Chloe had kept down and out, her nose to the grindstone, all year. She was more shadow than little girl with how she kept to herself and clung to the walls to avoid any and all problems. It was just easier for her to slowly get acclimated to a new place than jump in feet first. The first half of the year had been really great for getting used to all of the chaos that was Hogwarts. Her anxiety didn't help. Now she was prepared. For school that is.

The past few days she had been wandering around the castle with more life to her steps than before. She was ready to be active in school things and with people....just maybe not all at once.

Bundled up in her jacket and a hat that was too big for her head (it dipped down past her forehead and touched her eyelashes), the blonde crossed the wooden bridge to get back to the castle after her walk. That was when she saw a boy hanging over the edge, which was dumb and dangerous but boys were stupid, and even more exciting was the notepad floating next to his head. She wanted one. Her Dad said they were bad for the environment, a waste of parchment. Chloe didn't care.

"Hey!" She said, approaching him with mild disinterest, "Can I see that?" Her little pointer finger gestured to the notepad.

There was a bundle of fabric moving toward him and it drew his attention from the made up things he pretended were down in the ditch. The boy nodded his head toward the upcoming snowfabricperson and watched his quill direct its attention to her just as she yelled a greeting.

Blaise blinked at her question, mostly 'cause it took him by surprise. People didn't usually ask to see his notepad, it was always the quill that got them going. "Um......sure...I guess." The boy nicked the quill from it's mid-air floating and watched the notepad fall into his hands. "It's observations mostly." From people watching. Y'know, normal stuff. Ahem.

"I don't see you around much. Don't think there's anything in there about you yet." Except her greeting just now his quill had sought to embellish as best it could.

"Do you always wear your hats like that?"

A proper little notebook. As soon as he handed it over, Chloe started to thumb through the pages. She was less interested in what was written there than the actual idea of a notebook but the more she flipped through it the more she started to read it. Curiosity.

It was written strangely. In her opinion, this hardly seemed like observation, more embellishment on people. There was no way people actually acted like this. Did they? The little first year shadow wouldn't know.

Her nose was buried in the book when she realised he was still talking. Whoops. She flicked her eyes to him and tilted her head, "My hat? No. Just when it's cold." She had a small head, okay? "Do you always have your notebook with you?" If he was going to be snooty about her head and hat.

Woah!

Rooney sure had questions about University's procedure. Adi for one didn't doubt that the Ravenclaw had already made a list of the potential subjects he would want to study someday. And the list of universities that appealed to him. "Yes, I have! It was quite an interesting process. I had to contact the University to ensure the course was offered at the Edinburgh campus. Then I had to apply... all that paperwork and stuff. They need my NEWT grades when that's out so that will be the deciding factor to confirm if I get accepted, I guess.'' Adi WOULD be getting into that University! He was DETERMINED!

The Puffer laughed. "Alrightey, Roo. I'll look forward to your shows, free tickets or not. Have you ever acted on stage though? Done plays and skits and stuff?'' Basically, Adi was curious as to how Roo ended up with stage acting as a choice.

"What about the application? What did you write about as your inspiration? For your application essay?" Mainly, Rooney wanted to know what the other male thought about inspirations and what could be considered as one. Some people thought it was just another individual that could be one, but not Rooney. His inspiration was a feeling. Just a feeling. And yes, he may have already wrote a 1200 word essay on exactly what his inspiration was and why it was even remotely important.

Remotely... meaning very.

"Do you have a second choice? In case?" Insurance choices were important, were they not?

Roo laughed and nodded, finishing off the chocolate frog that he had devoured and had around his mouth and melted on his fingers. "Since I was 2!" Did Adi want his full list of credits? Roo wasn't sure he could remember everything he had been in, but he KNEW he could remember the big important ones that had paid into his savings account.

It didn't really seem like she cared much about his notes at first and he supposed it was fine. Not everyone liked reading and even if they did, they didn't always like a bunch of scribbled notes on paper but then....she WAS reading and was even flipping pages. Should he tell her the notepad did that all on its own if she wanted? He was about to when she finally answered his question regarding her hat.

"Oh. So then, you like it when it fits that way?" It was a wonder she could proper see where she was going. Or maybe she'd been trained that way from years of doing it. Something his quill could make sound interesting.

