Aya Kingsfoil
Ravenclaw Common Room

Aya stood by the window in the common room, looking out at the Herbology garden. It was a hot summer night (well, as hot as Scotland gets in September), but she still felt cold. More accurately, a chill went down her spine and settled in the pit of her stomach. She takes a deep breath through her nostrils, smelling the scented candles as she silently counts to five. She slowly exhales through her mouth, an old trick her dad told her would calm her nerves. She thinks about the riddle the door had posed, and how quickly one of the older boys had solved it. What is so fragile, that even saying its name can break it?

She sighs, starting to get frustrated. Her dad's breathing exercise hadn't helped, thinking about puzzles didn't help, but there was another trick that calmed her down. She pulls out her wand from a hidden pocket in her sleeve, smiling in anticipation. She truly loved having a wand, and being able to cast spells. It was just so much fun. She slowly waves it in a circle, muttering a little chant under her breath. "In blackest night or brightest day, I command the light to come and play! Lumos!"

Rather than conjuring an orb of light, she experiences a tickle in her head, making her sneeze loudly. A pitch black ball springs from her wand, startling her even more. Her focus lost, the orb vanishes, replaced by a thin layer of ectoplasm, which falls to the floor with a soft *splat*. Aya covers her mouth with a hand, her face heating up as a few students look her way in disgust. The ectoplasm begins evaporating almost instantly, leaving behind no trace of her botched spell.

Aya is shaken by the experience, recalling the boy's talk of a curse. This would be one hell of a curse, all right. Ignoring the looks she is given, she pushes past other students, heading for the door. "I need some air!" What she really needs is the professor, but she hasn't come in yet. Slightly panicked, Aya decides to go look for her, regardless of the rules.

Mason sat in the Ravenclaw common room leaning against the large statue of white marble that depicted Rowena Ravenclaw. Mason watched as many of the Ravenclaw's spoke frantically amongst themselves – some expressing concerns and fears, other trying to appear brave, some unconcerned and the Ravenclaw prefects trying to maintain order and composure. Mason did not envy the prefects of Ravenclaw, he had long since been blacklisted as far as any position of authority went but if that was situations like this that made him glad to be free of the responsibility.

"What did he mean a curse? What is a curse even?!" Mason turned to see that the squeaky voice had come from a small boy, clearly a first-year, talking to another young kid with the same simple black, bowl cut hair, brown hair and thin stature
"Our first time having anything to do with magic and we've been cursed? It could just be a prank." The second twin responded.
Muggleborn twins? Mason thought to himself Weird, you definitely don't see that every day Seeing the genuine terror on the kids' faces Mason figured someone should say something to them
"A curse is technically the top tier of offensive spells, above jinxes and hexes. They have a pretty big range in how nasty they are but I doubt we're in for any real dark magic, it's practically impossible to do subject Hogwarts to something like that." The twins looked reassured but scampered away regardless; it seemed that they'd been warned to avoid Mason.
"My reputation precedes me" Mason grumbled to himself, opening a small tin and placing a mint from it in his mouth.

Ever since the incident in the great hall, he'd felt a weird niggling at the back of his mind. Mason couldn't quite place it but he felt for sure it was proof that some sort of curse really had been put in place. As he thought about it, Mason felt the niggling intensify somewhat, as though acknowledging its presence had caused the curse to take note of Mason and latch onto him – an unlikely happening but still Mason was all but sure now that it wouldn't be going away any time soon.
Well it's annoying, but if this is their idea of a curse I think it will probably be easy enough for the teachers to undo, and easy enough to deal with for now. Although when I get my hands on the guy who thought this would be a bit of fun I'm going to turn him into a duck and feed him to the Thestrals.

Mason was shaken from his thoughts by a small-statured girl with noticeably purple hair leaving the room. She'd never talked to Mason, and he'd never spoken to her but from what he'd seen of the fifth-year she wasn't really a rebel or rule breaker. So it was interesting to see her blatantly defying the headmaster.
How interesting

With a smirk on his face, Mason put aside the strange feeling in his head and followed the girl out of the common room his curiosity easily overpowering his desire not to get detention.

Ramsey Mayrick - Ravenclaw Common Room

Silence, Ramsey thought to himself. It had been a bit of a clever riddle to get in, and a few of the younger students had looks of strained confusion on their faces when they had tried to think about it. Some of them had looked almost surprised when Ramsey answered the riddle correctly after only a moment. Of course, it helps if you happen to have heard the riddle before, but there was no need for the younger students to know that. Ramsey did love riddles though, and mysteries. Oh, and pranks, don't forget pranks! He was almost jealous of the other Ravenclaw boy who had jumped up on the table during dinner and announced that there was a curse on Hogwarts. It had been a prank, of course, just a way of scaring the younger students coming into the school. At least, that was what he thought. He might have tried something like that as well, if he didn't value his position on the quidditch team so much. Practical jokes always came at a cost, and Ramsey didn't think that the headmaster would let the boy off easy for this one. Unless it wasn't a joke, but he didn't want to think about that possibility.

He looked around the common room absent mindlessly from where he was standing by one of the windows. The various students were greeting each other from coming back after the summer vacation, and also chatting in excited and nervous voices about the evening's sudden turn of events. Most of the older students had laughed it off. They had gotten used to weird stuff happening at Hogwarts in the past, but even so, many still wore their smiles nervously, not sure as to whether or not they should take what had happened seriously. One of the boys in the room detached themselves from the general assortment of kids and joined Ramsey by the window, clapping the Scottish boy on the shoulder with a smile. "Ooh, a spooky curse!" He exclaimed. "Just wait, any moment now, my skin is gonna melt off, then I'll turn into a fish!"

