“Welcome, welcome Slytherin students! My name is Professor Deidra Morgan head of the Slytherin house, new Deputy Headmistress, and Herbology professor as many of you already know. But for those new students that don't know make sure to keep your hands off the Umbrella Flowers in the greenhouse, they were a gift of my son and their smell keeps some insects away. This new term I expect the best of each of you so gather as many points as possible so we can keep getting our hands on that cup once again. It'll be a pleasure to rub it in with the other houses when we beat them once again. ” She cackles.

“Now to other matters, if you need assistance go to your prefects or and if you need me I'm mostly at the greenhouse. The common room password for this term is Mooncalf Dung. Dormitories for the boys downstairs and the girls upstairs. The house elves will bring a few snacks and drinks for about an hour, so make sure to grab those while they last. Enjoy the term!” She left so the students can settle and meet with old friends or meet new ones.

Lenore thanked Professor Morgan and congratulated her on her new position. "Don't worry Professor, we'll get that cup again." She grinned, confident in the members of her house.

Settling herself on the arm of one of the couches near the fire, legs extended in front of her, back against the wall, Lenore pulled a sweet out of her pocket and began to unwrap it. Her first chocolate cauldron of the term. Smiling, she popped the sweet into her mouth and closed her eyes. After savoring the chocolate for a moment, she bit down and let the fire whiskey filling pool out, sending a warmth down her throat. Ah, bliss.

Looking about she saw that some students had arrived for Professor Morgans welcome and that others were still making their way down from the great hall. Wayland Hayes was leaning against a far wall, taking in the sight of the Slytherin common room for the first time. When she looked up at him he met her eyes and gave a quick, subtle smile. She tossed him a chocolate cauldron, flicking her wand to send it farther and more accurately across the room than she could have managed on her own. He caught it and winked. The two would have to meet 'officially' soon but she wasn't quite ready yet. She liked quiet after the welcoming feast and wanted to keep things as natural as possible so no one would notice anything strange.

A sudden thought occurred to her: That legilimens girl might notice that they knew each other if she picked it up from Wayland's mind. She would have to be sure to ask the girl not to mention it. Hopefully she was good at keeping quiet about things. Actually...she ran through a quick mental check of anything she might have told others here. No, she was safe. Obviously she didn't like the idea of her private conversations being open to someone else but she had never told anything of true consequence. She sighed, once again glad that she had taken the time to learn occlumency.

Wayland kept his eyes on Lenore for a while. He knew that it would be best to let her decide the right time to talk. It was strange that she was the only one that he knew here and he couldn't acknowledge it. But the place was so awesome! He was underground and could look out the windows to see underneath the lake. The dungeon vibe was incredible and the green hue of the lights gave his hair an unearthly sort of glow. He couldn't wait to practice down here.

Looking about, he noticed someone missing. He crossed over to the stairway leading down, presumably to the boys dormitories. "Hey! Dean!" After a few moments, a grumpy sort of meow issued from the stairs, followed by a medium-build round cat with yellow eyes and long curly hair. He walked slowly to Wayland then made his way to a chair where he plopped down and instantly fell asleep.

(( - Feel free to join in! ))

"What do you think, Princess?" She said and stroked the Python's chin. "How am I going to manage without sneaking into the library at night? I can't study properly when others are around. They all think so loudly..."

Eurus noticed one of the prefects () staring intently at her as she made her way across the common room. Why is she looking at me like that?, Eurus wondered. I haven't broken any rules. ...Have I? She blinked and shook her head in confusion when she noticed she couldn't hear the girl's thoughts. It was then that she realized that she had just turned tail and left when the Headmistress had ended the feast, instead of introducing herself like a civil human being. It wasn't that they had never met before, but Eurus normally poured all of her focus into her studies and took great care to avoid being noticed. She blended into the scenery, and she liked it that way. It was surprising what someone could get away with when everyone simply overlooked them. She sighed and approached and the prefect.

"I'm sorry for leaving like I did earlier. I didn't meant to. I have a lot on my mind, but it was very rude of me," she said, somewhat sheepishly. "I'm Eurus Burke, by the way. In the sixth year."

