Haruka went to the Butterfly Garden in search of her third ingredient for Potions. There were a lot of other people here, probably for the same reason Haruka was. She figured that this would be a good place since there were a lot of flowers here and flowers can be used in potions. She eventually settled on a daisy. 'Three ingredients down, one to go!'

Forty-five minutes to find ingredients for Potions. That didn't sound too hard, right?

Muttering very quietly about something to do with connecting to his Hufflepuff side, Alec ran down towards the Butterfly Garden as fast as he could. This... wasn't exactly a place he came to a lot but, for some reason, it did come to mind with a plant he had in mind. Because it was essentially a garden and these sort of plants can be found in gardens, yeah?

...

BLINK.

Woah, was this what the Butterfly Garden usually looked like? Weren't there meant to be, you know, butterflies here? The boy moved closer to the area and his eyes flickered over towards a sign with a scrawly handwriting that had been on the sign back at the Duck Pond. ... Budget cuts. Of course. Was this why they were collecting ingredients? Because of those cuts?

Shaking his head, he slowed his pace down as he entered the area. This plant... should be somewhere here, right? Nearby? Yeah? ... He hoped so! He really didn't want to come all the way here only to have to go back empty hand-

OH LOOK! NETTLES!

But first... Alec pulled down at the bottom of the gloves on his hands, wriggling his fingers as he did so. Safety first, you know. He then bent down and eyed the plant very carefully. It had... hairs. Stinging hairs, yeah? And how were you meant to take out some nettle? Which parts were necessary, the roots or the... hairs?

Both. Both? Both!

The sixteen year old reached over and grasped the part of the nettle that was close to the soil, secretly thanking his dragonhide gloves for being so thick and strong. His other hand reached down and gently rested down on the soil near the nettle. Right. One... two... YANK!

A small grunt escaped the boy's lips but otherwise, the nettle came off nearly cleanly. He patted the soil down as carefully as he could and tried to hide any evidence of unearthing a plant. Pat pat pat... And now he could go. Clutching the nettle sort of tightly, the boy got up and left the Butterfly Garden as quickly as he could.

How long did he have left now?

Were butterflies potion ingredients? Alice had already nabbed a rat tail, the wrapped up one sitting in her pocket, so she might as well have continued with the creature traumatizing, yeah? No? Okay. Plucking plant roots didn't cause anyone any harm, though, so when her eyes landed on a patch of dandelions, she immediately approached it, hands outstretched and ready for root picking. She slipped the pair of gloves she'd thought to bring onto her hands before bracing her fingers around the stem of a flower and tugging.

TUUUUG.

Nothing came off into her hand except for a few petals, so Alice tried digging around the soil near the base of the stem. After twisting and turning the flowers a bit, she managed to nab two roots (hopefully, that was enough) that were now resting in the palm of her hand. More ingredient gathering now, yeah? And how much time left to spare?

20 minutes?

She was on a roll.

Ohnoohnoohno.

Blue was already running out of tiiiime. So she was sprinting down in the direction of the grounds, something that was kind of difficult to do, and in hindsight, not the smartest. She'd been better off just scraping the grime of the dungeon walls into jar or just go collect broccoli and dust bunnies from the kitchen.

Butterfly garden...butterfly garden...butterfly garden. ....Without any butterflies. WHUT HOGWARTS?! Reeeeeally?! This was just sad. The duck pond probably didn't even have any ducks. Blue got down on all floors, ruining her robes, and shuffled about, scourging the ground for anything.

Oh cool.

Dead moths. That'd do. She scraped the few carcasses into her palm and carefully put them into her pocket, not wanting to break the wings. She checked her Disney watch.

20 minutes.

Aaaand, run.

The first thing West did was go outside since there were always a billion and one things outside that could be used for potions. He also had no intention of going for anything overly dangerous or valuable since that'd be stupid and a waste. All the same he wanted to at least find useful and interesting things, even if he wasn't sure exactly how Lafay would grade them. Did it matter what they brought?

He went to the butterfly garden for once reason and one reason only: caterpillars. Sliced ones were used in shrinking solution amongst other things, he knew, so seemed like a good idea. From his potions kit he took an empty flask, and held that at the ready and soon enough yepppp there were some caterpillars. He grabbed two fat ones and eyed them for a moment.

....

.... not that he was hungry, just memories and all.

They went in the flask and West headed off to look for his next ingredient.

