Mitchell was busy walking around checking every nook and cranny. Why? He liked knowing where things were. And this was more fun than everyone's advice in reading that Hogwarts History book.

He opened a door and looked around. Broom closet. Cool. In case... he needed a broom. Or a closet.

And there were some sort of shiny beads over there. There was the front door. That over there went to some stairs...

Caterina has decided to spend as much time outside as she possibly could. Maybe she would even eat outside. Considering that thought had made her hungry, though, so she decided to sneak into the kitchen and see what she could find.

She didn't make it that far, though. Nope.

"Hey Mitchie." Cat skidded to a halt with her skipping and stood near the boy. She looked around to see if there happened to be a group of hippogriffs on the loose or something. "Whatcha looking at, hmm?"

"Hey Gumball." Mitchell grinned. It was Gumball! Italian gumball.

"Just lookin' around." he said with a nod. "Exploring. Getting my bearings." He then nodded to the door. "Did you know there was broom closet there?" Because he did. He just found out.

"How are you?" Because he miiiiiiiiiight have seen a certain article.

Gumball. That was probably the funniest name anyone had ever given her. It made her giggle every time she heard it and since she just had heard it, she giggled. "Exploring is good. I'm sure you could spend all seven years here and still not see everything there is to see." Which was an exciting and sad thought at the same time, because she wanted to see it ALL.

Did she know? Hmm. Cat shrugged casually. "Yeah, sure. I knew that." No reason or anything, you know? Just... from exploring. Yeah. Cat tilted her head again and nodded, "Mhmm. I'm well. Hungry a little. You?"

Exploring the castle was sort of a given, yeah? Especially after having been gone for the summer. Ella had itched to wander the corridors and peek in on her favorite professors and having done some of that already, the blonde decided to take a break when she found her way back to the Entrance Hall.

Settling down on the stairs, the eighteen year old leaned back and just listened, completely content. This was a good spot to do some people watching too and considering her badge, it might be nice to get a feel for what members of the Hogwarts population she should be concerned about. Eyes were definitely peeled.

Mitchell laughed. Giggles. He liked those. "Yeah. Too bad." he said. "I might actually like looking around. Didn't think I would."

"I'm good." he said running a hand through his hair. He wasn't quite sure if he should mention a certain article he'd found. Or... now that he thought about it, he wasn't even sure how he came across it. It was just... there.

"Just getting used to things here." he said with a little smile.

Bliss had been sat just outside the castle doors, just appreciating the view of the ground and everything that surrounded the school, but it was starting to get a little cold. Plus, she'd pretty much seen everything that could be seen from the one spot outside. Her options now, were either to explore some more outside (but it was cold) or, to go inside where it was warm.

The answer to that little question was simple.

Go inside.

She was a little apprehensive to begin with; she was more likely to run into someone who didn't like her when she was inside, but, the inside couldn't be avoided forever. And then there were lessons, too. Better get used to it now. Luckily for her, the Entrance Hall was almost empty - only one person sat it in. Ella. She broke into a smile and walked over to where Ella was, waving a little. "ELLY. Hey." How she'd missed Ella.

Well this was an epic fail.

How was she meant to track the troublemakers if they were off making trouble somewhere else? Kids these days. Sheesh. The quiet was sort of nice, though. It almost felt like she had the castle to herself. At least for the moment. That was until someone else strolled into the hall and towards her. A someone who was waving and had called her Elly.

...Only one person called her that.

"Bliss?" SQUINT. Taller, sure, but that was most definitely Bliss. The blonde slowly got to her feet and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she eyed the girl. This was real life, yeah? "...Long time no see, stranger." And hugs, those were going to happen too.

The eighteen year old closed the distance between herself and her friend and wrapped her arms around the girl, giving her a squeeze. "What in Merlin's beard are you doing here?" This better not be some sort of joke cause if so, someone was getting whacked with a beater's bat.

"Oh, so we're growing on you then?" Cat asked curiously. She went over to one of the massive windows and seated herself on the ledge. "Not so bad as you thought, right?" She grinned. "Your first term is better than mine. The school had lost loads of money and things had really gone down hill. The common rooms and dorms were filthy cause the house elves were gone."

But hey, things were much better now, right? She didn't regret coming to Hogwarts anyway, she'd made super good friends here, plus, of course, there was Mo.

