Nodding, Adam couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't like he was sensitive about his 'situation', and he knew a joke when someone said one. "An argument, already?" Adam asked, in mock horror. Then he thought about Lori, and a hand instinctively rose to his face and touched his still slighty red cheek. He wondered what house she'd been put into.

Frowning, Adam looked at Tyler, a little confused. "What do you mean?" he asked. He was talking about the 're-encountered past' thing, and just hoped Tyler understood that. It seemed strange, the way he said it. Adam wondered i he should've asked, or if it had seemed like he was prying. Oh well, to late now.

The very first thing that Melanie noticed walking into the Great Hall was the Staff table. There were quite a few people up there she didn't recognize, and she didn't like it. She wasn't exactly a fan of change.

However, the truth was that she didn't know any of the teachers not sitting there well enough to be upset. So, Melanie averted her eyes, and began walking over to the Hufflepuff table, taking a long look down it for anyone she knew... It was nice to see familiar faces after a long summer...

The fourth year picked up her pace, starting toward the benches to grab a seat, and then a most shocking this happen. She was BETRAYED. By gravity, her worst enemy. Melanie hated gravity. WHY couldn't they just float! It would make things much more interesting.

Tripping over her robes, Melanie somehow manged to land on the ground, uttering a shocked "OOW.". Then she was looking straight up at the starry ceiling of the great hall.

The Hufflepuff considered what an idiot she probably looked like right then, and how dirty her robes were probably getting just lying there. That damage was already done. Then she considered the view. Sure, from down there she could see some dried up gum on the bottom of the house tables...but the ceiling was really pretty. She'd never really taken much time to admire it before. It was such a shame... She would get a cramp in her neck if she tried to look at it when she was sitting up at her table...

Perhaps she'd hang out there for a bit. "Can someone pass me a Cherry Coke, please?" Melanie asked, peering up at her house's table hopefully.

Cadence smiled when he guessed. "Nice guess! That would be one point TyTy, 0 Points Cadence. Anyway, Ravenclaws are usually pretty nice. I think you'll fit right in there." She got quiet for a minute and then looked up at him with a little half-smile. "Is it bad that I was kind of REALLY hoping you'd be in Hufflepuff?"

As Tyler began talking to the Ravenclaw boy, Cadence just sat there silently and listened to their exchange... kind of. More so, she was spacing. Tyler was, in fact, a really nice guy, and easy to talk to when she wasn't being a completely spaz. She smiled to herself as she realized that one of the cutest boys she had ever seen was sitting next to her, which was especially fun because he wasn't even really supposed to be sitting there since he was a Ravenclaw. She watched him talking and got the sudden urge to mess up his hair some more, though she was pretty sure he probably didn't need anymore help with that. Cadence really really hoped they would stay friends after they went their separate ways tonight.

But then, she would be in the Hufflepuff Common Room, sitting in the dormitory, giggling with Lanie and telling her all about TyTy. What had happened to Lanie? She wondered again. She wanted to introduce her to Tyler.

And then Cady saw her. "Lanie! Hey Lanie! I saved you a seat!" And then Lanie tripped! And Cadence rushed away from Tyler to help her up. "Lanie are you okay?"

Hmm. There was a very simple answer to that right there.

No.

But that would mean giving lots of reasons and Jake wasn't exactly very clear in his speech at the moment. But still... there were some subjects he wanted to get stuck into. "I llllike Ccccare of Mmmagical Cuhh-creatures," he said in a kind of contemplative way, as he looked off into space for a moment. Then, of course, since he knew about Lawson teaching... "Muhh-muggle Sssstudies ought ttttter be a lllaugh."

Bwaha. Oh yes it would.

And OF COURSE his other best subject. "Ffffflying. Those thuhh-three I'm llllookin' ffforward tuh-ter."

At the birthday wishes Jake blushed, yes, BLUSHED, and smiled, muttering his thanks through a smile he tried to hide. "Erm... sssso..." Oh jeez, he needed new conversation... thingers... "Ggggot any puhh-pets?"

That was, of course, a very important question.

