Rain smiled at Bran, "seems like I came by at a good time, then! I'm definitely up for exploring tomorrow, if you wouldn't mind me tagging along" she said. "It would be fun to show our new guests around!" Rain turned back to Millie, "Thanks! She's a bit shy, but she's really quite sweet." "Aww, you must miss Cleo, is someone watching her for you?" she asked. Rain smiled when Millie asked about her cousins, "Yes, I believe I have seen them around! The school is so large though, that it can be difficult to get to know everyone as well as I would like to." She laughed, "Well, if you are adventurous, I think you'd fit in well in Thunderbird... it is the best house. I'm not biased or anything, though." she winked. Rain gave Seb a smile, "I'm Rain, it's nice to meet you! I'm sorry if my augurey startled you, I like to socialize her when I can. " Fade blinked slowly at Seb, then went back to making her feathers look more presentable. "She's not used to seeing so many new people at once, though" Rain explained. Rain grinned at River, "We do both have water names! I quite like the rain too, so it's fitting." "Oh, of course you may pet her! She's a little shy, but she's very sweet, aren't you Fade?" she asked, stroking the bird's head. Fade made a small chirp of approval, then turned her head to observe River. "Your pets sound lovely! Did you bring them along with you?" Rain questioned. Rain turned to greet the new arrival, "Hi Kai" she said, "it's nice to meet you. I'm Rain, and this is my augurey, Fade." Fade fluffed her feathers, and regarded Kai with one of her signature slow-blinks. "I see you've gotten the fish sticks, good choice! Fish is my favorite," she said, pointing to her salmon and rice with her fork. "Good, isn't it?" Rain grinned, "Hey Lydia! Of course I recognize you, fellow Thunderbird!" she said, imitating the bird gesture that Lydia had made. "The owlery tower really is lovely," she added, overhearing what Lydia had said to Millie. "Not only is the view beautiful, but you get to see all of the owls! That's a huge plus if you love birds, like me. My snowy owl, Wintersong, is up there resting right now" she smiled. Rain giggled as another new student, Niamh, was explaining what the hot dogs tasted like to her, "Not a big fan of the hot dogs, eh? They can be an acquired taste." She smiled, "I'm Rain, and this droopy looking bird on my shoulder is my augurey, Fade" she explained, giving the bird a little nudge. "Have you tried the salmon? It's quite nice, much better than the hot dogs, at least in my opinion" she chuckled.

((ooc: Sorry everyone, just catching up! I had to call it an early night yesterday, wasn't feeling too well))

[img align=left]https://sapi.subeta.net/shared/269197.png[/img] "Huh. What kinds of birds did you see? Anything special? Do you normally like to birdwatch, like is it a hobby fo yours?" Lydia kept listening, and although questions came into her mind like a spider spinning a web, she bit her tongue and narrowed her curiosities down to a strict few. "So, your dad's a curse-breaker? That's cool. Do you like all that traveling? It sounds amazing! I've never left the United States. I live over on the West Coast in San Francisco." Lydia gave a sympathetic smile when River said she didn't miss home. She thought it better not to pry. "Yeah, I'd say I love it here in the states, but mostly because I've never really been anywhere else." She scratched at her shoulder awkwardly. She always felt so ignorant of the world when talking abut how little she's traveled. "I've traveled most of the west coast and in some parts of the Northeast, over here by school. I really like our location here on top of Mount Greylock. Something about being on top of a mountain makes it just seem extra magical and allows you to focus more. Oh, and I am sixteen, and a Thunderbird alright!! Very proud to be one!" Lydia was satisfied with where the conversation was headed. "The Alexandrian Academy for the Arcane Arts organizes students by magical level of ability, right? I think I overheard the guys explaining it"

Lydia overheard Bran's conversation with Kai () about wanting to wear something here at Ilvermorny to represent our different houses and Lydia couldn't help but butt in. "I hear ya there! I got no issues showing off my Thunderbird pride!" She turned and noticed Brandon's sister...what was her name? "Hi," she said. " I don't think we've met. What's your name? Your house?"

