Louise grinned when Weslyn sidled up behind her; even though she was a year younger, the girl was an amazing accomplice. "Of course it is. You know it, Wes," she winked and did a little jig in front of her housemate. Just because. And another girl in green robes introduced herself as Daisy. Interesting name, which she had to wonder if there would be more students at Hogwarts with flower names. "Permanent party is alright, and it seems to be okay. Nice to meet you, Daisy."

More and more talking around and Louise was having to really focus to keep up. Ava, sixth year Gryffindor introduced herself next, and the seventh year smiled at how welcoming everyone here was being so far. Permanent party or not, Louise wasn't going to complain as long as they remained this welcoming. "That would be Khalil, who brought the radio. He's always like that, but it seems he found his counterpart," Louise mused. As another girl (Dora) welcomed them all and wished them good luck, before moving on. Louise gave a little finger wave, before figuring there was already enough of a crowd here than to keep remembering all these names.

Besides, Kathleen Yang happened next, pointing out the majestic ceiling, which she already knew about like five minutes ago, because she had actually read up about the castle ahead of time. Instead of listening to Jesus' and Maddox's stories on the way to England, Louise had her nose in a book, reading on the interesting tidbits. The girl meant well, but it sometimes her excitability was a little over the top. "Kathleen," she greeted back politely. "Well, I would, but it seems a Mr Will Healy has offered me his seat." So you know, thanks anyway? Sauntering over to where Will stood up, she smiled graciously, "Thank you Will," At least someone restored her faith in mannerisms, but both Healy boys were usually polite and it didn't hurt that they were pretty to look at as well.

"Khalil Jordan. I'm fairly sure that I have the bigger blessing." She beamed. He was loud and obnoxious sometimes, yes, but he was definitely one of those boys she wouldn't argue against spending some extra time with.

Oh look, one of the badged people was greeting her (Tenacius). Party all day, every day? "Well at least I know who to go to if Hogwarts proves to be dull at any point this year." Probably not, because they were in another country in a CASTLE. How amazing is it that she got to spend her seventh year in a CASTLE?!

And there was Snow, complimenting herself and Weslyn. "Why thank you, Snow. The party has officially begun now too." she said cheekily, winking at him. Yes, she knew he was off the market, but that didn't mean she had to stop flirting with him. They'd been at Ilvermorny since the beginning together, and while she knew it would never work out and was content with that, harmless flirting was ... exactly that.

And there was Irene. Sweet girl, that one was. "Hey Irene. Apparently, but of course, us Americans brought the party, you know?" Couldn't rely on a bunch of Brits to start the party. Not when they had the party masters amongst them. And one of Irene's housemates grinned at her next. "Ezra. Well, at least I know I joined the right table. Besides, I've never been one to turn down dancing."

Oh she should have known where there was a Snow, there was a Maddox. Female, Maddox that is. She didn't despise her as much as the initial shock of when their relationship started, but she wasn't sure they could necessarily be great friends either. Even if she did make a cute couple with one of her bestest friends. And because it was all water under the bridge, she sent a brief smile her way, just as their History of Magic Professor headed toward the table.

Wand drawn. Oh no! Louise wouldn't put it past Melanie Williams to hex Khalil and whoever else, but actually what happened next in a matter of seconds it seemed... well, was worse. Maybe not, but still, music was now off and that meant their dance party was over. As a seventh year, despite her excitement, Louise knew better than to disobey Ms Williams. Besides, she had mentioned as an aside that they could dance in their living quarters later, which was enough for Louise. Even if they wouldn't get to dance with their new Hogwarts friends, it was something.

And almost as quickly as Melanie Williams left the table, Headmistress Hawthorne stood up to speak, to which Louise's gaze fell on her former Defense Professor, wondering how she was adjusting to life overseas. She made a mental note to catch up with her at some point during this year as she listened to what the woman had to say about the competition. FULL RIDE to university. Ugh, that sounded AMAZING. She could study in Cairo, with so much interesting artifacts and history ... or well, she could study any place really.

But first, she had to be chosen as a champion. Irene's name was called first, to which Louise gave a gracious smile towards the younger girl. The girl had awesome spirit and was incredibly intelligent for her year. Hogwarts student ... then the first from her house, a male, Jesus. Oh for the love of Merlin, she could only imagine the stories who would create after this year. Another Hogwarts student. Valerie ... Hogwarts ... Kyle ... Hogwarts ... Lachlan, hmm, not surprised, he was quite the bookworm. Definitely intelligent and a worthy wizard. Hogwarts student ... Aurora, interesting. So far no one else from Thunderbird, which was promising. Please, Please she whispered fervently to herself. Another Hogwarts. Aiden ... Hogwarts .... "Louise Hamilton, Ilvermorny, Thunderbird" she heard. She saw the letters overhead. And yet, it took a moment for the seventh year to truly register the fact that her name had been selected. Everything she hoped for, finally could come true. It didn't even bother her that she was the last Ilvermorny student chosen, because the fact of the matter, she was IN the competition and completely stoked and nervous about it. Yes, Melanie Williams, that dance party WAS happening later tonight, because you promised.

