Cosgrach chuckled. "I suppose so." She had an extra package of two little girls too, but he wasn't going to worry about those just yet.

"I like her, yeah. We'll see about the 'really' part." He wasn't sure, but things were great. He would take that. "And... I'm not an owls man, Sophie, really." He made a face. "I'll probably sneak out of school whenever I can to meet her somewhere. We haven't discussed it in detail yet."

...and that sounded as if he was some hormonal teenager meeting his girlfriend secretly.

Oh well.

Oh ho HOOOO. Sneaking out of the school to go see his girlfriend?! Sophie laughed heartily at him, slapping the railing once with her hand to let him know even further how funny she thought that was. SO FUNNY, CULLODEN. "You are... something else. Sneakin' around, meetin' up with girls..." She shook her head in mock disappointment. "Are you sure you're a professor here and not still a teenaged student?" HEHEHE.

Her laughter was dying down, and she gave him a smirky sort of grin. "Why don't you just go to Hogsmeade on a weekend when the students aren't there? Then you'll still be kinda close to the school, if something awful happens here and we need you, but it's far enough away that you can still feel like it's just you and her, hm?"

"I will do that." Surely between the two of them they would be able to find the squid. "Can you go swimming in the lake?" It would be too cold for her right now to go, but that was something that she would love to do. Still thinking about the girl, she merely shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't going to make fun of her. "Who knows." AJ too was over talking about a girl that she didn't even know.

Ah! Candice wanted to know more about the accidental flooding, and she couldn't really blame her. Maybe now was a good time to tell her that her name was Aubrey and not Angel? Why not? "Well, first I guess I should tell you that I'm not Angel. My name is Aubrey, but I like to go by AJ." Yup, she shared a face with one of her sisters. "As far as the accidental flooding goes, I was walking down the fifth floor corridor while twisting my wand and saying different words not even thinking about it. Before you know it my wand is shooting water and it won't stop. Guess who shows up to see all of this?" Yup, Peeves... of course. That was her first run in with him, and she actually kind of liked the transparent dude.

Deciding to ignore the muggle-ish comment, AJ went right on to the potions subject. "Cool. I wish I could have tried that too." The whole arm wrestling thing was cooler in her opinion though. "I don't know about Astronomy as a whole, but that lesson was fun." So far every lesson she had was fun though.

YeahyeahYEAH, he got her point, okay? He frowned and looked at her somewhat grumpily while she laughed with all her might, and then grunted.

"I worded that wrong, okay? We will meet at Hogsmeade or in London. Of course Annie knows whenever I'm outta school. I'm not like the stupid teenagers who doesn't think. I'm actually pretty responsible."

Hmpf.

HEHEHEHEEHE. Sophie was trying to give him a break, but she kept giggling at him, especially when he grunted. It was funny when he got all pouty and grumpy like that AND it was a rare sight around her, so she was caught between being alarmed and milking it for all it was worth.

"Uh huh." She was blatantly teasing him now, and gave him a gentle nudge with her elbow, the laughter subsiding when she saw how serious he looked. "Look at you, Mr. Grumpy. So sensitive all of a sudden." Had she crossed a line? Struck a bad chord with him? She wasn't sure, but just in case, she shrugged a little and focused her gaze on the castle in the distance. "'Course you're not stupid, y'know, and you're responsible." She wanted to add that she had been teasing, but certainly he knew - would that make him less grumpy? "You're not The Great One for nothin'."

Well? Would she stop giggling soon? He eyed her for a moment, and looked at the castle as well. Then he grinned. She knew how to talk to him, didn't she? It wasn't like he was really angry anyway. He just wasn't used to Victoria yet.

"So what you gonna do with liquid luck?" Had she decided yet?

Ugh. He had to ask, didn't he? Sophie was smiling when he did, but she felt entirely unprepared to answer. The only thing she knew was that she wanted to share it with Tobes. But... otherwise...

"I'm not sure. I... I mean, I feel pretty lucky as it is. In general, I mean - I'm a pretty fortunate kid. Feel like I've got everything I need right now and all." She rested her elbows against the railing and clasped her hands in front of her, looking at them as she spoke. "I like knowing I have it, in case of an emergency or something, y'know? But I don't want to... go be reckless with it and take a gulp and go just have fun for a few hours. Tempting, but..." Soph shook her head, then, looking distressed. "I know the value of it. I wouldn't waste it on something silly. I think... I'll just hold onto it." She looked up at him for approval - did he think that was a good idea?

