Giggling again, she still couldn't help it! Why she found this so funny she wasn't sure. Probably 'cause it just was something that she'd not really put much thought into 'til now.

As he continued walking she hurried to keep up. "I suppose we should. My foot feels just about frozen now." Stepping in front of him, walking backwards now, as she faced him. "It wasn't that bad right?" she asked seriously.

Awkward...

Putting out her hand to stop him gently she stopped walking too. Leaning up she kissed him on the lips as well just as softly, before stepping back and with a pink face hurried away.

Seriously she was still giggling. What did that mean? It wasn't like he did it wrong he at least had experience and knew he was a good kisser. So why was this so damn funny? And why did he really care? He didn't that was it. Nope not at all. He had just wanted to show her he would do it.

He raised an eyebrow as she stepped in front of him and started walking backwards. "You know you really shouldn't do that..." he said and then was stopped short when he heard her question. Smirking he shook his head, "No it wasn't that..." Then she had stopped him and kissed him and his eyes widened. As she stepped back a smile came to his lips and he watched her hurry off. Touche, touche....

Should he follow her? Hmmm. Shoving his hands back in his pockets he followed in the direction she went slowly wondering what exactly had just happened. She was just trying to one up him. Had to be.

Renée smiled as for once it seemed Jared had decided to actually be anything but cryptic or circular in responding. She was tempted to tease him about it, but instead she simply chose another pathway. Keeping things light. "'Not yet' infers that you've thought about getting one, at least," she pointed out. "They're generally not that diffcult to care for, if you go for the normal pets." Like cats, dogs, crups, kneazles. Anastasia was obviously a bit more difficult. Not to mention something told her he wasn't exactly the normal pet type. It would be amazingly adorable if he was though, or at least had an adorable normal pet.

"Very true. That doesn't mean we can't introduce new concepts, though," she replied as he continued onto different topics again. A lot of ideas could be considered virtues, and she didn't see why a cliché couldn't be broken to emphasize that. But then he'd responded to her flippant question about Inner Eyes, and she nodded before laughing a little. "A very good answer. Since they indeed are rather scarce, especially true ones." Like anything else, there were always fakes. "I guess you could say that," she continued, feigning coyness. "If I'd used that advantage in this case, or many of them." Only slightly not true, since there were times in the past she'd used it for her own benefit and amusement. She hadn't lately though, which was the positive point, and she knew he wasn't accusing her of otherwise.

The wry smile that had been created by her teasing comment was intriguing, however, and the words that followed were rewarded with another light laugh. "That could prove slightly difficult, but at least now you can't say you haven't been warned," she replied with a grin. Girls were so much more difficult to deal with than boys, and for that matter she hadn't really dealt with much of that lately anyhow. Salander had had other things/people to focus on at the last lesson, at least. "No offense, of course, but it is rather funny," she felt the need to explain as he raised an eyebrow and commented on the teasing. Nobody was getting hurt in the matter, and the second wry smile on his face told her he understood that.

An innocent look crossed her face at his next comment though. "Your family is only amused by dangerous missives?," she asked, before grinning a little and breaking the attempt at an angelic look. Those never lasted long with her, especially when she was with him.

True, that. He had thought about it, even if his definition of 'normal' pets might be a tad different from hers. "I suppose normal doesn't include the fang-bearing, man-eating kind?" Jared asked, her remark resulting in a grin. Fang-bearing, man-eating came across as familiar, but perhaps that could be the one real reason to consider a pet that had neither of those qualities.

He nodded at her statement, accepting it, before feigning shock at her next one. "That seems to imply that my other answers are less than good," he said. His expression changed into a grin, though, as she continued speaking in a rather coy manner, into a semi-teasing, semi-disbelieving kind of grin, almost as if to say he did not believe she hadn't taken advantage of her ability often. Once again, it seemed like he could not resist teasing her, or vice versa. Not for long, at least.

"There's always the Disillusionment Charm," he reflected, as they returned to their earlier topic. Though knowing the students, if he began to disappear each time one of them spotted him, they'd figure out his plan before long. But then it seemed Renée had decided to offer an explanation of sorts about her remarks. "None taken," he said lightly, before adding smoothly, "As funny as certain professors being labelled predatory, I suppose." He didn't believe that underground paper could have escaped her notice, at least not the column related to her.

