Agatha could totally feel Simon watching her. He was probably so impressed b her amazing skills. The thought made her ego inflate like mad and she carried on doing she knew best. Or one of the few things she knew at all.

Even though she was using him to keep balance, had Simon SEEN that?? Her arabesque penchée was the coolest thing she could do. All the other amazing things ballerinas did she was still developing, and she'd only show off once they were all perfectly mastered. Once her leg was back down, she gracefully finished in a fifth foot position and let go of Simon's arm with a demi-plié and preparation arm position. "It is difficult." She said as she nodded solemnly. "You need to practise a lot to do that." And she wasn't even exaggerating that time. The girl smiled when Simon said he'd probably fall on his face if he ever tried that. That made her feel good, actually. Knowing she could do something other people couldn't. She felt really, really proud of herself.

"Since I was 5. So 8 years now." Agatha told him as she casually stretched one foot at the time. "This is the only bad thing about coming to Hogwarts. I can't leave to go to lessons." She shook her head. "That's why I need to keep practising myself." There was no way she'd allow herself to go back to stage one and then have to start it all over again! No, thank you! She'd only get better and better, mhm!!!

Ah. So they were snuggling. Fine, he could do that, yeah? He threw an arm around her shoulder and tucked Snaps right into the hallow if his side. His chin rested on her head, "I can't do much of anything in this cold besides be generally bitter." Oh no. He had punned. Unintentionally. Now he was even grumpier. Like an attractive, irritated model.

Though, Ascanius did notice the fact that Snaps hands were gloveless. It might have seemed impractical in this weather, but he understood. A little wash of the grump did go away at that. He squeezed her shoulder.

"Yeah, I know." Pause. "Y'think we'll be cooped up in here much longer? M'afraid I might be forced to tolerate underclassmen if that's the case."

The worst punishment ever.

Snuggling was good. Sharing warmth and whatnot... her fingers were getting cold. Besides, best mate time was more important than the stupid lower school kids getting in the way. This was nice. They didn't spend enough time together lately. "Yeah, I get that." Derry nodded a little, poofing the front of her favourite tartan poncho out a bit so it covered both of their legs a bit better (awww yisssssss nanas who made clothes way too big). "Literally every year we've been here there's been something weird happen..." She trailed off... taking a second to ponder this. "Which I guess would be cool if we weren't, y'know, living it."

She appreciated the shoulder squeeze. She figured they could leave it at that. They didn't always do the talking thing when it came to this stuff, but that was okay. Better even. Cause they didn't need to.

"I dunno..." she said, shooting a glare at a passing first year. ... ...... "D'you reckon we could train them?" Y'know, to bring food and stuff. Like animals. Derry was sort of fascinated with how similar human's brains were to domesticated animals sometimes. Cause that's what people were really, just massive domesticated pets to their parents who ran away half way through their lives.

He nodded his head rather quickly when she spoke to him again. Practice a lot. Yes, it seemed like you needed a TON of practise to be able to do all the crazy things that she was doing. Uh-huh. Simon was never going to do that. Well he couldn't imagine himself wearing pink tutus and ballet shoes. It wasn't really his thing but he'd support Agatha cause she was a girlfriend. Erm. A girl who was a friend not the other way around, okay? "Should I go... sit down or do you still need me?" he asked and that phrase came out rather too playfully. Erm. Awkward.

She had been doing ballet since she was five? "Merlin, you're really good at it," he said. Keeping up with something for such a long time involved a lot of dedication, hard work, sweat, and tears. "Perhaps you could start a club here? Maybe one of the Professors has danced professionally before?" If not, it'd still be worth a try.

Agatha was still stretching her feet when Simon asked her if she still needed him. Still needed him?? The girl shot him a mix of confused and suspicious look. What was THAT supposed to mean? That she couldn't do things herself?? Hm?? HM???? She COULD! "I don't need you." She probably sounded harsher than she intended to, but HMPH. She needed no one, thank you very MUCH.

Of course she was good at it. The girl flipped her hair, but her expression was still serious. And hm... his idea of starting a club wasn't so bad. Maybe she could start a club. She wondered how that could be done, but she was now too offended to ask Simon what he thought. The girl started imagining what teachers would have been dancers in the past... she could totally picture professor Domingo doing it, mhm. But that was about it.

Agatha was... kinda... ermm.... thought Simon as he watched the sweet show-off become slightly aggressive with him? Yikes. Uh.. Uh.. What to do? What to do? He didn't know.

Girls, man. Girls. Where was Ethan to sympathise with him? Or Zander? Or Grayson? Or Cutty even?

Sheeeeesh.

