Nicole smiled at Chance when she heard what he had said, but frowned playfully at his 'almost chocking' reaction at her saying that she liked his hugs. "Really?" she asked. She did not know what to feel about getting more hugs.

It would have been fun trying to bake an apple cobbler with the Gryffindor, or so Nicole thought. Chance did not seem to share her excitement. She shrugged, knowing they probably would have failed anyways. Also, they had cookies! She finished her chocolate chip cookie, and picked up another oatmeal one with a grin.

She turned her stare away from Toddles and to Chance. "What?" she asked, confused. Then, she realized what he was talking about and laughed. "Oh, I wish I could do that," she said, shaking her head. It would be cool, communicating with one another without having to open her mouth.

The Ravenclaw turned around just in time to see Toddles reach the fridge. He was cute in the way he moved around with his little feet. Normally, Nicole would have checked the expiry date of the milk before drinking it, but decided to trust this one. After all, it was Hogwarts.

"Thank you, Toddles," she said, reaching out to take the glass of milk. She took a drink out of it, remembering to wipe her mouth afterwards. Yummy milk!

"Sure tomorrow evening works." Leo confirmed with a smile. "I don’t have any other plans for the evening I just need to check in with the eagles before their curfew is up." To make sure that everyone was where they were supposed to be and that there was no trouble he needed to deal with, not that Gabriel and Coral-Bay weren’t equipped to settle arguments amongst their peers. Leo liked to check in every day to make sure things were fine so he could sleep easily.

How the first encounter between Madonna and Libra would go was hard to predict so Leo chose not to waste any thoughts on it. Cassie had said it’d be fine. Fetching the dry ingredients he walked over to put them on the counter next to the eggs Cassie had taken out of the fridge. "We just need baking butter too and then we can start."

"Got any preference on where we go when Hogsmeade opens for business in a few weeks?" he wondered.

Really? Nicole was looking at him funny. And Toddles, Toddles was just Toddles. And there was milk and cookies. Who wouldnt want more cookies and milk?

"Of course!" Chance said in response to the more hugs. He was a huggable person. Besides, if it broke her shell, he would do it. "Pass me a cookie Nicky Nick!" Nicknames, they were awesome. She should have one. "Unless you want to make that cobbler, then we could. But, Im just warning you that I am horrible in the kitchen. Like, HORRIBLE! Im talking about burning water in the kitchen horrible." Could you even burn water? Chance bet he could.

"Toddles, is there any way you could grab some supplies to make an apple cobbler with?" Chance asked... politely to the house elf. He was going to try out this apple cobbler. Maybe with someone else they wouldnt burn the castle down. Hopefully.

"Maybe magic will even help?" Thought he didnt know how.

*SNAPS*

She was excited when he confirmed the meeting of the animals. This was going to be fun! She'd make sure to get some extra treats for Madonna, but she had a good feeling about it. Still beaming as she turned to look for the butter, "You are such a good Head of House, those Claws are so lucky." They were super lucky to have such a carrying man to guide and lead them.

"Oh there's the butter."


She grinned and grabbed it out of the fridge and turned back to the table. "I think we are all set now." She looked down at all the ingredients. Was their instructions or did he know them by memory? She was going to be super impressed if he could do this by memory. She was lucky to remember how to make macaroni and cheese without looking. "What do we do first? "

Green eyes looked up, "Oh we should totes go to Madam Puddifoots, she has the best teas." Plus it was a cute little place. "But really, we could go anywhere during that weekend." She was just happy for another reason to go down to Hogsmeade.

Marshmallow cookies it was then! Happily Lux got back to her feet so that she could hunt some down. Maybe if she had difficulty she could ask one of the adorable elves since they had been popping up all over the place lately. A few minutes later, however, she returned triumphant. "There!" The marshmallows were put down by the chocolate and they were almost ready to begin.

"Exactly," she added, pleased that he was amused by the whole situation; better than being mopey because the person he wanted was with someone else. "I was in your exact situation, and look what happened!" Just required a bit of time and some faith. "But why would you abandon her?" Maybe she was a little slow, but Lux was confused. "Vinnie as in the Vinnie that dated Jun?" She didn't know all the details about their past relationship, though Jun DID tell her a little about it. That it had been shocking put it mildly.

