Professor J and Nessie were really good at encouraging people. Did they know this? They should because Ella felt at ease and she may or may not have been blushing a little. "Thanks, both of you." Grin. "That means a lot and I just...I don't want to let anyone down." And she wouldn't, not if she could help it. She offered them both warm smiles before settling into her seat and tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

"A zoo! Yeah, it was brilliant!" Nodnod. And Professor James had lots of questions, huh? "It's the London zoo and I got to shadow the elephant keeper, Mr. Sylvia. He's brilliant." The blonde had learned loads about elephants and about patience too. "I'm a big fan of elephants, always have been," She offered as an afterthought by way of an explanation. As for not seeing Max, the sixteen year old frowned a little. "I meant to come by but I think we both were just really busy with things and from the sound of it, he had a lot of people to see." Which was sort of unfortunate, really. The being too busy part. "I talked to him, though. He seems to be doing really well!" Which she was pleased about.

Then Ella sat back quietly and listened as Nessie talked about her summer. She'd been looking at schools? "Really, Ness? That's brilliant!" Ella didn't know much about the red head's plans after Hogwarts but she was excited for her.

"Italy?" Dreamy sigh. "Is it really lovely there, Professor?" Ella asked curiously, her head tilted to the side. She longed to travel so any excuse to hear about places she'd never been were completely seized.

...Free peppermints? GIGGLE! Ella caught hers with ease and popped it into her mouth. "Thanks!" Cause they were delicious, obviously. "And I just really wanted to visit, is all." As for Ness, she had gifts, yeah?

Oh, and Kaiden was here now too? "Hey there!" Grin. "Welcome to the party."