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Elsie was beginning to suspect she would have to help Kyra with Astronomy much like Kyra was going to help her in Herbology. Although she gave a small harrumph, she said nothing to that and continued talking about her favorite astronomers. During their visit in the Great Hall, Elsie successfully ignored the Muppet and instead tried to make conversation with their house Prefect Tiffany. Her icy cold glare reflected NOTHING on what she was like that morning. Was it because she was reading? Or was it because Elsie a now known point loser for their house. Elsie made a note to try talking with her a different time. After all, it was wise to be on the Prefect's good side. I have to win her over somehow. AND do NOT bother her when she's reading. Just in case. The talks of Quidditch got most of the kids at the table excited. Only a few were reading or focusing on schoolwork. Elsie for one listened intently to make sure she could learn all the rules of this fascinating game. The more she learned about it, the more she wanted to play! Maybe they got lessons during flying class! Oh! Maybe in Diagon Ally, there was a Quidditch kit she could get and they could play. Markelm would know more and he would not laugh at her for asking questions. Though, she could read one of the books she checked out... she suspected she would have little time tonight after Astronomy class. And tomorrow was going to be a nightmare... She was dreading ti all over again. Sigh. She glanced at Kyra and tried to glance at the title of the book. Curious she peeked over the top of the book and asked in a very classic, 'What cha readinggg?' The answer was short and very Kyra. Nod nod, Elsie lost interest rather quickly so she suggested they head to the Ravenclaw tower and began to stuff her pockets. Kyra mentioned she found some leaves for Japopo which meant it was a grand idea to feed the pets. Sneaking another meat pie in her pocket, Elsie scooped up an Apple then her bag. She was not lying. This Phoenix in particular LOVED apples.

As Elsie looked at all the homework her housemates had, she was thankful she was only in her first year. Some of the assignments looked perfectly dreadful! Though, she was rather curious still. Wonder when we will learn that spell! She found herself peeking at a 6th year writing with an enchanted quill. The two friends made their way to the dorm and Elsie fed Pyx a sausage while Kyra huffed about wanting to sleep already. "I like the nighttime hours. But, maybe you can take scheduled naps if this class is too late for you." Elsie suggested while she smiled at Pyxis who took her snack off the bed and into her cage, then returned in a flash for more. "I am quite certain you did not finish that piece..." Elsie teased but she fed Pyx a tiny piece of crumpet before taking a bite herself. The apple was mostly gone already. The ferret seemed to like the tasty treat, for there was a chirpy chirp before once again going into the cage then returning. Elsie gave the rest of the apple and focused on the mug that Kyra was laying out. Japopo was off nomming his tasty leaves.

Now, even if someone older were there advising Elsie not to do what happened next; it still may have happened. For Elsie was moving at a thousand kilometers per second once she had the idea to try this new spell.In fact, the only hesitation she had was when that second year peeked in and spoke, asking to see her perform the spell. Was it nerves? Not using a wand that was hers? A complex spell not at her level? All of the above? No matter the reason; the disaster that happened next produced a wild mix of chaos for everyone involved. The first year who was minding her own business reading potions was covered in goo; screaming she tried to get it out of her hair as she scrambled out of her bed but instead her hands stuck firmly. The second year ran over to help her but instead got quite tangled and the two were getting more and more frozen together by this sticky substance. Poor Pyx dropped her apple and panicked as she zoomed along the room to try and avoid the shower of glue but it got a over her. Angerly she chattered her annoyance while a housemate's lizard stayed put in the chair it had been in. There was a rabbit peeking out only to have a glob of nasty glue land on it's head and a cat shook her paws while she walked awkwardly towards the exit. Elsie tried to let go of the wand immediately but not only did it stay firm; she tried to shake it free and it sprayed more of the nasty spell on Kyra and herself. Swearing she spat out the fowl tasting glue like substance she felt powerless to this damn spell. How could it go SO wrong??? She huffed in frustration and noticed a huge glob dripping from her hair. She went to wipe it without thinking and bam! Her wand hand was stuck to her forehead. This is a nightmare... how can this day get any bloody worse? She thought while angry tears formed. Footsteps sounded and more Ravenclaws appeared to prove, oh yes things could get worse. The Prefect was here along with 4 other girls.

Tears burned Elsie's eyes as she tried desperately not to let them fall. Before she or Kyra could say anything; the two girls stuck together yelled Elsie's name in vane. Well... at least they know my name? Elsie thought with dismay, there was a hush for a moment before Tiffany said anything. Then a muffled 'Helpppp' came from the bed near Kyra. the girl who had been reading the fiction book was trapped under her blanket which was covered in drying goo. Tiffany first went towards the cat who was clearly upset and shaking her paws. "This is going to take all night..." Tiffany said with a grumble as she looked at Alice who went to help the trapped girl. The two girls stuck together, Kitty Cook and Gabriela Morgan need to have the bottom of their shoes removed before they could leave. Elsie knew the pets were in good hands but she swore she saw Pyx lick herself and cried that Pyx needed to come with and be looked at too; in fact Elsie refused to leave without her. Either Tiffany understood that pets are family, or she was just not willing to deal with Elsie's tears, either way Pyx was gathered up and given to Elsie who carried her carefully. The walk into the common room was rather embarrassing to way the least, everyone stared. Kitty and Gabby were starting to harden and it was being difficult for them to be moved by just the girls so they asked Hamish Brown a 7th year and Hunter Jones a 6th year to help carry them while the girls focused on guiding Elsie and Kyra who were now stiffly hobbling along. One girl picked up the quilt and tried to help carry it so it did not snag and cause Kyra to trip; while another helped Elsie since her hair got pretty crazy during her flailing and made sure it did not snag on anything. Elsie was glad they all were helping, but knew it was more to not lose points for their house. Even still, she accepted the help and uncharacteristically stayed quiet while the older housemates argued about what the quickest route to the healing wing was. The walk was not too bad, aside from all the eyes staring... Elsie had to admit she was interested with the talk about the ideas of the spell's sues. AND she liked how none of them were really mocking or teasing her for the failure of the spell attempt. Instead they were just focusing on the spell itself.


Upstairs Alice and Tiffany had gotten a few more helpers from upper classmen since they all knew Professor Quagon would be there tonight to get the first through fifth years for Astronomy. The house boy and girl had to report any mishaps; and the prefects too needed to make sure things were handled. If things were fixed by the time he arrived things could be swept under the rug and ignored. Things would be dealt with in house. It was not uncommon for Ravenclaws to mess with spells beyond their years; or to have them backfire. They simply made sure to learn from any mistakes and always do better next time. They were the best house after all, they just had to prove it to the others.

Once the nurse greeted them all, Elsie winced. It was bad enough many eyes got to see their little journey from Ravenclaw tower, she just had to announce it to the whole wing? She was assuming Merlin's beard was a common expression in the Wizarding world, she heard Markelm use it now and then in fact. She now knew where it came from. "Come, come. hurry now. Bring them in. Let me see." Nurse Rain said as she tisked. The older Ravenclaws explained what happened but Nurse Rain had seen this spell backfire before. Oh dear this is hardening rather fast. She shook her head and quickly prepared a counter spell. "Did any of you accidentally ingest the epoximise? Quickly now. Let me know." She asked while she flitted from one child to the next checking them over for other injuries while the glue began to soften and melt away after a minute or two. It would take quite some time for the glue to all be removed, but it seemed they were all fine. Elsie looked at her shoe and slowly lifted her hand and had Pyx raise her paw... once they could. "we ded... by ashadent..." came a mumbled sound. Her tongue still had some glue on it; and no matter how much scraping wit her teeth the damn stuff just would not leave and it was beginning to hurt. Thank goodness there was something that could help! She frowned when she was told they would have to drink a special potion, and it would have to be made; meaning not something they kept on hand. She would have to wait here for a while. Either way they all had to stay a bit to un-thaw.

Angel De Luca, first-year Slytherin, sat in the Slytherin common room eying the sad state the room was in. She had dark brown almost black hair, was pale with soft chocolate eyes. Her summer tan from her stay at the Villa was fading. She currently had her wavy hair pinned up in a green bow and while her face showed no distress she was rather annoyed. Her parents both had bragged about Hogwarts and how that they too were Slytherin which is why Angel was proud to be selected in this wonderful house; then was crushed when she saw this room. She now was on page two of her complaint letter to her father. This dorm was a disgrace, and it was in desperate need of a makeover to at least get into this century. Her father was rich enough to make anything happen, he also has friends in high places at the Ministry of magic and her mother was a very influential person in the I.C.W. Angel would not stand for these horrible accommodations. Plus, most of our housemates we're running around acting like vile Savages. Excuse me? Mocking another person was all well and good fun, but how about a little bit of Decorum? Angel wrote out her aggressions then sighed softly as she lay down her quill. I suppose the view of the lake would be nice to see when it wasn't so dreadful out, and she had to admit her room was not that bad. Plus her new pet Hawk King was gorgeous.Other than those gowing remarks, her letter was mostly complaints. She was re-reading her letter and just about done reviewing it when third year Irma Crabb came storming into the room talking loudly about some Ravenclaw's being stuck together. Angel was actually partly curious and she realized this was the perfect opportunity to find a Ravenclaw to help her pass potions. Because there was no way she would ever touch slimy potion ingredients. She put her letter, inkwell and quill away the following the rest of her housemates. She would offer sympathy and kindness, and find the first shy Ravenclaw that was willing to work for her.

