Today was a foggy day and for some unknown reason Gavin decided to go outside for the evening. He of course was wearing a sweater, costumed made, and his usually nice shoes were replaced by old worn out ones. No need for them to get dirty. The Slytherin common room was packed with whiney teenagers wanting to spend the day outside. It was for that reason Gavin went outside, no one wanted to spend the day outside on such a foggy evening. Smirking to himself, Gavin waved goodbye to "his girls", or as he called them, and started to walk to the courtyard. The library was probably going to be filled with people anyway.

Humming to himself, girlish yes, Gavin settled himself under a tree just outside of Hogwarts with a book in one hand. He never fancied skimming the pages but the story he was reading was too dull. What was his friend Jackie thinking when she handed him this book? Just like girls, they never had any taste.  It was always this mushy crap that they were so into. He should've known that the contents were girly when the title, "Forever entwined" was imprinted on the book. Lucky for Gavin his leg was mended thanks to the healer in the hospital wing and that it wasn’t a bad break at all. He didn’t care for her name but she was pretty good looking he had to admit. Kyle was probably in worse condition than he was though and that was always a plus. Hooray for magic!

Throwing the book to the floor, it was Jackie’s but he didn’t care about other people’s stuff, he took out another book from his bag. The floor was rather wet, after raining yesterday but Gavin didn’t seem to mind. Not many people were out and that’s the way he liked it -- quiet and peaceful. Maybe it was time to write to Analiza and ask how things were going at home. No matter what Gavin did he always found himself bored with what he was doing. Hogwarts seemed like a tedious place compared to the real world.

Just this morning Gavin decided to do his usual routine. Get up, get dressed, eat at the great hall with the same fake friends as always – except for Alex and Dev, and attend classes. What Gavin really needed was some alone time with his books. He picked up his wand and started to wave it around in imitation to what the book was asking for. He wanted to make his own spells up but even Gavin wasn’t that smart. It was one of the many goals he wanted to achieve. 

Fauna wandered around outside this early evening, enjoying the mysterious atmosphere and the blanket of haze that obscured everything more than a few feet away. It was like she was rediscovering the Hogwarts grounds, which was more literal than she cared to admit, as she’d already gotten lost. She wanted to find this one particular tree, but was close to settling for just about any tree so she could sit down for a bit. Her feet kept tripping up over the various tree roots and rocks in the ground, causing her to stumble every few steps and look as though she’d had too much Butterbeer.

The giggling didn’t help that impression. The rats on her shoulders were engaged in a mock battle over a sole Bertie Bott bean. Fauna didn’t have the heart to tell them that she suspected it was barf-flavored.

“Now Flubber, that’s Bernie’s,” she scolded halfheartedly, reaching in the pocket of her hoodie to pull out another bean for Bernadette. Bernie was only a year old, and Fauna had picked her up from the Magical Menagerie after her first pet, and first rat ever, died from old age. It had been a tragic experience for Fauna, and she still teared up sometimes when Bernie would snuggle her neck or nibble her ear in a distinctly Donna-like fashion. A pet was a pet, and anyone who told her that it was only a rat was treated to a rare outburst of anger.

Flubber, however, was just along for the ride and the free food. She was a sixth month old ‘roly-poly’, with an excess of energy and mischievousness. The kitchen house-elves had chased her out of the biscuit tin on more than one occasion, but she was friendly for a castle rat, and never bit Fauna, so Fauna liked to carry her around and indulge her sweet tooth.

Apparently, giving Bernie another bean was a grievous mistake. Flubber dropped the barf-flavored bean and began chasing Bernie around Fauna’s shoulders, trying to get the better treat. How Flubber knew it was cotton candy flavored, Fauna didn’t know, but she liked to imagine this was why she chased poor Bernie. In truth, Flubber was just a greedy little thing.

Soon enough, with only a couple of near falls, Fauna found the tree she was looking for. It was old and craggy, and though it wasn’t her favorite, it ranked high up on her list of good trees to sit under. She stopped suddenly when she saw an odd appendage to the tree trunk, making it appear bulky at the base. When the appendage moved, gesturing in the air, Fauna jumped. She squinted into the fog. Perhaps it was a mutant bowtruckle, or an acromantula with spindly legs, or perhaps Ollie had forgotten to go home during the full moon and…

No, that was silly. Fauna had seen Ollie leave, even hugged her goodbye. It was probably an overgrown bowtruckle.

