The Ravenclaw prefect chose a bench that was facing the fountain and as she took a deep breath, she sat down. Her eyes settled on the cascading jets of water spurting from the structure in the middle of the courtyard and she grinned slightly. One of her friends had blown up the fountain a few terms ago and for some reason, they were never caught. They, yes. Because she was with him that time and that alone accounted her just as responsible as him.

Speaking of responsibility, Beezus had duties to attend to which she purposely put out for a while just so she and the Hufflepuff could talk. Hopefully, Ella won't take long to get there for she barely had too much time to spare.

Ella really wasn't sure why Beezus wanted to meet her. Though she considered the girl a friend, it wasn't exactly like they met often to talk about things and discuss life. It's just not something they normally did. Basically it was usually Paris talk with them and even that was a whole lot of sparkly eyes and dreamy sighing. So yeah, this is why the small blonde wore a puzzled expression as she entered the couryard and made her way over to the bench where the brunette sat.

"Hey there." She greeted quietly, offering the older girl a small smile. Oh and Ella should probably sit for this, yeah? Whatever this was... "So I uh...I got your note." Obviously, since she was here and talking to the girl. "What exactly did you um...want to discuss?" And did they need gummy worms for this? Because Ella was suddenly feeling very nervous.

Beezus tilted her head to the left when she saw something flutter near the fountain. It was a butterfly! Probably a little stray from the Butterfly Garden?, she wondered. Her own thoughts failed to run about, however, when a voice came along.

"Oh, hey." She immediately greeted back and returned the smile as she shifted a bit on the bench to give the girl she was waiting for more space to sit on. She got the note, she said. Beezus only nodded and leaned back before replying. "Relax, okay? It's nothing too serious." Okay, maybe it was. Slightly. Eh. It WAS.

Anyway, she better just get on with it. "Erm. I heard about....what's going on between you and Oakey and Mordred." That wasn't a very startling start, no? "And I don't have any intention of stepping inside your private affairs but is everything okay?"

Ella sat down beside the brunette and fiddled with her hands idly as she waited for the Claw to tell her what this was about. And the relax comment? It made the blonde frown slightly. She was really rubbish at hiding her emotions, wasn't she? "Okay." She replied timidly, looking down at her hands for a moment and realizing what she'd been doing. Merlin, no wonder Bee knew she was nervous. The fiddling was quite the tell.

Blink. She'd heard what? "From who?" Because she wanted to know. And then the blonde looked up at the girl with raised eyebrows and was about to tell her she wasn't going to discuss this but stopped when she heard what Beezus had to say. She let out a soft, almost sad laugh at the question she was asked, shaking her head. "No, things aren't okay." That much was obvious, was it not? "Mordred and I aren't friends and Oakey got into it with him as well so apparently they aren't friends either. I just..." She was frustrated and hurt and trying very hard not to let any of that on. "I'm just trying really hard to be okay with it."

Oakey was passing by, you know to start his normal walk on the Grounds. He always started at the Courtyard and headed down. Well he was going to go for his walk until he saw Beezus speaking with Ella!

She was supposed to come get me first! What rubbish, and it already seemed that poor Ella was on the verge of a breakdown. Oakey ducked behind the nearest bush and kept a watchful eye on the two girls. If Beezus started to push for information more than she should. Oakey would spring from his spot behind the bush.
This was not cool one bit Beezus, not cool at all.

EH.

Beezus cleared her throat when Ella laughed half-heartedly and tilted her head to the other side, biting on her bottom lip. "Sophie told me." She responded to the younger girl's question truthfully. If she wanted honest answers from the Hufflepuff, she figured that she might as well show that she was honest too. It was the pillars of trust.

She listened on and nodded understandingly. No, things were not okay, she knew and seeing how her companion was reacting now, well...that fact had just been proven sevenfold. "Can I just...ask......what started all of this?" Thinking that she might be taken as someone who was in it for the gossip, Beezus added, "I mean...based on what you've just said, it all started with you and Mordred squabbling about and Oakey being dragged along. So, Ells...what did Mordaunt do?" Oh, he better not have disrespected Ella or that Slytherin will definitely get it.

