Awww, Professor Culloden seemed to be in a very good mood. What a sweet man he was. "I am very well, thank you. Just very cold as usual." But then who wasn't? If penguins and polar bears came to Hogwarts, they would be very comfortable because of the cold temperatures.

Haha, penguins made her think of Kace because of his nickname.

Oh, cold. This Entrance Hall was quite cold as well, wasn't it? Cosgrach nodded, made a face and then looked as if he'd JUST remembered something. She was still on her feet! How very rude of him. He quickly conjured another exceptionally-uncomfortable stool (so WHAT if he didn't understand charms?) and gestured her to sit.

"I hope you're not too cold to speak here," he said, "we can move somewhere else too. I wanted to give ya somethin', see." The vial in his hands. If she wasn't in a hurry too, of course.

Lux was a little surprised when another stool was conjured for her. She hadn't thought about sitting down, but he was so polite in offering her a place to sit. "Thank you," she said as she climbed on it and tried to get comfortable. Definitely wasn't as comfortable as the seats in the Potions classroom, but it would do.

"Here is perfectly fine with me." Nod. As long as she wasn't out in the Arctic that was the Hogwarts grounds, Lux was perfectly content. The potion was for her? "Awesome! What is it?" And why was he giving it to her? Maybe he would explain that last bit to her. But whatever it was, she certainly appreciated the gift.

Before Simon could reply, Ethan appeared all of a sudden. "Hey Ethan!" he said as he watched his friend approach the group. Merlin, soon they were going to have quite the rabble. Simon wondered if it always got this busy around these parts when Cutty was selling candy. "How's it going?"

He turned back to Cutty and then nodded. "I'm sure it does. It's a pretty good idea," he said with a grin. Then Cutty asked him one of the most difficult questions in the world. Simon didn't really love candy but he enjoyed a piece every now and then. It was his sister, Allison, who was the self-proclaimed professional candy-devour. "Merlin.. I don't know," he began and soon enough found him hankering for some good old muggle Smarties. The ones that were made in Australia and the UK, yeah? The ones that were multi-coloured and had chocolate in them. Not those weird fruity ones that were imported from the US. Those weren't smarties to Simon. Nu-uh, no way josé. "Would you happen to have any smarties? The chocolate ones? Not the ones from the US," he explained.

Ah, perfect. It was hard to remove the winter cloaks anyway, so they were well protected. He smiled and gave her a moment to adjust to the horribly uncomfortable adequately welcoming stool and eyed her with a happy twinkle in his eyes.

"It's just a small potion to calm creatures down - you can't run away from a dragon with it, clearly. What I mean is, if your kneazle is having a bad day, if a unicorn is angry like it was in your homework," he smiled at her a little - he was impressed by that - "it'd help them calm down. I noticed that you're a positive girl, and thought you must also love animals. You're also such a great student, and deserve this gift." He handled it out. Was he correct to assume that?

Oh wow.

Lux honestly wasn't sure what to say as she took the vial from Professor Culloden. It was so very nice and thoughtful for him to have made a potion for her. "I love animals! Thank you so very much, I really appreciate it." Remembering the crazy mad mother Unicorn in Hogsmeade, she knew just how important something like this could be.

"Potions is one of my favourite classes. It's so much fun. I would love to be able to make all different kinds of potions... and invent my own." But she hadn't as much experience as some of the students who were total experts at it.

Ah, he was right: she loved animals! Great! Cosgrach smiled widely. "I'm glad you like it." He was also glad his guess was right. It was such a pleasure to see the smile on the students' faces when they got potions from him. Hehe.

Oh? She did? Now, this made Cosgrach very happy. "I'm happy that you like the class! You're young yet. You'll learn all the cool stuff." If she had the right mindset, she would. SHe was good at the class, after all.

Caleb couldn't believe how fast the snow had just attacked them like that. One second, it had just been cold (because there weren't any moments when it WASN'T cold anymore) and the next second - BAM! Full out blizzard tundra!

He turned to make sure Hope had followed him inside and chuckled. "That was WEIRD, yeah? Storms don't just like...happen like that, right?"

