The First Morning

LeaRose

I felt like someone had been pumping raw coffee into my system the whole night I'd slept. That always happens when I'm excited about something, like christmas, or a birthday, or when I know we're going on a trip. My fingers were twitching and my eyelashes were fluttering blankets over my jetting eyes. Finally I couldn't keep it in and I sat up briskly, hurriedly looking around. I saw my hangings. Of course. I should have seen that coming. Why didn't I see that coming? I've got hangings all around my bed. I should know these things, I'm smart.

Soft sunlight brushed up on the other side of the crimson fabric, and I suddenly felt like I had to calm down. But how could I do that?! I was at Hogwarts! I WAS AT HOGWARTS! Bouncing, I reached over to pull open the hanging when I heard a hushed whisper-yell on the other side.

"No!" And then my hangings were thrown open and I was overcome by a perfect being. No joke. Way up there with Molly and Tori. She had perfect long curly brown hair, not moist-soil, almost-black, wildly tangled curly hair like Lydia's, this girl had waves of curl that folded perfectly over one another in a color like moist chocolate, parted lovelyly down the middle. She had large shining eyes and perfect teeth with a perfect rosy red smile, and cheeks with a blush so perfect they looked almost like spots on her porcelain skin... you know what, imagine a china doll come to life.

"Hi LeaRose!" she chirped in a slight Scottish accent. "At least, that's what NoraRose said, you're LeaRose?"

Now remember, I'm so adrenaline high it wouldn't be surprising if at any moment I shot through the roof. My head started jutting up and down like I was having a seizure.

"Uhhuh,yeah,that'sright. Mymiddlename'sareLeanneEmmeline, andwewentwithLeabecauseitsoundsgood, butyoucancallmeEmmeifyoulike, IlikeEmme, doyoulikeEmme? Ormaybewecouldswitchitaround, likeRoseLea, 'sareallyprettyname, Rosaleen-" and then I felt like a tub that had the plug pulled. All my hyper energy started whirling down the drain, making a small rhythmic whirlpool. Slowly, I reached my hand up to my head. The switch was so sudden it felt sore. My eyelids fluttered and then I fell over softly onto my sheets, closing my eyes sleepily.

"I told you not to talk to her." NoraRose's voice rang, hushed.

"Well how was I supposed to know you were a bonna fide occlumens?!"

"How could you take the risk!" a new voice said. "That girl was about to burn herself up!"

"Well, you have to admit, the odds are definitely against her." A twitchy voice said.

"Thank you, Myra."

"Well, I stick with this, if a Rounded Robin Turner is fed to much fuel, either poor on it some gasoline or get the hell a good 50 miles out."

There was a brief silence.

"Yeah I'm going with Oscie on that one." the new voice said laughingly. "Helen, Merlin be happy with the way you are but I can never understand a damn word you say."

I groaned a little. My energy was gone, absolutely drained to very last drop and it sucks to be so helpless. I wish someone would remember me.

"Hey Nora, I think you threw a little too much gasoline on the Rounded Robin Turner." The perfect girl's voice said, and the twitchy voice eclapsed into mad laughter.

"Oh no Rose I'm sorry!" Norarose called out, and a tap turned on in my mind, steadily refilling a good share of my adrenaline rush. I bolted up and off my bed to see all six of my roommates in a circle on the floor, which was now adorned with a very fluffy carpet the color of dough. I sat down and didn't say anything, looking at all of them.

"What the hell-" I said, looking at each of them. "just happened to me?" NoraRose ran her hands through the carpet.

"Your energy levels were going kind of, um, critical. I just toned you down a bit." she said. "Because I'm an occlumens, and I can do that." Before I could say anything the perfect girl leaned into the circles, practically crackling with excitement.

"This is a great place to start." she breathed intensely. The girl next to NoraRose looked like she was thinking highly cynical thoughts. I leaned in too, raising my eyebrows.

"Um, start what?" I said bluntly. The perfect girl turned to look at me. She had blazing dark blue eyes.

"Brag a Little." she whispered dramatically. A girl across from her with stringy hair and horned-rimmed bedazzled pink glasses was bouncing in her seat.

"How do you play?" she asked, wide-eyed, and I realized she was the girl with the twitchy voice. What had the perfect girl called her? Moira? The perfect girl grinned.

"You say something about yourself, and then everybody else in the circle says something related until we get to the first person again and then the person next to them does the same. It's a getting to know you thing. We can start now that LeaRose woke up. I'll go first." she sat up and got comfortable, flipping her long hair over her shoulder. "My name is Ginger Brown." She looked to her right, where NoraRose was looking a little freaked out.

