Turnstiles? Alice did not do turnstiles.

"I don't have a knut," she announced to those lions already gathered there. Hogwarts' cutbacks were the school's problem, not hers or anyone else's, right? It wasn't her fault they were poor now. She was not paying money to enter her common room. No way. "I'll sleep in the corridor if I have to." Also, she called dibs on Jake as a pillow, okay? And if Anya had issues with that, they could divide his body up into sections or something. Maybe.

But no paying. Nope. "Anyone tried jumping 'em yet?"

Well this was convenient.

Bad food. Plastic silverware, plates, and cups. Paying rent. What on earth's happening to Hogwarts? He watched the clamor of the crowd of students. Some simply did not have ONE knut while others were being stubborn and refused to pay.

Well...this Gryffindor here refuses to pay as well. Why? Because he was a Gryffindor. No, he was not cheap. He had his pride. And he demanded his rights. "Erm," he ran his hand through his hair, "Does any one of you want to talk to the Headmistress about this?"

Her eyes widened just a bit at his confession. He didn't know?? The prefects were usually the first to know stuff. Like with that trophy hunt--they had even planned it!! How in Merlin's beard did he not know about this? Didn't the Headmistress think it might have been good to have a little heads up??? "Does that mean the others don't know too, or is it just you?" You know, in case Jake was just a slacker?

Oh! Good idea!! "We could! Someone who won't mind the long distance either." She wasn't about to volunteer. She was still stuffed with ice-cream. "But...will we have to sleep outside otherwise?" If so then she would need a comfy spot. Her kneazle had showed up so she was fine.

Lex looked at the galleon doubtfully. "Even if it would fit, why waste a whole galleon. You could get a lot more for it." It was bad enough they had to pay to get inside their own Common Room, no need to make things excessive; that would only make the Headmistress all too happy.

Bet she didn't have to pay to get to her office. Hmph!

"I don't know really see the point of it but it's here to take your knuts. We can't get in unless we pay so maybe another desperate attempt to get money.' Because selling all the nice things wasn't enough, apparently.

She scooped Felix off the ground and gave him a scratch behind his ear as she watched Melanie. The girl was walking around with her plates and such out in the open. Wasn't she afraid that something bad would happen to them?? This was Hogwarts! Bad things happened at the most unlikely times!!

She also noticed that she was looking for something. "Did you lose something?" She asked curiously. She didn't think Melanie would have wasted a knut on a place they had every right to be in. Or maybe she would. This was Melanie they were talking about. It seemed highly possible.

"That's what I'm saying." She sounded almost exasperated by this whole thing. The nerve of it all. Having to pay just to get to somewhere that they'd always slept. "It makes no sense! We should have known this sooner, if Felix hadn't shown up he'd probably be locked inside and so would my money." Her money that was still meant for candy mind you, NOT for places she should have been allowed into anyway.

She glanced down at Felix was Tag pretty much pointed out the obvious. "He's not. This is Felix, have you met him before?" She couldn't remember. The point was, Tag wasn't all that happy to see him. He hadn't taken a bite out of anything that belonged to the boy, had he????

o___O

Alice's statement alerted her to the fact that they had been joined by the older girl. Not surprizing, she didn't have a knut either. "The corridor? Couldn't we find somewhere else if we're going to have to stay out here?" She asked, only whining just a little. The corridor probably got super cold at night and there was dust all over too.

As for the jumping.

"Jake was gonna try but then we thought of all the spells this thing might be rigged with. You know the Headmistress, she doesn't make anything easy, especially not for lions." She probably already thought of someone trying to jump it and that made her less than enthused to think of what waited for anyone that tried.

There was a suggestion she hadn't heard being mentioned in all the standing here. She turned to the boy who had chosen to stare at her then ignore her earlier at the feast. "How much good do you think that will do? She's probably the one who set this whole thing up in the first place. She won't just take them down."

