"How strange." Logan said. "You did?" he asked. "That's cool. Treehouses are real fun! I love mine at home. We decorated it to be all awesome and stuff...we painted it all these crazy colors." he said laughing.

The Skrewt heard a laugh and scuttled backward toward the trees on the edge of the pathway, suddenly embarrassed that someone miiiiiight have heard him tooting.

He clacked his lobster-like front pincers together and eyed the yellow-clad creature giggling. His stinger raised over his head in attack formation, the skrewt slowly crept toward him until another rear blast propelled him directly at the boy.

Rocket skrewt, burnin' out his fuse on the pathways alo-o-ne!

Oh, he hadn't meant to scare the ugly little thing away. That was the strangest looking crab-thingy he had ever seen. Maybe he should inform Williamson that there was something weird in the Pathways. He turned to go head towards the COMC Professors hut.

He took only one step when he heard the crab-thingy crawl behind him. Oakey turned when he heard a tiny clanging noise. Halfway through his turn there was one more fart noise and the Crab-thingy shot itself up and at Oakey's side!

OOoof!

The Ugly Rocket Crab hit his side and hard, knocking Oakey off balance! o_O

Ella nodded smiling. "They are fun! I really would like to see yours! It sounds amazing and knowing how good you are at painting, I'm sure it looks amazing too!" She meant it, he was a ridiculous painter.

Just then Ella saw some freaky looking thing creeping towards her fellow Hufflepuff...She recognized him from the gobstones match, he was the one that liked to cheer, right? And What on earth was that moving towards him?! She looked at Logan curiously and then back down at the thing. Wait a minute...why was that-that thing raising its stinger? Was it going to attack?!

Ella yelled, scared that the little crabby thing was going to seriously injure her fellow puff. "Oi! Oakey, are you okay?!" she said, running towards him.

While walking along the pathway, Gwendolyn thought of getting back to the castle. Truth be told, it was kind of freezing outside, and after having spent just a few minutes there, she’d started getting cold. Glimpsing back at the castle one last time, the Ravenclaw decided she should stay just a bit more outside. After all, she’d have to stay inside for the next part of the day catching up with some homework.

Trying to warm herself up, the girl started moving quickly towards the lake. If it weren’t so cold, I’d try drawing this…, Gwen thought as she looked at the beautiful landscape in front of her. Maybe some other time, though, the third year told herself and then picked up a handful of snow. After twirling it in her hands for a while, Gwen managed to make a snowball out of it. Then, not knowing what exactly she could do, she threw it, not looking at what it might have hit. Moving on…

The Ravenclaw's mind was buzzing. On one hand, she was extremely excited. The game was beyond incredible to watch, and Treyen was beyond amazing as Chaser. On the other hand, though, she'd be playing that wicked talented Seeker next. Which made her nervous.

For the time being, however, Ellie was excited. A grin was plastered to her face and the marks her teeth made in her lip were beginning to fade as she loitered around the Hufflepuff locker room, rocking from heel to toe, waiting for a certain someone to emerge.

It had become a habit to change right after the game. Why? Mainly because it was early January and he could easily catch a cold if he didn't. Especially since there was snow...everywhere.

Everything looked beautiful, didn't it? With the snow...and his girlfriend waiting for him...

...yeah, the last part was the important one.

The biggest smile ever was on the Hufflepuff's face, he hadn't talked to Lewis, he was going to do that in the Common Room, later, because he was focusing on someone else now.

"Hi, beautiful." He said, as he took both her hands in his, and leaned forward for a kiss.

Once Treyen finally came out, Ellie sighed and very nearly rolled her eyes. Must he have changed? She wouldn't be completely offended if he came out as he had been on the Pitch, you know. Besides, he looked excellent in his Quidditch uniform. Plus, it would have saved a few minutes.

Those thoughts barely had time to form, though, as she paused her rocking on her toes, squeezed his hands, and kissed his lips.

The knowledge of having plenty of other opportunities for kissing was what made her able to pull apart. That and her returned excitement. "You were amazing!" She exclaimed. "You were Chaser and you didn't get hurt and you were AMAZING!!" That was important, too. Treyen didn't cause her the worry that they both hated.