"Wha-at?" he exclaimed with a more pronounced Australian accent. She had totally taken it the wrong way. He took several steps away from her as if he'd burnt his hand on the stove. "Err.. I.. I meant by if you still needed me- I meant if you needed my help with your ballet moves." Yeah. Hell as he knew it had just literally frozen over. Well then... Simon just stood a couple feet away rather awkwardly.

"Well this has been... fun?" he offered as he began to gather his things and hide before he died of embarrassment. What had he done wrong? He wished to have known what but he was too stubborn to ask.

He felt so small on the inside.

"S'not cool," he said, looking at her rather incredulously. "M'surprised parents send their kids back here after all the crazy stuff that's happened over the years, yeah?" Y'know, like getting older and the school freezing over and he'd seen the dementors. If he had parents, or guardians, or any kind of adult figure that actually cared about his well being, he liked to think they would have yanked him from Hogwarts years ago.

Train them?

Jeez, that was the best idea he'd heard since, well, a while. Lately, he'd been subjected to ideas of the ridiculous variety. Yodeling wrock music being number one on that list. West Odessa.

He smirked at a few ease dropping third years, "Maybe we could get them collars. To keep them in line. Or do the whole blow horn training technique." SPEAKING OF CRAZY WEIRD THINGS, "Also, we need to do a senior prank." Yeah?

She had her hands on her hips and was giving him a hard stare as she frowned. Simon looked a bit taken aback, which made her lift up her head a bit so her nose was up in the air as the frown slowly vanished.

Hm. Right. He meant if she needed his help with ballet moves. Hm. Fine. Fine. She'd let it go this time. He was the most normal of the Slytherin boys after all. It didn't mean she was going to be all smiles now because she had taken that seriously.

The third year made her way back to the settee and sat down to be able to take off her pointe shoes. Show was over, apparently, since Simon was gathering his things and it seemed like he was leaving to the dorms. He said it had been fun? "Hm." Was Agatha's response. She didn't look at him as she was busy untying the shoes' laces and stuff.

Hmph!

So she wasn't talking to him?

HOW HAD THIS EVEN HAPPENED? Erm.. Okay.. You know, that was cool Agatha. The boy felt even smaller now because of her reaction. "Uh.. Bye," he said as he headed towards the Slytherin boys dorm as he'd be safe in there. No crazy, confusing girls. Thank goodness.

So he just gave her a wave and then left.

Awkward.

Agatha saw Simon's wave from the corner of her eye, but did not look at him until he was halfway to the boys' dorm. Hmph!

And it took so long to take these pointe shoes off, Merlin! Not as long as it took to put them on, of course, but still. The thing was that she wanted them to be all nice and neat and perfect for a really long time, so she was extremely careful in taking them off too.

But UGH, staying in the massive Common Room by herself was a bit creepy, especially with all of the things going on in the school, like the crazy cold and everything else they didn't know about. Merlin!

The girl only took one of her shoes off and decided to take the other one in the safety of her own dormroom. So grabbing her things, she limped her way to the third year girls' room.

So it was nearly time to start worrying about exams and stuff right? Except West had no plans of actually concerning himself with them... nope. Mostly because he wasn't worried and was sure he'd pass everything, but also because with his particular career goals he didn't need any NEWTs so if he messed up who even cared? It was ALSO time to start with certain pranking activities that him and his dormmates had discussed. That'd help destress everyone, he hoped. Especially with people being trapped in the castle and going stir crazy and whatnot.

He wandered into the common room like he owned the place, which he supposed he did in a way, being a 7th year and all, and having called the place home for the past seven years now. And there was Scan and Derry. West saluted them casually and then threw himself on the longest couch, which still wasn't quite long enough to take his entire length given how tall he'd gotten.

Weird to think about how his feet hadn't even touched the end of the thing when he had stretched out here as a firstie, and now he had to bend his knees or have his feet right up on the end of it along with a kinked neck over the arm rest.

At least he was done with the getting taller thing... right?

A couple days after the awkward run in with a certain female Slytherin, Simon made sure to check his surroundings before entering the common room. Awkward run ins weren't fun- especially when they ended in two people kind of not talking to each other cause someone took something the wrong way and then the whole situation just got ten times worse.

Did this happen to other boys too?

He didn't know.

When he saw that the certain female wasn't in the common room, he made his way into it and saw an older boy lounging about on the couch. His blue eyes widened. Perhaps this guy would know the answer? Simon gave the older boy a nod and a smile. Hey, how's it going?" he asked being more friendly than usual. Then he sat in the armchair near the fireplace and felt himself slowly sinking further into the comfy chair.

