There was no way that Elodie enjoyed the cold that came with the winter months. Winter from indoors was her favourite, everything looked so pretty. From the outside though, it was horrible. Too cold. She had a hat on her head (all white and wooly and with a big bobble on the top!), and her winter jacket. But she was still cold.

All the complaints about the cold didn't keep her inside though, and she headed outside for some air that wasn't that of teenagers. It wasn't that they smelt bad, but it wasn't that they smelt of roses either. Hands in her pocket, Elodie started down a path.

Els could spot that hair from a mile off. Creeping quietly through the snow, she wrapped her arms around the boy on the bench from behind and grinned. "You should try a new hairstyle, Bibs. It's getting super familiar."

Coul dug his heels in the snow and had decided to start making a nice ditch when arms were suddenly around him. Tiny arms. Clearly not a boy's. That would have been all sorts of awkward had a boy hugged him from behind. He'd been mistaken for a girl before. It wasn't really fun for either party. Coul had been murderous.

But now wasn't that time and now was a good time because he recognized the voice that went along with the arms and he grinned a response.

"I didn't know we were playing hide and seek, Pips. You should have told me." he tilted his head back to get a look at the girl. "Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to come and keep Couly warm?"

To put emphasis on his hair, Els ruffled it with her fingers and laughed. It was so long for a boy, but she didn't mind. When she was bored and they were together, she just played with it, and especially when camping over the summer, she'd put ribbons in it while he was sleeping. Which of course, he hadn't appreciated, but what the hey.

"We were playing. I just didn't tell you." Shouldn't he have expected that by now? Elodie hooked her foot into the back of the bench and climbed over, sitting herself in Coul's lap.

"Its warmer if I sit here." It wasn't because she preferred sitting here or anything.

As Jory completed his three clockwise circle around the tree, he felt...something. It was hard to explain but it seemed to be coming from the tree. It felt like... a positive feeling? Something like that. "I suppose this means I can have a piece of your bark, then, Mr. Tree?'' he asked.

Jory dropped to his knees to get to the ground where the tree stood. He carefully cleared away some of the dirt, making a hole large enough so he could make his offering. From his pocket, the Puffer retrieved a piece of bread he had gotten from the Hufflepuff table earlier and placed it into the hole. There. He had made his offering.

Coul still had his head tilted back and was looking up at her when she decided to ruffle his hair and as response, the boy just blinked, not overly concerned with the state of his hair currently. He usually styled it in the morning, but as most were prone to touch it or ruffle it, it had a nice messy look that he'd liked. So... it being ruffled didn't overly bother him anymore.

"... You should, y'know, tell me next time. I don't like losing when I can win." he grinned, watching her situate herself in his lap.

Mmmmm. Warmth.

"It is. Now don't move an inch. You're in perfect Coul-warming position." With that, he rested his head against her back and nuzzled his nose into her.

"I wish you'd always wear ribbons in your hair, Coulson." Els pouted, taking the moment to twist some of his hair around her finger and sigh. She could do more with his hair than she could with the twins, but atleasy they were actual girls. "I wanna braid it too." For the summer months, when it might get in his face. Or, just for the fun of being able to put flowers in it.

She giggled, shaking her head. He was being a peel again. "You couldn't win. Not against me!" You just didn't win when Els skills were brought to the plate. Once in his lap, she wriggled for a moment, to get herself comfy and to get rid of his bony knees. Ow.

Don't. Move. An. Inch.

This was going to be impossible, wasn't it? She tried her hardest to stay still, really she did! "If you wanted warming, why ever are you outside?" Answer that one, Bibbles.

Zeke had just fulfilled his ice cream craving despite it being winter at the time of the year. For some reason he just really loved the cold treat, no matter what season it was. Since when did he develop this? Erm, no idea. Beginning of the term, he just developed a liking for it. His sadness, anger, or any negative feeling could easily be wiped off just by helping himself to a batch of good ice cream which he would always find available in the kitchen, much to his delight.

He whistled a happy tune while walking down a pathway on the way to nowhere in particular, really. As he'd put it "It's the most beautiful time of the year." Yup, Ezekiel was a big fan of winter. Of snow. Of everything during the season. He hated the heat, to be honest. So the guy was in a bubbly mood, much different from how indifferent he was during his last meeting with Gwen.

.......

