Ronnie had some time on her hands to talk to this girl, it's not like she had to rush to send Rupert her letter. Ronnie walked towards the girl and said, "It's no problem at all, it's perfectly fine." she said smiling, trying to forget the reason she was sad. "I'm Ronnie, by the way. Ronnie Weasley." she said, sticking out her hand. Hopefully, this girl could help her feel better with her family problems right now. Maybe this was the one she was waiting for, someone to comfort her and tell her everything is alright.

Nika smiled when the girl said she was alright with staying and chatting. The funny thing about the study tables was that although their purpose for being here in the first place Nika always went there to study, but things always turn into a conversation with some other gryffindors. Nika was alright with that though... studying is lame. "Well Ronnie I'm Nika Adler!" She said taking Ronnie's held out hand and give it a semi-firm handshake. "I'm a second year! Are you in your first?" She had never seen the girl before this term so either Ronnie was a first year or she transferred.

"Nice to meet you Nika, I'm a f-first year." she said. "Are you enjoying Hogwarts?"

Nika nodded her head enthusiastically. "I love it!" She beamed at The girl and then cocked her head to the side. "How about you? Enjoying your first year?"

"Thats great!" Ronnie said. "And...I was enjoying my first year. Hogwarts is amazing! But things........have happened to my family that have really got me down in the dumps lately...." Ronnie said, hanging her head a little.

Kurumi sat down at one of the study tables with a deck of cards, still in their box, in her hands. Sighing softly, Kurumi took the cards out and laid them down on the desk. Considering that they were a rather new desk, Kurumi found them to be rather stiff and unfriendly - especially with such serious faces on the King and Queen cards respectively. She had never been taught how to perform the bridge form of shuffling cards, so she instead shuffled them around on the desk and then attempted to put them back in some sort of pile when she was done.

Muggle magic tricks...she knew a handful thanks to her brothers. The one that she was particularly interested in trying out had been one that her oldest brother had used on her to trick her into doing his chores for him. Not that she wanted to trick her housemates or anything, but she did find the trick to be a cute one. Her brother called it the Ryunosuke Hokum.

Tapping the cards n the table, Kurumi wondered if anyone else was interested in trying out some slight of hand...

Trying to catch up on homework now that he had the time as other stuff had cooled down, Simon approached the study tables with his sachel slung over his shoulder. He wasn't sure where even to begin, a few subjects in mind appearing on the agenda that needed to be complete though some were more time consuming or due first then others. Spotting Kurumi sitting at a table, the quidditch captain approached quietly, absently watching what she was doing as he did so until it hit him.

Playing cards...

Groan. He had almost forgotten about History of magic class, or whatever the joint class was or had called. "Hey Kurumi, what's up?" he asked at first, a soft friendly smile on his face as what usually graced his expression around friends. "Looking to do Professor Cerulean's homework?"

Thinking that perhaps she would shuffle the cards around using her desk method again, she jumped just a little when she heard the familiar voice of Simon and she smiled up at him. It had been a while since she had offered the seventh year a genuine smile, but it had been a few VERY rough weeks. Her hair and finally gone back to being its usual raven black color and she had even gone down to the kitchens to bake earlier in the week.

"I was thinking about it," she nodded with a slight chirp to her tone. "Care to pick a card?"

She fanned out the cards for him to pick one.

When he got a smile in return, Simon couldn't help but notice that the third year's mood had obviously improved and he was glad to see Kurumi's cheerful disposition return. Setting the bag on the table off to one side, he took a seat, no sense of him standing as they talked or worked together.

"Sure...why not?" he asked rhetorically as he accepted the task at hand. The seventh year mulling over his choice of the fanned cards before finall chosing one out of the group on his left. As he turned it over to face him and not Kurumi, it revealed the 3 of diamonds.

Kurumi knew that timing of this trick was the ticket. So, the moment Simon selected his card, Kurumi pushed all the cards back together into a neat stack and, while Simon checked on his card, she took a quick glance at the bottom card. It was done so quickly that Simon wouldn't have noticed - especially with his focus on the card he had selected.

"If you have it memorized, you can place it on the bottom of the deck," she smiled as she offered him the deck. "The very bottom if you will."

Simon's attention was on the card in his possession as he listened to Kurumi's instructions, unaware of her movements or the meaning behind them as he had no clue as to her plan or trick. Satisfied that he had his card well in mind, he did as he was told taking the deck of cards with his left hand from Kurumi and placing the card in his right at the very bottom of the deck.

"Alright...what's next?" he asked offering the deck back to her.

Accepting the cards from Simon, Kurumi began cutting them in seemingly no particular pattern, but there was most certainly a method to her technique. When she had changed the cards' positions enough - well, enough to make it look as though the cards were entirely shuffled. Kurumi held the cards out proudly. "I am going to find your card," she explained as she flipped over the first card, the ace of spades. "Now, if you see your card, it would be best not to react to it." That was rather stating the obvious, but she ought to clarify just in case. Kurumi continued to flip through the deck, five of hearts....queen of diamonds...joker... Oops, she probably should have taken that card out...

Kurumi's eyes focused on the cards looking for one in particular...

The older lion absently watched as his companion dealt with the cards after taking them back from him, the boy curious as to what the overall outcome was going to be. Sure it was simple enough to guess even before her words what might now be her purpose but he certainly wasn't aware of her skill level, the topic never having come up before. Simon simply nodded as Kurumi spoke about what was to happen to show he understood. His face was calm and neutral as she started to flip over the cards, the faces of them showing up in random order, though his eyes glanced between them and the girl handling them.