She took a shaky step forward, and sighed with relief. It was just student. He wasn’t a student she particularly wanted to see, but at least he was human. As she mulled this over, the pair of rats had migrated and were running all over her legs. Fauna was vaguely thankful that she wore jeans instead of a skirt this evening. If she had been thinking clearly, she would have scooped the two of them up and put them in her pockets so they wouldn’t run around in the grass. However, Fauna was still stuck in her imaginings, and it was only Bernie’s indignant squeak that brought her back to reality.

She watched with mild surprise as Bernie and Flubber scampered over her boots and into the weeds. Bernie was in the lead, stubbornly holding onto her bean, though Flubber was gaining.

“Oh… no,” Fauna whispered, realizing she might lose sight of the two. She took a few very careful steps forward. “Hey! Heeey!” She called to Gavin, crouching down to try and find her rats. Ah, there they were. Racing towards the boy’s pant leg. “Watch out!” she cried. “Be careful! Don’t, don’t.. step…” she blathered incoherently, watching in horror as Bernie hesitated for one moment by Gavin’s sock, then disappeared up the leg of his pants.

The fog only seemed to get worse as the minutes passed by. It didn't bother Gavin though, he wasn’t afraid of nonsense that was put into fairy tales to scare the kids during bedtime. Finally he decided to whisper lumos and was able to see the pages a bit clearer but the fog seemed to make the pages a bit damp. He didn't care, it wasn't his book anyway. But being such a nice gentlemen as he was, he put the book back into his bag and stared out into the unknown. Now that he thought of it the scenery didn't even feel like they were at Hogwarts anymore.

There was a noise in the distance and Gavin jerked his head to the right. It was probably a student though but he didn't stop staring. If it was that Gibson again Gavin would be pleased to knock him one right in the jaw. This time Gavin was ready and Nicola wasn't there to force him to yield. Contemplating on if he should go over, Gavin's muscles twitched.

He most certainly didn't want to be off guard, how idiotic was that, but he didn't want to be one of those "blondes" in the stories he used to read about how they would go into danger and get killed. If anyone was going to get hurt it was that Gibson character. Finally the figure was suddenly becoming clear but it wasn't Gibson, it was a girl. How strange, Gavin thought, usually girls get offended by this sort of weather.

Being Gavin, he didn't want to be bothered so he let her go on her way without saying hi. She was talking to herself anyway which was very odd and he didn't know exactly who she was.

“Watch out! Be careful! Don’t, don’t.. step…”

One moment Gavin was enjoying himself looking out into the distance and the next he heard the girl yell and a weird feeling going up his pants. Immediately Gavin jumped up from where he was sitting, a very comfortable spot, and started to shack his leg. It had to be the one that just broke of course, because Gavin had bad luck with that, and it was still sore. He yelled in pain from the scratches of two tiny beasts going up his leg and also the pain from his recently mended ankle.

"Holy CRAP!" He yelled trying to shack the two rats out of his pants. Finally he received his leg back with much difficulty and before the rats could run off again he grabbed them by their tails. Some sort of pebble dropped from one of the rat's hands and almost instantly they both tried to grab it.

Picking up his wand, Gavin pointed at them with caution. "Oh I'll make sure you guys are sorry for ever troubling me you filthy...." He stopped. Apparently the two rats owned to the girl starring at Gavin looking worried. They didn’t look like the usual rats coming out of the sewer. These rats looked like pets for the most part. He held the rats up higher so she could see and opened his mouth.

"Are these yours Miss?" 

Kyle loved foggy days such as these. There was something rather calming about them, once one got over the fact that the fog was in fact not produced by dementors. He had read stories from the war with Voldemort about that sort of thing. Generally Kyle enjoyed going to the lake to think things out, or play some music from his magical player to relax himself. It was this very thing that Kyle was planning to do. He had essays to do for his classes, but with a common room so packed with students who seemingly fear the "bad" weather, he wouldn't be able to focus anyways.

