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It had been a long day gallivanting in Hogsmeade with the Gryffindor gang. Roxi loved them all so dearly. Trent, Millie, Byron, even Sam had showed up. Just wandering around, stirring up trouble, spending all of their money. Roxi had even dressed for the part, sporting her crimson and gold just in case they ran into any Slytherins. Which, of course, they had. The Slytherin gang was still as unfriendly as ever.

Even Damien.

It was incredibly surprising that Roxi still had not slipped up and let it out that she and Damien were not common enemies in the Gryffindor/Slytherin feud. But then again, Damien had made it clear that she could not speak of it. And he kept up the charade well, almost painfully well. He looked at her with distaste even when they were alone. Roxi was just as good at acting irritated with him when surrounded by fellow Gryffindors. However, she did not hate him enough to keep up the act alone. In fact, she did not hate him at all, but she had done something to earn his revulsion.

She had told Millie she would get them snacks. After these days, she and Millie settled down with snacks to gossip about the couples they had seen and relive the day. The other girls had not minded that Roxi and Millie and the other advanced years had cordoned off their bunks. Typically, Roxi and Millie did not speak with them, unless they had information they had not been previously aware of. Millie and Roxi were the blessed ones at the center of the fun in Hogwarts. And the others knew it and could not hope to keep up.

The elves always rushed Roxi- apparently, she could be annoying or something. She had all the sweets she needed from Honeydukes; candy apples, chocolate glazed popcorn, jellybeans galore, and of course, all different types of chocolate. So she asked for some flasks of hot chocolate, some vanilla pudding, and a loaf of banana bread. She did not know what carried her requests. She just listed off the foods that came to mind and loaded up a basket for herself and her friend.

She hurried off to the dorm, realizing soon it would be curfew and those prefects who had had it in for her for years would be on her tails. She slipped inside the common room just as a Ravenclaw prefect spotted her, rushing as she said the password for entrance. “Pixies!” She glanced around to see everyone was still in a Hogsmeade mood and were enjoying all of their new toys. Good. She and Millie would have some quiet to talk for awhile.

Roxi ran upstairs, waving at Byron whose eyes followed her upstairs. She bounded into the common room, calling, “Honey, I’m home.” She giggled and closed the door, spazzing her way to her bed. She tossed the basket onto Millie’s bed and said, “I brought goodies.” She began tearing through her trunk and yanked out her pajamas. She sat on the bed and began going about kicking off her shoes and peeling off her long socks. “All the boys are downstairs messing around with the third years. I think they are telling that group of third years that always follow them that they can be in the group and they are making them do initiation type things. The can be cruel.” She giggled.

Hogsmeade weekends were the days best spent with friends and every time there came an opportunity to go into the village, Millie took it with great excitement - taking with her the friends that made up the Gryffindor clique. They’d filled their boots with candy, drunk far too much Butterbeer than could be considered healthy and hadn’t missed out on an opportunity to harass the poor old Slytherins that really couldn’t let sleeping dogs lie. It was Spencer who’d kept Millie from going for Kendall’s jugular. She’d been hoisted up onto his shoulders long before they’d encountered the clique and he was infinitely glad he had. That hadn’t stopped her from flicking her wand at the smug bastard’s retreating back though. She’d cast a spell, though she’d kept mum on what it was. Her smile was wide enough for them to tell she’d done something dastardly. She’d merely pocketed her wand at Spencer’s incessant probing and had tapped the side of her nose - it was for her to know and for them to find out and appreciate later. Pink was to become a new Slytherin colour and Millie foresaw a visit from a certain floppy-haired Slytherin in the coming days.

