A large group of students were gathered in the courtyard just outside the castle on a windy October evening. In front of the doors, a young man with bright white hair was fussing with his many layers of fanciful clothing as it blew around by the wind. Clutched in his hand were small pieces of parchment, permission slips for the Hogwarts students on their very first trip of the year to Hogsmeade villiage. The small town just a few miles away from the school hosted a yearly Halloween celebration, and it had been a time honored tradition that students would celebrate together in one of the many taverns or shops that would stay open later for this special occasion.

Even deeper a tradition, of course, was that of students spending Halloween night inside the infamous Shrieking Shack. A redheaded girl towards the back of the crowd was drawing up her own crowd for this special aspect of the Hogsmeade visit. "No, Stephen." she growled at a Ravenclaw boy. "Remember last year?" a fit of giggles soon began. "The raccoon, and.. ahaha, you practically pissed yourself!" The girl elbowed a few students next to her, who began laughing as well. "ah, that was fuckin great. But no. Next!"

Aria stood in the middle of the crowd. She was a small girl, her legs made up most of her body, but even so she could not get out of the crammed body of the students. Her yellow and black scarf clung to her neck and covered her mouth, so only her bright honey colored eyes were visible.

"When are we going to get the show on the road?" she thought to herself as more and more kids pushed their way to the center.

Mysti walked gracefully over. She thought this whole trip was a good way to get out of the castle and learn about the history of Hogsmead and the stores around it. However she knew that most, if not all the kids just wanted to sit in the Three Broomsticks and jug down a pint of Butterbeer. She carefully put on her gloves as she awaited further instructions.

Gabriel's curly hair blew in front of his face with each gust of wind. The pale boy made his way silently towards the group of students, who were huddled together against the cold, their colored scarves flying all around them. Gabe shuffled his feet and put his hands in his pockets. He would have worn a scarf, too, if he had known everyone else would. Most of the kids were even bundled up with hats and mittens. Gabriel glanced down at his bare arms. Was it really that cold? He sighed, and started to look around for someone he knew. Why stand around looking out of place when he could be bothering someone who actually did fit in, right? This thought crossed the boy's mind, and he flickered his eyes back down to his shoes. A gust of wind hit the side of him again, pushing him closer to the group of students as if to say, 'Make new friends! It will be ok! They don't know how much of an idiot you are!' Gabe grit his teeth. He heard some young girls in front of him squeal about how chilly it was. He glanced back down at his arms, wishing he could feel the cold, or focus on trivial things like the weather.

Patience stood on her tip-toes, trying to get a good look around the crowd. Most of the students were here, now, and they would be leaving soon. She had to get some more recruits for the shrieking shack.. ones that would provide some entertainment, and Patience's definition of entertainment was pain and humiliation. She wanted kids who would freak out, but not just firsties. Older kids. From prestigious houses. Pat's eyes rested on a dark haired boy towards the back, and a wide grin appeared on her face. She would take any chance she could to humiliate the Slytherin house. Especially that stuck-up Karma. Ooh, what if Karma was actually there as a witness when Pat made this kid scream like a little girl? That would be a glorious day for all of Hogwarts. Patience was sure it would be written down in the history books somewhere. The little redhead parted her way through through the crowd, towards the Slytherin kid in the back, when she ran into Aria. "Hey!" Pat gave her a playful punch on the shoulder. "Wanna witness the greatest embarrassment to the Slytherin house ever?" The redhead paused for a second, but didn't give her housemate time to answer. "You're spending Halloween in the shrieking shack with us." she barked, eyes drifting towards the back of the crowd distractedly.

Karma pushed open the giant doors of Hogwarts, the bitter October wind biting her face. She blinked as it made her eyes water, stepping all the way out into the cold, the front door closing behind her. She pulled her green and silver scarf up over her nose. "It wouldn't be so cold if the wind would just die down." she muttered to no one in particular, pulling her matching gloves out of her black coat pocket and tugging them on. She quickly scanned the crowd, looking to see where the excitement was... .

