Christmas smiled at Kace and said "Yeah well your young you have many years at hogwarts still to get popular and thanks that would be great tell her i miss her and i hope to see her soon"

Christmas did speak the truth. He had SO much time left at Hogwarts. He could make friends and make new connections. He was a first year after all...all he had to worry about was to make good impressions.

Kace smiled genuinely to let Christmas know he would tell Belle. After starring off into space for a few seconds, he wanted to ask Christmas a question too, "Anything interesting happen at Hogwarts before i came here? Any interesting events?" he was curious to know what he was expecting.

Christmas thought about Kace's question and said "I can't actually remember but i mean there were a few interesting things happen but i cant remember them that well"

"Ah okay, that is fine. I am sure i will have lots of exciting things to look forward to in my coming years." Kace did not expect her to answer which was fine. Some people's memories weren't good and he had to live with that.

Then in a blink of an eye, Kace also had a memory about quidditch and seeing her on the field. "You know i think i remember versing you in quidditch in the first game i played in...sorry i know it was random but i was figuring where i have seen you before." he smiled to Christmas to make sure she didn't think he was a weirdo or anything.

Christmas smiled and said "Yeah i am sure you will Kace and hey it's cool if you saw me playing in the first game which you did then it is cool that you remember that"

"Yeah i remember you playing very well in the game. I remember you guys beat us." Kace smiled towards her. "But i wanna have a rematch with you one day that is for sure." Kace said just to play it fair.

"How are your classes coming along?" Kace asked curiously.

If she was being honest, the gardens in the courtyard were kinda neat. They weren't super big and out there but more refined and closer together. Now that she was forced to observe things as she looked around for gardens to get this remaining dung into she was noticing.

It had taken her sometime of walking, pushing a wheel burrow and fertilizing but she was almost done. There were more places on the grounds, yeah, she knew but now her burrow was getting empty and she didn't fancy another trip into the pen. She'd gotten lucky earlier. No need to tempt fate a second time. Especially now that she was exhausted and ready to collapse with a nice bowl of ice-cream...unless Felix tried shoving it away from her again.

-___-

Lex pushed the wheel burrow over to a row of flowers and got to kneeling again. All this kneeling, dung, sweat, dirt, she was gonna need a LONG bath when she was done. Maybe the bath would happen before the ice-cream but that just made it seem like effort.

This time, Felix curled up right next to her to watch. He must have been getting even MORE impatient so she moved quickly, spreading the dung around the soil.

Her arms were getting tired of this but this was the life of a muggle farmer!! SHE COULD DO THIS AND BE EPIC AT IT!!! Nodnodnod.

With the last bits scraped from the burrow she got it cleaned--the shovel too then lugged everything back to the shed by the pen. Yup. The bath was definitely happening.

"Well I brought everything we'll need. Its not even hard, its just really really important." West said seriously. Brooms were IMPORTANT. Broom conditioning was key to keeping your broom in working order. He picked one up and placed it across Sonea's lap. "That's Kat's broom." As in Kat Hudson, their prefect? Yes. Her broom.

West summoned the bucket that was filled with bits and pieces that they'd need over to where they were sitting. He began taking everything out of it, including two Broomstick servicing kits, a couple of sponges, and a bottle of broom cleaner, and some towels. These he placed neatly on the bench between them.

West grabbed Theo's broom to start on himself, knowing that there was NO WAY that Theo would want some kid to deal with that, and put it to one side, ready to demonstrate things.

"Okay so first thing we need to do is fill the bucket up with water, and a capful of this broom cleaner. You know the Aguamenti charm right?" She could go ahead and do that. "Fill up the bucket and measure out a capful of the broom cleaner." Paaaause.

And while she was doing that maybe she could explain things. "Botros doesn't get mad that easy you know. He's a really good professor. Sometimes he's even my favourite."

Important? How was it possible that a simple broom was so important? It was JUST a tool? She really didn’t understood why everyone seemed so obsessed with Quidditch and flying in general. He was talking so serious about this! She eyed the older boy and already knew that she hated this, she hated working and she hated it more if she needed to work as a PUNISHMENT! Stupid Botros… She was sure that she NEVER would touch a broom again after this, not if she had a other choice! She sighed and looked surprised up when West gave her a broom. Kat Hudson? She had never really spoken with the prefect but she hoped that she wouldn’t be too angry if she did something wrong with her broom. Why had West gave her the broom from the prefect? And not from a normal, random student?

