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Kyra walked with Elsie in the silence, her eyes moving this way, then that, then to the ground a bit, then back up ahead of them. I wonder if they use magic to keep the lawn so green? she pondered to herself, wondering if that fell under Professor Nicholais’s job. The thought of him walking around Hogwarts, pointing his wand at the grass and yelling “Greenious Grassicus!” caused her to giggle but she didn’t elaborate on the sometime strange thoughts that floated into her head. Her mother always called her a little weird, but she felt that wasn’t a compliment. If her mother had her way she’d be the perfect student, normal in every perfect way. Kyra knew her mother loved her, but sometimes she felt as if her mom looked at her the same way she looked at a wizard crossword puzzle she couldn’t figure out. Kyra focused again on their destination as her energetic friend walked along beside her, arms swinging in exaggerated movement. They probably looked odd, with Elsies slow, almost reserved stride and Elsie’s animated one. She waited for Elsie to answer her question, not expecting such a terrible answer. “Oh..” she replied, wondering it must be like to fall into water and almost drown. Kyra never had any problems swimming, but then again, she never had something like that happen at such a young age. “I guess its pretty great that you get to be get to be close to him at school, with him being one of the professors here. I hope he doesn’t mind up going into his hut, unannounced.”

Kyra didn’t offer up any of her own experience with near death or her fear of flying but was glad when the conversation shifted towards Quidditch. It was still odd to find a wizard or witch who didn’t know the basics of Quidditch, but Kyra did the best she could to explain it. “Okay, so I don’t know all the rules but the game is played on a Quidditch Pitch that’s oval shape. At each end of the pitch are three hooped goals, that’s where the keepers are. They are like.. goal keepers, people who stop the other team from scoring points. The whole game is played on brooms, seven players on a team consisting of Chasers, Beaters, a Keeper and a Seeker. The Chasers throw and control the Quaffle, its this ball the players pass around and advance down to the field in an attempt to throw through one of the hoops to score points unless the Keeper blocks the goal. The Beaters are usually big burly players and its their job to smack the Bludgers, which are these black iron balls that fly around the Quidditch Pitch, at the other team or away from their team using bats. Then there is the Golden Snitch” Kyra paused, as she made a tiny circle with her forefinger and thumb, “which is this tinnnny golden ball with wings on it and it’s the job of the Seeker to catch it. It moves extremely fast but if the Seeker manages to catch it, he gets his team 150 points and ends the game.” She finished, hoping that her explanation, though slightly vague, would be enough to explain the game to Elsie. Kyra ignored, or rather choose not to, say anything about Joanoah and any remarks he might have said. He wasn’t worth her time and just thinking about the slimy brat would make her go off on another tangent. Instead the conversation shifted towards the Forbidden Forest as they crested the hill of the owlery and descended towards the path and the stone circle. Elsie picked up speed and Kyra was forced to walk faster to keep up for a moment before the girl slowed again. ”Nothing really, just that we can’t go in there. My mother says that students who are caught inside the forest without permission are expelled instantly and she’s told me several times that I’m not even allowed to think of going in there… So I don’t think about going in there. I’m pretty sure you should listen to him if he says its dangerous… “ Kyra let the subject drop if Elsie didn’t continue it. She didn’t want to encourage Elsie’s obvious curiousity and get the girl in trouble, or have her run off into the forest and put herself into harms way.

They finally made it to the circle of stones and Kyra watched as Elsie walked around and explored it. ”I wonder what these are here for.. I bet you could find out in a copy of History of Hogwarts.” She pondered, but other then suggesting a place to look for information, had no other ideas on the matter as they moved on towards the hut. They reached it quickly enough and got to the door, to which Elsie opened easily enough since it didn’t appear to be locked.

Markelm was in the middle of unpacking one of his trunks when his ears picked up the sound of the huts door being opened. Suddenly he found himself cursing the fact that he was so lax and careless as his wand was pulled out of his robes in less than a second. He was in the huts second room, the bed room so he at least had a few moments to figure out who was trying to enter the hut without knocking. Instead of coming out of the room with his wand pointed, and spells ready he instead used a transfiguration spell to turn himself into an tall standing candle holder. He was rusty, and the candle holder didn’t look great, nor did it fit in but he would be hidden well enough for any novice wizard or anyone without a keen eye. Of course, the chances of any potential enemy already being within the halls of Hogwarts was slim to none, but there were possible a teacher or two that would go as far as to snooping through his things. Or maybe one of the older students thought to sneak into his hut… if that was that case he’d give them a good scare.

"Oh I love just about any type of cookie. Except oatmeal, unless they have a lot of raisins. Or chocolate.. " Fawn followed Gina out to one of the many side tunnels that weaved like roots from the main room. Some of the tunnels led to bathrooms, one to the boys dormitory, another to the girls dormitory and there were even small cozy rooms sprouting from these halls where students could go and study or laze around in peace and comfort. They went through the circular door that opened into the girls dormitory and Fawn followed Gina over to her bed and plopped down on the soft quilt covered bed. Copper lamps hung above all the beds, giving off a soft glow that would go out when it was time for the kids to sleep. Each bed even had copper bed warmers, incase students found their feet to be cold and wished to warm them up. The tin of cookies was laid out and Fawn didn't wait for any invitations before she lunged to it, popped the lid open and began to chow down, cramming cookies into her mouth faster than she could chew and swallow them. She didn't pay Gina much attention as the girl dug out her books but when she asked what Fawn knew about doxies, the girl stopped chewing on the cookies, cheeks bulging with cookie mass. Doxies are like little mean fairy things that are venomous. was what Fawn intended to say, but instead it came out in gibberish since her mouth was full. As she talked, cookie crumbs flew from her mouth. It wasn't until she finished that she realized she was getting crumbs everywhere and hastily began to chew the mass of cookies in her mouth. She swallowed sheepishly, which was a unusual look for Fawn since almost nothing made her sheepish. "I was saying.. Doxies are these fairy things. They buzz around on their beetle wings and scratch with their four arms and bite with their venomous teeth. They are nasty things." she finished. That was about all she recalled of them though and didn't move to get her own books or some parchment to do homework.

