Exploring the grounds was something he had not done a lot of, was busy his first time and didn't have much opportunity to last year for.. obvious reasons. But this term was different. And exploring gave him a good reminder of that.

He was here. He was free. And he deserved to be.

The Winged Boars also drew some interest because they were what made them safe now, right? He logically knew the answer was yes, but it didn't hurt to see and confirm with his own eyes. Which was exactly what he had come down here to do. And yet now... he found himself just... sitting there. Staring at the gates and the winged boar statues. "What a weird entrance..."

Run, run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the gingerbread...girl?

The single phrase repeated in Mamie's head as she jogged along the edge of the grounds. She knew the running wasn't strictly necessary to get better at Quidditch, but she knew being light and springy would, and running was the only real way to stay light and springy, especially with how quickly she seemed to be growing. It was only October and she already knew she'd have to lengthen the hem of her pajama pants by the time it got cold enough to wear them. And after last term...well, Margaret wanted to be as active and as outside as possible to make up for all the time spent sitting on the dungeon floor.

As she passed the winged boars, she tripped over a rock. No, too much give for a rock. A bush? She recovered from her stumble, turned around to see...oh. It was a person. She squinted. Noah? No, Noah graduated. "Evan?" Why was he on the ground? "I'm sorry, I didn't see you...are you okay?"

He wasn't sure how long he was going to sit here. Or even really why he was. But for some reason, seeing the gates so locked up and sturdy looking was comforting. So he was happy to sit here for just a bit longer. A lot of him still kind of wished he could run out those gates as well and go back to his old muggle school with the few friends he had managed to make, but Lisa seemed to be thriving and Maya... well, she was a kindred spirit so while he knew she wasn't in the Lisa territory, she would stick it out for their younger sister too.

A small break would be nice though, so he was already wistfully thinking to Christmas break and hoping behind hope they would get this one this term. Who knew if Hogwarts would have another plan for them -- the magical world would.

If they weren't allowed back, he was blaming it now on Healer Poppy. And her delicious bread.

Thankfully that thought took him to the amazing bread and he was considering going to the house elves to see if they could make him some when --

WHAM.

He sprawled a bit to the side when someone tumbled over him and blinked as he looked around. Did he turn invisible? Blend with the surroundings? He turned to the side to spot the runner as he rubbed his side where contact had been made. "Oh, hi Margaret." She didn't SEE him????? "Yes, I'm fine. Are you okay? You didn't sprain anything right?"

No, he wasn't invisible, but...the combination of not paying attention and less-than-perfect vision was a dangerous one, especially when running. Was..he was okay, though? Mamie hoped her face wasn't too red. It was. "Sprain? No, no, I'm just fine." Physically, at least. She was mortified, if she knew that word. Was there a hole nearby she could crawl into and hide forever?

"Are you really sure you're okay? I'm...I'm so so sorry." Had she said that already? She flicked her braid back behind her shoulder. "What...whhat are you doing out here, anyway?"

Didn't he know there were benches up closer to the castle, for the sole purpose of sitting?

Well, that at least would have been a relief to know. Except supposed if he was good at not being noticed, he also never would have had to put in effort into learning disillusionment charms. Silver linings. He noticed her face was red, but she HAD been running until he served as a speed bump so he just assumed she would have been red from that. "Oh, good. I'm glad you're uninjured too." And yes, he meant too, because other than probably a bruise come tomorrow, he was relatively uninjured.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Don't worry about it - really. It's fine. I probably shouldn't have been sitting in the middle of everything on the ground anyways." It was kind of an odd thing to do. "I was kind of just looking at the gates. Curious about them, I suppose." And then he'd also just lost track of time.

"Are you running for fun or training for something?" He believed he remembered she was very into flying so maybe she liked other sport like activities too?

