"That's nice." Ronnie said with a small smile. "I'm pretty sure I'll be my normal self tomorrow." she said reassuringly. She was pretty sure she'd be. Maybe the pain in her head would not be so bad by the morning and she wouldn't feel so sick. She really hoped so.

Alice rolled her eyes at Messer's question. "What? No.. it's just.. we couldn't find you on the train and I was the last one who had seen you.. and we had NO idea where you were.. and Alec was freaking out because he couldn't find you and he missed you.." OOPS. He probably didn't want her to tell Messer that. ".. and everyone was getting hurt and.. and.." LE SIGH. "Nevermind. It's fine. I'm just glad that you're okay." Alec would be, too. And Ella.

She ignored the 'handsome face' bit for now because she figured that telling him it didn't look so handsome from where she was standing would probably not help her case.

She looked down at her leg. Sure, it was twisted at a kind of funny angle, but.. yeah, it did look kind of bad. It put a frown on her face to think that she was seriously hurt, so she just decided it wasn't a big deal. But Messer's offer made her smile. "You would do that? Yeah, thanks. I would like it if you came." She had heard that the Healer was scarier than the Headmistress and she definitely needed company. "What?! Your candy?!" That was worse than Alice breaking her leg!

Especially since most of that candy ended up in her stomach anyway.

Bloody kill her? This boy really made breaking your leg sound painful. "Not really.. I mean, it hurt a lot before, but then Kurumi put it in the splint. It feels a lot better now." She liked how his concern was less panicky than everyone else's. It made her feel more relaxed. "Thanks," she said, smiling. "I'll take you up on that offer." He thought she was going to grow taller? "Yeah. I hope so." If she didn't, she would have to put herself in some kind of stretching machine or something.

"Oh. You're repeating a year? Well.. that's good, right? That means you'll be staying here longer." And she liked Tom. She didn't want him to go anywhere too soon. "Yeah. I hope she does. But I think we all might die of starvation before the food appears."

Considering the rate they were going at.

Alice was pleased when Selina's face brightened a bit. She didn't like seeing their Quidditch Captain this sad. "Yeah. I know Mortimer is your special bat. But is there anyway you could get a replacement bat until Mortimer is found?" They could get scouting parties of the abundant ickles to go looking for the bat. She was sure the tiny people would be glad to help. "And then once we find Mortimer, you can keep the other bat as a back up." ONCE they found Mortimer. ONCE, not IF. "Even though Mortimer is the awesomest bat to ever be found and no bat will ever be as cool. But it's good to have a back-up, yeah?"

She felt uneasy that Mortimer was gone. She really did feel like Gryffindor was vulnerable now. She hoped that Selina found him quickly.

Alice smiled when Kurumi blushed. She knew how awkward her Momma Bear could become when she was showered with compliments. She got embarrassed very easily. Normally, it bothered the lioness because she didn't like Kurumi to feel flustered or embarrassed or unhappy. But today, it was a pleased blush, so it was okay. "It IS true, though."

"Yeah.. I wonder how different Headmistress Redhead will be from good ol' Tatertot.." she wondered aloud. She wondered what Tatertot was doing.. if he'd forgotten about all of them here at Hogwarts.. And, before she could stop herself, the question that she'd been wanting to ask Kurumi since the beginning of the feast slipped out. "Kurumi-Cookie.. when you leave Hogwarts.. areyougoingtoforgetaboutallofus? ... Are.. are you going to forget about ME?"

Awkward question. But it was valid.

Emilia was feeling much better about the transfer, but she still wasn't sure about the school. There were many strange things to get used to. Sure, her school in America had ghosts, elves, and eccentric students and teachers... here was just, well, not home. Suddenly, she looked up. "Whoa!" she exclaimed, looking up at the ceiling. That was something they certainly hadn't had at her other school.

Was it just him or were there far more house-elves around during the opening feast than usual? Nope, Gideon didn't think that it was just him and quite a few of the new and even returning students were either scared or not sure what to make of the creatures. And there were bound to be a few muggleborn amongst those numbers who had never seen them or even knew they existed. And then they had the large pink mysterious plant and talk of getting it up to the staff table for the headmistress.

A welcoming present?

SPOILER!!: Selina

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanficfanatict

A familiar top of curly hair started to make its way toward Selina while she was busy handing out her flyers when it, somewhat deflated, sat down. The redhead was a little curious as to why her boyfriend was acting so strangely, but that was when she recalled that he had been acting oddly all day. They had not really gotten the chance to talk on the platform when she had been handing out flyers and scolding the first years to get down; they hadn't really talked on the train when she had been handing out the flyers and getting cookies; and now they weren't really talking when she was handing out the flyers and catching up with people. What did all of those moments have in common?