"I'm... NoraRose. Sanders." she said, under much prodding from Ginger. The girl next to her looked about ready to burst into hysterics. She had skin the color of brownies and darker, pin-thick dreadlocks falling down to her waist.

"Alicia." she squeaked, and hand over her mouth. "Alicia Vera." Next to her was the girl with the twitchy voice.

"Myra Stevens!" she burst enthusiastically. Helen, who sat to her right, rolled her eyes conspicuously.

"Helen Anderson." she said in a low, deep announcer voice. My turn.

"LeaRose Weasley." I received multiple gasps and widened eyes at that, even though I had kind of been yelling about my name at the dinner table the night before and they all should have heard me then. NoraRose didn't gasp, of course, neither did Oscie, who was sitting next to me. After her we started a new round. Joy.

Hold the phone, Oscie-

"This is Oscie Luu. She doesn't talk." NoraRose said. "But I can do that for you, would that be alright?" Oscie shrugged. Ginger clapped her hands together.

"Alright." she said. "New round. NoraRose, tell us something about yourself." NoraRose blinked.

"Um... I have a twin sister? Lydia. She was sorted into Slytherin." Ginger nodded contently. Alicia looked pensive. She breathed out.

"I'll get this over with." she said. "I used to have a half-brother, Bobby, little less than a year younger than me. He drowned when he was three. Your turn Myra." Myra stared at Alicia for a second, blinking behind her bedazzled, horn-rimmed, pink glasses. Then she cleared her throat.

"I have an older sister, Haley, she's 23. She was in Gryffindor too." she said promptly, then turned to Helen.

"We are all sisters and brothers." Helen declared passionately. "All across the sea, in many different lands and times. We can find a family in every person on this big gray/blue earth of ours. Say it to the hats!" Ginger tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Helen... do you have any biological brothers or sisters?" she said, straining a smile. Alicia smirked.

"I thought it was a nice thought." she said sweetly.

"None that I know of, but how am I supposed to know what what my daddy's doing at all hours of the day hmm?" Helen responded to Ginger evenly. "So happens his mama did raise a fool." I decided to step in before things got nasty.

"I have a little brother!" I said brightly. "Hugo. He'll be coming here in two years. Oscie?"

"She has a little brother too, same age. Violin." NoraRose quipped. We all looked at Ginger.

"I have an three older sister's. Fern is a ravenclaw in Seventh year, Thyme is a Gryffindor in fifth year, and she was adopted. Willow is a third year in Slytherin, and my parents are trying to adopt a little boy named Rowan." she said. I'm picking up a plant theme here. "Okay Alicia, you're turn. Try for something that makes you different from the rest of us." Alicia twisted some dreadlocks in her fingers.

"I have a disorder." she said lightly. "I need to eat more salt than everybody else and my taste buds are more equipped to handle it." As if to prove her point, she got up, turned around and fished a sack of what looked like sugar cubes out of her trunk. She took one out and plopped it in her mouth. "Salt cube. There are lots of salt equivalents to sugar in my world. Myra?" Myra touched her fingertips together twitchily.

"I- uh don't have anything like that." she said. Really? OCD comes to mind.

NoraRose glared at me harshly from across the circle. Hmm. I suppose that's a harsh thought. This girl can make Saint out of me yet. My mom will be so thrilled.

"Me neither." Helen shrugged. "Hey, can I try one of those?" Alicia tossed a salt cube across the circle. "Thanks." I grinned.

"Well, it's not really a disorder," I started. "but I'm a contortionist. The magical kind." This seemed to be the kind of cool, almost touchy-feely bonding thing Ginger had been waiting on.

"Oh thats so neat LeaRose! Can you show us?" she squealed. I shrugged and rolled my eyes.

Hmm, what to do?

The way a magical contortionist is different from a normal contortionist is that apart from just being being amazingly flexible, they can actually squeeze their bodies into a kind of squishy ooze, which is more or less squishy depending on how good you are. I'm scary good. I walked over to my bed and started twisting myself around the bed post. One of them actually screamed. I solidified a little, enough to recreate my lungs and head.

"Was that you Myra?"

"That was Myra." Ginger confirmed. "How long have you able to do that?" she asked mystified. I reformed and sat back down.

"I dunno. It was kinda gradual, but I'd say I really got the hang of it when I was about 7. Freaked out my dad first time he saw it." I grinned at the memory. Dad screamed like he'd seen a spider. What's up with that anyways? Hugo got it too. You just pick them up and brush them outside, no biggie. "What about you Rodelu?" Helen asked. Ginger wrinkled her nose.

