[OPEN] We're supposed to be BFFs

The one thing Gretel could decisively say she liked about Hogwarts was the loose dress code outside of classes. Even in classes, deviations from the uniform were regular occurrences, and some students even dared to wear street clothes - and only a few professors seemed bothered enough to dole out punishments. No one dared to break dress codes at Durmstrang. Then again, uniformity was one of the tenants of the Russian school. Hogwarts seemed to encourage individuality. And there were certainly some... unique individuals.

She had learned the names of her dormmates rather quickly, but they all seemed to enjoy taking up mysterious and distant affectations, so she had not yet had an introduction that was anything more than curt. But it was Friday night, she had been changed out of her school clothes for the last hour, and there were no classes tomorrow. She couldn't see how they could get around some level of socializing.

She slipped into the dorm under the guise of looking for a book, to find a few of the other girls already there - which she knew, having watched them filter upstairs from the common room. Gretel certainly could do without the warmth of her peers, having always preferred the cold, but she knew that she would need allies and the air of casual friendships. What better place to start than with the girls she would probably be mixing her bras and shoes up with for the next three years.

Unless Sofie miraculously saved her. What a day that would be.

Having found her book in her trunk, she closed the lid and glanced around, with wide, almost uncertain eyes. She settled onto her trunk and started, "So." The Russian accent was thick, even in one syllable. "What does Hogwarts do celebrate the end of the week?"

"Well, I mean there's Hogsmeade." Aleksa answered, looking at the new Slytherin from where she sat on her bed with her legs stretched out and arms holding herself up. Aleksa's head was tilted to the side, almost resting on her right shoulder as she scanned the room. She didn't think she was looking for anything in particular but she didn't like making it seem like she was staring.

The new girl interested her, to some extent. She was the new girl after all, and she came from another of the Wizarding schools, one that Aleksa didn't really know anything about. Not that she knew about the rest of them any more. Hell, she barely knew about Hogwarts still, even after four years of wandering about the old castle.

She decided to finally get up from her bed, swinging her legs and lifting herself up to jump off. "It's a Hogsmeade weekend, after all. You haven't been there, I think you came right after our last one? Is that right?" Aleksa raised an eyebrow at Gretel? (was that her name?). She had never been good with learning names quickly.

"But if you don't want to go, you can stay here. With the others. Go to the library, study or something? Have a party. Whatever your little heart desires, really." Aleksa threw her hands out with a shrug, bringing her sweatshirt with them as they were in the pockets. Hogsmeade was quaint, but it certainly had more things to do than the castle.. sometimes.

Naomi was lying across the foot of her bed, watching the other girls upside down as her curly, brown-and-green hair dangled and swung from side to side. One foot mirrored that over the other side of the bed, but the other was bent at the knee. She probably would have had more fun ignoring them and reading or planning the next way to antagonize Aleksa, Apollo or her sister, but she was currently enjoying the idea that her unwavering, though wrong-side-up, gaze might make them uncomfortable.

She couldn't tell if the stare was what made New Girl speak up, but either way, a conversation was started.

"Hogsmeade," Naomi cut in, her tone a little too superior for the topic, "is only for certain students. You have to be old enough to go, so at least we won't have any tiny people running amok around us. But it can be rather fun if you plan your day ahead of time.

"Lunch," she listed off, raising a hand to count the ideas on her fingers, "stopping at the sweets shop. Stalking Aleksa as she tries to stalk Zabini. The snake-ish one, not the badger," Naomi clarified, sending a smirk in Gretel's direction. "And there's always a professor that supervises, so to speak. Hayes is going again, so that should be interesting. Despite Aleksa's obsession with Apollo, I'm sure she'd agree that the headmaster isn't half bad to look at. And so uptight that it's fantastically fun to mess with him. Y'know - the one that teaches Transfig."

Gretel knew the drill, and she had a very particular roster she was trying to fill out. A group of female friends was helpful, especially a trio. She didn't know if these two girls were close enough that they could be the friendship that adopted her in, but she figured it was a good place to start. A trio of 'best friends', an extended female group so no trip to the restroom had to be made alone, an alliance or two with the most clever students in her year, and a connection to a chivalrous boy or two who would always look forward to an opportunity to defend her if she ever needed it. After all, these were distressing times.

"March 1st," Gretel confirmed, nodding at the first girl (Aleksa, she was pretty sure). The idea of venturing out so soon was something her mother would surely be appalled about. She'd been transferred for her safety, after all, but Gretel loathed the idea of remaining behind with only the younger students for company. No, if she was going to remain behind, she needed a plan, some sort of plot...

It was pleasing to know she could do 'whatever her little heart desired.' Gretel smiled at the girl with wide eyes. Little heart. How condescending. How lovely.

