That cheeky comment made him chuckle in response. "Unwillingly agree to take over the world with me?" Noah winked, enjoying how GOOD it felt to just feel silly and happy instead of constantly looking over his shoulder. Heh. Now it was HIS turn to smirk. And she was right, he was never ever ever going to live that down because HE play acted as Christian a few times back then. He thought he deserved an Oscar or some sort of acting award for what he had managed to do. His face broke out into a GLEEFUL smile like a child who had just proven to the rest of the class that he was the smartest person in the room. Pure joy radiated from him. "Okay. Okay. I'll stop. I was just curious about which house he was in with him being a bad boy and all." He raised his left hand up into the air. "Alright. I'm not a scout but scout's honour that I won't bring him up for at least a month to start off with.... " That was something he could negotiate too.

Alright so Noah's type was def. women who could save him. There was just something so attractive about having a significant other or a person that you were keenly interested in be able to hold her on and be able to even protect you to a degree. However... There were times that... he would have preferred to protect Aboli. He chuckled, raising both hands into the air. "I know you're very capable and that most likely you'd end up saving me but... I'd like to think that I could come to your aid, y'know." Just him being a romantic. And once again - she was asking him to stay safe. How could he say no to her when she gave him that look? "I will." If it were between her and him, he wouldn't keep that promise. He'd rather save her than himself.

Ah that was the quote, wasn't it? Aboli had always been quite clever. "That was it!" he nodded before raising his eyebrows at her. "Ah yes. The British are good guys..." He paused, deciding to switch to his native language to ask her the next question. He suspected if people were listening that there may be a very, very narrow chance that they may understand Korean. "They don't say much about the Koreans. What would your step-father say?" he asked, his voice deepening as he slipped into his father's Busan dialect. He frowned, mirroring her body language as she spoke about the owls. Instead of adding on or commenting, he just squeezed her hand. It was the best comfort he could offer.

A gap year together? Yes, that sounded perfect and something that they could look towards together. They'd have to be able to go home after the school year had ended, yes? No one forced into any unfortunate circumstances like marriage or whatnot? Err.. Don't know why his mind went there. Perhaps he had read too many Victorian Era novels over the summer thanks to his sister's obsession with them. He pursed his lips. "Korea - we've both gone too. So maybe Japan? We could go see the cherry blossom festival? Or we could go to New Zealand? That would literally be the furthest point from all this craziness?" He paused before casting her a playful grin. "Though if you DID want to be romantic, we could go to Paris..."

Lia grinned at his comment. "I bet they would be so confused," she agreed. Imagine falling that high from a tree and walking away without even a scratch? That outcome would be very different if there hadn't been charms placed on the ground for their safety.

A July birthday. "Well mine is in the middle of June. The fifteenth. So when we celebrate one... which might be the last during the school year.. we can celebrate yours and anyone else's that is in the summer. One HUGE party!" The thought alone of this made her smile. "Even if you do burn it... I bet it'll get eaten anyhow." Dahlia gave a soft giggle. "I can make cookies or sandwiches." There was tons of easy foods that they could have.

Dahlia's eyes light up at the mention of rollercoasters. "That still sounds like a lot of fun." Before they headed back to the castle she might just have to give the drop a try.

Mari would definitely be confused, but she would think it was the coolest thing, too. Quinn giggled thinking about her face when he told her.

Quinn's eyes lit up at that. "Sounds like fun! I might need some help baking the cakes for that party, though," he laughed. "But if you made cookies or sandwiches, I don't think it would matter too much how edible the cakes are. There'll be other food to eat, anyway. I bet you make good ones!"

He nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty fun, honestly." Quinn went over to the railing of the treehouse and looked down. Now that he knew falling from here was safe and fun... "Hey... do you think we could get down by jumping off..?"

Has a few muggle friends herself. Misses them all now that she's here at school. Wonders what they would say if she told them she had a friend who fell from a treehouse and didn't get hurt at all.

Seeing Quinn look so happy for the first time ever this time made her smile brightly in return. "I can help with the cake too! We can bake the cake and cookies together! It'll be fun!" Maybe working together nothing would end up burned. "Well we might need a lot of food if we have lots of friends join us." Lia smiled. "I've never made any all by myself. I've always had my Mama, Papa or my siblings make them with me." So she really couldn't take all the credit for her cookie baking skills.

"Ummm..." Dahlia walked over to the railing and peered down over the side. It was a long way down. "Probably. I mean whatever charms are being used kept you from falling. So it should do the same if someone jumped off." Right? "Might want to make sure we don't get caught though if you're going to give it a try."

Quinn was getting really excited. He had never baked with anyone besides his Gram, and he hadn't seen her in a while. "That would be awesome! Plus, if we had a lot of people coming and we needed more things baked, we could just recruit some of our friends to help." He chuckled thinking about Eden and Atlas baking. Neither seemed the type, and he kind of figured they would both be a mess. But it would be fun, regardless.

Quinn peered out around the grounds. There were a couple students dispersed here and there, but nobody that seemed like they would scold him for this. Besides, there was no way he would get hurt, so... there shouldn't really be a problem with him doing this, right? Quinn climbed up on the railing and sat with his legs dangling, then turned back towards Dahlia. "Do you wanna jump with me? It looks scary, but it'll be fun!"

