He smiled back "Oh that's really cool!" he continued "It will be great to meet him"
He looked back at the cat and then at her, "Oscar" he replied with a smile, he stroked the cat under it's chin and it started purring loudly.

"Oh yeah, it's charms class now" he smiled, got up and started walking out "Are you coming?" he asked.
He found a friend of his outside the hall "Take him to the common room please" he smiled.
The boy did as he said.

"A butler is a person who helps out around the house, like a servant, but I don't think they're very common anymore. In fact I don't think they've been common for a couple hundred years or so. I sure wish I had someone to pick up my room for me, but then I might just leave everything laying about and it would just look a dreadful mess and be quite a bit of work for whoever has to clean it up."

Excited to her the explanation of his name, Kat turned and sat crosslegged on the bench. She nodded enthusiastically while Basil talked while munching on some cookies. When he had finished his explanation she sat back in awe. "There's so much tradition in your name! That's so cool! My parents were so uncreative with my name, and didn't even bother giving me a middle name, let alone two."

Finally finishing her cake, Kat pushed her plate away from her, although the cornucopia of tantalizing food spread along the table was teasing her. I should probably stop eating...but I've never seen so many of these cakes and cookies and foods before that I just can't help myself! Kat took a delicious looking tart and a few cookies and refilled her cup with tea.

"Do you have any pets? I'm debating between a cat and an owl. I figure an owl will be more useful but I love cats so I can't decide! Although, maybe a cat would get bored sitting in the common room all the time. At least the owl could get out and fly around, you know, see a little bit of the outside world."

It was time to go and get something to eat after a hard morning of studying magic. Orr headed to the Great Hall where she noticed that there were a few students sitting at the tables...just an handful of students were at each of the tables.

She sat down at the Ravenclaw and stared at her empty plate, trying to decide what she wanted to eat, when something caught her attention. She looked up to see the Slytherin girl who had the same name as her walk into the great hall.

Orr wondered if she was bold enough to get her attention and talk to her. She was always happy to meet someone else who shared her unique name. "Um...um Aurora...Aurora Quinn?" She called out and started to wave at the girl.

Aurora was really hungry... She made her way into the Great Hall, still carrying her violin case and picking at the stubborn red stain on her jumper, and was headed straight for the Slytherin table when...

Aurora turned to see who was calling her, scowling. Whoever it was they had interrupted her on her way to food and that was not a good idea. She caught sight of a little first year at the Ravenclaw table who was waving. She walked over. "What?" she said curtly, far too hungry to care. She bent and picked up a bread roll from the table, ripping a bit off and eating it as she waited for the annoying little first year to reply.

At Aurora's curt reply, Orr hesitated for a fraction of a second before she thought to herself, You need to be more bold because otherwise noone will respect you.

Gathering her courage, she said boldly, "Hi Aurora. I'm Aurora." She laughed a little, "Yeah, what a coincidence that we share the same name. We have the same DADA class together and I just wanted to meet you in person outside the classroom. You can call me Orr if you like...it will be less confusing I suppose. Anyway, just wanted to say 'Hey'. Sorry if I interrupted you."

Well--that wasn't so bad Orr thought to herself. She had stood up and spoke to an older student boldly and to a Slytherin nonetheless.

Seriously... she'd had her dinner delayed for this? She put her violin case down on the bench so that she could spread some butter on the bread she was holding. "I don't care." she said to the younger girl. "And I don't see why I should have to call you anything." she added. Honestly, surnames were enough for these kids sometimes, and it wasn't like they were going to be spending any time together. Unless... first years did seem like the right sort of people to test potions on... and there was one that she'd been working on for a while. "You. Do you like potions?" she asked, not bothering with names - just to make a point.

Orr couldn't believe how rude the older girl was. She wondered if it was just her or her Snake-like traits which came from her being a Slytherin. Orr decided that it was just this Aurora's nature. Her friend Zhenya was also a Slytherin and was as friendly as could be. But to be on the safe side, she had better not mention being a muggleborn.

What was this girl's problem? In any case she had stopped and was kind enough to talk to Orr and Orr supposed that she should feel honoured but she really didn't.

What had she asked? Oh Potions? Well that was easy to answer.

She answered, "Yeah, I like Potions."

Aurora sighed, this girl clearly had no idea that it was a bad idea to interrupt Aurora's dinner. To be honest, it was a bad idea to interrupt Aurora about anything. Finally the girl answered.

"Good. I might ask you to help me with something." she said. If she turned out to be good enough... Finishing the bread and butter Aurora took out her wand and pointed it at her sleeve where the dark crimson mark was still refusing to budge. She muttered a few cleaning spells and managed to siphon most of it off... then she glanced back up to the other Aurora. "Word of advice for you, kid. Do not ever interrupt me when I'm on my way to eat. Ever. Because next time I might not be so nice." Well, she was here now and there was food on this table too. Shame all the table decoration was blue rather than green though, she shifted her violin case onto the floor and filled a plate with lunch. Oooh, spaghetti...

