This was an unusual spot to be reposing on. Even for one as strange as Vulpes. He wasn't quite sure how he managed to get there. Couldn't remember if he tripped and just decided to stay laying sprawled across the stairs in the Entrance Hall, or if he had actually opted to lay here.

It was about noon and, like always, Vulpes was listening to his classical music on full blast. This time, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 - Andante. He swayed wildly with the beat, and waved his arms furiously. For a slight moment he worried if someone may trip on him. But then, he slipped away from reality into his own little fantasies.

This time, he was in a Victorian Grand Ball, dancing happily with a very lovely girl  If he hadn't already been laying down, Vulpes would probably be slowly ballroom dancing with himself in the middle of the floor. He was wearing very nice dress robe, while she wore a long flowing gown.

It was one of his all time favorite daydreams. Vulpes had had it about half a dozen times since the start of 5th year, and it always left him in such a spectacular mood. He really hoped no one would mind his current position and bother him, as he really didn't want to be shaken from his fantasy yet.

Casey had been lost in thought over plans made with Professor Storm about the summer and next term. It meant the school year would be busy but Casey was up for the challenge. As Casey was prone to do when thinking, he wandering Hogwarts, staring at the many portraits and paintings move about in their separate realm. Most of the paintings, that didn't partake in much student interaction, operated in cycles that became recognizable after a time. For example, Delenzo the Rouge Alchemist wandering into a painting of drink, ready to turn the wine into something explosive; or Lady Marguerite the Humongous, 8 months due with her half-giant child and complaining whenever the baby kicked. These stories provided visual distraction while Casey's mind was at work.

And when he made his way to the Entrance Hall Casey found fellow housemate Vulpes Connor sprawled across the floor. If he hadn't been looking down the stairs at that point he might have stepped on him. He couldn't figure out if Vulpes deserved that or not.

"Someone push you, Connor, or have you been tripping about again?" Then Casey wasn't sure if Vulpes could hear him or not under those infernal head-fones. Why Vulpes took strides to keep that muggle device working in a magical environment was beyond Casey, although he knew the pleasures of well recorded music. Sometimes Casey fired up a record of choralling wood nymphs if he was alone in his room.

A voice? Had he really heard a voice over his music, because that would be quite the accomplishment. Usually people had to nudge him, or something. He opened a weary eye and saw what looked like a first year standing over him. What was his name again? O'Doherty or something?

Vulpes opened his other eye and turned to face him. Yes, that was young Casey. He was rather amazed he didn't step on him, Casey seemed like the type who would.

Well that was judgmental of him. Vulpes smiled up at the boy. "Hello young mister O'Doherty," he said warmly. "I can't seem to remember. Both? It's comfy regardless," he reached up and turned down the volume, yanking his headphones off slightly.

He was rather surprised how polite he was being to this kid. But still. Vulpes supposed he deserved the chance.

"And how are you this fine day?" he said casually. "How is the family?"

It was noon. Time for lunch. Erin followed the force of habit that drew him towards the Great Hall where, although he hadn't noticed his hunger when he was outside flying (a much better use of his time than classes, Erin thought), he was bound to clear the table once he'd reached it. Erin slipped through the doors, started up the stairs - and saw his dormmate Vulpes Connor lying on the stairs with his omnipresent Muggle headfones (not on his head, what was this madness), talking to some younger kid standing above him.

Erin took the stairs at an easy lope and then, because they were on the way, stopped.

"You take a fall, Connor?" he asked, without much concern. His dormmate was prone to lying around in the weirdest of places at the weirdest of times - while most teenage boys would be making a beeline for lunch right now, it was typical that Connor'd be lounging around listening to music. Erin cast a sideways look to the boy Vulpes was talking to - another Slytherin, Erin'd seen him around the common room. Some Irish name. O'Doherty, he thought.

"The family? Up to their usual tricks I'm sure," Casey replied nonchalantly. And now an audience was growing too. "Grandfather pickling his liver with the contents of the bar, no doubt. Auntie Suanach doing the same, just hiding out in her room. Grandmother snobbing it up with the other old society broads. Mother bedridden, Father not by her side, nearly sounds like Auntie Maeve flirting behind stupid Uncle Torna's back."

