Robert walked outside to enjoy the nice day when he noticed group near the cliff edge and..what looked like a familiar figure kneeling down on the edge. Turning he started heading toward the group to find that yes..it was Liz. As he walked closer he raised an eyebrow as he heard what she was saying and looked around. "Anyone tell you Liz doing that could be dangerous? What if you fell in?" He glanced around and saw Mr. Masterson, Anna and a few others he didn't know, "What are you guys doing anyway?"

As soon as she finished talking, Elizabeth heard a familiar voice speak behind her, and turned her head to find that Robert had joined the group on the cliff. Smiling at him, she shook her head. "Nope," she said facetiously. "And I'm not actually close enough to fall over. Let alone you should know my sense of balance is way too good for me to accidentally fall."

Standing up, she humored him by moving back toward the rest of the group. Hopefully the squid had heard her, and would at least consider making an appearance. "Mr. Masterson's trying to get the squid to come so he can talk to it," she explained, before mentally questioning herself. Him? She wasn't entirely sure what to refer to Bartholemew Henry as.

Robert laughed as he heard Liz's response and shook his head, "When I meant fall I meant...accidentally pushed..." he winked and chuckled as she backed up toward the group again. Placing his arm around her shoulder he smiled and looked around. "Talk to it eh..." He glanced at the professor curiously.

"Anyone good at a bubblehead charm? You could just jump in and draw him out..." Okay it was kind of a stupid suggestion but honestly why in the world would you want to bother the squid? Especially since he almost broke his broom during last terms flying finals. That along with Dominic's horrible aim cost him his broom completely last year.

Elizabeth pretended to look upset at Robert's joke, even though he was quite obviously joking. "Nobody would ever think of pushing me off a cliff," she told him, faking an indignant tone, before grinning at him. It was just way too difficult to pretend to be mad at him for too long. And when she got back to the group, she tilted her head to look up at him as he put his arm around her shoulders. "I think it has something to do with the flooding," she said as she saw the look he had sent Mr. Masterson.

She laughed a little at his next suggestion, though. "I'm sure if the professors and Mr. Masterson had thought that would have been a better idea, they would have done that." She could cast a passable bubblehead charm, but she would have been more apt to just try to hold her breath. Which would have made it kind of difficult to actually speak to the squid if she'd found him. But then, she saw the expression on Robert's face, and curiosity set in. "What're you thinking about?," she whispered, in case it was something he didn't want the others to know about.

Okay! So mentally, she was thinking what a cute little Ravie he was and polite in his ways. "I..err...noticed you hanging back a bit," she said as it was obvious to the ones who were scared of heights. "Don't worry. We are not that high at all. Small cliff. Biggggg water." So like if the Huffies roomed with the Ravies, she would know another Ravie!

"See," she said as she turned to look at Banana. "Mr. Masterson is cool like that." Like...if he wasn't she would never talk to him again, not that it would matter anyway, she didn't talk to the man that much! But his ways in Bunbunz class....PRICELESS!

Speaking of Mr. Masterson, did he really speak squid? "What language is that? Squidian? Where do you learn...that?" Speak one with the animals. Know the animals!

"Can we call him Bart? Or how about...Mew?

"Elizabeth...Rob..." She paused in her joy to frown at Robert. "Where have you been? I'm...sad I have not seen you around." She was playing of course and then she went back to the other Ravie. "How are you, Liz?" Shorten the name, give a nickname...always fun!

Elizabeth turned her head again as she heard Lyra say both her and Robert's names, and grinned at the tall Huffie girl. It was funny watching her bug him. Still under his arm, she glanced up at him for a second to see how he was going to respond, before looking back at Lyra as the other girl addressed her again. "I'm relly good." Now. "Other than the usual stress over how I'm going to deal with NEWTs and everything. How have you been?"

Robert looked over his shoulder as he heard Lyra's voice and smiled, "Why if it isn't the resident trouble...seeker? Trouble just happens to find you though so that's not right." He smirked and saw the glance that Liz gave him, giving her shoulder a squeeze he shrugged in response to Lyra's question, 'I've been around? Where have you been? Giving more firsties problems?" He smiled and listened as Liz spoke to Lyra moving his hand from her shoulder to around her back as he looked around.