[edit] ((OOC: Sorry, I missed you )) Lydia was not surprised to find that many of the Ilvermorny students who were mingling turned out to be Thunderbirds. She nodded to herself, thinking what a social house they all were. "Wintersong is a beautiful name. I have a Great Grey Owl named Jelly Belly; Jelly for short."

((OOC: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ))

When Corvus () introduced himself with his full name, River smiled. She'd not come across many people who did that, which made him interesting.

() "Is that why you named him Smith? Cos he's a secret agent?" she asked innocently. "A lot of spy books have Smith as a moniker. I have two ducklings name Tut and Kiya and a cotton headed tamarin monkey named Max. The journey was good, though it did get a bit boring and I wound up reading a lot. But otherwise no complaints. I love the ocean. Watched birds and clouds and took in the sun."

River smiled at her friend. () "Yeah me too. The only reason I got my bed is Max was pulling my hair so I knew he was tired. I put him in his cage for the night and said good night to my ducklings before coming back for more food and chat."

River giggled to Bran () "Well had to pick the coolest one for my current ranking. Naturally when I go to skilled, I'll pick a better one, like a sphinx." When he suggested they could help her learn qudditch, she smiled. "Okay, I would like that." Lynnie asked about her potato sculpture and River blushed. "Oh I do pottery and paint them. I am good at painting but not so great at drawing so can really only paint something that's done for me...Yeah its coming up soon." She didn't sound very excited about her birthday and hadn't paid attention to Bran's smile.

River notice Zala came back (). "Hey Zala, wanna join?" she hoped it sounded low pressure.

( ) The teen put her hand out gently so Fade could see she was no threat and then petted the soft feathers. "Hello pretty one, how are you? I have some ducks you might like as friends." She nodded. "Yeah, I brought them because I had no one to care for them at home. Plus they are my babies."

() “Saw some ospreys, seagulls, an albatross, mostly just ones that go near the ocean. Oh yes, I love bird watching. I’ve got both Omnioculars and binoculars to watch them and I do sometimes use a log book.” River frowned again. “Yes, he’s a curse-breaker and he loves it. I don’t mind the traveling I guess. I am an adventurous sort. Oh? Isn’t that state called Keliflornia? I don’t remember all of the states to be honest. Is it nice? Do you see the ocean a lot?” River caught the frown. “Hey not traveling is good too. Think of all the people you get to stay in contact with. I don’t have that many friends cos we move so much. Really my pets are my friends. Are the states very different from each other? I can’t wait to see the outside of the school. Its hard to know what its like only seeing the fireplace, dorms and Great Hall. I’m glad you are in the house you like. Yes, I’m practiced which is typical of my age. Only Skilled and Expert left.”

(happy bday )

(( Happy birthday !! I have work soon but I'm guna jump back in when I get home in like a million hours XD ))

{{ooc: No worries!)) "Thank you!" Rain smiled at Lydia. "Oh, great grey owls are gorgeous! That is an adorable name," she giggled. "My parents kept an aviary, so I have always been quite fond of birds" she explained, while stroking Fade absentmindedly.

Rain was pleased to see how good River was with Fade, not everyone knew to introduce themselves slowly to the quiet bird. "It looks like she likes you," Rain smiled, as Fade lowered her head so that River could pet it more easily. "Oh I don't blame you, I wouldn't want to leave my birds behind either. I have a snowy owl too, but she's resting in the owlery right now" she said, gesturing toward the location of the owlery tower. "I couldn't help overhearing that you like to bird watch, so do I! My father kept an aviary, and my mother continued to care for the birds when he passed, so I grew up around them" she explained. "I would actually like to become a magizoologist one day, and specialize in birds."

