If there was a place that was usually nice and quiet, it was at the entrance gates. And nice and quiet was exactly what he needed right now. Following up on Jessa's and his Head of House advice, Dorian decided to do something about his concentration. He was getting tired of some of his spells failing or either not working at all due to his lack of concentration.

He had nothing with him that could distract him, no books, no homework, no friends. He did have thoughts swimming around in his head but that was the point of this excercise, to dim it down. Finding a tree big enough for him to lean back against near the gates, Dorian did so and sat crossed legged on the slightly wet grass. He didn't mind, there was a laundry room anyway plus Jessa had learned him a neat cleaning spell last year that he could use.

Closing his eyes, the third year tried to focus on his breathing as he tried to meditate. Thoughts popped up in his mind but he tried to push them down to the back each time. Perhaps it was the quiet environment but so far his meditation session was going better than he had expec- ' Put your hands up in the air. Like an ogre, who just don't care. Oh! Can you dance like a hippogriff'

Nevermind.

Quiet meditation?

PEACEFUL, ENVIRONMENT?

Paul had his banjo and was playing as loudly as one could play a banjo as he BELTED some words to his band's newest song-- Bleu Grasse had been a slooooow going band for the last two years BUT NO MORE! They were back at doing their thaaaaang and since Paul was leaving after this term he could be more involved and whatnot. It was great!

"AND THE SQUAAAAASH.....TELLS THE GNOOOOOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEE--" Who knew how the song would go on. He stopped right near Dorian.

Yes.

HE DID NOT NOTICE THE BOY.

Dorian clenched his jaw in annoyance as he heard the sound of the banjo and a singing voice from a mile away. He kept his eyes tightly shut though, trying to concentrate on his breathing. 'Focus, focus....' He told himself as he took a deep breath.

The noise got louder and louder and the Ravenclaw did his best to ignore it but when it seemed to be right near him, he snapped. "Go. Away!" he said, still with his eyes closed. "I'm trying to meditate here and you're interrupting my traini---eeeh" He had opened his eyes now to give the culprit a good death glare but it never came. The expression on his face was first recognition when he realised that it was not only a Professor, but also a Head of House AND the Deputy Headmaster and then he looked absolutely mortified.

"..........I'm sorry" he mumbled, looking down at his lap.

What...aaaaaaaa....RECEPTION.

PFFffffFFFFT did he not appreciate good music? Mediocre singing? PAUL MYERS HIMSELF?

Apparently not!

But then again, he did mention meditation. And the Hufflepuff Head of House/Deputy Headmaster, yes, did appreciate good meditation. He did it himself before some Herbology classes.

"Well, I can play meditation music if you'd like!" He plopped down next to the boy and began to strum slower, rocking back and forth in such a slow fashion. Surely SURELY this would relax anyone with high blood pressure. It would just take it right down, now wouldn't it?! Paul hadn't a chance to try it, but he thought it would anyway. "I won't sing...since my voice is not the most peaceful of sounds!"

......What he WANTED was for him to go away and leave him to his meditation. But he couldn't exactly tell a Professor to go away. He'd be stupid to do that. Ravenclaw was already behind in the House Cup, he had seen the hourglasses before he had walked outside.

What made the situation even worse was that he sat down beside him and offered to play meditation music. Dorian shook his head no. "I....prefer if you don't...Sir." he said slowly. Both singing and playing. It was just way to awkward for him. He sighed as he leaned his head against the tree for a moment and looked up at the sky. He leaned away again when he felt something itching his head and he scratched it.

"What even is that?" he asked as he pointed at the instrument. "It looks like some kind of weird looking guitar"

With the weather no longer being cold and the sun making a regular appearance again, spring had officially arrived. The current conditions are perfect for studying outside or just taking a casual stroll throughout the grounds of the school. With it being a weekend and the Entrance Gates open, a walk to Hogsmeade may just be on today's agenda...

