Her hair? Was she serious? Something was not right and Selina could not put her finger on it. Kurumi usually was not type of person to randomly, no scratch that, she would randomly do weird things. Thinking about that Selina decided that maybe there was nothing outstandingly weird about her latest action. And when Kurumi complimented her hair the redhead smiled a large, toothy smile. Well, she had been using a new conditioner. It was nice that someone had noticed.

Out of impulse she touched her hair and said, "Thanks, I like it."

All of the sudden Kurumi got awkward when she brought up Transfiguration. The redhead suddenly remembered that transfiguration had been Kurumi's sore spot since her OWLs. Personally, Selina would have been thrilled with an E, but Kurumi was leaps and bounds smarter than Selina. And it bothered her- so she was going to try and be sensitive.

Scratching the back of her head at the request, she said, "Erm sure. You mean right now? Are you sure?" Mhmm cookie.

Phew. Saved by the hair comment. Selina probably knew by now that Kurumi had a thing for hair. She just liked nice hair, which was rather ironic since she still hated her own due to its color changing tendencies. Tendencies that had somewhat subsided since, well, since her mother's passing. Which really wasn't something she wanted to think about, so the sixth year simply forced herself to smile and nod as Selina agreed with the hair comment.

"If...if you don't mind," Kurumi said chewing on her lip nervously for a moment. She had seen the homework assignment posted on the Gryffindor announcement board, but it didn't make too much sense to her seeing as, well, she hadn't been in class. In fact, Kurumi didn't remember attending any lessons this term. How was she going to pass her NEWTs like this?! "I'll bake you more cookies as a thank you."

Ugh Selina really did not want to work on Transfiguration right now. Kurumi was her best friend and she had not gotten the chance to talk to her since she had gotten herself frozen. Now that she finally had her friend's attention the LAST thing she wanted to do was help her with school, especially something they could always do later. Was it a crime that she missed her best friend? It had been torture the past month living without her. No girl should be denied her best friend and after Kurumi graduated Selina would have to deal with that everyday. So she just wanted to be with her best friend while it lasted! I mean, Merlin she did not want to do hom-

...

Did she say cookies? Well she supposed that they could always talk later.

With a broad smile on her face, she took a bite of another cookie and said, "Alright, sure, I can help you. As long as I get the cookies you promise." That was a deal breaker.

Humming trying to remember the spell the redhead said, "Okay, so in transfiguration we did this spell to transfigure objects into a hat. I mean, it could be any hat that you desire. You just have to concentrate." Pausing for a moment, "And the incantation is Tectum Caput, a horrible butchering of the Latin but regardless, it is tectum caput."

Kurumi giggled softly. "Selina, since when have I ever broken a promise to you?" She hadn't, right? Kurumi honestly couldn't think of any at the moment...but her memory wasn't what it used to be. "You can even help me bake them so you can lick the spoon." And the bowl.

Kurumi aimlessly leaned against one of the statues while Selina spoke. Ug...Latin pronunciation. At least she had the expert with her so she was sure to get it right...eventually. "Tectum Caput..." Kurumi repeated in a small voice. Well, that wasn't so bad. There had been worse spells really. "Tectum Caput...so that turns...a piece of fabric into a hat?" Kurumi was just assuming based on the homework assignment on the notice board. Only problem was that Kurumi didn't have a piece of fabric. "What about the wand movement?"

She would get to lick the spoon? THIS was a good day. All in all so far she had gotten her best friend back from the frozen abbiss, she had gotten cookies from said best friend, she was promised some cookie dough spoon action, and she would walk away from their lesson with a funky hat. Good day? She thought so.

With excitement bubbling over at the latest prospect of licking the spoon, Selina dove right into educating her best friend to the best of her ability. The task at hand was daunting because Kurumi was the smarter of the two girls, Selina was the more athletic. Their differences evened one another out, but she still had a hard time coping with having to be the one to teach Kurumi. It was always the other way around. Speaking of which OWLs were coming up.

