Juliet has been meaning to go around the school and just get to know it little by little. So far she hasn't quite yet familiarize herself with the places around but she does carry a map with her. Just in case she gets lost and in which case, she will..... eventually. Thank Merlin she can read Hogwarts' map.

Taking her first stop at the Herbology section, she made her way to the terrace. It seemed nice to hang out here for awhile since the weather hasn't drastically changed into cold. Summer is still there or the heat is still there. Anytime soon, it will change but for now, she'll just have to enjoy it.

Sitting in one area, she folded her map and placed it on the table together with her sandwich. She does make awesome sandwiches not that it was hard to make. She then took a bit from it. Yes, it's good.

Messenger bag slung around one shoulder, Ethan made his way down to the greenhouses and stopped at a particularly lush area near the gardens Chairs and tables surrounded by greenery and fragrant flowers... nothing seemed more peaceful to the boy. He resumed his walk, making his way to the terrace, and sat down at one of the chairs, setting his bag down on the ground. He had come down here to do some extra Herbology work, but felt compelled to relax for a few minutes and take in the scenery.

Annabelle was walking down to the greenhouses when she noticed a familiar face. It was Ethan! She last remembered walking out on him in the three broomsticks. She still felt bad for what happened. She wanted to make it up to him. Belle walked up to him and he looked like he was doing some work. Belle coughed and said, "Um Hi Ethan." she said and looked down at her feet. "How are you doing?" she asked for a conversation starter.
"Listen i still feel bad for what happened at hogsmeade and i hope you can forgive me." Belle said to get it off her chest.

Just like last term Vickers trotted down these parts of the school with a roll of garden wire netting and support stakes all wrapped up in a rucksack. Selecting a table he emptied out the ruck sack and set his wand beside them, before selecting a couple of the wooden stakes which would form the backbone of his wire work. He took his wand and uttered a sticking charm along the length of the stake before pressing them together firmly. There now that should hold nice and solid.

He took the wire mesh and started to cut, bend and mold the framework of the concept he has in his head. This was a bit different from what he did last term since that had words to spell things out. To him, letters were easier to do. This time, although in the end would be a singular piece, had to look right. Because he wouldnt accept anything less.

Though the scenery was incredibly peaceful and relaxing, Ethan felt he had to at least get his work started. He looked around the lush greenery and briefly wondered if there was a charm on it to keep it all so green and flowery even though winter was approaching... Reaching down in his bag, the Ravenclaw pulled out a jar that had a small amount of fertilizer in it from the greenhouse. He then took the wand from his cloak and cast Aguamenti, filling the jar half-way with water, and mixed the fertilizer well. Perfect for rooting a cutting, he thought, satisfied so far.

Looking around the garden for the just-right plant, he spotted the familiar purple blossoms. Ethan headed straight for the wild-growing lavender, carrying the jar and a pair of pruning shears. Kneeling down in front of the plant, he carefully cut of a branch near the bottom and stripped of a few of the leaves from the bottom of the cultivated branch. The boy set the branch into the jar. Once it started to develop its own root, he could plant it in a soil-filled pot. That way he could have his own lavender plant and leave the original in the ground.

As he got up from the plant, Ethan noticed a familiar face approaching. One that he hadn't seen in quite awhile and really needed to talk to. "Hey Belle..." he started as the Hufflepuff Prefect greeted him. But before he could say anything else, she blurted out an apology. Wait... what? He furrowed his brow in confusion. "No need for forgiveness," he said, lightly shaking his head. "I was really rude to you... I'm the one who owes you an apology." Merlin, he was taught better manners than those he displayed in Hogsmeade. Hopefully his apology would be enough... He looked at her expectantly. Friends?

Belle heard Ethan's explanation of no apology. Belle's heart lifted and she let the incident go. "Yeah let's just say we all had a bad day." she smiled and was glad he wasn't made. When Ethan asked if they were friends, Belle smiled and said "Of course we are." she smiled and hugged him .

Belle was curious what he was doing then she remembered they had homework. "Oh are you doing the Herbology homework? What do we have to do for it?" Belle asked as a reminder.

Sarah went out to the terrace and place her cutting of flora and fauna on the table. She was going to make a nice flower arrangement. Perhaps she should have done i n the dorm, yet she wanted it to be a surprise for Penelope.

