Figuring herself to be alone, Esme had not expected someone to call her name. Oh, it was the boy that she had met last term. His name was Oliver if she remembered correctly. It wasn't really hard to remember a name like that because it wasn't exactly complicated. It wasn't very common either.

"Hey, Oliver," she said with a smile. Then she noticed that he looked cold and her smile faltered. "Come sit with me and I can warm you up." There were heating spells and hot drink to be enjoyed. Had he not brought his wand with him? Because if so he should have warmed himself up. People didn't always bring their wands with them though; of course sh tried to make a habit of never forgetting hers because her parents had told her countless times how bad it could be to get caught in a sticky situation and not be able to perform magic to get out of it.

She really needed to learn wandless magic.

Oh good, she remembered him and she was offering warmth. Esme was obviously a very good person. Ollie coudln't help but wonder why it had been so long since he last saw her. It was probably because he spent all of his time with his ex (who he kind of hated now) and never got around to seeing other people. None of that now though, there was warming up to be done.

"I'm sorry if I'm bothering you?" He said this and was sincerely sorry, but he still sat next to her and allowed her to warm him up. If he really was bothering her, he'd warm up for half a second longer and then be on his way. "Thank you so much though. I can't believe I forgot my wand." He knew better. He really did. But he was too distracted when he left the castle to remember it.

Oh, good. He was joining her. Not only was company nice but Esme would have felt bad if she let him go on his way obviously cold. The winter really could be very unfriendly sometimes though hopefully things would warm up again soon. Wishful thinking probably but whatever. "You're not bothering me at all." Nope, now they could catch up because it had been a long time since they had last spoken. "So what have you been up to lately?" Just curious.

She set about performing some warming spells and gave a small laugh. "I've forgotten my wand too. Why my parents have stressed the important of taking it everywhere." So really he wasn't the only one. Fortunately for her she hadn't ever forgotten it when it was REALLY needed. One time was more than enough, however. "No problem. Do you want some hot white chocolate?" she asked, offering the cup. That would help further.

He let a dismissive shrug roll off his shoulders. "So what if it is?" Being rude never stopped him from doing anything. Wasn't stopping him from making himself comfortable out here with her. Just cause he could.

Admiring her? "Do you have something I need?" That was the better question. He doubted it, but that wasn't actually the question he had for her. "Is there something fascinating to you Hogwarts chicks about sittin' outside in the cold?" Echo noticed it was a reoccurring theme here. At least with two of them around his age. He was perplexed.

Oliver appreciated Esme so much. Seriously. His bum was so cold, he was having issues dealing. Esme was a life saver. He would have to make sure to repay her somehow. Maybe he'd bring her something back from Disney! Everyone liked Disney, didn't they? "Thank you so much. Seriously." He rubbed his hands together hoping they'd get warmer faster though sitting with Esme was already helping. The gloves he was wearing however were doing nothing for him. What even was the point of wearing them? "Uuummm...not much really? Kind of hiding out in the dorm or the kitchens eating ice cream." Yup, Ollie was clearly living the good life. But he'd have to start making changes and start venturing out more. Which is probably what he thought when he met Esme so he hadn't improved much but...it was a slow process. I tend to fall asleep in the library a lot too," he added with a laugh. But that's not exactly exciting. What have you been doing?"

The fifth year sighed at the mention of parents reminding Esme to never forget her wand. "My mum always reminds me and...well, obviously my brain isn't on my side. But I got lucky with you being out here!" Because had it been anyone else, he wouldn't have bothered them. Not like he knew many people anyway. Oooh hot white chocolate????? "I've never had it but it sounds warm and yummy so..if you don't mind, yes please?" Ollie mad another mental note to also figure out what Esme's favorite food was and deliver it to her one day. Mhm.

