Tag needed fresh air. Yep. Fresh air is what he needed. The common room could get so noisy sometimes, and even coming from him, he needed peace. So, like always, he let his feet guide him, at least outside that is.

His mind was kinda empty, not really thinking anything. Not that he was in a bad mood or anything but 'final year' kind of kept ringing in his thoughts. Eventually he ended up at the courtyard and decided to take a seat on one of the benches and just glance at the surrounding location.

Was there such a thing as a toad-leash? Because Donny could definitely use one of those, or.. Bump could. Donnacha followed his toad all the way to the courtyard. Bump had made a good decision in coming here, lotsa fresh air, if toads even cared about that kind of thing. He picked him up and looked around before spotting Tag! His fellow Irish bro! Taggawag!

"Hey! Hey!" Donny jogged over and sat down next to the Gryffindor, he felt like he just interrupted some deep thoughts.. "Watchu thinking about?"
He yawned and searched his pockets for sweets, chasing his toad halfway through the school deserved some sugary reward.

Ah. Company came along. Tag didn't mind this company though. Fellow Irish Bro, yes, indeed. And there Donny went, taking a seat for himself, which made Tag smile. "Hi Hi Irish Bro!" Tag responded, in a similar tone to that of Donny's. Hmmm. What was he thinking about, Tag glanced around the courtyard for another second before answering the younger one, Just Hogwarts in general. Right now more so the setting. Seventh year and all over here." That made sense, yeah?

Also, we see the sugar you've got on you Donny, and that frog. Tag would stay quiet on those two things for now.

Irish Bro! Not related, obviously. Cian was his real bro. But Donny had discovered that when people said 'bro' they usually didn't mean the relative kind.
He smiled and set Bump down again, did toads miss stuff like people did? Donny felt good to be back at school anyway.
"Oooooh. Are you going to do fun stuff when you're done?" Was going to university considered fun stuff? Or whatever it was that you were supposed to do after Hogwarts? Did people just turn boring once they graduated?

Donnacha glanced around the courtyard and tried to imagine what it'd be like to never ever come back here after the term. Weird. After two years at Hogwarts Donny couldn't imagine ever leaving this place. Not for good, at least.

Nougat! He didn't have much left, having eaten most of his sweets on the train ride over, but Donny offered Tag one. "They're so good!"

Fun stuff. Tag considered working or being around animals would always be fun. Whether it be muggle or magical. Animals were fun. So, "Yes. I'd think it'd be fun stuff, working with animals. I wanna try to work in an animal shelter." It'd be a bit noisy, with all those animals, yes, but still fun. "I'll still try to visit magical creatures, wherever you can find them, you know. They're just brilliant." Tag couldn't leave magical animals completely.

Now, which shelter he would be working at. That was the question to ask. And it could only be answered once Tag found out about his living situation after Hogwarts. Nothing to worry over now.

Look how kind it was of Donny to offer Tag some candy. "Thanks buddy." Tag said giving Donny a quick hair ruffle. He took the treat and then took a small bite out of it. Mmmm. Delicious. Then again, all sugars were. "The awesomest chocolate I've tasted." He added with a smile as he took another small nibble.

He still had some candy left over from the Meet and Greet in the Common Room and had decided to eat some while he went outside after lunch. He'd have time before his next lesson he was sure of it.

Walking out into the Courtyard in his bright red flip-flops, Ezra found a bench to sit on before taking a bite from a Chocolate Cauldron he pulled from a pocket in his robes. He then pulled out a small bit of parchment and began to scribble down a to-do list.

Louis was lounging on a bench in the courtyard, a book in his left hand and a half-eaten chocolate frog in his right. He raised the book a little higher above his face to block out the sun, but somehow managed to let it slip and fall onto his face, from where it slid down to the floor.

Startled by the unexpected attack, he sat up on the bench abruptly, rubbing the bridge of his nose for a second before leaning over to grab the book on the floor. That’s when he spotted the brightest set of red flip-flops he had ever seen.

