Tinka jumped at the noise. Her movement threw her off balance and she fell of the base of the Ravenclaw statue. "Oh, Tinka no like loud noise! Tinka no like surprises!" Picking herself up from her crumpled mess, she slinked over toward the loud boy. "Does mister need some hot tea and cookies to cheer him up? Elvsies are making chocolate chip peanut butter today."

Vee looked up, startled, as a boy slammed his books down on a table next to her. he did not look happy, not happy at all. But did he really have to announce it so... vehemently?

"Is it really that bad that you had to distract me from reading?" she looked at him with a raised eyebrow, her copy of Hogwarts:A History propped open on her lap.

She could see Berry slinking around the corner - she'd hoped the cat would have forgiven her morning's neglect of him when she refused to feed him because she was running late for class, but even if the grey stubborn creature had decided missing treats wasn't worth his being offended, the boy had successfully scared him off. Great. He'd probably go for a walk around the castle and then turn up in her bed in the middle of the night, waking her up. Again.

She sighed, annoyed, but then looked at the boy again. And his books. Herbology. No wonder he was in such a state.

"Want to talk about it? I've only been here a few weeks but I completely share your feelings concerning all that stuff," she said, indicating the books. She was already convinced it would be one of her worst subjects. Besides, maybe something else had happened to annoy the boy - and she knew from experience (young as she was) that talking to people often help. No point snapping at him, that wouldn't get her anywhere either.

"I'm Vee, by the way," she introduced herself with a smile.

Ameliah smiled as the niiice girlie introduced herself. "I'm Ameliah!!!!" she said brightly as she shook the girls hand. Louisa?? "Aren't yoooou the head girlie??" Yup. Ameliah just noticed the badge remembered.

"Anything else I could do??" Cause Transfig wasn't Am's thing. Charms was a different story though. WERE THERE CHARMS JOBS?? ...Maybe Ameliah could work on assembly too.

“Wow, that sounds really neat!” Eliza was happy that Cora got to do something with the animals. “I’m sure there will be all sorts of strange creatures.” Then she wondered what they would eat and shuddered at the thought of having to potentially feed small creatures to larger ones. Maybe there was a way around that though...

It struck Eliza as odd that Cora’s mom didn’t want her to have an owl. Her family’s owl had always been so helpful, she couldn’t see how they could be a bad thing to have. “Thank you! She reminds me of the night sky, so that’s how I came up with Luna. She’s got these deep black stripes that almost look purple sometimes!” She really did like her new owl. She should pay her a visit soon in the owlery. “You’re welcome to come with me to see her sometime! I’ll let you know when I’m going to go.” She was really thankful to be getting along with someone in her house. “I’ll have to tell Mom that I’ve made a friend,” she decided. “Why doesn’t you mom want you to have an owl? Is it because they’re messy? I’d understand that I suppose, but they are really convenient as a whole.” She wanted to maybe help Cora make her mom understand that good things about owls. “And they’re really cute too!”

Eliza was a bit surprised when Cora gave her a hug to comfort her about the passing of her cat, Kally, but she quickly realized she appreciated it and hugged her back. “Thanks,” she smiled. “It’s okay really. Kally was just old,” sighing with the heaviness of her loss. “My dad said that it was just her time.” She knew he had been right, but it was still upsetting when it happened. “But that’s great you have a…well, sort of kitten.” Giggling at the thought of a kitten in a teacup she said, “Well that sounds like a perfect name for him then!” She missed holding her cat and this semi-kitten sounded really cute. “Sure, I’d love to meet him – when he’s not feeling shy of course.”

“I had wanted to get a new kitten for school this year, but I thought maybe it was too soon.” She remembered how fuzzy the little kittens at the menagerie were and how she had longed to snuggle up to one. It would’ve been nice to have a cuddly friend to keep her company in the dormitory. “What I really, really want though is a Kneazle,” she perked up at the thought. “But the shopkeeper’s sign said that students can’t have them until their fifth year.” She was very disappointed when she had read that sign while shopping in Diagon Alley. “So I guess, I haven’t decided what to do. Maybe it would be best to just wait and get a Kneazle later, but I really do miss having a kitty.” She twisted her fingers in her hands, hoping she wasn't being too much of a downer.

