"I bet he'd be surprised. Yes my parents are very proud." Nika said thinking bid her parents. "I have never been away from them for a long time so I miss them a lot already. I think I should send them an owl, hopefully they won freak out lime last time. Nika started giggling at the memory of when her letter for hogs
Warts arrived at her house.

Emily laughed with Nika.
"When my sister got her letter, my dad was very freaked out. He's still not used to it!"
Emily paused for a bit, trying to of things to talk about.
Then it hit her
"Have you heard of Quiddage before?" she asked

For a second Ruby believed him--maybe he was innocent? But she then her brain started working again and whether he was innocent or not, he was gonna get it for disturbing her peace.
She tried to look hurt (but it didn't quite work) as he moved as far away from her as possible when she sat down next to him. But then the idiot fell for her trick and scooted over again. She listened to him babble about making different shapes and flavors, just to make it look like she was interested. She really couldn't care less.
And then--she smiled broadly and shoved a handful of marshmallows right his mouth so that it was bulging and some were toppling out. Laughing at this sight, Ruby quickly reached in her back pocket, grabbed a Muggle camera and snapped a shot of him, all goofy looking with marshmallows dribbling out of his mouth. Now THIS was surely how to spend a boring afternoon in this school.
"That'll be a keeper," She said, still laughing at the sight of him.

"Yeah, actually I have heard of Quidditch! Some of my other friends here have told me about it. It sounds like a lot of fun. I might even try out next term!" Nika loved the sound of flying, but she was afraid to try out this year because she never flew before.

"I used to conjure 'em up in the shape of bunnies for my little sister, too, and tiger-shaped for my cousins, I also conjured up a rainbow-coloured marshmallow too, it was pretty cool, though the shape came out all wrong; it was supposed to be a Quidditch broom but it came out looking like a broom with arms and a foot, it was pretty weird" - blah blah blah blah blah. Poor Braeden was just going on and on and on about marshmallows and this and that when, suddenly, he found himself unable to speak another word.

WHAT THE--

Did that-- that-- that fiery lioness just stuff his mouth with marshmallows?! GAH. How did he not see it coming?! Of course she was going to do something to him! How naive of him not to realize. However, he had been expecting a kick to the shins or a slap on the face, not... death by choking on marshmallows!

Braeden coughed as a couple of marshmallows tried to make their way down his throat and choke the boy to death, when, just as he thought things couldn't get worse - the redheaded girl pulled out a camera. And then, FLASH! She'd taken a picture. And it wasn't Braeden's best. The boy looked like death had finally come for him in it; his hands were around his neck, his brown eyes wide as saucers, and an eruption of marshmallows had taken over what had once been his mouth.

It took the boy a couple minutes, but he was eventually able to cough out all the marshmallows (leaving a nasty mess on the floor) and breathe again, tears making his eyes sparkle and his complexion paler than ever.

After taking a moment to recompose himself, Braeden finally turned to his murderer, brows furrowing disapprovingly. A 'keeper', huh? No. He didn't think so. She was not going to keep that picture, and no one was ever going to see it! In less than a second, Braeden had leaned over her and snatched the camera from the girl's hand. "I don't think so, my demon-posessed friend," he said, keeping the camera safe in his hand. "This camera's mine now, it's the least you can do after trying to kill me," he said, raising his eyebrows slightly at her. "And, as my new property, I decide what will be done with this picture, and the camera overall..." he added dramatically, getting up to his feet at that moment and walking over to the fire.

Hehehehehe. If he just threw the camera in there, no one would ever, in a million years, be able to see that picture. The evil lioness wouldn't be able to use it as blackmail material and Braeden would be a free man. Because he was feeling so brilliant and evil at the moment, he took a second to throw his head back and cackle like a maniac. Oh yes, our lanky friend was definitely Evil personified.
Not really.

"Yeah, my sister loves Quidditch! And flying! I don't think I'll be any good at it though. Flying sounds fun, but not my thing. What position in Quidditch would you want to play?" she asked.
Her sister had always been a chaser, but Emily thought the seeker had the best job in the game.

"I would love to fly! But the closest thing I have done to flying is sat on an airplane, but that doesn't even compare." Nika tried to recall the different positions in the complicated game. "Well, from what I have heard I think that I would be best at Keeper because I played football for all my life so far and I love being the goalie! It's my best position, and I think that Keeper sounds a lot like goalie." Nika also liked the sound of seeker, but she knew that if she ever played Keeper would be the right position for her.

