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[Veris Roseblood]

Snow. Biting cold wind. Pile that along with red ears and weather beaten features, and you had winter. December was aging right along, just as Veris predicted it would, despite her desperate pleas to who knows what that it would stay away. Far away. As far away as possible. Apparently, the odds were not in Veris's favor. She bit the inside of her cheek as she stared out, across the lake. This had been one of the most pleasent places for her to vist, only weeks ago. But now, now Veris realized the only thing she was achieving, was freezing her behind off. If Veris managed that, she'd never be able to live it down.

Veris removed her hands from the toasty interior of her robes, to brush her bangs away from her face. The wind merely blew them back, shrouding her vision. Again and again, she tried, but to no avail. Eventually, she caught herself glaring crosseyed at the unruly fringes of hazel hair. Great, just perfect.

She sighed, and tugged absentmindedly on one of her braids. What was she doing here? The weather worsened each day, and still, she caught herself out here, sitting by the lake. It was almost routine-like. But what did she achieve? Was it the solitude? Oh, it was well know that the first year couldn't stand people. It was not that she was snobby, or felt she had a greater purpose in life. She just...didn't like people. She was a loner. She shut herself off from the world. That's what she got from growing up with only a Dad for company. You learned how to be silent and steady, just like a grown male.

But Veris didn't want to be a grown male! She was eleven! Eleven years old, and female for that matter. This was when she was supposed to be living her life to the fullest. Veris was more friendly with the trees than she was with people. And that, was slightly sad.

Veris stood up, and stepped toward the edge of the water. She stared at her reflection for a long moment. Then, a smile tugged at the edges of her lips. It was a weak one, and the grin did not reach her olive eyes. She sighed, and rolled her shoulders back. Veris didn't need friends. All she needed was education to keep her mind alive. But with winter break fast approaching, what was she to do then?

[Cecile Bloch]

Cecile was extremely pleased with herself. Not only had she managed to sneak into her sister's dorm room (in Gryffindor tower no less) she had magicked her trunk open to steal, ahem, borrow, her sister's racing broom. She would never be able to try out for the Hufflepuff Qudditch team next year if she only ever got practice on the old rickety school brooms! She hadn't been on a real broom since summer when her sister had first gotten hers. Granted, if Cecile didn't manage to get her own broom for next year, the possibility of playing Qudditch wasn't looking very good. Her father would only buy her a broom if she had good grades, but if she stayed inside and studied when would she practice?

The first year had left a stack of homework sitting on her bed to come out, but she would do it later! How hard could it really be? At least, other than the potions essay she had been avoiding all week. The subject was boring enough  in practice, why on earth would she want to write a paper about it? She would probably just fall asleep over it.

On the front steps she gave the snow a shove with her boot. Once again she was in her brother's breeches that she had stolen from home and her heaviest cloak. Cecile hopped onto the broomstick and kicked off, slipping a little on the ice. As she took off across the ground, cold wind whipped across her face, stinging her eyes and making the ends of her Hufflepuff scarf dance behind her in the wind.

As she approached the lake she saw another person and started to brake, hoping it was another first year or at least a Hufflepuff who wouldn't snitch on her. She overshot slightly and came to a stop over the lake. She vaguely recognized the other girl from class, but wasn't sure what her name was. "Hello!" she said. "What are you looking at?" she didn't see anything in the water that would warrant the attention the other girl was giving it.

[Ellenore Clark]

Trudging through the snow, Ellen peered around a bit. Possibly looking for someone to annoy, or maybe a first year, preferably Slytherin to chat with. Ellen spotted a few people, then, she locked on her victim. Hufflepuff Cecile Bloch.  She walked over with a devilish grin on her face.
"Hey there Huffiepuffie." She said, wondering what else she could throw at the girl. Then, she noticed Veris in the Slytherin robes. Imediately, she turned her attention away from Cecile.
"Why hello there! I'm Ellen. I don't believe we've talked much before?" She said, offering a hand shake.

[Veris Roseblood]

The rush of wind that passed by Veris slammed her braids into her face. After spitting out a mouthful of hair, her eyebrows rose even further. A familiar looking female was smiling at her from over the lake. She clung tightly to a broom. The girl was young, with blonde hair whipping in the breeze. A hufflepuff scarf was tied around her neck. A thick cloak surrounded her and...was she wearing breeches? Veris bit her lip, reminding herself not to say a word. She had no right to reprimand someone else's style. 

But for the love of Hogwarts, she was a girl! Wearing breeches was barbaric! Veris inhaled sharply. She wiped the palms of her hands on her black and green robes, while she took two steps back away from the water's edge. She locked her eyes with the girl's, and spoke cooly.