Ethan turned to Minerva a little more fully, watching as she practiced the spell. "Yeah, that's it.." he grinned as he watched the butterflies fly out of the tip of her wand. Now the place was brightening up with all their conjured butterflies. It was actually becoming reminiscent of last term. "Do you think she knew that spell?" he asked, curious if her mother ever conjured her own butterflies, knowing that she liked them. Maybe it would make Min feel closer to her mum, performing the same sort of spells. He grinned a little, looking down as she expressed her surprise. "Oh.. well, not for you so much.. it's just that its a more difficult spell, but one that a seventh year and certainly a prefect should know." And it bugged him terribly when he found out that some younger students could already cast this spell. "I've just been practicing and now that I can do it, wanted to show you.." More like, he wanted her to be impressed that he was able to master such a difficult spell on his own. "Ready? It's pretty cool.." He smiled widely at her before sliding a little bit away on the bench to allow more room. Pointing his wand in the air, he focused on one of his happiest memories in his mind, then commanded firmly, "Expecto Patronum!" He watched with a bit of excitement as a silvery badger emerged from his wand and scampered around the butterflies. "What do you think?" he asked turning to her with a grin. "You're the first one to see it.. well, besides myself, of course."

Ethan watched Minerva carefully as she seemed to be thinking over the galleon. He wasn't sure exactly what was going through her mind, but he really hoped that she wasn't thinking he saw her as some charity case. He loved her and it was only natural for him to want to take care of her.. and he wasn't taking no for an answer. He knew there were families in Hogwarts that had more money than his did, but his own was fairly well off and what was the point in having the money he did if he couldn't take care of the one person who was most important to him? She finally looked at him and he mirrored her smile, cupping the side of her face with his hand as he kissed her back, and putting his arms around her as she laid her head on his shoulder. He frowned a little bit as her tone suggested she might cry, then he allowed a small smile to appear as he rested his head against hers. "No need to thank me, really.. you'd better get used to it though," he said softly, with a little chuckle. "I'm always going to want to take care of you." He shrugged a bit at her next words. "It does make sense, actually.." Though why they couldn't add that on the sign at the turnstiles was beyond him. "No need for everyone to make change then and that galleon would hold you over for almost the year probably and you wouldn't have to worry about it. I'll try a sickle next time I go inside and see how that works." Then if it didn't, he didn't waste all that much money.

"Yeah, I think that would be a fun charm to do.. you'll have to let me know what you can do and maybe we can coordinate.. even get the other houses involved," Ethan agreed with the wall changing idea. Though he didn't admit he wasn't so good with the writing on the wall charm.. especially when she said it was easy. He could do the color changing one, no problem.. but for some reason the words came a little more difficult to him. Would he ever be good at Charms? Ethan wasn't so sure he thought so.. There were quite a few that he was fairly good at and some he would even say he mastered, but it just seemed to not come as easy to him as other subject areas. He leaned back and listened to her as she agreed with spending time with him even if it was one of the creative ways he had thought. Smiling a bit, he said, "I don't know about smarter than.. but I think we can both benefit from that, don't you? We both need to study, whether NEWTs for me or finals for you, plus we both have homework.. Though I do prefer hanging out like this to doing actual work." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Plus, he needed to take her out on an actual date.. when was Hogsmeade open again?

Susan was excited yet nervous to try out her first prank of the year. She was sure this was crazy and she could get into a ton of trouble for it but she was willing to take the risk. Sue saw Ethan in the butterfly garden..darn! Min was with him. Well two birds with one stone, right? She was pretty sure that if she got caught it wouldn't be two bad because it was Min and Ethan...but then again Ethan was a Prefect and she could get in a TON of trouble. Well this was for DJ and it was now or never.

Susan quietly sneaked up behind both Min and Ethan. She looked around to make sure no one was around. "FIRE!!!" Susan dumped a bucket of water on both Min and Ethan. She quickly dropped the bucket and booked it. Susan ran as fast as she could before she got caught.

Nicola was totally getting a bit creeped out by this boy & his staring! Of course, Nicola NEVER objected to being admired, but this boy was staring in a manner that was almost making her uncomfortable. Then he asked if she always knew her hair was perfect? What kind of question was that?! She just smirked before saying,"Umm..duh!" She raised an eyebrow when he asked if she was a bald baby? She asked somewhat in a sort of uncertain tone,"What does that have to with me anything?"