Ramsey grinned, "Clyde, the only curse you are going to go through is having to put up with me for yet another year!" Clyde was a London boy, large and muscularly built, and a sixth year student just like Ramsey. He knew the boy relatively well, they were friends of course. Not great friends, but they didn't hate each other. So that was something.

Something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he turned slightly to get a better look. One girl, looking quite stressed, was walking out of the door, leaving the common room. It took a moment to place her name. Ala? No, Aya, that was it. A fifth year he recalled. Only another moment, another student followed her, one he clearly recognized. Mason Shillings was a chaser on the quidditch team, and although they weren't really close friends, they had worked together enough in the past to at least know of each other. Hmm, curiouser and curiouser. To follow, or not to follow. Whether tis nobler to stay, or to go and wreak havoc...

"Hey Clyde, I'll catch up with you later", he said to the larger boy, "I got something I have to check into..."

The other boy followed Ramsey's gaze to see Shillings exit through the door. "Hey, come on now. We aren't supposed to leave, what if you get caught?"

"Me? Caught?" Ramsey retorted, "Never!" It was mostly true, he got away with his antics more often then he was found out. "Besides", he continued, "I am simply being a dutiful student bringing back his errant classmates, they should give me a medal or something!" Clyde only shook his head as Ramsey poked his head out of the door, looking one way, then the other, then darting out into the hallway after his two classmates. He followed Mason at a distance, wand out, sticking to the shadows.

He grinned. Day one, and already so much excitement!

Aya Kingsfoil
Fifth Floor, Outside the Common Room

With no one trying to stop her (the prefects must be busy dealing with other students), Aya leaves the common room with no problems. As soon as she is outside the room, the cool night air reaches her, pushing aside her momentary panic. "Maybe I just overreacted. I mean, I sneezed, the spell got messed up. Sure, I've done that spell hundreds of times, and it's never gone wrong before, but there's a first time for everything, right?!" She finds herself talking to a suit of armor, which has nothing to say about the issue.

She frowns, pulling out her wand again. She takes a breath, confident her spell will work this time. "Lumos!" She sneezes, her wand projecting a stream of shadows. Her breath escapes in a squeak of fear, the spell cutting out suddenly. She doesn't even notice the door opening as another student follows her out.

"New plan! New spell, that'll work! Accio!" She points at the helmet of the armor, but the spell again backfires. She feels dizzy, clutching her head as the helmet goes flying, slamming into the wall and bouncing off, loudly bouncing down the stairs.

The sounds of forks clinging against plates, was only one of many to come, for both new and old students attending Hogwarts. With one particular Slytherin boy, it would be his third year of dining at the school, and much like the last two years, he wouldn't be disappointed about the food that was served. It would be hard to, really. Mostly a variety of meat than anything else, excluding the complaints of students that were adamant about being vegetarian, there was always at least one different thing to try a day in the Great Hall.

And that didn't even include the assortment of desserts that were available. With the amount of variety present among each of the school's tables, those who were First Years, and especially ones unfortunate enough to be Muggle-Born, were likely the ones to be making pigs out of themselves right now. While he on the other hand, was going to eat in a proper and civilized manner. Slytherins came in many different forms nowadays, and not like they really used to, according to his family. That unfortunately included some basic table manners.

Anyone who looked in Jasper's direction, would notice an assortment of things. From how straight he was sitting in his seat, to the folded napkin in his lap, and even how he used his knife and fork to cut up his food. He couldn't really say everyone ate like he did, and perhaps it was because he was used to eating like such, it wasn't really difficult to spot another Slytherin with less than acceptable table manners. Since it was rather odd to stare, he really only had the faint image in his head, of one Slytherin seeming to hoard food.

The image was rather savage, and only stayed in his head, as quick as he allowed it to. It was none of his business, and neither should any other of his fellow Slytherins, excluding the Prefects, to really pry into the life of that kind of sort. That was something a Gryffindor would likely do, as they did so happen seem to always give help that wasn't called on. Not to mention, without gaining something in return. Much like what Jasper was doing now, with a couple of First Year students, as he tried to pry out what their ancestry was.

It was apart of Slytherins acting different than they supposedly used to be, which he found out to be somewhat true. With some Slytherins, you just couldn't tell if they were a Pure-blood, Half-Blood, or a Muggle-born. And the proof of that, was the girl sitting next to him. She had long straight black hair that reached down to her shoulders, with the fringe separated and pushed to the right, creating a bit of a gap, along with blue eyes. He could also say that she was cute, but it wasn't the kind of thing he would truthfully admit out loud, completely.

That was all Jasper had seen in her appearance, but someone more experienced in describing looks, would say something different. Her blue eyes were full of authority, something Jasper couldn't put to words, as anything other than likable. There was also her sharp nose, which flared whenever she mocked something or someone, a habit he thought was cute on her. The way her hands clenched and released also went with this habit. Her eyebrows seemed naturally arched, cheekbones high, and light traces of freckles speckled both her nose and cheeks.

Jasper was young however, so it was perfectly reasonable for him to miss a few things here and there. The girl in question sitting next to him, was Tara Gray, a fellow Slytherin, and one of the few he could actually call a friend. Although she carried herself with the type of authority he expected from Pure-bloods like himself, something that he had noticed when they were both First Years, she was actually a Half-Blood. He personally didn't mind of course, it was just that it meant needing to excel above her, and putting over a higher authority.

She perfectly understood that too, anybody who witnessed his behavior, was aware of that. It was a challenge, one that required ambition to conquer over, and one of the reasons they stuck around each other. He was more careful with his words, while she was blunt, yet still managed not to attract any unnecessary attention to their house, that would bring embarrassment. With Jasper, one would have to look into his eyes, to really tell if he was planning something. While Tara visibly showed her wolfish grin. The list could go on and on.

