Colt loved to explore these pathways. They were always so interesting and peculiar. It seemed like something out of a story book. As he walked through he noticed some students were already here. He didn't mind because he went into his secret corner. He loved just being under the trees and smelling the fresh air. No one really knew about this place. He could finally sit down and think about his head boy duties he was assigned to. He got out his notebook and began to scribble and then he flipped through the book and noticed there was some old drawings. He was impressed and haven't looked at these in a while. He smirked to himself and just began to fix them.

There was a rustling.... A rustling below, like directly under him! Thank the Maker! He's saved!

The Curly Top looked down, seems like it was an older student. Oh even better, someone who had more magical experience than him. And a wand hopefully. "Pssssst hey dude." he called down from the tree branch several feet up, of which he has been marooned on for a while now.

As Colt was in the zone and he was doodling and fixing them, he heard the rustling but thought it could be the wind. He blew that idea away. Then he heard someone call. He thought it couldn't be him. He heard the rustling more profound and he looked up and saw someone. BLOODY MERLIN. He jumped right up and was startled. "Dudee you can't creep up on people like that." He faced him and he saw Tenacius had a something I wanna tell you look" on his face. "What's up dude? You got something big you want me to be a part of?" Then let's hear it.

Kimi smiled at Professor Stewart and said "That is good advise Professor i shall do that and then i won't find it so hard to remember all the spells and yeah i am sure you are right it will get better once i get older well i hope that to be honest"

Unfortunately, this was the only time Natalie could make it out of the castle today. It was the beginning of school year and she already had a TON of reading to do. But she loved the outdoors. She loved the way it smelled. Like trees. She loved trees. The only bad thing about nature was the BUGS and weird animals.

Speaking of... Natalie nearly jumped backward when she nearly ran into a girl with a BUTTERFLY on her ARM. The small brunette froze a few feet away from the older girl, staring with wide eyes.

"Ew," she finally squeaked out.

Leon gave a half smile and turned his head a bit as the other boy spoke. "Honestly mate, it's no worries at all. I was a rather distracted myself. " Otherwise he would have gotten out of the way. He said with a nod as he shifted his weight a bit and looked out over the pathways for a moment. His grey eyes held a far off look for just a moment before he turned his attention back to the boy was speaking.

"Nice to meet you Oliver, I'm in Ravenclaw. " He added as Oliver told him what house he was in.. jogging attire did not help the house conundrum.. the grey eyed boy took a drink of water before nodding a bit.

"Anytime, I just wanted to help, least I could do for being partially responsible for knocking you over. " He said with a nod as he looked over at the other boy with a half smile.

"Usually I'm pretty aware of my surroundings but today I was lost in my own thoughts.. "

Ava had just finished her classes for the day, and not having too much homework to do she decided it was the perfect time for a stroll around Hogwarts. She walked along a pathway, heading for nowhere in particular. She simply loved being here. Everything seemed to just melt away amongst the beautiful roses, and was that a butterfly? She was just thinking to herself that she could stay here forever when she noticed a bench that seemed to have just appeared. She took a seat and looked around, admiring her surroundings.

It was such a beautiful day, it seemed a crime to stay indoors! So Gaston was outside making the most of it. The thought had crossed his mind to bring his cat, Phantom, along with him - Merlin knew she needed the exercise! - but after the treehouse incident last term, he thought it was probably a better idea to leave her safely behind in his office. The dark-haired Frenchman leisurely strolled down the path, softly humming along to the tune his enchanted ipod was playing.

A little farther down the path, he spotted a small girl sitting on a bench, and he tapped his ipod with his wand to turn it off so he could talk to her. He always had a soft spot for the younger students. "Hello there, Miss James," he greeted the girl, smiling warmly. "Lovely day, isn't it?"

She liked watching other people, seeing what they were up to. It was an interesting thing to do. There were a few students out, getting to know each other and enjoying the day same as her. Some professors, too. Here's one now, coming right her way!

"Hello Professor!" She beamed up at him. "Yes such a nice day, it's so good to be outside." Ava loved the Slytherin common room and its dark and mysterious vibe, but it got pretty cold and dark down there. She could definitely see herself venturing outside often to get a little break and some fresh air to clear her head.

Creep up? Is that what the Head Boy thought? "Yeahhhh its a bad habit…." the Curly Top deadpans before fidgeting and then flailing then hugged the tree so tight. Nope he aint gonna be that boy Jack with a broken crown, not today. "Of course I didn’t end up UP here on purpose… went a little too fast on my cruiser and I jumped the curb…." like JUMPED WAY WAY UP.

"Yes yes please Colt, I want you to be a part of something big -- Save Tenacius Salander!" wobble wobble yikes! Of all the branches to have landed on, its this one that was swishy "GET. ME. DOWWNNNN."