"No worries," Esme said with a wink. She was glad to see that he was warming up. One really shouldn't be in the freezing cold without proper warmth because that was how you became sick. Plus she liked Oliver because he was really nice. Oh, he had been hiding out a lot. No wonder she hadn't really seen him much. "Is everything alright?" Sometimes it was hard to tell if someone closed themselves off because something was wrong or if they just didn't want to bother with the world in general. She had a feeling that it wasn't the latter, however. "Oh, I've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out what I want to do after Hogwarts. OWLs are coming up next term. I'll have to use the library for reading instead of napping." Giggle. Really the library wasn't TOO bad but she just wasn't a big fan of it. Not like Teddy.

Hmm. Well, it was understandable. "I can get like that too when I have a lot on my mind." So really he wasn't the only one. Generally Esme forgot other things though. The one time without her wand had been enough for her and Oliver would probably get better about not forgetting. "Well, I'm just glad I can help," she said as she handed the cup over. There was more where that came from. "I also have grilled cheese if you want?" Because who didn't love grilled cheese?

Ollie smiled at her wink. He knew so many nice people here at Hogwarts and it had made his attendance to the school so worth it. Not that the classes and the environment were all that bad, he just was always pretty home sick, especially when things happen and upset him. Writing to his mum and Jon wasn't the same as being at home with them. Luckily, winter break was soon and he'd get some family time again. Oh yeah, I'm okay now. I was going through a...rough patch? I guess we can call it that, but I'm feeling pretty okay now." Ice cream was kind of a huge helper and his sister Timila and all of the new friends he'd made were great too. If he hadn't met them, he'd probably still be in a bad place.

Oh right. OWLs were a thing for him this year and he had to figure out what he was going to do with the rest of his life. NO PRESSURE. "How's that going for you? I still have no idea what I want do." Was professional napper a thing? Or maybe he could just be Brian's caretaker????? "Napping is so much better than studying though, especially in the library since it's so quiet."

"I'll make sure not to forget it again." No way he was going to make that mistake and end up freezing in the future. Nope. But Esme just kept getting greater and great. Seriously, hot drinks and hot food? She was an angel. "Whoa. You really came prepared," he said and laughed. "Were you planning on being out here for a while?"

Torie was walking towards the lake slowly his eyes unfocused as he walked. He didn't see anyone around at all, nor was he really watching where he was going. He was just looking for something shiny. Something gold. It had to be gold. "Find....gold..." he mumbled, not really making sense nor were his words complete, but rather breaking off. "Gold..." he mumbled again.

His hands were just hanging at his sides as he stumbled around walking past students in search of gold.

*continues with earlier timeline*
 

Oh, a rough patch. That wasn't very nice and Esme could understand it. Sometimes she felt a little down when she was rather homesick. Letters weren't the same thing as seeing her family and she was too scared of birds to venture to the owlery more than needed. "Well, I'm glad that things are better for you, I know what it's like to be in a pretty down mood." So Oliver definitely wasn't alone there.

How was it going for her? Esme wasn't too sure yet. "I can't decide what I want to do either. I might end up working with creatures in some capacity." Divination was her favourite subject, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to be a Professor or a fortuneteller. Maybe she could have a Unicorn farm. That would be incredible. "Well, what kind of things are you passionate about?" There had to be something and maybe she could help him out a little. "Well, you got that right. I'm not big on reading so I've had some naps in there myself." Though sometimes she settled for sketching the stained glass windows; that kind of thing interested her lately.

Hehe. "Good, because I might not be here the next time." That wouldn't be very nice but she was sure that he would do better in the future. At least he was nice and warm now. "I'm a Hufflepuff, that's what we do," she joked as she gave him some grilled cheese. "I needed to clear my head and this seemed like the perfect place to come." Sometimes fresh air was all she needed.

"Thanks, I appreciate that. And hopefully neither of us has to deal with being in down moods for a while." Oliver wasn't sure he could deal with more bad news. If anything else happened, he'd probably actually beg his mother to let him go home.

