It was just one of those days when Carl wanted to get out of the castle and stretch his legs. He had been in the Common Room for the majority of his free time because of the cold. Now, he needed some fresh air and was feeling adventurous, so he got bundled up in warm clothes and made his way out.

The Hufflepuff walked upon the pathways where he jogged regularly when it was warmer. It was peaceful and quiet here, factors that made him like the place so much. Not today though. He wanted to do something exciting! He sat down at the side of the path and his eyes traveled from the trees, to the grass, then to more trees.

Shrugging, he opened his bag. He had ... some Chocolate Frogs! He picked one carefully and opened the package.

Matt hadn't been out in the grounds for aaaaaaagesssssssssssss. Like, literally, probably like two days or so. Or more! He didn't know. But it felt like AGES.

So out he went, with nothing on him but his wand because he didn't feel like carrying much more.

Then he saw it. Well, him. The boy with a CHOCOLATE FROG. Matt suddenly realised he was hungry. Right, okay, not REALLY hungry, just... 'peckish'. He could definitely do with a Chocolate Frog, though.

The Gryffindor then dropped his weigh right next to the other kid with a loud THUD. "Hullo!" Matt grinned at the boy and then at the Chocolate Frog. Griiiiiiinning, grin, grin. Hello.

Carl took out the collectible card in his Chocolate Frog and examined it. Hermione Granger! He pocketed the card, deciding to add it to his collection. Then, he turned to his frog. He was about to take a bite when he felt somebody sit down next to him with a thud.

It was Matthew the Gryffindor! "Hello!" The Second Year grinned back and bit off the frog's head. Was the boy staring at his frog? Aha! He knew exactly what the boy wanted. He opened his bag wide and showed him the contents; some text books, his wand, a quill aaand three Chocolate Frogs! "Do you want one?" He asked.

Matt saw him pocketing the card before he could see who it was. "Oooo, who'd you get??" Curious Matt was curious.

The second year laughed when Carl the Hufflepuff bit off the head of the frog. That was always an amusing scene to watch. BEHEADING THE FROG! Hahahaaaa, hilarious! "WHOA!" Matt gasped as Carl showed the content of his bag. THREEEEEEE Chocolate Frogs. Yum. "Yesplease!" He said before taking one of the packages. "Wanna guess who I'll get?" He asked Carl while he opened the pack. "My guess iiiiisssss... um... uuummmm... Merlin!!" He already had a bunch of Merlins, so it made sense to get another one.

The nifflers remained undisturbed from their pile of *SHINY THINGS* Random trinkets taken from the places they'd been in the castle glinted in the sunlight, and any passing students might watch as the nifflers seemed content to nest around their shinies all day.

One niffler's ear twitched, hearing something in the distance, clicking? but...

They continued their bath of shinies, rubbing their little sides all over EVERYTHING! Honestly, they should venture into the castle more often! Humans hoarded shinies almost as much as nifflers did!

At the question, Carl pulled out his card again to show Matthew the brown haired woman, who smiled and nodded at them. "I got Hermione Granger!" She was one of his role models, possibly because she was a successful Muggleborn witch.

Laughing along, the Badger took another bite. This time, the Frog's front legs and part of its belly disappeared. Was this a Chocolate Frog execution?

After Matthew took a Frog, Carl closed his bag. "Ummm ... my guess is Albus Dumbledore." He found that Dumbledore cards were common, at least for him. He watched closely as the Gryffindor opened the package.

At that moment, he saw movement from the corner of his eyes. He whipped around and saw - Nifflers. An excited herd of them! Recalling his knowledge about the creature, he was not surprised to see them gathered around a pile of shiny things. Rolling in it, to be exact. He tapped his companion on the shoulder and pointed. "Dude. Look!"

After spending an hour with Brinlee, Rooney knew that he needed to be outside for a little while. She was always the most fun to spend time with, but it took her a whole lot of time to understand things and he couldn't spare his devotion to his own education for hers. Not every day. Besides, recently..all she did was question him about Charlotte and Minnie and what was happening. The truth was..he didn't know. Char had been his first proper crush that wasn't Miss Sophie Brown, but Minnie was... something entirely different. And she made him laugh and smile.

Girls were confusing.

Hands stuffed in his pockets, Rooney headed out into the grounds of the castle, head in the clouds. Metaphorically, of course.

