Mack really had no clue where to go next when she found herself on the third floor corridor, looking around it really looked as if no one ever came to this part of the castle, but of course she knew that they did. Quickly she turned on the vacuum cleaner by repeating the incantation Professor Airey had taught them "Vacavus" and began sucking the dust into the living black hole as she passed a portrait or suit of armour she quickly repeated "Scourgify" and continued on her way until the corridor was once again clean as it should be.

Anya, complete with a cute apron and vacuum, skipped off to find something else to clean. She'd been down 4 flights of stairs and still felt amazing.

She looked around before spotting a dusty suit of armor. Alright armor, prepare to be cleaned! She tapped the hose of her vacuum. "Vacavus."

She then beamed at her excellent cleaning job. Yay for being awesome at homework!

Seeing that the corridor did look a lot better than some other places through out the castle, she almost thought that it wouldn't need cleaning. That was until she noticed that because some areas had been cleaned a lot of the floor and the area around some of the portraits still had a lot of dust covering them and figured that she might as well get rid of it, while she was on her way to return the vacuum cleaner to Professor Airey.

"Vacavus" the blonde said with a yawn, stretching herself out a bit as she started cleaning again.

She definitely needed to get some more sleep, though how she was going to do that with the smell of the Slytherin dorms was beyond her.

However as the echoes of her vacuum died down she smiled, feeling a sense of achievement. Kahlan was definitely getting pretty good at this entire cleaning business.

Holding his wand in his right hand and the cleaner in his left, he continued to drag the thing throughout the castle. He was really getting tired now but still refused to use the levitation charm on the cleaner. If muggles could do this each day HE could do it as well! Besides, he was scared he would blow up the vacuum cleaner thinking about having to use Wingardium Leviosa.

The cleaner behind him was suddenly getting lighter and Daichi felt it. He turned around with a frown only to see that it was hovering in the air! “What the?” he shrieked , missing that he had his wand accidentally pointed to it and the cleaner fell down on the floor. Luckily unharmed.

Wait…had he just...used a non-verbal spell?!

The seventh year Prefect looked around, trying to find any students or even staff that was maybe pulling a prank on him. But finding no one he scratched his neck. How had he? And then he remembered. His mouth was still open in shock and he stopped searching for a place to clean for a moment. He eyed the vacuum cleaner and pointed his wand to it. Vacavus! He said in his mind.

……waiting….waiting…nothing. Had it just been luck? No! He knew that he could do it if he just practised but right now he first needed to finish this homework. In a better mood than before, Daichi used the Vacavus spell out loud and listened to the noise that the vacuum cleaner made.

He then looked around and found some spider webs in the corner of the corridor. Because he had long legs, he only needed to reach out the hose, stand on his toes and the cleaner began to suck the webs up. Poor spiders…

Ethan walked up to the third floor corridor. Wow. This place could really use some cleaning. It was a good thing that Professor Knox had taught them cleaning spells last class. Ethan eyed some other students cleaning with, were those vacuum cleaners? He walked over to an untouched part of the room. "Scourgify!", he yelled at a cobwebby area. Ugh. Spiders. "Deletrius!", he said, pointing at a group of those disgusting vermin. He felt a lot better, now that the spiders and their homes were gone. No time for dillydallying, there was work to be done. "Poliotus!" he said to the area that he had cleaned. Ah. Squeaky clean. Just how he liked things to be.

Laura had decided that she wanted to spend sometime alone after what she had seen with the Boggart it felt so real and she didn't agree with it, why had she allowed it to affect her so much, she thought that maybe it was because of the fact it was important to her to achieve something this term, now DJ had done and Mick had disappeared and well just about everything was going wrong with her life, it was important that she achieved her goals but what if she failed, Laura felt the tears flowing down her eyes again.

Bliss' plan for the day was pretty simple. Go to classes when she had to and sleep, mope and be lazy the rest of the time. Through her mind she kept replaying the scene with the Boggart. She'd had TWO situations to face and to her, that just seemed unfair. Alice and West, she just .. just couldn't think about, especially as that could eventually become reality. Nope, not thinking about THAT. Even in comparison, the maze was a piece of cake to think of, as long as she didn't think about all of the happenings that were associated with it. West being the main focus point of two of them.

One thing that wasn't on Bliss' to-do-list was seeing her cousin. Definitely not on it, was actually talking to her. The girl was crying, though, and Bliss .. well, she did have a heart; she couldn't just leave her, as much as she wanted to. URGHHH.