As if summoned by her thoughts, the white haired girl () walked into the common room. Lenore watched her, intrigued as she approached to introduce herself.

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Lenore answered. “I was caught up in shuffling the first years down here anyway. Sorry if I’ve been staring, by the way. You’re the first legilimens I’ve met here and I’m fascinated.” She smiled and offered Eurus a chocolate cauldron.

“I’m Lenore Addlebourne, seventh year.” She lowered her voice and nodded her head in Wayland’s direction, “That boy over there? Despite what you might notice, he and I haven’t met.” Lenore winked.

“So, what are your thoughts on the new curfew?”

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Callista had slipped off briefly to change after Professor Morgan left--she'd been wearing that lolita outfit since she'd got on the train in the morning--but she was pretty expert at the quick-change thing, and returned, after feeding Sabrina, now comfortable in a loose sweater, warm socks and a long patchwork skirt she'd picked up...somewhere, over the blur that had been the last vacation.

She fixed herself a coffee, then perched herself on the arm of the chair that the cat, Dean, had curled up in to sleep, with a plate of biscuits, fruit, and a couple of mochi sweets. The biscuits and fruit had come from the snack table. The mochi sweets had come from her personal stash.

"Hi," she said to Wayland Hayes. "Cute cat. Mine's eating dinner in my room. I'm Callista Zabini. You can call me Callie if you want." She held out the plate. "Want some? The table's getting worked over pretty thoroughly, though there will be coffee and tea for the rest of the evening, I'm sure. And also I brought some mochi back with me, but it goes off pretty quickly, so you should consider helping me eat it."

(Not that she hadn't charmed it to stay fresh as long as possible, but he didn't need to know that.)

"It's not that interesting," She said disarmingly, "It's annoying, really. People think of the stupidest things. Ugh. ...I pity the new transfiguration teacher. He would probably vomit if he knew even half the things some of the girls have planned for him. I kind of wish I could obliviate myself, actually."

Eurus paused to look over her shoulder at Wayland's cat that was fast asleep in a chair. She hadn't paid him much mind, other than noticing some of his thoughts about playing his music in the dungeons. She hoped he would do it at a reasonable hour so she could study once the other students had gone to bed. He's kind of good looking, Eurus thought to herself, not my type, though. She had never had much interest in men, anyway. ...Or drama.

"I ignore most things. It's all background noise to me - none of my business," Eurus told Lenore (). "I can't afford to be distracted; I have a LOT of NEWTS to get next year if I want to make it as a healer when I graduate. I'm really angry about the curfew. I always studied in the library late at night so I could focus on my work. It's going to be very difficult now."

Wayland was just thinking of grabbing some food. Maybe something less sweet than dinner had been. Before he made a move though, one of the girls () came and started talking to him. She said quite a lot quite fast and Wayland noticed the telltale signs of attraction. It happened everywhere he went. It's not that he minded at all, he just wasn't quite sure why he got so much attention.

"Hi to you too Callie Zabini." he answered with a smile. Choosing a pink-colored mochi he took a bite. "Brought them back from where?"

He noticed that Callie was quite cute in her green sweater. She looked comfortable and that always looked more attractive to him than being all put together. Her eyes also stood out beautifully against her dark skin.

(( OOC: I should warn you. Wayland is just as much a flirt as Lenore is, just much more outgoing lol ))

Lenore heard Callie introduce herself and nearly choked on her cauldron. 'You can call me Callie if you want?' Callista was only called Callie by her close friends, one of whom Lenore was proud to be. She guessed that Callie had truly meant it when had said she would 'go bold.' Silently, Lenore wished her luck. The two would be cute together.

When Eurus () explained about legilimency, Lenore was surprised. "I hadn't even thought about all the things you have to hear. Are you natural-born then? I tried to learn legilimency at the same time that I learned occlumency. It didn't go very well, apparently I'm more suited to closing people out then letting them in." she shrugged" But when the skill is learned, it can be used by choice and then sort of... turned off, if that's the right way to put it."

Lenore laughed at the thought of Professor Howard's many admirers. "What the girls say out loud is bad enough. I can only imagine what they're thinking. Not that I had any thoughts of the kind of course." she said this last bit with an exaggerated look of innocence.

