Kaegen moved smoothly, incredibly smoothly up to the counter. He had a target in mind, and had to get there sooner rather than later. Reaching the counter he sat down on one of the chairs and looked at whoever was serving. His voice sounded like a distant whisper, somehow carrying over the counter. "I need liquor for my ants."
His arm vanished back into his robe, and came back out of the sleeve holding a metal hip flask. "Can you pour it in here?" He waited for the bartender to come and help him out, and looked around. His head moved slowly first to one side, then to the other in direct contrast to his flashing eyes, jerking around sporadically as they tried to absorb as much information as possible. This place sure was interesting, he had to give it that. It was a stark contrast to the fens where he had grown up in.
He wondered why it was called the leaky cauldron. Wouldn't people prefer to come here if it was called the sturdy cauldron? Who would want a cauldron that leaks? Kaegen pondered these things, his train of thought becoming more and more ridiculous, as he waited for something to happen. When would the bartender get here?

Clary wasn't so subtle as she followed after Kaegan, careful to stick near him as her gaze wandered around the room. The Leaky Cauldron was busy as usual, its wooden tables and stools overflowing with a variety of witches and wizards all babbling away while drinking with friends. The place reeked of alcohol, and although the restaurant felt homey and quaint with the flickering hearth and candles to light the space in a warm, orange, glow, the area was unfamiliar and foreign to her.

"Are you sure this is even a good idea?" Clary stage whispered over the noise of the restaurant. Here they were, two clearly underage wizards, trying to convince a bartender to give them booze to feed exploding ants... Clary certainly did not foresee this situation in her near future when setting off to a school of witchcraft and wizardry. She set on the stool next to Kaegan, leaning her elbow against the counter, and gazed up at the old newspaper articles on the walls, depicting scenes of old headlines having to do with the Ministry, celebrities, and sports, among other common topics, each fitted with a moving image somewhere in there.

"I'm guessing you like magical creatures a lot, don't you?" she questioned Kaegan, attempting to make a little bit of conversation. She was pretty sure she already knew the answer to her question, continuing the extent they were going to just to feed his pet exploding ant. She felt jittery, a bit anxious in the unfamiliar place, and resisted the urge to get up and walk out. She'd offered her help and couldn't back out now; she prided herself on her loyalty to her friends.

Kendra enjoyed wandering around places like this with her face hidden underneath her hood, observing people like some kind of a spy. She had been walking around when she noticed a boy her age looking to get himself some liquor. He looked almost funny waiting there determined to fool everyone into thinking he didn't want it for himself. She noticed the girl sitting next to him seemed to also be part of it. Kendra settled on a chair next to the boy by the counter, still hiding under her cloak. She thoroughly enjoyed the mystery that surrounded her in situations like this, while in truth her appearance could easily be mistaken for that of a  hooded dwarf.  

"Psst." she called to them "You know you will never fool them right?" she spoke quietly so only they could hear her. She tuned to look at them while making sure the light only revealed the bottom half of her face. 

She was also inclined in breaking rules, there was just something too exciting about it. Finding a partner in crime was always welcome and Kendra hoped for this encounter to turn out interesting enough to almost get her in trouble, and hopefully not ACTUALLY get her in trouble even though that could very well end up being the case. 

"Where else would be get alcohol?" Kaegen was not sure how this girl expected him to get booze. Unless she knew someone who could make it with a spell, but even then they were already here.
"Yeah, I grew up with them." Kaegen smiled a bit, he really liked animals, especially magical creatures. They were his past, and with any luck they would become a part of his future as well.
He should probably say something else. The girl was obviously trying to start a conversation. That much was obvious, even to him. But that didn't work unless he put just a tad more effort into it.
Well, here goes. After the pause, Kaegen trying to figure out what to say, he finally added to his previous reply. "Some were pretty dangerous, but nothing too bad if you knew how to avoid them"
He wondered if she had experienced anything similar. Maybe wherever she came from had it's own problems, not related to magical creatures, that she had to face, to overcome. Kaegen would have loved to ask the question, but it would take an awful lot of words, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to talk that much quite yet. He probably said enough, right?
But then some other person came over. Man, why did people all look so similar? If an animal was under that hood Kaegen would have spotted what kind in an instant. But was he some kind of elf? Dwarf? Chameleon ghoul? "What won't work?" He finally asked. This was really, really strange. The voice sounded similar though... Then it hit him. He realized who it belonged to!
"You are a boy from hogwarts, right?" Feeling pretty happy with himself for identifying the hooded figure, Kaegen's eyes slowed a bit, and he waited for an answer

James walked up to the counter of the leaky cauldron, after entering with the hope of getting something to drink. He also hoped to possibly gather information for his journal, as he was eager to find out more about the beasts and such he'd been writing about. James pulled out a handful of sickles, counting them to make sure he had enough to buy what he wanted. The boy placed the sickles into his pocket after concluding he had plenty of money, and began to think to himself that maybe another check wasn't necessary after the several times he counted the coins at Gringotts. 

Upon arriving at the counter of the leaky cauldron, James spotted two fellow students, both of which were Ravenclaws from the look of their robes. As he was waiting for the bartender, he listened in on their conversation ever so slightly. James walked over to the two, partially because he wanted to hear more of the conversation, but mostly because he didn't have the patience to wait silently at the counter for the bartender.

Another girl at joined them, who was also attending Hogwarts from the look of her robes. The boy was sort of shocked to see three other wizards from Hogwarts at a place like the Leaky Cauldron. It wasn't that surprising, though, he quickly thought to himself. After all, Hogwarts incases the ENTIRETY of young wizards in the UK and Ireland, and the Leaky Cauldron was definitely a popular bar. James shrugged it off, however, not wanting to stay in his thoughts for too long.

