Amidst all the excitement, Alyssa almost missed Nessie entering the common room. "Nessie!! I heard you were sick and that's why you weren't in the game. We really missed you out there. I hope that you are feeling better now. You are right?" Alyssa asked worried for her friend. She seemed to get sick often. Then Alyssa realized that Nessie had been talking to another girl who looked familiar. It took her a couple of seconds before Alyssa recognized who she was.



"Julie, is that you? Gosh you have grown so much. It think the last time I saw you was like last year. Has it it been that long? How have you been?" Alyssa asked Nessie's younger sister.

Minerva came into the quiet common room. She had been sleeping so much still not feeling 100%. She hadn't seen Justin, Ame, Harvey, or any of her friends in awhile and she was missing the socializing. She sat down and got out some parchment and began to write a letter to her mother.

Ella skipped into the common room holding one of the books her mom had given her for Christmas. It was a muggle book, one her mother had loved when she was young, and Ella had been reading non-stop. She was eager for a break and slumped down into the nearest empty chair, looking around the room with a smile. Boy is it quiet in here today. She spotted Minnie sitting nearby writing and decided to say hello. "Hi Minnie, how have you been?"

Alyssa returned to her House Common Room and placed the basket of flowers and clippers on the table. She then dug into her pocket and took out some thimbles that she had kept with her from class.

She placed one thimble on the table in front of her and concentrated on what type of vase she wanted to transfigure and what color it would be. Then she concentrated on the spell. She practiced the incantation a few times. "FLORENEO...FLORENEO...FLORENEO". Once she was certain of the incantation, she practiced the wand movements. Taking out her wand she pointed it vertically down right next to the thimble and swished her wand clockwise and with every spiral she completed she moved her wand upwards and outwards away from the thimble. She needed to complete three circles before she said the incantation.

Alyssa took a deep breath, closed her eyes and concentrated on both the image of the vase and the spell, before opening her eyes, and performing the transfiguration spell. She pointed her wand vertically downwards as near to the thimble as possible. As she swished her wand in a clockwise spiral movement she made sure that as she swished her wand was moving upwards and outwards. "One circle, Two circle, Three...FLORENEO".

A beam of light shot out and engulfed the thimble. When the light disappeared and a glass blue vase stood in it's place. Alyssa clapped her hands in glee. Now she had to make sure that it wouldn't leak water. Picking up her wand, Alyssa pointed it inside the vase and said "Aguamenti". Water streamed out of the wand and filled the vase. She said "Finite" to end the spell before leaning forward to examine the vase for any leaks. After waiting a whole full minute, Alyssa determined that the vase was leakproof. Now all she had to do was place the flowers in it and make a presentable arrangement.

She first picked up the orange daisies, the yellow roses, taking care to remove the thorns from it, some of the blue flowers, some yellow flowers that looked like crab claws and some blueish black colored flowers. Alyssa arranged them this way and that, before picking up some of the green spiky fan leaves that she had cut earlier. She placed them at the back of the arrangement, one pointing up and the second stalk pointing down. She spread out the leaves, so that it looked like a pointy fan. Then Alyssa added more long leaves to finish off the arrangement.

Once she was done, she leaned back and admired her first floral arrangment and decided that it was the best she could do. Now for the second arrangement.

Daisy walked into the common room and sat down on her usual chair, deciding not to take out a magazine, but just stare into space to clear her head, unless someone wanted to talk to her, which would be nice. Sure, she probably had piles of homework, but that could wait. She needed to think about her Quidditch strategies right now....

Alyssa was now ready to transfigure her second thimble into a vase. Before rushing into doing it, she first imagined in her mind what the shape of the second vase would be and what it's design would be. She decided to go with a simple shape this time. A nice glass square one would be sufficient. Placing a thimble on the table, Alyssa pointed her wand vertically downwards as close to the thimble as possible. Then she performed the wand movements. In a clockwise circling spiral, Alyssa moved her wand upwards and outwards away from the thimble and when she completed her third spiral circle, she said the incantation."FLORENEO."

Like before a beam of light shot out and enveloped the thimble. When the light disappeared in it's place stood a glass square vase. Now for the water leaking test. Alyssa pointed her wand inside the vase and said "Aguamenti". Water immediately streamed out from her wand and filled the vase. Once the vase was three quarters full, Alyssa ended the spell saying "Finite". Then she leaned forward, picked up the vase and examined it for leaks. When she didn't see any water leaking out, Alyssa smiled and placed it back on the table.