"And my cousins will be starting here over the next two falls, doesn't that sound lovely?"

It wasn't all the time that a whole little clot of students were actively not pursuing lunch, Mary Beth noticed as she took the steps carefully. On her first week she had tripped going up the stairs and spilled her books everywhere, much to the delight of the older students, who had burst into a teasing applause before helping her up. She was a little more cautious now. All the boys convening on the stairs seemed to be older, and all seemed to know each other at least a little.

She was fairly starving, and had made up her mind to walk by the boys and keep her business to herself, when she noticed a remnant of her old world sticking out like a sore thumb- a pair of muggle headphones!

Mary Beth stopped dead in her tracks and flapped her hands excitedly. "Ohhh my God!" she squealed. "Where did you get those?! What are you listening to?" After a brief moment of embarrassment she realized that she had interrupted whatever congregation they were having. A red flush crept across her cheeks. "Oh. Beg your pardon," she took a step back.

Vulpes blinked, not sure how to reply to Casey. "Sorry," he said weakly. "I didn't realize... Well never mind." he swallowed hard hearing someone else call out to him. With the turn of his head he saw Erin Harper, a dorm-mate of his. Not that he had ever spoken to him. Not much anyway.

Still, he smiled at him. "Well, like I was telling O'Doherty," he said casually, "I don't really remember. It's likely though, knowing me." Vulpes chuckled and sat up. "Lunch time? I smell food."

As he gracefully spun to his feet, he noticed a Hufflepuff heading down the stairs. She took one look at him and stopped, flapping her hands. Vulpes couldn't help but laugh slightly. It was rather cute of her.Oh my God! Where did you get those?! What are you listening to? She half shouted before blushing and taking a step back.Oh. Beg your pardon.

Again, Vulpes laughed. "Mozart," he said with a smile. "And my mother gave them to me. Enchanted, see. But they don't work without this," Vulpes indicated a small yellow cylinder around the antenna. "This thing has ever classical song in existance on it."

Vulpes smiled and took a step towards the first year. "My name is Vulpes Connor," he said smiling and offering his hand. "Pleasure to meet you."

She was profoundly jealous. One of the things she missed most was music. Not that there wasn't music, but she missed what she considered to be real music. That wasn't about elves or dragons or what have you. "That's deadly," she said. She was totally sincere, but the more she looked at them the more they were making her homesick. "I miss mine," she added.

When offered, she took his hand and smiled broadly. "Mary Beth MacEvoy. Pleasure's mine, I'm sure." In the moments where her optimism was proven correct, she tended to be very excited about it. "People talk a lot of shite around here, don't they? Everybody told me to look out for Slytherins 'cause they're mean... or scary, or whatever, but I guess they were just tryin' to pull one over on me, right?"

Casey couldn't help but chuckle when he heard miss Mary Beth's question. And her foul mouth. "That isn't our," indicating Vulpes and himself, "first intention, I assure you." This was true. Casey, ambitious as he was, always looked higher up the ages to students to find someone to best with skill. He didn't care about students younger than him in this arrangement. Although if he could barely give two figs about the younger years, it did not need to be rotten figs by default.

"The ones you'll want to watch out for are Callum Knight, Morvin Sharp, Kitty Li..." he listed a few names., the worst of the bunch. "Our house isn't as bigoted as it has been in legend, but we still have stragglers."

Erin nodded to Vulpes' inquiry about lunch, but could not contribute with equal enthusiasm when a small Hufflepuff girl nearby fell in love with his dormmate's earfones and came over to be cheerful at them about it. Erin didn't know what she was talking about, but it didn't sound nearly as brilliant as the names of any wizarding bands. He let them have their bonding moment in peace, though, aware of Vulpes' easy-going nature with more or less everyone and probable love of meeting someone who knew what a mozart was. He raised a brow at the third-year instead, who seemed like a right proper cynic if what he was talking about when Erin wandered up was any indication. Well, family, they were always a bunch of bastards, weren't they?