Elsie sat with her hands in her lap, head lowered as everyone was slowly leaving. Pyx the ferret snuggled against her hand but Elsie felt rather numb. Kyra's mom had just been here and yelled up a storm, then Kira storm to off after taking back her wand. Now the two girls finally unstuck from each other we're giving Elsie death glares….. At first Elsie was close to tears, upset about losing the points and being yelled at. But then she began to realize it's not fair to be punished when I made a simple mistake. I'm here at the school to learn! I'd like to see how she was when she was my age! Anyway she's far from perfect, I can tell just by looking at her her Elsie fumed to herself about professor Hallow. The two girls were finally free to leave when Markelm showed up sighing heavily when he saw his daughter was safe. “I take your broken wand from you and you still managed to cause chaos and trouble…” He teased. Elsie couldent hide her angry tears as she said with a very glued based lisp, “I’ll path ny bagth and head bath to London…” It took much of Markelm’s willpower to not laugh at the lisp, in fact he hid his mouth with his hand pretending to look thoughtful as he tried to translate what she was saying. “Back to London eh? You’ll miss out on all kinds of fun things if you go.” He said as he sat next to her. “I don care! Eryone is espectin me to no thins I don no yet and then punith me for maken misthakes!!! I’m still learnin! Now everbon is all mad and I hate it here and I wan to go bath to London!” Elsie huffed. Markelm snorted but hid it with a cough and a nod; thankfully Nurse Rain came over with the potion so Elsie was distracted a moment with the nurse and Pyx who too was taking her potion. “Ewwww tasth like poo!” Elsie complained as she choked it down and Markelm snorted once again hiding with a cough. Elsie lisped that ith noth thunny!!! Which got Markelm to full out laugh. Eventually Elsie was done and no longer making faces to the potion... and Markelm's teasing; she was checked over as was Pyx then they were told to be more careful next time. Markelm started to guide Elsie out of the room so they could have a talk while they walked. Her bad day might have been one for the record books; it was still just that. A Bad day. “I suppose I can send you back to your old school in London. Though I have my job here, so you would have to be at the dorm there… all alone, no magic or brooms to ride.” Markelm mused aloud as he scratched the side of his cheek. Glancing at Elsie nonchalantly, he smirked when she stiffened at the idea. “Or, you can remember what you did during all your other bad days.” He said and stopped walking with a smile. “What’s that?” Elsie asked cocking her head to the side. “You survived them.” Elsie paused walking and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Bad days blow over, and soon you will be remembering the good ones. Ones filled with broom riding, and potions class, while weaving spells with friends. Proper spells that is…” he said with amusement at the end. Elsie sighed heavily as she released some of her anger and grumbled. “Fineeee I’ll bloody stay. But it really was the worst day…” Markelm ruffled her hair a moment and nodded. Glad we got that over with. He inwardly patted himself on the back. “Can you talk to Professor Hallow about those points she took though? I can help her clean the gardens or whatever… It’s not fair ten whole points for an accident!” Maybe Kyra and the other Ravenclaws will forgive me if I get those points back somehow. She reasoned as she pouted up at Markelm with her puffy lip and big ol green eyes. Markelm made the mistake to look down. He knelt at her level as he said, “I’ll try, but… I don’t blame her for being upset. You were rather reckless with a spell that could have hurt her daughter. I would be upset too if you were hurt by someone.” Elsie looked more upset and Markelm relented, “But, I’ll see what I can do. Ok?” He then stood up hoping that would be the end of it and cheer her up some.

Elsie insisted she was walked back to the tower, most likely afraid to go back alone and be bullied so Markelm grumbled inwardly but walked her back. It was late and getting close to after hours; so if she were seen without a teacher it might cost her more points. “Did anyone else lose points for their house today?” Elsie asked curiously. And once the topic became a bit too… moody; Markelm switched to Astronomy. The class Elsie was going to have that night. She seemed excited; yet terrified. “I know you’re a bit worried about being back with your housemates; but there’s no harm in saying you’re sorry. Just make sure you mean it and they will come around eventually. Accidents happen to everyone.” Markelm said before they reached the tower and he once again ruffled Elsie’s hair before leaving her at the entrance. “Make sure you’re not late to class.” He added and Elsie inwardly swore. Yeah, that would be bad. I… I guess I have to be brave. She told herself and answered the riddle before entering. Instead of a lot of booing and hisses, those who looked up went back to their books and only a few were down in the common room. Tiffany was there with a glare and she marched over to Elsie. Wincing, Elsie expected an earful but instead was told; “You cost us a LOT of points Elsie Nicholais. You better have a plan to get them back. Pronto! And, before you say anything it is obvious it was an accident. As frustrating as it was to clean up; it has been dealt with. Next time; if you wish to do spells please have those trained in the spell to help you. I will be forced to report you to the head of Ravenclaw if you do something utterly foolish like that again. They may expel you if you keep this up. Trying new things is part of learning; but it is important to do so safely and carefully. Understand?” Elsie stared at her open mouth a moment before her brain clicked on and she said; “Yes! Of course. And I am truly sorry for the mess I caused. Thank you for all your help; I mean, everyone who helped thank you!” She blurted. Tiffany eyed Elsie a moment then sighed before nodding. She left with a click of her heels off to get ready for class. Elsie swallowed numbly then looked at the steps heading to the dormitory wondering if she had the nerve to face Kyra. Each footstep up those stairs felt like forever before she made it to the first year dorm. Esie walked in and spotted Kyra immediately. “I’m sorry I was acting like a plonker…. I was just trying to … I don know… you’re so amazing and you were able to do that spell and stuff before… I guess I wanted to prove I could be like you. But I’m not. I’m just a big ol plonker…” Elsie said walking over to Kyra. She paused then she added; “....A...are we still friends?” She held her breath waiting for the answer to come.

Professor Quagon started his walk to the Ravenclaw tower ready to meet the first years; and start lessons for that night. He clipped his pocket watch on his vest and hummed while he moved rather slowly. As he was heading towards the west tower; he recited his speech he was planning to give; then the lesson plans he had in mind for that evening. He also wanted to observe the two troublemakers he had in his house. Kyra Hallow and Elsie Nicholais. Were they acting out to rebel against their parents?Or was it truly all misunderstandings. He mused over a lot of things while he walked. Either way, he missed the fact there was no nighttime sky to look at while he walked. It left his mind to wander in all the things he had to do. By the time he arrived at the tower he saw the Head boy and girl with the House Prefects getting everyone gathered. He remembered everyone’s names that he had taught before. And was rather excited to meet everyone new. “Hello Ravenclaws! I am your Professor Quagon. I am head of this house as well as your Astronomy teacher. Years one through five; please come with me. We only have two hours to enjoy the sky above!” He said with a smile.

Elsie was so happy when Kara hugged her and said they were still friends. "Just so you know, your mom is kind of scary... She's brilliant! But scary... I understand you not wanted to say anything. Markelm only gets that way when I'm in danger. I cried so bad when Da yelled at me. I one time got lost in London and he looked everywhere for me... He was so mad!!!" Elsie chuckle a bit but then remembered being all alone in London which made her shiver. She paused collecting her thoughts then added, "What if you wrote her a letter telling her how you felt? I can help!" After all she always told Markelm how things were, but he always allowed her to vent and feel safe to be who she was even though he sometimes told her to mind her words. She did... Sometimes... Especially when she did not want to get into trouble. Elsie could never imagine not being able to speak her mind like that. It was unnatural. Poor Kyra. Elsie then and there made it her personal mission to get Kyra to eventually tell her mom how she felt.

So excited about her class Elsie was packing her bag with her quill parchment and ink she almost forgot her telescope. But thankfully Kyra reminded her and she put her brand-new telescope carefully in her bag. "I cannot wait!" Elsie bubbled while she skipped down the stairs and waited for Kyra. She hugged her bag as she thought of using her own telescope to study the stars. My own telescope! She cannot get over that idea. When Professor Quagon entered the Ravenclaw commons Elsie eyed him curiously. She took in his disheveled suit and slouched walk as he greeted everyone. He spoke with a strange accent too. Not quite British but it was really wicked! Elsie was fascinated. She was rather reminded of Markelm actually. Professor Quagon seemed brilliant, kind and a bit mischievous.

The walk to the east tower took a tiny bit of time, during this time the Ravenclaws walked chatting about their class. Elsie held her bag carefully protecting her precious telescope since today seemed to be the day where anything could go wrong will go wrong. She will not let that happen to her new telescope. In fact she will ask for a case from Markelm as soon as she can. She must protect this! As they walked Elsie was talking to other classmates and trying to cheer Kyra up a bit. "I know you're not that excited about the class but... you have to admit. Stars are pretty right?" Elsie asked Kyra hopeful to find at least one thing for Kyra to see positive about this class.

Once at the tower Elsie was wishing the reading room was where they were going to be tonight. She was in awe practically drooling as she dreamed of staying there for hours and reading. But then she saw everyone going up more stairs and she remembered they came to look at the stars. Once upstairs she was practically exploding with excitement. Eyes wide she already noted a few spots for her and Kyra. She also stared at the enchanted objects around the room and almost missed when Professor Quagon started speaking again. Finally! She would learn more about astronomy! Though as he spoke it seemed a bit different than what she learned at her old school. Telling the future? Effecting magic? Wicked! Elsie grabbed her telescope already and got it angled to see one of the closer planets. She was gasping and gushing at how much she could see compared to the muggle one she had used before. These were real planets Kyra! Real bloody planets so far away! How are you not excited!?! Elsie was bouncing. So distracted she did not notice Kyra needed help.

Professor Quagon glanced at Miss. Hallow and nodded. He noticed right away what was wrong but knew Prefect Hale needed practice in tact so he sent her towards young Hallow. Once Kyra was able to see Elsie was pointing out a few things here and there then paused at Kyra's question. "Well, I know muggles study the planets and stars too. And some even say their moods are changed by them. Some even have some religious beliefs around them. So if muggles can feel the magic; why not wizards?" Elsie said with a shrug. She started to work on their assignment then asked if it was ok to add the Pyx constellation which was close to the puppis and other water constellations. Quagon was pleased Elsie seemed to know so many constellations already and said she was more than welcome to write out as many as she wanted so long as she marks down the basics as well. Elsie nodded with a salute and went back to work. Quagon was amused he had another student passionate about astronomy.

