After blinking back any tears that were threatening to spill over, Marie turned back to Carter as he placed the bowl in front of her. "Thanks." Picking up the spoon she took a bite of the cheesecake. After just one bite she realized that she really was hungry. "It's better than pretty good. It tastes great." Loading her spoon with ice cream and cheesecake she shoved it in her mouth and practically swallowed without even chewing... not that you need to chew ice cream. She continued shoveling the food in her mouth. Ice cream, then cheesecake, then both at the same time.

OH CRAP!

Brain freeze....

Making a funny face she dropped her spoon back in the bowl. "Maybe I better slow down a bit... let my brain thaw out." Then again, maybe Carter was right and she needed to stop skipping meals. Then she wouldn't be so hungry.

He thought she was a great girl? "After everything that has happened over the past two years you still think I'm a great girl?" She knew she hadn't made the best choices in some of the things she did but there was nothing she could do to change them now... not that she wanted to change anything she had done. "Yeah, I'm sure I'll be fine in time. It's just... never mind." There was no way she could tell him how she felt used by Finn and why she felt that way. No, the only one that knew that was Mia...

Wanting to forget what had happened and why it had happened she changed the subject. "So, how was your summer? Do anything exciting?"

"You might wanna..." Carter began. "Never mind."

Brain freeze. The only downside to ice cream.

"At least you think it's good though, right?" he said with a little laugh.

He then smiled as she questioned his judgement. "It takes a lot more than some slaps, a few fights, and a few rash choices to make you a bad person." he said. "You've changed a lot in the past two years. And I'm sure a lot of it is for the better. I mean look at us talking again. You'll have to admit that that wouldn't have happened a few terms ago."

He inwardly chuckled at her change in topic.

"Oh... my summer was long... as always. Anya got her first crush and pretty much demanded that I take her to see the boy all the time - she thinks mum and dad are embarrassing now. As a result... I only got to go to Diagon Alley twice. Once for fun and then once for all my school supplies. I did get to see Caroline there though. That was nice. She was busy all summer. She went to New York for a few months and then had a wedding." he said. He was about to say that she had invited him to it, but now was probably not the time for him to talk about his relationship considering Marie's had just ended.

"So... unless you count Anya growing up as 'anything exciting' then it was a pretty boring summer."

He was about to ask how her summer was and then stopped with his mouth wide open. He quickly closed it. He didn't want to bring up potentially bad memories for her.

He distracted himself with a bit of ice cream hoping she hadn't noticed what he was about to ask her.

"This is nice." he said suddenly. "I'm not going to lie - I missed talking with you." he said. "Plus, it was a lot of fun getting to know you the first time around, I'm sure the second time around will be even better." he added with a smile.

Then he occupied himself with taking another bite of cheesecake and ice cream.

Why didn't he sneak out at midnight more often? Cheesecake definitely was meant as a midnight food.

Hugo chuckled. "You're welcome I guess," he said, wiping some flour off his face. "We should," he nodded and pulled out his wand. Which was also white. He blew some flour off of it and pointed it at the floor. "Scourgify," he said and the flour slowly disappeared from the floor. "Don't underestimate the power of purple," Hugo said. Before the incident, purple had been one of Hugo's favourite colors. Now it was blue and red all the way. "By the way, look what I did," he said and took the little velvet pouch which had been hanging round Hugo's neck under his shirt. He opened the tiny little pouch and put his hand in it. His arm went down all the way to his elbow and then he couldn't go any further. He took a book from the little pouch. "Pretty good right?" he asked. He had been so proud when he'd managed to do the Undetectable Extension Charm.

"You may be right," she laughed using the sleeve of her robes to remove some flour from the tip of Hugo's nose. "I think blue suits you much better though."

Kurumi watched as Hugo arm vanished into his pouch and she soon found herself clapping. "Good, that was brilliant! Oh Hugo! You will have to teach me, please," she said begging with her eyes. She had been away from real magic for far too long.

Suddenly, her face grew a bit pale again as the realization of what she had just done earlier sunk in.

"Hugo..." she said in a sort of shrill tone. "I...I...I..." she paused she took a deep breath. "ISIGNEDUPFORQUIDDITCHTRYOUTS."

