The best part about being a Ravenclaw on the first day, was that they weren't required to find a prefect for the password after the feast. Presley almost felt bad for the other houses because of all of the hassle. As first person in the common room, it gave her a chance to take a deep breath, reveling in the warm welcoming feeling of home.

Presley picked the seat closest to the fire and flopped down, exhausted from the full day. Not only was it her birthday, but she'd had to face telling everyone (well, only really Elliot) about her disagreement with her father, and her cousin had been sorted into Hufflepuff which meant they'd argued. Needless to say, Presley was glad the day was over.

Thinking about Awarlesta made her remember the gift-wrapped box the younger girl had pressed into her hand earlier. Presley pulled it out of her bag, and unwrapped the most beautiful music box she'd ever seen. She grinned to herself. At least she would never be able to say she was unloved. She still had people who cared about her, even if her father and Leo had given up on her.

Silvia couldn't help but pause for a moment to take in the familiar and sorely missed surroundings. The tables and chairs, the books, Rowena's statue, and the beautiful starry ceiling. She was back at Hogwarts and in the Ravenclaw tower. Though she wasn't sure what to make of these changes coming to the school mentioned in the Headmistress' speech, she was excited for the new year.

Silvia plopped herself down onto a couch. She was tired, but she would stay up a bit longer before heading up to the dormitory. Most of the students would probably be up for awhile anyways, once they made their way up to the common room.

Elliot sauntered into the common room...so ready for classes to start. her brain was dying of underuse lately. Such a Ravenclaw, she was. She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder, realized she was doing it, and scowled at herself.

She had only recently starting do that! it was so...girly and ewww! Not that Elliot wasn't girly...but she didn't like those girly girl types a lot of times. She put it back in a pony, deciding she wouldn't wear her hair down for a few days...it might make the habit go away...

She spotted a familiar mane of brunette hair...

"Presley Black!" she called out, her voice grander and posher, because she wanted Presley to know she was in the presence of Elliot Morganzo. "I WILL BE RIGHT BACK!" she cried, and she hastened up the steps to the common room. She came back down with a neatly wrapped shiny blue box. The simple bow on top was bronze.

"Mother taught me the wrapping spell. I still can't do the really fancy ones...but here..." she smirked as she threw the box at her friend..catch!

Inside were the [URL=http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee71/panicrox13/pearlsforpres.jpg[/URL] that she had bought for Presley..hopefully she liked them.

And yes. They were very real.

Presley was almost nodding off to sleep in the armchair when she heard her name in an unmistakeable voice. She jerked awake, and turned around to see Elliot running up the stairs. When she came back it was with a box. Presley's second present of the day. She beamed as Elliot threw the box and Presley caught it easily.

Presley unwrapped her present and grinned even wider. Pearls. It was just so...Elliot to give someone pearls. "Thank you Elliot. They're beautiful." Presley said sincerely. She didn't doubt for a second that theywere realy pearls. Nothing less would be good enough for either girl.

Presley wanted to hug Elliot, but the other girl might not appreciate the gesture much, so she refrained. "You know, Elliot, I've been thinking. I should just stay at Hogwarts for the holidays. I mean, our fathers do business together. I don't want my father to be angry with your. And I'm sure by summer this will have all blown over, and Leo will let me stay with him." Presley spilled it all out there, not wanting to have to worry about it anymore. Besides, she'd heard that Christmas at the school was a blast anyway. Parties every day, and no little firsties to get in the way. It wouldn't be so bad.

Yay. She could tell Presley liked them. "Yeah...hand crafted. I ordered them like a month ago..." yep. From a little boutique in France...the one frequented by the Morganzos and her mother. Presley was probably actually familiar with it, since it was French.

She listened to Presley. And frowned. What was she saying..."So you're going to let them win?" she asked, suddenly standing up, crossing her arms. She glared at Presley...her blue eyes boring deeply into the girl...with something just below a boil...

Something inside Elliot stirred. Some sort of...anger...not at Presley, though. And Elliot couldn't quite place it.

Presley shook her head. "Of course not. I don't intend to go back until he apologizes. But I don't want to inconvenience your family. Especially since I get the feeling your parents don't care for me much." Really. This was not letting them win. She would hold out for an apology. But she didn't really want Mr. Morganzo to hate her even more. She knew that if he wanted to, he could make her life miserable and destroy her social standing. Why give him the opportunity?

