Kyle wandered into the common room and looked around as he sang quietly.

"Its like a girl and a boy,
Making little bundles of joy,
But instead its plants with seeds,
its a botanical copulaaaaatioooon!"

He wondered if anyone else learned that song from his father's first wife and passed it down to their children. Surely there had to be someone. But then again, who else would care to remember a song about cross-pollination from when they were children, right?

Jace looked away from the small ball of earth that was floating in front of him upon hearing the sudden noise. He quickly looked back in time to see it crumble onto the floor. "Blast it." He muttered and sighed heavily. "Can't get distracted Jace, the evil wizards won't." he pushed the dirt into a pile and stared at it hard.

Kyle looked over to see a boy seeming to be playing with... dirt? While he liked to get his hands dirty himself, it was an odd thing to see in the common room. He went over and kneeled by the other boy, curious. "What're you doing?"

Looking over at the other boy, "Homework from my actual home." He frowned looking back the dirt, "Dad says that being able to do wandless magic is very useful and that perfect practice makes perfect. So I gotta practice." He took a deep, centering breathe and focused on the pile again. Slowly it twitched and swirled up into a small ball and floated up infront of the two boys. Sweat beading out on Jace's forhead with the effort.

Kyle blinked, then blinked again. "Whoa... That's awesome. Can you only do that with dirt?" He thought about stories his father told, about two young boys at Hogwarts that could do elemental magic. But he'd only heard about fire, not about earth. "I mean, could you control... say... fire?"

Jace didn't look away from the ball, "Dad can do all of them, but he started with fire. I just can't seem to keep it lit. Earth is easiest for me, But I hope to be as good as Dad was when he graduated." The small ball began to spin on an invisible access. Sweat began to practically pour off of him.

Fire. He said his dad worked with fire. That might mean... "Your last name isn't... Lorenssith, by any chance, is it? I mean, are you related to Trelane or Alexander?" Please be Trelane. Please be Trelane. Kyle wasn't sure if Jace knew the history between their fathers if it was Alex, but Kyle knew. And he didn't want to be frowned upon by someone because of some bad blood between their parents.

The ball of earth fell back to the floor as Jace lost all of his focus. "What?" He looked the other boy up and down wondering for the first time who his parents where that he knew his father. "Alex is my father and Uncle Trey is...well...ya...Why? Who are your parents?"

Please don't let this be a half brother from Cassandra, I don't instantly hate this person and would mind a friend...Dad would flip He thought quickly

Oh great. Alex. Kyle took a deep breath and prepared for the worst. "My father is Armand Erikson. My mother is Rin Erikson." He braced himself, hoping for the best and expecting the worst. Although, really, what was the worst that could happen? It's not like he'd get maimed over this. Maybe they just would never speak again. And maybe, just maybe, they could wind up being friends instead.

Jace let a huge sigh of relief. "Oh thank merlin, I was afraid you were a half brother from Cassandre. Mr. Erikson and Dad don't exactly get along, but not my monkey not my circus...Right?" He looked hopefully at the other boy.

Please don't our parents...disagreement...ruin a friendship...

Kyle laughed. "Not my monkey, not my circus, indeed." He looked relieved. "Dad had the utmost respect for your dad, and was kinda afraid of him, you know." He grinned. "You know, I could use a friend around here. I'm Kyle Erikson."

Jace smiled, "Cause of the Kneezle thing?" He chuckled, " My dad does respect your father as well. He's still hurt by what happened, but I don't think that is something that will heal for him." He shrugged, " Jace Lorenssith, Pleasure to meet you."

A long day of studying and homework, Jonas was finally done with his work. He sighed and flopped on the couch paying little attention to the other students. He just silently acknowledged them and got out a book to read. Something about creatures.

"Jace... Pleasure to meet you as well." Kyle smiled. "And yeah, 'cause of the kneazle thing. Dad won't even go into the pet store because the kneazles and crupps are so close together. So we never had a pet. Before I was born dad had Nostradomus, who was his first wife's kneazle." He thought back. "I think that was his name, anyway. It was either that or Nosferatu, but that doesn't sound right." He plopped down on his butt. "So, have any siblings? You mentioned being worried I was a half-brother or something."