Now first the vase. She had gotten instructions from the transfiguration professor on how to make a vase from a thimble. She rummaged in her pocket for the small thimble and drew it out in her left hand. With her right hand she paged through her notes she had taken on the spell Floreneo. She had practiced before, yet she did it with the notes again just to be sure. There it was...
Sarah did so, she turned her wand downwards and made three clockwise circles moving her wand away from the thimble and said “Floreneo” as if on cue the thimble transformed into a magnificent glass vase.

Now that she had the vase, she ought to start working on her flower arrangement.
First she cast “argumenti” to fill the vase with water. Then she put on her gloves again and dethorned the roses and took off the leaves that were at the bottom part of the stems. This will make the water cleaner. Then she cut al the cuttings to size.
Now that everything was prepared, she set about arranging it. First she arranged the five roses in positions akin to the dots on the five face of a die. Two top, two on thebottom and one in the middle. Then she used the tuber roses to do the same. Once she had done that she put Michaelmis Daisies and greenery in all the spare spots.

Now she examined it. She looked at the top view...
very nice. Hopefully Penelope will like it.

"Right... bad day," Ethan agreed with a smile. While some parts of his first to Hogsmeade were quite good, his experience at the Three Broomsticks did not go as he had expected. He guessed he was just being a bit touchy and he was quite relieved that Belle was not going to hold it against him. He returned her hug, glad that he would not lose her as a friend - she was the first one he had made at Hogwarts, after all. The boy stepped back for a moment and took in the girl's appearance, wondering if she was perhaps too nice. Because 'too nice' made it too easy for someone to take advantage... and he wouldn't want to see that happen.

Making a mental note to keep an eye on her, Ethan glanced down at the jar in his hand as Belle made mention of it. "Oh no... I mean, yes... well, sort of," he began. "It's the task force assignment, but I think I'll probably use it for part of the homework too." Why not kill two birds with one stone, right? "This is a gift for my mum..." he looked back down at the submerged branch. "Err... well, it's going to be." And to answer her next question, he added, "Our homework is that journal we're supposed to keep all year. We have to make a couple entries each month about the herbs we use in our daily lives."

"Not started it yet?" he joked with a wink.

Belle playfully punched him in the arm. "No i haven't started it yet. I have other duties to take care remember?" she asked jokingly pointing to the badge. " But i will make a mental note to start it soon." she playfully winked back.

When Ethan mentioned that it is a gift for his mom, Belle asked, "You're mom is into nature or does she have a collection of plants back at home?"

"She does like plants..." Ethan nodded. "She has a few of them... but she's not so good at keeping them alive. My dad and I say she has a black thumb," he added with a grin. Ethan was the true Herbologist in the family. If it weren't for him, the gardens at home would all be dead. He suddenly worried about how they were getting along without him...

Shrugging himself out of those thoughts, Ethan continued. "It's a Christmas gift, really. Have you thought about gifts for your family yet? It's only a month away..." At least he had his mum's gift... now for the rest of the family.

Belle grinned when he mentioned that his mother has a black thumb. "Funny enough i can say that about my mother."
When Ethan mentioned Christmas presents, she actually did not think about it. "Actually i did not think about it, with all the prefect duties, classes and everything else, it completely blew my mind. But now i am thinking about it. I know my twin brothers would love something from Zonko's. Even my little sister might like some candy from Honeyduke's. They are little and know some things about Hogwarts."

"Yeah... I guess you must be pretty busy," Ethan replied, forgetting that the Prefects had extra work to do... and not really knowing what that was anyway. "Do you think there will be another Hogsmeade weekend before Christmas?" he asked as she mentioned gift suggestions from the stores found there. He hoped so... he didn't get to visit everywhere he would have liked last time. The fifth year was eager to go again. Ethan tilted his head as she spoke. "They know some things about Hogwarts... ?" he repeated slowly. "I thought your parents wanted to keep that a secret..." Of course he supposed they would have to tell the little ones something about where Belle was all year.

The wire mesh started to take form-- it looked to be humanoid, and Vickers took extra care in crafting the arms, which is tricky given that his fingers werent exactly used to molding something this.... graceful. When that was completed he measured out another length of wire mesh, sliced it off and rolled one end halfway down the humanoid frame, forming a cone-like shape.

Then he took the reinforced stake and carefully stuck it through the middle of the wire mesh figure. This was rather important, since not only will the stake prop the wire mesh figure up but it will serve as pivoting point.

