Skyler was seriously rethinking this whole go to the robes shop herself idea. She hadn't really taken into account at the time that she didn't know her way around the Alley. She had only thought of getting away from her mother for a bit. She hadn't had too much trouble finding the robe shop before, but now it seemed like with the late afternoon approaching, more people had arrived, making Diagon Alley nearly three times as crowded as before. Trying to find the Broom store was becoming more difficult, and frustrating for her.

She was getting pushed and shoved, and stepped on. It was a damn mad house out here! Skyler couldn't take it anymore, and began to shove back, making her way to the nearest shop, not really caring one way or the other what shop it was. Anything had to be better than being outside at this point.

Spotting a shop where she could see kids her age, plus older and younger, some with parents or what looked to be guardians,  and most without, coming and going, the young witch felt this looked promising and made a beeline for it. Standing right outside, the girl tilted her head back in order to look up and more easily read the sign. Wesley's Wizards Wheezes. Odd name. But she quickly decided anything was better than being outside as she wiped a few beads of sweat from her forehead.

Heading straight for the door, Skyler did notice everyone seemed to run past it in their way in or out, but shrugged it off. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry today. But as she walked through the entryway to the shop, she wished she hadn't. As soon as she was crossing the threshold, she had the sudden feeling someone had just dumped a bucket of ice cold water over her. Finding herself dripping wet, she realized it wasn't far from the truth. Her first reaction was to become angry. Who would dare do this to her! She glared daggers at everyone around her, especially those snickering, looking at her knowingly. And that's when it dawned on her. It had been the door! Glancing over her shoulder, she gave the entrance a half-hearted glare, and shot one at the kids laughing at her expense nearby. It wasn't too much that she was embarrassed. Skyler didn't embarrass easily. It was more the point that she had already been rather frustrated on her way in, and this did not help in improving her mood.

At least she wasn't so hot any longer. It was during this thought that someone roughly pushed past her, seeing as she was still occupying the doorway, and knocking her into a display stand. Luckily, she didn't seem to break anything. But she did become more angry, giving her the appearance of an angry, wet cat. Just great. Like I really need this right now. To the person who had bowled her ever she called out, "Hey! Watch where you're going!" as she moved further into the store to get away from the pranking entrance.

Ginny had been lounging on the stairs in her brothers’ shop for the past two hours or so, waiting rather patiently for her mum and Ron to finish at Madame Malkin’s. The boy had grown so tall that he wasn’t even fitting in Fred and George’s old robes from last year and Bill’s had long since worn out. That meant mum was in a fit of a mood spending way more money than she’d planned on new robes for him and Ginny was trying her best to avoid them both. Ron wasn’t much pleased to be poked and prodded by the robe maker, either, and so the sole daughter of the Weasley clan slipped away to the joke shop.

Fred and George were surprised to see her, but they were also proud of her clever escape. They’d turned down her offered help and told her to simply relax, knowing that she hadn’t had much time to do so that summer, and so she curled up on the stairs to observe the craziness that was their business. It really was crazy how many people came in and purchased their goods. She felt her heart swell with pride as she watched the twins handling money and pulling pranks while their customers applauded. It was great to see them so successful and happy.

She sighed. Hopefully she could be that way some day. Who knew what she’d end up doing? It wasn’t like she even knew what she really wanted to do yet. She had fun pulling pranks like the twins, but she liked doing well at school, plus there was quidditch. The girl really didn’t feel quite as at home anywhere as she did on her broom. Then there was the fact that she wasn’t sure where life would even take her by the time she was out of school. Fred and George didn’t have a war going on during their school years. Ginny wasn’t daft enough to think she’d avoid it like they had.

She was pulled from her somewhat depressing thoughts by a girl’s screaming. Ginny looked down into the shop and saw an unfamiliar face, and noticed that it didn’t look very amused. That probably wasn’t good considering where the girl was and who Ginny’s brothers were. She’d have to intercept.

Stretching her stiff muscles, the redhead bounded down the stairs, twin braids bouncing at her shoulders as she tugged her jeans up a bit on her hips. Why was it that they always seemed to sag after you managed to get comfy anyway? She quickly skipped through the crowd, awkwardly shoving some patrons out of her way but not really caring much. It was crowded. It couldn’t really be helped. They’d get over it.

