Preoccupied on her breathing pattern, Daphne postponed her denial for a more convenient time and hoped up on the window ledge as best as she could with both hands occupied; one carrying the book she had been reading and the other clutching the handy pump filled with muggle medicine her muggle medicine obsessed mother insisted she used when she got ill.

"It's not a problem, really," she wheezed not wanting to impose on anyone. "I was just caught off guard." Daphne reminded herself to keep her eyes open for bouncing canines in the future.

Lex watched Daphne as she took out something she had seen something like that before. When she was younger maybe? Yes! Her mom used to use something like that whenever she got annoyed at her.

"Uh...if you say so." Alexis said slowly. "Well TK doesn't act like a dog! He kinda acts like a mix between a cat and a human if that helps." The sixth year said with a grin. It was true. Usually dogs listened to their owners. TK did no such thing. "I'm Alexis Chosen by the way."

Putting TK back on the ground Alexis watched him as he ran to a different part of the common room.

"I was kidding Anna! I get yelled at all the time anyways." Lexi said with a laugh. Not adding that she probably got yelled at for yelling first. But that wasn't important. "She probably won't. No one gets used to TK. Unless of your you get used to not getting used to him.....So how was you're summer?" She ended lamely.



Finally getting away from his owner and those two girls TK ran around to look for someone else to play with. The girl he had went to first didn't seem to like him much. Sniffing the air he noticed a familiar sent. Looking around he started to bark at and run to the boy that he hadn't seem for over a year. Reaching the boys feet he barked some more.

It seemed like forever since Torie had been at Hogwarts. It had been another long summer, full of work and very little time for play. This, her seventh year at Hogwarts, couldn't have come quickly enough. Torie had changed a little bit over the summer, gotten more mature and sure of herself. She was determined to leave a mark on the school this year, a lasting memory that she had been here. She pulled on her school robes briefly, then gave the password to the fat lady who swung open the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. She stepped inside and breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was back to normal at last. She was home.

Gwen ambled through the portrait hole, eager to see the common room as it should be at last (even if it might be a little awkward in there from time to time but meh). As the portrait closed behind her, she heard a bark. And a few more barks.

"We're allowed to have dogs?" she asked the room at large. "...Or is it actually a dog?" she said, crossing to a comfy loveseat near the girl's dorm. She plopped her bag beside her and pulled out a pair of knitting needles and a ball of crimson yarn.

"Hi, Torie!" Gwen said. "Were you at the feast? I might have missed you because of the flying broccoli."

Fred was almost falling asleep but he heard something to make him snap out of it. A dog seems near him and he knew that it wasn't Ariel. She had a different tone and this one was a rather energetic one, almost like his owner but never he would say that out loud. Opening his eyes, he pets the dog's head. "Hey TK."

Something was telling him that Lexi was around. Well it wasn't that hard since he heard her voice but he was acting like he didn't so he stayed on the ground waiting to see what the dog had plan next.

Nathaniel was tired for the day. He was wondering when the heck classes would start so he wouldn't be so bored. He found an empty seat and sat in it. He looked around the room for anyone he knew. Why was he shy about going up to people? He wondered when his owl would be back. He needed another partner in crime since Sophia was always unavailable.

Hayden walked into the common room and crashed on the couch to read her book. She was so glad she had another good friend. She looked into the fire and decided she missed her cousin more than anything.

Proud that he had opened the boys eyes he happily barked again as he was petted. TK started to run around in circles . Almost as if he were looking for something. Stopping in the middle of the circle TK titled his head to the side. He wanted something. Something from his owners friend. He knew the boy had it. And he wanted it.

Fred was watching everything that the dog was doing and for a short time he thought it was rather funny and he almost smiled but when the dog stop, he noticed that it's almost as he was indicating something. He knew his owner and the kind of things that she loved but how could a dog like the same things. Had he been feed by candies too. He shook his head but took out a bag of sugar quills and put them on the ground. This was a little test that he wanted to do, just to see if he was right about it.

Jillian muttered the password and completely ignored the Fat Lady singing her Opera. "That mad woman's delirious! Merlin." she grumbled as she crawled through the portrait hole.