Red.
Flip-flops.
In Hogwarts?

Lou lifted his gaze to the little boy proudly sporting the strange shoes and raised an amused eyebrow. “Heading to the beach later, are you?” he asked, recognizing the boy to be a first year Gryffindor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gryffindoll

Louis was lounging on a bench in the courtyard, a book in his left hand and a half-eaten chocolate frog in his right. He raised the book a little higher above his face to block out the sun, but somehow managed to let it slip and fall onto his face, from where it slid down to the floor.

Startled by the unexpected attack, he sat up on the bench abruptly, rubbing the bridge of his nose for a second before leaning over to grab the book on the floor. That’s when he spotted the brightest set of red flip-flops he had ever seen.

Red.
Flip-flops.
In Hogwarts?

Lou lifted his gaze to the little boy proudly sporting the strange shoes and raised an amused eyebrow. “Heading to the beach later, are you?” he asked, recognizing the boy to be a first year Gryffindor.

After scribbling 'find better piece of parchment to rewrite To-do list' after the first and only other item on the list 'send owl home for socks and new shoes', a voice interrupted him.

Asking about the beach? "No why, are you going?" Why would he even ask. They weren't allowed to leave Hogwarts, at least he was told that, and he couldn't Apparate. COULD THIS OLDER BOY? Probs not.

Ezra looked closed at him as he took another bite of his chocolate cauldron. The boy had a badge on his check like Lex did. He remembered seeing him the other night but hadn't talked to him. "You're the other Gryffindor Prefect right? The BOY one?"

“No. Which is why I must ask… why are you wearing that?” Lou cocked his head to the side, brows furrowed questioningly. The first year didn’t look like he had any foot injuries that required him to wear open shoes, soooo… this was probably amongst the stranger fashion choices Lou had seen that day.

The BOY one?
Louis laughed.
“That’s me.” But seriously, must he be referred to as ‘the boy prefect’? Gosh. “I’m Louis Bolton.” So, ‘Prefect Bolton’ will do now, thank you very much. “You’re the one who helped Alexa get the food from the kitchens, aren’t you?”

Marigold was kinda sad. Not a lot sad, just a little. She was mostly happy, because she was going to write to Moo and ask her questions and probably laugh until she cried at Moo's response, but she was a little sad that she couldn't share a lot about her life. Like the fact that they used dragon heart in potions. Or that she was super excited for charms class. Or even the fact that she had straightened her hair magically that morning. Because Moo didn't know she was a witch. Moo didn't even know magic existed. And that fact was beating down on Marigold. But she could deal with it. She could write a happy letter to Moo along with the drawing she did of a cow. But she couldn't tell her why she did it with a quill.

Sigh.

It wasn't yoga Wednesday, but Mo was in the courtyard to do yoga anyways. He needed some clarity and deep breathing and to make himself be zen, since his world was decidedly not zen at the moment. What with class anxiety, Quidditch anxiety, and after-graduation anxiety, having a quiet brain was going to be few and far between.

He threw out his mat before eyeing the young Hufflepuff waiting nearby. She looked... unhappy. In need of some serious zen. Mo spread out his mat before marching over and towering over the girl. "What's up, buttercup? You shouldn't be sad on a perfect day like this."

Marigold had decided to maybe write down some funny anecdote she knew but all of the phrases that came to her mind were MAGIC RELATED. And she couldn't really supplement them with non-magic phrases, could she? 'Why did the unicorn horse talk to the mermaid fish? It wanted advice to talk to the kelpie squid about potions food' wouldn't work at all. Plus, that was a bad joke anyway.

Someone was calling her buttercup. She looked up quickly, causing a sharp pain in her neck. "Ouch - sorry." It was the cool Ravenclaw boy - Murray or Marty or something. She could just call him McFly in her brain for now. "I'm trying to write a letter and I... Can't say some things. So I'm trying to figure out what I can say." Now that she had said it, she realized it was a pretty lame thing to say to a seventh year. Why would they care anyway? She avoided McFly's gaze and looked at the statues.