Oblivious to the Ravenclaw Prefect was her fellow student leader watching her little chitchat with Ella. She didn't forget what he said when they talked, that she should let him know when she was about to speak with the she-badger concerned but she purposely chose not to tell him because she had decided that he was only going to be a nuisance.

Yep.

Giving Jacen a small smile he nodded "I liked playing beater, I wouldn't mind playing it again." Glancing Dan's way she didn't mention what she'd said to him. Because that was still too fresh on her mind. She really should have been guarding Dylan better!

Flinching as her ribs were repaired she stretched them a little afterward and winced slightly but it was MUCH better than it had been where she hadn't even been able to move from the pain it had been causing! Leaning against her auntie she nodded "Okay. I will, thank you." She'd try anyway. She didn't like sitting around resting, but if that meant her ribs wouldn't hurt anymore? Then she would at least really try!

Looking over at Jacen when Cece asked why he was hiding his hand behind his back she gave him a curious look.

Sophie had told her? Well that was unexpected. The blonde wasn't aware that Beezus and Soph were friends. She also didn't know that Sophie would ever go to someone else about this subject. Ella guessed she couldn't blame her, though. The blonde hadn't exactly been a wealth of information where this subject was concerned and truthfully, Sophie's questions about Mordred only made Ella more upset and so yeah, she'd been avoiding them all. In conclusion, it seemed like this whole entire mess was Ella's fault. Awesome.

Ella wasn't exactly sure what she was supposed to say, or if she wanted to say anything at all. Trying to explain this whole thing to people wasn't going to change anything and when she'd mentioned it to Oakey it just hurt his friendship with the snake so she wasn't sure what telling Beezus might do. Then again, she was sort of tired of keeping the whole mess inside and so...

"I basically told Mordred to be careful around Sophie. I told him that I knew how she used to feel about him and could see how he feels about her now and..." And yes, she wasn't entirely sure Sophie was over the Slytherin. "And Sophie is really happy with Oakey and I didn't want him confusing her head so yeah, there was that." Shrug. "And Mordred got upset because I didn't trust him where Soph was concerned and so he became mean. I hurt him with what I said but it wasn't intentional. How he's been treating me? He's hurting me and it's completely on purpose." There, was Beezus happy now?

...And if Oakey was listening to this whole thing, Ella didn't notice.

Cece gave Jacen that I know you're lying to me look. "I find that excuse hard to believe considering we just came from a quidditch match Jacen." Meaning it was the weekend and there were no classes going on now. Which also meant...

"You better not have been fighting again."

Wrapping an arm around Zoe when the girl leaned into her, Cece gave her a gentle hug. "You're welcome sweetie. Just let me know if you're not feeling better in time for your next class. I'll make sure your professors excuse your absence."

"H-How he feels about her....now?" Beezus echoed, leaning closer to the blonde while she talked. So she'd been right all along? Mordred really had feelings for Sophie now?

Gah. Emotions and feelings and everything in between, things that were frustrating for people their age.

She got Ella's point though, she was only concerned about her best friend. To Beezus, what the young badger did was a selfless act. However, the only thing was that in the process, there was unintentional collision with other people. In this case, because Ella wanted to protect Sophie, Mordred got hurt and since his ego got stumped, he was treating the blonde rudely. Sigh. Such a thing for a pureblood like Mordaunt would do.

"I think you really have hurt him." Because the Slytherin wouldn't be as mean if what was said didn't hit him that hard. In the course of this thinking, Beezus wondered silently what Ella said to him but chose not to voice it out. "And he's hurting you? In what way? With his words? And other nonverbal cues?" Yes, she wanted to know. Hopefully, he wasn't being the worst and hurting the girl physically, was he?

"Ella, I've known Mordred for more than five years now and to be honest, this is the first time that this happened. He's got a lot of patience and so I was very surprised hearing this from Sophie. Don't get me wrong. I'm not blaming you, or him, or anyone else. But have you ever tried....apologizing to each other?" Truth be told, this was another case of ruined relationship because of high pride.

Oakey stayed as still as possible within the bushes while he listened in on Beezus' questioning of his Neighbor. She wasn't making her cry, but poor Oakey, poor overly sensitive Oakey was on the verge of tears when he learned that Ella was the cause of the whole thing. She was protecting his relationship with Sophie.

