"Dude, you rock." He'd looked after his girlfriend for him and Ed hadn't even noticed his bad shoulder. "Adrenaline rules." It must have hurt to have it put back though.

"See, this is why we're best friends," He grinned, proud of him. "Wait, you mean you don't have a stash?!" Ed always had some water balloons, some stink bombs, some foam pellets (which were REALLY fun to put into people's food and watch them freak out) and a stash of trick wands from WWW's.

Smirking "I'm jus' glad I could do somethin' te help. It was crazy there, with everyone runnin' everywhere." People sick left and right, hurt and injured. Carried out on stretchers. He hoped that wouldn't happen again any time soon.

Nodding he grinned "Man 'tis weird we've only known each other how many months?" So weird, seriously! Laughing again "Not of prank stuff, candy and thet but never really got inte the pranking stuff but I wish I did haf some water balloons." Shiftily looking at him "We need te make our 7th year epic. And I mean totally epic." He had an idea and wondered if Ed might be interested in it.

"Yeah, I don't even know how I got to you that fast." It must have been 'cause he'd been worried about Nell. Seriously worried. "Did you get any recognition for it or anything?" Isaac had helped a couple of people.

"I know! It's crazy, but it feels like I've known you longer." Like, the WHOLE of his life. "I can provide you with some water balloons." He wiggled his eyebrows at him, grinning. But then a mischievous look appeared on his face. "We do. Got anything in mind?" Oh yeah, he was up for anything.

Nodding, it had seemed like Ed had just appeared out of no where! "I got like 10 points fer it is what I found out later." he said shrugging. "I was jus' glad everyone made it te the school okay. Well mostly okay anyway." Yep, he didn't care about the point earning mostly.

"Totally!" It was like they were mates for life though it had barely been 3 months! "Ye can huh." he said wiggling his eyebrows back "I think I could some of those." Yep for a kid named Laura Hyde. "Yeah, I kind of do." Glancing around at the elves, which he was still hoping would ask if he wanted anything, "I'll tell ye later when we can find a more quiet place."

Alec was really glad that Ella was here. Uncomfortable situations weren't really... nice. Not at all. This was probably one of the most uncomfortable and awkwardest situations he had ever been in. And he should know since he usually found himself in awkward situations a lot when he didn't ask to be in them. Yeah... so it was good that Ells was here. She could help to diffuse the awkwardness, right? Yeah. Alec blinked at what the girl was saying. Distracted in the dormitory? "Erm... the girl's dorms... they're not made out of ice cream, are they?" Because that was the a way he could get distracted. "I'd be more worried if you got hurt, you know," he whispered, secretly wondering why he had said that out loud. Oh phew, she started talking about Quidditch tryouts! "I expect you to be there as well!" It would be great if they could play on the same team! "Erm... how are you feeling about tryouts?" Smile.

Alec looked between the house elves, to Ella and then back again. The blonde haired girl had to be right. She usually was in situations like these. And in most other situations as well. How was she usually always right? Alec did not understand this. "You did? I've only come here to get snacks for Messy... and Sophie's birthday party!" Her birthday party was really awesome! They made cupcakes! It couldn't get any more awesome than that, could it? "Yeah... yeah! And we'll... erm... clean up after ourselves as well," You know, if they made a mess. "Yeah... they won't even know that we're here!" GRIN!

And then... Ella started moving and stopped right in front of him. Alec just blinked at her. Even though she was quite a bit shorter than him, he could still notice quite a few details on her face. Like the fact that her eyes seemed to sparkle sometimes. And her hair was really nice and... wavy. And it looked golden... like the sun. Yeah... this was starting to get... very confusing. And it didn't help that she was standing so close to him. Gulp. And everything the girl had said flew out of his mind except for one word: sundaes. "Erm... I... yeah! Yeah, sundaes!" he said, trying his hardest to act normal, "So... erm... what will we need? Ice?" That one was pretty obvious.

Ella looked at Alec with raised eyebrows for a minute before grinning at him. A dormitory made of ice cream?! O__O Ella would NEVER leave such a place!
"No, sadly they aren't...but that's brilliant! Imagine? I'd just stay in my dormitory all the time and...eat!" And eventually get fat, that was kind of a given. It would totally be worth it, though. ...Blink.Blink. Well Ella hadn't expected that. And she was a bit unsure why Alec had whispered, though she found this to be quite adorable. "Yeah? I um...well I'm really tough and strong so you erm...don't have to worry." And she giggled before nudging him lightly. "I'll be there." Ells assured him, nodding seriously. Ella Bishop didn't joke when it came to Quidditch. "I feel...really nervous, if I'm being honest." Which Ella usually was. "But I'm also really excited to get to play again. I looooove to play." Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. "And you?" She wondered if he felt nervous, despite the fact that he was a brilliant Quidditch player.

