WELCOME

[Nicholas Hopkins]

Nick had been wandering around the castle, taking a break from the essay he had been working on, when he had come across the Trophy Room. He had come across it a few times in his travels throughout the castle, but he hadn't really paid much attention to it until now. Trophies didn't really appeal to him because they weren't necessarily something that he himself could ever really obtain. But now, looking at them, and studying the names engraved there, he found himself wishing he had been brave enough to attempt trophy-worthy feats. Many of the trophies were from Quidditch matches honoring players and teams. He had never really been a fan of Quiddith. He liked it well enough, he supposed, but he wasn't crazy about it like some people were. That probably made him a bit abnormal, but Nick was used to being considered that. Sleeping in the library with a book over his face, following around a group of girls just because one of said girls was his cousin -- such things tended to make a person a little less ordinary. It was probably a good thing that Nick didn't really care what people thought about him.

This was also probably why he didn't mind being alone either. He was pretty sure a few of his housemates were trying to work on their essays together. It would make sense for Nick to join in since it was supposed to be an essay on the founders of Hogwarts -- history was probably one of his many weak points. Nick often fell asleep in that class and ended up earning one lecture after another because the professor had noticed his falling asleep. He tried to avoid doing that since lectures would be given in class, and in class such diversions were things most students enjoyed because it was public humiliation. Nick didn't like having all eyes on him. He was better off avoiding the spotlight altogether. It didn't really make sense since he wanted to go into Magical Law Enforcement, but Nick believed it was possibly to work in the name of justice anonymously -- or quietly. It was just like being an everyday sort of citizen with a really good sense of morals. At least, that was how Nick tended to look at it. Others might claim it made him really good at simply going around without being noticed...

Sort of like now. He was so busy seeking out all the trophies that might have the names of some of the greats he wanted to follow in the footsteps of, that Nick didn't really pay attention to the sound of laughter and footsteps headed his way. That was sort of normal of Nick. He was observant with his eyes, not necessarily his ears -- not unless he was going out of his way to avoid people. He didn't do that very often, either, but sometimes Nick needed to avoid being forced to socialize by his housemates. Today he didn't seem to be paying attention at all. It wasn't until the laughter sort of calmed down, and the persons started calling out goodbyes to one another that Nick found himself glancing up from the case he was standing in front of. He had to rub at one of his eyes for a moment when he realized he must have been staring too long, so it wasn't until one of the persons approached him that he could get a better look at them. "Afternoon," greeted Nick. "Coming or going?" He nodded down at the book in their hands, assuming that they were either on their way down to the library, or back from it.

[Selene Baker]

It didn't quite feel like it had been three weeks since her life had gone to hell in a hand basket, but when she had ripped off the page from the day portion of her calender, a quick comparison to the small two month one had confirmed it, forcing a slight grimace at the recollection. Despite the fact that she had received tons of support from her roommates and Ally it was still hard to go through the motions without interacting with her former Ravenclaw friends. As the old cliche said, one didn't know what they had until it was gone and it was surprising just how many things she had done with Mal or Cal or because of their influence. Of course while she would have still liked to have done those things, the way events had played out prevented it. At such a distance Selene had come to suppose that if she and Cal had broken up normally she probably could have swallowed him dating Mal...just not right away of course. But finding out the way she did about their mutual attraction was the fastest way to wreck two good things. And Ravenclaws are supposed to be the smart ones who think things through.

Of course life had to go on and the rigors of the seventh years schedule, lying around and moping was rather curtailed. And since she didn't have anything better to do with her time, she was - for perhaps the first time in her entire school career - caught up and up to date with her class assignments. All she had to do was wait for either Tabitha or Jackie to finish up their drafts so she could get a proofread which might lead to a halfway decent grade in Transfiguration for a change. The only problem with being caught up was that she didn't have anything to distract herself with now that she had dropped quidditch and had just gotten her candy supply topped up by Katrina Creevey (just in time for Hogsmeade visits to be restored too, darn that Headmistress). With nothing to do in the common room, she'd only cause problems - which would lead to her roommates getting ticked and not helping her smooth out the wording on her essay - so Selly decided that perhaps a little walk was in order. She'd expend nervous energy and by keeping away from the fourth floor and the towers, she could avoid the Ravenclaw students. Which would keep her from having an emotional scene.

