........ Uh.

Stella was pointing her wand at him? At his FACE?!

Uh.

Lucas froze. It was funny that they were outside because right now, it felt as if all the air had been sucked out of their surroundings and he was just..... there. Struggling to breathe. And staring, cross-eyed, at the tip of the wand that was being pointed at him. He trusted her. He did. They only met once in the ice cream shop and now again at the feast and the party and-

Oh! Was that it? That wasn't..... bad.

Lucas reached up and felt his face, patting at his cheeks and nose and forehead. "Huh. Would you look at that? I'm squeaky-clean! Thanks, Stella." Though, he couldn't help but wonder if he was meant to know spells already. Because even though Emma tried to teach him everything she knew, he..... knew nothing. Not about spells, no magic, nothing.

But it was hard to think too much about any of that because Stella looked like she had been..... crying?! Unless she was just sweating and wiping her face from it but something told him that that wasn't it. He didn't really know what to say to that, and didn't want to be another person asking her if she's okay when Prefect Abra was already handling it, so he just held onto her hand and gave it a small squeeze. Hello.

And speaking of Prefect Abra, he turned to the older boy when he started talking about.... pride. The first year snorted because hey, they were meant to be part of a pride, right? Lions and all. Hehehe. "Yeah, talk about embarrassing." He grasped onto the boy's hand and, still holding onto Stella's as well, dragged himself slowly, but surely, up into a standing position. "Thanks, guys." Smile.

Was he injured? Lucas paused. It wasn't so much the question but the fact that his own HEAD OF HOUSE was talking to him. Oh Merlin oh Merlin. He didn't hear what it is he was saying to Stella or Prefect Abra but figured that it might be official business, especially with Abra. But him? Uh. The first year shook his head furiously and then said, "No, I'm.... okay. Good. Great. No injuries, I promise."

Pause. "We'll get back to running. Or walking." Which was an option too.

They weren't in trouble, right?

Stella nodded and smiled. " It was nothing, just a simple little cleaning charm." she said shrugging ad if it wasn't no big deal. Pocketing her willow wand she looked at Lucas for a minute, did he see her crying? Oh... merlin, how embarrassing but she couldn't help it she was hurting and in pain. She can't be doing this ALL year round EVERY day, she was already in tears and she was sure that Lucas wasn't the only one who seen it. As long as the Headmaster didn't see she was ok, she didn't want to get into trouble with him..

Feeling Lucas hand give her a little squeeze in comfort, it calmed her down some, it was the kind of comfort she needed about now. Although her head of house kind words were also some comfort and strength she needed. She was glad to see that some people cared, although she couldn't say anything about that to their Headmaster. Wiping her tears with her other hand she was glad she didn't look muddy or anything anymore it was wwayyy to noticeable when she was like that, now it looked like she was sweating from far away unless you looked into her sky blue eyes and seen that they were red and puffy. She needed to be strong and brave, but sometimes even Gryffindors break abd weren't bulletproof and she knew that.


Stella looked at Abra and them, she honestly didn't want them to get into trouble because of her. Although she was sure she would have to make a trip to the hospital wing after this even if she walked the rest of the way, but she was scared even to do that. Some Gryffindor she was, she was scared of the headmaster where was her Bravery at? But then remembered there's all kinds of bravery as her father always reminded her.

Stella looked at Lucas. " As long as you can laugh at yourself and laugh it off you'll be fine, we're not judging you accidents happen." she said smiling at him. She nodded. " You're welcome, you're my friend I can't stand to see you hurt or in pain. she said honestly. That was true, she hated any of her loved ones or friends to be hurt and Lucas was her friend and her housemate, they were lion buddies. Although Stella wasn't going to brag, she had quite a bit of friends she met but it was nice to have someone her age.

Drew had been shifting between walking and sprinting around the Quidditch pitch. The last three laps he had made were excruciating and he could feel the side of his abdomen starting to feel pain. He was panting allll the way through and trying not to lag too behind. He wasn't athletic at all and he didn't despise exercise; he just hated that he needed to do this for the rest of the year with no way out. For sure, he was writing to Mrs. Stemp about this.

