Cupcakes! Oh yes, she had made her first batch off cupcakes this year, so many more to come. Can you say, yum? Her dormmates, and her cousin were the luck ones getting them first. She had also send, Brady, Benton, and Henry a cupcake it was always customary that they always got one when she made them. She bounced into the dormroom and sat the tray of cupcakes on her bed. She was starting to feel better about things now.

She would have to ask Henry if he would want to help her made the next batch of cupcakes with her. They had made them together last year and they had a fun time with that. Kat spotted one of her room mates in the dorm, Etta. "Would you like a cupcake?" She would save one for the other girls as she seen them or just leave it on their bedside table.

Etta was being lazy. Classes had not even started yet but she was already feeling exhausted. She had spent the most part of the day exploring almost everything there was to explore in Hogwarts. Starting from the seventh floor corridor, right down to the lake.. she'd been everywhere. Except the forbidden forest, which was apparently very scary and students weren't allowed to go in but she was curious. What was inside? Maybe she should go to the library the next day and read about it. Mhmm.

.... And Kat's voice disrupted her thoughts. A cupcake. Of course! Did Kat even have to ask? She got out of her bed and moved to pick one from the tray. "Thanks, Kat." She had a small bite before continuing with a smile, "It's delicious."

Of course, see no one ever said no to her cupcakes. She gave her dormmate a smile. "Thank you and your welcome." Beaming at her. She was just going to sit here and have a cupcake for herself. She had to save one from herself.

'How's the term going so far for you?" It wasn't that far into the term, but she thought she would be nice and ask. She liked spending time with her dormmates and getting to know them. Etta seemed pretty cool too. She did like her cupcakes so that was a plus.

How was the term going? Hmmmm. Etta shrugged, having another bite of her cupcake. "Not bad actually. I kind of like it here.. it's great." Yes. Way better than she'd initially expected. Quite a pleasant surprise, eh? She was feeling a little homesick every now and then, because that was to be expected after being home schooled, yes? But still. Overall, it was lovely.

"How about you? For how long have you been here?"

Kat smiled she was glad that Etta liked it here and that the term going for her. Taking a bite of her own cupcake. She thought that since Ette and her were the only ones in the dorm at the moment that she would go ahead and put the other cupcakes on the other girls bedside tables.

Answering Etta's question. "Term has been okay so far. I've been here since my first year." Minus the bit of drama already it was good. She had always known she would be here. Her parents went here and so did her older brother and much of her family.

"What all have you seen so far." Maybe she would take her somewhere she hadn't been yet. There were lots of places to discover and explore, especially if were new and knew someone who knew their way around the cool parts of the castle

First year? Ooooh. Etta wished she had started as a first year as well.. Hogwarts was way better than being homeschooled. She was learning SO much here compared to all the lessons she had back home. "You must like it here, right?" Silly question because who wouldn't? But you know, just to make conversation.

What had she seen? Hmm. Etta's eyes brightened up, feeling a little excited. "The grounds, most of the corridors... I think, I saw a couple of interesting statues.." She forgot the names, though. "The Bakery room, obviously the great hall and... the kitchen." Yes, quite a few places. She paused for a moment before she went on, looking slightly curious.

"Do you think I have missed something?"

"I love it here!" Could you hear the excited tone in her voice? She grinned. "So did you go to another school before or were you homeschooled?" She supposed that was really the only two possible options. Really though, she was pretty sure that if her mother had her way her Phillip would be homeschooled, Thank goodness for her dad.

The blonde nodded. Yes she had to agree with all of those places too. "I like the greenhouses, treehouse and the lake." And those were just her favorite outdoor places. " Then there is the music room, kitchen and the room of requirement." Probably one of the best places in the whole castle, if you knew about it.

With a small laugh, "Probably, it's a huge castle with a lots of different places."

"Homeschooled." Etta said, with a nod. Very different, right? The reason why Etta liked it at Hogwarts so much. She had never imagined that school could be so enjoyable! Not that homeschooling had been bad.. but she never really got to meet people her own age that much unfortunately.