Bran half rolled his eyes and gave Rain () a gentle nudge with his shoulder. “As if I’d mind you coming along,” he said in a friendly manner. “Of course you’re welcome. We can all show off our favorite places and have some fun with our new friends.”

Lynnie looked slightly startled when Lydia () turned her attention to the younger girl. “Um…hi, I’m Lynnie. I’m in Horned Serpent. I’m twelve and this is my second term.” She smiled shyly at Lydia and twirled a strand of her pink hair nervously.

Bran shook his head slightly as his little sister’s nervousness. “She won’t bite, Lynnie,” he said quietly. Then he addressed Lydia and said, “Well since the 4A gals and guys are picking animals, I say we make up some way to show our house pride…so everyone will know Thunderbirds rule!” He grinned at Lydia.

Grinning back at River (), Bran nodded. “Of course you need the coolest. And who’s to say the animals can’t change each year? Though it would interesting to have a match up with a Phoenix and a Thunderbird to see which bird would win.” He smiled.

Lynnie gave her brother a little smile but was glad when River spoke up about art. “That’s neat that you do pottery. I bet it’s fun to work with clay and see the piece come to life under your hands. I’ve tried sketching, but I’m not any good at it really.”

Bran listened to the discussion between Lydia and River and interjected, hoping they wouldn’t mind. “I wouldn’t mind traveling a bit more than what I’ve done. I’ve never even been to the west coast where you’re from, Lydia. Being from the south, I’ve pretty much covered all of those states and a good bit of the east coast and north east. But I haven’t ever been past the Mississippi River. I’d love to go out west…hike and explore in the mountains, stay on a ranch, that sort of thing. And then of course there’s all the other countries I’d like to see one day.” He gave a slightly sheepish shrug.

  “Yeah me too, don't want him climbing me all day.” She smiles to Lynnie. “I like all the classes but I especially love Transfigurations and Alchemy. Well I do know all about muggles since my parents are both muggles and I have lived all my life in a muggle community. Of course I don't waste my time in such things, those with prejudice are hard to approach and make them change their narrow minds. Everyone is special, wizards, muggles, and all creatures but everyone has their own opinions and that is what makes the world more interesting.”

  “That would be amazing! If there is a challenge at the sea I'll be the happiest! I wonder who would be champion? It's really exciting, the tournament I mean.”

  Terry couldn't help but to laugh with Kai's interpretation of the song. “I think your version is even more fun, I'm not very good at those things as you noticed.” She was right, he was a funny guy.”I think the way your school ranks it's quite interesting and makes lots of sense. I like it, Hogwarts should do that too.”

  Terry stare at Carlos blankly, was he serious? There was no such thing as a rat doing martial arts. “Well my cat knows how to hunt in his cat-like form, surely Chuck Norris is really a joke if your rat is better than him at martial arts.” She chuckles. “Seriously, you expect me to believe that? You should be a writer, you have a good imagination.” She smiles hoping not to have sound rude. 'Surely I failed again.' She thought.

((OOC: Happy Birthday!!!))

  Terry noticed a girl peeking around and she waved at her trying to look natural. “Hello miss, I'm Terry, come join us please we are trying to get to know each other a bit. Share our views in the wizarding world, how was your trip? Mine was B O R I N G! I surely must have something better to do when we return.”

[img align=left]https://sapi.subeta.net/shared/269197.png[/img] "Close!" Lydia laughed at River's pronunciation, hoping she didn't offend. San Fran is in California." She made sure to clearly enunciate, trying to help River. She shrugged her shoulders and bobbed her head in response to the next questions. "Yeah, It's nice. It can be really beautiful, right there along the water with all the fog. I think the most beautiful part though is all the people of San Fran. It's just a very accepting and welcoming community for a lot of people." She smiled at River's reaction of kindness. "Yeah, I have a lot of no-maj friends at home, since my parents are no-majs. I would be devastated to leave them for too long; just coming to school here in Massachusetts is hard enough." Lydia kept listening and answering questions as they came up. "I definitely think that all the states here are very different. They all have unique geographies and culinary specialties as well as certain types of people that are drawn to these regions. It's like each state is it's own country as far as culture goes. And there's a decent amount of independence from state and country that allows for such individuality, which can be nice but also frustrating at times because then it feels like the whole country is divided up and not on the same page. How do you graduate from one level, one color sash, to the next? Is there an end-of-year exam or something that places you for the next year?"