But time was of the essence here, and something that shouldn't be wasted. The two First Years Jasper was talking to, had personally been invited to sit with him and Tara, where they talked over the normal things new students worried about, when being unfamiliar with a school. However, even talking about Quidditch, wasn't exactly a sure way to confirm they were what he and Tara were trying to find. While snakes in the Slytherin house usually had each other's backs, that didn't necessarily mean they were all associated with each other.

There was a particular line for the Slytherins Jasper wanted to associate himself with, and while Tara has shown to be a bit altruistic depending on her mood, she proved to be as much of a snake as he was. So far, he was pleased by what these two First Years were telling him. They didn't ask any of the pointless questions, rather being more keen on chatting about future plans and desires. It was a sign for him than anything else, that no one could really say he wasn't being a welcoming 'host', and backing up how pretentious he could be.

"As nice as this chat's been, keep in mind there's a price for this information."
"We want you to tell us if you care about Slytherin pride. And if I need to explain what that is, then you two prats should just bugger off."

Even with the chat getting to it's actual point, and determining a small possible scene, Jasper still kept his posture straight throughout, instead of leaning into what was interesting. He couldn't say the same for Tara, who while had enough sense to keep her elbows off the table, looked like she was getting ready to stand up. It was in that single moment when he decided to take a slow sip of his mint humbug shake, did the feast all start to go downhill. All attention had turned to the Ravenclaws. Jasper's eyebrows had furrowed in annoyance.

Reflexively, as he placed down the goblet his shake was contained in, he lightly shook it, causing the contents within to swirl around. It was apart of the way he was raised, just like his piercing stare at the Seventh Year Ravenclaw, who caused the commotion. The boy had quickly chugged down some kind of potion, and judging from how his mates were trying to stop him, he was likely hiding a secret. Surprising, since from what he noticed about their sort, Ravenclaws were mostly book-worms, and liked keeping to themselves.

The lights had gone off when the potion was downed, but even before the boy had begun to speak in a voice that wasn't his own, Jasper had already guess what was happening. Any capable Slytherin would, really. Whatever reason made this Ravenclaw to do something as daft as this, had to be the cause of something big. And right he was, when a curse was brought up. A curse that was supposedly placed on the entire school, would require some strong magic, help or not. That meant a mystery had just formed from the announcement.

And mysteries, as dangerous as they can be, still managed to always urge most of those Gryffindor prats, to try and solve it. They were the mostly likely to go sneak out at night without a full-proof plan that would not involve detention in their future. It also meant he was going to be seeing, or at least hearing about, more altruistic people than he really wanted to. Why couldn't they just let the faculty handle things? They were more than responsible, weren't they? Chatter soon came about, as the boy fell unconscious, and the lights went back on.

Now, the First Year Slytherins he and Tara had been talking to, were no longer of importance. His green eyes glanced at the students around him, before falling onto the familiar blue ones, he came to know these last two years. "How long do you think this curse is going to take to show up?" Tara had asked him, before taking a rather long sip of her own mint humbug shake. The question had been direct as she always had been, and correctly implied that he already noticed the lack of leg-lock jinxes and the like, having been cast.

"It'd be better to ask how long before a Gryffindor rushes to help a professor solve this mystery." Jasper had responded with a distasteful sneer, which only prompted the girl to smile back at him. She did know after all, his loathing for altruistic sorts like they were. "So what, about a minute?" It was only a second after he rolled his eyes at her jibe, did he and everyone else noticed the Headmaster wanted their attention. He and Tara always occasionally brought up how they thought that the Headmaster might have been a bit mad.

The Headmaster had only asked for the Prefects of each house, to guide them back to their dorms, and although he didn't give a reason for it, it was obvious as to why. "That ****ing prat..." Tara had whispered a bit after the announcement, prompting those who heard her, to give several strange stares. He knew her well enough however, to know that the comment wasn't directed at the Headmaster, but the Ravenclaw boy who fell unconscious. He had seen how she eyed the spot where her shake had been on the table.

She was the type of girl that ate a lot, although never really gained any impactful weight that couldn't be lost. Something as small as unfinished dessert, which several other students did complain about, was something that would upset her. He only smiled at her comment, as snickering in a public place like this, would have been too inappropriate. Several glares from the girl were shot at several of the younger students, as they followed their Prefect in an orderly line, lest receive the wrath of their Head of House, which was something not taken lightly.

That Muggle phrase, if looks could kill, would be highly appropriate right here. He could see her nostrils flare, along with her hands clenching and releasing in a bit of frustration. His stare on her hadn't been long however, due to possible embarrassment of bumping into another student, which he was certain would happen if he watched her. The trip to the Common Room had quickly gone on by, with all of the Slytherins being led inside the dungeon-like room, which was richly furnished with their house colors of green and silver.

Even with the entire duration of their walk, Tara's mood hadn't really improved, as clearly evident by the slight puff in her cheeks, which she held as he passed through the crowd of students. It wasn't until they had gone towards a more open area in the common room, and sat down on the leather chairs, opposite of each other, did she let out a sigh. She was starting to calm down, something that made Jasper smirk, and with even more of a purpose, when he eyed the bookcase that was behind her. An idea had formed in his head.

"Wingardium leviosa." Before the girl could even react to him pulling out his wand, Jasper had already aimed the spell at one of the books on the shelf, before releasing it over Tara's lap, which the blue-eyed girl picked up. "Best read something until the crowd clears. I doubt they'll let us out anytime soon." He condescendingly told her, wand still in hand, incase she decided to throw the book at him. "So you want me to read you one of these fables?" She asked him in the same mocking tone, and showing him the cover of the book.

