By The Fire...

Andy walked into the Common Room, after a day of classes, and sat down in one of the armchairs by the fire. Andy placed his backpack on the ground by the chair, and leaned back into the chair. He was exhausted, and having just spend three minutes standing out in the corridor trying to figure out what the riddle was, he was in desperate need for a breather. Andy swore that the Portrait gave him the hardest of the riddles to figure out, because they were all so easy the first couple of days, and now they were near impossible to decipher. Andy was just happy that he had a knack for riddles.


Andy was stumped for so long on this question, but it clicked and so obvious. The boy would say 'My head will be chopped off,' because if the man said the statement was false, the boy's head would be chopped off, making the statement true. If the man said the statement was true, the boy would be strangled to death, thus making it false.

Terry sighed and fell on to a random sofa, exhausted. Banging her Potions text on her forehead, she sighed and rubbed her eyes, not noticing the blond boy sitting near her. Potions had been horrible. That teacher was ruthless! RUTHLESS!

Shifting, she opened the book, determined to get a little studying done before the next lesson. Looking at the Drought of Living Dead,s he tried to think of a prank that would be involved in....

Andy watched as Terry walked over near where he was sitting, and started to bang her Potions textbook against her head. He raised his eyebrows at her behaviour. He had to question the girls sanity. It was not normal behaviour to bang one's head with a textbook.

"What's up?" he asked her, leaning down to pull out his own potions textbook from his backpack, but wasn't about to give himself a concussion with it.

"Vhats up?" Terry repeated glaring in frustration at Andy. "That...ugh!" She chucked the book at the wall, where it made a small dent. That was one big book. "Vat Potions Professor is vhat's up!" she seethed. "I couldn't concentrate all period because he had to be an intimidating jerk and ruin my concentration! But other van vat, I'm fine." she added thoughtfully. "Vaht about vou?"

She idly noticed that her accent was getting even stronger....strange.

Sami slammed the door of the common room shut. So far her day wasn't all that great. It started with Potions and ended with.... well, it was really only Potions. But Professor Hamilton made it all the more worse. He made her want to bite something! Preferably his head. If there was anyone that could lessen the learning experience for her, it was him.

She searched the common room for someone to rant to. She knew Ri had came in minutes before and loathed Potions just as much as she did. Upon seeing her sitting on a couch by the fireplace, Sami strode towards her and dramatically collapsed on her.

" I HATE, HATE, HATE, HATE, HATE! Potions class!"

Terry looked at her handful of Hami before shoving her onto the ground and getting up to retrieve her book before sitting back down. "Not in ve mood, Hami." she huffed, annoyed slightly by the dramatics. She buried her face in the book, still wondering why her accent was getting stronger.
"Bad Potions?" she asked after a few minutes.

Andy watched the scene unfold, clearly thinking that they were both nutters. He glanced over at the place where Terry threw the book, seeing the dent she left. She'd make a good beater, he thought and then had stifled a laugh as Terry proceeded to knock the girl, who's name escaped Andy, to the floor.

Andy didn't think Potions was overtly bad. It was interesting, in his opinion. He managed to get 5 points out of it for a correct answer, so that was good. The girls just needed to harden up, Andy thought.

"I like him. He's got attitude. I think it's great." Andy was happy to have a teacher that wouldn't take any crap from the students.

"Well, the subject itself isn't all that bad. I just can't respect him," Sami replied from down on the floor. She had been shoved on the ground by Ri, who seemed a bit annoyed. Granted, she was too.

She stuck out her tongue at the blonde boy next to Ri, not in the mood for him. Though she loved a good arguement,

"Hamilton's attitude is what's annoying me. To me, he seems cynical and a bit disrespectful. The way he talks makes me think he expects the bare minimum out of us." Sami's ideal teacher was someone didn't sugar coat everything, but wasn't entirely pessimistic. He/ or she would encourage their students to do better, without favoring them. Professor Hamilton was probably the opposite.

You try responding to that, buddy. Sami smirked.

Andy blinked, not at all expecting that response from the girl. He listened to what she said, and nodded slowly. That made sense. He really wasn't up for an argument with her, especially since they were housemates. Andy really didn't want to make an enemy, over something so stupid as an arsehole professor.

He extended his hand to her to help her off the ground as a peace treaty. "Sorry. You're right. I guess I don't feel as you do at the moment, but I'm sure when he's an arse to me, I'll feel that way. I'm Andy by the way."

Sami smiled at Andy's response, she liked him already. A man after my own heart, she thought sarcastically. She gratefully took his hand and leaped up, stretching. "We've got to have another conversation like that sometime."

She loved her friends, really. But sometimes it was nice to just lay back and have a nice, logical arguement. "Name's Sami. Sami Criss, nice to meet you Andy." The witch thought her and Andy could be really good friends. Then she remembered Ri.