Disappointingly, the sun had gone in and the chill of winter that was just not quite ready to release spring had set in. Shuddering, the Gryffindors made their way back to the castle, Millie stealing Spencer’s hat and Trent’s coat, her reasoning for this being that she was one of the girls and therefore had to be looked after, something the pair had no choice but to agree to. Byron was all too happy to lend his coat to Roxi, which made Millie smirk widely. It had come to Millie’s attention quite worryingly that she was running out of cigarettes and though Spencer was perfectly willing to give her packets from his stash, she knew there would come a time where she’d have to make the trip to Dufftown to get some of her own and so before they headed home, while the others were in The Three Broomsticks, Millie and Trent wandered down to Dufftown where they visited the girl in the corner shop who was more than willing to sell them their usual. Millie and Trent hadn’t tackled any of the issues that faced their relationship during the twenty minutes or so they were alone together. Instead they’d teased each other like they had before things had gotten serious between them and then broken off before anything serious had really begun. It drove Millie mad but she accepted it the way it was, not knowing how to change things. It was best, she decided, just to leave it.

The castle was quieter than it had been when they’d left that morning, and understandably so. The students were weary but still excitable and many were scarpering towards their dormitories to relay tales of the day to their friends or to sit around the common room fire and play Wizard’s Chess or something of the like. Others were sneaking out to take part in some less than tasteful activities in and around the castle. Millie had found one particular pair hiding behind a suit of armour hilarious, wondering what would happen if the armour was to come alive like they had been rumoured to during the Battle of Hogwarts. Millie merely brushed them off though and the clique found themselves back in the safety of the Gryffindor common room not ten minutes after they’d arrived back on the grounds - having walked because of their lateness. All had flushed cheeks and silly grins on their faces though and the boys were quick to chase out some second years from the arm chairs by the fire.

Millie had taken to the dormitory, chucking the hat and jacket she’d stolen into the boy’s dorm before heading to the girls’. She shook her shoes off of her feet and kicked them towards her bed immediately upon entrance, ignoring the calls for her to pick them up by the other girls in the room. Millie merely scoffed and plopped herself down on her bed, allowing her bag to fall to the floor beside her bed. Eventually, after a few moments of breath, she sat up and made for the cigarettes she’d bought which she’d stashed in her bag to keep them from the prying view of the teachers. The other girls immediately began to protest once more but Millie ignored them, placing her vase-cum-ashtray on her knee before lighting up.

Roxi’s exclamation upon arrival made Millie choke on the drag she was half way through. She laughed, her laugh coming out in coughs and puffs of smoke, before belting out her own greeting.

“Ello sweet cheeks!” Millie peered into the basket of goodies and nodded happily, only taking her eyes off of the food inside when she saw the other girls file out, disgust written across their faces. “Nu’night!” Millie called after them with a laugh. She placed the cigarette between her lips and dragged the basket towards her, frowning a little at the look of the banana loaf but found herself desperate to tuck into it despite’ her scepticism. She looked up at Roxi when she spoke about what the boys were up to. “Mmm. I’m on pyrotechnics tomorrow,” Millie smirked. “If they can withstand gunpowder, they’re in. What’s new, anyway? You need to fill me in! I feel as if we haven’t spoken in forever.”

Roxi saw that Millie had already broken into the cigarettes. It made her own longing buck a little inside her, but it was not cigarettes she craved. She found herself alone in the company of Mr. Spice more and more often and was finding it was less than a casual habit. She had even gone as far as to start harassing the little girl that helped Keith for their new batches. The girl was strange though- at one point, Roxi had grabbed her arm and the girl had done some weird karate move that neatly broke Roxi’s wrist. So Roxi had let the girl go undisturbed since.

She had some Spice at the bottom of the trunk, but she would not pull it out. That was one of the only secrets she had to herself, and she knew it was one she had to keep. The castle knew of her drinking, her smoking, her meet-ups. There were simply too many Weasleys around for Roxi to trust that news of worse things would not get to her family. The only thing that kept dear little Freddie in the dark was that he was a stupid first year and no one talked to them.

So, it was with discipline that Roxi said, “Oooh, fresh stuff. Nummy!” She giggled and continued peeling off her socks. She wadded them up and threw them in her hamper. She scrounged around until she found a pair of slippers and slipped her cold feet into them. She realized she still had on Byron’s jacket, so she shrugged it off and tossed it by her pillow. She slipped off her suspenders and gloves and tossed them into her trunk, feeling freer already.