Patience's beater buddy stood shivering and unresponsive, so the small girl pushed around her and made her way over to her destination, the skinny Slytherin kid on the outside of the writhing mass of students. Before the redhead could speak, however, she was cut off by the Headmaster. "Alright then, everybody off!" he announced, setting the group of kids loose on the small villiage of Hogsmeade. The sound of leaves crunching beneath hundreds of feet drowned out everything else as they set off down the slope towards the village. "Where are we going to go first?!" squealed a group of girls around Patience's age, dressed all in orange and black. A snarky comment escaped from Pat's big mouth, but the girls didn't hear. Pat was too caught up in the waave of people around her to be heard or even noticed. This frustrated her, of course, and she stopped in her tracks, causing a bit of a pileup behind her. "Move it!" she growled, hiking her way against the current, back up the slope, and towards the back, where the crowd thinned and the dark-haired Slytherin kid meandered clumsily forward, staring at the crushed autumn leaves on the ground.
The loud redhead that Gabe remembered all too well from History of Magic suddenly appeared next to him, skipping in place about four paces for every slow step that Gabe took. Funny, Gabe had thought she would be one of the kids rearing at the bit, stampeding down the hillside and into Hogsmeade. He glanced over to the small girl, and wondered what she could possibly want from him. His question was soon answered, as the girl's eager words spilled out of her mouth like an overflowing bathtub.
"I've been watching you, kid, for like, the last two minutes, and lemme just say, you probably aren't gunna last another two weeks here." she snorted, drawing out every word, slow and important.
Gabriel raised an eyebrow, unsure what to say. "Oh, yeah?" he mumbled, still looking at the ground.
"Yeah." Pat nodded. "And I know why, too. You wanna know why?" she pressed.
"Well-"
"It's cause no one respects you. You look really.. hmm.. well you're kind of like some kind of helpless little animal. But not something adorable like a little puppy or anything. Like a baby bat or something. Like a baby bat with a disease. But me, being a super friendly person, and not a diseased bat and all," she gave the Slytherin boy a playful punch on the arm, "I know how to get you some respect."
Gabriel held back a sigh, but nodded, encouraging the girl to continue with her little game. It was giving her some kind of entertainment, at least, and he had to admit she was spot on with the diseased animal thing.
"Okay, so, every year on Halloween night, the coolest of the cool go up to the Shrieking Shack, and we prove our bad-arse-ness by spending the entire night up there, without any teachers or magic or anything." she grinned wide. "Whaddya say?"

Karma had started walking with the rest of the students. Many years of practice had given her the ability to listen to several conversations at once, while being able to smile and nod and 'uh hu' when appropriate. It was her way of trying to be aware of everything around her, judgeing which would benefit her the most, be the most interesting, etc.
It was during this when she noticed a particular red head swoop down on the new snake.
Her eyes narrowed as she caught bits and pieces of their conversation. She quickly moved to intervene. Patience was young, but conniving enough to be more then mildly annoying. And it was no secret that she had a mean streak. 'Not that that's really the problem.' Karma thought as she grew closer, 'It not about her being mean or not being mean. It's respecting boundaries. I can't let her think she can get away with messing with anyone from my house.' her hands tightened into fists inside her coat pocket, her right hand curled around her wand, "Hey!" she called out when she was close enough to Pat, "Doesn't this trip have a height resection or somthing?"
Tossing her wind blown hair out of her face, she looked Patience up and down. "Shouldn't you be in a hole somewhere like a good little badger?"


(hate typing on my phone. This is lame!!)

Gabriel jumped a bit as Karma appeared beside himself and the redhead, looming over them with one of her more terrifying scowls. What was Karma so upset about? Surely the redhead always pulled stuff like this, taunting her victims into traps. Or, was the Hufflepuff just in it for laughs? The girl seemed simple, not complex or full of ideas for horrible plans like most of the people in his own house. He couldn't imagine Pat doing any sort of prank that required too much effort on her part. Even now, the girl seemed totally uninterested in Gabe's answer to her invitation, as she returned Karma's burning stare with a scowl of her own.

"Just trying to see if this new snake of yours is a man or not. You know, you can never really tell with snakes." she chuckled. "Bunch of prettyboys if ya ask me." she grumbled more quietly. "Whaddya say, Karma? Shrieking shack? You've always managed to avoid it until now, but you can't run forever." she snorted.

Gabe coughed a bit, and scratched the back of his head. "Uhm, I'll go.. if you, ya know, want me to.." he mumbled.

Karma raised an eyebrow, "Shrimp." she spat, "We live in a castle full of ghosts. What do you think is in there that could possibly be more terrifying then watching the Bloody Baron glide through your dorm?" It was common knowledge that the Bloody Baron was not only the creepiest of the Hogwarts Ghosts, but the self proclaimed 'Slyitherin House' ghost. And even though by now she was used to the way the ghostly, silver blood shimmered as he haunted her common room, he could still take her by surprise.

Hands on her hips, her gaze turned when she heard a tiny cough, "Uhm, I'll go.. if you, ya know, want me to.." he mumbled.

