Since winter was fast approaching, Michael decided to make use of the last of the not so freezing weather and headed down to the student garden.

Of course there was another reason why he had chosen the gardens and he hoped that Rhodes had gotten his owl. He checked his watch, the one that Zahra had given him for his birthday and he felt a twinge of uneasiness in his stomach. She still wasn't talking to him and he didn't know what to about it.

He was a little early so he decided to have a look around in the garden. Usually when he looked in gardens, he was looking for a garden gnome to wrestle but the idea of that didn't appeal to him anymore. Not to mention he was getting to big for that now.

Early, on time, or late.

Rhodes didn't know which of those three she was, but according to the owl she had received from Michael Toussaint, she didn't really think it mattered. All that mattered was that she was there, at the student garden, just where he wanted to meet her and..

Was this not the most romantic of places to want to meet?

Of course, she had no intentions of those sorts with the Gryffindor, since she was still new to the whole friendship thing that they had going on, but the meeting place did cause her to laugh a few times while she was making her way there. At least she didn't let on that she thought it was amusing once she found Mikey, and sidling up to him, she gave him a poke right in the side before crouching down to pick a few of the flowers. They were allowed to do that, right? Oh well. "I didn't think you were a garden person, Michael Toussaint." She turned her head so she could smiiiirk up at him before going back to what she was doing. "I can make you a crown of flowers. You'd look beautiful."

He saw her approaching from the corner of his eye and he couldn't help but laugh at the poke in the side. Mainly because it was funny that she would do something like that and because it did tickle a little.

"I'm not." He said looking down at her with an amused grin before crouching down beside her. "Well I did use to like to torment the garden gnomes." So he guessed that he had spent quite a bit of time in the garden, but he wouldn't be able to tell you one plant from the other.

As for the crown of flowers. "I'll be right thanks. We'll leave the flowers for you." Picking a a bright pink flower, Michael tucked it in behind her ear."Anyway how are you settling in?"

Was she being nice to people?

Had she made any friends?

Yeah, she really didn't think Michael was the garden type.

Unless it was destroying a garden, because that was something she could definitely see him doing. And he only confirmed what she had been thinking as soon as he mentioned tormenting garden gnomes. Rhodes stopped in her flower picking to stare over at the Gryffindor, before shaking her head and turning away. And even though she wasn't all that interested, she just couldn't stop herself from finding out more. "How do you torment a garden gnome?" Weren't they stupid things anyway?

Did this particular garden have gnomes? Perhaps instead of telling her how he tormented them, he could just show her. It would probably be amusing.

She did smile, though, as soon as he placed the pink flower into her hair, and making sure that it wasn't going to fall out, because she liked it, she moved to a sitting position and placed all the flowers she had picked onto her lap. He said he wasn't going to wear a flower crown, but since she was now making one, he would have no choice. Hehe. "Fine, I guess." It wasn't like this was her first time in the castle. "I signed up for Quidditch." And she hadn't raised a fist to anyone since the train ride.

But he didn't need to know that. She placed a few flowers on the top of his head, so she could get a good measure of its size. "What about you?"

He knew she would want to know about the garden gnomes. She pretended that she didn't care but Michael knew that she did. His grin was broad as he answered her question. "Well you lure them out of their hidey holes. I find that using meat is the best. And then once they're out, you pounce on them." He made a motion with his hands. "I'm too big to wrestle with them now." He could always move on to trolls. Hehe.

He moved into a sitting position as well and his eyes lit up when she mentioned Quidditch. "I did too. We should go practice together some time." It had been a while since he had played. He didn't get a chance over the summer.

And she was determined to make him a flower crown, wasn't she? Michael figured he would just let her. Easier that way. "Not bad. Made some new friends." Mainly girls. Seems he had away with them. Or so he had been told. Couldn't seem to get his BFF to talk to him though.

"What classes did you pick for third year?"

Well..

Someone sure was happy, perhaps a little too happy, to be telling her about how he tormented the garden gnomes. And even though she still didn't care, no matter what he thought, pfft, she made sure to pay close attention to everything he said, and even managed a nod or two in understanding. So.. he lured the gnomes out of their hidey holes, with meat, and then he pounced on them? Like.. some sort of cat thing? Since that was what she got from his hand motions. Okay then. "And you did this for fun?" As for not being able to wrestle them anymore, she gave a shrug of her shoulders. "There are probably other things you can do to them."

If only this garden had them so he could figure those other things out.

