Marigold eyed Mikey - could she call him this? -'s blush and grinned. She approved. Not that Z would care, but still, she did. "She mentions me?" she asked, surprised. She hoped it was all good things, but anything said by Z was a good thing. WellnoteverythingbutshelikedZanyway.

And then she giggled a little. "Really? I can see that happening." Z's personality was definitely NOT Hufflepuff. Nothing against her, Marigold loved a good lion, but it was a different energy. "She's an interesting one, that girl. Gotta love her."

Obviously Marigold wasn't expecting that and Michael nodded his head vigorously. "She pretty much talks to me about everything." So he hoped the Puff didn't mind. "It's all good though." Just in case she was worried about what was being said about her.

At the mention of loving Z, Michael felt his face flush again. "Yeah she's definitely one of a kind." The pride in his voice was very evident. And he did love her, but he wasn't quite ready to shout that from the roof tops just yet.

"You're probably lucky that it was me that found you by the swamp and not Z. She probably would have talked you into swimming in it." His girlfriend had a way getting you to do things. "You into that Dead Kneazles band as well?"

"I was turning away from Defense Against the Dark Arts class," she told him. "I was heading back down to the dungeons, when the whole corridor starting to smell." As in, it hadn't smelled suspicious until she'd turned around and noticed THIS GUY. He was insisting she'd done it and was even encouraging her to come clean and tell him. "Eww, no. No way. The boys in the common room do that all the time, but...no. Girls are much better with their manners."

Who cared about all of that now? They'd pinpointed the source of the smell, which was the Weasley's nasty excuse of a prank that never stopped pranking. "Yup, Weasley's--as in joke shop and portable swamp Weasley's," she said. "It's supposedly a practical joke, but they never told anybody how to remove it, so...here it is." Now they were actually talking like civilized people. Of course this boy was a Slytherin, too. Sophie had learned two years ago that Slytherin boys were impossible to deal with.

Well wasn't he stumped. Because she was innocent and he had no idea how to respond to that. Instead, he decided to focus on one of the more vital clues. "You're a Slytherin, then?" She mentioned dungeons. BIG give-away. Unless she was heading off to detention, in which case, please tell your story if it's an epic one. "Why can't you move past it?" Surely they wouldn't block off the whole corridor with a swa--

WHAT?!

Girls were much better with their manners?! Er, EXCUSE YOU. Sure it was probably true but was she really going to smash the boys down like that? "We just believe in being a bit more free and honest with our words and actions" Really, it wasn't THEIR fault that people were so easily offended. Jeez.

"Holy Merlin!" he exclaimed, his eyes wide and staring over at the swamp over there. How freaking cool was this?! And LOL. They told no one how to get rid of it. LOOOOOOL. GOOD. "They sound like a great bunch of people." There was almost a hint of pride and awe in his voice. "I wouldn't tell anyone how to get rid of something like this either if it was me."

She changed both her tone and expression when he asked if she was a Slytherin. "Sure am," she said with a proud smile. "My mom's side of the family is Slytherin for as far back as I can go. Well, except my mom, oddly enough. She and my father were Gryffindors." Heh. It was still pretty funny how she and Caleb, the children of two Gryffindors, had ended up in their parents' rival house. "Bit of a funny shock when my brother and I wrote home to tell them. He's in Slytherin, too."

"I was going to move past it," she answered. "Well, I was until..." She trailed off when it appeared his thoughts had moved on to something else in the corridor. The swamp, she thought. Oh, no--he'd just entered total defense mode over her comment about the boys of Slytherin. "Free and honest...right," she agreed. "I smelled that freedom and honesty earlier--compliments of our Head Boy, I think it was." She knew that, because that Garrett boy, or whatever his name was, had yelled for everyone to take cover due to the Head Boy's fart bomb. Fart bomb--see, boys even had gross names for stuff, too.

Then they were back on the subject of the Weasley twins and their swamp. "I wouldn't tell anybody either," she said. Then as serious as she could be, she added, "I'd frame somebody else for it, though. It's no fun if you're going to get caught."

