started to crack into his face as he readjusted himself tilting his chair back, propping his feet up, and read on. His head was shaking and he let out a snortish laugh. Did muggles really think this way about vampires? "Merlins farting jinx." He uttered his disbelieving-yet-amused-filled comment out-loud to himself.

...and there he was--Cutty frazzling Mordaunt, the most annoying boy in the first year. Sophie made her way into the common room from a point somewhere behind where Cutty was sitting. She was armed with her wand in one hand and a water balloon in the other. She had permission to do this, and from a professor at that!

That made it all the better!

She paused behind him and rolled her eyes at the comment he made. Merlin's farting jinx? Whaa? Nevermind that. Not really knowing many spells to make this work expertly, Sophie just aimed the balloon at Cutty's head and lobbed it forward. It sailed toward him and now all she had to do was wait and see if it hit.

Cutty had gotten to a fairly meaty chunk of dialogue in the story and found it so hilarious that he began to laugh out loud. His head tossed back and his mouth open and the half-second between his first syllable was when it happened.

K A P L O O O O S H K!!!

Soaked from the head on downward, his dark eyes grew wide and the area across his nose and cheeks flushed crimson as his head flung in the direction of the offending water balloon. SOPHIE NEWELL!!! Who he seemed to think was his arch-foe, even though he totally started it that day at the opening feast. "Ah-heh! So you want to play it that way, do ya? Alright then, Newell. Have it your way!" Cutty's hand reached into his bag and pulled out his Bertie Botss Every Flavour Beans, the entire contents of which he intended to toss one by one towards Sophie.

Briefly, somewhere in the back of his mind Cutty had considered the profit loss. But he was too lost in the moment to not think it would be worth it. He opened the bag and in his impatience half of the colourful little beans scattered towards Sophie as though they were siding with her, very much to Cutty's chagrin.

No matter. He still had plenty of ammo. And he intended to get the first shot in. His dirty little hand immediately grabbed a handful of beans and began chucking them her way. Raspberry Ice! Shoe lace! Fortune Cookie!

AHHHHH HAHAHAHAHA!

Sophie's grin spread widely across her face as she saw that her attempts to both startle and soak this boy with the water balloon were successful. She hadn't thought about this ahead of time, but she would have really looked like a failure of a person had she missed. Nevermind that, though. She'd hit him--and hit him REALLY GOOD, too!

Sophie didn't have much time to dwell on that. A few seconds later, jelly beans started hurtling her way. A few hit her, but in the long run, she got all the wiser and moved out of the way. "Cutty Mordaunt!" she said. "Be a Slytherin, why don't ya?" She picked up a jelly bean, a single bean, and threw it at him. This was more of a wake up call than anything. "Are you really going to lose your entire box of jelly beans just to hit me with something soft? You should get your wand out--practice charms a bit. We have to do it for homework anyway."

She picked up another bean and gave him a questioning look. Could he stop the bean?

Maika muttered as she made her way to the study tables. This was insane. The arithmancy teacher was insane. She couldn't make sense of the lesson, much less her notes, at all. And she loved arithmancy. But for some reason she just couldn't figure out what was with all the numbers being thrown around.

P I P!!!

The little bean hit and bounced against the boy's temple before he could stop it. And eager for revenge, Cutty's hand was already in the bag reaching for more beans when he heard Sophie's little voice. Her logical little voice. Remind him of his loss.

"Maybe." He said, unable to resist the opportunity to pipe-up something jerky in reply to her question. "No." There we go! Now, we're getting somewhere. His jury was still out on whether or not Sophie Newell was just a weak and fragile little tottie, but for the moment, she had saved him roughly 1.3 sickles and that was valuable.

He twisted the open end of the beans bag and tucked them away whilst removing his wand, though he seemed somewhat resigned to do it. He'd have to ask her about that Slytherin comment she'd made because clearly there was something to that which she got and he hadn't yet been gung-ho enough about to investigate. The prefect had told him that it was the best house, but she hadn't really gone into why.

The little firstie got into position, wand in hand and shot Sophie a fire away look.

Heh. Look at that--she'd hit him again. She simply smirked at this, because in the end, it was trivial. She'd challenged him to something completely different altogether. Could he throw and dodge at the same time? Better yet--using magic? They'd see.

Plus, she'd apparently gotten him to stop wasting his jellybeans in some idiotic effort to hit her. Maybe Cutty Mordaunt had some sense and some Slytherin to him after all. Before long, he looked armed and ready for his fight against the jelly beans. Sophie scooped a small handful off the floor, put all but one in her pocket, and then moved to stand to the exact opposite of him.

