Observations for.. um.. science?

Wally had arrived here with her whole family, but they had since dispersed. Wally had been given the option between shopping with her mother, chatting with her father's coworkers, or forced to socialize with her sister and her sister's terribly obnoxious giggling group of friends. So she made her own option and Wally strolled into the Freak Show Tent.

This probably had to be one of the most immoral and illegal occupations left in the world, and yet somehow it was allowed. Still, her curiousity and sense of intrigue had been peaked, it was undeniable. Who knew when a circus would return and it was rare you saw people supposedly 'naturally born' in such odd ways in the wizarding world. She wanted to see it it was fake.

She strolled inside, spotting the kitten first. She met the woman's gaze. "Shrinking potion?" The woman shook her head. "Of course not, I-" Wally turned and walked on, not wanting to hear the woman lie as she was sure she would. She found herself in front of the tall man's ring. She stared at him as he circled on his bicycle. He watched her before saying, "Hi."

"Hello."

He blinked. "How are you?"

"Fine. Are you a Giant?"

"No."

"Half? Quarter? Eighth? Six-"

"No, I was just born unnaturally large," he stated. That was more believable to her. Wally felt incredibly tempted to just stand here and speak with this large man.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Wally."

"Wally? That's nice. My name is Nick."

"How.. short."

Nick grinned widely. "You can call my Nicholas."

Wally nodded curtly. "I shall."

Byron poked his head into the Freak Show Tent. His eyes went wide open at an impossibly enormous rabbit, not too far away from where he was standing. The boy always had a penchant for animals, and this was something he cannot miss. Swiftly, he entered the tent and scooted his way towards the man holding the gigantic rabbit. While making his way there, Byron's eyes never left the rabbit. It was such a sight to behold!

"Holy dumps!" he exclaimed as soon as he was just a hand away from the strange creature. Byron reached out an uncertain hand. "Can I - can I touch him? Her? It? This baby?!" He stuttered through his excitement. The old man, presumably the animal's caretaker, nodded and grinned in approval. Byron reached for its belly, stroking it like he never stroke anything like that before. But that was true, he had never. The large rabbit merely blinked and watched the boy touch it, confuse at the fuss that this human was making.

Then, without warning, Byron rushed for a hug, plastering his face against the animal's stomach. This worried the human holding it, for the animal had never been a friendly one. But the giant rabbit merely stared. At least this boy did not seem to treat it like a freak. He seemed to really like touching animals, and the rabbit wished it could tell him to head to the petting zoo instead.

Suddenly, Byron felt himself being nudged away. The owner of the rabbit caught his attention before gesturing to a crowd of younger children that had gathered to see the animal. Disappointed that he had to tear himself away from the awesome rabbit fur, Byron lingered to rub its belly, before reluctantly walking away from it.

So the circus had come to town, and he got the news from Roxi, who told him she was going to have a booth. But upon arriving, Byron was so excited to see that there was a Petting Zoo and a Freak Show Tent, he just had to visit those first.

Well, it seems like giants are all the rage these days. Byron walked to another giant in the tent. This time, a human one. The boy wondered why this was even on display. There was Hagrid, and he never went on display. A little puzzled, Byron placed himself in front of this display just as a young girl began to talk to him.

Grinning at the conversation that ensued between the girl and the large man, Byron looked at her and gave her a friendly smile. "Hi Wally," he began, having caught her name when she told it to the man. Then, Byron leaned closer to the girl, as if he was saying something that he did not want the large man to hear.

"Don't you think that rabbit over there," he pointed to the giant rabbit that he had met earlier, "would be the perfect pet for Mister Big here?" Byron continued to grin as he tossed that out to the young girl.

A boy entered and Wally glanced up, but Nicholas continued on, saying, “Would you like to see my tricks?”

Wally’s eyebrows pulled towards the center and she repeated, “Tricks?”

“Audiences seem to like it,” he said simply, shrugging.

Wally shook her head. “Take a break. Your legs must hurt.”

