What an awful day that had been... Sophie walked into the girls dorms way earlier than she would normally and found it empty. No wonder. It wasn't bed time or anything, but the badger didn't feel like doing anything now. Good thing it was only the start of the term, so she still didn't have to worry about homework and whatnot.

Sighing deeply, she went to her bed and looked under it, where Brady's little bed was. She petted his head for a few before holding him. It took her a few seconds to decide whether to sit on her bed or by the window. Sophie slowly went to the window nearer her bed and sat down, placing Brady on her lap.

Every once in a while Sophie could see some feet walking around the grounds. She used to spend her free time outside as well, but not today... she wished it was bed time already... though it wouldn't make a lot of difference, would it? The next day was probably going to be as bad as this one...

Hogwarts was not the same without her being friends with... her friends.

Ella was tired...she'd been tired since they had arrived back at Hogwarts, actually. She figured this had a lot to do with the fact that some very important people in her life seemed to not want to be in it anymore. This broke her heart and made it really hard to be the happy-go-lucky Ella that people seemed to expect to see. Meh. She wanted to lie down. Pretending was exhausting.

As she entered the dormitory, she didn't expect to see the very person she missed the most at the moment sitting on the window sill. She froze where she stood, not knowing exactly what to do or say. Her throat got very dry all of the sudden and the lump that had been there at the feast was back. Stupid lump. Blinking several times so as not to cry, the third year used all her power to move her feet to her bed, sitting down with a sigh. She didn't know what to do or say now. WHY was this so hard?

Sophie continued petting Brady as she watched the grass waving with the wind and some people's feet. It was a nice weather out there, but she definitely was not in the mood to skip around.

When she heard the door opening, she held her breath. Who would have come to the dorm so early?? Sophie wasn't sure she wanted to see anyone right now, especially her roommates. Though... she couldn't keep on avoiding them forever, could she? That would be a really difficult task.

The third year slowly turned her head around to see who it was. Ella! Oh Merlin! She bit the inside of her cheeks and felt her heart skipping a beat as the blonde girl sat on her bed. Sophie blinked awkwardly as she eyed her former bestie. .......... what now?

Her gaze went from Ella to the wall, then back to Ella... then to her bed. That was really awkward... she blinked fast a couple of times and looked down at Brady, petting him a little faster. He shook her ears as she did so, what made her realise what she was doing, so she slowed down again.

Now.... what?????? Pout. This awkwardness would have to happen everytime she saw Ella and Laura? OhMERLIN, what would even happen when she finally saw Mordred???? Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngh! Sophie closed her eyes tightly and tried to shake the thought off her mind. That, what was happening right now, was difficult enough to deal with...

Belle was tired from her long trip to Hogwarts. She didn't sleep well the night before because she was all filled with nerves. Now that the nerves settled down , she felt exhausted. Belle found her stuff on her bed all settled. She saw Charlene's cage and it reminded Belle that she should visit her tomorrow. Belle relaxed on her bed and she saw the Ella was in the room. Belle didn't really have the energy to get up from her nice sheets that felt so warm. It felt like they just came out of the dryer. "Ah it is so nice to be back home." Belle thought and got her sketch book and started sketching the common room.

Ella needed something to distract her, something to make her feel better and forget that her best friend...erm ex-best friend...was sitting so close by and NOT speaking to her. Frown. Frown. Frown. Crawling to the end of her bed, the third year opened her trunk and reached in, fingers finding the gummy worm package almost instantly. She pulled it out and shut the trunk as quietly as she could, not wanting to disturb the brunette girl who was sitting close by.

Opening the package was proving to be quite hard because Ella was feeling sad and her brain was on things other than the delicious treat she was currently trying to consume. She didn't even notice the fact that her hands were trembling, which was the main cause of her current dilemma. With a frustrated sigh, the blonde closed her eyes and pulled both sides of the package as hard as she could...a very bad mistake on her part.

O___O

The bag tore completely in half, sending gummy worms raining down all over the place and causing a few to go flying towards Sophie. EEP. Ella gulped, not knowing what to do or say. But she needed to say SOMETHING, right? She had to. SOMEONE had to. Meh.

Hopping off her bed, the third year looked at the ground and began picking up the discarded gummy worms, the path leading right to the window where Sophie was sitting. The blonde stopped when she got there, looking up and feeling her eyes grow teary at the proximity of her friend...um ex-friend. "Sorry. I didn't mean to do that." She said very quietly, talking about the gummy worms of course. And then she was gathering up the rest of the gummy worms and heading back towards her bed, feeling even worse than she had originally.

