Yes she had books around her SURROUNDING her even but they weren’t even open. Nope not one. She was just sitting there stabbing her fork rather aggressively into pieces of her waffles…they were so good. So yummy.

“They need whipped cream here,” she murmured at her plate before grabbing another glass of pumpkin juice and simply staring at her unopened books. THIS wasn’t what she wanted to do at all. Really, if anyone showed up and distracted her she'd probably hug them.

Paloma wasn't fond of going all the way to the Great Hall every morning, because it required her to look school-presentable and most times, eating alone. So,with all her heart, she wished that was to be a pleasant visit to the place.

Once she had arrived, and served herself some nice pancakes with fruit on top, and hot cocoa on the side to drink, she looked around, finding someone to talk with, to...maybe read with? And there she was, the Gryffindor Prefect, Puck. With a grin, she approached, "Mind if I sit here?" Manners were to be kept there, of course. And of course, she didn't care if it wasn't her House table.

Puck was bored of the sitting basically alone in the Great Hall thing – she was almost ready to snag a seat in the kitchens with the House elves. Yep, because they sometimes gave people hugs…and sometimes they stole things but that was comical really because it had only happened to her one time.

She was staring at her plate wondering what she should grab when she heard a slightly familiar voice and looked up. Paloma! She’d been to her birthday party. Yep. “Hey sure thing Paloma – its much better than being alone in here…I almost left to sit with the house elves in the kitchens” she admitted with a laugh. “How is your term going?” She asked kindly.

With a giggly chuckle, Paloma sat down in the seat in front of Puck and grinned. "I know how that feels. It's so lonely here, like everyone just decides to skip breakfast or something..." Which was really bad, academically and nutritionally speaking. "But yeah, the kitchens, and the elves are better company than just being here." She replied with a nod, and grinning at the memory of when Jun, Louis and her used to cook at the kitchens together. Sigh.

"All going well, classes, homework...the usual, missing family, and boyfriend, but..." She shruged, obviously meaning that nothing really could be done except for the mirrors and owl letters to them. "How about you...heard you were in...detention?" It was something unexpected, to learn about, but she wanted to know the real story from Her, you know?

Puck grinned back at Paloma, “it really is the only time its ever really exciting is on holidays and at the feasts” she laughed and grinned over to her. “Oh I know the feeling I was far too hungry to skip breakfast though…I have in the past brought food items to my dorm and then made things in the room of requirement” she grinned at her because hello that was a better idea than skipping meals all together.

Paloma knew what she was talking about. Obviously. Ravenclaws? “Yeah no kidding I mean even if Toddles steals people’s chocolate frogs” she grinned and took a sip of her drink. She did remember seeing Jun at Pal’s party last term…Puck’d have to ask about that later because she was interested in the fact that Paloma had made a comment about her boyfriend – hello details? Wait wouldn’t that be nosy but still.

“Oh I know the feeling – I miss my brother and his wife,” she grinned, “and I’m sure if I had a boyfriend I’d miss them probably,” she nodded. “yeah that was crazy!” Puck exclaimed about the detention comment, “Oh that,” she chuckled, “it was insanity – I’m not looking forward to Quigley’s classes to say the least considering that he threatened the guy Kevin…and I heard from Zander my coPrefect that Kevin Hirase had flesh eating slugs put on him in his detention.” She explained shaking her head. Yep. This school was mental. “But…mine wasn’t that bad – just a talking creepy doll with my voice” she shuddered slightly at the thought but flesh eating slugs were worse weren’t they?

"That is valid, taking food, or making it somewhere else, like...yeah, the Room of Requirement." It was probably everyone's hiding place lately, just to sit, and relax, do what they pleased, get what they pleased. "When I practice there, for example, I take my food for after the exercise." She nodded.

She giggled when Toddles was mentioned, "Yeah, at least you share something with them, not...hoard it to yourself." Sigh. She listened as Puck mentioned who she missed, and blushed when she pointed it towards the boyfriend part. "Yeah, Kai is that...man that you miss the second after you just said goodbye to." And more like, Pal was just hopelessly in love with him. You could notice it in that sheepy tone she used...

