Vance Abernathy - Arietem House

Vance hadn’t expected this to be easy. No, he expected Fletcher to make it as painful, as laborious, as annoying as would be humanly possible, from virtually the instant that Hughes had suggested him. It hardly mattered though, as long as he said yes. There was a brief spell where Vance thought about chucking the whole idea. He could study privately, be even more cautious, ferret out some trustworthy allies. He wondered vaguely if Vulpes’ resident potion-peddlar was capable of making Veritaserum. That would go a long way toward ensuring that he could actually come to rely on someone.

No. This was the best way. Brushing up on his defensive theory with a skilled wizard who hated him slinging the spells was the surest way to protect himself. Perhaps afterward, he could start assembling a few loyal followers to help him cut out the infection from the student body.

Through most of Fletcher’s invective, Vance remained non-plussed, just standing by patiently with his hand and mechanical hand clasped behind his back, watching the other boy and waiting for him to finish up. The mention of Nevaeh hit it’s mark, though; or rather, it hit a mark. Even Fletcher likely couldn’t imagine what had occurred between them, and if he knew, he’d likely never speak of it, certainly not in such a casually cruel way… unless Vance was wrong about the Ferre.

His smile went quite brittle at the mention of his sister. Part of him, the part that vaguely resembled the golden-haired younger boy who had always, always wanted to be as strong as his twin, wanted to let him in on the fact that, in the end, Vance had come out the victor. Another part, similarly buried deep, felt quite ill. The strongest urge he felt was to cross to Felix and put the strength of his goblin-forged hand to the test by seeing how long it took to crush his windpipe.

Instead of doing any of that, he forced himself back toward composure. It was remarkable, how he could swing between thoughts of murder and polite conversation in a matter of seconds. Well, remarkable was one word for it, anyway.

”You have an interesting method of negotiation, Fletcher.” There was no way the other boy had missed his tensing up, so he decided to run with it. Slowly he unclasped his hands, letting his right arm hang at his side. The ebon dragonskin glove he wore was probably worth more than most of his peers’ parents brought home in a month, beautiful really. He slowly flexed the mechanical hand beneath it into a fist, and then unclenched it to play his fingers. It would be too noisy to hear the whisper of the gears, but he was hoping Felix wasn’t too dim to notice the glove itself.

”Agree to assist me, and I’ll tell you why Nevaeh went to Beauxbatons. If you’re uninterested, then…” he shrugged minimally. ”Well, I did try.” His handsome features were once again a mask of genteel charm. Fletcher would only manage to get under his skin the once.

Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom! (Justin)

Down, down, down. He’d always had the sneaking suspicion that whoever had been responsible for this secret passage was either smaller-than-human or very young. He didn’t have to duck to make his way along the stairwell, but he only barely had enough clearance after his last growth spurt to avoid smacking his head against the bottom of the steps he’d only descended a few seconds before.

After what seemed like forever but was only roughly thirty seconds, he touched down on the landing. The slight trickle of anxiety that had been building during the voyage down evaporated all at once, like the incredibly useless Disappearing Draught he’d invented on a lark. It looked like common water, but when someone attempted to drink it, the potion would just vanish. The Disappearing Draught was emblematic of Justin’s approach to magic: it was well worth forging together incredibly potent effects (the potion’s absence actually relied on a system not dissimilar from Apparation), provided that one could make either a profit, or in this case, a laugh, in the process.

The stairwell and landing were pitch-black. If it weren’t for the blip of light at the end of his wand, he wouldn’t have been able to see his hand in front of his face, never mind the hole. The tower itself was very tall. The ground was definitely a terminal velocity’s worth of falling below, and that was how Justin had discovered the room in the first place. He’d been outside, enjoying one of his favorite psychedelic concoctions, when he noticed what looked like a dark spot on the tower wall. It was so high up he could barely tell, and sort of built into a bevel, but it was definitely there.

He’d nearly fallen in the hole, which led into a ten meter sharply declined chute that would have deposited his bony ass into freefall if he hadn’t hopped over it at the last possible second. The room’s last user had probably flown up to get in; it was just big enough to accommodate someone riding on broomstick. He’d since laid a piece of wood over it, but his stomach still did flip flops whenever he crossed over it to reach the large, heavy door.

It was a fearsome door, the sort of door that was usually only employed to keep particularly strong monsters from passing through it. There had been a few enchantments worked into it when he’d finally made it down, weakened by age and easy enough for him to disarm. He hadn’t bothered refreshing them since. Opening the door by means of his own strength was impossible; really, it would have taken five of Justin to accomplish the feat. He extinguished his wand and then brought it through a figure eight. The mammoth door groaned, and shuddered, and then finally swung inward.

A sweeping gesture set the torches within ablaze, immediately bathing the entirety of his hideaway in soft light. It wasn’t massive by any standard, and when he’d found it, it was barren save for a single cot and a dog-eared issue of Transfiguration Today from ten years before Justin was born. He’d left both there, in deference and respect to whomever had come before him, but had brought an awful lot more in.

There were three six foot long work tables, all of which were heavily laden with the tools of his trade. Cauldrons of a variety of metals, the magical equivalent of Bunsen burners, all manners of flasks, beakers, and vials, and enough plastic tubing to tourniquet a small army. Most of it had been pilfered from the school, but a few of the more specialized items (a rather ingenious magical centrifuge that had been popular in the Nile Valley a few centuries ago, a diamond knife with an amethyst hilt required in several archaic recipes that originated in aboriginal Australia, a monster of a scale that could weigh nearly a dozen items at once separately, and be tuned to indicate proportions, among others) he had acquired himself and smuggled in.

The real value, though, lay in a small hutch that rested in the easternmost corner of the room. That Justin had laden with quite a few protections, each worse than the last. It took him several minutes to undo all of them, and even then, there were three key holes to contend with. One key, he kept in his bag. The second was tucked in his right sock. The third and smallest he kept in a tiny incision he’d cut in his own inner-cheek, an old Muggle magician’s trick he’d read about and then greedily employed. The keys had to be inserted in one sequence and then turned in another, but not before he worked a Bubble Head Charm on himself. The final protection was mostly mundane; upon being opened, the hutch emitted a cloud of aerosolized Draught of Living Death that was potent enough to put a grown man to sleep for a week.

The effort was necessary, and well worth it. The hutch had an Undetectable Extension Charm, and contained Justin’s entire fortune. There was some gold, but that was just his rainy day fund. He had herbs and ingredients in that hutch that he was reasonably sure Professor Hutson would have slept with him to obtain. He’d liberated more common bits from the school’s potion stores over the years, but at this stage, he’d become self-sufficient enough to buy in bulk. Also inside were several stopped vials of some of his more incredible (and expensive) creations, including a single tiny teardrop shaped sample of Felix Felicis that Justin hadn’t decided quite what to do with yet.

He’d needed to restock quite a few of the more common ingredients, and he spent several minutes transferring the jars and boxes he’d bought over the summer from his messenger bag to the hutch. He reserved a few petri dishes of lacewing flies that he’d been dutifully stewing for the last three weeks, setting them aside on one of the tables, and then selected the other items he’d need.

”Now where did I put the powdered bicorn horn..?” he murmured to himself, rummaging a bit before he finally laid hands on it. Polyjuice potion was absurdly useful, and so he tried to keep it in ready supply as much as he was able. He’d made the complicated potion so many times by now that he didn’t even need to measure, and so it was (relatively) quick work for him to get three large cauldrons going. Once this initial work was done, it was only matter of checking in every couple days and giving a few stirs, and in a month, he’d have… well, quite a bit of the stuff.

He also mixed together some more Betterbeer (a tenth of an ounce of goosegrass, two fairy wings, a strand of starthistle, and two pickled slugs to every four cups of butterbeer), enough for about a gallon. The real trick to it (aside from the fact that he was making people drink pickled slug, which was a different sort of trick) was the brewing process. He got to work with a mortar and pestle, turning the base ingredients into a uniform brownish paste, then added it to the end result’s near namesake. It had to be boiled hard for nearly an hour, which was too short a time to bother leaving for, so he decided to work out more of Operation Emerson.

Lying down on the abandoned cot was actually one of his favorite methods of ruminating. He curled up, rolling onto his side and closing his eyes, and just listened to the sound of his Betterbear angrily roiling in the cauldron.

Okay, Justin. He liked the popsicle sticks, well done. Step… two? of Phase One, the Phase of Gifts, should be arriving by the end of the week, but it might be a good idea to hold off on giving him that one just yet. In fact, it’s probably a grand idea to stop trying to organize this into steps and phases. Before that, you should… hmm. Some kind of gesture. Yes. Yes! An action that encapsulates your affection, your remorse, and your ability to not hit on him.

He frowned. But what? What would Em appreciate? He likes dumb jokes, but you already covered that, and his Quodpot fetish will be taken care of with Step Two, so… what’s Step 1.5? What will make a good segue? He sighed. He’d never actually wooed anyone before. Seduction he could handle, but this just wasn’t his weal house. Maybe ask Bliss, or Felix, or Teiver. No, not Teiver. Bliss or Felix. Probably Felix. He’s a lot like Em in some ways, the ways that I don’t really grasp, anyway. Yes. I’ll ask Felix, and he’ll ask me why I’m even interested in Em like he always does, and then I’ll casually mention Bliss and he’ll know exactly why I did it and shut up about Em, and then I’ll figure out how a quirky jock likes to be courted.

He almost felt exhausted, after all that thinking. At least he had more of a plan, now. He rolled onto his back and clasped his hands over his flat stomach, staring up at the stone ceiling. I know I fucked things up, Em, but I’m going to make it right. Just wait and see.

Bliss Turner

As Finn made his exit, Bliss caught sight of the disappointment on Braelyn's face. She was about to speak when Felix made the comment about the two beautiful ladies in his presence. She rolled her eyes as she bit her lip before glancing back towards Finn. Where was he going? With no interest in question, she found herself now searching for her sister. "I'm guessing Summer has already ran off with Bellona." She let out a sigh as her remark went unnoticed as Felix pointed out the approach of Vance. She turned to look in Vance's direction seeing him eying Felix.

"Hey, be careful." She said as she tried to reach for his hand before being pulled away by Braelyn. She didn't get a chance to glance back at what could possibly be going on between the two boys, but she could only imagine what Vance wanted from Felix. Entering the courtyard made her realize how much she would miss this school next year, she loved walking out and letting the warm breath run through her hair. Taking in a deep breath, she gave a few waves at other students she noticed from previous years. She knew Braelyn would find the appropriate place to talk, so she didn't bother paying attention to where her friend led her. As they both sat on a near bench, Braelyn went straight for the questions. "Don't even girl a chance to catch her breath." She said as she playfully pushed Braelyn's knee. "I'm guessing you are talking about Felix.." She didn't let friend answer because she knew by the looks Braelyn had thrown her way in the Great Hall it would be the only thing she was interested in.

"You are not going to believe the summer I had." As she glanced over at the view that the school had provided with the placement of the courtyard, she found herself quickly going over everything she had done with Felix that summer. She felt her face brighten up at the thoughts of how much fun she had with the boy she never thought could give her the happiness he did. "I ran into Felix. And I don't mean a planned run in, I mean out of no where I saw him. It was the weirdest thing ever, honestly. And you know how I am.. I'm nice to anybody outside of school, but something was so different this time. Seeing him.. It was like seeing him made something inside me ignite."

She placed a hand on her knee as she brought it up to her chest, changing the position she had. "It was so weird how fast I felt myself attach to him. It wasn't like the other twenty boys on campus I've 'dated'." With the word dated, she brought her fingers up to kind of quote the word mockingly with a laugh. "All the other guys didn't even make me feel half as great as he did.. Well, does. And you know that most ridiculous part of it all, I can't even tell him that I like him!" She buried her face into her hands, laughing. "I feel like one of those stupid sappy lovey dovey types. I'm not that girl, never have been." She looked around to see if Georgie was anywhere in sight because she knew she would have to repeat everything she was saying. "Anyways, enough about Felix." She laughed as she wrapped her arms around Braelyn in one fast motion. "I've missed my best friends. I would wrap my arms around Georgie if she was here. Maybe she'll come out soon. But until then, tell me what's going on with you and Finn.. Any progress? Or is the cause dead?"

Rosina Garenne

Justin took his leave, faster than she would have thought. He was normally stuck to Emerson's side like glue. Either way, she relaxed a little when he was gone. She didn't know what it was about him, but he definitely set her on edge. Although the bit about Neveah was interesting. She personally thought that Magus Grex was better off without the Arietem girl. It didn't really affect her though, so she didn't dwell on the thought for too long. The food on her plate looked absolutely revolting to her now, and she shoved the plate a few inches away from her.

