Dmitry was, as usual, sitting in a darker part of the room away from lights and fire. He was half asleep half awake, using a small candle to help him try and finish his homework. His elbow collided with the candle, sending it to the floor in a loud crash. Dmitry blinked wide eyed at the now out candle. He didn't mean to do that..

Lenzetta heard the clunk as the candle hit the floor. She sighed and closed her book as she stood up to go investigate.

"Are you doing homework or trying to burn the common room down, Dmitry?" Lenzetta said teasingly as she approached him.

Dmitry looked at Lenzetta from under his hood, "I'd rather not die in flames... I suppose it isn't smart to use candles anyways.." he sighed, putting his books on a nearby table he picked the candle up, "I really hate Defense Against the Dark Arts.. Its a terrible class with even more terrible homework.." he complained, putting the candle with his books with a small pout.

"Mhm. It's terribly boring... Not as bad as Herbology at least." Lenzetta said, putting her book down on the table and glancing at Dmitry's homework. "Durmstrang students are lucky," she whispered. "I heard that they actually use dark magic in their classes...Wicked, huh?"

"They USE it in CLASS?!" Dmitry gasped, staring horrifyied at Lenzetta, "And they tell us its illegal! Are they you-know-whats follwing the you-know-who?" he relit the candle.

"Maybe the headmaster is a...you-know-what. That would be interesting, wouldnt it?" She said smiling at the thought of having a death eater as a teacher.

"Oh my... That would e very interesting.. Must be a tough school." Dmitry couldn't imagine what the kids were like there.. To think this school was bad and they don't allow Dark Arts, "Makes me wonder.."

Lenzetta stared at the lit candle. "Dmi," she began thoughtfully, "What do you think it would be like?...You know...To serve you-know-who..?" she kept her voice down. Although most Slytherins are fond of dark magic, talking about such a subject wouldn't be worth getting in trouble over.

Dmitry looked around the room quickly. Thankfully they were the only ones there.. He thinks..

"I don't know.. I-I bet its kinda.. Scary.. I mean.. I-I don't know. Might be adventurous. D-Depends.." he stuttered quietly. Dmitry himself had a slight fear of joining them. They've ravaged his own village before, and that left a hefty fear mark inside of him. But it made him want to become strong.

"Yeah.. It'd probably be horrifying. My grandfather was a spy for them but he ended up in Azkaban," Lenzy said, shuddering at that thought. She walked over to a nearby window and gazed out at the black lake. Squinting her eyes, she saw what looked like a boat..no a ship out in the distance.

"Dmi, since when did Hogwarts aquire a ship?"

"A ship? But we own a LAKE.. Not an ocean or rriver.." Dmitry started to place his books away in a small bag, glancing at Lenzetta with a curious look, "Ships.. in the LAKE of all places! " he giggled madly.

"I'm being serious. There's a ship out there!" She said urgently. She looked closer at the crest on the ship's sail. "Well thats odd..." she muttered.

Dmitry slung the bag over his shoulder and peered out the window beside Lenzetta, "You weren't kidding after all. How'd it get here?! Oh no lemme guess.. "MAGIC"...?" he narrowed his eyes at it in disbelief. He could have sworn that it was just a lake! GAH! "This magic stuff is too much..."

"Discussing the Durmstrang students?" Leah asked, trotting into the room. "I heard they have a ship—"
She glanced out the window and nodded. "I suppose that'd be them, then."

"D-Durmstang?! In th-that?!" Dmitry whimpered and ducked down, "They're vikings aren't they?" he asked ignorantly. He hadn't the slightest clue about other schools. He's only heard of rumors.

The common room entrance opened, and Kate stormed in. She'd recently transferred from Durmstrang, and she still didn't know any of her Hogwarts classmates very well.

She was still sporting the badly healed slashes across her face, which had been fresh when she'd arrived at Hogwarts, but now, in addition, she had a black eye, a bloody lip, and a large purplish bruise across her cheek.
Her clothes were also torn and disheveled.

She'd just gotten into a fistfight with one Lucius Malfoy, a fellow Slytherin. He was a 6th year, and Kate had been hiding in a niche in the corridor when Lucius had passed by with a few of his friends. He'd been making fun of Kate's heavy Russian accent to a few of his buddies, and Kate had fumed as he'd not only mocked her accent, but come up with several rather offensive theories as to the origin of the fresh cuts she'd had on her face when she'd first arrived.
Malfoy and his buddies had just begun making lewd comments about her appearance when Kate had leaped out and tackled him.

Being a proud male, he had insisted to his friends that he could take on a girl. Though he had put up a fight, and was older, Kate had lots of practice. He'd landed a few hits through Kate's flurry of blows, before Kate had effectively ended the fight by sinking a fist hard into his stomach.

Eventually, he'd run off with his friends, calling Kate a "Crazy bitch!", as they ran off. Kate was hoping that his sense of pride would prevent him from tattling on her to McGonagall.....

