"I still have questions. But I can wait for next term to get answers, I think. Or maybe find them by myself." Alice beamed up at the old man as he pulled a piece of wood from inside his jacket and tapped her on the head with it. Her eyes raked over the runes carve into it before going back up to his face. "Thanks, professor. This is real nice."

Alice moved slightly closer and slipped her arms around the old man's waist in a very, very brief hug. Because she most definitely was not fond of touching, but Botros was an exception, 'kay? "You too, Mister Ab. Have a nice summer." She pulled back quickly and waved her brand new piece of wood at him enthusiastically as she retreated back to her seat.

"Paris?" Melanie said with a smile. It wasn't really a question, just a random thought that popped into mind. "That sounds exciting. Remember to take loads of pictures!" Pictures were pretty much memories trapped into a still image. It was amazing that way. Or well, if it was a moving picture, it'd be a memory trapped in a really short silent movie. "Oh, just going back home and finding a job for the summer. Nothing too exciting." And seeing people she hadn't seen in a while, Landon included.



Melanie was quite ready to get into what one would call a speech about spending time with her family. She absolutely adored everyone in her family and didn't dislike a single person in her household. They made her happy and that was important. But she didn't. She didn't want to bore him with her plans to spend time with them. "Yeah, I'm excited," she replied with a giant smile. See, she restrained herself and didn't bore him with that. Yup.

Though she did notice something... something just a little off. Melanie didn't question it too much though, and just smiled back. He didn't seem too happy anymore. "Well, maybe we can hang out sometime! Oooh! Or find a job together, that'd be fun too," Melanie pointed out, dismissing the hesitation quickly. "It's always nice to spend summer at a friend's place, but my parents wouldn't like that... they'd tell me that I've had all term here at Hogwarts to spend time with them and summer would be their time with me," she added, laughing a little at the end.

But her parents couldn't say anything about Melanie's usage of the floo network though. She would visit Alice. Of course.



Stuff....? Sit....? What? Melanie blinked blankly at Alice a few times.

"Alice, you don't just.... stuff things in your trunk... you need to fold them and organize them and then they'll all fit," Melanie said with a slight frown. That was the proper way to pack and the right way to pack. She sincerely hoped that Alice was just joking about stuffing things into the trunk. Melanie didn't know how that would even be acceptable. It was like having a messy room - just wrong.

Melanie nodded her head when Alice talked about her summer plans. She smiled. "It sounds like you've got a full summer right ahead of you," Melanie observed. "Have loads of fun and don't forget to owl me lots," she added. Because not owling would be just as wrong as stuffing things randomly into a trunk. Flooing over? "Every change I get, I'll come floo," Melanie promised, holding out her pinky. "And we'll go celebrate your birthday together some way fabulous too, okay?" And hopefully get Alice in a dress for it. Dresses were nice. Hehe.

The redhead was STILL watching Aspen leave with Alice in the corner of her eye. No violence on her Biter, okay? Or else Mortimer was going to come out and there was going to be a mess. A big, ol' mess. And it was her last day here, she did SO not want that. Not that they could do much to her now. Huh. Weird.

Anyway, she did finally turn her head- very slowly mind you- to look at Biter. With a small smile, she replied, "Yeah, I know. Don't worry though, kiddo, shouldn't be much longer." Feasts, in her experience, were REALLY long and dragged out in the beginning, but at the end when the food came out everything was all good. So yeah, it should be here soon because the feast was starting to drag.

PFFFTTTT. How did SHE know that Frank was not going to hurt her? He was a chocolate frog! In her experience with the demon treats, that was all that they had ever done. HURT HER. She had the bruises for weeks after her first bad encounter with them. Demon treats. Shaking her head she affirmed, "I don't... I don't like 'em, Biter." Maybe she was shaking a tad.



He'd come to a match? Well, that was ONE Gryffindor convinced. She knew that Keller and Biter were interested in the idea of coming, but implementing it might be difficult being that they were all in school. Of course, she was going to get Biter to at least come to some practices this summer when the younger girl was staying with her.

Shrugging a little, she leaned her elbows on the table, "No pressure, 'course. If you could come though, it'd be lovely." And she was going to say he could come and watch her fly this summer, but she knew he was going to the States. Yeah, why anyone would do that was beyond her.



When she looked to her left, she saw yet ANOTHER person getting all I'll-miss-you-Selina and it made her uncomfortable. Of course she was going to miss them all, but at the same time it did not mean that she wanted to talk about it. They were all treating her like this was the last time that she would see them and Selina was NOT going to fall off the face of the earth, okay? She'd still be around when she could. SO they needed to all knock this off. And pronto.

Grinning at the Prefect who wore Kurumi's old badge, she said, "Miss you too, Ira. And you keep that badge nice and clean, okay? That was the property of someone really, really special to me." And yes, even though Kurumi had graduated Selina still did NOT want Gryffindor forgetting that she had been here.



