TERM 6 - A Winter Wonderland - Gardens - Hunter VanDerberg, Seren Pierce, Aoife O'Donnell

Seren stepped carefully as she made her way through the garden. It had snowed overnight, and the ground was now covered with fluffy, sparkling white snow crystals, so she walked slowly to prevent herself from slipping. Seren loved the snow... well, sort of. She loved to LOOK at the snow. She loved to walk around in the snow. But she HATED touching the snow. It was cold and wet and... well, she just hated it. Snowmen and snow angels and snowball fights were beyond her. It was nice to look at. That's all. And Hogwarts was BEAUTIFUL in the snow.

She quickly found a bench and used her wand to clear the snow from it before she sat down. She wasn't cold. She had put on her warmest winter coat, and of course she was wearing her Ravenclaw scarf and a pair of earmuffs. She had her bag with her, and took out some parchment and a quill. She hadn't written to her family since the start of term, and she was sure her siblings would want to know all about Hogwarts. She smiled as a few flakes began to fall from the sky and started writing.

If Hunter had thought that Hogwarts was an impressive sight when he'd arrived, he couldn't even begin to describe how incredible it was in the winter. The sight of the massive castle standing out amongst the blinding white of the snow as he wandered across the grounds was indescribable. He could nearly convince himself that the castle wasn't real, and was just trapped inside one of his sisters' snow globes back home. Maybe I could get Lynnie and Lyra a snow globe with the castle in it as a Christmas present! Was there a way to acquire such a thing?

Snow at home was hardly a welcome thing, because it meant that Hunter's family couldn't grow their crops any longer that season - of course, that didn't stop him and his siblings from enjoying the festivities that came with it! Hunter loved the cold weather, and he and his brother would spend hours sledding down the big hill behind their house. And, of course, they always built the best snowmen. Snow at Hogwarts was better and worse - it was better because it was, well, Hogwarts. It was worse because his brother wasn't there to enjoy it with him.

Without realizing it, Hunter had wandered into the garden area. He realized that he'd never visited it before. It probably was much more exciting in the warm weather. The flowers and plants were all covered with frost and snow now, and weren't very impressive. As he made his way further into the small maze of frozen flowers, he was surprised to see someone already in the area - it was the dark-haired girl from Herbology class. She was sitting neatly on a bench with a piece of parchment in her lap. Maybe she was working on something for class.

Curious, Hunter approached the girl from behind and spoke up, alerting her to his presence. "Do you usually do your homework outside in the freezing cold?" Hunter could understand going for a walk in the snow, or playing in it. But why would anyone sit outside in this weather to study?

IT WAS SNOWING!

Aoife was up super early when the snow started falling fast and heavily. Snow was the BEST THING EVER! After quickly getting dressed into some warmish clothes (she was Irish - this weather was absolutely nothing compared to some stuff she'd seen), she was ready to go out into the grounds. On days like this, it seemed she never got tired. She ran down to the grounds as fast as she could, ran some more around them and still felt great.

Everything looked so pretty, but she didn't actually care much. Aoife had decided to make some snow angels on a big patch of grass snow near the gardens. She stood up and surveyed her pretty angel. TIME TO MOVE ON TO THE NEXT THING YAY!

Snowmen were awesome, so why not one of them? Wait, no, SNOWSHEEP. Aoife was gathering some rocks to make his face when she noticed two people nearby. IT WAS HUNTER AND THAT RAVENCLAW GIRL! This was the perfect opportunity to make another new friend, so she SEIZED IT!

"Top of d' morning to ya'!" she beamed. Aoife didn't say it often since it was a bit stereotypical Irishperson, but why not? She was in a GREAT mood! "How's life, Hunter? And it's great to meet you, RavenclawpersonfromHerbology! I'm Aoife! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!" This was why she tried to never sing in public ever.

Seren had made it about halfway through her letter when a voice startled her from her thoughts. She jumped, turning quickly around. Her hand knocked her inkwell over into the snow as she spun. It landed on the ground, the ink seeping into the snow and beginning to stain it black. "Oh, no! Look what you've made me do - " Seren cut off her sentence as she turned her eyes upward to get a good look at the intruder... it was a boy. A kind of CUTE boy. Be nice, she scolded herself instantly, straightening up quickly and not bothering to retrieve her inkwell.