Now he was trying to tell her what to do? Who did he think he was? Ugh, the nerve! Nicola gasped as soon as he said that insulting remark! Her a klutz?! How rude! She placed her hand on one of her hips,"Maybe I wouldn't have to worry about watching my step so, if people wouldn't place random signs all over the place! And the last thing I am my dear..Tag? Is a KLUTZ! Besides, how do you know if the sign wasn't intentionally trying to trip me?! And I wouldn't be surprised if that is what it was saying! You're odd way of phrasing this frustrating!"

Nicola couldn't help but stifle a small giggle when he confidently told her how apparently his name was a pleasure. She could tell by the way he was beaming towards her as he said it. Although she did find him weird, he was somehow in a way entertaining.

But then...

The cursed nickname...The ONE name she had utterly HATED being called..

Nicola swiftly whipped her hand back from his saying,"THAT is the LAST thing I will ever let anyone call me..Ugh..Such a terrible nickname.." She flipped her hair before adding,"So you guessed wrong.."

Minerva thought about it, did her mom know the spell. She ended up just shrugging and frowning a bit, ” I don’t really know what spells she did, I’m going to assume she knew it, but since I didn’t even know she was a witch until a few months before coming here, I never got to see her do many spells. She showed me some before I came, and then that next summer…” She paused a bit thinking about it, “Well I didn’t see her much.” Then after that she was left with just different memories. “But her love for butterflies this makes me think of her.” She smiled at the thought.

Looking at him she was curious as to what he was talking about. A spell that a seventh year and prefect should know. She was a bit confused, “Yes I’m ready.. I want to see what you’re talking about.” She waited not so patiently and then he said the words, Oh that spell.. She didn’t know that one yet and got excited to see what it was. As she saw the silvery…. badger form and move around she watched it in a bit of a shock. She felt him looking at her, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of it. I.. its.. it’s a badger.” She finally looked at him with a small grin crossing her lips. “Ethan it’s amazing.. “ She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. She thought it was awesome that he could do that spell and she couldn’t help but be in aww over what animal it was.

Min looked at him funny, get use to it.. She couldn’t help but be a little awkward about it all, “I guess it’s just a new thing. I mean my parents took care of me, but.. well after them, it’s really been just me. Leelee seemed forced to do it, and well I think my grandparents want to, but well they were kind of forced as well.. So just hearing someone say they want to.. it’s just well nice.” She smiled and looked down. It was an odd feeling she had, it felt nice, but weird at the same time. Min thought for a moment, “That would be a good idea, maybe a little competition on who can do the best wall. They could be charmed in places all over the castle.” It sounded fun at least, but she didn’t know if the professors would like it. She was about to answer him with the studying when she heard someone yell fire, before she could even register what was going on Minerva was soaking wet. What the…. She looked and saw someone running, she jumped with her wand ”Immobulus” Hitting the girl and seeing her stop. “What the heck was that all about.” She glanced at Ethan then started to walk over to the person who was going to be in loads of trouble.

As she got closer she couldn’t believe her eyes, “You have to be kidding me, Finite” She was standing in front of her second year, hufflepuff cousin. “What on earth do you think your doing Susan?” Yes you have soooooo much explaining to do.. Get started there missy..

'Uh, duh'. That oddly hit Tag as something an american would say. Maybe she was American? Would he take the risk and ask her that, because the girl seemed to get easily offended? "Are you American? Uh, duh." He added in his question so Nicola knew his reference in why he thought she might be American. "Well," Tag started off waving his hand, "I think I've heard that lots of bald babies grow up to have nice long hair." Nod. Like himself.

Oh dear, now she had a hand on a hip. Tag was terrified. His expression got weird as he bit the lower portion of his lip, and in that attempt try to stifle the laughter that he so badly wanted to let out. This girl was amusing him so much. She probably thought she was frightening or threatening doing that. So, unable to resist, Tag put both his hands on his hips and wiggled them around for a few seconds. "Yes, Tag. Well, I'm just calling you a klutz based off of my first impression of you. I am so tragically sorry to have called you that." Not "It wasn't trying to intentionally trip you cause its a sign. It can't be moved. It can't walk by itself. Its an object not a human or animal." And Tag was defending a sign. How odd.

"Oh, yeah, my guess was wrong." Major eye rolling.

