Cytherea had been up in the Gryffindor common room by the time lunch came around. She had been playing a very intense game of wizard chess with a second year when someone told them that if they didn't get a move on they would miss out on food completely. And though she was tiny, Cytherea loved to eat, and could eat massive amounts.

She sprinted out of the common room, leaving the second year sitting there.Cytherea leapt down a few flights of stairs, rolling to her feet and not breaking stride until she entered the Great Hall. The smell of food was heavy in the air and made her stomach roar. She saw he brother sitting alone at a table, but to her surprise he was not off in la la land. She watched as he scribbled a note, folded it into a paper plane, and threw it across the hall where a Hufflepuff girl caught it.

Curious, Cytherea watched as the girl, whom she realized was Mary Beth, respond and aptly throw it back across to him. This was strange indeed. Why would they be talking? Before she realized it, she began heading over to where Mary was sitting. The two hadn't really spoken much, but if Vulpes was talking to her, then Cytherea figured she may as well say hello.

She reached Mary just as Vulpes's most recent response came floating in. "Oi, Mary," Cytherea said loudly, planting herself across from her. "Whatcha doing? How'd you meet my brother?" She threw a glance over her shoulder to face Vulpes, and saw him roll his eyes. "And whatcha talkin' about?"

Mary Beth was glad to return to the world of passing notes. She loved to do it at her old school and had been under the mistaken impression that kids at Hogwarts simply did not pass notes. That thought baffled the tiny Hufflepuff. How else were you supposed to exchange silly drawings of your teachers? She was thrilled to see her assumptions conquered.

She sent her most recent note sailing across the room, and bit into a cookie she had been saving for dessert. When she heard the cry of "Oi, Mary!" she nearly spit it out in surprise. Turning around, she saw Cytherea approaching.

"Oh, how'reya, Cytherea?" she said. At the moment, Mary Beth wasn't sure if she had even realized that they were brother and sister. It made her feel dumb to think that she hadn't seen it, but she supposed there were a lot of things she didn't catch. "I barged in on his conversation earlier and made him talk to me about his headphones," she grinned. "I was so excited to see something from the real world. And... it was with two other older Slytherin boys, and he was tryin' to warn me about them, I guess. I kinda think he's exaggeratin'. Would you believe I didn't catch that you guys were related before?"

A lighthearted laugh passed through Cytherea's lips as she raised both of her hands and pointed at her hair. "Never noticed this then, eh?" She said with a smile. "But then again, don't think ya ever met Vulpy before this, aye?" Cytherea cast another glance over her shoulder at Vulpes who was wearing an oddly stern face. "Those things are pretty cool, but I don't see how he manages to keep em runnin', guess he learned that spell mum made. Could steal 'em sometime for ya if ya want." A playful grin crossed Cytherea's face. "I mean, I could borrow them."

With that, she casually grabbed a handful of food and shoved it into her mouth. It was more than she could swallow in one go, and her cheeks puffed up like a chipmunk as she chewed. "Sho Shliderwin's huh?" Cytherea managed through a full mouth before swallowing some and taking a large swig of orange juice. "Well," she continued, mouth much more empty. "I'd have to agree. Most are kinda... sketch. A few gems here and there, I mean Vulpy shouldn't be in that house at all," Cytherea turned and waved at Vulpes who covered his face in his palm. "But," she continued, "They aren't the typr ya usually go up and converse with."

Cytherea smiled. She wasn't sure why she hadn't spoken with Mary before, but she was a rather nice girl. And if Vulpes liked her, well that made things even better. He wasn't exactly pleased with what she and Antigone had gotten into, and Cytherea wondered if going around with Mary would help keep her straight. She held out her hand while shovign more food into her mouth with the other. "Les beh frens, ja?"

Mary Beth shrugged, grinning because she knew this kind of obliviousness always made her seem kind of dope-ish. "I dunno," she said. "I guess I don't usually... really... look at people. I mean I do, but I don't think... I don't think," she stumbled over herself. "I don't usually think."  Another bite of cookie.

"I haven't really met anyone that seems like an actual tosser to me," she replied. It was true. Even if they'd been being secret jerks, Mary Beth wasn't sharp enough to get it. But overall most people seemed to either be too busy to take issue with her or too off-put by a tiny boisterous Hufflepuff waltzing up to them to be their usual nasty (according to everyone else) selves. "I really don't think there's anybody here that's a bad person. And, yknow," she took another bite of her cookie, "Jesus ate with the sinners and the saints, so who the bollocks am I to act like I shouldn't be hangin' around with people? None of them have given me a reason to think they're dangerous, or anything."

Mary Beth grinned again and took the hand when offered, doing purely out of habit the handshake popular among kids in her hometown which ended in a fistbump and a pantomimed explosion. " 'Course," she replied. "Bleedin' deadly!"

Lunch was the most important meal of the day. Right after breakfast. And dinner was important too, you needed nourishment before trying to sleep a full night...

Obderedria helped herself to another cookie from the plate between her and Mary Beth. Drea enjoyed the weekends because it allowed her to savor the wonderful food from the Hogwarts kitchens without being rushed for time between classes (supposedly staffed by House Elves! She hadn't believed it at first, thinking that the pots and pans and cookware went whizzing through the kitchen air by themselves). Being in Hufflepuff House, you could smell what was being cooked as you went to and fro from the dorm. The scents diffused through the air in the lower hallways.

She noticed Mary Beth get incredibly chatty with another girl that came over. Drea noticed her pink tipped hair--well she was happy whenever she saw a unique hairstyle at Hogwarts, it made her green polka dots less unusual, even for a world of magic. In fact, given the shape of the face and the hairstyle...Obderedria looked about the great hall for a moment before finally finding a similar looking older boy at the Slytherin table, with blue tipped hair. They must be siblings.

