Gwen shook her head. "No. Dad's just a worry wart and mum and Stephen just get boring after awhile." She used to like going to their place more, but she was definitely a daddy's girl. Even if she didn't want to admit it sometimes. "Dad and I have clashing personalities as mum says." Meaning they were both stubborn and liked to get their way.

Gwen grabbed onto his hand and used the little bit of strength she had to help pull him up towards the branch. She was just glad that he had his other hand on the branch.

Once he was settled she looked up to the tree. "Now to find another one..."

Bahahahahah... a worry wart. Zeke found that amusing, that, and that her mum and a Stephen guy he assumed to be her brother were boring. There was no such thing as boring in his household... ever. Though, he'd had his fair share of boring moments in the past, a very distant past it seemed now. "Clashing personalities you say?" he asked conversationally. "I think I know what you mean... pretty much everyone in my family clashes, but usually in a good way." Happy families and all, the only exceptions to this were when he seemed to break some sort of moral code or rule or something. Whooops.

He'd barely even pulled himself up, using the branch to support himself and letting go of Gwen's hand, when all of a sudden she was ready to up and at 'em! ....

Parking his bum on the branch, he looked up, then trailed his gaze along a branch and to the trunk. Ooohhh!
"If you can snag your foot in that wedge then you could probably reach that branch there," he said, pointing. It was convenient really.

"Yeah. Mum says were both too stubborn to admit when we're wrong. She says we'd rather just argue for days." Which they had before. Which also meant it just wasn't talking for days. Gwen nodded. "We get along well enough though since it's just me and dad now."

Gwen looked up to where he was pointing. That didn't seem too high. She might actually not need help. She stood up and steadied herself against the tree trunk. "Ready?"

Zeke chuckled, stubbornness was okay, though he could see its difficulties too. Either way, he didn't have that problem per se, so he could laugh about it now. Though the last part of her comment, that resonated with him - kinda, in his own way. "Your parents separated?" he asked. There was no filter on his mouth, or thoughts, and so while he normally wouldn't pry, he couldn't help but voice what was on his mind. Besides, he liked Gwen, so this was more of the whole getting to know her thing.

The plan of attack was legit now that Gwen too saw the benefits of the branch. He didn't need prompting. "After you," he nodded, waiting for her to go first. He could hardly climb over her now could he?

Gwen nodded with a flat expression. "Yeah. Three years ago. Mum's already remarried." She kinda wished her dad would get remarried too. Mainly because that would get him off her back and give him someone else to talk to and pester.

Gwen moved her foot up and shoved it in the wedge as best she could. She reached up and grabbed the branch Zeke had pointed out. She got a good grip and pulled herself up a bit so she could grab on with the other one. A little push with her feet and she was able to get up there. "Your turn."

Ouuuucchhhh... that was a buuuuuuuuurn, for Gwen's dad at least. Whooops.

At any rate, he had nothing more to add to conversation, letting the awkwardness just fall away to its imminent death on the ground below.

He was keen to keep climbing, he wanted to see how far they could get, and what the view would be like from there. It was a god thing he didn't have to wait for long before shuffling along the branch and standing so he could pull himself up to the next branch. The wedge was solid, there was no way he would fall or lose his balance, and it wouldn't break. Steadying himself briefly, Zeke then hauled himself up to the next branch, swinging one leg over and righting himself before sitting properly, his legs dangling. "Recon we can get much higher?" he wondered out loud, hoping she'd scoped out the next step. He was keen to keep at it while he had the momentum.

Jasmine watched as Lux continued to paint her nails. They were looking great so far. "You know if you ever wanted a side gig, you could make money giving manicures to the students." Just saying.

The piercing only hurt for a second? Really? Jasmine would never have figured that. "My tattoo? Yes, it did hurt.....the whole time, but it wasn't unbearable. It was worth it though.". Turning her arm over, Jasmine displayed her wrist. "I got a dragon and I really love it." Yes she really loved it because dragons were fierce and they reminded her of.........things.

