Toru smiled at Blade and nodded. "Mhm... But I-I like m-most animals, magical o-or not."

Thestrals had a sort of dark beauty to them, and could appreciate them. Like how beautiful cathedrals had grotesque gargoyles all over them but were still works of art. Especially the churches that took the time to make each gargoyle different.

"B-But your p-patronus can a-always change." They said confidently. Toru had read all sorts of ways that patronuses can alter. Like if you became an Animagi, your spell would reflect that animal. Also with unconditional love, your patronus would change to that of your soulmate/whom you loved completely's animal. Toru was interested in meeting the form of what their guardian would take, but knew it would be hard work before that happened.

They finished the last of their breakfast and gently dusted the crumbs off of their fingers and face before curiously glancing at the tables nearby. There had been quite a bit of energy with Callista's pet, Sabrina, trying to have some guests for breakfast. Toru shifted a little at the small cat nearby, but managed to stay put in their chair.

& & anyone else:

Callista smiled at Zoe. "No, of course I won't tell people your secret." A lot of them probably had guessed, but it was better if everyone pretended otherwise. "And I won't forget you, either. Promise. It'll be okay. You can send us owls. And even though it doesn't work inside the building, I take my mobile into the greenhouse every day to get a solar charge, so I'll be able to read texts and emails when I'm in Hogsmeade or if I can ever get out to sit up on top of the Astronomy Tower again like I used to."

She ran a hand through her hair. "Rule things out, and remember...a lot of people end up doing things that have nothing to do with this school. You'll be able to get work when you get out, even if you're working as a shop girl in Diagon Alley and doing part-time modelling on the side. So figure out which of the things you have to take NEWTs in you actually really like and would enjoy spending the whole day doing."

Callista leaned in and lowered her voice. "I'm getting ready to apply to design schools in Japan," she confessed. "That's part of why I'm always dead tired during the week. I have to have my portfolio in order, I have to have the muggle equivalent of a 12-year-school, so I have to study those things too, and I have to pass the language proficiency tests."

After a moment, she laughed. "My sister's disappointed that I'm not going to study programming. She wants to put the wizarding world on the internet, although not in a way that muggles can find it. But my brain just doesn't work that way!"

She waved to Toru. She was proud of them for not completely freaking out about Sabrina, especially after the thing that the cat had just done.

Lorcan looked up when another student () inspected the booth of Dominic Maestro's Music Shop. Could it be that someone else at this school was actually really interested in music? However, the redhaired student suddenly disappeared from the Great Hall, his purchases in his hands. It seemed that he had bought a lot. A rather big cat was around and Lorcan noticed how the student() next to him seemed to be a bit nervous. He couldn't blame the younger student - he didn't like cats that much since he owned a magpie, he was always looking out for potential dangers in the form of hungry cats. But luckily, he knew that his bird was probably flying over the Hogwarts grounds right now. Casually, he walked over to the shop booth since he wasn't in the mood to talk right now and began to study the range of music sheets. He was looking for a specific composition, a very becalming tune. He desired to add it to his small collection because there was no music shop on the island he lived - so most of the time when he heard a nice song, he tried to play it from his memory. Lorcan sighed. It must be here, come on. It's such a classic., he thought, while he was browsing the 'G' section once more.

Even though the day seemed to be mostly cloudy and rainy, it wasn't that cold. Or maybe Elizabeth was just accustomed to such temperatures since the Slytherin dormitory was down in the dungeons. Anyway, she was glad for such weather after the heatwave they just experienced at school. And finally not needing to worry about getting tanned anymore, she thought to herself and chuckled as she got herself a cup of tea. She flicked her wand to make a little bottle on the table pour some milk into her mug. With another flick, she stirred her beverage and then finally took a seat. Since she was focused on her tea on this beautiful morning - and maybe because she was just a little bit tired - she had barely noticed the other students. She saw Callista() and Zoe and waved at them before taking a sip of tea. She remembered the other students from the beach, but she had interacted just a little bit there.

