Adi made his way to the tree house, Benny in tow. Illia needed him and he would be there for her because Henric, who was supposed to be her bestie, was being a humungous jerk. "You would think Henric would have had some sense slapped into him by now,'' he muttered to his boyfriend. Ever since Henric had come back from Christmas break, Adi hadn't been exactly friendly with him because he thought the dude was still being silly.

Speaking of Henric...

Adi stopped short, his eyebrows arched. "Henric. Have you come to upset Ilia some more?'' Henric might have been his friend longer than Ilia but he was seriously angry at the fifth year for being SO STUPID. His voice was cold and he didn't bother waiting for a reply as he moved past the Puffer to ascend the steps to the tree house. "Come on, Benny.''

Reaching the top, Adi quickly went in and was greeted by a pitiful yet beautiful sight. If Ilia hid her Veela qualities, he sure thought they were showing now more than ever. "Ilia?'' He edged closer, careful not to step on the dress. It made absoloutely no sense to to ask how she was doing as the answer to that was very visible.

Benny wasn't all together sure why he was following Adi towards the treehouse. Ilia had sent for his boyfriend not him and perhaps it was private. The younger girl was technically a friend but they certainly weren't as close as she was to the badger. But the Gryffindor supposed for now it was safe to come along for the traveling and if it wasn't appropriate, he would gladly step aside and leave the other two alone. "She's being nice...." he mused with a shrug to Adi's muttering.

He nearly stumbled as his other half stopped short, noticing the younger Hufflepuff only afterwards. Granted he himself no longer had issue with Henric but he felt somewhat awkward in that situation. So he remained quiet as Adi remarked at his presence there, staying in place a few more moments than his best friend, only finally moving when Adi called after him, a step or two behind. When he reached the top, he simply sat down at the platform letting his boyfriend make more first steps and approaching the clearly upset girl.

It may only be March. And it might still be a bit chilly outside but that didn't keep Hady from heading down onto the grounds this morning. Quick even steps kept her moving right past everyone and everything headed straight for one of her favorite spots.

Pushing her bag higher onto her shoulder Hady took to Tree House ladder like one climbed stairs. She was so used to it that it never fazed her in the least. Reaching the top she noticed she was alone and smiled slightly to herself. Perfect place to read and maybe even practice some spells.

Dropping her bag down on the floor against one of the walls Hady slid down the wall her back against it until she was sat. Legs stretched out in front of her, head resting back on the wall she shut her eyes. Slow even breaths then abled her to clear her mind. A clear mind would help her focus on something happy and then maybe she would be able to cast this charm.

...Honestly, Maxon didn't know why he kept torturing himself like this. Yes, he enjoyed being outside, but at what cost?! IT WAS FREEZING. He had been trying to be optimistic and trick himself into believing he was getting used to the cold, but no. He hated it. So much. And hate was such a strong word for him.

But maybe it would be warmer in the treehouse. Yes, he hoped it would. He climbed inside of it and decided to head up to the top, so he took the ladder and made his way up there.

And to his surprise, he wasn't alone.

"Hady!" He said, surprise evident in his voice. "How's it going?" What was she doing? Homework? Gross.

SPOILER!!: Maxon

..Honestly, Maxon didn't know why he kept torturing himself like this. Yes, he enjoyed being outside, but at what cost?! IT WAS FREEZING. He had been trying to be optimistic and trick himself into believing he was getting used to the cold, but no. He hated it. So much. And hate was such a strong word for him.

But maybe it would be warmer in the treehouse. Yes, he hoped it would. He climbed inside of it and decided to head up to the top, so he took the ladder and made his way up there.

And to his surprise, he wasn't alone.

"Hady!" He said, surprise evident in his voice. "How's it going?" What was she doing? Homework? Gross.

If she could sit here completely zoned out she would. There wasn't a thought in her mind and she was enjoying the si-

Hady started suddenly her eyes snapping open and her hand instantly moving to her wand on instant. Blinking a few times her eyes settled on Maxon. It was alright. He meant no harm Hady. Calm down. "Maxon!" She greeted then grinning up at him her hand falling to rest on her lap.

"It's going. How are you?," Hady asked quietly patting the floor beside her. "Happy birthday by the way!" Yes she remembered. She had even gotten him something too.