Kace smiled and was glad he could meet his buddy! He did really miss him. He might as well get as much hang out time as possible since he will be busy with his duties soon enough. Ah so it was just Adi? He nodded and confirmed he would just call him Adi. "Alright Adi..." he smirked and gave him a friendly noogie. You know messing up the hair a bit. It is what normal guys do. He was even glad to hear his friend was doing well being back at Hogwarts.

Now onto him! "Oh well I am so happy to be back with everyone and just exploring. I missed the outside world of Hogwarts ya know. I even missed this treehouse!" he gestured towards it. Yes he was a fifth year and it was scary. It was crazy how much time has passed. "Yeah I have to take OWLS....but I am not looking forward to them to be honest...it justs add too much pressure ya know? My mom is counting on me to pass all of them since she was top of her class.." he shrugged and looked out the window. "I do not know what subjects I wanna do I may wanna do Astronomy....maybe...COMC, Potions or Divination too..." He wasn't really sure. Only time will tell.

As Lux finished painting Jasmine's fingernails on her right hand, she used Ventus again to make everything dry quicker. "Manicures in exchange for money?" Hmmm. Her Ravenclaw friend seemed to be on to something here. "I like the sound of that, but I'm thinking I could do them in exchange for Chocolate Frogs." Her family was rich, so she wasn't lacking for money, and chocolate was delicious.

Okay.

Tattoos hurt.

That was valuable information, because Lux hadn't been sure about getting one at some point, and she DID dislike pain. But dragons were very cool, so Jasmine's was awesome in her books. "I love dragons! That is so awesome!"

Hair ruffle! It reminded him of being in first year. He'd just been Sorted and Alec and Wade had done that in welcome. Adi grinned. Memories. Good ones too.

He listened to Kace go on. "Oh, yeah. Me too. last year got really boring to stay inside all that time.'' It was the reason he was spending as much time as possible outside. "So, you're just soaking up the sunshine, huh?'' Not that Adi found anything wrong with that. Hehe. The Puffer felt some sympathy for his friend. ''You know, if you give into the pressure you can end up doing badly. I think you should just not worry about your mom.'' Woah. Since when did Adi get so philosophical? Meh. Anyway. "If you need help with a topic, let me know. maybe I can help.'' Especially with Care of Magical Creatures.

"What do you want to do after Hogwarts?''

"Ohhh I know! I mean I couldn't stand being cooped up inside. I wanted to go sledding and make snowmen and do all things outside but it couldn't happen for our safety or whatever.." he said in air quotes. "Yeahh I love the sunshine I mean can you tell from my skin color?" he smirked. I mean he was bronzed. He loved being outside and plus he worked on the farm with his family and he loved playing sports and just having fun in the sun. He heard Adi's advice and he smiled. "Woaahh that was deep there dude. You sure you don't wanna be a shrink when you get older...?" he teased a little bit. But he knew he was kidding.

He nodded and thanked him when he mentioned he could help him in his classes for OWLS. "Hey I might need my nerd at hand.." he elbowed him. "Which subject is your strongest?" he asked curiously. What did he want to do after Hogwarts? He had no idea. He thought about it and then had an answer. "You know what....I think I would love to work with creatures or anything sport related. I did my internship at Quality Quidditch supplies and I loved it. I think sports maybe my calling.." he shrugged and smiled. It was nice to see something he was excelling in.

Gwen stood on the branch, carefully leaning her weight on the trunk. She was looking up, trying to spot their next move. Did she mention she wanted to see how high she could go? It would take her a long time to get scared of being so high.

She looked back towards Zeke to make sure he was able to pull himself up all right. Good. He didn't need her help this time and she didn't have to leave him hanging...literally. "Of course we can." She looked back up. "That one seems strong enough to hold the both of us." She pointed towards a thick branch that was surrounded by leaves. There wouldn't be much a view from there, but it would be a good stop.

"Want a wait a second or do you just want to go for it?"

Leo almost laughed at the other boys reaction when he agreed with him about the treehouse, but he just turned his head to the side, grinning as he looked out at the view.

Then he pointed out the lake, squinting Leo could make out a fair bit of it but he was still kind of curious which seemed to join in with his amazement. "Wow" was all he managed to say. This school had left him speechless multiple times but this really had to be one of the most amazing things that he had seen so far.