She then pulled out the flowers that she would need for this vase. Since this was a smaller vase, Alyssa picked out 2 yellow Calla Lilies, 2 pink Chrysanthemums, 2 blue Hydranges, a few green Lupines and two maroon looking flowers of which she didn't know the name of. She arranged them in the square vase, moving them around until she was satisfied with how they were arranged. Then she picked up 2 stalks of large leaves and curled it so that the leaves would curl inwards, before sticking them in between the stalks of flowers. Then she took more of the large leaves and curled them again before placing them underneath the base of each flower bud, so that it looked like green ribbons sticking out from the bottom of the flower buds.

Alyssa then sat back to admire her second floral arrangment. She liked the way she had arranged this one, and hoped that whoever saw it as they passed by it would like it too.

Loosening his tie slightly, Alec walked into the common room and flopped down on an armchair. That had to be one of the most tiring days ever! And to think all he had done was spend some time eating and laughing with Anya. Well... they had also watched a movie and had a mini buffet but that part was going to be kept between him and Anya.

The twelve year old took off his blazer and lay back. Ahh! Bliss! He could just fall asleep right here. People were either asleep or working on their homework. He was too tired to check whether anyone was actually looking at him or trying to call him over. Not that anyone would. He closed his eyes. Maybe no one would disturb him now...

And how wrong he was.

Just as his mind began drifting off, he heard something that startled him slightly. Alec jumped as he looked around the common room, now more awake than he had been before. His grey blue eyes then landed on... Lyss? Was she the one who was making the noise? Alec blinked as he watched her carefully. What exactly was she doing?

And... then it made sense. She seemed to be transfiguring things into... pots? Mugs? ... Was she planning on drinking out of these? But as he watched, the answer became clear. She had transfigured a something into a vase! And she was now putting colourful flowers in them as well. Maybe she just wanted to give this to Aaron for Valentine's Day. Either way, the magic was pretty good. Really good, in fact. Alec lay back again but, instead of taking a nap, he was just going to watch her do more of that transfiguration stuff. Yeah, that could entertain him for a while.

Minerva heard someone say her name and look up. "Oh Hey Ella, how are you? What are you reading?" she noticed the book in Ella's hand and she never passed up a moment of asking about books.

Now for her third arrangement, Alyssa decided that she would pick a little more complicated design for the vase. It would have a basic vase shape, but Alyssa wanted top edges of the vase to be scalloped and curved. She also wanted the glass surface itself to have a floral design on it. So she first drew out the design and decoration of the vase on a piece of parchment. Once she was satisfied with it, Alyssa looked at it and memorized the design. She concentrated on it long and hard before picking up the last thimble and placing it in front of her. At least one good thing about a spell is that if the vase didn't come out the way she wanted it, she could always revert it back and do it again.

Alyssa looked up when she saw Alec. "Hey Alec, you are looking very handsome over there. Are you going on a date?"Alyssa asked him. "Hey do you have a second? You are my lucky charm and right now I'm making a very complicated design and sure could use all the luck I can get."she told him.

She then turned back and looked one more time at the drawing in front of her, Alyssa then closed her eyes and concentrated on the delicate designs and decorations that she had drawn, the shape of the vase and the spell itself and what she wanted it to do. Once she was sure that she was ready to transfigure her most complicated vase ever, Alyssa opened her eyes, took in a deep breath and released it to help her relax herself and picked up her wand.

She pointed her wand vertically downwards as close to the thimble as possible. In a clockwise circular motion, Alyssa swished her wand upwards and outwards from the thimble. 'One....Two....Three....'..."FLORENEO" Alyssa said the incantation.

A beam of light shot out from her wand and shone all around the thimble. When the light disappeared, in it's place stood a beautiful glass vase looking exactly like what she had designed on the paper. Alyssa wanted to reach out and kiss Alec for he had been her lucky charm. But she just reached out and pinched his cheeks instead.