"And to answer your question Liz..I was thinking about how close that squid came to breaking my broom during finals last year so I couldn't understand why anyone would WANT to talk to him," he whispered in her ear and gave her cheek a kiss. "That's it," he said as he stood back up and looked back at Lyra and the group.. He really had been out of it hadn't he. He hadn't realized how long it had been since he saw Lyra until just now and that made him feel slightly uncomfortable. It wasn't good of him to have kept to himself like that now he knew how Liz felt during the summer when she came back.

Constantine looked away from the kids trying to calling Bartholomew to the surface to look at the girl who had been first to show up. Squidian? WAIT...did she honestly believe that he was able to talk to squids? Merlin, he was still learning how to understand wife-speak! "No, my dear," he said with a sigh, "I was kidding...I don't know how to speak to squids."

Looking back at the water for a couple seconds, he found that he had to look back at her. "You may not call him Bart...or Mew. You will refer to him as either Mr. Henry or Bartholomew. He is a highly respectable squid, therefore you will treat him with respect.

"Which reminds me," he turned to the group as a whole. "When Mr. Henry appears, you MUST compliment him. You compliment him, the better the chance we'll have of him agreeing to help us. You don't, I'll feed you to him," he smiled.

Lyra closed her eyes as she shivered to the thought of NEWTs. "Oh please save me from the-" She opened her eyes. It was one thing for Rob to be sympathetic towards his female friends but...a kiss on the cheek? Her green eyes widened as her mouth fell WIDE OPEN!

And then the Groundskeeper spoke!

What was worse? Not being in the loop with your excellent guy friend or being told by a staff member they would feed you to a giant squid if you didn't call him by his proper name? Like he could understand!

And still she couldn't speak...


Nope, not yet....



Still not....OH WAIT

"I....err...."


Almost!

"Yeah!" She finally closed her mouth as she looked to the water. "Squid...Pet....Friends....OHMYGODICAN'TBELIEVEYOU TWO!! WEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" She then covered her mouth. Maybe right now was not the time? "Squid...yes! I know!" She looked at Mr. Groundskeeper and smiled, then walked over to the water.

Chris smiled "Ok so when he comes we must compliment him?" he said. 'So know I need to think of some good squid compliments to get ready.

Cedric walked towards the small cliff.He took a seat and took out a book,He was reading his favorite book.He must say that their groundskeeper was made of awesomeness adding such a beautiful attractions around the castle.

Elizabeth nodded at Lyra's response to her comment about NEWTs, even though she knew the Huffie couldn't see her movement with her eyes closed. It was just something she couldn't not do. "I'm with you there," she said, before she glanced back up at Robert as he answered the question she had asked him about his thoughts.

"I'm sure Bartholemew Henry didn't have any sinister reasons behind whatever he did last term," she said, completely sincerely. She had no reason to think the squid was out to hurt them. Or at least she had never heard of him hurting the students. "Maybe he was just tired of all the people flying over his lake, and you just happened to be the unfortunate one to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," she murmured, a faint smile creeping onto her face when he kissed her cheek. It wasn't something she was still quite used to, but she was finding she liked little things like that.

But then the groundskeeper was speaking again, and her attention went back to him, completely missing the expression on Lyra's face. "Of course, Mr. Masterson," she said, completely honest and intending to listen to him. In a way, she actually felt validated, like her theory she had had about the squid responding to people being polite was being confirmed. Of course, she hadn't the faintest idea what a giant squid would consider a compliment, but she figured she could come up with something. And then she heard the squeal from Lyra, and her earnest contemplation of squid compliments was temporarily pushed to the back of her mind as she turned to look at the Huffie again, slightly confused. But, of course, Lyra had apparently decided to humor the groundskeeper, and gone to the edge of the cliff to wait for the squid. I guess finding out what that was about will have to wait, she thought, glancing at Robert once more before going back to thinking of possible compliments.

Anna giggled a little as Elizabeth also began to call for the squid. He probably didn't answer to the calls of the students, but at least they could all have fun with it while waiting around for him to appear. She turned and waved at Robert, who'd just joined the group. She started to answer his question about what they were up to, but Elizabeth beat her to it. Instead, Anna reached down and grabbed another fish, tossing it quickly into the water below. She peered over the edge and searched for any sign of the squid, but when she saw none, she sat up straight once again.

"Draw him out with a bubblehead?" Anna asked Robert. "Do you know how big that thing is? He'd have us caught and tossed out the lake before we could even realize what was happening." She picked up a fish, grabbed Robert's hand, and smacked the fish lightly in his palm. "Try that instead. He supposedly appears for them."