And yeah, eating began, so did Puck's mention of their detention and the creepy, and probably worst punishments she had ever heard in life. Her stomach made a sound that she had to stop eating, for her sanity. "I would not be looking forward for a moment like that..." She blinked and shook her head. "Well, guess...Professor Q has a side nobody wants to see now." Crazy school that already was!

Puck grinned over to Paloma and chuckled, “yeah but you know it cant make the food for you sadly,” she sighed but you know what? Did that really matter not really it sometimes gave doors to places like here lets use this hole over here to get to Hogsmeade…that kind of awesome stuff. “Oh that makes sense – what is it you practice though? Dancing or music? Everyone here seems to have some kind of talent or another,” she chuckled and took a quick bite of her waffle.

Quickly chewing and swallowing before even attempting to speak again…because you know, manners, “very true” she chuckled. “I mean the house elves are sweethearts if you are nice to them,” she grinned and when Paloma brought up Kai she couldn’t help but grin. “Oh you really do seem in love, I’m happy for you” she wasn’t grinning anymore no, her face was all beamy for Paloma because that was special.

Oh had she just grossed her out? Oops. “Oh I’m sure you wont get into detention – yeah I guess so? But I’m just going to only answer the questions and do the activities he gives if I go to his classes…or I’ll bring apples with me,” she grinned because he really seemed obsessed with them.

BREAKFAST!

Zeke was down somewhat early for once. And not because he'd planned for it, no, if it had been up to his alarm clock he'd have only been here in another half hour. This particular morning, his stomach woke him up, grumbling, growing and super achey. He was STARVING. So after the quickest shower EVER in the history of mankind, and pulling on his uniform, grabbing his bag - which he assumed was filled with the correct textbooks, he headed straight down to the Great Hall for fooooood.

He didn't even notice anything out of the ordinary when he sat down at the Gryffindor table. All his brain could compute was eggs, bacon, toast and more bacon. So that's what he did, he loaded up his plate with the toasty warm goodies. It was only part way through stuffing his plateful in his mouth that he realised there was something amiss in the Great Hall today.

There was a patchy black and white CAT watching him eat further down the seat.

Huh?

Cat? It wasn't Professor Quigley, that much he could tell, but WHY was there a cat loose in the Great Hall? Had someone lost it? Zeke placed his fork on his plate, craning his neck to scan the present company in case someone was indeed looking for the feline. As it turned out, nobody was. Whoops?

THEN it hit him. The bunch of cats from Divination. The ones the Professor just LET LOOSE around the school. Gosh. Was this one of them? Had he FOUND one? Either way, he was aware of the homework task, and if this was Professor Cassie's cat then cool, but if it was another student's well... it didn't really matter now did it? A cat was a cat unless it was a human cat.

Shoving another forkful of food in his mouth, Zeke used his spare hand to rummage in his bag for some parchment and a pen. He didn't have the time or energy to fuss around with a quill right now.

CAAAATTTT... reading. Catomancy? No... Feliomancy? Yes? Whatever.

With his writing implements at the ready, he then rummaged in his bag for his Divination text. Did he have it? Or had be left it in his dorm? ..

...

....

Fingers searching... searching... searching... FINALLY clasped around the spine of what FELT like his Divination text. It was bigger than some of his others, and yet smaller than some too.

Sure enough, he had it, and so he set about observing the cat and flipped to pages 97 and 98.

The cat wasn't doing much of anything. Just sitting and staring. There was no stretching, licking, its tail wasn't pointing to fire, it wasn't turning or jumping or anything.

Boring. Was this cat not divine enough to tell him the future?

Just when he thought this was going to be a waste of his time - in which his toast would go cold - the cat DID something.... it swatted at the air toward him with a single paw.

ZOMG!

Wait... was that in the text? Zeke quickly ran a finger down the column of different behaviours and things until finally he hit the jackpot! If the cat swats at the air, it means you will get good news soon. BRILLIANT! What good news? Today? Tomorrow? Did he ace something? Get more points? Get away with something? WHAT?

Zeke scribbled his findings on his parchment, all the while stuffing his face at the same time. SUCCESS!