When Reese looked up and down the table, Jake took the opportunity to scan the Great Hall for a certain Gryffindor 7th year JERK that he wanted to keep AWAYYYYY from for now. Still... he needed words with that boy. Awayyyyy from authority. Little did Jake know, Jack was actually Head Boy.

Anyway, yes. Present. All good. Jake beamed at Reese when he had her attention again and hugged her tight around the middle. That was kind of a good thing about not living with his old family anymore. He and his sister had less of the falling out stuff. "Th-thank you," he said softly, deciding not to ask how things were right now.

"Vvvery fffair," he commented, and pulled back from the hug staring up at Reese. "S'yyyour lllast year," Jake stated, his face void of emotion. It was... kind of very sad, and Jake bit down hard on his lip to stop the lip wibble.

Ahhh well. He'd get a laugh when Reese eventually found out the boy had just placed Charlie, his tarantula, on her back.

"That sounds really fun. When I get older,I'd like to tryout for Quidditch. I used to play in Russia with my brother."

Pets. Pets. Did she have a pet? N- oh wait yes. She'd just bought one. Stupid.

"I have a kitten named Tegan," she said.

"Yup. Some people just don't know manners," he laughed and remembered what happened on the train. "I got into some trouble before I came here," he started. "My niece found a picture of it and brought it with her. She then showed a friend of hers who later used it against me,"

"That didn't seem hard to do," Tyler chuckled and crossed him legs. His back was to the table and his feet were stretched out in front of him. A much more comfortale position to sit like. "I don't think it is. Seems like you want to be really close to me," he smirked and winked at her.
Tyler heard a THUMP on the floor. He looked in the direction the sound came from and saw a girl on the floor. "Are you alright?" he asked her as he helped her up.

She chuckled at the image of Emalyn's poor little brother covered in band-aids. St. Mungos? "Oh yeah, I can imagine that... It's gotta be crazy over there..." She glanced at her friend, thinking that comment might scare her off and mentally slapped herself. "But you know, it's gotta be way way cooler and more interesting that a couple of bruises... Or Quidditch faints. Hehe."

What would she want to do? Hmmm. "I'm not sure... Ofcourse, Quidditch would be so awesome, you know? But... I guess something exciting. Like...Errr...An Auror." A smile spread her lips. "But...yeah. Who knows. Could you imagine youself being a teacher?"

Her house pride had made her oblivous to wether he was laguhing at her or with her, so she simply looked at him and was expecting more of his snarky comments and weird questions. "Well, it's not." AAaaaand? "Do you know..." Miranda leaned in closer and continued in a low voice, "...what badgers eat?" A smirk was appearing on her lips and she whispered the next part. "Snakes." If that didn't shut him up, and she had an inkling that it wouldn't, shed plaster his face with this delicious pumpkin pie.

Sitting straight again, Miranda took a bite of a carrot and looked at Oliver from the corner of her eyes. So her being short was why she became a Hufflepuff? Hah! The carrot got mauled by her teeth as she bit into it like her mouth was a grinder or some sort. "The 'traits' are that we are one of the most friendly houses in Hogwarts. We don't descriminate, judge or insult people for who they are or what they look like." There. That ought to shut him up-

Oh for the love of Chocolate frogs... "Your'e a fifth year too??" She groaned, but thought that was a bit too mean to do and sort of turned it into a low whoop. Study together? Hah...hahaha...HAHAHA. "Why would you want to do that?" She asked sincerely. Because really, he had only been insulting her since he got to table. "Do you want to pretend you're smarter than me so you can feel better? Eh, no thanks." She said and grabbed a piece of pie to eat. Quidditch... For a second her face lit up at the prospect of talking Quidditch, her most favorite game of ALL GAMES! But...Give me tips? Okay, she wasn't going to say no to some advice and stuff, but this guy looked like he knew less than her... 'Cause, c'mon...she was a Captain. "Uh, no thankyou." She said sweetly and took another bite of the pie before he elbowed her. Arrrgh. "I...don't think I'm that interested in...Quidditch tips." That wasn't a lie, not if the tips came from him.

