His first meeting with Mr. Millard was a pleasant one, considering he literally crashed on his door. Merlin, he did give the poor man a fright when he accidentally stumbled from his skateboard. Nevertheless, Ethan found out that he was a nice man, and that he’s willing to help him out with plant stuff. He struggles with Herbology, so aside from the professor that replaced Bentley, he’s got the Groundskeeper to help him out.

The prefect rode his skateboard once more and decided to take a longer route this time, and considered to pass by the bridge. The bridge was the perfect place to ride a skateboard, because it gave him the sensation of being afloat, gliding in the air.

Skate. Skate. Skate.

Oh hey look, that’s one pretty Ravenclaw all by herself.

Skate. Skate. Skate.

Ethan almost stumbled again as he let his left foot skid against the bridge’s surface to help him slow down. Merlin’s painted toes. As soon as he stopped, he picked up his skateboard and ran back towards Josie. MERLIN. The bridge, the background, the view, the girl…Ethan could swear he’d melt any moment. Everything was too perfect.

With flushed cheeks, and a smile, “Hi.” Ethan greeted the prettiest Ravenclaw in Hogwarts as he flattened the back of his head.

Oh maaaan. His stomach was doing that thing again. ADSFDFJDSFJAS;LDFJLDSF!!!

Eden was definitely right. It was expensive, but Isla wouldn't admit to it unless she got out a price tag right then and there. "Oh. I'm sorry to hear that Eden." She frowned, feeling a bit out of place. She never really understood how people didn't have money but that was because she never had to worry about it growing up.

Detentions here sounded rough? Ugh. "Then I'm totally going to avoid it as much as I can." She nodded. "Well I'll plan them all and you can help me carry out some of them." That way nothing could really go wrong if she had backup with her pranks. She hoped that all of her pranks would go right but she had a feeling with the certain boys at Hogwarts, some of them would go wrong.

"ZERO GUYS?! Eden, look at you! You're so lying to me right now." Isla nodded, crossing her arms. Who was Clara? Eh, that didn't matter. Eden was her friend, so she was sticking to her side, not this Clara girl's. "You've kissed Phe? This is epic!" She smiled, jumping up and down. "Forget that Eddie guy, he's not here, Phe is. Soooooo PHE & EDEN SITTING IN A TREE...blah blah blah blah....I can't remember anymore, but YEAH."

Lex saw the squinting but she disregarded it. Did it matter if he believed her on the Aidan thing? NOPE. Only thing that mattered was her knowing how horribly it'd gone and deciding to never go that route again, like ever. "Good on you, Sir. You don't need a bunch of ankle biters running around breaking the things you worked hard to acquire for yourself." That's all children really did in case no one else noticed.

Ohhh but THAT'S what happened. "Ministry huh? Seems to me like they only ever show up after the fact." Where were they when everyone was locked in and suffering? Show up during the summer when they weren't needed? Brilliant, just brilliant.

Food? He was letting her tag along for food. Sure thing. Are you good at making sandwiches?" Serious question here as they walked.

Eden just shrugged and played with the cuff of her sleeve. "Nah. it's fine, Isla." She said and she just tried to play it off...kind of. She didn't really want Isla feeling sorry for her, anyways.

"Yeah, me too. I never really got them back at Durm, either--I just didn't go to classes if I didn't feel like it. or do Homework." She said, and she shrugged. "How do you like classes so far?" she raised an eyebrow at her friend. "That girl--Ruby--Banner? She had a BRUTAL detention--you didn't hear about it?" Hmm? "GAh I SO want in." Pranks, man! Isla seemed like the kind of girl to have a looooad of good ones, too, in there in her BIG brain.

Pfft. The brunette snorted. "No guys want me. They might like to LOOK at me, but none of them want me for real." She said softly, shrugging. Eden craved for someone to just...prefer her. Above all others. To be set first...since no one ever had.

OH GREAT.

She let slip that she'd KISSED Phe. Great. "I mean--hey--STOP--he--ISLA!" she cried, looking a bit stricken. "HE doesn't want a girlfriend. He told me, when I said I had a crush on him." She said, biting her lip. She felt awful. Her eyes drifted downward and she just rubbed her arm.