It was actually a storybook, mostly on the rumors of the areas around here, and the monsters supposedly within. Childish indeed, and rather unfortunate for him. Before he could actually respond however, the faint sound of heels drumming across the dungeon floor, echoed even from within the common room. Jasper had raised a questioning eyebrow, while it was clear Tara was surprised. Anyone who's been here the last few years, knew that the only person that could really be causing the noise, was their Head of House. It wasn't normal.

She didn't come to the Common Room to really check up on them, so her few rare visits, only meant this curse was bigger than they thought it would be. The sounds of chatter within the Common Room, had quickly died out, as their Head of House entered inside. She wasted no time in informing them to warn her of any signs of a curse they've noticed, and it was the tone that she used, which made Jasper really aware that even the faculty seemed to be worried. Great. Absolutely lovely. Her entrance into the reading room, brought quiet chatter.

No one wanted to invoke her wrath, much less really be in the same room as her, which was why the Common Room had started to space out more. "Well come on then, no use sitting here now. I'm itching to get out of these dreadful robes." Tara had said, gesturing with the book in her hand, as she led Jasper towards the boy's dormitory. He nodded with a smirk, following along, but he just had to say one thing about her leading him. "So you really think I'm going to let you lead me there?"

William McConnahaugh and Richard Drakengard- Hufflepuff Basement

Getting his wizarding legs beneath him every year was hard. William, at first, experienced difficulty because he had to buy into magic existing. Now, it was because Hogwarts was, well, school. He hated school. And now for a couple months out of the year, he had to be a Muggle and hide his talents and then be expected to seamlessly shift back to being magical. It wasn't easy for William, but he was getting better at it. He often eased his conversion by unpacking last, shortly before bed. He unpacked what made him a Muggle, reminded himself of that but squared it away around his bed. It was an odd ritual, but by putting it aside it put everything in perspective.

Yet this year, it was difficult to make everything convert easily. The oddball Ravenclaw student and his speech about curses and politics flew over William's head. He tended to zone out during magical political talk, but still speaking about curses made the boy uneasy. It didn't help that his left eye began to hurt too, so he found himself closing it as he unpacked. The loss of depth perception annoyed him. Really, everything was bothering him causing a difficult to articulate mix of anxiety and frustration. And it was only the first day. It was going to be a long year.

Behind him, the door to the bedroom of the fifth year students opened, a head of short, black, somewhat scruffy-looking hair poked in and looked around. Upon spotting William, he smiled and stepped into the room entirely, not even bothering to shut the door behind him.

"Will! There you are, man, I hadn't seen you since dinner. You're not planning on going to bed already, are you?"

"Ye know I do this whole unpackin' thing every year, by now, don't ye?" Will said, not even looking at Drake as he barged in. "How's the flirting going? Ye startin' off strong I hope."

"Pfft, flirting." Richard replied, rolling his eyes as he went over to his own bed, opening the suitcase that had been placed on top of his bed, before picking out a plush version of a quaffle, which he began bouncing from hand to hand. He'd gotten it as a gift from a fourth year Hufflepuff girl the year before this one.

"You know I don't flirt. People just usually really like me." He shrugged as he stepped around to the other side of his bed, taking himself a seat while raising a brow up at William. "Something wrong with your eye?"

William sighed as Drake denied just about everything. He was the ladies man of the two, as William was far too shy to approach any girl. This was despite many pep talks from his father, quoting that Scottish charm is the best charm. Drake had more Scottish charm than William, at least in his opinion. The last bit of luggage was finally unpacked as William stowed his bag under his bed, tossing a small family token crest on his nightstand.

"Just startin' to bother me. Strange, I don't normally got allergies. I'm sure it's a wee little problem. Must be the magic in the air," William said with a dismissive chuckle.

Richard shrugged his shoulders before tossing the quaffle to William, his expression turning less cheerful and a slight bit more somber. "Hey, do you think there's actually a curse going around? I mean, the teachers would know about it before it even happened if it was something dangerous, yeah?"

William caught the quaffle with one arm, flaunting his natural athleticism. "Ye got to remember this magic thing is a bit foreign to a lad like myself. So...I would be thinkin' a curse is possible. Getting past the teachers? Stranger things have happened in the past, right? I don't pay attention to history class," William said, returning the shrug and quaffle with a sharper throw.

A worried frown spread on Richard's face as he raised his right hand, leaning a little to the side as he, instead of just catching the ball, moved his hand behind it as it flew, guiding it behind his back before tossing it over his head, catching it in front of him, letting out a little huff.

"Mrrh... I guess so. I'm just a bit worried, is all. I mean, we've got a good thing going here. What if we're sent home again tomorrow because of... well, this?"

"In the Muggle world, people love to overreact about even the simplest of things," William said, tapping Drake on the shoulder. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. Wizards are people too ye know?"

"Right. Yeah." Richard nodded, quickly regaining his usual, wide smile, standing up and tossing the quaffle back onto the bed behind him, giving William a rough pat on his arm. "Just gotta get it out of my mind, I think. I'm sure it's nothing major. Anyway! Been up to much this summer? I was gonna write you a letter, but that was at my mom's place, and when I went to my dad's, I'd forgotten."

William shrugged a bit before answering: "Eh, not much really. I had a growth spurt, becoming all the more Highlander." William gestured to his increased height and mass. "Played some rugby, but ye wouldn't know what that is. I guess I could describe like Quidditch without the brooms and Seeker with a bunch of beaters tacklin' each other. But anyhow, yeah. A quiet one. A nice one," he said, rubbing his eye again.

"Pfft, of course I know about rugby! I mean, I haven't -played- it, but dude, I told you, my dad's a muggle. I spend half my summer at his place and half at my mom's." He grinned, shaking his head. "Although I don't think I'd be very good at rugby." He paused, looking at William as he rubbed his eye again, a small frown coming over his lips.

