"She hates me for taking her back to them..." Anna sighed, "She didn't want to go home, she wanted to stay with me... but with me coming here, I couldn't leave here at that orphanage to be bullied and treated like a freak without me to stand up for her..." She blinked away a few tears, "I took her back to them because I know her life would be better with a normal setting... loving parents, happy home... Not being locked in a room away from everyone else like she was a freak and have them whispering behind her back..." She sighed, "And I still don't know if I made the right choice..."

Horses? Mules?

Flobberworms.

That last one made Tobias laugh; it reminded him of when Ella and him had had that race on the first day of term, when they could get into the air for the first time in ages. Last one to the ground is a flimsy flobberworm.

Rather than call Cutty names in return, Tobias kept tugging. Just because... well of course he would.

"Well," he retorted, trying and failing to give the huge tug he really needed to give. "I'm not a Beater... I've never needed that much... upper body strength..." This was ridiculous; he wasn't strong, why had he suggested this? The rope obviously worked fine, but Tobias didn't say anything else.

Toby's hands hurt. He hadn't covered them with his sleeves before hand, and now the skin on the palms of his hands burnt.

The younger boy's lip curled as the melodious sound of Tobias's laugh hit his ears and he became disgusted over his doddery submission to it. He may have only looked surprised, however as he did not relinquish his grip upon Toby's transfigured rope. Shaking it off, which was getting a bit easier the longer he spoke to Toby, it was soon replaced by a smile. "Damn good that. Hufflepuff would lose everytime." He teased not intending to hurt Toby's feelings so much as play. "Ohh! Think fast, mate!" He said letting go of the rope very suddenly. His other option was decidedly less appropriate and he wanted to buy a little time.

Okay good, he agreed to five. Because that was all he would get, or even less if he had continued to push for more. Penelope figured she could sorta bargain with this, since he was the one who was actually wanting to be punched. So she nodded.

Then she smirked a little too. "I think you're the one relishing them." Sure, she enjoyed punching, but usually if it was for fun she'd find a punching bag instead of a person, especially not a person who was her friend. But she'd never been asked by someone to punch them, so it was sorta different....but still not as enjoyable as a punching bag because she had to think about how hard she hit now since she didn't actually want to hurt Tag too much.

But again, she punched him on the chest where she had before, only now he didn't have a pillow to protect himself with.

Definitely. He was definitely relishing them. She was right. So he simply smiled at her when she said that, even added in a, "You're most definitely right about that." Would it be weird to tell her this had been a moment he'd been waiting for in the back of his head for ages? No. He wouldn't mention that. There was nothing weirder than asking your friend to punch you, and then add on the fact they've been wanting to get punched for months now.

Without the pillow there Tag definitely felt that hit a bit more. "That stings." Ok, not a lot but just a bit. No complaining though. She could hit harder, that would be nicer. Whistle. Tag even gestured to her a bit to hit him harder.

No one needed to know about this. This business was strictly between him and Penelope. If people asked questions Tag would simply say that Lex got crazy swinging her beater bat during quidditch practices.

*Oh no... She was crying. Did he make her cry? Very awkwardly he raised a hand to pat her back or something. But he just looked awkward and nervous. Maybe some kind words would help?*
"She can't hate you... You were doing the right thing to keep her safe. You just worry about you now..."
*Not much better but it was something.*

Of course she was right. It was pretty obvious that he was enjoying this. Which, now that she briefly thought about it, was probably because he wasn't getting punched in the face. Having your face hit was definitely no fun, while getting punched in the arm or something was a little more tolerable. Yeah, that made sense.

That stung? Hmm...that was good then? Not enough to really damage him but still enough so she wasn't going easy on him? So that was about as hard as she needed to continue to punch, she supposed. She nodded and...punched him there in the chest again. Because why not.

Hmmm. This was going well so far. Or as well as it can go when specifically asking to getting punched. The punches would be more awesome, because a Penelope was punching him, if she hit him just a bit harder. You know. But he wouldn't exactly tell her that. What if she hit him too hard and then he'd be a little grandpa on a walking cane or something. No, couldn't have that.

Ok, yes, now it was starting to hurt a little bit but Tag kept his teeth clenched, you know, cause Penelope couldn't hear him and his little cries. "You've got three more. I'd make them good ones." He told her, giving her a little wink. Why? Because it seemed like the thing to do.

Yeah, she knew how many she had left. Was he implying that the other two (technically three) weren't good ones though? That and the wink got an eyebrow raise, but she said nothing, and instead she started circling slowly around him now, eyes on him the whole time. No need to stand in one place the whole time, and this way maybe the next few would catch him a little off-guard since he wouldn't know when or where she would hit him next.

