'In the Meantime...Something for Fun' Cont..

[Jazzie C]

'Kaaatie, you're allowed to sit down. I've worked you hard today. Sit with me.' Jey said, firmly. She watched the insecure expressions flit over Katie's face and smiled inwardly. She was sure she could get something out of the girl. Katie seemed like a key puzzle piece of some sort. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but Jey was sure that keeping her around would pay off. Keeping her around meant earning her trust, earning her trust meant spending time with her, so that's what she would do.

Waving her wand, she pulled the chair closer to the desk, and, assuming that Katie would sit down, she spooned sugar and poured tea into both mugs. 'So what's going on, Katie, you seem a bit unnerved.' She said, looking up briefly, forcing herself to make eye-contact with the girl so that she wouldn't suspect anything dodgy, but rather just feel for chatter. Keep her talking like friends would. That's what Jey had to do. Get her talking.

[Thomas]

Lyn, looked around the group, she couldn't just leave them to it, yes there were dark creatures in the forest, everyone knew that but she wasn't scared of them, she knew enough to defend herself and her friends and at least now she knew what to expect she was slightly relieved that the danger she was placing herself in was literally just a walk in the woods "Right, then I'm coming too" she smiled a thin-lipped smile at Peter, she was still a little anxious about stepping out of bounds, but she wasn't going to let anyone else know that. As she began heading down towards the forest with the others she found herself going over the various charms she learnt in durmstrang and gripped her wand tightly... they'd be ok.

[Amanda]

<< Where can Betta jump in at? >>

[Nicci]

(Depends on which plot you want to get involved with?
- Peter/Seth/Alex/Gen/Serena/Ylana and Lyn are outside the front entrance of the castle they are planning to go into the forbidden forest to find the Tree of Life that supported the Nymph community. The Tree also holds the spirit of two sisters who helped Peter's Phoenix form many many years previous.

-Vixie/Lelani/Shawn & Lance (Slytherins) are in the Room of Requirement. They are aware that Lelani's parents were killed because they were Death Eaters in the past and now someone within the castle is after her. It is unknown if Lozzy's other two characters Annalise and Elena are fully working in connection with Sporus (The current head of the Order of the Phoenix).

-Lia & Kalina are working on starting up the school newspaper and are currently just printing off a starter edition ready to pass around.

And the rest of the characters are just up to their own thing at the moment.
Erin/Tristan/Olli (?) are up in Ravenclaw Tower
Callie/Tasha are catching up in the courtyard
Juliet is watching the Gryffindors (Peter's gang) out of a window
Willls is still up in Gryffindor Tower if I remember correctly.

I hope that's everybody except Katie and Prof. Garland having tea)

[Thomas]

(wait is Olli in the tower? I thought he was at the library)

[Nicci]

(Maybe that was before the jump, the last we saw of him was on pg20 in Erin's post he walks into the Great Hall at lunchtime but in the post straight after he rolls over in bed planning on doing further research and apologising to Erin the next day? I guess it's now several hours after so he could have moved anywhere since in that time)

[Amanda]

<< I'll join in with the others who are going into the forest, if that's okay. >>

Betta hurried out of the castle, intending to go down to the lake, but accidentally running into Ylana the moment her feet hit the stairs outside.

"Oomf!" she exclaimed, about to whip out her wand to curse whomever it was that was in her way, but deciding not to as she saw that it was Ylana. "Oh, hi." she murmured, trying to catch her breath as she looked around at the others in the group. "Sorry about that...trying to get down to the lake." she managed to gasp, before frowning. "Is this a meeting of the minds or something? Did I interrupt anything?"

She stood up a second later and took another deep breath before looking at the others. "Were you going anywhere? I know I'm being utterly nosy, but I'm really bored, and I really don't want to be alone right now."

[Nicci]

(Not a problem Amanda, We'll help you get involved in the scene I will get my characters posts up tomorrow now as it's a bit late)


“No, no...Nothing. Nothing is going on” Katie mumbled feeling the force of Jey’s gaze pulling her into the room “I’m fine, really”. The nervous stuttering in Katie’s voice was difficult for her to hide, even though she tried her upmost best to suppress it. Every second Jey was reading her like a book, she could feel it. Jey’s insinuating smile was deviously deceptive and there were no warning signs of any ulterior motives hidden behind it.

