"Hi Scarlet" Katie replied warmly. "What's everyone up to?"

"We are practicing for the Triwizard Tournament!" He replied. "Would you like to join us?"

"Of course" Katie said smiling and urged her broom to fly circles around Wiiliam and then soared up over his head.

William watched as Katie soared over his head so he followed. Zooming through clouds and a random stone falling from the sky.

Tilly was pecking at the school's garden patch. "I better get him away. He will only earn me a detention."William thought. He landed gracefully on his feet and picked Tilly up. "Your going to the common room. I will get a friend to look after you in there." His friend's watched what he was doing. "I will be right back!" He shouted. 2 minutes later he came back. "Accio!" He shouted and his wand appeared before him. He flew back up into the sky. "Sorry about that."

Originally, Valerie had taken a different approach to training than the other contestants. She refused to think of them as champions, since there could only be one champion; the person who won.

However, obviously someone disapproved of her tack, since she'd received an anonymous note in the library ordering her down here. Sigh. She hadn't even got any research done, thanks to that awful Rose girl.

She looked up at the people soaring overhead. Valerie could fly, but she didn't see the point of freezing her knickers off on a broomstick when she could just use the floo.

Scarlett watched William exit the grounds through one of the side doors as the other side door swung open, revealing Valerie. The girl she met in the library a few minutes ago, the one that insulted her and called her "awful" in her thoughts. "Um, Angel, could we leave? Maybe go somewhere more private," she asked pleading with her eyes to leave.

Slowly walking out onto the grounds, watching the students, Professor Blackwell chuckled to himself. he could tell that these students were aiming to be in the tournament. "Ah, to be young." he muttered to himself cheerily, not noticing the hufflepuff nearby.

Valerie had her wand in her hand now, but she was stopped in her tracks by a voice nearby.

"But with age comes wisdom, Professor," she said.

"I expect you have some important wisdom to impart at a time like this."

Bruce had been standing by the door. Krias wasn't there, so training didn't seem like much fun. He was half asleep, and was pretty much awaken after he heard that hufflepuff barge in. Bruce stretched his arms, as Kina slythered around. "Hestehavayho" He heard his snake say. Scar? What's she doing here? Bruce walked up to Scar and, none other than, Angel. "Hey you two. Doing anything fun?" He asked sarcastically.

He glanced over at the Hufflepuff, "Are you implying that you wish for some sort of hint in this tournament?" he said, smiling softly at her. From what he could tell, she was a first year, but she had an air about that said that she was almost a hybrid of the slytherin and gryffindor traits.

"Are you implying that you have a hint to give, Professor?" Valerie shot back. "I think you'd be practically obliged to tell me, in that case, as I am going into the tournament on my own and it's hardly possible I could beat everyone else even with that knowledge."

He chuckled. This child had spunk. That was certain. "Why would I be obliged?" he asked, "After all, you're also up against me as well." he chuckled again, "I never did get your name, may I request such a small piece of that information from you, my dear?" he asked politely.

Valerie smiled. She liked this professor, which was odd for she barely ever liked anybody.

"I don't know, do you want people to think you're afraid of a child?" she asked. "My name is Valerie."

He laughed, "And who's to say I'm afraid of you, Miss Valerie?" he bowed, "I am Professor Blackwell, the History of Magic instructor here." Upon standing up straight, he kept his smile and replied, "I'm afraid you have quite the devilish of adversaries if you wished to have myself be frightened by your presence." Turning back to the group, "On that note, how are fairing with this tournament, Miss Valerie?" he asked before adding, "And may I have your last name? Refering to you by first name feel impolite."

Katie looked down to see William headed back towards the broom. "Hurry up down there" Katie shouted playfully. "You're missing the beautiful crisp air"

Scarlett noticed her Professor Blackwell and her house prefect entered the grounds, where the rest of the teams were practicing their flying skills. She smiled a welcoming smile at her professor and winked, before noticing Bruno walked up to greet Angel and herself. "Hey Bruno!" she greeted softly, looking at Angel to hint she didn't want to say anymore.

"If you don't mind, Professor Blackwell, I don't think my parents would have given me a first name if they didn't intend me to use it," Valerie said. "But my surname is Naught, which I am telling you now because there is another first year girl named Valerie and I would hate to be confused with her."

She looked up at the people on broomsticks once more before replying.

"I believe I will be more than capable during the tournament, so long as I am not always obliged to train with the other competitors."

To this he smiled, "Now now, Miss Naught. You're not thinking with your head." he chuckled. "Why not stick around and learn what you are up against?" he glanced over to her, "I mean, why not see what weaknesses of your opponents you can exploit?" If he could give her any advice, it was this. Admittedly, he felt some pity for her, but at the same time, she seemed quite determined to rough this out alone.

At this Valerie's brow creased, but it was quickly replaced by a warm smile.

"I thought you had no hints to give, Professor," she exclaimed.

"I never said that I did or didn't, Miss Naught." he said simply, smiling all the way.

"I thank you, then, Professor," she said.

"Do you really think the champions will be set against one another? That isn't usually the format of the tournament, from what my research has yielded up."

He thought for a moment. "To be honest, I don't remember them having a dueling part of the tournament. But things can change. But otherwise, the tournament is set up as a race sometimes. So it all depends really." he explained.

As William was so high in the air, he didn't see the anyone enter the grounds. He saw Katie waving so he went down and thankfully landed on his feet. "Greetings professor. Hello Valerie! We are practicing for the tournament. Would you care to join us?" He said.

Angel smirked, tilting her head before answering," Just showing everyone what they're up against," She glanced at Bruce, her head held high in the air, but still not tall enough to look down at the Slytherin. " Isn't that what you came to do too?"