He felt a bit dumb for not being able to say more but his mind was still trying to comprehend everything around him, and failing at that.

He was constantly confused with language as it was, he always got english and greek words mixed up, it was very annoying. "They call it ποδόσφαιρο in Greek." Not that he'd care. Phe just didn't really have anything else to say on the subject... and he liked to talk. "That's a good idea. We should see who else plays." They could have a silly game or something. Did they play quidditch here? He'd like to watch a game, he'd never learned to fly but that wasn't the point... Trouble? Pfffft. "Does that matter? It's not like they'd be able to catch us." Y'know, if they were all speedy on the skateboards and stuff.

"Mhmm, yeah." Phoenix almost called her Paradise AGAIN, but stopped himself. The girls from last term? "Like... seventh years?" Phe wasn't picky, that's for sure, but he'd never really found older girls that attractive. He struggled keeping up with people his own age, intellectually, so he'd probably have trouble staying on their level. "Hot?" He assumed, anyway. Phoenix assumed Connor wouldn't be the one to ask about the pretty guys... He'd get on that eventually though.

Marigold hadn't been to the treehouse in ages. She lugged some textbooks up in case she wanted to study, but right now she was drawing a hippogriff (or she was trying to, at least) on her arm with sparkly ink. She rotated her arm slowly, smiling as the glitter hit the light and went all shiny. If only it didn't look like a giraffe mixed with a frog.

The treehouse was a great redeeming factor for the cold hallways of Hogwarts. She had never been in one quite so amazing. There was her cousin Ciara’s kinda cool treehouse but it was only classified as that because of the hammock right beside it. It mainly sucked because Tilly was only allowed up the ladder if she did as she was told and ran back into her aunt’s house to steal get some nice treats.

This tree house was at least 10x cooler. The little brunette stared up in amazement before running up the stairs, a bounce in her step. She practically launched herself onto a bean bag, belly first. It was so SATISFYING.

That’s when she noticed the other girl in the corner, admiring her own arm. Tilly stretched her neck and tried to see the tattoo (???) bit better. But curiosity didn’t push her to say anything.

It was very……. Glittery.

This was just blah some days. This whole being a teenager trapped in a castle. LULZ. Most kids would LOVE it, right? It wasn't like the worst thing to ever happen, but Silas did miss his siblings most days. And his animals. Sighs.

Looking out over the grounds he DID smile a bit. So pretty. THIS was well worth the trek down from the tower. Yep. Now that he had relaxed a bit he was a bit more apt to stir up some fun (or drama) with some kids his age. Heh. Like... where were all the cool people?

The older Gryffindor nodded in agreement. Yeah, yeah it was wow. Looking out at the view, he smiled to himself. Merlin, remember when he was just a first year? Seeing this place for the first time. It was an amazing feeling, especially when everything about the school was so foreign. Everything had so much magic, everywhere-which was great, but it just wasn't as homey. But the treehouse, well it was just like the ones he'd played on as a kid. No magic to alter them around because even though the lake was great and all, it still had a giant squid in it and apparently mermaids and things, but that could just be rumor. But this treehouse, it was inviting in it's own sense.

"Wait, till you see the inside!" he said, his smile only growing. With that, Zander motioned Leo towards the closed up part of the treehouse. From the outside it wasn't too extravagant, but once you saw a glimpse of the beanbags and the couches and the chilling out area- it was GREAT!

Walking over to his most favoritest seat ever, he plopped down and waited for Leo to join him. "Sometimes I would come over here, and well..." he let out a sigh, "think about her." And as soon as he said it, he felt his heart drop a little. It was hard to admit that she was really gone. That she had left without saying goodbye. Most days he went on with his life, pretending she'd come back. But other days, he'd remember. Especially when he came back to these familiar places where he'd spend time thinking about what to do for her, what to make her, and just her.

"Obviously I am now the best. So of course I'll teach you." Isla said, flipping her hair. Though she was sure she didn't really have anymore dance moves to really show Vinnie. Free-styling was not her thing. Once she saw Vinnie getting up and shaking it she couldn't help but laugh, rolling onto the ground of the treehouse. Oh this was too good. "I think we're both lucky that we're so nice because if we weren't that would be great blackmail." She said, shaking her head in amusement.