Her boyfriend didn't go to Hogwarts...that was a point in James' favour depending on the way Vinnie looked at things. Some people just didn't have it in them to long distance relationships because of all the effort involved. "Did something happen to upset her?" His last comment made it sound that way, but she really didn't know this Vinnie.

Nicole blushed at Chance's reply and smiled. She wanted to be as friendly and hugging as him, but it was difficult to do so when most of her friends were books. She liked the current her, but sometimes wished she was an average twelve-year-old girl.

She grinned at her new nickname. She had only allowed her friend Adi to address her as 'Nicky', but guessed it was okay for others to call her by that too. "Catch, Chance!" she said, reaching for a chocolate chip cookie. She tossed it lightly at Chance, hoping he would catch it successfully. She paused in her track when she heard what he had said. "You mean boiling water, which is actually a good thing in the kitchen," the girl corrected him, but a smile stretched across her face at the thought of making an apple cobbler. "But yes, let's do it. I'm not an expert in the kitchen either, but I think Toddles here is," Nicole gestured at the house elf. They could certainly get his help!

She nodded approvingly as the Gryffindor talked politely to Toddles. "Yeah, I think it would be helpful," she agreed. "Though i don't know when it would be of use, since I have never seen anybody cook using magic." Her mother, who did most cooking, was a muggle, and of course did not use magic in the kitchen.

Then an idea popped up in Nicole's mind. She reached down for her bag, then opened it up and began rummaging in it. Soon, she found the book she was looking for and pulled it out. "I know this might sound strange, but I happen to have a recipe book in my bag," she said while she flipped over to the index of the book. Apple cobbler...

Not being able to stop himself from blushing broadly Leo said "I really hope they think so too. And don't consider me too overbearing. I enjoy talking to them," And hanging out with them when his scheduled permitted, luckily the eagles weren’t big on pulling pranks or breaking school rules. So the meetings and detentions that have come out of them hadn’t so far repeated itself.

With a small smile pursing his lipäs Leo watched Cassie as she hunted around in the fridge for the butter they needed. When she came back to the table with it he leaned over and gave her light kiss on the cheek agreeing. "Now, we are all set. The first we need to do is mix up all the ingredients except the bananas into a smooth batter in the bowl with a ladle. Do you want to do that?"

Shrugging he said as he moved around Cassie to put on one of the ovens to the right temperature. "Sure we can go to Madam Puddifoots and drink tea and eat cookies. I just have never understood why it has become a hanging out place for couples. Do you?"

She was blushing. It was cute. Chance nudged her with his shoulder and grinned at her. He was going to point out the obvious and let her in on the fact that she was blushing, but he decided against it. She didnt seem like one that really took hugs too often.

He was about to ask her what really often did around Hogwarts when she started talking about the apple cobbler again. Ohhhh, he shouldnt have brought it up. She was going to make fun of him for forever. This was not going t be a good thing!

"Oh right, water boiling. You cant burn water?" he asked Nicole with a grin. He knew you couldnt... possibly. It evaporated right? Poof! Gone! "And you have a cookbook in your backpack?" The look he gave her was wide eyed. The wasnt what people usually kept in there back pack. "What else do you have in there?" He asked leaning around her and looking into the bag. He laughed and opened it further. She probably had everything you could imagine in there plus books. Lots of books.

"Like to read?" Chance asked Nicole with a grin. He liked to enjoy a book on occasion but this was taking it to a whole new level. It was actually sorta cute. "Youll have to hang out with me more Nic. Thats it. Books are cool, but Im more awesome." More awesome.... was the even how you said that? Maybe he needed to read more....

"Ill tell you what. You hang with me more, and we can study and Ill even read more. Its a win/win situation." He said with another grin. Grabbing the cookbook, he flipped it to the apple cobbler page and twirled a spatula in his hand. "Okay. so.... whats first?"

