After hearing rumors about a certain Slytherin someone trying to steal one of his ducks last term, Waylon realized that he was going to have to keep a better, more watchful eye over the pond. He had absolutely no idea why someone would want to steal the ducks, though. It wasn't like they couldn't just visit the animals everyday!

But it had happened, and as soon as he had finished his breakfast at the castle, why wouldn't the house elves deliver food to his hut? It wasn't like they couldn't just apparate, Waylon made a beeline straight for the pond. But, instead of spotting the Slytherin thief, his eyes landed on someone else, and he switched his direction and headed for her. "Cece." he greeted with a wave, and just helping himself to the empty seat next to her on the bench. Surely she wouldn't mind, right?

If she didn't want anyone to sit next to her, she would have taken up all the space.. somehow. "Not used to seeing you out of the castle."

Brooke thought back, pretending to have a flashback of some sort about her teacher, even though she really wasn't. Yep, Mrs Jones had always been nice to her, so she nodded. "Yeah, she was. She was suuuper nice and stuffs." She'd always let them do colouring in class when they'd finished their work. heh. "Um im not sure, a good different way though."

That was such a cool way to have your name remembered. "That's so awesome, I wish i had something cool like that to remember my name by." People even sometimes forgot her name, which Brooke didn't really like. heh. Oh well. "I fink people do like the game, I like the game." Brooke said proudly, pointing to herself as she said the word I. A giggle left the girl's mouth as he called her 'Brooke the Second year' she felt so mature and stuffs, even though she was only twelve and not nearly as smart as a lot of the first years were. heheh. "Hi Tag, the first year." and he said they could be friends, this was so exciting! "Yay! I like new friends." hehe. she did very much, it was true.

And then she sighed, looking over at the ducks. "I wish i could haff a pet duckie."

Theodore was running through the grounds, and it was taking ages for him to cover every place. These grounds were huge! His tiny legs stopped at a pond and he dipped his hands in to splash across his face.

Panting, the boy laid down. He was no athlete, OK.

Once he caught his breath, he looked to his side, only to find a duck sitting beside him. Sunbathing, it looked like.

"Argh!" He bolted up, then relaxed. Just a duck.

Although it belonged in the water. Theodore tried to shoo it away, but he quickly got nervous.

Indy was pretty glad that she duck pond was still here. Indy liked the ducks. But it also meant that Daichi was going to be happy. That was good. The grounds were so coool this year. Indy really couldn't wait to spend all her time out here. She was totally going to bring her books out here to study too. It was going to be fun. And so with Pink Ted under her arm Indy was wandering towards the duck pond. She knew Daichi was going to be out here. Indy had had a feeling that it was probably the first place he'd been too. And she wanted to see him, so that was exactly where she was going too. Maybe he could introduce her to the ducks. Indy was pretty sure he was very close to the ducks. He was the duck boy.

Oooh. There he was. Oh....with another girl. Indiana paused in her walking, just watching the pair. It was weird. She had a feeling inside. One that she didn't understand. But she kind of didn't like that Daichi was here with another girl. It was confusing. She shrugged it off, and kept on walking towards Daichi. "Hey Daichi...."

Daichi couldn't help it. He grinned from ear to ear. It was good to know that his duck plushy was something that people liked. Not that he cared if anyone didn't like Mr.Duckles. "Thanks!" he said, feeling his cheeks blush a little as he pushed his glasses up with the help of his fingers. "His name is Mr.Duckles and he's my hero"

Nodding his head frantically at the young Ravenclaw's words, Daichi listened how she talked about moving and parties. "So you're adopted?" of course she was , she just said that! "Oh i like parties! There always so much fun. I went to Paris this summer~"

Daichi continued to splash his bare feet in the water. Effectively scaring a few ducks and when he saw what he was doing to them he pouted and stopped. Pulling his feet out he placed them on the grass to dry.

It was at that point that he heard a voice. A VERY familiar voice despite having only seen her three times now. His cheeks flushed a deep red shade and he wasn't even looking around! He knew who it was but could not explain why he was blushing. Clearing his throat he turned around to see Indy~ "Haaaiii!" he waved his arms with Mr.Duckles in his right hand at her. In the corner of his eyes he saw Mr.Murdoch and the Healer on the other side of the pond..hmm maybe he should thank the man later for keeping the pond?

Making a mental note, Daichi turned back to Indy. "Sit sit!" he said and patted the grass on his left because Ameliah was still sitting on the other side. "Indy this is Ameliah" he smiled before pointing at the water and to the white duck. "AND that's Floppy!!" he squealed.

Angelo was certain that this school had everything. Everything that students could want and more. He was so glad that he wanted to go here with his sister and that his parents allowed them to because it was much better than Durmstrang ever was. They even had a pond, a DUCK pond to be exact. Ducks weren't Angelo's favourite animal but the idea of having a pond here was relaxing, even if ducks could make really loud quacking noises. Angelo looked around him and saw quite a lot of people here for all different reasons, some people wanted to see the ducks, some were just talking to other people and some...some were just being plain weird.