Elliot didn't sit...in fact..random thoughts were floating around in her head..."You wouldn't be inconveniencing anything, Presley. My mother loves you." Which was actually true. But then again, Josey liked basically everyone. Ever since Elliot went on a trip to Egypt with Presley without her father's permission, though, she had a feeling her father didn't like Presley..and the fact that she was half-blood only made it worse.

But then, something else popped into her head...Presley had been acting more...snobby? No. That wasn't the right word. Uppity? Lately. Not as down to earth..."Do you think my manor is up to 'Black standards' or something?" she shot, her eyes narrowed...it was not likely, but Elliot suddenly felt paranoid. And angry. But not at Presley!

She still didn't sit...she tapped her foot lightly on the floor and glared at Presley...she just didn't understand. And part of her...really wanted Presley to stay over. But that was never coming out of her mouth. Evereverever.

SIXTH YEAR. It was heeeeere. Finally. Even though it was technically only his second year, but whatever. Only two more school terms, and Milton was outta there. Even though he liked it and refused to admit it. But he was quidditch captain this year, so he really couldn't complain too much. He was rather excited to kick some butt at quidditch this term. And be the LEADER of it.

With a big sigh, the new quidditch captain flopped sideways into an overstuffed armchair and kicked his legs over the armrest. It was rather relaxing by the fireplace. Almost good enough to nap, but he was still a little to excited about the new term. How uncharacteristic of him... Or his reputation or.. whatever. Meh.

Um NO. Addy had been heading for THAT chair. THE ONE NOW OCCUPIED BY THE CAPTAIN. Hmph. Sad times. Changing course she threw herself onto one of the loveseats near the fireplace and huffed slightly.

"Quidditch Captain whose name I do not know, I'm Addy. And THAT was my seat," she said with a small smirk tugging at her lips.

Probably not the greatest introduction ever, but hey, what can you do?

Tired, but not tired enough to actually get any sleep apparently, the young Greek girl found her way back to the common room from the sixth year girls dorm. She hadn't even bothered to change yet from her school robes, which was a good thing now that she decided not to go straight to bed as Nathan had suggested. Dark hair tied up in a messy ponytail, Delphinia's green eyes wanded the room taking in her fellow Ravenclaws that were still up as well.

As quiet as a young Jobberknoll, Delphi found herself an empty space of carpet near the fireplace to sit and get comfortable with the old worn book in one hand, parchment and quill in the other.

Might as well make use of her 'relaxing before bed' time and write to Artemis, to let her know she had arrived safely and whatnot.

Presley watched Elliot stand there, which wasn't normal. Presley wanted to invite her to sit, but that was weird, because the common room didn't belong to either of them. It belonged to the school, and it wasn't Presley's place to invite Elliot to sit. It was true, Mrs. Morganzo had always been super-overly-kind to Presley. But it wasn't her mother that Presley was worried about. "But your father despises me," Presley repeated herself.

As the next sentence came out of Elliot's mouth Presley wanted to slap herself in the face. She hadn't meant to say that at all. "No, God-I mean Merlin no! That's not what I was trying to say." Elliot thought that Presley thought the Morganzo Manor wasn't up to her standards? The two were practically on exactly equal social, political, and economic standing. "Truthfully?" Presley said slowly. "It intimidates me a little." And intimidation was not a familiar or entirely comfortable feeling.

Elliot shook her head..."No. He doesn't despise you. Maybe dislike, but you and I both know that those two aren't the same thing. And dislike we can handle," she fired back, almost instantly, her brain working quickly. She excited, but not in the good way. She felt a temper tantrum coming on.

Why are you getting so angry? STOP! she told herself, but she couldn't help it.

It was pretty much at a boiling point...until Presley said something odd.

She blonde sat down, shocked, and stared at her like she had never seen her before. WHAAAT? "What do you mean? Like my family..my manor...scares you?" she asked, confused, obviously.

Weren't they supposed to be FEARLESS? Elliot didn't know WHAT to think right now...Presley was behaving very below Elliot's normal expectations...

Gwen was just reading from the Potions book which Ari gave to her on Diagon Alley, when she extended her hand in attempt to pet her cat on the head. It was only then that she noticed that Jinx was gone. Her black cat, who had been sitting right next to her on the chair wasn’t there anymore. Gwendolyn raised her eyes from the book and gave a quick look around, trying to spot the black furball.

Where did he go?

