Lachlan the Lanky
 

For Rooney/Shan
 

Alice was walking own the corridor, accompanied by her typical friend and pet, Diaval. The Raven sat atop her shoulder as she turned to look at this statue. There were so many weird statues around the school. They all had their own stories, she had heard that some even guarded secret passages.

But maybe that was a rumor. "What do you think, Pretty Bird? Is this a good place to come and read?" There was a little spot behind the statue that she knew she could fit into.. Hmm.

FINALLY. After getting his notebook back from a good Ravenclaw, Rooney had got it cleaned off and was checking every page for perfect and pristine state. He needed it to be okay and for none of his notes to have been ruined. Luckily, so far...they had not. So far they had not, but he still continued to check each page on his walk back to his common room from having some food. He'd only managed toast and pumpkin juice, but he was sure that was enough to blast a whole helping of textbook reading.

.......... THERE WAS STILL MASHED POTATO ON THIS PAAAAAGE about how much he missed Miss Sophie Brown. "NO!"

This was the worst.

Alice heard a shout.. Who was that? Her head turned quickly, Diaval squawking at the boy, not a mean or harsh one, more of a concerned squawk. Not that anyone could tell one form the other, other than Alice herself.

"Are you okay?" She asked softly. Because maybe the boy was crazy. Maybe he was one of the crazies she'd heard about at Hogwarts, like the old hag that was one the train.

Or maybe he wasn't.

Immediately, Rooney looked over where a remark had come from and he sTARED. What on earth?! Why was... Why wasn't anyone else allowed a bird like that?! That was pretty unfair, actually. He, personally, didn't want a bird, but what if someone else had? What was so special about this girl that she got one? He bet that she was also a child of ex-Head Red! They both had red hair. He'd ask Davie about his sister later. Yes.

"Sure. Just found some food in my notebook.." From the food fight, you see.

Diaval made another noise at the boy who was looking at him, the raven was very curious about why this child was staring at him. He was weird.. not weird at all.

"Diaval, hush." It was time for the Humans to talk, not birds right now. "Oh.. food.. was it cause of the food fight?" She looked very unnamed just thinking back to it, the food fight was a mess and she got in trouble and yelled at for something she didn't do. but worst of all she had to CLEAN.

Alice stepped out from behind the statue, her blue eyes looking this kid up and down, what house was he in? Was he a first year or a second year? "I'm Alice Lupin..What's your name?" She smiled and offered her hand to shake his, isn't that what grown ups did when they met?

Was it the food fight? Roo raised his eyebrow and nodded, showing his notebook as she stepped fully into view. "Yeah. It got hit." And then he had tossed it away into the distance to avoid discovering stuff like this. However, it had happened. He tried to rub the food away, but it was really stuck on the page and it was going absolutely nowhere. Rooney couldn't tear his eyes away from the bird that continued to make noise at him and wanted to ask every possible question about the breed.

Alas, no way.

As per his norm, Rooney shook her hand with a gentle smile. "Rooney Brownyn, Miss Alice."

"That's awful.. i didn't like that food fight." She sighed. "You might be able to get it off with Magic?" Not that she knew a ton about magic, honestly she knew close to nothing. "Are you a second year?" Maybe he knew if the crazy food fight wasn't a normal thing.

She could tell He was watching Diaval, the Raven seemed equally concerned with the boy. "He's a raven.. He's friendly if you wanna pet him."

"You're a gentleman, Rooney." She smiled, because who wouldn't smile about such a nice greeting.

"I tried magic." Rooney responded as quick as Miss Alice's comment had come, but he smiled nonetheless. The thought had been there behind her words, and he appreciated the help offered. "Third, actually. I was a lot shorter in my second year." And he had been devotedly in love with the Head Girl. Not this year. Instead, he was trying not to be in love with anyone, but was devoted to winning over Miss Charlotte or Miss Norah or Miss Dot.

Hopefully, Miss Charlotte, because she was the prettiest and the loveliest and the most wonderful.