She paused. "Unless you mean we ask her for some knuts but I don't she'll fork them over. She's trying to make a profit, not a lose." Paying for all the Gryffindors to go in, plus she was sure other houses didn't all have knuts too...It wouldn't work.

The sixth year noticed her favorite fifth year joining the rest of the lions and smiled. She liked Alice, Alice was nice. But what Alice was saying was not very nice. "You are not sleeping in the corridor, it'll be filthy," Melanie said, frowning. She disapproved of sleeping on the floor without a sleeping bag or blanket and Alice didn't seem like she had either. "You will be sleeping in a bed, like a proper person should be doing." And that meant getting inside.

And the jumping the turnstile part? "Jumping the turnstile isn't allowed... I mean, muggles do it in the train station loads but that doesn't mean we have to do that." Plus, Melanie was pretty sure she had a knut in her wallet. Or two. Once she found her wallet that was.

Melanie continued to look in her pockets before her hand hit something. Ah. Her wallet. She looked up when she heard Alexa asking her a question and smiled. "I did, but it's in my pocket, I found my wallet," Melanie said, holding it up triumphantly and trying to make sure her eating utensils didn't fall and stuff. That wouldn't be pleasant. She'd have to rewash them, not that she minded it too much, she'd just prefer not to.

"And I think I have a few knuts in here," Melanie said, unzipping her wallet to the best of her ability with on hand and pushing it open. And immediately a few knuts fell out along with maybe a sickle or two. And where did they fall onto? The ground. "EEP!" Melanie squeaked, placing her plate gingerly on the floor and putting the cup and spork on top of it before trying to find the coins that had fallen out.

She had worked for that and she wasn't going to lose it all - at least, not until she got into the Common Room and to her noodles. Plus, her teddy bears needed to be unpacked as well. And her shoes.

Oichi suddenly heard Lex pretty much saying the situation was hopeless. Oichi clenched her teeth as she got up. "Perhaps you're right Lex, but this is not right and I will not support it with my money no matter what!".

"I'm sorry, perhaps yelling is about all this is stupid but I am still not gonna support this. This is our common room. I can see raising tuition or even having us pay for meals. However having us pay to enter our space that has been Gryffindor's since Hogwarts began is just too much.".



Finally, someone with sense, why had she not thought of that. Though maybe seeing her head of house first would be better. Maybe he could solve this problem or perhaps atleast make this situation a bit better. Oichi approuched the boy, "I would love to see the Headmistress about this however it would most likely be better to talk to our our Head of House Professor Bently first. If we go on our own our claim will seem a lot less credible.".

.......PokerStareGirlwasright.

Sigh. And there was another one who suggested to go to Bentley. Err.

"I would like to demand an explanation for all this," because in NO WAY was he going to pay for something that was supposed to have been paid for. It's not like Hogwarts is running a hotel in here where you pay for every single thing you touch. Or is it?

Has the school that he's been attending for who knows how long (since he can't remember) gone that low as to impose this on its students. "It's just this once, right?" If it was, maybe he'd go ahead and spare the school a knut since Zeke was not planning to stand outside all night long and go camping in the corridors without some pillows and stuff, which were all INSIDE the dormitory. Siiiiiiiiiighhhh. He just couldn't wait to graduate soon.

After saying the password to the portrait, it swung open and Ronnie found herself in the back of a large crowd gathered around something. They all seemed rather...upset. She cocked her head. What was going on?

She stood up on her tippy toes to get a better look, craning her neck as she did so. Her eyes popped at what she saw. Merlin's beard! Were those...

TURNSTILES?!

Her mouth fell open. What. Nooo. This was...so...stupid! They had to pay to get in their OWN bloody common room?! She glared at the turnstiles. Stupid turnstiles. Once she got up to one, she dug into her pocket for a knut and then put it into the hole and walked in. What next? Were they supposed to pay to breathe as well?!