Second term! No wonder the girl seemed so shy. Lydia tried to be gentle when talking to the girl. "Hi Lynnie," she said. "How do you like being in Horned Serpent? I like your hair."

Lydia then turned to Bran and laughed. "I'm down! Any suggestions?"

[img align=right]https://sapi.subeta.net/shared/268167.png[/img] Zala sighed in relief when River asked her to join in. Now she could approach and sit down without feeling too awkward. She jumped as a different girl with dark purple hair waved at her to come over too. Quickly she moved to the table and stood to the side twiddling her thumbs. "Hello again." she shyly spoke to the group.

The purple haired girl introduced herself as Terry and inquired after their journey. Zala pondered over how to explain it in a few words. "Breezy boattrip." she decided with a nod and smiled briefly.

The conversation about various animals confused her. "Phoenixes and Thunderbirds?? What are you going on about??" Zala thought out loud. Her face wrinkled as she frowned trying to decipher what went on while she had been in the bath.

"Aww, I hope so," River said fondly, "such a pretty bird." When the bird moved her head, the girl obliged happily petting deeper. "Oh snowy owls are so pretty. Maybe we can bird watch together. Oh an aviary is too neat! Sorry about your dad though. Magizoologist would be neat. I'm really not sure what I want to do yet."

She smirked. "Naturally only the best animal would me my rank. I'm pretty sure a phoenix would win, after all it could keep coming back till it defeated the thunderbird." The teen nodded her head to Lynnie. "Yes I like watching the clay become something else, its a lot of fun and joy to me. I'm not either. Do you have other hobbies?" "Once you can apperate, traveling will be easier, Bran," River said sweetly, "where in the south are you from? How do Americans remember all the states? States confuse me to be honest. They aren't towns, or cities but not countries either."

"I know. Could you imagine battling a sea monster? Man that'd be a blast. I doubt that'd happen as they made it much safer, but one can hope." She nodded. "I'm glad I was able to come to the tournament."

River blushed as Lydia corrected her. "It sounds wonderful! Glad you can see your friends. You do send them letters?" She listened as the other girl explained states. "Sounds very complicated. Yes, we have exams and based on that is where we are ranked."

She smiled at Zala. "Oh, Bran here is curious which bird would win in a fight."

Lynnie smiled at Terry. “Transfigurations is fun. It’s one of my top three favorite classes. I think Charms is best and then Potions. I think my love for potions comes from Dad being a potioneer. Bran is even better at than I am, but I still like them. There are some things that I’ve read about or seen that No-Majs use that seem so cool, but we’ve never really had any of them ourselves at home. Not because we don’t approve, we just use magic instead. It would be so interesting to try to live without magic for say a week, just as an experiment. I’m not sure if I could do it, but it would be fun to have the chance to be like a No-Maj I think.”

“Thank you,” Lynnie said with a smile at Lydia’s compliment about her hair. “Yours is pretty neat too. I love being in Horned Serpent. The wild, adventurous life isn’t for me. I’d rather curl up and read, or at the very least travel to places that I know a bit about instead of just taking off to who knows where and into what sort of danger like Bran does.”

“Reading is great,” Bran agreed. “But I want to see and do, not just look at pictures or imagine it in my mind.” He looked thoughtfully at Lydia. “Maybe we could do necklaces with the different creatures on them. That way everyone could see it and know. Or we could be a bit more mysterious and have a certain symbol that would represent each one…like a feather necklace for Thunderbirds, a serpent for Horned Serpent, a stone that looks like a cat’s eye for Wampus, and an arrow for the Pukwudgie.”