Ginny skidded to a stop in front of the older girl and offered a wide smile, pushing another customer away before he could run into the other girl. “They’re all animals, really,” she said simply, shaking her head at the crowd. “You don’t really seem like the typical type for my brothers’ shop, though. Care to join me in observing?” She raised her fiery brows and motioned to the staircase she’d recently abandoned. The stock kept above meant that no patrons generally visited the stairs, so they wouldn’t be in the way unless the twins needed something. If that was the case, Ginny could always fetch it for them. “It’s a bit easier to avoid the shoving and the pranks up there.”

Skyler barely had time to hold on to her anger as a girl with fiery hair came to her rescue. For a moment the witch wanted to snap at the other girl, but instead found herself returning the other's smile with her wide grin as she watched the other girl shove someone else away. Skyler nodded along even as she responded. "Tell me about it." She stated in her obvious American accent, not bothering to hide her contempt for the pushy people surrounding them as her purple eyes glared halfheartedly around at them.

Blinking at the girl, Skyler couldn't suppress the snort even if she had wanted to, her eyes now bright with amusement. Maybe she pulled the innocent look off better than she had thought? Thinking on it though, Skyler had to admit it was probably just that the girl didn't know her well enough. So she shrugged, a smirk playing on her lips as she simply stated, "You should never judge a book by it's cover." Looking to where the girl had indicated, the witch once again shrugged, shaking her hair in the hope of freeing it from some of the water that was dripping down her back. She flashed a grin at the other girl. "Sure. Better there than back in the doorway. Good thing I left Nyx at home." She added as an afterthought.

Her midnight black kitten would not have been happy with getting soaked as a prank. Skyler was grateful for it now, considering the hot day. But at the time it was the straw that broke the camels back on this particular bad day she had been having. Looking at the red haired girl curiously, the witch wondered if that was about to change or if she were heading into more troubled waters.

“Hmm, I suppose not,” Ginny murmured in response to judging books by covers. She had to think of Hermione and how the girl actually seemed genuinely proud of Fred and George despite the way she seemed to hate jokes. She then thought of herself and how mad she was when people judged her for being a girl. If anyone knew not to make assumptions, it should have been Ginny Weasley. “Fair enough, sorry to have misread you. You just seemed rather… irritated by the door prank. Though, I do admit, if it really was dumping water all over me I’d be pretty peeved myself!”

Ginny resumed her position lounging on the stairs above the heads of the unsuspecting customers, though this time she’d grabbed a box of Creepy Crawlies along the way. The twins might be a bit cross with her about snatching their product, but they’d sure get a kick out of the reactions of bugs and other nasties seemingly falling out of the sky on their patrons! She looked over at the other girl and flashed her a mischievous grin. “Are you ready to get into a much better mood, then?”

She opened the box and pulled out a convincing rubber cockroach that writhed and clicked and hissed in her fingers. If she didn’t know it was actually rubber, Ginny wouldn’t have believed it. She’d have thrown the thing half way to Bulgaria. Ginny was a typical girl in one way; she did not like cockroaches.

After throwing a wink the way of her companion, Ginny let go of the bug and watched as it landed right on top of a tall wizard’s head. She waited for him to notice the squirming creature and focused on the girl near her. “So, what’s your story? You don’t sound like a local, and I know I haven’t seen you around Hogwarts. I’m Ginny, by the way. Ginny Weasley.”

Her eyes lit up with excitement as the man finally noticed the bug and started doing a jig of sorts, knocking into other patrons as he fought to dislodge the creature. Ginny stifled a laugh and tossed a centipede into the fray, snickering as it slipped into a witch’s dress. “This place belongs to my twin brothers. They’re the gingers running around like crazy people in the maroon cloaks. I know, they clash terribly with their hair. It’s part of their charm I suppose. Anyway, I’m going into my fifth year. Gryffindor house,” she laughed lightly, “I don’t even know if you know the houses at Hogwarts though. Sorry if I’m rattling off useless information.”

She clutched her stomach as her body rolled in laughter at the woman who was now screeching at the feeling of the many-legged insect wandering about in her dress. This was just too good!