Shortly after the door opened they were greeted by a big line of multicolored turnstiles that effectively blocking their path. They are required to pay a knut before allowed to pass through. Okay .. Hogwarts is officially had something new this year.. As he moved towards the turnstiles, Aphrodite put the only knut she had (Father and Mother do not prepare knut for her, and how luckys he is because her brother gave one knut of his) and the turnstile is unlocked and allow her to pass through and get into the common room. With glanced at Amara, Ronnie, Alexa and some other Gryffindor students, she sighed confusedly and move forward the turnstile.

Little Troy pouted and furrowed his dark black, bushy eyebrows! First the great hall now this? What is going on?! He deeply sighed and looked around, apparently the only way to get was to insert money. Troy was very organized with his stuff, under his robes he had his good old trusty coin dispenser belt that contained his money, along with his red fanny pack, that contained a first aid kit, pencils, other nic-nacs and all sorts of stuff he may "need" during the year. Giving the coin dispenser a click releasing one knut, he placed it inside the turnstile, so he could be allowed into the Gryffindor Common Room.

short post.. for Elexa, Penelope and everyone else
 

"I really do not mind to lend my money, as long as I get paid back of course" she told her friend. "This situation is pretty bad. Did it not dawn on them that not all students have a knut in their pocket?"
"Sure" Sarah said to Penelope, plopping a knut into her friends hand. "Its a pleasure to help a friend"
Sarah felt bad to go in alone when the others were outside, "Has someone tried accio?" she asked,

for everyone...
 

Ira trudged up the stairs, a little late, to the common room. Finally.. could go and sleep in her dormitory. Wonder why she was feeling so sleepy sleepy today all of a sudden.. And hungry too, seeing she was munching on a snack bar.

And why were her lions crowding around the entrance? Standing on her tip toes, the sixth year's mouth fell open. Were those turnstiles? What were turnstiles doing at the entrance?

"Guys.. whats going on?" She asked to no one in particular, and then read the notice. 1 knut per person? What was this?

Well, this was so unbelievable! The sixth year just shook her head, "I can't believe this. They didn't even tell us before." she said, and stood there frowning, with her hands on her hips. "This is so not fair."

Whaaaa? What was going on now?

Troy quickly put up his tiny fists, ready to defend his coin dispenser or himself.

"See what?!" Troys eyes widened and he looked around him.

Was there something he didn't see?

Lex continued watching her, now with even less urgency. Melanie had knuts, she would pay and go inside like a few others had done but but but....what if the inside was horrid??? What if it was as dirty as out here--or worse? It would have been a waste of a perfectly good knut, wouldn't it? Not to mention she'd have to pay another one just to escape!

She thought to say all these things to her but didn't bother, instead she continued watching until the girl's knuts began hitting the floor and she went hurriedly trying to find them.

Oh! Oh! Oh!!! She could help!!!

Lex got to her knees and began running her hand along the floor. "Here, I found two." She said, extending her hand to the girl before she went on looking.

"You're right about that. I've been in there hundreds of times, don't see why I should pay now." She didn't tell them to go broke, she didn't tell them to have all their house elves quit. This was all their fault, they should have dealt with it on their own without it becoming a problem for her. "Still we have to think of something constructive, if we don't go in there, where will we sleep?" Might as well put their brains to good use while they figured some stuff out.

Demand? Did he forget who his Headmistress was? She may have looked more than a little distraught at the feast but Lex was pretty sure the woman still carried her temper around with her, maybe even more now that she had to deal with not having any money and eating bad food.

"I guess we could have someone talk to her but I really don't see it doing any good. This is all because we have no money."

This all boiled down to them not having any money and it was quite literal in the case of the lions too because most of them didn't have their money on them! No one ever really thought to have their money on them!

"Obviously not, or maybe they just didn't care?" Either way they were out here instead of in there--with the exceptions who had paid the knut and gone in of course. Now that Felix had shown up with her money pouch she could have chosen to go in but she wasn't going to. Nope. She was sticking with her lions. If they decided to go in she'd consider it and if they found a totally cool place where only Gryffindors would be allowed, she'd go with that TOO!!