She snapped back into attention when Kurumi muttered the horrid rendition of Latin that the earlier spell designers had decided to butcher. Merlin, it didn't even make sense! But alas, it was what it was and she had to stomach it. Once she got it right though, Selina moved on to Kurumi's next question. "For the wand movement you are going to want to make a clockwise motion and then tap the fabric with which you are making the hat and then say the incarnation." Then she remembered... They needed fabric. She searched around her person for fabric or anything and then she touched her tie. Taking it off she drew her wand and said, "Diffindo!" The tie severed in half and was now two pieces of fabric. Handing Kurumi one half she said, "Here you are."

Kurumi could literally see the light in Selina's eyes grow and sparkle to almost blinding levels at the mention of her letting her best friend lick the spoon. Well, that settled things then didn't it?

Feeling rather proud of herself for exploiting Selina's love of food, Kurumi listened as Selina explained the wand movement. Muttering the spell a few more times to herself under her breath, Kurumi bit down on her lip while she mimicked Selina's. Clockwise motion and a tap...that seemed simple enough. Kurumi repeated this a few times and then added the incantation to it. "Tectum Caput..." There, that sounded and felt about right. "But...I don't have any...."


o_______________O

"S-S-SELINA! YOUR TIE!" In case, you know, Selina didn't realize that she had just severed her own tie and offered a piece of it to her. Timidly, Kurumi accepted the bit of tie from her best friend and sort of just held it for a sec before leaning against the wall and slipping down to the ground so she could sit. "I'll fix your tie after the lesson." Because...Selina was going to need her school tie back eventually.

Setting the tie on the ground, Kurumi tapped her temple for a moment while she thought of a simple hat she could try and transfigure before moving on to the main event. Chances were she would melt Selina's tie bit the first time around anyway. Settling on a simple baseball cap to start, Kurumi traced a clockwise circle over the fabric. "Tectum Caput," she said as she gave it a tap. Instantly the tie bit began to expand and morph until it turned into a cap...with the same Gryffindor pattern as the tie.

Opps. It was a start at least.

"Reverto," the sixth year commanded, turning the cap back into a tie bit. "A nautical hat....wonder how many people are going to show up with pirate hats..."

Which only brought back TERRIBLE memories. *shiver*

Selina watched her best friend practice saying the incantation as she tried to repress a shutter. Seriously, the butchering of this Latin was going to eventually make her throw up. Almost every class she went to the Professors and students alike just lifted up their leg and went all over the beautiful language that was latin. Merlin, it was like some kind of awful, awful beginners class.

But letting that pass, she nodded to her best friend to let her know that she was saying it correctly or incorrectly at that.

However, she shot her best friend a weird look when Kurumi's eyes bugged out of her head when she ripped her tie. Then when she exclaimed in Selina's face that she had indeed ripped her tie, Selina covered her ears from the random exclamation. "Yeah, I know..." she was the one who had ripped her tie anyway, "And, I have more than just one tie, Kurumi. You can keep it if you like... it's not that big of a deal." Besides she was rather fond of the idea of having a hat that had Gryffindor colors. What a brilliant hat that would be.

Then, when Kurumi tried to make her own hat, it went a little awkwardly. She appreciated the colors and the pattern of the hat, but she was not sure that their Transfiguration Professor would feel the same. So as Kurumi reverted her hat back into the ripped hat, Selina said, "Well it looks good... I mean, not bad for a first try." She then drew her own wand and said the incantation and made the wand motion, "Tectum Caput!"

Her hat transfigured into a top hat. See? It could be fun too!

Kurumi bit down on her lip. "I know that...it's just...it's your tie...for your uniform!" Maybe Kurumi was just going back to her nonmagical school in Japan where doing anything to your uniform got you a phone call home and a meeting with the principal. It would be amusing to see Selina called in by the Headmaster over a tie though. "Um...I'll cherish it?"

That may or may not have been said slightly sarcastically. The six year was learning.

Her cap back to the piece of Gryffindor tie, Kurumi set it on the floor and sort of rolled her shoulders. "I'm just glad I didn't melt it to be entirely honest," Kurumi laughed, tossing some of her long black hair over her shoulder. Definitely an accomplishment, not melting something. Repeating the wand movement once more, Kurumi managed to transfigure her piece of tie into the same sort of cap as before only this time it was pure white. Good, at least now she knew that she could work with color. Time to revert and try again. "Tectum Caput," she said after performing the circular movements and tapping the fabric. This time the tie transfigured in to a top hat - a la Selina inspired. The top hat was white, but what defined it was a rather MASSIVE red bow on top of it.

