Awww... Dora gave a slight pout as Echo moved over. She had been thoroughly enjoying hugging her... friend? Were they just friends? She was really unsure now that she thought about it all. But it was not the time to speak about it, ya know. Instead, the blonde flashed a smile and settled in beside Echo. The view, in her opinion, was not that impressive... she did, after all, live in the Gryffindor tower. Heh.

"Fancy that, yeah. You always seem to be in the right place at the right time," Dora said with a giggle. She would almost say that fate brought them together. Almost. But she was definitely that cheesy. "Oh you know... I just like to wander around sometimes. Besides, it makes more sense for a Gryffindor to be up on the higher floors. What are you doing up here?" As Dora moved closer, arm touching the other girl's, she couldn't help but feel that same shock run through like the first time they had met. Interesting.

All she wanted to do was to ask that question that was eating at her stomach, but would it scare her off? Echo didnt know what to do, this was a first. Yeah shes liked boys but not as much as her crush she has on Dora. She wondered if she could tell.

"im totally fine with that" she smiled as she moved away from the ledge and sat down on the wooden bench. "is it just me or are the classes harder this term?" she felt tired and she bet the bags under her eyes were a dead give away.

"and all ive been eating is junk food, so much fat.... i think ive gained like 5 pounds" and she just bought all new clothes because of the pink accident that happened.

"this is my place..... well not mine with my name on it but when im stressed and i need some time i come here, not to many people come up here because well you know books and studying." okay she didnt want to talk about studying.

"im happy that your here though" and that was the complete truth.

The Gryffindor wasn't sure if Echo liked her or not. Like... LIKED her. Ya know? She wasn't exactly known for having stellar self esteem after all. But like... maybe not everyone was privvy to that information. Her eyes followed the brunette as she moved to sit. Dora quite liked watching people... especially this particular person.

Leaning back against the railing, the blonde smiled a bit and let a shrug roll off of her shoulders.intr "New professors, I guess. They always act like they have to prove how superior they are to everyone else. They typically chill after a while, ya know." For the record, Dora didn't notice the under eye bags. Not even a little bit. She was focusing on other parts anyway. Heh. "Oh puuuuuhleeeze. You haven't gained any weight! You look perfect."

"I go to the treehouse when I need to be alone. Or I just walk around. I particularly like to walk outside when the weather is nice." She could totally understand needing to be away from people. Her ideal scenario was being on a beach somewhere... alone... with a book. Or with someone she didn't hate. And well, this place was full of rather deplorable people.

"Oh you are, are you? And why are you so happy to see me?" Teasing, of course. Dora was happy to see her, too. Finally pushing off of the railing she moved to sit beside Echo, eyes moving over her face.

"well can these Professors cool it? because im going to start to go crazy" that was an understatement, Echo earlier today put her pants on backwards, she was happy that she caught it before she left her dorm because it would have been crazy and not to mention embarrassing if people saw her like that.

"thanks, but my pants are so tight now. like i could cast a charm on them to get bigger but come on.... im a size 4 i want to fit into them.... maybe i should do some running? near the quidditch pitch???" she hadn't realized that she just kept talking.. "ohhh ermm sorry" it didnt even sound like she was breathing, just spewing out words.

"so yeah, erm the treehouse. ive been there a few times that i get" it was pretty calming but then again alot of the people who went there were alot younger and played on the stuff around the tree.

Watching her move and sit next to her sent electricity down her arms. "who wouldnt be happy to see you, Amazingly Beautiful and easy to talk to." smooth Echo, she was quite pleased with her self on that one.

Aoife had been here for nearly two years now and still hadn't discovered half of the surprises that Hogwarts had to offer. Although she is still in the hunt for a secret passage to somewhere amazing, she would settle for this pretty balcony for now, and class it as her special discovery of the day. She spent a good 10 minutes gazing over the beauty of the Hogwarts grounds, before deciding to get a bit more up close and personal.

She jumped up and perched herself on the ledge of the balcony, using one of the pillars as a support for her back. It was a little scary. But she had FULL faith in Hogwarts that some sort of magical force would catch her if she fell.

Optimism. She had it.

This spot had became Katerina's new favorite spot this term. The view was pretty, too. She liked sitting out there just watching it snow or on rainy days sitting out hearing and smelling the rain. Yes, She loved the smell of rain.

