There was a playground here! How awesome was this? It was practically one of the most perfect spots to go to in the grounds if you wanted to be a child again! Or the lake! Or the duck pond! Those were all awesome too! He was definitely going to have a hard time deciding where to go to hang out for the majority of this term. Yeah, that would be his main concern.

But right now, he was going to enjoy playing around in the playground! Because that's what playgrounds were for! And so, Alec ran over towards the area, a big grin spreading across his face as his feet pounded on the ground beneath him. It felt like he was taking part in a big adventure of some sort and now... now he had reached the main, heart of the adventure!

Then the young Hufflepuff stopped short in front of one of the ladders, excitement building up inside of him. Maybe he should wait for someone to come? Someone he knew? Because going on an adventure with friends is a lot better than going on an adventure on your own. He knew that! His only problem was which friend would want to come...

Sophie had heard about the playground - she had even spotted it from the Whomping Willow area - but she had never actually gone there to check it out! It was better if she did that any time soon between classes and homework, because when it started to get chilly there would be less people around. Not that she minded playing by herself - she had done that a lot, being an only child and all - but meeting new people and playing with your friends was always better!

Skipping her way there, Sophie's eyes widened when she saw the whole thing from such a near distance. It was so much cooler than she thought! She stared at it for a few seconds before her gaze went to someone she knew. A fellow Hufflepuff!

"Heey, Alec!" She said waving and going in his direction. "How cool is this thing??" She said throwing her arms up in the air when she finally reached him.

Messer heard someone was mentioning to him about the playground. He's planning to visit it sooner but something always came out. But now nothing can stop him from visiting the Playground.

Playground here he comes!

When it's in his plain sight, the young badger couldn't help his excitement. They have a slide in Hogwarts! A SLIDE! He ran toward the ladder near the slide eager to try it. His eyes widened when he caught a very familiar brown hair boy. He could recognize that hair everywhere. Alec. And look who's standing near him. Another girl.

"Seriously, mate. Have you ever go alone without any girls at all?" He only saw Alec without his fan girls following him around once. "Hello, Sophie!" he waved his hand towards the Hufflepuff girl.

Adeline didn't know that Hogwarts had a playground...well not last term it didn't. Was a playground kind of childish for the older students or would they be there right with them? Adeline looked around for the playground and when she noticed it she was so shocked at how beautiful the playground was. She had never ever seen a playground so cool.

Adeline looked around for a open swing. She found one near by and sat on it and started to slowly swing.

Violet came around the playground hoping that there would be some flowers to pick for the herbology assignment. Going to the swings, she spotted a girl sitting alone by herself. She seemed quite lonely at the moment and walked up to the girl. "Hi there, do you want to help me find some flowers and leaves for an herbology assignment with me? I'm Violet. It's really nice to meet you." she said with a cute smile. The girl sitting on the swings seemed nice enough to talk to, but then again, wasn't she always nice to everyone?

Adeline looked around as the swing went higher and higher she began to slow the swing down when she almost fell off. "Hi. That sounds like fun." Adeline said to the girl with a nod. "Nice to meet you Violet, I'm Adeline." Adeline smiled.

Alec still couldn't believe how awesome this was. A playground! In the shape of Hogwarts! At Hogwarts! That was a lot of awesomeness all put together! What was better was the fact that he could see the lake from here! And the lake was one of his all-time favourite places! How he hadn't visited this place before, he didn't know.

Hearing a familiar voice, Alec turned his head to face the person who was now approaching him. A grin spread across the young boy's face as his eyes landed on the fellow second year Hufflepuff. When was the last time he had seen this girl? ... The end of term feast last year? Yeah, that had to be it.

"Wonder Sophie!" It was definitely her! And... she liked the playground too? "It's very cool! It looks like Hogwarts!" But Sophie, being smart and all, probably knew this already. It was still very cool! "So you're seeing this for the first time?" Because he was!

Before he could say anything else, he heard yet another voice. One that didn't say his name this time but he was sure was intended just for him. Why? Because his roommate wouldn't say that anyone else went around with a bunch of fangirls. Except, Sophie probably wasn't his fan at all. She was a friend!

"Sophie's a friend, mate," You know, in case Messer didn't know. And he didn't ask girls to follow him! He usually ended up in the same place they were... "And I've been to lessons without being around girls!" Just in case he was forgetting that vital piece of information.

Alyssa walked out and entered the playground. She saw Adeline talking with a Ravenclaw girl and so didn't want to disturb her. She glanced over and noticed, Sophie, Alec and Messer doing something at the other end. She would have gone and joined them too but she didn't know whether they would welcome her company.

