It's time to begin, isn't it?

Henri waved her hand, assuring Alice that the little clique was much too far to be of any worry to them. "Nah, we're fine!" The panic in the girl's voice was enough to really prove it to Henri though - the girl had a major Jones for the guy. This was especially clear in her nervous question, hoping to find she had chose properly. "Pshyaw," Henri replied, her American accent contrasting with the refined tinkling of the British one coming from the other girl's mouth. "He's a grade A babe. Hunkocity level off the charts. Well, not off the charts, but he's a danger to the charts." She smirked - indie literature really had swayed her own vocabulary far from normal.

She seemed embarrassed to admit she liked him. The girls at Salem hadn't ever been shy, for it had been obvious - with as little interaction with boys they had, the girls jumped at any they met. The only uncertainty was how to maneuver around the other dozen girls had met him that day. The girls had to be loud and proud to preemptively stake their claim. Here, girls did not have that problem, so they would probably be more coy, more shy- that could be a challenge.

Alice's words were a classic underplay, so Henri allowed a small, knowing smile to spread onto her face. "Honey, I think you know what that means." Alice pressed on, however, eager to change the subject. Henri listened, continuing on, before causally asking, "What house is Andrei in?"

She listened to Henri's words trying to find some sense in them, but the just seemed to foreign for her to understand. "Pardon me?" she asked rather confused, but for some reason she had a feeling that the girl was saying good things. "And that's a good thing I suppose?" she asked curiously. It was strange how much she actually enjoyed this, just chatting about her crush with another girl. The problem was she couldn't really do that with any of her friends without getting the judgmental 'you must be mad as a cow' look. So Alice just learned to avoid the subject all together and pretend like nothing has ever happened.

Just as she thought she was safe with her talk of the houses, Henri had someone managed to turn the topic back to Andrei again. "He's in Slytherin" she said honestly, not really worrying about her reaction because she didn't really know much about Hogwarts houses just yet.

"Has anyone told you anything about the houses? Or some history behind them?" she asked curiously. The first step to understanding Hogwarts life was to understand how the houses were divided. And of course, to know about the rivalry between them. Besides detentions and minor scandals, this was what drove the school's gossip life. It was a story if two students were caught kissing on the grounds, but a real scandal if they came from opposite houses. "People have some...well prejudices I guess about each house. Stereotype of some sort. Certain traits are attributed to certain houses. Not that in real life it's always like that, but it's taken as a general rule. You'll find that students are very loyal to their houses, which can cause quite a nasty competition" said Alice who wasn't a fan of the house system anyway in the first place.

Ah, confusion. It was one of Henri's favorite drugs, right along with angst and discord. Pure, simple confusion was just a wonderful expression to prompt, such a delicious state to force upon someone else. Her eyes shined with innocence whilst her soul gleamed with the malice of this small offense done to the girl who would never think it a crime, and yet must feel some of her own inadequacy. Henri was certain she had somehow transcended the human experience to have such power over these mortals.

She could not let Miss Alice flounder for long. Alice was in need of answers, and Henri was disposed to give them. Once Henri could establish that she was capable of giving Alice these answers she was so curious to have, trust would grow, a dependence would be born. It all started with the simple use of confusing American slang, and the quick affirmation that this Andrei stranger was indeed hot.

"Affirmative, man. He's a babe, and a babe forever. In British terms, quite handsome and someone to be fancied." She smiled good naturedly, though racism could be a bit hit or miss.

"No one's told me anything of the Houses!" Henri responded cheerfully, which was a lie. Her brother's girlfriend Zanna had a British cousin, so she knew a ton about Hogwarts, including all the stereotypes associated with the Houses. Zanna had teased "You're wicked enough that Slytherin will probably bow before you. Though, I'd love to see the irony of you becoming a Hufflepuff and making all those goodies cry." Ravenclaw hadn't necessarily been a shocker, yet Zanna still swore up and down she would have loved to see Henri adorned in yellow.

Something in Alice's manner gave Henri the audacity to say, "Is Andrei in a different House then you, then?"

Though Keith was one-hundred-and-ten percent positive he was only made prefect by mistake, he was now halfway through the year and no closer to getting his status revoked. Every attempt to reason with the teachers had failed, as had every attempt to reason with Liesl.

But though he would never admit it to anyone, Keith was beginning to find himself enjoying some of the perks of being a Prefect. The power, definitely, was a plus, as was the added reputation - some first years seemed to be certain he had blackmailed the faculty into getting the position, and he wasn't about to tell them otherwise.

Unfortunately, ever silver lining had its cloud, and the cloud of Prefectdom came in the form of responsibility.

