"I was, too, but it seems like everything manages to get dusty now." Alice dusted off the pogo stick, just for good measure, before stepping up on the foot pads, timing it so that when hers started bouncing on it's own, she was in rhythm with Cat. "I'm okay. Just, um, getting used to the school's dinginess and studying for owls and trying to find new words to rhyme."

She kept bouncing, still grinning over at her. "What about you?"

"Er, yeah, I did." He said with a nod. Not like he couldn't not know, since she had made sure he couldn't forget. Kaiden chuckled, "Well, let's just see." he said with a shrug. Because he didn't really know where to take her. He wanted to go somewhere good though.

Wait, she gave him a hug? "Your're welcome," he mumbled, ears turning a little bit pink. "so... yeah... lets go." he said reaching to grabb hold of her hand. Don't attack me please.

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts, teach us something please..." she sang loudly as she walked the path towards the courtyard. It was a fine day and she was very bright and active.

"Hey, there's a good seat!" she exclaimed aloud as she nearly ran towards it, slumped down conveniently and resumed her singing. No pain, no worries. Just sing ONNN!

"Whether we be old and bald, or young with scabby knees..."

The courtyard didn't look dirty for a change, and Forrest was grateful for it. The winter was approaching fast, and he wanted to enjoy the Sun until the harsh winter came. He'd never lived up this north, but everyone talked of harsh winters, so he spent every minute possible outside to make the most of the sun.

He was on his SULKING day, as he seemed to be everyday for the past week. So he sulked as he walked, and heard a girl singing stupidly. He knew her right away from the Sorting Ceremony. Amara Kaul. He had a thing for remembering names.

"Is that the official song of Hogwarts?" Because if it was, he could sue it for mis-advertising.

She just kept singing merrily. Because it was a prefect and bright sunny day and people had to really sing on bright sunny days. Her song was beginning to turn to humming when she heard a voice behind her.

Was someone talking to her? To turned around to see a guy not any older than her. Fellow first year. GRIN. She'd seen him somewhere. Maybe at the boats. She hadn't had the chance to meet many first years from the other houses. She'd began to doubt if there were any. BUT LO! This guy was here.

"Hey" she waved brightly. Erm, official song? "Uhm...it seems so" she paused. She didn't really know if it was. Why did it matter anyway? "Yeah..it's sort of the official song" But the boy looked a bit disturbed. With the song? "Why? Don't you like it?" They could just sing another song!

“Yes, she has!” said Sonea nodding. “I have grounded Little princess as a punishment for three days and I have locked her in her cage… But she has apparently learned her lesson because she is behaving perfectly!” Sonea was proud because her rat was now doing exactly what Sonea wanted. Sonea’s eyes darkened when she nodded to the other girl, “I also hope that she will be better soon” said Sonea and smiled thankfully at the other girl, she had been nice to Little princess and she appreciated that.

The young girl watched the other girl when she showed her the book and told her and she immediately was jealous because she wanted to have such a book for her own! “Have you used them? And do you need help?” Sonea WANTED to help, that prank book was something she really wanted to use.

Susan was very happy to hear Sonea wanted to help with the pranking. Sue was sad when DJ transferred because she didn't have anybody to get into trouble with. Not that they ever got caught, but the thrill of the possibility of getting in trouble was what makes it fun. Susan had some ideas in mind from reading the book but she needed another person. Now, hopefully, she had Sonea! "Well I only just got it today so I haven't had a chance to try any of them out yet. I was hoping to try an easy one later today." Susan decided she would start small then work her way up to something really big towards the end of the term, and the book should help her come up with some good ideas. "I am planning on doing something that everybody will see towards the end of term, but I need to do some planning and hopefully this book with help me out." Susan then opened the book tot he page she was last looking at and showed it to Sonea lBucket Over Door Trick Directions | eHow. "This is the one I wanted to try out today." Susan gave Sonea a few to look over the prank and really decide if she wanted to enter this awesome kind of relationship with her.

"Oh, i will help you, no matter which prank you want to do!" Sonea grinned from the excitement and wanted to start as soon as possible! She took the book from Susan and read what was written on the page and smiled. She had heard about this joke, one of the maids at home had once told her about a few muggle jokes and this was one of them! And, if they would do it good than there would be nothing what could go wrong!

