The Playground
 

Abey! <3
 

Of COURSE Abey was going to go to the playground at the first available moment actually. He had been doing a lot of exploring actually after FINALLY being here at the castle he had been hearing about all his whole entire actual life and everything. It had turned out that the outside was easier to explore than the inside, on account of how you couldn't really get lost because there was a huge great big massive giant castle leading you back to the inside.

Anyways, no sooner had he stepped outside than Abey noticed the playground out on the horizon and dashed right for it. The running was good actually because even though it made the air even colder on his face, it warmed the rest of his body up. Because this place? COLD. Way colder than Egypt actually, JUST BY THE WAY. It was a shock to the system that Abey Botros had in no way been prepared for.

But playing at the playground would warm him up for sure.

After leaping for the sand and landing with both feet at the same time, Abey started to make for the tether ball, wanting to see if he could maybe cling onto the ball like a little monkey and then fly around the pole with it. ExCEPT, he noticed that someone ELSE was nearby. Someone who had been at the Sorting, so probably a first year, though as to his house... Abey had already been in tears by that point actually and so had missed all of... everything else. Ahem.

He stalled in what he was doing, staring at the upside down boy, and trying to decide if he should pretend that he wasn't there at all, or try to make a friend. Making a friend was the best option actually, but actually already the nerves and shyness was threatening to taking over. So, rather than do anything, Abey simply dithered over trying to make a decision, biting at the tip of his index finger and glancing across at the other boy.

And sending 'Friend?' vibes, like that might do the trick.

For Juliette
 

You know who you are <3
 

So psyched for this <3
 

After visiting the Treehouse, Olivia made her way over to the playground. She had always loved, loved going to playgrounds. Despite her age, she still sometime went to muggle ones back home. She loved playing and having fun. Thus the playground seemed like an awesome place to visit next.

As she approached the playground, she noticed a young girl sitting on the sand patch near the slide, soaking up the sun. Now that was a TERRIFIC idea. It was so terrific that Olivia just had to join her. She glanced up at the sun, stopping in her tracks for a moment, and then continued walking closer to the slide. "It's such a lovely day. Mind if I join you?" she asked with a smile tugging at her lips.

Etta blinked her eyes open slowly and looked up at the person who had spoken to her. A person being a girl who seemed to be about her age. "Hi!" She grinned, shifting a little so that the girl could join her on the sand. "Of course! It is, isn't it? It's beautiful." Unfortunately, winter was just around the corner. She definitely wasn't going to enjoy the cold. Sigh.

The Hufflepuff side-eyed the other girl curiously for a moment, wondering if she was a fourth year too? or younger? "I'm Etta." She introduced herself with a friendly smile. Not Henrietta. She never did share that name with anyone. She preferred Etta, always.

Olivia beamed and plopped down beside the girl. "It is! It's good to soak up the sun before winter comes." And Olivia had heard about the bad winter that Hogwarts had experienced a couple years ago thanks to her brother and his mates. They had been snowed in. Crazy, huh? She closed her eyes for a moment, glancing up to the sun, and then raised an eyebrow when she heard the other girl speak again.

Oh! Right. Introductions were a thing!

"Etta's a cool name." Was it short for something else? Perhaps but if Etta wanted to be Etta, Olivia wasn't going to stop her. That would be rude. "Nice to meet you, Etta. I'm Olivia. Have you been at Hogwarts for your entire schooling or did you transfer? I just transferred in to the fourth year here. I'm a Gryffindor." Gryffindor and proud. She felt as if she needed to square her shoulders for greater affect; however, she got the notion that- that would be overkill.

"I'm so not looking forward to winter. It apparently gets pretty cold out here." Etta leaned back on her hands, legs still in a cross-legged position, turning to look at the other girl before continuing with a smile, "I wish summer lasted all year." Or even Autumn. She wouldn't mind that at all.

Olivia? Etta gave an internal!approval. Mhm, that was a nice name. She liked people with nice names.. or even nicknames. She wondered if Olivia had one? But before she could ask, Olivia was asking her something else.

"I transferred here, I was home-schooled before." She still wasn't sure why her parents abruptly decided to have her join Hogwarts. It wasn't that she hadn't liked home-schooling but OH well. She was definitely glad to be away from her rude cousins. Heh. But HEY. She was a fourth year too. How cool. Etta couldn't help but grin excitedly. [B]"I'm a fourth year as well.. a Hufflepuff."