It made him uncomfortable and he had absolutely no idea why. Nevertheless, Angelo sat down focused his eyes on the ducks in front of him.

Indy still didn't really get why she was feeling weird about Daichi talking to another girl. He obviously would've had lots of friends, he was a awesome guy. But she couldn't figure out why she didn't like it. It was wierd. And she didn't like the feeling. But Daichi was here, and they were friends. And they could have soem fun again. Oooh. He had Mr Duckles with him! That was epic. Indy liked Mr Duckles a lot. He was cute. Just like Daichi was. Wait...did she think Daichi was cute? Indy didn't know. Little girls were cute, and teddy bears. But boys? Indy didn't know. Things were just confusing.

Oooh. Daichi wanted her to sit? Indy giggled, sitting herself down beside Daichi. This was nice. The weather was nice. Not too hot, but not too cold either. It was good weather to just have her pretty blue cardigan on. It probably didn't go with her green top that she had on underneath. But Indiana was kind of aware of that. Oh. Hi new girl. "Hi." Indy smiled, as she sat crossed legged and placed Pink Ted onto the ground between her legs. "I'm Indy!" The girl had a pretty name. But now Daichi was distracting her my duckies. "Awwwwww." Indy giggled with a big smile. "He's cutee!" Indy nodded with a big smile. "I'm glad the pond is still here."

He was pleased to see her smile. It didn't appear to be false or forced, which indicated the truth of her reply. She did indeed find his presence to be a pleasant occasion. This thought made him return her smile with a grin of his own. "Congrats on your Sorting, by the way. I think you'll really enjoy Hufflepuff." And Keefer certainly wouldn't mind seeing her face around the common room. I should spend more time there this year.. he mused.

She lost no time in sharing her news. Signed up.. for... oh! Duh! She was talking about Quidditch, of course. "You did? No, I haven't been down to the Pitch yet! That's great!" His eyes took on a glazed look as he had a brief vision of her hair streaming out behind her, catching the light as she sped down the field. He mentally shook himself back to the present. "Too bad? I'm pretty sure you'd be a fierce opponent. I, for one, am abundantly happy about it," he said, hand on his chest to emphasize his point. Not to mention the distraction she would provide if she were to shoot the Quaffle in my direction.

"Yeah, it is. I find the ducks to be calming." His heart skipped a beat as he recognized her invitation to sit. "Don't mind if I do!" He made his way to the spot she indicated, half tripping over his feet on the way. He prayed that she didn't see, his cheeks slightly pink with embarrassment. Smooth, Keef. For all his coordination in the air, he sure didn't have any on the ground. He flung a piece of the bread into the pond before he flopped himself down in the grass where she had indicated. Tearing off another chunk of bread, he proffered it to her. "Would you like to feed the ducks with me?"

Kaitlyn was bored, she'd gathered no new friends during the holidays, so she had no one to hang out with. Poor Kat! And people kept welcoming her, but as a First Year and although it was her first year, she was a Second Year! Sure, she her birthday was on a day that if she was one day younger she have been in first year..but still and she was smaller than nearly all of the first years.

Kat sighed, trying to expel the anger she was feeling for her birthday and height. She jogged over to the duck pond and splashed her face water. Then she shook out her long brown hair and laughed as water droplets trickled down her neck.

She looked up to she a boy further down the pond, also splashing his face with water. He looked quite cute Kat thought absently. And nervous, she though tilting her head slightly as the boy jumped at a duck.

Gathering up all her courage, she went over to the boy. This would be why she'd made no new friends really, she was too shy, well when she didn't know the person she was talking to. She hesitated for a moment but then tapped his shoulder. "Hey," she said quietly.

Theodore's eyes were 100% on the duck. It was sleeping, or so he thought. It's eyes were shut anyway. But he felt any sudden movement would wake it.

"AHHHHHH." SOMETHING WAS POKING HIM.

Theo jumped to his feet and stood in a kung-fu position, half expecting an army of ducks. But it was a girl. Oh, man.... He lowered his arms and sighed in relief.

"Sorry, thought you were a duck..." Because APPARENTLY, ducks had fingers to poke people with.

-__-

"Hellow." He said.

Kat prodded the boy's shoulder and he promptly jumped up and went into a fighting position. Kat jumped back too, her brown eyes wide. Then when the boy lowered his arms to his sides, she sighed in relief. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she said quietly.

A duck? He'd thought she could have been a duck? She chuckled nervously. "It's alright," she said, smiling shyly at the boy. "I'm Kaitlyn, but you can call me Kat," she held her hand so that he could shake it.

"Ohhhhh, you didn't scare me." He just thought she was a duck. Simple. He was EXPECTING the attack. Theodore sat back down next to the sleeping duck, feeling much more relaxed around it now.

"Hey." She stuck out her hand, and Theo scanned it for a moment.

Eww, he didn't wanna touch a girl. Coooooooties. But he did anyway, to be polite. Shake, shake. "My name's Theodore." THEODORE THE GREAT.