Making sure that Penelope didn't hear any of this conversation JUST in case it got heated, she adjusted her body more so that it was just her and Beezus talking. Besides, she wasn't really sure she wanted the whole lot of Gryffindors hearing this conversation. Personal stuff, okay?

Sticking her hands in her robe pockets, she nodded at Beezus' congrats and said back, "Thanks... and, um, congrats on making it through the first year of prefecting and such." Which WAS an accomplishment. She had never been one, but all of her friends had and they ALWAYS looked exhausted.

Then Beezus was grabbing her hand and Selina was giving her a look. What in Merlin's bloody name did she think she was doing? This was weird... for anyone. Oh wait, a box. She was handing her a miniature sized box. Well, um, that was all very nice and dandy, but why? A little cautiously, she opened it and saw that there was Quidditch stuff for her bat in here. Well, that was nice of her... honest... but did she really think that a gift would make up for everything. Every lie, every argument, all of the time she had lost with one of her best friends because of all of the drama?

The redhead WISHED that none of this had happened. It was her fault, admittedly, that it did. Because of stupid, ruddy feelings, okay? But Beezus perpetuated things... always. And now that she was graduating she wanted to fix stuff? It was a little late for that. And yet, she did not want to leave things off on a bad note.

Look, Selina was not saying that they would ever be super-dee-dooper close again. It just wasn't the way that it was gonna work, but it WAS really brave that Bee had come over here and extended the olive branch so to speak. So the seventh year stood up and extended her hand to shake Beezus'- her own version of accepting the olive branch- and said, "I am sorry about everything that happened. And I hope that you have an awesome next two years here. You do deserve that."

The Gryffindor table was kind of crowded, yeah? And there was a definite vibe going on, and not in the same way the Hufflepuff table was vibing. Over there Ella was sure everyone wanted hugs and to make summer plans with each other where as here it felt like people were desperate for food and filing out of the Great Hall. Not feast fans, eh? The blonde didn't really blame them. Why was it that the sad type events always dragged on the longest? Meh.

Anywhoo...

The blonde was searching for a certain Gryffindor who hoped to chat with and so she scanned the table until she found...



"Ronnie!" WAVEEEE! "Hey there! Long time no see." Unfortunate really since Ronnie was one of the few people who liked to do ridiculously childish things with Ella like pretend to be secret agents. And really, why weren't there more of those people around? Being a secret agent was just plain cool...at any age.

"So...we hanging out this summer?" Because that was sort of necessary as far as Ella was concerned.

...

Oh! Ms. Head Girl! Ella was still sort of intimidated by the red head, mostly because she was frighteningly good with that bat of hers. Even if Ella did find it cute the way the older girl mothered the thing. She wanted to thank her though, for being a good head girl and all. The blonde was sure it wasn't an easy job and Selina had handled it well, from what Ella could see.

It made Ella a little less nervous to speak to the graduating lion when she saw her Hulk. BEAM! Alice could maybe just sort of fix any awkwardness that Ella was going to cause? Because for whatever reason, Ella just couldn't be a normal functioning human being. Nope. She was forever more Awkward!Ella. Sighhhhh.

Ahem.

"Excuse me, Ms. Head Girl?" She was only going to be a moment, okay? "I just wanted to say I think you did a really good job, y'know, at the Head Girl-ing thing." Ella had such a way with words, didn't she? Shuffle. "What I mean is, well you were just the right parts scary, intimidating, and helpful." Gosh, that probably didn't make sense, did it? "And well...I think you're really cool. Very scary, but mostly cool." Yup...so that was pretty much it.

Oh and...

"Hulk? Can we spy and eat ice cream this summer? Or spy while eating ice cream? Or even eat ice cream and then spy? I'm not picky."

Aheemhem. Karma came back early with a vengeance.

She had ruined Selina and Penelope's moment and now, someone was interfering with the conversation she was having with the Head Girl. Oh. Err....it was Ira. "Hi..."" She nodded in acknowledgement and smiled back at her fellow Prefect. Ira was a good friend but recently, they haven't been hanging out so Beezus didn't really know what else to say.

Selina was congratulating her back and all Beezus could do was shrug and smile irresolutely in response. She wasn't exactly sure she deserved the expression of commendation for sometimes, she came lacking when it came to her duties. But she was making it a point to change that next term. Hopefully.

So, the farewell present. The redhead seemed to like it, yeah?

When Selina stood, the Ravenclaw stepped back a bit. What if she didn't like what was inside the box? And now standing up because she was going to throw on my face? Okay, not. She was actually extending her hand to the brunette and Beezus, for a few seconds, just stared at it while she listened.

.....Oh.

Slowly, she took Selina's hand to shake but almost instantly then pulled the Head Girl into a hug. Primarily unintentional but in that moment, Beezus just felt the opportunity had come to do such. It wasn't a real tight hug, more like a measured, cautious, awkward one but still...it was a hug. And hugging meant caring for that person. So, yes. Beezus did care. Then she voiced out, "Thanks. You too. Good luck out there." Smiling, she pulled away and grinned at the redhead. "I know you'll do great."