He did notice the change in tone and expression. He did. It was hard not to when the girl was smiling like that. "Merlin!" he exclaimed, trying to hide his awe, "I wonder what it's like to be part of a family of Slytherins and two Gryffindors." Was she going to tell him? Yes? She should. He was curious. Her and her brother. Grayson snorted. "Who's your brother?" Did he know the kid? Was it Cutty? Merlin, please say it was Cutty Mordaunt.

Oh this was interesting. Grayson raised his eyebrows, a small smirk playing across his lips, before asking, "Oh don't let me stop you. What were you going to say?" Again: because he was curious. Free and honest was right. It was boy code. SNORT. Oh jeez. LOOOOOOOL. "Okay, you have to admit: that was funny. Especially coming from the Head Boy." Someone who was all too good at reminding Grayson of embarrassing moments. "And you can't tell me that girls aren't just as free and honest." SMIRK.

Interesting. No no, this really was. This was precisely what he would do. "'Xactly! Besides, it's much more fun to watch someone else get into trouble." Wink. This was probably why the boy loved drama oh so much.

Marigold gave a small smile and the slightest incline of her chin at Michael's pronouncement of talking to Z about everything. She knew that feeling of having someone so close that talking about something hard could turn easy. "That's good. I try to make sure I'm on my best behavior with Zahra." TOooooootally kidding, though. With Z and Ruby… she didn't have to censor herself at all.

"Very unique. One in a million gazillion." She too felt pride in her voice. She was friends with someone so amazing, it was hard to know people who didn't like her. Well, luckily, she was with someone who valued Z as much as she did.

"Ha. Very true. I would've let her swim in it all she wanted, but even Z wouldn't talk me into going into that swamp." Unless Z was going in too. And they had towels. "YES I AM I LOVE THEM."

…did she scare him off?

Sophie turned from the swamp and looked at the boy with one eyebrow raised. "Well, I'm just glad I'm not one of the two Gryffindors. That might be all well and fine for my mom and dad, but Gryffindors are annoying to me," she said. "They're always trying to save the day and do the right thing when everybody else is just trying to have fun." There were a few good ones, though. She thought Lex was fun to have around.

"Caleb Newell," she said, and as random as that might sound, she was just answering the boy's question about who her brother was. "He's my twin brother." Then as if this was the most important part of their conversation, she added, "I was born first." Wait--what was she going to say? What was he talking about? ... Oh! "I was going to keep going until I saw you." Yeah, and then they started a random conversation and stuff.

She shook her head. "Nope. Not going to admit that. I don't care if it was the Head Boy or not--a badge does not give a person the right to stink up the common room," she said. "Girls are free and honest but about other things. Like...who they think is cute." True story. Then he seemed to be agreeing with her about framing other people for random things. "Exactly--you get me!" Awesome, guy whose name I still don't know. "Last school year, I snuck into the prefect's compartment on the Hogwart's Express and told them this complete lie just to see if mass chaos would erupt. I told them Cutty Mordaunt released an army of pixies on the train." Was it pixies? She couldn't remember now.

SNORT. Oh man. Someone really didn't like Gryffindors, did they? This was VERY amusing, actually. "Don't let people hear you say that; if someone happens to the Gryffindors, you might be the first target." He was joking. "You can always use that against them, if one starts to annoy you beyond compare. OR if they do something to you." Uh huh. Make them pay. "Some aren't that bad, like Prefect Lex and Bay."

Caleb Newell? "I've never heard of him before." And twin brother, eh? That was interesting. "Older siblings are the best." Wink. "But jeez, isn't that annoying to have a twin? I mean, not only can he annoy the living daylights out of you, he also shares a birthday with you." It would annoy Grayson if his younger brother shared a birthday with him too. "Did you get distracted?" Smirk. If she said yes, this was going to do wonders for his ego.

"You didn't find it funny at all?!" Who was she? What planet had she come from? "I guess. But he got outed for it and MAN, one simple fart caused such a scene." It was downright HILARIOUS. "Is there anyone you think is cute?" Eyebrow wiggling for you, new person whose surname was Newell. And he did get her, didn't he? Grayson would have said something about that but she had gone ahead and started telling an interesting story about the Prefect's Compartment and........

