Abby smiled and said "That was pretty good and i don't know how you get a zebra in a refrigerator" Abby was glad that Haddie was taking her mind off her problems for the time being

"You open the door and stick him in," she said, nudging Abby gently in the side as if it should be obvious. It wasn't. It wasn't obvious to anyone that wasn't around 5 years old.

"How do you get an elephant in a refrigerator?"

Abby smiled and said "I don't know how do you get an elephant in a refrigerator" Abby knew these jokes came from a 5 year old so of course she wasnt going to get the punchline right away

"You first open the door, take out the zebra and put the elephant in." Ta-da! Ba-dum-tish! That's all folks! Try the veal!

"That's all I got. You know any jokes?"

Abby grinned and said "Well i do know jokes but with the way my memory has been i can't remember any unfortuantly but i am trying my hardest to remember any jokes"

Vivian had heard so much stories from pretty much everyone in her family who has been to Hogwarts about the great lake and its hidden mysteries beneath the surface. She'd heard about the Giant Squid most especially. She had forgotten the whole name - it had seemed like a mouthful to her - so she had settled with the nickname "Barty". Hope the squid didn't mind, yeah?

But now she was here at Hogwarts and she wanted to see Barty with her very own eyes.

The blonde skipped (as she always did) to the lake and had all her gear ready. Oh yeah, she had sort off brought with her one of the extra experimentation goggles that her dad had. Sometimes being a Healer sucked, especially with all the safety precautions to be taken into consideration.

Once she reached the lake, she looked down into it. Well, it was still sort of shallow at this part obviously. Vivi dipped her hand in the water. Kinda cool too. Winter was really coming so soon. She liked that the weather was great but, you know, the cold season was at the end of the tunnel.

BARTY, PLEASE SHOW? Vivi looked eagerly at the lake for a sign of a random tentacle poking out of the water.

But oh... look. A sad tiny girl. Vivi thought she was a firstie, considering how freakin' CUTE she was in terms of height. The blonde was taller than her (she was 4'10"), and it was obvious. The Slytherin went closer to the girl and sat beside her. She looked so sad, the eleven year old couldn't even help it.

"Hi. Are you okay?" Vivi said. She didn't have her entire pack of marshmallows at the moment. Such horrible timing, really. But she did have ooooone tiny pack of those snakey-shaped gummies that she sort of stole from the gathering in her common room the other night. Maybe that would suffice? She offered it to the other girl.

Azura turned as she heard a voice next to her, and she looked up, her dull purple eyes focusing on the taller blonde girl as she spoke. The tiny raven haired girl hadn't gotten a word out before the other girl came to sit next to her and Azura slowly nodded..

"Mmmm, i'm mostly all right." The lie had been told so often lately that it slipped easily from her lips, the slight twirling of her hair gave away the convincing words though.. "How are you doing?" She asked as she tried to turn the subject away from her.. She couldn't tell if the girl was younger or older than her.. because she was much taller than she was..

Azura felt like a midget at the school.. Jace was nearly a foot taller than her and Brady towered over her! The only person she could see eye to eye with was Jaemin!

*sigh*

Vivi was not.. contented with the girl's answer. Mostly alright? Noooooo! Vivi would not settled for such an answer! The blonde tilted her head a bit at the smaller girl and then moved her hand clutching the bag of snake-shaped gummies towards her. "Here, you can have them. I got it from my House's gathering during the first night," she said. "I hope it makes you feel better." And she did remain hopeful for a positive result.

Her? How was she? "I'm okay too. I was actually planning to see for myself if Barty the Giant Squid was really here," Vivi said and then looked out at the open water again. Still not a single tentacle at sight. The blonde sighed. It was bound to show up soon! Just have to remain positive and fingers crossed.

"Have you ever seen the squid before?" Just to continue the conversation. Vivi didn't want the sulky girl beside her to sour her mood. She wanted happy vibes, yes!

Hadley's mouth was doing that fish gaping thing again. Then she winced. Again. She felt like a complete fool. After managing to take Abby's mind of everything and cheer her up, she messed up and put the girl's mind right back on the problems. "I'm sorry. I'm an idiot."

And to top it off, she couldn't think of any new jokes to cheer Abs up. "If you want, I can be there when you tell Kitridge for support." It was always good to know somewhere was there to have your back.

Abby smiled and said "I would like that Haddie and it is okay there are times that I just wish everything was normal but until that happens well I need to just try my best to get on with my last year at school"

Azura realized she was either going to get a whole lot better at lying about how she was.. Or she was going to have to tell everyone what was happening to her..

