Ava Jade listened to him explain about Muggle movies. It was more than obvious from how he described them -- and how he looked as he described them -- that they meant more to him than simply a hobby to pass the time. "That's so fascinating," Ava Jade said, raptured. "I wish I'd paid more attention to the movie I watched a long time ago. My friend and I talked most of the time, didn't really even watch it. It sounds like it could be...a real art." She hoped she was doing the thing justice. She could already tell it meant a lot to Braeden.

"Hmm, my hobbies..." She thought for a moment about what she did outside of class, friends, and the mixture of both (when she and her friends all tried to hex each other or mockingly predict each other's futures). "Quidditch is definitely a hobby," she decided, "even though I couldn't try out for the team. No time," she quickly added, hoping he wouldn't ask about it. It was a bit of a sore subject still, after she'd gotten her hopes so high about trying out and then couldn't even make the try-outs. "I like playing with friends," she said, trying to move the topic away from the official Quidditch team. "I'm always chaser, but I can play all the positions. I also love spells, which is why Defense Against the Dark Arts is definitely my favorite subject!" Now that she thought about it...she even sounded like a Muggle-ignorant pureblood. Her world revolved 100% around wizard-related activities. "Maybe sometime you could tell me more about movies," she suddenly blurted, then tried to cover with a casual smile. "I'd love to know more about them!"

Braeden looked quite pleased with Ava Jade's comments about movies. Not all purebloods were that nice about it; and either way, he wasn't judging the girl just because she had a different bloodtype. "Shame. I guess that means you can't even remember the name of it, eh?" asked the boy, a little curious about which movie she might have seen but sure she probably wouldn't be able to remember it now. No worries! Braeden would flood her with 837583475 movies to watch!

And then Ava Jade was sharing with him her hobbies.
Braeden listened attentively, nodding his head every now and then. He opened his mouth to speak, to ask why she didn't consider joining the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, but the girl immediately ruled out that idea because she had no time. Oh… Braeden made nothing weird of it and believed her word. "All positions?" repeated the boy with raised eyebrows. He was sort of a disaster at Quidditch, and the only position he was even slightly decent at was Keeper. "You must be a Quidditch prodigy, then!" he said with a soft chuckle, a grin adorning his expression.

The boy listened as Ava Jade mentioned her favourite classes, and before he could comment on it, she had brought the subject back to movies. Braeden's grin widened. "And I'd love to tell you more about them," he agreed with a nod. Psh. He could talk about movies for three days straight if he wanted to, but he was kind enough to know he should spare others from such dull talk. "Y'know, there's a l--" Brae was cut off as he saw what looked like... a giant tentacle creeping out of the water and onto the marble floors of the school.

Oh Merlin. Oh no. There were giant mutant creatures in that swamp, weren't there? Braeden stared at it, wide-eyed, and took a couple steps back. "I-I-I-I- Wha-- What is that!?"

"No, I can't remember the name of the movie," Ava Jade said disappointedly. "It was a love story, I think... Like these two people on a ship that ended up sinking because it hit something, an iceberg, maybe? I don't remember now." She shrugged.

"Yeah, I play all Quidditch positions. I mean, I'm by far best at Chaser, but I don't think I'm half-bad at any of them. Seeker is probably the hardest for me though, because I'm too impatient to watch everyone else play while I'm just looking for the snitch!" She laughed, partially at her own comment and partially at his prodigy comment and grin. He obviously wasn't shy to smile, and his whole face lit up when he did. She didn't know many guys who would smile openly like Braeden did, which struck her as refreshing.

She listened to him begin to talk about movies, when he suddenly broke off. She whipped around and followed his gaze to the swamp, where she saw a long tentacle slithering from the water across the floor, toward where they were standing. "Merlin," she breathed, "what do you think it is?" Her stomach churned uncomfortably as she took a step back, feeling fear start to build ever-so-slowly inside of her. She didn't get scared often...but then again, how often do you think you're going to get attacked by a mutant creature emerging from the depths of a bog? Pull yourself together, she thought. It can't be anything too bad -- plus you're with a Gryffindor. You can't go around being a wimpy Hufflepuff. "Think we should, uh...leave it alone?" Her voice rose to a squeak at the end of the question as the tentacle creeped closer, and she took another step back. "Braeden?"