Boys.

So dumb.

He said he liked her name.

But all she heard was that he liked her. And that brought an immediate grin to her face. "It's cute, isn't it?" Just like you, new friend. But she was more fond of her full name.

Oh, yes. "Great idea, Soph!" Nudge nudge. Wink wink. They would be able to get to know him better that way, too. But also help him, she supposed. But mostly the getting to know him better. "If you don't mind my asking, where were you last term?" Homeschooled? Travelling? Another school? Hmmmm?

"Paris? Like the city?"

CUTIE.

Psyched that the boy agreed to letting them show him around the school, Soph gave her nod of approval at his decision. "Fine choice. I've been here since my first term and studied the ins and outs of the school even before I got here, plus me and CB like to go wandering looking for the best kept secrets of this place, so you'll be in good hands with us." They could show him pretty much everything and anything he wanted to see, from the important classes to shortcuts to get places to places he might want to go to have alone time or where he would be most likely to find the most people to befriend, if he wanted to dive right into that.

He gave her the impression that he was more laid back than a party person, though, which gave her a sort of hope he'd be a small group kind of guy. And thus join forces to be an unstoppable third year trio with them. Eh hem.

Paris Sykes, though. The name rang familiar, and since his face did, too... "I swear I've met you before. Dunno where." Maybe they'd played together as kids once upon a time. "Y'don't need to be any sort of nervous around us, though, we're not gonna bite," she reassured, picking up on his discomfort with them and shaking his outstretched hand with a big, cheesy grin. "Really, you're lucky to've been sorted in Ravenclaw with us - none of the other fourth years in the other houses are as nice or fun as us," she said with a teasing sort of tone, except that she was totally serious. She and CB were the BEST housemates and yearmates, and she knew it. Hehehe.

Yes indeed - where WAS he last term? And all the terms before? Why hadn't he graced them with his presence sooner?

Jun 'pfft'ed Charlie. It WAS a surprise to everyone and he didn't really believe her on that. "I'm practically invisible then BAM, I get hit with this badge," He laughed. Though, he did like the attention sometimes. But now Jun couldn't set things on fire like he used to. Or prank people because he was supposed to set an 'example' now. Whatever that meant. He clearly didn't know how to do so. But maybe just focusing on prefect stuff was a start? At least that's how the Head Boy thought of it anyway.

He nodded. "We went to Disneyland and actually failed my auditions so there's that," He shrugged. But managed to stay in the program with his revaluation scores. Thank Merlin for that. "It was that good you didn't want to come back to school?"

What was that odd noise?

It sort of resembled the sound of a train running on it's tracks, only it sounded a little lighter than the heavy sound of the Hogwarts Express. And where was it coming from? Just as she turned her head she saw....Ethan, oh it was Ethan. She liked him-BECAUSE he was a really friendly person & a really nice boy, whom she enjoyed spending time with. Right?

She couldn't explain why, but she found herself fixing her hair a little bit as he approached her & she could practically hear the loud thumping of her heart rate as he neared closer. The third year bit her lower lip as he greeted her & she cleared her throat before a soft, "H-Hi..", in return. She smiled a little bit as she fussed with her hair for a brief moment before looking at his board, "I-I didn't know you knew h-how to skate..on wheels too.." She paused before suddenly apologizing, "Oh I'm sorry...H-How are you?"

No matter how much he tried, he just can't stop smiling at Josie. Merlin, she gets prettier by the day, did she know? Ethan subconsciously fixed his shirt, hoping that he actually looks like a normal boy. Merlin, why does he always look sloppy-ish everytime he bumps into her? He really need to ask Ella's help next time, yeah? Wardrobe shopping? Yep. Definitely.

Ethan looked down at the skateboard tucked under his arm, and nodded. "Yeah, I actually do. Been skating since I was four...then went to snowboarding when I was around seven." he explained as he placed the skateboard on the bridge's floor and stepped on it with his right foot. "I'm...still adjusting to doing prefect stuff, but I'm doing good." And if she asked, his mood became 1000 times better because HELLO JOSIE!