"Nothing." she replied indignantly. "Nothing. I was thinking." Veris's chin jutted out as she spoke, her olive eyes hard and emotionless.

Another girl appeared out of thin air, calling the other the term 'hufflepuffie'. Veris recognized her as another Slytherin. She wet her lips as this one extended her hand, introducing herself as Ellen. Veris cocked her head, and stared at the hand for a long moment, before embracing Ellen's hand in a firm grip. She nodded to her fellow Slytherin, and then, she nodded to the broomstick riding hufflepuff...who wore breeches.

"I am Veris." she replied shortly, a smirk flashing across her porcelain face. "Veris Roseblood. And, who are you?" she wet her lips, forcing a smile. She carefully removed her hand from Ellen's, and placed both in the pocket's of her robes.

[Maddock Glynn]

Maddock, bored yet again, walked around the grounds looking for something to do.  Of course there was always classwork that could be done, that History of Magic report was always there for a moment of distraction for the boy.  But each time he thought about writing it out for his grade, that nagging voice in his head slammed the information drawer shut inside the depths of his mind so that by the end of the moment he was staring at a blank page.  So instead, Maddock found himself running out in the snow, stupefying squirrels and rabbits along the path as target practice.  Occationally a singing, tweeting bird crossed his path and found them selves falling to the ground in a hard thud before skittering away back to the air to escape.

As he wandered his way towards the frozen over Black Lake, Maddock noted a few of his Housemates.  A small grin and an acknowledging nod of the head played as he moved towards the ice.  Just as he was about to turn away another figured appeared with their scarf of yellow.  Emerging from behind one of the other Slytherin girls.  This was curious.  Why were they holding conference with a Puffler?  The moment was odd for him to assimilate  so of course, Maddock turned and started walking towards them all.

"Hello all.  How are you doing?"  His eyes turned directly onto Cecile as he continued to talk.
"No one here is giving Bloch a hard time are they?"  He asked just hoping he'd have a new chance to pick on the girl.

[Cecile Bloch]

"Oh." Cecile wondred if she should ask what the other girl had been thinking about. She didn't exactly look friendly. Of course, Cecile was up hovering on her broom out of arm's reach and if necessary she could always get away. Not that she would ever run away from a Slytherin!

She made a face as another Slytherin girl showed up. One was okay, but two was never a good thing. "Hey there Slytherdim," she answered. She was so glad she hadn't been sorted there! She would have had to sneak into Gryffindor to sleep under her sister's bed. Otherwise her housemates would have probably killed her. For some reason the girl's making fun of her house didn't sit well with Cecile. She hadn't wanted it, but she was growing used to it and any Hufflepuff was better than all the Slytherins combined!

At least the dark haired girl seemed equally annoyed with the Slytherin girl. She was either having a bad day or was just grumpy. "I'm Cecile Bloch," she offered. Veris, why did all these purebloods have such strange names? It wasn't as if a particular name made you better or more of a witch than someone with a normal name. Maybe purebloods thought they did. They thought some weird things.

Bad enough to be with two Slytherins, but a third had to show up and Maddock at that! This wasn't her lucky day, maybe she should have stayed to write her essay. "Glynn," she said with a scowl. "I can take care of myself!" She didn't need help, not that she thought he was helping. She wasn't sure what he was doing, but she was pretty sure he would shove her in the icy lake before anything else. At least she was in the air and not stuck on the ground with all three of them surrounding her. That might have been something to worry about.

[Orion Gray]

Ori was making good on his new decision to get a little bit of exercise each day ever since his recent trip to the lake had shown he was not quite as fit as he used to be, or as he wanted to be. Not that it mattered much; at his small size he couldn't win fights, but if he was fit enough, he could perhaps outrun the local bullies. Or so his reasoning went. After all every little bit helped.

Walking around the lake he saw what seemed to be a large clump of students. He frowned, wondering what they were all doing outside at once like this. He decided to investigate, although he didn't really want to get involved. Generally, in his experience large crowds were not a good sign. They only gathered when something was going on, usually something bad. Still, it was quite unusual, and his curiosity  outweighed his caution in this case.

As he drew closer, he saw Cecile on a broom surrounded by a group of Slytherins, including Maddock, who was never good news. Cecile and Maddock inevitably got into a fight, usually after only a short period. He decided he should go over, just to see what was going on. If worst came to worst, he could always run to get a professor. Finally he came up to them and awkwardly said, "Uh...hello everyone. Um...how are you all uh doing?" He hoped this wouldn't end up getting him in trouble somehow.