Speaking of..."Yeah. I like taking things down with my quick quotes quill--or well...I like when it takes things down. It makes the world an interesting place to live in even when there's nothing really going on." He wrote too but not about the sort of things his quill wrote so it was always a refreshing change.

"S'not so great for notes in class though."

Flip. Flip. Flip. This was such a funny, little notebook. She liked everything it said. It was like a funky fairytale. "Hmm?" she looked at him again, "Oh. Um, I don't really notice it, is all." Tiny head problems. After a while she was just used to things falling down her forehead.

"The world is an interesting place," Chloe corrected. She had seen a ton of it and it was really, really cool. There were lots of cultures and things that made every place interesting. He didn't need a notebook to make it interesting. To Chloe, even the notebook was interesting. Such a blatant waste of paper. Not that she minded, she thought it was really weird and interesting and cool that he was allowed to just write down whatever thoughts came to his head.

She tilted her head in curiosity, "You bring it to class? That doesn't sound very smart. Especially if its going to make up loads of things." How could you study from it? Not well.

The further she skipped was the more unsettled he felt. Typically, he was the only one that read the entries, unless he found one particularly funny and decided to share it. The boy had no idea what she'd make of it all collectively. While she did skip, his eyes focused on her hat. Even reading the notepad should have been a little weird with it so far down her face but...she didn't notice it....was that possible?

"Oh definitely." He'd never disagree that the world itself was an interesting place. "But that's also really relative and depends on the interesting you're looking for. I like the kind of interesting my quill makes happen." But he liked other kinds of interesting too. "It can write something about you if you'd like." He offered, figuring if she was reading it that long she was either appalled or fascinated. He was hoping for the second. Appalled girls had a tendency to CHUCK his notepad and hope it never came back.

Blaise shook his head a little, now leaning against the ledge of the bridge again. "No...I mean I do but it's...it's not like that. I take my own notes but I let it take notes of what happens in the class itself--people wise. Then I look back at it later in my dorm."

Attention back on the ditch. "What'd you think's down there?"

It was possible because it was happening. She never really noticed things covering most of her face so long as it didn't cover her eyes. Beyond that she couldn't care less.

"So you like fiction," Chloe countered, handing him back his notebook. "Because isn't that kind of what all of that is? It's not really a hundred percent the truth." It had a quirkiness to it that couldn't be real. At least she thought so. Right? Too weird for her little eleven year old mind to comprehend.

Write something about her? Chloe scrunched her nose up so her freckles went wild and squished, "Maybe...I guess...okay." Hopefully it wouldn't paint her to be anything too ridiculous.

He was getting more and more fascinating by the minute, "How long does it take you to read everything back? Since it writes down a lot." It made it sound like he spent a lot, a lot of time in his dorm reading.

Hmm? Oh. She glanced over the edge and thought really, really hard. "Most likely some earth and, like, bugs."

"I guess you could say that." In truth, he liked all sorts of writing, even the super serious sort sometimes, it just happened this was the only kind his quill liked to write and the products usually amused him--unless it was about him after his quill caught him in the middle of failure. Nothing funny about that. "It's maybe 60% fiction cause..." He extended the notepad just a little after it was returned and began skipping til he found what he needed. Here we go. "This kid here really did try riding the staircases, and he did scream when it suddenly started before he was ready....just...there was no battle cry echoing of war or a sword being brandished with such chivalry it pleased the gods."

See? It all happened, just not like the way the quill said it. 60% fiction. And she would become a part of that fiction! Blaise grinned widely, his dimples needing very little movement to display their existence. Hardly did he have willing subjects.

"I try reading at the end of each day so there isn't much to catch up on when I've got spare time. Maybe just an hour or two as a reward for getting homework done. Sometimes I like going to the treehouse on a weekend and just getting lost in it." Cause it was dead interesting. You wouldn't think it would be after seeing everything yourself that week but, this was through separate, embellished eyes.

Now about his quill making a heroine out of her. "Let's go on an adventure." It was hard to mask the excitement in his voice and now wide brown eyes so he didn't try. "To the bottom of the ditch." The boy released his notepad and watched both it and his quill float up to his shoulder's level. "And at the end of the adventure, I'll let you see what my quill has to say about you." Even if there was nothing down there, his quill could make it work. Was she in?

