Summer was almost here, and honestly.. Hayley couldn't wait. Couldn't wait to go home, and spend time with her family, and go to Scotland with her friends, and make good on Noel, Benzi and her plans for a band adventure - which had started as a way for the three of them to bond, - and now in all honesty, it was an escape. Simply, and purely. An escape. For all three of them, really. But it was possible the boys needed it more than her.

Hugging textbooks to her chest, the Ravenclaw's gaze followed her excited crup as Tulip danced around the pathway, running from one patch of flowers, to another, only to jump straight into a bush the next moment. Hayley laughed quietly to herself, unable to help the growing smile on her lips. Poor crup, acted as if she hadn't seen the light of day in ages. Which wasn't true at all, although they hadn't been out nearly as often lately.

Homework, studies, and the coming exams were at fault. Completely and totally. And at the moment, they both needed a break.

David was actually ready for summer to come at this point. Home hadn't really sounded like a great place to be recently, but Hogwarts wasn't feeling all that great right now either, so at least his uncle's place would be a change of scenery. And there was more freedom to go wherever he wanted, especially since he was of age.

Still, at least it was a nice day so he could wander around outside instead of staying inside to study. Not that he would've done that anyway since he was avoiding school-related things, but still.

As he was heading along the pathways though, he spotted the pretty girl from the masquerade up ahead. She was pretty nice and easy to talk to, so he decided to go catch up to her.

"'Sup, Hayley," he said with a grin. "Enjoying the weather?"

"Hmmmm... stay with the girlfriend or be around the boring family. It's gonna be a very tough call." Joking. He was joking. "'Course I'll come and stay! We could have a beach date." The beach, man. He was gonna be dead unhappy if it ended up raining a lot. Which, considering the fact that this was Britain, was very likely.

This was nice. This was really nice. And it kinda made him wonder why they hadn't dated earlier.

SMIIIIIIIRK. "With me? Your other suitors are gonna get jealous." MAN, he was on a ROLL with these jokes. "I'll come and stay with you for a few. You sure your mum won't say anything about that?" His mum would lose her marbles if Ruby came over to his to stay. Which, speaking of, he wasn't gonna mention the fact that the two still needed to meet. Heh.

"I expect lots of proper dates this summer." It would be fun. And he could pretend like he was reluctant about it if he liked, but Ruby was sure that he'd enjoy himself too, he had every other time so far, and she was good at making it worth his while when he catered to her whims. But a beach date WAS the perfect place to start.

A nose wrinkle at him though. Oh suuuure. Other suitors. She used to think she had a ton, but somehow it hadn't actually panned out that way. Stupid boys being stupid. Not that it mattered now though, because she was Grayson's and he was hers and it made her very happy. "Let them." She said. A little jealousy was healthy and if there was anyone who was jealous of him aside from in her imagination, then maybe it'd keep Grayson from getting complacent and make sure he didn't take any of the benefits of being her boyfriend for granted. Mhmm.

"My mum won't care. She'll eat you up, in fact. That's if she is even around this summer. Who knew? She'd be there or she wouldn't. Likewise with Ruby's siblings. She was already convinced that Gabriel wouldn't be coming home. Again. Probably permanently now since he loathed them all so much or whatever.

Kace decided to go on the pathways and enjoy the fresh air. He brought his sketchbook with him to begin sketching some beautiful scenery. As he walked down the pathways he began to look for an open space and found one in the grass. He put his blanket down and lay down and closed his eyes and just basked in the suns rays. He still had sketchbook ready incase he had any ideas ready. Until then it was time to take a nice nap!

With a book in hand Nola skipped down the pathways in search for a spot for reading. As she continued down the pathway she spotted a figure out in the grass. Pausing on the path Nola looked out over to the figure. "Hey! Are you okay?" She called out before leaving the path to walk closer.

"I'm Nola, are you okay?" She asked the boy when she got closer to him, completely not even considering he might just be enjoying the lovely day outside on the grass. No, she instinctively thought he was injured or something. She was more like her mother than she admitted.

As Kace was enjoying the sun rays and trying to work on his tan, he heard a voice. It was a voice he didn't know too well. He opened his eyes and shielded them from the sun and turned around and noticed it was a little girl. "Heyyy oh I am fine. I was just relaxing in the sun actually. No need to worry." he assured the girl. Ooooh so her name was Nola. Interesting name. He smiled and nodded, "I am Kace. I guess we both have unique names." he chuckled.

"So what brings you to the pathways on this beautiful day?" he noticed her book and he nodded towards the book. "I see you wanted to enjoy a good book?"

Nola peered down at him, unsure if she could really take his word on his safety. Plopping down on the grass beside him she poked him in the shoulder lightly. "You sure about that, Kace?" She questioned him.

