GOSH. HER RAP. It was TOTALLY AWESOME! Like the best ever...which was why it needed to longer. LIKE WHY NOT?

With her notebook and quill in hand, Abbi made her way towards the lake where she gazed about looking for somewhere not too sunny to sit. It wasn't that she didn't like the warm, she HELLA liked it, it was just that she couldn't exactly write with the sun shinning BOOM SMACK in her face.

Eventually she headed towards the beach tree, whilst hoping it's branches would be her savior of the day. PHEW. SHADE at last. The fourth year plonked down and then the scribbles began.

Again...her rap was TOTALLLY WAY TOO COOL!

Ceorlic had walked the Perimeter of the lake for a while picking up a stick and tossing them into the lake sighing with each toss. None of these would do. None were THE STICK. He moved past a tree that sat directly beside the lake....stopped and back tracked.

THIS! This tree would provide him the ultimate stick he was sure of it. he walked around the tree about 3 times taking inventory of each fallen branch and of some still attached to the tree, within arms length that he could snap right off. One more pace around the tree and he selected an already fallen branch. One long enough to be considered for a fishing rod. Which was EXACTLY what he was going for. Producing a long string from his pocket Ceorlic tied it around the tip of the branch. Then reached back into his pocket and pulled out a Pumpkin Pasty. he broke off a small piece from it's corner and tied that bit at the end of the string.

Settling down just at the edge of the lake and under some shade of the tree Ceorlic flicked his make-shift fishing rode, and sat their waiting....waiting waiting.
This was no different from Loch Ness.

Gabriel was about done with the castle. There wasn't anywhere to hide...with light. Everyone was everywhere and his nerves couldn't take how many GIRLS were littering the corridors. There was no place to turn were there wasn't a GIRL.

This found him stress eating pumpkin tarts on his way to the lake; face obscured by a hood...HE WASN'T IN THE MOOD, OKAY?! Why were girls so...SO........

He viciously took a bit of his pumpkin treat. Gabriel did NOT understand, okay?!?!

Luckily, as he neared the lake he seen a familiar face and gravitated towards him. CEORLIC! Pumpkin brothers. HE UNDERSTOOD the girl troubles. Or.....the, uh, bonnies? Ceo was painfully Irish...but Gabe had gotten used to the accent and not understanding a lot of the words.

"Are you hiding, too?"

You see the thing about fishing for Ceorlic was like taking a nap. Naps were a brilliant way to shut out the world around you. Nothing would enter his head and make him think too hard, or think at all for the matter. His mind was focused on the water, and the bit of bait he had floating on it's surface. He did not care if he ever caught anything. His catch-rate was terribly low in fact.

So here he sat, his thoughts not on anything like The Head-Bonny's mangled ideals of courage and bravery, or on...ummm Isla. Yeah nope None of that thought...That one was too painful. Ugh Girls.

Oh! Was someone beside him? Ceo looked up and saw Glasses Gabe. What great timing! "Jimmy Gabe!" Ceo said in a bit of excitement, his SCOTTISH poking free. "Na, ah'ament hiding. Though if we climbed th' tree a'm sure that'd be even better. Wouldn't it?"

Unlike with the female population...Gabriel could relax around Ceo...and he was so very thankful for it. There were enough people around to make him an anxious mess. One less was appreciated.

Flopping down, he continued to aggressively eat his pumpkin tart...if anything Gabriel did could really be called aggressive. When he felt the cold sweats and chills, pumpkin treats seemed to relax his mind....along with a book.

Yes, he'd brought one along...on the off chance he found some peace and quiet.

"I'm not much good at climbing...but okay. Did you want to?" Up in trees....they'd be hard to find, right? "....Can you....uh, fix a broken bone?"....just in case. Gabriel didn't know about the school's Healer yet. Did they have one, even?

Ceorlic jabbed his fishing rod into the ground so that would stick out, and stay upright. He'd keep an eye on it while showing Gabe the a Ropes to climbing trees. "Tis simple . Ye'v juist git tae determine oan th' plook whilk branch ye kin pull yersel' up wi' " Ceo pointed to each branch that looked sturdy enough to him. On that note Ceo responded to Gabe's question on fixing broken bones. "A'm na healer, bit. Ah kin a braw splint . A've an' a' seen 'n' heard mah brother dae some fixing spell. A've goosed baith mah arms plenty times crashing fae mah bike..." He wasn't making any sense was he? "Sorry, yeah I can try if Ye dae break a bone. I think we can avoid it though if we direct our falls towards the water. " He pointed from the tree to the lake making a whistling noise, then a splashing noise.