Meep!

"On that note, I found something from patrolling the halls." Ethan said as he kept the grin on his face and leaned on the bridge's rail with his arms. "Would you like to guess" he asked.

The thirteen year old was puzzled. Did Maggie have allergies? The nose wrinkling made the brunette think the blonde had to sneeze and she inched away from her slightly, deciding that standing by the younger girl was not worth the risk. Maddison didn't have TIME for colds as she was a very busy individual with goals to accomplish, okay? Okay.

"Shame, I like that better." Maggie was too close to Maddie for the brunette's liking so she'd CLEARLY call the blonde girl Lena or first year. That's just the way it was going to be. "No, it's not." She didn't elaborate because it was need to know information and as no one was allowed to call her by her full name, no one needed to know it. "Oh." Slytherin. She liked SOME of those. Some, like Grayson, didn't quite make the cut.

"Have you made friends yet?"

'He has a really nice smile.'

Wait, what? Why was she thinking that?

Josie abruptly shook the thought from her head, but just as she was trying to figure out why she was thinking that, she could already feel her face becoming a little warm. Oh Drats, why does this strange feeling always happen whenever she's around him? It was actually making her a bit afraid of this odd feeling. What was the word for this feeling?! Was there even a word for this feeling?! Just...Merlin there were a lot of confusing things she was so unsure of.

Her gaze followed his as his attention was now on his skateboard. And apparently he had been skating since he was four. She wasn't aware he had been doing stuff like that from such a young age. Come to think of it, she couldn't even remember the things she used do when she was four years old. That sort of seemed like a blur, almost like it didn't exist at all.

Coming out of her thoughts, she was paying attention to Ethan once more once he had begun to speak about being a Prefect. "I-Is it difficult? Being a P-Prefect?" Was it scary being a Prefect too? Did it make him feel at all stressed of some sort? But wait, forget about this, he had sparked just sparked her interest more! She asked with a slight bit of excitement in her voice, "W-What did you find?" Josie paused as she tried to think of what it is he could have found. "A-A secret room? Like we d-discovered last term? O-Or no?"

Intriguing thoughts are only growing...

Maybe it was the scenery that Ethan finally realized how quiet Josie can be. Merlin, it’s either she thinks a lot or is just too shy. The prefect glanced at the pretty girl beside him, and grinned once more. Heavens, he’s just the happiest boy right now. His homework and prefect duties were momentarily forgotten. It was as if he was in a different world somehow, with Josie right beside him. Though it was hard, Ethan looked away and onto the view before them. “I’ve never asked Jo, and forgive me that I haven’t, but…what was it like when you were a kid? Did you…hang out with muggle kids too?” Because he did. Those muggle born kiddos back in his neighbourhood when he was still small were pretty awesome. Bummer that he had to move when he had to start his formal schooling in Durmstrang. What’s even harder was the fact that he had to lie to them, and told them he was studying somewhere in Scandinavia.

Ethan snapped out of his thoughts, when he it was gently broken by Josie’s voice. Was being a prefect difficult? No? Yes? “Uh…hmm.” Ethan paused as he sorted out his answer. “Right now…it is. I mean, I got badged a year younger than usual so it’s pretty hard for me to get the attention of the older kids.” But so far, they were all behaving, and acted accordingly. “Though, I don’t have to worry much about them because they know how to carry themselves and be a good example because they’re older.” Well, most of them. Ethan was afraid to judge the older Snakes quickly, but he trusts them whole-heartedly simply because they are Slytherins. “It kinda gets tough though when it comes to the younger ones…” Ethan brushed the back of his head again, as a small grin formed on his face. “It’s like…I have to always keep an eye on them which is, by the way silly.” The prefect shook his head as he remembered Dante having his cauldron explode. “I’m not their mother to start with, but I struggle not to protect them, or show how things are done around here.” Which makes his job a little more challenging because he’s struggling from within. “Maybe it’s because I didn’t expect to get a badge this early…or get the badge for that matter, thus I’m panicking and wants everything to be perfect.” A pause. “Or maybe I am a perfectionist…anyway, enough about me,” he said as he clamped both of his hands in front of him.

