Emily said goodbye to her ravenclaw friends and walked to the gryffindor common room she walked to the male prefect intending to start a conversation.....

Kurumi looked up from petting Walnut to see an older student had approached their little nook in the corner, but was quite literally looking straight though her and towards Jai. Kurumi turned her head and looked a her co-prefect from across her crimson sofa.

"Pssst...Jai, someone here to see you," she whispered, nodding her head in the girl's direction.

Jai, looked up when Kurumi spoke to him. She indicated to the girl who cam over to his corner. He got and smiled down at the girl considering his height."Hey and may I have the name of the lady who honors me with her presence." he greeted her, his voice light, his tone charming and his words polite.

Having followed Kurumi to Gryffindor Tower from the Kitchens he just kep following her until she sat down at the back of the Common Room, near a boy who had the same Prefect's badge on his chest.

They must be the two prefects for Gryffindor house. He already knew Kurumi so he decided to introduce himself to the boy. "Hello there, Im August Goldstein, are you Kurumi's partner as Prefect then?"

Emily walked over to the sofas where the two prefects were sitting talking to people. Well, the boy was. Kurumi wasn't with anyone, so she walked up to her with a smile on her face. She'd never spoken to her before, but Nika was friends with her, and she'd had one too many of her cookies before.
"Hi" she said sounding more shy than she felt "Mind if I have another cookie? They're really good!" And she was still hungry. Well, she was always hungry. That was nothing new.

Jai looked up at the boy who spoke to him and said,"Guilty. I'm Jai Pierce at your service. It's nice to meet you August. So is there anything you'd like to ask me other than your previous question?"

Well this boy was definately an older student, much older than Kurumi and himself. Jai looked about Carter age, maybe another seventh year. "Well hello there Jai. Oh and yes, what sort of things should I expect during lessons and do the Professors assign homework along with classwork?" Auggie didn't want to sound too much like a little Muggle who didn't know anything about magical school...but he was.

Kurumi waved at August as he came over and wasn't surprised when he went over to see Jai. After all, they had already spent a good portion of the evening together and the boy was probably afraid that Kurumi was going to drag him somewhere else next.

But it wasn't much longer before Kurumi had a visitor herself, a younger lion that she had seen around the common room often but...was pretty sure that she had never spoken too outside of the usual greeting.

"Hello," Kurumi smiled back, gesturing for her to sit down next to her. "Of course you can. It wouldn't be very nice if I had them purely on display here." Okay, so maybe that was a bad joke.

Emily giggled and took a cookie from the plate. "Thanks!" She sat down next to her unsure of what to do next. "Your really good at baking you know." She nodded dumbly taking a bite of the cookie. It was so pritty, it was really hard to destroy.
"I'm Emily by the way." she added trying to make conversation.

"Thank you, its been a hobby of mine for a long time. Mother taught me how to bake," she smiled. And it was one of the few past times that the woman approved of. "I am trying to figure out what to do this term, with the house elves closing down the kitchens and all..." There was the Room of Requirement, but she knew that many other students enjoyed going there. To use it with the same frequency she had the kitchens would be a little selfish.

"It is nice to finally meet you, Emily." She smiled. "Um...I'm Kurumi." Did she need to introduce herself? Emily seemed to already know who she was.

Awkward.

'It must be nice to spend time with your mother' she thought, but quickly shook her mind free of that annoying thought. "The house elves closed down the kitchen?" she asked almost choking on her cookie. She never really went down to the kitchen's, but them being closed was very curious. "And they hadn't really cleaned the knives and forks at the feast? That's just very unlike them." Normally they were so attentive to everyone.

"Oh I already knew your name. Everyone I know seems to be friends with you, and have nothing be nice things to say." Just to reasure her it was nothing bad. She was so nice though, it would be hard to think of her doing something bad.
"How do you become a prefect?" she asked looking at the shiny prefect badge she was wearing. "Just because I'd love to be one. My sister would be so proud!" Just because she'd never been one, she'd probably be jelous as well.

Jai chuckled a bit, gestured to August to take a seat and said,"Well, expect magic. Here at Hogwarts we learn not only a theoretical basis but also on a practical level. It is afterall, teaching us how to control and use our magic responsibly. And yes, we get homework. Mostly it helps us to learn about the magical world as well as the muggle world. It's really something to be a student at Hogwarts. Just make sure you stay out of trouble. I here detention takes on a practical edge. I've never been in myself; I've just heard." Jai replied. He almost surprised himself at how he was helping the boy.