Stepping outside into the misty weather, Kyle let out a long sigh. The mist was pleasing - it felt good against Kyle's cool skin. He was dressed fairly warmly, an old pair of jeans and his signature leather jacket that he had been wearing for years. After a few minutes wandering the grounds, having trouble finding the lake even though he had been there countless times Kyle heard a noise that sounded like a girl. He wondered who else was mad enough to come out into the weather like this. As Kyle approached the noise he made out two figures by a tree. Getting closer he first recognized Fauna Blake, a girl of his year that he did not know very well.

Curious to see who was with her, Kyle stepped a little closer to see it was Gavin Snark. Kyle was immediately disgusted. Gavin? Really? Come on Fauna, you can do better than him. It was ridiculous. As it stands, every single girl in Hogwarts must be in mad love with Gavin Snark. He always has a girl with him. This of course reminded Kyle about the duel the two had in the room of requirement. If Nicola hadn't stepped in Kyle would have won, even with the horrific injury he had sustained in the form of a compound arm fracture.

"Fauna, Gavin." He said greeting the two, in a casual manner. No need to be hostile yet. "I see I'm not the only one who enjoys the weather..." He commented, "How's your leg Gav?" He added with a smirk.

Stunned, Fauna watched with increasing alarm as Gavin jumped around, trying to get the rats out of his pants. Not to be outdone, Flubber had followed Bernie in her path of doom and was now suffering the consequences. Her hands clenched in worry as the two rats fumbled out from Gavin’s pant leg. They wrestled for the bean, appearing unharmed, and Fauna bent down to grab them.

She was too slow. Gavin picked them up by their tails and pointed his wand at them.

“Wait! WAIT!” she shouted as he muttered threats at the critters. With a shaky hand, Fauna took out her wand, not sure what exactly she could do with it, but feeling the need to be prepared.

However, he soon stopped the stream of insults and stared at the rats for a moment that felt like ages to Fauna. Then he asked if they were hers.

“Uh-huh,” she said, her voice a bit wobbly. She cleared her throat. “Can I… have them back?” She didn’t know how she got herself into these situations. She hoped that Gavin was kinder than Inika, which was highly ironic. Gavin barely seemed to know her, not even remembering her name, and she could only wish that would work in her favor.

Fauna stepped right up to him and held out her hands, trying not to think about the poor rat’s tails. In imitation of Professor Gunnar, she gave him her best puppy dog look and waited.

Suddenly, a voice sounded from the fog, and she wheeled around in surprise.

“Oh… hi Kyle,” she replied, surprised to see so many people out and about tonight.

“His leg?” she repeated dully, missing the sarcasm in Kyle’s voice. “Is your leg all right?” She asked Gavin. “I hope… they didn’t scratch you.” Fauna felt guilty. While she hadn’t appreciated the insults towards her pets, she could understand his reaction, and just wanted there to be no ill feelings.

Fauna, of course, was totally oblivious to the fight that had occurred between Gavin and Kyle yesterday. Though she’d heard there was some kind of commotion in the hospital wing, she was unaware of the details, and had assumed Kyle had injured himself again. The boys had never gotten along, to be sure, but she didn’t pay attention to gossip. Last night, Fauna had been more concerned about her friend Ollie, and how she was faring on the night of the full moon.

Why would someone want the rats back? They looked and smelt weird. Without thinking he dropped the rats down in her hands with disgust. He was happy they were gone. "Why do you carry those things around?" asked Gavin. He wasn't sure who her name was. She was kind of cute though as he studied her but seemed to lack self-confidence.

Gavin noticed that he had seen this girl from time to time around the halls and in the Great Hall. She was friendly at least, she didn’t mean any harm and if Gavin did kill or injure the rats she would probably kill him. She seemed like that type of person…

"I've seen you around... Your --" But his question was stopped when he spotted Gibson. He always came at the wrong timing and it was only comical that the only time Gavin and Kyle seemed to meet up was when Gavin was with a girl. Where was Kyle's girl though? Oh right, he didn't have one. He was too busy trying to hate everyone in the world. And to think, Gavin had a lot of enemies?

 "How's your leg Gav?"