D'awww! Alec got snacks for Messy? How nice was that? Ella smiled, thinking that the two of them were really quite funny. Always picking on each other but clearly in love...well in a friendly way, of course. "Mhm. I did." Nod. Nod. "You get Messy food? Why wouldn't he just come down and-" Ohhhh. Ells knew why. "He's scared of the house elves, huh? Like...really scared?" She whispered this, leaning close to Alec so that none of the wonderful house elves would hear. "We should try and help him get over that..." Y'know, if Alec wanted to. Anyways..."Yeah...yeah of course we'll clean up. I'm a good cleaner." Um...yeah. That wasn't an awkward declaration or anything. Meh. "Mhm! We'll be super stealth...like ice cream ninjas!" BEAM.

Ella was looking at Alec with raised eyebrows, wondering what was going on in that ruffle haired head of his. He was looking at her all confused-like and he didn't seem at all excited about ice cream sundaes anymore. POKE. "You okay, Alec?" Ells asked, frowning slightly. He wasn't feeling sick or anything, was he? Without really thinking about it, she stood on her tippy toes and brought her hand up to his forehead, checking for a fever. She was no doctor but he wasn't too hot so she figured he was fine. She dropped down again and took a step back, watching him curiously.

SNORT. Ice? Ella giggled and nodded her head. "Umm yeah, I'm gonna say that's probably important...we need our ice cream cold." GRIN. "We need to figure out what flavor ice cream we want to use as a base...and then we need to pick out the toppings." And she bounced excitedly again, itching to get started. Could he tell that she was excited?

Alec grinned back at the girl. It was nice to see her getting so excited over something like ice cream. It made him smile. "Yeah... I mean... how can you get away from something like that?" A dorm... made of ICE CREAM! No one could resist that! "Erm...maybe it's a good thing that it's not. I mean... then you wouldn't be able to go to classes and play Quidditch and... yeah," And meet him... because he'd miss her if she stayed in her room all day and didn't come out to see him. But... he wasn't going to say that to her. So instead, he let a half-smile cross his face at what Ells said next. "Yeah... you are really strong," he said, grinning at the nudge, "But if you get hurt... am I allowed to worry?" He really didn't see how he could stop himself from worrying about the blonde girl if anything happened to her. "Yeah? You have nothing to worry about, Ells. You're a brilliant player!" But he did like how honest she was. "I'm... erm... nervous as well. But excited as well? I mean... we get to fly again! And play Quidditch! That's... that's awesome!" Hopefully, Ella knew what he was talking about.

Alec raised an eyebrow at the beginning of Ella's question but then started nodding as she corrected herself. Yeah... Messy didn't like house elves. He, Alec, didn't really understand this. House elves were awesome! How can anyone not like them? "Really, really scared!" he said, nodding seriously, "Yeah! Hey! Ells! That's a great idea! Erm... would he want to come here though?" Because he would need to come here to get over his fear. ... Ells was a good cleaner? Alec let a grin spread across his face and tried his hardest not to chuckle. It was hard not to laugh or grin when you were around Ella Bishop. The girl just had that kind of nature. One that could make anyone laugh. "That'll be useful! And... I'll help!" Really. "Ells and Alec... the ice cream ninjas... Hey! That's brilliant!" GRIN!

Yeah... he needed Treyen for this. Or Keefer. One of them could just explain what was going on because he really had no idea what was happening to him. Maybe he was just... noticing things? Yeah... yeah, he was just noticing new things that he hadn't noticed before. And then she asked a question! Gulp. Right, he needed to say something smart and cool and normal before she started to suspect things. But... before he could do that... Ells started touching his forehead. The fourteen year old's eyes flew wide open and he found himself at a loss for words but somehow managed to say, "I... yeah... yeah, I'm good. Just... erm... excited. You know... we're making sundaes and sundaes are..." For some weird reason, he really wanted to use the word 'beautiful' right about now. "...awesome." Yeah... that was very normal. Well done, Summers!

Alec grinned, secretly happy that he had made Ells giggle. It was great that he could make someone laugh because... well... he wasn't a funny guy, was he? Not really. So this was like... an achievement! An awesome one, at that. "Yeah... we can't have it melting while we're making it," That would be a waste of ice cream! "Erm... well... isn't it going to be Oreo flavoured?" Or did they have to use vanilla as the base and then add in the crushed Oreos?

"You just...can't! You'd be stuck forever." And Ella's green eyes grew wide at the thought of being trapped in an ice cream prison. What a wonderful and terrible place that would be. EEP. "Yeah...yeah, you're right. I wouldn't be able to do anything Hogwartsy." Frown. "And life without Quidditch would be...would be...it would be really sad." Even with a dorm made of ice cream! "And I'd miss all my people, of course." Alec included, though she didn't say that out loud for whatever reason. An amused smile spread across her face when Alec agreed that she was strong, knowing that was complete rubbish. As for his question, "I erm...well yeah, I guess so. I mean I'd be really worried about you if you were hurt and um...just don't go getting hurt any time soon, okay?" He wasn't allowed to, as far as Ella was concerned and she knew Hulk and Pinky would agree. BLUSH. "Brilliant? I um...I wouldn't go that far but um...thanks." Coming from the best seeker she'd seen play, it meant a lot. "Yeah...yeah, it is awesome! Quidditch is the best! You shouldn't be too nervous, though. You're one of the best players at Hogwarts. You'll make the team for sure." Just stating facts, she was.

