Penny sat there taking in everything that MJ had told her about her old school. She sat back in her chair. "I..but..I..." she started to stutter. Then when she was able to for a sentence she said "How did I not know about this? I went to school there for 5 terms and did not know." It was more to herself then anyone.

With his feet swinging in the air, Garret turned his gaze on the other girl who had spoken up, "You didn't know 'bout the house elves, eivver, eh?" He nodded, which wasn't all that easy to do with his chin resting in his hands, "S'okay, we can raid 'em togevver, ya know wot I mean?"

Penny jumped when she heard another voice. She was so lost in her thoughts, she missed when he walked in and what him and MJ were talking about. Penny blushed slightly. "Oh I was talking about something else, but I did not know that either." she said with a smile.

Garret peered up at the girl, his tummy growling softly from the hunger, "You're pretty." He said simply, and he opened his mouth again before he could stop to think about it, "But old."

Flipping onto his back again, Garret raised his arms in the air in front of his face and made wild gestures, "Like OLD old, ya know wot I mean? Not old like wine, but more like... more like..." he waved his hands about trying to find something older than wine, "Like PRUNES!"

Okay, so maybe science and aging wasn't Garret's area of expertise. But to him, prunes sure did look older than a bottle of wine.

penny smiled at the boy when he told her that she was pretty. "Thank you." she said. Then she flinched when he said old. She watched at he flipped over. He was still talking about old. "Old like prunes? Nice kid." she said. Taking pity on the kid she introduced herself. "I'm Penny." she said.

"Penny the wiiiise," Garret mused, snickering to himself as he considered how he could refer to the upperclassman now. He looked up at her, upside down as she was from his angle, "Penny the Gray, ya know wot I mean? Like that wizard bloke from that muggle book? Or like me mum says, in for a penny, in for a pound."

He nattered on and on about more Penny sayings he'd heard, "You could be me lucky Penny!" And once again, Garret rolled over onto his stomach, nodding excitedly at the sixth year, "Lucky Penny!"

Penny listened to him go on an on about Penny saying. She just smiled at him. When he mention Lucky Penny she just looked at him. "Lucky Penny huh? How do you figure that one?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Dunno," Garret shrugged a scrawny shoulder, "Cos......" he smiled winningly at her now, hoping she didn't take offense at the old comments, "You're gonna help me get a sammich?"

Everything about his smile said I'm-cute-don't-you-want-to-help-me?

Penny fought a smile. She crossed her arms on the table and leaned forward. "And how am I supposed to do that?" she asked.

"I dunno," he shrugged again, "You're old and lucky, you should know how to find the elves..."

He leaned forward too, his brows raised under his messy hair as he engaged in a battle of will with her. Well, it was just a staring contest, one she wasn't aware of, but it was a battle of will anyway, first to look away would be the one to uncover the secret of the elves.

Penny watched him closely. "Sorry to burst your bubble kid, but I am new here. This is my first term and I have no clue where to look." she told with a shrug.

Garret let out a moan of despair (or hunger, really) and fell onto his back again. He threw an arm over his eyes and pouted to the darkness, "Do the elves even exist? They could just be a myth, ya know wot I mean? Nobody's ever seen 'em, maybe there's no kitchen at all but the food is all just magically conjured onto our plates by the 'eadmistress."

His lower lip jutted out some more as his stomach let out a ferocious growl, "How's a boy supposed to grow wivvout late night snacks?"

Penny listened to the kid moan. "Sorry kid. Wish I could help you." she said softly. The poor boy.

Moving his arm slightly out of the way, Garret peeked up at Lucky Penny, and then shifted his gaze to the other older girl who had spoken to him first, "D'you know how to get to the food?"

She did say that the so called "house elves" would give him a sandwich if he asked nicely. So she should know where they were, if there really were house elves, right?

She'd been silly enough to leave the Common Room without her bag, but smart enough not to leave her wand behind. Kaika simply shook her head, one never knew when quills are needed, or parchments for that matter. Not to mention that she had homework to do, and she'd lost time doing absolutely nothing...well, it wasn't nothing, she was waiting...but she could've done some homework while she waited.

As fast as she could she ran to the dormitory and left it with her bag on one shoulder. She didn't even stop to check who was on the Common Room at the time. She simply left as quickly as she came in.

