Sauvage quickly turned to Fade when he mentioned going over to the group after eating and said, "Oh, it was zat obvious?" She smiled sheepishly. "I am just not sure 'ow to act right now. Wiv zem, wiv you." She started braiding her hair int nervous locks. "I am not sure 'ow to act at all, to be 'onest. I 'ave never done zis before..." She slowly looking up at Fade, chewing on her lip, anxiously waiting for him to say something.

Edit: "Weeeeell," Jona said, a slight tone of resistance in his voice. "I'm originally from the States - Washington State in the Northwest. I lived there for just over 9 years before - " He scrunched up his face, trying to figure out how to phrase it all just right - "stuff happened. Then I had to pack up and move to my uncle's place in Glasgow."

Not one to pry, Zoe simply said, "ah I see. And how do ye like Glasgow?"

Merlin was very confused about Drew's reaction so he looked at Magnus. "Was it something I said? I was just telling him the news." Merlin went to River and hugged her. "Maybe he is sad he have missed so much and it's jealous you had and not him. I hope he changes his mind soon, I'd hate to lose a friend and it's not like I have that many." He sit back next to Magnus. "You think we should do something to cheer him up?"

"It's pretty nice." Jona shrugged nonchalantly. "To be honest, I haven't seen much of it. I'm pretty sure I didn't leave my room the first 6 months I was there and then the next 6 months, I was able to add the kitchen and backyard to my repertoire. I think it's starting to grow on me, though. I definitely don't hate it as much as I used to. What about you? Where do you live exactly?"

Drew made his way back to the Slytherin table though what he really wanted to do was somehow summon Fleet and take off on a ride. He thought briefly of the freedom he could have found by calling one of the thestrals, but that memory called up others of Mags () and Merlin () and he shoved them aside for the moment and instead quietly ordered a pumpkin juice, looking around at who was still there. He smiled at seeing Lenore (), Poppy (), and Elizabeth () still there along with Rosie (). He also noticed another Slytherin girl with blond hair he had not seen earlier.

His eyes scanned over to another table as he took a sip of his drink and he had to grin at the sight of Fade () and Sauvage () together. About time, Drew thought to himself, happy that the pair had decided to become…well, a pair. He liked both of them, especially the talented and fun Fade, who Drew had met during his first term at Hogwarts.

As he sipped his pumpkin juice, he thought about others he’d met during his short time here and wondered where they might be at the moment. But new..or at least new to him.. students continued to catch his eye such as a centaur, the girl with the purple hair who had the augurey as a pet, and the cute little Hufflepuff girl who seemed so shy and unsure. They all seemed interesting and Drew was tempted to go and speak to them. He might once he was done with his drink, he thought to himself.

"'E's feeling left out cos 'e and 'is family went other places for the 'oliday. And yes, I think 'e is jealous of River."

River accepted Merlin's hug. "I don't wanna be the cause of a lost friend. Maybe I should go for a bit see if you can talk to him?"

Magnus shrugged. "You're guess is as good as mine. I tried to reassure him but... I don't know..."

"Well I hope ye can see more of it and like it. I live on a moor in the middle of nowhere by Loch Ness. Been passed down for years, Do nee think anyone knows we live there actually. We have a muggle mailbox at the post office. At the edge of the moor, there's a cliff where ye can look down and see the trees, otherwise its heather for miles and our gardens. I love it. Ye can come round and take a look if ye fancy. Mum and Dad have been saying they'd love company." Zoe smiled at the young boy. She was happy to have someone to talk to.

Jona bobbed his head enthusiastically as he listened to Zoe. He said, "Yeah, I'm looking forward to exploring the area this next summer. So, did you say both your parents are muggles?" Jona was curious. Being here at Hogwarts was his first time meeting witches and wizards his own age. "My uncle is a muggle, but his partner is a wizard, so most of what I know about the world of magic I've learned from him."

"Good, I find Scotland magical. Always have. The wind in the moors sounds like howling sometimes. And the mountains hold the fog so it's nee easy to see, but it looks amazing." Zoe nodded. "Aye, they are. I'm a muggle born. Though I think my great great granddad was a wizard. Some of the family stories sound like it now I know about magic. He's the one that built our home." She gave him a smile. "Nice. Ye had some insight before coming here."