Lex looked over at the sound of her other prefect. Even she was finding problems with this. The third year nodded. "Almost no one has their money on them, I don't see how we're meant to go in." There were a few of course but the majority didn't, hence them being out here the way they were.

"I take it you don't have any knuts on you either then?" Or was she like her and simply refused to waste a knut on that machine? Lex hardly wanted to waste knuts on the gumball machine down in Diagon Alley!

Good merlin! Another one!

Lex whipped around immediately, trying to find out where the voice had come from. THERE! Another Firstie, yeah?? She tried her best to keep her composure long enough to satisfy her curiosity because the girl had seen something. Something she didn't see obviously because...well actually she didn't know why she didn't see. Was it something huge and epic???

"See what?"

Also. She tilted her head and staaaared at the girl. "You know a kid named Michael?" He was loud, first loud Gryffindor of the night and NOW she found another one!!! Eeeep! There was hope for the house yet!!! Take that kid who cried because you got sorted into Gryffindor!

First off Tag wasn't very good with money. He usually wasted it all pretty fast on silly things. Now he'd have to learn how to handle his money well, and he didn't have much on him to begin with. "Now I have to ration my money." he said rolling his eyes as he folded his arms across his chest. "Great job Felix." Tag said to the cat as he bent down and tried to pet him. "Err, are you gonna pay and get out wallets, so the other's can pay? Or, has someone already gone in?" He asked Lex. If her cat was here, maybe she could pay for all the lions waiting around, and they'd pay here back in return.

"I've never met Felix. Is he nice? Oh, maybe him and Spot could go on a cat date!"

Ofim smiled at Lex "Yeah, I don't know what is going on." he said to her. This was just a another reason why he didn't like this place. At this point he was really hoping that he wouldn't be returning next term. "If you want your stuff, why not just pay and get it over with?" he asked her.

The second year started fishing in his pockets for the money he needed.

O_O

What? What did she want?! Uhm NO!

Troy covered his coin dispenser and stepped back, he nodded his head. Wait Robot? There's a robot? Oh right the dispenser "Nope! It's all mine and I won't share or give it away!" He furrowed his eyebrows.

"I would use my karate skills on you...but seeing you're a girl I say good day" Troy shifted his head to the side and continued to make his way into the common room.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo (Post 11349592) Good merlin! Another one! Lex whipped around immediately, trying to find out where the voice had come from. THERE! Another Firstie, yeah?? She tried her best to keep her composure long enough to satisfy her curiosity because the girl had seen something. Something she didn't see obviously because...well actually she didn't know why she didn't see. Was it something huge and epic??? "See what?" Also. She tilted her head and staaaared at the girl. "You know a kid named Michael?" He was loud, first loud Gryffindor of the night and NOW she found another one!!! Eeeep! There was hope for the house yet!!! Take that kid who cried because you got sorted into Gryffindor!

"THAT," Zahra pointed at the ROBOT. It'd been a long day. A really long day. Zahra was tired, but still GOING STRONG. "It's dispensing knuts. I told it to give 'em to us." Sensible Zahra.

"OH YEAH. Mikey though. That's my BEST friend. He's a Toussaint." Shrug. COOL SHRUG. As in, SOOOOO cool.




O___O


"MY MERLIN." Zahra was LOUD AWED WHISPERING OH MERLINZ JEWELS. "THAT ROBOT KNOWS KARATE. And *IT'S* In GRYFFINDOR!"

Robot? Again. Troy shook his head.

"My name is Troy, you girl without manners." Troy crossed his fingers "Shame on you." he nodded.

Gryffindor? Ah yes "Yes. Yes I am." and proud of it!

Why this girl was strange? Really strange.

What is wrong with this female?

Troy was a prous kid, proud of his name. "Nope. Troy means 'King of awesomeness."

