Azura stood there for a moment as the girl looked at her eyes, it was a normal reaction really to them and so she just smiled a bit and looked at her warmly..

No death glares here!

She smiled a little. "Really? Well, I might need your guys help in the future." She said with a tiny little laugh.. Maybe a whole lot of their help..

"It's nice to meet you as well Trixie! She said with a warm and grateful smile as she touched her nose.. it didn't seem to be broken and she let out a sigh of relief as the other girl said that she wasn't bleeding!

"Thank Merlin, I don't want to have broken my nose again! Twice in one train ride was enough! Swelling though.. ACK! It hurt to smile!

"Ahh.. well." Azura stammered a little as Trixie asked if she had been hit by a trip jinx..

"No.. I rolled my ankle on a rock, I wasn't watching where I was going." That and she was naturally clumsy.. So there was that too..

"Well just holler and I'll be there." And even though Trixie laughed as she said that, she was totally serious. She would come to the aid of anyone who needed help. Gryffindors really needed to come with capes.

Apparently Azura was accident prone. Trixie raised her eyebrows at the girl. "Again? You mean you've broken it before?" Well duh Jenkins, obviously she had otherwise she would not have said, again.

And yep, accident prone. Trixie put her arm around the girl. "Stick with me, I'll make sure you don't get hurt. I don't know any real magic yet but I can always get that bubble wrap that muggle use to to protect their stuff." That's if the girl didn't mind having to waddle around everywhere and probably looking ridiculous.

"So what so you think of Hogwarts so far?"

"Yeah. Large and obstinate." Really Zeke. Really. Had he learned nothing? She could roll like this ALL day. It was something of a specialty. An art form. And a bit of irritation. But that tiny little smirk. That said it was mostly in good humor.

As for the issue of his lack of courtesy, Amur dropped her hand and chomped on the end of her toast, eyeing him the whole while. "Clearly" came between a mouthful. A mouthful which she nearly choked on upon seeing him toss his crust to the water. "Are you mad? That's the best ---" ASNORGLDORF!!!!

REALLY Zeke? REALLY?! Amur nearly made a new acquaintance with the GROUND as his hand was suddenly against her face, SHOVING her away. Good thing a squeak occupied her mouth as his nudge put her totally off balance, otherwise she very well might have tried to bite him. Instead, it was an act of desperation to keep from toppling off the rock, latching onto his offending nudging elbow and holding on for dear life. Somehow, she managed to keep from dropping the bread. Bread was food and food was essential.

As soon as she was settled back upright, Amur whacked his shoulder with her toast at his agreement. Why? When food was so essential. Because for one Zeke's shoulder wasn't incredibly dirty and for two she didn't dare let go of his arm for fear of being deposited sideways again. She was small and fierce, but he was bigger. She knew how odds stacked.

The frown that had settled into place stayed there for a few long seconds, before it slowly dwindled away. He was busy. Fine. Acceptable. She supposed. The frown dropped again, this time forming a searching look of concern. She doubted it, but she still had to ask. "She didn't break your heart, did she?"

Who knew? Some people got insanely happy in the worst circumstances. Coping mechanisms and all. She could see Zeke being one of those people.

Azura grinned gratefully at the other girl. "I might just do that!" She said with a smile, it was nice to find someone who didn't think she was super lame because she was clumsy!!

Though at Trixie's next words she blushed a little. "Uhhh yeah.. I broke it twice on the platforms while waiting for the train." She admitted a bit sheepishly.. Those had not been her finest moments! But hey.. one time wasn't her fault! So there was that!

Her purple eyes widened a bit as Trixie put an arm around her and she bit her lip a little as she spoke! Goodness! Who knew people were so nice? Azura almost felt tears coming to her eyes! But she held them off! Crying because someone still liked you even if you were accident prone.. was lame..

Wasn't it?

"Well, my mom is a healer, so I know a few spells.. I can teach you some?" It was probably best all of her friends knew at least some minor ones! She giggled a little though at the bubble wrap idea.."I've always thought that would be a safer way for me to get around!" She said with a laugh.

