"I bet it was. And I bet you cried like a little girl.'' Of course Adi was joking around for the millionth time. He wondered how AJ would take to being compared to a girl. He already knew what a tomboy she was. She never saw a Hippogriff? "They're only the coolest creatures ever! I wonder if there are any here...'' Hmmm. Plus Adi always hoped that Professor Thompson would have a class on them sometime. "Well, I know what to get you for your birthday,'' he kidded. "If not the House elf, then the unicorn will be Plan B.''

"She'll probably never want to try them, don't you think? Hey, what was going through your head when I told you that story?'' The Puffer had never gotten around to asking AJ that and he was curious about what she had thought. Did she actually believe him? "I think she loves it more than anything. Except perhaps me.'' Hehe. "Yeah, she loves it. That's why she never changed jobs or worked anywhere else.''

"Oh, I wouldn't have to worry about that. You'll be the one loosing, AJ.'' Better bets? Sure! Adi would brainstorm a couple of those. "You sword fight too? Is there anything that you don't do?'' He had never even held a sword. "I doubt he had better hair than mine though.''

December.

It was only December and Cosgrach KNEW Scotland winter was harsh, but this? This was FREEZING. SCANDINAVIA. ICE. ICELAND. ICE AGE!

He had safely wrapped himself in 238 layers of shirts, 379 layers of winter coats and 139 winter cloaks. He had a white-green Celtics FC winter hat and a white-blue Rangers FC scarf. He wore the thickest dragon hide gloves and his boots were made in Russia - specifically designed for Siberia. And only then did he feel warm and secure enough to venture out.

And to see Nessa. And to smile to himself. And also to feel guilty immediately, but to reassure himself that it was completely innocent. It wasn't like he was going to ask Nessa out too - he just enjoyed her company, and Merlin knew he needed a bit of positivity.

Approaching her from behind as silently as he could, he ignored that she had a tea that could slip from her hands and did an old trick: he breathed INTO her right ear as quickly as he could.

Cry? AJ didn't cry. "Yeah right. The kangaroo would have cried before me. I'm tough." and so not a girl. "And I'm not a girl." Well, she was, but surely he knew what she meant by that. She held both of her arms up to show him her muscles. They weren't ripped or anything, but they were defined from all the sports she played. "Cooler than a unicorn?" Because they were pretty cool ya know. "Maybe the creature professor has on in those pens he has." It was a possibility right? Maybe he had a unicorn too. She was going to have to go check on that pronto. His next sentence took AJ off guard. She took both of his hand into hers and got super close to his face. Her eyes were looking directly at his. "Could you do that?" Because she had been told that it was impossible... of course she was not taking that for an answer.

AJ laughed at Adi's response. "Yeah, I don't think she would." If she even believed her at all. "The first thing she would say would most likely be to ask if I had eaten one of them." And then a lot of head shaking in disbelief. The first year always kept her mum on her toes. "At first I believed you because my sister said their was some toe jam flavored ice cream. I though anything was possible. Then I thought about what Lex told me about people telling me stories because I was a first year." So in short Lex ruined everything. "That's nice." She said in regards to his mum loving her job. That apparently was important. "What do you think you'll do after school?" Sure, it was a long way away, but so many different things went through her head now that she was apart of this super cool world.

"Time will tell Adi, time will tell." Time would tell that AJ would be the winner. She couldn't wait to see the look on Adi's face when she beat him for the third straight time. "It wasn't a real sword. We fought with planks. Then he dangled me off of his while we had a race." That was a good time. "Ha! I will pretty much try anything once." Except maybe vegetables. Of course her mum saw to it that she actually ate them. UGH! "True. He didn't have anything on you."

Adi laughed out loud again. He had expected that response to be somewhere along those lines. The thought of the poor kangaroo crying was kind of funny. "So then you're a dude?'' He eyed her arms. "Look at those muscles! But I'd still beat you at anything that involves strength.'' Hehe. "Hippogriffs are way cool. You can't go flying on a unicorn.'' And flying was totally cool. "I'm not sure. We should ask him.'' Woah. What was AJ doing? Adi was totally not expecting the contact. Her hands were surprisingly soft and her eyes...as she put her face close to his, he realised how pretty they were. "You've got beautiful eyes,'' he told her, totally distracted. They had been talking about something other than eyes, right? Oh yeah! Unicorns and Elves. "You never know,'' Adi said simply. AJ looked so hopeful that he didn't have the heart to disappoint her.

