Dylan smiled as she spoke. She was really shy and he felt a bit bad...he felt as if he was making her uncomfortable. Well, she'd have to open up to him at some point, didn't she...? "Yeah? That's cool." he said with a tiny nod. The second year sat there, glancing out the window as he tried to think up something else to talk about. "Do you like your house?" he then asked.

Josette noticed him smiling at her while she was speaking & was kind of thinking to herself why he was doing this. But for some reason, it didn't make her feel too much uncomfortable seeing as to how she was slowly becoming a bit more comfortable with this boy. Seeing as to how she's seen him more than anyone else here at this school. Josette nodded in response to his next question for her. "Mhm..It's nice...", she bit her lip pausing before she spoke again, "We're in a tower...It's kind of like...a tower from a fairy tale.." She smiled again, but this smile was different than the others, there was look of a slight more comfort this time. "What...What house are you in?"

"I knew you would," Sander grinned back at her, before chasing her into the treehouse. "You can run but you can't hide, from what's coming from the other side...in this case me," Sander called out to her as he ran up behind her and caught her wrapping an arm around her waist.

"You really need to run faster than that if you don't want to get caught, Tessa," Sander grinned down at her, breathing heavily. He was surprised how easily he got tired now. First the grey hairs, then the wrinkles and facial hair, Sander was beginning to get really concerned about his own health.

Dylan smiled as she described the tower. It did sound really cool. He'd always wanted to go check out the common rooms, he really wanted to know what they looked like on the inside! Oh well. He noticed her smiling a more different smile and she seemed a bit more comfortable, making him happy inside. Perhaps she'd get comfortable quicker around him after all. "That's really cool, I'd love to see inside." he told her with a tiny nod. "I'm in Hufflepuff. I'd like to be higher up in the castle but sadly we're on the very bottom floor." he added with a shrug. But he also enjoyed the view from the windows in the common room. It had a really good view of the grounds.

Josette out of instinct looked away again when he smiled at her once again. She couldn't explain it, but it made her heart quicken rapidly for a moment or two. Then it would go back to it's normal pace when she looked away for a few moments. That was until he spoke again & she looked at him once more to listen to him. A half smile formed before she said softly, "Are people from other houses allowed..to do that?" She didn't think they were, or were they? Josette honestly had no idea. Maybe she should ask Mo or something? He'd probably know!

He was a Hufflepuff? She thought to herself trying to think which house that was again. OH WAIT, their house animal was like a...um..wolvering? NO WAIT, A BADGER! RIGHT! And their colors were, gold and...black? Josette had no idea where the other common rooms were for the other houses, but- WAIT Dylan's common room was on the very bottom floor? Like...the dungeons? Where the Potions Classroom was? Her eyes widened a little bit before she asked slowly, "You mean...Like..in the dungeons?"

Dylan shook his head at her question. "Sadly, I don't think so. I wish though. I'm sure I can see pictures and all that of them but it's a better experience being inside, you know?" he asked with a small shrug. Oh well. Rules were rules, and he was sure there were a few good reasons behind other house members going into different houses.

He chuckled at her reaction to the location of the Hufflepuff common room and he shook his head. He shouldn't have said very bottom, making it seem like they were by the dungeons and all that. "Well, not exactly. I mean, we're like on the kitchen level." he explained. "Slytherin is located in the dungeons."

He wasn't sure why he was outside, since it was bloody freezing, but he felt like the air would clear his head. Theo had been feeling a little under the weather lately but he wasn't sure if it was an actual illness, or he was just feeling crappy about stuff. He had a big, thick coat on and chose the tree house to hang out this afternoon. He climbed up, sat on the edge of the balcony and dangled his feet over the edge.

Theo spent a bit of time watching the clouds, watching them move, and thinking about what shapes they looked like. Or what people they looked like. There was one waaaay over there that he was convinced looked like Alec on a broomstick.

Why was he thinking about Alec Summers?

That was enough to put anyone off looking in the sky, so he watched the people below him instead. He didn't know any of them, nor did he care to find out who they were.