"Rodelu?"

"It's how you say Ginger in Haelak Ton, the native language of-"

"The lost tribe of Haelak." Alicia finished. Ginger raised her eyebrows.

"Okay..... Well I don't have anything 'cept kinda pointy teeth and a love of rare meat because my mother got bitten by a werewolf during the battle of hogwarts." I stifled a breath, and vaguely realized we had skipped Oscie and vaguely acknowledged that she doesn't care. "Yeah." Ginger said mournfully. "She's Lavender Brown." Alicia made a long, recognisive "Oh."

"She's that soap actress who sponsors the cure for werewolf bites that weren't taken during the full moon, right?" she said. Ginger gave a wounded snort.

"She's so happens to be the Wings winner for Best Soap Actress in Britain and she opened her own line of beauty products 15 years ago." Myra sniffed. I snapped my fingers and clapped my hands.

"Brown's Beauty Boutique! Ha! My mum refuses to wear the stuff." I laughed. Ginger raised her eyebrows offendedly. I clasped my hands over my mouth. "No that's not what I meant. My dad dated your mom when they were in school because they were in the same year to make my mom jealous and it worked and she was really hurt and eventually your mom broke it off because she thought he and my mum were spending too much time together and they were because they were best friends but I'm not saying that your mom was insecure-"

"You just had to start her up didn't you." NoraRose said. Ginger glared at her. NoraRose shrugged and pointed at Oscie. "It's not me that's thinking it."

"and I guess he was kindof a bastard about it but you have to admit from my point of view your mother isn't that well portrayed but I'm not saying she's bad or anything I mean I've met her before and she told me I was a delicate fall -whatever the hell that meant- but damn, no, I'm not saying your mom doesn't know what she's saying, I'm belittling myself by showing my ignorance in the subject which you mother has chosen to spend her life supporting but I'm not saying that I think she's thrown her life into something pointless-"

"That girl is shoving her foot so deeply down her throat that soon there won't be anything left." Helen proclaimed, looking slightly arrogantly at Ginger, whor bit her fingernails and then yelled over my senseless nervous blabbing.

"I DON'T HAVE DISORDER TYPE THING! NORAROSE'S TURN!"

I laughed at the out burst but quickly stifled it and looked on at NoraRose. She wasn't saying anything, and looked kinda conflited.

"I-" She started to say, her eyes wide. She let out a deep breath and grinned. "I'm part nymph."

'Wow." Ginger said. I yawned. I was getting hungry. I wonder when breakfast started.

"I'm not very talented." NoraRose said bashfully. Or was it boredly? I couldn't tell. "That's more Lyd's thing. My parents think I'll be better at wizards magic."

"Can you show us something?" Myra coaxed.

"Um.. alright?"

"This'll be good." Helen crooned. NoraRose smiled weakly and picked up a stack of papers near my bed and threw them in the air, making everybody yell out. She shot out her arm and the papers started bobbling as if there was a giant fan underneath them. NoraRose twisted her arm sharply and they slid neatly into exactly the same order they were in to start. She turned back around on the back of her heel.

"Um, there you go." She said primly. I started clapping and the other's joined in.

"That's round three." Ginger said loudly. "Helen?"

Helen looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I... am hungry." she looked at me and I groaned.

"You read my mind."

Oscie and NoraRose nodded.

"Okay, let's blow this joint." Alicia said tiredly. Only Myra and Ginger were left sitting on the floor.

"You don't even know when breakfast starts here!" Ginger called after us sniffily. We just continued down the stairs.

"I feel bad about that." I said vaguely. "When does breakfast start?" Alicia yawned.

"Dunno. Damn girl woke me up at 5 singing about her hair or something."

"The earliest we could get in was 10 minutes ago, at 6:30." NoraRose said. "Anybody know the way back to the Great Hall?" We all got to the bottom of the stairs and filed into the common room, where I saw a sleeping, dark-brown haired girl strewn on a sofa.

"Alice!" I called excitedly and bounded over, plopping down next to her. Alice was Maria's sister, one year younger than her. Alice stirred, and her frosty eyelashes fluttered open. She looked groggy and pale, as usual.

