The start of term had been almost as crazy and full of chaos and running around the castle as the last one had been. The only difference was that Emmeline didn't get lost on the way to classes now -- at least, she didn't get lost as much as she had last year. And and, she was still spending most of her free time in the creature barns.

It was currently the morning break time, and Emmeline was sitting curled up in a ball near the lake. She had too many thoughts chasing their way around her head, you know? Plus, she was being sneaky today; she had taken Cypress, Cami's Professor Stewart's crup, out of the barn for a walk. She didn't technically have permission to do that, exactly, but she didn't think her guardian would mind if she found out. Hopefully. The twelve-year-old had wanted to come sit by the lake with a cruppy, and she was still scared that Professor Wayland might take hers away if she let him leave the nursery barn. So she'd gotten Cypress out instead, and was currently petting him lazily while he sniffed alllll around the area.

Joy's nerves were finally beginning to calm down as she got used to the fact that Hogwarts was a wonderful, wonderful place, and that she would do just fine here. She hummed a quiet tune to herself as she strolled happily, almost skipping, across the grounds and found herself at the Great Lake.

Joy plunked herself down on an empty spot of land and watched the lake. She thought she could see quick flashes of creatures under the dark water. She twirled her wand through her curly hair as she observed the water dreamily.

She tilted her face up towards the sky, and her skin glowed under the warm golden rays of the sun. The weather was perfect today. A relaxed smile crossed her freckled face as she looked around to see if there was anyone else here.

It was a lovely day out, and the last place Sam wanted to be was stuck inside. Nope, it was the perfect autumnal weather for a bit of training by the lake. The Ravenclaw jogged easily down the path to her favourite spot, dressed in a sporty skort and tee, her brown curly hair pulled back in a high ponytail, ends falling loose at the nape of her neck where they weren't long enough. She smiled at the sun on her face, but her thoughts were far away, flitting between what Al was doing in the cold of Durmstrang right now, and ideas for her Herbology report.

It was only when she got close to the lake's edge that she realised someone was already there. "Any signs of Barty today?" she asked as she slowed down to a walk, hands on her hips.

Joy's attention was brought to an older girl speaking to her.

"Huh?" She said, blinking against the sunlight. "Oh, Barty. Right." The squid, of course! Joy had heard about this squid before. She wondered how often a student would see it.

"I haven't seen anything yet," she said with a friendly grin, "Except for a few mermaids and grindylows." She gazed out at the water in front of her. "Does he come out of the water often?" She wondered if giant squids were friendly. "I'm Joy Williams, by the way," she added, extending her hand.

Well, now she certainly hoped she'd catch a glimpse of Barty the Giant Squid. How fascinating.

Now Nigel was officially a Ravenclaw meaning that he was part of Hogwarts which has been his "dream" -sort of- but for some reason he felt...nothing. It was exciting to finally be here but he was so far away from home that somehow he felt alone.

Okay, stop with the self pity and start enjoying White.

The third year got up from his bed, grabbed a notebook and decided to go outside, he stood by the entrance scanning the grounds and deciding which spot was the best, with a smile he located the right one: the lake. It was peaceful and perfect.

Nigel sat down not paying attention to the people around him and started to write down on his notebook.

After walking through her schedule, Olivia decided to enjoy the fleeting remainder of sunlight by the Lake. She knew that the warmth and the sun would go soon as winter was on its way. The days would get shorter, the leaves would change colour and fall off, and then the snow would arrive. As soon as she got to the Lake, she rested her bag on the ground and pulled out a camera. The Lioness had recently gotten into photography and tried to always carry a camera with her because you never knew when you were going to stumble on a really cool Kodak moment.

Snap.

One photo taken. Now what else....? She began scanning the scene for something else when she found the guy that she had met on the train. He was scribbling away at something in his notebook. "Hey there stranger," she greeted. "Two questions. Is this seat taken?" Olivia pointed to the grass below her. "And are you a writer?"

His dad had told him about the Great Lake but he had never expected it to be THIS great. When he had imagined it from stories, he had always visualised a normal sized lake and when he had crossed it on the boats it had been dark so he hadn't seen how big it was.

