One of the first things Harriet wanted to do when she had gotten back to the common room was to sort her dorm out. It was going to be different this year. Some important people to her had graduated. But she had brought photos with her, and was going to put them up around her bed. It might have been hard, but she was going to enjoy the year, even if some people weren't here. The blonde smiled, as she headed to her dorm room, and over to her new bed. She was excited to be back. She loved her little area, and was going to make it really cool, and special. She sat on her bed, and taped on her trunk with her wand, unlocking it. Still carefully packed on top were the three photo frames she had brought with her. One was of her and Leander, a second was of her two nieces Nova and Narcissa, and the third was a family photo of all her family. They were among her favorite possessions.

Hattie began sorting out her little bit of the dorm, by carefully placing the three frames onto her bedside table, arranging them carefully, so that she could see all three when she was sat on the bed. She smiled, sitting back down on her bed, and pulling out the other photos she had. She giggled, looking at a photo of Skylar and herself being silly. She shook her head, and began laying the photos on her bed. Now just to work out where to put them all.

Miranda walked into the sixth year dorms and smiled seeing her friend Hattie already there and decorating her area. " Hey,
Hattie.. ", she said as she made her way over to her bed and set her bag down on her bed. After searching for the photo of herself and Kenny that they took the day he left for Cairo and set it on her night stand.

After a long moment of just sitting there she went into her trunk and got the small boxes that contained her welcome back to school gifts.. Her chocolate badgers and went to set one on each of her dorm mates' beds. When she came to Hattie she handed it to her personally with a smile, It's good to see you.. Have a good summer?".

Harriet looked up as she heard someone greet her, and she smiled as she saw her fellow dorm mate. She hadn't seen Miranda much over the summer, but it made sense considering that they weren't really that close, beyond being roomies. "Hey Randa" The blonde mused with a smile. It was going to be a good year. She could tell. They didn't have any exams this term, so she knew it was going to be good. The work load might be a bit harder, but they had less lessons, so she was sure it was going to be a little easier. Or at least she hoped that it was going to be easier. It had been stressful last year, and she really did not want that happening again.

"Oh." She wasn't expecting gifts, so really wasn't sure what to say. It was cute though, and she liked having cute friends. "thank you.... they are really cute" She mused, as she took the chocolate badgers from Randa.

Miranda smiled and gave her room mate a nod as she accepted the box of chocolates. " No worries.. I enjoy making them for everyone each year.. I think the world needs a little extra sugar.. don't you?", she said with a grin and made her way back over to her bed and began decorating her little piece of Hogwart's.

" I've started making jelly filled candies as well.. Just last term I figured out how to seal it in the molds.. ", Randa added.. " Maybe you'd like to try one sometime..?"

"You have lot of free time clearly" Hattie had no time to do anything like this. That was probably because she liked doing as much as she could. She was hardly at home during the summer, but that was how she liked it. "But I do agree" The world could be a nasty place, and she just hoped this term would be better. Last term there had been some horrible things, but she just hoped that this term was better, calmer, and safer. At least she didn't have to worry about exams this year on top of everything. She didn't know if she could cope with another year of exams. This term, she was just going to try and enjoy her lessons, and enjoy the term.

"You're very talented" She murmured with a smile. She loved knowing how talented her classamates were. It was really nice. She of course had her art, but it was nice to see that other people had things they were good at too.
"I would love to try some"

Randa looked up from what she was doing and gave her friend a smile, " Thanks, Hattie.. I just like doing it though.. Helps me cope with things..Having a little hobby/side business. ", she she said with a bitty giggle." Rian and I have been selling our stuff here and to the masses for years now. Though now I guess it's just me now..", adds with a slight shake of her head. Trying to be rid of the overwhelmingly heavy feeling of loneliness." Really?.. That would be brilliant!"

This wasn't her first time being in a boarding school. She was sent to Mahoutokoro from Singapore beforehand and slowly she adapted quite well there, but Hogwarts was totally different from her former school. It was like a whole another new world for her. Needless to say, Diandra felt a little cultural lag and well... homesick. She just missed many things from her home and Mahoutokoro; her old friends, the food, the weather (yeah, she still couldn't cope with how cold Scotland is), and anything else.