"I bet you've eaten loads of them by now.'' Not a day passed without Adi having at least one Chocolate Frog. They were the best. He laughed again. "Toe jam? Angel or Abby told you that?'' Surprisingly he had never been pranked by any other student in his first year. Nope, all he got was ink dumped on his head. ''Something that involves magical creatures,'' he replied promptly. Yes, of that he was one hundred percent sure. "But I'm not sure exactly what. Any ideas?'' 'Cos he was up for suggestions, ya know.

"Sounds like fun. Who won?'' The Puffer wouldn't be surprised if it were AJ. And as for his hair, he had a confession. "I've never paid much attention to my hair. I mean, I didn't know it was...good.'' Yeah. He always thought of his hair as plain and regular.

Nope, she wasn't a dude. "You know what I mean." She reached up and ruffled his hair. She thought that her arms were perfect. Even being a tomboy, she wouldn't want man arms. That was not good look. Athletic arms were the way to go. "PFFFT! I could take you anytime any place." AJ wasn't exactly sure about that, but she wasn't letting on. Of course the time that she had beaten him she was under the effects of a strengthening potion so maybe she shouldn't count her chickens before they were hatched. She nodded in agreement with asking the professor. Hold the phone... Hippogriff's could fly. "Aw man, they fly? I wanna ride." Was it possible that there was something cooler than a unicorn?

Holding on to Adi while she hoped with all of her being that he could pull through for her in the pet department, it was her turn to be caught off guard. "They are just plain ol' boring brown." He was just being nice. "Thank you though." She gently let go of his hands and bit her bottom lip. "I really hope there is a way." There just had to be. At the very least she could try to obtain an elf when she became of age, but that was so far away. The first year was not known for her patience.

Then the conversation went to a safe topic, chocolate frogs. "Totally. They are delicious." She could actually go for one right about now. "It was Angel. Soo... for the record is there such a thing?" He wouldn't lie to her would he? Oh, he wanted to work with magical creatures. "That sounds like loads of fun. Hmmm... I dunno much about the kind of jobs in the magical world, but what if you did something cool like train dragons or something." Was that a thing? "I wonder what I will end up doing." It was too soon to say what she liked yet considering she hadn't even been to all of the classes yet.

"I don't think anybody won the sword fight because we got sidetracked pretty quickly with the race. Ethan was on my team when we raced so naturally we won." Ethan really did all of the work though. All she had to do was not fall off the plank. "Well, here's me telling you that it is." she said in response to his hair.

Brrrrrr....that was a really cold wind chill running down her spine now.

How was it even possible that with all of her buttons closed, she was still feeling the wind getting through her jacket? It wasn't making any sense to her. Well, perhaps she should have put more layers on before she came outside, so that was probably a mistake on her part. Another question at hand would probably have been, why would she have chosen to be outside in this cold weather instead of up in the common room sitting by the warming fire?

Possibly more so for privacy.

Not really privacy per say, maybe it was just the fact of needing some concentration. She realized that she'd hadn't written a letter to her father in a few days & she knew he would probably be very upset with, maybe even cross. He must've been worrying sick from not hearing from her at all & she did feel rather terrible for not writing to him. So with a book to support her parchment & her quill at the ready, she began to think of numerous ways to write out her apology to her father.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SweetPeea

Brrrrrr....that was a really cold wind chill running down her spine now.

How was it even possible that with all of her buttons closed, she was still feeling the wind getting through her jacket? It wasn't making any sense to her. Well, perhaps she should have put more layers on before she came outside, so that was probably a mistake on her part. Another question at hand would probably have been, why would she have chosen to be outside in this cold weather instead of up in the common room sitting by the warming fire?

Possibly more so for privacy.

Not really privacy per say, maybe it was just the fact of needing some concentration. She realized that she'd hadn't written a letter to her father in a few days & she knew he would probably be very upset with, maybe even cross. He must've been worrying sick from not hearing from her at all & she did feel rather terrible for not writing to him. So with a book to support her parchment & her quill at the ready, she began to think of numerous ways to write out her apology to her father.

Caleb didn't get why it was so COLD out here this fall - usually this kind of chill came around the New Year - but he still liked to take little strolls around the grounds. It wasn't THAT cold out yet. Bundled up in his Slytherin scarf and his pea coat, he wandered around, looking for some animals to observe, only there didn't seem to be any of them around. They apparently were avoiding the cold. Not that he blamed them, if he was that tiny he'd probably freeze into an icicle if he hung around...

