That was all the confirmation Kiri needed. She nodded, face set in determination, and stood up. She took a few steps backwards so that the spell wouldn't hit Jake with full force, then pointed her wand at him carefully. She decided she would aim at his chest first, just in case she messed up. "Alright," she said. "I'll do it now. Close your eyes, Jake... Aguamenti!"

A jet of water shot out of her wand and splashed onto Jake's robes. Droplets were flying everywhere, turning the sand around his body into a muddy mess that immediately clung to his clothes. Kiri slowly moved her wand, and Jake's face disappeared behind the water. Too late, Kiri remembered that she should have... blocked his nose or something. The force of the jet was strong enough to make her wand shake in her hand. After a few seconds of this, she lowered it, and the water stopped flowing.

Kiri stepped closer. The sand in their area was dark from the water which was already seeping away into the ground. Likewise, Jake's robes, face, and hair were soaked. After two more squelching steps, Kiri knelt down beside him, her robes getting a mud-coating of their own. Biting her lip worriedly, she scrutinised him. "Jake?" she said uncertainly. "Are you... okay? Can you talk?"

Immediately closing his eyes as instructed, Jake lay there and waited... bracing himself for the jet of water... as it was sure to be strong.

And WOAH! Boy, was he glad Kiri aimed at his chest first. Without being able to tense himself up to prepare, the water made him jolt suddenly. It was the kick-start he needed... now... just to move.

But wait... the water was on his face... oh sweet water... Rather than try to breathe, Jake greedily drank the water down, not caring if that was bad or not.

And then... it stopped...

Squeezing his eyes shut and then opening them, Jake found he could move his face... and the water was brilliant, he was no longer a baked Jake..

"Thanks," he murmured, looking up at the girl and stiffly moving his arms around to a more comfortable position than where they were currently twisted. Ohhhh, he was so stiff.

S-l-o-w-l-y but surely, Jake managed to push himself up stiffly so he was sitting on the sand, kind of slouched. "The cat," he murmured, looking around for the sight he didn't want to see. And there it was...

He'd head over there in a second...

Her spell had apparently done the trick! Putting the wand in her mouth like a dog would with his favourite bone so that she had her hands free, Kiri tugged and pulled ineffectively at Jake until he managed to straighten up in a sitting position. She eyed him closely. What exactly had happened, she still didn't know (and maybe he wouldn't want to explain in the first place), but he could move again, and that was the most important thing. Taking her wand in her hand again, Kiri indicated his soggy robes and said: "Want me to clean them a bit? They're kinda, er, sandy."

He wasn't looking at her. Following his gaze, she realised what he was looking at. "Oh..." she said quietly. The cat still lay there on the ground, not moving. Kiri kept her distance, and Jake seemed to be equally reluctant to go nearer. "Is it... dead? Jake, what happened?"

Feeling rather like a shipwrecked pirate kid, Jake looked down at the sand all over him and realised he hadn't really freaked over it... but if it got in his shoes...

Meh, he could always jump in the lake, right?

"I... took him here..." Jake explained, staring at the animal. "Collapsed... so hot... and he wouldn't shut up... then he just... stopped..." he bit his lip nervously, crawling over to the animal, because he didn't trust himself to stand up.

Hesitating for a moment, Jake held his hand out, and then placed it where the cat's heart would be.

How weird... it was odd, thinking that he might be touching something dead... but no! The cat's heartbeat was there, even if it was somehow managing to hold its breath... or maybe the fur or panic stopped them from noticing the rise and fall of the chest.

Letting a smile break out on his face at the normal-for-a-cat-but-twice-the-rate-of-a-human heartbeat, Jake reached up and scratched Gingersnapple's chin. "You little horror," he choked, looking back at Kiri, still smiling, and waiting for the animal to react. Any reaction was good.. "I'll just jump in the lake before I take him back," Jake explained, in regards to cleaning himself up.

Cam was still very, very surprised at how tall she had gotten. It was like an inhumane growth spurt or something and he had to look up. Look waaaayyyy up. He looked at the quill she brought out and smiled. Well, at least she wasn't going to make naaature disappear, right? That was tootally a no-no of some sort, yup. "Well... byeee Beccaaaa, seeeya laterzzz." He went back to the sand and started building a saaaand castle. Weeeee!

