Brent frowned. Defense Against the Dark Arts was supposed to be his best subject. The Gryffindor boy wasn't a dark wizard or anything like that, but just the fact that Brent was caught off guard with defending himself didn't exactly make him look good.

"It's alright, man. Now that I'm back on my feet and know what happened, it is kind of funny. We should do more of that kind of thing on purpose," he said with a laugh. It seemed like a good way to find something to get into that they weren't supposed to be doing.

"So what exactly were you trying to do?" he asked. He was really curious what kind of spell turned into what he'd just seen.

The giggle hadn't been intentional. Likely, it was a sign that she had a concussion, but boys were often stupid... soooo...

And of course she was going to pretend everything was fine. Even as she winced while blotting blood off her forehead. It was definitely sore from the fall. Sore, sore, sore! What a nightmare. But the blonde simply kept doing what she was doing and ignored the fact that she probably needed the Healer.

"Yes, friend." The kind one snogged a few times, but still best friend. No names needed be mentioned, right? Right! That was her business and hers alone! "He is my best friend, actually. Since we were born." She was probably saying too much, but she was CLEARLY being goaded. And what do Gryffindors do when they are goaded? ACT STUPID! "Well, we spent most of the summer together, so... I kind of knew what he got up to then, but whatever..." She was clearly unwell if she was sharing this information with Blaise... She didn't tend to share with him.

"And I was reading and walking. Hardly preparing for you to be sprawled in the centre of the corridor. Totally not my fault," she said as a yawn escaped her. "I'm tired, Blaise. I totally want to take a nap." Right here would be just fine, thanks. The fifth year started looking for something to fashion into a pillow.

Rula had paused for just a few moments when another girl appeared, also seeming tired. At least she wasn't the only one then. She didn't see any books or a bag to carry them in, though, so she wondered what the other girl was doing up here. Maybe she was a Gryffindor or Ravenclaw? Or had a friend in one of those houses she was visiting.

Not that it was any of Rula's business, but she was curious!

And the girl was friendly, it seemed, so that was good.

"Hi!" she replied with a smile. "Those stairs really take a lot out of you, don't they?" Hogwarts should invest in a faster method of indoors transportation honestly.

"Yes!" Etta exclaimed, glad that someone understood that feeling because gosh. Walking up all those stairs was simply exhausting. "It's also good exercise though." She added. That was the only exercise she was getting 'cause she didn't like to run or jog. Or to be more clear, she just couldn't run or jog. She didn't have the stamina or maybe.. the girl was just plain lazy. And she didn't do yoga. Eh.

"I'm Etta." She introduced herself, being polite and all. Etta looked at the other girl curiously before she continued, "What's yours?" It seemed like she would have an interesting name. At least, she looked interesting.

Rula grinned. "That's true. And exercise always helps." Even if it was tiring. But it was a good kind of tired usually, unless you exercised TOO much and exhausted yourself. Then it was a bad kind. But this wasn't like that, especially since a little bit of rest had already allowed her to catch her breath.

Oh, introductions! "Nice to meet you, Etta! I'm Rula." She offered her hand for a handshake.

"Rula. That's a nice name." Etta said, with a grin. She generally liked people with interesting names.. they usually turned out to be quite interesting people. She leaned back comfortably against the wall, tucking her hands inside the pockets of her jeans.

"What year are you in?" You know, conversation stuff. Unless Rula had to be someplace else? Didn't seem like it, though. UM. "Are you going somewhere?" Might as well ask, yes?

Sam was glad that this Brent guy wasn't all bent out of shape about it. Seemed that he was able to take things lightly, which was becoming more of a rarity, Sam found.

"That could be interesting," Sam answered with an easy grin.

But as for what he was trying to do... "Well, I was practicing a spell that would turn my ink unstainable" he began as he took his lizard out of his pocket, "But Taco here spilled the ink a bit before I was ready, and it yielded that result." Bouncing ink balls. But hey, it had half-worked! Definitely could have been worse.

"What are you two up to, anyway?"

Jacob listened to Brent's response to the Gryffindor and decided he agreed. It was kind of funny. And interesting spellwork. He'd like to know how to make that happen...

"Interesting," he said. "Well, it certainly didn't stain. Although it did sting a bit... Who knew balls of ink would be so hard?" He shrugged. After a second, though, his brain played back what the other boy had said, and he had to wonder: "Who's Taco?"

As for what they were up to... Well, they hadn't really been up to anything at all. Jacob shrugged, deciding Brent could be the one to explain. He'd been the one who was dying, after all. Jacob had just been acting the Good Samaritan.

