Rose ran down, looking for Snakies to hug. 'OOH!' she squealed as she spotted two. This would make her first two hugs. She ran forward and hugged them both. 'THAT'S TWO!' she screamed, before dashing back to the castle.

What... seriously? ANOTHER one... "K-Kennedy... know any colour-changing charms..?" she said. Honestly, she HATED it when people hugged her who she didn't know or like... She was thinking about changing the colour of her robes so people didn't realise she was a Slytherin... Hmmm

For a minute there, Kennedy thought he was being congratulated because him and Aurora were and item, now, but apparently not. So this like a tradition. Hmm, that was neat if only they didn't interrupt him when he wanted to kiss his girlfriend. Seriously. "Well, since it is then I owe you a hug," he said, giving her a bear hug. Yep, that was nice.

Now, to continue where they left of. Kennedy removed a strand of red hair from Aurora's face when...

GAH!

Even when they were on the ground they got hugs, and they were interrupted yet again. Was he not going to get to give Aurora a kiss. Pfft.

"Yes, I do, but its on my notebook that's down at the dorms," he said, staring after the hugger girl running off. He looked left and right, ready for if anyone else wanted to hug them. He got up and offered Aurora a hand. They had completely ruined the mood. Then an idea popped into his head. "Let's make a run for it before anyone else tries to hug us." Like run away somewhere inside the castle where no non-Slytherin people would find them.

Now there was a hug that she really wanted, and then... nearly... she was even going to close her eyes and then... ANOTHER stupid hugger. Psh. SERIOUSLY GUYS! FIRST PROPER KISS WITH BOYFRIEND. NOT COOL!

Aurora took Kennedy's hand and stood up. "Sounds perfect, where did you have in mind?" she asked, not letting go of his hand - oh no, he wasn't getting that back yet.

Kennedy thought for a moment and then smiled. He had the perfect place in mind - where he hoped no one would spot them. "Come on, I'll lead the way," he said, grinning broadly and left off running with Aurora.

Refusing to let go of his hand, Aurora was forced to follow him - whether she wanted to or not. (Which of course she did.) It seemed terribly exciting...

Ow! Presley definitely had a problem that she didn't want to confide to a newfound FRIEND. Friend? Were they friends now? Well, Erin felt like she knew Presley forever since she always meets her at the common room. It seemed like the fellow Ravenclaw finds it hard to get easily attached to someone.

"Well, if you say so," Erin said shrugging. "How about you? How's your holidays?"

The Sugar Quill should have been very tasty and yummy if only Mordred would just shut up. Why did he even have to talk ? Whyyyyyyy ?!!

Beezus sighed as she turned to Mordred, controlling her temper with most regard now, "Mordred, I'm perfectly aware of that," she said, her lips twitching and backed away as he jumped off the railing. With that instant movement, her right leg was dragged on the ground and she winced as he started talking again.

While he advanced upon her, she moved backwards with difficulty. What the hell was he trying to do ? Make her a handicap ? "I--," she started, but wasn't able to finish it as he moved close to her and looked into her eyes intently, "I also know that!" she was starting to yell this time. Choosing not to respond to any of his taunting, she shut her eyes and opened it again as she heard him walk away. Thank goodness! He'd be leaving after all, she thought.

But then--he spun around and faced her, "W-w-what?" she asked, suddenly lost for words. Was he actually offering to escort her to the Astronomy Tower ? She just stared as he cleared the snow off the pathway, "Mordred, wait!" Beezus called out, going after this boy who always annoyed her but somehow always helped her in fascinating ways, "You know, I didn't ask you to do this," She caught up with him and pressed her injured legwith her hand firmly to stop the pain, "And stop calling me names ! What ? You want me to call you something like orange-feet huh ?" She grinned at the words that had suddenly came out her mouth. Maybe this would be fun. She licked the remaining Sugar Quill on her hand as they made their way to the Castle.

Presley's eyes widended in horror. Of course, that's why she was asking. Because she wanted it confirmed by Presley's own words. That would be why she asked about the holidays, and seemed, through thier conversation, to have an eer-increasing knack for knowing exactly what the problem was. She was simply getting more direct with her questions, and Presley was sure her next question was going to be "what made ou run out of your manse sobbing on Christmas Eve?" Presley narrowed her eyes at the girl, and sat down on a nearby bench. "You already know, don't you?" she asked accusingly. "Do you read WitchWeekly faithfully, Erin?" That was horrible. If the whole school knew, Presley would switch. She couldn't deal witht that kind of constant negative attention. She got it enough at home, and she didn't need it here.