................. CUTTY MORDAUNT.

"Why would you frame Cutty?!" Cutty was BRILLIANT, HELLO?! "No no, what happened after that? Was there chaos? Drama?" Oh please say yes.

Sophie shrugged. "I think they'll let me off the hook, since my parents are Gryffindors. Plus, my grandfather is the retired Minister of Magic," she said. She stated this almost as if she thought she should get 'Princess Powers' or something. "I heard my mom once say that people either really like us, or they just really need us as an ally." Whatever that meant. She shrugged again.

"Yeah, Lex is cool. I don't know Bay," she said. She glanced from the swamp to Grayson then back again. "Actually, Caleb's my best friend. We get along pretty good. I got in a fist fight over him last school year," she said, so nonchalantly it was almost as if it didn't phase her at all. "That was a fun note home to Mom and Dad, too."

Then...did she get distracted? "Oh, yeah...I did," she said, but it wasn't for the reason he thought it was. "I thought you lost your manners." She grinned at him. Did she find the common room stink fest funny? "Nope. Not at all. I guess it's a guy thing," she said. She grinned again when he mentioned Cutty. "Yup, that's the one. Why Cutty? because Cutty doesn't get offended. He plays along," she said. "Once, I dared somebody to turn him into a pig, and they did. You know what Cutty did? He paraded around the school he was so excited!" She frowned a little. "No, there was no drama on the train. The prefects were so boring about it. Of course all they wanted to do was investigate."

Total waste of a prank. "You want a Jelly Slug?" she randomly asked, and she took a bag out her pocket.

NO.

FREAKING.

WAY.

Okay, so Grayson really didn't care about politics but he certainly knew who the Minister of Magic was. "You're related to someone who was the Minister of Magic?! Did you get treated like royalty around here?" This one was definitely one to keep around. For reasons, you know. And he was going to assume that 'us' meant Slytherins, which included him, of course. "Either way, we get the respect that we deserve." Smirk.

You can tell a lot about someone just by the way they talk about someone else. Uh huh. And he was glad that the fellow Slytherin thought Lex was cool. "Bay's great if you want to know about pranking people." Good to have around, he was. And WHAT?! Someone actually got along with their sibling? "I don't.......... really? Do you have enough other friends?" Oh jeez, she wasn't a loner, was she? One who was going to trap him in her venus fly trap of clinginess. OH MAN. And, LOL. "I can imagine. My mum would kill me if I got into a fist fight with my brother."

At the mention of her getting distracted, Grayson couldn't help but smirk again. That was, until she mentioned that he had lost his manners. "Thank you for your concern but I haven't lost anything." And grins were returned because why not. "I guess." Shrug. He'd have to explain it to her, but not now when she was explaining a story about Cutty. While the fourteen year old had thought that this would be one where she had ridiculed the boy and actually hated him, he was glad to hear that it wasn't any of that. "Cutty's brilliant like that." Nod. "Oh man, I wish I had been there to witness that. What a sight!" Could she do that again? Maybe not to Cutty but someone else. Give the third year a break. "I always knew Prefects were boring. Apart from a few." SOME were alright.

A Jelly Slug? "YEAH!" Grayson reached over and was about to take one out but....... he paused. "They're not going to turn me into a pig, are they?"

"Yup," Sophie said. "His name's Alexander Greingoth, and he's my mom's dad." So her grandfather. "He didn't exactly retire, so to speak, because he says he's not old. He and grandmother just basically enjoy the easy life without any responsibilities." Cool, huh! A life without responsibilities must be so cool. "My grandma's cool, too. She was the Slytherin Head of House before Tillstorm." So in other words, Sophie was going to grow up to be powerful and cool, because that just ran in her blood.

Bay was a pranker? "Oh, really? What's he done?" she asked. There must be something epic in his background, since he had this guy speaking so highly of him. Then she faked a sad face. "No. I have no other friends," she said. "PLEEEEEEEEASE be my friend!" She dropped the sad face and grinned. "Of course I have friends." DUH. "Oh, I didn't get in a fist fight WITH my brother. I got in a fist fight BECAUSE of my brother. Some fifth year slugged him, so I slugged her right back. It was ON until Tillstorm walked in."

