The Courtyard
 

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A stone courtyard with columns surrounding the square in the middle is the perfect place for students to hang out. Benches have been provided for the students to sit on with friends or for those who want some peace and read their textbook. In the center of the courtyard is an antique fountain surrounded by statues of eagles.

Ascanius and Tayloooor.
 

Derry was a little overwhelmed being back at school and whatnot. She'd gotten used to being back at home so the sudden onslaught of so many people had been a bit of a shock to the system. So she needed to escape. Just for a little while.

She'd grabbed a bunch of books from her trunk and stomped out into the grounds - it was bound to be quieter in the Courtyard, yes? Hopefully. Derry found a little space on a wall in the courtyard and opened one of the books. Right... yeah... it was too early to motivate herself to study, even with OWLs coming up, so she pulled a magazine from between the pages and stared at the brooms in it. Again. Sigh.

Merlin she wanted her own broom. No, strike that, she needed her own broom. Desperately. And she'd counted up all the money she'd saved and not spent on books over the summer... she had three galleons, seven sickles and two knuts. Which wasn't nearly enough money for a good broom. Sigh.

She was so engrossed in her daydreams of amazing brooms and fast flying that she hardy noticed a certain someone appear in her peripheral vision until he announced himself. Derry looked up, "Hey 'Scanius." she said, beaming. "Looking for a broom... for... whenever I've saved up enough." She shrugged a little and put the magazine down on the pile of books. "Y'alright? It's dead crowded inside..."

Peaking over her shoulder, he noted all of the brooms in the book she was reading. It made him suddenly anxious all over at the thought of Quidditch. S'too much and stuff, especially because of the silly piece of parchment that had been hung up by the broomshed for try outs. He really didn't want to think about it right now, yeah?

Cleaning his throat, he couldn't help but cough, "S'fine...just can we talk about something else?" Namely anything other then what they were discussing right now-heights.

Silently thanking her for the change in subject, he nodded, "A touch stuffy." The castle was.

Yeah yeah she wasn't going to go on about it. Derry knew how he felt about heights and all that. She almost felt bad for making him try out. Except for the fact that he was actually a good flier when he actually made it into the air. Plus, she stood by the belief that he would eventually get over the fear if he did it often enough. Hopefully.

"I haven't even bothered going around everywhere yet." she said with a shrug. There were too many people and not enough animals. Well... not enough of her animals. Especially now that Lando had gone to seek out the new kids pets for possible pet napping opportunities... honestly, that cat needed a serious talking to. Shame Derry found it amusing really - and she always made sure the pets were returned. "So glad about the food though." she added with a grin. Yep. Food. Food was very good.

It was strange to him that a small, flimsy piece of paper could give him such discomfort. That sign up sheet seemed to haunt him and he knew he had to sign up, he had promised Snaps and everything, but the problem was that it gave him the shivers. S'many things could go wrong with flying and trying out. He couldn't very nearly stand it.

"Eh," he shrugged almost easily, "I'm glad the food is better, but it's not that huge of a deal." Food was okay and necessary, but he wasn't as fanatical about it as some of his friends or his girlfriend. Pen could literally pack a whole lot down more then anyone he knew.

The weirdest thing was his peers affinity for food.

September weather in Scotland was probably Mo's favorite, and he wanted to spend as much time outside as possible to take advantage of it. Thus, he found himself spreading out on a bench in the courtyard with a stack of books, a spiral bound notebook full of blank pages, and a determined expression.

And a pencil. He had a nicely sharpened pencil, because wandering around with quill and ink was just not easy. Mo settled most of the books on one side of himself and the notebook on the other, and he dove into the first book in the stack. It was pretty obvious from the bench hogging that he wasn't expecting any company.

Anya skipped out into the courtyard. Why? Because skipping was fun. Almost as much fun as prancercising. But... she wasn't to do that in public anymore.

Oh lookie! 'Twas a Mo.

"Haaaaai Mo." the Gryffindor said in a singsong voice helping herself to a small spot on the bench. She, of course, didn't think that these books meant he was going to study. Nope. "Are you going to play lava monster, because, books aren't the best thing to use for that." Just saying. Helpful lion was helpful.

Now see... of course Mo came outside to find an alone spot for him to work on Quidditchy stuff... and found an Anya. Because there were people in the world he could ignore (no, not really, but it was nice to think so), and then there were Anyas. No one could ignore Anyas.

He closed the book and put it back in the pile before grinning up at Anya. "How do you play lava monster? And are we playing right now? And if we are, please don't let my books get burned up... I can't afford to visit the library to borrow some."

Anya blinked. "You've never played lava monster before?" She thought all kids did that. Then again, she didn't really talk to magic people about their childhoods. Maybe it was just a muggle game?