She smiled back and shrugged. "Apparently," she said. "I don't think it would be a good idea to try. You might burn the castle down." Nicole found the idea of evaporation fascinating, but learned that not everybody enjoyed talking about that topic, so she did not bring it up.

She regretted taking the book out when she saw the wide eyes look from Chance. She must have looked like a weirdo, carrying a cookbook around in her bag. "Well, I don't really read it, it's just for my reference." she explained, but knew it would not change the boy's opinion of her. She did not stop him when he looked into her bag. "Nothing interesting," she said honestly. They were just things that she needed for lessons, and the cookbook was... an exception.

"Love to," Nicole replied. "What about you?" If he liked reading too, they could talk about books! He did not seem like a bookworm though, so she did not get her hopes high. Hearing his words, she simply nodded, but said nothing else. It was difficult to change into a social person after being stuck with books for her whole life, but she was willing to try. Maybe Chance could be her real best friend, even though he was three years older than her.

She considered this deal with a small frown on her face. She had nothing to lose. She would hang out more with Chance, and he would read more, and they would have a mutual hobby. How wonderful was that? "Deal." she said and gave him a smile. She reached out for a spatula too and held it out like a wand. Nicole peeked around the tall boy to see the recipe for herself. "We have to get the ingredients," she said, reading the list of supplies they needed.

Wouldnt be a good idea to try? Pfftt! Chance would try anything once. But, he was going to be nice for the elves of course. he didnt want them coming after him. Then he wouldnt be able to make the cobbler.

"Oh a phone!" Chance said as he eyed it. He didnt grab it though. He grinned. "I have one too so you will have to text me over the Christmas holidays and keep me company since Ill be stuck at home." He was not excited about that. Since Amur had seen his mum, it had changed a lot. His mum was now married to a pompous prick of a step dad. They had 2 kids of their own and try him like they dont want any part of him in their family. Especially since he was magical and noone else in the family was. "That'll be apart of our deal too. You keeping me unbored while Im at my folks house." He grinned.

"Okay cobbler. So we need...." He reads the recipe and looks around to go and start grabbing ingredients. "Granny smith apples.." He grabbed few of them and handed them to her. "They say sliced so do you wanna go ahead and start slicing them?" Grabbing some more supplies like brown sugar, apple cider, flour, etc., He brought them over to where they were. "Okay, now what can I do?"

Look at that, he was just being so modest. She couldn't even imagine the Ravenclaws thinking of him as overbearing. "No way! You do such a great job and take so much pride in them. There is no way they would think that." She beamed towards him, "Anyone would be soooo lucky to have you as their head of house." She felt the school was very lucky to have the leaders they did. Each head was just wonderful, though she was a bit biased to one of the puff leaders being her best friend and all.

Looking at the ingredients Cassie wasn't even sure what to do first. Her green eyes looking over the ingredients and she felt her nerves jump, she didn't want to screw up in front of Leo. No guy should see a girl mess up in the kitchen. Goodness how embarrassing, though he knew she wasn't a cook and didn't know how to bake. "Maybe we could just do it together.You could start with the first ingredient." She could be like his assistant. How fun could that be!!

She moved the butter closer to the bowl, but thought maybe they didn't start with that. "Well just what you said. Cookies and tea, it's more a couple place that way. Just quiet with sweets, not big meals. Just so cute and romantic." Eeeep! She loved cute little places like that and living in Hogsmeade she had been there a few times.

Blushing Leo murmured feeling his face go warm and probably beat red."I hope you're right. I've grown fond all of the eagles and I like doing stuff for and with them." Like the party they had at the start of term and then the Christmas tree decorating they'd had just a few days ago. It had felt like the eagles had appreciated his and Tiara’s efforts and had fun too. And that was most important the fun part.

Leo hunted around for a while in the cupboards before he found the moulds they'd need to put the batter in. Taking up position next to Cassie at the table Leo gave her a playful nudge in the side before he measured up 2 decilitres of wheat flour into the bowl. Glancing sideways he said "Can you crack 2 eggs and pour them into the bowl?" He didn’t mind if they were taking turns putting in ingredients. It made the baking more fun.

