Abby shivered as she was passing the Hufflepuff table she was already bored of being snowed in but why did the castle have to be so cold and she stopped and sneezed lightly and sighed and hoped that the weather would get better soon

Ian heard a sneeze near him and looked up and said, Bless you! With just the glance, he noticed the girl looked like AJ, but she was wearing the wrong robes. Hey AJ, why are you wearing Ravenclaw robes?

Abby looked at the boy and said "AJ is my sister i am Abby my sisters are both gryffindors but i got Ravenclaw cause i am smart" Abby was half laughing inside it was always easy to get mixed up between her sisters and herself and it was mostly AJ that seemed to be mixed up with Abby

Ian blushed a little as he stood. I'm terribly sorry. I've heard about you, but I've never seen you. As a matter of fact, I think the first time I met AJ and Angel was on the train, but they said you'd wandered off somewhere or would catch up or something. I'm Ian, by the way. He extended his hand to her as a way of greeting. This was a bit awkward and he wasn't sure of the protocol of such a meeting. Should he invite her to sit down? Was she so insulted at being mistaken for her sister she wouldn't want to sit down? It was all a bit confusing for such a chance encounter.

Abby shook Ian's hand and smiled and said "Nice to meet you Ian and don't worry about it can be easily done to get me mixed up with my sisters"

Ian returned the smile and stepped back to make clear he was adding space. Since we've not met and I know your sisters, would you like to join me? I'm about to eat some potato stew and bread with a mug of hot chocolate. I was also going to start this book, but it would be interesting to get to know you a little bit more.

Abby smiled at Ian and said "Of course i would love to join you Ian and why is the castle this cold" Abby should have worn another layer of clothing underneath what she had on already

He scooted over and grabbed a mug for her to get some hot chocolate in. Well, as far as I can tell, it's because of all the snow. I also guess that it's not the easiest thing to heat a building this large, even if there's a fireplace in every room. With all the windows and being made of stone, it's going to retain a lot of cold. It's nice in the summer. Not so much in the winter.

Abby smiled at Ian and said "Yeah i guess that is true but i mean i am not used to cold and i am always an outdoor person but it is tough being stuck inside all the time"

Ian nodded. I guess that would be tough. Other than going out on the fishing boat with my dad, I mostly keep indoors. I'm not too bothered by it and since we live up in Northern Scotland, it's not too much trouble for me to find a nice woolen sweater. How do you plan to stay warm?

Abby smiled and said "I will probably just wear several layers or if i am sitting i will find a nice warm blanket or sit close to a fireplace"

FOOD.

Food sounded really good right now. Whenever he had episodes of crawlspacing, Toby would massively lose his appetite. As a result of this, when he started returning to awful, the Hufflepuff ended up eating super ravenously for at least a week afterwards. He no longer questioned it, but instead just went with it. Which was why he was now contentedly tucking into a large breakfast of practically everything that was set up on the Hufflepuff table, excluding all the meat dishes, of course.

Hopefully Soph would be here soon; Toby had let her know he'd be right here, and he didn't doubt she'd turn up at all. Though hopefully it would be after he'd unattractively wolfed down at least three quarters of his food.

Right now though? Tobias was just glad he was starting to feel his usual energy return. Food was like a magic all unto itself.

Sophie's morning runs had become much less of an enjoyable routine, as she had to plot out a running route inside the castle. It wasn't too hard to navigate the corridors when the vast majority of students were still in their beds, but she needed to start varying her route or the time she went on her run - racing by certain professors' offices just before sunrise was bound to get her in trouble one of these days.

With wet hair pulled into a single side braid, Sophie was as ravenously hungry as she usually was after a run and wanted to eat everything. Eeeeverything. And she knew she would be in good company today - Tobes had emerged from his crawlspaces and agreed to have breakfast with her.

She knew better than to turn down an opportunity to see him these days, so much so that she was irritated with herself for taking so long to get ready and wasn't in the Great Hall before Tobes - he was already there at the Hufflepuff table, she saw when she entered, but her disappointment quickly passed and changed to admiration as she hurried to sit with him. "Tooooooooobes."

Did she mind that, when she spotted him, he had been scarfing down food like he hadn't eaten in years? Nope. Instead, after nudging him in further greeting and asking, "How're you?," she piled scrambled eggs, potatoes, and bacon onto her plate and began eating just as hungrily.

Was five slices of toast too much? Surely not. He was a growing boy. Apart from the fact that he hadn't actually grown at all since last summer................. which was evidence that he obviously needed to eat MORE. That was how it worked, right? Regardless, Toby was using it as an excuse to eat five slices of toast.

As he finished contemplated this and adding those couple of extra slices to his plate, Toby heard that familiar voice. He dropped the toast onto his plate of half-finished breakfast and turned to see Soph slide into the seat next to him, unable to keep himself from smiling. This was good. Back to normal, see?

