This isn't my common room...[finished]

[tasha]

Tasha waltzed freely into the bathroom without thinking of her exact location. She had been wondering around for a good bit and for some reason had ended up very far away from her intended location. Her initial thought on finding out how lost she was had been to retrace her steps. Though, considering she had started off pretty much lost made it better to just go forward until she found her way back. Her little black and red parasol twirling in her delicate fingers as her long red locks cascaded down her blouse. She brushed passed the door and got a smudge of dust on her robes. She didn't throw to much of a tizzy as her actual clothes were protected.

Stopping just inside the bathroom, Tasha wiped the dust away and looked up to find that she had reached a dead end. with a small sigh she perked up and made her way to the sink. The mirror above the sink was just clear enough for her to check her makeup. She pulled out her little trusty guide book from a pocket inside her second hand robes and found nothing to help her on. It was likely she had the right idea, even if she would have been wiser to simply ask one of the paintings which way she should go. So far it was simply a whimsical journey through the enchanted castle she could now call home.

"Well at least my make-up's still perfect."

She smirked in her fading moment of vanity and turned to observe her surroundings. She had never been in this bathroom before, and she wasn't likely to return. The decor was simply ghastly, no matter what she thought a bathroom may be like this wasn't a place one would often frequent. Tasha moved curiously from stall to stall in a fanciful dancers step. The echoing sound of her Mary Janes tapping against the floor making a curious chorus that seemed to give her a tune to keep. Tasha started to whisper before she noticed and hummed a tune she never knew she had known. It wasn't strange for her to follow her own tune, even if it was a strange place to be doing such.

[Dylan Cooper]

Wandering the halls about half an hour before curfew, students swarmed lazily past him, most of them headed toward the Great Hall for dinner. His own stomach most probably unable to handle much of anything at the moment, he was instead headed somewhere for some peace and quiet. One of the few places left where he could find that, and one that was relatively easy to access and central within the school, was the bathroom in the corridor ahead, usually deserted thanks to the distressed ghost hovering inside of it. As he turned into the designated corridor, he took a careful glance behind himself and, under the pretence of inspecting the bathroom for anyone who shouldn’t be there, entered.

Pushing open the door, he shut it quickly behind him and leant against it for a moment, his eyes staring unseeingly into the dingy mirrors ahead. Full of emotions that he wasn’t quite mature enough to deal with all at once, he shut his eyes briefly and took a deep breath before reopening them. They had found D’rorah again; she had escaped from wherever she had been entombed, and had stopped the corruption of darkness capturing her. She had been left without any emotions at all – a slight problem from his own point of view, considering both the plain fact that she had no emotions and that she was not the woman she had been before she’d left. His Ravenclaw robes swished as they ceased moving, stock still as he now stood against the door.

After a moment, a small voice registered within his brain. Looking around, surprised, and wondering who else would be occupying this bathroom, he took a few muffled steps forward. Turning toward the stalls, he creased his eyebrows in slight confusion, wondering why someone would do anything as seemingly cheery as hum inside this dismally depressing bathroom. Noticing her choice of clothing and the parasol she carried, he could honestly say that he’d never seen her before, and equally as certain that he wouldn’t forget her. “Are you new?” he questioned in his usual quiet tone, seeing clearly that she looked very young. At least a few years younger than himself, anyway. “No-one’s really supposed to be in this bathroom,” he added, the prefect badge on his chest clearly evident next to the one identifying him as a Quidditch Captain.

[Michael-Thomas Homewood]

Mike was not far away from Dylan and Tasha. In fact he was in the same corridor, half an hour before curfew. The reason why he was out of Common Room so late was his thirst. He wanted to drink a cup of hot chocolate, but on the other hand he wanted to be in his bed as quick as possible. He snuggled up in his coat because he started to shake. It was still cold in Hogwarts castle and Mike only thought about the warm fireplace in Common Room. Butt then, when he passe the bathroom, he heard voices.

"What?", he thought. "I can´t remember in my whole time in Hogwarts that anyone used THIS bathroom. I thought everyone would hate this boring, dirty and ugly room. So why should anyone visit this place expected from strange, maybe illegal business. Should I call it the headmistress? But then they would hate me, as the guys in primary school did."