"I think the first match at Hogwarts starts either first or second week of November... but I don't think we'll learn to play it.. At least I hope not.." The idea of having to fly around on brooms while other kids intentionally, and they would target her she knew, tried to knock her off her broom was even more terrifying than just flying. If that came to pass, she'd find the most disgusting hexed candy she could and use it to give herself super vomit just to get out of class if she can. Kyra wrapped her arms around her stomach to help push down the dread feeling again. "I think you only learn how if you join the team.." she ended, quietly, which was probably about as much more Elsie would get about Quidditch. Kyra didn't mind watching the games, but imagining herself on a broomstick, dodging bludgers wasn't an comforting thought. "You should pick up a copy of Quidditch Through The Ages from the library if you would like to learn more.."

The walk around the stone circle, and the ensuing walk towards the hut was only filled with small talk but she was thankful when they finally got to the hut and discovered the door wasn't locked. Kyra hesitantly let herself, following Elsie as her eyes scanned around right and left. A mess it certainly was as trunks lay open and closed all about the room, some things appearing to be put in their final resting places, but mostly it seemed Professor Nicholais had just tossed everything about at random. "I don't know.. I mean a broom is pretty big.. I don't think we could miss it." Kyra walked around the room a bit, but kept her hands to herself as she occasionally pushed things aside with her shoe. After taking another few steps she almost stepped on some weird small wooden back so she gingerly tapped it with her she to push it aside also, but the second she touched the box it began to bounced around and shake violently as if something inside was trying to escape, at the same time somewhere by Elsie something make a loud THUD noise. Kyra screamed in the most cliche fashion as she jumped nearly out of her skin, her heart rate jumping through the roof as she placed a hand on her chest, her cheeks turning red as the box stopped shaking and laid still once more. Kyra looked over at Elsie sheepishly.. "Sorry.. Almost scared me to death.." she admitted and took a deeeeep long breath. She figured she was still jumpy and emotional after her earlier panic attack, but at least managed to get herself under control. "I'll.. look over here.." She muttered as she pushed some hair behind her ear and stepped over the wooden box and towards the next room. As she looked into this room, which was obviously a bedroom turned temporary storage, she could have sworn the tall candle stand had moved slightly, but when she looked at it again, it seemed perfectly still and normal. Just my nerves..

Markelm had a decent view of the main door from where he had transfigured himself into a tall candelabra and from his vantage point watched as the door opened. His hand gripped his wand, but immediately loosened when he saw familiar red hair and then Elsies face peek in. He let out a sigh, and considered putting his wand away and just walking out to greet her and the student behind her but decided to think have a bit of fun with it. Elsie should know better than to come here unannounced anyway, or if she did, she needed to learn to knock first. It was rare for his mischievous to come out around Elsie, but he was quite the prankster and troublemaker when he was a young lad.. it had been far too long since he flexed his jokster side so this was a opportunity too good to pass up as he stayed quiet for now, just watching Elsie, and this girl who looked vaguely familiar. He wondered if Elsie roped the poor girl into coming down here with her or maybe she had begun making friends much faster then he thought. The latter though made him smile, but his smile turned into a grin as the girl stepped near a small wooden glasses case. The glasses were pretty meaningless, so he didn't mind having some fun as a arm appeared from the standing candelabra, wand pointed at the box. Markelm flicked his wrist, shooting a very faint spell at the box and making it suddenly jump and shake as if it was possessed. At the same time he aimed another flick of his wrist to one of the open trunks near Elsie, and caused the lid to slam shut with a resounding THUD! His little prank had the desired effect on the silver haired girl as she almost lept up to the ceiling with a loud girlish scream. He almost burst out in laughter but contained it, and his concentration. The girl managed to get her wits about her and started in his direction and he realized that his arm was still visible just as she turned in his direction. Quickly, he disguised his arm again, held his breath and waited. It didn't seem like she noticed. Markelm turned his attention back to Elsie only to realize she was bee lining right to the table with important papers sprawled all across it. He didn't need her reading anything on any of those papers as his eyes darted to the other student. He waited a couple seconds, watched as she turned around to examine a moving picture on the wall, one of Elsie when she was young that he managed to get while she wasn't paying attention. Of course, he hadn't had to opportunity to hang the framed picture up till now since it wasn't something he was allowed to have at their old house. He slipped his arm out from his transfiguration spell once more while the girls were distracted and sent a tiny spell to the huts door with the flick of his wrist, causing the door to slam violently close with a loud BAMMMM.