Ok, Aurora was sooo over the Slytherin table. She'd annoyed Valerie and her group of Party Poopers for long enough now, time to make new friends!

First things first, though - she had to congratulate her friend! It was no shock that Aurora had gotten picked of course, and it just made it even better than Irene was there as well! She found her quickly at the Gryffindor table - that was Gryffindor, right? The lions and stuff? - and TACKLED her with a BIG BEAR HUG!

"IRENEEEEE! CONGRATS!!!! I mean, I'm sorry in advance that I am going to have to destroy you," she paused and gave her friend a wicked, yet playful, grin. "But it'll be SOOOO FUNNNNN! And you should have seen HER face when we got called. Fantastic," she added with a laugh. HER being Valerie of course.

Khalil wanted to remind Madelyn that he wasn't afraid of Ms. Pretty-Pretty, but then stopped himself because yes he was. She looked entirely capable of breaking him in half, and he continued to be in awe of her. He was grateful that more people were picking up on the a cappela thing, and Khalil couldn't have been any prouder. At Louise, he said, "You've captured my heart again, really." And she had. He really couldn't help himself, there were just too many beautiful people around him, like wow. He leaned to whisper something ridiculous to Kathleen but was interrupted by a familiar voice. Of course, Baegina the Bold had to go and start talking and Khalil just really, reallllllly, did not want to hear it. He turned and focused on her though, because it was Baegina, how could he not?

They were calling out names, and Khalil nodded along, silently hoping they did not pick him because he had better things to do this term. Once the final name had been called, Khalil grinned ear to ear, and leaned in to address the group. "So, you know this means we definitely have to party hard to celebrate." He glanced over to Louise, "I'll be cheering for you the hardest." Because he would. American solidarity and all that. He hoped Williams would follow through on her dance party, because THIS was cause for celebration.

Vermont. Daisy stared at Irene for perhaps a bit too long before forcing herself to smile and nod at the girl. Only because she seemed really nice and not as obnoxious as the other ones, but really -- she had no idea of where that was. Oops. "Oh yeah! I've heard about it!" Not really. Except -- well, she had heard about it just then, so not exactly a lie. "Is it nice?" See? This was good small talk. It would make Irene feel welcomed and get her some information about Vermont. She turned to the other Ilvermorny girl -- Louise, that's what she had said, right? -- and chuckled lightly. "Yeah, you'll see. Gryffindors are ... interesting." Mostly delusional but she was among them so it was probably best to keep quiet about that part.

Daisy truly was an undiscovered genius, wow.

As much as the music and the dancing on the table annoyed her, soon enough her attention was on Levi again and unconsciously she bopped her feet to his. Taking a rare chance to finally eat something during this crazy feast, she listened intently to his translation of the song, cheeks flushing rather embarrassingly. So that was what the song meant? .... was it even allowed inside the school? Sure that she would say something stupid if she looked at him, or smile a bit too cheekily, Daisy kept her eyes stubbornly on her plate, finishing chewing some chicken before reaching for a goblet of water. Suddenly, she felt very dehydrated. Very odd. "That's ... very informative, thank you."

Obviously, she had other questions, but she would save them for later. As well as a discussion as to why she didn't think that had been extreme at all, although she could guess what he would said to that. She knew, even without him verbalising it, that she would probably partially agree with him, too.

But it was all fine, because that really attractive Ilvermorny professor had come over and ordered them all to sit down and stop with the music. It didn't work perfectly, they were still singing, but that was okay. At least they could eat without the table shaking under their dancing and Abey seemed to be okay with the noise levels. She would pat herself on the back if it didn't make her seem insane and if Abey wasn't currently hugging her. Which was fine with her because she loved hugs and if Abey was hugging her he was no longer covering his ears, so that Ilvermorny Professor was definitely in her good book. Finally recovered from Levi's blatant attack, she smiled down at the second year and set her cutlery down on the plate before engulfing the boy in a hug and squeezing. Hugs were pretty big in the Carden household but squeezes were only reserved for the people they liked. So this was a big deal, ok? "It's okay. The singing is actually nice, isn't it?" Like being serenated or something. Except they were singing about feeling like plastic bags and Daisy could not relate, but nevertheless, the sixth year released Abey and went back to her food. Finally, she could enjoy it.

But Hogwarts would never change, it seemed, and as she finished her food and reached for the chocolate cake, it threw a curved Quaffle their way. Because of course it did, that was Hogwarts' way.

There was no point in pretending like she understood how a book would be able to choose the worthy students, or why people would subject themselves to a competition which could possibly be dangerous to win a scholarship; but she had also learned, throughout the last five years at Hogwarts, that there was no point in arguing either. Things were as they were so all Daisy could do was hope that she wasn't chosen. Unconsciously, she moved closer to Levi and watched the book float above the House tables.

