The weather was really nice today. Much warmer than it had been the past few weeks and Ella could almost feel summer, y'know? It was going to be here before she knew it and she just had a few more things to get done before she could relax and enjoy the rest of term. The last Quidditch match being one of those things and she was nervous. She wanted to win, y'know? Regardless of the current standings, she wanted the victory.

Notebook in hand, the seventeen year old sat with her back against the base of the fountain. The water sound was calming and a welcome background track to her current roster predicament. She needed to sort this out and soon.

Scribble. Scribble. Scribble.

Today was nice and sunny. Sunny was good. Anya hated being inside. It made her feel claustrophobic. Normally she didn't have a problem with it, but recently, little things seemed to set her off.

But... fresh air was good. Yes it was.

Ooooh! And so was Elle Belle!

Anya skipped over and perched herself on the ledge of the fountain. "I'd put him here." she said looking over the badger's shoulder. Helpful Anya was helpful.

Anya-face?

She didn't need to look up to know she was right. The blonde simply raised her eyebrows and considered what the brunette had said. "Hey, that's not bad. You should have quit the whole Gryffindor thing and become a Hufflepuff." Grin. "Could have been my co-captain." But it'd probably be harder for Anya to snog Jake's face from a different common room so there was that.

After switching a few players around, the blonde used her pen as a marker and shut her notebook, setting it in her lap. "Should I be suspicious that you're spying for the Slytherin team?" She was kidding of course but Anya was good at spying.

Anya smiled a little as she watched Ella make the corrections. It would be weird not seeing her all the time next term. "Co-captain?" she asked thinking about it. "Nah. I have a problem with authority. My own included." True story.

She then laughed at the mere suggestion she was a spy. "Like West would come up to me with something like that?" They definitely weren't on that level. And she was pretty sure West wasn't the spying type anyway. You know... unless he did it himself by peeking through the gap under the stands.

"Ready for your last match this term?"

A problem with authority? Ella smiled a little at this and nodded her head. "My problem is that I'm great at giving people advice that I can't seem to follow myself." Y'know, while they were on the subject of problems and all.

"He's smart, West is. Maybe he knows I trust you." Not that West needed a spy. She was sure he was ready. He'd transitioned into the captain position quite well and she had no doubts that the snakes would put up a good fight. But still, Anya would be a good choice as far as options went.

"Ready as I can be, I guess." Shrug. Worrying was her thing and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't nervous. "I can't believe the term is almost over." It was sad for reasons. Anya being one of those reasons. "Excited for summer?"

Wow. Apparently Lottie's constant reminders of Tag having a contagious laugh was true. Because now Wade was laughing along with Tag, which made him grin! He liked it when people were happy and having a good time. Hehe. Then Tag got a hair pet. Or hair ruffle, whatever Alec called it. Which made him grin even wider. "All right!" Tag said clapping his hands together. Now came the hard part. What would they do to defeat their boredom?

"Yeah. I've been playing since I was like nine or something." So many years of strumming those strings. Now hippogriff studies or quidditch, that made Tag raise both of his eyebrows. That was an impressive choice, whichever one it would be Wade went into. Really impressive. "You are a really really fantastic quidditch player, yeah?" Wade was really fast out there with his techniques and flying. Tag could definitely see Wade getting on a team. "An hippogriff studies, that sounds interesting too. Do you know the types of things you might be learning about them if you decide on that career?" If he didn't there was no problem in that. Also, that might explain Wade riding that mechanical hippogriff. "No, I haven't talked to anyone about it actually. I'll pay her or a Professor a visit soon. Get some help."

The real world was scary.

"Never ridden a real live Hippogriff. But it would be awesome though." Imagine that. A leprechaun, unicorn riding a hippogriff. Now there's an image. "You could always ask them to try and restock? Or maybe owl a family member to send you some. In case the elves are still confused." Wade seemed to depend on those.

Caleb yawned as he stepped out to the courtyard on that Saturday morning. He knew he should be doing homework so he could enjoy himself later and maybe spend some time drawing, but he didn't care. He wanted to take a walk first. Get some fresh air.

As he walked, he picked up his rat, Beans, from his pocket and set him on his shoulder so he could get some fresh air too. He deserved it after all the homework assignments he'd needed him for recently. Poor Beans. Life was hard as a rat.