He popped out of the bushes and looked directly at the two girls across the Courtyard, he didn't say a word. He wasn't going to let Ella deal with this guilt any longer, and he had the sudden guilt of being the one who stepped between a relationship. He was going to fix this, and the first thing he was going to do was find the ever-so-elusive Mordred Mordaunt! He hopped out of the bushes and rushed down to the Dungeons hoping to track the Slytherin from there.

Blink. OhMerlin'sBeard! She shouldn't have said that, huh? Ella's green eyes widened a little as she saw Beezus's reaction and she bit down on her lip, hard. "I can't...be sure or anything. I just...could tell. The way he looks at her and the stuff...he'd say." She really needed to stop talking. "I had reasons for saying what I did to him. He just didn't want to see it." And that, was the point she was trying to make in the first place.


The blonde looked down when Bee spoke next, nodding her head. "I know." She said very quietly, a frown on her face. "It's not like I meant to. I couldn't lie to him though...he's my friend." Blink. "They all are." So if any one of them got hurt it would be horrible and in trying to help, apparently she had hurt them all. >.< As for what Mordred was doing to her, Ella didn't want to get into what had happened on the carriage ride so she merely nodded her head. "Yeah, that."

"Apologizing?" Blink. "Beezus I appreciate your input but Mordred and I haven't spoken since...well before the start of term. I think we're sort of beyond apologies right now." Sad but very true, right? "Besides, he made it pretty clear he wants nothing to do with me and I'm used to people leaving. I'll...get over it." Shrug. "Is that all you..." But before she could finish what she was saying she caught sight of her housemate across the courtyard and stood, eyes wide.


"Oakey?" She said quietly, completely surprised by his presence. How long had he been there? Merlin! How much had he heard? Before she could even move he was gone though and the blonde just stared before looking at Beezus with a panicked expression. "I...what...this isn't good."

Groan.

"It wasn't a fight Cece..." *Technically it's not a fight if the other doesn't hit back, and by the way Jacen had... Corrected the boy on his cousins playing... He didn't have a chance to.*

"Some bloke said something mean about Zoe. I asked him to stop and he got worse... So I stopped him. Technically he is in that class with me and I gave him a lesson."
*Jacen sighed and rolled his eyes looking up at the sky.*
"When is my detention Healer Tilstorm?"

She wouldn't say this out loud but she also noticed how Mordred looks at Sophie. It was kind of like when Alec looks at the blonde in front of her. But still, and still, and still. She needed to ask the Slytherin to make sure. Although she doubted he would admit that easily.

Beezus really did understood Ella's side though. If she was in the same situation, she'd probably do the same. "Hey, I don't think it's your fault." She told Ella as her eyes traveled to the ground too. However, the Prefect did believe that the two still had every chance to retain their friendship. It was all in who was going to take the first step. "Time heals wounds, Ella. And you've been enduring each other for almost a year now." Gah. How did they even manage not to fix things between them for this long? "All I'm saying is that maybe this time around, apologies can still patch things up."

So, she's handed out her own piece of advice and more importantly learned the she-badger's side. Yeah, that was all she.......

..........

Oakey!

The brunette, overly surprised with his appearance, only stared back as he looked at her and Ella. Merlin's socks! Where did he come from? How long has he been there? How much has he heard? And where was he going?

Alas. None of these questions were answered for the Hufflepuff was struggling back now on the castle. Hearing Ella beside her, Beezus turned to face her as she bit on her bottom lip. Gah. "I'll run after him. " She said in a huff, quickly ascending from her seat. Why she decided to follow him was beyond her current comprehension of the succession of events at the time. She just saw that there was some kind of determination in his eyes and her little mind interpreted that Oakey would be taking the first step. First step towards where was the real question. And this was what she was going to find out.

"Thanksforseeingme,Ella. Ihopewecantalkagainsoon." And without further ado, the Ravenclaw dashed off and sped up to the castle in the hope of catching up with the her fellow Prefect.