She was still staring at the broom in her hands when West summoned everything they needed to use while working and… she eyed all the stuff and wondered where everything was used for, she had really no idea!

“From who is that broom?” She pointed at the broom West had just started to work with. She hasn’t asked this because she was really curious, but because she wanted to delay him a little, she really didn’t wanted to do this…

A few minutes later she looked offended at West, of course she knew that spell! She was already a second year! Not a baby! She was the best and she WANTED to show him that she knew the spell and she took her wand out of her pocket and pointed it at the bucket. “Aguamenti!” She spoke the spell oud lout and she saw how the bucked slowly become filled with water, but… her spell was really weak and the she filled the bucked with a annoyingly slow pace! She narrowed her eyes and refused to show him that she hasn’t had practiced this spell often. Luckily the water stream became stronger and she filled the bucked faster! She did what West had asked her to do and added the added the capful of the broom cleaner.

“Done” she said after a few minutes proud but her eyes darkened when West wanted to know why she had been punished by professor Botros. Why was EVERYBODY asking her about that? Why was EVERYBODY so annoying curious? This wasn’t funny anymore… He didn’t asked her directly what she had done, but she knew that he was curious and she hated that! She folded her arms and looked stubborn. “Hmp, I don’t like him, he is a stupid old man and he didn’t wanted to believe me when I told him that I DID NOTHING wrong! He had punished me and it was unfair!” She thought back at what happened and still wondered how he had knew that she had lied to him? Was she so bad in telling lies?

"This is Theo's broom." West said, watching her fill the bucket up and make it up according to his instructions. Not bad. A little slow though.

Stupid? Old?

"Don't ever say things like that about him again. Its not good to be disrespectful. Even if you think a thing, don't say it when it can get you into trouble."West said, his tone mild but his expression serious. Only a year or so ago, mouthing off about his favourite professor would've earned Sonea or anyone a good thump in the arm from the boy, but he'd stopped that sort of thing. So there was hope for her too, see?

"But you did do something wrong, you called that boy a bad name and all that. So he was right not to believe you. Being rude and saying stuff offensive like what you said is bad, but do you know what is worse? Getting caught. Slytherins don't get caught." Nod. That was one of the first lessons his Slytherin father had imparted to him actually. Don't do bad things, but if you must, don't get caught doing them. It was pretty simple.

"Okay so now we use the sponges to give the brooms a wipe down. Like this." West picked one of the sponges up and put it in the bucket of now-sudsy water and then squeezed the excess water out. Then he started wiping the length of the broom handle, paying particular attention to where one would normally grip it while riding. "You do the same." For Kat's broom. Mhmm. It was easy enough.

"When you're done we just dry the handles off, and then we get to take care of the twigs." West grabbed a towel and wiped the handle dry.

"We dunk the twig end of the broom into the bucket and stir counter-clockwise seven times, then let it soak for a couple minutes, and then clockwise seven times and soak for a couple minutes again." He explained, doing exactly that.

Once he was done he took the broom out of the bucket and started to pat the tail twigs dry with a towel.

"It was fair that Botros punished you. You should've been punished. Because you got caught doing something you shouldn't have been doing." West said, again focusing on the 'getting caught' part.

After finding a perfect spot to keep his gandr for the month, Asher went to visit it each day. He sanded and cared for the wand, taking great lengths to be sure he was doing it properly.

He pulled out his sanding paper and gently rubbed the wood, smoothing any rough edges he found. He inspected it for any problems and thought over the runes that would be held within the wood.

Theo, who was Theo? What was his last name? She wondered who the person was who owned the broom, but she didn’t asked it, maybe if she would ask it would West think that she was stupid, but she had really no idea who were playing in the Slytherin Quidditch team, she didn’t knew it from ANY Quidditch team on Hogwarts…

She pouted when she heard what West told her next and she didn't liked the way he talked, it almost sounded as if he… liked professor Botros! Why would he defend that old man? West was kidding, right? How could he like professor Botros and his stupid dog? And why was she disrespectful? She had told the truth, he WAS old and she really thought about him as stupid, so why did he made such a fuss about it? But what he next told Sonea was true and it had bothered her before, she needed to pay attention to what she was saying, some things were better to NOT speak out loud, but she couldn’t help it, sometimes she said things without thinking and that was bringing her in trouble…

She looked worried at West, wondering what she needed to do of if she could help herself and just try to hold herself back a little. “Hmm, I know that it is a bad word, but I was so angry at that moment that I didn’t thought clearly and before I knew it, I had called him like that! And when he started to fight back I just wanted to hurt him… But… What I don’t understand is, why is everybody SO shocked about it, he IS a stupid boy and it was his own fault, not mine! He deserved it…” And just when she had said those words, she again wondered if it had been smart to say all those things and she looked worried again.

