"Well, West is best." He said trying to sound modest but failing because it wasn't a sentence that could BE modest at all and he knew it. He smiled around his words and leaned back on the guard rail again. "Uh huh. Well its the nicest thing anyways." Plenty of not nice things happened and he supposed they could be defined as exciting? But this was the best definitely. Regaining a friend? Someone as special as Bliss?

Nod. "Here has a lot of people that I'm sure will be happy to see you. You DO know how much you were missed right? And not just by me." And sure maybe some people got mad and hurt but... well it was Bliss. She mattered.

And 5'7 was a good height. Perfect height even. He knew because a certain girlfriend of his happened to be that height now too.

"Well you should. Talk to people. Tell them you're back right away. Especially the important ones." And did she want updates because he could give them for sure. "And I'll definitely introduce you to people if you need me to. But if you meet anyone new in our year, you can use my name if you want." Since everyone knew him and all? Yeah. Well they did. Shrug.

West listened intently to family updates and nodded. "I'm glad they're okay. And your mum, things will come right for her, she's a strong lady and she's been there for all of you. Its pretty impressive and I don't blame her for finding things hard."

How was WEST? He tilted his head to one side. "I'm pretty good, been right into Quidditch and my music.... I made the England Under Seventeen's team back in February... and last term I started a band. With Nigel Barrington, Vesper Bayliss, and Ascanius Stark." Grin. It was a lot of fun.

After showing off her magnificent hand puppet skills, Cat folded her hands in her lap and watched Mo as he messed around with the parchment. She grinned back every time he looked up at her, but for the rest of the time, she carefully watched him. "We could send out for some rubber ducks. They would be so cute! If we could get them to waddle around and flap their wings and quack." Guh. How cute would that be? She was going to keep one beside her bed, too.

They probably couldn't flap their wings, if they were rubber ducks, the wings were mostly just painted on, right? Well, they'd have to see.

Her eyes lit up at the pretty little paper swan that he had made and she carefully scooped it out of his hand and into both of hers. "I love it. Is it a boy swan or a girl swan?" Because she needed to know for proper naming. Cat shrugged at the question, "I can't say for sure about the others, but this Slytherin's devotion could probably be bought with food." She grinned at him, "If it was for sale, that is." Cause he totally had it all already.

Cat leaned forward, better to hear about this excellent sandwich. "Do tell." Oh. Cat dug into her bag with one hand and found the cookies she'd brought. "I saved these from the ones I made. For you." She offered them to him, and immediately opened her mouth so he would put a cookie between her teeth. Please?

"Order the ducks, and I'll look up some charms. And then we can ask the Groundskeeper person if we can keep them here." Mo leaned back on his elbows, taking in the sun on his face and the clear blue sky above them. It was a perfect day, the end of summer just hanging on before the weather turned to fall.

Hmm? "It's a girl swan. Matilda?" Or not. Cat was perfectly capable of naming her swan. "It'll float on the water too, if you drop it in, but it won't last for very long. We could have a swan race, if you want." Or she could come sit by him and he would enjoy cuddling her.

"So this sandwich," Mo lifted a hand and measured out the layers for her. "Bread, cheddar, turkey, roast beef, colby, roast beef, roast beef, cheddar, turkey. Repeat, then bread on top. And mustard. And it was amazing." He accepted the cookies and obediently placed one in her mouth.

"Let's keep some here and some with us too. I want one for my room, anyway. I don't know if you do." She grinned at Mo, wondering if he too would like one too, or if maybe he would think that too girly. Either way, she totally wanted one. "Have you SEEN that groundskeeper, though?" Cat asked with wide eyes as she moved their bags out of the way and placed herself right beside him.

"I feel like Matilda is a very respectful name, and I also feel like swans deserve respect, they're almost regal, you know?" He probably did know, Mo was usually able to keep track of what she was blabbering about. Usually. "Will you teach me to make them? We'll make new swans for racing. I want to keep this one." Cat watched his hands as he tried to create the illusion of the sandwich. "Sounds amazing, masterful, really. What kind of bread was it?" Also a very important question.

But then her mouth was full of cookie and she chewed and gave him big eyes that clearly said she wanted to hear more about this sandwich.