Oooo magical creatures seemed like a popular choice for the students he'd spoken to, and he didn't blame them. He loved magic creatures, but he wasn't sure he could take care of them or teach about them for the rest of his life. He kind of just wanted to play with some of them for the rest of his life. "You're really nice, so I feel like you'd be good at that. Handling animals has gotta be way easier when you're just naturally a nice person." Maybe it was a theory or maybe he had read it somewhere, but he was certain what he'd said was true. Nice people and animals just went together like PB&J. "Um.....I don't feel too passionate about many thing actually..." There was working out, which he loved to do, but he wasn't sure if being a trainer or something would be much fun for him. "I'm the same way! I've even tried those audible book things at home and I still fall asleep." Ollie shrugged. Studying and reading just weren't for him really. Although, he'd loved reading comic books the one time he had been able to.

Esme had a good point, he wasn't going to be able to rely on dumb luck every time he forgot his wand. Maybe he'd tie a string to it and hang it around his neck and under his shirt everywhere. Sounded like an easy enough way to keep his wand on him. Ollie grinned at her next comment though. Hufflepuffs really were great. Esme and his good friend Brian were proof of that. "I need to learn some of your preparation skills." Especially if it meant carrying food and drinks with you. He could carry ice cream with him everywhere! How great would that be??? "Oh. That's actually why I came out here too. Is everything okay??" Maybe venting would help her clear her mind, if venting was what she needed. Either way, Oliver was here for her, especially since she'd just saved him from the cold...and hunger.

Wait...what?

Uhm. Somehow Maggie didn't have an answer to that. Like, it was just basic manners not to stare. At least not so openly. Unless you had a very good reason to. Which this guy apparently did NOT. Seeing as she didn't have a proper comeback to that she just rolled her eyes at the boy, giving him a look as if he was simply a lost cause. Which he totally was. Gosh.

At his next words Maggie instinctively straightened up a little and stretched out her legs. "I don't know?" DID she have something he needed? "If I do, though, there's no way I'm going to give it to you." THERE! That was a good comeback. She mentally gave herself a pat on the back. The smirk that had started to appear on her lips was soon gone again, however. "I am NOT a Hogwarts chick!" How DARE he put her into the same group as the other girls at this school! With a huff Maggie averted her gaze AWAY from him.

PFFT.

Also was this girl seriously going for a swim in the freezing cold lake right now? What even?

"Of course," she said with another wink as she adjusted herself. She was getting a little uncomfortable sitting cross-legged but it was no big deal. "Hopefully! But friends and good food always works wonders! At least it does for me." Probably for a lot of other people as well, but some did better when left alone and didn't want to eat or talk to anyone. For her it was the opposite. "Here is hoping that we both have a better new year!" Since January was coming closer.

Aww, he thought she was very nice. That was sweet. "I think you're really nice too." At least he was to her even though they hadn't talked TOO much yet. "Do you like creatures too?" Just... wondering. A lot of people seemed to but there were those who didn't. It was natural; some people just weren't crazy about animals. It didn't mean there was anything WRONG with them. Well, not unless they were abusive but that was a whole other issue and fortunately Esme didn't know anyone like that. "Well, you're really into exercising, right?" At least she could remember him telling her that he liked going for runs. "You could do something with that? Do you have a favourite subject?" Sometimes that helped as a basis since it showed what people were really interested in. Obviously it didn't ALWAYS help because there were also muggle careers for those who preferred them. She giggled. It was nice to talk to people who weren't really into reading either. "I've tried to get into it, but I just can't I would much rather do something else with my time. It is going to be so hard to study next term because I won't have an excuse not to look at textbooks." Well... she DID read them, but only as much as she had to and nothing as extensive as she would need to for OWLs and NEWTs.

Learn her preparation skills? HAHA. Why not? "Well, I use an extension charm on my bag and pack everything that I feel I might need into it. Including food and drink I raid from the kitchen." Hence the meal that she had brought outside with her. So he had come outside for the same reason. "Just a little frustrated about being cooped up inside and trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. Also feeling a little homesick. I love being here, but letters aren't exactly the same as seeing my family. Of course I have my sister so that's amazing." She and Juno were practically attached at the hip. "What about you?" Esme asked before taking a bite out of her grilled cheese.