"How'd your day go, Ri?" Sami didn't share all of her classes with her dorm mate, or as far as she remembered.

Andy was glad that she took his hand to get up, not at all prepared to deal with a pissed off girl. He nodded, "Yeah. Nice to meet you as well, Sami," he said and then turned back to his Potions textbook as the girl started up a conversation with the tempered Burgarian.

Anthony flipped the front cover of his text over, grinning as he saw the categories, Poison, Bewitch and Heal; the three categories they covered in class. He was glad that he got one of the answers earlier, but didn't want to rest on his laurels. He re-read what they covered in class today, wondering what the next Potions class would have in store for them if today caused so much talk outside of class. Hamilton sure would cause a stir around the castle, that's for sure.

"Decent. DADA was vummy, Potions vas horrible, of course, Herbology vas fun. Charms and Transfiguration? My dang accent!" Terry seethed. She opened her Potions text, blinking when she saw thhe three categories before proceeding to bonk her book on her head once again. "How vere vour classes, Hami?" she asked, pausing her head bonking before once again throwing the book at the wall.
Theory was going to be horrible, but she could show Hamilton just what she had in store for the practical part of his class.

Sami winced. It would be a pain to have to cast spells with an accent; especially for Ri. Imagine saying "Wingardium Leviosa" with a Bulgarian accent. Harsh. But really the only time Sami would have to worry about it would be if she was annoyed or frustrated. Luckily for her, when she was in that state of mind she wouldn't be flinding hexes at everyone she sees.

"How vere vour clases, Hami?" Ri asked, throwing her Potions text against the wall. She almost laughed at the dent that left.

"I guess they were alright," Sami shrugged, opening up her Transfiguration book. " Potions was blech, Charms wasn't too bad, either. Loved Transfiguration, and DADA was delicious. You should know." She glared openly at the Bulgarian. On the way out Ri took a bite out of her chocolate, before Sami bit her.

Andy looked up from his book as Terry threw her textbook again. She sure has anger management problems, he thought, returning to his reading. He was only really half listening to their conversation, only taking a couple of the classes they were talking about, so he didn't really think he had anything to add to the conversation. He knew that he should start the reading for Muggle Studies, but couldn't be bothered, which was a first for him. He'd do it later. It wouldn't be that hard, surely.

Flipping a page over in his Potions textbook, he glanced over the page, bored out of his mind.

Sami glanced over at Andy, who seemed to be reading a textbook. Stretching her neck as far possible, she could see the word "Potions" on the cover. She sighed, she was starting to get a bit bored. She quietly closed her Transfiguration book, not wanting to read at that percise moment. (She'd study later.)

She leaned back, sighing again, after slipping her book into her bag. Think of something happy, rainbows, unicorns, puppies. Ugh, Sami groaned. Her mind became mush and she was left with nothing to think about.

Suddenly, the girl leaned over to where the blonde Ravenclaw sat, reading, and poked him. She wasn't sure what she was expecting him to do, but it certainly wasn't this.

Andy felt a sharp stab on his arm and blinked at Sami as she poked him. He raised his eyebrows.

"What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his arm. Girls were strange, he thought.

He wondered if she was as bored as he was, and saw the need to jab him in the arm to relief that boredom. He'd be sent to Azkaban if he went about assaulting people to relieve boredom, no matter how fun it was.

Sami raised her eyebrow, questioning his masculinity. She could've sworn she had simplt tapped his arm. But of course, boys will be boys, and make it out as if she had walked up and slapped his arm with the force of a two-ton elephant.

"Aw, dwid I scare the wittle kiddie?" she laughed and shoved him, lightly, hoping he knew it was a joke. Merlin forbid all the lads here are a bunch of humorless wankers...

The Ravenclaw smiled, showing off her pale, white teeth. "Nae, mate. Just bored, is all." Sami wondered why her accent has chosen that specific moment to just show up. She shrugged, passing it off as her missing her dad.

I need to owl him soon, she thought getting off-topic. He's probably wondering what's goiong on.

Dree walked into the common room and collapsed into a chair by Sami. She groaned loudly and looked over at her two friends and that other Ravenclaw boy, she had seen him in the library a few times... "I got lost. Again" she said with a loud sigh, "Stupid Potions had to be in the dungons" she mummbled, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Yeah, because, you know, what normal person would want to teach a class where it's nice and warm?" Sami rolled her eyes before quieting again. She was feeling oddly sarcastic this afternoon, which hopefully wouldn't become of her. Sarcastic people got annoying after a while.

Still with nothing to do, the witch began playing with her new friends hair. Though it was short, it was enough to amuse her until something interesting came along like a dead cat. (Sami wondered how dead cats could walk.) Humming some tune, she relaxed slightly as his blonde hair simply sat there as she toyed with it.