She noted the hair gesture and tilted her head. "Something wrong?"

Mitchell gave a half smirk. "Maybe just a little. I think the accents have gotten to the point they're kinda fun to listen to." he said walking over to join her. He shrugged a little. "Messes don't really bother me." He'd been in unsavory places before.

He shrugged and took a seat on the ledge next to her. "Nothing that's any of my business." he replied.

"Did you want to maybe grab some food?" he asked. "You said you were hungry."

"I sure do like listening to accents." Caterina agreed completely with that one. "I rather enjoy yours, actually. I suppose all American boys aren't so bad after all." Though, to be fair, those ones she'd met over the summer probably weren't the best of the litter. "I don't mind too much of a mess, sure, but I certainly wasn't expecting to see it."

He was being vague in her direction, and Cat could only guess one reason why. "You saw the Aparecium, huh?" She smiled a little and shrugged. "Some people don't know how to mind their own business. Not you, though, since you didn't ask." Cat swung her legs and jumped off of the ledge again, "I'm always hungry." But yeah, they could definitely head in that direction. Cat never turned down food.

Mitchell smirked. "You like my accent?" he asked. Because he could use his accent to his advantage. You know, if other girls enjoyed it. Because... she was sort of taken.

"You had a bad run in with my kind?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

He nodded. "Yeah. I did. What's that even about? Do the walls have ears or something here? Should I be worried?" Not to make this about him or anything. "Well, if you need anything, I'm your guy." Just not the one she was dating. The other one. The one that called her Gumball.

He followed after her. "So where do we eat here? Just the same place?" he asked nodding toward the Great Hall.

"Yeah, I do. It's new and interesting." Cat nodded, she for sure liked it and the way he said things differently. She just liked languages in general, maybe that was it, accents were a big part of that, after all. Although she rolled her eyes then, "Yeah, well, I was in Egypt with my Aunt this summer, and there was a group of them, touring or something, I don't know. One of them called me short. Like it was a compliment." American boys. She didn't get them at ALL. Perhaps now she had a translator?

"I guess it's a bunch of students who like to spread gossip and apparently one of your fellow third years thought it was okay to kiss my boyfriend." She shrugged but smiled at him anyway, "You'll probably end up in it at some point, I think most everyone does." Personally, she thought it was intrusive. "My guy, huh?" She laughed again, though not enough to sound mean. That was just cute.

"The Great Hall or the kitchen." Cat shrugged, "You pick. I make this your adventure."

Mitchell couldn't help but chuckle. "Shawty?" he asked. "It is a compliment. Kinda like... homegirl. But. Attractive." He bit back a grin. "The point is, it was a compliment."

"Gotcha. A gossip paper." He thought about it for a second. "You think if I don't do things in front of people, I'll be safe?" he asked. He didn't know quite how it worked. But, if they were just other student, if he stayed pretty private about things he'd be okay. Made sense to him. "Third year, huh? I'll keep an eye out for her." And her lips apparently.

"How about the kitchens? I haven't seen those."

A compliment? Caterina wrinkled her nose. "I fail to see how calling someone short is compliment, but well, if you say so, then it must be true. You'd know better than I would." She gave a decided nod and led the way in the direction of the kitchen, "So what about when he said he wanted to take me home to his mama? Was that a compliment, or should I have hit him?" She would, too. "I'm not about to let myself get kidnapped or something."

No way, Slytherin was starting to rub off on her in a delayed sort of way. Self preservation was key here.

"Gossip, yeah." She shrugged, "It's hard to not do things in front of people, just don't let it get to you if it happens, that's all." Cat bounced in the right direction and motioned for him to follow, "Off to the kitchen we go."

Mitchell laughed again. "No. He wasn't trying to kidnap you. He just meant, you were the type of girl he'd like to introduce to his parents. It's a compliment too. It means you're pretty. And, depending on how well he knows you, also nice and dateable."

"Yeah..." he said running a hand through his hair. "I guess that's true. People talk." So, basically, the walls did have ears then. Well, people. Gossip. Yeah.

"So they don't hide the kitchens here?" he asked following after her. "There's a lot of things here that I wouldn't expect from a normal boarding school."