Not me, not me, I don't even want to to go University or need the scholarship. Not me, move away.

Which was probably pretty selfish of her, only not really because surely some people out there wanted to do this thing?? Hogwarts' students were a weird bunch, so it wouldn't surprise her to find that some of her classmates wanted to be chosen. She watched through squinty eyes as the book was engulfed by a bright light and then runes and then names started to appear.

With every unfamiliar, or mildly familiar, name, she felt a sense of relief in the pit of her stomach and focused on whispering the names to Abey. Ilvermorny students she didn't know, obviously; Hogwarts students she did know; some she was only familiar with; others that were complete strangers and --

"...no." It came out as a disbelieving whisper and instinctively her hand moved to clutch at the table. Or something. Anything to ground her enough so she could shake her head, clear her vision and realise that that wasn't his name floating on the air. Only it really, really was his name -- or had been, since it had now been replaced by some American -- and the freeing sense of relief she had felt when the female Slytherin champion had been chosen and it hadn't been her had disappeared. Replaced by a chill on her back and the feeling that her stomach was trying to move and then stand very, very still.

Slowly, she blinked and somehow, managed to whisper to Abey the rest of the names. But Levi was moving, she could see it from the corner of her eye and she turned to him, doing her best to keep a blank expression. Definitely not terrified because he didn't need that, right now. Just like he didn't need people following him, even if she had seen right through his smile. Best friends knew each other, you see? And she also knew him well enough to know that Levi was really serious about his privacy.

And so, after watching him exit the hall for a few seconds, she forced herself to smile and turned back to the table. She smiled at Abey, encouragingly, not wanting him to freak out right now, because she knew she was about to and wasn't sure if she could handle it. Her voice sounded too weak once she attempted to speak and so she cleared her throat and drank some more water. And breathed. "At least we get to eat cake right now!" She said to everyone -- or no one. It didn't matter. Not even the cake tasted that good right now.

Captured his hear again. Madelyn glanced at the table and at Khalil. Could she just crawl under the table and back over to that quiet table.
She knew he could have any girl so flirting with him was just so pointless because he'd never like her, but he had called her over. She just kept smiling and turned her attention to a cute Hogwarts boy with a badge.

"Hello Tenaicus it's very nice to meet you. I'm Madelyn." She glanced a the good and back at him. "I haven't yet, but I think I'll grab something in a bit." There was just too much excitement going on right now. "Oh,
you have a badge, that means you must be special." Giving him the sweetest smile before her attention went to the front.


She listened to the Hogwarts headmistress and then listened as the names were being called. Her stomach did knots because she would love to represent her school, but if she was fully honest with herself if it wasn't horses or cheering she wasn't very good at it. Though she was pretty good with her wand. She clapped loudly for her schoolmates excited for them all and clapped for the Hogwart students because she lied to cheer everyone on, but then a name made her stop clapping and stare at that table.


It was him!


Brent Westwood, "He is from Ilvermorny, or he was." That didn't seem right. He wasn't a true Hogwarts student, he was one of them or he use to be. She chewed her lip and frowned.

Irene was still in shock when her name was called. She turned to Daisy, the girl that had returned her question to where she was from. Wait? She knew! Cool! "Sweet! You should come visit," she said with a grin. She opened her mouth slowly to ask her a question when she saw Louise grinning at her because she had gotten into the competition too. "Congrats! Wow, I can't believe we're in the competition together. This is great!" Louise was fantastic. She WISHED that one day she could be as awesome as Louise. Honestly #goals. Ahh....

Suddenly Irene was tackled in a huge bear hug. She giggled, recognizing Aurora's voice. "Hey!!! Thank you. Congrats to you too! This is awesome." When she heard Aurora apologizing for destroying her in the competition, Irene simply smiled. It was all that she could do. "Yeah, I know you won't mean it if you do." She smirked. Though in her mind, Irene was trying to think of strategies already. Hopefully she could sleep tonight. At the mention of Valerie and her possy being upset, Irene laughed genuinely. Fantastic. "I'm sure that she couldn't believe it. Let's teach her a lesson about underestimating people based on appearance. Just because we're friendly doesn't mean that we shouldn't be taken seriously." If Irene didn't win the competition, she'd be alright with that. This was just an awesome chance to prove herself. She hoped that it wasn't a hoax that someone had jinxed the object to let her in... The doubt set in.

She tried to ignore it. "I don't know how you survived over there. Did you meet nice people at the Slytherin table?" she asked Aurora with a curious gaze before taking a long sip of the drink in front of her. She cringed at its flavor. Ew. Pumpkin juice. Not a fan. Luckily it masked her feelings. Irene felt a little nervous to be in the competition with Valerie and her friends as well as Aurora and Louise. This would be a tough competition. Though she would work her butt off because somehow the Book of Merlin thought that she was worthy. And it wasn't a mistake!