"I mean... umm... no," Seren continued, unsure of how to respond now that she'd decided not to yell at him. "I'm writing a letter," she said simply, giving him a sweet smile instead of the glare she'd planned on earlier. "I like looking at the snow." You sound like a weirdo. Pushing her thoughts aside, she made to introduce herself.

Only, before she could tell the boy her name, she was interrupted by an incredibly Irish voice. Before she knew it, a little red-headed girl had joined them. She seemed to know the boy. His name was Hunter. The red-head's was Aoife. And apparently Seren's name was RavenclawpersonfromHerbology. Seren stared at Aoife with a half-glare, half-incredulous look. Not only had the girl interrupted her chance to introduce herself to the boy, but she was loud.

"I'm Seren," she said in a slightly dignified voice, pulling her coat more tightly around herself and looking between the two.

The Ravenclaw girl must not have heard him coming because she turned around in a rush when he addressed her, knocking her bottle of ink off of the bench she was sitting on. She seemed like she was going to yell at him, and even started to. Hunter frowned and raised his hands in an apologetic manner, though he didn't see why she would be angry - he hadn't meant to scare her. For some reason, when she looked up at him her demeanor quickly changed. She offered him a smile and answered his question, though she still seemed a little startled.

"I like the snow, too," Hunter said to the girl, bending down to scoop the inkwell from the ground. It was half empty, but there was still some ink left inside of it. He set it down on the bench beside her and smiled back at her. "Though I prefer to write my  letters inside the castle where it's warm. I'm sorry I scared you."

The girl seemed like she was about to say something, but a familiar voice drifted toward them from behind Hunter. Grinning, he turned to see Aoife joining them. "Could you over-exaggerate your Irish any more?" he asked her as she uttered the potentially most cliche Irish phrase she had in her vocabulary. "My accent's still better," he muttered under his breath, laughing. Then, noticing her small pile of rocks and snow nearby, he asked her, "Are you making a snowman?"

He raised an eyebrow as Aoife greeted the other girl in a very Aoife type of way.The Ravenclaw didn't seem to be very amused with the red-head, and she introduced herself a little stiffly as Seren. Even though Aoife had already used his name, he introduced himself to the girl anyway. "My name's Hunter," he said to her in a friendly tone. She seemed a little offstandish, but maybe she was just shy.

"A snowsheep, duh. Get your facts right! And about the accent, yes, actually, Hunter-di-do-dah, I could. And I will," Aoife smirked. "POTATOES! See, this is why Ireland is so much better than Netherlandsland - we have the most AWESOME accent! And I have a saying too. The Irish are a fair people; they never speak well of one another. —Samuel Johnson!" Seeing she was being slightly rude in almost ignoring the other girl, she turned back to her. She seemed a little hostile, but maybe she was just imagining it.

That was a nice name. Aoife ignored the slightly odd look she'd gotten from the Ravenclaw. "Seren? That's such a pretty name! Much prettier than Hunter." GLARING AT HER FRIEND. In a joking way of course. Because that's what friends did. Joked. And made fun of each others' names. Right?

The boy responded nicely, picking up her spilled inkwell for her. "Thank you," she muttered sheepishly. When the girl, Aoife, showed up, Hunter greeted her. Seren watched the exchange between the two in silence. They were joking with each other, and they were obviously friends. She remembered seeing them sitting together in Herbology. And a few of her other classes, now that she thought of it. In a way, Seren was a little jealous. She hadn't made any friends yet. Maybe that was because she hadn't tried.

Aoife was a little eccentric for Seren's taste, but Hunter seemed nice. Well, so did Aoife, but she was much louder. Seren had a feeling that she wouldn't be able to take the girl for long periods of time. When Hunter turned back to her to introduce himself, Seren responded, "It's nice to meet you," she said to Hunter. Don't forget the girl. "Both of you," she added, though she wasn't certain yet if it was nice to meet Aoife or not. That remained to be seen.

Then, the red-head complimented her name, and Seren decided that it was nice to meet her after all. Seren liked compliments. She offered Aoife a smile (a big one, just in case the girl had been put off by her earlier glare) and said, "Thank you! Aoife is a pretty name, too!" Seren didn't really think that Aoife was that pretty of a name. It wasn't a bad name, either, but she'd never heard it before. She wasn't sure what she thought of it. But she said that it was pretty because that's what you did when someone complimented you.