Now that it was colder outside the third year bought her blanket normally wrapped around her, and a cup of hot chocolate in hand up to the fourth floor. This time she also had some homework, the library was way to crowded, the 7th and fifth years where in full force study mode already, and barricading themselves in the library so she would just come up here and study... maybe if she felt like it. She seen another girl sitting on the the ledge? "Hello." She said hoisting herself on the ledge across from her. After she got situated she sipped on her hot chocolate, she did have enough to share.

"BrrrRrrrrrrr...."

Aoife shuddered, pretty loudly since she was alone. Though she wasn't alone for long, obviously. Peace and quiet at Hogwarts was not a thing. Tightening her scarf around her neck a bit, she watched a fellow blonde girl casually perch herself alongside her with a furrowed brow. Either the girl had the same faith in a magical blanket below them, or sitting up on the ledge wasn't that adventurous at all. "Hi..." Awkward pause. Aoife even considered leaving. Should she? Should she????

You know what, it was a day for making friends.

Aoife's expression changed immediately to an inviting grin. "I'm Aoife. Aoife Dunne. I don't think I've ever seen you around before?" And she saw everyone.

Yeah, the whole homework plan was probably not happening. Kat did get a book out to read. At first she thought they greeting was as far as their conversation was going. But then the other girl started taking.

Katerina smiled and said "Hey, I'm Katerina. Oh really, I don't think I've seen you around before either." She was a gryffindor and she didn't have too many or know too many gryffindors. and this girl looked younger too, maybe she was, Maybe it was time to make more gryffindor friends. "What are you doing out here?" Curious as to why other people come here too.

"Er, okay." Dalton nodded and turned slightly away from Nat, wrapping the scarf around his neck and hoping she would mistake the red in his ears for a reaction to the cold - which, honestly, partly probably was. He mentally kicked himself for offering though, he didn't know why he was being so nice all of a sudden, but put it down to the fact that she was Kelly's friend, and the influence Charlotte had been having.

At least he was warm. "Yeah, winter sucks. It's too cold to do anything." And since the summer he'd spent with Char and her family in the Maldives? Yeah, Dalton was definitely more of a warm weather kind of boy.

Natalia didn't notice, but she wasn't all that observant with things. Her mind was always so clouded by her own thoughts she rarely noticed small things like red ears or blushing cheeks. "You would think I would keep more winter things in my bag for times I want to step out after three years of this weather." She stepped out for breaks lots of times so it really was dumb of her not to carry a scarf or even a hat.

Her eyes focused on Dalton again. "Yeah, the only thing I miss about Australia is the warmth. This is not my cup of tea." Speaking of tea she might need to go get some soon. That or a cup of coffee could really go well right now. That would wait though she was enjoying just being here and looking out on the grounds. She had just spotted the horses out near the barn. "So what brings you here?" Not that many people didn't walk over here, but she was just a bit nosy at times.

Kitty had been writing in the balcony of the fourth floor for quite some time now. She was finishing a letter to her mom, and she was making sure to include all the interesting gossip about Miffy and Peeves - along with everything happening in lessons and in between lessons.

"Merlin!" she swore loudly as her quill broke.

Unfortunately she didn't know how exactly to tell her mom how she found out about the marriage. That was why her quill had broken, she had been pressing down so hard in frustration that it snapped in two.

Kitty paced back and forth as she considered what to write.

It seemed every time he was close to executing plan 'sweet her off her feet' something came up to ruin it. The last time was the nasty argument they got in and now it was the rain. He thought about possible running into the Three Broomsticks or one of the closer shops but they were closer to Hogwarts so Bentley took Chloe's hand and belted back to the castle.

With plenty of his fellow students off somewhere in Hogsmeade, it wasn;t hard to find someplace quiet where they could talk...or whatever.

He let go of her hand when they got to the fourth floor and leaned against the rail.

"Well I guess my plans went bust...again."

Chloe was displeased with the rain. To say the least. Getting her hair under control was, like, a full time job and now that it was wet she could already feel it frizzing. As soon as he released her hand she went to work trying to coerce her hair into a ponytail.

The blonde was in the process of throwing her hair up when Bentley went full grump mode, "It's fine," she assured him, "Not a big deal." Relatively speaking to her hair, that is. The hair was a huge deal.

She managed to get the elastic on and sighed in relief. Contained hair was contained.

"you only say that because you didn't have your plans washed from under you thanks to the impulsive Scotland rain." He frowned out at the rain and sucked his teeth. Ugh.

