Across from the main doors stand four giant hourglasses filled with gemstones. The stones in the bottom indicate the current number of house points each house has earned so far.

With a slight adjustment of her fedora, Raven headed towards the hourglasses and kept her left arm leaning against her chest; after having to get a cast put on at a muggle hospital, she felt rather amused seeing as she was used to having a wand run along her arm to just heal it instead of waiting for six weeks to have the bones heal itself. Once she got a glimpse of the current totals of beads in the glasses, she smirked slightly seeing as Slytherin was on top by a whole fourteen points.

Raven!

Forget why Gold was here, she had caught sight of Raven! The sixth year grinned, dropped her handbag in delight, and ran up to her friend - only to pause. Was that a cast, on Raven's left arm? Good gracious, what was wrong! Gold's green eyes flickered.

"Raven." She picked up her bag, then straightened up. "What's wrong?" She made no effort to keep in the anxiety in her voice, back. She had wanted to hug the other girl, but that could wait, now.

For a moment or two.

Raven paused slightly when she heard a familiar voice, it immediately made her feel a lot better considering she was still a little shaken up from what she had just gone through back in Ireland. But she wasn't about to talk about that yet because there wasn't a easy way to just mention that.

"Oh..this? It was a bit of an accident from a football match with my old school, I spent some time in Ireland just dealing with my father's passing." She said, trying to avert her hazel eyes to hide what she really was feeling now since she didn't want Gold worrying about her.

Right.

Raven's gaze said it all - of course, Gold couldn't know any details, but it was enough to know her friend was not being entirely truthful. For a moment, she was really hurt, and then she remembered that Raven had been dealing with a lot lately, and was about to reach out, to place a hand on Raven's shoulder, when the Slytherin mentioned something that made Gold freeze - her father had passed away.

"Raven --" She had no idea what to say and, next thing she knew, she was hugging Raven very, very tightly. "I'm so, so sorry."

Words failed her, then. Utterly.

Raven tried hard to stop the tears from coming but it was a useless effort, she just couldn't hold back her emotions anymore and felt a few warm tears roll down her cheeks; having to go back to Ireland strictly for something that was that incredibly sad wasn't what she wanted but unfortunately there was nothing that she could have actually done to stop it from occuring anyways.

When Gold had hugged her, Raven felt a little better; she wasn't exactly surprised that her friend had really nothing to say because what could be truly said? She hugged her friend back with one arm, trying not to move the other a lot because of the cast. "Thanks.. this just had come at a major surprise to me seeing as the last time I had saw my father, he looked fine." It was a rather feeble attempt for her to somehow continue this conversation.

Gold continued to cling to Raven, though she made sure she did not do it too tight, or hurt Raven's hurt arm, in the process. Which Raven still had to explain. Gold wasn't going to ask for an explanation right now, though. Because some topics are better left unsaid, at certain points in time. Instead, she reached out to wipe Raven's tears away. "You're a strong person," she said gently. "You need to be even stronger now, Raven. I know life's tough, but we can't let it tear us apart."

She took a deep breath, then quietly pulled away. "You need to go to the Hospital Wing," she said, not happily. She could probably heal that arm herself, but Gold knew she was no qualified healer, and she didn't want to take a risk, here - this was one of her best friends, that they were dealing with. She simply couldn't. "Right away," she added, firmly. "Someone needs to look at that arm, and heal it magically."

Raven listened to what Gold had to say and nodded slightly, her friend was absolutely right; even though she wanted to just fall apart and think that the world is bad, she couldn't let this bring her down. "I know Gold, I'm going to try to work through this as best as I possibly can." She said, giving a very weak smile on her lips; it was going to be a challenge but she knew that deep down she could get past this in time.

"Yes Prefect Laksh." She rolled her hazel eyes ever so slightly then grinned deviously; it seemed like the sadness had immediately disappeared and had been replaced with the usual devious, Slytherin attitude that Raven was infamous for. "You know, you really should work on your whole Prefect thing; if you want Gryffindors to stay in line.. you've got to scare them like Professor Truebridge did to us."

A smile resolutely made its way to Gold's face, when Raven cheered up. She was so happy, she totally hugged Raven, again. Carefully, of course. Because she knew she would want to not eat dinner for forever and a day, if she ended up being the cause of further hurt for Raven.