"Of course, a snowsheep!" Hunter responded, laughing. "Why on earth would I think you were going to make a normal, boring snowman?" Then, Aoife went into some tangent about potatoes and Irish people and Samuel Johnson. Hunter really only picked up on the part where she said that Ireland was better than the Netherlands. He was tempted to fight back on that matter, since she was wrong, but he didn't because he was pretty sure that Seren would think they were crazy.

When Seren introduced herself, Aoife jumped on the chance to compliment the girl's name - and make fun of Hunter's. He laughed good naturedly at her glare and responded easily. "Well, Ay-Oh-Ee-Fee," he said, pronouncing her name wrong on purpose, "I'd hope my name isn't pretty, seeing as I'm not a girl."

Hunter turned his attention back to Seren, not wanting the quiet girl to be scared off by their banter. "You're in Ravenclaw then?" he asked her. Hunter hadn't met anyone in their year in Ravenclaw yet. "You must be really smart! We're both in Gryffindor," he informed Seren, smiling.

Yeah, he'd be so stupid if he thought she'd settle for a snowman. People sucked compared to sheep, anyway. Anyone who didn't recognize that must be totally thick. "What do you mean? Do boys not want pretty names? Would you prefer to be called Poopy or something?" Aoife smirked. "And don't mess with my name. Ay-oh-ee-fee is STUPID." It was good when Hunter changed the subject. Seren must thing they were really weird. Maybe that was why she gave her a weird look. But why not give Hunter a weird look too? Probably because she was one of those stupid girls like TEENAGERS who thought boys were handsome and amazing. Pffh.

"Nice to meet you too!" Aoife beamed in return. Seren didn't seem very convinced she was pleased to meet her though. Maybe she just didn't like compliments and stuff because they were embarrassing and stupid like her. When Hunter told the Ravenclaw what house they were both in, she didn't try to argue about the best house because Seren probably wouldn't appreciate it like them and their accent battle.

Seren watched the two bicker some more with a calculating gaze. Seren didn't find their conversation very interesting and sat silently as they went on a bit longer about each other's names. She was starting to wonder whether she was wasting her time talking to them (they didn't seem very normal, and they weren't paying much attention to HER) when the boy changed the subject back to Seren. THAT was more like it.

He even gave her a compliment. Well, sort of a compliment. He said she must be smart for being in Ravenclaw. "Yes, I like Ravenclaw," she said, giving them a small smile and indirectly agreeing that she was smart. Because she WAS smart, but to just come out and say it would make her look stuck up. So she just chose not to deny it. "My parents were so pleased. My dad was in Ravenclaw when he was in school. My mum was in Slytherin." Seren had never seen the problem with Slytherin like others did. She half-expected to be sorted there.

"Do you both like Gryffindor?" Seren figured that they did. Everyone seemed to like Gryffindor automatically. It was a bit sickening, but she didn't voice her opinion. She didn't want them to hate her, after all. Especially the boy. She wondered momentarily if Hunter and Aoife were a couple. They seemed to just be friends, but she figured it was better to know for certain, so she decided to just ask. "Are you two boyfriend-girlfriend?" Seren was a very girly type of girl. She needed to know these things, even if it was a bold thing to say. She waited expectantly for an answer, glancing curiously between the two.

Aoife pointed out that boys should want pretty names too, instead of something awful. "Just because I don't want a pretty name doesn't mean I want an ugly one like that!" he retorted. "Boys should have cool names. Like Hunter, for example!" He was only half joking, because Hunter was a cool name. Just as cool as his accent. He raised an eyebrow in amusement as Aoife told him not to mess with her name. "You started it," he said in amusement.

Seren said she liked being in Ravenclaw. She explained quickly that her parents were in Ravenclaw and Slytherin. So she wasn't a muggleborn, like him and Aoife. At first, he'd picked the brains of anyone he met who had wizard parents, but he was a bit more used to wizards now so he didn't bother Seren with his questions. "That's nice," he said when she said her parents were proud. His parents didn't even know what Gryffindor was, except what he had told them. "Gryffindor's great!" he told her, glancing at Aoife for confirmation. "I really like it."

Wait, what did she ask? Who just came out and asked something like that? "No! Of course not!" he answered quickly. Maybe too quickly. He didn't want it to seem like the idea was appalling to him. It wasn't. Well, it was sort of because he didn't like girls like that. More like he didn't want Aoife to take his quick denial as an insult. Or make her look bad in front of Seren. "No," he said slower, his neck heating up slightly. He never said the right things. "We're friends," he clarified simply, deciding to leave it at that.