Ruby couldn't stop laughing, this was priceless. But then she thought he might be choking and maybe she should help him...naaahh, he was fine. Clutching her stomach, she managed to stop and looked up to see him making a mess on the floor with the marshmallows. He was cleaning THAT up.
But before she could utter one word about the mess, her camera was snatched out of her hands by the Goofball. Immediately, the laughter was gone and replaced with anger and fear. That camera was one of the few possessions that Ruby had managed to find from her mother and there was no way some boy who was choking on marshmallows was going to take it away from her. NO. WAY.
"HEY!!" She screamed and jumped up from her seat.
"Give. That. Back. Right. Now. Or. I'll. Punch. You," She said, saying each word delicately so as to induce fear into the boy. She reached out her hand but now he was moving to the fireplace--WHAT?!
Horrified, she ran over, and as he laughed like a maniac, she grabbed him around and waist and tried to pry the camera from his sticky fingers.
"Let--go!"

Braeden stopped laughing and raised a dark eyebrow at the Evil Lioness as she threatened to… what? Punch him? "Oh yeah?" he asked, mocking nonchalantness (though in reality he did not doubt this girl's threat at all; she seemed like the kind who would punch. And hard). "Go on then, try," he said, unaware that he was instinctively taking a step back as he said so.

And then she ran over to him. GAHH! Now he was really gonna get it! Braeden was just about to make a run for it when she grabbed him and tried to take the camera from him. "Never!" he replied like a stubborn child as she demanded he hand her back the camera. Taking advantage of their height difference, he held up the arm holding the camera so she couldn't reach it. There was no way he was going to let her have that horribly embarrassing picture of him back! Who knew what she'd do with it!?

And they were quite a funny sight, actually; Braeden trying to run out the portrait hole and the Evil Lioness crushing his waist and trying to take the camera he was holding up in the air. "Ge'roff!" muttered Braeden, trying to push the girl back with his free arm. And then there was a FLASH! And then another one. Without realizing it, he was pressing the shutter button on the camera, flooding the common room with enough bright light to leave everyone (including himself) blind. Gahhh, his eyes! "If you don't let go and apologize, I'm going to throw the camera out the window! I mean it!" said Braeden, trying his best to ignore the flash that was tainting his eyesight with bright, white blurs.

"Nope. Not once." She laughed. "Nope not once."

" yes i like defense against the dark arts too. It's quite informative ." Avery sighed
"oh well, i have to get to class. Fun. I'll talk to you later!" Avery smiled again and waved as she unwillingly left the common room.

"Mmm, shock, yes but very excited. It was like hearing about a fairytale that actually came true." Witsy looked around for hr shoes. She recently took them off because she had them filled with sand. "We should definitely walk around then, this place is too fascinating." She started walking in circles, really confused now. She passed a quick expression to Nika with the look of, have you seen my shoes. She paced for a few seconds and walked by the fire and found they were sitting in front, oh yeah they were wet, she thought. Putting them on she started talking, "Have you been to the library? I was thinking we could stop there if you don't mind. My cat needs a sleeping draft and I was thinking of looking in the library for one."

" You will learn a lot about ptions" Rex told Nika. " Well, do not get too close to her" Rex laughed." Well, you will be a great student" Rex said to Nika." You are going to make it hard for me to try to be the top studrnt in Gyffindor, maybe the school" Rex explained to Nika.

" Well, we did to go to the pathways" Rex told Heather. " How do you like the potions teacher?" Rex asked Heather.
Rex would have liked to talk ro Arabella- Marie and/or Alice, but their faces said stay away from me.

"Hey that was my nightmare for me...Don't include that, please?"He pleaded, pointing a very stiff finger at her.

These two were so different yet so alike, they could've been fraternal twins, with their red hair, fiery attitude and random personalities, people might actually mistake them for siblings soon enough.

"CRY CRY CRY CRY!"Adam chanted her on to drop a tear or two.

At his comment about Katie, Selina stifled her laughter. It was an image she would not soon forget and neither was the phsyco's random outburst at the two of them. She could not blame Adam's fear after now having met the girl, but still his attitude surrounding her was perfect and too funny.

When he then began to chant for her to cry she pulled away from the hug and rested one hand on her hip. She gave her big brother a look and said, "Well now that you are requesting tears, isn't it my job to do the opposite of what you want?"

She could not believe how similar they were. It was nice to finally talk to someone who understood her and at the same time was still his own person. The pair of them had a load of similarities, but were different enough that they were always finding out new things about each other... including Adam's particular talent to crawl into a fetal position.

"And look at me now, hand on my hip and all. My gosh, I am your sister."

"Who says MY GOSH, anymore? You sound like some Goddess from greek or something..."adam laughed at her.

"I don't know."Adam said to her comment about what the little sister should be doing at his retort."I've...never...had a ...sister.
Nor a brother for that fact- I wouldn't know how to act around you..."He said quietly.

At least his dream of having a sibling was being replaced by Selina in a way, and that odd hole in his heart he was feeling last year was slowly ebbing away and losing it's large gaping hole.

"Whatcha laughing about?Quite rude to be honest!!!"

"I say, my gosh." Selina answered hand still plastered to her hip. Dropping her voice to her usual Adam whisper she said, "I can't go around and say... my god."

When he answered her comment about her sister behavior she replied equally as sensitively as Adam, "Me neither. I don't have any siblings. I actually kind of grew up without parents too. Always working. But hey, I guess I can't say that now, huh?"