"Then I suppose we have to let him know we still love him." Merlin smiled. "We also missed things about him."

Merlin nods to River. "Alright, you go make new friends and we try to fix things with old friends. See ya later then." Merlin gave River a quick kiss and signal Magnus to follow him.

"Should we just ambush Drew or what do you suggest? I say we ambush him!"

Magnus nodded. "We gotta 'elp 'im. 'E can't stay away from his friends cos 'e missed them, that's bonkers."

River nodded. "Come find me okay? I think I'm gonna go talk to that cute little hufflepuff boy. I want to pinch his cheeks with his adorableness. He reminds me of Niall." River giggled and went to look for Jona. She plopped herself down in front of him and Zoe. "Hi," she said brightly.

Magnus snickered. "OKay, ambush it is."

Fade was a little confused. Sauvage said she hadn’t done ‘this’ before but he wondered what she meant. Pondering it out was a little distracting because of the way she was chewing her lip. It was cute and it gave him butterflies in his stomach. Did she mean she had never had a boyfriend before? He found it hard to believe that someone as beautiful and talented as Sauvage had never been asked out before now. Oh gods, was this a date? A cold sweat broke out over his body at the notion. Grabbing food in the Great Hall was not his idea of what a first date should be. But then again he wasn’t really sure what it shouldn’t be, having never actually gone on a date before. Maybe she meant something along those lines of thought...

“Well, you know. You don’t have to act any sort of way. Just be yourself… And I’ll try to be myself too. We can see if we still like each other afterwards.” He grinned. “I’ll even let you rescind your agreement to go out with me if you want to.” Fade nudged the cup of cocoa toward her and reached for his chili. He was so preoccupied he didn’t notice Drew looking their way, probably a good thing because he would have been embarrassed if he had. ( )

Merlin said goodbye to River and head out to find Drew with his friend Magnus. He saw other friends around and smiled, happy to see them again, there on the Slytherin table was the black haired boy Drew. "You know, I was looking forward to see you again and have fun with my dear friend again but you suddenly left. I missed you and don't think for a minute we forgot about you. We are still the three Musketeers. Right Mag?"

"Only a bit of insight, really." Jona said to Zoe. "Allen taught me a few simple spells, basically to clean up after myself when I break things."

He was startled at first by River, who came out of nowhere. "Um, hi." He said self-consciously. It took him a minute for his brain to get over the surprise and then he smiled cheerfully at her like he normally would. "River! Whatcha up to?"

Fade looked confused and, if she was reading his features right, a little doubtful. She decided to elaborate: "What I mean is...I 'ave never been in a relationship before, nor 'ave I ever felt so strongly about someone to even consider it." She blushed the color of bruised strawberries at the moment, realizing she had just confessed just how strongly she felt about Fade. "I uh...what I mean is...uh..." She started sputtering and could not stop. She looked at Fade helplessly. It was then that she really became aware of just how much she liked the boy and she was honestly hurt when he offered to cancel their date. "Well, I am sorry if I am scaring you already. I did not mean to." She looked away, feeling her heart clench into a fist and her eyes sting with the promise of tears. "I am going to be 'onest and say zat I want nozing more zan to go on a date wiv you - per'aps many dates, if you feel so inclined. But now is your chance to say no if you are at all scared or concerned." She looked at Fade then with a ferocious passion, ready to flee from the hall if need be.

The boys found Drew easily enough. "Exactly Drew, we missed you and we wanna hang with you. C'mon don't you miss my pretty face?" Magnus batted his eyelashes and poked Drew on the shoulders. When all else fails, be annoying. "Cmon on smile, you can do it... I know you can... you just lift your frown upside down." He twisted so he was looking upside down at Drew. "See, look I'm smiling again."

"Do ye break things on purpose?" Zoe asked with a raised eyebrow. She groaned lightly when River came up. 'Great,' she thought.

River smiled at them. "Just walking around mingling. Bit bored. The train ride was long and I just want to run or fly or i don't know."