Aoife decided not to answer that and continue the conversation with the other girl, since she and Hunter were only going to get into a huge friendly argument and make the shy girl feel left out and sad, which would be mean. She just giggled and stuck her tongue out at Hunter.

"You have wizard parents? That's cool. Does that mean you know all about wizard stuff?" she asked curiously. "My parents are muggles. They'd be proud whatever house I got put in." That was a good thing, since she'd never disappoint them, but a bad thing because they wouldn't understand when she babbled about Hogwarts and the houses. "It's good...but there's some bad people in it...well, one...and Hunter's not great!" Aoife teased. The one person wasn't Hunter though. Hopefully that was clear.

No. No no no no no no no. She let out a huge snort. "Cosúil mhaith liom dul riamh amach leis eejit!" Oh, maybe it was a bit mean to say that. But it didn't matter. They wouldn't understand that she'd said she'd never go out with that eejit. Except, maybe the eejit part. Aoife was rolling on the floor by this point, laughing hysterically. She managed to squeeze out a few words. "We...were best...friends...but the...the contract...it ran out...so now we're...just friends!" THAT WAS THE FUNNIEST THING SHE'D EVER HEARD. GOING OUT WITH HUNTER. Hopefully she hadn't offended him by laughing so hard. Boys were icky, though, he knew she thought that.

Hunter said that he liked being in Gryffindor. Aoife questioned her about her parents being wizards. "Oh yes!" Seren answered happily when Aoife asked if she knew all about wizard things. She was glad to be able to demonstrate her expertise in the matter! "We have all kinds of wizard things at our house! Almost EVERYTHING's charmed. It's quite nice, actually. The dishes clean themselves and the broom sweeps the floor by itself. All of our household items are VERY clever!"

She cut off her sentence, not wanting to sound like too stuck up. But she was secretly hoping they'd ask more questions that she knew the answer to so that she could sound smart. Aoife had said she was muggleborn. For a moment, Seren tried to imagine not knowing about wizards. She couldn't imagine it, though. Her whole life she'd known she was going to Hogwarts. She was the first among her siblings to do so!

Seren hadn't expected such an answer to her question. Hunter had denied it almost before the words were out of her mouth, and Aoife was rolling around on the ground and saying something in some language... presumably Irish, if Seren was judging her appearance right. Seren took that as a no. Aoife choked out a few strained words about best friends and a contract. Seren just stared at her in amazement. She had NO idea what the other girl was talking about. "I'm... erm, sorry I asked..." Seren said a little indignantly.

Hunter ignored Aoife's comment about him not being great. He knew she was teasing. But he listened in interest to Seren talk about the wizard things in her house. The dark-haired girl described the things in her house as being clever. That was a strange way to think about brooms and dishes, but he supposed if they did chores by themselves that they were actually pretty clever. "That's amazing," he said appreciatively. "I'm muggleborn as well," Hunter explained.

Apparently, he shouldn't have been worried about offending Aoife, because she was rolling around on the ground in laughter at Seren's question. After saying something that he didn't understand in what he guessed was Irish - wait, had she just called him an idiot? Maybe. Either way, he couldn't help but join in her laughter when she started talking about the contract - he'd almost forgotten about the contract they'd signed when they first met. It was a bit overdue.

Seren looked absolutely baffled by what had just taken place. They must look hysterical to someone who didn't understand what they were talking about. The girl apologized for asking the question to begin with. Swallowing his laughter, Hunter took a breath and tried to explain. "It's okay. When we met at the beginning of the year, we decided to be best friends for two weeks. Just in case we didn't like it. We signed a contract and everything. You know, to make it official!"

Hunter had to fight down the laughter that tried to rise again in his throat. It sounded just as ridiculous when he explained it in full. "Anyway," he said, deciding that it was a good idea to divert the attention back to Seren. "Do you like Hogwarts so far? Did you already know you'd be going here, before you got your letter?"

THAT WAS SO COOL. "I...have animals and a lot of brothers and sisters at home." It didn't really compare to all the charmed household items. "Does that mean you never had to do any chores or cleaning yourself?" Aoife asked wistfully. That would be the perfect lifestyle. But she did like looking after the animals and watching cows give birth and stuff. But not cleaning.