Kiara watched Callista run after Sabrina - she was pretty sure the cat wouldn't have found pygmy puffs to be very tasty. Too much hair. She was glad though that her cat stayed in the dorms, so she didn't have to worry about him eating anything that was for sale...She saw several people shopping in the music shop, which made her remember that her younger brother's birthday was coming up. She glanced around the hall but he hadn't made an appearance yet. Maybe now would be a good time to get him a gift. Though heaven knows she didn't know enough about music to know what he would and wouldn't have already, especially since he learned it all so quickly, she could never keep up; so maybe not something from the music booth. But one of the others might have something. She sighed and looked up at the ceiling, watching it rain. She just didn't have any inspiration to move, even just across the hall. And she hadn't brought her money with her; maybe she could pay someone else back... how mad would the staff be if she accioed her wallet all the way from the Ravenclaw tower? +anyone else I missed

They saw Blade leave with an armful of purchases and was curious at what all that could possibly be since the boxes were much larger than a clarinet, but knew he would tell them when he was ready. They seemed to be good friends now after all. The thought caused their cheeks to darken just a bit and try not looking at him.

Speaking of friends, Jona had been kind of quiet and absent lately. They wondered what he was up to briefly since Callista and Zoe had mentioned him. It was almost unnervingly quiet without his loud energy filling the space. ALMOST.

The Hufflepuff glanced at Lorcan who seemed interested in their reaction with Sabrina. Perhaps he was afraid of cats as well? It was a pretty rare phobia since they were well liked as pets, especially at this school. Toru's curiousity got the best of them and they leaned toward him and whispered. "D-Do you not like cats e-either?" Toru recalled seeing him by the lake occasionally and wondered if he liked swimming or just the scenery.

Niamh looked round to say hello to Paddy, and noticed Blade had suddenly vanished when she turned back. Confused by him disappearing like that, she decided to have a look at the stalls, in particular the music shop things as she could do with some spare violin strings.

Paddy finished eating just as her owl flew into the Great Hall, landing on the empty plate in front of her. Untying the small box from her owl's leg, she opened it to find her Puffskein inside. "I thought you were staying home this term," she said as she rummaged in the box for a note. Finding a scrap of paper that looked like a hungry puff had been nibbling on it, she unfolded it and read what her mother had written. "Looks like you're staying here then," she said, handing it the note to finish eating, "I still don't see how you got in so much trouble though - the term has only really just started after all!"

Putting her Puffskein on her shoulder, she wandered over to the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes stall to see if there was anything that might occupy a Pygmy Puff during the day.

“Animals are most often better than people,” Blade said nodding. He listened to Toru’s words. From what he’d learnt so far most of the time the animals stayed the same unless it was a very significant life change. Would he want his patronus to change? It was a very rare one and to be honest he wasn’t really sure he could be someone so deeply in love that his patronus changed. Maybe that was partly because he’d never really had anyone else around? But the idea of being an animagus started creeping in his head. Now a thestral animagus would be freaking amazing.

“Thanks,” Zoe said. She had no idea anyone suspected. “Really?” she asked warmed and surprised, “ye’d do that for me?” She nodded. “Aye, I know. There’s just so much I like.” She wasn’t sure she had a career in modelling. “I guess I’ll make a list and cross things off.”

“Ooh really?” Zoe asked “that sounds amazing and a bit scary. I can see that being stressful. I hope ye get in. Lemme know please. Well, ye should do what makes ye happy. I’m sure she’ll be proud of ye.” She nodded at Elizabeth. “Morning.”

Niamh was now looking at the stalls. “I’m gonna look around, see if there’s anything I want,” Blade said to Toru. He still wanted to look for music, since he mostly got practice books. So he went back over to the music shop with the boy he didn’t know. Curiosity got the better of him. “What are you looking for?” he asked Lorcan.

Zoe noticed Paddy heading over to the shop with her puff on her shoulder. “Aww sweet, Paddy’s shopping with her pet. Wanna go look around Callista?”

, , , ,

"Of course I would," Callista replied, affixing Sabrina's leash to her harness. If they were going to go and walk around the pop-up shops, she was going to make sure there were no more opportunities for Sabrina to test out whether there was really a protection spell or not on the Pygmy Puffs. "I keep in touch with all my friends. And sure, let's go."

She waved at Toru as she passed them, hoping they'd notice that Sabrina was now harnessed and leashed. The worst danger anyone was ever in from the serval was getting jumped on, but as Sabrina got bigger, she was able to jump higher and higher and land with more force--eventually she'd be more than capable of knocking someone over, especially someone Toru's size.

and all

"Aww I appreciate that," Zoe said with a smile. She also gave a wave to Toru as they went to the shops. Zoe walked up to the boys at the music shop. "Hey, I'm Zoe Parker," she said. "Nice to meet ye both. I saw ye at the beach but we never really interacted. Ooh I need some music for my flute."

"Hi," Blade said not quite sure what else to say. Zoe seemed very peppy this morning. "Zoe, Callista. Flute huh? I play clarinet."