A flash of curiosity crossed her face, then, and she was smiling once more, "Have you taken it before?" What would HE do with it?

He was a Slytherin? Wow had she been wrong...Vinnie really wasnt the best at guessing houses. How had she never seen him before? This was strange. „Really? What a coincidence“,she said and smiled,“always nice to meet a fellow Slytherin.“ Especially if you had no clue the person next to you was in your house. She had a lot of catching up to do it seemed.

The girl grinned as he started laughing, that was always a good sign. „Well its hard not go boasting if you are a majestic treehouse isnt it?“, she chuckled and leaned back onto the sofa. This was perfect. This sofa was very comfy....Oh? He was a transfer too? Now that was interesting.“ You went to beauxbatons?“, the brunette asked,“ how was that? Heard some stuff about it.“ Mostly that it was very calm there and that people loved harmony there. Grayson seemed more like the cheeky kind of person that would fit into Durmstrang...or was he french? He didnt sound french.

Didnt she get bored staying in the library all that time on her own? Hmmm...“I had a hard time finding my place here“, Vinnie shrugged,“ like finding my group of friends.“ It was quite funny how her view on Hogwarts had changed over summer. Now Hogwarts felt like a great place to be.“ So i rather spend time with my books, it seemed more worthwhile.“ Wow, that sounded really harsh. Oh well it was true. „Where's your fave place?“ For some reason the fifth year expected an extraordinary answer.

He had never been on a hot air balloon?! WHAT?! Thats like he was missing out on life.“ You should go on one veryyy soon“, the girl nodded her head,“ i mean you HAVE to go on one very soon. Its amazing.“ You could see the earth underneath very clearly and it was all so small, you couldnt even make out the people walking the ground. Oh. my. God. He liked rollercoasters. YES! „I will never understand that“, she shook her head,“ like i get if someone is scared but its so unnecessary.“ The brunette knew of people being cured of rollercoaster fear by going on one. How did you not like that adrenaline rush though?!

„I have no idea why she forbid it, i was 5 she didnt exactly explain herself...“ Her mum had never been good at explaining herself, she just made rules. Which was one of the reasons why Vinnie had moved in with her dad after the divorce. „Do you have a treehouse?“, she eyed him waiting for his response.

...

"You are... Merlin, I don't know. I learn from you as much as you learn from me." He smiled at her a little. "You're great. You deserve it more than anyone on Earth." He meant it. She deserved it, because she didn't think she needed it, see? She wasn't greedy, and therefore, she was already lucky.

As for him... "I did, yeah." He even had to. It was his emergency. His face fell a little, but he tried to hide it.

He was getting all sentimental on her, which made her throat tight with emotion at the thought of him really being proud of her and learning from her, so Sophie casually diffused the feeling of wanting to cry at his words by putting a hand under her chin and adding, "Yeah, it helps that I'm so charming and sweet and am so good at getting people to love me," with a big, cheesy grin on her face.

Joking around was always the best defense mechanism, wasn't it?

Sophie did notice his face falling, though, and while she didn't like to push him or make him open up about things that obviously plagued him... she was curious about this one. "Yeah?" she replied gently, carefully examining his saddened features before looking back out over the grounds, hesitant in pressing on, "Mind if I ask what happened?" Testing how lucky she really was and all.

Cosgrach laughed at her then. "Who's the big head now, hmmm?" HMM? Hehehe. She was the most intelligent person he'd ever seen, though, and she deserved that much arrogance.

He avoided her gaze and looked at the grounds in thought. No, he didn't mind it, he was just... he sighed. "That's another day's story." He eyed her and forced a grin to show it was okay.

"So anyway, that was the big news. I'm not alone anymore." Way to change the topic.

"Oh, definitely still you," Sophie retorted without a second thought, grinning big up at Culloden. Especially since he was older and literally had a bigger head than her. Totally a justifiable accusation.

