Humming a song softly, Leah headed to the Great Hall for breakfast and sat down at a random table. She could tell be looking at the red banner that it was the Gryffindor Table. No one was at the table, so she grabbed a piece of toast and started buttering it. She suddenly missed her mum, who made the best toast in the world.

The girl was jolted out of her thoughts as a horrible taste filled her mouth. Looking down at her leftover toast, Leah realized that she had put mustard on her toast instead of jam. She.Hated.Mustard. Her eyes started watering quickly. She did not want to cry in front of all students (although the table was empty), she was eleven now. Leah poured down pumpkin juice down her throat, calming down a bit.

Christmas was heading down for a spot of breakfast the hall was still empty when she saw a young hufflepuff sitting at her table looking a bit upset and said "Hey there everything okay with you"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saz Hale

Christmas was heading down for a spot of breakfast the hall was still empty when she saw a young hufflepuff sitting at her table looking a bit upset and said "Hey there everything okay with you"

Hurriedly gulping down the mustard-covered piece of toast in her mouth, Leah wiped away the tear in her eyes and looked up. A bigger girl was talking to her. "Oh, I'm okay, just a bit of... mustard. Thanks for asking anyway." Leah answered, coughing awkwardly. "My name's Leah by the way. I'm a first year. What about you?" The little girl had never known any students this big before, so she was excited to make a new friend.

Christmas smiled and said "Well at least your okay Leah and i am Christmas i'm a seventh year" Leah seemed like a nice girl and wanted to help Leah settle in at Hogwarts more

Bart bounded into the great hall he was starving. What was there for breakfast today. It better be mounds and mounds of food. Plopping down at the Gryffindor table he looked around the hall. It was empty, but he had slept too late a problem that seemed to be happening a lot. Not that he had missed any classes not important ones but he still had been being lazy with making sure he was on time for things. Piling pancakes and sausage on his plate, oh and eggs he couldn't forget the eggs. Big man Groundskeeper told him to eat lots of eggs. So would six be enough for breakfast he'd make it seven just to make sure.

As he started to eat he noticed Frump flying in with what looked like a letter. "Hey Frump mum send any cookies this..." but he stopped his eyes widening as he saw what frump had. A HOWLER... man.. man oh man what.. how.. what. He hadn't gotten detention yet and the school didn't send owls for point loss, right? Why was he getting this, why! He shoved it not wanting to open it, but he knew from experience what happened when you did that so slowly he opened it.

BARTHOLOMEW WINSTON MAROON WHAT IN MERLIN'S BEARD TO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING. YOU DO NOT TAKE GIRLS UNDERTHINGS AND STRING THEM UP. NOR DO YOU TAKE THEM AND USE THEM AS SLINGSHOTS. I BETTER NOT GET ANY LETTERS FROM YOUR PROFESSORS AND CHARELY BETTER NOT GET ANY LETTERS FROM LUC SAYING YOU ARE DOING ANYTHING ELSE. IF YOU GET EXPELLED FROM THIS SCHOOL IT WILL BE MUGGLE SCHOOL FOR YOU YOUNG MAN. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

I love you and I hope you are having a good time other than that trouble. Stay out of trouble young man.

Love,
Mum

He watched the paper rip it's self up and he huffed at it. He didn't get in trouble for that not really so how did she know? How did she know? He picked at his food hoping not too many people saw and hoping that no one heard his real name. Then it hit him did Luc do this? Did he send it home, the boy was avoiding him since they got to school. He would be finding Luc as soon as he was done there.

It was a cheerful morning for Miss Abbi Campi. There was a GREAT breakfast being served and her plans of bunking her first lesson only seemed to make her so much more thrilled with the day. She'd never bunked before and was always nervous too, but today she told herself she would do it and NOT get caught. She could always fake she was sick or something, you know?

Her ideas trailed along and she came up with plenty more excuses but her mind was brought back to present when a screaming something began shouting about. She lifted her head up and across from her sat a Bart, a Bart that was getting a very interesting howler form his mother.

LOLOLOL. She was giggling insanely at it all. SO FUNNEH.

"Bartholomew?" Wasn't the squid named something like that too? Or maybe not. Like she had time to remember history." Muggle school." GIGGLE SNORT. "Good luck." Ohhh and she wanted to know. "Whatya do to that girl anyways?" Had to be something le-gen-dairy if he was in this much trouble.

Bart's eyes snapped up when he heard laughing. Someone was laughing at him. He glared in Abbi's direction. "It's not funny. Luc's going to eat slugs if he's the one that told mum." He didn't know the spell just yet, but he'd figure it out just to use on his step cousin. Once he found the git. Where had he gone anyway. It was just like the Charely's cheating on you owl, Luc spilled on that one too.