Oh.

Now she felt a little badly about her behavior. She had been so preoccupied with Mortimer that she had not even said hello to him. In all fairness, she hadn't really said hello to anyone, she had more just sort of jumped into conversation, but he was different. He was her boyfriend and one that she had not really seen all that much during the summer. Of course he had popped in a couple of times and they had gone to that one match where they had bumped into Elektra and Ivan, but it wasn't like they saw each other all the time. And she should have realized that he would have liked to have spoken to her.

Walking up behind him, she wrapped her arms around his middle as he was sitting in his seat. She kissed his cheek and whispered in his ear, "Hello sir," with a twinge of jest she asked cutely, "have you seen my beater bat?"

Gideon left them to their task, knowing they usually protested assistance, instead pouring some pumpkin juice into his glass. He took a sip and might have started at the sudden feeling of arms around his waist had the familiar voice of a certain redhead not accompanied it. "Hello..." Gideon echoed, putting down his goblet as he debated his answer to her question. "Nae...but I wish I did. So I can make my girlfriend as relieved to see Mortimer in one piece as I was relieved to see her in one piece. You know...after she disappeared and we were separated in train accident."

Okay so it might have been nice for her to be even a little MORE worried for him but he'd take equality for now.

What? What did she mean by no? "Now you just hurt my feeling, Alice." he put his right hand on his left chest. Alec was freaking out? That's an interesting news. "He did, didn't he?" He didn't know that his roommate missed him that much. Messer know that his roommate couldn't anything without him but he didn't know that he'd be that miserable without him around. "What about you? Did you miss me as well?" Because he missed her.

"Did it still hurt?" he looked down to her broken leg. It didn't look good at all. "Of course I would." How come Alice thinks he wouldn't come with her to the hospital wing? "I would carry you there myself but I don't want to make your injury worse." he told the Gryffindor.

Before he could said something about his candies, Messer saw house elves walking near the Gryffindor table. Dear Merlin. How could this bloody house elves where everywhere? Shouldn't they be at the kitchen? And then Kurumi started talking to them. Yikes. He need to leave from here ASAP. "We- You- I-...Umm. I---I think Alec umm..calling me. Yes, I think Alec is calling me." he told Alice while his eyes went from Alice to house elves. "I think I should go. Don't want him to stay by himself." Yes, that's a good reason. "I--I..Umm..Pick you here after the feast than we could go he hospital wing to meet the healer." Sounds good, yes? He need to leave before they pass him.

Annie, despite still smiling blushed, ducking her head for a moment as it spread across her face, no doubt in her mind that her reaction had been the cause of her laughter but she smiled anyway. “Awww… that would’ve been so adorable” she said, thinking about a baby dragon now… if only she were a year older, it would’ve been such a memorable thing to see! All the mental images she had of dragons were currently cute little scaly things that were crying… probably not to accurate but it would do!

Seeing Kurumi start talking to a little creature Angel cocked her head to the side questioningly as she quietly whispered to the older girl “Are those house elves?” she suddenly asked… the older girl had mentioned that they were welcoming and she seemed quite… familiar with them… in fact right now Annie just wanted to pick one up and hug it!

Of course she did have some sense of self-control…

Everything this girl said made Alexa more drawn into the class and the school in general--but mostly the class because it seemed to be where all the cool stuff happened. Wet suits, protests--it was all so amazing sounding!! "Wooow...do you think we'll do anything cool this year?" She had to ask because where these was no fun promised she needed to start making plans to change that. "And neat, do you still have that mirror?" Though it had only been roughly about a year so she must have still had it...right?

It was just as she expected, Kurumi did not like talking about her mother and in fact she found it hard to do so. This was expected and Lex couldn't have not understood. She nodded slowly, taking in all the girl had said. "I get it...I don't like when people bring up my mother at all..." She trailed off a bit wonder if she should have told her the next thing that was at the tip of her tongue. She might as well as since Kurumi was being so honest. "I broke a boy's jawbone ones for telling me that I didn't have a mother. He shouldn't have said that." He really shouldn't have and he never did again...not that he ever uttered another word to her anyway.

"Wow that's so cool! You have to teach me both, pleeeease?" The 11 year old begged. "We can go down to the kitchen together and make your yummy cookies then eat them together!" And no this invitation was not to be extended to anyone else because she wanted to be alone in the kitchen with her...more cookies that way!!!