Her stomach felt like someone had twisted it into a million knots. She spared a quick glance next to her, and saw that Micah just seemed to be looking around the hall, lost in his own mind. It was like she didn't even exist to him anymore. It made her think of all the times in the past where people hadn't seemed to notice her. I mean, it was like she had an invisibility cloak on or something. All the times she'd sat next to Emerson in class, and he spent the entire class talking to his friends, not even looking her way. Thinking about it made her slightly angry, and she had the sudden urge to throw her fork at someone. But she dropped it on the table instead.

Her eyes found the large oak doors, and she saw Bliss slip out of them with Braelyn. What she really should do was go out and be with Bliss. Being around her always made Rose feel like so much more than she actually was. And that's how she wanted to feel right now, like all these people were so wrong to ignore her. She was worth something. She was just about to get up from the table when Micah turned his attention back to her.

He apologized, and her heart melted a bit. What was she thinking, getting all mad? He didn't ignore her on purpose. She started to feel silly about getting so upset. She gave him a soft smile, shrugging her shoulders. "It's okay, Micah," she said quietly. She placed her hands in her lap, crossing her fingers together. She had to keep him interested now, and she clenched her fingers together, nervous about that thought.

She nodded at his question, looking down at her hands for a second. But she made herself bring her eyes up to meet his, and keep his attention on her. "I was just saying that I would love to see what books you brought with you," she said, glad she actually got to finish the sentence this time. The knots on her stomach seemed to loosen, and she felt her entire body relax slightly. She took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly. "Maybe you can show me, sometime?" she blurted out quickly. Immediately, she regretted saying it. She never did things like that... what had just come over her? Her cheeks grew really red, and she took her eyes off of him.

---

Finn Pollack

He was sprinting as fast as he could, yet suddenly something white appeared next to him and darted past, coming to a stop before him. The animal reared on its hind legs, and he skidded to a halt in front of it, more out of shock than anything. "Crap," he muttered, seeing her come up next to him. The cat came after her, staring up at him in a creepy way. He took his eyes off the cat, meeting Teiver's instead. So he was supposedly heading towards an unused girls bathroom. If she was telling the truth, that is.

And of course he didn't buy any of her bologna on heading to the Astronomy tower to get a head start. If she wanted to do that, she could have taken the normal staircases to get there, not taking a way that would get her in trouble. He folded his arms, leaning against the wall, determined not to go anywhere. He let her get all her quips in, not responding to any of them. She could say all she wanted, he wasn't going to just walk away now. He did have to chuckle at the one about the girls dying without him. "Somehow, I think they'll live without me for one night."

The part about Herve did give him pause, though. As honorable as his intentions were, if he was found in an area he wasn't supposed to be in, he would be in just as much trouble as Teiver was. Thankfully for him, no one was going to find them anytime soon. He just had to find a way to stick with her, and find out what she was doing in this hidden tower. Not only did he have the feeling that he wanted to do the right thing, but he was actually extremely curious what was going on. He wasn't going to let her deter him from this, no matter what she said.

Unless they were about to get caught. Then he'd run like a bat out of hell.

He decided to go along with her lie, just to give him an excuse to stick around her. Obviously him running around like a mouse in a maze wasn't going to get him anywhere. He certainly didn't want to actually run into a girl's bathroom, deserted or not. He didn't want to run off of a ledge either, although he didn't know if she was being truthful about that or not. "Very well," he said to her, pushing himself off the wall to stand up straight. "If you're headed for the Astronomy tower, I'll go with you. I could use a head start as well." He walked a few paces away from her, and away from the girl's bathroom. He gestured ahead of him. "Care to lead the way, since you're the expert?"

His left hand reached into his pocket, grasping the end of his wand. He needed to be careful, knowing she was a frequent rule breaker. He didn't put it past her to hex him or curse him, since she'd already cast a patronus. He had to be ready for anything she was ready to pull.

Introducing! The remarkable Lyle Brightham (Ferre House)

Lyle was smack in the center of a cluster of fourth and fifth year Ferre students at their table. He didn’t have anywhere at all to run off to, he was enjoying catching up with his friends. So much had happened over the summer! His eyes were wide as he listened to one of the boys talk about a trip his family took to London, and when he was done, Lyle immediately began to prattle on about some of his favorite places in the city, oooh, had he visited there? How was Diagon Alley, amazing, right? He laughed and joked, at one point some French fries wound up in his nose, and a moment later, milk wound up coming out of it. The group of boys was loud, the source of several explosions of laughter and a great deal of table-slapping.

The discourse was interrupted briefly when stuff began clattering over on the Vulpes table. Lyle leaned a bit and strained his neck trying to make out who was doing what, and began laughing riotously when he spotted Justin doing… well, he wasn’t sure what, but it was hilarious, and then Teiver silenced the dancing plates and knives and stuff and he quickly lost interest.

”Guys, guys, guys,” he interjected, using his hey this is serious voice and eyebrow placement (riding a bit high on his forehead). He waited a few deliberate beats, and then: ”I’m totally trying out for the team this year. I’ve been practicing all summer, and I think I’ve finally got the hang of the sport. Do you think I have a shot?” The conversation quickly dissolved into a dozen different Quodpot related topics, but most of them were quite encouraging. He’d glanced around, hoping to catch Finn’s eyes, but he wound up furrowing up his brow instead. Where had Finn gone?

He hung a spoon off his nose, nodding solemnly while another fifth year lamented their upcoming O.W.L.s. Lyle’s cheeks flushed a bit. ”Oh, man, I just don’t even want to think about it. I’m sure to get a Troll in Potions, I just know it, and probably Transfiguration too. I might scrape an A in Charms, maybe, if I can get someone to tutor me…” Then the spoon fell off, somehow landing perfectly in a bowl of custard, and everyone was laughing once more. Lyle’s sheepish grin threatened to consume his ears, and then his eyebrows shot up once more.

”Oh! I’m taking donations for that spell disaster relief fund. I guess a major mishap happened over in Russia. Really guys, anything you can spare would help a lot.” He dragged his backpack into his lap and pulled out a large envelope, which he began passing around. That sort of thing wasn’t too uncommon for the plucky Ferre, and he quickly remembered another issue as well. He produced some parchment, a quill, and a little pot of ink. ”And this is a petition to lessen the restrictions on underage magic, so, you guys should all really sign. Some of my pen-pals at other schools are doing it too, and we’re going to send them to all the Ministries at once. Cool, huh?”

He lowered his backpack to the ground once more, grinning enthusiastically as people gave and signed. His grin diminished, though, when he spotted Vance Abernathy coming over. He heaved a sigh of relief when Felix got up; if anyone could handle the Abernathty’s, it was Felix. What the blazes did the two of them have to talk about though? He strained to eavesdrop, but couldn’t make out a word, and he’d never been any good at reading lips so he gave up after a moment.

His puzzlement was lost when someone elbowed him and handed him the envelope. He gave it a shake, lighting up when he heard a fair amount of jingling. ”Thanks, everyone. You’re all awesome!” Tucking it away- he’d make the rounds once he’d finished eating-, he helped himself to a heaping pile of cookies and sweets. Someone pointed at his face, and he realized he had an ersatz moustache made of milk, which he made a big show of licking off.

He tilted his head, listening with intense curiosity as word of Nevaeh’s absence finally made it over. Now that could be a story. Nobody particularly wanted to talk about her though (Lyle did reluctantly nod when the consensus seemed to be that she was hot), so the conversation soon took yet another turn.

It was good to be back.

Garrett Flint

The other chief troublemaker of Vulpes house had been noticeably absent from the opening feast. No doubt many of the students had expected Garrett Flint to make a surprise appearance, something loud, most likely with explosions of some kind. It hadn't happened. But Flint wasn't concerned with the feast, and all the jabbering of friends being reunited. He didn't think himself so important that the night wouldn't go on without him. His absence would be noted, but not dwelled on for long. This particular sixth year was known to make swift recoveries. He had mentioned his intentions to pass on the feast to Justin, but he sensed his partner in crime had something else on his mind. Emerson, no doubt.

This time was perhaps different. Flint found himself alone, an insanely rare occurrence, in the Vulpes common room, his feet kicked up upon a nearby table, his ass slouched down in a delightfully comfortable chair. And he was reading a book, of all things. Anyone who knew him would recognize that something was up. Flint didn't just read all the time. Or at all. It was a Muggle book, too, an older one, written in the 60s. He actually found it quite funny, and couldn't remember the last time he'd enjoyed a book like this.

His father knew him better than he thought.

No, he pushed his dad from his thoughts, and focused on the book. For once, Flint found that the silence in the common room pleasant, rather than irritating. He meant to enjoy it while it lasted. Eventually all of his house would filter through here, and then it would be back to the old Flint. Though he planned to finish this book before...well, he planned to finish it. Perhaps he make an effort to read it every night.

Flint was glad he had made this decision. It was a healthy change of pace. He'd be as loud and boisterous as ever tomorrow, but for tonight, he was content to be alone, and to...well, to find himself a little. He didn't really want to see anyone. Not Justin, who was clearly dealing with problems of his own. Not Bliss...he covered it up well, and they were probably better friends now than when they had dated, but he would have been lying if he'd said it didn't hurt to think about last year. He thought for a moment that he wouldn't mind seeing Summer, but...well, that was a stupid and confusing thought, and it made him angry more than anything.

No, he just needed the book right now. A simple laugh to take his mind off the very few things that could get Garrett Flint down.

It was going to be a great year, he kept telling himself. Time to make it happen, right?

Teiver rolled her eyes, crossing her arms yet again as he leaned against the wall. "Sure they will, sure they will." She smirked faintly once more, watching him with precision as he leaned back up and stepped forward. So he bought that. But luckily I have more of a grip of the areas around this particular portion of the school. And since he ran ahead so much, it gives me the excuse to backtrack. The girl looked back down at Garrison, and the cat meowed up at her. 'Are we seriously letting him follow us around? The more he's seen around the hidden ways, the more he'll know and the more curious he'll get. I say you just use the teleporting spell on him and be done with it.'

She frowned lightly, taking in the suggestion. "Nah, we'll just drag him along. See if we can't trick him into falling to the first floor." She made an obviously fake laugh, sarcasm drenching her voice. Now once Finn decided to let her lead on, she turned her wand around and poked him in the side with the bottom of it. "Why thank you my kind sir." Once more, she rolled her eyes, slipping past him with her cat right at her heels, heading back through the hallway and turn, and instead stopped at the wall once more.

Quietly, Teiver pulled the flap of her satchel forward, hearing the satisfying click of it coming undone. She glanced down at Garrison, "Up you go then, little Gar." The cat almost seemed to roll its eyes, leaping up onto her shoulder and slipping carefully down her arm, fitting into the bag and keeping his head poking out as well as his two front paws. "I hope you know how to climb." That sweet smirk flickered across her lips once more, and she reached up, feeling along the stones for a niche. Once found, she heaved herself up, finding her foothold before progressing upwards.

At one point along the climb, she lost her hold on one of the indents, and ended up sliding down a bit before finding a previous support. Small pebbles from the walls tumbled down behind her, and she sighed lightly. She shifted to the right, and finished up climbing, stopping on the wall and shifting her hand down, one of the stones shifting and a small rumbling was heard. A stone door presented itself, and she worked at getting up to it.

Admittedly, it did take some effort to get the door open, but once she did, she carefully slipped in, her feet finally hitting solid ground. She peered back down, checking to see how Finn was handling it before working at the walls once more. She traced one of the stones with her wand before using flagrate silently to mimic the exact shape she just traced. The flames quickly disappeared within the wall, and the stones reorganized themselves once again. Garrison had remained in the satchel, and for good reason.

The opening in the wall was set high up in the astronomy tower staircase, so it would be a little fall before they could actually head upwards to the actual room.






Naire sat quietly at his table, most of his food untouched as his camera strap was around his neck, and the actual contraption in his hands. He was resetting it, turning a few gears here, dusting it off there, refocusing the lens, and rubbing the outer shell till it shone. He smiled brightly, shutting the back of it, and letting it drop back down.

He suddenly realized that there were only a few students left at his table. Most everyone else had gone up to other tables or disappeared completely. Chopstick hooted quietly, standing on one leg beside his plate, the other curled up under his feathers. He tilted his head to the side before blinking and hooting once more, watching his companion fix the camera.

Naire smiled, reaching out and stroking the side of the bird's head with the back of his index finger before turning back to his food. It was slightly cold, but he didn't mind much. After finishing off a bit of his meal, Naire abandoned it and got up, Chopstick carefully fluttering up to his shoulder. He dug his talons softly into the boys robes, but Naire really didn't mind much at all.

So he left the Great Hall out into the lesser halls, and got out the deck of cards that was always in his pocket. He began to play around with it, the noises from his shuffling resounding with the corridor, and he carefully attempted to launch one out of the deck, doing so successfully, however almost catching it, but instead having it land in his shoe. A small laugh couldn't help but escape his lips, and he peered at his little owl friend with a shy but large smile.

