This was it. She had thought to herself, over and over again for the past hour or so. This is it, this is it! It's time to exert yourself, Meridae. Time to step out from behind the shadow of someone else and exert yourself! She took a shaky breath, clenching her fingers against and away from her clammy palms, again and again.

It was probably more a surprise to her than anyone else when she clapped her hands together to show she was FINALLY serious, finally ready to take on this..well, whatever it should be called, she was ready.

"Alright, everyone! Are we ready to have some fun?" Her natural softly spoken voice undoubtedly failing to exert ITSELF over the chatter of the excited group of students. ..She tried again, probably with a little less enthusiasm than it needed. "Ahem. Excuse me, everyone? Are we all ready?"

People in my group:

Merlin Valmore
Dream Grey
Brooke Avel
Jason Skorm
Shonk Da 'Onk
Drake Kard
Brittany Embers
Aiden Timber Collins
Leona Peppercorn

Holding up the student list she had been holding onto the entire time, she flashed it around to the students' eyes, "If you don't see your name on here, you belong in Anna's Group 1. Everyone else who's name is on the list, follow me!"
...Well that wasn't so bad.

Dream looked around curiously at the other students that she seemed to be grouped together with. She had no idea what what they were doing here, but she had recieved word that her name was a list to do some activity and that she had to be here at this spot and at this time to meet for it. She was happy to see that she knew just about everyone there. She was wondering when they were going to find out just what was going on, when suddenly she heard a voice trying to be heard over the noise of the group. She turned around to see who it was and saw that it was Meridae. She smiled at Meridae and gave her full attention to the Hufflepuff Prefect.

Meridae nodded her head over to Dreamy. At least someone acknowledged her! "Merlin, Brooke, Jason, Shonk-" She paused slightly at the last name, still in disbelief that'd she'd have to deal with that menace in her group. "Drake, Brittany, Aiden, Leona? If your name hasn't been called, you're either in Luna's group 1 or haven't yet been added to the list. But make sure you've been here all along in order to be added if that's the case!"

"Oh, I"m sorry, i dind't see this theard!" He said has he walked to Meridae. "So where are we going!" He started to question her. He would do anything to annoy the freck out of Meridae. He grined, a dark smile.

Leona show's up tiredly to join Dream, "So what's going on?" she asks, she is wearing a green turtle neck sweater, thick jeans and hiking boots, "Sorry I'm late Meridae," she says trying to smile. She takes a drink from her coffe that she had been carrying around in a giant thurmas.

Aiden had came up behind dream as she was paying attention to meridae, he thought. He then gently placed hsi hands on her neck and whispered in her ear. "I knaow what you did last summer." he said trying to sound scary his hands wet from the water he had dipped them in and his hands were already cold so he imagined that she might be the tinniest bit cold.

Dream froze literally a pair of freezing cold hands circled her throat and a creepy voice whisper in her ear. She gulped as she tried not to panic. She knew no one would be trying to kill her for god's sake... She was surrounded by people so they wouldn't get away with it. She tried to remember who else was on the list of students that were in her group. Suddenly she relaxed and smiled a little. It was Aiden. She put her wand up to his hands and whispered "INCENDIO!" causing his hands to start to burn. If he didn't let go of her quickly and use his power to cool himself off, then his hands would light on fire. She then placed an impervious spell on herself so her throat wouldn't burn from the heat.

Aiden was trying so hard not to laugh as he felt her freeze up. Before he felt his hands feel like they were burning. "Ouch, :censored:." he yelled before blowing on his hands his breath cooling them down considerably. "What was that for?" he asked looking at her. "See you made teh wrong move dreamy." Aiden said playfully. "Its about to be one of those muggle tv shows around here uhh Jerry Springer I think it was." he said giving her a playful glare.

(Hey guys..if this thread starts getting REALLY active it may take me a while to respond because my computer is having a LOT of trouble with the additional graphics/affiliations here ><)

"Dream, Aiden, please! Let's focus here!" Meridae shook her head in spite of herself, inching a bit away from Jason. "We, Jason, are all going hiking." She waved her hand over to Leona, as a sign she heard her and saw her place there in the group. "Let's all try and save our energy for now.. we've got a long walk up ahead of us."

Dream Gently hit her elbow backwards into Aiden's stomach for getting them in trouble, and then she tossed a grin over her shoulder at him. She then paid attention to what Meridae was saying again. A hike, huh? Dream hoped there was something cool at the end of it, otherwise she'd be pretty bitter after a long hike to get nothing out of it.

