Skyler had no real idea where she was going. In fact, wherever her feet were leading her seemed ok enough. And those feet had a tag along. In the form of her midnight black kitten, Nyx. Skyler would glance down at him every so often during their journey, and grin at how he pranced alongside her. For a kitten, he certainly was childlike. Which is one of the reasons Siyler picked him in the first place.

Eventually the duo found themselves climbing a staircase that Skyler could only guess would lead to one of the school's towers. Well, Skyler was climbing. Nyx found it much more convenient to hitch a ride in her arms. Emerging onto the Astronomy tower, Skyler smirked at her kitten. "You know, you'll have to learn to climb the stairs yourself eventually." To which she promptly received a whine-like meow. Chuckling in amusement, Skyler set the kitten down and leaned against the wall, gulping in the crisp, fresh air of winter.

Merri was roaming the academy towers, doing her usual exploring and being curious drill. This time she was counting steps and practicing her levitation spell. So far she had managed to levitate herself down one single stair at a time, well, she could if she concentrated extra hard. Going up on the other hand, had proven to be rather difficult.

She paused to catch her breath, "Hey Sora!" Merri called out while jerking open the nearest door. She stopped and blinked a few times. "This is not the common room," she mumbled to herself. How was it that she still lost her way around this school, it wasn't that big, was it? At least she knew where she was this time.

Skyler turned around, startled from her thoughts when the door burst open, and out tumbled a...girl? Yup. After her initial reaction which was to grab her wand from behind her ear where it was tucked as per usual and point it at what she deemed as the target, Skyler noted it was indeed a girl who had thrown open the door to the Astronomy tower.

Rolling her blue eyes, which were now even more amused than before, Skyler tucked her wand back behind her ear and offered the obviously younger girl a grin, though she couldn't hide her amusement. "It's Skyler actually, and you're lucky I don't attack first and ask questions later." She gave a mock disapproving look to the other, but it only lasted a moment before giving way to her grin. Taking her stance against the wall once more, Skyler crossed her legs at the ankles and crossed her arms over her chest, assessing the younger girl and trying to figure out why she came through the door in such a hurry. "So who are you? And why were you bursting through the door like a rampaging hippogriff?"

Merri stumbled backwards in surprise, dropping her wand in the process and landing on her bottom with a loud 'thud'. She stared, her mouth gaping, at the older female student. Being a little thick-headed she could not tell whether or not the girl was serious. "I entered the wrong room," she stuttered nervously while tucking a strand of dark hair back behind her ears.

"I am Merri," she quietly commented then held out her palm; her wand shot back across the room, safely into her hands. Glancing up once more, she noticed Skyler was now grinning rather cheerfully. So it had been all a jest. "I do not sound like a hippogriff," she giggled then stuck out her tongue at the girl.

Skyler bit her lip in an attempt to keep herself from laughing at the girl, but it bubbled up out of her anyways. Getting her laughter under control, Skyler offered the girl an apologetic smile. "I don't mean to laugh. Well... I do...it was quite funny, that entrance of yours."

Skyler shook her head. Hmm, this wasn't coming out right. "Let me try again. Are you ok?" Skyler asked the younger girl, nodding to the name she received and arching a brow as she watched the wandless magic. She was impressed, but she didn't give it away by outward appearance. Instead, she filed the fact away for future inspection and simply adopted her patented Riddle smirk as the girl giggled and stated she didn't sound like a hippogriff. "I amend my statement. So you do always enter through doors like a raging bull then? You just went through the wrong one this time?"

Merri giggled along with Skyler, she hadn't the slightest idea why she was laughing, but she figured it was harmless. Though she did feel a bit awkward laughing about something that she had not been clued in on.

Once she caught her breath, she examined her wand for damaged then shrugged and vigorously shook her head, "All is fine," she beamed at the other girl then frowned. Maybe she had been picking fun at her after all. "I wasn't-" Merri puffed her cheeks out, trying to explain. Then just as quickly sighed, a sign that she did not care what the other girl thought. Besides maybe she had looked like a bull or hippogriff or whatever, barging into the room like she had.

"I was practicing levitating, and I got a little excited to show one of my friends." Now that is a rather sensible answer, Merri thought then rolled up to her feet and hurried over to join Skyler at the railing of the observatory. "What are you doing up here?"