Mamie would have loved to learn disillusionment charms, if she knew what that was. Anything with the word charm in it was a fun thing to learn, in her book. No, not in her book. She hated books. She'd have to find a better phrase. Maybe just go back to basics. Anything with the word charm in it was a fun thing to learn, in her opinion. Much better. Books didn't have opinions, they were B-O-R-I-N-G.

"Curious? Why, they're just the gates...?" she said, raising the intonation at the end. They were just gates, weren't they? Nothing special, except boars didn't really have wings. Pigs don't fly.

"Running for fun!" she said, eager for the change of topic away from...her tripping over him. "Well. Sort of training? For Quidditch?" Did he know? She loved Quidditch. The only book she voluntarily read was about Quidditch. Once. It was really boring, she didn't plan to read it again. Wait, didn't Evan like books though? Maybe he had read the same book. "Have you read Quidditch Through the Ages?"

Hearing the question about why he was curious, Evan opened his mouth to answer before closing it again. Why was he interested again? Yes, it was mainly to reassure himself but.. that wasn't something he really wanted to admit or get into talking about. But he also probably seemed like an oddball just... sitting here staring at the exit. Maybe it just looked like he wanted to leave? He searched his mind for a minute before landing on an explanation, "I was just curious about the protective enchantments. It is just a gate but... I wondered if there was any physical signs of the magic on them. Like maybe some Runes or something?"

Running for fun never really sounded that fun to him. He'd much rather dance - but privately. But he knew people felt the same about books so.. who was he to judge! "Oh? Do you play Quidditch already or are you trying out?" He'd never actually seen it played, just heard it talked about, and read it in the book she asked if he'd read. "Yes, it was interesting though I imagine watching a game is more interesting." Probably one of the only things he would say that about.

When it came to sports, tv might be better than the book.

"What position do you play?"

She wrinkled her nose at Evan's very Ravenclaw answer. Then, she too took a good long look at the gates. Were there Runes? "I don't know Runes," she said blithely, as if that would help him identify any visible magic. No? Not helpful?

Running, dancing, flying, Mamie would do any of these things alone or with twenty other people. Maybe if Evan tried flying, he'd like it too... "I'm trying out," she said. "I've never technically played or seen a match, so I have to work extra hard to be good enough." She definitely also thought watching a game would be more interesting than reading about it...but she thought that about many, many things. Like literally everything.

"I play...chaser? Probably??" She shrugged. "That or keeper, but...there's three chasers, so I'm probably more likely to make that." Right? Was that a logical conclusion? She wasn't sure.

Her answer was most helpful and he did shoot an amused glance, before standing and stepping closer to the gate to look at it. "I don't know Runes very well either." And despite having attended Ancient Runes courses, he did not feel he was getting any wiser on the subject. Probably why the sudden added interest in them.

He didn't like to be bad at school subjects.

Had flown minimally in classes but... was not really interested in doing it on his own. Flying was very reliant on magic, so if he didn't have to do it, he'd rather not. He did enjoy watching others in the air though. "Oh, well that sounds cool. No friendly game even on the pitch with other students?" Was that allowed? Seems as if it should have been but he would probably still recommend asking Professor Kazmi to confirm. "You haven't seen a match either? How do you know you like Quidditch so much then?" Just from the book? He was big on books as much as the next guy but that seemed a lot of enthusiasm for something so physically based on a piece of literature.

"You seemed kind of like a Seeker to me." He couldn't help the subtle joke, and he didn't mean it ill-spiritedly but once it was out of mouth he couldn't tell if that's how it SOUNDED. "You could always just end up being the best Keeper from the bunch. You don't have to like Chaser just because it's the most open position on the team."

Wellll. Mamie stared as Evan got up to look more closely at the gate. He was really worried about this runes thing, wasn't he? Was he worried they could be rubbed off and the magic would let bad people in? She was not worried about that. Whoever did the gate magic would have to be really stupid to use something like chalk to draw runes that kept all the students safe. If there even were runes there. She wouldn't know. She didn't particularly care, either...school was boring.