Of all the things in the world to be afraid of, why would some one be afraid of house elves? They were so ickle and kind and hard working! MEEP. They were just really cool, yeah? She gave her fellow badger the smallest of smiles when he seemed to like her idea, wondering if they could actually get Messer down to the kitchens. "What if we um...well we could...do you think blindfolding him and not telling him where we were going is too extreme?" Probably, right? But if it helped hit out, maybe it was a good thing to do. Oh...and he was smiling at her? Because of what she said about cleaning? Ella rolled her eyes before laughing softly. "I am such a weirdo, huh?" She asked, more amused than embarrassed by her awkward comment. "Right...useful. Yeah! Hey, maybe I could be a house dinosaur?" Grin. "Okay, thanks. I'll wash and you dry?" Ells was always a washer at home when her and Dad did dishes. BEAM. Ice cream ninjas did sound like a cool occupation. Ells wondered if they'd need uniforms for this. "Thanks."

So...not only was Alec acting strange, but his eyes were so wide it looked like he had seen a ghost or something. Ella couldn't help but turn around quickly, expecting to see the Bloody Baron floating behind her and looking all stern and scary-like. She let out a small sigh of relief when all she found behind her was a few elves, hard at work. PHEW. She turned back around in time to watch as Alec proclaimed how awesome he thought ice cream sundaes were. She smiled at him, wondering why he was acting so strange and cute all of the sudden. "I'm excited too." Grin. "And yeah...sundaes are awesome. I completely agree!"

Ella nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I mean we're making ice cream sundaes, not ice cream soup..." Giggle. Though...ice cream soup definitely sounded interesting. Hmmm. Oh...right! Oreo. Duh! How had Ella forgotten her favorite ice cream? Her brain was all confuzzled now. Strange. "Yeah...yeah, Oreo! We'll need lots of Oreo ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, crushed Oreo cookies, and cherries." But wait! She was forgetting something...what was she forgetting...she frowned, looking around before a lightbulb went off. "And gummy worms!" MEEP! How could she have forgotten. Where was her brain today, anyway? Very strange indeed.

"Exactly!" Alec said, nodding seriously. See, Ella understood him. And they had a lot of things in common so it was easy for them to understand each other. And she wasn't really one of those confusing girls either. It was... nice. "Yeah! No Quidditch is like... like a punishment," Did Ells understand what he was talking about? "Like... like no ice cream for life." That would be the worst punishment in the history of punishments! But what Ella said about 'missing people' kind of made Alec smile and shuffle his feet, secretly hoping that he'd be one of the people Ella would miss if she was stuck in her dorm all day long. He smiled some more when the blonde haired girl started talking about him not getting hurt. "You'd... you'd be worried?" This made him feel pretty special inside which just made him ruffle his hair. "That's... yeah. But you'd better not get hurt as well, yeah? Because... erm... I'd be really worried." And he'd probably refuse to leave the Hospital Wing if she was in there. Because... that's what friends do for each other, right? Right. "I would. Because... erm... it's true. You're pretty amazing at Quidditch," Erm... 'one of the best'?! Since when?! "I wouldn't call myself that but thanks Ells! I hope we both make it onto the team!" It would be pretty awesome to play Quidditch with the girl.

Blindfolding Messy to make him come down to the kitchens and fight his fears... Alec really liked this idea. Especially if he was the one who got to blindfold Messy and make him come to the kitchens. Except... Messy probably wouldn't trust him on this so maybe someone like Ella could do the job? Yeah... "And then we make him... erm... hug a house elf and then take off the blindfold?" he asked, trying to picture the whole thing in his head. It didn't sound like a bad idea. It sounded great, actually! Alec smiled some more at Ella's comment. "Yeah, you are weird," he said, "But you know what? That's why... erm... people like you. And are friends with you. And... well... it's a good type of weird." That... was the right thing to say, right? He hoped so! "Like a dinosaur who can clean?" GRIN! "Anytime! Erm... yeah! Yeah, drying sounds good!" As long as he didn't drop any of the dishes, that is. "Anytime!" he said again, still grinning at the girl.

Blink. Okay... he didn't understand this. First he was thinking some really weird things about a girl who was one of his closest friends and now... that very same girl was looking behind her. Yeah... girls were really confusing at times. But when she was looking around, Alec took some time to just look at the girl. Really... he was pretty sure he had feelings for his best friend. But now he was feeling weird around Ells. And confused. And- oh, she turned around! Quick, stop staring! "Erm... yeah! Yeah, they are!" he said, ruffling his hair and looking away.