Oh so it was one of THOSE types of friends. Blaise wouldn't listen for a second to her trying to tell him they were 'friends that grew up together'. No doubt his quill was already spinning it into a far more believable story; one that was worth a read. Let's face it, you didn't giggle about someone you grew up with if you only considered them a brother. No one saw him giggling about Bentley, ever, at all. As in...it was never going to happen.

"Sounds like a pretty eventful summer then." He coaxed on, realizing he'd already gotten more out of her than was likely on any other given day. Concussion you say? Yeah, maybe she had one of those for real. Which was all the more reason for "Nope." Huge nope. "No napping, not until we're sure you're gonna wake up again." That was a pretty standard rule, yeah? He was no Healer but he was almost sure he'd heard somewhere before that people who've been hit in the head shouldn't sleep.

"You were saying you pretty much knew what he was up to so why were you still so into that letter?"

Just gonna....casually ignore the fact that her falling might have been his fault for real. Yep. Go on answering the questions. No need to focus on who REALLY was to blame.

Funnily enough, Blaise knew this FRIEND... and Dora was well aware of that fact. But it was not ideal for her to tell these things... not just yet anyway.

"No more eventful than normal, really. Just... traveled." Had she mentioned that she was tired? Probably. Why didn't he have a pillow. Or... she could just use him as a pillow. The blonde just lay down, head on his lap. Nope, she did not ask. She did not care to. They were friends, which meant this was totally acceptable behaviour! Dora!Logic!

Without missing a beat, she continued on, "And we tell eachother everything... and then we stopped snogging so things were weird... then we had to have a catch up." Was that making sense? Had she mentioned that she snogged said friend? Meep. "It's too difficult to find a good person to snog now. I'm either too good of friends with them or they don't see me that way. And what's up with that? I'm pretty. And blonde." The girl was good at rambling on any given day, but the blow to the head was letting her filter have some time off apparently. "And besides, I think it's bes to kiss people you care about, right? Blaise, why are boys so dumb sometimes. Present company excluded."

Oh, travel was fun. It was also a really good way to ensure she didn't fall asleep, even as her head hit his lap. Perfectly fine of course, friends helped friends through concussions--especially when it was their fault. "Travelling's always fun. Where'd you end up going?" He'd spent his summer in the Caribbean making money for doing next to nothing. Could next summer be the same? Please?

Ohhhhhh, it was one of those friendships. See, he KNEW he wasn't just reading too much into things. Years of decent investigative work made putting two and two together a little more easy than it used to.

"I can definitely agree on that." He said with a nod, even as he searched to ensure the source of her bleeding had stopped. "It's real hard finding good snogging buddies, especially ones that don't come with a boat load of drama." It was one of the reasons he was so glad he had Clara. His girlfriend in herself was not drama. Her twin made things drama and sometimes her temper and the way she refused to listen to reason did too. The point was, she was good for snogging so he no longer had the same problem as Dora but he knew where she was coming from with it. "I mean, I prefer redheads," And freckles, "but you are pretty so you don't have to settle either." Which arguably made things all even worse but y'know.

"That's actually a funny question. See, girls usually think boys are dumb when their ideas don't line up. I'll admit we sometimes make the worst decisions. I think it's mostly just...not being able to see or think of things the way you do so we don't react the way you want us to."

"We went to Greece, Italy, France, Germany and Spain. And of course Bali, we go to Bali every year. It's family tradition. My brother actually went with us and had fun, too. And Sam... and of course it was Casper with us," and again she was SURE that Blaise was the one blushing. Dora's didn't blush.

Of course Dora had heard about Blaise and Clara... they were all housemates, after all. Besides, she was just concussed!rambling here, not hitting on Blaise. Did he know that? Surely he did... but before she could even say anything he was inspecting her forehead and making her cringe. Oh man...she even felt like she was going to puke, but she was able to push that back down. Fortunately for Blaise's lap.

"I have snogged boys and girls... and they are ALL trouble. Drama. Nonsense." Or it could have been simply her taste in people... and their lack of discretion that had caused trouble for her in the past. "I just want to find someone I can snog and have a conversation with that won't ruin a life long friendship. Or something like that."

And while Blaise attempted to explain why boys actually weren't stupid... and girls were essentially crazy Dora felt herself starting to doze off to sleep... Possibly drooling on her friend's pant leg.

Come one, come all and join us in some holiday cheer! You're all invited to join Professor Slavatore in some Christmas caroling! Come wander the corridors and raise your voice. And don't worry if you can't sing, it's all in fun!

Brent nodded as the boy explained what he was trying to do with the ink. "Alright, man. Sounds legit," he casually said. Brent could have suggested a spell to just remove the ink once it spilled, but he figured that wasn't really the guy's point. Plus, he wasn't a first year. He probably already knew the spell. As for what he was doing... "I'm the new kid," he started, "I'm exploring the castle." Plus, he was off meeting new people, but that he had already accomplished.