Had this bridge been here last year? ...because Sophie just seemed to have missed it altogether. Either that, or she was just a mere firstie who really never got out and about. Pathetic. She should ditch the classes and homework and just hang out all the time. That would be far more awesome than figuring out an Arithmancy problem or cleaning up the greenhouses.

Riiiight.

Then her parents would ground her for life and she really WOULDN'T have a social life someday. So here she was on this bridge just wandering around aimlessly without a cause. Hopefully she didn't look like some loser with no friends.

Michael was thinking the exact same thing? A wooden bridge huh? He wondered what its purpose was?

That question would have to wait because he had just noticed a familiar looking figure up ahead. He picked up his pace and in no time at all thanks to his long legs, he reached the person within seconds.

"Hey Newell! What are you doing out here all by yourself?" Was she lost?

"It's new. I wanted to come inspect it." Explore it, even. Curiosity was always evident in the things Alice did voluntarily, on account of it was one of her only usual motivators. "Why are you here? Were you... gazebo-red?"

LOL. Okay. Okay, that was lame. Really lame. But she tried.

Appreciate it, Nigel.

Newell?!

This wasn't a professor after her, was it? Surely trouble hadn't found her a few days into the school year! Then again, there was still that whole billywig story she'd made up on the train. Sophie had a million and one thoughts running through her head as she turned around.

Ohh... "Toussaint," she said with a smirk, echoing his greeting. His dad worked with her mom, and that's about all she knew about him. They'd never actually talked, although, Sophie never knew why.

She frowned when he pointed out she was out here all by herself. "Oh, I'm not by myself," she lied. "I'm waiting on...on...on..." She had nothing. She frowned again. "That obvious, huh?" On second thought... "What are you doing out here all by yourself?"

He looked down at her with an amused smile while she tried to stutter out an excuse. "Just a little bit." He said holding up his thumb and forefinger, leaving only a small gap between them.

Michael laughed at her question. "Out for a walk." He didn't need to lie, he had no problems in being by himself. "It's okay to walk around on you own, you know?" People did do it.

He walked over to the railing and looked over the side and let out a small whistle. "That's a long way down. Do you have anything on you that I could throw down there? I want to see how high up were are." He looked over his shoulder at her with an expectant expression.

"Haven't seen or heard from him, no. Have you? Does he look nice, or just absent, or... bossy?" There were so many options. Someone under involved was bad for the plants and animals, but over involved might really resent the students being around his animals and structures.

"Matilda, then." Mo started folding new swans for the race. It was a fun game he'd played with his mother and sisters when he was a child, although they used sticks and pine cones on the bridge on the Branthwaite property. He handed the first swan to Cat before moving on to the second one. "Mark that one in some way so you'll recognize it from several feet away."

It was nice to talk about his great big sandwich, but it made Mo's stomach hurt. He paused in his folding and stuck a whole cookie in his mouth. Now... second swan. "Lex ate it. She took my sandwich and ate it, and then I had to make a second one. It's like she doesn't know anything at all about sandwiches. You don't eat a man's sandwich, Caterina."

"Ha ha ha," Sophie said, noting the position of his thumb and forefinger. "Remind me never to come to you for a confidence boost." She followed that up with a grin to show that she was really just carrying on with him. She was smart enough to know the difference between sarcasm and rudeness, after all.

Yeah, she guessed people did go out and about by themselves. Just not...all the time, which was a problem she was trying to correct. "True story," she said, though. She was about to say that she didn't see him as the walking around type, when he suddenly changed the subject. Uhh... She dug in her pockets. "Just a useless knut," she said, fishing it out. "I could go and collect a first year, though, if you think that might work."

Kiddinggggg.

She grinned again. "So where've you been hiding? I didn't really see you at all last school year," she noted. Well, in classes and all, but that didn't really count.

Seeing the grin on her face, Michael grinned back. "Just toughening you up a bit." He gave her a very light punch in the arm. He had to remember that not all girls were like Zahra. Even now he couldn't punch Zahra like he used to. He was getting too big for these girls.

