Hearing footsteps behind him, Piers turned his head just in time to hear his name being called by a familiar face. "Ah, Leo. Good to see you." The charms professor paused his walk so Leo could catch up with him. It was always nice to see the librarian. Though, he did wonder why he was out here and not in his huge chamber of books.

Oh... "Gobstones match over?" he asked. There was one today, wasn't there? Oops. He had been a little... preoccupied and hadn't gone down to watch.

Catching up with Piers he adapted his pace to his colleagues. "It's good to see you too. Have you been down by the stables?" Leo asked. It seemed the most logical reason for finding Piers out here since his best mate Javy lived on the grounds.

"Yes the match is over. Hufflepuff won a close match that went to tiebreak questions in order to find a winner." Leo shared excitedly. "You should come watch some time! Airey and Seren were cheering in the viewing area I think it urged the teams to do their bests." Or it had just been the fun game?

Cris crossed the courtyard, walking through the corridor with the Crup in his arms. As he walked, he kept watch for anyone who may look like they were searching for someone.

"Don't worry little fella. We'll get you back home soon enough. Until then, I promise I'll take care of you," Cris whispered down to the Crup.

Owner of missing Crup? Where are you? Cris wanted to call out.

Piers kept his pace somewhat slow so he could chat with his coworker and not head inside yet. He tried not to be SUSPICIOUS when Leo asked if he had been by the stables and reminded himself that not everyone read the Aparecium. "Indeed, I have," he told the man with a nod.

Ah, darn Hufflepuff. Why did they always have to win? "Congrats to them," he said, regardless, in case Leo had a soft spot for those badgers. Piers nodded again when the librarian suggested he come watch. "I've been meaning to, especially since there's no quidditch to cheer on this term. When's the next match?" He'd have to put it on his calendar and drag Javy with him.

In a moderate pace Leo walked alongside Piers chatting along quietly. "Do you have a pet in the stables? I heard javy had held a class on garden gnomes. After it I found a distraught student under the front counter in the library. The boy had accidently thrown a gnome into a fence." Something Leo still found just a little amusing. Gnomes were sturdy creatures.

"The next match is on June 13th. It’s the consolation match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw." Leo jogged up from memory. "The championship game between Slytherin and Hufflepuff is on the 11th of July," If Piers was more interested in that. "And we always need good cheerers."

Did he have a pet in the stables? "Not unless you count Javy." Piers chuckled before listening to Leo talk about the kid he found in his library and then he chuckled again. "That poor fence," he teased. He would have helped Javy fixed it, if he had asked.

Piers nodded, taking a mental note of the matches he listed off. "I'll make sure to come then," he told the librarian. Especially to the championship. To cheer on Slytherin, of course. As a cold breeze rolled through, Piers pulled his coat tighter around his chest.

"Besides that, what have you been up to? We haven't had time to catch up in a while." And Leo was a cool guy. It was probably Piers' fault, though. He had quite the distraction as of late...

Leo laughed. "Funny," Still thinking about Daniel and his gnomes he said. "Throwing gnomes when you were younger was a lot of fun. I bet it still is." The fence probably didn’t need fixing. It was as sturdy as the gnomes that had gotten accidentally thrown into it.

"Great! I can send you an owl reminder if you want?" Leo offered as an act of helpfulness. If it meant that Piers came and hopefully dragged along Javy he could send an owl. It was for the kids benefit after all. Up to? Leo was momentarily blank before he responded. "Oh, you know the usual library stuff, gobstones officiating, exchanging letters with Millie and well that fishing trip with Cassie that went badly.." In his opinion he hadn’t really done much to speak of.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nordic Witch

Leo laughed. "Funny," Still thinking about Daniel and his gnomes he said. "Throwing gnomes when you were younger was a lot of fun. I bet it still is." The fence probably didn’t need fixing. It was as sturdy as the gnomes that had gotten accidentally thrown into it.

"Great! I can send you an owl reminder if you want?" Leo offered as an act of helpfulness. If it meant that Piers came and hopefully dragged along Javy he could send an owl. It was for the kids benefit after all. Up to? Leo was momentarily blank before he responded. "Oh, you know the usual library stuff, gobstones officiating, exchanging letters with Millie and well that fishing trip with Cassie that went badly.." In his opinion he hadn’t really done much to speak of.