Mary Beth and Cytherea were talking so fast that Obderedria could hardly make a word of it. She was mildly surprised to see Cytherea gobble up food and then continue talking the same speed with her mouth full. Drea was glad she had saved a cookie for herself because if Cytherea kept this up...

"Excuse me," Obderedria said, now curious that she realized that she had never seen Cytherea before at the Hufflepuff table. "You're in Gryffindor, aren't you?"

Cytherea stopped chewing and turned to the other Hufflepuff girl. It took her a few massive swallows, but eventually her mouth was free enough of food to speak. "Yea, I'm in Gryffindor!" She said rather sharply. "You got a problem with the Lion?" Cytherea grabbed another very large handful of food and shoved it into her mouth, her eyes narrowed.

She chewed heavily, speaking though her bites. "Ju go' a probwem ve ca' trow dow'!" With anotehr quick glare, Cytherea turned her attention back to Mary. "Oo iz dis gir?" She asked her, jabbing her thumb in Obderedria's direction. Some people just thought they could come into a conversation, not even a 'hello,' or a 'my name is'. How rude.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry!" said Obderedria, shrinking inwardly. "I just didn't recognize you at first, nothing's wrong with Gryffindor." Before coming to Hogwarts Drea had heard about the houses. Gryffindor was an energetic, passionate house and she saw how Cytherea would fit. And punchy, the house was very punchy. The Sorting Hat had almost put Obderedria in Gryffindor and given the punchiness she was happy to be in Hufflepuff.

Feeling she had butted into the conversation, Obderedria sat back munching on her cookie chipmunk-like. Her doe eyes looked between the two girls then downwards. Hopefully Mary Beth would introduce her. If Obderedria tried for herself, she had the vivid imagining of Cytherea biting her hand off!

Mary Beth's spidey sense piqued- her sense that detected a coming brawl- and her adrenaline started flowing. She almost wished there would be a fight; things never seemed to escalate that far. In this case, she wouldn't have savored the notion, however. She liked Cytherea, and she liked Drea too. The choice was already made for her- she'd back her fellow Hufflepuff, obviously, and she figured Drea would need the help. But fighting a friend was always a little upsetting.

She positioned herself between Drea and Cytherea, holding up both hands. "Woahhhh, there. Let's slow down a tick. Yeah, I know her, she's my friend. Drea." Most people would probably have used the word 'bunkmate' to describe them, as they hadn't spent a terribly large amount of time together. Friends, however, was her go-to emotion for pretty much everybody. "Friiiiiiiend."

"Drea, this is Cytherea. She's alright. I promise."

Swallowing her current mouthful, Cytherea gave the girl Mary had addressed as Drea a look over before finally shrugging and giving the girl a slight smile. "Kay," She said cheerfully. "A friend of Mary's is a friend of mine." Cytherea nodded at the girl and decided to quickly change the subject.

"So, Hufflepuff eh?" She asked with genuine interest. "What's that place like? By the kitchen, yea? Do you guys get a lot of food?" Cytherea grabbed at her stomach. Even with the amounts she had managed to cram down her throat she was still hungry. "I could live in a house like that."

She cast another look towards her brother and laughed. "Oh god," She muttered. He was face-down on the table, and a few younger Slytherins were snickering. "Hey Mary," she said turning back around. "You want those headphones? Now would be a good time to nab 'em."

Obderedria smiled. "Yeah, our house is close to the kitchen. I like it because the smells from the meal prep diffuse into our rooms, I always know what lunch is going to be. The dorm smells kinda fruity, too. Did you know it's nickname is Hufflepuff Cellar? It might have been a cellar ages ago."

"Well, food is always close..." Supposedly two turns away from the dorm was a wall sized painting of a bowl of fruit that was the entrance to the kitchens but Obderedria hadn't gone in, she thought it would be rude. If Cytherea did live in Hufflepuff she probably would sneak into the kitchens constantly...and maybe Drea would follow behind too.

Mary Beth smiled a little guiltily. She was guilty, as were many students, of sneaking into the kitchen and nicking little snacks in the middle of the night. As a very physically...active person, she was a girl of no small appetite, and by the time dinner was complete she was immediately hungry again. "I like smelling the food except that... I dunno, don't you think any food when you keep sniffing it eventually starts to smell manky."

She cocked her head in the direction of Vulpes. "I don't really steal," she replied, watching the fifth-year boy who had been so nice to her with his head down. "And anyway, he told me he'd make me a pair. I mean, you can nick stuff from your brother if you want. He'll forgive you."

Cytherea wiped some drool away as she imagined what it was like to live next to the kitchens. She thought about it and decided that  she needed to figure out how to get into the kitchens. But at the same time she loved an opportunity to grab Vulpes's headphones, if only to annoy him some.

"Mary," she said cheerfully. "When I get back you need to tell me how to get into the kitchens." With that she sprinted over to where he brother was dozing and carefully sneaked around behind him, casting a glare at the second years who were giggling at him.

She pulled out her wand for no other reason than to hex them, but decided against it. Cytherea didn't want to risk waking her brother. Wand still in hand she gently grabbed both sides of the headphones and slipped them off his ears. With great pride she held them aloft over her head and began skipping back to her new Hufflepuff friends.

But when she was about halfway across the Hall, the headphones went flying out of her hands. Shocked, Cytherea spun around and watched as they flew back towards her brother. While still face down on the table, Vulpes had drawn his wand between two fingers and summoned his device back to him. He caught it casually in the same hand that held his wand and placed them back on his head.

Cytherea frowned, shuffled back to the Hufflepuff table, and sat down rather forcefully. She stuck a large cookie into her mouth and pouted as she chewed. "Phooey!" she spat through her mouthful, crossing her arms. Vulpes was getting better at protecting his things.