Lost in his thoughts about frozen animals and hibernation and whatnot, he didn't even notice someone sitting nearby, writing something with a quill and parchment. CRASH! Caleb walked right into the poor person, tripping over them and falling on the cold hard pavement and scraping his chin.

Now, how should she start it? Well, actually how could she could even begin the letter without her father being too angry at her. If she knew her father, like she knew her father, possibly no matter what she wrote he'd probably be most displeased with her. But at least he'd be getting a letter from her? So the only thing she probably could do was at least just apologize right from the start to try and calm him down. Right? Right.

'Dear Daddy,

I'm so so so so sorry--'

CRASH!

Josie had no idea what happened. But before she could even lift her head to see who was approaching her, they had collided and her parchment, book & quill were all in the air; while she herself had been knocked off of the bench falling to the ground. "Oof!" After landing on her side & scraping her knee, was when she took notice of the person who'd crashed into her. Not only that, but he'd scraped his chin. Josie gasped covering her mouth & crawled (in slight pain) towards the boy who looked like he was facing down. Out of instinct, she immediately began to babble a bunch of words, "O-Oh, I-I am s-so-so sorry-sorry...A-Are you al-alright?" In a bit of panic, she reached for his shoulder trying to turn him over so she could see if he was alright.

Adi grinned. "I know what you mean, AJ. I bet that kangaroo suffered too,'' he added teasingly. He let her reach up and ruffle his hair. "You're the only person I let touch my hair, you know.'' Well, besides his mom and dad. "That messy enough for you?'' he asked when she was done. "If you say so. But even though you know you're going to loose, it's good to see you keeping up such a fighting spirit.'' Adi winked. "Of course they can. When I get my own Hippogriff, I'll take you for a ride. Told you they were cooler than Unicorns.'' Sorry to burst your bubble, AJ.

"You collect the cards, right?'' Adi had a mountain of them. Most were at home but he still managed to secure a large amount given the number of Frogs he had eaten so far this term. "And don't worry. There's nothing like that.'' Who knew Angel had a sense of humour? "Dragon training is for Benny,'' Adi mumbled. "I'll do something with Hippogriffs probably.'' He brightened up. "Then you could come take all the rides you want.'' Adi knew that AJ had a long way to go before she decided what she wanted to do but he wanted if she had the slightest idea at that point in time.

"Don't you miss your fiends?'' Adi asked curiously. He knew he did and it had been a bit difficult for him to leave behind the life he was accustomed to but he had gotten used to it now.

Oh her papers were a bit disorganized weren't they? Nessa took a sip of her tea then started to rearrange her papers with her other hand. They were still spread out all over the bench next to her but she knew where everything was and had her own sort of order. She set them back into one neat-ish pile and set them back on her lap, keeping the one she wanted to work on first on top of the pile and she took another sip of her tea to warm herself.

As she did, the brunette was completely startled by a sudden warm air at her ear. She let out an alarmed cry as she jumped a little, sending her papers flying and spilling tea up and out of her cup. Quickly she scrambled onto the ground to pick up her things, turning her head to see what had been at her side as she did so. "Oh! Hahaha.. it's you!" she laughed as she saw the Potions Professor standing there. "You startled me!" She finished picking up the rest of her things and got back onto the bench, disarrayed papers under her arm. "I haven't seen you around lately, Cosgrach.. You're not getting too lonely down in those dungeons all by yourself, are you?" She put on a warm smile as she looked upon him. He must have been awfully busy with classes or his potions or something to be so scarce around the castle. Do tell!

AJ couldn't help but to smile as he made the comment about the kangaroo. "He sure did." Bet he will be thinking twice before messing with another Valentine. It had never crossed her mind that he may actually not like people touching his hair. She batted her eyelashes playfully. "I guess I'm special then." Yup, she was. His hair was looking nice. That messy look really worked for him. "It's perfect." Oh Adi, poor Adi. "You're going to be in for a rude awakening." She would show him. "Ohhh. I'd love that." Maybe she needed to read up on these hippogriffs. Here she was thinking that a unicorn was the coolest thing ever.

"Yeah. My pile is lame though." Guess that meant that she needed to start eating more chocolate frogs. "No? I guess that wouldn't be very tasty." Who would go and order that anyways? Benny came up. "How are you guys anyways." It was weird being on speaking terms with everybody even though the others were not speaking terms among themselves. "You should do that, and I'd come visit you all the time." And the hippogriffs too of course.