She stole a glance at him out of the corner of her eye, waiting for him to respond to her question, and when he sighed, she couldn't help but frown a little at him. "Okay," she agreed, though, because he was smiling now and at least he didn't turn her down completely. She'd hold him to that. "It was good big news, even. You deserve to not be alone." Sophie was nodding as she spoke, the smile going all the way up to her eyes. So, so relieved for him. "I'm glad you've found each other, and I really hope it works out."

For a moment, she wanted to warn him to take things slowly and not end up with his third divorce in a few years by marrying some woman who could end up to be crazy if they rushed into things - but it wasn't her place to comment on things like that. She could trust his judgment.

"Thanks for sharing with me." She loved that he trusted her enough with that kind of news, and she gave him a brief hug from the side to let him know it really did mean a lot to her. It was nice to have an adult to talk to at school as a sort of dual friend and parent, and not just as a professor.

Cosgrach raised one speculative eyebrow at her, but lost his composure soon and grinned. "Sure it's me. I'm, what, at least 28 years older than you, but you're catching up fast. Maybe someone more modest should be my favourite student." He teased softly and watched her reaction.

"Thank you, Sophie." He was also thanking, because she didn't insist to hear the story now. She was a good kid, wasn't she? Wishing him happiness after making sure Bart wouldn't be his son... hehe.

He side-hugged her back. "I thank you back as well," he said, because sharing included at least two people.

"Shall we return to the castle, then?"

"Pffff, at least twenty-eight? More like at least fifty." HEHEHEHEHE. Sophie scooted away from him as she said it, instinctively anticipating the poke she'd usually get for teasing one of her friends.

She wasn't entirely sure why he was thanking her, but she smiled up at him all the same, then hurried in front of him to beat him to the ladder, then started climbing down. "Sounds good to me. I should go find Tobes anyway. I got to see him over the summer, but I still miss 'im a lot. Maybe we'll come terrorize you later, if you'll be in your office?" Though it sounded teasing, she was actually asking permission. Would he mind?

.......see, he didn't always prefer the muggle way. Since she was busy moving away, his wand was conveniently in his hand and he shot a one-second tickling spell her way. Old, did she say? HA! Bet even she couldn't be faster.

...well, okay, he was maybe a bit old, because he didn't even try to reach the ladder before her. Not because he didn't have a sense of humour, but because he knew she'd beat him in that. He put his wand away while she was on it, and started climbing down only when she was safely on the ground.

...miss him, she said? Got to see him over the summer, she said? He laughed briefly, smirked dirtily and eyed her with a sparkle in his eyes.

"Oh, sure, sure, how can I miss the chance?" EHEHEHEH.

HEHE!

"Go now, I shouldn't keep you away from, ah, Tobes."

GRIIIIIIIIIN.

The smugness on her face from her teasing was immediately wiped off as a tickling sensation came over her and she giggled, squirming on the spot, but just as soon as it started, it was over, and she looked up to glaaaaaaaaare at Culloden and his wand. "Evil," Sophie hissed, trying to sound horribly mad, but it was hard to really be mad at him. Another weakness.

Even worse was his smug expression at the mentioning of Tobes. SIGH. "You're ridiculous. Don't you even." She didn't know what she was warning him not to do, but his smirky, mischievous demeanor had her certain he needed to be warned not to do something. "Such a nerd," she huffed, gently bumping into him when he was off the ladder, and walked with him back to the castle, bugging him about not embarrassing her in front of Tobes the whole way.

IC Date: December 10
 

There was snow around and it was chilly, something the boy from Australia was still getting accustomed to after all these years. Today was different though and the boy didn't mind the snow, not really. He had pizza in one hand nice and fresh from the house elves and a small box in his pocket as he made his way to the tree house. He'd be going home in a few days for the holidays as he always did and he wanted to be sure he gave this to her, cause he might not get to later so it was important. He made sure to owl Ana very specific instructions on it and he even sent it back to her twice cause it was wrong but no it was perfect and he was just sure she'd love it. She better anyway, or else there'd be problems.

He rocked on his feet with the warm pizza plate in hand while he waited. He was glad the elf thought to cover it with plastic wrap or else it'd be all cold and wet from snow now and that would not be a good pizza. He was sure she got his owl, he was just 10000 % sure of it, now where was she?

