Ninja Spy Training

Lachlan moved along the stone wall, holding her hands together to make them form a gun. She was singing spy music in her pretty voice. Lion followed her like he always does, but he was giving her an odd look. He didn't seem to understand what Lachlan was doing. Not that it matter that he understood; Lion was only her familiar.

Lachlan found herself venturing further up into the towers. Lachlan has never been up here before, but Leighton told her about it. Leigh said that she met her friend Emily up here. Maybe that meant Lachlan would find a friend up here too. Hopefully, Cadan wouldn't be there though. Not that Lachlan didn't want to see him, but she wanted him to be working on their plan. Lachlan would talk to him after he fulfilled the first step.

Entering what Lachlan saw to be the Clock Tower, she could see a figure standing there. Lachlan suddenly stopped singing. It was second time this year that she had been caught singing. Even though Lachlan had a good voice and her regular voice had a tendency to sound like a song, she was shy when it came to singing. Not when it came to dancing, but when it came to singing yes.

So, Lachlan just stood there waiting for the person to turn around.

Liz sighed, frowning out at the grounds. It wasn't that she was unhappy, but ever since seeing herself in that mirror...she was confused. Now she knew what she wanted, but she wasn't quite sure how to get it. She frowned and closed her eyes, lost in thought.

Suddenly, she heard a singing voice that abruptly stopped and a shuffling, and she turned, blinking at the girl. She was in the mirror... she frowned, but then she shook the thoughts out of her head and smiled genuinely at the girl. "Hiya," she greeted. "What's up? You lost?"

She was unsure over whether that was blunt or not, but even if it was, it could be true; she herself had simply stumbled upon the tower, though she had taken to hiding out in it for a while. She watched the animal next to her curiously; it was really cute. Hecate, on the other hand, had purred her way behind her legs, so the cat was impossible to see.

Lachlan straightened up, putting her hand on her German Shepherd's head. "Um, no I'm not lost. I was actually acting like a ninja spy. Its pretty cool. Its like I'm James Bond and Lion here is my side-kick." she explained smiling.

Suddenly, Lachlan ponytail holding snapped and her long, heavy, brown curls fell around her shoulder. Scowling at her hair, Lachlan looked back at the girl. "My hair hates me, I swear." Lachlan said. She laughed when Lion started barking at her hair like it would come alive and attack Lachlan.

"I'm Lachlan, Lachlan Normandy. I'm a Hufflepuff first year. You can call me whatever though!" Lachlan felt her musical voice begin to ramble again. "And you are?" she wondered, grinning at the girl.

Liz felt a grin hit her face. James Bond? That sounded like a lot of fun..."Got a Mary Goodnight yet, then?" she questioned, wondering if the girl would catch the reference--her brother had made her watch James Bond with him too many times to count.

She watched as their girl's ponytail snapped and then laughed with her. "Don't worry," she assured her, gesturing to her own, also ponytailed hair; "I have a theory that all hair has minds of their own. What say you?"

"Is that a German Shepard?" She grinned at the dog and shoved Hecate back behind with her foot, because the stupid cat was trying to get out and investigate. She bent down and reached out a hand to the dog before looking up at the girl's introduction. "Liz McCutney, second year Raven, and I guess you can call me what you want, too." She surveyed the girl before deciding, "Lachy. Original, no, but it fits."

Lachlan laughed at her Mary Goodnight comment. "Sure, I would love to have a Mary Goodnight. I mean, who doesn't want a kick-butt chick that pushes guys into a pool of liquid helium?" Lachlan joked.

When her ponytail snapped, Liz began laughing with her. "Yes, they do have a mind of their own. I swear, my hair is gonna kill me someday." Lachlan muttered, picking up a strand of her extremely curl hair. She loved it, but it hated her. A great relationship in Lachlan's opinion.

"Yep," Lachlan said rubbing Lion's ear. "Name's Lion. A great dog. Won't let me go anywhere by myself. I can just imagine the chaos that will happen when have to go to my classes. I might I have to lock him in his cage with food and water. Otherwise, he would walk with me to every class and bark at every student. I'm super surprised he isn't barking at you to be honest. He is very protective of me."

Liz, as the girl introduced herself, reached down and extended her hand to Lion. Much to Lachlan's happy surprise Lion licked her hand and began wagging his tail. "Liz, he likes you!" Lachlan exclaimed with an ear to ear grin. Liz was the only person out of Lachlan's friends that he liked. He didn't even like Caden that much.

