always happens like that [OPEN]

[perc]

Every now and then, Percy had to wonder if he was a bad person. He'd barely been home for any time at all, had already been reluctant to leave the magical school of Hogwarts for the summer and yet now he was already eager to return, to get back to what he enjoyed so much and knew so well. What was so wrong with him that he'd feel that way about the school as opposed to his own family? Why was it that he'd rather be surrounded by relative strangers than his own kin? It was something he couldn't really answer without having too close a look at his somewhat dubious relationships with his family, and to be honest, he wasn't really in the mood for that kind of thing. Like it wasn't bad enough he was going to be stuck in Diagon Alley with them all day.

They'd done pretty well so far today - he'd already gotten his books (all second hand, of course), his robes had been shortened slightly (even though he'd had to take the ones from Charlie's sixth year now, his older sibling's clothes from younger years too small for his frame) and he'd gotten all his ingredients for the year from one of those dodgy market vendors. Sometimes Percy really did wish his mother would consider quality over price; he was almost positive one of his potions the previous year had failed miserably because the so called doxy wings had actually been pieces of muggle plastic with thinly scratched veins on them. Whether that was actually the vendor or one of the twins, however, remained to be seen. It was probably easy enough to get that weird plastic stuff from one of the muggleborns in the school, at any rate, and it wasn't like he'd noticed till the potion nearly melted his cauldron.

However, his siblings still had other places they needed to go, and his mother had offered him the choice - do a few extra errands for her or cart around after his rabble of a family and feel his impending headache develop for the worse. Percy had almost instantly jumped at the chance to do anything other than listen to the twins as they tried to wind him up, and ignored the knowledge that they'd call him a suck up later. They could think what they liked, at least now he'd have half a chance to end today without a bad head! He wasn't feeling all that great anyway, but what do you expect when you stay up all night reading in the dark? Percy stalked off immediately, giving only a brief longing look into Flourish and Blotts before looking down at the list.

"Apothecary, apothecary, how come she gets her things from the apothecary?" he grumbled to himself as he read the list, not paying attention to where he was walking. He didn't really begrudge her the ingredients; it was just in his nature to complain. He was just about to look up and check he was going in the right direction when he walked into something rather solid and surprisngly soft, before promptly losing his balance and landing on his backside. "Bugger," he grumbled to himself, glancing up to find what he'd walked into.

[Selena Lupin]

Seven times up and down the main alley, in and out of most of the shops several times over and Selena still wouldn't be allowed to go home. Having been dragged around by her twin for the better part of the morning hours, she had finally managed to break away when they split up for lunch - both with just enough money to get something light. The trip wasn't even to get anything, but an excuse to get out of the house. They had had their supplies for a little over a week, yet return trips had occured almost every day since - an excuse for both of them to get out of staying cooped up in the apartment all day while their parents were out.

Going back to school would be a welcome respite - not that she hated being around her family, but because she was getting tired of having nothing constructive to do with her free time. There was only so many times that she could skim through her textbooks without actually getting the urge to practice, especially when practice was out of the question. No magic outside of school, and her mother had already expressed reservations about working on potions without supervision. Working parents made supervision all but impossible.

Slipping a hand into her jeans pocket to be sure her lunch money was still safely in place, she let out a slow breath and continued right past the ice cream parlor with some effort. There wasn't enough to get what she really wanted, so food was going to wait until she found something better.

"I swear to Merlin, if Shawn doesn't hurry up so we can go home.." Almost wishing there was some more constructive way to vent her frustrations than talking to the air, she kicked at one of the loose cobblestones - of course, doing nothing more than stubbing her toe in the process. Stopping to mutter a few words she knew would make her parents pretty disappointed, she let out a grunt as something - or someone - solid ran into her. Somehow managing to keep her balance, she looked to see who it was - and saw a vaguely familiar red-head that had to be one of the Weasleys.

"Sorry, shouldn't have stopped in the middle of the street like that." Knowing full well that the incident was mostly her fault, she held out a hand to help the older boy up - who she vaguely remembered to be named Percy.

[perc]

Finding himself on the floor wasn't the most pleasant of experiences, but Percy was barelymore than sensible enough to realise that snapping at a little girl was probably a bad idea. Especially since he thought he knew the face from somewhere. Still, it took a moment to bite back a retort, his bottom lip firmly clamped between his teeth until he trusted himself to speak. He shook his head as the girl offered out her hand and pulled himself to his feet; he wasn't the heaviest guy in the world, but he was probably too big to use her as leverage without pulling her over too. That wouldn't have been such a good idea, he figured. “Thanks,” he replied instead as he stood up gingerly, shrugging. “But I should have been looking where I was going.” It wasn't often Percy admitted aloud that he'd been in the wrong, and if he was honest, it felt kind of good. “Call it even?” He really wanted to scold her for her actions, but she wasn't really at fault. It would be like blaming Ron for letting the twins convince him to climb a tree or something.

He brushed himself off a little before taking in the girl he'd walked into. Yes, the face was definitely familiar – from school, he presumed, he must have seen her around often because he just didn't remember faces that easily... Frowning, he pushed the thought aside for the moment. He could probably get away without referring to her by name for now, so it wouldn't be too bad, hopefully. “Are you sure you're okay?” She only looked to be a slip of a thing and he was feeling a little guilty, when he realised he wasn't holding the slip of paper he'd been given any more. All thoughts of the girl and her condition temporarily flew out of his mind as he thought about what his mother would do to him for losing the paper. He was supposed to be the reliable one!

He glanced to the floor and searched for the paper, finding it underneath someone else's foot – they must have stopped to talk to whomever it was they were chatting with when he'd fallen, so Percy bent down and tugged it gently from under his foot, managing to go unnoticed. That was a feat in and of itself, he felt. Smoothing out the crinkled paper as he stood, he turned back to the young girl and smiled apologetically. “Sorry about that. So. You're in my house, aren't you?” he asked, deciding it was easier to just bloody well ask and be done with it, than get back to school and find out the hard way.

[Selena Lupin]

Wondering after her apology if this little incident was going to turn into an exchange of angry words - judging by the impression she was getting and the subtle changes in the teenager's expression - Selena subtly braced for it. It wouldn't be the first time she had been yelled at for something like this, though it was never an occurance she looked foward to. She wouldn't fault him for being angry, but found that her suspicions were unfounded as he apologized. Now a little surprised, she had to clear her throat before attempting to speak. "Y-Yeah..we're even." True, they both weren't paying attention, so it had been a mutually caused accident.

Glad that she hadn't been carrying anything at the time, she smoothed a few wrinkles out of her clothes and then seemed to notice the height difference. There was at least half a foot difference in height, and it was surprising that she hadn't been the one to end up on the ground. "I'm fine, really." She made the assurance without having to think. Her only issue was her foot, and that was her own fault - and the reason she'd stopped in the middle of the street in the first place. No need to mention that, there was reason enough for him to be irritated with her.

Able to at least place him in Gryffindor from memory of the previous year, she answered the question once he'd found the list he'd been carrying. "Gryffindor, yes. I'm just going into my second year, though. Selena Lupin."