Jace acknowledged the other boy with a silent nod. "Dad had too much fun with that. He took it as a skill honing exercise after the first few years. Ya I have Two olders and one younger. Plus three halfs from Dads first marriage, but I haven't ever really met them. You?"

"Two older brother and two older sisters. My brothers and one of my sisters are triplets. They're 20 years old. My other older sister is 15. I'm the youngest." He looked at the ball of earth. "Dad had a son before, named Damien. But he and dad's first wife were killed by someone named Thanatos."

Jace frowned, " Ya he killed my grandmother as well." He shoot with visible effort, "hey I would love to keep talking, " He paused to yawn," But I need to hit the hay, earth moving like that really takes it outta me."

"Yeah, I should go to bed too." Kyle smiled. "Goodnight, Jace." He stood, happy to have made a friend, and made his way to the dormitory.

"Good night Kyle." Jace followed him out, also glad to have made a friend.

Oliver decided he was going to try and do some studying in the Common Room. Sure there was a study table for that.. but that sounded a little boring and typical and he liked the seats in the common room better.. it helped him feel more relaxed. Stressing seemed to come easy when studying..

He was reading though his CoMC book. The chapter was on the Augurey.. But his concentration was slipping.. and the words melding together, letters appearing wrong and he kept reading the same sentence over and over. He kept reading the same sentence over and over. He kept reading the same sentence over and over.

Nope.

He closed the book, knowing that the word 'Auyureg' was not right. Sigh. He didn't have the focus to be studying alone.. Maybe something would distract him and he could just pretend to forget and procrastinate.

Kye really needed to work on her Charms paper. It was due in two days, and she had barely given it a thought. This was going to become a problem...

She made her way to the common room and decided to give herself 10 minutes to lounge in a comfy chair before getting to work. She noticed a boy who she believed was a year above her and his painful attempts at studying, and sighed.

She curled up in a chair, and was quite comfy. She curiously watched the struggling studier. Care of Magical Creatures, eh? Wasn't her strong suit either. Kye could never imagine herself working with things like fire crabs on a daily basis... maybe her cat and such, but that was where her imagination with pets ended. I'll probably drop it after OWLs, she thought to herself.

The student shut the book, and it seemed to take Kye back to the Common Room. "Studying seems to be going well..." she mused at him, and pulled out a chocolate frog. "Don't worry, I'm in the same boat with Charms right now... want some?"

She broke the frog in somewhat-half and offered him the frog's head.

Oliver jumped a bit as the girl spoke.. He didn't know anyone else was even in the room.. Honestly he was that wrapped up in his attempt at studying. He needed this class. It was one of the few that were paramount to his career path.

But Dyslexia was a very difficult hurtle to jump when it came to studying non-practicals.

"Oh, yes.. Delightfully." His tone was sarcastic but friendly, he was annoyed with the book and his brain, not her. "Oh, yeah thanks. That's really nice of you." Because who didn't like a free candy?

"I'm Oliver by the way.." He offered her his hand to shake, leaning over his books to stretch his hand so she could reach it. She looked younger than him but sometimes it was hard to tell how much older or younger someone was.

Clank.

Clunk.

Clank.

Was the loudly sound coming from the Baron's chains as he floated through the dungeons and into the Slytherin common room to hover near the center fireplace. The pale and pearly white transparent and gaunt faced spectre was in an right grympy mood, more so than usual.

It was evident when he groaned out in a hoarse whisper to any student within earshot. "I hate Valentines Day! Can they stop people from celebrating this cursed and idiotic holiday already?"

Kye shoved her half of the chocolate frog into her mouth, and looked up at the boy as he introduced himself. "I've seen you around.." she said, tilting her head to the side. She met his hand with her own, "I'm Kye, I think I'm a year under you...? I'm a fourth year."

She looked at him inquisitively, wondering if she was right.

She put her bag on the floor and adjusted her sitting position to talk to Oliver easier. She realized that this was a step back from the whole 'getting the Charms paper done.' She promised herself it would happen. She'd work on it in just a second.