Chelle nodded. So this girl was in her house. Thinking back, she realised how many people she had met so far at Hogwarts, and how most of then were older than her. And this girl was even in her House! So far, she only knew a couple of people who were First Years. And both were Ravenclaws.

Fourth year, huh? Chelle frowned. Maybe she was just studying for next year. Or maybe she's a studious Ravenclaw. Most of them were, anyway. "It is my first year at Hogwarts," Chelle replied to her. And it is rather full of surprising things, too.

Taking the girl's hand and shaking it, Chelle introduced herself. "Nice to meet you, Gwen. I'm Chelle," she said, simply.

Gwen Greene. Gwen Stacy. Chelle showed the hint of a smile, as the girl's name reminded her of a character from her favourite Muggle comic book series.

As Alice went on and on and on and ooooooooooonnnn about him being supposedly naked - which he was not, and he wasn't as exposed as she described - and him caring about her health - another false accusation - and her real age, which wasn't that far from seven to him, the Gryffindor felt a strong urge to just shove her back into the pond. It was so easy… her eyes were closed, she'd never see him coming.

But he had to hold the urge. Hadn't Evs given him a speech or something about bullying? He wasn't sure, but for her sake he'd behave this one time. Not that Eddy was a bully in the first place… he just didn't like children. Which was fine because children didn't often like him.

UGH!
Why was she beaming so much!? The brightness of her smile was beginning to blind the poor boy; he had to shield his eyes for a second. Jeez. Why was she so happy? He didn't like it.

"Right. 'Cute'. I'm sure you'd know all about that," muttered the boy sarcastically. 'Cause Alice was the most un-cute thing he had ever stumbled upon in his life. "Well, Im going to change into some new robes. Why don't you do yourself a favour and change too?" suggested Edric. Alice's constant shivering and teeth-chattering was not only annoying him, but perhaps worrying him just very slightly. He'd never say that aloud, though. Stupid thirteen-year-olds not knowing how to take care of themselves.

BUT then he realized - they were BOTH Gryffindors. Oh no. No, he was NOT making the walk back to Gryffindor tower with Little Demon. "On second thought, you should hang around and tell the ducks of your… er, glory and new position as their queen," began the boy, taking cautious steps away from the blinded girl, his voice fading into the distance before he turned and made a run for it. Au revoir, Little Demon!

Trust. Pfff. Her boyfriend didn't have to know. Hadn't she ever heard of a secret? Milton just sighed and shrugged. It seemed like a waste to him. "Alright, Fine. Your loss." She'd regret it. Uh-huh.

Milton raised an eyebrow. And then narrowed his eyes. She'd come find him when the day came? "Promise?" he asked with a teeny smirk.

After being discharged from the hospital wing, Jez had gone up to Ravenclaw Tower and her lovely warm four-poster bed (so unlike the hard ones at the hospital wing). After tossing and turning for half the night, she'd finally surrendered to insomnia, put on some warm clothes and sneaked out of the tower and down to the pond. She'd sat there for hours, staring into the water, ignoring the sleeping ducks, until finally she'd fallen asleep.

Now, many hours and a stiff neck later, Jez woke up. She was curled up on the bank, shivering slightly under her winter cloak. A young duck had decided that she looked a suitable hot water bottle and had settled next to her to keep warm. Jez smiled but didn't move, just stayed in her warm cocoon of cloak and sleepily watched the sunlight sparkle through the trees at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Did she promise? "Yep. Though by then, who knows if you'd even want to kiss me." So maybe it would never even happen at all. Maybe it would, who knew, really?

Taryn nodded, "Would you like to shake on it?" Hehe.

Milton raised an eyebrow. That seemed like a silly statement to him. He actually liked Taryn. As... a friend. Friends with kissing benefits. Even if she didn't want them at the moment. "Let's see. Your smart, fun, and exceptionally pretty." Milton put on his thinking face... "Of course I'll still want to kiss you," he told her with a wink. Maybe it would be worth waiting for.

He smirked slightly and stuck his hand out for her to shake. "Yes, I do."

