Tell her long lost brother to shove off? She gave a wry smile. "Realleh, jus' like that?" Dora was such a Gryffindor sometimes. And Sam wasn't actually convinced it would work. Usually when she told Al to shove off, they just ended up in a game rough and tumble over who was gonna do the dishes. "I suppose. I'm kinda nervous excited about it, s'all."

It was a big new thing.

Another big new thing.

At that mocking, Sam pushed higher off the ground to catch up with her friend. "Pfft, I'm not that short! Jus' cos you 'ad another growth spurt over the 'olidays!" She was catching up, slowly. "But you're probably right. 'e's your age and a boy too."

"Nah, c'mon, what's up? Yeh solved my problem, didn't yeh? Only fair I reciprocate."

"Yeah, just like that. Not like you owe him anything," she said with a shrug. It was definitely a Gryffindor thing. She had no problem cutting people out of her life now. Not even a little bit. It was actually getting easier as she got older, it seemed. "And I totally understand the excitement. This is pretty important and exciting stuff," she said with a grin toward her friend before closing her eyes and letting the crisp air hit her face.

She let herself laugh as Sam got peeved about the teasing. She knew it was all in good fun. All of it. Even the reaction to her teasing. Hehe. "Wonder if he and I will get along like you and Al do." Which was sometimes better than she and her twin did. Ha! Sibling rivalry, tho.

The blonde considered spilling everything about Casper and Echo and things... but this was time for Sam. She was not going to get into it now. Maybe some other time, but definitely not right now. "Seriously, it was nothing important. And I love that you said reciprocate. You're getting much better," she went on, trying to change the subject.

"No, but is it..." She hesitated, wondering whether she should even verbalise the thought. "Is it bad to think like I'm owed something? Not like money or anyfink, but a proper explanation?" Not to say she wasn't excited about it sd well, just it was a thought, and it happened to be there in her brain. She was a Ravenclaw, and consequently she couldn't put it aside easily.

She couldn't be mad at Dora when she knew the Gryffindor was only teasing, and Sam laughed too as she swung higher. "I dunno. Although I find Al infuriating too at times..." She just didn't have the sibling rivalry to go alongside it, and found it far easier to humour him when necessary. "You'll come with me to meet 'im, right?"

Sam gave a little frown at the dismissal, and looked at her friend as she swung past. "If you're sure." She trusted her, and they could always talk on the way back to the castle if it was something that needed to be a little more private than gliding through the air. "You do? I learnt it last week." She beamed at the praise. "I learnt onomatopoeia too, but I think that one's less useful."

What did she like about traveling? Now that was a great question. Was everything a valid answer? The food, the culture, the history. “Everything. The food, the culture, the history. I love going to a new country and getting to explore their culture. It’s fun,” she grinned. She had always loved going on adventures. She was happy to have been sorted into Gryffindor for that reason. It was a good house for her. “Do you enjoy traveling?” asked Olivia, returning the question. Ireland sounded absolutely beautiful. She grinned, listening to her new friend describe the country. She was about to ask another question when the other girl too her that she hoped that she visited New Zealand one day. Olivia hoped to! Oh? And she’d go with her. “That’d be awesome. I’d love it if you could come too!” It’d be awesome to go there with Etta.

She chuckled. “You sound like my brother, Simon.” Olivia glanced down at her hands. Simon had been so bent on finding a cure or an explanation for what had happened. Olivia, too, had looked for one but not as hard as her brother. “No, no, it’s fine.” Etta seemed like a nice girl. So Olivia would sate her new friend’s curiosity. “My brother spent years trying to figure out a cure. He looked at science, magic, and religion even. He was unsuccessful.. Magic can’t help her as her incident was physical and not magic induced.” She sighed. The brunette chuckled at Etta telling her off for apologizing. Alright. Note to self: don’t apologize. She grinned when she heard Etta speak of her mother. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. She was glad that Etta was close to her mother. “She sounds wonderful.”