Lex looked over at the girl, more than a little offended and she gave a little gasp. "It was not just about a sticker! It was the principle of the thing! She knew that I fancied stars to hearts and as a teacher she should have seen to it that I was properly rewarded for my efforts but noooo, just because I might have broken one of the feet of her chair and made her fall infront of the who class--who laughed by the way--she felt she had to teach me a lesson." Little did she know that it would take more than a heart sticker to teach Alexa Christina Cambridge a lesson. Lex started laughing. Just the fact that she said he wanted to make a sandwich sounded funny. Didn't Headmasters usually have someone to do that for them? "Wait so then...you guys got what you wanted in the end?" Otherwise being attached to something would have been a waste.

She nodded slowly to what Kurumi said then followed her gaze to the teacher's table. "So why don't they like us?" It wasn't very nice to not like lions afterall.

Lex sunk further down into her seat when she saw that scary bat-girl was making her way over to her.

EEEEeeepppp.

The smirk she had on didn't look very promising at all and for a split second she thought she would have seen her life flash before her eyes...but it didn't... She nodded quickly at the name correction that was given but well...let's face it...that name was pretty much stuck with her.

Something caught her attention. Wait you're still looking for that?!" She suddenly blurted in shock. Hadn't she given up by now, jeez.

Sir Nicholas was in an excitable mood, or at least, as excitable as one could get whilst still maintaining their dignity. Wafting up through the floor beneath the table, Nicholas rose to hover amongst the students, keeping his eye out for the first years.
"Good day!" he cried. "Welcome to Gryffindor!"

Wind all but knocked out of her by Selina's hug, Kurumi could only awkwardly pat her best friend's shoulder for the time being. Once she could, you know, breathe again, Kurumi was able to return the hug properly. Kurumi was a little surprised by the...desperation? of the hug. They HAD just been on the train together and spend time dealing with chaos on the platform back in London. Then again, there had been a lot that had gone on between the train and Hogwarts and they had been separated during that time so anything could have happened.

Still, Kurumi hadn't ever really been worried about Selina. Not because she didn't care, but because she knew that it was going to take a lot more than a train suddenly stopped and some falling luggage to really hurt her best friend. Selina was physically invincible as far as Kurumi was concerned - but made up for that emotionally, which Kurumi always admired. It was a brilliant balance. Almost as brilliant as Selina was minus things concerning Potions.

But before Kurumi could say anything she felt like the wind had been knocked out of her...by Selina's words. Kurumi really had forgotten about, well, all that. About how she felt as though she had let herself down but more importantly she had let Gryffindor down. There hadn't been a Head Girl from Gryffindor for something like 8 years now. In Kurumi's time at Hogwarts there had been more than enough Slytherin ones, a Hufflepuff one, and now....two Ravenclaw ones. It was a thought that both infuriated her and crushed her.

Where had she gone wrong? Had she not done enough? Was it because of her E in Transfiguration?

"I...I don't have that badge....Selina....I wasn't good enough for it..."

Because what other reason was there? She had been a disappointment to someone.
Kurumi didn't say anything in response to what Alexa said about her mother and the story about her hurting the boy. Everyone dealt with their pain in a different way and Kurumi wasn't one to judge. Her mother would have been appalled and ashamed of her if Kurumi had reacted in that way. Although, she had shouted at Ellie two terms ago in the Great Hall when she had come down on Kurumi like a vulture for talking with Treyen. The Hufflepuff Head Boy, and her best friend besides Selina, had always been the one who was best capable of comforting her...and that is what he had been doing. It was the first time Kurumi had ever really raised her voice at anyone. Not only raised her voice...but insulted someone. Kurumi probably would have slapped her if Treyen hadn't been there, but only because doing so would have upset him.

"Oh, um, sure," Kurumi nodded. "I'm there almost every day, so just catch me in the common room sometime and I can take you. I might even be having some baking lessons with the house elves this term as well...assuming they agree to it." She needed to ask them properly first.

Kurumi frowned a little, wondering if Alexa was perhaps too young to really understand the meaning behind what she was about to say. She also seemed a bit too proud to be able to really reflect and see that she too could be at fault for her actions - something that would come with time, she hoped. "It isn't...always about getting your way," Kurumi simply shrugged in response. Although, Kurumi had never actually gotten her way growing up. Always the neglected one in school and in town. Only her father and brothers ever showed any sort of appreciation for her existence. "The Headmaster heard our request and an agreement was made, a compromise I suppose you could say. But it was better than most of us had hoped for."

Kurumi's eyes especially feel on Professor Scabior, lingering there for a moment before returning to Alexa. "Everyone has their own biases," she simply laughed in response. Just none of them really seemed to favor Gryffindor in their bias.
"Oh I don't doubt that you aren't brave, Pips," Kurumi giggled before glancing at the plant again. It just looked so....big. "Just...please don't iron your ears....you know how sad it makes me to see you all with burns like that."