"Ah, I see. Couples go to Madam Puddifoots for the tea, sweets, privacy and romance factor. It sounds like the perfect place for us then." Reaching for the baking powder Leo added "Maybe we can stop by Honeydukes too? I'm longing for some candy."

“I know I’m right.” She beamed at him, they had to think he was as great as she did. He was so dedicated to his house, she just thought all the heads were amazing! They did so much work for their houses and the school. Eeep! She hoped she could be half as good as they were at being a leader even if she wasn’t really leading anything. Though she was pretty proud of herself for knowing more about Gobstones and even being able to talk and explain it to a few students. This was a huge thing for the nonsports puff.

They were making muffins, okay she could do this. Hearing him give her directions she pulled open the egg carton and pulled out two eggs. Crack them and put them in the bowl, got it. Looking at the egg she bumped it on the edge of the counter and hearing it crack moved it to the bowl, letting the insides drop. This was easy and fun, “One down.” Grabbing the next one she did the same, but this time she saw it before she could stop it. An egg shell fell into the bowl. Ewww did she scoop it out or just pretend it wasn’t there? He didn’t see did he? No one would ever notice a small piece of shell, no she thought she could get away with it, but then that wasn’t the way to cook. So pulling her wand she retrieved the shell piece.

Her already huge smile grew just a bit bigger at his romantic comment. She looked romantic things so this was just too perf! Snapping with excitement she nearly hit the bowl with her elbow, “I can’t wait, we will have sooo much fun!” Honeydukes was one of her favorites as well, “That sounds like a great idea. I could use some more fudge so that students have some new verities.” There was only so far you could take cookies and hot chocolate. “My house isn’t too far from the shops if we have some extra time we could always stop over there.” She could grab a few new pairs of shoes to take back to the castle, she was bored of the ones she brought with her.

Kace made his way to the kitchens to meet Puck in here, not because he wanted to fix up a yummy snack, oh no no he needed to do his Arithmancy activity. If he had the time he would make a yummy snack. He saw all the cooking ingredients and it was tempting. He found a clean table to put his notebook on and waited for his best friend to arrive. In the mean time he began to doodle and tap his foot.

He really should play his guitar sometime and start jamming. He had been missing it lately and had been neglecting his guitar lately. He might go down in the courtyard and play a song.

She wasn’t late or anything she was just not all together that good with Arithmancy. Nope. Not at all. Sure she’d done well in the last class but that was probably a fluke and well she was all busy with her potions project. Hearing the sound of Kace’s neglected guitar she quickly snuck into the kitchen.

“Hey Kace.” She grinned over to him…well, there might have been a bit of a glare to her grin. He had after all told her to tell someone she liked him when dosed on extra powerful you will do what I say potion.

As Kace was waiting for his friend to come in, he was wondering what was taking her so long. He grinned and nodded towards when he saw Puck. "Hey Puck!" he greeted her. Alright cut to the chase. "So I need your birthday for Arithmancy, I don't know if you fell asleep in class when she mentioned the activity.." he smirked. He knew she had the tendency to do that.

He wasn't judging her of course because he has done it too. "We need your birthday so we can break it into cycles and such."

Oh…that’s what they were doing. “The numbers were all whizzing and dinging its like I wasn’t even there but I was you know?” She offered and shrugged her shoulder. “Well…I uh my birthday was just on the 25th of December” she casually nodded.

“Capricorns are amazing you know – when is yours?” She asked and tipped her head to the side.

Kace nodded and copied it down and put it in his Arthimancy notes. Now his two people were done. He began to do the math himself on the sheet.



ALL DONE. He grinned and nodded and said, "Thank you Puck and trust me I know the feeling. I thought I didn't get it either till a little click went off in my head is all." Seriously how did he get so good at Arthimancy all of a sudden. He grinned and said, "I am a Capricorn too Puck. My birthday is December 22 so it is really close to yours. We are like birthday twins." he winked.

Oh. Merlin. “Seriously? That is awesome!” She grinned over to him. “Next year we have to throw a joint birthday thing? Maybe just go and grab food somewhere?” She grinned over to him. “Heck we could apparate somewhere after all I’ll be 17 next December” she grinned over to him.

