Penelope decided she needed to start staying away from the Gryffindor common room as much as possible now that there would probably be things happening that she didn't want to see. So once she was ready and dressed and all that, she left the dorms and the common room almost immediately. She didn't really have a set place in mind to go to, though. Maybe the kitchen or the Great Hall, but she wasn't too hungry right now. So for now, she supposed she'd just wander around the castle and the grounds and see where it led her.

Now that the Gryffindor common room was occupied by the person he adored to death and the person he hated to death, being in there would be extremely awkward for him, from now on. He couldn't stand being in there and seeing those two just.. being.. them. Whatever that meant-he just didn't want to pain himself anymore. So, once he heard the sorting at the feast, he knew the common room would become a distant friend for him and the castle would be his new home, not his house. Tag just found himself walking around the castle today until he saw a very familiar person. "Penelope. What are you doing walking around? You know-besides exercising."

Penelope hadn't gotten far down the seventh floor corridor before she saw someone she recognized. At least it wasn't one of the people she was trying to avoid. "Could ask you the same thing," she pointed out. Since Tag was obviously walking around too. She shrugged. "Just exploring Hogwarts, I guess." And avoiding certain people. But that part wasn't as important or as fun, so she didn't add it. "What're you doing?" She did say she could ask him the same question, after all.

"Well- I don't like being in the common room much anymore-so I guessed I should leave the place." He said with a casual shrug. Because the common room was basically forbidden for him, and he sort of wanted it that way."Just exploring Hogwarts." Tag mimicked her. Then he realized she may not like how he said that so he added quickly, "Because there's always new places to find here." Yes. Good aversion. He had gotten lost before, last term, throughout all these corridors, he'd be in disbelief if he asked a student if they never got lost and they answer no. It was impossible.

He had the same problem she did, then. Which...wasn't really surprising if she thought about it. "I don't either." The common room used to be a nice place to hang out, but not now when there were things that could happen there that she didn't like seeing. And then he was...mimicking her? Penelope raised an eyebrow at that. Was he mocking her? "I can leave you to your exploring then if you want..." Because she didn't really want to be around anyone who was going to mock her, especially when that person was someone who was supposed to be one of her best friends.

Penelope didn't like being in the common room anymore. An he didn't like being in the common room too. The fact that both of them disliked the common room now kind of confused him. Why would they both not like the common room? Tag knew his reasons, but not Penelope's. "Its not a very spectacular place to be in anymore. Cause of..people." He said as he went over to lean against the wall. Now he felt like a stupid idiot for mimicking her. He made one odd face in a split second before he hastily took back what he said, "I'm sorry, that was rude of me. Forget I said that earlier." Never mimick Penelope. Never. "So.. we both don't like the common room anymore." He said aloud, just as a general thought to himself.

Penelope shook her head. "Yeah, it isn't," she agreed. And they were talking about the same "people," weren't they? She assumed so, at least. She continued standing where she was when he went to lean against the wall, and her expression softened just a bit when he apologized. Well...that was nice, at least. "Okay." She'd forget about it. And she took a couple steps forward so they weren't as far apart, though she still wasn't close enough to the wall to lean on it or anything. She didn't really need to.

...Hadn't they just covered that? "That's right."

Well, there it was. The beginning of sixth year. The year of quidditch captainship, too, which he was rather excited about. But if anyone happened to walk past him then, they wouldn’t have been able to detect his excitement. It was rather subdued, due to... reasons.

After the feast ended, Milton had wandered back up to the Ravenclaw common room, like most everyone else in his house had. He had already gotten settled in, but he didn’t feel like trying to sleep just yet. He was a little restless for one reason or another. So, he went out to the corridor just to take a walk, take a breath of Hogwarts air, and hopefully relax. This was an important year—he had things to worry about.

Weirdly enough, Anya had decided now was a good time to leave the common room. Maybe it was because there was something enticing about the seclusion of the dark hall, maybe she just wanted to sneak away.

Anya would have liked to think it was to stargaze. It always seemed to give her a weird reverse psychology sense of purpose. And the part few days really made her want that.

Well... more like... today and yesterday. It was crazy how things could be so drastically different in just two days.

She wandered aimlessly down the hall. She stopped at every window along the way deciding that each view was not good enough. What she was looking for, she couldn't say. She just knew something was off.

Another dark shape ahead caught her eye. She tilted her head to the side for a second to study the shape. It was Milton. "Couldn't sleep either...?" she asked softly.