That comment got a laugh out of him. While he would never go get a first year, it was pretty funny. "You've got quite the sense of humour Newell." He took the knut from her and held it over the edge. He realised that the knut wasn't heavy enough and so it wasn't going to make a noise when it hit the ground, which defeated the purpose of this experiment.

He shrugged his shoulders and tossed it over anyway. "I was around." He lost sight of the knut so he turned back around to face Sophie. "Spent most of my time with Zahra and Alexa." He shrugged his shoulders. "Decided I would get out a little more this year." Well it was his parents that had suggested that.

"How did you enjoy your first term at Hogwarts?"

Bliss laughed at West's attempted modesty. He almost made it work as well, even though what he'd said could never actually be said modestly. "Now, there's something that's without a doubt true," she agreed, meaning it. West was best absolutely the best. At least in her - and his, apparently - opinion. "I'm glad someone thinks so." PAUSE. "Thank you."

She blinked, trying to understand his words. "Really? Seriously? I haven't stayed in touch with anyone else, really." Her own fault, of course and she didn't even have a good reason for it. "I've messed everything up. Els hates me and I'm pretty sure Blue isn't best pleased with me either." There were other people, too, obviously, but those two were the ones that mattered most to her. And yet, she'd still abandoned them. "Who missed me then?" She asked quietly, curious.

The ones that mattered.

The ones that probably hated her guts right about now.

Bliss nodded anyway. She knew that she needed to get the whole 'I'm back and staying' thing out of the way, otherwise it would just eat away at her. "I'll do that. I will." Oh. "And I'll let you know if I need to be introduced to people." She beamed. Despite the bad things associated with her return, she had a West in front of her right now and if that wasn't something to smile about, she didn't know what was.

Leaving the topic of her mum with a simple, "I know, thank you," and a small smile, she moved on to talking about HIM. Quidditch. Band. Bliss broke out into a wide beam. "Congratulations on the team! Wow. I'm glad your talent's being recognised outside of school." Proud Bliss was proud. "A band? I didn't know that they were into music and .. I don't think I know Vesper much at all," she added thoughtfully. "I bet you're great! I have to hear you play sometime, okay?" It wasn't even a question. The answer was yes. Okay, West? Okay. BEAM.

O________________________________________o

GEEZ! calm down girl!

Kevin was really, REALLY surprised when the girl shut her notebook closed with a snap and glared at him. He glared back though because when someone glared at you you had to glare back. Street rules yo! Okay not really but he didn't like being glared at. "I am so sorry!" he said, voice dripping with sarcasm because he certainly wasn't sorry. Curiousity was part of his personality, he couldn't help it. "Oh come on! i didn't see anything i swear" and this was the truth because she had snapped it closed before his eyes could even focus on the writing. He wondered what she had been writing. Was it a love letter? Gossip? boring girl talk? whaaaat?!


Still standing next to the Ravenclaw girl with serious issues, his back was facing the other end of the bridge so when he heard a voice ask him if he knew it was rude to peek in a girl's notebook. NO! He did not know it was rude! He was an only child, male AND only eleven. His parents never told him that because there never had been an occasion. Well, maybe just maybe they might have mentioned it or maybe not it did not matter. What did matter though was this person annoying him right now when he hadn't done anything wrong!

Thinking it was one of the older male students. He rolled his eyes and turned around while saying; "Look buddy! Mind your own busineeesss.....ah crap!" he cursed out loud when he spotted the professor. SERIOUSLY?! They were EVERYWHERE!

Well it was most certainly new. And Nigel was just about to answer her question when he heard the gazebo pun. Nigel did not think you could possibly make a pun using gazebo. But she just did. It was horrible. Nigel did appreciate the effort.

"I don't have a reason for being here. Kinda just walked around and ended up here. Did not think you wood have one for Gazebo"

Yeah he could not think of one for Gazebo. But it is made out of wood. So there is that.

...wow.

WOWowowowOWOW!

What had he got there?

Cosgrach believed his authority would be enough for the girl but apparently not. She totally didn't hear his remark and went on speaking to the poor boy in that attitude that the Professor didn't approve of, at all. He watched the two converse. Luckily for the little kid, he immediately apologised, even though it didn't sound too genuine, so he was off the hook.

Cosgrach raised an eyebrow coldly. Look how an innocent situation took a sharp, acid turn.