"Niiiiiice! I don't think I have one of her yet." Matt said as he got his own Chocolate Frog out of the package and ate his head straight away. But to be fair, he didn't really care thaaat much about the cards. He always lost his one way or another anyway.

Chewing away, the boy took the card in his free hand. He made a show of spitting the remainings of the frog's head and gaaaaaaaaaaaaasped dramatically. "Slytherin!!! Noooooooooooooo!!!! That's rubbish!" The Gryffindor said as he made a face which didn't last three seconds. The boy was about to shrug and grin to Carl again when his friend tapped his shoulder and pointed at... "Nifflers!!! Awesome!! Here, friends, you can have this!" Matt called out to the creatures and then TOSSED his Salazar Slytherin card towards them. It was kinda shiny, y'know. Maybe the nifflers would appreciate it more than Matt.

Flanked by his posse of humanfolk, Aletag heard the distinct call of nifflers from somewhere nearby.

"DID SOMEONE SAY NIFFLERS?!"

Eager pincers...eager and hungry pincers...come hither little nifflers....come hither so he could have a sna--- bring you home. Yes, that. Bring them home.

Pee in his shoe?

Cornelius nudged the Acromantula's leg away from him. Not because he was scared but because the thing just accused him of wearing pee-sodden shoe. The elves took care of that, thank you very much. "It's not filthy," he announced, sticking his nose up in the air. "The elves cleaned it and the entire dorm." JUST so no one would go around spreading rumors on how Slytherins slept in pee. 'Cause they didn't.

Cornelius climbed down a few branches, and hopped off the last one. "Yeah, it's that way. You go first," the boy said. He didn't trust and acromantula larger than him to walk behind him. Then he glanced back at Azura and winked at her. He got her back.

Just LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THE SPIDER THO.

Cornelius' eyes went wide in wonder. "Can I ride on top of you?" he asked, staying close but not too close--

There were nifflers around? For some odd reason Cornelius' heart jumped and Niffly's face came to mind. Handing it (or any niffler) over to the acromantula did not sound like a very good idea. "They're inside!!" Cornelius insisted. JUST GO INSIDE DUMB SPIDER.

Hearing the sound of someone walking behind her, Esme turned and saw that it was Rooney. He was clearly lost in thought and even though she didn't really know him well she could see that whatever he was thinking about was rather serious.

"Something troubling you?" Because if so he was far from the only one. She didn't usually let problems get her down, choosing to hide from them but nothing like this had ever happened to her and Esme was having a bit of a hard time coming to terms with what Juno had told her. She needed another distraction like she had earlier that day in Charms class...

Lots of things happening!

Human child boy thing threw something at them, but it wasn't nearly shiny enough to catch their attention.

What did catch their attention was the enormous papa spider headed their way! Instead of being scared, though, the nifflers cooed in the spider's general direction in recognition. They weren't acromentula feed today!

Olly was still not in support of the whole bringing the acromantula into the castle idea, but there was no way he was going to stay behind. If something went wrong he wanted to be there, not that he would be a lot of help if something bad happened. But interesting things were going on and he would not be left behind. So he would search for nifflers and help the acromantula catch them. Why not?

He followed the group to the pathways and up toward the castle. And just their luck! There was a niffler. No, several nifflers. They were right there! Right in front of them. Those were the very creatures they had been looking for. "Look! Nifflers!" Everybody else had probably already also seen them but Olly shouted and pointed anyway. And he didn't waste any time in rushing forward toward the nifflers. Maybe he could grab one of them.

Carl grinned and pocketed his card again. He really hoped to get a rare one like Agrippa one day, it would really contribute to his collection!

He looked over Matthew's shoulder as he turned over his card. "Slytherin, cool!" The Gryffindor seemed to disagree, but he could tell that he was joking. He watched as the other boy tossed the card at the Nifflers. They were not too attracted to it though, maybe it was not shiny enough? He was about to look for something shiner when -

"Hi, Aletag!" It was Aletag, right? Carl was not sure how to tell one Acromantula from another. "Yeah, Nifflers. Do you want help escorting them home?" He stood up. Strangely enough, the little creatures did not seem scared at the sight of giant spiders. Brave ones, they were.

It wasn't that Rooney was ignorant, but he hadn't noticed anything that was going on around, even if it was completely out of the ordinary. But he also hadn't noticed someone speaking to him, until he found himself sneezing and coming back down to Earth. "Oh. Esme.. Hey.." He gave the Hufflepuff a smile and knew as soon as he did that it would be evident that it was forced as hell. It was forced. He was forcing it. Smiling wasn't in his facial movements right now.