Slightly blushing Alex replied. "Thanks it is, isn't it." looking around at the others in the school while walking through a corridor or out in the grounds there seemed to only be very little people with a shade of red like herself. "Imagine it! That would be hilarious." she added with a grin.

"Just about yes. They met here and stayed friends and eventually started dating just at the end of 7th year." Sam had told her all this along with Josh when she was younger. "I miss my brothers... Last year was Josh's last, so it feels weird without him about." the lion told Jory. "My dad is an Auror whereas my mum tends to write stuff as a hobby/ business at home."

Well.... HEHE.

Taryn wanted to giggle at that, but she tried not to, Milton didn't need any more encouraging, did he? No. "Alright." She reached out and took his hand, giving it a swift shake.

There. It was decided.

Jory laughed as Alex blushed. "Yes, it would be, tomato face,'' he said grinning.

"Don't worry about it,'' he tried to reassure the Lion. He remembered how desperately he had missed his parents and sister when he first came to Hogwarts. "You'll have your friends and lessons to occupy your time,'' he added. "Your Dad has a cool job,'' the Badger said. He himself had thought of pursuing that career. "My Dad is a detective but my Mom just stays at home to take care of my sister.'' Jory wondered how they were. He hadn't written to them since two weeks ago and made up his mind he would do that later today.

"So, what was your life like when you were growing up?'' he asked.

Oh. So Chelle really was a first year. Gwendolyn gave a small smirk before looking back at the duck pond. This place wasn’t really what she needed. ‘How do you like Hogwarts so far?’, the fourth year asked, and remembered the great time she had a few years ago, when she herself was new here. For all she remembered, Gwen found it weird how huge she thought the castle was back then. That was perhaps because she was so small. Hmm. And there was so much to explore right at the beginning. She hated to admit it, but there really didn’t seem to be much left she hadn’t seen around here. And she was sort of curious if the younger girl had been exploring the castle. Gwen remembered how much time she spent in her first year wandering around the castle. But then again, she was one curious Ravenclaw, who wanted to see everything.Everything.

‘Nice to meet you’, she finally replied as she shook the girl’s hand. Well, this time Gwen could actually say that ‘nice to meet you’ honestly, because, unlike many of the people she had met recently, Chelle seemed to be more acceptable.

The fourth year glimpsed back at the pond and tried to convince herself that this place might have something interesting about it. Mehh. Not really. And Gwen was sort of sure she wanted to leave. Then again, she wouldn’t want to be rude to the younger girl, so she decided to stay a bit longer.

Milton smirked and shook Taryn's hand. "I look forward to our kiss, love." Milton winked and took his hand back.

"But for now, I best be on my way." Not that he really had anything to do, but he figured nothing exciting would happen in this meeting with Taryn. Milton stood and straightened out his shirt. He was in a much better mood than when he came here. "Enjoy your letter from you boyfriend." Hmph.

Jordan had been going out of his mind when he'd heard that Jez had frozen in the courtyard, he hadn't been allowed to see her at all and he had almost gotten into trouble with the schools healer when he'd attempted to burst onto the frozen ward to visit her. So when he'd heard that Jez had been released he'd been frantically searching the castle in search of his best friend.

He had been trooping accross the school grounds for most of the night in the hope that he'd find her, and he'd almost given up when he found a bundle of cloaks with a small duck snuggled up beside it. He immediatley knew it was her. He crouched down so that his darkly ringed eyes could meet hers, "Jezabel Black, freezing in the courtyard like that was weird... Even for you," he grinned down at her.

"Sure," Mikey grinned and took some candy. Though he wasn't very fond of Bertie Bott's because of the unexpected flavors, he decided to take some anyway. It would've been rude of him not to. Mikey chuckled at Gwen's comment. Anyone these days would need fresh air. Especially if they have exams coming up, which thankfully he didn't. But he did have the apparation test coming up. He really needed to pass it if he wanted to stop using floo network or brooms.

