Quill staff? Goodness, why would anyone want to do that to themselves? Extra writing outside of classes and homework? Heck, that sounded like pure torture! Ugh!

"Student Spotlight, huh?" The corners of Clifford's lips twitched into the tiniest of smirks, and after straightening his Prefect badge, he proceeded to puff out his chest. Student Spotlight. Chyeeah.

"About being a Prefect and doing things that are un Prefectly." He repeated with a nod. Okay, so that sounded simple enough. "So, I just have to answer the questions you ask me, right?" Easy Peasy.

Kait tryed not to smile, but it was hard, the way he reacted when he learned what the interview was for was just priceless.

"Pretty much," she told him, "I can't promise not to make it hard though" she finished jokinly. She opened up her notebook and held her quill ready to write down anything she needed.

"So an easy question for the first. How did you react when you found out you had become a prefect?" she asked.

Clifford's face dropped slightly at th girl's words. Whuuut? She best not make it hard. Hmpf. He wasn't that smart ... and he was doing her a favour after all, right? Right!

He gulped as she got her parchment and quill at the ready, suddenly nervous. Baaah. He could do this. Yup, yup.

Okay, so first question. "I was in a state of complete and utter shock." He answered her question with a firm nod. "I actually thought Professor Forrester had made some sort of mistake and had to check it really said my name on the top of the letter like a bazillion times." He stated, lowering his voice.

Hang on, that didn't makde him sound very cool. Hmmm.

Her comment about making it hard was worth it just for that. She really wasn't planning on it being hard.

She wrote down what he said and then thought about what she was going to ask next. As it came to her, her face lit up, she wasn't sure if he'd answer this one though.

"Before you were a prefect, what was the greatest amount of points you lost in one go, and what was it for?" She held her quill above her paper once again and then walked back and forth a little she couldn't bring herself to sit down now, she was excited, and nervous at the same time. This was for her very first piece and she wanted to get it right.

Before you were a prefect, what was the greatest amount of points you lost in one go, and what was it for? Hmmmm. Clifford pondered on the question for a moment, nose wrinkling when a sudden whiff of flowery scent reached his nostrils. Ew. Ew. EWWW!

"It was only five points, I think." He started finally, struggling with the memory. It'd been quite a while ago now ... in his fourth year? Whoa. "It was when Hogwarts was closed down and we had that whole Cooper's and Belle's thing." Ugh. That year SUCKED.

Was he really going to tell her this? It was kinda embarrassing. Erm. "I was kinda ... er ... peckish, you see. And well, those koi carp in the pond looked yummy!" Okay, that was enough..

This was the first time Kaytee entered the student garden in four years. It was more beautiful than she remembered. The flowers reminded her of her late mother; she was always very fond of gardens. Kaytee looked up at the sky to keep fresh tears from spilling down her face. She sniffed and continued to walk over to one of the flower beds that had a few weeds. Thinking it might take her mind off of the painful memory she began to rid the garden of the weeds.

Kait wrote that down and then asked the opposite of that.

"What is the most points you've ever gotten, and for what?"

Clifford rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully when the girl - Kait - asked the same question, but opposite. What was the most points he'd earned, and why? Goodness, he'd been here six whole years, how in Merlin's name was he meant to remember that?

"It was probably just in lesson, I guess." Baaah. That was boring. No fun! He wanted his STUDENT SPOTLIGHT interview to be epic! "OOH! I think I got like 25 points just for my flying homework this one time." He puffed out his chest again. "It was totally awesome."

That's impressive, she thought. She found a bit of grass that wasn't covered with flowers and plants and sat down. After she had written what he'd just told her she asked him another question.

She wasn't quite sure how much longer it went on before she started running out of questions.

Kaytee sighed and stood up, wiping the dirt off of her knees. She managed to pull all of the weeds out of the section of the flower bed. Successfully leaving painful memories behind, she turned to leave the garden a little happier than when she came...but not much.

Emalyn found an empty bench along side some nice enough (or FRIENDLY enough) batch of flowers and plopped herself down. She crossed her legs and placed her bag on the bench next to her, patting it protectively. She didn't feel like knitting, and hardly felt like reading. Especially not her assigned homework...not out here. She loved reading, but really the view was too beautiful to hide her face from it with a book. She folded her arms and sighed.
How long would it take an owl to deliver a message to her folks? She had never sent a letter via owl before.

She reached into her bag and retrieved on of her writing, leather bound books, drawing out a quill and some ink. She carefully set the ink beside her, propped up on and against two books. She dunk the quill into the ink (a bit too clumsily) and wondered what she should write. She wasn't planning on writing her family at all...it was too soon to inform them of any happenings. She wanted to write to her best muggle friend back home...he had told her over the summer that she had better write him, so she felt objected to it. Though she personally had no clue what to tell him. Plus, on her leaving they had broken out into a fight...they definitely hadn't left each other on good terms.