"Compliment him, eh?" Anna asked the groundskeeper. "Now that I can handle...if he'll ever appear. How long does it usually take to lure him to the surface?" They must have thrown a ton of fish into the lake by now. This thing was ever not hungry or not willing to meet with them at all.

Standing slightly behind Lyra now, William took another peak over the small cliff, knowing he wouldn't actually fall in or be eaten, not by the squid at least. He'd met him last term - okay well met wasn't exactly the word, he had met Bartholemews' tentacles as they had attempted to catch him as he flew by, bt still he seemed okay to him. All in all he could handle it if the giant squid came up, it'd be cool, and it would take his mind off his missing hat, which he still couldn't find for the life of him.

Looking up slightly to llook in her face he replied, "It's not that I'm extremely afraid of heights, it's the whole wooziness thing I get when I look down from a somewhat high place." He explained, knowing it made no sense. Ok, so now he sounded like a whiny baby. Shaking his head he backed away from Lyra a few inches, standing by himself now and looked on the ground. this really wasn't hos he wanted to meet new people, making them think he was some crazy little boy who was afraid of everything. The only thing he was terrified of was Kazi and so far he wasn't around so he was safe.

Turning his gaze away from the lake he looked around at the newcomers, his nervousness ebbing away slightly as he recognized a few of the students came over curiosity written on their faces. Tilting his head he watched as Anna tossed another fish into the lake and stayed close to Lyra. She seemed to be almost willing to protect him if the case came to it. That and she was tall, blocking most of the breeze from him.

Lifting his head again to peer out over the water he caught what Mr. Masterson had said about complimenting Mr. Henry and nodded. Made sense to him, complimenting something that could eat you in a heartbeat, no questions asked. He could be polite oh yeah especially when he had no idea why Mr. Masterson wanted the squids help. Perhaps it had something to do with the water in the castle? Would Mr. Henry even help with that?

Lyra was so excited about Liz and Rob, that was just the coolest, which in turn made complimenting a FISH that much more awesome and non-weird. The only things she really complimented, her friends, her boyfriend, her favorite professor and now a giant squid.

"William, you stay behind me and I'll protect you," she said to the little Ravie as she really didn't want him to be scared at all. "This is going to be fun!" She wanted him to be excited, have a good time, enjoy himself. "Here squiddy," she said as she leaned in a little over the cliff while calling the little, giant squid.

now he really felt like a wimp, but shuffled his feet up to stand beside Lyra. "Thanks Lyra." he said in a somewhat confident voice. Feeling in his pocket he took out another chocolate frog, frowning as it almost dropped from his hand. Unwrapping it he popped it into his mouth and put the wrapper in his pocket. Littering so wouldn't be a good thing right now he figured as he watched her lean over the edge.

blinking he leaned a little closer, his blue eyes bright as they skimmed the water. he couldn't see anything in the depths but he thought he saw a small ripple in the surface.

Robert had barely registered what was being said by Masterson when he heard a squeel coming from the direction of Lyra who was looking into the water. Turning his head he raised his eyebrow and smirked. She knew him too well that was for sure to have been able to put that innocent move into such accurate a thought.

Turning back to Liz he shrugged, "Probably but that doesn't mean that I can't be mad at the bloody thing." Seeing her smile when he kissed her cheek he gave her a squeeze against his side and smiled. He knew when she had heard Lyra because of the confused look on her face. Leaning down he whispered so only she heard, "It seems my best friend knows me too well and has figured things out. To think what a simple kiss on the cheek can tell someone who knows you." Smirking he kissed her cheek again and looked back at Lyra, shaking his head. As everyone went back to trying to think of ways to coax the squid up he just stood there with a bemused expression on his face. Do they realize how silly this looks?


Anna caught his attention when she repeated his advice and he shrugged, "It was just an idea since apparently sweet talking it isn't exactly working." He dropped his arm from around Liz as Anna dropped a fish in his hand and he laughed, "And what pray tell, am I supposed to do with this thing? Seems to be working as much as getting me to eat anything green does, not at all." It was true, he didn't even eat the green Bertie Bott's beans though he doubt anyone payed attention to that. "Why not offer to buy him a glass of pumpkin juice? You'd probably get on farther...or well maybe a glass of blended whatever he eats more like." He looked down at the fish and made a face, "Blended fish? Lovely." Walking up to Lyra who was by the water he dropped the fish in and looked into the depths as it disappeared. "See? Nothing." Shaking his head he stood back up and looked at Anna. "Think my bubblecharm idea was better," he said with a smirk and laughed giving Liz a glance.