Once on the other side, she straightened her robes then announced herself. "HELLO FELLOW LIONS! I'm finally here, Jillian McGuffin. Good to see you all...and we've got boys in here too! This'll be a great year. No girlie stuff and wasting time arranging flowers." She smiled her widest smile, ignoring the strange and skeptical looks she received from some of her fellow students.

She looked around, taking in the beautiful Common Room. She really did miss this. Then she spotted a familiar face. "Daphne! There you are! I was wondering where you went!" Jillian skipped happily to where Daphne was and realized the girl was wheezing and looked a bit...terrified?

"Mermaid's fins! What happened to you? You got attacked by that Giant Squid or something?"

Piper was sitting quietly in the common room when a Girl came into the common room and announced herself. Her eyes went wide as she heard the girl's name and what she had to say. She gulped a little as she watched her ship over to a girl that looked terrified. Piper's better nature got a hold of her and she walked over to the two girl, albeit a bit shyly. "Hello, I am Piper, is everything okay? Can I help?" She asked hesitantly.

Everyone at Hogwarts had been nice to her so far, but you could never be sure.

Just when Hopton had begun getting a grip on her reality, Miss Jillian stormed in shattering the false rosy image of Hogwarts Daphne had been conjuring for her own well being; one that didn't include animals and loud girls. Fingering her asthma pump wondering if it was a wise thing to put it away for now, she smiled weakly at Jillian, trying not to point out that she was slouching, yet again.

"No," she replied slowly first to Jillian while stealing glances from the girl who had introduced herself as Piper, successively. "Something much smaller and definitely with more hair."

Seizing the opportunity to throw a disdainful leer at TK's dog, Daphne pointed him out. "He's quite alright when he's not trying to devour me. There's no need to worry about me--Piper, was it? I'm Hopton. Daphne Hopton."

Again, the 12 year old extended her hand and again--she reigned in the need to throw her father's prestigious name around as if it was a golden shiny trophy.

Jillian looked behind her, and there standing was a little girl...called Piper, apparently. "Oh. Hi Piper, nice to meet you." Jillian said, then quickly turned back as Daphne spoke.

"You sure you okay? You look like murder. Pale white." She said staring intently at Daphne's eyes, as if trying to see what she saw.

"Small and has hair? Dun' tell me you got attacked by a pygmy puff. You could've just put a jar on top of those little buggers." Jillian was shocked. If Daphne really did get attacked by a pygmy puff, then she'd need protecting. "Dun worry about a thing, lovey. I got yer back. Jillian's here for you for anything!" she flashed Daphne her widest grin, emphasizing that she meant every word. "Erm...I'd give you a hug but I think you'd freak out even more."

"Who's alright?" Jillian asked, a little confused. She looked over to where Daphne was pointing and saw...a dog. "You were scared of that cute little doggie. Oh, Daphne, yer so delicate. It en't gonna hurt you! It just wants to play."

Piper stood somewhat awkwardly by the two girls as they conversed. She shook Daphne's hand and smiled,"Yes, I am Piper. It is nice to meet you Daphne." She said as she shrank back at the other girls cavalier greeting to her.

Her eyes went wide and she wasn't quite sure what to do. She looked over at the dog and she smiled a bit, her little sister was afraid of Dogs. So she could relate a little bit. " Play or not, sometimes those little fuzzy things can be terrifying." She said with a soft but shy smile.

Hannah walked over to the group of girls talking. "Hello," she said. "My name is Hannah, Hannah Weasley." She smiled at the girls. "I think I overheard you in the Great Hall saying your name is Piper, right? I'm sorry, I don't know either of your names." She smiled apologetically.

As her hand shook Piper's briefly, Daphne's concentration was solely dedicated to not rolling her eyes at Jillian. She reminded herself that she still had six terms to go and that it was best if she just learned to accept students as they were. Especially, Jillian who didn't seem to have any plans on refining herself at all. Putting her asthma pump away, Daphne fiddled with her book wondering what it would take for Jillian to breathe before she passed out.