So she just walked over and sat on a swing, leaned her head against the ropes and kicked the ground with her foot, to move the swing. For some reason she was feeling alone again.

Sophie chuckled at the way Alec called her. That was funny nickname! "I know, right!" She said happily when he mentioned the playground looked like Hogwarts. "That is what makes it so cool!" At least for now, since she didn't know about all the things it actually DID! "Yeah! I've never been here before! I could see it from the Whomping Willow, but never got so close!" And she should have done it earlier! This playground seemed amazing! "Have you ever been here? Do you know anything about it??" Who knew what a playground at Hogwarts could be like! Maybe the ladders moved like the Castle's staircases! That woud be awesome!

She took a few steps and was about to climb the ladder when she heard someone talking and then addressing her. She turned her head to see... "Messer! Hi!" She said smiling and waving at him. Wait, what had he said to Alec? Huh? What did he mean by that?? She frowned a little before Alec replied. "Of course I'm a friend, what else could I be??" She asked looking from Alec to Messer. Honestly, were they talking about... oh, puh-leeeease! Sophie rolled her eyes and shook her head. Maybe that was just a way boys picked on each other. Merlin, how silly could they be?

"Are you going up or not, Alec??" Sophie asked looking back up at him. If he wouldn't, Sophie wooould! Gogogo, Aleeec, Sophie wantz a tuurn! "I want to go all the way up..." She said glancing from one side to the playground to the other, then she pointed to the higher spot. "...there!" She was sure she would be able to see her beloved Whomping Willow from up there!

Sierra had known there was a playground at Hogwarts, but she'd never actually been out there. Truth be told, she hadn't been on a playground, since she was about eight-years-old. She honestly didn't think anyone eleven-years-old or older even wanted to play on a playground.

Ahh, well.

Whatever. It didn't matter to her. All she really wanted to do was get there, find a nearby tree or some pole, and stick one of her last few protest banners there. Walking up to the playground, she took a quick look around, her eyes falling on a tree a moment later. THERE. There's the place. She quickly unrolled another banner and fixed it on the tree.

One more down. Only a few to go. She looked at the banner one last time then turned and walked off.

Their Groundskeeper is GENIUS. Really. There's no other words could describe this place. The Playground was AMAZING. Its a mini Hogwarts. How could the man managed to make this thing was beyond him. Maybe he need to come and greet their Groundskeeper one day, you know to say thanks for the Playground and all.

"Suuuureeee.." Whatever he said. Oh yes, the HOM lesson. They're happened to sit in the same table along with Keefer. Good time. "Yeah well that didn't count." He's not going to let Alec goes that easily. That's the first rule in Messer's guide book.

Messer's eyes went from Alec to Sophie. "Umm..One of Alec fangirls?" he offered. In his mind everyone who's girl that follow Alec around is his fangirls even if it duck.

"Yeah Alec, are you going to go up or not?" he asked mimicking Sophie. "You know mate, someone would think that you're afraid of height if you just stand there like a lost kitty." he told his roommate. Come to think of it he really look like a lost kitty. Oh how he wished he bring his camera with him. He could take his picture and sell it to Alec's fangirls and he'd make FORTUNE! "I want to go up too." You know to try the slide. So move!

While waiting for his roommate to move from his very spot, Messer saw another student coming toward the Playground.

"Lyssie!" he called the older girl and gave her a wave. "Are you going to try the SLIDE too?" Wait. Did he say slide in a very loud voice? "If you do you can join us you know." Why enjoying the amazing playground alone when you can play with your friends. "That if you don't mind being surrounded by three second year of course." he added

Erm.

That was sort of weird.

Gwen drew her attention towards the part of the playground to her right, somehow trying to avoid direct eye contact with the younger Ravenclaw. That was sort of weird. Odd… because she usually had no idea how to get rid of some people. She would prefer being alone to the company of some annoying people. Hmph.

Hmm. Observant. That was the nice way to put it.But then Beezus said something about being weird. Just by admitting that, the younger Ravenclaw was becoming less weird. If that made any sense?

Relieved that the awkward moment was sort of over, the fourth year gave a small nod as she looked back at her friend. Erm. Where they friends? She was kind of considering the girl as her friend. ‘Sure. That would be great’, the fourth year grinned and then started swinging a bit slower.