But once he began his fourth lap around the pitch, he could feel his legs shaking a little bit. Drew knew, for a fact, that this entire S.O.R.E. activity was pushing him waaaay past his limits in terms of physical activity. So, for a moment, he paused at the side and rested his hands on his knees. This was far worse than having Potions and Astronomy class scheduled with only ten minutes apart for travel time. Drew looked up when his prefect (Jackson) mentioned water, and it honestly felt like a confession of love he had been longing to hear, if ever, because he definitely needed it. Had that been an offer from last term's prefect, Erik Jessup III, he wouldn't have considered it. Erik was scary. "Me, p-please...." He said, taking deep breaths. Breathe in, breaaathe out. There was another sicky feeling lingering in his stomach now.

...Oh man, he had lost Hudson now.

Zoryn didn't care about the kids who were getting injured. End of story.

Anyways, moving on, she was quite happy going slowly. And she was going to make absolutely sure that this five laps nonsense was worth her while. Aka she was ONE HUNDRED percent using it an as excuse to be late to class. No matter what the Head Monster was trying to scare them into. She'd be late and there'd be nothing he could do about it. Zoryn Spinnet made the rules here, soz.

"Perfect," she wasn't sure if she meant it because y'know, an asthma attack wasn't something she ACTUALLY wanted Jessa to undergo. But they were walking five laps at way-too-early o'clock, her filter hadn't kicked in yet and neither had her common sense (which she didn't have a lot of at a normal hour anyways).

For the record, Zoryn liked the way Jessa thought about things. Especially when it meant rebellion. "I don't care about winning the house cup," in other words, Zoryn was in. All of these thoughts had Zoryn thinking. They could really do this. They could start a resistance. They could REBEL. They could RUN this school-- which, by the way, would be the main motive. "There's only one of him.... Two if you count the new Divinations Professor," she glared at him from across the pitch. That's how she felt about that guy. "And just about a million of us," she may have been exaggerating just a bit but the point still stood. "I'd say our odds are pretty good."

All efforts to ease the mood and even form a little bit of competition between siblings was a FAIL. Whatever. If he wanted to be grumpy just like the rest of them she would let him. Right here, right now, Rylee Prichard was simply going to run. Run and get this exercise done and over with.

"Sure thing," she replied with a shrug of her shoulders. If that's what he wanted to do then that's what she would do. All thoughts of short bursts of running hard and then a cool down period where she would jog was forgotten. It was time to kick it up a few notches.

Every few feet Rylee increased her speed. Pushed herself harder to run faster. No slowing down and no more stopping. Not even her quickened breath and the stitch forming in her side would make her slow down. Keep up, Reese!

"That's true," Hanna agreed. "I get plenty of exercise dancing, and it's not that I don't like running... I just don't like being TOLD to run. And when to run, for that matter." Or even how many laps, and seeing her classmates and the other Professors treated like they were House Elves.

"Yup. I want to write home to my parents, but I suspect they won't care," she said bitterly. They didn't care enough about her coming home for the summer, why would they care about her being forced to do exercise? But Maddie was right. "I don't either. What can we do?" No, siriusly. Was there something they could do?

Derf's attention was too honned in on Dorian to notice the look Professor Marchand gave him nor had he heard Professor Stewart's praise and point awarding until she was quite literally standing right next to them asking about assistance back to the common room - which quite literally nearly made the Hufflepuff jump right out of his skin. "But we haven't finished our laps yet," he said with an innocent dutifulness, no oath of loyalty here but simply his own work ethic showing of wanting to finish what he started.

"Here...lemme...give this a whirl," he nodded as he pulled his wand from his tracksuit bottoms and held it out in the air. He was...pretty good with this spell by now, at least there was no chance of the Ravenclaw getting a jet of water in the face. "Aguamenti," he gently commanded, an equally gently stream of water spouting from his wand as a sort of wizarding DIY fountain. "You will finish," he assured the younger boy, throwing Lizzie a small smile as well at her offer to the fourth year as he held his wand out for Dorian to drink his fill. "At your own pace and your terms." Since, thankfully, that seemed to be the agreement between the two new Hogwarts staff. Just get the laps done.