Kyra was just beginning to feel her heart calm down as she looked around some more and found a picture hanging on the wall that looked interesting. "Oh, is this you when you were young?" she asked, glancing back at Elsie while pointing to the picture. The picture in question showed a very young Elsie playing excitedly with her dolls. Judging from the picture, it was clear the little girl had no idea this moment was being recorded since she was so engrossed in her play date with the dolls. Kyra was about to comment on the picture when suddenly the door to the hut, to which she forgot to close when she came in, slammed with a loud WHAM and with such force the whole hut shook a bit. Once more, Kyra almost found herself jumping out of her skin as she screamed and wheeled around, this time it took her a slight bit more breathing to calm down as she looked around and then narrowed her gaze at Elsie who had squeaked and began to look around.. at least Kyra wasn't the only one who was spooked.. "I don't think I like it here. Are you sure this hut isn't haunted?! I almost wet myself..." She exclaimed as she decided to give up her hunt for the broom and started walking her way back to Elsie, considering asking her to just give up on the broom and leave. Kyra was beginning to look nervous, and considering what happened earlier she was beginning to feel that panic slowly raise within her. "I really think we should just..." she started to say, and intended to finish with leave and go back to the castle when she felt her body go weightless, her feet leaving the ground as she begun to float up towards the ceiling. This time, she couldn't contain her panic as she screamed again, but not in surprise so much as in panic stricken terror. She would have screamed louder but she felt her throat constrict as she frantically waved her feet and arms about, as if she was falling, the memories of her broomstick crash, mixed with her panic attack earlier in the day suddenly rushing back. "Elsie.. Help.. I.. I.. I can't breath... I'm falling!" she breathed out inbetween very rapid breaths, feeling like none of the air was making it to her lungs as her eyes got wide, pupils small. Even though she was floating up, she felt like she was falling down and her vision was beginning to get blurry and darken as memories and panic increased..

Markelm almost lost his concentration again as he forced himself not to chuckle, watching Elsie squeak, and the silver haired girl jump visibly again. She was a easy one to scare, but Markelm couldn't deny that he enjoyed making Elsie jump. She had tried, and on many occasions, pranked or scared him. Long ago he wouldn't be that easily frightened, but he had become very lax and unguarded around the little girl. So it was great to finally get some revenge. He wouldn't take it too far and unfortunately he didn't have near as good a shot at Elsie from where he was since she had the table between her and him, but he could still freak her out he thought but using her friend. Markelm waited till the silver hair girl had turned her back on him before he once more freed his arm from the transfiguration spell and with the flick of his wrist he fired a weightlessness hex into her back which would make her float upwards.

size=11]Veronica had just finished speaking with a 2nd year Ravenclaw student named Brandy who seemed more than pleased at informing her that her daughter, was in fact, not in the commons room and then the girl had started to rant something about a ferret cage, but Veronica dismissed the French girl she had pulled aside outside the Ravenclaw Common room. Miss Bryan was only a second year, and Veronica had only taught the year before, but she got very acquainted with the girl as she was a good source of information when it came to misbehaving students. She knew the other kids called her tattletale and other names, and possibly picked on her, but Veronica thought she was a wonderful student, always attentive and never afraid to go to the teachers when other kids were breaking rules. Having an informant student was always handy..

Veronica could have just gone inside herself, but other head of houses did not often venture into different house Commons and Veronica didn’t want to startle any students, or catch some of them possibly doing things she’d disapprove of. It wasn’t her responsibility to keep a strict eye on the Ravenclaw students anyway, that was Professor Quagon’s job even if he didn’t seem very dedicated to the it at times. Veronica left the Ravenclaw tower, checking that off the list of places she may find her daughter. The library was also already crossed off her mental list, which just left courtyards, the main hall, and outside somewhere, which was a lot of space to explore. Veronica sighed heavily and continued her search.

Luck was on Professor Hallow’s side it seemed as she spotted her daughter from afar as she was walking through the Clock Courtyard which lead to the long bridge that students traveled to get to the Owlery, or groundskeepers hut for their Care of Magical Creatures class. Her daughter, it seems was traveling with a red-headed student, who Professor Hallow guessed to be the same first year Ravenclaw girl named Elsie that was under the care of Professor Nicholais. It would explain why two first year students were approaching the groundskeeper hut, and then entering without knocking. Veronica stopped watching and began to make her way across the bridge.

That was not the reaction that Markelm had expected with his little jest. Sure he knew the silver haired girl would scream, or panic slightly but he wasn't prepared for that expression of sheer terror or just how panicked she became, and it seemed for every second she was in the air her voice and cries for help only got louder and louder. In one swift motion, the standing candle holder he has transfigured himself into swirled in a blur of robes and limbs and Markelm was himself again. He couldn’t just counter his own jinx since that would cause the girl to fall, and crash into Elsie who was standing on a chair and holding the girls hand in an attempt to calm her down. ” Wingardium Leviosa! Markelm stepped into the room both the girls were in, wand held up as another jet of light moved from his wand and hit Kyra’s shirt. It may seem silly to use a levitation spell to counter a weak floating hex but wingardium leviosa gave Markelm the ability to move the object the spell hit, or in this situation, Kyra’s shirt. Wingardium Leviosa couldn’t be cast on humans, but could still be used to move humans by moving their clothes. Markelm lowered Kyra back down towards the ground, the girls feet kicking at the air like a fish trying to swim out of water and once her feet were on the chair, arms now wrapped around Elsie, Markelm sent a counter hex to dispel the floating hex and stopped the wingardium leviosa spell so the girl was no longer in any danger. Markelm wasn’t exactly sure what to say now as he lowered his wand, stuck between lying and weaving some story about a cursed object and how little girls shouldn’t go snooping and making him out to be the hero by saying that he returned just in time, or apologizing and attempting to calm the student and Elsie down. Markelm slipped his wand in his robe, and was about to speak when the door to his hut flew open. Veronica Hallow didn’t knock, nor ask to be let in as the Herbology teacher strode into the hut, wand drawn with a look of concern on her face. Now Markelm was in an even more awkward situation..