“I don’t think it’s a secret room because it’s easier to access.” Ethan nodded as he smiled enthusiastically. Josie will love it! “Would you like to see it?” he asked.

Was she moving away from her? Maggie decided that Coop was probably intimidated. Yep.

She liked 'Lena' better. "I don't care what you like better." Not at all. Nope. She didn't care what other people thought. Okay that was a total LIE but shh. Maggie wrinkled her nose slightly. Oh so it WASN'T her full name. "What is it?" Since she hadn't elaborated. And Maggie was curious.

'Oh???' "It's a pretty cool house." The best. But she didn't want to show off, you know. "Yes of COURSE!" Of course she'd made friends. What kind of question was that? Did she LOOK like someone who didn't have any friends?

She didn't look like Coop.

Josie was on the verge of asking Ethan a question, but all thoughts stopped once again when she watched Ethan turn his attention to look out at the view before them, the exact same view that she herself had been admiring before he had appeared on his skateboard. But it was strange to her, he almost looked as if he were one of those young dashing heroes staring out into the world longing for his long forgotten love. And the way the light caught his face almost made it look as if he were on the verge of glowing. Little did she know it, but her face was beginning to do that same usual thing it always tended to do; as of recently anyway, which involved getting really warm & resembling the same colour of a ripened cherry.

But reality would come back to her & this dreamlike sequence was only cut short as she just caught the end of Ethan's question. Did she hang out with muggle kids too? Josie brushed some of her hair away from her eyes before leaning on the bridge's rail with her arms like his. She looked below them to the long drop under the bridge before her voice was heard in a somewhat saddened tone, "U-Um...Father didn't-doesn't usually allow me to go & p-play with other kids, a-at least before I s-started coming here..A-And where we live, t-there wasn't-isn't really any kids for me t-to play with...t-that lived close a-at least", she paused, "B-But I had my b-books, so i-it was almost like h-having fictional friends to read about.."

....Did that sound totally bonkers for her to say?

Turning to look at him as he began to tell her about his Prefect-ness duties, she listened intently as he brought mention of apparently being badged a year younger than usual & how it was pretty difficult to get the attention of the older students. That sounded scary, so she definitely understood that, Josie could never imagine being authoritative with someone especially if that someone were older than her, she already struggles to hold a conversation with somehow so how could she even manage to get the attention of the other students by speaking? But it wasn't about how she was feeling, it was all more on Ethan since he was the one with the stress here. Clearly seeing the little bit of fear in his eyes when he said he hadn't expect to be given the Prefect badge & him even saying how he was panicking, she couldn't help but feel sorry & stressed herself for it. Josie studied him before she attempted to make him feel a little less stressed, "I-I'm sure you'll get the hang of it...I don't t-think you s-should worry so much.." Without thinking, she moved a bit closer to him as she gave him a light nudge with her shoulder, but then fearing she might have hurt him, she backed away again & whispered a, "S-Sorry.."

Moving on, back to the important matter at hand: THIS SURPRISE!

Would she like to see it?! The young Ravenclaw couldn't remember the last time she had nodded her head so quickly before with such eager anticipation! YES, YES we would like to see this surprise room!

Ethan turned to face the beautiful Josie, and listened to her story. Wait…what? Josie’s father didn’t allow her to mingle with kids? And…just what? The Slytherin made unintentional mental notes on this, and was beginning to believe that it was the reason why Josie stutters a lot. She’s very, very shy…doesn’t like loud noises because she was always at home with her books, safely secluded from the outside world.

Ethan thought it to be sad.

The prefect grinned to show his gratefulness towards the Ravenclaw. She believed in him, and that’s all that mattered. And…was that a nudge? Ethan chuckled at the gesture. It seems that Josie was slowly coming out of her shell. “Thanks Jo. I needed that.” The prefect leaned closer to her making his shoulder touch with hers, “No need to say sorry. It’s totally cool.”