Hugo smiled. "Blue is an awesome color... So is red..." Hugo nodded, looking at Kurumi's robes. "Together they make... Purple," MINDBLOW. Hugo and Kurumi made purple together. WOW. How... Awesome. Hugo's brain was totally overreacting the thing, but GOSH GOLLY HOW SPLENDID!

"I can try," Hugo nodded putting the book back in his pouch. "It's bloody tricky though," he said as he closed it. Then a ripping sound came from it and the pouch ripped open. The book fell on Hugo's foot. "Ouch!" he exclaimed. He looked at the broken thing. "And it's far from perfect," he said and grabbed the book that was on the ground and now covered with the flour that was still on the floor.

THAT was her problem? Hugo sighed of relieve. "That's not a bad thing, right? I signed up too. I doubt I'll get in though," he said. It'd be funny if Kurumi ended up as a professional Quidditch player. "We should practise together," Hugo nodded. Hugo didn't understand what Kurumi thought was so bad about this.

Oh yeah. Hugo had something up his mind too.

"Umm Kurumi..." he said, looking at his feet. "I may or may not kind of have said that I loved Fee..."

"So, does that mean that it was destiny that we both get attacked by that ruddy plant?" she teased with a faint sparkle in her eye. Personally, she hoped that the new Herbology professor was anti-man-eating plants. She had had her fill of them last term and didn't fancy another encounter with one until she was perhaps a 5th year.

Kurumi jumped with surprise when the book came tumbling out from his bag and leaving a rather large rip in it. "Well, it's a start," she said covering her mouth with her left hand to contain her giggles. "We'll have to ask Professor Descoteaux if he could teach us. Or perhaps he will be instructing us during class."

Kurumi hugged her cookie notebook to her chest and looked at Hugo. "You've seen me flying, right?" she asked. No, Hugo DIDN'T really need to answer that question. "Selina trained me a bit over the summer. Managed to learn how to take off and land decently enough...she is actually one of the people who convinced me to try." Her cheeks flushed and she had to look down at the ground. "Adam...he...he loved Quidditch as well..."

And there is was. The core reason why she had ultimately decided to try out.

Next thing she knew, her eyes were popping out of her head and Hugo was a lovely shade of red.

"Wait...WHAT?!" Kurumi chirped in a tone that perhaps only dogs could hear. Pausing for a moment to collect herself, and to allow Hugo's eardrums to heal a bit, Kurumi simply looked at Hugo with shock written all over her face. "H-How do you maybe say that you love someone?"

Ariadne was a very good listener. Contrary to popular belief, her favourite activity wasn't pestering people with questions, but rather listening to their replies. The more Eirian talked, the more the child got engrossed into the story.

Ari still couldn't believe that someone's (even if that someone was a house elf) greatest happiness in life could be to serve others. She looked incredulously at the older girl. 'But our Professors teach-what-6 hours a day maybe? And have paid holidays, weekends off...Do elves get that?' she seriously doubted it.

Ariadne's head started to spin while hearing all the beautiful countries where the Slytherin had been. 'Wow, amazing! I would like to do such a tour sometime.' she replied, her eyes still reflecting sheer admiration.

It turned out Eirian didn't ignore her last question. Ariadne felt terribly sorry now, the girl's life sounded really harsh. 'I'm sorry.' the child said simply. 'How can you manage everything on your own? Do you have any family left at all?' she asked sadly, anticipating a negative answer. In comparison to that, Ari's life had been extraordinarily good, although she had had her fair share of family drama.

"Oh please, I never slap anyone. I prefer a good punch." Carter should know this. He had felt a punch or two from her in the past. He should consider himself lucky she stayed away from his face though. "Yeah, I have changed a lot. I've grown and... matured a lot since we were together." A lot. "You know, it wasn't because of me that we didn't talk. I tried..." Merlin knows she tried, only to be shut out every time. But that was in the past. Now they were talking and working on being friends again.

Awww, little Anya has a crush. "I can't believe Anya's old enough to have a crush." The last time Marie had seen his sister she was just a little thing. "So does she know yet that you're a wizard?" She couldn't imagine trying to hide something like that from a sibling... not that she had any siblings.