Emalyn started to scratch his name on the paper, but thought of nothing to say. She looked up and sighed, shaking her head irritably.

"You know, Herbology is one of the two subjects that scare me," Anna confessed, turning to chat with her friend Cela as the two strolled into the area reserved for the student's plants. "I actually enjoy the class, but I'm afraid I've never understood a lot of what's taught. I'm trying to work a lot harder this school year to catch up on what I've missed." Anna smiled as she glanced around at all the beautiful plants, all the results of a great deal of care and consideration from various Hogwarts students. Maybe someday she'd be good enough at Herbology to take care of some plants of her own.

"I currently don't have any plants in here, but I do enjoy looking at these," Anna continued. "Maybe I can do something to help out, since I'm not taking care of any plants." Anna studied a few of the plants near her, noticing how a good many had been infested with weeds. "I know! Let's pull these weeds out. Maybe doing so would give me a little more experience in taking care of plants." Having said that, Anna pulled a small pair of gloves from her bag, put them on, and then began to pull weeds from several of the nearby plants.

Cela followed somewhat uncertainly, an incredulous look on her face as Anna confessed that Herbology scared her. "Oh I like Herbology because I use to like flicking dirt on Nico." Cela explained, "But the new professor is really nice- she's going to teach me how to walk properly in heels." Celandine nodded seriously.

"That's a good idea! It looks like someone has been weeding already but they missed a few parts." Cela dropped her bag and pulled out her herbology book, "You have to be gentle, it says; so that you get all the roots of the weeds and don't leave little bits." Cela spent another moment or two reading the book before putting it aside and crouching next to Anna.

Barehanded, simply because she liked the feel of the dirt between her fingers; Cela carefully began to pull a few weeds.

"Anna? What other subject are you scared of?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I do love Herbology, as I always enjoy learning new things, but it's just so difficult for me to comprehend. I do well in it only because I spend an insane amount of time on my homework. It doesn't come to me naturally the way the other subjects do, though," Anna explained. Anna watched Cela as she gently plucked the weeds using her bare hands. Shrugging, Anna removed her gloves and followed Cela's lead. It did feel rather nice to work with your bare hands.

"Cela? Do you think it's possible for me to get better with Herbology?" Anna reluctantly asked. "I mean, you don't think I'm doomed forever, do you? This new professor, you say she's teaching you how to properly walk in heels, huh? Do you think she may be able to help me get over my fear of Herbology?" Anna glanced over at Cela while she continued to pluck the weeds. Cela seemed so confidant in Herbology, a feeling Anna wish she shared. "Oh, the other subject is Divination. The Unknown and I don't exactly get along well," she finished.

Cela thought about it for a few moments, gently tugging a few more weeds free, "I thought it was hard at first. Then I realised if Nicholai who... well you know what he's like about dirt right?" Cela wriggled her fingers somewhat joyfully in the dirt herself before continuing, "I realised if he can do well despite actually having a fear to overcome; and one that could almost be crippling in that particular subject- particulary since he totally wants to do stuff with potions and all- well i figured that I shouldn't be so worried about it. And I kind of like dirt sometimes."

Celandine eyed a plant that she wasn't altogether sure would be classed as a weed or not and dusted off her hands. She opened her herbology book to check and matched it up to a weed picture based on the leaf shape and the colour of the plant. Satisfied it was one she should pull up, Cela put the book aside and gently tugged the weed free from the soil, being sure to get all the teeny little roots that were attached to it.

She looked up as Anna spoke her name, "Doomed?" she paused, "No, like I said; if someone who has a real fear of dirt can do it, then we both can for sure. And Professor Bunbury is ultra-nice; If you talked to her she might have a few ideas." she paused and smiled at Anna, "Divination? I kind of like that." Unlike her brother, Cela liked the practical side of it more than the theory.

Cela continued pulling up weeds before venturing, "Anna? How did you know you liked Cale?" Celandine's expression didn't change, she merely continued with the weeding.

When Damian entered the student gardens he was speechless. The whole gardens were so nice and wonderful. A real calming place and it smelled so good here.

He walked through the gardens searching a nice place for his fifth picture. After 5 minutes he found one and set up his telescope.

For the last time he started to draw for about 45 minutes.

When he finished he went to the library to wrote the theoritical part of the homework.

Miles was now in a hurry. It was getting dark and he needed one last location for his Astronomy homework, and the student garden would do. As he looked through his telescope, the sky was filled with stars, all scattered, and some even lined up. The sky was a very VERY dark blue, so the stars were very easy to see.

He drew all of this on his parchement, his tongue sticking out again, and packed his telescope up. Miles, all day, had felt a little odd rushing around the school, finding places he could draw. But atleast it was points for Slytherin. Huzzah!