Professor Culloden was really making Lux happy right now. He had given her a very thoughtful gift, and now he was encouraging her, saying that she would learn a lot more things in the future because she was still youg. "Thank you, Professor. How did you get so good at making potions? Did you just practice a lot?" Or was there more to it? He was so good at making potions, and she wished that she could be as good at it herself.

Hope marched in behind Caleb and when she finally made it into the not-as-cold warmth of the castle she shook the remaining snow out of her soaked hair and brushed it off her shoulders.

She beamed and shook her head while biting on her lip. "Totally weird and no...I don't think storms happen like that. It certainly is interesting though..." And it was to her because one second they were talking about Astronomy and seasons and the next the weather had a mega shift. "Maybe I'll go see Professor Flamsteed later. He's all about seasons this year. He might actually know whats going on."

Or maybe not, but a conversation with him would be enjoyable either way.

"Do you think it'll stay snowy and cold for the rest of the year?" After all they were approaching spring....shouldn't it stop snowing and being below zero?

Cosgrach wondered how two Hufflepuff girls - first Elodie and now Lux - could be so different. Elodie had wanted to kill him for giving her the potions as gifts, but look how Lux was being so sweeeeet! Cosgrach was certainly as happy as she was, and he BEEEEAAAAMED at the praise.

Goodness. He could never say no to a compliment.

"Well, I practised a lot, of course," he said and paused for the effect, "but one must also be talented. You have that talent, mind ya. You have to be able to stay concentrated for a long time, and you can just do that." Nodnod.

"No, but I've seen those." Though, he hadn't tried them himself. He imagined their appearance might frighten some poor, unsuspecting firstie or possibly bother Sophie Newell. And that last one, that had so much merit to Cutty at the moment. Entertainment. "Dead cleveh."

"Good to know. There's a similar product I've tried, but nowhere near as good as the Malteaser itself. I'll keep them in stock from now on." They generally seemed to be the only other thing that were giving the chocolate frogs a run for their money.

"I'm not a pureblood. I mean, I might be. I've neveh met m'grandparents on m'dad's side. Not m'real ones. Booht, if they're both magical I could probably claim it and noone would know the difference. Booht, then they'd probably try to get me to marry m'own coozin twice removed. And that'd be dizgoostin." Unless she happened to be loaded. Well, then Cutty would probably do it. Probably.

"When did you go to Egypt, Ethan?"



Smarties. He'd seen both varieties, actually, and so it was a good thing that Simon took the time to clarify just what he meant. "I think I've got some of those." Cutty reached a hand into his bag and stuck it further and further still into the deeper-than-it-looked school bag. Soon his hand was so far into it that the entirety of his shoulder was being swallowed up by it, but at last a faint scrapping and taping sound was heard as Cutty drew out the rectangular box of Smarties. "10 sickles, please."

He was going to forgive Holden for not knowing what he wanted. Next to weakness it made Cutty's top ten for greatest of sins against the self.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HOPEendures

Hope marched in behind Caleb and when she finally made it into the not-as-cold warmth of the castle she shook the remaining snow out of her soaked hair and brushed it off her shoulders.

She beamed and shook her head while biting on her lip. "Totally weird and no...I don't think storms happen like that. It certainly is interesting though..." And it was to her because one second they were talking about Astronomy and seasons and the next the weather had a mega shift. "Maybe I'll go see Professor Flamsteed later. He's all about seasons this year. He might actually know whats going on."

Or maybe not, but a conversation with him would be enjoyable either way.

"Do you think it'll stay snowy and cold for the rest of the year?" After all they were approaching spring....shouldn't it stop snowing and being below zero?

BRRRR! It was so cold, and the snow had made Caleb's hair curl at the ends and he was NOT happy. Speaking of curls, he noticed Hope brush snow off her hair but she missed a big chunk on her shoulder. "Oops, you missed a spot," he said, smiling and brushing the large pile of snowflakes off her robes. Geez. If they'd stayed out any longer, they might have been frozen in the snow and buried like those mummies from the ice age!

