It was a strange place, yes but he had to be sure people saw it. Fishing out a flyer from his bag, and letting the bag rest on the ground - Noel Wallace got to work.

The boy contemplated where could he paste it without getting grief from the professors that he wasn't JUST using the student board. There were already so many notices on there, his flyer was bound to get lost. So he needed to give and paste it around.

Finally coming to a decision, the boy placed the flyer RIGHT below the ugly witch's face. Perfect.

Kevin had been walking down the staircase from the Gryffindor tower to go to the potions lab in the dungeons when he had remembered that he had found a short cut on the third floor last year. The fourteen year old turned away from the staircase and entered the corridor when he saw someone putting up some kind of poster under the statues face.

"'sup Noel" he greeted without looking at him as he stood next to him to see the poster. "What on earth are you doing?" he asked, pointing at the poster with his thumb

It was slightly difficult to stick the thing in - what with all the curves on the statue but Noel was determined. He didn't just stick one but THREE flyers side by side on the statue thing. And then he heard a voice.

"Heyy Kevin" he greeted, stepping back to take a LOOK at his work. Yep, definitely noticeable.

"Looking for band members" he explained, picking his bag up from the floor. "Do YOU play anything? Preferably drums" please say yes? Because then this all WONT matter at all.

Band members?

Kevin looked from the posters to Noel and then back at the three flyers again. Was he serious? a band? they could make bands at school? that was pretty cool and maybe this was an opportunity for him to get in touch with people and form friendships? Since he was horrible at it...

"Of course i can play the drums" he said with a roll of his eyes. "It's just banging on a piece of plastic with sticks" How hard can that be?! "So you're only looking for a drummer or a whole band?"

He could???

Noel turned to look at the fellow fourth year REALLY clearly. "You serious?" he had to know because Kevin shouldn't be joking about this. He just shouldn't. Did he know how much Noel WANTED this band?

"Because, dude, I am REALLY serious about this" he added, looking at him like he might devour him out of excitement. "Oh I need a drummer and maybe a bass player? and a keyboard player would be SO good" Noel rambled a little. "I do have a singer, and I can write and play decent guitar - but yeaaah. Can you really really play? Are you interested?"

Could Kevin FEEL his excitement? It was basically radiating OFF him.

You serious?! awww look at how excited Noel looked. Kevin felt almost bad for fooling him. Almost. Though, he did kind of like the idea of being a drummer. He could just see himself. Smashing on something AND having a legit reason for it. And besides, how difficult could drumming be? He might even be a natural talent! He's a natural talent with potions maybe this was something he was good at as well.

"....So basically you need everything that makes a band" except for the singer that is. "Who's the singer?" he asked. He looked at the poster and decided to pretend he was a okay drummer to begin with because the excitement Noel was radiating off him was just annoying. "Okay, i lied, i play the drums a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle bit" he said. "So i'm hired?"

"Well. Not everything. Just a drummer is necessary, everything else is just a bonus" he told, before adding: "Oh my cousin, she is a ravenclaw - she has a nice voice" he said, and would have continued spazzing out if Kevin hadn't burst his tiny bubble.

Noel's shoulders slumped, and Noel sorta bumped Kevin's shoulder in disappointment. "Oh come on dude. Why would you do that, really?"

-_______-

Did Kevin NOT hear how serious he was for this?

"No, you are not" Noel sighed, turning to fix the abandoned flyer. "Can you play anything?" Noel asked, out of courtesy but yeaah with no excitement at all.

Austin walked down the familiar hallway. It had been his favorite hiding place last term, although he didn't actually plan for it. The statue had just been the place he ended up after walking around for a while. When one sat next to it, one could easily become invisible. Not actually invisible, but no one even cared to take a second glance at you. Heck, no one even took a first glance. But that didn't matter to second-year Austin. No, he had loved the solitude it gave.

Now, Austin was in his third year, and had a whole new set of problems. He had gotten into a fight and detention within the first week of school. Thinking about it just reminded him of how much his arms still hurt from it. Hopefully he didn't have to go back to detention any time soon. Or... if he did, it would be a punishment that didn't involve using is arms for hours on end. Returning his thoughts back to the statue, he ran his hand along he stone. It had been an entire summer, and it looked as though the statue hadn't changed one bit. He assumed there would be cobwebs, or at least look older. But it looked like his favorite hiding spot hadn't changed much.