Anna softly sighed when Cela mentioned Nico. No matter what had happened in the past, Anna still thought of Cela's older brother as a good friend. She really missed him and hoped he was doing well. "Cela, how is Nico? Have you heard from him?" Anna asked, looking up briefly and then getting right back to plucking the weeds from the plant she'd been kneeling by. "I guess you're right about Nico and Herbology, though. I remember sitting by him in class last school year, because he was so good with the plants, and I was always so bad with them," Anna added with a laugh.

Anna eyed Cela as she opened a book, referred to something inside, and then got right back to her weeding. "May I see that for a moment?" Anna asked, suddenly showing a great deal of interest in Herbology and plants. Maybe if she read books and researched the way Cela did, she'd soon catch up. Without waiting for a reply, Anna scooted over, flipped through the pages of the book, and studied a few of the pictures dealing with weeds. She then carried the book over to the plant she was working with and matched up a few of the pictures in the book to the parts of the plants. "Petals," she read, addressing no one in particular. "It says here that petals are used to attract insects to the flower. I never knew that." Anna smiled and gently placed the book back where she'd found it.

"I just might go talk to Professor Bunbury," Anna continued, steadily plucking weeds as she spoke. "She really does seem quite nice. I loved her class...and her heels." Anna giggled on that last note. She wasn't an expert on wearing heels, but maybe if she watched Professor Bunbury long enough, she'd learn a thing or two. When Cela asked about Cale, Anna stopped weeding for a moment and glanced up at the younger Ravenclaw. "It's hard to explain Cela. I just...knew. It ws weird, because one day I was arguing with him about who was a better prefect, and the next day all I wanted to do was see him, hang out with him, make him smile...you know, all that sort of stuff. It was like I couldn't stay away from him, and when I was away, I really missed him," she said. Anna smiled at Cela, considering for a moment if the girl had a crush on some boy. Shrugging slightly, she got right back to work weeding.

"Nico... no I haven't heard from him but... well I have a letter for you from him in my trunk I just sort of forgot to give it to you. He wrote a bazillion letters and I was supposed to give them to people on the train." Cela shrugged apologetically, "I'll get it for you later I promise." She nodded when the topic shifted to Herbology again, "Yeah. I think he'd really like Professor Bunbury because she's so clean and all."

Cela nodded as Anna asked for the book and took it, "Yeah, petals attract people too." she noted.

"Oh yeah her shoes are great! And her class was cool." Though Cela couldn't quite figure why the groundskeeper- who was ultra-nice- had disrupted the class. Celandine continued weeding and avoided looking at Anna for a few moment's while she listened to Anna speak. The moment she felt Anna's eyes leave her, Cela spoke again, "And how did you know that he liked you?"

Melanie walked out to the student garden staring around in awe at all the beautiful plants. Hogwarts never ceased to amaze her. The young girl sat down against one of the trees lining the garden and pulled a sketch pad from her bag as well as a pencil. She looked up at the sky and couldn't see any stars so she also grabbed up the telescope, unable to believe she hadn't thought of that before. She was an excellent drawer and it was quite peaceful in the garden. The girl, who was normally the biggest loud mouth that ever lived, was silent and perfectly content, sitting there sketching the stars. Melanie let out a contented sigh and continued her work until it was exactly the way she wanted it.

Anna stopped weeding for a moment and focused all her attention on listening to Cela talk about Nico. Anna raised her eyebrows when Cela mentioned a letter from Nico. "Alright. Be sure you remember, though," Anna said, turning to get back to the weeding she was actually almost done with. Anna wasn't the type of person to wait long for surprises and letters and things of the sort. You just couldn't tell her you had something for her, and then tell her you'd give it to her later. She had a habit of wanting things now and not possessing the patience to actually wait.

Anna would be lying if she said she hated working with these plants. It was sort of relaxing chatting to Cela and gently plucking weed after weed from the plants. It also made her feel like she'd really accomplished something big when she looked around and saw the nice arrangements, weed-free, decorating the gardens. "How did I know he liked me?" Anna repeated. "Well, remember when we separated into two different schools? Cooper's and Belle's? Well, one weekend, we were finally allowed to visit Hogsmeade, and I remember thinking to myself that the one person I wanted to see more than anyone else in the whole world was Cale. I'd been thinking about him for weeks. Worried about him, actually. I didn't want him away at a different school."

"Anyway, when I stepped foot into Diagon Alley, there he was, just standing there like he'd been waiting on me all along. He saw me at the same time I saw him, and we just ran to one another like magnets and collided into a big hug," she explained. Anna stopped talking for a few moments and just quietly plucked the rest of the weeds out of the plant she'd been working on. When she was done, she moved on to the next plant and began weeding it, as well.