Travis looked up quickly, and then bowed his head in embarrassment. "Sorry." he said shyly. He was distracting and annoying First years... the true sign that he was getting to know the school more. No longer the scared little firstie he was before.

Wait was she really sitting there reading Hogwarts, A History. Sure Ravenclaws were supposed to be studious... but that was a little over board in the history section. That book is huge no matter which edition you take.

Wait. Now she was distracting him? "Uhm..." was a first year trying to talk to him about his problems. "I'd rather people not psychoanalyze my homework issues. It's just boring, and I want to go play Exploding Snap instead." Really that was all to it. Exploding snap was fun... he'd gotten BOTH his eyebrows burnt off last time.

"Travis." He said in reply. "Are you enjoying you first time at Hogwarts?" Because he REALLY REALLY REALLY didn't want to talk about his homework.

Cora listened to Eliza get all animated when she talked about her owl. "Oh, that sounds really pretty. I will have to see her some time. Just let me know when you're going," Cora said with a smile. She loved ALL animals. They were easier to get along with then people.

Cora squirmed a bit at this next question. "No, well, umm you know how I said my mom was paranoid about things? Well, she's sort of afraid of them I guess. Or convinced that something bad will happen. Either way, we aren't allowed any owls. So that means no letters for us," Cora said very matter-of-fact.

Trying to change the subject, Cora continued, "Well, of course I love kittens, but I heard Kneazles are great, too. You should think about it a lot, and decide when you're ready. Maybe if you spend time with my kitty it will help you make a decision either way," Cora added as a suggestion.

"In some ways, it does add more responsibilities and things, though. So waiting a bit is not such a bad thing. We have so much to think about here anyway. Classes, Quidditch..." Cora's main goal besides any of this was to make new friends, which she had already partly accomplished.

Surya has entered the common room. Today he has decided to make some new friends. He sat on a couch in one corner waiting for whoever turns up.

Louisa was working on the transfigured planks, using her wand to join them together and nailing them. Thank Merlin for that transfiguration lesson of building carriages and tents, woo! Then a POP! drew her attention. Oohhhh, a house-elf. A scared one at that, the Ravenclaw paused in her work listening and watching it her trembling and-- afraid of cleaning the windows? "I feel you on that one!" She called after the little creature, still crouching on her knees with the wooden planks scattered in front of her.

Then the house-elf fell off the statue... Louisa glanced back at the boy who slammed into the common room, a grumpy kid. Heh. She then watched the house-elf offer him some snack. HOW UNFAIR!

The Head Girl flailed her arms in the air enthusiastically, "I do, I do! Can we get hot tea and cookies? We're working and we'd really appreciate it!" She gave a beaming grin.



Ariella! Right! Louisa remembered the firstie now, she smiled back at her and nodded understandingly. As the young girl continued to talk, the older Ravenclaw went back to working on her structure while still listening to Ariella. "Aww, he's allergic to cats so you can't keep one?" That sucks. Even if Louisa wasn't a cat-fan before, she definitely loved her two cats. "Well, he's not here now, is he? You can play with my cats if you want. They're friendly." She grinned at the kid and pointed to where Lily (Hermione Lily Potter) was sitting with Louisa's cats in her lap. "That's Lily, by the way, a third year. She's keeping them entertained for me, maybe you can help her?" Instead of sitting all alone in her chair, watching the others.



After bandaging Lily's arm, Louisa has moved back to the unfinished structure and continued her work while still talked to the younger Ravenclaw, who was worried about Quidditch. Internal eyerollage, how very typical of sporty Lily. "I'm sure it'll get better by the time you have tryouts, don't worry. If it doesn't, we can always give you a tonic potion or spread an ointment on it." In fact, they should apply the ointment either way. Louisa added this to her To-Do list. "When is the first coming tryout? Are you going to try for the same position as last year?"

The Ravenclaw fell silent for several more minutes, concentrating on her project and stealing glances at those who were still helping. The wooden sticks were all transfigured and in the wanted shape and length so she started levitating them and dragging them over to the basic wood plank that resembled the floor, using her wand to nail them to it. Then Lily drew her attention again, with a chuckle Louisa paused her work and looked up. "No actually, the shoe-licking one is Viola." She pssssssted at her cat a couple of times until the tabby Viola looked up at her owner and meowed sweetly, "Nice try. Get away from the girl's shoes. Shoo!" Waving her hand at the cat, but Viola didn't even budge she simply snuggled into Lily's leg some more. "See. Nobody listens to me around here." Louisa complained playfully, "And Cuddles is a cool name, actually. It fits too, she always wants to curl up in other people's laps." That was something the Head Girl didn't find very appealing. Lily was providing the best lap for her for now, though, thank Merlin.