"Meet with the new student, Keith," Keith muttered in a mocking falsetto. "Make sure she feels at home, Keith," he groaned. "She could at least be on time."

He stood outside the Ravenclaw common room, torso draped over the railing as he stared down at the moving staircases. Every few minutes the staircase he was on would swing across the empty chasm below, giving him a view of the door to the common room. He made sure to give the bronze eagle the finger every time he got the chance. He hated that thing.

"Penguin was a totally acceptable answer," he muttered to himself.

He was waiting for the new girl (who was supposed to have arrived ten minutes ago) so that he could escort her into the Ravenclaw common room and show her around her new home.

A flash of movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and a moment later he could see two heads - what looked like Alice Longbottom and a girl he didn't know - coming up the stairs in his direction. They were talking, and when they got close enough Keith could hear snatches of their conversation drifting up the stairways.

"Is Andrei in a different House then you, then?" He heard the new girl say. Her voice sounded very distinctly un-british, with an accent that quite unexpectedly snapped him back to his pre-Hogwarts days living in the good old US of A.

"Oh, he's in Sly-ther-in!" Keith called down to the two girls. He was now hanging almost completely over the railing, arms dangling uselessly in mid air. He kicked his feet a couple times. "Which means he's eeeeeeevil!"

He grinned down at Alice. "Sup, Alice. Long time no see, am I right?"

Alice nodded her head to Henri and just as she was to answer, she heard a voice shouting from somewhere nearby. With a single glance she discovered it was Keith, who was now hanging from the railings of the stairs. "Nice to see you too Keith. Do you mind if I ask what are you doing up there?" she asked with a chuckle. Although a weird position to be found in, because it was Keith it immediately because a completely different story.

She rolled her eyes on his comment about Slytherins. Of course many people thought like that, but she was sure Keith was only joking. But still even as a joke, a stereotype of that kind was never funny to her. "Right cause all Slytherins are evil" Alice said again rolling her eyes. "Do you know Andrei Dolohov by the way? I'm not sure if you do" she asked curiously. If he did know him, it would be interesting to see what Keith thought about Andrei. Since she didn't have many Slytherin friends, she couldn't ask around about him. If she did, all she would find out was nasty gossips some Gryffindors made up. Perhaps Keith as a Ravenclaw could be objective on the subject.

"Oh this is Henri Finch, the new transfer student. Henri, this is Keith Nicholas. He is your Ravenclaw Perfect. I suppose he's going to show you around the dorms and common room, since I can't" Alice said, finally turning her attention back to the girl next to her. She had wondered where the girl would fit in here. There was a lot of clicks and groups at Hogwarts, and it was always interesting to see where the newbies would find their place. Sometimes told her that Henri wouldn't exactly take the traditional Ravenclaw roles.

"And don't listen to him about stereotypes. That would mean that every Ravenclaw is a snobbish nerd, which of course is not true" she added with a laugh. Of course Slytherin wasn't the only house with a stereotype tied to it, all the houses had some bad and good reputation.

A deep voice from above answered Henri's carefully crafted question and she tipped her head back, looking up to see the dangling body of a grinning boy with floppy blonde hair. Henri tipped her head all the way back, her hair brushing against her shoulders, a small smirk unfurling on Henri's dark lips. His response was cheeky and surprisingly snarky. So far, she had been dealing with your basic squares. Perhaps there were signs of intelligence in this foreign land.

Alice responded, offering a name for this newcomer - Keith. "Keith," Henri drawled, tasting the letters. Alice continued on, the silly desperation of a schoolgirl crush prompting her to be a bit neurotic when the subject strayed to her little green-clad heartthrob. Alice got back on track and Henri raised her arm, shaking her hand in greeting as she said, "Greetings, Keith Nicholas."

He was to show her the dorms. She was a bit pleased to be near someone who may be capable of keeping up with her. Of course, she expected hers to soon triumph, but a challenge was always fun.

Alice continued and Henri turned to her, saying as innocently as possible, "I don't know though. I'm a bit of a snobbish nerd-" LIE "-so what they say may be true."

She just wanted to see the girl squirm.

"Do you know Andrei Dolohov by the way? I'm not sure if you do," Alice asked, a mask of innocent curiosity spread across her face. Keith bristled. He had run an honest to god Hogwarts tabloid for a time, (and hey, Keith's Korner was going to make a comeback any day now) and had access to two incredibly potent magical information gathering devices - the Marauder's Map, which allowed him to see where anyone at Hogwarts was at any given moment, and his own Watch (which had been on the fritz recently, like even more than usual, but on a good day it would let him peer into the past for a minute or so before nearly setting his arm on fire).