What now she was laughing at his name. Mother look what you've done now everyone knew his stupid first name. Huffing at his food he wasn't seeming hungry anymore. "Don't call me that" He huffed some more about the muggle school. "I'm not going there. My mum would never send me there even if she threatens it." They all knew there wasn't enough muggle schools to deal with him and he'd make sure of it if sent there. Looking back at Abbi he flung a piece of sausage at her and chuckled. That's what she got for teasing him.

A grin did play on his lips when Abbi asked what he did, "I didn't do anything to any girl. I was just bored on the train and found some open trunks. So I strung up some underwear." He shrugged it still wasn't that big of a deal in his eyes. People were way to sensitive here and didn't have a sense of humor. "Oh yeah I also took some older girls bra that had hexed me on the train and used it as a slingshot at the lake. It was great to use for water balloons." He laughed still proud of himself for that one. The point loss stuff wasn't that big of a deal to him. He really wasn't even sure what it was all about.

It was that wonderful time of the year, where a young girl turns another age.
It was Silver's 14th birthday and for the first time since her arrival at Hogwarts, she was feeling a little homesick. But she wasn't going to let anyone see her upset.

With her signature ginormous smile, Silver was ready to celebrate her birthday with her newfound friend, Beverly.

Having sent her the message to meet her here, Silver waited patiently with a pink box neatly placed in front of her.

Beverly paused at the doors of the Great Hall. She was dressed as girly as she went. An elephant long-sleeve shirt and a denim skirt with her trusty Chucks. Her long brown hair cascaded down her back, her bangs pinned to the side.

Yep, as fancy as she was getting.

With a deep breath she approached the Gryffindor table, her hands behind her back holding something and keeping it out of view. This was her first time getting a gift of a friend. She never really had any -- a brother and cousins didn't count -- so she'd spent days trying to figure out what to get Fluffy. Thank goodness Yvonne came to the rescue and got something suitable for the excited Gryffindor.

"Hi," Beverly said, suddenly appearing behind Silver. "Erm, happy birthday."

She handed Silver the zebra print bag. Zebra because Silver loved them so much it was her 'spirit animal.'

Yay. Take it. Like it. Love it.

Aaaaaaaah! Zebra print!

Silver's face lit up and she nearly jumped for joy, but she was sitting down so that might hurt.

"Oh Merlin! Thank you!" Silver genuinely smiled at her new bestie.

Okay, cake first then presents!" She unboxed the cake within the pink box in front of her. "Do you know the birthday song?" Silver grinned.

"Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday dear, Silver. Happy birthday to me!" Silver sang.

Honest to Merlin, Beverly had not expected Silver to be this happy about a BAG. But she supposed she had been thoughtful at selecting the zebra print. She gave herself a mental pat on the back. Good one, Wayne.

Wait. Whaaat?!

She didn't know she'd be expected to SING. That cake was pretty, delicious-looking even, but sing, seriously, Silver?

Yes. She was serious. So serious she started singing on her own. SIGH. Bev hadn't known friendship came with ALL of this or she would have prepared herself. It was a special day, though. And Silver was pretty patient with her. Here goes...

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday..." SIGH "...dear Silver, happy birthday to you."

There was absolutely no emotion on her face after she was done singing. She was completely neutral. It was all she could do the keep from scowling. "Bite the cake. Isn't that tradition or something?"

Of course it was. Yes.

"Bite it."

Not funny? Yeah yeah, it was HILARIOUS! So funny in fact that Abbi could barely stop with her giggles. It was only when he mentioned slugs that she eventually could keep herself tame enough to talk. "It's not funny, it's REALLY funny." She stuck her tongue at him. "How you going to do that?" She'd help you know as long as he took all the blame if they were caught.

Poor thing! Named Bartholomew! Hahahahaha! Funny, but a real shame for the victim, which was not Abbi so HEH. " One of the older students told me the giant squid's got that name too. You're SO named after him. SQUIDDYYY BARTHOLOMEW!" She burst into giggles again, even squeeing cause it was so humorous in her eyes. "Ohhhh, well they aren't that bad, just not COOL." Therefore he wouldn't be cool if he went to one. Nope.


REALLY? What was it with boys and girls underwear? Reallllyyy? Like really really? DRAMATIC SIGH for you Barthomolew. "You're such a boy." Like SUCH a boy. " Do you still have the underwear and bra?" She was just curious, okay?

....................Boom smack right in her face. That's where the sausage had hit her. Okay. She saw how this was. Mhhhm. She did. "FOOD FIGHT!" She chucked her toast at him, aiming right for his head.