Then he leaned in and she narrowed her eyes again, only to have them widen at the idea he had. Oh, no no no no no no.... "Hey- Stop that- My pie!" She tried talking as she wobbled on the seat. And she had dropped her piece of pie. Oh, if only it had fallen on his HEAD! She tried to get out of the seat, but they were sitting so tightly that she could only try and hold onto the table. Have to...reach...for his...neck! She wanted to strangle the boy! He was so ANNOYING! "Oliver!" she hissed, "The Professors are going to see and I'm getting neauseated so if you don't want me to throw up all over you, and trust me there's no place to do that, I suggest you stop." And for good measure, she put a hand to her mouth and made a small gagging noise. She was faking it, but hopefully, the way she was starting to feel, it wouldn't happen anytime soon.

Someone was saying her name...

Sadly there was no Cherry Coke involved in what she said next though. Nope. Not at all.

Melanie grinned up at her anyway. "I'm finne. I'm just looking a the stars. And trust me I'm not talking about he one that people see above their head in old movies...or whatever it is. Birds or something, maybe?" That just had to be clarified. Melanie wasn't sure if people even saw that in real life when they passed out. she'd heard they just blacked out, but that was a lot less interesting.

The fourth year contemplated the situation for a moment, looking at the dude with Cadence, with what was most definitely curiosity in her eyes, and wondering where he had come from AND why he didn't look familiar, yet looked older than her. What was with all the transfers this year?

And WHY were they all determined to get her up out of her stargazing position?

All very legitimate questions, I'd say. She let herself be hauled off the ground, staring at them quizzically at the pair.

"I only wanted a Cherry Coke." Melanie informed them matter-oh-factually, dusting off her robes with her hands. "I can still use my legs. Thanks though."

Bah. She'd have to ceiling gaze another time. Silly people

"Well, maybe I do, got a problem with that, TyTy?" she asked raising her eyebrows.

Cadence giggled as Tyler repeated the same question she'd already asked Lanie. "Well, this isn't the most graceful way I wanted you guys to meet, but Tyler this is my best friend Melanie. Melanie this is my friend Tyler. I met him on the train."

Cadence looked up at the stars while Melanie mentioned them. It was a really pretty night, maybe Cadence should have just laid on the floor with her instead. She giggled again at Lanie's request for a Cherry Coke. "Lanie, I don't think they have Cherry Coke at Hogwarts..."

Was Jake HUGGING her? Reese hadn't expected a hug. She wrapped her arms around her little brother with her smile still on her face. She might not have been expecting it, but she sure didn't mind getting Jake hugging her. "You're welcome," she replied to him. "So, what did your foster mum get you?"

She unwrapped her arms from around Jake and when he mentioned it being her last year, she slowly nodded her head. "Yeah," she sighed. "I can't believe I'm already a 7th Year. I don't really want to graduate." She just didn't want to leave all her friends and her brother behind, but she really had no choice. "Jake," she said. "I do want you to promise me right now that you will try to be on your best behavior after I..."

Why did she feel something crawling on her back?

She reached her right hand behind her back and grabbed the fuzzy thing that was on her back. What in the name of Merlin was that? She moved the object in front of her, so that she was able to see what it was.

O__________________________O

Reese let out a little scream, then she threw Charlie towards the direction of Jake. And, before she knew it, she had fallen backwards off the bench and was looking straight up at the bewitched, Great Hall ceiling. She was deep breathing and her brown eyes were watering up, just like they were when Torin had given her a tarantula.

Oh how she hated spiders.

SNOOOOORT.

Good choice of words there. Very good. Their meeting had been anything but graceful.

Melanie nodded a the boy in greeting. "Nice to meet you Tyler." she said politely, as most people do when they first meet someone. If he was Cadence's friend he was okay by her. even if he like yanking innocent stargazers from their domain.

Speaking of Cadence... Melanie turned her attention back to her, raising an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" she asked, a little disappointed. Melanie had thought they had pretty much everything here. "I could just have a normal coke I guess." Melanie shrugged, peering down at her feet. It wouldn't be the same thing, but she would live.
Melanie glanced down, peering at the girl. HA. She wasn't alone. Sitting on a bench was a girl gazinging at the starry ceiling. Man, she was a trend starter.