She gave a small sigh of relief when Eurus was so calm about not giving away her relationship with Wayland.

"Thanks for that." She said, indicating Wayland. "And as far as the uh, study habits of others, I ignore those. Like you said, just all background noise. Actually, I think you'll find that most Slytherins do the same. When our house pride is on the line we don't look too hard to see who's in the common room and who isn't." she winked. "I have to be studying as well. My N.E.W.T.s are at the end of this year and need to get as many as possible. I'll have no trouble with the practical magic exams but the written ones have me worried. And potions... ugh."

After the welcoming feast and the small speech from her Head of House - whom she felt very proud for to be deputy Headmistress now - Elizabeth had traded the school sweater for a more comfortable but still refined looking jumper. Thinking quickly, she changed her shoes, too, as she had just bought them over term break. She glanced over her belongings and the cozy bed in the dormitory. It felt good to be back. Standing next to the four-poster bed, she noticed Muir, her king snake, trying to get onto her arm. She sighed, but grinned amused. "Fine then, join me.", she told the black-and-white coloured snake. Her gaze fell onto Neirin, the other snake, who was curled up on her pillow, watching her carefully with its yellow eyes. It was perfectly fine with staying here. Elizabeth stroke over its head before leaving the dormitory.

When she got back to the common room, she just saw Callie() introducing herself to Wayland (). Ah, finally, she thought with a grin. Making her way for a cup of tea on one of the sofas, she saw Lenore and the girl from the feast () talking with each other. They were talking about subjects and N.E.W.T.s right now and Elizabeth wasn't happy that she probably missed the girl's name when she introduced herself to Lenore. "Mind if I join you?", she asked politely. As she poured some tea into a simple cup, Elizabeth just now noticed the cute little albino python hanging on the girl's shoulders and smiled.

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"San Francisco, actually." Callista grinned. "I was there yesterday, for a tea party and fashion show. Well, I think it was yesterday. I've been travelling the entire break and after a while the time changes start to get to me. Fortunately my sister is really good at making the potions that help you get up and go to sleep when you need to, even if you don't feel like it ought to be the time that it is."

She glanced at her coffee. Maybe having another one after supper wasn't the best idea when she was so...jet lagged, her sister called it. But that's what happens when you go from Hogwarts to London to Tokyo to Rome to Tuscany to Ilvermorny to San Francisco and back to Hogwarts. At least she didn't have to go on an aeroplane for most of those trips, or figure out how to get a serval through Muggle customs.

She did notice Lenore nearly choking on her snack, and winked when Wayland wasn't looking.

"So...you're new to Hogwarts. Did I catch your name? And where did you go to school before?"

Lenore was glad when Liz () joined in. Liz was one of the people she would miss most when she left Hogwarts at the end of this term and she wanted as much time with her friend as she could get.

"Of course." Lenore answered. "I don't think we had a proper introduction since the end of the feast interrupted us. Liz, this is Eurus Burke (). Eurus, this is Elizabeth Covington." She smiled as she introduced the two girls then noted the fact that both girls had pet snakes with them. She wondered if Liz would be making an introduction of her own.

() "San Fran, huh?" Wayland answered, looking thoughtfully at the rest of the mochi before stuffing it into his mouth. "Haven't been there yet."

He leaned against the chair Dean was sleeping on, opposite Calista, and scratched behind the cat's ears. "Jetlag can be a real bummer." he agreed. "Oh, did I forget to introduce myself? I seem to do that a lot. I'm Wayland Hayes. But most people just call me Hayes." He picked Dean up and flopped into the chair, slouched down with his legs out, ankles crossed. Putting the cat - who gave a low moan but cooperated anyway - on his chest, he looked up sideways at Callie.

"I didn't go to school until now. Not in the normal way. I had a private tutor, Quinn, guy really knew his stuff. My dad and I travelled all over the world and Quinn came with us, teaching me along the way. It was a blast but Quinn thought it would be good for me to get a couple years of formal education. N.E.W.Ts and all that, so I can get a good job. I told him rock stars don't need those things but," he shrugged "I guess it can't hurt."