"Sure I do. I miss everybody a lot, but I am so excited for this new adventure." AJ was very adaptable. Plus, she knew that she would be seeing them this summer so that helped.

Was it getting colder? Adi shivered a bit. He didn't mind it being colder but he certainly didn't want to freeze to death. "Hey, AJ, Do you think we should head back to the Castle? I think it's getting colder.'' While he waited for her reply, he said, ''Don't flatter yourself.'' The third year grinned. "I'm kidding. You are.'' She was his second closest friend even though he had known her for about four or five months.

Adi shook his head. "Not so good,'' he said simply. "I'll go talk to him soon though. I miss him.'' The boy was amazed at how easy it was to confide in AJ. Well, at least he had some one to talk to when he needed to.

And there was that breeze again. Was this an unusually cold winter?

Noticing his shiver, she couldn't help but to feel a little guilty considering that she was wearing his jacket and all. "I think that's a good idea. Want your jacket back?" AJ didn't have to flatter herself, she knew better. "That's better." The jabs just kept coming when it involved her and Adi.

Still no good? It was crazy to think that her sister had come between the two besties. "I bet you do." Talking was good, and she sincerely hoped that the two of them made up. AJ didn't like seeing a sad Adi.

AJ linked her arm in his. "C'mon let's go. Hot chocolate sounds nice don't ya think?"

Adi shook his head. "No, you keep it,'' he told AJ. "It's not all that bad of a wind.'' That was true. He wasn't all that cold. "I'm a tough guy, you know.'' Hehe. But AJ already knew that. As for things between him and Benny...it would be alright soon. Adi was sure of that.

The third year smiled when AJ linked he arm through his. "It sure does. I like mine with lots of marshmallows,'' he told the first year as they headed back to the Castle. He was reminiscing back to his first year when he had almost fully fallen into the duck pond but Elodie had saved him. She had made him hot chocolate with loads of marshmallows afterwards. Good times.

Cosgrach laughed as well as he also looked a bit smug. He DID catch her, didn't he!

"Oh, not at all," he said, "The students keep me very well busy." He refrained from rolling his eyes, but clearly he didn't want them to come to him so frequently.

"How are you? How is everything going?" Did she have so many visitors too?

Nessa was still laughing a bit as she finished collecting her papers and sat back down on the bench. It was rather funny if one thought about it and she could only imagine what it looked like to an outsider. Tee hee. The brunette laid the papers in a messy pile on the bench and pointed her wand at the broken pieces of china. "Reparo!" Once the cup was re-formed, she picked it up and set it atop the pile.

Ohhh! That's why she hadn't seen him around... made perfect sense and she gave him a happy little nod. "How nice that you make yourself so available for your students!" she said with an approving beam, not noticing any tone he might have had about it. "I'm sure they appreciate your expert tutelage." So sweet he was willing to go out of his way to give them extra help.

"I've been just peachy," she beamed, "thanks for asking! Everyone's bee so nice and welcoming, but I guess I've been a little busy too." A little more than she had really been prepared for, though it wasn't so much the students, more making sure her lessons were just perfect for them.

Haha. Funny. He was so available they came in MASSES! He was too nice of a guy to shatter his 'nice' image in her eyes, though, so he nodded instead.

"I think they do, yeah," he said, "because I kind of have a club of 'My favourite students'. It's a tough job to enter it and they know it." Okay okay, he might be a little bit overboard with exaggerating, but he did have a favourites club! And even though he had never officially said that, he knew they were aware that he favoured those students. Hehe.

...did she really say..? Merlin's short beard! Cosgrach softly laughed and knew she wouldn't be offended. Wasn't she lovely!

"If there is any way I can help you with anything, Nessa..." he said - too distracted to say anything else. He had to personally thank Annie for the article.

Zander tugged at his scarf, in attempt to tighten it around his FREEZING neck. Why was this winter SO insanely cold. It definitely wasn't nearly this bad last year. As far as the boy could remember, at least. But this, this was bad. Ugh. Cold weather is the worst. Could it be fall again? Or spring. NO, SUMMER. Please. Thoughts about the warm summer only made this weather feel worse!

Not helping.