As Zala () rejoined the group, Bran said, “Welcome back. We’ve been discussing what type of animals could be with the different ranks at your school. River () suggested Practiced should have Phoenix. And the Thunderbird was mentioned as I am in the Thunderbird house here at Ilvermorny.”

Rain chuckled at Bran's reply, "Well, it's polite to ask, I don't like to just assume that I am invited." She smiled, "Yes, that sounds like a great idea! I can think of a few places that I would like to show our new friends."

Rain watched as Fade closed her eyes contentedly while River continued to pet her head. "Well, she looks happy," Rain laughed. "You would love the owlery tower, I will have to show you sometime. It has a great view of the grounds, too." She beamed when River suggested bird watching, "Oh yes, that would be fun! I have a nice set of omnioculars and a pair of binoculars. Have you ever seen a hummingbird? We get lots of them around here, I think you would love them." "The aviary is pretty neat, we keep both magical and non-magical birds" she explained. She frowned sadly at the thought of her father, "It's alright, he died when I was very young, so I don't remember him as well as I would like to. He was an auror, and he was killed on the job. Mom doesn't like to talk about it much because it makes her too sad, so I don't know all of the details. She's a no-maj, so it was a little tricky for her to learn to care for the magical birds... and me! I dare say I gave her a bit of trouble with my magical antics," she chuckled. "It all worked out, though. Oh, there's still time to decide what you want to do! Do you have any favorite subjects?" she asked, wondering if the classes at 4A differed from hers.

“You’re probably right about the phoenix winning,” Bran said to River with a nod. “Still it would be one heck of a sight just to see the two of them together, let alone fighting.” When River mentioned apperating Bran wrinkled his nose slightly. “That takes some practice and concentration,” he said. “I want to travel, but I also want to end up in the right place with all my parts. For now I’ll settle for apperating short distances or taking my broom when I can.” He gave the girl a quizzical look. “Can you apperate?”

Lynnie thought about the older girl’s question before answering River. “I like to sing,” she said a bit shyly. “And I help mom with any animals that we rescue. Oh…” Lynnie blushed as she realized that River didn’t know what she was talking about. “Mom is a magizoologist and we have an area at home that’s used as an animal sanctuary.”

(just posting this here since I missed Raven's earlier post)

[img align=left]https://sapi.subeta.net/shared/269197.png[/img] "We kinda send letters." Lydia smiled apologetically at her own vagueness. "I have a personal journal with each of my friends that we write in and send back and forth. It's our way of keeping in touch and holding on to ll of our previous convos at the same time. Is there anyone that you try to keep in touch with?"

Lydia raised her eyebrows incredulously, unable to believe that Lynnie and Brandon were a part of the same family. They were so different! She liked that about the two siblings though; there was something very yin/yang about it. She smiled over at Bran, wondering what adventures he'd had and wishing she had some to tell of herself.

[img align=right]https://sapi.subeta.net/shared/268167.png[/img] Zala hummed in agreement. A phoenix would be the more likely winner in a match between the two species. The tears a phoenix shed could heal mortal wounds and rebirth was also possible. In the long run the bird would win. However the animal representation of skill levels confused her more. "If practised students are phoenixes then what am I?" she asked River.

As magizoologists were mentioned Zala perked up. Her adoptive father was one and an accomplished one at that. Though her father specialised in marine magizoology and was found swimming with the fishes very often. He had spend the last 2 years studying Hippocampi populations in the Mediterranean Sea. How the population was affected due to (over) fishing and diminishing living space. "My dad is one too, but he's always in the sea." Zala decided to tell the group, Lynnie in particular, and skipped the finer details.

"Yes, that is acceptable, at least it had a good breeze." Terry smiles back.