The best thing he could do now was climb the tree. Glasses could follow his path up. "Ye ready tae give it a gang!?" he yelled in excitement as he hopped, not to far a distance from the ground to the closest sturdy branch he could reach for. He pulled himself up and wrapped his arms around it entirely giving his whole upper body strength then put himself up into a sitting position on that branch over hanging the lake. Just a bit. His feet now kicking the air in joy.

Angel was still worried about what had happened to Adi and so she had seen the tree by the lake and decided that she would sit down there and figure out what to do next, she sat down under the tree and close her eye she was still a bit annoyed about what had happened to Adi at the start of term feast and she hadn't seen him since was he mad with her or something.

It was an awesome day! It was sunny. Adi wasn't much a fan of the sun but after last term, he was very grateful to bask in the sunshine at each opportunity he got. And he was not going to waste such a perfectly good day by being inside.

He decided on visiting the Tree. It was always less crowded and more peaceful. He spotted figures in the form of students milling around but one little form stood out. Adi squinted. Angel. No mistaking the lip gloss and other make up.

"What's up, Angel?'' the Hufflepuffer greeted. "You okay?'' Why was she here all by herself.

Angel looked up and smiled when she saw it was her friend Adi, the new Hufflepuff Prefect, had she congratulated him? "Hey Adi." Angel beamed. "Congratulation on becoming a Hufflepuff Prefect." Angel thought it was so cool that he was a prefect in his fourth year.

"I'm good." Angel said truthfully. "I was just thinking about the Start of Term feast and what happened to you." Angel looked at him and sighed. "I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble that meant you had to leave the Gryffindor Table" Angel hadn't enjoyed much of the feast after that because AJ had left to go after Adi and then her other sister had decided to slap her for no reason... so yeah not a great start to the year but she wouldn't dwell on it. "How are you?"

Oh yeah. Angel had not congratulated him as yet. Too many distractions recently anyway so he didn't hold it against her. "Thanks a ton,'' he replied, now leaning his head against the tree.

Ah yes. Angel, like him, still thought of all that chaos on their first day back. He didn't blame her. It was pretty darn hard to get certain stuff out of his head. Like how he had felt when Ian had kissed AJ. Adi tilted his head toward Angel. "What do you mean? You didn't do anything except trying to avoid us. All those problems were caused by someone who I though of as a friend.'' The Puffer wasn't very forgiving towards the other Hufflepuff right now mainly because he had tried to Hex AJ when she had her back turned.

"I'm better. AJ helped cheer me up in no time.'' Of course he still felt he could have done more to prevent her getting into a tackle but he had to keep reminding himself he was not responsible for anyone's actions. "Are you going to tell me now why you wanted to be by yourself during the carriage ride and at the Feast?''Adi was rather curious about that.

Angel looked at Adi and sighed, she was sure he would hate her after she told him what she thought but alas she could think of no way around avoiding telling him. "I am sure if I had been there Ian wouldn't have tried it on because I would have stopped him from even attempting to." Angel sighed. "And he wouldn't have jinxed her because well she wouldn't have had to come and drag me towards the carriage, though obviously I didn't force her too."

Angel had been avoiding them from before that she sat on her own on the train as well, now what to say. "I just wanted time alone because I'm feeling confused about different things." Angel sighed. "Ben is totally confusing me with his actions." Angel looked at Adi and said truthfully. "See I can tell you love AJ because of the way you act around her, your friendly and nice and very supportive of her." Angel then thought of Ben. "Were as Ben your lucky if you get two words out of him. He kissed me on the cheeks in DA but I'm assuming that is a brotherly kiss and so instead of causing an awkward ride for everyone I thought it would be best to just stay on my own and let you lot have all the fun." Angel then added. "And I had a feeling you wouldn't want me there anyway."

Adi shook his head vigorously. He needed to tell Angel what he had to be reminding himself all along. "It didn't matter who was there, Angel. Ian was apparently jealous and annoyed at AJ and I because we were joking around in the carriage. If a prefect was there and he tried that, nobody would have been able to stop him. It was a good thing Benny was with us though.'' Adi had barely had time to register what was going on but his best friend had already been saving the day. Or AJ rather.