Maybe, maybe things will never ever be the same for them anymore. But there was always this thing called 'starting over'. Perhaps that one will work. Who knows.

After giving Selina's arm a light squeeze, Beezus turned on her heel and left for the next table. She was done here.

Um...was it terribly bad and irresponsible to support the idea of not studying for a Firstie? ...Probably was...but see, she was only a Second Year so stuff like that didn't really bother her. The way she saw it she was doing the girl a favour. Couldn't have her going around the castle acting like a Ravenclaw--not even they were that bad...with the exception of a few that she knew...like Vickers. Yeah...he was a different case entirely. "That's good then! Use your time more productively! try snooping around the castle, or playing on the moving staircases--those are quite lovely, or you could find something on the grounds to do." Didn't those all sound better than studying?

"And Those sound kinda epic, I hear french candy tastes amazing." That was why people traveled yeah? Candy? "We don't make a habit of visiting my grandparents. Do you have fun with yours?" Might have seemed like an odd question but she was genuinely curiously.



So Melanie was taking this kinda okay, look she was still smiling. This meant everything would be fine and she'd be able to ask later, yeah? She thought that was how things were going but then the smile left the girl's face and it didn't take much brain power to know what had made that happen. She try recovering this conversation quickly; an upset Melanie was hard to convince, OKAY? First things first, she put on a wide smile. "Well you know, you don't really have to worry 'cause it'll get done and I started stuffing things already so when I get back to the dorm I'll just slip everything else in..." She would ask just yet...noooope.

"You have..." Huh. Meant she was free to help her then right? "Cool! I had a feeling you'd be done. You know Melanie, you're so organized." BEAM. Compliments, those worked wonders on most people.

She thought about that. "Yeah...I guess, but like, it's boring and my stuff go missing then I lose the motivation to pack anymore." She couldn't remember just how many of her socks were lost. That was probably why she was having so much of a problem finding them. Hmm...



"That's exactly what I'm hoping." She said with a nod. "I'm also hoping it'll mean she won't have much to say at all. Can you imagine a speech that lasted no longer than five minutes??? That would be an epic speech and we'd get food sooner." Wishful thinking, VERY wishful thinking but could you blame her? She was hungry and she knew what these things were usually like!!! A thought suddenly hit her and she snickered. "I suspect we'd all be asleep for the speech if they fed us first though." She could see it, stuffing her face then falling asleep while the woman droned on--could she suggest they do that next time???

"Ahhh...I haven't gotten very far. Too much stuff and I don't know where to start. Might ask Melanie to help." She didn't feel like packing, it was no fun and it got annoying, all the folding and stuffing.

"The express will be here in the morning!! I'm dying for then!" GRIN. That's right Lex, happy thoughts.



Well if that was the case then there was no problem, was there? "Then dump her on your aunt. Don't get burdened down by an attention sucker." That's all they were you know, attention suckers who stole your daddies and kept them for themselves. It just wasn't right, wasn't right at all.



Lex blinked at the boy who had managed to get back to something like his normal colour. "Well, now it isn't but it was, just a minute ago, honest." He could even ask Gwen if he was finding it so hard to believe because it was completely true. She wasn't a liar you know.

she continued staring at him, now wondering if he was feeling alright at all, getting strange the way he did. Pity.

But he probably wouldn't have wanted to dwell too long on his face soooo..."What do you think you'll do this summer? A lot of people are gonna be traveling, don't think I will." But only because if she was her father hadn't told her. Not that she minded--the not being told part that is, seeing as she didn't feel much like traveling this summer. Nope. She was fine with the idea of just running around Diagon Alley or something.



Was that a serious question directed at the girl who thought a grand time was hexing people's faces off? She stared up at Alice, trying to see the harshness in her own statement but when she couldn't she shook her head. "Not particularly. Seems more like it would have been useful but I guess you might be right 'cause you got him down here anyway." Whichever way that worked was fine when she thought about it...though she was sure Jake would prefer Alice's way. As for the food. "I do!" She said with a grin before reaching into her candy bag and pulling out a cauldron cake. "Have it."

Her eyes widened at the older girl's offer. "You will?! Neat! Now I don't have to get that Lecture from Melanie!!" Oh oh oh! It also meant that Alice had remembered her birthday!!! "Could you help me find my shoes and socks too?" Those went missing more often than she liked to admit.

Why were Selina's eyes on Aspen NOW? She should have been looking when Alice was being manhandled, not when the Odessa was finally leaving. "But it'll probably be a while before the speech and then the Headmistress will drone on and on for hours and food will never come. Ever." That was how every feast went, obviously. She knew. She had, like, seven feasts of experience. And this, this would be her eighth, see? Totally knew what she was talking about.

"But he's my pet. I can't just abandon him for a month." Alice made her saddest, widest puppy eyes at the Head Girl, even going so far as to slump a bit. "Please? You won't even have to see him. He'll hide under the bed. He sleeps in his wrapper. Please?" Pleaaaase?