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"Well, maybe I'll call you Wayland, then, since I'm not most people. Unless you hate it, of course, then I won't." Callista shrugged and ate a couple of biscuits. "So who are your musical influences? You look like you'd fit right into one of those Japanese visual rock bands, but appearances can be deceiving, and for all I know maybe you're into extreme death metal. I'm going to be a fashion designer myself."

She leaned over and held out her hand for the cat to sniff.

"Thank you", Elizabeth said, indeed wondering why they had to leave the Great Hall so early. Something must be strange this term...but what could it be? Quickly, she put an end to these thoughts before they could develope into deeper presumptions which would lead to a sleepless night and because just sitting there in silence, staring at people was utterly impolite, she simply nodded as if to confirm Lenore's introduction. ()

"And I'm in fifth year.", she added, "nice to meet you, Eurus. The little python you own is a beauty." () And so calm, she went on in her thoughts, before she remembered Eurus was just able to hear her thoughts. That would take some time to get used to. In the meantime, her snake Muir eyed the shiny new albino python carefully. Something crossed Elizabeth's mind and she tilted her head lightly, wondering. " Are you by chance related to the owners of the shop for dark artefacts in Knockturn Alley?", she asked, surprised, before going on, "please don't be offended by my query, I'm merely making deductions and won't judge you."

But she was in fact curious. Situations like this one made her think that Slytherin house always felt so small and close together - she probably couldn't explain it if someone asked. However, she knew how quick people were to judge very well. The king snake was trying to leave her arm, and Elizabeth could only wonder what he was up to. She sighed as she had not expected to be that honest about her family's background that quickly. She carefully hindered him from escaping. "You know you have to behave yourself!, she told him as quiet as possible, while already knowing it would be of no use. "I'm sorry", she said to her friends, "he's often rather curious."

Lenore had been wondering the same thing about the name 'Burke' but hadn't gotten around to asking yet. It wasn't a terribly common name after all and a relative of the Knockturn Alley Burkes would most likely be a Slytherin.

Noticing Muir making his move, Lenore chuckled. She was used to Liz () speaking to her pets in Parseltongue by now but knew that people were often taken aback the first time they encountered it. She wondered how Eurus () would respond.

Wayland shrugged, causing Dean to moan again. "Wayland's fine with me." He smiled when Callie () asked about his musical influence. "What's wrong with death metal?" He raised his eyebrows questioningly. "I'm mostly hard rock with a bit of metal thrown in now and then for flavor. The Weird Sisters were great in their day, I still go back to them for inspiration. But I want something a little different too though so I've been focusing more on muggle bands. Breaking Benjamin, Shinedown, Three Days Grace...." His eyes lit up when he started talking about music and he sighed. "Man, I wish I could practice."

When Callie reached out to Dean, the cat lifted his head lazily and sniffed once at the girl's finger before yawning and lying back down.

"Fashion, huh? That's a creative career." Wayland cocked his head and looked at her thoughtfully. "You happen to do any costuming? I could use something really in-your-face for onstage."

"I'm in the sixth year, and thank you," She added to Elizabeth (). "I just got her this summer. My family's home is rather lonely and I thought it might be nice to have a friend. And yes, my father owns the shop himself now - though it's been in our family for generations. Mr. Borgin retired some time ago."

This is probably the most I've ever spoken to anyone here, Eurus thought to herself and smiled at Elizabeth's inquisitive snake. It seemed as though she could speak to it, which Eurus had to admit she was a little jealous of. She wondered what Princess would say? She would probably complain that her name was stupid, even though it suited her, as she was certainly a spoiled little thing. She didn't want to talk about her family, though. Her father mostly ignored her existence, as her older sister was by far the favorite child. Thinking about them, meant thinking about how she was doomed to spend the rest of her life in that musty shop if she didn't do well enough on her NEWTS. [I]Merlin no,[/i] she complained inwardly, anything but that...

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Callista laughed. "I didn't say there was anything wrong with death metal, Wayland, just that it's not what your outfit made me think of. I've got some music I like on my phone that is what your outfit made me think of, and I'd be happy to play it for you sometime and see what you think of it--some of it's wizarding music and some of it isn't, but most of it isn't in English. You don't happen to know L'ArcenCiel, do you? And sure, I can do costuming. This is an outfit for relaxing in, but a lot of the clothing I wear when we don't have to be in uniform is practically costuming anyway. If the way you're dressed now is your casual style, I can certainly dial that up to eleven or twelve."