Remembering her book she nodded her head. "My Uncle Mark sent it to me. It's about alligators." She rolled her eyes. Nola did not miss most of the creatures in the bayou. "Do you have a favorite book?" Nola flipped the book open and stared at a photo of an alligator.

"You know, my name is related to a city." Nola pointed out. "Do you know which one?" She asked with a smile.

Kace laughed and poked her shoulder back. "I am positive. What a guy can't just relax on the lawn and soak the suns rays?" There was nothing wrong with that in his opinion. Now onto the topic of her book and he smiled and thought it was nice her uncle mark gave her a book about....alligators? That was something new! "Well I never read a book about alligators before. What are you learning in that book now?" He was quite a curious puff indeed.

Did he have a favorite book? Kace thought about this and shrugged. "Hmm not really at the moment. I guess I love the Lord of the Rings series that is about it." He hoped she wouldn't judge him on that. He heard her comment about her name and it was related to a city? He gave her a quizzical look and he couldn't think of it. "Hmm noo I can't think of it. Can I guess is it an Italian city?"

Industrial Arts, eh? Toby started attempting to pick apart those words in his head to make sense of them a little more, even as he bounced, while Airey explained. "That sounds so cool," he replied, emphasising his words in time with each bounce, a habit he'd picked up years ago. "And... yeah. I went to a muggle school before coming here, it taught older kids too, and they showed us the kindsa stuff we'd do as we got older. It was weird, coming here and finding out they didn't do any of that." Bouncebouncebounce. "Not that the stuff here isn't awesome, too," he hurried to add. "It's just... completely different. Unless you count Muggle Studies. And Astronomy! That's all physics-y. Maybe that's why I like it so much."

Thinking out loud and yapping away was a bit of a habit of Toby's when he was all happy and bouncy. Airey was luckily that he didn't totally run away with that conversation; perhaps had they not been in the middle of pogoing, that may have happened. As it was, the bouncing was the focus of his concentration.

At Flamsteed's little display of skills, Toby grinned and gave the man a short applause, before holding back into the pogo stick, because backwards AND no hands could end in falling and a damaged pogo stick. Maybe Toby didn't believe danger applied to him, but he sure as heck would make sure that his treasured belongings wouldn't get hurt.

"Nice one, Professor Airey!" Toby did a couple of three-sixties in the air as they went, really enjoying the movement as he laughed at that last comment. "Well, as one of those angsty teenagers, I'd say you're doing a great job of it, too." Was there a hint of teasing in his voice? Was Sophie Brown rubbing off on him? Neverrrrrr.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess so. Do you know what my mom would say though? She'd say, "You really should be wearing sunscreen out here. Don't want to get a sunburn, do you?" That's what she'd say." Nola told him, she had even changed her voice to sound like her mother's.

"I don't like alligators. There's a lot of them where I'm from so I don't really want to read this book." Nola admitted. She was thankful for the book from Uncle Mark, she just didn't care to actually read this one. "I've never read Lord of the Rings." She shook her head. "It sounds interesting."

She laughed when he guessed Italy. "Not even close. Try North America!" She urged him with a smile. "The city is French." Nola normally didn't like guessing games, but this one was fun!

Kace chuckled and agreed that would be a typical thing mothers would say. "That is true but I am too lazy to be on sunblock and plus I do tan easily." he winked. He just loved the suns rays and he rarely got sunburned. He gave her a quizzical look and wonder why she was reading a book about alligators and she didn't like them. "Can I guess and say are you from Alabama where alligators or common or Florida?" Just a hunch is all.

He shrugged and knew some people didn't know about the Lord of the Rings. "It is really interesting because the author made his own world and developed terms I never would have thought of." I mean seriously who has the imagination like that. He raised his eyebrows and was shocked his guess didn't work. "Hmm alright so it is in North America.." he said speaking out loud. "The city is French..." He was really puzzled. "Hmm well I know the town New Orleans has people who speak French?" he suggested with a side grin.

"I don't like wearing sunscreen either." She shook her head. "Good guesses!" Nola smiled. "I was born in Florida, but I don't remember living there. I was a baby then." She mused.

Flipping through the book some more, Nola found a picture of an alligator with its mouth open showing all of its teeth. "This one looks hungry, doesn't it?" She the listened to Kace talk about his favorite book. "What's your favorite animal?" Nola asked. It was a tiny bit off topic from books but questions often just fell out of her mouth whether or not they relevant.

When Kace finally figured out what she was talking about, Nola jumped to her feet and ran around in a circle. "You got it!" She exclaimed throwing her hands in the air. If she had remembered to put confetti in her pockets she would have thrown confetti in the air too.