"You can't touch the ground because it's made of lava. It's more fun on furniture. I used to play it allllll the time." She wouldn't say how recent she played it... because... it would be really recent.

She then glanced at all the books. "So if you're not out here for lava monster, what are you up to?" And it better not have involved studying. Because that was not fun.

"I don't live near any volcanoes," Mo said with complete sincerity. "So you have to move around some place without touching the floor, right? Are you playing out here?" He immediately drew up his feet under him so they weren't touching the ground anymore. Were they already playing?

"But no, not homework. Quidditch stuff. Drawing up some drill ideas and some plays I want to try out. If I have Chasers who can handle it, then there are some pretty awesome things we can manage on the pitch. But... maybe the lava monsters need handling first?"

Dylan made his way out to the courtyard, his bag of art supplies hanging over his shoulder with his little kitten Ginger's head poking out of it.

After taking a seat on a bench, he let Ginger out and pulled out his sketchbook and a quill. He studied the whole courtyard for a minute, letting everything sink in. The first year then began to sketch out the whole courtyard from his view, starting with the fountain. As he drew, Ginger bounded around him on the ground, chasing a little Monarch butterfly. It was a nice day out, and very peaceful out here in the courtyard. Just perfect for drawing in Dylan's opinion.

Anya laughed. "No. It's a kid's game. You know, like pretend." Silly Ravenclaw. She was reckless, but not reckless enough to play near an actual volcano.

"Basically, the floor is lava and you try to get around without touching the lava. You can play it either like a game where you're trying to get somewhere or like tag." The game. Not the person.

Ah. Quidditch stuff. "Congrats on the badge, by the way." she said with a smile. "It looks good on you." Then again, that was probably because it was Mo. Mo was the cutest ever.

"Do you want to play?" Because... books were a little harder to jump on. Not impossible. But slightly more challenging.

Last term at Hogwarts.

That was a strange thought. If you asked her seven years ago, where she'd be in seven years, Melanie would've said that she'd be graduating from Salem. But instead, she was here at Hogwarts. That was a strange thing, wasn't it? "I'm just a little bit caught in the middle, life is a maze," Melanie sung to herself as she walked through the grounds. She walked through the corridor and into the courtyard, still singing her song. "Love is a riddle. I don't know where to go~"

She wasn't really looking you see. The Gryffindor was too busy fiddling with her non-functioning cellphone while singing. She wished it did work though. It didn't even power on. The battery probably died and there was no way of charging it. She wondered if the phone would work in the technology center. She'd check that out later. "Can't do it alone I've tried... and I don't know why-- OOPS!"

Melanie nearly tripped over a rock or her own feet. She wasn't too sure. Glancing around quickly to make sure no one had noticed, she smoothed out her hair and cleared her throat. While looking around, she did see someone she knew though. Smiling, Melanie walked over without staring at the black screen of her phone and sat down next to a little firstie puff. "Hello~ What are you drawing?" she asked casually.

And oh. Hey there to you Ginger the cat who was chasing after a butterfly. Please don't eat Melanie.

Mo nodded as he listened to the rules of the game, his attention rapt. Rules were important for games. They basically made the game, in his opinion, because otherwise everyone was just running around making it up as they went. But the thing was... if Anya wanted to play, Mo was gonna play. She was an Anya, after all. He banished the books and notebook back to the dorm.

"Let's play, then. Are we trying to get somewhere, or is it tag?" And he might have puffed out his chest a bit at her admiring his badge. Maybe it did look good on him - he wasn't a good judge of it. But he was proud to wear the badge, and proud of what it meant.

As Dylan drew, he heard someone singing and recognized the voice immediately. Glancing up from his drawing, he smiled when he saw Melanie walking around the courtyard. He turned back to his drawing and started to add more shading to the fountain quickly before he'd go and say hi when he heard a little thud on the ground. The firstie looked back up in concern just to see the seventh year standing up and brushing herself off. Uh oh.

Was she okay....?

He watched as she made her way over and sat down next to him. "Hey, Melanie, are you alright?" he asked worriedly, looking her up and down. Hmm...he didn't spot any scratches or bruises or anything. He hoped she was still okay though....oh his drawing! He had almost forgotten it was sitting in his lap. "I'm just drawing the courtyard," he said, gesturing to the fountain and smiling. "You can have it when I finish it, if you'd like." he added, beaming at her.

She placed her bag on the seat next to her, making sure that the long straps of the bag wasn't dangling. She did not want scratch marks on it from the ginger feline named Ginger. After properly settling into her seat, which may or may not have included some slouching for a second or so, she peered over at Dylan's drawing then smiled at the Hufflepuff.