"Ooh cool," Zoe said. She hummed as she picked up some music and slipped it into her purse.

((leaving gap for chat ;) ))

After a little while, Zoe waved to the boys and headed to the Gladrags Wizardwear booth. She knew Callista would enjoy this booth more than the others most likely.

(before he went to the music shop :) ) ()

Lorcan seemed a bit surprised upon the inquiry from the smaller student next to him. He was not your typical nice person, but paused before responding as he was well aware that it probably took all of the younger student's courage. He had noticed the slight stuttering as well. So he put a smile on his face once he answered. "Well, kind of. Their cheeky nature and the fact that you're not able to predict their behaviour unnerves me a bit", he said, remembering the claw marks he had on his back from the one time a kneazle jumped on his shoulders to attack out of nowhere. "And I own a pet magpie, so I'm always on the look-out", he added and chuckled, "but she's safe flying outside on the grounds right now. What about you? I saw you on the beach, you looked pretty happy there."

(at the music shop) ()

It startled Lorcan a bit to be interrupted on his search and as he looked up, he saw the red-haired guy from earlier. Blade was his name, right? He heard others call him by that name on the beach. Or was it just an alias? "I'm trying to find the music sheet for Greensleeves. Ideally the piano notes.", he replied and just noticed that another student had joined them. He remembered her definitely, as she was one of the Head Girls. Lorcan chuckled. "So we have three different instruments now, huh? We should form an orchestra.", he said, amused.

((and all))

"Oh, well I'll help you look, but if its not here, I can pen my grandfather and he'll send a copy easily. I have it for clarinet." Blade didn't add that he had it memorised.

Zoe smiled. "Ooh that'd be neat. What do ye play? Lorcan right? If I'm wrong pretend it was a talking pygmy puff."

"Here it is," Blade said handing the boy the sheet music. "Was misfiled under S. No idea why." He kept browsing through and slipped some sheets into his hand. They were advanced pieces.

Toru realized that everyone was looking to shop, so they carefully unfolded themselves from the table and followed the group. It helped when they saw that Callie had clipped Sabrina into a harness with a leash. They visually relaxed which made them a little more brave to follow the others to the shops even though they themselves had nothing to buy. They also had a present for Callista and could give it to her later -- AKA Sans Sabrina.

"I...I think t-there is an orchestra c-club already?" They vaguely remembered seeing a flier for it as an extracurricular. It was pretty close to the Swim Team's poster which is how they remembered it. "I-I would l-love to hear you a-all play." They said with a small dreamy look.

They heard Locan's answer and blushed softly. They were probably the only person in the whole school who was actually -afraid- of cats. "B-Birds are nice. I'm a f-fish person." They look startled since it was pretty close to the actual truth. "I-I mean... I have... a pet fish." Toru admitted shyly, which was also the truth. They did have a betta swimming in a tank in their dorm room, and hopefully that cleared up any curious questions that might follow. "A-Ah yeah, I l-like swimming. A-A lot." They paused and glanced at Lorcan. "I see y-you at the lake s-sometimes."

Callista listened to the conversation about music. "I sing, a little, sometimes," she said after a moment.

She smiled at Toru. They were being brave. "I thought you might keep fish. Some fishes are very beautiful. I can't keep fish and a serval, but I appreciate them in other people's dorms."

Sabrina was also behaving herself now that she was in her harness, although she occasionally glanced at the Puffs with interest.

She glanced at Zoe when she headed off in the direction of Gladrags. "Zoe...did you see something you'd want to try on?" Callista had seen most of Gladrags' inventory the last time they'd done a pop-up in the Great Hall. There were a few new things, but not much of interest to her, although she was amused by some of the summery outfits that had been done up in House colours, despite the fact that they would never have passed muster as classroom uniforms.

She liked her own designs better, which was probably as it should be...although she didn't knit, so the sweater she had on was Liz Lisa. Or maybe Honey Salon. She couldn't remember; she only remembered charming it so the yarn would stay in place and not pull once the sweater was on, because sweaters from both those boutiques tended to get caught on everything, and Sabrina would have completely unravelled at least one of them by now without charms.

