The entrance hall was quite empty except for a Hufflepuff entering the castle after a walk in the grounds. Leah looked around, not adjusting to the silence at all. It was late in the afternoon and she had expected a crowd to be wandering in and out of the castle. The weather was PERFECT after all, not a single sign of cold present in the air.

Filomena the kneazle came walking towards Leah from the front doors. Merlin, how did she manage to get out of the common room? Leah bent down and hugged the creature, hearing a soft purr from her. She smiled, Filomena was definitely the third year's best friend.. after Angel. She knew she missed Angel a lot, but she did not know how she would talk to her. If only things were not this complicated.

Angel was totally sad about what had happened between herself and Leah, Leah was like a secondary sisters to her. Well technically she was her honorary sister she had told Leah that last year when they had become such good friends and she hated fighting with her but well she had no idea how to make things right, the duel last term had sort of got out of hand.

Angel was walking when suddenly she bumped into someone. "I'm sorry." Angel sighed. "I should have been looking where I was going." Angel looked up and realised that it was Leah she was talking to, it was odd how she bumped into someone who she had been thinking about, if she thought about Benny would she bump into him?

Angel let her eyes wander around the entrance hall, it seemed very quiet at the moment and she was wondering why. She then turned back to Leah and paused for a few moments before saying. "I'm sorry." Angel had been wanting to get that off her chest since her best friend had run out on her in the duel, she just hoped her best friend was in a forgiving mood. She had a funny feeling that Leah hated her.

Zahra sat at the bottom of the stairs, thinking about going to eat, and thinking about going out for a walk instead. Decisions were too hard at the moment though, so she ended up just laying back on the steps. NO DOUBT some grumpy Professor would come along and tell her to get up, but until then.... Z would just lay here on the steps, staring at the ceiling, and trying to not think at all.

The novelty of being back at school still hadn't worn off, and Toby was positive that it wouldn't wear off at all this year. He was planning to go on outside and make the most of the good weather they were having, to make up for... well... last term. Maybe he'd stop by and bother Prof T if he saw him.

He was halfway between the corridor to the basement level and the front doors before spotting Zahra out of the corner of his eye. Toby glanced over, and did a sort of double-take. She seemed very... not-like-Zahra. Without stopping, he instantly veered around and headed straight over.

Toby didn't say anything, or stop, or stare. He just sat down next to Zahra and lay back on the steps beside her, also staring at the ceiling. It seemed like the thing to do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

The novelty of being back at school still hadn't worn off, and Toby was positive that it wouldn't wear off at all this year. He was planning to go on outside and make the most of the good weather they were having, to make up for... well... last term. Maybe he'd stop by and bother Prof T if he saw him.

He was halfway between the corridor to the basement level and the front doors before spotting Zahra out of the corner of his eye. Toby glanced over, and did a sort of double-take. She seemed very... not-like-Zahra. Without stopping, he instantly veered around and headed straight over.

Toby didn't say anything, or stop, or stare. He just sat down next to Zahra and lay back on the steps beside her, also staring at the ceiling. It seemed like the thing to do.

Zahra didn't think twice about it; she nudged over until she was SIDE TO SIDE with him. Hufflepuffs were the best huggers and snugglers and pillows. This wasn't exactly hugging or whatever, but it felt better to stare aimlessly with Toby than by herself. "Thanks." You know? Just thanks. She turned her head to look at him and offered a little smile. "Saw you in the yearbook. Cutest couple thing."

"S'alright," Toby replied, still looking up at the ceiling. He didn't know at ALL what was up, but he was HERE for a friend, y'know? Happy to be of service.

He looked over at Zahra too at that, cracking a little smile of his own. "Yeah. Have to say, didn't expect that at all." Toby nudged her gently. "Saw you in there too. Check us out, all popular and everything."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

"S'alright," Toby replied, still looking up at the ceiling. He didn't know at ALL what was up, but he was HERE for a friend, y'know? Happy to be of service.

He looked over at Zahra too at that, cracking a little smile of his own. "Yeah. Have to say, didn't expect that at all." Toby nudged her gently. "Saw you in there too. Check us out, all popular and everything."

She looked back up at the ceiling. "Yeah... my picture was next to Ascanius and I lost my mind and owled him about it. I do really dumb things sometimes, you know?" Like, did he know? She did, man. MAN. "But yeah, it's a cool one you won." Pause. "Your girlfriend doesn't like me much though. Ravenclaws. Pssshhhhhh"

Toby thought about pointing out that that didn't sound very dumb to him. Thought about it, but didn't actually say it. "Well, life'd be pretty boring if we didn't do dumb things some of the time, wouldn't it?" SO BORING.

Uh......... hm. That... well.

"... I didn't know that. Really?" Toby replied, looking confused thoughtful, though only the ceiling could see that. Perhaps because he had this tendency to like and try to befriend everyone, it sometimes felt bizarre to hear about how some people didn't like each other. He couldn't help but be curious about Soph/Zahra, but didn't push it for now. "Me and you are friends though, yeah? I like you, I think you're ace."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

Toby thought about pointing out that that didn't sound very dumb to him. Thought about it, but didn't actually say it. "Well, life'd be pretty boring if we didn't do dumb things some of the time, wouldn't it?" SO BORING.