"Not amused, satisfied," he grinned, more at her mock angelic look than her statement. "Normal ones make them think someone must have kidnapped me, and forged my handwriting." That was somewhat of an exaggeration, of course, and Jared grinned again as he said it.

Another laugh greeted Jared's comment about pets. Renée had been far from not expecting that answer, but it made it no less amusing. "Unfortunately, no. Not really," she replied with a grin. Not the man-eating variety, at least. The fangs were more open-ended, as it couldn't necessarily stand to reason that a normal pet wouldn't have some sort of fangs. It just didn't seem proper that he wouldn't have at least thought about a forbidden pet.

She shrugged at the feigned shock at her other answers, feeling the need to let him squirm a little before letting him off the hook. She wasn't usually vindictive, but she knew he'd take it as just more teasing. It wasn't really cruel, especially as she finally gave him another smile. "Not all of them. But I don't think I always give good answers to things, so why should I think you do?," she replied, still unable to not tease him the tiniest bit. The idea was fairly valid though. It was kind of related to the idea that nobody was perfect, even though that was a played-out phrase if there ever was one. And it seemed he hadn't believed her play-acting, either, as her coyness was met with another grin from him. She eyed him for a moment, but then laughed again. At the vicious cycle of teasing they seemed to always fall into. It was definitely amusing.

"There is," she said with a nod, involuntarily turning her gaze toward Bowie, who it seemed had lost his rock inside a bush or something. The crup was at least nosing quite energetically inside said bush, but he didn't seem in too much trouble. She imagined Jared wouldn't know the significance, though, and it remained unsaid. She didn't think he would find issue with it, but it was a touchy subject. It seemed others weren't, as he went on to say he hadn't been offended by her amusement at the Rae situation. She raised an eyebrow as he turned the tables back on herself, however. That pesky parhcment. "You wouldn't be referring to certain fire-based rumors, would you?," she drawled. The very idea she was predatory was actually quite hilarious, once you got past the vaguely insulting quality.

She couldn't help but grin again as he spoke about his family. "Well that's a bit disappointing," she replied, half-facetiously. "Have they thought you've been kidnapped often then?" She couldn't imagine any letters he'd sent recently would have had much danger in them. Mystery, perhaps, but not the type of danger he'd experienced before.

"Ah well." Jared gave a broad-shouldered shrug. "Where there's a will, there's a way." He supposed he could sneak in and keep something fang-bearing, man-eating if he had a mind to. Or at least try.

"I suppose I should be glad the mademoiselle finds at least some of my answers good enough," Jared said, grinning at the turn the conversation had taken. The old 'nothing is ever perfect' principle stood to reason, and that might make his mock disappointment more conspicuous. That did not bother him, though, especially since the said disappointment had been feigned for fun in the first place.

Her eyes had flicked towards her crup, and it occurred to Jared, even as he nodded, that it was the mention of the Disillusionment Charm that had made her look in her pet's direction. That seemed like an interesting, even if mildly puzzling, thought. He did not linger on it, however, as she picked up the topic of the underground paper and predatory professors and the like. "Of course not," he said innocently. "Whatever makes you think that?"

"Every now and then. That's the reason I don't write home unless I really am on the run," he said, tones mock serious, keeping up the act. It was too fun not to. "I can't bring myself to disturb their peace of mind too often."

Isobel was running around the grounds, trying to find the muggles. They could not get away; they could not, under any circumstances, get in to the castle. One of the professors, she couldn't remember which one, said to keep them OUT. As she was running across the pathways Isobel came across two professors. She slammed to a stop right in front of them. "Muggles." She gasped out, short of breath from running. "On the grounds." She nodded furiously. She wasn't sure if they had already been informed, maybe they were on their way. But she had to tell them in case they didn't know; and they needed to know.

"A baby knarl? Woah. You definitely have your work cut out for you. He does sleep, right?" she said suddenly imagining him in his pajamas chasing a knarl and suddenly laughing. She looked intrigued about him teaching people to dance, "What type of dancing do you teach?" At this point she was very curious and contemplating if she should ask, she certainly wasn't graceful when it came to dancing. You could usually find her by the lake at the time of the Ball came around.