“Oh, and about getting caught… I tried to act sneaky and I have looked if we were alone, and we WERE alone when I looked for the last time, and the next moment he was there, using his wand to stop Forrest and I while we were fighting! It was unfair and I didn’t knew that he was around!” She looked really annoyed when she thought about what had happened and still didn’t understood how it was possible that the old man had been so fast besides her and had stopped her, it almost seemed as if he had waited for her to do something so that he could stop her! She wondered if Forrest had asked professor Botros to follow her… Yes, that was it! Forrest had planned this with professor Botros! she really believed this, even now that it was almost impossible that a student and a teacher were working together to let her do something wrong…

Luckily, West didn’t talked anymore about professor Botros, Forrest or getting caught and she was a little relieved that he started to talk again about his precious brooms. But her relieving feelings faded quickly when she realized that she needed to work again. Sigh, why was everybody making it so difficult for her?

She listened to what West was explaining her and repeated everything he showed her, but she wasn’t as fast with her task as West had been and it was taking her a few minutes to do everything good and without damaging the broom.

She groaned again when West talked AGAIN about what she had done and looked away from him, she DIDN’T wanted to talk about it! She hated it!

"You have to play to your strengths. You're a Slytherin, so you should use your smarts to win. That doesn't mean tearing others down to get ahead either, it means being the best you can be, and doing whatever it takes to outshine others on your own merit, so that when there's trouble, even if you caused it, nobody even thinks to blame you. That's how you get away with things." West said, working on the next broom. It didn't matter that it was taking her a while to follow his instructions, West didn't mind. Better to do it right and slower than fast and wrong.

"And by the way acting sneaky is suspicious. You shouldn't do things that make people think that you're .......up to something."

Since Sonea was done with Kat's broom, West passed her Clement's broom next. He picked up Dylan's and started cleaning that.

"If you don't like that Forrest kid, you should just... stay away from him. Ignore him. Otherwise you're wasting your energy on someone that isn't even worth it, you know?"

La dee dah dee dah.

Alexa skipped her way down to the courtyard, deciding that she couldn't concentrate much with the whomping willow so close by. It kept trying to call her to play but she had work to do so she needed to move away from the distractions! That was probably as responsible as she got.

She picked a nice spot to sit and got her book out again. Boy, this was a lot of book time, she was gonna need to go blow something up when this was all over. For now, back to rune carving and it looked like the next one would be...Sowilo. Oh oh oh!! Sarah made her this rune!! She said she was like the sun! Lex smiled at it before reading on. Transcendent power, salvation, knowledge, strength in times of trouble. Also useful for matters of success and divination. Will counter all dark forces. The sun is a symbol of personal, trascendent salvation. Just like Sarah said.

"Itaglio sowilo sowilo sowilo." BEAM.

Uh...Tiwaz...that one was next. She traced her finger along the text. A symbol of divine protection, of justice and honor in war or duel. It can be used to defend against or attack known enemies. Another good one to have on her wand. Not that she had a choice but it was good when she could agree with the ones that were being put on here. "Itaglio tiwaz tiwaz tiwaz."

There. Easy enough. On to the next! Berkano! She had no idea what that was either! JOY! And just what was this one all about? She squinted at the page. Healing, good health, calming troubled minds and atonement, childbirth and fertility. Erm...well....uh...okay.

"Itaglio berkano berkano berkano." Keeping away from this one. Mhm.

Aaaaand now it was Ehwaz. She was beginning to think she'd passed the point in the textbook where she actually knew stuff. This was like...uncharted territory! A call for divine aid in times of trouble, gathering of bonds of friendship, and the protection of friends. It can call aid from unlooked-for places. SEE??? She would have never guessed that!!! "Itaglio ehwaz ehwaz ehwaz."

Right next to that one was Mannaz! Yup uncharted territory for sure! Definitely. Helps in knowing oneself. It can therefore be used in mediation, to increase dreaming, or to enhance the truth of dreams. She couldn't see why this one was important but she would carve it nonetheless.

"Itaglio mannaz mannaz mannaz."