Still mumbling, Tinka heard a studentsie yelling toward her. "Oh, Tinka no like high-ups!" she said, shaking her head vigorously. "But Tinka good elf, Tinka come clean best Tinka can no matter what high-ups there is!"

Elfsy feet shuffled over to the girl and her project. "Missus want tea and cookies? Elvsies make chocolate chip peanut butter today. Miss like?"

Barely waiting for an answer, she was gone with a loud CRACK! After several long moments, another CRACK! announced her return. "Tinka have tea, Tinka have warm cookies fresh from oven!" She beamed up at the studentsie.

Gosh, if there is one thing Louisa liked about house-elves it's their utter faithfulness. Their utter obedience was annoying though, their nature or not she didn't like blindly obedient creatures. Anyways, the house-elf seemed to be happy about getting cookies and tea for them. Louisa opened her mouth to say "yes" that would be good but the little creature had already vanished.

"Well... that didn't take much convincing." She went back to working on her project, uttering spells here and there, levitating hammering and nailing planks together. Until another POP! announced the house-elf's presence again. The Ravenclaw put down whatever she was holding and knee-walked to the house-elf. "Thank you...house-elf!" What was this one's name again? She took the tray of cookies from the creature and placed it on the small table nearby.

"Why doesn't someone else come to clean the windows instead of you?" She dropped on the floor, crossed her legs and started nibbling at one cookie. "If you're afraid of cleaning them, you can ask another house-elf to do the job for you." Very rational.

When she reappeared holding a tray laden with goodies, she waited impatiently as the studentsie crawled toward her. Tinka just want Miss to taste it, be happy! The house elf bounced slightly on the balls of her feet in eagerness. "Oh, Miss is welcome! Tinka happy to serve the studentsies of Hogwarts!"

But then the big elfsy eyes bulged out. "Oh no, miss! Tinka get to clean, Tinka honored to serve!" She nodded her head vigorously. "Tinka never dream of stop cleaning here!" Her ears twitched.

Ameliah suddenly noticed a younger kid. "Hi!" She waved and walked over to him. "You new here?" Easy start for conversation, right?

YAY A HOUSE-ELF. "Hello, miss Elfie!" Ameliah happily greeted the elf. It was a she, right? Am hoped so. Cause then things would be akward. Well, if the elf gave her name then that'd be settled.

Vee noticed the hesitant look he gave her when he noticed what she was reading, and she smiled in return.

"I love the bits concerning the Weasley twins, that's basically the only reason I'm reading this. Or rather, parts of it," she elaborated. "Nice to meet you, Travis."

Judging by his follow-up question, he didn't want to talk about work. Fair enough, Vee figured, if she had a lot of homework she'd probably try to pretend it didn't exist too.

"Yeah, I love it! I mean, how can you not? It's gorgeous here, and it's so good to be around people and not have to pretend that you're someone else. I'm a Pureblood, but I hung out a lot with Muggle kids at home, you see, so I could never really be myself around them. And it's great, finally learning about magic, and being able to control it, and actually make it do what you want it to! Or try to, anyway," she added after a moment, thinking of all her failed attempts at casting spells. But she was improving.

"Do you like it here?"

“You bet!” Eliza was glad that Cora was as interested in her owl as she was in her kitty. However, when Cora responded about the owls, she realized it wasn’t a topic she wanted to discuss. She felt bad for having drug it out so long, but she’d really only been curious. “I hope she doesn’t think I’m being annoying…” she worried. Not wanting to offend Cora any further she simply said, “Oh, okay. Well everyone has their own opinion of course.” Trying to not sound judgmental (because she certainly wasn’t), she added, “If you’d like…you know, when school is out - I could write you letters through the muggle post.” Hopefully they’d stay friends through the term. She didn’t have any reason to suspect they wouldn’t, but she also didn’t want Cora to think she was being clingy. “I mean, my neighbors - they’re all muggles you see, so it’s really no trouble!” Maybe that would make up for Cora’s not being allowed letters from her other friends.