The fourteen year old chuckled at Ella's words. "Yeah... Ice cream sundaes sound a lot better than ice cream soup!" GRIN! "Erm... I... how would you make ice cream soup?" Ella was one of the few people Alec knew who liked ice cream just as much as he did so surely, she should know this, right? Or she'd find a clever way to make it? Using her own recipe? The Hufflepuff boy GRINNED at the mention of all the ingredients. So many of his favourites were in there! This was definitely going to be a sundae he'd like making! "Erm... that sounds great!" he said, starting to move over towards the freezer. He opened the door and started rummaging around in the compartments until... AHA! Ice cream! And they had Oreo ones! Perfect! "Erm... Ells?" he called out, "How much ice cream will we need?"

Laura walked into the Kitchen, she was looking around for any house elf that should could find, she was on a mission, she hadn't stopped to see if Sutton was following her but since Professor Hadley had sent them both to speak to the House Elves she assumed that Sutton would have followed. "Can I ask a House Elf a huge favour." Laura smiled, looking around for a free house elf, she would help them make the food, Professor Hadley had said she could, though she really wanted to make sure Alyssa was alright.

Kurumi flashed Gwen a quick smile. "And I think you might be underestimating yourself." Really, what WAS the worst that could happen with mixing ingredient in a bowl with a wooden spoon or pouring things into molds?

Kurumi then turned her attention back to Elodie and gave her a quick nod. "I will. I'm sure she would love to hear from you too though." Like in the Great Hall or somewhere. Alice was a tough cookie, tougher that most people thought of it. Kurumi included. She had thought that herself when she had first met the girl when she was a first year. Kurumi wished she were as tough as the little Gryffindor. She was still shaking and getting rashes after one Quidditch accident and there was Alice, bouncing back already from breaking her leg.

"Yep, go ahead and take a look," Kurumi said, passing the recipe book over to her. "Treyen Lockhart. Do you remember him? He graduated a few terms ago and is one of my best friends." More like a brother than a friend really.

....Lady Kurumi... Kurumi decided just to let that one slide. No matter how many times she told Elodie to just call her Kurumi by her name without titles, it just never happened.

And then there was TIIIIIIIIIIINKA! Who was insisting on cleaning already? Before Kurumi could even think about protesting, the house elf was attached to her leg...AND HUGGING IT!!! dkjfkdjsdjsjhfskshk!! "I'm glad you are excited, Tinka," Kurumi laughed when she heard someone else enter the kitchen. "Um, Tinka, this is Elodie," she explained, indicating the little Hufflepuff who was looking through her recipe book. "And this is Gwen." There, now they all knew each other. YAY!

Or...almost everyone. "Hey Genevieve," Kurumi greeted. THAT was her name, right? Not the name from the Arthurian tale like she had always thought it was. "Baking cupcakes...once Elodie picks the recipe."

Tinka was momentarily distracted from the cupcake-making brigade. She felt like she was being watched. "Ohh!" It was a studentsie she hadn't seen previously. "Oh sir, Tinka is sorry Tinka did not see you! Tinka sorry sorry sorry! Tinka will close her ears in the oven later for this." She flapped her hands and ears, hurrying over to the boy. "Does sir need something from Tinka?"



And then one of Tinka's least favorite studentsies walked in. Missus Hyde cause messies! Missus Hyde not taking care of Tinka's home nicely! But Tinka still live to serve the studentsies.

She bustled over and bowed low. "What can Tinka do for Missus Hyde?"



Missus is laughing! Missus is happy! More tears flooded Tinka's eyes. "Tinka get Missus Kurumi anything she need. Anything she want!" But Missus Prefect had brought another new studentsie friend! "Missus Elodie, Missus Gwen," the elf said, bowing low and scraping her nose on the ground. "Tinka is happy to meet any friends of Missus Kurumi! Tinka know you must be just as nice and kind as Missus is."

"NOOOO!" he cried before lowering her voice "No, don't do thet, I mean!" Darn it he'd yelled, he didn't mean to, he just didn't want her closing her ears in the oven! "Could I get a sandwich, any kind is jus' fine. I haven' eaten all day, I've been in the hospital wing." Yep sandwich would be perfect. Anything to hold him over til morning. Eyeing the elf he looked serious "AND no shutting yer ears in the oven door."

"Oh, well done man!" Yeah, he was happy for his bestie. "Same. Shame Nell was practically half unconscious, you dislocated your shoulder and Amelia got hurt." That part wasn't good.

"I can." He smirked, happy to share. "Oh, good. I can't wait." Yes, he wanted in on this. His eyes widened to an amazing size when Tinka mentioned closing her ears in the oven door, but Isaac's reaction made him jump. He grabbed the worktop in surprise, but nodded in agreement with him. "Don't hurt yourself, please." Poor elf!