With what she heard from Beezus so far, Gwen was almost sure she wasn’t behind with anything that was happening at Hogwarts. Mhm. She was relieved there didn’t seem to be much she’d missed so far. Right. 'New teachers...', she mused. 'I liked the last Charms class' Divination too, but she decided to leave that, since she wasn't of any good at that subject. Oh. At least there was no more Astronomy.

Ronnie skipped down to the playground, eager to get a spot on the swings, hoping one was open. She grinned widely at the sight of a few open ones. Yay!

She hopped on one, and smiled as it began going back and forth on its own. She giggled as it made her tummy do a few flips as it went higher and higher. She sighed and closed her eyes, feeling the wind blowing her bright orange hair back, singing a song softly to herself as she swung.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm........

The last time he was here, he ended up face planted in the mud. Theodore shuddered as he saw the very swing that he flew off. Only someone else was occupying it this time. He felt as if he should warn her about it.

Should he? Be the good guy? Naaaaaaaaah..

Okay, yes, he would.

Theodore skipped up to the girl and almost got a face full of her foot, but managed to dodge it. "HAY. Go careful, that swing has bucked me off before!" Granted, it's cos he was swinging WAY too high, but oh well...

Zack was all free and happy after getting great marks for his herbology homework. He wanted to enjoy the happiness. For the time in his first year, he had no idea that there was a playground in Hogwarts he always thought having a lake in a school was a pretty big thing so, he never thought of small placed like playground and stuff could be there at Hogwarts. Not until many people spoke about it in his first year. He had planned to visit it later but the homework pressure grew so fast and heavy that he'd forgotten about it completely and never had to chance of coming here. But now in his second year things were going on pretty well. He was selected in the quidditch team had they also played their first match and lost it. But that didn't matter much he had fun that's what he was happy about.

He thought of sitting on one of the swings and gets a feeling of flying as he did on his broom. He got to one of the swings and sat on it moving it on his own slowly removing the cookies in his pocket and eating them and looking around at the ones already here. His eyes then darted toward s the person falling of the steps as it disappeared. He was just about to laugh as he saw the person fall. It was quite funny to watch. But he tried not to. He didn't want to seem rude. He saw the girl looked familiar and he called out "Hey there, you alright?" he asked concerned now.

Anya lay with her back on the ground unsure of how exactly to react. Were... disappearing ladders normal?

Luckily the fall hadn't been a hard one. She probably had Mr. Landscape Architect to blame for that one.

"Oh hey Zack." she said. "Yeah. Just wasn't expecting the playground to fight back." she said with a little laugh. She held a hand up expectantly. Yup. Help up would be nice.

"So... what brings you out the playground today?" Maybe it was something more enjoyable than disappearing ladders.

This is what made Sophie cool. She knew what was cool as well! And she wasn't afraid to admit it. Yeah, Sophie was cool. Now that he thought about it, most of the second years he knew were cool. "It is very cool!" he said nodding along. ... The Whomping Willow! THAT's where he had previously met Sophie! And that's where the nickname 'Wonder Sophie' came from. Because she saved those Pygmy Puffs! As for the questions she was asking... "Nope! I didn't even know it existed until I bumped into it just now," As in... when he was walking and just came upon it. Yeah, that. "I know nothing about it at all! Do you?" If not, this could be their first adventure together!

Alec raised his eyebrows at Messer. He had been to HoM without any 'fangirls', as Messer liked to call them, so that had to count, didn't it? ... Messer was a confusing guy. Confusing and weird! "Why doesn't it count?" he asked, crossing his arms and trying to look defiant. Messer was there wasn't he?

This was embarrassing. It was okay for Messer to talk about Alec having fangirls to him but mentioning it to other girls? Not cool, dude, not cool. "She's not my fangirl!" he said, "Even if she was... would you be jealous?" Sophie... might be confused. But this can be explained later in Alec's own words. He was not going to let Sophie get the wrong idea.

Oh, so it was his turn to start climbing? If Sophie wasn't here, there would be some serious glaring action making its way to Messer right now. Since when did he look like a lost puppy? The boy looked up at the point where Sophie wanted to climb up to. "That's so high!" This was going to be a great adventure! Alec took a step back and smiled at Sophie. "Ladies first!" Watch and learn, Messer, watch and learn!

Hearing Messer shout out, Alec turned around and started grinning at the girl he was shouting to. It was Lyss! This was awesome! "Hey!" he said, waving at the older girl as well. He hoped she would come over. That is... if she didn't mind hanging around with him, his weird roommate who wasn't wearing a skirt and Wonder Sophie.