Hearing him say it was nice to see Caroline she raised an eyebrow at him. "Caroline? As in the crazy girl who wears a lion on her head?" Why would anyone think it was nice to see her? That girl was just weird. "Sounds like I had a more exciting summer than you." For once. Yep. She had gone to Australia to visit Mia and Sweden to visit Matty... a couple of times. Not to mention the time she had spent with Finn, before they started to argue.

He missed talking to her? Then why did he go so long ignoring her?

"Yeah, we had a lot of fun back then." She said remembering all the good time her and Carter had. "You think we'll ever be like that again? I mean having good times like that." She did miss the fun times that the slytherdor pair use to have.

Carter laughed. "Oh. That's too true. How could I have forgotten?" he said still laughing. One of her little punches actually got him benched from a quidditch game once.

"Yeah... yeah. I know." he said trying to sound as causally as possible. He knew that they weren't still together, but the weirdness he felt right after he came out of the love potion was still there. "I was just... I guess..." He then sighed. "You know that I would have never cheated on you right?" he said. He hoped that she knew that. "Well... the fact that you saw something happen... well... it was... kind of hard to deal with."

Now he knew why Mina had a hard time dealing with what happened when she dropped that ceiling on him. Not that this had quite the intensity of that kind of control. But it was definitely a relateable experience.

"No, not yet." he said. "But, this summer we're going to tell her." he said. "Last month marked the last time her adoption agent was going to visit. So, we won't have to worry about that aspect." he said. "Plus, once my birthday comes around... I'm planning on showing her a few things. That way she won't think her family was crazy." Now the only thing to worry about is if she still thought her family was crazy after that. But, of course, that was worst case scenario. There was the possibility that she would love that her brother was a wizard and be completely supportive of it -- and that was the response he was hoping for.

"Yeah. That's her." he said with a smile. "We're dating." he said. "I'm not sure if you heard." He then smiled a little wider thinking about Caroline. "You guys should hang out. You might actually like her."

He then stopped and chuckled lightly. Who was he kidding? "Nah... I don't think you'd like her much. She's nice."

He smiled as he listened to her talk about her summer. It was nice to hear that she actually had a good one. It seemed that she had bad luck with summers (which may have partly been his fault).

"I think we could." he said nodding. "I mean... it probably won't come as easily... and we'll have to get used to each other again... but I think, no I know it's possible." he said gaining confidence in each word. His head swam with various memories of them from a few terms ago.

He then got an idea. An uncharacteristic evil smirk spread across his face. Oh did he have an idea! He had a bit of planning ahead of him, but he had no doubt that they're friendship could be reformed. Not with an idea like this anyway.

Fee made her way to the kitchen it was amazing to be back and she couldnt wait to talk to the nice houseelves again.Sweet.This was going to be so amazing.What could be better than some white hot chocolate before going to bed?It was great that the Slytherin had figured out how to sneek out of the Slytherin common room in the past two years.Hehe.

Walking to one of the benches the girl waved at the first little houseelf that came in sight and sat down. Sighing happily Fee fluffed up her hair and waited.Maybe some of her friends would come for a late night snack too?!Or some new people that were cool to get to know?!

Hungry Jonathan came in rushing through the kitchen. He's not that hungry, he just wants some sweets. Ice cream? cake? Which one... which one...

Eying a fellow Slytherin sitting down and waving to a house elf for her meal. Jonathan decided to sit right next to her. It would be lovely to eat some delicious dessert with someone now.

He felt shy though, introducing his name and what not. She might be older or younger than he is. He hasn't met any of his classmates as well. As he turned to her he smiled "uhmm... hi" that took long enough. How old was he 10? It's just school. "what are you having?" Jonathan is quite a dork when he doesn't know what he is doing or saying.

The painting swung open and Tayla goggled at the sight in front of her. There were house elves working inside. It was a kitchen! And that painting wasn't just a painting. It was a hidden door.

"Amazing!" Tayla exclaimed. She blushed a little as some house elves turned to look at her, hearing her voice. "Sorry," she mumbled and smiled.