Good at Charms? We'll see. On that thought, she threw the jelly bean in his direction.

Sophie had a better throwing arm than Cutty had thought the little witch capable of as the little bean came soaring directly at his head in a blur of colour. His hand gripping the hilt, he suddenly found himself ducking the bean, but in a quick after-thought turned and waved his wand at the bean what had soared behind him.

"Arresto Momentum!" He took fire to the object and it responded in kind, not by stopping completely, but by moving as though suspended in a gelantinous goo.

Smirking, Cutty approached the suspended bean and plucked it out of the air shooting a side-glance at Sophie. "Hope yer ready, Newell.", he said and without further delay flung the little bean back toward her.

Sophie stood back, pleased with her throw. As she watched the jelly bean soar toward Cutty, she didn't know whether or not he'd succeed. She did know, though, that she'd at least given it a good throw. How bad of a failure would she have looked had that jelly bean soared in the wrong direction, the results of a terrible throw? Just as that thought left her mind, she saw Cutty give the spell a go, and she found herself rolling her eyes as he ducked. "Are you muggleborn?" she asked, not meaning it as an insult but just as the result of a curious mind.

At least he'd snapped out of it in the end and slowed the candy down to a near halt. He plucked it out of the air, which was Sophie's cue to begin getting armed and ready. She positioned her wand in front of her and eyed the jelly bean, planning on following it the entire way. It was so fast, though! Why hadn't they chosen something easier to see? Oh, right--because Cutty started randomly throwing them at her. The jelly bean grew closer, causing Sophie to wave her wand and focus intently on the candy slowing down in front of her. "Arresto Momentum!" she called out. Just as she thought the jelly bean would hit her, it slowed down, and she plucked it from the air and tossed it into a nearby bin. She had a pocket full of jelly beans and didn't wish to keep any they'd practiced on.

She plucked a lime green candy out her pocket and hurled it toward Cutty without any warning.

Cutty found her comment equal shares amusing and annoying. He snorted and tried to mimic her voice asking the question, only not very well as it came out sounding rather like a whining cat though hitting the highs and lows of her question and having the correct amount of syllables. Sophie was probably from one of those pureblood families who married from within the same family and thought that was a good thing.

His father's family was like that. Ugh!

"No! I'm not a muh!" But he stopped as he saw the lime green streak coming right for him. "Arresto Momentum!" But his intent was changed by his mood and he ceased the little object from his projection cold, stopping it entirely. He approached the object slowly and rounding on it, gave it a sniff, wondered it if was bogey flavour and chucked it back towards Sophie. "I'm not a muggleborn. Are you?" He asked, not thinking it likely but knowing that this might be the sort of question that might bother her if she were a pureblood.

Sophie couldn't be sure, but she was almost sure that her question had gotten to him. BWAH HAHA! A weak link in the system! It was excellent when one found said link in their opponent, especially in the middle of battle. She smirked so proudly as she watched him battle with the jelly bean. In the end, he hadn't exactly done as he intended to, she thought, but he hadn't gotten hit either, which spoiled Sophie's smirk.

The jelly bean had been hurled back toward her, which would have been a no-big-deal sort of thing had he not paired it with a smart comment of his own. Was she a muggleborn? When had she ever given him the impression she wasn't purely magical? "Of course not," she said, her eyebrows knitting inward. She was about to give him a second attempt at a smart comment on how he obviously didn't know who her grandfather was, when...

*THUD*

"UGH!" she called out, just as the jelly bean hit her in the forehead. "Arres--to--Momen--TUM!" Her wand waving looked more like she was swatting a fly, though, and the candy hit the ground and rolled away.

FINE THEN, CUTTY MORDAUNT. She fished another jelly bean out of her pocket and threw it angrily toward him.

He wasn't expecting that. Anything but a hit. Cutty let out a snortish sort of laugh. Clear and obvious of how amusing he found it. As the little bean came at him, this time faster than the last having some fire under it, he was ready. Or he thought he was. "Arresto MOHm!" Cutty's expression changed as though he'd been hit with a wave of sharp realization. He had. The jelly bean was lodged in his throat. With a gagging sound he dislodged it into his hand and looked up at the Newell girl.

"Yer no good at this. Here!" He said tossing the bean back to her and hitting it with the charm causing it to slowly make it's way towards her. Globulous spittle flopping and folding all around it as it moved from having just been in his mouth. "See if you can hit it, Newell!" He teased a little.

