CB kept her eyes on the girl still, kinda hoping she'd just go but it didn't seem like she would. So instead she made herself even more comfortable, coming to the realization that she wasn't going to get more reading done until the girl was gone and she was on her own again, even if that meant relocating herself after some conversation. Maybe she'd find Hallie. Hallie would scare off anyone who bothered them while reading, wouldn't she?

"I only found this today.. after exploring some more. Is this like.. a common hangout or something?" Translation: is this a bad place to hide in while trying to read?

Oh. Question sorta answered. She felt like she should maybe offer to leave, but was also kind of tired of having to move every time she settled somewhere with a book. "Uh.. Hogwarts: A History." Same thing she was always reading.

She needed new history books.

Illegal? ".....Yeah, but it's not like she bought it on some black wizard market trade. Said she found the egg up in the mountains and she hatched it. I think she only got suspended when dragons started attacking the school." And they said Hogwarts was the only one with all the near deaths. Pffft, she'd heard the stories. Beauxbaton sounded like the only safe choice. And yes dear Firstie, the Nundu did sound dangerous. Fascinating wasn't it? Shame they didn't have any down in the Animal care place Thompson was running.

Her attention had gone back to the paper after her little explanation, giving Hayden enough time to internalize what she'd said. Hearing that, she expected the girl to be thinking through strategies to get through the rest of the year. After hearing what she did, surely she'd know how much easier it could be getting around if she knew what she was doing.

"Hmm?" Her eyes scanned the drawing. In truth there were a few passages that should have been added but..."Yeah, looks good to me. We can start on the kitchen level. Lots hidden there." Though maybe not for her, being a Hufflepuff and all. What self respecting Hufflepuff didn't know where the kitchen was? Even Lottie who was adamant she wasn't a hufflepuff knew where the kitchen was.

That still sounded vastly illegal to Hayden. Especially... what? "Attacking the school?" Oh merlin. Had that ever happened at Hogwarts? Hayden hoped it wouldn't happen anytime soon, at least not while she was there. After that she didn't really care because that wasn't her problem.

Ooh, kitchen level. "Sounds good." That was her area, given she was a Hufflepuff and all. Hayden set the page with the dungeon on it aside and focused on a new page. She started drawing on one end with the Hufflepuff common room and everything in there. She definitely knew what she was doing on this floor.

"So how is it being a Gryffindor?" She'd had some questions and theories about different houses and the people in them and she was really curious as to what her findings would be, though she didn't know if she was ready to start a full scale experiment and survey. Still, she could talk to people if she was curious.

A common hangout? Els tilted her head and gestured to the office around them. "Does it look like it gets used often?" Had she not been aware of the layer of unclean in here? "Let's see... Does your dorm room look like this, little Ravenclaw?" Oh yes, she knew exactly who her dorm mate was too. Sophs shouting about it that one time had well and truly given little Coral-Bay Aldrich a place in the Hufflepuff's memory. As 'Bridge Girl', of course. Nicknames were a gesture of good will, right?

Unless they came from Elodie...

Chicken liver... Pelican beak... Orange peel? They weren't exactly witty.

The Prefect rolled her eyes when she heard what book the kid was reading, opened the door just a crack and performed an accio on one of her own books. C'mere bookie. She waited for it with a hand outstretched, and kept her eyes drifting between Bridge Girl and just outside of the door until her copy of Jane Eyre settled in it, and then she closed the door once more and held it out to her.

"Read something with a little more substance, kid. You'll choke yourself reading about this place."

CB hesitated and gave the room another look around. She was right, obviously. It didn't.. exactly... Well, it was kind of gross in here. But after an afternoon with CB and Hallie, this place could be a proper nice place to hang around. "No... I keep it really super clean. Spotless, really. It's pretty." She offered the pretty prefect a small smile and moved her book a little in her lap, not closing it, just adjusting it a bit so it sat a little nicer in her lap.

Almost perfectly even between her legs. She wasn't exactly her sister. But she tried to be sometimes.

It wasn't really the same.

Coral-Bay tilted her head at the prefect's offering, gently reaching out her hand to receive the book from the other girl. Was she just gonna give it to her? "What's this? What's it about?" She looked over the book, skimming over the description on the back. It.. well, it wasn't a history book.