Sting a bit... Brent turned to Jacob. "Yeah, man, and knocked me off my feet," he said, with a grin. Jacob then asked the very next question Brent had for Sam, which was...who's Taco? He guessed the boy's pet, which was an interesting name for an animal. "Cool spell, though." Brent should get around to trying to create some on his own, too. "Well, I should be heading on my way. It's a pretty good hike back down to the dungeons. I'll see you two around."

PAUL HAD BROUGHT HIS BANJO. Were they ready to carol BANJO STYLE? Paul hoped so. He strummed is gently to the tune of Jingle Bells as he waited for some of the students to perhaps arrive, and also Caroleena. If not, though, he'd carol by himself.

Totally.

"Jiiiinggleeee BELLLLLLLLLS!" he sang loudly.

There was a scintilla of hope that MAYBE his singing voice was okay. MAYBE.

"Thanks!" Rula beamed. "Yours is quite nice too. Is it short for anything?" It seemed like it could be, but she could be wrong. It was still a nice name whether it was a nickname or not!

"I'm a sixth year. You?" Etta looked like she was fairly close in age to Rula. Probably not the same year, but she didn't look like a first or second year either. She could be wrong about that too though. You never know!

"I was just heading up to the Astronomy tower to do some homework, but it can wait for now." She wasn't in a rush since it wasn't anything that was due immediately. Talking with someone was lots more fun anyway. "What about you?"

Santa!Gaston had just left the Divination classroom and was walking back down the corridor when he heard singing. Up ahead she spotted Paul with his banjo. Wow, he was rather good! He'd have to remember to tel him... sometime when he wasn't wearing this ridiculous Santa outfit.

Jingle, jingle, jingle! Santa!Gaston jiggled his bell in time to the music as he approached. "HO, HO, HO!" he shouted. "Santa has a special surprise for Professor Paul!" He set his big red sack down for a moment, pulled out a candy cane, and handed it to his colleague. The attached card read:

Quote:

To: Professor Paul Myers

Thank you for being an amazing herbology professor and head of house! Your lessons never fail to brighten my day.
Merry Christmas!

From: Isa Wright

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erindipity

"We went to Greece, Italy, France, Germany and Spain. And of course Bali, we go to Bali every year. It's family tradition. My brother actually went with us and had fun, too. And Sam... and of course it was Casper with us," and again she was SURE that Blaise was the one blushing. Dora's didn't blush.

Of course Dora had heard about Blaise and Clara... they were all housemates, after all. Besides, she was just concussed!rambling here, not hitting on Blaise. Did he know that? Surely he did... but before she could even say anything he was inspecting her forehead and making her cringe. Oh man...she even felt like she was going to puke, but she was able to push that back down. Fortunately for Blaise's lap.

"I have snogged boys and girls... and they are ALL trouble. Drama. Nonsense." Or it could have been simply her taste in people... and their lack of discretion that had caused trouble for her in the past. "I just want to find someone I can snog and have a conversation with that won't ruin a life long friendship. Or something like that."

And while Blaise attempted to explain why boys actually weren't stupid... and girls were essentially crazy Dora felt herself starting to doze off to sleep... Possibly drooling on her friend's pant leg.

A little farther along the corridor, Santa!Gaston spotted Miss Umbridge with Mr. Bellaire and approaced the pair. He hoped the Santa suit, white hair and beard, and disguised voice would be enough to conceal his identity from the Gryffindor girl. Somehow he didn't think she'd forgiven him for docking points from her. "Merry Christmas, Miss Umbridge!" he called out. "Here's a little something for you!" He reached into the sack again and pulled out a candy cane with the following message:

Quote:

To: Dora

Are you a kneazle? Because you're purrrrrrfect.

Thank you for teaching and helping me with so much! I promise this candy cane is safe. Or I think it is. If you end up not eating it I won't be offended! Just wanted to show you that I appreciate you.

From: Derf

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady of Light

"Rula. That's a nice name." Etta said, with a grin. She generally liked people with interesting names.. they usually turned out to be quite interesting people. She leaned back comfortably against the wall, tucking her hands inside the pockets of her jeans.

"What year are you in?" You know, conversation stuff. Unless Rula had to be someplace else? Didn't seem like it, though. UM. "Are you going somewhere?" Might as well ask, yes?

Oh, and it looked like Miss Kramer was here too! Santa!Gaston approached the Hufflepuff girl and gave her a friendly smile. And a smile for Miss Botros as well. "Looks like someone's been a good girl this year!" he exclaimed and handed another candy cane to her. This one read:

Quote:

To: Etta

If you were a chicken you'd be impeccable! Also able to help produce a basilisk once you laid an egg and hatched it under a toad!