Titanic! The movie Ava Jade and her friend had seen was Titanic!
Had Braeden not been paralyzed at that moment, he probably would've gone on an hour-long speech about how Titanic was one of the best movies of all time, and how the whole story was based on true events that took place many, many years ago and how it is suspected that the main character, Rose, was a half-blood witch.

But none of that came out of his lips. He loved movies, but the last thing he wanted to do when a mutant, weirdly-coloured squid tentacle was coming his way was to talk about movies. How about they talked about running as far away from that spot as possible? Yeah, that sounded like a good subject.

"Oh, uh-- what?" Braeden had been so distracted being completely horrified that he almost didn't hear Ava Jade's question about the thing and her suggestion to leave the creature alone. "I have… no idea," he replied honestly before nodding. "We should probably go…" he muttered. BUT. "But… I wanna see what it is, first," he added, tearing his gaze away from the freaky creature to raise his eyebrows slightly at Ava Jade. After flashing the girl a small, slightly mischievous smile, he took a couple steps closer toward the creature; at this moment, his curiosity was overpowering his cowardliness. And we all know the saying about how curiosity killed the cat… well, this time it might kill a lion.

He wanted to see what it was?! She knew he was a Gryffindor, but really? She and her friends had put on all kinds of stunts (and gotten quite acquainted with the hospital wing...), but lately she'd tried to be more careful around potentially dangerous creatures and things. But...if Braeden thought it was alright... She drew out her wand -- just in case -- and returned his mischievous smile. "You first!" She watched him step closer and took a baby step in the same direction, gripping her wand tightly. Wow, the suspense was amazing. She hadn't felt this bold since her third year, when she had tried to tease a fire crab into lighting a little pile of sticks she and one of her friends had built. (She'd ended up in the hospital wing overnight for that one.) Why did she get such a thrill at doing dangerous things?? Maybe that's why she got along with Gryffindors so well...

Braeden chuckled softly when Ava Jade dared him to go first. Alllrighttt... He could do that. And he did, taking very slow, cautious steps toward the tentacle that now lay on the marble floors of the school, feeling the texture of the floor curiously at a slow speed. Braeden pulled out his wand and held it tight in his hand as he approached the creature, standing now only about a foot away from the slimy thing. It reminded him of the Giant Squid... Oh Merlin, what if it was the Giant Squid?! And it had... magically transported itself here?!

Braeden's face seemed to go pale at the thought - he'd been dragged under the water by that foul creature once before - but he soon snapped back to his senses. This couldn't be the Giant Squid. It was big and weird, but it wasn't giant.

"Alright, I led the way," started Braeden, eyeing the thing warily. "Now you touch it," he challenged Ava Jade, turning to the girl and flashing her another of his goofy grins, with a hint of mischief in it. Oh Merlin, if that thing decided to reach out and grab them... well... That was it for them.

"Ohh, that's very brave of you," Ava Jade teased, still not daring to take her eyes off the slimy tentacle wriggling on the floor. She swallowed, rotating her wand once in her hand, then edged closer...then a little closer...then a little closer..........

The tentacle flopped over and Ava Jade jumped back, shrieking. "Expelliarmus!" she yelled, and her spell soared right above the creature and hit the muck of the swamp, which only jiggled as the incantation disappeared in its slime. Her cheeks turning a bit red, Ava Jade pursed her lips in frustration as the tentacle flopped on the ground, looking annoyingly harmless after her outburst. "I thought it was going to attack me," she said, laughing shakily.

Now time to follow through on Braeden's dare. Gripping her wand like death, Ava Jade bent down to the flopping tentacle and stretched out her first finger...and touched it. At the sensation of its cold, wet, slimy skin, she leapt back and let out a strange sound of disgust (which came out something like "EWWWICKKKK!") and wiped her hand on her robe furiously. The tentacle flinched and flopped around, covering a span of about a foot, but if anything it flinched away from her instead of toward her, which would have been a relief if she hadn't been ferociously rubbing the slime off her finger. "That's disgusting! Your turn. Now you touch it," she insisted. "Merlin, what do you suppose it is?"

