"Hi there," Ryden replied, her eyes drawn - naturally - to the sketchbook the other girl had just placed on her lap. Was that... Oh no. She'd managed to find one of those girls who were into FASHION DESIGNING. Ugh. Those were always airheads. The brunette had nothing against fashion, and quite enjoyed shopping when done in small quantities and with Bridget, but designing...

That was like art. And ARTSY people were airheads.

"You're into clothes?" and this question was for the benefit of the doubt. And because this was the place where she met the only friend she had at Hotwarts. Yep.

"Yeah... I suppose I am" Dani smirked- "I mean... yeah. I'm not like obsessed but... I was kinda brought up by a Fashion Photographer- so..." she laughed as she watched the girl. "It's fun to draw out new pieces- it feels amazing when something just comes to you- and it could actually become an outfit on a model" she nodded. "But... it's not really a realistic career path, I'd love to model, but..." she shrugged. Alexa had always encouraged her to model, obviously because of her career- and Dani really enjoyed it. But to her it wasn't really a viable career. She'd most likely go into the Ministry, still harbouring her secret wish to be in the MLE team one day, she wasn't so sure though... she sighed and turned to the girl again- "I'm Danielle, by the way. But you can just call me Dani" she smiled warmly at the other girl.

...

And she blabbed. Oh no, she blabbed. Ryden fought the urge to run there and then. And to think, this one was a Slytherin. Weren't they supposed to be, as Riley had so cleverly said, sullen? You know, mean and whatever?

"Erm... That's nice. I'm Ryden," the brunette replied, trying not to appear unfomcoftable as she shifted slightly in her seat to get more comfortable. Turns out stone wasn't the nicest thing to sit on.

Silence. Awkward silence. Hmm. Should she say something?

Oh great, now Dani felt kinda awkward. "Hmm..." she started slowly- "Ryden's a pretty name" she complimented the girl. Although her snake mind was drifting towards the opinion that this girl thought she was better than her. Which would not be good. At all. And she wouldn't be suprised for a Ravenclaw- they all had serious superiority complexes, never mind Slytherins' being power hungry.
"So... what year are you?" she asked curiously as she fiddled with the edges of her prettily collaged sketchbook.

"Thank you," Ryden said, caught a little off guard. What on earth...? People seemed to really like her name. It was nothing special from what she'd experienced, just unusual. But then, perhaps they liked that here.

What year was she in? "Fourth... But it's my first at Hogwarts," she said, adding the last bit just so that it wouldn't be a completely useless conversation. Who know? Perhaps there was more to this girl than clothes. Maybe. What happened to the luck with Koala Boy?

"Do I look like someone who's kidding here?" If someone was to walk by right now they would think she looked more like someone who was ready to kill, not like someone who was kidding. "How the hell should I know why you still fancy me. You're the one that keeps bringing this subject up, not me." Seriously, she had just been walking through the courtyard. He was the one that stopped her and started yelling at her. "I DON"T have a problem Carter. It's obvious that you and Caroline have the problem. If me being myself breaks you two up then I guess you two don't have as strong a relationship as you think you do." If Caroline was secure in her relationship with Carter then no matter what Marie did or said the girl would know he wouldn't cheat on her. But obviously there was some sort of issue there or else this conversation wouldn't be happening.

Was Carter trying to get his nose broken with his stupid comments here or what? Stepping a little closer so she was a mere few inches from his face she started to yell back at him even more. "Whatever guy I'm dating now? You make it sound like I change boyfriends on a weekly basis." Wow, she's had 3 boyfriends in two and a half years and Carter acts like she's had thirty. "For your information, his name is Matty, and you couldn't break us up even if you tried. No matter what you say or do, nothing can come between us."

And the stupid comments just keep pouring out of his mouth. "Not that it's any of YOUR business but I AM proud of him. It doesn't matter to me what classes he's in or if he chooses to skip a class." She wasn't with him because of the classes he was taking.

Again he was blaming her for bringing something up when it was him and his stupid comments that brought the subject up."You know, I HAVE let that go. It's YOU that keeps bringing it up again. It's always YOU bringing things up. What am I supposed to do... let you ramble on and not comment on what you say? I don't think so. If you don't like what I have to say then maybe you need to stop opening your mouth." Or maybe she should just shut it for him.

Well now, it seems Caroline wasn't so forth coming with telling Carter that her and Marie were cousins. Already keeping secrets from the boyfriend it seems. "Yeah I COULD have started with that but why should I when Caroline didn't seem too bothered with letting you know we're related." It wasn't Marie's responsibility to tell her EX that he's dating her cousin. "Really Carter. I'm the only one that ever gives you a headache? Then why is it that after all this time you're coming around me again? If I make your head hurt so damn bad why do you even bother with talking to me?"