"I completely understand that." Ollie kind of wished there was a way to be distracted without being so distracted. He wanted to be able to run and get all of his 'deep' thinking done while still being able to pay attention to where he was going and what he was doing. Also, an alarm that would go off whenever he got too close to people while running would also be amazing. He needed to find out if something like that existed...

Then for a moment, Leon seemed to go...somewhere else, mentally anyway. The moment didn't last long, but Oliver still found it a little weird. But he was never one to judge or question, so he kept his face from showing much confusion and just moved along with the conversation.

"Oh cool, I don't know many Ravenclaws." And at the moment, he couldn't think of a single one he actually knew. Ollie really needed to stop being a shut-in.

He smiled at the other boy and nodded, making a mental note about his healing skills. "Well, maybe one of these days I'll need to have a sprain looked at, now I'll know I can go to you." Of course, the infirmary was closer than the towers, but maybe Leon would be nearby that day. "Yeah, I was too. It's okay. Staying focused on just running can be a struggle sometimes."

Colt responded with, "I'll say. Is that what you do with all your friends?" I mean they would probably get used to it but still. He was observing the dude and he seemed like he was way up high in the tree. Too high for his liking. He furrowed his brows in confusion, "Wait you jumped the curb and ended up all the way up here..?" he pointed his finger to the curb and up the tree. He was baffled and tried to not let his brain hurt. Whatever what was done was done.

He snorted with laughter and said, "Alright mate I'll get you down. Geezz you haven't climbed trees before have ya?" he said and began to climb to get him. Then he saw the branch was wobbly and swishy. He pursed his lips and began to climb down to rethink his plan. Wait a minute he had magic to help him out. He got his wand from his robes. "Accio pillow!" and zoomed was a tiny pillow in his hand. Well that wasn't gonna work. He thought on his feet and he could do it, "Wingardium Leviosa!" and he aimed his wand at him to make him levitate off the branch.

Olivia heard a noise that almost resembled a squeak. What was that? She glanced over her shoulder to find a young girl staring at her arm. Ah. Yes. Butterfly. "Yeah. It hasn't moved up my arm so we should be good," said Olivia, trying to make it seem okay. She liked butterflies just as long as they didn't land on her and crawl up her arms. Olivia glanced back to the young first year. Was she petrified of the butterfly? No. No one could dislike butterflies, right? They were harmless. She brought her index finger close to where the butterfly sat and waited until the butterfly crawled onto her index finger.

Outstretching her hand a little bit towards the girl, she smiled. "Here you go," she said to the younger girl, figuring that she just wanted to see the butterfly closer.

Gaston's smile only grew as the girl beamed at him. It did his heart good to see a student being so cheerful and friendly! "So it is, Miss James!" he agreed. Granted, his office was nice, but there was only so long he could stay cooped up inside before he started to feel trapped. Sometimes it was nice to get out and see the sun and the flowers... and the students, of course!

The thought crossed the professor's mind to sit on the bench beside Miss James, but he decided against it. She might not want an old man like him for company. So he'd wait to see if she invited him instead. "So what do you think of Hogwarts so far?" he asked the girl. He hoped she liked it here!

Ava hadn't really met any of her other teachers outside of class before. She didn't know the protocol! If anyone else came along and started talking to her she would usually just go on about what a nice day it is, or how fun the classes are, or just how kind everyone is. Honestly, she'd probably roll her eyes at herself if she wasn't so happy. Anyway, she wasn't sure if the Professor intended to stay and chat, but maybe she should ask if he wanted to sit, he did seem pretty friendly after all.

"Oh I think Hogwarts is great! Would you like to sit Professor?" She paused for only a moment before continuing on. "I was so excited to come to Hogwarts, and it's even better then I could have imagined. It feels so much like home here."

A warm smile graced her lips and she nodded down at her young student. "It's a tip my own father had given to me when I started at Hogwarts years ago." The tip had served her well and at times she still made a list of very important charms or spells to just have handy.

"Practice makes perfect. If you're putting effort and time into your studies and applying yourself you'll be just fine." Camilla was sure of this. She was also always around if he or any other students needed some extra assistance with Transfiguration.

We should be good?? It was ON her. That wasn't GOOD, it was GROSS. Natalie wasn't a fan of... creatures. Especially ones that could fly. Also especially ones that were dirty and couldn't take care of themselves. Butterflies were probably cleaner than other animals, but they were FURRY and they could FLY. Therefore, they were gross and a danger.

The look on the slytherin's face was a mix between disgusted and mortified. Natalie took a large step backwards and made another weird noise. "Ew, no." She waved her hand at it. SHOO, BUG.

