All things considered *open*

[Aíne Kildare]

Aíne huffed, muttering about "troublesome talking portraits" in Irish. In her opinion, they needed to find a hobby other than hassling the small Irish 5th year. Of course, not all the portraits in the school, no, just the ones that hung outside the Ravenclaw common room where she spent time unwinding after long days of the same old drudgery. She was bored, and she missed her siblings. Sure Gwenhyvar was in Ravenclaw with her and she saw Morrigan and Aenghus (a Hufflepuff and Gryffindor respectively) at mealtimes, but it wasn't the same, they all lived in different regions of the castle, and their schedules were totally different. Aíne didn't even want to be here, considering the sentiments between the Irish and the English, one could say she had a point. Here, she was the minority among Scots, Welsh, and English. Most, particularly Slytherins who hated her for the traces of muggle blood in her veins (like it was her fault!) made fun of her for her accent or for her speaking patterns when she'd accidentaly slip into her native Irish language.

They were just jealous, Aenghus had pointed out to her over breakfat earlier that morning when she'd complained about the Slytherins laughing at her accent (again), jealous that they weren't one of the smartest students in the year. She'd rolled her eyes at him, opining that she wasn't smart, and was, in many ways, very very strange, unlike Aenghus who seemed to take after the Gryffindor head so much it was spooky, which illicited a poke from her brother's wand, and inciting a poke-battle so fierce, one of the four Founders had descended upon them, admonishing them greatly and taking away five points from each of their houses. At this, they looked properly humbled and chastised and the minute the Founder's back was turned, they were poking each other once more, only this time under the table and more discreetly. Footsteps echoed in the corridor heading towards the common room and Aíne looked up, trying to distinguish who it was.

[Daniel Blevins]

Daniel walked down the Ravenclaw corridor, fuming at himself. Why did Transfiguration have to be so damn hard? He just didn't understand it. Daniel had just previously embarrassed himself in front of a group of Slytherins, attempting to turn a needle into a piece of hay. It was difficult enough for him as it is to transfigure, but hearing the giggles and whispers of the Slytherins standing near by made it so much worse. As if they were just waiting for him to mess up again.

He stopped dead in his tracks. "Maybe next time, you should try putting your energy in the spell, not trying to prove them wrong." he scolded himself. After the needle had exploded into confetti, the Slytherins erupted with laughter and howls. It took almost all of his will power to not hex them on the spot. What did they know, anyway? "The fact that you can't transfigure worth shit..?" he interjected to himself.

Daniel let out a long groan followed up with a slap on his forehead. Well, at least Jessica hadn't been there to see him screw up. His mind started racing as he thought about Jessica. His stomach began to flutter. In a desperate attempt to make the butterflies stop, he tightly hugged himself. "I'll just mull all this over later, with a nice glass of pumpkin juice." he told himself. The brown hair boy continued walking down the corridor with his eyes down on the floor, and his hands jammed in his pocket.

His glance slightly shifted up, and he saw Aine, a fellow Fifth Year Ravenclaw, in the common room. Aine was always a nice, sweet girl. One of Daniel's favorite people, to be quite honest. She was often teased about her accent, but Daniel was particularly fond of it.

He gave her a quick grin and greeted her. "Hello." he said in a rather quiet voice.

[Aíne Kildare]

Aíne watched Daniel enter the common room and arched an eyebrow at his mutterings. She's been in his last class, Transfiguration (though she'd managed to escape the classroom a little bit before him) and had witnessed what had happened. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, Transfiguration was not his best subject. "Ye know what I say when those Slytherins try to make a fool of me?" she asked in her strong, lilting accent, "Go n-ithe an cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat, May a cat eat you and may the devil eat the cat. Don't be so hard on yourself all the time, ye know how hard they howl when I manage to bungle a potion." She sounded just like her mam and da back home. Yes, that was what she said to people... until they started making fun of her for her accent and customs. "Of course, 'Kiss me arse' works just as well..." she said thoughtfully, standing up to put her hand on the boy's should and offer him some encouragement.

"Ye know, if you're worried about winning your Lady Love, or about improving your transfiguration skills, I'm always available to help, ye know I'm a fair hand it it," she offered.

[Daniel Blevins]

Daniel let out a low chuckle of amusement as he listened to what Aine had to say. She always seemed to know what to say to bring out a smile. If there was one ting that Aine and Daniel shared, it was their burning hatred for the Slytherins. They were both just easy targets for them to pick on. Aine for her accent and potion accidents, and Daniel for his Transfiguration.

Daniel's heart began to sink as he heart Aine mention Jessica. Was it really that obvious that he was completely and undeniably infatuated with her? He let out a sigh, and his smile disappeared. Daniel looked up at Aine peering at him, and felt her hand on his shoulder. He had to admit, he was quite comforted.