"So, you interested in Quidditch?" Jai asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Not as fun as spending time with my older brothers," Kurumi winked. That was a safe answer, right? Not that Kurumi disliked her mother or anything, she was a very strong woman and had a lot of traits Kurumi looked up to. But, there were times...more so than not really...when Kurumi felt like the woman wished she had had a different sort of daughter. "There was a sign on the door...I went immediately after the feast to try and see if I could deliver a gift to one of my house elf friends...but I found that I couldn't even get in." Kurumi frowned, worried written all over her face.

Kurumi blushed. "Oh...well...um..." She was all flustered now and her cheeks were burning. Must be because of the fireplace...on the opposite side of the room. "Thank you..."

Kurumi thought for a moment. By no means did becoming a prefect imply that you HAD to be at the top of the class. Jai wasn't and neither had last terms prefects. "I am not sure there is one way to becoming a prefect, but I will tell you how I got here," Kurumi offered. Although, her route was surely the overachieving route. "I attended classes, did all the homework, tried to get to know the members of my house as best I could, never really broke a rule..." She thought some more. "Our Head of House selects people that they think represent what Gryffindor is. While I may not be the bravest or boldest, I do represent that Gryffindor loyalty and compassion, the part that puts loved ones above everything else." She paused for a moment to smile. "In my head, my wanting to become a prefect wasn't really because I wanted it, but because I wanted to help take care of the pride." They were lions after all.

Lauren grinned and waved at Kurumi, noticing how popular she already seemed to be with the cohort.
"Hey, what was with the Feast this evening?" she asked the Prefect casually. "I've heard that Hogwarts is supposed to offer the creme de la creme in culinary delights."
Lauren noticed the older boy, who was wearing a badge that matched Kurumi's.
"My powers of deduction inform me that you must be Kurumi's fellow Prefect?" she asked with a teasing voice, pointing to his badge, hoping she had covered up her lack of knowledge well enough!

Kurumi's eyes lit up when she saw Lauren walk into the common room. Who would have known that the girl she had met discussing ferrets would have ended up being in the same house as her? "Lauren! Hi," she chirped, waving from her seat on the couch. Walnut began to purr, already half asleep, and rolled onto his back.

But her smile faded quickly when the conversation of the house elves came up again. "I...don't know...there is something troubling the house elves. I went to the kitchens after the feast and found that they had closed it off. No one is allowed in..."

"So, do I look good in red?" she asked with a wink, pulling on her Gryffindor tie. And then impusively Lauren reached forward, hugging Kurumi, hoping it would be okay, because honestly, she really needed to hug someone right now.

"Sorry," she grinned sheepishly and then looked around to focus on something else. "Walnut! How is Walnut? I heard about the peeing. Remind me never to cross you, huh?"

Lauren frowned when the conversation took a down turn "Oh. That's weird. Or is it? Do they normally do this?"

The new prefects were certainly making some good effort.

The seventh year Gryffindor walked into the common room, pleased with all arrangements. "Congrats on making Prefect, guys," he said, walking over to the new Prefects. "And good job!"

Ryan walked into the common room and found the Quidditch captain intending to start a conversation if he could try out a couple of years later.

Emily smiled a little "Yeah, I prefer spending time with my sister too." Not that Rachel was ever around much anymore, but she was always there when she needed her. "Oh, well I'm sure they're okay..." She tried to say reasuringly. "They might just be... cleaning the kitchen, or something?" Though it was strange. Usually student's could go there any time for a snack. Something was going on down there.

Emily listened intently, while finishing off the cookie. Man they were good, and so was her advice. "I actually love to do school work so there's no problem there..." And the reason she was bullied in her old school. "But I don't really like to talk to the professors much. I just get to nervous..." Which was totally unlike her. She could talk to anybody, just not adults.
She smiled again. "Well your gonna be great." she said standing up. "Thanks for talking to me. I think I'm gonna fit in some more reading before lessons. I love to read. I was going to try to read the whole Hogwarts library before I left, though I doubt that will happen." It was just so huge! She'd never get through it. Though she had done a pritty good job so far.

