Carigan nodded yes,keeping her lips sealed.This girl wanted quiet?She would get quiet.And trust me,she could do it.She once went a day without talking!This shouldn't be too hard!She didn't feel like playing her usual Miss.Goodytwoshoes Cardigan with Ariana that she used with everyone else.She would use Miss.Smart Alec meanie Cardigan with her.She deserved it.

Silvia made her way out to the grounds. It was evening, and she was here to work on her astronomy homework. She had already worked with the sundial, and now it was time to practice using the nocturnal. There was still plenty of time before curfew, and she had decided to complete this portion on the grounds instead of the observatory. It was freezing out, and Silvia was tightly wrapped in her jacket. She found a bench in the courtyard to set her bag on, and quickly located the borrowed nocturnal within it. She also pulled out her notebook and set it down on the bench. The first step was to locate the north star to use as a reference point. She searched the sky, and it wasn’t long before she spotted the Little Dipper. She followed along it until her eyes alighted on the bright star at the end of its handle. “There you are,” she said.

Now for the nocturnal. Silvia played with the dials and arm, examining it. “So the letters indicate the month,” she reminded herself. “And I have to align that before I can figure out the time. And then I line up the arm.” She squinted at the device. She could just barely make out the letters in the dim lighting, the closest lamp being a little ways off. “Is that the ‘D’?” she wondered. The young student couldn’t tell for sure. So she reached for her wand. “Lumos,” she said, and the tip of her wand lit up. Much better; now she could read the letters and numbers on the nocturnal with ease. Silvia rotated the dial until the little arrow was pointing at the letter ‘D’ for December. This dial caused the numbers to shift around, accounting for the change in star position throughout the year, if she remembered correctly.

Its dark enough for him to test the nocturnal. Messer went out to the courtyard where he tried the sundial earlier. When he arrived at the courtyard, he put down his backpack and took out the nocturnal. Messer's eyes was glued to the instrument, he noticed that its has outer disc marked with the months of the year, and an inner disc marked with hours as well as locations for three reference stars. It also has a pointer. "This is pretty cool!" he said to himself.

First he need to decide on the reference star. He decided to use the the "pointers" of the Great Bear. After a few minutes searching the Great Bear, Messer finally saw it. Now he need to align the appropriate tooth of the inner disk with the current date on the outer disk. Its December his eyes searching for a D but he barely see the letters. He cast Lumos with his wand and pointed it to the nocturnal. "Ah. There its." Messer rotated the dial until the arrow was pointing at the letter D.

Why was she laughing? Again? Talking to her was starting to get a little frustrating. Lewis never knew why she was reaction the way she did. But maybe that was his fault. Yeah, it probably was. It still wasn't fair. At least she didn't seem to be upset with his answer. Alright?! "Yes...?" Lewis replied slowly, giving her a weird look. Where had that come from?!

Oh, had she just followed his gaze? WAS there something behind her he had missed?! Lewis glanced back and forth between her face and behind her a couple of times, a confused look on his face. "Are YOU alright?" He enquired softly, his eyes back on her with his brow slightly furrowed. Huh.

Now Gwen seemed to be...taken aback by something? Only what? Regarding her for a moment, Lewis finally gave up trying to read her. It was just impossible for him. So shaking his head a little to himself he glanced back down at the newspaper in her hands, thinking about her previous question. "Well, you could try Duro, I guess. It turns things into stone." He himself hadn't quite mastered that spell but she could try.

Oh that he knew! Glancing back up at her with a smile on his face, Lewis nodded vigorously, happy to actually know something. "Yes. The incantation is Multicorfors." Should he...show her? But then she would ask for that right? And she wouldn't have asked about it because she wanted to change the color of his hair or something, right? RIGHT?!