And Merlin’s beard. He was never that close to Josie…or any girl for that matter.


Okay then! “You will really, really love it.” Ethan would bet on his life. His first thought was Josie when he discovered the room during his night patrol. The Slytherin pushed himself off the edge and got his skateboard. “Let’s go?” Ethan asked smiling, but his smile slowly faded when he heard a low rumbling sound…then it grew louder. What…in the world was that?! Without thinking twice Ethan got hold of Josie’s hand and started to run for the courtyard, away from the rumbling noise.

Not even realizing that he had been looking at her, she probably looked a bit saddened by this little piece of her life. But for some reason she couldn't help but come to defend her father almost immediately, "B-But I know h-he just wanted to m-make sure I-I was safe.." Right? There was nothing with making sure his only daughter was safe, he really did have the best intentions, regardless..

...Right?

Josie's feeling soon shifted very rapidly when she had seen that she actually managed to make Ethan feel better, she could see it in his smile. She smiled back as he thanked her & she shook her head a little bit, "I-It's no p-problem.." The Ravenclaw blushed a little bit as he leaned closer to her & made his shoulder touch hers. Her smile looked a bit nervous as he told her it was alright that she had nudged him, & she was actually...pretty..relaxed being this close to him, at least for the moment.

And now she was finally going to get to see this surprise he had for her! She could barely wait when he'd given her the notion that it was now time to show her the surprise! She stood up straight no longer leaning on the bridge's rail ready to go, but then suddenly froze abruptly when all of a sudden she also heard the very same rumbling that was rapidly growing louder & louder. Automatically fearing the worst, she grabbed onto the bridge's rail again to steady herself, but almost immediately let go of the rail when Ethan had grabbed for her hand & starting leading her away from the bridge. She hadn't the slightest clue as to what was going on, but she felt that they'd better not stay there.

....What was going on?

It wasn't cute, actually. He liked CB BECAUSE it wasn't cute, but the boy nodded along anyway, not wanting to be rude to his new friends. Where they friends already? He really hoped so.

"What ins and outs do ya know?" They weren't older than him and yet they seemed like they REALLY know the school well. Paris made a mental note to try and follow them to classes so he wouldn't get lost along the way. Again.

He grinned at the mention of his name, and nodded. "Like the city, only better." Where was he before? "Oh. Um, I was homeschooled for a while. Mum finally let me come here." He thought with the school freezing over last term that she surely wouldn't allow that to happen, but his old man had somehow managed to make it happen, and he worshiped him more because of it.

"I live in Scotland, so maybe you've seen me 'round Hogsmeade or somethin'." He offered to Sophie thoughtfully. She DID have an air of familiarity about her, but he had a rubbish memory and couldn't place her either.

Oh, she could tell he was nervous? His cheeks flushed and he rubbed at his neck before giving them his best grin and jumping forward. "I'm not nervous! Just excited is all. Ready for my tour." He wiggled his way between them and offered both girls an arm.

Gentleman, see?

"My dormmates are alright, but I like you girls best." None of THEM had offered to give him a tour.

Isla nodded in agreement. There were definitely times when she skipped classes and didn't do homework. Lack of energy or laziness really. "Classes are okay." She shrugged. "Wait, is she that girl who had her skirt too high?" For a detention because of that, Isla assumed a harsher detention would be necessary but for a prank? Nah. "Duh! Of course you're in." She hugged her.

No guys wanted her? The brunette rolled her eyes. "There's always some guy out there that probably wants you, I'm sure." She nodded. Maybe not like in those muggle Disney movies but she was sure that there was always that one guy out there for every girl. It just takes some time to find him is all.

She stopped with a grin on her face and then it turned downwards once Eden told her that Phe said he didn't want a girlfriend. "THAT JERK." She said, furious and paced back and forth. How dare he lead her best friend on like that! "That's it. He's my next target for a prank. He's gonna pay." She nodded.