Sophie still had her eyes closed when she heard a loud popping sound and felt something hit her head and land on her lap. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a gummy worm on top of Brady. That was so Ella! Seeing the gummy worm almost made her smile. Key-word: almost...

Before she knew it, the blonde girl was already next to her, picking up the gummy worms all around. "I know you didn't." She answered handing the gummy worm that had fallen on her to her roommate. Sophie watched as Ella went back to her bed and bit her lower lip. Why, oh WHY was this happening?? Her mother had told her to calm down and talk to Ella when she felt it was the right time, but WHEN was the right time?? Was this it? Sophie had to use a lot of her self control to not freak out at the moment and lose it completely. Who knew what would happen if she let her emotions take over her brain?

Not good things, she was sure.

After what seemed to be an eternity of awkward, terrible silence, Sophie gulped and looked at Ella. Something should be done! But... WHAT?? Uuuuugh!

"Ella, uh..." OHMERLIN WHAT WAS SHE DOING?? She didn't even know what she was going to say! Why did those words come out of her mouth now? WHY??? "Um..." Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh, sooo awkwaaardd! "I uh..." Glkfmkgldfmg. Oh the EFFORT! Why was it suddenly so hard to find words and well, NOT cry?? Sophie was no cry baby! She had done enough of crying for the WHOLE term already! She couldn't cry again! Nooononononono!

"This is not right..." She finally said, not exactly to Ella, but it was audible. Quite audible, actually. "This shouldn't be happening." She added frowning and dropped her hands heavily on her legs, being careful enough not to slap Brady. The loud noise startled the white bunny, though, but that went unnoticed to Sophie.

Blink.Blink. Sophie was speaking to her. Ella was kind of shocked about this, and what was worse, hearing Sophie's voice reminded her how much she had missed it. Had missed talking to her best friend. Was that even possible? To feel worse after hearing Soph talk? She nodded, not able to find any words to say, accepting the gummy worm from her before turning back around. She was definitely going to cry now, best not to do it where Sophie could see.

Ella sat staring at the wall opposite her, eyes stinging with tears. She wanted to tell Sophie she was sorry for whatever she had done to make her so mad. And that she had had the worst summer ever after their fight. And that she hadn't even wanted to celebrate her birthday because it wasn't the same without her best friend there. All this stuff was swirling around her head and she WANTED to say it but she couldn't. She was too afraid of what Sophie might say back, if she decided to respond at all.

Huh? Was this real life? Ella's head whipped around so fast her neck hurt a little bit, she ignored it though. Sophie had said her name...was talking to her. She really couldn't believe it. And then the brunette was having trouble finding her words, and Ells was having trouble stopping the tears from coming, especially now that she was staring at her best friend...erm...was-best friend in the face. WIBBLE.

Her next words broke Ella. It literally felt like all the tears she'd been trying not to shed all decided to leak out of her eyes at once. She nodded her head, agreeing with what Sophie said. It wasn't right, what was happening. It wasn't fair. "Yeah." She said very quietly, wiping away the tears. "Sophie I..." She what? What did she want to say right now? EEP. And the stupid lump in her throat...it was making it hard to talk above a whisper. And the tears...they were stinging her eyes. She bit down on her lip, trying to calm down a bit before she spoke next. "Sophie, I hate that you hate me." She finally managed to get it out and she looked down at her hands, feeling like she had just revealed a big secret or something. Ugh. Why was this so hard?

Awarlesta plopped onto her bed and sighed into the pillow. Hogwarts is so big!!! Yet, she had a fantastic day. She managed to send a letter to her mother and Manolo and was wondering how Peggy was doing on her mission there. She flipped onto her back and stared at the ceiling.

Her dad's side of the family rarely talked to her mother. Fraternize with a Muggle?! I don't think so! Her grandmother's words echoed in her head. But, her grandfather was proud of her! What a weird surprise! She didn't expect that at all and she's sure Presley didn't either. But, she kept wondering what they'll do now that her father's gone. What if they try something?? Don't worry about it, Awar. It's like she could hear Manolo's voice. He's right. She's safe with Manolo.

She swung her legs to the side and sat up to take off her shoes and socks. She changed into her pajamas and took one look out the window before slipping under the covers and finally fell asleep.

