"I don't know that for sure, for all I know, you could be." A joke, obviously, though she did always wonder why it was that she could never pull away from him. She seriously considered this to be a highly complex brand of magic that he'd somehow performed on her without her knowledge. She'd need to confer with Declan on the matter.

"Yes, it is. Flirting has to be natural too, or else it won't work. And, besides, even if you're charming, you are also a shameless flirt. No shame at all." And she would leave it at that. Again, Bentley's need to be stubborn persisted even when he sounded illogical. Still, Althea found herself smiling at him. Ridiculous. Very ridiculous.

Bentley was doing that thing he did where he was reading too much into her words. Sometimes she felt bad about it, and other times...she wished he'd just let it go. "Alright Benny, don't read too much into it, okay," she said, splashing a bit of water at him. "Relax." Something she desperately needed to do herself. As he moved deeper into the water, Althea wondered briefly if she was making him nervous. The very idea of it amused her. "Yeah, sure, Benny, whatever you say." There was no use pushing the point, because he would drag it on and on until she gave in anyway.

The brunette smiled innocently, shielding herself from the incoming water. "Hay is for horses, Etta." Her smile grew in size and she tilted her head. "Book maze, really? Sounds like something my cousin Lilian would love." Lilian who was smart and strong and beautiful on the inside and on the outside, which obviously ran in the Botros family. Obviously. "Clever way to ensure students are stuck studying, isn't it? Get them lost in a maze full of books." Those professors were smarter than they looked. (No offense).

Junia let out a girlish giggle at the sight of the Hufflepuff's blush. Wasn't it so weird how boys could make you do that without even being NEAR you? She wondered if they knew they had this power, and if they prided themselves on their ability to cause such things to happen. This had to mean girls had some power too, and she was sure ready to discover what that was.

"And does he give you butterflies? Samuel gives me those. He can just LOOK at me, and my stomach feels like it's alive with them all fluttering at once. 'S strange." But nice. Very nice. "So you like being a girlfriend, then?"

Xavvie extended her leg and dipped her toes into the water, testing. The boy had said it was great and she was sure he was right since he was already in there, but she wanted to test that out for herself as well. Although then, he splashed her a little bit and she got even more of a feel for the water. "It is great!" She grinned, flicking a little bit of water back at him.

After putting her things at a safe distance away, she stepped into the water and found that great wasn't quite the right word. "I love it in here!"

Ooooo she flicked water back at him. If he was anywhere else that would mean war. But Théo did not know her and well that was about it. He was still amazed this school would allowed there to be a hot spring. Magic was awesome.

"It is! and Hi I'm Théo. Can you believe we have this at school!"

And he would have to visit the igloo after because that was cool too. But not as cool as this.

"How funny." Etta stuck her tongue out at the other girl, obviously a very mature thing to do. Wait, Lilian? She paused, wondering if she'd ever met this Lilian person. Did the entire Botros family go to Hogwarts? She had questions, quite a few actually, but they could wait until later. "True. I mean.. even if they don't necessarily study, it's an excuse for people to go to the library, at least. It's a start." She grinned, enjoying the feel of the warm water against her skin. Again, her new favourite place at Hogwarts.

Butterflies? "Yes!" Etta exclaimed, more enthusiastically than she'd intended. "Yes. Every time he looks at me... his mere presence even.. I just melt on the inside, you know? This feeling keeps getting better.. or worse each day. It's a good feeling." She smiled, glad that she had friends she could actually share these things with. People who actually understood what she was talking about.

"Yes, I think I do. He makes me very happy." To put it very simply. She splashed at her friend some more. "Anyway, enough about me. How about you? How are things with Samuel?"

Junia clapped her hands, finding everything her friend had said to be spot-on, and super romantic. Ever since she'd gone down this whole dating road, the brunette decided to focus on the fun and exciting aspect of it, rather than the possibility of impending heartbreak that accompanied any young romance. Any doubts were pushed aside, locked away, and kept far from the surface so she could enjoy this-being happy. "It sounds like you two really like each other." Which was a good thing, great even. It meant her friend's crush had been reciprocated and what more could you want for a friend? "Maybe we can all hang out some time? Like, with Sam, too." Speaking of...

"He's the best, you know?" Junebug felt her cheeks heat up and that had nothing to do with the water this time around. "He's so smart, E. He's also really funny and we're both competitive, which is fun. I don't know, he just makes me feel like...sunshine?" She paused, shrugging her shoulders as a helpless smile graced her lips. "I'm not even sure that makes any sense, but that's the best way I can describe it."