Thanks Christine told Diana putting her arm around her shoulder. She decided to leave the entire situation alone so that it wouldn't continue to make Diana sad.

As MJ smiled her eyes closed and her lips spread into a smile er dimples showing and she nodded. "Yeah, they are very friendly and they love the school. They love to help, and they love to teach you how to cook and bake." she told him remembering where her baking classes had come from. MJ was an excellent cook who loved to make sweets for herself and her friends. "The Kitchen of course." she told him

Suddenly MJ heard Penny as she began to stutter and looked shocked. Her smile slowly faded and she took in a deep breath. "Not many people talk about it. Sometimes they do and there are times when they don't. It's not something that pops up in a conversation you know.

She then sighed. "Hi how are you, did you know your school might be a big crime scene?" she said to mid air. "Not something that pops up in any conversation really.

MJ knew that was probable not the wise thing to say so after her last comment she remained silent for a while until Penny began to talk to the young hufflepuff boy. As the comments about being old began to rise she just smiled. She didn't really care if she was called old, it was better than being confused for an 11 year old like she always was. Everyone told her she looked young for her age and the fact that she had a magical stuffed animal with her at all times didn't really help her.


When Penny and the young boy began to talk she just continued to smile. Then as Penny introduced herself and they started talking about Penny's MJ began to think more about her problem at hand. It wasn't going to be easy finding out more about the case, the only people who knew everything there was to know were either dead, or she did not know were to reach them. She knew she had to find out more information on the cases.

Suddenly her attention was brought back down to earth by the young huffie boy's voice. She nodded and smiled. "In the kitchen if you like I can take you there, I think I need something to eat," suddenly her stomach began to rumble. "Last thing I had to eat was two lollipops and three pops." she told him.

Penny looked back at MJ and nodded. "Your right, not a conversation starter. Its just shocking. You know." Penny still could not wrap her mind around it. She thought she knew the history of Durmstang well. Guess what, she was wrong. Penny listed to MJ as she started to talk to the kid. Then she thought. "You really ought to get something to eat." she said.

MJ nodded. "I know, at first I thought it was just something like a rumor but when granfather confirmed it, it.." she swallowed. "I was shocked, terrified." she told her and gave her a small smile. "It's something they are not proud of I doubt if anyone remembers it now." MJ stomach rumbled softly and her cheeks turned pink. A memory of Themea and herself came to mind. Both of them were talking in the lake when he had told her she looked pale and smaller and asked her if she had eaten anything. MJ had said yes, but Themea didn't believe her. Then he asked her if she was hungry and her answer was no. Her stomach was a traitor, as soon as the words no left her lips, her stomach growled loudly enough for Themea to hear. He had almost dragged her by the ear to eat that day. The memory brought a smile to her face. "I think you're right, let's go to the kitchen and see if we can all get a snack?" she asked them both.

"Yeah I have to agree. I mean it is not even in the history or even a sentence." Penny said. Penny giggled when she heard MJ's belly rumble. "Why don't you go. I am going to sit here and study a little bit. Then when you came back, we will see what we can find." Penny suggested. She really needed to study. She was seriously slacking. And if any of her family found out she would not only get one howler but eight of them.

Ella ran into the common room and leaped--from six feet away, and effortlessly--onto a sofa. She placed a leg on the other half so that no one would sit there except who she wanted to.... Elan. She waited for him to come in. She didn't know if he would come this very minute, but he had to at some point.

Elan had just woken up and wandered into the common room, dressed in his plaid pants and yellow huffie shirt and yawned. He looked for the closest sofa and sat down without looking down as he was staring at th patterns the frost had made on the windows.

As his backside met what he expected to be couch, he felt something a bit harder and more narrow. He stood and said excuse me, as he was getting ready to find another seat.

"You're excused," said Ella, with a grin. "Though, of course, I wanted to talk to you, 'cause you're my friend, right?"

Elan turned his head as he heard a familar voice. He ran a self concious hand through his hair as he recognized Ella. Sitting down beside her he nodded. "Yeah. I'm your friend. I'm just surprised you wanted to talk to me!.

"Well what's wrong with you?" said Ella. "I mean, why wouldn't I want to talk to you?" she stared into the fire, and then back at Elan, awaiting his response.