Alyssa sat on her bed and finished writing up her letter to Evan. She kissed it once before sealing it up and walked over to where Snowdrop was waiting for her. She had brought her Owl down earlier because she didn't want to get caught up in the Owlery after curfew.

Rolling up her letter into a scroll, she tied it up with a red ribbon and attached it to Snowdrop's leg. Then she opened the window, walked her Snowy Owl to the window and let her fly away. Sighing to herself, she closed the window to the dorm and returned to her bed. Kneeling under her bed, she pulled out her trunk, opened it and pulled out her other half of the two way mirror she had bought in Diagon Alley.

She looked at her watch and when it was time, she looked into her mirror and smiled as she saw Evan's reflection smiling back at her. She smiled at him, blew him a kiss and waved to him as she watched him mimic to her to go to sleep. She nodded and lay back on her pillow and holding the mirror to her heart, she closed her eyes, as tears trickled down her cheek. Alyssa slept.

Oh noooooooooooooooo!!! Ella was crying herself! That's NOT helping at all, Ella!! Sophie felt her nose and eyes burning as tears came quicker than she could blink to hold them back.

And there she was... crying again. Sophie wished she had dried out of tears already, but apparently she hadn't...

This scene was... really sad. Both of them were obviously crying, despise how hard they were trying not to. Both were failing terribly.

'Sophie, I hate that you hate me.' What was the use of trying to stop crying now? Sophie knew she wasn't going to be able to, so she gave up and let everything come out. She got up at once, quickly placed Brady on the spot she was sitting and rushed over to where Ella was, wrapping her arms around her friend and giving her a big hug. "I don't hate you, Ella!" She managed to say between tears and Ella's hair. "I am so sorry! Itwasn'tmyintentiontoyellat you like that." Sophie had no idea whether Ella could understand her or not, but she wasn't thinking about that at the moment. She missed her best friend and they just COULDN'T stay like that any longer.

Sutton cautiously entered the girls' dormitory. She had 4 sisters, she knew what this many teenage girls all thrown into a room could be like. For all she knew, the next Great War could be breaking out in the room. Well, there didn't seem to be anybody yelling, destroying each other's property, hogging the loo, or pointing their wands at each other. That was probably a good sign. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that some of the girls were already asleep.

Yes... sleep would be nice.

But first, she needed to unpack.

Walking around the room, Sutton found the bed with her trunk and opened it, beginning to unpack, putting her clothes away, arranging school books so they were easily accessible, filling her school bag. As she neared the bottom, her hands suddenly encountered something liquid. Leaning over and putting her head in the trunk to inspect, she let out a muffled, "Oh Noooo!"

Now outright distraught, she made to extract herself from the trunk, only to have the lid fall and smash into her head with a loud smack! As she pulled the rest of herself free, the lid fell the rest of the way down with a booming THUD! The liquid substance she had found had been ink... which she now had all over her hands... as well as all over the picture of her best friends from home which she looked over as her eyes became teary.

More to herself than anyone else, she shook her head back and forth, "No, no, no.... why is it always me?" As the tears began to fall from her eyes over the ruined muggle photo, Sutton reached up and wiped them from her face, smearing ink on her cheeks without thinking...

Merlin's beard! Ella had made Sophie cry. SHE HAD MADE HER CRY. What kind of person did that? Ugh. She really felt horrible now. And what was worse, now that Soph was crying there was no stopping Ells. The blonde wrapped her arms tightly around herself, trying to calm down as she waited for a reaction from the girl. When Sophie did finally react, Ella was not expecting it.

Ella's green eyes grew wide as she suddenly found that she was wrapped in a hug. She wasn't dreaming, right? This was real? She immediately hugged Sophie back, weakening a bit with the hug. She was crying really hard now, mostly because this meant Sophie didn't really hate her, right? But then that was confirmed moments later, as Soph reassured Ells that she didn't. "Y-you don't?" Ella managed to squeak out in between sobs, tears falling quickly and soaking her friends shoulder. And then Sophie was apologizing and Ella squeezed her a little tighter, knowing sometimes you had to be really brave to apologize to someone. And Sophie was really brave. "S-Sophie I...I'm" The stupid lump was back and it didn't help that Ella's chin was wobbling about. "I'mSoSorryTooIShouldHaveTriedToFixUsSooner." The badger spoked quickly and quietly, the words pouring out of her mouth. "P-please can we n-never n-not talk a-again? I-I c-can't enjoy H-Hogwarts without y-you." Seriously. Hogwarts just wasn't the same without her best friend by her side. Nothing was the same without her.

