"Annie I think perhaps it would be a good idea to speak to Bontecou about this. I saw Jake and, well, so did Marcus."

Ethan did not believe that mollycoddling the boy was the answer at all, but it wasn't something he was willing to get into with Axe, who probably didn't even realise that he was treating the boy like a five year old. It was bad enough that Slytherin students were getting bedtime stories of all things. It disturbed Ethan that, even with Professor Kazimeriz here, Hogwarts was resembling a bloody pre-school. Hugs and boo-boo cookies?

Zan raised one eyebrow.

"How do the children treat you? Perhaps I'll sit in on your next class, disillusioned of course, so I can see for myself."

He didn't comment on either Masterson or Iliana, since he did not expect it would get him anywhere to do so.

"Tino came to see me actually." Funny story...

He gave Annie a squeeze that he intended, in his own way, to be comforting.
"How about that holiday?"


Truebridge heard the... ruckus, but ignored it. His attention quite firmly on Annie.

"Bontecou??? Why?" Annie slowly turned her head to stare dully at Ethan before a small lightbulb might have blinked in her brain. "Oh, you mean, I should speak to him and resign and turn myself in for being the worst teacher ever. Yeah. I see."

What else did he mean by 'I saw Jake and so did Marcus'? Anastasia was pretty sure she couldn't sink any lower in Axe's books anyway. She still didn't comprehend his connection to the kid in the first place.

"The children.... just...." Annie made some sort of frustrated shrug/je ne sais pas gesture. "They delight in my misfortune? It seems like every lesson ends in chaos. I can see why Tino thinks I'm fake. He probably learns nothing. Ever. He's just another one of the disrespectful ones... who chases me through four flights of stairs to hold me at wandpoint and tell me I have homicidal tendencies... ha... hahah...haaaa...."

It was a hollow, awkward laugh that ended as weirdly as it had begun. Annie went back to staring out at the snow though clearly her mind was elsewhere. She didn't even seem to hear any of the noisemaking going on behind them. "Ethan..... how can you possibly still want to go on holiday with me? You said you saw it all for yourself. There you have it. I'm an evil horrible FAKE ppprofessor...person...."

"No, I mean you should speak to him and explain what happened before someone else carries stories that are untrue and he listens to them and puts you on probation too." Ethan corrected and found himself frowning at her response to his question about how the students treated her.

"Surely you have some students who excel in your class and enjoy your teaching?" Ethan asked.

How could he poss...?

"Because its you, Annie." Zan answered, though to his credit his tone was free of exasperation. He gave her a side-hug and rubbed her arm.

"I saw that it looks bad, but then I also apparently know more about how devils snare behaves than Marcus does, because though I was admittedly concerned about your motives, particularly since the children stated you ran away and left them, in pain I might add Annie, I also realised there was more to it than at first glance."

"Ah..... like you did?" Annie tilted her head and then shook it repeatedly. "No no no... I'm not... like that... I don't think Bontecou likes me anyway."

She still wasn't entirely sure how she had been hired in the first place annnd there had been that little outburst by Lupa at the feast just because she hadn't called the man 'Headmaster'.....

But Ethan had said untrue, right? That was inspiring. And like, she knew at least two students that were sort of sane that might have liked her lessons...

"So.... you believe me?" She wasn't even sure she believed herself. "I didn't run. I was chased. I was terrified and angry and it was all in all a bad day." Annie reached over and grabbed Ethan's hand to give it a desperate squeeze. "Do you ever have bad days? Not all the students are all bad all the time, I suppose but....." sigh, "I seem to find myself in these situations beyond my control far too often, Ethan."

Like that time when oh, she'd mentally regressed twenty years.

"If you say so, Annie." Truebridge answered doubtfully. Chances were that someone else would go and tattle and the Bontecou would get completely the wrong end of the stick and yes, she'd end up with probation too.

Not that he could help that...

"Yes, I believe you. However, I don't think it excuse you leaving injured children to fend for themselves. Just because the nurse is clearly retar... unconcerned for the welfare of the students, it doesn't mean that we should be taking a leaf out of her book. He squeezed her hand back gently.

"Yes, I have bad days and yes I often find myself in situations beyond my control." Like the duel and like that day when George threw her shoe at him? Plus many other 'events' which Annie was not present for.

"So, what do you say to going away for a few days? After we finish our next lot of classes, we both have a break in our schedules..."

Annie rolled her eyes toward the snowy skies at the hospital thing still. SEE. THIS was why she avoided hospital wings and St. Mungo's and Healing. ALWAYS. It always ended badly, usually with her fleeing the scene for some alleged misdoing or another. And, not to mention, that Tart had occupied the Hospital Wing all last term too. Grr.