Oliver and Katy had decided to check out the newest part of the Hogwarts grounds this term. The lack of a smell was very nice.. He walked the short dock to look for a good place to leave his towel, shirt and shoes. He decided against leaving his things on the dock as the might get wet. "Just standing next to it is warm." Was that a stupid comment? Maybe. It was after all a hot spring. But he'd also never been to one before.

He slipped off his shoes and shirt. "Last one in's a troll!" He shouted as he jumped into the water, knowing she wouldn't be far behind.

She'd heard lots of things about the hot springs since their return in September but it'd taken a whole month for Jessa to come have a look herself. The timing couldn't have been better. October had brought with it some brisk winds and while warming charms were effective, why NOT give the hot springs a chance?

Jessa made her way onto the grounds, her swimwear under her clothing and everything else she needed bundled together in her little knapsack. Essentials mostly, like her towel, wand and so on.

It was crazy how she could begin to feel the warmth radiating off the springs before she was properly in view of them. The first promising sign and it had her feet picking up the pace. From what she'd heard, they were gorgeous and right now, her skin was really starting to feel that warmth.

Finally there, the Ravenclaw slowed to a stop, awed by what she was seeing. How had the Groundskeeper managed this?? It WAS amazing and gave itself to several questions...but later....later. Right now was for enjoying.

Olivia had seen the Igloo but she hadn't seen the Hot Springs when she went exploring around the grounds the other day. She felt rather silly for not noticing them but it had been dark out when she visited the igloo. After hearing about this place from a handful of fellow housemates, she made her way over to explore it, making sure to also wear a bathing suit underneath her clothes. Her eyes widened at the sight of the blue water. It was a brighter shade of blue than her own eye colour. So beautiful indeed. Now she only wished that she had brought her camera to capture it.

With a towel in her bag, she dropped the bag on the ground and then dipped her toes into the water. Ooh. Nice and warm. Slipping out of her dress, she shivered and then quickly got into the hot springs. Ahh... Now THIS was the life.

Xavvie was amused that he hadn't decided to splash her back. Water fights were good fun, but she wasn't keen on getting the hot water splashed in her face too much. Still, it was such a lovely little place. She was quite enjoying it here. "I'm Xavieria." She wiggled her fingers in the water, "It's pretty awesome. I think I'll spend a lot of time here this term." And maybe next one too, if the groundskeeper decided to keep it, anyway.

"I think I remember you." Xavvie liked watching the sorting at the beginning of the term, she always played a game with herself to see if she could guess which house the person would be sorted into, therefore, she mostly remembered the faces of the younger students. "You're a first year?" Or maybe she was thinking of someone else, she couldn't quite keep every face straight,
you know.

Katy draped her towel over a bench and squinted at the hot spring. It should smell more authentic, even if it bothered the faint of heart. The place was boiling over with minerals and goop and things, but it smelled like Hogwarts. "I always feel like I'm in a cauldron when I bathe in a hot spring."

She kicked her shoes under the bench and swished her toes in the water. "But... it's perfect. Warm. Goopy. Or it will be once we hit the mud at the bottom." She rolled her eyes at him. "I like trolls. Brat."

"Do you bathe in Hot Springs often?" If the answer were yes he wouldn't have been shocked. Katy led an interesting life. But she was a Toussaint, that was normal.. For them to be interesting, right? He'd never been in a hot spring though.

Laughing to himself Oliver did a backstroke. "You're looking forward to the goop?" His own position on goop remained very neutral. He wasn't Pro Goop but he wasn't exactly Anti Goop either. But Katy was a scientist and probably had plenty of opinions on things Oliver barely thought about. "Oh, well that's good cause you are one." His eyebrows wiggled.

Xavieria.

Never even heard that name before and it would take some practice to even get right. Théodore said it under his breath just to be sure he wouldn't mess it up.

"Yeah. Still have not been to the igloo. But i like it here"

Oh well the second year did not want to flat out tell her he was not a first year. But well at this point he had too.

"No second-year Gryffindor. Maybe you are thinking of Stasya"

She is a first-year lion and also part of the long weird name squad.

Slate had forgotten how fast the weather cooled down this far north. My mid October it was already something he'd describe as cold. Therefore, he thought he'd enjoy a day at the hot spring. It seemed like a good place to people watch and relax.