Tessa practically flew into the Great Hall. She had agreed to meet Sander at the table and didn't want to be late... but apparently she was early. She stopped short and decided that she should walk a little more normally. She took a breath and walked to the table, taking a seat with a happy sigh. Her stomach would be much happier with something in it.

But, she would wait for Sander. In the mean time, she looked up at the enchanted ceiling with a smile. This was a view she could get used to. The sky was a bright blue and the painted clouds moved around as if a breeze were blowing them. She couldn't wait to get out to the pitch and train... perhaps after food.

Sander made his way down the row of tables bypassing his own house table and headed for the Gryffindor one instead.

He was late...late for a very important date...food with Tessa. He was dismayed when he saw that Tessa was already sitting at the table. He had hoped that she was one of those girls who was always fashionably late but he now knew that she wasn't.

He quickly rushed up to where she was sitting and sat down. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to check his speed when he sat down because he immediately slid across the bench really fast. Sander tries to slow down his momentum by grabbing onto the table but all he did was manage to dislodge plates and cups and silverware along his slide path, leaving a noisy mess behind him.

"Ooomph!!" Sander slid right up next to Tessa and bounced off her. He would have fallen backwards if he hadn't managed to grab hold of her arms.

"Hi I'm here" he grinned back at her.

Tessa was still looking up at the ceiling, daydreaming, when suddenly...

Crash! Swish! Bump!

"Oh!" Was the only word that left Tessa's mouth as Sander slid into her. However, seeing his expression, she burst out laughing. "Fancy bumping into you here!" she said with a laugh, giving him a gentle bump with her shoulder. "You alright? That was quite an entrance!" she teased, still giggling. And suddenly, she realized that he was holding her arms... and sitting really close... why was she noticing these things?

Tight chest, slightly breathless, heart jack hammering... it was as if she had just done the running! She took a breath and cleared her throat. "You are!" she said with a warm smile. "Ready to eat? Because honestly," she looked at the food, her stomach rumbling. "I'm starving!"

Why was Abbi sitting with him again? Why wasn’t she just leaving him alone? Wasn’t his howler bad enough now he had her bringing it up. “It’s not funny how would you like a howler in front of everyone?” Maybe he should write to her mom saying she did something really bad so she got one then she’d see. His frown went to a smirk, “Hex him of course. I’ll figure out the spell the makes you throw up slugs” He knew he could do it if he had someone show it to him. Now just who could he find to do that.


His glare continued as she told him he was named after the squid. “I’m not named after a squid.. Stop calling me that.” He thought Abbi was cool, but not so much right now, but this squid he was interested in a squid. “So this place has a squid?” Not that he was named after it, because he wasn’t and if he was his mother would hear about it. That was the lamest name ever and he hated it. “My name is Bart so keep it that way.” Honestly she should know better to think someone cool like him was anything but a Bart. I won’t be going to that stupid school so don’t worry.”

“Yep last I checked I was a boy so I guess you get a gold star for being captain obvious.” He chuckled at her. Really what kind of saying was that, you’re such a boy. Umm he was a boy so yep such a boy. “No Bra girl took it back after I used it as a slingshot. I was done with it so whatever.” He had no use for it once he was out of balloons.

Ducking as he saw the toast come flying at him he grinned and grabbed a pancake and flung it at her, he could do a food fight that was easy. Plus he was totally going to win. Grabbing another piece of sausage he took a bite out of it first before tossing it. No point letting all of it go to waste, plus he was starving.

Sander just grinned foolishly at her when she asked whether he was alright. Why wouldn't he be? He was sitting next to the prettiest girl at her house table. Then he realized what she was really asking. He turned to look at the chaos he had created in his wake.

With a quick wave of his wand, he uprighted all the plates, and cups and silverware and then turned back to look at Tessa sheepishly. "Yes I'm alright...and so is everything else now." before laughing uncontrollably.

"If one didn't know better they would think I was a clutz...either that or I haven't eaten in over a week and am now crazily hungry for food." he told Tessa

....and just as he said that, his tummy made a rumbling noise....just about the same time hers did. Was his tummy replying to her tummy's call too? Not wanting to show any indication that he had heard her tummy rumbling, he quickly nodded his head.

"Yes I'm definitely hungry myself. Your tummy....I mean my tummy's rumbling to be fed. Everything looks good here." Sander turned to look at the food.

It was then he realized that he was still holding her arms. He wondered whether he could just eat using one hand. Banishing that as a foolish thought, he reluctantly released his hold on her and picked up his fork and knife.

However, there was no way in heck, he was going to move away from her. He liked being squished right next to her.