Hmm, what West told her made sense, but it sounded easier that it really was, she knew that by now. Of course she had tried to be sneaky and to not get caught, but she now knew that you really needed to be smart or to be a planner to do it right and without getting caught! It really wasn’t so easy as West tried tell her. No, she wasn’t sure if she was THAT smart, even now that she wanted to tell everybody that she knew everything… Pfff… this was really not funny!

“I want to learn that too! How do you learn that?” She asked the older boy curious while she worked with the broom she had still in her hands. “I also want to be smart enough to not getting caught all the time!”

Hmm, not acting sneaky? But, that is not funny! She liked it to act sneaky, it was fun and she liked it to let people be nervous around her! She wasn’t so sure if she wanted to give that up… West was talking so… almost like a adult! And now that she listened to West she came to a conclusion, she didn’t wanted to be a grown-up, they were boring! West sounded boring, with all his responsibilities, and now that she thought about it, she realized that almost all the older students at Hogwarts sounded that way! She sighed and let her shoulders hang. Would she be also boring, like all the older student’s when she would be older? She didn’t hoped it!

Sonea took the next broom West had given her and started to work with the new broom, and this time it wasn’t so difficult anymore, but she still didn’t like it!

“You are right about one thing, Forrest isn’t worth it, he is stupid and I am MUCH better than he is!” But what she didn’t said to West was that she probable wasn’t able to let Forrest alone, she hated him too much to do it!

"Oh, and West....? When I'm done with this, will you tell professor Botros that i have helped you??" She looked up at the older boy and was a little worried. "I am doing it good, right?"

How DID you learn it if you weren't a natural? West considered that question. "Well I guess I learned by watching the older kids. Like Sierra Greingoth and Dylan Montmorency." Their former female prefect and current Quidditch captain. "Also my sister is pretty good at not being caught, and people are scared of her and she doesn't even need to act sneaky." So that was a type of power. "So yeah, watching is good. You can learn a bunch just by watching the right people, y'know?" He paused and mussed his hair up absently before continuing working on the broom.

Okay. Better than this Forrest kid. West understood that, there were plenty of people that he felt HE was better than... the difference was that he didn't go give them a hard time, just called them out on it and shut them down if they got in HIS face. People didn't mess with him for that reason.

"If you're better, act like you're better. I mean, I believe you but you have to convince the people that matter. The ones with the power and all that." Prefects, Professors... etc. "I mean, if you hate him that much it shouldn't even be hard to ignore him.... unless you secretly like him or something." as in a CRUSH. It wasn't one of THOSE was it? Little kids picked on each other when they liked each other sometimes and all that.

"I said I'd tell him." West brushed that off with a shrug. He had. but they weren't done yet. "You're getting there."

After finishing his project for Ancient Runes, Asher decided to go and relax in the courtyard. It was still chilly out and the sun was close to setting, but he wanted to spend a little time alone.

His first year at Hogwarts had been interesting and much harder than he ever imagined. Not only was he looking forward to going home, but he was also looking forward to a fresh start his second year of school. He would no longer be the little guy and he liked that.

“But the older kids are bo-….” she wanted to say boring, but she remembered what West had told her about not saying everything you wanted and without thinking, so she stopped and tried to think of something else, and yes, she had learned SOMETHING! Yeahhhh, she was good!!! “The older kids are so busy with their schoolwork and they aren’t doing anything fun lately” Yes, this sounded more friendly AND she had not offended the older boy by telling him that almost every older student was boring, and they were! She wanted to have some friends from her own age within Slytherin, but it seemed as if Slytherin wasn’t so popular because she was almost the only second year! She sighed and felt with her free hand if the mud was still on her face, and yes, she felt it… Sadly…

Sonea looked thoughtfully at the broom she held in her hands and frowned, she needed somebody she could look up to, to learn how to be a good Slytherin, but because all the older kids are so boring and busy with their schoolwork, she needed to search somewhere else, but where? She needed to think about this, but she knew one thing for sure, and that was that she would be the next year better than before, she would be a REAL Slytherin and everybody would be proud of her, even her mother, yes, even her mother would be proud at her, she needed to be proud!