At this point Ella really just wished the conversation would end because she was wearing quite the frown at the moment and her hair was all over the place due to the way she keep looking down at her shoes. Neither was a good look for her, by the way. She appreciated that Beezus didn't think it was her fault and truthfully, the brunette had been a wonderful listener too. It didn't change the fact that Ella felt horrible deep down, though. She felt incredible guilt over this whole thing and the fact that she was doing her best to hide in in case Mordred saw it as a weakness was making it much worse. Gah. Why was growing up so complicated? Blink. Almost a year? "I...honestly can't believe it's been that long." Ella said very quietly, fumbling with her hands. How had this happened again? "I'm not so sure about apologies...I mean maybe. I dunno." Shrug.

...

And then Beezus was calling things over her shoulder to Ella in her haste to catch Oakey and the blonde just sort of stared after her, her green eyes wide. She needed to get back to the common room in case Oakey decided to go there because she needed to know what he was up to and soon.

Laura decided that it was time to go and walk around outside, she hadn't been out much lately, she had been sat in the dorm thinking about things but now it was time to get out and about and hopefully she would find someone that she could have a natter with since it had been ages since she had done that, it was before she got detention, which is something she wasn't happy about even though she had deserved it.

The grounds were getting warmer, which only said one thing to her, summer was coming. She couldn't wait. This term was okay, it wasn't here and it wasn't there. Just...meh. Maybe it was because she hadn't had as much candy as last term...or maybe it had something to do with walking around the school without her Mama Vivi. Granted the initial shock of that had passed but it didn't mean she didn't miss her terribly.

Lex walked out into the courtyard, not sure what she expected to find there but sure that she wasn't expecting to see Laura. Was this the part where she said 'hi'? Seemed like it.

"Hey Laura." Just because she could be civilized when it suited her to be. Yup.

Laura turn around and smiled as she saw Alexa. "Hi Alexa." Laura was going to be civil today, she could be when she wanted to and she was going to show everyone that she wanted to be. "How are you today?" Laura really was hoping that Alexa would be nice today, she didn't want to get into an argument or anything like that, because she was trying to turn the corner and be good and to do that you had to make sure that she didn't lose any points.

Would you look at that, Laura was doing the whole civilized human being thing too. Moments like these were rather rare...at least, the 12 year old thought they were pretty rare and actually worth noting.

"My day's been okay I guess, nothing special 'cause I didn't get to have much candy." It was a shame that the Healer had gone through her candy stock the way she did but what she didn't anticipate was Lex being so resourceful. She had just about as much as she'd started out with...assuming the Healer was gonna give back the candy she took, she would have twice as much by the end of the term! Woot!

Thinking about that made her day just a little brighter--okay maybe a lot brighter. "What about you? How's your day been? And what's this I hear about you letting a firstie land you in detention?" CLEARLY the girl had a thing for Firsties. Didn't anyone pick on people their own size anymore???

Dora was sitting on the ground in the middle of the courtyard, not worried about being tripped over or run into since she wasn't all that small anymore or easily missed by most. The small patch of dandelions that had succeed in growing through a crack in the cobblestone was her current target as she attempted to both change their colors and make them glow.

So far all she'd managed to do was change the color of the weed, it was the glowing that was tripping the third year up and had her brow wrinkled in deep thought, her eyes intent behind their glasses as she raised her wand once more to cast on the now purple dandelions.

Clutching a bag of sweets in his hand, Alec stepped out from the corridor that led to the courtyard and and stepped into the courtyard itself. Awesome. He didn't really know why he was here but seeing as the weather was becoming warmer, a stroll outside wasn't exactly a bad idea. It meant that summer was just around the corner which also meant summer holidays! Who didn't like those?

Also, the weather changing meant MORE surname jokes. GRIN.

... He... really needed to learn how to be funnier. Because only then could he make people laugh which... well... it was a great feeling, wasn't it? When someone laughed or smiled because of something you said. Nodding to himself, the fifteen year old opened his bag of sweets and took out a particularly sugary one. He looked at it carefully before popping it into his mouth. Nom nom nom...

... HEY! Wasn't that... Dora? Yeah? Yeah, that was her name. Although, from where he was standing, the girl seemed to be looking at something intently, as if she was planning on blowing things up with her mind. Hoping that she didn't mind him coming up to her -- he had SWEETS -- Alec walked over to her and sat down right next to the girl. He wasn't going to say anything. Nope! He was just going to sit and observe and-

"Are those dandelions purple?!" BLINK.