Kyra couldn’t have been in the air for more than 15 seconds tops, but to her It felt like 15 minutes as she flailed around in a panic. Hearing Elsie tell her it would be okay calmed her slightly, enough to get her to breath again but still didn’t’ stop her from kicking her feet around in a failed attempt at swimming through the air to reach the ground. ”Ju.. Just hurry up. Please..” She replied and tried to keep her eyes focused on Elsie, but everytime she looked at the girl she also saw the floor and how far it was from her feet. She actually wasn’t that high up, but to her she may as well have been over a hundred feet off the ground. Kyra closed her eyes tight, which removed her from having to see the ground but made it feel more like she was falling. ”I’m falling.. Help.. Please.” Kyra’s voice was beginning to rise, higher with each word and she didn’t even hear the sounds of a chair being dragged over but seconds later she felt hands grab her own and her eyes popped back open. Else was standing on a chair and thankfully had hold of her. Kyra managed to calm down a slight bit more, but with all her attention focused on Elsie, didn’t even see Markelm come out from the other room and soon she was slowly moving back towards the floor. ”No no no no no no I’m not falling no no.” she repeated in quick, her feet pumping and trying to reach the chair as her body was angled right side up and her feet were soon touching the chair. The feeling of weightlessness lasted a moment longer but then went away as her arms went around Elsie in a death clutch. Tears were beginning to form at the corners of her eyes, and despite being on solid ground now, her knees and legs felt as if they were jello. She was vaguely aware of professor Nicholais appearing, and knew someone had used a charm on her to get her down but her mind was still in chaos.


Professor Hallow continued along her walk towards the groundskeeper hut, walking along the path that led towards the small building. She could have walked through the grass, and it would have been a shorter walk but she didn't feel much like getting the hem of her robes dirty with grass stains.. even if she could just use her wand to cast a simple spell to clean them. She found herself looking forward to visiting the hut, and getting a good chance to talk with this Professor Nicholais. She wasn't quite sure what to make of the man yet, but a man's living space was always a good reflection of who they were and since her daughter was also down here, she could tackle that at the same time. She was almost to the hut itself when the sounds of her daughters panicking voice came from the hut and Veronica's felt her chest suddenly to tight as her hand went instinctively into her robes to pull fourth her wand. She found herself suddenly running and within seconds she was at the door to the hut, wand pointed forward and using a simple spell to open the door. Veronica swept into the room, concerned eyes first spotting her daughter standing on a chair, arms wrapped tightly around the student named Elsie, then moving around the rest of the room to try and find a threat. Her wand pointed at Professor Nicholais for a moment as the man's own wand went into his robes, but seeing that he didn't seem to be the threat, she lowered her arm. "I demand to know what is going on here!" Veronica demanded, her seething eyes resting on the Care for Magical Creatures professor.

Markelm stared dumbfoundedly at the Herbology Professor for a moment before his brain clicked and he began to think of what to say next. He almost considered telling the professor that a mouse spooked the two girls because the picture of both of them standing on a chair reminded him of some magazine cover he'd once seen where two women were on top a chair, embracing each other and pointing at the mouse on the floor. Or maybe it was a movie poster? It didn't matter he decided, since it would only take a one word from either Elsie, or her friend, to debunk that story. Markelm opened his mouth to speak, but before he could the silver haired girl shakily got off from the chair, releasing Elsie and ran to her mother, who protectively wrapped one arm around the girl. "Well.. I think I can explain." Markelm started, taking a few steps forward as his eyes scanned the floor. He once more drew his wand from his robe as he spotted a silver bracelet laying on the floor near where the silver haired girl had been standing. The bracelet was nothing but a family heirloom that must have fallen out of one of his trunks or boxes that were littered everywhere. He pointed his wand at it and lifted it up into the air. "I'm afraid i'm a bit of a collector when it comes to cursed things.. I hadn't planned on having visitors so early so a lot of my things are still scattered throughout this small hut... as you can see. I think your... Daughter" Markelm didn't know if the two were daugther and mother, but the resemblance was uncanny and he was 99% sure he was correct... " must have brushed against one of them. This bracelet, as I recall hexes people who touch it with a floating hex.." He stated, moving the object with his wand over to one of his open chest where he dropped it and then hastily closed the chest. It wouldn't do well for Professor Hallow to ask to see it since she'd know he was lying instantly. "So I apologize for scaring your daughter... I was digging around in the closet in the other room when I heard her cries and was not aware that she and Elsie were even in my hut." he finished, hoping his explanation was good enough. There was a small closet in the other room, but it was hardly big enough to get lost in nor far enough away that he wouldn't hear anyone snooping about, but it was the best lie he could weave with as rusty as he was, and after studying Professor Hallow for a moment.. he knew she either bought it, or was still skeptical but didn't refute his story.

Veronica embraced her daughter with her right arm as she continued to clutch her wand with her left, she could feel Kyra trembling and made little reassuring noises, sliding her hand up and patting the girl on the head to try and calm her down. When Markelm explained about the hovering hex that was apparently on the bracelet he so casually left on the floor it all made sense now. Veronica knew Kyra had a intense fear of flying and heights, so that explained why her daughter was so upset. Still, she couldn't get an exact read on the man as he gave his explanation. He seemed genuine, and didn't appear to be outright lying, but she had heard the rumors, and knew the stories about this man. Some of her colleagues and acquaintances whispered about how untrustworthy he, calling him a liar and a thief but still.. she couldn't quite pinpoint if he was telling the truth or lying and so she reserved her judgement for later. Until she actively caught him in the act she couldn't consider this man to be as low life as they say and the way he treated his daughter spoke opposite of him... I'll have to speak to the headmaster about him, and keep an eye on him. she thought, now slipping her wand into her robe and wrapping her other arm around Kyra. "I see.. I hope there are lessons here to be learned. Kyra." She said her daughters name in a quiet soothing tone. "Elsie, I hope this teaches the two of you not to go wondering into places uninvited, for you never know what dangers lie therein." She paused, then turned a sharp gaze onto Professor Nicholais. "And perhaps you should reconsider leaving cursed and dangerous things just lying freely strewn about your hut, Professor. I was hoping to make this visit under less chaotic circumstances and have some different words with you but I think I'll excuse myself and take my daughter back to my office and try to sooth her. Excuse us." Veronica whispered some words to her daughter and guided the child out the door. Veronica missed the days when her daughter was young and small, she only wished she could pick the girl up and carry her back to the castle, but those days were far past.