Hm. "I've never been to the music room before." Not that she'd have any reason to. She could play the piano but not that well. As far as singing was concerned.. NOPE. She loved music but couldn't sing at all. "... or the room of requirement." That sounded interesting. "Where is that exactly?" Etta was curious.

As of late, Althea had been restless. Mostly because her scarab was constantly trying her patience, but also mostly due to her brothers feeling the need to broaden their horizons via socialization. With other people. People that weren't related to them. Meaning: not Althea. She was annoyed as she marched into the dormitory, eyebrows furrowed, muttering to herself. (Really she was telling off the interloping whisperers that kept bothering her all day. She didn't have time for their incessant chatter!)

Plopping down on her bed, because she felt the need to do everything dramatically, the fourth year placed her pillow over her face in order to muffle her shrieking. Instantly, she'd felt relieved. With flushed cheeks, she removed her pillow and exhaled. "I really need to find better ways to unwind."

Etta walked up to her dorms, glad to be done with classes for the day. She felt like she was constantly stressed these days.. classes, homework, dueling. It was a bit overwhelming at times, actually. But, summer holidays were approaching! She smiled at that thought as she walked through the door, immediately collapsing on her bed. Phew, finally! Maybe she could just skip dinner and sleeeeeep.

---- But then, she heard someone talking? Who was th--- Oh, Althea. They had never really talked before, which was weird. Etta eyed the other girl for a moment before she spoke. "Hi."

Because she was such a well-adjusted kid, Althea hadn't bothered becoming friendly with her dorm mates. Why would she need to? Levi and Declan were perfect company--plus they now had Daisy aka Chicken Girl and they'd been steadily recruiting others to join their circle. So much social development this term! Which was why, when she'd heard the door open and subsequently when she'd heard someone plop onto their bed, she hadn't acknowledged them. Until the girl spoke.

Sitting up, Althea turned to the nearby voice. What was her name again? Coretta? Ethel? Whatever, she'd figure it out eventually. She blinked several times before responding. "Aren't you the shameless girl whose been hanging around my brother? You've got a lot of nerve," she flipped her hair over her shoulders and peered at Etta carefully. "Cute as you are, I don't take to interlopers very well; what are your intentions?" She asked in earnest because, well, Declan and Levi never thought far enough ahead to ask these sorts of questions. They just accepted everyone for who they were right off the bat! Much too naive in her opinion.

..... Shamless? Etta just stared in horror at the other girl, feeling stunned. WHAT. WHY. Because she enjoyed Declan's company? The feeling of astonishment slowly turned to one of annoyance very soon. So much for wanting to bond with a dorm mate. "He's my friend." And basically, that's ALL Althea needed to know. Thank you very much. Also.. was it any of her business?

HAHAHAH interloper. Etta could feel her face turn pink, wanting to cry but also wanting to throw a hex at the other girl. "You're crude." She finally replied, trying to sound as dignified as possible. "I don't have any intentions.. and I don't see why I need to explain anything to you." But unfortunately, she could feel the tears start to prick the corners of her eyes. Ew, no.

Friend or not, it was always going to be Althea's business because there was nothing that happened in her brothers' social lives that she wasn't aware of. "A little too friendly, if you ask me," especially since she didn't know anything about the girl. One could never be too careful these days. She was fully prepared to question the girl some more, but then...she started getting emotional.

Amazing.

"Crude? Explain." Because she did not understand what the girl was going on about. Althea had been very transparent in her questions. She wanted to know her intentions--what was so crude about that? "You need to explain to me because he's my brother. What is so hard to understand about that?" Was the girl hard of hearing? Did she mishear and misunderstand her at the same time?? Inhaling deeply, Althea tried to relax. There was no use getting worked up over a girl who on the verge of tears.

"Oh, come on, don't cry now. I didn't even say anything worth crying over." She reached into her schoolbag and pulled out a some tissues--her allergies always got the best of her during the day, so she had to always be prepared--and handed them to her. There. She absolutely could be friendly. "If you're genuine about being friends with my brother then you really need to get a backbone, girl. Usually I interrogate people more harshly."