She nodded while she listened to what West told her but halfway she stared in a total shock at the older boy! WHAT DID HE MEAN BY SAYING the word ‘secretly like’ him??! Forrest, NO, NEVER! He was SOOOOOOO stupid, ugly AND he was a Muggleborn, her mom already wasn’t nice to her and she already expected too much from Sonea, and if she DARED it to have a boyfriends like him, than she would be grounded for the rest of her life!!! And besides that, a boyfriend? Liking a boy? EEEEUW! No, she didn’t liked ANY boy, why would she? They were boring!!! “No, I DON’T like him, why do you think that?” She folded her arms and looked really stunned, she hated him, so thought West that she liked Forrest? It was impossible to like somebody she hated, that was so stupid! She eyed West with a strange look, West was older than she was, but he sounded now really, eh… stay friendly Sonea… he sounded now not so smart…

“I just wanted to make sure” said Sonea slowly and felt again if the mud was still on her face, she wanted to be pretty again and the mud was making her ugly, so yes, she wanted to make sure that West would tell professor Botros that she had been doing her best to be nice, to help him AND to learn something!

Harland looked around as he walked, admiring the statues and stones. Or, more accurately, thinking. Sure, he was looking at the statues, they seemed pretty cool, but the stones? They were just stones. Unless...
"Hey, maybe they're magic stones!" He exclaimed, poking one with his foot. "Do magic! Anything!
Nothing.
"Hokus Pokus?"
Nothing.
"Jiggly Piggly?"
Still nothing!
"Aw, come on... Why couldn't you just do something for me?" He sighed, poking them once more before he went back to admiring the scenery. Well, it was much more impressive than his house, anyway. He was glad his parents had finally let him come here, it was so much better than homeschooling, and he hadn't even been here long at all! There were so many people who were just like him! It was great!

Minerva had wondered away from Ethan. She felt bad to be so out of it and so sad all the time around him. It just wasn't fair to him, it wasn't his fault. She wasn't even sure who's fault it really was. One minute she was super happy and loved everything and now... Her bed was about the only thing she wanted. She didn't even care about going to class anymore. What was the point. The term just needed to be over, yes that's what needed to be. Then she could just leave and be alone. Alone and sad sounded like the best thing to her at the moment.

Sniffling a bit she heard someone and looked up. What on earth was that boy doing. Had she ever seen the boy before. Oh what did it matter anyway, there were tons a people at the school she couldn't know them all and what was the point of knowing them all. Sitting down she pulled her legs to her chest and rested her head on her arms. Hearing a voice again she looked at the boy, was he talking to the statues? Hokus pokus? Was he from the muggle world?


"The spell you are looking for is Piertotum Locomotor to make them do anything." If that's what he was trying to do. Minerva didn't pay much more attention and went back to her self pity party she was having on being so down.

Harland looked up as he heard someone speaking to him, surprised at first, before a grin spread across his face. Hey, someone was talking to him! This was the first person! They ought to win a prize! That was, if they didn't count talking to him as being a prize, which they really should. He was a prize! A great one, at that! Maybe even fabulous!
"Nah, I was just wondering if these slabs did anything magical without me having to do anything. Some of our slabs at home like to shake at points. Or maybe that's just an earthquake..." Who knew? He was pretty sure it wasn't an earthquake, though, most others never felt it. But there were hundreds of thousands of earthquakes happening in a minute, so maybe it was? Who knew... No point in dwelling on it too much when there was someone to talk to! He had to introduce himself! That was the polite way of doing things, anyway!
"But thanks, anyway! Nice to see a..." Could he say friendly? She looked pretty sad... "Face around here. I'm Harland, but please, call me Harley. Or Har. Just not Harland..." What had his parents even been thinking? But back to the girl in front of him! He knelt beside her, smiling kindly at her. Had to be kind, that's what you did with people you've only just met.

As Asher was sitting, recovering from his Ancient Runes project, he suddenly remembered he hadn't finished his Divination homework. "Homework will be the end of me" he sadly stated.

With a sigh, he reached over to his bag and pulled out his parchment and hand print. Looking closely to the instructions, and realizing it was getting a bit dark to see, he grabbed his wand and commanded "Lumos!" That made it much easier to see what he was doing.

"I still have my life line and fate line to finish on my from birth hand. Let me see..."

Scribbling on his parchment

He wasn't sure how true that sounded, but it was what it was. "Now my future hand. I hope that one is a good reading."

Needing to get a bit more light, Asher thought about where else he could go to work on his project.

The mist was quick to enter the courtyard, before settling into a slow flow around the area, hovering just above the ground. It almost made it difficult to see the ice starting to creep up onto the stone of the castle, even the vines and bushes while it froze the water in the fountain, giving it an icy shine.

Rattle rattle rattle rattle.

