Laura sat down next to Tessa. "I haven't decided yet, I really want to work with dragons." Laura smiled. "But I think horse racing would be an awesome job as well." Laura thought it would be good to actually win races but she would have to decided later because dragons seemed more fun but she probably would be awesome at racing she was really fast.

"Dragons would be really cool," Tessa said thoughtfully. "I've never seen one in person, but I would bet that it would be quite a challenge to work with them. Have you ever been close to one before?" she asked, curious.

"Riding is fun, so I'm sure racing would be a rush... flying on the ground," Tessa said with a sigh. "I would have considered being a jockey if I didn't outgrow the average height," she laughed.

"Do you have someone that works with either Dragons or Horses that you've talked to? Or has it just always been a dream of yours?" she asked.

Derry was humming some muggle song she'd heard on the radio this morning, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet. She was kind of enjoying just being in London, but she was bored. Maybe she should- oh! That was her name! Derry looked around to see...

Merlin was that Toby? Someone had taken a big load of grow-the-heck-up-pretty-potion. Derry beamed at her pseudo brother and waved back. Toby always made her smile - he was so happy all the time. "Tobyyy!" She hadn't realised how much she'd missed him, he hadn't been around much and she had no idea why. So she squished him in a hug.

Laura looked at Tess. "I know what you mean, I've seen baby dragons up close." Laura hadn't like that lesson much when Roro had killed the little ones and she had tried to block it out of her memory until now, but well it was coming now and she was getting a bit sad about what had happened, she decided to think of something else.

Laura giggled at the next thing. "My dad is a huge racing fan, he owns his own company and he and a friend of his own horses, I've been helping them this summer." Laura thought it was cool working in the stable. "But I still have to decide which is best." Laura would figure it out eventually but for now she wanted to do something else.

Head.

Ow.

Taranee tried to gather her thoughts, but they were scattered all over the place. Just like her possessions she noticed, as she peek through one eye and spotted the girl she'd crashed into packing her things into bags. Oh. She felt annoyed, yet thankful, too. "Ughhhhhhhh," she groaned, because ughhhh was how she felt now. "Someone should tell the ground to be more careful, it could do some real harm," Taranee mumbled, staring at the sky now, not bothering to move. It was kinda comfy down here .. or maybe she was just numb.

With difficulty, she propped herself up on her elbows and stared up at the other girl. "You got that right," she started bitterly. PAUSE. Be calm, Tara. She didn't mean to knock you over, you weren't looking where you were going. "I'm fine. Just have a slight head injury, but I'm sure I'll survive. If I'm lucky." Not being dramatic or anything, obviously. She grinned up at the girl, then winced. That kinda hurt. No smiling for her. No problem.

She rocked her, "Its fine..." Mel sighed and hugged her friend, "Anytime! That is what friends are for." Melek hated hugs so all that she was thinking was: Get off... get off... you know i hate hugs! You are only getting away with this because you just had a breakdown... She bit her tongue so she wouldnt say her thoughts and started to awkwardly pat her friend's back, trying to act comforting.

Anna slowly pulled back and looked down, feeling bad for the breakdown but she looked at her, "Sorry..." She sighed and looked away again, "I know you hate all this but it's just..." She sighed and twisted one of her curls, not sure what else to say, her mind just swarmed around her sister right now and how worried she was about her though she knew she'd have a much better life with their parents but it didn't mean it didn't hurt not having her attached her hip like she use to be.

Leonard shook his head. "No..no problem..it's just different, but different isn't bad at all." He told Bart. He was an odd kid, Leo thought. But he was never the outdoors type, he was quiet, calm, preferred a book or a good movie over going outside and catching frogs.

Water splashed on him and he sighed a little more, thankful that his things were now in his backpack, which was on his back and safe and dry, unlike his front, but it wasn't a big deal. "Oh? Yeah...pretty much the same, my grandparents are from here and my Mom..Dad was from back home and when they split mom wanted to be near family." he shrugged.