Ariana raised an eyebrow really. she was gonna play this game!? "im glad you and your little friend have gotten accustomed to our dorm & our now QUIET" she said with a smirk

Silvia next glanced back at the sky and relocated the north star, then adjusted the arm so it was pointing at it. Pointing her lit wand back at the nocturnal, she looked closely to see what number the arm intersected on the dial. It was on the number seven. This isn’t so hard. Checking her watch Silvia saw that it was a few minutes past seven o’clock. Close enough, she thought. The numbers on the dial were so small and close together that it wasn’t easy to tell the minutes. A chilly breeze blew by, and Silvia shivered a little, beginning to regret not doing this in the observatory where she was a few steps closer to the warmer indoors. Bending over the bench slightly, she made note of her attempt at using the nocturnal in her notebook before packing up, then ran back to the castle, eager to get out of the cold as quickly as possible.

Alec let out a small chuckle as Zack tried to get rid of the snow on himself. It was a bit of a funny sight, even if laughing like this was a little mean on his part. But he had just got his revenge in the shape of a snowball to the face. That was good!

And now Zack wanted to get him to try something! Good! He was always up for trying something-

BOOF!

Snowball. On his shoulder this time. But that still HURT, Zack! Alec threw a mock glare at the boy as he bent down and picked up some snow. Pack... pack... pack... Now it was a nice roundish ball. Perfect to be hit at fellow first years.

"Watch ooouuuutttttt!" Alec aimed and threw the ball at Zack. If it hit him, good. If not... he could come back with a vengeance. Even if this was just a snowball fight.

Oh, so this boy was a Gryffindor! Alec grinned. They weren't bad people, so he didn't have to worry. And he shared a common room with Anya! That made the twelve year old grin even more. "I'm a Hufflepuff!" It was a nice word. Hufflepuff!

Vickers darted across the Courtyard between classes, then looked up squinting at the sky. The sun was high up shining brightly against the clear blue, and although he knows his class schedule, he was curious if the sundial would reflect the time as well as it did that morning. The Ravenclaw boy peered across the arches and can see the Whomping Willow from where he stood, and the spot where he had his first sundial reading earlier that day.

He debated whether he would travel all the way there to use the same spot as he did for his morning reading, but he feared that he would be late for classes. Deciding that the Courtyard was the next best thing he brought the sundial out of his bag and set it down on the ground, pointing the gnomon in the same direction as he did earlier that day.

He peered into the sundial and read the shadow-- it was approaching 11 am. He noted it down on his parchment just as the clocktower started to sound off-- which also meant that he had roughly 5 minutes to get to his next class before getting tagged late. Hurriedly he grabbed the sundial and sprinted back into the castle.

Now that Messer already aligned the appropriate tooth of the inner disk with the current date on the outer disk, he need to find the Polaris. Its not that hard to locate the Polaris because its particularly bright. Messer held the nocturnal at arms length and he saw the Polaris through the hole in the central pivot. He rotated the pointer until its indicating edge points to the reference star. Since he was using the "pointer" in Ursa Major, so he pointed the pointer to it. He stared at his nocturnal to see what time its. "10.20!"

He was done with his Astronomy homework. Now he need to get back inside because its freezing here and he also need to check out whether his little experiment right or not. He packed his thing and put all of them into his backpack including the nocturnal. He need to get that and the sundial back to Professor Roslund's office tomorrow.

Harvey came out the courtyard to study.. so he sat down and took out his book and he looked at it.. and then the people around him.. he knew that he wasn’t going to get any work done.. so he just closed the book and put it away.. it was better than pretending to be studying.. what if a professor asked him a question from that book and he didn’t know the answer.. he sat there since he had a bit of time before his next lesson.. he enjoyed just sitting there and watching people go about their business.. he then realised he hadn’t looked at the time.. so he took out the sundial.. after figuring out where north was.. he had it facing north and he then looked at the shadow cast on the markings and saw that it was nearly 1pm.. he thought it to be 12:55pm and he looked at his watch and saw that he was correct that was the time 12:55pm… so he packed away the sundial and went off to his next lesson.. he didn’t want to be late for the next lesson.

'Nice to meet you Alec!!,' she said, shaking his hand. Laura loved the weather. Hmm..Laura was feeling playful. She loved snowball fights, which was her main hobby in the winter. You don't find her at home, look out and you shall spot her out there playing with snow. So...

BOOF!!

She threw some snow at Alec.


Laura smiled. Now it was Zake's turn.

BOOF!!, there goes. yay!! she had aimed right. Zake stood there, covered with snow!!