Hmmm? Oh. One of those new kids. West saluted the boy.

"Alright I guess, considering we're trapped here and I can't play Quidditch." It was a bitter pill, since he'd managed to take a reserve position with the Wanderers but now that he was snowed in he couldn't even warm the stupid bench. Galling for someone who used to be Slytherin's captain, and played for the England under seventeen's team until he'd aged out of it. He wrinkled his nose slightly but was in too good of a mood to dwell on it in this particular moment.

"You holding up alright then? Not getting too stir crazy?"

Trapped in here?

Despite being aware of the whole student body being trapped at Hogwarts, that phrase still made the boy a little bit more uneasy. He couldn't help but wonder what was possibly out there. What could have been causing this foul weather? It was just so strange. "That does stink. I've always wanted to watch a Quidditch match," said the boy with a sad smile. At his old school, Simon hadn't really ventured outside of the library. His friends had tried to compel him into going to a Quidditch match but he always refused. Only now he realized how silly it had been for him to refuse.

Simon nodded and pulled a face at the older boy's question. "Kind of going a little bit stir crazy but at least now I know my way around the school pretty well. More confused by girls at the moment," he explained shrugging his shoulders slightly. He had already spent most of his free time walking around the castle, trying to get himself lost and then trying to find how to get out of that situation. It was sort of fun but it was starting to get boring now that he knew his way around. The thought of being lost wasn't as alluring as it had once been. "I am sick of this weather. It's summer back home for me in Aus," he added as his Australian accent became more and more pronounced with each word.

"I'm Simon," he said all of a sudden when he remembered that he didn't know this guy's name. Sure, he had seen him out and about but he had never gotten the chance to introduce himself. No time like the present, right? Er.. The quote went something along the lines like that. He couldn't really remember it.

No it wasn't cool to them. That's what she was saying. Goooooood Ascanius. Psht. It'd make a good story though. "I've argued with my mam a lot about it. She was trying to get dad to take me out. Y'know, with all... the... stuff. On top of the school stuff." Derry admitted, pulling her sleeves down over her hands. It was cooooold. "She almost changed dad's mind, but I convinced her removing me would be too much of a change so late into stuff." She maaaay have guilt tripped her a lot.

And then used Hugo to back up her arguments.

And guilt trip some more.

...

"Ooh collars, that'd be good. If a bit..." Derry bit her tongue to stop the rest of that comment, and cleared her throat to stop herself from laughing... It didn't work. She was giggling. "Maybe get a spray bottle with water. Train them like cats." Not that that actually worked on her cats... weirdos.

...

Senior prank?

"Yes! Yes yes yes yes yes. Definitely. Yes. Good. Any ideas?" She gave West a quick wave as he plonked himself on the couch, before looking back at Ascanius all expectantly.

West shot a grin and salute combo over at Derry but didn't otherwise move himself. Besides, he was now talking to some kid so his mates could wait and they looked to be discussing something anyways.

Stare.

Wait, this kid had never...

"You've never watched a Quidditch match? Mate, you're missing out." They all were to some extent this term. West even sat up with obvious enthusiasm. "I've played every single year since my first year... was captain until Quidditch got cancelled this term, and I played for England on the Under Seventeen's side for a couple years," Before he'd turned seventeen obviously. "And I'm a reserve for the Wigtown Wanderers now... only obviously can't play at the moment since I'm bloody well trapped here." So that sucked. He made a face. "There is no game better though." Pause. "Are you muggleborn then?" Because otherwise how would he not have seen Quidditch? West felt bad for the kid. Quidditch was life.

As for the next part... West gave the boy a knowing look. Yep. He understood THAT. GIRLS man. They were so... y'know? And sometimes they... did things. "Don't let them get you down." West said, sounding like someone who was speaking from experience.

Australian? "How did you end up here if you're from there?"

Okay. Simon. West nodded. "Nice to meet you, Simon." He clean forgot to introduce himself in return, he hadn't actually had to do so for years: people just tended to know his name, if not for Quidditch reasons then for band reasons.

In the morning, Cosgrach had visited the Gryffindors. In the evening, he was in his old house. He felt like what he was doing was in vain, that they were going to die freezing anyway, but he still entered his home and for the first time in a long time, didn't hate living in the dungeons. He felt warm and hopeful again... until his eyes fell on the window and the sight of a lake that looked colder than the Arctic.

...yeah.

