Miles coughed a few times and covered his eyes so no sand got in his eyes. So there WAS a dangerous side to sand. Hmmm, he didn't like it when sand was evil and went in his eyes, or pants. He only liked building sandcastles, that was fine. Silly Terry and his skidding.

"My love? Thazz new. I LOVE IT." He grinned as he got tackled to the ground. NO! Not more sand! EWWWIE! Miles coughed and spluttered a few more times, from sitting himself back up. "You know mate, a sandbox isn't a good place to tackle people." Though it seemed Terry was too busy to listen, and was clinging onto him like a limpit. "I been STUDYING. Cuz I is good and have to get Slytherin out of last place, which we're STILL in." He smiled proudly. "What about you? It's not just me who's been hiding." Miles raised an eyebrow as he discreetly tried to breath in Terry's bone crushing hug.

"PDA? Personal displays of affection? Any affection we show towards eachother is merely friendly and MANLY!" Miles grinned and ruffled Terry's hair. "It's alright. We love your company." He smiled, before lying his head back in the sand. Great, more sand in his hair.

'I love YOU. haha.' Wiggling his eyebrows, Terry let the Slytherin out of his death grip, then burst into hysterical laughter as he took in the sight of Miles, a heap on the ground, as a bajillion grains of sand glittered all over his face, and hair, and clothes, and OH EVERYWHERE.

'Sandboxes are where miracles happen!' Terry said happily, not caring that he might be sounding like a loony. 'It brought my love back to me!' Quickly, he pulled Miles back up onto his knees, and flapped his hands all over his friends clothes in an attempt to shake off the evil grains. 'Whoa, go you then, eh? I ...tried studying. But I kept getting distracted. Runes is awfully boring when you get down to it!'

He whirled around at the sound of another voice that floated their way. Woah, he needed to slow down. Spinning around so much was making him dizzy! Woooooheeeeeeey.

'Vanessa! Wassuuuuuuup?' Terry nodded like crazy along to his wise old friend's words. 'YEAH. 'Cos we're MANLY mans, right Milesy?' He puffed his chest out sooper far, just to show exactly Vanessa exactly how awesome men him and Miles were. There wasn't a manlier man in all of Hogwarts more than THESE TWO right there!

"Vanessa? Since when have you called me Vanessa Terry?" Vanessa giggled. She found highly unusual to be called Vanessa, mainly because nobody did, expect teachers...and Terry apparently.
"Manly mans? I can tell that boys." Vannie rolled her eyes, quite glad that her boyfriend was manly she didn't really want a girly boyfriend really now did she. "Miles is more manly than you are though Cuz." She smirked at him, before glancing at Miles. Well she was obliged to say that really wasn't she?

"Well..you love me Miles...so obviously you must love my company." She giggled, sitting down next to where he was lying. Oooh. Sand. In a Box. She smiled down at her boyfriend, who seemed to be getting an awful lot of sand in his hair. Nice one Miles.
"So Terry...where on earth have you been?"

"I love YOU, too." Miles grinned at his best friend. He wiped his school shirt down a little, but it didn't really work. He still glistened like the sun on a hot day. Fail. "You know, this is all your fault." Miles smirked, giving him a poke in the ribs. EWWWW, it was still in his hair! He ruffled it, trying to get the little bits of sand out, but it wasn't working very well. Sigh. "Cheers." Miles smiled as Terry helped him brush off his clothes from all the grains of sand, it was starting to itch down his top. Shudder. "Awwwwww! That's so sweet that I'm your love!" Terry deserved a Miles bear hug, so that's what he did. Plus, he did help him with the sand. He wrapped his arms around Terry and closed his eyes and smiled.

"You're my -- .." Miles took a quick glance at Vannie, then back at Terry. ".. Well, my man love."

Miles tried to grab Terry's hands so he could stop waving them around his face, but he gave up after a few seconds. Terry was just TOO hyper. "YES! Manly men. Regardless if we love each other." He decided to wrap one arm around Terry's shoulder. MORE AFFECTION! YEY! "I do. It's lovely." Miles held out his hand so Vannie could come sit next to him in the sand. The sandbox was full of love today.

