Braeden took a deep breath and exhaled softly. Oh, the air was so much nicer out here. Inside the castle it was infested with the stink of potions and charms gone wrong that set people's hair on fire. Out here, though? Everything was calm and perfect.

A little too calm and perfect for our cowardly lion, though. Brae enjoyed the fresh air and the greenery, but... well, the pathways could be a little creepy at times. Most of the trees blocked out the sunlight and it was hard to see past the first layer of branches surrounding either side of the pathway. Anything could be lurking in there!

As he walked, with no real destination in mind, Braeden couldn't help but shoot nervous glances at the trees and darkness every now and then. Any little sound, even a twig snapping, could send him jumping up the nearest tree like a cat. He really needed to work on his lack of... bravery this year. How had that hat sorted him in Gryffindor?!

We will never know...

Having developed a slight headache from reading inside by candlelight, Ivory had decided the best and only cure was to venture outside and read under the open sun, breathing in the brilliant fresh air. The crunch of early fall leaves beneath her feet was pleasant to her ears and as she walked slowly through the natural avenue made by the trees, she couldn't help but feel content.

Maybe she wouldn't read. Maybe she'd just walk around. A few rays of sunlight trickled through the leaves giving an environment that was secluded and cool, with various shadows. Perfect strolling weather.

Tucking her book under her arm, she tilted her face up. Eyes closed, lashes casting long shadows across her cheekbones, there was a soft smile on her lips as she walked through the pathway.Not stressing about new responsibilities or ridiculous drama, just enjoying the day.

Blissful in her ignorance of anything going on around her, she had no way of knowing that she was close to quite literally coming face to face with nature. That of course being a euphemism for a tree. A few hard solid tree.

Fee made her way down to the pathways.Somehow many things had happend here.Adam tripping,Fee's first kiss, fun times with Rex,meeting Rubies.Was this year going to be just as adventerous as the last one?!Future, here comes Fee.Beware.

It wasnt very croweded here, you could totally feel that it was the beginning of term,when everyone was in their common rooms and dorms to talk.But Fee felt like visiting her fave places first. Tonight would be talk night at the girls dorm,hehe.

Having enjoyed a nice breakfast in the company of some of her house mates Sophie met up with Evan outside the hall. Together they headed out towards the grounds to see what the new grundskeeper Stryker had done with the everchanging grounds. The brunette fiddled a little with her badge as they stepped out into the fresh yet slightly cold morning air. "What do you think of the new security man?" she asked curiously.

The previous day had gone by so fast that Sophie still hadn't quite processed the events of the feast and her new role as prefect. To ease herself into her position she had decided not to take on too much. If she felt she couldn't handle something than it was best to fetch a professor. Looking over at Evan she asked "How do you feel about our new position? Now that you've tried one day out."

Evan walked down the grounds, looking for the new things with Sophie after a nice breakfast with new snakes. Running a hand through his hair, he turned his neck to every direction as he tried to spot new stuff. He stopped at last when Sophie asked him a question.

"Well... he's definitely late, no doubt about that," he said as they made their way in the pathways. "I mean, the main big stuff happened two years ago. I find it curious that they decided to send someone now." He shrugged to indicate he didn't know much though. It was only his first impression. Maybe the man wasn't scary at all, only here to help. "What do you think?" he returned the question, looking at her. Many people, after all, didn't like him very much.

Chuckling at the next question, he said "It's definitely tiring." Wow, he'd slept like dead last night after the attack of little firsties. "But nice, I guess. Helping and stuff." Yeah, that part was good, as long as people were good. Then, looking at her again, he cocked his head slightly backwards to return the question again. And noticed no one was down here... which was good. It felt nice to be away from the noises.

Jamie wandered down the path and flipped her hair out of her eyes. She was looking forward to this year but she didn't know what to do first.