Shrugging to himself, he tried to look brave and as if everything was alright, that there were fresh flowers instead of snow outside a if should be in the summer. He looked away and studied the rest of the room. It was more or less the same as his childhood. That was better while he was overwhelmed with nostalgia and walked to a coffee table. He set down the bag he was carrying and got out vials with different potions and name tags: West Odessa, Ethan Mordaunt, Cutty Mordaunt, Grayson Whitlock, Theo Kinsley and Caleb Newell.

Sitting at an armchair nearby, he started observing the students as he remembered his old times.

Bundled up in a number of thick, warm jumpers and a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, Grayson made his way down to the common room. He could have spent the day in his dorm, trying to procrastinate and whatnot, but where was the fun in that? Exactly. There were hardly any people there he could bug soooooo he was making his way here. To sit by the fire--

And then he stopped.

Why?

Culloden.

Sure, this man was at the top of the very VERY short list of Grayson's favourite Professors and the boy wasn't exactly planning on kicking him out of the common room but WHY was the man here? It was freaking odd, you know? Did he visit often? Was he here to talk potions? Grayson was all up for THAT.

So, Culloden was going to get company whether he asked for it or not. "Hey, Professor! Fancy seeing you here," he said, taking a seat on an empty seat and pulling the blanket tighter around him, "What'cha got there?"

Now only one question remained: how was he meant to look cool in these thick jumpers? PSH.

"You can make anything a cat if you have enough food, which we do." Cat Moretti. "And enough water." All they needed to do was break their spirit.

...

He just kind of stared at Snaps, yeah? A look that almost was judgy, almost. He would never actually set that look on his best friend, but whatever was closest to that look was what he was leveling her with.

Then he droned, "Snaps, m'not the mastermind out of the two of us, yeah? I just kinda coast through life and most things." Save drumming. He was very, very proactive on that front. Mostly 'cause without driving the beat with Nigel the music would all get...Vesperfied. Not a bad thing. Most times. But not everything could be acoustic and feelsy.

"So, you Slytherin girls should come up with all the ideas." He smirked. "After all, aren't you guys more devious then we are?" Slytherin boys did the attractive thing really well, yeah? And that meant they didn't need to think.

Cutty was over bundled. To the point where his still small frame was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of layers upon his person. As he often did during the school's Quidditch matches in years gone by, he more resembled a pile of laundry enchanted to walk about than he did a boy at the moment. And he was still laying on another layer. A scarf, that lay from shoulder to shoulder as he inspected the collection of dark phials that had recently graced their common room.

And there was Professor Culloden. Sitting patiently and quietly like a learned school boy himself...or possibly, a spider.

"Hello, Professor Culloden." He greeted the Potions Master and picked up a phial with Caleb Newell's name on it. He paused for a moment realizing that the other too all had names assigned to them. They were meant for specific people? Or the Potions Master repackaged their potions as a random quiz challenge? He put down Caleb's potion and lifted his own, trying to inspect it, but alas the bottle was too dark to give any real indication of what was inside.



Cutty was about to ask a similar question. But was silenced by Whitty's lovely mouth forming the words themselves.

....





Look at his strong shoulders.







Wrapped snuggly in the warm blanket.

Then this older guy was just staring at him. Could he seriously not believe that he had ever seen a Quidditch match? Perhaps not. Perhaps this guy was quite the Quidditch fanatic. Simon gave the older boy a smile when he became more enthusiastic. His eyes widened when he heard that this guy had played Quidditch ever single term and had been Quidditch Captain too. Wait was this guy West something? The one that everyone said had been robbed of a last year to wow Hogwarts with Quidditch. He didn't want to assume anything so he held off from asking the boy if he was West. And who were the Wigtown Wanderers? It sounded like a silly name for a Quidditch team but where did they hail from? Wigtown? And where WAS Wigtown? And did they all wear wigs there in Wigtown? He hoped so. All of these questions passed through Simon's mind rather quickly. "Congrats, that's awesome about the reserve position but too bad that we're all stuck in this weather. Uhh... Where is Wigtown?" His blue eyes widened at West's next question. He nodded. "Yep, I am muggleborn and proud." He beamed. It was a thing to be proud of, yes?

Then the older boy almost gave him this look that told Simon that the boy could relate to him. With that piece of advice from the older Snake, the Slytherin third year smiled. Yeah, he ought not let girls get him down- that'd be silly. "Yeah, I'll try not too. They're just confusing. Do you know why some girls flip their hair ALL the time?" he asked. Maybe the seventh year would know the answer? He hoped so.

"Well long story short, I used to go to the school over there but one of the Professors told me that I'd be better suited for the Hogwarts style of education where I could actually do research for fun," he said. Yep, Professor Wallinger had told the boy and his parents to send Simon to Hogwarts so that he could get a proper education and learn from the best of the best. It was nice of the elderly man to do that and he missed Wallinger quite a bit.