Careful not to upset the bird carefully balancing on his shoulder, he leaned down and plucked the card from the side of his shoe, returning it safely to the deck. He put the cards away then, bringing his camera up to his face and looking at the screen as he walked. However, he soon just looked through the scope, watching in awe once again at the greatness that was Magus Grex. He was turning his head this way and that to get a good view before heading outside and sitting down in some soft grass against a willow tree near the river. He once more brought the camera up to his face, Chopstick flittering off of his figure and towards the water.

The owl stood in the shallows on the pebbles, dipping his head in the water and then sweeping it up, causing the water to splash over himself, taking a small bath. He shook his feathers out, dipping once more. Chopstick then began to preen himself with the water. That famous smile of his was once more apparent, and he shifted the shutter dial before pressing down on the shutter release, taking the picture.

Demetrio’s Perspective

“Dieguito, pasale al Señor Wicks, por favor,” Demetrio whispered to Dieguito, the ever-faithful coyote, who, upon the end of his friend’s request, darted off into the distance of the castle. The coyote’s now-bristled tail solid and narrow so as to hone in on Dieguito’s aerodynamics.

Rearing his own head back, shaking his shivers off, he pointed to his boots and smiled at the troll. Such a nasty beast, with jagged teeth and ugly snarl, a furry mane, and sand-caked legs… Trolls were Demetrio’s least favorite monster. The greenish flesh of trolls alone was enough to incite emetic convulsions and all else. Spoiled and rotten, trolls’ flesh was perhaps even worse to smell than even to see, having a distinctly ‘yodel’ of the most disgusting notes ever in the sympathy of gross scents. Indeed, the salt of troll sweat, though worth more than 30 galleons, was poisonous to both head and heart. Fortunately for Demetrio, however, this particular troll was covered in sand and lacked the distinct scent of most trolls.

“Boots?” Demetrio asked him(or her, Demetrio wasn’t sure?), to which the troll nodded. Surprisingly semi-intelligent, as some trolls were. And so Demetrio slowly moved to grab his robe and boots, and nervously put them on his person. The robe, made of fine spider silk, was specially woven by his ‘aquelarre’ back home, his ‘coven’ of curanderas, brujas and encantadoras, blessed by both Yoya and the family priest, and emblazoned with his most cherished award – his prefect badge. The prefect badge had been personally awarded to him by Professor Kass upon the request of Professor Dahlin and the approval of Headmaster Rockwell, and was uniform to all other prefect badges (being the House badge boldly crowned with a large “P”).

Prefect badge!

“Oh shi…” Demetrio exclaimed, running his hand through his soft hair (a product of constant herbal baths), realizing he had to be back at the Great Hall soon to take the first years to the commons. This troll had to come at the worst of times, evidently ‘to troll’. Demetrio’s exclamation seemed to have peaked the troll’s interest, who lightly leaned against his driftwood club.

“Can we leave this for another time, Señor Troll?” he asked. Demetrio didn’t want to waste time, he had less than an hour to fulfill his duties, and he didn’t want to risk failing his responsibilities. He would certainly lose his prefecture.

The troll shook his head. Of course the troll wouldn’t simply allow Demetrio to just pass. Demetrio was a fine piece of Mexican meat, a delicious looking burrito, and no troll would pass up Mexican for dinner.

“Please?”

The troll shook his head, laughing lowly.

“Fine,” Demetrio replied, grabbing his wand and ceremonially gliding it from forehead to his right side – being that he was right handed – and waited for the troll’s first move. Señor Troll lifted his drift-wood club, which he had rested in the sand while waiting for Demetrio’s boot-wearing and badge whining.

“You are a very intelligent troll, friend,” Demetrio smiled, twirled in place, shifting his body to the right and sliding his wand in a complete circle. As his point of inertia, though slowed by the traction of the sand, met the cross of the troll, Demetrio firmly shouted, “Ventus!” surprising the nasty looking troll and shockwaving him back a few foot. The troll had been spun around and landed on his engorged, warty belly. “Ew…” Demetrio whispered to himself as he sat the surprisingly grosser side of the troll.

“Have you no decency, troll!” Demetrio shouted, shortly thereafter realizing his opportunity and darting off to the castle. Discomforted by the sand in his boots and the general displeasure of a troll’s presence, Demetrio struggled to march out of the sand into safety. He seemed close to making it to the grass field before feeling a sudden tug on his right waist.

Plunk!

“Oh shi…!” the troll grabbed Demetrio’s foot and pulled him down on the sand. Grabbing his driftwood club, he raised it up with anger and frustration, and smashed it on down Demetrio’s leg. “AHHHH fuh!” (OOC: I don’t even… I just. Ahh!) All he could hear was a sudden crack and the loudest snap ever! Losing feeling to both his leg and his head, Demetrio lost all effort against an imperious headache. Slowly, he blacked out.

---

Dieguito’s Perspective

Meanwhile, Dieguito rushed as fast as he could across the grassy boughs and bluffs that kept his friend away from the academy, taking no more than 15 minutes to reach the front gate, passing by the Naire kid with his owl. Three years ago, Dieguito would have stopped to snatch up the bird, but Demetrio had been trying to get Dieguito vegetarian(as well himself). The caretaker had to be found, where was Mr. Wicks?

Dieguito found Mr. Wicks in a corridor yelling at some kids to get moving. Yapping and yipping, Mr. Wicks’s slow mind was at first flustered… until he asked, “Where’s your owner?”

“Yap!”

“Oh…” and with that Mr. Wicks rushed with Dieguito to the front gate, stopping to find a horse.

Lee’s Perspective

“’ey! Somebody wanna t’y dese beignets!” Lee shouted to his fellows at the Arietem table. Munching down on his single most favorite desert of all time and slowly sipping at his du Monde-imitation coffee, Lee was quite content. He wasn’t sure why, but he always felt that Magus Grex beignets were superior to Café Du Monde’s, blasphemy which would usually erupt in a terrible fight back home.

Gregory Abbots shouted back from the other side of the table, near the seventh-years, “Hey, speak normal, you idiot!” Oh shit! He did not just tell that to no Beauregard!

“Who seyd dat?” Lee yelled, “Where’s y’at!?”

“It was Greg,” whispered a fourth-year.

Striding over to Greg, he made sure to finish swallowing his final beignet, wrapped around the table, and then proceeded to stand behind his ‘house-fellow (who happened to have been sitting three seats away from the edge). Reaching out to touch the boy’s collar, he ran his soft fingers gently down his spine. “Now, eide’ ya wanna bang dis, or ya gonna le’rn up some good dat nobody insulds a Beau’gawd.”

“The hell are you even saying?” Greg was quite flustered and red, embarrassed by Lee’s incessant flirtations (this time not being the first) and simultaneous threats. Gregory Abbot usually was never too threaten of course, having been from some big shot family in Minnesota, and never seemed to care if some ‘fag’ of a long-dead family threaten him with sex. Greg, of course, was straight, and had no intention to sleep with a fifth year, man or no; though he would never admit to having fooled around last year a bit…

“Hod dyam, I can’t help id if’n I spend some time dis Summuh back in Nola and den I speak like I do.”

“Dude, get the dick out your mouth!” Greg knew from first-hand experiences about dicks in Lee’s mouth. (OOC: O Lord/zebras please forgive me but the nasty talk seems to fit the situation too well!)

“Hmm… you’re cute,” he winked at Greg, “as always.” Answering with a forceful push on Lee’s hips (much to Lee’s surprising pleasure) away from his face, Greg’s face went crimson red when Lee continued to slap his own ass in a taunting matter.

“Mmmm… that’s the spot, eh?” Lee winked at Greg.

“Whoa man, I’m gonna report you to the Headmast-“

Just then, Professor Chambers’s cold voice was heard from behind Lee, “Master Beauregard, please see me in my office…” and just as quickly, Chambers left.

“Dur Gawd!”

---

“So, Master Beauregard,” Chambers spoke up, still mixing his tea as he rigidly sat in his red-velvet and oak seat, “I overheard your pathetic little excha-“

Lee piped up, “Bud he sta’ded id!” Chambers’s hands stopped, surprised and flustered. His face was middle-aged, halfway between old and young, and obviously very stressed, very frustrated… all the time.

“Beauregard or no, I don’t think your father would have approved of interrupting your betters,” growled Chambers. Clearing his throat and then taking a small sip of tea, he continued, “Now I heard your pathetic little…” lifting his eyebrow, “…exchange.” He sipped at his tea once more. “I don’t appreciate infighting in my house,” once again sipping at his tea, each time, naturally keeping his eyes on Lee, “but what’s more is that you are going around and basically begging your fellow students… for sex.” The word ‘sex’ fell out of his mouth as if it was a nasty, grimey piece of clay when he intended to bit into a rich ham.

“Do you like making Arietem,” sipping at his tea, “nothing more than a cheap whore ‘house’; a gay whore house at that?” Chambers’s eyes never twitched, and Lee forgot the last time he saw Chambers’s blinked today. Lee shook his head ‘no’. Lee was ALMOST tempted to shout for joy, “YES!”, but it probably would not have gone over with Chambers too well.

“Eh?” Chambers raised his eyebrow, “as a Beauregard, I know you have better manors than that.” Chamebrs occasionally alluded to having known Lee’s pappy, Monseigneur Thomas Beauregard, though most witches and wizards were well-versed the Beauregard family name. The Beauregards had long been an esteemed foundation of American witchcraft, General Beauregard being the very first Secretary of the U.S. Department of Magic shortly before and again-after the Civil War.

“No professuh, suh, I would nod like to make Ariedem a gay whore house… suh.”

“Much better,” Chambers grinned, “ya know, you’d shine a lot more if you would act more like the family you came from.” Lee grit his teeth; Lee breathed deeply…

“What am I going to do with you?”

“I do nod know, suh.”

“You’re a prefect… and you’re in Alchemy, quite advanced for your age,” Professor Chambers just revealed his hand, “quite honestly, you shouldn’t even be in Alchemy. Royal Flush, Beauregard just lost a pretty pot. “How did you get into it?” he contined, “Did you sleep your way into that class? Was it a final brandishing of the faded glory your family once possessed?”

“My fam’ly’s glery nevuh gonna fade!” Lee shouted, though not startling Chambers.

“So which shall it be? Taking Alchemy or being a prefect?”

“I do nod know…”

“I do,” sipping at his tea, “you actually seem to be good at alchemy,” he smiled, though it was still a serious and cold smile.

“Yessuh?”

“…so I think I’m going to keep you as prefect,” Chambers said, then took his final sip of tea.

Lee grit his teeth.

“Dismissed.”

“Yessuh.”

The opening speech was the same as always, but Myra listened intently, giving as much of her full attention as possible. She'd sat by the head of the table, as usual, so as to be near the teachers, should one of them need to talk to her. She tutored on occasion, so they needed her often. Once Headmaster Rockwell had finished his memorized speech, she turned and piled her plate high. Mentally thanking her mother for a fast metabolism, she pulled a book out of her bag and opened it, beginning to read where she'd left off as she maneuvered forkfulls of food to her mouth. She had become dimly aware of Beauty and the Beast being sung along her table when suddenly her fork flew out of her hand to dance along with the rest. Turning, she watched as Justin 'conducted' his impromptu musical. While she loved the movie, Belle had always reminded her of herself, she loved food more. Frowning, she was struck with an intense desire to talk Justin into harnessing his talents, and not for the first time. Not very many students could pull off such a sport (however un-elaborate the charms-work was in Myra's eyes). Taking out her wand, she waited for her fork to pass her again, and when it was in the perfect range muttered "Finite Incantatem," the fork falling promptly into her open and waiting hand. She began eating and reading again, letting the professors take care of Justin's rouse.

She listened in momentarily to some of Vulpes' house Quodpotists talking about the up-coming try-outs and winning the house cup. A short burst of excitement hit her in the stomach, practically causing her to choke on the water she'd just gulped down. She thought of her broom and the practice quod up in her room. She bit her bottom lip, considering whether she'd be brave enough to try out this year, then let the thought go as a blush ran up her cheeks at the thought of being scrutinized. What if she wasn't as good as she thought she was?

Losing herself in the book again, the chatter of all the separate tables became white noise. She lost focus of time and only ever glanced up to add more food to her plate. Vaguely she was aware of Professor Hutson briefly chatting with her. Something about someone needing a tutor for Potions, which Myra agreed to help with, of course. Politely disengaging herself from the conversation, she returned to her book. She glanced up every now and then, when movement caught her eye.

She'd noticed as Summer and Bellona had found each other and had a brief twinge of guilt hit her. She should put the book away and go talk to them too, but then they wandered to talk to Savant, Emerson, and Micah momentarily. There went Summer's very light blush, and Savant's posture changed ever so slightly just now. Myra couldn't help but smile softly at the interaction, and Bellona's minute boredom. She watched as they dismissed themselves and wandered from the great hall. They'd most likely seen her with a book and known she'd catch up with them later, besides, talking to cute, funny guys was not Myra's strong suit. She made a mental note to ask Kaplan to find the girls for her later.

