The Courtyard
 

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/e...ps73ba39a0.jpg

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.

Derry's mind had already drifted far from Quidditch, it tended to do that, as Ascanius well knew. Currently she was wondering how she could effectively shorten Ascanius without it sounding like she'd turned him into some sort of disease... hmm. Nope, she had nothing right now. But soon. Soon she'd come up with something.

"It is when the only things they really had last year were ice cream and broccoli... they're like... my least favourite foods." Just the smell of broccoli made Derry feel sick. It was like boiled socks. And the fact they'd had to pay to eat it had really been a downer. "Also. Common room is free again." Yep. Big deal. Big things. "All in all, so far, a closer experience to what I was actually expecting from this place." Yep.

He was trying so hard to keep his eyes trained away from the pictures of brooms that she was looking over, but it was like some sick disease...he couldn't look away. And so his anxiety and everything was kicking into hyperdrive. Ugh, this was not how he wanted to spend his day.

On impulse, his hands started to fiddle with the contents of his pockets to sooth himself. Yeah.

Finally snapping back to Derry's face when she spoke to him, he choked out, "Hmm? Oh yeah, that's great, Snaps." He had no idea what she had just said, but that seemed like an appropriate response. She had to close that book, it was going to give him a serious palpitation.

No, but really, Snaps. Close the book.

There was something wrong with Ascanius. He was doing the fidgety thing. She looked at him for a moment... That was the face he did whenever she mentioned... oh. Following his gaze to the book, she figured out the problem. Honestly. He didn't have to look at the thing. Merlin. She shoved the magazine somewhere into the middle of the pile of books and turned to look at him. "Better?" HMM? It wasn't like the broom was going to jump out of the magazine and sweep you see what I did there? Broom? Sweep? him off his feet, was it? No.

Right, well, it had to be better, cause there wasn't much else she could do about it. Sigh. Honestly, if a magazine was going to get him worked up she really did feel bad about wanting him to fly... but HE WAS GOOD AT IT. Pfffft. "Aaaaanyway... I have a question." she said simply. "How can I shorten your name without it sounding like an illness?"

"Much," he lied when she put the magazine away. To a certain extent it was better because the images weren't burning into his head, but the thoughts were still squirming around in the crevices of his brain. It would pass though. He just needed to find a new interesting topic of conversation, yeah?

And there it was.

He actually snorted when he heard her question. A disease? Really? His name was Latin because of Mrs. Hughes affinity for the classics, he didn't sound like a disease. But he did humour her, "West calls me Scan, loads of people call me Scanny and Pen calls me..." Smirk, "Well you don't wanna know that one."

But he had loads of nicknames.

Scan. Hm. No. "Nope, too much like a hospital scan." Which was close enough to disease territory... Hehehe. She didn't like it anyway... she'd have to come up with something herself... like he'd come up with Snaps, yeah? So she was on that, coming up with it.

"And no, I don't want to know." he knew how she felt about pet names and lovey dovey nonsense and basically anything to do with relationships in general. She just didn't get it, it was not her thing. At the moment. Yet. "Ooooh actually I also have another question." She was in question mode, get used to it. "Make up, like... what's your opinion on it? Cause I know a lot of girls wear make up and stuff and I don't really get it so... why do boys like it?" Man's opinion, yeah? She was in constant curiosity mode lately. About a lot of things.

Feeeeelix
 

The special thing about Toby's skateboard was that it worked on these awkwardly paved grounds at Hogwarts. His grandmother had done a tricky little charm that meant he could use it on these not-that-smooth surfaces at the school and not go flying. Within reason.

And what better way to test the things limits than to just go ahead and use it in the grounds?

The courtyard was his first stop, and the covered pathways that led here were absolutely perfect and Tobias picked up some good speed, but he wasn't sure if they counted as indoors or outdoors. He zoomed out in into the actual courtyard, pleased to see that, apart from some annoying juddering, his skateboard worked just fine out here.

Maybe he was a little bit too distracted by that thought, because Tobias suddenly found himself headed STRAIGHT FOR someone, about to crash into them from sideways on. He swerved to miss them and managed it, though he lost control, not used to the surface. The boy just went ahead and leapt off the board, before hurrying over to pick it up.

"Sorry! Sorry sir!" he called to the guy as he turned and walked back,not really LOOKING at the dude's face and so not yet recognising who he was speaking to. "I reckon I should probably learn to pay a bit more attention."

This dude had noooooooooo idea how much he seemed to get into these situations at home.

Forrest :)
 

Forrest was yet again wandering on the grounds. He didn't have any fancy bags to carry cool books. Instead, he was wearing his sneakers and comfortable clothes as if he was going to do some sports. Well, he just might if he found the correct people for it. There wasn't anyone particular in his mind, though, or any particular place. Although... he figured he might as well see the fountain in the courtyard first, because he wanted to check by himself whether everything really had been returned to Hogwarts liked it. So he walked towards the courtyard and figured he might as well jog later.

Or maybe never.

Before his eyes settled on the fountain, he saw Tora-the-Gryffindor-hater, he walked up to her and just stood beside her head looking down. He didn't want to really bug her, but he figured he ought to greet her since they were both second years and she was the clever one to maybe do his homework could be friends.

...he was going to remain silent until she greeted him first though. She was reading. He had manners.

And THAT was why Derry was Ascanius best friend. Her response made him pause for the briefest of seconds until he was bursting out laughing at her response. His name was LATIN not even close to being a disease, but now every time West talked to him that thought would be plaguing the back of his head. Thanks, Snaps.

Shaking his head with laughter, he went on, "A hospital scan. Snaps, c'mon." Heh.

Calming down from his laughter, he did throw her a smirk at her response to his Pen nickname. Yeah, he knew it weirded her out, but she needed to be snogged ONCE and she would change her mind. Snogging was life changing. Ahem.

And then she threw him another curve. In all of the time that Ascanius had known Derry proper, he had never even seen her acknowledge that make-up was a thing, so it was strange, the question. Blinking at her a few times, he leaned back and mused, "I suppose its for girls, yeah? Like guys don't actually care, but if it makes a girl more confident in themselves whatever. S'all about confidence, really." That was the truth.

So he was going to BASICALLY ask her how YOU doin'? Interesting approach. Either that or this guy was clueless as to how flirting worked. And if that was the case, BLESS HIM.

And no, she hadn't WANTED him to flirt. She had merely assumed that was his feeble attempt. Big difference. Heh.

"Who are you?" she asked as she set her book aside. And not in a rude way, in a very light tone that denoted interest.

Arthur wandered about the moon, glancing every now and then at the star strewn sky above. If only she would come back be would stop his worrying. If only she-

Tora suddenly became aware of a presence standing near her. She looked up surprised that anyone had noticed her in her out of the way place and saw the boy from the Hogwarts Express. Forrest, wasn't it? He obviously wanted to speak with her, and Tora thought it very nice of him not to interrupt her reading. That being said, she hoped she hadn't kept him standing there too long. "Hi Forrest," she started off, then noticed his clothes. "I didn't know you ran." The statement was neither mocking nor surprised, but instead curved up the tiniest bit at the end as if it was half a question.