"Hmm. Cutty's good for some things," she said. "I tried to take his wand once, but I didn't get it in time." BOO, Beverly Wayne. She jumped a bit over his sudden excitement over the Jelly Slugs. "No," she said, shaking her head. "They'll turn you into a flobberworm, though." She playfully rolled her eyes then popped one in her mouth as if to prove she was just joking. "So what's your story? I know basically nothing about you." And she'd just told him TONS, so he had to tell her tons, too. She didn't even know his name.

Alexander Greingoth. Uh huh. "That sounds like the ideal life. Sitting back, relaxing and enjoying an easy life. No responsibilities. Can't wait to get to that stage." Not that he had many responsibilities but it would be GOOD to not have any looming behind a corner. "MAN, you have a lot of good connections!" Jeez, a former Minister of Magic and a former Head of House? "Can we expect great things from YOU, then?" A position of power, perhaps? Was she one to keep near? SMIRK.

Oh jeez. Oh MAN, here went his ego. "He fed me and this other boy a Canary Cream and we turned into large freaking canaries. Don't worry, he ate one too so he turned into the bird as well. And THEN, the other kid was about to get eaten by someone's cat BUT it was a good thing I was there to distract it with my chaaaaaaaaarming nature." There. Ego saved. That act from the girl? LOOOOOOOL. Oh MAN. "Good to know, then. And you knooooow, I wouldn't have said no to that friend request." Wink.

.................. The idea of girls fighting was hot. No really. It was.

And this was a GOOD story. Could she tell that Grayson was hooked? "Jeez, Professors ruin EVERYTHING sometimes." Couldn't she had let them fight for a while longer? Or no, he wasn't there, it didn't matter. "Who WON? Did you slug her nice and proper?"

"'Specially Potions things," he agreed, nodding his head as he did so, "Why did you try to take his WAND?" And no matter what had happened to cause her to not get the wand, Grayson was going to pretend that Cutty had bested her. A flobberworm? SNORT. "Someone should invent another candy that does that. But not into a flobberworm." Because they were BORING. "Well..........." he started, rather dramatically, "I'm Grayson Whitlock, a transfer from Beauxbatons, a fourth year and I make briiiiiiiiiiiilliant company." All true, uh huh. "What d'you wanna know?"

Sophie nodded. "I know, right? You know what would be fun? If we could come to school and just not worry about all these classes and homework," she said. They could just have fun all the time and learn magic by interacting with each other. She shrugged. Like THAT would ever happen. "I don't think anybody ever has NO responsibilities whatsoever. Even my grandparents have a nine-year-old at home." Yes. Sophie's Aunt was four years YOUNGER than she was.

Sophie grinned, so full of pride, when Grayson mentioned how many connections she had. "Of course you can expect great things from me. I'm going to fight and defeat a Nundu one day, and I'm going to create my very own potion that does something no other potion has been able to do yet," she said. Of course she had no plans for her potion. She just knew she wanted to accomplish great and powerful things, and that just happened to be on the list somewhere. She raised her eyebrows at the whole canary cream story. "Hmm. Hate I missed that one. I do love a good show of drama," she said, especially if said drama didn't involve her having to do anything by play spectator. She kind of laughed then. "Good...about the friend request, I mean," she said. "I would have wondered about you had you actually taken the begging seriously."

Then she nodded. "They do," she said, referring to what he'd said about professors ruining everything. "You know what's really cool, though? The PREFECTS and the CAPTAIN got in trouble for it, too. All because they were supposed to be the responsible ones and prevent things like that in the first place. I just got a letter home." She shrugged. "I don't know who won, but I got the last lick." So that was BEST, right?

"I tried to take his wand, because...well, let's just put it this way--do you know how much power you can hold over a person when you have their wand in your possession?" she asked. "Think about it. You've basically taken all their source of power from them, and you can give it back, but mostly under your conditions, since you've got all the magic in YOUR hands." Thanks to Beverly Wayne and her Gryffindor efforts to save the day, though, none of that had come true.