Tessa hid a laugh with her hand as Sander righted all of the plates and utensils that had taken a spill. "Well, I was more concerned about you than the plates and silverware... but don't tell the House Elves that," she whispered to him with a grin.

"Well, I know the first one isn't true- but the second one concerns me," she said with a laugh. "Eat man, eat!" she laughed. She was embarrassed by her stomach but then... Sander's made the same sound. She looked up at him and, once again, burst out laughing.

"I think they are agreeing with one another- so we had better eat quick before they start a rebellion!" she joked. Although, she could have sworn her stomach was rebelling every time Sander was around... there were those darn butterflies again. Especially since he was still holding her. But, to eat, he had to let go.

But, he didn't move. She smiled to herself as she began to bring food to her plate. "So, how's your training going? For Ice Hockey?" she asked, looking up at him after she had eaten a little bit.

Sander laughed in unison when Tessa made a comment about the possibility of their stomachs starting a rebellion if they didn't eat soon. Maybe that was the reason his tummy had been misbehaving recently. It had to be hunger that was causing it have butterflies all the time.

....but that still didn't explain why his heart kept racing and did flip flops whenever he was near Tessa....and even his tummy too. Both organs seemed to behave when he wasn't around her, although he had to admit that he did have an entirely different feeling when he wasn't. He felt an emptiness inside him...and no it wasn't because he hadn't eaten. He felt like he was missing something...only he didn't know what.

Shaking his head to bring himself back to the present, he started dishing food onto his plate, put some food in his mouth and began chewing. Then Tessa asked him a question, and he opened his mouth to answer before he realized that the polite thing to do was to swallow his food first before doing so.

So he raised his hand with his index finger pointing up indicating that he needed one second, and then he chewed as fast as he could before swallowing his food.

"My training's going great. I've managed to charm a blow up dummy to be my goalie. So now I really have to work hard to score, which is what I want to happen. In real life, the chances of us facing an empty goal mouth or a goal keeper that isn't preventing you from scoring is almost a rarity. That thing moves really fast too." Sander told Tessa.

"Hey if you want, you can come see me play against that thing, and after that, maybe you could take me out to the Quidditch pitch and show me your moves." Sander suggested before forking a piece of meat into his mouth.

The things that his laugh did to her... it made her want to smile and keep laughing, while also joking and being silly so that he would laugh and smile even more. It made her feel strange- as if everything was right in the world... Such strange thoughts.

At least her stomach was mostly under control... and yet, despite the fact that she had been eating, her stomach was still acting strangely. She sighed to herself, and ate a few more things. She had been working a lot at training- perhaps she was just hungrier than normal.

She grinned as he held up a finger. She was chewing also, so she really couldn't fault him at all. She did offer a nod and a reassuring smile, just so he didn't think he would have to rush on her account. She could and would wait!

Tessa listened as he described his training with a growing smile. After swallowing, she said "Well, I'm glad you've found a way to train! It's very important that we train to the best of our ability- you'll have to show me what you do for the goalie, perhaps then I can have a challenging keeper to train against when no humans are present," she replied thoughtfully. Then, she could train as much as she wanted...

"I would love to come see you play," she told him with a wide smile. "And you're more than welcome to come- although you may only see a blur," she told him with a wink. "I ride a Firebolt- it's one of the fastest brooms out there," she explained, fondness evident in her tone.

"What do you think of the classes here so far? Any surprises compared to Durmstrang?" she asked, curious.

Sander watched Tessa as she laughed, chewed her food and talk. Her face would light up every time she talked about Quidditch, and the way she chewed her food, it was the cutest thing. Her nose would scrunch up sometimes without her even knowing she was doing it.

He liked sharing a meal with her. In fact, he could just sit here day and watch her without eating and he'd still be satisfied. No matter how much he ate, his stomach still wouldn't behave. Those butterflies just wouldn't leave him alone but he was getting used to them because weird as it may seem, he felt happy.

"Oh I've tried it out once, and it's really amazing how real it can get. I can show you the next time we're up there. Too bad I can't make a dummy goalie for you when you play Quidditch. I would volunteer to be the goalie but all I'll be able doing is fighting to stay on the broom." he laughed.

"One thing I will guarantee though is that I'll be in the stands supporting you when you're playing," he promised her. Then she mentioned about the broom she used.

"A Firebolt? Yes I know what it is. I hate to admit it but I have one at home. My uncle bought me one mistakenly thinking that I played Quidditch. I've rode it once. Yes it really is fast. My sisters tend to fly on it more than I do," he admitted to her.

