Chadwick and Aria had been in the midst of debating the Draught of Undendying Torture when they noticed Katsumi at the end of their table. Aria smiled softly at his…question? Statement? Question/statement? Her gaze flickered to Adeline and the girls she brought in tow. “Sorry, but I won’t be able to after dinner. I’m helping the Herbology professor set up for tomorrow.” Aria explained, tilting her head a bit at Sara’s comment on being with the house. It was only the first day and Ravenclaw was a house known for having people wander off to do their own things- in fact, everyone was encouraged to pursue studies and knowledge their own way. Chadwick looked at Celene and Sara without much enthusiasm. If by ‘being with his house more’, they meant them then he’d rather pass. Those two weren’t exactly his favorite people in the house and it was instances like this where he was reminded why. Hamilton seemed completely content with the arrangement to no one’s surprise. “I’ll have to make sure I didn’t already agree to something else.” Chadwick replied honestly. Since his first year he had been in the habit of being a yes man and over exerting himself. This year he had decided to be a little more on top of it although simply keeping a journal of some sort probably would have been the correct method for his sort. Rising from his seat he stretched while catching eyes with his curious friend. “Draghi, did we make plans for after dinner tonight?” Might as well go down the list.
Landon briefly glanced over in the direction of the newest Slytherin clique. “Why not just go over and have a chat? No point getting wound up in house tensions.” He shrugged, not sure if he had given Larissa the answer she wanted. If there was one thing he’d learned from dealing with women, it was when they asked a question regarding to this type of nonsense…they were looking for a specific answer. He’d earned quite a few bumps from Mina and Nicole over the years for that lesson to have beyond set in for him. Looking at Larissa he had to acknowledge she was a beauty.
Mina perked her head up and shook her head slowly. “Em…I don’t believe so. I have to meet with the nurse for the ‘nightly’.” She made an exaggerated face on the word nightly before facing Matheus. “Oh! Um, just a lucky streak; really. When in doubt good old Eccles likes to put me on the chopping block and LUCKILY it’s panned out today.” With a look shot in Landon’s direction she gave him a swift pinch on the back. “Oi!” Landon jumped a little bit, chuckling meanwhile Mina smiled at Matheus. “Yeah, Draghi is good at the random shite you’d never think to know beforehand. I think of her as a genie: three saving graces a day-“ “How about a week?” Mina cut Landon off dully. “Oi come on now! I’ve already used two! And that wasn’t in the agreement.” Landon laughed, throwing an arm around Mina’s frame to pull her into a side hug. “W-w-we n-never had an a-gree-ment.” Mina rolled her eyes, shoving him off with a laugh.
“Still rough housing as always I see.” Nicole spoke up, appearing on the other side of Mina. “Good job today with that question.” With a soft nod at Mina she looked over at Landon who was looking at Larissa. Oh for Merlin’s sake! There was no way Larissa was going to stay interested in someone like Landon. The girl just got here and from the looks of it she wasn’t the type to settle on the first day- not even for the Quidditch captain. Besides, she doubted Larissa would be able to handle the nuisance that was Landon and Mina’s imposing relationship. Pulling her eyes from the irritating sight she looked at the other exchanges. “Are you guys ready for dinner? The first week we usually have a combination of local foods and international foods to help ease in the exchanges and then it usually shifts to international foods once or twice a week depending on the house elves’ moods.” She explained, looking around for a moment. Nope. Her prefect partner was no where to be found. Lovely. “Looking for your partner in crime?” Mina asked, pulling a small face at the look of dread on Nicole’s face. “Sometimes I’m in favor impeachment. He’s a bloody moron who’s only good for one thing.” Nicole sighed. Landon expression became more constrained as he took a step back at that comment. “Right. I’m going to start heading to the Hall before the team takes all the good stuff.”
…
Priscilla was busy chatting away with other girls about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor when Celeste called out for the table. Her entire group fell silent to see what she was on about. It didn’t take much to catch the look Celeste threw at Carson and with a quick peek in his direction she saw his general amused, yet relaxed expression. Hmph. Leave it to Carson to simply lay in wait until he’s called upon. And to think there had been a time when he’d been on the end of receiving flack for keeping friends in the other houses. Fast forward a few years and now most were aware of why he’d done it and how useful it could be. From the look in his eyes he’d been paying close attention to what they’d been talking about, but she couldn’t tell if he’d actually found any of it interesting. “Enjoying your tea, Carson?” She purred to pull his attention back to her. “It’s average at best.” Carson replied easily. The same usual drama on the first day. Nothing all that interesting except Celeste becoming more and more insatiable. Nonetheless, it paid to have a somewhat working relationship with the Prefect. They both knew he would happily get to work since the excitement over the exchange students was already beyond stale for him.