Wand in hand, Anna headed out the castle and onto the grounds. The weather was lovely...perfect for completing her homework assignment outdoors. She'd sent work to Daniel to meet her here at the sandbox in about five or so minutes, so she imagined he'd be down shortly, as well.

Let's see...so all she really needed to do was practice the whole arms changing into wings deal, and she was done, right? That sounded easy enough. She twirled her wand around as if it were a baton, then sat down on the edge of the sandbox. From time to time, her eyes flickered towards the castle in search of Daniel.

Daniel came strolling, much more of running hurriedly towards the sandbox. He didn't notice the time and was a minute or so short of it to meet Anna at the sandbox. He felt his wand in his pocket just to make sure he didn't forget it as well.

When he reached the sandbox sweat was all over his face and he was panting so hard that he was like being chased by werewolves.

He smiled when he saw Anna waiting for him, "I'm... sorry... Anna." he said gasping for breathe. "I was enjoying a good book at the Library." he added.

Upon seeing Daniel rushing towards the sandbox, Anna stood up and made way to greet him. "Oh, Daniel! I hope the sweat isn't from you rushing out here so quickly. I've really only just gotten out here myself," she assured. She had a feeling he'd been in a mad dash hurry out of fear of being late, though. She smiled at him, then once again took a seat on the edge of the sandbox. "Here, take a seat. Rest for a while."

"Oh, don't you apologize for feeling as if you were late! Like I said, I just got here, too. I honestly thought I'd be late, and you'd be waiting on me," she said, with a laugh. "So, what were you reading? Anything of interest?" She assumed it was, though, as he'd said it was a good book.

Reese wandered down to the sandbox, twirling her wand with her left hand. She still hasn't done her Transfiguration homework and she knew it was due yesterday, but maybe- just maybe- the Professor will take the homework late. He probably wouldn't, but it wouldn't hurt to do it and then try turn it in.

All she needed now was a partner. Hmmm. She stopped walking and scanned the area for any of her friends or for someone who was by themselves and wouldn't mind helping her. Spotting Anna talking to this boy she didn't know, she made her way over to her. "Annnnnnnna," she called out. "I never did my Transfiguration homework. Do you think the Professor will take it a day later?"

Still looking towards Daniel and waiting for a reply from him, Anna heard someone approach the sandbox and call out to her. Glancing up, she saw that it was none other than one of her very best friends, Reese. She smiled and stood up to greet her friend. "Transfiguration homework...funny you bring that up, Reese. Daniel and I were just out here trying to work on that, as well. You're right, it was due yesterday, but it won't hurt to give it a shot anyway. You never know, we might just luck out and be able to still turn it in," she replied.

She sure hoped so, at least. It wouldn't due to get this close to graduation and forget to turn in a few homework assignments. That just might do a number on her good marks. "Okay, sooo...what do you say one of us transfigures part of our body into that of an animal, while the other reverses the spell. After that, we can switch roles," she suggested. "Do you want to go first and transfigure part of your body?"

Reese frowned slightly. Anna and Daniel were trying working on it? Aww. That meant Anna already had a partner, but wait. Didn't the Professor say we could working in a small group? Ah-ha! He did. "I sure hope he will let us turn it in," she said. "But, yeah, like you said. It won't hurt for us to give it a shot."

She glanced over at the Daniel and smiled. She hoped he wouldn't mind that she was working with Transfiguration with them. Looking back at Anna, she nodded. "Okay. That sounds good," she told her. "And, yeah...sure. I'll go first." She stopped twirling her wand and took a deep breath. Thinking back on the class, she tried to remember what body part she was going to change.

"Here I go," she announced. She pointed her wand, which was in her right hand, to her left arm. She clearly pictured a arm of a monkey as she said, "Bestiar Arm." She gave her wand a little, simply swish and then she felt her arm start the feel weird. Opening her eyes, which she closed right when she did her wand movement, she looked down at her arm that wasn't her arm anymore. Eep! She had a monkey arm.

