Dylan suddenly heard someone calling his name and he turned to see who it was. He chuckled to himself at the sight of Mari running towards him, looking awfully excited. The first year flashed a smile at the older Puffer once she reached him. "Hi, Mari! I'm good!" he told her with a small nod. She seemed full of energy today, Merlin's beard! It was quite amusing, really. "How are you?" he then asked as she sat next to him and opened up her carrying basket, revealing Mari's kitten. He smiled down at it and scratched it behind the ears. Ginger's ears perked up at the sight of another cat, and she froze where she stood, watching the other kitten intensely before cautiously making her way over to it. She sniffed the other cat for a second before rubbing her head affectionately against hers. "Aww," Dylan said, grinning. "They like each other! What's her name?" he asked, gesturing to Marigold's kitten.

In all honesty, Alec really liked being out here. It did feel weird that he wasn't here with a certain blonde girlfriend of his but... it still felt good to be here. Really. It also felt great not to be cooped up in the common room doing homework or studying. Really great. If only he had some sort of food with him, then this would be perfect.

... But... he was going to lay here for a while. In silence. And look up at the stars and make shapes out of them because why not? Like... that one over there looked a lot like... ... yeah, no, he wasn't great at this. All of them just looked like twinkling dots on a very large, dark coloured sheet.

A voice broke through his thoughts and, confused, Alec looked up at the new arrival. "Oh hey Brodie!" he said, grinning a little at the boy, "Oh no no! Come sit." Or, erm, lay down on the grass as well. And why did he have a guitar with him? ... Before he could ask, though, the older boy was asking him another question. "Oh, just stargazing! Erm..." This would be a good time to add in the guitar question. "You're not here to serenade the Willow, are you?" He was dead serious about this question. Maybe.

Brodie gave a small nod, taking a seat beside Alec before giving a small laugh to his question, "I just didn't want to make anyone go deaf... I'm still learning." Made sense yeah? He thought so... but anyways, "And I honestly didn't think many people would be out here by this hour." Once again seemed like it would make sense.

"But stargazing... Not something many of my friends do for fun." It did seem different to him, but eh, everyone had different taste and he had no right to judge. "How's the school year been going for you?" Seeing how they hadn't really talked since the Hufflepuff party at the beginning of the year.

He sat the guitar down beside him then looked at his friend again, not really sure what else he could say. He just shrugged mentally then looked away again at the guitar Damon had given him. Brodie gave a weak smile before realizing he was zoning out thinking about the past. He needed to focus on now... he was sure that was what his friend would've wanted, not him dwelling in the past and bringing up a sadness that really wasn't needed. So turning back to Alec again he gave a weak smile, "So are you still dating..." He trailed off, he'd only talked to her once. What was it again? Um... Well he could take a guess right? "... Ella?" Right? He gave a small mental nod pretty sure that was right.

It was a good thing Brodie had a sense of humour. Really. Alec grinned at the boy and nodded. Sure. Didn't want to make anyone go deaf. That was a completely legitimate reason for playing guitar outside at this time. "When did you start learning how to play?" And should he bother learning too? ... Maybe not. He was a horrible singer and, who knew, his guitar skills might be even worse. "Yeah... is that why you're out here this late? Lack of... people?"

"Oh... well... at least you have one friend that stargazes for fun?" Smile. Because they were friends, yeah? They'd bumped into each other... what? Twice? Thrice? More than that? It seemed like it was enough to get onto the friendship ladder. "Oh... not too bad! There was Quidditch and that event..." The one with the long acronym. "So... yeah, not bad. I would actually like it if it wasn't for the piles of work. What about you?"

... And... Brodie seemed to be... thinking? Yeah? Something? Alec didn't know and he wasn't going to interrupt the guy's train of thoughts. Instead, he was just going to sit there and admire the guy's guitar. Because it was a COOL guitar! Guitars were generally cool, it seemed. It was just a pity that he didn't know how to play it. And then the seventh year spoke, which broke into the younger Puff's thoughts. ... Ells? "Yeah, we're still going strong," GRIN. Two years and counting! "Are you... erm..." This was awkward. "Are you dating anyone?" Someone that Alec could possibly tease Brodie about?

"Only a couple months ago. After my friend had started to let me stay at his house when the weather was too bad to stay in my little hollow in a tree." He didn't have a problem admitting his old home now... He was back home with Mom and Dad now, though it was because they wanted a babysitter they wouldn't have to pay for a babysitter... but he was home. He gave a nod to his question though, "Yeah, I can hardly play and everyone in the common room might be a little ticked if they had to hear me play while they're studying or resting." He shrugged.

