Oakey wiped his face off of his his tears with his sleeve. Time to toughen up, one should not cry in front of a lady. L-lets introduce ourselves out from behind the bushes. This is awkward . He stepped out from behind the bushes and outstretched his arm to help Ella up as well. If there was one thing Harvey taught him it was to treat girls properly even when you're at your worst.

'N'aw, that's a cute name.' Ella took his hand and got to her feet. 'Thanks.' Ella grinned and dropped her hand to her side again. Flipping her hair back she looked at the boy properly. He looked really upset.

'You sure there isn't anything I can do?' Ella bit her lip and rummaged aobut a bit in the pocket of her robes. She took out a crumpled tissue and handed it to Oakey. She stretched her arm out and brushed a bit of soil off his sleeve. 'There!' Ella grinned.

Ella noticed two Slytherin boys standing nearby and waved cheerfully, then she turned back to Oakey.

''Yeah, agreed.''he said while he was looking at the door Daichi noticed. ''I don't know where the Great Hall is, when I'm here. But I can walk from the Great Hall to the Slytherin Common Room and I won't get lost!''It was strange to be at such a huge place, where you didn't know where to go. But he was happy that others didn't know the ways trough the Castle too. He wasn't alone.''Daichi..''Toby said. ''Do you like Quidditch?''he decided to ask.

I'm a first year Hufflepuff, and the Unluckiest person alive. not sure how you can help with that but you're if you're willing to try. Go for it. Oakey didn't want to tell her that he believed he was cursed. She might just say what everyone else was telling him, 'everyones a bit clumsy', 'you're just paranoid', and 'it's not effecting anyone else.' Oakey knew otherwise he could fell it. like a terrible aura was surrounding him. Plus the strange roman numeral four scar on his right hand. There had to be something going on inside him.

Ella raised her eyebrows slightly. She was no expert, she sometimes could sense people's auras. It was weird.. her Mother could do it too. It was nothing special.

'Oh.. Well that's.. Ella couldn't really find and appropriate word to use. 'Unfortunate?..' Ella offered that word, shrugging. 'Have you been here all day?' Ella realise dher eyebrows were still raised. Quickly she smoothes her forehead out.. Hm.

Well no, I've been wandering around the Castle. This was the truth. I stopped by the DADA office. I thought that the Head Master taught the class? Apparently not though, Lord Berty Borr does. Oakey didn't know much about him only that he was really popular amongst those at the Ministry. Harvey told me never to trust the guy. Oakey's face grew a little more serious. He says anyone who calls them self a Lord with no actual royalty is trouble. He remembered back to the lesson Harvey taught him about the infamous wizard Tom Riddle.

Kita walked along the courtyard, completely lost in her own world. Having not had much time to herself, she felt the need to walk around. Alone.

But company was still nice. Having felt so alone over the summer the feeling only got worse when she came to Hogwarts. Funny, because she had met up with quite a few familiar faces at Diagon Alley, the Hogwarts Express and right into Hogwarts itself.

She let a sigh escape her lips and looked up at the sky.

Well, seeing as how walking through the school ended badly, Ellie decided to take a different route and head to the Courtyard. The weather wasn't too bad either and it was nice to get some fresh air after some... conflict. Ellie inhaled the cool air and smiled. Even though she wasn't super happy about being back at Hogwarts, she loved the Grounds. They were green and pretty and nature-y.

Ellie picked out a bench and planted herself there among the few other people scattered throughout the area. She fiddled with the strings on her scarf. Then fiddled with her thumbs. Then watched a bird fly across the green grass. She sighed. It was hard not having friends anymore. But being alone was good sometimes. At least, that's what Ellie kept telling herself.