And, you know, since he had his wand out NOW it would be super convenient if Zoryn would happen to pass by so he could give that transfiguration of her slippers a proper go.

Of course his mood was soured. He was being unjustly punished because of a simple word! Like that would put a smile on his face.. Oh, YIPPEE! He got detention.. Hear all the people rejoice! URGH! This was likely going to dampen his whole day.. Thanks, Foster..


Cal stayed even with Rylee as she gradually sped up bit by bit. He wasn't out of breath at all and hadn't even broken a sweat. He was well in shape and usually exercised on his own time. What he had an issue with was, The new Headmaster came in and without so much as a Hi.. My name is... He took as little time as possible to tell them they were all lazy and ill instructed.. Not a great way to introduce yourself, Mate.. The newb was simply asking for trouble..

After helping himself to another gulp of water, Jackson heard someone take up his offer. He looked over at the younger boy and headed toward him, directing him off a little to the side. He pointed his wand at the water bottle again and filled it quickly. "Aguamenti!" He handed the bottle over, already prepared to refill it.

Out of the blue, a slice of avacado toast flew threw the air, its intent on smacking one of the students. A loud, high-pitched giggle sounded, but there was no indication of where it was coming from.

Soon spoonfuls of oatmeal were flung about at random students, followed by a breakfast sandwich, and then a buttered waffle. The hysterical laughter continued. After flinging a breakfast burrito, the poltergeist made himself visible to all.

"BETTER HURRY UP AND RUN FASTER, SLOW POKES! YOUR BREAKFAST IS GETTING COLD!" Which it was indeed. Peeves had taken a large plate of these delights straight from the Great Hall.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR EGGS?" he shouted down at one of the students as he floated above them. Peeves didn't wait for an answer, however. Instead he cracked the egg over the student's head. He hoped they liked them sunny-side up! My, oh my, what a great day this was turning out to be!

With glee, he cackled and floated around to find his next victim. Who wanted this smoothie???

From where he was standing, the headmaster could see the few students who were smart enough to conjure their own water. At least their education hadn't been wasted on them thus far, he thought. It was actually a relief to see that some of them had some common sense.

Even the ones that had figured out that they could go back and forth between walking and running had instilled in him an inkling of hope for the future.

See? Doing these laps weren't all that bad, were they? And some important learning moments and character building was already taking place! He hoped those that were skeptical or were grumbling earlier about the now daily morning exercises were beginning to see reason.

But that pleasant moment was soon distracted by the sight of the Arithmancy professor conjuring a stretcher and putting one of the children on it. His icy blue eyes, narrowing ever so slightly, followed the man. What was the meaning of this? A boy who was clearly older than most students required a healer? Weak. And the professor, who had shown promise earlier, bought the bait. What a shame. The old man was certainly going to be paying a visit to his new colleague's office for a discussion about not letting students take advantage of him.

Honestly, though, how hard was it to run, or even simply walk, laps around a Quidditch pitch? These 'injuries' — the falling, the nosebleeds, the cries of pain — were about as ridiculous as a boggart, in his opinion.

Endurance. That is what these students needed. Without it, they wouldn't be able to survive the real world.

And they needed to listen to directions when he gave them the first time. His eyes fell upon the Hufflepuff prefect, the one who had commented on his eyes earlier. He blinked at her. "I believe the instructions I gave earlier were quite clear. Make your laps. Clean up. Go to the Great Hall for breakfast."

Scrimgeour then took note of the sun's place in the sky, which was steadily beginning to rise higher and higher. Time was passing, which meant some needed to quicken their pace. His was about to take out his wand so he could amplify his voice and bark at the students who were still running, but the sight of the poltergeist stopped him. He wasn't pleased that food had been taken out of the Great Hall, but the poltergeist was being of some use. The man continued to just stand in his place and watch in silence.

Callum was running around the pitch and was already stewing over the fact that he'd gotten points taken and a detention already, when all of a sudden he heard a familiar voice.. And it wasn't a voice anyone ever wanted to hear hovering over their head.