She said this making eye contact. Why not? It really showed interest in the conversation, it let him know that she didn't mind being interrupted too much, and besides, if she remembered right he seemed to make eye contact a lot. Then again that might have only been because he had been trying not to look at the Oreo in her hand at the time, but still. Wait. What if he thought eye contact was creepy outside of specific circumstances (like the one on the train).

She suddenly grew a little bit self conscious and dropped her head to her book again to check the page number. Not that it was needed as two seconds later she slipped in a book mark, but it was always good to double check. She hated having to find her place again as she found that most of the time she accidentally read ahead in the book while looking for her page. Thus ruining a perfectly good book. She busied herself with putting the book away in her bag before deciding it wasn't creepy to look up again.

Anya looked around. "If we were to play right now... it would make more sense to get somewhere." The gaps between the benches seemed safe enough to jump.

Oooh. Maybe later they could get a HUGE group together and play a proper lava monster game. That's what the Room of Requirement was good for, right?

"Just so you know... I'm fantastic at this game." Just saying. She didn't know if Mo was the type of guy to get sad about not winning.

So Gryffindor-hater remembered him. That was a relief. Forrest grinned at the girl, but didn't sit just yet. He really didn't want to annoy his homework-doer ruin a blooming friendship, if he could call that train ride so.

"Oh, more like wandering around," he said with a shrug. Could he sit down now? He stared back into her eyes. Not that it mattered much if she wanted to read. He could just wander around. He didn't mind. Only, it would be nice to have another friend.

Oh look, she had put her book away. That was his cue to sit down next to her. "I'm not bothering you I hope," he said cautiously but it was really a polite statement. Walking alone was boring. Maybe she would come with him?

"How have you been since train?" Never mind the 'bothering' part. Let's talk.

Tora grinned back. She often times wore a scowl because someone or other had ticked her off, but she loved smiling all the same. It made her feel friendlier than she believed herself to be.

"I've been alright I guess." she thought back to the feast when she got mad at that ridiculous first year. Best not to think about that at the moment. "Bit busy, making new friends and enemies, the like." she continued on.

Then, because she was curious and wanted to get away from talking about topics that might make her annoyed, she returned the question. "Have you been making many friends this year? Or rather how had your start of term been?"

Now that Forrest was sitting, she could stop being formally polite and relax a little. It was nicer when she was happy like she was today, she could actually talk and make friends without scaring anyone off.

Stan leaned back against the seat, hoping against hope he didn't look as awkward as he felt. Because that would be embarrassing. Especially when the girl was so pretty.

Oh, right. Introductions. "Stan Hastings." He grinned widely and extended a hand. "I'm new to Hogwarts, actually." You know, in case she wondered.

"And you are?"

Kalla didn't pick up other people's AWKWARD vibes, because she usually didn't pay that much attention. So he was safe from embarrassment.

She did follow suit and sit back against the seat. Her eyes cut to him and the corners of her lips curled upward. He was cute.

Smiling wider now she took his hand and gave it a firm shake. "I'm Kalla Ogden. I'm new here, too. Did you go to school somewhere else before here or were you homeschooled like me?"

Kalla Odgen. Now, thats an interesting name. And unique too. Stan had never met a Kalla before.

"It's lovely to meet you, Kalla." Stan said, with the slightest hint of a smirk playing on his lips. It really was lovely to meet her. Heh. One more reason why he loved Hogwarts.. the girls here were so pretty. Yep.

"I went to a private school." Nod. She was homechooled.. Hm. He didn't quite understand why people homeschooled though. It must be boring, right? You don't get to meet people and make friends. But that was just his opinion and he kept it to himself.

Forrest took her answering as he wasn't bothering her, and relaxed further. Talking to someone without scratching crazily felt awesome. Tora obviously thought he was an alright-guy, not some weirdo, and it relieved him.

Enemies? His eyebrows went up at the word. Were they Gryffindor? Should he ask? Hmm... before he could make up his mind, she distracted him with her question and he forgot all about it for the time being.

"Yeah!" he exclaimed happily, regaining his grin. "I've met tons of new people! I've got a best friend now." He paused and blushed. It sounded awfully pathetic out loud, as if he was too stupid/uncool to have a best friend. Everyone had best friends. It was quite normal. Well, it was actually kind of an achievement for him, because Bristol was his first real best friend, but Tora didn't need to know that he was bad at making friends. He hurried on in an attempt to make her forget about his idiocy. "So it's started wonderfully. Quidditch! Do you play it?" In the past year, if there was anything he'd learnt about wizarding world was that everyone just LOVED Quidditch and it was the best distracting topic ever.

Tora knew all about not making friends easily, so she gave a huge grin when he mentioned that he had obtained a best friend. "That's great! And actually, I think I met a best friend too this year. Though she's already ticked me off a couple times. Is that what best friends do? Tick you off, but you still want to talk to them and be, well, friends?" she wondered aloud before zoning in on the next question she asked.

Quidditch! Did she ever! "Of course I play! Or well, I play pick- up games, nothing real yet. It's a ton of fun, and I'm going to try out for the team this year. Do you play much?" She said all in one breath. She loved flying and was pretty good at it too, but she didn't know if she would be able to make the team with such good players in Ravenclaw.

Oh, phew! Tora thought it was great. She looked pretty genuine about it too, so Forrest believed her. Oh lookit! It was the year of best friends, apparently!

He shrugged at her question. She was the Ravenclaw. She ought to know the answers. "My best friend's never tick me off," he said simply. "But I suppose I tick her off a lot." So, maybe it really was like that. As long as they were besties, he didn't mind it.

Nothing real yet. It saddened him to think about Quidditch try-outs, but he tried his best to hide it.

"Erm, not really... I've only watched so far." He smiled apologetically. "I wish you all the luck at try-outs, though!" It would be nice to watch another friend on the pitch.

If Forrest was sad at all, Tora didn't notice. She did smile back though in response to his apologetic one."It's all OK. I thought I would always sit on the side and watch too until this past summer." She had spent a small portion of the summer in the Wizarding world, and in that short amount of time she had been properly introduced to Quidditch. Now her favorite sport, even over Muggle football, she had been off and on her broom all summer (even when she wasn't technically in the Wizarding world.... but no one saw!)

"Thanks! I'm a bit nervous though... even though I'm only really going for Chaser or Keeper, not Seeker or anything like that. Still, I'll need all the luck I can get!" she said happily. At least someone cared a little bit about how she did in the tryouts, or at lest pretended to.

As she was curious, she turned the conversation back towards best friends. "Who's your best friend? A Hufflepuff too?" She asked, wondering if she might know her. Maybe they had more in common than they originally thought! Then again, Tora didn't know that many Hufflepuffs...