"Mmhmm. A likely story." Skyler teased the girl lightly, adding an easy grin so Merri would know she was only jesting. Skyler knew the girl wasn't in her house, considering she had never seen her in the dormitory, so maybe this was a little clue as to where one of the other house dormitories was... Skyler filed it away and decided to do a little light digging. "And why would your friend be in the astronomy tower? Was the plan to levitate yourself all the way up here then?"

Skyler couldn't help but grin and shake her head as amusement filled her blue eyes at Merri's curiosity and beaming smile, and so she answered truthfully. "Needed some fresh air after that last class. Not to mention Nyx wanted to go exploring." Skyler advised the younger girl, rolling her eyes and gesturing to the black kitten who was silently observing them with his green eyes.

Merri casually rolled her wand against the railing while she stared up at the endless night sky. It was too cold for inside wear, she noted, drawing her cloak tightly against her skin.

The girl glanced sideways, at Skyler then playfully rolled her eyes. As if Sora would be up in the astronomy tower. Rin might be up here though, she vaguely wonder why the older student was not present then tossed the thought aside. "My plan was to levitate myself up the stairs to my common room," she rambled on, not thinking twice that she was possibly giving away the location to her house dormitory. "I thought he would find it cool so I was going to show him."

Nyx? Merri wondered then slowly brought her attention to the kitten perched next to them. She held back the urge to lift the cat up and smoother him in hugs and kisses. Instead she opted to shower the animal in compliments, "Aren't you a handsome fella?" she cooed at the small kitten and held out her hand so that she could scratch behind his ears.

"Mmhmm." Skyler offered thoughtfully, never losing her grin, which only grew wider. So there WAS another dormitory near by! There was no containing the spark that lit in the brunette's blue eyes at that realization. Try as she might to never give away anything, Skyler could never keep her emotions out her eyes. Mentally checking herself, Skyler focused her eyes on the nightsky, her thoughts changing to the other girl's approach on the levitation spell. It certainly had some merit to it. Skyler wished she had that idea when she learned that spell. "That's actually not such a bad idea." She complimented Merri, smirking over at the younger girl. "So you really levitated yourself all the way up here?"

Skyler questioned the girl as she watched her coo baby-like at Nyx, arching a brow and then finally rolling her eyes as Nyx seemed to preen under the attention and pranced over to Merri, rubbing against her hand with his dark fur and purring delightedly. "You'll spoil him rotten like that." She added to Merri, to which she recovered what could only be taken for a glare from Nyx's green eyes. Skyler grinned cheekily at the kitten, who promptly turned away from her and gave his undecided attention to Merri. Skyler merely laughed at the cat's antics.

Merri debated on telling the entire truth about levitating up and down the tower staircase, but decided it sounded much cooler not to. "Oh yes, it took me a few tries, but if you concentrate enough you should be able to float right up and down with ease," her mouth twitched, it was only a half truth since she had struggled to levitate up the stairs, but who knew - maybe Skyler would have no problems whatsoever.

The girl giggled as the kitten rubbed himself back and forth against her hands, emitting a soft but constant purr as he did so. "Don't tell me you haven't already spoiled this little fella rotten," she scratched Nyx under the chin and laughed as he pranced around again, swishing his tail and nudging her hand some more. "How can you possibly resist?" Urged on by the happy purr from the cat, she carefully scooped him up into her arms and nuzzled her face against his. He was so soft and everything she had imagined a pet would be. "How long have you had him?"

Nodding along to Merri's account of levitating herself, Skyler watched the younger girl interact with Nyx, and vice versa. Mentally rolling her eyes, Skyler smirked slightly. Her cat sure was eating up all the attention he was being fed, that was for sure. "I actually just got him this summer. And trust me, after the first week the cuteness rubbed off. He's as smart as you or I, and can be a right pain in the arse sometimes. Not to mention he's pampered enough.." Skyler added, grinning from ear to ear, clearly joking and finding it amusing as said cat seemed to glare at her as if to say 'how dare you.' But Skyler loved her pet, and vice versa, and she treated him as she would treat a friend. Which meant constant teasing. It was only fair, since Nyx was nearly as playful as his owner and got up to no good almost as much as she did. He was the perfect partner in crime for Skyler in most cases. Except he was entirely too stubborn.