Skyler waved away the other girl's apology, following her up the steps. It hardly mattered one way or the other. Skyler had come to terms long ago with the fact that there would always be people just waiting to judge her. And she supposed that had the shoe been on the other foot, she might have thought the same as the other girl. As far as first impressions go. "It's cool. I probably would've thought the same." She offered easily, her tone was light and accompanied by a friendly grin as she observed the customers below absently. "It actually looks like a really cool place. And the prank was pretty funny. I was just having a bad day already." She took the time to allow her eyes to roam around and view what was on sale in the shop for the first time as she explained to the other girl why she had been so angry upon being the so called butt of a joke. She had known from the outside flyers that it was a joke shop, but she hadn't expected to end up the joke. Normally it wouldn't have bothered her, and even now she laughed at the prank. But her anger and frustration had been steadily building all day, and it had finally burst forth when she had come through the door.

Getting a good look at many things she was itching to get her hands on, Skyler watched as several girls who might have been the same age as herself but could just as easily have been older squealing over the display of love potions, and giggling madly. "That is just..." Skyler paused, sneering, searching for the right word to describe the scene. "I'm torn between the words disgusting and pathetic. Maybe it's disgustingly pathetic?" She questioned rhetorically, eyebrows drawing together slightly in thought. She had just been about to say that maybe the sight was 'disgetic', a mixture of the two words, but she was easily sidetracked by the other girl, who looked like she was up to no good.

Not one to be left out, Skyler nodded and shrugged, not wanting to seem to eager or excited, and watched curiously as the other opened a box and pulled out ...."a Cockroach?" She questioned, mostly to herself as it was obviously a cockroach. But it couldn't be real. Could it? She wondered what other little creatures where in the box. Skyler didn't mind bugs. Sure, she didn't like them. But then, she didn't scream and get all jumpy because of them either. She wasn't given much time to ponder on what else could be in the box, however, because next thing she knew the other girl was winking at her and dropping the insect on an unsuspecting man down below. Skyler snorted and grinned, shaking her head as her purple eyes danced with amusement.

"Nice." She told the girl in regards to the insect plot. Skyler kept her eyes on the man who still hadn't noticed the cockroach crawling on him as she answered the other girl's, who she now knew as Ginny Weasley, questions. "Name's Skyler, Skyler Riddle." The witch responded. "And it's not much of a story really. Just moved here, so you're right about me not being from around here. Or being at Hogwarts. Although I will be there this year. Fifth year Slytherin at your service." She grinned widely and chuckled as the man finally caught on that he had a cockroach on him and started to do a sort of jig trying to get it off.

"They seem like an interesting pair. I bet life is never full with them around huh?" Skyler questioned simply, trying to subtly move the conversation from herself to the other girl. She didn't like talking about herself. Especially not with people she didn't really know. "Gryffindor huh? That's the one with the lion isn't it?" She asked, trying to remember the houses. She had read about Hogwarts, but she couldn't be expected to remember all of what she read. "Well it's too bad we're not in the same house. It would've been nice knowing someone on the first day." She admitted as she grabbed a scorpion from the box in Ginny's hands and dropped it into the crowd of giggling love potion girls. Skyler didn't like scorpions. They were freaky little things. So she knew the other girls would hate them. A triumphant smirk bloomed on her lips as she heard the first screech from the group.

As she watched the girl’s curiously colored eyes light up, Ginny knew she’d definitely judged her wrongly. This was going to be a fun day, at least until her mum and Ron made it back to the shop. She choked a little at the girl’s surname, but calmed herself and hoped Skyler hadn’t noticed. It wasn’t every day you met someone with the name of Riddle, and it wasn’t easy to forget the diary from her first year. There was no way this girl could be anything like Tom, though, as she was much too fun and solid for that.

“Slytherin? Really?” she asked as she snorted at the love-sick girls who were now utterly terrified. “Damn. Now I’ll have to change my whole perspective of the slimy gits. You aren’t a slimy git at all. Are you sure there wasn’t a mistake in your sorting?” She offered the girl a devilish grin as she tossed a small snake into the gaggle of screaming school girls. “Though I guess the hat could have caught a fair deal of cunning in me, too.”

Ginny wondered if her brothers would come over and stop her, but reasoned that if anything they’d probably just cheer her on, so she pulled a large spider from the box and placed it aside for an unsuspecting Ron. Grabbing a handful of the creepy things, she tossed them into the crowd where the witch and wizard had just finished dislodging their insects, causing many shouts and a few loud bouts of laughter.