Braeden laughed as Ava Jade teased him about being 'brave'. Hehe. The boy was completely aware he was the biggest scaredy-cat of life and found no offense in the comment. Instead, he watched with amusement as Ava approached the slimy creature. She was almost there… almost… almosttttt… just a little bit clo-- GAH! As the nasty tentacle thing flopped over, Braeden jumped along with Ava and even yelped in surprise. Oh yes, Mr. Stonem was Gryffindor's bravest lion. Rawr.
No, actually, he was more like a kitten.

The boy soon regained his composure, though. If he wanted to tease and make fun of Ava Jade, he couldn't let her notice he'd been scared half to death too. "Attack you? What, just by flopping over like that?" he asked with a raised eyebrow before laughing lightly. Alright, alright. Enough teasing the poor girl. Where were they? Oh right, to touch the nasty thing…

Braeden watched as the Hufflepuff girl approached the tentacle once more and touched its disgustingly slippery purple skin, his features twisting in disgust as he watched the stickiness that covered the tentacle stick to Ava's finger like… saliva or something. It was pretty gross. And then the girl was announcing it was his turn. Whaaaaa'?! He had to touch the nasty thing?! Gah… Braeden looked a bit uneasy, eyeing the creature's tentacle warily before straightening up and clearing his throat. "Ri--right… It's--it's… my turn… of course…" he muttered, his heart in his throat as he spoke. Ugh, this was going to be gross…

Slowly and cautiously, the Gryffindor boy approached the tentacle that now lay motionless on the floor, as if its owner had just randomly decided to fall asleep. Braeden took this as a good sign; maybe the tentacle wouldn't notice him coming and wouldn't attack. Once he was close enough to it, Braeden leaned in closer to the nasty tentacle. And closer… and closer… and he was almost there… YUCK. And now his fingers were touching its nasty skin. The tentacle remained motionless, and Braeden was just about to pull back when, suddenly, the tentacle seemed to come back to life and wrap around his wrist with unexpected speed and strength. "GAHH!!" Braeden stumbled, almost falling forward into the dark swamp waters as the tentacle began to tug at his arm, dragging the boy closer and closer to the swamp. "WHAT THE--!?" The boy's wand fell from his hand and he tried his best to pull back from the nasty creature, but it seemed the more he pulled, the stronger the tentacle dragged him.

OH NO. Oh Merlin. He was going to die, wasn't he?! He was going to die in the hands -- well, the tentacles -- of some nasty swamp creature! What… a miserable death.

Ava Jade watched Braeden move forward, closer and closer to the thing... and then it attacked him. She shrieked at the same time he did as she saw it twist its nasty, sticky tentacle around his wrist and drag him toward the slimy depths. Then Braeden lost his wand -- this wasn't good.

Come on, it's time to do something! Her wand twisted in her sweaty hand, her mind frantically trying to think of a spell to stop the thing from taking her friend into the bog. Why can't I think?! Times like these are exactly why I love Defense Against the Dark Arts! A chance to defeat an obstacle, claim victory! And I did NOT study all those hexes and spells for nothing... Locking her jaw, she stretched out her wand and screamed, "Stupefy!"

Aaaaand she missed. How anti-climactical. Struggling to think of another spell, she tried, "Diffindo!" But instead of cutting the tentacle, which was what she was hoping for, she ended up slashing her bag, which still rested close to the swamp, where she and Braeden had been talking before. Geez, could her aim be any worse?

In a sudden moment of impulse, she stepped closer, aiming straight for the thing just a few feet in front of her, and shouted, "Relashio!" This time she hit her target, and though her spell wasn't strong enough to force the tentacle completely off of Braeden, she saw that its grip was loosened. She could only hope that he could wiggle his wrist free...

Braeden was grateful when Ava Jade began to shout out spells, he really was, but… he wasn't sure what he was more scared of at that moment - the giant octopus thing kidnapping him under the dark waters of the swamp, or his Hufflepuff friend accidentally hitting him with one of her spells. All he could think about right now was: which one would be a quicker, less painful death?

