#8 A troublesome troop

Jamie had finally made it back into the castle, but not the Tower yet. He was still working on it. Some of his hair felt a little wet after his dip in the lake, but he was still grateful for that Slytherin who had helped dry most of his body and clothing off with a spell. Jamie adjusted his bag and found his way into the main corridor of the school, noticing a hufflepuff that he recognized from class. Oh, what was her name?

Rachel? No, that wasn't it...
Ruth? Nope, not that one...

Ruby! That was it! He just knew it! That had sat near each other a time or two, but they had never really hung out must.

"Hey," He said, offering his hand in a wave as he got close to her and a tired smile.

Picking some dirt from under his finernails Joe strolled back into the castle. He had not spend as much time gardening as he would have expected and he foudn himself yet again with free time and without his friends.
That was until he saw some of his classmates and hesitantly approached them. He felt more at ease when he recognized his dormmate Jay. They had sat together in Transfiguration and Joe had had the feeling Jay had wanted to hang out after Charms anyway so surely it was okay to approach?

"Hey", he greeted. He looked at the Hufflepuff girl and searched his memory for her name. He knew he had talked to her before in the Kitchen when he had got a snack from the House Elves the other day but he could not recall her name.
A fact that he was sorry for because he had found her nice in that interaction.
Of course that had been before he had become friends with Ryan and Toby.

"Up to anything exciting this afternoon?"

At the question about Charms, Jamie rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged a little. He had managed to make the feather float up and stay in the air for a moment, but he had seen others do better and wasn't sure if he had done great.

"I guess I did good. I made it float up, so that is a good thing, right?" He said to her before he heard someone else say hey and turned to see Joe heading over towards them. Jamie stepped a little aside to allow for him to form them into a group and he looked between him and Ruby. At the mention of trouble, he felt himself get a little red in the face, but shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess... What did you have in mind?"

The sun set, colouring the sky with a beautiful array of pink and orange hues - seen through windows. Students caught a glimpse of the crescent moon and a starry sky before clouds drifted to occasionally obscure them. Night was upon them, and dinner had started in the Great Hall.

It was impossible to miss, as the Main Corridor became a busy area, with a flood of students actively chattering and shoving as they headed to dinner. Any further plans the first years had were derailed by the change of time and hungry commotion.