Annabelle saw Sutton crying and she got up out of her bed. "Aww it is fine, here let me help you." Belle consoled her. "The picture will be fine, you can possibly mail a letter to your family and they can get you a new one." Belle said with a smile. "Here let me get off the ink on your cheeks." Belle said and she got a cup out and filled it with water. "Aquamenti!" she said and the cup filled up. Belle got her cloth from her bed side table and wiped the ink of her cheeks. "Here so you won't look like a total mess when you sleep." Belle giggled to make her feel better and gently dabbed her cheeks with the cold water. "If you don't mind me asking, what was the picture of?"

Turning her teary eyes up to the nice prefect who had talked to her at the start of term feast, Sutton accepted her help without protest. She glanced at the picture and then back at the girl with hopeful eyes, "Can't we just... magic the ink away or something...?" she asked. After the ink had been wiped off, she dried her face on the arm of shirt before answer the question. "It's my best friends from home... they're all Muggles. They think I've been sent to some really fancy boarding school..." she trailed off, looking back down at the ruined picture. "There's ink in the bottom of my trunk too..." Sutton was hopeless. Surely there was an easier way to clean it up than to wipe it out with a cloth. Magic had to be good for something, right?

Belle saw the plead in her voice, "Oh of course i can try to magic the ink away." Belle smiled and waved her wand "Tergeo Trunk." she said and the trunk was cleaned of ink. "My mom taught me that spell and it works on everything, too bad i can not use it in the muggle world, it would make things SO much easier." Belle laughed. "Here give me the picture...Tergeo picture!" Belle commanded and the picture was cleared of ink. "You better remember this spell or write it down, it might come in use." Belle winked at her kindly.

Sutton nodded earnestly, taking the request very seriously. Nearby, splayed out among the other various contents of her trunk, was her book for charms class. Flipping it open to the spell index, she searched through the alphabatized list until she found it... "Tergeo".

With a pencil laying nearby, she circled the spell, then flipped back to the pages that described the spell. First the first time since she'd arrived at Hogwarts, Sutton pulled her wand out with right hand, picking up a copy of a Muggle novel that had also been stained by the ink. Mimicking the wand movement from the spell book, Sutton pointed her wand at the novel and said questioningly, "Tergeo book!"

The ink faded a bit, but it was obviously still there, set in to the cover of the novel.

Belle smiled that she was learning so fast. She was looking at her charms book and was proud. "I am glad that you finally learned to work the spell correctly. It will come in use to you as a simple cleaning spell, trust me." Belle smiled at her. "You might even be head of the class knowing that spell."

There was noooo stopping now. Sophie shook her head at Ella's words. Of course she didn't hate her! Ella was her BEST FRIEND in the WHOLE world! How could Sophie hate her?? The brunette squeezed her tighter, but then realised she was probably going to kill Ella if she kept on hugging her like that. So she finally stepped back, letting go of her blonde friend.

"Y-yeah, we are forbidden to do anything like this ever again!" Sophie said, pushing back a strand of her hair that had stuck to her cheek and sniffing. "It was stupid of me... I can't tell you who you can or can't be friends with..." The third year went on, looking down at her hands. Then she quickly looked up. "But Ella, you do have to believe me when I say Elliot is not a good person..." OHMERLIN, please don't let it all start over agaaain! WIBBLE. "I'm sorry..." The badger looked back down again.

Sniiiiff. "So um..." Sophie's red, puffy eyes looked around their room before they met Ella's. "What did you do the rest of your summer after..." Her voice trailed off and she blinked. No need to get into the subject once more, right? Ella knew very well what she was talking about. "OH! I have things to tell you!!" Sophie's eyes suddenly widened and she jumped up, clasping her hands tightly. Things about OAKEY and LAURA! Ella needed to know about this Felicity girl! They had to do SOMETHING, right???

Sutton gave the Prefect a bit of a half-frown. She hadn't worked the spell correctly... there was still some ink on the cover of her novel. But maybe it was too far set in for that spell to work on it now. Sutton wasn't sure at all that she wanted to be the head of the class; head of the class meant a lot of attention... and a lot of people waiting for you to fail.

With a shrug she started to stand up off the floor. "Thank you for your help. I kind of have a lot of catching up to do. Magic still isn't my first instinct," Sutton explained.

It was hard to go from having to always hide and control a part of you to embracing it and using it to its fullest attention.