Excuse me? A little too friendly? What was she implying? Etta wasn't sure what to make of this girl. As his sister, she could ( maybe ) understand Althea's questions but why be rude about it.. right? She glared at the other girl. "What makes you think I'm being 'too friendly'?"

Okay, wow. "You know what? I don't deserve to be spoken to like that, okay? I'm his friend and that's all you need to know. I can understand.. why you're being protective but I don't owe you any explanation whatsoever." ... well. Etta was almost surprised at herself. She couldn't remember when she had spoken to someone like that before. But it felt.. good somehow?

--- Etta brushed her tears away with irritation, accepting the tissues all the same. Ugh, she really disliked crying but UGH. Stupid emotions. She eyed the girl but remained quiet. Yeah, no. The girl didn't have anything more to say for now.

Helga help her. With a dramatic roll of her eyes, Althea tried her best to break it down to her dorm mate. "First of all, in order to roll with Declan, you gotta get through me first. That he didn't even tell you this is astounding to me." It's like Declan wanted Althea to act out. The outburst both surprised and amused Althea. Astounding. She laughed, threw her head back and everything, out loud--if Declan was hanging around Etta because of her humor, then Althea couldn't blame him. The girl was mad.

"Look who actually has a spine," Althea said, once she'd calmed down. "You still have to toughen up a bit before you can really hang around Declan. My brothers and I will eat you alive with how weak-willed you are." If Althea had to compare her to something, it would be an extremely wet, extremely limp, noodle. Without any sauce and seasonings. It was really sad. "And, stop calling yourself his friend, I really don't think he refers to you as such." Which wasn't entirely untrue. She really hadn't heard Declan mention her in any sort of context, except maybe in passing. If she had any issue with that, she'd have to take it up with her older brother.

Get through HER? Etta simply shook her head, not really comprehending that statement. So people had to take this weird girl's permission first? WHY? That didn't even make sense! Did she even realise how silly she sounded? Like a four year old.. except four year olds were way more cuter ------- and then she was laughing?! WHAT. THE. HECK. Such an evil person laugh. Etta gulped, her hand suddenly tightening around her wand. You know, just in case.

Weak-willed, spineless.. blah blah blah. It really bothered and surprised her that someone who didn't even KNOW her can make soooo many assumptions about her and think they're right too. And Etta knew for a fact that she was none of those things. None.

"Yes, well. I think of him as a friend and that's IT. ME. ETTA. I can't speak for other people, including your brother. So stop telling people what to do. Kindly worry about yourself." And change your freakin' attitude, please. ..... so much for wanting to be friends with her.

"Your drama is nauseating," Althea said, giving her a wide-eyed stare. She didn't see what the issue was. They were pretty standard and routine questions that most people--the ones who she'd eventually accepted--were able to answer.

And yet...

"You're so defensive but you don't even know him," she shook her head. The girl's nonsense was absurd. "I don't even understand what you're upset about. You have literally, like a parrot, have repeated the same things over and over and over." If she'd had any hope of making a case in her favor, she was doing a terrible job. Nothing she'd said was impressive nor was it defendable. At all.

Drama? When Etta didn't even say a word? Wow.. Althea didn't really understand things, did she? Or maybe she just liked to be mean to people for no reason? Probably made her feel better about herself somehow.. Being the dignified person that she was or trying to be, Etta remained quiet.

"That's because you keep asking the SAME thing over and over." Etta replied, raising an eyebrow. Did Althea even hear herself? She sounded so ridiculous, it was almost shocking.. and annoying. ".. and you don't know me, either. So stop making assumptions."

Exhaling deeply, Althea started to feel a migraine was coming on. "I keep asking because you have not given me an adequate response, and because you haven't given me an adequate response...," she inhaled through her nostrils, a clear sign of her frustration. "I feel like you aren't good enough to hang around, talk to, or even look at Declan."

It wasn't such an unrealistic assessment in her opinion. She just, to put it quite frankly, was not good enough. "I'm only making assumptions because what you've been giving me isn't interesting at all." And because she was such a saint, Althea felt like throwing the girl a bone. "Prove me wrong then. Tell me about yourself."