The class flew by rather quickly, too quickly for Elsie's likening. The home work for first years was to memorize at least the basic constellation names and to match their shape. Next week they will have to find them and mark down their positions in the night sky. Elsie wanted next week to be there already. She was talking to some upperclassmen who were fellow astronomy enthusiasts. Jenna Green a fourth year, Wendell Hoffman a third year and his friend Joanne Owen another third year. Elsie introduced them all to Kyra and the convo switched to herbology. Elsie took that moment to tippy toe and try to sneak a peek out the window as they went past the owlery. But down below the groundskeeper hut had no lights on which meant Markelm was asleep. Oh... ok... I guess... night Da... Elsie said silently as her heart sank a bit. For some reason it bothered her he was asleep before her.

Once they all were back at the Ravenclaw tower, Professor Quagon tapped Elsie and Kyra on the shoulder asking to speak with them privately. The two shared a nervous look but nodded. Nothing to be worried about. I assure you. He said. Their new friends waved and wished them luck then headed to bed. "I wanted to let you both know that I reviewed your point loss from today. Although you both lost our house a total of twenty five points; it was all clear accidents. As such it deserves no further punishment. You must of course gain back the lost points and then some. I do wish to warn you. Your parents are more likely to go towards point loss as punishment to save face from being accused of playing favorites; which will mean double work for Ravenclaws. Though, I do have a proposal that perhaps a form of detention they can agree on can still give them control and save our house. I will do my best to smooth things over with them. Meanwhile you two be on your best behavior. Especially you. I have the feeling you'rea bit too curious for your own good." he said with a hint of amusement when he glanced at Elsie in the end. She gave a sheepish grin at that but said nothing in defense or agreement. Both girls seemed to agree then were sent off to bed. By the time Elsie was brushing her teeth she was getting grumpy. If all nights were like this she would never have trouble sleeping! She sleepily cleaned out her robe pockets and left an apple and fruit tart for tomorrow. Hung up her robe, kicked off her shoes then crawled into bed. It was a long long long day.

That thursday morning, Elsie woke briefly then rolled over as her dream took her back. Pyx yawned and kicked out with her little paws before blurry eyed she looked out and saw the slivered haired witch trying to wake Elsie. Pyx had learned quickly not to aleep too close to Elsie so she was asleep in the corner of the bed. Since Elsie did not seem to get up, Pyxis yawned again and curled up as well going back to sleep. Elsie muttered again once Kyra poked her once more and Elsie reached out grabbing Kyra's arm calling the arm Sir. Fluffs-a-lot. She rubbed her cheek against the arm and fawned over it saying in a sleepy mumble "Da is bonkers fo leavin you back there. You will love Hogwarts. And wait till you meet Pyx. She is grand!" Thankfully Elsie did not have a death grip on the arm and it would only take a hard yank to be free. Elsie would keep dreaming of her cat until Kyra came back to wake Elsie for breakfast... again.

In the Hufflepuff commons, Gina was reading her note from her mother left behind with the tin of cookies. "See you at Christmas." Was all it said. Gina had wrote a letter by owl the day she arrived and another yesterday. She was told letters by owl were pratically as quick as someone can write them but maybe they were exaggerating. So she would wait a few days before sending out the next one. She was just nervous with how things ended with them sending her. She still remembered the disgust her father had when she was told she was a witch. Sinner. Her Grandmother even spit at her. Did they really want to see her that Christmas? Gina sighed and put the letter in the empty tin. She instead cracked open her Herbology book and waited for breakfast time. It was an hour before most people were up let alone breakfast time. No time to wallow in sad thoughts. Herbology class was coming up soon and knowing Fawn, she will need some help. Once it was time for breakfast, Gina went to go wake up Fawn. Maybe with a proper morning routine she will have a bit of order.

Meanwhile;

Glad Kyra was not mad at Elsie for saying her mom was scary, Elsie released the breath she did not even realize she had been holding and she chuckled along with Kyra a bit not sure she got the joke. What's Azkaban? She briefly remembered reading that name before but she was retaining a LOT of new information right now mixing in with old childhood memories of the wizarding world. It was rather confusing. She knew a lot of names like Azkaban and diagon alley, ollivanders and Grinngots. Knickles, gnuts and siccles? She squinted and wrinkled her freckled nose thinking to her helf that sounded wrong. She would read that week those books she checked out from the library. Why wasn't there classes guided for the muggleborn? By the time Elsie realized her brain had gotten off topic she missed Kyra's comment about the letter so she decided it was a grand idea they would write a letter later this week! Once there was more time.

When Kyra mentioned the moon; Elsie proudly said,Did you know there is a map made by Galileo with another astronomer so long ago? Muggles were able to map it with non magical telescopes! I can't wait to see the magical maps. See if they can see things muggles can't... Do wizards know that the moon had no atmosphere and the craters were made by asteroids? It must be bloody scary living up there with no air and all that! Wouldn't be bright too? Bouncing off the sun's light like that? But yeah; from here its brilliant. Very pretty" She rambled a moment then got back on track.

Tiffany was a bit annoyed being told to help so many underclassmen but it was her new job as class Prefect and it meant a lot to her parents as well as the professors. It meant she was trusted. She forced a smile and tried to hide her want to tell everyone point blank; 'the cap is still on you ninny...' 'flirting with the girls won't get you points, or girls with your looks...' 'you are holding your telescope backwards you t**t...' and more but she kept that smile and hide her annoyance as she helped a few first years and one very very flirty fourth year. She was surprised the troublemaker Elsie Nicholais was not only working hard; she was actually helping those near her and was quite good with her help. I misjudged her. She admitted and some of her unease melted... a bit. Then someone could not find the north star and they were staring at the moon. How do you do it Professor Quagon?

Elsie saw a bit of bittersweet when Kyra talked about her plants and she wondered if they could make a garden of their own somehow, somewhere. Elsie thanked the professor after the short speech and nodded as the information settled slowly. So basically since Markelm is Professor Nicholais; if I get in trouble he gets in trouble too. But why do accidents let you get in trouble? She mused on that as she walked back to get ready for bed and changed into some tight fitting pajamas. She would have to ask for new ones while out shopping this weekend. She grew since last fall. "Hmm? These are for both Pys and me. I don't mind if Pyx eats it. She has her own food. But, if she's hungry enough to go after it she can have it. Other pets?" Elsie said then mused over the rest of the question while glancing around the room. "Markelm said the room is enchanted to protect the pets from each other. I'm assuming that means some kind of barrier? If not and they were hungry enough to have my midnight snack it's better that than bothering Pyx i guess." She decided. They chatted about hopes and dreams and basic girl talk. Somenof their roommates joined in before it was lights out and they were off to sleep. Elsie grabbed her doll from under her pillow and curled up with her while Pyx snuggled up behind Elsie's pillow. The two girls were off to dreamland.

Thea woke before dawn with tears streaming down her face due to a nightmare. Her rabbit Snowflake hopped over from the spare pillow Thea gave up for her bunny friend. "Oh Snowflake, I'm ok. Don't worry." Thea said softly and she cuddled the rabbit close while calming down. The horrid nightmear becoming a distant memory. Animals were much better than people, Thea thought to herself with a smile. Animals were caring and comforted others while humans mocked and teased. She frowned slightly as she remembered a few people who were kind to her yesterday. Well... ok not all people. It's just no one seems to be as scared as I am. She sighed and once again wondered why of all houses was she in Griffindor. She wasn't brave. What was that hat thinking? She wondered then patted Snowflake before getting up to get ready for the day. She would take advantage of the early hours and get ready while others slept.

Edgar woke with a lizard on his face. Yes, really. Hamlet the bearded dragon was sleeping peacefully on Edgar's face much to the boy's annoyance. "Hello Hamlet..." he said sarcastically and lifted the limp lizard off him. Weirdo lizard. He thought putting him in the makeshift nest he made from paper and sticks. Stretching, Edgar looked oit the window to see the sun was barely peeking out. May as well read. He decided and grabbed his book he had been reading before bed. The one about strange creatures. He was planning on lending it out to Elsie later today, but he wanted to refresh his memory and see what was in there first. It was weird but Elsie was the first friend he made on his own; without help from his twin or Tabitha. Maybe his second year here was going to be better than his first! He was already getting a bit excited about checking those doors the stairs lead to; make a map of hogwarts eventually. He did that kind of exploring with Victor all last year but now they had someone who wouldn't always side with Victor... well at least... hopefully. He went to the commons room and flopped on the best couch in the room to start reading. It was some time before breakfast so no point in getting ready, yet.

Gina sighed when Fawn FINALLY woke. "No Fawn. It is Thursday. We have herbology after breakfast. So you need to make sure you have your bag packed for class." She said with a nod. She then went to her bed and started packing her bag before gathering her items to get ready and wash up for breakfast. She would take the mouse Me with her, but apparently some girls don't like mice. Weird. It took her little time to wash and change, but getting sleepy Fawn ready was a chore on itself. Sighing, Gina was glad when the two of them were heading towards the grand hall. They had some time to spare after food, so maybe she could get Fawn to focus on something more productive today.

Angel De Luca had woken at dawn and removed her curlers from her hair before opening her bed curtain. She stepped into her slippers with grace and grabbed her bag of morning items to get ready for the day. She delicately yawned while walking to the Slytherin girls room. Mornings were awful but she at least made the most of it. She would have to deal with plants so she would need her gloves. She thought of her other classes and realized she would need extra quills to bribe classmates to help take notes and do things in potions. But the rest of the day seemed easy enough. Just as breakfast started she was dressed and ready for the day; walking with elegance towards the grand hall.

