A teeny owl rested on Magnus' head without the boy so much as looking up. Owl on head he smiled at Sam. "Sure," he said eager to agree to anything anyone said. Extra-mellow Magnus was rather interesting to watch most likely--though maybe less of his normal swagger was disappointing to those he openly and unabashedly flirted with on regularly intervals. He gave a half smile saying, "anything you want."

[img align=left]http://s26.postimg.org/kcmq6r9qh/Fade_HACOMC2.png[/img]Fade had spent the better part of the morning attempting to coax any owl out of the trees on the grounds and onto his arm. Today was the owl lesson in their club and he wanted to come prepared. But thanks to Chase lingering at his feet none of the owls seemed very interested in taking any of Fade’s suggestions. Even after Fade sent Chase off to terrorize the mice who lingered around the kitchen, an hour passed before any of the owls would even so much as look his way. Realizing he was already late to the club meaning Fade gave up and made his way down into the dungeons, only getting slightly lost along the way.

Sheepishly he slunk into the room and tried his best to blend in and pretend he had been there the entire time. This was made difficult by the fact that he was still without an owl, and wasn’t exactly confident in his ability to summon one to his side. Regardless he took a seat on the edge of the group and tuned into the conversation. Magnus () was behaving strangely, which at this point wasn’t exactly the strangest thing in the world, but still solicited a closer inspection. Leaning over to Sam Fade motioned toward the other boy. “What’s with him?” ()

Gaia was giving instructions to the owls about getting her parcel and parchment from the tower there was a shift in the air. Someone had come in. Once the owls took off Gaia smiled to herself and quietly called Unicorn her brown owl. "Glad you could join us, Fade." Without any other words Unicorn took off, playfully pulled Fade's hair, and landed on his shoulder. "You can work with him while you are here." Gaia giggled and placed some treats on Fade's side of the table. ()

Millie walked into the enchanted dungeon with her notebook under her arm and pulling her hair back into a messy ponytail. She opted to leave her cat back in the common room so she knew the wouldn't try to hurt the owls. She hoped she wasn't too late. She had a hard time getting out of bed this morning. "Hey everyone!" Millie greeted the group. "Does anyone need a partner?"

"Ey Fade," he said quietly, "you look stressed. See Gaia, she's giving out pretty drinks. They look kinda like the draught of peace..." his voice trailing off without him making the connection. Briggs started making Magnus' hair into a nest and was hooting peacefully too.

Gaia waved at Millie () who had just entered the dungeon. Hearing Magnus remark Gaia giggled to herself "Yeah, Magnus, drinks all around." Shaking her head she heard the screech of her pet owl coming back from the Tower. Closely behind Umbra was carrying the package with the prizes. Once they have safely put everything on the table Gaia handed them both a treat and scratched their heads. "You seem in a better mood, Umbra. You may rejoin Sam ()." Gaia giggled as the owl hoot and flew to her owner. Gaia unrolled the parchment. "It is time for trivia! Everyone present is welcome to give their answers!" It was easier to just post the guidelines, so pulling out her wand she brought their small screen/blackboard up to the front where everyone could see.

( )

1. Orgnad
2. Racuten
3. Low
4. Wogarenin Bredcagik
5. Xipie

Every New Trivia Post will have the owl image. Hopefully this will make it easier to find.*

Magnus looked at the word scramble and wrote the words down, doodling little animals beside them. He handed Gaia the slip of paper and wandered back off to sit back beside Fade.

The paper said--

1. Orgnad -- dragon
2. Racuten -- centaur
3. Low -- Owl
4. Wogarenin Bredcagik -- Norwegian Ridgeback
5. Xipie -- Pixie

Gaia read over the parchment, "Well done, Magnus!() Since the first challenge has been solved I will post the second one!"

Millie waved back to Gaia. She was hopeless at word scrambles so she opted to skip that one and move onto the second trivia.

"Great work on that one Millie ()!" Gaia changed the screen to a new trivia.

Deleted my answers so it's fair for everyone else

Sam happily ruffled Umbra's head feathers as she scribbled out the trivia answers. It was not uncommon to see merfolk as well as the giant squid outside the Slytherin common room underwater windows.

-Are Merpeople taller than humans? Yes, often up to 7 feet tall

-What is Mermish? Their language

-Describe the Black Lake Merpeople. The majority of the Black Lake Merpeople colony have green hair, yellow eyes, and grey skin

-List the different known names for Merpeople and location where they can be found. (At least 3) Sirens and Undines-Greece (Mediterranean sea), Selkies-Scotland, Merrows-Ireland, Rusalkas-Russia.