Kurumi would remind Pips that she preferred it when they called her Kurumi, or Miss Kurumi if they had to add some sort of title to it, but she let it go for now. Probably would only cause him more distress.

Turning her attention now to the younger lioness, Kurumi nodded her head. "They are! This one is Pips and the smallest one over there is Toddles and that one is Beezley," she explained as she gestured towards each of them. And that pink plant...well...Kurumi had no idea what that was besides somewhat frightening looking.

Probably something that Professor Bentley would like to have in her greenhouses though. Not that that thought was too encouraging though.

Speaking of Toddles.

"I see you down there," Kurumi laughed, waving at the young elf. He had grown a bit, hadn't he? Hopefully a little more mature as well...although the Gryffindor somewhat doubted that. But...aaaaaw LOOK AT THE WAY HE WAS WAVING HIS FOOT. Kurumi really...REALLY wanted to just scoop him up and hug him...but that would be a bad idea.

Him holding the plant and all.
Again with the ironing of the ears comment... but Kurumi refrained from saying anything on the matter and instead smiled and nodded.

"Alright, be careful!" Kurumi called after the elves as they made there way towards the staff table with...the plant. She would be seeing them soon enough in the kitchens as long as that plant didn't eat one of them o________O

As soon as the elves had gone the Gryffindor table had another guest. "Good evening, Sir Nicholas," Kurumi greeted with a polite bow of the head. Kurumi had a fear of ghosts, but Sir Nicholas seemed to fall in a category all his own. The sort that was not frightening.

When she saw the ghost, Angel didn't scream the way she thought she would, instead giggling at the sight of him as she waved at him, noticing other Gryffindor students paying attention to him as well.

"Hello" she said, slightly nodding her head in acknowledgment unsure what else to do.

Grinning at the fact that she got it right she looked towards where Kurumi pointed at the house elves... Pips, Toddles and Beezley... they were strange names but she guessed they might be somewhat usual for the house elves in general so decided not to comment on the fact.

"They're so cute!" they were... she really wanted to grab one and hug it but she had a feeling they wouldn't like that too much... "So are you a part of any of any others things here? I mean I heard about Quidditch and Gobstones... I actually want to try for the Quidditch team when I can... maybe also Gobstones but I'm not sure... and anything else I can really!"

"Oh wow a ghost!" Lex said, stating the obvious but meh, what else did you do when you saw a ghost. "Hello ghost, and who might you be?" She asked with curious eyes. No, Lex didn't know who it was because when someone had patiently taken the time out to explain everything about the four houses to her, she had patiently taken the time out to ignore them. Now she wished she hadn't.

Lex was actually quite taken aback when Kurumi didn't start lecturing her about what she had done to that boy. When anyone else heard, especially her aunts they just scowled at her and gave her some impossibly long lecture about it being an act of barbarianism and something about it not being 'lady-like behaviour'. What made them think that Lex wanted to be a lady? Being a lady was no fun and she had to do a lot of grinning and bearing instead of punching and kicking. No thank you, that life was not for her. The fact that Kurumi hadn't lectured her told her one thing; this girl approved. This was good because it got her even more into Lex's good books. Not many older kids were in this book thanks to that train ride and platform mishap but it seemed people were jumping between her good and bad books quite often in this one day.

She was about to smile at the fact that this girl was in the kitchen every day. It should have been a good thing except there was one problem. "What time are you usually in the kitchen?" See this could pose a potential problem when she wanted to sneak down their with friends late at night. The last thing she needed was a prefect telling them that they should have been sleeping. Lex would give no positive response until the question was answered.


When Lex saw her frown she could tell that the girl was about to say something unpleasant. She must have agreed with her again, this time that the lady should have known better! Yes that must have bee--WHAAAA?!?!? Lex's eyes grew wide as she stared across at that girl. It wasn't always about getting her way?!?!? "Yes it is!" Sigh. She was hoping not to show this side of her; new leaf she had told herself back at the train station but now she couldn't help herself. This girl was delusional! Her brows furrowed as she continued. "It's always about me getting my way! My Daddy let's me get whatever I want because I'm his little princess and he loves me! I get what I want, when I want because I want!". Yup. Though she would never likely admit it, the child was spoilt rotten after her mother's untimely death. She calmed down a bit when she heard the outcome. "Oh, so that's good then!...Uh...what were you guys protesting...?"

She frowned slightly when Kurumi told her it had something to do with biases. "Are they allowed to be biased?" She didn't like the sound of Professor's being biased, not when the odds didn't fall in favour as she seemed to pick up from the slight hesitation in Kurumi's voice. They were all just jealous was what it was.

"Ahhh, Kurumi. Had a good summer?" beamed Nicholas. The Prefect had been a pillar of stability for the Lions, it would be such a shame to see her go at the end of the school year.