Look at the smile on the kid's face. Smiles. Melanie liked though. She laughed when he complimented her though, shaking her head slowly. The Gryffindor just ruffled the boy's hair. "Thanks Dylan, that's sweet of you to say." And true because if she didn't have a good singing voice she couldn't be a singer. That was a fact.

Melanie eyed the kitten warily though. Dylan seemed to be perfectly okay with the cat though and he was younger than her. So shouldn't she be okay with it too? The Gryffindor nodded her head as Dylan spoke, not taking her eyes off of the cat. "She seems to like you lots," she observed.

So Tora was determined about trying out for the team. Wow. Forrest smiled encouragingly. He'd always adored Quidditch people. "I'll cheer for ya," he offered. Though if she wasn't the type that got extra stressed upon knowing hearing cheers for themselves. She didn't look so, but you never knew with girls.

"Oh, she's Bristol Haigh from Hufflepuff, yes." His face'd lit up by the mere mention of her. He was proud, y'know? Very proud to be her best friend indeed, because she wasn't just any girl.

"Who's yours?"

Dylan grinned as Melanie ruffled his hair, and he quickly fixed it once she was done. The firstie didn't mind hair ruffles, only from Melanie though. Anyone else tried he'd be upset. "Just speaking the truth here," he said to her with another one of his bright smiles. It was so true though, he could probably fall asleep to her singing or something. That'd be nice.

The badger noticed Melanie eyeing the cat and wondered curiously what was up. Did she not like his Ginger?? Hmm. Ah, well. Maybe he was just thinking things. He then chuckled, nodding. "Yeah, she does. She never leaves my side." he said, stroking the kitten's fur. Who knows how he'd get to his first class with her trying to come with him...that would be hard...

Hmmmm. "Nope. Sorry, don't know her. I'll probably meet her later sometime." she said after running through the short list of Hufflepuffs she knew in her head for a match. She noticed that his face lit up entirely when he said her name which made her a tad suspicious.... maybe he had a little cruuuusshh? She giggled a bit to herself since she wouldn't dare accuse him of liking someone. Yet.
Naaaa, he was too young for that kind of stuff anyway.

"Well, I think I have a best friend. And I think that if I had one she would be Adrienne Colbert. From my house. BUT I'm not sure because I don't know if she thinks of me as a best friend. And those things should be mutual... right?" she didn't know if Forrest would actually answer her question since he normally seemed to brush them off, but it was habitual to ask, ask, ask for Tora. That wasn't going to change no matter who she was talking to.

Melanie giggled when she saw the younger boy fixing his hair. It was a good sign if someone cared about their hair. That was a fact. Landon cared about his hair... a little too much sometimes but he cared about it. And it was clear that this ickle little Dylan cared about hair too. Or at least Melanie hoped he did. It didn't mean Melanie planned on stopping the hair ruffling any time though. "Always speak the truth. Lying just makes things complicated," she said, smiling and then fixing his hair a little. Because it was out of place. "Even if the truth hurts, it's like a bandaid. Because even if you lie to cover it up... when you peel the lie away to show the truth, it hurts more." Best to get over with in one go.

Carefully and slowly, Melanie moved her finger towards the cat and tapped its nose. There. Melanie had touched the cat. All was good. And she wasn't dead right?

"Be sure to keep Ginger away from Professor Flamsteed. I don't think he's particularly fond of fur," she advised. Also, next time you tried to have a tea party in the lab, invite him and perhaps you won't be sent to detention.

Yes. A hospital scan.*"Yep. Cat Scan. Meeooow." Actually that sounded pretty good... and he DID have a particular affinity with Lando... BroTP ship name accepted. CatScan. Hehehehehehe.

AND SHE SAW THAT SMIRK. Pfft. Smirky McGee over there. Pfffft. "Stop it." With the smirking and the irritatingness. He knew what he was doing, of course he did.

Tapping her finger on her nose whilst she thought about it, Derry tilted her head to listen. Guys don't actually care..? "But... like..." Derry frowned a bit. "Cat said..." What was it Cat had said..? Something. Surely. Derry shook her head. "I don't get how it makes people more confident..." She was pretty sure it would make her less confident...New things tended to do that. She made a mental note to ask Cat and Cassia later... they seemed to know their stuff when it came to Girl Things.

He couldn't help himself, Derry made him smile. In that genuinely enjoying himself type manner. If there were anything that Ascanius really appreciated about Derry, it was that. She was awful funny. Although, he wasn't sure she always intended to be funny, which was awkward.

However, his smile was gone and replaced with a broader smirk when she told him to stop. Now why would he stop if it were annoying her so much? That was just counterproductive. Yeah. The smirk was staying.

"Don't misunderstand, Snaps," Ascanius went on, "Every now and again make-up is real nice, but guys don't want it everyday." He knew. He was a guy and a mighty attractive one at that. "It gets in the way and its messy." It also made girls SUPER self conscious and no guy ever wanted to deal with that mess. S'just keep it simple, yeah? It was more attractive when they did.

Forrest shrugged. Tora didn't need to be sorry for not knowing Bristol. He was sure his best friend would meet everyone pretty quickly anyway with that energy and enthusiasm. "I can introduce you to each other, if you want." Yeah. It'd be nice. He'd have to ask Bristol too, though.

Forrest noticed the giggle, but didn't ask the reason of it. She must have remembered some funny memory. It would be rude to ask if she didn't share it by herself.

Adrienne... hmm... he remained silent for a few seconds, obviously thinking hardly, but opened his hands to show he had no clue in the end.

"Don't know her. But I'm pretty sure 'best friend' kind of things should be mutual. But she probably feels the same too." She wasn't a Gryffindor, so as far as Forrest could tell, Tora had been nice enough to her to win her love.

"How is it to be Ravenclaw? Y'know... answering a riddle every time you want to enter your common room and always being the cleverest..?" Stuff Forrest could never be, and was never interested in.

There, he was doing the proper smile thing. She liked that. It made her happy that she could make other people happy, yeah? It made her feel like a better person. Especially at the moment. She was having issues. Like... yeah. Issues. Cause she was a teenager, okay? It was allowed.

Every now and again... "So like... special occasions..?" Like parties..? Derry pondered this for a moment. Did she think she'd do that ever..? Maybe. Maybe not. Probably not... I mean... realistically she wasn't sure how to even do make up. "Gets in the way..? Of what?"

It would be nice to make a new friend. "Yeah, sounds fun. But of course you should ask her first too." she responded already thinking ahead to whether or not she thought Adrienne felt the best friend love too. Honestly it was really hard to tell with someone like Adrienne...

Topic change! Though to one that usually made her frustrated. "I hate that knocker. It's so annoying to have to solve a stupid riddle every single time I want to get in the common room. That's why I carry a bag with me all the time. It holds all my books for the day so I don't have to go back to the common room very often." She kicked her bag to point it out. Then she picked up on something else he had said about Ravenclaws. "What? Cleverest? Ha. Noooo. I'm in Ravenclaw because I like learning. Actually I think it's mainly because I'm curious." she drifted off thinking. "... The Hat almost put me in Gryffindor even though I asked for Hufflepuff..." she remembered the Hat denying her the House she so badly wanted to place her in Ravenclaw and she smiled a bit. It did say that she would thank it one day, and well, Tora had gotten used to Ravenclaw over the last year. But Gryffindor. She was glad she wasn't one of them. They didn't give reason for bravery. They just simply were brave. Stupid things could happen to people who were stupidly brave... Her narrow escape sometimes scared her.