"I... I don't know that i'll like it." She liked her history book. She got to read about every place around the castle she visited. Almost like she was visiting it. Touching every little crack in the wall that went along with the stories in her book. It was her favorite. "Don't you want to read it?" she offered the book back.

Pretty. Of course a little kid would call her dorm room pretty. "Of course it is... You and Sophs keep it clean together? Hm?" Or was Sophs constantly getting into mischief at the tip of a hat? That seemed like something the young Claw would get up to. That was what Els liked about her in honesty. She asked too many questions for her liking, but it was okay to deal with when she understood how Els felt about Cat.

Joint Cat lovin' conversations were her faaaaav.

With her book now given to little Coral-Bay, Els refused it when it was offered back and folded her arms. "Jane Eyre. It's a good book. Not set in these times. Wrote awesomely, and the wore funky clothes back then." And by golly if the kid didn't want to read it, Elodie would kick her backside as many times as corresponding letters in her own name that she had written inside the cover.

In orange glitter pen.

Swirly orange glitter letters. Eighteen of them.

Yeah, she figured she'd be curious about that. Who wouldn't wanna hear how most of the students at Durmstrang were running from giant reptiles? "They think they were looking for the egg my cousin hatched but really it could have been anything that sparked the attacks. They lasted a couple months. They'd be on the grounds then suddenly everyone would have to bolt for the castle." She couldn't be sure what actually happened to cause the attack but she was more inclined to believe her cousin than the idiots they had running around that school. Pfft.

Lex waited for her to put aside the paper and grab a new one while she searched through the coloured markers for another colour she could use. This was Hayden's floor, she expected her covering faster than Lex could even understand. "I can't be completely sure but is the portrait for the kitchen this far down the corridor?" She mused aloud, hoping for the opinion of the Puffer. She'd been there a million times but she wasn't one for too many details.

As for the question on her house, Lex paused, giving it a moment's thought. Most would probably say it was alright and give a shrug but that was the last thing she felt. "It's epic, truthfully. I love being a Gryffindor, we've got all the rawr, you know? The adventure and the personality behind us isn't bad either." She'd been to the other Common Rooms, they weren't nearly as......brilliantly loud and vibrant.

Could have been anything? Really? "What else could it have been?" Hayden would have had absolutely no explanation. If a Dragon had been hatched in the area, though, that would make sense. She couldn't think of what else it could be, but Lex knew more than her so maybe she would have been able to think of something. Or someone at the school could have had some other ideas. Still, the dragon seemed the most likely.

The portrait for the kitchen? Hayden looked where Lex was pointing and considered it for a moment. She could envision the hallway and where the portrait was supposed to be. She should definitely know that, she'd walked past it enough times. Hayden glanced back at the page and shook her head a little. "I think it's up here just a little bit further." She drew her finger along the page and pointed to where she portrait should be. Lex had been pretty close so it didn't really matter too much whether she drew it in one place or the other, but to be the most accurate she did think that it should be moved just a little.

"So do you feel that you belong in Gryffindor?" She sounded like she liked it well enough, but that didn't necessarily mean it was where she belonged. Though she had been sorted there, and who had the right to argue with the Sorting Hat? Still, Hayden was curious about several aspects of the house system.

Hmmm...Lex hadn't ever actually thought about that part. What could it have been if not the egg Freya had taken and hatched in some shed on the grounds? "Well...honestly I don't know but I might ask her, she's studying dragonology in University now and might have some insight. All she said was the dragons attacking were male so it couldn't have been a mama looking for her egg." See? Her cousin knew way more than those people about eggs so the logical choice was to believe her and Lex had no problem doing that. Neither did Dax while he was relaying the story so yeah...

Ah yes, further up. Lex squinted down at the piece of paper, trying to visualize it for herself but she wouldn't try too hard. This wasn't a floor she studied, simply one she went to to collect her best friend or feed herself and her kneazle. Felix had a better sense of direction than she did. Only reason she never got lost was the multiple visits she had in any one year. "Right, here then." She marked it off with an orange sharpie market, one of the lighter ones because it seemed to fit.

Hayden's question was a bit curious though. "Of course." Lex started, giving the girl a once over while she wondered how serious she was being. There might only have been one person in the entire school that didn't think they belonged in their house. Lex was not that one person. "I can't see myself anywhere else and even if I could, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." Coming from a long line of Slytherins, the Gryffindor did have snake tendencies but even then she was a Gryffindor through and through.