"I like it a lot so far! It's so big though! Big enough that she didn't get to see Jazz a lot! "What about you? Have you found any places you like yet?"

Large and obstinate? Obstinate? WHAT DID THAT EVEN MEAN?! "What the heck is obstinate?!" he asked, his tone perhaps a little sharp for the context. But really, if you're going to name call, do it so the people receiving it know how hurtful you're trying to be! Honestly, did she need lessons? He could help.

But yes, clearly Amur, he had been busy, preoccupied. He was sorry-not-sorry that he had other things in his life than just her. She wasn't his mother, and she wasn't his girlfriend and so she didn't need to know what happened every second of his life. ...... ....... and yes, that was also harsh, but he kept his words to himself. Truthfully, he thought Amur was awesome, one of the best, but why she was attacking him for something that wasn't such a big deal was something he struggled to comprehend, and so in his confusion he was growing a little bitter.

Bitter, until she started berating him for throwing away crust. Now THAT got a smile out of him. "The squid will enjoy it," he informed as she struggled against HIS attack. Yeah. Yeah. How did you like that, Amur?! He smirked to himself as she managed to stabilise her position on their rock. It was such a good thing she didn't fall. Unfazed by her relinquishing her hold on him, Zeke finished the slice he was working on, this time depositing the crust on Amur's leg. THERE. Have at it. But while all that was well nd good, he still received a toast-slap to the shoulder. "Rude," he muttered under his breath as he surrendered his last slice by rubbing it in Amur's face. He let it go after a short moment, wondering if it had already found its way into her mouth or if it would fall. Either would suit him fine.

Now that they'd gotten their outburst out of the way, Zeke stared out at the water again, calming.

A boat, he would take a boat out later.

Amur's answer to his question wasn't so much an answer... but another question, and it had his head turning to meet her gaze.

"No..." It was the opposite really, hence his being brilliant.

"Twice? What in Merlin's name were you doing?" Trixie could not understand how a person could break their nose once waiting for a train let alone twice. She wished that she had of taken the Hogwarts Express now especially if chaotic things were to happen that would cause your nose to be broken.

Trixie was totally oblivious to Azura's almost tears which was probably a good thing because she wasn't very good with crying people. She wasn't mean to them in any way, she just didn't know how to deal with them.

"Oh that's so cool. Your mum being a Healer and all. My mum makes beauty products." Which was also cool if you liked that sort of thing which Trixie did not. Who wanted to waste time with make up?

She had to agree with Azura there. Hogwarts was huge. "Well I haven't really began to look around yet, but the lake seems pretty cool." She said with a laugh. "I just wish I could see the giant squid though. I want to know if my dad is lying to me or not."

"You'll have to look it up." There. Now she was being obstinate. It was just one of those words that her dad had used SO often that she couldn't NOT look it up. But that didn't mean she was going to give Zeke the easy way out and give him material to work with. She wasn't that foolish.

The look before the shove was confusing, but at least he had a good point for his crust. She almost said 'thank you', for both the crust offering and feeding the morsels to the squid. But all such graces were depleted when her whack of bread turned to a face-smush of bread. A face mush on HER face. It was so unexpected, so startling, so un-Zeke, that Amur had no response. She still clutched to his arm as if he was going to push her off again, and she just stared ahead and blinked.

Shock. She. Was. In. SHOCK.

That shock, however, did give her a few minutes to think. Or seconds that felt like minutes. To re-evaluate WHY he would do such a thing? Perhaps because she had just smacked him with bread? Deserved on her account then. Perhaps because she had hit him. And why? Because her feelings were hurt that he was taking care of his own feelings and problems? It wasn't like she was emergency contact 101 for him. A friend, yes. But not the type of friend that one ran to at every moment. Perhaps it was a guy thing not to do it. Perhaps it was a Zeke thing. Perhaps it was an older-mind thing. Either way, Amur was beginning to realize that her actions and reactions had been, essentially, purely self-driven and well........shameful to say, selfish.

