"Well, okay. You can escape home, and I'll escape to.." Elliott looked around as if he'd find an answer in the trees. "..to Australia." Yes, Australia. He'd always wanted to go, but he hadn't ever gone. They had awesome sea life there. Hogwarts was the best in the land? Apparently it was. "You're probably right. I heard it even had a treehouse.. I guess that was a lie, though."

PHEWWW. She had decided to accept his apology. For some reason, he always got the impression that people thought his name was amusing. It was the strangest thing!! Maybe it was simply his mind making this up. "Yep, Elliott." Nod. "Ella? Oh, cool! We're like.. name twins." Kind of. Right? He gave a smile.

Sooooo... Elliott would rather escape to the other side of the world. That said a lot about him and his home life. Unless he actually was from Australia. "Nahh. Too hot there." Ella turned up her nose. People thought she was crazy but she actually preferred the cold. It meant you could wrap up super warm, but in the hot weather, what could you do? Run around naked? Hmm.... "It DID have a treehouse. And it was amazing but they got rid of it this year." And Ella still didn't understand why.

Ella laughed for the first time in Elliott's presence. Name twins? Hehe, it seemed that he was reading her mind. "I suppose we are." She matched his smile. "So, what house are you in, Elliott?" He looked like an older kid too. But she was pretty sure that she hadn't seen him around in the Slytherin common room.

Too hot? Most girls would have jumped at the idea of going to sunny, hot Australia. However, the more Elliott talked to Ella, the more he was beginning to see she was different than a lot of other girls. "Not too hot for me!" She informed him of the old treehouse they had here and his eyebrows knotted together. They got rid of it? "Of course they'd give rid of it the year I come. I wonder why they did away with it." Maybe it was the cause of too many injuries.

He was glad to hear a laugh escape her; it lightened things up a bit more after he had made such a disastrous first impression. "Oh, I'm in Gryffindor. Year six." Yep. He gave a nod. "And yourself?"

"Well, that doesn't surprise me." Yes, that's right. Ella had already stereotyped Elliott as a vain pretty boy who just wanted a suntan. Well, there was no denying that he was a pretty boy. Hehe. "Yeah. They kept it for two years, and now it has been replaced with a field.. or something." Ella still hadn't gone to check it out. It was a field. Where was the fun in that?

Hmmmm. Aiden was a Gryffindor year six when they met. But that was irrelevant. "Awesome. I'm a Slytherin." And he already knew what year she was in sooo. "I take it you're new this term?" Because she really hadn't seen him before. And there are some kinds of beauty that isn't hard to miss.

Teeeeeeehee! Ohhh, imagine if Aiden were able to hear her thoughts right now.

Too bad. Because he wasn't here. He had to go and GROW UP, didn't he?! *lesigh*

Whatwhatwhat? "And what does that mean?" Because he simply.. didn't know which way to take her words. Why in the world would Hogwarts go through with building a big old treehouse, only to tear it down and make a field? It wasn't the most logical thing to do. "That makes no sense. But I guess the athletes are happy about it." Unfortunately for him though, team sports were never a strength of his. The field would just have to serve as another thing to look at.

"Slytherin. Got it. So, why'd you get in that house?" He asked off-handedly. Everyone must have known everyone at this school because she too knew that he was a newbie to Hogwarts. Actually.....oh wait, nevermind. He had said something about Durmstrang earlier. "Yeah, I'm new. People have seemed to pick up on that pretty easily," he said, amused.

"Oh, nothing." Ella paused and smiled kind of falsely. "You just simply look like the type who'd enjoy the sun." And if you thought about it logically, that wasn't an insult. Ella was glad that Elliott was feeling the same way about the destruction of the treehouse, but eh, what? "Athletes? There aren't any athletes at Hogwarts." As far as she was concerned, the only sport at this school was Quidditch. And they had a Quidditch pitch to practice on so a field was totally unnecessary.

What sort of a question was that? She did have to think about it for a moment though, "err.. Because I am a cunning evil cow?" She said quite seriously, but then teased with a chuckle. That was the reason though. "Why are you in Gryffindor? I thought the jerks ended up in Slytherin." Hehehehehe.

Ah.. "I see. I guessed you were new because no one messes with Ella Ainsworth. I'm the most popular girl in school!" She turned up her nose slightly and tried not to smirk.

"Oh, okay." Elliott would buy that, whether those were her true thoughts or not. In reality, he wasn't especially fond of the sunlight. Perhaps only as much as the next person. He just wanted to see the sea creatures. "Of course there are athletes." There were tons of kids at this school, surely a ton of them were into athletic endeavors.