He caught a glimpse of Beezus’ 5 second astonished look and turned away from her again smirking. “Walk or freeze, SuzyBee..your choice.” He said as he continued to walk and clear the path by flicking his wand in one smooth movement. Who would have thought that melting the snow on the path could be relaxing? He paused without looking at Beezus when she called out his name. He waited for her to catch up and started to walk again. “Yes. Nobody asked me to accompany you, but that’s what charity work is, isn’t it?” he scoffed. He looked at her from the corner of his eyes and smiled. “How in Merlin’s beard will you ever reach the Astronomy Tower with a bum leg?” he said shaking his head. “You’ll be walking on all fours if you keep this up.” He said as he stopped her from walking by raising his arm.

“Stand still if you don’t want me to bandage your whole body.” He then pointed his wand at her leg. “On second thought, if I ‘mummify’ you, you’ll be easier to levitate...”he seriously was considering that option, but since he’s dealing with a first year, he had to take extra caution. After all, they are the babies of this school and he doesn’t want to get detention for that.

He flicked his wand and a long bandage came out of the tip of his wand and started to wrap Beezus’ injured leg. Mordred made a face when he finished the first aid spell. The wrapping wasn’t satisfactory at all. Mordred shrugged and continued to walk. “That’s the best I can do.” he said as he looked behind him again and checked his work. “Mum will be disappointed.” He thought. Mordred’s mum did the same first aid spell on his dad’s arm a few years ago, but Caroline’s work was that of a healer...maybe even better. “Well, I never dreamed of becoming a healer anyway.” He said mentally, although he knew it would pay off if he knew a thing or two about these things.

The talk was becoming interesting now.

The sun was high up in the sky equally making its way to her skin and her irksome urge to make Presley confide in her. She was never always like this. She always wanted to be an outcast especially in problems of other people. But this was different. She was not home and these children in Hogwarts were not home as well. They have no parents or guardians to discuss their problems and so, they were left with one another. It seemed like Presley needed someone to talk to or maybe asked for an advice. Even if Erin wasn’t really used to these kinds of stuffs, she’ll be trying her best to soothe Presley’s heartbreak.

She already knew? What was it? What was it she already knew or should know? "No!" said Erin defensively. And the follow up question came out from Presley's mouth as soon as Erin answered. "Witch Weekly? Well, I saw Professor Bentley reading it but I've never really touched anything like wizard newspaper," Erin explained. Just so, Presley knows she said, "I'm a Muggle-born, you see."

Presley sighed a deep sigh of relief. Erin didn't know. But with her next words her heartsank again. Bentley, Presley's favorite professor, she knew. She hadn't said anything to Pres, and that was good, but still, the wonder would always be there for Pres, about who else knew, and what Bentley now thought of her. Muggle born. That didn't mean anything. Presley's mum had been muggle, but after meeting Zebhidiyah had read WitchWeekly all the time. However, it seemed Erin was telling the truth, and that lifted Presley's heart immensly. "I apologize. I shouldn't have smapped at you," Presley told the girl. It wastrue, Pres had no right to treat herthat way on a simple suspicion. She kind of felt bad, but not as much as she should. Because it still was a very real possibility that all of Hogwarts knew what was going on in Presley Lynne Black's personal life. And that made her very worried.

Snapped. Ow, yeah. Presley just did. Well, Erin was used to that kind of tone in front of her father. He's always been the snappy type of guy. What's with Witch Weekly anyways? Staring at Presley intently, Erin waited for the next statement she would say but nothing came out from her apart from extending her apologies. "No, it's fine."

"So, what's the thing on Witch Weekly?" asked Erin once again oblivious of the fact that Presley didn't want to talk about it. She wanted to help her in any way she can. She could even shut her mouth right now and leave her.

Of course. Now that Pres had apologized, Erin still wanted to bring up the subject. At this point, Presley was just tired of arguing with her. She took a deep breath. "WitchWeekly is a wizard magazine that publishes lies about anyone in the social scene in our world. Over christmas break, they snapped an unfortunate picture of me, and made up a story about it. It's not true. Most of it anyway." Presley was so ready to be done with this. "Let me tell you something. Never read something that claims to know everything about everyone. Odds are none of it is true." There. Subject closed.