STARE!

Is he serious here? "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response. Why don't you ask Caroline those questions. I'm sure she would love to answer them for you." It was apparent that the only thing he was interested in was how good his girlfriend looked and to be honest, she didn't care anymore what he thought. All she wanted now was to get as far away from him as she could and it looked like there was only one way she was going to be able to shut him up... other than punching him in the mouth. "You know what, you're right. Everything that has ever happened between us was all my fault. You were just the poor innocent victim here, the one that was misunderstood. You are a saint and I am nothing more than some horrible person who tries to ruin everyones lives. Now if you'll excuse me, I have someplace I need to be." She had long ago forgotten where it was that she had been heading but wherever it was she knew it had to be better than being where she was right now. She just wanted to get the hell away fro Carter Phillips.

She needed to find Matty. That's who she wanted to be with right now.

Wow.... this chick was easily excitable. Rae's eyes widened as the lion's voice got louder. Squeaking, arms in the air... Did that count as flailing? Was Rae sure? "Uh.. Yeah.." Obviously, as she shoved another bite of cake in her mouth, Kurumi kept talking... "Rroffheshhhunnal? *gulp* This tastes professional to me. And it looked gorgeous.... Until I ate it.. But now it's a gorgeous glob!" Maybe that made no sense.....

"What do you specifically need to know?"

Making her way down to the courtyard, TJ watched for Ivan, clapping her mittened hands together. It was brisk out but really not too bad. She looked forward to seeing him, she hadn't seen him in a few days. Even with classes being out a few days they'd both been busy. He'd sent a note for her to meet him, and that he had a surprise for her.

Her curiosity had gotten to her. What kind of surprise she wondered... He'd surprised her immensely when he'd come back from Christmas holidays early and then came with her to see her family as well as bringing her to meet his. Even after his mum passing, and she felt honored, and loved. She still couldn't believe that it was so real, them officially being in love!

Dani smiled and sighed as she pushed back her hair- "I'm in Fifth, but it's my first year here too. I was at Beauxbatons" she smiled at the girl- "But luckily my best friend Orabelle moved here too" she said softly as she looked down at her sketchbook before putting it back into her bag and turning to the girl- "Which school did you go to before?" she asked kindly with a warm smile.

Ah, she was a little older. This Danielle, or Dani, was the age Ryden wished she was. A little older, but not grown up yet. The perfect age. Meh.

"Beauxbatons? Where's that?" Ryden asked, slightly confused. Was this some famous school she should have heard about? Everyone's heard of Hogwarts, of course, what with the whole Voldemort and Harry Potter thing... Plus her mother had gone here back in the day - but this Botabon place? The brunette had never heard of it.

"Yeah, that is lucky..." the fourth year nodded, sighing a little. "Oh, I went to a school in South Africa. You've probably never heard of it, being European and all," Ryden said, shrugging her shoulders. She was proud of being NOT European. They all had their noses stuck somewhere between the stratosphere and mesosphere, and don't even get her started on the Americans. She was a healthy combination of everything and rather enjoyed it that way.

"It's in France. Near Cannes" Dani explained kindly- "It's rather more... grander than Hogwarts- it's a Palace, by the sea" she sighed as she thought about her belowved school. She wished she could have stayed but in a way she was glad that she had moved here. Hogwarts really was so different from Beauxbatons, but in a good way... she really was coming to like it now.

"South Africa? Wow" she said honestly- "My Aunt lives there- Cape Town I think... I'm not too sure, I know she travels around a lot" she sighed as she pushed back her curls and smiled at the girl warmly. "It's a lot different from there here, huh?" she smirked.

Right. Near Cannes. Big white Palace with princesses who faint if they see a bug. Or, at least, that's what it sounded like. "I think that Hogwarts is ok when it comes to grandeur. Too much of it can really mess up your brain," Ryden replied flatly, having a bizarre urge to stand up for this castle. Hmm. Interesting development there - since when did she care for Hogwarts? She DIDN'T. She hated it.

Didn't she?

The brunette smiled, pleased by the exclamation. South Africa was indeed a "wow" worthy place. It was HER place. "I'm from Johannesburg... It's no where near Cape Town," Ryden said, although her school was somewhere in between. Her mind when to her hometown, to the streets that she loved, but was rudely pulled back here by Danielle's smirk. What was she SMIRKING at her for? Ryden scowled.