Dorian held his fishing equipment in his hands as he moved along the the water, trying to find a perfect and quiet spot to sit. Once he found it, far away from the castle but obviously still on the grounds, he placed the small stool he had been carrying down on the grass and he placed the bag with bait and hooks and the fishing rod beside it.

Lake this big HAD to be a perfect place to fish! He carefully grabbed the hook and with his other hand he attached a small worm on it. "Sorry buddy" he mumbled before he stood up. Making sure that no one was behind him, he threw the line in to the water and watched the bait sink.

Then he sat on the small stool and waited.

Nigel was literally not paying attention to his surroundings so when he heard a voice, a female voice, he slightly jumped. He quickly closed his notebook and looked up. It was the girl he met on the train, though he didn't knew what her name was. "Uhh...yes and no" he blinked "Sorry, I mean... no, it isn't taken and... no, I'm not a writer" forgive him please.

"What's your name?" he was curious, they barely talked before so, yeah he wanted to know who she was.

Sam hadn't clicked immediately that she'd been talking to a firstie, and was about to explain who Barty was, when it appeared they were back on the same page. The Ravenclaw returned the smile with a little shrug. "Maybe he'll appear later then. Think it all depends where the mood takes him." It was a big lake, after all.

And introductions! "Sam Tyler," she greeted, taking the extended hand. Luckily her hands weren't too sweaty from her jog, but after a fairly firm shake, she didn't linger too much longer, just in case. "S'nice to meet you, Joy. So you already saw some merpeople, you said? That's cool."

Whoops. Had he jumped? She hadn't meant to startle him but he didn't seem too startled by her coming over to say hi. She chuckled at his reaction and happily took a seat next to him. Vi had planned to sit down with the Ravenclaw regardless of whether he wanted her company or not. She didn't know why she felt so impulsive but for some reason or another.... she just embraced it. Vi was about to ask another question when he had beaten her to it.

OH. What was her name? Oh ho ho..... Now if she told him, she wouldn't be the mysterious stranger or older girl that he met on the train anymore right? It was kind of an intriguing concept having people not know her name but it seemed as if most people did anyway... That's what happened when you were friends with Prefects, she supposed. "Olivia. Olivia Holden but feel free to call me Vi, Liv, Ols, hey you works too," she laughed with a grin. "But I prefer Vi for sure. What's your name?"

A frog. The third year was in need of a frog for very important reasons. Which really begged the question as to what parameters this amphibian was supposed to fit in. But this was also kinda confusing because it was called Frog Choir but they were holding TOADS during some sessions, at least from what he had heard, and frogs and toads were tooooootally different.

SO WHAT WAS THE TRUTH?!

Maybe he would just catch one of BOTH. He was sure Scamander wouldn't mind sharing some more trunk space with more amphibians like himself. Oooooh maybe...MAYBE...he could find a Natterjack toad? Maybe. He wasn't sure if Hogwarts functioned normally with the lure of creatures (mundane and magical) per say...but he was going to be optimistic as he crawled around on all fours - well, more like army crawled - and stopped every now and then to make sophisticated croaking noises to try and call the amphibians to his side.

Dorian watched the float in the water as he sat on the stool, patiently waiting for it to go below the surface. It had been his granddad's idea to take him out fishing at a pond one day. Apparently, he had trouble focusing on one thing at a time, which was completely true, and fishing was supposed to keep him relaxed and focused on one thing and despite that his granddad had first wanted to help him out, Dorian had been surprised that he had liked fishing.

He had therefore asked his dad if he could send his equipment to school and that was how he got here. He smiled as he opened his school bag and grabbed a bag of licorice wands which he began to eat slowly. He checked the float again, hoping it was under the water but he knew from experience that you had to be really lucky to catch a fish right away.

He had had that luck one day in his life though so it was possible. But the other days he could sit for hours and he would catch nothing. He vaguely wondered what kind of fishing swam in this Great Lake. He knew of merpeople, and the Giant Squid, but they were intelligent creatures so he doubted he could catch them, which also wasn't what he wanted.

Another thing that he liked about fishing was that he could be by himself. He did not mind company of course but sometimes he wanted to be left alone. He was happy with that, content. Not sad at all. He checked the float again, still nothing , then he pulled up the fishing rod a bit to see if the bait was still on it and when it was he lowered it back in the water and then shifted in his seat to find a more comfortable position.