A cunning, evil cow. Was she being serious? It was difficult to tell. But then she laughed a bit, so he smiled. "Cow.. I thought you were a pig.." D: Freudian slip. He should have known not to bring up her costume. OHHOA! And then she totally owned him with her next jab. "Touche!" He had to grin. Honestly, he wasn't sure why he was in Gryffindor. He'd never done anything particularly brave or heroic. Hmm..

Oh.. wow! He was talking to the most popular girl in the school! "Sheesh, well I'm a lucky guy, aren't I!" He loosened his collar a little because it felt to restricting. There we goo. "So, since you're the most popular girl, and you're my name twin, that makes me the most popular guy." Obviously.

Ella chuckled quietly. She liked this guy, and the way he did anything to avoid an argument. The exact opposite to herself, that was. Errr, was he questioning her knowledge of the school? "Have you seen any athletes around here, pretty boy?" Besides, there wasn't time for sports at this school, apart from Quidditch of course.

OooOOOoooooooOoo.

Her laugh faded quickly and she gave him a glare. But that was only to put the frighteners on him, so she laughed after. "That was a good one." What a quick thinker. And she was a quick thinker too! Ella smirked at his 'touche' comment, but didn't comment.

"You are very lucky." Ella couldn't stop smiling. It was funny how he actually believed her. Ella was soooo NOT popular. "Errrrr... doesn't work like that, my friend." She made a little sympathetic expression, then continued, "but if you keep hanging with me, it'll happen for sure." Maybe that WAS an excuse for Elliott-the-hotty to hang out with her. But maybe it wasn't....

*whistles*

"But I've seen people playing on that playing field, pretty girl." Although he then realized that calling her 'pretty girl' was more of a compliment than her calling him 'pretty boy.' Eh, that was a lame attempt. Anyway. Elliott always thought people could be athletic without necessarily being on a sports team.

He sorta froze when she glared at him. Whoa. But then she laughed and he gave a relieved smile. "Thanks." Heh heh. Yepp, he was improving. Elliott nodded to show that he understood. Doesn't work like that? Whaaat?! Frowny face. "Awh. All right, well then I'll just hang with you." Then he glanced at her again. "I'm pretty cool when I want to be, so no worries." PFFT. Uh huh. He was about to assure her that he wouldn't embarrass her, but he thought better of it. Better not make promises he couldn't uphold!

It was a rather quiet walk back to the school even though she was walking back with Ivan. Mia dug her hands deeper into her pockets, trying to ward off the cold.

She kept peeking at Ivan out of the corner of her eye just to make sure he was alright. As the gates to Hogwarts came into view, Mia couldn't take the silence any longer and she stopped walking and turned to face him.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

His hands in his pockets, Ivan walked back up to the school trying his best to pretend nothing was wrong. He was sure though that his stoic nature since it wasn't usually like him was enough to tip off anyone who knew him well that something was wrong. Just a good thing James wasn't here. He was still fuming on the inside however and running over what exactly happened in his head.

Mia's voice broke his concentration and he glanced at her seeing that he had walked a few steps ahead since she stopped walking. Taking the steps back he looked and her and shrugged. "I can't even explain what happened..." And he couldn't really. It'd been like Lexi just irrupted and all he'd done was wave at Mia. "Think her insufferable jealousy of everyone who looks at me and constant dislike of anyone just took over. She saw me wave at you and blew up." And that was literally all he knew. He hadn't done anything else and didn't deserve that. He might not have deserved it but why did he feel like there was a gaping whole in his chest under the current anger still too close tot he surface. When that anger dissipated it was going to be horrible.

She should really give people a heads up when she was going to decide to stop walking. Mia watched as Ivan walked back to her and she felt so sorry for him.

As she listened to Ivan explain what had happened, Mia felt a cold chill run over her. She felt bad that it seemed to be her fault and didn't know what it was that she had done wrong. "I'm sorry." What she was sorry for, Mia had no idea. "I don't know a lot about relationships. I'm kinda new to the whole thing but that doesn't seem healthy to me."

She shrugged her shoulders and pulled her coat tighter around her. "Maybe Lexi was just having a bad day?" That could happen, right?

His eyes went to the castle, then up in to the sky with a sigh. Yup he was sure this was what his mum knew would happen when she sent him here. Looking back at Mia as she apologized he shook his head. "You did nothing wrong." Nothing at all except be polite it seemed. "That makes two of us then and no it's not very healthy is it." He sighed and pulled one hand out of his pocket to rub the back of his neck. What should he do? Wait for her to apologize now? Somehow him continually coming back and begging for her to realize how much he loved her and she loved him didn't seem very productive.