See, there was a reason why Donny liked Tag so much. Animals. And the whole dancing by the lake was cool too. Anyone who liked animals was his friend! Especially if those animals were dolphins, but this would do.
Donny smiled, Tag would make a good ...animal person. Tag the animal healer person. Shelters were awesome. "Did you know, did you? Bump, my toad, he came from the shelter too..!" He could even visit the shelter, y'know, if Tag didn't mind. "You want to work at a muggle shelter?!"
Donny didn't usually spend a lot of time around muggles, but he got muggle comics and toys every now and then. He knew enough about them to know that they were cool.

"Any time!" No, really, any time. As much as he liked his sweets, sharing them was kind of fun too. 'Cause the cool people ruffled your hair, apparently. He grinned at Tag and didn't bother smoothing his hair out. Donny took a large bite and chewed for a while before being able to agree with Tag, it was awesome chocolatey goodness. All chocolate was. "It's one of my favourites, I think." Donnacha said before taking another bite.

Mo scratched his neck and looked longingly at his yoga mat, but now he was committed to helping the baby Puff. With... writing a letter? What was angsty about that? If you didn't want to write the letter, then don't. And if you do... then... do.

He crouched in front of her and considered the very meager amount of information he had. 1) She was writing a letter, 2) she couldn't say everything she wanted to say, but 3) she wanted to say something. Very meager, actually. Could he assume she was writing to a family member or friend based on that information?

"The thing is..." Mo squinted and tried to read her letter upside down. "The thing is that you can talk about how you feel without mentioning stuff you aren't allowed to talk about. You can talk about the fun things you do... without being specific. What do you want to share that you're having trouble with?"

McFly was sweet, Marigold had to say that. He was helping her out with a problem that he knew nothing about. She looked back down at her paper, on which Dear Moo, School's just starting was written. She was pathetic and could totally figure out a way to avoid saying the stuff about magic without help but the thing was she WANTED to share it with Moo. She was a pathetic and floppy person.

Looking back up at McFly, she wrinkled her nose a tad bit to try and stop the overwhelming urge to cry for no reason. "I guess... I know it sounds lame, but I have this muggle friend who doesn't know about magic, and I want to tell her things without leaving out the magic, but I can't figure out how." Go ahead. Laugh at her. She didn't know why on earth she was feeling so bummed about this anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gryffindoll

“No. Which is why I must ask… why are you wearing that?” Lou cocked his head to the side, brows furrowed questioningly. The first year didn’t look like he had any foot injuries that required him to wear open shoes, soooo… this was probably amongst the stranger fashion choices Lou had seen that day.

The BOY one?
Louis laughed.
“That’s me.” But seriously, must he be referred to as ‘the boy prefect’? Gosh. “I’m Louis Bolton.” So, ‘Prefect Bolton’ will do now, thank you very much. “You’re the one who helped Alexa get the food from the kitchens, aren’t you?”

Wearing what? What was he on about? Ezra looked at his face to see where he was looking and saw that he must of meant his footwear. "Oh these?" he stuck his small flip-flopped feet out from underneath his robes, straight out in front of him from the bench looked at them. "I found them in the dorms. I lost my shoes last night. You see I had this blister and they hurt so I took them off at the Feast and then I lost them." It really was a neat story.

"Louis, got it." And he had remembered him too from last night? "I AM! Ezra Earnest, first year. I actually lost my shoes when I was sneaking with her. It was actually more quiet that way." Who would have thought. Maybe he'd start a trend?

"It was fun though but now I've got to owl home telling my parents to send new shoes." His mom wouldn't be the happiest but his dad would probably laugh. He was cool like that.