Beau was MORE than EXCITED to be around this castle ALLLLL of the time. HE JUST HAD SO MANY PLACES TO EXPLORE. Really REALLY he was exploring every free moment he had and STILL had not covered every floor or all of the grounds -- no one had ever told him how BIG things were here and how much there was to be seeing. AND how long he would be spending at each of them. HOURS in some. LOTS OF HOURS in others. SO MANY HOURS in the rest. SO. MANY. HOURS. GONE.

BUT SO GUD.

He had seen a LOOOOT of things this week already but NONE as funny as this person CRAWLING around by the lake. WHAT. ON. THE. PITCH. WAS. HAPPENING. HERE. ?!?!!!!!

Beau was intrigued and therefore decided to also pull himself along the ground using his elbows (or actually just on his all fours until he caught up with the other boy and then back to his elbows). "HELLO I'M BEAUUUUU AND YES IT IS NICE TO MEET ME." WTH was volume control?

SPOILER!!: Em! <3

Quote:

Originally Posted by NifflerFan

The start of term had been almost as crazy and full of chaos and running around the castle as the last one had been. The only difference was that Emmeline didn't get lost on the way to classes now -- at least, she didn't get lost as much as she had last year. And and, she was still spending most of her free time in the creature barns.

It was currently the morning break time, and Emmeline was sitting curled up in a ball near the lake. She had too many thoughts chasing their way around her head, you know? Plus, she was being sneaky today; she had taken Cypress, Cami's Professor Stewart's crup, out of the barn for a walk. She didn't technically have permission to do that, exactly, but she didn't think her guardian would mind if she found out. Hopefully. The twelve-year-old had wanted to come sit by the lake with a cruppy, and she was still scared that Professor Wayland might take hers away if she let him leave the nursery barn. So she'd gotten Cypress out instead, and was currently petting him lazily while he sniffed alllll around the area.

Kay had only been there at the Lake earlier that morning for her almost daily morning jogs but she was here yet again. This time she was preoccupied with her thoughts. Deep thoughts. Pure bloods. They were wrong; so very wrong. These words were repeatedly running through her head; she was so preoccupied that...

"Ooof!''

Kay stumbled over something soft and warm; luckily she had not fallen flat on her face. "Cypress?'' Had she stumbled over the crup or Cam? No... it was actually Emmeline. "Emmeline! I mean, Ms Sparkes. I'm sorry if I hurt you or Cypress.'' At school, they were nothing more than student and professor though the woman admitted she did like to call the girl by her first name and even 'Em'. "How has your first few days of the term been?''

A bright, sharp burst of pain in her side pulled Emmeline back to reality. Back to the lake and Cypress and...Miss Kay! Who had apparently almost stumbled over her; Emmeline grinned up at her sort-of aunt? cousin? something? She wasn't mad at ALL, 'cause she was alllllwayyys running into people herself. And fences. And doors... Really, she was just glad that Miss Kay hadn't fallen.

"Hiii, Miss Kay---errr, Professor Stewart," she chirped back happily. 'Cept she was supposed to call her guardian's cousin "professor" again, oops. She'd had the same slip up when talking about Cami several times already this week; thankfully, it had only happened in front of her friends or Cami's professor-friends so far, mhm. She needed to get better about it, though, 'cause she didn't want the other students to think she was a teacher's pet or getting extra help or anything. She could get her passing marks in Muggle Studies and Transfiguration alllll by herself, thanks. Anyway, she gave Miss Kay another biiig smile and tried to reassure her: "Nope, you didn't hurt us! Term's been...okay, I guess. How're you doing?" She scrunched up her forehead in thought a little bit, too, 'cause now that she thought about it... Miss Kay sort of, a tiiiny bit, had that "upset grown up" look on her face, mhm.

Emmeline was super good at spotting those looks by now; she'd had to be at her parents' house -- judging grown ups' moods by their "pretending to be fine but are secretly upset" looks had saved her from...things...several times in the last couple of years. Even if she hadn't needed to do that at Cami's house, she still knew how to read faces. And with most adults she wouldn't dare to say anything but this was Miss Kay, so she took a deep breath and added in a softer tone: "What's wrong, Miss Kay?" She didn't bother to correct herself this time; she just fixed her eyes on Miss Kay's face and tried to focus on any little change in the professor's expressions.