The worst thing what could happen was that a teacher or a prefect would open the door, but as long as they were good hidden and nobody could see them, than they were safe and in no trouble! AND if they would be caught, than were they still in not much trouble because this was not a dangerous prank!

"This is sounding good, where shall we start with it?" Sonea grinned again and was eager to start.

Forrest eyed the girl suspiciously, still sulking. His mother had cautioned him to never sulk, like ever, but what did she know of the situation here? He only reflected her half of the truth, and that was only because he didn't want his father to make a scene.

"It should have been 'Hogwarts, teach us how to be house elves ourselves,' because that's the only thing I've learnt so far."

SULKING, still, but he somehow looked friendlier because he couldn't sulk for the whole conversation.

She didn't like the way the guy was eying her. HUH? Was something on her face now too? Why was she always eyed at by people. She made a conscious shift. And then she knew why she was being eyed. So the song bothered him...and the castle. As much as it had bothered her before.

"OH" she said, with a little smile. "Does it really matter?" she asked the boy, giving him a kind smile. "I too didn't like the school....the dust, work, cleaning...laundry!" And she'd never done laundry before. "But they don't really count.....what counts is the experience and fun" WHOA, that was her in her philosophical self. Since when did that side of her come up? "And I didn't even like being placed in Gryffindor at first" she said, in a low voice. One shouldn't provoke stray lions. And did she look like she regretted it now?

"Would you like to sit down?" she asked as she moved to make space for the guy at the bench. "I'm Amara Kaul" she added with a smile.

It mattered, actually. It mattered a lot. Forrest opened his mouth to WHINE to the girl and show her just HOW MUCH it mattered, but she kept talking and explained her point of view. He paused for a moment and considered.

...

"Experience is--okay," he said in the end as he was sulking less now. "But laundry and cleaning and eating bad food aren't fun. At all." Just to get that straight. Maybe, if they paid enough money and all, everything would change next year? Was that being too optimistic? Comparing with HER optimism, probably not.

He sat down automatically as his face stopped being ugly with sulking. "I know," he said without thinking much--then his eyes grew and he hurried to explain himself better.

"I mean--I remember you from the sorting." So that she knew he wasn't a freak or anything. "I'm--I'm Forrest, from Hufflepuff." Telling his surname still felt weird. Adults did that, and he was still twenty years shy of being an adult.

"How come you didn't want to be a Gryffindor?" He still could give his PlayStation to be one.

Hemlor's next object was going to be a bit trickier to take down considering it was a whole entire tiered fountain. But fortunately her bag had an undetectable extension charm on it so the fountain would fit. Hemlor just had to figure out how to get the fountain in there in the first place. It could be fixed to the ground.

Walking up to the fountain Hemlor prodded it with her toe a couple of times to see if it was fixed to the ground. It wasn't. So now she just had to lift it up somehow and place it into the bag.

After making arrangements in the corridor after a lesson that morning, Chloe was prepared to go and meet up with her best friend for a chat. S
he later then made sure to quickly make her way down the pathway to reach the Courtyard. Of course she couldn't be late to meet her best friend, that would be silly and they'd never really been late to meet one another before. Partly because she absolutely loved seeing and spending time with the boy, they had been very close for a long time now and that wasn't going to change anytime soon nor at all if she could help it.

She looked around and spotted an empty bench nearby, she hurriedly moved over to it and sat down before anybody else could. Chlo then dumped down her bag onto the stone ground and looked about to see if she could spot him.

Nope, looked like she was first there.

"Well, Hello there, stranger." Patrick's voice sounded up from behind Chloe, his upper body poking out from in between two of the columns supporting the wall that separates the main courtyard from the walkway around it. "Is there room for a Patrick on that bench?" He smirked, playfully hopping through the gap and into the courtyard.

He had been looking forward to spending some time with Chloe, it had been far too long for his taste, even though that wasn't so long. His best friend in the whole world and he didn't have time to spend time with her every day? What was that? No, that just won't do, and he planned on fixing it.

"I'm not late, I hope" He smiled happily at Chloe, leaning on the column behind him.

Raven was just sitting down lazily, snacking on a ice cream cone when she noticed a goblin walk over to the fountain and try to fit a bag over it. What a queer sight! It looked as if she was trying to take it off.