"Maybe," he sighed and gave her a small smile. "You're very nice you know that?" To take her time and spend it with him and all.

She gave him a smile of appreciation, glad that he hadn't thought she had done somewthing wrong. But still regardless of whether she had or hadn't done anything, Mia still felt horrible that Ivan and Lexi were fighting because of her.

Even though she didn't know Ivan that well, watching him stand there, she could practically see his heart breaking. "You really love her, don't you?" Mia didn't know what went on in their relationship and what kind of troubles they were having but she hated to see people so unhappy. "Is it worth fighting for?"

Mia blushed lightly at his compliment. "So are you Ivan and I reckon you would do the same if the roles were reversed." Deciding that he might appreciate a subject change, Mia grinned. "So how did you and James meet?"

Ivan brought his eyes from the ground, how they got there he didn't remember, but he was now giving her his full attention. With a sigh he rubbed at his neck again, "I do." He couldn't deny that. But her last question made him think. Was it worth fighting for? It was but he'd already fought for it once. "I have fought for it." But did he want to fight again....

Thankful that she took his change of topic he smiled, "I would. Friends are important." Yup he knew that one alright. "Well James and I were home schooled together," he said with a grin. Ohhhh those had been some fun times. "I've known him for years. And we've gotten into a lot of stuff together." Good times.

Now that he was looking at her, Mia could see the pain in his eyes and her heart went out to him. She knew that she would be looking the same if she was going through the same thing with Nik. "Well anytime you feel the need to talk or just need to hang out to distract yourself, just come find me."

She laughed at that. "Oh I can just imagine you two together." Mia couldn't help grinning back at him. She might not know Ivan that well yet but if he was friends with James then she was going to figure him out pretty quickly. "Oh yeah? And what kind of mischief did you two get up to?" No doubt it quite a lot to do with girls and pranks.

"Thanks Mia, you're a good friend," he said with a smile. And she was too. James would have listened but other than him he didn't have any other close friends. Having someone else to talk to would be great.

"Oh yeah we caused a fair bit of havoc. We used to drive out tutor crazy pulling random pranks on him to get out of studying. Giving my cousin a hard time." He smiled fondly and gave a shrug. "It was fun. I'm glad we're in the same house makes coming to a new school a lot more fun when you don't know anyone else." Yup him and James were like twins separated at birth or something. It was just that awesome. "We should go find him!" What better to take his mind off his issues than getting into trouble with James.

Well she liked to think that she was a good friend. A person could never have too many friends as far as she was concerned. "Anytime."

Mia shook her head but she was laughing. "I feel sorry for your tutor. Having the two of you gang up on him. Did he put up with it or did he quit and that's why you two are now at Hogwarts?" She was still grinning even though she was now shifting from foot to foot trying to keep warm.

She thought about his suggestion for a moment. "We could, I suppose. But what if he is in your common room? I can't go in there. Or if he's with Marie? I don't want to interrupt them." Or then he might not be doing either of those things. "It will probably give us a workout though, having to walk all over the castle." And she could probably do with some exercise.

"Well we went through a few tutors but eventually James came here and my mum, probably not realizing James was here, sent me as well." He smiled and watched as Mia did a little dancing and started chuckling, "Cold?" He laughed and looked at the castle. "Maybe we should go inside so you don't freeze." And then they could find James! Perfect!

"Well if he's in the common room I drag him out. And if he's with Marie..." good question. "We'll go find Finn again." Yup that's perfect. Feeling a lot more relaxed he smiled and looked at the castle again. "Shall we?"

"So your mum is not that keen on you and James being together?" Well that was a stupid question. Of course if the boys kept causing trouble then his mother would want to separate them. You would think though that she would check first. Mia laughed as well as she kept up her little jig. "Just a little. I really hate the cold."

The idea of going back inside the castle was overwhelming and Mia's face broke into a huge smile. "Yes let's go." Then she gave him a mischeviousl look. "Wanna race?"

"Well let's just say she's not keen on me not behaving like a 'proper gentleman'," he smirked and gave a shrug. Being a proper gentleman was way over rated in his book unless it benefited him in any way. "The cold's never bothered me much."

His smirk turned into a laugh as he saw the smile come to Mia's face. Wait race? 'I don't know...I don't exactly have the shoes for racing..." Ah what the hell. It'd be fun and Merlin knew he could use a little fun right now. Shrugging he only gave another smirk before taking his other hand out of his pocket and taking off toward the castle laughing.