Well look at this young Lion. She must be on of the new recruits. "Now either you're familiar with the dead, or you're a true Gryffindor... not getting a fright and all." Though the ambiance at the table was hardly anything to be frightful of.

Nervous. Really nervous, just like when she felt when she first came to Hogwarts, which was years ago. To add to that, she was really tired, what with happened earlier, but never the less, the seventh year was just as glad to have arrived in the school.

Plus, the sight of the Great Hall lessened her weariness. Not having seen this place or being in this place for sometime was something she greatly missed as she was away for the past three years.

But another thought lingered in her mind: since she had been away for some time, would her friends (other than Cass) be able to remember or recognize her even. Speaking of, where are they now?

Walking over to a vacant spot, Heather was just about to take a seat when, she heard a familiar ghostly voice. Ah, haven't heard that in awhile. She turned around and smiled as best as she could. "Good Evening sir Nicholas." though her mind was probing her if the house ghost remembers her or not. "How are you?"

Sarah sat down at the Gryffindor table which was teeming with life. All the students were happy to be back and the new ones were excited. She caught sight of the known faces and waved to them. Many first years this time. And Gryffindor, it seems had opened its arms wide for the firsties. "Hello people" she said aloud. "How was the vacation?" she asked, to no one in particular.

Sarah was used to this. Duh, been here for four years. She smiled, thinking of how she'd been terrified at the idea of 'house ghosts' during her first year. "Good day, Mr.Nicholas" she waved to the friendly ghost. "Hows it going?" she asked, well what can we ask a ghost? Hows life?

Kurumi was practically beaming when she nodded in agreement with the cute comment. House elves were not just cute, not to Kurumi at least, but that was one word that she would use to describe them."I...actually used to play Quidditch...was Seeker for a few terms and I used to play Gobstones as well." She had been the top player for a bit, but she had given up both to pursue her OWL studies. Not that giving up Quidditch had really been THAT hard a decision. "I don't anymore though. I might try Gobstones again depending on how yearbook things go. I'm the student editor for that and there is a lot of work to be done." Lots to be done now that she thought about it. She still had a few people she needed to go and recruit...she had already snagged Alice over the summer...and there were three more on her mind she needed to speak with. "I recommend you try them both though, see which one you like. Or maybe you will like them both."
"Oh...um...I don't really have a set time," Kurumi said with a small shrug. She did have a few areas in her daily schedule - light blue in her color coding - that was allotted to free time and that was usually spent baking. Although...Lewis also got a lot of that free time, a thought that momentarily caused the seventh year to blush slightly but not long enough for anyone to notice. "Any time after lessons and I have done my assignments."

And this was where Kurumi stopped talking or even responding to what this first year had to say. It brought up...to much pain from her past. The rocks being thrown at her. The shoes thrown out the school window or hidden. The isolation. All of it. If she wanted to think that life was all about getting her way, so be it. Kurumi knew differently. She came from a life, an existence, where what you wanted was never within reach. Not even a mother's approval...not until the very end. Reasoning with her was too exhausting and Kurumi hated confrontation - that was where Selina came in. So silence it was and the girl could take that however she wanted. Kurumi was...mildly broken inside.

"Hmmm? Oh, the Astronomy Tower had been closed and we wanted it reopened." Which was probably going to earn some sort of comment from Alexa, but Kurumi would simply dismiss it. She was too emotionally tired right now.

As for the biased thing, Kurumi shrugged. "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Historically speaking as well we know professors were biased towards certain houses." It was simply human nature.
"I did, thank you for asking," Kurumi smiled back at the ghost. She was almost curious enough to ask him if he had applied for the Headless Hunt again, but she knew how sensitive the subject was for him. "How about you, Sir Nicholas?"
.................!!!

That voice...Kurumi recognized that voice. Sure, it was more mature sounding and not nearly AS mumbly as Kurumi remembered it...but she knew that voice. Which is why her head snapped around quite suddenly and her eyes widened when she saw...

"HEATHER!"

Kurumi was now up and out of her seat and rushing towards the Gryffindor who used to never be without her charmed stuffed panda. She didn't see Mr. Panda now, but that didn't really matter cause Heather was back! "I've missed you! Where have you been!?"

Selina had sad something wrong. Kurumi had gone from smiles and a twinkle of a laugh in her eye to completely the opposite. Whatever Selina had said was very, very wrong. If she could swallow whatever it was that she had just said and start over again, she would. But the redhead did not understand what she had exactly said wrong. Kurumi was Head Girl, wasn't she? I mean, her friend had been prefect for Merlin knows how many terms, she had been the top house point earner since her first year, she was the epitome of a student leader. All of that compiled sort of made for Head Girl, didn't it? So why was she wearing her prefect badge. And why did her friend look so bloody upset?