Shaking her head from her thoughts on her kitten, Skyler was suddenly struck with an idea. She didn't know if Merri would know about them or not, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy them. It wasn't like Skyler had known when her best friend, at her old school, had shown her. It was so long ago, yet seemed like just yesterday. Skyler pushed the pain away quickly, more inclined to focus on the excited news now shinning in her eyes. "I've got an idea!" She was practically bouncing on her toes, looking at Merri with a toothy grin. "You wanna see how I got the hang of the levitation charm?" Skyler asked, her excitement for sharing her experience almost contagious. Jeez, get a grip Riddle, Skyler told herself mentally, but rocked on her heels in anticipation nonetheless.

Merri was lightly scratching Nyx on his tummy and laughing in delight at the bemused look on the cat's face. She had never played with a pet, let alone owned one, so she found his reactions rather endearing. He lightly batted at her fingers, as if to say 'no girl don't scratch me there' then licked at her hand. She squealed and repeated the action a few more times until the kitten managed to upright himself. The cat seemed satisfied with his attention session or rather maybe amused by Skyler's own behavior.

Looking over at the other student she tried not to giggle, "Tell me!" She exclaimed loudly, easily getting caught up in the excitement. She copied Skyler, bouncing on her toes and rocking back and forth just slight. It wasn't that she was making fun of the other girl, it just so happened that was exactly what she herself did when she was looking forward to something. And, as she had just been practicing levitating herself, well she was a little more than eager about learning a new approach.

Skyler was grinning from ear to ear seeing her excitement mirrored in Merri. "Awesome! And I'll do you one better. I'll show you." And with that said, she bounced on over to her bag, opened it, and pulled out a notebook, from where she tore out two pieces of paper. It was moments like these where one could tell Skyler wasn't a native to these parts of the world. It was the verbiage, she thought, when she was excited or less inclined to think before speaking, which was almost never so that went without saying. For Skyler had a knack for using slang language that wasnt often caught in conversations here. It was something she had picked up on quickly. But naturally it was her accent, or lack there of one, that gave her away as an American.

"Now if you're muggleborn, or half maybe, you'll probably recognize this, but if not, it's cool. Just pay attention to how I fold the paper and fold yours to match, and you should get the same result." Skyler instructed simply, grinning as she handed a sheet of paper to the younger girl. Skyler had never been a stickler for finding out one's family tree before befriending them, and she wasn't about to start now. She had taken a liking to the younger girl. She was spunky, and that was something Skyler could appreciate.

Slowly, the brunette folded the paper making sure to give Merri time to follow her lead, until the end result was a small paper plane. Happy with her work, Skyler whispered conspiratorially to the younger witch. "Now watch." Skyler muttered and waved her wand for a few moments, casting a few spells. The first, a color changing spell, to make her paper plane purple, and the second, a rather decently complex bubble charm. Finally, with a muttered, "Wingardium Leviosa!" Skyler's plane took flight, and as it did so, bubbles floated out from its end tail. Smirking at her creation, she directed the plane around them, showing off her work. It hadn't taken her long to get the levitation charm down when practicing like this, and many times her and her friend had had paper plane races just for fun. That was when the modifications had begun.

Merri instantly began to recognize the familiar folding pattern for a paper airplane. She had probably made a couple dozen in her lifetime. It was the one fun task that her mother had taught before going mad, and it was something to pass the time while she had been caring for her younger brother. "Yeah as a muggle-born you learn to appreciate magic a little more than others some times, but I still enjoy a good paper plane," she added while smoothing out her fold lines.

When Skyler whispered excitedly to watch, she lifted her head and observed the witch's clever choice in spells. She felt a little envious and glanced down at her plain and boring airplane. Hmm, well I can add my own flair too! She thought with a slight smirk and pointed her wand a the small plane. She waved a small circle and the paper turned dark black then pointed a few good times and red stripes appeared.

Merri was not familiar with the bubble charm however, and settled for a small twist on the bird summoning charm. After messing around for a bit she discovered she could combine the painting charm with the bird summoning one and it would cause objects to move like they were truly flying. "Shall we race?" Merri asked with a look of amusement on her face, "Wingardium Leviosa!" she whispered and directed her creation so that it swooped and dived around the astronomy tower.

Ah. So Merri was muggleborn. While it didn't matter to Skyler one way or another, it was still good to know. Grinning as the younger witch easily folded her own paper into a paper airplane, Skyler nodded to what she was saying, both to show she were listening and to show she agreed. For the most part. She, herself, was not muggleborn but she felt she had a deep appreciation for magic. And she could say the same for a few purebloods as well. And she told Merri as much. "Well I'd agree with you, but I think I appreciate magic just as much and I'm only a half-blood. Plus I know a fair few purebloods who do as well, not to mention muggleborns. I think maybe its just what you're taught growing up I suppose." Skyler had given it some thought and figured if you we're taught magic was your born right, then it sort of lost its worth to that person. It was just a theory of hers though.

