Ariana couldnt help the squeal that escaped her lips when she approached the pond and saw the ducks!
There were DUCKS! This was big, she decided since last term their were no butterflies in her butterfly garden for reasons she didnt like. so seeing some sort of animal back on the grounds was relaxing to the seventh year cause it meant one thing, things were back to normal, and she couldnt argue with that. Ariana was not one to like change and last year threw the girl a fast ball and she did not like it, not one bit,nope.

So sitting on the edge of the pond on the ground and not on a bench she folded her legs under one another and tied her hair back into a ponytail which she really only did during quidditch but he didnt want it to dip into the water as she leaned over and looked into it, and at the ducks which she wanted one to come closer to her.

Come here little ducks!

Minerva was just out walking the grounds when she realized the butterfly garden was gone. Her face fell. No there wasn't butterflies last term, but that place held a very special spot for her. Memories of everything that was said in that small area came rushing back to her. Plus when he conjured the butterflies it didn't seem like they weren't there.

She tried to shake it off, no use dwelling on things. She had to force herself through this, plus she had to look at her best friend. The strength she had. Speaking of best friends Minerva wondered where Ariana would be at. Maybe her common room, but she didn't have to wonder long. Looking up ahead at the pond she saw the brunette standing close to the water. What on earth was she doing. She wouldn't try to go swimming would she? It might be dirty with ducks swimming in it, but the ducks probably wouldn't mind. They seemed friendly enough.

"Hey need a push?" She chuckled a bit not having any pushing in mind just joking was all. "What are you doing? Those ducks might not like you that close. They only let the duck daddy Daichi that close." She sighed at the thought of Daichi. She would miss her friend this term. They did have a lot of fun together even if it was do to ice cream crazy. "You know I might be able to remember a few of their names... maybe?" She looked around the pond at the ducks. Now what were the names Daichi told her last term.

Seeing as this whole place was still very foreign to her, Schuyler was devoting today to exploring Hogwarts. And, where better to start than the apparently beautiful school grounds? It was a nice, mild day with periods of sun between the clouds, and Schuyler had found herself ambling over to a little pond area surrounded by some tall grasses and park benches. When the Gryffindor moved closer, she realized that she wasn't alone at his pond. It was a duck pond!

Schuyler expected that these ducks had probably been pretty well-fed in previous years.. apart from last year, perhaps, with the shortage of food and resources and such. Absently, she reached for one of the cat tails and yanked off the top of it. Maybe these ducks would think it was bread or something. Testing this theory of hers, she tossed the bit of plant into the water.

Dora, not one to sleep for longer than absolutely necessary, had been awake for quite some time now, already having showered and gotten breakfast, even managing to finish off the book she was reading before she started her usual wanderings of the castle. She wanted to see everything now that they were a properly funded school again, but mostly she was looking for her friends. Why couldn't she find them, hmm? They were probably still asleep, or in the dorms. She could think of two she left there in the early morning.

It wasn't long until she found her way on the grounds, making her way over to the duck pond that actually had ducks. And that new girl tossing bits of cat tails into the water. "You won't attract anything with those." She approached the girl and looked on curious. "Except maybe the groundskeeper." Except maybe the groundskeeper, which she would be perfectly fine with.

Someone was speaking to her. Schuyler turned to see one of the many people she had met in that compartment on the train. It was a wonder that she could remember so many of their names, but Schuyler retrieved this girl's name from her memory with ease. Isidora, who was called Dora. "I wanted to see whether they thought it was bread." And when she glanced back, one of the ducks actually was investigating it. Not eating it, of course.

"What are you up to?" Schuyler asked, turning back to the other girl. A bit of mindless wandering herself maybe. Or just paying a visit to the ducks.. although they sort of lost their novelty after only a few minutes. "And did you see I got Gryffindor?" She smiled, pleased.

She really did miss her butterfly garden, but she had her own butterfly really, and it wasnt a real one so she couldn't kill it but rather one her boyfriend made for her and it was the cutest thing, she had it charmed to stick to her bedpost in her room and it was just the cutest, sweetest thing. he tried at least,mkay? So sitting at the edge of the water she gave the ducks little glares as they swam at the other end of the pond, come closer ducks!

"DONT, push.." min, of course.. " if you pushed me in i would of pulled you in after me you know." and she hoped she did know cause ariana wsa not up for going swimming today, there was a lake for that. " who cares if they dont like me this close, they are staying over there anyway,, so no big deal." even if she did want one to get close to her. she sighed and looked back down into the water where she saw her and her blonde friend now in the water "they all have names?" who would spend time naming ducks, let alone tell people. "i wasnt aware ducks responded to names really." she had NO idea.