Louis snorted and casually passed a hand over his lips to keep himself from laughing as Ezra stuck out his skinny little legs to show off the bright red flip-flops. Ohgawsh, the things were like three times too big for him, too! Poor child. Do not laugh at the firsties, Bolton. You’re a prefect, be nice.

“Nice to meet you, Ezra.” The boy tried to keep a serious face and nodded as Ezra explained the sequence of events.
“Wait, so you lost your shoes at the feast and then lost them again at the kitchens?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. “Or did you lose two different pairs of shoes?” Because wow, that was just careless now.

“Just make sure whatever they send you isn’t red flip-flops,” Louis said with a teasing grin. Merlin, the things were so funny-looking it was no wonder their real owner hadn't gone after Ezra already.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gryffindoll

Louis snorted and casually passed a hand over his lips to keep himself from laughing as Ezra stuck out his skinny little legs to show off the bright red flip-flops. Ohgawsh, the things were like three times too big for him, too! Poor child. Do not laugh at the firsties, Bolton. You’re a prefect, be nice.

“Nice to meet you, Ezra.” The boy tried to keep a serious face and nodded as Ezra explained the sequence of events.
“Wait, so you lost your shoes at the feast and then lost them again at the kitchens?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. “Or did you lose two different pairs of shoes?” Because wow, that was just careless now.

“Just make sure whatever they send you isn’t red flip-flops,” Louis said with a teasing grin. Merlin, the things were so funny-looking it was no wonder their real owner hadn't gone after Ezra already.

Ezra could tell Louis thought his shoes were funny. That was okay, they kind of were but he also thought they were cool. Plus he could now say that he walked in someone else's shoes when old people told him to do it for whatever stupid reason.

Of course it was nice to meet him. "It's nice too meet you too." He knew TWO Prefects now. There were others but Gryffindors had to be the best. Even though he seemed not to be able to follow along with the events of the lost shoes. "Nooo." he said shaking his head at the older guy before continuing. "I took them off at the Feast and then carried them back to the Common Room with the rest of the first years. Then Lex said to come with her to the Kitchens and then I lost them somewhere on the way." He couldn't remember where really. He'd been to excited.

"Then we got back and saw everyone and the Professors there and I realized they were gone." So NO he didn't lose two pairs of shoes.

NOT red flip-flops? "Hey at least they are red for Gryffindor. I might actually keep them afterwards though. My feet don't get hot when I wear them." Made sense, eh Prefect?

Ooohh. That made more sense. C’mon, work on those storytelling skills, kid!
“Mm, well, I hope they weren’t your favourite pair of shoes or anything,” said Louis with a small sympathetic smile. Though losing shoes at Ezra’s age shouldn’t be a big deal; he would’ve grown out of them in just a few months anyway.

He chuckled softly at the memory of the party. Oh, Alexa’s outraged face had been priceless.
“That is true…” muttered Lou with a nod when Ezra pointed out the Gryffindorness of his red flip-flops. “I don’t think you have a lot of time left to enjoy them, though.” Hot weather was going to be a thing of the past in just a few more days. “Autumn at Hogwarts isn’t exactly flip-flop weather.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gryffindoll

Ooohh. That made more sense. C’mon, work on those storytelling skills, kid!
“Mm, well, I hope they weren’t your favourite pair of shoes or anything,” said Louis with a small sympathetic smile. Though losing shoes at Ezra’s age shouldn’t be a big deal; he would’ve grown out of them in just a few months anyway.

He chuckled softly at the memory of the party. Oh, Alexa’s outraged face had been priceless.
“That is true…” muttered Lou with a nod when Ezra pointed out the Gryffindorness of his red flip-flops. “I don’t think you have a lot of time left to enjoy them, though.” Hot weather was going to be a thing of the past in just a few more days. “Autumn at Hogwarts isn’t exactly flip-flop weather.”

"No they were really stupid actually. My mum said that I just HAD to have some black clunky annoying shoes to go with my uniform but I said that was rubbish and she just wanted to make me look funny for my first year." Siiiiiigh. His mom was always trying to dress him up and make him look more 'presentable' or whatever. He was NEVER making any presentations so it just didn't make sense.

