Ties were so tight! And the green one around Ascanius' neck was no exception to that rule. So yeah, it was against the dress code or whatever but he was wearing his nice and loose. 'Sides he didn't want to look like he was trying to hard. A nice calm and casual look was a LOT more attractive. Smirk.

Beyond looking good, which was an always thing with him, Ascanius was really lost. He didn't know the grounds or the school at all and now he was just stuck. Yeah, he could still see the gigantic castle around him on all four sides and stuff, he wasn't that lost, but he had no idea where he WAS in relation in that gigantic castle. A place. That much was for certain.

So he was just gonna sit here. Lounge out and about while the weather was still nice and he could show off. Eh, who was he kidding? He looked good in winter too.

Penelope wasn't too keen on staying inside for a very long time right now, not with all the paying they had to do. Thank Merlin they didn't have to pay just to go outside. What was the point in saving your money to buy things when you were suddenly expected to pay for other things you never had to before? Meh. Especially the eating one, that one was the one she liked the least. It seemed to be just to eat in the Great Hall, so she could try to just sneak food from the kitchen and eat elsewhere, but the Great Hall WAS most convenient. And did they even realize how much she ate normally? Gah. So many things to consider.

But not now. Nah, instead, she was just gonna enjoy being outside for a bit without having to think about any of that.

The Courtyard still looked nice at least. Probably just because it was outside and not really something that needed to be cleaned like dorms and common rooms. It looked the same as it always did...

Oh wait. No, it didn't actually. Because there was someone here who, before now, wouldn't have been seen in this courtyard.

Grinning, Penelope headed over to him. "Hey there. Mind if I sit here?" Of course he didn't. Heh. But even if he did, she sat down anyway without waiting for an answer.

Eyes closed, head back, sun on his face. Yeah, this was MUCH nicer then being at Durmstrang. He literally loathed that school and was so glad to be out of dodge of there. 'Sides there was so much more about this school to like. Pretty girls, entertaining blokes who were wonderfully moronic and a really amazing girl who you could say he was fond of. Yeah.

But so far he was enjoying hanging out around here. Everyone was a tad high strung- that panic attack in his Common Room had been a huge clue... ninnys- beyond that though everything had been okay. Ish. The paying to get into the Common Room thing was REALLY irritating. Especially because of certain circumstances.

Then he felt someone slide in next to him. He threw on his wink and prepared to say hey to whoever was sitting next to him, but was pleasantly surprised to see it was his girlfriend. Blink, blink. "Not at all. Take a seat." Awkward pause. "Big school. How'd you know I'd be here?" Was there a spell for that?

Oh good, he actually in fact didn't mind. She'd guessed correctly. Which wasn't that hard really. It didn't seem like he was doing anything important, he was just...well, she wasn't sure what he had been doing. Just sitting there with his eyes closed mostly. Sleeping? Had he not gotten much sleep last night? Hm...

"I didn't." Know ahead of time that he would be here, that is. "Just felt like coming down here and go outside for a bit. And you just happened to be here right now." Which was nice. Penelope liked hanging out with him after all, so she certainly wasn't complaining. "Did you know I'd come down here?" Turning the question on him now. She grinned.

Before the words had even left her lips, you know, the ones that had invited her to sit down, Penelope had already made herself comfortable on the bench. Beamy face. She was kind of adorable in that I'll-chew-off-your-arm kind of way and this was no exception. He did seriously wonder if she had EVER in her life genuinely asked permission for anything, which was awesome.

Leaning his elbows on the back of the bench slightly raised, he looked over at her and smirked, "Sure you're not keeping tabs on me, Pen?" That thought was probably not a horrible one. He was getting lost left and right like a small child. Not that he would ever admit that for macho man reasons, which he was- so a babysitter would have been a brilliant idea. COUGH. No it wouldn't be. Look at him. All man.

He ruffled his hair out of impulse with his one hand and chuckled, "Pen, I have no idea where I'm going. You really think I was following you?" Why? Did she NEED to be followed? Was she up to something?

At least these benches still seemed to be in order. They weren't collapsing under their weight or anything, so that was a good sign Hogwarts wasn't completely going under even with only one elf to do all the cleaning and cooking and maintenance and whatever else elves did. But then agian she herself didn't weigh all that much, so they really only had to worry about him since he was a giant. Clearly. Heh.

