How was she supposed to cope with being LOST? IN A MAZE? Charlie was clueless, and slightly scared, and worried that panic was going to settle in. She didn't want to panic - panicking wouldn't help anyone, especially not her. She needed a logical mind to get herself out of here.

Deep breaths.

That was what she needed, and Charlie focused on them. INNNNN.

And OUUUUUT. INNNNN. And OUU-

Suddenly, she didn't need to breathe out, as all of the air was knocked out of her by a SOMETHING falling into her. OR a someONE. Coughing slightly, Charlie rolled over onto her hands and knees and caught her breath, before straightening up and sitting back onto her knees in order to see the someONE she'd been bowled over by. Pretty and not an idiot-looking and apologising and laughing.

Infectious laugh. Charlie joined in as she noticed, intermittently coughing. "Don't worry about it," she managed, because she had to admit, it was totally funny.

Unless her skirt was ruined.

"Must've really liked 'em if she named her son that," Benzi reasoned, nodding then scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Though I guess it's good not all mums do that.. My mum really likes Transfiguration and her friend likes Charms - those would make terrible names," Benzi laughed and placed his hands on his hips.

He would add that it was probably a good thing Mummy didn't get to name him but 1) she wouldn't have named him Transfiguration Rider and 2) no need to bring all that up. 'Course, anyone who knew his mum would know, but it'd been a while since she was here so no one probably did. Best keep that to himself.

"I know Durham's in England mate I'm not stupid!" Benzi said slightly indignant, but soon calmed for it wasn't Durham Forrest's fault - some people were simple bricks, it was always good to make sure they knew what you were saying. "I'm from London! The best city in the world if you ask me!" GRIN.

Oh, so they were going in the maze now! Good, because Sophie was curious, and although she'd never admit it, she really wanted somebody to walk in with her. If something like a Nundu attacked, she wanted somebody else to be the one to step up first.

"If I ever see him, ...sure," she said with a grin. "He is my brother, after all. Sometimes, he just annoys me, and I'm glad he's found his own set of friends." Or she guessed he had. She hoped he wasn't some loner who spent all his time alone. She nodded then. "Pretty much, anything but Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Divination, and Muggle Studies. I'm really dreading those. I think my favorites will be Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts." Typical Slytherin answers, she guessed. "So how's the classes working out for you?"

"Basically." Cat shrugged and bounced!skipped through the maze. Where had Sharky run off to, hmm? She was okay though. Cat tipped her head in his direction and grinned all secret like. "Sometimes." Sometimes, but they had their ways of fixing that which sometimes included Cat sitting on his lap. But shhhh. She wasn't telling. "Sometimes I rub his shoulders cause I feel bad about being short." Cause that was clearly her fault that her boyfriend was taller than her.

"So, Stanny." Bounce!skip. "Do you have a girlfriend?" She wiggled her eyebrows at him and grinned.

Forrest shrugged. Benjamin's reasoning was probably correct though. Plus, Ravenclaws always got it correct. But he didn't share that with him. Benjamin failed to accept compliments gracefully.

He laughed along. Really. Those would make terriblissimo names! "Yeah. But there are such mums, y'know? I don't mean 'transfig' and 'charms' specifically, but parents that really name their kid comically." Luckily, none of them were that unlucky.

Forrest was shocked with his outburst, but nodded in the end. He knew. He didn't want to insinuate he was silly--he was just making sure.

Londooooonnnnn, yeeeeaaaah! His face shone at the mention of it. "I grew up there. Definitely the best city." Man, London. He missed it.

"Shall we... go eat something?" They had been talking for too long not to eat something. And this was actually a progress: to start off horribly and to go to dinner together in the end. He was still cautious, but also happy.

that's a wrap!
 

HGJASGFJGSDJ! BEST FRIEND HAD SOMETHING TO TELL HER!

"WHAT?" Cooome on spill it, Donny! .....Oh...the maze. GIGGLE SNORT. Silleeeehh. She could see the maze, it was right in front of the two of them and it wasn't like she'd never heard of one before. Maybe this one was different though. Maybe it had those weird magical animals. But that was EXACTLY what Abbi wanted to see anyways and with her best friend anything was more awesome. "I KNOW I KNOW!" Beams, because they were awesome.

And that was what Abbi was waiting to hear. The go ahead. "YES!" She linked her arm with his and began walking along. "Lets get lost together!" And show dem monsters who's boss!

With her small sized 3 feet the little fairy began moving one foot after the other. As she walked she dragged Donny along too. This was EXCITING! Like REALLY REALLY EXCITING! But you know what they needed? CANDY! Except Abbi realized her dress didn't own pockets and no sweeties were with her.

SAD FACE!

Okay, that was a good sign, that this girl was laughing. Instead of glaring her down or complaining about how her clothes were ruined by the tumble. Although, why was the girl coughing? Was she ill..? Or had Schuyler hit her that hard? She smiled after the blonde said not to worry about it, and she sat up a little more. "So, are you on your way into the maze, or out of the maze?"

