The twins are back (Mary-Kate)

Lyra was finally free to do as she pleased. She'd had a tour of the school, a private sorting ceremony, and all of her things were now in her room. The school was huge. She couldn't quite tell if Hogwarts was bigger than Ilvermorny, but to someone so used to her own school, this new one seemed massive. The moving stairs were particularly confusing, and entirely ridiculous to the American girl. She couldn't understand the point of them, but was determined not to let them get her too scrambled.

Determination only gets you so far, however, and Lyra had never been outstanding with directions. All she wanted was to find Mimosa, one of her best friends, and pretty much the only student she knew in the whole building other than herself. She wasn't sure where she should have checked. She remembered that the Slytherin common rooms were somewhere in the dungeons along with her own house's, but she wasn't certain that the younger witch would be there. She wasn't certain of where Mimosa would be at all, but knowing her, she likely knew pretty much every person in the castle.

So, Lyra's plan had been to find someone to lead her to her friend, which ended up being harder than she had anticipated. For a long while she didn't run into anyone, likely because she was wandering around and had no clue where Hogwarts students went in their off time so she wasn't sure where she would have gone to find someone to find Mimosa. The entire ordeal was hella frustrating and at this point Lyra was ready to go back to her dormitory and unpack, she would see the girl at breakfast the next morning after all.

But as she turned to head back she quickly found that she didn't know which direction she'd come from, much less which direction anything else was. At this point anyone else would have gotten frustrated, or worried, but Lyra always welcomed an adventure. Of course, adventuring wasn't quite as fun without anyone to adventure with. Her heart ached for home in that moment, wishing she could be back with her girls.

Her and her besties had been through countless adventures back in the good ole US of A. Her thoughts turned to them as she continued her search. Nora, Anfisa, and Samantha were Lyra's ride or die bitches. Of course, she didn't tell people that because she wasn't technically allowed to cuss, but between the four of them they like to call each other that. The four girls didn't even go by their real names with each other, they each had a nickname that they'd gone by pretty much ever since they'd met: Loony, Cocoa, and Sunny. The four of them had met their first year at Ilvermorny, with the exception of Lyra and Sunny. They had lived across the street from each other their entire lives, well, until recently that is.

It wasn't long until Lyra's legs were burning from climbing so many stairs, and she realized all at once that there were no more stairs to climb. The girl groaned in frustration, wishing she could just find her only friend on this continent already and shoved open a random door, hoping to at least find anyone, even if it was just someone to lead her back to her dorm.

With December, everyone was excited for Christmas. The Great Hall was being decked in the festive spirit, House Elves now appeared with little Santa hats fashioned out of towels or pillow cases, tinsel hung around the corridors, fake snow dusted the windowsills until real snow could replace it and mistletoe snuck on doorways. But it wasn't the Hogwarts Christmas that excited Mimosa as much as the one that she would be attending this year.

For this year, after a great deal of whining to Clara and Granddad, Mimosa was going to the palace. Jacques himself had come to speak to Clara about it and would not take no for an answer. Grandmere had even told ehr that she would have an extra special dress made for ehr so she could look even more beautiful to make up for the absence of Elenore. Mimosa had then been told to make sure to practice her wave extra hard this year as she would be the prettiest person on that balcony.

So that was what the young Slytherin had been doing in her spare time. She would never let the palace down by waving imperfectly, or looking even a bit out of place. So the child had taken over the Room of Requirements that week, first trying out two dozen different hairstyles to see which one would reflect best on the balcony image and then how it would suit her dress. Grandmere had been sending samples and fabrics along with her usual treats to the girl to choose from and Mimosa was doing her part by holding all the materials and swatches up to her tiny frame and deciding what would look best.

She had also been waving at the mirror. Though it was confusing, because everything she did looked wonderful so how could she choose just one?

It was tiring work really, and most days she would have left it to someone else to decide. But at least working on this kept her from thinking about how Mercy was not as around as she normally was. By immersing herself in all the girly stuff, the redhead could at least console herself with the fact that she didn't want Mercy to sit with her and endure all the dress up. It felt somehow better thinking she hand't invited Mercy along than admitting that Mercy probably didn't want to hang around her.

Because that just wasn't true.

No one in the world didn't want to hang around Mimosa.

Exiting the Room trough the tapestry, the girl headed towards the stairs. It was a long descent back down tot eh dungeons and normally, the Slytherin would have just ducked into Gryffndor tower instead to chill out. but now she couldn't.

Though seh could alwyas go hang out in Gaspard's dormitary, he wouldn't mind.

Taking a left to head tot eh corridor leading tot eh switching staircase that would connect ehr tot eh Ravenclaw Common Room entrance, the turned sharply and ran into-

"Ashley?!"

If it wasn't for the fact that Mimosa was never wrong, and that she clearly saw her fellow model and BFF here, the young witch might have thought she was hallucinating.