"That's me," she confirmed, speeding up to close the distance between them a little quicker. "Tell me about it," she said, nodding, getting slightly lost in her thoughts. It had been so long since she'd last spoken to Ella properly. They'd sent the odd letter back and forth, but not all that regularly. Shame, really, because Bliss missed the girl like crazy.

And now for the hugs.

Bliss squeezed back enthusiastically, letting go a second or so after Ella did. "I heard the jelly beans were better here, so I came to investigate," she said in her most convincing voice, before beaming and telling Ella the actual truth. "I'm back. Like ... forever." Hm. Strange how that was STILL only just sinking in. "My mum's business was failing in France and some other things happened, so .. we had no reason to stay there anymore." Hopefully that made it understandable enough, yeah?

One more thing, though.

"I knew you'd become head girl, Elly!" she exclaimed and beamed once more.

It was a shame and really, Ella should have done more to keep in touch. She'd just never been good with dealing with people leaving her, yeah? For all kinds of reasons which had nothing at all to do with Bliss. The older badger definitely felt responsible for her part in losing touch but at least she could try to make up for it now. That was something.

The mention of jelly beans caused Ella to crack a smile before she could stop herself. Then nodding seriously at Bliss, she said, "You heard right. More jelly, less bean. It's a thing." Nudge. But seriously, it was nice to have her back. Her face did fall a little at the news about her mom's business and she hated to think anything else negative could happen to the girl's family but selfishly, she was happy those things had brought her here.

"It's good to have you back. It wasn't the same without you, y'know."

Blushing, that was happening. Ella looked down at her shoes sheepishly and shook her head. "That's nice of you to say, y'know. It's weird, not being captian, but being head girl is kind of awesome." And it made Ella feel proud of herself which...was a rare occurrence. Anyway, enough about Ells. "So fill me in on everything, yeah? I want to know how you've been."

Genie walked into the entrance hall... maybe the Newell kid won't show and she could eat her meal in peace. She looked at the tables and was going to just go to the Slytherin one, but thought she's wait a little longer... After all the old lady may be around somewhere.

Caleb was excited about his 'date' with Genie - at least, he was calling it a date in his mind. It would really bug her if he referred to it as that out loud. Hehe.

He was trying to figure out the perfect mixture of sass that would annoy her, but not get him punched in the face again. He was kind of nervous about that. He was nervous about spending time ALONE with her too.

Ah, there she was. He grinned, straightened his Slytherin tie, and walked up to her. "Hellooooooo Genie! Ready for our date?" he asked with a grin.

Oh Merlin... he was going to make this painful, wasn't he...

"Not a date Newell, it's a punishment... a horrible punishment. Obviously more for me than you... but it's a punishment..." She said and smiled at him quickly, as it was quite fake. "Let go eat." She said and started for the snake table.

"Eat together? And you say it's not a date," Caleb said with a chuckle. He caught that fake smile and knew he was driving her crazy, which was exactly what he wanted. She didn't think she could just punch CALEB NEWELL and get away with it, did she?

"After we eat, we should go for a walk. I AM supposed to show you around," he pointed out to her. She remembered that HE was carrying out a punishment too, right? And if he didn't show her around...well, he wasn't getting a detention for not following through on his end of the deal!

Ahh the Entrance Hall. Probably one of her favourite places right now. Mainly because she found her way too it first go this time around. So she was coming in from outside and really couldn't lose her way. But so not the point. She'd found where something was without getting completely turned around and in Ana's book that was a win. If she weren't in public she'd probably do a victory dance. As it was she'd contain herself.

Now... if only she could remember where she was meant to be going or how to get there from the Entrance Hall. That'd be great thanks brain. And just why did there have to be so many doors leading off from the Entrance Hall? Also, did no-one here know the function of labels? Like they could use a plaque to say where the doors went, please and thank-you.

Tessa was walking down the main stairs of the Entrance, her hand and eyes on the banister. It was a perfect angle and width to slide down. She paused in her descent to really look at it. It could be quite fun, and with no one around, she couldn't get in trouble- right?

She looked around again and was just about to hop up to finish her slide when she heard the sound of someone else approaching. She walked down a few more stairs innocently- but stopped when she saw the person who had joined her.

"Excuse me," she said, her sliding forgotten. "We know each other, don't we? I'm good with faces and you look very familiar..." she trailed off, looking at the girl.