Yeah, pranking a head boy was definitely not something Isla was planning for. Secretive about the pranks though? "I thought about that...but I kind of want myself to be known as The Boy Pranker. It has a nice sound to it and we won't be doing too bad of pranks, so it shouldn't matter that much, right?" She asked. Hopefully it didn't. She didn't want to have to end up in detention every other week.

It was nice up here, or, it was nicer than being all the way down there. Though the treehouse was super cool, he liked the branches far better. Anyone could climb stairs, but not everyone could navigate branches... this was something else.

He knew the answer before she said it, but it was the prompt they needed to keep going, he wasn't much interested in stopping just yet. "Just go for it, no point sitting around," he replied in the end, grinning. It was a good looking branch, and there was nothing wrong with a bit of greenery. If anything, it would make for some handy camouflage.

On his way to lessons earlier this week, Archie had gotten... - well, let's say he'd gone the scenic route. On the plus side, it had given him the opportunity to note note of things to return and explore later. The treehouse was very much one of those things, looking almost as awesome as the one he had in the back garden at home.

He climbed up the ladder easily, being a nimble and agile sort, and soon he appeared in the house itself. "Awesome," he said, first taking in the various items for lounging around in, and then heading over to the balcony to take in the view. "Who wants to work in the Common Room when there's this?"

It was a rhetorical question really, but the other guy there was welcome to agree with him if he so chose.

Jasmine thought about what her friend said. "Manicures for chocolate? That might be even better." Jasmine had a weakness for chocolate or sweets in general. Knowing her classmates, this had the potential to be a lucrative business. Hogwatians liked their candy. See Cutty Mordaunt.

"Yeah, dragons are very cool", Jasmine said as she looked at her wrist. "Maybe one day I'll get another tattoo." It was a possibility, someday maybe. "Were you thinking about getting a tattoo? If you were brave enough to pierce your navel, a tattoo should be a piece of cake."

Continuing to look around the treehouse, Jasmine was liking it more and more. "I think I'm going to be spending a lot of time here." That was, as long as the weather held up. "Do you come up often?

Silas was still somewhat lost in thought as he gazed out over the grounds. His revelry was broken, though, when he heard a voice very near him. Without looking over he smiled slightly and said, "Only an idiot." Like DUH. Who could concentrate with all of this beautiful scenery right outside of their windows?... Well maybe the ones who couldn't see it were less inclined to be distracted.

Speaking of... finally looking over he saw the boy was a Ravenclaw. Odd sort, those. "Silas McLaggen. Have we met?" Outstretching his hand he gave the other boy a small grin. Was he up to sitting around and having a chat?

Gwen liked that answer. She nodded and set her sites back on that branch. She looked for a spot to wedge her foot into. Ah. That looked like it would work. She shoved her foot into it and pushed up as much as she could. She reached up and caught the end of the branch, which snapped immediately. "Darn branch."

She looked back at Zeke. "I'm good. I'm just gonna try again." Gwen went back and reached for further back on the branch. This time she grasped on and pulled herself up. There. That was a lot more difficult than she expected it to be. "Your turn." She dangled her legs over the side of the branch, looking back down at Zeke.

Walking inside the treehouse Leo was pretty sure that his jaw just dropped, before he grinned. He could totally get used to spending time up here. This place was amazing. Totally, totally amazing. In fact, he was starting to think that he used amazing waaaaaaaaaay too much when it came to describing this place but he just couldn't come up with another way to describe the tree house.

It was obviously just too cool for the first year to comprehend.

Seeing Zander drop down into a he followed, plopping himself down on a beanbag close by and it was soooooo comfy. Who cared about the comfy beds in the dorms now? Why not just sleep here in beanbags?

That would be awesome.

And then Zander said something emotional that left Leo slightly confused and slightly out of his depth. "Her?" he questioned aloud, before wondering if he should ever have asked. Would Zander even notice that he said that? Probably... "Was it someone that used to go to school here or something? Or someone that does go to school here?" he finally added on, realising that he wouldn't be able to take it back now.