Philippa was not overwhelmed. She wasn't underwhelmed either, but Dad said whelmed wasn't a word so Philippa just... was. The little brunette was used to big castles with expansive grounds, they usually belonged to really rich family members in Europe and she liked to play princess whenever she visited. Not that Papa was poor or anything, but they didn't live in a palace with ten house elves.

She'll have to visit the house elves too, to tell them what she could eat and what she couldn't. Philippa had a strict diet sometimes, she needed stay healthy every other day and she most definitely couldn't eat too much sugar otherwise she'd get fat apart from Thena's macarons! The horror!

Climbing all the way to the seventh floor was one way to make sure she would never get fat, but it was also because she was curious about the view. Hogwarts had a really pretty view from all the other floors, so from the roof it was probably amazing. Philippa entered the Astronomy area by happy accident, and found the tower patch rather quickly, racing inside and gasping at the unexpected little garden. Hogwarts was so magical! There was a fountain! And benches! Oh this was just so cute. Did Papa and Dad know about this? She'd write to them and tell them all about it.

Taking a seat, Philippa swung her legs back and fro as she looked around happily. Maybe she'd bring a friend up here soon. Most of them were Gryffindors, which was sort of icky, but she wasn't a judgmental person and there was absolutely nothing wrong with being a Gryffindor, poor souls. She would be extremely supportive of her poor friends, yes she would.

Remy’s legs felt like the heaviest lead. Between his run to warm up, his training session and the walk up the rest of the stairs to the Astronomy Tower [which he decided would be an excellent additional cool down]; he felt like he had killed himself. Though, regardless of the feeling in them right now, he knew that within the hour he would simply feel better for his work out and the horrible feeling would simply have bled away to a pleasant used feeling. That very same feeling that he used to detest after even the most basic of walk or jogging session. Now, however. It fueled him and his desire to train more.

Right now however, he wanted somewhere quiet and peaceful to sit and read. After all, there were a lot of books in the library about animagi, and although he had taken out one of them at the end of last term, he had more research to do. Yes, yes he did.

That thought, however went straight out of his head when he realised that there was already somebody in the garden patch. No problem, he would simply sit at the opposite side and relax with his books. Walking down the path towards the fountain, he hummed one of his favourite tunes.

He was just away to sit down when he realised who was sitting on the opposite bench. ”Pippa!”, he called out with a light-hearted chuckle. Stopping his descent to the bench - and ignoring the burn in his thighs as a result - he stood again so that he could stride across the courtyard and sit next to the much smaller, eleven year old. ”How are you today?” He asked, setting his bag on the bench next to his hip.

Someone was calling her!

Wait, no. Someone was calling her Pippa. She'd specifically asked not to be called Pippa, she was Philippa because that was her name and she was a big girl who went to Hogwarts and doesn't have little girl names.

... Oh! She knew him! He was..... was..... someone from Thena's family. Thena and Nonna Beth's family was huge, Philippa had trouble remembering all their names. As he settled next to her, she tried to smile brightly at... the Hufflepuff person, only for it to come out as more of a grimace as she pushed her mind to try and remember his name.

It was... something happy? Something... oh yes, of course. "Hi Merry!" Merry! How could she have forgotten! Such a cute name. And a Hufflepuff. "Could you call me Philippa please? I'm at Hogwarts now," she asked with a big grin and a pat of her headband, as if to show that she is now much more adult. Also to check that it was in place. Very important.

…. Perhaps he shouldn’t have sat next to her.

He was pretty sure she looked upset right now, especially with the way her lips were doing a confused dance between happy smile and confused tension… and it wasn’t the best look for the usually happy newly sorted Slytherin. Turning slightly to watch her, mostly out of concern, he leant ever so slightly forward. ”Are you okay?” He asked her, you know… just checking to make sure. Especially as, on hindsight, Aunt Thena would withhold his macarons if he let Pippa get hurt while he was still at school and able to look out for her.

And then he blinked when her face instantly lit up and she called him Merry.

Huh.

He wished he could say that was a new one, but with a baby brother called Meredith, Mer and variants were a common part of visiting home. He knew his parents meant nothing by it; after all Mer was the main man of the house with him at Hogwarts for most of the year.

”I’m Remy, Meredith is my baby brother.” He gave her a wide smile, thinking nothing of it. Everyone got them muddled up every now and then. He was used to just chuckling softly and then moving on. ”Oh, you like Philippa better?” He paused, sad at the fact she thought she couldn’t have any nicknames now that she had started studying at Hogwarts, but he nodded all the same. ”Of course, I can call you anything you would liked to be called.” He paused again, grinning at her softly as she touched the headband that was very nicely holding her hair in place. ”Philippa it is.”

After having collected the fireseeds, Kitty waltzed back up to the seventh floor and made her way straight up to the tower patch. Gosh this was a beautiful garden. She liked it, though its backstory was sad.

This was one of two places where she suspected the final ingredients for potions might be found. She was the only one up here, but that didn't mean she was wrong. Looking around though, she realized that though there were lots of plants growing in this area, none of them resembled Betany or Stargrass.

"Well, I guess it's off to the Hospital Wing. Goodbye garden. See you later, frogs." Then she turned around and waltzed back down the stairs.