Naturally, the first the people she ran into were her former quidditch teammates, roaming about the third floor. It felt kind of awkward at first since Selly felt she had let them down by deciding to throw in the towel, but the thing with Hufflepuffs was that they understood how she felt and Chris had - in a very generous gesture that would likely have been overruled by the professors - said she could return to her old post if she wanted. She had thanked the boy, touched by his generous nature (so different from his crazy twin) though she was sure they all knew she wasn't coming back to the squad. After that, she had been regaled with the stories of the emergency try out that had been set up to replace her. The stories turned out to be rather funny and despite herself she had laughed - really laughed - for the first time in weeks. Perhaps tryouts should always be held in bad weather. she decided, waving the team goodbye. Not only does it weed people out easier, it makes for great stories. Knowing O'Toole the tale will be spun even more by the time he gets back to the common room.

Apparently she and her former teammates had been rather loud since no sooner had the team gone back towards the stairs than someone had called out from the Trophy Room. Turning, half hoping she hadn't run across a prefect - or worse a Ravenclaw - Selene relaxed when she realized it was just Nick. "Hey." she greeted with a small wave. "Coming I guess. I haven't been in here in ages." Which was quite true. With her current record of no detention since December, she hadn't even had to clean anything in that room in months. Though nothing could compare to the detention she'd had with Flitwick before he left where she'd had to help him do his filing...in complete (and spelled) silence. And for a bouncy chatterbox like her - when she wasn't in a moping phase - it had been rather difficult to do. The fact that she'd been attacked by armour shortly after hadn't helped, but Selene didn't want to think of that. Or what had resulted from the dramatic, dancing rescue.

[Nicholas Hopkins]

Nick felt a grin appear on his face at the sight of Selene. He supposed a small part of him had been worried it would be someone slightly sinister. He wasn't sure why; there was no reason to think anyone sinister really existed at the school -- aside from all those accidents, and the strange rumors flying around about some little girl that appeared and then disappeared ... Nick was having a hard time trying to wrap his head around all the new rumors, so he had more or less given up trying awhile ago. If he saw this girl himself, then he would definitely be on top of the whole bandwagon that some sort of malevolent force was behind all the strange castle going ons ... But he wasn't convinced just yet. It could still be some sort of strange rivalry going on. Weren't the Gryffindors and Slytherins at one another's throats again? Had they ever really not been? Nick supposed it didn't matter. So long as his house wasn't put into some sort of strange predicament like that, he was fine not really paying attention. Of course, given all the strange going ons at the castle, it might be good training for him as a future Auror ...

His thoughts shifted so Nick could concentrate on Selene's arrival, glad to see a friendly face. Being in the same year, and some of the same classes, Nick usually enjoyed Selene's company. He had never really hung out with her on a regular basis before, but she had always seemed like the life of the party ... Right now she didn't really seem like it. Nick had been noticing it for awhile now, and he supposed if all of what he had heard was true, she had every reason to be a little down. It was just hard to believe. After all, who would do such a thing to Selene? She didn't really deserve to be betrayed like that ... But Nick couldn't really say that to her, could he? What if he had heard wrong, and things hadn't ended as badly as that between her and Calais? Or even because of Mallory? But, then again, considering he hadn't seen Selene hanging around either of them the last few weeks, it probably meant the rumors were actually true this time around. Nick didn't really know what to think of that ... It was hard to accept.

At her comment, Nick glanced back at the trophies, nodding along. "I haven't either. I think I sort of forget the place exists sometimes. Then again, it's kind of a far walk just to come see them. Do you think they do that on purpose? Put them way up here so we have to walk a few miles up and down stairs to view them?" Nick found himself eying the trophies more carefully, debating whether or not that was even a possibility. Anything was possible at Hogwarts these days, so he wanted to say that it was possible, but what did he know? It could just be up here because it had been the only space left in the castle ... Alright, that sounded a bit lame even to his own ears, so that definitely couldn't be the reason. "Of course, I don't know that I would really visit them a whole lot if they were on the way to the Great Hall either -- I don't play any sports, or really are about winning things, so trophies don't interest me. They probably do you, right? Aren't you ... er ... I mean ..."