"There is," Renée said in amusement, sensing that Jared would manage to have a dangerous pet if he wanted. It reminded her of another person, from stories, actually. "You wouldn't be the first to try," she added with a laugh, not really saying more. She wasn't a student, so she didn't need to go into random telling of historical tales. And besides, she figured even being from France, he should be familiar with the idea of what she was referring to.

She grinned back as he replied to her comment regarding his mock disappointment. Especially as it only proved it was all feigned in the first place. "Why wouldn't I?," she replied lightly. There was no reason to think he couldn't give good answers. That was what was fun about verbal sparring. It only worked if your partner was intelligent. And when it seemed that same person could pick up on her littlest detail, it made it all the more interesting. She hadn't missed that he'd noticed her glance toward Bowie as the topic of Disillusionment spells had come up, but just the same he hadn't asked. That could remain a mystery for longer, as long as he didn't examine her crup too closely. Someone with as much knowledge would most likely clue in on that detail quite easily. At which point she'd just have to hope he would understand. It seemed that way, at least.

Returning her attention fully to him, as the crup puppy moved on to exploring another bush, she raised an eyebrow at the innocent act when it came to talk of that parchment, before another grin crept onto her face. "Oh, I don't know. Because it was an amusing rumor based on only the littlest fact?," she said facetiously. The nickname had amused her even more than the rest. Especially as she thought even one of her students had eaten way more marshmallows than she had. And rumors didn't hurt anyone, especially as that hadn't seemed to make anyone less trusting of herself. And she nodded as he replied to her letter talk, letting him keep the mock-serious act up.

"That's too bad . . .," she started to say, working her way back to the normal teasing manner she seemed to have around him, even though she really did find it a pity that his family was like that. It was so different from her own, no matter how messed up she thought hers was. But then her train of thought was distracted by a Hufflepuff who slid to a stop in front of them before breathlessly talking about Muggles. Mind flickering back to her conversation she'd had inside the castle before coming outside, she turned her head toward Isobel, taking in her crup nearby in the process. He'd stopped in his nosing around to look back at her curiously.

"I've heard," she said slowly. "They haven't been located yet? Other than being somewhere out here in the grounds," she added, hoping nobody thought ill of her for not having said anything before. As he glance went back to Jared for a moment. At least being out here was more useful than up in the castle, as she figured she was well placed if they wandered through here. She had to hope the Muggles wouldn't think her puppy was anything but a normal dog, but he'd wanted a walk, too.

"So I assumed," Jared grinned, as Renée stated he'd not be the first to try. Her remark seemed to imply she had a particular person or incident in mind, however, and he gave her a bit of an inquiring glance.

Her question caused him to smile. "One can never guess a lady's reasons, can one now?" He asked lazily. Bit of an exaggeration there, of course, but a valid one. The fairer sex tended to think in strange ways. Men had - at least in his experience - more predictable reactions. In general. In general being the key phrase there. Exceptions are, of course, almost always there, regardless and irrespective of gender. There was a lapse in the conversation, an extremely brief one, and Jared assumed that, being her perceptive self, Renée had noticed his glance towards her pet.

Then she spoke again, and it seemed they had returned to the topic of certain rumours. "Nevertheless, it appeared to contain some excellent names," he said, the teasing touch creeping back into his tones as he thought of the column in question. He had laughed when he had first come across it, stuck to a railing on the third floor, and he half-grinned as he spoke of it now. Maya had a certain reputation, and he knew some of the students feared her as much as Hecate, but Renée? It was hard to imagine that someone could think Renée "predatory." Tough, yes, after a fashion. Predatory? Lazygrin.

The conversation came to a halt, however, at the appearance of the out-of-breath and agitated-seeming Isobel. Muggles? He glanced at Renée as she responded to the student, amused for one brief moment that she had known and decided to take her pet out for a walk, meeting her gaze before looking back at the student. Muggles being able to see and enter the castle must mean the wards keeping them out had been removed and that, of course, could not be an accident. He doubted Tate could have done something of that sort himself and, given the Ministry's current desire to abolish the Statue, he had good reason to consider the Ministry's involvement, even if for half a second.