"Do I need to keep tabs on you, Asparagus?" she asked, smirking. And if he needed help with getting around the castle, he knew all he had to do was ask. She was more than happy to help him find his way. Hogwarts was a pretty big castle, and she remembered how long it had taken her to find everything in her first year. She still sometimes got lost even.

Then she grinned again. "You could've been. Maybe you were following me because you didn't know where you were going."

Keep tabs on him? He was not a small child; if anything his girlfriend was a small child on account of her height, which was midget sized. So the fact that she was insinuating he needed to be watched like a tiny person was laughable. And so he laughed. Full on chuckle with a hair ruffling out of his eyes.

"Me?" Psh, "Pen, I'm not a little kid. I don't need you watching me like one." Although, she could watch him like the attractive MACHO man that he was. He would totally be okay with that because he liked being looked at. Ascanius liked being looked at by all people, but his favorite person to look at him was Penelope. And if it were only ever her, he'd be okay with that.

Blink, blink. Good point. Mmk. She had him there. Touche. "Well, I wasn't." he countered.

Stressed.

It was too early for that, yeah? And yet Ella's head was absolutely spinning with all the stuff on her mind at the moment. Like...the first year puffs who were probably freaking out about getting in and out of the common room. And the dirty dusty mess that was their living space. And the poor elf that was responsible for all the food. Oh and hey, Quidditch and OWLs on top of everything else. Fifth year was definitely starting off on an interesting foot.

Anyway, the blonde decided to get some air and so she made her way out to the courtyard, a stack of books in her arms. She found herself lugging them around a lot as she was trying to avoid paying a bazillion times to enter the common room.

Settling down in front of the fountain, the sixteen year old rested her back against its base and picked up a book at random to read. Maybe studying would take her mind off other things? Hmm... Defense Against the Dark Arts seemed as good a subject to start with as any.

A Counter-Jinx is a type of counter-spell that ends the effect of a jinx.

And then he was laughing. She didn't think she'd said anything funny, but if he wanted to think she had, she was okay with that. Yep. Besides, she laughed next.

"Obviously you're not a little kid. You're way too huge to be one." Seriously, had anyone seen how tall he was? It was pretty hard to miss. He was practically a giant. "But you are new to the school, so you probably still don't know your way around yet. That tour I gave you wasn't as complete as it could've been." That was totally his fault though. He was very distracting, so Penelope couldn't properly focus on making sure she showed everything around the castle to him. Silly distracting boyfriend. She grinned. "I'd hate for you to get lost." It would be quite sad.

He wasn't following her? "Sure." Smirk.

He was still laughing because the fact that he thought she needed to be treated like a child was HYSTERICAL. Ascanius Stark was no baby. He wasn't easily intimidated unless of course it was heights, which may or MAY not result in major meltdowns and panic attacks... ahem.

Oh, so now they were doing tall jokes again? Har har. Very funny. It was not like he had heard her use the same jokes over and over again about his height. Ignore the fact this his jokes about her midgetocity were super stale, this wasn't about HIM. This was about her. Her and her cute self.

So anyway points that needed to be addressed, "Not tall, you're just a midget," Moving on. "And touche. Although I thought you were a rather affective tour guide." Ascanius' face broke out into a huge smirk, "I mean, me getting lost WOULD be a travesty. How would you survive?" Was he being a little bit of a jerk? Yes. Did he care? Nope.

And no, he wasn't following her. Psh.

Raven continued on her trip of exploring the castle inch by inch. Right now it was the courtyard, and she walked into it with her black cape swinging behind her. She walked over to the pillars to examine them.

Taylor was wandering the grounds and almost ran into someone. She blinked, "So sorry..." Tay tilted her head, recognizing the girl from the train, "It is Raven... right?" A slight smile came to her lips as the sun shone down on her golden curls. They were pinned up in a neat flip and her make-up was flawless. Her uniform was still on from going to class earlier and her cloak was just hanging on by the neck tie. Tay checked her manicured nails then looked at the younger girl. Her smile grew as she gave the girl an once-over and approved. "Checking out the pillars? What house did ya get into? Where are ya from?" The questions were shot out in a little rapid way but in a kind tone... one that seem to make her sound caring and interested.