Nick found himself coloring just a tad at his words. He remembered hearing that Selene was no longer playing Quidditch, and now he had been about to ask her about viewing trophies because he had forgotten about that. Unless it was just a rumor ... But Nick had sort of decided that it couldn't really be a rumor since the other one was kind of true ... He certainly still felt bad about it, though. He didn't think Selene wanted to talk about trophies if she wasn't playing Quidditch anymore. "Sorry. I guess I forgot." He bet it was awkward to be here ... And he felt even worse for talking about trophies like that as well ... So in an effort to change the subject, and perhaps move out of any potential awkwardness, Nick decided to ask a random question. "Where were you headed? Not here, right? I mean ... not here, right?" He made another face, and then decided that it really didn't matter. He wasn't sure what else to ask, or how else to phrase the question, so it was better to just leave it the way it was.

[Selene Baker]

She really didn't think that she'd ever make her way into the trophy room again after quitting the quidditch team. When she had first come to Hogwarts all those years ago she had wandered into the room looking for her Defense class. Instead she had stood in complete awe, looking at all the gold and silver cups of various designs and sizes as well as the plaques, engraved with the names of prize winning students, prefects, head boys and girls, quidditch captains and winning teams. After tracing the names of several Hufflepuff related awards, Selene had decided that she would get her name onto something in that room. Unfortunately she wasn't setting herself up for a good start since that sojourn all those years ago had caused her to miss the first half of her class completely, perhaps unconsciously setting her on the path that did NOT lead to academic excellence. That's when it hit her. By leaving the Hufflepuff team she had just eliminated her last hope to have her name included on one of the plaques for posterity since she was a mediocre student and had not been named prefect - while Calais' name would be enshrined as the stuff shirt, swaggering prefect he was as would Malllory if the Ravens wound up winning the cup. (If that's the case then I hop the Slytherins win the whole kit and kabootle.[/i] she thought to herself. Or the Gryffindors if they can manage to knit themselves back together after their last match.

"You know sometimes I forget this place is here too." she remarked, going to one wall to look at the plaques related to the Triwizard Tournaments - an event that she assumed to be defunct since, with one exception, the entries stopped during the seventeenth century. (Oddly enough there were two names for the out of place year of 1994/1995, Harry Potter's and a Cedric Diggory; whoever that was.) "I can't remember the last time I was ever in here to actually look at the items and not because I had to serve detention." She had to laugh at that. While her friends didn't mind her chattering or occasional sugar bursts, the professors were a different story. "But you're right you know. It is a kind of odd place to put them and the Great or entrance Halls would be a better display place. However," Here Selly scrunched up her face as she considered the other side of the coin. "I think it might be because there's stuff that dates back to forever. I mean who gets to pick what is important enough to go on display and what's too old or not good enough? And since I've had polishing duty I can tell you if they all went on display they could probably go from one end of the castle to the other. And back!" Which would probably make a polishing detention worse now that she thought about it - a miscreant would probably feel a sense of hopelessness upon seeing how far down the line they still had to go.

However that's when She realized Nick's voice had tapered off mid sentence and she had enough time to wonder why when the words sunk in, creating a little grimace. Not that she could really blame him; Nick may not have always been on the up and up when it came to the school gossip mill, but even he would have heard about her leaving quidditch. Such a thing touched the entire house after all and was bound to cause comment; though she'd noticed this was the closest anyone other than her former teammates had come to talking to it to her face. "Don't worry about it." she said forcing a smile. "I had fun on the team but it's really not for me. It's only fair that someone who really wants it actually gets to play." Shrugging her shoulders as if it made no difference, she added with an attempt to lighten thing up "Besides, it's not like it's football or anything. I play in a summer league every year so I've got medals and mini trophies to look at home." Despite the smile the girl felt that it sounded hollow. Still, she didn't want anyone to worry about her even more. "I was just wandering. I'm waiting for Tabby or Jackie to finish up their essays so they can proofread mine, but you know me - I can't sit still long enough to wait. So if I wander, I burn energy. I stay...well they'd whack me over the head and truthfully I'd prefer to avoid that."

