Tag had no where to go today so he was merely strolling around the castle as a way to get some sort of exercise. He then faltered as he made his way over to the entrance hall and saw three... what were those little things hanging about?What were they... goblins? What were they doing here?

"Err, hello, little dudes. What's going on here?" Tag said. Nope, that wasn't an awkward way to say hello.

Tag had no where to go today so he was merely strolling around the castle as a way to get some sort of exercise. He then faltered as he made his way over to the entrance hall and saw three... what were those little things hanging about?What were they... goblins? What were they doing here?

"Err, hello, little dudes. What's going on here?" Tag said. Nope, that wasn't an awkward way to say hello.

Beezus ran inside the castle somewhat shivering. The weather was evidently becoming more and more winter as days passed. But she could not miss watering her plants at the Greenhouses so she had to go there despite the cold winds. That was taken care of, however, and right now she was so ready to snuggle up in a large blanket and prop herself in front of the fireplace in the Common Room.

Maybe she could stop by the Kitchens and grab some warm milk too?

Alrighty then.

The Ravenclaw rounded a corner and saw a familiar figure. A Gryffindor! She knew this one of course. He was fond of calling her...baby bunny girl or something like that? But she knew his name. "Hey Ta -- " As she took a step closer, she found out that they weren't alone on that hall. They had......visitors. Goblins.

*JAW DROP*

Goblinswhat?! "Holy snitch!" She cried out, quickly covering her mouth with both hands as she stared at them in near horror. What in Merlin's sweet name were these creatures doing in their school without anyone from the school staff escorting them? And were in the hell where they headed to?

STARE.

Mackenzie had just gotten back from the lake, opening the letter her grandfather had sent her, informing her that she was the sole heir of her parents estate, which of course she knew seeing as how she was their only child.

WOAH! What the Bloody--

"UMMM I think you're lost, can I help you?!"

Mackenzie didn't meant to be rude, but this term was being nothing but one bad thing after another, and she wasn't too fond of goblins. sorry

Ya know goblins, kids were dealing with things you couldn't imagine. Putting her hands on her hips she waited for an answer.

Hemlor followed Quazi, Tumplin, and Sturnik into the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts. They were here and ready to get those items that were rightfully theirs. She knew that it was a job that needed to be done and she would do everything she needed to do.

Taking the list from Quazi she looked it over. The first item was plants from the greenhouse, so she decided to head there first. But not before a group of students were beginning to form and ask questions. But the students weren't allowed to get in her way so she pushed right past them to get to the greenhouse.

Was that another goblin that just showed up? Where were they all coming from? This was getting to be very odd. Well, at least Tag wasn't alone, he was there and so was Bee, and he knew her a smidge. She was a prefect so she could handle the situation better than he ever could, he assumed.

"Err, excuse me. I'd like to know what's going on here." Tag said as the new goblin pushed past him. "Bee...?" Yes, the boy needed some help. Tag and Bee seemed a bit more confused and surprised while this other girl that Tag did not know of, seem to want to be helpful.

Saying that she was shocked at the presence of these creatures on the castle right now was an understatement. She was mind-blown.

With hands still covering her mouth, she noticed a list that they were handing over amongst themselves. What the heck was that? She was about to open her mouth and ask when out of a nowhere, another goblin was walking past them.

O_____o

"H-Hey!" On instinct, Beezus reached out and grabbed on the goblin's shoulder. OMG. She just grabbed a goblin by the shoulder! But there wasn't really any time to dwell on that fact right now, right? She looked over to the other goblins who were waddling away too before turning to Tag....yeah, she didn't know what to say to him so she averted her eyes to the goblin she had by the shoulder. "Wh - Where did he.....or was that a she go?!"

....There! Somewhere.....out to the grounds.

"I'm following that goblin!" She told Tag and the other Gryffindor and then she was off running.

"Ravenclaws are almost always right," Mo informed the girl with a solemn face. It was his fibbing face, but she probably didn't know that. No, he was sure she didn't know it. Mo headed into the castle, pausing as soon as they came through the doors of the Entrance Hall. Once again, he was reminded that this particular location was the primary battleground from nearly 100 years ago.

"I guess I'll try the bottom of the stairs, although... that feels sort of morbid, y'know?" This was all pretty morbid, though, and he might as well just come to terms with that fact. He took a few steps in that direction before turning back. "I'm Mo, by the way. Marcus Orion Branxton, but everyone calls me Mo."

