What was this?

Rows and rows of corn and what looked like an entrance?

Harri's blue eyes widened excitedly. She had began her mission #1: explore Hogwarts right after being dismissed from her last class of the day. The Whomping Willow didn't do anything other than sway and the Great Lake just looked like a normal large lake so she ventured around the grounds some more. For someone who was bad at directions, the young Gryffindor liked to gallivant more often than not. She was pretty sure she was lost anyway, might as well find something interesting and fun along the way.

But dare she go in alone? What if she never made it out and because nobody saw her go this way, nobody was also going to look for her? The idea of running into a wild creature inside didn't faze her but she wanted to be back inside the castle by dinnertime, thank you very much. So the obvious solution was that she find someone to go along with her.

Hmm...

This was amazing! She was finally at Hogwarts. She walked through the grounds,taking in the full beauty of the place. Wow, just beautiful, even more beautiful than her sister had described. So far, her year was going great too- met some really nice folk, got sorted into Ravenclaw..it was all realy good.

She was strolling around when she noticed this place- rows and rows of corn stretching afar..like an endless sea of bright yellow. She decided to take a look and that's when she spotted a girl about her age.

'Hi...,' she said, smiling at her.

Maxie liked the grounds, he really really did. They reminded him of home. Sprawling, beautiful, full of bird song and the promise of adventure.

Like home, there was always something unexpected or weird to be found out here. The corn maze had naturally called out to him. After lunch, he put away his books, changed out of his robes and headed off for the corn maze alone - he had seriously considered asking Niko along but decided, ultimately that he wanted some time alone.

Except, when he got up there he wasn't the only one. Two others - two girls, probably eleven or twelve - were standing by the maze entrance.

"Uhm." He actually hadn't meant to say anything at all, but the word-er, sound, had just come right out. Presence announced, Maxie looked from the one girl to the other and then to the maze itself.

Should he just? Run on ahead? Wait for the two to rush in? Introduce himself and suggest they all step in together? Uhm.

Camilus was excited to finally be at Hogwarts. He had been sorted, gone to the Gryffindor common room, and now it was time to see what the schools grounds offered him. He had heard whisperings of some odd field that was present on one of the hills, past the lake, so he thought he would check it out. Anything for an adventure!

Confidently walking towards what he now could see as a field of corn?, he noticed that he wasn't the only one who was intrigued by the rumors.

Making his way to the edge of the field, Camilus smiled at the two girls who stood together, and waved at the boy who stood a little away from them, looking a little uncomfortable.

Camilus, never one to miss an introduction held out his hand to the blue-eyed girl.

"Hi! My name is Camilus. I'm new. What's your name?"

Harri had been looking for a SOMEONE to come along with her, but then out of the field of corns there were three of them. Needless to say the first year Gryffindor girl was now grinning from ear to ear.

The more the merrier!

"Hi! Kaira, was it?" Oh goody, she remembered. The girl from the train who was talking about her cookies and didn't really help much to look for her toad. Heh. No bad blood there though, she had Hohenheim back now. Craning her head towards the one who mumbled an 'uhm', Harri waved him over only to realize that it was the other person whom she and Kaira met on the train too (and yes, also didn't help that much to look for her toad). "Sling boy! It's you." Or was it?

It felt like an unintended reunion to her or was she actually the only one who took note of their names? Or in sling boy's case, their faces?

"Camilus? Can I call you Cami or Cam? My name's Harri." She said to the other boy and reached out to shake his offered hand. A hand shake. She was SUCH a grown up now, gosh!

Kaira turned around as she heard someone go 'umm'. 'Hi..I'm Kaira,' she said.

Kaira smiled at him as he shook hands with Harris.

As she turned around, Kaira saw her face. Oh, it was the girl who was looking for her toad on the train. The one who had blatantly refused her cookies. Maybe she was just in a bad mood, cos now she seemed nice enough.

'Hi..Harri, am I right?,' she said, smiling.

Camilus was glad, here he had found someone potentially as enthusiastic as himself, and she looked to be his year.

"Yeah, of course! My parents always told me to introduce myself with my full name, but I go by Cam with all my friends," he said as he looked over the field. "What do you guys think we are going to find in there?" He sure hoped that it might be something to do with cornpuffs, or cornbread, or corn-on-the-cob. Camilus always had a huge appetite.

Maxie, in his late night wonderings, often wondered if the Universe had something against Anderson-Belforts or just against himself and Damien since, well, his parents were perfectly fine all the time. Maybe, maybe, maybe they'd sucked up all the family luck and that was why he and Damien were always wiggling in and out of tight spots.