"Like a real lioness," Kurumi smiled, nodding her head in approval. Kurumi squeaked in surprised when she was hugged, but it wasn't because it was unpleasant. She was just taken aback that Lauren had decided to hug her after such a brief period of time. It was...nice.

"I-It's no problem," the forth year blushed. Walnut's ears flicked when he heard his name, but obviously it wasn't important enough for him to wake up. "Walnut is glad to be back on his throne...but he is already keeping an eye on Josh." Kurumi gestured to the boy who had thrown his robes and tie off in random directions in the common room.

Kurumi shook her head. "This is the first time I have seen the opening feast such a mess." She frowned some more. "H-Hopefully they won't be punished...t-t-they already punished themselves enough as it is." The image of the elf that had come to the Gryffindor table to poke its eye with a fork was still clearly etched in her mind.
"Good evening, Orlando," Kurumi smiled. "You ready for another term of taking pictures for the yearbook?"

And then she heard his congratulatory message and she couldn't help but blush.

"T-Thank you...I hope I do our house proud."
Kurumi then saw a younger student who was clearly looking for someone in particular. "Hello," she said, smiling gently. "Are you looking for someone?"

Kurumi shrugged her shoulders. She was still debating if she should go and speak to the Headmaster about the issue. He had seemed very preoccupied at the feast and not in the best of moods already.

"I am rubbish in speaking to professors too," Kurumi laughed. Well, this was namely applied to Professor Lafay, but there were certainly a few more this term that would be making her stuttering list. She smiled a bit at Emily's bode of confidence and then watched her rise. "It was my pleasure," she chirped. The way the lioness had said it made it seem like it had been a chore to Kurumi, which it most certainly had not. "I recommend started in the S section if you do. There are the most books there." And lots of them about various spells and sea serpants.

.

Lauren blushed furiously at Kurumi's comment. She liked that. A real lioness. And then she blushed again at Kurumi's casual acceptance of her hug. It was a hard adjustment for her, but people like the Gryffindor Prefect and Orchid made this whole "friends your own age" thing much easier.

"Thanks," she smiled warmly. "And uh, fair enough," Lauren chuckled and then followed Kurumi's gaze to the boy who had stripped off his uniform.

"Oh that's awful," Lauren winced at the mention of punishment. "My Dad was once writing this book on old wizarding families in Europe. Like old-old, we still live in castles old. Umm. Not like this castle. Like, they own the castle," she babbled with a sheepish grin "So we lived there for a few weeks with them whilst Dad did his research. And uh, they had this team of House Elves and no matter how beautifully they kept the estate, they had to publically beat themselves in the most barbaric ways. Daily. It was sick. I locked myself up in the guest room there until Dad agreed to leave. Seriousy barbaric," Lauren shivered at the memory.

Kurumi shivered. She had once grabbed a flying pan from Twinkle when she had tried to beat herself for putting one extra spoon of vanilla extract into Kurumi's cookie dough mixture. She tried to understand it as looking at someone from a different culture, something completely different from your own...but it was hard sometimes. She couldn't really place judgement on them, right? It was their way of life.

"I think I will be making a few more trips down to the kitchens every now and again...just to see..."

She signed and leaned back in her seat. She really didn't want to think too much about such depressing things.

"So...have you met many other lions?" She remembered Lauren being a little nervous about starting up the term in an entirely new place and not knowing many people.

"Uh, no. Not really," she confessed with a small amount of embarrassment, casting her eyes to the ground. "I have a few Slytherin friends though. Well, one Slytherin friend. But hey, at least I am Lauren with a couple of friends rather than being a friendless wonder!" she joked. "I'll meet people, I'm sure," Lauren added with a confident voice.

"I am sure you will be making lots of friends soon," Kurumi nodded. There were certainly plenty of people in Gryffindor to be sure. And, well, MOST of the lions were good people. "One of my best friends is in Slytherin actually. Well, friend isn't really the proper term. He is more like a big brother to me, really helped me out when..." She paused for a moment, remembering the start of her third year and how difficult it had been. The train ride coming home from Hogwarts that summer had been terrible and it was only made worse by her being left with a hope that was never returned. "...let's just say that someone really important left me." Crushed her was more like it. "But, there are loads of fantastic people here to support you."