"Shouldn't we take you to the nurse? You know, just to be sure it's nothing bad? I'm sure professor Roseblunt would let you go, especially if I went with you."

"I suppose we ought to," William grunted. "I normally save me visits for the season though. He'll hate seein' me before then."

Richard simply grinned and gave William's back a pat, nudging him towards the door. "I'm sure it'll be fine! Besides, I can't have my top beater being replaced by the benchwarmer, can I?"

"True. I mean, how many Seekers did I take out last year with my smackin' around?" William boasted with a grin, before flinching as his eye bothered him. "Alright, let's get this over with."

After they both agreed on their course of action, the two boys headed back into the still buzzing common room, though most of the students seemed to have gotten into a much more relaxed mood, telling each other about their vacations and the like. Professor Roseblunt was still near the entrance and it didn't take long for the two to get through the crowd, a couple of the other students sending them a smile or a wave.

They came to a stop in front of the professor, Richard glancing back at William with a reassuring smile before looking back to Roseblunt. He had to choose his words carefully, or he might go off on another one of his rants about everything and nothing.

"Excuse me, Professor? I think Will got something in his eye and he wants to go to the infirmary. Is it okay if I take him there, just to be safe?" He paused, before sending the man his trademark, charming smile. "You know me, professor. I'd never get him into anything dangerous."

While everyone else was either in a state of total panic or simply laughing the entire thing off, Fitz was finding the idea of a curse to be quite interesting. She didn't contemplate for even a moment that there might not really be a curse; that was simply too boring to even think about. No, instead Fitz was imagining how the panic would escalate when the nature of the curse revealed itself. Who'd be laughing then, eh? Well, she definitely would be. Or maybe everyone would be, you never know.

Suddenly sitting up from where she lay on one of the sofa's, Fitz's peaceful smirk transformed into a wide grin. In all the hustle and bustle she'd completely forgotten to greet the first years! "Come on, Ducky, let's go make some new friends, hmm?" she said, proffering her arm to the bird perched on the arm rest. Ducky, a tiny elf owl small enough to fit snugly in a hand, hopped onto the offered perch, then climbed his way up Fitz's arm and onto her shoulder.

It wasn't hard to figure out which students were first years and which ones weren't. Many of the older students were nervous, yes, but it was only the first years who looked completely out of place, with no idea what to do and anxiety written all over their little faces - besides that Fitz could at least recognize most of the other students in her own house, and the age difference definitely helped.

She approached a small group of first years who were huddled in one corner of the room, chattering nervously together. There was a large, friendly glimmer on Fitz's face that might've been comforting to the new students if it wasn't for the crazed glimmer in her visible eye - her right eye being hidden behind her bangs. As it was, her expression actually caused them to take a step back when they noticed her. There's no escape from Fitz once she's set her sights on you, though, and they only ended up backing themselves further into the corner.

"Hello, hello! You're new here, yes? Of course you are," Fitz greeted, her voice practically a purr. "I'm Fitz Kuroji, pleasure meeting you all." Whether they thought it was a pleasure or not didn't matter much as they each got a turn shaking Fitz's hand - whether they wanted to or not. "And this is Ducky! I'd suggest you get along with him, or there might be trouble in the future." Somehow her pleasant smile made that sentence all the more frightening. Ducky's intense staring didn't help in the least. "And what might your names be, hmm? Come now, we introduced ourselves, it's only polite for you to do the same."

The first years glanced at each other, then, not seeing any way out of this, conceded. Or at least, one of them did; the others only gave Fitz uncertain looks. "I-I'm P-Penny," one girl stuttered, shifting to stand slightly behind one of her friends. "...M-miss Fitz... Do you think this curse is real? I-I mean... Hogwarts couldn't really be cursed, could it?"

At the question, Fitz seemed to completely ignore the fact that Penny had been the only one to give her name, the maniacal girl's grin widening. "Oh, but of course it's real! I like to think so, anyways. And I'm quite looking forward to seeing what kind of curse it might be, myself. Just think, what if it ends up with someone dying? How exciting!" Luckily the stunned first years wouldn't need to suffer Fitz's company any longer as something else suddenly caught her interest.

Two of the third years, a rather pompous brat name Waspy Fortist or something and his sidekick Tire - or perhaps it was Trier - had just left the reading room and now appeared to be heading towards the boys' dormitory. Of course their names were really Jasper and Tara, but that was beyond Fitz's care. Abandoning her current company, Fitz strode up behind the two and threw her arms over their shoulders. "A female accompanying a male to the boys' dormitory? I can understand the want to do something, but is that even allowed?" she snickered.

Nothing but suffering and embarrassment, ever since he'd found out he was a blasted wizard everything had fallen apart, HE had fallen apart. After so much time being such an extraordinary person, always seeming to be so much more talented and charismatic than other children, he'd constantly felt so bland since discovering his ancestry. There was so much more world to discover, and everyone else involved with it already seemed to know so much about it, to take to it so naturally. All the self-loathing and silent complaining about being so ordinary... and then at the sorting ceremony that damned hat couldn't even decide what house to put him in at first! "Ravendor! Er... Huffleclaw!" It said, it stammered and stuttered and made him sit there looking like an idiot for more than a whole minute before it finally settled on Gryffindor. Even many of the teachers seemed shocked, the Sorting Hat usually made it's decisions instantly, and it never doubted them afterwards. It seemed he was destined to be an outcast in the wizarding world, maybe he should just forego the enigmatic and wondrous realm he'd entered and live as a muggle...