He continued to walked to the group which now had three members, which was slightly crowded. The young boy started to get slightly nervous, something that wasn't uncommon for James. He tried to reassure himself that nothing could possibly go wrong, thinking that there was no possibility that something could go too wrong. James approached to group, and decided that the best thing to do was to ask about their orders.

"So, what are you guys here to get?" James asked the group, his arm leaning on the counter of the leaky cauldron.

Someone else had also arrived. That made their group total Kaegen, one girl, one boy in robe and one boy without robe. He was asking what they were there to get, and at this point there was no point in trying to avoid talking. So he went ahead and answered the question.
"Buying booze for my exploding ants." He pointed at the metal hipflask, and then turned back to the counter. This was drawing more of a crowd than he thought it would. How strange of an occurrence was it to see a few kids buying alcohol for some exploding ants he was keeping in a hip flask? Did these kids just have different kinds of exploding ants? Maybe their exploding ants ate chocolate or something. "What do your exploding ants eat?" There we go. If he had a sickle for every time he had to say a word to people in this place, he would have one too many sickles. On the plus side, if he talked more, then they talked more. And listening the people talk was very interesting. He wasn't sure it was worth it, but figured they might just balance out. He could talk more, if it meant hearing more.
Probably.

Claryssa nodded, intrigued by Kaegan's words. He seemed like a relatively quiet, but Magical Creatures seemed to be a real love of his, and she reminded herself to ask him more about the topic later on. She opened her mouth, beginning to ask him about where he grew up and exactly how dangerous 'dangerous' meant before a hooded figure walked over to the bar, stealing away his attention. Abandoning the conversation for a moment, Clary noted another stranger approaching.

Clary smiled over at James, vaguely recognizing him from her time in the Ravenclaw common room. She was pretty sure he may have been trying out for Quidditch as well, though perhaps she was mistaken on that subject. "Oh, you know, just the casual, 'We need to get some alcohol to feed an exploding ant, scenario. You're already an accomplice at this point, so I don't see the harm in telling you."

She shrugged, still leaning her elbow against the table of the bar. The Leaky Cauldron was quite busy for this time of day, and although not completely shocked, she was still mildly surprised to be greeted by the presence of other First Years, much less a fellow Ravenclaw! Though she hadn't really gotten the opportunity to speak with James before, she did know she had been meaning to introduce herself, and now was the perfect opportunity. "Perhaps I should be asking what brings you here," she joked, raising an eyebrow in his direction.

It was that moment when her previously raised confidence suddenly dropped to zero. She narrowed her eyes and quickly pushed her hood back to reveal an angry face.  It was true that her cover had been  a weak one and to be honest she was lucky she wasn't mistaken for a creature but in her mind she had been the absolute mysterious stranger that was all about danger and mischief. 

"Really though? A boy? Are you deaf or something?" she snapped at him way louder than any sort of "spy" would be advised to. "And I thought you guys were supposed to be the most intelligent out of all the others!" she continued. Her cheeks had gone red as she was glaring at the Ravenclaw. Drawing attention was not something they should be doing at that particular situation but Kendra was not exactly thinking about that.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and came to the realisation that her "disguise" had been a fail and that now everyone could see she was just an angry Slytherin out for some trouble. In the meanwhile another Ravenclaw had joined their little group. Kendra was curious to see how this would actually turn out. 

Claryssa's eyes widened as the girl suddenly pulled off her hood, immediately going off in Kaegan's direction. She was fiery, perhaps a Gryffindor, though she didn't know enough about the houses or the girl herself to stereotype. Immediately leaping into the conversation before things could get out of hand, Clary held her arm up, signaling for the girl to calm down. "I'm sorry! Please... just calm down. None of us need to fight. Kaegan isn't always the most observant kid in the world, but he's a good friend, and I assure you he meant no offense," Clary murmured, not sure why she was defending the kid when she'd only met him that day.

"My name's Claryssa North, evidently a Ravenclaw, I guess, from the way you already know to throw insults... People are going to be staring. Put your cloak back on your head, sit down, relax, and we'll talk." Her eyes darted around the room, trying to avoid the curious glances they were already receiving. She glanced in Kaegan's direction, motioning for him to hurry up! before any of the four kids found themselves caught. Relaxing back into her seat, she pretended nothing was amiss and did her best to relax, blending into the surroundings as another patron enjoying the bar space. "Nice cloak, by the way. It matches your hair color."

Kaegen was, honestly, shocked. Not a boy, but a girl stood before him. He thought bitterly about how people seemed so similar. With his fellow students, he really only payed attention to their mannerisms and hairstyle. He couldn't see the hair, didn't know what she was doing, and so his mind grouped her with 'human-wizard-hogwarts-boy' and dropped the topic. This opened it wide. How was he supposed to tell?
"Your hood hid your hair, how was I supposed to know who it was?"
He was still smooth, his voice still soft. The only noticeable change during the shock was that his eyes sped right back up. Wait, how did he know she wasn't just a chameleon ghoul? It wouldn't surprise him, they could turn into anything. Maybe she had been a boy a second ago. Oh, but he had never heard one talk before. Maybe a rare breed? His eyes stopped moving, and slowly stared at the girl, studying her as carefully as possible. There had to be some way to tell if she was human, or chameleon ghoul.
Looking closer, he did notice things that were different on this girl, and logged them in his mind. Nose shape, eye color, mouth shape, they were all different then on the girl next to him. This was a pretty big revelation. The people he had been classifying by hair color and how they acted had totally different faces. Not just a nose, eyes and mouth that blushed or was calm. He had been reading facial expressions just fine, but had never looked this close.
"That's interesting. You're different."
He should pay more attention, this was really interesting! The other girl was saying something, but Kaegen was busy, he didn't really pay much attention.