Benjamin came walking in to the common room looking all disheveled, and he looked like he hadn't had a good nights sleep in a while. But his hair was still perfect, as if he had managed to cast a charm on it to keep it from messing up.

He went up to the boys dorm and changed clothes really quick, then came back down to the common room with a thin rolled parchment under his arm. As he walked near to an empty comfortable chair and an empty table, the parchment fell to the ground and unrolled. As it unraveled, it let out a slight hissing sound. He quickly pulled his wand and said, "Accio parchment!" and it came soaring back to him, rolling itself back into a tight roll. He set the pachment down and pulled from his pockets a brand new quill and a tiny, but never empty bottle of ink, and set both down on the table next to the roll, and sat, and almost sunk into the green velvet covered chair and sighed.

Not having the slightest idea what to do, Helena decided to go to the common room, and maybe make herself comfortable on a sofa, if it was empty. To her greatest relief, the common room was almost deserted, except for someone.

Waaaait. Was that... Benjamin?

Yup. There he was. It was a really long time since she'd last seen him. Last term, wasn't it?

The girl managed to sneak behind him, making tiny and quiet steps on her tiptoes, and once she was behind the chair he was sitting on, she carefully covered his eyes with her hands. Yes, they were cold as ice, but he's a boy. He'll live with that. "Guess who," she whispered as she leaned over his left shoulder, hoping that that way he wouldn't recognize her voice.

She was such a silly girl.

Benjamin thought he heard the common room door open, but when he glanced over to it, it was too dark to see. He shrugged it off and was just about to unroll the parchment when someone covered his eyes with their hands and asked him to guess who they were. He brought his hands up and started to touch the persons fingers and small hands. He sniffed the air around him and smelled a slight perfume or flower soap smell. He knew it was Helena, but decided to play just a bit.

"Ummm, hmmm.... Could it be Anne? No, wait. Alice? Hmm, nope. It's Helena!" he exclaimed with a snap.

"How's it be, mon ami?"

Helena could barely hold all that giggling, but she wouldn't just burst out loud and ruin her silly surprise. A wide grin was spreading across the girl's face as she felt him touch her hands. He had no idea who she was. Hehe.

But then... Anne? Alice? Say whaaat?

Ah, he guessed. And it took her a pretty long time to figure out that he knew all the time.

The girl took a seat on the closest armchair, then, instead of answering his question, asked something else. "What gave me away?" It was SO not fair that he guessed so fast! Hmph.

Talon walked into the Common Room. He had been observing the strange ship. Talon sat down and waited. He knew that sooner or later,he would get the letter. But why the wait? There was something VERY odd going on,but Talon had no idea what it could be.

Maria smiled. "Yeah, you're right" she said softly. She leaned over and kissed Mikey's cheek quickly.

Mikey smiled cutely at Maria, his heart running marathon's as usual. He looked at the fire and jumped as his cute, fuzzy little ginger kitten jumped on his lap. "Bandit, you really need to quit doing that" he told the kitten as he pawed at his lose fitting t-shirt. Just get comfortable already he thought, watching Bandit as he walked in circle's on Mikey's stomach. Finally he'd got himself comfortable. Took him long enough. "Maria, meet Bandit. King of the cute but annoying kittens" he told her, petting the kitten's head.

Zander strolled into the Common Room , his bag weighed down with books. he slouched into the nearest chair and let out a low sigh.

Maria smiled sweetly, her heart going a mile a minute. She was so out of it that she jumped in surprise when the kitten jumped onto Mikey's lap. She giggled at the kitten. "N'awww. He's adorable. Much cuter then Dreamer and Moonshadow back at the preserve" she said. Did Mkey know about the wolf and his pup? Probably not.

Mikey looked up from Bandit to Maria. "Dreamer and Moonshadow?" he asked, confused as usual.

Maria chuckled. "They're Ad's wolves. The other, Stormbringer died a while back. Moonshadow is Storm and Dreamer's pup" she explained. She loved the wolves to bits.

Mikey listened and nodded in understanding. "Oh. I've always wanted to see a wolf" he replied. Just never had the chance.

Maria smiled. "They're fun to have around" she said. She dug out her portfolio yet again and dug in the back to produce a fully colored picture of Ad, Justin, and the three wolves. It was far better than any of Maria's. "WHo do you think did this one?" she asked.

Mikey smiled. "I'm sure they are" he replied. He looked at the picture. "I have no idea" he replied.

Maria smiled and nodded. Yeah" she said. "Ad did this ne. She took a picture, then within an hour she had this" she said, smiling.

Mikey slouched slightly. "It's really good" he replied, observing the picture closely.

Maria shrugged. "Don't tell her that. Her ego is big enough" she didn't smile when she said it. She was right.

Mikey giggled slightly. "Don't think I'm actually going to get the chance to be honest" he replied.

Maria chuckled. She slid closer and wrapped her arms around Mkey, seeking comfort. All joking was aside. She knew her life was crashing down slowly. Her mother was getting her way, and she would be brought right back to Italy, the one place she refused to return to. She refrained from cryng, seeing as she didn't want to mess up Mikey's shirt. She reached out and stroked Bandit as she continued hugging Mikey.

Mikey smiled and put his arm around Maria comfortingly. "What's wrong?" he asked not thinking there was anything right about her. She was stopping herself from crying, that was not something that said she was fine.

Maria sniffed and let out a shaky breath. "I already know what's gonna happen to me. I know where I'm gonna be by my third year. And it's not gonna be here" she said. She knew it. The more time that passed, the more quiet her mother became. That meant she was plotting. Never good. "I don't wanna go back to that place" she sobbed. And it was true.

Serena sat in the corner of the room in a big, plush arm chair with a copy of her favorite novel "Alice in Wonderland" open on her lap. As she sat there she wished more and more that she could be in Wonderland and not in this cold, dark place. So big she can't even find her room. Sometime the castle felt like Wonderland, but then reality would seep in and Serena would be alone again.

Aiden comes up from the girl's dormitory. She has just woke up from her long nap. Carrying along her diary. She takes a seat on a long sofa next to the armchair where Serena sits.

As she is about to settle down, Aiden's attention is caught on the book the other girl reading. She has never heard nor read about it before. Must be another muggle book.

Mikey listened as Maria spoke. "Where will you be?" he asked not wanting her to leave. That couldn't happen. He refused to let it happen.

Maria swallowed. "Italy. Venice" she whispered. She shuddered at the thought.