"We hung out all weekend long, from Saturday morning to Saturday night, and then from Sunday morning to Sunday night. You want to know what the weird thing was, though? Cale had a girlfriend at the time. He was dating Cora, a Slytherin girl," Anna explained. "He and I kept getting closer and closer, though. I was only fourteen-years-old, yet I felt this strange connection with Cale, almost like he and I had been magically bound by some invisible force from the time we first laid eyes on one another. One night, during a holiday break from school, Cale and I went to a party at Reese Northway's house. He gave me a letter, and in the letter he asked me to be his girlfriend. At the bottom of the letter, he told me I could check one of two options---yes or yes." Anna sighed, almost wishing she could bolt from the gardens right this second and run right into her boyfriend's arms.

"I will." Celandine assured Anna about the letter, "They are taking up too much space in my trunk anyhow." Cela noted. She looked around; amazed at how much weeding they had actually done. The dirt looked nice and clean. Clean dirt. Teehee; that would be a fun thing to tell Nicholai, theres no way on earth he'd agree with that statement ever.

Cela nodded in all the right places as Anna talked about Cooper's and Belle's schools and how she knew that Cale had liked her. It was kind of sweet and made all of the weird angsty stuff from last term make even less sense.

"So, first he hugged you and then a while later he gave you a note to ask you to be his girlfriend? How come he couldn't just ask? Like Nichol... wait forget that, Nico wouldn't ever ask anyone, he just... well you know." Cela half shrugged and ran her fingers through the newly weeded soil.

The part that made it all completely alien to Cela, was that all she had for comparison were her brothers who were all- without exception- extremely popular and confident and able to spout all sorts of lines that made girls sigh precisely like Anna just had.

Bleh. If Cela was going to sigh over anyone; she'd prefer it to be for something sweet and nice like Anna and Cale than for something angsty like what Nicholai used to always be involved in.

She continued running her fingers through the soil and chewed on her lip thoughtfully, "What about... kissing?"

Not bothering to look up from her weeding, Anna simply nodded when Cela promised she would soon give Anna the letter from Nico. Anna still wondered exactly what was in it, but she didn't ask any additional questions. Right now, she was just enjoying the peacefulness of the gardens. It really was nice out here. Maybe Herbology wasn't so scary after all.

"That's right. It wasn't just any hug, though. Anyone can give out a normal, everyday hug," Anna explained, glancing at Cela out of the corner of her eyes. "When you hug someone that you have feelings for, the hug means so much more. It's like you can just feel that you're hugging them with your heart instead of with your hands. It's just...magical, Cela." Anna raised her eyebrows when Cela mentioned how Nico would go about getting the girl he wanted. Anna knew that all to well. Nico Toussaint would not be the one to play nice to get the girl he wanted. Nevertheless, he was Anna's friend---good friend---now, and she'd forgiven him for all the drama of last school year.

"Kissing?" Anna repeated. "Cela, is there something I should know? Do you have a certain someone you've got your eye on? What's all this talk about love-related situations?" Anna glanced sideways and smiled at Cela. "Anyway, what is it you'd like to know about kissing?"

"I do like hugs." Celandine noted, listening to Anna's explanation of hugging with the heart instead of the hands. Interesting. Fascinating. Angsty. Ehh. She was ssoooooo not gonna break that promise she had made during her first year and be all angsty!

"Kissing." Cela agreed, trying to be calm about this whole thing. "Something you sh... nuh-uh! I don't have my eye on anyone... at least I don't think I do."

How do you know if you do anyway?

"I just want to know because... well... I want to know how to avoid it. Yeah. Thats what I want." Celandine nodded firmly, "I saw... last term and before that, you know, how upset girls got about things with Nico and I don't ever want to be like that. And you know what I don't get? Most boys are weird and nothing like Nicholai, they blush and they stutter and they get all quiet and awkward or sometimes," Cela turned to Anna, "sometimes they just talk a whole bunch and don't actually say anything."

Celandine took a breath and chewed on her lip thoughtfully, "What is it supposed to be like? Because... it was kind of too fast, and a little bit sweet but not sweet enough- like inferior candy- and unexpected; and I like to be prepared, but I wasn't and it was like nothing happened but it did and it was my first and it was a waste."

Oh noes! That... that was angst! Celandine huffed in annoyance; maybe she should just go find Garret and climb a tree? He was a normal non-angst inducing boy.

Maddox was walking in the student gardens, enjoying the splendor and warmth of the day. When he heard a cute little voice that was vaguley familiar. When he realized who it was....and she was talking about her first kiss, he almost went ballistic. He took a deep breath and walked out into site where Cela could see him.

He folded his arms across his chest, and glared at her. "Celandine Elodie Toussaint." He was standing about a foot away from the girls, not paying attention to Anna at all. His best friends little sister was talking about kissing boys, and he was not having that. He just glared at her and waited for her to respond.