Haraldur wasn't perfect. Far from it. But he learned from his mistakes. One of those mistakes from the previous term was to assume the students were safe by the lake. They were not safe. Merlin. They ran around, threw each other in and dared each other to touch a grindylow. It wasn't his place to call the students crazy buuuuuuuut... Yeah.

He squinted up at the sun and decided to pick a spot beneath a tree. There in the shade he could wipe the sweat off his brow enjoy the weather better. He saw some first years but older students as well and there was a professor Stewart and a Miss Sparkes.

All was well.

Haraldur put his hands in his pockets, fingers curling around a bag of peanuts. Yas, peanuts!

All was better than well.

Being a seventh year, Noelle figured she'd be more busy than she had the previous years. But senioritis must have set in early because she wasn't rushing or trying to get everywhere and do everything like she had been. she was more relaxed and smiling. So today, while studying, she branched out to the lake. She wasn't sitting too far from the young first year who was fishing. In fact, she'd inched closer as he fished. Her transfiguration book was now turned upside down and placed into the grass.

Inching closer, Noelle ended up right beside him and his stool. "I wonder how many fish are still left in the lake with the giant squid in it." she said softly because she didn't want to scare any fish away if there were any.

Looking around the lake, and basically just enjoying herself and the weather, she noticed a professor about. Hey! The flying professor! Noelle lifted her hand and waved at him. She wasn't going to yell because she figured that yelling would make it LESS of a chance for this ickle to catch a fish.

But he saw her right?
Waving?

Hey there professor!

Haraldur threw a peanut up in the air and caught it in his mouth. Crunch, crunch, crunch. He was not being lazy. He was supervising. A waving hand caught his attention and at first he thought someone might be drowning. But they weren't waving because they couldn't swim, but to say hello.

He put the now half-empty (or half full, but no one viewed a half-eaten bag of peanuts as half full, NO ONE) bag of peanuts in his pocket and decided to slowly walk over to the waving person in question. He hadn't actually spoken to the young Gryffindor prefect properly now that she was in her seventh and last year.

"Miss Summers!" He exclaimed, unaware of how his booming loud voice might interfere with the young boy's fishing. "How are you?" He glanced over at the young boy (yes, he was still trying to memorize all the new names and faces. It was a hassle.)

"Have you asked permission from the merpeople, Mr. Katharos?" He chuckled at this. Because he found himself funny.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shanners

Beau was MORE than EXCITED to be around this castle ALLLLL of the time. HE JUST HAD SO MANY PLACES TO EXPLORE. Really REALLY he was exploring every free moment he had and STILL had not covered every floor or all of the grounds -- no one had ever told him how BIG things were here and how much there was to be seeing. AND how long he would be spending at each of them. HOURS in some. LOTS OF HOURS in others. SO MANY HOURS in the rest. SO. MANY. HOURS. GONE.

BUT SO GUD.

He had seen a LOOOOT of things this week already but NONE as funny as this person CRAWLING around by the lake. WHAT. ON. THE. PITCH. WAS. HAPPENING. HERE. ?!?!!!!!

Beau was intrigued and therefore decided to also pull himself along the ground using his elbows (or actually just on his all fours until he caught up with the other boy and then back to his elbows). "HELLO I'M BEAUUUUU AND YES IT IS NICE TO MEET ME." WTH was volume control?

Heeeeeeeeeeeeere amphibian amphibian amphibians.... heeeeeeeeeeeeeere amphibian amphibian amphibian...

The Hufflepuff's eyes widened when he spotted a breathing patch of mud not too far in front of him. Well...'mud' seeing as mud didn't really breathe - unless there was a new species of creature wandering about which, well, he wouldn't put it past Hogwarts really - but he could SEEEEEEE the adorable eyes of what was certainly a toad. And it was sitting so pretty in the mud just WAITING for him.

Grinning to himself, Derf slowed his crawling pace eeeeeeever so slightly while continuing his croaking noises to the rhythm of some song or another he had heard Abey singing the other day. The toad was within reach, mostly, and all he need to do was push off with his knees at just the opportune mome------

The shouting not only spooked the toad to leap into the water, but it also cause the third year's launching attempt to fall flat. Literally. Face first in the mud and front soaked, he took a moment to spit out a mouthful into the lake and turned his head slightly to see...OH! He kinda remembered this one from the Sorting Ceremony.