Well, excuse her, but the common room was being quiet and very warm! That probably should have been good but not when one was trying to study and NOT fall asleep as it was with the fifth-year. If she wanted to sleep somewhere with a book she would have gone to the library or the studying tables, thank you very much. Her house mates needed to be louder those days. Though obviously not today. So she left and headed out to the grounds grabbing her bag with her that probably contained a couple of books. Her conscious demanded she brought these despite the fact that she wasn't likely to do any serious studying. She had the entire day to do so.

Or so she told herself as she wandered around finally reaching the courtyard and settling there. The cold breeze did help her snap out of her drowsy state. That was the upside. Though the downside was the boredom. Man, when she was younger she used to come up with lots of ways to have fun. She sighed and watched people around her. Now here's a younger boy who looked less bored than herself. She shuffled towards him and recognized his face from classes and the common room, "There's a rat on your shoulder," She said pointing with her forefinger then stopping midmotion. Ummm. The rat probably belonged to the boy. Excuse her she was trying to study. "...Err..Hi," She used to know that the greeting came before pointing out rats perched on shoulders.

Adelaide decided she was going to take advantage of the semi-nice weather and study outside for the day. OWLs were coming up quickly and she was still behind in things. But she was tired of being in the dungeons and the library. It got boring after a while.

She carried her things and found a bench in the Courtyards. It was not super crowded out, but there definitely were some people hanging around outside. Addi found a spot and opened up her Runes text book, scribbling notes as she read along. She quietly began to hum to herself.

Caleb turned around when he heard someone talking to him. Of COURSE there was a rat on his shoulder...it was his pet! And he wanted to take a ride on his shoulder, no big deal.

"Um, yeah. I know. This is Beans," he said with a smile, pointing to his rat. Beans just sat there, totally unamused by the new visitor. "I'm Caleb. You're a Slytherin, right?" he asked. He was pretty sure that he knew her face from the common room, but who knew.

Yes, he already knew of the rat on his shoulders. Wasn't surprising to be honest. Good thing he didn't find it silly that she mentioned it. Or if he did think so then he didn't announce it. That's a first good impression. She couldn't say the same for herself. Ahem. Not too late to look and sound smart.

"Oh, I see," It had a name too. Were rats a trend now? She had encountered more than one younger student with a rat as a pet. Seemed to be popular among them. How'd she know though, she was within the older ones now. Not cool, she never liked the older kids much. They were kind of weird and she now could justify some behaviors. "Yes, I sure am," She nodded. Did she NOT look like a Slytherin. Eeeh..on second thoughts, she didn't want to know the answer to that. "Nice to meet you Caleb,I'm Cassia. Fifth year." she smiled at him. Yes, people who introduced themselves got smiles and bonus information. "What are you doing out here?" She asked conversationally taking a look around in case there was something going on and she failed to notice it at first.

Dylan smiled, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, exactly!" he said. And from what he had heard on what Muggles learned in school, he was thankful to be learning the subjects they were learning at Hogwarts rather than what Muggles did. Not that it didn't seem interesting...but the subjects taught at Hogwarts were so much cooler and fascinating!

He chuckled, relief sweeping over him when she made it clear she didn't mind at all. "Oh, okay, good!" he said. He'd hate to know he had been being rude or something. The first year then waved his hand, shaking his head firmly. "I'm sure you won't bore me at all! You're quite fun to talk to." he told her, smiling. It was true; she was easy to talk to, fun to be around, and quite interesting. Speaking of which, he should ask some more about her to get to know a bit more about the girl. "So," he began, quickly racking his brain for something to ask. "What is your biggest fear?" he finally asked. That was always something interesting.

Anya smiled a little. "I have that problem too." And it was probably one of the reasons they got along well. They knew what the other needed to hear. They had a lot of the same problems.

"Aww. You trust maybe?" she said lightly holding her hand to her chest. She batted her eyes several times. "Maybe I will take this information to the snakes then."

She then laughed a few times. You know, just in case Ella couldn't tell she was joking.

"Yeah. Me either." she said thoughtfully. Almost the end of the school year. It was crazy how fast it was coming. "I dunno. There's a lot of stuff we've got to do this summer." As in her and Jake. A lot of planning and figuring stuff out and getting him ready for work. "It won't be much of a break before we jump into adult life."

"What about you?"