But Selina and her irrational fear had to be ignored at the moment, because she had THINGS to say about packing. "What? No. Of course you don't." Folding and organizing took time and effort that Alice was not willing to put in for something as mediocre and unimportant as her TRUNK. "It's all going to come out at be messy again at home, anyways. Why waste time making it all pretty now?"

And frget to owl her? Never. "'Course I won't forget. What kind of best friend do you think I am?" Alice grinned and offered Melanie her pinky, twisting it around the older girl's finger and shaking them decisively. "Mhm. Birthday. Right." She was going to be OLD. Fifteen. Ew. Gray hairs, those were gonna start coming soon, okay?

Some of her friends were already fifteen, though, like Ella, and would be turning sixteen soon. But she didn't spot a single hair of gray in the blonde's tresses, so all was well. "Hey, Ells." Were they making more plans? Alice nodded along to all off the things she offered. "'Course we can. Any of those things. I'm not fussy either." Her face broke out in a grin at the Hufflepuff before she redirected her attention to Lex.



"I did, didn't I? I am right. I'm always right." Alice was almost never right. She was about to take the cauldron cake from Lex, except her eyes chose that moment to start drifting around to the tables. They skipped over Hufflepuff, because Ella was right there next to her, and Lottie was somewhere else. When she found certain Ravenclaws, the only ones she was interesting in seeing, at the table decked in blue, then her eyes flickered over to the Slytherin one.

And there was a pair of eyes staring over there, too. Alice stared back unblinkingly at those startlingly blue ones until Lex started talking again, when she reluctantly drew her gaze away from the end of the Great Hall and placed it back on the second year. "Absolutely. I'm sure they're around our dorms somewhere. And if we can't find them, we'll use the Summoning Charm, okay?" 'Cause magic was still allowed, and they weren't home yet, so she could do that.

Erm. Potions class. That was one weird day. And Gwen remembered needing a while after that to feel better again. The whole polyjuice potion thing was just confusing. Which was why Gwen tried to shake that thought out of her mind.

‘Yeah’, Gwendolyn replied to Selina’s ‘long time no see’ comment. She felt kind of bad for not keeping in touch with people. Erm. ‘Anyway- Congratulations!’ On her graduation, obviously.


Glimpsing back at the staff table, Gwndolyn tried to figure out when would be the best time to head back to the Ravencaw table. Will the Headmistress give the speech soon?

Hmmm.

In the next moment, Gwen heard someone greet the people at the table. Who was it? The voice sounded familiar, yet Gwen couldn’t really figure out who the person was. Tracking down the source of the voice, the sixth year managed to spot another Gryffindor she knew. ‘Ronnie’, the sixth year tried to catch her attention. ‘Hi’, Gwendolyn greeted the Gryffindor with a small smirk. It had been a while since she had talked to Ronnie. Time to fix that?


Not many plans. Well… Gwen didn’t have a lot of thing planned for the summer either. But she thought about staying at the Leaky Cauldron for a while, and spend some time around Diagon Alley- not just when she would have to go shopping for school supplies.

‘I’m not sure yet, but I may be going to France’, Gwendolyn responded to the question. She was looking forward to seeing her best friend, though she wasn’t absolutely sure when they would meet. But she was planning to spend a good part of her holiday with Ari. Well. She really missed the Gryffindor. Heh. She then started randomly remembering what Ari had said… the thing about Gwen- she either loved the Gryffindors or she hated them.

…speaking of which- what was going on with Zeke?


Erm.

What was going on?

It took her a while to see that Zeke’s face was turning red. Odd. Gwendolyn just rolled her eyes as she heard him say something like ‘my face is not red’. ‘Of course not’, she said doubtfully. ‘It just had to match with the Gryffindor decorations’ Errr. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing to be rude to your friends- wait- where they even friends? Erm. Frenemies? That didn’t really work either. Anyway- it was probably rude, but Gwen didn’t really care. Pft. It doesn’t say anywhere that you can’t make fun of people. Especially when the person was Zeke.

Hehe.

But really- was he alright? Gwen looked at the Gryffindor for a moment, trying to figure out what was happening. Dehydration? Frustration? Anger? Errr. Should she go away? Maybe that was a good idea, though who would walk away from the person you could mock?

Not Gwen.

So she decided to stay. And maybe change the subject for a while? ‘So-‘ To be nice or not to be nice… ‘Got any plans for the summer?’

Whew good thing she didn't notice anything. He breathed a sigh of relief and continued on with their conversation, "Yeah, that would be great!" Because she was his friend now, right? So he had about 5 friends so far. Great progress, Zeke.

With that, Zeke no longer knew what to say. His mind was floating in a cloud, because Gwen was beside him now. So he let the subject drop with Melanie. They'll get in touch some time in the summer. "See you around then."