"Well, yeah, some of us practice together sometimes," she said cheerfully. She'd met lots of people while she tried to get better at Quidditch. And she had gotten better. She thought she was pretty good now. Not necessarily good enough, but pretty good nonetheless. "I like sports! And I learned from playing Snitch Snatcher--that's a board game--and it's fun that way, so I knew it would be even more fun with real people and full teams!" Plus, there were the Daily Prophet reports of matches...Quidditch just sounded so exciting.

Plus. She just liked sports. And...she'd needed a new hobby, when she quit swimming. Thanks Bernadette.

She looked blankly when he said she seemed like a seeker. Did she? She blinked at him several times, was...what did he mean by that? Any joke he was trying to make went straight over her head. She wasn't tiny enough to be a seeker. Now his sister Lisa, she'd be a great seeker. Maybe Mamie needed to recruit her. "That's...nice," she said. "Thank you?" It would be nice to be the keeper, and be really good at it. She liked that idea. "I think...if I can get good enough, I'll try out for keeper." Since he thought it was a possibility, and he was a Ravenclaw, so he knew things.

It was something he was entirely preoccupied with. But Evan couldn't even begin to explain, even to himself, if that was because he was concerned about dangers entering the castle again or if was just since he used Runes specifically as a verbal answer to why he was here he was now fixated on the fact he was bad at them. It was probably the second though, with how his weird Ravenclaw mind worked.

"That sounds like fun! Does Professor Kazmi ever observe too?" He wasn't sure how much time the Professor spent on the pitch just making sure students weren't being sill or reckless, but he assumed it might be a lot. Maybe he should ask him next class. "Snitch.. Snatcher? I haven't heard of that one. Is it something you found in Professor Schmoe's collection?" He did have a rather impressive one, although he wasn't sure if he kept wizarding games with all the muggle ones as well. "At least you have found something you like though and that you're good at. Do you try out this summer for the U17 league?"

Ahh, it went over her rather tall head anyways so he ceased his worrying about if it would have sounded unkind. It was clear though by her response she also didn't agree with the statement so he just... moved on from it. "Hopefully you can get good enough then and get the position you really want!" She seemed she'd be happy with anything, but wouldn't it be even more fun to get where she really wanted?

Should she be worried about Evan trying to escape through the gates or something? It was weird that he was still staring at them, right? She thought he was a bit too distracted by staring at the gates. He was asking good questions though, so she supposed he was paying attention. Multi-tasking, maybe.

She frowned. "Observe? Not...usually?" She tilted her head, thinking about it. Kazmi came out to help work on specific skills if he was asked, or if somebody fell (not her, she never fell), but their flying instructor didn't seem as interested in Quidditch as Aguilar had been. "Maybe from his office?" He did have a good view of the flying area from there, she knew. She'd been in there enough to figure that much out, between last year and this term.

"There's a copy of Snitch Snatcher in the arcade area," she said cheerfully, remembering when her and Aboli used to play. "I don't know if Professor Schmoe has it. But also..." her face fell. "Professor Kittridge had a copy in the common room." That was where she had first learned to play. And where she'd first heard of Quidditch. Well, second heard of Quidditch, since she'd probably walked by the Quality Quidditch Supplies store in Diagon Alley prior to first year.

Margaret nodded, less enthused about Quidditch now that she'd remembered Kittridge. "Yes, U17, that's the plan," she said, slouching a bit and sticking her hands in her pockets. Maybe if Evan figured out how to escape through the gates, she could go too.

It was almost dark and almost curfew, but Ollie couldn't be inside. She had been so focused on her classes and studying that she had been coped up for so long. She was dying to get outside, but hadn't found the time to go to the greenhouses and ask for a plot to start planting. Something she would do after Christmas break. So for now, she was just wandering around the grounds, taking in some fresh air. She much preferred being outside than in and she needed some time to think about something other than how charms class was going. She ended up at the entrance of the school, leaning against the left winged boar, looking at to the exit path of the castle.