Next thing he knew he was being pelted by eggs that were being thrown by the poltergeist. " Hey!.. What the?!.. Peeves!.. you're gonna get it!.. I'll tell Bethlebee what you're doin' and she'll tell the Bloody Baron if you don't quit!", he screamed at him as he threatened. All the while Cal was trying to dodge the eggs being thrown at he and Rylee's direction while grabbing her and speeding their pace.

Zoryn was right, it was perfect. Inconvenient most of the time, but here it was perfect......except.....again Jessa glanced about the pitch at the others. “He doesn’t seem so keen on offering medical attention once the students begin to fall. I’m half sure he’d stand and watch for a solid five minutes to make sure I really was dying.” And by then unconsciousness would be the least of her worries.

There were some people it wasn’t wise to trust your life to. He was one of them. Not necessarily a bad thing, just something to be noted when trying to think up any bright ideas.

On a more amusing note, Zoryn Spinnet. It was amazing how her friend had managed to turn innocent musings aimed at the practicality of the situation into outright thoughts of rebellion. It was....admittedly the type of social experiment the 7th year could get behind. She enjoyed digging into humour behaviour, cause and effect, all that stuff. The effect was always especially interesting for her. Jessa too spared the new Divination man a glance.

“You’re right, we’ve got the numbers.” And just like that the cogs in her head began to turn. How the experiment would be conducted, the margin for error, the possible outcomes. “We’d need a sizeable sample group for this to work. Too small and the experiment won’t give us any usable data for the next time.” Because everyone knew you couldn’t simply try things ONCE to get an accurate idea. Obviously.

And then Peeves happened. Peeves...Peeves...Peeves.

She may have been angry if there wasn’t suddenly a breakfast burrito—caught on reflex—now in her possession. So maybe she wouldn’t be mad today. “Wanna split it?”

Drew was very much panting as he went towards the side to let the other students overtake and finish their laps. He had one last round to make, and he was hoping to keep the pain on his side at bay. It didn't seem to him that their new headmaster was the type to stop a student from running even when they were already in pain. He felt like his insides were screaming at him.

The Ravenclaw then reached out for the bottle and accepted it from their prefect. "Th—" BREATHE. "Th-thank you..." Drew then took a quick sip first to savour the water and then gulping down the contents. He'd survive the rest of the lap now. The third year gave back to the bottle, and flashed a tired but grateful smile at Jackson before going back on track. He couldn't see where Hud was anymore, probably already done with his last lap, so he was all alone now to finish this one.

Drew purposely ignored that his stomach was starting to feel very weird and he continued to force him skinny legs to make more steps. He was keeping his pace steady, jogging instead of walking this time so he could get this over and done with. He was so close and he could very much sob in happiness at it. Breakfast was waiting for him. IT WAS. That was until Peeves started flinging food at them, and that annoying but scary high-pitched giggle made his head pound. The thirteen year old had managed to dodge a soaring buttered waffle and watched it land on the ground.

...He had considered eating a waffle for breakfast, but now that had lost its appeal. His stomach feeling uneasy and his head aching was an awful combination. When he finally finally finally was done with his fifth and last lap, Drew placed his hands on his sides. Breathe in, breathe out. He wasn't going to do anything embarrassing. Don't faint. Don't faint.

........Nope. He wasn't going to faint, but he couldn't deal with it anymore. Sure his laps were done, but Drew excused himself to make his way to the side and vommed out his dinner from last night. Sick, he was going to be very sick. His dislike for forced physical activity only heightened.

With Lucas back up on his feet, Abra relaxed a little. Just a little though, because now he was fully aware that Scrimgeour wasn't too far away and could clearly see that they weren't exactly doing that running thing that had been ordered of them, and he didn't think he'd accept any excuses. "No problem," Abra replied to Lucas.

When he was beckoned over by Marchand, Abra obliged and listened to his request. At once, he nodded, already feeling that he would have been unable to, in good conscience, run off ahead, and leave someone who was already struggling behind. "Of course, Professor. Absolutely," he said, keeping his own voice low to match Marchand's, then turned to Stella who had also spoken up, and gave her a reassuring smile, and spoke in that same low tone. "It's okay. As long as we do the laps there's no reason to get in trouble, and we can walk if that's easier. Nobody's got in trouble for doing that."