Theodore had been wandering the grounds during the early hours of the day. Hogwarts and the surrounding campus were so beautiful; it made him grateful that he had been transferred here and not to another wizarding school where the landscape was much less green, like at Durmstrang. He probably would have withered there like a pansy, anyways. His school days had been improving; people were beginning to adjust to his distinctly American accent and he had already made a few good friends and acquaintances, save for a certain Gryffindor who seemed to hate Theo from the inside and out. What could he do? It would be impossible to please everyone. Besides, he was more of a loner by nature, anyway.

Walking along and coming to the courtyard, someone perched on one of the stone benches seemed to stick out from the other students that were near. Aside from being solo, the pale-skinned brunette had her eyes cast downward, as if she hadn't been having the best of times. Theodore grimaced; he knew how that felt. Back in New York, he had felt just the same. Maybe she needed someone to talk to? It was the least he could do. Most everyone had been kind to him, so why not return the favor?

Forcing himself to do something quite out of the ordinary, Theodore urged himself on and sat at the edge of the bench. "Erm, hello." He smiled and spoke softly, not used to doing such bold things with new people. Nervously adjusting the cuffs of his button-down shirt, he added, "Um... nice day we're having, isn't it?"

He could have face-palmed right then and there. Everyone knew that small talk about the weather was always a cover-up for one's true intentions. But the mistake had already been made; now, to wait and see if she would reject him or respond to him with equal kindness.

You know, maybe it was good not having friends anymore. They couldn't hold you back with expectations, right? Maybe now that Ellie's friendships had dissipated from one ounce of drama, she could completely change. Do something way out of the ordinary that changed her personality. Be a new person. Make new friends. It was an intriguing idea anyway. She could become Miss Popular. Dye her hair blonde again and wear pink all the time.... Ellie shuddered. No, never again will she dye her hair blonde. Worst mistake of her life. And pink was a disgusting color. Scratch Miss Popular.

Ellie sighed. Maybe she should just become a circus worker or something. Drop out of school and throw enflamed swords at people. Hm, not bad... Erm. No, never mind. Maybe being Ellie was all that she could do. She was good at it, at least.

Jerked out of her train of thought, her eyes were led to a figure who appeared next to her. She saw a somewhat awkward looking boy sitting next to her. Well, not quite next to her. Rather far away, on the edge of the bench. She saw him pull his cuffs down. "Hi. Stranger." Ellie said with a monotone voice. And.. the weather. Small talk, huh? Well, she didn't really mind that much. He was being friendly and she actually appreciated it. Ellie realized that she probably wouldn't survive living alone for the rest of her life. Even if it was just some random guy talking about the weather.

"Er, yeah. I guess it's kinda nice out." She looked up. It was actually kind of cloudy, but whatever. It wasn't raining at least. And for conversations sake: "I don't think I've seen you around before. And you have an American accent, so I'm guessing you're new?" She gestured with a faint smile.

Feeling quite relieved that the pretty stranger hadn't brushed him off like an annoying, curly-haired insect, Theodore's white-toothed smile widened. Maybe this whole business of initiating introductions with strangers, rather than waiting to be approached, wasn't too bad after all. Speaking to him seemed to lightened the dark look that had previously occupied the girl's face, which was an improvement. "Oh, yeah," He folded his hands on his lap, the toe of one of his trainers digging into a small patch of weed in the ground. "I'm from New York, so everything here's a bit... different."

Even though he was half-English, living in a different country for nearly the entirety of one's life could really distance one from their roots. "Oh," He chirped rather quickly, adding, "Different in a good way. It's much less crowded and... people seem to be much nicer." Theodore knew he sounded like an uneducated pre-teen, but what more could he say? It wouldn't be polite conversation to bring up the things in British culture that, for the moment, weirded him out.

"I'm... Theo." Sticking a friendly hand in her direction, he already felt like a different person. Since when had he introduced himself by his nickname? That Braeden kid had been rubbing off on him.

Louisa's hands were raised while she was fixing her hair. "Stupid portrait hole." She muttered under her breath. It wasn't her fault that she was getting taller and while she jumped out of the hole, her ponytail got in the way and made her fall face-first causing a bunch of firsties to laugh out loud so they made sure everyone stared at her.