Gavin just nodded at Gibson, he didn't deserve anything else.  When did they start having nicknames for each other? If Kyle starts calling Gavin pumpkin than that is when he will draw the line but as of now he would let it go. After his broken ankle, that was supposed to be the product from falling down the stairs, Gavin only felt more anger towards Kyle but he didn't want to start anything.

"It's okay, well before these two rats started scratching at it." He pointed at the rats and then at Kyle’s arm. "How's that arm there?" It was very funny that the only outcome of the duel was that they hurt themselves, not their target. In fact if Gavin didn't hurt his leg he would've finished Gibson off like that. He was too busy flying to notice what Gavin was going to do anyway.

"Don't worry," Gavin said winking at Fauna. "Scratches will mend easy. It's not like they did much damage." This was false but there was no reason for worrying the girl, she seemed enough panicked for all three of them. "I guess everyone wanted to enjoy this nice evening right?" He laughed.

“I hope… they didn’t scratch you.”

Kyle couldn't help but chuckle a little. She had genuine concern, something about the rats that frankly Kyle didn't want to know about. What Gavin did with rats was not a subject of interest to him. Kyle was not sure if he should explain what happened to Fauna for several reasons, mainly being that he did not know if she was trustworthy with that sort of thing. He'd never exchanged more than a few words with her, but it Kyle thought that she thought that he was weird. Rightfully so perhaps? "Ah -- no... he er, fell." Kyle said awkwardly, hoping that Gavin would acknowledge that he wasn't being some two bit snitch.

"How's that arm there?"

Kyle's smile turned to a frown. "Er, well. It's fine now. But whats her name freaked out because the bone was coming out so bad and there was so much blood. But I didn't cry Gavvy, I'm a man. She did tell me you whined like a girl though... Tsk." Kyle said, provoking Gavin. "But it's nice to see we both healed up fine from our completely separate, and non related tragic incidences. I suppose that's what I get, you know falling fifty feet after trying to save a kitten." He added, his tone a heavy sardonic one. He was sort of getting him back for kissing Nicola not once, but twice. What a jerk. Honestly.

"I guess everyone wanted to enjoy this nice evening right?"

Kyle nodded. "Aye, least some folk think this weather's nice." He said casually, eyeing Gavin with suspicion. His attitude towards him was a little too nice, and Kyle suspected something. This of course could be nothing, a jumping to conclusions, perhaps Gavin wasn't as bad as Kyle thought. But six years knowing him led Kyle to think otherwise.

Luckily, the fog obscured Gavin’s face as he dropped the rats back into her hands. He wore a very disgusted sneer, and Fauna would have felt a bit offended if she had seen it. Her attention, however, was completely focused on the rats. She cuddled them to her, checked their tails for injuries, and confessed in a whisper that she had more Bertie Bott beans in the trunk under her bed.

Gavin then asked a very familiar question. One she didn’t really understand, because she thought it was obvious.

“Why? They’re my pets,” she said simply. “Well, actually, Bernie is my pet.” She pointed to the white rat with reddish markings on her back. “This other little… fiend, lives in the castle most of the time. But she’s well behaved. Kinda.” Fauna shrugged, then nestled them back into the pocket of her hoodie for warmth. That, and to keep the two buggers out of trouble.

At Gavin’s reassurance that the rats didn’t really hurt him, Fauna smiled in relief. She had to agree with him too. It was a nice night, as nights go, and she enjoyed the fog.

Kyle soon reminded her why she tended to avoid him, if only because he liked to describe his various injuries in detail. She shuddered. Bones sticking out, blood everywhere; that was too much information in her opinion.

“Are you talking about Nicola?” She asked Kyle. It had to be her. Fauna often felt like the girl was unfriendly, but at least she left her alone. Nicola and Kyle had been very close for years, now.

“Really?” She perked up. “You saved a kitten?” Fauna flushed immediately after that statement, the tone of his voice finally sinking in. Sarcasm. How she hated it. Thankful for the cool air against her cheeks, she glanced away from the boys and wondered what was really going on.

What a snobby little boy that Kyle was thought Gavin. He never had a nice and polite remark coming out of his mouth. And to think, talking about what happened in front of a girl who was about to faint already from the looks of it was very childish.  Gavin had no idea what was up with the girl. He didn't even know her name yet. He heard Kyle mention it before...

