Ivory looked through bleary eyes into the Great Hall. Oh the lights! Could they be any brighter. Sleepily, she rubbed her eyes. Morning was so not her favorite time, but then again she had stayed up quite late reading. Well, she did that every night but last night she'd stayed up later than usual.

Dragging her feet, she brought her sluggish body to the empty seat besides Allison. She'd wake her up, she had a knack for being cheerful in the morning.

Grabbing blindly at some oatmeal and some apple juice, she ducked her head down and began to eat slowly.

Swallowing Allison gave Ivory a sunny smile, "Rough night?" Not wanting to make fun of the girl and how not very awake she looked, instead she placed her elbow on the table--something that every Scott would gasp at, and leaned her head on her hand.

She had a truly wonderful night. The minute she had placed her head on her pillow she had slept like a rock. Immediately she had dreamt about flying on butterflies in a world made of chocolate. In her dream she jumped off the mid night blue creature and landed on a soft chocolate cake. Then there had been a volcano that erupted, and dark warm chocolate had come flooding out and washed her in the sweetiness. Thus she woke up with a craving for chocolate, treated herself with two, and was now eating something less sweet that usual.

No one should be allowed to be that peppy in this ungodly hour in the morning Ivory thought as she noticed her friend's sunny disposition.

"You could say that," she mumbled to Allison's question of a rough night. "Just stayed up reading as usual." and worrying and missing home, she added to herself.

Sleepily she started down at her oatmeal, even it seemed too upbeat with it's small pieces of banana and strawberry.

Deciding maybe she'd just catch a few more minutes before lessons, she pushed her plate forward to make room, and laid her small head down in her arms. 'Oh sleep you beautiful but elusive thing you,' she yawned to herself.

However, just when she thought she'd be able to drift off amidst all the noise in the Great Hall, the owls came in with everyone's mail. This naturally resulted in an inevitable increase in the noise level thus making it just impossible to sleep.

Glaring at the ceiling, Ivory began to rant. For those who knew the young girl, they knew that this was not a regular occurrence and once you let her get wind it was difficult to bring her down. But Ivory did not believe in hating people, only what they did or situations and silly circumstances...circumstances like this one.

"Oh the timing of it all. I hate you..." she said with exaggerated vehemence.
"I hate you with the heat of a thousand suns and the ..." her voice trailed off in ridicules references and anyone who heard her could do nothing bit bite back a laugh knowing it would not help matters.
And so she went on. Ranting about to how much she loathed the entire situation and why couldn't she have just fallen asleep instead of finding the darn book so interesting and so on and so forth. By the end of it she was ranting about homesickness and the existence of the trick steps and the long staircases and home being so far away and the stupid ministry that wouldn't let her bring Simbad to school.

Finally, she sat there seething, taking deep breaths to replenish all that she'd lost while ranting. Inside, she knew that on the bright side at least she was awake now, sitting with her usual good posture, and alert rather than sleepy...but she still wished she could've slept longer. Ooh it made her soo mad...

And just when she was about to start off again, a familiar noise overhead made her look up.

In spite of her misdirected anger, she smiled. Gavin, her Gyr falcon; and not alone either. He seemed to be carrying quite a parcel. She pondered on whether it had been enchanted to weigh less to make it easier on him, but she soon forgot this questionable detail as he dropped what he was carrying in her lap. Excitement quickly replaced any other emotion, and she patted Gavin before giving him a piece of toast and sending him off with a promise to visit him later. Her attention now focused on her mail.

The package had been wrapped carefully and with caution, anyone could see that. Untying the strings around it she placed the two rolled up parchments that were attached on the side for now, and slowly unwrapped the brown parchment paper.

A gasp. That's what escaped her lips. Then a high pitched 'eep.'
She couldn't believe it. With shaking hand she opened the first note that was attached.

SPOILER!!: Letter from her little brother

Fighting the knot in her throat, she hurriedly unrolled the other parchment.

SPOILER!!: Letter from her parents

Not fighting them anymore she let the small tears trickle onto her cheeks.
Opening the clasps on the case, she carefully unzipped the top lid and gazed down are her beloved instrument. Oh how she'd missed it, her beautiful violin.

Not able to wait another minute, she closed the lid, snapped the clasps and quite literally ran out of the Great Hall, all past rants forgotten and leaving her oatmeal for the most part untouched.