Orr lifted an eyebrow at Aurora's statement. She might ask me to help her with something?! It would be interesting to be asked to do something--hopefully not something too terrible or dangerous.

Still she nodded at Aurora's word of advice, "Duly noted" she replied and thought that Aurora had the nerve to insult her and then sit at her table to eat.

Squinting her eyes out her, Orr handed a bowl to her, might as well be friendly even if she never expected anything to come of it or to get a 'Thanks' in reply.

Hmm, she didn't answer back. Sensible kid. "Don't worry, I'll try not to kill you." Yeah, not 'I won't try to kill you' but I'll try not to kill you.' She was sort of joking... sort of.

"Good, that'll help you." she said, the edges of her mouth twitching slightly. She kind of felt sorry for the kid, it wasn't her fault Aurora was in a foul mood...

O___o She was still being friendly..? Aurora took the bowl. "Um, thanks." she said. Well, she might as well make some sort of conversation, "So, have you met any other older students?" she asked. Because it was always good to get your influence over who other kids liked...

She would TRY not to KILL me? Orr thought. What had she gotten herself into?! She was a fool to have thought that this girl would be friendly but her mother had taught her good manners and she could not just get up and leave as much as she dearly wanted to.

And now the other Aurora asked her another question. She really ran hot and cold at the same time. Orr had better watch out because this girl really did spell out TROUBLE and boy, one thing that she didn't want to get into was trouble especially at Hogwarts. Who knew what kind of punishments they gave misbehaving students besides deducing points...

Well she might has well give her an answer, "Well no. Not really. Not anyone from your year and above but I have met a really standoffish second year in my house whom you do remind me of. Must be the air here at Hogwarts..." she shrugged while dishing some food on to her plate.

What... O____o That was the wrong thing to say... Aurora put down her cutlery and stared at the kid. "You need to learn a bit of respect for people older than you." she hissed. "If you carry on like this you are going to be shot down, especially by the older students. You know the head girl? I got on her nerves the tiniest bit and ended up in the hospital wing so you better watch your mouth." That wasn't strictly true, it was probably Marie... not Evelyn who had caused the hospital visit... Aurora stood up, "I don't know who you think you are, but be careful what you say." she finished, grabbing her violin and waiting to see if the kid had a response to that.

Orr wasn't going to lie to herself, she was nervous by Aurora's response. But then she didn't want to respect older students just because they were older than her. She deserved respect even if she was just a little first year and then she would give them the respect they deserve.

She spoke coldly, "Look, let's be honest. I made a mistake talking to you and we'll never be friends. That's fine by me. As for respect? I only respect my elders when they give me respect and/or give me a reason to respect them. Besides, except for the fact that you're two-three years older than me and have been at Hogwarts for the same amount of time, you're not really my elder plus you acted like I was nothing just now. So why should I give you respect?"

Orr stared at Aurora in defiance biting her lip a little. Well she really put her foot in her mouth didn't she? Well she had had girls fighting her in her old school and she had been fearless. But that was with your friends there! Whispered a voice in her head, Yeah, but she couldn't be so scared of anyone here otherwise she would end up being scared of her own shadow.

Aurora wanted nothing more than to curse the kids mouth closed right now. She slung the strap of her violin case over her shoulder and took her wand from its holster. She pointed it into The Other Aurora's face as she muttered "You are not a smart kid. I don't know why the sorting hat put you into Ravenclaw but I swear, if you carry on like this you are going to get yourself into a lot of trouble." Turning to leave she discreetly added a little something to the kids drink, something she'd been dying to use for about... three weeks? A little solution that would turn the kids hair green for a few days. Sure, it was juvenile, but the kid deserved it. She couldn't have seen the bottle tip into her drink so, as Aurora turned to leave she muttered, only just audibly. "You're mean, maybe you should have been Slytherin. Let's see if you can show your true colours." She reeaaallllyyyyy hoped the girl would drink it. There was no way to prove that Aurora had put it there, in fact, there was no way to prove that it would be a potion that changed the kids hair... she just really hoped it worked.

Orr gave a little smirk. She definitely knew how to push Aurora's buttons it seemed. She grinned at Aurora and said, "Maybe you're just really good at bring out my inner Slytherin?"

She watched Aurora get up and put her wand in Orr's face. uh oh....I really didn't think this through Orr thought to herself. She started chanting to herself, Keep calm, keep calm!