"Thanks for your offer on Jessica," he began slowly, shifting his gaze down on the pale, calming blue carpet below, "But I honestly think that it's a lost cause. I mean, have you seen the way reacts when she sees me staring it her?" Jessica did give him quite strange looks when she caught him staring at her. But, he just couldn't help it. She was just so darn pretty! Another sigh escaped his lips.

"Although, I would really appreciate it if you could help with my transfiguration." Daniel said enthusiastically, with a new smile appearing. Aine was being honest, she really was quite good with Transfiguration. To this day, it ceased to amaze him how spectacular she was at it.

[Kyria Hunter]

Kyria kicked the base of her bed, cursing out loud when she stumbled back and hit the ground with a resounding thump. It had been his fault she was acting like this. The letter had pushed her over the edge, and now she was sitting on the floor, so angry that her whole body was shaking with pure rage, which was a rare thing. It took a lot for her to get angry, but this? She really couldn't understand how his mind worked, and what parts he was missing to make it work in that sort of odd way. He had sent her brother, her little brotherwho was only six years old, all the way across the country for some stupid school, that was having financial problems anyways! She had looked it up and, while back in the day it was an excellent muggle school, it was now having problems with teachers, students, the food was awful, and hardly anyone bothered to stay long enough to graduate. Her little brother!

Kyria pushed herself off of the ground and began to pace, looking out of the window all the while, until she calmed down enough. She refused to let the tears come that were screaming at her to let them form in her eyes. But that would mean admitting defeat, and she refused to do so. She'd make sure her little brother was safe, if she had to send an owl every day to get a letter from him. She smiled at the idea of getting letters back with over sized letters in that messy scrawl and the miss spelled words he seemed to write in most of the time. With this happy thought she exited the Sixth Year Girl's Dorm and soon entered the Common Room. She instantly spotted two other Ravenclaw's and passed them a small, shy smile, and a gentle wave. "Hello." she offered.

Kyria, of all the six years she had been here, had ended up, unknowingly, ostracized herself, causing her to end up with no friends. While she wasn't generally a big topic to be teased about, she did get a little bit of it. She generally stayed on her own, somehow earning a reputation that clearly didn't fit her, as it described her to be mean and chase people off. Even she knew that she'd enjoy company, though she didn't make an effort to talk to people. She was shy until she got to know someone, so it was only a matter of time before she did, right? 'Right? I'm sure that they won't mind talking. Though.... they seem to be enjoying talking to one another. Maybe I shouldn't have interrupted. Oh..... I hope I wasn't rude. I didn't mean to interrupt.' she thought silently, her smile vanishing.

[Aíne Kildare]

She smiled gently at him, poor boy, it was awkward at this age, when it came to females. "I know ye want to impress her, but take it easy and just be yourself, if she comes to you, then so be it," she told him maternally, as was her nature and predisposition to do. She'd been telling her brother the same thing for ages, but even still, boys were boys, and they tended to fret about these kinds of things often when they were in their teens.

"As for the Transfiguration, why don't we work on it a little right now while we have some time before supper?" she suggested, watching another Ravenclaw, this one a year above them, enter the common room, greeting them as she passed, only to pause uncertainly, her smile turning into a frown. "Hello, I was just offering to help Daniel with Transfiguration, would you care to join us?" Aíne smiled warmly.

[Daniel Blevins]

Daniel considered what Aine had to say carefully. He rolled over the thought again and again, and the more he did so, the more he realized she was right. He had to admit, for her age, Aine was quite wise. He wondered quietly if Aine herself was secretly crushing on someone. Daniel quickly tucked the thought back into his mind. "I'll ask her later..." he thought to himself.

Daniel raked through his thoughts to make sure he had nothing else planned for the day. About half way in this process, a flash of reality hit him. "Of course I don't have plans... I have no friends!" he remembered. He was suddenly very embarrassed, which however didn't last very long. Excitement soon took over. Not only was Daniel about to learn Transfiguration, but he was actually making social plans with another human! He was pretty sure this is what friends did... Although he wasn't sure.

"Yeah, I'd love that!" Daniel almost shouted, with a big toothy grin spreading across his face. He looked over to his side, and realized that he was accompanied by yet another Ravenclaw. Daniel believed she was a sixth year named Kyria... But, he wasn't sure. He quickly gave her greeting smile. "Hello." he said, rather quiet again.

Kyria looked rather... Troubled. Daniel was always the nosy one, but he had absolutely no intention of flat out asking a stranger what was wrong. He may not have had any friends, but he still knew his boundaries.

"Perhaps you may be able to show me a thing or two, as well." he said chuckling. He immediately realized how silly that remark sounded. Although he did now know her, Kyria looked like a sweet girl. And, his objective was to try and make new friends, not scare them off. "When all else fails, just keep smiling." he thought to himself.