Caroline, ever aware that others might call her an odd duck and not particularly caring, sat on one of [new and improved] the park benches eating ice-cream and swinging her legs back and forth as she did so. Others must also must like the icecream she decided otherwise it wouldn't have been for sale and anyways it somehow always tasted better to her when it was cold outside. She was waiting for one of her school friends but they seemed to be taking eons to find her.

Having returned home for the Christmas Holidays, she had already dutifully gone to check on the homes of all her animal friends to ensure that they had survived without her loving care. She had of course been rather disappointed at first to find that she would have to wait to visit Padmore Park and check on any of it's occupants - including those had she feared had been affected by the sinkhole. She knew she ought to feel sadder for the humans that had lost their lives in the catastrophe however it was the animals that she had felt worse for since the rescuers would not have cared to find or help them.

Now that was no longer an issue because the park was open again and was going to take full advantage of her favourite place until she went back to school and was confined again to the classroom and forced to listen to her teachers.

She knew she ought to listen to them… or at least listen to them more than she did.

‘I suppose I’ll do that next year’ she thought to herself and took another lick of her ice-cream. Her list for next years was unfortunately getting rather long as she kept adding things that she would rather not do and whether or not she’d actually complete it was probably unlikely. She had also decided to try and write home more often, to complete her homework on time, not to cause Professor Foxwood quite so many heavy sighs and be lectured less by Ms. Paxton. She also going to finally pet Phil the Niffler and make friends with him. She knew keeping her room tidier ought to be on the list, as she was sure her dorm mates were less than impressed with her rather forgetful nature but… she chose be realistic.

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Mama wasn’t exactly thrilled that Uncle Reginald had decided to give the family not one but three fanged frisbees (one for him and one for each of his brothers), but even she wasn’t mean enough to take away a gift. Her condition had been that they couldn’t play with it in the house, especially while they were at the Foxwoods because Aunt Viola hadn’t been happy when Arthur had knocked over a vase and broken it and then hidden it from all the adults. Charlie had been there to eagerly cheer him on, but that was beside the fact.

Playing outside had only lasted only a day or two when it became apparent that it was too cold out to play, but what she didn’t know didn’t hurt her, at least until erm… the fanged frisbee shot down the hallway and landed right in Mama’s lap. It gobbled up the stitch… pillow thing that Mama had been working on, and that had been the end of that. She had gathered her three children and the governess for his little brothers before shooing them out the door to burn off some of the energy they had. Mama had taken two of the frisbees because they didn’t need to be tossing three around at the park.

Charlie begged to differ, but he knew not to argue with his mother.

(He also had a feeling that Uncle Reg got an earful after that, but as long as he didn’t get the howler, then Charlie didn’t mind Uncle Reg getting scolded.)

So here they were at Padmore. Arthur and Anthony were playing a game that Charlie would call childish now (he was a mature Hogwarts first year after all), leaving him to his own devices. He held the frisbee in his hand, which growled as he brushed his fingers against the edge of it. Before it could nip at him though, Charlie tossed it as hard as he could, watching it glide across the park… right into the lap of someone eating ice cream on the bench.

Charlie groaned before he trotted over. Hopefully she won't cry. He didn't like it when girls did that.

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