Susan thought she might be home free, she just reached the edge of the garden and could see the castle when she was hit behind with an Immobulus spell. Oh no! Sue couldn’t move or go anywhere. She knew she was going to be in so much trouble. Sue saw Min step in front of her and she had a murderous look on her face. Sue knew there was no way she was going to get out of this. Luckily Min took off the spell but Sue wished she would put it back on as soon as Min asked her what she was doing. Sue wasn’t sure she wanted to answer that question. Min wasn’t going to like the reason for Sue’s actions.

”Well, you see Min, I…um. I…” Susan was wringing her hands together and was getting more and more nervous with every passing second. Sue decided the best course of action was probably just to tell the truth. ”Well the water was only meant for Ethan but you happened to be here too. Me and DJ use to play pranks some of the time last term. I was missing him and I thought if I played a prank then I wouldn’t miss him as much. No one ever gets hurt, it’s just for a laugh. I really wasn’t planning on doing anything to you, but I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity.” Sue was so nervous that is all came out in a rush and she was unsure if Min got it all.

Susan stood there looking nervously at Min ready for some form of punishment. Sue had never seen Min this mad before so she really didn’t know what to expect, but she knew it wouldn’t be good.

Ethan listened quietly as Minerva pondered over whether or not her mother new the butterfly conjuring spell. He hoped he didn't make her sad, talking about her mother.. but he thought that would be a way for her to feel close to her again when she couldn't be with her. "I bet she did.." he said with a smile, watching the butterflies flutter. He then watched her expectantly after he cast his patronus, really excited and eager to hear what she thought. "It is a badger," he agreed, enthusiastically. "I didn't know what form it would take.. but I like him." He turned back, watching the silvery animal before it faded. "You really think so?" he asked with a grin as she kissed her cheek. He thought it was pretty amazing too, but he was just impressed with himself for working so hard and mastering such a difficult spell.

He put his arms around her, hugging her close to him and kissing the side of her head before loosening his hold a bit. He understood her feelings for being awkward about accepting the money and his sentiment, but he hoped she would get used to it anyway. As long as they were together, he would always feel that way, he was sure.. He listened to her wall charming idea a bit more. "A competition, huh?" He was always up for a little friendly competition.. "I think that might actually be fun.." he grinned, thinking of a few ideas. Of course, she was probably better at that charm than he was.. but it still might be a good time.

He leaned back with his arm around her, just enjoying this moment. He knew they might not have a whole lot of these moments with as busy as he was certain this term was going to be, so he just took a moment to relax and enjoy. Suddenly he heard a loud voice behind him and was promptly drenched. He sat there, stunned for a moment as he tried to quickly process what just had happened, then he whipped out his wand and turned around. Ethan saw a girl running away but before he could open his mouth to get the word out, Minerva had already hit her with the same spell that had first popped into his head.

He shrugged at Minerva as she turned to him. "I don't know.." he said slowly as he eyed up the frozen figure. He watched as Minerva headed towards her, following behind. Susan..? He stared at Min's cousin with an incredulous look on his face, hearing her words to his girlfriend as he approached. "Meant for me..?" he repeated, still staring at her and wondering just what the heck she was thinking. Narrowing his eyes, he said, "Did you really think that was a good idea to do to a prefect?" Min's cousin or not, he was rather annoyed to have his moment ruined with a dousing of cold water. He pointed his wand at himself, then at Minerva, casting drying charms at them both, then turned his eyes back to the little prankster, deciding what to do with her.

Minerva was livid.. maybe even more then livid, she was cold, cold and wet, cold and wet like a drenched puppy dog and standing in front of her the person that did this, her own cousin. Then it hit her, how long had Susan been listening to their conversation. Did she see the butterflies and hear them talk about her mother, or the patronus that was a badger, or the money conversation and him saying about taking care of her. All these thoughts rushed through her head.

As she crossed her arms and cringing when the cold of her clothes touched her, Minerva tapped her foot while Susan started explain. A prank on Ethan, because of DJ.. She knew that boy was bad news, this was just ridiculous. Just as she went to open her mouth again, Ethan was beside her and drying her off. “Thank you” She gave a quick smile, before turning and frowning again. “Do YOU know how much trouble you could be in.” Then Ethan chimed in again, “YES a prefect.. Susan he could send you to detention, he could even take house points. Is that what you want??? Do you want to lose points for us? I did not talk your mother into letting you come back here just so you can cause chaos to this already chaotic mess this term. Nor did I have you come back to end of in detention or worse lose points for our house.”