But then, just as he was in the middle of these thoughts as he struggled to keep himself as far away from the swamp waters as possible, Braeden saw a flash of light hit the slimy tentacle, and he could feel its grip loosening around his wrist. This was it! If he didn't get his hand away from it now, he never would! The Gryffindor boy's brown eyes widened as he saw the creature lift up a second tentacle, as if to assure that if it couldn't take its prey with one tentacle, it would get him with the other. Oh Merlin… oh no… Braeden seemed to freeze for a moment there, just watching the hideous thing coming up from beneath the water before snapping back to his senses and pulling his arm back as far as he could. He managed to get a couple steps back on safer ground, but the stupid creature was still holding on to him. Ughhh.

At least now Braeden could reach his wand, though, so that's exactly what he did - he picked it up and pointed it at the nasty tentacle wrapped around his arm - "Alarte ascendare!" Luckily for the boy, being this close to his target gave him better aim than his friend, and he was able to hit the creature directly, causing it to release him and twitch back into the dark water. Braeden sighed as the disgusting thing disappeared back into the water and stared at the swamp with wide eyes for a moment, as if frozen.
Yeah… that… that hadn't been traumatizing at all.

"Merlin…" muttered the boy, obviously still a bit shaken from the experience.

Sophie didn’t exactly understand why she held a bit of history lesson for Chyler about the two kids who had fallen into the swamp. Maybe it was a way to ease into polite conversation that the Gryffindor prefect really was looking for? She had no urge to get all perfectly if there was no real need. The redheaded was only checking out the swamp which Fred & George had left many, many years ago and which had been preserved.

This was a girl in her own year. Chyler seemed nice all though the posture earlier had been a glimpse of someone who was quick to get angry or rather get defensive. Sophie was in need of a real girl friend at Hogwarts. She wasn’t desperate but talking to another girl from time to time about girl stuff could be welcome change to just boys. "Pleasure to meet you Chyler! Yes, I’m a fifth year and prefect."

Sophie met Chyler’s smile with a bigger, brighter one asking "What classes do you like?" simple and straight forward, enough. It was best to tread carefully if she wanted to make a good friend out of Chyler and not just an acquaintance.

From the sixth floor bathroom, the Slytherin lad strolled down the fifth floor trying to see if the brass compass worked. The needle would move from time to time but not by a whole lot. He found himself by the statues not far from the Weasley swamps that got him to grin. Laying the brass compass by the foot of the statues, Salander crouched over the compass. So far its kept its form, from which he was relieved. He practiced the wand movement in the air and whispered the spell a few times, before uttering "Comletia" again. Once again the compass turned on its edge and spun blindly before landing back on the ground with a soft THUD and spun to a halt-- it looked like it transformed into a slim wooden box.

Puzzled, Salander picked up the box and flipped it open to reveal the brass compass within. Well that sure turned out a bit different. Satisfied with the outcome nonetheless, the Slytherin lad made his way down the corridor, staring at the new compass as he went....

Wow. It was gone. Ava Jade stood, her entire body trembling, her wand still locked in a death grip held out in front of her. Even though she told herself it was over, her mind was racing, random defensive and offensive jinxes and hexes flying through her brain. She watched the gooey waters where the thing had disappeared, but when it didn't look like the creature was going to retaliate, she looked up at Braeden and asked, "Y-you okay?" He looked shaky, but otherwise unharmed. Still, the lighting was bad, and Ava Jade hoped he hadn't gotten any serious injuries. If he ended up in the hospital wing just because she couldn't aim a spell to save her -- or rather, his -- life....... What a great first impression this had been!

This was definitely not going to be her new favorite hangout spot.

"M-maybe we should get out of here," Ava Jade breathed. She moved closer to her slashed bag, which upon closer inspection she saw had only lost one of its straps. Thank goodness she hadn't sliced any of her books or homework. (Of course, that was still the least of her worries.) Looking back up at Braeden, she asked, "Do you need to" --gulp-- "visit the hospital wing?"

A couple minutes passed as the students just stared silently and, still obviously shaken, at the dark gooey waters of the swamp. Braeden wasn't sure whether to laugh at their incredible luck and tell the whole world about this unusual life-threatening adventure, or whether to just turn on his heel and run in the opposite direction as fast as his legs would allow. The boy only seemed to snap out of his thought cloud as Ava Jade finally spoke, asking if he was okay. He turned to look at her then, and his eyebrows rose slightly at the sight of her. She didn't look the way she had looked when he'd first seen her; she looked… well, incredibly shaken. "I think I should be asking you that," he said with a small smile. "Are you okay?"