Schuyler had been on her way in, of course. And she still had her path committed to memory, so there was no way she was lost. Not now, at least. And she didn't believe she would get lost, either. She glanced over in the direction she came from, then shifted her eyes down the path where she would be going next.

Wrapped in a gray coat and burgundy scarf, Melanie was taking a stroll around the grounds. She was no stranger to the cold, obviously, being a Hogwarts alumni herself and living not much farther south for the twelve years after. Still, she wasn't a fan. However, she was more of the outdoorsy type and couldn't stay cooped up in her little office hut for long. Nor did she have much reason to. Most of her work was finished and she'd been doing recreational research from afar.

Her scenic stroll came to an end more quickly than she intended it to, so what to do next? A ping of curiosity filled her as she came upon the maize maze. Sounded fun. Entertaining. Could keep her occupied for quite some time, depending on how lost she got. She decided to try it out, leaving all sensibility behind and allowing herself to just wander through it.

Coincidentally, as she went, she came upon Piers walking just in front of her. In playful spirit, Melanie bit her lip, quietly half-jogged up behind him, and nudged his shoulder.

It wasn't a happy thought, Christmas. Unfortunately. It used to be, but...

Meh. He was moping. Piers had promised himself that would stop, so she shoved all mopey thoughts aside. And as soon as he did, he felt something bump his shoulder, so he looked over to see what it was.

"Oh. Hey, Mel." Piers smiled at his old friend and nudged her shoulder back. "Fancy seeing you here." In a giant maze, and they just so happened to run into each other. Also, in the whole wide world and they had managed to come back to teach at Hogwarts at the same time... He still found that bizarre and slightly hilarious.

"How are you?" he asked, continuing to journey through the maze. He had no idea where he was going, FYI.

Melanie smiled back, slipping her hands back into her coat pockets for warmth, "Here in the maze or here at Hogwarts? Because I'm still not over that," she inquired, laughing lightly, "Or that you were living in Greece before." It was most coincidental, for their lives to go in the same direction after they had parted ways.

She easily fell into pace beside him, "I'm fine. Missing Greece, but trying to do as much as I can from here. I've found that I have some spare time after grading homeworks. I might use it to write a treatise of sorts with what I've learned thus far. I hadn't planned on doing that until I found conclusive results, but..." she shrugged and let her sentence hang. "I've been at it for eight years, I might as well have something to show for it."

"How are you?" she returned the question.

Piers chuckled lightly. "Both, I suppose." It was still so odd. What a small world it was. "I still can't believe we were in Greece at the same time for years and had no clue." They hadn't really kept in touch after the first year in Edinburgh, though, so it sort of made sense. But it was still amusing.

Missing Greece... Well, that made one of them. He didn't care for that place much anymore. Except for the food. And the beach. And the culture. Never mind. Hearing her thoughts, Piers rose his eyebrows. "I don't see why that should stop you; I'm sure you have amazing research." She was quite smart, if he remembered correctly. Which he did. "What exactly were you researching...?" he asked. Creatures, obviously. Melanie had always been into Magical Creatures, so he only suspected that, he just didn't know what... aspect of the subject.

"Oh, I'm good," he said with a long sigh. "Finally settling back into this place. When I was younger, I didn't ever think I'd be back, but... I like the change of atmosphere and scenery. I needed a change." He shrugged his shoulders. It was refreshing to be back here, if a bit different, being... old..er.

"Well, it is the ninety-seventh largest country in the world," Melanie grinned at him, "But it's still unbelievable. You were on the mainland, right?"

A shrug rolled off her shoulders. "Amazing but incomplete." Melanie cast Piers a sideways glance, "You're not going to go forth to try and complete my research before me, are you?" she teased. "It's about hybrid creatures. At least, that's what I refer to them as, I'm not sure if there's been a proper name established. Did you ever notice how so many originate from Greece and the surrounding area? Merpeople, Griffins, Chimaeras, Centaurs...," she listed, "They're not any one species of animal. And they all seem to come from there. I'm wondering if there's a reason. Something in the soil or water or environment... Of course, there's hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of years of evolution to consider, including how the environment changed, as well as the creatures themselves..." She was getting excited by it all. Her eyes lit up, her hands had left her pockets to gesture wildly in midair, "I could be completely wrong, of course," she shook her head, "but if that's the case, I have to know, anyway, right?" Tearing her eyes from the air in front of her in which she was picturing the creatures and nature of Greece, she looked over at him expectantly.

It was good that he was good. Nice to hear that your long lost friends were doing well with their lives. Almost as nice as finally seeing them again to hear about it. "That's great. I'm glad you got that change."