Her hands still stretched out, her elbow hit something. Turning around scowling she saw it was someone. "Hey! wat-" She started but then her features softened quickly when her eyes met her friend's. Her hands lowered down, "Kita! How great to see you again!"

He couldn't do it. He just COULDN'T do it.

Alex had been so convinced that he had completely conquered his fear, and that he could sign up for Quidditch tryouts and masterfully make his way onto the team, but no. He'd chickened out. Quill still in hand, he was making his way back from the Quidditch pitch, where he'd gone up to the list, paused for about 10 minutes with his quill hovering over the sign up sheet, before he turned around and walked right back.

It was still TOO SCARY. He didn't know how to play Quidditch! Sure, he knew everything ABOUT the game, but nothing about how to actually PLAY it. He was sure if he got a Quaffle in his hands, it would end up back on the ground in about 2 seconds because there was no way he'd be able to master staying on his broom AND throwing something at the same time.

He was not ready yet. Just not ready. He'd get there, he was confident he would but...not this year. Darnit. He'd been so looking forward to writing home and telling mum that she could now say ALL her children were star Quidditch players at school.

He sat down with a sigh on the nearest bench in the courtyard and finally put his quill away. It was a nice day, and he wasn't quite ready to return to his common room--that would mean officially admitting defeat--so instead he pulled out his notebook and began to draw. He'd started a drawing of what he THOUGHT a lethifold probably looked like earlier, and began to finish the shading on the cloak he envisioned the creature to wear.

"Hey, Salazar," Sierra greeted with a smirk, coming to a stop just behind her brother. She peered over his shoulder and studied his drawing for a few seconds, trying to figure just what in the name of Hades he'd tried to depict. Upon deciding that he'd drawn a floating cloak (for reasons she didn't even want to ask about), she moved around him and then took a seat on a nearby bench.

She absentmindedly kicked her feet against the dirt for a few seconds, knowing there were things lingering between them that needed to be discussed, but not wanting to bring them up just yet. "So, ...pretty day out, hmm?" Yeah, that was her cop out. Only, this time, she had an excuse for making small talk. There was a little something she needed to tell her brother, but she was holding back on it for as long as possible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

"Hey, Salazar," Sierra greeted with a smirk, coming to a stop just behind her brother. She peered over his shoulder and studied his drawing for a few seconds, trying to figure just what in the name of Hades he'd tried to depict. Upon deciding that he'd drawn a floating cloak (for reasons she didn't even want to ask about), she moved around him and then took a seat on a nearby bench.

She absentmindedly kicked her feet against the dirt for a few seconds, knowing there were things lingering between them that needed to be discussed, but not wanting to bring them up just yet. "So, ...pretty day out, hmm?" Yeah, that was her cop out. Only, this time, she had an excuse for making small talk. There was a little something she needed to tell her brother, but she was holding back on it for as long as possible.

Alex jerked his head up when he heard someone mention his middle name. That curse of a middle name. "Sierra! SHHH! Someone might hear you!" he whisper-exclaimed, looking around to make sure no one DID hear her. Nope, looked like the coast was clear. He had managed to dodge the whole middle name issue for a whole YEAR so far...he was not about to ruin that right now.

Wait...was Sierra talking about the WEATHER? Ok. That wasn't odd at all. If Sierra had just wanted to chat weather with him...well, she WOULDN'T ever want to do that and she probably would have walked right on by him. She had something on her mind that she wanted to talk about...ehh, it probably wasn't anything too important. She was probably just using weather as a cop out to stop himself from calling him Puffer Boy.

"Yeah, nice day," he said, looking up at the sun and squinting. It was actually kind of hot. Maybe his mum was right, maybe he SHOULD get a haircut. It would certainly make days like this a teensy bit more bearable. "So, what have you been up to? Sign up for Quidditch tryouts yet?" he asked.