He had his towel swung over his shoulder and his swim trunks on. "Hey Jessa." he said as he passed. He sat at the edge of the water to start with just dipping his feet in. Then he could adjust to the temperature.

Oh, Slate!

"I'd have suggested we walk over together if I'd known you were coming here today." She commented, following after him and depositing herself onto the wooden structure of the dock. Unlike her friend, she didn't immediately dip her feet in, choosing instead to reach a hand down and run it through the water a couple times. "This'll definitely come in handy when the weather takes a dive." Not that it hadn't already started to, but they both knew it would only get colder from here on out.

"It's a wonder the Americans haven't found and taken over this place yet." She thought aloud, not said maliciously but as a point of fact. There were a lot of them, they tended to fill up whatever area they latched on to.

Her hand continued moving through the water, until quite suddenly, reached reached over lightly splashing her friend. Had to get wet at some point, yeah?

Genny did not try those hot springs, she was still upset about lack of tree house here. However, she's been thinking about them ever since Sam mentioned them to her. Junia seemed to like them, and the name 'hot springs' offered soothing session after the intense classes their professors keep throwing at them. They HAD to be reminded of their OWLs every other day. It made literally no difference on her study pattern.

As she walked up to the springs, she spotted a girl dipping in one of them just as she was close enough. Experiencing something new with another person was a better adventure so Genny headed to where the girl, "Olivia!" She exclaimed recognizing her from the dormitories. "Hey, I didn't know you were heading down here, too." She grinned and started unfastening the zipper of her pants. She had a swimwear underneath. "We could've gone down together." Her clothes were dropped clumsily on the ground before she walked carefully to the edge. "I like that there's no smell." She noted before letting go and sinking in smoothly.

Mason had spend his morning studying Charms in the Ravenclaw library and decided to take a break after a couple of hours reading the same things until he gotten nearly every word by heart. And also his schedule allowed him have a break this hour so he wasn't cheating.

Knowing that there was a hot spring on the Grounds, the Ravenclaw had changed in to his swimming wear and put his normal uniform over it. The weather was getting colder and colder so he did not want to walk around the school wearing only his swim suit....

After he had found the hot spring behind the igloo's , he hoped that the place wasn't invaded by the way too many American's that had joined the school for this upcoming competition. He needed a place to relax, not a bunch of immature children playing in the water. But when he arrived, he was pleased to see that it was fairly empty.

He took off his clothes...not his swimwear... and dipped a foot in the water to check the temperature. It was perfect! He lowered himself down and sighed before he closed his eyes.

It had been roughly three weeks since Samara arrived here at Hogwarts with her twin brother and the others from Ilvermorny. Getting used to things around here had been an adjustment...was still an adjustment for her and she found that a lot of her time when not having her own lessons was being spent exploring. So far she had found a lot of places that weren't so bad but most of the spots were crowded and loud. Not that either of those bothered her coming from a family of six kids but sometimes she did enjoy being alone.

Like today. The fourth year just wanted a few moments to be able to sit somewhere, relax and do nothing while not having a bunch of people around her causing a fuss. Which was how she ended up making her way towards the hot springs. She had come across it a few days ago on accident when she had once again gotten herself lost out on the grounds.

Only seeing one other person there when she arrived she heaved a sigh of relief. Quiet. The boy already sitting in the water appeared to be relaxing but surely he wouldn't mind if she sat on the opposite side, especially if she was keeping quiet. Sitting down on the edge, Sam removed her sneakers and socks and folded her pant legs up to her knees. Her feet where then lowered into the water where the warmth of the water already began relaxing her.

Keeping his eyes closed, Mason tried to relax his mind and body and he wasn't sure if it was the warm water or his willpower doing it but after a minute or two he felt like he could fall asleep here. Better not do that though....

Although his eyes were closed, he still sensed a presence as he heard footsteps walk on the wood that let to the hotspring. He opened his eyes and stared up at the grey sky with a frown. It better not start to rain... Looking back down, the Ravenclaw searched for whoever's footsteps he had heard earlier and found a younger girl sitting opposite of him, he legs lowered in to the water.

He looked at her, trying to think if he had seen her somewhere during classes but the more he thought, the more he could not remember ever seeing her which meant that she had classes somewhere else. In other words, she was Ilvermorny. Mason debated talking to her or not. On one hand, she looked like the calm type unlike some of the obnoxious ilvermorny students he had seen during the welcome feast. Unless that was the hotspring doing that... "Hi" he said louder than normal because she was seated on the other side. "You're Ilvermorny right?" he asked.