"I don't think terror works on Gryffindors," she joked. "Lions, remember?" She was just glad Raven was back to her devious self. Gold didn't know if it would last, of course - Raven had definitely been though a lot, and Gold knew it would be hard for her, to stay cheerful - but there was no doubt in her mind that she liked Raven happy.

Raven giggled slightly when Gold mentioned that she didn't think that terror could work on Gryffindors, she immediately had an idea to prove that but it had to wait till around Halloween. "Ah yes Lions are brave, well I can't say that about all who wear the Red and Gold." she said with a devious smirk then took her fedora off and took another brief glance at the hourglasses, she had to make sure that Slytherin was the only house who had the most beads seeing as she had plans to definitely ensure that.

She felt an oncoming wave of sadness approach but shook it off and remained happy for the time being, it was definitely a lot of work to stop herself from wanting to cry again however she was going to deal with it the best way possible which was duelling of course.

Gold grinned. "You can, though," she said, still not fully letting go of Raven. "I mean, it doesn't always have to be the in-your-face type of courage. Sometimes, it's hidden, and sometimes, it's waiting for the right moment to show itself.... and sometimes, its just plain sneaky. Very Slytherin-ish, even." She gave Raven a light smile, as she said that.

Then something in Raven's gaze changed, and Gold reached out a hand, to pat Raven on the shoulder. "You aren't going to show that arm to a healer, then?" She asked gently.

Raven raised her eyebrow slightly. "Slytherin-ish? I don't know about that one, I'd leave the sneaky behaviour to the house who does it best, the ones who inhabit the dungeons and wear the Green and Silver." she smirked after saying that since she had made her house sound very mysterious when everyone knew about the Slytherins.

She sighed a little bit when Gold had asked about her arm again, well after seeing a muggle doctor she wasn't sure that it needed to be fixed by a healer. "No actually, I've got a cast on it and the doctor said it takes 6 weeks for it to heal properly so the next 2 months will be lovely."

Gold laughed. "I don't think we can restrict adjectives," she said. "But I do believe Slytherins are meant to be cunning, in general. Not always in a bad way, though. It's silly to stereotype -- and, of course, we all know Gryffindor has had its fair share of sneaks." In her opinion, you couldn't beat Peter Pettigrew, not in terms of treachery.

Stupid man.

Gold frowned, when Raven told her about the arm. "But a healer will be able to make it heal much more quickly," she offered. "Still, if that's the way you want it --" She didn't want to argue. She wanted Raven to have some peace. God knew the girl needed it.

Raven nodded slightly in agreement. "True although some people still tend to go back to the old stereotypes of the houses which can irritate me at times, if the stereotypes still rang true; we wouldn't be friends only enemies who are trying to just spite each other at every turn." she said then shuddered ever so slightly, just that thought made her cringe because it was impossible to imagine if things were actually like that at Hogwarts.

When she noticed that Gold had stopped talking about her arm, she felt like there was something else to be said there but wasn't about to ask exactly what that was. "If I would have waited to see a healer about my arm, it would have been too late and the bones wouldn't have a chance to heal."

Gold nodded. "Spoken like a true Hogwartsian!" She said. She personally found the old stereotypes something to laugh at - they couldn't possibly be taken seriously. Not when she had a stock of Slytherin friends. Not to mention, pals in the remaining, two houses.

"I hope it gets fine, soon." Gold bit on to her lower lip, as she looked at Raven's arm. Then, to cheer up her friend, she said, "So, how's Daniel?" Because she knew the two had gotten back together and, hopefully, the subject would make Raven think of the more joyful things in life. Make her feel better, somewhat, Gold hoped.

Raven brushed the dark blue hair from her eyes so she could actually see, it was getting rather annoying already. "Whoever still believes in the old stereotypes really just needs some education on how things work now, Slytherin is still power; just not extreme as it used to be and I like it that way for sure." She knew her mother still believed in old Slytherin and pureblood superiority which irritated her to no end seeing as she didn't exactly get it.

"Daniel? Oh um.. I actually haven't seen him in a long time. Been too busy with drama back home that I've not had the time to visit with my boyfriend. Although, some of that drama is going on here and it involves me flirting with other guys just for fun." A slight devious grin appeared on her lips as she remembered what had happened earlier in the summer, she definitely was good at having boys interested in her.