Maika groaned as the two were throwing jellybeans at each other. She was tempted to ask them to stop, but they were doing their homework, so at least they were doing they were having fun doing it. She sighed. She needed that one too, but had no plans of throwing around jelly beans to do it. And to be honest, she was a little shy to say anything. With a deep breath, she looked over at them and willed herself to speak. "I'm glad you're... doing your homework. But you you be a little more quiet about it?"

Sophie gave a slight glare as Cutty started laughing. Riiiiight, like he was Mr. Perfect over there. But then...BWAH HAHA! Sophie slightly tossed her head back and let out an obvious laughter of amusement. That right there had been WAY better than her miss. She was still laughing when she looked up and realized he had hurled the jelly bean back in her direction.

Eww, that had been in his mouth!

"No good at this?" she teasingly asked. "I'm not the one who was nearly strangled by a jelly bean, am I?" But most of her focus was on that jelly bean. She was NOT touching...in any way...a jelly bean that had been in somebody else's mouth. She aimed her wand forward. Slow down, slow down, slow down... "Arresto Momentum!" she called out, moving her wand in a wave. The jelly bean slooooowed and made a peaceful descent into the trash can. PERFECT!

She was about to say something else, when some girl she didn't know asked them to keep it down. Sophie thought about getting annoyed, but then she realized they were being pretty loud in the study area. It was all Cutty's fault. She gave the girl an apologetic look then fished another jelly bean out her pocket. "Here," she said and hurled it back at Cutty.

"Thank you," she responded, then went back to Arithmancy. She was just a little off of putting it away and going to the practice room for Charms instead.

Cutty's attention was momentarily focused towards another first year girl who had asked them to try and be more quiet. He tried not to smile as he realized she was probably annoyed. One thing at a time.

"Oh, that." He began with a straight face. "Entirely intentional." Yeah. Totally meant to do it. "Shuddit, Sophie Newell." He said in a tone more casual than harsh, not giving a lot of space between his last words and that as though expecting her to say something on it.

"Arresto Momentum!" He did the wand wavey thing and concentrated on slooowing, not stopping the bean and briefly he thought he had failed from his perspective. It had been moving, just very slowly. Cutty reached out and surrounded the bean with his fist, then put his fist to his mouth and using it as a make-shift blow dart launch, blew the little bean in an arching trajectory towards her. "Well, what are you then if you're not Muggleborn?" though Cutty had a feeling he knew the answer to this.

Sophie just grinned when he told her to shut up, in so many words. His near-choking experience had NOT been on purpose and both he and Sophie knew it. Just him telling her to shut up told her she'd gotten under his skin, and that was just PERFECT to her.

She watched him put on a show of sorts that amounted to him slowing the jelly bean and then blowing it back towards her. Heh. A Muggle tennis game of sorts. "My parents are both magical," she said, and she left it at that. The thing was, everybody on her mother's side was a pureblood, but her father had some half-blood in him. Sophie always chose to ignore that part and just identify herself as purely magical.

The bean was coming closer now. She didn't have to try hard to focus on it slowing down. It was becoming second nature now. "Arresto Momentum!" she said, waving her wand. The jelly bean slowed, and then trying to give a show herself, she thumped it right back in Cutty's direction.

Cutty could see the little bean spinning yet beelinging towards him so that it looked a little like a small and colourful Muggle flight vehicle. Then, just for the challenge of it, Cutty narrowed his mark to just the center of the bean and not the spinning ends of it. He waved his wand and uttered the incantation freezing the bright blue bean.

What flavour was it? He approached it put his mouth around it and swirled it around in his mouth, his gaze towards the ceiling in consideration. He swished the bean to his cheek and said his thoughts outloud. "Sardine. How misleading." Though it's deceptive colour was sure to come in handy one of these days, he felt, but did not voice. In case intended victims were within earshot. He turned back to Sophie and SHOT the bean back at Sophie covered with Cutty saliva.

Why, oh why, did Cutty Mordaunt insist on sending saliva-infected jelly beans hurling toward her? She could see the little beads of spit in the air as the candy soared her way. Boys could be so disgusting at times. "I'm surprised you don't taste dirt," she said, "since it's been on the floor." Did he even remember that? ... Did he even care? Again, boys could be so disgusting.

As the bean grew closer, Sophie raised her wand and tried to get a good aim. She did not want Cutty's germs hitting her on the face. Eww... This time, she had to actually stop the jelly bean, so she pictured it freezing it mid-air right before her. "Arresto Momentum!" she called out, waving her wand. The jelly bean froze in mid-air, earning a smile from her, and then she used her wand to knock it into the trash can.

She fished another jelly bean out her pocket, and as she aimed it toward Cutty, she casually said, "So I read about you in the Aparecium." Then she tossed the bean right at him.

