In the lowlands (Nadia ++ open)

Okay, this was more like it. Ancient monuments. Selwyn knew all about ancient monuments because there were quite a few stone circles in Scotland, even if they weren't actually where he lived. But Carlin Stones in general were a big deal. They was usually something you had to do to get them to work or cease working, as the case may be. Usually, it was bad luck not to, or in the case of one stone, had actually been deadly to several people.

It was for this reason that Selwyn was quite happy to stand outside the ring at Hogwarts and observe it from a distance. Oh, sure, common sense said that the school wouldn't allow students to trespass where they would get hurt, but then common sense said they wouldn't build a school on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, either.

Wade knew he'd get in trouble with Phoenix for the books he'd accidentally left behind. He could feel his uncle's gaze on him and hear the the lecture that awaited him for when he came back for the holidays. "That was my worst move." He admitted to himself as he walked towards the Stone Circle; the place where James and Lucy had first talked about the Library. He hoped to find something that could give him an advantage that Lucy didn't have yet.

Reaching the Circle, he saw a young boy. A first or second year maybe, but definitely not a third. Wade wondered if he had looked like that in his first year. No, I was good-looking even then. he chuckled.

The day was lovely - the sky was clear and the air was cool and pleasant. Alyssa was on her way to the quidditch pitch, her Comet 260 slung easily over her shoulder. She hadn't flown since before she had arrived at Hogwarts, and she didn't want her muscles to lose memory of what to do; if that happened, her form would begin to get sloppy. The wind blew her blonde hair gently into her face, and she came to a halt as she neared the odd circle of stones, leaning her broomstick against one of them momentarily while she flipped her head over, gathering her hair at the top of it and tying it with an elastic.

As she contained her long locks, she noticed an attractive older boy near the stones and another, younger boy standing a distance away. She didn't know the older one, but she recognized the one further from her; he was in her house and year. His name was... well, it started with an S. Alyssa didn't really bother introducing herself to her fellow classmates. She finished tying her hair and was about to grab her broom and continue on her way when she realized that the younger boy was looking warily at the rocks. She hesitated, watching him. She didn't understand what was so interesting about them.

He really shouldn't have been surprised when someone else in his year decided to use the circle to prop up her broom. Selwyn began walking toward her, since she'd decided to do the creepy staring act, and debated whether to tell her about the bad luck that went with stone circles.

Probably best not to. He'd only met one girl at Hogwarts who wasn't crazy so far.

"Nice broom," was what he settled on instead. "Quidditch pitch is the other way, though."

Alyssa watched as the boy took notices of her and began to walk in her direction. Normally, she would have ignored him and continued on her way, but for some reason her curiosity held her in place - why was he so interested in the circle? She cocked her head to the side as he neared her, gazing evenly at him, as he neared her. She wasn't sure what she had expected him to say, but she raised an eyebrow in surprise when he complimented her broom.

"Thanks," she said slowly. At his next words, her brow furrowed. "I know where the Pitch is, thank you very much," she said indignantly, putting a hand on her hip. She looked at the circle and then back at him before asking, "What's so interesting about that circle?"

"You don't know about stone circles?"

Selwyn was surprised. Even muggles knew about them.

"They're a popular place for blood sacrifices. I was just wondering whether anyone had died at this one."

Alyssa raised an eyebrow at the boy as he answered her question, looking at him with a slightly incredulous expression. "Of course I know about them," she responded slightly indignantly, "but those are the ancient ones, the ones in old stories." She glanced momentarily at the stone that she had leaned her broom on and back to the dark-haired boy. "These ones are probably just for decoration," she said finally, lowering her hand from her hip back down to her side. "And even if they aren't, what difference does it make? I have a feeling that nobody's going to be sacrificed on school grounds anytime soon."

"Whatever," Selwyn replied.

What was it about girls at this school? None of them could handle a proper conversation.

He walked away from her, aiming for the bridge back to the castle. The Forbidden Forest could wait.

Alyssa raised an eyebrow and felt an amused smirk slip onto her face as he answered her with one word, and watched interestedly as he turned away from her. She hadn't thought she would meet anyone at Hogwarts who might be less personable than her, but apparently she had been wrong. "Nice talking to you, too!" she called after the dark-haired boy, sarcasm blatant in her voice. She shook her head, still gazing incredulously at him, and grabbed the handle of her broom to sling it once again over her shoulder.

Nadia was just observing the Stone Circle untill she noticed some members of her house. " Well, at least it's better then running into a bunch of muggle-borns.", she thought. She had decided to keep quiet, since she wasn't up for a conversation right now, but there was a temptation to introduce herself to the Slytherin boy. He seemed as interested as she was in the stone circle, so what could go wrong? Nadia walked up to the boy and said "Hello. Nice to see you're interested in the stone circles."

Selwyn was halted by a new voice.

"Uh, thanks?"

What did it matter whether he was interested in the stones? To be honest, he didn't find them nearly as interesting as everyone assumed he did.