Zia was just returning to the Ravenclaw tower rather late one night after spending some quality time with one Figaro Sellaphinx. It had left Zia's lips feeling dry and looking quite puckered and she needed some lip balm, and quickly! She'd somehow managed to tiptoe all the way to the Ravenclaw dormitories without getting caught. Zia had carried her clunky heels in her hands the entire time, which had probably helped her stay quiet. The moment she stepped in the room safely, she pumped her fist in the air and let out a quiet cheer.

Tonight had been fun but she was definitely ready to take these tight clothes off. They nearly had in Figaro's presence but that had been for an entirely different reason! Now that she was back in the dorms she had the time to actually think about the encounter and how fun it had been. Who knew doing just one thing for so long could be so entertaining? Snogging was the best.

With a happy sigh Zia crossed over a couch by the fire and looked dreamily out of a window without bothering to acknowledge anyone else in the room.  She apparently didn't care if anyone saw her in her risque outfit - she was positively giddy! Her thoughts were occupied with thoughts of kissing. Boys were so. Much. Fun! Zia missed the days when her sisters would be around to chat. They were all graduated now and this year had been pretty lonely without them. It was pretty boring to be the only Piselli at Hogwarts.

Juni was curled up on one of the chair s in the common room, using a notebook as a hard surface for some late-night paper writing. She was very nearly done, and she wasn’t the sort to procrastinate on her homework. The assignment wasn’t due for another couple days, and her paper was already ten pages long. She hoped that it wasn’t too wordy. She tried so hard to be concise, but truth be told, Juni was not a concise writer.

And now, she was done. She looked up only to see… Zia. Sprawled out on the couch. Juni raised her eyebrows.
It was no secret that she and Figaro were avid face suckers. Of each other’s faces.

Juni didn’t particularly care. It was only natural in a relationship. Or so she thought. Juni had never had a boyfriend or a girlfriend before, but she definitely loved to chat about cute boys with her friends. Or funny boys.  The Ravenclaw knew that her type was the goofy troublemaking sort, the type who could also handle hard truths when she delivered them. Though she would never admit that to anyone.

“You look fit!” She commented approvingly at Zia’s outfit. “Gorgeous. You’ve been out to snog again?” Juni grinned , “I’m surprised you aren’t covered in love bites, considering you and Sellaphix can barely keep your hands off each other.” Zia was superb at transfiguration, and she was a sixth year. She probably knew some minor healing spells to remove them.

In her haze of what was most likely lust Zia had overlooked the other students in the common room. Luckily it was late enough that there weren't too many. That was probably good -- there were a number of students who would have made vicious comments about Zia's reputation. Zia did whatever she wanted, but it never felt nice to be trash-talked!

Thankfully it was Juni who came up and not one of those pesky gossips. Despite being a bit younger, Juni was a blast. Besides, Zia could care less about age. Her and Juni got along swimmingly, and especially since she didn't have any of her sisters to talk to it was super to have a girl to talk to around. She had a million relatives of varying ages -- Zia could talk to pretty much anyone, age baby to grandparent. She grinned devilishly when Juni commented on her lack of love bites.

"None that you can see, anyway," she joked with a wink. Although she wasn't positive this was a joke - she hadn't passed by a mirror yet since departing from Figaro's face. Besides, at this point, she didn't even have to verbally say the spell to get rid of them anymore. "It's just... so fun!" Zia collapsed back onto the couch and closed her eyes, happily sighing. She opened her eyes back up and looked over at Juni. "Have you ever kissed with a Fizzing Whizbee in your mouth?"

To be fair, Juni did love to gossip—though she was most definitely not Winifred Oliver status when it came to gossip. Besides, if someone made Juni keep a secret, she would. That was one of her exceptions to her personal ‘harsh truths’ policy. She was honest, and although that wasn’t a bad trait to have, the Ravenclaw was too honest. Bluntly honest. If she had an opinion, she voiced it. And oh, Juni had so many opinions.

She tilted her head at Zia and raised her eyebrows. “None that I can see.” She conceded with a shrug.

"Have you ever kissed with a Fizzing Whizbee in your mouth?"

“I can’t say that I have.” She responded, though Juni had never had a boyfriend.  “I haven’t even had my first kiss yet.” Juni admitted, almost sheepishly. Zia was so experienced compared to her, but to be fair Zia was older. Juni was only fifteen. She remembered her mom telling her that she hadn’t had her first kiss until she was eighteen. Once Juni asked her dad about his first kiss and he looked at her like she had gone mad. He later admitted that he was only eleven. Juni thought that was much too young, and hoped hers would happen somewhere in between. She didn’t want to be old enough for it to be weird.

“Is Figaro your first boyfriend?” Juni asked curiously. She knew that Zia wasn’t Figaro’s first, he and Sophie were kind of a big deal before they broke up.

As Juni scoped out her neck, Zia posed to allow her to really get a good look. She trusted Juni to tell her the truth about the appearance of any love bites -- if anything the young Ravenclaw was honest, pretty bravely so. According to the curly-haired girl, Zia was free of any hickeys. She was relieved -- the last thing she needed was a professor or someone to see such a thing on her body.