SPOILER!!: Cat #1

Thursday Morning
Gryffindor Table
Black and white patchy cat

The cat was sitting very still and not doing anything. According to the text none of how it was positioned mattered to divining the future and so it was pretty useless. The cat then raised a paw and swatted at the air, which DOES mean something in the end. It means that I will apparently be getting good news soon, though I don't have a clue what that might be about. Is it from you, Professor? Are you giving me full marks and an O? I hope so.

Once he was sufficiently full, and his notes and things were back in his bag, he grabbed ONE last triangle of toast and left for his first class of the day.

Mmmmmm, breakfast.

Lux didn't tend to eat at the Gryffindor table as much since her boyfriend Graduated, but she still spent a fair bit of time eating there with her amazing Lion friends.

Maybe because it was fairly morning, she didn't see anyone else at the table yet but that was okay since that meant more food for her. Hehehe. As she was about to heap eggs and bacon onto her plate, a cat curled up in a ball on the bench caught her eye. It was black but since she wasn't superstitious about that kind of thing she wasn't bothered in the least; in fact she thought the kitty was adorable and it appeared to be asleep at that.

Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her textbook so that she could read what this meant:

Quote:

Curled in a ball If a cat is curled in a ball everything is still and calm for the moment, but one should keep alert for something coming in the future.

...That wasn't too reassuring. Especially when she considered that this reading related to WEATHER. There was no need for icky weather as far as Lux was concerned and she would much rather know that things would be sunny and wonderful.

Sighing, she recorded the first observation in her notes:

Quote:

Cat 1: The first cat I found was a black kitty who was curled up in a ball and asleep on the bench of the Gryffindor table. This relates to weather and means that things are calm now but it's a good idea to be on the alert for something that is coming. I think that this relates to a bad snow storm or hail, and I do not like this prediction because I would much rather have sunny weather.

Winter really was the worst season of all.

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Kevin yawned as he entered the Great Hall for some breakfast before classes started. He immediately walked to his house table and sat down. Grabbing a few eggs, the Gryffindor grabbed a knife and fork and began to eat.

He had to stop though because out of nowhere, a brown cat jumped on the table next to him and tried to steal his egg. "Oi! bloody cat get off!" he shoo'd the cat off the table with his hand and watched as it sat next to him, staring up at him with big yellow eyes. Kevin sighed and looked around and saw that Lux also had a companion. And she was writing...oh wait! didn't they have that divination homework with cats?

Well, the cat was here already so why not? He took out his notebook and looked at the brown cat next to him.

Well, that wasn't too surprising really. Kevin laughed at this and then stroked the cat over its head. Cute.

He put his pen down and looked over at Lux as he took another bite of the egg. "OI! Carrington!" he waved his fork to get her attention. "Want to trade notes?"

Paloma chuckled, "Yeah, but I guess that is the beauty, to do it yourself, to taste the flavours, to see colours change..." She loved cooking, too bad it didn't happen often. She was always too tired to even try. She shrugged, mostly to give a double answer. "Actually, both. I sometimes put myself to play the piano or the guitar, but most times, it's ballet...it's always been that." Always. And she said it in a tone that well, meant that she wasn't tired of it. It would be her means of life.

With a blush, Paloma nodded and sighed again, SWOONED. "Yeah, I am...we are. Wish we didn't live far, or had these hectic schedules." It was the down, but she was happy with him. "Do you have someone...that could...be this level of special in your heart, Miss Puck?" She asked, curiously, raising her eyebrows as she took a sip of her juice.

"Apples. That's noted. Guess we just have to stick to their ways. They're new, many professors this year." It was hard, considering this was the last year, and not much time was left now. "So, what were you doing with all these books?" She asked her, pointing to all the textbooks in front of them, and opening one of them to start reading.

Paloma was a sweetheart. Really. She rather liked the Ravenclaw sixth year to be honest – the girl was really nice…and it was definitely awesome that she was a dancer. “That is awesome – I’ve always loved acting and music myself…I’ve never had a penchant for dance but people who can do it? They are so skilled” Puck gushed just slightly.

