Adi had to repack his books in his bag so he took a while to get to Anna. "I'm coming!'' he called, hauling his bag along. He was ready to give those rocks a shot! And succeed too! When he got to the courtyard, he set his bag down and stood about twenty feet from the rocks. He noticed nothing about Anna's fall.

"I'll go first, if that's okay with you, Anna.'' He eyed the rock. This would require more concentration. And how the heck was he supposed to reel that thing towards him? He was so tiny...but, he did play a lot of cricket back home so...

''Carpe Retractum!'' Fully focused on the rock, the purple rope shot out of his wand and in no time wound itself around the rock. Perfect! Now came the hard part. Adi pulled. No movement from the rock. He tugged again. It moved! Not by much but it moved! Great! He tugged and tugged more. It came a little closer.

Grinning, he turned to Anna. "Your turn.''

Annabeth was still rubbing her knees when Adi replied he was coming. He had not taken the short cut through the window as she did, so she had time to dust herself down. Anna disguised her pain and smiled at him when he arrived. It worked, he didn't seem to notice anything.

Anna nodded and waited for Adi cast the spell. He moved the rock! It was amazing!

"Okay", Adi... You're doing well! I'll try do the same"
Anna focused the rock. It was a bigger than she expected, then she spent a minute just staring at it. When she felt confident enough, she cast the spell.
"Carpe retractum!"

The purple rope stemmed from her wand and licked the rock, then vanished. She snorted. She didn't look at Adi's face. She had to try again. Then she stared at the rock again, snorting annoyed.
"Carpe retractum!"
The purple rope stemmed from her wand and wrapped the rock. Anna pull it forcefully and the rock flight to her, Anna lowered dodging the rock. Phew!
She looked at her friend.
"That was close!" She laughed. "Your turn, Adi! What do you think about using that old tree trunk fallen on the ground?" She pointed towards the trunk.

"You can do it, Anna!'' Adi cheered. He felt like a cheerleader. Without the pom poms and what else. Hehe. And then she got the rock moving! "Awesome! Great job!'' They were both getting the hang of this spell.

Adi's eyes followed his friend's gaze towards the tree trunk. It was rotting and not really as big as that rock. Perfect! "Yes! That's a great object to practice on.'' It would be the third object. But there was still that other part to do...

The firstie shuffled over closer to the trunk, but still far enough to use the spell. ''Carpe Retractum!' Whip like wand movement and the purple rope was hurtling towards the trunk on the ground. It wound around the trunk. And then vanished. Meh. ''Carpe Retractum!' he tried again, doing the whip like movement. Purple ropes once again flew out of his wand and caught the trunk.

Adi tugged, using both his hands. But the was enough. The trunk moved a few inches closer to him. Another tug send it even closer. This was just great! He liked this spell.

"Wow!" Exclaimed Annabeth after Adi's second try. "You are great! Now, let me take distance," she counted five steps away. Keeping focused on the trunk, she cast the spell.
"Carpe retractum!" Quickly it worked as was supposed to do, bringing close to her the old tree trunk. "That's impossible!" She laughed. "

"Adi, I guess we are good enough with inanimate objects, we could try something different now... What about a bird? Oh... I think it would be better if we test the spell on an living thing as a plant before an animal, it can hurt... who knows?"

Annabeth looked around and found a seedling of a climber plant on an eagle which surrounded the fountain. "I'll try on it!.... Carpe Retractum!" The purple rope caught the seedling, smashing it. "Oh, poor little thing! Adi, I think you have to search another plant... The spell seems to be too much powerful to use on seedlings..."

Oh looky! Anna managed to get the trunk moving too! Greaaaat! Yes, now they could try on living stuff. Adi however, was not up to trying it on animals. No no no. What if he hurt them?

He watched Anna try the charm on a plant. And it was squashed. "No animals, no plants,'' he told her firmly. There was only one other option...yes. "You can try the spell on me.'' Yep. And being so small, he would be easy to pull.

"On you? Oh, Adi! And if it hurts you???" Annabeth was worried about hurting her friend, but as he was asking her to do so, she said: "Okay, I'll try. Let me know if it hurts you somehow and I'll stop casting the spell... Let me take distance from you... Far enough." Still looking at her friend, she breathed deeply, taking courage... "Three... two... one! Carpe Retractum!" As Annabeth was too worried that she could hurt him - the image of the smashed seedling didn't leave her mind - the purple rope had barely appeared when Anna lowered her wand, so the rope just licked Adi shoes and vanished.
"How was it, Adi? What did you feel?"