"I didn't leave them...er... on purpose....I was trying to heal Cela, see, I really was," she turned her blue eyes on Ethan to try to make him see. "You said you spoke to Tino. Didn't he mention his melodramatics? Didn't he say how I straightened Celandine's arm and was about to fix it if he hadn't kept trying to leap in the way and prevent me from doing my job??"

Whatever. That Ravenclaw only had half a brain if you asked her so it wouldn't surprise Anastasia if he forgot half the events anyway. He had carried on an entire conversation with a sneezing portrait right in front of her.

"Suuuure I guess," she shrugged and blinked a few snowflakes off her eyelashes. "You never said... where we'd be going though. Not that I mind." Maybe he had plans for someplace warmer than England? Annie trusted Ethan either way.

"That reminds me of something," she added, almost bouncing off the bench then. "I have something for you. In my office."

Ok, this was enough for today. Yes indeedio... Her hands were going numb and she was for sure certain that she had snow inside her boots and back.
Hopping up and getting the snow off herself, she squatted down fast when realising how close to the couple she was.
Straightening up and having a peek, she grinned at the perfect opportunity to- GASP!

Heeeeeeeey...Isn't that... HEEEEY!
OMGOSHTHATSTWOTEACHERS!

Miranda's head turned like a...something fast...trying to see if anyone was near, SEEING THIS-THIS THINg!
Love...aAAAaaawwww
How could Miranda not have seen that it was two teachers? Maybe the way those two acted around eachother, the cuddling and THE HAND HOLDING! made them look way beyond their years... How old were they anyways?

20? 30? Nevermind!
Who knew Miss Bunbury and Mr Truebridge were in love? Were they in love? Ofcourse they are in love, they look about ready to kiss- Eewww.

Ummm... Miranda should really run off before something she shouldnt see happened. But, her muscles wouldn't respond. Stare.

"Of course he did not. Students only see what they want to see." Ethan answered, though he always retained a hope that his students would graduate having had learned to see things from a less narrow-minded perspective than the one that most of them carried.

"It doesn't matter. Celandine's arm is fine, though she might be a little upset with you? Possibly." Ethan was not one who could claim to know how the female mind worked.

"I thought a surprise would be nice." Zan responded, regarding the holiday destination he had in mind. Just for a few days... perhaps while all this dies down? Are you sure you don't want to go to see the headmaster and tell him what happened? Just in case?" Avoiding a problem hardly made it go away after all.

"Oh you do?" She did? Why? "Thank you, Annie." He watched her as she bounced up, and stood up himself, slowly.

Anastasia frowned at the possibility that Celandine Toussaint would be upset with her. Should she care? Possibly. The girl had been a Pink Lady... but she was also supposedly working for Borr with those posters and getting his cane. She didn't say anything further on that matter though.

"I'll go anywhere with you, you should know that by now," Annie took a step back toward her office and the greenhouses and shook her head strongly. "No I really don't.... want to hang around the castle... that much." To get to the second floor one had to pass through the first floor after all, and she was Wanted and all... best to just avoid the issue.

"Don't say thank you yet! You haven't seen it." She smiled just a little bit and leaned up to give Ethan a soft kiss on the cheek.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luna Laufghudd

Ok, this was enough for today. Yes indeedio... Her hands were going numb and she was for sure certain that she had snow inside her boots and back.
Hopping up and getting the snow off herself, she squatted down fast when realising how close to the couple she was.
Straightening up and having a peek, she grinned at the perfect opportunity to- GASP!

Heeeeeeeey...Isn't that... HEEEEY!
OMGOSHTHATSTWOTEACHERS!

Miranda's head turned like a...something fast...trying to see if anyone was near, SEEING THIS-THIS THINg!
Love...aAAAaaawwww
How could Miranda not have seen that it was two teachers? Maybe the way those two acted around eachother, the cuddling and THE HAND HOLDING! made them look way beyond their years... How old were they anyways?

20? 30? Nevermind!
Who knew Miss Bunbury and Mr Truebridge were in love? Were they in love? Ofcourse they are in love, they look about ready to kiss- Eewww.

Ummm... Miranda should really run off before something she shouldnt see happened. But, her muscles wouldn't respond. Stare.

Bunz froze mid-kiss though as she noticed something.... or someone, just over Ethan's shoulder. A STUDENT. Gasp.

She blinked at the girl, who was blinking at her like a mirror image for several longggggg seconds. It probably looked like two basilisks having a face/off staring contest.

Then Annie decided that was that. She whispered, "Let's just go now, shall we?" in Ethan's ear and then grabbed his hand to tug him away from the weird staring Hufflepuff. That was a Hufflepuff, wasn't it? Hard to tell through the snow but Bunbury knew... badgers were definitely the weirdest bunch.