Autumn meant that it would be getting colder and then it would start snowing early before it was actually winter most likely. Louis was right, he might lose a toe if he tried to walk on the Grounds with the flip-flops. Even if that would be sort of cool, only sort of, he'd probably need to wear regular shoes by then. "Well would I be able to at least wear them inside sometimes?" He'd know right since he'd been here a while? "Do you walk around barefoot or with flip-flops ever?"

Louis laughed. Sorry, but he couldn't help himself; the kid was kinda cute, all reluctant of his mother's fashion choices. "I doubt her intention was to make you look 'funny'," he said with an amused smile.

The boy's gaze dropped to the bright red flip-flops again for a moment, then he shrugged. "As far as I know, there's no rules against flip-flops inside the castle," he said. As for him walking around barefoot or in flip-flops... "Only at home. The floor in the castle gets too cold to walk barefoot. Besides, there's the whole thing with germs and I'd rather not get sick." The mere thought of visiting the Healer sent a shiver down his spine. He hated all things medical.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gryffindoll

Louis laughed. Sorry, but he couldn't help himself; the kid was kinda cute, all reluctant of his mother's fashion choices. "I doubt her intention was to make you look 'funny'," he said with an amused smile.

The boy's gaze dropped to the bright red flip-flops again for a moment, then he shrugged. "As far as I know, there's no rules against flip-flops inside the castle," he said. As for him walking around barefoot or in flip-flops... "Only at home. The floor in the castle gets too cold to walk barefoot. Besides, there's the whole thing with germs and I'd rather not get sick." The mere thought of visiting the Healer sent a shiver down his spine. He hated all things medical.

How'd he know? Had Louis Bolton, Gryffindor BOY Prefect ever met Cecily Tate-Earnest, Healer at St. Mungo's and mom to Ezra? He HIGHLY doubted it. "I don't know, she could have..." he said taking another bite and thus finishing his chocolate cauldron.

NO RULES...on flip flop, that was a good thing. It wouldn't matter too much though once he got his new shoes. "Yeah, I've noticed that in the dormitory in the mornings but I never thought about germs." Never really. They were invisible so why worry about them. If he got sick he'd just have his mum--

Oh yeah, the Healer was the one who took care of kids here. "Maybe I will stay away from germs some." he added as an after thought.

Lou raised an eyebrow, cocking his head to the side. "It almost sounds like you don't trust your own mother," he pointed out. Weird. He'd never imagined that his mother was purposely dressing him funny when he was Ezra's age, but then again Lou had always been very easygoing and obedient.

"Yeah, I don't recommend it," said the boy, shaking his head and lounging on the bench once more because comfy prefect boy wanted to be comfy. "Kids with germs get quarantined and are forbidden to eat candy for weeks. It's not fun." Heh.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gryffindoll

Lou raised an eyebrow, cocking his head to the side. "It almost sounds like you don't trust your own mother," he pointed out. Weird. He'd never imagined that his mother was purposely dressing him funny when he was Ezra's age, but then again Lou had always been very easygoing and obedient.

"Yeah, I don't recommend it," said the boy, shaking his head and lounging on the bench once more because comfy prefect boy wanted to be comfy. "Kids with germs get quarantined and are forbidden to eat candy for weeks. It's not fun." Heh.

"I do trust my mum, she's just always trying to make me dress nice. I don't want to all the time. You get it?" He should, he was eleven once. He'd always done everything his parents said but his mom was a nutter when it came to appearance. 'Go put pants on we have company!' 'Don't use your tie as a leash for the stray kneazle!' GEEZ LOUISE!

..........

Seriously? The boy's eyes absently went to the small stash of chocolate he still had hidden in his pocket and then went to the Prefect. "That's not true, is it? Why would the Healer do that?" Was candy bad for you if you were sick?