(I think post done. Going to give Professor Hallow and her daughter a small break. Takes too much time to RP with 3 characters at once, easier to deal with Markelm talking to Elsie one on one. xD )

Markelm hadn't been scolded in a long time, and not by someone who seemed a master of the art. Even if it wasn't a hexed bracelet that Kyra had touched, he still did have plenty of things strewn about that were dangerous. Markelm nearly nodded while taking the verbal punishment but didn't show any signs of telling the truth. Markelm watched Professor Hallow leave and once the door closed he turned to consider Elsie. He frowned as he watched her fidget with her hair, and it was obvious she was upset or troubled by what just happened.

He responded to her greeting with a mere sigh, running a hand up through his messy hair as he turned away and begin rifling through some of the random trinkets and knick knacks on the table, only turning when she began to explain why she had come to his hut unannounced and didn't knock. Markelm crossed his arms over his chest, frownwing. "If you had knocked you would have saved all of us a whole mess of trouble." Markelm replied, shifting all the blame back on Elsie. It was true that he probably caused more of an issue by hexing a student.. but she didn't have to know that and Markelm decided it was not best to admit it. He let her give her own explanation as to why they had come down here, even though he overheard the real reason she came into his hut uninvited. "School list. Right.. I thought I had gotten everything on the list for you already? Did you have one of teachers ask you for something that I forgot? Anyway, the list should be around here somewhere.." He turned back to the table and began to scan the papers that sat ontop of the table, some of which he clearly didn't want Elsie to read. There were news paper clippings of various articles strewn about, letters (some of which from the Headmaster) and several documents from the ministry of magic. Infact.. just about everything here he didn't need anyone else reading so he quickly gathered them all up and in the process of doing so, did come across the hogwarts supply list. Markelm had a Ahhh... makes sense moment when Elsie mentioned the broom and how her friend, Kyra, had a rough first flying lesson. That might explain the big freak out.

Markelm turned with the supply list in his hand but could tell that Elsie still felt guilty, watching her bite at her lip. The sight made him feel guilty, but there was no way he could be mad at her for what was mostly his fault. "I've got your supply list right here... and the broom in one of these trunks somewhere.. but I can't approve of you using it and giving flying lessons to another student. Just too dangerous, even if you do show a lot of natural talent at flying." He stated before taking a few steps forward to retrieve the chair she had been standing on. Markelm pulled the chair up and placed it in front of Elsie, sitting down so he was facing her. He put one hand reassuringly on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze "I'm not mad at you. Just.. in the future be sure to at least knock on the door before you enter. I don't want you to get hurt and I.. well I own a lot of things that you've never seen at the old house, things that are dangerous and can cause a lot of harm if mishandled. i was hoping to get everything unpacked and squared away before having visitors but you've always been great at throwing my plans off." he finished with a jest. He turned and pointed to a couple trunks pushed against the wall. "I suppose you can help me unpack if you want to start with those two, but if you see anything weird and unfamiliar, please don't touch and ask me to move it."

Markelm stood up from the chair, stack of papers still clutched in one hand. He didn't really have a designated place for these yet and no good functioning writing desk so he placed them high up on a shelf. While doing so decided to inquire about her day of school. "So how did today go? Everything alright.. nobody picking on you or anything? And tell me about your friend."


(WIP)

"Well, next time if I don't give any response then just leave a note and return to the castle." He countered after Elsie mimicked him by crossing her arms. Sometimes he forgot that she wasn't his own child, with the way she resembled him in her actions. At least she didn't take after him the way he was when he was younger. Or at least he hoped she wouldn't.

Markelm listened to the explanation as to why she was here and why she needed the list, or what it was on that list that he had forgotten to purchase. Markelm wasn't very task oriented at times, so it didn't surprise him that he had forgotten to pack some of the school supplies she would need, and now that he thought about it he couldn't recall or not if he had bought dragonhide gloves. Dozy muppet? he wondered silently but then remembered their earlier conversation when Elsie had approached him during lunch. Still, Markelm didn't know who this mousy little gryffindor was that she was referring to. "I'm sure Professor Hallow had her reasons." he stated, sure that nothing that woman did was uncalculated. It was just the impression he got from just the few short meetings they've had.

"I'll have you know I'm perfectly good at making plans. You just have a way of ruining them."

