relax

"We have lots of faith in you," Hilary said, sticking out her tongue. "But that doesn't mean we want to have to drag you up to the hospital wing. We like you with all your limbs sticking out at the correct angles."

She laid back in the grass, enjoying the fresh air around her. This was far better than being stuck inside the castle. She loved it at Hogwarts, but sometimes, the ginormous castle just felt a little too small.

"Can cooties breathe underwater?" she asked, sitting up. "And maybe the squid doesn't have t worry about them, since he's older. Grown ups don't seem to catch cooties."

Theresa huffed "I am not going to fall, I have the balence of a cat" she said, giggling as she scooted along the branch for a better view. She thought for a moment "because squids are cute and I cant really see a squid kissing another" she said with a disgruntled expression. "And boys, especially boys here are just plain yucky" she said sticking her tongue out. She looked at Hilary and nodded "exactly, cooties musnt be able to breath under water... but squid cooties, that sounds so funny" she laughing. Laughing so much that she fell back slightly, she squealed but quickly recovered. She looked around, hoping no one else saw that as her cheeks went bright red.

Shelby shook her head at Theresa. "Honestly, do you want to fall to your death? You'd better be careful up there," she said, laying down on her back and looking up at the almost perfectly clear blue sky. There were only a few fluffy, white clouds drifting across it.

She laughed suddenly. "Look, that cloud looks like a snitch!" she pointed up at a cloud.

"Ew!" Hilary said, at the comment about the squids kissing. She would have thrown something at her friend, but she really didn't want to knock her out of the tree. "That was a mental image I really didn't need to see."

She panicked a little when she saw Theresa almost tip backwards out of the tree while laughing, but kept her mouth shut. If it had been her younger sister, she would have demanded she get out of that tree right now. But she didn't think you could treat your friends like you could your baby sister.

Theresa shook her head as she settled back down "I am fine, the view is worth it" she said, she giggled when she looked up at the fluffly clowds. She grinned at Hilary "briliant" she said teasinly about the mental image. She picked one of the leaves off the tree and let it fly down to the growned, watching as it twirled in the wind.

Shelby smacked the leaf that Theresa had dropped. It had been about to land on her face. "Theresa, if I want to be covered in the plants of Hogwarts, I will ask you to cover me in leaves," she laughed. "Until then, I would prefer to be foliage free, please!" she exclaimed up to where Resa was sitting in the tree.

Theresa grinned down at her friend "but it's so much fun" she teased, picking another leaf and holding it in front of her. She was glad that she was so high now, it made everything more fun. The only downside was falling but she was going to be more careful.

Hilary watched her friend in the tree. She was still nervous that the branch was going to break or something was going to happen that would cause Theresa to fall. She just didn't want to say anything.

She got up from where she had been sitting on the grass and wandered over to the lake. She picked up a flat rock and skipped it out over the lake. It bounced three times before falling into the water. She couldn't help but think of her sister. Emma had been great a skipping rocks.

Theresa was surprised when Hilary suddenly stood up and walked over to the lake. She looked upset about something, she threw the leaf back and climbed down the tree. She hurried to her friend "whats wrong?" she asked, she hopped that it wasnt anything she did, she was only messing.

Hilary instantly felt a bit guilty. Theresa probably thought that she was upset because she was in the tree, which wasn't at all the case.

"Just thinking about my sister," she said, skipping another rock out over the water. This one bounced four times before sinking. "I'm just a bit worried about her, stuck at home with just my dad."

Shelby wrinkled her nose. "I'm sure she'll be fine," Shelby said. "You'll get to see her soon enough. Besides, absence makes the heart grow fonder. At least, that's what my mum says to my dad whenever she has to go away for work. If it helps, I miss my little brother too."

Theresa hugged her "maybe if you write to her, you will feel better" she suggested. She knew she couldn't imagine how they felt about missing their younger siblings, her sister was already at the shool, in her house. She looked out at the lake, now she really missed her Mother and Father, she quickly shook her head before it showed.