He took a deep breath, and sat where he had sat last year. He was a lot taller so sitting in a way where no one could see him was awkward. He couldn't pull his knees up to his chest for too long, for it gave him awful cramps in his legs. He resorted to crossing his legs and leaning his head against his stone friend. He thought about Ophelia, and what she was doing now. Maybe she was getting a good nap in before class, or maybe she was grabbing a snack. But all he could focus on was what he was going to say to her if he saw her. They hadn't seen much of each other since that first day in Professor Tanner's office. He wanted to talk to her then, but she had run out, ready to go make her apologies. What would he say to her? He would want to apologize himself, hoping she would understand that his anger got the better of him. Maybe she would bring up the fact that he sent her mother a letter, hoping he could change things. Her parents couldn't take her out of Hogwarts, she had to get her magic lessons somehow. Unless her parents planned on teaching her, which he highly doubted. If her sisters got wind of what happened, they would never let her forget. Where was Ophelia Clark now?

The kid was on a completely casual, not so secret mission to find her friend. The twelve year old missed King Blue Eyes, even though the last time they had met had been a complete disaster of epic proportions. And Ophelia was barely putting on the dramatic. However, that didn't mean that they could still have a supertacular friendship.... right? The blonde had even brought a plastic baggy full of gummy bears as a peace offering, though the candy was old and the Ravenclaw ended up eating half on the way.

It was funny though, because the statue was actually one of the LAST places she looked. Even though this exact spot was where she found him last year, and even where she planned on hiding if things ever got rough around Hogwarts. Or if she needed a quiet place to sketch. Which reminded her, she still had a drawing of an alien coming out of a mom's stomach to show Austin. The second year had made it over the summer as kind of a commemoration of his little sister but never finished it. maybe King Blue Eyes could help, give the baby-alien some kind of terrifying face or something. Maybe it would be therapeutic?

"Coming in hot!" And with that, she placed her owl backpack --Ophelia only traveled in style-- down on the ground and sat next to Austin, smiling and waiting for him to say something. Yeah, he should say something, right? She was younger, and therefore less experienced at making up with friends. And she was the cuter of the two, so it was totally hits turn. Except fr the concept of gummy bears. That was her terrain.

"I have some candy if you want. It's kind of old though. Still good! I ate like half of it!" And in response, Ophelia popped a red gummy bear into her mouth and chewed. "And I have something for you if you wanna destroy it or something!" So much for letting him talk first. Or not talking with candy in your mouth. Except the candy was against one of her cheeks, so it wasn't like he could see it. Reaching into her backpack, she found the paper and tore it out of her sketchbook with a tiny kee-yah for effect, handing the drawing of the strange faceless alien baby to King Blue Eyes.

Austin was startled by the owl backpack that landed by his feet. He wasn't expecting to see anyone here. Sure he was hoping to see Ophelia, but he wasn't sure she was going to stop by. Well, he didn't exactly tell her to meet up or anything. But he wanted to talk to her. There was so much to say, and he hoped they had time.

Lo and behold, the owner of he Owl backpack was in fact Ophelia Clark. His Blonde Queen. Well, she wasn't his Blonde Queen, they weren't dating or anything. They were just friends. Plus it probably wasn't the greatest idea to bring something up like that since the start of term feast didn't end so well. He had gotten into some big fight over something so silly. At least it sounded silly every time Austin had to repeat it. As the Blonde second year sat down, Austin was about to speak, until she took over the talking role. Which was fine, he didn't know what to say anyways.

He happily took the candy, happy to have something to do. How would he bring up that he was sorry? That everything he had done had been stupid, and that he felt terrible that she got in trouble because of his actions. Did she know he sent a letter to his family? Was she going to get kicked out of Hogwarts? He hoped not. Too many questions were running through his head and he wanted to ask all of them before she said anything else. But thankfully she had stopped him by giving him a picture.

Holding the picture in his hands, he stared at it. It was an alien coming out of a mother's stomach, and even though she didn't say what it was of, he knew. It was of her baby sister, who was born at the end of last term. The little baby was basically the reason his mother wasn't around anymore. Even though the third year never out right said the baby was a devil, but he didn't always enjoy the company of the tiny person. No one knew this better than Ophelia, and she had captured it in a drawing. He carefully put the picture in his bag, so it wouldn't get crumpled, and pulled Ophelia into a tight hug.