"Now that sounds exciting! I can totally see myself battling a sea monster." Terry got in battling position. "Yes I am glad too, it was hard leaving my friends but not everyone could come, imagine our entire schools here, what a wild adventure!"

"Charms and potions are my other favorites, I could say the only class I don't enjoy is Divination. I made the mistake of taking it once, how I regret it." Terry nods. "Oh yes I can assure you they have the coolest technology, I adore computers, laptops, tablets, and phones the most. I was so upset I had no signal on the boat trip so I couldn't text my muggle friends. I brought my laptop but I don't know if I will be able to use it here. I lived with no magic for years, when I got accepted to Hogwarts my mother was surprised and forbid me to use magic at home, but I couldn't anyway because of that Ministry law." She shrugs. "Living without magic is not so bad but now that I know magic I don't imagine life without it."

[img align=left]https://sapi.subeta.net/shared/263871.png[/img]The ship had not been kind to Nathaniel. He had spent the entirety of the journey across the Atlantic with a face flushed a shade of green not dissimilar to that of the Slytherin house colours. Between Hogwarts and Ilvermorney, he'd vomited countless times and not been the greatest company for the other students. Stepping back on solid ground had been a welcome gift for the boy.

In front of the fireplaces, he tried to ignore the queasiness that still remained as he prepared himself for the last stretch of the trip. Floo travel didn't bother him: he actually enjoyed the unique sensation.

'Ilvermorney.' Emerging from the fireplace at the other side he joined the other students in the American school and headed towards the allocated dorm rooms.

He selected a central bed, tapped it once with his wand, and collapsed onto the mattress without a word. There would be plenty of time to catch up with everyone, but first, he needed to rest.

He wasn't asleep for long, but when he woke up, many of the other beds had been claimed already. He climbed out of the bed: he'd actually buried himself beneath the duvet so it was no surprise that no one had noticed him in the bedroom... or maybe they just didn't want to disturb him. There wasn't a single student on the ship that didn't know he'd been suffering.

He'd woken up without the now familiar feeling of nausea and the smell of food stirred a hunger in the pit of his stomach. He smoothed out his sweatshirt, re-adjusted the House tie around his neck, and headed down to the Hall to join the others. Hopefully he hadn't missed too much.

The Hall was bustling with activity as the students from both Hogwarts and 4A 'broke the ice' with the Ilvermorney kids. One group in particular stood out: some of the girls had pastel coloured hair like the candy sold in Hogsmeade, and a couple of the students had familiars accompanying them: rats, owls, cats.

He grabbed a hot dog and headed towards them, unsure of how to join the circle. Maybe there would be a fellow Slytherin amongst them. Nathaniel wasn't exactly shy, but still half-asleep and in a completely new environment, he didn't know who to talk to first.

He polished off the end of the hot dog, satisfying the ache in his stomach. He joined the group with an awkward and quiet 'Hello,' not really directed toward any one person in particular and hoping that he'd not abruptly put an end to anyone's conversation.

[img align=left]https://i.imgur.com/atSPkyg.png[/img] "Yes! Totally hyped for that," Kai pounded the table once with excitement when Bran () brought up the idea of having a Quidditch game together while the schools were together. Even just flying around sounded fun, especially since Kai wasn't familiar with the land. Kai nodded at Bran when he talked about the sashes at the Alexandrian Academy. "Oh right, the sashes, the indicator of our coolness. Yup, our student hierarchy is basically based on these sashes."

His attention returned to the latest girl () who came to mingle with the rest of them. A big smile grew on his face when she mentioned his chanting earlier. "I had the impression that we were coming in loud and proud with lots of school spirit, but...yeah. I was the only one coming in fun, which is no fun," he sighed with a grin. "But yeah, it's a done deal. We're friends. Official friendship highfive," he held a hand up to highfive Lydia. "Probably need to come up with one of them fancy friendship handshake later," his eyes thrilled at the prospect. "Friendship handshake for everybody," he smirked as he looked around everyone else.