"OH. Are you looking at the stars?" she asked the girl happily, peering down at her curiously and wondering if she'd seen her before. "They're so pretty aren't they? Do you see any constellations?" Melanie glanced around, so she could look right at her while she talked.

It was then Melanie noticed something out of the ordinary. She looked ...frightened. How odd. Perhaps they were so stunning, she was speechless, or something? "Are you okay?" Melanie inquired, her eyes getting wider as the girl's did.

Weeeeeeeeeird.

"I ppplay Quidditch," Jake smiled, glad to get onto that subject briefly. "Suhh-seeker."

Mhmm, he sure did. And he LAIIIIKED IT!

Ooooooh! Jake LOOOOOVED KITTENS! He went all mushy and squeally when he saw them, hence the reason he brought his own cat. "I gggot a cuhh-cat... Lolcat. An owl, Fuhh-fly. And I gggot..."

"Ohhh," Jake replied, smiling as he started to answer, deciding NOT to correct his sister. The woman wasn't his foster mother anymore... she was his real mother. Legal and stuff. "Sssstuff... guhh-guitar..." To name but ONE of the presents. Awesomeness.

When Reese started to talk to Jake about how to act when she wasn't here, Jake tried to look as serious as he could, but it was hard when he saw one of Charlie's legs on Reese's shoulder. And quite creepy if you didn't like spiders... the way it s-l-o-o-o-o-o-w-l-y crept up... making Reese quite aware.

THEN Reese THREW Charlie towards him, and Jake only too happily caught the creature, gaping in indignation. POOR CHARLIE! The poor little arachnid was quite obviously TERRIFIED. Jake sat there, soothing the poor creature before he glanced down at Reese. She'd definitely learnt her lesson, so Jake reached into his pocket and brought out a tiny box wrapped in silvery wrapping paper, and leant down to put it in Reese's hand.

Inside the box was a white-gold ring which would magically resize to fit her finger when she put it on. On the outside of the wide band, Reese Upstead was carved lightly in a script font, and on the inside it read in tiny lettering Jake and Reese, Bro and Sis.

"Well-buhh-behaved... guh-guh-gotcha."

When that was done, Jake looked back at Anastasia and showed her Charlie. "An' a ttttarantula... Ch-ch-charlie," he smiled, and then looked back at his sister, kind of worried by her teary eyes.

“Ooooh.. I haven't dented your 'house pride', have I?” He asked doing airquotes with his fingers as he said 'house pride'. “Cos I was only saying what I thought when I looked at it. I wasn't making fun of you.” Again.. this could either be honesty, or that deadpan mockery – his face gave nothing away. He was smiling, yeah.. but that was nothing new. He raised his eyebrows. “Only itty bitty snakes.” He corrected her. “A massive cobra could take on a badger any day.” Then it dawned on him what she was getting. She was trying to be clever! hehehe! Good for her. “Why? You're not suggesting you want to eat me, are you?” He eyed her, his mouth turning downwards.

An eyebrow cocked. “You got placed in a house because you're friendly?” He asked incredulously making sure that was what the girl had actually said. “You know, if that's true.” he started (oh yes, this boy had an answer to everything). “I could have fit in pretty well here.” He crinkled his nose. “Except I'm not fond of yellow... or rodents... and I don't have little legs... or smell.” ... often.

What in the hell was that noise that just came out of her? Oliver stared and stared some more as she went on to insult him! Now that was just plain rude. And totally not called for. But Oliver had thicker skin than most so he just continued to smirk not acknowledging that he may have been a bit offended by that reply. “I wouldn't be pretending, luv.” He said with a wink. “I just thought that you and I – as we're getting along so well, could have worked a bit together. Bounced our ideas and knowledge off each other.” But no. And he would never ask her again... possibly.

“You play then, do you? Quidditch? You're handy with a bat or broom?”

Whinge whinge whinge... Miranda was BORING and he ignored her and her protests to stop rocking up until she made that gagging noise. Gross. “You're not really going to....” He trailed off as his gaze landed on another girl. One who tripped and fell comically to the ground.