And Alice Longbottom had the gall to challenge him about Andrei motherloving Dolohov?!

Well, to be quite honest with himself, Keith didn't know all that much about Leisl's older brother. If he was half as vicious and cunning as his sister (something Keith doubted was completely possible but hey) he was a force to be reckoned with.

"Hold that though," Keith said, sliding down the railing as the stair swung back into position. He hopped off at the bottom of the stairs, landing next to Alice and the new girl - Henry, from Alice's introduction. Weird name for a girl.

As he landed, he tripped and fell, turning the fall into an awkward, stumbling roll at the last moment. He popped up and leaned against the railing as if nothing had happened, rubbing the side of his forehead awkwardly.

"So. Andrei," he said immediately, not wanting to give either of the girls a chance to comment on his tumble. "Well, there's the fact that his dad was a blood purist terrorist, which whoa, okay, let's take a step back and look at that one again. His dad was a blood purist and terrorist. Right. Also, he's crushing on a girl the same age as his little sister, which is just like...gross, and well, let's be real here, I don't think papa Longbottom would really approve of Andrei having any kind of interaction with his little girl. Which is just an educated guess you know, but I feel pretty confident about it.

Her attention completely turned to Keith as he jumped from the railing on the stairs to the ground next to them, which unfortunately only ended in a very clumsy landing. Trying to hide the amused grin on her face from his fall, Alice only smiled at Keith and moved her gaze somewhere else until he was safely back on his feet. She had to for she feared she could burst out laughing any moment now, which wouldn't be that polite after all. And Alice hated to be rude.

So, Andrei, she had heard him say, and Alice's eyes immediately went back to Keith, impatiently waiting for his next words. But what she had heard had only angered her. It was quite rare to see Alice so red in her face and hands tightly gripping into a fist, she truly wasn't a violent type. She couldn't help it I guess. She was already so sick of people's prejudices against Andrei and his whole family. Not only was it completely ridiculous, but it was making her life a living hell. Which she could deal with sometimes. It was expected from her dad and her family. He wouldn't like St. Peter if he was dating his daughter. But hearing those words coming from Keith had made her sick, and angry. Was the world really that blind and ignorant? Or was Alice so blinded by her crush on Andrei not to see the whole truth?

"I didn't ask about his father, I asked about him. Don't see how those two have anything to do with each other. We don't chose the family we grow up in. So the next time you say something like that, why don't you turn around and look at yourself" spat Alice in a frustrated manner. "Nobody is crushing on anyone here..." she started immediately, trying to defend herself but rather in a clumsy way. The last thing she needed was her brother or Merlin forbid her dad, hearing some rumors about her and Andrei. Which would of course be completely untrue. But it would be enough to send her family off the edge and her mom to the hospital for a hear attack.

"If you must know, I don't have any interactions with him. I was just being curious, that's all. No need to jump into conclusions here, I mean wow." she said rolling her eyes at Keith's assumption. "And my father has nothing to do with who I date or not date. He could care less" Alice said, which was a big lie of course. But she was trying ti downplay the importance of her father's opinion to her, so no one would get any ideas.

The boy must be overcompensating for something. Given his confidence, however, she could guess Keith was used to being the cool guy, and he probably acted like he didn't notice, or like he didn't care he was, but every kid did. Every kid wanted to be the cool guy that didn't try to be cool. She could tell by the way he messed up his grand entrance, and the quickness in his covering it up. It was a cover up, but one that most people would commend him for. Henri would neither comment nor chastise. She was still summing him up.

He was clever, and intuitive - or Alice was even more obvious than Henri had thus far witnessed. Henri wasn't sure but she was pleased by Alice's immediate defense mechanisms. Mmmm, she could work with this type of personality, one that had something to lose, one that really cared about the opinions of others. Keith seemed like he would be less malleable, but much more clever.

"You two should try out a date. Same age, and you guys already bicker. That's two out of three." She paused and then wryly said, "Those two end up leading to number three. That's the fun."

Aha. She was bad.

"Mee-yow," Keith said as Alice spat back his responses, wiggling his fingers in a poor imitation of claws. "Calm down kitty-cat, nobody asked for you to go spitting your family problems all over the perfectly clean staircase like a giant frickin hairball lying around being all gross and uncomfortable."

"You two should try out a date," Henri said. "Same age, and you guys already bicker. That's two out of three." She paused and then wryly said, "Those two end up leading to number three. That's the fun."

"Haha, sex jokes," Keith said with a roll of his eyes. "Look at me, I'm so edgy and hip and snide. Look, new girl, keep this up and won't tell you which of those stairs are fake ones."