Alice had an unusually low immune system and was always getting sick. Anything from some weird little bacteria that no one had ever heard of to the common cold to something truly cripling. She was always deathly pale, from her sickly skin to her dry lips to even her navy eyes, which were several shades whiter than her siblings'. The only thing not pale was her hair, one of the darkest of browns, and that was because of an illness too; both of her parents were blond. She had caught a minor, not very common disease which had darkened her hair in a matter of five minutes, and she had passed it on to some of her siblings, anyone she had come in contact with within a minute of her hair turning dark. But I admired her beyond nearly anybody else in terms of how she handled her crapply sickened life, she was still one of the absolute nicest people you'll ever meet.

I pushed her damp, dark bangs out of her eyes and pressed my lips to her forehead to be sure she wasn't burning up. She was fine, surprisingly.

"Hey Rosie." Alice murmured faintly, brushing me away and getting up. Oh Merlin, her hands were scalding! But she smiled faintly so I guess she was feeling alright. "I'm-I'm fine. What's on your mind?" she squinted around and laughed to herself on spotting the rest of my dorm-mates. "Wait, you don't know how to get down to the Great Hall, am I right?" We nodded. She smiled and shook her head to her shoes. "Alright then, follow me." she reached behind and grabbed a spectacularly engraved and painted cane, pushing her self to standing. Helen cocked her head and I mentally screamed at her.

DON'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THE CANE! I shot my head in her direction with wide eyes.

"You have a cane? You're only, what, 14?" she said curiously. Alice rolled her eyes and leaned back and forth on the cane, which came to a bit above her elbows. It was filled with a complete history of Alice's life since a year before she came to hogwarts, which was when she got it. Most of the engravements were done by Alice herself, because she a master carver, and they were painted by her best friend, Eliza, who was an excellent artist. They were going to open a craft shop when they graduated with help from their other friend, Glade, who was really like a power businessy, bargain-maker woman, I think. She'd be good at the business aspect of shop keeping.

"16." Alice replied, making for the exit. "My leg's been paralyzed since I was 10." Alicia's eyes widened, but Alice was already making her way for the door. "I was about to head down anyways. I'll take the long way so you'll learn some of the passage ways. Just pay attention."

"Oh, you don't have too!" Alicia cried quickly. "It'd be better to take the shortest way, so we'll know how to get to the food fastest!" Alice paused and turned around to look Alicia straight in the eye. She cocked her head and Alicia gulped. I knew what she was doing. Alice didn't need to be babied because she had a cane, or she was sick, she never let anybody hold her back if she wanted to do something. I think she was more at rest in her soul than everybody else I know. She was letting Alicia know right off the bat that she didn't need mollycoddling unless she asked for it. Except for us Weasley's, Potter's and her family, but we never abused that privilege. She wasn't stupid and she knew her own limits. Most of the time.

"If that's what you want." Alice said calmly, and turned around again with a new sense of purpose. "So what's your name?" she asked and we all followed her. NoraRose was walking right alongside Alice, and I was on her other side, but the rest were keeping a slight distance. I rolled my eyes and motioned for them to come forward.

"Um, Alicia." Alicia said uncomfortably, twisting her dreadlocks in her hands.

"And this is Oscie, and Helen, and NoraRose. I'm LeaRose now, because both of us are named Rose, so we put part of our middle names in front of our first name so people can tell us apart." I chatted. Alice was listening and walking steadily with her eyes closed, but her head cocked a little towards NoraRose and hummed in acknowledgment.

"Alright then." She said, opening her eyes and walking over to a blank stretch of wall. "A door appears here during lunch time lunch which leads you directly to the hallway in front of the Great Hall." We looked at the wall intrigued. It looked exactly like the rest of wall along the hall.

"How did you tell it apart from the rest of the canvas?" Helen asked, cocking her head. Alice threw her head back and laughed maniacally.

"This is Hogwarts!" Alice exclaimed with as much energy as she could pull together. "What, did you expect a map?" she winked at me discretely. "You learn every trick you can or you lose. It takes some students weeks to figure out how to get anywhere." I was the only one laughing with her, everyone else looked slightly disturbed. Well, NoraRose was smirking, but that could be taken either way.

NoraRose

I woke up around 4 like I usually did in the summertime. I blinked open and reveled in the fact that there were other sleeping figures in the same room who probably weren't planning to wake up for a another few hours. I got out of bed and rummaged through my belongings until I found a gremlin fire encased in small sphere of Wertchire flower sap, which was a wax-like liquid commonly used to fabric lanterns in the forest. It was dark orange-brown with flower pulp laced through it and felt just like a candle, but it didn't melt, pulsing a low light for me to see from that wouldn't be bright enough wake my room mates. I quickly found a handkerchief to cover my other lantern, made from a clear sap, so it was much brighter.