Gwen. The thought made him sad. Though he knew it was the right thing to do if ever there was a right thing in life anymore. He indulged himself in eating ice cream so he'd forget. Before he could even think more about it, a random snowball went flying in front of his face, to which he quickly ducked by moving his head backward. His whistling stopped altogether. "Whoah."

His eyes watched it land on the ground to his left. Well. Better back to where it belongs than his face. Then he turned his head to the right in search of who threw that snowball. Also to find out whether it was intentional or not. He could teach the mischievous kid the wonders of ice cream. Or it was a kid.

Aaaaaaaand. Apparently it wasn't. He bit his lip and took a deep breath with his eyes closed. Somehow hoping that she'd be gone by the time his eyes open again? Ugh, he needed ice cream.

The next step was to thank the tree. Jory had his notebook in his pocket, in which he had written out the steps and verses he would need. He opened the book to the appropriate page and began to read:

Hail to thee, wight of Oak,
I pray to thee give this branch of your body!
Into it send thy speed,
To it bind the might of the bright runes.
Fehu, Ansuz, Nauthiz, Jera,Algiz

Jory seriously hoped he had done that right. He had followed the instructions...so... yeah it should be alright.

Despite all of the things that had happened lately, Gwen was in a rather good mood that day. Maybe the snow managed to cheer her up a little? Heh. That was a silly reason but still. It was great to have winter again. So, with a small smirk, the seventh year took another step after throwing the snowball in a random direction.

Before she could hear the sound of the snowball hitting the ground, someone’s voice was audible. Gwen turned around and tracked down the source of the voice.

...Zeke.

‘You’, she mused, a bit surprised to actually see him there. Hmm. Apparently, the snowball had just missed the Gryffindor. Too bad.

Gwendolyn wanted to say something but suddenly stopped herself. Whatever. She was probably the last person he wanted to see. Though, he was, or at least had been one of her closest friends, alright? So the fact that he suddenly hated her was simply horrible. Anyway. Might as well continue her walk now.

Actually... She grabbed another handful of snow from the ground, making another snowball. With a small smirk o her face, Gwendolyn threw the snowball in his direction. What? Not even Zeke could change her good mood from that day. So- Snowball fight?

So, according to his Runes textbook, it was better to cut the wand during the new moon or during the waning moon. He had checked and today happened to be the new moon. Luckily, he had checked early otherwise he would have to wait until next month to get this done.

Using his wand, Jory carefully cut the Gandr from the tree. It was sort of tricky as he didn't want to cut any bark that would be of no use for the runic wand. "Annnnd...done!'' The Puffer examined the Gandr. Seemed good enough. Now for the application of the bituminous paint. Jory removed a small jar of it from his pocket ans scooped some up with his fingers and applied it to the tree- the part where he had cut the ark from.

Daichi thought it was about time to start his Ancient Runes year long project. He wasn’t beginning now because he was afraid that he would have to hurry up later but because he had to do something. The past few weeks…if not months he had had this weird feeling of hyperness all day long. Even in the night and tossed and turned in his sleep a lot. How he knew that? Well, because he fell asleep in his bed and he wakes up on the ground. He had owled his brother about this because it wasn’t like him to fall out of bed nearly every night and he was still waiting for a reply.

This was why the Slytherin Prefect was looking up at the grey sky in the hope of seeing SuSu his owl somewhere over there. No luck though. Turning his attention back to earth, Daichi checked the parchment in his hand and looked around. He had written the activity on the piece of parchment so that he didn’t have to walk to the classroom each time to read what to do. He checked the first step and then placed the parchment in his robe pocket.

Select a wood and locate a suitable living tree? That was easy~ He walked through the pathways, looking left and right to find a perfect tree to use. He had read in his textbook that maple wood was a good choice.

Jory checked back the instructions. Right. So he had to thank the tree once again. No problemo! The tree had been nice enough to let him cut his gandr from it.Jory flipped to the page containing the second verse and began to read:

Wight of Oak, accept my thanks.
Henceforth may your might be in this branch!
Magically bound to the bright runes Fehu, Ansuz, Nauthiz, Jera,Algiz,
Working my will with speed and wisdom

Good. Another step completed.