She'd also noticed Bliss' laughter, trickling down the table like a warm Autumn shower. How was she just so perfect? It seemed that at least everyone had stopped by Vulpes' table just to say hi to her, or smile at her. Myra considered that for a moment and shot a short glare at her book. She knew that it was sort of her own fault that she didn't have too many people beating down the door to get to know her, and that it was probably that she always had her nose in a book, but what could she do? You cherished what you cherished, and some people were better at some things than others. I bet if I was on the Quodpot team people'd want to talk to me... The blush returned, so Myra picked up her book again.

After reading a couple more paragraphs, Myra was startled when her consciousness pricked as Vance passed by. He'd been talking to Arietem's house head, and was now making his way towards Professor Hughes. Their conversation seemed less than amicable to say the least, but they both were professional as far as Myra could tell. As Vance turned to leave she caught that look in his eye again. Her heart gave a small throb of sadness for the boy, her lips turning down in a small pout as she watched him. Where did that pain come from? It wasn't there last year, that's for sure... Damn! She ducked her head quickly as he passed by her, hoping against hope he hadn't seen her looking at him.

She decided it was a good idea to return to her book and only emerged for more chicken a page or two later. She conspicuously watched as girl after girl stopped by the Ferre table to talk to Finn. He smiled at them, that warm, tender, polite smile and talked to each of them. He was always so genuinely pleasant, so friendly. Myra smiled in spite of herself, enjoying her candid viewing of Finn's Flock (as she liked to call all the girls who fawned over him.) When his head started to turn in her direction though, she immediately dropped her eyes to her book and "read" as intently as she could. She'd never be able to go talk to him like the other girls, so what did it matter? She watched out of the corner of her eye as he excused himself from the table and left the hall. Was it just her, or did a little warmth leave the room with him?

*~*~*~*

Some time later Myra sighed, placed a bookmark in The Dream Oracle and pushed her plate away from her. She'd overeaten again, and chided herself as the inevitable "food baby" made itself known. Thank god for robes, she thought with chagrin. Tilting her head to the left she looked down her table. "Oh!" The exclamation left her mouth before she had a chance to register she was making noise. There were very few people left. She looked around, surprised to see how empty the main hall was. How long had she been reading? Better yet, how much had she eaten? Oh dear... She noticed Naire, then, wandering out of the hall with his owl and his camera. Her first genuinely large smile spread itself across her face. Near! Oh, how she'd missed him! They'd spent a week over vacation together, and sent owls back and forth, but that was not nearly enough contact. She wiped her hands on her linen, daintily wiped the corners of her lips, took one last sip of water, and stood. Tucking her book into her side bag, she scanned the great hall again, and waved to Professor Kass, reminding herself she'd have to stop by her office later or the next day to chat.

Hurrying out, Kaplan slinked up beside her, rubbing on her ankles and purring. Scratching behind his ear, she picked him up and followed Near to the Willow tree. Myra smiled to herself at the adorable little owl playing in the water. Setting Kaplan down, she grabbed a couple of owl treats from her bag, then pointed her wand at Near's camera. "Geminio!" she whispered, an exact (if useless) copy of his camera creating itself at the tip of her wand. Grabbing it, she tossed a couple treats to Chopstick, and plopped next to Naire, making clicking noises as she snapped fake pictures of him. "Hey shutterbug! How are you?" She smiled warmly at him as Kaplan immediately curled into Naire's lap, his tail lazily wrapping around his waist.

Things really had slowed down at the Cervus table, Emerson finally had a chance to eat his fill and a little extra still. His eyes roamed the room as he let out a yawn- eating always made him sleepy. With very few people left he decided it was best to head up to the dorm and chill there for a bit before going to sleep, but he what he saw right across the table kept hims around for at least a little while longer. Micah and Rosie, talking idly about books, or were they books? In his mind he smirked and waggled his eyebrows then realized he was doing it on his face's face too...his real face?..his face. Wherever it was going on, he stopped it but continued to eave's drop on their chat. The possibility that they could be more than literature connoisseurs excited Emerson, maybe this quiet girl would open up and start talking to people once she realized what good could come from it and maybe instead of just lookin' at him she could talk to Emerson about Micah and the well of intel he had on his friend.

She was so nervous; her hands were obviously being wrung beneath the table, she kept looking down then back up, her cheeks were so lightly flushed! She might as well have been twirling her bright red hair around her finger and batting her eyes. He made a mental note that he was much more open to blossoming love with a full stomach and another that he was clearly rather adept when it came to spotting young love. It may have been best to let their hearts and their bodies lead them along the path to amorous bliss but he couldn't help himself from nudging them along as he slid down from the metaphorical rooftop and into their talk.

"Are you guys talking about books?" his keeping it cool skills were terrible and every word he spoke sounded like eerily similar Disney Channel banter. He turned to Rosie and leaned back, nearly rubbing shoulders with Nate Grimm, "The Jeffers' bookstore is full of all the best sorts of books, tons of 'em! Also, it's a great place for hide and seek, but more importantly, books. Fairly priced books, too... it's probably the best bookstore I've ever been to and smells nice too. You really should go see it sometime and you should see all the books Micah brought with him, I've read a few, they're great. Really great." His choppy and poorly delivered book speech was probably a massive success . He didn't stick around to see, but yawned, stretched and stood up to go. He slapped Sav on the back, and waved goodbye to Rosie and Micah then paraded out of the hall.

....

Back in Cervus common room he gave quick greetings to his friends and housemates before running into his dorm. His roommates were out, per usual and he crossed the room to a shallow bowl of water in which a certain special toad rested. "Hello, Lester" he called to the toad that was twice the size of any other toad of his species on account of a poorly aimed engorgement charm whose effect Emerson preferred to the two inch toad he so easily lost track of. "I trust you're as excited for this year as I am as I see you've taken quite well to the new room. Would you like to hear a joke?" The toad did not accept or deny so Emerson pulled a popsicle stick from his pocket, he held the red-stained, tooth indented stick close to his face and asked, "Why don't seagulls fly by the bay?" He paused, allowing the toad time at least to react. Direct eye contact and a low gurgle would have to do as Emerson proceeded, "Because it would be a bagel!!" He chuckled and didn't let the toads blank stare dampen the pun. "Yeah whatever, Lester" he dropped some mealworms next to the bowl and watched as Lester finally roused to pursue the unmoving grubs.

Priscilla Barsotti

She was surrounded by girls younger than herself, mostly second, third, and fourth years. They were all staring dreamily at her as she was describing her family's visit to Paris this summer. "Oh ladies, it was magnifique!" she exclaimed, sighing happily. Paris actually had been magnificent... for the first few days. Then the charm had been lost on her. It definitely wasn't one of the best places she'd ever visited. But she certainly wasn't going to say that to all these girls who were hanging on her every word.

"The Eiffel Tower was breathtaking! I mean, you've never seen anything like it, I swear," she said, a smile on her face. In truth, that had been her favorite part of the entire trip, easily. "And when I was there, I met the most handsome guy. Jean Baptiste." The girls sighed, or a small smile spread across their faces. She had them absolutely hooked. They were so easy to control. "C'était de l'amour! We spent the rest of my trip together, and he was absolutely devastated when I had to leave." Now the girls all had sad expressions on their faces.

"Did he give you is number?!"

"Are you going to keep in contact with him?"

"Will he come visit you?"

All the girls asked at once. She smiled, making it look as if she were sad. "I've tried to contact him, but he won't respond to me." They all awwww'd, and she shrugged her shoulders. In reality, Jean Baptiste hadn't been attractive at all. He'd actually followed her around whenever he saw her, and tried to ask her on a date like five billion times. He'd really creeped her out. But that wasn't exactly romantic, so she had made up her own version. And she was getting exactly the response she had expected.

"Let's not talk about it anymore, okay girls? I don't like to think about him... So, tell me about all of your summers!" They all start talking, one by one, and she kind of zoned out, although she nodded and gave all the 'yeah' and 'mmhmm' responses that she should in the appropriate spots. All of their stories bored her, but she waited until they were all finished before taking her leave. As she walked away, she heard them all taking about how they had to visit Paris. She smirked as she continued to walk down the long table.

Priscilla found Îrem sitting a little ways down the Arietem table. All she had to do was look at the first year that was sitting next to her, and the little kid got up and moved immediately. She took the vacant seat and smiled at her friend, giving her a small and quick hug. "Hey girl," she said, releasing her hold on the sixth year. And amazingly, Zackariah was sitting across from them. Life truly was good. "Zack," was all she said, acknowledging his presence and no more. A girl had to play hard to get, after all.

---

Rosina Garenne

While waiting for Micah's response, she had decided to actually eat a little more, since her stomach had settled a great deal. She had realized that she was actually really hungry. She reached for her cup and took a sip of her absolute favorite beverage... Sierra Mist. The cool bubbliness went down her throat, and she almost wanted to sigh out of happiness. Things were going to turn out just fine. She turned her eyes to Micah's once more, when another voice entered their conversation.

Oh. My. God. It was Emerson.

Her stomach preceded to have twice the amount of knots it had had before, and she thought she was going to throw up the food she just ate. Her heart began beating so fast and loud she thought that Emerson might actually be able to see it pulsing outside of her shirt. She put a hand up over her chest, as if she was preventing him of seeing just how flustered she actually was. She somehow managed to give him one quick nod as he asked if they were talking about books.

He then went on some really long speech about how awesome Micah's books were. Her brain didn't seem to register just how weird it actually was. She could only see his perfect mouth forming words. Her face just had to be the same color as a tomato, even brighter than her hair. Before she knew it, he was standing and stretching, then waved a quick goodbye to her. No, don't go... she thought, wanting to reach out for him. Yet at the same time, she was jumping up and down enthusiastically inside her head, screaming like some sort of twelve year old fangirl of Justin Bieber. He talked to me... he actually TALKED to me!

She turned back to Micah, a smile on her face, and waited for him to speak to her.

---

Finn Pollack

He watched Teiver stare at her cat intently, longer than most people look at their animals. It was actually kind of creepy. He looked around the empty stone walls, looking for something interesting to stare at instead of her and the cat. Then she spoke, seemingly to the cat, and he didn't say a word. She was acting as if he could't hear what she was saying about him, even though he was standing directly in front of her. He narrowed her eyes at her as she poked him, but she took the lead, and he followed.

His hand still gripped his wand in his pocket, prepared for any kind of spell she might cast on him. She wouldn't take him unaware, though. He'd be ready for anything. He walked behind the cat, who was right on her heels. She led him right back to the wall they had entered earlier. At least he thought it was. He was already sort of turned around in this maze of a tunnel. The cat jumped in her bag, and he didn't even register shock. It had already been quite a weird night.

Finn chuckled at her statement of him needing how to climb. What a laugh. He was one of the most athletic people in all of Magus Grex. He could probably climb better than she could. He watched her ascend for a few moments before approaching the wall and beginning to follow her up. Unfortunately, he couldn't hold on to his wand while he climbed, so he had to hope she wasn't going to curse him when she reached the landing above them. It wouldn't have been a pleasant trip back to the bottom. When she almost fell, he tucked his head against his body, letting the small pebbles hit him and then keep falling father below. "Hey! Watch what you're doing!" he complained.

He followed her exact path up, and thankfully didn't falter once. She made a hidden door appear farther up the wall, and he crawled in to it after her. He was only slightly out of breath, but he kneeled over as if he couldn't catch his breath. Probably out of instinct. "What the heck are you leading me to?" he exclaimed, looking up to meet her eyes. Now the wild ideas were coming back. If a secret entrance wasn't enough to hide whatever she had going on in this tower, he was almost afraid to find out what it was.

"Now throw all of your questions at me. I'm ready!" Summer ended her prose with that and Bellona was left silent. Not because of what her best friend has revealed but the fact that the letter in her pocket disturbed her. She couldn't decide whether she'd tell her or not.

She looked away as the cold dry night wind blew, sending her hair in a twirl as it danced with the whisper of nature. "Summer?" She began. "I can tell you anything right?" But it was more of a demand than a question. "Swear to me you won't tell anyone." She then stared into her best friend's warming eyes. Her cold stare met Summer's as she kept of fidgeting with the end of her robes sleeve.

She planned to wait for Summer to answer but soon her braveness escaped her. And then she decided not to show it to Summer. She couldn't bear risking her best friends life, even if the secret wanted to burst out of here. It isn't any of Summer's concern. "I- I met a cute boy in Rome but I still think that- that- well over the summer my feelings kind of decided that- well, I really think Micah's cute," She barely came up with words she'd use instead of revealing her secret. Well she does think Micah's cute- but that's not the whole point why she dragged Summer out here in the cold.