"What about you? Feel you belong in Hufflepuff?" Very ironic question, trust us.

Hayden supposed that sort of made sense. Boy dragon not mama dragon. Okay. She decided to stop asking questions about it, she was just going to get more confused. But on a related note, Dragonology sounded like it was pretty cool. "So she goes to school to study dragons?"

Hayden thought that was a good answer, but still not exactly the answer she was looking for. "Do you think being in Gryffindor shaped who you are? Or do you think that your traits fit Gryffindor even before you got sorted?" Or both? Hayden didn't really know how to phrase her questions, she was just really curious. She wanted to know if people were shaped by their houses or if they really did possess the qualities from the start. What did the sorting hat know?

As to the question about fitting into her own house. "Yeah I guess. I'm only a first year so I can't give you an in-depth analysis. People are nice to me, for the most part. And I don't think I'd fit well into most of the other houses." Ravenclaw maybe, but she didn't think she'd make a bad Hufflepuff in the end. She didn't say anything else because she didn't want to tell Lex about how she didn't think she'd fit into Gryffindor, it didn't seem very polite.

"Yup, she decided she couldn't not after growing um.....Spyro I think she called him...? She loves Unicorns too so I heard she was doing a smaller course in Magizoology, just so she can be certified with them too." She'd always known her cousin was a nutter when it came to animals but it became so much more apparent after she adopted the little thing and was willing to get suspended for it. Though in all honesty, Lex would have gotten suspended for a baby dragon. Hell, she'd gotten suspended for less.

Hearing Hayden's question, she dropped the marker and sat straighter. It was something she'd wondered back when she was a Firstie too and even in her Second Year she still had a few questions about those blurred lines but she figured she had an answer by now. "I think.......I always had traits for the house is what it is. Like I wanted to be a Ravenclaw and I supposed I could have been shaped a Ravenclaw in some sense of the word if the hat put me there but I was already too much of a Gryffindor." Did she get it? "Thinking back at how I was even before I was sorted, I think I'd call the hat a nutter if it had put me somewhere else." So yeah, she did think the traits were already there. "I do think being sorted has made me more of a Gryffindor though. Being around like minded people, you kinda start rubbing off on them and them on you."

So it didn't sound like Hayden was a doubtful Puffer like a certain bestfriend she could mention but she didn't sound all that convinced either. "You've been here long enough. If after watching the houses and seeing how they work you don't think you'd fit anywhere else then chances are you probably wouldn't. The hat knows what it's doing." Unless she wasn't worried about the decision at all and was just curios. Curiousity wasn't a limited trait to begin with. Anyone with an active mind could possess it.

Magizoology. That sounded pretty interesting. The study of it, at least. Hayden didn't care much for physical labor, and Care of Magical Creatures wasn't her thing, but she did like learning about animals. The topic gave her another question, but she wasn't sure if it would be a good thing to ask. Hopefully. "Do you know what you want to do after Hogwarts?"

Hayden nodded and considered what Lex was saying. It made sense, and that was sort of what she'd thought. But she also thought that the answer could vary depending on the person. "That makes sense," she said thoughtfully. "I do trust the hat's decision, I'm just curious as to how it comes to that decision." Also, what was the proper pronoun to use for the Sorting Hat?

With Zahra's hand in his, Michael tugged her along corridors trying to find a quiet place for them to talk. With all this snowing outside and inside the castle, it was hard to find somewhere that wasn't filled with students.

This was not a conversation he wanted to have and he especially didn't want to have it with a huge crowd hanging around.

They were now down on the sixth floor when Michael spotted an empty room. Heaving a sigh of relief, he pushed open the door and dragged Zahra in with him. He turned to look at her once the door was closed once more and he opened his mouth to tell her why he had been dragging her around for the past half an hour but found the words stuck in his mouth.

So he pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissed her instead.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mell

With Zahra's hand in his, Michael tugged her along corridors trying to find a quiet place for them to talk. With all this snowing outside and inside the castle, it was hard to find somewhere that wasn't filled with students.

This was not a conversation he wanted to have and he especially didn't want to have it with a huge crowd hanging around.