Blinking once, Miranda's eyes started to sting. How long had she been staring? I need to remember to blink. Bliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiink!

It was like her mind shut off, because at the precise moment Miss Bunbury saw her and just stared back, Miranda didn't flinch or run away. She couldn't. It was like she was frozen on the spot. And the huffie was fairly sure the snow she had inbetween her garments had turned into ice by now.

Miranda was not one to eavesdrop, not at all. Really, if she could, her hands would be pressing hard against her ears. Oh and she'd crunch her eyes shut too. And did she mention she would RUUUUUUUUUN. ?
She had only wanted to take a picture!

But no running, and there was Mister Truebridge and Misses Bunbury, very close and about to... Ew.
The few words that slipped through her non existent earmuffs were vague, like go, you, it, castle. And whatever that meant, Miranda did not want to know because it wasn't her bussiness and she didn't want to know. Y'know?

With a broken branch sticking up from her messed up hair, Miranda watched how the professor began to drag the other professor with her. Away.

It would probably take atleast 20minutes for the young Huffie to get back to herself. Suddenly, one name came to her. Kaika! But Miranda couldn't tell anyone, could she?
*flASh*
Jumping at the flash and a leetle bit blind, Miranda stood up after accidentaly having pressed the button on the camera. Arghhh...
She needed chocolate. Now. And something warm to drink too... Sniff.

Ethan regarded Annie seriously after the little cheek kiss. Really, for any gift it was the thought that counted, was it not? So far she'd been fairly excellent with her gift giving abilities, so what reason did he have to doubt it?

"Alright, lets go now. I'll get my things and meet you in your office in, say, ten minutes?" He let her tug him away and blinked a few times at the flash, his eyes finding the source and frowning slightly at Miranda. What was she doing? What were the photographs for? He'd never appreciated being tabloid fodder.

Where were his stunna shades?

Ethan wrapped his arm around Annie and gave her a quick squeeze.

"Ten minutes." He repeated.

Annie would have hugged Ethan back had she not been so UTTERLY BLINDED by the flash of a camera.

Cheap. Cheat. Cheating, that's what the 'Puff was doing to win this staring contest.

"......yes," the redhead managed to mutter, still dazed from the flash. "My office, see you there."

GEeeEEeeEEZ children these days!

Jaw dropped, Miranda had for a moment seriously thought the two Professors had already left. But there they still were. Gah.

She was still seeing white spots floating around when Miranda decided it was time to leave.
"Sorry!" she half screamed, still quite stunned and utterly confused by the situation. Suddenly, her body started to sway, like a flagpole in a windstorm. Feet, move NOW! The Hufflepuff was trying to get her body to move, but it was very much frozen and stiff by the cold. So she swayed...

And Then Truebridge found her hideout, though it wasn't difficult because of the FLASH.
Gasping, as if having been caught right then, Miranda turned and ran towards somewhere, not really caring if she was actually heading to the castle. "I didn't seeeeee anythiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin- Ouch!"
*FlaSH*
There was a tree conveniently located in Miranda's path, hitting her shoulder and accidentaly pressing the camera button again. So that was two nice pictures of the snowy ground?

She'd have to see later, when the pictures were developed. But for now, Miranda was content to stagger away from the crime scene, having found the right direction to get to the castle, and was now running towards it. Pant.

Watching and taking care of his puffapods and flutterbies, he felt that someone was watching of what he was doing. People are really sneaky these days. Shrug.

Cedric tried to squint; to see who the stalker was but he was just busy at his puffapods.

Unexpectedly, the stalker headed to him. He dunno who it was but as he turned, he recognized that it was Miranda.

"Woah. umm. err. Hi Miranda. I'm up t-to nothing. I'm just here to visit my Puffas and Flutterbies." muttered Cedric. Safe answer. Right.

Miranda had a smile on her face as she watched Cedric doing his thing. Why she didn't have the urge to do the same was a qustionmark. Guess Herbology was not something for her.
As the fellow Hufflepuff boy looked up, Miranda noticed how almost did so unwillingly. Oops. Had she interrupted something? He seemed a bit...shifty...
"They look great!" she nodded and then looked around the other plants that they had...planted 2 terms ago. "I wonder where mine is..." Brows furrowed, Miranda began to think think think. Then shrugged. "Aren't you cold?"

"Perfect." Ethan answered in the tone of someone who had been planning something that had come to fruition. "Ten minutes." He repeated and disappeared, walking quickly up to the castle.