"I haven't even had my first kiss yet."

Zia sat up and said "Oh!" she hadn't meant to make the girl feel bad. She was still pretty young, and she had plenty of time. It wasn't the type of thing Juni would need to force, anyway - she was so cute. "First kisses are fun, even if they suck. Either way you're getting a story, right?" She smiled encouragingly at the girl while thinking back to her own first kiss. "I was thirteen and it was this boy Paulo who come to help his parents cater my sister Sonia's wedding." Zia blushed. "It was fun until we got caught. My brother Nico walked in on us and punched him!" Zia facepalmed at the memory. Nico was the youngest of her brothers but was easily the most protective over his sisters, especially Zia, the baby.

"Is Figaro your first boyfriend?"

"Not really," Zia responded. "But he's definitely the one I've snogged the most." She smiled at the thought of Figaro and how warm and strong he was. Her relationship with Figaro was definitely more physical than any of her other ones but she also really, really liked him a lot more than the other boys. He was probably the first guy she'd ever really liked. She felt giddy whenever she saw him just because she knew that he liked her too!

"What about you? Any guys you fancy?" Zia nudged Juni and hoped that she'd actually divulge something juicy. Zia missed chatting with her sisters about boys and kissing. She hadn't yet told them about Figaro, only mentioning there was a boy who might come to stay with them for the summer holiday. Of course she'd been attacked by a swarm of owls from her family members inquiring about him. She hadn't yet responding, wondering if she should keep it on the down low until he actually came to stay.

Zia showed absolutely no judgment over the fact that Juni hadn’t kissed anyone yet. That was good. Anyone who judged someone over something like that had some serious problems when it came to their priorities in life. And although she wished she didn’t feel so far behind, at least, far behind of her other classmates and friends, she also didn’t want to rush anything. There weren’t any boys she was interested in, or even any girls for that matter.
That could change, but Juni didn’t see it changing anytime soon.

She laughed at the image of this Paolo fellow being punched at a wedding. It almost made Juni wish she had siblings—almost. Zia’s family was so huge! It must’ve been nice to always have people around to hang out with. It’d be hard to be bored when you had others around constantly.

“I don’t fancy anyone right now.” Juni replied, “I mean—I used to fancy Connor Todd.” That was such a weird crush. They went to the Yule Ball together, where he conveniently forgot they were going to the Yule Ball together. The crush disappeared not long after that.  She still liked Connor, but the feelings were mostly platonic and judgmental. 

When the younger girl brought up Connor Todd, Zia searched her memory for who that was. She recognized the name and knew he was a Ravenclaw as well, but he was younger. Zia didn't know the younger kids that well, particularly not the boys. She tended to gravitate towards the younger girls, liking the idea of adopting a 'big sister' figure since she'd never had the opportunity. She was the only one in her entire family who hadn't had the chance to be an older sibling, and as the youngest, she understood what the coveted role meant. She'd always looked up to her siblings, using them as guides for many of her own life decisions. Nobody seemed to care what choices she made!

"Used to?" Zia inquired curiously, Hopefully Juni didn't mind Zia poking her nose into her personal life. Zia wasn't a gossip, it wasn't like she was going to spread Juni's secrets around to anyone and everyone. She just liked to chat, give advice... it was how she had learned to bond. Italians ruminated over everything with every member of the family. Even with over a dozen people in her immediate family, she still knew intimate details about all of her cousins as well. It was hard to get privacy in a place like that, so Zia really wasn't a private person. "What happened there?"

“Oh, Connor and I are still friends. I still like him!”  Juni explained, “Even though everything with him is an innuendo and he can’t keep his hands off anything with a pulse.” She hesitated, “Eh, let’s be honest. He’s probably attracted to that table.” She motioned towards a coffee table with rather shapely legs. Definitely Connor Todd’s type. “Nothing bad happened or anything.” Actually, they had gone to the Yule Ball together where he promptly ignored her the whole time.

She forgave him for that, but any romantic feelings she had towards him disappeared soon after.

“I’m picky, I guess.” Juni shrugged. Much to her father’s relief, she was picky. Mihai was very supportive of whatever choices his daughter made. And while he was a bit overprotective of her, he wasn’t possessive and wanted to give her room to make her own choices. Even if the choices weren’t the best ones.

"What is it about teenage boys?" Zia rolled her eyes. She felt bad that the object of Juni's affections had other interests. Namely, interests in absolutely anything and everything else. She hoped Figaro wasn't the same way, though she knew that he'd of course had girlfriends in the past. Zia didn't care about that type of thing, just their personal history. She hoped Juni would find a boy that wanted to snog her and only her.

"I'm picky, I guess."