Maybe Selina was just over thinking this. The face could have been for any number of reasons. Perhaps she had smelt something funny. Or she was just looking at a really ugly person. That face could be for any number of reasons. But as much as Selina told herself that, the more sick to her stomach she became. She had a hunch that she was wrong...

Wasn't good enough for it.

Selina very nearly cried for her friend right then and there when she uttered that. Kurumi was a great many things, but she was not a failure. And the fact that Kurumi had worded it that way lead Selina to believe that Kurumi thought she was one. Her eyes softened a great deal at her friend's upset. The sixth year had always been the one who could always say something to cheer her friend up, except for a small period of time last year, but what could she say to this? Selina knew, hell EVERYONE knew, how brilliant Kurumi was. But she could tell her friend that a hundred times and getting her to BELIEVE it would be the problem. Kurumi couldn't see just how great she was... which was sad.

However, Selina was also having a slightly hard time processing this- Kurumi wasn't Head Girl. That was about the stupidest thing she had ever heard. Not that whoever had gotten it wasn't qualified, but Kurumi had worked for that badge forever. And it was just sad. Really, really sad.

Putting a hand on her shoulder, Selina turned Kurumi to look at her dead in the eye, "Hey, you look at me, okay? You are good enough for anything you put your mind to Kurumi Hollingberry. Don't you think for a minute that you've failed. Okay, so you didn't get the badge, but you are brilliant and a great person. You haven't failed anyone. They've failed you." And she meant that.

A familiar floating man made his way over to the Gryffindor table, which meritted a smile from the sixth year. Nearly Headless Nick was the best of ghosts, much better than all of the other houses and she had no issues in verbalizing that. So when he was making his rounds at the Gryffindor table, she waved to him, "Evening Sir Nicholas. Enjoy your summer?"



The fear in this young girl's eyes made Selina feel sort of proud of herself. At least if the girl learned anything on that platform, where she stupidly scaled a train, it was that Selina did not tolerate dangerous activity. Which would come in handy later on in the term if Selina needed to enforce any of the school rules OR if the girl tried out and made the team. Oh Merlin, if she made the team heaven help her. Because the pitch was Selina's juristiction and there were NO if ands or buts when they were there. It was Selina's rules or the bench.

But the girl, who seemed to have the attention span of a nat, completely changed the subject and went back to the bat. And of course, because she STILL hadn't learned, she was being slightly rude about the way she breached the topic with the older girl. This was her bloody bat for Merlin's sake. Have some humanity.

"Yes," she snapped, "Of course I am still looking for him. He's my bat!" Duh.



So Selina knew that bringing up Mortimer right out of the box would probably not be the wisest of decisions, but at least they were talking now. When they were in private later she would apologize about ignoring him during this whole ordeal. The redhead was not ignoring him with any malice, she was just easily distracted when it came to her bat. It didn't mean that she cared for him any less. At that thought she impulsively played with her bracelet that she had never taken off, keeping her arms still wrapped around his waist. She didn't want to let him go because she liked being close to him she wanted to show him that she was sorry. So to get a little more comfortable, she rested her chin on his shoulder so she could look at his face better.

His words made her slightly more guilty, but she supposed that she had earned that in a way. When the train had gone astray a lot of people had gotten hurt and there was no way of him knowing that she was okay. Of course he was worried, but she was preoccupied with Mortimer. Silly, silly Selina.

She squeezed him a little and replied, "Right, about that. I'm sure that your girlfriend is very sorry about her disappearing act. And she would like to know if you could forgive her? Because she is sorry that she was being a little oblivious today." Just for good merit, she sent him a cute face too.



Get a replacement? WAS SHE MAD? All of the smiles and everything that were once sent in Alice's direction turned sour very quickly. Mortimer was not just some floosey bat that could be easily replaced at the drop of a hat. He was special. There was nothing that could be done in the terms of a replacement. To even suggest such a horrific thing made Selina's blood curtle.

"A replacement?" She said very slowly and punctuated, "There are no replacements for a bat as spectacular as Mortimer! He isn't some cheep bat! No! No! He's grade A and I have some self respect for his memory, THANK YOU VERY MUCH." Realizing how crazed she must have sounded she cleared her throat and reigned her emotions back in, "I'm sorry about that... just a little on edge is all."

Abby stalked over to the Gryffindor table, wanting to meet Chace. She hadn't seen him since the patform and she really wanted to know where he'd been to. And, her head was still throbbing badly. She knew that she needed to go to the Healer soon and get her head checked but right now, Chace was more important.