They were now down on the sixth floor when Michael spotted an empty room. Heaving a sigh of relief, he pushed open the door and dragged Zahra in with him. He turned to look at her once the door was closed once more and he opened his mouth to tell her why he had been dragging her around for the past half an hour but found the words stuck in his mouth.

So he pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissed her instead.

Toussaint was being a WEIRD BIRD. She didn't really mind being dragged around, and by this point, she was having a running commentary with all the portraits... So that was always fun.

Oh that's what the journey through the castle was for? FOR SNOGGING?

"Toussaint," Zahra laughed at him, buuuuuut after a kiss, "we could've done this anywhere." But it was cool, plus OooOo cool new room. Z untangled from Mikey and went to inspect that mirror. Of course, she did a few dance moves in front of it, most of them terrible. Merlin it was so freaking cold! Even in here. She had to keep moving, keep the blood from FREEZING. "It smells funny in here," she commented. hehe

That was true. They could have kissed anywhere in the castle and pretty much had since they had gotten together which was why they were constantly in trouble with their parents these days.

Michael didn't say anything however, he just merely watched her as she began dancing in front of the mirror. She was so funny and cute all at the same time. He wanted to laugh at her antics but he just couldn't bring himself to. Probably because his stomach was all in knots and there was this awful pain in his chest.

"Z..." His voice just didn't seem to want to work at the moment. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Z, I need to talk to you."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mell

That was true. They could have kissed anywhere in the castle and pretty much had since they had gotten together which was why they were constantly in trouble with their parents these days.

Michael didn't say anything however, he just merely watched her as she began dancing in front of the mirror. She was so funny and cute all at the same time. He wanted to laugh at her antics but he just couldn't bring himself to. Probably because his stomach was all in knots and there was this awful pain in his chest.

"Z..." His voice just didn't seem to want to work at the moment. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Z, I need to talk to you."

....those words, put together in that order, neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeever amounted to anything good. Zahra found Mikey's eyes in the mirror's reflection and squinted at him. Then she began to think as quickly as she could. What had she done? Or he done?

They'd both been pretty good lately... Sure, they'd kind of gone stale with classes again, but it was FREEZING in a LITERAL way! It couldn't be helped!

It was pretty clear, right away, that Zahra knew something was bad from those words. She didn't want to know. "Hey you know, I was thinking later that if we wanted, we should go find Peeves and see how he's doing..." TALK ABOUT THAT INSTEAD?

Of course Zahra would know that something was wrong. Michael wanted to kick himself, he should have either come straight out with it or worked up to it in a better way.

Now she was on her guard and changing the subject. Michael heaved a sigh, more out of relief than anything. To be honest he was quite happy to delay the conversation, it wasn't one he was looking forward to.

So he moved closer to her and a small grin graced his lips. "Well if we're going to do that, it's your turn to offer up your lips to him." He nudged her with his elbow. "I did it last time."

He gave her another nudge before moving over to the window and peered outside. "I'm getting really tired of this snow." Unfortunately for him, he was going to have to get used to it.

"Ummm..." Funny how Lex asked that question maybe a million times since her own first year but she had no idea what to say when it came to herself. "I..don't really know. I mean I've thought about it but thinking about it doesn't seem to be helping me either." It seemed that every time she gave it some thought she became more lost. It shouldn't have been so hard to make up her mind yet it was. It was probably all that asking she did. Knowing what others had planned had left her nothing butundecided for herself. Her grandparents weren't making it any easier, either.

Ohhh...more of that curiosity stuff when it came to the hat. "I reckon it's magic. The hat knows things about us that sometimes even we don't know." And if she started questioning it then it might ruin the whole illusion so she tended to leave it where it was. "Least, that's what I heard.' A former Gryffindor Prefect told her actually.

"Did you want Hufflepuff?"

....well that was easy. "Talk" avoided. Zahra grinned at herself in the mirror for how easy that had been. When Mikey moved closer to the mirror, Zahra moved behind him and put her arms under his - so HER arms looked like HIS arms. Then immediately tried to get her finger up his nose. It wasn't easy since she couldn't see, but hehe! hehe!

"I bet he has the WORST breath of all time. Like rotten merperson carcass on a hot summer day bad." Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag.

"I'd sniff a rotting merperson carcass to feel summer, yeah."