“Life definitely stays pretty exciting with six brothers. Though, now all but one have moved out, so it’s really quite quiet around the Burrow. They are home enough to get on my nerves, though. Between them and all the company, the place is always crowded,” Ginny shook her head and let out a sigh. “Sometimes I just wish I was part of a normal family, you know? I mean, a girl wants to grow up with her own bathroom and a mum who has time for heart to heart moments ever now and then. I got to sneak around barely noticed while mum focused her attention mainly on the two idiots who are swimming in galleons over by the registers.” Closing her mouth, Ginny felt both free and worried. She hadn’t voiced this to anyone before, and now here she was telling some of her deepest childhood regrets to an almost complete stranger! What was she thinking?

She plastered a smile on her freckled face and looked at the Slytherin before her. She wanted to know a bit more from this girl, but how could she get her talking without prying too much? “So, do you play quidditch?”

Skyler was too busy enjoying observing the mayhem they were causing below to see the other girl's reaction to her name. If she had, she would've questioned her on it. But as it happened, she was much too entertained with the screaming girls now trying to run around that she completely missed it. Skyler wished she had a camera. The girls made a hysterical sight.

Skyler sent the Weasley girl a wry grin. "Well thanks. But I'm sure somewhere in the world dropping insects on unsuspecting people might be considered slimy git worthy." She said this in a carefree manner, giving the impression she really didn't care one way or the other what anyone thought. She definitely didn't feel the least bit guilty about dropping the insects into the crowd, that was for sure. And she'd never feel guilty about tossing the scorpion into the group of school girl witches. Served them right for being so typically....girly.

The dark haired witch suppressed a shudder at that thought and watched gleefully as the red head dropped the snake into the fray as well, shrugging unintentionally to the question. "Dunno. It could have though." Skyler supposed it was a possibility, but she also supposed that if the hat had been sorting people for so long without a hitch, the probability of it being wrong was unlikely. Skyler retuned the other girl's grin with her own as her eyes caught sight of the twin brothers Ginny had pointed out to her just minutes before. Their maroon robes really did clash with the hair, she had to admit, but other than that they looked like a fun pair. They didn't seem to notice it was their sister who was causing the madness yet, and Skyler got the feeling they should be thankful for that.

"Six brothers?!" Skyler half cried, stunned. Then she blinked, regaining her senses, and kept quiet as the red head spoke. The only thing that gave away the fact she was listening was the nodding of her head. She kept her eyes on the crowd, but her thoughts ran rampant. Clearly the other witch had given away more than she had wanted, Skyler could tell by the abrupt change of subjects. And while she couldn't completely understand the red heads frustration with a big family, Skyler felt it ironic that each of their lives ran parallel with the other's wants. After a brief moment of consideration, Skyler told the red head as much.

"I'm an only child, so I don't have the same problem. I'd say my problem is the exact opposite actually. I wish I had brothers." The dark haired girl admitted openly. "As for the mother thing, well, my mom is more the type who would rather not have me in her presence. At least lately anyways." She added on, trailing off softly, a confused look overtaking her features before she closed them off. Suddenly her spirit was back and she flashed the red head a grin. "I guess what they say is true then. The grass isn't always greener on the other side."

Eyes once again bright, Skyler finally answered the Quidditch question with a roll of her eyes. "And of course I play Quidditch. I may be...what is it you call them here?" Her dark brows furrowed together as she mentally searched for the word she was looking for. It was only seconds later that she snapped her fingers when it came to mind. "That's right! Yanks!" She grinned full force now. "I may be a yank, but we still play Quidditch. Besides," she went on, "Do I look like one of those chicks?" She indicated the love potion girls, who were still moving around in circles checking for insects, with a raised eyebrow.

She snorted, shaking her head. "Nope. Give me a broom over a love potion any day. I played seeker back home." She added on proudly, confident smirk appearing on her lips as she leaned back with her elbows on the step behind her, stretching her legs out in front of her and crossing them at the ankles. "And which position do you play?" Skyler wasn't stupid. If the girl had asked, she must play too. People didn't just try to make conversation about things they hated. That would be counterproductive.

Ginny was glad to hear the other girl speak of her family life. I was ways nice to know that other people weren't always overly pleased with how things were going in their own lives. It was exciting to hear how similar this girl was to the lone Weasley daughter. She could easily hold her own with the guys just as Ginny always had, it seemed, and that brought a huge smile to the rehead's face.