Gold frowned. She had thought Kathlon had been smooth in the sail. Looked like that wasn't happening, not exactly. Then Raven said she was flirting with other boys - the usual, hehe - and Gold had to smile. She wasn't exactly an angel, but when she was with a guy, she stuck to him, in the sense that she didn't actually think about others.

But Raven was fun.

"... and who are these lucky guys?" she teased.

Hehe.

Once Gold asked who the guys were, Raven grinned again; of course she wasn't an angel and that's why people loved her, also it was because she was totally awesome but the ego was talking now and not her. "Oh mainly new Slytherin boys.. figure they need to know their way around Hogwarts and who better to show them than a deviously charming 7th year Slytherin." It was honestly like fishing, she could catch boys hook, line and sinker just for pure amusement.

Gold lifted an eyebrow. "You have a cast on your arm, but you're still being quite the Slytherin!" She said. She was joking, of course. She knew Raven - the girl was quite the charmer, but she was also, underneath it all, a sweet person. Not if you got on her wrong side, of course. But Gold was glad for the friendship - it meant a lot to her.

"So. These new ... Slytherins. How are you and they, shaping up?" She gave Raven a mischievous, little grin.

Raven giggled slightly then moved her left arm a little bit so that it wouldn't become awkward while she was talking. "Well some of them are not exactly worthy of my time if you get what I'm saying, but there is a couple that have certainly intrigued me.. like this Canadian transfer his name is Santi; kinda cute he is and I know he's already interested in me, then there's Jasper..who well sorta already kissed me." She blushed an very so slight crimson after finishing what she was saying because she remembered that day like it was yesterday.

Santi? "You. Are. Joking!" Gold said. Sure, the guy was cute, but Gold also found him to be intelligent, a thinker and quick on his feet, and she hadn't thought he would fall for someone, at the drop of a hat! But she still had to see both sides of the picture, so Gold decided she would not judge. She could do that later, when she knew things better.

Or maybe not even then. It wasn't her business, to be honest.

"Jasper? No idea who he is." She shrugged, a bit. "Tell me?"

Raven chuckled slightly at Gold's reaction when she mentioned Santi. "I'm not joking though, we were talking at the Start of Term Feast and he kept inching himself closer to me, I knew what he was trying to do so I just kinda sat there and mentally smirked. Honestly it's like give me a challenge." She said then grinned a little bit. It was rather amusing to her how someone who only had known her for about five minutes was already intrigued by her.

"Jasper, he's a 5th year Slytherin; bit of a heartbreaker like myself and we actually met in the Leaky Cauldron and of course I start flirting with him and he does the same, then it just was like a well played game of chess. Each move I was careful then we actually hung out at my house in Sydney, Australia where I was having a party; about a few hours into the party he kissed me and it was like.. yeah." She felt the blush grow slightly stronger on her cheeks as she continued to discuss that event.

Gold shrugged. "What can I say?" she said. "You have the looks, Slytherin." Hehe. "But be careful. You don't want to mess with too many hearts." It felt awful to be hurt. Gold could relate to that.

She tilted her head a tiny bit, when Raven spoke up again. That was quite interesting. "I say he's too young for you," she said, sticking her tongue out at Raven. She was only joking, though. "ANDDD why are you blushing? You're not in love with him or something, are you?"

Raven grinned deviously. "I know I do, Gryffindor." Hah! "I won't, besides my heart only belongs to one person and I'm not foolish enough to lead people on and destroy my relationship in the process because I'd definitely be hurt." That was the last thing that she wanted was to hurt Daniel when she did love him.

"He's 15 for merlin sakes, it's not like he's a 3rd year or something." she said, then rolled her eyes slightly at Gold. She could tell that her friend was kidding and didn't want to take this seriously. "Of course I'm not! What do you think I am mad? Honestly it's just cause he's a good kisser."

"Is that a new nickname?" Gold asked, mirthfully. "Because it's very creative and non-creative, at the same time." Hehehe. Her eyes softened, as Raven continued to speak. "I'm glad you think that way -- and I'm glad you have the guy you love, too."

She laughed, when Raven defended herself. "Fine, fine, I believe you," she said. "I landed into a relationship, while you were away. I mean --" It was her turn to blush, and that was almost a first for Gold. "It's sort of a relationship. I can't tell you if he's a good kisser or not, yet, but he's definitely really, really sweet and amazing."

And hers.