Oliver held up his cup up in the air and beamed. "Cheers to that! It'll be great." He figured now was a good time to live up to 'out with the old and in with the new' what with old people leaving him and whatnot. No big deal.

He blushed a bit at the compliment but kept his smile. Getting compliments from new people was always so weird to him but he always appreciated it so much. "Thanks, Esme. I try to be." Not that his first thoughts were to be mean, but moreso that he always tried to be as nice as possible to people...unless they've completely lost his trust or hurt him orh his friends or family in some way. There was never any coming back from that. "I do like creatures, but I think I mostly prefer being around them and petting them and playing them when it's a playful creature." Because obviously he wasn't going to go around playing with a dragon or a thestral. Oliver grinned because he was actually really surprised Esme even remembered that he enjoyed working out, and he was pretty sure the last time he saw her, he had just begun working out too. He had come so far since then. "I do yeah. Someone told me I could be in law enforcement but I've never been too into enforcing things. I think I just need to look at a huge list of careers and read up on them." At least then he would know what every position entailed and could choose from there. "My favorite subject is charms but I really don't want to teach..." As much as he loved kids alredy, teaching just wasn't something he could imagine himself doing. Just wasn't for him. He laughed a little at Esme's response because he knew the feeling, he was going through it right now. "I am having the hardest time studying for OWLs right now. It's the worst. And I'm not bad at school things, I just suck at studying."

What a smart way to travel. WHY DID HE NEVER USE THE EXTENSION CHARM ON HIS BACK?????? His mind was kind of blown. "WHOA. That's what I need to do! That's so smart, Esme. Thanks." He meant it so much. EXTENSION CHARM. And now Esme was saying almost exactly what he had been thinking earlier. This was so cool...though it was also sad because that meant she was as homesick as he was. "I really understand that. I kind of feel that way all the time. I can't wait for winter break. Plus, being at home with your twin is nicer than only going to school with her." Especially since Timila was nicer to him at home...or at leastthat's how it felt.

Ooh, a toast! Esme could get behind that. Smiling, she clunked her thermos against his cup. "Cheers! To an amazing 2090 and all the things that it will hold for us." Whatever he had been dealing with would be better and she would have some idea what to do with her life and would hopefully see her family soon. Being homesick sucked.

Deciding to ignore the blush instead of pointing it out (which he probably wouldn't have wanted), Esme brushed off the thanks. "Just telling things how they are." He was a very nice boy; all the people who thought that Slytherins were mean needed to meet him, Hady, Mason, and many others because they were all good people. Oliver's next comment made her laugh, however. "Well, I imagine that's how a lot of us are. Can't imagine most people wanting a Dragon or Nundu for a pet." Even though she wasn't big on history she had heard the story of Eldon Elsrickle. Yeah, she was never going to do anything as dumb as that. A Unicorn was more than enough for her; in fact she had asked her parents for one repeatedly and they always told her no. "Law enforcement? My dad is in that field; he's an Auror!" But that line of work wasn't for everyone. It certainly wasn't for HER. "Well, we can look in the library together. I mean if you want to." Maybe he would rather do that alone or with someone else like his sister. It would be a nice for them both to have some idea of what they wanted to do with their lives after Hogwarts. It was a big world out there filled with loads of possibilities and she didn't want to miss out on anything just because she was unsure of what she wanted. "I don't think I want to be a teacher either, I would much rather do something that involves working with people. Or Unicorns!" Maybe she could have a Unicorn farm! That would be AMAZING. "You're not the only one who is bad with studying because I am too. Especially with things like History of Magic." She was not a big fan of history in all honestly. It bored her.

Hehe. It was funny to see his reaction to her charm suggestion. "Well, sometimes I miss out on things too. But I'm glad to give a tip!" Now life would be a little easier for Oliver as far as that was concerned. Maybe he would pack away everything that he would possibly need the same way that she did. Esme was trying to never be caught unprepared but she had no idea how well that would go. She would see in time. "I'm glad that I am not the only one who gets homesick. I can't wait to see the rest of my family again." She always got like this during term though by the end of summer she was itching to go back to Hogwarts. "Do you not get along great with your sister at school?" Twins didn't always get along and she knew that; luckily for her she didn't have that problem with Juno. They were best friends.