Taking a deep breath she tried to calm down, it really wasn’t that horrible of a thing, but Susan need to watch who she did stuff to. Mess with the wrong person and she could have ended up in serious trouble. Glancing at Ethan, Min wasn’t sure if Susan wasn’t going to get out of here without getting into some serous trouble. She was torn on whether to let her or try to stop it to save her house. “I really think you need to apologize to Ethan and then maybe just head to the common room and do your homework or something. While you’re at it meet some new friends, I’m glad DJ is gone if this is how you acted last term. I bet Laura had something to do with this training as well.” This seemed like such a Laura prank, even though her friend was staying quiet for the most part this term. If Laura or Susan thought for a second that Laura passed her crazy torch down to Susan they had another thing coming, she would not tolerate her cousin causing trouble.

Now she had another issue to deal with turning towards Ethan… “I know your prefect, I know you need to do something about this, it’s your job, but I don’t think she’s been in trouble well I guess I should be saying caught” Eyeing Susan as she said this, ”before now.. I am hoping she has learned a lesson from being caught and could maybe just be given a warning? But if you feel like you need to report her then I will leave that up to you.” She didn’t want to pull the girlfriend card and try to get him to look the other way, but she didn’t want to see Susan in too much trouble either, it was just water.

Sue finally noticed Ethan standing next to Min. She was so focused on how mad Min was she had totally forgotten about him. He didn’t look any happier than Min did. Sue didn’t really understand why they were so mad at her, it’s not like anyone got hurt. It was just a stupid little prank, an obviously bad timed prank. ”I am very sorry to both of you.” Susan turned towards Ethan a little bit. ”I honestly did even think about you being a prefect, I kind of just see you as Ethan. You know, just Min’s boyfriend. I am sorry I didn’t think about it more in depth and realized exactly who it was I was pulling the prank on. I really just thought it was going to be funny.” Unfortunately no one was laughing or would ever laugh about it.

Sue cringed again when Min started talking about losing house points and getting detention. She didn’t even think about losing house points, maybe a detention, but that only effected her. If she lost points her whole house would hate her. Min kept going and Sue just kept feeling worse and worse about herself. She thought she was going to start crying, but she didn’t want to cry in front of Min and Ethan so she just kept her tears in, hoping to escape soon. Sue was starting to think it might have just been better if a professor had caught her instead of her cousin. ”Min I never want to lose house points. I didn’t think it was bad enough to lose points.” Was the prank that bad that Susan deserved to lose points, was what she did that terrible? When Min mentioned what she and Ethan did for Susan this summer, Sue felt even worse. They helped her come back to Hogwarts and she repays them by dumping water on their heads. Some friend she was.

”I am very sorry to both of you. I just wasn’t thinking.” Sue and DJ never got caught and now that Sue tried to do something without him she gets caught on the first try. Maybe this was some sign that she needed to stop pulling pranks. Oh no! What was she going to tell Sonea? Sue would worry about that later. ”I am really grateful for what you both did for me this summer. You are right Min, I didn’t come back to get into trouble. I’ll go study.” First Sue would hide and cry for a while, then study. Sue turned towards Ethan again. ”So, how many points did I lose for Hufflepuff?” Sue just wanted to take her punishment and go. She would worry about what it all meant later. Right now she just really needed to get out of here. Sue looked to the ground, she was to ashamed to look at Min or Ethan any longer.

Jp wondered, Let his little canary out and sat there. Watching curiously. " This is a nice place isn't it ollie? "

Ethan kept his eyes trained on Susan as Minerva lectured her. He didn't expect anything like that coming from the younger girl and certainly not something directed towards him. He thought they were friends, even looked out for the girl, her being Min's little cousin and all. Though he was sure she didn't mean it in a mean-spirited way.. but it just wasn't very nice to do to someone you knew like that and he didn't want to see the girl start on a path to trouble.

His eyes snapped to Minerva's face as she turned towards him, giving her opinion on the matter. And he thought over what she was saying. He was still pretty angry over having been doused with an entire bucket of water which completely ruined the moment he was having with Minerva. But it could have been something much worse and from the way Susan was acting, perhaps the threat of punishment and the fact that she had to deal with two angry older students was enough for her to learn a lesson and not get further into trouble.