"You seem a little lighter on your feet.." Just an observation.

Lol. "Hah, not even the nifflers want Slytherin." Matt laughed as he looked back at Carl. A voice suddenly startled the Gryffindor, making him whip his head back around to face the nifflers and "WHOA, SPIDER!!!" An a MASSIVE one at that. Matt POINTED as he got up.

The nifflers' reaction made the boy frown. "Wha- why aren't they-" But then Carl called the spider by its NAME. "WHA?? YOU'RE FRIENDS WITH THE SPID-- WHA??" He stared at the Hufflepuff with wide eyes. "That is............. brilliant." But now Matt was confused. "Wait, who? Escorting home? Who?" His looked back and forth from Carl to the spider, then to the nifflers and back at the spiders and then back at Carl.

What was happening?? And more importantly, was the spider friendly? ..........'Cause it'd be awesome if it were. "Aletag..?" Lol?

He forgot how scared he had been when he first saw the Acromantula. Matthew must be reaaally brave to think this "brilliant". "Oh, Matthew this is Aletag! We're not really ... friends? But he is nice. He does not eat humans. He is here to bring the Nifflers back to the Forest, because they have been showing unnatural behavior or something." That pretty much summed up what he had heard at the Great Lake a while ago.

As for why the Nifflers were not afraid of the giant spider, Carl had no idea. All in all, this was starting to become an amazing adventure!

The fact that Rooney didn't answer her question wasn't lost on Esme. She was a smart enough cookie to know that meant he probably didn't want to talk about whatever was going on with him. She could see how forced the smile on his face was, even though she returned the gesture. Was it girl problems? It seemed that so many boys at Hogwarts had girl problems. Yeeeeeah, she was totally happy with not having to deal with any of that kind of thing. Not like Azura. Then again she had a problem of her own.

"I'm trying to remember what happened to me. My sister told me that I was not myself for three weeks." Apparently she wasn't the only one either. WHAT WAS GOING ON??

Before anyone knew it, a soft rumbling could be heard. GNOMIES! Or you could call them GNUPIDS this month.

Giggle, giggle

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squishy

The fact that Rooney didn't answer her question wasn't lost on Esme. She was a smart enough cookie to know that meant he probably didn't want to talk about whatever was going on with him. She could see how forced the smile on his face was, even though she returned the gesture. Was it girl problems? It seemed that so many boys at Hogwarts had girl problems. Yeeeeeah, she was totally happy with not having to deal with any of that kind of thing. Not like Azura. Then again she had a problem of her own.

"I'm trying to remember what happened to me. My sister told me that I was not myself for three weeks." Apparently she wasn't the only one either. WHAT WAS GOING ON??

Oh what luck. TWO studensies in need of delivery TOGETHER! Before they could know what was going on, the gnupids circled around the two. One present for the yellow child before her gram-

My dear sweet, funny, kind sister.
Who would I be, but one half of a
whole without you. You will always
be my best friend, confidant, secret
keeper, crazy, twin sister.

Love you always!

FROOM JUNO. JUUUNOOO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shanners

It wasn't that Rooney was ignorant, but he hadn't noticed anything that was going on around, even if it was completely out of the ordinary. But he also hadn't noticed someone speaking to him, until he found himself sneezing and coming back down to Earth. "Oh. Esme.. Hey.." He gave the Hufflepuff a smile and knew as soon as he did that it would be evident that it was forced as hell. It was forced. He was forcing it. Smiling wasn't in his facial movements right now.

"You seem a little lighter on your feet.." Just an observation.

and another present for the blue boy. A box of chocolates wrapped in a pretty daffodil yellow ribbon. CUUUUTE.

Dear Roo,

You can share these chocolates with your new GIRLFRIEND.

P.S I don't want to be friends with someone who can't even talk to their friend about important things and makes them feel like its all their fault.

P.P.S I will NEVER want to marry you.

Frrom Charlotte Kettleburn

with a lot of rush, they went about back into the bush. trailing the pink confetti behind.

Giggle, giggle

Abby took a wander down the pathways and sighed she was going to miss Hogwarts but she knew that going to st.mungos after she got off the train was for the best because she needed to get treated for the spell damage before things got worse at least it was controlable at times but it was tough

Vivian had a lot of free time lately. In between classes, homework, studying for the end of term exams, and hanging out with friends, the Slytherin always went back to her dormitory to check on her Kneazle, her animated toy dog, and her pet rock. This time, she hurriedly went to dormitory, changed into some exercise clothes, and took Rockefeller with her to the pathways.