Little hard to forget. Especially when he reintroduced himself.

"Derf," he replied, offering him a swamp monster looking hand to shake. "Nice to er...meet me too." He ventured a glance back out at the water. "I'm kinda trying to catch toads or frogs...amphibians really..and shouting scares them off more often than not."

Dorian looked up at the sky, hoping that it wouldn't rain today. It did not matter with fishing what weather it was, you could even fish in the winter. But HE did not like getting wet. The sky was still clear though with a couple of white clouds.

Looking back down, the first year realised he had company and he sighed softly. Oh well, he could hardly tell her to go away because this place was for everyone so instead he shrugged his shoulders at her question. "Lake this big i doubt even the Giant Squid has eaten everything" he said "The Squid has a name right? I've forgotten what it was..." he asked and looked at her now.

....A red badge. "You're a prefect" he said, stating the obvious. "Cool" He turned back to his fishing task and ate another licorice wand. From the corner of his eyes he saw the girl waving at someone else and he smiled. He knew why she was doing that and he appreciated it. However, the person who greeted her back to not get the memo about being quiet.

The Ravenclaw rolled his eyes, not having seen that it was one of the Professors just yet and he was about to look which idiot decided to interrupt the silence when he saw the float go underwater. He GASPED, jumped up and began to reel in the line. He focused his attention on catching the fish and after a second or ten he held up the fishing rod with attached to it some.....kind of water plant.

ugh...

Mr.Katharos? Only older people called him that, which meant, he looked at the professor now and was glad he had rolled his eyes when he had been facing the water earlier. "I need permission from the merpeople?" he repeated, looking panicked at first before he narrowed his eyes "You're pulling my leg right, professor?" he asked as he had definitely heard that chuckle.

Taking a few turns around the grounds, Luci ended up close to the Great Lake shore. She couldn't wait for the water to freeze during winter and be able to have some fun skating there. At least for a while. And hopefully invite Will, which was probably the best idea in that case.

She sat down on the ground, her back against a tree, and took her notepad out. She had to reply to her mother's owl, expressing how excited she already was to see her baby sister again.

Na-na-na.... she began to whistle the tune of one of the songs she was supposed to be practicing in the harp. Oops.

Julie, with books tucked neatly under her arm and a picnic basket in hand was enjoying the mild weather of early fall. Her curls and sun dress floated with each subtle breeze and the sun felt warm on her shoulders and face (of course, naturally she was wearing some sunscreen. Scottish sun might not be as fierce as a Carribbean sun but that didn't mean she'd let her guard down), and all in all, it felt good and right to be out of the castle today.

She glanced around, looking for a good spot with a view of the black lake and just enough sun to keep her warm but not overheated. Maybe some shade, but not too much, you know? The tree by the lake was an option but so was that patch of grass by the wild flowers... Hm. Thoughtfully, Julie chewed her bottom lip.

How do you start a letter, again?

Luci felt blank now, showing her frustration braiding her hair strands, looking down at the blank sheet of paper, hesitating if she could tell her mother all that has been going on in her head, to ask if it's okay to get distracted every once in a while.

She shook her head, and came back to reality, noticing a girl had sit nearby. Another awkward moment to add to the collection, of people that might have seen her talk to herself, or smiling all weird.

With an apologetic smile, Luci waved at the girl and glanced back at her notepad, still clueless of what to put as content of the letter.

Inevitably, Julie chose the sun spot by the patch of wild flowers for the aesthetic as Althea Kenning would have said. She unfolded her basket, pulling out her cutlery, plate and the many boxes of grape juice (white and red) the Slytherin had packed for herself. Next was the fruit; blackberries, blueberries, cherries and her favorite strawberries. An excellent snack and picnic for one while she read. Her new copies of Cardcaptor Sakura would be more than enough to keep her entertained and busy.

Oh. That Ravenclaw was waving at her. Naturally, the only thing to do was to wave back. "Hi, nice day, huh?" Julie lightly called out. It was only polite.