Since they were both talking about not liking the common room anymore, Tag figured it was because of some awkward reason. Some thing that made both of them uncomfortable. They were both beating around the bush here, and Tag had thought he'd be the only one wanting to avoid the common room, so, he said straight out, "Its Anya and Jacob. They make me feel.." He didn't want to reveal anything to her. "I don't really know how to say it. It just feels really awkward being in there while they're there. I don't know-I'm not gonna hang out in there to be the awkward third wheel." Tag hoped he explained himself well, without having to tell his secret. Only one person knew his secret.

Huh. So they DID find the common room awkward and avoidable for basically the same reason. "Me too," she admitted, frowning. "It feels horrible seeing them together." So she generally avoided having to see that. And if she was honest, it felt extra horrible because she probably shouldn't feel that way. She was sure, since Anya was one of her friends, she should have been happy that Anya was happy and had a boyfriend and that it was someone like Jake who was probably a really great boyfriend...

But Penelope honestly didn't feel happy about it at all.

Lost in his thoughts about who knows what, Milton didn't notice a particular girl in the same corridor. There were a few people wandering about anyway, so he wasn't really paying attention.

He had stopped by a window to look around. Hogwarts was definitely pretty... But when he heard that familiar voice, those thoughts vanished. Milton's head turned to the direction of the voice and saw the familiar face of Anya. It took him a moment to collect his thoughts and remember what she had just asked him. Eventually he shrugged and looked back out the window. "Nah... I'm just a little restless, I guess." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked back at her, unsure of what to say next. Things had definitely changed between them recently.

Horrible? That was a really strong word to describe their dislike of the pairing. Now, he was just wondering if her dislike of them came from the point of view of being Anya's friend and not wanting to feel left out of her life, or more from a jealousy sense. He couldn't really poke around that thought, and even if he did, it'd probably take a while to get it out of Penelope. "Yeah." Tag agreed quietly. He knew he was a bad friend for thinking this and saying this again, and Penelope sort of knew about this. But now he wondered if she'd sympathize with him, "Yeah, I just hope her whole world doesn't become Jacob, you know. I mean I hope she makes time to hang out with us and still be friends with us."

Because, no matter how much Anya had told him, he had a bubbling, worrying feeling inside his stomach telling him Anya was the type of girl, when having a boyfriend, he'd be all she cared about. An he didn't want that.An he didn't want it for Penelope too. They all sort of relied on each other. It'd feel weird if one piece was missing out on the equation.An maybe he wasn't putting in all the effort he could to be just as great friends he was with Anya before the summer started and even worse when this was thrown on him, and maybe she wasn't either. Tag just felt, for the first time, even if he was slowly speaking to her again, he didn't feel much effort coming out of her. A feeling of slowly being erased was sinking inside of him.

"Me too." Anya said softly. Not that Milton had asked. But that was normal enough. She usually was the one that talked.

She stopped beside him and glanced out the window for several seconds before turning around and leaning against the wall next to the window

"Nerves?" she asked. "Because they wouldn't have given it to you if they didn't think you deserved it." Or that he'd do brilliantly.

"It looks good, by the way." she added nodding toward the badge.

Penelope hadn't expected it, but it was kinda nice having someone actually agree with her on this. It seemed like most everyone was either happy for them, indifferent, or disliking it because they were trying to be protective or whatever. Which wasn't the same to her as completely disagreeing and disliking it like she did. It was sort of reassuring to know there was someone who felt the same way she did, even if the reasons were slightly different. It was nice to know she wasn't actually alone.

"Yeah," she agreed. "I hope that doesn't happen with Jake either..." But she wouldn't get her hopes up. Because why wouldn't he want to hang out with Anya all the time? Why would he trade time with her for someone like Penelope, who he didn't like as much? Eggbert might be the exception since she did still have to give the egg to him to take care of for awhile, but that wouldn't take more than a minute or two to exchange the egg and then go their separate ways...

Tag had never really thought about this affecting Penelope too. An he wasn't sure why. Maybe she was being just as quiet as he was on the subject and maybe they both didn't want to say anything to anyone in fear of having a conversation with Anya or Jacob might create a disturbance in the entire relationship and being friends matter.

"Well, if one of them does it-and by that I mean Anya not hanging out with me as much and Jacob and Anya not hanging out with you as much," Because everyone knew Tag would make no attempt in trying to be friends with Jacob, even for Anya's sake. "We still have each other to talk and hang out with." Which was of course perfectly fine. Still in the back of his mind the thought of the three of them separating because of this relationship and how it takes off, lingered in his thoughts for quite a while. Not much of a mood lifter. "An, of course.. if we're both going through something else that's about this, we can come to each other." He added with a small smile.