Now the first half of the preparations was done. Time to move on to the second half.

When Ethan mentioned Hogsmeade being open for christmas, Belle replied, "Oh i am sure they will. I think the shop owners make the best business at that time." She remembered shopping in Hogsmeade last year and she loved the atmosphere.
Belle laughed at Ethan's quizzical look. "You are not the first one who asked me that. Well they figured it out eventually and especially they asked where the gifts were from. Even my older sister asked me last year, I see that Hogwarts in on the packaging. Where is that? Is that the name of your school?? Yeah she is very demanding and curious." she grinned when she told Ethan all of this.
"Oh do not even get my started on my grandparents. They are muggles, so they think i am going to a private boarding school filled with all girls." she shrugged.

Hannah and her basket full of flowers made her way down to the terrace to continue to work on her gift for Elliot. She really hoped that she would like it and not think it was silly. Of course she won't...she would be honored becasue it came from Hannah. She thought about going to her common room to finish her girl but she figured it would be less crowded down here and she wasn't in the mood to talk. She wanted to complete the task alone and without any interruptions.

She picked a good spot and started to take out the pretty blue and green flowers. She still wasn't sure exactly what she wanted to do with them. Something about a normal bouquet just didn't seem like enough. Anybody could throw together a bouquet. She had brough a lot of materials with her so she was ready for anything. She closed her eyes for a minute hoping that inspiration would hit her.

Aha! She had it! She would make her a wreath. Christmas was fast approaching and she would need to give her something anyways and who wouldn't like something homemade and from the heart?

She set to work. She seperated the green and blue flowers because she wanted to them to flow together in harmony like their friendship. Snort! There must be something in these flowers because Hannah was not sentimental at all. She shooed the thought away and went back to work. The Ipomoea's and forget-me-nots looked wonderful together. Then she paired the Daylilies and gorgeous green spring bulbs together. She alternated the pair over and over again until she had her a beautiful friendship/house representing wreath. She was very proud of her work. It looked gorgeous. Now all she had to do was hunt down Elliot to give her the wreath!

Orr gathered all her flowers that she chose and headed out to the terrace to arrange them in a beautiful bouquet. She then took some rough brown muggle paper and with her muggle paints drew swirls in pink and blue. Creating a cone out of the paper she used her wand to stick the sides together.

Orr then took her bouquet and placed them in the cone. Now to give it to someone to cheer them up.

She headed back to the castle.

Orr's bouquet

"Oh, that's good.." Ethan said, smiling as he thought about going back. So there would still be time to pick up a few more gifts before the holiday. He nodded slowly as she explained. That idea was still too foreign to him, he didn't think he'd ever understand... but he also didn't have any Muggles in his family. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense.." he said slowly, agreeing about the boarding school explanation. "So.. do you go back home for Christmas?" He wondered how that would work. Going back to the States if her parents didn't Apparate.. how would they get there? "I can't wait to go home... I mean for the holiday," he added with a grin. It had been a long couple of months. It would be good to see his family.. and a few friends that he hadn't seen in a while.

Belle smiled when he asked if she came home for christmas. "Oh of course i go back home for christmas. I wouldn't miss my mother and grandmother's home cooking and besides my dad wants me around for the holidays. He likes to do muggle traditions like pick out a big christmas tree and put it up and the ornaments." Well Belle had to keep the muggle half of her family in tact. She also had a mother who went to Hogwarts so she knew a couple tricks and knew where the boarding station for hogwarts was.

"Well my mother is coming to pick me up this year, she is going to pick me up in a vehicle, well technically a SUV.Then i will drive back to the airport and go back to Kansas." Belle was just rambling on and she hoped she thought Ethan knew what an SUV was.

When Ethan mentioned not being home for a while, Belle patted him on the shoulder. "Well i am sure you will have a fun time during the holidays. Speaking of which, what would you like to get for christmas?" Belle didn't mean it to sound so sudden but she was thinking of giving Ethan a little something. After all he listens to her babble on and on. Plus they were friends right?

"Oh.. that sounds great," Ethan told Belle with a smile. His mind started wandering, thinking of the fun that he would have at home over the holiday. He chuckled lightly and said, "That's not just a Muggle tradition.. Wizarding families have trees too."