Shadows became more prominent as the air started to chill even more at a rapid rate. The courtyard started to flicker with darkness as cloak after dark cloak swooped above the ground and trees, blocking the access any light had into the area moment after moment. In a matter of moments, the dementors swarmed up into the courtyard, swooping and and diving in through the corridors outside and back out again. An entrance into the castle was needed. Shouldn't be too hard to find.

Tasty souls. Tasty tasty souls, they could smell them!

Minerva gave a small smile, "Oh.. well I guess I just assumed you wanted to bring them to life like we did in transfiguration with our gargoyles." She had Grumpy still in her bag and thought about bringing him out to show the boy, she didn't think he was in that class, but wasn't sure. "You have statues that do that? I just thought portraits did that." Was there something she hadn't seen yet in this world. Hmm it wouldn't surprise her, she figured maybe there was plenty she hand't seen. Sigh.. that was the life of someone from the muggle world it seemed. Always something new, she usually was excited to learn new things, but today she just wasn't in the mood.

She looked around.. There were plenty of faces, right, but she gave him a smile, "I'm Minerva, why haven't I seen you around at all before now? Are you new?" Even if he was she figured she would have seen him before. "What year are you? I'm sixth." Just in case he wanted to know. "You really shouldn't be hateful to your name though.. It's unique and unique is always a great thing." Did that sound mean.. Well she didn't mean for it to sound mean, maybe she shouldn't have come out of the castle today.. She should have stayed in bed then people wouldn't have to deal with her.



As she sat there Minerva started to feel cold. Why was she feeling cold it was may.. MAY... There was no reason for it to be cold in May. She looked around and her mood dropped even more. What was the point of caring about the cold anymore. She just felt sad and pulled her legs into her chest. Thinking about her parents, the detention came to her mind, Ethan being done this term and leaving her alone at this school next term. She just felt so sad and so cold...

Looking up she let out a scream.. AGAIN.. why were they hear again.. Why did they have to keep showing up! She was so tired of them. Putting her arms down she backed up thinking she could back into the castle, but hit the wall. She was cornered and she reached for her wand with a shaky hand. They were not going to bother her if she stayed quiet, right, but she couldn't just let them into the castle either. No there was no way she could let them into the castle. Ethan was in there somewhere and her little badgers. She got to her feet and tried to push sad out of her mind. Thinking of Ethan and trying to get her memory to come to the surface from all the sad... "Expecto Patronum" but nothing.... She was struggling to fight the bad thoughts. They could not get into this castle.. NO...

Harland shook his head. "Nah, I only just got here, but I think I can sort of do that. Mam taught me how to do it." He explained, grinning, before he shook his head. "Naw, our slabs. We don't have any statues. Slabs? Like... Pavement slabs? They like to shake. I think they must like dancing or something." He chuckled, before he began to sing quietly, attempting to cheer her up. "They feel like dancin', dancin', just 'cause they have nothing better to do!" Paraphrasing songs was normal, right? Well, it was definitely normal for Harland. He quite liked his slabs, actually, he'd given them names. Once again, ten points for Harland being abnormal. He rolled his eyes at his mind, before turning back to her.

"I'm Harley! Wait, I already said that... Oh, yeah, I'm new," he nodded, "I'm in sixth year, too! Just got here, actually!" Like, two weeks ago. He was a rather late arrival to the year, but here he was, finally! He'd just been exploring for the last few weeks, though. "But Harland! I don't even know what it's after! Something to do with boats or something!" His middle name was worse. Who would call their child Harland Chadwick unless they wanted them to be beat up when they got older?

Suddenly, he saw the mist and he shuddered, closing his eyes tightly. Again?! He'd already had one encounter with these things, and he couldn't even do a Patronus! Who could do a Patronus when they were in this much... Cold... His gaze moved to the fountain which was now beginning to freeze. Usually, he'd be impressed, but this was no time for that. Sometimes he hated being so happy all the time. Well, no, he didn't, he just hated it whenever the Dementors came. Twice in a few days? He was pretty sure that the world hated him or something.

He pulled his own wand out and pointed it at the Dementors, struggling to find his voice at first. "E-expecto Patronum..." His voice was quiet, and not even a whisp escaped his wand. He just couldn't see any point. Who would miss him, anyway? His parents probably found him annoying. He didn't really know anyone else. No one would be sad to see him gone. Not once did it occur to Harland that this was the cold making him think this. He slowly looked towards Minerva and whispered. "Why do they keep coming back?" He got up as well, pointing his own wand at them once more and continuously muttering the spell. He had to try.