"Maybe another time." He hadn't done enough research on ravens to know if he was going to be attacked or whether it was even in their nature to be friendly.

Alice nodded. She could never tell who was what year. She was taller than most Eleven-Year-old boys so she was closer to the height of second years. "Oh.. well yeah, i should have figured you would have thought of that." She blushed a little because she felt a little dumb and silly. "What house are you in, Rooney?" He was a Third Year, that made him super cool. Like Timmy.

"Okay, He really likes attention." Diaval was a sweetheart. Maybe Raven's were spooky or scary to some people but she knew he was just a big softy.

Tucking his notebook back into the back of his trousers, Rooney shook his head. "Sometimes even those with magic don't use it in obvious situations. We could use it to tie our shoelaces, but we don't. Also turning pages in books." He only knew of the latter because he'd read about a helpful spell the week of his birthday in August. And then he'd uncovered a plethora of spells to aid his studying and had been practicing them every day since he got back to the castle.

"I'm a Ravenclaw." He hoped that wasn't surprising to her. It was a kick in the teeth when people raised their eyebrows at his house reveal. Honestly, he wanted to pin something to his head so he never had to say it. It didn't matter what house his Mama had been in. It didn't matter what house his Godmother had been in. It didn't matter that he was a big soft sort with a love for the arts. Really, really, he was supposed to be here.

The hat hadn't put him in Ravenclaw for armpits and giggles.

"Really? I gotta learn that one.. I hate tying my shoes." Then again Alice wasn't a huge fan of doing things on her own. Back home she alwasy had a little brother for that and occasionally her Dad. "Well.. I hope you find a way to unstick the stuff." because he seemed very nice and it would be a shame for something not nice to continue happening to such a gentleman.

Alice grinned. "That's cool! I haven't met any Ravenclaws yet..Well except for my Brother's wife but she's stupid for the most part. I call her Smelliot even though her name is Elliot." The girl's blue eyes lit up with mischief. "it makes her all mad." She giggled.

Rooney retrieved his notebook, opened it to an empty (and clean) page before scribbling down the spell he knew was good for it and drew out a quick diagram of the wand movement. Then he tore it from the bound book, passing it over to the younger girl. "Good luck!" He was sure she'd find it easy though, if it was something she was interested in. He'd make sure to check in on her with that progress at a later date. If she didn't have her damn bird with her. The bird that was just...there...and...still kind of freaking him out.

"Smelliot?" Roo raised his eyebrow, before smiling. "I bet you could just be extra nice to her and call her by her name and it would infuriate her more." 'Smelliot' wasn't that original, though. But kudos. Roo didn't have the problem of a sibling-in-law.

Plus side of being the oldest.

And only being thirteen.

Alice was surprised about how quickly He wrote all that down and handed it to her. She took the scrap of paper and shoved it in her pocket. "Thanks! You're so nice.." She grinned because it wasn't like he had to be nice to her or anything..

If she knew he didn't care for the Raven she would have sent Diaval to fly around the corridors, but he hadn't spoken up and the bird was after all her best friend.

She shrugged. "I guess i could.. But then she might just think i like her. I'd rather just make her angry." She had the whole little kid thing going for her for a little bit longer at least, she might stop when she had to.

"Did you not expect to learn something from someone else?" It hadn't been nice, it was just been him passing on his knowledge to someone less fortunate. And it hadn't been a life saving spell either, just a lace tying one. Actually, just a simple bow tying one - something that could be used in hair, clothing and shoes alike. He just practiced it on his shoes the most. "It's fun to do on the people you're eating breakfast with too." If she felt like trying that out.

Rooney shrugged, he wasn't fluent in in-laws, girls or even sisters. His own two were very different to one another but not at all in a league of crazy like some of the other girls he had encountered. Brinlee could be demanding and adventurous and Calliope could be... Calliope. "If it were me... I'd be more angry trying to discover why you liked me all of a sudden."

And that was that.

"I mean not really.." She figured only the teachers did the teaching here. But she also didn't really count on meeting older students. Besides it was a big deal to her, sharing things was a cool thing to do. "Yeah? Do you do that often? Use it on people?" She asked with a flash of mischief on her face.