He watched as the Hufflepuff girl then picked up her things, suggesting that they get out of there. Braeden nodded his head in agreement, picking up his own things (which he'd dropped during the whole encounter with the nasty octopus-like creature), and listened as Ava Jade then asked if he needed to visit the Hospital Wing. Braeden flashed her one of his goofy smiles, his brown eyes traveling down to the wrist that the tentacle thing had left now looking a bit purple and shook his head. "Nah, I'll be fine," he said. "You were great back there, y'know?" he added. Sure, the girl's aim hadn't been the best at first, but she had managed to hit the tentacle at one point, and had it not been for that one brief moment, Braeden would've never had the chance to pull back enough to get his own wand back in hand. Yeah, she'd started the whole rescue process, and he was definitely grateful for it.

"You need help there?" he asked, noting how her bag was now slashed and her books threatened to fall out any second.

She blushed at his question and said quickly, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just adrenalin, you know?" Then, realizing how ridiculous that statement was, she burst out in shaky laughter and said, "Okay fine, I'm trying to recover from a near heart attack! That was way beyond freaky."

She listened to Braeden explain he was alright -- though she was a bit skeptical when she stepped closer and saw his coloring wrist. Then when he complimented her, she couldn't stop a small smile. "It was no problem," she said passively. "I just wish I could've hit it with the first spell..." She laughed again, this time a bit steadier.

"No, I've got it," she assured him, then stood up with her bag only to hear the bottom rip open and all her books topple out onto the slimy floor. "Oh, that's great." She stood, foolishly staring down at her books lying in slime, and then looked up at Braeden. She was annoyed but nevertheless smiled -- it must be after-trauma giggles. "Maybe I should've looked closer," she said laughingly.

Braeden rose an eyebrow slightly at his new Hufflepuff friend as she explained it was only the adrenaline that had her like that. Riiiiight. He was just about to voice his doubts when she decided to confess, explaining she was just trying to recover from a heart attack. At this more honest response, the boy laughed aloud with amusement. "True, it was freaky, I'll admit… But it was also pretty fun, don't you think?" he asked. Okay, maybe fun wasn't the best word… "I mean… adventurous," Braeden corrected himself. Yeah adventurous sounded more like the right word for it.

As the girl then went on to wish aloud she could've just hit the octopus/squid thing with her first spell, Braeden chuckled softly. "Hey, to be completely fair it's not like you had it very easy there. That… thing kept moving around and I was in the way; if anything, I'm surprised you didn't hit me instead," he said with one of his lopsided grins. Ava Jade had just saved the day! He couldn't have her feeling bad about it!

And then there was the sound of fabric ripping and books hitting the marble floors. Braeden was a bit startled at first, thinking that was probably the mutant swamp creature back out to get them. Luckily, that wasn't the case. "Ah, not to worry!" said superhero!Braeden (Braeden the Lionheart -snort-) as he quickly got to work on picking up the books that had fallen (which wasn't all that easy when he had his own books to carry. But Ava Jade had saved his life, the least he could do was help her with her books!). Two seconds later, the lanky boy was standing with a pile of books in his arms, a pile that came so high it touched his chin. Oh boy. His lanky arms were going to hate him for this when he wakes up totally sore the following morning.

Indeed she was a prefect. Chyler nodded with a small, polite smile, then moved to the other side of Sophie to lean against the wall. If they were going to talk, she didn't want to be standing up straight. Classes? That was... a very Ravenclaw like question of the Gryffindor prefect to ask. The redhead decided that she quite liked her. Straight and to the point, no weird questions.

"Well, I'm aiming for a job in Healing after graduation, so from the classes I'm taking I'm quite liking Potions the best," she replied, quite proud of herself for not answering with a simple "potions". "What about you?" she asked, her green eyes swiveling down the corridor as she detected movement from a person walking down, eyes narrowing ever so slightly at the boy who came, did some things, and left.