[Veris Roseblood]

Veris became more and more uncomfortable as more students seemed to arrive. The Maddock boy from her own house,(he was torturing the Hufflepuff) and then, a Ravenclaw. She had seen him before, but couldn't quite put a name on him. And as she became more uncomfortable, the grumpier she became as well.

"Yes, we're all having the huffie for dinner. We're not cannibals, stupid. Am I not allowed to start one bloody conversation?" Veris' hands clenched to fists at her side.

"How am I doing?" Veris repeated the Ravenclaw's shyly uttered sentence. "Brilliant, yes?"

Veris rubbed the back of her neck, and shut her eyes tight. This was definetly not how she wanted to spend her day. Without a doubt, this would end up getting them all killed. The tension between the houses was building, oh she could tell that. And if anyone else butted themselves into this madness, Veris would surely explode. Then, they'd be picking up scraps and pieces of green and black for days. Along with her braids, gloves, and what else fell away.

Veris grimaced. She had to stop thinking like that. It was nasty. She inhaled sharply, and once again tried and failed to brush her bangs out of her face.

"We are all very good, are we not?" she looked at the group of faces that surrounded her. "Just a little bit of fun house confrontation." she turned to the Ravenclaw boy, eyeing him from head to toe.

"Who are you again?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. She folded her arms over her chest. "I'm Veris."

[Ellenore Clark]

Ellen stepped in front of Maddock.

"I dunno, am I giving the girl a hard time? Or is it you?" She asked, remembering what Victoria had told her. Questions confuse people. Confused people leave you alone. Her question made no sense what so ever, but that made it more confusing.

She looked up to the gray sky.
"I hate snow. Wanna know why? It's-" Ellen started, then pulled her scarf tight around her face, the rest of her sentance was too muffled to hear.

[Maddock Glynn]

Maddock found the whole matter slightly funny.  Here he was in between Cecile and the other Slytherin girls.  In a way he was protecting the Huffler from the onslaught of Slytherin that was about to happen.  Girls were way worse than boys in this house.  Regardless that what was happening now was pretty mild, Maddock knew the worse was boiling to a head and he was going to be there to cut the head off the snake, figuratively speaking.  (Oh please put your eyes back in your head.)  He remembered how the class turned on him because of her, the yellow Hafflepuff.  If Maddock wasn't the spearhead behind this harrassment then no one was going to.

"Oh I'm sure you can take care of yourself.  I was just making sure of that."  He said actually to Cecile with his slowly coming back to her and off of the others about.  He was looking at her like a person and not some dumb doll as he had been since that flying class when the class turned on him with such spite.

After a few moments more Ori arrived.  Maddock liked thinking of him as Mr. Gray.  It was a great nickname although he hadn't done anything to deserve it just yet.  But they were only Firstyears.  Mr. Gray had a way of saying things that sounded perfectly reasonable to someone other than Maddock.  How were they....uh....doing?  They were ...uh....doing...just fine, especially without the beak of the Ravenclaw butting in.  But Veritas answered him just fine, in perfect spirit.  Maddock was beginning to like this girl.  She was a responsible Slytherin.  And after the talking to he had by some of the older boys in the House, this was the most perfect response anyone could have offered.  

Almost immediately Ellenore starting speaking babbling some sort of nonsense about whether or not he was harrassing the Hufflepuff.  Maddock just stared at her.    He offered a blink or two, trying to digest if she was trying to sound ferocious, defiant, or just blatantly blaming him for something.  She couldn't be serious, could she?  He took a moment to just look at her.  His expressive eyes betraying his stance, emoting silently that he didn't understand one thing she was trying to say and then she changed the topic to snow and how she hated it.  Thank the dragon's depths that the scarf she wrapped around her face muffled out everything else she was saying..  A second or two passed before he turned back to Veritas to confirm his own confusion and then straight back to Mr. Gray.

"Looks like we're...doing...just fine."  It sounded like he was the tiger about to pounce before his whole demeanor changed on a lark.  He was, of course, his sister's brother...and something's just can't change.
"How are you two, by the way?  Plans for Christmas break?"

[Cecile Bloch]

Cecile narrowed her eyes and looked at Maddock suspiciously. He sounded concerned which probably meant he was trying to think of a way to shove her into the lake or something equally disagreeable. That was what boys did. They were mysterious, if they liked you they were mean to you. If they didn't like you, they were mean to you. In other words they were just mean all around and did nasty things like stick worms in your hair. Cecile didn't mind worms herself, but she would rather keep them somewhere other than her head.

"Well you don't have to," she told him. She would find out what he was doing! Sooner or later. Probably later. But she would find out. Definetely. She glowered at the annoying Slytherin girl. "That girl is right here," she said sharply. "And can hear you. Believe it or not." If she hadn't been on a broomstick she would have crossed her arms. As it was she didn't think that would be a very good idea.

