Time to spare. (Jaquin, Caiest , Linda, Cassandra)

[Thomas Lightfellow G7]

Thomas was sick of being inside today in record time. He had never been more bored of being inside in his life. So he set out for the courtyard it was an ok day. Some dark clouds but there was no rain in sight. The courtyard was less packed then normal most people were at the lake Thomas figured. Thomas was lucky to get out there when he did he found a nice corner of the courtyard with no one there so he sat down.

Thomas sat there for a few minutes then wished he had some company he didn't like being alone much just when he was in a bad mood and that wasn't today. It was only normally when he got a letter from his sister telling him what a freak he was. Thomas looked up at the sky a dark cloud was covering the sun then looked around and still no one was around him to talk to.

[Caiest Hamilton S5]

Caiest bolted out of Transfiguration. She didn't stop to help up the people she knocked over and she ignored the indignant shrieks of those she almost knocked over. She didn't slow her pace until she was safely outside. Transfiguration that day had been complete and utter torture. She had never been particularly good at Transfiguration but today she was horrible at it. The rat she was supposed to be transforming into a tea kettle ended up looking like a porcelin armadillo instead. The teacher even scolded her. Something that had never happened in all her years of schooling. Caiest wasn't exactly sure why she hadn't been able to concentrate but she assumed it had to do with the fact that she hadn't had sleep in two weeks and the fears of returning home. Even outside she was scatter brained. She hadn't even realized where she was until she almost tripped over a bench.

Righting herself she forced herself to calm down and concentrate. At this rate she'd find herself in the lake and wouldn't realize it until she was drowing. She walked around a bit trying to focus more instead of letting her mind wander. Walking while trying to do that probably wasn't the best of ideas as she accidentally knocked into Thomas a boy she'd met once before when she couldn't sleep. "I'm soo sorry Thomas." She said picking up her bag which she'd dropped when she knocked into him.

[lindacrowley]

She had been in the library for hours, or so she thought. Knee-deep in researching for a blasted Potions essay, she could now say with confidence she and Potions were definetely not on the best terms. After being thoroughly surrounded by paper, she decided to head over to the Courtyard to get some fresh air and think about ANTYHING else that didn't have to do with Potions.

From a small distance she saw a familiar face, also standing there. And one she didn't quite recognize.

"Hello Tommy," she said happily and directed her attentions towards the second girl. "Erm.. Hello!"

[Thomas Lightfellow G7]

Thomas first saw Caiest then we started walking his way next thing he knew she ran into him. The she dropped some of her stuff. "Let me help you." He bent down and picked up a few other things and put them in her bag. He picked up her bag for her because she seemed a little...Thomas couldn't put his finger on it.

Then he got up and lowered his hand to her to help her up. Thomas always had manners he just didn't use them much. "You don't look to well, even for an Insomniac." He said with a smile but it was true he was a little worried. Then Linda came out of no where He just laughed to himself. ” First I’m lonely now I have two people." He look over and Linda. "Hey Linda, Linda this is Caiest. Caiest this is Linda." He smiled hoping they would both get along.

[lindacrowley]

She glanced at the girl who seemed to look a bit on the flustered side, her Mum always looked like that back at home. Hair frazzled, clothes crinkled, and forever working on a deadline or dress for some other rich and famous person. She never tried to go around her mother much when she was in one of those "moods". The girl though, had a distinctly different sort of frazzled. Nothing like her mothers.

"Hello Caiest, nice to meet you," she said with her usual Hufflepuff smile.

[Jaquin Prokenstien]

Jaquin left Hagrid's hut looking rather satisfied after an afternoon of Care of Magical Creature's Class, his thirst for knowledge appeased. Hagrid had just shown the 6th and 7th years some Acromantulas, which were extremely intelligent and intriguing creatures or what most of the class called gargantuan spiders. Care of Magical Creatures or magibiology was Jaquin's best subject; he was best in his year and had an affinity for the natural sciences. He trudged up the sloping lawns, glancing at the Cimmerian clouds that billowed across the sky. It did not seem like summertime at all. Jaquin hoped that the weather would brighten up and the clouds would dissipate once exams were finished. They would be having exams in a week and Jaquin was prepared for it, having mastered all of his 6th year classes. He took one final glance at the choleric atmosphere of the sky and stepped through the oaken double-door entrance of the castle.

Jaquin was putting all his notes and homework into his bag as he trudged along the hallway by the courtyard. He looked over to see three people grouped together at a far corner of the courtyard. Avoiding collision with several people, Jaquin strode through the mass of students and arrived next to Caiest, a fellow Ravenclaw, who was in her 3rd year, whom Jaquin had met once before. "Good day, everyone," Jaquin said in a polite manner. "Well.... not that great." He glanced at the dark cloud the Hufflepuff boy was looking at. Without hesitating, Jaquin continued, "I'm Jaquin, Ravenclaw 6th year. Are you two in your third year?" Jaquin looked at the pair of Hufflepuffs.