"I love it." He said quietly.

Ophelia smiled brightly when she realized he liked the alien tummy baby picture, watching it put carefully in his bag. Good, it was made specifically for him, the second year had hoped he would like it as much as she liked making the picture. And apparently he did?

Anyway, now that they were alone, it was the prefect time to just sit and talk. They didn't do that often, what with all of the exploring to be done and that pointless argument in the Great Hall. Seriously, Ophelia would have called herself completely childish back then, and that was only a few months ago. But the twelve year old had grown and changed, and now she felt old enough to make better choices and not blow up the minute something went wrong. Sure, the grey eyed girl still had a temper, but it was being worked on. One step at a time here.

Hugs. Tight, ROYAL style hugs. Settling into the hug, the Ravenclaw smiled wider, if that was even possible, glad to be talking to him again. It was like ninety years since they had a conversation last. The kid was basically married and a Grandmother by now! Which meant that him being a year older, he was somebodies Grandfather now, old and grey. She giggled at the thought of him being an old man with a cane and some grand kids on his lap. He was a funny old fart, wasn't he?

"I'm so glad to see you again, man! It's been so long since we've talked we're both basically old farts with thirty grand children and rent to pay!" And that was why she was giggling. Because even Ophelia admitted she would be a silly looking old person. Standing at five feet tall with a slightly hunched back and her curly hair greying until it was completely silver. Yep, that was the prettiest Ophelia. Although, hopefully curly hair would be able to be tamed by then, because there were certain day when she was waiting for her hair to thin so it wouldn't be such a mess. Anyway, she was rambling. Although, that was the Ophelia way. She was an open book that didn't shut up and he was pretty much someone who liked to keep his problems hidden.

And speaking of problems, there was still the big mention. The thing that happened at the feast. The Ravenclaw might have said some things she didn't exactly mean, and now was the perfect time to straighten everything out. Cough cough. However, this was a pretty intense subject to get into, and Ophelia wasn't sure if now was the best time to get into it. Should she let the older kid get into the topic first? Wait until they were all out of gummy bears and had a rousing laugh about nothing in particular? How did these things work?

Austin laughed as Ophelia mentioned them both as old farts. Sure, he could imagine himself as an old grey haired man with a cane yelling at youngins to get off his lawn. But Ophelia, well she could be rolling around in a wheelchair, or with a cane, running people over and laughing maniacally as she rode away. "Yea, you'll end up looking like our friend here." He laughed and pointed up to the humpbacked statue. He was kidding of course, but it was still really funny to imagine her up there making that face.

As his laughter settled, his mind was brought to the Start of Term feast. He had made some stupid choices, and said even worse things. He popped a few more gummy bears in his mouth to give him more time to think. Where would one start? Maybe with an apology. "I'm sorry." He said this while looking down. It wasn't like he was trying to avoid eye contact. It was mainly because he didn't want her to see the tears forming. It had been a crappy summer, and not a lot of attention had been given to him. He spent most of his days taking care of his younger sister. Even his dad didn't seem to notice that he had gotten in trouble. If his mother were still around, she would have sent at least three howlers, while his dad would be heard in the background laughing.

Now the letters he received were all about his younger sister. Austin had a whole envelope full of moving pictures of the young girl crawling along the ground. He could almost hear the giggles that usually came from her tiny mouth. The third year hated all of them. Except one. But he didn't want to talk about that picture. He would rather focus on the fact that he hated the little alien. At least for now.

Turning his thoughts back to the current conversation, he turned to Ophelia. "I didn't mean for anything like that to happen," Once he started, he couldn't stop. "I didn't mean for you to get in trouble, you didn't deserve that. I was just frustrated and embarrassed and the more that snake started talking, the more it seemed to bother you, which bothered me a lot, and I didn't know what to do, so I lashed out, and I didn't mean to. Are your parents mad? Are you leaving Hogwarts? Do you hate me?" He took a breath after that run on sentence. At this point, tears were running down his face, although he didn't make any crying sounds. It was a trick he had mastered over his summer. He had spent nights being as quiet as he could, so as not to wake the baby or his sleeping father. But it didn't mean tears didn't fall.

Look like the statue? Ophelia couldn't help but laughing at that. Yeah, but who was sitting near the old statue? Yeah that's right, she would still have awesometastic game. Even as an old humpback witch that secretly scared her for her whole first year of school. What was that face? That was such an evil face to make. Imitating the old ladies face the blonde held it for a few seconds and then grabbed some candy from the little plastic bag. It was hot and sticky in there. Gross.