The Gryffindor common room was quite the interesting one and he had been enjoying sitting there and just observing. However, he did feel the need to get out and let some fresh air into his lungs. So he put on his heaviest jacket, wrapped a scarf around his neck and dipped his chin then headed out. He wasn't very good at navigating around the school so he didn't have a very good idea where he was headed but that didn't stop. He just kept following small groups or individuals.

After a while he found himself in a round yard with students scattered here and there. Some were alone reading or gazing others were accompanied by friends.

He slid his hands into his pockets and padded toward a girl with red hair like fire. A smirk pulled at his lips at that thought. He approached the girl and noticed that she was humming. "Bonjour, Do you mind eef I joined you?" He asked her softly glancing at the vacant spot next to her. He liked the company of pretty girls and Hogwarts had plenty. Also, there stay was about to come to an end with round two nearing.

Adelaide was so into reading she hadn't noticed the boy that had come up to her. And then she heard the accent. She immediately stopped humming and looked up to see another pretty French boy in front of her. They had to have something special in the water at Beauxbaton's to make them all so gorgeous.

...And of course she'd been humming. But he wanted to sit with her. Well that was all right, right? "Sure." Addi shifted some of her things so that he could properly sit down. Hopefully this time she'd be able to keep the blush away from her cheeks. Probably not though. Because that face plus that accent. Yeah. She really did not care about all of the rumours going around about the foreign students. They were pretty.

"Nice to meet you too, Cassia," Caleb said with a smile. OOOH a fifth year? She was OLD. Well, old compared to him. He hadn't met any older students really. A few, but not many, and it had been kind of awkward every time - like with Mo and Alice and how they were going to kill each other during the wandlore trip. Hmmm.

"I'm just taking a walk. Wanted to clear my head before heading back and doing homework," he explained with a shrug. "You?" he asked. Did people come out here with a PURPOSE? He wasn't sure.

"Great minds...or something." They thought alike, yeah? So maybe they worried alike too. Seemed legit. The blonde shrugged and tried not to think too much about things and stuff, focusing on the sun and the lion who had joined her instead.

The dramatic hand to the chest stuff? Ella raised her eyebrows and giggled at the brunette, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. Anya was funny, did she know? The blonde feigned shock at the thought of Gryffindor leaking her roster and crossed her arms. "Why I never!"

Of course there was lots to do. Anya had a new life to start, yeah? Ella was excited for her, maybe even a little jealous. It must be nice to have things figured out. The seventeen year old was still trying to decide what to have for dinner so thoughts of after-Hogwarts things weren't even close to being decided. "At least you guys can figure it out together." Adult life. That was sort of comforting, wasn't it?

"I'm anxious to get home. I miss everyone." As for summer plans, she didn't have any. She was more focused on seeing what was going on with her Gran.

Her biggest fear?

That was one question she had never gotten. Nor would she ever reply with the real answer, it was too embarrassing. Getting lost in a rainforest full of spiders and becoming dinner for a nearby acromantula? Yeah, she didn't think anyone had to know that. She thought a moment before answering. "Failure." She said simply. It may not have been her biggest fear, but it was her second biggest fear. Even as a first year with pretty much no life experience, Bethany thought about her future quite a bit. "Failure is my second biggest fear, just to let you know. My actual biggest fear is a tad bit embarrassing, i'm definitely not sharing it." She said, laughing. "What about you?" Bethany asked, smiling.

HER common room? "Yeaaaah, aren't some of the foreigners living with you too?" She'd heard that anyway. Ew, that meant the common room would be even MORE crowded. Did they sleep in their dormitories too? Probably. Ew. Olly actually felt a little bad for Dora. They were quite lucky that Hufflepuff didn't have to share common rooms with anyone. And that it was just her and Elodie in their dorm too.

Imagine if somebody else were to join them......well, they wouldn't be allowed to. Period.

Olly briefly glanced down at the wand in Dora's hand. "I don't know. I'm just not very good at either?" Though she had to admit it was mainly the fact that her wand just felt weird in her hand sometimes. She looked back up at the other girl with a shrug. "Okay, so are we going to do this now?" She grinned. The whole trying spells thing. Well, Dora trying spells.