Then he was finally answering the question she'd asked, the one where he told all about himself, which she doubted was hard for him. Hmm. She arched an eyebrow. "What do I want to know about you?" she asked. "Well, what makes you such briiiiiiiiiiiilliant company, Grayson Whitlock?"

THIS right here was EXACTLY what he was talking about. "You know, I'd actually enjoy waking up if it wasn't for the classes and homework. AND the learning process could be FAR more enjoyable." Because who wanted to be forced to go to classes and do homework? And who wanted to be stressed while trying to learn something? Not him, that's for sure. "What?" he asked, looking at her incredulously, "But they're retired. I thought retired people don't do anything or worry about anything. They just relax and use the money they saved up all those years." Stop bursting his bubble, Newell.

That was a nice grin right there. Uh huh. And it was even more of an indication that he needed to stay close to this one. Because of reasons that she had gone on to mention. "Those are some ambitious plans right there." What? It was true. "Your name's going to be in history books and chocolate frog cards. And you knoooooooow," Ahem. "I'm not bad at potions." Juuuuuuuuust saying. Hint hint. "There's nothing like some good ol' drama that you're not part of but can look in on. Heard this place was full of it, actually." And there was a paper that wrote all about it, too. "You don't seem like the kind of person who'd beg for something like that." From what he could tell, anyways. And who would do something like beg for friends? It was freaking weird.

The idea of Prefects and Captains getting into trouble really was cool. "What makes it better is that they got into trouble for something that you did." SMIRK. And please tell him that Kinsley had gotten into trouble too. MAN, if you didn't get into trouble with your folks, you got off easy! My mum would have killed me if I got into a fist fight." While his dad would have praised him. It was a funny pairing. "It always better to get the last lick. That satisfaction!"

Her reasoning was a good one, he was going to give her that. Grayson nodded slowly to what the fellow Slytherin was saying, while there was an inner conflict going on. While it was all good that she had held that kind of power over someone, it was still CUTTY'S wand she had taken. "Uh huh," he said, smirking slightly, "You can make them do whatever you want them to, can't you? Otherwise their only sauce of power goes." Man oh man the idea of holding that much power over someone really was great. "Why Cutty?"

What made him such brilliant company? Oh come on, Newell, you can ask harder questions than that. "You'll just have to stick around me to find out the answer to that question, now won't you?" Wink.

Sophie just STARED at Grayson for a second. Only a second, though, because she didn't want him to catch on. Unbelievable. She was actually getting along with one of those Slytherin boys. Slytherin boys, she'd always said, were impossible to deal with. Now she wouldn't go and let Grayson know this. No, she'd just keep him wondering for a while. "I know, right?" she said, nodding along as he talked about classes and homework. "Homework's the worst. Especially the essays."

Sophie shrugged. "Well, my grandma had Ariadne before she retired, so I guess they didn't exactly plan ahead of time," she said. "When I retire, I want to do something really awesome, like live on the beach or something." Now THAT was the retired life. "I hope to make a lot of money, so that when I'm older, I can just really awesome stuff without having to worry about going to work every single day." Maybe she would be famous for defeating that Nundu!

"Of course I have ambitious plans," she said. "Nobody ever got famous for feeding a flobberworm." Then he was practically offering to hand over his potions expertise, which caused a sudden spark of extra interest. "Oh, really?" she asked. "So, you're offering to share what you know?" For FREE?! Oh, happy day!

Ugh. He'd heard of the Aparecium. "Right," she said, making a face. "I sort of ended up in that thing last week." She didn't look too happy about it, though. She grinned, though, when he said something about her not being the type to beg for friendship. "Yeah, ...no," she said. "I'll leave that kind of thing to the Hufflepuffs."

She brightened up considerably then. "Okay, so don't get this really big annoying ego, but you're pretty awesome, you know," she said. Yeah, so...she'd thrown out a compliment. They didn't come often, so he should really let this one sink in. "You remind me of myself." Okay, THAT sounded like she had a big ego. "I mean...the way you think is the same way I think. It's like...somebody FINALLY gets it." If he made some typical boy comment then, she would be so annoyed.

