The school year hadn't started at all like she'd hoped it would and while she was doing better on the outside, the second year still couldn't bring herself to spend too much time inside the castle, walking the halls where her grandfather had frequented. It was too sad and made her think of too many questions he'd never be able to answer. Outside was safer and quieter and still warm enough to brave without fear of catching cold.

Finding herself in the courtyard, Junia sat beside the pear tree and looked around, seeing what she could see.

Alyce was wondering around the Hogwarts ground just minding her own business when she spotted a fountain surrounded by statues of eagles. "Cool!" She wondered if the fountain accept Muggle coins. Hmm...She fished out some Muggle coins from her pocket and tossed it to the fountain after she made her wish. 'I wish for a good year ahead.' There goes her coins. Bye. Bye money. She was about to leave the courtyard when she saw a person sitting alone.

"Hello there. I'm Alyce. Do you mind sharing the seat with me?" She gave the girl her most friendliest smile EVER.

Had Charlotte gotten his note? Dalton wrung his hands together nervously as he paced the side of the courtyard, hoping that she would have thought his "important question" important enough to want to actually come and meet him. If she hadn't wanted to come and meet him - or if she didn't turn up - then he guessed he had the answer. But he'd rather hear it from her, one way or another.

Sitting down on a bench and pulling off his beanie, the sixth year tossed it between his hands, looking up at the entrance to the courtyard every now and again, hoping to catch a glimpse of her if she came down.

There was not much to do inside the dormitories. Everyone finished packing and went out. And just like everyone else, Sean also unpacked all of his stuff in a jiffy just so he can go out and enjoy Hogwarts.

He walked around until he got himself into the courtyard. Now this is a nice spot to just hang around. His eyes wandered from corner to corner. There are a few people here. He guessed because school hasn't really started yet. Soon this area will be full as well.

He took a seat in one area and looked up into the sky. What a great view this is? It made him smile. It's a nice sunny day.

Hello Alyce," Junia shrugged and scooted over a bit, offering the younger girl some space. She couldn't help but notice her hair and how pretty the color was. Perfect for autumn and unique as well. It would look pretty with a flower crown, that was for sure.

Realizing she hadn't introduced herself, the twelve year old turned slightly and offered her hand. "I'm Junia. I saw you get sorted. We're in the same house, you know. I'm a second year, though, so I pretty much know the ropes by now." She was so mature and knowledgeable. Also happy to have company.

Of COURSE she got the note! Of COURSE she wanted to come meet him! Even if she hadn't been incredibly curious about what he wanted to know Char would have come out to meet him. Always!

She was skipping when she appeared. MAaaaaybe she was too old to skip now but it was hard not to when you were in the BEST mood ever. She spotted him and instead of coming directly toward him she skipped ever closer in a spiral arouuuuund him, making silly faces and gestures, and throwing in a few twirls in there until her trajectory brought her to a stop right in front of his knees.

"Hey, you!" She said affectionately, and flopped down next to him on the bench with far more drama than strictly required.

She didn't mind? Yay! Alyce quickly sat down next to the girl. The girl look slightly older than her and she's pretty but not as pretty as Brooklyn of course.

"Nice to meet you, Junia." The first year took her hand and shake it. She saw her sorted?! "You did?! We are? I must had missed you during the fest." There were SO many people during the feast and she's feeling a bit overwhelm, that's probably why she didn't see Junia. "Second year? Oh! I guess as much because you look more mature than me." The girl must know things about Hogwarts. "Can you tell me how to handle the moving staircase? That evil thing almost give me a heart attack." And no one. NO ONE told her that the stairs move! Someone should have put a sign or something that said 'Careful Moving Staircase Ahead'.

[ FOR Bazinga! ]

Miranda had all of her books laid out before her and her charms book open and in her hands. she was still very much looking forward to her favorite class though the news of her last charms teacher's departure was slightly upsetting. He had been her favourite teacher last term. but nevermind that Life moved on and so did her parents expectation that she'd do well again.she was hoping her new friend Natalia would walk through and sit for a bit. Maybe she could even help her with some of her wand work...

She had been hanging out by the lake and decided it was time to come in. Dinner would be soon and she'd mirror Roman later, so going in and stopping by to find Kelly was probably the best thing to do at the moment. Storm trotted next to her as she let her mind wonder away.