"Yeah...It would definitely be like punishment. Especially if it makes someone as happy as it makes us." Ella said seriously, totally understanding what Alec was talking about. She couldn't imagine life without the sport, honestly. O__O NoIceCreamForLife? Ella shuddered at the thought and whispered, "Don't even joke about that! I think I'd be sad for like...ever without it." And she wasn't being dramatic or anything. Nope... And then the third year noticed that Alec was erm...dancing? Or his feet were shuffling on the ground a bit and she smiled, wondering what that was all about. He sure liked to ruffle and shuffle things. Heh. The third year wondered why Alec seemed surprised that she would be worried about him. Ella figured lots of people worried about him all the time, though maybe they just didn't say it out loud...EEP. Was it weird to do that? "I um...well yeah, you're my friend so I erm...care about you." Which wasn't freaking him out or anything, right? But it couldn't be, since he went on to say that he'd be worried about her as well. "Oh? I...um...well thanks, Alec." And she smiled, looking down at the floor. Wait! Were you supposed to thank someone for saying something like that? Hm. BLUSH. At least Alec knew all about Ella's blushing, this made her feel like she didn't really need to hide it or anything. She just kind of stood there, face all pink, smiling at him. "Thanks..." And erm...he was thanking her as well? "Well I would and um...you're welcome." Grin. "Yeah! I hope so too."

Ella tried to picture Messer hugging a house elf and she smiled immediately, knowing how funny his face would be once the blind fold came off. She'd need a camera if they were really going to do this. And besides, he'd thank them in the long run! Cause if he got over his fear he could come to the kitchens and eat ice cream with them! BEAM. "Yeah, that sounds like a really good plan. We'll have to um...do it sometime soon, then." When Messy least expected it! Oh and Alec thought she was weird too? Ella nodded, smiling still. She'd kinda accepted that about herself, the weirdness. "So my weirdness is like a friends magnet?" She added, giggling. That was something she definitely didn't know. "A good weird...right. Thanks, Alec." Grin. "Yes! exactly that!" Nod. Nod. Nod. Ells was really glad Alec understood her dinosaur talk. "Alright, drying it is then." She added with a smile.

Um...So the whole Alec staring thing? It had Ella feeling all kinds of confused. She suddenly got the overwhelming fear that her hair might be looking funny so she smoothed it down, tucking a rogue strand behind her ear nervously. This staring thing was erm...just an accident, yeah? Wait...what was he saying? Ella couldn't remember so she just kind of nodded in agreement, hoping that she wasn't agreeing with anything too bad.

"They definitely do! Though I was thinking that ice cream soup could be nice...I mean depending on the ingredients, of course." Yup. Ells was seriously considering this as her next cooking adventure. Oh! And he was curious about it too? BEAM. It made sense though, Alec DID love ice cream just as much as she did. "I dunno, really. I guess it involved melted ice cream and a whole buncha other delicious stuff!" And no worries, she'd be writing down some trial recipes once she got back to her dormitory. "I'm going to look into this..." She said thoughtfully, before giving her friend a wide smile.

As Alec moved off to the freezer, Ella headed to the cabinets and located the hot fudge and whipped cream. She was on her tippy toes trying to reach the Oreo package when Alec called out to her. "I...erm..." Reach, Ella, reach. "Probably...just..." Just..a..little...more "a...tub...YES!" Mwahaha! She got it! She had the Oreos! BEAM. BEAM. BEAM.

Oh, hello, there. Vivi dropped into a crouch and peered up into the little house elf's face. Tinka, was it? Hmm...

"Maybe you don't remember me, Tinka, but you used to help watch Headmistress Rae's babies in the classroom nursery?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Or...almost everyone. "Hey Genevieve," Kurumi greeted. THAT was her name, right? Not the name from the Arthurian tale like she had always thought it was. "Baking cupcakes...once Elodie picks the recipe."

"Vivi is fine," she offered from her crouched position. Genevieve was a pretty good name, but it was... a mouthful sometimes. It seemed like people preferred to use her old standard here at Hogwarts, anyway, so she might as well introduce herself that way.

"Cupcakes are cool. I was thinking of making pasties... do you know those? The little meat and gravy pastries?" Portable meals, that's what they were. Alena used to make them when they went on picnics, and Vivi thought they would work perfectly for her purposes.

"Yeah... yeah, so we just have to... make it onto the team! And then... it won't seem like a punishment!" It sounded like one of those things that were easier said than done, really. Because they had to compete against each other for a spot on the team, right? Yeah... how were you meant to compete against your friends? But then Ella continued speaking and Alec just grinned and held up both of his hands. "No joking!" ... Erm... what? "And... we can't have that so..." GRIN! And what the girl said next kind of surprised him. He had thought that the only people who'd be worried about him would have been his Dad and maybe Tag. "And... erm... you're my friend as well and... I care about you as well," he said, trying to diffuse the awkwardness with a smile. He... didn't really understand why she was thanking him. And he also didn't understand why she was blushing unless... did she take it as a compliment? If so, then that wasn't so bad! "Anytime!" he said, grinning at the girl.