Uh......... hm. That... well.

"... I didn't know that. Really?" Toby replied, looking confused thoughtful, though only the ceiling could see that. Perhaps because he had this tendency to like and try to befriend everyone, it sometimes felt bizarre to hear about how some people didn't like each other. He couldn't help but be curious about Soph/Zahra, but didn't push it for now. "Me and you are friends though, yeah? I like you, I think you're ace."

"Yeah.... I guess you're right. I kind of thought we were friends, but pretty sure he just thinks of me as a fan." Yeeeeeeeeeeah. Dumb. Embarrassing, too. It didn't make Zahra like him any less, but it sure did make her feel reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally stupid.

As far as Sophie Ravenclaw went? Zahra shrugged and lifted up an arm to make a duck hand. Quack. Quack quack. "It's a Ravenclaw thing. It's fine though," really it was. "I don't like cry myself to sleep over it or anything. BUT YEAH! Me and you are totes friends. I LOVE me some Puffs and PARTICULARLY TOBY TEMPLE Puff! Man! Can't believe you even asked that!" NUDGE NUDGE! ELBOW! POKING! teehee!

Huh. That sounded... not fun. Toby didn't really KNOW what to say about that, as he'd always just assumed friendship from everyone that spared him the time of day. Like West; were they friends, or was Toby just a fan?

The Hufflepuff's smile widened a little more 'til he was almost grinning then, because Zahra was starting to sound more like ZAHRA. He squirmed SLIGHTLY but absolutely a hundred percent NOT BECAUSE HE WAS TICKLISH and nudged her right back again with his elbow.

"Alright, I get it," he laughed, with a pokepoke RIGHT BACK. "Well, I'm honoured, Zahra Kettleburn." 'Cause of the 'particularly' part, y'know. "So like..." *ahem* "How come you're laying down here? Resting from all the Gryffindoring?"

Hufflepuffs were the best. Zahra was gonna snuggle them all, STARTING WITH THIS ONE. Teehee.

Ah.

Oh.

That.

Well that dimmed her down a little. Snuggle off. Zahra went back to quacking her duck hand. "I guess I don't know what else to do with myself. I have friends and stuff, good ones, too but it's kind of lonely in the Tower with Mikey gone." And in the Great Hall and in the corridors and basically all of life was lonely and sucky.

All Toby could really do was watch the duck hand thing, though he was internally kicking himself already.

"I didn't know he was gone," he said quietly, biting the inside of his lip. "I'm sorry." For the fact that he was ~elsewhere~ AND for bringing it up. At a compLETE LOSS as to what he could do next, Toby also held up his hand to do the quacking-duck-hand-thing. He was quiet for a moment while he just did that, before finally speaking up again.

"So I know it won't compare-" quackquackwhatwasheevendoingquackquack "-but we could do some stuff if you want? Like, hang out. It would fix anything, but you could have something to do."

Pause!quack.

"Remember first year? Airplanes?" DID SHE? 'Cause Tobes still thought THAT was a golden moment.

Yeah. Mikey and Zahra had spent all their remaining time together and not announcing his departure to everyone. In hindsight though, Zahra did kind of wish everyone just knew so she didn't have to talk about it.

So now he knew and Z could drop it. She picked up another duck hand instead. QUACKQUACK.

Aw man that was so nice. Zahra's duck was NODDING. YES GOOD IDEA and junk. Yeah. "Oh yeah. That was cool. Hehe. You wanna go do that right now? Is that what you're saying TOBEZ?"

Filomena squirmed uncomfortably under Leah's grip. Great, now her kneazle did not like her too. She patted her fur softly and let her calm down. She had definitely fed her just now, played with her for nearly an hour in the morning, so why was she like this? That was when Leah felt someone bump into her. She let go of Filomena in surprise and the kneazle landed on the ground next to her swiftly, made herself comfortable and watched her owner.

"It's okay," Leah said, looking at the person and - oh it was Angel. No wonder the voice sounded familiar. She stared at Angel for a moment longer than normal and shifted slightly. The badger definitely wanted to meet her best friend and apologize for everything. But now that they had finally met it was difficult to open her mouth and say the words.

Leah let herself stay in the silence for a few moments. She had to do it now, otherwise people would start swarming in and she would miss the chance. "I'm sorry." She said, exactly the same time Angel said the same thing. Maybe they WERE destined to be best friends. Leah could not stop herself, she burst into laughter and could not stop laughing for a very long time.

Angel was just looking at Leah wondering if her friend would take the apology what she didn't expect was an apology from Leah and at the same time as hers. "Jinx!!" Angel giggled as she realised that they had said the same word at the same time. "Now what is your name again."

