"Well, if you ask me--which you are--they don't quote amount to the Professors we've had in the past few years, but they're all, or nearly all, excellent Professors. I don't think I could say one negative thing that isn't justified by a positive remark," she said.

Ari was doing her best to not make her presence awkward between Miss Miroslav and the other boy--Trying to overlook the obvious flirtation. She quickly thought of something else to ask.

"So, can you tell me a bit about Durmstrang? I've heard that it's quite an interesting place--I've also heard it has a spectacular setting." Not that Ari could much tell wether or not a place was 'spectacular'. She had nothing to go on but sounds and textures--but let's not get technical.

After she discovered Panda roaming around in the halls, Rowan scooped up the kitten and headed for the Common Room. She walked over to her favorite chair near the fire place, waving to her fellow Ravenclaws, and sat down. Plunking Panda down into her lap she pulled out her History of Magic book and settled in for a very long night.

Morgana walked through the doorway into the common room. She slumped onto an armchair by the fire and rested her chin on her hand. Ravenclaw was already 15 points behind. How does that happen?! She didn't know what happened, but she desperately wanted to find out. Maybe someone should find the urge to talk to a complete stranger and tell her what's up... Morgana snorted to herself. Wishful thinking.

Rowan looked up from her book just in time to see a girl plunk herself down into the chair next to her. "Hi," she said. "Rough day?"

Liz sighed as she watched the fire crackle softly. The chair was much too comfy and the fire too soothing for her plan of not falling asleep.
She began to braid a small lock of hair into an intricate braid as she looked down at the homework she hadn't begun. Liz let go of her half finished braid and began. The soft scratch of quill on parchment rose in volume as she worked further, diving deeper and deeper in the subject, entering the world of words and all its beauty. She finished and resorted to watching the fire and trying to write an internal poem of it, her face transforming into a focused expression.

Kel was extremely tired. Yawning, he walked into the common room, slightly annoyed with the Voice that asked the riddle. He couldn't help it that he wasn't able to think clearly when he was tired; but he was a Ravenclaw, and he needed to get to his dorm to sleep. Meh. Why couldn't Ravvies have a password, like Gryffies?

Yawning again, he headed for the Boy's dormitory. But the fireplace distracted him, and he headed over that way. He walked around one of the armchairs, planning to sink into it, when he realized it was already occupied. By someone small.

"Oh, hey!" he said quickly, surprised, not noticing anything enough to care if he was disturbing her from something important. When he finally did notice her expression, he saw that she looked very focused. On what, though, he didn't know. "Uh, whatcha up to?" Now, normally, he wouldn't be so bold and annoying. But he was tired, and his manners weren't exactly at the front of his mind.

Ooof!

Liz felt something sit on her. She let out a sharp breath and tried to catch it. Gasping, she looked up at the boy that had gotten up off her. He looked older than her, and tired. And unapologetic.

She made a big show out of being hurt, although she wasn't, seeing as he did not apologize.

Liz sat up and said, "Uh, hi," sarcastically before going back to her poem, which had been going great before she had been used as a seat.

She looked up, annoyed, as the boy spoke to her rudely.

"I was just writing a very nice poem in my mind before you SAT on me," she retorted, standing up. Liz realized how much older he was than her, probably in his sixth or seventh year, and took a few steps back. Older people were not fun to argue with, in her opinion.

When the girl got an attitude, Kel frowned slightly. "I apologize for sitting on you." He said honestly. Some part of his brain told him that he should be embarrassed, but he wasn't paying much attention to it. He was trying to think of a suitable apology when she backed away from him.

What, did he scare her? Or maybe he was just smelly. Hm.

"Sorry, I'm tired. And really distracted, and sort of annoyed with that Voice thing at the entrance to the common room. And I didn't realize you were in that chair until I sat down." Yes, he was sooo good at apologizing. "I know that's not a good excuse, but it's the truth and it's the best I've got." Sigh. "I'm Keltan, by the way-" Not that she necessarily wanted to know that... "-And, well, yeah. Sorry I sat on you. Good luck with the poem."

Morgana sighed. "Yeah, a bit." She didn't know who this girl was; she'd seen her around, being in the same house and everything, but she welcomed the girl and her inquiry. Morgana felt a rant coming on and didn't plan on holding it back. Hopefully she wouldn't scare the friendly girl away. "Potions is absolutely terrible. I don't understand hardly anything. For some reason in my unruly mind, I decided to take Ancient Runes and I can hardly focus on that when I've got random DADA spells running through my head along with weird potion names that I'm sure don't even exist. I probably just made them all up. School just started and I'm already stressed out! Not to mention we're behind 15 points. What's up with that?!" She realized after her minor explosion how loud she was talking. Exasperated, she slapped her forehead to her palm, shaking her head.