Another thing Piers remembered about Melanie is that he could always count on her to spout off random information. He laughed at the fact. "Ninety-seven," he repeated with a shake of his head. Funny girl. "Yeah, I was in Athens, at the University. Where were you?" He kind of assumed she was... all over the place. It seemed like one of those jobs.

He chuckled again. "It didn't even cross my mind." He nudged her arm with his elbow lightly. "Besides, you know I was never great at Creatures stuff." He knew she was teasing, but still. Creatures were great and fine, but it was never his favorite subject. Piers continued to walk through the maze (no, he had no idea where he was going) and listened to Melanie go in depth about her research. And although creatures weren't his 'thing', she brought up an interesting point. One that he hadn't really thought of before, but now that he did... there were a lot of animals from the Mediterranean. Huh. It was fun to see her get so excited about it, too. "Of course," he said immediately when she looked at him. "I'm curious, though... Why did you come here? You seem to have a pretty great idea, why did you leave Greece?" Maybe she just needed a break? He didn't know. Hence the asking.

Pierson nodded. "Yeah, me too." Hopefully said change would do him some good.

The Maize Maze wasn't Alice's favorite event in the world, and she would have very much liked to stay as far away as possible from that horrendous bunch of corn for numerous reasons. But it was awfully hard for a die hard Gryffindor like herself to resist a challenge such as this one, so it wasn't too long before she had to turn up.

Immediately making her way into the maze, the sixth year wondered how much time would it take her to get out of this place. She sped up to a jog and then a run a few minutes later, counting the seconds in her head as she rounded the turns and trying to guess how quickly she could find the exit.

Left, left, left, right, left.. person.

Too late to stop. Alice immediately collided with another girl, landing painfully on her arm. Ompf. Oww.

"You should watch where you're going." Because it wasn't her fault, clearly.

For Cassia :3!
 

Kace really wanted to try out the Maize Maze. He remembered doing it last year but he was keen on what to look for. He was supposed to meet Cassia here. He hadn't seen her in a while since....forever!

He starred at the front of the maize preparing to get lost.....

She could really use a break! Not from studying hard or anything, from the pressure that she was supposed to study hard when she wasn't. Stressed was the worst. And what was the other thing? Guilt? Yeah probably. Not that she was slacking, but she was supposed to be making extra effort. Still lots of time, yeah?

So meeting up with Kace was a very good idea right now. She was excited when she got to the maze. A smile spread on her face as she saw the younger boy already there. "Hey, there," She greeted him clapping him lightly on the shoulder. Wow her grew taller, huh? Cool.

"So ready to get in there?!" She said with a wink before she pulled him by the arm, lightly, and headed in. Nope, not waiting for an answer.

As Kace was waiting, he felt a soft tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Cassia. "Hey!!" he smiled and gave her a friendly hug. "How was your summer?" he asked.

Then she asked if he was ready. He nodded but he was a little bit nervous to go in. He wouldn't admit it. But Cassia was already pulling him into the maze and he smiled and followed her in.

"Sooo which way should we go now?" he asked since they were in a fork. They could either go left or right....

Before getting into the maze, The fifth year hugged her friend back. Wasn't he so sweet and...hufflepuff? She had two young hufflepuffs whom she liked, this lil buddy and Forrest. Good and nice kids.

Side in side she entered the maze with her young companion. She folded her arms and looked around at the corn. Hmmm...she pondered tiptoeing to see the way but the maze was designed to not let that work. Interesting, seemed like she needed to count on her instinct and common sense of direction. Eeeh. She wasn't sure she had that.

Cassia peered at both turns before deciding to go left. "Let's go left," She told Kace as she walked towards that direction. "So how are you doing?" She asked conversationally as they walked through the maize...corridors?

Kace heard Cassia suggest they go left. He shrugged and said, "Sure! Let's go explore!" he said and walking with her. Then he heard her asking how she was doing. He responded with, "I am doing swell. I am just getting the hang of working in lessons. I forgot how demanding they were after having a summer off. How about you?"

They then began approach another fork in the maze. Man this was gonna be a fun day. "Do you think we should go right?" he asked Cassia for her opinion on it.

The fifth-year nodded at his words as her eyes wandered around and tried to peek through the corn. Which didn't work, because the rows were s close to each other and she couldn't peek, nope. Sounded like she had to try and get out of the maze like everyone else. Not a chance to get around this maze thing. Eeeh.

"Yes, it's surprising how fast we can get used to slacking and hard to switch back to school mode," Though right now she wished she could be in Kace's shoes.......not literally, they'd probably not fit. She wanted to be a second year and not care about any exams by the end of the year. "I'm doing well," She answered him without needing to think. It was liberating talking to someone younger than her and who didn't relate to stuff she had been trying to keep off her mind. That's why this maze was a perfect idea. "Just trying to get a head start in classes so I won't find it hard at the end of the year," OWLs exams. *GULP*

She paused pondering which way to go then nodded. "Yup.Right it is," And right she went.