THANK GOODNESS! The blonde knew that the apologies had to be made, but she was sooo glad that HE was the one who made them. Scratching the back of her neck nervously, Ophelia listened as Austin apologized for about a million things and then asked about a million questions. Woah, hold on. The Ravenclaw needed a minute to think or breathe or think and breathe. Something about breathing and thinking. Part of being the youngest child meant that you didn't really have to apologize. These things were hard. She was twelve. Twelve and nervous and kind of ready to cry. He might have already been crying. She wasn't entirely sure but Ophelia wanted to hug him or break something to get away. But apologies. They had to be made. Especially about CERTAIN things that the child might have said. Cough cough.

"Hate you! I could never hate you! When did I ever-?" Oh. OHHHHHH. The room was starting to feel like the inside of that gummy bear bag. Hot and sticky. "No don't be sorry, I was angry too. Everyone was angry and there was a lot of adrenaline and testosterone." Another laugh escaped her throat. Wow bad timing. Someone needed to stop her like right now. "I never knew you could punch that hard! I'm actually kind of impressed! Maybe I should have you beat up all of the guys for me!" STOP. STOP TALKING! Why were you still talking you little twit? Merlin it was hot in here. She leaned over and enveloped him in a hug before continuing.

"Um, all joking aside, I said a lot of t-things I don't uh didn't mean. I-I'm sorry. I have m-more gummy bears if you want."

The third year laughed at the face Ophie was making. "Yes, definitely going to look like that. I can picture it. Grey hair and all." He sighed, unaware of the last time he laughed like that. It had been a long time, though it was nice. Strange, but nice.

Testosterone, heh. Yea, that tended to happen among teenage boys. Especially when they were talking about girls he liked. What? Huh? Who said that, not Austin. Nope. That was totally NOT what Austin was thinking at all. The blue eyed boy's ego increased as The Blonde Queen said she was impressed with him. Hopefully she actually meant that. It was nice for someone to be impressed with what he did. He tried to get that out of the potions professor, although he wasn't sure he got that. Austin just tried too hard. "Just say the word and I'm there, M'lady. And besides, I'll be able to beat up anyone with my amazing new arms from detention!" He pulled up the sleeve of his arm and flexed, showing her his not so buff arm. The detention was brutal, but worth it.

Wait.. was Austin.. flirting?

Nah, he couldn't be. Austin didn't flirt, mainly cause Austin didn't like girls. No way. There was no reason for Austin to be flirting, and anyone who heard him should hush him that moment. To him, it seemed that he wasn't flirting, but more... making a fool out of himself. And what did she mean when she said there were things she didn't mean? Which part was she talking about, because there were a lot of things said that night.

"Uh.. Yea.. me too." Austin's tears had dried, but his cheeks were red now. Although he didn't know what Ophelia was talking about, he was talking about calling her a sister. Even though he did agree that they were close, he didn't see her as just a sister. He saw more in her than he wanted to let on. Glancing down at the peace offering gummy bears, he grinned his evil grin, the one that let people know something was going to happen. The boy took the bag from her hand, and poured the rest of the gummy bears in his mouth. He instantly knew it was a bad idea, as they all started sticking to the inside of his mouth, but it was too late to quit. He looked like a chipmunk with his mouth full, but he slowly chewed the rest of the gummy bears and swallowed. "Now what?"

[QUOTE=keepmeclose22;11721118][spoiler=apologies and all] If detention meant that Austin got buff arms and they got to talk near a statue, Ophelia was all for making him get more detentions. However, that was wrong. Which meant that these detention arms were probably the only ones she was going to look at. Not that this was a bad thing Okay, what was she even going on about now?

"M'lady? And they say chivalry is dead." The blonde paused and smiled. "And if you need anyone put in their place, you tell me." And with that, the twelve year old stuck out her arms and flexed, ignoring the uniform that was sightly too big over her baby muscles. That didn't mean she wasn't strong. Ophelia could jump on peoples backs and throw stuff at their head and climb and drop down like a koala bear.