Wait, was that Lex? Abby frowned for a moment, not sure if she wanted to greet the girl or not. She still didn't like the first year.. but it didn't hurt to be polite sometimes. "Hey." Abby gave a faint smile before she started to look for her boyfriend.

Lex thought about that answer for a while. It seemed reasonable enough...breaks were usually during the day and besides, this girl was probably one of those that liked getting a good nights sleep so there wouldn't or well shouldn't have been any chance of her running into her while she was out on one of her midnight runs. Yes. For now she was satisfied so she beamed over at her. "Okay, maybe I'll run into you then." and not in the the middle of the night!

Kurumi's lack of a response didn't go on noticed by the 11 year old. She sighed. Once again she had said something wrong and it made the girl upset. Lex was beginning to think that she wasn't very good at this whole conversation thing! At this point she thought that the conversation wouldn't have been salvageable but then Kurumi spoke about the Astronomy tower.

"Well why was it closed." She could have sworn that there were Astronomy classes so so then why close the tower? She would have asked more but then she didn't like the look on Kurumi's face. She tilted her head slightly, "Are you alright?"

And as for the biases she shrugged. One way or another she would change their minds then they would all be biased towards the lions. Yup. So she wouldn't worry too much.

She jumped slightly when the girl suddenly snapped at her. Jeeesh, she knew the girl was missing her bat but that didn't mean she had to be so touchy about the subject; that never got you anywhere.

"We-Well I just figured you would have given up and decided to buy a new on is all." She shrugged. "Seems like the reasonable thing to do instead of wasting your time looking for a bat that's long gone, especially with the new season coming up."

Shut up, shut up, shut up!

Clearly she was tired of living, why else would she have said so much?

And from the corner of her eyes she saw another older kid that she knew! She grinned when the girl said hi to her! "Abby!!" She almost shouted but decided not to...no need to draw any attention to herself.

Lex scooted a little closer to the girl. "Heeeey, so you're a puff I see, what are you doing at this table? Is this where your boyfriend is?" It would make some sense because she had seen another couple that were from different houses. "And how's your head doing?" Yup she was full of questions now that she saw the girl again.

Chace felt like he had hardly even gotten to ask Abby if she was okay before they were being shuttled off to head to Hogwarts. He was hoping that their trip her was not going to be indicative of how the rest of the year was going to go. Stress and Chace didn't always get along very well, especially when you threw in of underclassmen and confusion. And it was safe to say that an unhappy Chace led to unhappy people around him.

He was about to take his seat on the bench, the only spot that seemed big enough for him to have a little personal space, when he spotted Abby looking around the table. "Abby," Chace called out, loud enough so that she could hear him. And who was that girl that was talking to? Was Abby making friends with first years already?

Chace closed the distance between them, pulling her into a hug once he got to her. "Sorry about the platform and the train. I feel like I hardly got to ask you if you were okay before we got separated again." Chace used his fingers and tucked a strand of her stray hair behind her one ear. "Are you all right?" Chace didn't even really acknowledge the very obviously a first year firstie. His concern was his girlfriend not some little kid.

Sarah nodded as the girl spoke - she understood exactly where the older girl was coming from. "How did you mike the icing though? Y'know the crest"

Sarah saw the elves. She did not know their names, yet thankfully they had the habit of speaking of themselves in third person. Maybe she should start doing that...
"Hello Pips, Toddles, Beezly! Where are you bringing that plant to?" Sarah asked with a smile - they were sooo cute!

Sarah thought about it for a moment: "I HOPE so! I do have that mirror - it is too precious to lose" although Sarah had misplaced it a couple of times, yet she found it soon after.


Sarah saw a ghost nearby - it was nearly headless nick! "Hello' she said. "has the staff table ever been so crowded?" she asked. He had been around for long- had he not?

Abby frowned at at the girl. She should have just ignored Lex. She knew that she didn't like that girl for a reason. "Yes, I'm a puff who is looking for her boyfriend and answering questions that are clearly none of your business." GLARE. "And, no. My head is.. not good." Honestly, she didn't even know why she was even talking to Lex. She had other things to worry about. Like, her health. Hm. Maybe should just leave. She didn't want to spend the rest of her morning talking to the rude firstie. Besides, she couldn't even spot Chace anywhere.

Abby was about to head back towards her really crowded table when she heard a familiar voice call out her name. She looked relieved as she turned to find Chace walk towards her. Right. Someone she could talk to, finally. She smiled and hugged him back, feeling like she hadn't seen him in years.

"Hey, you." Was it weird that he always made her feel better? "I'm.. I don't know. I thought it was just a mild injury but my headache seems to be getting worse." She sighed and let her fingers run through her hair. "Do you think I should go to the healer?"