Millie was already looking through the snacks Roxi had bestowed upon her. The other girls were leaving, and Roxi made a big show of blowing kisses at them. The second the door closed, she called in a sing song voice, “Stuck up spoil sports!” It was light and carefree, because Roxi was never really serious about anything. She turned back to Millie and said, “The banana bread is good. Scout’s honor. I can eat a dozen loafs myself.”

She found her own hidden stash of cigarettes and tossed them towards her pillow for after she ate. She tore off a chunk of the bread and grabbed a flask, settling down criss-cross applesauce at the head of her bed with her goodies. Roxi grinned at Millie’s words and said, “I still say we make them ‘tame’ a hippogriff and show them that nasty three-legged one that always tries to eat first years. That’d be something really worth watching.”

Millie asked her what was new and Roxi shrugged, peeling back the wrapper of some Honeydukes chocolate. “Nothing really,” she said, taking a bite of it. Chew, chew, gulp. “I mean, Mum’s on my case because she thinks I’m dressing flashier or something. I think my cousin Luce might be telling her mum all of the shenanigans I reportedly do, so I have to be careful around Huffers now.” She rolled her eyes and then gave Millie a teasing grin. “It’s hard work, being adored. What about you, though? What’s been going on? Boys?” Her smile turned devious at the last word. She always liked talking boys with Millie, comparing notes. They knew quite a bit about the male population by now.

Cigarettes always tasted odd when in bulk and the ones Millie now found herself in possession of tasted particularly odd but not without her favourite addition that came with bulk packaging: dust. That wasn’t enough to put her off of the cigarettes though. They’d cost her an arm and a leg nearly - the exchange between Wizard and Muggle currencies not particularly favourable towards Wizards - and she wasn’t about to give them up just because the dust was too much. It wasn’t, they just needed a bit of a tap on the nearest surface before she lit up or just room to breathe a bit, that was all they seemed to lack. It hadn’t been enough room for them to breathe but it had been enough for the dust particles to weasel in. Their roommates didn’t particularly seem to appreciate the cigarettes either, not that Millie could blame them. She had made a name for herself out of being hard headed and difficult with the people around her but sometimes she felt for them, momentarily, and only a little bit. She found it easier just to be the bane of their existences; she didn’t like the idea of being able to identify with their plight. Not that she could, mind you. She smoked voluntarily, it wasn’t as if it was something she begrudged doing. She adored the practise, in fact.

Millie managed to shoot a somewhat apologetic smile to one of the girls; Isobel, she believed her name was. There was nothing strictly wrong with Isobel either, she was pleasant enough but she was most obviously the ring leader of the other girls. And because Millie and Roxi refused to fit in with that, they were public enemy’s #1 and #2. Isobel was a tall girl from an old Pureblood family. She knew her worth and she was certainly very aware of herself. She had high cheekbones and glorious, silky black hair that fell to her mid back bone straight. She spoke with wit of decades past, something Millie only vaguely understood but rarely attempted to respond back to the girl. It was for that reason that Isobel was somewhat insufferable as far as Millie was concerned. Only when the girl was quiet was she sufferable. There was, however, something that Millie did not take kindly to and that was the disdain Isobel had for Muggleborns as a result of her upbringing. She was a victim, somewhat, of circumstance but Millie knew how the girl felt about the Pureblood regime. It was important and nothing and nobody - especially not some dirty Mudblood - was going to stand in the way of that. Millie liked the passion but dismayed at the execution of the protection of said regime.