"Hey Soph," the Hufflepuff managed to say, before picking up one of his newly retrieved toast slices and piling scrambled eggs onto it with his fork. He even had the decency to reply before cramming the food into his mouth. Such a gentleman. "M'alright. Tired." But the food was helping. "Hungry." That was probably obvious. "What about you? And has Culloden got you back for the steak prank yet?" Toby smiled again as he started on the slice of toast and scrambled eggs. If Soph caught him up on things, it would be like the previous weird week had never even happened.

The air outside has certainly made its frosty presence known, seeping through minute cracks in the castle that were previously undiscovered by wind, rain, or creature. The enchanted ceiling has lately reflected this turn of events via constantly dim, gray cloud cover. But there seems to be a difference this evening as the dinner rush begins and a strange, cold dust accumulates on tables, benches, floor, and even heads. Could those be..? Surely not... Are those really SNOWFLAKES?!

It is officially snowing inside Hogwarts.

Ian nods. Sounds like a good plan. How does the fireplace work in your common room. Sometimes it feels like our's isn't quite getting the job done. At night, I've had to put every blanket I can find on the bed and then I close the drapes to hold the heat in.

Ian looks down to pick up his spoon and sees what looks like snowflakes landing in his bowl. He looks up an notices more snowflakes coming down inside the great hall. Am I really seeing snow inside? he wonders to himself.

Ummm....Abby...are you seeing what I can see?

Sophie was, unashamedly, less polite than Tobes and gave him a big ol' grin with a mouthful of scrambled eggs because she couldn't help it - she had her food, she had her boyfriend, he was safe and with her and not hiding out under his bed... she couldn't have been happier in that moment.

"Mmm," she wordlessly agreed to being tired and hungry, nodding and swallowing her food. "Same." The tired part seemed to be a fairly normal thing for them and they were in the right place to alleviate their hunger, so she tried not to be too concerned on instinct about any little thing wrong with Tobes. He was probably better with her at the moment than he had been all week.

At the mention of Culloden, Sophie rolled her eyes with a smile before shoveling a large spoonful of her hashbrowns into her mouth and sighing, thinking through her most recent interaction with the professor and swallowing before explaining, "Not really. I finally told him about us - I kinda, um, broke his heart a little first, though." Oops. "He asked how we were, and I was all..." her expression turned pained, "'didn't you hear? Tobes and I got in a big fight after we left your office and decided not to be friends anymore.' He SO bought it and was so sad, I thought he was gonna cry, and then I told him I was just kiddin' and we were actually girlfriend/boyfriend now and he got SOOOOOOO mad and took a hundred points from Ravenclaw and gave me detention." It hadn't been funny at the time, but she was giggling now as she pushed her scrambled eggs around with her fork.

"Turned out he wasn't really mad and just wanted to get me to feel bad for goofin' him and to apologize and all. And I did so, y'know, all's forgiven and he gave me a hundred and one points 'cause I'm the best and I don't really have detention. B'then he said somethin' weird... about... punishment, and how you didn't deserve anything as bad as me, or something, but I think he meant he wouldn't get mad and yell at you like he had me, so I might be in the clear." She was pretty proud of herself for that, really, because she knew she deserved a lot worse than him yelling at her as a joke.

She choose that moment to spoon some more eggs into her mouth, then shoved them off toward her cheek with her tongue to add with a smile, "It was funny, though." She wish he'd been there and not... wherever he had been hiding out that day, and in that moment of realizing how much she missed him, she set her fork down to give Tobes a big hug.

Abby thought and said "Well the fireplace in the ravenclaw common room is good if you can get near it a popular place to sit and yeah i can see what you see it is strange that it is snowing inside what is going on"

Ian listened. What sorts of things do you like to do when you're by the fire. I like to read. He indicated the book that was set before him. He was trying to get better at potions. He really was rubbish with that sort of thing. It might explain why he wasn't exactly a master baker either.

He looked back up at the snow and unconsciously pulled his robe closer to him, though he wasn't really any colder. Think we might ought to let someone know it's snowing in the castle?

It was good to properly hear Soph's voice again, and Tobias was content to sit and listen as she told him of the recent goings-on and stuff that he'd missed. He found it a lot easier to concentrate and focus on what she was saying too, too, probably because he was so determinedly piling food into his gob and therefore had this mindless task as the only distraction. Or perhaps it was the fact that he always seemed to settle slightly after a particularly up or down episode. Either way, he wasn't complaining. Just listening. And eating. So much eating.

This was all really quite amusing, Toby thought as he reached for a goblet of pumpkin juice and started chugging it down. The whole teasing Culloden thing.

And THEN she went and mentioned the points and detention, and Toby all but choked on his drink in something halfway between a laugh and a gasp of extreme surprise. He stopped drinking, gesturing that he was fine and for her to carry on speaking. This was getting more interesting.

When she was finished, Toby just sat there looking kind of stunned for a moment, but slightly amused all the less. Culloden was confusing, that much he was sure of, and pretty unpredictable.