Markelm turned and went about organizing things and unpacking a chest that was pushed against the wall, one that did contain more malicious things. Was best to get to this one himself and let Elsie dig through the ones that contained some of their old muggle posessions. He listened as she talked about her day, making Hmmhmmm type remarks as she spoke, and interjecting words and questions here and there. "Chocolate frog? No thanks." Most of his attention was focused on the chest before him though as he slipped a small sectioned metallic rod from beneath his robe, and his wand. At the tap of his wand the smooth metal rod clicked, several sections of it began to turn, forming notches and ridges, turning into a key that fit into the lock. "I wouldn't expect anything less from the daughter of one of Hogwarts Professors... And I'm sure she'll continue to be your friend. But try not to rub off on her too much.. I don't think her mother would appreciate that kind of language coming from her daughter" Markelm kinda hoped that this Kyra girl would rub off on Elsie but he knew how stubborn and hot headed Elsie could be and feared that maybe she'd negatively influence other students more than they positively influenced her.. Markelm pulled the key from the lock and opened the chest. The chest was slightly bigger on the inside and contained drawers that lined all four walls inside that pulled out toward the center. He opened several of them just to make sure their contents were still there, it had been some years since he'd checked this one and needed to make sure nobody had gotten into his things. "I've known a couple wizards and witches who were scared of flying.. It'll probably take some time but I'm sure she'll work it out in time. Just got to have patiences."

Markelm closed up the trunk and turned to see Elsie making small piles of various things on the floor. "Nettles? Yes, I do imagine they would be easier to work with using gloves.. Speaking of.. " Markelm walked across the room to yet another trunk, vaguely wondering how he accumulated so much junk. He flipped the lid open and began to just messily toss out various articles of clothes, robes and accessories. Finally he pulled fourth a glove, and after a moment of digging, its partner. He tossed them over to Elsie. "You can use mine for now. I'll try to get you your own pair.. mine might be a bit big and they are dingy and worn but at least you'll have them for class until we can get you to Diagon Alley. As for losing your house some points.. I'm sure people will get over it as long as you behave and start gaining your house points instead of deducting them.. And I fully expect you do be on your best behaviour."

Markelm was about to put the clothes back into the trunk that he had carelessly tossed about when he caught Elsie tinkering with something. It took him a minute to recognize the silvery music box and almost like lightning he was in front of her, pulling the music box away from her. "Blimey Elsie! I told you not to touch anything weird and unfamiliar: he scolded as he snapped the lid close, then sighed in relief. Markelm turned and put the music box on the table. "I think that's enough help for now. I think I can get the rest of this stuff organized."

Fawn waited till she had enough space in her mouth to form coherent words before she responded, taking no hesitation in answering what her favorite treat was. "Fudge. Fudge is the best." she replied before she went on to attack some more cookies. She tried to be a bit more delicate as she could pick up that her mess was making Gina a bit uneasy. "Well.. Fairies are nice and pretty. But Doxies aren't.. You asked me about Doxies, not fairies. I guess they are kind of similar though." Fawn mentioned, while pointing to Gina's stack of books. "Here, I'll show you." Unknowingly rude, and without asking Fawn tilted forward and yanked the defense against dark arts book from Gina, her other hand grabbing up another cookie and stuffing it happily into her mouth. Fawn opened the book and flipped through the first few pages till she got to the section with Doxies, then she flipped the book back around and handed it back, poking the drawn illustration of the doxy, which showed a fairy like creature that had long thick black hair, thick beetle like wings and sharp rows of venomous teeth. Fawn didn't give her much time to examine the page as she reached forward and flipped through more pages but didn't find anything on fairies. "Well.. maybe this book doesn't have fairies since it is a defense against the dark arts book. But I'm sure you can find something about them in the library somewhere... I was there earlier, I should have looked." Of course Fawn couldn't have looked for a book on fairies earlier since she didn't have any clue that Gina was interested in them, but that didn't occur to her as she again flipped the page back to the chapter on doxies. "They're kinda cute actually..." Fawn stated as she leaned forward to examine the picture of doxies again, but then rebounded and rolled backwards away from Gina and off the bed, crashing onto the floor and then bounding up with her arms in the air. "Ta da! Let me get my parchment and ink." Fawn skipped to her area of the dorm room and using a foot, opened the lid to her trunk. The contents were a total mess and after some digging she pulled out homework tools and skipped back to Gina's bed, ready to do some homework.. or just scribble random images on her parchment.. It was becoming clear that the rush of sugar was starting to hit Fawn pretty hard.

Markelm sighed, almost feeling like throwing his hands up in defeat. Elsie had a way of turning around everything you told her and never just accepted something at face value. A trait both he was proud of in her, but one that often got them both into trouble. "Yes.. you can visit. Of course you can but if you knock and I don't answer I'm either busy or not around. So just knock from this point on and if I don't answer go back to the castle. I'd prefer you not wait also because I may be gone for hours at a time." He finished, doing his best to focus his attention on other things around the room instead of her perfected form of pouting.

"I would wager on the former, minus the evil queen part. Some days I just think you plot against me for the sheer fun of it.. Also, language." Markelm went back to rummaging around. If he had been left alone this probably would have taken hours longer, not because he's slow but because many of the objects he was pulling out of storage now had a lot of nostalgia and memories attached to them and he'd become distracted thinking about times long since past. He was kinda surprised Elsie hadn't yet asked him where a lot of this stuff had come from since most of it never made its way into their old home. And speaking of that he still wasn't sure how he'd break the news to her that they'd no longer be returning there. Markelm's inner dialogue was broken when Elsie asked him another question. "Hrmmm? Act like what?.. No, I don't I expect you to act like Kyra, or how Professor Hallow would like you to act but I do expect you to be respectful.. and punctual. There's nothing wrong being yourself, just.. be less yourself around other students." And since the topic had gotten onto Kyra and her fear of flying, Markelm continued to talk. "I'm afraid she'll just have to either overcome her fear of flying.. or fail the class. It would look poor on the schools part if they made an exception for one student to skip an entire class but I'm sure with words of encouragement and a lot of practice she'll at least get the basics of flying. I don't think she'll ever be a quidditch player but brooms one of our main methods of transportation so its just something she'll have to overcome."