The Prefect said nothing to Minerva yet, simply turned his eyes back to Susan as she now addressed him. He listened as she apologized, believing her to be sincere, and as she explained her actions. He still didn't really understand why she would do that to him or why either of them would think it to be very funny. He and Min might not have been on an "official" date, but they were still spending some alone time together and now he felt the mood had been ruined and he just didn't get the reason behind it.

"I accept your apology, Susan. I can tell you're really sorry," Ethan began. "I'm just not sure why you would get the idea that we would think it was funny.. It was just kind of rude," he added with a shrug. "I'm a little worried that you're headed down a bad path though.. I know about the pranks that DJ and Laura used to do and I don't want you following in their footsteps. This was relatively minor, but things could easily escalate and I don't want to see you in trouble." He sighed a little and thought for a moment before continuing.

"I can forget about this under one condition.. that you view this as a warning. " He didn't want to be too hard on the girl, being that it wasn't that bad, she was Min's cousin, and she had seemed to have his back earlier.. but he felt that he needed to look out for her and her best interest. "If you start causing trouble, you won't be getting another warning.. I will report you. And then you will get detention or cost your house points." He shook his head at her question. "You're not losing any points today.. just listen to my advice, okay?" Because he probably wouldn't go quite so easy on her next time. Sighing a bit, he turned to Minerva. "I'm going to head up to the castle and get something to eat.. join me if you want." He felt like the moment they had in the garden was lost anyway and his stomach was a bit grumbly, so he started to walk away, intent on going to the Great Hall.

It was sad...the butterfly garden during the winter. Everything was dead and it was so quiet and covered in snow. Nothing like the warm lively feeling the place gave you during the springtime. Ella trodded along through the snow as quiet as she could, taking in the deserted garden curiously. Funny how a place could change so much from season to season.

Feeling a bit tired, the blonde decided to stop and flopped right down in the snow. She wiggled a bit until she was nice and comfy and then just looked up into the sky, letting the snowflakes fall on to her face.

If all the snow flakes were candy bars and milkshakes oh what a snow that would beeeeee

Tobias, as per usual, was feeling penned in and needing to release a lot of energy. He had foregone the generic school cloak today in favour of a pretty nifty winter jacket along with a hat which pushed his too-long hair annoyingly into his eyes and a scarf that constantly snagged on seemingly every branch he passed.

Having trudged around in the snow for as long as it took for the novelty to wear off, Tobias had gone exploring and was now in a totally new place he wasn't sure he recognised. But he was still cheerfully striding around, taking in the beauty of the school and its grounds, impeded slightly by having to fix the bottom of the legs of his jeans every few dozen steps, which kept catching under his heels and making him slide about slightly.

But wait. Who was that? Tobias didn't know, but it was definitely... yep, that was a PERSON. Tobias could do with a person. To talk to and stuff.

Beaming, he sped up just a little bit (though was not yet steady or confident with the change of weather enough to go back to his usual habit of running) and reached the person.

Not just any person.

"Captain!" That was her name, right? Tobias gave her a big smile and bounced slightly on the balls of his feet. Now what though? "Whatcha doing out here? You enjoying the weather?" Or hating it? But who would sit in the snow if they hated it? See? Logic.

She was enjoying the snow. Humming too. Was her humming what had attracted Tobias? In any case, the blonde badger sat up and beamed at the younger badger, happy to see him. "Tobias!" Equally enhtusiastic greeting for the little guy. He seemed excited too, which was extremely adorable. "Just sitting mostly. Humming too. Maybe making a snow angel if the I feel like it." Grin. "It's cold but it's lovely, isn't it? It's like we're not at the same school when everything is all covered in snow." Which was beautiful, fyi.

"What about you? Enjoying the weather?" Oh and... "You can join me if you want."

He could join? A simple invitation was all Tobias needed. Oh yes, company was always good.

Tobias flopped down on the snow next to the Hufflepuff captain and looked out over the garden, squinting slightly because of the brightness of the snow. "It's a shame that the plants and stuff can't be alive for the snow. It'd be pretty cool to see the alive plants with snow." But for one you kind of had to foresake the other.

But yeah enough about that.

"Oh yeah, I love the weather. I like seeing the snow on the lake. Where I live we get snow on the beach in winter... that's pretty cool too," Tobias smiled, wondering what the sea looked like back on him right now. Did they even have snow yet? It was a lot further south than this. "We only really get snow for a couple of weeks though... this is awesome." He leaned back, putting his hands on the ground behind him to keep himself up slightly. "It's totally worth the cold though... the castle looks amazing. Like a cake."