"Yes, it is."

Well, the girl did have a point. Chewed and partially digested cake were not exactly the most delicious looking things in the world, but Kurumi assumed that she did not need to confirm this with her.

Kurumi then whipped out her cookie recipe notebook and flipped towards the back where there were several blank pages. She then reached into her bag for one of her quills and looked back at the older girl.

"There are quite a few things actually," she said in a rather matter of fact tone. "First, I need to know the when and how of the wedding. I can't make say...a chocholate mousse cake if you are having an outdoor summer wedding for example," she giggled as she jotted down a few notes. "Would you like a wedding cake to match the color or décor of your wedding? Do you have theme of the wedding, colour of your dress, bridesmaid dresses and so on. What sort of flavor would you like?"

Kurumi looked up after finishing her bullet points and waited intently. She hadn't been given such an exciting project in a long time.

Braeden looked like someone had just turned a bucket of cold water over his head when Emma kissed his cheek. AKSJDHSFH. Would he EVER get used to that?! Or was it always going to give him shivers every time it happened? Well, whatever the answer was, he wasn't going to complain. He was happy to receive her kisses.

As Emma held out her hand and asked if they'd boogie or waltz, Braeden laughed lightly, taking her smaller hand into his own.

"Let's waltz first," he decided with one of his lopsided grins. "If I'm gonna make a total fool of myself, I might as well do it now," he added with a chuckle. Oh yes. The Gryffindork knew it already - he was going to make a fool of himself learning to waltz. Best get it over with.

Ivan walked down to the Courtyard where TJ said she would meet him. He stuck his hands in his coat pocket and shivered. Why couldn't they have met indoors? You know...where it was like not freezing? Ugh. Oh well.

Looking around he spotted TJ and grinned. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her with his hands still in his jacket. "Of all the places you pick outside in the snow and cold?" he said shivering.

Grinning at him, she saw him shiver, "I didn't think it was all that bad out." she said with a light laugh. "If you want we can go back inside, I was just coming from the nursery."

It had been much colder so that day actually felt nice compared to recently. Leaning up slightly she kissed him softly. "Do you want to go in?"

Kita started giggling. "Wit signals?" she asked, "Now tell me Miss Carter," Wait... Miss Carter?! o_O "Are Ravenclaw's sending out other signals that i, and the other members of my humble house, should be warned about?" You know, in case the wrong signals are picked up by the house of loyalty.

Wait... did this mean she had someone to blame if she started acting particularly weird?

Kita nodded, looking at Louisa. She was glad that she had told her. It seemed as though she knew quite a lot about the matter. Ok, that wasn't a good thing for her but at least she had someone to talk to, right? "That's true," she said, sighing, "Teaching us to trust them when they don't trust us enough to know the truth... hypocritical much?" But then something about what Louisa said that made Kita frown. She looked at her young friend, concern etched on her face. "Louisa... is everything ok with you?" she asked.

Real parents? Kita sighed and shook her head. "No i don't know," she said, "All i know is that they're part Danish which makes me part Danish as well. Weird or what?" Part Danish, part English and part Indian... no wonder the brunette was a weirdo! "And they were too young to raise a child so that's why they gave me up for adoption," she muttered, trying her hardest not to cry. Because the girl didn't cry. Never.

Nika walked out to the courtyard shivering in the snow. AHHH so cold. She looked around for a nice place to sit and maybe enjoy the nice, yet cold, winter wonderland. Hogwarts did really look magnificent in the white sheet of snow. She looked at the ground and watched as her footprints made little dents in the flat sheet of snow. Nika was clumsy and she knew better than to look at the ground while walking, but it was snowing! She really couldn't resist.

THWAK.

She felt her hands go cold all of the sudden and she felt a bit dizzy. Looking to see what the cause of this sudden temperature change she noticed that she was no longer standing but now she was lying on the cold snowy floor. What was the cause of that anyways...? She lifted her head to notice. Ugh. No. She must've bumped into that guy.

.... Not again.

No more staring at the ground. Nika will never bump into anyone again! Ever.... Yeah okay unrealistic. She opened her eyes widely realizing that it had been over five minutes of silence and she still hadn't apologized to this guy. "Sorry." Right this guy looked older than her and surely he would have been angry if she didn't say sorry. "I guess I was paying attention to where I was going and I sorta bumped into you. My bad..."

Ivan laughed and clung to TJ trying to get himself warm again. Feeling her kiss him he grinned and shook his head. "Well I mean yes at some point but we don't have to right now."