Markelm wasn't completely sure about the answer to the next question. He didn't go to school here and wasn't as familiar about the rules or the house cup as he should have been. Sure they sent him a copy of A History of Hogwarts and a lot of other reading material they expected him to thoroughly read before coming here, but he thought he could get away with just skimming through most of it. "I'm not sure exactly what the limitations or rules are for points, but from what I gather.. the teachers and Headmaster can award points for positive behavior and or going beyond expectations. The best advice I can give you is just do good, impress the teachers and stay out of trouble."

Markelm could tell Elsie didn't want to go back to the castle, so to avoid the power of the pout he turned back to the music box and quietly started to wrap it up into a shirt he randomly grabbed from the trunk beside the table. She would have to go back to the castle sooner or later, and he knew sooner would be better and he was certain that as time passed she'd been spending
less and less time down here and more and more time getting into trouble with other students. He wasn't sure which he would prefer more.. After tying off a knot in the shirt and securing the music box he turned back around to face her. "You've got astronomy tonight, correct? And I'm sure you've already got some homework or at least reading assignments to take care of. You should probably try to get some of that done instead of helping me unpack all this junk. I'll probably be in the great hall for dinner unless I take a nap so if you have anymore questions or need to talk we can do so then but I really do have things I need to take care of and you should try to get ahead on your homework. You always did good in school, and I expect tthe same to carry over here." Markelm was about to leave it at that but thought he better address the language issue sternly before it did get her into trouble, so he pulled around a chair and sat down. "You asked me how you can get points? I can tell you how to avoid losing points, and you probably won't like it. But behave, and watch your tongue.. I know I'm partly at fault with how loose your language is, but if other teachers, and students, and definatley perfects of other houses, catch you being so flippant with your language you'll lose your house more points. Even if you're brassed off at another student, you need to watch your language. I swear that temper of yours is as fiery as your hair. Now, I don't expect you to behave all prim and proper and call everyone mum and skip around saying 'G'day sir, madam!'" he punctuated these words by mocking someone skipping around with their back straight and arms high but Hogwarts won't tolerate the kind of cheeky street attitude you're such a natural at. Hogwarts isn't posh, but it still maintains a high level of respect in the wizarding community and as a student, you carry that standard with you." He finished, hoping his little speech wasn't too harsh or too long and hopefully she would willingly go back to the castle without making him promise a bunch of things he wasn't sure he could keep. "I'm not saying you have to go straight back to the dorms, or socialize with everyone, but you could use this free time to look around a bit. I know how much you like exploring." He offered as he got up and walked over to the door, opening to suggest it was time to leave. "And have you seen the library here? It's much better than the ones you're used to."

"I once got my hands on some fudge that had peanutbutter in it. (she mentioned with a slightly wicked grin) But mostly just chocolate fudge, which is fine by me since chocolate is the best anyway. I could eat chocolate pancakes if they make them, or chocolate soup, or chocolate break, or well.. just about anything chocolaty. And maple huh? So that's what kind that was.. that was good too."

Fawn was reluctant to leave the comfy softness of the bed since it seemed the so perfect place to do homework. I mean.. she wouldn't even have to worry about finding something to wipe off black ink if she got some on her hands, she could just use the bed sheets! Several seconds passed though as Gina continued slowly towards the door and Fawn was first to relent as she gave an exasperated sigh and rolled to her left, dropping off the bed, landing on all fours, and then springing back up to a full stand. "And I had just gotten comfy too!" she declared, then snatched up her parchment, quill and ink. "Lead onward!" she commanded, then took the lead and led them back through the windy tunnels to the commons room. More kids had sprouted from the ground (or so Fawn would like to imagine), chitter chatter now filling the room. Some kids had the grace to keep it down to low voices and unmakeoutable whispers, but others were laughing and cohaddling loudly, but Fawn doubted that would make any impact on her ability to 'do' homework. It was the common room anyway so people could talk as loudly as they wanted, or so she figured. Fawn would probably be told eventually to take her tones down a time or two, but for now she was actually being fairly mild as she picked a table and unceremoniously dropped her things on it (except the ink pot, to which she actually used a gentler hand). "This shall be our base of operations." she told Gina as she suddenly turned and left Gina to make a round through the room. When she came back she had 3 soft fluffy cushions in her left hand, 4 in her right, and one dangling from her mouth. She dropped them all on the floor, dive bombed ontop of them and then managed to wiggle herself into a sitting position, which left her hair a tangled mess in front of her face. Fawn blew out several deep puffs of air to move the hair, but to no avail her hair didn't fly the way she wanted so she was forced to brush it back with her hands. Then she picked up her quil, unscrewed the ink pot and unrolled the parchment. "So.. what are we working on again? You wanted to draw pretty creatures? Right?"