First things first, though. "Has the Deputy Headmaster been informed?" He asked the Hufflepuff. Rushing across the grounds looking for the muggles - if they were muggles - wasn't going to do any good.

"They were at the Whomping Willow," Isobel explained. "They were going to touch it, then someone threw a rock at it so it wouldn't hurt them. Then they started yelling about it being magic. We tried to convince them that they were stupid and magic wasn't real; but they didn't believe us and ran off. I'm not quite sure where we went, but I'm pretty sure someone followed them." She stopped and took a breath. She had been talking pretty fast, she hoped they had both understood her. She turned to the other professor, whose name she of course knew. Pshhttt. :whiste: ANYWHO..."I'm not exactly sure, but I know someone went to notify him. I don't know for sure if they told him yet." They hadn't known where he was.

While a large part of herself wanted the amusing conversation with Jared to continue, Renée knew enough to understand that if it did, there was no way of knowing how Isobel would interpret it. Being that the young Hufflepuff was there now, and they had been talking about that gossip parchment and the many things it mentioned. As such, she sent a look over to the Charms professor, along with a grin, that basically said that they could continue things later. Once this Muggle situation had been defused, or proven to not be as disastrous as it seemed. Right now, it seemed a bit more important than teasing conversations among friends, and especially with the students panicking as it seemed they were. Hopefully it wasn't the entirety of the student body who knew about the incident, as it would be easier to contain if it wasn't already part of the rumor mill. That pesky rumor mill.

Glancing over toward her cruppy as she listened to Isobel's rambling explanation, acknowledging Jared's amused smile silently as she turned, she nodded as everything seemed to track with what she'd heard before. So to everyone's knowledge the Muggles were somewhere in the grounds, but hadn't been located yet. "I haven't seen them in the pathways yet," she said idly, walking over to Bowie finally at the bush and scooping him up protectively, slipping the rock he'd been playing with into a pocket as she knew he was oddly possessive of even the randomest of 'toys' he acquired. She returned to the others at the same time that it seemed it was coming out that nobody knew yet if Max had been brought into the situation, carefully keeping the crup puppy's Disillusioned tail tucked behind her arm. Just in case the Muggles actually did make an appearance. "At least someone's gone to find him. I'm sure we'll find out his plans shortly." She knew enough of him to know that Vindictus would definitely both want to know and have ideas as to how to defuse the situation.

Simon had heard that there were some muggles in the grounds somewhere, he really wished that he could find them, he would sort them out, he would show them to Professor Lafay if thet spoke to her she would scare them and stop them coming back, Simon suddenly saw two Professor talking with some other people, well Simon wasn't going to interfere he would just allow them to talk, he wondered if there was anyone that wanted to talk to him but he doubted it, he hadn't seen anyone of his friends for ages.

Simon was scared of the muggles and wanted to go and find Professor Bishop and ask her if she knew where the muggles where because Simon wanted to speak to them and see what they wanted but saying that he would want Professor Bishop in front of him whilst he was asking the questions.

Suddenly Simon realised that one of the Professor was Professor Bishop and so he ran up to her and hid behind her. "Professor is it true there are muggles in the grounds?" Because if it was then Simon was staying behind Professor Bishop.

The redhead faced Witsy. "That's good to hear. How does she look like? I've never seen her, or so I think. It's just my First Year and I'm not really good with names.." Elle laughed a little.

This time, Elle looked past her friend to Rex. "Thanks, I will make sure that I have a beautiful dress. I must look good on my friend's wedding. And once again, CONGRATULATIONS!!" she smiled and giggled, happy for the Gryffie.

" Good, I know you will have a beautiful dress" Rex told Elle. " Thanks for the congratulaions" Rex said to Elle. " Which professor do you like the most?" Rex asked Elle.

Witsy felt red as she suddenly felt nervous. "You know, I don't remember. I feel like I had and the dialogue but I don't remember." She was so embarrassed she was hoping either her or Rex said something to break the awkwardness she felt.

'So who are Elle and you talking about right now?" Rex asked Witsy." I am sure we can talk about a profeesor or a class or Rene" Rex said to Witsy. "So you want to take my special dance classes?" Rex asked Witsy.