"Well, you're smarter than she is so i wouldn't expect anyone to understand her brain." Because who even got Elliot Morganzo? She was a crazy person.

Rooney could only laugh. "On my sisters, yes." Not anyone else, though. That wasn't the kind of things he wanted to be doing with his free time. He mainly wanted to read and make notes and observe people and then be there if someone needed him. He knew that his ideas were confusing, but that didn't make them any less appealing to him. Especially if the observing he was doing was on a certain Gryffindor second year. Miss Charlotte was ultimately the most confusing person that Rooney had ever encountered, yet she was also the most inviting and rewarding.

Miss Charlotte. His daffodil.

"That sounds like all girls, honestly."

Alice grinned. "This could come in handy." She looked at the paper with a good bit of mischief in her eyes. Thinking of all the people she could mess with while only using one little spell. Elliot mostly.. Max as well, but he was usually a good sport when it came to her. So maybe it wouldn't be as fun.

"Girls can be pretty weird. But not me. I'm cool." She nodded, it was kind of a joke the way she said it, even if she was sure that she was pretty cool.

for Sher/ Janelle! <3
 

Rachel
 

Janelle was free at last and all she could think of was collapsing on the on the couch in the Common Room. Something, or rather someone caught her eye and took her mind off of her immediate plans. Little firstie Rachel was inspecting Lachlan the Lanky. Watching her for a moment, Janelle could not supress a smile. Not wanting to startle her housemate, she announced her presence. "Hey there. Whatcha doing?" Janelle could just about imagine what the younger girl was thinking.

"You know, I used to hide behind Lachlan way back when I was a first year. Can't do that anymore though, 'cause.......you know.........I'm a littttttle to big to fit now. It's a great place to hide if you want to see things or hear things or scare your friends." Those were the days.

Janelle hadn't wanted to scare Rachel, but it seemed to have happened anyway. When the younger girl announced what she'd been doing, Janelle smiled. "Hmmm. I never thought about that." Walking closer to Lachlan's book, she tried to see what book he might be reading. "Nope, I can't tell what book it is. Now you've made me curious. I wonder if anyone around here knows or if it's in Hogwarts a History. We have to find out." They would have to play detective and try to solve the mystery.

Janelle had to laugh at Rachel's amazement about her first year doings. The fact that Rachel thought of her as almost grown up made her laugh even more. Janelle felt anything but grown up. She enjoyed a little harmless mischief every once in a while. Peeking from right to left, lest anyone hear her, Janelle lowered her voice. "Just between you and me, I may have suprised a friend or two in my younger days." Or five or seven, but who was counting? Janelle could see it on Rachel's face. She wanted to try hiding behind the statue, but was a little afraid. Looking the first year up and down, Janelle said, "I think you'd be fine." "You're small enough. You could fit back there easily. If I didn't get stuck, you won't get stuck.........but remember, you can't use the hiding places for anything bad........only harmless stuff. Far be it from Janelle to encourage her housemate to be delinquent.

For Jesse/Mel
 

Janelle smiled when Rachel suggested they investigate Lachlan's book together. "It's a deal. You look through your book. I'll look around and see what I can dig up. We can check back with each other and if neither of us finds the answer, we can search the library for information." That would be fun. An assignment that didn't involve class work. It was always more fun when you came up with the task yourself. "It'll be an adventure." Janelle liked adventures and she liked Rachel, so it was a win-win.

Janelle joined Rachel in laughter, when the younger girl said that she might scare her friends sometime. It was all in good fun, right? And then Rachel decided to practice her hiding skills. "Yes, I think you definitely should try. You never know when you might need a good hiding place........for whatever reason." At Hogwarts, it was always best to be prepared........for whatever. "Don't worry. I've got your back, but you won't need my help. You won't get stuck." Rachel was small enough to get in and out easily. There was no reason why she should get stuck. "Go ahead, give it a go." Janelle stood back to watch the fun.