Minerva chuckled, "There is absolutely no way I'm going in there. I love the ducks, but I'm not swimming with them." She shook her head looking at the ducks. Nope no way was she swimming with them. "So what are you up to being all alone? Figured you'd be with Kat or something." She wasn't going to bug her best friend if she was waiting on someone else, but she was glad to have found her alone even for a moment. She wondered if she had seen any of the staff table episode at the feast or if that went unnoticed by students. A dreaded feeling came over her when she remembered she had to make her way over to the hospital wing didn't she.

Gulp... later.. much later..

Minerva laughed looking at them. "They all look the same to me, but Daichi had their names. I should have wrote them down to make sure I knew them. Maybe I'll owl him and see if there is anything special he would want me to do for them. I bet he misses them." She knew duck daddy enjoyed his ducks. She looked around and chuckled at the thought of his duck dynasty. "He let me name one so I know one is named Si, but the others I just can't remember, but it was last term when he told me and well..." She wasn't finishing that thought. Ari knew way to well what last term was like. They almost lost their friendship over it.

"They're not that thick, but they are curious." She spotted the lone duck coming over, but not showing any interest. It did seem to attract a few other ducks, though they seemed more interested in her and Schuyler, and the possible prospect of actual bread than they did the cat tail.

Shrugging, she took a seat by the lake and ran her fingers along the grass. "I was looking for friends and see what was restored at the school. It didn't look this nice last year, you know." She probably did if she read the papers. Lucky for this girl she was coming in with all the perks the last year transfers and firsties didn't have. "I saw, congratulations. That's the house my best friend is in, so it's a pretty good" Obviously. It wasn't great or anything, but she should still be proud of it. Alice was.

"You're in my year too, fifth."

"I figured." But Schuyler had no bread, so the birds wouldn't be getting any from her today. Sorry, duckies. She followed suit after Dora and sat beside her on the grass. It was cool and felt nice beneath her hands when she leaned back on her palms. Her eyes shifted from the pond over to the castle as Dora mentioned how they hadn't been so fortunate last year. "So I've heard. I'm glad I transferred when I did... some of the other students were saying you guys had to cook your own meals." This would have posed a problem for Schuyler here. The extent of her cooking stopped at pouring milk into a bowl of cereal.

"Who's your best friend?" To be honest, Schuyler probably knew more people in other houses than her own house at the moment, but she asked just the same. Nothing wrong with that; she would have plenty of time to get to know her housemates. She smiled at Dora. "Awesome, we'll be in some of the same classes, then."

"There's the black lake for swimming." surely she knew that, she wasn't swimming in a pond when there was a lake on the other side of the grounds. then he asked why she was alone and she girl just shrugged as she fixed her ponytail surely an odd sight, seeing her with her hair up, even she thought it was strange. "who? .. oh, Husdon, we went separate ways to explore if we meet up well do something but i haven't found her yet." which was ok for her, she didn't mind there not being any one with her, she liked the quiet. she reached over and grabbed some bread from a nearby container and threw it as far as she could towards the other side of the lake. Which it went pretty far since she practiced her Quidditch some over the summer, the piece of bread flew overhead and hit one of the larger ducks smack on the head and it let out a Quack and seemed to glare at her.. "opps." she let out a giggle "sorry Mr. Duck... err.. or Mrs." how did you tell a ducks gender?
things that Ariana thought about. Daichi, why did that name seem familiar......"OH, Katharos! dude who was slytherin prefect last term.?"" no wonder it seemed so familiar, though she really only ever called him by his last name, when she did speak to him that is. "Si, that's an odd name." then again, it was a name for a duck so she supposed it worked. she let her trail off her last sentence and she didn't add anything to it, more dropped it. last term was bad enough, no need for reminders of it.

Ohhhhh! A duck pond! Adi was beyond excited! He loved watching ducks as they swam so gracefully through the water. And the way they waddled too. They looked so funny! The firstie approached the pond so that he could see better. He grinned at the sight of the ducks as they went about their business. There were even a few ducklings about.

"Quack! Quack!'' Adi called out to one which was fairly close by. "Quack!'' The duck glanced at him uninterestedly and then poked it's head underwater. That's when he spotted the container with bread. "This'll get your attention now, Donald!'' He read for a piece.