"Thanks Alec. You definitely are my lucky charm,"Alyssa told him smiling at him. "Now let's hope that it doesn't leak. Cross your fingers." Alyssa picked up her wand and pointed it inside the vase and said "Aguamenti" filling the vase with water. Once there was sufficient water in the vase, Alyssa ended the spell by saying,"Finite". She then closely examined the vase to make sure that the vase wasn't leaking. When she didn't see any water spurting out or dripping from the vase, Alyssa wanted to reach out and pinch Alec's cheeks again, but since it was already red, she decided to give him a reprieve.
Now for the floral arrangment. She arranged the remaining yellow and pink roses in the vase. Then she picked up the stalks of flowers that had red seeds on them and stuck them among the roses. Then she arranged the blue lilacs next before picking up the leaf stalks and arranged them in strategic positions all along the arrangement. All she had left was the maroon looking flowers. She placed them in between the other flowers and moved them around until the arrangement looked evenly spread out.

Alyssa sat back and looked at her last and final arrangement and nodded her head. She was satisfied with this arrangement too but most importantly, she was done with the second part of the homework assignment. The last one would be the easiest and that would be to place these vases somewhere in the castle.

Ella smiled. "I'm good, and you?" she asked. Then she held up the book, showing Minnie the cover. "It's called Tuck Everlasting and it was my mom's favorite when she was younger. It's pretty good so far."

Minerva smiled "I have heard of that one, but have never read it. Are you muggle born then?" Minerva was curious she couldn't remember if they had talked about this already or not.

Ella nodded with a smile. "Yes I am. Mom and Dad were pretty surprised when they found out I was a witch. I guess I'm the first one in the family that they know about." She looked at Minnie, curious if she was also a muggle born. "What about you?" she asked.

"Well no and yes to that question." Minerva smiled "My mom is a witch so I am half and half, but I was raised muggle, because my dad is muggle and mom didn't tell my brother and I she was even a witch until I started showing signs of it. So I knew nothing of magic when I came here. So I think of myself as more muggle then half. Where is home for you?"

Ella looked at Minnie, confused at first. How could someone be both a muggle born and not muggle born? She continued to listen anyway, not wanting to interrupt. As Minnie continued to talk, things became much clearer. "Oh, I gotcha." She said with a smile. "We were in the same boat then, when we arrived at Hogwarts. It was all so fascinating to me, magic. It still is."

Where was home for Ella? Well that was kind of complicated. "I grew up in Camden with my mom and dad. When my grandfather passed a year or so ago we moved to West London with my parents and my little brother, Caleb. We live there with my grandmother now." She said with a nod. "How about you?"

Daisy jumped up as she watched Alec walk into the common room, trying to remember how she knew him despite the fact he was a firstie, and she was a third-year. And there was only one way to find out. He looked sleepy too, but she didn't feel too bad disturbing him; half the common room was always filled with sleepy people. Mainly her.
'Hi,' she grinned, bounding over to Alec and looking over him, but not close enough to scare him. He seemed to be watching Alyssa's transfiguration with an expression of awe, but she was sure he wouldn't mind talking to her.
'This is random, Alec,' she beamed, proud she remembered his name and hoping he knew hers. Otherwise it could be awkward. 'How do I actually know you?' She laughed, 'I was thinking about you the other day, but I can't actually remember where and when we met...'

Alec raised his eyebrows as he watched Lyss working away at the vases. She seemed to be getting better. Really really good, in fact. Maybe she could be one of those vase makers and make vases out of thimbles. He would buy one from her.

And now Lyss seemed to have noticed that he was there. A grin spread across the young boy's face as she started complimenting him on his outfit. And as to what he had done. "Hey Lyss! Erm, thanks!" he said, "I wasn't on a date, no. I was just spending Valentine's Day with Anya and we both decided to dress up." That was all there is to it. As for her request... "Erm, sure! What do you want me to do?" Did she even want him to do something in the first place?

Alec watched as Lyss got ready to work. She seemed to be concentrating so hard on her work! No wonder she was the top points earner for Hufflepuff. He could definitely take a leaf out of the older girl's books. And then a beam of light shot out of Lyss' wand and... there was a vase! It was just standing there as if it had been there for a very long time. Lyss was officially the smartest girl he knew.

Thank you? For what? All he had done was sit here and watch her work. That's all. "You're welcome, Lyss," he said, crossing his fingers, "I think you're the one doing this on your own. You don't need luck at all." She didn't. She was smart enough to do this with or without luck. He watched as she started arranging the flowers in the vase. Now he had a small question he needed to ask her. "Erm, Lyss?" he started, "Who are you giving these to?"