Not that this was a tight spot. It was a big wriggly spot with six eyes and three mouths and greetings and corn. How could something as innocent as a corn ma(i)ze betray him like this? Maxie swallowed anxiously, his large grey eyes going back and forth from the other boy to the two girls as they all introduced themselves. Full names??? Were they trying to kill him?

He waved. Hello. Hi. Hello. Uhm.

"Maxie. H-h-i." Oh wow, this was already down-freaking-hill. "I'm Maxie... H-Hi. Uhm, y-y-you lot can go on ah-ahead." The Hufflepuff stuck his hands deeper into his pockets, fists clenched as he forced the stuttered words out as naturally as he could manage. was that rude? what'd he'd said? Maxie tried to grin all big and nice and friendly but it felt so very much like a grimace that he immediately stopped.

"Yes, Harri. You're right." She told Kaira with a wide grin and a cheerful nod. So she remembered. Her nickname was pretty common enough, what with being taken from the great Harry Potter himself.

Turning to the other boy, she nodded yet again. "Cam it is." And her parents didn't tell her to introduce herself to other people with her full name. It was already a hassle just thinking about it. Hi, I'm Harriette Trinity. Nice to meet you. Meh. She was going to stick with "Harri". "Oh, I don't know. But that's what we're going to find out, right...Maxieee?" was her reply to his other question at the same time she bounded over to the other other boy and tugged on his robe. Nuh-uh. He wasn't going anywhere. They were going on an ADVENTURE!

"Come oooon!" Into the maze we go! Exciting times awaiting!

Indigo quite liked this maze. When he didn't want to have to deal with the rest of the world it felt nice to get lost somewhere. He used to turn to the book maze in the library a lot, but this one was nice too. The combination of the maze and the fresh air could be really nice. And it wasn't too cold yet, so Indigo could keep coming out here without worrying about getting frostbite in the case of really getting lost. He took a few steps in and came to the first intersection. Left or right? It really didn't matter if the goal was just to get lost anyway, so he took a deep breath and just chose one at random.

Camilus was running his hand through his hair, smiling at the push that Harri was giving the other boy, when suddenly he stopped mid-groom.

"Hey, let's follow that guy, he seems to know where he's going," Camilus said looking over at the kid who had just gone into the maze. "Really pal," he said looking at Maxie, "I know we are all going to do great! Harri's got the right idea!"

Stressed? Sure.

But maybe some mindless decision making was just what this Hufflepuff needed. His jog down to the maze had been pretty uneventful. No sign of any of the people he was avoiding which was perfect. He wasn't really in the mood for anything or anyone but he was tired of sitting around his dorm and hiding away in the library. So here he was.

Eamon moved into the maze, coming face to face with someone's back. That hair... he knew that hair. Should he turn around? Should he go? Pretend like he'd wasn't even here? Like he didn't even see him?

"Indigo...?"

Indigo could hear some voices. There seemed to be a group of people younger than him. He decided that he was going to go in whatever direction they weren't. He was here to be alone, not to run into a group of small strangers. That was exactly the opposite of what he wanted at any moment in time, but especially right now. He had just turned to the left when he heard another voice. This time the voice was saying his name, and this time Indigo knew exactly who that voice belonged to.

He turned, so he was facing him now. "Eamon. Hi." He took it as a good sign that he'd initiated the conversation. Did this mean he wasn't avoiding him anymore? The thought made him hopeful enough that he sent the other boy a small smile.

The embarrassment had certainly faded, but that didn't mean that every time his eyes met Indigo's it didn't return along with his fear. The fear that Indigo would tell someone, that people would know, that his father would find out. He shivered at the thought. But he did trust the boy, despite all of his fear and he knew how he felt, he wasn't stupid. A stray hand shakily ran through his dark hair.

A smile was forced out. He was tired of hiding from him. It was decided. "We always seem to have the same ideas. How is that?"

Indigo was even more relieved when Eamon smiled back. There were several things in his life not going right. It felt like half the people he actually liked hanging hanging out with were avoiding him. Ansel had broken up with him so there was no way to fix that. Presley was avoiding him, and that was kind of on him, mostly the fault of whoever was responsible for the love potion. He didn't know how to fix that either. Eamon had been avoiding him too, but now maybe he'd actually be able to fix that.

Indigo's smile grew a little more. "Maybe we're just too similar."

"That could definitely be it."