"Er, well. It's fine now. But what's her name freaked out because the bone was coming out so bad and there was so much blood. But I didn't cry Gavvy, I'm a man. She did tell me you whined like a girl though... Tsk."
"Well I didn't actually whine because of the pain, it was more of a whine for attention. And she did give it to me without convincing her. Oh how she smelt so nice and I did love her kisses. Maybe you should ask her to kiss your boo boo if she didn't hate you so much." He turned to the girl standing next to them. “Yeah we are talking about Nicola, why?”

To be honest, Gavin didn't care for Nicola as much as Kyle did. His love for Nicola was more of an obsession but for Gavin he just enjoyed her company and she was rather cute. He didn't know how they were going to end up in the future but he didn't mind having her around. Besides, she could kick anyone's butt and Gavin had a strong attraction for girls who can kick butt.

“You saved a kitten?”

Gavin snorted. "Yeah right, Gibson saving a cat. I doubt that." The only way Kyle would've probably saved the cat if it was somehow Nicola transfigured into a cat. He didn't want to sound so rude, so he kept everything to himself. He knew that Kyle was probably feeling the same way. The both of them weren't capable for having a real duel currently but that didn't mean they would never have one again.

The fog only seemed to get thicker as their conversation grew longer. Gavin had no intentions of having a conversation with people, especially people like them but either way it was better than the crowd back at the common room.

“Really?” She perked up. “You saved a kitten?”

Kyle was tempted to laugh, but didn't. He wasn't a total asshole. Fauna was a nice enough girl, and it was just so cute that she had pet rats. No need to take a shot at her if unneeded. Besides, Kyle needed to learn how to make new friends. Presently he only had a couple, but Nicola was his sole real close one. It was rather pathetic if one thought about it. Usually it wasn't because he was a jerk because most times, Gavin and Devlin excluded Kyle was a kind person. But of course some bring the worst out in others... and what can you do?

"Yeah right, Gibson saving a cat. I doubt that."

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Though I would save a cat if its life were in danger... young master Gavin is correct on that I didn't save one. Regrettably." He said, a little irritated at the boys snarky tone. Ha. Snarky. Get it? Well, it did take restraint for Kyle to not draw his wand and blast Gavin's face. Restraint that at the moment Kyle was priding himself for.

"Well I didn't actually whine because of the pain, it was more of a whine for attention. And she did give it to me without convincing her. Oh how she smelt so nice and I did love her kisses. Maybe you should ask her to kiss your boo boo if she didn't hate you so much."

Kyle had it. His wand appeared in his hand in an instant, as he had secured it in his sleeve as usual when he wore a coat, and it was pointed at Gavin's face. "Let's not have a repeat of the other night shall we? I recall you didn't even know where I was coming from..." He said mockingly, "But don't talk about Nic that way. Don't." He added sternly, his voice a little hoarse. "We wouldn't want to danger young Fauna or her pets either now would we? And we wouldn't want to scar up that pretty face of yours either." He said cautiously, returning his wand to his sleeve and stepping back giving the other two a little more room. "Ah, so Fauna... I was thinking of getting a rat, but what do they eat? Is it really cheese? I don't even know." He quickly said, trying to return the conversation to normalcy as quickly as he could. Pulling the wand was a bad idea as its probably what Gavin wanted. Kyle didn't hex him, sure, but he still had to learn a little more self control. Poor Fauna probably thought Kyle was a madman... which really if one thought about it he was not. Just easily taunted. Nicola was a soft spot for him, and constant provocation wasn't helping. Those two kisses for the most part went unpaid for and it... well it was getting to Kyle.

"We wouldn't want to danger young Fauna or her pets either now would we? And we wouldn't want to scar up that pretty face of yours either."

How dare Kyle point his wand right at Gavin's face? He had no idea who he really was dealing with and Gavin wanted to show him who he really was. Gavin didn't lose his temper -- yet but that could change. He was one of those guys who didn't care what you did unless you brought him over the edge. It wasn't the best trait about Gavin but he didn't really care. Gibson should be taught a lesson. Gavin reached for his wand as well and pointed it ass Kyle's stomach. Maybe Gavin should just freeze Kyle and throw him in a hole. It would be hilarious.