Brodie smiled and nodded, "I suppose I do." He paused trying again to think, "Honestly? I haven't done that much. I've written my songs, focused on classes, and had a concert with my old mates... and I guess you can count me moving back into Mom and Dad's as a big event." He paused, should he mention Damon? He felt it wouldn't be necessary but if questions kept coming about the guitar then it would be known anyways. So why not just get it out of the way, "And... well, had a friend's funeral to go to..."

He looked and gave a weak smile to Alec's looks at his old friends guitar, "It was actually his. Damon's, it was his Christmas gift to me so I could practice here..." He sighed but then looked at the guitar, "But it was a nice gift to get... despite the sadness that followed." Brodie gave a small shrug. He nodded to his answer then shook his head, "No, unfortunately not. Though there's a Ravenclaw I've liked for a while but... she doesn't want anything other than friendship." And he promised her he'd keep it at just that as little as he wanted too. So yeah, that was all that could be said for Brodie's love life at the second.

She was on an official trip to stargaze and watch the skies. This was one of her favorite assignments. Simply because it didn't require thinking much and not lots of effort. Who wouldn't like to go out with a telescope and search for planets, stars, constellations. She definitely had no problem with that and surprisingly looked forwards to it every day.

With a scarf around her neck covering her face nose down, she padded out the castle with the telescope clutched in her hands tightly. Every now and then she paused and held up the telescope to get a look. Nope. Not that. She kept walking until she came close to the whomping willow.

Putting a safe distance from it, she plopped down on the ground and stretched out her legs before her. It was cold but sitting in the sunlight was helpful and made it bearable. Her eyes flickered up to the sky and lifted her telescope her hands curled around its circular form.

Squinting through the lens she slowly moved her vision from place to place until she froze on a certain spot. There! She found Sirius. Finding it gave her an energy boost so she pushed to her feet, tucked her telescope in the her bag and threw it over her shoulder and continued walking her gaze upwards.

Questions. Questions started flooding the seventeen year old's mind when Brodie started speaking. And he had so many that it didn't seem like he could put up a filter between these thoughts and his mouth. "You... we're living in a hollow in a tree?!" Should he be concerned? "But I guess a couple of months learning isn't bad. ... I mean... it's better than nothing." Like him. Shrug. People being ticked off? Alec thought about this for a couple of seconds before saying, "They might only be ticked off if you were bad at playing. Some might like it!" Encouraging!smile.

Alec's eyebrows shot up when Brodie started talking about what he had been up to. It didn't sound like it had been completely jam paled but it did sound impressive. "I tried writing a song once and... it didn't work out well," Should he mention that this had been part of the Ancient Runes assignment an was, you know, for a TREE? Probably not. "How do you do it?" Genuine question was ge-- ... BLINK. Uh oh. That was... yeah. No. Not great. "I'm sorry about your loss, mate," Not great at all.

... Oh! So the guitar had belonged to the friend that... had died? Yeah? Or was Alec just making the wrong assumptions? See, either one of those options seemed likely. "It's a really cool guitar!" Nodnod. "It was... nice of him to give it to you, too." This wasn't awkward or anything, was it? Especially since they were now talking about dating and Alec wasn't really sure how close they were yet. Were jokes acceptable? Or teasing? No? This didn't seem like something you should tease someone about. "Oh... I'm really sorry to hear that," He then cleared his throat before continuing, "You think it's time for you to move on from this Ravenclaw girl?" If so, Alec had advice. Yoda-like advice but advice nonetheless.

Brodie gave a small nod, "Yeah... Mom and Dad kicked me out before I started here." He shrugged, "But like I said, I’m back now." He gave a small laugh to what he said, "I’m really not that great… It’s definitely different from just banging on the drums." He shrugged, "Maybe after a little more practice this year." He gave a small nod but he still doubted that. He wasn’t that great, nowhere near where he thought he should be after five months of learning, so he didn’t really want to embarrass himself his final year in front of his classmates. That wouldn’t be a great last memory…

Brodie shrugged, "I don’t really know how to explain how to write… just kinda whatever’s in my heart I guess." That probably sounded a little weird but he didn’t really know how to describe it. He shrugged though, "Thanks but I’m fine. I’m definitely not the worse. Our prefect probably being one of them." Yeah, he didn’t think Minnie was that great, she was one of his closest friends and with Damon’s way of passing… She probably felt horrible that Damon felt like he didn’t have anyone to talk to when he could’ve gone to her.

