Hogsmeade was in bloom, and Luna was in love. The new boy was so adorable. Of course, to the rest of her house, he was just odd. But she was used to being called odd herself, when anyone bothered to be polite about it. Though none of them would dare to hide his things, knowing who his friends were. His friends were odd too, in a muggle way. She wondered if they ran afoul of texican burlklings… Unfortunately, he was already in love with someone else. Fortunately, even she could clearly see that the girl wasn't interested. When she had noticed Luna's interest, the heartless bitch had declared they were "dork-mates" and literally pushed Samuel into her arms. That was how they came to stroll through Hogsmeade together, hand in hand. With a shake of her head that made her radish earrings swing wildly, she let go of her musings. No need to rehash the past. Samuel was here, with her, on a date. For now, that would have to suffice…
Justin Finch-Fletchley had found his future wife. She was beautiful, gentle, hardworking, perky and loyal. She also had curves in all the right places and legs that featured nightly in his dreams. Her smile could light up a room; and if that smile was all too often directed at two of her Slytherin "friends" (did slytherins even have friends?) that was something he would remedy. Of course, she was also American and poor, a shame that. It would probably earn his parents' disapproval, but it spoke to the rebel in him. Besides, his grandfather married down, and it had worked out quite nicely for them. Yes, Finch-Fletchley Senior would be on his side in this. Now if only he could scrape up the courage to ask her for a date… Kelly Finch-Fletchley had a nice ring to it, did it not?
The Gryffindor common room was in uproar, again. Hermione was furious. That American harridan had the gall to criticise her S.P.E.W. ! It was a perfectly good acronym, thank you very much. Just because the less intellectually endowed made fun of it didn't make it bad. So what if they now had slogans and protestation signs? So what if they now had 10 more members? She was doing perfectly fine before that long legged tigress came along… just a bit slower. And were did she get off borrowing her favourite books at the library? She was just doing it so she could catch up on her grades, like some Yankee newcomer could beat her perfect scores. (But she was already catching up, a little voice sounded in her head) Was there anything she had that Jesse didn't want? It made her cry sometimes at night. Jesse had the brains, like her. She was an activist, more than Hermione dared to be. Jesse had friends in all the houses, promoting that house unity as she would have dreamed of doing. She was popular, something Hermione had never hoped to be. And most of all, Ron was starting to compare them. If it wasn't for her muscle-bound Slytherin boyfriend, Hermione was sure that he would be all over her. Life just wasn't fair!
Draco was sulking. Though he would never admit to it, because Malfoys do not sulk, he was. The Slytherin prince had been dethroned by mudbloods. Oh, he was still the official premier Slytherin and none of them would admit to it because of the new snakes' blood; but he was – as that American bitch would say it – "so yesterday". Sighing, he looked up to find his two companions in the misery that was his life: Pansy and Blaise. Blaise was not one of his favourite people, due to their parents' opposing political views, but he was Just as miserable as he was. (Maybe this would convince his housemate to support the right side in the upcoming war) Pansy would have sided with him out of loyalty, even if she hadn't been usurped too.
But none of their woes could compare to his of course. Sure, Slater had better dimples than Blaise and more muscle, but Blaise still had a fair contingent of suitors. Besides, Blaise didn't play Quidditch; he didn't have to worry about being outclassed by not one but two Yankee mudbloods. No, Blaise did not have the right to complain as much as he did! And Pansy would never be a beauty queen, so what did she care if the new girl was gorgeous (not that he'd ever say that out loud, she was a mudblood after all). Besides, Lisa did not have access to all the real gossip, no pureblood worth his ancestors would truly tell her anything important (of course, with her smile it would be easy to persuade them, but he wasn't thinking that, because she was a mudblood). No, he was the one in true misery. Damn that bloody Morris and his devious ways and natural charm! He was the one with the best schemes, not that bogtrodding Yank! Besides, he was the one with the money and the name, what was so admirable about a mudblood who ripped of wizards for something as trivial as money? He'd show him!... When Crabbe and Goyle stopped being so scared of his buddy. No one had ever out-intimidated Crabbe and Goyle! What's the use of minions if they could not eliminate the competition? Even Snape had been less than reliable: almost smiling at Morris' antics (even though only he could see that the sneer was less than sincere) and accepting both intruders in the Quidditch team! They were making a mockery of Slytherin most precious views, his father would hear of this! In fact, he was going to write him a letter right now... As soon as than mudblood bitch left the common room, because the way she twirled her quill around when she was doing her essays was just... Not that he'd noticed, no way!