Now they seemed to be doing a pretty good job at being still. The duck was finally coming closer after Ellie nearly scared it away. This was good. And exciting! Ellie was flailing in her head and trying her hardest not to wiggle. Sometimes she was like a kindergartner on the first day of school.

Ellie saw the duck look back and forth between Dallin's bread and Ellie's bread. It was probably trying to decide which one to eat. Oh, this was war now. A mental bread war between Ellie and Dallin. Personally, Ellie's bread looked more appetizing than Dallin's but... such was life. Oh well.

"Eat my bread. It's yummier," Ellie whispered to the duck. It looked at her for a moment before waddling closer, eyeing the two pieces of bread before him. Or her. It.

"I'll go anywhere you want to go." Taryn shrugged. Just sayin', she wasn't a hard one to please. They could have fun wherever they went, she was SURE.

"Yeah." She eyed the ducks and leaned over to scoop up her cat. "Maybe I should drop her off at the Common Room first, though.." Taryn didn't really want to carry her cat all the way to the Gryffindor tower and the owlery.

She stood up and glanced down at Auggie, "Let's go!" Hehe... She might have offered her hand to him.

Maybe.

Hehe.

"And we're off." he said with a chuckle as he stood up and began to take a few steps towards the Castle. Auggie watched as she stood up behind him and grabbed Clara, her cat up from the ground.

She seemed to be holding her hand out a tiny bit at her side--probably to balance herself, but Clara couldn't be that heavy.

OH.

Auggie turned his head the other direction and grinned a little as she caught up with him, he slowly slipped his hand into her's and the other into his pants pocket. Yep.

*GRIN*

He cringed when Ellie mentioned about house elves. He never really fond with those creatures, sooner or later he has to face them but he prefer later though. He can't just rely on his snack supplies they might be run off sometime. "They seems pretty handy." And weird too with those big eyes.

"Thanks Ellie." He really need that. Oh. Ellie is a seeker? "That's cool. You must be pretty fast flier." Maybe he should try out as a keeper rather than beater because the first rule in the beater's bible is take out the Seeker. He didn't mind aiming those bludger to the other Seeker but at Ellie not so much.

Stella had heard other Eagles discussing that there had been changes to the grounds, the day after everyone had gotten to the castle, and, considering they had a new groundskeeper, she hadn't had reason to doubt it. Even if part of her missed Monsieur Stryker, just because she'd thought he would have been somebody she could speak French to. She'd never actually tried to, but that didn't change the fact she missed the former groundskeeper a little. She'd wanted to explore the new sights, though, anyway, and after stopping off in the Great Hall for breakfast, she'd taken an extra piece of unbuttered toast and headed out to the grounds to look for the duck pond.

Crumbling the toast in her hand as she walked, she tossed a few crumbs at some of the other birds she passed, but closed her hand again as she came across the pond in question. She didn't want to waste too much of her toast on birds other than the ducks she'd brought it for. And, moving closer, she grinned as she saw a familiar figure heading for the water as well. Creeping up behind Matt, she wrapped her arms around him before he got too much closer to the ducks. "Are you turning into a duck on me?," she teased, before letting her boyfriend go and moving next to him as she tossed some of her toast crumbles into the water where the ducks were congregating. "I don't think I have enough bread for you and the ducks." He'd seemed so focused, she hadn't been able to resist. Plus, she hadn't really seen him much since they'd gotten to the school, which made this moment even better.

Walking slowly on the corridor to the courtyard, Gwen thought that it was probably best to follow Ari’s advice and just go out, instead of staying inside and start reading all the books she could find. Maybe I’ll check out what changed around the grounds, the Ravenclaw decided.

So why was everyone making sucha big fuss about it?, she asked herself, spotting the duck pond from a considerable distance. She remembered how Kurumi and Daichi were so excited when they found out about it. Meh…those are just ducks. However, as she got closer, she felt her eyes were going wiiide.

‘All right, so it is nice, after all’, she mumbled and looked at the clear water. After making sure NO ducks were near the place where she was standing, the third year ‘took a seat’ on the rocky ledge and gazed around.

Laura decided to spend some time here. She took a seat on one of the rocky ledges there.The duck pond was beautiful!
And Hogwarts was great!!! She hoped her year would go fantastic!! She loved it here!!

Laura looked at Lana and started to calm down, suddenly she realised something. "Ewwwwww I touched a boy." She went and hid behind her sister. "That boy there is mean he wants to change houses." Laura sighed, she really needed to wash now, well she would do it later.

Laura cuddled upto her sister. "I'm sorry Lana, I was just mad about something and I didn't care what I did." Laura sighed. "Please don't tell mummy or daddy they'll tell me off and I don't want telling off, plus I haven't really got into trouble." Laura sighed as she continued to cuddle Lana. "Can we go and explore somewhere else?"

Thomas nodded to the boy. “I fink I've got a...” He dug in his pocket and pulled out a cookie wrapped in a napkin which he'd taken from the Great Hall in case he got peckish. He unwrapped it and held it up for Tye to see. "I fink this'll work."