"Hi Ori!" she said. She let go to wave empathetically and her broom dipped almost dipping her feet into the water. She quit waving to pull up, trying to act like she had done that on purpose. Hovering over icy water might not be the smartest thing, but it was better than hovering over Slytherins. They probably bit.

She looked from one Slytherin to another, Maddock and Veris were managing to be nasty without doing it outright, a skill Cecile despised. No one ever believed it went on and you had to deal with it yourself. Not that she didn't have plenty of experience. Her twin brother, Jacques, did it to everyone and everything smaller or younger than himself, including Cecile. "Leave him alone!" she ordered. Perhaps she was blowing it out of proportion, but Orion seemed nice and didn't deserve to have a bunch of Slytherdims bothering him.

[Avery Estel]

Avery couldn't stand it. This bloody cold weather was beating him senseless. He had battled off a cold for the past two weeks, and then finally, finally when he felt up to going outside again, the weather was just as awful as it had been. Oh yes, some people thought snow was pretty, the way the sun made it sparkle. Well, Avery thought it was useless. It was cold water, after all. Nothing special. Nothing entertaining. The only plus was that when you threw it at people from behind a hiding place, the victim began to panic.

Of course, Avery only knew this because he read about it. Not from experience. No, never that.

The Gryffindor was making his way down the icy slope of the grounds, dodging the extra slick parts of the hill. All Avery needed was to slide face first down the slope. Then he'd make a bigger fool of himself than normal, and that was saying something.

Smirking, the young boy looked out at the grounds as he rubbed his gloved hands together. He quickly ruffled his curly brown hair, only to have it return to the same place. Nothing much was going on. Except, as Avery looked again, he saw a handful of his classmates. Three were robed in green, while another blue. The last was wearing bright yellow. It was a girl on a broom...wearing britches. Avery wrinkled his nose. The nerve of the girl! As Avery slowed to a stop to eye the group, he noticed something very important missing.

There was no burgendy and gold, whatsoever.

Knowing his prescence was much needed, Avery tramped his way down the slope, his hazel eyes full of excitement. He arrived just in time to hear three words split through the air.

"Leave him alone!"

"What's going on?" Avery asked, a smile tugging at his frozen lips. "Slytherin, slytherin, slytherin. Now if that doesn't darken the mood, I don't know what does." his eyes flickered back to the two others from the different houses. One was a young boy. Another was that girl on the broom.

"If I were you two, I believe I would've called backup already."

[Maddock Glynn]

Maddock rolled his eyes at Cecile's overdramatics.  That girl had a way about her to emphasize the minutest of details, this matter had suddenly become a mountain from the original ant mound.  Maddock hated it when she did that.
"No one's done a thing to him, Huffler.  You should cool your heels in all this snow,"  Maddock actually looked at her for the first time in this conversation.

As the new Firstyear arrived, Maddock grimaced his face.  He could understand why Veris was upset when he interrupted her conversation beig the only boy, but now the whole situation has turned into some sort of gathering of the Houses.  Now everyone was represented.  It looked like a virtual rainbow out here now.  It looked like it might be the right time for Maddock to either push them out of the area or leave himself.  It would be easier if the SLytherin's just found another location, or at least him.

[Veris Roseblood]

"I'll be staying here. Can't go home can we? I plan to hang around and do homework." Veris rolled her eyes. "Not. No I'll probably catch up on my reading. I haven't opened an actual entertaining book in quite a while." she tugged on one fo her braids.

As she and Maddock taunted Orion, it seemed to make the Hufflepuff, Cecile, upset. As Cecile commanded that they leave him alone, Veris smirked, and opened her mouth to speak, but was interuppted by yet another classmate!

Veris exhaled, and turned to the new boy. He was a Gryffindor, with insanely curly brown hair, and a superior smile on his face. She had heard of the boy. This was Avery Estel, the big-headed Gryffindor. Her temper reaching it's breaking point, she jabbed Avery in the chest with her finger. Her braids bounced dangerously on her shoulders. Enough with the people! Enough with the crowdedness!

"Get out of this, Estel! No one needs you butting yourself in! No one wants your opinion!" she seethed.

Veris twisted around to face Cecile. "Leave him alone? What, he can't handle a little slythein fun?"

[Ellenore Clark]

Ellen pulled down her scarf.
"Now, no need to be harsh." She said. "I, for one have to stay here. Parents don't want me to get the pox." She said. "My brother Will has it, quite tragic actually." She said, looking around.