GAH WHY DID HE ASK THAT?? He wanted to keep the conversation AWAY from sports so he wouldn't have to tell her that despite all his talk about how awesome his flying skills had become, he WASN'T trying out for the team. It was like his brain was TRYING to embarrass him. Booooo.

"HI!" Nika smiled at the girl who had come up to her. Normally it was Nika going up to random strangers trying to make friends. But this is a good change. Something she can get used to. "I'm Nika Adler!" The bouncy little gryffie exclaimed cheerfully. "Second year, Gryffie." She said pointing to her little Gryffindor badge.

Cove was going to conquer her fear and play by herself infront of people. She took a deep breath and took out her violin. She started tuning it, once she finished she poised her bow perfectly above the strings. She counted a measure before she started. 'Deep breath....and go.' She thought to herself as she started playing. It calmed her to start.

The grin on the face of the curly-haired boy was actually contagious and made Ellie smile. Quite a change from the past couple weeks. And it felt nice to smile again. It felt nice to have someone be nice to her. Her eyebrows lifted when he mentioned New York. "You live there? So does my boyf-" She stopped mid-word and froze Crap. Ellie closed her eyes for a second before recovering. "My, er... My ex lives there." She said, rubbing her forehead. That was a tad embarrassing. It was almost as if she had forgotten that he broke up with her. Guh.

"It's nice there, New York. It's quite different than London." Ellie agreed with him. The buildings were taller and shinier. There were more people, like he said. And it was definitely a faster pace than England. In New York it always seemed like everyone was in a hurry to get to somewhere. And Americans always seemed a little intimidating. "So you just moved here then? How do you like Hogwarts so far?" She asked with a half smile. Ellie normally wasn't one to ask all the questions. She was more the type of person to wait to be asked the questions and give the answers. But the curly-haired boy seemed genuinely friendly, so why not? Plus, it's not like she had anyone else to talk to.

Ellie smiled and shook Theo's hand. "A pleasure to meet you Theo. I'm Ellie." She said, somewhat formally and released herself from his handshake. "I'm in Ravenclaw. You?" She wondered, just out of curiosity. Too nice to be a Slytherin, that was for sure. Snort.

At her hesitation and forced admittance of what was plaguing her, Theodore felt a wee bit of pity. He had never been in a relationship before but from what he had seen in movies (his only form of romantic education, aside from what he saw with his parents), tiffs between couples always took extreme emotional tolls. Maybe he could elaborate on his wonky childhood, traveling back and forth across the pond of the Atlantic, to take her mind off of her troubles? It seemed to be the only temporary solution that would work. "Well, it's a bit of a long story," He chuckled, shaking a few curls away from his blue eyes.

"I was actually born here, in England, but I went to the States when I was young. So it's like I really never lived here at all; I can't really remember anything before New York." Theodore pondered for a moment, attempting to figure out which parts of his childhood to regale her with and which parts to leave out. Upon quickly deciding what to say, he continued, "I just moved back this summer and I've been here for around a month, so... it's not the most exciting story, but it's mine." He shrugged, twining his fingers together. Theodore had either succeeded with one of two possibilities: he had bored the poor girl to death, or, he had succeeded in taking her mind off of her ex.

"Hogwarts is..." He searched for a word, his analytical mind searching his extensive vocabulary. "Well, amazing sums it up." He involuntary grinned another one of his usual crooked smiles; the sixth year was still in a bit of awe over having been able to attend such a great institution in the first place. Thank Merlin that Headmaster Tate had accepted him as a student. "Lovely to meet you," Releasing Ellie's dainty hand, he continued. "I'm in Ravenclaw, too. I'm surprised I haven't seen you in the common room or at the table during dinner."

Like a few students he had met, she seemed slightly younger. "Are you a sixth year, too?"