She'd tried not to cry, then headed back to the common room.

Uh oh...... There, in the room, were some of her fellow Slytherins....... Kate thought their names were Lenzetta, Dmitry, and Leah. They were all in her year.

Kate immediately regretted coming to the common room. Showing up with a bruised an d bloody face didn't seem like the sort of thing that would endear her to her classmates.

((Bringing Xander into this one >:D))

He stood on the ship looking up at the castle in front of him. He had never been to any of the wizarding schools beside his own but it was nice to have a change of scenery once and a while. The other students were bustling around while getting ready. Xander had been ready for hours now and he couldn't wait to see what was behind those castle doors.

"I don't think they're vikings Dmi," She giggled. "Just students like us..."

Lenzetta heard someone else come into the room and turned to see who it was. She had to do a double take when she noticed how bruised up the fellow slytherin was. "What happened to you?" she asked the girl who she believed was named Kate but she wasn't exactly sure. "You should really have that checked at the nurse..."

"Oh, what happened to your face?" Leah raised an eyebrow. "Lenzetta's right, you should go to the nurse. We'll hear the story after."
She pulled out a parchment notebook and made a note.

"I'm skeptical." Dmitry glared at the ship. He turned and glanced at Kate. He didn't recognize her so he completely ignored her for the time being.. Dmitry returned to lookin out the window, this time with more curious eyes.

Kate tried to cover her face, but didn't do it in time. Her eyes widened in horror at the suggestion.

"Is.....okay", she said, still having trouble with her English. "Not need....nurse...."

She noticed the girl she thought was named Leah writing something down. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, then winced in pain at the movement.

Dmitry sighed and eyed the clock. He gasped and flung around, "Guys! We're gonna be late for dinner!" he took out his wand and aimed it at Kate's face, mumbling a quick healing spell. They were the only spells he was good at anyways, "Come on! I'm starving!" he rushed out of the common room and down the hall.

Leah shrugged, pocketing the notebook.
"There's got to be a fantastic feast tonight, if all the Durmstrang students are here. You coming?"
She glanced at the redhead and Lenzetta.

"Yes let us go!" Lenzetta ran out of the common room, heading towards the hall.

"Ba da dada! Babababababa bada!" Dmitry skipped down the halls and slid to the main hall, darting off to his seat happily.

Leah walked to the Great Hall, shaking her head and laughing silently. Did they really not know what the Durmstrang students being here meant?
She sat down across from Dmitry and waited.

Kate saw Dmitry point his wand at her. She didn't know he was trying to help. Instead, based on past experience, she thought he was trying to attack her.

She gasped and instinctively rolled underneath the nearest table, where she crouched and pulled out her wand, glaring suspiciously at everyone.

oops..

((^? ))

Mena was one year younger than Dmitry.. She clambered under the long table and slid up next to Dmitry, "Alo brother! Have you seen the ship?! Isn't it awesome?" she rambled off, her brother smiling and nodding at her.

The oops was that I posted that before realizing that everyone else posted first :)

Dmitry disregarded his sister and looked around, "Where is everyone?" the table spots around him were pretty empty.

Kate realized everyone had left. She wiped the blood off her face and decided to go to dinner.
"Who needs people, anyways?", she muttered.
She'd hoped she might finally make some friends at Hogwarts, but no one seemed particularly friendly.
She figured that the huge scars she'd shown up with on her first day probably had something to do with it, and she inwardly cursed her parents for causing them, especially right before she went to school.

The students got off the ship at the dock by the castle. Xander was too preocupied by the new scenery to even notice that Durmstrang's headmaster was speaking about the history of this school. Finally after his speech, the durmstrang students were led into the castle doors...

Lenzetta sat down across from Dmitry. "Who's this, Dmi?" She questioned, as she smiled at Mena.

Dmitry smiled brightly, "This is my younger sister Mena. Mena, this is my friend Lenzetta!"

Mena looked at Lenzetta brightly, "HIYA! Its wonderful to meet my bratty brother's friend! Who knew he had friends!" she laughed, reaching over to shake Lenzetta's hand eagerly, "Hey lookie! The other schools are coming in!"

Kate headed to the Great Hall.
As she passed a darkened window, she saw her reflection. The blood was gone, but her lip was swollen and her black eye and scars were still visible. She groaned. Nothing better than showing up to dinner sporting visible injuries. She tried to console herself with the hope that maybe Lucius Malfoy would have some sort of visible marks too.

She made it to the Great Hall a while before the Durmstrang students. She kept her head down, ignoring some of the gasps and mutters from various people as she passed by.

As she walked past Lucius Malfoy, she was pleased to see that he had a bruise on his cheek, and several scratches down the side of his face that she remembered causing when she'd raked her fingernails down his face. As she passed, he looked up from the crowd of girls who were sympathizing over his injuries and shot her a look. To her surprise though, it almost looked like a look of......respect.
"Not possible", she thought, looking around for somewhere to sit.