Troy wasn't the type of person ro believe what other immature people said and thought about him. He was a Hawthorne for crying out loud. His late father was a wealthy pureblood, not to mention his Sister Demi. One thing about the Hawthornes, they DON'T share. :-)

"I would give you one, but I don't like you." Troy grinned and waved at her with his index finger and walked away.

He didn't look back, there was no reason she was irrevilant and he wanted to get some rest. Bye, bye.

Overdue and lame post! *sigh*
 

NO ONE HAS MONEY!

AND THE ONE THAT HAS IT WAS AN....ALLEGED ROBOT!

DOOMED.

She stared at the prefect. What did he mean by nothing? He was a PREFECT! He was supposed to know things.

"You mean...you don't know this was supposed to be here?" she asked, surprised. What kind of prefect was that? NO NO. The oh-you-dont-have-a-batch-let-me-give-you-one kind. "IS THIS ONLY HAPPENING HERE OR NOT?" she asked. She wanted to know. If this was only the case with the lions and not anyone else, she...argh..she just wanted to know what was happening.

She nodded. Who carries a full money bag on first day to Hogwarts? No one said this would happen. She looked at the girl with a grin. "Yeah....do lets go somewhere..." she trailed. Cool. The girl was older, had been here for a while. She would sure know some good place in the school to spend the night. Yes?

Amara blinked at the question. "Ehm...I do" she said. "But irrelevant because it's currently tucked into the safety of my trunk" she added. Well it was written on the agenda to carry knuts to first day on school. Was it? And a thought struck. "HEY" she said, her eyes far off. "I think..Zyanya might have some" she said, looking at the girl. REMEMBER? "Yeah.. I think I saw her clutching a money bag before leaving the train"

BRILLIANT! Maybe her twin was a sure Ravenclaw.

Sassy robots?

OH YEAH. She looked at the guy in question. And the girl who was having questions.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?" she asked, her eyes wide. She surely didn't keep herself updated with muggle technology.

"I DID SEE ONE... This summer! And it...it.." she paused.. "it judo-flipped the guy who teased it" with a gulp. And THAT was the best she'd ever seen.

Smiling a little, Jake looked at the turnstiles again. "I don't think anyone has tried putting in another coin..." He glanced at Anya, chewing on his lip. How many knuts were there to a galleon anyway? And would the machine allow that many people through it for the one coin?

Questions, questions.

Yawning, he shrugged a shoulder. "I guess we have to pay to get into our common room now."

Hearing another familiar voice, Jake looked over Anya's head to see Ali. Who... was announcing that she was going to sleep in the corridor. "You won't be alone, apparently," He said, looking pointedly at the others that had chosen that same option.

As for the jumping, though... "I was going to. Then I thought about spy movies and things and decided I wanted to keep my body the way it is." No bruises or anything else that might happen if there was some sort of security measures around the turnstiles.

Turning his attention to Lexa, Jake narrowed his eyes at the girl. "I'm sure nobody else knows, either." At least none of the prefects. Ali didn't know, so that meant the Quidditch captains didn't either. The professors might, but clearly there were none of them around.

As for sending someone to get one, though, Jake still wasn't totally on board with his own idea. He didn't want to bother anyone... and it'd be really embarrassing if they did and the Gryffindors were the only ones having issues. Maybe they could go to find the other houses and see if they had figured out a way to bypass the turnstiles?

"I don't know," he said quietly, "We'll just figure something out."

Thankfully, that was when Ira showed up. Jake turned to face his fellow prefect and crossed the space over to her (taking Anya with him), a frown furrowing between his eyebrows.

"Some of them don't have any money on them. We can't just stay out here... can we?" He kept his voice calm, but he hoped nobody else could hear him. He didn't like being so obviously unprepared and un-leader-like. But... at least Ira clearly didn't know what was going on, either. So that made Jake look a little more responsible. Right?

Holding back a groan, Jake shook his head. "Nobody knows what's going on here. Please keep your voice down." Honestly. He was getting a headache. "We're trying to handle it and get everything sorted out. Just hang tight for a bit." He flashed another look at Ira. Help?