The Pathways
 

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Image by Destiny

A set of paths link the courtyard to various areas of the grounds. It's nice to walk along either on your own or with a friend. The trees on either side of the path help to create a light atmosphere. So go on, take your time and soak up the fresh air, heaven knows students need it.

After the past couple days of craziness which included the start of term feast, Patrick had found himself on the pathways which lead to the rest of the grounds; he hadn't been entirely sure where he wanted to go but that hadn't mattered since all this time alone was very useful when he had really wanted to figure out what was going on in his head. Are you sure thinking about it really is a good idea when you're just going to confuse yourself further? The social commentary really wasn't helping, it was just making him just the slightest bit irritated although that wasn't entirely a bad thing when he was by himself. Continuing to walk along the path, he took a chocolate bar from his pocket and began to eat it; chocolate usually made him able to think properly when other things were occupying his mind which they were this time between the confusing thoughts of why he had reacted the way he had at the carriages when he thought something bad had happened to Kendall on the train and the story he was working on.

Abby was annoyed. So far, she'd been having the worst time of her life at her new school. The train ride had been less than enjoyable, Lex still annoyed the heck out of her and her head was still throbbing, she honestly felt like someone was pounding a hammer on her head every second. Like Chace said, she should go to the Healer soon.. probably tomorrow. Right now, she needed fresh air.

She stalked down the pathways for a while when she suddenly had to slow down her pace because someone ahead of her was walking slowly. At a snail's pace. Seriously? She stepped around him and walked a couple of steps before turning slightly to face him for a moment. "Could anyone walk any slower?" SMIRK. With that, she turned around and continued to walk briskly.

The chocolate had already begun to work it's magic as he walked along, taking in the scenery; Patrick went back into thought since a matter of most importance still needed to be figured, sure this was important even if there had been other things happening not only at the school but just in general considering his birthday had been quickly arriving. Honestly though, why would I be so worried about someone when I'm supposed to be their friend? Sure friends do worry at times but never like I did but.. I just don't even know, how can this be so confusing? That was the million galleon question, friends never worried about friends like that. Somehow though he hadn't understood what it meant since it really was like a mystery that didn't have an obvious answer to it.

Before he had the chance to continue thinking, an older girl had passed him with some sense of superiority about her and he only confirmed that as she spoke with a smirk; there wasn't time for thought now. No, now was time to show people he couldn't be pushed around. "I'm allowed to go as fast or as slow as I want. No one tells me what I can and can't do unless they have a badge or are staff. So maybe you should think about your suggestions." he called after her, following behind her and easily catching up to her; making sure that the girl actually decided to answer him.

Abby knew that the pathways lead to te grounds but she had no idea where she wanted to go. Hmm.. maybe she should just turn around and head back to the castle. She'd had enough fresh air and she could do with a nap right now. The headache was making her feel extremely tired.

She turned around and almost bumped into the slow coach, the guy who'd been walking really slow and blocking the way for people to walk. She raised an eyebrow when he started talk about how she didn't have the right to say what he could or couldn't do.

"Look, Mister. I have better things to do than argue with you." Abby ran a hand through her hair before she continued, "But, you were blocking my way. So." Abby folded her arms and dared him to argue with her, Abby Hastings.

Was she trying to be scary? Did she seriously think she would get him to crumble and apologize for just walking however fast he wanted? If that was all the case, Patrick was definitely about to inform her otherwise; superheroes stood up not only for those that needed to be protected but also themselves and that was what he was going to right now without anyone else's help. "Well you could have politely asked me to move, not just make some unnecessary comment and walk off like you think you own the place." he replied in a rather calm tone that could have been considered quite scary to those who knew him, he didn't yell much but he had certainly hoped this wouldn't be one of the times that he had to either. Raising an eyebrow slightly at her folded arms, he stood there and just looked at her with a blank expression; if she thought that she'd get the upper hand here then she was wrong.

"Also, maybe you should consider treating younger kids with respect; not just walking past them when they're trying to figure things out." Match point to him.

Politely asked him to move? POLITELY? Abby stared at the guy for a moment, wondering why she had to be polite to a guy she didn't know at all. That was just ridiculous. Maybe, she intimidated him.. Yeah. That was a possibility. She initimidated a lot of people. She was THAT awesome. Heh.