Mike sighed and decided to enter the bathroom hoping to find out the real reason of this very unfamiliar meeting. He opened the bathroom door a little bit and saw the back of a tall Ravenclaw boy, maybe 5th or 6th class. This boy seemed to be familiar. "Maybe", he thought "I already saw this guy before." In fact it was Dylan what Mike didn´t realized. But Dylan was talking to someone. Mike wasn´t able to see the person completely. So he moved on, took one, two steps towards them, and then Tasha came in sight. Mike didn´t knew this girl, who was in his age, before but she was, in Mike´s eyes so admirably beautiful, Tasha paralyzed him at once. Mike blushed. "Whhooaaa!!" he thought, but, of course a little bit too loud.
He covered his mouth with his hands and thought "Damn. Very good, Mike, now you betrayed yourself. You Idiot!!!" He wasn´t able to decide. Should he get away before they realise that it was him who spied them?? But his feet stuck on ground like glue......

[tasha]

Tasha was nearly startled by the sound of a voice and turned on her toes. Her robes twirling in her natural flourished movement. the clothing beneath her house robes showing slightly better before the robes settled again against her frame. The clothing was naturally a bit odd for someone her age. The plaid red and black dress and her choice of matching make-up adding to her curious appearance. Red and black strips on her lips and red eyeshadow made for a daring combination against the pale pink of her skin. the bouncing curls of her long red hair billowing about until her quick spin stopped. On her face was a smile, her shining eyes dulled none by the dreary background. She was very much out of place, and even with her tune gone she seemed a musical object.

Tasha looked up.. a lot, to see the face of her company and her smile faded lightly when she was told she wasn't supposed to be here. Even though no one had said that as far as she knew.
Maybe he was just being mean because she was a first year. Or was it because he's in a different house.
Then there was the shiny badge on his chest that she recognized as a prefects badge. She wasn't so sure what the other one was, but it looked important. With a light nod of her head to signify a bow she parted her lips to speak.

"It's a lovely night isn't it? I think so. Do you know how I can get back to my common room? I'm rather lost."

She tilted her said to the side a bit in query. It was a habit she had yet to notice but it was a sweet and cute little tick when she did it so maybe no one thought it accidental. She did hope that he would guide her back though. There was a noise from somewhere behind the tall Ravenclaw and she leaned to the side to see what it was. In her attempt to look around him she slipped and fell. She flailed a bit trying to reach out for something and her parasol flew into the air.

[Dylan Cooper]

Waiting for a response with a slightly blank expression adorning his features, his mind found itself happily distracted from the subject of his girlfriend. Before she could reply, he noticed the door open once more and turned his head to the side to view the newest entrant. As the young boy approached Dylan and turned to see the other Hufflepuff, emitting a small expression of something that might very well have been desire, he raised his eyebrows in surprise and returned most of his attention to Tasha as she replied to his previous comments.

Left with the guess that she was a new student, considering she had lost her common room, he wondered first which house she was in, and then whether or not he would be able to find any one but that of Ravenclaw. Still, he knew quite a few people in the school well enough to ask any of them to help her find her common room. Finding it odd that she tilted her head to the side, he neglected a strange desire to imitate the action and instead began to accumulate a response to her comment.

As she attempted to find Mike with her eyes, she slipped on a stray puddle of water, no doubt caused by Moaning Myrtle, and his Quidditch Keeper reactions were sharp enough for him to dive forwards and hit the cold tiled floor with his chest and elbows, his arms extended forwards to try and stop her from at least hitting her head. There might have been better ways of handling the situation, but his stressed and busy mind didn’t really have the capacity to perceive those right now.

He could have maybe leaped forward and attempted to catch one of her flailing hands, or both of them, to stop her from falling at all. But as it was, he found this might very well be the best option; hoping to catch her hands was not even a fifty percent likelihood, but this way at least she wouldn’t hurt her head. It might have been a bit overdramatic, but he didn’t really care about appearances at this point in time.

[tasha]

The sudden shock of falling had broken all the thoughts previously in her head and replaced them with only the need to brace herself. Tasha clenched closed her eyes and pulled in her flailing arms at the last moment in the hopes to relieve some of the pain of her fall. Her tiny frame was not equipped to take blunt force of any kind, and an awkward landing was most definitely sure to hurt her. To make matters worse she seemed to have slipped on water, meaning that when she toppled headlong into the floor her dress and robes would be wet, even if only slightly. The poor doll was surprised to fall onto something softer then what she had expected. The fall had been stopped but she had her eyes closed still from the scare from a fall.