From the smile on Ella's face... it seemed like she liked the idea, right? Yeah, to Alec it did. Because... well... you wouldn't smile at an idea you hate, right? Right! She had to like it, really. It was her idea! "Yeah... yeah, we will!" GRIN! "Erm... do you think he'd let us blindfold him, though?" 'Cause, this was Messy. The guy liked being careful sometimes. A friends... magnet? Alec let out a small chuckle at Ella's words. She had a weird way of phrasing things in a way that made sense to the people who knew her well. It was nice, actually. "Well... yeah! I mean... people don't want to hang around with boring people, right?" Was he even saying the right things? "Anytime!" Yeah... so maybe he was saying the right things. Good. He didn't really want to upset the girl. And... he was slightly happy that he understood what Ells was talking about. No confusion! Awesome!

Alec didn't understand anything. Nothing at all. All he knew was that this was all very... confusing. And he had felt like this before. But... he was pretty sure that he still liked Anya, even if the girl was dating someone else. And he was sure that he only had friendly feelings for Ells. Like... a friend would do what he was about to do, right? Yeah! "Here..." Alec whispered, leaning forwards and helping Ella tuck the strand of hair behind her ear. He leant backwards again and just smiled. That... wasn't awkward, right?

The Hufflepuff nodded along to his fellow Hufflepuff's words. "Yeah... I mean, we probably can't put something weird in there that'll be in other soups..." Because... well... no one wanted to have an onion ice cream soup, right? Right. Ella, being the ice cream expert that she was, started talking about what she thinks would be in an ice cream soup. And Alec, being the constantly confused boy that he was, just listened to her, slightly in awe. Yeah... how did she know things like this?! "Yeah... and, erm, maybe we can make ice cream soup one day?" You know, since they were making something a bit new today.

Yeah... standing by the open doored freezer wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do. Why? Because his legs were now feeling really really cold. But he forgot about this feeling of coldness once Ella started speaking. Alec turned around and blinked. Did she... need help? He opened his mouth to ask her whether she did but then a cry of triumph came from the girl and Alec got his answer. "One tub it is..." he said, grabbing the tub of Oreo ice cream and closing the door of the freezer. Phew! He grinned as he walked over towards the fridge. "Ells? Cherries are kept in the fridge, right?"

The one house elf Laura didn't like much had to be the one that heard her, okay so she had once made a mess in the Kitchen but it wasn't her fault that this house elf held a grudge. "How are you today Tinka?" Laura smiled at the house elf, she was going to be nice. "Is Tinka having a good day?" Laura suddenly remembered what she was set for. "Can you make some Soup, Cookies and Soda and whatever else you think might be classed as comfort food." Laura smiled to Tinka. "I'll help you if you want." Laura would love to help. "Professor Hadley sent me." Laura suddenly remembered to add that bit in.

"Yeah...exactly. Shouldn't be too hard or anything if we um...work really hard." Honestly? Ella had no doubts about Alec making the team. Even if he couldn't see it, he really was a brilliant player. She'd always kind of been jealous of that. If anyone deserved to make the team though, Ells thought it was him. She laughed softly as he suddenly raised his hands, finding it quite amusing. "Good." She said in a mock serious tone, shaking her finger at him like her Dad sometimes did at her. Heh. She simply smiled when he said they couldn't have her sad...but he must have meant both of them, right? Because he would be sad without ice cream too. Yeah...that's what he had meant. And he cared about her? This made Ella feel all warm and fuzzy for some reason, though she figured she shouldn't really be too surprised. Friends were meant to care about each other, yeah? That was totally normal...She returned his smile with one of her own and then turned her attention to a nearby pot of something, apparently finding it very interesting...

Well that kind of posed a problem, the getting Messy into a blindfold thing. Ella scrunched up her face in concentration, trying to think of a way they could manage it. "Y'know...what if we pretended it was for a game or something...the blindfold...and then we just carried out the plan instead once it was on him?" But...that was kind of lying, wasn't it? Tricking Messer like that? Ells wondered if it was still bad if they were doing it with good intentions. And he was laughing at her again, but not the mean kind of laughter, it was the kind that didn't make you feel all uncomfortable or judged. "Yeah, boring people would be...well...very boring to hang out with, yeah?" And Ella was wearing her Captain Obvious costume again, apparently...

O___O

Well that was...unexpected. Ella kind of blinked at Alec, green eyes a bit wider than usual as he leaned in close to her and whispered. Why had he whispered? That was kind of different. And he had tucked her hair behind her ear for her? That was...helpful. The only other boy who touched her hair was Edric and he just ruffled it til it was all messy like a lion's mane. She just kind of watched him curiously as he stepped back again and smiled at her. Erm..."Thanks." Blink.Blink. Smile. Ella needed to discuss this with Sophie.