"You could have just come back with an equally snappy comment instead of pointing out that I have no manners at all." If he'd done that, she would have been impressed. Instead he was just one more person who annoyed her. How tragic.

Respect? You've GOT to be kidding me. "Right. Why don't you preach all that to someone who wants to listen? I'm so not interested in what you're saying so don't waste your time, kid." Understood? If not, she wasn't going to repeat that.

This was infuriating. He hadn't dealt with a person that annoyed him THIS much before and it had taken less than five seconds for it to happen, a new record. As she decided to go on with her annoying words, he had tried not to roll his eyes since this was practically an old record that he had heard before and it was beginning to just get on his last nerve. "I don't bother with coming up with comments that only aggravate the situation and I'm only pointing out the obvious because clearly you have no manners otherwise you would have apologized for being rude and disrespectful but apparently you don't understand that." Patrick wasn't going to allow the older girl to just treat him like some little kid while she was up on her little pedestal, looking down on everyone; he was making it a personal goal to tell people that were like that what he had thought since they had needed to understand they couldn't get away with just treating other people like nothing.

This had to be some kind of joke right? This was all some big practical joke that this girl decided to be rather foolish and not want to listen to what he was saying. "Interested or not, you're going to stand here and listen until you understand because I do not want to have to repeat myself." There was a newly lit fire shining in his eyes and he definitely wasn't about to simply walk away now, no that would have meant that she won and the only one that was taking the game point would be him.

"My comments are definitely not aggravating the situation." Or.. were they? Whatever. She didn't care either way. She definitely was NOT going out of her way to impress a guy she barely knew for like ten seconds. And, her eyebrows shot up at his next few words. Wow. He had no idea who he was dealing with, was he? Poor boy. "If I had any manners, I wouldn't have been rude in the first place." Yeah.. wasn't that obvious? "Besides, why on earth should I apologize? You don't like me.. so, leave. Don't waste my time by trying to make me apologize." 'Cause that wasn't going to happen.

"I don't listen to anyone, just so we're clear." Abby smirked and tilted her head to the side. Heh. She was amused. It seemed like he liked arguing with people for no reason at all. That was sad. He probably didn't have friends so he just walked up to people and argued with them just for the heck of it. Yeah, she kind of felt bad for him.

The more the girl spoke, the more that he just wanted to put on headphones that was able to tune out the sound so he wouldn't need to be frustrated anymore by someone who was clearly ignorant to the obvious matter of what had happened earlier which lead them to this situation. "That's what you seem to think, but you just don't see what's really going on." Clearly, she was off in some other little world when she thought that she was the queen of the world and had the excuse to speak to him that he was lower than she was; age wise he might have been but that hadn't meant a thing when it came to maturity. He was as mature as a lot of the older kids, even if he was a superhero which really was beside the point now. Taking another bite from the chocolate bar that was still in his hand, he felt himself relax which was good cause he hadn't been looking to fly off the handle for no reason.

"Why should I leave? It's a free castle! Didn't you not hear what I said earlier when I specifically said that I cannot be pushed around by inconsiderate people who only care about themselves. And I think you should apologize because it's the right thing to do, it's also what people do when they're clearly rude as you were and still are." Instead of leaving, he scuffed his shoes into the cobblestone path; almost sticking them there and making the point that he was here to stay.

"Clearly. I'm surprised you haven't already had a trip to the dungeons." That's where the detention hall was and bad people went there, he wasn't going to visit that area because he hadn't needed to; he was a good kid even if not many people had seen it that way.

For Liam/Lauraaaaa! :3
 

There was a large and long cobbled path that Bliss had walked along a couple of minutes ago to her right and now she was sat at the edge of the grass surrounding the path and was looking up at the sky in awe. It was a lovely and perfect shade of light blue right now and the sun was shining brightly. Bliss was so at peace right now, just soaking up the rays. She was just so happy to be back at Hogwarts, her Second Year was beginning just as well as she'd hoped. She honestly couldn't imagine that it could get much better right now.

Laura was still not fully herself but she had decided to go for a walk, if only she wasn't fighting with Sophie, she could be in the dorm talking to Ella and Sophie, but Laura was staying away from the Dorm except when she had to be in it the less time she spent there the less she would be upset, she was walking along the pathway when suddenly she saw her cousin Bliss.