Allison couldn't help but laugh at Ivory's reaction to the morning. She had never been a heavy sleeper, and the mornings always reminded her that the past was in the past and that sun was symbol of a bright new future. Having another spoonful of porridge Allison was surprised to see the owl's fly in. Dropping her spoon in astonishment, she saw an even bigger Robin fly in with the family's Screech-Owl Bruce. Both held a large box and a bag in each beak, not counting of course the letters attached to each owl's legs.

Maintaining themselves in the air Allison pushed away the food surrounding her and made space for the massive box. Immediately the bird's released it and placed themselves on top of it.

"Bruce. Robin. Hope the flight was great," grabbing the two small bags she placed them next to the box, only to return her attention the owls once more; for both of them held out their legs with the letters.

"Merlin's beard. Grandmum wrote!" Allison looked between a letter written by her mother, and a letter written by her grandmother had no idea which to choose. Opting for her grandmother's first Allison tore at the seal and jumped in her seat of excitement.



Rolling her eyes at the obvious lack of knowledge about digital cameras Allison let out a small chuckle. Her grandmother knew nothing about old or new Muggle technology. What she did know, was how to misspell the easier Muggles words, and still make sense of them. After reading the letter, Allison kissed the it and looked in the back for her grandmother's picture. She immediately gasped and grinned widely. Her grandmother never failed to pose and look extremely beautiful in all her pictures. Hugging the picture for a moment Allison moved on to her mother's letter.



Allison didn't fail to notice how Ivory was ignored in the letter. Nor did she miss the fact that the Erised family was not mentioned either. There were little families that her mother did not know about, and Allison was sure that she knew about the Erised. Not knowing what to do, but accept that she wasn't going to get help from her mother, Allison proceeded to open the box. When suddenly without even saying goodbye Ivory stormed out of the Great Hall with her own letters. Shrugging Allison turned her attention to the box and poking the owls off opened it.

There before her sat the most wonderful looking costume ever. Bunny had out-done herself, and she couldn't wait to put it on. Even though Allison was sure that her mother had helped, she knew that Bunny had probably suggested the design. After all it took after the clothing of one of her favorite Japanese comic. Being scared to touch it and ruin it, Allison lifted it carefully to see the two books underneath the costume. Indeed it was a Spanish Learning guide and an Italian Book for Dummies. Why her mother was in such a hurry for her to learn either language was beyond her.

Giving a slight groan, and wondering when she'd find time to learn both, study, and do homework for her classes and Hogwarts Allison closed the box and opened the bags to inspect the contents. Each bag had what her mother hand mentioned: Chocolates and treats for Robin.

Excited for the prospects of the rest of the day Allison stood with her costume/book box and headed towards the dormitories. She needed to drop everything off before setting to the lake where she had promised to meet Arya and Sabel. She was going to make Halloween the best day ever.

Daphne paused a way off from the Ravenclaw table. It was a good thing she did, too. What Neptune had just said seemed like something she wouldn't want anyone to hear. "Um..." stammered the Gryffindor, trying to buy herself time. In all honesty? Daphne didn't want to name butterflies...at all. So that was hardly the right thing to ask her. Although she was no Ravenclaw, Daphne fancied she was smart enough to understand where Neptune was going though. "Raiden is one of my best friends," she said earnestly. "If something were to happen with him I just wouldn't know what to do. I don't fancy having his last name though," she answered. "It's nothing like that. Besides, Mrs. Daphne Kururugi doesn't really roll off the tongue, you know?"

"Good. Because, I suppose I like you well enough, and I won't have you not liking me due to Raiden ... liking me?" EEEEEP! Neptune pulled her shirt up over her face and quite literally hid in her embarrassment.

....

Snort. Nodding, Daphne led the rest of the way towards the table. "I suppose I like you well enough too, Neptune," declared the older girl, pointing at some empty space on the bench. "We sit? Then you can tell me how Raiden confessed."

Right? Snort.

Neptune let Daphne lead her blindly - she could sort of see through the fabric of her shirt though. Making no move to remove the fabric, Neptune began, "I just lost one of the balls off my shoes, and I was feeling real sorry for myself. I SUPPOSE I was homesick, but don't tell anyone that. It's so embarrassing. But anyway, I was telling him about that and then just out of the blue he ..." well it was hardly a kiss, "put his mouth on my face."

Neptune pointed through her shirt to where her mouth was.

Lately, Daphne felt like she was a bit of a caretaker. When it had happened, she had no idea. Glancing up at the enchanted ceiling, she half-expected it to pour down on her. Hmmm. Things were just really as of late.

"Out of the blue..." repeated Daphne having some trouble believing that. Although, she supposed, she didn't know Raiden as much as she thought she did. Placing her index finger right over Neptune's lips Daphne sighed before removing her finger. "What happened next? He said he liked you? You can say I'm a bit a surprised."