"You have the bag full of buttons, right?" Alice asked Dora around a mouthful of carrot, reaching into her own sack and pulling out another whole one. They were supposed to be for the snowmen noses, but she was kind of hungry, and Cat was holding the hot chocolate, so crunchy orange veggies would have to suffice. Were they making nice back there? She was leading the way, and she hadn't really given them time to talk yet, what with rushing them out of the castle with supplies and all.

But they could now. "Cat, that's Dora, Dora, that's Cat. Be friends and stuff." Seemed like a legit request. Alice peeked inside the Slytherin's sack to make sure she had marshmallows, too, and then finally stopped walking, choosing a random spot on the grounds that was probably supposed to be a pathway but was currently covered in snow. "I like here. Do you guys like here? I like here."

Dropping her carrots and other things, she adjusted her slouchy beanie before fetching six decent sticks that could serve for proper arms. "'mkay. Readddy." Were they ready? ALICE was READY. So ready she was nearly BOUNCING. She'd never built a snowman before. How did they do this, exactly?

The hot chocolate was definitely HOT. She'd been hoping that it would stay warm for a while but it was sort of burning her hands right now. At least it would keep them warm in this cold weather, right?

Cat managed to wave at Dora anyway, burny hands or no. "Hi Dora." They'd just met up outside so she hadn't had quite a chance to say hi yet, though Alice was all in Captain mode and leading the group, so that worked. Besides, Alice had said that Dora was her best friend, so OBVIOUSLY that meant she was totes awesome too. Obviously. "Here is good." Anywhere was good really, anywhere with a lot of snow. "As long as no one decides to knock over our dudes." Snow Dudes. Totally cooler than Snow Men.

When they stopped, Cat handed over the hot chocolate to the girls, glad to have them all out of her hands. She took a nice big sip of hers and definitely burned her tongue. "Alright. Totally ready." As soon as she found a safe spot to rest her hot chocolate, that is.

Next step was to collect the bark shavings from his freshly cut Gandr. Jory kneeled at the base of the tree and spread a piece of cloth before him to collect the shavings. Using his wand, he began to strip off the shavings. They tumbled onto the cloth. Several minutes later, the task was completed. He had to wait a couple of days before he could complete the next step but that was no problem. He was making fine progress. Or at least he hoped so.

Jory stood up, about to leave, when he noticed the tree next to the Oak. It was one with a few tiny flowers but he did not recognise it. Flowers! That was another example of the Golden Ratio, wasn't it? He stepped closer to the tree. This flower had five petals as was orange. He'd have to confirm this in his text book but he was very sure about this being an example of the Ratio.

Ronnie made her way towards the pathways. She had decided on taking a little walk today, she enjoyed walking along the grounds...especially in the snow. Hogwarts was so beautiful with a blanket of snow covering it, she'd have to paint the view from the common room soon.

As she walked, a gust of wind blew past her, causing her knit hat to fly off her head and take off with the wind. "My hat!" she exclaimed, turning quickly to see where it had gone. But there was no sight of it. She moaned. Great, now she'd have to go looking for it.

"Color changing buttons," She nodded her head in confirmation, her eyes on this new girl and not her bestie like usual. There hadn't been much time to talk to her before, but pleeeeenty of time to observe the Slytherin. And be bossed around by Alice. The fourth year did not need a boss or leader or ANYTHING.... but this was Alice and she was being a good best friend and following and watching this new person with careful eyes.

Alice said she was cool, so she must be, right? Had to be. "Hey, Cat." Stopping with the others, she observed their surroundings instead and nodded in agreement. This was a good spot. But what was this about someone knocking over their snowmen? "If they knock it over, we can glue the rest of these buttons to their face." She nodded, entirely serious and now hoping that someone WOULD so she could glue buttons to them.

If no one came by, she'd just find Aidan later and see if he'd let her use him.

Taking a sip of her hot chocolate, she nodded her head. "Let's do this."

"maybe he's just busy or something, yeah?" the snake said aloud to herself regarding het boyfriend, though she just needed to calm down he was the head boy after all. She was proud of that mhm, proud that it was /her/ boyfriend that was headboy. Hers, you got that? Anyway skipping down the pathways she figured she'd go to the pitch, see if anyone was there and all..

ASDFGHJKL!!! Who's hat was this?! Smacking her in the face?! This was not funny, she began looking around for the culprit.