Once again Aria looked at Chadwick in disbelief over how they were being picked out for no apparent reason. Chadwick sighed wearily, deciding to chalk it up to cultural friction as a way to shrug it off. “Ravenclaw doesn’t operate the same way other houses do. People can go off on their own way and meet up at their leisure. We don’t view it as a negative…” He took a sip of tea. Hamilton beamed and nodded approvingly. “Yeah. It’s been a right minute. I’ll definitely come.” He agreed, giving Sara a smile. He couldn’t remember the last time they’d really hung out. Perhaps last year before summer? Yes. That’s right. When everyone was in the large study groups. Chadwick had hoped they would glaze over him, but alas Autumn picked him out for the second time in a row. His initial thought was to tag along with Aria to help with Herbology, but Katsumi’s mention of trying to figure out where they were in certain courses called out to the teacher inside him. “Sure, mate. I can help sort everything out for you.” Glancing at Autumn he gave her a short nod. He wasn’t a fan of large groups, but he just told himself this was a preliminary step. The exchanges needed to meet everyone, so they could then go off with who they actually liked which would hopefully leave him exactly where he started- with a knit group of close friends and a larger group of friends who weren’t nearly as high maintenance.
Amanda was an annoying gossip, but Nicole always found herself listening whenever she happened to bound over. Gossip was still gossip. She understood Amara’s sentiment as well as Charity’s, and very begrudgingly Larissa’s. All were valid points. All of the exchange students should have been invited even if they wanted to exclude Gryffindor. Matheus’ comment made her want to roll her eyes. Landon was halfway through his third plate eating away, watching the show until he was called upon. “Me? No, I’m alright.” A short laugh escaped him when Matheus spoke again. “Not when she’s late to class.” He pointed out to Wallace before forking another mouthful. Mina had been half listening, half minding her own business when she heard her name. Ah. It was Matheus. Again. “Em- it’s fine. I can do with a few breaks in a day. Might actually be healthy for me.” She teased. Chigaru’s deep voice earned a turn of her head. William looked between Chigaru and Amara as if through a microscope. Poor Amara just wanted to keep in contact with her friend and he was being so rude to her. It was a shame, but he would be there for her no problem. Where Chigaru was an idiot; he would rise to the occasion! Just about every Gryffindor student looked around confused when Autumn made a comment about red robes. Who the hell was red robes? Landon had just swallowed his food to speak when Larissa spoke up. At seeing Amara commit to going, William immediately rose to the occasion. “I’ll go too. And so will Stavros.” He placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder with a wide grin. While the exchanges worked out who was going Landon returned to his meal, giving Mina a soft nudge at the situation. Mina smirked as Illych draped his arm over Landon- he was probably right, but that wasn’t any of her business. Sean chuckled and shook his head. “He’s thick. Not much you can do with that, right guys?” The young man glanced at the others who opted out of such a tiring deed. “We’ll try. Can’t give any promises on Eccles though.” He reached over and gave Landon a strong pat on the shoulder. “Oi now. You just focus on the drills we’re going to be running soon.” Landon shot back, knowing Sean had a bit of a lazy streak. The drama already starting to foil seemed a bit much for Landon’s taste. This really was a sensitive lot of exchanges. “Hm? Oh. Yeah, won’t be a problem.” He gave Autumn another smile. Nicole had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Leave it to Landon to be all buddy buddy with everyone. For Merlin’s sake he was like Mina except with exchange students. How annoying. Amanda’s insistence; however, earned an eyeroll. “Larissa is right. We have exchange students as well who are having no problems with the attention. It’s what happens when you transfer.” It was clear and concise. “If you want to go, you can. No one is stopping you Amanda.” For Merlin’s sake either Amanda needed to finally get laid by whichever Gryffindor she was lusting after or learn to stop being so…involved. Landon raised a brow at Matheus. “It’s nothing Quidditch tryouts won’t show.” He didn’t want to be a buzzkill, but for all they knew he wasn’t even going to try out while he was here. “It could be nice to pop in though. See what’s going on and leave if it’s stale.” He shrugged, looking over at his core team. Half of them were clearly not on board, but he knew the reason was they had plans with girls and so he waved them off. “I just need to finish this plate.” Was it Landon’s fifth plate? Yes, BUT he had been lessening the portions like a responsible person. “O-kay. I’ll see you lot later.” Mina announced, rising from her seat. “See you back in the common room?” Landon asked between bites of turkey. “I should do.” Mina leaned down and exchanged a quick kiss on the cheek. “Can you get me some of the good stuff while you’re out?” Landon grinned. “Nope.” Mina gave him a playful tap on the nose. “Aw come on. What sort of relationship is this?” He feigned being hurt. “Relationship with who? Your broom, your hand, or me?” Mina smirked as his mates erupted in laughter. “Bye, love.” She added sarcastically before giving Nicole a kiss on the cheek as well. “Have fun.” Nicole gave a light wave; her eyes immediately falling back on Landon who was getting shit from the team.