At last the troublesome reptile was caught and Leonard hoped there would be no more water splashed his way, thank Merlin if so. "You're welcome, but i don't think i did too much.." He itched the back of his head, feeling random wet spots all over. "Australia? Wow that's far. North Carolina is a state, in America. I never really left except to visit my grandparents, here." But it was never like this, he wasn't trying to memorize where things were or anything, this was all very different and he just wished he could escape into one of the many works of fiction he preferred to reality.

Best friend.

Surely she was around the alley somewhere. And Ella , being a badger and all, was a particularely good finder so Soph shouldn't be too hard to locate. ...Only it seemed like there were a bazillion and two people here today and the blonde was having more trouble than usual maneuvering down the busy street. SIGH.

Spotting the fountain, the seventeen year old wandered over and decided to take a break. Maybe sending out best friend vibes would work just as well as walking around aimlessly looking.

Maybe.

So she had been right in assuming that she was a Hogwarts student. She was a Slytherin so maybe that was why she had never seen the girl. "What's your name." Hannah was not one for manners all of the time.

"I will be a seventh year myself next year." Not waiting for the girl to ask. "Only I am a Slytherin." Clearly the best house ever!

Christmas smiled and said "I am Christmas and yeah i am a bit sad that it is my last year at Hogwarts"

After so many times of having sat here throughout the years that passed, the blond still was curious about the fountain and what laid beneath the water. Dare she stick her hand and find out, though? lol. Of course not, who was she? Lex? Thanks, she'd rather not be pulled down and get all drenched. She'd rather take that choice on her own. Getting wet that is.

Fanning herself with her hand, Cassia swung a leg over the other as she looked around her for lack of something else to do. So far the sunlight was bearable and she didn't mind it. The hat was doing a great job of shielding it off her eyes, too. So far so good.

She watched the kid approach and recognized him from afar. The Wisteria boy. As he sat down she twisted in her sitting position to sort of face him. "Indeed, Oleander," she smiled at him lopsidedly. Kids those days were very cute. Could she just pinch his cheeks? No? He'd probably mind. Lil' snakes did and she was going to respect that.

"How are you on this very fine day?" while they were being all classy, you know.

Text Cut: Somerlad. Somerlad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by the fastest seeker

After so many times of having sat here throughout the years that passed, the blond still was curious about the fountain and what laid beneath the water. Dare she stick her hand and find out, though? lol. Of course not, who was she? Lex? Thanks, she'd rather not be pulled down and get all drenched. She'd rather take that choice on her own. Getting wet that is.

Fanning herself with her hand, Cassia swung a leg over the other as she looked around her for lack of something else to do. So far the sunlight was bearable and she didn't mind it. The hat was doing a great job of shielding it off her eyes, too. So far so good.

She watched the kid approach and recognized him from afar. The Wisteria boy. As he sat down she twisted in her sitting position to sort of face him. "Indeed, Oleander," she smiled at him lopsidedly. Kids those days were very cute. Could she just pinch his cheeks? No? He'd probably mind. Lil' snakes did and she was going to respect that.

"How are you on this very fine day?" while they were being all classy, you know.

Sorry, Cassia, but no, no cheek-pinching. He was not a kid, you know, he was going to turn thirteen in November. That wasn't too far away. It was relatively close if you thought about it.

The tiniest Wisteria smirk (you know it, you've seen it before somewhere else) was showing as soon as he heard his name. We're glad Cassia was so unlike Ascanius, no doubt his sister told the older Slytherin to annoy him. The lady sitting next to him wouldn't, right? Right. And he could do her all the favors she wanted as long as she kept calling him Oleander, and as long as he gained something out of it, of course. Doing something for free is a fantasy. That tiny smirk turned into a genuine smile as he nodded. Indeed.