Really surprised.

"You? You're surprised?!?" Neptune was PRETTY SURE Daphne Hopton didn't KNOW the half of it! "I just thought .. I didn't really mean ..." she giggled. Neptune didn't actually KNOW what she was doing at all, ever, so who knew what she meant? Finally, she pulled her shirt off her face to talk. Her hair was getting all messed and her breath was hot in there.

"I ran away! In my bare feet, I ran all the way back to the Common Room. That's where I've been. And why I'm hungry. Not.... well, don't tell anyone, because I'll call you a liar if you do, but I'm not really sure what to do?"

Wide eyes, Daphne peeked underneath the table just in case Neptune was still barefoot. She hadn't even bothered to look but now she worried for the girl. Clearly, she wasn't meant to be left unattended. "

Why did you run away, Neptune?" asked Daphne leaning towards her. "Did he say something to scare you? Or...do something? I'm just having a bit of trouble understand," she admitted, tugging on an earlobe with an uneasy smile. "I mean, you say he likes you and he kissed you, right? But then you're running away and hiding from him. I thought you liked Raiden...maybe."

Poor Raiden Kururugi. He kisses a girl and she ends up locking herself up in the common room. Daphne couldn't imagine how it must feel. "Was the kiss that terrible?" It was -probably- Raiden's first kiss. Daphne couldn't expect him to be really good at it, right? Hmm. In any case, he couldn't possibly be worse than Varius Tipps.

Shudder.

"Scared me?" Neptune asked with potent denial in her tone. AS IF. SCARED?

Well yeah, maybe a little.


"I ran AWAY, Daphne," Neptune almost went DUHHHHHHHHHHHHH - wasn't it OBVIOUS why she ran away??, "because I didn't know what to DO. I don't know how to do that stuff! I think he should have asked first! I could have prepared! Aren't there rules and procedures? Protocols? I just didn't know HOW to do that!!!!!" Neptune explained with wild hand gestures and BIG eyes and just O.M.M what to DOOOOOOO????


Clearly TRAUMATIZED was Miss Bott.

.....

Daphne had to look away. Clearing her throat, she pursed her lips, fighting off a grin. "I see," she mused, again, buying herself some time. She poured some pumpkin juice for Neptune and offered the glass to her. "Do you like pumpkin juice, Neptune?" Yes, good strategy. Distract her with mundane things for a bit.

Pouring herself a glass too, Daphne once more launched her hazel eyes at the ceiling. What was going on with the world?

"There aren't any rules, Neptune," said Daphne as quietly as she could to the glass she held in her hands. "There aren't any guidelines or instructions to it either. When timed right it feels right. I guess that's where Raiden failed." Hmm. Possibly. Celandine would suggest more kissing. Practice made perfect or something. Daphne wasn't about to tell Neptune that, though. It...hardly felt like something she needed to do. After all, Neptune was only 13. Right? "You have more than enough time to let it feel right. You know? There's no need to hurry to try to figure out how to do it. It'll just...happen."

Yeah. Something like that/

Neptune just took the juice without bothering to tell Daphne Hopton her preference of juice. The important part was that she was being served. As she should be.


"If there are no rules, then my running away is perfectly acceptable." Though, it didn't FEEL acceptable. At the time, it felt right, but ... not so much now. Guilt? Neptune wasn't all that accustomed to guilt. "So you're saying to keep hiding until I know what to do." .... "I like this plan. You're smarter than I figured you for." Neptune poked at Daphne affectionately then REACHED for a roll. Woudl Daphne butter it for her? Hmm? In the meantime, she nibbled on the edge of it.

"Well...." Daphne just stopped speaking. Instead she drank her juice. No, she hadn't said that exactly. Although, she supposed Neptune wasn't entirely wrong. "Hiding probably isn't really polite," she mumbled watching the girl's fingers. Sighing, she reached out for the roll.

And a butter knife. And butter. Why was she doing this? Out of something to do while trying to give...advice....about kissing? Honestly. What had she gotten herself into. Quickly, she extended the buttered roll to Neptune. "You can't avoid Raiden forever. But, yes, you don't have to give him an answer or anything until you feel you can. After all, if you don't know what to say you can't really say anything at all, can you?"

Merlin. It was a good thing she didn't have any sisters. Daphne was positively horrid at giving advice.