Louise's attention snapped back to Khalil, as she smiled when he said she captured his heart, again. What a player, really, but she knew he meant well. Although she didn't know the ages of the Hogwarts Champions, it was interesting how she was the only seventh year from Ilvermorny. Not that she would let it get to her head, because she knew from lessons that some of her competitors were quite intelligent and skilled. "Why thank you, Khalil." She blew a kiss at him, just because, she could. "I think that is one of the sweetest things you've said to me" Probably not, but Louise knew how important it was to stroke a man's ego. And yes, partying hard was definitely in order. Williams promised.

Glancing back at Daisy, she blinked a moment. Gryffindors were interesting, huh? "Oh, so they're a bit like those from Wampus." Speaking of Wampus housemates, there was one bubbly interesting soul joining them right now. Not that she minded ... bubbly, but Madelyn was definitely interesting. And yet, Louise was one for being polite and setting a shining example, "Evening Madelyn," she greeted politely.

Irene, on the other hand, was a girl that did bubbly well. But the young witch was in pukwudgie, so it was no surprise of her great heart. "Congrats to you, as well, Irene! I'm sure you'll represent Pukwudgie well!" Except that scholarship? Had Louise Hamilton written all over it.

Taking a sip from the goblet in front of her, her dark eyes gazed around the Great Hall thoughtfully. "I think I'm going to head back to our sleeping quarters now. It's been a long ride here, and well, I believe we have some dancing to do. It was lovely meeting you, Daisy, and hope I'll see you around?"

With farewells bidded, the seventh year rose from her seat and headed off towards the grounds where the beetle was parked. Although she was a bit disappointed they wouldn't be able to be immersed in the full 'study abroad' experience by sharing common rooms within the castle, she guessed it was probably for the best. Besides, it wasn't like the beetle was an ordinary beetle; anyone who'd been at Ilvermorny more than a couple years knew it was more like a hotel on wheels.

After having a bite to eat for lunch, Olivia pulled out her Ancient Runes textbook and began reading through the previous chapter. She really needed to understand everything that they had learned because the much dreaded OWLS were in a few months and she was terrified. She felt confident in most of her other subjects.... but Ancient Runes? Who knew? When she thought she knew it, she ended up double guessing herself.

Taking out a pencil, she began by re-reading the chapter and taking notes in the side of the margins. A few moments later, she took a sip of the cup of tea that she had beside her. Alright. Where was she again?

Ah. Ehwaz.

Besides you know, making her not hungry anymore, Sam always felt that lunch was always a much needed break from classes. That was especially true this year seeing as all the professors were giving them so much extra work because it was their OWLS year. Munching on a sandwich, she glanced over at her fellow fifth year, watching her studying one of her textbooks. “How can you stand to read during lunch? Isn't your brain like mush from classes?” There was no way that she'd be spending the little bit of time between class with her face in a book.

Olivia glanced up from her textbook to see her fellow housemate asking her about studying. It was tough to study during lunch and sometimes she felt as if her brain was turning to mush but she needed it. She smiled at Sam and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "I don't know... Most days I feel like my brain will turn to mush," she explained. That's how she felt before Christmas for sure but the clock was ticking. "I feel like I need to study with Ancient Runes. I'm lost in that subject... I understand the basics but the applications... I'm just lost." And Olivia hated that feeling. Being lost made her feel silly and completely useless.

"How's your studying going?" she asked her housemate.

Sam chewed on her tasty sandwich and nodded at Olivia's words. Swallowing she said “See, I knew it. If you study too much, your brains will just be potatoes.” The brunette’s eyes lit up “Runes! That's my favorite class!” she said excitedly. “I've loved since I uh, borrowed my sister's Ancient Runes book when I was little.” It was seriously awesome all the things you could do with them. “Maybe, if you want, I can uh, try to help you?” Though, she didn't know how good at helping she would be, since she usually mucked things up.

“Oh, uh” The fifth year shrugged. “OWLS are still a long way off. Just trying to get thought all our school work for now.” That was enough for her for now.

Olivia offered a grin to Sam and nodded. Her brain did feel like it was beginning to be fried but she needed to study. Any amount of study could help her increase her score right....? She looked at her paper and began reading a line of text before hearing that Sam loved Ancient Runes. She shut her book. INCREDIBLE. "Amazing! I'd love that," said Olivia with the happiest of smiles. She'd take any help that she could get with this subject. She was about to start reading her text again when she decided that it was best to put it aside for now.

"Yes, we do have a lot of schoolwork." It was as if the Professors had ramped up the work. They probably did that because they wanted all the students prepared for the rigorous OWL examination schedule and to make them used to the work that would be required of them at university. "But enough of OWL talk, what have you been up to lately?" Fun wise?

Samantha grinned. “Really? Thats great.” she said enthusiastically, she was really surprised that she had offered to help, and even more surprised that Olivia had thought it was a good idea. But Runes was something she was truly good at and enjoyed. “Just let me know when you'd like to study, I'm pretty much free anytime. Though, I guess maybe I should start thinking about studying yeah?”