She shook her head a bit to dispel all those scary thoughts and looked at Forrest. "Did you want Hufflepuff? Or were you rooting for another house?"

Why was she asking him this stuff? S'not like he minded talking to her straight 'cause she was his best friend and all, but it was kind of odd. Wasn't this something you talked to your girlfriend's about. Did Ascanius look like a skirt? Smirk. Nah, he was way to attractive to even pretend.

After a while, he shrugged and looked up at the sky, "Yeah, I suppose...like events." His ginger friend was obviously trying to get at something here, but he just wasn't picking up on what. And this was weird to him, Derry caring 'bout make up. He didn't think on it long though because her next question broke his face in two with a broad smirk, "Snogging, Snaps. And other stuff, but mostly that."

He was a boy, okay?

Lottie ^^
 

She needed to get out. And by 'out' she didn't mean to go out only to go into a classroom. Though, those were a good distraction in the meantime. And she wanted to not let other stuff distract her from studying since this was an important year and all. Surprisingly, studying itself has been serving as a distraction as to not think of some stuff. Cassia was still on decorating the dorm so she was doing a good job of not thinking too much. It led no where. She could do without it for good.

The snake left the common room, her bag slung over her shoulder and a box tucked under her arm. Somehow hidden. Yup, she made sure of that. You can't trust all the population of Hogwarts. Actually, you can barely trust a few. She didn't want to take any chances.

The blond made her way out to the grounds not stopping like she used to be. Not in the chatty mood, unusual, huh.

Standing at the center of the courtyard, she took a look around trying to find a spot to settle in. She walked over to one of the columns and plopped down, leaning her back against the column, angling her body so that she didn't face the people around directly.

She reached for the box and opened it. Poor little thing needed fresh air.

Her eyes were scanning the surroundings ready to hide any proof at any second.

She crossed her legs and put the spider on her knee. She's been spending lots of time just watching it. It was quite fun and she could sit for hours drawing posters to hang on the naked sad wall of the dorms while watching the spider. Interesting creatures. She was going to miss her when it was Lex's turn to keep her at her dorm.

Supposedly, Cassia was keeping an eye out to make sure no snitches or authority-figures approach and spot anything. She thought she was doing such a great job doing so. Well, until she was joined and only noticed when the girl was sitting next to her.

So much for being sneaky.

Fortunately, it was a trusted someone. Cassia let out a sigh of relief after the mini-stomach lurch she had. It didn't take much for the Snake to recover from her surprise, she smiled at Lottie. "Mhhmm," She nodded at the Hogwartian. Good thing it was only her.

"May I officially introduce you to," She calmly started, "To Black Venom Widow," Internally, mentioning 'venom' made her feel a bit awkward but it showed no signs on her face. She's been practicing.

"See the box, all done as you advised," She nudged the box closer to Lottie for her to examine.

One thing she found out so far was that leaning against the hard column wasn't the most comfortable thing. She tilted her torso forwards and rested her elbows on her knees. Much better for now. Until she feels uncomfortable again and decides to get back to the previous position. She really should have brought a pillow or something.

Cassia opened her palm and lightly nudged the spider that found it's way on Cassia's hand. Oh she's been working on this move since they got her. Lots of time. "Mhhm. I don't call her by her full name," the snake nodded at Lottie. And yeah, her and Lex's spider had a full name. First, middle and last name. Dare someone make fun of this? Just checking.

A smile spread upon her face seeing that Lottie approved of the made box. "Yeah, I work best and accurately in calm places where we don't have to hop over walls," She joked. Y'know, sleepover.

Book? It took Cassia a split second to remember that Lottie was going to bring one for her. To educate herself more in the department of spiders? "That's cool," She said in tone with a hint of excitement. No beaming or high-pitched sounds, though. "Have it on you?" Which would be quite interesting.

this is 60 years late omg *apologizes*
 

Just observing stuff. Minding his own business, you know. Just walking around and stuff. When all of the sudden, out of nowhere, Piers saw a flash of movement to his side. Seeing a kid zooming towards him on a skateboard, Piers' eyes popped wide open as he leaped backwards frantically, in barely enough time to not get run over by the board and the child.

Piers straightened his coat again and shrugged it off. "No worries. You have no idea how often this happens back hom...." Hold up, was that..?

It was! "You're that kid!" Piers suddenly exclaimed, the imaginary light bulb going off in his head. He wouldn't be able to forget the face that torpedoed past him everyday since he moved in to his new place (slight exaggeration applied). "You've nearly ran me over at least five times already." Back home, in Brighton. And look at that, he was actually a wizard. Small world.

Oh.

OH.

... ohhhhh.

So. This was the guy. So he DID know how many times Tobias had done that. Awkwarrrrrrrrrrrrd.

Tobias gave a cleeeeeearly guilty little grin and nervous laugh as he looked up at the man and rubbed the back of his neck with the hand that wasn't clutching the skateboard. "Yeeeaaahhh... 'm sorry about that!"

He was. Really. "Maybe it's some sort of sign." Like... a message from the divine skateboard of destiny telling the guy he should be on a board. Or Tobias wasn't looking where he was going. Probably the latter.

But wait... it WAS bizarre. Kinda. "So... you're a wizard then? That's... wow..." Two wizard households on the same muggle street. Tobias then started his usual bouncing-on-the-balls-of-his-feet. "No but that really is awesome though! You teach here now, right?" Tobias had CONNECTIONS. That Slytherin Tobias had met might have a grandmother as her head of house, but TOBIAS had nearly run over one of their teachers MULTIPLE TIMES on his skateboard. Which of those sounded cooler?

Exactly.

...

...

BOUNCEBOUNCE.

Forrest was 90% sure Bristol wouldn't mind, but asking wouldn't kill either. He nodded at the suggestion. It was going to be the first thing he would ask when he saw her again.

Wow. This was the first time Forrest got this reaction... though, it was also the first time he'd questioned this. He felt her annoyance, though. Luckily, their entrance was so simple. "That sounds awfully annoying, yes. Then, it's a wise thing to carry all your books," he agreed. Not that Tora needed his approval, and it wasn't. He just appreciated her logic. He wondered whether all Ravenclaws were clever. All that he'd met were... maybe, except for Benjamin/Benzi.

Oh. That was new. Someone who denied being clever, but rather described herself as 'likes learning'. He grinned. She wasn't that arrogant, after all, although she did look so on train. She was actually pretty nice to speak to. "I'm hearin' this for the first time. But I suppose that's what makes you clever?" Yeah. Asking questions. He hardly asked any questions if he wasn't 500% interested in the topic.