Elsie was pulled awake quite literally by Kyra and landed with a thud on the floor. Confused, startled and sore Elsie assumed she fell out of bed. "Wha?" She yawned and stretched then realized Kyra was there. "Oh hey Kyra. Mornin." She said and scratched her head while yawning. Pyx thankfully was in the bed still but chirping up a storm in ferret insults at Kyra and then Elsie. She then snorted a little sneeze and walked over to the pillow that remained and curled up to go back to sleep. Elsie giggled as she slowly stood. Grumpy ferret... "What time is it?" Elsie asked while yawning. She put her blanket away and hid her doll back under the pillow. A glance around her showed only one other housemate was asleep. So it must be breakfast time. She grabbed a clean uniform once Kyra answered then yawned loudly while stretching. "Ok be right down then..." she mumbled with a sleepy tone. This would take some getting used to. At her old school she got to nap on the train ride there. Mornings were dreadful... just awful.

Breakfast went by with little drama, then classes for all. Elsie had to explain in each class she had no wand and her Father took it from her due to it being broken. Only Professor Shinpett made a stink about that which riled her temper a bit. He said he would speak to her father and she made a snide remark in response. Thankfully he did not hear or he chose not to hear. The days blurred with ups and downs for the kids and soon it was the weekend. Elsie woke before dawn and was tapping her shoes on with excitement before heading to her side table. She quickly drafted a note to Kyra saying she was heading off to Diagon Alley with her father and if Kyra was willing to; take Pyx with her during meals. 'Missing you all already! See you later, Elsie.' She left the note for Kyra on her pillow knowing Kyra was already in the habit of waking her. Elsie then pet Pyx before getting her jacket on and noting it too was growing small on her. She needed new everything it seemed. She grew out of everything from last year. Either way Markelm would handle it. Elsie excitedly grabbed a few things before leaving the Ravenclaw tower and rushing off to the Groundskeeper hut. Not really noticing if the curfew was in effect or not. She ran across the dewy grass just as the sun began to rise and she tried to open the door once at the hut. If the door was locked she would simply use a window. No point in waking Markelm.

Elsie was starting to notice groupings of kids at school during the next few days. She was not sure why she was targeted for bullying but first and second years in particular really seemed to like teasing her. Kyra on the other hand was respected by most classmates. Was it because I'm not wealthy? We both have professors for parents... so is it because Markelm is a new Professor? Or because he only teaches older kids? Is it because I lived like a muggle? Why all the hate for muggles? Either way, Elsie had to be careful to not lose her temper or speak her mind with teachers around because a group of Griffindors were laughing at her during charms for not knowing some apparently "basic" wizard information. In turn Elsie called them all shiteheads. Quietly though. She really wanted Professor Erwood to like her. At lunch though; their tunes changed when Elsie was seen talking to third year Griffindores in a friendly way giving advice about the scary Professor Nicholais while they in return gave advice for the changing staircases. It was nice to have some of those snarky braggarts in her pocket.

That Friday Elsie had planned to visit Markelm after the long Potions class but instead she got sidetracked reading books and hanging out with her friends. They all were talking about plans for the weekend and upcoming holidays. Whenever she passed the large hourglasses showing how Ravenclaw was behind, she became more determined to come up with a plan to catch them up. She had to gain at least fifteen points then keep gaining points every week. The only class that seemed impossible to gain points from was defense against the dark arts. Professor Shimpett was terrifying. Monday's classes were supposedly the most boring and yes she was including herbology. She already made a deal with Kyra. She would help with Astronomy if Kyra helped with Herbology. Elsie would just have to force herself to pay attention class and try to do her best... even if plants all looked alike. She would get good grades there by doing extra credit.

While Thursday got her the nickname broomhead and she practically sparkled when she saw Professor Erwood ride in class by broom; her Friday was actually the easiest and most relaxing day so far. By dinner Elsie had finished a few books and most homework. If all fridays were like this she would have all weekends free to explore the castle and have dinners with Markelm! She was rather happy about that idea. Before she knew it; it was the day for her trip with Markelm to Diagon Alley!

Saturday when Elsie was creeping through the window of the groundskeeper hut; she was beaming with excitement about finally visiting this fabled Diagon Alley. She stumbled into a pile of wood by the window but successfully was inside the hut. Huzzah! She ran for the bedroom and knocked as she opened the door. "Markelm?" She asked then frowned seeing the bed was empty. Did he forget? "Markelm?" She called out opening the back door wondering where he was. Nope he was not there. Stomping her little foot she gave a harumph and called him a liar as she crossed her arms and sat at the table with a flop grumbling about him being a forgetter. She was way too upset to be curious about exploring right now. But it was not too long before the door unlocked and Markelm entered. He teased about her never being up this early and Elsie grinned. "Not true; every Christmas and Birthday I get up this early." She countered then hopped up excited. He remembered! "Where were you?!?" She asked then was told about travel plans. "Does that mean I get to use my broom?" She excitedly exclaimed while she clasped her hands together. He instead asked if she had everything she needed. She looked down at her clothes. "Ready as I can be. My old fall clothes from last year are too small; this is the only one that kind of fit. I squeezed in em though." she nodded then added that her old boots pinched and her gloves don't fit at all anymore. Markelm heavily sighed but nodded noticing that indeed the coat could not close and the outfit was for a smaller Elsie, not one who had grown all year. Markelm knew the old clothes might not fit but he had hoped she had not grown that much. Quit growing up so fast. Elsie wrapped her scarf and she grinned. "It's kind of funny that magic can't make clothes bigger huh?" She said then added; "But at least I get to find pretty new clothes!" She skipped out of the hut not realizing how expensive this trip was going to be and Markelm locked the hut behind them mentally cringing about his poor wallet.

"Are we shopping at Hogsmead too? Why can only the headmaster travel? How come were not using brooms or the floo network? Or apparate? The kids at school all say apparating is super important." She rattled off questions while they walked (Elsie skipped) towards the hill. Once they reached the hill, Elsie almost kept walking towards the town below but Markelm took out his watch and said they had time before the portkey was ready. "Wait... what portkey?" She questioned when Markelm pointed to the rusty pitchfork. No... bloody way!!! Elsie was shocked. Markelm then asked how her week had been after Wednesday and Elsie paused. "Professor Erwood is bloody brilliant! She flew into class on her broom!!! I want to learn all the charms! And and Professor Dumbledore!!! He is so fun! Professor Shimpett is terrifying... he said he was going to have a talk to you about me not having a wand. I explained it broke! But he was being a grumpy gus. Oh! And I finished most of my schoolwork already. Astronomy is amazing! Professor Quagon is like you! And the tower is gorgeous!!!! Let's see... Pyx is making friends with the orange cat. I like Professor Gine but Friday Potions is long. Oh! There is a cute boy I got to sit next to during Transfiguration class. The boys here are nothing like the ones back in London. These ones are nice looking and most of them are kind. I doubt any of them would tie cans to dog tails." She nodded firmly and was in awe when Markelm admitted he did not hear from Professor Shimpett. Maybe the scary professor was actually scared of Markelm! "That reminds me! A lot of students came to me asking about you. They all think you're all kinds of scary. So I let them think that and they help me learn how to get to class when the stairs change." She said proudly.

When it was time to grab the portkey; Elsie listened with excitement then with unease. She bit her lip then nodded. Markelm seemed quite serious about this. What did he mean about it being uncomfortable... she frowned but quickly grabbed the rusty pitchfork once it was time and held on tight just like she was told to. Uncomfortable was an understatement. Elsie felt grabbed forcefully by an unseen force and in an instant of blur she was thrown onto the streets of London leaving behind her heart and lungs in Scotland. She gasped for air while her stomach rebelled from what just happened. Markelm helped her off the ground and she took in the sights. She recognized where she was! I'm really back in London!!! She thought with excitement and she bounced around exclaiming how bloody fantastic that was. Then she became sheet white as her stomach blargled without warning and her stomach released what was left over from last night's dinner... right on Markelm's shoes. Instead of being upset he patted her back and cleaned things up with magic using his tall frame to shield the wand use. "Told you Portkey travel can be uncomfortable." he teased while they waited for Elsie to feel better. It did not take much time before she was feeling better and Markelm led them past the familiar streets towards a new street they never had gone before. Elsie looked up to this pub's name and read the sign 'The Leaky Cauldron' people were walking right past it; weird. She wanted to look around or stay and chat with the people who greeted Markelm with hello but instead Markelm led them towards the back exit. Elsie stood curious at the brick wall while Markelm tapped at it with his wand. Her eyes grew huge when the bricks expanded to expose a walkway. "Cor blimey!" She uttered and saw a giant town behind the open wall. She ran ahead in excitement pointing to things as her mind was blown by the magic before her. Some of the shops seemed simple while others seemed to be fancy. There were shops for pets and bookshops. Amazing smells coming from a few of them while there were people standing in front of carts selling even more food. It was like London all over again! "Da! Look! This hair ribbon is beautiful! Can I?" Elsie asked as her eyes twinkled seeing the green change colors to red then slowly back to green right before her very eyes. She used her begging eyes and soon the hair ribbon was in a tiny gift bag while she was humming, looking at the other shops. The bookstores were amazing; but she knew Markelm would say no until other things were out of the way. Elsie HAD to have a wizard fiction book to read before they left. She wondered if there was one like Alice through the looking glass or wizard of oz! The amazing food smells woke her belly and reminded her she had nothing in it. "Markelm? Can we have some breakfast?" She asked when they passed another foodcart that was filled with sweets. He agreed but only if it was proper food. Elsie was eyeing the pumpkin pastie and was told that was NOT a proper breakfast. Markelm found one that served breakfast and on the way; Elsie spotted an ice cream shop, a joke shop, another bookstore, a few clothing stores and a place that sold broomsticks! Right nearby was a place that sold owls! She wanted one now but was told no. When Elsie picked out the strawberry waffle wrap Markelm sighed not surprised she would find the sweetest item on the menu but ordered a egg sandwich and coffee. "Lets go get your wand first ok?" He suggested and led them towards ollivanders shop. Elsie happily nommed the waffle wrap enjoying the creamy center and sweet strawberries. She followed Markelm's long footsteps and took four tiny strides for his one long one but they seemed to not be in a hurry as they walked towards the shop and Elsie finished the sticky waffle grateful it came with a napkin as she wiped her hands and face. It had been a delicious breakfast.