A waft of something delicious reached her nostrils. "Yummm!" she said, closing her eyes. She opened them again when she felt a tugging at her robes. Looking down, she saw a house elf offering her a plate of large chocolate-chip cookies - no - they were chocolate-frog cookies! She could see the 'chocolate chips' moving up and down. "Thank you!" Tayla took one cookie and bit into it. "That is so good!" she said. "I should definitely let Zara and Ari..." Tayla paused, suddenly remembering something. "Yikes! I promised Zara I'd meet her in the Great Hall."

Tayla ate the last bit of cookie she was given, waved goodbye to the house elves, and headed out of the kitchens. She ran quickly up the staircase and into the Great Hall, ready to tell Zara about what she found. She could continue exploring the castle a little later.

"Probably," Hugo chuckled. "Now that you mention it, my scar does somewhat resemble a cookie," he nodded with a smile. Well, how much can a circular shape resemble a cookie?

Hugo sighed. "I guess," he said and nodded. Then he looked up again. "OR we could learn it ourself, THEN go to professor Descoteaux to impress him because we would learn so fast," he giggled. "I doubt he'll do that. It's really tricky!" he said, waving his wand around.

"Ah come on, I'm sure you're not that bad," Hugo said, putting his wand back in his pocket. "Flying is fun," he nodded. Then... She said that. "Aww, Kurumi," he said and put his hand on her shoulder. "Why would you do that?" he asked, looking into her eyes. She would need to let go sometime... Hugo missed Adam too...

WOAH. Now Hugo was even more scared after that chirp. He nervously looked back at Kurumi's shocked face. He didn't expect her to react like THAT. "I-I d-don't know," he said and leaned on the counter after backing off a bit. "I sort of got in a arguement with this annoying kid named William, who said I treated Fee wrong and I got angry and and I told him that calling someone hot is not the definition of love and then I said I loved Fee like a friend and a girlfriend," he rambled on staring at his feet. "I don't even know the proper definition of love!" Hugo said and looked back at Kurumi's face. "It's not that I regret saying it... It's just that I don't know if I really meant it," he said lowering his voice. "I-I don't think I'm old enough to understand what love is..."

Fee just sat there drinking her hot white chocolate and sighed a little.This was too good to be true.Her addiction to it was growing and growing it was pretty weird.But who cared?A white hot chocolate everyday wont hurt,right?"!

As the blonde noticed someone sitting down next to her she turned her head and smiled at the boy.He seemed to be her age and surprisingly a Slytherin.Maybe he was new,that would be an explanation why she hadnt seen him at the common room before.That boy seemed to be a little shy,how sweet.

"Hey you",the third year said friendly and beamed at the guy next to her,"i am Feenella."Oh he asked what she was having?So he may be here to eat something too? Well this was the kitchen,of course he was.Ohh Fee,brain on off mode."I am having a white hot chocolate and two peanuttbutter jelly sandwiches",the girl told him,"and you?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady of the Lake

Ariadne was a very good listener. Contrary to popular belief, her favourite activity wasn't pestering people with questions, but rather listening to their replies. The more Eirian talked, the more the child got engrossed into the story.

Ari still couldn't believe that someone's (even if that someone was a house elf) greatest happiness in life could be to serve others. She looked incredulously at the older girl. 'But our Professors teach-what-6 hours a day maybe? And have paid holidays, weekends off...Do elves get that?' she seriously doubted it.

Ariadne's head started to spin while hearing all the beautiful countries where the Slytherin had been. 'Wow, amazing! I would like to do such a tour sometime.' she replied, her eyes still reflecting sheer admiration.

It turned out Eirian didn't ignore her last question. Ariadne felt terribly sorry now, the girl's life sounded really harsh. 'I'm sorry.' the child said simply. 'How can you manage everything on your own? Do you have any family left at all?' she asked sadly, anticipating a negative answer. In comparison to that, Ari's life had been extraordinarily good, although she had had her fair share of family drama.