"I hope not - it's gotta get warm soon, yeah? I thought the world was getting WARMER, not colder," he said, rubbing his arms to warm them up. Yeah, wasn't it called global WARMING, not cooling? Unless another ice age was, for some reason, forming - in which case, Caleb was throwing in the towel now and moving to Costa Rica, which hopefully would be spared.

Hope shivered a bit and smiled as Caleb reached out and caught a bit of snow she hadn't seen. "Thanks." Her hair was we and her clothes soaked and this entrance wasn't below zero but she cold bite to the air was enough to have her shiver again. She may not have gotten sick, but she felt like this right here was the perfect combination for a cold in the making.

"I hope it gets warmer soon. I'd hate to be in this castle for too long." She gave one more shiver and her heart longed for a warm fireplace. "But hey, who knows. Maybe if we're stuck in the castle we could hang out some more, yeah?" After all, they'd have nothing better to do when not in class. "Go rollerskating in the corridors? Hangout by a fireplace somewhere?" Crazier things had happened at Hogwarts after all and how much trouble could they get into?

Cutty’s always there during the summer, and he hasn’t tasted the bug chocolates…ever? “You really should give that one a go. It’s just like a chocolate frog, but…yummier.” Oh wait, he’s missing something. “…it’s crunchy too, so don’t freak out over that. Part of the chocolate design, I think.” Which, YES, freaked him out to no end. “D’ya accept special orders?” They’re talking business now, no? And this’ll be good for good ol’ cousin Cutty.

Now…THAT is a good move. “Yeah, keep ‘em Maltesers in stock, and I’ll be your regular customer.” Who else in the whole castle sells muggle goodness like those malt balls, right? A thumbs up for Cutty, and Ethan continued to fill his mouth with the chocolatey goodness.

Chew. Chew. COUGH.

Ethan squinted and slammed his fist against his chest. Merlin, what exactly is going on right now? This week is going to be all about his family, isn’t it? He just had a very honest conversation with Culloden yesterday regarding his real dad, and now Cutty’s here telling him about not meeting his grandparents on his father’s side. No, not just grandparents, but real grandparents. MERLIN. And…did he know that he only met his real gramps and gran-gran, like…three years ago? When the truth was revealed to him? Ethan just stared back at the boy, as the idea of being related to Cutty played inside his head. What if…what if his grandparents were his grandparents too? He needed to know…stuff. “Have you asked…your father about it?” Oh yes, he was pulling a Culloden line right there.

Oh and Egypt? “I’ve never been to Egypt. Mordred did years ago with his parents. Family vacation of some sort. I got the scarab chocolates as a gift.” But…enough about that. He wanted to know more about Cutty’s dad.

But...wait. Before anything else, those Smarties though...it looked...yummy. Never tried those...and so, "You wanna trade after?" he asked Simon, because, why not? Maltesers' good, and Simon definitely should try it. Mhm.

As Ethan approached Kyroh waved. Simon WAS right. Sweets were good.

What kind was his favourite? Well Kyroh didn't really know! Did he have a favourite? Muggle sweets were foreign to him but not the Wizarding ones."Fizzing Whizbees." He decided after some time. But by then the older boys were talking about stuff and Kyroh didn't really care. Not to be rude or anything. But nope. He didn't care. And he wasn't about say that he cared either because that would be lying and he'd much rather tell the truth about him not caring.

So instead of disturbing the older boys and their conversation Kyroh reached out and grabbed a boy of his favourite candy. Opening it he plopped one into his mouth.

...They were for free right? The prices the boy was listing were just suggestions....right?

The boy had probably eaten too much. At least climbing his way up all these stairs to his tower would make the food go down. That was one of the tiny perks of living up there. but Jun didn't make it far. He flopped on the stairs and closed his eyes. Not being able to go outside was making him lazy and weak. He needed fresh air. Tapping his feet around and humming, Jun stayed there for a few more minutes. The floor had gotten comfortable so no way was the Ravenclaw moving.