"But of course...just showing off my pride as a Gryffindor," he shot back at Gwen. Hmph. Well that settles it. Zeke was self-proclaiming himself as: "Call me Fire Prince, then," he mumbled. Yeah, 'cause that makes him the complete opposite of her. Bleh.

Sigh. Why were people so interested in summer plans? First, Melanie; now these two. "Summer, summer..." What plans could he come up? He's got none so far. Just go home and be alone? Maybe Lex and Gwen would take him out and consider bringing him along in their plans. "I was just gonna stay at home...any plans for the both of you?" D'ya mind him tagging along? He won't be a killjoy, swear.

Christmas rolled her eyes and said "Well i suppose i could leave my aunt to watch my sister while i get my supplies in, i guess i don't want to be left with the hassle of looking after my sister for the whole summer"

Christmas spotted Alice her captain talking to a few people and made her way over to Alice and said "Hey Alice i just want to thank you for the great term i had, it was fun playing on your team this year and i hope to try out again for you next year" Christmas liked Alice she had respect for her because of the biting of other qudditch players but she respected her captain a lot

Mack laughed when the girl started talking about French candy, of course she would have to get some for the girl. Maybe she could talk her parents into allowing her to send it right away once they arrived. Her smile left her face at the mention of her grandparents, did she have fun with them? what kind of question was that? "No all we do is sit around their house, I mean its big so people can explore, but I've seen everything. So they basically just tell me stories from the old days when they were at Hogwarts" sigh

Her grandparents were retired aurors, they both had been the best of the best then and had made several enemies. The estate was full of collectables but she had no interest, she could sleep walk and still be able to tell the story for every single artifact in the house. The girl shook her head. "Mackenzie, stop! Some kids would be lucky to be in your shoes!!" she chastised herself mentally.

Ronnie looked up as she heard her name being called. She grinned at the familiar voice and gave her friend a big hug. "Hiya Ella!" she said. She then nodded. 'Twas true. They hadn't seen each other in a L-O-N-G while...which was really sad. Ronnie always had a blast with Ella. They did the funnest things ever! Ella had to be one of the funnest people to be around.

"What kinda question is that?!" Ronnie asked, laughing. "Of course, silly goose! We HAVE to." she said. They really needed to catch up; it felt like Ronnie hadn't seen this girl in forever!

Then another person called her name. She turned at the familiar voice and smiled at her fellow sixth year, Gwen. "Hey, Gwen!" she said. "Haven't talked to you in a while... how have you been? Did you enjoy this term?" she asked, taking a quick glance at the staff table. "Wonder when the headmistress will be giving her speech..." she thought to herself as she turned back to Gwen.

Huh? What. No. She didn’t like being told what to do. But… what did he say? Call him WHAT? Fire Prince? ‘No’ Nice try, Mr Tomato. Though Gwen didn’t call him that either. Because she decided to be nice to him for once . Moving on-

Hmmm. Summer plans.

She had just told Lex she would be going to France. ‘I’ll probably go stay with my best friend for a while’ She missed Ari. And she had LOTS to tell her bestie- yes, even though Gwen wasn’t generally a very talkative person. Heh. But anyway, that wouldn’t be taking her the whole summer. ‘Then I guess I’ll see you around Diagon Alley?’

She wasn’t sure it that was a ‘yey! I’ll be seeing you around’ or a ‘NO! are you kidding me?! I’ll see you around Diagon Alley. Ugh’. Weird.


So Ronnie recognized her.

It would have been kind of weird otherwise. ‘Yeah’, she mused at the ‘haven’t seen you in a while’ comment. It was the same thing someone else had told her just a moment ago. That’s it. She really should start catching up with people. ‘Good. Great, actually… because I didn’t have OWLs or NEWTs to worry about this year’ To the second question, the Ravenclaw responded with a small nod. She did enjoy this term. It had been interesting- with the Board of Governors candidates and all.

But anyway-

‘How are you?’, she then asked the Gryffindor. ‘Looking forward to the summer holiday?’ The sixth year was wondering if Ronnie had any plans for the summer. Because they really had to meet this holiday around Diagon Alley.

Alexa blinked at the girl. Always right? That was her Mama Vivi. Alice could be right too and if she was always agreeing with Vivi then she supposed she could always be right...it was possible. Agreeing with Vivi was the easiest thing in the world. Alright. She'd let her have it, she could always be right--but the moment she said anything contrary to a Vivi!Belief she was going right back to being wrong. MHM. That being sorted through in her mind she dipped into her bag and pulled out a cauldron cake for her.

....

Helloooooo? Cauldron cake right heeeere NOT over there. EARTH TO ALICE! She spun just a little to see try seeing what she was seeing.

-____-

Lex. Was. Not. Amused.

When Alice finally started paying to her again she gave her a look before sticking the cauldron cake back in her bag. "I hope you have an eyeful 'cause that's as full as you'll get before the feast starts." Hmph! Ignoring her. Rude, just very ruuuuuuude. Now then, about finding her things. "I guess we can do that, but you have a shoddy attention span," CLEARLY, "so we'll summon them instead of looking." Worked faster that way too.