"Anna, you can change it back now," she told her friend. She didn't really want to stare at her arm anymore. It wasn't the most prettiest thing. It was bigger than her original arm and it had fur! Brown fur, to be exact.

Anna nodded in agreement. She sure hoped they'd still be able to turn in the assignment, too. If they didn't, though, it'd still be beneficial to just get in some good practice. Merlin only knew when this spell would one day come in handy. "Yeah, all we can do is just turn it in and hope for the best. If he accepts it, that's great, if not, that's fine, too. At this point, I'm pretty sure I'm going to graduate regardless." She laughed a little then stood back while Reese performed the spell.

A few moments later, her friend was sporting a mighty fine looking monkey arm. "Very good, Reese! A monkey arm suits you well," she said with a laugh. She nodded when Reese mentioned changing her arm back to normal. Raising her wand and pointing it towards the monkey arm, Anna spoke the incantation. "Homini Arm!" She lowered her wand and watched while the brown fur slowly grew smaller and smaller, finally disappearing for good and revealing Reese's normal arm. "All done!"

"Okay, my turn! Let's see...oh, oh! I know!" she said, raising her wand. With a little giggle, she turned her wand in the direction of her nose. In her mind, she pictured a little waddling duck, quack, quack, quacking with it's long, orangey beak. "Bestiar Mouth!" she called out. Her normal nose started to stretch, and a few minutes later she was wearing the same beak she'd pictured the little duck having. She opened the beak and looked over at Reese. "Quack!" Translation: "You're turn to do the reverse spell."

Reese raised her eyebrow. Did Anna just say the monkey arm suited her? She looked down at her arm and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't think it does. It's ugly looking," she admitted. "I think I like my original arm. You know, the one I was born with." She tapped her foot on the sand as she waited for Anna to say the incantation and when she did, her arm started tingling as it transfigured back into her original arm. "Thanks," she said. She moved her arm a little bit to make sure it would move properly. You never know it transfiguring your arm would mess up your bones or anything.

She stood there as Anna pointed her wand at her nose. What in the world was this girl doing? In a matter of seconds, that question was answered. Now, standing before her, was her friend who had a duck's beak on her face. Haha. It was a funny sight. She giggled when she quaked at her. "I'm sorry. I don't understand duck," she said. "But, I'll transfigure you back now." She pointed her wand at her friend's beak and said, "Homini Mouth." She moved her wand away from Anna and watched as the beak went away and Anna's nose and mouth came back.

"Now, since that is all over and done with. I have something to tell you," she said. She placed her wand back inside of her pocket and glanced back at her arm for a moment as she waited for Anna to talk.

Anna tried to giggle at the fact she now had a duck's beak, but the normally simple act wasn't so simple when one had a beak instead of a mouth. So instead she just watched and waited while Reese performed the spell. As soon as she did, Anna's long beak started to shrink into her face, changing quickly into a normal mouth once again. Anna opened and closed her mouth a few times in an attempt to get it to feel completely normal again. Transfiguring your body was a really weird experience. "Good job once again, Reese," she said.

She put her wand away, then looked back up a Reese, a questioning expression on her face. "Something to tell me? Oh?" she asked. "...and that would be, what?" It seemed as if Reese had some juicy gossip or something to tell her. Juicy gossip...hmm...nothing better than a good scoop of Hogwart's news!

"Thanks," Reese said. "You did a wonderful job, too." She began to twirl a lock of her hair with one of her fingers as she looked around the area of the sandbox. It's been a while since she visited down here. Usually, she was found by the lake or the pathways...sometimes even the Whomping Willow. She seriously needed to visit the sandbox more often. What was more fun than building a sandbox?

She nodded. "I do have something to tell you," she told her. She wasn't too sure how she was going to come about telling Anna that she was dating Jack. Anna was, in fact, the girl said she thought Reese was the kind of girl that would fall for a slightly different type of guy. Maybe she'll announce the news the same she did it with Torin. "So, ummm...I'm not single anymore," she announced.