Now, then... the stairs. Mo tried a spot right in the middle. No dice. Think, Ravenclaw, think. If you're wounded in the Entrance Hall, where would you go? Against the railing, probably, which was protected from stray fire and would provide support. Not the middle of the floor. Duh. Mo pointed his wand at the railing. "Spiritum Revelio."

The outline of two green figures briefly appeared huddled up against the railing. Sad. "Found some."

Almost? She squinted, shrugging her shoulders for the fact that maybe he just wasn't always right. Poor Ravenclaw. Checking the ground around them, Elodie made sure neither had dropped anything, wands especially, before keeping pace with him as they headed into the castle.

"Yeah..I know," Elodie started quietly, her glance fleeting to the bottom of the stairs with a nod, "I can offer hugs if it gets too much though." Just sayin', she was pretty good at the whole hugging thing. This could call for a hug if it got too much, right? Dealing with the deaths of people and everything. If he was taking the stairs, she was going to take somewhere to the left of the main castle doors. As she turned on her feet though, he was talking again.

Els turned back to look at him and nodded. "Elodie...Robertser. But you, Marcus Orion Branxton, can call me whatever you wish." Did he always introduce himself using all of his names? She'd say it was peculiar, but she sometimes introduced herself as 'Elodie Rae' so it was nothing of a big deal. Official introductions over, she turned herself again and pointed her wand.

"Spiritum Revelio." Nothing for a moment, but she supposed that no body was a good thing. Death and all. But then she caught it, just a little to the side of where she was looking - obviously she'd not been looking where she had pointed her wand specifically. An outline on the floor with an arm stretching in the direction of where the Great Hall lay. Trying to get to safety, she supposed. "Got...one," her response came quickly and she took no time in heading in that direction: to the Great Hall.

"I want to try the Great Hall, Mo. We know people died there..it's just where in there. I wanna see. That okay?" If it wasn't, they could part ways. Her intention could have been food, but not really.

It was almost 6pm.

Except not really because he was nervously early and stuff? So like... 5.45pm. On the fifteenth. Not Valentines day. That had been intentional and sort of important for reasons.

Reasons that would soon be... obvious? Probably. He was kinda unsure about doing stuff where people could see, but that was part of it too. Part of it was... people knowing. He'd even talked to Bliss and to Mo before... just to make sure that things were.... okay.

West was fidgeting. Nervous. He leaned against the wall and waited. Waited.

Nervous waiting. But he played it cool and stuff... and just leaned.

Her legs were cold.

Dora had mentioned leaning over rules and not to sit crosslegged as usual, but no one had told Alice her knees would be freezing in a skirt. They were, though. Cat had conveniently forgotten to mention it, too. Did they want her to like DIE of hypothermia or something? It was possible that her body temperature would fall that much, she thought. Her legs were really, reaaaally cold.

She arrived at the Entrance Hall earlier than meant to but later than he had- in sneakers, too, because Alice absolutely refused to put on those ridiculous oxfords that her best deemed acceptable for walking in. Where was he?

Oh. There.

"Hi."

West wondered briefly how long he'd be waiting for, but it was as if as soon as he'd wondered it, he'd stopped needing to wait because she was here.

But he didn't even think about that because... legs... skirt thing... looked nice... skirt... hi...?

Hi.

Legs. Dylan had a point about them.

Blink.

And stuff.

Use your WORDS, Odessa.

.... nope, not yet. Needed a moment. Finally he looked up from his perusal of interesting things.

"........sup."

Well, it was a start.

As soon as he looked down, Alice looked down too. What? Were her legs turning blue? That was a symptom of hypothermia. They could have turned puffy, too. See? Skirts had obviously not been a good idea. She didn't want to be freezing now, this was such awful timing.

Sup?

Difficulty speaking and sluggish thinking were also symptoms.

Maybe West was feeling particularly hypothermic, too. But he wasn't in a skirt.

"... I like your tie."

He could do words. It was West ODESSA. ODESSAS were GOOD with words. Especially WEST SCANLAN. Yes.

"I like your... you."

Well. Good start? Maybe? West pushed off the wall that he'd been leaning on and sort of, out of habit, peeked around. Not that he minded if people.... it was just...

... just habit.