"Listen Punk," Gavin chuckled. He was lucky Gavin didn't care. "You really are pushing it." Warning him, Gavin let it go once more because they both knew that the duel would have to wait another time. If this whole hate between them two increased only because of some girl maybe it was time for Gavin to find some other girl. The one standing next to him seemed pretty...

While Kyle spoke Gavin was quiet. He didn't want to lose control in the fog. His wand was urging him to go duel but he didn't want to risk it. His mother was still with him and her temper wasn't hard to get it going. She would've lost it already.

The poor excuse for a conversation Gibson was coming up with was rather comical. He was talking about cheese? How stupid was h? Gavin let a snarl past his lips but he made sure no one else around him heard.  Maybe it was time to leave; his plans for the evening already went to the dumps.

Fauna slowly caught on to the fact that the boy’s injuries were not unrelated. She bit her lip, feeling uncomfortable. When Gavin spoke up, she stared at him, willing him to keep his mouth shut. Didn’t he know that Kyle was hex-happy?

“Yeah we are talking about Nicola, why?”

She didn’t answer Gavin. The girl in question wasn’t even present, and yet, these two were arguing over her. Fauna almost felt sorry for Nicola, but she was irked at the same time. Boys never fought over Fauna. While she didn’t want them to, it wasn’t fair to be in the middle of a situation that so clearly wasn’t about her. If Nicola were here she’d probably yell at them or snap at them gruffly. That just wasn’t Fauna’s style.

"Yeah right, Gibson saving a cat. I doubt that."

Fauna’s blush deepened. She knew that what she’d said was stupid, but she didn’t appreciate Gavin’s tone. It didn’t escape her notice that Kyle refrained from commenting. In fact, he’d never made fun of her before, which meant a lot to her. She could actually see them being friends, if he wasn’t so focused on dueling and fighting.

When Kyle drew his wand, and Gavin reacted in kind, Fauna stiffened. She subconsciously wrapped her arms around her stomach so that her rats were protected in case a spell misfired. At Kyle’s comment about her age, she wondered if he knew that she was only a year younger than him. Perhaps because she spent so much time with Ollie, and dressed non-sophisticatedly, most students assumed she was nowhere near graduating. She didn’t have time to think about that though. Fauna was tempted to walk away and leave the boys to their own devices, but part of her felt responsible. As ridiculous as they were acting, she didn’t want either of them to get hurt.

“Rats eat, well, my rat Bernie eats just about anything, and so does Flubber. That’s why they were fighting earlier and chasing each other and bothering Gavin, it was all over a Bertie Bott bean,” Fauna babbled, not quite aware of what she was saying, but speaking faster and higher than normal. Her eyes darted between the two boys.

“So cheese, she eats cheese. N-normally, though, you need to feed them something from a store that is made spec-specifilly… uh, for rats. Like a pellet or block diet. They’re not supposed to eat chocolate or sweets. They do like fruits and veggies, but just give them a little…” she trailed off, looking at them worriedly.

Though her blathering did not help her embarrassment, she hoped that it would distract Gavin and Kyle enough to calm them down. If this situation didn’t get better, she’d have to resort to something more… extreme.

"You really are pushing it."

Kyle wasn't surprised to see that Gavin pulled his own wand and pointed it at him. Kyle's expression didn't change, his demeanor was calm and collected. He knew that Gavin wouldn't blow Kyle up with Fauna so close, he valued what the ladies thought of him probably as much as he hated Kyle. But Kyle wasn't worried whatsoever. "I'd put that wand down if I were you, friend." He said sternly. "As you see I did. Would you strike an unarmed opponent? And potentially harm Fauna?" He added raising an eyebrow.

“Rats eat, well, my rat Bernie eats just about anything, and so does Flubber. That’s why they were fighting earlier and chasing each other and bothering Gavin, it was all over a Bertie Bott bean,”

Kyle's attention turned to Fauna. "Oh do they? Well that's interesting. But I think I can understand," He said smiling, "Bertie Bott's are great." He added with a nod. He couldn't help but want to take Gavin's wand and snap it in half, but he'd have to have a little restraint so as to not get expelled or something. Knowing that he was a snark, it was probably a family wand of some sort and he didn't want to deal with the famous Analiza Snark, his big sister. Kyle had heard she could be compared to a banshee when unhappy.