Cutty's eyes widened in a sort of hit-by-wonder manner at Sophie's next words. Did she understand what a disappointing thing she had just brought up? "I know." His voice sounding a bit too filled with sorrow and regret for him to have been truly sorry had the bean tasted like dirt.

Aparecium? Why hadn't he seen this yet? "Oh yeah?", he began casually. "Well, it was only a matter of time, really." He concluded arrogantly having assumed it was some kind of board where they put Hogwarts's best students. He concentrated and interrupted himself with the incantation. "Arresto Momentum!" He said, aiming at the bean and getting it to cease it's motion as though it had SLAMMED on the brakes and skidded a little.


"What'd it say about me?" He asked a somewhat cocky smile playing around his mouth as he whacked the mid-air bean towards Sophie with the end of his wand.

HA! Cutty Mordaunt was OH-SO-EASY to get to! She was starting to figure out ways to get under his skin and get the one-up on him. She grinned at his realization about the dirt-flavored jelly bean. Then again, he could be pulling one over on her, too. There were mysteries about Cutty she just hadn't figured out yet, and that was a challenge to her.

What had the Aparecium said about him? "Oh, you know...gossip," she said. She wanted to let that line hang in the air for a bit before the big reveal. She used the pause in conversation to focus on the airborne candy headed right toward her. Only two more successful attempts at stopping thrown beans, and she'd be done with Cutty for now.

Okay, jelly bean...stop.

"Arresto Momentum!" she suddenly said, giving her wand a wave. She watched the jelly bean put on the brakes, and suddenly the candy was staring her eye-to-eye. It was a weird sort of situation to be in at first.

Now, what had that gossip mag said? "Just that you had a new girlfriend in Hufflepuff," she declared, and then on that note, she thumped the candy right back at him.

Although, his mind was mostly concentrating on what what said about him in the Aparecium thing, Cutty had also been considering other ways to use the charm Professor Fuller had taught them that day in class. "Arresto Momentum!" He said, slowing down the object. He then repeated the incantation to stop it dead in it's tracks. He then grabbed the still bean, tossed it into the air and gave it a good whack as if he were trying to stop it from going through goal posts.

Cutty's face froze as though Sophie had missed her jellybean and had hit him instead. What did she just say? "WOT?!" His expression was squinty-eyed thought from the eyes up, and sneering disbelief from the nose down. This could've only been about Fern Godzilla Quimbley. That was pretty much the only Hufflepuff girl Cutty knew at this point. Had she started this rumour? Probably for want of it being TRUE! HA! Cutty's little brain began to buzz at he realized what this could mean.

"Oh yeah." He said with a shrug that was meant to be casual and tried to hide his want to burst with laughter with occasionally shaking shoulders. "Well, she's one of 'em." Meaning, one of his girlfriends.

Sophie didn't even pay attention to Cutty's interaction with the jelly bean. Well, she might have if she sensed another near-choking or something else equally as fun to watch. As it was, though, it was just your ordinary, run of the mill, Cutty-type jelly bean fight. Meh.

What she did pay attention, too, though, was his reaction to the gossip mag's news of the week. Oh, yeah. She'd gotten to him. This she was sure of. She didn't care what he said or how he looked on the outside. She'd gotten to him on the inside. BWAH HAHA!

For a moment, she had to focus on the jelly bean, though. All she had to do was stop this one dead in its tracks, and she was declaring the war OVER. Of course, she was also declaring herself the winner, but that went without saying. "Arresto Momentum!" she said, waving her wand toward the bean. It stopped, just as she knew it would, and she knocked it, too, into the bin. "Done," she said, and she fished into her pocket and deposited the remaining two jelly beans into the bin, as well. "With homework, I mean."

...and surely he didn't expect her to stay around and remain social?

"As much as I'd love to stay around and chat," she said, speaking somewhat sarcastically, "my other homework needs my attention, too." Stuffing her wand back into her holster, she made as she was about to leave. Then at the last minute, she produced her copy of the Aparecium and tossed it his way. "Have a good day, Lover Boy." Then she casually made her way to the girls' dorms, confident she'd at least given Mordaunt something to squirm about.

Cutty waited until Sophie had left and the other Slytherin girl looked relatively deep enough into her homework before he dove down to pick up the copy of Aparecium. Holding it in his moist little hands he read it with eager eyes.



"Ickle. Hearts." He repeated and held out the paper as though it were some sacred relic with a wild and maniacal smile on his monkey face. He folded up the parchment and decided he was going to sleep with it. This was definitely going to be useful, especially if Fern had started this little rumour herself. He grabbed his bag and headed out.