That was something Zia understood.... sort of. She wasn't picky so much as indecisive, so she tended to just go along with whatever. She was easy to persuade and didn't like to say no, so she ended up going on a lot of dates through the years. Of course she was still an outspoken person, so she was able to end things once she figured out she didn't like it. Zia was a heartbreaker, which she felt terrible about, but she knew they'd live. She'd witnessed break-ups of her siblings and they all moved on. "Picky is probably a good thing," Zia complimented her. "At least you know what you want!" That was definitely a positive thing. When it came to relationships, Zia knew that she liked cute boys who were good at snogging and treated her nicely.... and that was about it. "So, let's see. What do you like in a guy?" Maybe Zia knew someone who would be a good match!

Juni shrugged, though she was thankful that Zia didn’t look down on her for being less experienced.

But what did Juni like in a guy? She didn’t even know. She never actually stopped to think about the traits that she was generally attracted to. Sometimes she wondered if something was wrong with her—other girls seemed to have very specific things that they were attracted to. But not her. At least,  not anything specific?

“I like cute boys.” Whatever that meant. Generally attractive>? “And… I like boys who can make me laugh and do things I wouldn’t do on my own.” Girls too, though she wasn’t sure how well received that little bit would’ve been. "And... I think someone who I can boss around would be good, too." She wasn't always the best when it came to things like compromise.

Cute boys. Oh, Juni was so vague! That was entirely unhelpful. "Well that's descriptive!" Zia laughed. She listened as Juni mentioned a few other traits, giggling again when she said that she'd like someone to boss around. Well, that was a fun thing to do with boys, though Zia had only done it with her brothers. She'd seen her sisters with their husbands and boyfriends and it was always amusing to see the boys following the demands of a girl.

"I like funny guys too," Zia agreed. She always thought that Figaro was funny, the class clown who could always break the tension and mundanity of classes with a joke. He tended to get in trouble for some of the things he did, but she always thought that he meant well. Maybe she was a little biased. "And I agree, cute is really important. I don't wanna be snogging a merman or anything." Zia stuck out her tongue and giggled at the thought. "Do you think merpeople kiss?" she wondered out loud.

“Well fine.” Juni sighed, “Cute girls too.” But preferably boys, mostly because that’s what seemed right. Besides she didn’t think very many other fourth year girls ever entertained the thought of having their first kiss with someone of the same gender. And Juni couldn't imagine dating someone she was currently friends with. Wouldn’t that ruin the friendship?

To be fair, there were a few couples around who were great friends first. But Juni generally thought they were the exception to the rule, and she couldn’t imagine herself being the exception.

And then things got weird. Zia was asking if Merpeople kissed.

“... I guess. Maybe?”Juni shrugged noncommittally, “That sounds like something we should ask Professor Donovan.” By ‘we’, Juni of course meant just Zia.

"Well fine... Cute girls too."

Zia was surprised that Juni revealed this to her but her face lacked any sign of shock. She didn't know Juni was bisexual, or curious at least -- but of course she didn't mind in the slightest. Leo, the brother with whom she was probably the closest (after Nico), was a proud homosexual and had been for as long as Zia could remember. Mimi also had the tendency to hook up with girls, but that was for an entirely different purpose (attention).

Plus, there were weirder things. Like Zia's inquiry about merpeople.

Giggling at the prospect of asking their professor such a non-academic question (in addition to the theory itself), Zia held her stomach and rolled over. A few of the snarkier Ravenclaws shot her death glares and shushed her. She resisted rolling her eyes and instead apologized like a good girl. "Now I feel like I have to know," Zia admitted when she looked back at Juni. "But there's no way I could ever ask Donovan!"

Juni cracked a smile as Zia absolutely lost it laughing. "Donovan's really laid back, I'm sure she won't mind." Juni's only problem with Shona was the fact that she was a werewolf. But she was also just so cool and Juni couldn't imagine the professor being irresponsible about her lycanthrophy. Back in November, Juni would have completely flipped out at the mere idea of a werewolf professor, but now..? It didn't really... Bother her anymore.

Yes, Juni would have preferred that Donovan wasn't a werewolf, but she couldn't very well change it and neither could Shona.

"You know. There is a second year Hufflepuff who is half merperson." Juni recalled, "I think maybe she would know, but I think it's weirder to ask a second year that kind of question, don't you..?"

"You know. There is a second year Hufflepuff who is half merperson. I think maybe she would know, but I think it's weirder to ask a second year that kind of question, don't you...?"

The second half of Juni's sentence went in one of Zia's ears and right out the other. Her mind was busy reeling with questions about this Hufflepuff. Sitting straight up, Zia looked at her curly-haired housemate in awe. "I didn't even know that was possible..." Zia said. She was completely mystified, but at least it answered one of her questions.

"I mean, I guess that means that they must kiss, right...?" Zia wondered. "Because otherwise, how would--" Zia paused, thinking of the most polite way of saying what she was thinking. "How would we have... La Piccola Sirena*....?" The fairy tale that Zia was referencing belonged to a muggle book of stories, but she wasn't sure of the translation. Oh well. The important part was: what was mer-romance like?

*La Piccola Sirena = The Little Mermaid