I found a pair of short shorts for the humid weather, and a tank I was pretty sure to be white to wear after I bathed, which I planned to do soon because I was burning and sweating in my thick pajamas. It was still chilly though, so I pulled out a long, thin robe and added it to my pile. I found a clip to keep my hair off my neck, and then searched for the bottles of gelatinous paste I used to wash my hair and skin. I knew enough from visiting my uncle Claude and my mothers friends to figure out how the showers worked, so I ventured into the strange loo and after fifteen frigidly wet minutes (not that I minded the temperature, I'm part water nymph. It didn't bother me) I finally exited the chamber. I had re-pinned my hair and had tried to dry myself off with winds like Lydia always did, and I managed a little, but eventually I had to use the fluffy white towels to be completely dry.

I never realized how dependent Lyd and I had been on each other, especially now in the castle, where my nymphian magic is slightly diminished by the huge concentration of wizards magic, and I found myself musing about this as I took out my coffee maker and started heating some water. I was still groggy, even after a freezing shower (which I did not mind). I, probably with an astounding amount of foolishness, seeing as I was only about half conscious, decided to look into peoples mind for some spells to practice while the water was heating. Then again, I was handling the coffee maker, which wasn't exactly risk free, I had burned myself plenty of times. Because I was half conscious making the coffee. Oh well, I lost all sense first thing in the morning. I was only comfortable invading LeaRose's mind for spells because I knew a bit about her, so it was LeaRose's mind I scavenged while looking for my wand.

Hmm... a swelling charm looked like a safe place to start. I felt around for something to swell. My potion sight landed on my owl, Casino, sleeping innocently in his cage. I might have no sense in the morning, but that idea was thrown out before it even formed.

Goddess! What was that smell?! My nose lead me to the bed next to mine, where a disgusting glass bottle was reeking from a watery liquid. I pulsed a few winds from my hand to push the stench away and searched LeaRose's mind for a shrinking charm. Or a blasting one. Either would work, really.

I griped my wand loosely in my wrist. It was firm and short, a hybrid of three different woods the wood nymphs made for me, so it looked to be a swirl of three different colors. It's core was a tail hair a Terumphant, a creature like a doe but the size of a large fox, with a long, thick tail it could use like a blanket and magical properties.

Ahh, here we go. Reducio. I raised my wand to the revolting bottle and whiped my wand at it, reaching out to it with my occlumency.

Reducio!!

The bottle wobbled for a moment, hopped up and the liquid inside it began to bubble. It radiated light for a moment and then returned to it's normal state. I sat stock still for a moment, then turned to Casino.

"Let's keep that between us, ok?" I whispered. Casino hooted softly and I grinned.

I wondered what Lydia was doing? I reached out to her and found her in the middle of a dream. Lydia was screaming and everything was dark except for her and a vicious monster with boils and windows for eyes. It had towers poking out of its back, legs and arms and it's body was of craggily cinderblocks and broken wood planks.

"AHHHHHH!!!" Lydia shrieked. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!" The monster laughed from deep inside.

"STAY AWAY FROM YOU?!" it boomed. "YOU'RE CHASING ME!" and then she and I realized that yes indeed, Lydia was chasing the monster, not the other way around.

"W-what?" Lydia breathed. Then an erie, young voice came from inside the monster. One of his window-eyes lit up and it was... me. But a weird me. Like a zombie me.

"Lyyyyyyy-diaaaaa." Zombie-me said in a soft, wind-like sing-song voice.

"ROSE!" Lydia screamed hysterically, running to the castle with a new vigor. Zombie-me laughed.

"Come inside Lyddie, come inside-" Zombie-me giggled. Lydia had tears running down her face, she was still running after the monster but she was terrified of it. "Come inside." I had to do something. I tapped into Lydia's subconscious and changed everything. The background was suddenly bright white and the monster jumped and became a normal, though small, castle. I wasn't like a zombie anymore, I took my own place and grinned warmly from inside the castle. I laughed. "What are you doing out there Lydia? Come inside." Lydia stared open mouthed and blinked, then she reached out her hand and magically mine reached down 15 feet to grab hers. I pulled her up and inside through the window. "Is this really so bad?" I asked her. She looked around with cautious, wide eyes. Hesitantly she stepped out of my arms and looked around. I giggled impishly and kissed her forehead.

"Have a good morning Lyddie." I winked and disappeared, jolting back to the moment. I like dreams better sometimes. Dreams, I can change. Anything goes.