"when are we going to start?" He said to Meridae. "do we really have to walk!?" he got out his water bottle. but there was nothing in it. "Just my luck" he said to himself.

"We're going to start as soon as everyone's here, Jason." Which..looking around now, Meridae didn't expect to be for a while. "We aren't going to wait too long, though. Given enough time if not everyone is here, I suppose we'll just pick up and leave without them."

Dream sighed. It looked like they were going to be here for awhile then. She could feel the ever insistant cloud of boredom closing around her. She was not good at waiting around and doing nothing. She turned back to Aiden and Jason. She noticed that Jason had run out of water, so using a simple spell, she refilled his canteen for him. "So Jase.. where do you think we're headed? Think there'll be something cool?" she asked.

Leo noticed that no one was paying any attention to her so she plopped down on the grass and ran her fingers through it. She was sure that wherever they were heading would be fun, or at least exciting because they had Dream and Aiden to start all sorts of trouble. "So Aiden," she asks "How's the ice power coming?" Ice was her favorite, well, not exactly and element but close enough. She was so jealous that she never turned out to be an elementists.

Meridae suddenly clapped her hands so everyone could hear. She had waited long enough. Obviously, the rest of the students on her list either weren't interested in hiking, or just..interested in general. She was anxious, and didn't doubt everyone else was anxious to get on this hike.

"Alright everybody... I think we've waited long enough. Anyone else who didn't show can either catch up or completely miss out on the fun." She made one last quick scan of the area to make sure the ones that DID arrive, hadn't strayed off too far that they weren't in hearing distance. Satisfied, she turned around. "Let's hike, shall we?" No doubt Luna's group was far ahead of them!

Leona jumped to her feet eager for some excerise, "about time!" She said, "So," she asked, "where are we going?" She didn't seem to be nosy but Leona was a uber curious soul and she wanted in on the down low of as much of the goings on as she could.

Dream put her hand up to get Meridae's attention. "Uhmmm Meridae? Can we use our brooms if dont want to walk?" she asked impishly. She had heard a rumour that the other hiking party was going to be able to fly there if they wanted. She wasnt really looking forward to hiking 20 miles to who knows where. "OH! Also Meridae... Where exactly are we going? I mean... what's the point? Just to see the scenery? Or are we going to find something specific?" she asked curiously.

(Rushed post)

"I'm afraid I can't answer any of those.." Meridae replied, her lips quirking into a smile. "And.. we're going up there." Meridae replied to Leona, pointing up with her finger. "And yes Dream, we have to hike.. there's no point to a hike, if you use brooms." She rose her brow somewhat suspisciously, "I guess we'll have to see what we find, won't we?"

Dream got a bitter look on her face and walked away, over to Aiden, grumbling under her breath. "Walk 20 miles when we have brooms that fly. We're supposed to do magic. We aren't muggles you know!" she muttered, kicking a nearby tree stump. "What does she mean she can't answer my questions? Why can't we know where were going? What's the freaking point?" she thought mutinously.

"Sweet!" Leona shouted "Hiking time wahoo!" Leo loved getting out for the walks. They were so relaxing, and fun, in general she enjoyed the excercise. "I am all for this!" she said as she tredged her path.

Aiden had been pretty much quiet through the whole thing. He heard what dream grumbled and laughed. "Well not much we can do unless we sprout wings or charm our shoes to be light enough not to hurt our feet." Aiden said smiling. Then he noticed leo happily getting ready to go hiking. "Leo I dont understand how you can be so happy." he said before looking down at the ground and getting a wicked look on his face ohh by the time the trip was over they would wish they had brooms if only Drake was here he thought.

Dream heard Leo's comment and scowled at her, as a growl rumbled low in her throat. She hated peppy people when she was irritated. She didn't care if Leo was her friend or not, right now she was making her sick. She made sure Leo didn't see what she did, and then she pointed her wand at the ground under Leo's feet, turning into mud that fully surrounded her, so she would slip with her next step. Then Dream plastered a fake cheery smile on her face and looped her arm in Aiden's arm. "Well let's be off then shall we?" she said in a fake chipper voice. She started walking along the trail, thinking of ways to make it shorter, and to find out exactly what was going on Meridae. Dream HATED being out of the loop, and she hadnt heard anything about this dumb old hike anyways.