It took her a while to manage to spot the black cat heading over to the fireplace. ‘Jinx’, the fifth year called out, but the cat was already near another student. As Gwen stood up from the chair and walked over in that direction, Jinx extended his paw, in attempt to play with the quill the other Ravenclaw was holding. Why was Jinx always up to something? ‘Sorry’, she told the girl, and then called the cat back.

Milton was happily relaxing when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and heard a HUFF. Turning his head, he saw some girl he didn't know. And she was a ginger. Gingers were always trouble. They always... talked. Much like she was now doing.

"Milton Shacklebolt," he offered cooly, unfazed by her claim on the chair he was currently sprawled out on. "Yes, keyword being was. Now it's mine." He was comfy, so THERE.

It was HER. NATHAN'S bestie. Addy wasn't sure about her... SHE JUST WASN'T OKAY?!?! So she slunk down in her seat a little bit and for once wished her hair wasn't flaming red. SIGHS FOR LIFE.

Addy looked him over once or twice trying to decide if she needed to flip the chair over with him in it... or just have a casual conversation...

Jerking a thumb toward herself she said, "Addy Kennedy. Nice to meet you." Although that was yet to be determined. Heh. "Next time I will put a sign on it... or we could share it. Figure out a visitation schedule or something." Sounded legit to her.

Jayden skipped into the common room, her black curls bouncing with each skip. "Hello rooom!" She sang, smiling around at everyone that had currently come into the room. There were a few sixth years, Elliot and Presley were there as well as a young second or third year.

Hmmm... now to wait and see if any other stragglers would come in. Jayden could use a few new friends, or even a chat with some old ones...


*sigh*

Cora jumped up in her seat, almost dropping the book she was reading. It had been relatively quiet, until a girl Cora somewhat recognized bounded into the room.

Truth was, Cora had been a bit lonely. She was about to continue reading when the girl actually SANG. Cora smiled a bit, but the surprise caused her to ACTUALLY drop her book this time. It landed close to where whe had just skipped.

"Um, sorry," Cora responded quietly, twirling her hair shyly. Then with a smile, "I'm Cora." Cora couldn't expect to be recognized after being away from Hogwarts for almost two years.

Hearing the name 'Jinx', Delphinia looked up half-expecting to see Artemis and Brett's overgrown labrador retriever running up to her with her tongue out at the side and a silly, joyful look on her dog face as usual, but she was at Hogwarts now and knew right as she lifted her head that it definitely wasn't that Jinx.

It was a cat. A pure black one, that was sticking it's paw out at her. With a look down at the paw, it wasn't hard to notice what he or she was after. Delphi wiggled the quill near the extended paw, a small smile growing on her lips. Girl or boy, the little thing was rather cute. "No problem, he.. or she, is fine." Delphinia assured, her gaze moving from the feline to it's owner. Book and parchment left in her lap, forgotten for the moment. "My.. friend has a dog named Jinx, too." She commented, realizing for the first time that she wasn't really sure what to referr to Artemis as. Friend? Sort-of-not-really-sister? Guardian? It was all too complicated. "My name's Delphinia, by the way. Delphinia Suvari, but feel free to call me Delphi.. it's easier to say." And with introducing herself out of the way, the Ravenclaw gave the quill another wiggle.
But not before hearing another girl close behind her say that her name was 'Addy' to some other kid. Call it a reflex, call it whatever you wanted, but Delphi couldn't help looking over her shoulder at that moment, if only for a split second before her attention turned back to Jinx and his or her owner.

What were the chances of there being two girls by the name of Addy, both in Ravenclaw, that were about the same age? Slim to none.

"NO!" Presley shot back defensively. "Intimidation and fear are not the same thing. Fear is pathetic. Intimidation is the worry of potential fear and therefore being pathetic." She would have pursued it further, but it looked like for some reason Elliot reeeeaaally wanted Presley to not stay at the school for the holidays. So Presley gave in. It wasn't an important enough battle to be having right now when they both had bigger things on thier plates. "Never mind. Of course I can stay with you for the holidays. I was just being stupid." Presley looked at the wall. She hated that word, especially when applied to herself, but Elliot was her friend, and she wanted her friend to be happy.

Sixth year. Spike was in his SIXTH year here. How had THAT happened? He'd even passed all his OWLs on the way.

...and yet, he STILL struggled to get through the knocker's riddles. Silly thing. Five years he'd been at Hogwarts, and he still wondered how he'd gotten into Ravenclaw. Maybe he'd never know...

