Yesterday had been a long, hard day for Kaira Parker. She decided to chill with a book meanwhile. The serenity of the Hogwarts pathways always calmed her down and she absolutely loved coming down here when things got too overwhelming. In fact, that is what kept her going throughout the year that was.

So, this fine morning, Kaira decided to sit down and maybe read a book. She chose one of the pine trees and sat down under it, with her book.

He was really just meandering, getting some fresh air and looking around the grounds. There was no destination in mind, no goal to accomplish for the day. He could sit down with a book like other students were doing, or write another letter to home and take it to the owlery to send later yet... Neither of those things sounded like what he actually wanted to do at present time. So walking it was.

And despite how often he'd heard the warning to be careful, his feet apparently did not remember as he slipped on one of the paths, falling down and rolling a bit down and until landing in front of someone's feet.

He. Was. Mortified. Glancing up, Evan realized he recognized the girl from the feast too - Kaira he believed, Lisa had been obsessed with some sandwiches she'd brought on the train. "Um. Hi. I'm so sorry." For interrupting her relaxation.

Kaira was startled by the sound. She looked up to see a boy, slightly older than her. Oh, wasn't this Lisa's brother? Looks like he tumbled over and fell. She put down her book and got up. 'Oh, are you hurt?,' she asked, concerned. 'Would you like some water?,' she asked, offering her bottle.

Umm..what was his name again? Everett? Ernest? It was something with an E. 'Hii..umm..Lisa's brother?,' she asked.

If there was anything hurt on Evan, it was merely his pride. And even that was merely bruised, as falling was really not the end of the universe. Picking himself up, he brushed off his robes, noticing a stain that would probably warrant a trip to the laundry room later with a small frown. At least washing was easy as well. He shook his head at her questions, appreciating the concern. "I'm alright, thank you though." On both counts. "Just lost my footing, I suppose."

He brushed at his robes again, before hearing the greeting of Lisa's brother and nodded his head in response. He'd definitely been called worse, and was not at all offended if she forgot his name as he was terrible with them himself. "Yeah, Evan. Kaira, right? Lisa can't stop raving about those sandwiches."

The boy hadn't cut himself or something, that was great. 'Ooops,' she said. His robe had stained though. She decided not to point that out.

Oh, the sandwiches. 'Oh well yeah, she really liked them,' Kaira said, laughing. Lisa seemed like a nice girl. 'Hiii Evan! Good to meet ya. Mut be nice to have a sibling in school with you, eh?,' she asked. She sometimes missed Laila, her sister. Last year especially. She missed her a LOT last year and had genuinely yearned for her presence

He nodded at the oops sentiment, brushing his robes one more time over the stubborn stain before calling it a wash and determining he would ignore it from there. He wasn't sure how noticeable it was but there also wasn't much to do about it in this instance so.

Oh well.

"She did really like them. Thanks for sharing with her." Anyone that was nice enough to do something to make one of his sister's happy was fine with him. "Nice to meet you too." He tried to not frown at the next sentence because while it WAS nice, he was acutely feeling Noah's graduation this term. Hopefully he was having fun on his gap year, but still... part of him had wished they held people back in Hogwarts and Noah had had to for some reason or another. "It is nice. And I actually have two. I have another sister, Maya. She's a second year Slytherin." Though honorary Ravenclaw if you asked him. "My older brother was here and a Gryffindor last term but.. he's graduated so we missed out on all four of us."

Excuse him while he held back that sigh.

"Do you have any siblings?"

This guy seemed genuinely nice, which was not surprising given how Lisa was also genuinely nice. 'No biggie yo..I had more sandwiches than I needed..could probably feed the whole of Ravenclaw,' she joked. Mumma always packed more than necessary. Oh they had other siblings? Kaira had no idea. Lisa only ever mentioned her Ravenclaw brother. 'Oh. I didn't know there were more...haven't met them either,' she said. Damn, the whole family was here, must be nice!

'I have one sister..Laila. She is ten years elder to me, works in the Games and Sports department in the Ministry of Magic..,' she said. She missed her sister. She was closest to her sister in the family.