"I'm a chaser," she said as the girls below actually started crying. She could barely contain her laughter at the sight and the sounds! "You should try out for your house team. Give Malfoy a right shock to have some competition, especially from a girl." She would pay to see the look on the blonde idiot's face when Skyler challenged him for his coveted position. "If you're any good at chasing you should seriously try out though. I'd love to have some real competition on the field."

Ginny couldn't help but think that this was quite the budding friendship. It seemed the two would see a bit of each other in classes as well. What would her friends think when she told them she was good friends with a Slytherin? She shrugged as she realized she didn't much care. "Have you gotten all your supplies yet? Oh, what electives are you taking? You know we'll have OWLs this year. I'm really regretting signing up for divination again..."

Skyler matched the other girl's grin easily, noting mentally that her day had just made a complete three sixty since she had met the Weasley girl. Skyler had always found making friends easy enough. It was keeping them that seemed to be her problem. Sure, at the moment this sudden acquaintance seemed promising, but she wouldn't bet on anything just yet. People were fickle, and there was always more to them than there seemed at first. For now though, the fifteen year old was content to just enjoy the sudden camaraderie.

Laughing out loud as the witches below actually began to cry, Skyler nodded her head to show she was paying attention. Somehow, the position seemed to fit the red head. In her opinion anyways. The chasers had to be assertive, taking what they wanted. They were also were the most action took place in the game, which also seemed to fit the other girl in Skyler's eyes. It was little pieces of information like this that gave  her some insight into others, making her good at what some would call reading people.

The dark haired witch turned to her counterpart with a questioning look even as she voiced her question. "And who's Malfoy?" It was obvious there was no love lost between the red head and the way she spoke of this Malfoy person, and it leaked Skyler's interest. Especially since apparently she would be in the same house as this person. She shrugged, not really too sure about the chaser thing. "I'll probably try out for Seeker. I know I make a good chaser, but Seeker is my thing." her tone had a definite finality to it, and it was clear that she wouldn't accept less than what it was she wanted.

Skyler tilted her head slightly, smirking as the other girl rambled on about classes. She sure did like to talk, but this suited Skyler just fine. She hated when she had to really force conversation. Remembering a moment late that she had been asked a question, Skyler's dark brows furrowed together as she ticked things off on her finger, mentally running through a checklist. "Umm..Yea, I think so?" She stated a bit uncertainly. It was more a fact that she was bound to forget something. At this point in life it was like a tradition or something. "Well I have to buy potions stuff, but other than that I'm pretty sure I've got everything."

Her tone suggested otherwise, and her unworried grin suggested she didn't really mind if she did forget something or not. Altogether she put off the appearance of easygoing, which was her goal. "OWLs? She repeated curiously, laughing lightly at the girl's muttering about divination. "Can't see why anyone would take that worthless subject in the first place." She teased playfully. "And I'm taking ancient runes, care of magical creatures, and arithmancy as my electives." She advised matter of factly.

“Oh, this is just too good! Draco Malfoy won’t know what hit him when you show up on the pitch. He’s got to be the most pompous, egotistical, prat of a pureblood I’ve ever met.” Ginny was having way too much fun imagining Malfoy’s face when Skyler showed up to take his position on the Slytherin team. She’d have to make sure one of the Creevey brothers was there with a camera. “Hopefully he won’t give you much trouble though, since you aren’t a Gryffindor. We tend to be like neon signs screaming for him to throw nasty comments our way. Not that I mind much,” she smirked and got a proud sort of twinkle to her eye. “I rather enjoy showing off my hexing skills.”

Nodding at the girl’s assessment of her supplies, the redhead thought of her own unpacked trunk. She’d got all her supplies early on during a trip to visit the twins, but she had yet to pack anything. She’d barely even managed to unpack all the stuff that no longer fit or worked or served any sort of purpose. There were still a great many broken quill in the bottom of her battered trunk, and she really didn’t look forward to cleaning the thing out. “I always end up forgetting something, but I figure that’s inevitable. Not worth worrying about. Plus, most of the stuff can be found around the castle if you know where to look. It helps if you know who won’t notice you borrowing it, too,” she added with a wink. The crowd of lovesick girls finally made their way out of the shop and she searched around for the next potential target, coming up short.