She closed her eyes not willing to see what spell Aurora would use on her. She waited a few seconds waiting for something to happen. Nothing happened. Instead she heard Aurora's voice: "You're mean, maybe you should have been Slytherin. Let's see if you can show your true colours."

Or opened her eyes to see Aurora turn and leave. That was it!? She had thought that Aurora was going to really do something to her...Orr sighed and picked up her goblet. As she tilted it to take a drink...Aurora's parting words came back to her show your true colours. What did she mean by that?

Orr thought for a sec, had she cast a spell without Orr knowing it? She took out her little mirror and looked at her reflection--smooth pale skin, hazel, and brown hair stared back at her.

So Aurora hadn't done anything--yet. Orr looked at her plate of food and goblet suspiciously. She wouldn't, would she?

Either way she wasn't going to take a chance-- Orr picked up a teaspoon and dipped it into her pumpkin juice gathering some liquid. She looked up and saw that there was a little flower presentation on the table near her. She pulled it towards her and tilted the liquid on to the plant-- almost immediately, the plant glowed a bright green.

"Sneaky but clever." Aurora mumbled to herself. She wasn't going to finish her food and drink now. She looked at her goblet, maybe she should keep it. Learn what the ingredients were and so forth. It could also be used as evidence against the other Aurora.

She grabbed the goblet and left the Great Hall

"Wow. A Butler is a real person? That's really cool. Is that a muggle thing then? Are you half or muggleborn? Can you tell me more about muggle things?" Basil gave up all pretenses about blood-status because he was so excited by the prospect of learning about muggle things. He had always wanted to learn about muggles, but his family has strictly shut down that idea saying it wasn't proper (in rather less polite words than that). This, of course, had only sparked Basil's curiosity about muggles more, so he was floored by the prospect of finally having someone to tell him about them.

"My name really isn't creative at all though, they just followed some silly unwritten rules about how they should name me so they didn't actually have to put effort into it." Dranking some more juice, Basil continued, "so does that mean muggles don't have naming traditions, then?" He wanted to ask all sorts of questions about muggles, but he restrained himself knowing that he needed to make this friendship secure first.

"I have a cat, but my mum wouldn't let me bring him to school with me. I think magical cats are somehow able to get out of the common rooms and go do their own things when their owners aren't around. Otherwise there would probably be a lot of cat fights in the common rooms, don't you think?" Basil mused about this for a second and took a bite of his food while steeling himself to ask his real question. The most important question. "Do you by any chance want to be my study partner? You can say no if you hate me or something, don't worry. Nevermind. Sorry." Basil. Shut up. Stop talking. what are you thinking?! There goes you're only chance at a friend.

"I'm muggleborn, so I don't really know about magical things very much. It was a little embarrassing when I went to Diagon Alley to get my wand...I started talking to the measuring tape because it moved....but it wasn't actually alive." Kat blushed a little, chuckling to herself. "Of course you can ask me about muggle things, but only if I can ask you about magical things." Kat was excited to make a friend who would know about the magical world and it's plethora of strange items.

"Some muggles have naming traditions, but usually it's only very rich families, or very proud families. I have no idea where my name comes from...I think my parents just really liked cats...so they named me Kat."

Kat was dumbfounded at the prospect of magical cats. Wait, wait, wait...even cats can use magic? I'd better be sure to get a magical cat, if I end up getting a cat. But what if my cat is better at magic than me...maybe it wouldn't listen to me at all...not that cats really ever do."

When Basil asked Kat to be his study partner, she turned bright red, almost as red as her hair. I wanna be his study partner, but how do I respond to him without sounding too desperate... "I-um, I'd love to be your study partner!" Uugh, way to screw that up... Kat smiled at Basil, trying to keep herself from turning into a tomato. "And no, I don't hate you! Not at all, you dork!" She punched Basil playfully on the arm.

Getting up from the bench and stretching, Kat tapped Basil on the shoulder. "Should we go explore the castle a bit? I'm getting a bit stiff just sitting here."

Dallin was grinning. He was seventeen - and yes, he was still marveling in that fact. That called for a feast, too, in his opinion. The problem with that was that he couldn't go pig out in the kitchen, so he had to come to the Great Hall and make do with that.

So he sat down at the Ravenclaw table and stared at the food while pouring himself some pumpkin juice. What to eat, what to eat?

Done with the Frogs-Saliva soap sneaking plan, Louisa was up for the next birthday present for Dal. Although she had a bunch of gifts for him hidden veeery well in her dorm, those were to go to the Giant Squid. At least that wouldn't stomp on her heart and then pretend to be caring. Hmph.