What. She wanted Hufflepuff?! Although she hated them, she was secretly a Gryffindor?!?!?! He blinked with an open mouth. Wow. "I thought you hated Gryffindors... I think you're the first person--no, second-" because he'd met Fern before, "-person to want Hufflepuff." He grinned. "To be honest, Hufflepuff was the last house in my want-list. They said it was the house of loyal. I wanted to be a Gryffindor. But the Hat'd barely touched my head when it roared Hufflepuff. It didn't even think." If hats could think. He didn't know what was up with that one. "But I saw it last year that Hufflepuff isn't just about 'loyalty'. It's much deeper, and I'm grateful to Hat for sorting me there." Emotional? So what. He'd made more friends in a year than he'd managed in all the years before.

"Shall we wander around? I'll carry your bag too." Since she admitted herself she was carrying all her books. Since the weather was still cooperative.

The boy nodded in agreement, smiling back at the seventh year. Those were some good words, he'd never think of putting it like that. "That's very true," he said.

Dylan then watched curiously as Melanie tapped the cat and he raised an eyebrow, looking from Ginger to Melanie. Then to Ginger. And back to Melanie again. He cocked his head, studying Melanie. "Why don't you just pet her? She won't bite, there's nothing to be afraid of." he said unless Melanie was deathly allergic or something, scratching the kitten's head gently with his fingers. Ginger closed her small eyes and began to purr loudly. Dylan smiled then turned his attention back to his drawing, making the last finishing touches on the fountain, listening as Melanie spoke. Professor Flamsteed didn't like fur? Hmm. The first year shrugged it off and made a mental note in his head to keep Ginger away from Flamsteed. "Do you know why he doesn't like fur?" he asked curiously, beginning to draw the stone ground of the courtyard.

Cassia only hesitated for a split second before handing over the spider to Lottie. The hogwartian was trusted since she mentioned something about a friend of hers who had a collection of these. The snake couldn't remember the name although she knew he was a student. What was important, though, that she could trust Lottie to handle the precious spider. "Here you go." She said with a nod.

A smile tugged at Cassia's lips. "You heard nothing Lottie," She winked at the fourth-year and leaned back against the column. Yup, she was going to lean forward and backward all time. "I do like B, not Vicious, though," The snake didn't approve of calling the spider such nicknames. Killer? Vicious?. Nope. She didn't want herand Lex's spider to get used to this kind of language. Of course, her partner who was raising the tarantula with her disagreed.

And maybe both of the ...guardians were taking this very seriously because both wanted distractions. Hadn't been the greatest start for them. Good thing they had BVM to look after and fill their time.

Oh, she was looking for her? That was a fortunate coincidence that they both ran into each other here, then. "That's great," The snake said scooting closer to Lottie and abandoning the column. "Let's get started then shall we?" She said. Was Lottie going to let her borrow the book? She'd take care of it. Unless the hogwartian preferred they took a look at it together. Cassia wouldn't mind that. Her and books usually ended up with her sleeping so she wouldn't mind company.

So, the kid did remember how many times he'd nearly run him over. Despite it, Piers chuckled. "Don't sweat it. Unless you do end up running me over. Then you'd better worry." Piers imagined broken toes weren't pleasant. And even though he was sort of(?) joking, he gave the kid a 'be careful' look.

Pierson found it amusing that he asked if he was a wizard. Obviously. And if he was a teacher... Obviously. "Yes, to both," he replied, watching the boy begin to bounce on his toes. "D'you live on that street then? Where you like to try and mow me down?" Because if he DID, then they totally lived on the same street, which was quite a coincidence.

*wrapping it up cause idk where it's going* XD
 

Events. But what KIND of events? Huh? Like seriously, why was being a girl so bloody complicated? Psh. Anyway. She was bored of the whole make up thing anyway. "Doesn't matter, I was just curious." she said, shrugging a little bit. "I'm collecting opinions." Cause she did that, when she was curious about things. She researched.

Oh. Right. Yeah. Course. "Why did I even ask..." she mumbled, rolling her eyes a bit. "But like... don't people wear make up to encourage snogging..?" ... Right..? She shook her head. "Never mind, I don't care, too complicated." she said, yawning slightly. She was tiiired...

...

"I think I need to sleep..." Cause she struggled to do that lately. "Coming back up to the castle?"

It was a good thing that Lottie knew how to handle spiders and wasn't afraid of them. No one knew when they'd need someone to babysit.... or spidersit? Not that any help was needed at the moment but who knew what'd come up in the future.

Cassia watched the Hogwartian being careful with spidey B and nodded approvingly. Not that she was a professional when it came to dealing with eight-legged creatures but still she felt responsible for BVW.

"Well, only because we're currently arguing about her nutrition," One argument at a time? Though they had already gone through the name one, it seemed it wasn't solved yet. Was it ever going to be? "Not surprisingly, Lex wants to feed her candy all the time." Which raised questions of how the lioness would be able to afford candy for the both of them seeing that she herself was using up her stash quite fast. Surely Lottie knew of the candy situation.

The snake nodded and reached for Lottie's bag. She paused for a split second before inserting her hand, she was given permission so it was ok. It didn't take much for her to pull out the book. It was kinda heavy. Somehow, Cassia imagined it being light, like a handbook titled 'get to know your spider!' or 'learn everything about spiders in five days!'. But nope, it was a real book. She guessed it didn't have many pictures. But she didn't say anything. You know, OWLs year and all. She's supposed to have adapted to books. Ehh... they still make her sleep.

Putting on a serious look, the blond cradled the book and gently opened it. Yeah, she took care of books physically for Mr.Kitridge's sake. He was a nice man, one of her favorite actually. "Here we go," She said her eyes scanning the first few pages. She like never read those. "Do you think we should start from the beginning or just check the index." Though she had no idea what she'd be looking for in the index.

"You're lucky," Tora said to Forrest sighing. "I heard your common room entrance doesn't even have a passcode. Its just hidden." She was actually very curious on how exactly it was hidden, but she didn't think it appropriate at the moment to ask. Especially since she was not of Hufflepuff house. She blushed. So he at least thought she was wise. That was someone. Here she was and she couldn't even get into the common room half the time. "Thank you, by the way, for the compliment." Always be polite, that's what Gram taught her. Although polite didn't necessarily mean formal, for which Tora was glad, since she couldn't easily be friends with someone when she was caught up on formalities. Yeah, her formal voice and posture had been dropped a while back in the conversation.

What would make her clever? Carrying all her books or because she was curious and liked learning? See, she couldn't even figure out what a simple question was referring to. Clever. Huh. "Haha, well carrying all my books is a necessity, not clever, though nice clever point. And well, I guess being curious would make me cleverer, but if I was clever to start off I wouldn't need to be curious because I would just figure it out without asking." She laughed, her smile brightening up her face.