Sam had tried to be quiet. If she didn't bother that other boy than she could continue to sit here without having to talk. There was nothing wrong with not saying 'hello' or anything. Clearly by how comfortable the boy appeared with his eyes closed over there it would be rude to bug him. And so that was the reasoning she was going with here. Not wanting to be rude. Mhmm.

With her legs still lowered into the warm water, Sam leaned back on her hands lifting her face to the sky. Exhaling softly she closed her eyes allowing herself to relax even further. The suddenness of someone speaking startled her, blue eyes flying open and looking around to see who it had been only to see that it was the boy that she had not wanted to disturb. "Hello... yeah I am. I'm Sam." No one really called her Samara.

Slate laughed. "Maybe next time you should just invite me along." he said with a grin. He followed her movements, continuing to smile as she dipped her hand in the water.

"Think it'll stay warm like this?" He assumed it was magic, otherwise there'd always be a hot spring here, right? He assumed something like this required regular magical upkeep. Who's to say the results would always be this effective?

He nodded. "Maybe everyone that's found it is keeping it a secret." Which was smart, in his opinion. Plus it was kind of cool if there was a natural unspoken bond against the Americans.

But before he could properly voice this, he was getting splashed. He laughed before using his feet to kick some water in her direction. Two could play at that game.

"An inspired idea." She retorted, sending little jets of water at him. "We'll make plans for the next hot spring visit. I should have an opening in my schedule 7 months from now. Shall I pencil you in?" She continued, teasing as she went on. Her schedule was anything but full, in fact it seemed to be getting emptier by the day with less and less of her experiments proving viable--or allowed for that matter. It was as if they wanted her to spend the term staring at a blank wall.

Taking a break from her splashing, Jessa moved her hands through the water again while she considered his question. Slowly she nodded. "Natural or magical, these sorts of things tend to keep being warn regardless of the weather around them." Which begged the question of which it was. "What're the odds Professor Baldvinsson made this with his own hands and a couple instruments?"

Did Hogwarts have a hot spring all along? One that just needed to be dug or was this just another instance where you could cheat anything you wanted once your wand was still functioning?

Quite suddenly, she was under return fire. Jessa squealed, withdrawing her hand from the water to help shield her. She giggled, trying to get away from the line of Slate's fire while returning a bit of her own. "You mean like the kitchen?" She managed to ask through it all. They'd concluded that the kitchen must have also been a well kept secret afterall. Tickling a pear. Who would ever think.

Mason was unsure if the comfortably hot water made him relaxed or if it was because he was thinking about being relaxed and his mind automatically gave these signals to his body. Whatever the reason, he made a mental note to come here once in a while after a couple of hours of studying.

The water was so nice, he even wasn't annoyed at the fact that the girl was from Ilvermorny. He had wanted to avoid these people but communication was bound to happen some day. "I'm Mason" he answered back and he had to refrain from saying 'one of the competitors' cause he wasn't that douchy."Do you guys have a hotspring as well at Ilvermorny?" just curious.

This hot spring was lovely. She wasn't even fully sitting in it, only just her legs were currently getting wet but that was enough to warm her up and relax her. This was a place she could find herself coming to often here, it was quiet, relaxing and there weren't any creatures. So all in all right now this was the best spot for her, outside of the Beetle anyhow.

Mason. Sam looked at him just a little more closely when he gave his name this time. Wasn't there a competitor named Mason? She wasn't all that sure honestly but since he didn't appear to bothered by her she figured it couldn't hurt to ask him. "You were picked to be one of the competitors...right?" If she was wrong that might be a bit awkward. Just like nearly everyone else she mainly knew those competing from her school. "Nope, I wouldn't mind it if we did though," she answered honestly. Maybe she could recommend it to Moxley before they returned to Ilvermorny.

Slate laughed. "Seven months? Wow. I'm not sure we'll even need a hot spring at that time of year. Maybe I'll have to find another partner for this sort of thing." See. Two could play at that game, Jessa.

He looked at the hot spring. "I don't think it's really possible for a natural one to be here." Meaning, he didn't dig it up. Which meant completely artificial. "So... if by instrument you mean his wand..."

He grinned at Jessa's giggling. Which, in turn, just encouraged him to continue. [b]"Yes. Exactly like that. It's a good thing we've got each other to stay informed." And to have water battles.