Although there is still snow on the ground outside the school, the warmth and sunshine radiating from Hogsmeade are all the motivation you need to get out of the castle. Is it mating season for the forest!chorts or is it just you feeling the heat? Be careful getting to the boats and/or carriages. There's still a cool breeze and slick ground all around.

The SUN.

For the first time in forever Dora had stayed up just to watch the sunrise. Not because she wanted to get her last sunrise at Hogwarts in or anything stupid, but because today was LEAVING DAY. And in the boats no less. Freaking awesome.

Skipping breakfast, she had all her luggage shrunk down in her satchel, all but skipping her way down to the lake. She didn't give a damn about ice or how slippery things were outside, she was just happy to BE outside. And since she'd taken the boats onto the grounds her first time here, her last trip leaving would be in them.

It was only right.

And which boat was she going to ride out of here in? The biggest one of course.

The graduating prefect sought out said boat, and proceeded to claim it for her own.

The Headmistress had made her feelings known about using the boats, but Cat was way too curious about them to not at least check them out. She hadn't been a first year at Hogwarts, she hadn't gotten to take that cool boat ride in so she at least wanted to go out and see the water one more time before she left for good.

She was very pleased to see someone else had the thought to come out too. "Hi Dora." She smiled and cast a glance around, "Nice to finally get out of there." Cabin fever was a real thing, okay? And it wasn't FUN.

You know, during that Speech it did not sound like a warning. It sounded more like a challenge. And Nigel liked a good challenge. And since Nigel only had this chance once. He was going to take it. Plus it was fun.

Why need a deeper reason than that.

"Hey, Guys. Ready to be bold and stupid."

Though Nigel would have preferred her to say insane. It sounded more awesome.

Mo had never been on the boats. He'd started as a third year and insisted on coming up in the carriages, so this was basically his last chance. And luckily, his friends wanted a last chance too, and Mo found Cat, Dora, and Nigel. Like they were waiting for him or something.

Welp. Cat probably was.

"Who's with me?" He kicked the closest boat. Just testing the tires on this old baby.

Merlin, sunshine was such a beautiful sight. And it was WARM. No longer did she had to wear so many layers and cast so many charms to be warm. Snow was still present, but at least it was shutting them inside anymore. They could actually leave for graduation.

Awesome.

Penelope had heard the warning about the boats in the speech, but that wasn't enough to keep her from heading down there anyway. And apparently it wasn't enough for some other graduates too.

"So who's riding with who?" Or were they all riding by themselves?

Hey look! More people. Cat was assuming all of her fellow seventh years would end up coming down to the boats, despite the Headmistress's warning against them. They were still missing a few, and one for certain right now. "I think we'll only fit two per boat." She glanced between Dora and Penelope and raised an eyebrow. "Unless you two want to take a chance and the three of us can give it a go?" She had planned to ride with Dora, anyway, assuming the Ravenclaw had no objections. The three of them were small enough to fit in one boat. She definitely didn't want to leave Penelope behind.

"Oh, hey, Cat." She smiled at the Slytherin when she approached, settling down in her newly claimed boat. "Yeah, too bad it's our last time. But we can make it count." It wasn't like they could punish them, so why not? Dora was in the mood for some rule breaking, especially since she no professors or underclassmen were around.

And Nigel was arriving and clearly thinking the same thing as her. Her smile turned to a grin at his words. "Aren't we always?" She pointed to the arriving Marcus Orion, wiggled her fingers a bit even. Was her good mood obvious? "You ride with him." Obviously. It was a perfect match.

"I'm all for testing out us three riding together."

Well now who was the crazy ones here. Not like Nigel wasn't. Still he did not think that three people in a boat was the smartest thing to do. But he would watch it. Not going to try to bring reason into this. It would either be an hilarious send off or just a normal boat ride.

"Well, alright then. I guess i'm riding with you Mo. I'm not arguing with her."

Like usual.

"You guys want to have a race to the shore?"

Bring some entertainment to this boat trip.

Blah. Blah. Blah. No feelings.

The quicker she got on that train, the quicker she'd be out of here and could be doing the stuff she needed to do and making amends with the people she had to. HOME PLEASE. Tucking her hair behind her ears as she joined the few people near the boats already, with a final look over her shoulder to see if anyone else was following immediately. "No one leave me with someone I hate and need to push in!"

AKA give her a decent boat partner.

Please and thank you.

She was serious about the pushing in. A poor graduate could drown.

Hi best friend. Finger wiggle.

Those were the feelings she was still having. So much admiration for her best friend.

Of course Theo would be taking the boat ride to the train. Who cared about it being a bit cold anyway? Couldn't be any worse than the temperatures they'd been living in all year. Once he was outside for the first time in forever, Theo took a moment to breath in some proper fresh air (which froze up his nostrils a fair bit) before casting one final look at Hogwarts. It was sad, sure, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was graduating and being held back another year wasn't an option... unless he did really bad on his NEWTs, of course.

He arrived at the graduates' boats and was excited, because he was a graduate. There were already a bunch of people here, but Theo felt a bit awkward demanding to ride a boat with one of them. He really didn't mind as long as it was someone. Theo smiled at everyone and stood with his hands in his pockets, waiting for them to make all of their decisions first.