Hated Gryffindors... well not quite. "I only dislike their general attitude," she explained. "I don't necessarily hate them, but they usually go on adventures or are brave just to be... well... brave. I'm not like that, and I don't like being clumped into that group." She shifted a little uncomfortably on the bench. So what she didn't want to be a Gryffindor? "I'm grateful that the hat sorted me to where I am too." She gave a small smile.

"You said you wanted to be Gryffindor? Well, you don't seem like the type to do something stupid and brave just because... but then again the Hat placed you in Hufflepuff for a reason." Tora said analytically before adding, "You know, I've always wondered what it would be like to be a part of the huge Hufflepuff family. Maybe you could introduce me to more than just your friend." She suggested hopefully. Maybe she could still be a part of that family even though she was a Ravvie at heart. If she didn't scare them all away first. Already she had had a row with that new Ravenclaw first year brat. What was his name? Bonsai? No that was a tree/bush thingy. She was pretty positive he wasn't named after a tree, but it sounded a little like that... oh. Benzi. That idiot.

"It'd be nice to take a walk. And thanks," she said taking both his offers. "Though you should know that my Gram charmed the bag to be featherlight so it doesn't weigh a thing!" she laughed a bit and handed over the, disproportionally light, bag as she stood up. "Common, where to?" She asked, turning her head to look over her shoulder at Forrest. New friend and a big smile. Yes, it was definitely a good day.

Oh. PHEW. That could have had a much worse outcome. Plenty of people were less patient about these kinds of incidents. Tobias gave a BIG BIG GRIN.

"Don't worry, sir! I've never run anyone over yet. Just a lot of near misses." Quite a lot. But he knew that, heh.

The Hufflepuff drummed his fingers on the skateboard he held, just some extra fidgeting, you know? SO this dude WAS a teacher. Right yes okay. Note to self: pay attention at school feasts and speeches.

"I do!" Toby responded brightly. "I just moved in with my grandparents. The house with the red door and the apple tree out front." That's right, Tobias. Just give away your address. "D'you know it? What about you... d'you live 'round there too? I seem to almost-but-not-quite run you over a LOT." Heh. Gosh, imagine if they lived on the same street though. Weird. And pretty cool.

Bouncebounce.

"My name's Toby, by the way. Toby Tempus. Or Tobias. Whichever." Or Mister Tempus, the ol' professor go-to name for him.

Now Cassia wouldn't go tell all people about the arguments she and Lex were having, the ones that concerned the spider, anyway. But Lottie would understand this of all people. It was no one's business but the two guardians plus Lottie who served as adviser? Or the one that heard both sides complain about each other.

Nodding, Cassia watched B wandering on Lottie's hands. They were getting along, since no bites happened. Surely Lottie knew to look out for these, right? They kinda hurt. But at least they weren't poisonous, yeah? "That should be done," She agreed. "I'm not giving her any right now but I know she has other sources." Which doesn't make Cassia that helpful. "She's been having way too many since..." The train situation? Lottie was there so it'd be understood without mentioning. "And I thought she used to have a lot!" She shook her head. If Lex would just return to her previous intake.

"I have lots of insects," Something she never thought she'd point out before. Even though she had an owl, she usually let the evil bird search for his own food. maybe he'd starve and die!.

She read it? And she didn't even have a spider of her own? Someone had lots of other house traits. Mhhmm. "Oh, ok." She said flipping through the pages. Ooooh, she had marked the section. Cool, thanks! Cassia owed Lottie a lot so far. Maybe one day she'd have to do something big for the Hogwartian. It'll make the snake feel good.

Cassia turned her full attention to the book and started reading as her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Hmm...Lots of information that she probably needed to write down for future reference since the book surely had to be returned to its owner. A couple of minutes passed before the blond looked up at Lottie and asked. "When do you have to return the book?" Unless it was Lottie's? "I doubt Lex would read it," he Gryffindor liked to stick to reading Hexes books. "I'll write down the important stuff." Merlin help her. But like, fifth-year she needed to get used to thiiiiiis.

Forrest nodded. "Yeah, it's probably the easiest." He didn't know how Slytherins' entrance was, and he had no intentions of going there to find out. Maybe he ought to ask Kahlan sometime. Hmm.

Compliment? What compliment? He didn't think it was a compliment. It was merely the truth... but in the end, he shrugged and grinned. "You're welcome." So she was actually a good person, after all, even though she looked a bit arrogant on the train.

"But you can't, say, know how a computer works by birth. You have to ask." Never mind if she didn't know what 'computer' was. He was sure she would understand the point. In the end she was just clever, whether she liked it or not. Hehe.

He looked up in the sky to think her comments about Gryffindors. He didn't think Alexa was brave just to look so. And Michael had been pretty responsible too... so he shrugged. "Alright." He was going to respect her idea. Maybe she had just seen that lot. Maybe if she'd met Alexa and Michael, she would change her mind.

If she said that a year ago, he would be pretty sad. But now, he saw her point and grinned. Because she had also said that he wasn't stupid, in a way. "Hat truly knows." Its magic still eluded him, but it knew.

...HEY, that was SUCH a GREAT idea! His face broke into a HUGE grin and he bounced with excitement. "Of course! There're Tobias, Asher and Kace too. You will LOVE them!" Then maybe she could have more than one BFF, like his Tobias and Bristol. YES! See? Definitely she was the clever one here.

Wow. Perks of coming from a wizard family. He blinked, dumbfounded, as he weighed the bag with his hand. It really was light... shrugging, he hung it from his shoulder. Still, he was the boy here. He should carry it. His parents taught him the coutesy rules well.

"Let's see if there's something new this year," he said and started to walk towards the lake with her.

She had wanted to say that, too, but didn't know whether Lottie would think Cassia was making fun of her house or something. Though Cassia wasn't that nice those days and didn't bother being chatty, she still made effort for friends. She could express her current anger at the world on strangers. Not that she had lots of anger.

"They do," Cassia nodded in agreement. "He did?" the snake paused considering it. Well, maybe he had lots? But then again, that firstie Slytherin Cutty had, too and he was selling them. Had a sign on the Students bulletin board. "That is awfully nice of him, " And it was good to not inform Lex, the Gryffindor can be demanding. Distraction. Talk about those. "Yes," Was all she said with a nod. Cassia might be able to relate.

For her to eat.

At first Cassia thought they were still talking about Lex and she just blinked. Yeah she didn't approve of the too much candy consuming but that didn't mean she'd-- her thoughts were cut when her eyes settled on the spider that was trying to get pass Lottie's ribbon. Stupid of her, they were talking about B. "Yes, I don't collect insects usually." Did Lottie think she did?

Oh, she could keep the book, awesome. "That's good, I'll take good care of it," She said to Lottie reassuringly. She'd keep it somewhere safe in the dorms. Lando, Derry's cat was good, though she'd still keep it out of reach.

Conversing, yeah? "Not bad, could be better, though," A general answer. Only because she didn't know what to really say. She hadn't yet formed clear ideas about stuff. "And on your end?" She asked the hogwartian closing the book. She'd read later.

... What was the firstie doing?