Laura had irritated her and hurt her a lot in the past, but, didn't everyone deserve a second chance? Ignoring the fact, of course, that this would probably be the fifteen chance. Or something like that. Here goes nothing, she thought and slowly approached her cousin. "Hey, Lau-- Lo?" She said in a tentative whisper, using her old nickname for Laura. Hopefully, that would show that she meant no harm. "What's wrong?" Even though Bliss was teeny-tiny, she crouched in front of Laura; her mum did it to her when she was upset and it always helped her feel a little better. A little more .. comforted.

Laura was crying when suddenly she heard someone say her name and blinked, it wasn't possible was it her cousin hated her right and who blamed her she was annoying and would be disowned by everyone of her family in the end because she had let everyone down.

O___________________o

Did Bliss just call her Lo? That wasn't what was said was it, surely Bliss just wanted to stay away from her and ignore her after all if she had been treated like the way she had treated Bliss she would ignore the person who had treated her like that.

"Hi...." Laura was a bit scared at the minute, Bliss wasn't going to be mean or anything to her was she. "I've messed up." Laura sighed, she knew what Bliss would be thinking, it wouldn't be the first time and all that but this was different. "I've messed up, with the way I've treated my family and my fellow school mates." Laura sobbed, she was trying to fight back the tears, "I ran away in the summer and it made me realise some things." Laura wondered how much she should tell her cousin after all this was the first time she had seen her since that awful night and she wasn't sure if her cousin would want to here it.

Evil; that was what Bliss was. Yup. She felt like smirking at Laura's shell-shocked expression and making sarcastic comments about it. Luckily for them both, she kept it all inside. She knew she'd probably just end up regretting saying anything anyway, because that was what she was like. Either way, it wasn't exactly like it Laura's fault that she pretty much over reacted about everything. Was it? Hah.

She'd messed up? Well ........ nope, she couldn't hold it in. What was new? Maybe she should listen first, that would be more reasonable. Treated her family wrong? SERIOUSLY? From what Bliss could tell, Laura was just a pranker. Granted, quite a bad pranker, but a pranker nonetheless. Even though it had taken Bliss a little while to figure this out, she knew now, Laura had never meant any harm. Not really. OKAY. WAIT. Back the bertie-botts back. She'd run AWAY? Bit extreme if you asked Bliss, but y'know.

Anyway .. the comforting thing. "Hey," she said softly, raising her hand and wiped the tears away. "First step to feeling better; take deeeeep breaths and don't CRY." Ooops, did that sound a little mean? She put a gentle smile on her face and repeated a little more .. considerately, "what I mean is, crying won't do any good. You might want to cry and cry and hit and screams, but will it get you anywhere? NOPE. Trust me, I've already been there." Memories of beating up Coul filled her mind. Whoops. He'd offered, though. Not her fault. She did have anger issues, after all. "You've treated your family and friends just fine," she reassured her cousin before carrying on to the important part, "why and where did you runaway?"

Laura looked at Bliss and sighed, as she fought back to hold the tear and after awhile she managed, she took out her hankie and wiped away the last few tear. "I ran away because everyone I cared about was mad with me, you hate me and I know what I did was wrong and I am sorry and everyone else seemed to hate me." Laura decided to tell the truth as well. "Plus what you said to me was right, I have to act more my age, I'm doing my owls this term and I have basically got a small chance of succeeding because I've really been bad with lessons." Laura sighed no she wasn't going to cry anymore.

"That's my worst fear." Laura didn't know if to call Bliss by her name or cuz, was she still mad with her. "That I fail all my exams and if I do you know what, it would be my fault." Laura really didn't know why she was telling Bliss this, she probably wasn't that bothered and who blamed her, Laura had driven her away. "Cuz, I am sorry for upsetting you." Laura sighed and then added. "I went to a friends in Germany, because I wanted some time to myself."

Well, so much for not being Laura's friend and all that; she could already feel herself thawing. Bliss looked at her cousin carefully, assessing every detail and coming to the conclusion that Laura had, in fact, changed. For the better, would you believe it. Right, time to get serious, too. Bliss grabbed Laura's hand and gently pulled her down, so that they were sitting at the edge of the corridor. Best hope no Prefects or anyone comes along.

She listened to a sentence at a time, because, although she was warming up to Laura, again, she could only take her in small doses. Well, best start with the parts that included herself. They'd be simplest to dead with. "I don't hate you, Laura. I never did. I was just angry; I could never hate you or anyone for that matter?" Not even Alice, but .. that was a separate situation altogether. Bliss reached out, took Laura's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. She hoped that proved that her words were sincere and dropped the girl's hand and rested hers back in her lap. "I forgive you, you know? Even though you make mistake ... a lot ... you're still my cousin." BEAM. Also, "see? It did help you in the end. Falling out with me made you realise these things, so in the end, it was kinda worth it. Right?" Please say right.