Giggling to herself, Kurumi put the hat on top of her head and turned to Selina. "How do I look?"

Selina could not repress the laugh that burst out quite unladylike. Merlin, it was just a ruddy tie. Kurumi was treating it like some kind of prized possession. Selina had at least four more ties back up in her dorm. One tie was not going to break the bank. Besides, it would make a brilliant story for a later date.

That was when Kurumi tried her hand at sarcasm. She made a small face, vut she had to admit that Kurumis sarcasm was much improved from the girl she had met her first year. In fact, that girl was much changed. If a twelve year old kurumi could meet her older self she would be very proud. Selina was.

And to no surprise to Selina, Kurumi tried once more and got it. Girl was brilliant.

The redhead applauded her friend quite dramatically and said in the most posh manner she could muster, "Brava, Miss Hollingberry. Ten points to Gryffindor, for such an exquisite hat. You look Devine."

Kurumi adjusted the hat on her head a little bit so it was slightly titled to the side. This was nice, the two of them just sitting around and performing magic and not having anything stressful or depressing to talk about. Sure, there still were things there, but Kurumi also felt that she really needed to just take a step back from things and just have moments like this to put things in perspective.

"Why thank you, Miss Skylar," Kurumi laughed as she removed it from her head and twirled it around in her hands for a moment. "I do rather like the bow..." Kurumi had always liked bows. Maybe she could somehow include that in her hat for class? Once her hat was back to being a piece of tie, Kurumi sort of just stared at it again. Okay, she was NOT going to make a pirate hat for obvious reasons and it was becoming more and more difficult to not think about making one of those because, well, she really didn't have another clear image in her head at the moment.

Ribbons...bows...think about bows...big bows...or, erm, maybe not big bows...but just bows in general. Red, white, and blue colors seemed to stick in her head, so already she was moving in the right direction, along with stripes and polka dots. Even better. Definitely not pirate related. An image began to form, only she had no idea if it really was related to the theme or not but it just felt as though it did, and once it was clear enough Kurumi repeated the wand movement and spoke the incantation. "Tectum Caput."

The piece of Gryffindor tie began to morph again and after a few moments looked down at her new hat.

Selina continued to play with her top hat as Kurumi morphed the piece of tie into an exquisite top hat to match. Well, almost match. The gigantic bow was quite a difference between the two Gryffindor's hats. But she had to admit, she was liking the bow. It was distinct, loud, fun. It was like she had encapsulated Gryffindor spirit into one hat. Good job Kurumi. "I am partial to the bow too.." Truly she was.

Then she watched as Kurumi reverted her hat back to the piece of the tie that Selina had ruined. Her face seemed to scrunch into a thinking one. And then, like magic, she seemed to decide what it was exactly she was going to make we hat. Once she decided Kurumi made a little sailor hat. It was cute for sure. The redhead placed her hands on her hips and said, "Well aren't you the cutest little thing I've ever seen."

She reverted her own top hat into the hat and then tapped it again, "Tectum Caput." When she placed it on her head it was a rainbow colored bowl hat with a pin wheel on the top. Spinning the pin wheel on her head she asked, "What do you think?"

Elliot clutched a crinkled letter in her hand. She had another in her pocket...finally, she had received a birthday card from her parents. At the end of the day, after being upset AN ENTIRE DAY they had sent it. Along with a picture of Darius...he looked different just after a month! It was weird...She stopped, the swamp in the corner of the corridor catching her eye.

She stared intently at it...it was pretty cool...she turned her back to it, however, when she unwrapped the crinkled letter and read it for the hundredth time. They had sent a crown that said "Birthday Princess" on it, and Elliot refused to wear it. Not that she disliked birthdays, or that she wasn't a princess because she definitely was...she just didn't want random people wishing her happy birthday...it was weird to her.

So she held the crown in her left hand, and the crinkled letter in her right. Her eyes traveled across the words...and she felt her face fall, again. Her father wouldn't be home all summer...again. It made the Ravenclaw very sad, indeed. She felt a few tears threatening to let loose...but she kept them at bay. Definitely not crying...