Never in his life had he been so proud of his talents in charms and the subject in general. Or his life goals for that matter. Forget being a Transfiguration professor then, Charms was the subject to teach. "From ze sound of it zough, I don't zink it will take you az long az it iz expected to become a potioneer." Smiling, he shifted in his seat, taking a one glance around the room and resisting the urge to yawn. What time was it?

So there was a fifty-fifty chance that this village was not there. Eh, well he'll just have to ask someone in the morning then it seemed. He would ask right now, but it seemed the common room was beginning to empty out. "We will find out sooner or later I guess." he shrugged, hoping that there actually was a village. Not only did he hope there was a village to restock on school supplies, but he really did want to hang out with Sandra some more, and not just studying either. Mimicking her slightly, he propped his own elbow on the table and rested his chin on his hand, though he kept where he was. He didn't want to be all up in her face, since that would be rude...however...no! No, it would be rude. "So..." he started, the charming smile on his face, enough to show his perfect white teeth. "I believe I have not asked yet..."

It was a rather important question!..."Are you interested in musique?"

"I know EXACTLY how you feel. I've lived with muggles since I was 5 and I know almost absolutely nothing about magic, but here I am thrown into an entire schedule of magical classes. Ugh! And what is with THAT girl who keeps costing us points? I think she has some serious attention issues!" Rowan suddenly realized that she was rambling again and hadn't so much as introduced herself. "Sorry. I'm Rowan by the way. Rowan Firestorm." She gave a shy smile to the girl next to her, hoping she hadn't frightened her off. She held up her kitten and said," And this little black fur ball is Panda."

Liz regretted being rude when he apologized. She always tried to avoid being mean at all cost, because it made her feel "yucky," as she would put it.
Liz could feel her face getting cold and her eyes stinging. She turned her head to look at something away from him and blinked the tears away, hoping Keltan didn't notice.

Yeah. Being mean made her feel really yucky.

"I'm sorry too. I didn't have to be so rude. That wasn't very nice. I'm usually not that mean. I was just surprised, I think," she said, managing to mask the tears in her voice, "I'm Elizabeth Broonhart, but everyone calls me Liz. What year are you?" she asked, turning to Keltan in curiosity.

Kel's eyes widened as the girl looked away. He'd been around girls long enough to be able to see that something was wrong, but for the life of him he could not figure out what it was. He tipped his head slightly, about to ask if the girl was okay, then thought better of it.

He nodded slowly at her own apology, but didn't say anything. It was probably best to just move right on... "Pleasure to meet you. And I'm in my last year here." Sighness. "What about you?" She seemed smallish, Kel was guessing she was either a first or a second year.

Liz's eyes widened and a smile grew when Keltan said he was in his seventh year. That was so cool! Yet sad.

"I'm in my first year," she said proudly, "and I love Hogwarts! Do you know what you're going to do when you graduate? I think I'll want to work with animals." Liz thought it would be cool if he said he wanted to be an Auror. Or a dragon keeper. Or a professional Quidditch player. Maybe even something in the Ministry, as long as it wasn't boring.

Questions about Hogwarts for Keltan began flooding her mind, but she decided against releasing her inner crazy and asking them. That would have to wait.

Kel smiled when Liz said she loved Hogwarts - everyone he knew did, too. Hogwarts had been the best home he had for the last five years. When Liz asked her next question, though, he frowned slightly. Everyone had been asking him this question so much lately, and he was expected to know the answer. But honestly... "I have no clue what I'm going to do." he said truthfully, with a bit of a smile. "All I know is that I'm not going to work in the Ministry." His dad worked there, and there was no way he was going to work in the same place as his father. No way no how.

"I think... it would be cool to work with magical creatures." And that was about as far as he had thought things through. He half-smiled again. "I'm not a good planner, if that's not obvious." Usually, he didn't plan anything at all. He was great at making split-second decisions, and currently, he only had one major plan for the future.

Walking into the common room, JD looks around quickly for Ellie, not seeing her he sighs with relief. If he had he would have gone directly to the dormitory. He wasn't in the mood to talk to her right then. If she hadn't been so...argh! Well then Jacob wouldn't have attacked, gotten him in trouble with Vindictus or even gone to the hospital wing.

Settling in on a couch, he lifts his knee up and lays his leg over the couch, leaving a little room on the end.

Pam looked over as the door opened. JD! She watched as he walked over and sat on the couch. She walked over and sat on her thighs on the floor. "Hi JD." She smiled. "Are you ok?"