The girl in the bed next to mine with the foul smelling bottle had gotten up and looked like a siren, brushing her hair in long, deliberate strokes, and she was singing a soft little lullaby as she did.

"Mmmm the boys'll woo hoo hoo hoo hoot." she sang delicately, going higher and slower with every syllable. I could sort of tell the lyrics of the song right as she said them. Not because she was thinking them, no. This song was disturbingly familiar, I just don't remember from where. She started mounting down. " and the men, will drop their jaaws... cause I'm using Browns, Bo-dy lo-tion, and I- am on the prowl." Then I remembered. It was a stupid jingle on mum's friend Goldie's telly. The girl continued to sing the same thing, with every new verse naming a different Brown's product.

It was quite pointless. And ennausiating. I went and checked my coffee.

"ACK!"

Well, at least it was hot. I used what little nymphian magic I had to summon some water from the pitcher on the window sill and bought it to rest on my hand, which felt tender and raw and sighed under the cool water. I should know by now not to thrust my hand onto potentially scalding glass, but hey, I'm half conscious. There was a dramatic clatter and a dramatic gasp and a dramatic, high pitched, "Oh no!" and the singing girl stopped and perched next to me. With drama.

"Are you alright?" she asked, teary, hands on her knees. I blinked at my nee. This girl must not be very intelligent.

"No," I said slowly. "I just burned myself." Another dramatic gasp. I groaned inside. Mum always says to be polite to people who seem rather inept. "Uh huh. Does Brown's have anything for burns, by chance?"

***

"It's really quite simple once you get the gist, you just list each Brown's product in the order of Reverse Alphabetical Category, then sub-category item code, then by each products popularity." Quite possibly I am wrong on the inept front.

The singing girl, who I soon learned thought to herself in third person told me as we sat on her bed. Her name was Ginger, and she thought very loudly. People who think loudly I have either been close to for years and years (Lydia, my parents) or they are having overwhelming emotions.

And with Ginger, I had a little radio from her head, and it was very obnoxious.

"May I please go finish making my coffee?" I moaned sluggishly. "The water will get cold." Ginger looked scandalized.

"Merlin no! You could hurt yourself again!"

"I hurt myself all the time, this is just a minor burn. Not even that. Go back to singing about your hair." I ran my fingers through my own bushy, towel dried hair and made my way over to the hot pitcher on the floor.

"What's your name?" Ginger asked me gravely from behind. I scooped coffee beans into the crusher.

"Rose. NoraRose. That's LeaRose over there." I pointed to her bed and I felt Ginger nod.

"Well NoraRose, if you truly do hurt yourself, I think it's necessary for me to report you to the hogwarts counselor." I rubbed my eyes and pressed down on the coffee bean crusher. A buzzy drill filled the room and I was afraid I'd wake someone up. Oscie rolled over in her bed and a girl who's name I didn't know moaned a little in her sleep, but no one woke up. I put the grinds into an already coffee-stained handkerchief and lowered them into the steaming water.

"No, not on purpose." I told Ginger tiredly. "I'm just not fully functional until I've had my coffee." I also partake in numerous dangerous activities in the forest, but she didn't need to know that.

"Well still-"

"Ginger, please. Go back to brushing your hair." I sat cross-legged at the foot of my bed and tried to relax while I waited for the coffee to steep. Ginger sniffed, but then began singing again. It was really an obnoxious tune, and I had the patience you can only gain by growing up in a utopian society, in which there is a distinct lacking of obnoxious or even mildly unpleasant things. This was made up for in part by being Lydia's sister, who, while at the best of times was a saint, was usually rather the curmudgeon. But this heinous song...

So I went against everything I stood for and invaded her mind. I planted a new song in there and got the heck out, because it was a frightening place to be. This girl was the result of growing up in a materialistic utopia, raised with next to no valid morals, excluding her belief that everyone should love everyone else no matter what they do, and that she deserves the absolute best. Always.

It was the way she was brought up, so I didn't want to dislike her because it wasn't her fault, but I madly hoped someone else was up.

"I'm going down to the common room." I told Ginger out of politeness. She nodded and continued whistling the song I had put in her head. Ironically enough, it was also a song about brushing your hair, but it was one a bit easier on the ears that a particularly obsessive Life Imp had created while grooming a fox. I would come up in a few minutes when the coffee was done. I felt a slight longing for it on Ginger's part and turned around briefly in the doorway.