"Wow," Toby finally said after a pause, grinning and turning to start on his food again. "You really did have an interesting week, didn't y-"

Hugging. Hugging was happening, and that was something Toby could get on board with that. He set down his own cutlery so he could hug her right back, properly. He understood.

"Well," he said matter-of-factly. "Just so it's clear, I'm pretty sure that I'm the one that doesn't deserve you." Toby lowered his voice slightly to a murmur. "'M'sorry about... all that. I'm back now."

Sophie provided Toby with the biggest bear hug she could manage before planting a kiss on his cheek and pulling away, smiling brightly all the while. She went to scoop up some more eggs with her fork when Toby said something that made her stop, look at him sternly, and gently bump into him sideways in protest. "No, Tobes." She shook her head, confused and saddened and feeling all sorts of bad. "I didn't mean - I meant he said that you didn't deserve as bad of a punishment as me." Though, now that she thought about it... before she told Culloden she had been joking, the man HAD said Toby didn't even deserve her, didn't he?

But surely he didn't mean that. He couldn't have.

"You're perfect to me." And for me. "And to set the record straight, if either of us doesn't deserve the other, I don't deserve you." So he didn't let himself go on thinking she agreed with him at all because she definitely did not. "Y'don't need to apologize for anything." She kissed his cheek again and squeezed his hand under the table, giving him a weak smile before continuing, "I jus' want you to be happy. If y'need some time to reflect and recover sometimes... y'can do that. S'okay. Life'll go on for me." Mostly. "And I'll always be here when you wanna talk or just sit together or go on a walk or adventure or whatever you want. M'here for you twenty-four hours a day. Just... if it happens again, try not to let yourself feel like you have to carry burdens on your own, okay? Lemme try to help sometimes. I'm a good cheerer-upper." Or so she thought.

"But I'm glad you're here nooow."

Abby smiled at Ian and said "Well i like to read and write stories by a fireplace and i think that maybe we should"

After finishing up his breakfast - it had been quite lovely, if you asked him - Javy tidied himself up before getting up from the dias. He had his fill for now and had to take care of some things in his office, leading him to head straight out. His brisk walk lessened as he noticed certain students being quite close at the Hufflepuff table. The location not being a surprise to him, but rather on who was engaging in the close contact. His walking ceased, as he turned to face the two now.

One of his eyebrows quirked upward, particularly his left one that had a small missing patch of hair, but no matter. His eyes were now on them as the Ravenclaw girl kissed the Hufflepuff after some embracing. Didn't even have to hear their conversation to pick up on the scenario. His lips threatened to curve at the sight, whether it was of approval, amusement, or the opportunity at hand here, well, there was only one way to find out, "Miss Brown.. Mr. Tempus.. enjoying a nice balanced breakfast together?" Especially on the together part, heh.

Toby shook his head, but he was smiling all the while. They could go back and forth like this all day, insisting that it was THEM who didn't deserve the OTHER, but Tobias was aware that Sophie would stubbornly argue with him all day long if she wanted. He didn't respond to that part, but Sophie would (hopefully) realise that Toby still stood by what he said, whilst being very aware that she was doing the exact same.

"I know that," he finally said, when she mentioned letting her try to help. "It's just... easier to deal with it like that, y'know? I don't like anyone seeing me... in that state." Toby was careful not to outright say the word 'sad', finding himself having just as strong an aversion to the concept as ever, which was no surprise. He still couldn't help but feel guilty though; Soph wanted to help him, but... well. Coming out of hiding and being around people on those days was easier said than done.

But that was over now, and he was back with his best friend again, and everything was cool. He even got a little kiss, which made him grin like a fool.

"I'm glad too," he nodded, using another slice of toast to scoop up eggs and mushrooms and raising it to his lips. "Any plans for today?" Toby asked, before taking a bite of his food. Changing the subject? Well, yes. But it was more that the Hufflepuff was eager to actually, y'know, do something. He was still curious about that room Soph had told him about.

As he all but crammed the bite of his breakfast into his mouth, Toby of course couldn't miss the sound of his and Soph's names being spoken. But in, like, a teacher sort of way. He started slightly, not taking the time to realise just whose voice it was (more worrying that perhaps they were in trouble for some reason), and span around in his seat, eyes widening.

Oh. Ohhhhh. Okay. Cool.

At once, Toby looked relieved, and swallowed his mouthful of food so he could talk.

"Merlin, you made me jump." ........ What was that LOOK on his fa-... oh. Right. Toby looked between Thompson and Soph and back to Thompson again. Oh man, that look. "Uh-huh, most important meal of the day, after all." Squint.

For some reason, Toby suddenly had the feeling that Thompson would be to him as Culloden was to Sophie. Kind of. Maybe. Play it cooooooooooooooool.

Who do you think we ought to tell? I'm not sure who would listen to us unless we showed them. I suppose we could just wait until a professor showed up. Ian wasn't too keen on the idea of looking for professors. There weren't any located on this floor and he wasn't real excited about the idea of going up and down stairs to track one down at the moment.