Short stack had proved Ed's point without even trying. "See?" He raised his eyebrows, hoping the kid would understand what he was trying to say. "I wonder if they would. It only snows here for a few weeks or days here." He was going to miss the snow. Sigh.

"Uh, some need something, like a specific thing to be rubbed on it. Some need to be touched in a certain place, some have certain 'rituals' to open them." He'd found a secret room at Durmstrang that required a food offering to open. Ed still didn't know where that food all went. "Lets!" It'd be fun to find something! And not care if they looked like idiots while they were doing it.

Dylan nodded he could see why people would want to get more correct answers than incorrect, it would save them from getting attacked by a white cold ball coming right at you. "We should ask! Ask some of the nicer ones if they would allow this activity to happen, we would learn new things that way and sometimes its the better way to learn" he would have study now just in case they did this snowball question thing cause there was no way he was getting hit by one of those balls

Dylan listened as Edmund told him about the different types of walls "Wow that sounds so cool! I wonder what kind of walls we will find here." he said looking around to see if there any clues as to where the doors were and what kind they were. Hopefully the ones that just need a touch and they reveal their secrets, his face then lit up as Edmund agreed to start touching the walls to see if any of them moved or shook or something to indicate there was a secret room.. or two

"Definitely. Or one of the eviller ones. I'm sure they'd take great pleasure in asking really hard questions and pelting us when we get it wrong." Now THOSE were fun lessons, when you had to know what you were talking about. He usually studied the whole book the night before he knew one of these lessons were coming up. It gave him an advantage.

"It is cool! Especially when you find one." Short stack looked excited at the prospect of finding something, so Ed put his map away in his pocket and moved to the closest wall. Tentatively putting his hands on it, he held his breath until they made contact and let out a disappointed sigh. "Well, that was anti-climactic." And thus, the search began!

Dylan wasn't too happy about asking the eviler ones "Oh yeah they would! That's why we ask the nicer ones that way we get to pelt them instead of us getting pelted. " cause it was more fun that way pelting the professors instead of getting pelted. He was not sure he liked the idea of the hard questions either "Does it have to be hard questions? Cause it would be more fun if it was easy questions and we get to pelt the professor. " he chuckled cause that's what he wanted. Easy questions and the chance to pelt the professor.

He was excited to hear Edmund say that it was cool "Oh yeah! It has to be cool! You get to uncover a secret room that no-one knows existed, and... and there might be some awesome stuff inside that room. " and he certainly did want the awesome stuff that could be in the room. He watched as Edmund put the map in his pocket and walked towards a wall and touched it to see if there was a reaction, Dylan watched very interested to see if there was. But was disappointed that there was nothing, even Edmund was disappointed. "Yeah it was, was hoping for the opposite" opposite! What about the opposite wall! Dylan rushed over the wall opposite the one they had touched, he touched it slowly and waited to see if there was anything... waited.... waited... nothing! "Oh man!! Just another boring wall!!!" he almost wanted to yell out in anger at the wall for not being a secret one.

"Yeah, but if they give you nice and easy questions, you'll never learn anything new." It was no fun knowing you were going to be right all the time! "Heh. You just want to hit the professor with a cold ball of 'stuff ya', don't you?" Ed looked down at Short Stack amusedly.

"Exactly! I found myself a perfect sudying room at Durmstrang." It was boring, but totally worth it. Especially since Ed had done pretty well. Short Stack's reaction to the walls being unresponsive was amusing. He had to laugh. "I'm sure there'll be one in the castle somwhere."

Dylan listened before showing a little frown "Learn? well yeah the whole point the game is to learn." he nodded "You know, learning to aim, duck when a ball is coming at you... and stuff" well it was natural to learn all that when playing the game "Oh yeah and all the classes stuff too" though that wasn't important to him anyways. Dylan couldn't help but burst out laughing and nodded enthusiastically as Edmund "Yup!! bestest part about the game! hitting a professor square in the face with a hard cold ball" oh yeah he was so wanting to do that!

"Study room? did you find anything like a room with awesome cool stuff in it. Like.. potions or extra wands orrrrrr... just cool stuff that we can have fun with.. OH! like things that explode!! they are always fun!" he chuckled as she asked about the rooms, hoping he would find one that was cool and awesome not as boring as a study room.. bleugh! Dylan looked at Edmund and nodded "There had better be, I mean a castle this big has to have many secret rooms! I mean there is alot of space for extra rooms that no-one knows about!" he shook his head a little.. there just had to be a room somewhere!