Was he alright? Kind of, but maybe Gwen could help him. "Well, not really. So story is that my best friend and I used to date but then we got into this argument because I had stopped talking to her for a couple of weeks and broke it off," At least that's the first half. "We still talk and all but I broke her heart and I just messed everything up," he finished. Mikey had never really talked to anyone about that. Except for his sister, but of course she doesn't blame him for obvious reasons.

Jez smiled at Jordan, noticing his ringed eyes and feeling a stab of guilt. He seemed to have been worrying about her. "Hey racoon," she teased, sitting up. The duck woke up with a startled quack and quickly waddled back to the pond in a flurry of feathers. It gave what seemed to be a dirty look at the pair before jumping into the water and paddling away, still quacking quietly in irritation.
Chuckling at the affronted duck, Jez glanced sideways at Jordan from under her fringe. "I don't remember what happened at all," she said. "One second I was playing with my wand in the courtyard, and the next I was lying in a bed in the hospital wing with a huge headache. I don't even remember freezing. It was like time stopped for me." She played with the sleeve of her school jumper, the end of which was several centimetres from her wrist, proof of her recent growth spurt. "The teachers didn't tell us a thing," she said, "although there was an orb. A smashed orb. Tate had in in a box ..."
An orb ... Jez felt a tug on her memory. She'd seen that orb before ... touched it ... but she couldn't remember when or how ... she just remembered ...
"Nate!" Jez looked up from her sleeve at Jordan. "Where is he? Did he freeze too?" She hadn't seen him since before she was frozen, and she had no idea how long that was. "It's the orb, he was there when I found the orb!"

Jordan smiled, realising that he must look a mess. "Not a racoon for long," he said as he concentrated on the dark rings which surrounded his eyes, making them vanish quickly.
He gave Jez a concerned look, "You didn't even realise that you'd frozen?" he sounded astonished as he asked the question and regarded the growth spurt, she'd seemed to have grown up a bit whilst she'd frozen. "I've missed your craziness though, it was really quiet after you froze -" he cut off when Jez mentioned an orb.
"Whats this orb?" he asked, "And you touched it? C'mon Jez, I know I'm the last person to be scrutinising you for touching stuff you shouldn't but... If it looked strange or dangerous you shouldn't've touched it!" he gasped and thought a moment, "I haven't seen Nate at all actually, I couldn't tell you whether he was okay or not... He wasn't there anytime I was trying to break into the hospital or anything, did he touch the orb as well?"

Jez laughed when Jordan said things had been quiet when she was frozen, and her mischievous grin stayed on her face while he tried to lecture her on not touching stuff that looked dangerous. "Jordan, it's me we're talking about here," she reminded him. "Telling me not to touch something is like making a promise with a goblin - it's not going to work."
A small worried crease appeared in her forehead as Jordan told her he hadn't seen Nate in a while either. When had Jez herself last seen him? She couldn't remember. "I don't know," she admitted. "I've got a complete mind blank there. I've got a complete mind blank on a lot of things." She bit her lip worriedly. This was exactly the sort of thing Nate loved - getting to the bottom of mysteries. She felt a pang in her stomach, realising how much she'd missed him. "What if he froze somewhere and nobody found him?" she asked, still chewing on her lip. "In the Room of Requirement or something?" She visualised Nate freezing while fighting the dummies and suddenly freezing. He'd get burnt to a crisp by the dummies if he had.

Pam walked down to the duck pond, hoping to get some fresh air, when she came across two familiar faces. "Hey there! Long time no see." She said, in a some-what faked excitment. She was glad to see them, but life had been oddly quiet and boring, and that scared Pam. She sat down next to Jordan, and glanced over at Jez. "I saw what happened down in the courtyard, are you ok Jez?" she remembered walking into the yard as they were carrying Jez off to the hospital wing. She had walked down to the hospital wing multiple times, but she wasn't allowed in.

Laura looked at Erin. "I'm glad." Laura smiled as she took out the equipment she would be needing and then she was knelt at the tree writing Laura Hope Hyde was here and the date and year." Laura giggled as she looked at it. "Your turns" she handed the equipment over to Erin. "It's easy and we can't get into trouble it not like we are doing anything dangerous or wrong, we are just putting our names in wood so people of the future can see we have been here."