"Eh! What are you doing to the fountain?" She demanded after she stood up and approached.

Chloe grinned as soon as she spotted that familiar face among a sea of other faces. "Patrick," she grinned. "How very lovely it is to see you." she giggled, teasingly as she stood up from the bench and gave him a hug as he leaned up against the column.

She sat back down and patted the space next to her for him. Patrick and Chloe had met when they were very little; their Mothers had gone to the same antenatal classes and the little boy and girl had very much grown up around each other. Sometimes, it was hard when he wasn't around, that was how close they were.

"How are you today?" she asked as she twirled a blonde curl around her finger and tilted her head to watch him.

After spending the entire morning studying in Arithmancy, Gwen decided that it would be a good idea to take a break. So, with hasty steps, the seventh year walked out of the Common Room and made her way down the stairs. Since the weather wasn’t that bad, even though it was already November, she figured it would be a good idea to hang out somewhere around the grounds. And for some reason, she found herself walking towards the Courtyard.

Taking a deep breath, the seventh year passed by the fountain, willing to make her way to one of the benches. Hmm. And now she started remembering some things that had happened lately. Those little, almost insignificant things, like the letter she had started writing to her best friend, or more important things… like telling her dad that she had made up her mind regarding what career she had chosen. And, then of course, there was Zeke. She was obviously happy and all… but… she was quite confused too after what happened at the lake. Hmm. She should talk to the Gryffindor. Soon-ish.

Hmmm, wonder why she didn't show up at Hogsmeade. It made Zeke worry pretty much when he just sat there at the bar....waiting and waiting. However no one showed up. Did she change her mind about him? The Gryffindor was at a loss. Maybe he'll confront her about it when he sees her.

Should he mention that his birthday's coming up soon? December 18th.

Maybe not. It wouldn't matter anyway. The brown haired boy walked around Hogwarts in search of nothing in particular. He had no business at all, just pure boredom. Turns out Gwen was in the Courtyard as well, only Zeke didn't notice because his attention was focused on the fountain...

A small creature that was definitely not an elf had been spotted by the Gryffindor observing their fountain in a suspicious manner. He walked up to it...him? her? "Erm, what are you doing here...uh...goblin?" That was a goblin right? Yeah.

Weird. What business could it possibly have at the castle? New staff? Repair goblins?

Maybe her idea of meeting the Gryffindor in Hogsmeade hadn’t been that great, since she had been at the Three Broomsticks and, after waiting a few minutes and he didn’t come, she decided to just leave. Hmm. Maybe she had arrived, and also left a bit too early? There was no chance that he had arrived there after she left, right? Pft. What chance could be for that to have happened? Slim to none.

Or maybe Zeke just decided not to meet her? Trying to shake the thought out of her mind, the seventh year drew her attention back to the fountain, where she spotted...

...Zeke.

Biting her lip, the Ravenclaw eventually decided to go talk to him. ‘Hi’, Gwendolyn said, once she got closer to him. Umm... could she hug him?


She then looked in the direction where Zeke seemed to have spotted something, or someone... Erm. She looked confused at the goblin. Then back at Zeke. Then back at the goblin.

Erm.

‘What’s going on?’, she asked, still a bit confused.

Patrick squeezed Chloe maybe just a little too tightly before sitting down next to her, a goofy smile glued on his face. "I missed you, you know. Where have you been?" He asked teasingly, knowing full well that he had also been busy swamped with work. Patrick often had troubles concentrating, his mind having the tendency to wander a lot, but whenever he was with Chloe, he had trouble concentrating on anything else. She made it so easy to forget about the rest of the world.

"How am I?" He repeated her question for clarity. "Well, earlier today, I was stressing out about the latest Herbology assignment, and before that, I tore a huge hole in my favorite sweater, and all attempts at repairing it just seemed to make it worse.." He explained, sounding more and more worried the more he spoke. His expression changed radically when he looked back up at Chloe, and his smile returned. "But you know, I think I'm pretty good now." He beamed at her.

That voice

......

His head turned around and saw who he expected to see. Gwen. Somehow he had a bitter way of saying her name. She hadn't shown up after all, after she promised she would. He looked like a complete idiot waiting for someone who was never going to come. The Gryffindor stared at her coldly. "Hi, Gwen."