Lia didn't need to think this over to know that it could end up amazingly disastrous. Usually the more people in the kitchen baking, the bigger the mess. At least that was typically the outcome when it came to her and her siblings. There was no denying how much fun they had but the mess was a whole other story. "The more the merrier! We can all bake and prepare the food together and than party up here." It was going to be great!

She did the very same thing, looking around the grounds. With no professors in sight or anyone else that might get angry at them, she climbed up onto the railing and sat herself down beside Quinn. "Together? Okay," she nodded her head. With no real potential of harming themselves this should be fun. "Are we just counting down or..." Dahlia asked quietly looking at him.

Quinn smiled and hooked his arm with Dahlia's. "Yeah, I'll count us off. On 'go'." He nodded, looking back down at the ground. "3...2...1...Go!" he exclaimed, pushing off from the railing. He giggled as he began to float down.

Okay, they were doing this!

Dahlia grinned over at Quinn, her arm hooked around his. "Mhmm," she hummed. Blue eyes shone brightly as she once more looked down over the side, her legs swinging back and forth. As Quinn counted them down out loud, she counted down silently in her head.

On 'GO' she felt herself falling forward. There was no need to push off from the railing, having her arm linked through Quinn's was enough to send her downwards with him. For the briefest second it was nerve-racking to be up so high and fall. There was a breeze that blew some hair into her face and then...

A sense of peace and calmness washed over her as she floated safely beside Quinn. That was when she had started to giggle, a bright smile on her face. He was right. This was AH-MA-ZING!

"You better not bring him up for LONGER than a month, Nam," she rolled her eyes playfully as she nudged him, moving to hug her knees to her chest as she lay her cheek on top, peering at him through her deeper blue eyes.

Aboli would have liked to know he found that attractive about her. She sometimes her perceived bossiness was too much, or rather that SHE was too much. It DID feel nice just to...talk to Noah about something other than what was going one. It was REFRESHING. Freeing, even. But it still loomed there, in the back of her mind, and when she wasn't paying attention to her facial expressions, she found her mouth reverting to the upside down U shape of worry she had grown accustomed to. "If I need you to save me, I'll let you know," she smiled before closing her eyes and just...taking in his presence.

She could smell his scent if she concentrated enough. He smelled good. Like...a good man smell. "You smell nice. It's comforting." And attractive, but she left that out to keep this moment sweet. And the switch to Korean was nice. Noah was much better at it, but Aboli could at least keep up and do minimal replies in it. "Not sure. But we should stay in Korean whenever we don't want to be understand," she said softly, squeezing his hand back. "What...will your family think? About the lack of contact? They're muggles so...they might not know as much."

HmmmmMmmmm. Places to go...in their fantasy gap year if they made it out of Hogwarts. "New Zealand would be nice...I've actually never been before. It seems warm...and beautiful, if the pictures are anything to go off of," she leaned in and kissed his cheek. "What do you...even want to do after this? After Hogwarts?" Because for the first time, she realized Noah had never really spoken to her about it. She mostly used their time to focus on HER. How selfish she could be.......her heart throbbed with the sudden guilt.

Quinn was grinning, the feeling of weightlessness stirring up the butterflies in his stomach again. He looked around the grounds as they floated down. "You really can see just about everything, can't you?" Quinn could get used to this floating thing.

"Almost," Dahlia agreed, nodding her head. "This really isn't so bad. I can definitely get used to this feeling." There was something about peacefully floating to the ground that surrounded her in a bubble of calm. If this was something she could do over and over again, chances were that she would but it wasn't worth the risk right now.

All to soon, her feet touched the ground. "That was amazing. I feel so light and relaxed now." Like she could do anything!

"Yeah, me too." The floating was really nice. There was nothing to worry about up there, and nothing could get to you. All of your worries seem to... float away, in a sense.

As they reached the ground, Quinn sighed. He wanted it to last a bit longer, but he knew that would be his preferred mode of exit from the treehouse from now on. "I'm definitely doing that again the next time I go up," he giggled. "Well, that was a nice adventure."

With her feet firmly back on the ground, Lia unhooked her arm from around Quinn's. There was a warm smile still on her face. "I think I will be too. It definitely beats climbing all the way back down." If only they could float all the way up to the treehouse too! Now that would be really cool. She made a quick mental note to have a look in her charms textbook when she returned to the dorms.

"One adventure down with no issues. Only a whole bunch more to go," she laughed. If she kept herself busy with lots of different things to do, then maybe she would get lucky and they days would move along more quickly.

Royse was feeling very anxious to the point he couldn't calm down. Why? He wasn't even sure anymore. There were so many anxiety filled things going on at this school he just couldn't deal with it. Finding himself in front of the treehouse he decided to climb up as high as it would let him go. Settling down on some pillows he looked out at the trees taking several deep breaths. One...two...three...Out...two...three... As he felt himself calm down a bit he laid back keeping his eyes closed and still counting breaths.