She'd been focused on her feelings, rather than Zeke's. Ultimately. Sure, she had addressed Zeke's, but in her blundering way, she had taken her scorn out on him first. What if things HAD been bad? What if Zeke and Maggie HAD broken up?

Amur's nose twitched as motion returned to her shocked state.

What she had meant to do, was tell him she was there for him and he had support. What she had done, was show him her emotions mattered more than anything. Including his nice shirt.

Her nose twitched again, more furiously this time and while she was tempted to wipe said bread-face off on HIS shirt, Amur used her own sleeve. And then, scrubbed a little at his shoulder. The nose twitch was getting annoying. She forced a smile. "Good. I'm glad. She would have been a fool." Scrub scrub scrub. "Guess you can properly get that tattoo now."

Look it up? As if he was going to look it up. "Generally an insult works better when the person understands it, you're losing your game, Amurrrrr," he informed, purring her name because he could. Yes, tell him please? Like now? He wanted to know.

....

And then she was stunned.

Hello? Earth to Amur?

Zeke watched her for a moment, her eyes wide but face expressionless. He almost felt bad about smacking her with his breakfast, but she'd deserved it, beating up on him like he was some loser. Then again, he'd just beat up on her.

Relaxing his posture, Zeke placed a hand on hers that were still clutching him.

He was sorry, but he wasn't going to say it. She'd have to figure it out on her own.

It was then that nose twitching happened, and it was almost as if he'd managed to hit a re-set button on her. She was... back to normal right? Normal weird and whacky Amur - minus the actual whacking of course. He watched more curiously as she started scrubbing at his shoulder, wondering what was going through her head. The girl was almost transparent, but he was still clueless either way.

"I guess," he replied to what he assumed was her own form of apology. But what amused him most was her tattoo remark.

Yeah, he could... but he suspected something else. Zeke grinned, swatting her hand off his shoulder. She didn't need to do that.

"... you just want to see my bum," he noted, grinning.

Abby made her way down to the lake she loved this place and stopped at the lake edge and thought about doing some warm up exercises before she went for a run around the grounds

Bentley was laid flat out on his belly pulling up the grass. Tiny little niffles escaped him as he watched the ants going about his business. At that point on Bentley decided three things, he greatly disliked his head of house and his prefects and his grandma Bellaire would mostly definitely be hearing about this.

He and his cousin did not deserve this. Ugh...

How many minutes was acceptable for you to spend feeling sorry for yourself?

He kinda just wanted to go home now

Azura bit her lip a little sheepishly as Trixie exclaimed at her breaking her nose twice! "Well, once wasn't really my fault! I was just standing there and a run away cart hit me in the back of the legs and caused me to go face first into my trunks!" She shivered at the memory of that! She could still feel the impact! She was grateful for the Ravenclaw prefect who had come to help!!

"And the second time I got distracted by a snogging couple! I looked away really quickly and then tripped over my own trolley." Yup.. so that one was her fault..

Azura nodded. "Yeah, it comes in handy because she and I are both clumsy, so she can heal us right up! And I know some healing spells.. I can't heal my own nose though." It would be REALLY handy if she could though! She nodded as she said her mother made beauty products.."Ohh, that is pretty cool! What does your dad do?" She asked curiously, hers worked for the ministry!

Azura giggled as she spoke about the squid.. "I heard it's real as well! I kinda want to see it too!"

Amur's nose went from twitching to crinkling. " 'Snot my name." She didn't mind nicknames, but why in Merlin's fluffy beard was he pronouncing it like that?! She had NEVER. Straightening her back a little, Amur looked him dead in the eye. "It refers to something that is unwelcome and very difficult to change or overcome."

She should have felt a little bad for it. It was an insult, and regardless of the banter she quite liked Zeke and would be mortified if she lost him as a friend. But why didn't she feel bad? Because she could already see the multitude of ways he would turn that back around to a compliment about himself. It was inevitable, and so she waited with a pointed look.