Ella raised an eyebrow at the boy. For seriousssss? People actually used that waste of space field? Her bad. "Well, whatever. I've never seen any." And she had been at this school longer than Elliott, thank you very much. She giggled when he called her 'pretty girl'. It really didn't have the same affect as when she called him 'pretty boy'. She meant it offensively. Did heeeeee, though? Hmm.

Bwahahaha. Elliott looked scared. He should be scared.

"Maybe I don't want to hang with you." She suggested, then realised that her hat was still lying on the icky floor. She made a face, then picked it up. Stupid pig hat. AHEMcough. "Anyway... only kidding. Course we can hang, if you really want to." Ella sent him a curious glance.

Sakura had wandered from the Whomping Willow towards the Front Gate of the school and she decided to pause to rest here and continue her transfiguration homework. This time she was going to go with an antique compass design that was unusual to her. It had apparently been popular as a decorative compass at one time but not something many people were familiar with. She'd seen it in her grandmothers house before and the design had been stuck in her mind. Now if only she could recreate it.

Closing her eyes Sakura breathed deeply and concentrated on the design in her mind. This design would require a great amount of concentration and Sakura wasn't going to allow anything to distract her. All that mattered was the image in her mind and of course the spell.

"Comlatia," Sakura said, waving her wand in the correct motion. Opening her eyes she blinked when she saw that the pocket watch was still a pocket watch.

Huh?

Surely she should have been able to get at least some transformation. Every other time the spell had worked. Why had she failed now?

After standing confused for a few minutes Sakura thought back on what she'd done. The thinking part had been right, as had the wand movements. What had gone wrong???

She'd pronounced the spell right hadn't she? She had said Comletia hadn't she? No she realized. She hadn't.

Great.

Now she needed to clear her mind of any outside influences again. This time even with her eyes closed it took longer for Sakura to focus solely on the image of the compass in her mind, and to block out any other sounds or thoughts.

"Comletia," she said, this time pronouncing the incantation correctly as well as doing the correct wand movements.

When Sakura opened her eyes she was gratified to see the compass she'd been picturing in her mind, recreated nearly perfectly in actuality. The colour had been off but Sakura thought it looked better this way. And really, the main point was that she'd managed to recreate a design she'd seen only once in her life. Plus it was so far outside the usual that it was a great achievement.

The greatest achievement of all however was that it worked, and it kept on working every time she transformed it into a pocket watch and then into the compass again.

It seemed that she was good at this spell. Luckily.

Hugo walked up the path with Fee, and he let go of her hand. He saw another girl doing the homework for Transfiguration. Hugo took out his wand, but it was snatched by Athena, who apparently came flying to the gate. He carefully retrieved the wand, afraid of getting picked. "I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye," he said and petted the little owl's head. "I'll let you go to my parents tomorrow, okay?" he said to the owl. Athena skreetched and flew away. "So," Hugo said and turned to Fee. "I think I'll do it now," he told her and got out his compass. Then, he put it on a large rock nearby and said "Reverto." The compass turned back into a watch. He started to think. What could I improve? He closed his eyes and nodded to his thoughts. It needs a little cap... And a little ring where I can put a chord through. And it needs to be more detailed. Yes, that was it. Hugo started to form an image in his mind. He vizualised it, like he was adding things in a workshop. That was it. Hugo couldn't possibly concentrate any harder. He pointed his wand at the watch, and made the movement, still vizualising the image in his head. Then, he said "Comletia," and the watch poofed into a compass. Hugo sprinted towards it and studied it. It had the ring. It had a cap. But it wasn't authentic enough. It wasn't much like the compass he had in mind. There was another way... But it would probably creep Fee out. Hugo picked up the compass. "I think I need to create a stronger image in my head... And concentrate harder. It doesn't look like what I visualised much," he told Fee. But it was okay. "Your turn," he said and smiled. He took a step back, allowing Fee to do it.

Elliott shrugged. Personally, he thought a tree house was much more entertaining than a plain field, but perhaps the groundskeeper liked to keep things changing. "Sure, sure," he said with a smile. "Have you even been on the field?" Judging by the way she was giggling, Ella clearly took no offense to his 'pretty girl' comeback. He was glad for this, although he decided to keep his meaning of the words ambiguous for the present.

Was she suggesting that she didn't want his company? She had just said to hang with her to become popular, but maybe that wasn't an invitation. While his mind thought of what to say to that, she spoke again and he no longer had a problem. "Oh! Excellent, then I'll hang with you." He grinned and looked down at the pig mask in her hands. "So, what do you like to do, then? Apart from dressing up as farm animals, I mean."