Yes this wasn’t about Arithmancy right now this was just cool. “Oh wait…were you a 2068 kid then?” She asked over to him and grinned.

Nicole scanned the recipe once before looking up. She pulled her phone out of her bag and twirled it in her hand. She knew it was difficult to find a muggle phone in the Wizarding world, let alone at Hogwarts. She had tried several times to make a call back home, but failed. This did not stop her from carrying it around with her all the time in her bag.

"Sure, I'll be looking forward to it," she said, giving Chance a smile. The Ravenclaw noticed the way he talked about his home and family and her curiousity got the better of her. "Not excited to go back home?" she asked. If it was a personal issue, she would not push it further. Although she could not understand how anybody would not like the warmth of their family. Nicole herself was talking about the upcoming Christmas holidays already!

She watched for a moment amusedly as the boy started grabbing ingredients. Nicole could not believe his enthusiasm. She certainly hoped this apple cobbler would turn out to be a success. "Oh, okay," she said, realizing that she was doing nothing the whole time. She took one apple and grabbed a cutting board and sharp knife (eep!). She placed the apple on top of the cutting board and used the knife to cut it from all sides until she only had the core left. After casually throwing the core away, she repeated the process to all the other apples. "I think this is enough," she said, wiping her hands on her robes. Nicole looked up just in time to see Chance arrive with all other supplies.

She already had the first few steps of the recipe memorized, and so replied without glancing back at the page, "I will arrange the apples, can you preheat the oven to 3500°?" Little did she know that she had said the number incorrectly. Very incorrectly.

With everything going on the past few months, Zander needed a well needed break from EVERYBODY. Except, he could only hide out in his room for so long before the hunger set in. Considering the random hour, he could've even made it to the Great Hall without running into too many people on the way. Yet, there was something strangely off-putting about how open the Great Hall is. Besides, it was much less likely he'd run into people if he went to the kitchens instead. Definitely the safer choice.

Maybe eating would get rid of his headache too. With all the studying he was doing for OWLs, planning for the event things, and lessons the headaches were constant. Not to mention the fact that the whole forrest incident was still fresh on his mind, though that one would be difficult to get rid of no matter what. Saw it twice and everything. That kind of stuff just sticks with you, you know?

Holding the strap of his bag, he made his way inside looking around before asking one of the elves for a sandwich. Food, glorious food. Maybe this would make him feel better. He was still a mopey mess, by the way. Probably a lost cause.

So. SO. Sooooo.

Toby was perhaps not as hyper as he COULD have been right now, but he was still pretty up there. But not SO hyper that he didn't feel the need to eat, which did often happen. No, as a matter of fact, he was absolutely starving right now. He'd spent the last few days basically NYOOMing around the castle like a kangaroo on billywig stings, like he'd been making up for the last few months of relative peace. But y'know, that sorta thing worked up an APPETITE, and it was for that reason that the still-energised Hufflepuff had tickled the pear and let himself into the kitchens.

"I need to eat everything," the Hufflepuff announced to the room as he stepped inside and bounced on the spot for a moment while he took a look around. Don't worry house elves, you're safe. What with Toby being a vegetarian and all.

The bouncing and flailing kept Toby occupied for a moment, but it wasn't long before he spotted someone familiar. Zander. Gryffindor Zander. Sophie's Zander. The Hufflepuff had already taken a few steps closer before stopping himself again. Would the other boy want company? HIS company? It was a mystery.

Even the very thought of food helped a biiiiiit. Not all too much if looking at the grand scheme of things, but a bit was more than nothing. So he'd take it. And he'd also take the nice sandwich that he'd wanted too. But he needed an elf for that. And there'd be a bit waiting involved since sandwiches didn't make themselves and all... Though suppose magic could do that kind of-- Ahem.

He hadn't even noticed Sophie's bouncing Toberoni yet because he was so busy trying to think about sandwiches. 'Cause again, that thought seemed to be a nice one. He shrugged kind of sadly at the thought of having to wait though, and just as he turned around he came face to face with the bouncing boy. Oh Merlin. He came to the kitchens to avoid this kind of thing. Not to avoid Toberoni specifically, but just people. Just wasn't feeling all too chipper, you know?