Lorelei hadn't even been able to muster the courage to speak to any of the students around him at the opening dinner, and the few who were even remotely aware of who he was had no interest in speaking to him either. Whether it was first years being afraid of him because they themselves were so new and he was such an oddity, or older students thinking he was some sort of privileged brat or a failure who'd been held back, none of the glances sent his way seemed to hold any warmth. Of course he didn't have too long to ruminate on how much of an uninspired lug he was before the main course was already over and it was time for dessert, and the most important meal of any day was ruined by a deeply disturbed 7th year in Ravenclaw.

As soon as all the students had been sent to their common rooms for the night Lorelei did his best to disappear into the crowd, simply moving along with the flow and following the more informed Gryffindor students up to the portrait of the fat lady and making his way in after someone else opened the door. He still didn't speak with anyone after making it to "safety" the only thing he could think of that might impress anyone was his heritage, and upon more serious contemplation the last thing he wanted was for anyone to know who his parents were. His parents always seemed to know who everyone they ever met was, and they apparently had reputations of their own both for being such pioneers in most of the subjects they researched and their...distaste for the Ministry. Sure most of the staff at the school would know who he was, but he dare not flaunt it like it was an asset, it would just make him look like more of a boring disappointment. He'd finally been able to calm down a bit once he was in the exquisite common room, without even moving towards the boys' dorm to set any of his other things down he looked through his luggage to his most recent book. "A superfluous guide to all creatures arcane and otherwise and the endless journey of Herman Tuddles" Was the supposed greatest work of Darren Sorrelgran "The Ethereal Zoologist" a wizard who's knowledge of beasts and botanical wonders was as legendary as his questionable sanity. Although the book's title wasn't exactly clear, it had to be the most interesting book he'd ever read...whenever he understood what he was looking at even remotely.

"This is the house that gave us such brilliant minds as the great Potter and Granger. It's clearly obvious that this is the house where all the true talent is sent to, and only the greatest of wizards can be trusted in guiding the young minds towards proper enlightenment." Lorelei was pulled from his book by what had to be the most obvious and shameless brown-nosing he had ever heard.

"Come now that sounds like something one of those elitists in Slytherin would say, surely nobody who could be put in charge of this house could ever be pig-headed enough to agree with such tosh." His words hung in the air for a moment before he realized he'd spoken out loud and he covered his mouth and turned just enough to see that the seat he was in was easily within earshot of Professor Winter and some beautiful girl. The serene waters Lorelei's irises seemed to be a window to suddenly grew tumultuous and choppy as his cheeks reddened in stark contrast to the blue of his eyes. "I-I-I am so sorry! I was just caught up in my book and I answered out loud without thinking, in fact it's funny I was so appalled by some apparent quote from a past head of Gryffindor in the book that I couldn't keep quiet...Sorrelgran was quite the character, I just can't keep track of where he might ever be going...eheh. I-err, I think I'll be heading off to bed now." With that he stood up and bowed a bit before he could make anymore of a fool of himself and decided to head towards the dorms.

Honestly, if he wasn't a Forrest, but just another Slytherin in this modern day and age, Jasper would have been fine with following Tara to the boy's dormitory. Both of them knew pretty well however, that he's made quite the habit of the need to assert his authority, and it wasn't like most guys his age, didn't already do that sort of thing. So while it really wouldn't have mattered to him, he just had to do it. It was a sort of game for them, really. A game where he tested to see if Tara would bluntly lash out, and usually brought amusement.

His green eyes fell upon her blue ones, Jasper still smirking condescendingly, unphased by Tara's eyes narrowing. With all the commotion that had went on earlier, and still faintly lingering in his mind, he couldn't really think of the last time she had lashed out at him in their little game. Was it when they had went to the beach with her mum? Or perhaps it was when they had went to that Diner? In any case, after knowing her for awhile now, he couldn't say he would really be surprised if she didn't lash out at him. It certainly wouldn't be the first time.

With how much time they spent hanging out together, it was very plausible their traits rubbed off on each other. All it really took, was what some might say, his 'good' habits, to really keep them in check. And it would seem as if this particular moment, wouldn't be the one where Tara would cuss at him, before they would start to argue. It was always all good in the end though, mind you. She had instead chose to silently throw the book she brought back at him, with a smirk of her own, which he barely managed to catch.

"Go ahead and lead the way then." The girl mockingly gestured at the direction they were headed towards, before punching him in the back as a disguised shove forward. Jasper grinned at her, already knowing two things from her responses. One was that she must have already cussed him out in their last game. And the other was that he was going to eventually get back at her for the punching later anyway. "So which one-" He had started to say to her, before feeling an arm wrapped around his shoulder.

Jasper had tensed at the sudden touch, knowing full well it wasn't Tara, since he was looking at her. At the sound of the person's voice, his eyebrows had raised up, as he was more than aware of who the voice had belonged to. Fitz Kuroji was a bit mad for a Slytherin student, not only according to rumors, but his own memory of meeting her, when he was just a First Year. There was just something disturbed about the look she gave in her one visible left eye, that even a proud Slytherin like himself found to be questionable.

He wasn't even sure of her blood status, as from what he recalled about her, she liked going on and on about invisible puff berries, and the apparent conspiracy going along with it. While he left her arm around his shoulder, Tara had been more forward in her approach, and removed the older girl's arm away, stepping back as she did. Their eyes didn't meet contact, but he knew she would likely apologize for leaving him as he was, if it would not be suspicious or rude, to just drag him away from her. She certainly looked like she was out of place.

"There hasn't been any complaints about it from the Prefect or the Headmistress." Tara had answered, before Jasper had joined her in answering, knowing full well the younger girl wouldn't be able to pull off a polite greeting. "And good day to you Miss Fitz, along with Ducky as well. The incident from earlier was quite eccentric wasn't it?" He gave her a smile as best as he could with the position she had placed him in, which was actually the one he used to invite those First Years, to sit with him and Tara for the new year feast.