Cedric smiled merely. "Thanks. I've been caring for them since I got them; my puffas and flutterbies are not really mine, It's Bunbunz', I'm just err.. caring for them." he stated and he lowered his voice a bit as he said 'Bunbunz'

His hands shivered while he touched his Puffas. He was a little cold even if he was wearing a sweater and a jacket. "Err. I'm slightly cold. So err what brings you here?" he asked; he dunno what to say really. Change topic would be good. "Oh. you're in our Quidditch team right? I gained a spot in the team, err I'm a reserve player."

Haha! Bunbunz. Sounded like a name for a bunny. Miranda giggled as Cedric mentioned that name. "Oh, well you're doing a fine job at it!" she grinned.
Miranda watched him, not taking into account that the Huffie boy might feel looked at like an animal at the zoo. She frowned. "Your hands must be freezing! Don't you have gloves?" Truly, some Hufflepuffs were mad. Well, most of them actually. "I'm wearing an extra sweater!" Miranda exclaimed.

Why was she here?
"Oh yes, I'm taking photos for our Muggle Studies Homework...Hey, you mind if I take one of you with your HuffaPuffa?" or...what was it called? Shrug. "It would be a perfect picture!" the girl raised her camera and looked at Cedric, hoping he'd say yes.

"Yes! And yes I saw you on the team roster!" Miranda almost hopped. Quidditch could make anyone happy. "Congratulations!" she said happily. It was a great team this year. "So what position do you play?"

Cedric's face lightened up as Miranda had stated that he was doing fine. How nice she is. He was feeling cold of course; without the gloves, no wonder that his hands may shiver and quiver. Actually. he got a flu after he had stayed near the like without any sweaters or jackets yesterday. Mad, isn't it?

"Yep. I dun have gloves but I will appreciate if you hand me a pair of gloves," chuckled Cedric coolly then he gestured his hands towards the table where gloves can be found. "There's a pair of gloves.. Over there." He'll wear gloves for Miranda; so she would not suspect him mad. And nice move of hers again. "Oh. extra sweater? can I borrow it?" asked Cedric, he's pretty sure that Miranda would let him have it as the girl had mentioned that she have an extra sweater.

Touching his Puffas, Miranda confided of her purpose at going at the Herbology Garden. Ooh. She was taking pictures? Okay. Cedric tidied himself a bit. "Sure." he answered gleefully. Even if he don't want anyone taking pictures of him, it would be okay if it's a fellow badger. And back to their Quidditch talk, "I'm gonna play as a Chaser." He smiled; Quidditch makes him really happy. It's his first time to be on their roster and he'll do his best at their match this coming week.

Hmmm, gloves... Turning around to scan the area, she found the table and headed towards it. She chose a pair of PINK ones.

"Here ya go!" she said handing it to Cedric. Why hadn't he put on more clothes in the first place? Maybe he had been optimistic and thought the cold would've gone by now. Her feet shuffled some snow.
And then he wanted the extra sweater. Cocking her head to the side, she furowed her brow as the question confused her. Then the huffie girl realised she might have confused him too.
"Oh, no, you cant," she balanced on the balls of her feet, "Because I'm wearing it!" she flashed him a grin.

Oh and he would let her take the picture! Horaaaay!
"Oh, great!" she hopped a little, raised her camera and watched through the aim thingy how he tidied himself up. Aaaw.
*click*

"Thanks Cedric!" This would be a very good picture for her homework.

Chaser!
"I'm Chaser too!" Miranda grinned even wider. Ahhh, the magic of Quidditch. There's nothing else like it. "It's good to know a good player like you has our backs incase someone can't make it." That was no lie, the reserve players were as important as the regulars.

Utterly bored is what Sabrina Evanstar was.

It seemed like there was no other emotion left in her, if boredom could even be called an emotion, which she wasn't entirely sure it was. Boredom itself was, technically, the emotional state of a person when they were unintere- Oh, why in the world was she explaining the definition of boredom TO HERSELF?

Clearly, there was something wrong with her.

Nobody could deny it. Even the definition of boredom was utterly boring, which, she supposed, would kind of be ... uuugh. She couldn't think of the word. What was it?

Nevermind.

With one finger wrapped up in a lock of her golden hair, the blonde walked through the puffapods and flutterbies, blinking at them as though she was in a daze.

Which she was. A daze of boredom.

With hair like the mid day sun, Helios' presence seemed to light up any room he entered. But why then, did he feel to be in such a dark mood?

Walking amongst the flowers of reds, blues, yellows and everything in between, he hoped the beautiful flowers would drown out his ugly thoughts.

What fears lie in the hearts of a young prince at the doorway to adulthood? What could scare the fearless warrior at such a happy time in his life?

Amongst the garden, he hoped to find quiet solace.