“Well I hope that he can visit you over one of the hogsmeade weekends” she smiled, because really she’d love to actually meet Paloma’s boyfriend because…well, he sounded like an awesome guy…and wasn’t he Jun’s brother? And heck seeing Jun and Justine would also be nice too. She missed them. Really. Did she have someone special? Puck chuckled.

“No, no one special for me yet” she admitted with a soft smile. “I…I’m just apprehensive about relationships sometimes?” She admitted somewhat sheepishly. “I mean, it would be great to trust someone enough to love them?” She admitted her cheeks reddening slightly as she thought about all the people she was beginning to trust.

Puck chuckled, “yeah well, I’m going to try and follow their ways…for the most part” she admitted and shrugged. Some people were too insane to follow their ways though. Really. Books? “Oh I was going to study for owls – but at the last minute I just grabbed all of my potions books so I could find ingredients for the ‘create-a-potion’ project thing?” She grinned. “I mean, I love potions and why not really work on the project? I’m…trying to make an ariel spray that induces a sort of boost to people’s confidence” she admitted and grinned.

Oi, Carrington? Was that seriously how she was being addressed??

Honestly, it was no great surprise coming from Kevin who wasn't exactly a gentleman and Lux did wonder how she had missed his arrival at the table. Probably was related to the fact that she had been busy working on her homework assignment. The real surprise was that Kevin wanted to share notes. Did he even do homework? Lux had nothing against Kevin, but he seemed to be a real slacker.

Eh, she'd gladly trade notes with him. With a "Sure!" she passed her notebook over while waiting to have his. Grabbing was rude and she didn't like being rude. With a smile, she thought about how much fun they would have looking for more cats because they were proably everywhere.

Sure? Hufflepuff's were so easy!

He took her notebook and read the note she had been writing about the cat. Although he hadn't said a thank you, the Gryffindor still nodded his head once and then grabbed his pen. It was too bad that she too only had written down one cat so far but it was better than nothing.

With that done Kevin read the note under it and thought of a way to describe it in his own words. He wasn't stupid you know. He thought for a moment before he went back to writing in his notebook again.

wow this was stupid. But what did one expect with a class like divination. Honestly , the only reason he took that class was because it would be easy unlike Aritmancy.

When he was finished, the fourth year shut his note book close and pushed it over the table towards Lux. He just wished she was smart enough to change his words in to her own. Looking around, he didn't see any more cats and he turned to the Hufflepuff. "Hey...can't believe i'm asking this but.... CatMan" meaning Quigley told me to use my time constructively and seeing as you're busy with this stupid assignment as well...you want to look for cats together and possibly sharing notes?" he asked. "The sooner this dumb thing is over the better to be honest" And it was at this time that the brown cat beside him sat down on his lap and purred loudly.

This caused Kevin Hirase to smile.

Wait, what was he doing?

SNORT. "You know you're not supposed to do that, right?" Because that was cheating as far as she knew. He also hadn't handed her his notes, but Lux supposed that was okay all and all. SHE didn't copy at least.

Honestly, she wasn't mad at him and if anything happened as a result it was all on HIM since she had told him he wasn't supposed to steal her work. Best if he just erased it and redid it on his own. "Yeah, sure! Maybe there are some cats lurking nearby." As in the Entrance Hall or outside the kitchens. Surely they wouldn't enter house elf territory; that wouldn't be very sanitary what with all the food!

Paloma gasped, "Acting? Music? Do you play an instrument?" She asked really, really "Well, if you ever need dance lessons, I think I could be a good teacher." She said, rather proud that she could share something she had learned through her life with her friends, mostly with ones who would appreciate it, or at least would have fun doing it.

With a slight nod, Paloma sighed. She really hoped that, for Kai to come to Hogsmeade one day and that he would meet her friends and viceversa. But times, they were becoming harder for them to meet those constant needs. "I totally understand. But...I never expected to...feel like this about Kai, and..." It just happened. She smiled wide and shrugged. There was nothing that could turn her back from what they had already. And Paloma hoped, that even if it took time, that Puck would find a good guy to trust and love, which was obviously starting when she noticed the red cheeks, and sheepysh expression.