Derry was jogging. She'd been doing this a lot lately - the exercise thing. She'd realised over the summer that it made her feel better about life. Y'know... got her blood flowing and got rid of the excess energy she seemed to get a lot lately. Plus, it was kind of hard to do karate when you didn't have a sparring partner, so she couldn't exactly do that whenever she got restless. Anyway, why wasn't the point. The point was she liked it so she ran.

She was passing the treehouse when, for some reason, she looked up at it. It was probably habit, looking to see if she knew anyone, and she did. It was Theo. Sat there looking kinda miserable... Well, couldn't be having that... AND he was on a balcony. This was too good an opportunity to miss. Derry slowed down and zipped up her jacket, keeping her eyes on him before throwing her arms open and exclaiming - in the most Shakespearean tones her Scottish voice would muster - "Soft! What light from yonder window breaks? 'Tis the East and Theodore is the sun!"

Apparently he was looking at the people below, but he wasn't taking much notice of them. He saw his friend's ginger locks running around, but made no effort to wave or acknowledge her. That was until she flailed her arms in the air and started shouting up at him. Was she drunk? Theo blinked a couple of times at Derry and then scratched his head.

"Errr... no sun up here, ma'am." You know, since it was winter and stuff.

He thought about getting down from the tree house and helping Derry back to the castle if she wasn't feeling too good, but decided to let it pan out a bit longer before he embarrassed himself. She was clearly making reference to something. Shakespeare? Shakespeare spoke that kind of language, right? Theo didn't know since he didn't read that rubbish. "Are you okay?" He said loudly, just to make sure.

"O that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that... head!" Derry... creased. She sort of expected this, since she wasn't sure Theo was really into Shakespeare, but his reaction was just funny, okay? "O, speak again, bright angel." she managed before laughing again. She wasn't sure why this was so funny, it just was. Theo seemed concerned about her though, for some reason. "Yeah, yeah I'm good. Just a bit annoyed, y'know, feuding families and whatnot." she said with a grin.

Hmm... well, she was bored, so she might as well join him. "One sec." Derry climbed up to the treehouse quickly and plopped herself beside him. "Okay, I'm not Romeo anymore. You okay?" Y'know, since he was doing the whole... alone and watching things with a miserable face thing.

.........

She was still going, but now she was laughing, so Theo guessed that she indeed WAS making reference to something. He couldn't help but grin when she called him a bright angel. Well, flattery will get you everywhere, Derry. His stiff body language loosened up a bit and he happily budged up to let her join him on the balcony.

ROMEO. Ha. "I knew it! Shakespeare, right?" He wasn't a complete idiot, see? He took a moment to think about it again, then frowned a little. "Does that mean that /I/ was Juliet?" Not cool. He definitely wasn't built for that role. Was he okay? Ehhhh... this was a question he was expecting since he was sat up here looking all miserable, but he didn't really know how he was today, so he just shrugged. "I'm all right. Just... pondering life."

And looking at clouds that looked like his least favourite people.

Shakespeare, exactly. Derry nodded and attempted to get the stay bits of her hair back into her bobble. "Yep. The bard." Which was such a cool thing to be called, so props to Shakespeare for that. "Well... sort of. You're on a balcony, what did you really expect?" She said, tapping her fingers on the wood. "But if it makes you feel any better, you aren't as feminine as Miss Capulet. Y'know, being a guy and all." She supposed he didn't take too well to being a female character. "Though originally she would have been played by a man cause women weren't really allowed to act back then. So you could be if you wanted." Though since Theo had hit puberty already maybe he wouldn't make a good woman. It was the facial hair.

He was alright? Hmm. He didn't exactly look it... but when people liked miserable and said they were okay they usually didn't want to talk about it. She still felt like she should ask though. For friend reasons. "You sure? Cause you were doing the dramatic brooding thing " With the balcony and the sulky face and the staring at the clouds. But then again that could just be Theo... she couldn't always tell.