"BLISS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!" Laura screamed, she didn't care if anyone looked at her weird, she hadn't seen her cousin since on the train and so she didn't know if Bliss was hurt, she hugged her and then she checked her over, nope nothing seemed broken not that Laura could see.

Bliss had been so caught up in her own thoughts, that she almost didn't notice Laura, her cousin, walking towards her. Then Laura called her name, loudly. Nope, no way she could have missed, maybe not even if she were dead. GIGGLE. Bliss hopped up as Laura raced towards her and hugged her tightly, too tightly. She caught her wrist in the wrong way and she cried out in pain, it had been recently healed and the bruising was going down, yet it was still tender and sensitive. Ignoring the throbbing pain in her hand and wrist, she looked back up at Laura. "I've missed you, Laura," she said honestly and gave her a big grin. "How have you been?" She asked carefully.

Laura looked at her cousin and smiled. "I've been good." Laura was glad her cousin seemed to be alright, though there was something different with her wrist but Laura couldn't figure out what it was. "I've missed you loads cousin." Laura bounced up and down, not really paying attention, until she slipped on something and twisted her ankle badly.

"OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!" Laura really felt like crying but she decided against it. "My foot hurts." Laura sighed, now what was she going to do. "Bliss how are you today?" Laura was going to ignore the pain in her foot for now.

Bliss shut her eyes for a moment, grimacing at the pain in her wrist, before opening them again and smiling back at Laura. "That's good," Bliss said and nodded, hoping that Laura was telling the truth, because she seemed to be the type to hide away her true emotions in order to not appear weak. Bliss looked at Laura curiously when she looked suddenly puzzled, as if she was trying to figure something out. Ohhh well. "So have I!" Bliss grinned. "I mean, I've missed you, not I've missed me," she confirmed, in case Laura got in any way confused. Bliss was about to start bouncing along with her cousin, when Laura slipped and her leg buckled beneath her.

"Laura!" She cried, reaching out to steady her cousin, a worried expression was etched on Bliss' face. "Oh my gosh!" Bliss cried out as Laura shouted out in pain. What was wrong? Had she twisted her ankle or something? For a moment all the pain in her own wrist left and worry filled her thoughts, mind and body. Nothing mattered but Laura. Bliss frowned at her cousin's question, "I hardly think now's the time," Bliss contradicted. "Where does it hurt?" Bliss asked in a concerned voice.

Laura looked at her cousin and notice something. "Have you hurt your wrist?" Laura had just realised that Bliss wrist seem to look a bit different and Laura was sad that she had missed that earlier. "What have you done to your wrist and when did you do it?" Laura really wanted too know. "And why haven't you told me about it before?" Laura sighed she really was confused.

Laura looked at Bliss and sighed trying not to cry from the pain in her foot. "Now tell me how are you?" Laura really didn't want too talk about her foot, she really didn't like this, she was in pain but she wasn't going anywhere near the healer, she wouldn't do anything for her. "So what have you been doing today?" Laura asked whilst deciding to sit down to rest her foot.

invading :P : Amanda amd Mansa
 

The term had officially started, which meant exploration. It meant classes too, but exploration was more important to Kendall. Of course, the first thing she'd wanted to make sure of was that the sanctuary was still there. She was fairly sure that Professor Williamson had taken Roro with him, but there were all the other animals to help take care of. Besides, she still wanted to get permission to ride a flying horse eventually, and that meant the sanctuary needed to still be there. Otherwise all she'd have were the thestrals, and those still creeped her out. She'd rather get to ride one of the other flying horses. But first, wandering, and she'd started by the lake and then cut through the pathways on the way toward where the sanctuary was. At least they were still pretty, and still here. It kept her hopes up that other things wouldn't have changed too much, even though she knew the grounds themselves changed a lot. That didn't mean the CoMC part had to.

Either way, her random act of convincing herself that she'd still have the sanctuary to hang around was distracted as she'd heard familiar voices ahead. Patrick and Abby the semi-rude girl from Diagon Alley, so she sped up slightly until she could get closer. At least then she could hear what they were saying, and a grin crept onto her face as she had a thought. Popping out from behind patrick, she walked closer and sent Abby a grin. "Did somebody else block you from getting where you wanted to go?," she asked the girl, before turning back to Patrick.