Wow. Project? Had she not been listening in Potions class at all? Paloma just nodded, trying to find a way to slip out of it, the study talk, and the project thing, but she couldn't help it, the idea of boosting people's confidence with a potion was quite nice. "Especially if...some people need it some times. It could work like Felix Felicis? You know, the attitude that the potion causes triggers confidence to make the outcome even better?" She was not good at potions, so she had no idea.

Puck flushed slightly, “I really wanted to play the drums for well, forever? But my family is really not that fun? My mum was but I kind of live with my brother now” she shrugged and sighed. “So he was all Drums are loud Puck, he even was all irritated that I got a ‘unique’ named and he was named Colin…said my name wasn’t practical” she rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Anyways I probably will just try at the acting instead…really? I’d love that but I’ve a feeling that I wouldn’t be any good. I remember my mum tried to teach me something dance wise as a kid and I nearly knocked a mirror over,” she admitted with a laugh.

That was crazy…”wait no she was teaching me self defense then not dancing” she chuckled and grinned over to Paloma. “Well Kai’s great I’m sure of it” Puck smiled, “heck…isn’t he like Jun’s brother? Or cousin?” She asked and chewed her lip slightly, “because if so I’m sure he’s nothing but a gentleman” she grinned.

Really. Jun was nice. That’s what she had liked about him and why she had become such fast friends with him.

When Paloma brought up Felix Felicis Puck couldn’t help but grin, “that’s the exact idea I was going for – but save the possibly toxic side effects if someone uses too much of it?” She admitted grinning. “That and its not going to have lion fur in it because not everyone can just have lion fur in their potions kits” she admitted with a laugh.

Usually when Damien was hungry he would go down to the kitchens to eat in peace while he read or listened to music or whatever, but since the letter from Cristina he hadn’t been able to spend time alone, finding the action only lead to thought he was not fully prepared to handle. So today he was in the great hall, hungry, eager and anxious to hear the chatter of his peers all at once.

He hummed to himself as he grabbed a seat at the Gryffindor table, taking a plate and filling it up with mashed potatoes, fried chicken and some broccoli with cheese. – He was a growing boy with a growing appetite and no portion control – and grabbed a hot bun. Before digging in he tapped his goblet twice and watched with a grin as it filled up with root beer.

Yeah, this was just what he needed.

Food. That's all Zander could think about as he zombied his way down all those stairs. He had thought about going to the kitchens, make things a little simpler, but erm... He was really starting to run low on chocolate frogs now and whenever a trip to the Kitchens were involved, Toddles was also involved. And where there was Toddles, there was missing chocolates. Just his though. Toddles didn't seem to steal anyone else's things... Strange. Also rude. Strange and rude. But he'd hopefully avoid that situation with the Great Hall, though, he wouldn't really be able to avoid people. It was like a give and take. Can't have it all.

As he made his way to the Gryffindor table, he didn't really pay any attention and absentmindedly took a seat right across from one Damien Anderson Belfort. Oh, hi D.

Scooping up a bit of mashed potatoes, bits of corn, a couple of chicken legs, and some fresh fruit on his plate, the Gryffindor didn't spare even a second before he dug in. Still with a mouthful of food, he looked up from his plate to finally realize Damien was sitting right across from him. OH. HI, D. For rizzle this time. He gave the boy what must've been his most goofy looking grin yet, since he had a mouthful of food and all, before swallowing it all down so that he could talk. "Fancy seeing you here, Damien." Actually not so fancy after all... This was the Great Hall after all... And food was essential to survive... And yeah. Anyways. Damien was good company. Yup.

Why was Zander not noting Damien's presence? Had he done something to bring on the boy's wrath and loathing? This had been somewhat the case these past few weeks, first with Rorie randomly trying to friend break-up with him, then Aegis giving him the cold shoulder for literally no reason and now Eden who... Well, they were always on weird terms, but lately she'd taken to blaming him for the lack of friendship between Eden and Rorie, and then Paloma was-

deep breath.
He needed to cut that thought right in the bud, and now before it properly took root in his mind again. But, really, the boy had no idea how he kept seeming to irk people, he was perfectly amiable, nice to everyone no matter what.... Maybe too nice? DID PEOPLE THINK HE WAS TOO NICE? OH SHIZ. HE WAS, WASN'T HE? IT PROBABLY DROVE PEOPLE CRAZY. Maybe he ought to be more like Ror, more sarcastic and cool....