"Likewise"Somehow the blond managed to smile brightly whenever anyone said it was nice to meet her. Though it was kind of an expression but she took everything as compliments. Huge ego and all. Yes, it was nice to meet her she had learned.She didn't need to ask to know that Caleb was a first year or a second year. "Are you a second year?" Because it might upset him to be mistaken for a firstie when he wasn't. It did upset her when she was twelve. Unless kids thought differently those days. Here's to hoping she asked the right thing and her attempts were worth it.

Homework! Boo this word! She wasn't the only one avoiding doing it. "I'm pretty much the same," she nodded. "The common room was far too quiet and cozy. Perfect for a nap and nothing else," Try hold an Ancient Runes or Herbology book in there and watch how fast you drift to sleep.

Absentmindedly she reached for pocked and felt there for anything then pulled out one chocolate frog and a half of a Licorice wand. "Would you like?" She asked offering both to him. Did he like candy? She had grown to learn that some if not many people did not. Hard to imagine that in a world where Lex existed.

Caleb chuckled. "Um, almost. I'm still a first year," he said with a smile. Was she really mistaking him for a second year or was she just being nice? He really didn't care either way. Hehe.

"Sure! Thanks," Caleb said with a smile as he took some of her chocolate frogs. "My favorites are jelly slugs, like my dad," he added as an after fact with a chuckle.

Dylan watched as she thought, and she seemed a bit hesitant for a moment. He wondered curiously what was going on in her head. Finally, she told him that it was failure. "I get that. Same here...well, it's not exactly my main fear. But it's one of them for sure." he told her with a nod. But then she told him that it was her second biggest fear. He smirked, cocking his head slightly and eyeing her curiously. He was tempted to ask her what her first was but he wanted to respect her privacy. "Well, I understand if ya don't wanna tell me. But you should know I would never make fun of you or laugh at you, for whatever it is." he said with a assuring smile.

Now it was his turn to share. Hmmm. He actually hadn't quite thought about it. Dylan had many fears, and it was hard to say which was his top one. "I think butterflies are my biggest..." he finally said in a quiet voice. And he was serious, too. It wasn't a joke. He really was afraid of them. Sure, they had the pretty little wings and all but...they freaked him out, they really did. Their faces with their weird, eerie looking eyes really scared him, and he felt like they were going to attack him or something when he saw them flying around. "Now, I'm sure your biggest fear can't be as embarrassing as that, can it?" he asked, nudging her and raising his eyebrows.

Dora wrinkled her nose and nodded her head. "Yes, and not even the really hot or interesting ones." Which, would have made the stay a bit better had she gotten one of them. Sadly she'd gotten one that proved boring to the fifth year and in the way.

"Are your parents magical?" Not that it matter completely, but Dora was suddenly interested. Olly couldn't use her wand, and as consequence probably couldn't preform magic that well. Interesting. She tapped the tip of her wand against her knee and looked out at the courtyard. "I'd wanted to practice some nonverballs with transfiguration spells. Conjuring things and the then transfiguring them into something else. Or messing around with the fountain water. Bewitching snowballs..." She looked back at the other girl thoughtfully. "You can let me try things on you since I'm going to be doing all the work anyway."

Olly smirked, snorting softly in sympathy. They didn't even get the hot or interesting ones. "Sucks." Really, what WAS the point of those foreigners staying at Hogwarts? Hardly any of them were interesting to look at. And then good people like Dora had to SHARE their common room with them. Just...what a nuisance.

Her expression hardened slightly at Dora's next question and she continued to stare at the other girl's wand for a few seconds. Eventually she looked back up. "My father was, apparently." She held the other girl's gaze. "Though, both my adoptive parents are magical yes. So it's not like I haven't been around magic." Was it so unusual for people to just not be good with their wands? She had other talents. And wand-work just wasn't one of them.

Brown eyes flicking towards the things Dora mentioned, Olly eventually found herself raising her eyebrows at the Ravenclaw. "Try things on me?" That sounded...dangerous.

It did suck. Hence her being out here cause she didn't not find their company enjoyable.

If Dora noticed the change in Olly's expression (which she did) it wasn't showing on her face. She simply held the other girl's gaze pensively. "Hm. Maybe you just need to practice more. Not using it won't make you any better." She shrugged. "Might just have a difficult wand." Her own wasn't the easiest to master, not that she was having difficulties with it.

"Spells. Nothing bad like hexes or jinxes, just transfig' things." She tilted her head. "Or charms." Harmless spells in the best of situations.