Thank you for being so nice to me.

From: Derf

"HO, HO, HO!" He added, just for good measure as he continued down the corridor. "Merry Christmas!"

The Frenchwoman fixed her red and green elf hat so it was straight on her head. She had this love-hate thing with Christmas, the past was a big part of that reasoning but the love part was thanks to Hogwarts when she was a teen. Caroleena looked around to see if any students were headed her way for some caroling but no such luck right now.

Was that a banjo coming from behind her?

Caroleena spun on her heel swiftly and looked to see who was playing the banjo. She knew that instrument very well. Her American ex-husband had played that all the time while they were dating in Hogwarts and later married. She was currently in hillbilly hell right now.

"Happy Christmas Paul." Her voice wasn't exactly ready for exteremly loud singing such as his.

Declan had just passed by the Gryffindor Common Room entrance. He just wanted to make sure nothing was abnormal. He had woken up in the middle of an accidental nap dreaming that rabid penguins had waddled their way up all the floors of the castle to invade the Gryffindor Common Room and poop in everyone's beds.

He really had a feeling it was just that roast beef sandwich he was eating before he passed out; however, Declan didn't like to take chances when it came to his dreams.

He had ignored them before and bad stuff happened. It was just too much for his conscious to carry.

Etta wasn't up here very often, unless she had class or had an occasional craving for the delicious baked goods that professor Salvatore made. Walking up all those stairs was just way too much effort. But today, she had decided to visit the bakery for a snack before heading off to the grounds for some fresh air.

The girl wasn't too surprised when she noticed someone else in the corridor. Maybe he was here for the cupcakes too? "Hi." She greeted cheerfully, smiling at the person whose name she didn't know. Didn't hurt to be friendly, right?

She was directly in her line of vision so Declan assumed she was speaking to him. All the same, he waited for a bit before answering, just in case someone popped out behind him. Surely, she wasn't very keen on talking to him.

"Hey," Declan said back wondering if this is what some would call a fated meeting; or mostly the Guides and Elders playing a joke on him. They really liked doing that. "Everything alright?" He supposed that was a good question to ask. If she had been put in his way for a reason then surely there was something Declan needed to do for her--that or there was something of value to him and his mission (whichever that was) that was to be obtained over this encounter.

Erm. Well, that was an odd question to ask.. wasn't it? Her smile faded slightly and stared at him rather curiously. "I guess, yeah." Etta replied, giving a slow nod and small shrug of the shoulders. Except for almost getting eaten by a monster lately.. Etta was as fine as she could be. Eh.

"What about you? Everything alright?" She asked, thinking that was only polite. The Hufflepuff leaned against the wall sideways, giving him a look. Had she ever seen him around in class before?

Declan wasn't a mind reader but he knew enough about people to be able to well when the whole truth wasn't being spoken. Despite his tendency to round up his siblings and investigate "mysteries" like some sleuthing trio, Declan wasn't obnoxiously nosy. He didn't pry for people's personal business even if he could tell they weren't being honest.

"You know they say when you guess an answer it's fifty fifty," Declan said quickly. "So there's fifty percent chance that you're not alright at all." He grew silent again and nodded. His eyes glanced around the corridor, in case the penguins were trying to sneak around and his dream was not sandwich induced. "So far, everything is okay with me."

His okay was on a different scale but as far as Declan Kenning went he was pretty darn fabulous now.

"Maybe there is a fifty percent chance I'm not alright at all." Etta repeated, agreeing with him. She still hadn't gotten over that traumatic experience and wasn't sure if she ever would. She'd been so close to being EATEN. The girl almost shivered at the thought. Also.. this boy seemed to be acting rather weird. Why was he constantly looking around?

"You don't seem that okay." The girl observed, not sure what to make of this behaviour. What was he worried about? "Is there something lurking around the corner?" You know, just asking. Wait.. Was there was a monster here, too?

Nah. That wasn't possible.

"So you're not sharing, huh?" Declan wondered out loud. It was almost a rhetorical question but part of him wished she'd answer it. It at least gave him something else to think about and worry about than his own weird problems.

"Oh, I'm fine!" he insisted and raised his chin a fraction to show off his 'I'm-totally-okay' smile. Declan had practiced in front of Althea. Of course she was never satisfied with his attempts. "There's nothing there that I can sense or see," Declan answered honestly. "Although Peeves and the rest are always somewhere..." His voice drifted off as he looked up at the ceiling, lost in thought, then looked back down. "I mean, there's also those people missing and all this stuff about bright lights." Declan pocketed his hands, finding the lint inside his trouser' pockets interesting between his fingers. "Guess you're never alone here at Hogwarts."