Leo's spidey sense were tingleing. somebody was up to something. She stopped for a moment and only had to take one guess. What was Dream up to now? She sighed, why was she even friends with her in the first place. It seemed that Dream's lot in life was to do her in, she'd succeed one day of course, just hopefully not today. Man these no slip boots work great, she thought to herself, another shoe charm of hers. initially invented for walking on ice, she modified them slightly for any terrain. She confidently took a step with out swimming and just walked past Dream, feeling sort of lonely. She wished she had some friends to hike with.

Meridae glanced back at the other students, sighing silently to herself. It shouldn't be too bad, right? I mean...if anything were to happen, they'd proect her, and each other, wouldn't they? Meridae automatically cringed at the thought. She wasn't too good with spells, so there was no way she could just grab one off the top of her head incase...

Meridae started walking, ahead of them, right hand drifting sub-consciously to the wand at her side. She didn't like to lead-well, she did, but that was family members and that was given she already KNEW where she was going. It was different now, different here. But as the group leader, it was in the name that she had to...well, lead.

Meridae quickly looked over her shoulder at her group again. Well, on the plus side..there weren't THAT many to lead.

Aiden tried to stiffle his laugh as he saw what dream was doing. 'And they think Im the evil one' he thought. before noticing that nothing was happening. 'Hmm shes good' he thought 'but you know I think what we need is some chaos.' he thought before walking over to dream. "Hey dream," he whispered " You know this isnt going to be any fun without some chaos right? So how about you call a few birds to come down and peck some of the people who arent you and me." he said quietly making sure no one heard him and looking at the back of leos head and concentrating until he saw that one of her locks of hair was frozen. "Hehe I feel so evil." h mumbled to dream. "Although this is only small stuff." he said.

Dream grinned wickedly at Aiden. "Yes Uncle Aiden." she said playfully. "I think you're reading my mind about the choas thing, and what a wonderful idea about the birds..." she giggled as she watched an icicle form on Leo's hair. Poor Leo. Dream knew that she could be a little.... playful with her sometimes, but she really brought it upon herself. Dream was not a goody-goody kind of person, and Leo just really was. It just grated on Dream's nerves sometimes. Dream concentrated and called down a couple woodpeckers, to start pecking at Leo and Jason. She didn't mess with Meridae, because she didnt want her upset at her, or she might go tell you know who. Dream knew he wouldn't appreciate her giving one of his prefects a hard time.

Leo was walking quite far ahead, nearly farther than Meridae when suddenly a few woodpeckers came upon her head. She let out a roar, with the aide of the lioness within her and scared them off. She felt the back of her hair to make sure they didn't poop on her when she felt an icicle. Anger rose from within her and her body heat rose enough and the pressure was just enough to snap the icicle in half. She spun around. "That's it Dream, I had it with you, YOU SPAWN OF SATAN!" she wanted to hex her but that'd be stooping to her level. "Just leave me the HELL alone, don't speak to me down pull any more of this ****, alright! I tired of it, I don't need this, especially from people who pretend to be my friends. Although in defense I'm sure Aiden was never my friend to begin with," she spun back around and continued marching wiping an angry tear from her eye.

Dream watched Leo spin around and yell at her, and she collasped into a fit of giggles, and had to hold onto Aiden to keep her up. She had finally gotten the reaction out of Leo that she wanted. Looked like Miss Perky wasn't nearly so happy anymore. Dream looked at Aiden and kept giggling. "I don't think my dad would like being referred to as the devil, how about you?" she asked, laughing even harder. She called out to Leo. "Don't be sore Leo. We were just having a little bit of fun, since we're bored to death right now." she gasped out.

"Well don't take it out on me!" She shouted, then spun around turned into her lioness form and charged at Dream. She bared her fangs and said for Dream to hear: savvy? She was still annoyed and wanted to take her anger out on something, she decided to excersie it off, you know, endorphins and all that. she had and idea. She freed herself from her anger and lowered the top half of her body, to look like she was kneeling. If you dan't want to walk you can ride me, don't worry, I'm strong enough. she added.

Dream looked at Leo, feeling sympathetic now. Dream watched her turn into her lioness form and come towards her. Dream watched unfazed, confident that she wouldn't be harmed. Sure enough Leo stopped next to her and asked her if she wanted a ride. Dream reached down, and stroked Leo's head, scratching behind her left ear. "It's not that we like to pick on you alone Leo. It's just our group is so small, there's really no one else to mess with." she explained. "And I really don't mind walking, it's just not knowing what's going on that's making me irritable. So thank you for your kind offer, but that's ok." she said softly. It was hard to be bugged with someone who was being nice to her. Dream scowled for a moment, wanting to hold onto her irritation, but after a moment she sighed and got over it.