“Its like every professor thinks they are the only ones giving us homework.” She shrugged. “But I guess I'm lucky, since I don't really have any extra curricular things I have to do.” Or any of the other things she could name. “Oh, me? Not much I guess.” Things were a lot less exciting when she wasn't talking to her best friend, or former best friend. She wasn't sure where they stood anymore. “I have been trying to think up something really cool to do with that invisibility potion we brewed in class earlier this year, but I can't come up with anything really exciting. What about you, what have you been up to?”

Olivia nodded. "I will! Oh! There's a study group that Torrance and I are going to be working on this weekend. You should come!" she said with a grin. A good amount of people were going to be there and all working on studying together to prepare for OWLs. "Maybe." It'd be a good idea for Sam to start studying but it Olivia def didn't feel comfortable saying yes or no. "I would but that's just me. If I didn't... I'd be a ball of stress." And she didn't need more stress in her life.

Sam hadn't been up too much? That sounded nice... Well. That could be a good thing or a bad thing either way. When Sam spoke about doing something really exciting with the invisibility potion that was mentioned in Potions class, Olivia leaned forward with a smirk tugging a her lips. They could sneak out to Hogsmeade but that could lose them points. It'd be fun to test it of course.. Or they could. "We could try to find a secret passageway. Maybe there's one out in the grounds? Or pull a prank." Pranking was always a good option. And if they were theoretically invisible, then the person theoretically wouldn't see it coming. Hehe.

And what had Olivia been up to other than studying? Lots of things. "Worrying about the IMPS Competition and my friends that are in it, especially my best friend. Etta Kramer," she added for clarification. Watching Etta face the dementor in the first competition had scared Olivia for sure. She didn't mind facing such a creature herself but having to watch her friend battle dangerous creatures while she had to sit helplessly...? Olivia did not like the sound of that. Other than that she hung out a lot with Noelle and there was a boy. "Then just hanging out with Noelle, Tory, Mel, and Ace. You should come hang out with us!" The more the merrier. She could have sworn that she saw Ace and her speak at the feast where the Illvermornians showed up at and assumed that the two were friends... perhaps? Though her deductions could be off.

Samantha gave the other girl a smile that she hoped came across as friendly. “Wow, you guys are really getting into this studying thing, aren't you?” It was odd to her, that everyone was already freaking out about their OWLs. She felt like she was mediocre in her classes, but that she could definitely receive a pass grade in all of them. Maybe not a good pass grade, but atleast she wouldn't get a P or anything. “I might check it out, yeah,” she agreed hesitantly. It would depend on who was in this study group. “You know, I feel like the more one, um, stresses, the harder it is to actually do the thing they are worried about.” She had had stressful sleepless nights before, and while the things she was stressing over didn't require her to preform, it was harder to get through the day after spending so much time worrying.

“Oh yeah, I'm thinking a prank, definitely, or I don't know, using it to try to sneak into somewhere we're not usually allowed. Think how cool it would be try get into that car the Ilvermornians are using.” That'd be epic, to be the only ones from Hogwarts to sneak in and see the inside. “Though, I bet its pretty lame,” because seriously, most of the ones she had met had been. That or so obnoxious you didn't want to be around them. But doing something like that, it'd all have to be planned and they'd have to be super careful. She didn't want to get herself in detention, or cause a certain prefect to hate her. She could just imagine the trouble she'd be in with Ace if she got caught out of bounds or trespassing. “Anywhere you'd like to try to see?”

The brunette nodded. She understood that worry, she had seen her own friends competing and it hadn't been pleasant. Though she hadn't completely blown a gasket someone else. “I don't think I've actually ever met Etta.” Seen her around, yeah, but talked to? Nope ”But, Yeah, I was really nervous watching Carl compete. I don't think I could have done all of that.” seriously, facing a dementor? She gave a slight shudder. She'd never been around one, and she didn't ever want to be. She couldn't imagine what it would make her feel like. Sam looked over at Olivia, and almost whispered, “Is it bad that I'm kind of relieved that he got eliminated so he doesn't have to face what ever comes next.” There were others she'd hate to see get hurt, sure, but She'd been friends with the Hufflepuff boy the longest. When her fellow Gryffindor listed all the friends she liked to hang out with, and then invited her to join them next time, she did her best to not show her emotions and thoughts to the girl. “You, you're friends with all of them? Cool.” She knew Noelle, wasn't really good friends with her, but she liked her well enough. The others well, Yeah, she had opinions on them for sure. “Yeah, sounds fun.” she said keeping all the reluctance she felt out of her voice.

Olivia nodded. She really wanted to do well with her OWLs. She just need to put the time in so she could be more prepared down the road. That's what her brother had advised her to do when it came to studying. A little bit of studying every day wouldn't hurt? Hopefully? She nodded at Samantha's idea of the more you stress, the harder it is to accomplish the goal. She understood that. "That makes sense." She had seen Etta in tears the other day because of how much stress she was feeling from OWLs and the IMPS Competition. It was insane. She definitely agreed with Samantha's thoughts on that.

