"Well, I am sure we will playing against each other in Quidditch" Rex told mina. " In other words, we will both be playing for our respective houses" Rex explained to Mina. "Well, you seem to do well for yourself without your siblings" Rex said to Mina. " Just show up at Jason's, he would love to see you" he told Mina.

Keeley grinned at the boy who was almost as clumsy as her. "Cool. I've been to America, but just to New York. And you don't need to call me 'mam, I'm just a second year." Although it was a little weird, she was a little pleased at being called mam. "Anyway, all of my friends are heading to the dorms, so I'll see you around," And with a final shy smile, she scurried after her friends to they're dorm. Well, that couldn't have been a more clumsy introduction, but maybe they could be friends.

" Good bye" Rex told Keely. " Well, you will have to come to SweetWater, Texas and visit me" Rex said to Keely. " Ok, I will not call you. mam anymore" Rex promised Keely.

Hearing footsteps behind her, Nia glanced behind her. She smiled as she realised who had sneaked up on her whilst she'd been talking. "Hello stranger," she said with a laugh. "I was gonna go find you at the Huffie table in a bit."

Elan grinned as she turned and saw him. He reached around her and gave her a quick squeeze. He'd have to remember to be more proper, as they had returned to school.

"I thought you might, but I couldn't wait. Having a good time so far?" He played with the fork set before him, smiling as he looked at the spaces in between the tines. It was as if there was a puzzle that fit perfectly, space/metal and he felt the same with Nia.

Enjoying the squeeze, Nia smiled. "You just wanted to pre-empt me, huh?" She stuck out her tongue, before giggling. "Ah, I've been meeting some of the new Ravenclaws, enjoying myself, settling back in...all highly exciting stuff."

With that she watched him play with his fork. "You could, you know, just eat something off of it..." she said after a while, half intrigued by it. "There's some good sausages..." she added gesturing to her plate.

He smiled at her choice of words. "I suppose I did." He grinned at the sight of her tongue. It was very cute. "Well, meeting new housemates is good. I suppose I need to do that as well."

He laughed. "I'm sorry, I was just noticing how the tines just match with the nothingness between them. I thought it was a nice metaphor for us, no space between to separate." He nodded before spearing one of her sausages. "Fanks, Nia. It ish goood."

Nia mock tutted and shook her head, her eyes twinkling. "Indeed it is, and I've already found someone who has good taste in reading material and we're gonna swap books at some point." She smiled, Nia liked nothing more than snuggling up to a good book in front of the fire in the Ravenclaw Common Room after a hard day of studying.

Nia raised an eyebrow as he explained. "Nothing to apologise for," she replied, before listening to his explanation. Elan was good with thinking like that - a creative mind for metaphors and the like. "Ah-ha," she said with a nod, running it through her mind again.

She would have said more on the subject, when she saw one of her sausages had gone. On to Elan's fork. She should've known she was inviting that to happen when she gestured to her plate. She meant to show that they were good, not suggest he could help her eat them! She looked at him, fake exasperation on her face. "Oi! Couldn't you get your own? That was my sausage," she said pointedly. "And I'm very possessive about my sausages, you know," she added for effect - though her acting effort was now starting to break and a cheeky smile flickered on her lips.

Elan blushed, but just a bit. As much as he needed to bond with his housemates, he knew she was only teasing. He assumed that she didn't mind his visit to her table at all. "Well that's good, since you've read every book I own. Somebody has to support your habit." he told her this while winking. He knew she loved to read and it was nice sitting with her as she did.

He almost put his fork down when she nodded and agreed.

Her face fell as the sausage touched his lips and he bit down. He was about to spit it out and apologize when he saw her smile begin to emerge. He swallowed the piece whole and should have chewed a bit better, but alas it went down. "Well, you shouldv'e said so. I would have gotten my own. I just thought that since I was here only a bit, that one errant sausage wouldn't be missed." Unfortunately, swallowing the piece so largely now left an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach. He rubbed it gently, sad he had hurt himself being selfish. He leaned his head on her shoulder.

She laughed as he pointed out how much she'd read. "Hmm, it didn't take me too long to conquer your bookself, did it?" She had a quick drink of pumpkin juice before shrugging. "But hey, it makes present buying for me easy, right?! You know, some guys are faced with the prospect of having to buys their girls clothes - but no, you need only to go to the bookshop!" She winkied back at him.

"Awww, you're right," she said softly, "I was only teasing. I'm sure the sausage was honoured you decided to take it from my plate." She nodded, as if to confirm this as she felt his head on her shoulder. "You alright?" she asked, naturally trying to see his face - but after a moment realised that feat might be physically impossible.

He laughed as she did. He loved spending time with her and he enjoyed the little back and forth they had together. "Well, I'm sure it was no great challenge for you. I mean a small shelf of 10 books is not much to deal with. He grinned. "I suppose that does make things a bit easier. Though sometimes it's hard to find books you haven't read that seem interesting.

He grinned. "It's nice that you consider the feelings of the sausage as they are chosen by you or I." He chuckled a bit as he imagined a sausage telling his friends, "I've been chosen by Elan...Woohoo!" He mumbled a quick yes. "Yeah, just a bit tired from the train ride. I don't know, I've been a bit tired all day."