As they walked, Markelm was greeted by a man in old robes. "Hello old friend!" he said but Markelm said the man was mistaken and the guy scratched his balding head. "We'll I'll be. You look an aweful lot like Markelm Nicholais. My mistake." He said with a shrug and little Elsie pulled on Markelm's robes saying "Da! He knows you after all! See? Markelm Nicholais; that's you!" She was rather proud of this fact completely missing Markelm's look of ... gee... thanks... "Wait, Da? You spawned a kid???" The stranger asked with surprise as he looked Markelm up and down. "Yup, you got me. Markelm in the flesh. Sorry I didn't rechognize you there. Can't for the life of me remember your name. And I really have to get going, have to go shopping with my daughter." he said trying to guide Elsie past this man he barely remembered. The man instead cut them off wanting to keep talking. Elsie glanced up at Markelm to take the social cues from him; this guy seemed nice enough though. "I still can't believe you of all people have a kid. Who the hell did you knock up? She's a cutie!" he knelt down and introduced himself as Digger, Klud Digger and he offered his hand to Elsie. Hesitating, Elsie glanced up again to Markelm who nodded reassuringly that it was ok. Elsie shook Digger's hand while Markelm leaned forward and whispered something to Digger. Laughing Digger said something about dying that way being pathetic. Digger also talked about a job and that the pay was good; it's a good offer especially since ya have a kid nearing school age. Which is when Elsie proudly said "My dad works at my school! I go to Hogwarts already." Markelm chuckled trying to cover the bean spillage by Elsie and tried again to lie to get out of this conversation by saying he would meet Digger at 5 but Elsie reminded him he said they were leaving at 4 so they can't meet Mr. Digger at 5. So he lied again announcing they would be using the floo network to go home. "Got to take my future Ravenclaw head girl to get her school supplies." He finally managed to make a proper excuse and Elsie beamed from that praise and soon was skipping next to Markelm as he led the way to Ollivanders while inwardly facepalming.

At the entrance of the wand store, Markelm handed Elsie three large gold coins and called then Gallons. Said it was exactly the amount for a new wand. He had something to do and finding a wand took a while so he will be back. Elsie entered the store with coins in her pocket and she nervously looked around. "Hello?" She asked seeing the building was filled with tiny boxes everywhere. "Ah! A young witch. Hello!" said a man peeking around the corner. He had caterpillar eyebrows and had a cheerful smile as he greeted her. Elsie nodded and took out the money placing it on the counter before her. "My Dad said this is enough." She said and he nodded. "Yes yes, now lets see. Ahh how old are you?" He said while he eyed her curiously. Elsie announced she just turned 11 in July. He nodded and went to find a wand and Elsie tiptoed as she watched him. "How will I know which one to pick?" he chuckled kindly as he said; "My dear, the wand chooses the witch!" he selected a wand out of a stack and brought it over to her. "Gor blimey! How do you remember where everything is? I would love to have that kind of memory during herbology and impress Professor Hallow." she said with eyes wide. Ollivander chuckled at that as Elsie opened the white and maroon box. Inside was a red wood wand with some beautiful carved ivy. The handle had a round top with a flower carving. Elsie raised an eyebrow while looking at the pretty design. It was pretty but... too pretty. It reminded her more of Kyra's mother. "Well, go on. Give it a wave." Ollivander encouraged her with a smile. Elsie cocked her head to the side curiously then did as she was told. A spark of magic burst from the wand like a static wave making both of their hair stand up straight. "Well, apparently not... let's try again." he said while taking back the wand not at all phased by what happened. Elsie however stared blankly half shocked and half angry she had not been warned about this happening. Elsie tried to fix her hair while he was off finding another wand. He returned with a velvet box and handed it to Elsie. Inside the box was a small honey brown twisty wand. Elsie glanced at it suspiciously as she accepted the wand and he gave a look expecting her to once again wave the wand. Elsie gave the wand a flick when a force of magic knocked the man off his feet. Hopping up on the counter Elsie quickly said; "Oh my giddy aunt! Are you ok?" he simply laughed when he got up. "Well then, we are not trying dragon heartstring again." He said and he went to look for more wands. Elsie was bewildered. Apparently he wanted a specific response from the wand or something. No wonder Markelm said this took a while. The third wand was black and white in a silver box. She gave it a wave and smash! The storefront window shattered. Elsie winced as she placed the wand on the counter. "Uhhh... sorry..." she muttered but he waved it off and used his own wand to fix the window. "It happens more than you'd expect." he said then went to grab more wands. He returned with three boxes this time. Elsie questioned what the differences were and he explained there were woods and cores and bends as well as length. It seemed to be a lot of differences to wands! Elsie picked up the fourth wand, a elm with Phoenix core so said Ollivander but with the wand wave it sparked and knocked over the bucket of peacock feathers. "So do I have to try out all wands? Because this will take forever..." Elsie sighed as she put the wand back in the box. Ollivander smiled then shook his head. "Not forever little witch. I know which core. You're a hard one to figure out but I have some ideas. Try these two." he said pointing to the other boxes. Elsie scooped up wand number five but before she could do anything to dark brown short wand he plucked it from her hand he did the same to the next and went to go get more wands. Wait does that mean phoenix feather is my core? Ah ha! That's brilliant. Elsie realized thinking of Fawn and Gina. Ollivander grabbed three wands then spied a black box in the dusty corner with a gold ribbon wrapped around. Hmm... I wonder. He grabbed it and brought them over to Elsie and had her try them. Seven and eight were beautiful. A red with a black handle and a light brown polished carved one. Seven broke the sign outside while eight was quickly taken as a tower of boxes fell. Nine was jet black with little circles up the handle. Crack! It created smoke in the room. The tenth wand was beautiful. The best she had seen out of the pile. Redish black with gold carvings of feathers at the handle and along the wand. Ollivander smiled as he handed it to her. "Holly wood with phoenix core; twelve inches that is surprisingly bendy." he said and Elsie gave a flick of the wand. She felt a warm glow coming from it and knew it was hers. "Curious, very curious." he said while slowly picking up the coins. Elsie looked down at the wand. "What is?" she asked and Ollivander started putting away the other boxes. "Holly wood and phoenix feathers do not usually work well together so when they find a witch or wizard they like it is very rare. I have the feeling you will many amazing things with that wand my young witch." he said. Elsie looked down ad the pretty wand and smiled; "I like how pretty it is! Thank you!" She placed it in the box proudly and she wanted to show Markelm how great it is! "Bye Mr. Ollivander!" she said with a wave and she skipped out of the store hoping her dad would be there waiting for her.

Kyra wasn't even sure if this was the right room as she approached the door. She was looking for somewhere quiet to spend the rest of her Saturday after helping her mother in the greenhouse. A trip up to the Ravenclaw tower and the dorms followed so she could grab something, and on her way back through the commons room she inquired from an older student possible places she could study in peace. One of them mentioned a room some students called the "artefact room" which was apparently, a small storage closet that was jammed full of random things put there by teachers and students. Apparently it smelled weird though, and so students tended to avoid it. That and over the years it had come to collect various weird oddities and curios, some that people said were spooky. It sounded like the perfect place to spend an afternoon, away from everyone else. So, Kyra was quite surprised when she opened the door and saw that the room was already occupied.. "Oh.. excuse me. I didn't think this room was occupied." she stated, and was about to close the door but paused. "Its.. Gina, right?" she asked, pushing the door more open again. This was that girl that was spending time with that overly excitable strange girl and even though they had potions, charms, and transfig together throughout the week, Kyra really hadn't spent anytime talking with the Hufflepuff girls.

Gina was surprised to see the supposed unicorn girl open the door of the cramped room. Fawn had dragged her there after lunch and they had been poking around for something called irreparable proof for something Gina was not quite sure she understood. But she had to admit the items here were really wonderful! "Yes! I'm Gina. I'm honored you remembered me. How was your day?" She asked then mentally kicked herself for being bad at the words.

Kyra stepped the rest of the way into the room and closed the door behind her. The room certainly did have a stench to it.. and it was also awfully dusty as she could see dust particles floating about in the light that shined into the room from its two windows. She smiled at Gina, who seemed to be kinda awkward. Kyra got the feeling that the girl was... not in trouble, but that something was troubling her. Kyra wasn't sure it was any of her business though. "Okay I guess. Its better than having to do double potions yesterday." she replied. Only their first few days at Hogwarts and already Kyra understood why people dreaded double potions. "I'm.. not intruding, am I?"

Sadly Gina was quite used to smells from her life on the farm. Dosen't mean she liked it at all, but she was not showing any sign of annoyance. Even if some draws smelled like all of her cousins feet mixed with her brothers flatulence. "Oh! No! Not at all. Fawn here is looking for something and I'm helping. No idea what it is kind you so mostly I'm just browsing." She blushed as she admitted and glanced at Fawn who was realizing the unicorn was here.

Kyra hadn't even noticed the other girl until Gina mentioned her. Fawn was waist deep in one of the cabinets, butt and feet dangling out of the cabinet and toes just barely touching the ground. What the girl was looking for was anybodies guess as a mad shuffling sound came from the cabinet and random items just started being throw out and onto the floor."Oh.. I see." Kyra replied and was about to excuse herself when Fawn pulled herself out from the cabinet. "Gina, are you talking to yourself again?" she shouted just as her head, now full of dust and cobwebs, appeared from the cabinet. It wasn't until she turned around that she saw who Gina was talking too and her eyes nearly went the size of her face in excitement. "OH MY GOSH. What are you doing in here? Gina, why is the unicorn in here!" Kyra thought now would be a good time to leave but before she could even turn around to open the door, the brown haired girl crossed the gap and was practically ontop of her. Kyra backed into the wall behind her as Fawn's face came uncomfortably close to her own..