The distress of his family had been completely forgotten as he played with Dani. He laughed and poked her backand laid back down in the grass crossing his arms under his head and looking up at the sky. A soft smile on his lips. How could he ever kill anyone? Sure there was almost that one time but.. he didnt do it... even if he got 20 licks with the rod.

Dani laid down next to him off to the side of the sandbox, still laughing slightly. The sky seemed really blue to her. She looked at him. "What you thinkin about?" She pulled out a blade of grass and started to twirl it between her fingers.

What you thinking about? Nate looked away from the sky and peered at Dani. "Noooothing. what you thinking about?" he asked as he watched her playing with the grass. No use bringing up the past few moments.

Dani smiled. "I'm thinking about how much fun it is spending time with you." She looked at the blade of grass between her fingers and sighed. She hated that she didn't see Nate that often, he was her best friend. Too bad they had been sorted into different Houses.

Nate smiled. 'Well yah its cause im the awesomest." he said jokingly. Then kncoked her with his elbow. "Nah. Its cool hanging out with you. Your my best friend" he said with a smile. He meant it too.

Dani's grin grew a little. "You are the awesomest." She twisted the grass around some more. "Aww. You're my best friend too." She blushed bright red. Closing her eyes, she sighed. "I love Hogwarts. It's so beautiful."

Lie still, be still, become oneeee with the litterbox sandbox....all would be okaaaay....omnomnomnom......ooohhhhhmmmmmnomnomnom nommmmm....

Pinkersnapple half-chanted his mantra to himself as he fell into a soft little sleep in the sand, ignoring his pink-haired h00man petter's grunts of frustration and the girl who...ooh a girl? Did she have choklit on her? Girl h00mans always had choklit. It was a fact of life.

Also a fact of life: Pinkersnapple was a magic pink cat who could eat alllll the choklit he wanted and not get sick. Or so he thought.

"Merrrrrrrrrorororo," the fat pink cat lifted his head up a little when Jakey finally returned to tickle his chin. "Mow?" he continued, slowwwwly getting to his paws as his tumultuous tummy jiggled from side to side. "MOW!"

Pinkersnapple swished his tail and pranced around Jakey, then pranced over to Kiri, sniffing her toes to see if she had had choklit on or around her at some point during her lifetime.

Anxiously, Kiri watched Jake, water dripping off of him, crawl closer and put his hand on the cat's fur. After a moment, his face lit up in a smile and he began scratching the cat's chin. Kiri let out a relieved sigh. So the cat had just played dead! And now it, or he, was moving again anyway, yawning and stretching.

Then he got up. He was huge! The only reason he could still be called a cat and not a... a tiger was because it hadn't eaten them yet! His stomach bounced from side to side as he plodded slowly towards Kiri. She stared at him. Kiri knew that cats were supposed to be smart, but this one had a pair of the most searching eyes she had ever seen on a feline. He probably didn't just understand humans, he wrote about their silliness in his diary. The effect was only slightly spoilt by the pink fur. The cat didn't seem to care, but his owner, Kiri was sure, might.

"Who does he belong to, Jake?" she asked as the beast sniffed at her exposed toes sticking out of her sandals. The cold cat nose tickled, and Kiri leaned forward to ran a hand through the thick fur. "I think I might have something in my bag for you," she told it, thinking privately that, given the cat's size, she shouldn't be encouraging this sort of thing, she really shouldn't. Nonetheless, Kiri poked around in her bag a bit and managed to find a few crumbled biscuits wrapped in a handkerchief. She'd planned on feeding those to Sol, but her pygmy puff was locked in his cage in the Observatory. She placed them on her open palm and held it out for the cat. "Go on, give them a try."

Shana looked up at Miles and carried on building Or Pilling her sand mountain.She smiled nad crawled over the floor gathering more sand and adding it too her sand mountain.She never knew playing in a sand box could be soo fuun.Woow.She felt like a little kid again.

She blushed when he grabbed her hand and held it. "I can't even do that and I'm uber messy when I'm in a sandbox." She giggled and pulled her hand back after he dropped it.