"Exactly." Ells said seriously, clearly taking this ice cream soup talk far to literally. She would never want to add anything like carrots or celery or pasta to the soup. That wouldn't be good! Yikes. Oh! And Alec wanted to help her make some? GRIN. "Yeah! That'd be really fun. I'm in." Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.

Ella was too busy flailing around with the package of Oreos to register that Alec was talking to her. Only when she realized that she probably looked like a mental person did she stop and note that he had said something. Whoops. Whathadhesaid? Cherries...right. "Yup, they should be in there!" And now to crush the Oreos. Ella smiled mischievously before opening the package and looking around the counter for a meat cleaver...a clean one, of course. "Hey Alec? You want to help me with something?" She asked excitedly, opening up the nearest draw and peering inside.

Tinka jumped back, startled and scared. "Sir, Tinka sorry! Please don't yell, sir! Tinka sorry!" Cue more flailing and flapping. Tinka have to punish for upsetting sir! Hearing a studentsie request, the elfsy ears perked up. "Food? Tinka get you whatever sir wants! Tinka bring you good meal, just sit and rest!" With a loud CRACK! she disappeared.

After several moments, another loud POP! announced her return. "Tinka bring sir tray of choices. Tinka bring you tea and cookies if sir wants." The elf bowed low and retreated to clean, leaving him to eat.



Tinka shook her head. "Tinka must be punished. Tinka was a bad elf!" Her arms flapped once. "But Tinka won't shut ears in oven if that make sirs upset." Tinka just do something else, but Tinka must punish for being a bad elfsy!



The little elfsy eyes bulged when the studentsie crouched down. Tinka shrunk back slightly. But at the studentsie's words, the eyes lit up. "Of course, Tinka remember everything with Missus Rae's babies!" The skinny arms began to windmill in excitement. "You little Vivi, you is!"



"Tinka is fine, miss. Tinka been using her whiskie lot today." She shuffled her elfsy feet and stared at the ground. "Tinka happy to serve studentsies, Tinka make whatever miss Laura need." But as far as help... "Oh no, missus. Tinka and other elvsies make everything for you." The little elf grabbed Laura's hand and led her over near the fireplace. "Miss just wait here and us elvsies make for you comfort food now." And she hustled off to get started.

"Yeah! Yeah... we just need to... focus," And working hard shouldn't be too hard for them, right? They were in Hufflepuff, after all. The house of loyal hard workers. And he was pretty sure that Ells could make it onto the team. She was a pretty brilliant player, especially with a Beater's bat. It's what made him secretly glad that they weren't in different house teams. But all of this was driven out of his mind when Ells... well... the girl looked all Professor-like with that serious finger. Alec chuckled. "With that finger... you could be a Professor, you know," he said, grinning at her. Hopefully, that wasn't such a bad thing to say. Judging from the smile on Ella's face, he would have thought that it wasn't, really. But... the girl did look away to look at... a pot? Pots were that interesting? Yeah... girls were really confusing.

Alec watched Ells as she started... thinking? Yeah, thinking. And it was about something... he didn't know yet. Oh... pretend it was a game? Alec... didn't really mind this idea. "We could!" he said, "Erm... would Messy believe us if we did say that it was a game? Or... a surprise?" But Messy would think that Alec was planning something weird if he, Alec, was the one to say this to him. Yeah... maybe Ells can do the talking instead. ... Boring people were boring to hang out with? Alec grinned and nodded. Ells had... understood him and just... phrased things simply? Yeah, that's what it seemed like. "Yeah... they're not a lot of fun to hang around with," he said.

Alec ruffled his hair and look over the top of Ella's head at something else. Anything really. You know, just so Ells didn't think of him as a weird boy who did weird things and just made everything awkward? Which, now that he thought about it, he actually was. Gulp. He really needed Treyen or Keefer or someone to tell him what to do. And to explain girls in general. Like... why were they so confusing? And why did they do... the things they did? And why was Ella thanking him? Alec looked back at her and blinked. Yeah... he didn't understand any of this. "Erm... anytime?" Way to act casual, Summers.

GRIN! "It can be... our next cooking project?" he asked. He could see it now; the two of them as seventh years, still trying to make ice cream related treats in the Kitchen. That would be awesome! And it could happen because, well, he just knew that they'd still be friends during their seventh year at Hogwarts. And maybe even longer than that. He really hoped so!

Blink. Did he say something... silly? Because Ells hadn't said anything. Maybe they were in the fridge. Yeah. Alec, feeling slightly more awkward now, walked over towards the fridge as calmly as he could and opened it. Cherries! Alec grinned right as Ells spoke. Right. Awesome! He grabbed the box and shut the fridge door right as Ells said something else. ... Help? "Yeah, sure!" he said, setting down the box and the tub of ice cream and walking over towards the blonde haired girl. He stood there, just watching her peering into a drawer, utterly confused. "Erm... I... what do you need help with?"