"Why Cutty? I don't know," she said, shrugging. "He's just a fun target. He doesn't take things too seriously." As far as she knew, that is. Then he had to go and beat her at her own game and keep HER wondering instead of her keeping HIM wondering. Wonderful. "Are you bribing me?" she asked. She paused...then smirked. "Well done, Grayson. Well done."

The staring was completely missed by the fourth year. He wouldn't really care about it, either way. What Sophie had gone on to say was something that was definitely worth noting, even if it disgusted him. Why? ESSAYS. His face scrunched up at the word before he said, "Essays are horrible. Stating your opinion's all fine and whatnot but the research?!" With his face still scrunched up, the boy shook his head. Obviously, he preferred the simple question and answer ones. The ones that did ask for your opinion but didn't expect you to write a whole dictionary length answer for.

Her grandma had a baby before she retired which meaaaaaant.......... "Your aunt is younger than you? That's going to be so freaking weird when you grow up. Or brilliant. You can boss her around." Uh huh. And her retirement plans sounded MUCH better. "And be as lazy as possible," he said, nodding along, "I think it'd be brilliant to not have to worry about anything and know that you've lived a splendid life." It'd be like the sweet last leg home. Besides, who wanted to be old and live in the same hobbit hole as they had when they were younger? Not him!

LOOOOOOOOL! That was a good one. "The flobberworm's a really BORING creature." He was pretty sure that the only reason as to why it was in the Fantastic Beasts book was because it was magical. That was it. At Sophie's question, Grayson nodded. "Of course I am! Buuuuuuuut!" Of course there was a but. "I do expect credit where it's due." And possibly Bertie Botts. He'd be happy with those, too.

Oh? OH? This was INTERESTING. No really, it was. Grayson read the Aparecium, was amused by it too, but it still took him a couple of seconds before he said, "You're the Sophie Newell who's been cozying up to some Adi Rehman kid?" Oh, this was GOOD. Naturally, he had some questions about this. As for her comment on Hufflepuffs, the boy snorted. "I wouldn't be surprised if they did do that."

How was he not meant to get a big ego when the girl had gone ahead and said that he was awesome? It was impossible, which was proven in the way he smirked and leant against the wall with his arms crossed across his chest. "Oh yeah?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, "Looks like you know how to appreciate good company, then." And what was this about him being pretty awesome? He was fully awesome, thank you. But he wasn't going to correct her. Oh no. "Uh huh! Isn't it great to meet someone who thinks along the same lines as you?" Did that sound a little namby pamby of him? Probably. "The world needs more people like us."

A fun target was a much better answer than something along the lines of hating the other Slytherin. So, Grayson approved. "Perfect for pranking, I'd say. You don't want the overdramatic crybabies." Though if she did hurt Cutty, she would have him to answer to. Was he bribing her? "Do you think I'm bribing you?" And then he smirked after she did and especially after her other response. He even gave her a short bow of his head. Well done, indeed.

Sophie just nodded along as he talked about writing the dreaded e-word. Essays, that is. There was really no use commenting on it, because they should move on from talking about homework anyway. Who talked about homework in their free time? Ew. Besides, the light had just clicked in his head, and he'd figured out Ariadne was younger than Sophie was. "That's right," she said. "Ariadne will be a first year the year after I graduate." So they'd never attend school together, which was fine by her. It'd be kind of weird for your Aunt to be in school with you.

She grinned when he confirmed that yes, he was definitely offering her free Potions advice. "Okay, so cool. We should go into the lab sometime and see what we can come up with," she said. "Cutty, too." He seemed like the kind to want to do something like this, and he and Grayson seemed to be BFFs.

She could tell that the change of topic had sparked a different type of interest in Grayson. He looked like he had just heard some really juicy news or something. Then he just dropped it--...he'd read the article. UGH. Had everybody read that article and gotten the impression she was head over heels for Adi? "Ugh," she said, out loud this time. "No. Well, yes--I'm her, the one they were talking about. I wasn't cozying up to Adi Rehman, though." Then she launched into an explanation. "He and I went to the Valentine's dance together, but after that, we decided to just remain friends. he's with some AJ girl now." Sophie could care less, too, because it'd been her idea to remain friends.