Moving back to things of a less sensitive nature, Eliza said, “I’ve always heard that Kneazles were a bit more special than regular familiars. I guess I’m not completely sure how though,” she admitted. “Do you know?” She didn’t like her knowing that she had wanted something she knew so little about, but she figured she could trust Cora not to think poorly of her for it.

“You’re right though. Owning a pet would take up a lot of time. I think I will wait at least until next term to make any decisions.” That was probably for the best, she decided.

Eliza was intrigued when Cora mentioned Quidditch. She hadn’t really pegged Cora as a player, but then again they had only just met. “Do you play Quidditch?” Eliza adjusted her sweater as she noticed there were still some bits of leaves clinging to it from her own bout with Flying Practice earlier. “If she’s not on the team, maybe that means she enjoys seeing the games - and if she likes to see them, maybe she’d let me join her sometime!” she rattled on inside her head.

"I'll try to socialize her a bit," Vivi agreed after a thoughtful pause. She wasn't thrilled about the possibility of Macha hurting someone else, or worse, of liking someone else more, but it was probably could for her. And if she was going to prove to be a responsible adult, it ought to start with her pet cat.

She would have tried to schedule a kitty play date, only Louisa was suddenly making idiotic faces at Vickers. Vivi scoffed. Out loud, actually, because she'd never understood the feminine penchant for making an idiot of oneself over a boy, and she plowed right on with the conversation to cover the OBVIOUS embarrassment of having to witness faces.

"I'm not sold on the name, actually, but I'm a fan of not calling it a cat house. What with the negative connotations and all that." She twirled the end of her ponytail furiously. Was Louisa even listening to her now? "Whatever we call it, I can help with the transfiguration."

And FYI... she had nails too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eriin

So yeah... Addy!Jacks had been making her way AROUND to the BACK of the chair, not ogling the quidditch captain as he so hoped. She didn't make this TOO obvious, though. Heh.

Even as Spike spoke she half listened and nodded, "Suuuure. The common room here is lovely. I quite like it." He HAD mentioned the common room, yes? She was sure she had gleaned at least that much from his ramblings. And as he called Vivi, Jacks she pointed to herself. "Yeah. I'm Jacks. All whimsical and whatnot, apparently." She shot Vivi a grin at that.

Aaaaand... the nosy head girl spoke up and blah blah blah. No. She merely waved a hand at her. Nothing to see here. Addy was SURE that the QC and the other prefect could handle anything if it went amiss. THEY WERE STUDENT LEADERS, AFTER ALL. Hmph.

And yeah so... as Milton spoke she, not so nicely, rolled her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself, dude." Nope. Don't. Pffft. She leaned her elbows on the back of HER chair and waited for him to direct his attention elsewhere...

Almost on cue with Vivi telling her to smoosh him did Addy scamper up the back of the chair and perch herself on the high back, feet dangling dangerously close to the captain. "Think I ought to? I don't weigh an awful lot. Perhaps we should just dog pile the boy?" EVIL SMIRK.

Jacks was in place and ready for pouncing, and, for some odd and very flattering reason, she waited on Vivi to give her the nod. The girl was a ginger vulture hanging over the back of the Ravenclaw Quidditch guru himself, but she just waited. Well, then... nod.

"Oh, fine. Let's all sit in the chair." She made a small attempt to hurry Spike along as well, although she had a feeling he wasn't as keen to sit in Milton's lap as Jacks seemed to be.

Just to be polite, she took the arm of the chair and leaned in against Addy and Milton both, her legs dangling on the floor. "This is cozy. Should have let me duplicate the chair.

Cora's eyes lit up. Muggle post?! Cora didn't quite know how that worked. "I didn't know they had one," she said, wide-eyed. This would be some way to contact everyone. She had to figure this out. "Of course, it makes sense that they have a way of contacting each other, it's just that, well, I never gave it much thought before." She was still shocked, but delighted at this news.

"And of course, I would LOVE that." Cora was happy that Eliza was thinking long-term about their friendship (if that made sense?) because even with their age difference Eliza was still one of the nicest ones she's met so far. That could change, though, if she met the right people. But Cora was sure that they would stay friends. "You'll have to tell me how that works, though. We don't really communicate with the muggles in our area." Not that Cora was opposed to it or anything, but her family kept to themselves.