"Maybe it's a sign." He turned his back to the grounds so he could face her. Or maybe he was getting cold feet about this whole thing and she was right. Maybe they were better off how they were right now. He ran a hand through his dark hair in a frustrated manner.

She raised an unimpressed, manicured brow at him, "Or maybe it rains 265 out of 365 days here. And Hogsmeade doesn't have Hogwarts enchantments to make the weather more agreeable." Logic, Bentley, she was gonna use it almost always. Even when it wasn't needed or asked for, which, frankly, was most times.

Chloe crossed her arms, "Are you being skiddish now?" Because she had HAD reservations and nerves coming into this and he had assured her it was all gonna be fine. And if he was turning around and having the same nerves he criticised her for Chloe was gonna be, well, Chloe about it.

Or that. But it could also be a sign. Bentley was going to go with his gut feeling on this and not Chloe's logic, even though hers made way more sense. Chloe was just always so literal. Everything came down to her five senses. Ravenclaws.

"I'm not being skiddish. I'm never skiddish." He was trying to be careful. He was always sure of what he wanted but Chloe always had a way of making him question if what he believed was so....at least when it came to them.

"I just want to be sure that you want this. I want to be sure that we're on the same page..because if not we're just going to end up right back where we were before."

.......

Yes he was. He could be skiddish. She could think of at least five times in the years she'd known him that Bentley had gotten weird and skiddish on her, if not more.

But she wasn't gonna fight with him today on his wrongness. He should count his blessing and thank her for how understanding she was being. Gosh.

His next words, admittedly, made her pause. She knew what she wanted and it wasn't necessarily the girlfriend title but it was him. So she was gonna meet him halfway here. She wanted to keep him, he wanted her to be his girlfriend. That made this rather simple, she thought. (It took her a long time to get to the simple, though).

Chloe nodded, "We're on the same page."

Bentley pulled her to him, like he always and smoothed the little fly aways down. When he had her like this, it felt like the right thing to do, plus he had explained why the 'title' as she stated mattered to him.

What was the point of sharing so much with someone, feelings, saliva etc, with someone exclusively (and being exclusive was a big deal to her) if they weren't going to be official. It just felt like games to him otherwise.

"Well then I guess this is the part where I ask you to officially be my girlfriend..." He flashed her a dimpled grin and gave her hand a little squeeze.

The blonde squeaked when he yanked her close.

Chloe leveled him look with a look, "That's not asking, you know." He was the one who wanted to do this properly, after all. So she was gonna need him to do this right and actually ask her. "Ask me properly, Bentley." She was prodding him for the fun of it now.

"What if I don't ask you properly Chloe Newman?"

There was a little smile tugging on the corner of his lips as he looked at her? "Would it go against your feminist principles to just say yes?" Because he was going to hold out on asking again for as long as he could.

Chloe scrunched up her face and flicked his nose, "Stop playing around." Her hair was all fluffy and crazy and her makeup was running. She had gotten herself out there for his question and had come back in the rain still waiting to hear it.

If he wanted a girlfriend, especially one like her, he was gonna have to ask. It didn't have to be a long drawn out question but she wanted the question.

Meeting in the middle. Wasn't that what they were doing?

"You're being difficult." He stated simply. Very difficult. He thought what came out of his mouth was very much a question. It could work.

"And if I ask again and it's to your liking, what do I get for my effort?" Since they were meeting in the middle and all.

Chloe rolled her eyes, "You get a yes." That was what he got for meeting in the middle. And isn't that what he wanted, after all? A yes. A Chloe!girlfriend.

Bentley let her go and got back into the position of casually leaning against the rail. He fixed his eyes on her and smirked just a little bit.

"I already got a yes." He wasn't the only one getting what he wanted here. She explicitly said she wanted him,hence why they were here right now.

"I want you and you want me, and this is me officially asking you to be my girlfriend...so just say yes."

Chloe stared. Why did boys think it was cool and alluring to be aloof and casual? At the very least, it made girls wanna roll their eyes and stalk off. As a feminist she wasn't gonna beg for his attention. She had respect. Hmmph.

Just as she was about to voice her dissatisfaction and storm off, he got his act somewhat together. She rolled her eyes at him (because, gosh, boys were so much trouble) and shrugged, "Sure, why not." That was a yes, by the way. If he was gonna play casual so was she.