Sneak someone where they weren't allowed? What was Samantha talking about? Ohhh.. Her blue eyes widened at the thought. Sneaking into the Illvermornians' car? They'd surely lose points for that but it would be cool to see what the car was like. Plus she had four friends that were Prefects... Or perhaps more incentive to successfully get away with the plan? "Perhaps, I wonder if its like the tents at the Quidditch World Cup?" she mused. She had never been there herself but her brother had gone to watch with friends and he had described that the tents were like the Doctor's T.A.R.D.I.S. from Doctor Who. Bigger on the inside. Much bigger. It had to be because how then would it fit all those kids in it? She leaned towards Sam so only Sam could hear in case anyone else was eavesdropping. "I don't know... Maybe sneak to Hogsmeade?" she whispered. She had always been interested in that idea because it seemed more thrilling doing that. But it was most likely silly.

Carl? He was a Hufflepuff too, huh? He had been one of the IMPS competitors as well but had gotten eliminated in the first round. If Olivia had been in his shoes, she was sure that she too would have been eliminated as well. She hadn't even mastered a patronus yet. Non-verbal magic was easier for the wavy haired lioness. She shook her head at Sam's comment about feeling bad that Carl got eliminated early. "No, that's not bad at all. In the first event they had to face a dementor. What do you think will happen in the second?" she asked. What was worse than a dementor or would it be a different test? And then Samantha said that she thought it would be fun to hang out with her, Noelle, Ace, Tory, and Mel. "Fantastic!" They were all Gryffindors and housemates had to stick together, right?

“Mhmm,” Sam muttered nodding wisely “And that's why you don't study. Or well, don't worry about it yet.” There was still plenty of time to worry about it, if Sam felt so inclined later. “But I'll help you study, and go to your study group.” Studying with someone couldn't be as bad as doing it all alone, and would hopefully be a lot of fun.

Samantha smiled seeing the awesomeness of her plan dawn on the other girl. “Neat idea, right?” Except for that huge flaw in the plan where they were sure to bump into someone since the place had to be crowded, and then they'd obviously get caught. “Quidditch World Cup? I've never seen a Quidditch match before. I much prefer football, if I've gotta watch sports.” Though, really she'd much rather watch cool sci-fi shows or action movies. She thought about Olivia's suggestion. Hmm, “but, what would we do there? I mean besides what we can do when we go the weekends.” They'd need a game plan if they wanted to do that. And they had to remember how long their potion would last. And since it was a potion she had made, she wasn't sure it would last as long as it should. No if Ace had made it, the potion would be perfect. Maybe she'd have to ask him about helping her study for OWLs later.

The lion thought about the question posed to her. “hmm, I have no idea. All I know is there is no way I could have taken on a dementor.” She was terrible at the patronus charm. It wasn't like she's had a terrible childhood. Or well, it wasn't like she didn't have happy memories. But when she could even do the charm, it came out as a silvery mist, nothing substantial. “My sister wrote to me and told me about some of the tasks they had to do in the last Triwizard tournament, but I don't know if they are supposed to be anything similar.” For some reason, Emmaleigh had seemed really enthusiastic in her letter about it. “Yeah,” she nodded in agreement with Olivia's excitement, thought without matching her excitement. She was still avoiding people as if they had the plague. “We'll have to do that sometime.” Just with out the former best friend please.

Olivia smiled warmly at Sam when she offered to help her study. This was really awesome. "Awesome! It should be fun. We'll study for a little bit. It shouldn't be constant studying." Or at least, she hoped so. They needed to take breaks at some points; otherwise, they would be drained. She was really looking forward to having Sam there because Sam seemed nice and she'd enjoy to spend time with her.

"Me either." Being muggleborn and all. There weren't many opportunities to go to see magical sporting events with parents. However, her brother had gotten to embrace the opportunities to see Quidditch matches through the friends he made. Olivia wanted to see one eventually so that she could say that she had been to one. "My brother went to a lot of Quidditch matches. I've never seen an actual Quidditch match." She nodded when Sam mentioned a muggle sport that she recognized. "Football's fun. I've only really been to baseball games." Now to Sam's question, Olivia paused. What would they do there? She had no idea. What if the shops were closed during the week? Now that was a dreaded thought. All of that work to sneak out for nothing. "I see what you're saying," she frowned and then paused. What would they do and how would they accomplish this? She bit her lip and then brought out her wand to cast a non-verbal Quietus just in case anyone was listening. Ah she loved magic. "Maybe there are events on in Hogsmeade? Though better than Hogsmeade.. We could slip out to Beauxbatons?" she mentioned softly only so that Sam could hear and no one else. Not even anyone passing by. This was top secret business.

She nodded in agreement. Yeah a dementor was terrifying. And a patronus was hard to master. The memory part was the trickiest part for her. The mechanics and incantation made perfect sense but... the memory. Her eyebrows raised up when Sam mentioned that her sister had informed her of some of the tasks in the past TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT! "The Triwizard Tournament!? Did she participate? Or had a friend that participated?" she asked with widened eyes. A Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts? Incredible!!