Mmhmm. Yes. The snow, Ellie, and the kiss. All perfect.

AND...he chuckled. There was a slight blush on his face, though, but it was very likely that it was there after the kiss.

Treyen blinked for a moment, she was oddly excited about that fact, about the fact that he supposedly was amazing as Chaser today. "Yeah, I got lucky today," he also got Oakey on his side, the boy was probably a lucky charm, or Treyen has been playing for the wrong position until now. He liked to believe it was all Oakey, really. "And Lewis made pretty awesome passes, it was almost impossible not to get them," it wasn't just him, the team was amazing today. Granted, Keefer did push them on the Pitch, though not as much as Melanie had. That Silent Lockhart had been the one who'd exhausted the Head Boy, even Miranda gave them chocolate during practices.

"Now we get to play you," usually, he'd freak out about it, but he didn't at the moment, he merely smirked. Of course, he'd freaked out a few minutes ago, no reason to do so again.

Ellie raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth as if she was going to say something. He HAD to be joking, right? Luck? He was putting his excellent performance on luck? Luck did not pass him the Quaffle. And it certainly didn't put the ball through the hoops. Not ALL those times. He didn't score ALL those goals on luck.

But it was completely useless, wasn't it? Treyen already didn't accept her 'Quidditch blood' theory, when she KNEW it was true. He was just GOOD at the sport. But...he'd never admit to it. Whether it was modesty or denial, Ellie didn't know, but he wouldn't accept that he had SKILLS. Still grinning, she shook her head, "Nevermind." She wouldn't say anything.

Lewis. "You have a lot of new people on the team, don't you?" A lot she didn't recognize, at least. "They're all really good, you know."

"I'm going to have to practice a lot." For the match against them. Definitely.

Funny, though, how she was just having that conversation. About playing against him.

Actually, maybe Eve brought it up because Hufflepuff was winning. That made sense.

Ah! But he noticed! It was rather difficult not to when you were only looking one way. They'd had this conversation before, even if it was slightly different, it was almost the same point.

Ellie gave up, though, he was certain that she wanted to say something other than 'Nevermind'.

"It probably runs in the family," he shrugged one shoulder as he smirked her way. Basically, he was saying she was probably right about what they discussed last year, but he believed this was ALL Oakey. Seriously. "Dad was a Chaser." Maybe Treyen and Kaika were both good as Keepers, but Kaika was better as a Beater...and Treyen as a Chaser as well? Keep in mind this was a one time thing. Ellie's Keeper was...

...it was Max.

Max was a great Keeper. A very tough one to beat. So, things may not go the same way. "Keefer made me practice too. As Chaser." So, it was the sum of a lot of things. Not just what Ellie referred to as 'Quidditch blood'.

"I know! They are! Alec is so talented. He's our Seeker." The one she's playing against. "And Lewis...I'll have to talk to Lewis." Messer had beaten Treyen to the hoops during practice, which meant that the passes should be directed at the first year too.

Once she mentioned practice, his smile faded, slowly, "I'll be seeing less of you?" If that was the case...then he was more than ready for the Quidditch season to be over.

Again, Ellie's mouth hung open. Only this time, it was out of surprise and satisfaction and glee. HE ADMITTED IT!!

"It DOES run in the family, Treyen!" She jumped slightly for effect. The snow crunched under her feet when she landed. HE ADMITTED IT!! It didn't matter if Treyen was only considering the 'Chaser' part. She knew it was an all-around thing. It was ALL of Quidditch that ran in the family.

Oh! The mention of his dad sparked her memory. "Speaking of your dad...guess what?" ...Yes, she was going to make him guess. No, she didn't expect him to know. How would he? Still...it was funner this way. Unless Max had gotten to him, first. But Ellie kind of doubted that. Both the boys were way too engrossed in their studies.

Okay. He practiced as Chaser. So what? He still had a natural ability. You could TELL. "Well Keefer is a very smart Captain." Knowing that Treyen was a man of many talents on the Pitch. Knowing that he could dislodge Treyen from the position he was comfortable in and still get fantastic results. A very smart Captain, indeed.