…
Mina sat on the edge of a bed in the nursery wing, casually dangling her feet as she waited for the nurse to come ‘round. “Hello Dearie! How was your summer?” The nurse replied chipperly whilst running her hands down Mina’s neck. “It was…eventful. How was yours?” Mina asked, tilting her body this way and that so as to better ease the nurse’s duties. “Oh, you know. I spent the summer working on the Quidditch Cup, so lots of lookers you know.” The nurse began to ramble on about the various hunks she’d had the upmost pleasure of looking after. From the sounds of it she’d had more than a few dreams about them since. Mina laughed at her descriptions. For something that was normally an awkward procedure- the nurse here had never made it a burden and certainly never made it boring. “Head back Dearie.” Mina angled her chin to be parallel with the ceiling, her eyes remaining open as two silvery liquid drops were applied to each eye- a light steam forming as it made contact. Mina inhaled softly. “Now tilt.” Closing her eyes Mina held her head to one side and then another for different drops to be put in her ears. Mina grit her teeth, her expression contorting at the unholy ringing in her ears. “Almost done. Just think of what lies at the end of the rainbow…” A small laugh escaped Mina before a clear glass was put in her hands. “Ready to ride the rainbow?” “You’d think I’d be tired of that by now, but you really do sell it.” Mina smiled, taking the glass and looking into the depths of the golden-turquoise liquid. “What’s that muggle song you quoted last time you drank it?” The nurse asked, already beginning to put away the supplies. “Song…? Oh! Hello darkness my old friend.” Mina sang the tune, shooting the nurse a wink before downing the liquid. “And down you go.” The nurse gently pushed her back on the bed, pulling a comforter over her body before pulling the curtain closed for some privacy. Mina fell in to a daze of sorts; the ceiling above her seemingly disappearing to reveal the stars and formations as if they were only an arm’s reach away.
While everyone was busy deciding whether or not they wanted to join in the little get together being run the exchange students, Priscilla had slipped down the hall in an entirely different direction. See, a little birdie had enlightened her to the new Professor’s habit and that little birdie happened to a cousin who was a few years her senior. This led her to a very grim looking door. Lucky for her almost all of the other professors were either in the Great Hall or probably hiding in their offices and this Professor had been a ghost during dinner. She knocked three times.
…
Landon arrived at the library with William, Stavros, Nicole, Russell, and Sean in tow. Though he wasn’t sure if you could really say William and Stavros were really ‘with’ him from the way they were trailing after Amara and Charity. “Oi Chadwick! Nice to see you mate.” Grabbing the Ravenclaw boy by the shoulder he pulled him in for a brief hug. “Still getting dragged into everything, I see.” He chuckled, letting him to see who else was around.
Carson had shown up to this get together for one reason: entertainment; and the very moment he realized Jen was going he knew he was going to get it. Nothing amused him more than watching Jen thirst after unsuspecting victims. When Jen caught his eye, she shot him an irritated look. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with Priscilla?” Jen asked, crossing her arms over her chest. “She’s a little busy right now, so I figured why not check in on an old friend.” Carson smiled. “Ugh. You only ever come around for drama or to mock people trying to actually form relationships.” Jen retorted highly. “Well don’t let me distract you. Leave him too long and another girl will try to swoop in.” Carson perked a brow as one of Jen’s own lackeys sprung up next to the man in question like a weed. He watched Jen flit over to her…well, he didn’t think anyone would realistically call him her man except for her.
Jen slid her hand around Illych’s bicep, a small smile forming as she looked at her so called friend. “Hi Olivia…I’m surprised you managed to come.” There were daggers in her eyes, but Olivia merely remained polite. “Well everyone was invited, so…” “And I’m so happy you came! It’s going to be so nice to get to know everyone.” Everyone getting together was the perfect opportunity for her to very slyly let people know she had some plans for this one.
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