As she got to the courtyard she notice a certain second year puff sitting on the bench, "Hey Miranda" she grinned as she moved towards the bench. "How was the rest of your summer?"


Good she hoped.

fully involved with her reading Miranda jumped at the voice on the other side of her charms book, As she lowered it she smiled and saw Natalia, an older girl she'd met over summer .
" Oh hey there, Nat..... It was alright... what about yours? any good?" she hoped her new friend had a good summer but then again it was never a garauntee." I'm actually super happy to be back at school.... and away from my menace of a brother.. You can sit down... It's not as if I'd bite you... I'm not part werewolf or anything..."

"It was great! The store was amazing. I learned so much. I hated leaving. I feel like I could learn way more from Atticus then I do here. Here is all magic and wand waving, but I don't want to do that. I want to sing. So this just feels pointless to me most days." Shrugging she thought about how much she wished it was still summer.

"Being back is alright, I could have went for a longer summer, but now that I"m back it's good." She wished a few people that were gone were here right now, but it was time to focus on the ones that were here. "Is he that bad? I think I'm glad I"m an only child." When people complained about their siblings she couldn't be happier that she was an only.

Sitting down next to Miranda she picked up Storm, [b] "This is my kitty, my dad got him this summer."[/]b She was still so excited about getting a cat finally and she made sure to take great care of him.

Randa smiled as her friend told her about the remainder of her summer... she was a lucky girl to have been able to do all of that... Miranda smiled when it was appropriate and nodded and such... she was listening.. Just daydreaming at the same time she supposed....
" Oh wow... that's awesome... but it's good to know what we learn here to... It'll always come in handy anyway... even if you make it to the big time....which I'm sure you're well enough on your way.. especially with your friends you have... All of you are really great musicians..." She smiled.
" My brother is still psycho... I wish I were an only child... well, I'd keep my baby sister but thats it..." Sees the cat.... " Oh isn't he precious... He can play with Eragon if he wants... He's over in the bushes hunting at the moment..."

Only Char could make skipping really cute and not frustratingly annoying, Dalton couldn't help but think to himself as she got closer to him. He let a real smile creep up his cheeks as she came to a stop in front of him, bringing his arms right down to his sides so he couldn't hide in his hands.

"Morning." She looked super prerty today. Was that going to make this harder or easier?

"Yeah I guess so." Honestly she wasn't sure why she'd ever have to know what Runes were or even how to defend herself. She guess if she had a crazy fan she could hex them or something, but some of the classes just seamed so pointless to her. "I like learning about creatures. If singing doesn't pan out I'm going to be a winged horse trainer." That she might do anyway, she could see herself having a ranch one day with stables and winged horses.

When talk of the band being famous Nat was happy to think about it. "I hope we do. I'm not going to stop until we are." She was certainly not giving up. "We are going to have another gig in the room of requirement. You'll have to stop by. It's going to be on Halloween." She couldn't wait really. It was going to be so much fun. Miranda was being super sweet about the band and calling them great.

"Wow how old is he? So you have two siblings?" Not even just one, but two. How did she even deal with that many in her house.

Miranda listened and nodded and even giggled as Natalia spoke about everything...
" Oh wow.... Like real winged horses?... that'd be really neat if you could be able to do both... Be all famous and such AND have a working ranch" She beamed... Okay so Randa was a huge fan of The Sirens,and sure she looked up to her older Slytherfriend, but holy crap when she mentioned the Halloween concert in the ROR.
" for sure I'll be there.... "
Then Nat mentioned Eddie... her brother and arch nemesis..... The skeevy punk... how she dispised him.....
" Actually I have two little brothers and a baby sister... "

She laughed at Miranda's reaction, "Yes real ones. Have you never went to the barn here and seen them? It is one of my favorite places. Apollo is a great horse." She loved going to visit them and even flying them, though she had to get the courage to ask the new professor about riding them yet.

She seemed very excited about the concert and that made Nat so happy. Though it wasn't a true concert, it was more of a Halloween party with The Sirens playing. Either way she was going to have fun and so was the rest of the band. It was going to be amazing having everyone have fun again.

"So let me get this straight you have three siblings, two brothers and a sister?" HOly crap that was a lot of siblings. She was feeling really good about being the only right now. No way could she deal with that many younger kids around her house. She liked that she could just be alone in the house without anyone bugging her.