She heard her name and glanced over to see the boy had addressed her- correction. He had eavesdropped, learned her name, and then rudely interrupted her conversation. She blinked up at him. “I wasn’t talking to you.” She turned back to Nicholas and said, “What school did you go to?”

He opened his mouth but the boy leaned down and whispered to her. Nicholas watched curiously and she blinked up at the boy. “That’s rather discriminatory, saying that that rabbit and Nicholas are meant to be together just because they’re both large.” She did not bother lowering her voice, being a very blunt girl. “It’s also impolite to speak of somebody right in front of them.”

Byron raised both of his eyebrows. He had thought this young girl to be harmless, and perhaps happy? After all, was not this the general mood at the circus? She turned out to be a feisty little person instead. "Somebody's a bit of an uptight, ain't it?" He started again, hoping to break the ice. As soon as Byron said that, something in him told him it wasn't going to. He continued to observe the girl, a little curious at this young fireball.

"Do you go to Hogwarts?" It was a safe bet, Byron thought. "The circus a good break from what happened, eh? Don't know how school will be when we've to go back." He shrugged to himself. Byron liked school. He was just thrown into a lot of confusion, and a litle bit of fear, when the battle took place just before school was ending. He had, for once, been glad to return home. Not that he disliked his home. He was very loved at home. It was just that Hogwarts was always full of people everywhere, and he liked that.

Byron smiled at the large man, who did not seem to like him very much. Every time he sneaked a peek at the man, Byron would find a scowl thrown at him. Another fiesty one, he thought.

She seemed to have taken the boy aback, but she did not understand why, she was simply stating facts, was she not? She blinked up at him as he continued to interrupt her conversation and said in a blunt voice, "Yes. And that's dreadful grammar. I hope you are not implying that I am an 'it' because that is rather offensive."

Nicholas chewed his lip and dejectedly began to cycle in circles around and Wally sighed. She would speak with him later then. She turned back to this boy and answered his questions professionally. "Yes I do. I would say it would be safe to assume it will be under new leadership and will be under rennovation. The circus is typically a good break, overall, would you not agree?" She did not wait for a reply, it was rhetorical. "I came to the circus to observe and learn, but I was interrupted." She blinked at him, being bery clear that she was referring to him.

Byron reached a hand up to rough up his hair, not really knowing why he did so because it was merely a kind of habit. He continued to look at the girl and pursed his lips, as if he was contemplating something. Byron saw that he was not exactly desirable company, to the girl at least, although he still wanted to be very nice about it. The boy threw a slightly apologetic smile at Wally, and saw from the corner of his eye, that the giant man had begun to cycle, continuing his display of performance. Byron still felt a little confuse about his act, but decided not to share it anymore. He had expected to be completely freaked out in this tent, but it seems like the only one who freaked him out was the ginormous rabbit, along with this fiesty girl that he was still interested to befriend.

"Byron Bagman, and a pleasure to meet you, Wally." The boy offered what he thought to be a sincere smile, something which he has a lot, actually. It was not hard to dish it out. "I'm guessing you're a Ravvie, then, or ... Slytherin?" He had caught the girl's reply, and assumed from the way she talked. But really, she could be from any house, perhaps just having a bad and angsty day? Byron tossed the possibilities around in his mind. "But I would say Ravvie, you know. If you mean observe and learn for some ... education, rather than to stake out possible victims." Byron continued to talk on, not wondering if his comments were necessary. His good mood, like all other emotions of his, always got the better of his judgment.

"Well I came for the animals. You know, the Petting Zoo. Perhaps, one day, I could own a magical zoo of some sorts. Yes I reckon I'll like that. Although ..." he bit his lip, "it might not be very possible."

"Maybe a ringmaster for a circus! Except I'd much rather work with magical animals. They're fascinating. It's probably my favourite subject at Hogwarts, you know, Care of Magical Creatures? What classes do you take?"