They really should get going, though. Marchand, mercifully, had offered to fix that one boy's nose with a spell if he needed it, which meant there wouldn't be much more of a delay in these laps, which was good, as time was definitely ticking on. "Come on then, let's get going. I'll match your pace." Walking, running, whatever. He'd stick with the first years.

Except... oh, Merlin. Peeves. Peeves was here, causing chaos, and the Headmaster was still apparently only focused on everyone completing their laps, and didn't do a single thing about it. Wasn't he here to tighten up standards, or did that not include poltergeists who routinely caused mayhem?

Eyeing the smoothie that Peeves seemed ready to throw, Abra turned to face the direction they were supposed to be running in. "Come on," he said again to the others, keeping one wary eye on the poltergeist. "The sooner we're done, the better."

If they kept up their pace they would be finished running soon. Nearing their fourth lap, Rylee kicked up the pace even more ignoring the burning in her chest and lungs from pushing herself to run faster. Everything around her became a blur as she focused on only the sound of her feet hitting the pavement and her own breathing.

At least that was until Reese started shouting at Peeves. Peeves. Of all the things that could happen now she didn't need him getting in the way. He wanted to be a pain and throw eggs at them let him. She was nearly done anyhow.

"Just keep running..." she muttered in response to Reese, shaking his hand from her arm when he grabbed her while trying to make her move faster.

Good ol' Peeves wasn't throwing eggs. He was cracking them right on top of people's heads! Plus there was an entire breakfast buffet he tossing around. Wasn't it so nice of him to bring breakfast to them? He knew that all these laps were tiring the poor kids out. They needed energy! Nutrients! Protein! Runny eggs and orange juice trailing down their shirts and pants!

That ought to make them run even faster, right? HEHEHEHE!

"Ooooooh! I'm soooooo scared!" the poltergeist told the boy (Reese) that was threatening him with the Baron. It looked like he had the support of the new Headmaster, so Peeves wasn't scared one bit.

And for that, he tipped over a cup of apple juice right onto the Hufflepuff's head and tossed that smoothie at the girl beside him before floating away to the next fortunate student.

The burrito-catcher (Jessa) caught his attention next. How dare she catch it when it was meant to go elsewhere! "Ooooooh! Allow me to split it for you!" he said, snatching it from her hands, splitting it in half, and aiming one half right at the back of her head and then the same with the girl beside her.

With another loud cackle, he continued to deliver breakfast. Maple syrup was dumped on top of someone's head, a sticky pancake was flung, followed by a bowl of Cheeri Owls, and even an attack of sausages was provided for those certain professors that were walking around the pitch.

"What a bunch of wieners!" he cackled, poking his tongue out at them.

Had it been anyone else, it was a risk she'd be willing to take. But seeing as this was Jessa Cambridge they were talking about... They needed her. She had a good head. "He's a real pain in the..."

Her sentence had an ending to it as well, but she momentarily found herself distracted by all the ruckus peeves was causing. As if it weren't enough that they had to do these stupid laps, but now they were inviting the poltergeist to make it THAT much more unbearable. Seriously, what kind of cruel joke was this!? She would rather be serving detention.

The only thing that made any of this bearable was her company at the moment. The sample size musings went in one ear and out the other, as did most sciencey things, but the cogs in Zoryn's head were turning too. She needed a way to reclaim her name and what better way than to be the face of a rebellion? It would be a big screw you to authority around here. And when Hawthorne gets reinstated, they'd be LEGENDS. "With your brains and my charisma, popularity, leadership, talent and command..." she trailed off. "I bet we could really pull it off." Though, perhaps they ought to discuss details in a less public forum.

Last thing they needed was their stupid divination professor to ride their tails.

Again she found herself distracted when Peeves flew by, jumping out of the way and finding herself pretty impressed by Jessa's quick catch. "You b--" -____- OF FREAKING COURSE. The second time Peeves went for a throw, Zoryn ducked right in time. Even picking up the breakfast bits and throwing them right back at him, not that it would do much but still.