"Josh was at the lake waiting for me already." NUnually told herself. Nulu had expected Josh to be following her around, but thankfully he had been only waiting at the lake, or maybe he just wanted to enjoy the view. Nulu shook her head. If she faced him then things would get difficult. She did care about him, but she had been hurt by him. "What am I to do?" she asked herself as she held her face in her cold hands. "I should have brought gloves my hands are cold." she said and sighed. Nulu saw that there were people out there, but she did not want to disturbed them so she went a way that no one was at. "He has my glasses and my coat." she mumbled to herself. "OH come on seriously either way I have to see him." she lowered her hands and stomped her foot. "IT'S NOT FAIR!"

He had seen the girl from a couple of nights ago and a smile spread on his face. He had decided to change because of that girl, and for some strange reason she seemed to be talking to herself again. He closely followed behind her listening to what she was saying. ‘This is the second time I seen her and she is still talking to herself.’ A chuckle escaped him and he stopped and decided to fall back a bit, but he was still intently listening to her. ‘She’s cold huh? She does look a bit pale.’ He looked at her. ‘maybe she is sick?’ he told himself, but he knew that was probably not the case. The last time he had seen her she had been pink, and filled with spunk.

Even thought he was amused with just hearing her complain to herself he figured he had to get close. Surely she would not change, it seemed like her personality was consistent. She spoke to herself a lot and she did not care if anyone was watching or listening. That greatly amused him. Slowly walking towards her he took of his coat and decided to put it on her. “There you go, forgive my intrusion but I heard you talking to yourself about being cold.” He told her with a smile. “I know its none of my business, but what is not fair?” he asked her while he leaned on a tree and crossed his arms. ‘Pretty cute’

Nulu’s felt warm all of a sudden and before she realized that there was someone observing her a coat was on her (coat funny how some things keep popping back XD). Nulu’s looked down and she blushed. Nulu’s face was now the brightest shade of red that anyone would ever see. “You heard me?” she bit her lips and allowed her head to stay down. He heard me? Great someone is going to think that I have lose screw or something. “Tha-thank you.” She said pulling the coat a bit more on her. Lately she had been more and more cold. Nulu had figured it was because she lived in such a nice and warm area, where snow was more of a Myth than anything. “Oh um, “ she looked up. “Someone that I know hurt me, and well I don’t want to see him” she looked at him “But he has my coat, and my glasses.” Nulu told him. “I swore to never see him again, but for some strange reason faith keeps pulling me towards him.” She told him with a nod. “Its not fair.” Nulu began to pout. “Ahh Josh why why why?” Nulu begun to talk to herself once more.

After walking aimlessly down the pathways for a good few minutes, Braeden was finally beginning to feel a little more comfortable in the heavy silence and dim daylight. Alright, this wasn't so bad... What could happen to him on school grounds, anyway? It's not like the trees would jump out of their place just to attack him; he trusted there were no relatives of the Whomping Willow here.

Braeden's comfort quickly shattered, though, as he heard a sound behind him; something dull followed by the crunching of the dead leaves on the ground. Completely startled, the cowardly Braeden jumped nearly a foot into the air and froze for a moment in which he debated - should he run for his life or check to see what had happened?

Oh c'mon, Brae, you're a Gryffindor. You're brave! he thought with a bit of a grimace. If there was a death eater somewhere back there he would scream. And maybe even cry.

Slowly, he turned around.
GAH! He knew it! The trees were alive attacking people! Of course, Brae hadn't seen that the girl had walked straight into a tree, rather than the tree growing feet and knocking her over on purpose.

"Are you alright?!" he asked, quickly making his way over to the girl in a brief, short run. She looked like the hit hadn't been very gentle; the sound of it hadn't been very gentle either, Braeden remembered. "Who was it?! I'll get 'im, he couldn't have gone far! Was it this tree?!" he asked, pointing at the nearest tree. The sad thing was Braeden was serious in accusing a tree of a crime.

Ever so brilliant, our cowardly lion.

Would you look at that? That leaf bore a striking resemblance to the image of her pet falcon.

Laying there on the ground, Ivory lifted a slim hand to sort of wave it in the air trying to catch the leaf. Not knowing her depth perception was probably feet off, she smiled funnily at the canopy of branches. It was so nice outside, it really was.