"True," she said, returning to her previous spot on the grass. "And it seems like time is flying. It'll be Christmas before we know it."

After a moment, she said, "I think I'm going to head up to bed now. It's getting late, and I'm figuring that being awake in class tomorrow is a good idea. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

She picked her bag up off the ground and headed back towards the castle.

"Bye Hilary, see you tomorrow" Theresa said as she walked back to the tree. She climbed onto the tree, making sure that she wasnt as high this time. "I still cant believe that today has been so calm" she said, remembering how loud and horrible it was the day before.

"Yeah, it's been pretty nice," Shelby said. "I mean, compared to the chaos that was going on in and around the castle a few days ago and compare that to how it is now. This is probably the most calm that the castle will ever be," she said, before adding, "Unless, Merlin forbid, this sort of thing happens again."

Theresa shook her head "if something like that happens again then I am going on strike somewhere, refusing to go anywhere where people are talking about the points" she said. "Like in the Room of Requirements or something, it can be the common room to the house of awesome" she said, giggling at the idea.

Shelby gasped. "We do need a common room! Do you think the Room of Requirement can make us a common room that will always be there whenever we need it? And let us each decorate our own area with our chosen house colors and mascots?" Shelby's mind was whirring. The idea of actually having a House of Awesome common room was fantastic.

Theresa giggled "I hope so, it sounds great when you say it like that" she said. She had been randomly thinking but it would be briliant to have a common room for the house of awesome. "It would be so fun, we could have our onw furniture in it, like purple couches, book shelves and stuff" she said, grinning madly as she pictured what it could look like.

"Who said anything about purple? I'm going for furniture with polka dots on it!" Shelby giggled. She really did love the idea of having her own bookshelves, because she had a ton of books. Right now they were stored in a trunk under her bed, but she'd love to have them displayed out in the open. Especially since they were easier to select that way.

Theresa stuck her tongue out "fine Princess Shelby, what colours would you chose then?" she asked teasingly. This all sounded so much fun, the house of awesome would be so official if they had a common room for it. Somewhere that they could all go and there could be anything they wanted in there, and nothing that could possibly kill them.

"Well, my colors would be hot pink and silver and my mascot would be a white tiger, but you, Hilary, and Lauren could each choose your own colors and mascots," Shelby giggled in delight. "Maybe when Lauren gets here from wherever she is, we can go see if the room can make us a common room."

Theresa giggled madly "oh deffinetly, I want one of my colours to be purple but I don't know what to make the second, not much matches purple, oh and my mascot will be an alaskin husky puppy because they are the cutest!" she said. She suddenly stopped and thought for a moment "but what will we be called, theres Gryffindor, Ravenclaw Slytherin, Hufflepuff and... what?" she asked. They couldn't just be called awsomes like Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs.

"Yeah, huskies are so cute! One of my muggle neighbors back home has one and it has one brown eye and one blue eye. So cute!" Shelby squealed. "I don't know what we would be called. I mean, the other houses are named after the surnames of the people who created them, so if we followed that tradition, we'd be called Thomases, but I think that sounds dumb. Maybe we should just be called Awesomes," Shelby suggested.

"Aw that sounds so cute, all husky's are adorable" she said, giggling. "Well I am up for the awsomes, sounds amazing even though it sounds like these things my mum told me about called... superheros" she said, surprised that she remembered. "We could so just hang out in the common room and have house meetings" she said, laughing more. "oh wait, all the houses have passwords" she said thoughtfully, she didn't know if passwords were good or not for the awesome common room.

"I don't know if we would actually need a password," Shelby said. "That room is pretty amazing. I'll bet that if we asked it to, it would only let in people who have been officially inducted into the House of Awesome. Or we could make it so that the only people who can get in are members of the House of Awesome or they have to be invited into the common room by a member of the House of Awesome."