"Yeah, but I mean learn school stuff." It was amusing that DJ wanted to turn this learning exercise into a physical education class. Learning useful stuff seemed to be an afterthought to Short Stack. He ended up laughing with him. "Well, the face wouldn't be too kind. Think about where you'd want to be hit if the tables were turned." It wasn't nice being hit back in the same place, especially if it was the face.

"I did actually. I found a spell practice room. It was great fun when we challenged each other to duels for fun." He grinned, remembering all the fun times and trips to the hospital wing. "I'm hoping to find something like that here..." he looked around once more, but then nodded in agreement with DJ's assessment of the castle. "I'm sure there's one somewhere." Just not right here. He slid his hands over the wall, searching for anything, but came up with nothing. "No luck?"

Dylan raised his eyebrows as Edmund went on about learning stuff! "Well we are learning arent we, but we are just going to be throwing the snowballs too! Cause thats more fun than actually learning the school stuff, but I aint saying that we wont be learning school stuff cause we will of course" he chuckled. Cause he loved throwing snowballs and stuff, but if they had to learn stuff too then he would as well. But only cause he had to in order to throw snowballs at people.

Dylan thought about what Edmund said "Yeah true, but then you dont give them the opportunity to hit you back, simple as that! It's a win-win situation, you get to hit them with a snowball you win, and they cant hit you back you win again." see a win-win situation, and thats what Dylan wanted and liked. He wanted to be able to have a snowball fight, with learning but more fighting AND he wanted to be in that win-win situation.

As Dylan listened he smiled "A spell room? Awesome!! Did.. did it have spell books and stuff to teach you new spells?" he asked eagerly wanting to know about this room that he had found. His eyes then went wide "You did duels too!? Awesome!! Oh man so cool!! Oh we gotta find one of those in this castle.. we just gotta!!!" he said almost bouncing on the spot in all his excitement about a spell room!

He grinned as Edmund said that he hoped to find one room like that in the castle, Dylan started looking around to see if there was any clue as to where this room could be, but no clues so he looked back at Edmund just as he too was touching the walls to look for the room. Dylan went to another wall .. touched it.. poked it... stroked it... nothing. He looked at Edmund and shook his head "No luck." he said disappointed again at not finding anything.

"True." He agreed, smiling at the mention of throwing snowballs. He still did target practice every morning just in case. "But if you miss, you don't get another chance." He warned him with a badly hidden grin. This kid had potential. "It's win-win for you. Lose-lose for the professor." Right?

"It did! They had some awesome spells in there." He remembered trying out new ones and having some tried out on him. That'd been a fuuuun weekend. Explaining why his hair had been yellow had been interesting though. "Yeah, we did them in secret." The professors would have gone crazy if they'd found out! He watched Short Stack trying to contain his excitement with great amusement

"Shame." He sighed, looking around once more. "Shall we try somewhere else?"

Hunter strolled down the sixth floor corridor and searched for anyone he could possibly know. He had spent a lot of time locked up in the Slytherin Common Room that he had forgotten other people actually existed. He figured that if he couldn't find a single person to talk to then he'd just go show off his face in the Great Hall and eat his face again. It had already been a good two hours since he had last eaten and he was sure that he'd start getting hungry anyway. He continued walking down and winked at a few first years that were obviously gawking at him and waited to find someone to talk to.

Logan was searching for Ness so that she could get her birthday present, but of course she was nowhere to find. It was rather annoying how people were never around when he needed them. Scrunching his face up as he continued to walk, he started trying to send Hufflepuff brainwaves out to Ness.

Come to the sixth floor corridor... time to get your present...

He was so wrapped up in what he was doing, he didn't even notice if there were other people walking in the hallway. Probably not the smartest thing to do when looking for someone.

Reaching the end of the corridor and finding no one he knew, Hunter turned around and practically ran into this other guy that was behind him. "What the?!" He stopped abruptly and looked the boy up and down. This guy looked really familiar. "Didn't I....see you at the, um, the feast?!" Or at least that was when he thought he had seen him. "Or maybe not?" He had been the kid that wanted the potatoes or something!