“Marcus…” Marcus was tough. “Marcus doesn’t believe that magic exists. I think he’s a little upset that he doesn’t have the same abilities that Simon and I have which is the reason why he makes fun of us.” He had always had a closed mind and never let himself wonder at different possibilities. She found it rather sad that he closed off his mind to magic. At the mention of Simon, she beamed. She LOVED him. He was the best. “Simon is the best. He and I are very different. He’s much more quiet than me. He loves solving riddles. He ought to have been a Ravenclaw.” Her brother would have made an impeccable Ravenclaw. Good grades, sound logic, and whatnot. However, he did have a cunning side. “What house were your parents in?” she asked, wondering if they had been in the same house or different ones.

Olivia remained silent and listened to Jacob speak about his time in America and then moving over to the United Kingdom. Not making friends within the last month of school was understandable. Everyone had established friend groups by then. Olivia beamed when Etta looked back her way. “Right! We’re friends,” she said with an enthusiastic nod. She paused, continuing to listen to Jacob speak about the possibility at getting to choose a house at Illvermorny. WOW. That was impressive for sure. The ability to chose your own house. And then Jacob clarified. Ohhh… That made more sense. So it was like the Sorting Hat asking for your opinion about which house. “My brother was asked which house he’d like to be in between Ravenclaw and Slytherin by the Hat.”

“Rightly so!” He ought to have apologized for that. Merlin’s Beard. Americans. She laughed, enjoying this way too much. Extra letters did mean extra work. She could get behind that. “That could take a while.” Some people were proud of spelling things with extra letters. Her brother was definitely in that camp of people. “Mm.. Though it is extra work!” She beamed, enjoying this conversation immensely.

Then Jacob asked Henrietta about her name. Ooh. Henrietta sure looked uncomfortable. “I think it’s a great name either way, Etta!” added Olivia with a grin. And to Jacob’s question, she nodded. She did have nicknames. “Oh! Sometimes I’m called Ollie, Liv, O, Holden, or ‘Hey you!’.” She chuckled. “Though I do enjoy Ollie and Liv the most.” His question made her wonder about his own name. “What about you? Do you also go by a shorter name?”

Sam caught a blur of brown hair as Junia jumped off her swing. And inwardly, he had to admit that he was quite impressed with that performance. Junia was serious about winning this swing-jumping competition.

Then again, so was Sam.

He pumped his legs a few more times, building that height back up until he risked looping himself over the bar. "Ready to lose?!" He called, the adrenaline causing him to grin. Oh yes, this was it. He was swinging even higher than Junia had been!

On the next peak forward, Sam launched off of the seat of the swing, not only propelling forward but also reaching a formidable height. And in that short time, his stupid body seemed to shift - NOT the right way.

Oh no.

Uh oh.

He could tell this wasn't gonna be pretty...

SNAP. Right on his arm, a very un-stuck landing. The pain made his mouth stretch and everything else on his face crinkle. "Oww, aaaah! Ow! Juni!" He called through gritted teeth. OW. HALP HIM.

Junia realized shortly after Sam released his hold on the swing that something horrible was going to happen. The height and the speed and the way his body was falling all equaled disaster and the brunette couldn't stand to watch his landing, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. Perhaps it made the sound-that snap-more easily heard and when it happened, her eyes were open and she was running to his side.

"Sam! You're no good at jumping from swings, Merlin!" Okay, maybe not the best time to point that out but she was panicking here, okay? "The sound your arm made, that can't be good. Can you move it at all? No-wait, don't move it! I'm not sure you're supposed to move an injury like that." Honestly, she didn't know anything at all about arm injuries and how to heal them. "Please be alright." Please. Please. Please.

No good at jumping? "Yeah, thanks for pointing that out!" What excellent input, Junia! Okay, okay. This wasn't helping. By this point, Sam had rolled off his injured arm so that the other one could hold it. Ow. Merlin's beard, this hurt. What an idiot he was! And in front of Junia, too. He tried to keep his groan to himself.

