Emily entered the owlery and scanned her surroundings for her barn owl Dante. She could hear his soft hoot as he soarred down from one of the beams above and perched himself on her outstretched arm.
"Hey Dante", she cooed, "Sorry I havn't been to visit. Classes have been keeping me busy" she said as she offered him a peice of her toast. He took it gladly and scoffed it down, eyeing it off and waiting for more.

Emily managed to find a spot on the floor which wasn't covered with feathers and bird poop, and so she sat down cross-legged and pet her owl affectionately.
"Oh Dante, it's so good to be back...." she started, but her eyes were cold and lifeless, "I miss Xavier though, a lot... I never thought being away from him could hurt this much", she whispered. Xavier Black was her auror fiance... well he was her fiance through an arranged marriage but they were fortunate enough to have fallen in love with each other.
Dante nibbled on the toast and rubbed his head on Emily's knee affectionately, so that she knew he was listening.
Emily smiled, Dante always made her feel a bit better.
"Thanks Dante", she said breaking off another bit of toast for him. Emily pulled out a folded peice of parchment from the pocket of her robes and fastened it to Dante's leg.
"Take this to Xavier for me", she said once Dante finished the toast. Emily stroked his feathers then stood up, Dante fluttered off her and perched on her arm once more. Then without another moments hesitation he took off. Emily stood outside the entrance to the owlery for a moment and watched his shadow disappear in the distance. Then she headed back up to the castle. Study awaited her.

Since she didn't press the matter or insist upon his answering it, he let the question about the threat slide; it wasn't really like he could assign them a house anyways. "About the same. Studying, homework, classes, studying, homework, classes...it's been, decently quiet."

She hadn't missed his dodging her question about the threat, but being that she was just to relaxed to press the matter, she allowed it to slide as well. They could always talk about it later. "Been missing the quiet. Think I'll go crazy if I look at another book."

"Sounds like more breaks are in order. Perhaps more dancing." As if on cue, he gently started rocking back and forth in an improvised and rather messy dance step, but one that wouldn't have them slipping on the floor and hurting themselves. "Longer meal times. More jokes. Tree diving..."

"Dancing is always welcomed," she responded with a grin, following his lead in the impromptu dance. His listing of things they should do coaxed giggles from the young teen. "Your breaking one of our rules you know. But I think we might have to remove the tree diving since the weather's getting colder, and replace it with naming Abraxans." That had been a fun day.

Damian smiled at Simon, confused for a moment. She was more used to "what do you want" than "how's everything going".
"Fine... it could be perfect if not for blond Slytherins with their "good and saint statuses"." Damian said ironically. Then her face turned serious as she examined Simon. She wanted to make sure that she didn't offend him in any way, though it was ridiculous - he wasn't blond or a ..girl for that matter.

"Ah but it's not a rule for today. That was for a warm, sunny day. It's cold now, so it makes sense that we can break that rule; it shall help keep us warm." He continued to dance with her slowly, more of a waddle to keep the blood flowing through them and the heat between them than anything else. "And we could still do tree diving, just have to alter it into a skating challenge." Possibly break a neck.....

"My mistake, I'll be sure to put that on our warm, sunny days rule book, and out of cold days rule book." Especially if it was to keep them warm, she was all about staying warm, hence the waddle!dancing. "That doesn't sound to safe...how would it be done." All she could picture was them diving from a tree wearing skates...the landing wasn't pretty.

"Oh, two rule books may be hard to keep track of." He mused, shuffling around a bit of owl-droppings. "And...it'd be like...ski-jumping? Off the ramps. Or roller-blading...Hmm no it doesn't sound very safe yet."

"I don't know...you keep one, and I keep one...it'll make things easier." she responded thoughtfully as the skittered around owl droppings. A slightly puzzled expression crossed her face as she tried to picture Sabel's idea. "I've never been ski jumping? It doesn't sound too safe, but we could make it so. cushioning charms and whatnot.....I guess we could build ramps."

Sabel had to pull back a bit to be able to blink at her with the surprised expression she deserved. [b]"I can't believe you're thinking of ways to condone it."[/] Putting his hands on her shoulders, he drew her forward, peeking over each shoulder in turn as if someone was hiding behind her. "Who are you and what have you done with my Arya?"