If he could figure out how to, escape might not have been that bad of an idea. Except he didn't want to go home, and his brother was.. well, who knew where Noah, Aboli and Minjae currently were traveling and it's not like they'd want an underage companion. Maybe one of his cousins. But well, there was no point to actually attempting it.

But he was being weird, so he turned his back to the gate, shoving his hands in his pockets as he did so.

"It just seems with students so high in the air it sounds dangerous so I wasn't sure." But then again, wasn't all of their magic practice kind of on the dangerous side? He'd never really considered it before. "That would make sense. He might prefer not having students think he was watching all the time anyways." Easier to talk to a Professor who didn't seem overbearing. And Professor Kazmi did not come off that way. In truth, Evan actually kind of liked the Professor and his calm demeanor, even if his subject was not his preference.

"Oh, there is? Maybe I'll have to check it out." He did like board games. And maybe Lisa or Maya would be interested in playing it with him at some point. It was hard to not mimic her facial expression at the mention of their previous Divination Professor, and he glanced down to the ground giving a small frown. He considered asking if it was still there but.. did not really want to engage in a conversation about the Professor either where someone could get emotional. So instead he asked something different, "Who did you usually play the game with?"

He wanted to turn back to the gates again, but he forced himself to not, instead just trying to draw from what information he could remember about U17 in hopes of perking her up too and steering their thoughts away from sadness. "Do you have a specific team you'd like to play for? Isn't there multiples?"

Even if Evan found Noah, Aboli, and Minjae, Mamie could have told him that Aboli would make him come back to school. Noah, probably, too. Minjae...maybe not. And especially if they both escaped. Aboli would be maaaaad.

"The training area is charmed so the ground hurts less," she said. "I mean, it still hurts, but you won't, like, die." It was like testing one's own potion, she thought. There were enough adults around that even if you extremely messed up, you'd be fine, unless you were acting stupid. And not dull-stupid, but like reckless-stupid. "I...never thought about that." Did Mr. Kazmi want them to think he wasn't watching? Margaret knew he was, but that was probably just because she visited him, and Aguilar before, so much. She supposed not everybody who went flying for fun had. She'd have to ask someone what they thought.

"Yes! We should play sometime!" She cheered up immediately at the thought of actually playing Snitch Snatcher, versus the woman who had introduced her to the game. "I played with Aboli sometimes, and sometimes with other Hufflepuffs," she said with a shrug. It was no big deal. She was very good at the game. Aboli was better at it. She smiled as he kept the conversation focused on Quidditch and games. "Yeah, there's multiple, but I'll play for anyone who will have me," she said. "I...I just hope I make any team." And...probably also that her parents or the league could help her get to the games. Because, Muggle parents, y'know, they couldn't apparate. Or floo. They'd have to drive.

Out of that group of people, Noah was probably the only one who could convince Evan to do anything. He’d only met Minjae in passing, and knew very little of Aboli as well. Perhaps people had never paid much mind to him because he also had not ever paid much attention to anyone else. Something he had not considered before.

“Oh. So like the Treehouse?” That was smart. Sometimes people could use magic for real smart purposes, and he was certainly glad they did. “As long as there’s no casualties that still sounds like a win.” They couldn’t take away all risk could they? Where would be the fun in living life if there wasn’t the occasional risk involved? “I mean, he might not be at all either. That’s how I would do it if I was a Professor though. Give a lot of independence and watch from a distance, just in case.” You couldn’t always coddle people, but there were times when safety was still a necessity. He kind of applied the same technique to his sister’s at times.