"I'm actually enjoying the classes here. I didn't think I would. But then I didn't think I'd have such great classmates and friends either...especially you." he gently smiled at her. "You've made attending Hogwarts the best surprise ever." Sander told her honestly.

"What about you? Are you experiencing any surprises this year? What did you think your 6th year here would be like? " Sander asked her in return.

Tessa felt Sander's eyes on her, but she was hesitant to look up to meet them. She felt self-conscious all of a sudden... and she NEVER felt self conscious. What was this? She smothered those strange feelings and looked up to grin at Sander, her heard beating to a fast paced tune she didn't know.

Did he know he made that funny face when he ate? It was adorable. And he had a small speck of food right above his upper lip. She desperately wanted to reach out and wipe it away... and her hand had just twitched to do so when she got control of herself once more. Deep breaths, Tessa... deep breaths.

"Yes, I would definitely love to see y- it," she quickly corrected, not sure what was wrong with her tongue. "Well, perhaps once I see the spell, we can figure something out. Some limitations on where it can go- height wise. We don't want it floating away," she pointed out thoughtfully. She giggled at the thought of him at the goal. "Well, it sounds just like me in front of a hockey goal," she pointed out with a grin. At his next words, she looked down at her plate as a blush fought to color her cheeks. She'd heard that from friends before, but it had never had such an affect on her. "Thank you," she replied quietly, shooting him a smile.

She nodded and grinned at the story of his firebolt. "It's amazing- I've been able to do so much more with it," she said with a sigh and a smile. She glanced over at his words. "How many sisters do you have?" she asked, curious. She didn't have any siblings, so it was always interesting to hear from someone who had them. She was about to reply, when Sander's words sunk in. Especially you. She felt her stomach flip flop and her heart's tempo increased. "You... you were a wonderful surprise too," she told him with a warm smile.

"Every time I've switched schools, I'm never sure what I'm going to walk into," she told him quietly. "Sometimes I make friends, sometimes I've remained on my own. But... I always knew I would be transferring eventually, and I didn't really care after the 2nd or 3rd. But now... I don't want to transfer," she explained softly. "And that's been the most surprising thing."

Sander noticed the redness tinging Alex's cheeks. Was she blushing because he had told her that he would be there to support her when she played? Was he wrong to have said that? She had lots of friends, surely she must have heard others telling her that too.

Not wanting to embarrass her any further, he welcomed the change in subject. He smiled as he thought of his siblings. "I have three siblings, all younger than me. One brother, Christoffer, and two sister, Annelise and Elin," he told her thinking of them fondly. "I have a picture of them somewhere. Remind me to show it you when we head back to our common rooms." he smiled up at her.

His heart began racing fast when she told him that she called him a wonderful surprise. Was that a good thing? He hoped it was but he had not been lying when he said that knowing and being with her had made a big difference in his life here at Hogwarts.

"How many times did you have to transfer from one school to another? I can imagine how lonely it must have been for you. Making friends only to have to say goodbye to them when you left. I'm glad that you found a home here at Hogwarts. You deserve to be happy." Sander smiled gently at her. Then he realized something he hadn't thought of before. It would be him, who would be leaving at the end of this term and he wouldn't be coming back.

He now wished that he had come to Hogwarts sooner. That he had more time to spend with Tessa and Alex and all the other friends he had made ever since he came to Hogwarts. It saddened him that he would have to say goodbye to all of them....especially Tessa.

Feeling deflated at the thought, Sander immediately lost his appetite and he just stared down at his food.

Tessa fought to keep her face under control- but how does someone control a blush? She took deep breaths, cooling the heat to her cheeks and thinking of things other than Sander. That seemed to help... slowly but surely. But Sander would come to watch her- that was something to look forward to.

She smiled as Sander spoke of his siblings. "I don't have any siblings... although I think Lux and Bay are quickly becoming the equivalent of siblings to me," she said with a laugh. "Do you have any funny stories? With you and your siblings?" she asked, tilting her head with a smile. She was sure there were bound to be a few, if not many! "I would love to see them," she replied with a grin.

Tessa looked away at her next question, playing with the fork that was laying on her plate. "I've been to 7 different schools- this being my 8th," she told him quietly. "The main reason being my father's studies," she told him. "The other reasons... were my own doing." She was still playing with the fork, more as something to focus her and to keep her nerves from showing. A smile flickered on her lips when he said that she deserved to be happy.

However, it was Sander's silence that stirred her from her musings. "Sander?" she ventured, looking at him. "What's wrong?" Was it something she had said? Her past was certainly interesting, and not a laughing matter- although she often treated it like one. She just hoped that Sander wasn't intimidated by it... or worse, disgusted by it.