Violet looked off in the direction that Caes had pointed and sighed. If that really was her truant magpie, he was long gone for now and up to who knew what kind of mischief. Well, he was with some Hogwarts owls, so hopefully they would keep him from doing anything too wrong. At any rate, she would catch up with him eventually--she always did.

"Oh, his name's Mack--it's short for Machiavelli. He's always getting out of the area he's supposed to stay in and he likes to steal things--well, I guess to him it's 'collecting'. He loves shiny things and takes them off and hides them in a nest or somewhere, and then every term I have to track them all down and make sure he didn't take anything really valuable from someone. He's really a lot of trouble--if I'd realized how much back when I was eleven, I might not have brought him to Hogwarts." Violet suddenly felt awkward talking so much to an attractive boy and looked down and bought time by folding and tying up her letter. "Yes, I've been here six, going on seven years, now--well, really I should have graduated last year, but I...took a year off in what should have been my second year. And it does seem kind of like home in a way, and I'm sure I'll feel strange to leave, but on the other hand I kind of feel eager--I really want to go out in the world and see what I can accomplish, you know?"

She was feeling a little more confident and looked back up at him--which was certainly easy on the eyes. "And yourself--were you at Koldovstoretz all this time? It must be a little hard coming into a brand new school your sixth year. Did you like your old school a lot? Were you sorry to leave it?" Violet herself had never quite gotten over taking that year off--she had felt a bit out of step with her class ever since, so she couldn't imagine starting over in a new school after five years.