Violet was so preoccupied looking up in the sky that she hadn't even noticed another student approaching her, but she turned when she heard another girl's voice. It was a first year--Lisa Nam, wasn't it? Violet thought she may have done an exercise with her in class that year, though she was having trouble remembering things lately.

"Oh, Mack is just my pet magpie. It's short for Machiavelli. My first year here I had him inside with me, but later I found out you're only supposed to have cats, rats, toads, and owls in the castle, so I had to leave him out here. But he tends to get into trouble when I leave him alone, and I haven't checked up on him in a while."

Violet took another quick glance up to see if her wandering pet had showed up, but no sign of him, so she turned her attention back to Lisa. "How about yourself? Do you have a pet here, too, or were you just coming down here to look at the creatures?"