That was her worst fear? Maybe Bliss could try and help there. "If you're so worried about it, I could help you study. It would help me get practise in for next year, too." A win, win situation. Those were the best situations. "You won't fail them all, I promise." And Bliss kept her promises, remember? Weird. Bliss felt a lot older than she was, right about now. At least, older than Laura. Oh, and even if the girl did fail them all, she would clearly have tried her best and that's what mattered, really. Maybe it would be Laura's fault .. but, only a little.

"It's okay, Lo. I'm over it." Almost. She pulled her cousin in for a hug and squeezed gently.

Laura sighed, so Bliss didn't hate her, well that was weird, she would have hated herself if she had treated herself like she had treated her cousin last term and she made a mental note that she would never ever treat anyone the same way again because it was just wrong. "I made too many mistakes Cuz." Laura sighed, she was going to cut down on all the mistakes, now DJ had gone she could concentrate on her studies. "I have treated people like I shouldn't have and I have upset the people I care most about but that all stops now, I'm going to make everyone proud of me." Laura wasn't sure if she could count Bliss as one of those yet but well at least they were talking which was a good sign.

O____________________________o

Why was Bliss being so nice, surely she would want to see her fail after all the trouble she had caused Bliss, Laura was shocked with this development "Are you sure you don't mind?" Laura would love some help with studying it might stop her failing her exams and having the last few people that care about her disown her. "If you would, I'd love to help you study as well." Laura was trying her best to be nice now and actually work with people.

Laura gave a small smile as Bliss said she was over it, but Laura wasn't fully convinced, it was going to take a lot of effort to get Bliss back on her side fully but she would work towards it and when her cousin hugged her, she hugged her cousin back.

Laura still seemed pretty shocked that she was even talking to her, never mind being nice and Bliss couldn't really blame her. She hadn't exactly been the most supportive of people over the past year. Something in her wanted to make excuses like: her Dad dying, things getting tense with West, but she knew that there really wasn't any excuse for it. She'd been unnecessarily mean and Laura hadn't deserved it. Well, maybe sometimes. MELLOW. "How do you think you've treated people?" She asked, frowning. "Like a human being? There are people much, MUCH worse that you, Laura. You're only human, of course you make mistakes; we all do." Hopefully that would help her feel better, a bit. Bliss nudged her cousin gently and smiled, "I'm sure you can do that. I'm proud of you already," she said earnestly, although .. it might take an ickle bit more to get her fully back.

Did she mind? "Course not," she laughed. Heck, it might even be fun if they did it right. When studying, Bliss always found that company was better. Though, she often did get distracted, but that was beside the point. Laura was prepared to help HER, too? BLINK. She'd expected Laura to want to keep miles between them, after, y'know, the slaps and punches. Ahem. "That would be great, Laura." BEAM.

"Never too early to start."

After the hug, Bliss lent back and watched Laura carefully. Her cousin definitely seemed happier now that before, if a little nervous. Good deed for the day, done. Even though, with Bliss, there'd probably be many more. She knew what it was like to suffer; people could often use all the help they could get. "Feeling better, Lo?" Please say yes.

Laura looked at Bliss and gave a small smile back before speaking. "Well I made mistakes with you, I treat you badly and I treat a few other people badly which I regret now." Laura had thrown a book a Bliss and slapped her and she was sorry about that, she listened to Bliss and sighed. "I've made more mistakes than I should, I didn't learn from them but I have now." Laura said truthfully. "You are?" Laura was a bit shocked what had she done to make Bliss proud.

Laura smiled at her cousin and giggled a bit. "Well then both of us can help each other." Laura said truthfully, "It is so much more fun to study with two than it is on your own, though sometimes you get more done on your own but who cares." Laura was just glad she could spend some time with her cousin.

Laura listened to Bliss and smiled. "Yes Cuz, I feel better." Laura felt a whole lot better her cousin was talking to her which was a big plus, plus she had someone to help her with her studying, it would be fun working with her cousin doing the work.

Grinning and with a excited look in her eyes she looked at the corner corridor from the third floor. She wanted to try if she could find some hidden passages, she knew that it was not likely that she would find something, but it was funny to try it! If the people in the past could have done it than she could try it to!