".... I guess I should've warned you we're going outside?" Just looking at... those legs again. Out of concern and stuff. Right? "Not for long. I mean we're going... somewhere. And its warmer in there. And stuff."

See? Those were words.

Doing good so far.

She was.. trying to smile. The last time Alice had done that when she was cold, Mo said she looked like someone was detoothing her. Did she look like that now? Not trying to, honest. All teeth were present.

"I like you, too. But also your tie."

Outside. Yes, he should have. No forgiveness was due if her legs froze off because of him, right? "Where's somewhere?" Specificity was nice too. Alice wasn't particularly fond of surprises, he knew. "Can I run upstairs and put trousers on, then?"

Because.. cold. And stuff.

He tweaked his bow tie and stood up a little straighter but otherwise tried to play it off all casual. He was awesome at casual. So y'know, he could do this.

"Why didn't you wear tights or something?" He asked, taking another.... casual look. Because to reiterate, he was awesome at casual. And also, what if he said no? About this running upstairs thing? Hmmm? What then? HMMM?

He toyed with it just to see what she'd do.

"Sure. If you need to." He looked again. "If you're quick."

"Because I don't own any and all Dora's are like.. fishnet-y. I don't do fishnet." No. And she said the ones that weren't fishnet didn't match. Alice thought bright red went with her skirt just fine, but no. Her best was so picky about clothing, it didn't make sense. Jeans and trousers and things were just easier for everyone.

Really? She could? "Okay, I'll be super quick, promise."

And sneakers were so much faster for running in than oxfords, too.

No. He couldn't even picture Alice doing ... fishnets.

West thought idly about Professor Botros. And dead kneazles. And also, Arithmancy homework. Just things. A random collection of things.

"Okay. Real quick. Go on then." West leaned back against the wall again. More waiting yes?

.... this wasn't even helping with his nerves.

Did Dora have a predetermined pair of jeans for dates, too, or could Alice just choose any? Because with her luck, she would and it would go totally ignored.

"... okay." Okay. His tie really did look nice, had she said that?

Difficulty with words, she was having it. Definitely hypothermia.

One last look, and then she went. Jeans. No skirts.

.... actually now that he was thinking about Arithmancy homework, West realised he better get onto it and stuff. It just hadn't been a priority because Quidditch. And because Alice. And because... because. He didn't really DIG Arithmancy. It lied. The personality stuff anyway. It annoyed him thinking about how numbers supposedly knew things about him that he didn't even know for himself yet, and he didn't like the idea of knowing about numbers and having the knowledge subconsciously effect the way he lived his life. So. No numbers.

Also no Alice still. How long did it even take to take a skirt off?

....

.....

He thought about Arithmancy some more and leaned against that wall.

Skirts were actually really hard to get off. Kind of. Not really. But still.

Alice was back like seven minutes later, and it still wasn't even six yet.

"Okay. Ready." And in jeans. He could take her wherever now, and she wouldn't freeze or get hypothermia or anything. No excuse for sluggish thoughts anymore, though, that was sad. But better than being hypothermic.

"You never said where we were going."

Oh there she was.

"That wasn't part of the deal, me telling you where." Paaause. "Its a surprise." In other words. And also she'd find out real soon. And stuff. West pushed off the wall and after another quick look around, still out of habit and all, he offered her his hand.

Y'know, if she wanted to hold it and stuff? Where people could see even. Actually, y'know what? West wasn't gonna give her a choice. He took her hand and then squeezed it gently. His hand now. Cool?

"It wasn't?" It should have been, really. Why couldn't she know? "..... or you could tell me." Alice nodded encouragingly and waited to be told where she was being taken. Because he would, right? Tell her?

She hadn't even noticed her hand being taking until her fingers intertwined themselves with his, more out of habit than anything. Wasn't he worrying about being seen, though? West did that. Worry. And stuff.

.. or not. If he wasn't, Alice wasn't going to complain.

"I could." He agreed.

.... but he wasn't going to. Because it was a surprise and also? He just kind of liked knowing something she didn't. Gave him the powahhh. And also because he liked the idea of her wanting to know and having to wait. Fun.

No worrying.

West started them walking and they headed out to the grounds, fingers intertwined.

Christmas entered the entrance hall and sighed she hated studying but really she knew that she had to do well on her exams but she was so stressed about it