He nodded, knowing exactly how that went. Eomma kept sending care packages for them as well full of home made items that would keep during transit and store well in their rooms. It was nice having the food from home and the comfort it brought but.. the castle did keep them very well fed. "Was that from your parents having sent you with that much?" He nodded again, smiling slightly while thinking about his other siblings as well. "Maya's kind of an introvert. Noah was more extroverted than the rest of us" with maybe the exception of Lisa, "but that was from last year." He missed the eldest Nam and not BEING the eldest Nam on campus. But he did see Maya whenever possible.

"It's hard having such big age differences, huh?" Though hers was much bigger than any of his. That was more like the gap between himself and his cousins. "do you miss being able to see her?"

Aries Flamsteed ... was lost.

He had been on his way to this treehouse he had heard a lot about - but currently all he could see were trees and no houses.

Uhhhh.

And he was SOOOO far out now too that he couldn't really turn around and walk back to where he had started. Just when he was SURE his first weekend back to school was going to be a waste - he found himself in the midst of really HUGE trees - with lots of different kinds of birds flying about it. Curious to see them up close, he dropped his back pack and rounded on a tree that looked like something he could definitely climb for a better view.

Lia was out and about on one of her walks. It wasn't one of her normal walks where she was headed towards the barn or the greenhouse, both places she had visited already this morning. This walk was aimless. With no real direction. Yet, that's what she was enjoying about it most.

There was a gentle breeze that swept through the trees along the pathway every so often, the scent of flowers traveling with it. The fresh air and quiet was nice as she continued walking further down the paths. How far did these go anyhow?

Spotting a familiar face or well more like the back of their head, up ahead she called out a simple, "Hi." She would've used their name but she couldn't tell which twin it was by the back of their head.. actually she might not be able to tell either way.

Remy needed a bit of fresh air after spending a few hours in the library. It was super quiet in there and she felt it was time to get out and actually see people, maybe she'd even pluck up the courage to talk to someone. Nah, probably not.

With her books held tight in front of her as she walked through the pathways, Remy didn't have any hands free to cover the huge yawn she let out. "Aaaaaahhh..." It was one hell of a yawn.

The blonde looked for a space to sit so that she could rest, and she stumbled over thin air and fell forwards. She managed to regain her balance but her books went kerplUNK on the floor, her notebook opening wide for the world to see.

GASP.

Ollie was still working on her map of the school. It was a large castle, so it was going to take a while. This time she left Pepper at her dorm, since last time she decided to wander on her own.

She found her way outside on the pathways, a few students littered along the way. She wasn't the best drawer but was having fun creating her little drawings of the school to study. She was in the middle of sketching a small tree when she heard a thud. She looked up to find - was that Remy? - sprawled on the ground, books scattered around her.

Closing her notebook she hurried over to check on her. "Oh my! Are you alright?" She laughed in her head since this was oh so similar to the time she and Remy had met. She bent down to collect the girl's books and reached out to grab a notebook that had opened itself.

Someone was coming. SOMEONE WAS COMING!!!!!!

Remy flung herself at her open notebook which was covered in big red hearts and snapped it shut before the person had a chance to pick it up, she hadn't even realised at this point who it was. Remy breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed it was Ollie. Even if Ollie had seen more of the details in the notebook, Remy figured she could trust her with the information. But only if she had seen, Remy was not going to just tell her.

"Ollie." She breathed. "Thank Merlin it is you. Yes, I'm alright, must've slipped on a rock." Or slipped over nothing because Remy seemed to be the clumsiest person alive.

The Gryffindor piled her books on top of each other and then sat on top of them. "Wanna sit for a bit? You can sit on one of my books, if you want." She needed to take a breather. "I feel like I haven't seen you in AGES." Apart from regular classes, of course. It was hard having seven floors between friends.

She smiled relieved and glad that Remy was happy to see her. She was right, they hadn't seen each other since the train ride. Well, they hadn't talked since the train. She nodded and accepted a book to sit on making herself comfy. Typically she wouldn't abuse books like this, but since it was Remy's and not her own it didn't feel as bad.

"How are you liking Hogwarts so far?" Ollie had noticed how quickly Remy had grabbed the open notebook from her. She wanted to ask what it was but didn't want to upset Remy. Maybe she was doing some private writing. Maybe she was failing a class! Ollie would totally hell her if she was. She loved being a tutor! "Are all of your classes going well? Not having any trouble?" She felt that Remy trusted her enough to tell her if she was. Ollie hadn't given her a reason to not trust her. Well... She was sorted into Slytherin, and Remy didn't seem to like the house.