Arching a brow at Merri, Skyler was mildly impressed with the youngster. "Pretty impressive magic there youngin'." She complimented easily, and honestly. The girl was full of surprises, Skyler would give her that. And she didn't seem to have a problem keeping up with Skyler, something the brunette could definitely appreciate. "I especially like the racing stripes. Nice touch." She stated with a wink to the other girl, and then, blue eyes lighting up, she added, "You're on!" as directed her own plane out of the reach of Nyx, who was swatting at it with his laws currently.

Merri considered the response Skyler had given her, and realized she had been very inconsiderate. She should not have been so quick to judge someone just because of their blood type. Besides, several of her friends were purebloods and she was certain that they never took magic for granted. It was actually far more likely that only a select few people at the school did not appreciate the power of magic.

"Hmm?" Merri glanced back at her paper airplane then grinned, "Why thank you! And, you'll have to teach me that bubble charm some time." she replied as she waved her wand. The plane moved so that it was next to Skyler's own creation. "Alrighty then, the first to completely circle the astronomy tower then make it back here wins."

She pointed her wand and the plane's wings arched up. This she hoped would give her an advantage. She wasn't all for cheating, but could that really be considered cheating? Merri doubted that, and well she really liked to win too! "On the count of three! One, two, three!" she called out then flicked her wand and the wings of the plane bent down and speed off.

Smirking, Skyler responded easily. "No problem. I'm sure you'll pick up the spell easily enough." It was a compliment coming from Skyler. She didn't often let on to people when she were impressed with them. But Merri seemed, for all intents and purposes, very talented in the magic department. The young witch seemed a quick learner, so Skyler didn't think twice about stating she would probably pick up the spell in no time when shown. But not until after the race, since Skyler didn't want to let the other in on her secret weapon in the paper airplane world.

Skyler comforted herself that it wasn't cheating. It just gave her advantage. The bubbles acted as a propellant, propelling the plane even faster than she flew and directed it. It was a speed booster. Not to be misconstrued with cheating. So it was with a grin like a chestshire cat she lined her plane up at the makeshift starting line. She arched one delicate brow at the younger witch when the other's plane's wings arched, but decided not to comment on it. Instead, she nodded her head and focused as Merri counted them off. When she head three, Skyler magicked her plane forward, intent on being the first around the astronomy tower, but mostly just having fun. Skyler absently remembered her very first paper airplane race as she directed her plane around through the first turn and glanced over to Merri's to see where they were in the race.

The plane twisted, twirled, and barely brushed against the sides of the tower while it glided. Merri crinkled her nose, deep in concentration as she willed her airplane to move faster. "Dats!," she mumbled, and frowned when Skyler's bubbles easily propelled her creation just out of reach. It seemed like she would never catch up, as the plane created more and more distance.

Merri flicked her wrist and narrowed her eyes, I could really cheat, just for this one time. She snuck a glance at the girl standing beside of her, then back up to the plane as it started to fall slightly out of view. "OH!" she cried out and ran after her plane so that it returned to proper course.

"Just a little push," Merri mumbled under her breath then smirked as she used her telekinetic powers to enhance the speed. Her plane suddenly jerked forward at an alarming rate, quickly catching up as the finish line neared. "Go, go go! Noooo!," she shouted and stomped her foot in disappointment.

Her failure did not upset her for long though, when her plane smashed into the side of the tower she burst into giggles. "That was so fun!" she shouted and turned towards Skyler, grinning from ear to ear.

Skyler had a feeling that the world could come crashing down at that very moment and neither girl would have noticed. That was how much fun a simple paper airplane race could be. Skyler was a kid at heart, and things like this brought that out more than anything, especially as she bounced on her toes, eyes wide and shinning with excitement as she tried to direct her plane as neatly as possible so it wouldn't crash.