2090 sounded so weird to him. Then again, so had 2089 a year ago. Every so often he liked to think about how things were back in the old days, like in 2000 or whatever. How crazy was it that 2000 was even a real year? LET ALONE 1000. So weird. As weird as it is, he clinked his drink and took a big gulp of it. He figured the more he drank the more likely amazingness would exist in 2090. ....kind of logical.

Oliver was so grateful when Esme didn't bring up his blushing. He had already had so many people point out when he blushed and it always embarrassed him more. He couldn't help it after all. "Good point, though Nundu's look really cool...and softer to pet than a dragon." Y'know, since they had fur rather than scaley skin and whatnot. But she was right, there was no way he'd ever want one as a pet. Going with Tim and Jon to see the dragons every so often was more than enough for him. Dragons were cool when there was no way they could harm you.

The slytherin raised his eyebrows when Esme said her dad was an auror. He wasn't quite sure why that surprised him so much, but it did. He didn't actually know anyone who knew an auror. They were just...random witches and wizards who lived this weirdly cool life enforcing wizard laws and stuff. "Really??? Do you think...maybe I could talk to him about it one day?" Oliver knew maybe that was too much to ask, but how cool would it be to talk to an auror? And then he could actually find out what the job is like because in his head it was all memorizing laws and then getting mad at people when they broke them. Didn't sounds much fun really. Beaming, he nodded at Esme's suggestion. He couldn't help thinking, once again, that she was so nice. "I'd love that actually! And we can help each other out with figuring out what we wanna do!" He was really excited about this. It was gonna be great. Olive couldn't help but laugh next. Unicorns were really cool. "Y'know how they have programs to help people by riding horses? Maybe you could do something like that but with unicorns!" Like therapy!! "I am so bad at History of Magic!" He kind of really really disliked history so much.

"You're so great, Esme!" Seriously. So great. "Me too! Being home will be great. But Tim and I get along pretty well, it's just not the same as at home. We don't hang out as much." Which was a blessing on rare occasions, but he missed her a lot. "Are you and your twin close?"

Apologies for the delay!
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazinga (Post 11956874) He watched a moment, but truly he wasn't sure. No, he didn't think it was working. He moved closer to the tree to see if anything could be seen. "No I'm afraid..." Wait was that? It was... His usual straight face moved to a small grin, "As you can see the bugs are starting to come from the cracks of the tree. So they have been pushed out." He took a step back because he wasn't a fan of having bugs crawl on him at all.

Kye looked at the tree and was very excited for the professor. His new charm had worked! "Will you be teaching this in class anytime soon?" she inquired. She doubted for her class, but maybe the older kids, or even Herbology? "Are there other spells you're creating?" she asked, excited and curious.

Hehe, Esme was happy now that they had toasted for a good new year because she liked to think that it meant things would be better for them both. Nothing wrong with having faith in things; she liked to believe the best and not dwell on being pessimistic. "Yum," she said as she took a sip of her white hot chocolate. "I just can't seem to like the regular stuff but then I don't like chocolate." Yeah, a lot of people thought she was weird for that but it didn't matter. She was perfectly fine with it because at the end of the day she was herself and that was the important thing. Besides vanilla was way better anyway.

Oliver was right about that even though she didn't think that Nundus would be a great pet. They were basically a death wish as dragons were. "So which one do you think is more dangerous? Who do you think would win in a fight against each other?" It was hard to say because the Nundu had breath that could kill a Dragon but if it managed to burn it before it could do anything... well, that was game over. She just enjoyed thinking about random stuff like that sometimes.