She could tell his ego went into overdrive after her 'awesome' comment. "Your ego skyrocketed, didn't it?" she said with a joking grin. BOYS. What was it about them being so complicated all the time anyway? Then they were talking about Cutty again, and it occurred to Sophie that her fellow third year snake was sneaking into their conversation an awful lot. Something Grayson said after that grabbed her attention a little more, though. "You're sneaky," she commented. All this secrecy over him telling her a little more about himself. "I do know more about you now."

Cosgrach wanted to take a breather from the dungeons, but he didn't want to freeze to his heart outside, so... the Swamp, it was. Watching it. Admiring the Twins' work.

It was the funky smell from the stairs that sparked up Beverly Wayne's curiosity. She's passed the swamp lots of times during hoards of students attempted to make their way to class, but she's never really paused to examine it. In fact...she hardly knew anything about it.

So, with a small jar filled with cookies in her arms, she paused on her way back to the dungeons. That and she spotted Professor Culloden and she just HAD to go and say hi. Curiosity and a favorite person, not even the bubbly swamp water could keep her away.

Coming to stand next to the man, Beverly took a moment before greeting to see what he was doing. Just staring at the swamp. Was he thinking of ingredients he could gather from here for a potion? She'd DEFINITELY help.

"Hullo, Professor Culloden," she finally said. Oh my Merlin! She just spoke to a favorite professor outside of class. This HAD to be a milestone. YES.

It was a good thing that they had moved on from the boring topic of homework and essays because the aunt topic was much more interesting. Maybe. The boy couldn't help but wonder what it must feel like to have an aunt who was younger than you. Weird. Definitely. "Probably for the better, you know. 'Magine being in the same school as your brother AND aunt." Too many family members, man. School was where you're meant to get AWAY from them.

The mention of the Potions lab really peaked his interest. Though, the fourteen year old couldn't help but wonder whether the lab that he and Cutty had headed into the other day was private or not. Because if it wasn't, MAYBE Sophie could be invited along there as well. "Brilliant! With all that Potions talent, it looks like we might come up with something sooner rather than later." Uh huh.

What was even more interesting than the news was how Sophie reacted to it. The 'ugh'. Was that one of disgust? Grayson raised his eyebrows as she started explaining the situation and the fact that she was not cozying up with this Adi Rehman person. Heh. Good. The story about them going to a Valentine's dance together earned the girl an eyebrow wiggle from the fourteen year old. Interesting. Uh huh. "So it's not about him dumping you for some Gryffindor? Because that's what the Aparecium made it sound like." And juuuuuuust to make her feel better, he went on to say, "They also made it sound like you're likely to hex him in certain parts of his body if he wasn't careful."

HOW. DID. SHE. KNOW?!

Jeez. JEEZ. Now he couldn't deny it. Not that he WOULD but whatever. "Maybe it did," he said, returning her grin with one of her own, "Can you blame it, though? You had just complimented me." JUST SAYING. And not only had she noticed the rise of his ego, she ALSO noticed another little thing about his personality. MAN. "You're on a roll today." He was mildly impressed. Mildly, mind you. "Just like I know quite a bit about you." Uh huh.

Sophie smirked. "I almost was. At the same school with my brother and my aunt, I mean. My older aunt, Aunt Sierra, graduated two years before I started school here," she said. She should really quit giving away so many details. She could tell Grayson was starting to think her family was weird, and she wasn't so sure how she'd feel about that impression. "Where've you been? I don't remember seeing you around here before." Had he said? She couldn't remember. "Or is that one of those facts you're bribing me for?" she joked.

"We," she said, referring to what he'd said about the whole potions thing. She'd always looked at her potion idea as an independent thing, but she guessed beggars couldn't be choosers. "Right. Our potion." Because Grayson was going to share his expertise, and she really wanted to hear that.