-Finish this famous song:

Come seek us where our voices sound, We cannot sing above the ground, And while you're searching ponder this; We've taken what you'll sorely miss, An hour long you'll have to look, And to recover what we took, But past an hour, the prospect's black, Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.

Hygieia closed her eyes and cooed softly as Emmy scratched behind her head, turning her head sideways to expose more of her neck for scritches. She shifted her weight a little as Emmy leaned over and stopped scratching her for a moment, her feet tightening their grips on the girl’s arm a bit. When Emmy took interest in Magnus, Hygieia sat patiently in wait for more attention, glancing around at the other birds in the room.

Aderyn, meanwhile, chuckled as Elfie practically inhaled the treat she’d handed him. She smiled when he pressed his beak to her face again, giving her a little lick. Reaching up, she gently scratched the top of his head as he huddled in for warmth, tucking the hood of her sweater up a little bit around him so he was nice and comfortable.

She glanced up as Gaia came by, suggesting that she and Emmy try to teach each other’s owls a trick.

“Sounds good! I’ll give it a try.”

She pondered what kind of a trick she could teach Elfie and finally settled on an idea.

“Hey Elfie, d’you want to learn to count to five?”

He clapped his hands for Millie and Sam as they answered questions. Briggs was asleep on Magnus' head. Magnus tapped his chair and it started spinning slowly in place. He started singing the mermaid song after Sam finished repeating it.

"Awesome, Sam ()! I have to admit I have the song stuck in my head now! Nothing like a Tri-Wizard tournament involving Merpeople and their songs!" Gaia clapped "Congratulations to the winners so far! We will have a new round soon!" ( )

() "This trick should be fun! What happens at five?" Gaia was looking forward to everyone's trick and training abilities.

Emmy nodded at Sam, catching the bag of treats again as Sam tossed it back. Unforutnately she was out of ideas to help the girl control her owl. Emmy raised an eyebrow at Magnus as he started talking to her as if she were a librarian, and shot a sideways glance at Aderyn, wondering what on earth was wrong with him. But then other people started talking to him, so she turned her attention back to Hygieia, scratching her on the back of the neck again.

Emmy watched Hygieia nearly melting from the attention she was giving the owl, and she pondered what kind of trick she could teach her. She watched Aderyn talking to Elfie and laughed, so happy that the two were getting along so well. Elfie was snuggled up close to her neck inside her hood, cosy and warm and making soft cooing sounds.

Elfie let out a warbly, excited hoot as Aderyn spoke to him, gently nipping her earlobe in an answer to her question.

Emmy smiled, watching him, then decided to attempt to teach Hygieia to raise her wings high into the air on command, touching her wingtips together over her head.

"Okay, Hygieia," Emmy said, ceasing her scritching the owl's neck. She gently set the owl down on her legs so that the owl was facing her and looking up at her. "Can you do this?" she asked Hygieia, lifting both of her arms over her head and just barely touching her hands together over her head. She didn't expect the owl to do it right away, but hoped she would at least be interested.

()

Sam giggled at Magnus' performance of the mermaid's song on a spinning chair. She leaned over to Fade and explained quietly "Magnus came in study-drunk. Totally worn out. He thought he was in the library and was freaking out a bit. Gaia gave him something to calm him down, and help him get some sleep. I've got his book list..., such as it is..., so I'll pop by the Griffendor tower with 'em later." "Is that how the draught is supposed to affect people?" she asked Gaia in a whisper. In a normal voice she added. "Umbra can fly through spaces that are smaller than her wings are wide. Maybe I can train her to fly through little hoops."

Paddy realised she'd been staring at the owls in a kind of daydream, and looked around to see who she could pair up with. Spotting Fade () with an owl perched on his head, she walked over to him. "Who's your new owl friend?" she asked, "want to pair up for this task? I'm sure Mouse will co-operate...." she added, apparently unconvinced.

Ooc: hi everyone! I know I haven't done any challenges today. I got sick over the weekend with what seems to be the flu. I will try to post some tonight if not tomorrow we will have extras ;) This is not what I had plan but it won't stop me! ^^

Magnus twirled slowly in his chair and started feeling sleepy. Calm and sleepy. He stopped the twirling and leaned his head against Sam's shoulder. He was snoring lightly in less than a minute.