Violet giggled, "Oh. Adeline. That's such a pretty name" Then she frolicked about the grass looking for some flowers. "Hmm..where shall we look?" There didn't seem to be much nature-y stuff around here and she might might not even be able to submit her homework on time. Oh well, she thought, the professor wouldn't even know.

Zack smiled as the girl spoke he knew her. It was Anya her teammate. He laughed in reply to her.
"Yeah, you never know when the playground would attack." he was still smiling as he moved towards her to help her. He took her hand and lifted her up.

"Just the awesome weather and that i was planning to come here since first year." he said and pointed at the swings.

"You want to try one of that they don't throw you down." he said and laughed. "So, how have you been." he asked. He wasn't sure if others were well after the match.

The swings were a perfect place for quiet. Maybe some thoughts. Sarah sat down on the swing, and encircled her gloved hand around the metal chains that suspended the wooden plank she was sitting on. She moved her feet forward and back in a rhythmical tempo. Soon she was no longer Sarah, the brain and chatterbox and first year. She was now Sarah the Magical Princess who had lots of friends and could fly. The castle before no longer hosted a school, it was a magnificant Palace belonging to Princess Sarah. Princess Sarah, unlike Sarah Edwards had perfect manners and positive character traits. She always had tact, yet said the truth... Oh if only...

"I know nothing about it either!" Sophie said looking up at the playground thing. Certainly it had some special features. Sophie was ready for those! And thinking about it made her even more excited to go up!

She was still looking up at the mini Hogwarts Castle while Messer and Alec kept pseudo arguing about girls. Once again she rolled her eyes and shook her head. She had told Alec she was his fan once, but she was totally talking about Quidditch there! Yes, these boys were weird. But Sophie could totally put up with them. They were nice and Hufflepuff-ish after all. She should get used to the fact that they would pick on each other all the time.

Then Alec stepped back and opened the way for her to pass. She raised her eyebrows and smiled. See, these boys were nice! Hufflepuff traits rock! "Why, thank you, mister!" She said and started climbing the ladder.

When she reached the top of it, she turned around and waved. "You guuuuys, this is wicked!!" She said happily. "Stop talking and get up here quick!" That silly chitchat would get them nowhere, really! And they still had a loooooooooong way to go! And so many things to find oout! Sophie started bouncing up and down. "Come on! Come on!"

Anya smiled as Zack helped her up. She brushed off whatever dirt may have gotten on her. "I should be used to this by now." she said lightly. "I can into one of those biting doors the other day." And that was not a fun experience.

She smiled. "That sounds like a much better idea." she said starting to walk toward the swings.

"I've been alright..." she said. Better than she had been right after the match. But she planned on just practicing extra hard to be ready for the next one. "I just learned I need to work on my braking. I think I've crashed at the end of every match so far..."

"How about you?"

A frown appeared.. Yes, a frown, a weird gesture for Kimalia. The rest of the conversation went through her own ears but unrecognized, all because of one thing that stuck.. She's now dating Milton. Not just any guy, the one who had a crush on Aurora and one who Kennedy was jealous of.

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on.." Kimalia held her hand up. "Did you just say.. Milton asked you out and you agreed.. after a break up?!" You know, just for confirming and everything. "How long has this been going on?" Better yet, was her asking for advice a waste of time? "I thought you didn't like him.. what changed?" Was she freaking out? Nope, but she was getting there.

Aurora blinked, she hadn't expected Kimalia to frown at her... she'd never seen her frown before. Then again, she hadn't been sure what to expect, she'd never done the whole break up/new boyfriend thing before and she wasn't sure how people would react. Apparently not very well...

"Well... it wasn't immediately afterwards..." she said, swinging her feet. "I mean... he comforted me and stuff but he didn't ask me out straight after..." No, he'd waited a couple of weeks to do that. How long had it been going on..? "Um... maybe... sincetheendofSeptember..." she said. "Kimalia... do you think... do you think I did the wrong thing?"

It was amazing how much Kimalia missed out of her best friend's life.. A break up was one thing, but now Aurora was dating someone who in a way was part of said reason for her and Kennedy breaking up. Now if Kimalia hadn't tried to help them out, maybe she wouldn't have taken it in such a way..

So as sad as it was.. it probably was the best to hear her out. "Okay.." Well, she at least didn't go out with him immediately.. that settled her just a bit. "The wrong thing?" Kimalia asked, quite puzzled. "If you have to ask then... well.." Okay, maybe Kimalia shouldn't finish that sentence.. So she sighed. "How is he? He make you feel special?"