There weren’t many interesting people around now. Where were all the ickle first years and the muggle parents coming in with their magical kids? Those would be the best victims. Ginny was distracted by the questioning tone to Skyler’s voice when she mentioned OWLs. “Yeah, the end of year exams. Didn’t they tell you about them? They’re huge and annoying and you get rated on a ridiculous scale of letters that make no sense unless you are Hermione Granger- she’s the smarty pants my youngest brother fancies. They’re a year ahead of us.”

She felt a bit bad for throwing so much information at the girl, but the fast-paced talking was simply the way Ginny worked. She figured the girl could keep up. After all, she’d kept up so far, and that had involved a Weasley prank and serious quidditch talk! “I don’t know why I stuck with Divination. I guess cause it was easy to pass and I didn’t feel like killing myself with Arithmancy. I do take Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes, though. I almost took Muggle Studies, but I decided Runes would be more worthwhile. I have my own muggleborn for learning about the muggles.” She laughed and offered a grin to her new friend. Could she call the girl a friend yet? She didn’t really care. She was going to call her a friend whether she liked it or not.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and have some classes together. We could partner up for assignments. As long as you don’t mind, that is. I mean, I could always partner with my usual Gryffindors, but I really get tired of them. They never seem to remember that I actually have a brain, and then when they do, they try to get me to do everything. If you knew how many people I’ve had to threaten with the bat bogey hex…” She shook her head and rolled her eyes, laughing a bit at the memories. Her classmates really could be idiots at times.

Skyler could only grin as her red haired counterpart rattled on about this Malfoy. She couldn't stop herself from smirking at the other girl as she responded with light sarcasm. "Egotistical? Pompous? Sounds like my kind of guy." Skyler winked  and laughed lightly, showing she was playing just in case the girl didn't get the sarcasm. It was crazy to Skyler how many people she had run into lately that didn't grasp it, but she had a feeling she wouldn't have the same problem with the Weasley girl. Absently Skyler thought she should probably refer to the girl as Ginny.

"I'm sure it won't be hard to knock him off whatever high horse he's on." She added in regards to this Malfoy guy, sounding highly unimpressed with what she heard of him so far, and a new gleam in her purple eyes indicated that a plan of attack was already forming in her brain. Skyler lived for things like this, and she could already feel her palms itching as anticipation washed over her. She flashed her patented Riddle smirk at Ginny as the gleam in her eyes grew. "Oh, I hope he does." Was all she said, but her intentions couldn't have been clearer. She looked forward to going head to head with this boy.

A moment later and she sent a proud grin at her new, dare she say it? friend. A girl after her own heart. Finally! Someone of the same sex with a wickedness she could relate to! She didn't show it on the outside, merely showing the girl should be proud of how she handled such things. "Maybe we'll get a chance to show off together sometime." Skyler said almost as an afterthought. She felt it could be entertaining, and who knew? Maybe the red head would be a challenge. For once. Skyler wasn't advanced with spells. She picked them up at much the same pace as everyone else, and tended to struggle most with transfiguration, which was frustrating because it was her favorite branch of magic. But what she lacked in the learning curve she made up for in ingenuity. She sometimes toyed around with creating her spells. Though she had yet to really get one to work.

Skyler was so lost in thought about her upcoming school year and it's possibilities that she almost didn't realize Ginny was talking. Blinking, the teen focused on what the other was saying. "Oh! I forget things all the time. I see it as tradition. You just have to forget something. It just wouldn't be natural if you didn't." She replied matter of factly. "Well that's an odd thing to call them. Back home we just call them, you know, exams." Skyler trailed off, not really sure what else she could say on that subject. It was rather odd and she felt unnecessary to call them anything else, but she supposed there was probably some reason for it.

Skyler didn't really know how to comment on the love interest thing between Ginny's brother and the girl she had mentioned, so she simply filed the information away for future examination or use. As she listened to the red head prattle on about classes, Skyler felt more light hearted than she had since she was forced to move to this continent. She snorted at the girl's excuse for sticking with Divination.  "I suppose that's excuse enough. No wonder Gryffindor house mascot is a lion. Laziest animals on the planet." She teased the other girl playfully. Her playful grin morphed into a questioning look however. "Why should I mind partnering with you in classes? You don't seem completely unbearable." She smirked, unable to help her playful banter at this point, but also unable to hide the curious look in her eyes as she really was interested in knowing the other girl would think she would mind such a thing.