"Would have thought when that Ravenclaw boy had mentioned a curse, someone was going to be smelling puff berries." Jasper was trying to move the topic away to where he wanted to go, talking like he usually would to someone normal, and a lot more sane.

Mason meandered relatively slowly behind Aya, he wasn't interested in catching up to her really. He was just curious as to why such a mild-mannered and well-behaved girl would be actively breaking rules on day one of the school term. It was strange and suspicious, and therefor was intriguing.

It was several minutes before Mason heard footsteps behind him, making it apparent that he was not only the follower, but the followed.
Well now, who have we got here I wonder? Mason swiveled round, pulling his dark-coloured wand from his robes as he did so and leveling it on the person behind him.
"Ramsey, any particular reason you're following me from so far away? I don't bite you know." Mason said with the smirk of a person who'd caught someone spying on them. The boy with short, spiked brown brown hair and a lightly freckled face now facing Mason was Ramsey Mayrick, a fellow member of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Mason didn't mind Ramsey too much, but unsurprisingly he didn't know him particularly well - just that he was mischievous and a pretty good Quidditch player.

Ramsey jogged through the corridor to catch up with Mason, a bit of a goofy grin on his face. "Why Mason, fancy meeting you here! I'd thought that I was the only one roaming the castle, blatantly disobeying our good headmaster's orders! Ah, and please don't point that at me." He gingerly pushed Mason's wand to one side. "My face isn't the most pleasant to look upon, I know, but its the only one I have, and I would hate for something to happen to it!"

"Now then", he said, striding forwards through the corridor to where it split into two separate hallways, "Any idea where our dear younger classmate has wandered off to? After all, we two diligent students should be bringing her back to the common room, aye?"

Mason couldn't help but grin and shake his head, Ramsey was just like that. He could make almost anyone laugh.
"I could always transfigure it for you. Would you like to look like a Sea Urchin?" Despite the comment, Mason returned his wand to his robes. He had no problems with Ramsey and wasn't planning on jinxing him any time soon, especially when his presence was explained. "Actually, because of you turning up I have no idea where she's gone. I don't really care if she goes back to the common room though, I just want to know what's made her into such the rebel all of a sudden."

As the two were about to continue walking without a clue of where to go, a loud bang and a similarly loud clattering noise resounded throughout the hall.
"Well I'm slightly more sure of where she is now." Without checking to see if Ramsey was following, although fairly sure he was, Mason set of towards the source of the sound.

Their footsteps echoed softly as they walked down the left fork where the sound had come from. They walked in silence for a few moments before Ramsey cleared his throat and said, "So, a curse, eh? Probably the most interesting opening dinner I've had. But should we really be taking it seriously? Could just be a joke...right?" Ramsey had remembered seeing the girl, Aya, in the common room earlier botch a spell. That wasn't uncommon for a student to mess up a spell, but it had been a pretty simple spell. Maybe he was just reading in between the lines too much. After all, a student wouldn't be powerful enough to curse all of Hogwarts.

Aya cringes at the loud noise, waiting until the helmet stops bouncing before making a move. She leans against the stairwell's railing, putting her wand back in her sleeve pocket almost absentmindedly. "Okay, so I'm cursed. That guy was telling the truth. There's a damn curse on us all."

She glances at the suit of armor, thinking that somebody's going to notice the missing helmet. "Sorry about your head." The armor gives her a rather rude hand gesture, and she looks down the stairs again. "I guess I should go get that..."

Mason shrugged as he walked.
"Quite frankly I believe him. I mean, he did drink that weird potion first, but other then that the only proof I have is that this weird niggling feeling hasn't properly left my head since he said he'd cursed us. If I had to guess I'd say it was someone acting through him, but that because of the enchantments on Hogwarts whoever it is probably hasn't been able to do anything particularly major. Whatever this curse is, it will be an annoyance at most."

Mason didn't say much more after that, he didn't really care if Ramsey thought he was barking mad or agreed without a doubt. Mason knew from the bottom of his heart that something weird was going on, and he was certain that he was cursed. He wasn't entirely sure why he was so convinced, but despite his intelligence Mason didn't really stop to ponder his own thoughts and actions.

Mason and Ramsey rounded the corner just in time to catch Aya's "conversation" with the suit of armour.
"If it were me I'd just put a body bind on the rude thing and stash his head in a vanishing cabinet." Mason interjected "That answers the question about the noise, but what's such a well-behaved girl doing out here against the headmaster's orders?"

Startled by Mason's comment, Aya turns to see the two older boys. "Oh, hi. ...Didn't know I'd been followed. I was just... you see, with the curse I was nervous... the Professor hadn't come in yet..." She looks back down the staircase nervously, then sighs, turning back toward the pair.

"I've been cursed. I was looking for Professor Copperkeis because I thought she could help. I didn't even consider how many rules I was breaking." She looks at the armor, suddenly embarrassed. "Sorry about the noise."

Ramsey scooped up the helmet with one hand, juggling it from one hand to the other while the rest of the suit of armor made more gestures, each one more rude than the last. He laughed at the suit. "You know what I did to the last suit of armor who insulted me?" He asked. With a wicked grin on his face he continued, "I doused him with some hydrochloric acid I had a house elf smuggle to me. Not very magical to be sure, but serves the purpose just the same! Rusted him good, just like the tin man from the Wizard of Oz! Course, I could use some spells. Seems to me a little more...creative, dontcha think?" The suit of armor crossed it's arms. "Ah very well, I am growing bored of this already." He placed the helmet back in it's place.