Adi shrugged. He was more worried about hurting an animal when he tugged on the rope. "Okay, I will.'' Though he did not know what to expect, he stood there calmly. But as Anna counted down, he could feel his heart rate increasing and he squeezed his eyes shut. "I'll be fine,'' he told himself though he felt his heart rate increase.

Adi squeezed his eyes shut hoping that the rope would not hurt him. But nothing happened. After a few seconds he opened his eyes. What happened? He looked down at his body. No orange rope there. He was sure the image of the squished seedling was hampering her from casting the spell. "Anna! Didn't you try the spell?'' He frowned. "Come on! Don't worry! I'm sure I'll be fine. The seedling was just small and squishy. I'm not.'' He grinned to reassure her. Well, he was small but certainly not squishy.

It had been quite a while since Wade last went on his little mini adventure wanderings around the castle. Prefect duties, Studying, Quidditch practices, the Hogsmeade weekends and events going on managed to push his task of finding every area in the school in the back burner.. until now. Okay, maybe after some good old lounging around.

Right now Wade decided to take a little breather to sit at one of the benches in the Courtyard. He was familiar with this spot, where he often snacked in between cracking open a book if not anyone around for him to talk with. Digging in his bag he got a little bag of carrot sticks.. his temporarily substitute for pickles until his supply from Nash was full again. *Crunch* Mm, could be better. He contemplated on what to do after finishing his snack.

Studying. Yeah, that was hard for Tag. Even if he liked the subject he was studying. He always found himself getting distracted or his mind wandering off to random thoughts. AKA daydreams. His owls were coming sooner than he expected so it really was time to buckle down. But what good would it be to buckle down if his mind truly wasn't into the studying? The information would go in one ear and fly through the other.

So, why not take a study break? An that's exactly what he'd done. Now, Hogwarts was a big place. A big place for such a tiny man boy to get lost. But, wherever his feet took him Tag didn't care. Unfortunately, when he decided to look up he wasn't in any random place, he was in the courtyard. That wasn't too exciting. Until that curly hair came into view.

Running up to the bench Tag stopped a few feet away from the person sitting down. Eating carrots. Healthy. Tag hadn't exactly ever chatted with the head boy, but sometimes had a casual greet with him. Today was a perfect day to hang out with him. That's if Wade wanted to. "Hi Wade! How are you? And your hair?" Tag asked. Wade's well being was important. An so was his hair.

Also, Wade would know Tag's name, yeah?

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. Adi was so small... But it would be rude not casting the spell on him. And if Professor Fuller had asked them to do it, it wouldn't hurt, right? Adi had barely stop talking when she cast the spell.

"Carpe Retractum!"

A orange rope appeared and involved Adi's body. Anna pulled him gently, then lowered her wand.

"Are you okay?" She asked him. "I had no idea it would be an orange rope now... So weird...." And as he had not been squeezed until dead, nor seemed to be injured, Anna said, "You can lasso me now." She nodded. "Do it!" She giggled nervously.

Hmm.. let's see. Indy was touring a University.. that was going to shoot half of his day of boredom without her. He couldn't really think of what else to do that didn't involve disrupting his other friend's couple time. He just about crunched on the carrot before he noticed someone in front of him.

He blinked before smiling. "Hey, Tag." He always found it ironic that a leprechaun would be red from Gryffindor instead of the usual green from Slytherin. His face turned equivocal briefly before chuckling when asked about his hair, "Oh, it's fine. I'm doing alright myself, though a little bored." He gently pat his own hair that wasn't holding the carrot stick. "How about you?" Maybe he was in the same predicament, and if so.. could Wade ask him about the pot of gold pickles at the very end? But firstly, he then held his bag out towards him. "Want a carrot?"

Phew. Wade did remember Tag's name. The boy let out a breath he hadn't even been sure that he'd been holding in. It was always awkward, in any situation really, when someone remembered a person's name, but that person didn't remember the other's name. So this made Tag exceptionally relieved. "Hey!" He said again. Even though Tag had pretty much already greeted Wade. Thumbs up for you Mister, Wade keeping his hair in check. Hair was important here at Hogwarts. "At least you're doing good. But maybe we should try and do something to unbore you." Because that solved all the problems.

