It was weird sharing a room with someone who barely talked. Even though she'd been at Hogwarts for nearly two months now, Tia wished Ariel would have been sorted into another house. Not that she didn't like the girl, but it was just awkward being around someone who barely spoke and seemed to be constantly judging you.

Plopping down on her bed, she propped open her charms text and removed some parchment from her schoolbag. At least, the good thing about quiet dormmates was that studying in your dorm was like using the library. Maybe better because no one could judge her for lounging in her pajamas while staying up till two in the morning studying charms.

Layla couldn’t say that she was ever in a particularly good mood. Frowning seemed to be her face’s natural state, she didn’t even need to think about it and there was one etched on her face. It was certainly her personality, there was no way she could be one of these always smiling happy types when there wasn’t really much to be happy about. Hogwarts still hadn’t become a second home to her, it was alright but it wasn’t great. Although to be honest there wasn’t really much at home for her either. Perhaps more friends but still..

There was a frown on her face today as she walked into the dormitory she shared with Eden and Clara. It was questionable whether she was actually in a bad mood or if it was just one of these ‘natural’ downwards turning of the lips. The room was seemingly empty and for once Layla was actually kinda disappointed. She could’ve done with company in some form or another and that didn’t mean that of her pet cat Dinah, as cute as she was.

The sixth year flopped onto her bed and crossed her legs underneath her contemplating what she would do with herself for the next few hours. She grabbed a tennis ball from the sports bag under her bed and bounced it off of the wall opposite her, just skimming Clara’s bed. She wouldn’t break anything, her aim was pretty flawless but the bouncing seemed to pass the time. Slowly but surely.

Eden zooooomed into the dorm. She was in a hurry--lwfbwfhhffhuh she had to QUICKLY do some homework she had forgotten to do---she was panting and out of breath when she diiiiived into her bed, looking for the papers she kept underneath her pillow.

Her letters--but where was that sheet of NOTES SHE NEEDED?!?

She didn't notice Layla for a couple of seconds--but when she turned her head to check Daisy's cage, she saw her blonde roommate and friend. Layla got an Eden smile. "Oh. Hi." She took a deep breath and sat, behaving more calmly now. "Didn't see you in here. Sorry." She said, running a hand through her hair. "I ....completely forgot what I was looking for now.".

And it was true.

She had not a clue.

If there was one thing Layla had learned about her dormmate, it was that she was always either crazily over-the-top or doing something slightly weird. Today it seemed like the latter and the brunette was searching every corner of the room for something she was not quite sure of. She arched her brow as she stared over at her, waiting to see if she actually noticed her blonde dormie on the bed.

She was five foot nine, it wasn’t like she wasn’t noticeable at all.

So the Ravenclaw continued to bounce the ball off the wall until she got some form of recognition from Miss Forgetful over in the corner.

“..And that is why you ain’t a Hufflepuff,” Supposed to be good at finding things weren’t they? At least that was what she had heard anyway. She stopped the bouncing and swivelled her body around to face Eden, her legs still tucked up under her in their crossed position. “Yeah that’s alright, I’m practically invisible anyway..” she responded. It was hard to tell whether that was actually a joke but Layla did often experience loneliness at this school. She barely knew anyone and she wasn’t willing to let herself be entirely open to allow anyone in either. Her dormmates were lucky.

“I’m afraid I can’t help you. Ain’t exactly skilled in the art of legilimency.” At least she knew what that was. She also wasn’t sure whether she’d want to be able to read Eden’s mind either, too much stuff going on up in there. She was content with just listening when she wanted to open up to her.

Eden gave up trying to remember. She flopped back on her bed and sighed, looking at the ball Layla had been bouncing around. She held up her hand. "Can I try?" Eden was slightly clumsy sometimes, but she was decent at whatever sport she tried to pick up.

"Well. Thanks." She snorted at the Hufflepuff comment. Layla was full of compliments, wasn't she? "I just have too much going on right now--Merlin's pantalones--" she tried to run her fingers through her hair, but her hair was SO knotty that it was pointless.

DID SHE OWN A BRUSH?

She did. Somewhere. She leaned over her bed to try to find it in her trunk. Whoops. Eden was a m-e-s-s.

"You're not invisible..I saw you--" she retorted, pushing aside some loose papers and then a shirt--fheuh2uhguh BRUSH? OH HAIR BRUSH? "Have you, by any chance, TAKEN my brush?" she sat up, cheeks pink, and breathless. Because that brush was NOT in her trunk.