O'Doherty was clearly not as cynical as he thought for he was quick to give the girl his laughing advice about who in Slytherin house to avoid. Erin wasn't one of them. For a bloke known for his hair-pin trigger and fondness for fights, that was kinda disappointing.

"And Erin Harper," he tacked easily onto the end of O'Doherty's little list, without even the grace to look ashamed of himself. "Not so nasty as the others, but he used to partner with Knight." Couldn't very well tell the poor innocent he wasn't a threat, could he? Not when she was standing there all bright-eyed looking very fun to tease. Teasing would probably be the worst of it, though - Erin had split from the Slytherin gang of bad boys for a reason, mostly because Knight and Tawse were getting reputations so nasty the professors would just as soon slap on a punishment as look at 'em. Erin had better things to do than spend every Saturday in dentention, yes he did, better things like Quidditch. Besides, victims were only ever fun if they fought back. Cowering and snivelling just got on his nerves. He got in plenty of fights, but he preferred people who would punch back.

Still, he mourned a little that he'd fallen off the list of Slytherins not to mess with. Maybe if he could work up the energy he'd go on a little bullying spree sometime soon. Probably hanging out in the Hufflepuff common room with Razzy these past few weeks hadn't helped.

"Oi," he said suddenly, as if he'd just remembered. "Knight's better now, though. He has a thing about hitting girls. No worries for you, lass."

Oh no... Vulpes had a strong suspicion that this girl must be a Muggle-Born, merely from her statement that she missed her headphones, and knew who Mozart was. This probably wasn't the best group to mention that to. While he had no qualms with Muggle-Borns, he wasn't quite so sure about the other two. Harper, after all, was friends with Knight, and Tawse.

He gave a quick glance at O'Doherty and Harper, wondering if they had realized it, they didn't seem to, but they could be hard to read on occasion. Vulpes raised an eyebrow in Harper's direction when he mentioned himself without specifically saying that it was him. Still, he did recall that Harper hadn't been doing much bullying lately, and with a slight nod weighed in his own candidates. "Sharp is definitely one who you should avoid. Lucky for you, he wont be hanging around this place in a few months. Kitty on the other hand..." Vulpes shuddered thinking about it. "Steer clear of her as best you can. And there's that one first year girl. Euphoria or some such? She doesn't seem all that nice..." He shrugged casually and added, "Dunno about Harper though. He seems to be straightening out. Though that may well be because the guys he ran with are usually prime suspects if anything happens..."

Vulpes yawned sleepily into his hand and sat back down on the stairs. He had just remembered what he had been thinking about before he was interrupted... if interrupted was the proper word. Alas, it didn't matter now. The dream was lost.

He thought for a moment about whether he should countermand what Casey said about Slytherins not being as bigoted anymore. That was a flat lie, really. He knew plenty who despised Muggles and Muggle-Borns, although that isn't what they called them... Vulpes decided it would be best not to say it out in the open. He'd  probably send her the message during lunch. After all, it was only fair to warn the girl.

He perked his head up slightly when Erin spoke. "Oi, Knight's better now, though. He has a thing about hitting girls. No worries for you, lass."

A small smile flickered across Vulpes's face. "Well that's good," he said casually, stifling another yawn. "At least he has some standards."

Their list seemed pretty exhaustive! She raised her eyebrows at the whole slew of names she was supposed to be wary of, and then grinned a little. "Oh, right," she giggled. "C'mon, I'm sure they're not so bad."

She made it her beeswax to not make judgments about people she hadn't met, but it was a pretty high percentage of people trying to warn her about Slytherin. Even so, the evidence in front of her was hard to dispute; she had wandered up to a group of (older) Slytherin boys and they were perfectly friendly. Some members of the house seemed to be a little grouchy, but that was nothing she needed to be afraid of.

Also, she was pretty sure that people underestimated two things about her at first glance:
a) She had very little capacity to fear people because she didn't know when to start considering them an enemy. It rarely came to that.
b) She was incredibly scrappy.

If worse came to worse, it wouldn't exactly be her first rodeo. "So, Li, Knight, Harper...?" she ticked them off on her fingers. "I think I'm just gonna go and say hi to 'em," she looked back and forth between the three boys. "People jump to conclusions sometimes."