To change the subject, Elle looked at both her new friends. "Well I love Professor Saylen. She just surprises me in many special ways. The lessons are always fresh. The classes take place in various locations that you cannot imagine. Though I'm not that good with animals, much less strange creatures, I feel at home with them when she's there. Her class is one of my favorites. How about yours, Rex and Witsy? I would love to hear your stories," she smiled as she dangled her short legs back and forth.

"Special dance classes? Okay, sorry, Rex, I know you were talking to Witsy, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. If you would take those, could I.. oh you know, join you two? I want to learn how to waltz," Elle took the liberty to ask him. She didn't want to make a fool out of herself at a wedding, where everyone was well-dressed and proud. That would ruin her reputation and pride badly. She was a Slytherin, after all. One or two sessions of dance classes would make her a brilliant dancer. The redhead picked up things quickly with style, making her earn the title Prissy Fox.

" I like Professor Saylen, too, but my favorite professor is Profesor is Lafay" Rex told Elle." I like her class, too" Rex said to Elle. " Funny you should ask about the dance classes" Rex laughed. " I have won ballroom dance contests when I was younger because I am the unofficial dance teacher at HgoWarts" Rex explained to Elle.

"My Head of House?" she laughed. "Well, she can be interesting and fun at times..." Elle tried agreeing with Rex.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Her eyes suddenly grew wider. Won prizes? When he was young? Cool... "Oh, you're an instructor? Could you teach me how to waltz? It only takes me a short time to learn things, like how lightning comes and quickly goes away."

Where did that simile come from? That was so trite...

Witsy gave a nervous laugh, " You so funny... we were talking about your fiance," giving him a gentle nudge in the arm, but any way..." she was trying to avoid future embarrassment. "Special dance classes? Yes, I would like that very much BUT... I have to warn you, I fall better thank I dance." Although, she was being funny she was very much serious. "I really am not good dancing and all."

"I haven't had her yet, although, by the sounds of it she seems like a brilliant teacher. What animals were you introduced with, or which one was your favorite?" She thought about the question she asked, " I like Potions and better yet, I went to the Potions club the other day for the first time and the students were giving presentations on diseases with no or limited cures and I went up after a few people to get a general idea of the structure and randomly presented the disease Hutchinson’s-Guilford Progeria Syndrome and it was awesome... not the disease but that I presented off the spot with my journal, and she seemed pleased which made it even better." She felt proud of herself considering she earned house points for it too.

Wisteria interjected when she mentioned dance, " You should totally come, it'll be so much fun." Well maybe for her, she, on the other hand, was a bit nervous cuz she already had a hard time walking letting alone dancing... this was going to be interesting.

"Well there were baby Abraxans... they were so adorable. I visit them from time to time at the stables. Maybe you want to come some time? I'm sure you would love it. They are just too irresistible!"

"Interesting club you have there," Elle nodded slowly, taking in all the bits of information Witsy was sharing with her. "Fantastic job you did with your project!" The First Year congratulated the older Gryffie.

"Okay, I'll give it a shot. Oh, don't be so negative, Witsy! I'm sure you'll do just great. If you want, I could help you once I've mastered the waltz." Elle gave her a reassuring smile.

" Yes, your head of household" Rex agreed with Elle. " I just have a lot of respect for Professor Lafay" Rex told Elle. " Well, it is nice, but amazing seems over the top" Rex said to Ellel " Yes, I can teach you to Waltz" Rex told Elle." Waltz is my favorite ballroom dance" Rex explained to Elle."Do you want to learn now?" Rex asked Elle.

" I guess I can be sort of dense at times" Rex told Wisteria." Look, I can be clumsy ar rimes, but you see I can dance" Rex said to Wisteria. " I romise you will not have any problems with dancing" Rex explained to Witsy. "Want to start now, too?" Rex asked Wisterua.

"Um... not now. I don't want anyone seeing me dance. It's okay. I'll just watch you and Witsy dance," she laughed and gave him a small smile.

" Ok. I will give you private dance lessons" Rex told Elle. " Meet me at Jason Potter Weasley's castle for the dance lessons" Rex said to Elle. " Sure, Witzy and I will put on a show for you, free of charge" Rex laughed.