Ethan nodded at Belle's next words. He didn't quite get all of that, but he tried putting two and two together to visualize her transportation. Hm.. what would he like to get? He was quite interested in some of that Muggle technology, but he knew his parents frowned on that sort of thing so it was unlikely he'd get anything like that. Still, experimenting with plants was another favorite for the boy. "Oh I don't know.." he said with a shrug and smile. "Maybe a fanged geranium would be nice." And speaking of plants.. he glanced down at the lavender cutting. "Sorry, Belle.. I gotta run. I need to get this little guy back to the dorms. It was good to see you." Giving her one last friendly smile, Ethan started back off towards the castle.

In need of a break, Josephina meandered out onto the grounds in search of a good friend she hadn't seen in awhile. She even braved going near the dangerous plants that Seren liked to keep, all in the name of friendship.

But on her way to her friend's office, she stopped short at sight of the cute little tables and sunny floral area that Seren had set up near her office. Had this area always been here and why hadn't she noticed it before now? Because it was rather quaint and lovely. Forgetting, for a moment, her dislike of plants, Fina bent forward and breathed in the floral aromas of a large pink flower.

Was it really so hard for students to put things away NICELY... rather than just DUMPING it in the general area they found it in?!?! After painstakingly reorganising the stores cupboards and conducting a stock-take of equipment she had, Seren was... pooped, and desperately in need of tea.

On her way to her office, ready to kick off her boots, she noticed Fina at the Terrace... well this was new.
"Admiring the view?" she asked, making her way over to her good friend.

Inhaling deeply of the floral scents, Fina didn't notice or hear the footsteps sneak up on her. It wasn't until she heard the voice, when she turned around, her cheeks flushing. "Oh, hi, Seren, I'm sorry," she murmured apologetically. "Yes, it's lovely out here, what you did. Was it always like this?" Because if it was, she certainly hadn't noticed. No surprise there, really.

Looking around again, she then jumped in surprise at sight of a silvery ... err what was that?!? coming towards her ... and Seren .... Some sort of creature, for sure; Atticus would know.

"I have received word that the students are locked out of their common rooms. Please send confirmation." The Nundu patronus spoke in Annie's voice...

Staring as it disappeared into the air, she frowned. That was weird, but wait ... what?!? Student locked out? Why did she not know this? Oh right, because her office was in the castle and she was meandering out on the grounds. Suddenly, Hadley felt worried sick about her badgers; were they okay? Where were they? They were probably looking for HER and yet she was neglecting them! What if they tried to be brave? They were fragile. Hardworkers and loving, but fragile. They needed her.

She swallowed and looked at Seren for some sort of wisdom. "I ... we should go ... find out." Because how could she know if they were locked out if she was out here. Without waiting for confirmation, she turned and hurried back to the castle. Not bothering to wait to see if Seren was going to follow her and check on her Lions, but she was sure her friend would. Right?

Sorry? Seren looked at her friend, her expression perplexed. Why in the name of wild chrysanthemums would she be sorry?
"Mmm.. not always, but it has since I've been here." And the years seemed to be passing swiftly. Perhaps too swiftly. "Perhaps you ought to get out more often?" she mused.

Unfortunately this didn't look as if it were going to be a pleasant catch up session. The Nundu patronous had her curious, but as Annie's voice filled the void Seren soon found herself frowning.

The students... were locked out?...

"What in the name of bouncing blueberries!" ... she only hoped the Lions didn't take the opportunity to run a muck and cause chaos.

Swiftly, Seren stepped into gear, following Fina up to the castle.

Vickers made his way towards the Terrace, a curious looking book tucked under his arm. After that mild disaster at the DADA Arena he resolved to finish the rest of his homework WITHOUT hurting anybody he cared for. He was still kicking himself for being foolish enough to risking Louisa’s welfare so he decided to continue practicing the last spell here.

He lay the book open and flipped to the chapter on dueling. Two miniature “dummies” about the size of his arm leapt from the page and onto the table, and started to demonstrate the spell from its chapter. He took his wand and tapped the edge of the page, calling the attention of the dummies as they turned towards him.

The first one comes forward and gets on a ready position. Vickers stands back, it was heck smaller than Louisa which makes aiming for the hand even trickier, but it was better this way-- zero risk of hurting anybody other than himself. He flicked his wand into an inverted U ”Petrificus Digitirus”.

The dummy’s small wand drops to the table as it feels its hand freeze. Well, effective wasn’t it?