She petted the cat, gently and tentatively, ready to pull back if the tail started lashing or the cat showed any other signs of discontent.

"If not, well, I'll show you some things I think would look good and you can tell me if you like them, and you show me some things that you think you might like, and I'll let you know if I think they are likely to suit you. And then if we agree, we can work something out."

She was, after all, a Slytherin. Her time and work were valuable. She wasn't willing to give too much away for free. That wasn't how you made people respect you, and even though she liked his looks and was getting to like him more and more as a person, she wanted him to respect her, and she wouldn't have dreamed of offering to do his entire wardrobe for free any more than she would have slept with him before she really knew what he was like or what he thought of her.

"Anyhow, why can't you practise? I know you can't use the same instruments you'd use at a hard rock concert, but you could use their acoustic versions, and try some unplugged versions of what you're doing. It might not be your preferred sound, but at least your hands wouldn't get stiff from not practising."

"Potions help would be wonderful." Lenore told Eurus () with a heavy sigh. "I've just never had a head for them. Spellwork is so much more natural to me. I'd be happy to trade you wandwork lessons if you happen to need them." She unwrapped another cauldron and popped it into her mouth.

Lenore listened as Liz () got her answer about Eurus' family name. "Do you know a lot about magical artifacts then?" she asked the girl, interested. She had refrained from saying 'dark' artifacts, so as not to give the wrong impression. Those were, however, exactly what she was curious about. She had some knowledge of them from home but couldn't study them openly.

Wayland sat up excitedly at Callie's () mention of music on a phone. Dean, giving him a reproving look and moved to the top of the chair. "You brought a phone? I didn't think they worked here." He looked as though Christmas had come early.

"L'ArcenCiel doesn't sound familiar. I'm game to try anything you've got though, English or not. Inspiration comes from the world over, right?" Anxious to get to the music, he forced his mind back to clothing.

"It sounds like you're going to have a fascinating wardrobe." he chuckled, wondering just what sort of 'costume' the girl's clothing would be."And yeah, this is pretty much me." He gestured down to his clothing and shrugged. "But onstage would definitely need to be more flashy. Feel free to take it up to thirteen if you want." He grinned. "We can talk prices later. No sense ruining the creativity with thoughts of transactions." He wrinkled his nose and stuck his tongue out, revealing the silver snake piercing.

"I can practice acoustic versions and I will for sure. But these walls just scream for electric." He looked around at all the stone. "I'm hoping Professor Morgan will let me use one of the other dungeons. There are spells to keep the sound inside but I tried one on the way in here and it didn't work. I'm guessing there's some sort of anti-charm on the rooms to keep students from doing things they're not supposed to in secret. But a teacher should be able to put one up, right?" He looked hopeful but unsure.

Elizabeth nodded but wondered why Eurus () said her home was rather lonely. The question was on the tip of her tongue, but she restrained herself. It might be a sensible topic and she didn't want to dig any further as she knew for herself that deep inquiries about her own family were a touchy subject as well. The majority of people was wary of her family. These kind of thoughts made her feel uncomfortable and she tried to shake them off. If she was so annoyed of her own thoughts, how was it for Eurus then if she not only heard her own thoughts but was well aware of the other's thoughts around here? "I'm sorry if my questions may have been unpleasant. People are quick to judge and love to gossip.", she added to the conversation. "I'm glad that the people I consider friends are not pertubed by me talking with snakes. Or thinking I'm out of my mind.", she said and smiled wryly, "But I guess we all have our fair share of family history." Unwillingly, but curious, her gaze shifted to Lenore() at the last sentence. Her family was a touchy subject as well and Elizabeth was asking herself what might have happened.

She grinned a bit when Lenore asked about magical artifacts - she knew her friend well enough to be sure what she was after to know. With an encouraging look on her face, she turned back to Eurus, hoping she would open up a little, probably as interested as Lenore.