Kurumi continued to flip over cards, glancing up every once in a while at Simon just out of habit and not with the intention of taking any changes in body language as a clue to whether or not his card had been flipped over. Nope, there was a different hint she needed.

...king of spades...seven of hearts...jack of hearts...two of clubs...9 of clubs...

Kurumi bit her lower lip and flipped over the next card.

...3 of diamonds...

Focussing a bit more, Kurumi continued to flip over card, about five or six more, before she stopped and her hand rested on the deck of cards in her hand.

"How much to do bet that the next card I turn over it yours?" she giggled as she used the exact same words that her brother had every time he performed this trick.

Simon continued to watch as card after card was turned over. He occasionally caught sight of Kurumi looking up at him as he did her and only offered a slightly raised eyebrow in response as if curious as to what her observances would pick up from him. Finally his card showed up and he did his best to show no outward signs of acknowledgement to slip up and reveal its identity. An event he felt he succeded in seeing as Kurumi continued to flip over cards . The question however took him by surprise and he tried to think of a way to answer.

"A chocolate frog," he offered playing it safe and picking the first thing that came to mind.

A chocolate frog? Kurumi found this a very acceptable offer. She had innocently bet two weeks worth of chores when her brother had done this trick to her the first time. It had been a crash course for her five year old self to not fall for her brother's tricks, but it was also a lesson that she still hadn't learned due to her trusting nature. Clearly, Simon had his wits about him more so than she had, not that Kurumi would really hold Simon to any bets he made - minus the offer of a chocolate frog.

Smiling, Kurumi set the deck down on the desk and turned her attention instead to those lying in a pile on the desk. Her eyes scanned for the 9 of clubs and, when her eyes found it, a smile appeared on her lips and she reached for the card resting on top of it, the 3 of diamonds, and flipped it over. She looked up at Simon with a triumphant grin on her face. "I do believe that you owe me a chocolate frog."

Rose sat down and waited for Ronnie to meet her here...

It seemed his offer was an acceptable one, so Simon simply smiled as he watched Kurumi move on to what was apparently the next step in the trick. He couldn't help look at her somewhat quizzically as the younger lion switched from the pile she had been dealing from to the discarded pile now laying on the table. His attention now more focused on her as he awaited to see just how she proceeded from now one. Even without him reacting when his card was presented, it seemed Kurumi was pretty confident as she talked and grinned at him.

"Wait...how did you?" Simon questioned in almost disbelief before shaking his head with a chuckle. "Good one...you'll have said frog," he assured her with a smile.

"A magician never reveals their secrets," Kurumi winked before pushing all the cards back into a pile on the table and attempted to put them in some sort of order. She was looking forward to her chocolate frog. It was about time that she wasn't afraid of chocolate frogs, but that Charms lesson last term that had quite literally turned the classroom into a chocolate mess. "It's a trick that my brother often used on me. Took me a long time to finally figure out how he did it."

Having finished dealing with the cards, Kurumi set them in front of Simon.

"Ok...then I relent but its still rather curious," Simon commented , catching her wink and not pushing further on the technique she had used. "I might have to try and think on it myself because its certainly interesting."

The older lion looked to the offered deck before picking it up in his hands. "Guess its my turn," he mused, absently shuffling the cards as he tried to think on a trick he himself could do. Unlike Kurumi, he didn't have much experience with it growing up, but he had looked over options both in class an dafter, he just needed to chose one to attempt.

Kurumi smiled. "It is actually a rather easy trick, but perhaps more obvious if you grew up in a non-magical environment," she nodded. Come to think of it, Kurumi wasn't sure that her and Simon had ever really swapped back stories. Was Simon a pureblood wizard? Half blood like her? She really didn't have any idea. But, perhaps, that was a good thing. Did it really matter? Not really.

Seeing Simon pick up the cards, Kurumi leaned her elbows on the table and then rested her chin in her hands as she waited for him to begin.

Simon shruged, Kurumi's words having some possible truth to them as he listened to her comment. "Possibly..." he replied in agreement. "Can't say I've had much interaction with this sort of magic, even with the muggle or muggleborn members of my family," he mused absently with a tilt of his head. Sure his family strove to keep its members open to both histories but certain instances tended to stay one side or the other.

"Alright, I'm going to make a prediction or reading while not looking at any of the cards," he informed his companion as he finally started the trick while finishing up his shuffling. He then held the deck behind his back as if to emphasize the fact he wasn't gonna look. While in that position, he descretely flipped the top card over and rested it face up on top.

Kurumi nodded and smile a bit more when Simon referred to what they were doing as magic. Some of the comments in class had, well, had kind of hurt her. Saying that is was fake or not real. It WAS real. It was as real to non-magical people as casting Avis was to witches and wizards. Perhaps she was being too sensitive to the matter, but she couldn't help it.

Bringing her attention back to Simon, she watched carefully as he began to perform. "What sort of prediction?" Like...telling the future?

"Uh huh...a prediction of the card that will appear from the deck when I show it to you," Simon confirmed with a nod before closing his eyes. The seventh year pretending to focus as if trying to read the card he was to show in the next step by some sort of psychic energy rather then sight.

"Now I believe the card to be the king of hearts..." he predicted bringing the deck back out front facing the bottom card...a 9 of clubs...towards Kurumi. while the card Simon had sneakly turned over behind his back, an ace of diamonds, was unknowingly to his companion facing him. His expression of confidence as he remembered reading was pivotal.

Ronnie found Rose at the study tables and sat next to her. "Hey." she said.