“So I'm not the only one then?” That was pretty awesome knowing there were others around here who hadn't seen a quidditch match either. “I did kind of meet a couple of the players though. They came to my sister's wedding, and there were some at Melbourne’s sister's wedding too.” she stiffened slightly as she mentioned her former best friend's name. “But yeah, I've never gone to any of the games.” Really, it didn't sound that impressive. Broom racing on the other hand was pretty awesome. “Baseball, really? How did you start watching that? “ It wasn't an incredibly popular sport around here.

Sam's eyes widened at Olivia's suggestion. She imitated the other girl, and spoke just as quietly, “Oh wow, that'd be amazing. But how would we get there, and isn't it hidden the way Hogwarts is? How will we even know where it is?” She sat thinking about how they could do it, and the only way she could see was flying on a broom, but that would be uncomfortable. It'd be incredible, but it was a pipe dream, she knew.

“Oh no,” the girl said shaking her head. “No, I think she was a first or second year when they had it. She is friends with the guy who won it though, and I met him at her wedding too. I think he's really good friends with Ace's dad.” He had seemed... old, because adults, yeah? But it was still kinda cool that he did all those things Emmaleigh had mentioned. “But yeah I guess the IMPS competition is kinda like the triwizard tournament."

Olivia shook her head and gave Sam a small smile. Nope! She wasn't alone. "We should form a club then. I think its pretty rare for kids to have not seen a Quidditch match here," she said with a chuckle. Heh. It'd be fun. They could get shirts even! Olivia couldn't help but notice Sam stiffen at the mention of Melbourne's sister's wedding. Interesting.... She decided not to ask Sam about the Melbourne reaction... There seemed to be SOMETHING there and she didn't want to ask. Well she kind of did but it wasn't her place. Ah baseball. "My grandfather is American. Apologies. Texan. He's very insistent about being called Texan... but he introduced my father to the game and then my brothers and I when we went over to visit. And then he tried to teach us how to play..." She laughed, remembering how difficult it had been to explain baseball to the three of them. They kept on getting confused with cricket. "It's silly. We all used to get confused at times because we grew up with cricket in Australia and here was our granddad trying to teach us baseball." It had been confusing as a child.

Well Olivia knew a person at Beauxbatons.. Her brother was there. "Well my brother assistant teaches at Beauxbatons so maybe I could get some sort of map from him or directions..." she spoke softly once more. As for not getting into trouble with Simon.... well that was another matter all together. Even if she joked about bending the rules, her brother would always get a little disappointed with Olivia as he had never once (apparently) broken the rules. Perfect child, mused Olivia as she shook her head. Simon Perfect Holden. Hmph.

Ace's Dad? Huh. Intriguing. "Wow, that's awesome. I'm sure that Ace's Dad would have lots of stories about it all," she said. Maybe it wouldn't be too scary to meet Ace's father... I mean.... Ace was his son so he couldn't be too, too different from Ace, right? Welll... Simon, Marcus, and her were all different so maybe.... She was beginning to worry so instead of thinking about it, she took a deep breath and pushed the thought away from her. Olivia nodded in agreement with the IMPS competition being similar to the Triwizard Tournament. She had spoken to some of the Professors about this back in the autumn. "Yes, that's what Professor Stewart said! I spoke to her about if the tournament was safe... It seems safer than everything that happened last year." Last year they had the portals and everything.... The monster. Shudder.

Sam nodded at at Olivia's words. “Mhmm, but its not like we have Quidditch here, so how are people who don't have witches and wizards for parents supposed to see any matches?” It wasn't like her parents were going to take her to a match, though if she was really interested she could probably ask her sister and brother-in-law. She was sure they'd take her to a match, but she'd much rather sit at home and watch a football match on the television. The girl's eyes widened slightly in surprise. “You're grandfather is from Texas?” Yes, that was her main take away from her comments. She did have to agree though, “From the little bit I've seen though, it does look pretty weird. But, you're from Australia?” She had known the other girl's accent was different, but it still didn't sound Australian to her.

Hmm. The brunette thought on the whole Beauxbatons plan. It was deffinately an interesting one, but pretty ambitious. Not to mention the amount of trouble she'd get into if they somehow suceeded. Or you know, even got caught trying to do it. Like way worse trouble than she'd gotten herself into over the summer. “Maybe we should try to do that durring the summer?” At least that way if they got caught, they woudln't be in trouble with Hogwarts. Thought, that could throw a wrench into her plans to head up to Scotland over the summer.

She couldn't help but laugh. “Oh yeah, I'm sure he does. But if you ever get him talking about it, I doubt you'd ever get Sal to shut up about it.” Because good grief, the guy could talk. Not that she didn't like him, or think the world of him. He'd been a great comfort when she'd needed reassurance before Baby Victoria had been born. When her big mouth had managed to upset both herself and Ace. “Yeah, I guess the tournament is controlled danger. Better than the surprise of who knows what happening.” Because for what ever reason dangerous things seemed to happen here all to often.