Elizabeth grinned at Robert's point of view regarding the squid. "Okay. Just don't let him know you're mad at him," she said conspiratorially, "I'm pretty sure Mr. Masterson wouldn't be very happy if you ruined his chances at figuring out what's going wrong at the school this term." The smile she'd had earlier came back as he squeezed her closer to his side for a second, and she looked up slightly as he leaned down to whisper to her. She wasn't really surprised he had figured out she was curious about Lyra's reaction, and tilted her head to look at him when he finished speaking. "At least the conclusion was pretty much correct, this time, she whispered back playfully as he gave her another kiss on the cheek.

And then the topic appeared to be back to Bartholemew, as Anna came over to tease Robert. Elizabeth glanced sideways at him as he dropped his hold on her to deal with the fish the Gryffindor prefect had given him. "So now you're comparing yourself to Bartholemew Henry?," she teased him, before giggling as he thought about making some sort of fish smoothie or something. She couldn't imagine anyone, even someone like the squid, would want to deal with blended fish. managing to control her laughter, she watched as he went over to join Lyra at the edge, and then chose to sit down. It looked like they were going to have a wait before the squid made an appearance. She raised an eyebrow in response to the look Robert sent her, though. "Are you going to be the one to cast the charm to test your theory out?," she called out from her spot on the ground, sending him a grin. If he wanted to keep talking about bubblehead charms, she'd let him. But she wasn't going to sit back when she was fairly certain he wasn't about to actually cast one.

Jane walked slowly with her head down, touching every tree trunk that lead to the cliff area. She held some flowers in her hand and had some in her hair. She found them on her bedside table this morning. She took out a piece of paper and started sketching the lake. She started scribbling, doodling the giant squid, making scenes. She didn't know how to animate sketches, she thought Christian would help her. But he wasn't in school yet. She pouted and stared into the horizon.

Cedric waved to Jane as he saw Jane walking towards the cliff.Well,He didn't need to waved and shout at Jane cause it was only a small cliff so they were close a bit.He wonders why Jane was not with Christian but he is happy for his friends.

Thomas walked up the cliff. Moss was starting to grow under rocks and in between the grass you can see some kind fungus growing. Thomas got to the edge of the cliff and sat down. He took his book out of the bag and began to read. After awhile he closed his book and returned it to his bag, he got up and walked down the cliff.

"Hi Cedric!!"she smiled and looked over at him. She put the flowers in her hands down on the ground. She had plucked all their petals, doing the 'He loves me, he loves me not' thing. She ended on 'He loves me not' on a few flowers, butcheated kept on going until she got a 'He loves me'. She missed Christian and wonders if he had a nightmare last night.

"Uhmm.. sooo.. tell me, Cedric. About yourself,"she asked politely and smiled. It was about time she made more friends in school, she thought.

Anna playfully laughed when Robert mentioned that casting a Bubblehead Charm was just an idea. "Yup, I know. It's cool that you're helping out," she replied, with a nod. After all, he was right when he said sweet talking the squid wasn't working...neither were the fish, though, really. She was starting to wonder if Mr. Masterson really knew what he was doing by tossing all this fish into the lake. He still hadn't answered her question as to how long it usually took for the squid to appear, so for all she knew, it could be two minutes or two hours. Although, two minutes was now definitely out of the question.

"Blended fish? Ewww!" Anna said, making a face at the thought of tossing any creature, dead or alive, into a blender and making a slushie of it. She watched as Robert tossed the fish into the waters, thinking maybe this time the squid would pop up and have a little feast on the fish. Apparantly not, though. She shrugged and eyed the bucket of fish with disgust. They were so not working. Nevertheless, she picked up a rather large fish and tossed it high into the air, letting it land with a large splash in the water below.

Christian walked up behind Jane and covered her eyes. "Guess who?"

Jane smiled. She didn't need to guess. She could smell him from a mile away, despite the fish-stink in the air from the squid fishers nearby, which she didn't mind at all. She found them very entertaining.

"Did you sleep well, love?"she asked, hoping he did. She hoped he didn't dream about his most horrible memories. She hoped he didn't dream about Jade. She smiled at him.