The incident in the greenhouse had been weighing on Mia's mind and naturally she felt bad about what had happened. Although, she had no plans on giving the puffapod seeds back. They would look better in her garden anyway. But she felt bad about giving Professor Bentley a bit of a hard time.

So when she had seen the parchement on the notice board in the common room, well she had decided that this was a way to make it up to the Professor. Only thing was, she hadn't actually told Destiny that's what her plan was. In fact she had told the Slytherin to meet her out here because she had something for her. Something to cheer her up.

Mia had never seen Destiny act that way before. It had been both scary and amusing at the same time. She fingered the chocolate frogs in her pocket, hopefully that will be enough to convince the girl to come with her down to the greenhouse.

With her thoughts about the incident in the Greenhouse in the very back of her mind, after all, who would want to keep remembering that? A snow dragon had lost it's life!, Destiny slowly made her way down to the pathways. Mia had told her to meet her there, for what reason, she had no idea, but there was a hint of shiftiness about.

Everyone knew the way to cheer her up was to take her to the Great Hall. And the pathways were as far from food as one could possibly be.

But, if Mia wanted to meet outside, in the cold, she would go. Maybe she had a puppy for her! That would definitely cheer her up and it was a good reason to meet outside. Spotting her friend, Destiny quickened her pace, trying to make as much noise as possible as not to scare her..again. It wasn't really hard. Her shoes flopped all over the place from not tying her shoes. "So, where is it? Where's my puppy?"

*BEAM*

Well there was no way that Destiny would be able to scare her this time. The girl was making enough noise to wake the dead. Mia turned to face her friend properly just as the girl spoke and...

"What?"

Puppy? What was the Slytherin talking about now...ohhhh. Looks like those chocolate frogs were not going to do the trick. "I don't have a puppy." Where was she going to get a puppy from anyway, in such short notice? "I do have these for you though." she said pulling out a handful of chocolate frogs, there was probably about twelve of them.

"I also made you something but you can't have that unless you help me with something." Oh the measures she will go to.

Destiny gave Mia a look. A look that said 'what' right back at her.

If her friend really, really was trying to cheer her up, a puppy would do just that. It would take the place of the snow dragon that she had so brutally lost. She was sure with just a little bit of time, she would have been able to domesticate it. Maybe, just maybe, she would have been able to teach it how to fetch! Like a puppy.

Her face fell, however, when Mia said she didn't have a puppy, but it did light up just a little when she pulled out those chocolate frogs. A puppy, chocolate frogs, what was the difference really?

Snatching just a few, she wasn't greedy after all, her face lit up completely at the mention of having something made for her. Mia must have really, really felt bad about the death of the snow dragon. "Okay, I'll help you. But if it has anything to do with helping you do your hair, I am so out." It was why her own hair was short. She hated doing it.

Oh gosh. The look on Destiny's face when it was apparent that there was no puppy almost made Mia want to go and get her one straight away. It wasn't often that you saw that kind of look on her friend's face. That's why it had been a bit of shock to see the Slytherin kick that plant.

It was with relief though when the girl took some chocolate frogs and Mia pocketed the rest. She was going to need them for bribery later. And then she felt even better when she saw the look on Destiny's face and she let out a little chuckle before stopping abruptly.

"What's wrong with my hair?" It ws good hair. Lots of people had told her so. Mia began to slowly walk down the pathways and in the direction of the greenhouses. Hopefully Destiny would just walk along with her.

Too busy opening one of the chocolate frogs she snatched, Destiny didn't realize Mia had stopped walking and almost bumped into her. Why did people just stop like that? Was it so difficult to say 'Hey, I'm going to stop walking. Don't bump into me.'? Apparently so, and taking a few steps around her friend, to get to wherever they were going, she continued walking down the path, shoving the frog into her mouth.

The question caused her to stop walking, and turning back to Mia, she gave a dismissive wave of her hand. She hadn't it meant it like that.

"There is nothing wrong with it. If you're into that kind of hair." It was too long and probably took hours to brush and wash. How annoying. "Evelyn's hair tried to strangle me once." Pulling out another frog, she began opening it as she started walking once more..until she realized just where the path led.