A loud guffaw erupted from the fifth year Slytherin. Flying Hufflepuffs and not due to bench wobbling either. That had to be bonus points to whatever game it was he had been playing.

And there she just lay. Oliver picked up a stick of French bread from the table and was about to begin poking her with it when one of her friends came to her aid. Innocently, he placed the French Bread back in the centre of the table and turned his attention back to Miranda. Lovely, interesting Miranda.

But.. but.. then another one was over! And Oliver began laughing again. Laughing like a dirty drainpipe with his hands on his chest until his sides hurt and he struggled to catch his breath.

Too... much... entertainment.

"I mean..." Cadence began, looking around at Tyler for help. "I'm sure we could probably use magic or something to get you a Cherry Coke, but I'm the wrong person to request that of." She looked down at the table to see what there was to drink. "I see... pumpkin juice, water, and Butter Beer."

Okay... Lanie was acting a little weird. Maybe she hit her head when she fell. As Lanie talked to the... other girl on the ground, Cadence tried to silently communicate to Tyler. She mouthed, "TyTy" and bumped into him, "I think" and tapped her head, "Lanie" pointed at Lanie, "Hurt her head." and she held her head as if in pain.

Lanie wouldn't pass up the feast to lay on the floor and look at the stars. Or would she. Cadence guessed she didn't really know. After all, she and Lanie had only communicated in letters the past 2 years.

"No. I'm a third year. But I'm new so I don't know anyone in Hufflepuff yet. I just moved here. Well, moved back here. I grew up in England but we had to move to Australia five years ago because of my mum's job." Even though Evelyn didn't always get along with her family, she did find their work interesting and hoped to work with them one day. She could have spoken more about her family, but she wanted to hear about Scipia too. And anyone else who wants someone to talk to, Evelyn thought, looking at the big empty seating space beside her, the more the merrier.

"Well geez, that's a lot of pets." Anastasia sighed. She used to have a horse
in Russia, but that was another life now.

"I hope to make it on the Quidditch team here someday."

Anastasia noticed the poor older girl and her teary eyes. "Is she okay?"

"Nuh-not nearly as mmmmany as I wuhh-want," Jake shrugged, realising his slightly bratty side was showing. Ahhhh well. And in his personal opinion, he thought Anastasia should try out for quidditch. He'd tried out when he'd never flown a broom before, and he made the team as seeker. THAT had been a surprise.

When Anastasia mentioned Reese, Jake glanced quickly down at the girl. "Sssshe dun like sssspiders," he explained, placing Charlie up onto his shoulder. Reese was an ADULT now, both in the Muggle AND the Wizarding world. "She's mmmy sister," Jake added hurriedly. Boys were allooowwwwed to torment their older sisters.

Though if she started crying, Jake would feel very bad.

Anastasia smiled. "I've always wanted loads of pets too." Ah. Sister. That explained it. Anastasia herself had tormented her older brother Dimitriv multiple times.

Reese closed her eyes until she had calmed down a little bit and when she had opened them back up, she moved her head a little bit so that she could see Jake. She had an evil brother, that was for sure. She wiped her eyes with her left hand and in her right hand, she was clenching something that Jake had just put there.

After she took a few more deeps breaths, she raised her right hand over her face, so that she was able to see what Jake had put there. It was...a present? She blinked a few times and quickly glanced over at Jake before unwrapped the silver wrapping paper from the little box. She then opened the top of the box and pulled out a ring. The first thing she noticed was her name engraved on the front and as she examined the rest of the ring, she noticed what was engraved inside of it.

"Jake," she quietly said. The present that she was holding had made her forget all about why she was laying on the ground in the first place. She finally stood back up and was about to hug her brother until she noticed the tarantula. Instead, she just ruffled his hair and gave him a big smile. "Thanks," she told him. "I really do love it, but I don't love..." She pointed her finger towards Charlie. "That thing," she added.

She looked over at the blonde girl Jake was talking to and she nodded. "I'm fine," she answered her question. "My head hurts a little bit, but besides that, I'm going to be okay."