Yes! He'd persuaded her and she was staying. Sabbath was pleased she hadn't changed her mind. "Funny business!" He looked at Nells with a mock incredulity plastered over his face "Who me? Never! he teased, giving a lop-sided grin that only showed that, indeed, he was familiar with said funny business. Although after listening to her sleep-over story, he deduced that pee-inducing pranks were definitely not his style of funny business, she was safe from that.


Then, she was asking for a sleep over story. He cast his mind back searching for an anecdote that was suitable to reveal to her. He’d toured so much performing flamenco with his family over the years that he’d amassed a plethora of interesting stories about the places and people he’d met on his travels. He’d slept in fancy hotels but, then, on occasion he’d slept under rows of transit lounge chairs in airports and they were all good stories but, when he really put his mind to it, the fun times had been the simplest.

“I think the best sleepovers have been the ones at home, when my cousins and aunts and uncles would come around to our place like they do nearly every weekend. We eat, we sing, and we dance late into the night. In the summer, my cousins and I would sleep out around our pool area because we have a lot of hammocks that hang around it, and deck chairs. They were great times, they’d bring their guitars, we’d share a few drinks and whatever, sing bulerias and clap palmas, sometimes until the morning light... well, at least until we were overcome by the munchies, he chuckled to himself at the memory of it and felt a little pang of homesickness.

He sighed to himself. Nells was settling in making her little nest of cushions beside him, he reached over her and grabbed the throw rug that was folded in the corner and threw it over them both. It was toasty warm in the treehouse now but, he figured it could be cold in the early hours.

Nells shifted into the pillows to get onto her side and looked at Sabbie who was a few feet in front of her. She grinned when he picked and mimicked her funny business word. She gave him the eye though.

Noelle listened and imagined his sleepovers when he was younger. They sounded much like hers except with the drinking and other things. Heh. Munchies. Noelle was a big eater so she knew about munchies all right.

"That sounds like so much fun. My neighbors and I used to do that too. But all in the barn. It used to be a big thing. Putting the hay bales out with blankets over them. It was fun. I miss times like that. I like this sleepover though." Noelle said and smiled at Sabbie.

She could tell he was homesick. "Hey Sabbie... You know you're my best friend and my favorite person right?" Just in case he didn't know..

Ilia was lost in her thoughts, staring at the ceiling alone. That is, until a very familiar voice came and disturbed her thoughts of him. Was she up here....yes.....could he come up? She wasn't sure....she was waiting for Adi and she didn't know if seeing Henric would cause her to melt into a puddle of tears. It was pretty possible. If he said , hey I just want to be friends she knew she would lose it. So she just laid there still and silent, if he wanted to know, he would have to come and find her.

Another familiar voice came, the one that she was waiting for. There was her Adipuff. She heard two sets of foot steps come up the stairs. Did Henric follow? Still she didn't move, but waited, still as a muggle painting. The footsteps drew closer and he said her name. Her bright blue eyes flicked over to take in his face and she gave the beautiful boy a small smile. "Hello Adigriff." Yup, he was her hippogriff. Glancing over, she realized that the second set of footsteps belonged to none other than Benny. She waved a small hello to him and looked back up at Adi. "You are always such a good friend.....I hardly deserve you." She pulled the side of her dress that was near to him aside in case he wanted to sit and it was in his way.

Henric didn't hear any response coming from her even though he could clearly see her silhouette up at that treehouse. "llia, I know you're there...I-I want to talk to you, is that okay?"he called for her again but still there was no answer. He guessed she wouldn't want to after what he did. He clasped and unclasped his hands nervously,"llia, will you talk to me...please?...I-I've come here to say that I'm sorr-" Henric was interrupted by a voice behind him, he turned around and was surprised to see Adi was here too. He had brought Benny along with him as well. What were they doing here? Did llia call for them?

He was taken aback a little when Adi spoke to him in his icy stone cold voice of his and started asking him if he came here to bother her. What?! No no! He wasn't! He came here to apologise for everything! He wanted to make things right again with her! He wanted to say something back but it seemed his friend too had stopped listening to him as he walked past him towards the treehouse with Benny silently following closely behind soon after. Now, it was only him left standing below the treehouse. Henric's face fell and he stared down onto the ground in defeat. He knew he deserved that kind of treatment but it still hurts to see his friends walked past him without hearing him out first.