"Also, let's not joke about sea monsters," he directed his focus to River (). "I already have nightmares. Have you seen pictures of the Scolopendra? It's freaky," he looked at Lydia and everyone before shivering. "Probably will die from fright if I get even just kissed by the thing," Kai spoke with great certainty that the monster was a real thing.

The boy's attention fell to Corvus () when the male student introduced himself. The boy has refined look and his uniform meant he was a student of this school. "Hi Corvus! That's a cool name. I'm Kai. Thanks for letting us take over your school!," Kai shot a quick friendly smile and mock salute.

"And hello, Rain!," he added another person ( ) to his greeting. "Rain is a cool name, too. I like rain, especially during the school season. Doesn't rain enough during the school year," he sighed. His smile turned into a wide grin when she pointed to her salmon. "Oh sweet, salmon! Didn't even see that. Yeah, definitely all about these fish sticks," he chomped off another bite of a fish stick as he said it. "My family live by the seaside so seafood is huge in my family."

Kai shrugged with a smirk when Terry () said the ranking system at his school made sense. "Where's the fun in making sense? How does Hogwarts sort their students, by the way? Is it a free for all? Pulling names from a hat?"

"Oh, oh, oh! HI ZALA!," Kai quickly greeted the 4A student () he missed earlier when he arrived.

"And hi...uh, stranger," Kai waved to a new boy () that had approached the group. The fifteen year old studied the student for a bit before noticing the necktie. "Oh, you're from Hogwarts, right? I'm Kai. From 4A. Your necktie is green. You must from the snake one...house, I mean. Slithero?," Kai asked, not really familiar with the houses there or from any other school really.

((ooc: sorry if I missed things! just trying to catch up xD))

[img align=left]https://sapi.subeta.net/shared/269197.png[/img] (and whoever else) Lydia laughed and gladly returned the high five that Kai offered. "Loud and proud is the only way to go, my friend." She smiled with approval as she watched Kai mingle, similar to the way she talked with endless words and few breaks for air. "Ya know, sea monster or not, I am crazy jealous that you guys got to have such a killer journey here. Actually, it'd have been even better if there was a sea monster!" She waved her arms in some abstract motion to supposedly mimic what a sea monster may look like.

"She does," the girl said with a giggle, "I'd love to see the owlery and the grounds. I have both as well." River shook her head. "No, I haven't. I'd love to though. Such beautiful birds." River nodded understandingly. "I'm surprised she can take care of them, but its nice she does. She must be special." Her own face contorted to a frown. Forcing herself to smile, she grasped onto the talk about classes. "I love Arithmancy, history of magic, potions and charms are my favourite. Our history class does take us many places too, like tombs. What about you?"

"I'd rather not see them fight, if I'm being honest. Yes, its true, apperating isn't easy, but once you got it, I don't think there'd be problems. No, I can't apperate yet, but I've been on the side many times."

"Singing is nice," River said, "Any special songs? Really? That's neat. Rescuing animals must be rewarding."

"Woah that sounds wonderful." River smiled. "Well, I met a group of people on holiday that I am writing too. One of them is a boy named Merlin. He goes to Hogwarts. He's cute, and a little shy and amazing." It was obvious the way she talked about him she was fond of him.

"Well I thought of scorpions because they are fast and deadly and can strike before anyone knows they were there. I thought that fitted a Skilled person."

"It sounds fun to me," River said laughing. She nodded. "I wish Merlin could've though. He goes to Hogwarts." Muggle technology came up and she beamed. "I love muggle stuff! I've got a tablet and cellphone."

River waved to the new-comer. "Hi, I'm River of A4!"

River shrugged. "Okay, well I have, but I'm not really afraid of those...Sorry." She tried to think of something to say to him but came up short.