Looking back at Jake, she gave him a very disappointed look. "Did you really have to do that?" She asked, referring to the whole spider incident that just previously happened.

Yeah, she wasn't going to believe for one second that Jake Upstead was going to behave himself after she graduated.

Arya looked at the staff table as Jake pointed out the teachers, paying close attention to Professor Morgan,um Lawson, since she taught CoMC. When she saw her husband she remembered seeing him with Jake earlier."I did see him there, I thought he was your dad. Ya''ll must be really close."Arya laughed when she said his favorite class was anyone that didn't have to do with magic, thinking it a joke.

"I didn't know it was your birthday, Happy Birthday Jake!" Arya grined at Jake, thinking he had the coolest birthday ever. A birthday on the first day at Hogwarts, how cool was that!

Wow,Jake had a lot of pets. She wondered if he brung them to Hogwarts. Then when he showed Anastasia his trantula she got excited."Oh, that is a lot of pets! Can I hold Charlie?" Arya loved playing with spiders, she used to spend hours in her backyard with her friends looking for them.

Arya turned to Anastasia with a shoked expression. "I didn't know you played Quidditch! What postion do you play?"She turned to the girl Anastasia was looking at, thinking the sam thing that Anastasia had already asked.

"There's no harm in that," he laughed. Tyler than turned his attention to...Melanie was it? Yup, that's her name. "It's nice to meet you Melanie," he smiled. Tyler began to space out a bit until Cadence tried telling him something. He laughed at how she was trying to tell him Melnie hurt her head. "You could've just said that,"

Smiling back at the girl, Jake realised he was fast running out of topics to talk about. He was feeling slightly restless, and he knew it wouldn't be long before he had to take the third calming draught of the day. Or he'd just be bouncing off the walls.

Which totally reminded him he needed to visit that new Healer soon. Obviously not now. One look at the staff table told Jake the woman was busy and besides... this was something that you didn't shout about in front of the whole school.

But back to Anastasia... Twiddling his thumbs, Jake searched through his mind for something to talk about... but nothing was coming to mind.

"Are yyyou... guhh-glad ab-about being sssorted into... Huhhh-hufflepuff?" he asked, which was better than alot of things he could have asked.
"Hmmmm?" the boy acknowledged his sister, glancing back at the girl again as she said his name. It appeared she'd opened the present, and Jake bit his lip to see her reaction. Fortunately, it appeared that she loved it, which made Jake smile. He was BACK in the good books.

Well... maybe not entirely. The boy pouted a little and nuzzled Charlie, who sat stoicly on his shoulder, being good... for now. Man, everyone hated Charlie. He'd never done anything to THEM.

Ahh... wait... disappointed look. Jake bit his lip again and lowered his gaze, feeling just a little bad about what he'd done. Well, that was a payback for the late present, so Reese got hers today as well.

But still... "Nnnno?" the way Jake answered the question sounded like he was asking for confirmation of the right answer. "Sorryyyyyy," he added, placing Charlie on the table and reaching over to hug Reese.

Nobody could resist a Jakers hug.

Hehe, she thought Lawson was his dad. As cool as that sounded... "Nah," he grinned. "Wwwwe'd bbbeen camping," he explained, nodding at the comment about being close. They really were... And Jake did NOT tell Arya about the incident last term... where he'd... somehow put Lawson in the hospital.

Close. Thick as thieves.

At the birthday greetings, Jake smiled bashfully. "It wwwas ye-yesterday. We ccccelebrate it ttttoday sssoo I can sssee my sister," here, Jake pointed to the Slytherin prefect. "Ssssince I ddddon't live with thhat family nnno more."

Simples.

When Arya asked to hold Charlie, Jake beamed at her and resisted the urge to bounce. He loved it when people weren't afraid of Charlie, and the boy scooped up the creature again and passed him over. "Ssssure! You lllike an-an-animals, thhhen?"