Penelope had circled around him about two times when she finally swung her fist at the spot on his back between his shoulder blades. Was that a 'good one' hmmm?

No. No implications here. Just friendly reminders that Penelope better make good use of her final punches. And then she was circling him. Hmmm. Suspicious. Though, Tag wanted some element of surprise, he felt like he was in some movie and being judged by an evil villain as Penelope went around him. The blonde had told her she could hit him wherever she wanted to. So he suspected this is exactly what she was doing right now.

And yes! Ouch! That was a bit more painful than the others. He even took a unbalanced step or two forward from the force she had used. Definitely a good one. The boy even patted the middle of his back slightly. "More surprises please!"

Emma was clearly hurt, but not anything too serious. "I'm fine. I promise. Just a few bumps and a scrape. I should be okay." She grimaced, trying to laugh it off.

"Okay, I'm going to let go now.." She bit her lip nervously, closing her eyes as she let go. This was going to be a huge lesson in trust and she could only pray that he'd actually be able to hold on.


Nice going, Em.

He had to give her points for putting on a brave face because Michael could tell that she was hurting. But he had learned early on not to mollycoddle a girl too much unless she asks for it.

The moment she let go, Michael slipped his arms around her waist, catching her before her feet hit the ground.

He had been so prepared to play the hero that he had been unprepared for how close they were going to be now. He was essentially holding her in his arms and their faces were only inches apart.

"Umm..."

She looked at him and wiped her tears, "Sorry... I know, it's probably a silly thing to cry about..." Well, to her it wasn't... but others might find it odd that she was so torn up about giving her sister back to a better life. Anna looked down weakly again though thinking about it, "I guess I just miss having my shadow around more than I thought a would..."

Mizu walked out onto the pier of Black Lake and sat on the edge.Looking up into the clear,blue sky Mizu hummed a sweet and low rhythm that his mother taught him.

He then burst into a sailor song that he learned when he was little.
"Though the waves run high and deep, we sail on the course we keep, throw the net out and watch it fall, catch the biggest fish of all."He finished in flourish.

Mizu then looked around realizing that he sang louder than he wanted too and hoped nobody heard him.

Okay. She was safe and he hadn't dropped her or anything. Bonus points for the lion. Emma opened her eyes, taking a sharp breath in when she realized how close their faces were in proximity to one another. Clearly he had noticed too when some sort of awkward noise came out of his mouth. She giggled, her own cheeks turning a bright shade of pink.

"You can let go now...I think I'll be okay." Emma said quietly, placing a hand on his shoulder to steady herself. Her hazel eyes looked up to meet his. He had really pretty eyes. Why hadn't she noticed that before?

Oh well. Boys were gross anyway, and she needed to brush that moment of girlish weakness off...

Looked like that one hurt a bit more. Good? Sure. Obviously the surprise element was working pretty okay. So she was gonna keep this up, and just to change it up again, she turned and started circling the other way around.

Two left, right? Yep. So where would be a good place to hit next? Hmm... After circling three more times, her fist connected with his upper arm.

Silence. Wow. The tension, it was well, to say the least, tense. Heh. More going around and around and around. Nope. Tag wasn't watching her at all. At all. Maybe just out of the corner of his eye. He wasn't moving his head or anything. It wouldn't come to much as a shock if he kept his eyes on her like a hawk.

More circles. GOSH. NOT SO HARD PENELOPE GREENWELL. Slight exaggeration, but you know. She still had a semi hard punch. Once again Tag looked at her, a smile almost curling on his lips, as he rubbed the spot a few times. "Easy Penelope. Easy. Not so hard." Tag said in a disapproving tone as he shook his head at her.

Tobias wasn't very quick-witted when it came to banter. He had intelligence, sure, but wit was a whole different matter, and Tobias was no Ravenclaw. He'd just opened his mouth to retort when Cutty told him to think fast. Before he even knew what was happening, he was suddenly falling backwards.

He hit the ground, hard, and winded himself for a couple of seconds. Toby clutched the rope and sat up again, blinking in confusion. When he realised what must have happened (Cutty had let go of the rope, whether by accident or on purpose Tobias did not know, and did not like to assume, or maybe it had snapped) the Hufflepuff gave a grin and waved the rope in front of him.

"I win."

He hadn't expected Toby would look at it as a win. In fact, what he thought would happen was Toby would fall in the mud and get his bottom all dirty and then be very displeased and perhaps even belligerently competitive. Toby was so unpredictable and it made him very difficult to control. This idea might've scared the hollow Slytherin boy, but it did not. Instead, he simply looked up the Hufflepuff as a special case with special needs...but for more than simply manipulation it seemed (though, this latter bit was as yet to be acknowledged by the boy). Tobias was special. Like Charlie Tudor. And it all emphasized Tobias's exceptionality and made Cutty yearn to posses him even more.