The Puffer listened to Angel explain in silent. He smirked a bit at the kissing. Bold moves were definitely coming from Benny now. But he was panicky on the inside too. What if Benny and Angel started going out? What would happen to him? He'd be ditched in a corner with no bestie. "Calm down,'' he warned himself. "It's not like Benny is going away forever or something.''

Still a bit panicky, Adi looked at Angel. "That's true that Benny hardly speaks. But did you notice the change in him at the Feast? He spoke a lot more. Plus I think the plant thing was not something he would usually do.'' Yep, Benny was definitely a dude that was changing. "Give him some time, Angel,'' Adi said. "I know for sure he likes you back in a way that isn't brotherly but he's just taking it at his own pace and one that he's comfortable with.''

O_O Wouldn't want her there? "Are you kidding? We missed you. Why do you think AJ tried to get you to come with us?'' Why wouldn't he want her to hang with him?

Angel looked at Adi as she hung her head and listened to what he had to say. "I know in the feast he was actually more talkative then I have ever known him." Angel sighed, seriously though it was good that he was talkative. "I hope your right Adi." Angel sighed, she wasn't sure what to think anymore about anything at all.

Angel looked at him. "No of course I'm not joking, I don't see why you would want a crazy person there, someone who's so bad that her own sister hates her enough to slap her for apparently no reason" Angel looked straight at Adi, okay so she didn't know that at the time but wasn't that proof that everyone hated her. "I don't know why AJ wanted me around, maybe she was just pitying me." Angel really had no idea but she knew what she said wasn't true but she was going through a lot of different emotions at the minute.

"See? Progress. Who know, maybe soon we'll have a hard time making him keep quite.'' Adi eyed Angel. "Like we have with you,'' he joked. Oh right. She wasn't AJ. "I was joking.'' He had to let her know because he knew she was very sensitive. "We love to hear you chatter. And of course I'm right. When was I ever wrong?'' Meh. Another lame joke.

"Do I need to punch you?'' Adi asked half jokingly but half half serious at the same time. "You are crazy but in a good way. Don't let your negative thoughts bother you.'' Heh. Adi should take his own advice. Anyway... "I'm sure Abby doesn't hate you. She probably lost control of her temper.'' Poor Angel. She looked so sad. Adi moved over and put one arm around her. "Listen, Angel. You're like that awesome, crazy, fun little sister I never had. One person you don't have to think that way with is me. I like when you're hanging with me.'' Also was also sure AJ was not pitying her.

The lake, he'd said. Meet me by the lake after school.

Hopefully she'd know he meant here by this tree, or would at least spot him chilling out under his tree forcing himself to understand the contents of his History of Magic textbook. His concentration and ability to sit still long enough to read it was TONS better these days, but now he had the problem of trying to absorb the information, which was about ten times harder than it was before.

But Toby kept through it, idly fiddling with the end of his school tie as he read. When Soph got here, he'd take a well deserved break.

Now that they were sort of back in the swing of things, Sophie had been especially clingy to her remaining people at Hogwarts - namely CB and Toby - in the absence of Cat and Mo. Of her four best friends, now there were only TWO around. She was pretty good at battling away any sort of sadness over this, though, because any time it threatened to creep in, she retreated to her dormmate or her boyfriend. And, thus far, neither of them seemed put off by her, so...

There was no stopping her.

Far too excited to see Tobes, especially since he had initiated their meet-up this afternoon, Sophie was actually jogging down to the lake. Still in uniform. Super shamelessly. At the sight of the Hufflepuff by the tree - was he reading...? - Soph veered her course toward him and gained speed until she reached him and intentionally let herself fall to the ground, rolling into him with the biggest of smiles on her face, only the tiniest bit out of breath.

"Hi." Griiiin.

KYROH WAS DETERMINED TO CLIMB THIS TREE!

Or.....learn how to climb it. Yes. And no one was going to stop him. Spotting Toby and his Sophie, he shook his head. He needed FOCUS to climb!! The second year stood arms straight up above his head as he glanced up. Was his hands touching the branches yet?

No?

Hm.

This would be harder than he thought.

There was a Kyroh standing by the lake, doing this thing under a tree that made him look Dot's mum had looked during the very brief time when yoga had been a thing in their house. It hadn't lasted, 'cause Stella hated looking stupid. And hated how her bum looked in yoga pants.

But the point... what the heck was Kyroh doing?