After his long ramble, Byron managed to stop himself from going on too much. He had no control. The boy pressed his lips together, darted his eyes around, and then reached for his dog tag and bit it, just as a slight bunch of fringe fell over one of his eye.

He introduced himself and Wally resigned herself t the fact that she was going to have to speak with this boy regardless of whether or not she wanted to be forced to play the game of civilty and manners. Usually she would have turned and walked away, rolling her eyes, and shaking her head, without a look back or a thought to how it made him feel.

But she wanted to speak more with Nicholas, and then maybe discuss with that lizard fellow further in the tent, thinking he might have some interesting to say. This boy seemed hellbent on wasting her time. she would answer some of his questions, make him lose interest.

"I am a Ravenclaw, I have no intentions of having any sort of victims. And if I had, you would not know." She knew that if she wanted someone to face her wrath, she could make them, and then make it seem like it had never happened. "I presume you are Gryffindor, though you very well may be Hufflepuff."

He continued on, rambling on and on and on about creatures and animals and how he adored them and wanted to start this and that. She almost said he certainly had the right idea about pursuing a career in the circus but found that that was probably too much hostility- she wanted him to leave and if hr presumptions about him being Gryffindor were right, that would make him stay and argue.

At his question she replied curtly, "Potions and Charms, though I'm keener on Potions."

"Woooooo," Byron began to tease when Wally talked about victims, but stopped himself in time. He had to remind himself who he was talking to, and perhaps keep a little of his mad self to himself, or basically save it for Roxi later. The boy nodded before he seemed to pronounce with pride that "yes, a Gryffindor I am." He loved his house. He knew that a lot of good and great wizards had come from the house of Gryffindor, wizards who were strong enough to know how to act on their good side and not be swayed even when times were tough. Byron wanted to be like one of them. But really, he was not really a guy who wanted power. He only fooled with the idea because, well, anyone could be anything in his imagination, right? But truly, he merely wanted to do the things he liked, and of course, to do them with people he enjoyed.

"Well I've never been good at anything other than with magical animals, but I must say I've improved quite a bit at DADA classes. Potions, however, was never my cup of tea. Although it would be good if I had more ... studying inclinations." Byron frowned. As much as school treated him well in the sense of socializing, the boy was not exactly someone who did well in classes. Mother had been worried, asking him to read a little on his own during the school holidays. But he had never been much of a reader. It bore him. Byron sighed as he thought about it.

"Ah well," he began when he was reminded that he still wanted to visit the Petting Zoo before going to Roxi's booth. "I'll be gone. But I will see you at school, won't I?" Byron threw up a wink at the younger girl, gave her a light tap on the shoulder, and spun around and out of the Freak Show Tent.

This boy was almost the perfect Gryffindor typecast sterotype and Wallly again resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The proud Gryffindor, too proud of his House to realize some of the schools biggest idiots resided in the house. Ravenclaws were most intellgient, and Slytherins were crafty enough to be contendors. Then there were the Huffers, too soft to even be considered, too naive to battle in battle of wits. Which left Gryffindors trailing the back as the idiots of the bunch, pumped full of tetosterone and excitement to actually ever use their brains.

Poor fool.

He continued to gve a full account of his classes. He even loved DADA. Frankly, she found the class to be tedious and unchallenging. She did her own research if she wanted to learn DADA. Of course Potions had been hard for him, it took someone truly clever and witty to be able to brew a potion. Instead, she just said, "It's okay. Few Gryffindors grasp Potions." She smirked at the private joke.

And suddenly, he had left. She scrunched up her eyebrows, pursing her lips and decided to take it as a blessing. She turned around. "So Nicholas. What do you think about Potions?"

"I was going to be a Potionsmaster before I ended up here. I was actually too clumsy to be useful."

Wally felt a small, genuine smile reach her face. "You're not half bad, Nicholas."

"One could even say I'm one and a half good," he responded. She blinked and then let out a singular giggle.

Must've been a Ravenclaw.