[Nicholas Hopkins]

Nick blinked. "Huh, I think I forgot that they still make students clean trophies as a form of detention. I only ever did it once -- since then they've had me serve other forms of detention. I got a little distracted by all the names, trying to count how many times I saw one, and then going through to see which ones I recognized ... I think it's how shiny everything is. It's very easy to get distracted when things are shiny and historic-looking. You start to wonder the story behind everything. That, and I'm not very good at cleaning up after awhile. I think the first two I cleaned,and the rest I sort of just dusted over and gave up on. I might even have fallen asleep ... See, it's been that long since I've had detention in this part of the castle!" Other detentions had been, and still were, filled with Nick either sitting in an office of a professor doing something for them, or tagging along behind the grounds-keeper.

He glanced back at the trophies, realizing just how many there were -- that was probably why his one foray with polishing had ended up being his last. There was too much history to store in just one part of the castle. "Good point. In that case, they really should have a hall for trophies on every floor of the castle. Then we'd get to see almost all the trophies ... But there are probably a lot, so one hall per floor may not be enough. Oh! I know! They should have a small case in each House to showcase the really major ones for that House -- it would be kind of nice. Maybe it would even perk people up when our House is low on points or something. Although, I suppose the Professors want to show off the House glory to the whole castle ... But they could still put some of them in each House just because." Here Nick paused again, his eyes studying the many trophies in front of him. It hadn't really dawned on him just how much work it was to polish them. No wonder this served as a good form of detention. "You really had to polish these? How long did it take you to get through them all? Or did you simply only have to do a small portion or something? I'm really glad they haven't made me polish again. I'd probably pass out after the third one or something."

Nick felt bad for having mentioned Quidditch at all, but Selene seemed to be able to handle the mention -- she was certainly making him feel a little better for having brought it up at all. She was smiling, and acting as though it was alright, and for Nick, that was all that mattered. He didn't like making people unhappy. He only liked seeing people smile, although he supposed he wasn't very good at it. After all, half the time he made people smile without even trying. "Hmm, that's a good point as well. I'm sure there's someone else that would rather play if you don't -- you can sit with me in the stands and cheer next game or something. Or, sit there and explain how the game works. I get the gist of it, but not all of it. That's probably why I never tried out for the team. It gets hard to follow after awhile, but I'm awfully good at cheering. I just look to be sure someone else in my House is cheering, and follow suit. It's pretty easy. So next time you can sit with me, and I'll provide snacks." Nick grinned, nodding as he said this. He felt it was a fair deal, and perhaps Selene would cheer up a bit now that she wasn't playing Quidditch. Well, he supposed she was still cheerful and hadn't really been unhappy or anything, but now she could really enjoy the game without any pressure to win ... He supposed there was pressure on the field, but having never really played before, Nick couldn't say for sure. He hoped by inviting her to sit with him next time, it wasn't something she would feel obligated to do if she didn't want to -- it had just occurred to him that she might not want to watch Quidditch either.

"Football? I'm not sure ... No, I don't think so ... What is that? I've never heard of it before. It's something Muggles do, right? Is it like a game, or sport like Quidditch? What sort of sports can you play without brooms?" He was actually curious now that Selene had mentioned it. Football just sounded odd -- he supposed it was something to do with feet and balls, but what? Then again, maybe it would make more sense than Quidditch since that didn't really explain the concept of the game in the title ... Still, he was rather glad she had trophies from that game since she wouldn't have any for Quidditch. He wasn't sure if trophies were really all that important, but he supposed if one wanted to leave behind a legacy for the future, that would be one way of doing so. He wondered briefly if that was what Selene wanted. Some people did -- some people were even obsessed with the idea of being remembered years to come. He didn't think Selene was the sort of person to be obsessed with shiny things like trophies, but what did he really know about her? It would be better, if she was that sort of person, to tell her that she was likely to make her name in something else -- something bigger than a silly trophy at Hogwarts. But Nick didn't really know how to say that to her. He wasn't sure if it was his place, or if that would set her off in either a torrent of tears, or a bout of anger -- one could never really be sure when it came to the female species.

"Ah, that makes sense -- usually I find my way to the library to read, and end up falling asleep, but since I'm sort of only taking a break from my own essay, I ended up wandering around to see if I could be inspired to finish it ... Not that I think this will help any. You'll notice I get distracted and forget about things rather easily," added Nick with another grin, this one rather sheepish.