"Ye can nee," Zoe replied, "not tonight. Supposed to take our houses to the common rooms as soon as the feast ends."

"Oh," River said. "Bummer."

Jona opened his mouth to reply to Zoe when River interjected. "Gotta let off some steam, huh? Are we allowed to just going walking around on the campus? I'd love to get a tour of the place eventually." He looked at Zoe, trying to recall if she'd told him what year she was and if that made her qualified to give him a tour.

Jona deflated a bit as well at the thought of not being able to explore the grounds, but he quickly cheered up realizing that meant getting to spend that much more time interacting with other Hufflepuffs, like Millie and Lilly. He realized that there were a lot of girls at this school. And then shook his head of the thought, coming to terms with the fact that that wasn't the case. It was just the girls that were interacting with him. He had a tendency to make friends quicker with girls than he did with other boys. He always wondered why that was the case. He didn't care about the reason so much as he was just curious to know the cause. He blinked. He had gotten lost in his thoughts - again.

Turning back to Zoe, he said, "I don't purposely break things. It just sorta...happens." With that he grinned devilishly at Zoe and winked at her.

River nodded. "Yeah dying too."

"Not at night," Zoe answered Jona's question. "During the day, aye ye can walk around the grounds. Most of the time, unless ye are with a teacher or have a note, ye can't be outside after dark" Jona's wink didn't convince her of his innocence. "Ye be up to mischief I think."

River didn't look pleased with this. "Well, we'll pretend I never heard this." She kinda got the feeling she wasn't particularly wanted in this little conversation. "Well...er, I'll just go..."

River suddenly got up to leave and Jona instinctively reached out his hand towards her, mostly because he didn't know what to say other than "huh?"

Once his brain caught up with his body, he continued: "Wait, why leave? You only just got here?" Everything about Jona was in questions. His eyebrows knitted together; his mouth hanging open in a small O; his head cocked to one side like a confused puppy. Did he do something wrong?

Jona looked from Zoe to River to Zoe again, wondering if she knew what was going on and if he was in fact the cause.

"Are you going to walk around the grounds? 'Cause if that's the case, you probs shouldn't do it alone, considering what Zoe just said." Jona started pulling his feet up, making to leave if that's what was to be done.

River shrugged. "Well I thought I was in the way. You two seem like you'd rather not chat with me. It's okay. If I'm wrong, then that's great."

Zoe merely shrugged. She had no idea why the girl was leaving.

"I thought about it," River replied to Jona. "So gallant, Jona. But I would be fine. I'm used to doing things by myself. If I can hang out in tombs with rotting mummies and curses left and right I think I'll be just fine walking the grounds of a castle. 'Sides, I'm fifteen."

Zoe shook her head. "Ye can nee go," she said, "I'm a Head Girl. I do nee want to take points from ye or get ye in trouble." She bit her lip not sure how to stop this and afraid of loosing the only person who'd called her a friend.

"Rules are made to be broken," River said rebelliously but she sighed and sat back down. "Fine... I'll stay inside... for now."

Jona was thoroughly confused. Why would they not want to talk to River? However, he kept his mouth shut on the matter; he had a feeling that asking that would just make the situation worse. Instead, he questioned something else she said.

"Gallant? I don't know about that. You all -" he motioned to River and Zoe both "- seem more than capable of handling yourselves. And I'm only a first year, so like, what could I even do? I don't think gallantry has anything to do with it - otherwise I'd be in Gryffindor. I was worried at the thought of anyone walking out alone and just felt I should join, not because I thought I could save you from something happening." He smirked at Zoe, in hopes of driving a point home after their earlier talk. "It's just what friends do."

"Well," River said, "I think you are wrong. It is gallant. Being worried at the thought of anyone walking alone is very brave and gallant. And just so you know, everyone has aspects of all houses in them I think. The hat took a while with me that was for sure. My sorta little brother was sorted into Hufflepuff. But he only stayed at Hogwarts for a week before he was pulled out and homeschooled."

Zoe filed the compliment away. No one had ever been sure she was good at much of anything except her parents. The girl gave a shy smile to Jona. She was quite confused with what was going on.