Kimi smiled at Professor Stewart and said "Yeah i will start going through my notes when i get back to my dorm and yes that is what my Mum keeps saying to me that if i practice then i will get better and if i need any help with any Transfiguration work i will come and see you in your office outside of lessons because i always feel i want to work hard and get better in all of my subjects"

Bonsai had once again taken it upon himself to pad ahead of them along the path. The cat was currently frolicking through the grass and flowers. "I completely agree with your mother on this. Practice always makes perfect and should you ever need to practice your free to use the new practice room set up near my office." That's what it was there for. Should he need to work on his other lessons as well he was more then welcome to do that too.

Professor Stewart was always around if a student should need her.

Carlton dragged his bag filled with books around everywhere. Maybe people thought he studied a lot, but truth was he just hadn't figured out which books he was supposed to bring to class so he brought all of them.

He left the Courtyard behind him and continued down the pathways, away from the other students. He switched the bag to his other shoulder and shuffled forward. Some students had mentioned house elves. What were those? Was Peeves a house-elf? He was too afraid to ask. Back home his questions were just normal but at Hogwarts people seemed to find them amusing. He didn't know which questions people thought were funny and which they took seriously anymore. So he decided to find the answers for himself. First thing to look up was definitely house-elves, that way he would recognize it if he'd be lucky enough to meet one.

Up ahead was a bench and he hurried towards it. Mine. MINE. He threw his heavy bag on the bench and crawled up on it, crossing his legs beneath him. Carlton decided he liked the place. It was perfect. One of his heaviest books was all about magic, he was sure he could find something about house-elves in there.

Enough laughing at him. He would become the greatest magic-knower in Hogwarts! Nay, in ALL THE LAND!

Yes.

Kimi smiled at Professor Stewart and said "Thank you i will remember that to drop in if i ever need to practice my transfiguration work" Kimi needed to try to remember that there were always areas that he could practice doing his work with and that if he ever needed help he could always just ask one of the professors

Gaston was pleasantly surprised when Miss James invited him to sit. "Thank you, Miss James," he said as he sat down on the bench beside her. He couldn't help but smile as he listened to her talk about how much she loved Hogwarts. He was relieved that her first year here was off to a better start than his own had been! "I'm so glad to hear that!" he said. "Some people have a hard time adjusting to life at Hogwarts..." But he stopped short of telling her he had been one of those people.

The charms professor was momentarily distracted by a butterfly. He watched as it perched on a nearby flower for a minute, then flew away again. "So your family attended Hogwarts too?" he asked, turning his attention back to Miss James. Probably a stupid question, but he was trying to keep the conversation going... not an easy task for someone as shy as him!

The brunette women smiled warmly. Her door was always open to all her students should they ever need her for any reason. Should one of them come to her for something other then Transfiguration then she would do her very best to help them with whatever it was. "I'm glad to hear that," she replied with a slight nod of her head. It was always good to know that her students knew this as well. Having them feel as if they couldn't come to their Professor for help was a huge 'No, no' and just wouldn't do.

Not to far ahead of them Camilla was able to see the castle once more. It seemed their walk along the pathways had brought them full circle.

~~~~~

Quote:

Originally Posted by potterobsessionist

Carlton dragged his bag filled with books around everywhere. Maybe people thought he studied a lot, but truth was he just hadn't figured out which books he was supposed to bring to class so he brought all of them.

He left the Courtyard behind him and continued down the pathways, away from the other students. He switched the bag to his other shoulder and shuffled forward. Some students had mentioned house elves. What were those? Was Peeves a house-elf? He was too afraid to ask. Back home his questions were just normal but at Hogwarts people seemed to find them amusing. He didn't know which questions people thought were funny and which they took seriously anymore. So he decided to find the answers for himself. First thing to look up was definitely house-elves, that way he would recognize it if he'd be lucky enough to meet one.

Up ahead was a bench and he hurried towards it. Mine. MINE. He threw his heavy bag on the bench and crawled up on it, crossing his legs beneath him. Carlton decided he liked the place. It was perfect. One of his heaviest books was all about magic, he was sure he could find something about house-elves in there.

Enough laughing at him. He would become the greatest magic-knower in Hogwarts! Nay, in ALL THE LAND!

Yes.

The weather was starting to get colder and Rosalyn decided that it was a good idea to make the most of it before winter came. Not that she had a big problem with the cold, but she was more suited for temperate climate. Besides, snow and ice could be such a nuisance to deal with. Honestly she didn't know how muggles coped because they didn't have things like warming charms.

humming a tune in her head, she made her way along the pathways, looking out to see if there were anyone that she could talk to. Human interaction was a nice thing and there was only so long that she could be shut up in her office before feeling cooped up. Not that she spent all her time there, but she HAD been wanting to get some reading done. Looked like she wasn't the only one either, she thought with a smile as she approached one of the benches.

"Good afternoon Mr Lewis. Trying to get a bunch of reading done?" It sure seemed that way judging by how full his book bag was!