Taking a drag of the cigarette, Millie prevented herself from narrowing her eyes at Roxi’s own departure call to the other girls. It would have been somewhat hypocritical of her to have done so, her own harassment of the little band of females well recognised within the Gryffindor ranks. Millie instead blew out the plume of smoke she’d inhaled and reached for the ash tray on her bedside table, flicking the cigarette’s ash into the bowl and turning her attention back to the basket of goodies that was now sat in their room. She didn’t particular fancy the loaf though Roxi assured her it was sublime. Millie moved that to one side and picked out a box of jelly beans. She took another drag of the cigarette and left it between her lips, blowing the smoke out through her nose ‘like a dragon’ as she fumbled with the packet to get it open - oh, how she loved her jelly beans. Millie smirked, nodding in approval of Roxi’s idea and took her cigarette from her lips once she’d finally gotten the packet open, dipping her hand in and taking out a handful of the different flavoured beans.

Millie scoffed. “Really, Hufflepuffs? They’ve no room to talk. There is a reason why they spend so much time in the Herbology greenhouses. They do a lot more weed than they let on, sneaky buggers.” Millie shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. Millie raised an eyebrow and laughed,’ shaking her head again. “Girls, boys...what do you want to know? Want to cover Gisele Delacour first or shall we skip a few chapters to Trent and me? Or not, as the case usually is? Jesus Christ...I dunno anymore, Rox. He’s got me all over the sodding place. He’s such an arse. I feel as if maybe I should just get myself a boyfriend and be sensible for once. However, I doubt there would be much reward in doing that. Ugh. Never mind it, I suppose.”

Roxi nodded at Millie's words. "I've gotten bored of Huffers. They wear me out, really. They are so damn... noble, or so they think. They act like patrons of goodness or, or-" she struggled to find words that sounded more intelligent than he thoughts on Hufflepuffs really were. She had been trying to expand her mind and vocabulary, but had mostly ended up making a fool of herself. She wasn't sure why she wanted to be smarter, or, at least, appear so. The number of Ravenclaws she had snogged proved that intelligence was not necessary. She just wanted to have a better vocabulary. Like, her professors. Or Damien. He had a nice- why was she thinking about Damien D'Eath's vocabulary. She shook thoughts of the brooding Slytherin from her head and sighed. "Anyway. I've sworn off Huffers." She paused. "And they thank you far too much after snogging. Really kills the mood."

Millie did not seem at all interested in the banana bread, so Roxi leaned over and scooped it up. She tore off a chunk with her bare hands and stuffed it in her mouth. She chewed it thoroughly, then swallowed. The loaf was small, so she took another gigantic bite before wrapping it up and setting it on her bedside stand. She stuck her tongue out at Millie and said, "Your loss." She giggled.

She flopped over on her bed and reached under her bed, groping around on the ground before her fingers snagged the strap of her bag. She drug it out and began rifling through it, looking for the chocolate she had stored there. Her fingers brushed a vial of Spice and her blood chilled but she kept an indifferent expression on her face. Between Slytherins and Spice, she was keeping a lot of secrets from her friends, more so than she ever had before.

She found a piece of chocolate and began unwrapping it, listening to Millie with interest. She raised her eyebrows at the news of Gisele. "A Delacour, ay? Veela blood there." She gave her friend a cheeky smile. "I dunno, Gisele always seemed like a drag to me. Then again, most Ravenclaws are." She thought about Subastian who, while attractive, had been sort of a bore. Her words about Trent stirred Roxi's interest, though. If it had to do with someone in their group, it was different. When it came to those, Roxi considered them family matters.

"Why's he being an arse- I mean, how so?" Roxi shoved a piece of chocolate in her mouth and hardly chewed before swallowing. She wiped her mouth, in case there were any traces of the sweet sticking on her lips, and continued, "It's hard for me to see any of the guys in our group as overly complicated, honestly. They all seem too transparent." Perhaps Luca was a tad complicated, but that was just apart of his ploy to get girls. Cameron was simple, though Peaches had assured Roxi that the boy was a train wreck of emotion. No doubt, Roxi's silly best friend was probably downstairs trying to convince Cameron to go off with her someplace. At least Roxi knew Byron was simple. He told her everything.