Where... was she? Marietta looked around, confused and muttering to herself. She had asked where the library was and was informed that it was located on the fourth floor. Perhaps she should've also asked for directions or for the person to guide her...

Then again, the person looked just ask clueless as she did when she asked... so maybe the library wasn't even located on the fourth floor and she was just lost. Marietta frowned and rambled nonsense to herself, in an attempt to remind herself that getting lost wasn't a bad thing. It was supposed to be an adventure. "This... is not scary... at all," Mari muttered to herself. "There is nothing to be afraid of... this is... exciting."

This castle was huge and exciting and terrifying. Yup. And it being quiet here did not make it worse. Nope. It made it waaaaay worse.

Brian was happily munching on a carrot stick, on his way to the library because the thought had just struck him that MAYBE there were science books in the Muggle Studies section of the library and if he finished studying up for transfiguration fast enough, he could have some time to go through the shelves and look for something sciency. Transfiguration was sciency too, but he hadn't found a logical scientific explaination for it and 'magic' was not a good enough explaination. Magic had limits. Why? These were very important questions that needed addressing.

Carrot stick sticking out of his mouth, he turned the corner only to find a small-looking person rambling to herself and walking in his direction. Eyes adjusting slowly to the light - was it going to rain? Because the clouds looked pretty gloomy today - he realised it was the girl from Sugarplum's. The one who lost her mother. Did she lose something else too? "Are you okay?" he asked, a little redundantly. Of course she wasn't okay, she was rambling to herself. That was almost never a good sign.

Marietta was still mumbling to herself, looking around for something that seemed familiar before someone approached her. Immediately, the lioness perked up and beamed at him. "MISTER RABBIT!" Wait. Had she ever told him that he reminded her of a bunny? Oops. "I mean Mister Brian sir!" The carrot he was holding didn't exactly help with the whole trying to not call him a rabbit thing. But at the moment, Marietta was so happy to see him she didn't care.

She flung her short arms around him and hugged him. The feelings of being lost also started to bubble up and she suppressed it to the best of her ability. Mari wasn't going to cry now that someone had found her. "I can't find the library." And she continued to hug him. Marietta was going to stick with him because as an older student, he probably knew his way around quite- WAIT. HE GOT LOST TOO. Mari remembered him telling her so at the candy shop.

"Are you lost too?!" She stopped hugging the boy and looked up at him.. and then started to panic a little inside.

Brian had to stop moving because small arms were being wrapped around him and awwwww. It was Marietta. He'd managed to catch a glimpse of her nametag before he was tackled, which was good. Now he could pretend he was good with names and all that. Brilliant invention, nametags were. But Mister Rabbit? Well, he hadn't heard that one before. "That's a new one. Don't think I've ever been referred to as a rabbit before," he chuckled, bending a little so he could hug her better. "Just 'Brian' would be fine, Mari." It would, for sure. Made him feel a lot less old.

The library, eh? Well, she was definitely going in the wrong direction if that was where she was headed. And it was definitely lucky for her because Brian went to the library a lot. Partially because it was a good place to take naps because it was so wonderfully quiet and books made excellent pillows, and partially because he actually liked learning and books were good for that too. "That's okay," he said, patting her back. Everyone got lost in Hogwarts at some point. It was like a rite of passage or something.

"Surprisingly enough, I'm actually not," he grinned. "Looks like the Fizzing Whizbees worked. Either that or I'm getting used to this place. Or the castle is getting predictable." All three of which were equally plausible, thank you. "And even luckier for you, I happen to be headed that way too." Mmhmm. NodNod. So please don't look so panicked, Mari. It kinda made him a bit panicky. "Carrot stick?" Might get her mind off the whole scariness of being lost in a big castle.

Upside to winter: snow and Christmas and holidays. Reading in front of the fire. Tossing snowballs at Wallace's head. Downside to winter: every other year for the past however many years, without fail, he'd gotten a bad case of the common cold. This year had been no different. Benzi'd had so much pepper up potion he'd almost forgotten what it was like to not be under its effects. Gross.

But finally - FINALLY - his nose had stopped leaking, his limbs didn't hurt when he moved them and that darn headache was gone. Naturally, this was cause for much celebration so he'd grabbed the Head Babe and gone for a walk around the castle.

Also, Transfiguration homework because downside to being ill, he was horribly behind. "So, which one d'you wanna practice first?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by fire_faerie

Upside to winter: snow and Christmas and holidays. Reading in front of the fire. Tossing snowballs at Downside to winter: every other year for the past however many years, without fail, he'd gotten a bad case of the common cold. This year had been no different. Benzi'd had so much pepper up potion he'd almost forgotten what it was like to not be under its effects. Gross.

But finally - FINALLY - his nose had stopped leaking, his limbs didn't hurt when he moved them and that darn headache was gone. Naturally, this was cause for much celebration so he'd grabbed the Head Babe and gone for a walk around the castle.

Also, Transfiguration homework because downside to being ill, he was horribly behind. "So, which one d'you wanna practice first?"