Now that was true indeed. Olivia nodded in agreement. And then Sam had some questions from her. Yes, her grandfather was Texan. "Yes, Texan and proud," she joked with a small smile and then she heard the next question. Australia? Yes but she hadn't lived there since she was seven years old. In fact, she barely had an Australian accent save for some words. "My accent is mostly gone. I've lived in France since I was seven years old and attended international schools." Her accent was just confused.

Now attempting the plan in summer was MOST likely a safer option than during the school year. Besides if they left while at Hogwarts, they could get into some SERIOUS trouble and all.... but it would be fun.... Though would it be worth it to get told off by Ace and Noelle? Maybe by Ace... Maybe by both. Though that could possibly put somewhat of a slight strain on their friendships with both Prefects. Merlin. Then she thought of Professor Marchand looking disappointed with her. Now she didn't want to disappoint her Head of House. He was incredible and had too many things on his mind already. "Smarter idea. Then we won't lose House points." Gryffindor was in the lead... for now!

She laughed a little as she listened to Sam talk about Ace's father Sal. The Head Boy. Perhaps he'd be nice to meet one day. "Ha, he must have a lot of wonderful stories," she said with a nod and a small smile. It'd be a great topic to bring up at a dinner party or something. Good to keep in mind. "I suppose that's true... I just.. It all seems all so real.... but it isn't... right?" Or was it? The competition was messing with her mind.

“Thats so cool!” Sam said excitedly. “All my family is from around here, or well I think so anyways.” Her new family were all locals, and she was sure that her Dad had been as well, seeing as her former surname could be traced back for years and years here. But her mom, she barely knew anything about her. Kara barely even talked about here, so how was she supposed to know about her? She smiled sadly to herself at the thought. “Mhmm, I'd have never guessed you were from there based off your accent. Its really cool though, and living in France must have been pretty neat too.”

The brunette laughed at the other girl's comment. Winning or losing house points really wasn't that important to her. She could imagine the trouble she'd get into though. “Yeah, Ace would kill us.” The others too, but Ace was her main concern. He'd owl her mum, annnd his mum, and she was scarrier. Much, much scarier. Which made her whole summer adventure plans pretty risky too. “Maybe we can get others to come with us too?” That'd be cool, and then they could all share the blame.

Smile still on her face, and stomach hurting for laughing Samantha couldn't help but agree. “Yeah he does.” If he didn't put her to sleep from talking so much. “He's really great too, for an old person anyways.” Because also, he was kinda lame, since he was old and all. “Oh, um, I don't know. The dementors in the challenge had to be real, right? Because what else could have had that affect on all the competitors?” She really didn't know how any of the things they had seen on the screens had been done though, so who knew.

E x h a u s t e d...

Did not cover what the fifteen year old was at the moment. His legs ached, but not in that awful way that has you wanting to collapse. No. His legs felt alive, blood rushing through them, sore; strong. After a tackling several muscle groups after his run, Cornelius' body buzzed with energy. See, he liked that.

What he did NOT appreciate one bit was the way his mind felt exhausted. It felt a hundred years old, cobwebs and dust strewn all over it. A broken pinwheel expected to keep spinning.

Spinning, spinning, spinning.

He rubbed his hands over his face as he entered the Great Hall. No classes today meant black tank top and gray joggers type of day. It was exceptionally great after that rough workout. Lovely workouts, really. Without the release of energy they provided Cornelius would have gone mad by now.

Studying. OWLs. Watching over/tutoring nephews and (very bratty) niece. Boyfriend-ing. Social life. Disappointing parents, and battling personal demons. LOL. Adults thought THEY had it hard.

They probably did, but in Cornelius's current tunnel there was no sign of light.

Mind elsewhere--spinning, spinning, spinning--the boy sat at what he swore was his table this time and, with the confidence of a prince, he reached over for carbs, healthy fats, PROTEIN and veggies.

Gotta get this Quiddith body ready.

The weekends graced Noelle with a little bit of free time, or enough time to not rush anywhere. She didn't have packed schedules and she liked it like that. Sixth year was a good one.

Heading into the Great Hall after some potions training and just basically hanging out with Olly and Noah, she was ready for some food. The three had split up and now Noelle was by herself. The prefect looked around the Great Hall, determining who to sit with when her eyes found a green eyed Snake.

She grinned just a bit.

Noelle headed over and plopped down beside Corny while loading her plate with veggies and just a piece of chicken. She eyed that cake in front of her.. but Professor Stewart's words came into her head. You need to eat right and exercise to make the transformation easier on your body..

Right... no cake.

Noelle nudged Corny to let him know she was here before taking a cucumber and chomping on it. "'ello Corny" She said before taking another cucumber and eating that one too. Way to deconstruct a salad.