Kneazles: Cora knew a bit about them. "I actually do know about Kneazles. I read about them, and my aunt has one, although we don't see her often. Kneazles can actually be very aggressive, but they are good judges of character, so someone like you would be fine. A kneazle would be very loyal to someone kind like you. And yes, I guess they are a bit different than a normal pet, since they are definitely smarter."

Quidditch: Cora chuckled. "Oh, no. Not me, I could never play quidditch. Well, I've always wanted to, but it's too brutal. It's not for me since I'm not aggressive or competitive enough. I actually am pretty great on a broom. I learned early," Cora explained with a smile. "I do like watching though. Even though I may cover my eyes at some points. How about you? Have you started flying lessons yet?" Cora asked curiously.

Spike looked a little perplexed. "You don't have to lie, y'know," he said, folding his arms across his chest. "Not to me, anyway." Some other people might be impressed by the glorified truth, but Spike wasn't. Simply and logically minded, was Spike.

"And I don't know. Never really thought about it, seeing as I can't change it anyway. Something more interesting than Robert, that's for sure." And let's face it most names were more interesting than Robert.


Spike tilted his head to the side. It was a brilliant idea?! His lips curled upwards into a smile, her enthusiasm infectious. "I'm not sure if there's any in the greenhouses at the moment, but I can ask Professor Bentley. Otherwise I'll pot some seeds up..."

That was far more to Spike's liking. He could be a good Prefect and help with the House project, but be faaaar away from all the felines who liked to chase his froggies. Purrrrrfect.


Turning back to the chair, Spike nodded. "Er, sure," he said, rubbing the nape of his neck, "The Common Room is lovely."

He scooted round the chair a bit to give Jacks more space, and then frowned as she perched on the back of the chair. "Er...do you think...?"

Hang on? ALL sit in the chair? Nuh-uh. Spike had no desire to be in the lap of his (hopefully) future Captain. Somehow, he didn't think that would go down well before tryouts.

"I should probably get to the greenhouses," he said, glancing between the Head Girl, the construction process, and the common room entrance. "It was lovely meeting you Vivi, Jacks..." He gave each of them a smile and a nod. "And don't squish Shacklebolt too much," he added.

And with that, he quickly headed out of the room. A Milton-Vivi-Jack sandwich just wasn't for him.

So quidditch was still in... as long as she got better, or took a potion...Bleagh... "I think the first tryout is in a couple days..." The redhead replied shrugging a bit. "And I think I'm just gonna try out for anything." Because then there was a better chance of making the team.

So the shoe-licker already had a name... "Viola's fine there... she's not bothering me at all..." Lily said giggling a bit. "And I listen to you..." Beam. "You should name this cat Cuddles then..." The third year said decisively, pointing at the cat. Cute little kitty curling up on anyone's lap. Lily stroked the back of the unnamed kitty on her lap, gazing over at the group working on the house, wishing that she could do something productive other than keeping cats occupied. If only she hadn't... Hey look! A house-elf!!



This house elf had cookies... Lily wanted cookies while she watched the kitties. Now what was this house elf's name...?

Tinka apparently since the elf kept calling herself that. "Um... Miss Tinka? Can I get a cookie or two over here? I would come over to get it myself...but I have a cat sitting on my feet as you can see." She said beaming over at the house elf.

It took Surya more than a few minutes to notice that a girl has greeted him. "Hello, I am Surya, 1st year. I don't have any friends in here".

Ameliah frowned. "No friends? We can't have that. I'll be your first!!!!" she said brightly. The first friend was always crucial. "And I'm sure my friends would like to hang out with you too, so that's some more if you ever meet them!"

"Thanq" a rush of excitement grabs Surya as he now feels his days as a loner are over now. "What's your name by the way?"

Ameliah grinned. "It's Ameliah. With an h. But you can just call me Am, most people do. So have you gotten to exploring the grounds yet? It's alot of fun," But sadly less frun without the duckies.

Savannah walk into the common room she took at seat on the couch and began playing with her thumbs.She was Nervous it was her first time in the common room in awhile.

Taylor walked in and was humming. She saw a nervous girl and went over, "Hey, I am Taylor or Tay as my friends and family calls me." Tay smiled sweetly.

Hey Tay,I'm Savannah But call me Van my family calls me that.So what do want to talk about she asked nervously.So been anywhere fun in the school yet.