Mmmmm. Hearing a voice from nearby, her eyes blinked a few times as she tried to focus. Was she alright? Why yes, everything was fine. Nodding distractedly she snuggled into the wonderful assortment of cushiony leaves and....

What? When did she lay down? Shaking her head a bit to clear the goofy wispyness of it all, she brought her head up slowly only now realizing the dull pain on her forehead.

Staring dazedly at the concerned guy next to her she nodded vaguely.

Had someone pushed her?? Well if someone had it was sweet of him to offer to go after him. Bringing up a hand to her forehead, she winced slightly as she felt the beginnings of a bump. A bump covered with scratchy stuff?

Picking it off, she held it up questioningly. Bark. Yes, it was in fact tree bark.

And then the rest of the guy's questions sunk in...Was it the tree?

Realizing what had happened, Ivory ducked her head down as she tried to sit up slowly bracing herself on her elbows.

Goofy smile now replaced by a sheepish one, she tried hard to hold back a blush as she tried to get up. " Yes, but it wasn't his fault. I provoked him."

GAH. Should he take her to the hospital wing?! Braeden had never before been a witness to a tree's attack, so he had no idea what to do. What if she died or something? No one was gonna blame the tree, they would blame him! Hmm. Running away and out of sight was still an option... But Braeden was too nice to do that.

As the girl sat up on the leaf-covered ground and confessed that she had provoked the tree, Braeden sighed softly and shook his head slightly. Stupid tree; now it had the poor girl blaming herself for its violent behaviour. That was no way to treat a lady!

"Are you sure you're okay? That was a pretty mean blow it gave you," said Braeden, still convinced the tree had purposely moved and pushed the girl (he didn't realize her response had been just playful). "I wouldn't mind accompanying you to the hospital wing," he added, now offering her a hand so she could get back up to her feet. "That is, if I remember the way back to the castle..." he added in a murmur with slightly furrowed brows.

Leave it up to Braeden to get lost in a one-way path.

He felt like a cat, and it had nothing to do with grace or nimbleness. It was all about the sun. He must have missed it being inside the castle, considering nearly everyday of the summer was spent outdoors, for once again he was outside. The intention had been to study the potions book he had managed to decently dry off, but apparently both it and himself needed a bit more sun bathing. So he had taken to sprawling out on a small knoll of grass, book beside him, arms under his head and a rather content smile on his lips. A cat, soaking up the sun. Or something to that effect.

Having grown board of being indoors, as per usual, Arya had taken to walking the small beams that formed the pathway, with no set destination in mind. It made her miss gymnastics a bit....just the competing, not the early morning Saturday practices. Maybe she would head up to the RoR to and play around in there for a bit. After she was done outside of course. Teetering on a wobbly beam, her eyes caught sight of a familiar face, a smile spreading across her own.

Instead of announcing her presence, she snuck up on him, and carefully laid down on the grass perpendicular to him, head near his own. "A bit early for counting stars."

It was the shifting of grass beside him that had him coming slowly out of his afternoon dozing. His first reaction was to tense and curl up a little bit, his arm twitching in the seeming need to cover his sides; after all, tickling was one of the most common forms of greeting. When no attack came and instead a familiar voice floated close to his head, his whole body relaxed again and he found no need to open his eyes, the smile growing on his lips. "Hmm. I've counted one so far. So I'm not doing terribly bad."

Now that her presence was no longer a surprise, she shuffled on the seat, making herself a bit more comfortable as she peered up at the sun through the trees. "Your not doing that good either if you only counted the one then." She jested lightly, realizing why he was laying in this particular spot. Such a good spot for a midday nap. "Maybe you should count clouds instead...you'd be more successful in that task."

A light chuckle left Sabel. "Well, it is a might bit difficult to count stars when you can't see them. I could guess, and I imagine I would still be lacking in the majority of them, but I'm content with my one." Maybe it was up to two now that she was here, but that wasn't something he was going to say. Not if he wanted to honor the promises he kept making to himself.

"And it would be difficult to nap if one was counting clouds. It would require open eyes and...attention." Something he was severely lacking in at the moment.