Zack stared at Alec seeing him chuckle. "Huh? What? What's so funny?" he asked out loud. He didn't understand what was so funny around. The game, ofcourse he thought. He was enjoying too much.

Zack looked at Alec as he bent down to pick snow and making it into rounds. "I wouldn't take so much time to make round of the snow. It's gonna break anyway" he said and threw some snow on Alec again.

He bent as he saw the perfect ball coming towards him, it didn't hit him this time. He cheered and starting laughing.

He was Alec laughing again, this time it confused him more. "Hey, what do you keep laughing for?" he asked all confused. So he made a new friend and he was a Hufflepuff that was good. He liked Hufflepuff! He looked at Alec and smiled.

Zack looked at the Laura and smiled. hmm....so she wants to join too! Cool!

He took some snow from beside him and threw at her. "There, here you go!" he said and laughed.

Kennedy jogged out of the corridor and into the courtyard. Oliver had somehow managed to go through the portal at the same time a student had and now...Kennedy couldn't find him. He was a SMALL kitten HOW could he run that fast. Maybe...maybe it was Kennedy that was too slow. Gah! He would need to start his working out routine again.

He stopped in front of the fountain and sighed. His first day back from holidays and he's lost his cat and...hasn't seen his girlfriend. He ran his hand through his hair, which, thanks to Selena it wasn't a big fro anymore. Kennedy stared at the water until he realized something. It was a wishing fountain. He took out a Knut and flicked into the water. He's never believed in wishes coming true, but...they were at Hogwarts...it had to have some magical effect, right?

Aurora had been wandering around aimlessly for about ten minutes - followed at the heel by Sebastian - when she had heard a little mewing. She'd glanced down at Sebastian, thinking her cat had suddenly decided he wanted to be a kitten again, but he was staring off to her right. She followed his gaze and caught sight of some little ears poking out from behind a bush... lost kitty? Poor thing. She glared at Sebastian, hoping he would stay put whilst she picked up the fluffy little thing. Goodness, this cutie was so... CUTE!

She held the kitten tight in her arms and, followed by Sebastian again, was about to walk up to the castle and find the poor thing's owner. She passed under an archway and into the courtyard and... there was Kennedy. She stopped, suddenly confused. She wasn't sure if he wanted to speak to her... she wasn't sure if she wanted to speak to him... One hand went to the treble clef pendant around her neck as she cradled the kitten with her other. "Um, hey."

He shook his head to himself. Maybe wishes didn't come true...

Huuuuh?

Maybe they did.

He had to resist the urge to let his jaw drop. Aurora...and Oliver? What was she doing with Oliver? Kennedy straightened himself and didn't show his surprise. He's been practicing on hiding his emotions. Most of the time it worked on his mom, but she knew him TOO well that sometimes it was impossible.

"Hi," he greeted with a slight nod. His green eyes traveled to the necklace her hand was on. He wanted to smile and ask if she'd liked his present, but Aurora might still be angry at him. His eyes then fell on the kitten she was holding.

GAH! He was snuggling his girlfriend...and purring!

He looked back up to meet Aurora's eyes and felt speechless. He didn't know what to say. He was sorry, but then...he was SO confused. Why couldn't relationships come along with a manual?!

Right... this was... weird. She noticed he'd had his hair cut - not too short, luckily; she liked it better long - but she didn't remark on it, it didn't seem to be the time for that right now. She didn't expect him to remark on hers... though to be honest it was barely noticeable... Julianne had insisted on her getting it trimmed so that her fringe wasn't in her eyes when she was being a flower girl.

At a loss for something to say, Aurora reverted to the way she had greeted everyone for the past few days. "Happy New Year." she said. She glanced down at the little lost kitten and laughed involuntarily as it nuzzled her and started purring. Sebastian seemed a little put out by this and curled up around her foot... literally. It was like having a living, breathing slipper. A very jealous living, breathing slipper. Yay, more jealousy, that was exactly what she needed right now... not.