Markelm had a annoying feeling this issue with Kyra and letting Elsie teach her on her broom was going to continue coming up time and time again. He frowned and shook his shaggy head. ”Again, I don’t feel like it would be a good idea to have her practice on your broom. Hogwarts probably wouldn’t allow it so I won’t allow it either.” He stated, hoping that at least for a while, that would put the topic to rest. The topic turning towards Quidditch made him smile, his eyes showing how much he enjoyed the sport. He paused a second, trying to find a way to accurately explain a game in a way that someone growing up in a muggle lifestyle would understand. ”Okay, you know how you and your friends would play football on the streets? Or even just a game of kick the can if you couldn’t find a ball? Well.. its kinda like that except the players ride brooms and the game is played up in the air. Instead of one goal on each side of the pitch… pitch is the equivalent of a field in quidditch, there are 3 hoops that count as goals. So you have your goalie, whose job is to protect the goal and stop the other team from scoring with the Quaffle. The quaffle is like the main scoring ball that you pass around and try to score with. Not to be confused with Bludgers, which are two iron ball.. cannonballs basically, that fly around the pitch and try to knock players off their brooms, but each team has players called Beaters whose job is to beat away the Bludgers or to knock the Bludgers toward an opposing player. The basic goal is to score while keeping your team flying and trying to knock the other players away or off their brooms. Each goal is worth 10 points and the team that has the most points at the end of the game wins. The catch though.. unlike muggle sports which have a score limit or a time limit, is that a game of Quidditch only ends when one teams Seeker catches this tiny golden ball called the Golden Snitch, which zooms around the pitch at high speeds. Whichever team catches it first automatically gains his team 150 points, which usually ends the game with your team winning, but if your team is down by more than 150 points then you want to try and stop the other team from catching it so they can’t end the game and win.” Markelm paused, hoping that explanation was good enough. ”It sounds a lot more complicated than it really is. Once you get to see a few games yourself, I’m sure you’ll pick it up lightning fast.”

Markelm had finished up most of the current things he had been unpacking, and after giving Elsie her little talk about behaving and suggesting she go exploring he was just about ready to crash himself, or maybe sit outside and smoke on his pipe, something he rarely ever did, especially with Elsie around. He was satisfied with her answer on behaving, knowing she’d try her best, but also being wise enough to know that she’ll still get in trouble. Elsie being herself was one of the things he loved about her and wouldn’t force change upon her, but he sure failed in teaching her proper manners, something he knew would come back to bite him in the arse. He did catch her eye looking at the pile of things she had left on the floor, most of which were some of her old belongings. Books and dolls and other keepsakes he had held onto. He tilted his head towards them ”You can take a couple of those with you if you’d like, before I put them back into another trunk.” he offered, then tried to remember where at in the castle the library was. Sometimes things seemed to shift in the castle, or at least that’s how he felt only after being within its walls after a short period of time. He knew the library had several stories, and several doors, but he was sure there was one on the first floor. ”The main entrance is somewhere on the first floor, near your Ravenclaw tower I believe.. I would just head back to the school, cross the bridge, through the courtyard, into the castle and make like your going back to your common room and then do some exploring from there.” he wasn’t sure how good his directions were, but figured big room, lots of books.. shouldn’t be that hard to find. Plus the best way of memorizing a new place was to explore it. Her asking if she could come back made him fidget slightly. He didn’t want to say no, but he also didn’t want her forming a habit of visiting him daily. ”Maybe sometime this weekend, when your not busy with class and homework. I’ve got plenty of other things I need to do, and lessons to prepare for my own class so I don’t think I’ll be in the hut that much.”


Fawn wasn't sure herself if chocolate soup was an actual thing or just something she would like to try one day. Either way, it didn't matter and she merely responded with a noncommittal shrug, deciding to let Gina ponder on it, or not.

Now that Fawn had her base of operations setup, the pillows arranged around the table messily, she was ready to get down to business and get some drawing done. Or as Gina had reminded her, homework. "Essay!? Awwwwww.. but I want to draw.." she muttered, pouting slightly as she picked up her quil and dipped it in the small ink jar. "We had an assignment in charms?..." she responded when asked if she paid attention in class. Fawn did pay attention, somewhat but how was someone to supposed to sit and listen to a teacher spew on and on and on about boring things when she was in such a new and exciting place?! If the teachers wanted her to focus on them, they shouldn't be filling their classrooms with interesting objects, or other students that she could think about or even just the random thoughts in her head were far more interesting than what the teachers were talking about!

"Okay okay.. We can work on the assignments" Fawn relented with an overly dramatic sigh. She managed to focus for a few minutes as she pulled her parchment forward and began to start her essay. "How long did this thing have to be?" she wondered out loud as she started to scribble away, splitting her time between writing and asking Gina what she was writing.. As the minutes slipped by though, Fawn was losing her focus and her scribbling was turning to doodling. She was soon fidgeting, swaying side to side, and that was followed by quiet humming, which preceeded whistling and with no notice she suddenly bounced up from the pillows, dropping her quil and abandoning the parchment that was one part essay, another part the doodling of what could have possibly been trees and fish? Fawn grabbed at her robes and lifted them up, then started to pat herself down. "Hmmmm.. I can't find my glasses!" she declared. Fawn took a look around the blurry room, her eyes darting about almost wildly till she spotted what she thought was a young boy across the room who may have been wearing glasses. Fawn skipped off before Gina could stop her and within seconds she was standing in front of a dark haired boy, who did in fact have glasses! Fawn didn't introduce herself, or ask anything as she plucked the kids glasses from his face and put them on her own, but to her dismay, the glasses did little to clear up objects far away. In fact, these glasses seemed to just make the entire world blurry. "Nope." was all she said as she took them off and slipped them back onto the boys face and without saying another word she spun on her heels and walked back towards Gina, or the blurry figure of Gina. This time, instead of skipping, Fawn walked like stiff limbed, as if she had no knee or elbow joints, looking like some dofus mechanical nutcracker windup doll.

Fawn plopped back down, forgetting about her glasses as she picked up her quill and started to scribble once more on her assignment, but this time it took even less time for her to toss her hands up in frustration. "This is tortue!" she wailed in mock pain as she flopped onto her side and pretended to be in agonizing pain. "Gina.." she whispered as her eyes looked up at her fellow Hufflepuff. "Gina.. must I? Must I do this schoolwork?"