Letting her sense of touch take over for her eyes she easily felt that she was in a mess of robes and a set of arms. Next was the traveling search lead by her hands. Tasha reached innocently for the face of her savior and felt his boyish features and popped open her eyes in shock. Tasha had forgotten completely that there had been only one person in the room with her, and that it meant that he was now beneath her on the wet floor. She looked at his face, which happened to be closer then was common due to his selfless save, and blushed wildly. She had not yet taken back her petite hands from his cheeks and instead stared as if stuck in a lapse of thought.

As if to respond to her blush, both her hair and eyes changed to a deep pink. The color nearly matched the reddened surface of her soft, pale cheeks. Her eyes seemed to change from the top of the iris and downward. As if the color fell from the top of her head down, as was the same with her hair. She took a full twenty seconds to recover from the initial shock, and in the state she was in it was a lot longer then that in her mind. Though, the moment she realized that she was in the arms of an older boy she blushed further and her hair flashed a brighter shade of pink in the same descending fashion as before. Tasha rose in the time it took for her eyes to match the color of her hair.

Rising and nearly tumbling backward in her sudden rush her now pink eyes caught the second boy. Her own blushing gaze meeting his for a moment. Tasha then suddenly went to straighten her robes and looked at them rather then the two boys in the room. She had the time to notice that the boy who'd caught her was cute too, and he seemed so cool. She wanted to scream at herself for falling like that now, she had no idea what to do. Quickly, she pulled her little book from the folds of her robes and sifted through pages muttering an inaudible question. "What do you do when saved by a cute boy? what do you do.." she said in a hurried whisper.

Within a second or two she found the magically inscribed page with her answer on it and shut the book, returning it to her robes before looking to the Ravenclaw. She looked as if she was frozen on her nerves and took a moment to gain herself. She took a red ribbon from her wrist and her wand from her robes. Tapping her ribbon twice she muttered. "Lemuto catena"
The ribbon into into a chain of deep red silk links. Tasha bowed lightly and held out the metal-silk chain to him.

"Th..thank you for catching me. Here is a token of my appreciation."

Her nerves were so shot that she was afraid to look up and instead looked at the tiles waiting for him to take her transfigured ribbon. She hoped it was a good enough token, she would die if he scoffed at her gift. Her hair turned slowly back to her original color as she calmed and waited. After waiting about thirty seconds she would rise and look at the two boys present and smile brightly. If her ribbon had been taken she would be a bit more perky, if not she would look at the taller boy with a slight look of indignation.

[Michael-Thomas Homewood]

Mike was still in the bathroom. He was shocked by the nearly happened accident. If he had not been paralyzed, he would catch Tasha before Dylan would have the chance. His seeker practice improved his reflexes very well. But in this situation he failed. He would think "Damned, you lucky boy, if this would be a Quidditch match, it would be your fault. Your team would lose because of you". But he didn´t. Just after two shocking moments, his surprisingly entrance and the nearly-accident, he gained his mind again and an other feeling pierced him like a knife in his heart...

Mike gets red again, but not because he was embarrased. Envy, jealousy and anger flooded him. He was angry at Dylan an dat his himself. But it was not clearly for Mike, why...
Lots of voices in his head started to fight at once:
"You fool, Mike. Why had you slept. You stand in the bathroom like an odd tree, and she would chop her head on the ground if this guy of prefect wouldn´t be here..."
Another voice: "Why is this guy in the bathroom. What is so important to sniff at. Why he don´t just hit the road and leave me alone...."
"But, Mike, why are you angry? This prefect guy didn´t hurt you. No way, he just rescued another student...so he has only good things in mind, so whazzup, Mike....."
Only in this evening Mike was so confused, his head has more hassle then after all lessons together.
To start conversation he just said: "Uhhhhh....may I help??"
Just in this moment another voice in his head spoke to Mike: "Fool!!!, this sentence was extremly senseless. Couldn´t you ask it a few seconds before?? Have you got reactions like your breakfast bacon??? Oh god......"
Blushing again, Mike stand in the center of bathroom, puzzled, and he don´t know what to do now.....

(off:sry for my bad english, it´s not pretty perfect like yours

[Dylan Cooper]

His heart somewhat in his throat, he took the panicked moment to see that her eyes were closed, and for a second he was concerned that she was injured somewhere other than her head. Feeling her hands run across his face, he set aside the slight surprise and withdrew the raised eyebrows adorning his features. As she re-opened her eyes, her face seeming that much closer to his now that she had, he noticed the blush creep across her cheeks and became slightly confused, though refused to show it.