Sophie was strolling around the castle, doing nothing in particular. It was long ago since she had been to the towers, so she decided to just go see what was new up there. Nothing. Absolutely nothing! It was all still the same, but it was all fun nonetheless! It was Hogwarts anyway!

When she finally decided to make her way down back to the Hufflepuff Common Room, she walked near one of the statues she had 'helped' with bandages and whatnot before. She giggled and went to say 'hi'. The badger suddenly stopped, as if she had been frozen like all of those other students. She was still conscious, though, and was thinking properly. The reason why she stopped was just...

Elliot...

Only... the evil Ravenclaw seemed to be really upset about something. Sophie didn't know how to feel about it. She disliked Elliot A LOT, but the girl looked really down... the Hufflepuff resumed walking really slowly, towards both the statue and the girl, trying to get a better glimpse of her face.

Elliot allowed herself to sniffle, but she wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. "Crying's for pansies..." she mumbled to herself. She folded up the letter and tucked it back into her pocket of her robes. She put the crown on her head, though; she was tired of carrying it. She would just have to deal.

She heard a shuffling or robes, and footsteps, and turned sharply to see what it was.

She saw the evil puffer, and her features widened in rage. "How long have you been there?!" she asked hysterically. She quickly ripped the crown from her head. No. She was NOT going to let Sophie see her at her weakest moment. THere was no way. "hmm? spying on me, have you?!" she asked sharply, narrowing her eyes.

Stupid puffer.

The air around Elliot was somehow different than on the day when she had met Soapy. Elliot had been playful, sarcastic, and witty. But now all you could feel was a deathly cold. Elliot's eyes were stony, and there was no smirk on her face. Her features looked hard, like stone.

And it was her birthday.

Ugh. Sophie immediately stepped back when Elliot looked up at her with an angry expression. And to think she almost felt sorry for the girl... hmph.

"I just got here." What! Sophie would smack herself on the head if she was alone. She didn't need to tell that evil girl what she was doing or how long she was there or whatever!

What in the world was that thing Elliot just took from her head? That Ravenclaw was so weird... in a terrible, terrible way. "Of course I haven't!" Oh come ON, Sophie! Stop it!! Anyway... she obviously wouldn't spy on the evil girl. Why would she do that? That was pointless and useless.

Elliot looked way different from the day they first met... even different from after what happened in Transfiguration. Sophie would have chuckled at the thought of Elliot falling in the water again if she wasn't kind of worried about what was going to happen now. Why was Elliot looking at her like that? "Are you alright?" AAAARGH! SHUT UP, SOPHIE!! The second year hated herself right now. WHY did she even bother asking the meanie head such thing??

Maybe because, after all, she was slightly, just a tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny little bit worried... it must be something really bad to make Elliot sad. She seemed to be crying before Sophie got there.

Sure, riiiight. Elliot would certainly believe the evil puffer. She raised both her eyebrows. "of course not, but that's just what you want to hear, hmm? Glad that I'm all sad, are you?" she asked viciously. Elliot knew that if she were in Sophie's position, she would be glad to see Sophie in tears. Of course. it would make Elliot chuckle. But Elliot was an evil little lass.

She reached for the crown again, quickly changing her mind as she placed it on her face. BIRTHDAY PRINCESS. "It's my birthday..." she said roughly, not a trace of a smile on her face...

It was officially the worst birthday ever.

Sigh. Sophie should understand that she couldn't expect anything good coming from this girl... even though she was a bit curious to know what was bothering Elliot so much, she should have known the Ravenclaw would never tell her. And the badger would have no idea of what to do if she actually did.

"Of course not!" Sophie would NEVER feel happy over someone's sadness. Even if it was Hannah the one who was sad. Sadness was never funny or something to be giddy about. Ever.

So she WAS sad. Not angry, but sad. The Hufflepuff started thinking what could have made Elliot that upset, but before she thought of anything plausible, the eagle spoke again.

What???? It was her birthday? And she was sad because of THAT? Okay, this girl has some serious problems... "You're sad because it's your birthday?" You WEIRD! Obviously Sophie didn't say that. She couldn't understand it, though. Elliot seemed REALLY upset. It couldn't just be because it was her birthday...

Or was she THAT... different?