Go to the bottom of the ditch?! Was he insane? How would they even get down there? And then how would they get up? There were a lot of variables here that this kid wasn't considering. Perhaps she had been better off as a shadow like she had invested the first half of her year. Out of sight so out of mind.

But she did want to be in that notebook. Really, really badly. She wasn't sure why maybe it was just curiosity whispering in her ear. So she swallowed her anxiety the best she could (which was in full force right now) and tried to convince herself an adventure was worth having. Despite the odds.

"O-okay," her voice was shaky. "But, how are we getting down there?" Did he have any sort of plan or was he functioning on pure spontaneity. That made a difference in the kind of adventure they were going to have.

Dead or alive being the two differing outcomes.

Chloe briefly considered running away, but her anxiety kept her nailed to the ground. She was doing this. Whether she wanted to or not.

Don't ask how it was possible but somehow, his grin had gotten wider. She was in! "Wicked!" The boy nodded toward his new company, indicating she was to be the focus on their little expedition and watched them float a little closer to her.

"Come on! I have the perfect plan!" And with that, the boy started back to the left end of the bridge. "Some older students were talking about this one class where their Professor took them down there. Heard it's a pretty decent slope, we just gotta watch our step." So even the trip DOWN would be an adventure without them breaking their necks. Neat, huh??

"It'll be great. They didn't say what was at the bottom when I was walking by but that's okay! We don't need them ruining the surprise anyway." He said, turning with his grin still in place as he walked backward to keep her in view.

It wasn't that he thought she'd bolt at any minute but rather, it might have helped her feel more okay with her choice.

He. Was. Mad.

No wonder he kept his head in his diary all the time. It was much easier to imagine the world being exciting than to throw yourself head first into danger. Maybe not terrible danger but through her anxiety goggles the ditch looked like a black hole of death. Of death.

With a shake of her head, she tumbled out, "You don't even know what's down there? Why are you so keen? This feels like a poorly thought out plan." Of course she was still going to go through with it but she wanted it on the record in his little book that she knew this was a bad idea.

A silly one that was reckless and would cause her imminent death. She was too young to die. She wasn't even fourteen and old yet.

Waaah!

Holy Hippogriffs!

Adi had such an enthusiastic listener here! Not that he minded one bit explaining and answering all the questions. Bring them on, Roo! "I wrote about Newt Scamander,'' he replied immediately. "He's one of my heroes and if I can be as half as good as him someday, I'll take it.'' Mhmm. "It really wasn't difficult to write about him and stuff. It took me a few days but with Newt as a topic, it was proper motivation.''

"Well, right now I've only thought about campuses right in the country like London and Ambleside but abroad, I've tried for the campuses in Sydney and Montreal.'' Australia and Canada were countries he would love to visit sometime. So if at least one of those opportunities came up, then yep. He would take it.

TWO YEARS OLD? Since then? "Woah! That's cool!'' No... beyond cool. It was IMPRESSIVE! "What were your favourite and least favourite roles?'' This would be something worth loads listening to!

Ah. That was... interesting. Rooney nodded, sincere as he ever was in inspiration conversation. "Do you mind sharing some of the reasons you admire him, Adi?" Just so that Rooney knew. He didn't want to assume anything about the reasons the prefect chose his inspiration because that was unfair and the world needed people who could justify their reasons - especially for something like this. "I've seen the London campus!" Actually, he'd attended a concert there with his drama school last year. It hadn't been as good as the ones they had put on every year, but it was pretty decent. And students with very little performing talent were funny.

"I hope you get to go to the one best for your, Mister Adi." And that was the truth.

His favourite? AND his least favourite? Rooney considered it for a moment and then grinned. "I played an angel in my Christmas concert when I was a kid. It's the first proper role I remember." And he knew that it was when they had moved away from everyone and a little while after Brinlee was born and that only Mama and Brin came to see it. The Robertser's had been to all of his other ones, but he really remembered the time that it was just Mama and Brin.