Tall jokes were always necessary. At least when he was around. That was also his own fault of course. He was always teasing her about her height - which was NOT midget-sized, thank you very much, it was a perfectly normal height - so it was only fair that she picked on his too. She'd stop the jokes if he did.

...Actually? Nah, she probably wouldn't stop even if he did. She liked the jokes. They amused HER at the very least.

"Not a midget, you're just freakishly tall." And this would probably go on forever. And yeah, yeah, of course HE thought she'd been a good tour guide. He wasn't the one being distracted, he didn't know what he missed because of his distracting ways. Another tour might be needed. Maybe.

Penelope returned the smirk. "I'm sure I could manage somehow. Maybe I could put up signs around Hogwarts, like people do when they've lost their pet."

He liked her smile. Was that strange to be pointing that out? Well, he did, especially when she laughed. Her entire face lit up and it was really nice to look at and nicer still to know that it was a smile she only had for him. Conceited? Yeah, but it was true.

"So you keep telling me, but you're wrong." He was freakishly tall, it just wasn't accurate. No, he was just tall for someone his age and she was just short for someone her age. So TOGETHER they were an awkward height difference and it was awesome. Made for some really fun fights because she wasn't afraid to fight back. Heh. Serious spirit in his girlfriend. Penelope was cool.

Raising his eyebrow, Ascanius questioned, "Like a dog? I'm not a dog." Sure, he was all cute like one and was the epitome of charm like a dog, but never-the-less he wasn't a dog. Psh. No flyers for him. He'd be JUST fine the way he was... more then fine actually. His hair looked amazing today.

"Or you're wrong," she countered with a grin. Yeah, this really could go on forever. The height jokes/arguments were endless, and they never got old. It was great. Penelope definitely enjoyed it, simply because it was fun. She didn't actually really mind being called short to be honest, but it was way more fun to act like it and fight back. At least around him. He was really fun to argue with. Probably because he was cute when he got a bit annoyed and then all smirky trying to think up a good comeback.

And then she smirked. "Nah, not like a dog. A dog would find its way back." He might just get himself more lost. Unless he did get himself not-lost and came back. And then...he'd be like a dog. So. Heh. "You might be a cute dog though. Maybe one of those really noisy tiny ones." And now she was mentally picturing his head on a dog's body...and it was INCREDIBLY hilarious.

Ascanius Stark was never wrong. That was just the rules of the universe along side the one that said that he was really, really intensely fierce. Then again that was just a general Essex thing. So much pride there. He came from the coolest people in all of the UK. Just TRY and mess with him. And yeah, that was a dare. Smirk.

"Not wrong," he clarified with a wave of his hand. But ANYWAY.

Was she insinuating that he was worse off then a dog? Woah there. That was not only untrue but insulting so she was getting the eyes from him. Maybe not Essex gangster eyes, but something pretty close to it. He was NOT a dog.

AND NOW SHE WAS CALLING HIM A YIPPY, SHOW DOG?! Woah, serious disrespect to his macho man self. This was his manhood she was insulting and he was amazing on a lot of levels so she was covering SERIOUS ground. Psh. "If anything I'd be a blood hound or something." Something really cool and large and MANLY.

Derry was glad to be out of the Castle. She had a borrowed knut clutched tightly in her palm so that she could get back into the common room later, and she walked up from the dungeons and down through the pathways until she found the courtyard.

Oooh, it was nice here... Nice and quiet. Derry took a seat on a bench and opened her book at her bookmark, finding her place on the page and continuing the read. This was like, the millionth time she'd been to Wonderland, but she loved it there, especially at the Mad Hatter's tea party. She hummed the tune to one of the songs from the movie as she read. You can learn a lot of things from the flowers, and especially in the month of June.......

Smirk. "You have to be. Because I'm always right." She hadn't brought that up in awhile, but yeah, she hadn't forgotten it. It was something they'd decided early on - jokingly, of course - but it was always to fall back on in an argument. Fun for HER, at least. She wasn't sure whether it was fun for him to technically be the one who was always wrong. But he could deal with it. Mhm.

And yeah, she noticed him eyeing her like that. So she made a face at him, bugging her eyes out all dramatic-like.