A sheepish expression flew across Eamon's face, his eyes shyly drifting from the Ravenclaw to take a look at where they were. Corn. And more corn. So much corn. What was he expecting to see? His hands stretched out over his head, mind running back through old thoughts whenever Indigo was near, all the initial feelings from only moments ago seeming to have faded. This was bad. Probably.

Lowering his arms again, his eyes faded back to the sixth year's. "So... do you wanna explore together? Or um... take turns choosing directions, maybe?"

Indigo kept his eyes on Eamon even as the other boy's gaze drifted away. Part of him was afraid that if he looked away he'd drift away, or perhaps run away. Or maybe he'd discover that he wasn't actually here at all, and Indigo had conjured him from his own loneliness. But no, it seemed that he was actually there, and he didn't seem to be planning on running away.

Indigo had started nodding as soon as he finished the first question. He was trying to be as casual as possible, so as not to scare him away. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. Do you want to choose first?"

Little did Indigo know, but it was very like Eamon to run away in this sort of situation. Anything that ever involved... certain disclosed information... always put him in fight or flight mode. And unfortunately there had been a person who always seemed to receive the worse of the two whenever that instinct came up. Something that Eamon was desperately trying to work on, making some real progress here, it seemed. So, thanks Indigo.

Did he? The seventh year pulled his coat around tighter, a little chill starting to work it's way up him. Or maybe these were nerves. He could never tell anymore being in a constant state of... something. Pressure? Sure. "Sure.. um.... left?"

He casually shoulder nudged the other boy in that direction.

"Left it is." Indigo turned in that direction and walked forward, falling into step beside Eamon. His original plan of getting lost by himself in the maze was completely forgotten. This was much better than wallowing in his own sadness. Besides, Eamon avoiding him was one of the things he would have been sad about.

He took the first few steps in silence, trying to think of things to start talking about. Indigo had never been great at conversation. He usually didn't mind silence, finding it more comfortable than awkward most of the time. There had been plenty of comfortable silences when he'd hung out with Eamon in the past, but if he was trying to save this friendship, or... whatever this thing was that he and Eamon had had, then talking was probably a good idea. Plus, keeping him talking would keep him from running away. Indigo tried to think of something easy. Something casual. "So... how's your day been so far?"

How was his day so far? Average. Boring. The same old routine as it had been for weeks. Hiding from him, eating, homework, studying, last minute university applications... "Pretty average.." Until he'd decided to turn it around and come here. It... had since brightened up substantially. But he couldn't exactly tell the other boy that, could he?

A hand went to his own hair, running his fingers through it, attempting to steal an unnoticed glance at the other boy in the process. "How was yours?" Lame. So lame, Eamon. Ask another question. A better question. "Actually, um... what brought you to the maze?" Was that any better? He leaned away from the boy in the walk, creating a little more distance between them even if he wanted very much the opposite as the came to another choice.

"Right, left, or forward?"

Indigo nodded slowly. His day had been pretty average as well. Pretty much the only things he did these days were go to class and study. Eating was on the schedule sometimes, generally in the kitchens because the Great Hall was always too busy. Too overwhelming. "Mine was pretty average too," he answered. The next question wasn't as easy. "I like to come here. It helps me think. It's a nice place to be able to avoid the world." He glanced at him. "What brought you here."

They came to another intersection and this time it was Indigo's turn. He glanced left, and then right. "Left," he said decisively. He turned that way. And, with Eamon to the left of him, their arms brushed against each other slightly. Totally an accident.

Eamon's eyes darted down, down to where Indigo's arm had brushed along his. He stared for a long moment, jerking his head back up quickly once he'd realized he'd been still for too long, a sheepish look rising and warm cheeks to match.

"Uhhhhh...." Distracted? Yeah. What was the question?

His feet kept moving down the path Indigo had chosen as he wracked his brain for the question. Oh. Right. "Um... same as you, I guess. Just kind of looking for some peace and quiet.. somewhere to think and just.. be." He stole a quick glance at the other boy, gaze falling to the ground again almost as quickly as it had come up. "Or maybe to not think, if that makes sense? Just some mindless choices? Left, right, right, left. Just to see what happens."

It was about time Anna had a look at this Maize Maze. She had heard a lot about it, but she had better things to do than getting lost in a maze, although that did sound quite fun!

So here she was. Looking around the outside of the maze first. It did look interesting, she had to admit!

Patrick was just about to pass the maze on his way back to the castle when he noticed Anna standing outside. He looked it over and was just about to say forget it and walk away. "You think people really enjoy getting lost in that thing? I haven't heard much about it yet." He crossed his arms over his chest looking at the corn that was all to familiar to him as it surrounded his family farm back home.