At least, she hoped he would do something like that. Otherwise she would feel DOUBLY bad about things. She WAS just joking. Surely he knew that. He wasn't some floppy fish, even if he did smush bread in her face.

The smack to her hand was unwelcome, but understood. She would probably have rubbed the color out of his sleeve if she kept it up. Drawing her hand back, and releasing her hold on him, Amur picked up the crust he had placed on her knee and gave him a LOOK. Had he just....of course he had.

"As if! The such thing I would ever care to see are the headlights on car bumper down a long highway." She munched as casually as she could on the bread crust, not ignorant of the faint heat that had pricked her cheeks at his suggestion. "Don't be indecent, Zeke." Or was it because of that turd eating grin he was wearing?

If anytime was the time for smacking someone with bread, it was now, but of course she had acted too early and with the wrong premise. Now, it was time to TRY and be mature. It was HARD.

"You're the only one eager to show it off. And I think Maggie would have you up by your toes for suggesting such a thing."

With every right.

Stones stones sticks and stones...

Tenacius had his head down and was poking around on the ground. He was looking for the right kind of shape and texture of stone. Stone skimming is a precise sport y'know.

It was then that he heard someone. He shifted his eyes a little higher and immediately he recognized "Bentley!" the curly top beamed happily, then slowly the smile turned into concern "Ey whaddup man? You ok?" Couldn’t tell if he was sniffing due to allergies or he was upset about something.

Bentley looked up so quickly he almost rubbed off his entire chin on the grass. Whoops! He quickly wiped at his eyes and sat up, trying to look quite cool. Couldn't let anyone see him with dust in his eyes after all.

Cough..

"Oh hey Tenacious." He brushed the dirt of his elbow and arm off on his jeans and flashed a smile at the guy.

"Yeah I'm good. Some start of term eh?"

"He is lovely. Birds are wonderful pets. They stick by you and peck out any eyes they need to." She cackled as she looked towards the boy. Her own pet bird not far from where they were in a tree. "I got me own bird when I was about your age. Great path you are headed down. One quite like my own. I can see it very clearly."

Zeke shrugged. She didn't like it? He'd do it more often then. Amurrrrrrrrrrrr. Haha. The fourth year could stare at him all she liked, he wasn't perturbed by it, death stares were normal in his household. At least she understood, though he wasn't sure he liked what he heard. "You're obstinate," he countered lamely, not meaning it.

But at least he had his arm back, which was appreciated. Shuffling over a little to give Amur more room, Zeke stared out at the water again. Could he toss her in it? On any other day he might have, but he might have done enough to antagonise her for now.

..

His head snapped to the side to look at her though, because ouch? Harsh much? There was nothing unpleasant about his bum. "You seemed keen when we were in the tattoo parlour," he recalled. Pushing him to go first, it couldn't simply be because of the tattoo. Either way, he shrugged. "Sorry, can't help it..." he really couldn't. Chalk it down to it being hormones or just teenage boy stuff, but he was all about being indecent. She raised a good point though, Maggie would hang him up by his toes. "I thought you didn't care for my arm-candy," he stated first, giving her a look. Her words, not his. "But I'm not dumb, Amur, I do keep it to myself."

See, with Zeke and his snappy wit, Amur would have thought he would have taken her insult and reverted it. Beauty was obstinate in it's own way, wasn't it? What with his pride in his personal possessions, it was a wonder he didn't go that route. She would just have to teach him how it was done. With a broad grin, Amur straightened her back and squared her shoulders. "And PROUD of it."

Really. No lie here. She was definitely proud of her ability to be a right menace, because when she was, there was usually a reason. At least, in her mind. Zeke might have seen things differently.

Her grin slipped back into a look as he went on to insist that she DID care about seeing his seat warmer. The bit of heat on her cheeks didn't leave, but it didn't bother her enough to warrant her attention. "You were the one insistent on the tattoo. I wanted to see you put your person where your mouth was." Was that how the saying went? Somehow, it sounded a bit wrong.