Phew, Ollie didn't ask questions about the book, so Remy took this as confirmation that she hadn't seen the hearts drawn all over the page. The blonde thought for a moment about how Ollie was such a great friend to not ask about it. Remy knew that she would've insisted on finding out if the shoe was on the other foot.

"Uhhhmm... It's good, it's okay. No, it's fun." It was fun most of the time, but the first year anxiety was still a thing, and she was definitely missing her family. "Do you like it here?" Remy asked, very curiously. Was it bad that she kinda hoped that the other first years were feeling as aggy as she was?

"The classes are the BEST part of Hogwarts, right?!" In fact, she felt a little lost when she wasn't in class or working on homework. "What's your favourite so far? I think my favourite is Herbology... and Charms..." Still a lot to learn, of course, but Remy seemed to notice small progress in her spell work.

She was glad that Remy seemed to like Hogwarts. At least someone was finding it fun. Ollie didn't think it wasn't fun, but she wouldn't describe it as fun either. She was enjoying all her classes and it was hard to pick a favorite. "I like Herbology, too. And charms isn't bad either. But I'll tell you what isn't my favorite class, Defense Against the Dark Arts." She shook her head. Man was that class hard! And Headmaster Trent was a total loon, throwing them into something like that! "I'm glad I went into the test with a third year, or I might not have made it out!"

As happy as she was that Remy wasn't failing any classes, she was still wondering what was in that notebook. Her friend had seemed pretty protective over it, but Ollie found it best not to pry. She hoped Remy would open up and tell her. "As for the school itself..." She took a deep breath and sighed, "I miss home." It was nice to admit that to Remy. Ollie felt sure that she felt the same. "It's a nice castle, but it's so big! Every time I leave my dorm I just get lost. Plus I've been working on a map for like a week and it still isn't finished!" She flipped open her notebook for Remy to see.

Remy nodded in agreement when Ollie commented on her favourite classes. She would be prepared to argue with people who did disagree with her. "Ohmygosh, right?! Defence Against the Dark Arts is hard, and a little scary." It was literally in the title. DARK arts. "Like, what if one of us did a spell wrong? I don't think the Headmaster would care if one of us died." That was a little dramatic. He most likely would care, because he'd probably get into big trouble if that were to ever happen.

Aww. She felt bad that Ollie was missing home, although Remy could totally relate. "Have you been writing home? It's not quite the same, though, is it? I can't wait for the holidays when we can go home for a bit." She assumed Ollie would be spending holidays at home since she said she was missing it. Oooh, a homemade map! Remy shuffled closer to Ollie to catch a glimpse at her notebook. "Cool!! You must have been exploring so much!! Don't you ever get scared about getting lost?" It had certainly made her reluctant to wander around alone.

"Have you made many new friends yet?" Remy was very curious, because she was kinda struggling with it, sadly.

She was glad that Remy felt the same as she did about the class. At least she wasn't the only one to think Trent was crazy. "I mean he probably cares, just not how we would if we were professors."As the words left her mouth she thought of the two of them teaching. Ollie would make a decent teacher. She would be strict, but not overly strict to where the students hated her. Definitely something she could see herself doing in the future. Remy... Remy wouldn't be a teacher.

Writing home? Yes. Receiving things back from home? No. But Ollie wasn't sure if she wanted to tell Remy that yet. "Yeah I've sent a few letters but, it's not really the same is it?" She wondered what home life was like for Remy. Did she have pets? Probably a dog, something excited like she was. "Well, I can't get lost if I'm making the map, I'll just follow it to get back!"

Friends... Ollie would answer yes! Of course, she has. But before she answered she had to think, would they consider her a friend. She hoped so."Yeah, I met a few people that I really like. Funny I get along with mostly Ravenclaws." Not funny. That's where she should be!

Remy daydreamed for a moment thinking about what an amazing Hogwarts professor she'd be. Definitely Charms. She smiled to herself before snapping back to the conversation.