"I don't think I want to move it," he agreed, after she'd amended her suggestion. His face was still all twisty from the pain. "Do you want to come with me to the hospital wing?" Because that was definitely his new destination.

Junia winced slightly, noting that yeah, it definitely wasn't the right time to bring that up. "Sorry." Didn't mean to add insult to injury. He got that, right? What a disaster this was.

Watching him carefully, but not daring to touch him in case she made things worse, the thirteen year old nodded. "'Course I will. Should I-I mean, do you need help up?"

The moment Sam saw Junia's face, he regretted snapping at her. He felt bad and knew that she was just trying to help him right now. And although he did want to apologize for it, he couldn't seem to manage an apology right now. Perhaps later he'd be able to swallow some pride, when he wasn't an embarrassing sight sitting on his bum with a broken arm.

"No, I think I've got it, thanks." He had to salvage some dignity here. Gingerly, he stood up and took hold of his arm again before starting towards the castle.

In an attempt to lighten the mood a little, he added, "Hey, I still won, right?" He managed a smile.

Jacob listened to the girls talking about their families interestedly. He wondered at what it would be like to have a brother who wasn't magical, cousins who weren't nice to him, or to not have his mom around. He found himself feeling suddenly very thankful for his family and made a mental note to send an owl to his mother later. He didn't comment on what Etta and Olivia were saying on the topic -- he wasn't great at relating verbally to emotional stuff, but he could appreciate hearing it. But he did notice Etta looking at him sometimes as Olivia spoke, and he wondered why. Did he have something on his face? He had eaten a chocolate frog or two or three before he came out here... He wiped his lip a bit self-consciously. Y'know, just in case.

"Are we?" he asked in surprise, eyebrows raised as both the girls said that they were friends now. After the initial shock, though -- and yes, there had been some shock, he hadn't expected friend-making to be this seamless -- a smile broke out on his face. Friends. Cool. "Yeah, I mean, 'course we are." They had even let him still sit and talk even though he knew he'd been terribly awkward and strange at first. The type of people who can look past that are few and far between. He knew he needed to hold onto that if he could.

"Well," he said, glad for a topic he knew something about, "it is sort of like the Sorting Hat asking. I gueeeeeess." He rolled his eyes. He was just teasing, but really, Ilvermorny was where it's at. "Basically, you stand in the middle of these four statues that represent the houses of Ilvermorny. They do their magical thing to scan your brain or whatever, like the Sorting Hat does, then the houses that think you'd fit in well with them indicate that they want you. It seems like most people get offered the choice between two, but I'm not sure about exact numbers. I did, anyway." He shrugged. It wasn't that big of a deal to be picked by more than one. What was really special was to get picked by all four. Now that didn't happen often, maybe once every ten or so years. "Did either of you get asked your opinion by the Sorting Hat? I didn't..." Just another reason Ilvermorny was the bomb.

He leaned forward to put his elbow on his knee as Etta revealed that her name was short for Henrietta. She looked embarrassed, and he inspected her face for a moment, frowning a bit in concentration. "Hmm," he said, still looking at her. "I like it." He nodded definitively. It was a good name. But still, "I won't call you that if you don't like it, though, don't worry." He grinned at her. He could tell that she wasn't too excited about having been asked, and he felt a little bad about that, but mostly he just felt glad that his curiosity had been satisfied.

As Olivia answered his same question, he laughed lightly. "I prefer 'Hey, you' out of those options, so I guess I'll be calling you that from now on..." Truth told, that was a lot of nicknames to choose from. He'd need to think about which one fit her the best before he started using any of them. Liv or Ollie, hmm...

He wrinkled his nose at the nickname question. "Merlin, no. I hate being called by anything shorter. Jake? Bleh. It just feels too cutesy. I didn't even like it when I was a little kid."

Junia watched and worried and waited until Sam was up on his feet. Sure, she wanted to win, but she didn't want her opponent to get injured in the process. She wasn't a monster. ...Well, not often.