She followed it up with a shrug. A shrug meant for her other reason for pushing him to go first, to learn a lesson. A shrug, because that point was no longer valid. "I think young love is foolish and short-lived in general. Don't know your arm-candy enough to really give an opinion on her." Though if she had broken Zeke's heart, Amur would DEFINITELY have had an opinion.

Turning her head to look at him, Amur met his gaze. "But if you're happy, if she makes you happy. Then I like her." On principle alone. Perhaps it was naïve and foolish, but there it was. If Zeke wanted it to stay that way for sure, it might have been a good idea to consider avoiding an introduction.

Swinging her legs a little, Amur considered Zeke and his rather serious expression. Abruptly, she decided this wasn't the way things should go with them. "I know you are. But I'm not."

With a grin, Amur sprung to her feet and took hold of both of Zeke's hands, trying to pull him up with her and towards the water. "I prefer sharing."

It completely eluded the fourth year that perhaps she should have followed such words up with a 'the semi-permanent water tattoos I got done are super cool, let me show you!'. She was simply too excited with the idea of actually showing them off.

Alice raised an eyebrows. This person had a pet bird? And she was trying to say they were alike? Pffffft. Alice looked at the crotchety, old witch and thought maybe she looked good if she was like a thousand, but a day shorter than a thousand and she looked too old and gross for Alice to even think pleasantly about them being alike at all. "Yeah... somehow i doubt that." She said, clearly not a fan of the comparison.

"Oh no dearie, I can see it quite clearly. You will have a road of heartache and despair. You will cast yourself away from all you love. A family member will die and you will be haunted and go crazy in the mind." Her evil laughter flooded the area, "Your magic and bird will all you have left. It's a great path to take."

Waving her macaw to come with her long bony fingers, Ursula turned and started walking the way she had just come.

Wow! The girl seemed to be a magnet for accidents but then so could Trixie at times especially with the antics she got up to at times. "I guess we're going to have to get used to accidents now, being at Hogwarts and all." Over a thousand underage witches and wizards under one roof. It was bound to happen.

Trixie had to be honest, she was quite unsure what her dad did. "Well I know he likes to invent things. He used to own the joke shop in Diagon Alley years ago but now he kinda travels around doing stuff..." She had no idea really. "What does yours do?"

A broad smile lit up Trixie's face. "Let's go see if we can find it." She wanted to swim with it.

Alice just made a face. Who even was this crusty, old lady with her prophesies about crazy stuff. No one was dying! This lady didn't even KNOW her family. And why would she push them away! This was all freaking Alice out.

"You're crazy!... Crazy lady.." She muttered as the woman was gone.. Hm Sketchy stuff was sketchy.

Azura nodded as Trixie spoke. "I guess you are right, we will have to get used to accidents.. and it makes me feel better that I'm not the only one who is clumsy! She said with a warm smile at the other girl.. There were so many people here, there was bound to be someone more or equally as clumsy as she was!

She nodded a bit as she spoke about her dad.. "Ohh, that sounds.. mysterious?" She said with a warm smile before grinning.. "My Dad works for the ministry, in Accidents and Catastrophe's.. He usually goes out to clean up magical messes.." She thought at least! But with all the times he came home with something magical wrong with him because of work.. she was sure he did that!

Good thing her mother was a Healer!

Azura's purple eyes lit up.. "Yeah, let's go see if we can! She said with an excited nod!

SPOILER!!: Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayquilz

IUGFIUREHIUHFGIUGHRYIY

At the idea of Milton being hurt, Paul was READY TO GO. He stood up, pulling Julia up with him...and also nudged David with his foot. "We should go..." because A. He was terrified and B. Ursula was yelling at them and C. David was yelling, too.

Well then.

"David--everything will be all right--" he whispered to the boy. And without another word, he grabbed David and pulled both students out of the tent QUICKLY so they didn't become the hag's dinner or something.