But then her face returned to a smirk. Oh yeah, she'd said he would be a yippy, tiny little dog. "Nah, I don't think a bloodhound suits you. You're more like a Pomeranian or a Chihuahua." He totally had the hair for a Pomeranian, all poofy and pretty and such. Letting him know that reasoning behind it MIGHT have made him feel better if she actually voiced it - he always did seem to like being told he was pretty and attractive and such - but she didn't feel like sharing that. His reaction to this was WAY more funny without any explanation.

Perhaps it was because Raven was paying so much attention to the pillars that someone almost bumped into her. She only had time to flinch before she realized that Taylor was not going to bump into her. "Oh hi. Yeah, I'm Raven and I got into ravenclaw. Now we are in the are house!" She looked back at the pillars for a second before looking back at Taylor. "I'm exploring the castle, I want to see everything."

Sarah lugged her vacuum out to the cartyard. Ideally it would have been better to collect the leaves that had fallen and use them and use them for the compost heap she was making, as there was not much food scraps to use. Yet whenever she tried to collect, she would start coughing as her lungs did not like the dust. So instead she brought out her vacuum cleaner,and aimed the end over the pile after changing the nozzle. Then she took out her wand and tapped the hose "Vacavus" she said. Immidiately the vacuum cleaner began so suck. Sarah began to sing to herself as she walked.

Sarah stood over it for sometime and soon the pile disappeared so she began to move arorund the courtyard, the vacuum cleaner dragging behind her as she went to each leaf that the courtyard later.

Some time later Sarah carried her vacuum cleaner out. She was tired now ayet she felt happy

Theo was feeling better today, since the whole castle being filthy thing. He was learning to just cope with it, but was taking twice as many showers per day, obviously. AND he was excited to get his hands back on his hoover from Astronomy. That reminded him to go and pick it up later, actually.

Anyway, he was just out to get some air. Theo spent a lot of time outdoors this term, and he was kinda enjoying it.

He hated the courtyard, though. Too crowded, people always getting in your face. Was that... a bench? He'd never noticed a bench here before. There was a very familiar redhead perched upon it, and Theo thought about it at first, but decided to go over. This had to be done. "Hi." He said, giving Derry a smile. He hadn't seen her since the first tryout, and he WAS feeling a little bitter. It was pretty much water under the bridge now, though.

"You were great at the tryout... Glad you came?" After he made such a fuss over it?

Theo sat beside her, completely oblivious to the fact that she was reading.

What to do, what to doooooooooo ..

After finishing the Quidditch tryout, getting washed and changing, she was ready to do something that WASN'T tiring, which included studying. Her mum had kept bugging her that it was never too early to get studying for her OWLs, but they were SO far away, nearly two years away. So, yeah, that could wait.

In the end, Bliss decided to go for a stroll and on that stroll, she bumped into, "ELLYYY!" She called over to her fellow badger and Quidditch Captain.

A veeeery happy unbirthday, to you! To me? Derry was humming and reading her book with a soft smile, she loved the Dormouse, she understood the wanting-to-sleep-all-the-time thing. It was probably nice to have the time to rest that long. She never slept in though, her body clock was built to wake up in time to feed the chickens before she went to school.

Derry was wondering why on Earth Alice would want to go back to her normal life again when she heard a familiar voice and glanced up. "Oh, hello." she said with a smile, putting her bookmark between the pages and scooching up so that Theo could sit beside her. Oh, the tryout... Derry grinned involuntarily - she'd really really enjoyed it all... the flying and stuffs. "Yeah... it's really fun." She'd never played with more than two other people before. "I was great..?" Was she really? She knew she'd flown pretty well but she'd kind of just put that down to fluke or something... she'd only been flying for about three months... but maybe she was actually good at something?

So this whole studying thing, it was hard. It was especially hard when you were outside where there were so many distractions. The courtyard was bustling with people which wasn't too surprising given the dusty dirty mess that was the castle. At least she wouldn't be bored? She could simply people watch instead.

Closing her book and placing it beside her, the blonde scanned the courtyard when she noticed..."Blissful!" WAVEEEEEE!

"Hey there! Want to join me?" She'd probably want to move her books over first, though. And so the sixteen year old began to stack her school books into a neat pile while she waited for the younger blonde to join her.