The only problem was... where was this boy? Since Ellie wasn't in her dorm, it was so likely that both of them were crammed in the brooms cupboard where most couples went to have 'privacy'. Being his birthday Louisa was convinced by that and made her way to the ground floor, past the Great Ha-

...wait what? She ran to the wall next to the huge double doors that opened up at the Hall and peered around very sneakily. There he was. Sitting at the house table. Alone.

She. Could. Not. Believe. Her. Luck.

Suppressing a victorious cheer and dance Louisa got her hiccup sweets out of her pockets - make that purposefully crunched hiccup sweets - and walked in, very innocently walking near HER house table. She went all the way to the end of the table and took a relatively near spot from him, on the opposite side, without giving him any kind of attention whatsoever.

She brought the mashed potatoes dish to her and sprayed the crunched sweets over it before scooping a few and dropping it into her plate.

From under the table, she got her wand out and muttered, "Locomotor plate." the tip of the wand above the table and toward Dal's plate which vibrated and flew off the table to the floor.

Her chance was that he'd bend down, get it and then back up while she switched the dish of mashed potatoes that laid in front of him with hers. Easy? No way.

Sarah all but ran to grab a seat at the Ravenclaw table. When was the last time I ate here? At the sorting? she thought to herself. "I think I should come to meals a little more regularly! I'm starving!" she said to Fallon before diving into some roast turkey and trimmings. "Ooh, biscuits!" she said as she reached into the basket in front of her before chowing down. She then noticed some of the looks the surrounding students were giving her. "Oh where are my manners!?! Sorry!" she said, brushing away the crumbs on her shirt. "Fallon, if you ever notice that I've disappeared again, please find me and make me eat something. I've never been so hungry in my life!"

Fallon giggled at her apparently starved friend. "Too bad the kitchens are closed off to students, then we could go eat any time we like!" She exclaimed, thinking of the stories her mother had told her about the house elves.

She waved jovially at her staring classmates before realizing how empty the Great Hall was. "Oh that's right!" She gasped. "We're missing Sir Nicholas's Deathday party! We should head down there, I'm sure there's food." She teased her hungry friend, jumping up and dragging Sarah away.

"Ghosts? Party? I'm sold!!!" said Sarah between mouthfuls. "I usually attend my great great aunt Olga's deathday party but that thing is so..." Sarah looked for a word to describe the scene of her aunt's party but could only come up with one: "Dead. That is the only way to describe it! Let's go!" Sarah stuffed her pockets with some cookies for later and in the anticipation that the food was going to be as dead as her great great aunt Olga...

____________________
ooc: to the deathday party!

What a wonderful birthday lunch.

*snort* Oh well, it didn't really matter. He'd already seen Ellie today and had eaten a bunch of sweets to this wasn't really important. It was just to fill up his stomach, really. He reached for a few things - some bread, some mashed potatoes - to eat just as the plate in front of him started moving. He stared wide-eyed at it, scooting away...

...And it fell. On the floor. With a sigh Dallin leaned down, reached under the table and scooted the plate toward him with his fingertips. He inspected it for a moment before deciding it was too dirty to use, so he set it on the bench a little ways away from him and grabbed a new one. There. Now for the food. Bread, mashed potatoes, and chicken. A feast fit for a man.

... and he was under. A bang of adrenaline went through Louisa as she jumped up, grabbed the hiccup sweetened plate and shoved it to the spot on Dal's left side because using magic while her mind was racing was a risk she wouldn't take - things might explode. The plan was to remove the other mashed potatoes dish but it wasn't possible to reach it from her spot, even if she was stretched across the table to her body's top length. Instead she banged on the table, "Sorry!" and poured some pumpkin juice on the 'normal & healthy' dish making it look like she bumped into the table and caused it to fall on the plate.

Did it make sense?

It better did.

Quickly returning to her seat she was flushed, staring at her dish and gulping down a glass of pumpkin juice. She didn't dare to look at him. If the plan worked, she'd hear him hiccup.

Fingers crossed she hadn't confused the sweets with puking pastilles - being crunched made it difficult to differentiate them.

Okay, that was weird. He could have sworn that there was only one plate of potatoes next to him when he had bent down to retrieve the levitating plate. There were two there now, though. Frowning at the one on his left he reached for a spoon and -

"UGH." He jumped back, scooting the bench back with a loud scraping sound. He watched pumpkin juice fall into the potatoes and looked up to see what the problem was.

Louisa. You have got to be kidding me. Dallin threw his arms up in a 'what was that?' gesture, but didn't say anything. The girl had it out for him, and he didn't want to start another argument in some place as public as this. Although that might actually be a smart idea, considering there'd be witnesses if she hexed him... but no. He was an adult, and he was going to act like one. So he turned to the pumpkin-free potatoes and put some on his plate before taking a bite. HA, Louisa. Look at that, Dallin's mature.

...She didn't even wish him a happy birthday.