As a Slytherin, one wouldn't expect seeing an owl flying down the hall of the dorms, in a dungeon. The idea was bizarre, even more so when you had to think of how it got through the portal. As it was, someone had let it inside for it to deliver a message to Beverly Wayne.

And so, here she was; making her way down the snowy grounds bundled up in a coat, mittens and boots. Her long, dark chestnut hair flowed down like an extra coat, her bangs pinned up to the side in a tiny braid. Why she had put so much thought in her appearance, she didn't know. Or maybe she did, and didn't want to admit she CARED how she looked. She even had a tiny bit of lip gloss on. A little part of her felt guilty, though. She was supposed to brood and sulk this month, and maybe even still mourn. But...she couldn't help the tiny bat wings fluttering in her stomach.

Tugging on her coat sleeves, she trudged through the snowy path toward the tree house, only pausing briefly when she spotted Jeremiah. Automatic smiling happened. Seeing as he was facing the other way, Beverly quietly made her way to him, tapping his shoulder when she reached him.

"Hi."

It was chilllllyyyy and he was debating going inside and waiting for her cause she was just taking way way to long. He let out a sigh and he turned to look back at the tree house and couldn't help but smile cause this was just going to be the best night, he just knew it.

Feeling a tap on his shoulder he jumped a bit before he heard the voice of a girl, not just any girl, the girl. Turning around with the cheesiest grin on his face he held the pizza plate out towards her. "I brought pizza." her favorite he knew that. "Pepperoni too." she liked pepperoni the most.

She also looked amazing, not that that was anything different but still, "you look beautiful." she diiid and it even made him blush a bit as he leaned forward and dropped a kiss on her cheek, hi." "it's a bit chilly." he wasn't a huge fan of the cold. "let's go inside." in the tree house!

The little bat wings in her stomach went crazy when Jeremiah turned around. Beverly had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning like an idiot. Tearing her gaze from him it landed on the pizza. WAIT. There was PIZZA. Why was there pizza? His note hadn't said anything else besides him wanting to meet with her. Again, WHY was there PIZZA? It was a nice surprise, though.

She grinned. "My favorite. Are we having a picnic?"

His next words left her blushing and twiddling with her mittens. He said beautiful. Oh my Merlin. What was she supposed to say back? You look handsome, Jeremiah, but he always did and that was a generic response and she didn't want to BE generic. Suddenly her mind went blank when he leaned and kissed her cheek. Beverly let out a soft chuckle, mainly to disguise how nervous he made her, and nodded.

Yes, going inside was a good idea. She didn't like the cold. Glancing up, she pursed her lips together in thought. How were they going to get the pizza up there? 'Cause the pizza HAD to go up too. No pizza left behind.

Coincidence was right. "A good coincidence," Wink. Because it was. Slytherin Pride and all that. Which, speaking of, meant that he would be seeing the girl around a lot more, if both of them kept to the common room. "Same. Have you met many people in our house?" Our house, now that they had established that they were from the same house.

A majestic treehouse. Grayson looked around the treehouse before letting out another chuckle. Majestic. "Man, the treehouse is going to feel special now," he said, looking back at Vinnie, "Majestic's quite the compliment." Jeez, were they really talking about a treehouse?! It was better than talking about Beauxbatons, at least, buuuuuut the fourth year would plough on with that. "Uh huh. It was......." He scrunches up his face. "......... eh. I mean, some parts were okay and the place where the school is is much warmer than up here. But it was a little posh, you know? Didn't like it." There were reasons, of course, but he wasn't about to tell Vinnie those. "What'd you hear about it?" Because then he could tell her if it was true or not. Just saying.

Er. This was a talk about friendship. Oh jeez. Maybe he wasn't the right person she should be saying this to. What did he know about friendship? Hardly anything. "You never know unless you talk to people. And the right kind of people," Wink. "Do you have your own group of friends now?" Other than her books, which, he still found the idea to be boring, but he wasn't going to say that to her. "Guess that's fair." Shrug. His favourite place? "Dunno? I like places with a good view." For people watching but views could be appreciated. "I also like epic places and, no offence, the library bores the living daylights out of me."