"Yeah I know, but I'm not sure I would really swim in there either well at least now that the swimming dock was gone." I wasn't as easy to get in and out of it, plus the things that lived in there kind of freaked her out since she couldn't really see them. She watched the ducks a bit and chuckled at the one hit in the head, "They will come after you.. I've seen that happen. Not here, but back home once when I was with my dad at a park." Ducks were cute until you made them mad.

She listened as she talked about Kat. Ari always used last names. It was something that for some reason always caught Minerva off guard. "Oh well I can get that. I have a feeling most of this term I'll be doing a lot alone." She shrugged a bit, "I feel so awkward around some people for some reason. Like I just don't fit with the group anymore." She really was feeling out of place it wasn't fun. "I'm actually glad we have NEWTs to study for this term. Maybe keep me busy in the library." She was planning on spending a lot of time there.


Minerva laughed, "Yes that would be Daichi. He and I hung out a lot last term. He is a really great guy. I'm going to miss him this term." He wasn't the only one she was going to miss, but she was going to miss her duck loving friend. She chuckled at Ari's response to the name, "His names were better it just came to me looking at the ducks last term." So Si was an odd name they were ducks. "Did you know Laura and I dressed them one term?" She chuckled at the memory. "That was interesting." She did have quite a bit of fun here didn't she.

Dora didn't have bread either. She hadn't planned on spending this much time at the pond, and yet here she was sitting in the grass. Though she was giving more attention to the new girl than she was the ducks. People in general were always more interesting than animals, except for maybe her jarvey. She nodded her head a bit. "I cooked for my friends some too. The food wasn't worth paying for." Even if it had been, she wasn't going to pay. "We also had to do our own laundry. Never under appreciate the house elves. Like ever.

"Alice Fischer. She's the quidditch captain that has a rep for biting that precedes her." She said it with some pride, because having a best friend that went around biting people (except for your boyfriend) was something to be proud of obviously. "All of the same classes, except for divination. I don't take that class. Do you know anyone else in our class?"

Last year's Hogwarts was beginning to sound more and more like a moneypit. At this point, if Dora had said that they had to pay to use the toilet, Schuyler wouldn't even be surprised. That surprised. "Nice of you to cook for your friends." Maybe she had her friends charm the dishes clean in return. Right, right, don't under appreciate house elves. Schuyler's father once forced their family into a learning experience that he disguised as a 'vacation' that forever made her appreciate house elves, and her memory jogged to this for a moment before responding. "Thanks for the tip," she added with a slight smirk.

Alice Fischer. "I haven't met her yet, but I'm sure I will soon enough. Especially if she's the quidditch captain." Anyone with a badge was popular by default, it seemed. Biting...? Schuyler laughed and looked at Dora. "Biting what, exactly?" People? Her nails?

Did she know anyone else in their class? Yesss. "A couple," Schuyler nodded, playing with the grass. "Do you know Olly Clarke? She's new to Hogwarts as well, actually," and she smiled without realizing it. "And then I met this boy Stan, also new," Eyeroll. "And.. what was his name..." She pursed her lips for a moment as she recalled the name of the custard cream guy. "Aah. Theo. Theo something." Whom she recently discovered was a Slytherin prefect.

"On the train I met Cassia, and then - briefly - the other students in that train compartment and some Gryffindors at the feast." When she went ahead and said it all aloud, she actually had been introduced to a fair number of people by this point. She was acquainted with them, yes, but for the most part, she obviously didn't know them very well yet.

Dora just shrugged. "That's what friends are for." Feeding each other. She didn't mind, but she also didn't extent the gratitude to strangers. Thankfully they had their own friends to cook for them. That smirk didn't go unnoticed, and she figured it was probably harmless for the most part. Maybe. She was a gryffindor now.

"You will, she's hard to miss." Dora nodded slightly then shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever she feels like biting. Mostly people during quidditch matches, but she's threatened animals too. Just do good by her and you won't get bitten." Paaaaause. "Unless it's on the pitch where anything can happen."

Olly Clarke? "No, I don't know her. You're the only new person I've met so far that I didn't know before hand." Which meant this Stan person was a mystery to Dora as well. The facial expressions were noted by her but again she didn't say anything, deciding to save her judgement for when she met them. When Theo's name was mentioned however, her whole expression changed, brightening noticeably as a genuine smile crossed her face. "Theodore Kinsley, he's my boyfriend." The whole slytherin prefect part wasn't as important as the being her boyfriend.

"Cassia's one of my close friends too, she's good people. You'll get around to the other's. We're a big class, but its easy know everyone else once you meet a couple of us." Especially if they met West.

True that. Good friends, good food.