[Caiest Hamilton S5]

Caiest thanked Thomas as he helped her pick up her fallen stuff. Straightening up she brushed her hair out of her face before turning to the girl Thomas introduced as Linda. The girl was about her year but like Thomas in another year. "Hello Linda nice to meet you." She turned back to Thomas who had said she didn't look well even for an insomniac. "Yeah well... there's not much I can do about the insomniac part but you're never ever supposed to tell a girl she looks bad didn't your mother teach you anything?" She meant it to come out as a joke but it came out as anything but. Deciding now would be a great time to stop talking she sat her bag down and sat down next to it.

Shortly after being introduced to Linda another joined the group. It was Jaquin he was also in Ravenclaw and she'd met him once but it had been briefly so she didn't exactly know him but he seemed okay. "Hey Jaquin." she said. He said good day to them all then corrected himself. She supposed not everyone could enjoy the dark clouds or rainy look in the sky. She personally thought it was a beautiful day. Any day that had a potential for storms was a great day. But that was just her opinion. Jaquin asked the other two if they were in their third year as well and Caiest waited patiently for them to answer.

[Thomas Lightfellow G7]

After Thomas helped her up she said something about not learning anything from his mother. Thomas just laughed it off she didn't say it like a joke but he knew it was she wasn't that mean so he just smiled. "Well if I learned everything my mom thought me I would be wearing a sailor uniform right now.” He said laughing his mom always wanted to see him in one. Then another much older Ravenclaw joined them.

"Hello Jaquin, I'm Thomas." He said thinking about shaking about holding out his hand but then he toke the thought back. He had been too formal already. "Hufflepuff third year." He said smiling.

[lindacrowley]

Linda nodded as well towards the older Ravenclaw boy. "And I'm Linda, 3rd year Hufflepuff as well." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, standing a bit awkwardly in the large crowd.

Thomas seemed immensely more social than she was used to, he had this aura that seemed to ease into conversation as soon as he started. She on the other hand, was quite different and was not at all feeling in place among the students. Glancing up at the sky it seemed to threaten rain. She grinned.

Back at home she'd go on rooftops when there was a rainstorm--her mum was more reluctant to let her if there was actual lightening that she could be in danger of getting struck by (Linda never did believe her Mum too much on the subject though). And there she would go until she was soaked in the water and pitter patter with her wet feet down the stairs and back to their apartment where her Dad was always waiting with a towel. She sighed, feeling a bit homesick. In three years she hadn't felt as homesick as she did today and she couldn't understand it at all.

Breaking from her reverie, she looked up once again to the conversing crowd, attempting to put herself back in there.

[Thomas Lightfellow G7]

Thomas sat down on the bench a few feet away from Caiest. He sat back relaxing, both Linda and Jaquin were both still standing up. "Why don't you two both sit down?" Thomas hoped Linda would sit down next to him because he knew her a lot more and was fun to be around also she seemed a little lost with all the new people.

Thomas then looked over to Caiest. "Have you seen Madam Pomfrey about it?" He said just asking to see if she had tried anything to help it.

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cassandra pulled the shades off her face and placed them on top of her head. Letting a smile cross her face, she couldn't help but be in a joyful mood. The sun was sort of shining through the clouds, the birds were chirping, and the air was fragrant with flowers. Summer had finally arrived, and with it, the end of the school year. Of course, a lot of rain came with the summer months as well. Noticing the dark clouds overhead, she wished for it to clear up. Looking up ahead, she saw a small group of students speaking about something. Coming closer to the group, she suddenly perked up when she saw one of her friends.

"Caiest!" She couldn't help but exclaim loudly as she ran up to her friend. Giving her a slight hug, she looked around the group of people she didn't know. Only really acknowledging Caiest at first, she smiled. "How's it going? I saw you leave Transfiguration in a bit of a mood? Are you needing anything? Hey, by the way, Mom wanted to know if you wanted to come home with us at the beginning of the summer. She wants to meet alot of my friends, and I know we had plans for you place but we can go see your parents later. That is, of course, you wanna hang out with a bunch of Blackfires. Oh, and don't worry, Pyro probably won't be there. He is staying with Mary Evans." Smiling broadly, she finally turned around to the rest of the group. " Sorry, didn't mean to be rude. I'm Cassandra. Cass for short Surname is Blackfire or Logton, whichever you prefer."

[lindacrowley]

Linda took a seat next to Thomas on the bench, he really was the only person she knew so she thought it best to stick with him. Besides, he had showed her the squid--even if it did end in both of them tumbling into the lake. Grinning she was about to make a comment when yet another girl entered and joined in their growing group.

She came over in quite a flurry directing her attentions towards the younger Ravenclaw girl before finally turning to them.

"Sorry, didn't mean to be rude. I'm Cassandra. Cass for short Surname is Blackfire or Logton, whichever you prefer."