Then they were back to talking about the whole Aparecium thing. "Ugh," she said again. "That article..." Who wrote that thing anyway? "So here's the deal... Adi and I had once talked about maybe becoming a thing, but then when we really thought about, we realized we just weren't compatible as anything more than friends. And..." Sigh. "It is true that he met some Gryffindor, and now I think they are a thing. I'm happy for him, though. I went to that dance with him when I was twelve or so, and I'm fourteen now, so good for him that he's found somebody." Nevermind the fact that she still hadn't.

She laughed when he mentioned that the article said she might hex somebody. "Who knows," she said with a smirk. "I just might." Heh. Then the topic changed to his ego. "It's okay to have an ego," she said. "I've you've got it, flaunt it." Uhh... "Don't let THAT go to your head either. I'm just saying that we awesome people just shouldn't hide the fact that we were blessed." She side-eyed him. "You know a little too much about me now." Let's see...aunts that were way younger than she was, break-ups, replacements by other girls...

Finding a bucket in a broom closet, Peeves placed it on his head and went looking for just the right Professor or student to place it on. He moved swiftly through the corridor looking for just the right person.

Just as he was about to start clattering the bucket against the walls he came across the swamp. Grinning to himself he swoop around and took the bucket from his head. Flying closer to the swamp, he filled the bucket.

"EWE Stinky students and professors at Hogwarts this year. Peeves thinks they need a nice swamp shower."

Cackling loudly he flew around dumping the icy cold, smelly, nasty swamp water over them.

Cosgrach couldn't recognise the voice FOR SURE, of couse, since Beverly wasn't one to speak a lot during the classes, but as he looked at her, he gave her a big grin. He had never consciously admitted it, but she was one student he really liked. She was definitely in his 'favourites' list.

"Hello, Be -"

Because he was looking at her, he didn't really pay attention to other people or FLYING objects. Because he didn't pay attention to anything, he didn't see Peeves. Because he didn't see Peeves, he couldn't take cover. And because he couldn't take cover, he got a handsome portion of the HORRIBLE swamp water while his ears were tortured with that stupid yelling voice.

He couldn't even move. He was completely frozen in shock and because of the FREEZING swamp contents. All he could do was breathe and try to understand WHAT had happened.

Oh jeez, she had almost gone to school with another aunt as well. Grayson was amused. Really. "Shame. Your family could have taken over Hogwarts." No really. It was just a matter of building up their alliances, which started from family because family had to stick together or whatever. Where had he been? He laughed at her suggestion of bribing her. "Would I really do something like that?" Actually, don't answer that. Instead, he had something to answer, no? "To, er, anzer your question, I vent to Beauxbatons," he said in his best French accent before switching to his normal one, "Things.......... weren't looking great for me over there. Didn't like it. Sooooooo we transferred."

We. Of course there was a 'we'. And an our potion, not just her one. "Uh huh. Teamwork and whatnot." And along with him and Cutty, she was going to have the best team, did she realise that? She should.

The fact that Sophie didn't like talking about the article only amused Grayson even more. But something told him that she wanted to get her story across. So, he crossed his arms across his chest before saying, "Smart. You were only twelve. Anything else doesn't sound like a smart thing to do." Like getting into a relationship. But then again, he wasn't sure about the idea of feelings so he was a little biased. He eyed her when she talked about the Gryffindor girl and about the guy she went to a dance with being with someone else. Huh. "You'll find someone. Someone you can see yourself being with." And if not, who even cared?

"Remind me not to get on your bad side then," he said, slightly amused by the hexing talk and even moreso at the part about having an ego. Don't let it get to his head? "How can I not when you go ahead and call me............. us awesome?" Wink. "I agree. You should always flaunt your great attributes. Some people don't get it." He knew too much about her? "I'm not going to use it against you, if that's what you're scared about." See? He was being nice. She had nothing to worry abou--

And................................ SPLASH!

He hardly took note of the words 'swamp shower' and had completely forgotten about what it was that him and Sophie had been talking about. All he knew was that whatever was in the swamp was now all over him. And now, he stank. FREAKING STANK OF FREAKING SWAMP WATER.

THIS is EXACTLY what happened when you were nice.

SEETHING, he wiped at his eyes to get the swamp water AWAY from them before looking around for the culprit. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN?!" SOMEBODY EXPLAIN PLEASE.