But before she wanted to start with searching she ordered her rat, Little princess to watch out for spiders, she knew that her rat would kill them if she saw one and that was exactly what she wanted! She HATED spiders, she really hated them and she was afraid for them.

The second year old just wanted to start whit her expedition to find some secret passages when she heard how somebody walked behind her.

Today would be a good day to go take another walk around the school, wouldn't it? Plus, she needed to test her walking in tall shoes skill. It was strange how her cousin seemed to be able to walk perfectly in them but Melanie would always fall in them or stumble or something that wasn't along the lines of perfect and graceful. So she readjusted the bag on her shoulder and tried to walk straight.

Swaying back and forth like she was walking on a tightrope, Melanie walked down the third floor corridor, focusing on her feet before bumping into something and stumbling back a little.

"Ow," she muttered. Had she run into a wall?

Looking up from her feet, she saw a girl. "Oh sorry, should've been watching where I was going," Melanie said with a little laugh, scratching the side of her head before lowering her arm and tugging on her sleeve. "Didn't mean to run into you."

Huh? The second year old turned around and saw a Asian girl standing. The girl was older than she was, what was a good thing. “Oh, don’t worry, I’m fine.” Smiled Sonea and looked at the corridor in front of her. “I’m looking for hidden passages, I have heard that there are a few of them at Hogwarts and I want to find one of them! It’s funny!” The second year laughed excited and clapped in her hands.

She turned her attention back to the older girl and grinned even more. “Do you want to help me? If we can find something we can share the honor!”

After leaving the staff room, Ivy had walked up the staircases to the third floor with her refilled mug of tea. She had the Daily Prophet in her hand, reading the most recent article about Dragons loose at Durmstrang. Huh. Sucks for them.

Ivy tucked her blazer closer around her as she made her way down the corridor. Merlin, why was it so cold? She was ready for Spring...

The two knuts in the pocket of his trousers clinked together as Jake made his way down the corridor. He was in a hurry to get back to the library. The figure down the hall, though, distracted him and lessened his haste. Professor Knox. Jake paused, glancing around the corridor. Nobody else was around.

He'd always thought Knox seemed... interesting, but he never gave it much thought. At least not enough thought to go out of his way and talk to her. Since she was here, though...

"Professor!" He called, raising a hand without thinking. He jogged over to her, forcing what he hoped was a friendly smile. "Hey, Professor Knox."

Kace decided to explore the third floor corridor. He never really explored here before. He knew the Trophy room was here but he didn't wanna explore there yet. He decided to wait for Laura. She was supposed to meet him here. She was gonna show him the secrets of the castle.

As he was waiting, he felt a sudden chill. He fastened his cloak up and kept the cold at bay. He wished it was warmer weather already but then again be careful what you wish for.....

Laura was late, she had to rush around to get somewhere, she really wished her sister would stop asking to see her at the last minute, why couldn't they decide on things straight away it would be a lot less of a hassle.

Laura ran as fast as she could, she turned a corner on the third corridor. "WATCH OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Laura put on the breaks at the last second but it did no good, her heel snapped and she felt her left foot buckle underneath her, she was sure she had hurt it, she bumped straight into the person in front of her and she went down trying to hold back the tears.

As Kace was looking around and letting his mind wander, he noticed a girl he met before...Laura was it? Rushing towards him. She told him to Watch Out but he ignored the warning. He stood there wide eyed and then using his quidditch reflexes he tried to dodge out of the way, but she caught onto his arm and took it down with her.

After he fell down trying to help her, he felt his wrist pulse and it felt quite painful. Kace held his wrist up and then he asked the girl, "Are you alright? That was quite some fall you had."

Laura looked at Kace and she got up. "OUCH! Laura cried out her foot was killing her and she was trying to stop the pain in her leg. "I'm fine." Laura lied she was really upset with herself for hurting a first year. "What about you?" Laura gave a weak smile. "Are you alright?" Laura was praying hard now because she didn't want to have to go to the healer wing if she could help it.

When Laura said she was fine, Kace could immediately tell she was lying. "Yeah i can see that, you are soo fine." he said sarcastically. "I think you need the hospital wing." Kace said suggesting the idea. Then she asked if he was fine, Kace twisted his wrist and it was quite painful. "Oh i have a sprained wrist that i think the healer needs to look at." Kace said trying to make circles with his wrist and it wasn't happening. "Ouch...yeah...i...need the healer." he grinned to Laura. He wasn't mad at her accidents did happen.

"Come on i will help you get there." he said letting Laura lean on him for support.