"And Ginger..." she looked up. "don't touch my coffee." I whipped around smartly and fumbled down the stairs. I got out into the common room and saw I an older student, probably around sixth year, on the floor near the fireplace. She turned around when she heard me come down.

"Hi." she murmured tiredly. "Why are you up?" I felt how she was feeling. Lydia said this what I did instead looking people over. She was... fuzzy. Warm. No- hot.

"You're ill." I stated. She smirked.

"I can't go back to sleep. Thought I'd wait for the sun to rise." she looked at the fire. "It's too cold to wait by the window." she shivered lightly. I walked over next to her.

"I've never seen a sunrise." I said quietly, looking out the window. "But I have some tea up in my room. It'll make you sleepy. You need rest." She smiled.

"That sounds nice." she murmured with gratitude, and I got a faint thought about her liking sugar. "I'm Alice."

"Rose. NoraRose." I turned around and ran back up to my room.

Ginger looked up in surprise when I reentered and I rummaged around and found my case of tea. I put a scoop into another stained handkerchief like I did with the coffee grinds, and pulled some of the hot water from the coffee pitcher. Under Ginger's cautious eyes I prepared a cup of tea as well as took the coffee I made for myself. Distantly I noticed that the girl with the bed on the other side of the door (my bed being beside the first), had woken and was strongly irritated by Ginger's singing. I have to say, she's not that talented

I came back down and found Alice right where I left her, shivering by the side of the fireplace, but she had an injection needle jabbed into her arm. She hissed a little as she pulled out the thick needle and looked up to see me.

"Oh." she said faintly. "You're back fast."

"Yeah, I was making coffee so I already had the hot water. Here." I handed her the tea. "It's still steeping." I paused, the pointed at the needle. "What's that?" Alice looked vaguely uncomfortable.

"Ah, it's an injection. I need to take it every morning, or else I'll probably get sick." She sipped her tea. "This is really good." I smiled and drank my coffee.

"Thanks."

"Any reason you brought tea with you?" she whispered, but she wasn't thinking about the tea, she was off in her own little hazy world. She's probably pretty good at covering up how tired she always is.

"It helps me get to sleep." I shrugged, skating over why exactly I had problems getting to sleep. We had a drifting conversation for a little while. Then, out of nothing, she smiled.

"Never seen a sunrise NoraRose? This one's a beauty." she whispered. I hugged my arms.

"Actually, I've never really seen anything. I'm... blind." I replied. The two of us, we're quiet people. She won't tell.

"You don't want anybody to know?" Alice scoffed. "Love, it's gonna be a little hard to keep that under wraps."

"Not as hard as you may think." I replied loftily, and Alice snorted. "Really, I'm an occlumens, so I won't have trouble reading or anything, I have this potion-"

"And I'm sure it works fine." Alice interrupted. "Let me tell you about the first days of my first year. I'm always getting sick, but I thought, "Hey, maybe I can start over. No one will treat me like a baby or avoid me like the bloody black plague because it's not uncommon for me to have a cold. I figured out how to balance myself on my leg here without a cane, I borrowed make-up from my mother to cover up my skin. It doesn't end pretty. Either you crack early on and people think you keep all sorts of secrets, or you break later and your friends feel betrayed because you didn't tell them earlier, or you never tell them and you end up always keeping the secret. I say the earlier you let it out the better. Don't lie." We sat in silence for little bit.

"You won't tell anybody?" I asked. Alice sighed disappointedly and shook her head.

"No Love, I won't breath a word." There was a distant thud upstairs. One of my roommates had rolled out of bed.

"I have to go check on that, it was in my dorm." I said, and got up. Alice headed over to the couch.

"Here, take your cup. That was excellent tea Love, I think I'll have a nap." I doubled back and took the cup from her frail hands. Frail... hot hands.

"Are you okay?"

"Hmm?" Alice murmured, making her way to the sofa. "Yes Love I'm fine."

I frowned doubtfully but turned around and headed up the stairs. Because even though she had been tired enough to collapse but it took a drugged out tea to make her asleep, even though her hands could fry an egg, even though she had a throbbing headache, she felt, on her terms, absolutely fine. And that made me so sad I almost cried.

I walked into my dorm and there was something new. A large, circular, fluffy carpet.

"Oh NoraRose, you're back! Isn't this carpet just precious?!" Ginger exclaimed. I blinked. The girl who had been woken up by Ginger's singing had crossed her arms and glared.

"Yes NoraRose, isn't it just precious?" she said dryly. "My grandfather skinned it himself." Which was a lie. But Ginger squealed and hopped off the rug like oil on a frying pan, landing on her bottom. I turned to look at the apparent owner of the rug.