Elliot put her hands on her hips and glared at Sophie. Wasn't Sophie a dog's name? Yeah...it totally was. This made Elliot smirk to herself, just little...but then the puffer said something incredibly stupid. Was Elliot sad because of her birthday?

OF COURSE NOT, YOU DUDDERHEAD!

Elliot's cheek's tinged to red. Not from anything in particular but a little anger...but she wasn't steaming yet.

Yet.

"No..that's not why I'm upset..." she grumbled. She tilted her head to side, to better GLARE at evil puffer face, and the crown almost fell, but Elliot quickly caught it, pushed it back on her head, and glared even more. "Tell me, Soapy, has anyone in your family ever...forgotten your birthday?" she asked roughly, mentally kicking herself for even attempting to explain a slice of her family life to a complete arch nemesis. This was insane. Elliot would just simply LEAVE it at that...

The girl was turning slightly red now... did that mean she was ashamed of something? Ashamed of her birthday? Or maybe that crown on her head? But... she could simply take it off if she really wanted...

Merlin, this girl was weird.

Sophie frowned as Elliot glared at her and got a tiny bit confused as she pushed the crown back to the top of her head. The Hufflepuff raised both of her eyebrows when the girl asked her the next question. Wow... was Elliot so mean and rude that even her family liked ignored her? That made Sophie feel really bad for the Ravenclaw. So bad that she even didn't notice the fact Elliot had just called her Soapy, which would have made the second year really mad.

"Well, not really..." She answered looking for any signs on the girl's face. What signs, she had no idea; she just looked for them. "Did... your family forget yours?" But what about that crown?? Had Elliot made it herself? Was she all alone in her own birthday? So lonely that she had to make that kind of stuff for herself?

That was SO sad!!

"Well, aren't you lucky, then, Soapy!" she snapped, her eyes narrowing even more. Elliot looked fiery at the moment. "I guess muggles can do something right, then, hmm? I'm surprised." Fiery, yes, but her tone was cold as ice. You could feel the tension, the anger Elliot was feeling at the moment.

Furious. Sad. Upset. Confused.

All wrapped up into one tiny Ravenclaw third year. The blonde suddenly took a step forward, looking slightly crazy, "No, my family didn't! My sisters remembered..." but she didn't want to stand here, explaining herself to someone as pathetic as Sophie. Evil puffer number two. Speaking of evil puffers...

"Where's your backbone at, Soapy? Still in detention for her own stupidity?" referring to Laura. Because Evil Puffer number two definitely didn't have one...and Laura was fiesty, Elliot could admit that shamelessly. A tiny hint of a smirk even appeared on Elliot's face. "No one here to stand up for you now?" All alone.

This birthday might be fun after all...

Oh come ON! How rude was this girl?? Sophie was starting to feel sorry for her, but the Ravenclaw quickly managed to turn Sophie's feeling toward her to the total opposite. Honestly, this girl didn't deserve any friends! She was SO mean!

"For the last time, my parents aren't muggles!" Her dad was a muggleborn, but he was still a wizard. "And EVEN if they were, that would be completely fine!" Because just ridiculous people hated on muggles. Ridiculous people like Elliot and Hannah.

As the eagle took a step forward, Sophie moved backward. That was... scary. Elliot had a really strange expression on her face and it was truly scaring the badger. Her sisters remembered. So her parents forgot about it? Whoa... her parents forgot about their daughter's birthday! That was.... sad....

But Sophie wasn't sorry. Not anymore, at least. And what could this girl do to her, really? Surely she wasn't going to blow up on Sophie and get detention, right? Elliot was probably not that crazy...

Frown. "Don't you say anything about Laura!" She raised her voice slightly, pointing her finger at Elliot's face. Her friend was in detention, yes, but because she probably went all crazy again just to have som fun. The Laura way of being... Sophie always tried her best to keep Laura away from trouble, but she just couldn't be at two places at once, could she?

Sophie's face slowly turned red. Yeah well, she had needed Laura to stand up for her that time. But this time Sophie wasn't even half as angry as she was back then, so she might be fine by herself. The second year decided to ignore the comment though. She folded her arms and stared at the evil girl.