Jordan snorted slightly, laughing at Jez's mischevious grin "I know Jez, what was I thinking?" he grinned, before his happy mood sobered slightly. "Does Nate go into the Room of Requirement on his own a lot?" he asked curiously, he knew about their regular trips to the Room and that Pam had also been in there with them so Jordan only felt slightly jealous that he had never been invited. "What sort of stuff goes on in there? Is he potentially in danger?"

Jordan smiled at Pam as she sat down next to him, noting the obviously faked sarcasm, he could read her like a book. "Hey there, where've you been recently?" he hadn't seen the other meta around in ages.

Ameliah stormed to the pond, furious at Tay, still clutching her pygmy puff Mel. She sat down, fuming, and did her best to mop up the puff blood everywhere. "I'm sorry, Mel... Tay was just being a jerk." she muttered, holding a rag to Mel's side.

Jez's smile lit up her face again when Pam joined them. "Hey!" she said. "I'm fine now, thanks. I don't even remember it happening, which is a little disconcerting. But how've you been? You look a little blue. Not literally blue," she added hastily. "Metaphorically."

"He told me not to, so I guess he wouldn't," admitted Jez. "I almost got myself killed in there once, and if it hadn't been for Nate following me ... I would've been toast. So it is pretty dangerous in there. We have these fighting dummies that shoot sparks from their fingertips." She turned slightly and lifted the back of her jumper and shirt a little, so a small but deep circular scar on her lower back, a little to the right of her spine, was visible to her friends. "I got that in first year from one of them. Hurt like hell."
She pulled her shirt down, and suddenly felt a stab of guilt at the realisation that Jordan had never been included in their trips to the Room. "Next time, you're coming too," she promised. "Time for you to realise the pleasures of duelling sparking dummies."

She smiled at Jordan, knowing that he knew how she felt. "I've been around. Mostly at Quidditch games." Mostly at yours. She never said that last bit, but it was true. She was always went down to support the Ravens, but any time the Gryffs were playing, she always kept an eye out for Jordan. But she just kept telling herself that it was just to make sure he was safe. But even she could tell there was something more under that.

Pam glanced at Jez's scar. She remembered going in there with them, and knowing how badly it hurt. She got hit once in the shoulder, and it wasn't fun. That was when she told herself going in there alone was a bad idea. "I've just been thinking about my parents a lot recently. And about Jared." Nothing was really happening. Nothing that pertained to Team Wolf anyways.

Jordan's smile thinned out slightly, "Oh.. So there is a slight chance that he could be in danger in there." he said, before looking at the circular scar. "Okay, there's a definite chance that he could get hurt in there"
He smiled slightly as Jez said he could attend their next visit to the Room of Requirement, "Thanks Jez, I think I need to duel these dummies I've heard so much about, I need to take my anger out on something,"

Jordan smiled at Pam when she mentioned quidditch, "Have you seen me play?" he asked excitedly. "I can't believe I didn't get to play against Ravenclaw," he complained, "I was on the sideline though.." that didn't count.. That wouldn't impress a girl anyway. He kept quiet when Pam explained about her parents and Jared, he'd also been thinking about Jared but he didn't have to face the pain of losing loved parents. Not knowing what to say, he wrapped a comforting arm around her in response.

Pam's smile grew as he mentioned his playing. "I have seen you play. You're really good. One of these years I'm going to get on the Ravenclaw team, and maybe we'll be ablw ro compete against each other." She really longed to play, but she enjoyed watching Jordan play with the same amount of enthusiasm. When Jordan put an arm around he, she fell silent. She just rested her head on his shoulder and whispered a 'thank you'.

"Oi!" Alex said playfully pushing Jory.

She smiled. "I should owl them soon to see how they are doing." the lion thought about maybe heading up later or in the morning. "I do it's just weird not having Quidditch to fill gaps in my free time like last year."

"It's pretty cool I guess but he has wanted to be one from a young age. Then there's me sitting with all the options under the sun and not able to pick one." Alex replied sighing. "Hmmmm well having two older brothers made it pretty fun, yourself?"