Her eyes flicked over to the other girl, who spoke more plainly and tried to seem to be without pretense. Gretel figured anyone who went out of their way to be so at odds with everyone else had a thorn or two in their side. She certainly knew Naomi already, having sat near enough in classes to hear the girl speak. Gretel's interest was... piqued. She'd allow for that.

Gretel allowed for a coy, hinting at devilish grin, to touch at her lips. "The Headmaster? Yes, I might have noticed that." Her eyes slid back to Aleska. "You're following around the Zabini boy? I've heard a few things about him - they sounded pretty far-fetched, even by boarding-school standards." She grinned and explained, "Even with all of the mandatory silence at Durmstrang, our gossip mill still works rather well."

Aleksa scoffed, rolling her eyes at Naomi. "I do not stalk him." She retorted with a hand on her hip. She might try hard to not seem like that, but really, who was she kidding? She was sure pretty much everyone knew she had a thing for Apollo, no matter how much she 'tried' to hide it.

At least the reactions were fun, sometimes.

"Good to know you like me enough to stalk me, though." She half smirked at Naomi. She was joking, of course.. maybe not. She turned, taking a hand out of her pockets and pointed a finger at Gretel. "Don't you go getting any weird ideas." She wagged her finger a bit before dropping her hand to her side and replacing it back in the pocket.

She probably looked like she was being over dramatic, but how else were you supposed to look when someone was calling you a stalker? Hm. Aleksa pursed her lips at the mention of the Headmaster. Her head tilted to the side again, she nodded at Naomi. "Not an obsession," she said in a half pout, ".. but yeah, Hayes is definitely attractive. Just a little too uptight for my liking."

Didn't mean she didn't enjoy looking at the Headmaster while in class. He didn't compare to Apollo, though.

Merlin, maybe Naomi's choice of words were right.

Naomi was shocked that Aleksa made it through Gretel's comments, but when the blonde spoke up, her obviously more witty housemate lifted an eyebrow in muted approval. Clever. Not that Aleksa knew what it meant to have a poker face. Granted, Naomi had never played herself, but at least she understood the concept.

"Very nice cover, Carlevaro." Naomi shook her head a little, sitting up enough to look at Gretel right-side-up. "You don't have to decide now, but if you do decide you want to stalk her, I expect a full report." She flopped back down again. "Can't do all the work myself."

That was quite fair, she felt. Not an invitation - Naomi didn't do friendly fun bonding time - but a recommendation that Gretel join in on the conspiracy. If it wasn't taken as a proper welcome by the new girl, then she could go right ahead and shove off. Naomi didn't have the time for people who asked for too much.

Still, she looked over at Aleksa again. "So, if Hayes is too uptight, what exactly are you looking for? Apollo is a great idiot, frankly - particularly compared to the Headmaster, and even compared to his brother. His twin, actually. Surely you'd go for the other one before our housemate?"

Gretel knew people didn't like to open themselves up as it was, but she had the added challenge of coming in after friendships had been established, and by joining the House that seemed the most reluctant to admit any weakness - and they all had the foolish thought that making friends was a weakness. Like most of her House, Gretel looked at what use people had in her life, but she didn't see how isolation helped anyone. Alliances were a cleverer route by far.

The two girls were comfortable with each other and fell into a pleasant banter that, while it didn't exactly exclude her, didn't really give her much to work with. She reached over to grab one of her pillows, which she was embroidering to add a Hogwarts crest next to the Durmstrang one - all about image. She took up the needle and quietly went about the work, her large blue eyes bouncing between the two girls, only dropping to take stock of what she was doing with the needle and thread.

"Uptight and dumb have very different drawbacks," Gretel pointed out, tilting her head. "Dumb can still offer fun." She paused. "Of course, I don't know either of them very well, but... generally speaking."

Well, well, wasn't this just a strange sight.

Aleksa glanced from Naomi to Gretel and back. Naomi being semi-nice? It was a once in a lifetime sight. "Well aren't you just a sweetheart." Aleksa sarcastically said to Naomi, putting a hand on her hip. Oh, she just loved that stalking her was the topic of conversation here.

She supposed that was a good as it was going to get with Naomi. Then again, now Apollo was a part of the conversation and that already made it so much better, even if Naomi had not intended it like that.

"Exactly." Aleksa nodded at Gretel's comment. "Hayes just isn't as much fun. He's just eye candy, basically." Aleks started to explain. "Apollo though.. Well, he might be an idiot more than half the time, but I think that's what makes him attractive." she shrugged.

Aleksa pondered the thought of Apollo's brother.

She shook her head. "He's too nice." Aleksa liked nice, yeah, who didn't? But his brother was too nice. "I don't have much to work with, with him." Plain and simple, she shrugged again.