Me too? Was that about the sister thing? Because if so, she totally felt the same way and didn't know how to explain it to him. Was there like a bat signal for this? What would the symbol for I messed up and I don't see you like a brother please get the stupid hint before I rip my curl hair out of my head? Aggression? There was no good way to explain it without outright explaining it, and there was no way she was doing THAT! Because the words would get tied up in her throat and she would helplessly choke on them while he sat and watched. No, the Ravenclaw wasn't being overly dramatic this time.

"All hail the new gummy bear champion!" And with that she moved so she was kneeling and pretended to bow to King Blue Eyes. He looked like he was struggling a bit, but then again, eating a bunch of gummy bears would do that to a person. The grey eyed girl just hoped he wouldn't choke. She didn't know CPR or any of that stuff and running to the Hospital Wing would take too long. She held her breath until he swallowed all of the candy and then let it out in a sigh before giving her friend a golf clap. He deserved it.

"Well, we could go and rob a bank, find something to draw on and go wild, do more exploring or play Would You Rather. But those are my lame options."

[QUOTE=carpediem;11722913] "Yes! I must now add Gummy Bear Champion to my list of achievements!" He looked at his blonde friend and thought about what she had said. Call her if anyone needed to be taught a lesson? What was she going to do? Most people he could get into a disagreement with would be at least twice her size. She was a second year, but she was seemed to be small for her age. Now, whether that was actually true or not, Austin didn't know. He was the one who was tall for his age, and everyone else seemed small to him. So it could just be that Ophelia just looked shorter.

"Hmm..." He pondered on her options. Robbing a bank would mean leaving school grounds and going to Gringotts. And Austin was not up for getting thrown in Azkaban. Drawing on something would be cool, but he didn't have any spray paint, nor did he know any spells that allowed him to use his wand as a make shift spray can. Plus that also meant detention, and although he wouldn't mind going back, he was sure Ophelia would get thrown out. He almost lost her once for acting stupid. It surely wasn't going to happen again. Would You Rather, was actually a fun game. Austin had played it a few times with his mother. It didn't happen all at once either. His mother would think of a random scenario, and give it to him to answer. Then Austin would have time to think about it. It could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days. When he was feeling particulary upset, his mother would come into his room and ask him a question. Thinking about the answer always used to make him feel better.

But his mother was gone now, and he was trying to feel better for his Blonde Queen. He hated seeing her sad, and being sad himself wasn't going to help her. So he decided to think about different things they could do. The Ravenclaw thought back to the previous term, and remembered how he had lifted her up and taken her outside. He stood up, threw his messenger bag over his shoulder, and turned to Ophelia. Well, your highness, I think it's time for some fresh air. Allow me to escort you outside." A normal person would have put out his arm for her to hold, and they would walk outside together. But this was Austin Moore. The Blue-eyed King. And no queen should have to walk. He lifted her up onto his shoulder, fireman style (as the muggles would say), grabbed her owl bag, and 'escorted' her outside.

It was an awfully long trek from the kitchens back up to the Ravenclaw Common Room. Layla, who was physically fit thanks to her love of sports and previous position on a national junior hockey team was even struggling to walk up the millions of flights of steps it took to go from eating something ridiculously healthy to most probably flopping on her bed in complete loneliness because her dormmates had too many friends to count on one hand and were never seemingly in. Unlike she herself who pretty much only had them.

It was probably her own fault. The blonde could come across as pretty standoffish at times. She liked being alone when it suited her, she didn’t particularly share anything in common with the vast majority of the students and she sorely missed her girls back home. She also had a naturally downbeat expression on her face, her lips were rarely upturned into a smile unless she genuinely felt comfortable. But this being by herself business was really starting to get her down.

She walked down the third floor corridor for no reason other than to create a distraction before she entered the silence of the sixth year girl’s dorm. Perhaps if she circumnavigated the entire school there might have been a stronger chance that someone would be in by the time she got back. Someone she could actually talk to. A frown was set on her face, not an unhappy one just the sort of expression she usually possessed. She wasn’t angry, nor was she upset, just.. Melancholy.

She came to a halt at the weird witch statue. She’d been here more than a year and the sorts of decorations that the school had still baffled her. It was a weird place, full of danger and bizarre occurrences and yet somehow it remained firmly open after all its years. She tilted her head as she looked up.

Cosgrach felt like moving that day too, but he decided to tour the castle. Blame it on the map making process, he'd probably seen every inch of grounds, but not the castle. He barely climbed to other floors, but today he'd change that.