Olivia and Etta... Hope you don't mind me butting in :)
 

Jacob wandered onto the playground, not intending to use the play equipment, just to see what was going on. He looked around and saw a few people scattered here and there. It seemed like everyone out here had already found someone to socialize with. Drat. He hated to admit it, but that was part of the reason he'd come out in the first place. He was hoping to find someone sitting alone and reading a book or something. (Books were built-in conversation starters, and he needed plenty of those.) His social skills were alright at best, but he would be darned if he was going to go through his OWL year without a single friend. Now seemed like the perfect time to try to meet some people, before things got too serious in the term.

He spotted two girls who looked to be around his age talking. He didn't want to be rude and just butt in, so he instead wandered a bit closer to them and sat down on a bench inconspicuously. Well, he thought he was being inconspicuous, anyway. Oh, Merlin. Maybe this was a bad idea. What if they saw him and thought he was creepy or eavesdropping or something?! He truthfully couldn't even hear what they were saying.

Actually, maybe he should get to where he could hear, because then that would mean first, that they might see him and invite him to join their conversation, and second, that he would know what they were talking about so that if they did invite him, he would be able to keep up with the conversation.

Hmm. Yes. Moving a bit closer seemed like a good idea. He got up from the bench and moved slowly toward one that was closer to the girls. He whistled a bit while he walked, looking around and trying to act casual. He felt a blush begin to creep up his cheeks. They were probably watching him and thinking he was such a freak. Actually, that's probably exactly what they were talking about. He could imagine the conversation: "Hey, see that weird Ravenclaw boy? What is he doing? Is he spying on us?"

On second -- or was this third? -- thought, maybe it would be better to leave well enough alone and just retreat back to the common room. He stopped suddenly where he was, about halfway between the two benches, debating whether to continue or to make his escape. Funny, he seemed to be having a fight-or-flight response to... Well, nothing.

Of course not!! The more, the merrier! :)
 

The winter got COLD here? But, did it get VERY cold? Olivia shivered at the thought. Brr... She was hoping it would be less cold than Beauxbatons. However, geographically she should have expected a slightly cooler climate as they were closer to the North Pole. "Pretty cold? Well then sounds like we'll need to stock up on fuzzy blankets and socks," she said with several nods. With fuzzy blankets and clothing you could do anything. She was sure of it. "I hope we have a longer autumn. I've always been a fan of watching the leaves change colour." Autumn had always been her favourite time of year for that reason.

Etta was home-schooled before? Oh wow. That was certainly something Olivia didn't hear every day. "What was being home schooled like? If you don't mind me asking." When she heard that Etta was a Hufflepuff, she smiled a little more. Sweet! She liked Hufflepuffs well the two she had met so far (Derf and Henry- her friend, Primrose, was a Hufflepuff too but she knew Prim from Beauxbatons already) so, with that record, she was certain that she'd like more of them. Fingers crossed, right? AND BONUS! Etta and her were the same year. SWEET! She had met a few boys her own year so Etta was one of the few girls that she had met that was in her year. She was about to ask another question when she noticed something or someone approaching them. Then she heard whistling. Was the whistling to a song...? She was unsure. She'd have to ask the boy. "Looks like we may have company!" she whispered excitedly at the idea that another person was joining them.

Olivia turned to glance at the boy that approached them. He seemed to be around the same age and appeared to be a little hesitant. Then all of a sudden, the boy halted in his tracks. Hmm.. maybe he was nervous? So naturally Olivia, being the somewhat loud youngest child that she is, did what she knew best. She grinned at hm. "Hey! What are you up to over there? Want to come join us?"

Juliette walked down to the grounds wearing a pair of skinny jeans, a oversized jacket, and a pair of yellow converse-like shoes. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but as soon as she hit the cold air, she pulled the hair clip out, allowing her long blonde hair flow down below her shoulders. It was cold days like this that made her miss New York; she missed going to Central Park with her father when the snow started to fall. She was realizing quickly that her father may not move back to the States, and she was stuck here.... at least until graduation.

She was going to stop under a large oak tree and sit down for a while until she noticed a very familiar (and handsome, mind you) face in the distance. A large smile formed on her face, and she skipped off to the playground where Colt Winchester was at.

"Hey, you!" She sat down in the swing next to him.

Jacob started, nearly jumping out of his skin, when one of the girls began speaking loudly. He looked around quickly, seeing if there was someone else she could be talking to, but he was the only one there. He must be the intended target of the question.

Had his plan actually worked? Get close enough and they'll talk to you? He'd have to remember that one. On second thought (again), that was probably a creepy tactic. Maybe he wouldn't use that one again.