The badger didn't feel like to do anything even though she had some homework to do. Abandoning the school assignment and her bullet journal, she just curled up on her bed and cuddled with her stuffed panda. Who knew that she could feel down like this? Perhaps Diandra should try sending some owls later to some of her friend back in Japan, or to her parents/Isaac. For now, let's just... do nothing.

"I know what you mean. It's why I love to paint so much" She always had. It was a stress relief, but also her main source of income. She was only 16, but she liked having her own money. It made her feel independent, and that she didn't have to rely a lot on her parents. They did give her money, but she liked earning her own. "That's pretty cool" She didn't really sell her things to her peers. But then, most of them didn't want random paintings. Not when they could buy sweets, and broom sticks, and other things. "Just tell me when you have some and i'm up for it"

Farah had been in the common room studying... aka doodling for the last hour before bed before she finally decided to quit her doodling and get to bed. Bed was... one of her favorite places to be. On the weekends she could sleep for hours. Get up, eat, and go back to bed to snuggle.

Heading into the dorm, she changed into her nighties and grabbed her favorite blanket before crawling into bed. The silence was ... silent. Sighing loudly, she rolled over in bed and looked around to see who else was here... and awake. She noticed Di was awake.

Taking her stuffed crup (like a teddy bear but just in crup form), she tossed it over to Di. "Are you awake??" She asked in a not to quiet whisper.

" Oh wow.. I didn't realize you painted... Maybe you could show me some of your work sometime.. ". Loves all things creative. It amazed her sometimes what she learned of her fellow students when she took the time to get to know them a little better.." For sure..
I'll seek you out first to try them..".

Feeling homesick sucked.

Not only because the sadness feeling that mostly made her became very unproductive, but also it made her had a trouble of falling asleep. Thankfully there was no class tomorrow that require her to be awake in such an early hour. "Ouch!" Diandra groaned as someone tossed a stuffed animal to her. She glanced at her dorm mate and unsurprisingly it was Farah who had done that. Who knew she ended sharing a dorm with the girl who offered free hugs at Diagon Alley last summer? Honestly, she thought Farah was nice but sometimes she could be... extra. Yup, maybe that's the best word that describing her.

Was she awake? "No, I can't sleep." She mumbled. "But also I'm not in a mood for your shenanigans." Sorry not sorry.

That surprised her. Hattie was pretty vocal about her art work, and she was not often found without a paint brush and set of paints in her bag. ""I can totally show you my sketchpad once I've unpacked everything" Since she actually needed to find out where it was. It was safely packed away, but she wasn't overly sure when exactly she had put it. She also wanted to make sure that everything was really all sorted. She wanted to make sure that her dorm area was really lovely before she sorted things out. "Perfect"

Opps.

Farah was already sitting up in bed by the time Di said ouch. Her blanket wrapped around her middle. She tilted her head and examined her to make sure she was okay. Because really..... it was a stuffed animal.. it shouldn't have hurt but some people just couldn't handle soft things being thrown at their faces.

Shenanigans?? Excuse moi?

Blink,....
"Ouch. But okay. if you don't want to have someone to talk to then fiiiine." The dim lights in the dorm showed that Di was not in the best moods, and Farah was a good talker... yeah, she could talk too much sometimes, but she was a good listener too.

She settled back down in bed, pretending to be offended. "I'll just lay here, my listening ears on, quietly........" Ahem.

For the record, she groaned not because getting thrown by a stuffed animal was hurt. How could someone got hurt by a fluffy soft toy? Diandra was just annoyed by that and it escalated quickly since she was not in her best mood. Her dorm mate could've approached her in a rather polite way rather just tossed something at her. Huffffttt. There was a possibility that she offended Farah. Well, that girl seemed always up for something crazy that totally not her thing even when she's not in this mood.

She took a peek at her fellow Hufflepuff's bed and saw her laid there. Probably it would be better if Diandra just talked, but she didn't want to get judged as crybaby or something. So... she didn't move from her bed nor say any words.