Angel tried to think of it. "Lee...Lisa...Lousy...Louise....Lauren...Laura...L ara." Angel was going through name beginning with A. "Linda... Libby..." Angel giggled as she went through as many names as she could think of. "Eh no I don't think any of them are right. "Le.. Lea. It's something like that I think though I'm not entirely sure."

Angel stuck her tongue out at her friend, she hoped her friend would take it as the game it was but she knew she shouldn't make her friend mad. "Leah" Angel jumped up and down. "I remembered it." Angel beamed. "I've missed you so much."

Angel fished in her pocket, she had been carrying this since the day of the duel. "I got you this and was going to give you it after the duel but then things happened." Angel handed her friend the BFF Necklace. "I was hoping we could be best friends forever." Angel really hoped that they could.

Two fifth years, just chilling out and laying on the stairs, both making duck hands and quacking them. NBD. Stranger things have happened at Hogwarts, that's for sure.

Toby quacked his duck hand too, while his human face grinned and made words. "Well, I was just reminiscing-" nudgenudge "-but we could totally do that if you want to." Man. That would be... an experience.

Just for good measure, Toby moved his duck hand over and nudged one of Zahra's duck hands with it. Because he was just that cool.

What? DID HE WANT TO OR NOT? Zahra was taking it for a yes. Then her duck BIT his duck, 'cause why not. QUACK QUACK BITE NOM. It might look like she was holding his hand up in the air to the passerby, but naw. Just one duck biting another.

"Me first! Think you can hold me up? I HAVE grown." Though so had he and to be fair, he had grown quite a BIT more than her. Zahra just kept ...not growing. Maybe she was grown already. She popped up to HER feet and grabbed TOBY'S feet. You know, to pull him to the bottom? So he'd be flat for Airplane. JUST HELPING. SHe tugged him GENTLY so he'd not break his butt or anything.

Gwen had taken to spending a lot of time in the Entrance Hall, sat against the wall next to the door. It was the perfect place for her to sit and draw a crude little map of the school. She hadn't gotten lost on her exploring trip, but it was always good to have a reference.

As she finished drawing the tree on the grounds where the tree house was located, she placed a star on it. That was her way to denote where her favorite places were. For now at least. Maybe throughout the years she could add to it and add stars in different colored inks. Yeah. Then she could save it and keep it forever. Gwen smiled as she started to do a rough drawing of where the groundkeeper's hut was...

Bianca was walking around this castle looking for little firsties. Why? Because she wanted to bond with them. She reached the entrance hall and found exactly what she was looking for. Huh. What were the odds of that?

What was the girl even doing?

Staring from a distance at first, Bianca ran over and flopped down next to the younger girl. "Sup. Whatchu drawing? Wanna go hang out?"

Because Bianca was smooth like that. Also, that picture? It looked cool. Much better than the finger painting Bianca had done when she was about five years old. Wow.

Merlin! Gwen jumped a bit and looked over as the other girl just sat next to her. Normally she'd be okay, but she was drawing and it kinda freaked her out a bit. She tried to give her a smile to show the girl that she hadn't just scared the life out of her.

"Kind of a map of the castle." She turned the parchment so the other girl could see. It wasn't perfect, but it worked. She had seven years to finish it and make it perfect after all. Gwen raised an eyebrow. "I dunno. Are you crazy?" Because crazy people were the kind that just sat next to little girls and asked them to hang out with out even knowing them for five seconds.

"What d'you take me for? I am an athlete." Maybe slightly smaller than other kids his age but he could still hold his own. ANd hold Zahra. Huehueheuheuheuhuehue. "I got this."

Toby just... stayed there. On the floor. He was okay with this, with being manually moved about, so just kind of let it happen 'til he was off the stairs. No broken butt, either.

"Are you ready to flyyyyyyy?" Toby now said in his BEST impression of a pilot's voice ('cause that's how pilots spoke, right?) and held out his hands (no longer ducks) for Zahra to hold for AIRPLANE.

Zahra didn't wait long before she was AIRBORN, leaping onto Toby's feet and grabbing for his hands in one fluid motion. BOOM. FLYING.

"Waaaaaaaaaanna try with no hands?" Zahra asked like the full-blooded Gryffindor that she was. DID HE ALSO HAVE THAT?

Map of the castle. That was cool. Bianca nodded and looked at the parchment the girl was holding out.

It was pretty neat. Y'know for a map of the castle. Bianca didn't care much for maps unless they were treasure maps. Why else would you want to know where you were going? "Am I crazy...?"

What kind of silly question was that?! "Of course I am. But I'm the good kind of crazy." Because there was a good and a bad kind and Bianca was clearly a good kind of crazy. She was the fun kind and that was what really mattered. "What kind of crazy are you?"

Good kind of crazy? Was that even a real thing? Gwen tried to discreetly scoot away from the older girl. Just a bit at a time so she wouldn't notice. Gwen did not want to mess with a crazy person. Especially one who admitted she was crazy.

"Ummm...the not crazy kind?" Because how else were you supposed to answer that question.