And then she brightened up, and her excitement was so infectious he even smiled a little bit as he nodded. “That’d be fun! I like playing board games and card games.” And having light saber battles, even if he kept that part hush hush. It didn’t quite sound like him and yet.. Appa and Lisa always managed to drag him in. “Noah’s girlfriend? Are you guys close?” That was surprising to him, but he wasn’t sure why. Probably that whole he didn’t pay enough attention to other’s thing. He really was trying to get better at that this term though. “That’s fair. Seems like you love it enough it’s really just about getting to play in general.” He didn’t think he was reading that wrong anyways. “I’m sure with as hard as you’re working at it someone will take notice.”

Nem had always made a habit of taking long walks around the grounds, or sometimes they'd run. The time was of little consequence to them. They knew, now, that the Headsman was invested in keeping them in school, and seeing as Nem was so ambivalent on the matter and would more than likely bounce before the year was out anyway, they had little reason to stick to the overtly to the rules in the way they generally had in the past. Curfews were pointless in any case.

Layered up against the November cold, Nem reached the winged boars from the left-hand side; they had been looping the perimeter of the grounds while they sorted through some thoughts, practicing a little magic here and there, but now they zeroed in on the kid up ahead.

After a near-silent approach, they spoke, "Thinking about making a break for it?"

Ollie could've jumped out of her skin. She hadn't noticed anyone come up behind her, especially since they had been soo quiet. She recognized Nemesis, they were in Slytherin with Ollie. She wasn't surprised to see them out this late since it was something that seemed like a Nem thing to do. She turned to look back at them. "No... Just needed to get some air." Nem wasn't really the type Ollie typically made conversation with but she didn't want to be rude. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to associate more with people in her own house. She hung out mostly with Remy and Ravenclaws and V sometimes, but never anyone else from Slytherin. "I'm assuming that same as you? Or are you actually making a run for it?"

She nodded. Yes, like the treehouse, probably. She'd never put much thought into the treehouse. It seemed like it would be hard to fall out of it. Mamie kept nodding, no casualties, definitely a win. And while not a Gryffindor, she was partial to keeping life a little risky. Flying was risky. Her ma hated the idea. But it proved she was good at it. "Do you want to? Be a professor, that is." She thought Evan was smart. He could probably be a professor someday if he wanted to. She definitely did not want to.

She giggled as Evan referred to Aboli as Noah's girlfriend. She'd always thought of it the other way around. Aboli was herself, and Noah was Aboli's boyfriend. "Yeah, she helped me with some spells and stuff. And in the Room, later." She paused, uncomfortable that she'd brought up the Room but...well, it was a thing that had happened to them, and...yeah. Time to change the subject. "She visited over the summer. Met my brothers and my babulya, and everything." They weren't best friends, there was too much of an age gap for that, but...Aboli was like the sister she'd never had.

Margaret was practically glowing at Evan's compliments on her loving Quidditch and working hard at it. She did work hard. She did love it. Quidditch was LIFE. "I hope so," she agreed quietly. Her summer would be very boring if she couldn't play Quidditch for a fourteenth second year in a row.

Nem nodded in understanding, and looked down the castle path, where it wound away towards the village of Hogsmeade, then up at the gates, which were in far better shape than they'd been few months ago.

They turned their attention back to the first year, and smiled. "Just out for a walk. I wouldn't leave this way, in any case. I suppose they've upped the security enchantments, after what happened last term." 'They' being the Headsman, and maybe the Ministry, though plenty of Ministry workers had blasted them away in the first place. Nem tucked their hands in the pockets, considered the girl. "Do you know about all that? What happened here, I mean?"

Ollie's brows furrowed. She didn't know that anything had happened, and she couldn't help her mind immediately running making guesses at what happened. Was it that someone made a run for it and got killed? Probably not, that seemed extreme. Though, if they were upping security maybe it was something really extreme. "No... I didn't know something happened." She frowned, nervous for what they were going to tell her. Her time at Hogwarts had already been below subpar and she wasn't looking forward to hearing something that would make her want to leave. Was she finally going to figure out what Ash meant when she told Ollie to have allies? Was there a great divide between the houses? Was that why Remy didn't like her father being a Slytherin?? Hopefully whatever Nem was leading up to would be worth it.