Her hands still on his skin, he was unable to prevent the height of his eyebrows as her hair and eyes turned a dark pink that strangely resembled the blush on her cheeks. Realising that the change in colour was not stopping there, and that in fact both of those features once more went a brighter pink, he was unable to keep a small, friendly and slightly amused smile from his face. As she got up, he followed suit, finding his knees and elbows sore from the fall and his stomach considerably worse for wear.

Observing a small trickle of blood on his right elbow and sighing discontentedly at it, he turned his attention to his clothing. His robes slightly wet in all the wrong places and dirty as hell, he attempted to brush several things as well as dust off them for a few seconds before giving it up as a bad job. Raising his eyes to the other two present in the normally abandoned bathroom, he noticed a small book in the hands of the girl, and that the boy was simply standing there, apparently frozen on the spot. If his body didn’t ache so much after falling onto the hard, cold floor, he might have looked at the setting and laughed.

A small whisper reaching his ears, barely, his eyes widened in surprise. Did she just refer to him as cute? …Good lord. He’d never really been social before the beginning of this year; had been withdrawn and alone in his own little world. The idea that anyone really perceived him as existing still surprised him slightly; let alone being referred to as cute. Did D’rorah even think he was cute? Or rather, had she? Deterring his mind from thinking about her for the time being, he simply chose to be quite flattered and reverted his attention to the Hufflepuffs.

His eyes observing in a slightly amused, very interested sort of way, he watched as she took a ribbon from her wrist and performed some kind of charm on it. As it formed into a chain, still of the same material, he wondered how hard it was; how much rigidity and strength it had gained in the transformation. As she bowed and extended it toward him, he found that he was going to have those questions answered and took it from her with a gentle hand, his own brushing hers as he reached for it. His eyes attempting to find hers as she spoke, he offered a small, happy smile. “Thanks,” he replied in a pleased voice. Feeling the object, he was surprised and slightly impressed to find that it was as hard as chains, and still as soft as the ribbon it had been formed from.

Unable to find her eyes, he saw that her hair was slowly reverting back to its original tone and assumed her eyes would be doing much the same thing. Choosing instead to look at the other young Hufflepuff, he saw that he too was funny colours. Looking slightly red with anger, and very much distracted by something internal, Dylan turned back to Tasha. “Thank you,” he said once more, genuinely happy with what she had given him, and eager for her to know such a thing. Slightly distracted in waiting for a reply from the girl, he flicked both eyes back to Michael as the boy spoke.

Confused to no end by the question offered, he looked around to Tasha once more, briefly, before focusing on Mike. “I think we’re alright…” he said in his usual quiet voice. Seeing that the newest entrant to the bathroom was also blushing, now, he felt slightly bad for the boy. He seemed to feel extremely awkward around either Dylan, Tasha, or just people in general. “But neither of you should really be in here,” he said, reiterating that fact once more in case of the likelihood that they had forgotten in the drama of Tasha’s near accident. “What house are you in?” he asked of Michael, hoping against hope it was Hufflepuff, or that at least this boy knew where the entrance was. If not, he’d just have to go and find Caitlin or Professor Archer or someone else with origins in the badger house.

[tasha]

Tasha was more then pleased that her gift was accepted and she smiled happily seeing that it was taken. Then there was his interest in the item and his thanks that brought her smile into the grin she now held. The actual spell would have changed the ribbon entirely into a chain, but she had made sure to leave it half way done. After all, there wasn't much to be admired about a solid red metal chain. On the other hand, being able to focus the change of the material so that a half-way complete transfiguration made a more interesting item was something she was proud of. Tasha felt her bit of pride grow and her eyes gleamed as brightly as ever in the success of her spell-work. Tasha saw that he was wet and looked a little worried, she hadn't meant to mess up his robes. Her slight bit of guilt at him getting dirty from saving her made her wish she was better at charms. She looked up and frowned for a moment.

"Sorry about making you get all wet and stuff.."

At that moment Tasha was reminded of what she had been trying to look at when she fell and turned to face the other boy again. He seemed to be oddly colored for some reason and it made her tilt her head slightly to the side. Her repeat of this little look was just as cue as the last, and seemed to be an innocent way of looking at things from a different angle. Tasha giggle at his question, it was quite a late reaction to all that had just happened. Though, it was forgivable as long as she wasn't hurt. Tasha was alright and even flattered that he offered to help as well. She felt a little bubbly as she thought about the fact that she was being so kindly treated. She spoke to him just after the older boy said his piece.