And since.. that second one wasn't really an option.. Cause.. goodness who WANTED to know that her mother was killed and she found out a week before she came to Hogwarts? Who wanted to know that she wasn't sleeping and food tasted like ash and Jace hadn't spoken to her since the train? Did anyone want to know that she was slowly falling apart? No! So she had to keep it together!

A wider albeit fake smile crossed her face as she looked down at the snake gummies the girl was handing to her and she grinned. "Thank you." Azura said.. and then she sort of felt like crying at the girls next words.. THAT helped her feel better. "It did.. Thanks so much." She said with slightly watery eyes as she pulled out a watermelon sugar quill.. Would you want one?" She asked as she offered it to the other girl.

"Ohh! The Giant Squid?" She looked out at the lake and shook her head.. "No, I haven't seen it yet. But then again I haven't actually looked hard for it." She turned her purple eyes to the other girl. "I'm Azura Kennedy by the way.. Thanks for the gummies.. I was feeling a bit down.. and they helped." She flashed a grateful smile at the girl.

It was about time this snake went to go visit the lake. In all honesty this was his favorite part of the castle. He loved how the lake still held so many secrets and even if you observed it, there was something different about each day. There were different creatures or different students here. As he made his way down to the grass area, he dropped his backpack down and just laid down on the grass. He soaked up the sun and breathed in the fresh air.

I guess it was time to take a little cat nap.

Vivian smiled more as she looked at the other girl brighten up a bit. Whether she was just faking a smile or genuinely happy, the blonde was happy for the tiny effort. It wasn't an easy thing to try to keep it all together. She'd seen her Aunt Elise pregnant and trying not to be affected by the pains that came with it, so it was good to see other people happy despite the rough waters. Yay for the happy vibes!

"You're welcome. You can have it all, if you want. I think there's still a bunch more of those in my common room," Vivi said. Unless Mr. McLeod hid them all from his students. If he did, she'll have to pay him a visit later. His hut was just nearby, since it was here on the grounds rather than inside the castle. But... ohhhhh sugar quill! Vivi beamed and accepted it. "Thank you!" Poor girl actually had her own stash of sweets, huh? If Vivi had known, she might've not offered her the gummies but who cares? They were all happy! Happy happy! She liked spreading all this joy around like throwing flowers during weddings.

"I'm Vivian Fairfield. It's nice to meet you! And you have a very pretty name!" BEAM! The blonde kinda wished the Giant Squid would make an appearance. Sadly, Mr. Barty Squid hadn't shown himself yet. "Do you think it would appear if we offered it a gummy or something?" It was worth a try! Vivi took one of her snakey gummies and dangled it with her left arm, the right arm holding the sugar quill.

"MISTER BARTY, DO YOU WANT A GUMMY SNAKE?" She hoped the squid would hear her by now. Also, who said NO to a gummy, anyway?!

NO napping was to be had today, sir! N O N E! As soon as Dora had spotted Colt walking down toward the lake AND RIGHT PAST WHERE SHE HAD BEEN SITTING! She hopped up and followed him. Like a ninja.

A blonde ninja.

But it wasn't until a few moments after he closed his eyes that she acted... and by acted we mean she jumped right on him. POUNCED IF YOU WILL! She was sat on him and tickling commenced! YASSSS!

"WAKE UP COLT!"

Early mornings were great. Weekends were great. Merlin was great.

What more could he possibly want?

Not much more, to be quite honest. There was only so much you could ask for at the school. So he'd take all the blessings he was given. There were zero complaints. Yet. Something always happened to burst his happy bubble. It's why he hardly ever had a happy bubble.

ANYWAYS. Enough of that, he was here to ENJOY this fine morning air and lack of teaching duties. Enjoying it with his dog, Merlin, who was being taken for a walk. Because that's exactly what James Draper did to undo stress.

And he was going to love every single minute of it, before something came up to ruin it. So with Merlin by his side (as the dog was well-trained enough not to need a leash anymore), the two made their way around the lake.

Ah, nothing could ruin this.

Azura took the bag of gummies and slowly picked one up and eyed it for a moment with her purple orbs.. Eating.. hadn't been fun lately.. and she had only been eating a little bit since she was trying to put on a good face for the Professor's. They knew all..And she really didn't want to get sent to the Healer's wing.. Also.. Snakes.. She was terrified of snakes.

Snakes, open water and now Forests and Vampires.