"You wish, Sam." The brunette smiled a little in return and shook her head. Seemed he was feeling a little better already.

Quickening her pace a bit, she took the lead to the hospital wing. She was eager for her friend to get the help he needed so she'd be done with this whole guilt thing she currently had going on. Guilt was no fun at all.

The history, yes! Etta absolutely loved learning about the history of each and every place that she visited. Didn't that make travel more interesting? To know more about the past? Exploring the culture was very important too. She nodded, agreed one hundred percent with Olivia. "Definitely. The history, especially. I love to hear or read about things that happened in the past. There's just so much of history everywhere, you know?" Did SHE love traveling?! Etta grinned excitedly. "Of course! What's not to love? It's so fascinating to learn or see new places, right? Meeting new people, experiencing their culture or tradition.. I feel like traveling helps you be a better person somehow." She knew she was chattering quite a bit but traveling got her excited, you know? Oh. Her grin widened when Olivia said that they'd travel to NZ together one day. "Yes! Definitely. We can do a lot of adventure sports too!" You know, if Olivia was interested.

The girl frowned as she listened to the Gryffindor talk about how her brother couldn't manage to find a cure. She found it hard to believe that even magic couldnt heal Olivia's mother. How horrible. "I'm really sorry to hear that. You must miss her terribly." Etta said with a small smile, still feeling bad for bringing up this conversation.. but Olivia didn't seem to be mad at her for it, anyway. Her mother sounded wonderful? Yeah. Etta couldn't help but smile again. "Yeah, she is. Hope you get to meet her sometime."

Hmm. That makes sense. "Sounds like he is a little jealous, right?" Not sharing the magical abilities that Olivia and Simon had must have made him feel a little left out. But, still. That didn't mean he had to be unsupportive about it. They were his siblings, after all. Etta just didn't understand people sometimes. They really could be confusing and complicated. Aww. Etta grinned as she noticed how happy Olivia got at the mention of her brother, Simon. "Really? My father was a Ravenclaw as well and mum was a Hufflepuff!" She supposed that she got her natural curiousity from her father.. but overall, she was a Hufflepuff. Just like her mum. "I hope I get to meet Simon sometime." 'cause he seemed like a cool person, yes.

Are we? Etta seemed a little surprised at that question before raising an eyebrow at Jacob. "Of course we are! Why not? We're getting along perfectly well, aren't we?" Hmm. She listened for a while as Jacob explained how the sorting worked at his previous school. Interesting. Etta started to wonder how things generally worked at all the other magic schools though.. were they like Hogwarts? Did they teach the same subjects? Were they as big as Hogwarts? What were the professors like? And the students? ..... uh. She turned to look at Jacob once again before replying to his question with a smile, "Yes. The hat didn't ask me exactly but I think it considered Ravenclaw for a moment before deciding Hufflepuff. I mean, I didn't really have a preference but.. even if you did, you can ask the sorting hat. I think."

... Etta smiled, although her cheeks were still bright PINK with embarrassment. ".. you like it?" She asked Jacob, looking slightly incredulous. "People have always teased me about it so I prefer Etta." Besides, her folks at home always called her Etta or Ettie anyway so. She refrained from rolling her eyes when Olivia mentioned that it was a great name. Eh. At least, they weren't going to make fun of her. That was a relief. "I think I like the name 'Ols' for you." She decided. It suited Olivia, right? As for Jacob.. she smirked just a bit. "What about Jakey? I like that name for you." Etta teased before starting to laugh. That really was a funny nickname. JAKEEEEY. Heheheh.

The Gryffindor slowed her swinging as she considered the question. Did she think she was owed something? "Yes, I think you should think that, really. They owe you something. A lot of something. The first of which is a proper explanation as to how this all happened to you." Like how did she get the crap end of the deal? THAT was something Dora wanted to know. It was so very unfair.