The boy was frowning and Tom mirrored the expression when his magical ability was questioned. “Probly.” He replied shrugging his shoulders to make it look like he didn't care when really he did. He hated being so behind everyone else. “I only found out I woz maagick a year ago. I only started at 'ogwarts last year. I ain' great wiff charms an' tha' yet.” He explained as best he could.

Fresh feathers? Tom shook his head. “Ow would you like it if a giant blaady duck came along and pulled a clump of your 'air out?”

*frown*

It seemed like he hadn't even realized that he was distracted by his thoughts until Stella's voice immediately brought him back into reality, Matt couldn't help but chuckle a bit at what she said; well it seemed like the fact that he hadn't gone surfing in practically forever had been affecting him since no matter what he was just drawn to the water. But, at least he hadn't tried to walk into the water since merlin only knew how cold it was and what exactly had been thrown into it by the other students. "If I was, I'd randomly have a beak and start quacking. But no, I'm just your Cali surfer dude boyfriend." That thought quickly made him smile before he noticed that she had been feeding the ducks and just watched as they had gone a little crazy with trying to eat the toast that was on the ground, that was definitely interesting. "So, how have things been with you lately?" Obviously he was curious since between talking to first years and the Prefects in the common room as well as attempting to organize his note before classes started so he hadn't had the chance to spend time with her but it seemed like that problem had been solved now.

"They are," Ellie shrugged, "Sort of makes up for their creepy-ness." Sort of. She still liked keeping her distance from the creatures. One day, though, she'll have her own. She'll HAVE to have her own, or she'd starve, probably.

Or just eat out for every meal.

Again, the redhead shrugged. "So people have said." She hadn't been fast enough, though. Not last year. And she always pushed herself. She could ALWAYS do better. "What's your position?" If he had a preference already.

What part of he was not trying to hurt the ducks did the girl not get? Clearly she just wanted to torment him, because that's what girls did. They tormented boys for fun. Clearly they were evil little things. He started backing away from the little girl again but then she pushed him, though it wasn't much of a push. Why couldn't she just get it..and leave him be to catch the ducks? That's all he wanted really. "I'm not going to hurt them! I just want to catch them, jeez!."

O_o..

He was cute when angry? What in Merlin's beard was this one going on about? He was not cute! His rat Meeko was cute..not him. He scowled at her."I'm not cute.." He said dryly. He started walking away from her towards the boy on the shore. Yeah he had enough of this crazy girl. She better not follow him. Then a miracle happened..she left him to go talk to somebody else..another girl. Hehe.

After leaving the crazy girl, Tye walked back to the shore where the boy was standing and rolled down his pants again. No need to expose his legs if he wasn't in the water. Right what was he saying now? He looked at the cookie the boy took from his pocket and reached for it. Best he kept it, while country boy did the magic stuff.

"Yeah I think that will work."

Probably? He blinked at the boy then shook his head." Well since none of us know how to let's just make it ourselves." If there was one thing he knew how to do, it was summoning. Rhea had bought him a muggle toy toolbox that he had seen while watching T.V. Muggle men used that to build stuff all the time." Since you're pretty much muggle you'll know how to use my tool box to make the trap." He pulled out his wand and accio'ed his tool box. A lovely middle size container with plastic tools. Tyler was extremely proud of this box. "See." He said looking fondly at the box.

Tyler frowned at the boy." Good thing there are no giant ducks then mate. What's your name?" He asked looking up at him?

"So what do you like best about Hogwarts so far?"Cardigan asked.She already knew what it was for her:being away from her parent.But there were plenty other good things.Being here with her friends(even though she really only has 3),the beautiful landscape,and the enormous amount of land to explore. Hogwarts was amazing.

Had he been forgotten already? Darwin felt his heart sink into his stomach a little as he continued to tumble down the slight hill. He'd thought that he'd been making friends, but obviously not, not if Nate had forgotten who he was.

There again, he thought, his spirits lifting slightly, there were SOO many people in the Castle, and TONS of new firsties, and he'd not spoken to Nate LOTS, so maybe it was a bit unfair to think that he'd been forgotten. After all, he couldn't expect himself to remember everyone, and Nate must have known so many more people than him, so how could he expect the older boy to? No, that was mean.

Stumbling into his view, however, Darwin grinned as he realised he had indeed been remembered. "Yeah, you too!" he replied happily. "What, uh duel?"

Did he know what a duel was? Not at all. Was he capable of duelling? Definitely not. Was it his fault he was keeping tight hold of his wand incase he lost it? Yes, most probably. Oops.

"Hmm...having friends. For once in my life. I never had a real friend until now. Cardigan, you were the first friend I ever made in my life." he said smiling. "And so far you're the best friend I ever made in my life. You're real amazing." he said smiling. "What about you? What do you like best?" he asked.

The sun shining through the trees, water lightly lapping at the ponds edge. Quacks and squeals could be heard from the ducks that were bopping in the water or walking among the rocks, yet somehow this beautiful scenery could not deter Sylia's foul mood. "Completely ridiculous!" She tore through the next page of her copy of Fowl or Foul? A study of Hippogriff Brutality. The only reason she was so upset was because of picking up the book itself and yet she just couldn't put it down.