Leo felt Dream scratch behind her ear and if Lions could pur, you would have heard it. No wonder cats like this so much. then hearing that Dream didn't want a ride she got up and rubed against some peoples legs. "Oh crap," she thought, "I'm doing it again, I'm never gonna be feared at this rate, darn my cuddliness,"Her thoughts were distracted when suddenly she saw a butterfly, "oo, look shiney," and she ran off the trail just a wee bit to play with it.

Dream watched Leo start chasing a butterfly and she couldn't help but grin. She then started walking along the path again. She looked around and had no idea where they were. She looked behind them, and saw that the campsite was gone now. There's was no way to go, but forward. Dream walked quickly, just wanting to get to the end of it and see what was going on. After she had gone on a couple of miles, she looked back and noticed that the others were pretty far behind. She decided to sit on a rock while she waited for them to catch up.

Aidenhadf smiled and was trying so hard not to laugh first Leo got pissed which he laughed at and couldnt help but giggle then she turned into her lioness form and charged at dream although she just stood there. He had heard what Leo had said and its not that he didnt want to be her friend its just she was to perky and happy and that was annoying. He then saw her chase a butterfly and dream sit down on a rock. He sat next to her pulling out 2 bottles of water and held them and concentrated on them to get cold and handed one to dream. "So you tired of this trip yet cause Im bored and need something to do." he said to her.

Dream gratefully took the cold bottle of water from Aiden. He was always thoughtful like that for her. She rolled her eyes in agreement at his comment. "This could be more boring." she said in a disappointed tone. "I dont wanna keep picking on Leo, even though she's hilarious when she's pissed. There has got to be something else we can do, to make this more interesting. Come on Bobby... between the two of us, this should not be a problem." she said thoughtfully.

Aiden flashed her a grin. "Well Jean I guess there are ways this could work. We could make the hiking trip alot harder foreveryone including us like one of those indiana jones movies were there are traps and snakes and things and we could summon some and you could tell them not to bite and we could have sinking sand and rolling bolders or we could just hike and find the other campers in the first group and have a little fun with them." He said in one breath.

Dream looked around thoughtfully. She wouldn't practicing her powers, but she really didnt want to make the hike harder for herself and while she could speak and understand parseltongue, she really didn't like snakes that much. Lizards were much cooler. She looked at Aiden and said "How do you know we're even going to meet up with other group? What if we're going in totally different directions, to different places?" she asked.

( A lot to catch up on geez o_O)

Meridae had stopped short as things started heating up. There was some screaming, some giggling..and some roaring of..some kind. She had tried to ignore it at first, but it got progressively harder to pretend like she didn't hear a thing that was going on. And just as she was about to whirl around and say something, a lionness came charging out chasing some measly butterfly.

And now..suddenly, probably from being distracted, Dream and Aiden were now much farther ahead. ..This was turning disastrous all ready! She knew, undoubtedly, that she'd have to say something. But what?

She breathed a sigh of relief as she neared the clearing where Dream and Aiden sat, and motioned with their hand for anyone else following to sit down as well for a break. It seemed to be a good idea. Besides, they could wait for Leona this way.

Breaking out her own water jug, Meridae took a swig and plunked herself onto the ground.

Dream grinned at Meridae as she came into the clearing and sat down near them. "Hi! Having fun yet?" she asked as she noticed the perturbed look on her face. She really didn't want to make trouble for Meridae, so she hoped that she wasn't mad at her. "Meridae, can't you give us hint about what we're doing? Or at least tell us if we're going to be catching up with the other group?" she asked, while giving a sly look to Aiden.

Leo returned to the group head hanging. It turned out the butterfly did not want to play with the kitty. She walked up in time to be in earshot of Dream and Aiden using their X men names. She loved X men herself and wanted a name too. She turned back into her human form "Hey, can I have an X men name too," wincing at how overly enthused she sounded "Sorry, I'll work on my emoness later," she added

"Honestly, Dream, I'm afraid I don't know that. I'm assuming we will catch up with them though, to assure ourselves we aren't lost." She glanced over at Leona. Why hadn't the Headmaster warned her about some of her group oh, I don't know.. changing into a freakin' lionness??!

Shaking her head despite her thoughts, she curiously looked over at Dream and Aiden in regards to the whole X-Men thing, but decided not to ask.