"Of course I will come with you. I have a better idea of when people are lying than you do." Meaning she was going to give the guy the third degree like WHOA. SHe was not going to let anyone hurt her friend.

"I'm sure." VERY sure, There was no way that she was going to talk about her ridiculous "problems" when Sam had some important things going on in her life. Not even sure she wanted to talk about it to begin with, was she? "Onomatopoeia is kind of useless... But it is a great word nonetheless. So proud of you," she said as she beamed over at her friend. "I did the Incendio Tria spell." BIG news.

A lot of people found it hard to believe that Abey was as shy as he was, being that he was often able to power through it by dealing with situations as though he was playing a ROLE instead of just regular old Abey. It just made things easier, but it was deceiving actually, because strange and new people were actually a little bit scary actually. But even so, making friends was much more fun than being scared of people, it was just also sort of difficult actually maybe, you see?

Standing there in the middle of the playground, Abey considered the boy now sitting up on the monkey bars. Maybe it looked like he was staring, but he was actually sort of trying to think of something to focus on, or a role to play, something to push PAST this and through to the adventure of making a brand new friend.

"I've never done the monkey bars before actually," he suddenly found himself blurting out. And that was good, because now he had started, it was easier to keep going. Abey took another step closer. And then another. He tilted his head to the side and continued, his Egyptian accent as distinct as it ever was. "Are they for dangling? Or upside-down-ing? Or for walking on?" He paused, thought for a moment. "Can I come up there too?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

A lot of people found it hard to believe that Abey was as shy as he was, being that he was often able to power through it by dealing with situations as though he was playing a ROLE instead of just regular old Abey. It just made things easier, but it was deceiving actually, because strange and new people were actually a little bit scary actually. But even so, making friends was much more fun than being scared of people, it was just also sort of difficult actually maybe, you see?

Standing there in the middle of the playground, Abey considered the boy now sitting up on the monkey bars. Maybe it looked like he was staring, but he was actually sort of trying to think of something to focus on, or a role to play, something to push PAST this and through to the adventure of making a brand new friend.

"I've never done the monkey bars before actually," he suddenly found himself blurting out. And that was good, because now he had started, it was easier to keep going. Abey took another step closer. And then another. He tilted his head to the side and continued, his Egyptian accent as distinct as it ever was. "Are they for dangling? Or upside-down-ing? Or for walking on?" He paused, thought for a moment. "Can I come up there too?"

"Whatever you wanna do - as long as you don't fall off," Kane told him with a smile as he scooted over to make some room, patting the bars in a friendly invitation for this dude to join him. "I uh, couldn't help but notice your accent too," he added, hoping that he didn't embarrass the kid by bringing it up...

"I'm from America, so we're in the same boat," he added with a smile. Same boat being...new kids with accents? Was that was he was going for? Hmmm. Well, Kane either just helped break the ice or he embarrassed this kid he'd just met.

She nodded her head several times. Yes, the history! She definitely agreed with Etta. She continued nodding her head, becoming more and more excited with every sentence that Etta spoke. Traveling with Etta seemed like it would be a blast! “Yes, I could understand that. Traveling does open your eyes more to how people live and how different cultures happen.” When her friend mentioned sports in New Zealand, Olivia crinkled her nose. “I’m not the best at sports but I’d give it a try!"

About her mother….. Well… Olivia blinked. Maybe? She wished that she could have had a friendship with her mother and had gotten to know her. “I guess…” She hadn’t thought about missing her mother. “I wish I could have gotten to know her.” She had never really interacted with her mother much. Her father had become both mother and father for a while. She had also leaned on Simon a lot throughout her childhood. At the thought of meeting Etta’s mother, Olivia grinned again.

She nodded in agreement. Marcus definitely was jealous though he would never admit it. Etta’s parents were in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw? Awesome. Both cool houses. She liked all the houses. “Of course! I’m sure Simon would love to meet you!” Any friend of hers was a friend of Simon’s and vice versa. Olivia had gotten to know Simon’s best mate Ethan, very very well. He was almost like a second brother to her in some ways. A little bit more fun than her own brother. Less of a stickler.