Layla looked momentarily confused as Eden asked her a question. The bouncing of the ball was a natural boredom thing with the blonde, she often did it without even acknowledging the fact that she was. It seemed to be set in her sub-concious mind. She stared at her dormmate for a few seconds before it dawned on her what she was asking. “It ain’t that excitin’ but sure” She tossed the ball over the brunette and waited to see whether Eden’s catching skills were up to scratch. Girl could be clumsy, did she have any hand-eye-coordination?

Was that a sarcastic response or was Eden genuinely pleased that she wasn’t Hufflepuff like? She raised her brow but said nothing more of it. As for having a lot on her plate, yeah she was sure of that. Eden was never still and the blonde had a hard time keeping up with whatever crazy event was happening in her life or which boy she had moved onto next.

Once again she was off trying to find something and the seventeen year old playfully rolled her eyes before flopping back on her bed and staring up at the ceiling. “Why would I wanna steal your brush?” she asked still with her attention on the dorm roof. “If you ain’t noticed we’ve got different colour hair. I don’t want your dead strands in mine.” There was a tiny evidence of a smirk that fell on her face as she spoke.

“Have you checked under your pillow?” Eden was weird, she probably stored things in strange places.

Eden caught the ball swiftly, smirking smugly as she began to bounce the ball against the wall nearest her own bed, catching it each time, seeing how Layla could find this soothing. "This is nice. I should get one. It helps me think rationally." Did that even make sense? No? Eden didn't make sense a lot, so this didn't bother her.

THE BRUNETTE SNORTED SO HARD THAT SHE ALMOST CHOKED ON HER SNOT. "What-Merlin--is my hair DEAD?" she asked, laughing QUITE a bit. "I take GREAT care of my hair--" lies!--"And how DARE you call it dead, you....you--" she just laughed and lay back, throwing the ball against the wall. "I should probably do girly things like......wash my hair with nice shampoo or something." Her brunette locks were long, sure, but she hardly brushed her hair and when she did she didn't really do anything to fix it up. It just...she did pony-tails a lot. Yep.

The female'd wrong, according to her line of thought, anyways.

Eden checked under her pillow, and NOPE--not there--Merlin--she sighed and then----she caught sight---she peeked into the little opening that lead to under her bed--HER BRUUUUSH! "Silly brush--sneakin' away like that!" she giggled to herself and reached down to pull it up.

And the brushing of her hair began.

Eden was both the weirdest and the sweetest friend that Layla had ever had. She loved her girls at home, they were much more like here in the sense they were brought up together, lived in the same places, did the same things but Eden was pretty much the blonde's best friend at the school and she was one of those few people that got the rare smile on her face. She watched her bounce the ball with a look of amusement on his face. "Keep that one, ain't like I've got a shortage of them." She missed playing sports and she tried to practice as often as she could squeeze in. "I didn't realise bouncin' a tennis ball did so much for you.." Guess it was kinda therapeutic though, the sound as it bounced off of Clara's bed frame. Good job the redhead wasn't here.

Layla kept a straight face as the brunette burst into laughter. Honestly, she didn't get what was supposed to be so funny and she blinked a few times in retalliation. "If it ain't still attached to your head, its dead." Right? Cos it wasn't like the follicle was attached and the cells wouldn't be able to grow. Something biological, details didn't matter. Either way she didn't want Eden's hair in her own. "You what?" she smirked. Insults clearly weren't her forte. As for 'girly things', the seventeen year old shrugged. She wasn't particularly fussed about what brand of shampoo she used or whatever. She liked to look nice but it wasn't a big rigmarole like it was with some of the 'princesses' around here.

The blonde was flopped back on her bed and staring up at the ceiling not paying particular attention to what her dormmate was up to as she found her brush. She playfully rolled her eyes before turning onto her side to face towards Eden.

"You're so lucky y'know?" Her tone of voice had changed upon her words. Her lips had fallen into a slight frown and there was a hint of sadness in her eyes.

Wheee Eden had a ball now. It was lying in her lap while she ran the brush ROUGHLY through her hair--"Ow--OW--" maybe she should be gentler. EHH. "It's an activity that through it's routine helps calm me down. I also like throwing stones in the lake...or off the wooden bridge..." things like that really helped Eden calm herself down when she was feeling...........upset. Moody. Miserable. It happened more often than it should.

"Is that how it works? I thought you could have dead hair ON your head." Maybe that was dead ends? Like split ones? Eden was suddenly examining hers. Wow. She hadn't had her hair cut in AWHILE. And maybe she needed to...but the nearest place to her home was about two hours away. Her mother went routinely. Hmm. Maybe she'd accompany her next time, over the summer. "YOU are something, Layla." She said. She was terrrrrrrible at...insults when she wasn't angry or something. Lucky for Layla, Eden hardly got angry with her. Quite the Irish blood she had, when she got angry.