"Did you come to help me find the treasure! Oh my gosh. I'm so excited! Come, come you've got to see what I found in here!" Fawn grabbed Kyra's hand and was suddenly dragging the unicorn toward the cabinet. Kyra looked over to Gina for help..

Gina mutely whispered 'I'm sorry...' as Kyra was dragged off by Fawn and she sighed to walk over as well hoping she could at least persuade Fawn to let Kyra go eventually. "Wait... what IS that?" Gina asked seeing the strange hourglass that was going in reverse. Fawn seemed to not care about that though and instead pointed past it at another strange item. All wizard items seemed strange to Gina so she glanced at the other girls judging their looks to see if it was special or not. "What is it Fawn?" She did ask simply because Fawn was only pointing at something to poor Kyra.

Kyra was helpless as she was pulled over toward the cabinet that the girl had been digging around in. There was NO way she was going to be putting any part of her body into that dusty cobwebby cabinet.. Gina came over and joined Kyra in figuring out what it was that Fawn was so intent on showing them. At first she thought it was the hour glass moving in reverse, but Fawn just reached into the cabinet and pushed it aside. She turned her head over her shoulder and started to hike her skirt up to giver herself some more mobility. "Give me a boost up." Fawn ordered. Kyra gave Gina an I'm not doing that expression but finally Fawn got a boost from Gina. Fawn wiggled her entire body into the cabinet and started to crawl forward. The cabinet had a surprising amount of space.. "Come on you too, you gotta see what is back here!"

Kyra was NOT going to go into that cabinet and she felt bad for Gina who had just dusted the girl off. "I don't think this is a good idea.." she stated and watched as the girl moved deeper into the cabinet. "Fawn.. I think you should come back this way."

Fawn glanced behind her at the two who had yet to join her in the cabinet. "You guys have to see this though! There is writing on the back of this cabinet!" She announced and tried to shift around so the two girls would actually have room to join her inside the cabinet. As Fawn was shifting around, her hip caught on some piece of wood jutting out and she heard a strange clicking noise. Suddenly the wood right beneath her opened up and Fawn found herself tumbling down into some sort of chute...

Gina grunted as she once more this evening boosted Fawn into that drawer. She sighed with dismay realizing Fawn will forever have cobwebs in her hair and dust on her robes. That girl will never look presentable! But darnit I will keep teaching her. She nodded to herself and kept looking at what Fawn was trying to show them. "Fawn, what could possibly be written in a drawer?" She asked sighing but she did realize that drawer was longer than it looked maybe someone else like fawn had gone in there and scribbled something? Her brothers had carved in the trees back home. She squinted as she tried to tiptoe and peek in no way wanting to get in that drawer when suddenly there was a clicking sound and the floor dropped out from Fawn swallowing her up as she dissapeared. "FAWN!" Gina said as she scrambled to get into the drawer and crawl after her friend. The floor was back and she was trying to figure out what happened. "KYRA! HELP ME!" She panicked as she tried to look for the words when there was a click as she too bumped into the wood and squeaked when she felt the floor beneath her vanish and she too was tumbling down a chute. There miiight have been a scream or two as this was pretty dark and she hateddd being surprised.

Kyra was wondering just what Fawn was talking about and tried to peek into the cabinet but it was obviously too dark to read anything in there, and definitely too dark for Gina and herself to see anything from where they were. Gina had tried asking the girl what she saw but before either of them got an answer there came a clicking noise from within the cabinet, followed by a a whooshing sound. Fawn didn't even have time to comprehend what had happened as the wood beneath her dropped open and the next thing she knew she was falling, then hit a sloped wall and began to slide downward. It only lasted a few seconds before she leveled out and came tumbling out into darkness. After a moment she started laughing.. "Whoa! I didn't know Hogwarts had slides!"

Kyra tried to grab for Gina to stop her from going in after Fawn but was too slow. "Gina, wait!" she shouted. Gina called back for Kyra to help, but she didn't even know what exactly happened. She was about to suggest that they get a teacher when suddenly that same clicking noise came again and now Gina was gone!

Fawn had sat up in the dark and was looking around at blackness when she heard screaming coming from the same place she had just came from. A body suddenly slid into her, followed by more screaming and some more giggling from Fawn. "Is that you Gina!? We finally found a secret passage!"

Kyra spent the next few seconds nervously pacing back and fourth, mentally debating in her head if she should just leave and get a teacher. It was the responsible thing to do.. but a part of her was worried that she would be blamed for letting both girls crawl into that cabinet and Kyra didn't want to get into anymore trouble, nor lose her house anymore points. She took a deep breath and walked back to the cabinet. She was taller than both Gina and Fawn and didn't have to tip toe to see inside, and after a hesitant second, she produced her wand. "Lumos" she flicked her wand as a small light appeared at the tip. Kyra, with much protest and disgust, crawled into the dusty and webby cabinet. "Ew. Grossss." she whined and very carefully crawled her way forward, wand held outward in front as she pulled herself forward with her knees and other elbow. At the back of the cabinet, sure enough was some scribbles on the wall that read "Barnaby, I've stashed our secret project in the room below. use this passage to gain access." with an arrow pointed upward. Kyra followed the arrow to a small wooden lever. It was easy to see how someone could pull on that lever accidentally. Kyra glanced back at the entrance of the cabinet, took a deep breath, cursed, and pulled. Next thing she knew, she too was sliding down on what felt like a sloping concrete wall. It didn't last very long before it leveled out and she crashed into two other bodies..

The scream that came from next to her was unmistakably the scream of Gina, who to Fawns delight, had decided to follow her down into this pitch black adventure. Fawn didn't immediately say anything as she reached her hands out to find Gina and after a second touched soft squishy person. Fawn wasn't even aware that she was making the girl uncomfortable with her touching but Gina seemed to calm down slightly after Fawn opened her mouth and now Gina was the one doing all the touching. Moments later came the sound of another body sliding down the chute and suddenly a body crashed into both Gina and Fawn, sending all three girls rolling in a whirl of tangled limbs.

Kyra heard a scream as she slid into who she assumed was Gina and Fawn, even if Fawn didn't say anything but did giggle a bit. Fawn thought this was, so far, the best adventure yet in a long line of adventures to come at Hogwarts and she couldn't help but giggle after the unicorn girl had slid into them and spilled all three of them on the floor. Once more hands groped all about and finally after a moment, the three untangled. "Wow, Unicorns smell good. A lot different than you, Gina!" Fawn stated, with much enthusiasm.

"Of course its me. I couldn't just leave the two of you down here." Kyra replied. She wrinkled her nose at the strangeness and comments of Fawn, but that nose wrinkled was shrouded in pitch darkness. Kyra didn't exactly have a good first impression, or second, of this Fawn girl and this.... adventure... was continuing to solidify to her that this girl only brought trouble and would need to be on the top of her avoid at all cost list. Still, she couldn't have just left them down here so here she was.. probably covered in dust.. Kyra managed to get her wand set back into her hand in a proper wand holding grip and brought fourth a small ball of light that emit from the tip of her wand. The first thing she saw was Fawn using the wrong end of her wand.. Kyra glared at the girl, reached out, took her wand, flipped it about, and put it back in her hands but it was clear that Fawn still couldn't produce a lumos charm. Gina finally prouduced her wand, but Kyra didn't know how proficient this girl was either. "I'm just glad none of us got hurt.. now lets take a look around." Kyra stood up and shone her light about from where she stood. The room was grimy, and fairly small. It looked like one of many storage closet that were set throughout Hogwarts. They were most likely in the dungeons since they hadn't slid far and (to her knowledge) the dungeons was as far down as the school went. The room was stuffed full of boxes, stacked almost to the ceiling, containing parchments, books, empty bottles and other random items. A pile of broken brooms set in one corner and two walls had rickety cabinets pushed against them. Curiously, one of the cabinets was chained closed with a thick chain and a padlock. Also, the room was much colder than Kyra would have thought. Even for being in the dungeons, it seemed far colder in here than normal. The other cabinet wasn't chained, but it was open and from where she stood, it looked as if only old ratty robes and scarves were kept in there. There was a table in the center of the room, and more boxes were set ontop of the table and around it. It looked like a graveyard for old student supplies.. torn books.. ratty robes, broken cauldrons, scales, and empty cracked and stained bottles. The locked up cabinet really was the only oddity in the room. Kyra turned back toward the other girls. Fawn had already gotten up and was bent over a box full of junk. Kyra helped Gina up if she needed help. Kyra then held her wand out, found the door to the storage room and promptly went to get out of here. Unfortunately, nothing happened when she tried turning the door handle. "its locked?" she commented, then tried again. "Bad news.. the doors locked. It has a keyhole though, so maybe if we look around we can find a key." Kyra suggested, taking a deep calming breath. The situation didn't seem too bad.. The room didn't seem to contain any rats or other creepy crawlies, and other than dust and predictable mold and other ancient smells, nothing in here seemed dangerous. The locked cabinet was worrisome, but it was locked. Kyra did find it weird that the door didn't have any way to unlock the door from the inside, but if worst came to worst they could just pound on the door until someone heard them and went for help.

Fawn wasn't really much interested in what Kyra, or Gina was doing. The light provided by the unicorn was just enough to see by and Fawn immidiately went into treasure hunt mode, lunching forward at the nearest box and diving hair first into it. First box and she already found a pair of socks with holes in them, which she pulled out triumphantly! She turned just to hear the unicorn inform them that they were locked inside.. Fawn stuffed the holy socks into her robes. "I bet the key is inside this locked cabinet!" Fawn suggested, lept over a box and started to rattle and pull on the chains and lock. Of course, it didn't budge so she let it go. "Maybe not.." Fawn bent down in front of a row of boxes. "Oh majestic Unicorn! Can you bring your shining light over this way so I can inspect these boxes!?"