Olivia beamed when she saw Jacob’s reaction. Yes, they were friends! Terrific. She remained silent for a little as she listened to Jacob roll his eyes jokingly and chuckled. Ha. He had a sense of humor! That was awesome. He got the choice between TWO houses. How incredible! Her brother had gotten a similar offer. She shook her head in response to his question. “I didn’t…. My brother did though. He got offered Slytherin and Ravenclaw.”

I prefer ‘Hey, you!’ She thoroughly enjoyed his response. Beautiful. She laughed. “You’re going to get so many people turning around to glance when you shout that!” she teased with a wide grin. She’d like to see him do that in the middle of the Great Hall. That’d be fantastic! How many people would turn around?

The way he wrinkled his nose was cute. She grinned a little more. No nicknames? Aww bummer. Though Jacob was a nice name. It had a good ring to it. She turned to Etta and beamed. “Ols sounds good to me!” Ols was new but she could do that. Perfect. And Jakey!?! LOL. That was funny. “Jakey?” she repeated with a smirk.

"I guess I'm most nervous about them not having one, if I'm honest." A proper explanation. How would she feel then? But for now, Dora's words had eased her mind a little, and she concentrated on swinging higher. "And I'd like that, havin' yeh there wiff me." Dora would definitely pick up on stuff that she couldn't, and she'd just feel happier, more protected, with her bestie there looking out for her.

Which what the Ravenclaw would be doing now, if the older girl hadn't been so insistant about not spilling. Sam frowned, before he eyes once again lit up at Dora's announcement. "YOU DID?!" She beamed. "That's awesome. Can I see?"

"Someone has to have an explanation. We'll get to the bottom of it," she said as she slowed to where she easy barely swinging at all now. It was more of a sway, really. Dora would always be there for Sam, true.

What she wouldn't do, was be totally forthcoming, apparently. Sighs. She wanted to tell Sam the things. She truly did... and when she asked to see her spell... it just came tumbling out.

"I have been... snogging Casper since last term. Exclusive snogging. S'Why we snuck off some night on holiday, why I spent those weeks with him in Edinburgh." She felt horrible saying it, she did. Truly. But she haD to power through it all. "We're not anymore though. Best for our friendship I reckon. I liked him a lot, though. Really hurts a bit more than I expected. And Echo asked me on a proper date, but I told her I had to think about it. And well... I just wanted Casper. But that's a bad idea."

There. Let her be judged.

"I won't fall. Or if I do, I'll probably bounce, actually." Abey had heard it from some older kids in his common room that Gryffindors were something called 'resilient', which meant, actually, that they were good at 'bouncing back', which MEANT, that if Abey fell, he would probably bounce. He was learning all sorts of things at Hogwarts.

Anyways, Abey went ahead and climbed on up to join the boy, eventually perching there beside him in exactly the same manner. The mention of his accent actually had Abey breaking out into a grin, because yes! Yes! He had one of those! And he had THOUGHT that the other boy sounded like he wasn't from England, actually, but had not wanted to point it out just in case he had been wrong, because he didn't want to look stupid or anything.

"America!" Abey repeated. He had never been there, but of course he had heard of it. He didn't think there were many people that hadn't. "I'm from Egypt, I've lived there since I was born." And then, because he was so so so curious, and because the concept of transferring hadn't yet crossed his mind... "How come you go to Hogwarts if you're American?"

As he spoke, Abey swung his feet below. It was so so so SO much easier when someone else started off all the talking actually, otherwise he would end up fretting about saying something strange or bothering the person, but NOW he knew exACTLY the right topic, because the other boy had mentioned it first!

"I know we will," Sam said more brightly. She could face anything with Dora by her side. If it went pear-shaped, Dora could use her new Incendio Trio skills and they could escape pronto.

Or something like that.