"Have you had many back? I thought my sister would write to me every day but she hasn't." Remy huffed. Albeit, Anya was very busy studying at the moment but still - Remy's first year at Hogwarts was more important. "You don't have siblings, do you?" She couldn't remember if her friend had told her that before, but was eager to learn about Ollie's life.

"Fair enough," She peeked over to get another look, "Where are the dungeons on your map? What're they like?" Maybe Ollie could show her around there since Remy was terrified to explore by herself. It was a very cool map. Remy thought about sharing her drawings (and secrets) with Ollie, but she was no artist so didn't feel comfortable enough just yet. She did feel insecure that her notebook was right here with her. For all she knew, Ollie could swipe it out of her hands at any point. It sounded like something Remy would do to others.

Aww. It sounded like Ollie was really making lots of friends. "Really? Ravenclaws?" Remy giggled. "I haven't really made friends in my own house yet..." She paused, "... weird, right?" Considering her obsession with getting into Gryffindor prior to Hogwarts. "Maybe the sorting hat was wrong for me." The blonde sighed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samia

Aries Flamsteed ... was lost.

He had been on his way to this treehouse he had heard a lot about - but currently all he could see were trees and no houses.

Uhhhh.

And he was SOOOO far out now too that he couldn't really turn around and walk back to where he had started. Just when he was SURE his first weekend back to school was going to be a waste - he found himself in the midst of really HUGE trees - with lots of different kinds of birds flying about it. Curious to see them up close, he dropped his back pack and rounded on a tree that looked like something he could definitely climb for a better view.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kolyander

Lia was out and about on one of her walks. It wasn't one of her normal walks where she was headed towards the barn or the greenhouse, both places she had visited already this morning. This walk was aimless. With no real direction. Yet, that's what she was enjoying about it most.

There was a gentle breeze that swept through the trees along the pathway every so often, the scent of flowers traveling with it. The fresh air and quiet was nice as she continued walking further down the paths. How far did these go anyhow?

Spotting a familiar face or well more like the back of their head, up ahead she called out a simple, "Hi." She would've used their name but she couldn't tell which twin it was by the back of their head.. actually she might not be able to tell either way.

Oh no.

Oh no.

Oh no no no no no.

While Atlas HATED to admit it, he had grown a certain fondness for Ore-son Welles last term. What had begun as a kind of petty project and this embarrassing need to feel close to dad in midst of everything terrible happening had quickly turned into a genuine care and appreciation for the infamous muggle pet rock. He hadn't really understood dad's obsession with them and why he had a couple himself and even bought them pet beds...but now...he kind of got it.

Which was why he was SPRINTING down the pathways looking for a few key landmarks that indicated where he needed to jump off the path and veer into the shrubbery a bit to start digging. During one of his times out on the ground before the war had come to Hogwarts, Atlas had spent his last hour with Ore-son Welles and buried the pet rock in its tin for safe keeping. He couldn't risk The Hoods™ finding the muggle inspired companion in his room, so burying him out in the grounds and unearthing him whenever he wanted a chat seemed like the most logical method to carry on. And then the war happened...and Atlas had entirely forgotten about Ore-son Welles.

So...uh...oops. Frantic Gryffindor coming through.

He was sprinting so fast that he didn't notice that the two second years by the tree that juuuuuuuust so happened to be one of his landmarks was his own brother and Dahlia. Skidding to a stop, the blonde hopped off the path...and tripped right over one of the roots and on to his face.

Ollie didn't want to talk about the absence of letters with Remy. It was a sore subject, and she didn't need to find herself crying in front of yet another peer. "I'm sure she wants to write you back every day!" She reassured her friend. She wanted Remy to stay as cheery as she typically was. "Sometimes it's just easy to recap a week's worth of things into one letter." She'd probably start doing that herself. No use taking time to write a new letter every day to someone who wasn't bothering to write her back. "No, I don't have any siblings. Just me and my dad."

She flipped her notebook to the page labeled "Dungeons". It wasn't complete yet but there was enough drawn to give Remy a good look. "It's nothing special. It's just really cold and the halls are super long. Plus some of the paintings yell at me because I'm not a pure-blood." That was Ollie's least favorite part. She could deal with the cold and the long walks, but the paintings she didn't like. Something about moving paintings freaked her out in the first place, but insulting ones, that was a whole new level of weird.