"A lighthouse?" She asked, tilting her head to the side a bit. "Want some help building it bac-" Her jaw dropped when he dropped a handful of sand in her lap. "Remember the snowball fight and what happened? Do you want that to happen again?" She scooped up a handful of sand and grinned.

He raised his brows as he walked towards the giant sandbox. There were kids playing in it. Some rather old looking. Why is there a sandbox at a castle? He was confused, but it DID look like fun.

He decided that he might as well join in and walked over to the sandbox and shrugging stepped inside.

Shana turned around and saw a boy looking kind of...well lost.She stood up and walked over to him.I'll just be a minute Miles.She smiled,She shrugged her shoulders and walked straight up to the boy.Umm Hi ? Are you lost ? You look lost ? Umm If your lost umm the casltes Umm over there.Yeah.Soo Are you lost ? Shana rolled her eyes.Maaan this was bad she'd got her foot in her mouth while talking.Sorry about all the questions.Foot in mouth diese ? I tend to do that when Im...Nervous. Oh maaan.There it was again.The boy would probably think she was a freak for being nervous for no reason.She shrugged and smiled at Miles.

Jude didn't even register Aly's blush, but smiled as she spoke.

"Yeh," he said nodding enthusiastically, "A loight'ouse!" he repeated excitedly, even long after it was destroyed.

Jude tried not to smile, but it happened anyways. So instead he smiled with his lips tight together. If Aly was going to throw that sand, he did NOT want it in his mouth. "Are yeh tre'inen meh?" he asked, faking alarmed. He closed his mouth again and armed his hand with some more sand.

"Pretty?" Miles laughed a long with her. He'd never said anything about pretty, because that was a girl compliment. Haha. And he was NO GIRL. Although, being pretty sounded quite nice ... Miles drifted off. NO NO NO. He was NOT pretty, or wrinkly, or old! Regardless of what Shana said! He was a handsome, young man. Heeeeee. "Well, I'm glad you think so." He said, playing a long.

"Mmmm." Miles nodded, but then tapped her on the arm when she mimicked him. "Don't mimick me young lady!" He pretended to be angry, "Now continue with your sand castle-ing." After he said this, he continiued to make his own. Oooh. This would be the BEST sand castle ever. Miles watched as Shana left, to talked to a rather lost boy. Why doesn't she bring him over here? He wondered. He may have been a sevent year, but he didn't bite.

Shana smiled.Sand castle-ing ? Your Such a Doof Miles.I still love you though.In a kind of brother or pet fish way.She smiled.Anyway...you can hardly call this a sand castle. she shrugged.She smiled and wrinkled her nose.Maaan this sand was making her nose all tingly and ACCHOOOOOO! Out popped a huuuuuge sneeze,straight out of Shana's nose.Sorry about that. she yawned and wrinkled her nose again.

Nate nodded. "Yah Hogwartsis beautiful. just the kind of place you need to get away but people always tend to be taolking ab out someone huh?" he asked with a smirk.

Sandbox? NO WAY!

Wow, Karma felt like a little kid again. She quickly stepped out of her shoes and pulled off her socks, and layed down her robe outside and awayyy from the sand. Man, what would seventeen year olds do without sandboxes to just forget about everything and relax.

Oh yeah. That word? It's called a breakdown. AAAAH!

Oooh, the sand was cool between her feet. Just what she needed. There were a lot of people already in there, buuut there wasn't someone she really knew.

Two cute boys. Which one to talk to first? Not the older Slytherin, he was taken. Hmm.

Dani nodded. "I hadn't noticed." She really could be oblivious at times. "Who are they talking about?" He had a smirk on his face and she wanted to know what he was talking about.

Lilly walked over to the sandbox. she was planning on meeting Herminny there, but it looked like she hadn't shown up yet. oh well she was patient she could wait.

"Hey, Lily, sorry it took a little while, I don't know why but I'm kind of obsessed with this game called volleyball, I kept the eqipment shrunken by a spell in my bag. It took me a little while to locate the little box I keep them in amongst all my other things". She took the little box out of her pocket and opened it and tapped the equipment with her wand and the net enlarged and lodged each side on both soides of the sand box and the volleyball enlarged and popped into her hands. She looked back at Lily and asked, "So, wanna learn hoew to play."