Edging closer to the chair without breaking eye contact, Katie grabbed the pile of workbooks, hugged them close to her body and perched on the very edge of the chair intending not to stay for longer then was necessary.
“Th..Thank you. For the tea. I don’t usually have that much su..but it’s fine, fine the way it is. I’m grateful” Katie continued as she picked up the offered cup and sipped the liquid hard trying not to burn herself. “I will get these marked for you. Quickly. I promise”

[Nicci]

Serena turned her head as she heard Lyn’s reply to Peter and gave an encouraging smile in her direction. She was glad to hear that Lyn had taken up the opportunity to join them for the outing and it no longer made her feel vulnerable as the school's new girl.
Looking around the group, she finally felt a moment of inclusion. Ylana was chatting to Alex a mile a minute whilst Gen dangled off on his elbow, Peter with his commanding phoenix spirit floating overhead was clearly emphasising his control over the party, now Lyn in full concentration with practicing spells... Wait a minute who was the new face that had appeared and what was Seth looking at?

Curious about Betta, Serena took a side step to mentally evaluate the new comer from a better perspective. It was clear from her uniform that she was a Slytherin like Lyn, did Lyn know her? Maybe they were classmates?

Before she had a chance to answer Betta, a flash of red hair had started making its way down the front steps of the castle and the young woman wore a look of deep concern.
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Unaware of Serena watching her, Juliet stood halfway down the steps with her red, fly away thin hair floating in the gentle breeze and her keen stare focused directly on Seth.
Her view from the window above wasn’t enough; she had to find out what they were doing or what Peter was making them do? But she didn’t have the time to follow.
The group was unusual in composition: the Gryffindor’s were self explanatory they were like sheep they went wherever another one went, two Slytherins? Both whom she hadn’t really paid attention to seeing before and was the random Ravenclaw the Goth girl? From her distance she couldn’t really tell exactly but Seth had mentioned in the past that Peter had been interested in getting to know Callie, so the answer must be logical.

Partially curious, worried, nervous, Juliet refrained from moving any closer to the group. If Seth wanted to talk he’d move away from the group, if he didn’t then he clearly had something to hide.
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Bounding down the stairs with a new burst of energy, Sammi grinned as she led the way down to the ground floor. The groundskeeper’s hut was a brilliant idea for a place Leah to be hiding in and she was delighted with herself for being the one to think of it first.

“We’ll take the side door out of the castle, around the greenhouses and take the steps down the slope” she chatted away to herself not noticing if Joe was paying attention of not. In her mind she had to think smartly just like how Seth, her brother would approach a problem. Their mother always trusted him to do things alone, to wander off places, to run errands, now it was her turn to prove she was just as capable and not the soft mollycoddled daughter she was expected to be.

[Amanda]

Betta looked around and bit her lip, for some reason not wanting to be her usual obnoxious self. Perhaps it was the fact that there were no first-year students around, or perhaps it was the Howler she'd received from her parents, chewing her out for her behavior at school. Whatever it was, she found herself being unusually disciplined that evening, almost as though she were afraid that a few members of the Ministry of Magic were hiding on the campus, waiting to arrest her and drag her off to Azkaban.

She nodded to Lyn; although she didn't really know the other girl all that well, it was still nice to see someone of your own House nearby, even if there were Gryffindors there at the same time. Besides, it was always nice to speak to different people every now and again, even if one didn't want to become best friends with the people.

[Chris]

(I'll try to get a post up soon, but I may likely be reducing the group size. It's getting a bit large. I wasn't intending it to be something where everyone was on. Nicci and I have a thought that involves two groups. My post will explain, but only one other character (Seth/Alex, most likely) would know the actual reasons why.)

[Chris]

When Betta made her way down to the crowd, it dawned on Peter that the group was getting huge. His original intention was that he and his closest friends would go into the forest. Not only is the group getting large, there were a few students that he only met that afternoon (as the group was meeting), which troubled him. What if Dragona had a tie or link to a student within the castle? For this reason, Peter decided to split the group up, where Peter's group would take on the full task of finding the tree, and the other group, whoever he could trust to lead it, would take a diverted course.