Kyra gave the other girl, Gina a glare that dared to ask how do you put up with this girl after Fawn had tried fruitlessly to attack the chained and locked Cabinet. "I doubt the key is in there.. And would you stop calling me a Unicorn. I do have a name." Kyra gave Fawn a glare, but stepped close with her wand so Fawn could have some light. At least the girl was energetic as she started rummaging hastily through the boxes. Fawn didn't seem the thorough type though and it quickly became clear that Fawn wasn't even looking for a key, but for more broken things to stuff into her robes...

Markelm was glad that Elsie was enjoying even the boring parts of shopping. Of course she got most excited about the clothes and pretty things, but at leas t she had enthusiasm for the menial school supplies. She managed to talk him into a more pricey but pretty quill for writing and then enough parchment to probably last her for the rest of the year. The clothes shopping took up most of their time as she had to obviously try on more outfits than she would ever need and then had to narrow down her choices, modeling each one for him, which he played along at first, but after a while he was trying to just get her on settling for which outfits she wanted and then had the forsight to make her buy a couple that were a size larger so she had something to grow into, even if she protested a bit until he threatened to make her put all the clothes away. They left but not before Elsie insisted she had to wear her hair clip out of the clothes shop, and so she spent probably too much time in the mirror adjusting it and getting it just right. Markelm couldn't even enjoy all of his sherbert as Elsie managed to snag a spoonful of his after she finished all of her ice cream. He was actually quite happy that Elsie was being considerate of her friends when they left the with two pieces of jewelry. It was good to see her making friends already and that she was willing to spend.. well, his money, on gifts for them. Markelm had hoped to avoid Gringotts but with things still on their shopping list, he had no choice but to take Elsie there. He couldn't argue her logic on wearing second hand pajamas. Thankfully the trip into Gringotts didn't last long, and better yet, he wasn't as broke as he thought. He had considered asking to be taken down to his vault to see what exactly was there, but just having an itemized list was good enough.

The clothing store cost him a bit more than he thought still, and even though he could have most definitely argued her logic on having slippers on the cold floor of the Ravenclaw commons room, he decided not too. She seemed quite obsessed with having the slippers with a phoenix embroidered on it, so there went more of the coins he had just gotten out of the bank. The shoe store left him with even less coin and he was just glad to be leaving Diagon alley at that point. Lunch was a much more relaxing affair, even with Elsie asking a bunch of questions, to which he deflected by putting a menu in her hand and telling her to pick out what she wanted to eat. Markelm spent most of the lunch trying to shuush Elsie whenever she started on about magic and wizards and stuff. He'd have to sit her down later that night and really try to imprint upon her how important it is that she didn't expose the muggle world to wizards and witches. She even came close to spilling those beans to the waittress he was having a nice chit chat with but thankfully he had been able to cut her off. Markelm didn't think the ministry would be pleased with him if he had to have them send people out to wipe a bunch of memories..

Finally they made it back to the hill overlooking Hogsmead. Elsie still upchucked most of her lunch and Markelm cleaned up the mess. "It just takes some gettin used to. I've taken plenty of portkey trips in my days. Eventually you'll get the hang of things." he replied, but had to chuckle at her disliking of the wizard transporting ways. On their walk back to the castle he the two chatted a bit. Once again she asked why they couldn't go to Hogsmead since they were almost there anyway. "Hogwart students start getting trips to Hogsmead during their third year during the weekends. Its kind of a special thing for them to go. If we let you go to Hogsmead, it would feel like I, as a professor, and your father, was giving you special treatment over the other students. Hogwarts has a lot of special traditions, and Hogsmead is one of them. We don't want to be breaking traditions, and I don't want to get yelled at by the Headmster." he grumbled that last part.

Markelm escorted Elsie back to the castle and all the way to the Ravenclaw common room entrance. Some students probably took note of her walking through the castle with a bunch of shopping bags on her arms.. but hopefully people wouldn't think that she was already getting special treatment since most students weren't allowed out of school grounds to go shopping.. Before departing, she reminded him, again, that they had a dinner date. Even though they had already eaten... twice. "I know I know. Come down to the hut around 7 or so. I've got work to do but I should be done by then and we can eat." Markelm mhugged her back and mussed up her hair before letting her drag all her bags into the doorway to the commons room. He then went off to do some quick work and figure out what exactly he'd do for dinner. That meant a trip down to the kitchens to have the house elves cook him up something..

Markelm scrambled to finish arranging dinner before Elsie would show up. After returning to Hogwarts he had to tend to his groundskeeper dutes and then had to tend to many of the magical creatures he had throughout the school grounds and in close parts of the forest. It didn't give him any time to prepare a meal, so he had to resort to walking down into the dungeons and peeking his head into the Hogwarts kitchen to convince the house elves to make him a meal. Of course the houseelves had to do as he said since he was a professor, but he hoped that Elsie wouldn't catch on that he had them do all the work. The house elves delivered to him roast beef with a yorkshire pudding and peas and cabbage with apple pie as a dessert. He spent the last few minutes before Elsie showed up arranging the food on his table and setting up a plate for her. Moments after he finished setting up a knock came to the door. Markelm opened the door to greet his daughter, who had apparently decided to dress up in her new clothes for dinner. Markelm hadn't put any extra thought into his own attire and was just wearing what he normally wore as a professor at school. It only took a moment after she walked into the hut for him to notice that her lip had been busted and there was bruising on her face. Those weren't there earlier and he hesitated a moment. "What happened to your lip?" he asked with concern in his voice. If Elsie gave him some sort of obvious lie, Markelm decided he wouldn't push the issue, right now. He remembered getting into many a scuffles when he was young, and Elsie got into scuffles before coming to Hogwarts. It was just a part of growing up and as a professor he knew that if he pushed her into telling him who she got into a fight with, then it could be seen as favoritism if he punished the other kids. He decided that if it kept up though, and she got into fights more regularly, then he would have to step in and keep a better eye on her. "Alright. Well.. just try to be less clumsy, alright? And maybe you should go to the nurses wing and see if the nurse can give you something for the bruising.." Markelm closed the door after she came inside and told her to take her shoes off while inside, then went to the table where all the food was at. Before sitting down he opened one of his storage cupboards. Could have sworn I had more bottles of butterbeer in here. he thought to himself as he removed another couple bottles and brought them over. He gave one to Elsie and then sat down himself. "Its butterbeer, I think you'll really enjoy it. Wizards have the best drinks."

The dinner went by with normal conversation and he decided to steer clear of asking about her 'fights' with other students. Anytime he brought up other students she either talked about muppets, white knights, or maggots, often when referring to other students. Markelm didn't find it unusual that she already had a low opinion of Slytherin students. Nobody did.. Markelm talked a bit about some of the creatures they had kept at Hogwarts that he had to care for. Bowtruckles, hippogriff, pixies, fairies, gnomes, and Grindylows. He left out some of the more dangerous creatures in the Dark Forest or the Lake, the creatures that only his 6th and 7th year students had to deal with. Elsie seemed most interested in the Hippogriff and even said she wanted one, but he just chuckled and told her she had to wait till her third year to get to learn about them. When she talked about the book she borrowed about the Forbidden Forest, he had to remind her that she was in no case, to ever venture into the forbidden part of the forbidden forest. Elsie talked about how she already organized all her stuff with pride and how she was creating an organized note system where other students could study off her notes. She always was good at organizing things, which was a blessing when she would on her own, pick up and organize her toys back in their old apartment. But Markelm did feel that there was potential for other students to benefit too much off her work and use her notes too often. He didn't voice his concerns though. "Were you able to give Kyra her gift?" he also asked while they chewed the food and drank the butterbeer.

After they finished the food he used a wand to make all the dishes vanish, sending them back to the kitchens in a spell he was taught after he became a professor at Hogwarts. It was beginning to get late, and even though it was a weekend, it was still advisable that students be heading toward their common rooms. "Alright kiddo, its time to for you to get back into the castle. And try to stay out of trouble and watch those vanishing stairs. I heard they've already sent two students to the nurses wing this year."


Fawn continued to shuffle through boxes, pulling out old ratty and broken things and eyeing them like they were lost forbidden treasure. Some of those things went into the pockets of her robes.. A empty vial without a stopper could be useful.. So could the frayed scarf.. oooo a broken telescope that was missing its lenses and adjustment dials! Fawn had some issues stuffing that one into her robe. Being locked into the room didn't seem to give her any pause as she practically ignored Gina's and Kyra's comment, instead constantly asking the Unicorn if she could bring the light over to whatever box she was messing around with.

Kyra continued to follow Fawn around the room as the girl was digging around in boxes, with Gina following super close. A couple times Kyra found herself bumping into Gina cause she was huddled too close, but she didn't say anything. After the fourth pile of junk, it was obvious that Fawn wasn't looking for anything useful to their situation so she moved over to the table in the room and picked over the papers and old books. Most of the books were nothing special, just some yellowed and torn volumes of History of Hogwarts and a couple diaries that looked like they belonged to students who had long since graduated Hogwarts. The parchment paper were far too yellowed and frail to bother looking at. Gina suggested a spell to open doors, which was a good idea.. except.. "Yes, I do believe so.. I just don't know what it is." she admitted, and shown her light over towards Fawn who just smiled and shrugged. Fawn seemed like she was fine staying down here all day. Kyra pulled over a closed dusty box to the door and sat down and sighed. "I think our best bet is to just sit here and wait.." she finally suggested. Gina took a seat close to her and the light and Fawn was forced to contain her search area to where the light could adequately reach. One time while Fawn was digging around in some crates behind Kyra she accidentally kicked her in the back of the head and her wand went out. "Hey, watch those feet of yours!" she shouted, and immediately cast Lumos again to stop Gina from having a panic attack..