"Um. Sure. Hello," he said, walking cautiously over to the duo. "I'm up to... Nothing at all, really." Did that make him sound mysterious or like a giant loser? Should he sit down? Was this an actual invitation, or were they just trying to verify that he was not a creeper before continuing their own conversation?

Well, if he sat down, it would be too awkward for them to tell him to go away. Right? Right. Probably. Or they would just ignore him and the only person feeling awkward would be him. Oy vey. Snap out of it, dummy, he chided himself. You're being weird.

He decided to take a chance and sat down, keeping his distance a bit. He was still close enough that a person walking by could reasonably assume he was part of their group, but not so close that any body parts -- knees or the like -- might accidentally touch. That sounded like a bit too much socialization in one sitting to him.

"I'm Jacob, by the way." He'd forgotten to say that part until now. Whoops.

When Colt was swinging a little too high, he saw a familiar blonde in the distance. He grinned and was happy to see her. He began to slow down and saw Juliette plop down next to him. "Hey youu." he replied back and kissed her cheek. "I knew this place would be perfect for us." he said gesturing towards the playground. "Come on let's go on the monkey bars.." he said getting of his swing and running towards the bars. He began to climb on the steps and then got on top and then twisted around and was dangling upside down. "Am I monkey enough yet?" he asked Juliette.

For Alipanda..
 

So much good was going on. She was enjoying the term so far. How couldn't she? Her seventh year did seem like it was going to be the best that she ever had. Finally it seemed like everything was going in her favor. She couldn't help but miss the music shop and miss the internship though. With the days getting colder the Australian was already wearing long sleeves. After so many years she still hated the cold and still jumped into her winter clothes faster then the rest it seemed.


Sitting on the swing she thought about the sun and the beaches. Her eyes lifted when she saw movement. Watching Rooney quietly Nat couldn't help but smile a little. He looked like he was having fun. It was nice to see people having fun on the playground and not just thinking they were to old for it.


"Hey Rooney" she smiled as she got off the swing and walked over.

Looking at the seat he was not sat on, Rooney frowned for a second as the stones poured off back onto the floor. He had not yet managed to equal the weight of his body and a pile of stones. But with the Head Girl now joining him, he was going to see just how much she weighed. But not in exact amounts because that was something that a man did not need to know at all, for it was a lady's prerogative and privacy and oh no. "MissNataliahello" Could she tell just from looking at him that he was thinking about whether she could help him balance this see-saw out or if he'd sit on it and she'd go flying into the lake?

Surely she couldn't read minds. Surely not.

Well..it was a possibility, really.

"M'just...uh....see....sawing?????"

She smiled as he looked at her. Was he just going back and forth on the monkey bars or was he just swinging on them like a monkey? That could be fun, she kind of thought about when she was younger and hanging upside down by her knees. She wondered if she could still do that or if the blood would rush to her head.

Her brown eyes move to the seesaw as he spoke of it. "Do you like playing on those?" Running her fingers through her long brown hair she had never been on one, but she had watched other kids at them while she sat at the park.

"Did you want to go on the seesaw? I mean, I think I could do that." She was pretty tall, but she didn't think she was too big for it.

"Sounds like a good mum," said Olivia with a wide grin. She wish that she had been closer to her mother before her mother's accident but sometimes life did not work in those ways. As per Etta's question, Olivia happily answered. "Originally Melbourne, Australia. More recently South of France. I lived with my grandparents for a couple years." It was a good way to escape the pain of watching her mother's condition worsen.

She became silent, listening to Etta's description of being home schooled. She could definitely believe that it would be certainly difficult to meet people when you were schooled with your cousins. "That must have been fun spending time with cousins but I could imagine that it'd be spending time with your siblings. You'd get to know each other very well. The good and the bad." She paused, trying to think of a way to describe it. "There's a muggle phrase that says after three days friends and family start to smell like fish. Or maybe that's something my Dad says." Her Dad was very good at making up various phrases as well as puns that were pure punishment. However, that was his role as a father. It was required of him to do so.

"I transferred from Beauxbatons. I loved it there but I wanted to find more of a balance between schoolwork and extracurriculars. Also I wanted to come to Hogwarts to experience the adventures and the inexplicable events that my older brother experienced when he was here." It probably sounded a little silly saying that she had come here to seek all of this but it was true. She wanted the true Hogwarts experience. She desired it. She had always been one for adventures.