Oh, Remy. You were the most Gryffindor person Ollie had met yet! "I don't think that hat was wrong" She shook her head. Remy was very headstrong, something Ollie made out to be a Gryffindor trait. Now it was time to take a page out of Remy's book. "What do you have in your notebook?" She pointed to the one Remy had grabbed from out under her.

Remy just shrugged. She couldn't help but feel annoyed that her sister hadn't been as responsive as she would've liked, especially during the start of term when she was feeling really rubbish. Her mum and dad had sent many letters, though, so she couldn't complain too much. Ahh, she had a feeling that Ollie didn't have any siblings. "I bet you were spoiled as a child being an only child." She offered a smile. Probably wasn't best to assume, but Remy had seen the compromises you had to make with siblings sometimes.

Eww.... cold. Remy thought about the description Lisa had given of the Ravenclaw common room in comparison and was disappointed that the Headmaster hadn't updated the dingy dungeons. "That sounds... miserable. I wish you could come to my common room." Remy couldn't understand why it was a BAD thing to mix houses. She raised her eyebrows in SHOCK. "WHAT? They yell at you???!" To be fair, she thought it was so cool that portraits had spoken to Ollie. They hadn't spoken to Remy yet. "Do you yell at them back?" Judging people due to their blood status was BAD, even for portraits.

The blonde smiled. Okay, so she KNEW she was a Gryffindor, she always had known, after all. "I suppose. Gryffindors aren't as nice as I thought they would be, though." Can't all be perfect like her.

Uhh....

O_______________o

EXccccuuuuuuse you??? "Uhhh.... nothing...." She quickly said, covering her notebook even more with her arms. GAH, she KNEW Ollie would've seen the hearts written on it. "It's just... I wrote about... I dunno..." Her face was red as a TOMATO. Take a breath, Ollie is your friend. "It's just about someone." She whispered, still not showing her anything.

It was a pretty nice day today. So Ash decided to go outside and lie on a bench instead of just lying in her dorm. She was writing a letter to Theodore (obviously free of magic references, and going through her bodyguards first so that an owl wouldn't show up to his house), but there was no reason she couldn't write it outside.

She had actually finished the letter, and had it in a muggle envelope and everything.

But there was one thing left. Ash took out a small stack of muggle photos of the scenery, and started looking through them to see which ones looked the best but didn't show anything magical in the background. Obviously she couldn't send him a picture of the quidditch pitch. That would be disastrous and possibly illegal. And confusing for him. Jeez. This whole 'hiding things so that you don't compromise the security of the entire wizarding world' thing absolutely sucked. She was kinda used to it though by now. She'd done it for years.

Ash was down to five photos now. Ash was kinda stuck. Should she just pick one? Should she put all of them? Should she pick randomly? She figured that she should just attach all of them. Theodore liked photography anyway. But perhaps she should save a few photos for her next letter instead of including them all at once? This was A Problem. Seriously. She didn't exactly have feelings of Great Consternation, but she still looked Pensive and Deep In Thought. Yes, she knew what all of those words meant. Not that she would ever admit it out loud.

Ollie couldn't help but take offense to Remy's comment. Thankfully, she had heard this before and was totally okay with debunking the myth. "Not really. My dad has me work for everything I get. Plus, he's not home all the time so I have to fend for myself." This was true. Ollie's dad taught at a muggle university. He was pretty much always there during the week, so Ollie only had time with him on the weekend.

It wasn't misreble... okay maybe it was. It defiantly wasn't Ollie's dream common room. But her whole Hogwarts experience wasn't anything like she imagined, so it made sense. She laughed at Remy "Noo, I don't yell back at them. What's the point? At least I'm alive, they're trapped in a painting!" This made her laugh even more. Though it was a surprise. Ollie didn't realize that having pure blood was a big thing to the Slytherin house, or in general!

As Remy's face turned bright red, she couldn't help but feel a little bad. It was clear she had embarrassed Remy. Wait. What did she say? Someone? OOOOOOoooooooo Remy had a crussshhh. She leaned in closer to Remy "Who?" she whispered. "It's okay you can tell me!" She had to pressure her friend. Ollie was very good at keeping secrets!