Karma bit her tongue, and shook her head a bit, blonde curls bouncing as she moved. "No way I can let you go and represent the entire Slytherin house." she glared at Patience, wheels turning in her head, she wrinkled up her nose, coming to a decision.
"Fine." she reached up and pulled her hood over her head. "If we are going to do this, let's go, just to get out of this wind."
"Who did you get to represent the other houses?" she sneered, "Or are you the only badger that didn't want to hibernate?"

A wide, toothy grin appeared on Patience's face as her plan was set into place. Normally, the Hufflepuff girl didn't like plans, as they required more effort than she could care to waste. Slytherins were cowardly and sly, trapping people from afar, so that their victim didn't see it coming. Pat didn't like that. She was more of an honest prankster. If she flat out punched someone in the gut, it was their own fault for not moving out of the way. On this occasion, however, the satisfaction of finally getting under Karma's skin would be worth the wait. "Excellent." the girl beamed, having not really paid attention to what Karma said. She could tell by the look on the blonde girl's face that she was close to defeat. Patience looked up towards the sky, and back to Karma, totally ignoring the mop-headed one now. "Meet me by the front doors at sundown. I don't expect anyone else from your house would want to join you, but they can come if they want." she explained. "I'm sure you wouldn't want that, though, seeing as you have an image to uphold for them and all." she smiled, and sprinted off towards the village.

Gabriel turned to Karma, and anxious look on his face. "I just screwed that up, didn't I?" he asked, putting his hands in his pockets. The boy looked at Karma, wondering why she let Pat under her skin so easily. He was sure it was tough keeping up her image, like the girl had said, but couldn't she just relax? 'Probably not, seeing as she has to make sure you stay out of trouble.' Gabe thought to himself. He sighed, and turned towards the village at the bottom of the hill. With the crowd of kids gone, it was really a sight to behold. Though it was still only October, frost seemed to cling to each little rooftop that jutted up into the cloudy sky. The windows were all lit up with a strong yellow firelight that Gabriel could almost feel warming him from all the way over here. The village was perfect, like one of those little miniatures that Ellie would always point out in the windows of stores at Christmastime. In his trance, Gabriel almost forgot about Karma and Patience and the shrieking shack.

Karma turned to Gave, steel eyes flashing, "Look," she snapped, "We need to gather up a few kids from other houses." she looked her house mate up and down, wheels in her head turning.
'If the Shrimp thinks she can pull a fast one on MY house, she has another thing coming'
"I know your new but at least TRY to keep up with the subtle intricacies of the social circles here ok?"
She turned away from him and the wind, "It's a tradition, to go to the Shrieking Shack, and see who will freak out the worst, the fastest. Those students are then ridiculed ridiculously for the next few weeks." her voice took on a hint of pride, "the Slytherin House has never failed." she turned back to him, wind whipping her short hair, making it wild, "DO NOT screw this up Mop Head"

(still have to type on my phone, sorry for the shortness)

Tony tagged quietly along behind the other students. He had never gone on the Hogsmeade trip before, as social activities just weren't his thing, but this was his year to try and make friends. Next year would be his last, and he definitely wanted to make it memorable. He highly doubted himself in this area, though.

He also wanted to try and be a good role model for the first years. Casting a wary glance at Patience, he shuttered at the thought of the type of people she looked up to last year. He silently chuckled to himself when he thought of there being multiples of her, always arguing and fighting. Maybe they would just kill each other off, he figured, but Anthony knew that he shouldn't be joking around just yet. He still just needed to find someone to talk to.

Gabriel sighed, only halfway listening to Karma's warnings. Normally he would have been scared out of his mind, focusing on how he could possibly have screwed his house over any worse, but looking down at the quaint little village below made Gabe and all his silly troubles feel gloriously insignificant. He glanced over at Karma, her silver eyes narrowed and her mouth in a hard line. The boy wished he had something to offer the girl that would allow her to pause for a moment, not worry about everyone else, and just relax. "It's all so peaceful, isn't it? Looking at everything from far away." Gabe sighed, his eyes returning to the little picturesque Hogsmeade at the bottom of the hill, barely realizing that he was talking aloud. "I'd almost prefer just to stand here and imagine it. If I go one step closer I feel like it'll all break or something." the boy shook his head, smiling.

For a millisecond, Karma's voice got lost in her throat, and the bitchy comment she was about to make faded away. His voice echoed in her head "I'd almost prefer just to stand here and imagine it. If I go one step closer I feel like it'll all break or something."it sounded like something she would have thought, years ago. The village did look peaceful, like something on the front of a greeting card, wishing the recipient warm wishes and happy holidays.
But, just as quickly as the moment came, it faded, her eyes hardened again. "You truly are some of tragic poet aren't you?"
She angrily marched past him, purposefully bumping his shoulder, "Lets get going Thespis, we are going to break things."