His gaze went back to Zahra and he couldn't help it, he burst out laughing. "And when have you smelled a rotting merperson carcass?" Michael moved away from the window and raised his eyebrows at her. It wouldn't surprise him if she had actually smelled a rotting merperson.

"Well I'm not sure I would go that far." But he'd love it if summer came back sometime soon. He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels. "Remember when we used to camp out in your backyard?"

Hayden could understand that, but Lex had to have at least some idea, no matter how tiny, of what she could possibly want to do after she graduated. "Do you have a favorite subject?" Was there something she wanted to study? Was she interested in anything that she might want to make a career out of? There had to be something.

Of course it was magic, but the kind of magic Lex was describing sort of freaked her out. She didn't want anyone or anything, not even a hat, knowing all sorts of things about her that she didn't even know about herself. If she held a conversation with the hat, would it be able to tell her things about her future? That seemed frightening. It seemed like too much power for a hat to have. "Why does a hat know that much?"

"Well there wasn't really a house in mind that I wanted, I would have been fine with whatever house it put me in." She hadn't really understood how the hat worked, and she still didn't, but she had been willing to trust its judgement. "I was kind of thinking I might be a Ravenclaw but I like Hufflepuff and I must fit." Otherwise the hat wouldn't have put her there.

...hehe. She hadn't. But she'd smelled a dead fish before and that SMELLED bad, so merpeople probably stink when they die too. PLUS there was that WHOLE thing where people POOP upon dying, according to that Muggle Studies lady.

Zahra was freezing. Mikey needed to stop moving so much so Zahra could stay close, and use his body heat. But, she also recognized that.... something... was bothering him. Maybe she should just let him get it out. Meh.

"Yeah......? You wanna do that this summer? Not that Mum and Minister Kettleburn will let us." SIGH.

She may not have known what she wanted to do with her life but Hayden's next question was much easier to answer. There were only two subjects that she thought were worth anything, though she didn't think there was much of a link between them. "Defense Against the Dark Arts and Astronomy in that order." Astronomy was amazing, fantastic, brilliant but DADA always won out in the end. No changing that.

Despite the fact she was meant to be drawing, Lex found herself focusing on First Year next to her. If you asked her she didn't seem all that impressed by the magic behind the hat. It was all the same to her. It'd been helpful in her finding her home here so she wouldn't complain, or question it for that matter. She gave a small shrug and got back to the kitchen level sketching. "When the Founders made this place, they all knew who they wanted to teach and they needed something that could snoop out those qualities for them. The hat just seemed like the best idea I guess." That was the only explanation she could give. Why else give a hat that much power.

Ohhhh, one of those content to go anywhere. Definitely Hufflepuff. But that wasn't a bad thing. "Man, why does everyone want Ravenclaw before they learn better?" Her tone was light enough, she meant no offense by it...despite her dislike of those in blue. Ahem.

Yeah he would love to camp out in her backyard once more. They'd had some really good times. But she was right, her parents would unlikely let them stay there. "Is that because I almost burnt the tent down the last time or because I might corrupt their only daughter?"

He hadn't meant for it to come out that way but what his parents and hers were doing was unfair.

"Maybe we should run off somewhere for the summer?" Or maybe permanently. "They're transferring me to Durmstrang Zahra." Michael finally stopped bouncing on his heels and pulled his hands out of his pockets, reached for her and pulled her close to him.

Maybe if they refused to let go...

Zahra snorted loudly. "BOTH of those? Yes. Just yes covers it hehe." HE TOTALLY HAD NEARLY KILLED THEM with burning the tent. It'd been awesome. Zahra's hair smelled for days, essence of BURNT HAIR. Hahaha! Good times... good times...

They'd said that last year, about running away for the summer... but when he suggested it this time? It actually seemed feasible. It seemed reasonable, all things considered.

AND she was about to SAY so when Mikey dropped THAT info on her. Durmstrang. Durmstrang as a reality and not just a threat. She pushed his hands away and backed up. They couldn't SNUGGLE right now! Durmstrang! What! NO. NO. NO.

NO.

When had she started shaking her head? Zahra made herself stop and MADE herself say SOMETHING.... "... that's not... but... why do they HATE me?!?!?! That's not FAIR! You're old enough to decide for yourself! WHat if I come WITH you? What then? THey'll move you to Beauxbaton?" Zahra was OUTRAGED.