Salander - the baboon from Potions. And every other class, it seemed. At least he hadn't seen her now. Slightly relieved, though not showing it at all, she turned back to Sophie. Yes, person with whom she was having a conversation with. She HAD to tell Sam later.

Ava Jade laughed when Braeden called their little adventure "fun." When he corrected himself, she nodded and said, "Yeah, adventurous pretty much hits the nail on the head." Although now that it was over -- and all the life-threatening danger was gone -- she thought maybe, juuust maybe, it was a little fun...

I was a little surprised I didn't hit you, too, she thought, but decided to keep that to herself. No need to embarrass herself further. She'd just have to practice her aim extra hard after this incident... "At least I know something I can work on," she said.

After she spilled her books on the floor, she was surprised to see Braeden the Lionheart hurry to collect them for her. When all the books were piled up in his thin, long arms, the stack covering his entire upper body, Ava Jade tried -- but failed -- to suppress a snort of laughter. It was an admittedly comical picture. "Thanks, Braeden," she said, "but do you...you know, want me to get a couple of them?"

Harper had decided on exploring the fifth floor this day. Although she had already been through parts of the fifth floor, she was set on getting a good look at everything (that was possible to see within one full term) she could, including getting herself the lay of the land. She still found herself confused in the middle of corridors, not knowing which way to go.

She walked up to the two statues that were on this floor. She looked up at the first one she came to - some Smarmy dude? She didn't really know, but his name was familiar. And - oh look, how pleasant, a patch of swampy swampy muck muck roped off. She peered at it intently, perhaps even more so than she had the statues.

This place was a museum. A school and a museum. Some schools and museums were boring, but this one had roped off mucky muck!!

She hummed a soft tune as she made a half moon around the roped off swampy area, and then stopped again. "See, Pretzel?" she held her pygmy puff away from her so that he could see the muck, if he was even paying attention. "See? That's swampy stuff. Now you'll know what it looks like." Something all pygmy puffs should know.

Yes. They definitely needed to know what "swampy stuff" was.

Braeden couldn't help but chuckle softly as Ava Jade found amusement in the sight of him disappearing behind a pile of books; yeah, he was used to it. All the girls usually laughed when he tried to help them with their books. And, like Ava Jade, they usually asked if he was sure he could handle all the weight. In all honesty? His arms weren't too happy with him. But… Braeden was a Gryffindor, which made him incredibly stubborn and proud. He was not going to let her carry a single book! He'd do it even if his arms fell off his torso. Which he hoped wouldn't happen…

"That's alright, I can handle it," assured the boy with a confident nod, his expression lighting up with another of his goofy smiles. "Either way, should anything happen, I can count on Ava the Valiant to rescue me, right?" he asked, raising an eyebrow slightly at the girl, obviously just kidding. Sort of. No, she would really save him, right? She'd saved him once…

"There is one thing you could help me with, though," said the boy as he turned his gaze away from the girl at his side and took a look at their surroundings. "Mind telling me where we're headed?" he asked with a soft chuckle.

Ava Jade the Valiant burst out laughing at his question as well as his raised eyebrow. "Ohh yes, of course!" she assured him. "You can always count on me to rescue you!" She made a face, then laughed again. Suuure, she could save him...she just needed to work in a little target practice first.

She raised an eyebrow when he said she could help him with something, then laughed when he asked where they were going. "Well anywhere but here is okay with me!" she said. He was a Gryffindor, so they couldn't go to the common room. The library was boring. It was awfully cold outside. Then she remembered their conversation from before the entire get-attacked-by-a-mutant-swamp-monster adventure... "Hey, do you want to show me how Muggle movies work?" she asked. "You don't have to if you don't want...but it might be kind of fun!" She crossed her fingers behind her back, hoping he would say yes. After talking about them earlier, her curiosity was peaked, and when she got curious it was pretty much impossible for her to just forget about it.