Fiiiiinally in the Common Room, Spike headed to his favourite chair. And he was about to jump over the back and into it, when he noticed someone else had got there first.

Bother.

"Hi Milton," he said with a crooked smile, and casually rubbing the nape of his neck. He hadn't nearly just jumped straight into the lap of his (hopefully) new Captain, maybe?

"Nice, er, choice of chair."

Elliot was already a bit tempered right now. And of course...

SOMEONE WAS SINGING.

Elliot whipped around, looking crazy, and yelled, "WILL YOU STOP?! SINGING IS NOT FOR THE COMMON ROOM!" she had her hands on her hips, and she was GLARING at--

Jayden?

Oops. but Elliot was still annoyed. "Seriously, Jayden!" she cried, less venomously than before...but she was still glaring...

And then Cora was here too...and she was seeing Elliot all in a rage...MERLIN'S BEARD!

She bent over, picked up Cora's book and handed it to her. "Try not to be so clumsy, Cora, really. She was just singing..." she said sharply, and with that the rounded on Presley...

FEIFWQFKWRFJKLWNFKWBF

"They are TOO the same thing!" she stomped her foot. Because she was RIGHT! She was!

And then she said something that made Elliot even angrier, if this was possible but she didn't quite know WHY.

"You aren't stupid, Presley! And no! Now I don't WANT you to stay with me! Stay here and have LOADS OF FUN all by yourself!" she sounded hysterical, and with that she stomped out, glaring at ALL THREE of her friends as she went. She slammed the door behind her.

Presley hovered on the verge between bursting into tears because yet another person was angry with her, and beaming with victory because she'd won. She'd gotten what she wanted, to not burden the Morganzo family. Yet she didn't seem to want it so much anymore if it meant that Elliot was going to hate her too.

But Presley chose to show neither of those sides to the whole of Ravenclaw house, instead shouting at Elliot's back "Well I can't see how I would have any fun with YOU!" It was horrible and mean and spiteful, but it made Presley feel just a little bit better as she watched Elliot disappear out of the door. And then Presley was running up to her dormitory to get her dance gear because whether it was letting her father win this or not, Presley needed to dance right now, or her head would simply explode.

Oh noes! Jay had startled a girl with her off-key singing. "I'm sorry! Are you all right?" She asked the girl, smiling as the girl introduced herself as Cora. "I'm Jayden, nice to meet you!"


And then ELLIOT went into a rage! "I'm sorry Elliot... "she mumbled, her cheeks turning a fire-engine red colour. "I just was so happy to be ba-" Jayden had to pause, her jaw dropping in awe as Elliot turned to 'fire her lazers' at Presley.

Oh Merlins pants!

Just as abruptly as it had started, Elliot's raging ended. Jayden watched as the girl turned to leave.


"LACY COME BACK! YOUUUU CAN BLAME IT ALLL ON MEEEH!" She bellowed, half serenading her friend... Oh. Jay was so in for it later....

Cora giggled a bit. "Thanks, Elliot." Truth was, she was happy to see Elliot. The start of the year WAS a bit stressful, especially since Cora barely knew anyone who remembered her. Normally, Cora would be intimidated by anyone sounded so angry, but Elliot's effect on Cora had diminished. Cora found it a bit funny, and was in a more cheerful mood than she probably should have been. She knew not to laugh or anything, she didn't want Elliot angry at HER. "I'll be more careful next time. I'm too clumsy for my own good sometimes."

Cora recognized the name "Presley". They had met in Cora's first year, but Cora knew she wouldn't be remember. Before Cora could even introduce herself, both Elliot and Presley stormed off, leaving Cora blinking, a bit confused. They were angry, and Cora wondered vaguely if she'd be able to calm either one. She doubted it, not knowing what they were even arguing about. Cora decided to stay out of it, despite her better judgement to want to help.

"It's nice to meet you Jayden. And I'm fine. Easily startled I guess. Not a problem." Cora smiled at Jayden. "Well, that was definitely more drama than I care for."

Cora placed her books aside, hoping Jayden would stay for a chat. "Honestly, I absolutely LOVE singing. You made my day more cheerful." Cora didn't want Jayden to feel bad for bursting in, even though Jayden seemed to have let Elliot's outburst go. "I met Elliot my first year here, and then I've been gone for two years, so I'm glad to be back too. I don't blame you."

Cora automatically liked Jayden. It didn't actually take much for Cora to like someone, but she wasn't being ignored so that was a start.