Now that you ask, Miss Somerlad, "I'm excellent knowing I'm out of the house," he nodded, not that he didn't like being there you know? "Alexa Cambridge is coming today," and he had more than enough of her over the winter holidays. His eyes were scanning the water, one couldn't be too careful, "You should come sometime, I'm sure Lotus would like that," mostly him. We have insight information and know Lotus won't mind.

"How about you? Have any plans for the summer?" Curiosity never hurt anyone, no matter how the saying goes. And cats do have more than one life.

Something Cassia liked to think she was good at, was gathering lil' minions making friends from at all ages and years. She unlike other older students could easily find herself spending time with a younger one. They could be surprisingly amusing and fun to hang out with when one needed to think about their age. Could be useful for someone who was never a fan of older people until a certain age. Probably when she became one.

The fresh minds were the best. And here she was reminded by one of the youngsters, Cutty. She wondered if the young one was going to come to Hogwarts next term with a couple of business ideas. He probably would. And she'd try to involve herself, of course.

Oleander's answer got a chuckle out of the snakette, "Why so?" Did he not get along with Lex? If so then Cassia would be so amused since her own brother and Lex didn't particularly enjoy each other's company. But maybe this wasn't the case here. "Aww. Did you just invite me over?" she asked with a grin. "I'd love to, too," She after all had spent a sleepover with Lottie at Lex's. It was rather enjoyable and adventurous if you ask her. One that probably wouldn't repeat itself in the history.

"I don't have much plans other than enjoying the luxury of free time and having nothing to do." Something she didn't appreciate or sense its importance at Oleander's age. "I have been spending lots of time at my uncle's shop. The sweets shop." Mr.Wisteria was among the very firsts who knew. Go feel special, young man. "Do you like sweets?" Or was that not the trend these days? She was totally asking to guarantee him a discount.

Bart looked at the boy, finally really looked at him, because you know his frog was safe in his pocket now. “Well good, because if it was we would have had issues.” He didn’t like people telling him he was weird, because of his frogs. The last boy that called him weird, well Bart ended up with the black eye, but his mouth got to say his thoughts before it.

“My grandparents live here too. Mum was from here went to Hogwarts. That’s where I have to go now that I was expelled from my other school.” Stupid potions mistress he really wanted to see that woman again to show. Exploding snaps could go into a fireworks potion without blowing up the lab he swore the next time it would work. “My dad was from here too, but he likes Australia and well lives there with Becky his new wife.” Yeah he got married while Bart was at school, but he didn’t care didn’t want to be there anyway.

Bart shook his head, “You came over to try to help that more than some would do.” Kicking at the fountain now, because his attention was lacking he shrugged, “Oh.. .Ammerrricca” not that he ever knew anyone from there, but he just liked stretching the word out and in his Australian accent it sounded fun. “Why didn’t you just stay with your dad then?” That’s what he had done until this last issue, so if the boy wanted to be in America why not stay.

One last stop before she headed home. While Luc was at that immature joke shop, Claudette thought she'd take a walk towards Madame Primpernelle's. She could hardly believe that an 18 year old boy would still find childish pranks amusing, but she supposed that was her brother. Whatever. While he was off doing that, she could browse the beauty potions, something he would surely roll his eyes at anyway.

As she headed down the street, her ankle turned, sending her stumbling a step or two. The blonde looked down at the cause of her misstep, frowning a bit as she noticed the heel of her show had snapped. Fantastic. These cost quite the pretty knut. Rather annoyed at this point, the seventeen year old limped a few steps, then sat down at the edge of the nearby fountain to assess the situation.

"Well, he's your frog why would i tell you what to name him?" He asked, thinking it was weird and not very nice to shame someone for naming something a weird name.

Leonard nodded "So, we're in the same boat then? That's cool. Why were you expelled?" What could a boy his age have done to get him expelled? It didn't seem very mean or anything, he seemed like an okay kid. Odd but okay.