Though... he couldn't just walk away now. Sophie would not like that. And just 'cause he was sad didn't mean he would neglect manners all together. Sigh. "Uh, hi Tob--" ... "Toby." Ahem. At least he could tell Sophie that he had tried? She'd be happy that he did that much... Right? Toby was great. Zander just wasn't feeling great, you know? Nothing against the guy. Just his headspace wasn't the best right now.

Crazy fidgeting was happening right now. Toby just could not stay still, though that was really nothing new. It was just a weird thing to get used to, having the ENERGY side of the hyperness but not necessarily the manic mood. Not that it hadn't happened to him before, bUT YEAH very weird okay.

Toby gnawed away at his fingernails, though now it was less of an 'omg anxiety' thing and more of an 'oMG I MUST DO SOMETHING WITH MY LIMBS' thing, and looked around in the hopes that a four course meal might be magically waiting just for him to devour it or something. But no. No food. He'd have to ask a house elf to get him something, because Merlin knew if he tried to make something Hogwarts would be in ruins before you could say 'But I was hungry'.

Even as he was mulling over this, Toby heard his name and was instantly snapped back to the present day. Zander. Still here. Talking to him. That was good, right? Yeah.

"Hi Zan-Zander," he replied without skipping a beat, as easily as though those were pre-established nicknames or something. Even his talking was faster than normal. Toby regarded the Gryffindor for a moment. SOMEthing was off with the kid, and he could tell, and had been able to tell for a while, but because Toby's brain was just so dskjfksdkhsddskjsdkhs and his thoughts went super fast it was hard to try and focus and work out 1. what was up and 2. how to help (and that was only 3. IF he could help). "You okay? I'm gonna try making a pizza. You wanna split it with me?" Aaaaaand did he wanna help make it?

Another pause, which felt suuuuper long to Toby but was actually probably less than a second. "Sometimes when I'm unhappy I like doing things to keep my brain busy, and I won't ask you about it if you don't want me to." Inwardly, Toby kicked himself and cursed his runaway mouth for saying things before he gave it permission. "I mean, like..." Uhhh... what did he mean? No, it was no good. His mouth was going faster than his brain. "D'you wanna join me? I'll shut up, I promise."

He just really wanted this pizza, okay? But he wanted this friendship even more.

Was it just him or was 'Tobes' super bouncy?... Was he like this all the time? 'Cause he was like this in that last lesson too and... Sophie never mentioned this bit. Not that it'd be a problem or anything, but it was just kind of... Kind of strange. If only there was a way to transfer some of that energy. Like give just a bit of it to Zander Adair. Not so much that the Gryffindor became the bouncing one, but just enough to lift his spirits or something. That'd be nice, 'specially after everything that had happened this year. He needed some of that bouncing juice, or whatever it was that got 'Tobes' all trampoline-like, like he was.

And then suddenly, the Hufflepuff snapped out of it (whatever it was exactly) and started shooting out words like five hundred kilometers per second and Zander just blinked. Uh. Come again? He took a moment to completely process all those words because clearly they were running at different paces or something. More like bouncing at different paces, actually. "I-uh-I'm... Yeah... I'm okay," he lied. Okay so if Sophie Brown knew that he was lying to her Tobes she'd probably be real mad, maybe. No not mad, maybe just a bit disappointed? Merlin. But Zander didn't really know him, y'know? It'd be strange if he just told him how not-okay he was. He didn't talk about it to anyone but Sophie and Kevin Hirase, himself. Even those conversations were kept kind of brief.

So nothing against the guy. But he wasn't going to pour his heart and soul out right-- Wait, Pizza? The Fifth year DID have his heart set on that sandwich, but that also meant having to sit around while the house elves made it and... Maybe -er- Toby was right. It could help take his mind off of it. "I'd like that," he nodded, even smiling a small bit as he looked at the older boy. "What kind of pizza are you going to make?" Not that it mattered, Zander would eat anything. Not to mention the fact that pizza was his ABSOLUTE favorite food.