Blaise was only sorta paying attention to the quill scribbling away furiously in an attempt to grasp (and distort) everything his company was saying. Why? Most of his attention was on HER, on the way she seemed to be protesting without ceasing her steps. The way she was so clearly undecided but she was still going along with it. Those were the best kinds of people, they didn't let stuff stop them.

"That's the point of an adventure, isn't it? It's no fun if you already know exactly what to expect unless what you expect is absolutely epic and you end up bouncing all the way there because it's so neat."

As he approached the end of the bridge, the boy turned to be sure he could see where he was leading them. "I'm keen because it's...not something we know. It's...kinda mysterious and stuff. I don't think we need special plans to find out what's down there, just our two legs, my quill and notepad AND a brilliant sense of adventure."

Which she clearly had if she was still walking, no matter what she said.

No sense of adventure here, not in the slightest. In fact, that very theme was why she was at Hogwarts in the first place and her twin sister and father were off on safari together trying to save the world. Chloe had, of course, been invited but she had enough sense and self preservation to decline. So school it was for her.

Not that any of it mattered now because she was going along with this crazy plan. All because she didn't want to be embarrassed for saying no. Anxiety bubbling and blabbing in her ear at every corner and every scenario. If she went she was crazy because it was dangerous and she could die. If she didn't she was weak and silly and no one would ever want to talk to her for being so childish. Either way she hated this.

Her breath started to shake rapidly as she steadied herself, she was so wigged out she heard nothing he said, "Okay, whatever, can you just...can you lead the way?" She didn't want to go first.

Did he mind? NOPE! Not one bit! Adi liked gushing about Newt, anyway, so he would do the same with Roo just as he had done with Professor Helena. "Well, for starters, he loved creatures. I do too and he's so dedicated to them that he actually travelled the world to learn more about them. It's thanks to him we know so much. Also, he was a Hufflepuff!'' Yes, Adi was proud to be a Puffer and even prouder that his hero had been Sorted into that House. Buuut there was another reason. "His mother worked with Hippogriffs which is something I want to do too.'' Of course that wasn't directly to Newt but it was related in a way.

"Scouting for universities, I see, Roo,'' Adi teased. "What did you think of that campus?" From what Adi had seen, it was awesome! Most of the campuses were. "Thanks a ton! I'll make the best of whichever one I decide to go to.'' Or whichever will have him.

Awwh, an angel! "That's awesome! Were you nervous? Have you ever forgotten your lines?" Adi didn't think Roo was someone who would forget that but sometimes nerves got into everyone's ways. Stupid nervousness.

Rooney smiled softly and listened to every word that Adi said, enthralled completely. He actually thought that you could see how passionate a person was when they spoke about things like this - not just Newt, but anything that meant a lot to them. He could tell that this meant a whole bunch to Adi, especially that Newt's mother had a connection to the creature that he wanted to do himself. "I think...that was beautiful, Mister Adi. And..I hope you can be just like Newt in success." The truth, the utmost honesty and nothing more. He didn't see the point in kidding someone around when something was so important to them.

If someone was teasing or unkind about his acting, he knew that was painful. Newt was Adi's version of acting.

"It was okay, I only saw the large courtyard because the performance we saw was outdoors. But I liked the statues of famous wizards that separate the stage area from the audience. They were...exquisite." And yes, Rooney may have asked as many questions as he could after the performance was done, but no one had stopped him and no one had said they didn't want to answer his question. Nervous? Rooney considered it and then nodded. "I'm always a degree of nervous, you know? I don't think it's fun not to be. How will you ever learn anything from your performance?" That was what he thought, anyway.

Rooster was giving him all the good wishes and Adi was just there grinning like an idiot. “Thank you! I’ll be doing my best to see to it that I make those dreams come through. Oh and you can come see those Hippogriffs anytime you want! It’ll be tons of fun, I promise.’’ Mhmm. Roo could take all the rides and flying on as many Hippogriffs as he wanted. The kid was invited to his place anytime for that!

“That sounds like fun still. I don’t think I’ve seen performances outdoors. There were a few in my old primary school’s auditorium.’’ Not much in the way of ‘outdoorsy’ there but still, the play had been good. It had been a Christmas one. But Roo was so wise, wasn’t her? “Yep! Nerves are actually a good thing because I see it as a way of telling us that we want to do really good at the task.’’ Even though sometimes nerves got the best of everyone.