She finished "brushing" her hair and lay back against her headboard, throwing the ball up into the air once more. Lots of thoughts were going through her head right now that she didn't feel like thinking about. Not at all. She sighed when Layla..spoke.

"What do you mean?" Eden almost didn't want to hear it. She knew whatever Layla said would make her sad.

Eden was amusing to say the least but she made great company and Layla truly appreciated the girl for who she was. She was completely ignoring her protests for brushing her own hair, mostly because it was entirely the Ravenclaw’s fault that it was in that state anyway. She looked back however when she started talking about her appreciation for the ball. “I can see where you’re comin’ from” the Londoner spoke with a shrug of her shoulders. “I just do it as a habit now when none of you are in here. Usually off the wall by Clara’s bed, I ain’t properly seen her in ages.” She was always busy it seemed.

“The ends of your hair die yeah. Like when you have split ends..” This conversation was turning into something far too girly for the sporty seventeen-year-old. Layla wasn’t a total tomboy but she wasn’t one of those girls that spent hours obsessing over her hair and makeup. She did it for herself more than anything. She wore what she was most comfortable in and she did whatever made her happy. As for her diet that was another debate in itself, Eden knew exactly how fussy the Blonde was when it came to processed foods.

Eden’s insults were as bad as her finding skills. Layla’s eyebrow rose just slightly at the proposed insult before an amused smirk befell upon her lips. “Ain’t heard a better insult than that ever” she replied sarcastically. But still the idea that Eden found it difficult to be nasty to her blonde compatriot was a little heartwarming anyway. She rarely insulted anyone, not to their face anyway. Her negative words were the truth, they were what she observed, not some lie fabricated in order to look someone else look terrible. She wasn’t like that.

The change in the atmosphere was certainly noticeable thanks to Layla’s sudden frown that was planted on her face. It wasn’t an angry frown in the slightest, it was one of pure loneliness. “You have a lot of people in this school that appreciate you Eden,” was all she said as she glanced down into her lap. She felt almost always invisible, like there was no purpose in her being there and it would make no difference if she just went back home.

Gosh. Eden rolled her eyes. "Clara's been...off lately. I don't know. Phoenix...Phoenix took me on a date and......I felt like she didn't really wanna' talk about it..." She sighed a bit. "I mean--I don't expect her to want to talk about it but--I don't know. I thought she'd be happy that I was....happy." She didn't know if this was selfish or not, and she was suddenly feeling very......bad. She slipped off her own bed and went to sit on the edge of Layla's. "It...I don't know. I don't know if I should go into it..." especially not behind Clara's back..but it wasn't like she was TALKING about Clara..she was just..having feelings >.<

She rolled her eyes a bit at Lay. "SHHH. I'm the BEST INSULTER EVER!" Duh. She smirked a nudged her friend a little...and then lay her head on her shoulder. Layla was a good friend. Eden could see it, and she could FEEL it. She did adore her....and to think, in the beginning, Eden thought Layla was just a cranky ole' witch!

Ooooh. Layla...was going to talk about that. Eden shrugged. "Do they really, though? I think people are fond of what they think I am. But does anyone really KNOW me?" she mused, aloud, and felt very dramatic. "How can I expect people to know when I don't even know myself?" Why was she being all DEEP right now? She had stopped throwing the ball and was clutching it so tightly in her fist. "Sorry. I'm probably being stupid. She expected Layla to think so, anyways.

Nicole pushed open the door to the second year room, dragging her heavy bag behind her. Her pet cat Diamond walked next to her, purring for attention. Noticing that her dormmate Ophelia was not there yet, she sighed in relief. Sharing a room with her was quite awkward. Not that Nicole did not like the girl, on the contrary, she was always nice and fun. However, they barely talked to each other, which made them not as close as most dormmates were. Nicole was determined to change this, but did not know how she could make it happen.

She put her bag down next to her bedside table, then walked over to sit down on her four-poster bed... only to find herself tripping over her trunk at the foot. It was not the first time this had happened, and she stayed on the ground, one foot on her trunk, and groaned. Diamond walked over to his owner and tilted his head curiously.