Oh, right. She noticed Lex looking at them.. Introductions. Siiigh. "Um. Chace, this is Lex and Lex.." Abby smiled up at Chace and linked her fingers through his. "This is Chace, my boyfriend." Now, she just wanted to spend some alone time with her boyfriend. Turning towards Lex, she raised an eyebow. "Unless you have anything else to say and I'd rather you didn't, I'm going to leave. See you around."

"Yeah...I think she's at the staff table. Maybe you should go get her..."

Lex looked up at the boy. He didn't have very many manners in the first place and he didn't seem very approachable. She shrugged a bit. People always picked the strangest people to 'fall in love' with but then the girl was pretty strange too so she wouldn't question it very much. For a while she just watched him being totally engrossed in her. Stare.

STARE.

Stare some more. This was just all deja vu.

Her smile got wider when she saw the girl glare at her. "There's the smile I've grown to associate with acceptance." She said before giving a little giggle. It made sense. he had sorta done that the vivi too and now they were friends and all so she figured the glare couldn't have been all that bad. Nope. In fact she took it quite for a good thing.

"Uhhh, I suppose you might think it's none of my business but I feel I should check in on you." BEAM. "You should get that head checked out." She said, subtly hiding her wrist that had started changing colour; that was different...it didn't count...

[OOC: Has Chase too here]

Yuck. There they went again being all lovey dovey. Between them and these other people she had seen enough couple stuff to make her sick...and actually she was feeling a bit nauseous--STARE.

"Can't you guys wait until after the feast to make me sick." She said, tilting her head slightly and looking up at the two. "I think you've both done enough of that back at the train station." This time she gave an extra stare to the Chace guy because he didn't get his while they were on the train.

And now that she got that off her chest, cue wide smile. "But hello Chace. You really should have found her in the train earlier," Yup, hopefully this answered Abby's question of whether or not she had anymore to say. She wouldn't be done for a while, "you should have seen how grumpy she was, scowling at everyone like we were the bad guys or something!"

Lex nearly fell off her seat when she heard her say that she didn't have the mirror but of course, she relax and her feet were firmly on the ground again after she mentioned that it was too precious to lose. That had to mean that she still had it right? "So is there anything special about the mirror since you got it from a mermaid, like does it show the future--oo, oo, does it squirt water at people?" She'd love a mirror that did that!

Dylan smiled as she said that she was good, well that was good at least she wasn't bad. Oh wow! she had a rough day? "A rough day? you mean with the whole train thing?" being stopped and portkeyed to the station where injury was a must "Well I am glad you are better.. cause being at Hogwarts should be a fun time!" he said to her cause thats what he thought anyways.



Dylan went wide eyed.. wait! seventh? soo this cookie lady would only be baking for this one year and no more after that? well in school. He was sure that after she leaves she would be continuing her baking. "Wow you are..." old? ancient? "Older than I thought you were." he had figured her for a fifth or sixth year. "Thats good, dont want to be sat here for too long. That would just get too boring I guess." he said to her as he looked over at the staff table

"What has Hogwarts been like? I mean has it been a lot of fun?" cause that was good.. fun was always good. Unless she wasn't the fun type, but maybe she was and had a hard time showing it. Well maybe hanging around with him he would bring out her fun side and show people that even if you were old you could still be a fun person. He didnt want to grow up for that reason although people told him to grow up, what did that mean anyways? he was growing up right? yeah he was 11 soon to be 12.



Dylan kind of froze as she looked at him, or at least thats what he thought. Did she see him? did she see him? He saw her wave and he looked around him to see if there was anyone else.. but nope there was no-one else.. soooo she was waving at him then.. sooo that meant that she had seen him and seen him looking at her. He waved back reluctantly.. and gave a small smile.

Yes he saw you and he was nice enough to wave after that flyer thing, well he would have to talk to her sometime since they were in the same house. Maybe they could hang out some time and he could show that he could be... good.. and not the train climber that she saw. But he did like to be the train climber often soo.. she might have to deal with it



"WOAH!! A GHOST!!" he blurted out as he saw the ghost. "Awesome!" sure he had heard that there were ghosts at Hogwarts but he didn't think that he was see one or even meet one, and yet here was a ghost in front of him talking to the other students of Gryffindor. Well he might as well say Hi too "Hi! " ghost whatever your name is "I am Dylan Jacobs.. you can call me that or DJ" this was soo cool talking to a ghost let alone introducing yourself to one!

"Yeah. The train ride was absolutely terrible." she said. Meh. She hoped that'd never happen again. She then smiled at what he next said. "It's gonna be great, believe me! You'll love it." she said with a nod.