Hunter explained the contract and she laughed along with him. "We need to renew that, actually. I mean, if you actually like me and want to be best friends," she smiled. Even if he didn't, he was probably too nice to say so. That was good, then.

Then her friend was asking Seren something. Aoife wasn't actually paying any attention since she was staring at Hunter's perfect, floppy hair. The only thing that could possibly make it any better was if it was red. The same colour as her hair. Because that was an awesome colour. She must have looked odd, just standing there, her mouth slightly open, mentally stroking Hunter's hair.

So they were both muggleborn. That was alright. "There's nothing wrong with being muggleborn," Seren told them. "It just means there's loads more you get to learn. Like reading a good book for the first time! It's much more interesting when you're learning about it for the first time." Seren liked learning. She was ravenclawpersonfromherbology after all, and Ravenclaws were all about learning of course.

Aoife asked if she got out of doing chores. "Well, I do get out of them most of the time," she replied. "But only because I can normally convince one of my siblings to do my chores for me." Seren loved her little brothers and sisters, but she certainly wasn't above using them to do her dirty work from time to time. What fun would being the oldest be if she didn't use it to her advantage sometimes? "I have a lot of siblings, too," Seren told Aoife. "Two brothers and three sisters. I'm the oldest."

Then Hunter was explaining about this... contract. They were best friends... only they weren't, because their contract had expired. That was a bit juvenile, and official, all at the same time. Seren wasn't sure how to respond, so she just said, "I see..." Luckily, Hunter asked her another question. Good. Seren liked being asked questions. This one was about Hogwarts.

"Oh yes, I really do like it!" she said brightly. "My parents have always planned to send me here, so I suppose I always knew. I did get stuck outside the common room the other day until someone came by... but other than that, it's been lovely here! And... um, sorry, but what are you staring at?" Seren cut herself off and asked Aoife a little boldly what she was doing. The red-head seemed to have zoned in on Hunter... or at least his head... and was daydreaming... or something.

Seren said she had a lot of siblings. Five, to be exact. Hunter was pretty sure Aoife had five siblings, too. Or something like that. "That's so many," Hunter said. "I've got three. An older brother, and two twin sisters. They're younger." Seren's brothers and sisters were all younger than her. "That's so cool!" he said. "Being the oldest, I mean. Being in the middle isn't much fun." Hunter wasn't sure that he would try to pawn off his chores on his siblings, even if he was the oldest. Jack never did that to him, either. But he didn't say anything.

Aoife mentioned renewing the contract. If he still liked her, at least. "Well, I dunno," he said slowly, pretending to think hard about the suggestion. "That's a pretty hard decision... But I suppose you haven't been that bad." Hunter cracked a grin. "I think a renewal is in order!" Really, Hunter didn't feel the contract was necessary, but if Aoife wanted to make another one he wasn't going to complain.

Seren said she liked Hogwarts. She also said that she'd gotten locked out of her common room. "You got locked out too?!" Hunter asked her excitedly. "So did I! I thought I was the only one, but the passwords they use are just so strange, and - " Seren had turned her attention to Aoife, asking what she was looking at. Hunter glanced over to see that Aoife was gazing at him - well, sort of. Hunter had a feeling she was probably staring at his hair instead. She had some kind of obsession with it. He was still determined to cut it all off one day just to see her reaction.

"You mean you get your brothers and sisters to do your chores for you?" Aoife asked, outraged. Not because she had to do chores herself but because Seren bossed around her siblings and used her being the oldest to her advantage. Even Michael or Tag wouldn't do that, however mean they undoubtedly were to her. "I have one sister and four brothers. I'm youngest and I do my share of work, no more or no less." No more comment. This child-cruelty supporter of a girl didn't deserve more words.

What was she staring at? "Isn't it obvious? Don't you stare at Hunter's hair whenever you can? It IS JUST SO PERFECT!" she fangirled squealed. Aoife didn't generally squeal, but Hunter's hair, that was a different matter.

She didn't remember Hunter saying anything about that. "You never told me that," she said, trying to remember if she was just forgetting something. "Hunter here is so clever, he gets himself stuck in staircases so badly he has to ask EVIL PEOPLE LIKE BILL to get him out." Aoife smirked. Oh, her floppy-haired, clumsy, forgetful, odd best friend. But she loved him really.