... Oops.

The dandelion looked rather nice purple Dora thought. She also thought it would be better glowing, and was about to cast on it again to make that happen when someone sat beside her. The third year had originally ignored this person when they approached, assuming they would just pass her by like the rest did. But they didn't. They JOINED her, and they were sitting SO CLOSE.

Who -- oh. Dora almost started when he spoke, but when she finally noticed it was Alec all she did was blush lightly, and blink at him. He was CLOSE.

"Yes," She said after talking a split second to compose herself, slightly grinning at him. "I've been changing it's color and now I'm trying to make it glow." Did he notice how close he was? Real close, not that she minded or anything. Just observing. "Hi."

So he hadn't really meant to disturb the girl. Not really. He was just here to watch the show and possibly pay Dora in sweets for... for the magic trick show? As if she was the magician and he was the spectator and he had just come back from grabbing some sweets during intermission. Then the spectator would hand the magician a bag of sweets as a sort of gift at the end.

... Was this sort of the same thing?

Alec shook his head and grinned at Dora a little sheepishly. She didn't mind that he was sitting there right next to her, right? How else was he meant to get a great view of the magic show? And speaking of the show... his grey-blue eyes flitted down towards the flower and he grinned some more. "That's really awesome, you know. Well done, Dora!" Gentle!nudge. And she was planning on making it GLOW. Holy Superman! "I... how would you do something like that?"

... Oh. Right! Greeting! Duh, Summers! "Oh! Hey!" he said, looking back up at the girl, "Erm... you don't mind me joining you, right?" It would be a little awkward if the girl then went on to say that she did mind him sitting right there. ... He didn't think of that...

A lot of time had passed since she had even started a sketch, not to mention actually finish an entire drawing. So, with the sketchbook in her hand, Gwen made her way down the stairs, eventually heading to the Courtyard. For some reason, that place was inspiring for her. Not really like the lake, but she had no intention of going there right now, considering what had happened lately. Ehhh.

Once she got to the Courtyard, Gwendolyn picked a random seat and flipped the pages of the sketchbook, until she found a blank one. Hmm. Now she only needed some ideas. The sixth year continued to twirl the quill in her right hand as she looked around the Courtyard, hoping that she would come up with a plan for a sketch.

Hmmm.

After a while, Gwen drew her attention back to the page of the sketchbook and started scribbling something. As she stopped to examine the few lines she had drawn so far, the Ravenclaw couldn’t help frown. Ugh. That was not good.

Slowly and deliberately, Patrick paced around the courtyard, following the stone path that surrounded it, letting his hand run against the mossy columns. He was paying much more attention to the sound of his own footsteps, and the texture of the stone against his hand than anything else. His shoes clicked and clacked against the stonework below, and to Patrick, the sound was mesmerizing. He listened as it bounced off the wall and echoed down the path, only to be drowned out by the next step he took. He listened to the gentle, barely audible scraping sound of his palm against the rough stone pillar, and in his mind, he examined the sound.

For Patrick, it wasn't an uncommon thing to fall into these 'trances'. He often got lost in his own mind, becoming very aware of the world around him, and taking note of even the most trivial things. Things that we all take for granted. Things that we don't really think about. He didn't think for a minute that anyone else ever payed any attention to the sound they heard when they ran their hand over a stone pillar. But when he lost himself like this, it was impossible for him not to.

Every time he passed a gap in the columns where one was expected to walk through into the courtyard proper, the silence was deafening. Every now and then, he would stop by these gaps and look into the courtyard, letting his mind wander. This particular time, instead of returning to his pacing, he took a few steps through the archway. Peering down at his feet, he traced the cracks in the mossy cobblestone path where it was assimilated by the grassy courtyard and vanished. With a deep breath, he looked up and around, noting the location of the nearest bench. It was occupied by someone, but that didn't necessarily mean he couldn't sit there.

"Is it alright if I sit here?" He asked, finally breaking free of his 'trance', finding himself in the real world once more. Interaction with other people had a way of clearing his head. The girl he spoke to appeared to be preoccupied with her drawing, and Patrick wasn't sure if she'd find his presence to be a distraction. She appeared so dedicated, and he certainly didn't want to spoil her concentration.