Oh dear, conflict in the dorm it seemed? There always appeared to be some form of tension between Eden and their other dormmate. Sometimes they appeared as close as anything but others there was always some form of rivalry most likely connected to some boy or other. Layla didn’t exactly understand it so she just stayed well and truly out of it. She didn’t need to get involved in other people’s problems. She nodded her way through Eden’s little speech about the guy she was ‘dating’ or not? Who knew? “You two really need to start fancyin’ other people. This love rivalry is exhaustin’” she flopped backwards so she was staring up at the ceiling until she felt the bed move as Eden had clearly joined her on her own. She stayed down for a few more seconds. “Don’t worry you don’t need to tell me anythin’. Was just wonderin’ why she ain’t ever about” she shrugged. As much as Layla cared for the pair, she really wasn’t bothered by their petty boy-orientated conflicts.

A small smirk fell upon the Ravenclaw’s face after Eden’s attempted outburst. She sat back up and looked to the brunette with her eyebrow raised slightly. “Yeah, really seems like it. Guess you wouldn’t fit into Slytherin either.” Which meant that Eden was definitely a Ravenclaw or a Gryffindor.. The latter she highly doubted. Her yearmate leaned on her shoulder and the Blonde slipped her arm around her waist and gave her a gentle squeeze. Eden was lucky, not many got such physical affection from the London-born girl.

Wow. She was getting deep. Layla was making an observation over her situation in the school. “At least you’ve got friends.” And that was pretty much final. They may not ‘know’ her as well as they could do but she had constant company whenever she needed it and for that she should’ve been grateful. “I’d say I know you pretty well..” she looked at her, this time totally seriously. They told each other personal things at least.

Okay, where in the heck was her sketchbook? Ophelia ran into the room, the bun of curly blonde hair atop her head thankfully staying in place. It took a couple of minutes for her hair to actually get into the correct bun position, and re-doing it at this point was not going to be an option. However, it was also bothering her neck just sitting in place and it was too wild for ponytails or braids today. Did anyone else have this problem? Or was this just an uniquely Ophelia thing?

Not noticing her dorm mate on the floor, the twelve year old rummaged haphazardly through her trunk, tossing clothes and such onto the floor in an attempt to find what she wanted. Seriously, where was that sketchbook? The kid was attempting to sketch out another picture of the demon spawn for her friend, making the pictures part of a three part series about how little sisters sucked. Except her. She was awesome. However, the half finished picture was in the sketchbook and the sketchbook was currently MIA. Which made the Ravenclaw want to tear out her hair and simultaneously claw everything. Over- dramatic? Maybe. But this was reeeallly annoying and she lost things all of the time.

Seriously, it was hard to go a day without losing something. Quills got lost and found, parchment she had written on. There was a short time in her life when the short girl decided to have earrings, however, that was soon over as the kid lost all of the jewelry and her family started stepping on them. Yeah, the screams from that weren't pretty at all.

Throwing her clothes haphazardly back into the trunk, the child on a mission headed towards the bed, pulling back the covers and finding.... her sketchbook. Huh. When did that get there? Deciding not to let it bother her, the blonde grabbed the book and sat on the bed, finally looking at where her dorm mate was.

"Are you okay down there? Because I don't want to alarm you, but you seem to be in pain." She put the sketchbook down in the exact spot she had found it and hopped off of the bed. That was one of the joys of being five feet tall. You got to hop everywhere. "I'm 'Ophie by the way." And coming around, to where her dorm mate was, she leaned on her bed so the small girl could be closer to the other. They probably knew each other from somewhere, especially being both Ravenclaws AND dorm mates, but Ophelia didn't really talk to her dorm mate that much and honestly couldn't place her in a lineup if she had tried. Not that there was any reason to have to.... RIGHT? Because busting out of time out when you were five and drew on the walls was waaaay different than busting someone out of jail.

Eden merely rolllllled her eyes. "I do fancy other people...but...." she shrugged. "You know I fancy lotsa' people, Lay." She said finally, enjoying the physical affection that her roomie was dishing out right now. Eden enjoyed physical affection most of all....hmm.

"But...I don't think...Clara even likes Phe that much anymore...I think she just misses how things used to be. I don't think she's too jealous..." she said softly. "I dunno' how to explain it." But this is why Eden felt like her best friend was avoiding her. And she didn't LIKE it. But at least she had Layla, whom she felt equally as close to. "I feel like I'm aaalllllllways in here. If I'm not outside." Because being outside was the BEST....

...And she had an IDEA SUDDENLY. "Hey--we should go kick a ball around outside--or something--don't you like to do that? Could get out some steam." She said with a shrug. It would be MARVELOUS fun.

Eden waved her hand. "Not a Slytherin...definitely not." She felt like of all the houses, that was the one LEAST like her.

And she siiiighed. "I know. I think you and Clara know me best..I think." She could say that with some authority. "But...I feel like such a foreign person to my own self...if that makes any sense. I dunno'." She felt like a big, fat, weirdo.