Deeply sighing, he had sworn he wouldn't give up on her. No...he wasn't going to. He wanted to see her so badly. He couldn't hold onto his emotions anymore, no matter how much he denied it.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry, for hurting you!" He burst out saying, finally looking up at the treehouse again. Clenching his fists so hard at his sides, he continued pouring out what he wanted to say to her all the time he was apart from her, "I was a rightful git for leaving you behind like that at the wooden bridge! I-I was angry at myself...I t-thought your family hated me for being what I am. At first, I thought I didn't care but...but...I d-did...llia, even more so because it's your family. I know you said that it's your decision to make on who belongs in your world...and I tried hard to fit in...I really did...b-but I can't. I would be immediately looked down upon if I did and it hurts my pride,llia...and I t-thought it would be better if..if...I lied...because I was afraid that they would take you out of school if they know we're together..."

Ilia had given him a new nickname. Adi barely had time to register how much he liked it before she was talking to him again. "I try to be,'' he said with a smile and motioning for Benny to come over. Hey, Ilia could have two of her friends close with her, right? The Hufflepuff flopped down beside her, the exact spot that she pulled her dress away from. He reached for her hand that was closest to him. "My Veela girl should be out about in the barnyard or something. Not lying here...'' Broken.

And then the shouting from Henric happened O_O

Adi was already so annoyed at the dude but what Henric was shouting got him even madder. He jumped to his feet and went over to the platform to glare down at him, trying to decide if he should cast the Silencing Charm on him. No... wait. He had an even BETTER idea. Something that Henric hated to be done to him. Silently, the older Hufflepuff cast the Levitation Charm as his wand made the right movement.

Nope, Adi did NOT set him down on the platform. Instead he just let the other boy hover there... dangerously high. Your Slytherin side was showing so much, Adi But what was his aim? To give Henric a scare. Sort of like revenge for hurting Ilia.

Sabbath lay down and relaxed. He watched Nells as she settled herself into her pillows and lay down facing him chuckling when she gave him the eye after his comment. Ok, Ok, No funny business!, he conceded, with a laugh.

He smiled at her barn sleepout story."Maybe we could do that when I come to your house, sleep in the hay?", he said.

His eyes were warm on hers when she told him that he was her best friend and favourite person. "You're mine too, Nells", he said reaching over and gently brushing some stray hair back from her cheek.

Noelle pulled the blanket up to her neck and looked at Sabbie as he talked. She smiled and wiggled into the pillows more to get comfortable.

Her eyes lit up when he suggested they do a sleepover in the barn when he visited.

"YES! Sabbie that is a brilliant idea! My brothers will already be attached to you because they love meeting new people and your a boy. It'll be hard for you to get away from them. Just FYI."

He needed to be warned.

She smiled softly as he tucked the hair behind her ear. "We will be friends forever right?" She asked softly. She knew they would. She just wanted him to confirm it. Her eyes looked to the window and the stars started showing up brighter.

This was a great sleepover.

At Adi's motioning to him to move closer, Benny debated, eventually moving tentatively to his feet. But the yelling from Henric had drawn his attention and he paused as he turned to look down at the younger Hufflepuff. So thats what all the trouble was, the GRyffindor only learning stuff second hand so far. Distracted, he didn't readily see his boyfriend move up beside him wand raised until Henric was being leviated off the ground and hanging dangerously high. Curse that wordless magic.

"ADI NO!" he yelled, quick to grab the other boy's wrist, part to try and convince him to stop and part to offer some security in the floating boy's predicament. What had gotten into Adi....being so mean that it took him by surprise. "Not helping matters at all!" Benny reached for his own wand and ready to counter what his best friend was doing at any moment.

Sabbath liked her enthusiasm over the barn sleepout idea and laughed at the prospect of being shadowed by her two younger brothers. He was quite comfortable around little kids as he had so many cousins of different ages. Being around them was second nature, he wasn't worried in the least about them tagging him.

Nells was asking if they'd be friends forever. He smiled at her in return, "Sure we will, Nells" he replied. But, as her eyes turned away to the window and the starlight sky, his smile faded a little. He wondered how much truth there really was in his last statement. Sabbath was always one to live in the moment though, and he pushed the thought from his mind, determined to enjoy his time her with her at tonights sleepover.

Laying on his side and crooking his head up on his hand, he leaned across her pointing toward the sky, "See that star there, Nells, the very brightest one?" Its called Canicula. It is the Dog Star, when it rises it marks summer solstice and the Dog days of summer, the hottest days when tempers run high. He continued, following her gaze "Sirius is always linked to hot tempers".