He turned to the Ravenclaw girl, "Hey Aya, look. So what if we are cursed? Even if we are, I am sure that the headmaster and all of the heads of the houses will no doubt find some way to reverse it, right? There is no point in worrying about something that we cant fix on our own, right? I understand that you are nervous, but if you need help, you have us!" He gestured towards Mason. "Now then, why don't we go back to our tower? I'd hate to get caught breaking the rules, and have a mark on my spotless reputation! At least, not so early in the year!"

Aya nods, thankful for Ramsey's kind words. Even if he was a little harsh toward the armor. "Yeah, let's go."

As the trio began heading towards Ravenclaw tower once more, Mason found himself questioning a few things. Foremost among them was what exactly this curse was going to do to them, second to that was whether or not Ramsey was being sarcastic - he found it hard to believe a prankster like him had a spotless record. Mason almost laughed, he was wondering about such trivial things when he'd just heard testament that he was right and they really were cursed.

"So..." Mason said, looking at Aya but not otherwise indicating he meant her, "What kind of a curse are we talking about?"

Since she was the only one to mention being cursed, Aya assumed the question was directed at her. "Well, if my theory is correct, I can't use magic properly anymore. Every spell I've tried has backfired on me, producing the opposite effect of what I intended. Plus it makes me feel sick. Sneezy and lightheaded, mainly, but I got a little nauseous the harder I tried. Although I've only used Charms so far. I could experiment a little more, but frankly I'm too nervous right now. Besides, the Professor will help fix me up, you know?"

Mason removed his wand once more and conjured a few rings of coloured smoke. The spell worked fine, so it seemed that either only some people were cursed, that everyone had a different curse or quite possibly both.
"So basically you're allergic to spells?" Mason couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for Aya. Attending Hogwarts without being able to use magic would suck, since everywhere you looked people would be casting spells and inadvertently rubbing it in your face. Still, he saw no point in reassuring her much since he didn't know anything for sure other than that the curse existed.

Hmm well now it seemed that things had become very interesting indeed, Morrison thought as he looked around taking in all the faces of the people whom he sat around. He had been quite bored so far with everything that had been happening so the stir of excitement in him was quite potent because when you were so smart that there were only a few equals to your intelligence life easily became dull. Unlike many of the others he had seen he wasn't worried at all if anything he was taking this all in stride, it would be quite the interesting mystery to solve at the least. "I wonder what I should do for now…" He mumbled to himself under his breath as he lounged in one of the sofas thinking.

There wasn't many people he could use to help him further his goals and by this he meant he was just a bit too lazy to get off the couch at the moment. His crimson eyes looked all around just taking in the new faces of the new minor charac- he meant "new students" of the house of Slytherin. There were also some recurring figures he saw as well which was a good thing he supposed. "You should look over there Morrison. I can tell that something quite interesting will happen." A masculine yet snarky voice spoke in my mind and my eyes followed the subconscious route that the voice had pointed towards. When I faced that way a small grin crossed my face for a moment, yes this could work out quite well for me.

What he had seen was a person that was as if not more mentally unhinged as him, his gut told him it was more from her past actions but he digressed, it was one Fitz Kurogi or was it Kuroji? Oh well he thought he was never that amazing with names to begin with and he's never had to call someone by their full name anyway. She was one of the few people he knew, or was at least acquaintances with, that would be very much so interested in the recent happenings. He had seen some of the things that she had done during her first year and had subsequently found her to be one of few that weren't a minor-character in the world, not that he would ever say so to anyone.

However that was another thought for another time so as his crimson eyes returned back to where Fitz had been he noticed her moving away from a group of now somewhat frightened first years. Well, that wouldn't do fright was simply not something necessary in a situation like this, so with his resolve set he pushed himself up from the couch he had been lounging in and walked over while still managing to keep a general knowledge of where Fitz was currently in the area. "You shouldn't be so worried you know…" His voice came out sort of raspy since he was parched but it somehow startled the students a bit as their eyes suddenly shifted towards him and then quickly away.

His crimson eyes always had people put off when they first saw him and it was quite funny to be honest but Morrison guessed he should make his point before he completely lost track of Fitz's current location, though interesting events could be found elsewhere if he did. "Here…" He said as card fell down his sleeve and into his hand which he then placed in front of them revealing it to be the tarot card of the Fool Arcana. "This card symbolizes the spirits search for experience; it means the beginning of a new journey and the finding and understanding of the great mysteries of life. It is the symbol that great change is going to occur and one may wind up confronting their inner fears. When you think of the happenings think of this card and simply continue down the path you are on and maybe you'll discover something about yourself."

Without even a pause he retrieved the card leaving the now contemplative first years to think of his words, he had omitted a bit however. Besides such a journey taking place it could always be reversed into the Jester if the wrong decisions were made and they would wind up on a path to self destruction or the destruction of the world around them, though either way at least it would be quite fascinating for him. However he now had a new problem, he was little to thorough with his words to the stupid first years and had lost Fitz's whereabouts while in his discussion. "Oh well I suppose we can always see her later, or maybe you could open your eyes and look the hell over there!" An angry feminine voice yelled at him in his mind as he instinctively turned towards where he vaguely remembered the reading room was and the hallway leading to the male dormitory and there he saw Fitz with some other people whose names he was too lazy to remember.

'Thanks Rin, what would I do without you.' He thought thankfully for the voice in his minds help, she was one of the few people that had inspired him after all so he treated her kindly. "Hmph, w-whatever idiot I didn't do it to help you or anything alright!" He chuckled a bit and nodded as he proceeded to walk with his calm and quiet gait not really in a rush or too much of a hurry and soon he was beside them and unnoticed or at least he thought he was, it was quite hard to tell if he went unnoticed unless he was actually trying. "So, I suppose the conversation has something to do either with the fact Casper or Jasper something here and his friend Tara are going to the boy's dormitory or something about the rather fascinating events that have recently occurred." His voice was still a bit raspy, he definitely needed some water.