"Did you um... have a nice..." she gave up trying to ask about holidays... it just seemed a little... not quite right. She was still angry at him, but she wanted to resolve it so badly... she'd missed him over Christmas and all she wanted was for it to be normal again. But without him thinking... that. So, instead of trying to do anything about it right now she focused at the matter in hand. "I found this kitten hidden in a bush over there." she pointed back the way she had came. "Do you know who he belongs to?"

He didn't lift his gave off her and that' when he noticed her hair was different...and pretty as always. Kennedy felt weird just staring so he shifted his gaze back to Oliver. The little monster was still cuddling with his girlfriend. What was it that every pet he had always preferred other people?

Eh.

"Thanks," he said. "Happy New Year to you too." OKAY, so this was really awkward. It was worse than when he first met her and she was fainted in the middle of a train compartment. How did they get like this? He looked up when she began speaking again. Was she trying to make small talk? Maybe. It was better than staying silent like he was.

"Me," he said, answering her question. "His name is Oliver...he's my mom's surprise to me," he said, a ghostly grin on his lips, but it quickly disappeared.

Sebastian had given up trying to get Aurora's attention and trotted over to Kennedy, weaving himself around the boy's legs. WHY WAS NO-ONE CUDDLING HIM? Impostor-Kitty was being fawned over and Sebastian wasn't even getting a tickle? THIS WAS SO NOT FAIR.

The cat was Kennedy's..? Wow... that was... convenient. "Well he's... adorable." she said. Should she take him over to Kennedy? Should she keep cuddling him? What in the name of Merlin was the protocol for this situation? She sat down on a wall at the edge of the courtyard and left the cat on her lap - he could make his own decision about what he wanted to do.

What was she supposed to say? What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to feel? Aurora looked down, letting her hair block her view slightly. She was so confused. "I hate this." she muttered. Her eyes were stinging again - she knew it was inevitable that she would be crying again soon but she held back the tears for now. She messed with the sleeve of her jumper absentmindedly, the other hand fiddling with the chain of her new necklace. She'd been polishing it with a silver cloth whenever she was bored - it took away tarnish - and it was a little brighter than it had been when Kennedy had sent it, but it didn't really matter to her whether it was tarnished or not - it was so thoughtful... and he must still want to talk about something... right?

Ryan wandered down to the Cortyard with his guitar.He sat down on a seat and started to play his Guitar.He hadn't seen Chelsea in a while and hoped to see her soon.

Kennedy grinned down at Sebastian. HE was loyal! Hmph!

He picked up the while feline and pet him absentmindedly while watching Aurora. He nodded. Yeah, yeah, Oliver was adorable, everyone kept saying that, but that's not what he wanted to talk about with Aurora. He wanted to talk about them...about their relationship...if there still was one.

He cursed himself in his mind. He should STOP being such a coward. Yes, he was being a coward and all he was good at was running away, and that's exactly what he did the last time he saw her. He walked toward her and crouched beside her. He couldn't see her face because her hair was in the way. He slowly stretched his arm and with his hand he tucked her hair behind her ear. A small sign of affection.

"Me too," he whispered. He REALLY didn't like this. He set Sebastian down and sat down next to her. He was going to man up. Yeah, he was going to make the first move...and talk.

"I don't know what to do, Aurora," he said. "I'm afraid to say something wrong...and honestly, when you said you wanted to talk on that note..." he paused. His heart was hammering against his rib cage while he fidgeted with his hands. "...I don't want you to break up with me," he ended in a small voice.

GOSH HE WAS SO WEAK!

Sebastian purred as Kennedy pet him... though he still smelt like the Impostor-Kitty. At least he was getting a cuddle. He flicked his white tail from side to side with happiness and wriggled contentedly.

Aurora flinched slightly as he tucked her hair behind her ear - it wasn't that she didn't like it; she just wasn't expecting it. She looked up at Kennedy and brushed away the beginnings of tears. No, she was not going to cry. Not this time.

Sebastian looked up as Kennedy put him down. What? That was it? Really? The white cat turned away and ran up near to Aurora. He jumped onto the wall next to her and settled himself, glaring at the Impostor-Kitty. "Meoow..." That's MY spot.