Neptune's day had gotten exponentially better since she'd Daphne Hopton's arrival. The buttered roll was icing on the cake - OooOoooo maybe Daphne would serve her cake, too! "I can't give an answer if I don't know the question... Do you know the question? He did not ask any questions, Daphne. What ARE you on about? Do you KNOW something?" Daphne and Raiden WERE friends - so she sent the girl a VERY suspicious look. Hm.

"I don't do the silent treatment very well." Neptune reached for her napkin to dab at the corners of her mouth.

Jenn still had her big grin on as she walked into the Great Hall with Kel's hand in her's. She was, of coarse, now in different clothes, seeing how when she got to the common room she had realized her pants as well were kinda damp and very sandy, so that had to go. Now in a light blue short sleeved shirt, and dark blue denim pants, her hair bounced loosely in a ponytail. She was, quite comfortable, and very happy.

Looking around, she dragged Kel along with her towards the Ravenclaw table, bouncing practically into her seat. Patting the the space next to her, indicating for Kel to sit there, she reached across and grabed a roll, then started dishing out food onto her plate, her stomach growling loudly as she took a bit out of the roll, while dishing potatoes onto her plate.

Kel laughed as he followed Jenn into the Great Hall, and to the Ravenclaw table. He felt much better now that he was changed out of his wet, sandy clothes and into a clean pair of jeans and a plain white T-shirt. He ran a hand through his hair, which was extremely messing - although Kel had no clue how it had gotten that way.

He plopped down next to Jenn, a smile still on his face. It felt great to be with her again after missing her for so long. He sat without moving for a minute or two, getting a kick out of the way Jenn's stomach was growling. But soon enough his own started making itself known, and Kel started piling food onto his plate. He put on pretty much everything he could reach; mashed potatoes, a slice of ham, corn on the cob... it all looked so good!

After pouring himself a glass of pumpkin juice, he started eating. "Ugh." he groaned. "I was so hungry." he looked over at Jenn, feeling himself blush. "And, well, ya know, this is good food..." he added sheepishly.

Jenn couldn't help but watch Kel as he started...well...making a mini mountain range of food on his plate. It looked HUGE! All of that food on that once shimmering clean plate. In fact, she almost wanted to grab her fork and pretend to climb that mountain of food, then place a little paper flag on top. She giggled at the thought, then took another bite out of her roll once again, before dishing up somemore food. Chicken, roast, ham, green beans, carrots, more potatoes, some sort of cassarole. Now that she looked at her plate, it was almost looking as bad as Kel's. She blushed, and reached over to poor herself some pumpkin juice as well before digging into her own mountain of food.

She was in mid bite when Kel groaned. Looking over, she looked down at his plate, then at her's, and then up at his now blushed face, and blushed as well before laughing. "I have to admit too. The food is very good, and I'm starving as well for some odd reason." she said, thinking for awhile before continueing. "But your a guy any way so eating a lot is normal for you. Me on the other hand. But I'm not here to impress, I'm here to eat." she winked, before taking a bit out of her roast, and then a huge scoop of potatoes.

Kel grinned as Jenn went on about the food. He nodded in agreement when she said that since he was a guy, eating a lot was normal for him. "That's true," he agreed, laughing shortly, "I'm a growing teenager, I need lots of food." he winked at Jenn as he grabbed a roll and took a bite out of it. As he ate it, he looked from his full plate to Jenn's full plate, his crooked smile slowly showing up on his face.

At her next words, he started laughing. ...I'm not here to impress, I'm here to eat. He raised an eyebrow questioningly as she ate some more, then he wasn't able to help himself. "You do know, I think it's great when girl's eat a lot. Most guys do, I'm sure." he looked away from Jenn as he said this, trying to act as casual as he could. "I like how you don't care if I'm here - you'll eat what you want." he looked over at her again, winked, then looked back down and went back to his food. Yummeh.

Growing teenager. She couldn't help but snort at that. If he grew anymore, she'd be a midget next to him. Already he was a giant...in a way. Of coarse, Jenn is quite used to boy's being a lot taller than her. Her brother is 6.1...

Again, she was in mid bite as he...complemented her on the way she ate? Really?

...To be honest, she had never really thought about that being a good factor to the male section. Sure, her brother's liked it because she wasn't like her sisters who pretty much survived on salads and vegatables. But her sister's and mother always told her how un-lady like she was when she ate so much and should eat less. Not that she listened to them, this dinner defiantly pointed it out.

So he liked how she didn't care that he was here, and that she ate what she wanted too. Hmm...that one was new. She smiled over at him. "Thanks? I've never been complemented on eating before." she teased, taking another bite. "Most of the time I'm getting nasty looks from my mum and sister's. So I usually always eat with my brother's. They must of really rubbed off their...eating ways onto me." she laughed, looking at Kel. "So, guys like it when girls actually eat? I never knew that."