Simon grinned and held out his hand towards the older boy in a handshake gesture. "Nice to meet you too....," he blinked and then realized that the older boy hadn't introduced himself. So putting all the facts that he HAD learnt about the boy so far, he assumed that this must have been West that he was speaking to. "Uhh are you West?" Please be correct; otherwise, this will be super duper awkward.

And the first people arrived.

Cosgrach would normally have found them funny in so many layers, but he knew it was what they must do to survive. He normally had at least five layer of clothing too, but Ethan had been so kind as to leave blue flame charm thing by his door, so he was carrying that. He figured it would be a nice gesture, provided the boy showed up. The jar was inside his pocket, ready to be drawn out when Ethan came. For now...

"Grayson, Cutty," he greeted the boys and noted the 'welcome' mood. He was welcome here, no one looked at him funnily, whereas in the Gryffindor tower, everyone'd looked at him as if he was an alien.

"I brewed potions for you," he said without any ceremony, though he did smile, "to appreciate the hard work you've shown during my class." He gestured at the vials. They were welcome to pick up the one with their name on it.

"Can you guess what your potion is?"

Was anyone surprised to see Culloden there? Not West. Even if it was mildly unusual he knew that the potions professor was technically one of them, a former Slytherin and all so where else would he feel comfortable but home, right? To be honest he wouldn't even be weirded out at seeing Bellaire chilling out in here. At least it was warmer than a lot of the castle was right now. But.... apparently he had reason to be here... certain students were heading over and West noticed the vials though from the distance he sat at of course he couldn't make out his own name. He did offer something halfway between wave and salute though. We see you, professor.

Nod.

"Thanks. I couldn't accept a starting position and stay at school so it was the next best thing." And yes it did suck being trapped here and unable to play... "Wigtown is in the southwest of Scotland, its just a small town... its where the team is based out of. I live on the otherside of the Solway Firth... in the Lake District in Cumbria." So it was close enough in Wizarding terms, a short stint on the knight bus, a leisurely scenic fly by broom, a quick floo, or a blink-and-apparate. No problem really.

Another nod.

"My best mate is muggleborn. Theo. Y'know... the head boy." Yeah. Best mate in the universe and all.

Oh yesss confusing girls and their awesome hair that smelled amazing and looked so soft and nice and touchable. West had had plenty of hair-related concerns when he was about the age of this kid. He considered Ella and Penelope and Theo for a moment, and grinned a little bit. Funny how stuff changed.

"Flirting usually, nerves sometimes." That was why they flipped their hair. "Sometimes, if they're Slytherin, or occasionally with certain kinds of Ravenclaws, its also because they have this sass button, and if you hit it just right with your words or actions, its like a nervous tick that indicates they think they're sassy and outplaying you." West added with a perfectly sincere expression. "Sometimes its best to let them think like they're succeeding." Especially the ones who baked.

Huh. Well. He hoped the kid didn't regret it. Hogwarts was his favourite place to be... and the Slytherin common room? It was home. West found it hard to understand when people didn't like it, even with everything that went on.

He gave Simon's hand a shake and then nodded. Oh hmm? "Yeah. Of course I am." West Odessa. Who else would he be?

Hopefully his third year mates won’t mind that their dorm is now glowing blue because of the Blue Bell Flame he made for each bed…plus producing more than necessary since basically all the nooks and crannies of that room at least had two jars each. Ethan can’t imagine how it’s like at the older student’s dorms though. Stretching and yawning as he made his way up the common room, the fair-haired boy had to do a double take as he saw a face he did not expect inside their common room. It’s Professor C!

Ethan smiled and dashed towards the man, definitely not minding those who are already there and crashed beside him. “Did you get it? I wasn’t sure if you were taking a nap inside your room, or if you were out of your office. I hope it helped you keep warm, though.” He shrugged as he sat back, still smiling, obviously proud of himself. “What brings you here?” he asked as he looked at the man, then to the coffee table in front of them. “Those are definitely potions. But...what for?” he asked again as he eyed a phial that has his name on it. Grayson got one too, and so did Cutty. Hmmmmm.

Theodore plodded into the Slytherin common room with his hands stuffed in his robe pockets to keep them warm. He wasn't especially interested in his surroundings right now but did notice Professor Culloden in the common room, so he naturally straightened up his posture.

He sank into a chair and rested his hands on his knees. His eyes went all spaced out for a moment. You know, where you're staring at something or someone without even realizing and without even blinking. Basically, he was watching the potions master but not actually watching the potions master.