It was a wonder the girl could say so much in one breath. "It didn't look very playful minutes ago," mumbled Daphne, pinks turning a rosy hue before she allowed herself to be distracted by the other girls around her. Nodding in agreement with Piper, she covered her mouth with her hand in hopes of not being overheard by a certain Miss J. "And to be quite honest," she whispered conspiratorially. "Some don't even have to be fuzzy to be terrifying."

The thought of Miss Jillian running towards her in slow motion, arms extended and all sorts of germs and animal hair clinging to her every fiber made her want to run out of the common room screaming bloody murder.

The girl who introduced herself as Hannah kindly joined them (or interrupted them?) and directed herself towards Piper. Politely, Daphne sat in silence, fiddling with her robes and skirt in attempt to wrinkle out any imperfections before it was her turn to speak and introduce herself.

"Oh, I've dealt with dogs a couple o' times before. Just don't run. They think you want to play with them. Like a chasing game or something." Jillian advised.

Then another girl joined them. Wow. This seemed to happen a lot at Hogwarts. Or maybe just around Daphne. "Hi Hannah. I'm Jillian, but you prolly knew that since I just announced meself when I came in." she smiled at the memory of a moment ago. She loved grand entrances.

"Well, best not to freak out when you got dogs on yer back. Don't make eye contact either...they'll get the message and leave you alone." Jillian nodded. "Here," Jillian said in a somewhat hushed voice, looking around sneakily. "I nicked a couple o' those really good cookies from downstairs." She took the cookies wrapped in a napkin out of her pocket and held them out to Daphne. "Might calm you down if yer distracted chewin' on something."

Piper smiled shyly at the new girl, "Hello Hannah, yes my name is Piper." She said smiling a bit, " Did you see me break my arm? That was exciting." She said frowning a bit as she giggled softly at Daphne's words. "I fully agree with you, does she ever take a breath?" She whispered softly back as she looked over at Jillian. Who had just produced some stolen cookies.. Her eyes went wide as she saw them. She usually tried to stay away from anything illegal.

"Oh, hey, Via!" Anna called out, trying to be cheerful. Maybe it would work, maybe it wouldn't. There was no need to get the other students upset just because she was upset. Maybe if she smiled and put on a happy charade, they'd all never know just how badly she was hurting. When Via started up the stairs, Anna turned her attention to a new Gryffindor she still had yet to officially meet.

Anna approached the young girl with what she hoped appeared to be a friendly smile. "Hey, I'm Anna, the female Gryffindor prefect. Everything's a bit chaotic right now, but if you're looking for a place to sleep, the girl's dorms are up the stairs and down to your right," Anna said, turning and pointing in the direction of the dorms. "And hey, if you ever need anything, I'm always around...somewhere."

"Thanks, Allie!" Anna said, beaming with a friendly smile. Allie always did know how to make her smile, no matter what was going on. Anna had gotten really close to Allie and her friends last year, and she knew they would help her through this new ordeal. "I knew you'd underst---.....curtains?" Anna asked, confused at first about the change of topic. Then she understood that Allie was only trying to help, so she played along. "Oh, yeah, the curtains are great! Much better change from the boring ones last school year!"

When Anna saw Daphne hop up on the window ledge, she followed suit and hopped up after her. "It's quite alright, Daphne. I'm the prefect around here, well, one of them, so it's my duty to make sure everyone is comfortable around here. We completely understand. We'll just have to make sure you and TK go in opposite directions from now on."

Anna's eyes dropped down to the book Daphne was holding in her hands. It didn't look like any school book she'd ever seen. Hmm..interesting. "So, erm, what are you reading there, Daphne?" Anna asked.

"Yelled at all the time?" Anna asked, wrinking up her brows. "Oh, nevermind that. I've got something for you." Anna reached into her bag and pulled out an assortment of different candies she'd brought to school with her. "You can choose whatever you like, and no, before you ask, you can't chose my entire stash."

"My summer was really good actually," Anna replied, her face falling as she answered. She'd actually spent all summer with her now ex-boyfriend, and talking about summer break just brought back a lot of memories. Memories that now made her sad. "Yeah, erm, really good. What about yours?"

"Hey, Torie!" Anna greeted, waving to her long-time friend. Oh, no. Torie didn't know that Cale and Anna had recently broken up. Recently, as in, just this evening. Maybe Torie would wait a little while to ask why Anna wasn't anywhere near Cale right now. Maybe. Hopefully.