"Yes yes.. Everything is fine now.. Thank you for your concern though, it's really sweet of you."

Tasha said to the younger of the boy's with an unfading smile. Tasha's radiance made her seem to be forever glowing without a chance that she'd loose her spark. It had surely been an interesting little adventure, though she had been lost the entire time. It wasn't like she'd meant to nearly break her in an abandoned and run down bathroom. In fact Tasha was starting to yearn for her bed and the warmth of her sheets. She sighed in the thought, the dormitory had magically soft beds. Tasha heard the older boy speak again and looked up at him indignantly and frowned. She had already said that she was lost, she hadn't purposely wondered into a shabby restroom. Then she noticed the fact that it was indeed a girls bathroom. There were not supposed to be boy's in the girls laboratory, and this one currently had two.

"Wait wait... This is a girls restroom. There should definitely be two less boy's in here..."

[Michael-Thomas Homewood]

Mike´s anger faded away a little bit. He got the though that Dylan just wanted to help. In fact Dylan is a prefect, as Mike found out while looking at his badge. But not only his anger, even his confusion stopped slightly. So Mike answered Dylan´s question a bit more normal:

"I´m sorry, Sir....uhhm...prefect..uhm..however...I just was curious. I mean, this is quite an very odd place for some meetings. I thought about illegal business or something like that. But I know that I´m not allowed to be here in a girls bathroom, even when this room is very...uhm...full...So I´m sorry. I think it´s time for me to get away." He ended his last sentence with a little grin in hope that no one get a wrong opinion about a boy creeping in a girls room.

Mike tried to stay calm and so, while talking to Dylan, he avoided Tashas eyes, or else he would freak out again. But still his knees shook and sweat started running down his face. After losing his confusion he realized that his whole body was boiling. And his warm bed or his hot chocolate was completely wiped out of his head. Mike wanted to leave this odd location, leave this strange situation behind him, Mike felt himself being a little bit unwelcome, but there was a unanswered question. Curiosly he asked Dylan and Tasha: "Uhhmm... but what are you doing here in this strange place? When this is a girls bathroom, why didn´t you left her alone?"

[Dylan Cooper]

“Oh, that’s alright,” he replied quietly, shrugging off the apology. He had made his own choice to dive onto the floor, resulting in his robes getting slightly wet. It could be easily rectified, and he didn’t know why using a charm hadn’t occurred to him earlier. Slightly surprised at the slowness of his mind, he produced his wand and flicked it in the direction of his robes. Within seconds, steam was rising from them and, in less than a minute, his robes were dry. As she giggled in response to Michael’s question, he couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows and widen his eyes in a subtly amused sort of way.

Feeling that this bubbly little Hufflepuff might be a bit too much for him to handle at the moment, he had a quick turn of thoughts; perhaps someone so clearly happy and upbeat was good for him in his current stupour. Everything for him was formality and, honestly, completely without passion. He was trying his utmost to get back the flare he had gained at the start of the year, but he saw it fading more than ever with the lack of emotion D’rorah continued to produce.

“Technically, this is an Out of Order bathroom, so neither girls nor boys should be in here; which is why I entered in the first place.” That of course, was a lie. But he needed to set good examples for the younger years, especially as a prefect. “No-one is supposed to be in here at all,” he clarified, unable to help but be slightly annoyed that Tasha had almost certainly told him that he shouldn’t be here. His attention was briefly drawn as Homewood replied to his comments, and he turned back to face the young Hufflepuff. Nodding once to indicate that he understood Michael had in fact entered with good intentions, he chose to reply. “If anyone was conducting illegal business, it would be safer for you to go and get a prefect or professor; Hogwarts isn’t safe at the moment,” he informed the boy, knowing full well the amount of younger years that had disappeared this year already. “Just be careful,” he added in a serious tone.

As his previous question also seemed to have been disregarded, he repeated himself; something he didn’t much like to do. “What house are you in?” he asked Michael. “If you two are in the same house, then he could help you to find your common room,” he said to Tasha, redirecting his eyes to her before having them diverted away once more by Homewood’s question. “I didn’t leave her alone, because, as I said, this bathroom is Out of Order; the sign is on the door. No-one should use it, including girls, and as a prefect I’m supposed to keep people out of here,” he explained once more, slightly annoyed. He really didn’t intend to sound rude at all; the kid was just asking, but Dylan’s mood was ever-changing at the flick of a switch lately, and he was increasingly irritable with everything and everyone.

