Image Credit: Felixir

A covered bridge of questionable construction that connects the courtyard to the rest of the grounds, this rickety bridge has been damaged and repaired many times over, the most recent major incident being its total collapse during the battle at Hogwarts in 2104. The structure was ultimately brought down by fire and duel, an incident which was not without casualties.

Since then, the wooden bridge has been restored, and is back to its former... glory. Although it still looks like it may fall apart again and send anyone standing on it into the ravine below again, it probably won't. Not so soon, at any rate. Still, any exceptionally loud creaking should be reported to the groundskeeper, just in case.

This long and narrow bridge has a rich history attached to it, and deserves your respect. On your way between the grounds and the castle, why not stop and admire the view for a moment?

Alissa, like the rest of her fellow fifth years, was in the midst of studying for her OWLs. Though it was different than it would have been if she was still at Ilvermorny, the general idea was the same. She was not unfamiliar with the the idea of a standardized test. Though it did come one year earlier at Hogwarts. It was fine, though, everything was fine. Except, as she was sure her fellow fifth years would agree, it was a lot of work. She felt like she was always studying. Even now, though she was outside for some fresh air, she was running through transfiguration principles in her head.

"Five principle exceptions to Gamp's law of elemental transfiguration," she murmured to herself as she walked along the bridge. Except, she wasn't merely walking. She was hopping, one foot and then the other. "Number one, food." She hopped forward as she named each one. Should she be hopping on something that looked as rickety as this bridge did? Maybe not. Though she figured that the structural faults were mostly for aesthetic. Surely magic was keeping it up. Right?

Planning to take a long, circuitous route to the Quidditch pitch, so that he could get in a walk as well as some flying practice, Regulus had taken to the grounds via the wooden bridge. It was getting to be cold again, and though part of him missed Sicily and its warmer climate, he was only getting better at tolerating these northern temperatures. It was only natural, after so long.

Cold or not, Regulus needed to keep up with his flying practice, if he was to be of any use to the Under-17 team. He had on his jacket, and his Slytherin scarf was draped around his neck - for once he'd collected his broom and was up in the air - and had his hands in his pockets as he strolled down the bridge. Except...

... except someone else, a short way ahead of him, was traversing the bridge as well, though in a strange manner. In a moment, Regulus recognised her.

"Alissa?" He knew her mostly through others, from interactions in lessons, and from generally just paying attention. Well enough to approach her now, he figured, calling out as he caught up. "What are you doing?"

Alissa heard her name as she was reciting the fifth exception, and once she was done she let both of her feet touch the ground in the middle of the bridge as she turned to see where and who the voice had come from. Who she saw was Regulus, who she didn't really know very well but had seen around. Here were the things he knew about him: he was a Slytherin, he was a fourth year, and his name was Regulus. And he knew her name too. Alissa was always happy to get to know more people and make new friends.

"Hello," she greeted with a cheerful smile. "I'm studying Transfiguration," was her response to his question, which probably seemed like odd response considering she wasn't even looking at her book. But it was true. "Where are you going?"

It did seem like an odd response to Regulus, who had been primarily focused on the strange hopping that Alissa had been doing along the bridge. Then again, he knew better than to only pay attention to the most obvious thing that was happening, so ultimately her answer didn't throw him as much as it might have otherwise.

"To the Quidditch pitch," he said in reply. "Eventually, anyway. Was that a special studying technique?" The hopping, Regulus meant. He had methods of his own for making the studying process a little easier, what with remembering facts and theory, but mostly they included rhyme and sometimes music. Very little hopping involved, if any.