After a genuine, thankful smile, Sutton turned back to the rest of her belongings and finished putting them away before turning in for the night.

Boy, Sophie sure had a really strong grip. Ella couldn't help but think that her BEST FRIEND boy did it feel good think that again might have been a boa constrictor in a past life or something. She let out the tiniest sigh of relief when she was let go and wiped at her tears. Sniff.Sniff.

Ells agreed with Sophie completely. They were FORBIDDEN. Definitely forbidden. Oh. And then Soph was bringing up the reason they had a fight in the first place and Ells didn't really know what to do. She didn't want to stir anything up so she just listened, pulling at her long hair and placing it over her left shoulder. Her eyes were growing teary again, mostly because of the subject matter, and she looked towards the window so she wouldn't cry again.

The third year's eyes widened a bit when Sophie again decided to warn her about Elliot. Frown. "Sophie I-" She didn't see Elliot that way, not yet. She simply couldn't, not when Elliot had never done anything unkind to her. "I'm going to see for myself and I'll...I'll be careful, yeah? And I know you have a reason for thinking that and I trust you too." If that helped at all. "And Soph? YOU are my best friend, yeah? So just um...don't doubt that." In case she was.

"T-the rest of the summer?" Oh Merlin's beard. Did Sophie have a free week so they could discuss all that had happened? Wiping the last tears from her eyes, Ella dug her hands in her pocked and frowned. "I um...Well I went to the zoo with Alec and Alice and I met Theo's brother and I um...I kinda got upset and IToldHarveyThatILikeHim." She bit her lip, waiting for Sophie's reaction to this. MEEP. What was she going to say? Ells was also about to mention the fight with Laura and her new puppy but Sophie's excitement stole her attention. THIS WAS SOPH. Like...the REAL Sophie. Ells couldn't help but step forward and hug her friend again, relieved that things seemed to be getting back to normal. "Well spill, then." She said, letting go and hopping up on to her bed.

Awarlesta ran into the dormitory and flopped onto the bed. She finally received a letter from Manolo and her mother. She tore it open. The answer to her number one question was answered in the first sentence.

Awar! Sorry for taking so long in answering. We've had nasty weather here. Didn't want to risk sending Peggy off in it! She sighed in relief. She read through the rest of the letter, feeling more relieved of how they were back home. Love, Manolo and Mum.

Her eyes shifted to the small purple wrapped box. Wait?! WHAT ABOUT THIS BOX?! She scanned through the letter. Nothing. She tapped her chin while contemplating whether or not to open it.

She opened it. Inside, a folded piece of parchment and a draw-string velvet bag. Confused, she opened the letter. OH! Yeah, I forgot to mention. Inside this bag is a dress for Presley from Mum and I (Yes. Inside. It has an undetectable extension charm on it.) let her know we said happy belated birthday. Oh, and keep the bag. It's our congratulations gift for making it into Hufflepuff. LOVE YOU!

Awar reached into her bag hesitantly. What if Manolo was playing a prank on her?! She felt something soft and pulled it out. Oh, what do you know? It is a dress. She tucked it back in, so she could take it to Presley soon and folded up the letter and tucked it in a corner of her trunk.

Alyssa ran into her room and was glad that no one was in the room. She pulled out her trunk, removed her clothing and personal possessions from her dresser and placed them in the trunk. She had to get out. She had to leave was all she could think about. Alyssa started to get tired and her head started to hurt. The headaches were back but this time they were a lot worse. Alyssa's legs gave way from underneath her and she collapsed crying on the floor.

This was too much for her to bear. Alyssa looked at the window. She saw the sun's rays shining through the window. It looked so inviting. Alyssa managed to drag herself up and walk to the window and stood standing next to it.

She then lifted herself up onto the window ledge and sat on it.

Laura was walking towards to third year girls dorm when she suddenly saw Alyssa. "Alyssa" Laura sighed. "Get down from there now." Laura really was worried about her friend. "What's wrong?" Laura didn't want to see Alyssa upset and where was a Professor when you needed one, why did they always come when you didn't want one.

Befelda was tired from exploring the whole school. But it's all worth it as she met new friends as she explored and even met their Prefect Annabelle. She produced a big yawn and blinked her eyes.

She reached for her bed. Soft, warm and comfy. She lie down and stretched her leg muscles. "Aahhh! That felt better.", she said. She blinked her eyes again and looked straight at the ceiling. Suddenly, she fell asleep soundly.