Before she could ask another question, she noticed that the boy had answered her question. He was doing... nothing? She raised an eyebrow, watching him and trying to analyze what he had meant. He probably was just very awkward around girls. Her brother had gone through a stage like this (according to their father). Once the boy, Jacob, had joined them and introduced himself, then Etta introduced himself. She smiled. "Nice to meet you, Jacob. I'm Olivia. So we were just talking about schools. We're both new to Hogwarts this year. Have you been here all of your schooling years?" she asked.

"Nice to meet you both," Jacob said politely, beginning to blush again at the look on Etta's face. She looked like she thought he was from another planet, and he could tell she was trying to suppress a smile. He noticed Olivia's eyebrow raise as she looked at him curiously, as well. He must be acting even stranger than he'd thought. Curse being book-smart instead of blessed with effortless social skills! He made a mental note to check the library later for anything that might help him. There's a book for everything, that was his motto. (Maybe that being his motto was actually part of the problem.) Perhaps he could write to his brother and ask how it had been so easy for him...

"Ah," he said, Olivia's question snapping him out of his brief reverie. "No. I haven't. This will be my first full year here, actually." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, smoothing down the hair in the back of his head. "I came to Hogwarts with about a month left of school last term. I was at Ilvermorny before that." He couldn't help frowning a little. He was still a little bitter at his father for uprooting him so suddenly. And at the end of the year. Couldn't the new job have held off for a few more weeks?

But now wasn't the time to be thinking about that, and he really was determined to enjoy Hogwarts even though Ilvermorny was the best wizarding school in the world. He had at some point while talking pulled out his Thunderbird badge without even realizing he'd done so, and he began playing with it idly, twirling it between his fingers. It had become almost like a comfort blanket to him, reminding him that there was a thirst for adventure inside him, however much it might disguise itself in studiousness.

You two <3
 

*both of you* :D
 

Wait. Etta was a kiwi? Wait. Wait. Wait. WHAAAAT. WHAT.

“You’re a KIWI?” she exclaimed, perhaps a little too loudly. She was simply excited to meet a fellow true southerner. She hadn’t met anyone from New Zealand at either Hogwarts or Beauxbatons. This was terrific. Now she could tease Etta about being a part of Eastern Australia, the long forgotten state of Australia. “So either I’m from the western Ireland of New Zealand or you’re from Eastern Australia?” she teased with a grin. She had been waiting to use that joke for YEARS. “Australia was fantastic. I moved away when I was about seven to live with grandparents. I loved France. It was definitely a little bit of a culture shock and the language barrier was hard for a few years but after a while I could manage it.” And she was now fluent in it. Somehow she had always had a knack for languages. “Did you enjoy New Zealand?”

Olivia paused, getting the sense that the relationship between Etta and her cousins was a little strained. That was like and her eldest brother (Marcus). He had made fun of Simon and Olivia for their ‘abilities’. He was also a bully. He wasn’t the type of person that Olivia gravitated towards. At Etta’s response to the muggle phrase that she had said, Olivia’s eyes widened. “I’m pretty sure my Dad made it up. He must have.” She chuckled. Her Dad was always making up things like that as well as telling bad Dad jokes. Though she was pretty certain that the bad Dad jokes was a requirement for all dads.

“Is it a bit intimidating at time coming to such a large school after being home-schooled?” asked Olivia curiously. She was certain that if she had been in Etta’s shoes. She would be worried about making friends and interacting with different kinds of people. “Though it must be exciting.” To Etta’s question, she nodded. Yes, her brother had been here. Her favourite brother. It wasn’t ever good to have favourites but when you had two brothers like Marcus and Simon, it was very easy to have a favourite. She liked the one that talked to her more and treated her like an actual person. “Yes, he was! Simon was a Slytherin. He’s much older than me which I guess makes me kind of the ‘oops’ child, y’know?”

Olivia nodded to Jacob as he said it was nice to meet both of them. She caught the blush that appeared on Jacob’s face. Cute. Remaining quiet, she listened to Jacob speak about his time. Oh so he was also relatively new! That was exciting. When he mentioned Illvermorny, she beamed. She had met someone from Illvermorny over the summer in Diagon Alley who had taught her ALL about the school. “Illvermorny? Awesome! I met this guy in the fourth year that just transferred this year from there. His name is Brent and he’s in Slytherin. I think he said that he was a Puckwudgie?” Or was it Thunderbird? She couldn’t remember. The houses had such interesting names.

Sam swung idly on the swing set, her hand fumbling around the letter in her pocket. It almost felt heavy there, the weight of it keeping her from gliding high through the air like she usually would when visiting here.

Was this what it felt like, to be a fourth year, to have responsibilities? She wasn't sure she liked it.