Dylan was looking at Melanie all weird. Was there something on her face? She brushed her hair away from her face nervously. There was nothing wrong... right? Melanie looked at the Hufflepuff and then at the cat. Then back at the Hufflepuff. "What exactly is Ginger?" she asked. Because Melanie wasn't sure though she was pretty sure it she was a cat and not a kneazle.

She glanced back at Dylan's drawing. Then at the cat-possibly-a-kneazle-thing... then back at the drawing. "Uh... I guess he doesn't like fur on his suits," Melanie replied with a shrug. Actually, Melanie wasn't too sure but she was sure he had his reasons.

What is Ginger?

What kinda question was that? Dylan blinked. Was this a...trick question? Oh Merlin, he hated those. Ah, well. Guess he'd have to find out. "She is a tabby cat." he answered slowly, eyeing Melanie suspiciously. Huh. Curious she'd ask such an odd question... "Why'd you ask?" he cocked his head, looking at her intently, waiting for her to answer.

Oooohh. "Well, I guess that makes sense." Dylan said thoughtfully. He then began to add more things to his drawing and then not before long, he was finished. But he felt it needed more. Like, something that would mean something to Melanie since he was giving it to her. Hmmm. Glancing around the courtyard for a minute, an idea suddenly popped into his head. Aha! Quickly, he sketched two figures standing by the fountain, a tall one and a short one. Melanie and Dylan. Quickly, he drew Melanie's arm around him in the picture, and now he was finished. The first year showed the drawing to her. "Do you like it?" he asked, raising his eyebrows in question.

Cassia knew of the Hufflepuff niceness, in fact when she was new here she was to be mistaken for one. Something she doesn't brag about and barely anyone knew of. Since the snakes aren't known for their chatting and social characteristics with everyone, she was set apart by that. Though right now, she kind of dropped that trait. Not in the mood. Unless it's a friend she wasn't wasting her time and breath. It was easier now you know?

And still, the snake found what Alec did and was doing so unbelievably nice. Had it been her she would have totally gotten suspicious being the paranoid snakette she was. But then again, you can't be suspicious of Alec, impossible. "You're lucky, yeah?" She probably didn't have to buy candy on her own. Why would she when she was given bags of candy for free! Maybe the older hufflepuff had a factory or something?

Good that they had cleared out this insects matter. She didn't want to be known as the girl who liked to collect insects. Ewwww. And having a spider was totally a different thing. Mhhm.

It was a good thing Lottie didn't ask further, not because she didn't trust the Hogwartian but because Cassia had decided to not to mull over certain stuff, to just accept it, get over it and get back to normal. And that required time. Isolation sometimes? While Lex distracted herself with talk to everyone and doing everything, Cassia did the exact opposite. "Yes, those," She answered agreeing on the OWLs. "I'm kinda stressed," Which was true. The snake nodded at Lottie, of course she couldn't have enjoyed the start, understandable. "Well, hopefully, things will start getting better?" She said in a non-optimistic tone. Eeeh. "I guess, we should work on that ourselves," Distractions. Mhhm. And probably try do stuff that cheered them up. As well as try not to care too much.

Cassia almost forgot about spidey Venom, both bad and good thing. Bad because she wasn't supposed to forget checking on it every single second, while it was good because it meant she was totally into the conversation and not feeling the need to distract herself with something else to be comfortable she already was.

So yup, Lottie was lucky. It was totally confirmed. Cassia wished she was that lucky in this department. Though other than that she was lucky to have many awesome friends. And right now she was trying to ignore the unlucky field of her life where she always looked the wrong way that guaranteed her being upset afterwards. Ok, now she needed distractions again. Wheeeeeere was spidey? Oh, still on Lottie's arm, good. And for good measures, Cassia looked over her shoulder making sure no one was spying on them or like noticing them. Trust no one!

Coast was safe. Sitting on the ground was so much better than sitting on a bench.

Maybe she really was smart like Lottie just said? Cassia knew she wasn't dumb, she was lazy and had short attention span. Though longer than Lex's . But it was mostly laziness. If she could do something easily and fast why spend lots of time? And if she could get away without doing something even better. She'd never bother. Though those weren't good for OWLs, were they? Nope, definitely not. "I guess that is true," The stressing thing. Cassia smiled at Lottie, because it was nice hearing someone who believed in you potentials. And since Lottie wasn't the kind of person who gave compliments left and right, Cassia liked to believe it. "I just need to control my stomach," She was a vomit-er . So she didn't eat before exams. Not too pleasant.

"I'm right most of the time," She said with a serious face then cracked a smile. heh. Humor? "Actually, I'm not," She said snorting at her own comment. Always getting the wrong vibes.

She stared at the cat even more. What was it was a very good question. She didn't even really pay attention to the strange look that ickle firstie Dylan was giving her. Melanie tilted her head to the side even more as she stared at the cat. If only felines could talk. She immediately sat up when she heard Dylan speak though. "She's a tabby cat?! So she's not a kneazle right?" Melanie said, letting out a relieved sigh. Oh thank Merlin. "Oh uh... slightly allergic to kneazles but not cats. Strange right?" Melanie said with a laugh before she resumed staring at the cat.

Melanie sat back up and nodded. The Gryffindor rummaged in her bag for a scrunchie. Finding one, she tied her hair back before she glanced back at the drawing.

Awwwh.

Was that supposed to be them? Grinning, Melanie put an arm around Dylan like it was in the picture and gave him a side hug. "I love it. It's cute," she said nodding her head. Absolutely adorable. "And look. There's even a little you and a little me in there," she added. Which made it even cuter.

A kneazle? OHHH! That made sense now. And then she was mentioning that she was allergic. OH. *facepalm* Okay, everything made perfect sense now. Heh. "Oh! Oh okay, I get it now. Nope, she's nothing close to a kneazle. Just a typical tabby kitty." he told her with a firm nod, scratching the kitten behind the ears. "But yes, that is quite strange though. Although it's still great at the same time, 'cause then you're not allergic to Ginger!" he said, beaming.

Dylan smiled widely as Melanie gave him a side hug. "Thanks, I'm really glad you like it!" he told her. The first year then chuckled and nodded. "Yeah!" he said. Melanie was a real nice person, he was so glad they met that day at the fountain and she shared him her sandwich. She was real cool.

Noted. BVM was fond of ribbons. Cassia was going to get her lots and lots of cute ribbons. Lex might not apProve but it did't matter. What mattered that spidey B was going to get what she liked and wanted. Nope, not spoiling at all. LikE the snake wouldn't know how to act rationally.

#Sarcasm

Honestly, she had been aware of her troubled-before-exams stomach situation, but never did she think that there miGht be a solution for it. One that solved it for good. Was that even possible? Would she ever be Able to be completely casual and chilling right before exams. She almost couldn't imagine it. "I sure hope so. I would hate to not be able to answer anything because of nerves," she said. "Since I'd have studied a lot," Yeah, right. She needed to work on that. Really did.