About ten minutes of just sitting and listening to Fawn search and exclaim over junk, with small idle chatter in between, their patience paid off. Kyra stood up quickly as she heard the sounds of footsteps nearby. Running footsteps. "Wait, I think I hear someone coming!" she exclaimed in a hushed tone and put her ear to the door. Sure enough, the feet, now two pairs, was getting closer to their door. Then she suddenly heard some, an adult, shout Come back here you scoundrel! If I catch you, I'll hang you upside down for a week straight! Don't think the headmaster will stop me, either! Kyra thought she recognized the faint voice on the other side as none other than the schools caretaker. It didn't take long for any new student at Hogwarts to become familiar with the skulking man who patrolled the halls day and night. Artemis Le Mort wasn't a very pleasant man, skulking, gaunt, and creepy. He sometimes seemed to just appear out of nowhere in Hogwarts and scold students in that cold raspy voice of his. Kyra had only seen him during breakfast, the opening ceremony, and in the hallways from time to time, but since the man was constantly shouting or muttering to students for minor infractions, he was easy to pick out in a crowd of voices.

The first set of footsteps passed quickly by the door before Kyra could even think of knocking and shouting, but the second set stopped right in front of the door. She turned to Gina and Fawn and put her finger to her lips in the universal sign of be quiet. Now they were stuck with a choice.. knock and shout now, and be found out by Aretmis Le Mort and probably get into trouble.. or wait for another student. Kyra didn't want to get into anymore trouble. She could hear the caretaker breathing heavily right outside the door and suddenly she heard the sounds of a keyring followed by the sound of the lock being fumbled with and a key scraping against the metal plate with the lock hole. Kyra whispered to both Gina and Fawn "Its the caretaker, we have to hide!" and didn't give them any time to object as she took Gina by the arm and quickly pulled her to the opposite end of the small room and ducked her behind the table, then she grabbed Fawn by the robes and yanked her down. Fawn almost squealed and already had her mouth open to make some, probably, stupid remark as the door was opening but Kyra slapped a hand over Fawns mouth. She was sure she got some Fawn saliva on her hand. Gross. Her Lumos spell went out just as the light from the hallway outside spilled into the room.

Artemis Le Mort heaved heavy breaths as he stopped and gave up the chase, muttering curses under his breath. He would get that Slytherin later for being in an off-limits section of the dungeons, a section of the dungeon that Artemis came to often because of the room he had stopped right next to, out of breath and feeling fatigued. With more cursing and grunting he fished the keyring off his belt and flipped through the keys till he found the right one. Artemis unlocked the door, pushed it open and strode right into the room. He didn't even bother checking the room, if he would, he would have noticed many a things out of place, instead he went straight for the locked cabinet. Artemis used a different key and slid the heavy padlock from the chains and then unwound the chains from the cabinet doors. Once he opened the cabinet, chilled air flowed from inside and swirled down onto the floor.

Kyra's heart felt like it was going to just pop right out of her chest as she huddled behind the table with Gina, who seemed just as terrified, and Fawn who was trying to wiggle free from Kyra's clutches. Kyra shot the overly energetic a look that would have tamed a dragon, and finally Fawn stopped wiggling about. Kyra slowly moved her hand away from Fawns lips and once more, made a quiet symbol. She felt like she was moving in slow motion as she turned around and very slowly peeked her head over the table. The caretaker had opened the locked up cabinet and was rummaging around. The sound of clanking bottles filled the room until the creepy man pulled one out. Kyra could see that the bottle was filled with some sort of red liquid as the caretaker was holding it up, before he uncapped it, tipped it back and started to drink from it. Kyra knew that they either had to out themselves and get into trouble... stay hidden and chance being locked in again.. or make a run for it. Quickly she looked about and found one of the old tatter robes that Fawn had pulled out of a box. She gave Fawn and Gina a glance, pointing over to Artemis, then at the robe. Kyra grabbed the robe and crouched tip-toed around the table till she was right behind the care-taker. She felt as if every movement she made was as loud as thunder, the Artemis was really into whatever he was gulping down. Kyra stood up and with arms that felt slow and heavy, suddenly threw the robes up and over his head. "RUN FOR IT NOW GIRLS!" she shouted. Kyra ran back around the table to grab Gina but that girl had already made for the door. Fawn jumped up and was already moving as she shouted THE GREAT ESCAPE!" with more glee than was necessary. Kyra was certain Gina yelled something as she jetted out of the room ahead of Fawn and Kyra, but she couldn't understand everything with the sound of her heart beating so heavy in her ears.. Artemis was flailing around and using language that even Elsie probably hadn't learned yet. Kyra had to reach back for Fawn as she almost just ran straight into the wall opposite the room. Kyra figured going the way the student Artemis was chasing earlier was a good choice and so their three sets of feet clapped hard against the dungeon floors as shouts and yells trailed behind them, followed with the sounds of things being crashed into.

Artemis was so absorbed with the delicious liquid coating his lips, teeth, and throat that he didn't hear the quiet shuffling around behind him. Suddenly his vision was blocked as some robes landed over his head in arm. In surprise he let go of the bottle and it dropped to the ground and shattered. Artemis heard a girl behind him yell to run and he spun about and tried to grab at whoever it was that had thrown the robe over his head. Instead he just ended up knocking into a pile of crates which started a chain reaction of boxes and crates toppling over, spilling their old contents all over the rooms floor. Artemis let loose a string of profanities and curses as he fought with his limbs to free himself of the old smelly robes. By the time he got it off and stumbled out of the room the students were already down the hallway and out of sight. Artemis whirled about and cursed many more times as it was now obvious, looking into the room, that somehow, someway, some students had gotten into his secret closet. Did they see what was inside the cabinet? Did they see what he was drinking?! Before anyone could come and investigate the noise, he stomped back into the room and closed up the cabinet and hastily locked it, eyes darting around for anymore delinquent students.

Kyra didn't know how long they had run but somehow they ended up back in the potions hallway and up the stairs and into the first floor of Hogwarts. Kyra stopped, breathing heavily and stumbled toward a bench and sat down. Gina followed. Fawn didn't seem to be as scared as she was wide-eyed and still energetic. The three of them probably looked a mess, but there were only a few students about. "That was close.. I thought for sure our gooses were cooked."

Fawn thought this was so far the most thrilling thing she'd done at Hogwarts. Sneaking into secret rooms, dodging the caretaker! Running away! She was practically abound with energy as she joined them at the bench. "Wow! That was incredible! Did you see him flailing around?! I bet he's super mad. And look at all this good stuff I got, we should go back and do it again! I didn't get to see what was in that cabinet though, did you get a look. I bet it was a bunch of gold! Or better, a bunch of chocolate pies!"

Kyra tried to ignore Fawn as she got up, having sat long enough to catch her breath. She knelt down in front of Gina. "Are you going to be alright? You two should avoid the dungeons for a couple hours, he sounded furious as we were running. I'm going to my commons room.. I've had enough scares for the rest of the school year." Kyra stayed a moment more to make sure Gina was okay, and ingored Fawns comment about the cabinet. It was actually a good thing Fawn didn't see what was in there. If Gina didn't answer Fawn, then Kyra wasn't going to speak anymore about it so she left the two of them and started to hastily make her way back upstairs. She needed to get all this filth and dirt out of her clothes and hair..

Artemis spent a few moments trying to fix the mess in the room, but also looked for clues. Maybe one of them left a shoe.. or a wand, or something. As he was putting a pile of books on the table he stopped and spotted a long hair on the table. His own hair was jet black, but this one was almost silver in color.. Interesting. With his thin bony fingers, Artemis picked the hair up and brought it close to his eyes. "Well what do we have here..." he grinned and pulled out a pouch from his belt and put the hair into it..

Kyra hurried through the commons room and bee-lined it up to the dormitories so she could change clothes, fix her hair, and become presentable once more. Coming up the stairs and entering the room she immediately noticed that Elsie must have returned from her shopping trip. Her friend had put some old clothes in a bag and left them at the end of her bed, and all her books were now neatly shelved and organized. Kyra actually hadn't noticed how much of an organized person Elsie was until now. It seems Elsie managed to get everything she needed in Diagon ally, and then some. The only other girl in the dorms was another first year, a girl named Annie. Annie was Tiffany's young sister and Kyra hadn't much interacted with the girl. She was quiet, studious, and seemed more interested in education than social interactions. Still, the girl looked up at Kyra, and seeing her dusty clothes and messy clothes gave a inquisitive look. "Remind me to never spend an evening with Hufflepuffs again." was all Kyra said, and it seemed to be enough as Annie went back to her book. Kyra slipped her robe off and then pulled off the sweater and under-shirt and then skirt and socks and shoes. She left them in a pile by the bed and pulled out a more casual. Her parents didn't leave her with a lack of clothes, nor options. She liked her Hogwarts outfit the best. It was uniform, everyone else wore it (though some had Hogwart outfits that seemed cheaper or more worn) and so it helped Kyra feel less privileged and she felt she stood out less while in school clothes. But she knew she would have to wear all this other clothes eventually so she sighed and resigned herself to what a muggle would refer to as tennis outfit. Of course Wizards didn't play tennis, but muggle fashion had an odd way of influencing wizard and witch fashion even if the wizarding community didn't openly admit it. A white tennis top with a black box and a white skirt paired with white socks and black and white oxfords seemed appropriate. She made a trip to the bathroom to fix her hair and to work out any potential cobwebs or dust. When she returned she grabbed her astronomy books and star maps and headed downstairs to the common room. She might as well work on some homework. Kyra decided it was a good idea to avoid hallways for at least the remainder of the day.