"I heard something fall." I told her. She smirked.

"I ah- surprised an old friend of mine." she replied. "I'm Alicia, by the way. How long have you been suffered to withstand princess priss over here?" she jerked her shoulder towards Ginger. I shrugged.

"About 4:30 in the morning." She blinked. "Do you want some coffee Alicia?" I asked.

"Oh I'd murder for the rinds." Helen's voice called from the floor. Oscie, who had also woken and was reading a large, worn book, looked up and quirked an eyebrow. I looked over and quirked an eyebrow. Alicia looked at the two of us and rolled her eyes.

"This my old friend, Helen Anderson. Eats like a goat." Helen stood up and crossed her arms.

"The rest of y'all are just picky cacti." she said in her deep, sugary voice. It was a hard voice to explain. Imagine a cup of black coffee, filled to the brim with sugar. It would be weird right? Kinda gritty, but not really, because it was sugar, and it would be deep, or deep looking, because the coffee would be black. A little sloshy, but rich. I really liked her voice.

Ginger looked up from the floor and blew out of her mouth, making a lock of hair fly to the side because her hair was too long to fly upwards.

"'Picky cacti'?" she almost sneered. Poor thing was upset. Alicia made a face and laughed.

"Quit your whining. Helen comes up with the zaniest things to say. Out dads are travelers, and she's picked up some weird sayings along the road. So have I, I just don't use them. Or remember them." Helen laughed. Her laugh was surprisingly huge and deep-settled in her stomach for someone so petite.

"There's also that!" There was a quite whimper that made all of us go silent. Then a contented sigh and a smacking sound.

"What the frankfurter?" Helen sloshed, slowly and incredulously. Oscie and I looked at her oddly for a moment and then refocused on where the sounds where coming from.

"Next to my bed!" Alicia whisper-yelled.

"Et la mien!" Helen said suddenly. We all stared at her that time. She sighed. "Sorry, that was in french wasn't it?"

We nodded.

Helen shrugged.

"And mine!" she retook.

"Myra's bed?" Ginger questioned. "Hey, Myra!"

"ARRGH!!!" The bed in between Helen's and Alicia sprung alive, revealing a tousled girl. "What is wrong with you people?! Let me sleep!" She reached over for a dramatic pair of jeweled horn-rimmed glasses and shoved them over her pretty, large eyes. They widened even more when she saw who had spoken to her.

"Ginger!" she squealed reverently. "Oh no I'm sooooooo sorry!" Ginger tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"No biggie." she shrugged. Then her eyes sprung to life. "Hey," she grinned. "Let's all get in the circle, I know something we can do." Confusedly, we all sat down in front of our beds on the rug.

"How the sam-heck is that girl dreaming through all this?" Helen whispered suddenly, and we all saw there was a gap in front of LeaRose's bed. I looked inside her head and immediately jumped back out. She was asleep, but her mind was whirling dangerously fast. She'd probably wake up any second now and ricochet off the walls and then drill a whole in the floor and the next floor and the next and pop back out in India somewhere.

"Dunno, I'll go wake her up." Ginger started to skip over to LeaRose when I grabbed the her silky pajama bottom leg and whispered harshly "No." She shook me off and bet down next to me.

"Why?" she said, irritated, folding her arms. I blinked

"If you wake her up, she'll explode. She has too much energy and-"

"How do you know that, you've barely known her half a day." Ginger said loudly and smugly. Well, she didn't say it smugly, but that's how she felt.

"Please-" I whispered. Oh damn. She woke up. "I'm an occlumens, I- No!" I whisper-yelled as Ginger scoffed and sauntered over to LeaRose's bed.

"Hi LeaRose!" she said brightly. "At least, that's what NoraRose said, you're LeaRose?"


Am I soooooo not going to lie. That was way more than a week. I'm really really sorry, so I'll give my readers a choice. Those of you who review anyways. Longers chapters and sparce updates or shorter chapters and more frequent updates. (Just a hint, you'll probably benefit from a wait.)

The next chapter will be the first morning from different characters points of view, and you get chose. Lydia? Echo? Al? Oscie? Mystery teacher who has a fairly developed background? Mystery students? Someone's parents? LYDIA'S CAT?!

Go wild, have fun, review, I want to know what you think. Thank you so much for the people who have me on author or story alert, I'm probably going to work next on a story on hpff, "The Trying life of Mary Macdonald"

Love you guys!

-Mary