"I'm probably gonna call you Liz until I think of something super original. Scary thought, but it will be amazing. Might call you Lizard sometimes when I'm in the Hufflepuff Animal Mode... otherwise known as H.A.M. or HAM." Lachlan laughed at the thing she just made up. "And Lachy it a great nickname. Better than what my cousin gave me. She calls me Lach. One time, she was like 'Lach, lock the door,' I thought she stuttered." Lachlan shook her head to make her stop talking.

Smiling at Liz, she could see a flash of a cat tail. "You have a cat?" Lachlan cried, her face lighting up. Lachlan loved cats. Yet, when she bought Lion, dogs were calling to her.

"Now I just have to die my hair and get a fake fiancee," she bantered playfully in reply, a grin on her face. "Maybe seduce a couple guys." Finally, she had met someone who shared her interest in Bond and actually looked into it all--she definitely liked this girl!

"Why don't you cut it?" she suggested, surveying the girl as though she were a professional salon artist and she a model. She frowned for a moment before beaming. "You'd look really good if you cut it off just below your chin--it'd frame your face nicely. But I don't claim to be an expert," she added hastily, tugging at her own wild, stupid, and probably violent hair.

"Lion..." she grinned. "That fits him. Did you think of it himself? Where'd you get him? He's adorable!" She was suddenly speaking at a rapid-fire pace quite unusual for her, and was abruptly cut off when it licked her hand. She beamed before scratching him behind the ears. "I like him, too."

"Uh-oh..." she suddenly felt an irrational feeling of fear take over her. "That doesn't sound good." Her eyes narrowed. "Please don't call me Lizard. Chameleon maybe, but not Lizard--it makes me think of a snake." She made a face. "HAM?" She grinned at the silly acronym. "Maybe I'll call you that from now on. Wouldn't that be great--'Hi, Ham, how are you?'" She nodded sympathetically at her description of her cousin. "That'd be weird, but still awesome." She wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that comment and hoped it hadn't shown.

Liz glanced down at the small-bag-sized cat, nodding and picking up the fluffy...thing. "Her name's Hecate," she reported with a smile. "She's a tiny little thing, and she loves to explore and make me chase after her, but I love her. I could probably carry her to classes with me if I wanted..." After a moment of hesitantly cradling the purring cat, she held it out to the Puff. "Do you want to hold her? She's tame...occasionally."

Lachlan laughed at Liz. "Have fun seducing the guys. I call dibs on killing them though!" Lachlan exclaimed, holding up her hands like a gun again and smirking. Her smirk wasn't as devious as Leighton's, but Lachlan wasn't ashamed of that. Lachlan was glad that she actually had the ability to smile instead of smirk. Much more inviting.

Lachlan thought about cutting her hair. "I think that might be a good idea. Only, if I imagine my hair cut, I still imagine it as poofy. So, therefore, it might look like a furball on my head. I'm just happy that my hair likes to be straightened. I just never have the time." Lachlan explained.

"I won't call you Lizard. Trust me, I don't want one of my friends reminding me of a Snake. I have to deal with my very Snake-like Slytherin cousin. I will probably just call you Liz for now... You never know, I might think of some amazingly spectacular nickname for you." Lachlan giggled slightly at Liz's comment. "If you call me HAM, that I will get hungry. I swear, I have the stomach of a seventeen year old male. I love eating!" Lachlan said, happy that this girl liked to talk as much as Lachlan did.

Lachlan smiled as Liz explained her kitten to her. Lachlan loved animals and for some odd reason, the animals loved her. Back home, Lachlan would bring home stray animals. Her mother would get mad at her, but Lachlan didn't care. When Liz offered for Lachlan to hold Hecate, Lachlan's face lit up. "I would love to hold her! I love animals." Lachlan reached out for Liz to set the cat in her arms.

Liz laughed. "Go ahead," she assured the first year, "I don't think I could stand the blood on my clothes. Clash with my hair, right?" She twirled her hair realistically (she was a wonderful actress when she wanted to be) before having a small fit of giggles. She was sure she sounded stupid, but she liked talking to this girl; she was fun just to be around.

Liz shook her head. "I like your hair," she frowned. "But if you really want to straighten it, there's a potion somewhere--if you're willing to brave the Potions' teacher, he might make you one." She shivered at simply the mention of the man; he was a scary man, after all.