Since she'd been crossing her legs for quite a bit now, she started feeling them kind of stiffen. So she inserted the book into her bag and outstretched her legs before her as she scooted back and leaned against the column again. Did anyone count how many times she'd changed her sitting position. And she was relaxed and all now.

Arching an eyebrow at the Hogwartian, Cassia tilted her head at her with an amUsed expression on her face, "I really doubt saying that would make any difference," She said. Self-esteem and confidence was indeed important but the snake didn't think those would change any facts. "Anyway, no one is always right." Or maybe Lottie thought she was? CaSsia wouldn't be able to tell, maybe there were people who happened to always be right. The fifth-year wouldn't know.

Glancing around her, Cassia noticed that most people who were sitting around earlier had left. It was getting late and they certainly didn't want to be caught after curfew with a spider. "Think we should go back to common rooms?" She asked the fourth-year.

Why was Nigel in the Courtyard? Not even he knew the answer to that question. He was sort of lollygagging around the castle and ended up here. He did not really have a reason for wandering. It just happened.

Nigel took a seat on one of the open benches. He started thinking about how fun being a beater was in tryouts. But being a Chaser was still a little bit more awesome. Now thinking about Quidditch made Nigel want to starfish. But this place was a terrible spot to do it. Sigh. Nigel stared at the fountain trying not to think about anything.

Zen

She had so much to prove this term that the pressure was already starting to get to her even though she had only been to three classes so far. Textbook in hand she made her way to a bench that was empty and didn't have anybody near it. The weather was still nice and she intended on taking advantage of it while she could. The sixth year gracefully placed herself on the bench and opened up her book.

Stare.

All she could manage to do was stare at the book without taking anything in. Would she ever be back to normal? Sure, the days were starting to slowly get better, but she was nowhere near her normal self. She closed her eyes and pushed her face up towards the sun. She just needed to clear her mind.

Taylor twirled into the courtyard. She was just wandering the grounds, looking for something to do or someone to talk to. Tay was about to give up and just go back to the common room or something when she spotted someone familiar. It was someone she talked to for a few moments here and there and they somewhat played quidditch together. It was Nigel. Taylor did a little dance before skipping over to him, waving. ”Hey, Nigel.” Tay beamed, ”You are doing great at the try-outs this term!” He probably make the team unlike Taylor who would probably fail at getting on it. She gestured to beside him, ”Mind if I join you or are you waiting on someone or do you just want peace and quietness?” Taylor tilted her head, waiting for an answer. She didn’t want to plop down beside him if he didn’t want her company. She shifted her weight back and forth, playing with her gold eagle bracelet. Her eyes were sparkling in happiness as she looked at the boy.

Nigel began to think again about staring at the fountain. It was not getting him anywhere. Even the benches looked more interesting than the fountain. So it was a pleasantly distraction when Taylor suddenly appeared next to him. It was as if she apparated right next to time. Crazy. So he stopped zoning on the fountain and turned his attention to Taylor.

"Hey Taylor. Thanks. Being a Beater is pretty different than being a Chaser. Oh, You can sit if you want and Wow almost forgot. You are a Seventh Year." She was about it graduate. Time flies.

It was not like he was waiting for someone or anything. He was just lollygagging around the castle.

Taylor beamed at him, ”Yeah, it is.” Tay was trying out for a chaser but have played beater a few times when she was a reserve on the team. ”What is your favorite position? I prefer chaser or a beater but this year, I am shooting for chaser…” She laughed, ”Though, I doubt I will even be a reserve. You, on the other hand, would most definitely be on the team.” Taylor nodded at what she said and then smiled at Nigel. Tay sat when he said she could then frowned at what he said next. In a partially whining voice, she said, ”Please don’t remind me…” She didn’t want to graduate just yet and was stressing out about NEWTs this year. Tay tugged on her blonde curls lightly while looking at him, pouting now. Her happiness had quickly disappeared at his words and now she was starting to stress out about the tests… and about graduating. She grew quiet and looked at her feet, worrying and fretting. Taylor bounced up and started to pace, trying to get her nerves to go away. Tay kept tugging at a curl though.

"Yeah. I would have to say Chaser. Since I really have only played Keeper for one match long time ago. Then every other match. I have played Chaser." Nigel had never been a reserve. Which was interesting in itself. "It is still tryouts. So nothing is certain beside Mo making the team. Since he is Captain."

It looked like Nigel hit a nerve with bring up she was a Seventh Year. Well it not like Nigel worried about tests. Even owls barely made Nigel worry. So he did not know what to say. Leaving and taking Newts must suck though.

"So where you just wandering through the courtyard?"

Though now he craved a cupcake from Mo's girlfriend. Great. He did not really want to get up right now either.

Taylor looked at him and nodded, ”That’s understandable…” Tay shrugged, ”Eh, that is true but I am horrid at qudditch it seems.” She giggled and smiled, ”I would ask you for pointers about it but seeing how this is my last term, it is kind of too late.” Taylor shrugged at what she said and then laughed, waving the thought away. She then started to pace again until he asked a question. Tay looked up and shrugged again, ”Eh, I was bored… and looking for a friend or something to do so I found myself walking in this direction.” Taylor started to twirl and skip around the bench that Nigel was on. ”I go wherever the wind takes me when I don’t have anything planned. What about you? Why are you here?” Tay giggled and smiled, closing her eyes and just twirling about. Her happiness started to come back as the thoughts of graduating and NEWTs disappeared into the wind. Taylor started to sing in Gaelic. The notes floated up and down in her Scottish accent and her dancing started to go with the rhythm and timing of the song. Her blonde curls spread out in the air around her as she danced. She moved barefoot around Nigel’s bench.

Just a typical tabby kitty. Melanie liked the sound of that. Still, she tentatively reached her hand out to the cat. She couldn't get too attached to the feline at all because if she went home and smelled like cat, Munchie would probably get jealous though. "Yes. It's definitely good to be not allergic to her," she said with a little laugh, petting the orange cat's head. Soft. Munchie's fur was softer though but that was because Melanie liked to groom him loads. The cat would probably hate it if Melanie showered her and groomed her.

"Remember to sign it. I'll frame it and put it somewhere back home," Melanie added, giggling.

She could only imagine what her parents would say if she were to hang it. She'd put it in her grandparents' home actually. Because she found herself staying there a bit too. Then it could hang right above the fireplace... because that was where the noodle teacup that Alice had given her was sitting. In a box. "So, have you drawn anything else so far?" she asked.

Adi hummed a random tune as he walked along, having no idea where he wanted to go so he just let his feet do its thing and take him where ever they wanted to go.

All of a sudden he realised where he was. The Courtyard! Cool! He had not really found the time to check it out properly. There were quite a few students milling around. Face he knew by sight, others he didn't. Oh hey! It was the girl from Astronomy who had tried to hit him with the spell! And he had managed to get her back. Adi remembered how she had been muttering as she came out of the water.

"Hi!'' the first year said, going up to her. "Remember me?'' She looked at little...lost? She was just staring at her book. "Are you alright?''