Simon beamed when he heard that Cutty may have had some smarties. AWESOME! He grinned and then reached into his pocket, fishing out the correct change. "Here are 10 sickles for you, Mr. Shopkeeper," he said with a wide grin playing on his lips. If Cutty kept on getting a lot of customers, perhaps he'd have his own permanent store in Hogwarts by next term. And maybe Ethan, Kyroh, and him could all get discounts? "So how have you been, Cutty?"

With the smarties in hand, he couldn't wipe the grin off his face. Hehe. They were all HIS. All his to enjoy. Well they were until Ethan asked to trade him for some Maltesers. He eyed the Maltesers. They were alright candy- they weren't his favourite, but he'd be willing to trade a few smarties for a few maltesers. They were roughly the same size so it seemed fair. "Sure," he said and passed the cardboard box filled with the delicious smarties to Holmes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HOPEendures

Hope shivered a bit and smiled as Caleb reached out and caught a bit of snow she hadn't seen. "Thanks." Her hair was we and her clothes soaked and this entrance wasn't below zero but she cold bite to the air was enough to have her shiver again. She may not have gotten sick, but she felt like this right here was the perfect combination for a cold in the making.

"I hope it gets warmer soon. I'd hate to be in this castle for too long." She gave one more shiver and her heart longed for a warm fireplace. "But hey, who knows. Maybe if we're stuck in the castle we could hang out some more, yeah?" After all, they'd have nothing better to do when not in class. "Go rollerskating in the corridors? Hangout by a fireplace somewhere?" Crazier things had happened at Hogwarts after all and how much trouble could they get into?

"I know - what if we can't LEAVE?" Caleb said, eyes growing wide at the thought. Seriously though - what if the snow never melted, the Hogwarts Express couldn't come get them, and they were stuck here forever?!

Why was it that EVERY year, Caleb's life was put in danger? This was hardly an ideal education.

"Yeah, definitely...and that sounds AWESOME," he chuckled. Skating in the corridor? That would certainly be a fun way to pass the time! "Or maybe we could freeze the Weasley swamp over and make that into an ice skating rink!" he said with a grin.

He was totally joking. Mostly.

Connor was about to head back up to his dorm, boredom as usual had struck. This place was like a siberian prison now. Full of people he was trying to avoid and snowed in. Okay, it was better than that but as a writer everything seemed much more dramatic in Connor's opinion than it ever really was. He felt like he was eating a million times a day, but he was growing and it was cold so why not?

He headed through the entrance hall and spotted Jun sitting on the ground of all place? "Whatcha doing down there?" He asked and leaned against the wall next to the Ravenclaw. Hopefully his bored was now over, or would at least decrease..

She had the talent? Eeep! Yaaay!

She was talented! Feeling proud of herself, Lux was so going to tell Bay about this later because she was sure that he would be happy for her. "That is amazing advice, thank you. And if I need help, I will come to you." Surely he wouldn't mind that, right?

Hearing her stomach grumble, she remembered why she had came down in the first place. "I have to go eat now. Thank you again for the gift and have a nice day!" Waving goodbye, she rushed off to the Great Hall.

His question made her worry a little. It may still be a little early in the year....but her birthday wasn't too far away and when she turned thirteen she DID NOT want to be locked up in the castle....and if she did then there better be a big party thrown for her somewhere. "I don't know. Maybe dig our way to warmer places?"

"That would be totally FANTASTIC!!!!" Hope's mind was buzzing and going all dorky Ravenclaw on her "OR!!!! We could totally just make our own rink in the dungeons. After all it is cold enough down there already and we could charge people to skate." It would throw a little extra jingle their way to spend if they could escape this ice sculpture.

Hope shivered once more and stretched in a small movement. She was feeling a little tired all of a sudden and she stifled a yawn. "I think the first thing I'm going to do though is warm up in front of a fire place." After all her hair was still dripping and her soaked clothes needed a small drying. Did she hug him? Shake hands? Friendly punch?

Would she ever be comfortable with boys around her own age?

"I'lllllll...seee you around?" It was drawn out, hope literally hanging on to every word.