Dmitry turned around in his seat. He noticed that girl from earlier who seemed to have completely dodged his healing spell. He growled lightly, huffing but waving at her to come over.

Mena plopped herself down onto Dmitry's lap, rewarding herself with a light tap on the head. She glared at him and refused to move.

Kate noticed the boy who'd apparently tried to curse her in the common room earlier. He was waving at her. She looked at him suspiciously. But then again, no one else was exactly knocking on her door begging to be friends. And he was pretty cute too....

She made sure her wand was ready, and headed over to sit with him. Surely he wouldn't try to curse her again with all the teachers around, would he?

OOC: Should Kate attack first, ask questions later, since she thought Dmitry was trying to curse her, or just sit and ask?

Lenzetta smiled brightly at Mena. "Lovely to meet you, dear," She said. She turned and noticed Kate. "You look much better." She said sarcastically. "At least the blood is gone."

The students entered the hall. Before entering, they were told to just sit anywhere they pleased. Xander glanced around for a place to sit...

"Next time don't dodge my healing spell." Dmitry whispered to Kate, pushing Mena off his lap, "Honestly.. Do you wanna look like THAT all day?" he motioned to her face and sighed, huffing his bangs up a little. Gotta love noobs.

Mena nodded to Lenzetta, "Great meeting you too! I'm surprised! Dimka usually doesn't have pretty girls as friends!" she eyes Kate and tilted her head curiously, "What happened to you?!" another tap on the head from her brother. She pouted and sunk herself into her cloak, tugging her blue hair sadly. She eyed the foreign students fondly, "The boys are quite cute.." she mumbled lowly, pouting again.

"You're too kind," Lenzetta told Mena. She turned and watched the students intently. "Oh yeah would you look at that. They aren't too bad looking, are they?" She was very fascinated by their uniforms and how well-mannered the boys appeared to be.

Xander huffed as he searched around for an open spot. He noticed that part of the slytherin table was bare. He walked over hesitantly and tapped Dmitry on the shoulder lightly. "Excuse me," he bowed his head curtly. "Mind if I..uh..well..join..?"

Dmitry looked at Xander and jumped up in fear, knocking a glass over. He's always feared Durmstrang students for some reason. They always seemed so tense and just plain old tougher than he was.. And they probably were too, "Ah! Uh.. N-Nu..! Not at all!" he spat out, laughing nervously.

Mena looked at Xander and smiled, "You look nice!"

Xander smiled and sat down. "My name is Alexander but I go by Xander. Xander Kriechen." he turned to Mena and his smile brightened. "Oh thank you. The hat can be a pain sometimes. It's pretty itchy." he took off his fur cap and placed it on his lap. He looked up at the ceiling in awe, noticing how it resembled the sky outside.

Dmitry sunk into his head and face planted the wooden table dully before looking over at Xander, "Alo. I'm Dmitry Vladimir." he smiled weakly before grabbing a new glass.

Mena beamed, "Interesting name! I'm Mena Vladimir! Welcome to Hogwarts Xander!"

"Thanks," Xander said, still completely memorized by the ceiling. "I like the atmosphere here. Much better than Durmstrang."

"Is it true that you guys use the dark arts?" Lenzetta asked. "I'm Lenzetta Lovett.

Xander looked at Lenzetta then back up at the ceiling. "I'm not sure if that's something that I'm allowed to discuss, honestly..."

"I suppose that's a yes then." Dmitry snickered, pulling out his books again, "Its so tempting to be part of this tournament thing.. Must be a great test of skill and knowledge!"

Kate didn't see the Durmstrang boys.

"Fistfight", she replied to Mena. Then she looked at Dmitry. "Healing spell? Zat vos a healing spell?", she asked, her Russian accent getting worse.

"I thought.....bad.....you try....currse", Kate managed, still having trouble with her English.

Dmitry pulled out his wand and repeated the healing spell, "Well instead of assuming everrything why don't you think?" he growled slightly, glaring into his book.

Mena looked at Kate and laughed, "You got into a fist fight! Did ya here that Dimka! FIST! She used the muggle way of fighting!" she mocked slightly, throwing a fake punch at the table, "Who does that?!"

"My brothers," Xander answered. "My brothers have fist fights all the time." he glanced at the others at the table and noticed Kate...or at least he thought it was her. He'd talked to her a few times but hr didn't know her too well.

"Malfoy....he be deserving eet!", Kate muttered to Mena. Then she head a voice she recognized....
\
Kate heard the familiar voice and turned to look at Xander.

Her mouth dropped open.

"Xander.....Kriechen?! Eez zat you?!". She looked horrified. Not because of Xander personally.....he'd always seemed like an okay sort....she supposed, but because if Xander was HERE, that could only mean one thing.....