”Yeah, no kidding.” There was no need for Zoryn to finish her statement, the point was well received. This Scrimgeour guy really was a piece of work and while she did find herself wondering what made him tick, she supposed she’d satify herself with finding out how he ticked. That’s what the experiment would do; give them a better understanding of his reactions. Of course she got the distinct feeling that Zoryn’s motives for this rebellion were different from her own but that didn’t matter as much. In the end they’d still be working toward the same plan of action.

The Head Girl found herself nodding along to her friend’s next words, even as she took in the chaos unfolding around the pitch. Funny how this was allowed when just about nothing else was.

But she needed to focus. “You’re right, between the two of us, it shouldn’t be difficult to raise an army with a tactic effective enough to get our point across. A morning run may be too predictable a boycott to implement. They already expect opposition here. We’ll need something else. Something don’t likely already have a means of doling our punishment for immediately.”

Thoughts churned around in her head, each coming with its pros and cons. She’d been about to break the breakfast burrito in half when.....again.....Peeves.

SIGH. Jessa turned to face the Gryffindor again, refusing to give the poltergeist the satisfaction. She’d felt the burrito hit the back of her head but if it bothered her, the now impassive look she wore didn’t say as much. By all indication, she was now ignoring him entirely. “We should meet later to come up with a more solid plan.”

Peeves who?

Dragon print shirt and banana pattern pajama bottoms made an appearance at the pitch. Luce remembered she needed shoes halfway out the common room, so she had to do a double back. Now that she was here, the wiry Slytherin girl stretched her limbs rather drastically.

Arm streeeetch.

Leg streeeeetch.

Right. Left. Fold in half. Roll the neck.

She was ready.

Not really, but she felt she didn't have a choice. Starting the term off with points taken off would be a wound to her ego. Luce rather loves her ego. Ego must be protected. At. All. Times.

After her stretching and a glance at the super old man, the Slytherin took off like a banana torpedo. She may be small. May be spaghetti-like BUT she was light and that made her fast.

RUUUUUUUN.

Zachary simply grinned at her comment - because it was kinda cute? He was also sure she wouldn't last long so he didn't mind waiting to see what became of her.

Nonetheless two laps in, he suddenly moved in front of her and turned around so he was facing her, and was now jogging backwards. "doing alright?" he grinned, yet again.

Stella nodded at him and was about to walk the other way when...

SPLAT!
Peeves the annoying poltergeist of Hogwarts decided it was ever such a good idea to remind them how much they were missing out on a nice hot meal. As oatmeal landed on her head and in her hair she just simply laughed and smiled. "Thanks Peeves oatmeal is good for your hair didn't you know? It helps the hair against damage and helps it grow quicker!" she said smirking. She wasn't going to let some stupid [i]ghost[/b] get to her even if she knew he wasn't one really just a annoying pain in the butt. Between her brothers and peeves she didn't know who was more annoying.

Now walking the opposite way with Abra she did pointed her wand at her hair. "Tergeo!" she said while walking trying to get the oatmeal out of her hair. "Well...bright side we're having breakfast to us by Peeves! she said sarcastically. Abra was right, the sooner they got these laps done the better, she was tired and she was hungry and she didn't need the food she was going to be eating on her.

Zoryn didn't know why she hadn't thought about teaming up with Jessa before. This was the most brilliant idea she had ever come up with in her entire life. If she had realized this five years ago, she could've gotten away with EVERYTHING. Though starting now wasn't the end of the world. They could ensue a lot of damage in a year alone. This 'experiment', as Jessa put it, would prove just that.

"Good thinking," Jessa would clearly be the brains of the whole operation. Zoryn didn't mind either, it meant that she didn't have to do as much of the hard work. If anything the Gryffindor planned on being more of the face, y'know? The recruiter, the one at the forefront of ACTION. It was actually the perfect combination, seeing as she was sure Jessa didn't mind doing the behind-the-scenes planning.

"And we'll need to recruit people who we know won't rat us out," Zoryn already had a few ideas. "The last thing we want is for this to blow up in our faces before we even do anything." And since her breakfast burrito was now gone, she was 100% skipping her first class. #Sorrynotsorry.