It was late, Farah was tired but not ready to sleep. And now she was wondering what was wrong with Di. Di usually was standoffish but tonight she was even more so. It could just be that it was nighttime and she wanted to sleep..... but she wasn't sleeping.

And neither was Farah.

So obviously they should talk. But Di wasn't taking the bait. "what's wroooong?" Farah said out of the quiet of the room. She was a good listener when she wanted to be!

What's wrong?

Diandra could not lie because 1) Farah had seen her not in her best mood and 2) Lying was wrong, okay? Her parents had taught her not to lie. But what if she got judged of being a spoiled brat and crybaby by her dorm mates? Nobody likes being called those things, especially herself. Buuuuut... Having known Farah for not a long time, the badger kind of doubted that the girl would judge her since she was like a ray of sunshine or something.

"I miss home." Diandra said in low voice. Did she hear that? Or maybe she should've moved closer to her dorm mates but she didn't feel like getting up from her bed. Sorry not sorry.

Farah was curled on her side, facing Di just in case she wanted to cooperate and pour her heart out to her.... figuratively speaking of course. She waited, listening in the dark for something... anything to be said. She almost rolled back over, thinking she had a lost cause when...

"I miss home."

Farah let out a breath because she knew how that was. Her dad was her best friend. Which was odd because most children did not have their parents as their best friend, but with Farah, she owled her dad multiple times a week and always got a response back shortly. She was definitely a daddy's girl.

"What do you miss most?" Farah asked quietly, trying to see if Di wanted to talk about it. "I miss my parents a lot. My dad especially. He's my best friend.' Di had probably seen her put letters into her heavily decorated box at least twice a week... and grab and re-read them more than that.

You know, Diandra was not used to tell about her personal life except to one of her closest friend back in Mahoutokoro. But now she had moved from there so practically she had nobody. Perhaps she needed to be more opened up to some certain people and befriend them. Although that's going to be an effort because she was not really good in social situations. Ahem.

The badger sat on her bed, hugging her pillow and told Farah about her homesickness. What did she miss most from home? Everything. Back home, she was treated like a little princess, being loved by her parents (even though sometimes they're just too busy with their job) and also the grandparents. "I missed my parents too..." Especially her father because he's staying back in Singapore while her mother pursued her doctoral degree here in London. "And also... I kind of miss the food." No matter how rich and privileged her family was but they still enjoyed some kind of cheap Singaporean street food, from the Chili crab to fried noodles... And she bet that even most of them were rarely to be found even in Chinatown here. Ah, the more Diandra thought about Singapore and her family, the more she felt homesick.

Seeing Di open up and talk about her family and her homesickness made Farah smile despite the sad topic. Di was finally opening up to her. Farah sat up, listening with intent as she told her story. "Wow, so that must be a big change to go from there to here." Even the princess part. Hmmm... she wanted to get Di a tiara or something to help make her feel more like a princess here.

She couldn't do anything about her parents. She did glance around to see if she had a picture of them here. Farah had one of her parents proudly on her nightstand.

"That's what I love the most about New Delhi. The food." Hogwarts knew about food. But they didn't know how to spice things up. Farah was a big fan of the spice. "I wonder if we asked the elves if they could get certain things, if you could make some stuff in the kitchens? Kinda help with that homesickness??" Farah asked, looking at Di. "Can you make those?"

"Yeah, it was. Sometimes I feel like... I don't fit it here." She confessed. Everything here was soooo different back in Mahoutokoro or in Singapore and it just made her felt lost most times. Sigh. Why nobody had told her it was difficult to adjust and fit in here? There should be a manual book like How to Survive Being a New Student: Hogwarts Edition.

Farah was right, the food here was different. Even though sometimes she could enjoy the stuffs that the house elves had prepared but still.... There was something different and it's not a bad thing that she missed the cuisine back home, okay? Making some stuffs in the kitchen? Oh dear, even though it was not a bad idea but...... "I... can't. I have never cooked anything in my entire life." That sounded pretty embarrassing but true. Even her own mother had rarely seen in a kitchen cooking something because they have maids to do that #TotallyRichGirlProblems