Rain, rain, rain! That was all it ever did in Scotland it seemed to Pippa - not, of course that it didn’t rain absolutely everywhere in the UK this time of year. It did, but at home she knew what to do during rainy days. Also Professor Bombay had yelled at her the last rainy day when she’d tracked mud in behind her. She did not wish to relive that experience because while Bombay was never a particularly nice looking man when he was angry… his mole seemed to throb. It was quite perplexing and also fascinating. She knew she shouldn’t have found it so interesting but it was the kind of thing you couldn’t take your eyes off of! And the Librarnain Mr. Morgan wasn’t much better. Pippa was not, by nature, a particularly loud child but when she got excited about things or if she found herself giggling it was hard for her to stop.

This was made worse because se usually had thing one and thing two travling behind her and the boys just did not not know how to behave! She’d go to the library for a nice sit in and read and they’d start playing pirates or roughhousing - she didn’t think Morgan liked her much either. It was strange to her - really because she’d been mostly well liked by her other teachers. Everyone found her so charming. Pippa had learned a long time ago when a grown up called you charming it meant they thought you were an odd duck.

And Pippa was ok with being an odd duck - it was better than some of the girls in her year, trying to act smug and grown up. They weren’t - but they probably would have poop-pooed her current idea even if she had bothered to ask. Her current idea you might be wondering at this point? To turn the Entrance Way of the Castle into a giant hopscotch grid! It was perfect because you had the shifting stars to make things extra hard. Also she was stuck inside on a rainy day - what else was she supposed to do? Giggle over boys and swear her skirts too short? No thank you. Besides no one had her she couldn’t which in Pippa land meant she could until otherwise instructed and have plausible deniability. She was just straightening her hat admiring her work when she felt a tap on her tiny shoulder.

Pippa was right. It was a dull, dull day. Hannah had sat in the common room for a little while, but Erin wasn't the only one who had restless blood; after shifting in her chair, and switching to the floor, and practicing her charms, and trying to spell the fire different colors, and getting yelled at for trying to spell the fire different colors, Hannah had decided to wander instead.

Her wandering had, eventually, led her to the Entrance hall. Which, to her delight, was completely covered in one giant hopscotch game. And there was absolutely no one in sight, except a diminutive blonde girl standing exactly in the sort of place one would to look over the entire thing with pride. As she got closer Hannah recognized the girl, and she walked up 'til she was right behind Pippa's tiny figure.

"Pippa?" A gentle tap on the shoulders. "Can I play?"

Baxter had been out side, releasing the ants from his ant farm. Some of the boys in his year had not taken too kindly to him keeping them in the dorms. Especially when a few of them had escaped and bitten them in the night. Baxter was worried that they were going to destroy his farm- a few threads had been made- so he decided to take the gentleman's way out and release them into the wild. He could take it home over the summer, and ask Joshua to take care of them next school year while he was gone. Baxter was certain his step-dad would not mind it at all.

Coming back inside, he stopped in the entrance hall to knock the snow off his boots, and caught sight of two young girls playing. Next he caught sight of the chalk writing on the floor. Baxter groaned quietly. That had to be Against The Rules!

It didn't take long for him to recognize Pippa. She was a first year in his house. "Pippa!" he exclaimed, hurrying over. He set his bag on the floor, and looked at the hopscotch field. "You should know better than to draw on the floor! You'll get into trouble!" Baxter used a quick cleaning spell to clean up the chalk. "Here, let me show you how to make a square that won't mess up the floor, yeah?"

Baxter found his wand, and pointed it at the floor. "Pixi navi quadratus!**" He watched as a square slowly created, floating a few inches above the floor. "See? It makes a square that floats. You want to try?" he asked both of the first years. "I can stay and help you make a new hopscotch board. That way you guys won't get in trouble for drawing on the floor." Which basically meant it would prevent him from telling that they drew on the floor and bringing a prefect or someone else with authority down to handle it.


** I used this to translate a few words to create a spell. It basically means draw floating square.