"Of course you weren't," she said with a light laugh. It's not like he had sprung up with fear in his eyes.

"Nice name," she smiled at Theodore. "Mind if I join you?" she asked, gesturing to the ground, her voice a little shyer this time. She wanted to sit down with him, A, so that she could hopefully make a friend and B, so that it wasn't as obvious that he was taller than her!

Theodore narrowed his eyes. She was laughing at him. Not acceptable. Slytherins were not to be laughed at because they were MEAN. He very much wanted to live up to the name of his house, sometimes.

I know, right? He said to himself about his name.

"Sureeeeee!" FRIIIIIIIIIIIENDSHIP was on the horizon. Theo liked this, even if it was a girl.

"What house are YOU in? I'm in Slytherin." He said proudly. Yeah, he had moved on from his Gryffindor ambitions now.

"Oh, lighten up," she said kindly, nudging him slightly. She mocked him by narrowing her eyes back at him.

"Thanks," she said, plonking herself down by his side and grinned and him.

"Don't kill me. I'm a....HUFFLEPUFF!" She said this with a growl in her throat. She hated it, even if it did annoy her parents. It meant everyone expected her to be super kind. That wasn't her though and I guess she could blame her Slytherin family for that and her shortness.

Yep, if in doubt, blame her shortness. It worked everytime!

Theodore stumbled when she nudged him. BLHHHHHH, people at Hogwarts were violent! "Hm." He said grumpily when she narrowed her eyes.

WHY WOULD HE -

"I won't KILL you. I love Hufflepuffs." Yeah, one of his good friends was a Hufflepuff. "It's the Ravenclaws you need to look out for." He leaned in to whisper to her. Yeah, they could be anywhere. Those claws.

Meepr.
"Would you like a chocolate frog?" He asked, out of tradition when meeting a new person. IT WORKED. People loved a good froggie.

"Oh, come on. I didn't push you that hard," she protested when he fell to the side. She carried on smiling anyway though.

"Oh, that's a relief! I heard you Snakes don't like Puffs," she admitted. "Really?" She asked, looking around for any lurking blue claws.

Kat giggled, like she often did when given/offered/anything chocolate! "Yes pleaseeee!" She said, bouncing slightly on the spot.

With her hands tucked in the pockets of her jeans as she made her way down to the duck pond, which was probably the most favorite place to visit in the grounds. OH. She stopped walking when she noticed how crowded it was..gosh. And..she'd been expecting it to be empty. Maybe she should just turn around and leave but..she was here anyway. It made no sense to just walk all the way back to school. So, she just walked towards the pond, pushing her hair back from her face.

The Prefect sat down and looked at the ducks, with a small smile on her face. She noticed someone sitting nearby..alone. "Erm..hey." She gave the guy a smile before she resumed looking at the ducks. Ah, so cute.

Theodore cleared his throat, "I know... I just feel... dizzy today." Yeah, that's right... Sheesh, Theo was starting to turn into a compulsive liar. He seemed to say ANYTHING to make himself appear cool.

"Well, I dunno about the others, but I am a NICE Slytherin." With an evil side, too. Do not forget.

"Yeah! One of them threw a CAULDRON CAKE at the Slytherins." Marked them for life, hadn't he. Those Ravenclaws. In fact, the only Claw he liked was Blue. But she DID like puke... so it did make her a bit weird. Theo smiled when she wanted a frog.

"I gotta take the card, though." Cards were important. He handed one to her and watched her like a hawk.

Kat wondered about this, but let if go anyway. Just to be nice. "Sure, whatever you say," she laughed and her grey eyes sparkled.

"A..nice Slytherin?" She asked, with a mock gasp. "Well, I'm a feisty Hufflepuff," she said, winking at him and clawing the air in front of her. What with a family of Slytherins, what else could have been expected from her?

He needs the card? Whatever. She needed the chocolate! She took the frog and popped it in her mouth, MMMM! Great! "Thanks," she mumbled and chucked the packaging and card back to him. If he was taking the card, he could have the packaging too. "Who's on the card?" She asked curiously, trying to peek at it over his shoulder.

Avery made her way to the duck pound and sat down near the shore. The ducks and ducklings were so cute and fluffy she wanted to pet one. Where was her sister? She thought to herself and sat back, sunning herself in the rare warm sunshine of England. Then she scooted forward and dipped her toes in the cool water.

Hey sis she said with a smile.did get chance to Owl mum and dad and our brothers.i was going to but jasper didn't feel so well.so what do wanna name a duckling so we can come back and see him or her.

"Yeah I sent them a letter with my owl Ledger. Hopefully they write back!" Avery said and looked out at all the ducks
"I like that one!" Avery pointed to a small duckling
"Lets name it Turnner!" She cried coming up with the name of her old dead cat.

I think they will to she smiled and then look at the ducklings.i'll name one of them Rosie she smiled.i think one who the smallest out of ducklings she smiled.She hugged her sister tightly.

Avery hugged her sister back
"Turnner and Rosie, that is too cute!" Avery laughed and smiled up at her twin.