"Alright, cadet, we're up for a big big biiiig day today," the Slytherin said, stomping her feet and marching along the rocky path, her pet rock perched on her shoulder. "I hope you prepared yourself for this day, because it's about to go down for real!" Head held up high, Vivian kept walking.

Once they reached a bench, she set her other things there. Extra clothes, some food, and everything. "We're going for a run today, Cadet Rockefeller. Gonna put your endurance to the test." And because cadets were supposed to be HEALTHY, right? The blonde was all for good health and exercise or jogging is just the perfect thing to do. Maybe she'd even consider bringing Rockefeller to the Quidditch pitch for a couple of flying laps around it, which should be a fun alternative to running too.

Vivian tied her shoelaces for a moment and placed Rockefeller inside her feather-light charmed sling bag, which didn't feel heavy at all. Also, it was ideal for running with heavy things. She also cast a disillusionment charm on her other things inside the bag she'd be leaving on the bench. With everyone done, she gave Rockefeller a thumbs up. She allowed for five minutes of stretching her limbs before jogging.

Jog. Jog. Jog. See? Wasn't a healthy lifestyle fun? She wish her pet rock knew that. "No violent reactions or complaints, Cadet! Health is wealth," she reminded Rockefeller - as if it actually was saying things - while her feet alternated left and right as she jogged a couple times around the grounds.

Five minutes later, Vivian cooled down and walked back to the bench with her things. Phew! "Nice to sweat it out a bit, don't you think so?" the Slytherin said and took her pet rock out of her sling bag and placed him on the bench, just so he could cool down too. Otherwise, their muscles would go sore and Merlin, that was painful.

"Okay, cadet. Do some push-ups. Go." Officer Vivian says so.

Hadley was skipping along the path in an excellent mood. It was spring, and pretty and warm out. The kind of day you just needed to be outside for, and being outside just put you in a good mood. That and having a hyper active ferret dancing around you as you skip.

Yeah, today was a great day.

"Oh! Hi Abby!" Hadley said, spotting the seventh year as she rounded a curve in the pathways. "Out enjoying the weather too?"

Abby looked up at Haddie and said "Hey Haddie yeah you could say that, just not looking forward to leaving Hogwarts at the end of term"

Daxton Prince did not tend to go outside. Generally speaking, he was an indoor person. The outside was bright, usually too loud, often uncomfortable, and always unpredictable. Inside was better, quieter, more easily controlled.

But today, he had ventured out of the castle, and not for anything mandatory or unavoidable. In truth, it was likely obvious to anyone who looked at him that he had not been in direct sunlight for some time given the almost sickly pallor about him. Daxton himself had every intention of getting back inside as soon as possible, but first, it was time to vent some rock-related frustration. While he was at it, he could 'share' with his meteorite one of the things that made Earth so unique, just as the assignment briefing had called for. And what better way than to reintroduce it to Earth's own earth.

Daxton was not barefoot today, but instead wore the boots that he had obtained over a year ago. Big boots... all the better to kick things with. As he walked through the pathways, he slowed to drop his 'pet' rock onto the ground, before immediately giving it an almighty kick, sending the rock socking through the air and landing just a short distance away - Daxton did not pretend to have any sort of athletic skills, kicking or otherwise.

Meandering along at his own pace, Daxton soon reached the rock's position... and proceeded to boot it as hard as possible once again. This time, 'Pebbles' did not lift very far off the ground, but skidded away instead, spinning along the dirt with its felt 'ears' flailing around almost comically. One eye became unstuck and flew off, but Daxton simply stopped to pick it up, intending to re-glue it on later; this tended to happen, what with how aggressive he often got with the rock.

His walk did not take very long, but Daxton got five good kicks out of it, by which point he had tired himself out. At last, he bent down to pick up the battered and beaten up meteorite, giving it a quick once-over to see if there were any other lost 'facial features' that might need replacing. Finding everything else to be in order, Daxton turned back the way he had come and began the long, exhausting walk back to the castle, suddenly feeling as though the rock weighed much more than it ever had before. Idly, he wondered whether he might take the time to visit Airey Flamsteed later; it had been a few days since his last attempt at a provocation, and Daxton was growing more and more bored.