"That unnecessary aggression will cost you four points, young lady," he said in his coldest, strictest voice. "I advise you apologise, as he had apologised, to avoid further point loss. Ravenclaws ought to be wise, yes, but that was the silliest attitude you could ever take, and not because a professor could hear it but because he is your peer.

"And you, young man," his icy eyes turned to him, "you apologise for that word, and I will give you the benefit of the doubt." Fair enough?

For a second, Kevin thought the points loss was because of him being rude to the professor and he was about to get in to defence when he realised that those weren’t directed at him but the girl. He shouldn’t have done it but a smirk played on his lips and he turned his head towards the over-reacting Ravenclaw. Was she friends with that girl he had met at Madam Malkins? The drama queen? It was possible… He wanted to laugh SO HARD at this sudden change of event and had a sudden feeling to run to his Prefect and tell her he had helped Gryffindor somehow and that he WAS good for this house. He frowned at the thought the moment it came to him though. Stupid Prefect, no way he was showing off to her. Shaking his head slightly, Kevin looked at the girl and wondered how she would react to this. Was she gonna cry? Hehehehe

His head snapped back however when the Professor addressed him now and he looked up at the man with his hazel and dark brown heterochromia eyes as he stood near them now. Apologizing for ANYTHING wasn’t his strongest point. And he might be annoying and rude towards people but he wasn’t stupid. Faking a troubled expression which was kind of hard to do if he had to be honest, he looked down at the wood from the bridge they were standing on and said in a deadpan, not very believe-able but at least he tried voice; “I’m sorry , Professor…uhm…” wait what was his name anyways?

Oh, there went the big eyes again. "No, but, you didn't see him at the feast? He's..." She glanced around, to be sure he wasn't standing near to hear them, "Huuuuuuuuuuge." She made a grand gesture with her hands. "He looked huge all the way over at the staff table, I can only assume he's part giant." Hey, it had happened before, right?

It was more likely that he just happened to be a rather tall man and Caterina was a rather small girl. That was more likely.

Oh, marking swans. Okay. Cat dug into her own bag this time, producing the glitter pens she'd bought at Scribbulus over the summer. She used the blue one to mark MOB on the first swan. It was his swan, obviously. "I name this one Pierre. He's a French swan, and in honor of that hilarious man we met." Interesting people, the French.

Cat was starting to feel hungry as well, just imagining the monster sandwich that Mo had made. Mmmmm. "I'll make you more cookies." Because she was eating another one and they were meant to be for him. "Did you at least make the second one even better than the first?" She knew though, you don't just eat a man's sandwich, or a Caterina's sandwich.

"Why say sorry when you arent? There is no need to be saying it with sarcasm." A pout formed on her lips and she muttered, "Better not have." She glared at the boy and crossed her arms. Melek glanced up at the professor and her mouth dropped. Mel didnt know if she was angier or more embarrassed at the moment... She had just made her house lose points but the boy was untouched... why didnt the boy get points taken for invading privacy? meeeeeeeh! Melek closed her mouth and grumbled. She started up and said, "Professor... I cant apologize... no offense to you but I just cant... unless you want me to do it full of sarcasm like he did... thats the only way I can apologize... I dont mean any disobedience, sir but I simply cant do it... I dont see how it is wrong to tell the boy not to look at my diary... I mean if I really must apologize or lose points, I will, sir, but he has been incredibly rude to be and I havent done anything wrong but to say that it was rude to look at my diary, agreeing with you but if i must, i will apologize but, sire, please understand my side... I was minding my own business and out of no where, this boy tried to read my diary! I dont know who he is and I am new here... just transferred and I didnt know that it was against the rules to agree with a professor... I really didnt mean any disrespect..." Mel lowered her glance to the ground and tried to look meek but inside she was as angry as a hornet nest. She really did feel that the professor was being unfair... she was just trying to protect her privacy and that was all. She looked up at the professor, "I didnt mean to have the attitude though, professor... it is just... I hardly know anyone here and it kinda uncomfortable to have a complete stranger read my personal feelings and thoughts over my shoulder with no respect of privacy... I didnt mean to be rude or be snappy but... it just put me on edge and I guess I didnt calm down enough to make my voice calmer... I didnt mean to seem mean... I just... wanted to agree with you about how it is rude to read someone's journal..." Melek considered fake tears but that seemed too much so she just kept up with the trying to wiggle her way out of this. "Sir... please understand where I am coming from..." Mel looked up at the professor.