Tobias could go for some cake.

Ella grinned when the younger boy flopped down next to her. She felt like she wanted to get to know the firsties on her team much better. They were a talented bunch and definitely worth a closer look. Besides, they were adorable kids. Would it be totally weird if she started with the hair ruffling and cheek pinching this early in the season? ...Probably. She'd refrain from doing that for now.

"It is a shame." The blonde replied thoughtfully, tilting her head to observe their surroundings. "I think that it makes me appreciate them more in the spring, though. The flowers, I mean." She couldn't help but smile when the warm weather came back and the gardens came to life. It was brilliant to watch.

He lived by the beach? Ella turned to observe the boy, a small smile on her face. "Is it nice, living by the sea?" The sixteen year old had only ever been to the beach on vacation. She couldn't imagine living right by one. It'd be amazing, that was for sure. "It is awesome. I'm partial to the warm weather but I quite like doing things in the snow." Grin. "What are your thoughts on snowball fights, Tobias?" Just wondering. "Cake. Hogwarts cake. Mmmm." She was hungry now, y'know.

..."I could totally go for some cake."

Nodding along as the ol' cap'n spoke, Tobias ran his fingers gently through the snow, around a centimeter deep or so. His finger tips were going numb with cold which, in his opinion, was better than feeling the cold perpetually. See? Tobias was ace at seeing the good side of everything. "I bet spring here is nice... and I'd love to see what it's like in summer." Because there was some definite promise, oh yes.

The sea? "Oh yeah, it's ace. Basically I kind of live straight down the map, south coast of England. We have a pebble beach rather than sand, but it's really nice anyway. I like being able to look at the sea from the house. Get a lot of tourists, mind, but it is good there." Tobias certainly did not foresee himself leaving Brighton even when he was an adult and stuff. N- wait, what?

Snowball fights? Where was this going? "Well," Tobias put on a fake smug smirk as he inspected his nails and then breathed on them and buffed them on his coat, like people did when they were playing around, acting like they were awesome but not actually being bigheaded. "I do tend to like the things I'm good at, so yeah... I really like snowball fights." Cheeky grin.

And then, just like that, he was distracted. Caaaaaaake. With sugar and... sugar. He flopped backwards onto the snow at that thought. "I wish the school still made good food like cake. We need a petition for cake."

"Spring is lovely and it's definitely nice to take a break from studying and spend time outside." As for summer, Ella wasn't sure what it was like. "I bet it's nice, especially with the lake being here and everything." Meant lots of swimming opportunities, obviously.

"It sounds nice. I haven't been to the beach in ages," She said thoughtfully, a small smile on her face. "Do you miss it? Home, I mean." She always wondered how the ickles were getting on being away from home for so long.

Ella laughed softly as Tobias acted smugly about snowball fights. He was quite the character, Tobias was. "Well then, Tobias, I propose we see just how good you are." GRIN. Little puff up for some friendly competition?

Yeah...the food situation wasn't the best. "There are still lots of ingredients in the kitchen. I suppose it wouldn't be hard to make one." Just saying. Perhaps a team baking get together? Heh. That'd be ridiculous but also fun. Ella would look into it.

Cat had made sure to come stocked with all sorts of candy. This was definitely going to be one of those things that required sugary snacks. She glanced around the sad little garden before looking at Alice, "So I guess this place was nice last year, huh? Butterflies."

Everything seemed to have been nicer last year than it was now. Cat had wondered why her parents HAD to move from Italy this year anyway. Though, is she would have stayed in Italy, she wouldn't have met Alice to begin with. Or Blue, or Dora or Mo.... so it wasn't ALL bad, right? She could deal with it if she got to stay with her new friends.

She held out the bag of candy in an offer to Alice.

"I wouldn't know. I've never been here before. But it's dead now." No butterflies, no point in coming. Was that why the garden was mostly empty? Alice didn't mind, though. Less people to overhear her and Cat talking, because their talks were never meant to be heard. And people might have wanted them to share candy, too, which was an absolute no. So maybe this was acceptable.

Did Cat have jelly slugs in there? She dug through it a little and began looking for some. It seemed like she didn't, though, so Alice settled for a licorice wand and began nibbling on it as she took a seat on the bench. "So how come you wanted to come down here and stuff?" It looked ladylike when she tugged her legs up on the seat and crossed them like a pretzel, yeah?

Very professional.