He went off into a trance of thought. She hoped what he was thinking was good. It seemed to her, although he had never divulged any specifics, that his home situation was not the best. Growing up was lacking for him and Hogwarts was really the only place he felt at home. For that she was glad, everyone deserved a place where they felt good and comfortable. And Hogwarts was shaping up to be that place for Seilna too, minus her Aunt Jennette's house.

"And I wasn't laughing at anything in particular. Just the thought of you on the train..."

"She kind of scared me to be honest." Heather said. "But I don't give in easy to people who think they're better than those who lack knowledge simply because of their age. I could easily match any of her skills under the right circumstances." Heather explained. "It's pointless to spend your life sneering at people who are trying to be nice to you."

"Well thank you. I am glad and impressed to see you think of me as YOUR GOD."Adam said with a smirk- knowing she was going to respond with something around those lines.

"Guess not...So little sister when shall we start showing our sibling rivalry to others at the school?YOU answer this."he said sternly.

"What about the train- that you would have never imagined me cowering in fear- did I seem more of the strong hearted one than the cowering in fear at the sight of my ex girlfriend?"He asked- though that sounded like the answer.

"I'm guessing you have a similar life to me when it comes to your parents?"

Sarcastically Selina replied, "Of course you are. What was I even thinking. You are God. I knew it from the moment I met you."

"Oh, you are giving me permission to choose?" Selina joked, "Um, yeah I think that would be wise. But we should save it mostly on the Pitch, when I outfly you."

"Yes," Selina answered him on his question, "I did, but after meeting Katie you had every right on that train to cower. I would have, that girl is psychotic. And also very controlling of conversation. How did you even stand dating her?"

When he asked about her parents she breathed in. Her story was not particularly sad, just lonely. "My parents are great. Loving, supportive, nice, and afford me every opportunity. But they work all the time. My Dad, as you know, is the star Chaser for the Fowlmouth Falcons. So he travels a lot. When he is home we spend everyday together, the only problem is... he isn't home much. But I am close with him.

"My Mom is the head of the Education Reform Movement in the Ministry. She's home less than my dad. For the last three years she lived in Australia doing work for the Ministry. I didn't see her much. And Dad could apparate so he saw her all of the time. She only came home to see me off to Hogwarts. I think she regrets it, but I could never tell.

"I spent a lot of time growing up with my Aunt Jennette. She's a reporter for the Daily Prophet so she's home a lot. My Dad taught me Quidditch, but she taught me how to fly. I love her a lot."

Selina's face was dark when she was done. Her story was not nearly as bad as the other students here, but it still hurt her in it's own way. "I don't know your story Adam. Would you care to tell me? Only if you want of course."

Sophie climbed through the portrait hole with her heavy backpack on her shoulders. The first day of classes was over and they had already gotten their first homework assignments. Yawning ever so slightly the brunette spotted her co-prefect standing next to one of the open tower windows looking out.

Pulling off her backpack Sophie sat it down next to the girl's staircase. To fetch it later when she went to change before dinner. Runes had difficult and it hadn't helped matters much that she had sneezed during the carving having to ask for a new piece of wood.

Sophie walked over to Patroclus and stood beside him to breath in the cold afternoon air but she did that with a bit of noise not to startle him as Mia had done her in sugarplums over the summer holidays. "Hey, Patroclus! How did you fare in Runes?"

"Sophie!" Patroclus cried as he went to sit back down, he had thought he had seen something in the forest, and had stood up to take a look but had found nothing, "Take a seat!" he smiled gesturing to the empty seat by him.

"Runes was a complete brain shock!" he laughed, "For the first class it started off very intense. But by the end I had worked out my groove, it's always the first class that seems the hardest after a long holiday of nothing!" But now Patroclus was ready for their fifth year, Prefecture, OWLS, everthing! "Yourself?"

And on the subject of Prefects, "Thanks so much for covering me, I felt so bad that I had to miss the train and the opening feast. However the Family had to head back to Cairo, Father was honoured at the Wizarding University for 'Contribution to the Study of Ancient Wizardary!'" It had been a rather interesting event, full of wacky and wonderful wizard from all over the world, "Did you handle all the firsties ok?"
He hadn't heard of any accidents so that was good!

See you later then, Raven replied

Alicia had finally returned to school. She had to miss several days of school due to her family matters which she'd really rather not discuss. She was very excited to be back nonetheless. She jumped into the common room with a big smile on her face. She looked around just in case she could find someone she knew. Raven apparently was there. "Hey Raven!" She exclaimed as she waved at him and immediately walked toward him.

Alice skipped into the common room while absentmindedly humming Mamma Mia. She was a bit off tune but no one knows the song so it didn't really matter. She passed some of her fellow Gryffindors busy laughing and chatting. She loved the common room. It was so cosy and homely. She sighed in happiness and sank into a comfy chair.