"Yeah." He chuckled, "It's cool, I'll totally accept the role if we can change it up a bit. Julius? Julius Capulet. And you could be... Romena." THAT had never been done before, had it? Gender swapping the characters. He raised an eyebrow when she started spouting historical facts to him. Women weren't allowed to act? "What? Really?" He couldn't imagine men in the olden days wanting to play women at all. Surprising. Huh.

"I was?" He asked unknowingly. Yeah, okay he was. "Yeah, yeah, honestly am. Just feeling a bit homesick, I guess." He always felt it at some point every term, but this had to be the earliest it had ever come. It was probably because he was being particularly antisocial lately. It was rather lonely sometimes. "But how are you?" He smiled a little. Weirdly, he felt a bit better since Derry had joined him. She definitely had a buzz about her sometimes.

Oh, also. "I forgot to say, sorry for being a grump on the pitch yesterday." Quidditch was usually a good release for his frustration, but it seemed to start being a cause of it, too. It was a stress thing, he was sure of it. Still, no need to take it out on the team.

Julius. Hmm. "Sure, but I'm not too sure about Romena." To be honest, Derry wouldn't mind being Romeo. They could totally pretend it was a girls name. "I reckon I'd be a rubbish Romeo anyway, I'd never be stupid enough to get married after like... Three days." It just want enough to know if you liked someone. Let alone love... In fact, she wasn't sure it was even long enough to figure out whether you could stand being sold someone for extended periods of time. "Yeah, boys would do it, before their voices had broken. They'd put dresses on and stuff. Most theater companies had a guy who only played women." Until they got too old probably.

Derry nodded. Theo did the dramatic brooding thing a lot, maybe he didn't notice when he was doing it anymore. Oh, homesick. "Yeah.. I get that." Although Derry was mainly horsesick to be honest. "I wanna go home and spend time with my brother..." She'd been at school when he was born and she just wanted to get started on her big sister duties. "But yeah I'm good. Kinda hungry though." Exercise did that to you.

Huh? Sorry? Oh. "Nah it's fine. I didnae even notice much, guess I was too in the zone." Or just not paying attention. She did that a lot...

She nodded a little bit as he told her that other people from different houses weren't supposed to go into each other's common rooms. Hmm, she'd figured it made sense, so better not to go against the rules. If she did that, she knew she'd get a very strictly worded howler from her father back home, & that was one thing Josette didn't want to happen. So she responded in agreement with him, "Makes sense.."

'Why was he chuckling?! He lived in the dungeons?! How was that something to be laughing about?! Why was he-'

Oh wait...His common is actually on the kitchen level. "Really? You're right there?" WAIT-but the Slytherin common room is in the dungeons? Why would anyone's commons room be in the dungeons? The dungeons were so scary! She should know! Especially trying to find out where that class was for Potions. It was probably the scariest minutes of her life! She'd never go down there again, at least not alone...or for Potions, but OTHER THAN THOSE TWO REASONS, NEVER AGAIN!

Tessa ran hard, but she never would admit that she had slowed down a little for Sander to catch her. She was breathing a little heavily, but nearly as bad as Sander. She laughed and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "I guess I can't," she said with a dramatic sigh. "Perhaps next time," she added with a wink.

"I will keep that in mind," she told him with a sly grin. She was amazed at how quickly she had tired out from the run and the climb- her head was mostly grey and she had wrinkles around her eyes and her hands. It was driving her mad- she couldn't look this way for the tryouts this summer. They would laugh her off the pitch.

"Romena is kinda cute." Theo thought. He grinned, though, because he totally agreed. "Three days is a bit fast, yeah." Good job their marriage didn't last long because they would probably get sick of each other after so long. It took time to find THE ONE. Theo was a firm believer of that. "I did not know that." The information wasn't particularly exciting but hey ho, you learn something new every day, right?!

"Me too." Theo nodded. His brother was a jerk and they weren't close at all, but still, Theo was rather dependent on him. Maybe it was a twin thing. "Wanna grab lunch later?" With him, that is. "I mean, if you've got plans then don't worry. Just thought... since you're hungry..." What a MESS that came out as. Theo sighed and continued to look at the sky.

He smiled. "Good. Cool. Ready for the match?"

'Cause he wasn't so much.