Kel rolled his eyes at Jenn's interpretation of his words. He hadn't meant the way she ate...but whatever she could think what she wanted. He continued eating while she talked, smiling every now and then. He listened to her story, frowning down at his food when she mentioned her brothers. Kel didn't exactly have good experiences with her brother...

"Well sure," He spoke up, looking at her, "I mean, I go from me - of course - 'cause I'm not real good friends with a lot of guys. But ... Did I ever tell you about Deliliah?" he asked suddenly, her eyes widening. It had just occured to him that he really hadn't ever told Jenn about Deliliah Lucas: The Girl of His Nightmares. She was literally the scariest girl Kel had ever met. She was the reason he was afraid of stiletto heals... and the reason Kel was afraid of girls for the first fourteen years of his life.

"I need to tell you about Deliliah." he told Jenn with a nod. "She was freaky."

He didn't have any...guy friends? Really? She would've thought he would have pleanty...seeing how most of her's were guys she pretty much assumed he would have loads of guy friends too. Apparently not.

...

...Deliliah?

Blink blink...who in Merlin's lost pinky toe was Deliliah? Her eyes narrowed slight, and she eyed Kel. "No. You never told me about this Deliliah person." she said, her eyes full of confusion. Whoever this Deliliah person was, she already didn't like the sound of her. She was trouble. Jenn could feel it.

And Jenn didn't like competition if that's what Deliliah was..."So, tell me about, Deliliah."

...Hmm. Maybe bringing Deliliah up hadn't been a good idea. Not that she meant anything to Kel, but he could tell by the look on Jenn's face that she wasn't happy. But, he couldn't take it back now, he had to tell the story.

"Well, she's my father's friend's daughter." ... Yeah, that sounded right. "And before I came to Hogwarts, she was the girl that my mother and father thought I was going to marry." he shuddered at the thought - the girl was horrible. And worse was the fact that his family probably still thought he was going to marry her. Gross. "But don't worry," he added quickly, "She's an absolute witch - no pun intended." he smiled briefly at Jenn before continuing on with the story.

"Before I started Hogwarts, I used to see Deliliah a lot. My parents had her and her family over at all times possible. Well, I can remember the last time she was at my house perfectly." ...Dramatic Pause. "It was actually the night that I first met you that day in Diagon Alley, do you remember that? It was when I nicknamed you Fwig..." Oops. There was somethin' else that he had also never told her. Weeeell...he'd just skip right on over that. "So Deliliah was with me in my room, talking to me, blabbering on about her stuck-up friends. And - ha - well, I got tired of it. So I...um... did a completely un-gentleman-like thing and yelled at her. And I was so caught up with the day that I yelled your name instead of hers." he was very quiet by the end of that part of the story, and he could feel the heat in his cheeks.

But he had to finished his story. "Well, she freaked, naturally. And..." another shudder "...she stepped on my bare foot. With the heel of her bright pink stiletto high heels." He looked up with Jenn, his eyes wide. "Oh, yeah, I had a point to that story." he added sheepishly. "I was going to say she ate nothing when she was around me, probably to get me to think she was- I don't even know. But anyway, it makes me feel better when girls eat around me. I don't wanna starve anyone."

Jenn eyed him as he started on going about the history of Deliliah. Her eyes narrowed almost to slits as he said his parents were planning on him and her getting married. Well then. That was something nice to know wasn't it? She must be the annoying creese in the paper of Kel's parents plans.

As she listened to his story about him yelling at Deliliah, and him yelling Jenn...wait. He yelled Jenn? Really? Hmm....she hadn't even really known Kel then. He was just this annoying boy who was overly polite, and drove her crazy because of it. Now of coarse was a different story. He still drove her crazy, but in a good way now. Her eyes widdened as he said Deliliah stepped on his bare foot with her heel, and couldn't help but wonder what it must of looked like afterwards. Probably icky. Ew. She hated getting hurt, even though it happened often, even when she wasn't trying to be sportish.

When he finished, she couldn't help but smile. "I see. So you like girls to eat? I'll have to store that in my mental files. And I promise I will eat especially well when I'm with you, so you don't think I'm dying if I only eat two steaks or something." she winked, laughing lightly.

She had to ask one more question. One she had been wondering about since he said it. "So, you said my name? How come? And what in merlin's lost pinky toe does Fwig mean exactly?" she asked, giving him a smirk and teasing look.