Alec was too busy watching Lyss doing her Transfiguration work to realise that someone else was talking to him. Maybe if he wasn't so tired, this wouldn't have been the case. But he couldn't just blame Anya for this. That best friend of his was probably tired as well. Really. He shouldn't plan surprises that would last so long!

Hearing someone talking to him, Alec looked up and smiled at Daisy. She was pretty weird, in a good way, so if he said anything weird, she probably wouldn't mind. At least, he hoped not! "Hey Daisy!" he said, shifting over slightly in his seat, "Come sit." He didn't really mind company right now. And he hadn't seen Daisy around in a bit.

And then she asked a very Daisy-question. But this question got him thinking. How exactly had they met? Hadn't they always just known each other? Obviously not. Daisy was at Hogwarts before him. So how did they know each other? "Erm..." he started, letting out a small chuckle, "Didn't you help me through the wall to Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross?" Please let that have been her!

"Oh I see, well that's nice you moved in with your grandmother family needs to stick together." she smiled "Well I'm from the states. My dad is in the military so we moved many times and last year ended up in Germany."

Daisy grinned at Alec and flopped down next to him, glad he remembered her and she wasn't going mad thinking she'd met him. It was often difficult to keep track of all the people she met, and Alec looked quite like one of her cousins.
'Probably,' she smiled, trying to think back to September, which seemed so long ago, 'and I spoke to you after the sorting, I think, and at Quidditch practices, but not much other than that.' She said, half watching Alyssa do her transfigurartion homework, impressed by it. 'How're you getting on anyway? Found your way around without getting lost yet?' She winked, remembering how lost she got in first year.

"They do." she said, smiling at Minnie. That was exactly what her dad always told her, family first. "The states? Cool!" Ella said, she had always wanted to go to the states. "My mom lived in the states when she was a kid, she didn't move to England until she was a teenager." Ella said thoughtfully.

louise was running up the stairs she had to do her homework she was so behind, she was looking where she was going, She tripped over and landed on a werid angle of her back she could hear a breaking sound ow she moaned in pain

Alec managed to stretch his lips into a grin as Daisy sat down next to him. There. Now she wasn't going to look at him in disgust and walk away. Although, she was the one who came up to him so there was no way she would walk away suddenly.

Sorting! That's right! Daisy was sitting at the table as well. And they were both on the same Quidditch Team! How did he miss this? "Looks like we've talked quite a bit already," he said, still grinning at her. They've talked a bit... but they should talk more. Because Daisy was cool.

At Daisy's question, Alec ruffled his hair slightly. How was he getting on? Even he didn't really know. "I guess it's going good for now," he said, letting out a small chuckle, "Yeah, i have! I still think the castle's big and easy to get lost in. Do you still get lost?" He would be a bit surprised if she did.

Daisy nodded and grinned. She had talked to Alec, probably more than she though, but trust her to forget. She was talented at that kind of thing.
'Yeah, I'm looking forward to the next game,' she said, trying not to squeak with excitement at the thought of playing.

'That's good,' she said. By the sound of it, Alec was finding his way around as well as she did, if not better. 'Yeah, sometimes,' she laughed, 'I just find myself in a random corridor, asking myself what i'm doing here.' That had only happened about twice, but it was embarassing. 'But don't worry, that's just me being stupid,' she laughed.
,

Alyssa came down with Nerfball. She had him/her for more than 2 days now and he/she was starting to look sad. "Are you missing your friends, Nerfball? I know Nessie had a Pygmy Puff, called Puffles. Maybe she's down here with it and you can play with her for awhile."Alyssa told him/her. Alyssa figured that Puffles was a female, because of it's cute name. "Hey has anyone seen Nessie around?"Alyssa called out.

please delete

Sitting alone in the common room as always, Ness turned the page of the book that she held in her hand. The book had been keeping her busy, but to be honest she wasn't really enjoying it. Her pygmy puff Puffles was fast asleep napping on her lap. It was when she heard someone speak of her name that she looked up to see that Lyssie was standing there trying to sort of make an anouncement.

Wait..Alyssa was looking for her? Nessie's brows raised up in a bit of confusion. Nonetheless she shut her book, picked Puffles up and walked over to where Lyssie was standing. "Erm..hey..you called me?" she asked. And with that the small little fluff ball in Nessie's hands woke up, he jumped out of her hands and began bouncing on the floor.

Puffles was such a weird little boy!