Looking over as the firstie he'd seen before and had helped him as well as had come to the hospital wing came over. Giving her a smile, he winks at her "Yep, I'm just fine."

Just need to rest the knee a bit, it's severely sprained, that's all." he explains "How are you doing, Pam?"

She smiled and sighed with relief. She giggled when he winked at her. "That's good. I'm glad you're ok. I'm doing fine. Just a little tired that's all." She sighed, and smiled up at him appoligeticly.

"I'm really sorry for going about like this, It's just..." She sighed again, and scratched her head. She didn't know weither or not she should tell him, or bother him with the story at this time a night. She thought better of it, and turned so her back was against the couch, and she was watching the fire. "Well, nevermind, I guess I shouldn't bother you with the story, you probably don't really care."

Smiling he shakes his head, "I think that's definitely the consensus lately." Covering a yawn, he'd been up later then he'd cared to be the night before, then when getting into bed, he just couldn't sleep...Ellie was still on his mind, and it was driving him nuts!

His eyebrow going up as she starts to say something, he wonders what was going on. Curling his foot under his sore leg, he leans back against the couch arm. "No, not at all. What's up?

She turned to him and smiled. "Well it's kinda a long story. But I have this sorta.... thing were I can't not help people. Does that make any sense?" She groaned a bit at how childish she was sounding. "My mom told me when I was little, If someone was hurt, I needed to help them, or I'd worry for a while. She also told me I had a habbit of wanting to help cartoons." She laughed a bit. "She also told me my smile could help cure injuries or something. Apperently when I was little, my grandma broke her ankle. She was bed rest for a while. One day we went to go visit her, and I was told to smile, and not be sad. so i did. Less than a week later, she was up baking me cookies." She turned again to face JD. "I found out a couple weeks ago that it had to do with some helping/healing power or something." She shrugged. "Doesn't make much sense to me."

Durmstrang Professors were all excellent. Better than that in fact. Brilliant. So when the girl used the word to describe their professors, she took it as a sign that they 'weren't that bad'. She was sure, after attending one of their lessons, she would be able to find many bad things about them to say. "I look forvard to attending their lessons."

Sandra frowned slightly at the girl. She wanted to know about Durmstrang? Sandra wasn't inclined to tell anything about her school, they didn't let visitors in for a reason. Silly Hogwarts for giving away their secrets and allowing muggleborns to attend the school.

"Our grounds are bigger than yours." She stated simply. Sandra would tell nothing else. This girl was getting to curious. "It vas nice chatting vith you, Arienna. I look forvard to seeing you around the castle." Not if she was going to ask about her school though.

"Not as long as the average student." Not as long as a student from any wizarding school was what she meant. Sandra wouldn't say that to Noel though. "I am vell versed in potions." She smirked in response to his words. The young woman wouldn't be surprised if she became a skilled potioneer before the time frame she had mapped out.

They would find the village soon, she was eager to get off the castle grounds. Maybe there would be a place to escape all of the younger students. "Preferably sooner." Her hazel eyes flicked towards a group of younger students before settling back on his blue ones. A small smirk reappeared on her face when he asked her about music. He obviously was a fan. "I do enjoy listening and dancing to music." She gave a small head nod. "You enjoy listening to music?"

Listening as she explained what seemed to have been bothering her, he nods continuing to listen until she finished. "Well, I know that as a child a witch or wizard cannot control their magical abilities. But that they do come before they are of age to begin at Hogwarts." Scratching his chin a little, he looks thoughtful.

Turning his head to look down at her, "I can imagine that, that can be a blessing as well as a curse though." As he shakes his head again, he looks at the fire himself. "I mean, it makes you not want to help someone that needs your help."

She turned to look up at him with a slight glee in her eyes. He gets it! For some reason it excited her. "That's exactly it. And that's also why this tri-wizard tournament, is bothering me so much." She pulled her knees up to her chest. "So many people are wanting to enter this, for a sort of fun, enjoyment. But from my point of view, too many people are stepping in line to get hurt, and I can't do much about it."

Nodding he could understand where she was coming from, I mean at least some of the champions were bound to get hurt. He was totally rooting for Miles and everything, but he'd hate to see any of them hurt. "I'd hate to see you watch a quidditch match." he mutters under his breath.

Smiling, at her however, he tries to comfort her, "The healer is fantastic, and can fix most things within minutes. Plus Headmaster Tate isn't gonna let anyone get so severely injured though, I'm sure." His fingers going through his hair, he stretches. "They always take precautions I know with these kind of things, it says so in Hogwarts, A History."