He smiled a little and shrugged. "Well, he seems like a handful, no offence." it was obvious that Bart was sensitive about his frog, so Leo didn't want to offend him at all. "Oh...well, My Dad isn't really the type, barely home that sort of thing, so Mom was the only real option. Not that i don't like England i just don't know much about it."

Schuyler was spending the day here in Diagon Alley. Her time had been occupied by strolling the street, window shopping, actual shopping, and bumping into people she had really only just seen at Hogwarts. Well, okay, she had seen Tag and that was about it. But now her attention had been pulled in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron, not for anything inside, but rather for something outside. Something as in that ornate fountain with the dragons and cherubs and the shifty eyes.

Well, she was on no schedule and the fountain was intricate enough to steal Schuyler away for at least a look or two. So, off the the fountain she went..

Jeremy had to admit he was beat. He had not anticipated it to take nearly this long for him to get all of his books and school supplies. He had also not anticipated that he was going to be falling into a fountain, but since when did life ever really turn out how you expected it to? Thankfully he was only staying at the leaky cauldron so he was able to go up and grab a new pair of clothing, and could at least be slightly more comfortable…well at least dry anyway.

He was in the process of heading back from the leaky cauldron where he noticed the rather large fountain. Oh no. He was definitely not going anywhere near that thing. In fact he was so completely distracted about not going anywhere near the proximity of the fountain that he was not really paying attention to what was going on in front of him. He slammed directly into what he knew must have been a person on initial impact because whatever it was had given way.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" Jeremy managed to fumble out. Of course he ran into a girl…just his luck.

Tessa's eyes widened and she couldn't help but let out a small 'aww' at the thought of the baby dragons. "They must have been adorable," she said softly, her mind on hatchlings. She didn't notice the turn of Laura's mood.

"Oh really? That sounds awesome!" she exclaimed, brushing back a few more of her colored strands of hair. "What sort of things did you have to do this summer?" she inquired. "Well, you've got plenty of time to decide," she said, waving her hand. "Or, you may be the first to figure out how to do both," she pointed out with a wide grin.

The closer Schuyler got to the fountain, the more she realized how eerie all the creatures' eyes were. And she was suspicious of it already, but it was one of those curious things where you knew it might lead to something bad, and yet you still went ahead and kept going with it anyway. Well..... not anymore, though.

No, she kind of immediately forgot the fountain when some sort of force knocked into her side and, paired with a bit of uneven cobblestone, the blow had been enough to land the off-guard Gryffindor onto her bum on a nice patch of the same street that had formerly been beneath her feet. Lovely. Although, Schuyler was in a particularly good mood because it was such gorgeous weather, and when she looked up to see who'd caused it all, the guy was fumbling out an apology already. Which was good - that's what you were supposed to do when you ran into someone. coughSTANcough.

Schuyler shook her head and pushed herself up off the ground with a little grin. "It's nothing," she assured him, brushing some dirt off her clothes. Ohh, hold up. Maybe this wasn't such an unfortunate fall because this boy was quite easy on the eyes, if she said so herself. "I promise I can withstand shoves and bumps, but I really do blame the cobblestone." She'd lived in New York City, so YES. She was used to pushy people.

Of course today of all days she was wearing white shorts. She swept some dirt off the back of them and tried to crane her neck to get a better look. She turned around. "I guess they're dirty?" Her shorts, of course. Schuyler then added with an amused smile, "And I won't accuse you of checking out my butt, either." She just couldn't spin her neck around like an owl, you know.

Jeremy was mortified, prepared for the worst. A punch, a death stare, a spit in the face. Heavens knew that when it came to girls Jeremy usually had the worst luck ever. He caught them on a bad day - like the one girl at his elementary school that he knocked into after tripping over the edge of a chair. Jeremy tried to block out the remembrance of mortification and horror as the girl laid a slap across his face. Yeah…women and Jeremy just didn't usually go hand in hand.