She tried to pay attention to Merri's mumblings and her plane as well, especially when it caught up to hers and then past hers up, but doing that and bouncing up and down in excitement and anticipation was proving to be too hard when coupled with trying to direct a flying airplane, because one minute she was winning, and the next her airplane smashed straight into....an owl? Skyler had taken her eyes off of it long enough to glance at Merri's plane, which had smashed spectacularly into the stone wall of the tower, and when she had glanced back her own plane had gone on a crash course into a passing owl. Skyler flinched slightly at the crash, groaning. "Aargh." She hoped the bird was ok, which it seemed to be as it continued to fly.

Skyler had a moment of competitive weakness and glared for all about two seconds, before finally giving in to her childish ways and pouting. "Well that was unfortunate." Turning to Merri, and noting the excitement she still showed, Skyler flashed her a grin. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. Now you have something new to share. Skyler gained a thoughtful look as she added, "What do you suppose our classes would be like if our teachers used ideas like that to teach us new spells?"

Merri was way ahead of Skyler's thinking, and she knew several of her friends who would be more than happy to fly airplanes with her. Her ideas grew wilder by the minute as suddenly she was imagining a club devoted to these kind of races, maybe they could even do other paper vehicles! She balled up her hands and hopped about excitedly, oblivious to Skyler until she noticed the girl was looking at her expectantly.

Now what had she asked? Merri blinked a few times and squinted as she tried to remember. Oh right, classes. "Well, for one: if history class was more like this I certainly would not be falling asleep all the time. And for two: if potions were more like this I might not keep ruining my antidotes and such and for three well I would be a straight A student probably," she gave a big grin then just as quickly sighed as she remembered the ugly D written plainly on her last report. She should be back in her dorm practicing potions, maybe Rin could help her out again.

Skyler, for her part, watched the younger witch with amusement, one eyebrow raised as Merri seemed to forget about her completely, hoping about in excitement about whatever it was she were thinking. It was good to see. Especially when one considered the events happening lately. It was nice to see a kid being a kid again. Though for once Skyler wished she could read minds so she would know what thoughts the girl had come up with that we're the cause of her excitement.

Before she could ask though, Merri was answering her questions, and Skyler grew more and more amused by the second. "Well I suppose I'd be falling asleep in class to if I were busy levitating myself up and down the castle at all hours of the night." Skyler teased lightly, trying to ease the small amount of tension she sensed as the younger girl sighed.

Merri stuck her tongue out at the other girl. She did not levitate up and down the castle every night! That would be quite tiresome and a bit looney, and while she might do silly stuff, she never turned looney. Then Merri blinked and realized the girl was obviously just teasing her. Oh right. She grinned and suddenly quickly blurted out, "No way. I usually just spend my night keeping watching in the room of requirements."

Her bright blue eyes suddenly appeared to grow much too big for her face, and she quickly slapped both hands over her mouth. There she went, blabbing about information that she had been told to keep quiet about. Even worse she had been warned not to go there. Slowly lowering her hands, she tugged at her shirt and stared at her toes. "I should not have told you that," Merri sheepishly whispered, "Any chance you did not hear what I just said?" she asked with an innocent like bluster.

Unable to help herself, Skyler snorted at Merri's reaction. It was just so...childish. Skyler wasn't judging. Goodness know. She could be more childish than a five year old at times. It was just amusing to see someone else acting childish too. But it seemed no lasting damage had been done by her teasing as it appeared the younger witch had caught on to the fact she had in fact been teasing her with her previous comment. But Skyler wasn't sure how to react to Merri's following comments.

Blinking at first, Skyler's brows furrowed together in a confused way as Merri rambled on, eyes big as saucers it was almost comical as she clearly attempted to try and undo whatever had been done. Only Skyler didn't exactly understand what had been done. No time like the present to find out.. She thought to herself, internally sighing as the night seemed like it was about to get longer. Outward, the brunette tucked her wand behind her ear as per usual, leaned back against the tower wall and crossed her arms over her chest, legs crossing at the ankles as she arched a brow at Merri, shaking her head at the girl's question as Nyx sauntered over to make himself comfortable on her book bag, his luminous green eyes watching the girls with mild interest.

"Not a chance." Skyler answered Merri, tilting her head to the side and observing the younger girl. There was much more here than met the eye. "So since the proverbial beans have been somewhat spilled, why not just let me in onto the reason as to why you've been watching the room or requirement." Skyler didn't think it were safe to assume anything, at least not anymore. And Merri were too smart to fall for any of Skyler's tricks. So she opted for the direct approach. After all, Skyler had a knack for seeing through lies, so hopefully she'd get the truth: one way or another.