Kace decided to go out and explore the castle grounds some more. He forgot to check out his favorite spot the Wooden Bridge. People underestimate it, but it is a beautiful place to be. You can see the Hogwarts view for miles. Plus he loved sketching out here. You see people go by and just living life. He even loved the nature like seeing the owls fly over and go towards the owlery. He found a nice spot to sit and out of people's way and decided to draw. He found this quite relaxing and he didn't have anything else better to do.

Staying cooped up inside was too much for this Beauty. A stroll down the grounds sounded nice, especially the wind in her hair, the smell of nature. But you know what would be the loveliest thing ever? A rose.

A bright, red rose.

Beauty sighed dreamily. She loved roses.

She was humming along the bridge when she spotted a young man. Was that a sketchpad? Her interest peaked.

Approaching him, she looked over his shoulder, she asked, "What are you drawing?"

This little one was sassy, eh? "Just like I don't care which you do." Which meant Lena was the name she'd use to refer to her by, especially since it was clear the blonde disliked it. One shouldn't give away their weaknesses so easily. Maddie was doing a good job of preventing JUST that as she shook her head. "It's need to know and you don't." See? The info stayed in the vault.

"People make houses cool and some people in your house are cooler than others." But they were an interesting bunch, Slytherins. Maddie wouldn't HATE being associated with SOME of them. Still, she couldn't help but wonder who THIS girl had associated herself with. "Well, who are they?" Her friends. From her reaction, it seemed the girl had an abundance of them. Maddie was much more choose-y than that.

As Kace was drawing, he felt someone was watching him. He turned around and saw a girl was standing there. He smiled and closed his sketchbook. But her question was out of curiosity and he couldn't help but answer. "Oh I am just drawing the landscapes from the bridge. It is really beautiful here and quiet." he said taking the view in. "I am Kace by the way.." he grinned and held his hand out.

Connor liked the bridge, it was a nice and calm. A good view, he liked to come here to avoid thinking about things. Which seemed to be a usual pass time for him lately. There was just too much to think about, not much of which was pleasant. Nope, nope, nope.

But this was nice, and he didn't mind the cold now, not after last term. He wasn't sure he'd ever feel cold again after that. It was December now though, it was getting closer to break and Christmas and his 17th birthday. That would be exciting, but at the same time, he wasn't so sure. His 17th birthday meant another card from his dad, they always made him cry..

Buuuut that was on the list of things not to think about, along with a certain former Hufflepuff. He was so ready to be done with his teenage years.

Justine had been on her way to Herbology with some bogus excuse to bother the impossibly hot Professor Walton with, but it seemed he wasn’t in, so slightly disappointed, she had decided to take a walk and had ended up on the old wooden bridge, a spot she’d loved since Bolton had brought her back in her fifth year.

Despite being December, the weather wasn’t too bad and the walk was giving her thinking space, something she’d found herself more and more in need of lately.

Oh. Jonesy. She hadn’t seen him since their escapade out of the castle, when he’d rudely exposed her well kept secret… Honestly, she wasn’t sure what she thought of him. Connor had forced her into doing something she hated; namely telling the truth and being emotionally honest. But…. He was actually interesting… And funny, and she hadn’t wanted to end her own life to get away from him even once during their little adventure.

Which was quite a feat, actually.

Indecisive, Justine stopped in the middle of the bridge not far from the Gryffindor boy, her arms crossed over her chest as she quietly watched him, while trying to decide if she actually wanted to talk to him or not. Not that it was a bid deal or anything, ‘cause it totally wasn’t. Whaetever.

Connor could feel footsteps on the old wooden bridge, looking up he spotted Justine. Honestly Connor wasn't sure what to think of the girl. She was smart, beautiful, mysterious.. all things that attracted him. But he was personally a mess.

He'd made sure she would tell him the truth, so he at least knew he could get to know her as she really was. Which was good and even though she acted grumpy he got the feeling she liked being able to share who she was with someone.

It was interesting though, he felt like she was the Irene Adler to his Sherlock Holmes. Not that he could ever compare his skills of deduction to Sherlock Holmes. "Hey, its a little hot out today. You might not need that coat." He said and smirked a little, he thought he was funny.