Miranda nodded as she heard Nat's question, " Yeah... Eddie , Ivan and Jordan is my sister...." She smiled back." you're lucky you haven't any siblings.... My brothers are a total pain ...."
so , glad she has an older friend to hang out with....

"Moooorning! Isn't it great being back at school and seeing everyone?"Charlotte thought so. She had missed all her friends, and she didn't hate that Dalton was available to her every day essentially, just like he had been while on holiday with her family.

She shoulder bumped him like an affectionate pet might. Hugs! Attention! Yes?

This was not exactly the way Gaston had envisioned the start of his first term at Hogwarts going so far, between his cat making a fool out of him in front of Rosalyn and that poltergeist attacking him with knives. He couldn't for the life of him understand why Hogwarts put up with those two. This sort of thing never happened at Beaubatons! After wandering the castle grounds looking for a quiet place to relax, he eventually found himself in the middle of the courtyard. He looked around... no cats or poltergeists to bother him here. Good! Still, he had one hand on his wand, just in case those pesky poltergeists decided to show up again.

The fountain in the middle of the yard caught his eye, and he walked over to it. Those eagle statues were exquisite! He wondered if they'd been put there as a homage to Rowena Ravenclaw... Pulling a bronze knut from his pocket, he stared at the water below. What should he wish for? Well, he had one, but no amount of coins dropped into a fountain was ever going to make that one come true. He opted for something a little more sensible. I wish the Bloody Baron would give Peeves and Miffy permission for their wedding before they attack anyone else!

Still standing beside the fountain, Gaston reached into his pocket for his ipod - one that he'd charmed to run on magic instead of batteries - and tapped the screen with his wand, sticking the head buds in his his ears as his go-to punk rock playlist started playing. Yes, the loud angry music blasting in his ears actually helped him relax; he was just weird like that.

"I... Uh, yeah, it is." It was nice to be able to see Charlotte as frequently as he wanted she would like, and so Dalton settled on that. As for other people, they were far less exciting. And ever since Kelly had told him about her breakup, he'd felt kind of weird: as her best friend he had to tell her that she was not what she was feeling right now and that things would get better and that some other boy would come along, and he truly did think she was amazing but he didn't want her to get the wrong idea because he was so over that.

And onto this. Pulling his thoughts back from awkward familial relationships that might occur, Dalton let his features settle into a grin and pulled Charlotte in for a hug, placing a little kiss on her temple for good measure.

Of course the first thing Char did, as the little opportunist that she was, was snuggle up in that hug. Hugs were the best! And Dalton hugs were even better! Somehow it was like every time she got Dalton hugs it was like being recharged and also she felt safe and warm and tingly all over and it was just nice okay?

She stayed buried all up against him and quite contentedly asked:

"Sooo what did you want to talk about?"

Probably good to get to that before she got distracted!

It wasn't all that surprising she'd been missed, as Junia had kept quite a low profile. Literally low. Under the table for some of it-type low. That part had happened after Rula had gotten upset, but all this was left unsaid. No explanations necessary.

At the mention of her looking more mature, the brunette sat up just a little straighter, as if proving the younger girl's words were true. "They are quite tricky, aren't they?" The stairs. The second year considered what she might gain from offering advice to the younger girl and then realized that all princesses needed loyal followers. Perhaps kindness was the way to go about doing that, at least for now. "Watching your step, helps. Also avoiding the trick stairs-you've got to jump those ones." She nodded solemnly. "Lastly, leave early for class because the staircases don't always cooperate." Which she clearly already knew.

Kimi was exploring the grounds and the castle to stop him from getting lost again and he saw his charms professor listening to music and went over to him and taped him on the shoulder to get his attention

Harriet was relaxing in the courtyard. She was still getting used to being back at school. She'd spent most of her days whilst in St. Mungos sleeping, so she was needing to get used to being up for more hours. But she was just relaxing now. She loved the grounds at Hogwarts. They were pretty, and Hattie's favorite part of the school. So she was glad to be spending some time out here. She'd missed it a lot.

She stretched out on a bench, lying on her back. She was trying not to fall asleep. It was early afternoon. So she was really didn't need to fall asleep. She needed to write a lesson to her mother actually. She promised she'd write every day to tell her how she was. Maybe she'd do that. In a few minutes. First she'd relax for a little longer.