Alice laughed. Wanting him to make it materialized what he said before. Now. Hug me Lion. As much as you want. She had to bite her tongue from saying it aloud. Be patient and save some shyness too. Hehe. Alice looked back at him as they finally reached the sand. She crawled and knelt down on the sand, laughing. This time swimming seemed pretty easy by the way Fyo led her all through the warm and dangerless water.

"So what do you want to do now SandMonster?" Alice asked, water dripping down over her shoulder from her wet hair. Cool.

Terry's mouth dropped open, and he pushed his fists onto his hips obnoxiously, 'Vanessa! I've always called you by your full name, remember? Everyone else calls you Vannie!' Ohhhh, this was sad. They hadn't seen each other in so long that she didn't even remember what he CALLED her?! ...sad times.

He snorted loudly. 'Of couuuuuuuuurse you'd say Miles is more manly than me,' Terry drawled, then jerked an eyebrow at his friend, 'But Milesy boy knows exactly how a macho, manly man I am, ain't that right?' Cue another eyebrow wiggle.

WOOHOOOOOO there certainly lots of love to go around today! 'HURRAH FOR MAN LOVES.' Another squishy hug followed his yell.

Tapping a finger semi-seriously against his chin, Terry pursed his lips. 'You know what? You should be thanking me, the glittery sand goes beautifully with your skin,' he eyed Miles almost jealously, 'I mean, how many people can say they've been a living DISCO BALL sometime in their life?' Srsly, this was the stuff of legends! Still, he unconsciously swiped his hands through Miles' hair, until the last specks had left his pretty locks. Bouncy, shiny hair was very important of course.

He paused though at Vanessa's question. 'Me? Errrrm, I've been ...here, there and around.' Terry pointed accusingly at the Hufflepuff, and pushed his bottom lip out in a huff and wailed, 'You've been avoiding me! Been hiding in tiny cracks in the trees and under rocks so that I wouldn't ever find youuuuuuuuuu!'

Miles giggled. "You are a very manly man, Terry." He winked at him, enjoying the playfulness. Maan, Terry was really going at it with his eyebrows today. Miles wondered if Terry had a cheeky personality going on today. Nevertheless, he loved it!

"MAAAN LOOVE!" Miles yelled just as much, possibly causing a few heads to turn. Whoopsie. "I mean ... maaaan loooove!" He yelled in a whisper, if this was possible at all. "You know, I wish Hugo was here to experience the man love. Where is he anyway?" Miles turned to Terry for this. Surely his best friend had been in touch with their other best friend? It was quite unfortunate that Miles hadn't been. Where was the dude? The blonde of the posse.

Miles pressed his hand against his chest/heart and raised an eyebrow at Terry. "Oh, your compliments flatter me." He said in a girly voice. Who knew tha sand glitter went with his skin? People didn't usually observe or notice that kind of feature in a person, but Terry surely did! "All I need now is to dress like a disco ball and I'm set to hand off the ceiling!" Course, he was joking. He HATED being upside down. Miles shook his head just to make sure there was no more sand in his shiny hair before returning back to his comfortable way of sitting in the sandbox. Cross-legged.

Miles gasped and quickly turned to Vannie. "You've been hiding in rocks! Ness, that's really unhygenic." How was this POSSIBLE? Miles was with Vannie like ... all the time!

"Oh yeah...." Vanessa nodded as she stared at Terry. She had forgotten that. "It's SOOO YOURRR fault that I forgot though. YOUUU haven't be around." She pouted at him, before giggling him. She knew Terry was going to make sure that she never would forget again. Not that she'd want to. It was nice being called Vanessa once in a while. It was her name after all. But it sure reminded her of teachers, for they usually called her Vanessa. And that sure was a wierd thought, Terry being a teacher. Shaking her head she smiled at Terry. "Forgive me?" She smiled sweetly at him. He was her cousin. So he HAADDD to forgive her!

Vanessa giggled as she watched the boys converse. She had to admit that Miles' friends were pretty awesome, even though she hadn't got along with Hugo that much at first. But she did wonder where he was, she hadn't seen him all term.