Elliot rolled her eyes. She was raised in an environment that disliked muggles. So it wasn't all Elliot's fault she was like this. "Yeah right...my mother and I have traveled by train before...and they're horrible. Making fun of us...just because we were dressed differently!" she told her coldly. Now, they probably shouldn't have worn robes, right? But Mr. Morganzo told them not to bother...why should they hide the way they dress just because they were going on a muggle train? Regardless, it was the first and last time they ever took anything muggle related.

She smirked as Soapy took a step back. Yes. Be AFRAID. Elliot didn't go anymore forward, but she folded her arms across her chest. "I don't need your pity..." she spat. "I have a good family, and parents that love me...they just have a lot on their minds..." she sounded confident enough, but in her eyes one could tell she was trying to convince even herself. And the last thing she wanted was a pity party from a stupid puffer.

Oh...dont? Well that was definitely going keep Elliot from saying anything...the horror of Soapy...*snickers*

"your friend is horrible. But you know...I really love you both...and we should totally hang out more, Soapy..." she said with an evil smirk. She didn't know what possessed her say it, but...she did. And it was completely sarcastic. Hopefully even the daft Soapy would catch the sarcasm...but who knew with Hufflepuffs.

Oh, so she was sort of traumatized? "That's why the Ministry tells us to dress accordingly when we go out in public muggle places." Sophie thought this Ravenclaw knew better... and that was weird. If they despised muggles so much, why did they use their means of transportation?? They sure had heard of the Floo Network, or Apparition. Even brooms. "You can't blame them, since I know you probably finds the way they dress weird too." No talking badly about muggles! Sophie had muggle cousins and they were all amazing! A bit annoying sometimes, but so were her magical cousins.

Elliot was such a strange person. In a very, very bad way.

Sophie didn't like the fact that this girl intimidated her so much. She tried her best not to look worried, but she really was. What would this girl do to her, really? Would she even do anything? The second year hoped not... she wasn't sure if anyone would believe her if she said she was using magic to defend herself, for example.

"I don't pity you." She almost did, but Elliot was so evil... she most certainly did not deserve Sophie's pity. They have a lot in their minds? So much that they forgot about their DAUGHTER'S birthday??? That was really sad and Sophie could rub this on her face, but she just couldn't.

Curse her niceness!

And what Elliot said next made Sophie blink several times. What? Where had she gotten that from? The Hufflepuff did notice the evil smirk and immediately figured she was being sarcastic, like her evil friends Hannah. "Honestly, can you be any more ridiculous??" WHAT??? Did Sophie really just say that?? She.... kind of felt proud of herself.

But she got even more worried about what Elliot would do now. Merlin...

That's why the ministry tells us...blah blah blah... Elliot rolled her blue eyes. "I know that, Soapy, but excuse us for not wanting to dress that way. We should be able to dress however we want..." and who cares what the ministry said, anyways. Darius didn't..her father. Though, Elliot was sure that his enormous monetary contributions to the ministry gave him a little more license to do what he wanted to...hmm.

"Good." she said simply...glaring. again. Glaring and smirking. Smirking and glaring. It was all the norm for the Morganzo.

And she saw that look. Elliot's parents weren't horrible people, they really weren't! But she didn't feel like arguing her case to Sophie..."Look, my mother just had a baby...it most likely slipped her mind. And father..." she trailed off, not thinking of an excuse for him quick enough. She didn't know why, but she felt like showing puffer face the picture of her little brother...to prove that she wasn't lying, that her parents weren't horrible, and that they were perfectly allowed to forget her birthday if they so pleased. "He's a month old..." she said as she held out the photo for the Hufflepuff to see.

Oh...now...WHAT?

Elliot took a dangerously close step forward. She didn't look angry; on the contrary, her smirk only grew wider. "I can be a lot more ridiculous...." she said quietly, dangerously. She then let out a cackle, and reached for her wand. She began to twiddle it around in her fingers. "Don't worry...I won't do anything right now..." Just when you least expect it...

Finally, the weekend.
Edric hadn't had much of a break this past week, with the term coming to an end and exams becoming the main, torturous task of every day. This was a day to finally rest, though, and perhaps to begin packing as well.

Instead, Edric was conveniently aimlessly wandering the Hogwarts corridors because he wasn't expecting for chaos to show up or anything.
To him, this was a form of rest. Sleeping was just a waste of time.

Little did the boy know what his moment of "rest" would turn into, though.