This was definitely turning into a good day. Ginny hadn’t met another girl who could keep up with her snark in… well, ever, so this was really something to celebrate. The girl even made jabs at Malfoy already! This was just too good. “Ah, but laziness can also be a strength. Why put extra effort in where it isn’t needed? I like to save my strength for more important things.” She spotted another flaming head of hair enter the shop, followed closely by stout woman who screeched rather interestingly upon being pranked by the door. Perhaps Fred and George should think of warding their door from performing upon their mum… “Important things such as this.”

As her unsuspecting brother made his way toward the staircase, not noticing his sister perched above his head, she grabbed the fuzzy spider from her side. “I should warn you, Ronnikins hates spiders.” With that bit of advice, Ginny let the wriggling creature fall on her brother’s mop of hair, where it made an almost audible thump. She could practically hear his shiver as his shoulders twitched and his eyes closed, face turned at just the right angle for the girls to see his expression of doom from their resting place.

Ron let loose a squeal that sounded much like a five year old girl who had just had her new pink pony taken away. Ginny guffawed as all the eyes in the shop focused on her squeaking brother, who had his face scrunched up and was pointing at his head, expressing sheer terror at the creature that really wasn’t moving all that much. The twins were clutching each other’s sides as their laughter overtook them while Molly stared on in horror and confused rage, searching for the cause of her son’s plight while trying to convince herself to help the boy, it seemed. Ginny was going to be in loads of trouble, but it was so worth it.

“Oh, I was worried you wouldn’t want to pair with me cause I can be a bit of a clutz and ‘don’t take things seriously’ as some say. Or that you would let the house rivalry thing get in the way,” she laughed and shook her head at her own foolishness in that regard. “I can see that isn’t gonna be an issue though. You seem pretty down to Earth, Skyler. For a Slytherin at least.” She winked at the girl before wincing at the sound of her mum’s angry voice filling the shop.

”GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY!”

She made a face at her new friend before standing and hopping down the stairs, grabbing the spider from Ron’s head on her way to her mum’s side and ignoring his death glare. Honestly, he was still whimpering. It wasn’t that intimidating. Fred and George obviously approved, but Molly’s glare said that Ginny’s fun was definitely over for that day. “Owl me! Just send it to The Burrow!” She called to the Slytherin before Molly could grab her by the ear and drag her to the floo and a lecture back home.

*Note: I used the other Weasley’s as NPC’s since they are not yet being played. Figured that would be appropriate for this situation.

Skyler blinked. Well, the other girl did seem to have a point there. But Skyler would argue that anything one did was a reflection of oneself. Why would you want to slack? In the end, she merely shrugged. "To each her own." It was all she would offer as far as words go. She had become much too relaxed there on the stairs with this relative stranger, but she didn't care too much. It's not like she had revealed any of her deep dark secrets or anything.

Following Ginny's eyesight and words, Skyler too caught sight of the other red heads now in the store. The witch could tell these were the mom and brother the other girl had been waiting on. The boy was tall, and lanky. The mother looked sort of dumpy, but also like the type you didn't want to cross either. Nodding, the dark haired teen watched silently yet with no lack of amusement as Ginny pulled a spider she had apparently set aside for this particular moment and proceeded to drop it on her brother's head.

It was only a moment before the squeals and cries filled the shop as everyone stopped to stare and laugh at the boy with the spider on his head. Skyler couldn't help herself, he looked so ridiculous and so very afraid that she buckled under the laughter building up inside her and exploded with it. She laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes, and could barely breathe. She never got a chance to respond to the other girl because a loud and shrill yell echoed through the shop, Skyler winced too, sure her ears were bleeding.

Returning her friend's look with one of understanding, Skyler watched the family from her place on the steps. They looked like a nice little unit. Like one of those families that always stuck together. Watching their interactions, Skyler couldn't help the grin that bloomed on her face as she nodded to Ginny, or the wince that followed when the girl's mother grabbed her by the ear. It looked awfully painful.

Sighing softly, Skyler stayed where she was for a moment and then finally rose from her place on the stairs. She leisurely made her way down them, deciding to look around at the merchandise now. Might as well stock up on some of the items she was itching to have her hands on. Slowly, her grin became a smirk. Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all.