And there it was.

It seemed like just about everyone she knew was taking a trip to France. She heard they had good candy but was it really all that good? Huh...she'd have to ask her Daddy to get her some. "Sounds neat Will you be visiting the museums and stuff or just going to get cool stuff?" Museums weren't usually fun but buying things WAS.

She looked over at the staff table again. Any minute now Headmistress. She wouldn't mind. Honest. "How long do you think her speech will last? They're usually all windy and stuff and I don't usually keep up." Short attention span you see.



HAHAHAHAHAAHA!!!

Lex gave him a LOOK before bursting out into more laughter. Between him claiming house pride and just going out and saying they should call him Fire Prince she was practically rolling. "Dude, that wasn't even remotely smooth. I'm oblivious and that was clear even for me." Then there was more laughing still because you know why? IT WAS FUNNY. Kinda pathetic too but mostly funny. He was good people. Willing to make a fool of himself and all that.

She stopped laughing and made a face at his 'plan'. "That sounds positively boring. Why don't you hang out around Diagon Alley? A lot of people will be doing that and if you run into me we could find something epic for you to do." Because she planned to run around that place once she was allowed to, yup. "I, myself, haven't got many plans but I'm going out for Ice-Cream for my birthday, outside of that I think I'll do whatever I wake up feeling to do." Yeah, seemed legit.



Lex raised an eyebrow at her. "Only while you get your supplies?" That sounded rather limiting. "Won't you want to have ice-cream some time or just hang out with your friends? You can't have her tagging along then either." She imagined that to be really annoying and she didn't think she would have put up with it, in fact...she knew she wouldn't.



Interesting...

"Why can't you find something to do then? Sometimes people have to make their own fun or they won't have any at all." She should know. "Especially while visiting grandparents. You should try playing with the house elf...or maybe just make a slide and have a go at the staircase." And inspired idea that she still wanted to try one of these days. Perhaps next term when she had some time seeing as she wouldn't be studying ANYWAY.

"Do you think you'll be hanging around Diagon Alley much for the summer?" You know, 'cause she was leaving for her grandparents and all. Things like that tended to suck away your entire summer...

Natalie perked up as she saw that Ronnie had arrived, immediately rushing over to greet her friend and maybe see her cat... though at the feast it wasn't likely. "Hello!" she chirped, sliding into a seat next to her Lion friend. Her tummy gave a low grumble as she glanced to the empty plates. When would she get to eeeeeeeat?

No? Zeke had that BIG frown on his face. Maybe he never really had a chance at her. NONONO. Don't lose hope. Jia you, Zeke!

Things were not going as expected.....as always. To make it worse a second year was there to witness it all and have a good laugh like a paying audience eating popcorn while watching him embarrass himself. A SECOND YEAR.

Best friend? Gwen had a best friend? Huh. That's a surprise. This Gryffindor was about to tease her about it, but let it drop. No. He was not going to ruin it for himself anymore. "Yeah, see you around," his spirits were still low, though.

Meanwhile, he glared at the second year who was still laughing at him. Weren't they supposed to be on the same house here? Sigh. It's every man for himself. And he thought they were supposed to have each other's back.

Diagon Alley...seemed interesting to bump into people there, maybe. "I might just go there, seeing how everyone seems to be having a plan to stop by at the place this summer." But mostly, he'll visit often 'cause he might see Evie, and of course, little miss Ice Princess.

"Have you guys ever been to a theme park?" With roller coasters, ferris wheels and all that bunch. He just wanted to avert the conversation...and be as random as ever.

"Yeah? That's good to hear." Ronnie said with another smile. She twirled her bright orange hair around her finger as she thought about how her term had went. Well, it had gone by quite fast. It was weird to think next year would be her last year. She turned to Gwen. "Isn't it kinda crazy? How we're going to be seventh years next year?" she asked, tilting her head slightly. It felt like it had only been yesterday when Ronnie was on her first train ride to Hogwarts. . .

"Oh, I'm pretty good." she replied with a small nod. She was feeling a little sad about leaving Hogwarts...as always. It always felt a little bit sad at the end of term feast to her. Hogwarts was such an amazing place, it was always hard leaving it for the summer. She'd sure miss being around her friends all the time.

Anywho...

She shrugged at Gwen's next question. "I'm not too happy about leaving Hogwarts and all my close friends...but I am looking forward to spending a week in America around the middle of summer. That'll be fun." she said with a smile. She had never been anywhere other than her home and Hogwarts. She never really traveled much. "What about you?" she asked.

Ronnie jumped as someone slid next to her and said hello. She blinked at Natalie. Well, looks like someone wasn't being so shy anymore! She grinned, giving her friend a hug. "Hey, Natalie! Enjoy your term?" she asked.

"Sorry you didn't get a chance to meet Oliver, by the way. You can sit with me on the train and hold him if you like." she added with a small smile, knowing Natalie would probably love that.