"Oh Am Gee, Ashley!! It really is you!!! What are you doing here?? Did you come to surprise me??" The squeals emanating from the younger witch echoed off the hallway, carrying her excitement down the empty corridors. "When did you get here? Are the other girls with you too????"

The room was empty. Of course. And she still had no clue where she was. She ran a hand through her hair as she tried to decide where to go. Thoughts raced through her head as she tried to figure out how to find her way to anywhere. Down. If she went back down all the stairs maybe she could find the first floor, and from there she could surely find the dungeons, and then her common room. It was the first solid thought she'd been able to follow since she'd gotten up to the seventh floor, so she went with it, moving back to the stairs and back down a couple flights.

But of course, the stairs moved. So as she went to go down another flight the staircase she'd been about to step onto started swinging away, causing her to jump back in surprise. "Great," she murmured to nobody in particular, "now what?"

Her options where to either go back up the stairs, or try and find somewhere she recognized on this floor. Backtracking, she decided, would be counter-intuitive, and therefore she went through a door and down a corridor, simply for the sake of progress.

The sound of footsteps made her speed up, and it took her a moment to wrap her head around the face that turns the corner in front of her. Until her nickname was squealed and it clicked that the girl before her was none other than Mimosa!

"Hey girl!" She cried with a large grin, her troubles of only moments ago completely forgotten. "Of course I'm here to surprise you! I mean, not here at the school for that reason, but here in the hallway. You're a hard person to find!" The question of whether the other girls were with her caused her to shake her head. "No, it's just me. Not all of us have the chance to move closer to you, you know." Her grin widens as she prepares to deliver her news.

"I... am going to be going to Hogwarts!" She exclaimed, her excitement evident in every way from her face to her excited bouncing. "Just like you! I had really hoped to get to be in Slytherin, like you, but I'm in Hufflepuff! I don't really know difference between the houses or whatever yet, but it doesn't really matter. From what I was told we're both in the dungeons, so that's hella gnarly! We can totes have sleepovers in each others dorms and everything! I don't know the other girls in mine very well yet, but I'll get to know them eventually. Besides, I'm sure they'll just love you!"

She took a second to catch her breath, it being hard to breath while you spout words of excitement at one-hundred miles per hour. "You just have to show me everything!"

"Of course I'm here to surprise you!"

A bright smile burst forth as Ashley admired to making the trip for her, making the Third Year oblivious to much of the following statement except the part that mattered most. "So you'll be at Hogwarts with me from now on!!!" The young redhead could feel herself bouncing up and down as she was given the news of Ashley now coming to stay at the castle. Slowly, all her friends from the States were going to end up here witch only made sense to the child. After all, American mustn't be such a fun place without ehr in it.

"Oh Hufflepuff isn't too bad," Mimosa offered, still giddy with excitement. "They're right by the kitchen so they get food like, all the time." Of course, Slytherin had better food than anyone else at the school but Ashley would find that out later anyway when Mimosa gave her all the candy that came from the palace. "And they have plants growing everywhere. I think someone is trying to grow mimosas there too." Which again, was a perfectly normal thing, because mimosas were the best plants.

"Oh Ahsley, I can't wait for you to meet all my friends. I was just heading to Ravenclaw Tower if you want to come with me. You can see Gaspard, and Seema, and Zoony, and Nerisei. Nerisei is awesome, she taught me how to do my hair in the really pretty waves!" As the young witch continued to speak, her earlier misgivings over Mercy began to vanish. The surprise had worked, momentarily, Mimosa had forgotten that someone was avoiding her- or rather, that she was avoiding someone.

"And you absolutely have to meet my Jacques when he comes down next! He's coming for the next Quidditch game! O.M.G Ashley, you need to play Quidditch. I'm on the Slytherin team. I play Beater, along with Squid Boy who also plays Beater but he's not very good., It's okay though, I'm teaching him!"

Lyra giggled at the younger girl's bouncing before nodding. "That's right! Of course, I'd much rather live back home, but I suppose if I had to live anywhere else it would have to be near you! Then if not near you then near Gabriel. But he's not important right now."

The mention of food and the kitchen bade her grin widen, and though it brought back memories of sneaking into the kitchen back at Ilvermorny she quickly shoved those away. "Food is a perk, yes. I wish I could have been in your house, but at least we are near each other? Bright side, right? I don't know how much of a perk plants are..." She thought for a moment, trying to figure out how it could be to her advantage. "But I guess the common rooms would always smell nice!" She supplied finally, content with her answer.

In reality she wanted nothing more than to not be here. But if she had to be in Europe, at least she got to go to school with Mary-Kate. She chuckled quietly as Mimosa started talking about all the friends she wanted her to meet and nodded slowly. "I really don't have anything better to do. All I had planned today was to look for you.I'll have to unpack at some point, but I'm not too worried about that."