"Perfectly fine. No scratches, no bruises, no broken bones," she told the boy. If she did, Melanie had bandaids and tissues in her bag and she also had a wand. She also knew which way it was to the healer so all was good. The seventh year readjusted her cardigan and looked at the drawing again, nodding her head.

Some people were just super talented when it came to this stuff weren't they?

She admired the drawing. "I'd love to have it. Remember to sign the little corner so when you're a famous artist, I can say I have a real drawing from Dylan," she said, chuckling before her gaze traveled back to the cat. The feline was not allowed to stare at a Melanie Sung. Was it? No? Melanie mentally crossed her fingers, hoping the cat was still preoccupied with the butterfly and not with Melanie's cardigan or something.

Dylan smiled. "Well, I'm glad to hear that." he said, getting back to his drawing and starting to draw the water coming out of the fountain, listening as Melanie spoke. The first year chuckled, nodding. "Alrighty, I'll make sure to do so then!" he told her, glancing over at her and noticing her watching Ginger closely.

Huh.

She seemed...uneasy around Ginger. "She's de-clawed." he told her with a small nod, gesturing to Ginger with his free hand. "Scratched up all the furniture when I first brought her home. We tried everything we could to stop it..." he explained as he went back to drawing. "But she just didn't stop. I didn't want it to happen, but my mum just took her and got her de-clawed. So, now she's clawless." he finished with a tiny frown. He couldn't help but feel a bit bad for Ginger, the poor thing could probably never catch a mouse. Or even a butterfly most likely. At least she wouldn't tear up the whole Hufflepuff common room, though.

Melanie admired the strokes. So this is what a real artist did. Melanie couldn't do that. She couldn't even draw a stick figure properly. The most exciting thing she had ever drawn was pokemon and that took her forever. "That's really nice," Melanie said, pointing at the water coming out of the fountain... the one in the picture. Not the one in front of them.

Ginger was de-clawed.

That didn't sound pleasant. "So she won't scratch up my bag?" she asked, looking at the little kitten. And her? Melanie didn't want to go back to the dorm with cat scratches everywhere. And when Dylan said "first brought her home" she sure hoped Dylan meant from a store and not a stray. Because Melanie was pretty sure those were dangerous. "Did it hurt for her to y'know... get de-clawed?" And did those claws ever grow back because Melanie didn't wanna get scratched.

Dylan beamed when she said it was nice. "Thank you, that actually really means a lot." he said. He really enjoyed hearing he was good at things. It made him feel quite nice. Oh! And speaking of nice things... "I forgot to tell you, Melanie! I think you have a really beautiful singing voice." he told her, turning to her and smiling.

He firmly shook his head. "Nope! She can't scratch a thing. All she'd do to your bag is paw at it, and it'd be perfectly fine." he said. "Unless she does it with her back claws, she still has those. But she rarely uses them." he added with a shrug. Hmmm...did it hurt? Dylan didn't quite know, actually. He'd ask Ginger but all she'd do is cock her head and meow. And he didn't speak cat. "I have no idea to be honest, but I have no doubt it had to hurt at least a tad bit." he said with another shrug, scooping up the kitten and setting her next to him and beginning to stroke her.

Stan took a deep breath of the fresh air as he walked into the open courtyard. After spending the past few hours unpacking, he kind of wanted a little break.. so here he was. He liked this weather too. It was pleasant and breezy.

.. He started to walk towards an empty bench close-by when he spotted a pretty sitting alone. He could do with some company and he hoped she was too.

"Hey there." GRIN.

As it were, Kalla had stopped her glancing and had become somewhat engrossed in her book... until she heard a voice of the male persuasion speak to her. A small smile touched her lips as she dogeared the page she was on and looked up at him.

Hot damn. He was pretty.

Brushing some hair from her face Kalla said, "Hey yourself." Did he want to sit? She motioned to the bench next to her and scooted a little to one side. He was a Hufflepuff. Interesting. She bet they made GREAT pack mules. And did so happily.

Giving a bigger smile she asked, "Was that your big "line"? Hey there? Got something better to follow it up with?" She sure hoped so. Heh.

Oh, good. Stan was relieved. He'd started to feel rather awkward for just randomly talking to a girl he didn't even know but she seemed okay with it. He grinned once more before taking a seat next to her.

o____O

"Line?" Stan repeated, his eyebrows raised in surprise. That 'hey' was just a greeting. But, what was this girl saying? Was she.. like.. expecting him to flirt with her? He wasn't sure and he didn't want to ask her either. That would be stupid. He felt kind of stupid anyway.

"Well.. I.. was gonna ask how you were?" CRINGE.