[Michael-Thomas Homewood]

"I know" said Mike "that this room is out of order. I am long enough in Hogwarts to know it. And...If here should happen something illegal or some kind of it....I....I.´..I´m just a bit curious, sorry. But wouldn´t be it bad when you enter a suspicious situation and call a prefect or teacher at once. And the teacher finds out that this so-called suspicious situation is just a pair snoggiing or something harmless like that. I just wanted to prevent calling wrong alert, and, as I said, I´m a bit curious....But of course you are right: Nobody should be here, including myself..."

These sentences Mike spoke with such a speed, as he tried to break the sound barrier. His head became red again, but this time because his very fast speech. Mike tried to ignore Tasha, and that should be an easy because she seemed to be mental absent. But he failed miserably. He became nervous again, more nervous than before the Sorting Hat told him his house; more nervous than before his first lessons. He hardly kept control over himself, not knowing why he was nearly freaking out. To say anything ), he decided to answer Dylans question:

"Oh, I´m a 1st-class Hufflepuff. Uhmm...you too?" he asked Tasha, but then he noticed that he still didn´t know her name. To make it more universal, he decided to ask both of them:

"I forgot to ask your name...I...I didn´t meet you two before, so..."

He just didn´t know how to end his sentence. But it was nomatter for him. He just realised that the first time after he moved to England and visited his old primary school in Chester some pupils wanted to talk normally with him. He wasn´t a punching bag anymore. The first time no one bullied him or left hm alone systematically, and that´s a fact which made Mike happy the first time in Hogwarts. The first time there was a slight grin on his face.

[tasha]

Tasha stopped listening to explanations and started to glance around again. It was a really shabby place, but oddly interesting. The little Lolita barely paid any mind to the other two in the bathroom after a minute of him explaining that she wasn't supposed to be there. He'd said that already, and she wasn't so dense as to not see the point. Tasha prided herself in being very intelligent. No matter of how airy she seemed to be she was quick on the uptake. Naive though she may be, when told once it was enough, any more and you're just talking. Tasha didn't have the attention span to bother with things done over and over. Things needed to be new and special. The reason she liked transfiguration was because things changed and were new.

The first year heard the conversation progress without her and wondered off to pick up her parasol. It had luckily landed in a dry area and she lifted it and spun on the spot gleefully. Tasha twirled the umbrella and hopped along the tiles freely as she heard the talking that lasted only a minute or so between the boys. She posed sweetly on one foot when her name was asked and looked back at the two. Her body was facing in the opposite direction and the parasol was open and held above her. Her long curly hair was fluttering down her back and she had turned her head and her shoulders a bit to see them. The pose was all too cute and made her truly seem like a porcelain doll.

"I'm Tasha. Tasha Tessa Thomas. I'm a first year hufflepuff. My hobbies are making transfiguration spells and making and remaking my clothes. I like chocolate and apples. My favorite color is pink."

She twirled again and waved her wand to summon up ribbons to make her look cuter. Though, due to the properties of her wand the spell didn't go very well and she summoned four small pythons. The snakes were three feet long a piece and not so happy looking, Tasha looked down and sighed. She reached down and pet one of them as another wrapped along her arm and her body. the snakes looked peaceable in her presence but looked rather menacing to the other two.

"I meant for them to be ribbons.. but the pixie wing wands apparently play tricks."

She giggled and pet the snake that had wound itself around her upper body. She continued her twirling with the parasol and danced along as the snakes followed. She skipped to the boy who'd turned seemingly red and smiled. She kissed the snake on her shoulders and bowed lightly.

"You should lead me to the common rooms so we can get away from the cute but overbearing prefect."

She spoke without a hint of malice or joking but with her honest opinion. She spoke in a way that almost made it hard to be made at her. the fact that she was playing with the annoyed snakes that were snapping at Dylan's feet didn't help either. The snakes kept themselves just under her feet and glared menacingly at the other boys while nudging kindly up to Tasha. Tasha would naturally fit the role of a charmer of beasts, with her bubbly soft personality. The creatures seemed to think she was a lovely creature herself. The fact that they were all pink scaled snakes with fangs as long as her fingers mattered very little to her. Tasha found them simply adorable.

