Torie was sitting in the treehouse, his legs hanging off the side as he looked down at the ground. He was finding it hard to believe that another term was almost over, he was nearly a third year now. His sister Norah would be coming next term too.... That would just be weird, having his sister there. There to tattle on him and Jay he was sure too. Bah, not going to think about that. He was just glad he hadn't seen any spiders that could kill him this year. He looked down at the ground as people past by, wondering where Chris might be, maybe he should go looking for him.

Chris was a few weeks away from breaking up with Torie. Not in the relationshipy way of course but more in the, you can't be my best friend if we never ever hang out way. Hmph. Was just rude honestly. He wandered around the grounds and headed over to the treehouse. Somewhere he hadn't explored yet.

Climbing up to the top he grinned finding this awfully fun. Like climbing the tree back home. As he reached the top though his grin fell and he frowned. "TORIN LANCE YENORIN!!!" he yelled and stomped over to where he was sitting. Yup he was putting on his best mum impression. "Where have you been?!"

He blinked and nearly fell out of the tree when he heard Chris shouting instead fell back and gazed up at him all wide eyed. Wh....at? "I've been right here!" he said "And umm hiding." Yep, keeping away from spiders. Hey even Chris should know that! "Where have you been?" he asked eyeing him. He'd been good! He hadn't left Hogwarts, he'd come and had stayed!

Had he been hiding from Chris? Maybe....though he wouldn't admit that. What was the mum expression about though?! "What did I do?!"

Chris' eyes widened a little worried he'd fall out of the tree. Just a little though. He wouldn't have died if he had so he wasn't that worried. Sitting down next to his former best friend, yup he's totally getting demoted he frowned. "You have not been right here." Rude. That's what it was Rude. "Why were you hiding?" Oh great now he was asking where he had been, "Umm...." he turned a little red and smiled, "Hanging out with a friend."

"What did you do? You've been hiding. How can I go explore things or get in trouble if my best friend is hiding?"

He just looked up at him as his eyes widened and watched him as he sat finally moving to sit up as well. "I have been here." he said blinking, "just....not where you were." He'd been to classes and stuff! "From spiders" he said shrugging, "At least up here we can see them coming. Mostly I've stayed around the school rather than outside." He snickered at him turning a little red "Mhmmm and would that friend be....Timmy?" he asked teasingly.

"I've been around." he said shrugging "Just not really exploring, and trying not to get into trouble." Okay that just sounded lame.

Chris listened and nudged Torie, "don't mention spiders." He still hadn't got over it. Not at all. He peered down at the ground thoughtfully, "You're right. Maybe we'll use this as a fort if we have to in the future." Then he heard the snickering and punched his arm, 'Yes Timmy. She's my girlfriend..." he said with a smile. It was the first time he actually told someone that. Felt good. Sounded good. And of course he'd tell his best friend because he told Torie everything.

"Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame," he said rolling his eyes. Seriously that was lame. "What happened to my best friend?"

He laughed a little though even the thought of those things still made his skin crawl. "Eh, it's a good place to keep a look out." he said shrugging, "It works anyway. He grinned at him and the punch in his arm. "Well I'm happy for you. Don't really care much for that stuff myself, but if it's what you want, I'm happy." he said shrugging. Was he stupid not to think about girls yet? Eh, he thought they were cute...sometimes, like...Syah, but hey why not. Chris wanted a girlfriend he wasn't complaining.

He snorted "Hey, it's all I could come up with!" he said his eyes dancing. "I don't know, been sort of just...studying really...."

Chris smiled and looked at Torie. "She's awesome. You should meet her. Her best friend is actually in your house. Kid named Brian." At least he wasn't picking on him. He half thought he would make fun of him for liking a girl since Torie seemed to not be interested in them at all.

Torie? Studying? Had he switched houses and not been told about it? "Studying....riiiiight...." He gave Torie a look and shook his head. "Got any plans this summer?"

It was always nice that Culloden played along with her playful bigheadedness. Well, not ALWAYS, but... especially since she'd LEARNED it from him in the first place, he definitely owed it to her to humor her when she was teasing like this. Grateful, she was, and she giggled and squirmed at the poke as she responded chipperly, "M'glad y'agree. I'll leave it to you to break this news to Botros."

Heheheh. As if.

Zander, though? "Dunno." Well, she had SOME sort of idea, so she amended her statement, "I mean... he's looking into a few options. Not uni, I know that much. He's... I don't think he's entirely sold on the idea of uni, 'specially since he's not sure of what he wants to do like... career-wise. Think Flammy talked him into taking a gap year - at least that way it could get Zander into the mindset of... okay, there's one year to get his head on straight, then after that he should be uni-bound, y'know?" She shrugged. She was grateful that Flammy had tried to point Zander in some concrete direction of pursuing further education, even if it wasn't right away. Something was better than nothing.

Leaning against the banister, she went on, "'N they talked about like... internships and stuff? Sounds like Flammy might try to get him some sort of astronomy-related internship, or he has other connections to get Zander into some... one-year traveling kind of thing where he'd be traveling the world doing different jobs and things. Just to keep busy, see the world, open his eyes to possibilities... that kinda thing. That'd be super cool, I think he likes the sound of that one a lot." Even if it potentially meant they would be away from each other the vast majority of the time. But. This... was Zander's life they were talking about. He needed to do what he needed to do, completely independently of her. If they were meant to be, they would continue to be.

"But I also think it'd be mega cool for to get a job at Dakest's shop, I think he'd have fun working there," she nodded. "Dakest owns, like... an outdoorsy shop, one that sells outdoor gear 'n stuff, like the stuff you'd buy to go hiking or camping or whatever? Dakest actually asked me if I'd wanna do something like that 'n offered me a job, but 'course I'm hoping to hear back from Ira at Ollivander's. A career-related job makes loads more sense than working at Dakest's shop, even though it'd be fun, but... I guess if Ira doesn't want me, then I'll still have that as a back-up plan for a part-time job while I'm in school."

It was weird, talking about all of this. It still felt like eons away, but... tomorrow she was leaving. Leaving Hogwarts forever. Well... no, probably not forever, thanks to reunions and alumni parties, but... it would never be home again.

And that hurt.