At least Quidditch talk was something that she could really get into, and forgetting about the flowers that were on her lap, she looked over at Michael to BEAM at him. "I saw your name on the tryout form!" Of course, she was just waiting for him to tell her. "We could go on the practice pitch. Do you have your own broom?" And was it better than hers? If so, could he let her use it!?

She was still grinning, moreso now because he hadn't taken the flowers from off his head, and placing a few more there, she went right back to making the crown. She did look over at him, though, or just a moment when he mentioned making friends. "I made an enemy." Maybe. Perhaps. She had yet to run into Romulus again to decide that just yet.

And classes.. Rhodes placed the finished flower crown right on top of the other flowers that were on Michael's head before leaning back to get a GOOD look at him. "I picked a few of them." She wasn't about to list them all. "Why'd you pick this place to meet me?" She forgot to ask that.

Apparently Rhodes and he had different ideas of what to do for fun. No doubt she thought getting what she wanted from her grandparents was fun. He gave her a nudge with his shoulder and chuckled. "Don't judge it until you've tried it. I'm a boy. We like to do those kinds of things." Not to mention climbing trees and playing in the dirt. He looked at her and raised his eyebrow. "Do you have some ideas, Miss Merivel?"

Oh did she now? Michael was tempted to ask her if she had put her name down because he had. She probably wouldn't tell him anyway. "Yeah I have my own broom. It's two years old though, but mum and dad said I can only have a new one if I am serious about playing Quidditch." Parents logic could be so annoying at times. "Have you got your own broom?"

She had made an enemy? Michael was not particularly surprised by this. Rhodes did have a bit of an attitude and he was sure that if had been any other girl, he probably wouldn't tolerate her, but there was something about this girl that he liked. "Oh? Want to tell me about it?" Who was it? And how did this happen?

Seriously, the things he did to keep girls happy. He was sitting there with a bunch of flowers on his head just to please her. He was just reaching up to feel them when her question caught him by surprise. "Um...I don't know. I think because it's quiet here and we can talk easier."

He totally did not have any ulterior motives.

Pfft. She wasn't judging, nope, not at all. And perhaps it was because she wasn't a boy, since they were the ones who did those kinds of thing, but she just couldn't see the fun in pouncing on garden gnomes. Of course, she didn't see the fun in a lot of things, but she didn't think she needed to tell Michael that. And she was just going to ignore his nudge. She would've just nudged him back harder and they would probably end up fighting. Or something. "No. I don't have any ideas yet. But maybe if you find one of these gnomes, I can think of something." Ideas were always easier to come up with when they had the thing they needed an idea for right in front of them.

She.. probably shouldn't have told him that she had seen his name on the sign up form. But it wasn't like she was stalking him or anything! Just a casual snoop on the other teams forms, to look at the competition, and there it was. His name. She had even put her name down on the Slytherin list before she looked. At least, that's what she would tell him if he ask. Ahem. "Are you serious about Quidditch then?" To get a new broom, she'd be serious about anything. "I have one. But it's not at Hogwarts. Yet. The Grandparents think I should try out using a school broom first." A used school broom. How gross was that? "And if I make the team, they will send me mine."

Grandparents logic could be even more annoying than parents logic sometimes.

And no. She didn't want to talk about her enemy. Because really, she didn't know if he was an enemy or not. He had given her a squashed cauldron cake, though. He was pretty high up on her enemy list because of it. Rhodes gave a shake of her head and added a dismissive wave of her hand. She could handle Romulus Tillstorm on her own. All she had to do was rat him out to the Healer. Hehe.

Her attention was drawn away from the flowers that were sitting so pretty on Michael's head as he answered her question, and raising her eyebrows up at him, a knowing grin made its way onto her face. "Right. Right. Easier to talk."

Riiiiight.

Christmas wandered around the student garden she was going to miss this place once she left in fact she would miss the whole of Hogwarts

While exploring the greenhouses out of a mixture of boredom and curiosity, Lux came across a high stone wall with the smell of flowers coming through the other side.

Oh, she had found a garden!

Passing through the arch, she sniffed happily and looked around at all the pretty flowers. Even if she was not a huge flower lover, she could still appreciate gardens and people who worked hard to maintain them. Clearly the Herbology Professor was one of these people.

While looking at a pretty section of irises, Lux spotted Christmas. "Hey, Christmas! How have you been?" She had not seen the girl since the Great Feast.

Christmas smiled at Lux and said "I have been good thanks Lux, how have you been"

Placing her hands behind her back, Lux began to bounce on the balls of her feet a little. She was just so happy and full of energy! "I've been great! I've met a lot of nice people, and I've found a tree house here! And this really nice girl lent me The Hobbit to read!" She was really looking forward to that, because Hobbits seemed really cute, and Addi loved the book, so it had to be as amazing as her brownies. "Oh, and Tessa is helping me to learn how to fly!"