Eirian shrugged. This girl was just soaking up everything she said. Ickle groupies were kind fun... Smirk. "And then they have to deal with all of us the rest of the day and night," she added. "Working at a boarding school allows for no free time aside from the summer... And personal days, but I have seen so few professors take one... ever. House elves have shifts here. Some cook, some clean while we are asleep.... It is their nature to want to cook or clean. And they have free food at their hands at all times, and they may roam around the castle... They make friends amongst each other and with students. It is more than a normal house elf could ever hope for. They are free to leave their employment here, too. And really, what trouble is it? With a snap of their fingers they can clean a room or cook a meal. If they were angry with us for this treatment, we would know it. Or perhaps we would not... They could revolt and kill us and we would not even know what hit us. They are content."

The Brasileira smiled charmingly as she was admired. This was awesome. "It was brutal, actually," she admitted. "We traveled by foot until there was water to cross. Or, I suppose you could say on horses first. Then camels... And we just walked through Brasil, since there was no way to lead any animal through the jungles... Perhaps you should start out with something a little more tame." Somehow, Eirian just couldn't see the firstie trekking through Africa for months on end and living to tell the tale. Then again, Eiri wouldn't have survived, either, if she hadn't been with her father. For all his faults, Merlin, was he strong!

"Do not worry about it," she demanded. "I do not worry, so you should not worry. I suppose I have a few cousins and aunts and uncles... The people who knew I was a bad seed and did not want to take me after my father passed and then again after my grandmother died. But I do not really consider them family, since they never acted like it. Last year my best friend's mother adopted me, so I could stay in school here. I think of her as family... and Jay, too. My mother and my brother. They are all I need."

Dallin had the right idea last term. If she couldn't be home, and get a scrumptious home made cake for her birthday, she was going to get one from the kitchens. Probably just as scrumptious and elf-made. Just without the looooove.

But Ellie could live with that. For now. They could have a big bash over the Christmas holiday that encompassed, well Christmas, HER birthday, AND Aidan's...and her Dad's... Basically everyone but her Mum's because her mum had to be WEIRD and born in the spring.

So she came aaaaaaaaall the way down to the kitchens, asked a particularly friendly and eager house elf to bake her a cupcake...because she couldn't eat a WHOLE cake on her own... Okay, she COULD, but that was beside the point. She didn't feel like being mean to the elves by being selfish and wanting a whole cake to her lonesome. Mhm.

And as the little girly elf scuttled away to make her said cupcake, Ellie perched herself on the little elf-sized counter. Mhm. Waiting. Just waiting.

Baked potato soup.

That's what Dallin was here for. Because Ivory had told him to try it, and so he was going to. He had been on his way to the Great Hall anyway, but he figured he would have to ask the house elves specifically if he wanted that particular soup.

He was distracted, though, when he saw who else was in the room, sitting on the counter. "Ellie!" he said brightly, going over to her and hopping onto the counter next to her. "Fancy seeing you here." Yes, he said 'fancy.' This British influence was getting to him. Or something.

"Whatcha up to?"

She was studying her shoes as she waited. How BORING were they? Black. Plain and black and, frankly, UGLY. What was with Hogwarts and its uniforms? Over the summer, she learned about MUGGLE clothes. Prints and patterns and COLORS. Fun stuff, they were. And not as uncomfortable as they looked. Though, Ellie did feel that robes were superior comfort-wise. But maybe that was just her...

Then, someone said her name. And, of course, although there were multiple 'Ellie's running around the castle, SHE was the best, and obviously the only one that would be called at, yeah?

No, not really, but still, by force of habit of hearing her name, the redhead lifted her head towards the entrance. "Dallin!" Oh such surprise! Really. Because, she was JUST thinking about him. He was the reason she was HERE right NOW. He started it.

"Waiting." SIGH. "For a cupcake." So, it'll probably be worth it. "And yourself?"

A cupcake? That sounded reeeally familiar.

"It wouldn't happen to be a birthday cupcake, would it?" Wait, when was Ellie's birthday? Dallin could only remember that it was before his. WAS IT TODAY?!

"Because if it is," He said, a smile forming on his lips, "Make it two cupcakes. I'll be glad to celebrate with you." He reached into the pockets of his jeans, frowning when he didn't find anything. "Except I don't have balloons for you. Not even three."

GRIN.

"It might be." This was why she like Dallin. He remembered her birthday he was good people. Nice people.