"Me? I'm just taking a break from all this OWLS studying. Its really putting a damper on me wanting to hang around the castle with my friends, and the kitchen." He explained. But, usually, Tag always found time for his friends. "I was hoping my feet would get me a bit lost further into the grounds, but hey, they brought me to you." Tag added with a smile. Oh. Carrots! Tag reached his hand into Wade's bag and took out three sticks and started eating them. "Thanks!"

Adi shut his eyes tightly as Anna prepared to shoot orange ropes at him. He was sure it was not going to hurt. Sorta. But that did not stop his heart from start jack hammering away again. Suddenly, he felt a ticklish sensation around his tummy. Slowly he opened his eyes and looked down.

Orange ropes were wound around him! And it did not hurt! Adi grinned as Anna began pulling him towards her. "See? Told you it won't hurt. Now my turn to try on you!'' Once he was free of the ropes, Adi ran back some distance away from his friend.

"Carpe retractum!" Adi said and made the whip like movement. Orange ropes escaped from his wand and made a beeline for Anna. He was gonna do it! Only- the orange rope decided to vanish. Yep. It was gone even before it was halfway towards her.

Annabeth was relieved as the magical rope hadn't hurt her friend. Adi had grinned and she grinned back. Then she waited for him to cast the spell. He was doing right and she wasn't afraid at all. She looked at him attentively while he waved his wand, the orange rope was coming towards her and then it vanished.
"Oh, Adi, it happens! Try again. You know it won't hurt me and I saw you doing it several times... you can do it, you're a great wizard!" Then she waited for him to do another attempt, grinning.

It's been a long day of classes. It was time for Jonas to relax. He set off to explore the grounds. Well, sort of. Being a fourth year, he pretty much explored everything there is to see. So, he finds him self in the court yard. He sits down silently a DADA book in hand. He flips through the pages mindlessly not caring what the content is.

Adi blushed when Anna said he was a great wizard. Not completely true but he was working on that. But he was pleased with the compliment. "Thank you! I do try to do my best!'' He gave her a sort of dorky bow.

He'd try again. "Carpe retractum!" As soon as he made the whip like movement, orange ropes flew from his wand. It wound around Anna in a heartbeat. He had done it!

He was about to pull his friend when the ropes once again vanished. Awww, man! "Anna, maybe you could practice on me again. I'll try this afterwards.'' Just to make sure she could handle the spell with living stuff.

Annabeth smiled as she noticed Adi blushing with her compliment. But she knew he needed to be self- confident to cast the spell properly, so she ignored it and kept cheering him.
"Wow! I felt the rope! Cool! I'll try it again and then, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease, cast the spell on me, I wanna feel how it is when you're pulling me..." She was very excited when she cast the spell once again.
"Carpe retractum!"
The orange rope flew towards Adi and wound around him, she tugged him. "Oh, sorry, Adi! I guess I'm too much excited... I didn't hurt you, did I?" She was still brandishing her wand, holding him, when she asked about it.
"Did you notice the increase on the rope diameter? I think it's because you're heavier then the books and the rocks. What do you think?" Then she released him.

This time Adi had been all set for the spell. No need to shut his eyes this time and his heart rate remained the usual. This was a harmless spell so no fear. Soon the ticklish feeling was upon him and in no time Anna was pulling him towards her. "Oh, it's no problem!'' Adi was actually enjoying himself. "Hmm. It's a possibility. You can include that in you written part on the homework.''

Now it was his turn to cast the spell again. "Carpe retractum!" Whip like movement not forgotten. The orange rope flew towards Anna and quickly wound around her. Awesome! Using both hands, the first year slowly pulled Anna. Heh. He'd rather be pulled.

..............

And they were all done with the practical portion. "Thanks for helping me, Anna!'' Adi told his friend. "I'll go do my written part now. Bye! And thanks again!'' Adi jogged off in the direction of the Lake.

Well, the corridor to the Courtyard, was really an awful place to stargaze, which was why Tora had trie to get farther than inside the shadow of the school to set up her scope once more. This didn't work out necessarily as she had planned because it was in the Courtyard (about ten steps later) that she decided she would try again. She was looking for Gemini this time and had pulled out her Astreglobe to see if she could find the constellation.