"Promise you won't tell anyone," She pretended to be shy and blushing. She wanted so bad to tell Summer the truth but she can't. Just then a few owls flew by to the tall oak tree and hooted. "Oh gosh, what time do you think it is already? We should get going now. I'm not really in the mood to vex the Prefects if they caught us staying up late." She gave off a smile and stood up. She fixed her robes just like the usual and looked at the full moon. "And I haven't feed Fidus just yet, the poor thing must be famished I can't have her feeding off the other students," She joked dreadly. She pulled Summer up again and lead her back to the Great Hall.

After a few minutes, they stood below the grand staircase of Magus Grex. She gave her best friend a tight hug and bid her good night, "Well I'll see you ever at breakfast okay? Goodnight porky." She teased and walked towards the stairs that lead to the common room of the Arietem where a few giggling girls and two boys talked as the fire crackled.

Bellona let the heavy wooden door close behind her as she stood gracefully before them. She stared until the girls decided that they knew what her intentions were, they stood up- hushing, and then went to their respective rooms upstairs but the two boys remained. Higher years but they were too plain to scare Bellona away.

"Well what are ye looking at girl?" The smaller yet stockier boy asked. Probably a proud first year. Bellona spoke no words and continued to stare. The two laughed as the other one spoke. She knew him by face, a familiar sight she usually see around the common room. "Oh that's Ice Queen. All stares. Thought she might scare us," and that sent them in racous laughing once again.

"Ice Queen eh? Whadya say I'd melt you with my kiss?" The new boy asked.

But Bellona continued to stare, her wand gripped under her robe. "Just a lil kees my love," The two of them stood from their seat and slowly approached Bellona.
And with a quick and unnoticeable swish, Bellona pulled out her wand and commanded, "Silencio!" The two boys found themselves quiet as they rummaged their uniforms for their own wands.

But pity on them, Bellona was quick as her fox as she released another spell, "Stupefy!" And both of them stunned to even moved. "I will release- both of you. But I don't want to see your faces." She slithered towards their stunned body and whispered with a clear voice. "Not in the hallway, not in this common room and if you ever so much see my shadow I want the both of you to turn back and run or your parents will cry on your tombstones," She threatened. She turned back to look both boys stare back at her with fears in their eyes. "Oh don't tempt me, I do know how to use my wand, my bow and arrow and- *wooot*" She whistled as Fidus, her fox came trotting down the stair case and went beside her. "my hungry fox doesn't really have the patience for people like you." Fidus, as if knowing how to play her part barred her fangs at the two boys and snarled.

"Am I clear?" She stood before them and asked, the two boys did their best to move their heads and nod but alas they could not. They mumbled but their tongues hang loose. Bellona removed the charm and instructed the two boys to move their hands up. They did and eagerly nodded as their reply.

"Good! Now scram!" She barked as Fidus went running after the two poor boys.

Now that the common room was empty, Bellona was more calm and secured to pull the letter out of her pocket. She doesn't know what time it would take for Vance to get there but she was determined to wait. She watched the fire as Fidus came trotting back, rubbed her body against Bellona's legs and sat next to her to warm herself by the fire.

Just as Felix had suspected. The mere mention of his sister caused that perfect smile to crack, revealing the ugly creature beneath. They had always had a deep rivalry between each other, the Abernathy children that is. It always seemed that Nevaeh had the upper hand in everything. Felix also suspected she was smarter than her brother, seeing as she saw Felix as a threat and Vance saw him as trash. He remembered the first time he and Nevaeh had ever truly spoken. He had beaten her in a duel and she had threatened him in private with her wand too his balls. It was also the first time he had used his physical training on a girl. He had grabbed her wrist and had broken her grip on her wand and had wrapped her arms around herself and locked her against his body, her back to his front. He then said some very threatening words of his own and then he had released her and 'disappeared', in actuality he had turned into his dog form and slipped behind a couch. He never received a threat from her again and she never told a soul. Felix would have thought that Vance would be jumping for joy at the fact that his sister was out of his way for total school dominance. Yet, he seemed rather morose........did I just use morose in a sentence? I have to stop being near Arietem kids, it;s increasing my vocabulary.

There was something going with the Abernathy's that was more than meets the eye. Not that Felix really cared. He mainly just liked to get under Vance's skin. He enjoyed seeing the high and mighty being brought down a peg. Felix personally that every living soul was equal to one another and that that would only change through someones actions, not birthright. Also, he just sort of liked doing it, beyond his code, that is. Vance was a jerk. Since all the world must suffer jerks, then Felix would make jerks suffer in return. Vance still seemed to act like they were still negotiating. He was apparently convinced that this was a ploy of his to give up information, when in reality, he just loved to push his buttons. "You have an interesting method of negotiation, Fletcher." Felix just raised his eyebrow at him. "Umm, we're not negotiating, I said no. End of discussion. Felix took another bite of his apple.

Vance then raised his arm and sort of flexed his hand in a normal fashion. It took him until now to fully realize what he had on his arm. A full leather arm glove.....that was weird. Why would he be wearing that on one arm and not the other? The only logical reason that Felix could think of was that maybe it had gotten scarred and he was covering it up. Either way, something had happened to it....and it had something to do with his sisters absence........odd. He spoke again. "Agree to assist me, and I’ll tell you why Nevaeh went to Beauxbatons. If you’re uninterested, then…" he shrugged minimally. "Well, I did try." Wow.....that was a very odd suggestion. Why the hell would Felix be interested in that information? Unless......Vance knew it would interest him. Errr, dealing with manipulative people always gives me headaches, there was just so much introverted thinking that had to happen. Every possibility analyzed, every detail......wait, every possibility. Like an opportunity to fully test out my ability on someone who would actually fight back and that I wouldn't mind hurting. I'm going to need the practice if I;m going to follow through with my plan......why not.

Felix stood up and clasped his arm around Vance's shoulders. "Alright, Abernathy. Why not. But, the information will be only partly payment, but the second part will be miniscule, trust me." Miniscule? Man, Ive got to get out of here. Felix had a smug smile still plastered to his face. "Meet me tonight in the North wing next to the statue of the giant dog." he then unwrapped himself and stood directly in front of Vance and spoke quieter. "A dog will meet you there, follow him and he will lead you to me. We can discuss the details there, it will be a much more secure location. Say, around Midnight?" he then began to walk away but stopped. He turned back to him. "Oh, and to not raise any suspicion." Felix then raised his hand flipped him the bird. He then began to walk away.

Felix looked around the hall and noticed most of his friends had left already. He looked about again, seeing if there was anyone he wanted to talk to. Felix then saw his three favorite Arietem kids all together in one place, how convenient. He began to strode his way towards them. As he walked along the Arietem table, he was pretty sure the entire table was glaring at him. He sort of just turned his head and smiled at them warmly. He also gave gestures to a few of them, like Fonzy points and peace signs, like he was best friends with all of them.

Whe he got closer to where Zach, Îrem and Priscilla were sitting, he took a running start. He then jumped up and started to slid along the table on his butt while his feet hovered above the bench. He slid for a bit and stopped just short of knocking into Zach. He then looked down at Zach with a warm smile. "Hey there, Arietem scum." He said warmly, he then tussled his perfect blonde hair. It had always disturbed Felix that the Arietem all seemed to be Arian. He would sometimes call them a regime than a house. He then about faced and plopped himself on the bench next to Zach. He then smiled to the two girls across from them. "Îrem, Priscilla. You two are both looking as lovely and noble as ever. I trust your summer's were divine." Felix had said the last part in a playful tone. "Don't tell me......Aspen? No.....Cabo? No, wait.......Paris? Somewhere expensive I would imagine. How have you all been?" No one could say Felix held animosity towards any one group of people, seeing as he had friends in every single house. He only held animosity for certain individual of groups, ones who had earned it. These three, more Zach and Îrem, had earned his affection.

Teiver rolled her eyes, listening to him breathe as she finished up with the doorway. "Why, I thought I said we were going to the astronomy tower, didn't I?" She smiled sweetly at him, dropping her wand down her robe sleeve and into a hidden pocket there. "Try your best not to break a leg." She muttered at him, one hand placed on the side of the stone and looking down cautiously.

Once there was an all clear, she crouched a bit and then hopped down the fifteen feet between the opening and the stairs. She landed a bit roughly, but hey, she was a little bit out of practice. She clutched onto the railing, and Garrison immediately hopped out of her bag and stretched with a yawn. Teiver's gaze returned to the opening, waiting a few moments for Finn to decide to join them. 'Well, I suppose that wasn't too hard. At least now he's out of our little area.' The feline mrowed towards the girl, quickly ascending the stairs.

Teiver kept her hand on the railing as she followed her cat, until finally they made their way to the astronomy tower room. She smiled brightly, heading straight towards a bookshelf and sweeping her hand along the spines until she found what she was looking for. She pulled the grey book from its rest, flipped it open, and placed it into her satchel.

She then wandered towards a table and shifted through a couple of the charts.



Naire smirked, hearing his closest friend's voice. "Sorry, Chopstick doesn't take food from strangers." He then turned to her, a teasing smile on his face. He ruffled her hair. "Hey bookworm. It's been forever since I saw you, eh?" He turned back to watch Chopstick poke at the grubs Myra had dropped into the river for him. He hooted quietly, then hopped onto the riverbank, shaking out his feathers and drying himself off.

He chirped, and then flicked over onto Myra's shoulder, clutching her robes to keep balance. He blinked his large eyes, then opened his beak cheeping quietly, rubbing the top of his head against her cheek before blinking once more and gliding down onto Naire's kneecap. In the meantime, Naire was scratching Kaplan behind the ears and along the shoulder blades. "Oh nothing, just photo shoots. Hey, did you know that I got to return to Australia over the summer? It was awesome." Another faint smile was on his lips, and he continued to stroke the feline.

He leaned comfortably back against the bark of the tree, watching the sun set and the lightning bugs come out, blinking on and off and just floating around. "It's quite a nice night for our first day back. Much unlike last year when it rained almost nonstop." He chuckled, looking up at the sky.



Lloyd had only been paying half attention to the speech, her hands in a position as if she was holding the bow of her violin, she only blinked occasionally, and she had a thoughtful look on her face as she arched her arms and made smooth motions. That is, until she saw the food in front of her. She immediately abandoned what she was doing, being shocked back into reality, and tucked into her meal eagerly.

The food here was always amazing, and she had missed it dearly over the summer. Well, as much as you can miss something while not being completely distracted by violin work. She was quick to fill herself, and then quickly excused herself, wiping her mouth with a napkin, and waving to Rose quickly before disappearing out of the Great Hall.

Lloyd stretched, feeling the comfort of her food in her stomach, and then made a small skip out of the corridor and into the setting night. She held a case in her right hand, and she quickly scampered across the lawns till she was at the back corner of the castle. She smiled, the wind kicking up and ruffling her hair slightly, causing the grass to flicker and sway in the new breeze, and cause the scents of all the wildflowers around her to spark up.

She took in a deep breath, then set down her case, unlatching it and taking out her violin carefully. She attached the chin rest to the instrument, took out her bow, and then set it. Another deep breath, and she hopped on top of the large stone before her. She set her figure in the beginning position, placed her left hand at the side of the violin, and protruded her right elbow outwards. Lloyd repositioned her head, getting a more comfortable spot on her violin.

For practice, she tested out how well the bow meshed with the strings and if it slid easily. A satisfactory note emanated from the strings, and she let out a small sigh. She glanced around her, first making sure no one was watching. Another calming breath escaped Lloyd's lips, and she closed her eyes. Dorremoon had made her way after Lloyd, and sat down in the dirt, paws tucked under her chest, and focus on the girl, her tail sweeping through the terra and causing lines to appear.

Lloyd then swept the bow across the violin's strings, and began to play. The noise ran out through the air, and she hit the notes spot on. Her eyes were closed at the beginning, but she opened them, and began to let herself out, expressing her joy to be back at Magus Grex, and also what was to come. But it was also to define the hardships that would no doubt present themselves along the way. Lloyd spread out a bit, sliding from one side of the rock to the next, even so much as pivoting along one foot as she played in order to have the notes come across more smoothly.

Garrett Flint

A flutter of wings on the windowsill pulled Flint from his thoughts, and his book. The creature's hoot reached his ears, but Flint didn't turn his head, knowing exactly what was there, and what it wanted.

"Get outta here, Teek. No amount of hoot-hooting will get you anything tonight, featherbag."

There was a moment of silence. Flint returned to reading, only to find that he had forgotten where on the page he had been. Funny how distractions did that. Now, where was he...ah yes! "I've got to fly more missions," Nately insisted lamely with a crooked smile. "Otherwise they'll send me home." ... "So?" ... "I don't want to go home until I can take her back with me." ... "She means that much to you?" Nately nodded dejectedly. "I might never--

Hoot, hoot.

"Really?" Flint said aloud, turning to look at the owl perched on the windowsill. Teek ruffled his dark brown feathers and peered down at his owner with big, bulging amber eyes. Flint and Teek hadn't gotten along so well at first, and they still didn't appear to, but now they just gave each other shit as their way of showing affection. It was a sort of mutual understanding between man and owl.