Two. Right. Hear that elfy? Ellie looked over at the house elf already preparing her one cupcake....yeah? Good.

Hehe. "It's okay. Balloons are not necessary." Hehe.

"Well, in that case, you deserve a happy birthday." But Dal wasn't in the mood to just say it to her. Nope, he wanted to sing. So he did just that.

"Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy BIRTHDAY dear Elliiiiiie... Haaappy Biiiirthday tooo youuuu!" Tada! The not as amazing as he thinks stylings of Dallin McKinley. Even if it wasn't her exact birthday today... it still had the idea goin' for it.

"So you're fifteen, right? 'Cause you're just about a year younger than me." If he remembered right. He was glad she didn't want balloons, too. Because he'd feel really bad that he didn't have any for her.

Giggle.

Ellie was super glad no one else was in the kitchen at the moment. Her face most likely turned red and she lifted her hands to cover it. Don't get her wrong, though, she liked it.

"You're such a dork," she pointed out, between giggles, once he finished. And she stuck her tongue out at him for good measure. "Thank you."

Giggle.

Mhm, mhm, mhm. The FIFTEEN year old nodded her head. "Right." GRIN.

Great, Jonathan feel relief the blonde girl is really nice. She even Introduced her name, Feenella. "I'm Jonathan" he smiled back Jonathan haven't seen too many Slytherins in the common room. Most days he's just sitting and sleeping on his bed at the boy's dormitory. "Nice to meet you" he smiled. Relaxing while he can before the lessons and homeworks starts. He's in the fourth year now so he better step up his game and ready himself for his fifth year next term.

Feenella's hot chocolate smelled delicious Jonathan wanted to drink the same thing but maybe tomorrow. He fancies a cold drink for now, so lemon iced tea for him and some chocolate cake. Not a very great combination but he's also craving for something chocolate. "ice tea and some chocolate cake" he said then taking a bit from the cake.

YUMMY!!!

"Want to try this cake?" he offered. "it's chocolate too" Feenella must love chocolate. She drinks her hot chocolate quite fast. "What year are you in?" Jonathan started a conversation.

GRIN. "I know I am." And Dallin was totally fine with that fact, too. Because by the way Ellie was smiling and giggling the song had made her happy. And that was his goal, because he didn't know what else to give her for her birthday. "And you're welcome." Want an encore?

"Well, awesome! You're one year closer to being of age!" Which was exciting, if you asked him.

Did she know that he wouldn't cheat on her? Yeah, she knew... but seeing him kiss Destiny made it really hard to believe that. "Trust me, I know how hard it was to deal with. You know what was harder than seeing you kiss her though? Seeing your reaction when you found out she gave you that love potion. You weren't even angry with her. You laughed about it... and then acted like nothing happened." Marie on the other hand didn't act like nothing happened. As soon as she seen Destiny in the common room later that night she let Destiny know how NOT happy she was with her. Yep, the girl had ended up with a black eye that night. "Seeing you laugh at Destiny as she crawled away was more than I could take. It made me feel like you thought the whole situation was no more than a joke." A joke that Marie found NO humor in.

Marie rolled her eyes when Carter said he was dating crazy girl. "I should have know you were dating her. You seem to be drawn to us blond snakes." Of course none of them were as good as she was... Marilyn was psycho and Caroline was crazy. Marie was the only normal one out of them.

She should meet and hang out with his new girlfriend? Yeah right, like that was ever going to happen. "I think I'll pass on that one. I have enough friends, I don't need her as one." She did NOT want to be associated with that crazy girl any more than she had to. It was bad enough that they were in the same house.

Raising an eyebrow at him she grinned. "Since when do you go for nice girls anyway?" Giving him a little punch in the arm she grinned some more. "And I do happen to have some very nice friends, thank you very much." Geesh, did he think she couldn't be friends with nice people just because she herself tended to be a bit violent sometimes? Pfft, she totally could. All he had to do was ask Mia, she would tell him.

So he knew they could be friends again and have good times like they use to. Well he knew more than she did then. "Well only time will tell. We'll see how things are by the end of term." Heck, let's just see if they are still friends by Christmas.