Not good enough to talk with someone? Wow, okay. Etta felt beyond exasperated at this point. She plopped back down on her bed, completely ignoring what she said. That didn't even deserve a response, did it? Ignore, ignore.

The girl turned to look at her dormmate, raising her eyebrows.. CLEARLY unimpressed. She didn't see why she needed to prove someone wrong, especially when that someone was an Althea Kenning. Hmph. But Etta didn't feel like making things even more difficult so..

"I can draw pretty well, play the piano, like Quidditch, good at the academics aaaaaand.. love to eat? Yeah." She yawned and distractedly played with the ends of her hair, already starting to worry a little about homework that was due the next day. "Happy now?"

For someone so small, Etta sure plopped herself down like a cow. Althea wondered if she had any home training at all (which was rich, coming from her.) She didn't say that out loud, though, Etta seemed to be having such a hard time with hearing her truths aired out by someone who didn't immediately like her. Funny.

"So, what, you're like an artsy, creative type then?" She asked because she actually was interested in creative people--how creative a wet potato like Etta could be, only Helga could know. "'Ey, don't catch an attitude with me, lil' bit." The nerve of that girl; Althea was really trying to be nice, and it was like she didn't want her kindness at all! So much for smoothing things out. "Where do you even store all of that sass? You're so tiny."

Right this curfew stuff was getting old, did it really make things that much safer? It was hard to tell honestly. It was fine.. but there was only so much of the common room see could take. She had built a blanket fort in a corner of the common room and that had helped with some of the boredom on the times.

Today though Kat made a detour to the kitchen to give herself enough time to make some cookies for the dorm. Yes these today's she was expanding her cupcakes to her cookies, thought she wasn't giving up her cupcakes completely.

The blonde headed up to her dorm, platter of a variety of different cookies in hand, came crashing through the door of the dorm. Oh yeah hi. "Hey Hi. I bought us cookies!" Sitting the platter down in the center of the room. She looked between her two dormmates and blinked. What did she just walk into? She gave both of them confused looks and flopped on her own bed.

Etta almost smirked, ALMOST. It felt rather nice to get on someone's nerves, didn't it? She irritated Althea.. it was a rather enjoyable feeling. Mhmm. "Creative? Yeah, I suppose." She replied, giving a small shrug of the shoulders. "Drawing is something that I'm good at and I love it." She considered showing her dormmate a few of her drawings but nah.. maybe later.

"You're just as tiny as I am." Etta retorted, eyeing the other girl. "But I'm glad you think I'm sassy." She added with a teeeeny-tiny smirk, that would obviously annoy the other girl.

----

AND then Kat showed up all of a sudden. Etta wasn't even sure what she was even up to these days. She seeemed to act all weird and mysterious.. Hm. "Hi. Thanks for the cookies." She said with a smile and took one. Heh. She wasn't one to refuse food. Not ever.

Althea eyed the girl lazily, and played with her pillow. "Hmmm, well I'm not going to ask you to show me because you probably won't do it." Not to mention, she was exhausted from the duration and theatrics of the conversation. Her stomach growled and she rubbed it, wondering if she could slip into the Kitchens for some snacks.

The comment astounded her, because it was incredibly absurd. "Me? As tiny as you?" She snorted and shook her head. "I'm like a good fifteen centimeters taller," and she was still growing. Althea's goal was to become taller than her brothers in order to feel even more imposing than she already was. "It wasn't really a compliment," she narrowed her eyes at the girl, fully ready to say something else when she'd heard another come into the room. Honestly, she couldn't keep up with her dorm mates these days; it was like they multiplied over night!

"You came at a very good time," Althea said, making a bee-line for the plate. Placing one in her mouth, she smiled, satisfied that she could temporarily sate her hunger. "Thanks, uhh...," what was her name again? Kayla? No. Krista?? No, that didn't feel right either. "Kat!" she blurted, not even sure if that was actually the right name. It would have to do as Althea was busy eating and couldn't be bothered correcting herself. "You calm now?" she asked Etta as she sat down on her bed.