But still, she bit one of the snakes heads off and she smiled a little.. It didn't fully taste like ash.. so she was grateful for that. "Thanks!" Azura said bright, "These taste really good." She nodded as she popped the rest in her mouth and sucked on it slowly, tying to dissolve it instead of fully eating it.

She smiled as the other girl took the Sugar Quill she handed her, "You are welcome.." She said with a warm.. albeit fake smile. She kept the Quills with her, and sucked on them every now and then to see if her sense of taste had returned.. So far.. nothing.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Vivian Fairfield!" Azura said brightly before smiling again. "Oh thank you.. My... Mom thought it up." Look at her, she was even able to say the word without crying! She was getting better.. at least at hiding everything.

Progress!

A soft giggle escaped from her lips as Vivian held out a gummy snake for the Giant Squid..

"Yeah! Here Giant Squid! I have some too!" She said as she joined in.. cause.. well.. Why not?"

Zelda the collie was beautiful, brushed, poised, and ready for a walk. She had been circling in front of the office door all MORNING, since Paul had first opened his eyes and made some strong tea.

"All RIIIGHT!" he had said, putting her on her leash and practically letting her DRAG him out to the lake. Merlin's pants! She was normally so well behaved, too...but today, she needed some exertion of energy, it seemed! Paul kept up (not without a LOT of panting on his part) and was actually coming to terms with this too-early hour walk and being THANKFUL for a dog who could keep him active. Poor Charles Fluffington, last term. He had been saddened by the school. But he was home and happy now, with Milton.

All of the sudden, Paul felt a tug. A LARGE tug--"ZELDA!" he yelled, but the dog paid him no mind. She pulled him forward, and then broke into a run. Paul tripped forward, fell onto his knees, and YELLLLLLLLED as the collie pulled him along at her STEADY QUICK TROT. "HELP ME! HELP ME!" the leash was wrapped around his WRIST.

The collie came to a halt, though, and Paul....could see clearly what had happened. Zelda had SEEN Merlin, James' dog, and wanted to say hello. But now she was wrapped around James twice and was doing her best to lunge into the other day.

So James was entwined in the leash...and Paul's wrist FELT LIKE IT WAS GOING TO SNAP BECAUSE DAMN, THAT LEASH. "Er---JAMES HELLO!" his face was red.

Kitty sat down on a rock near the edge of the lake and began snapping pictures of. She snapped a few of the lake itself, she snapped one of Azura (who was in the distance talking to comeone), and she snapped a few of Professor Paul and his cute collie encounter Professor Drape and his dog. It was a rather enjoyable day to have a camera.

As he was beginning to relax, he knew the moment wouldn't last till Colt felt someone jump onto him...

OMMFFHHHHHH

He eyes flew open and was shocked to see Dora was on top of him. Well he wasn't that surprised. Man he didn't expect her to do this. "Well hello there Dora.." he coughed a little bit from the aftershock of being pounced on. "How's it hanging?" She seemed really happy today.

Except Paul Myers. Surely the man always found a way to ruin everything.

Example A:

James could hear the man's shrieking from the other side of the grounds. Actually, the Gryffindors could probably hear the man's shrieking from the other side of the castle. Honestly, the screeching was so high pitched that for a moment, James was sure it was Tiara Tanner. But of course, it belonged to Poncho Paul. That obnoxious hippy never failed to put James in a mood.

So of course in attempt not to be dragged into 'helping' the man, James promptly turned the other way. If he couldn't see Paul, then how could he know to help? Heh. Genius.

And then of course the next series of events happened all too quickly for a proper reaction. Merlin--who had just seconds before been on his best behavior--suddenly had the energy of a thousand and one suns. James--who had just seconds before been walking freely--was now entrapped in a mess of some sort of... "Paul." James managed through gritted teeth, giving the man a glare just as soon as he looked down and saw what had happened.

The leash was wrapped incredibly tightly in places that leashes were not meant to be wrapped incredibly tightly, ie GET IT OFF!!! "Get your dog under control!" And get this thing OFF of him!!

And of course, Merlin was over there sniffing the Collie's butt. Great help he was.

In the meantime, James was clawing at the leash trying to loosen it.

Vivi didn't mind the slightest that Azura took all of her snakey gummies. She did offer it to her, anyway, so there really was no more taking-backs of them. She'd find some more those later if she went to poke Mr. McLeod. Also, on top of that, she had newly refilled stashes of GREEN (because Slytherin) marshmallows from her Auntie Elise. She sucked on the watermelon sugar quill that the other girl gave her. In fairness, it actually tasted good in this flavour. But then again, everything tasted good for Vivian.