He smiled, nodding. It was nice to be close to the kitchens, he didn't have to walk too far to get himself a snack. "Yeah, inside there's a cool view of the grounds because the windows are right there on the bottom!" he explained with a small nod. "It's a cozy little common room, I really like it." he added. "But anyway, how have your classes been?" he then asked.

Mizu was looking over the balcony of the treehouse savoring the breathtaking view as he took a sip of his hot cocoa.

"why does it have to be so bloody cold outside" mumbled Mizu.The day was warm when he left his dorm ,but it soon reached frigid temperatures as he walked along the grounds.

Sander smiled at Tessa wrapping his arms around her too. "I wish we could stay up here all day. Maybe next time we can bring a sleeping bag and camp out here. Maybe we can do that during the summer. Camp out under the stars just the two of us." he suggested to her. "You're not afraid of bugs and wild creatures are you?" he teasingly asked her.

Sander looked over her shoulder, out towards the mountains behind the castle. He missed hiking the mountains near his home. He hoped to do that soon, hopefully with Tessa this time.

"Do you want to attempt too climb down now. I'll go first, just so I can make sure you're safe." he suggested to Tessa.

She listened to him as he spoke not being able to fight a small that wouldn't go away as he was telling her about his common room. Josette ran her fingers through her greying hair as he was finishing telling her about the common room.

How were her classes?

Josette had to think about it for a moment before she said with a small smile, "I..Really like Ancient Runes.." She bit her lip, "It's really..fun.." Josette then suddenly gasped getting excited, "OH, & the Professor is really nice too!" She cleared her throat and then began to nervously play with her hair feeling like she spoke too much. Would her father be angry with her for speaking to strangers like this? Let alone more than once? She didn't know.

Aidan was really looking forward to hanging out with Schuyler today. She may be taken now, but that didn't mean he found her any less beautiful or wanted to date her any less. But the mere fact that a gorgeous girl such as her was his friend and even talked to him was enough.

A light snow was falling on top of the few inches already gathered on the ground as Aidan crunched through it to the tree house. He found an open spot around the trunk and leaned on it as he waited for Schuyler to come join him, his hands tucked into his winter jacket pockets.

Schuyler was so excited to hang out with Aidan! It had been way, way too long. As she tread (a little more hastily than normal) through the snow that coated the school grounds, her eyes scanned across the lake until they landed upon the treehouse. And there was the Ravenclaw himself, propped against the tree trunk with his hands casually tucked into his coat pockets. She paused for a moment and smiled inwardly. That would have been a very nice snapshot of him. If only she had Mo's habit of carrying a camera around wherever she went.

Before starting up again, she leaned down and scooped up some snow. It was good packing snow, and she compressed it between her mittened hands until it morphed into a passable snowball. Did he get a hello? Yes indeed. But it came in the form of a snowball being launched at his chest.

Curse everything! She was tired of her joints aching like some ninety-year old hag. Tired of having more and more gray hair. OF WRINKLES ON HER THIRTEEN YEAR OLD FACE.

She was tired of being tired.

Normally having anything and everything she wanted Beverly understood there were some things that were just out of reach. Even for magical folk, but THIS. What was happening to her, need to go away. The worst part; she couldn't blame anyone for it. Or punch or hex them for that matter.

What was worse, she couldn't go home looking like this and it's what broke her heart the most. She wanted her dad. She wanted Kennedy. She wanted hugs.

Making it to the top of the tree house (with great difficulty) she flopped on the floor, willing herself not to cry. She didn't even care if her clothes matched or not. They're warm and comfy.

Sniff, sniff.

What's going on?! Silver wasn't feeling like...like Silver!

Huffing and gasping she made her way to the tree house. She was beyond exhausted and in fact she needed a nap.

"Holy Merlin, I feel old!" Silver whined.

Time to make it up the tree house. Challenge accepted! However maybe she shouldn't have worn heeled boots.

"Oh for the life of me." Silver struggled climbing the tree.

Once finally reaching the top she unlaced her boots and took them off, walking in plain socks.

"Hi Bevy." She lazily waved at Beverly.