Braeden grinned as his trustworthy fellow superhero assured him she would rescue him should he get into any trouble. Alright, good, that made him feel better. The boy began to move at a rather sluggish pace as Ava Jade decided she just wanted to be anywhere that wasn't near the swamp, something the young Gryffindor boy couldn't help but agree wholeheartedly with. As far away from the creepy swamp creature sounded like a good location to him. He was a bit wary as he walked, though, feeling a bit paranoid he might trip and fall. 'Cause with his luck? Yeah, that was very, very likely. Last time he carried a friend's books he tripped on his own shoelaces and broke his nose. It wasn't a nice experience.

It was then, as they walked leaving the swamp behind, that Ava Jade spoke once more, asking if he could show her how Muggle movies worked. Braeden's feet came to a halt and he turned his gaze to the girl at his side with his eyebrows up in his hairline. He hadn't seen this coming at all… but he loved it! How often was it that the boy found anyone who was even remotely interested in movies?! Even his fellow muggleborns weren't as interested!

"Are you kidding?" said the boy with a breathless, disbelieving chuckle. He didn't have to if he didn't want to!? In what kind of warped alternate universe would he ever not want to show a nice girl how movies worked when she was showing interest? "What do you say we watch one?" asked the boy. "I won't spoil it, promise. Except 'til it's over," he said with a soft chuckle. He couldn't go and explain to her all the special effects and stunts while the movie was playing, she'd get annoyed. Anyone would, really.

When Chyler started to move around her Sophie felt a feeling of fear shot through her that the redhead was going to do something rash and impulsive involving the swamp. But she wasn’t, Chyler just wanted to lean her back against the wall. Phew, nothing to worry about. It was nice talking to a girl in her year it felt right and easy.

For once it felt unforced and easy. Sophie listened attentively as Chyler explained what she wanted to work with and therefore how she chose her classes. The prefect could only grimace at the mention of potions. "Why does everyone love Potions so much? I find potion making hard, complex and usually frustrating." It was the honest truth. Sophie and potions did not mix well!

"I don’t know what field I want to work in, but probably not healing since I don’t especially like the sight of blood. I get nauseous. That is a bit weird in itself though since my mother runs a creature hospital in our backyard."Was that too much explanation in one go, Sophie wondered. "I like COMC and Herbology."

At her mention of Muggle movies, Braeden seemed immediately interested. She grinned at his enthusiasm, and when he suggested they watch one Ava Jade nodded. "That'd be great! I'd love that." Wow, he genuinely wanted to show her a movie! She couldn't believe he would be so eager to patiently introduce her to something that was obviously pretty commonplace in the Muggle world, but clearly he didn't mind. The concept of the Muggle form of entertainment was so foreign to her that she suddenly thought of this as some sort of new undertaking: watching a movie. WOW. She wondered if Muggles got this excited when they watched them...

"How would you spoil it?" she asked curiously, her eyebrows knitting together. Did Muggle movies contain secrets? Or maybe each one had a deep meaning that one could only discover by viewing them, and he merely didn't want to give it away at the start. Though wizards and witches often poked fun at Muggles for being ignorant, since they overlooked the world of magic, perhaps they were instead much more intellectual. They didn't believe in magic "nonsense," so maybe they were practical, deep-thinkers. She suddenly wondered if she would even be able to understand the Muggle movie...

Braeden grinned brightly as Ava Jade agreed to his suggestion of watching a movie. Woot! This was exciting. The boy hadn't seen a good movie since the term started, which had been a few months ago already, so he was feeling rather movie-deprived. "In that case… follow me," said the boy with one of his excited, goofy grins as he began to lead the way down the corridor. He knew just the right place to sit and watch a good movie; actually, he knew two places, but he was afraid the other one might be in use.

As Ava Jade asked how he would spoil the movie, Braeden chuckled. "Well… I mean… Have you ever seen a play?" he asked, turning his head in her direction as he walked, lanky arms still carrying the large pile of books that he didn't even notice anymore now that they were on the topic of movies. "How would you feel if I told you the ending before it even started?" he asked with a chuckle. "It's no fun like that. You have to watch everything from the beginning and try to connect the dots yourself before the movie, at the end, gives you the answer. Some movies don't even really give you an answer to the question the plot revolves on; they leave you hanging, to make your own ending," explained the boy. He wasn't sure if any of this was making any sense to Ava Jade, so he stopped his blabbering there. He didn't want her to regret agreeing to this because he talked too much and made no sense, or something.