Nia shook her head. "I know, I was quite disappointed at you lack of literature," she replied, "I mean, they didn't even last part of the summer..." She chuckled. "It is? But there's tons of books out there." She played with her hair. "And there's always a series I need the next one of - I think I'm currently waiting for 3 or 4 sequels to be released." And with that, she looked innocently at him. She had argued her case for him adding to her book collection for her birthday well, right?!

"Well, I'm sure it's really important to them..." she said, trying to regain her seriousness. It wasn't working though, so she let out a giggle and grinned. She was sure she and Elan would always have something random to talk about.

"That's not good," Nia said as he said he was tired, with a little pout. "You can't be ill just as we've got back. That'd be no fun at all..." she shook her head for emphasis. "Maybe its just first day back blues," she softly, "But yeah, you did sleep rather a lot on the train."

He smiled as she regaled him with her tales of her tales. And he noticed the cute thing she did with her hair. Elan liked just watching her. Sometimes he'd get distracted doing that and lose track of what she was saying. He tried to remain focused as she told him what she was needing for her library.

He laughed a little bit harder as he sought some apple juice. He thought some ice cold juice would be soothing on his tummy as he dealt with the aftermath of swallowing such a large bit of sausage. He smiled as he poured himself a gobletful and suggested to her, "Perhaps we should ask them who they prefer to be eaten by. I'm sure of course they will choose you. You are much prettier and eat a bit more delicately than me and by brutish table manners. I'm sure it would ease their suffering." He gave her another wink.

He sighed. "I don't know. It's just that I've been rather tired. I don't know if all of the stress of my dad's upcoming trial has hit me or not. Maybe I should go to the hospital wing. I don't know though and I don't want to miss time with you either." He really wasn't sure what was going on. He did hope he wasn't getting very sick.

Still twisting her hair round, Nia laughed. "Nah, I reckon they'd be honoured to be eaten by you - let's face, you don't slice them up into little pieces like I do. That must cause them some pain," she added with a wink back.

She nodded, her expression not totally dropping, but showing a little worry. She knew how hard it had been anyway, and to have the added stress of the trial wasn't good. She still hadn't decided whether them being back at Hogwarts was good as a distraction or not. It maybe would make happenings feel that little bit too distant. She squeezed his hand supportively. "I reckon we should go for a walk once we've finished here. Go get some fresh air." She smiled warmly. "We've been pretty active over the holidays, so sitting around sluggishly on the train won't help you feel good and postive. Nurse Nia prescribes some fresh air..."

He laughed as he imagined the sausages having a meeting to decide who would be better to eat them. To be sliced surgically, or torn apart by teeth. "I suppose that either way would make them hurt some." He wrapped his right arm around her and smiled.

"That would be nice." he told her. She always knew how to take such good care of him he thought to himself. "Maybe Nurse Nia knows of some other remedies for later?" he asked slyly.

She nodded with a slight grimace. "I guess so," she replied thoughtfully.

"In that case," she said, starting to stand and giving a slight tug on his arm, "I think we need to go and enjoy our first walk round the grounds." Catching his last words, her eyes twinkled. "Well, you never know...I might have some thoughts..."

He hugged her tight as her face tightened. He supposed that his words had brought unpleasant images to mind.

He smiled at her suggestion. " I believe that's a wonderful idea. And you always seem to have the best ideas." He grinned as he shoved one more sausage into his mouth and drank some more of the apple juice down as he stood. He held out his hand to help her to her feet.

"Not always," Nia said with a tilt of her head. "Sometimes though..." she added with a chuckle. Watching him take another sausage, she laughed. "I thought you weren't too hungry?" she asked with a bemused expression at Elan's sudden rush for food and drink.

Tutting and shaking her head, she slid the bench back so she could get out more easily. She slipped her bag over her shoulder, and checked her wand was safe in her robes. Taking Elan's hand and wrapping his arm round her waist, she looked into his eyes. "Where do you fancy going then?"

"well, that's a matter of disagreement between us then. I think you do have good ideas." He swallowed the last bit and grinned. " I thought I should get a bit more nourishment. Would hate to run out of energy." He quickly pecked her cheek.

As she settled herself to move, he smiled and then as they walked, he felt her pull his arm around her and he pulled her closer. "I think somewhere along the grounds. Do they still have a lovely garden?"

"Ah, my dear Elan," Nia replied quickly, "I didn't say that I don't have any good ideas - just that not all of my ideas are good. A subtle matter of logic, I know...but there's still some differentiation to be made there." She laughed, knowing she was being fussy and was doing it purposely to tease Elan. It was one of her Ravenclaw traits...and it was funny...

"Run out of energy?" she questioned, her eyebrow raised. "But surely the point of going outside was that you've not done anything to..." she drifted off, becoming aware that she wasn't gong to win. And anyway, he'd already distracted her with his quick peck. "Alright, whatever..." she said with a smile.

"I'm sure they do," Nia said with confidence. Actually she wasn't totally sure, as Masterson had a habit of changing around the grounds, but oh well. "I'm sure we'll find something just as nice if they don't," she added, in case she was wrong.