"Abby doesn't like people blocking her," she explained, reaching forward to break off a piece of the chocolate bar in his hand. It was there, and she didn't have any with her right now. Everything he'd given her at the feast was tucked into her trunk way back in her dormitory. "At least you don't have wet hair though." Abby couldn't get mad at him for that. "D'you want people to go down to the dungeons?," she then asked, popping the piece of chocolate into her mouth. "I could visit you down there if you're lonely." The dungeons didn't scare her. Not as much as thestrals did, even though they were dark and sometimes slimy. There were all sorts of interesting hidden places down in the dungeons, and that meant exploration. As long as he didn't end up with a concussion again and yell at her.

you two Puffs *points above*
 

Laura looked up when she heard the Professor. "Hello Professor." Laura smiled as she got up and put some pressure on her injured foot, which wiped the smile off her face and made her grimace in pain but she wasn't going to let the Professor know that she was hurt, because surely she would sent her to evil healer, who wouldn't heal her at all. "Professor how was your summer?" Laura was going to changed the subject and hope that the Professor wouldn't ask any questions.

Glancing down to the Hufflepuff's leg, her smile faded just a little. That grimace did not go unnoticed, though Medea spoke nothing of it just yet. There was no obvious emergency for immediate attention. "Long." she replied, deciding that the single word was enough to wrap up her entire summer.

"And yourselves?" She glanced between the two girls. "Staying out of trouble I hope?"

Aurora wandered down to the pathways slowly. She didn't really want to be outside... though to be honest inside wasn't much better. She was moody right now. And Kennedy wanted to talk to her about something. Pah. He better not be about to have a go at her for threatening a first year... he was annoying when he got all Head-Boy-ish and bossy.

She fiddled with the tassels on her scarf as she walked and tugged her robes a little closer against the crisp Autumn air... seriously, it got so cold in Scotland... About halfway down one of the paths she stopped, leaned against a tree, and waited. This had better be good because it was cold and she hadn't slept properly and she was tired.

Kennedy made his way down the pathways and pulled the sleeves of his hoody up to his elbows. He was warm even in the cold weather. As he walked down the path, he glanced at his surroundings to make sure there was no one near. He needed to talk to Aurora and preferred that this didn't get out in the open.

Kennedy slowed his pace once he saw her leaning against a tree and came to a complete stop a few feet away from her. "Hey, 'Rora" he said, tucking his hands inside his pockets. "How's it going so far?" And was she still being called 'Rora, hehe.

Aurora had been staring at her fingernails whilst she waited - she'd started painting them recently... and she couldn't decide whether she preferred the red or the silver colour she'd used... probably red... it went with her hair. She thrust her hands into her pockets against the cold and looked up as she heard a familiar voice.

How's it going..? "Honestly? I want to go home." she said, shifting from one foot to the other. "You?" 'Cause they'd both had a rough summer... but surely the head boy would be enjoying school now, right? Right.

Someone wasn't in a good mood. "Me too," he said, kicking a pebble on the ground. Although, he didn't know where home was anymore. He wasn't going back to his father's...maybe...if he asked him? He didn't know. He frowned at the ground and shrugged when he looked back up at Aurora. "It's cool." Mainly because of Sierra and...well, so far that was about it.

School was just school now. It didn't hold the same value it did when he first started. Now, he actually thought of what he wanted to do in the future and that was mainly because Lafay and Mr. Greingoth had planted that thought in his head.

He kicked the pebble a bit too forcefully and watched as it rolled off. "Anyway, have you talked to her, you mother, I mean?" he asked.

Oh... so she wasn't the only one who had become rather disenchanted with the whole Hogwarts thing... "Though... I d'know if I'd go back to Krys' or to my dad's now she's not there or what..." Aurora shrugged, frowning slightly. She suspected Kennedy was having similar issues... "Austria maybe... if they'd let me..." They'd hardly involved her in that conversation... and actually, nobody seemed to have realised that she had wanted to go and she might be a bit upset about this.

Talked to her..? Oh... Aurora shook her head slightly, "No..." she said, sighing ever so slightly. "Krys wrote though... she's moved out of my parent's house... or something..." The words caught a little in her throat and she cleared it. She didn't want to be sad about this... she wanted to resent and hate her mother for what she'd done but... she couldn't.

She missed her. Quite a lot actually... and then the thought of her daddy all alone in the house made her frown a little more. She just wanted to see him... Maybe he could come to Hogsmeade the next Hogsmeade weekend or something. She just wanted her parents...