Her smile turned to a grin as she let her eyes drift close, finding his conversation and company more than enough entertainment. Counting clouds and stars was not necessary. "In the end we're always guessing...can't see all the stars even in the clearest of skies." She would know, she had tried numerous times back home.

"That's true...." She agreed with a small nod, knowing he wouldn't be able to see her. "But its not too difficult to figure out what the cloud is shaped like." Another activity she enjoyed doing.

A slight, playful groan left Sabel. "But that would still require concentration and open eyes." Because let's face it, the sun was bright and more glaring when one was staring straight up at it. "It's too early for work." Ignore said textbook at his side and that comment made much more sense.

"Your so lazy," she responded playfully, reaching up to poke him in the shoulder. Pretending to sound disapointed, she let out a small sigh. "Fiiine, if we must be lazy then I guess this is the best place to do so." It was defiantly to early for work, that was something they seemed to agree on. "Lets save work for the first classes."

His smile widened at the playful jab and for a moment he lay there, chuckling at her comments. But he just couldn't help it. A louder peal of laughter left him as he rolled onto his side and nuzzled his face into his shoulder, suddenly in an extremely playful mood. "But I don't wanna do work." The jesting whine was accompanied by another snuggle before he reached down and lightly tickled her sides. "And I'm choicely-lazy." Meaning he picked what he was lazy with.

She didn't know what he was laughing at so much, but it was good to see him in such a good mood. After last term she thought she wouldn't see her cheerful Sabel at Hogwarts again. This was a much welcomed change.

Her grin widened even further, and she tilted her head backwards to see why he was so giddy, but before she could, he was rolling over and nuzzling her shoulder. Again she was wondering why he was being so silly, but didn't question it, just giggled lightly as did a bit of squirming to remove his head from her shoulders.

The light giggles were followed by a small peel of them as she lightly tickled her sides, and she did more squirming, her body folding away from him, to keep away from his tickling fingers. Reaching up, she playfully ruffled his hair. "What do you wanna do then?" Choicely-lazy. He was silly.

Drawing his head back and his body halfway up, resting his weight on one elbow as he draped his other arm over his side, he peered down at his half-folded Arya with a goofy smile. "Something that doesn't involve counting. Because I have a feeling there is going to be more than enough of that this semester."

With a mischievous grin, he flopped onto his back again and started, ironically, counting on his fingers, letting his voice draw out to make the list even more lengthy. "Lets see there's measurements in potions, Arithmatcy, birthdays in Divination, goals in quiddich, number of cloned items in Charms, number of stars, number of clouds...." Clearly there was too much counting. "Counting the number of things to count, the number of stairs in the castle...."

Embracing the obvious call for self deprecating humor, Ivory laughed lightly still rubbing her head. "No, I think I'm okay. I'm sure the tree believes he got it worse. He was unsuspecting after all. Innocent bystander to my unobservant blundering." Then again she'd been unsuspecting too. Oh well, minor technicality. She was almost positive the blame fell on her. Although one could argue that the tree had in fact put itself in her way, considering her eyes had been closed and she'd have been none the wiser. But that odds of that...??

Accepting his hand gratefully as she let her ridiculous musing drift to the back of her mind, she let herself be helped up; To be completely honest impressed by his gallantry. "Just a bump and bruise I think. Nothing a little bruise remover paste and ice won't cure. Thanks though, I appreciate it." Good to know if it'd been serious she could count on this guy here to lead her to the Healer. Or well maybe not.

Not able to hold back a slight choked laugh at his murmured phrase, that's when she realized she hadn't exactly let go of the poor guy's hand. Releasing it quickly, she took a step back. A wobbly step back.

Her balance obviously still not entirely back, she leaned against the nearest tree trunk, which in fact happened to be the "culprit" tree. Giving it a little pat to attest to its stable uniform unmovable object-ness, she smiled as she tried (key word being tried here) to brush off the majority of leaves and small twigs that decorated her person. Of course, to no avail.

But where were her manners. Where were the pleasantries. Who was this guy? " Hi, by the way. I'm Ivory." Pointing to the obvious bump, on her head she gave a small grin. "The klutz as it would seem."