"I can't believe this is your seventh and final year here," Anna said, frowning at the thought. "I'm surely going to miss you!"

Anna caught sight of another somewhat-friendly face in the crowd. This girl was standing nearby, so Anna decided to stop her while she could. "Hey, erm, Hayden, right?" Anna asked. "We met at the feast. Are you settling in alright?"

Anna jumped a bit as she heard someone call out for Daphne. Maybe Anna should move off the windowsill and let this other girl sit near her friend. Or maybe, she should probably introduce herself and try and make friends with this girl, as well.

"Hey, there!" Anna greeted. "I'm guessing you're a friend of Daphne's? I saw you at the feast, but so much was going on that I didn't get to introduce myself. I'm Anna Greingoth, one of the two prefects."

"Hey Anna!" Hannah said. She smiled at Anna. I hope she's feeling better, she thought. "Your-- hair looks lovely," she smiled. She almost slipped and brought up Cale, but she remembered what had happened in the Great Hall. She didn't want to upset Anna. Her compliment was sincere though; Anna always looked put-together, even in times of personal crisis, apparently.

To Piper, Jillian, and Daphne, Hannah said, "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't interrupt you or anything. I just didn't have anyone to talk to, and you all looked friendly." She smiled. "So we're talking about dogs, then? I'm more of a cat person myself. This here is Peter. I call him Petey," she smiled, affectionately stroking the chubby ginger cat she was holding. Peter was a nice cat, very friendly, and, best of all, no shedding. Hannah couldn't even imagine life without him, even though last term she hadn't brought him to school with her. "I hope you're all okay with cats, I can put him down if you want me to," she apologized, remembering the scene with the dog. "But I assure you that Petey is a sweetheart." She grinned. She realized she was kind of monopolizing the conversation and said, "I'm sorry, I'm sort of rambling, aren't I? I tend to do that sometimes..." she trailed off, ending with a nervous chuckle.

Jillian frowned and her brows furrowed. "I en't deaf. I can hear you y'know." Jillian sighed. "'Sides...if you didn't want any, you could've just said so. It's not like we'd lose points for this. It's just food...even me sister used to do this...and she was me exact opposite...although Daphne's case is a bit extreme." she said teasing Daphne.

Jillian looked to her side and saw yet another new face. Wow. Daphne's got awesome powers to meet new people. "Hullo to you too!" Jillian said brightly. This Anna girl seemed friendly. "Yeah. Me and Daphne kinda met at the start of the feast. Oh! I did see her at the Leaky Cauldron Before that though." she said remembering Daphne and her parents drawing attention to themselves. "Good times." she said a snicker escaping her mouth.

"Yeah, I think I saw you too. With Cale I think...I dun' really remember. There were too many people there. Couldn't even keep up with the conversations." Jillian nodded. Involuntary reaction by now, her nodding.

"It's okay, no need to apologize. Me brother always says the more the merrier." Jillian replied.

"Oh, yer lucky. I wish I had a pet. But me sister, Susie, she's a big git and is afraid of anything that has more'n two legs. She's okay with cats and dogs but mum dun' like those critters around the house 'specially round me little sister, Melly." Jillian pouted. She really did want to keep that frog she had found at one of the ponds at that forest they were in.

OOC: The Common Room sure is busy and it's mostly girls

Daphne Hopton took a good look around her, wondering when had the common room become so lively. Smiling besides herself, the girl simply held the book closer against her chest in an attempt to keep at least that much to herself seeing as her personal bubble was being shared. This was just something else she would have to get used to outside of her manor; Socializing. The only kind of socializing she had even done was discussing the new color of her curtains over dinner with her parents and telling Davis that the cat had urinated on the rug again.

Shaking her head at Jillian, she tried to reject the cookies but found herself inexplicably collecting the contraband sweets and pocketing them. She'd eat them later and decide for herself if they were truly good or not. Now, if they happened to be almond cookies, Daphne would instantaneously become a very happy second year. Almond made anything taste better.