"Cecile, we ARE SLYTHERINS. We will be mean and ruin your little puffie fun with ours. If you have a problem, talk about it without yelling please and thank you!" Ellen said.

She turned around. "Anywho, uhm....well, anyone you guys know is poxified?" She asked, still facing the other direction.

[Maddock Glynn]

Ahh the trials and tribulations of childhood!  Maddock looked around as everyone seemed to get quickly hostile to one another.  It was funny, maybe he wouldn't need to leave.  Veris was doing quite well defending the name of Slytherin all on her own against Mr. Avery Estel.  He had to restrain a laugh as his Housemate told the boy what for and then turned on Cecile about Ori.  Maybe being placed in Slytherin wasn't that bad afterall!

Maddock had had a few misgivings from being placed in the house of green in September but now it seemed that he was beginning to enjoy his other housemates.  They were resourseful...in their own way.  He had been regretting the day he walked in, but now, now things were looking brighter.
"...anyone you guys know is poxified?"  The question took a moment to try and understand.  Poxified?  What on Earth did that even mean?  Was she asking if we knew anyone who had the pox, or was this a question asking if someone was protected against it?  What ever the answer, Maddock knew 'poxified' wasn't even a real word, or atleast as far as he had been educated.  Maddock looked towards Ellenore with a curious face.
"What do you mean, poxified?"  It was best to ask when confused.

[Ellenore Clark]

Ellen sighed. "Let me re-phrase that. Do you know anyone who has got the pox?" She said, impatiently.
"Anywho.... Well, I guess, um..." Ellen started. She looked around thinking of something to say.
"I am at complete loss for words. I'm not very conversational." She said.

[Avery Estel]

Avery took a step back, raising an eyebrow. "Ouch." he muttered, frowning. He rubbed his chest. "That hurt you know. I was only having fun. Or is there only dark humor in the bowels of the Slytherin common room?" he readjusted scarf that was tied tightly around his neck.

Then one of the Slytherins, this one, she seemed bouncier than the others. Like she couldn't possibly sit still. That was an evil he had to watch for, and an annoying one at that. A bouncing evil Slytherin.

Peachy.

She-Avery was nearly positive her name was Ellen-asked if anyone had been poxified that they know. Then the Slytherin boy asked what that ment. Ellen replied that she ment that if they knew anyone who had the pox.

Avery placed his hands in his pockets, and smirked. "Not anyone I know. Though I won't mind if my bloody step-brother gets it. He's a pain in my behind."

[Maddock Glynn]

Understanding now what Ellenore meant, he was just about to ane swer her when Avery retorted with some comment that just set him ary.  His younger sister had caught this plague according to the letter that he had read.  Knowing that the Ministry had such a fuss over the matter and that his home was in quarantine over the issue, Maddock couldn't believe that Avery just "wouldn't mind" if his brother ended up with it.  It was a bit of an insult to hear such a statement.  Immediately tension flurished within him, his sister was afflicted and all this boy could offer were jokes and  skitters.  Maddock could be a lot of different things, but family was important to him...even if they were all girls.

Feeling the way he was over the Griffyndor's comments.  He didn't immediately give his fellow Slytherin Housemate the answer he was about to.  In fact all he could do was stare intensely back at the other boy in disbelief.  
"That's an idiotic thing to say."  Maddock began.  "What if your places were reversed.  If you were the younger brother and he was here at school.  We're all safe and tidy of the quarantines in the cities.  It's your family that fighting the real issues while we're all safe and cozy by a bunch of warm fires."  That was that then.  Maddock spoke to Avery with a bit of passion in his voice.  He wasn't angry, but he was right on the edge...teetering on the balance.

[Veris Roseblood]

Veris litterally winced as Avery spoke. His superior attitude was going to drive her crazy. Why couldn't he just accept that he wasn't all that? Oh right. It was because he was a Gryffindor, and every single one of them had been overblown heads. Well, most of them at the least. Veris never really spoke to Gryffindors. She found if she did, Veris would say some very unkind things.

Like now. She inhaled sharply, trying to calm her temper.

As Avery spoke, wishing for his brother to get the pox, she nearly exploded. That was a horrible thing to say! Veris couldn't even imagine wishing the disease on someone, esspecially now, with the threat of loosing her father. She opened her mouth to shout, but Maddock got there first. And thank the heavens he did. Veris would've hated to get in a fist fight with a boy.

"I agree with Maddock!" Veris seethed, twisting to glare at the snoody Gryffindor. "How can you say such a thing! Maybe you think it's just a little cold or something, but it's not! This thing can kill! Some people here might very well be frightened for their families health, but you sit there and smirk about it? How dare you?"