She couldn't believe how many fun things she had done at school so far and Term had only started not too long ago. At this rate, she was going to be so depressed when Term ended and she would have to leave this place and her friends for the summer.

Christmas smiled at Lux and said "Well that is great that Tessa is helping you learn how to fly and it is great that your settling in at Hogwarts fine and i am really glad to have met you Lux"

"Mmmm." Lux grinned as she kept bouncing. Yes, it was amazing that Tessa was helping her with her flying in baby steps. She was such a good big sister, just like how Bay was a really good big brother. "I am really glad to have met you too, Christmas." It was a shame she had not seen the Seventh Year very much so far this Term, and with it being her NEWT year, maybe that would not really change.

She did not even want to think of Bay being busy studying for his OWLs, because that thought depressed her.

Christmas smiled and said "So what do you think of Hogwarts now that your actually here"

Laura was just studying the gardens, she hadn't been out much since she had come back to school and she wanted to see what was new, she saw Christmas and someone else she didn't think she knew. "Hi Christmas." Laura shouted across to her friend. "Mind if I join you?" Laura really wanted to take her mind of a few things.

Lux was a little surprised at Christmas' question, as she figured it would be obvious that she loved it by all the excitement and hyper talking she had been doing. "Well, I never want to leave." That would answer the question sufficiently, she figured.

Turning when a girl arrived, she noticed that it was the same one who Tessa had been talking to at the feast when she had waved. Any friend of Tessa's had to be awesome! "Of course you can join us. Hi, I'm Lux!"

Christmas smiled and said "Hi Laura of course you can join us" Christmas turned to Lux and said "That is great but someday you will leave but you can never forget your time at Hogwarts"

Laura smiled. "Hi Lux, I'm Laura." Okay so she was not going to give her full name out, she had got fed up with doing that and she had no idea why she used to do it. "How are you?"

Laura smiled as she looked at Christmas. "And how are you?" She decided she might as well ask her friend how she was because it was just awesome though then her friend said something about leaving Hogwarts and Laura pouted she didn't like being reminded about that.

Lux nodded at what Christmas was saying to her. The older girl would know about that, seeing as she herself would be leaving after this Term. That was sad, and she would miss Christmas when she was gone. "I don't think I will ever remember my time here or the friends I am making!" And she would make many more friends over the years as she got older.

"Nice to meet you, Laura. I am doing well. How are you?" By the look of it, she guessed that Laura was the same age as Christmas, so she would be Graduating at the end of this term as well. Seeing Laura pout, she realized that she was right in her guess. "Let's talk about something else!" She did not want anyone to be sad here in a pretty garden of all places.

Michael had to admit that he was rather curious as to know what she would do with a gnome if they had one. He was going to have to look out for one now. "Eh...Bentley keeps a very tidy garden. They are near impossible to find any around here." He had managed to find one last year but he hadn't seen any since.

Was he serious about Quidditch? He liked the game sure and he had fun when he played it but whether he wanted to make a career out of it..."Well I can't I've dreamed about becoming a professional or anything." He shrugged his shoulders. "But maybe I'll change my mind once I start playing at school." Who knew what could happen? Okay that was kinda weird. "But what's your broom going to do at home? Even if you don't make the team you can still fly at school." Seemed a bit of a waste of a good broom.

Apparently he was being dismissed, so he assumed that Rhodes wanted to handle it on her own. Michael was sure that the Slytherin could handle herself just fine. Which she was proving right now. He noticed the look she was giving him and he grinned sheepishly at her. "Well okay, I may have wanted to do a little more than talk."

Christmas nodded at Lux and said "Yeah i think your right there Lux i don't like to see Laura being upset"

Marigold skipped along the pathway of the garden-thing. WELL, it was a pretty garden and all but it needed more bouncy things. In case you hadn't noticed she was a bit filled with chocolatey goodness. OH. Dirt. PROBABLY for planting things BUT she could probably convince someone to get a trampoline there right? Riiiight? Yep.

Laura looked at Luz and smiled. "It's nice to meet you too." Laura was really glad that she was finally meeting the girl. "So what you been up to?" Laura suddenly asked, she decided that since it was her fault they were changing the topic she would come up with a new idea. "You know something." Laura giggled. "I just remembered in my first year there was this topiary Garden and well I entered a three legged race with someone a year older which was really funny." Laura giggled.