Laughing softly at Piper's remark she didn't dare answer in fear of being overheard not so much by Jillian herself, who would probably shrug the remarks off and declare loudly that she was just perfect the way she was, but by the rest of the girls whom she did not know yet very well and did not wish to appear as a judgmental person, even if that might be the hidden truth.

Anna finally seemed to have found a spot to squeeze into amongst the rapid chattering and Daphne fought a grimace at having to share her book as well. Holding it out gently for the cover to be visible, she wondered just how to put it. Her bottom lip was captured between her teeth as she struggled with the right words before speaking. "It's a play," declared the twelve year old in bland tone. "Romeo and Juliet."

There. She read muggle stuff. So what? Pureblood or not, discrimination against any individual was disgusting, immature and ridiculous. Her parents, although absent for the most part of her life, had thought her that much. A purring reached her ears and she turned her head away from Anna fast enough to catch Hannah's last snippet of monologue. "Petey?" Daphne repeated dumbly until her hazel eyes fell upon the feline on the girl's hands. "Oh! He's adorable! My mother has a Siamese. He's spoiled rotten and overweight too."

Between the cookies and the book, Daphne was left with no hands to clamp Jillian's mouth and she simply smiled nervously, wondering if the girl even tried thinking before speaking. Concluding that that was highly unlikely due to Jillian's speech pattern and speed, Miss Hopton found it in her heart to forgive Jillian for her trespasses; thing that had nothing to do with being gifted with cookies.

"What other kind of pet would you want that isn't a dog or a cat?" Inquired Daphne immediately regretting her questioning. From what she could gather from the girl, she was probably the kind to have poisonous and illegal animals snoozing underneath her bed and call them baby schnookums and all sorts of irritating endearments which meant nothing to Daphne.

Hannah giggled. "Petey is sooo spoiled, too," she smiled. "How could I help but spoil you?" She said to the cat in her arms. "Oh! I LOVE Romeo and Juliet! I've seen different interpretations of the play a few times... 3 or 4 maybe? And of course I've read it. It's great, isn't it? That one movie version that was made... geez, a really, really long time ago, with those old actors - I think it was Leonardo DiCaprio or something like that? Juliet's name was... er... Claire Danes? - Anyway, I LOVE that version. Shakespeare is beautiful," she said, grinning from ear to ear.
Hannah smiled at the look that crossed Daphne's face after she asked Jillian what other pets she might want. It was a look of pure, split-second regret. She figured it was probably because with Jillian's... interesting personality, it may merit some even more interesting pets. Hannah wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer herself.

OOC: It sure is! Haha

"Ha, see. I knew cookies would make you feel better." Jillian grinned, exposing her pearly whites. "Oh, careful though. They got some kinda nuts in 'em. Dunno if yer 'llergic" she warned.

Jillian's eyes widened when Daphne mentioned the book. "Oh, me mum read that once. I think I was five then, so all I 'member is it's somethin' 'bout forbidden love." Jillian shrugged. Her mother didn't really read them much about those kinds of things. Susie preferred stories with princesses, which is why most of their bedtime stories were circulated around fairytales and royalty.

Jillian smiled her sly smile. The look on Daphne's face seemed to say she regretted asking the question. "You obviously read muggle books." she said, gesturing to the book in Daphne's hands. "Me dad loves researching 'round the muggle world and the wizarding world so me mum's got tons o' books from around everywhere. Ever heard of the Frog Prince?" she asked, her emerald eyes growing brighter. She was a weird child, yet Jillian had already embraced that. She was comfortable being herself and she was happy, no matter what people thought of her. "Well, ever since mum read us that story, I've always wanted me a frog." she nodded, thinking of having a little frog prince of her own.

Hannah was mildly surprised at Jillian's answer. "A frog? That's interesting," she said. "Not in a bad way, I don't mean. Well, I think we should try to get you a frog," she smiled. "I'm sure there's some way. There's gotta be some down by the lake, or something." She felt like Jillian deserved to have a pet if she wanted one. Even a frog wasn't allowed at her house? But what could it hurt? But then again, who was Hannah to question other people's parents? Oh well, she thought. I already said we should do it. And I really do think we should. She grinned at Jillian. At first she had been a bit unsure of her, especially with her... erm... grand entrance, but she was starting to like her more and more as they talked.