Grayson's eyebrows shot up. Why? Because he had to go on a hot air balloon. HAD to. "Where do I even sign up for something like that?" Here's hoping she'd suggest the right place for him. Because if he was going to try something this amazing, he wanted the best place, mkay? Since she understood and seemed to think along similar lines to him. Or, similar to the lines he said out loud. "Neither can I," he said, shaking his head, "It's dead worth it, though. Can you believe that some people puke on those things?" It was DUMB. Should they go on a rollercoaster right after eating? NO. Jeez.

The Slytherin had thought that she had been banned from having a treehouse recently but if that wasn't the case, he was going to keep his mouth shut about thinking the wrong thing. It was a matter of pride, mkay? "Why don't you ask her now?" It was something he'd do. Ask so that she couldn't evade questions and beat around the bush. "We had one back at our house in France. It was great until my brother fell out of it once."

Did the Pizza throw her off that much? He blinked down at it and chuckled at her a bit before flashing her his smile. "mmm, yea.. you can say that." cept it was just pizza and stuff, other stuff, secret stuff. She had to wait for all that stuff. "It'll be fun." at least in his mind it was all fun. he hoped she thought the same way he really did. "you know i figured i should do something nice for you and all." seeing as how Christmas was coming and all. "i might not get to see you over christmas so this will have to do."

Did she notice the date? He wasn't going to mention it, just wait while he smirked at her. smirk smirk. His free hand instinctively went down into his pocket as his fingers grazed over the lilac colored box he was excited, super excited even. "well go on then." getting up there was going to be a science in its self and he didn't want her down at the bottom, or under him on the ladder, in case he fall down and on his butt with the pizza, that'd be horrible

So this was a picnic? Beverly decided to just roll with it. Jeremiah always seemed to have a surprise up his sleeve, so she wasn't going to even try and decipher it. What mattered was: there was a Jeremiah and a pizza. Heh. At the mention of Christmas she wrinkled her nose. She didn't like Christmas and she wanted nothing to do with it. Instead of focusing on that, she focused on right now.

"It sucks. You'll write to me, yeah?" Because she's gotten used to his company. He was like that first little sun ray of the day, it made her smile. It was still a few weeks until then, so she wouldn't think about it just yet...Huh. Something tickled in the back of her mind, almost as if she'd forgotten someone's birthday, which was an odd thing to think about at the moment. She couldn't shrug it off.

Wait. That smirk. Beverly squinted at him, a grin gracing her lips. "What are you smirking at, Walker?" She poked his side as she walked past toward the ladder. Oh Merlin. Just thinking about heights made her hands damp. But she could do this, it wasn't THAT high. Yeah. Go Wayne!

Climbing up as quick as she could, which was pretty fast when Beverly Wayne was anxious, she pulled herself up when she reached the top. Gripping to the balcony landing, she took in a deep breath before saying, "I can levitate the pizza up here." Safe passage, yes.

Hell write her.. Pffffffft hell yea he would every day if she wanted. "Of course i will."
it was almost a crime to think he wouldn't. "every day if you want me to." he'd probably run out of things to say by the fifth day but you know he'd try and all. The date still didn't strike her but that was okay and all cause he'd tell her later.

"just caussse." he wiggled as she poked him going past him. He was smirking for a reason but they were secret reasons so she didn't need to know just yet. He watched as she went up mainly to make sure she wouldn't fall cause he knew how she was with heights and all and he wanted her to be safe and all.

"Yea? you can take it." her doing magic was attractive, she knew he thought that to. Holding the pizza up he waited for her to take it as he stood of the first part of the ladder. He could be patient, he could.. even if it was hard.

A smile made it to her face. He'd write to her every day. Beverly bit her lip and shook her head at how silly - yet tempting - that idea sounded. But hey, she wouldn't mind it. "I like the sound of that," she said, glancing down from the balcony.

Okaaay. Beverly focused her gazed on Jeremiah. Her focus point, yes. If she didn't then her mind would wander and attempt to guess how high off the ground she was and that wouldn't be pretty. He probably couldn't see, but she was squinting her eyes at him. 'Just 'cause' wasn't enough an answer. He knew she could wipe that smirk right off his face. She KNEW he knew. Unfortunately, he was still at the bottom.

Time for levitate-pizza-to-safety mission. Taking her wand out, she cast, "Wingardium Leviosa," and was pleased to see the pizza float up from Jeremiah's hands. "Okay, your turn."