"He's very small. A First year, right?" Seeker's build. Ellie's best shot at their match, was if the boy had a sudden growth spurt of a foot or so. Wait. "Why's that?" That he had to talk to Lewis. "You said he was a good passer..." So, she failed to see why he needed to talk to him. Unless it was something completely unrelated to Quidditch. In which case, why would Treyen bring it up? "You also have Messer. I knew he'd be good when I met him." Truth.

Her face fell a bit as well. She freed one of her hands to place it on the side of his face, and leaned up, kissing him again. "Forgive me?" Or blame Alec. For being superb competition she needed to prepare for.

The Head Boy couldn't help but smile at her reaction. Cute, she was, when she knew she was right. Then he nodded. "It's...highly likely it does," and he gave her a look. That's as far as he'll go with this, he wasn't admitting anything, even though he truly was. Odd child. Instead of telling her once and for all that she was right.

Oh?

An eyebrow was raised. Speaking of his dad? Since when did they speak of the one Jack Lockhart, eh? "My dad?" Well, he could understand how weird it must be to Ellie when he'd asked how her family was, but..., "What do you know that I don't?" And he had to GUESS? Guess?! Seriously? "I'm not guessing...last time I guessed you said something about finally being able to do magic, remember?" Smirk. He was NEVER going to let it go. It was still amusing, even if it had been months since she turned 17.

The one part about Keefer being smart? Treyen nodded. He fully agreed. He was a smart Captain, a smart Hufflepuff, a smart boy. A good friend, too.

At the mention of those words, the Hufflepuff couldn't help but think of himself, he'd been one small first year too, though, he forgot about tryouts, but Miranda put him as Seeker when he was a short kid. "He is. First year." VERY talented, Eliana Stone, didn't you hear? But when Lewis became the topic...Treyen was about to mention why he wasn't the BEST passer...until she mentioned the reason. Messer. "Precisely that, the passes were only made to me...Messer is pretty good too, so, passes should also go to him...," GRANTED, Treyen didn't pass the Quaffle along, did he?

Instant blush.

Ellie knew how to ask for things, didn't she? "How could I not?" Especially with those blue eyes looking back at him.

She wrinkled her nose at him. Take THAT, Treyen Lockhart. He AGREED and they BOTH knew it.

Hehe. YES, his dad. She sort of felt pretty powerful knowing this. To be fair, it didn't necessarily have to do with his father directly. But it might. It very well could. It depended on when Treyen's dad stopped playing Quidditch, though, which...Ellie didn't know.

Oh, hey! "Which was really exciting!!" She. Could. Do. MAGIC!! Treyen could have EASILY guessed that. It was on her SEVENTEENTH birthday, after all. There were only a few things to REALLY be excited about on your SEVENTEENTH birthday. Honestly. "I got to use it over the holidays! I turned Aidan's hair all sorts of colors!" And she had the pictures to prove it.

But anyway, his dad. And Treyen really wasn't going to guess was he? Well that was NO FUN. BUT FINE. "Max's mum plays for the Arrows." So, see, it might not have anything to do with his dad. But his mention reminded her of it. This fun fact. "I don't know when she started... But Max asked when your dad stopped playing," Not really, but that was how Ellie remembered it, "and...I didn't have an answer." Still, there was that chance they might even have played together. Pretty cool coincidence, huh? "And, actually, they might know of each other anyway." Treyen's dad and Max's mom. Even if the former wasn't actually playing anymore. Because they still worked with the same team, right?

And Treyen was nodding. In agreement? She liked this. The agreeing thing. It probably wouldn't last long, but Ellie was going to savor this conversation so far.

Hmmm. "I wonder if he had prior experience..." Or if he was a natural Seeker and flyer. Alec. It didn't seem like he'd just gotten lucky or anything. Maybe it was just his size that gave him an extraordinary advantage. But, then again, the Gryffindor girl was tiny, too.

"Oh." That was true. "Maybe he just felt more comfortable with you." Treyen being older and everything. "But you didn't exactly pass to Messer either, did you?"

Hehe. "Good." Cause he didn't have much of a choice.