"Now...both of you...don't take Professor Black's predictions to heart...all right? I'm surely not." it was a lie. But he felt he needed to lie BECAUSE HE COULDN'T FREAK THEM OUT.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ashwinder

Julia's lip was wobbling all over the place, but she did wait until they were out of the tent before yelling at David, "If mine's real then so is yours, you... you goat sniffer! You're going to get your leg chomped off by a plant and I hope it's your right one."

And she even tried to stomp on his right foot with her heel, but with the professor steering them along at a pace only slightly slower than the Hogwarts Express she didn't quite manage it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ursula Black

The outburst from the boy just got laughter from the hag. "My readings are never wrong dearie. Listen to my warning, stay away from the greenhouse." She continued to laugh as the professor pulled them out of her tent. Her laughter was beginning to echo the grounds, seeing scared children and even a professor was a good time to Ursula Black.

Everything was NOT going to be okay. David was NOT okay with this hag of a fraud--- FRAUD OF A HAG! Look! He was so ticked off he wasn't even putting WORDS IN THE ORDER RIghT! And now Myers was DRAGGING him away from that laughing haggedly paggedly graddedlgjlsgsfs---

"Let me GO," he whined shouted as he squirmed away from the professor's reach, and took a big stomp away from him and Julia with his arms crossed. TOUGH LUCK STOMPING ON HIS LEG NOW, firstie! Nuuuuuuuuh! David stuck his tongue out at her, then noticed her big, tearful eyes, and suddenly felt the urge to look down toward the lake. He kicked a pebble in its direction, even though they were like, meters away. "I'm NOT a goat sniffer," he continued, averting his eyes to the space above her head for just one second, because it was pretty weird to insult someone without at least feigning eye contact. "YOU'RE the goat sniffer. NONE of these predictions are real. She didn't even READ the crystal ball right--- right, professor? Right? She's obviously up to something OTHER THAN realllllllll Divination."

David's sharp blue eyes flicked over to Paul for confirmation. The second-year was holding on to his trust of Hogwarts' excellent teaching staff right now. This blind faith in them was the only reason HE wasn't crying like Julia the child. THE HAG WASN'T EVEN OFFICIAL STAFF. She was just temporary. And she was smelly. AND she was DEFINITELY HIDING SOMETHING in her TENT. Please, Professor Myers, confirm this to be true. Please. David needed to hear it again, because for a second there, Myers hadn't sounded so sure of himself...

The new Divination Professor's warning about staying away from the Lake was still ringing in her ears even after so many days but Rachel did not believe her predictions. Especially after realising she only predicted horrible and negative things.

Rachel was on a mission today. She wanted to find the owner of the doll she was gently clutching in her hands against her chest. She reasoned that she would ask a few students if they knew anyone who had lost it. She also reasoned that outdoors was a good place to start as there would be many students there.

Now she just needed that first someone to ask.

Paul let David go as soon as the boy snapped at him, and his wide, blue eyes merely remained calm as both children...seemed distraught. He turned to Julia...

"It is probably not that nice to call David a goat sniffer...and even if he did sniff goats, m'dear, would that be that terrible? Goats are very interesting creatures when they aren't kicking you in the face..." he kept his voice lowered and cool.

Now.

He ran a hand through his fluffy white hair and looked out at the lake. "None of our predictions are real. Miss Black was merely messing with us.." that cackle was piercing through his heart right now.

"NO one is a goat sniffer!" Paul raised his voice slightly. "You two should not be insulting each other! You're both upset by what you heard--how in the world is insulting each other going to make EITHER of you feel better?" he was trying to appeal to logic, here, kids. He put a hand on each of their shoulders. "David...Julia...Miss Black wasn't being serious. I promise. I'm not frightened..."

HE WAS OWLING MILTON ASASP. AHEM.

"And...I want you both to say something nice to each other. Come on, you can do it. It's not that hard." Just to get the positive vibes back and all.