To his utmost surprise he noticed that the girl was sporting a smile on her face as she stood up. He nervously smiled at her comment about being able to withstand bumps and knocks. "It probably doesn't help when you're not expecting it either," Jeremy said with a little laugh, mostly from the nerves not because he thought he was being funny or anything.

Jeremy politely looked towards the fountain, which he was beginning to think was he bad luck emblem - like walking under a ladder or hanging around too many black cats. He froze, not entirely sure that he heard her correctly. Did she just ask him to look…at her…butt? Thank the heavens above that Jeremy was incapable of blushing or he was going to be redder than the blood red flower on that nearby bush. Jeremy timidly look at her shorts, not wanting to stare too long, but not being able to help noticing that she did have a nice…well…figure. He smiled at her comment about not yelling at him for checking out her butt. If he wasn't so afraid that his laugh was going to come out as a squeak he would have chuckled.

"You're good," Jeremy managed to get out, clearing his throat slightly as he did so. "I'm…uh…I'm really sorry…again." He gave another nervous little smile. "I'm…uh…Jeremy." Was it proper for introductions?? Not the ideal intro, but it seemed rude to knock a girl to the ground and then just walk away.

Tristan didn't frequent this place very often, unless he was with his mother. He didn't necessarily need to come. But mum had came with Lincoln the day before and Linc was just harping on and on about how students were there and Trist had just gotten to a point where he wanted ouuuuuuuut of the house. And he was getting super clammy and didn't want to be in the house with his younger brother or Flynn for much longer.

It was evident he was having one of his meltdowns, just in his physical appearance. His t-shirt was inside out, his crown squift and he most definitely had odd socks on. But it was okay because he'd ordered and demanded the company of his best friend instead of coming alone or going to Hilton's place. Because Hilt would just be...busy.

Schuyler nodded along to his addition that being unprepared for a push like that also didn't exactly help. True. "Or maybe someone doesn't know his own strength," she teased. Either way, there really wasn't anything bad that happened because of it all. On the contrary, now she got to meet a new person who wasn't half bad. So far. Her eyes flickered to the fountain for a moment before returning to him. "I have this feeling that this fountain had something to do with it." The creatures were made of stone but they certainly gave off the sense of being alive in some way. Or at least capable of causing incidents to occur to those who neared the water.

And shorts? 'She was good.' Which was somewhat surprising, but she took his word for it. Even if they were a bit dirtied from the street, it wouldn't take much more than a simple spell to return them to their previous state. Her smile may have curved a little further at his obvious nervousness, but she said nothing.

Jeremy. Yes, introductions were called for now. "I'm Schuyler." She tilted her head slightly and added, "Do you go to Hogwarts?"

His own strength? Jeremy gave a sheepish grin. He didn't see himself as exactly the strongest guy around, but he did make an effort to work out. Of course in all honesty the force probably came from his determination to get away from the fountain as quickly as possible. Determination was a force within itself. Jeremy's eyebrows went up slightly at her comment about the fountain having something to do with it. "Well…it did…sort of," Jeremy said, running his hand through his hair slightly nervously. "I…uh…tripped earlier and ended up falling into the little pond, fountain thing in the courtyard," Jeremy said with a little chuckle. "I was trying to avoid a similar encounter, which was why I was stupidly looking that direction rather than looking in front of me," Jeremy said with a little wave towards the fountain.

He noticed that her smiled had curved up at his comment about being good, making him shift his weight slightly. Jeremy really had no idea how to handle girls smiling at him. It was like they took on some kind of power that only girls could have, and whatever it was it just made boys feel like idiots. Well…it at least made Jeremy feel like an idiot!

"Nice to meet you," Jeremy said with a little grin. "I'll be starting my first year there this year." Oh…that made him sound like a first year. "I mean it'll be my first year at Hogwarts. I'll be a fifth year…I was homeschooled for a while." He let the end trail off miserably. "And you?"