Sam too stopped swinging, her legs hanging loosely under her as arc of the seat gradually lessened. She looked at her friend, waiting for the demonstration.

It didn't come.

Instead, the Ravenclaw's eyes widened at the implication of what Dora was saying, her heart sinking a little bit. If she was honest with herself, she'd suspected something, and was a little jealous of their time together over the summer. Casper did seem pretty kissable. Although, was it any different from her and Ast?

"You should go," she said after a moment. "On the date with Echo. You won't know til you try."

It's what she was doing next Hogsmeade trip, after all.

Dora furrowed her brow as she kicked at the dirt absently beneath her feet. She heard Sam, but it made no sense... or she didn't want to think about it, one. A small shrug swept off her shoulders.

" I dont think it's a good idea, honestly. Not right now. It's not fair to her, is it? " No, it wasn't. Not when she was trying to sort out her feelings and thoughts and still holding onto... something she ought not to be. "I think I'll skip Hogsmeade this time. I should be studying anyway. OWLS are around the corner. This is important stuff after all. " And a good distraction.

Distractions were good.

At this thought the blonde kicked off again, eyes closed, legs pumping. She was going to swing higher than before.

Yep.

Let focus on that for a while.

"Why not?" Echo had been the one who'd asked right? "And anyways, you can't just skip Hogsmeade. You've already promised to go meet me bruvver with me. Why not go 'ang out with Echo after?" And that way, there wasn't the expectation of hanging out all day with the older girl. Just an hour if she wanted, enough to grab a drink or something.

...and Sam might not feel quite so awkward about the date with Astrea she still hadn't told the Gryffindor about.

Oh, and Dora was off again. Sam followed suit, pushing off backwards. "They're barely around the corner. You've got months yet, and I know you'll ace 'em anyways." And this was true, she was a Ravenclaw. They knew such things. "Go on, let your hair down."

Why not? "It's like leading someone on when you don't know how you feel. I won't lead anyone on." That was why. She did like Echo, and she certainly didn't want to hurt her. She just needed time to sort things out. And for the moment she wasn't going to comment on the Robin thing. She kind of wanted to stay in so she didn't have to see happy couple on dates when all she wanted to do was... the same thing.

"The only way I will pass the exams is if I study hard. I have to study more. " Dora really cared about her academic career, after all. "I dont think letting my hair down is the answer." Besides, letting her hair down is what had gotten her into this mess.

"Jakey?!" Jacob said incredulously. "Out of all the awful nicknames you could have chosen, you picked the worst one I've ever heard?!" He grinned to let Etta know he was just joking... But seriously, Jakey? Ew. It sounded like something someone would call a literal baby. Jakey-Wakey. Goo goo ga ga.

"Ols is a good one," he agreed, trying to steer the subject back to the safe place it had been before they started discussing possible nicknames for him the boy who hated nicknames. "And I think Etta suits you fine, too. You seem like an Etta." He nodded decisively.

He listened to the girls talk about their families, most specifically Olivia's brother Simon. They seemed to be close. That was pretty cool. He was close with his brother, as well, though it was harder now that they lived on separate continents, of course. He wondered if he should bring up the whole my-aunt-is-the-headmistress thing since they were on the subject of family, but he still wasn't quite sure if he wanted to start the rumor mill on that one. Maybe better to keep under the radar...

Was it bad then, that Sam had a date with Astrea coming up? She didn't truly know how she felt, but she didn't know how she could know without trying. Plus, asking the younger Gryffindor out had seemed to make her very happy indeed. She didn't really see the negative.

"You don't have to do anything," Sam pointed out. "You'll pass your exams, studying or no." Ace them, well, that was a different question. But pass them? Dora had that easily under control. The girl could talk Mermish! And did extras potions with her Aunt Addy! And knew so many spells to set stuff on fire or blow it up that Sam had lost track. "And anyways, you can study in the morning, a few hours won't make any difference."

What was the saying, all work and no play...?