(OOC; slightly edited =D )

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"Phones don't work here in the sense that they can't connect to anything," said Callista, "and you can't call or text anyone. Something about the ambient magic disrupts the signal. It's probably whatever they've done to keep Hogwarts from showing up on Google Maps and disrupt GPS tracking. Which is important. Before this ridiculous curfew, sometimes at night, if I got far enough away from the castle or high up enough in the Astronomy Tower, I could get a signal--but that's not much of an option right now."

She sighed; the more she thought about this, the more annoying it was going to be. "So, you can't call and text, and you can't use the internet or your GPS, or check social media. Except sometimes in Hogsmeade, at the edge of the town where you can see Muggle hikers sometimes, though they never come within the city limits. But if you have a passive solar charger--I think that's what Blaise called it--you can still use it to access files you have stored inside it. Without a charger, the battery runs out too fast, and I'm not sure what passive solar actually means, but it has something to do with getting energy out of sunlight, which of course is not blocked by the wards. And of course you can use the phone to take pictures and make recordings, as long as you're not close to any of the laboratories and workshops, because whatever energies we use to do magic with can interfere with the way electronics work. So it's not completely useless, but it does mean that you have to actually download any music or videos or books that you want to be able to access at school, because you can't stream anything."

She considered his suggestion for a moment. "I hope they'll let us do charms like that. If they're going to keep us cooped up in the House between 9:30 PM and breakfast every day, they're going to have to let us have more fun inside the dungeons. And if all we want to do is play music and we keep the door cracked so prefects can see that all you're doing is playing instruments and all I'm doing is playing recordings..." Callista shrugged.

"But yeah, otherwise Hogsmeade is in for a shock, because people are going to want to run wild if we haven't any freedom at all any more. I want to play you some music, but not in here, because there will be people here that won't like hearing Muggle music in the Slytherin Common Room. It's not worth upsetting people we're going to be locked in here with every night when we can play it tomorrow outside. But I can show you pictures. And if you want, I can get my sketchbook later. It has the advantage of not needing battery power, but is also the size of a small atlas, plus I lose my swatches if I'm not careful."

"I know quite a bit about magical artifacts," She said to to Lenore with a knowing wink. "All sorts of them."

Eurus gave Elizabeth a wry sort of smile. "When you grow up commenting on people's thoughts and ignoring what they actually say, they tend to think you're quite mad," She said and gathered up Princess who was trying to slither away toward something that had caught her attention - probably someone's pet rat. That wouldn't end well.

"There isn't much to say about my home," Eurus added in a dismissive tone. She didn't want to talk about her mother, who never had time for her - or her father, who she would never be good enough for. ...And then there was Morgana. Merlin, did she hate her sister. How that mental case made it as the keeper for the Holyhead Harpies, was beyond her. Eurus was twice as good as she was, and had better grades than most of the Ravenclaws. Morgana was as dumb as brick, and few about as well as one, too. "Maybe I'll try out for quidditch this year," She mumbled to herself. just to prove that I'm better than her, she added to herself.

Liz's () glance toward Lenore didn't go unnoticed. She knew that conversations involving her own family had always been cut short. There were just too many things that she couldn't say. Too many secrets that weren't her own.

Eurus () seemed to be just as quiet about her own family. Knowing better than to pry, Lenore kept the subject on safer topics - like illegal dark artifacts. "I would love to hear about some of the items you've seen." She said this calmly but her eyes glittered. "If we have time between studying that is."

Wayland listened as Callie () explained about mobile phones at Hogwarts. There was a lot to process and he only understood half of it. He knew what a charger was but had never heard of a 'passive solar' variety. Didn't they just work with plugs? Not that there were any plugs at Hogwarts. But still, he could have his music!

"I'm not sure I followed all of that but I definitely need to send an owl to dad and see if I get my phone." He grinned "The music alone is worth it." He thought for a moment. "Did you really go out to the astronomy towers at night? I thought night-time wandering wasn't allowed." he didn't look disapproving but rather impressed.

He looked around the common room again, noting that as nice as it was, being full of the whole of Slytherin house every night would get a bit cramped. "You're right, if the teachers don't give us something to do they're going to have chaos on their hands. I wonder why it's so strict?"

Leaning back into his chair again he looked pensive then giving up trying to figure out mysteries he didn't have any lead on he said "I'd love to see your sketches."