"That's what I thought," Flint said when the owl remained quiet. Now... "I might never see her again." ... "Then get yourself grounded," Yossarian urged. "You've finished your missions and you don't need the flight pay. Why don't you ask for Chief White Halfoat's job, if you can stand working for Captain Black?" Nately shook his head, his cheeks darkening with shy and--

Hoot, hoot.

"Okay, that's it. Get down here, featherbag." Flint kicked the chair his feet had been resting on, and rose to his feet, slapping the book closed. As he approached the windowsill, Teek took off into the air, floating around the common room, hoot-hooting to his heart's content. Flint stared up at him with an amused look.

"Oh hoh, you think you're so high and mighty now, you just wait until I get my broomstick and join you up there. I fly circles around you, and you know it!"

Teek just hooted tauntingly in response, before slowly drifting down to where Flint stood in the center of the common room. Flint knew this trick. Teek had pulled it a few times before. He'd let him win this time. It would be entertaining. The amber-eyed owl fluttered down, flapping his wings to steady himself, before coming to a perch directly atop Flint's head, gently digging his talons into his hair for purchase. Flint raised his eyebrows, and looked up with his eyes, though of course he couldn't see the owl. He hooted contentedly. Flint couldn't think of a better way to introduce himself to everyone for his sixth year.

"Shall we?" he asked Teek, dropping off his book with his things before heading out, making sure to keep his head level, and to duck through any doorways. It was interesting that the owl could pick him up so easily through simply annoying him. They appeared to bicker, when in reality they had a tighter bond than most people and their pets.

Flint had been heading down the stairs, thinking of what he would say to the various he people he could possibly meet. It didn't really matter what he said...he had an owl on his head. However, he wished he had thought of something clever to say when he passed the entrance to the Cervus common room, and nearly bumped into Summer Turner. Although, had he thought of something clever, he likely would have forgotten it. Summer had that effect on him.

"Oh, hey Summer," he said with a stupid boyish grin on his face. Teek peered down at the girl with a critical eye from atop Flint's head, but gave her a pleasant hoot in greeting.

Vance Abernathy – Arietem House

The truth about Nevaeh. He’d have his measure of Fletcher yet. It would be interesting to watch what the boy did with the information Vance had promised. A part-truth was what he planned to deliver, and if the Ferre had even a shred of the conscience that he demonized others for lacking, he wouldn’t breathe a word of it. Perhaps he’d even take pity on Vance. A year ago, the very thought would have brought the taste of bile to his mouth, but now… now he needed every tool at his disposal. If he were capable of trust he might have taken a far more direct route in all this, but trust was a luxury that not even all the gold in the Abernathy vaults could buy him.

His eyebrows lifted slightly when Felix added a vague secondary term, but he hardly cared. The champion of the meek could easily have asked for more, and Vance would gladly have complied. Not playing Quodpot, pretending to care about the weak links scampering about the school, doing his damn homework; all of it came secondary to survival, which was only primary until he could get his revenge.

He’d been watching him all the while. He might not have been as predictive as he’d liked, but he’d achieved more or less the effect he’d desired. Fletcher was questioning his motives, then questioning his own questioning, and likely even questioning that as well. Vance’s unfailing commitment to the arrangement was truly shown when Felix slung an arm over his shoulders. Unlike mention of his sister, that little bit of incendiary failed to find any tinder.

He listened to the logistics. Was it some sort of trap? A clandestine meeting, alone? And why in the world would a dog be involved? He’d slowly chew on that for the remainder of the evening, ultimately deciding that it would be worth the risk. In the very least, if Fletcher was somehow a part of the conspiracy, he’d likely not expect Vance to be more than ready to use lethal force if need be. I already did once, he couldn’t help but think, and his stomach lurched. He found himself thankful that he hadn’t eaten too much.

As Felix walked off, he conjured a characteristic smirk and raised his gloved hand to lightly brush at his shoulders, as if the Ferre had left some tangible residue on his robes that needed to be returned. He smiled icily as he was given the finger, and then Felix was off. Statue of the dog, midnight. Now to see to the rest of it. A few Ferre students who were still feasting were sort of staring, likely freaked out by the fact that Vance and Felix somehow hadn’t come to blows after a conversation. A practiced baleful stare, approximately two seconds worth for each of the two boys and one girl, was enough to have them looking dutifully at their plates.

Clasping his hands behind his back once more, he strode off, his strides as long and full of purpose as ever. Fletcher was heading toward his table, which meant that he’d have to touch bases more definitively with Zachariah later, and Lee…

… where was Lee? The smitten Beauregard was one of the few he trusted to watch his back, if only because he was so literally invested in “watching his back”. You can take the Beauregard out of the swamp, he remembered his father saying once, But good luck taking the swamp out of the Beauregard.” More than likely he was off in the midst of some torrid interlude, something which Vance would spare no more thought than that. He hardly cared about the boy’s proclivities, only how vocal and crass he could be in satisfying them.

As he passed the table, he made sure to catch Zachariah’s eye, and offered an all but imperceptible nod as well.

A thought crossed his mind; more an image that he’d not deigned to process that suddenly had meaning. Quite uncharacteristically, he paused in place and glanced over his shoulder, taking a quick survey of the Vulpes table. The bulk of the school’s magical talent was concentrated in that House, and one in particular… but she wasn’t there. No matter. He’d find her when he was more sure of things.

It dawned on him that he’d simply been standing in place for several seconds, thinking. Alertness flooded his eyes once more, honing his gaze into something sharp and formidable, and he resumed his stride, headed for the Arietem common room.

Lyle Brightham – Ferre House

When the conversation finally tapered off a bit and Lyle was nice and full, it occurred to him that he hadn’t seen Naire yet, or Lloyd. He got up out of his seat as if someone had threatened to set him on fire, all flustered and grabbing at his bag and laughing. ”Yeah, I’ll see you lot back at the common room, “ was how he excused himself before, hugging his backpack to his chest, he scampered off at full tilt, piping a quick ”Sorry!” to a seventh year girl who was forced to sidestep to avoid the bundle of energy that was Lyle.

He charged up to the Vulpes table, skidding to a stop to seek out his best friend. He rocked on his heels, eyes darting about. Where was he? Probably outside, but there was a lot of outside that he could have gone to. He did find a few fellow fifth years and flashed them an antsy smile. ”Hey, did anyone see where Naire went? Did he say where he was going?” The questions were fired off one after another, a barrage of the rapid patter that passed for speech from Lyle. Heads were shaken, and he sighed exasperatedly but said ”Thanks anyway!” before wheeling off and skittering out of the hall. He looked over the Arietem table, too, but Gwen was gone already, probably off with her girlfriends or some guy or something.

* * *

He stopped off at his room to stow his bag and pick up Skip and Scamp. The ferrets were no longer allowed at meals after an incident the year before. Much like their owner, they had a tendency toward excitement, and well… the ferrets simply weren’t allowed anymore.

He opened the large cage they were cooped up in and thrust his arms in. In a flash, the creatures scurried up either sleeve of his robes, and Lyle wound up bursting into ticklish laughter as the climbed up his body to pop out his collar and take up perches on his shoulders; Skip, a soft gray, on the right, and Scamp, a healthy brown, on the left. He grabbed a notepad and a quill and set off in search of his friends.

He burst out of one of the castle’s many exits at a dead run, stopping briefly to catch his breath and get the lay of the land. He tilted his head a bit, listening, and would have sworn he heard soft strains of music in the distance. It took him a moment to get a sense of where it was coming from, and a grin slowly blossomed on his lips, followed by a pinkening of his cheeks as he bolted off toward the sound of a violin being skillfully played.

He slowed down once he caught sight of Lloyd perched on a large rock. He didn’t want to scare her, or interrupt her, or anything like that. He was still beaming as he approached, lifting an arm to flap it in an exaggerated wave (the ferrets were used to such actions, and scampered about on his body to stay put) to her. He just stood there, grinning idiotically, and waited for her to finish up. Of course, if it took toooo long he’d start getting fidgety, but even his feisty ferrets seemed to have calmed down to listen to Lloyd play.

Summer Turner

"That's all you've got to say about all of that!" Summer flew her arms in the air as she just leaned back in frustration. "You are my best friend! You are suppose to give me advice on what to freaking do, Bell! Oh my god." She had let the frustration get her a little too much as she just looked at her dark haired friend before letting her hands lift her up from the step she was at. It was like the night grew darker as her friend's words made it to Summer's ears. The breath died down with the seriousness of Bellona's tone. 'Summer...I can tell you anything right...Swear to me you won't tell anyone.' Sliding back down close to her friend, she brought her face close to Bellona's, touching her hand. "Of course, love. I am your best friend." She let her eyes shift to where she had carefully placed them along with Bellona's, giving the cluster of hands a tight squeeze. "I will never tell a soul anything we've spoken of."

Summer could see her friend fighting within on the next words she would say. She could tell Bellona was being very careful when she finally began to speak. 'I- I met a cute boy in Rome but I still think that- that- well over the summer my feelings kind of decided that- well, I really think Micah's cute.' What the bloody hell?! Here came the same frustration Bellona had just got through causing Summer to have. "What the-" 'Promise you won't tell anyone.' "Bellona! Don't you dare lie to me.." Feeling Bellona pull away and stand, Summer joined her to the level they were now at. She was just about to continue her thought of frustration when her friend spoke again, 'Oh gosh, what time do you think it is already? We should get going now. I'm not really in the mood to vex the Prefects if they caught us staying up late.'

Summer was stunned at the stunt her best friend was pulling on her. "So you're seriously going to just leave me with a lie?" Bellona completely blew off the question to say something about Fidus not eating. Summer just sat down to calm herself before she could get settled Bellona was already dragging her off somewhere else. She has so many thoughts going through her head before Bellona turned towards her as they had made their way through the Great Hall and now stood at the grand staircase. Feeling the arms of her friend surround her, Summer just wanted to trap her in the hug and force her to speak the truth in order to escape, but Bellona was too quick with the hug. 'Well I'll see you ever at breakfast okay? Goodnight porky.' She didn't even get out a word as Bellona scurried off towards what seemed like the Arietem common rooms.

Summer couldn't handle the idea of trying to socialize after the scene she just went through. Her own best friend couldn't even tell her what was on her mind. She quickened her pace deciding the way to avoid people was to get to her common room and shut herself off. She hadn't even seen her sister all night and for a second she was glad. She thought about finding her, but she knew she'd be around her friends. Hearing footsteps Summer let her eyes hit the ground to avoid having to actually make conversation until she felt the body of another against her's. "Watch ou-" She looked up meeting the eyes of Flint. "You've got to be kissing me." She said as she saw the owl on top of his head. "Oh my god, I meant kidding." The rose color that now filled her cheeks made her whole body fill with heat. "Hi." She tried to recover with a smile.

Gwen

Gwen ran down corridor after corridor to reach the hospital wing. The white walls and hospital beds filled her gaze and the smell of cleaning chemicals filled her nostrils. It was empty. Apparently no one was stupid enough to get hurt the moment they reached the castle or at the Great Feast. The nurse’s office even looked empty!

Gwen cradled her arm in its make shift bandage as she approached the nurses office. Madam Smalt (I’m making this up! Zebas when your back could you maybe make her?), the school nurse, was sitting behind her desk. Gwen could see through the glass window. She pulled open the door to the nurse’s office and walked in. Madam or Nurse Smalt was typing on a computer. Yes you heard that right America’s Magical School had computers, well the nurse did. Apparently it’s easier to carry then a bunch of paperwork.

Gwen did her best to clear her throat and get the woman’s attention, but she was still fixated on her computer. “Excuse me,” Gwen said and the nurse looked up. “Yes what can I help you with dearie?” Nurse Smalt is a short Spanish/Mexican woman from southern California. Gwen held her hurt hand up a bit so she could see it. “The candle wax fell on my hand at the feast and I got burnt”

Madam Smalt sprang into action helping Gwen out of her office and into a bed near her office. “Now sweetie you wait her while I get some things to treat your wound” Gwen was stuck lying on a bed in the really white room. White walls are said to make people crazy. She concentrated on the amount of pain she was having.

Smalt came back with salve for the burn, magical of course, new bandages, and some potions that she wanted Gwen to take. “Take these and then I can dress your wound” She grimaced and took the potions, they tasted nasty. Immediately the pain was pushed into the back of her mind. It was a nice feeling. The nurse unwrapped her bandage and saw that the wound was an ugly purple/blue color with the wax still on it. She gently scraped the wax off of the wound and rubbed the salve on, all the while not popping the blisters that had formed. Then she wrapped the wound in the bandage.