Damien had been about to ask Zander what he'd done to earn this icy welcome when the prefect looked up and gave Damien the goofiest smile of all space and time, and never was he more grateful for that dumb grin. "Yeah, what are the odds, the two of us ending up eating together at our shared house table, in our shared school? Crazy." Damien good-naturedly joked, his own grin wide with the force of his relief. The American wouldn't have been able to take having another good friend suddenly grow angry with him.

Okay, okay so maybe it wasn't so fancy seeing him here. BUT STILL. Merlin, maybe his mum was right about having to work on his conversational skills. Goodness. Ahem. Zander let out some nervous-sounding uh no... forced-sounding uh sorta... okay, just some weird-sounding laughter as he drew a hand back to mess with his hair. "I... Okay, maybe not so fancy..." he knew it was all in good fun, but he was still a bit embarrassed okay? It's like what he did best. That and give goofy grins. Ahem.

Casually grabbing his spoon, he took a big scoop of potatoes before looking back up at D again. "In my defense... I don't normally see you around the Great Hall, don't you normally just go to the kitchens or something?" That was a guess actually. But, he had gone to the kitchens with the boy before. PLUS they were like totally growing men over here so Damien had to eat somewhere! Unless... Unless the house elves were starting to make personal deliveries and one Zander Adair was left out once again. Hmph. Just another thing to grumble about, add it to the list. No problem.

Anyways, where was he? Oh yes. Potatoes. HEH. Nom. Nom. Nom. Hogwarts really did 'em right. You go Hogwarts. Four points for you Hogwarts. MAN. So good. Looking back up to his friend, Zander gave him a good nod of the head. The potatoes, man. Go for the potatoes. "Anyways, how have you been?" he asked, not even caring to finish up his bite before he spoke. Oops. Manners. He had them most of the time.

She listened to Puck and blinked. Why would she live with her brother now? Why woudn't she just tell him to mind his own business and not complain about the fact that his sister was unique? Maybe it was one thing that Pal and Puck had to talk about sometime later, when they were not around so many people. "Well, I think your name is awesome, and playing the drums is absolutely amazing. In fact, Kai plays the drums." Which made it amazing, meaning that they could get along if they met soon. "And about acting, you should try it." She said with a wink.

And now she giggled. Well, the story about the defense lessons were great, and it took some time to think about the moment. When Puck mentioned Kai being Jun's brother, she immediately grinned, "Yep, his older brother, actually, and they now have a one year old sister, too. She is adorable." She gushed at the thought of the little one. "He is a gentleman. A man." Again, you could hear that swoon coming all the way from diaphragm to her lips. She was hopeless.

Paloma nodded. Yep, not many people had lion fur in their kits. She was sure she had finished all her lion fur during the latest Potions lessons. "True. So, how would it work? What is the main effect of your project?" She was curious now. Too curious...to feel confident.

It wasn't too long a trek down from the library to the Great Hall. And when they stepped inside the swung-open double doors, there was still remnants of the nearest meal so it seemed Benny had been correct that they might just have what they need. Though he supposed they could always ask a house-elf for assistance, but he hadn't wanted to be trying this down in the bustle of the kitchens.

Making his way towards their mutual house table, Benny moved to take a seat along the one bench, laying the book down in front of him. He pulled a nearly empty bowl from nearby and slipped out his wand from his pocket. "Scourgify..." he cast, cleaning it out as he awaited his partner to join him.

There were still snacks! This was going to be EPIC.

Seating himself opposite of Ben - because he learned better from demonstrations than from reading anyway - he started by following the older Lion's lead.

Bowl. Check. But cleaning it? It was already pretty clean looking, no? Ehhh... wouldn't do any harm in having another clean. So wand in hand, Zeke cast the same charm, "Sourgify."

"Is this to hold the fish in?" he asked, wondering if he should fill it with water.