"Mia. Where are we going exactly?" It better not be..

What was that supposed to mean? That kind of hair? Mia looked at her friend and her hair before pulling out a chocolate frog and stuffing it into her mouth. She was by no means a chocolate freak but when she hung out with Destiny, she needed it the sugar hit. "Why does that not surprise me?" More like Evelyn was trying to strangle her but used her hair as an excuse. Or this was just one of Destiny's wild stories again. "Do tell me the story. I know you want to." That was the reasons she brought it up.

Uh oh...seems her friend was not as oblivious as she was hoping her to be. "Well now...don't get mad. But I think it would be a good idea if we helped Bentley with restoring the greenhouse. I know you were upset about the snow dragon and all but...you probably shouldn't have kicked that plant." Well it actually helped her get those puffapod seeds but it had also meant that Destiny lost points.

Why was Mia looking at her like that?

She should be looking at herself, and that massive amount of hair that was on top of her head. Destiny didn't know how people could walk around like that! Sure, it was fine in the winter, extra warmth and all, but during the summer!? And Evelyn liked to run, imagine how sweaty she got! Actually..she didn't want to think about that. She shrugged her shoulders, having no idea what didn't surprise her. Mia was so weird sometimes.

"Well, since you want me to tell..it was for the polyjuice homework last term. As soon as I turned into Evelyn." She made some dramatic hand motions and noises indicating she was being strangled. "Her hair attacked me." And it was even weirder that she was dying and Evelyn who looked like her was just watching. Polyjuice was a crazy thing.

And Mia was telling her not to be mad.

She didn't even have to continue, Destiny knew where they were headed. To that blasted Greenhouse! She should have known Mia was going to do something like this! That's why they didn't meet in the Great Hall. "I am not going to help her clean her stupid Greenhouse." So much for not thinking about that. "The plant I kicked was dead. What is the difference between kicking a dead plant, or cleaning up the dead snow dragon!?"

Huffing a little, Destiny shoved another frog into her mouth before walking in the opposite direction. She was going to cheer herself up! In the Great Hall.

Oh right. The polyjuice assignment. That had been so much fun. Apparently not for Destiny though because she had almost been strangled by Evelyn's hair. Or so she said. Mia on the other hand, had so much fun posing as Carter. Except for the part when she had almost got kissed by Carter's ex-girlfriend which technically had been her fault that she had almost been kissed. But besides that little incident...

"Well maybe you should ave taken better care of it and it wouldn't have attacked you." That was pretty logical, right?

Mia stared at her friend for a moment. Seriously she had never seen her act this way before. And she was almost tempted to crack a joke about there being a big difference between kicking and cleaning. But Destiny was stalking away from her.

"Grrr...Destinyyyyyyy." She ran after her friend and grabbed her by the arm and spun her around. "Look I know you're upset about the snow dragon." Yeah, Mia couldn't understand it either. It was snow, but if her friend felt that strongly about it, she could respect that. "But regardless of whether that plant had been dead or not, kicking it was kind of not the answer."

And she could see a huge rant coming from her friend in a minute. "Use this time to tell Bentley, that the snow dragon was just as important as her plants."

Ow! Presley seemed a little...snappy today. Erin probably annoyed her to act this way. "Oh! Okay," Erin said hastily. She had no time to think since Presley seemed to be not wanting to extend the information to her.

LIES. Lies could make life miserable and looking at Presley, truthfully, the article on Witch Weekly about her made her act differently. Act like, she was not Presley Black. As much as Erin wanted to ask what was in the picture, she didn't want to upset Presley even more by extracting informations. It was about lies after all. "Okay I will, "Erin responded on what Presley had retorted. She then looked at the bright sky, the sun was slightly peeking over their spot. Erin moved a little for a shade.

Presley seemed to have upset the poor girl. She didn't seem comfortable at all with Presley, and normally Pres was a pretty nice person. She didn't know what to say to the younger girl, but she knew she should attempt to remedy this. "Hey, look, Erin. I'm really sorry. I promise I normally don't act like this. I guess I'm a little on edge." Now to smoothly change the subject into something other than Presley's home life..."My brother always says I have a suspicious streak as wide as the milky way, but normally you can't see it. Do you have any siblings?" She asked, turning the conversation smoothly over to Erin.