Upside of winter was that Evie could wear SEVEN layers of clothing AND have a blanket around her and she would be the coziest little bundle of seventeen year old girl ever. Winter was Evie's favorite season by far. It was cold and snowy outside, perfect for snow fights and snowmen. But it was nice and cozy inside the castle, which was perfect for reading and snuggling by the fireplace.

Following her boyfriend around, wherever he was going, Evie daydreamed about Christmas holiday and what things she and Benzi would do together. AAAWWW, THEIR FIRST CHRISTMAS TOGETHER. HOW CUTE. With a little sniffle and a wiggle of her nose, she followed the boy down the corridor.

Wait... sniffle???

"You better not be getting me sick," she grumbled from beside him. Because she'd make him sick AGAIN.

Right, tranfiguration homework. Evie opened her notebook and looked over the spells that their professor had given them to practice. "I wanna turn stuff into mushrooms." Sounded fun, right?

"If you'd gotten it from me you'd be sick already," Benzi quipped back, sticking his hands in his pockets as they walked. "Especially since you so generously spent all your free time taking care of me... Oh wait," he smirked and raised an eyebrow. So yes, shush.

And now, homework. "'Course you do. Is that the Fungifors one?" he asked, peering down at the notebook as well. "D'you reckon we can eat them after?" because that seemed like a valid question. If he was stuck in some place with no food, could he transfigure stuff into food and eat it? Or does that go against the Laws?

Hmm.

Well... that was probably true. HEH, and that last bit was part true. She had showed as little affection as possible those last few days because she did NOT want to get sick. Evangeline had a very low tolerance for being sick or being in pain. But still, if she got sick she WOULD blame it on him. She gave him a 'WHATEVER' look. "I'm just glad you're getting better." So they could snog and stuff, ya know.

Evie nodded in reply to his question and then made a twisted face at the next. "Ew, no...?" First of all, mushrooms were gross. Second... they weren't ACTUALLY going to be mushrooms. They were going to be items transFIGURED as mushrooms, and in Evie's eyes, that wasn't real.

Time for real questions: why in the world were they in an empty hallway for transfiguration homework? There was nothing there to transfigure! "Gimme your shoe," she demanded, hand out, fingers wiggling. Time to get to WORK.

"I'm touched that you care so much," he made a show of touching his chest and bowing his head down to really convey how much this meant to him, smirking all the way. One could only hope one's girlfriend would spare him some TLC when one was sick, but as he wasn't sick for a very long time, Benzi had decided he wasn't going to be upset.

... He wasn't sure if he'd be all too keen to feed her soup if she got sick either.

"You want to turn my shoe into a mushroom??!" Benzi sighed. "Fine," he said after a second, and took off said shoe to hand it to her, then took off the other so he could practice as well. If he was going to give up one shoe he might as well give up the other.

"Fungifors!" he cast after a glance at the notebook, and the shoe shrunk yet stayed very much a shoe. His second try was much more successful and he grinned, proudly holding up his mushroom. "Not too shabby for a guy who was sick in bed eh?" he said, then reverted the fungus back and tried it nonverbally.

Fungifors! .... Sigh.

Well, that didn't take much convincing. Evie grinned and took his shoe, which she kept far away from her face. He was a boy, after all. Maybe he didn't wash between his toes, she didn't know. Evie watched Benzi give the spell ago, amused when it at first his shoe just shrunk. But he got it the second time, good. It was a rather easy spell. It had been a while since Evie had done it, since she didn't really... need mushrooms very often.

"Fungifors!" she cast towards his shoe and watched it successfully transform into a mushroom... which she dropped onto the floor, because mushrooms were gross.

Excuse you Evangeline Shacklebolt he washed between his toes and showered daily, even twice a day if he went for a run.

Looking over as she tried the spell, he laughed when the mushroom dropped onto the floor. "If you hate mushrooms this bad why did you pick this spell to start us off?" he asked, looking at what was once his shoe with a grin and a shake of his head. Girls made very little sense to him, after all. Trying to understand some of their decisions made his brain hurt, so Benzi decided to let this go and return to his nonverbal, which he'd tried six or seven times now and was proving to be very annoying.

Eighth time's the charm? Fungifors! he tried, and BEAMED when a mushroom, slightly smaller than Evie's, appeared on the ground. "YES!" he exclaimed and grinned over at his girlfriend. "I'm starting to finally get the hang of nonverbals!"

"We could do the animating one next? Practice on the suits of armour? Or I could turn your shoe into a water goblet?" he was kind of fond of both ideas.

Evie let out a laugh that was because of his question and the fact that she chose the mushroom charm... when she hated mushrooms. "I don't know." Honestly. Evie waved her wand and muttered the spell to revert his mushroom back to a shoe so he could put it on again.

Did he just...?! "Nice!" Evie cheered when she found that he did the spell nonverbally. It was cute, really. Maybe they could practice those together sometime, too, and help each other get ready for joining the YATI next year.