“Can I leave for myy commonn room?” Gwen slurred. “No you’ve just taken the magical equivalent of a drug and you’re burn is going to take a while to heal. I’m afraid that you’re going to have to spend the

Îrem’s Perspective

As Priscilla hugged Îrem, she said “Hey girl!”, to which Îrem couldn’t help but give a light giggle. She acknowledge Zack as she sat down and smiled, pretending to not mind Zack’s presence, though really, Îrem could sense that Prissy wanted to say “I do” right there. Îrem didn’t quite know what to think. The trouble with being part of such a large group of friends, especially a House who’s bonds are thicker than thieves, is that oftentimes doves cry so to speak.

“Prissy, how was your summer?” Îrem asked. Prissy had been a name Îrem had used since her first year at Magus Grex, perhaps one of the few ever to use a shortened form of her girl friend’s name. Îrem, although partially robed in the dark green uniform of house Arietem, flaunted her body with her color, orange! Orange dresses, orange leggings, orange shoes, orange shawls… and when she was feeling mighty religious, orange hijabs. But she hadn’t worn one since at least her third year, a promise to herself that she would show of her own beauty until she was married or ugly.

She gave Zack an understanding wink as Prissy looked away for a quick moment, watching Lee proposition Greg Abbots for sex. Ah Lee, Îrem’s other Arietm girlfriend. That boy was adorable (although he denies he is; he also denies to be feminine, cute, sexy, or campy, all of which most girls and some guys claim he is). Poor Lee, always getting himself in trouble.

"Hey there, Arietem scum," Felix said as he played with Zack’s hair and sat down next to him. Awww how cute, Îrem thought, imagining Felix and Zack being cute little brothers. "Îrem, Priscilla,” he said, acknowledging Îrem and Prissy, “You two are both looking as lovely and noble as ever. I trust your Summers were divine. Don't tell me... Aspen? No... Cabo? No, wait... Paris? Somewhere expensive I would imagine. How have you all been?" Har har, how funny, thought Îrem.

“Haha, none of those, Feliz,” Îrem always had problems pronouncing “cks” and “x” sounds. “I went to Montana,” she giggled, knowing their surprise. “My father has a business associate who has a ranch there, we went for the Summer to get in touch with our… simple sides.” The truth is that Îrem quite enjoyed Montana, its rolling plains and all the nicest people. She enjoyed visiting the horses and the solace from the city.”

Lee’s Perspective

As Lee walked back into the Great Hall, he noticed Priscilla, Îrem, Zack, and Felix talking at the end of the Arietem table. Priscilla seemed a little uncomfortable, Zack was shining like a little school girl, Felix was grinning like a punk, and Îrem… Îrem was always a sight to see. Lee had ten minutes before he had to carry the first years to the dormitory. He decided to go sit next Îrem and make Zack, Priscilla and Felix uncomfortable.

He could see some of the third and fourth year boys brighten as he passed by; the lowerclassmen thought that he was hot shit, the upperclassmen wanted to stomp him. He cared for neither, honestly. A particularly ”enthusiastic” fourth year was sitting next to Îrem; he was a cute boy, so Lee decided to squeeze his tiny body between the two on the pretense he was going to flirt with the boy and not intrude on the others conversation.

”Hello preddy ladez; Îrem ya are so gawge’us, ya are da only wom’n who can make me straight!” Lee exclaimed. He bowed his head to the two larger boys, “Gentlemen.” Then he continued on a particularly superficial conversation with the pretty boy next to him.

Seeing Vance close to leaving the Great Hall, however, Lee shot up, startling Îrem(who was quite enjoying a particularly strong and hot batch of Turkish tea) and causing her to spill tea all over Felix(she never let herself spill anything on herself, how silly!)

"Vanz! Wait fo' me!" Lee screamed, allowing almost everyone in the room to chuckle at the young queen.

Garrett Flint

Flint's boyish grin turned into a full blown smile at Summer's slip up. Dammit, she's so cute when she's nervous, he thought, more than a little nervous himself. Then again, is there a time when she isn't cute? Teek shifted his weight atop Flint's head, as if to try and spur him into action, and when he didn't immediately respond, the amber eyed owl gave a low hoot that sound, if anything, like a suggestive hoot. That is, assuming that a hoot could sound suggestive. Maybe it was just Flint's imagination.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Teek has this effect on all the girls he meets. Isn't that right?" His eyes flicked upwards, and Teek gave a cheery hoot in response. Flint was moderately pleased with himself. That had been a decently clever thing to say, hadn't it? He leaned a little towards her, lowering his voice slightly.

"He's still a worthless bag of feathers, but I love him for it. He wanted to see everyone again, including your lovely smiling face, so I figured, hey, why not? And it's great to see you again."

Flint gave her a relatively quick hug. Now, Flint had developed a bit of a reputation for giving the best hugs, but unfortunately this one was a little cautious, as he had to worry about dislodging the bird from his head, and making things really awkward. He had already saved one awkward situation with Summer's little Freudian slip, or at least he thought he had, but he doubted his chances of being so skillful as to save two. He broke the hug successfully, with Teek still comfortably perched atop his head.

"So how was the feast? It was the usual from Rockwell, I'm assuming? Sorry I wasn't there to make things more interesting, I was...uh, reading. A book."

Damn, that had come out poorly. And it sounded like bullshit. Garrett Flint, reading? It was the truth, but she'd have to think he was lying, that he'd been up to something, which any other year he would have. This year, things were somewhat different...but he didn't want to talk about that, not with Summer, not right now. He'd finally gotten back to the old Flint, and he wasn't going to slip away again now.

He also found himself wishing that Bliss didn't happen to come along at the moment. She'd have to come this way to get to Vulpes common room, which he'd come from. Flint hadn't exactly felt comfortable with both Turner sisters since he and Bliss broke things off. With one or the other, sure, he was great (well, typically more comfortable with Bliss), but with both, he just found himself feeling guilty. One, for not working harder to make things work out between him and Bliss, and two, for almost immediately developing a liking for her younger sister afterwards. But he couldn't help it. It was like Summer was all the things that were great about Bliss, and none of the things that were bad about her.

"Damn...feels like it's been forever. We didn't really get a chance to talk after me and Bli--well, before school ended last year, and then I haven't really seen anyone since then. I actually went home for the summer, back to Portland, to see my parents. How've you been?"

It was pretty well known, especially among Flint's friends, that he rarely returned home anymore. His parents had never really understood him, even less so once he learned he was a wizard, and they'd only become more estranged with each passing year. He'd spent his summers bouncing from friend's house to friend's house, avoiding his old home. But if Summer knew him as much as he thought she did (they'd spent a lot of time together, particularly last year, when he had been dating Bliss), she'd probably notice that there was something a little different about him. The antics and the goofiness were still there, sure, but under it, there was undeniably something a little more serious going on in Garrett Flint's head.

Summer Turner

Seeing the smile spread across Flint's face, Summer felt her face grow darker at the idea that he had gotten entertainment out of her slip. She went across every possible escape from this conversation because she knew that it could only get worse from here. She glanced around the hall seeing no students, so she knew that idea was out of question. She was just about to excuse herself for a reason she had yet to come up with when his owl let out a small hoot that brought Summer's eyes up to the adorable creature. "Hello Teek." She said softly, giving the owl a curtsy before glancing back at Flint. Did I seriously just curtsy to an owl? This was going to seem like such a long conversation with the way she was going. Two for two. She said to herself as she had imagined herself playing a game of baseball and instead of being a batter, she must embarrass herself to score.

However with the response she got from Flint, her face cleared of the shade and smiled at him. "You know I only hang around you for Teek. It's like you are his wingman. Get it.. Wiiiingman." She emphasized the word wing at the stupid joke formed in her head. "I swear. I think my mind is trying to make me kill myself by the night's end." She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes before smiling at the distance change between the two of them. She took a step closer to him before ever so slightly biting her lip as she listened to what Flint was saying. 'He's still a worthless bag of feathers, but I love him for it. He wanted to see everyone again, including your lovely smiling face, so I figured, hey, why not? And it's great to see you again.'

Summer let herself laugh as she ran the name worthless bag of feathers through her head a couple of times before placing a finger on Flint's chest for a clever reply. "Hey! I'd date a worthless bag of feathers. Especially one as cute as him." She said giving the owl a slight nod in defense for him. Looking back down towards Flint, she picked up her foot to step back, but was instead wrapped in what seemed like the quickest hugs in the history of them all. "Really? The first hug you give me, and it's that.." She gave a disapproving nod. "I'll let that one slide this time, but the next one better be good or else I'm going to have to find someone else to give them to me." She teased before actually returning to their original distance.

'So how was the feast? It was the usual from Rockwell, I'm assuming? Sorry I wasn't there to make things more interesting, I was...uh, reading. A book.' Summer gave Flint a questionable look that went unnoticed. "Reading..a book? I've never heard of someone reading a book.. I could have sworn people just read things like lamps or tables. Books cannot be read, that's impossible." She let a small laugh escape her lips before tilting her head at Flint. "You are acting very strange my dear Flint. Are you feeling okay?" She said as she placed the back of her hand on Flint's forehead. "Hmm, you aren't feeling warm. It must just be you!" She teased.

"I've missed you." She said as she reached towards Flint's hand, giving it the slightest squeeze. "I can't believe I didn't even see you once this summer." She rolled her eyes at the boy. 'Damn...feels like it's been forever. We didn't really get a chance to talk after me and Bli--well, before school ended last year, and then I haven't really seen anyone since then. I actually went home for the summer, back to Portland, to see my parents. How've you been?' The second he mentioned going to Portland, Summer wanted to take back her words. "Oh, Portland? How did that go?" She completely by passed the almost slip up with the mention of Bliss and the question about herself because she knew that Portland was not always a good place for Flint. This time when Summer grabbed Flint's hand, she left it there as she stepped closer to the boy. "Want to talk about it? I'm always a good listener." She said as she was close enough to feel Flint's breaths on her face.

"Let's talk." She said as she gave Flint a slight tug as she started walking down the hall. She made sure to not put him off balance with the bird atop his head.

Vance Abernathy – Arietem House

Hearing his name, or a familiarly butchered approximation thereof, Vance drew to an immediate halt. The young Beauregard’s way with words (he remembered Hardy once remarking that it was more like Lee had his way with words, rather than a way with them, and the very faintest of smiles twitched to life on his full lips) was unmistakable. He glanced over his shoulder, locking his pernicious green gaze on Lee, and then cocked his head in the direction of the exit he’d been about to take.

”Please join me, Lee. There’s something we must discuss.” As always, his tone was as chilled and aristocratic as wine in a Venator cellar. He didn’t wait any longer than that, instead simply facing forward once more and continuing his stride where he’d left off. Perhaps I should get a leash for him. His nose wrinkled just slightly. No doubt, Lee would take that brand of gift in utterly the wrong way. While he wasn’t moving particularly fast, he didn’t slow either, leaving it to Lee to catch up with him.

When Lee inevitably did draw up alongside him, he pressed his lips into a thin smile directed at the younger wizard. He’d grown a bit over the summer, but still looked decidedly boyish, Vance noted. That coupled with his behavior made Lee eminently hard to take seriously. He wasn’t aware of anyone who did, at any rate. It was exactly what he was counting on. That, and the sort of unswerving loyalty predicated upon teenage lust.

”How was your summer?” he asked breezily, still bound for the Arietem common room. They could dispense with pleasantries along the walk. The real purpose of their conversation could wait for a bit more privacy. His hands were still clasped behind his back, one pallid flesh, the other covered in gleaming black scale. If Lee gave Vance the same post-summer inspection he’d gotten, he’d likely note the same hint of sullenness that Myra had. Tricky though it was to see in the Abernathy’s aloof demeanor, something had changed in the interval between school years.

Lee’s Perspective

Luckly, Vance stopped near the massive doors of the Great Hall, giving Lee that gaze; the gaze that, in Lee’s third year, made him fall for Vance faster than a drunk Cajun on a bridge. He cocked his head in a particular fashion towards the doors, ornate with images of the first days of Magus Grex and magic of all sorts. ”Please join me, Lee. There’s something we must discuss,” Vance said, a very slight smile that only Lee could designate on his pristine, glorious face.

As Lee hurried closer, Vance continued out the Great Hall and gave little window for Lee to catch up to his… prince. ”How was your summer?” Vance finally said, giving Lee a slight smile. Of course, any sort of smile meant the world to Lee; in fact, Lee had probably catalogue every time Vance smiled at him, those moments Lee cherished most.

“Wellz, I dun wend down to N’aulins,” Lee said, winking at Vance, “as da usual iz. Sdayed wit’ Aunt Leona fo’ about a munt’, and den saw de resd of my kinfolk down in Uptown, bit of a ways from da the [French] Quarduh. My bruddahs and sizduh wend’a Beauxbatons, so id was gerd’a see ‘em.” Lee knew very well that most couldn’t understand his yat, but he liked it like that. In reality, Lee probably played it up a bit. But the thing that often worked against him in certain social groups was also the unique trait that distinguished himself for individuals with a particular liking for boy flesh.