If there was a possibility that smoke could be coming out of people's ears, then Miranda would be looking like a chimney by now. Why oh why had this thing sat himself here? Why here? Yes indeed he had offended her house pride. No one mocks the name of Helga and gets awey wiff it! But she didn't respond to him and kept her eyes straight ahead, staring at whoever was sitting across from her, a piece of celery getting mashed between her teeth.

She did, however, look at him when he said he wasn't making fun, but this boy was one of those scary people who you couldn't really tell if they were joking or not. And what is up with that smile! She wanted to show an apple into his mouth to make it go away. Her eyes scanned the table... There was one nice round red apple over there... She could levitate it over here!

But no...she is a Captain. Argh. Her badge was closer!

Dangit! She was not good at this...talking back stuff. "No, I don't want to eat you." She said annoyed, but at the same time thought it was a little amusing how his comment had sounded. But she was irritated started to mutter. "...chew and then spit you out maybe..." Okay that was mean... She hadn't meant it, but she hadn't said it so loud for him to hear. So...yeah. Probably everything she said would come back and masticate her in the butt.

The way Oliver was repeating what Miranda had been saying made it sound so corny... "Yes. Friendly." Eh. "Why do think I haven't hexed you from this table yet?" Now it was her turn to smirk. Hehehee.
Her eyes scanned the boy now. Was he serious? Miranda believed there was a little of every house in all of the students, so yeah it was a probability that Oliver would indeed fit in this house had he been a little...less obnoxious. "You know," she started, putting on a more happier face, "That is true. I think you would've fit in great! Deep, deep down inside your little scrawny body of yours, is a little Hufflepuff waiting to break out and dance." This...made no sense. But she kept on babbling just to see what would happen. "Maybe, one day, you'll be the Headmaster and then you can redesign the Huffie banner and put an picture of yourself on it." She smiled big and took a bite of a pear. "Well, yes, yellow wouldn't go well with you...and you can skip the rodents...as for the smelling..." At this, her expression change to one of uncertainty. Fine, he didn't really smell bad...atleast not that she had noticed when she leaned in, but she wanted so bad to insult him to get him away from her. But her little just heart was saying 'no'. Ah, blarf it.

'Smirk Soap - Cleans out those Smirks in no time!' Heh, she'd have to invent one of those. Or maybe there was a spell for that... And for that stupid wink too! Which, hadn't she been super annoyed, would've probably made her blush. "Did you fall and hit yourself on the head on your way over here?" Oh, that must've been sarcasm, becasue he must've noticed that they were NOT getting along AT ALL. Right? "Oh, no, sorry, luv - I'm not sure there would be anything for me to bounce off of." She smiled fakely. Wait...did that even make sense? Ugh! "What I'm saying is, no, bro'."

Hmmm... Should she just make up Quidditch stuff or tell him the truth? Meh. "Now why would you want to know that?" She said with an air of curiosity. "A bat?" Making a face, she tilted her head to the side. "Oh, will you teach me, please?" Now she was just messing around with him, and aslong as he didn't see her badge, this would go smoothly.

The gagging noises were working! HAH! Miranda made some louder noises and pretended to heave while leaning closer to the boy.
But then he started to laugh and her charade's were over becasue she was getting tired and sleepy and she was still hungry!

She turned to see just what it was he was laughing at and noticed the girl... Melanie!? She was just about to call her name and ask her if she was allright, even try to get the heck out of the tight seating arrangements, but then the Oliver dude grabbed a breadstick and she was suuuuuure he was going to poker her with it. No one...messes...with...my...teamates!

Okay, someone went and helped the girl...which was weird because now there was nother one... Oh dear. The madness.
"Oliver... So why did you transfer from Durmstrang?" Huh, why had this question popped into her head? Curiosity...

Cadence rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips as a sign of her pretend exasperation with him. But she couldn't hold it, and she smiled at him, giggling. Pushing him off balance a little she said "Oh shut it!" and looked away from him to contain her laughter, but the second she looked back at him, she was laughing again.

Sarah walked over to the Hufflepuff table and saw Miranda as she got closer she realised that Miranda had the badge that had belonged to Kaika the previous term it was the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain badge, Sarah walked over to her and smiled. "Congrates Miranda." She smiled. "How was your summer?"