Taking a breath in, Peter walked over to Seth and leaned in to whisper, "can I talk to ya over to the side for a moment?" Seth nodded and came over with Peter to a vacant section of the fields around the tree. They were alone. Peter crouched down and Seth did the same. Drawing in the dirt, Peter whispered to Seth, "this group is getting larger by the minute, and I don't know a few of them." Seth nodded, and whispered, "what are you thinking?" Peter leaned in and whispered back, "this is only for your ears only, but please lead the second group. I'd feel better knowing that I have those that know my secret helping. I trust you with my life, Seth, but I need someone I can trust to help me with this." Taking a breath in, Seth nodded and then asked, "who do you want with your group?" Peter knew that he was originally intending one group which is why he asked Serena there. Here's to hoping that once the group is split up, Peter's skills will be sufficient for protecting his group. "I'd like Alex, Gen, and Ylana with me. Serena, Lyn, and the new girl with you." Seth nodded and they both stood up. Turning back around, they both approached the crowd.

Peter began by saying, "I was just discussing with Seth, and I feel that with a larger group, we can cover more ground in two groups. I'd like Alex, Gen and Ylana with me. Seth will head up the second group." Thinking to himself, Peter realized that he'd have to apologize later on, but hopefully everyone would understand.

Alex walked towards Peter and placed his arm around his shoulders, and then gave one of those pull-pushes that guys sometimes do. A smile came to Peter's face, and Seth approached Lyn and Betta. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Juliet watching them. Seth spoke, "one moment." He couldn't tell if she was wanting to chat, but she was definitely watching. Perhaps, she wanted to talk. There was one way to find out. With that, Seth jogged up to where Juliet was standing. "What's up?," he asked her.

***********
As Sammi led Joe, Joe was just trying to keep up. He noticed lots of details, but that meant that he was missing some of the words Sammi was saying. "Side-door out of the greenhouses...got it," muttered Joe with a smile, not aware that it might not make too much sense. They were heading in the direction of the grounds-keeper's hut. This was the start of their adventure.

[Amanda]

<< Betta has black hair. >>

Betta looked up at the sky, where a full moon was shining brightly. This reminded her of the Astronomy homework that she had to finish, but, she figured, as she was almost finished with it in the first place, she could afford to go wandering somewhere for once. A sudden hooting from over to her right made her jump and bite her lip anxiously. For the life of her, she had no idea why she was so nervous that night. It wasn't as though her parents were hiding behind a tree, waiting to ambush her.

Another hoot. Betta jumped again and pulled her wand out, aiming it out into the darkness, at nothing in particular. << What is going on with me?>> she thought, pocketing her wand after another long moment. << Is this how it's going to be whenever I'm not bullying people? I suppose I would deserve it if someone hexed me, though.>>

[Nicci]

(The red haired girl was Juliet on the steps)

Tilting her head slightly, Juliet from her higher ground advantage had seen Peter pull Seth to one side before the pair of them returned to the group. She didn’t have to hear them as their actions spoke louder than words; Peter was definitely the one pulling the strings behind everything.
Assuming the worst, she was about to head back into the castle when Seth called out to her. His voice was casual, carefree and screaming suspicion. How was it possible for him to just ask ‘what’s up?” like nothing had happened between them?

“What are you doing?” Juliet stated coldly and bluntly as he approached. She wanted her words to get straight to the point even if it led to a full interrogation. Scanning his face for any signs of hesitation, she waited for an exact answer whist still wearing a hard, sour frown of disapproval.

There was no denying that inside her mind and body she felt heartbroken. The change had come about so quickly and now the young handsome, blonde haired male before her felt like a stranger. Did she really know him at all anymore? Was speaking to him from now on going to be this awkward?

“How can you ask me that so nonchalantly? You already know the answer or has Peter magically been able to help you forget?”

(I will add to this post for Sammi and Serena a bit later)

[Chris]

(Haha. Sorry about that, Amanda and Nicci! )

Juliet got straight to the point. Taking a breath in, Seth let it out. He figured that it would be strange going to see Juliet, but hadn't anticipated her current tone. "We're doing something in the forest," he muttered quickly, with little hesitation. It was the truth. Looking down, Seth added, "Juliet...you know the answer to your last question. There are memory charms, but I wouldn't use one to help me forget. Remember that you were the one that wanted a break." Seth waited a little longer to see if Juliet had further questions, before he'd return to the group. Juliet's attitude and demeanor had changed so much. Would this be how it will be from now on?

(Sounds good. )