Ryan started his jog off at the Pathways by starting with some stretches.After about 5 minutes he headed off jogging.After about 20 minutes he decided to take a small detour by going the scenic route.He looked around and smiled.It was good to get out in the outdoors instead of being couped up inside studying.

Bam!He had tripped over a tree trunk and landed flat on his face,hurt his ankle and banged his hand hard.He slowly got up and brushed the dirt of his face staggering to the Hospital Wing

Agreements were being made without either of them saying it aloud. Nice. She'd better not get used to being right, though.

Oh, he chuckled and DID roll his eyes. He couldn't complain that she was still going on about it because he was doing the same thing, but it was incredibly amusing that she'd said it as if she hadn't been doing magic for the past five or six years. Anyway..., "Of course, I'm not disagreeing with you on that part." He said, a small smirk still on his face. It was exciting, coming of age, but being able to do magic had always been there. Oh, wait, and SHE got to use it to change someone's hair color? Seriously? "With his consent, right?" If Kaika had ever threatened to mess with his hair...well...he'd have broken her wand on purpose.

Wait. What?

Blink. Okay, he was going to wait for her to finish her sentences before interrupting. If Max's mom was playing for the Arrows as they speak, then she knows his father and his father knows her, considering he still represented the team, plus, Treyen must have heard of her since it was his favorite team. He was liking Max more and more.

When his dad stopped playing. Right. This was Treyen's turn to speak. "Then I must know her too." If she still played. "My dad...he stopped when I was two." Mmmhmm. He nodded, the smile on his face faded a little bit but not entirely, "So, around fifteen years...but then he went back to the team around eight years ago, I think, so, if she's still there, they do know each other." Heh, funny. The Wizarding world was just too small a place.

Back to Alec.

"Maybe he had, I hadn't found the time to ask him...," he started to say, as he looked into her eyes, "...doesn't matter much, really, because he still does a wonderful job." It didn't matter to him, it probably did matter to her, because she was playing against him.

And Lewis. He pondered on what she said for a moment, "Maybe, but it's still my first time as Chaser." Lewis probably didn't know that. "I...," busted, "...I didn't do that either." Shame on you, Lockhart. So, maybe he doesn't need to talk to Lewis that much.

Seriously, though, how could he possibly say that he wasn't going to forgive her for focusing on her responsibilities as Captain, eh? It wasn't just that, she liked to push herself even harder, but there was little he could do to prevent Quidditch from getting in their way.

Treyen just smiled. And then kissed her cheek. She wasn't planning on starting all that practicing today, was she??

Sam had enough with looking students walking in the path way.Looks like his cloths cant keep him warm any long.So he decided to go back to the castle.So far he was standing behind a tree.(So nobody knew if was there.)He didn't have much time.as soon as he stepped out of the tree............:@..bang....a snow ball hit his uncovered face.Actually he took a moment to realise that it was a snowball.He looked around to find out who did this.Then he saw the girl who is responsible for it.Few long steps and an angry and ice covered face appeared infront of her.
"What do you think you're doing." His wand came into his hand automatically. Enjoying the winter? " For a moment he remembered her face in the common room.She's from his own house.That reduced his anger a bit.

As she made a few more steps, Gwendolyn heard someone talking behind her. So now I have to apologize for you standing in MY way?, the third year thought while rolling her eyes. Turning her head, Gwen saw a younger boy standing there...and looking pretty angry. As soon as she saw his face covered with snow, the Ravenclaw couldn’t help laughing. It wasn’t probably the right time to laugh, but she really couldn’t help it. His facial expression was simply… priceless.

Then, Gwen noticed he took out his wand. Oh please, so you are going to do what? Jinx me?!, she thought and tried not to roll her eyes. ‘Yes, as a matter of fact I do’, the third year said calmly. What wasn’t to like about winter? ‘Oh, come on. Don’t be so dramatic’, Gwen smirked. After all, it was just snow. Psh.

Zack was walking through the pathways not concerned to look at the passes. It was already getting to cold that he felt felt that he was just about to colaps here. Cold wasn't his thing. So he thought of moving faster and gets some heat from the fire place in the common.