Did he accept special orders. Sure. For Alexa, Cassia and the like. But, at the rate Ethan was going Cutty well considered him the boy who would soon be prefect. It never hurt to start early. "For as long as I'm supplied I'll do special orders. Not like I'll be gettin' anything new in with the flight of our owls." That meant Ethan could get his supply of Malteasers so long as Cutty hadn't run out. He'd be experimenting on duplication charms with muggle sweets. There were obvious reasons they didn't work on the magical ones.

"I have, mate. Booht, he's not givin' me a straight answer 'tall. I think maybe he doosen't know 'imself." Or maybe he was ostracized for not using a family reunion as a perfectly good opportunity to pick up girls. "Or he knows something he doosen't want me to know." He said as if he were getting a sudden epiphany about how to extract afore mentioned information.

Cutty caught the wee Ravenclaw boy out of the corner of his eye. A natural thief if he could actually manage to get his hand quickly past Cutty's own.




The Slytherin was expressionless. Neither angry, nor excited for the theft of his product. Emotionally, he was still, but mentally he considered several ways to handle the situation.


He knew how this would be handled in Liverpool.


But this was not Liverpool.

He could use a butter fingers jinx on the box, or perhaps the boy's hands so that he couldn't hold onto it before he coughed over the money, which of course he wouldn't be able to do if he had slippery palms. But then he remembered Cassia Somerlad and with his hand on the little Ravenclaw's shoulder, Cutty did what he often did when he explained calmly, "The Fizzing Whizzbees turn into bumblebees when a client doosen't pay up." And by bumblebees, he meant cockroaches. He held out his hand palm up. "Four Sickles, please."




"There yew go, lads. Set up a trading standard, mix 'n match!" It was like free samples that didn't have to come out of his own pocket. He endorsed this. Aww, yiss.

"Comme ci, comme ça." He said it like he meant it in response to Simon's question. "How 'bout yaself? Have you met Tobias Tempus, yet? I swear that kid has yer exact face. " Or at least, Cutty thought so.

Is that so? Ethan’s hand was inside his pocket once more and got a galleon and 11 sickles. “Two more please, then.” Yes, he needed to hoardstock, if there won’t be any delivery any time soon. He still got a few packets left, yeah? So why not buy early on just to be safe?

Well, would you look at that? Cutty’s dad seemed to be hiding things from him too. The only difference between him and Cutty was, Ethan didn’t care until it was too late. “He’s not giving you a straight answer? That could only mean that he’s definitely hiding something.” It was just logical yeah? If there was nothing wrong within the family, then why hide it? “Would you know your grandparents’ names? Does…your mother know about your dad’s parents? Have you asked her?” There must be a way, you see? If the boy wanted to know then he will find a way. Ethan’s almost sure that Cutty asked…or…did some investigation stuff to get information.

And for the second time, Ethan choked and slammed his fist against his chest.

Why? Tobias! He’s been looking for that dude for ages! And…wait…he looks like Simon? OH THAT KID IS TOBIAS? Sweet Merlin! Noted then. The hunt for the kid won’t be as hard as he thought. Same face as Simon. Got it. Weird but…yeah. Consider his mission DONE.

After the trading of chocolates with Simon, Ethan offered his Maltesers to Kyroh. “Try this too.” He said as he leaned on the boy’s shoulder. Impressive stealth skills there, by the way. But apparently, Hawkeye Cutty’s sight’s more impressive.

Someone had his face? Exact face? What? Simon blinked, rather befuddled by his mate's comment. How could someone have HIS face? It was his face. Did Cutty mean to tell him that this Tobias Tempus kid looked like him? Maybe that's what he meant. Yeah, yeah. "I'm good thanks. And no, I haven't met him yet. I think I may have seen him around in a couple of classes but haven't met him," he explained. He knew that the boy was close enough in age to him and that they both looked sort of similar.

Following Ethan's lead, he offered some smarties to Kyroh. "Want some of these? They're delicious," he said with a grin before hearing Ethan cough. "You okay, mate? Don't die on me," he asked, casting a concerned blue eyed glance at his friend. He didn't need Sherlock Holmes to die on him before the Cold Ones got INTO the castle. Sheesh. That'd be horrible.

"We should go find this Tobias Tempus guy sometime soon," said Simon before he poppped a matlester into his mouth.