It was no problem that he wanted to talk to her dad sometimes; wouldn't be hard to arrange and she was sure that he would enjoy talking about it to someone. Her dad loved what he did for a living and would be perfectly happy discussing it with someone. "Yeah, of course! During summer you can come over and talk about it with him. I mean you can come over at any time if you want to as well..." She DID enjoy his company and he was more than welcome to visit. He could hang out with her and Juno then though she didn't think that he knew her sister yet. "Sounds perfect! We would be in the library for something other than napping." Haha, honestly the library wasn't TOO bad but reading just wasn't her thing. There were much better ways she could spend her time though she tried her best to keep up to date with her class stuff. Obviously. Just could be hard sometimes when the text books were way too complicated and boring. And the idea with Unicorns was great. "You know, I never thought of that! Great idea. I was thinking about a farm for them but I would love to help people." Esme was big on helping others and this would be a great way to do it! She was definitely going to consider it. "I am not great at it too! I don't like history. I would drop the class if I could but my mom thinks it's important to take because 'I need to know where I came from'." How Goblin Rebellions fit into that was beyond her...

"I think you're great too!" she said with a smile before taking another bite of her sandwich. He really was very sweet on top of being very cute. "Oh, so she has a different group of friends then? Me and Juno share some friends but others not so much." Maybe Oliver and his sister were totally different in the same way that Teddy was with Ava. "We are incredibly close even though we have different personalities. We look identical besides clothing." She was sure that he would be able to tell the difference easily once he got to know them both better.

Out of the forest and around the lake he gooooooooooes with eight tree trunk legs moving as swiftly as possible through the snow. Aletag decided then and there that he much rather preferred spring at Hogwarts, despite his late mother's invasion attempt somewhat tainting the season...but it would be far too late were he to wait until then to seek out the humanfolk of Hogwarts and deliver relay his concerns.

Now WHERE were the humanfolk?

"DWELLERS OF THE CASTLE! I SEEK YOUR COUNSEL NOT YOUR FLESH!" the acromantula shouted, front legs waving in the air wildly to draw even more attention to his large black body.

Olly had been out for a peaceful walk around the grounds. He didn't like being cooped up inside, not even during the winter. He didn't mind the cold, though, so he was outside a lot even with the cold weather and snow. It wasn't hard to just bundle up. His time outdoors was usually peaceful, and often fun if he ran into friends. But apparently that peace could not last.

He was down by the lake when he saw something he had never expected to see ever in his life. An acromantula. That was a real live acromantula. Straight out of the forest. And there he was, a thirteen year old student. He was probably going to die. Olly's mouth dropped open but he didn't scream, no sound came out of his mouth. It was probably for the best, because he didn't want to draw attention to himself. He jumped behind the nearest tree. It might have been better to flee back toward the castle but he was frozen in fear. Was there a professor around? Someone save him.

OH LOOK! IT WORKED!

Leave it to humanfolk to follow the spiders loud noises.

"Would be better if I had a whole roasted turkey within my pincers," Aletag replied, clicking them together eagerly. "But can't complain otherwise."

MMMMMMMMMMMMMM TURKEY MMMMMMMMMMMMM.

And ever so kind of her not to draw her stick on him. Aletag noticed movement just a bit in the distance...the form of another human leaping behind a tree, but thought nothing more of it. "Though...you could tell your friend they can come out from behind that tree," he added as he approached her closer.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMM HUMA----EEEEEEEER....TURKEY MMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Acromantula and others! :D
 

Carl was wandering around the Great Lake, looking for some peace and fresh air. It was a good place to take a walk and clear his mind, so he was here frequently. However, the peaceful walk was interrupted by a shout and a sight that made him do a double take.

There was an Acromantula - a real life Acromantula, eight-eyed, eight-legged and gigantic - shouting and waving its front legs wildly. The Hufflepuff's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He had half a mind to run away, but it was as if he was rooted to the ground. He stayed frozen like this, until he saw Azura talking to the giant spider (which was actually really cool) and it stepping closer to her.

He might have been terrified, but he was not going to let his friend get harmed. He walked quickly towards them and stood beside the Ravenclaw. He had his hand stuck casually in his pocket, but he was gripping his wand tightly, in case anything happened. "Hellooo, what's up?" he said in a weirdly cheerful voice.

Acromantula, Azura, and others.