After Lily and Cassi sat down they filled in Becca and Alice on the incident in the corridor. Alice was thoroughly intrigued by the latest gossip.

"How do you know those spells?" Becca asked.

"Better yet, were they good looking?" Alice said sounding as though she was watching a soap opera rather than questioning her friend.

"Well, my dad, he works in the Department of Mysteries, so does my mom, anyway he wanted me to know basic spells, most that I know are defensive and a few counter-curses. He let me use his wand to practice; he wanted me to know how to look after myself."

"And the boys?" Alice pressed.

"Uh, guys it looks we have an audience." Lily was glancing over at a beech tree by the lake. Cassi, Becca, and Alice joined Lily; Cassi groaned and rolled her eyes.

"He wants to know who I am." Cassi waved looking right at the boy she spoke with earlier. Alice smacked Cassi arms.

"Cassi don't wave! Now they know we were looking at them."

"Alice they were looking at us first." Becca pointed out.

"One of them waved back. The one that was on the ground I think." Lily narrated the scene that the other girls were missing in their argument. Cassi turned her attention back to the boys.

"No that's the one I spoke with; it's the other one with the glasses that was on the ground." Cassi corrected. "Why don't we go for a walk, preferably away from them?

Sirius waved back when the girl that he spoke most to waved.

"Uh-oh they know we're watching." Peter said nervously.

"Yeah but they seem cool with it." James replied.

"Um James, if they're so cool with it why are they leaving?" Remus asked.

"Maybe their just going for a walk?" Peter suggested.

"Yeah, a walk, far, far away from here." Remus responded.

"Remus you're too negative. At least they know who we are, I think we left an impression, don't you Jamesy?" The boys continued watching as the girls walked away.

"Which one did you talk to anyway?" James asked as Remus went back to his book.

"The one with curly brown hair, the one with red hair was with her too."

The girls walked toward the greenhouses, closer to the school.

"So the Gryffindor boys, huh?" Alice's face screamed excitement.

"Alice! You realise that they were staring at us like we're an exhibit at a zoo, right?" Becca looked at her incredulously as they walked.

"But that means that they noticed us."

"I'm sure there are way cuter guys here than them Alice." Becca responded.

"Yeah, plus they're jerks." Lily said bitterly.

"Lily none of us know them well enough to make an accurate assessment. But, based on what we know, what do we think of them?" Cassi asked as they came to a bench over looking the grounds and the Forbidden Forest where they sat to continue their discussion.

"Well we know that they're good looking." Alice said brightly.

"Ok so that's a pro." Cassi commented.

"We also know that they enjoy picking on my friend." Lily practically snarled. None of the other girls commented as they knew Lily was in a 'mood'.

"So then that's a con. 1, 1 right now."

"They also stared at us." Becca added.

"Is that a pro or a con? Alice thinks pro, and Lily thinks con." Cassi asked judging from the looks on the two girls faces.

"We should probably put it under both…Oh and they're Gryffindor so that's definitely a pro." Becca answered.

"I have to agree with you there, so that's 3 pros and 2 cons." Alice smiled smugly, but Lily was not ready to back down.

"Cassi you haven't added anything."

"Ok, I have to add a con; they used hexes without knowing how to undo them."

"So that brings us to a tie. 3 pros, 3 cons. Where does that leave us?" Alice asked.

"It leaves us needing more information. We'll have to just wait and see." Cassi shrugged and the girls sat in silence for a few minutes, each contemplating their own thoughts.

"Well we have classes tomorrow so we should probably explore inside this afternoon, find out where the library is and some of the classrooms-"

"And the Hospital Wing." Cassi interrupted Alice as she ran through the list of places she wanted to find.

"What!" Lily looked shocked that Cassi said they should find the hospital wing.

"Just in case someone gets hurt or sick, it'll be good to know where it is. And we'll probably find it when we're wandering around anyway."

"Well, what time is it now?" Alice asked

"About 11:30, so we still have like half an hour before lunch. You know, I think I'd like to go see the Owlery, I'll have to find it some time, might as well find it now." Becca answered.

"Yeah, and maybe we'll meet some boys, since you guys did last time." Alice's eyes had excitement twinkling in them as she jumped up eagerly.

"Well I wouldn't mind going up again, what about you Lily?"

"Meeting some more boys could be fun."

The girls set off for the Owlery, chatting about boys that they had seen or the classes they were excited for…and the ones that they weren't (History of Magic mainly), and of course, the up coming Quidditch matches. When they had climbed up to the loft area where the owls live, Cassi walked straight to her owl in the far corner.

The other girls looked around and walked between the rows of owls admiring them. Becca followed Cassi to see her owl.

"Hey Panda." Cassi said holding out her arm, a chocolate brown and white spotted owl hopped onto her arm.

"Her name's Panda?" Becca asked stroking the owl gently with one finger.

"Well her full name's Pandora, but I just call her Panda most of the time."

"She's really cute, and friendly." Panda leaned into Becca's touch, if she was a cat, she would be purring.

"Sometimes, but others she'll try to claw someone's eyes out or bite their fingers off." Becca paused mid-stroke and Panda hooted to show her annoyance, Becca almost jumped out of her skin she was so scared. "Of course she's never been successful, and she likes you. You wouldn't have been able to get within a foot of her if she didn't. That's why her name's Pandora; she can be quite evil when she wants to." Panda hopped from Cassi's arm to Becca's who continued to stroke her.

"I see, so are you going to send a letter home?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I'll probably send one tomorrow after we get our timetables."

"I think I'll join you on that."

Just then Alice and Lily joined the other two girls.

"Well, we've seen the Owlery; shall we head to lunch now? By the time we get to the Great Hall it'll be past 12." Alice suggested.

The girls agreed, all of them more than ready for lunch. Becca handed Cassi her owl back, which in turn placed Panda on her perch and the four girls headed out the door en route to the Great Hall.

They were chatting amicably, talking this time about what they would do on their first Hogsmeade trip. Alice wanted a date, Lily said that she promised her friend, Severus, that she would spend the day with him, just the two of them so they could catch up, Becca and Cassi just wanted to explore the Wizarding Town. Before they knew it they were at the doors to the school.