A hard-to-miss Alice Fischer. Who was a compulsive biter. Yes, that would be hard to miss indeed. "If she bites me, I'll just bite her back," Schuyler shrugged. Though it sounded like the girl primarily bit opposing players at the pitch, and if Schuyler did happen to get on the quidditch team, Alice would be her teammate. So, no vampire-ish tactics to worry about. "I look forward to meeting Alice Fischer." The roles would probably be reversed and Dora would then be a topic of conversation.

So, she didn't know Olly. And Schuyler was the only new student she'd met so far, so it sounded like Stan was ruled out as well. At the mention of Theo, however, Dora glowed. Schuyler smiled in return because she always found it very endearing when other people beamed like that about someone or something that they really cared for. It was something you couldn't really fake. "Well.. I'm not sure that your boyfriend has the highest opinions of me," she added, her smile now turning into one of amusement. "I was checking out the self-propelling pies at the joke shop and managed to pie him in the face." Unintentionally, but that seemed to make no difference to the Slytherin.

She nodded to Dora's comment about Cassia. "She's sweet - seems to be friends with everyone." Well.... excluding Olly, that rascal. "I'm kind of surprised she's not in Hufflepuff." But the hat knew better than Schuyler, so that was that. She was already finding Dora's words to be true; the fifth-year class was both large, but tight at the same time, from what Schuyler had seen of it. And generally, pretty welcoming. She tilted her head up and got a better look at the now cloudless sky. "Yeah, slowly but surely, I'll get around to meeting the rest."

The swimming dock was gone!? Since when? Ariana made a mental note to go see the lake sometime today. "dressed them? How the hell did you manage that?" dressing them she meant. Didnt she just say they didnt go near people that often. She threw some more bread out, missing the ducks this time and smiled as they all fought for the bread heh. "really?" one thing she did NOT know about her friend was that she hung out with the duck king a lot last term. it honestly surpised her a bit, mainly cause she didnt even see her friend a lot last term, and when she did they just fought. Dark times those were, times she didnt want to think of either. It was a new term and they had to start a new. "OH, did i tell you i went to disney over summer?" cause she DID and it was fun, Actually fun. Tillstorm didnt kill her either which was a major PLUS!

"That's not really a wise thing to say to her best friend." Just saying. Casually, you know. She was warned and everything. Not that Alice needed her help handling another lion, but you know.... Isidora was fiercely protective of her best. She ran a hand over the blades of grass and sort of nodded. Of course she was looking forward to it, Alice was awesome.

Dora didn't stop glowing as the conversation went on, but her expression did become more amused as the other girl continued talking. "He's not a fan of Gryffindors." So that wasn't surprising, and it became even less surprising when she found out the reason why. She stared at the girl for a good long moment, head tilted to the side thoughtfully. "You pied him in the face... on accident I'm assuming... you were sorted right." In case she didn't know this before.

"That's because you don't know her. She's a Slytherin." Dora nodded knowingly. "And most everyone you meet is friends with everyone, or at least knows of everyone." She would figure that out soon enough, probably already was. Her gaze never left the other girl, as Dora did not find clouds interesting and was still making her judgement on this new lion. "Where did you transfer from?"

Not a wise thing to say? Well.. that's what she'd do. It wasn't like she was out for a chomp-off with a professional biter. "I suppose I had left the wisdom to the Ravenclaws," she answered with an easy smile. She figured Dora was being protective and loyal to her best friend, and there was certainly nothing wrong with that.

Theo. Not a fan of Gryffindors. "That explains a lot." Maybe he just had instincts that Schuyler was bound to be a Gryffindor. Or he was simply inclined to dislike anyone who got him a pie in the face. Or both. She gave a curt laugh when Dora admitted that she had been sorted correctly. "Good. I like Gryffindor." She skimmed her fingers lightly over the blades over grass. "How long have you and Theo been dating?"

Schuyler nodded to Dora's words about Cassia. "You know her better than I do." Hmmm. Now Schuyler was rather curious as to what made Cassia such an unarguable Slytherin. Was there some defining moment? Or little nuances strung together? If anyone would notice, it seemed Dora would. The longer she sat here with her, the more she got the impression that Dora was attempting to figure her out like a human puzzle. Rather characteristic of Ravenclaw, actually. But Schuyler didn't mind the other girl attempting to sketch her character; she preferred that people do it first-hand, rather than basing their judgements on what others said.