"Where have I been? Terry Saunders. I have exaams! I have been revising!" Vanessa nodded, shaking her head as he mentioned her hiding under rocks. "Milllees!" She frowned at him. "You knoww I haven't been under rocks." Vanessa giggled, poking his arm jokingly. "and Ness? I thought you were calling me Nessa?"

Fyodor Balouch was wet.

Actually, wet was not the word. The third year was dripping water. The sand stuck to his clothes like icky-sticky wet plaster, and he created very tiny puddles of water at the more isolated end of the Sandbox as he half-dragged his feet in. He was SUCH a mess.

"We're dirty," he said, shaking his head. This wasn't sand fun - it was MUD now. Wet, sticky mud that clung to him and Lissy, and to their clothes. Of course, the scent was delicious, like rain or something just as beautiful, but it felt so.... messy. Fyo shook his head, taking out his wand to tap it against his clothes, which dried instantaneously, leaving him covered, not with icky wet mud, but with sand.

This done, he turned to Lissy, drying her clothes for her, too. "There. That's much better now, isn't it?" he asked her brightly.

Alice waved her hands in air, "It's okay. It's a part and parcel of the fun." she told him and trying to dust her own robes. She knew it was waste of time. Before she could react Fyo pulled out his wand and started drying her robes for her.

"Mmm..much better. But I like the wet Lion so much" she giggled and attempting to control her pitch black wavy hair.

"We're still going to have fun," Fyo said, pointing to her robes which were, though now free of the mud, not much cleaner because uncountable grains of dry sand were sticking to them like mad. "I like being a little dirty, occasionally, but we couldn't have gone stampeding around the place like the muddy things we looked, you know!" After all, there was a huge difference between being covered in sand - which Fyo loved - and being covered in wet mud.

Which was ..... not always nice.

"I like Butterfly," he laughed, flopping, back down, on to a "clean" portion of drydryDRY sand. "No matter what she looks like."

Alice looked down at her clean robes. Now clean. They were still had plans in hand. Funny plans. Playing in sand, prolly a big sandcastle this time or some kind of sculpture. Who knows? She smiled, "Seems you have some ideas already." Her eyes focussed on his face, desperate to get a hint from his expressions.

He loved her, no matter how she looked like. Amazing. A proof of a noble heart of her Lion.

Alice beamed, "I Love you Fyo" her eyes on his face now, glinted in happiness.

"Yup," Anna replied, nodding to Reese when she thanked her for the compliment. As she and Reese talked, Anna turned around and scooped up a handful of sand, looking at it for a moment before letting it fall through her fingers. As soon as her hand was once again empty, she began to slide the sand around, slowly building a little sandcastle just on the side of the sandbox.

"Not single anymore? Reese Upstead! Have you gone and gotten yourself a boyfriend?" Anna excitedly replied. She turned from her half-created sandcastle, leaving it deserted for the time-being. Reese's news about no longer being single seemed a lot more interesting than a sandcastle. "Okay, so, who's the guy? Do I know him?" she asked.

Reese walked further into the sandbox and sat down in a little vacant area that nobody was near. She was still close enough to Anna, so they could still talk and have fun. While sitting, she ran her fingers along the stop of the sand and just watch Anna who had picked up a handful of sand and let it fall through her fingers. After watching that, she did the same. She picked up a handful of sand and watched it fall through her fingers until...

Woah. Someone was excited. She looked back up at Anna and smiled. "I do have a boyfriend," she answered with a smile. "Yes, you do know him." She glanced around at everyone at the sandbox as she added to her last sentence, "It's Jack Fritzera." Looking back up at Anna, she waited for her friend's reaction.

"Not really," Fyo said, half-shrugging. "Do you?" It would be awesome to build another sandcastle, and the thought reminded him of the last time they had been here, together. "Remember our theory?" he asked, his eyes lighting up as it came back to mind. That had been brilliant, hadn't it now?

"I love you too," he laughed, pushing himself off the sand. He was getting dusty and dirty again, but Fyo didn't really mind. Sand Monster, mmmrrRAWR.