Kiara stretched, yawned, and finally pulled herself up from the table. She felt a little weird shopping in her slippers, but oh well. She walked over to where everyone else was milling around, mostly around the music stands. She was tempted by Honeydukes and the Weasley's booth, but she didn't want to buy her brother anything he might try to prank her with, and sweets didn't seem very special. Though of course she could buy some sweets for herself... she sighed and shook her head. She really didn't need them. Why were brothers so hard to buy for? He was always loosing his quills, maybe Scrivenshaft’s had more with an anti-loosing charm or something. @ everyone

(and all)

'Club? Is Toru joking?' Blade wondered. The thought of him in a club seemed rather odd. Sitting with others. Teamwork. Ugh. He hated teams and teamwork. And an orchestra is most decidedly a team.

Toru mention the betta they had, Blade even knew the fish's name since he'd seen it. And then Toru had also given him one as well. And Nimah gave him a tank too. "Fish are great," he said quietly not sure if anyone heard him or not. He also loved swimming and visited the lake often but he didn't volunteer this information. He wished he could swim in it more often but the wetsuit was too expensive to buy at the beach--he didn't have muggle money. Maybe he could order one and change is money in Hogsmede?

"I c-could try the club," Zoe replied shyly. "Oh you see? Callista can be the vocals." She smiled at Kiara. "Ye play?

"You could out put a spell on the tank, keep the cat away--similar to the repelling spells that work on muggles," Blade said. "I did on my tanks. Wisp doesn't bother them at all."

--

"I'm nee sure," Zoe said. Fashion wasn't her strong suit yet. "Do ye see anything that ye think would look good on me, Callista?"

Niamh hung back while Blade and Lorcan were chatting, pausing to watch the Puffskeins. Rummaging in her pocket, she counted out some coins to put into the box, and picked out a Puff. Pointing her wand at it, she muttered the repelling charm she'd learnt to protect her fish from her cats, and hoped she got it right. The Puffskein didn't seem fazed by the spell, so she let it ride on her shoulder, and headed towards the music shop in the hope they had some violin strings and maybe some Irish fiddle music.

Paddy smiled as she spotted Niamh buying a Puffskein, and wondered which spell the prefect had cast on it. The Honeydukes stall caught her eye - maybe she could get some sweets to share out in the common room. Everyone had seemed so quiet and engrossed in their homework lately, she felt they needed an excuse to just sit and chat.

and everyone else (ooc: you just knew Niamh wouldn't be able to resist the Puffskein, didn't you? :P)

Kiara blinked slowly, taking a minute to realize Zoe was talking to her. "Oh! Me? Nah, I don't play anything. My younger brother Moshe plays just about anything though. Part of that is that he learns quickly, but the other part is that he gets bored quickly. He's tried to teach me guitar just about a million times but I just can't get the hang of strumming patterns. Also, it makes my fingers hurt," she said, making a face. +everyone else

& everyone

"I don't think orchestras have vocals," Callista said, then frowned. Something around here smelled absolutely awful. Like the ocean, but with something dead in it, or something...

Oh no. It was Kiara. Sabrina was sniffing her, and making the odd face that Camilla had told her meant animals smelled something they thought was interesting.

If they were alone, she could've said something, but it would be too embarrassing to bring it up in public. Kiara really needed to go have a wash though!

Callista quickly glanced over at the Gladrags robes. "Sure, Zoe. What do you think about that embroidered blue dress?"

((Yep, tots knew Nimah would buy one haha))

Blade laughed as Niamh came back over. “I see you have an accessory now,” he said.

After Blade had all he wanted at the music stall, he gave Kiara a little glance before heading over to the Honeyduke’s stall. Did she have seaweed in her hair? “Hey,” he said to Paddy as he started looking for his favourite sweets. A large jar of pepper imps seemed to slip into his hands waiting to follow him back to the dorms.

“Ah I see,” Zoe said to Kiara. “I’ve nee tried guitar myself. I play flute. How old is ye brother?”

“Well ye could do an opera,” Zoe said with a cute little grin. She suddenly had an image of Callista in a Viking hat and fake fur. The image was just too amusing since she couldn’t see Callista ever wanting to wear such a thing. And of course, Zoe herself had never been to any operas until recently so her mind always went to the Viking woman.

Zoe looked at the dress Callista pointed out. “Hmm, it’s really nice. Blue does look good on me, I think.” She valued the Slytherin’s opinion since she wasn’t all that “up” on fashion.

and everyone else

Niamh blushed, "you knew I wasn't going to be able to pass up another companion. I just hope my cat repelling charm worked, otherwise it'll be getting a good workout with Lick and Rish chasing it!"

Paddy smiled as Blade approached, "I was going to ask what you favourite sweets are, but I guess that'd be the pepper imps?"