The Ravenclaw went on to say that basically everyone knew everyone at Hogwarts. And she supposed this was nice, in a sense, though on the other hand, it was bound to have people in your business when they had no right to be. Schuyler's mind wandered for a moment or two. Yes, that would take some getting used to.. "Salem Academy. I'm from Brooklyn, New York." Quite the opposite of 'everyone knows everyone' there.

Minerva laughed, "It was third term. Laura bribed them close I went up behind them and caught them. Maxwell was there as well." Wow that was a name she hadn't said in awhile. "Is.. is he even here this term? I didn't see him on my patrol of the train." She wasn't sure they were even friends anymore. Shrugging, "It was fun to be honest. Laura had me do a few crazy things that term." She laughed remembering it all. How did it take until last term to get detention Min wasn't sure, but she was thankful. She wanted nothing to do with those dungeons again, she was dreading the first potions class.

Min looked up Ari didn't know about Daichi's and her's friendship did she. They didn't talk very often because of everything that went on. "Yeah he was pretty fun to hangout with and since he was having issues with the well ice cream as well I guess it just felt more normal to be near him." But she had hoped they would have hung out even without ice cream.

Minerva gave Ariana a look, it was her turn to be surprised, "Disney? Well that sounds fun. Who did you go with and which one?" There were so many really around the world. Ariana knew where Min stayed over summer so no point talking about it, but she did want to hear about her Disney trip.

Dylan walked down to the duck pond, his kitten Ginger bounding after him. He still couldn't believe there was a duck pond here, he LOVED duckies! They were so very cute and looked so cuddly. Except these ones were probably wet since they were swimming in the water, so he wasn't going to cuddle them.

He took a seat at the edge of the pond upon a big rock, and smiled as Ginger hopped up next to him and curled up by his side. The first year watched the duckies swim around and continued to smile. D'awww, they were so cute! He truly was tempted to go and just live in the pond with them forever. Heh.

Tay walked down to the duck pond and did a few cartwheels and handsprings. Taylor landed one wrong and she tumbled down. Taylor was sprawled out in the water. She moaned and rubbed her head, sitting up. Tay looked up and saw a familiar boy and his cat. Taylor smiled, "Dylan, right? Sorry, about tumbling down in front of you like that..." She laughed and blushed, "Didn't mean to... I misplaced one of my hands during a cartwheel and fell..." Taylor was happy that she didn't land on one of the duckies though... and her eyes grew as the ducks started to surround her. Tay giggled and picked one up, hugging it lightly and put it down gently. She looked up at him, beaming. "Aint the little duckies so cute and cuddly?" She giggled and stood up, drying herself off after climbing out of the water. Taylor wiggled a little, checking to see if it hurt to moved. Tay checked to see if she had any scraps before doing a flip then into a back handspring. Taylor beamed and stood up, "That's better... Mind if I join you though?" She glanced at the boy and smiled.

Suddenly, he saw something that was definitely not a duck tumble into the water and he shielded his face as the water splashed a little on him. The boy's dark brown eyes widened at the girl sitting up in the water. It was the girl from the train! Was she okay?!

He stood up quickly and chuckled, walking over to her to help her up but then she suddenly flipped back onto her feet. Wow, was she like...an acrobat or something?! Dylan could never do something like that! "Yes, they are pretty adorable and I'd love to cuddle them but...are you alright?" he asked worriedly, looking her over for any cuts or bruises. That was quite a fall, he really hoped she wasn't hurt.

The first year then waved a hand. He had actually hoped on running into a friend today at the duck pond, it was kinda the main reason he was down here. "Not at all, I'd love some company!" he told her, beaming up at the girl and watching as Ginger trotted up to Taylor and rubbed up against her leg. He smiled. "She really likes you, you know." he said, leaning down to give the kitten a quick scratch.

Tay beamed, "They are absolutely cuddleable." Yes, she just made a word up. Taylor nodded, "Yeah, perfectly fine." She beamed at the kid, "Glad you do!" Tay glanced at the kitten, "Glad that she likes me... she is adorable!" Taylor bent down and petted the kitten, playing with her for a few moments and giggling. Taylor looked back up at the kid and then stood up, starting to dance in happiness. Tay held out a hand to the boy, basically asking if he wanted to dance with her as well. Taylor started to sing a random song in Scottish and her accent flowed off her tongue as the song went up and down in the notes. Taylor started to spin faster and slower as the song sped up and slowed down. Tay loved to dance. Her curls spread out around her and her laughter rang out as she sung and dance. Joy sparkled in her eyes as the sun shined down on them. Her hair was getting a little messy but it showed that she didn't care. "Today is amazing!" Taylor beamed and just kept dancing.