He gave a small nod and looked at the guitar, "Yeah, Damon actually made it." He gave a small laugh, "He always loved making things." Brodie looked at him with a small smile, "Well…" He paused thinking about Claudette, maybe he should? She made it kinda clear that she didn’t like him back, "Maybe, but I don’t know honestly…" He shrugged, "I mean, she’s a great friend… It’s just when a bunch of drama happened with Taylor and she took me liking her as a rebound and her being second best and… I don’t really know what to do in this situation." He gave a small chuckle. He always laughed at himself when he was confused, mainly because it rarely happened.

Lawson was bored. When did Hogwarts get so boring?

It was probably because he had no friends. Yep. And it was nobody's fault except his. He was a loner, always had been. It had never bothered him before but it seemed this term - a lot of little things were bothering him.

He was just itching for this term to end so he could go back home.

His mind was not in the classes or the homework or anything else really. He wouldn't be surprised if he was failing his classes. He was really having a hard time getting himself to care.

It was the boy from Hogsmeade... Kalla had spotted him and started moving closer toward him. Hmmm. He was a coward. Maybe. A little.

Enough of that!

"Oi. You never asked me out." Yeah. Hey and stuff.

Kalla placed her hands on her hips and smiled ever so slightly at the poor, unsuspecting boy. He needed to ask her out now. Yeah. RIGHT NOW. And then he needed to carry all of her books for her. Her arms were tired from all that quidditch she was doing.

Lawson turned, his eyebrow raising - but then he grinned.

It was that girl, he had met at the weird pink tea place. Kalla, yes. "Well, maybe I can ask you right now?" he said, heading toward her. Coming to a stop in front of her, Lawson smiled: "Wanna go out with me?"

Kalla smiled ever so slightly as the boy came closer to her. Hmm. He followed directions nicely enough. That was a plus. Heh.

"I don't know... I'll have to think about it." And then she did the unthinkable... she GIGGLED. Kalla Lisette Ogden GIGGLED. Like a regular girl. One who didn't want to smash people's faces. It felt weird.

WEIRD.

But she brushed some hair off of her forehead and tilted her head slightly to one side. What did he have to say about that?

Stuffing both hands in his jacket pocket, Lawson kept his smile on.

"Well. You can think. But the offer won't stay for long, Kalla" he said, his lips still pulled in a smile.

Two can play a game. Yep.

Vial of Scintillation Potion in hand and book bag on his back, Adi made his way to the Whomping Willow. Of course he wasn't stupid enough to go close to the tree so he just stood at a distance. The Willow stood rather still presently but he knew what could happen when it was provoked.

Adi found himself a patch of grass. He was about to start on his Potions homework and the first step was to drink the potion he had brewed in class. He carefully removed the cover from the vial and sniffed it cautiously. It didn't seem to have any scent. This suited him quite fine. Now, if only it would taste good. Adi took a deep breath and downed his potion in one sip.

Annabeth left the Black Lake a bit dizzy and when she realized, she was near the Whomping Willow. Fortunately, not so close. She sat down on the grass.

Her feet were soaked, probably she had wet her feet in the Black Lake, but she couldn't remember. Doubting she could do it, she grabbed her wand and tried to cast the hot-air charm once again. Obviously she was too dizzy to do it, she barely could wave her wand once and didn't get it twice. She tied again, waving her wand twice clockwise, saying "Siccus Aerous", pointing towards her shoes, but nothing happened.

She felt sick and left her wand aside, took the vial from her pocket. There was no time to regret her bad idea, she was too nauseated. She looked at the blue potion and downed 90% of it in one go and offering the rest to the tree. She bent slightly back and waited staring at the tree. Anna felt the potion filling her throat and bellow. It was a very pleasant cold sensation at the back of her nose and made her feel better. She breathed deeply. The nauseas had gone away.

Anna picked up her wand and pointed to her shoes. "Siccus Aerous!" The hot air which left the tip of her wand dried it. She smiled, then noticed her skin was slightly blue. She stood up and made her way to the Hospital Wing. Perhaps it was a kind of side effect of the potion.

An improvised jog in the evening had turned out to be a poor idea. Sophie had started out with the intention of just going for a walk to clear her mind and try to stop pouting over missing the match, but she was struck with a burst of energy and just started running. Even if she had been advised against physical activity for a few days to be safe. But who needed safety? She wasn't dressed properly for the running either, though, so her feet were starting to hurt and she regretted venturing out onto the grounds as far as she had gone. But there was no stopping now. She continued her jog, her gaze drifting upward to the starry sky above, causing her to distractedly stumble over her own feet every now and then. But she was fine and this was FUN and she greedily sucked air into her lungs as she went, empowering her to keep up a strong pace.