To say that Abbi had been avoiding people wasn't entirely accurate but then to a sense it was. She'd been mostly in the common room these days, yet more because she was ruminative rather than actually trying to hide away. Forcing herself to actually do something, the Seventh year ventured to the grounds for a long stroll.

Strolls counted as exercise right? She'd been somewhat slacking on her gym plan too..and school and maybe almost everything.

Dramatic siiiiigh.

Why was it so difficult to make a decision about what she wanted to do for the rest of her life? Surely she would know whom she was by now and what she wanted other than being a lazy couch potato all day that was.

Riley wanted to chill out in the tree house. For no particular reason that she could think of.

Not that she needed reasons do things.

She decided to finish up plaiting her hair first, though. She twisted a few daisies into the plaits to make it look extra pretty and got up. In seconds the excitable first year was running ALL THE WAY to the tree house, barely waiting for the rope ladder to come all of the way down before climbing up. Riles flopped. PHEW. Climbing was hard work. Fun, but hard work.

She just....lay here and...recover.

As much as Olly loved the winter, he also loved the springtime. It was slooshy - that was a technical term - and muddy. He could not walk anywhere outside without getting all muddy. It was perfect. Now that it was April, it was not as muddy as it had been in the early spring. But he still found every mud puddle possible on his way to the treehouse.

There was not any real reason for that destination, just that he wanted to be outside and the treehouse was a nice place. As soon as he got there, the rope ladder came down for him. It was pretty nice not having to do too much work for himself. He climbed up and spotted something he had never seen in the treehouse before.

It was a dead body. Well, probably. There was certainly a girl lying on the ground and not moving. Which meant she was probably dead. Which meant there was only one thing to do. Olly poked her.

Poke. Poke. Was she dead or not?

One second Riley was starfishing, minding her own business, then the next she was being poked.

WHAT KIND OF A WORLD WAS THIS? She thought about maybe grabbing onto the poker's legs, but that seemed too odd, even for her. Well, maybe not, but she didn't know who it was; it could be a teacher, or a bully, or something, and clinging to their legs didn't seem like the smartest move. Plus she was tired.

Instead, she played dead. Like any normal person would do.

Luckily her face was covered by her red hair and the cheeky little smile of her face wasn't visible.

It seemed that Henric was persistent about talking to her. Adi held her attention though and she figured that Henric would climb up and talk to her. Adi sat beside her, having told her she should be around the barnyard somewhere and not just lying here. She smiled up at him weakly and squeezed his hand. "I guess.....I just don't feel the same. Its like, I'm heavy inside. My chest. I feel weighted down and being around everyone just makes it worse inside." She was glad that Adi was sitting with her and that maybe Benny would too. It was a small bit of ease just to sit with him and breathe , she didn't know what else to do. But then she heard Henric shout louder. He was yelling that he was sorry. As she listened to him shout, she started to cry again. Why was he doing this? Why couldn't he be honest with her in the first place? Did this mean that he wanted her now? Was he just justifying himself? As she cried though, Adi got up and walked to the entrance again, but why? She heard Benny yell no and she sat herself up to see through her tear stained eyes. She didn't even hear Adi cast anything. What was the older couple doing and where was her former best friend?

Noelle smiled softly as he said they would be friends forever. She was betting on it. But then she saw his smile fade since she was still staring at him. A small grown appeared on her face and she looked out the window again.

Noelle looked to see where Sabbie was pointing. She saw the stars and grinned again. "Sirius is always linked to the hot tempers? What's that even mean?" Noelle asked and looked back at Sabbie.

She didn't have to look over far since he was pointing over her. "Mum and I used to watch the stars when I was growing up. At the farm, you can see a whole sky full of them. She would point out all the constellations. "

Of course, she didn't remember any of them.... Besides maybe the Big Dipper. But she enjoyed looking for them.

Henric didn't know what to do. He heard her crying up at the treehouse but his feet couldn't seem to move. He felt so bad and guilty for not telling her the truth, he wished he had never left her back at the wooden bridge. Then suddenly, he was lifted off from the ground. He looked up to see Adi angrily pointing his wand at him before raising him up high in the air. He yelped as he tried to reach the back of his pockets for his wand but unfortunately, it fell out and dropped carelessly onto the ground."ADI! P-Put me DOWN!!"he shouted,as his fear of heights began to set in his head. He was cursing mentally inside,, afraid that Adi would drop him at anytime. Why would he do this to him?! Henric knew the prefect was specifically mad at him but he didn't expect him to go this far!