Naturally, nothing appears to be out of the ordinary. All that surrounds you are thick forest trees, the occasional boulder, and the flittering and chirping of birds. As you approach the gate, however, you notice something shiny on the road up ahead. Stepping forward, you realize that there is a trail of gold coins (definitely not Galleons) coming from the trees to your left, crossing the road, and continuing through the trees to your right. There is no sign of how these coins got here.

What do you do? Pick up the coins and examine them closer or leave them where they are and alert someone?

Sniff. Sniff.

The niffler's head poked out of a lose pile of dirt, snout twitching. There were shinies nearby, she could sense them. Leaving the security of the burrow, she shuffled along nose to the ground.

Sniff. SNIFF. Sniff.

The first coin was slipped into her pouch...only to spy another. And another. And another.

It was a whole TRAIL of shinies, and ALL of them were for her, oh yes!

The entrance gate was one of his favorite places at Hogwarts. It was quiet most of the times because it was far away from the castle and the lake and the Ravenclaw went here sometimes to either meditate like his prefect had suggested or read his comic books. Today he had his comic book with him and he was flipping through the pages as he walked, not paying attention except for his book. His neighbour had send him this, how he knew about Hogwarts was a mystery to him as he was an muggle but his father probably made up a lie where he was now.

As he almost got to his favorite tree to lean against, the Ravenclaw saw something glistening in the corner of his eyes. Turning his attention away from his comic book, Dorian saw the trail of gold right next to him. .....Wait....He thought back to his classes and remembered that a Professor had mentioned random coins appearing on school property.

Spotting a Niffler picking up the coins, Dorian figured that there were enough coins for them both and that maybe he should take one and bring it to his Head of House? Yeah, he was going to do that.

He pulled out his vest from his bag which he had bought along in case the weather suddenly turned and with his hands covered so that his skin did not touch it, he picked up one of the coins.

It wasn't even a Galleon...lame.

The niffler clasped the next coin in her front feet, sniffing it excitedly before putting it in her pouch. So many shinies readily available. It might be unfortunate for someone else to lose so many shinies, but for this niffler it was definitely her lucky day!

But then the niffler's ear quirked to attention, and she sat up to see human child boy approaching. She didn't pay him all that much attention, until he bent down and STOLE one of HER shinies. Her precious, precious shinies.

So, of course, she followed it. Jumping up right there and pushing her snout into the middle of the human boy child's warm fabric nest. HER shinies. Hmph.

While examining the coin in the cloth, Dorian started to walk back to the castle to show Professor Hirsch his findings. Or perhaps he should go straight to the Headmistress? Before he could make up His mind he felt something pushing against the fabric and he looked down to see the Niffler was trying to take it away from him. Of course, that's what they did... Get obsessed with shiny stuff. It was pretty harmless so far so he tried not to scare it or make it angry.

"I need to take this to the school, you can't have it" He said, holding his arm up to the sky. As if Nifflers could understand the human language. Wait, they couldn't right? Maybe he had something in his robe pockets that he could give instead? He shifted his book to his other hand and used his free one to feel his pockets and pulled out a candy wrapper. Eh....even he would not want to trade that if he were a Niffler. He felt his other pocket and took out a sickle. "Look at this shiny thing!" he said as he waved it for the creature to see. And then he threw it away, the coin shimmering in the sunlight as it flew in the air and fell behind a bush. Come on, go after the shiny coin.... He did not want to throw away his money for nothing...

She KNEW the shiny was in here somewhere. The niffler pulled on the fabric, undeterred by the human boy child trying to pull it high out of her grasp. It was her shiny. She saw it first.

But oh. Now there was other shinies. Different shiny. Silver shiny.

That definitely got her attention. She made grabby hands for it, releasing the fabric in her paws as the sickle flew past her. The decoy and distraction had done the trick. She chased after it, disappearing too into the bush.

Where did the shiny go? She needed it!