[Outfit]

It was her study break after Arithmancy class every day that would ease right in to her free period since she didn't take Divination or Muggle Studies. Earlier in the year, she had been scheduled for a study break from 10 - 11 AM and a Free Period from 11 - 12 PM just before lunch. So, she took a nice long break to sit around in the Great Hall, snack early, and catch up on assignments.

Since he had assigned it on Nov. 18th, Bella thought it would be appropriate to work on her CoMC essay as soon as she finished her over-due Potions essay. The girl was sitting down at the Slytherin table surrounded by open books on top of short stacks of extra texts, nibbling on her Sugar Quill while she tried to think of how to open it. Her blond-blue-and-black hair was loosely tied into a pair of pigtails dangling on her shoulders, her robes were set aside on the bench beside her from the warmth in the Great Hall, her shirt wasn't tucked under her skirt, and the tie dangled carelessly around her neck. Finally, she set the quill down to the parchment and attempted to write.

According to 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' by Newt Scamander, the Fwooper is of African heritage and only comes in orange, pink, lime green, or yellow.

Bellatrix glanced at the tattered copy of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' she had packed with her school supplies (she'd kept it since her third year because it was one of her favorite books) to make sure her statement was accurate before digging around the stack of books to her right to search for the thick textbook that Professor Móráin had assigned them. Once she found her copy of 'Magical Creatures: How They Are Useful in the Wizarding World', Bellatrix stacked it on top of the pile and opened it to search for the Fwooper.

Erin was distracted by a suit of armor, which had apparently pointed her in the wrong directions.  She was actually headed to the Slytherin dorms to do something.  Noticing that somebody had dropped a knut, she picked it up.  She was about to backtrack, when she saw someone she knew all too well in the great hall with a couple of books out on the desk.  What did that remind her of?  Guessing it could not be too important, she then proceeded to greet her sister in a typical manner - at least for Erin.

"Bella! Bella! Vunderbar!" she exclaimed from on top of a table.  Deciding then that she had been on top of the table for enough, she decided to jump off the table and began to walk over to her older sister.  She got half way there, then remembered she had to do some homework.  She turned around and headed back to the dorms.  She got about five feet before she decided she wanted to talk to her sister again.  She then wondered why she had this problem as it seemed she tended to wander in circles a fair amount.  Never really one to hold on to train of thoughts for any long period of time, she quickly lost that one before hopping on board another.

Realizing that she was already halfway to Bellatrix, she decided to walk the rest of the way over there.  Not really caring what her sister was doing, but deciding it was more interesting than whatever she was going to do, she asked her,

“What are you doing?” with genuine (if temporary) curiosity.  She finally noticed Bellatrix’s attire.  Deciding it really was not worth commenting on one way or the other, she then noticed that there was a door over on the other side.  She began to walk towards it, not really thinking about the conversation she just started.

There wasn't a whole lot of commotion around as students were usually in class which was why Bellatrix found it hard to concentrate with someone moving around outside the Great Hall. This person walked around an awful lot and she was about to lift her head up and yell at them to make up their mind when she saw the person was her baby sister.

"Bella! Bella! Vunderbar!"

A sigh escaped Bellatrix as her sister jumped off the table, wandered around a little more, and finally circled back to her. Bella understood that she and her twin weren't considered to be "normal" as they were of the Dark bloodline, but Erin was a little bit more of a loon than they were. She would head in one direction, her mind would illogically jump to a different track causing her to go in the opposite direction, and the girl would end up going in circles. There were ways of Bellatrix coping with her little sister, but today she found her sister to be irritating.

"What are you doing?"

Bellatrix glanced up from her parchment and waited. Three...two...one. There she went. Erin was already headed away giving the older Dark sister no time to answer. Fortunately, Bellatrix had tuned out people so often that talking to herself was what she preferred anyway. Her blue eyes lingered on the girl as she moved around the table and made her way towards the door, flicking back once she was out of sight back to her parchment where she continued to scribble on her essay.

"An essay for Care of Magical Creatures. Erin, don't you have a class right now or are you on study break?"

That was the thing about Bellatrix: she may have been irresponsible as far as her own schedule was concerned, but Erin was different. She was the younger sister and Bella tried to focus the girl's mind so that she wouldn't end up expelled. They had been working on it for the past few years and although Erin didn't seem to be able to control her trains of thought, Bella had managed to hone her concentration enough that the third year got to class and got most of her homework done. Otherwise, she let the girl be herself and wander around aimlessly as she pleased. Her life, her business, why would Bella control her?

"An essay for Care of Magical Creatures. Erin, don't you have a class right now or are you on study break?"

Realizing that her sister actually decided to answer her rather than let her wander off again (which was probably a good thing), Erin elaborated her entire thought process.  Or what she could remember of it.

“Oh yeah.  I was heading to the dorms to do some homework for DADA, but then there was a suit of armor pointing in a different direction so I decided to follow it instead.  Then I saw my sister and greeted her.  I was about to head back to the dorms to work on my assignment, but you seemed more interesting.  Um- what were we talking about? Oh right – Care of Magical Creatures” Erin somehow managed to say in one breath. 

Surprisingly, Erin actually managed to stay somewhat still.  She was still touching her fingers to her thumb and tapping her foot, but her attention managed to stay on her older sister.  Erin did realize she had a problem and was well aware of the fact that Bellatrix was probably the reason she had yet to be expelled.  Remembering that her sister was working on something for Care of Magical Creatures, she then tried to continue the conversation along those lines.

“Oh – Are you working with hippogriffs?  I hear you can ride them!” Erin asked her sister, with her eyes lighting up.  Though Erin would never make the quidditch team, she did like flying.  Completely forgetting about her DADA homework, she wondered if she and her sister could go hippogriff riding sometime.  It sounded fun and a lot more interesting than working on an essay for care of magical creatures.  Figuring that it was as good as an idea as any, she actually managed to hold the thought and keep the conversation going.

“Actually – you think we could do that with Beatrix this weekend?  That sounds like fun,” Erin thought aloud.  Her train of thought completed, she had to jump on board another one.  Noticing that Bella already had charmed her hair a lovely shade of blue, Erin  decided to ask Bellatrix could teach her that trick.

“OOH - I love what you did with your hair.  Can you show me the charm to turn my hair that shade of blue?” Erin gushed, openly admiring the lovely combination of blue and black.