Right. Focus. Ells could totally do that. She just had to erm...not choke or over think things like she usually did. Wouldn't be too hard...right? Hopefully. Oh. And then Alec was laughing. She could be a Professor? This was something Ella hadn't thought about before. Professor Bishop...GIGGLE. "Yeah? Dad always does this to me when he's trying to be intimidating. ...It usually doesn't work." She said, grinning. Yeah, her Dad really was the best.

Ella considered Alec's point. He was right, Messer probably wouldn't fall for the game scenario. A surprise was a good idea, though! And maybe Messy would be all excited and not think too much about where they were going? Yeah...that could work. "A surprise...might be a good way to get him to come along. And maybe so he isn't too suspicious we could have Hulk help out too?" Yeah! And she would definitely be up for this kind of mission, right? ...And Alec didn't think she was a weirdo for stating the obvious? It didn't seem that way...since he was smiling and nodding. This was a good thing. "Yeah." She replied rather lamely, returning his smile. Boy. They sure were smiling a lot.

So...this was getting a bit awkward and Ella didn't really understand why or when this change had happened. She was confused...and a little curious as to why Alec was no longer looking at her but instead seemed focused on...the wall behind her? Strange. Ella would seriously never understand boys. And she had said something stupid, it seemed? Was she not supposed to thank him for erm...helping with her hair? It just seemed like the...polite thing to do. But they could just ignore this erm...awkwardness, right? Right.

Ella bounced excitedly, smiling at Alec. "Yeah! It'll be fun...we'll be like...like ice cream scientists!" And that sounded like an amazing way to hang out with a friend. And honestly? Who else could she do this kind of ice cream stuff with? Nobody she knew loved ice cream as much as Alec did, it seemed. He was a good partner for this type of stuff! BEAM.

The third year continued searching in the draw, aware that Alec was now watching over her shoulder but too focused to say anything. When she found what she was looking for, she pulled out the plastic baggy and turned to hold it up for him to see. "We're going to crush the Oreos, of course." She said cheerfully, going over and dropping a handful of Oreos into the clear bag before zipping it up. The blonde then placed the bag down on top of the cutting board and reached for the meat hammer, handing it to Alec. "Just pretend you're a beater." She said with a smile, motioning her head towards the bag of Oreos. "Go on, it's fun." Grin.

Oh gosh...Tinka was crying. Kurumi always felt really REALLY awkward whenever one of the house elves began to cry over something she did or said. At least this time they weren't doing so because they were punishing themselves for something. Kurumi could still remember the first time she insisted on baking herself. It had been awful.

"Well, I could use a large mixing bowl," Kurumi said with a small wink.
"Vivi," Kurumi repeated with a nod. Although it came out sounding more like Bibi since the seventh year still struggled with V sounds. Kurumi watched for a moment as Vivi interacted with Tinka. Wait, wasn't this the Ravenclaw's first term at Hogwarts? So how did she...

Kurumi realized just how little she knew about the girl, despite Selina talking about her often in the common room. Time to fix that, yes? Especially since it seemed like the two of them shared an interest in baking.

...even if Kurumi wasn't entirely sure what a pasty was.

"Oh! I've only ever had them in the Great Hall," Kurumi nodded once the pieces fell into place. "I've never made them though. I haven't actually ventured out of sweets territory when it comes to baking to be honest..." Her mother had never taught her proper cooking...just cookies, pies, and cupcakes as it were. And breads. "Are they...difficult?"

"No, sorry Tinka. I'm truly sorry, I didn' mean te yell. I jus' don' want ye te..." Nodding, "Yes food." Watching as she just disappeared with a pop, he turned eyeing Ed his eyes wide. He opened his mouth to speak when suddenly Tinka appeared as fast as she'd disappeared! "Thet sounds perfect! Thank ye!" he said kindly with a bright smile, "Tea and cookies would be lovely."

Beaming at her, his eyes widened again, and the beam slid from his face as she spoke to Ed. "No Tinka! "Ye did good, righ' Ed?" Yes she did good, she wasn't a bad elf. "Ye were very very fast, and got us lots of lovely food." Shaking his head, she couldn't hurt herself! "Tinka, don' let me cry, please. I'll cry if ye punish yerself."

EEP. Isaac had scared the elf! Ed scowled at him until he apologised, but then looked back to the flustered elf. He raised his eyebrows at her disappearing to get food, looked at Isaac and before either of them could say anything, she was back! He was impressed.

His expression fell to one of concern at the mention of punishment though. "You did really good." He nodded, agreeing slightly desperately with Isaac. The threat of crying made Ed raise an eyebrow though. Isaac? Cry? Baaaahaaaa. Oh, wait, he was doing something, right? He looked back to the elf. Ah! "Tinka, it would make us very happy if you didn't punish yourself. You're a busy elf and we understand, plus you weren't more than a minute or two." Play on the positive, right?