Her mind rushing with all the hoopla the author was mentioning, she was quickly making mental tabs on what was going to be her next protesting theme. Finding one particularly interesting comment, she folded over the corner edge of the page. Running a hand up through her hair, she plucked her pencil from behind her ear and began to underline sentences, box paragraphs & make scribbles of comments of her own. "Thank heavens this wasn't published at Obscurus. Would kill father if I protested outside the offices." After finishing with the current tagging of this page, she tucked the pencil back behind her ear and licked her plump lips. This book was infuriating.

It was yet another day of mindlessly wandering around the grounds for Lewis. He was doing that a lot lately he had come to realize. Not that that was a bad thing or anything but he could normally think of ways to better spend his time than taking walks on his own. Way better things. Like reading. Or...well, reading mostly. Maybe write a letter or two. But he just couldn't get himself to do any of that. So...mindless wandering it was.

Attracted by the quacking noises which clearly belonged to ducks - or so he had assumed at least - Lewis had made his way over to the duck pond which was surprisingly quiet. Apart from a girl reading a book there was absolutely nobody there. As he stepped a little closer, his attraction was caught by the way the girl was turning the pages of her book rather furiously. What was she reading?! Taking yet another step closer towards her, Lewis tilted his head slightly in an attempt to read the title of the book.

Justin went down to the Duck pond to think and feed the ducks. He sat there next to the edge and threw bread crumbs to the ducked that were swimming around gobbling them up.

Turning another page that was filled with farce, Sylia let out a stubborn sigh. She didn't want to read anymore but she always seemed to keep on reading. Ignorance was one thing she was not fond of and she wasn't going to slip into it just because of some quackjob author wrote lies. Her eyes rolled over sentences & paragraphs far faster than a normal persons should. Homeschooling from a publisher father was a blessing but it made her reading skills rather advanced. She could only imagine how the ancient runes professor will react when she tells him/her that she already finished the appointed book for the term. What could she say? It's her craft to read.

What was that? Her breathing slowed as she heard footsteps. Her hearing being quite adept to the sounds around her, she noticed when something was out of place. Was there someone else here? Slowly closing the book into her lap, she turned her head to look behind her. It was a boy, how simple. And to think she was imagining some kind of creature to pop up out of the woodwork. Blinking her large blue eyes, she saw him looking towards her intently. "Do you need something?" She was almost inching towards ending the sentence with sir, but that was far to strange. She wasn't back home whom all she spoke to were adults.

Turning her body to face towards him, she kept her legs crossed and placed her hands on top of her book. He seemed to be looking at her very strangely. She didn't like it. "If you don't mind, I would like to read my book in peace." Her Italian accent rang clear in her words. Maybe he would bother her, keep her from reading this terrible book. Would give her some time to release some of her annoyed feelings from her readings.

Minerva had not been to this part of the castle yet since it was new from last term. She wasn't looking to well today. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying so much the last few days. She saw Justin and walked over. "Hey Justin do you mind if I sit down?"

As Justin sat there he heard a familiar voice and turned around. " Sure, Minnie. What's up? You look upset. What's going on? " he said as she sat down . He offered her some of the breadcrumbs so she could feed the ducks as they clammered for the bits that he tossed into the water.

Minerva looked at her friend thinking about the other night when she told him everything and about their conversation then she just blurted out "I want to go back to the cave with my parents I hate it here. Everyone.. looks at me weird like they know my secret. Harvey is hanging with another girl, and I got five points taken off of me for doing nothing wrong." she pulled her legs up and rested her head on her arms.

" Min. " Justin said as he put an arm around her. " So what if you got some points taken. You had the most points last term. You know as well as I do that you'll probably do the same this term. Plus, you can't leave me here by myself....Ame and I aren't together and I haven't even seen her since she hangs out with that Slytherin girl. How about you and I pal around this term."
Justin pulled her closer and looked her deep in the eyes, " And you know full well that you just need to get back into the swing of things here at school. I can escort you to our classes if you like. "

Minerva let Justin comfort her. "I wasn't top points earner last year Alyssa was. I just don't know how to get back in the swing of things. I can't go anywhere without feeling the anxiety or have the panic attacks. I know it's my own fault that Harvey is talking with that other girl. She is much prettier then me and she hasn't been... well.. damaged." she looked away ashamed of everything. "I just think it would be easier for everyone if I would just leave."

Harvey walked upto the Duck pond.. all lonesome.. he was still feeling bad about Minnie.. and that was when he saw her.. with Justin.. no problem recognising them two.. so he walked upto them not taking his eyes off Minnie as he stood next to her "Hey guys.." he could see that she was still upset "Mins.. I.. I am glad you are here.. there is nothing going on between me and that girl.. but you take all the time you need.. I will still wait for you.. as no matter what happens I will still love you.. and only you.. as I have told you before.. there is no other girl for me.. except you" he said to her as he gazed at her... he then looked over at the pond.. he had never been here before.. it was nice..