Ellie couldn't tell what was running through Theo's mind when she slipped up about her ex. For some reason she found it rather embarrassing that she messed up just then, but she just shrugged it off. And she actually a tad surprised that he didn't say anything more about the subject. Ellie assumed that he must have known from his past relationships that talking about them wasn't really such a fun thing to do. It was still too recent. So, she appreciated that he didn't ask her about it. Ellie almost chuckled. A long story. She was all too familiar with those.

Listening to his story, as average as it was, was still interesting. So Theo was basically an American. And for some reason, Ellie thought Americans were fascinating. They were like a different species completely different than these Londoners. "Do you miss New York at all? Or do you like it here better?" She asked curiously. "And it wasn't that boring, don't worry." Ellie said with a teasing smile. Her mind was successfully away from Alex now. See, maybe meeting new people wasn't such a bad idea. So much for become a flame-thrower at a circus. "Plus, it's much more exciting than mine." Well, that depended on which story you were talking about. As far as living, she was born in raised in the same spot her whole life. Not too exciting.

Hm, Hogwarts was definitely amazing. That was for sure. The school life had it's ups and downs, but the castle and the grounds were completely fantastical. "It really is, isn't it?" Ellie said with a faint smile while nodding her head. She looked around the courtyard again and at the greenery. It was beautiful, too. "I think you'll love it here even as the year goes on. It only seems to get better as you go." And Ellie earnestly hoped she was right about that. Optimism is key. Ellie laughed lightly and looked at the ground. "I actually just got here... today." She looked back up. "But now you'll probably see me so much, you'll get sick of me." She joked with a grin. Whaaat? Ellie cracking jokes...?

"Ah, no. I'm a fifth year." Ellie said with a nod, slinging one leg over the other and leaning back in the bench. And it was still hard to believe she'd be leaving Hogwarts in just two years.

In a nice spot was Miss Le Veela whose mind seemed to be out of reality and not really paying attention to anything around her. Violet's violet eyes were buried in the latest edition of Witch Weekly (of course), that her mother sent her, by Isis of course! Apparently, a journalist came by Le Merveilleux and had interviewed her mother about having her baby sister Rosalie. Violet smiled as she read it happily loving every word that was in this article. As she continued reading she fiddled with her hummingbird necklace continuing to smile. As soon as she finished this article she was definitely going to write back to her mother. She turned the page and found out that there were three pages that had pictures of Emmeline with Rosalie, of course they were beautiful! Violet smiled again as she studied the pictures intently.

Selina walked through the courtyard and just took in the sight. How she had missed the school, the grounds, the people. Now that she was back and not a first year anymore Selina was plagued with the thoughts of her life after Hogwarts. Although it was a long time away she was no longer the longest in the school. That meant she was getting older and if her first year had gone by so fast how fast would the rest go? She wasn't sure and tried not to think about it.

She began to fiddle with her bangles as she usually did when she felt awkward about something. Chris was not happy about Nathan. After their looonnnnggg talk in the Common Room she hoped that she had made her point that Violet really cared for him and not Selina's cousin.

Speak of the Devil, "Hey Vi!"

Violet heard a voice call her and when her violet eyes shot up from Witch Weekly her eyes settled on Selina! She gasped and waved eagerly saying,"Hi Sely!" Violet smiled and then gasped again saying brightly,"Ohh cute top Sely! I love it!" She patted a spot next to her for her best friend to sit next to her. Then Violet pushed some of her hair behind her ear.

Selina laughed and plopped down on the seat next to Violet, "Alright, alright I'm sitting." Then she looked over her friends shoulder and saw the picture of Emmeline and who she assumed was Rosalie on the front cover. She gasped at how beautiful her sister was, "Oh my Merlin! She is the cutest thing I have ever seen! Is that the baby?"

She knew it was. The front cover said The Veelas add a new Le Veela. Unless they meant the Le Veela's had gotten another cat the title meant Rosalie.

Cody walked into the Courtyard, once again, kicking a stone along the ground. "Hey Kat", he said to her. "How are you? I haven't seen you in ages", he told her. When was there time to catch up with everyone?