Furious and helpless, he had no choice but to pray to the heavens above that he would be safe from harm. Oh thank merlin for Benny to the rescue."Benny! Help! Pleasee~"he pleaded to his saviour, trying not to look down. Too late, he did. "Ahh!" He cried desperately, trying to grab hold onto anything, the tree bark or something!

He looked at her when she asked him what he meant by saying 'Sirius is always linked to hot tempers'. He smiled, "There's no hidden meaning, Nells. Sirius is just another name for the star Canicula - the dog star. The time of year that it dominates the sky are the most sultry hot summer days, in which dogs go mad and people suffer from short tempers. So, thats why they're called the 'dog days' of summer.

"I remember when I was little my grandmother telling me not to torment the dogs because they would be more likely to bite in the time of the “dog days.” And she was correct, because I remember more than once when one of them was a little bit snippy due to the heat". He smiled to himself and hoped this made some sense to her. He figured there were quite a few superstitions and beliefs that his grandmother and family held, that may seem very foreign to her.

Since she had shared with him the story about how she and her mother used to look out for constellations when she was small, he looked for a constellation that might be more familiar to her. "See that row of bright stars there in line with the tree tops, they are all in a row and hook around". He leant over her, pointing out the position of the constellation. "We call it "El Carro" which means 'The wagon'. But, I think its called 'the big dipper here'. From this, you can easily locate the north star to help with navigation".

Wow. How did Sabbie know so much??
Noelle watched his, it was cute the way that his eyes lit up when he started talking about things he loved. "Maybe that's why my mom looks at the moon sometimes and says that it's going to be a mean of a day. But she always says it the day before." Moms were so wise.


"How do you know so much?" Noelle asked Sabbie, her eyes still on him. She was always surprised by him. She remembered when they met. Or well.... When they actually met. She'd been her own clumsy self and he had been there, for her, even from the beginning.

Gosh that seemed so far away since then.

Noelle finally looked away from him and back at the stars. She grinned when she realized he was talking about a constellation she knew about. The Big Dipper. "I know that one. What do you call it?" She asked him, her eyes still on the star. "That bright star is a famous star." Commentary given.

"Is astronomy one of your favorite subjects?"

Lately Cinna had found herself coming to the treehouse more and more. With the weather warming up and the term quickly coming to an end. She found herself drawn to the grounds. Like the other day she took a job about the lake to clear her mind. Really the only thing that was on her mind now was to finish out the term, do well on her N.E.W.Ts, and get out and get to Australia.

And this little art project that she had been working on. The treehouse provided a perfect view of the castle. Which was why she was here. Making her way up the treehouse, a little later than normal. What? She needed some extra beauty sleep? All the studying was putting black bags under her eyes.

When she got up to the treehouse she came face to face with Abi. She forced a small smile. "Oh, hey. What are you doing up here?" Not like she cared. Abi still wasn't at the top of her favorite people list but she wasn't at the top either. That had been ages ago anyway and had been over things for years now. She sat down not to far away and got her sketch pad out.

Yes, Adi could relate to exactly how Ilia felt from last term when he and Benny had their falling out. It was something he wished never to experience again. It was like torture. "I know how it feels,'' he told Ilia with a significant look at Benny. "It'll all work out.'' Positive vibes, Ilia. Positive vibes.
....................

Honestly, it felt good to watch Henric squirm and be uncomfortable. Adi knew how much his friend (though he wasn't feeling so friendly right then) hated when levitation was done to him. But no. It never crossed his mind to drop him or anything of the sort. Adi was not evil nor will he ever will be. He watched the wand clatter to the ground, a smirk on his face as Henric flailed.

But the hand grabbing his wrist brought him to his senses. Sort of. Adi looked quickly at Benny then at Henric, his eyes narrowing at the other Hufflepuff. He was silent for a moment then nodded. "You're right.'' Just like that, his boyfriend could calm him down and make him see reason. The prefect directed his wand so that he could safely deposit Henric onto the platform though he may not have exactly given him a smooth landing. "It's your lucky day that Benny's here.'' Without another look at the fifth year, he headed back inside to his Veela girl.