He nodded in response and continued to look out the window. Milton hated how, in his head, he had so many things he wanted to say, but when she was actually in front of him... none of them seemed to fit. He wanted to bring up Jake and try and convince her not to go out with him, but he assumed she had probably already said yes to him.

His train of thought was interrupted when she spoke again. It took him a moment to realize what she was talking about. "Oh. No, not nerves... I'm excited, actually. I think I'll be a good captain, and we can win that cup again." He was confident about quidditch. He hoped last term's championship win would inspire more people to try out, though.

"It does, doesn't it?" Milton asked with a small smirk. It was true.

That was true, or at least it seemed so now. They DID have each other to talk to still, even if it hadn't seemed that way for awhile. It felt like they hadn't really talked much recently, especially on the train or at the feast yesterday, and that was probably why they hadn't really realized how the other was feeling until now.

So Penelope managed to smile a little. "Yeah. At least we've still got each other."

Anya smiled a little. "I think so too." She wanted to add something else, but decided against it.

"I guess you guys are getting a new seeker this year..." And at the rate she was playing, Selina probably wanted to replace Anya. Heh. And Blakey would probably go out for quidditch again. ...And who knows what was going on in Dylan's head...

Quidditch was bound to be interesting this term. That was for sure.

"Well don't get too cocky mister, that's when the biggest mistakes are made." she said eyeing his little smirk.

Yup. Life lessons with Anya.

*Walking down the halls Jacen looked around. This place was loads bigger than Durmstrang and he was having fun just looking around. He did have fun seeing Cece's reaction to him being put into Hufflepuff. Looking around he remembered a guy from his dorm telling him that a girl he dated at Hogwarts told him about a secret room that could change into whatever you wanted. That was a temptation Jacen could not pass up.*

Finally, after weeks at Hogwarts, Sutton had finally begun to find her way around the huge castle. Now she knew that she was on the 7th floor and rather close to the entrance to the astronomy tower. That was definitely heartening. And, as it turned out, she wasn't too bad at actually DOING magic. She had a knack for wand movements, recognizing the shapes each move was intended to make.

Walking down the hallway, she noticed a boy who was probably about Logan's age who seemed to be looking for something. She wondered if maybe he was new, and maybe like Sutton had been, he was lost. He kind of looked familiar, and she thought that perhaps he was Hufflepuff, like her. So far, most of them had been pretty nice... except for the mean boy who pretended to be a dementor... he would get what was coming to him.

Stopping behind the older boy, she put on that sweet smile of hers that matched the rest of her appearance and tapped him on the shoulder. "Um... hi! Are you looking for something? Do you need help?" she asked in a bright voice.

"Huh?" *Feeling a tap on his shoulder Jacen spun around. When did this kid show up? Jacen could be a bit oblivious when he was lost in thought. That must be why this girl coming up behind him freaked him out a little.*
"Your quite, I didn't even hear you coming. I've been exploring this place all day and can't find this one room."

Well, she had been right, the boy had definitely been older.

And he was definitely very cute.

As Sutton tucked her hair behind her ear with a kind of cute nervousness, she smiled up at him. "I'm only quiet because I'm so little!" she responded with a giggle. As he explained about the room, Sutton's face turned to one of deeper thought. "Well, there aren't many rooms up here, really. I mean, on the seventh floor you have the entrances to the different towers, and there's probably a bathroom up here somewhere, but I think that's it. No empty classrooms or anything," she said, a bit confused. Maybe he was on the wrong floor That was very possible.

"I'm Sutton, by the way. Sutton Rose Josephine Piatek," she finished, holding out her hand to him secretly dying for him to take it.

"Its a hidden room, that's what my sources say anyway..."
*While talking to her he was still looking around. A door hidden in the wall, or maybe even a fake wall. Jacen would find it that was for sure. Then he heard names. Huh? Oh the kid was introducing herself. Turning back he took her hand and gave it a little shake. Seeing the look in her eyes he tried to not chuckle. Looks like he would be getting an admirer. Oh well she looked harmless enough, and Jacen saw no need to set the record straight yet.*
"Nice to meet you, I'm Jacen Ti- ummm just Jacen."

*Even to a second or third whatever year this kid was, Jacen did not want it known that he was related to a staff member. Not yet anyway. Let her find out herself. Jacen was not ready to offer up that bit of information yet.*