She made a face at the mention. "Don't remind me of Slytherins," she grumbled. "They aren't any nice ones, as far as I know--not to offend you or anything," she added quickly, hoping she hadn't made Lachy mad, "but some of them are really mean." She laughed along with her new (once again, Hufflepuff) friend. "If you have the stomach of a seventeen-year-old male, I have twice that," she teased. "Who doesn't love food?"

She gladly dumped her tiny fluffball of a cat in Lachlan's arms, and it immediately curled up, settled in, and purred softly. After a few moment's pause, she commented off-handedly, "I can't tell if it's asleep or dead. Can you?"

Lachlan grinned at Liz. "Yeah, blood red isn't the most... complimentary of colors." Lachlan teased, laughing at Liz. Liz seemed like a fun type of girl. Usually, Ravenclaws were supposed to be uptight. Liz wasn't like that at all.

Lachlan blushed at the compliment. She wasn't used to getting them. From anyone. "Well thanks. I like my hair too. Out of control, like me." Lachlan grinned at Liz. "I have yet to experience the wrath of the potions master. Isn't he a former Gryffindor or something?"

Shrugging at Liz's comment, "I don't mind. I love Leighton, but the Slytherins give me a creepy vibe. I believe that if Leighotn wasn't my cousin, I probably would be a Gryffindor and would probably hate her." Lachlan answered truthfully. "Food its like Heaven. I love it." Lachlan gave a dramatic sigh.

When Liz dropped her cat into Lachlan's arms and it started purring, she smiled. Lachlan really did love animals. "She seems happy. I hope she isn't dead. I would be a murderer." Lachlan then glanced up with Liz, a sad expression on her face. Lachlan could be an actress when needed.

"I don't know," Liz replied teasingly. "I think it would bring out my eyes. What do you think? Too much?" She struck a mock model pose, looking over her shoulder as if surveying the color on her skin tone. She grinned; it was fun to make fun of girly girls for no real reason. It was decided; she liked this girl.

Liz grinned. "Out of control hair isn't necessarily a bad thing." She made a face. "Gryffindor? Honestly, I always imagined him as a Slytherin. He definitely has the personality for it." She wasn't going to make fun of the potions master (even if they were alone, he would find a way to give them detention), but she simply couldn't imagine the man as anything but a Slytherin. "We should check that out one day. Does Hogwarts have yearbooks?"

"Honestly, I can't blame you," she agreed. "But who we know makes us who we are, right? So it's probably good that you're not a Gryffindor. Besides, Hufflepuff's one of the best houses." Most of the people Liz knew were Hufflepuffs, so she couldn't honestly say they were bad people. She grinned. "Don't faint in the face of Nirvana, Lachy, it's not becoming of you."

She gasped in mock horror. "I hope not," she agreed, petting the still-purring animal before scratching behind the ears of a momentarily-forgotten Lion. "I'll have to protect your poor dog from your evil clutches," she teased, scooping the animal up into her arms and hoping it wouldn't bite her or something. It was rather strange to be holding a dog instead of a cat, but definitely not bad.

Lachlan set her hand on her chin, pretending to be thinking. "Maybe it would bring out your eye color. But, we would have to get a whole new wardrobe!" Lachlan clapped her hands together and let out a fake squeal. "Shopping!" Then, she burst out in hysterical giggles. Liz was someone Lachlan could be friends with for sure.

"Out of control hair is pretty fun." She stated with a grin. "Me too! I heard if in the halls. Apparently he is a Gryffindor! I know how Snakes are like, and I was sure he was one! We have to get a yearbook." Lachlan agreed, laughing still.

Lachlan listened to Liz as she explained. "Yeah, Hufflepuff is an amazing house. And the yellow makes the gold in my hair stand out so much more! The red would clash with my brown eyes." Lachlan loved joking around with Liz. She was really fun to be around. "I can't help it! Food is... well food!" Lachlan exclaimed, a huge grin on her face.

Lachlan grinned when Liz picked up Lion. Lion was still a puppy and therefore small enough to pick up. But, it was funny seeing Liz pick up a fairly large puppy. Lachlan laughed when she saw Lion lick Liz's face. "I think Lion has found a new best friend. I believe I've been replaced." Lachlan wiped a fake tear away and clutched the kitty tighter. "Its okay kitty, I won't replace you."