He’d accidentally fallen at one point, but the anti-gravity and other safety charms placed around had kept him from getting seriously injured. Part of why he knew it was similar to that of what was applied to the pitch. Though, honestly he had not thought of it applied there either. Silly to have not assumed that, after all that would be the safest option. Her question surprised him, and he considered it for a moment before nodding. “I don’t know that it’s really what I want to do, like there might be something else I like more but.. I wouldn’t mind it, I don’t think. I haven’t really considered much of what would be next though.” Should he start? Sure he was only a third year but.. What if he waited and then all of sudden he was a seventh and he had nothing figured out?

That sounded stressful. Another thing to add to his list.

Evan tilted his head quizzically at the giggle, unsure if there was something funny he’d missed about Aboli and Noah being together, but they were moving on without her mentioning anything more about them so maybe that meant she’d just thought of something else. It was hard to not get uncomfortable when the room was mentioned, but at the same time it was going to come up at times so… maybe normalizing it would take away some of it’s power? “That’s cool she was able to help you. I stuck pretty close to Noah’s side in the room... “ Well, when he wasn’t with his girlfriend or his other friends. In those moments he’d preferred to be alone. Or with Maya. “Did your family like her?” He still had not formulated an opinion, so he was curious.

He smiled at her quiet agreement, nodding his head feeling quite certain he was right. If she kept trying he was sure one of the teams would take notice. Who didn’t like hard work? And she was a Hufflepuff, was that not one of their stereotypes? “Do you think you’ll want to play Quidditch professionally?”

Nobody, not a single soul had yet told this kid what had happened? Really?

Nem almost didn't believe her, but they could tell, somehow, that she was speaking the truth. They shoved their hands deep into their pockets - the cold was making their knuckles ache - and looked from the girl, to the gates, to the castle, and back to the girl. For a moment, Nem appeared to hesitate.

Only a moment.

"Well... long story very short," they said, ostensibly picking their words very carefully, as though unsure how much they should really be telling a kid so young and innocent. "... You know Headmaster Trent? This one group, they kidnapped him a couple of terms back, and their leader - Lucien Rosier - was disguised as Trent for a year under Polyjuice Potion. Last year they came out into the open, revealed all this muggle-hating stuff, properly took over the school, and we were all shut off from the outside world. Some... some pretty brutal stuff happened."

Leaving out a few details? No, nothing important.

"Back in May, the Minister called the people on the outside together to come retake the school, and they all blasted the gates down." Nem looked up at them again now; so much for those enchantments, right? Though, really, it wasn't nearly as impressive as dismantling them through sheer ingenuity and skill. "There was a battle, Rosier was killed, and we all lived happily ever after." Or something to that effect.

But that was indeed what had happened, though Nem wasn't actually referencing to the initial takeover of Hogwarts when they spoke of upped security measures; they meant the blasting away of the gates. All it had taken was the combined efforts of an army. "So, yeah. Probably more enchantments on the gates these days." And she could have that bedtime story for free.

She nodded too. Maybe someday Evan would be here teaching something smart, and she could teach flying. After she was too old to play Quidditch, of course. And...she remembered Evan being quiet in the Room. He probably hadn't even noticed her. She grinned, and nodded again. "My family loved her. Well, my parents weren't there, but my brothers...didn't pay attention, but my babulya liked her!" she said. "That's what I call my grandmother." In case it was confusing.

"Yes, I want to play professionally! But...I don't know what I'll do after I'm too old," she said, shifting uncomfortably. "I don't want to go to university, that sounds boring." She didn't really think she was smart enough for university. Maybe she could do something that didn't need uni after she retired from Quidditch. Like...babysitting, or something. She didn't know.

"Are you...hungry?" She'd been planning on getting a snack after her run, but...they'd been talking for a bit. Normally she'd have finished her run by now, she thought. Well, her stomach thought so at least.