"You have twin sisters?" Seren asked curiously. "That's so neat! It would be so cool to be a twin." Unfortunately, a twin was one of the few things that Seren's parents couldn't give her when she cried. But one had to accept the hardships of life, right? Aoife seemed appalled by the way she treated her siblings. "You mean to tell me that if you were oldest, you wouldn't use it to your advantage?" Seren asked. This girl HAD to be kidding. "And besides, I give them candy and stuff in return." That definitely made it better.

Apparently, Aoife was staring at Hunter's hair. She even squealed when she TALKED about his hair. "Yes, it's nice, I suppose." Actually, Seren thought Hunter had VERY nice hair, but it wasn't very endearing to stare at it with drool coming out of her mouth like Aoife did. Or to admit it to Hunter. Or to squeal when mentioning it. So Seren chose to play it cool instead. "I hope you'll forgive me if I don't follow you around taking pictures of it," she said to Hunter, a bit of her dry humor showing through.

Hunter seemed excited that she'd been locked out of her common room, because so had he. Oh, because he forgot the password. "Yes, but not because I forgot a password," she said disdainfully. Then, remembering that she was being extra nice to Hunter because he was cute, she added, "Although I'm sure it was a very difficult password to remember." Honestly, who forgot a password? "To get into the Ravenclaw common room, you have to answer a very difficult riddle. I've gotten it right every time," she said proudly. "Well, except that once." Then, Aoife said something about a staircase. "Wait, you got stuck in a staircase?" She asked him, giggling.

Aoife was a little more vocal about her feelings when Seren said she got her siblings to do her chores. Personally, Hunter agreed with Aoife. It wasn't very nice of Seren to do, even if she did give them candy. "I live on a farm, so there's a lot of work to go around. My older brother, Jack, does just as much work as I do. He doesn't mind..." Hunter didn't want to come right out and say his opinion, but he definitely didn't want Seren to think that he agreed with her.

Of course, he was right that Aoife was staring at his hair. And then the conversation turned to it completely for a few moments. Why did Aoife always wind up talking about his hair? Hunter flinched a little as she squealed. Seren didn't seem quite as impressed with it - Hunter was glad. He didn't mind Aoife's fascination with his hair, but he certainly didn't need two girls staring at the back of his head. "I think I'll get over it," he said, laughing slightly, when Seren commented about not wanting to take pictures of it. Otherwise, Hunter didn't comment. He didn't want this portion of the conversation to drag on any longer than it had to.

"Oh, yeah," Hunter said to Aoife, who he'd apparently forgotten to share his misfortune with. "I was just sitting in the corridor for ages. The Fat Lady wouldn't let me in, even though she knew me! Isn't that rude of her? That Lillian girl in our year ended up letting me inside." Hunter's excitement faded a little when Seren said she hadn't actually forgotten the password. "Oh."

But on the bright side, he was learning something new about the Ravenclaw common room! "So there's not even a password?" he asked. "So really, anyone could get in, not just a Ravenclaw, as long as they're good at solving riddles..." That didn't seem very secure. Strange words that nobody would ever guess definitely seemed like they would be much more effective. "And yes I got stuck in a staircase. It tried to eat me."

"You give them candy and stuff in return," Aoife snorted, rolling her eyes. "No, I wouldn't. I'd be mean a bit like my brothers, but I wouldn't make them do chores for me." Obviously. Because it wasn't just mean, which all older siblings were, it was HORRIBLE. Rather than say anything else, she decided to just forget about it. Maybe she was misjudging Seren and she did actually have the tiniest sprinkle of niceness somewhere in her body. Probably not, but there was always a chance.

Seren seemed to disapprove of Hunter forgetting the password. She shot a glare at the Ravenclaw, watching almost in amusement as she tried to make things better by saying some rubbish that she obviously didn't believe. "Yes, they are hard passwords," she nodded. "Riddles would probably be easier. They can't be too hard because they're for all years." Take that, ScepticalSeren. MeanSeren. UnfriendlySeren. BetterThanEveryoneElseAtLeastInHerOwnOpinionSeren.

Staircases could be mean at Hogwarts. "Staircases can be mean at Hogwarts," Aoife added wisely, nodding her head in agreement. "I've never almost been eaten by one, though. You're lucky. Well, you would be if Ryland hadn't came along. Nice experience, don't you think?" She suddenly remembered the homework she'd been doing the night before. "You know I'm doing my Care of Magical Creatures extra credit project on Ryland!"

Because he was an animal.