Kalla didn't mean it. People get hit by bludgers. Famous, professional players get hit by bludgers and get injured. People got hit by bludgers during the match. There's no difference between getting hit in practice or in the game. But there totally was and she KNEW IT. She got to play no role in Ravenclaw's victory. And she was sad. Really sad. So she ran harder and faster, navigating toward the Whomping Willow.

As she neared it, though, Sophie slowed down to a steady walk, then stopped a safe distance from it, her arms crossed as she scrutinized it from its trunk to the branches at the tippy top. Cool. Cool history, too. She began to walk again, slowly, steering away from the people laying in the grass as to not disturb them, when... one of the voices speaking was familiar. She knew it. Alec.

And Sophie froze, guilty.

Should she apologize? Should she throw money at him to pay for new shoes? Had he actually seen her run off and not chased her or had he pursued her and she just got away? Did he know she had done anything at ALL? She wasn't sure. But she felt bad. The first year fished the only three galleons on her person out of her pocket, tossed them at the Hufflepuff boy laying in the grass, and immediately took off in a jog toward the school, calling back to him, "For some new shoes."

Totally casual. It was an admittance of her wrongdoings to him but it was casual and random enough that the guy could think she just didn't like his shoes or something. Super nonchalant.

Alec BLINKED. The idea of being kicked out wasn't exactly one that the boy could imagine happening. Especially by someone's parents. So when Brodie mentioned being kicked out... Alec didn't really know what to say. Words of comfort? Questions? "Erm... I'm sorry that you got kicked out," Sympathy. Yeah. "It's great that you're back there again!" Because a proper home was better than a hollow in a tree. Nodnod. As for the comment about banging the drums, Alec let out a small chuckle before saying, "Awesome! I look forward to your future concerts then." GRIN.

Just write whatever's in his heart? The seventeen year old furrowed his eyebrows as he looked over across the grass. Feelings. Writing them down did help somewhat but... this idea still confused him. "Well... what if you're confused about how you feel? Or you just... you don't feel anything at all?" he asked, looking back at Brodie. Was he taking this overbo-- ... WAIT. HOLD THE SNITCH. "What happened to Minnie? Did someone hurt her? Upset her?" Sad/hurt Minnie. Not allowed. EVER.

"He made a GUITAR?!" he asked, his grey-blue eyes widening slightly as he looked over at the musical instrument. An actual guitar! Man oh man! That was great for the guy, really, but it was things like this that made Alec feel like he didn't... really have a talent. Before he could think on this, however, Brodie was talking again, making the sixth year look back at the older Puff. ... Huh?! "I... thought we were talking about Taylor..." Man, this was embarrassing! He reached up a hand and ruffles his hair before continuing, "You know what I think? If you... really like this mystery girl, you have to prove to her that you're over Taylor. Show her that she's not second best and... and that you want to be with her. No one likes being second best."



Alec had just been sitting there talking to Brodie about the usual things two guys would talk about at night by the Willow. Homes, guitars and girls were all awesome conversation topics, yeah? And since it was nighttime, the boy hadn't really expected many people to be out here as well. He thought that there'd be some stragglers heading up towards the castle and that would be it.

And boy was he wrong.

Before the Hufflepuff could do more than gaze at the guitar some more, he felt something hit his chest, making him jump and turn his head in surprise. What...? He looked down at his lap and picked up the three golden coins. Galleons? Why exactly was someone throwing money at him? Were there leprechauns about? Or did someone think he was doing a spot of begging? Or MAYBE someone thought he was modelling and decided to pay him for it...?

... Wait... SHOES? Alec's head snapped up and he looked over at the retreating figure of... who was THAT?! The voice... and the hair were both very familiar. And wait... they said something about new shoes! "What's wrong with my current pair?" he hollered at the figure. Did they thinks hat his current pair were so bad that he needed a new pair? Was that why he was being given money?

Confused boy was confused.

Still jogging in the other direction, Sophie giggled at his question. But then she felt bad again. Did he not realize who she was? Or had he just not seen her before? She contemplated not answering for a moment, figuring maybe it was okay if he didn't know it was Sophie in either situation, but as guilt pooled in her stomach once more, she changed her mind.

"Nothing unless there's a hole in 'em!" Cool, Soph. "...Trust me, I owe ya one!" she settled on calling over her shoulder, rapidly increasing her speed and thereby the distance between her and Alec, her long brown hair bouncing behind her as each foot struck the ground. She wanted this conversation to be OVER before he came after her. Certainly Sophie knew Alec was a speedy Seeker, but she wasn't sure if he was as quick on the ground, and quite frankly, she didn't want to find out tonight. Big ol' nope to that.