Adi grinned at the Roo. “It’s been super fun doing that homework and then hanging out with you, Roo! Hope we can do it sometime again but right now I have to go.’’ Go, go, go back to the common room to check on those Badgers and study a bit if he didn’t snooze away.

Blaise had no problem leading the way. He sorta knew where they were going and anyway he didn't think letting a girl that looked half near a breakdown should be the one calling the shots just yet. He stuck his hand out, wiggling his fingers invitingly. "Don't want you falling or anything." Just think how much trouble they'd get in if she did--oh yeah, it'd hurt too, a lot.

Blaise waited a bit for her hand before even attempting the rugged terrain. It didn't look that hard to navigate. [b]"How cool would it be if we found treasure down there? All the people passing by this bridge, someone must have dropped something at some point.

It was definitely a possibility.

"I wish I'd thought to invite Bentley, he's got a nice camera and some pictures would have really made this story pop, don't you think?"

This was the worst experience ever and she was seriously wishing she had taken another route back to her dorm now. She had to run into a crazy, adrenaline junkie. Typical. Throwing his life away, and hers, for some ditch.

She grabbed his hand really, really painfully tight. He'd offered after all. Any pain that he got via her vice grip was his own fault. "Thanks," her voice was all kinds of breaky and shaky. Hopefully, if something went wrong, she could just push him in front of her and he could take the brunt of the bad stuff. That made her feel a little better. Using him as bait for anything down in the ditch.

Chloe stared, "Why would there be treasure?" People kept that in vaults. Not ditches.

Trying to even her little, anxious breaths, she asked, "Who?" Could he talk so she didn't have to?

Ouch ouch ouch. If Blaise wasn't trying to be the shining example here, he might have pried her hand away for squeezing his so tight. Merlin, her fingers must have had their own workout routine! Swallowing the grimace that came as a result of the death grip, the boy looked down at their destination and began leading the way.

"Why wouldn't there be treasure? Bet hardly anyone ever goes down there, making it the perfect place to hide stuff--plus people aren't always coordinated, lots of them must have dropped stuff down there by NOW." So lots of treasure, even greater treasure depending on how his quill would right about it all after.

"Watch your step, this dirt feels kinda loose here." He commented, tapping his foot against it a couple times then watching the dirt and top rocks slide.

"Bentley's my cousin, he's in Gryffindor too. First Year. Always walking around with a camera, usually wants everyone in the room to pose and say cheese." But if she was hardly the wandering type, he doubted she'd ever run into him. "It's okay, we might run into him when we go to the Great Hall after." Because he'd decided that's what they'd be doing next. Adventures always made him hungry and anyway she wanted to see what the quill said about her, didn't she?

Bleu sat down in the middle of the bridge. She was so exhausted from studying and all the crazy camps that they were being put through...she just needed some quiet time. She slowly pulled her jacket off and laid it over her like a blanket. She was so tired...maybe a little nap was in order. Who cared if it was in the middle of the bridge? She certainly didn't.

She relaxed into the side of the bridge as the wind softly blew her hair. Her eyes fluttered a little as she slowly slipped out of consciousness.

Benzi wasn't exactly sure how he'd ended up here. He'd done a lot of walking this afternoon, letting his legs decide where to go as he let his wander. He really, desperately, needed some time away from this place. To gather strength for the upcoming NEWTs was the big reason, but also because he just really wanted to be at home for a bit. Things had been tough lately, he couldn't take listening to people talk about him anymore, hated the weird looks and judgmental attitudes. Sure, he knew he deserved it, but enough was enough. He'd been sure they'd have all moved on by now.

Stupid teenagers.

He leaned against the wooden beam and stared out at the grounds, lost in thought with his badge in his hand again. There was one other reason he wanted to go home, and he was losing sleep over it. Perhaps he'd take Hayley with him. She might help. He stared out for a long while before he suddenly leaned back and threw the small pin aggressively into the abyss, losing sight of it almost immediately. Wand in his hand a second later, he wordlessly cast a summoning charm and watched it zoom back, transfiguring it into a bird mid-flight. He prevented the Ravenclaw-blue bird from going too far with small flickers of his wand but mostly just watched it as it flew around, still and quiet.