It was COLD and Evie didn't really want to lose her shoes, but since Benzi decided to do their transfiguration homework in the middle of a deserted hallway, then she really had no choice. She kicked off one of her shoes and nudged it his way before turning to a suit of armor to do one of her favorite spells. "Piertotum Locomotor!" She cast at the suit of armor, pointing her wand at it. Immediately, it shook off the dust and started marching forward. Evie watched it smugly. Pshhh, this homework was easy.

Mimicking her, Benzi reverted his own mushroom back to his shoe and hurriedly put them on, feeling relief as his toes started to defreeze. It was very very very cold after all, and the castle floors did not have underground heating. ... Though that was an interesting idea, perhaps he should suggest it to someone? Could be fun. He'd definitely start sleeping on the floor if it was hot.

"Thanks," Benzi took her shoe and held it out. He'd been making water goblets since he was thirteen so this should be very easy. "Vera Verto," he cast and smiled when it immediately shrunk into a very pretty looking water goblet. Not too shabby.

Pleased, Benzi looked up right at that second to see her animate the armour and had a fantastic idea. "Very impressive.. but can you do this?" he asked, then turned to the moving armour. He'd practiced hitting mobile objects in the DADA training room all the time so this should be a piece of cake. "Scribblifors!" he cast with a point and a flick of his wand, focused intently and watched with MUCH satisfaction as the armour made some horrible metallic screeches and shrunk until it landed lightly on the floor, very white and feathery and very much not a suit of armour.

Well.

"Nice right?"

Aww, her shoe made such a lovely water goblet.

Evie turned her attention to Benzi's next trick and watched the suit of armor rattle and shake and suddenly float to the ground as... a feather. She raised an eyebrow, impressed, even though he just STOLE her suit of armor (rude). Evie crossed her arms and stared at the feather. "Show off," she said to him, pulling out her wand again.

Two could play this game. "Vera Verto" she cast at the now giant feather and turned it into a white goblet, coincidentally(?) with feathery details on it. Ooooh, impressive. She turned around with a smirk.

"Nice, right?"

Benzi turned her former shoe back into her shoe and handed it out to her, a pleased little smile still tugging at his lips. He wasn't very good at all his subjects and is probably going to fail History of Magic but if there was one thing he could do it was learn new spells. It was his favourite thing.

He shrugged at her comment. "Sometimes, yeah," the seventh year grinned, then watched with interest as she raised her wand and turned his feather into a water goblet. A very feather-inspired water goblet. He raised his brow, vaguely impressed but not as much as he'd been proud of himself because hello his target had been moving. Ahem.

"Nice cup," he nodded at the goblet and silently, just like he'd practiced before, cast a nonverbal Fungifors! at it. Now they had a rather large mushroom on the ground instead and he picked it up and handed it to her. "Hungry?" he asked, smirk dancing on his lips as he looked at her with amusement. Oh how funny he was. He could become a comedian if his auror dreams didn't turn out. Har har har.

Evie happily took her now-shoe-again shoe and slipped it back onto her foot.

Pff, whatever. He took every opportunity he COULD to show off. Evie knew better. 'Nice cup.' Yeah, it WAS nice, thanks. SEE, he was showing off again. And there was GIANT friggin mushroom right in her face! Evie shuddered and stepped backwards away from it before pointing and flicking her wand at the giant mushroom. "Flintifors," she said, turning the giant mushroom... into a giant matchbox.

"There, now we can start a fire and actually be warm in this blasted castle." Jeez.

Benzi was happy. He was now very much not sick, hanging out with his girlfriend and he was rocking the homework. Clearly all his hard work had paid off. And by hard work he meant sleeping as much as he possibly could under the guise of 'being ill'. Benzi loved sleeping but sadly did not get around to doing it too much. Between classes, patrols, homework, NEWTs, his friends and Evie, the Ravenclaw prioritised sleeping at the very bottom of the list.

Anyways. "Those are probably really big matches.. you'd set a kid on fire trying to light one of those. Diminuendo," he cast, and grinned when the box shrank down to the size that a matchbox technically should be. "That's better. And now for my last trick!" he chuckled and took out an old chocolate frog wrapping from his pocket (it wasn't that old he'd actually had one just after lunch today in celebration for getting better).

Holding it out, Benzi concentrated on doing the spell nonverbally and after three Vera Verto's, finally had a tiny water goblet in his hand. Taking the matchbox from her, he emptied out the matches into the cup with their tips upwards and held it out to Evie, a tiny bouquet. "For you! Don't say I never gave you anything... Because those matches are actually a Hogwarts suit of armour that no one will hopefully realise is gone," he winked, then looked over at the empty space and thought of the armour gallery. Eh, they could replace it.

Set a kid on fire? Evie looked at the matches and shrugged. If a kid got that close, it was their fault if they got caught in fire. She watched as Benzi shrunk the matches down, created another little goblet and put the matches in the goblet like it was a little bouquet. How cute. Evie laughed an accepted the tiny bouquet. "Why thank you. I'll never forget it."

But Evie still had to do one more spell and then she was done. She gave the matches a thoughtful look and plucked one out. Then she pointed her wand at it and flicked it to the right. "Scribblifors," she cast and turned it into a little tiny quill. "There. Now I can turn in my homework."