"You don't have to sound so excited, mate," Mo gave Nigel an amused look, since he likely hadn't meant to make it sound like they were stuck with each other. Sure, Nigel might prefer a right with the spirited Dora, but he was more likely to make it across having to only do half the work and deal with none of the sass by being with Mo. That's how they all worked so well together.

"We'll win, you know? They're unwieldy and dangerous. Look at them." Mo wasn't thrilled about the idea of Cat being in that boat, honestly. The water was cold and dark and they'd already been warned off the boats. "Let's just... stick close to them. If we can. In case."

He spotted Theo joining the group, and Mo gave the Head Boy a half wave. They were friendly now, yeah? Waves were allowed?

Nigel would never be upset to be in a boat race with Mo. They would dominate all competition. Blue Bros take no prisoners. Unless their girlfriends were involved."Our boat will be the fun boat" And the winning boat if they really tried. But Nigel suspect Mo wanted to make sure Cat did not fall into the Lake. Though if most to them had a advance understanding of some type of magic and could levitate the person out of the water. But why risk it. That meant sticking close to their boat.

"Sure, don't want any accidents happening"

Ah look, Theo was taking part in this bold and stupid idea. Awesome. "If Theo does not mind. We could try the three in a boat"

Would make the trip more epic and Cat and Elodie could have a boat to themselves and Dora and Penelope could have one. Well it would best if another graduate showed up.

Three in the boat? Sounded risky, but they were GRADUATES, so who cared about risky? All the more reason to do it really. Wasn't like they could get thrown in detention or something.

"Testing three sounds good to me," Penelope said, making her way over to Dora's boat as more of their classmates arrived. Oh, hm. Were they still dividing them up the same or did anyone want to change boat partners now? She was fine with hers, but if any of them wanted to change, that was fine too. Just hopefully everyone would decide fast because she didn't wanna hang around here for much longer than she had to.

"Great! Though I think that Cat's being stolen away from us by Elodie." Which Dora didn't mind at all cause she liked the other girl. Grinning at her, she made room in the boat for Penelope. "We'll win this race for sure. Think tipping other boats over is considered cheating?" Dora clearly wasn't concerned with the ice or cold since she fully intended to dry off and warm up whoever fell in, but after she won the race.

Okay so, she and Dora and Penelope in one boat, Mo and Nigel in the other. That would work just fine right? Cat thought so, of course, until more people showed up. Now they were at uneven numbers again and she hated the thought of leaving someone to go on their own, it just made her feel bad. Though now she didn't have to worry about being three in a boat since she could just ride in her own with Elodie. But that left Theo out in the cold.

She glanced over the two boats that were ready to go and smiled (extra for boyfriend, of course) "You guys could go ahead, if you wanted. Elodie and I can take another boat. Maybe we'll pull Theo in with us if no one else comes around." Cause really, she'd just feel mean leaving him by himself.

Well, this was turning out to be an idea that Theo regretted. He smiled and gave Mo a lazy two-fingered wave, then continued to stuff his hands back in his pockets and gazed back at the castle. He was supposed to ride a boat with his best friends, not crash other peoples' parties. Wait, was Nigel inviting him into his and Mo' boat? Or suggesting he should stay here and freeze to death? Theo wasn't sure so he just shrugged and went along with it.

"I don't really mind, I'll ride with anyone. Or on my own, don't mind." He did mind. Theo smiled at Cat and her suggestion. Yeah, he'd much rather go with Cat and Elodie, to be honest.

It didn't matter to Elodie if she was going to be in a boat with Caterina or not. She'd gladly ride with someone who wasn't annoying and didn't have a troll face. Like Theo. See, she'd totally ride with Theo. Never really had a proper conversation with him, but what better way than their last ride out of Hogwarts to inform him that he was a looker and she fully appreciated his face. Fully. But she was being given a Caterina and Cat was offering that they shared with Theo all in an instant and it was cool.

"Exactly. Theo can use his last burst of Head Boyness to make sure we don't fall in and save the fierce females that are Elcat." Plus she could tell him he was pretty and suggest he kept her as a friend. Not that they had been friends to begin with.

But an ex-Head Boy as a pal would work wonders, y'know? "Hiiiiiiii Theo, by the wayyy!" Not saying hello would have been rude and she wasn't rude to people with appreciated faces.

Cya later other humanoids. Off you go. Elcat and Theo to be better than you here.

Ah, so there was a bit of changing around. "That's alright." Last boat ride away from Hogwarts, they should be able to sit wherever they felt like.

Penelope hopped into the boat with Dora and glanced over at their competition. Tipping boats, hm? She smirked. "Only if there's a rule about no tipping." But they hadn't really named any rules for the race, had they? So it couldn't be considered cheating. Not in this seventh year's graduate's opinion anyway.

Well. Now it seemed like Theo was going to come with them, which meant a race was really not in their favor, but Mo was less inclined to worry about the girls. Onward and upward... or... forward? ONWARD. "Into the boats, lads. Theo, you're with us. We're going to row too, so Ni in the front to call the pulls, and Theo and I will each take an oar."

If they were going to do this, they'd do it right. Ni was a beater, so he might be stronger, but Mo and Theo were of a similar build, which meant they'd be able to pull evenly. In theory. Mo clambered into the boat, which wobbled a little in the water and nearly sent him into the cold, dark wet. He sat immediately and scooted onto the seat, picking up the oar. Time to push off.