Ronnie kept trekking through the snow, searching for her hat. Ohh, it could be anywhere right now! She growled under her breath. That bloody hat. Why couldn't it just stay on?! Her poor head was starting to get cold! *shiver shiver*

WAIT! THERE IT WAS! And it was on...someone's face? Ronnie bit her lip and grabbed her hat to reveal...Arianna. "Oh! I'm so so sorry, Arianna. I really am. I didn't mean for it to fly onto your face..." she said as she firmly put it back on her head. She fixed her hair and then turned her attention back to Arianna. "Again, I'm real sorry. You okay?" she asked, looking the girl over.

ASDFGHJKL! really, who ever owned this hat was in serious trouble, she though as she flailed some more. "get this bloody thing OFF me." cause she apparently was un able to do so at the moment because she was too focused n BREATHING, in case this hat was charmed to kill her

ARIANA LOGAN: DEATH BY HAT

horrible ring to it really, then she heard footsteps and someone was taking the hat off her. "THERE BETTER BE A GOOD REA.." Oh, it was.. Ronnie.. "Ronnie!?" she wasn't sure why she seemed so surprised, Ronnie just didn't seem like a hat wearing kinda girl.. "im fine, thanks." she said fixing her hair, no thanks to that hat of yours Ronnie.

Jory hummed as he made his way back towards the Oak tree which had been so kind to let him take a piece of its bark. And he was supposed to sing that song he wrote. Gosh, that had to be one of the most terrible things he had ever composed. He patted his pocket to make sure he had brought the paper on which the song was written and also the cloth in which the pieces of bark were wrapped.

"Hi, there!'' Jory said to the tree, when he got to it. "How are you?'' He stared at it as if expecting an answer but then grinned. "I'm sure you're good.'' But won't be after he was done singing. The Puffer unwrapped the cloth. He had made sure to confirm that there was a moon phase, and today happened to be new moon. Taking the bark shavings in his hand, he began to walk in a clockwise circle around the tree while sprinkling the shaving around it's base and touching the tree with his palms and also thanking it once again.

She winced a bit at how mad the Slytherin was. Frowning, she nodded. "Well, I-I'm glad you're alright." she said, giving the girl a warm smile. It was a bit scary that Arianna was the one to be hit in the face with her hat. Ronnie had never wanted to get on that girl's nerves...but at least she seemed okay with it. Thank Merlin. Perhaps if she had been someone else... like some first year or something, Arianna would have been more mad.

Ah, well. Didn't matter. The good thing was that the girl wasn't upset. Yes? Yes. "So, where you headed? Or are ya just on a walk?" Ronnie asked, cocking her head a little.

So now came the part where he had to sing, Thank goodness dancing wasn't involved or else he would have surely been in trouble there. He took a deep breath and unfolded the paper. Here goes nothing. Jory started signing while he walked around the tree in the clockwise direction.

There! He had completed the song as well as walking in the clockwise direction thrice. And the Oak did not attack him or anything.

"We shouldn't waste such awesome color changing buttons on faces of snow dude knocker-overs." Biting was a much better option. But it was kind of hard to sink her teeth into people when her tongue was on fire, because Cat's warming charm had done a little extra on that cocoa. Alice was pretty sure that every single one of her taste buds had been burned off already, though. She needed those, did they know?

Setting down the cocoa on the most level part of the snowy ground and willing it not to fall over while they built, she turned back to Cat and Dora. "How do we do this?" Seeing as Alice had never made one before, she wasn't quite sure. "Do I just make like.. a really big snowball?" It seemed reasonable. She dropped on the pathway crosslegged, gathering up all the snow around her and beginning to mush it together in a huge round shape.

"So.." What were they supposed to talk about now? She looked expectantly at Dora and then back to Cat.

Well, at least they weren't in danger of the hot chocolate getting cold. Sheesh. Cat was certain that her own taste buds would grow back in time and she hoped it was soon because she too needed them.

She found a good spot for her cup and tossed a glance at Alice who was sitting in the snow. "Well yeah. You have to make it really big. These snow dudes are going to be awesome and huge." Cause they were... awesome and huge. She looked at Dora to see if the Ravenclaw had anything to offer and then started to gather up her own pile of snow. Except she was making a few smaller balls behind the large pile. Heh.

"Sooooo..." She repeated, leaning over like she was going to reach for her hot chocolate. When she was sure no one was looking, she threw a snowball at Alice's head. She immediately began reloading because she wasn't going to be caught without back-up.