Then his blue eyes went back to looking at the goblin expectantly. "I'm not sure..." And right now, he suddenly didn't feel like caring. He had more stuff to settle. The seventeen year old turned his back to the goblin and faced the Ravenclaw again, "We need to talk."

Yeah. He'd leave the goblin alone. It wasn't his business anyway.

From the tone of his voice, even an oblivious person like Gwen could tell that something was wrong. She just bit her lip as she waited for him to continue talking... because she had no idea what to say. What could she say, anyway? Why didn’t he come at the Three Broomsticks? Because maybe she should have waited a bit longer. Or maybe not. Maybe he just didn’t want to see her.

Aaaand that sentence followed. We need to talk. It was only four words, yet it sounded... well... not good. Not good at all. Trying not to think about it being probably due to the fact that Zeke had changed his mind about what he said a few days ago, the seventh year looked back at the Gryffindor.

Nod.

‘Yeah’ Yeah they had to talk. But since he had mentioned it, Gwen was going to wait for him to finish saying whatever it is that he wanted to say.

Go on, then.

Too many things in her head. Way, way, WAY too many. West. Boggart. Alice. Tag. Dad. Mazes. West. Yep, her life totally ruled! Note the sarcasm. "When did everything get so screwed up?" she wondered, aloud. Honestly, the answer was probably, when she'd let it, buuuuuut, surely she could blame something else. UM. Hey, rock. I blame you. Bliss sighed and scuffed her toe against the ground and kicked the stone across the courtyard.

................. poor rock :|

Frankly, Zeke didn't exactly know what he'd tell Gwen. He wasn't even sure what they were. Sure they had a mutual understanding...exchanged I love you's, but what does that make them? They hadn't agreed on anything, nor did they say anything was official.

Taking a deep breath before attempting to compose himself, he said "Let's go someplace more private?" The Gryffindor eyed the goblin....and the other students around. He wasn't comfortable in his surroundings.

Not yet.

Gwen gave a small nod and, without looking back at the goblin or the students who were close to the fountain, she started walking away, heading to the corridor. From there, they could decide if they should go somewhere inside the castle, or somewhere around the grounds.

Anyway, Zeke was right- there were too many people gathered at the fountain. As she took a couple more steps, the seventh year couldn’t help but think that Ezekiel had changed his mind about well… what he had said.

Mental sigh.

And anyway- the more she had to wait to find out what was probably bad news, the more nervous she was. So… better just get over it? Hmm. Just like ripping a bandage. So, as they were at a distance from the other people, and quite close to one of the columns by the corridor to the courtyard, Gwen suddenly stopped and looked back at him. ‘Actually, Zeke…’, she started saying, not really sure how to end the sentence.

Erm. Think, Gwendolyn, think…

‘I’ve been meaning to ummm talk to you after that Hogsmeade weekend’ That seemed to be a good starter. If anything could be called 'good' in this conversation. Ehhh. And now the harder part would inevitably have to follow. ‘I’ve been at the Three Broomsticks and you… weren’t there…’ And after waiting for a few minutes, she decided to leave. ‘… so I decided to leave because I thought that you changed your mind anddidn’twanttoseeme’ She had probably said the last part of the sentence way too fast.

But now this didn’t make much sense. If he didn’t want to meet her, then why was he upset now? Maybe he just didn’t want to talk to her right now? But he was the one who started with that silly ‘we need to talk’ sentence. Come on…

Ravenclaw thinking.

A moment of silence followed, as Gwen tried to figure out what this was all about. Aaaand she will get it in

…3…

…2…

…1…
‘Nonono’, she mumbled silently and put her cold hand on her forehead, as a sign of frustration. ‘You have been there, haven’t you?’ And she just ruined EVERYTHING. Ughhh. She felt awful for not having waited a bit longer. She probably had arrived at the Three Broomsticks too early, anyway. Maybe she thought she was running late (because it was typical for Gwen to run to get on time in the last minute). Yes, that was probably it.

But still, time management wasn't a good excuse. She just looked back at the Gryffindor. Maybe this wouldn't change much but... 'I'm sorry' There goes the most sincere apology she has ever given.