For some reason, she had always had trouble finding this particular configuration of stars in the sky, the few times she had actually looked for it, so she tapped the Astreglobe and whispered "Constellations" softly to help her out. The stars that were not part of any major constellation faded from the slightly glowing dome and lines traced from star to star creating a map for her. Even with the extra help, it still took Tora a little bit to find the Twins. Eventually she saw them on her device and rotated herself accordingly so the red arrow that represented her own direction was facing the shape of Gemini on the Astreglobe.

Once she knew that she was at least looking in the right direction, she tapped the device, vanishing the map, and tucked it away in her pocket. Seriously, her Astreglobe was the best present her Gram, or anyone else, had ever gotten her for anything. She looked up into the sky, trying to pick out the stars that made the constellation over the ones that didn't and eventually came up successful. Aha! She grinned and mentally checked it off her list of things to find for Professor Flamsteed and decided that she would get a hell of a lot better skygazing time if she would just be patient enough to move out of the way of the castle. She levitated her things once more and moved out, trying to put distance between her and the stone spires so she could actually see the stars.

"Why do you assume that I'm going to pull you over?" Cat stuck out her tongue at Elodie at that assumption. "Maybe I'm masterful at ice skating. I've got good balance and all because of ballet, you know?" Except when she happened across a patch of ice that she didn't see and all. Then, all bets were off.

"I think if I had spinal damage, it would hurt a lot more than it does. I'll be alright." Yep. She would. She would heal. "I've had worse anyway." Cat reached over and pinched Elodie's fish face. "Very attractive."

Els grinned, shrugged and stuck her own tongue out back at Cat. "I just have a feeling you'd be super dangerous on the ice." Maybe even to a point where she'd aim to take her out. Caterina was a Quidditch player now and all. It wasn't time to mention that or think about it though because just the thought sent shivers down her spine. "You always make me wish I hadn't let Braison talk me out of ballet." For balance reasons.

Not jealous.

She snuck a finger around and prodded her friends back again. "What if it was secret? Have you had spinal damage before, Cat? Do you know what it's like?" If she didn't then they were going to have to do research or something. Just in case.

Pinchy pinchy pinches were OW, CATERINA. Elodie wiggled her nose and pulled awaaaaaaaay with a pout. "Allllllllllllways."

Bethany nodded her head. "Yeah, it's a favorite of mine." She said, addressing the book. "And as for other bands, I'm not really sure. I've heard many muggle songs but I can't really manage to remember the names. Do you like any other muggle bands?" She asked Dylan.

Bethany was glad she was getting to know more people other than those in her own house, she felt more welcomed. Looking up, she answered the recently asked question. "I'm not sure, I don't really involve myself in much. Though I have to admit, I love watching quidditch!" She smiled back.

"Oh, I gotcha." he said with a nod. He then thought for a minute, swinging his legs on the bench. There were several other bands he liked, but it was hard to only name a few. "I'd have to go with Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Who. Lots of really old bands." he finally said with a shrug. The list, of course, would go on and on but he didn't want to bore her.

"Quidditch is great to watch!" Dylan agreed. Although, it seemed like it'd be more fun to be playing in the matches rather than watching. But he had missed out on try outs this year, sadly. There was always next year, and the next years after that, though! "But anyways, tell me about how you're liking Gryffindor house." he changed the subject. He had always been quite curious on what the other houses were like, especially how their common rooms looked.

It was properly cold out, with snow on the ground and frost on the windows. Dora was loving it. So much that she decided to stop holding herself up in her dorms during the daytime and actually be out where people could see her. Or people that weren't in class at least. And that were being observant of their surroundings.

Why would she ever sit in plain sight?

Dora was wrapped in her cloak with the hood up, sitting in the far corner of the courtyard where the snow appeared untouched and she could make notes in her book undisturbed. Also observe everything.

Olly had briefly considered bringing one of her textbooks along this time so that it would at least SEEM like she was studying. But nah, they were just heavy. And she wasn't out here to study anyway. That much she knew for sure. Not that she really had any plans, per se. But studying definitely wasn't on the agenda today. At least not right now.

Tugging the green hat Elodie had knit for her further down so it covered her ears, Olly shuffled her feet trudging through the snow. Now, what to do? Her brown eyes scanned the courtyard for something interesting when they fell on...

...was that Dora? She squinted slightly before making her way over to the corner of the courtyard the girl was occupying. And yes, it was indeed her. Without greeting or asking for permission, Olly simply sat down on the same bench as Dora. Hi. For a moment, the Hufflepuff just sat in silence, looking up at the sky. "I kind of like the snow."