"I don't want to break up with you." she said, her voice hoarse with emotion. "I just..." She paused and took a deep breath. "I don't know... It - what you... you thought - it made me... it... hurt." she managed, her green eyes finding his. "And I... just want to know... if you still think it's true."

Kennedy grimaced when she flinched and balled his hands on his lap. He looked up and saw her glazed eyes. Dang it! Couldn't he do anything right? Did Wayne's letter really mess him up that BAD.

He had to admit, her not wanting to break up with him gave him some relief, but she still made it clear that he hurt her. Which, he admitted to that too, unfortunately. He looked down at his hands and shook his head. "No," he said simply. He didn't believe that anymore. He realized that was his mistake. Not telling her about it when he had first been told, and instead he held it in for so long. "I messed up...bad," he said, still looking at his hands.

He's always been the insecure type. Years and years of being bullied and left out has created a thick barrier that when it was sparked by doubt it seem to spread in his mind. Then again, this wasn't just any person he was dealing with. It was Aurora, the person that had accepted him all awkward and self conscious.

"I'm sorry."


LAAAAAAAME!

Why was everyone so BLAH. Oliver wanted to PLAY. He looked up at the pretty girl that was holding him and he purred. Oh yeah! He looked over at the white cat and if cats could smirk Oliver totally did.

Na, na, na, na, naaaaaah!

The kitten was practically taunting the older cat by snuggling with the girl. Sure, he knew he belonged to the boy, but making the other cat mad was FUN! So, he was staying right THERE.

Good... so he didn't think that anymore. She had, however, begun to realise that maybe she acted a little too friendly around other guys - it seemed to make people talk. It wasn't her fault - she didn't see why she should act differently around her male friends to her female friends... that was just... silly. But then... it seemed like that's how it worked.

Aurora didn't say anything though, she didn't know what to say... He had messed up - she wasn't going to deny that. But she didn't want to just agree with him right there because, whatever he had done, he still meant an awful lot to her. And then... he sounded so sad. She picked Oliver off her lap and placed him next to Sebastian, then she stood up and wrapped her arms around Kennedy, burying her face in his chest. "I know..." she mumbled, shivering with the cold.


Humph! Impostor-Kitty was infuriating. Sebastian glared as he purred. The red-haired one was his human! Impostor-Kitty was on his territory!

And then Red Hair put Impostor-Kitty down next to him. Hehehe. Sebastian reached out a paw and gave I.K. a hard pat on the head, then he nuzzled into the young kitten. "Prreeow?" Friends? Now that he had been taught a lesson, of course. Sebastian looked down at I.K. waiting for him to answer.

Although it was weird to notice how he reacted to everything, Gwendolyn had to admit, it was kind of funny seeing how clueless he was. Tee hee…

Relieved that there was nothing behind her, the girl glimpsed back at Lewis. Come on, just because he’s so paranoid, that doesn’t mean I am too. Erm… what?, she told herself as he asked if she was all right. ‘Fine. Fine. Perfectly fine’, Gwen mumbled. Why wouldn’t I be fine? Psh… please, the third year thought and tried not to roll her eyes. And now about the newspaper- Duro? ‘Naah… forget it’, Gwen said and put the Daily Prophet back on the bench.

‘You do?!’, Gwen said, looking surprised. After repeating the incantation a few times in her head, just to make sure she wouldn’t forget it, the girl turned her head back to Lewis. ‘Erm… could you show me?’, the third year asked. It would be helpful getting to see how it is supposed to work.

Even though it was getting cold outside and there was snow covering the whole place, Gwen didn’t mind. Picking up a handful of snow, the third year made a snowball out of it and started twirling it in her hands. ‘How about making a snowman?’, the girl suggested as she looked back at Lewis.

With her coat tightly hugged around her body Chelsea walked to the courtyard. She sighed, she hadn't seen Ryan in weeks. Sitting on she bench she opened her charms book to read, until she heard that all to familiar noise. See whenever she heard a guitar, she immediately thought of Ryan. Though sometimes when she heard a guitar being played, she looked and it was someone else. Turning her head to the side it was Ryan. As she picked up her books Chelsea sat next to him on the bench. Not saying anything right now, she just lied her head on his shoulder. Mine as well just let him continue playing for a minute or two.