A musty cupboard containing brooms, mops, and other various cleaning supplies.


OOC note: All SS Board Rules and School Rules apply in this cupboard. Violators may be punished both IC and OOC for any inappropriate behavior taking place in this cupboard.

Pushing mops and brooms aside, Tasha saw her target. The bucket was large, wooden and very heavy. Moving as fast as she could, Tasha made her way back towards the stairs.

Cale hurried up to the broom cupboard through an empty Entrance Hall. Good. That was just what he needed. He stood outside the cupboard, trying not to draw attention to himself or anything of the like. His note had told Astrid to meet him there at 6 o'clock, which, according to his watch, was in 3 minutes. He really hoped she would show up--he needed to tell someone about this, and soon.

Astrid made her way, as fast as she could to the broom cupboard. She was completely winded me she finally saw Cale standing there waiting for her. She hoped that he hadn't been waiting long.

"Hey Cale..." she said, trying to catch her breath. "Sorry, I'm late. It took a while to sneak away."

Cale sighed in relief as Astrid finally showed up. "It's ok, you're only like 2 minutes late," he said with a smile. He reached behind him and opened the door, holding it open for her to go in. "Sorry, I know it's cramped but we need somewhere where we won't be overheard." he explained with a shrug.

She smiled, still trying to calm her breathing. "Thanks Cale." she said, as she climbed through the open door.

Once Astrid's eyes adjusted to the lack of light, she took a look around for somewhere comfortable to stand. When she realized that there wasn't a real option, she just turned to face Cale and said, "Its fine, really. But why the sudden need for privacy? All your note said was that we needed to talk." she said. "Is something wrong, Cale?"

Cale followed her into the broom cupboard and shut the door so that it was completely dark. "Gosh darnit, hang on," he murmered. He reached into his pocket for his wand and stumbled backwards, crashing into a broom and stepping in a bucket in the process. Finally, he muttered "Lumos" and they could finally see again.

Fixing the broom and stepping out of the bucket, he sighed and turned to her. "Well, ok, I've kind of put this off for a while because I've obviously had other...things going on right now. But, basically...I think there's a treasure hidden at Hogwarts and people are supposed to find it." he explained.

Astrid couldn't help but smile at poor, clumsy Cale. He WOULD step in a bucket. Bless him and his two left feet. She shook her head, suppressed a giggle and made sure that no trace of the smile was on her lips when his wand finally illuminated the cupboard.

She listen with genuine interest as Cale started to explain. "A treasure Cale? Really?" she asked in a disbelieving tone. "And what can I do to help?"

Cale tapped his chin in thought. "Well, there's probably a lot you could do. You might want to seek out the other Order members and see what they know--Maddox Darcy is one of them, Allie is one too, and so is Celadine, Nico's sister. Now that I think of it, Mr. High and Might Toussiant knows about it too. We got owls from some secret Order last year telling us that the only way we could get Hogwarts back was to tell the Minister there was a treasure hidden here. Now, whether there actually IS or not, I'm not sure," he said with a frown before pushing his bangs away from his eyes. "But I can guarantee if people don't make at least an EFFORT to start looking for it things are gonna get...well, hectic, I'll bet."

He sighed again and twirled his wand impatiently. "The reason I'm telling you about this is, quite honestly, I'm not in the mood to go hunting for some treasure that may or may not exist when I'm failing Herbology, dealing with Anna and Evolette, and doing prefect duties. I'll drive myself crazy and something horrible will happen like...like...I'll go bald due to stress!" he exclaimed. "But I know if SOME people don't start looking, the Minister might get frustrated and send more of his workers in here like last year and basically try and control the school again."

"You don't have to help them if you don't want to," he added. "The clues we got last year were very minimal anyways, I think the only thing mentioned was the library or something."

Astrid sat there quietly, listening to Cale go on about the "Order". If she wasn't feeling so completely hurt with the secret that her friends had been keeping from her, she might have been excited. The fact that Allie, her VERY best friend in the WORLD, had been keeping a secret like this from her.... Well, it was a little hard to swallow.

She definitely didn't want things to get hectic again though. It wasn't like Belle's was a distant memory yet. Astrid remembered, all too well how miserable last term was.

With the mention of Anna's name, no matter how confused or hurt Astrid was feeling, her heart went out to Cale. She couldn't refuse him, that much was clear. Determined to set his mind at ease, she said, "Cale, of course I want to help you. Don't think twice about it. I'll get with Allie right away and I'm sure that she can fill me in on everything else." She gave him a reassuring smile and said, "Okay?"

Cale grinned. "Ok, thanks. Like I said, I'd help but...I've just got too much going on right now. Besides, we got Hogwarts back--so I feel my part is done. It's time to pass it on to someone else," he explained.

Reaching over, he opened the door and stepped out, holding it open so that she could get out as well. "Oh, and feel free to tell as many people as you want about this. I think the more people we have looking for this 'treasure' the more likely it will be that the Ministry is gonna stay out of Hogwarts. Understand?" he asked, raising a dark eyebrow.

Astrid nodded at Cale and said, "You're welcome but it seems like we should be thanking you. I couldn't have imagined being back at Belle's again this term."

She stepped through the open door and brushed off the dust from her robes. "I'll keep that in mind, but it seems like all of my friends already know. I seemed to be the only one in the dark about it." Except for maybe Anna, but she wasn't stupid enough to bring up her name, and more than likely Cale had already told her. Maybe it was just ME they didn't trust, she thought. She hoped that wasn't the case, but what other explanation was there when you thought about it.

She smiled at Cale and said quietly, "I understand, Cale. Thanks again." , Still lost in thought, she turned and started down the hall, back to their Common Room. She wondered if she would ever tell Allie how much it was hurting her that she had kept such a huge secret. She highly doubted it, it just wasn't like her. Besides, she was sure that Allie had her reasons.