Merlin's beard! Logan's heart almost jumped right out of his chest as he saw a person enter his field of vision. It was so close to a collision, that it was amazing that it had been avoided.

Taking deep breaths to get over the shock, Logan looked the boy over as he was asked if they had met at the feast. Hmm. "I think so... you gave me potatoes?" Logan distinctly remember wanting potatoes and having to go over to the Slytherin table to get them. Mmm. Potatoes.

So it was him! "I did!!" Hunter had thought he seemed rather nice at the feast but extreeeemely hungry! This was his kind of friend, especially compared to Mikey. His frenemy only because his cousin and girlfriend seemed to like the guy for ridiculous unknown reasons. "I'm Hunter Pierce! Seventh year!" He held out his hand, waiting for the younger lad to shake it. "What are you doing alone up here?" Surely he had much more interesting things to do? Even if it was going to go find some potatoes to eat. Anybody that loved food as much as Hunter did was somebody worth knowing. Hailey didn't call him fatty for no reason....even though Hunter Sean Pierce was anything but fat.

With a smile, Logan took the offered hand and shook it. This guy seemed nice, and cool. "Nice to meet you, I am Logan MacKenzie. Fifth Year." And he was sounding so dreadfully formal right now. It was cool to meet an older student. Even though his brother was technically a year older, it didn't count because Mason had failed Fifth Year. Snicker.

Wait... What was he doing here? Wracking his brains for a moment, Logan suddenly remembered. "I am looking for Ness so that I can give her a present." He had it in his bag, which he had magically expanded so that it would fit. "What are you doing alone here?" Surely it wasn't rude when he had been asked that very same question.

Harvey decided to walk around the school, he just couldn't sit still these days. Whenever he sat down to relax a certain someone decided to invade his mind and he ended up grinning like an idiot. So he decided he needed to get out and have a walk to clear his mind of other things and just enjoy the thoughts of her that he had. He just couldnt believe that he had spent New Years with her, it was their first one as a couple and since that day just thinking about it got him grinning. Oh he wondered what Ella would think of him if she saw him now, grinning like he had won the lottery or something. Well... maybe he had, having Ella around was like winning the lottery so he had every right to be grinning like an idiot.

Ella had been busy practicing some of the spells she'd learned in Transfiguration and her brain was definitely ready for a break. Gathering her books, the third year headed out into the corridor with every intention of going to get something to eat. Food was definitely on her mind at the moment, which was pretty typical for Ella. Another thing on her mind was a certain Ravenclaw boy who she hadn't really seen since they got back from break. She was hoping that would change soon though, as she really missed Harvey.

...

O__O

Speakingoftheboyfriend. Grin. The third year caught sight of him and stopped in her tracks, a wide smile on her face. "I was just thinking about you." She said by way of greeting, shifting her books from one arm to the other. "Where have you been hiding, anyway. I've missed you."

He looked up at the sound of a very familiar voice one that he had gotten so used to hearing that he would be able to recognise from anywhere. He smiled as he looked at her, it seemed that no matter what she wore she always looked good in it. "You look nice!" he said gesturing towards her clothes "You were? I was thinking about you too" he said walking upto her and placing a hand on her cheek "Nowhere, I cannot hide from you. Look you found me already. I have missed you too!" he said in a low voice since he was close to her. He looked at her before looking around to see if anyone was around, seeing there wasnt he smiled at her and gave her a kiss. Hey he could do that now, they had kissed a few times before and now he was getting used to the fact that he could in fact kiss her. Man he loved the feelings he got when he kissed her, it was like he was floating away with her... all those feelings that he could not describe were flowing through him right now.

Ella raised an eyebrow, looking down at her outfit. This was nice? Shrug. She grinned up at Harvey, pulling on his own shirt gently with her free hand. "Thanks." Tug. "You look really nice too." Not that he didn't always. Handsome guy, Harvey Watson. She was quite lucky to have him. The third year bit her lip to prevent the huge smile threatening to show when he revealed he'd been thinking of her too. "You were, huh? That's good to know." It was nice knowing someone you thought was really special thought about you when you weren't around. It made it really hard not to feel special too.