“So cheese, she eats cheese. N-normally, though, you need to feed them something from a store that is made spec-specifically… uh, for rats. Like a pellet or block diet. They’re not supposed to eat chocolate or sweets. They do like fruits and veggies, but just give them a little…”

Kyle noticed that Fauna was very uneasy, and regretted ever pulling his wand in the first place. She was a quiet girl he knew very little about, and didn't want her to get a worse impression of him than before. "You seem a little uneasy, perhaps we should all sit?" He suggested, taking it upon himself to get on the ground and lay back comfortably. He was quite confident that Gavin wouldn't go crazy, but Kyle did have the rare tendency to misread people and this would be a very bad time to do so. However to say Kyle was not a risk taker would just be wrong.

"I'd put that wand down if I were you, friend. As you see I did. Would you strike an unarmed opponent? And potentially harm Fauna?"

Gavin rolled his eyes; he had no more time fighting over girls. He leaned against the tree he was once under before he had company and just looked back and forth as the other person spoke. He didn't pay much attention to them. He was pretty upset about everything that was going on. Man he hated that Gibson. Well for Gavin, he hated pretty much about everyone in the school. He let his thoughts take over for a moment or two.

If only there was a way to just kill Kyle, everything would be so much peaceful in his life but he had to admit, fighting with his enemy was a lot of fun. He would be so bored with his life and Kyle wasn't around because than who else would he fight with? No one else seemed to come close to being called an arch enemy like Kyle was.

So Gavin decided, that having Kyle around made him only better with everything that he did because Gibson pushed him into doing things better .They both competed against each other, it was obvious, and every time they did they learned something new. It was like they grew stronger every time they fought.

Gavin started to kick some wet grass around when finally he heard something that was worth listening to.

"You seem a little uneasy, perhaps we should all sit?"

He wasn't sure who Kyle was talking about until he looked up at Fauna -- who seemed a bit worried, well not really but Gavin loved to exaggerate. He decided, to be polite, to do the same thing as Kyle did. He slid down the tree and put his arms around his legs. The floor was still a bit wet but it didn't bother Gavin just as it didn't bother him the last time.

"So, I'm sorry to ask but what is your name?" Gavin asked with a guilty frown on his face. He felt kind of guilty asking this to her because he should've known. Kyle probably mentioned it before but Gavin wasn't paying attention. 

Fauna was shocked, yet extremely grateful, when Kyle suggested they all sit. She waited for a tense moment, watching Gavin, and sat a few seconds after he did. The grass was damp, but she barely noticed. She was too busy feeling relief and a mixture of other emotions. It seemed to her that Kyle thought she was much younger than she was, to be so concerned about her safety. Or, she was acting like a wimp, and making them think that she couldn’t handle conflict. Either way, she wasn’t proud of herself.

"So, I'm sorry to ask but what is your name?"

Fauna looked at Gavin in surprise. While many of the sixth year boys paid little attention to her, she must really be invisible if he couldn’t remember who she was.

“Uh, it’s Fauna,” she gave him a strained smile. “Fauna Blake… I’m in your year,” she pointed out after a slight hesitation. “We’re both in Charms, Defense, and Divination…” she mumbled, realizing too late that he might feel like she was rubbing it in his face. Gavin probably deserved to feel somewhat sheepish, but that hadn’t been her intention.

“Oh for Merlin’s sake,” she suddenly sighed, letting the two rats out of her hoodie pocket again. She could tell by their squeaks that they were fighting in there and she soon found the reason: a piece of lint. She shook her head, threw the lint over her shoulder, and wondered what to do with the two of them.

“Kyle,” she said shyly. “Did you want to hold one of them? If you like rats, I thought…” Distracted, she resorted to putting Flubber in one hand and Bernie in the other, then held them away from her, balanced like mini-scales. “Anyway, they’re not getting along. They kind of need to be separated.”

The irony of her words slowly sunk in. Fauna looked between the boys and started laughing.