"Oh, I don't think you've been around me much," Sophie noted. "I can be tough all by myself." She declared this as if it was the most obvious fact in the world and Michael just hadn't been around to see it. Then he punched her, and she frowned. She was doing an awful lot of that around him. Mainly, she just hated she was the kind of girl any guy punched like one of the boys.

Not to mention she was also the kind of girl on a last name basis with boys. "Sophie," she said, unsure if he even knew her first name. She blinked when he took her knut. She hadn't actually meant it as an offering, since it was so light and all, but eh...it was just a knut. "Hey, I needed that," she joked. She watched it until it was too small to see then turned back to Michael.

Zahra and Alexa? So he was that kind of guy, huh? The one always around the girls. Heh. "Well, I'm always around my brother if it makes you feel any better," she said. She really needed to broaden her horizons, too. How was her first year? She shrugged. "School's school. Homework and all. I was happy to get into the house I wanted, though. How's Gryffindor coming along for you?" She would have pinned him as a Slytherin, mainly because she knew his father.

He felt like pointing out that if she was so tough then she wouldn't be frowning at him right now. She should be punching him back. Zahra would be trying to wrestle him on the ground by now. "Right. Course you are." He said with a small smirk.

Ohhhh she was one of those girly girls. The ones who didn't like being called by their surname and didn't like friendly banter. He merely chuckled at her correction, she probably shouldn't have done that, because he was going to call her by her last name all the time now. Merely to annoy her.

Why would knowing that she hangs out with her brother make him feel better? The girl was weird. "Yeah Caleb's cool. I like him." He was still reserving judgement on her though. "Gryffindor is awesome." How could it not be? He was around people that were much like himself. "Your parents were Gryffindors weren't they?" He grinned. "What did they think when you and Caleb both got into Slytherin?"

"You can share my reason, then," Alice assured him. "Want to help me look around the place?" She started walking about under the little pavilion almost immediately after the words left her mouth, trying to find something remotely interesting in one of the nooks and crannies.

And he got a grin for that wood joke. "Nice pun. You're a smart gazebo-y."

Merlin, she was good at this.

"Sounds good" Her reason was basically the same as his non existent one anyway. It did not look like there was anything interesting in this gazebo. Besides the view and if you are 'people watching'.

You would think they would run out of puns eventually. But no, they just keep on being said. There will be no end to both of their horrible puns. Gazebo-y. Really?

It was better then the previous one, Nigel had to admit. "Now that one was just Gazebad." But he did just a thumbs up.

"Did you find anything interesting?"

Sophie slightly narrowed her eyes at that smirk. She could tell he didn't believe a word of what she was saying, but that was okay. She would prove it to him someday. Then he was chuckling, and...well, that was just all it took. Sophie was officially get annoyed at TOUSSAINT over there. "Stop it," she snapped. Her mother had told her to get along with him, so...she was. Maybe.

Then they were back to regular conversation, which put her in a slightly better mood. "I had just pictured you a Slytherin, that's all," she said. Not that there was anything wrong with Gryffindor. "Yeah, they were." Both Gryffindors. Both house prefects. "Was your mom a Gryffindor?" She didn't really know much about her. She didn't even know if Michael's parents were still together.

Sophie laughed a little when he asked what her parents thought about them being in Slytherin. "Mom took it better than Dad. Her whole family is Slytherin. Almost. I think she was sort of expecting it," she answered. "Dad nearly lost it. I think he thinks all Slytherins are born of evil and stay that way for the rest of their lives." She followed that comment with a smirk of her own.

Gazebad? And he was making fun of her puns? She shook her head.

"Nothing interesting. I think I might have seen a Gazebug though." Did he like bugs? Alice adored them, and she could have spent all day spouting facts to Nigel about it's species and scientific names and native areas if he wanted, but she supposed even Ravenclaws got bored after a while.

"Good view from here and stuff. We could people watch for a gazebit."