The fourteen year old felt the heat in her cheeks as soon as Harvey placed his hand there, eyes traveling from his hand to his face with a curious smile. "I'm a badger, you know. We're particularly good finders." And yes, she stressed the particularly part. Her smile only grew when he said he'd missed her too. That was another perk about having a boyfriend, knowing someone somewhere was missing you. That felt quite nice. She raised an eyebrow as he looked around suddenly, wondering what he was up to. Was he expecting company or something? Oh Merlin, she'd interrupted him and-

...

Kissing was nice. Really, it was. Ella let herself kiss him back for a moment or two before pulling back and smiling at him sheepishly. "Thanks." Yeah, cause that was totally appropriate after a greeting like that.

He smiled as she looked down at her outfit and shrugged, well it was nice to him anyways even if it was something she just threw on. He looked at her as he felt her tug at his shirt, good thing she wasnt that strong at pulling his shirt down "No worries, Oh this? just a shirt" maybe he would have to wear some nice shirts for Ella not cause he felt he needed to but cause he wanted to. Not like a plain old shirt with some jeans, no that would not do when with Ella. He nodded while trying not to smile just as she was doing, well it was not that hard to not smile that much when he was around her. She just seemed to bring that out in him "Yup I was, like I never leave that corner of your mind... you never leave mine. You have made quite a cozy place up in this head of mine" it seemed that they thought about each other alot which would not be a shock to anyone at all.

As he put his hand on her cheek he was sure that he felt her heat up a little, which made him realise that he had not noticed that before. He nodded "Yes I can see that, no matter where I am you always seemed to find me. Not that I am complaining of course, saves me alot of time going over this huge castle looking for a single fourteen year old hufflepuff that never leaves my mind. " yes see that was the good thing about being a good finder he woudl be found no matter where he was. He noticed her smile getting a little bigger as he said that he had missed her "Well its hard not to after you spend so much time with her that when she is not around you wonder where she is cause you have some time on your hands that you would like to spend having a great time" with Ella of course, though he wouldnt mind if Mins or anyone else would like to spend time with him too.

He felt her kiss him back before pulling back, time for another one yet? he kinda felt it was over too soon but they couldn't stay like that forever it was just.... well weird. He raised his eyebrows "For what? " he questioned wondering why she said thanks cause he hadn't done anything thank-worthy. So that kinda confused him a little.

Ella smiled, tilting her head to the side. "Just a nice shirt." At least she thought it was. She continued to grin as he explained that she had a permanent spot in his head, raising an eyebrow before she spoke. "And I hope all the thoughts are good ones..." They totally were, weren't they?

The badger laughed, rolling her eyes at the claw before grinning. "Must be nice for you, to not have to look. Meanwhile I'm doing all the work." The third year said playfully, poking him in the chest. She was a bit surprised to hear how often he wanted to hang out with her, thinking there was nothing particularly great about having her around. Ella was sure there were tons more fun people at Hogwarts who he'd enjoy spending time with. "I'm glad you feel that way, Harvs cause you're kinda stuck with me."

Oh Merlin's beard. It wasn't enough that she had to go and say something incredibly awkward after kissing him and now he had to call her out for it? The blonde just stood there, shuffling her feet sheepishly. "I um...for...well forthekiss." And she reached for his hand with her free one, lacing their fingers. "Anyway...can we not talk about what an incredibly awkward human being I am." Giggle. New subject, please?

Harvey looked down at his shirt and nodded "If you think its nice then I will agree with you" for now, but it was nice that she liked what he wore, maybe in the same way that he liked what she wore. He chuckled "Well I like to think, afterall in my head you and bad dont go together. " well there were no bad thoughts regarding her couldnt say the same for other thoughts he may have regarding other people.

He nodded smiling as she poked him in the chest, he rubbed it not because it hurt but because of the sensation that was left there by her finger tip "Of course! more time to enjoy with you, well I am sure you are used to it by now, and have probably a really sense of where I am so it wouldn't take you long since you have practiced that skill so many times making it better and better " he said smiling. He saw the surprise on her face was it really that surprising that he enjoyed hanging out with her so much, he shook his head "I am not stuck with you" a little dramatic pause "You are stuck with me" he chuckled, yup poor Ella was stuck with him but she knew that she could hang out with other people if she wanted to right? He hoped she did if not he would have to explain it to her.