The Gryffindor stopped in the middle of the grounds and took out his wand. What was the hot air spell again? The one they used in herbology? ... That one time... For the workshop? Oh yeah, "Ventus," Zander flicked his wand and watched as hot air blew out of it. Ah. This was much better. Now, if there was only a charm to get rid of all this snow?

Dylan walked down to the courtyard, holding his kitten Ginger in his arms as he went. She had seemed to really want to go out today, so he had decided to go for a walk around the grounds. He had gotten tired though, so he stopped by the courtyard to rest on a bench.

He took a seat and let Ginger play around on the ground below by his feet. She played with the laces of his boots and he chuckled to himself, watching in amusement as she bit them and pawed at them. She sure was playful and energetic today, more than usual. He didn't quite know why, but he loved it. It was adorable.

It.was.cold.

Winter never really bothered Cinnamon much until she started going to Hogwarts. When you gotta go outside for some classes the winter weather got old. Fast. The snow was fun. Making snowman and snow angels. Snowball fights. Snowboarding ice skating and skiing. Yep winter was great. But she was so done with it all ready. Spring could not come sooner.

She heard someone near by saying the charm they had learned. It was one that made hot air come out of your wand. She went over to the person who had done it. "Care to share?"

See winter wasn't even thaaat bad. Generally speaking. Except for some reason this year, things were INSANE. Heck, even the creatures in the forbidden forrest were noticing the dramatic climate change. Just then, Zander's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a feminine voice.

Share? As in, share some hot air? Zander is freezing, but he's not heartless, so it didn't even take a second thought. "Haa, 'course," he waved his wand towards the girl. This weather took a toll on everyone, didn't it? "Feeling any warmer?" Maybe he should repeat the charm just for good measure? "Ventus," he tried once more. Ah. That was nice.

This was an ODD place to meet.

No really. Grayson had taken a couple of steps into the courtyard when he stopped and stared around him. Maybe it was just the place in general. He never really paid much attention to it, aside from using it as a means of getting from one place to another. That was all. He hardly paid much attention to that weird fountain over there but now he could take it in properly. And he'd probably enjoy it a LOT more if it wasn't for the freaking cold.

Shivering, the Slytherin tightened his scarf and rubbed his hands together before making his way over towards a bench. The snow remnants were brushed off and he sat down. Luckily it wasn't too wet but either way, this fourth year was going to use his coat to protect his all important bottom. This was important, you know. He sat back and pulled his best cool-guy sitting stance as he looked around the courtyard. He needed a victim. The perfect victim. Juuuuuuust in case.

Soooooo where exactly was Dragon Boy?

Oh it really was great that Cosgrach was such a devoted teacher and Nessa smiled approvingly at him. It really was about being for the benefit of the students, wasn't it? But what was this? Her smile faltered a bit as he continued.

"A favorite students club? But.. but what about students who want to join and aren't permitted? Won't that hurt their feelings?" She knew young ones had tender little hearts. She would hate to think they'd be discouraged when all they wanted to do was learn. Perhaps he was joking though. If she had a favorite students club, they'd all be invited because they were all her favorite! Perhaps that was what he was doing too.

Nessa smiled a bit wider again. Wasn't he just the sweetest? Looking at him a moment, it took her a minute to respond as she grew a bit lost in thought. "Well.. if you're serious about the offer, I wouldn’t mind picking your brain about some organizational strategies and systems – keeping homework and grades on order. That sort of thing.” Because he had been a teacher for.. well, longer than her. And sure, she had her own organized chaos system, but maybe he had some tips so she could get grades out in a timely manner.

But... women. They were sometimes too not-ruthless.

"I think it'll encourage them," the man said, "as they will work harder to be a favourite student too." See? Okay? Good.

Oh, she needed his opinion?

"Go ahead!" Ask away! He'd love to help her.

His scarf was pulled nearly ALL the way up to his eyes, because Dima was being very wary of the cold. It was likely he'd have the same speaking problem that he'd had in the outdoor lessons, but he didn't care. Better to be misunderstood than a human ice cube, yeah? Yeah!

The dragon hoodie that Grayson had sent him for Christmas also assisted in keeping Dima warm. But the first year was a bit small for his age, and so the clothing fit somewhat loosely. Dima didn't mind, though. He rather liked the oversizing, really. Meant he didn't need gloves!

Coming up behind Grayson's bench, he covered the older boy's eyes with his flappy sleeves and spoke in his best deep voice. "Guess who!"

The vial in his hand wasn't a give away, right? Right.