"We should," she nodded in agreement. But somewhere neutral... Where they couldn't get caught. "Room of requirement after dinner?" Huh. Turns out something good came out of this stupid, early morning after all. The only downside was just about everything else.

Natasha made it to the pitch just in time to hear the instructions given by the headmaster. She wasn't fully convinced she could manage five laps around the huge field, but she was at least going to try. "Good morning headmaster." She said quickly, but politely, then falling in with everyone else to run her laps. The first couple laps felt easy, but as she finished the third lap, she started feeling sick and having some trouble keeping her breathing even.

She pushed through the last two laps, barely staying on her feet. At the end of her last lap, she stumbled out of the pitch, and found a place out of the way to sit down, needing to calm down if she had any hope of making it to breakfast.

Gaston's bright blue eyes scanned the pitch. He saw the Ravenclaw prefect (Jackson) offering water and gave the boy an appreciative nod. He was about to award house points for his kindness when a voice distracted him, and he looked to the other end of the pitch. It seemed Bel had already finished her laps and was giving the others encouragement. She too received a look of approval. Oh, good! It looked like Daisy was finished too; now she could rest her leg. He gave her a sympathetic look, but his expression changed as he overheard Scrimgeour's answer to her question. Did he have to be so condescending about it? And why were his eyes narrowing at Foster like that? It was bad enough that he didn't lift a finger to help the injured students, but surely he couldn't actually disapprove of someone else helping, could he? Somehow he had a bad feeling that Foster hadn't heard the last of this.

Gaston couldn't for the life of him understand how anyone could be so heartless, but before he could think too much about it, Dizzy's words jerked him out of his thoughts,
and he nodded in reply. And Beth was offering to help too. He beamed at both girls. At least they knew how to be kind, unlike some people at this school! "Thank you, ladies," he replied.

Satisfied that Lex was in good hands, he turned his attention to Stella. Seeing this little one cry was breaking his heart, but at least she seemed to be calming down now. Blink, blink.
For a moment, all he could do was stare, too touched by the girl's words to speak. "No thanks necessary, Miss Starson. It's my job to care about you," he said once he found his voice. "I think you'll find in time that most of the professors here are very kind."

He nodded, giving Abra an appreciative smile as he agreed to stay with Stella... not that he ever doubted he would, of course, but it was kind nonetheless. "Thank you," he replied in a whisper. His face fell as he heard Stella's next words. Before he could speak, he overheard Abra reassuring her, but still he felt he should say something. "That's true. Headmaster Scrimgeour only said you had to complete five laps; he never said you couldn't have a friend stay with you while you do it," he added. "Besides, Abra is a prefect; it's part of his job to help you, as it it mine. But if you'd rather, I can take you to the hospital wing myself. My classroom is right down the hall, so I'd be passing by there anyway."

Once Stella was taken care of, Gaston turned his attention to Lucas. He was going to offer to clean him up, but Stella had already taken care of that herself. He was impressed! Not many first years could do that spell, and on the first day back no less! He beamed. "Three points to Gryffindor for helping Mr. Dakest, Miss Starson," he said; then he turned to the boy with a small, though hopefully encouraging smile. No, he wasn't in trouble. He just wanted to make sure he was okay and help him if he needed it. "Good, I'm glad you aren't injured, Mr. Dakest," he said, nodding as he mentioned getting back to running. "Keep going; you can do it!"

Out of the corner of his good eye, Gaston saw a young Ravenclaw (Natasha) struggling. He eyed her with concern as she finished her laps and left the pitch, his mind debating whether or not to follow and check on her. But before he could make up his mind, he heard an all too familiar giggle, followed by shouting and food flying. He inwardly groaned. Oh, good Godric Gryffindor! Not him... not now! Surely now the headmaster would do something, but as his eyes flicked toward the old man, he saw him standing just as motionless as ever. Oh, don't tell me... letting Peeves run amok is supposed to "build character", he thought, his anger at the man's impassiveness mounting with every passing moment. He drew his wand to deflect the sausages being thrown at him and the other professors; it took every ounce of restraint he had not to aim it at the poltergeist next. "Go. Away. NOW." he snarled through clenched teeth. Not a good idea to test him, Peeves!