He watched her shuffle her feet, another Ella trademark? .. he certainly thought so. He smiled "You dont have to thank me for that, thats a little... prize for having me around" he chuckled and felt an electrical shock rush through his body as she laced their fingers as she giggled "I dont think you are, but ok we can change the subject. Like how did it feel spending our first holiday together?" he asked half-jokingly he didnt expect her to answer that cause he was sure that she had a specific subject in mind that she wanted to ask him. Well she was allowed to ask him if she wanted to he wasnt going to stop her.

Good. So no bad thoughts, then. That was a relief. Ella would hate to think that anyone would be having bad thoughts about her. That would be the worst.

Well...that was a good point. Ella kind of knew Harvey's haunts by this point so finding him really wasn't that difficult. Well unless he was in his common room or something. Sigh. Why did they have to be in different houses again? She returned his smile with one of her own and raised an eyebrow at his dramatic pause. He wasn't stuck with her but what? Hmm? Ohh. Grin. "I don't mind being stuck with you, Harvs." She was hoping he'd be sticking around for quite a while.

"A prize, huh?" Ella said, amused. "Well um...it's a um...a good one." Blush. She was happy he changed the subject too, that was nice. Something else that was nice? His choice of new topic. She smiled up at him, shrugging. "Oh I dunno...it was alright, I guess." Shrug...

KIDDING, of course. Ella had been so happy to have Harvey around. "Actually it was perfect, Harvs. Why? What did you think about it? The fireworks were quite pretty, yeah?"

Harvey smiled "You dont? mm well that sounds.. like a welcoming invitation to stick around for a long time. Do you think you could handle having me around for a very long time?" he asked jokingly hoping that she would want him to, cause right now he wanted to stick around Ella for as long as was possible. Being around her he just seemed to become a different person who was alot more fun to be with, he didnt know what it was about her that made him like that. She was the one that made him smile so much he though that his face would be stuck in that one position, even right now she was making him smile just by saying that.

He nodded "Yup a prize" he chuckled as she said it was a good one "Well I have a feeling that you will be winning some more prizes in the future" that was a hint of course to future kisses that would be coming her way. Gosh! Ella made him say all these silly things too! He would never have come up with those with anyone else, and suddenly here he was with her coming up with these... silly comments that she liked. He smiled when she smiled but the shrugging? he did not expect that, and what she said next he had not expected either! His smile almost disappeared at that, she didnt find spending the holidays with him fun? it was only alright? when for him it had been a great one. But.. oh.. Ella!!!! His smile returned as he shook his head at her "I was just changing topic and that was the first to come to my head. It was.... amazing! yes they were... it was good to have you by my side watching them with me made watching them even better." he said as he looked into those eyes of hers.. "The way they shone in your eyes as you watched them, that was goo..." oh shucks! had he just revealed that he had been watching her as well. Well he didnt have to be ashamed of watching her, he was allowed to do that as much as he wanted.

Ella looked at Harvey thoughtfully, wondering if he was expecting a serious answer or not. Truth be told, Ella didn't ever want Harvey to leave. That was a thing with her though, people leaving. She had this huge fear that the people she loved were going to leave her the way her mom had and it was always at the back of her mind. So when Harvey asked her that question, even if he was just joking, she took it quite seriously. "Harvey I don't want you to ever go away, okay." She said very quietly, her green eyes wide. "Just promise you won't, okay?" Not that she was asking him to promise to be her boyfriend forever or anything, she just wanted him to promise to always be there for her. The third year's pinky went up and she held it out to him, waiting for him to do his part.

Ella smiled sheepishly and looked down at the floor, not really knowing how to respond to Harvey's comment. Not that she didn't like the idea of more kissing. She totally did. She just didn't know what to say about it without sounding like a complete idiot. The badger could tell just by the change in Harvey's face that he bought her whole "alright" comment. This made her Grin like mad, feeling quite accomplished to have fooled him. The grin only intensified when he said what he had thought of New Year's Eve. He thought it was amazing? This was...really good news. Really good. She began to blush as he revealed that he was maybe watching her a bit more than the fireworks display and she became suddenly nervous, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I... soyoudidn'twatchthefireworksthen?"