She then noticed another Gryffindor whom she'd never spoken to before...or seen? She didn't really recognize him. He looked around her age. Maybe she'd seen him around a few times but never got the chance to meet him. Ah well...time to make a new friend!

She sat down next to the boy. "Hello there! I'm Ronnie." she said, stretching her hand out towards him to shake.

Natalie hugged Ronnie back, deciding that she liked the feeling. "The term was surprisingly good. I made a lot of friends!!" she added happily. "And the professors are really nice too!" It must have been the feast vibe, but Tally was feeling super excited.

Zeke was startled as the other seat beside him was now taken. Assessing the person who just sat down next to him, he saw a fellow Gryffindor, another girl, much to his own disappointment. "Hi," the lion smiled at her and nodded, acknowledging her presence.

"Nice to meet you, Ronnie. I'm Zeke," yep. Just Zeke. He extended out his arm to the Ronnie for a handshake 'cause that was what they were supposed to do when meeting someone knew, right? Right.

"Our family's house elf isn't very fun, my grandparents have trained him to be very proper. He only calls me "Master Mackenzie" I HATE it." the girl frowned, she really did hate spending so much time at her grandparents now that she was finally old enough to go to Hogwarts. Lex's other ideas weren't too bad maybe she could make a slide. Her face lit up at the mention of Diagon Alley, she and her grandmother always spent at least two or three days in London to shop and see her smelly cousins who she did not get along with. "I will, I'm not sure what days yet, but I will send you an owl if that is okay, maybe we could meet up?" Mack was hopeful that the other girl would say yes. That would be something to look forward to for sure.

Selina could just SEE the judgement in Alice's eyes at her lack of involvement with Aspen Odessa. And to be completely honest with herself, she was not afraid of Aspen, but provoking her for funsies was not at the top of her list either. So she did not interfer, but she was ABOUT to and that had to count for something, okay?

When Alice got super drama queen on her, Selina just laughed and pet her hair, "Somehow, Biter, I think you'll live." Besides, it was not like the feast would drone on forever... would it? Because, yeah, she did kind of want it to wind down as well. Ain't nobody got no time for that.

OH NO. Oh no, no, no, no, no. No way was Alice even TRYING, nay, ATTEMPTING to give her the puppy eyes. Yeah, okay, that was not going to work. Selina had nearly invented those eyes when she was Alice's age. The redhead didn't do it anymore because there was nothing cute about an eighteen year old doing it, but no. The eyes were not going to work.

She crossed her arms and said, "I'm not saying yes... but if I can lock him in a closet with enchantments.... we can TALK about it." Final offer.



Yeah, this was really awkward. Did Beezus just NOT feel it or was she just gonna pretend that it was non-existent. She had heard that 'Claws had this natural proclivity for running straight over awkward moments and pretending they didn't exist, but come on. The redhead could actually FEEL the awkward. Like touch it. With her hands. It felt... slimy.

But at least the two of them were not leaving school on SUCH horrible terms because there had been a time when it was horrible. Yeah, very bad. When she thought about it, it STILL made the redhead burn with anger. No lying. Seriously, it was a simple thing.

Anyway, as she shook Beezus hand she felt some serious whiplash. Hey, woah there. Hugs. Okay, they were hugging now.

Awkwardly patting Beezus on the back as she stood there as stiff as a board, Selina just kind of waited for this to be over. Her and Beezus did not hug as a rule. So all of this hugging was weird. Very, very weird.

Once Bee let her go, she made some comment about her doing well, which Selina could only assume was in reference to LIFE in general, but before she could say anything back Beezus had just up and left. What in Merlin's bloody name was that conversation? The seventh year was really confused. The Ravenclaw just came over, gave her a present, hugged her and left. No real words were exchanged. Part of her wanted to walk over to her table and discuss this more, but it was clear in the way that Beezus had left things that THIS was how she wanted to end it. And she was not going to impede on that.

...but she was still very confused.



As stimulating as this conversation was, Selina was not really sure how to react to Gwen. It was weird even looking at her because they had shared that face once. Polyjuice. Huh.

But giving her a genuine smile, she retorted, "Thanks, Gwen. You enjoy your summer and the rest of school." Because almost everyone else in this castle got to come back.... and she did not.



Little people were talking to her.

Turning around, Selina saw the cutest little Hufflepuff oh who was she kidding? they all just emited that cute gene standing in front of her. She looked a little terrified, which was a normal look when most people spoke to Selina, and at the same time managed to look sweet. Huh. How did she bloody well do that?

Anywhooo, she nodded, "Yes Ella?" And let the girl say her piece. Her entire little dialogue did seem very, very well rehearsed- as if she had practiced it in front of a mirror or something- but she did not interrupt. Let the girl get it out, being polite and such.

And when Ella was done, Selina threw her head back in laughter and ruffled the girl's hair awkwardly, "Thanks kiddo. I do appreciate that." Grins for Ella.