"I think they taste good too. It was one of the sweets in our welcoming thingy in our common room during the first night," the blonde shared and smiled more as she ate more of the sugar quill. "You can tell by now that I'm a Slytherin. But I promise, I don't hiss or spit venom or..." Vivi showed her pointy "fangs" teeth. The naturally sharp canines. "... bite." Then she grinned at the girl! She didn't mean to scare anyway, all just for fun so that Azura would feel slightly better if ever.

Vivi really thought it was a pretty name. Though she kinda sensed the girl pausing at the mention of her mum, Vivi wasn't going to dig in deeper into the topic. "She does have really nice taste, then," the eleven year old smiled at her new friend. Eh... enough sulkiness.

The Slytherin beamed at Azura when she joined her with the gummy snakes thing. Surely Mr. Barty would've seen them by now, what with two GUMMIES dangling on top of the water. Vivi would've NOMMED on them immediately. "D'you think he'll recognise us now?" Not even a tentacle wave? How sad.

"Ohh! Well that's pretty cool.. and appropriate.." Snake gummies... because Slytherin. Azura had skipped her house get together the first night.. She didn't feel like facing anyone and had just gone straight to bed.

Azura nodded.. "Mmm, I did gather that you are a Slytherin." She said with a warm smile. Only to have it fade as the girl flashed her teeth at her.. and for a moment Azura was panic stricken.. Vivians sharp teeth almost reminded the small girl of a Vampire! Her fingers gripped the rock as her logical self fought with her emotions for a moment. Vivian wasn't a vampire come to kill her.. She was a Slytherin with sharp teeth.. That was ALL..

Calm down Azura.. just calm down." The girls mini panic attack calmed as she smiled again at the girl and managed to speak with a normal voice.. "Good! I don't take kindly to people biting me and taking my blood." Her voice was EVER so casual..

"Mmm! She did! My middle name is Luna.. So really.. My name means.. Blue Moon." She said with a soft smile.. She really did love her name.

She looked down at the water and smiled.. "Oh I hope he does! I really want to see him too.."

Paul struggled with the leash for a second. He FINALLY got it unwrapped from his wrist..and...pulled Zelda off of sniffing Merlin. "I'm SORRY I can't help this!" he said, chuckling a little..nervously...mostly because WHAT IF JAMES KILLED HIS DOG.

He wouldn't put it past the man.

Zelda would not relent. She kept trying to sniff Merlin's butt--Paul eventually went around James in a circle himself, while still keeping a hold of his collie, and sighed. "I'm SO sorry about this, James--really--" the Herbologist was sweating his bum off right now! Wiping the moisture from his brow, he watched Zelda attempt to "play" with the other dog, pawing at him and sticking her butt in the air. And then....

RUUUUUFFFFFFFFF

Her barks boomed around them, and Paul chuckled. "I think it might be love at first sniff, James." He teased.

..... 'I can't help this', well CLEARLY.

If Paul could help this they wouldn't be stuck in this mess right about now.

James watched as the hippy herbologist went around him trying to undo the horrible leash trap. Still while this was being done, James continued trying to loosen the tightly wrapped fabric. All was alright (considering this mess) until what Paul said next.

No.

LOL.

No.

Merlin didn't love. Though he was sniffing quite a bit. Which was strange. Honestly, the dog wasn't normally this friendly. But 'love at first sniff' it was almost as ridiculous as the garb Paul wore to the welcome feast. lol. "He's just being friendly," Paul had an extensive imagination. And terrible sense in fashion. "What happened to your other dog?" Not that James cared about Paul's personal life, but honestly wasn't there another one here last year?

Friendly was one to put it, certainly. Zelda rolled onto her back, getting...dirty.
"ZELDA we--oh goodness gracious, darling--" he yanked her leash closer to him and for some reason, Zelda took that as an excuse to explore James. And by explore, we mean...sniff his behind.

And then lick his hand affectionately.

And then try to get back to Paul by going underneath the man's legs.

"GAH-ZELDA!" oh gosh. James was going to murder him and his dog and Milton would be left all alone and sad to raise their four other dogs on his OWN. "She's WAY more rambunctious than Charles--yes I had Charles--but he was dead depressed being stuck at the school last term. SHE seems to be loving it---" And the other dog.

Who she was now sniffing more and wagging her tail against James' leg.