Piers snorted. "I don't know when the last time I threw a gnome was." Probably a decade, at least. Now he kind of wanted to have a gnome throwing contest to see who could throw one the farthest.

"That would be great," he replied. Leo was a good dude. Piers listened when the librarian started to list off what he had been up to. "OOooh, who's Millie?" he asked with a very intrigued raise of his eyebrows. And hold up, a fishing trip? With Cassie? He tried not to laugh at that mental image. "You and Cassie went on a fishing trip?" Bwahahah. "Do give me the details." PLEASE. He could always go for another laugh.

Grinning Leo said "We should ask Javy to set up a throwing gnome contest before we leave for the summer holidays. I think everyone will enjoy tossing a few gnomes around." It could probably work as therapy too after a whole year of educating the students of Hogwarts.

"You might know her. She went to Hogwarts when you were there. Millicent 'Millie' Walsh, an ex Ravenclaw like me." Leo explained. But then again it was possible that Piers hadn’t run into Millie since Hogwarts was a big castle.

Almost regretting having said anything in the first place because of Pier’s big interest Leo affirmed. "Yes I went on a fishing trip with Cassie but we never managed to fish up anything before she fell into the lake and I had to dive in to the icey cold lake water to save her." He left out the part of how Cassie had hit him with an oar and then in her worry for his well being had stood up in the boat, lost her balance and fallen backwards into the lake.

"So what have you been up to? Invented any useful charms spells?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nordic Witch

Grinning Leo said "We should ask Javy to set up a throwing gnome contest before we leave for the summer holidays. I think everyone will enjoy tossing a few gnomes around." It could probably work as therapy too after a whole year of educating the students of Hogwarts.

"You might know her. She went to Hogwarts when you were there. Millicent 'Millie' Walsh, an ex Ravenclaw like me." Leo explained. But then again it was possible that Piers hadn’t run into Millie since Hogwarts was a big castle.

Almost regretting having said anything in the first place because of Pier’s big interest Leo affirmed. "Yes I went on a fishing trip with Cassie but we never managed to fish up anything before she fell into the lake and I had to dive in to the icey cold lake water to save her." He left out the part of how Cassie had hit him with an oar and then in her worry for his well being had stood up in the boat, lost her balance and fallen backwards into the lake.

"So what have you been up to? Invented any useful charms spells?"

Piers chuckled when Leo seemed to read his mind. "I was just thinking that. That would be a fun idea." And Piers was quite the competitive player, no matter what the game. Heh.

Millicent Walsh... Piers furrowed his brow and nodded. "Yeah, that name does sound a bit familiar." Piers had only been friends with a few Ravenclaws, though. "Are you two seeeeing each other?" he asked with a grin as he nudged the librarian in the arm with his elbow. Hmmmm? Spill it, Leobald.

Oh, Merrrrrlin. Piers was trying his BEST not to burst into a fit of laughter, but the mental image of Cassie falling OUT of a boat and into the freezing cold lake as forever embedded in his brain. "Ahahahah. Hah. That's.... interesting." He tried composing himself. It was difficult.

He shrugged at Leo's next question. "No, but I'm thinking I'll need to with this crazy weather we're having." More extreme heating charms, he supposed.

Okay, Abel was starting to warm up to this guy. He felt like he could maybe talk more freely now. "Well I guess that since I stayed home it was easy for them to stay focused on my schoolwork. I don't really have a whole lot of friends after being homeschooled. Didn't really get out much." Woah. This guy had a girlfriend... Abel hasn't been around too many girls besides his sister and mom. "You have a girlfriend?" Was there some kind of age limit to have a girlfriend? Talking to girls would be Abel's first challenge.

Motor bikes? Muggles? Did this come from nowhere? "Uh, my mom's muggle born. She doesn't talk to her family though. I guess they don't think it's natural, so I don't see my muggle family much. I guess I would know a little bit. But not enough to help in Muggle studies class." He wished.

"Awesome. Now we just have to convince Javy." Leo commented with a wide grin. Probably not that hard to manage considering that Javy had held a lesson on garden gnomes.

Fidget. Fidget. Blush. Leo swallowed hard before he answered. "I'm not sure if you can call it that. We just exchange letters with each other after we by chance ran into each other during the last summer vacation in Diagon Alley. I don’t mind spending more time with her though." Did that count as seeing each other?