She was gonna miss her too.

Mack looked around at the other tables everyone looked as if they were dying for food. Did anyone know if we would eat soon, the girl had heard her stomach growl at least four times since the feast started. sigh hopefully the speeches would be soon so that they could eat.

"Christmas." Alice acknowledged her teammate with a nod, glad that she was already pulling together a team for next year. Because, you know, players were NECESSARY for Quidditch, but she already knew that some people, like Christmas, had skill on the pitch. So it was nice to see them ready for another season. "That's great! I loved having you on the team, and you should definitely try out again." Nod nod nod.

Food yet?



Alice was occupied, okay? She was busy watching certain people at certain tables for certain reasons, and Lex talking and shoving cake in her face did not help. She reluctantly pulled her eyes away from the Slytherins once again to look at Lex. "I don't want it. It's okay. You eat it." Because she was doing stuff here. Important stuff. Important staring stuff.

"Why're you looking at me all funny? Eyeful of what? I wasn't staring at anything." And she really wasn't. It wasn't something, it was someone. There was a difference. "My attention span is fine." See? Lex had her FULL attention now, honest. "Do you know the charm yet? If not, I can teach it to you real quick tonight after the feast."



"I'm FAMISHED. I'm going to COLLAPSE soon. You obviously do not get how empty my tummy is." Alice gave Selina more pointed looks as she turned away from her and Lex to glance at the Headmistress. Was she gonna TALK yet? That was taking forever. She needed food. "And I know when you say talk about it, you mean he can stay. You do, don't you?" More eyes. The sad ones, accompanied by the sad face, and the occasional bat of her lashes. Selina was totally gonna cave, okay? She knew it. Because ALICE was going to win. Obviously.

AND FOOD YAY.

Alice totally ignored, like, everything else the Headmistress said because FOOD. She grinned at Penelope, the only person who could have possibly been as hungry as her, and dove for a bowl of ice cream. "The bottomless pit is about to be filled. Joy to the world." Was anyone not that hungry? Was Selina? Could she have her ice cream if she wasn't? Please? 'Cause she was awfully hungry. And maybe her sad eyes would work for that if not for other things.

As the food began to appear Mack's eyes darted everywhere, what to eat first? She began piling her plate with different foods and before too long she had no more room and began eating. Even though she had ate breakfast that morning, she felt as though she hadn't eaten in days.

Museums and stuff?

Gwen just raised an eyebrow at the Gryffindor. ‘I’m not sure yet, but I’ll probably be staying most of the time in Wizarding France’ So… hmm… museums? Those were more linked to the muggle world. Anyway. ‘But yes, cool stuff’, Gwen quoted Lex. Hehe.

Hmm. How long would the speech last? ‘Not very long’ I hope. To Lex’s next remark, Gwen just grinned. Hehe. Keeping up with the speech. It was alright- the Gryffindor could just stare at the staff table and then clap her hands when the speech would be over. No one would notice that she’s not paying attention.


When Lex started laughing, Gwen tried hard to keep a straight face. But that didn’t last for long. Because in the next moment Gwen found herself laughing as well. Heh. So much for her plan to not be rude to Zeke?

Fine, she would see him around. ‘Alright then’, the sixth year replied with a small smirk. While Zeke was saying something about Diagon Alley, Gwen looked at the staff table for a moment. But she got distracted as she heard the Gryffindor ask something-

Hmmm.

You would think that she would have got used to his random questions.

But really… a theme park? ‘Umm… the ones in the muggle world?’ She had been to the carnival on Diagon Alley a few years ago… when there was that theme park thing. Maybe Zeke wasn’t referring to the ones in the wizarding world. Erm. So much thinking to answer that random question. Now was probably the time to ask Zeke if he had been to a theme park, but truth be told- Gwen didn’t really care. Therefore, she didn’t ask anything.


. . .

What did Ronnie just say?

O________________o

They will be seventh years.

Gwen looked a bit puzzled at the Gryffindor. She hadn’t ACTUALLY realized that until… now. ‘Yeah’ Crazy indeed. Seventh years. That sounded weird.

‘I see’, Gwendolyn mused. ‘That sounds good’, she commented after having heard that Ronnie was going to America. Aw. That made her miss Joanna. Gwen made a mental note to write to the other Ravenclaw as soon as possible. Anyway- ‘Well I’ll probably be going to France for a couple of weeks, but I think I’ll be spending most of the summer around Diagon Alley’, the sixth year replied. ‘I’ll see you around Diagon Alley, right?’ Gwen hoped they could meet over the summer.


Hmm. Potions. Polyjuice Potion. Gwen thought of apologizing to Selina. Then again, remembering that class probably wasn’t a good thing right now. Maybe Selina forgot about that? Hmm. Anyway- Gwen finally decided it was best not to say anything about it.

‘Thanks. I will’, she replied with a small smirk. Gwen was actually wondering what Selina would be doing after Hogwarts. Quidditch career, maybe?