His pulling back was unexpected, and had her blinking as well when the cold air hit the side of her face that had previously been rested against him. Her slight surprise was immediately replaced with a playful expression, a grin spreading across her face. "I'm just a figment of your imagination. Your Arya wouldn't have condoned such an activity," she waved her hand, dismissing said Arya. "So she had to go."

A deep pout worked its way onto his lips as he pulled back to blink at Arya. "You keep saying that. That my Arya is gone. Not exactly a heartening thing to hear." Resting his hands on her lower back, he stepped from side to side slowly, keeping them in the same spot as he watched her. "Will I see her again?"

Arya shrugged her shoulders lightly as the danced slowly, hands resting on his chest. She didn't like to see him all pout-y, but at the same time, she was having a bit of fun teasing him. "You might," she mused, head titled up to look at him. "She comes and goes as she pleases. Never staying in one place for too long."

"A traveler then." He could feel it, the warmth from her hands and the look in her eyes sinking deep within him, stirring repressed emotions. Feelings he had promised not to show. "Well be sure to tell her, when you see her, that if she ever needs a companion upon her adventures, this one will always be waiting."

"Sounds fun!" Patroclus grinned, learning the story of Grease, making a mental note to find out whether grease could in fact conduct lightning.....or perhaps there was a spelll.

"Oh that's a shame," he pouted, "I tried out, and it would have been awesome to fly against each other." It was on the pitch that Patroclus and Emmy had first become friends, zipping and flying around each other, racing and what not, those were the days.
"I don't know whether or not I have made the team, but I am hopefull." Checking his watch, Patroclus saw that it was getting late, and he needed to head via the bathroom, before it was curfew.

"Well Emmy, it has been lovely chatting, we will have to hang out more often this year!" Patroclus smiled, "I hope everything with your father is OK, let me know if I can help." he added, giving the Puff a quick hug,

Giving it a bit of thought, she realized that she did enjoy traveling, having done a lot of it over the summers. "Yes," she nodded her head. "Your Arya is a traveler. Though she does like having a place to settle down." She needed some place to call home. Preferably with lots of land and animals. Arya was vaguely aware of the look Sabel was giving her, but didn't move away from him or cease dancing. She had told him that he didn't really have to repress them anymore. "I don't have to, she already knows, and she says that your always welcome to join her, cause your good company."

A slight chuckle left Sabel, honest though it was it did grant him the distraction he needed to turn his head away and break their eye contact for a moment. A moment where he could gather his thoughts back together and repress what had once again resurfaced. "Good to know. Very good to know."

Tilting his head a little he glanced back at her. "So where is my Arya now?"

When he broke eye contact, she too turned her head to spare her owl a glance, grin still present. At least the bird wasn't upset that she had been abandoned when Sabel had entered the owlery, though it shouldn't be surprising to her as the barn owl was very independent.

"Somewhere warm I suppose," she watched Altair take flight before turning her gaze back up at Sabel. "And probably with the kneazle of hers."

"So, if my Arya is somewhere warm and here isn't warm. And if she is with her kneazle and there is no kneazle here..." His eyes went down to the girl before him with a grin. "Then who are you?"

Arya giggled at Sabel, shaking her head slightly. "I told you, I'm just a figment of your imagination, Mr. Dakest. Only around when your Arya is not to keep you company." Obviously, he had a very strong imagination. "Once she arrives, I shall disappear back into the depths of your mind, waiting..."

"You are pretty solid for a figment of my imagination." His smile remained as he watched her, his head tilted slightly to the side. "Sounds nice though. I'll never be lonely again."

"Your a wizard," she stated simply. "Its the magic that makes me physical, and not just some ghost or a daydream." Shaking her head, she reached a hand up and lightly poked him on the forehead. "You've never been alone, silly. I've always been up there, keeping you company when she's not around, and I always will be."

Okay, so the moment of altered attention wasn't helping. She was getting to him, again. "Sounds like a fairy-tale." One he could get lost in and be content with never being found again.

"A fairy tale," she pondered the thought, head tilting to the side slightly. "Fairy tales a nice...adventures, magical creatures, good friends....we'd have to get rid of the evil witch though. No room for her in our fairy tale."