He walked as fast he could to reach the common room, just then his eyes flew to something he thought was getting wrong. Hmm...so what's that going on there. he thought still walking and looking at them. Ravenclaws do fight? hmm...interesting He soly saw slytherin fight. So, what's making them fight in such a cold? Something’s wrong. Maybe i should have a closer look

He walked towards the two of them who looked older than him.. But still he didn't care if he was a first year. He really wanted to know what's going on there. The by looked anger and the girl looked like sh didn't care so maybe he could do some help there. His mind was only thinking on what was there, not caring to look down as he walked towards them.

Incredibly dramatic this kid, the third year told herself. It was JUST snow. It wasn’t even her fault. The snowball chose to hit his face… ‘Sorry’, Gwen mumbled and looked at the boy. She almost never appologized for anything.So there- that was nice enough, right? Riiight?, she asked herself. ‘I don’t believe we met before…’, the Ravenclaw went on talking. And he didn’t look familiar to her… perhaps he was another first year. ‘I’m Gwen. Gwen Greene’, the third year smirked and extended her hand. See- she could be nice! From time to time…

As she was waiting for the boy to say something, the third year heard some steps behind her approaching the place where they were standing. Turning her head, the Raveclaw realized it was another younger student. ‘Hello’, Gwendolyn said curtly. Is there something wrong?

Zack unaware of where his curiosity had taken him was now stading in front of them and still staring at the boy. Not realizing what was he doing there after all.

"Oh" he said as he noticed the girl talked finally. Hmm...so now what am i to say? Why was i here anyway?

He thought for a while and said "Ah...i was just passing by and i think i've seen you somewhere" not to mention it was just now he had seen her. He looked back at the boy who seemed to be a bit cooled down now. He looked back at the girl and smiled his cute smile.

At first his anger went over his head.But her calm voice made him little bit patience.

''you think this is funny eh? I wish I can give you something painful and trust me if I was a Slytherin you will get one."

Sam is a good guy.He know how to manage his temper.He put his wand back in his pocket and then wiped his face with his hand. Then an idea came to his mind. He grabbed as much as snow he could get to his right hand and said
" how about I'm giving you a make up with this ha....?" looks like his anger is almost gone now.

As he got closer to the, Gwendolyn thought he was probably a first year. One curious to find out everything that’s happening around… Tee hee. ‘All right?’, the third year mused. She had no idea if they had met before. Probably not. She couldn’t even recall seeing him somewhere around. ‘Oh, well… I’m Gwen. Nice to meet you’, the Ravenclaw grinned.

Aaaanyway- ‘What do you say of a snowball fight?’, Gwendolyn raised her eyebrows. She really needed to do something in order to prevent herself from freezing. And plus, it might even be fun…

Oi… the younger student seems to be quite mad…, Gwen told herself as she tried thinking of something nice to say. Something that would make him stop dramatizing. After a few moments of thinking, the third year hadn’t come up with anything. What am I supposed to say, anyway? ‘please realize that I ONLY hit you with a snowball?!’ Psh…, she told herself, trying again not to roll her eyes.

*blink-blink*

He was gonna whaaat? ‘Oh come on…’, she started saying and hoped she sounded clam enough. Truth be told, she hoped he wasn’t going to throw so much snow at her. You have got to be kidding me… ‘Hey- clam down’, Gwen gestured with her hand. Really. He should stop being angry. And stop overreacting.

"Ha ha ha......that would be great. Ho ho we've got some company. I'm Sam by the way. Sam Snape.Second year.I'm a Ravenclaw too.I've seen you in the common room. So we're cool now and you still got some payback." Sam placed his handful of snow on her face.Then he smiled. Then he turned in to the new arrival "hello"

Zack looked up all confused at the girl as she didn't say anything about their meeting each other. Oh, so she agreed....lol that's funny he was just about to grin but then stopped as he heard the girl say her name.

"Oh well, hello! I'm Zack, Zack Tatum." he said and smiled. "Nice meeting you too" he said and then again looked at the boy beside. Is he still angry he couldn't make out from all his expression.

Wait what? Snowball fight? Interesting! But i don't want to get cold! Who cares? Mum's not around he thought smirked.

"Oh, great! FUN" he said aloud and gathered some snow and threw at her.