He looked down upon the now seated Tobz and offered out a hand. He had heard Hufflepuffs could be loyal, but what does one have to do? "If your rope lasted through all of that, I think you've got the spell. I mean, I was pulling pretty hard...until I wasn't." He drew his wand on Tobias's legs and fired away the spell Professor Bentley had taught them just incase they were still damp from their boat launch. "Siccus Aerous." And speaking of their boat launch. He casted the charm Professor Pierson had taught them last year to retrieve his Greecian battle ship and tucked it beneath his arm. If all else failed, Cutty was not afraid to swim in the lake at anytime. It as often how he cooled down post-secret-workout. "Shall we head back to the castle?"

Tobias took hold of the hand Cutty held out and pulled himself back to his feet again, still grinning. In all honestly, it had been quite fun. The entire time at the lake-side, that is. The Hufflepuff brushed off his hands on the sides of his trousers, and then stowed his piece of rope safely away in his jacket pocket. "Yeah, I reckon I got it down!"

When Cutty used magic to retrieve his ship, Tobias went right to the waters' edge and reached out for it, again subconsciously preferring the manual way of doing things rather than the magical way. He smiled at his functional boat, and then again at Cutty, glad that this was two spells he knew he could do in Transfiguration.

"Good idea; I could do with being back inside." It was cold, you see? "Let's go."

It was a little thing. Such a little thing and it could've easily been explained away, but Cutty was content to watch and guess. Why did Tobias insist on rarely using his magic? Perhaps he was a bit insecure about it as some were bound to be. But Cutty didn't find a whole lot to back this up as Tobias had just practiced-and quite openly-spells in front of Cutty from a subject that he had confessed to being weak in.

No. It had to be something else. Something to think about as the boys headed back to the castle.

Louis took a moment to admire the beauty of the calm lake waters, smiling slightly to himself. What a view. He was truly fortunate to get a chance to come to Hogwarts; his old school was nothing like this.

The boy began walking again, this time onto the dock. He figured he’d relax a little before it was time for his next class, and this seemed to be the perfect place to do it. There wasn’t really anyone else, and— oh? There were even fishing rods here? Louis had never fished before, he wasn’t a big fan of tricking an innocent animal into its doom, but he figured it would be fun to try anyway. The boy grabbed one of the fishing rods and sat at the edge of the dock, feet dangling over the dark water. Hopefully nothing would come out and snatch him.

Bundled up in a nice warm coat, Lux wandered back over to the Black Lake. She wanted to see if she could get the Giant Squid to come out and see her, and figured that now was as good a time as any to do it.

Spotting a familiar person sitting on the edge of the dock, she made her way over to him quietly before taking a seat beside him. On impulse, she grabbed his face and kissed him on the lips. She wasn't even totally sure why she had done it, but kissing had started to fascinate her lately and he had been so nice to her at the dance.

Louis was in his own little world; blue eyes staring aimlessly at the water, his mind lost in random thoughts, taking a break from the usual routine of classes and homework. It was a nice change of pace.

And then, out of nowhere, someone arrived. Louis turned to look at the newcomer, but all he saw was a flash of red hair before the unexpected guest just grabbed his face and kissed him! On the lips! Whaaaaaaaaaattttttt?!

Louis was frozen on the spot after Lux had already pulled away, staring at her with saucer-sized eyes and his jaw hanging open. UM. What was going on?! The boy turned his head to look around for a second, suddenly looking lost, as if he didn’t remember how he got to the dock in the first place. “Uh--um--uh--” How did he even begin to react to that? "Uh, Lux?" Was she at least going to explain what that had been all about? Was this actually a long lost twin of the girl he went to the dance with? He was so confused.

Bay was just taking a walk around the black lake with Sander and Tessa, when he spotted Louis sitting alone… so he was making his way over to him while Sander and Tessa followed when he saw a blur of red hair sit beside him and grabbed his face and kissed him….. "who's kissing Louis??" he thought to himself thats when he saw her face.. Lux…. she finished her kiss on Louis and he saw her face.. and Louis face…

"she didn't even tell me she liked any one??" For some reason Bay wanted to go up and punch Louis in the face… but Louis was his best mate.. he didn't want to do that… why would he want to do that????

For some reason he couldn't understand what was wrong with him, he looked at both of them and said "wha--- I-----nooooo" those were the only words he could manage to spit out, his eyes started to water…

"what do i do…what do i do.. whats wrong with me…"

He turned away ready to run, run as far as he can go… but he opted for a fast walk instead, he didn't want to see Lux or Louis at the moment.