"Are you waving at a bird?" That seemed likely. Hullo, birds. Dot waved too.

What... what had he actually managed to understand from this page so far. Something about... uhh... goblins? No, warlocks. Uhh. Some sort of gathering with lots of talking and stuff. Man. History. Maybe Soph would let him look at her notes or someth-

At that moment there was a flump beside him and Toby tore his attention away from the book in time to see his favourite nerd rolling right into him.

"Hi," he said right back, amused as anything as he placed his open book face down on Soph's face. Eheheh.

Movement out of the corner of his eye alerted Toby to Kyroh over there doing........ something. Some kind of tree salute? He seemed pretty busy, and had one of his friends with him now too, so Toby just let him get on with it and looked back at the Ravenclaw closer to home.

Grinning the cheesiest of grins up at Tobes, Soph stayed laying on her back, lightly clasping her fingers behind her head to act as a pillow. "Fancy meeting you here," the Ravenclaw quipped.

Aaaaaand darkness.

Soph huffed into the book on her face, feigning distress, then she flung her head to the side to make the book fall off her face and close next to her, but she got a faceful of hair in the process. "Thanks for that. You're such a nerd," she remarked with exactly no malice in her voice, the corners of her lips turning upward in a smile as she brushed her hair away from her mouth. Then she promptly head-butted his side before twisting around so she could use his leg as a pillow instead of her hands and made herself quite comfortable against him. "To what do I owe today's meeting, hm? Can't imagine you just wanted to see me today, Merlin forbid. Dunno why you'd ever wanna do that." Hehehehe. "I'm dreadful company." Cue the unnecessary pathetic, pouty faces.

Angel looked at Adi. "Well I hope that I can get him talking more in the end." Angel stuck her tongue out at her friend. "Oh I love to talk, you got given a mouth you might as well use it." Angel nudged Adi. "I know you were joking silly." Angel then decided to joke back. "Oh I don't know, how about the feast, the Whomping Willow last term." Angel stuck her tongue out at him.

"No I don't think you do." Angel said half-heartedly, she still didn't know if Abby hated her but she looked at Adi and gave a smile smile before.

O_______o

Why was Adi touching her? She was confused and scared AJ would get Jealous even though she didn't like Adi, she liked Benny, so she shuffled away from him. "I am?" Angel was confused, he saw her as a little sister, that was awesome. "I'll remember that." Angel said truthfully.

"You're making progress,'' Adi acknowledged. More than he could have said for himself. Ah well. Maybe an Angel is just what the Dragon needed. He laughed now. "We can use it for better things though. Like eating.'' Adi stuck his tongue out right back. That was his habit too, Angel. "Okay, fine. I admit defeat. I've been wrong a couple of times but I'm not much.''

Okay, so maybe Angel didn't like his hug. "I think I give great hugs,'' Adi said jokingly, not for once guessing that Angel thought AJ might see them and get the wrong idea. "Yup, you are. So, just tell me who I gets you down and I'll give then a nice hexing or jinxing.'' LOL. Maybe not hexing or jinxing but definitely a good talking to.

Angel looked at Adi and smiled. "I hope that I am." Angel had no idea what to do next, so she just listened to everything that Adi was saying. "Oh no there is nothing better than talking, except eating maybe." Angel giggled at her friend "So NER!" Angel stuck her tongue out at her friend.

Angel looked around, there didn't seem to be any sign of AJ. "Oh I don't know, I think your hands are too sweaty." Angel poked her friend in the ribs to show she was joking.

"Oh just Abby." Angel sighed. "I think she hates my guts because I tried to tell her to think about AJ when she was all googly eyes over him, she should have been protecting AJ and taking AJ's side not some boy who was mean and horrible to her sister."

[spoiler= Hyper Angel] [spoiler]

"No, trust me. I know that you are. I tried to do the same thing last year but it didn't go according to plan.'' If anything, it made Benny feel really bad and Adi really guilty. "Nu uh. Eating is waaay better than talking.'' It was something the Puffer was very much firm on. Food was awesome!

O_O Adi's hands were not sweaty, thank you very much. He was not at all sweaty. It was such a breezy day that it would be difficult to sweat anyway. "It's okay. I guess you don't want Benny seeing that.'' He winked.

"Honestly, I don't blame you. I'd be telling her the same thing. Plus, she was wrong to slap you.'' Very wrong indeed. "Did she get in trouble or anything?''