Valencia was carrying a book, as per the usual, looking for a place higher up to look around. She wandered around looking for a vantage point when she suddenly arrived at the treehouse.

This would work perfectly.

She climbed up high and stopped in her tracks. She grinned slowly. "Look what we've got here."

As Royse calmed himself down he could feel himself relax and instantly felt proud as well. He had done it. He had calmed himself without blowing things up or working out until exhaustion. That was a significant feat one he had to share with...

Then he heard the familiar voice. He knew that voice anywhere. Slowly he opened his eyes and grinned as he saw her. "Are you following me?" he asked with a slight smirk.

"I wish actually." Valencia said finishing her ascent and going to sit next to him. It would be more rewarding and enjoyable than who she was actually trying to follow.

"What are you doing all the up here? I thought you were practicing your spells." Or was he planning on doing that up here? It might not be the safest option...

She held out her hand, palm up toward him. A little hand hold would be nice.

"You wish? So what are you actually doing then if this is just a coincidence?" He asked as he sat up a bit to watch her. "I know you! You were hoping to ogle me jogging by."

Royse shook his and made room for her to sit next to him. "I was having an anxiety attack. Thought maybe some air and being far away from everyone would do me some good. But I did it. I calmed myself down." So proud of himself.

He took her hand and squeezed it lightly. "Didn't blow things up or work myself into exhaustion. I've been working on meditation and breathing."

Valencia laughed lightly. "You wish." she said with a teasing nudge. "I actually just came for... a... new vantage point." she said vaguely. There wasn't a good way to tell who was listening and she purposefully kept her answer vague.

She tilted her head to the side. "Oh. Should I leave? Do you still want to be alone?" She didn't want to intrude if he still needed time. As for the other part... "I am proud of you though. That is quite an improvement."

"I guy can dream can't he," Royse said with a grin. He tilted his head a bit as she said that. New vantage? "Well...I suppose the trees do look differently here. He had no idea what she was talking about. He wasn't going to ask either.

"Leave? What..no please don't. I didn't mean away from you just...everything else," he said with a vague wave of his free hand. "It's all a little much sometimes. I just wish I could fix everything and I can't. But thank you. I thought you would be."

It was a big deal for him. Bigger than his limited excitement let on right now but she knew that considering the last time he lost his cool. "Let's have a treehouse in our backyard."

Valencia was amused. Of course he would say something like that. Hopefully he didn't get too bored with the fact that she wasn't much of an oogler.

"Well. As long as you don't mean from me." She actually preferred it that way. It was always the two of them. She was similar too, when she wanted to be alone it was never away from him.

She squeezed his hand in return. "Yes. I'm very proud. You used to be quite an angry one. Just like week if I'm not mistaken." It was a little tease, but really, she was so impressed with him.

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. With a swing. I like swings."

"No. Of course I wouldn't mean from you. Not to mention if I was mad at you or something I wouldn't be so easily found," he teased. The likelyhood of that actually happening was less than zero. That was the one thing he was proud of. They talked out their issues.

He turned his head to look at her and laughed. "Yeah, I'm still an angry one though. Just a work in progress." Always in progress. But if you weren't working on yourself what were you doing?

A grin came across his face as she answered. "Tire swing or regular swing? Or like a hammock or something?"

Tavie possessed a LOT of things. There wasn't enough parchment for all the things she owned or that her parents could get her. Her father probably wouldn't get her everything she ever wanted but HE COULD if he wanted to. Truthfully, he usually did let her have whatever she wanted. Her mother certainly did.

But they never got her a giant treehouse filled with so much magic.

She had never wanted one, but STILL.

Tavie was high in the treehouse that was now suddenly the treehouse of her dreams. It had rooms for snogging, and rooms for writting, and rooms for anything you wanted! She loved it more than anything, and even with everything that was happening this term (maybe especially because of it) this place made her happy.

Sitting up in a room with large open windows that overlooked the lake, the ravenclaw was snuggled in a pile of blankets and pillows with her chinchillas and a very old potions book.

Kale had spent loads of time this term laying low, which was sort of the antithesis of his sing loud and proud kinda personality, but it was safer to be subtle. Or as subtle as a Kale could manage. Which meant that he had become really, super into hidden away places. Hooded dudes didn’t know the castle as well as the students did. That, at least, was an advantage for his peers.

So Kale went to one of his usual hiding spots, lookin’ at you treehouse, to have a good daydream about Judy Garland when he happened upon a Tavie. OCTAVIA! Omigod. He kept forgetting. With everything else going on this term, seeing Tavie was like the dopest surprise whenever he caught a glance of her in classes.

And now that they had no hooded dudes to ruin their moment—ugh, buttheads— Kale threw himself at the pile of blankets with a Tavie gooey center. “Octavia!” he squealed.

Valencia laughed lightly. "When was the last time you were mad at me for more than five minutes?" She couldn't recall. They were pretty good at talking things out and anger wasn't usually involved in that process.

She nodded encouragingly. Yes. Her work in progress. Always learning. Just what she'd always wanted.

"Mmm..." she said thoughtfully. "Porch swing for the porch, one of those nice bench ones made of dark wood. Regular swing for the yard. Hammock for the reading nook."