Taking a step back he pulled his hand out of his pocket holding a box. "So I know you asked for that notebook I got you and that was it. But...I have something else for you." Which he hadn't been sure he wanted to give her since he had never given any other girl jewelry before. He held out the box containing the necklace to her with a smile.

The blonde laughed at Braeden's facial expression.. was he all right? Well the blonde hoped he wasn't just going to faint or something cause that would be embarrassing.

Emma blushed as he took her hand and proclaimed that the two would waltz. She laughed and shook her blonde head. "No, I don't think you'll make a fool of yourself.. At least you didn't fall into the punch bowl at your party." she said, smirking her famous Malfoy smirk. That was good. "All right, so let's try doing the steps first. Before just doing the whole thing. So you take a step forward with your left foot and do a box step. Like what I did before but without falling," she explained, blushing as she mentioned the falling bit. Ha.. But it wasn't too bad to fall into Brae's arms every once in a while. The blonde continued to do the box step and luckily, she didn't fall over. "Your turn!" she exclaimed and waited for him to try it with her.

Wow... A lot of stuff. "Uhh.. It is going to be outdoors in the summer actually... But that's okay... I don't think putting a giant moose on a cake would taste very good... Then again your the pro right?" Rae wouldn't think picking fur out of her teeth would be very attractive though.

Yeah, Rae took things literally sometimes.. She was best friends with Ev and Destiny, what would you expect? "It's gonna be June 13th, at the house I share with Evelyn, Josh, and Fletcher. The wedding and reception will be by the lake. I'll have blue and white colors with trees. My dress will be white.. The bridesmaids will wear blue and white.... Am I being too specific?" Gah.. "You can really just be creative with whatever you like. I'm just telling you all of this if it will help at all."

Flavors? There's more than one? "What's YOUR favorite flavor?"

A smile flickering on her lips she nodded. "Alright." her eyes lit up more as he spoke then produced a package. Her eyes searching his briefly before taking the package, she took her mittens off tucking them under her arm.

Opening the box her eyes widened as she took out the necklace gently. "Merlin..!" she murmured. A little louder but no more then a whisper she added "It's beautiful! Thank you!"

Kurumi arched an eyebrow when Rae mentioned putting a real moose on the cake. Wait...where had THAT come from? Was she having a wildness themed wedding? Kurumi knew that everyone had their quirks, but Kurumi suddenly had an image in her head of Rae walking down the aisle in a white and red plaid dress with a pickax instead of a bouquet. It was rather funny and she couldn't help but giggle.

Pushing lumberjack wedding thought aside, Kurumi focussed on what was obviously the more important thing: THE CAKE! She had to muffle a squeak when Rae mentioned Cookie Hater though. That girl still made Kurumi shake in her school shoes. "Blue and white...got it," she said as she made a few notes. Already images of a pale blue cake decorate with some sort of white flowers popped into her head. Yes, she could work with this. "The more specific the better," she chirped as her quill flew over the pages of her notebook.

She looked up again when she was asked a question. HER favorite flavor? How could she possibly choose?!

Kurumi's eyes widened. June...hmmmm....what flavor just said June to her. Well, there were many to be perfectly honest. Something with a fresh flavor and not too heavy would be best. So no chocolates. "I have always liked marbled or swirled flavors," Kurumi nodded as she tickled her nose with her quill. "Summer reminds me of citris, so perhaps a white raspberry cake with lemon swirls mixed in. As for the icing...you will want to keep that feeling fresh as well. Hmmm...how does an Italian meringue buttercreme sound? I could also try and include some sort of filling. Perhaps a raspberry crème to bring out the raspberry flavor in the cake. Lemon can be a bit overpowering at times."

Hopefully Rae liked raspberry. She probably should have asked before visualizing the ingredients on the counter in the kitchen.

Kurumi started speaking and immediately Rae gasped and her mouth started to water with just the ideas that Kurumi was explaining. "I didn't even know things that good EXSISTED!" Seriously though.... It sounded like she needed a piece... like now. "Can you do just that? Like... EXACTLY that? I mean um.... If it's not too much for you or anything." But really.. did that sound good or what?

Kurumi jotted down a few more notes and then closed her book with one of those wild looks in her eyes that usually frightened her brothers. It either meant she was about to beat them to a pulp in kendo or that she had been given an assignment that would push her to the point of insanity - but in a good way.

"Consider it done," she chirped bowing deeply to the girl. "It's no trouble at all, really." Well, that was a BIT of an understatement since it would be rather difficult to make something this elaborate. This wasn't cookie baking 101.