It was clear that Piers was trying veeeeeeeeery hard not to burst out laughing which caused Leo to start laughing himself. "You should have seen it. It was quite comical even if I didn't see it that way at that current moment since I tasted the icey cold water too."

Unconsciously tugging his coat closer to his body and extracting a pair of gloves to warm up his cold hands he said. "I know. The weather is pretty erratic. Got any suggestions on charms i can use to keep the winter chill out of the library?"

"That won't be difficult." At least not for HIM. That's all Piers had to say about that.

Whaaaaat? Leo was blushing??? He didn't know the man got passionate about anything other than books and gobstones! Piers was trying not to grin ear to ear, but it wasn't working so well. "Well, that sounds like a good start. You seeing her during the holiday?" It was a perfect time to go out for tea, have a snowball fight, MAYBE CUDDLE.

Heheheheh. It was VERY comical. Heheheh-aheheh-ahem. Piers cleared his throat. It was quite funny that Leo had gotten into the lake too, but he wouldn't say that. "What I'd give to see that..." Bahah. That's all he had to say.

Oh yeah, wintery charms. Everyone kept asking him about how to stay warmer. "For now, just reinforce your insulation charms. I'll have to do some more research to get stronger ones." It was damn cold out and it wasn't normal.

Michael could kinda relate, well actually no he couldn't. Yeah sure he had been homeschooled as well before coming to Hogwarts but he'd always had friends. "Well that sucks man. But you got friends now, right?" They had only just met but he considered the guy to be a friend. A friend who seems totally shocked that he had a girlfriend. Was it unusual to have one? Michael didn't know. "Um...yeah. Zahra and I have known each other since we were babies, we're best friends and well that friendship turned into something more." They were still best friends, they just added snogging to the mix now.

Well his mother's family sounded very medieval. It was pretty rare to find muggles hating on wizards these days. "Well that's a shame, muggle stuff is fun. You should come around my place some time and I can show you the cars and bikes I've helped restore. I can even give you a go on one."

Cold. It was cold. But Adi and Cris had bundled up before coming out to the Grounds so it wasn't that bad. But for how long it would stay that way, he didn't know. So it was best the two conduct their search for Remembralls as quickly as possible.

"Where do we start?'' Adi asked Cris, eyeing the Corridor. It was best they split up so they covered more ground. They still had the Courtyard to search, after all. And it was no help that there was snow covering the ground. Suppose Remebralls were hidden under the white blanket?

Merlin!! Who would be crazy enough to come out here in this freezing cold. Two Hufflepuffs!! Yep! Both Adi and him. Cris was glad that he had changed into a warm sweater, and fleece lined pair of jeans. He figured that if they were crazy enough to come out here to look for missing Remembralls, the least he could do was to dress as warmly as possible.

With his cap firmly on his head, and a scarf firmly wrapped around his neck, Cris walked out to the Courtyard via the corridor. He first looked around before replying to Adi's question.

"I'll search around the pillars and in the corners over here. Maybe you can do the same over there," Cris suggested to Adi as he pointed out Adi's search perimeter. "We can start at both ends and meet up at the middle. Does that sound okay with you?" Cris asked.

Brrr! Adi shivered. Despite the scarf, sweater and the other usual winter stuff, he still felt as if he were dressed for the summer. That was how cold it was. And yet he still had the urge to go build a snowman. Crazy Hufflepuff he was.

The third year squinted in the direction of the area Cris was designating to him. "Sounds like a plan to me,'' he told Cris with a nod of approval. Divide and conquer! "Let's get started then.'' Adi jogged off towards his area.

And so the search of the Courtyard's corridor had begun! Every nook and cranny had to be searched. Well, as much of them as he could possibly search.

Cris suspected that they wouldn't find any Remembralls in this area especially since there was a lot of human traffic here. It would be hard for anyone to miss a red colored glass ball on the ground....unless at that time, it wasn't glowing red yet. If Professor Botros had recently lost it, it would be transparent. So Cris kept a look out for not just something glowing red, but something small and spherical.

He searched the areas that were hidden in the shadows where the sun's rays were blocked out, like say right under the windows. It would be normal for one to walk over to them and look out....like maybe a Professor who happened to be strolling along with his dog.