”An’ju, how was ya’lls Summah, podna?” Lee asked, the man he loved just a few feet taller, and at least three times stronger… yes Lee, wanted Vance’s body… but Lee was more than just smitten. Lee wanted to be with Vance, he wanted to be Vance’s boyfriend, and maybe even settle down and influence the world together as a unified dynasty of both the Abernathys of Georgia and the Beauregards of Louisiana. A true Southern revival. Yes, Vance was the culminating cog in Lee’s ultimate goal: the restoration of his family’s power… but Vance was also Lee’s personal goal. Vance was Lee’s forbidden fruit, his Adam, his pristine king. And Lee would swear complete and utter fealty for Vance if only he asked. Funny how Vance had that effect on one of the most arrogant of creatures, but not surprising.

Garrett Flint

Flint had been about to say no, he didn't really want to talk about it right now, but of course his words never really came out right around Summer. In this case, they didn't come out at all. From atop his head, Teek hooted as if to say yes for him, and Flint found himself following his own hand, gently grasping Summer's. Ha, and he was supposedly Teek's wingman. He'd practically burst out laughing at the sheer adorableness of her joke. Maybe he was rubbing off on her a little? Although, Flint would have liked to think he could come up with something a little better than that.

Well, maybe not around Summer.

Here he was, about to rejoin the crowds and get back to being a goofball with an owl in his hair, and now he was going for a talk with Summer that would undoubtedly turn a little... well, depressing. He'd mulled it over in his own head so much the past few months, and had only recently come to a conclusion with himself. He wasn't sure if he was ready to talk to anyone yet. He'd rather just push it away, act the part he always had, restore that effortless charm and good humor that was Garrett Flint for a while. That...and he wasn't sure who he wanted to talk to.

He had decided that Justin would understand. Apart from their romantic interests, the two had just about everything in common. They understood each other so well. Bliss...he had decided he was done throwing himself out there for her. Flint still cared, of course, but friends is all they would ever be now. They hadn't understood each other as well as Flint had originally thought. It seemed like Flint knew just about everyone at the school, but the amount of people he really knew he could count on one hand. He guessed that was just what he got for trying to share himself with everyone. A ton of friends, but not a lot of good ones.

Come to think of it, Summer was one of the few he'd be willing to open up to. She was damn right about always being a good listener. All she had to do was be there, and Flint felt like he was suddenly more important, more loved or something... dammit, this was messed up. Flint felt like such an ass, feeling this way about Summer when he'd just broken things off with her sister a paltry few months ago. But spending a good amount of time at home, away from everyone, had showed him who he had really missed.

"Yeah, alright," he gave in, keeping pace with her as they headed away from the common rooms, for which he was glad. If was he going to do this, he certainly didn't want it to be where the entire school body would be passing through eventually. He wondered where she wanted to talk. Flint not really being in the habit of having heart to heart talks with people, he didn't have any usual spots for these things. He also remembered that there was a bird on his head, a worthless bag of feathers that had screwed up his hug. He'd have to do something about that.

As if reading his mind through the talons grasping the hair on his head, Teek took flight, gliding ahead of Flint and Summer, floating up to various perches and watching them pass, before flying ahead of them again, hooting happily all the while. "But you're gonna have to go first. I haven't gotten anything out of you, besides you wanting to date my owl, and your habit of reading lamps and tables. How are you, really?"

It was half a stalling tactic, really. Of course he cared how Summer had been doing, but he also found himself wishing something would interrupt them, prevent him from talking to her for too long, from saying something really stupid, which he'd managed to avoid doing so far.

Yeah, this year was going to be very different from the others. Flint could feel it.

Zachariah Everett

Reposted his earlier post to actually flow with the other post

Zachariah found himself shoving through first and second year students as he tried to push through the wall of the young wizards that instead of moving, stared up at him. "Fucking young-lings." He whispered under his breath before finally making his way into the entrance of the Great Hall. He had somehow managed to be one of the last wizards to arrive at Magus Grex. He looked over himself before making his entrance into the Hall. Not bothering to speak when spoken to by members of other house's, Zach headed straight for his table of witch and wizards he could actually stand. He had noticed the lack of spots now available for the sixth year student to occupy, but the spot he found was more than perfect. He found himself across from Îrem with the rest of company being first and second year students. "Great choice." He mouthed to Îrem with a smirk on his face.

While the Headmaster spoke, Zach found himself looking up and down his table trying to spot the other members of Arietem her cared about; Vance and Priscilla. No luck as he heard final word from Headmaster Rockwell. "How is my dear, Îrem?" He spoke as he let her receive his full attention. 'Hey girl.' With the sound of her voice, Zach knew exactly who was now in the presence; Priscilla. He had managed to miss the glare he knew so well from Priscilla that had caused the first year to quickly run off to an unknown direction. He let an obvious smirk come across his face when she only acknowledge him by his name. "Priscilla." He leaned in toward the girl when he let the word out of his mouth, letting it hang for a second before leaning back into his original position. He knew she liked him, but he did enjoy her trying to hide it. He smirked at the wink he received from Îrem because he knew that she was well aware of Priscilla's crush on him.

Zach now caught himself in the middle of what would more than likely turn into a huge girl talk over the latest fashions and the boys they had met over the summer. He gave a dramatic cough before placing his hands on the table. "Seriously, do you both have to catch up on summer right now? Why not discuss more important things? Like Quodpot." He let his face fall into a very stern look before revealing his intentions. "I'm joking, ladies. Put the claws away." He laughed as he noticed the slight glare to two gave. Hearing a thump to his left, he only had time to catch a small glimpse of Felix before he felt his hair being tossed around on his head. "Thank god for more testosterone." He said as his Ferre friend placed himself next to him.

As the teasing continued from Felix, Zachariah caught sight of Vance passing the table with a nod in his direction. He didn't see any urgency in the expression on Vance's face, so Zach returned the nod before adding to the conversation. "I actually spent my entire summer at my parent's winter home alone." He hadn't had the desire to put up with his parent's parties with the other various pure-bloods, so he found his escape in the home that he knew his parents wouldn't get use out of until the middle of his school year. "It was a nice touch of solitude. Something I'm not used to.. I was close to putting together a pre-school party with everyone, but somehow I just couldn't force myself with the challenge to please that many people. Because you all know how I like to please." He said staring directly at Priscilla before laughing aloud.

Zach caught site of Lee before continuing his thoughts. "But speaking of summers, Felix. How was your's? Or should I say your's and that fiery redhead's from Vulpes?" Zach was pleased by the expression he got from Felix. "Bliss is her name, right?" Hearing Lee acknowledge him, he completely brushed it off before acting like he wasn't there. See Zach and Lee had this public dislike for each other, but considering how close they both were to Vance they became friends. They still didn't like the idea of people pinning them together as friends, so they stuck with the hate for each other in the eye's of the public.

Summer Turner

Summer hadn't planned on running into anyone on her way to the common rooms, and to run into Flint of all people made things so much harder. She successfully hide her frustration with Bellona so well that he hadn't even noticed her heavy breathing at the beginning of the conversation. Now she was leading him off from the common rooms to talk. Had she even really wanted to talk with him? Probably not because she doubted he knew about Bliss and Felix. It was only a few months and Bliss had already managed to be dating one of Flint's friends. She gave Flint's had another squeeze before glancing his way. When she looked at him, she didn't see the same Flint she did last year. It was an entirely new person who had emerged in the boy's body, and she didn't know if they was a good thing or a bad thing. She knew she would soon find out though.

She had yet to feel him give in to the offer to talk until she felt his body come up to her's. "We don't have to talk about everything. Just what's on your mind." She said giving him the faintest smile as she was still in the process of deciding where she was taking them. They seemed to be walking in a pointless direction until she knew exactly where they needed to go. She didn't bother voicing the spot because she knew Flint just wanted privacy at this point, so once she started walking she found her mind shut off from the actually person next to her. As they walked, Summer found herself mapping out the conversation once they got to the spot she knew would be perfect.

Do not bring up Bliss or Felix. Do not bring up Bliss or Felix. She repeated to herself because it seemed that subject was better for a later conversation where Flint appeared to be in a better mood. Hoot. Her eyes shot up at the owl flying ahead of them. She didn't realize she had actually been that much out of reality to jump at the small sound from the bird. She realized this was not the way she wanted their first real conversation to go; unspoken. Hearing no footsteps as the approached the library door, Summer opened it up and slipped inside. She knew most of the faculty had a meeting tonight, so no one should be in the library.

As she let go of Flint's hand, she sped up her pace just in case the librarian happened to stick back a little longer. Summer slipped in and out of shelves until she found herself in the farthest corner from the entrance. The book shelves seemed to swallow them up and it made her feel secure as she sat at the two person table against the wall. "Good enough?" She had ignored what he said so she quickly tried to come up with an answer. 'But you're gonna have to go first. I haven't gotten anything out of you, besides you wanting to date my owl, and your habit of reading lamps and tables. How are you, really?' That was right. He was asking about her. She felt herself sink into the seat before looking up at him. "I.. I'm pretty good." She lied. She never lied, not even to Flint. She placed her hands on her face before clearing her throat. "I'm awful, Flint."

She didn't know if telling him about Bliss was a good thing, but honesty was her best asset when it came to maintaining friends and what not. "Bliss and Felix are something. I don't know if it's actually considered dating yet, but they practically spent the entire summer together." Summer had revealed her crush on Felix to Flint while he was dating Bliss, so Flint knew the pain that she had to be going through. "But don't worry.. Those feelings have long passed." She looked down on her hands that she had just placed on the table. "And then Bellona is hiding something from me. Girl problems." She let out a soft laugh before smiling over at Flint. "Now it's your turn. My problems are very minor, and they have already been dealt with. Now.. What's on your mind?"

“Sorry, Chopstick doesn’t take food from strangers.” Myra waited for Naire to turn to her, then mocked pain and distress. “Stranger! Oh, my ego!” she put a hand over her heart, then smiled. “Hey bookworm. It’s been forever since I saw you, eh?” Myra set her fake camera to the side and nodded, sitting back up in time to let Chopstick perch on her shoulder. He wobbled a little and Myra couldn’t help but laugh softly when she felt his little talons pull on her robes a little. Grinning she used one finger to pet his soft little tummy as he nuzzled her cheek. “Too long,” she said in her soft, sincere voice. “What have you been up to?”

She watched as Chopstick flew down to Naire’s knee. Kaplan, overly-content with the attention he was getting, opened one eye in his sly cat acknowledgement of the owl, then resumed purring and enjoying his scratch down. “Oh nothing, just photo shoots. Hey, did you know that I got to return to Australia over the summer? It was awesome.” Myra’s face lit up warmly. Naire was going to be famous for his photography someday, she was sure of it. He practiced on his craft any time he could. She was convinced he even took pictures in his sleep. His passion made her cherish him all the more. He had a dream and a love and he worked at it every day. Quodpot returned to her mind, but she gave her head a little shake, letting it go.

“Australia?” The statement suddenly expressed itself on her face. One of her all-time favorite muggle actresses lived and worked there. “Did you see Dena Kaplan? I‘m jealous, I spent the rest of my summer with Vin at home mostly. I would have spent all my time searching for her… she‘s so wonderful. I bet you had a blast!” Naire simply smiled and leaned back on the tree, looking outward. She had the distinct feeling that he was seeing the world before them as a picture, considering it’s angles and properties. Happy to have his stability back in her life, she moved over and sat next to him, letting her head drop to his shoulder as she looked the same direction, trying to see it through his eyes, and was once more struck by how grateful she was to have a friend like Naire.

“It’s quite a nice night for our first day back. Much unlike last year when it rained almost nonstop.” He chuckled.

“Agreed,” the corners of Myra’s lips turned up slightly as she remembered how distressed she’d been, running through the rain with the rest of the fourth years, late to the feast. She’d been so terrified, the fourth years were going to be the center of attention as they’d entered the hall and she knew she looked like a drowned rat. There were certain eyes that would definitely have fallen on her, and she had just not wanted to deal with it. It had turned out alright though, some of the more flamboyant members of their class creating a distraction as they entered the hall dramatically. Naire had some pretty hilarious pictures though, wonderful memories caught in time. “You did burn those pictures, right?” She teased lightly, then picked up Kaplan, standing. “We should probably get back. It’ll be curfew soon.” Kaplan purred and curled into her stomach, snuggling his head under her arm. Myra looked over the field, watching as other students began to make their ways back to the immense Magus Rex building. She had seen Summer and Bellona making there way back earlier and chided herself, she should at least have said hi, they were some of her closest friends, after all. She’d make sure to go by and see them in the morning. It was nice to be back, but a little intimidating too, she realized as she set Kaplan down and adjusted her bag over her shoulder.

She started on her way back to the building, content in the knowledge that whether Naire came with her or not, she’d see him in the common room in a teeny bit. Having been put in such a good mood, she felt a little lighter and a small smile graced her face as she walked into Magus Rex’s large doors, head tilted slightly downward in her way of walking without having to make too much eye contact.