Tora didn't even need to use her Astreglobe to fine the brightest star in the sky. Sirius. She could spot it by finding the constellation, but honestly it was more fun to find the star first then draw the picture of the dog around it. She gazed upward, remembering that it came up in the south- east area (for this bit she did use her Astreglobe, but only as a compass) and it only took a minute for her to find the star. Now for some telescope action.

As always, she had carried her head out with a levitation spell, and now released it by setting it gently on the ground and whispering "Finite." She set it up and found Sirius in the finder scope bit before looking through the eyepiece to trim it. Even though Sirius was bright, she knew that it would still be just a blur in the microscope. Albeit, a very bright blur. It was too bad she couldn't actually see the true shape of the star with this power of microscope, maybe she could ask Professor Airey if she could borrow a stronger one sometime. Did Hogwarts even have stronger microscopes? Did it have an observatory? It certainly didn't have a planetarium, which Tora really wished it did. She should go ask Professor if they could build one later.... but for now she just looked up at the sky.

PSSSSH. Whatever. WHATEVER.

This made Kalla snort a bit as she clasped her hands behind her back. Well... what now? "What did you have in mind for you know... taking me out?" This was IMPORTANT information after all.

VEREH IMPORTANT.

He needed to WOW her. Then she would say yes. She intended to say yes anyway. Heh.

He offered her his arm. They could walk and talk, yes?

"Well. Seeing as the only place we can actually go out from this castle is Hogsmeade, I'll take you there," he told her, as he began walking - her arm in his.

"And you could pick anywhere and we can go," he said, putting on his charming smile.

Marigold grinned HUGELY at Dylan. He was good, which was GOOD YES THAT IS GOOD. "I'm AWESOME actually! I am quite glad to be talking with you again!" Marigold had considered Dylan a pretty cool kid when she first met him, and he was sure enough living up to her standards. The kittens were snuggling against each other, which was SO CUTE!! Marigold took out a little disposable camera and CLICKED. The kittens stared at her, before going back to playing. "My kitten's name is Nibbles, because of her finger nibbling habit," she answered, laughing. "This little rascal here is responsible for sitting on and breaking my wand," she continued. "What is your cat's name?"

He shrugged, "I was fine," Brodie gave a small smile, "Like I said, I learned how to make it work." Yeah, it helped when his close friends were there to help, making sure he’d at least be able to keep from getting wet and staying warm… but he was fine. It’s not like he lived with the animals and all that… Heh, kinda sounded like a wannabe werewolf to him… but back on topic. He smiled and nodded, "Nice to know someone’ll come watch." He nodded.

"Then just write about what your confused about… Or just do a few things that get the thoughts away." Brodie shrugged, "For me, if my minds to jumbled to write, I’ll draw instead, get all the confusion out on paper." Did that make sense? He thought it did, but then again of course he understood his own advice. He looked at him confused for a second, "As far as I know, no one’s hurt her…" He shook his head, not able to fight a small smile at how Alec worried about her, "Damon was one of her best friends… I think him being gone has just gotten her a little down, especially since she couldn’t make it to his funeral." So calm down puff, no one hurt our prefect.

Brodie nodded to his next question, "Damon always liked to work on mastering something new." He laughed, "I mean, he was a trained fighter, knew ten languages, played guitar and piano, sang… Wrote his own songs and poems. He liked to make things, this guitar for example and I know that he also designed jewelry for both Taylor and Ariana. He’d been working on becoming a lawyer, top of his class even." He smiled fondly thinking of all of it, "I swear, you wanted to meet someone who could learn to do anything it was him." He gave a small laugh… Talking about Taylor… He looked at him for a second, not sure what to say before laughing again, "No… Claudette." He gave a small smile, "The whole Taylor thing has been over for quite a while." He looked at Alec and nodded to what he said, "I’ve been working on showing her. I mean, it's hard when I hardly see her anymore, but I’m trying."

After a moment of LOOKING at Lawson and his outstretched arm Kalla slipped her through his and smiled quite shyly. "But what will we DO there? And no, you can pick where we go and what we do. It's the guy's responsibility to wow the girl after all." So says Kalla. MHM.

Moving a little closer to him as they walked she felt a little heat in her cheeks, but whatever. Guys tended to be intimidated by her so... this was new territory for her. "Do you like to read?"

He smiled, when she linked her arm with his. He liked that. It was rather funny, how one minute Kalla was all 'demanding' and the next, she was shy. He noticed how her cheeks reddened.

"We can talk," he suggested at her question. What else could they do on a date?

He stopped, turning to her. "Well, there is one other thing we could do," he suggested. He leaned in and gingerly kissed her cheek. "We could decide if you like me doing that or not," he grinned before resuming their walk.

"Yes. I do read," he replied. "Do you?"