Linda was going to hold out a hand to her, but decided against it. She wasn't ever too good with introductions anyhow and might accidently miss it on the way towards their touching or something. Best not to take chances.

"Hi Cass. I'm Linda, nice to meet you," she said feigning courage. "Two surnames? Must be a load of trouble with the post," she joked. Maybe they wouldn't get it if they weren't muggles? She only realized too late that it was probably a rather weak joke. Really she thought she might skip out on this whole group thing soon, they all seemed like very nice people but she was increasingly becoming uncomfortable.

She felt a drop of an almost imperceptible sprinkle on her cheek. Looking up the sky was definetely darkened and threatening rain... and with the annoucement of a sprinkle they might all be soaked through soon.

[Jaquin Prokenstien]

Jaquin took a seat as Thomas suggested and looked toward the new arrival. He had seen the Gryffindor third year once before, but did not know her well. Jaquin listened on as Linda talked about muggles having trouble with post because of two surnames. After hearing the little joke, Jaquin quickly dissimulated his amusement with a quick cough in case it offended Linda, as he was not sure that it had been a joke at all. Looking around at the milling students surrounding them, Jaquin was astounded to see that most of them were not attempting to study. In fact most of them were either conversing with great eloquence, or singing raucously. The tumultuous atmosphere seemed to dissipate suddenly as Jaquin felt raindrops begin to fall. Most of the students had rushed towards the corridors on either side of the capacious, lush courtyard, knocking over potted flora as they went. Jaquin took out a book called Advanced Magibiology by John Darwinston as he continued to listen to the others' conversation.

After reading a few chapters from the gargantuan tome, Jaquin turned back to the group inquiring, "So, do any of you play Quidditch? I'm a beater on the Ravenclaw team. Or have you played Quodpot before? You know, I've always wanted to go back to America just to enjoy that game. It is really fun. I mean, you basically pass a modified quaffle, or quod, from player to player, attempting to get it to the pot at the other side of the field before the quod explodes. Naturally, the pot would be filled with a potion that mitigates the explosive properties of the quod and prevents it from exploding. It's really great fun."

[Caiest Hamilton S5]

Caiest laughed as Thomas informed her he'd be wearing a sailor outfit if he'd listened to his mother. She had no trouble at all picturing him in a sailors outfit and the image she was coming up with was quite funny. "You know you'd look good in a sailors outfit." she said chuckling.

Then Thomas and Linda introduced themselves to Jaquin. Everyone was being so formal about it. It was like they didn't know how to loosen up. Linda seemed especially nervous to be in the group. Truthfully Caiest didn't like it much either. She'd never been one to really socialize. This was the biggest group she'd been in in all her years of Hogwarts not counting classes. She was actually starting to get a little bit claustorphobic now that she thought about it. She backed up a bit so that she wasn't so close to all of them.

A few seconds later Cassandra came running up and gave her a slight hug. "Hey." She greeted her friend and gave her a small hug back. She hadn't seen Cassandra in a long time it was good to see that her friend hadn't dropped off the face of the earth. Cassandra mentioned seeing her leave Transfiguration in a huff. She asked if she wanted help and Caiest just ignored that Cassandra had said anything about it. It wasn't that she was trying to be rude she just didn't want to talk about it or admit needing help. Instead she focused on what Cassandra mentioned next coming to visit her at her house.

"Of course I'd like to come to your house." She exclaimed she didn't bother to tell Cassandra that if they ever went to Caiests house they wouldn't be seeing her parents they'd see a huge empty mansion. The invite cheered her up as she wouldn't have to sit in
that drated place all summer. She was also glad that Cassandra said Pyro wouldn't be there. She was one of if not the only person who knew what had happened between them.

She felt a drop of rain or two as she sat down. She hoped it would rain harder as she loved the rain. She doubted anyone else would appreciate it but she hoped for it non the less. Jaquin sat down as well and he asked if anyone played quidditch. Caiest had never played quidditch before she wasn't much of a sports person. The game he began describing that was like quidditch but different was interesting though. "I've never played quidditch or quod pot before but both seem entertaining."

[Thomas Lightfellow G7]

Thomas sat back everyone seemed to be getting along fine. Linda was acting a little odd but not that bad. He looked out and a drop of rain hit he's face. "Hmm I guess I’ll be taking my shower early today." He said just talking to himself out loud. "He looked over at Caiest and smiled.” You really thing so? I'll bring it next year so we can find out." He said laughing he wouldn't dare wear it. He looked over at Linda trying to get her to talk some more.

"So Linda what do you thing about me wearing a sailor suit? I could have a little boat cruise on the lake." He couldn't help but imagine a steam boat on the lake and him at the controls. He smiled over at Linda "You can be my first mate." He Laughed then looked at Caiest. "You can be the person inviting everyone to the cruise." He said smiling and laughing, it was just like Thomas to invite people in his jokes.