At the mention of Quidditch she got even more excited and nodded quickly. "Totally! I'm frickin bomb at Quidditch! At Ilvermorny I played on the Wampus team, and I was a seeker. I wonder if the seeker position is open? One of the girls in my dorm said that pretty much the whole team was full but I bet I could at least get on the backup team. I'll find someone about that tomorrow." She nodded decisively, making a mental note to do just that. "What about Quodpot?"

Upon hearing that Ashley had no plans for the day, Mimosa's grin grew even wider. "Then let's go crash the Ravenclaw's common room. Gaspard always gives me all the passwords!" the young Slytherin began to lead ehr friend down the corridor, all the while bringing her up to speed on her new school.

"So classes here are okay, depending on what subjects you take.Jake teaches DADA and he is awesome because he doesn't ever ask us to read books in class. Professor Kessler though is boring and loves books. But I think its because he's like a hundred years old, and he's always sick. Maybe its the flu?" the girl chattered on as they crossed another hallway, now entering crocodile decorated with paintings and statues of bronze eagles, in clear Ravenclaw territory.

"Professor Blackwood teaches potions, she's okay but she gives lots of tests. I just do pretty drawings on them though so its fine. And when she isn't around, the sub teaches her classes, and oh, she liked my name so much she borrowed it. She's Miss Harrington, but its okay she asked my permission first." This made the Teaching Assistant a good person in mimosa's books clearly, being asked if she could use the same name as the child's. "Oh and she also always gives out style points which are like, way cooler than boring old house points."

"I wonder if the seeker position is open? One of the girls in my dorm said that pretty much the whole team was full but I bet I could at least get on the backup team. I'll find someone about that tomorrow."

"Oh My god, Ashley, you so have to try for the team. their current seeker is like, complete and utter rubbish. The Hufflepuffs got trashed in the last match because of the Seeker and their Captain is totally looking to replace Sterling. I mean, Sterling's okay but he's a terrible Quidditch player. I would teach him but I have no time, I already have to teach my own team how to play."

To the question of Quodpod, Mimosa rely shook her head, sending her red curls tumbling down one shoulder. "No, no one plays that here, in fact, lots of people don't even know what that is. In my first year, I used to ask about that and people looked like I had just asked about... snow in LA."

She hesitates before nodding. “I thought the Ravenclaws have riddles for passwords? That’s what I read in Hogwarts A History?” She followed Mimosa quickly, sticking close to the younger girl, not wanting to get lost again.

She listened carefully as her friend talked, smiling to herself as most of what she said were obvious opinions. The name Jake sounded familiar but she pushed it aside to ask the real question she’d wanted to ask.“I heard there was a teacher who used to play quidditch?! Who is that one??”

The news that the Hufflepuff’s seeker was trash brought an even bigger grin to her face. “That’s perfect for me! I’m wicked on my broom. Then again, I have like, the best broom ever. You can only get them in America, so I bet nobody here has one. It’s a Skyscraper and it’s amazing!” The news that her other favorite sport wasn’t even known here made her deflate a little and she frowned slightly. “Damn, they don’t even know about it?!”

Mimosa couldn't say much to Hogwarts: A History because it sounded like a book, and books were boring. And Mimosa Harrington didn't read boring things. But the question of a Quidditch player caught her interest. "Hmm.. I'm not sure. Jake is just the referee. Maybe Professor Hughes. I think he travels all over the world having adventures so he might have played Professional Quidditch."

When Lyra asked if the Ravenclaw common room had riddles, the girl nodded. "And I can solve every single one," she proclaimed proudly as they reached the Common Room entrance atop the spiraling diastase. The door, unimpressive as always, boasted only a bronze knocker which Mimosa reached to knock once before the disembodied voice that guarded the door spoke up.

"What has 4 letters, sometimes has 9 letters, always has 6 letters, but never has 5 letters?"

As soon as the eagle knocker spoke, Mimosa held out her phone, recording the riddle and then hitting send. Not two seconds later Gaspard's reply came shooting back.

"What has 4 letters, sometimes has 9 letters, always has 6 letters, never has 5 letters."

Obediently, the door opened to reveal the common room beyond.

"See, told you I get it every single time!"

She thought to herself, trying to remember who her Ilvermorny friends had gossiped about while trying to cheer her up about the move. Her friends were great in that way. Even when they themselves were sad about their phoenix (that was her nickname in their group) moving away, they would work to cheer her up. She made a mental note to be sure and write home to them.

She nodded quickly at the mention that Mary-Kate could solve all the riddles she was given. The way she’d said it was strange, but she didn’t pay it too much attention. But when she pulled out her phone and recorded the riddle Lyra couldn’t help but laugh softly. She almost spoke up to say that it didn’t count, but but back the response instead. “Very good! That’s a really smart idea.”

With that she smothered another laugh and followed the girl into the common rooms.