Cris decided to examine the surface of the ground of the corridor to see whether it was level or not. If it wasn't, then there would be a chance the ball would have slid down towards where the ground leveled out.

Taking a gum ball from his pocket, Cris placed it down on the ground and waited to see whether it would roll away....and sure enough it did. Cris followed the ball...maybe where it stopped, a remembrall would be lying there waiting to be discovered.

Adi searched rather carefully. He even used Lumos to look into nooks and crannies just to be sure he didn't miss anything in those dark corners. But so far he had no luck in locating any Remembrall. The Hufflepuff was not feeling dejected though. Nope, he was determined to find at least one of the objects. Or if none were there, then he needed to be satisfied that he had done a thorough search.

He was just about done searching approximately a quarter of his designated area. Adi wondered how Cris was coming along. Had the other boy found any Remembrall as yet? He came across another dark spot on the Corridor. Using Lumos once more, he checked. Nope. No round glass object. Onwards, then.

Cris followed the gum ball until it bounced against something and stopped rolling. "Lumos," Cris immediately pointed his wand at the spot lighting up the shadowy area, wondering what had caused his gum ball to stop rolling. It seemed like the gum ball had come up against an obstruction, he could clearly see.

Kneeling down, Cris carefully examined the area. With the aid of the light, Cris was able to see a small round object the size of a tennis ball, lying right next to the gum ball. It was a Remembrall. Only as he had expected, this one's smoke was clear. Which could mean only one thing? The Professor had this when he remembered what he had forgotten and had mostly lost it right after that.

Cris picked up the glass ball and raised it up to show Adi. "Hey Adi. I found one but this one isn't even glowing red. So keep a look out for anything glassy and round not just anything glowing red," Cris called out to his young friend, reminding him of that possibility.

Nothing! Adi could see nothing resembling a Remembrall but he continued his search anyway. He was about half way through his piece of the Corridor. He looked around to see how far Cris had gotten to. Just in time too for Cris shouted out something to him. The Remembrall wasn't red? "Got it!'' Adi called back and showed Cris a thumbs up.

He thought back to his search so far. He hadn't seen anything round nor clear. Well, at least they had found one Remembrall. And finding one was better than finding none. "Lumos!'' Adi checked what felt like the millionth crevice. Still nothing.

After reminding Adi about the possibility that some of the Remembralls may not smoky red after all, and seeing that the younger badger had understood what he was telling him, Cris continued his search.

He did the gum ball test again, but this time his test didn't detect any more irregularities in the way the ground lay. Cris occasionally shone light on areas where the shadows were thick, by lighting up the area with his wand casting, "Lumos" but he saw nothing out of the ordinary. He had started at one end of the corridor and by now was making his way to the middle of corridor, and except for that one Remembrall he found, Cris suspected he wouldn't find any more.

Looking up, he called over to Adi. "How's it going at your end? Any luck?" he asked his co-searcher.

Adi was beginning to think he would not fond any Remembralls here at the Corridor. He had almost completed his assigned portion of the Corridor, anyway. Maybe he and Cris should move on to the Courtyard.

Finally, he was done searching and he headed over to the older Hufflepuff. "No luck. It seems Botros only lost one here.'' That was, if no other could be found by Cris. Adi cast a random sweeping glance back at his half of the corridor. "Should we head over to the Courtyard now? Or are you too cold?'' He certainly was cold but not so much as to want to go back to the Castle.

Suspecting that they wouldn't be finding any more in the corridor to the courtyard, Cris nodded his head in agreement. "I'm ready to head out to the courtyard if you are. I'm beyond cold right now," Cris chuckled even as he blew hot air into his gloved hands.

"Since we're already out here, we might as well check out the courtyard," Cris told Adi, even as he extinguished the light on the tip of his wand, saying, " Nox."

Then he walked over to join Adi as they both headed out to the courtyard.

It was just a second, Calliope had turned her attention elsewhere for nothing but a minute and now she couldn't find her Mama or the rest of the colony. The small centaur wandered and wandered, hoping she'd find them but the further she walked was the more lost she felt. They hadn't walked this way before. It must be wrong.

Calliope bit her lip and tried to remove the tears welling but she was truly lost. The cold was not as bad here but she couldn't stay, not without the others.