[Michael-Thomas Homewood]

But while they seemed to be adorable for Tasha, they were the very opposite for Mike: ugly, just ugly. And hundredpercently non-likeable. Normally he would avoid snakes, but just in this moment he didn´t want to show disgust. He tried to keep cool, but the snakes made him as nervous as Tasha did, but clearly not because the same reason. For Mike the snakes took away a very big piece of Tashas beauty. He would like her if she would stop summoning disgusting beasts in his presence. Also he had a very strange feeling, just like he would assume something "evil" inside Tasha.

"I thought snakes was the sign of Salazar Slytherin. Is she not as likeable as I thought??" said a voice in his head again...
"Stupid boy, you....It was just a mistake. You heard her "I meant for them to be ribbons.. but the pixie wing wands apparently play tricks." So why you get a wrong mind?? Everything is okay.....Such a likeable girl and a dark wizard?? Are you kidding, Mike??"
"Said who?? You don´t know Tasha."

The mix of the strange feeling towards Tasha and his rational mind pressed his brain more than all lessons together, just like someone want to make Orange Juice while mistaking some oranges with his head. Mike got lost in thought, but then he became mental present again and answered:

"First class Hufflepuff, too?? Wow, so I can show you the way to our Common Room. By the way, I´m Michael-Thomas Homewood. But just call me Mike. I like doing sports like Basketball, Hockey and, since I arrived here in Hogwarts, Quidditch, too. I even like music, I have got an acoustic guitar here, and I like to do everything with my family or friends..."("If I would have friends..." he thought)"You said, you like transformations?? Well, I´m not so long in Hogwarts but as I find out, I´m dreadful in transformations. I rather like charms, mixing potions, and, at top of the list, Defense against Dark Arts. Because I´m extremly against dark power and so on...."

Even for a long speech, he finished very fast. The fact that he spoke too fast is the only problem. Although hew was still nervous, he spoke very clearly just in moment. But Mike asked meanwhile himself, why Tasha found Dylan "overbearing". Mike himself just felt sympathy for Dylan, what was very paradox. A few minutes ago he was jealous and angry.

"Well, he´s okay. He´s just doing his job."

[Dylan Cooper]

His nerves beginning to have an effect on him, he refrained from rolling his eyes at the naïve students, thinking they knew everything about anything. He supposed they meant well enough, but he really couldn’t be bothered right now. As Michael finally identified himself as a first year Hufflepuff, his mind was put slightly more at ease with the answer to his question being provided. Releasing a slightly frustrated breath, he heard himself asked for his name.

“I’m Dylan,” he replied simply, not really needing or wanting to give out any more information than that. They could probably tell he was the Ravenclaw Prefect, so they had all the knowledge they needed should they ever want to find him again. His eyes finding that Tasha had retrieved her fallen parasol, he was relieved as hell to hear that she was also a first year Hufflepuff; he didn’t need to bother about finding anyone else to show her to her common room.

Finding it slightly odd that she seemed to just list a bunch of random facts about herself in her attempt at an introduction, it wasn’t long before she twirled her wand and produced several very unwelcome guests. He didn’t hate snakes; he actually thought they were quite fascinating, but these ones seemed not to like him. As they seemed quite content to curl around her, his eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly; she said it was a trick her wand was playing, and he knew Pixie cores were renowned for doing such things, but snakes? Serpents were the mark of Salazar Slytherin, the mark of dark wizards most of the time. Though they were just like any other creature, they certainly held dark connotations.

As she called him cute and… overbearing… Was he overbearing? He was a prefect; it was his job, and it wasn’t his fault they were in a closed bathroom, in one of the few places in this school they shouldn’t be. Taking slight offence to her seemingly off-hand comments, he was about done with this situation. Hearing a nearby hiss, he looked down with a raised eyebrow to the snake around his feet. Finding it incredibly unusual that a creature of Earth would react that way toward him, and the fact that she had so easily conjured them, made him more than slightly nervous.

At least Michael admitted, or stated rather, to having an aversion from the dark arts, and attempted to defend him from Tasha’s comments, but he still wasn’t entirely in the mood to continue this little excursion. It had started as a pleasant distraction from the real world and rapidly shifted into something far less light-hearted than he had been hoping for. “Alright, well, can you show her to your common room please?” he asked Mike quietly. “I don’t want to see either of you back in here again,” he added lightly, turning and leaving, his footsteps echoing on the cold stone floor.