He examined the first and second floor thoroughly, and it was now time for the third floor... except, he wasn't so young fit anymore, so his legs hurt. It was a tough thing to stand and walk for 45 minutes, after all, and he decided to sit in that place in the Statue and play a prank of someone that he knew could handle it. Alas! A girl was there, examining his prank spot.

"Hello!" he greeted cheerfully, "Do you mind if I sit there?" He pointed to the teeny tiny spot. Actually... would he fit there? He didn't know, but he'd try it while the girl was there. If it went bad, she could call for help.

She was seconds away from turning around and heading back up the long way round to her common room when her silent pondering was disturbed. By a professor no less. Who apparently was asking her permission to hide in a corner by the statue that she was clearly blocking the path of.

She stared at him for a few seconds completely baffled by what his request actually was. She knew that there was a problem with immaturity with a large percentage of the students in this school but she had no idea that the Professors were like it too. Still, she liked Culloden. His lessons were informative and fast-paced. He got things done and there was no messing about wasting time and the things they did were mainly useful, give or take a few strange potions she didn’t think she’d ever even go near in the future.

“Err..” she raised her brow. “Sure Professor.” She stepped out of his path before tilting her head in a slightly bemused manner, her facial expression matching that. “Are you hidin’ from someone?” she asked. Cos she could think of much better hiding spots than that if he was, ones that involved shut doors and locks would probably be most successful. Logic, like a true Ravenclaw.

Okay, apparently she didn't like his request. Hmm. He didn't know why - oh! That maybe she wanted to sit there!? Well, he could just find somewhere else and pretend she wasn't th -

"If you were going to sit there, you can," he said and didn't move inside. He didn't want to be inconsiderate. Then, at her question, he shrugged.

"Nah, I was just tired." He smiled. "Because it's rude of a professor to play pranks on people." Completely.

Huh, would you look at that, nearly twenty years later and the thing still gave him the creeps. It was no wonder the man hardly walked this way, especially not when the castle got dark. It was obvious she was a mere statue but that didn't change a thing, she was u g l y; the thing of younger nightmares even--a bit of a stretch but there you had it.

"So here were are at what was one of the most useful statues...places in this entire castle; the Humpack Witch. I'm pretty sure she's got a name, but I'm also pretty sure I don't know it. Minor detail though, everyone calls her the Humpback Witch and you stand to confuse people when you start calling her otherwise."

Imagine a kid telling him they walked by the statue of Enid Picklewiffers on the way to his office. How's he to know better than to direct them to the Hospital Wing around the corner? Yes, stick to the agreed names. Not like the statue minded.

"Why is...was..." He didn't know anymore, "this statue one of the most useful?"

Toby was pretty sure he'd found out the name of the witch this statue was of once, but it had been a long time ago. Perhaps in a History of Magic lesson, or scanning the textbook maybe. In fact, he was certain he remembered saying to himself 'That's neat, I need to remember that', before promptly forgetting.

Anyway, not the point. The sixth year looked at the statue, then at Quigley, and then the statue again. He was having vivid memories of Zahra Kettleburn pouncing on him from where she'd climbed onto it, way back in their first year. They'd played airplanes that day.

"I know there used to be a secret passageway that led to Honeydukes behind it. Maybe 'cause of that?" Toby squinted up at the statue's face. "I don't think it's a passage to anywhere now, though." Once the powers that be found a secret passageway, they tended to get rid of it. "It was a neat secret Hogwarts thing. Something to map if it still went anywhere."

But yeah, that... was the only useful thing he could think of.

Following after Quigley and Tobes with a spring in her step the whole way, Sophie LOVED this group scenario. A cool charms professor, Tobes, and herself, for a start? Uh, YEAH THAT WAS AWESOME. She briefly wondered if Quigley had put together that Tobes was the significant other whose dad was the previous charms professor she had mentioned at the beginning of the term, but she supposed the man probably didn't care. Still, SHE thought it was important, and their current group dynamic made her GIGGLE as they went. She couldn't have been happier.

Well, perhaps she could've been, if the charms professor leading them was the last one, but alas, this was as good as it got. And that still sufficed. Quigley was the coolest cat in town. Only because he didn't have Fuller to compete with. Eh hem. BUT STILL THE COOLEST.

As Quigley started off on his spiel, Soph tried to seem SUPER interested, though he wasn't saying anything she didn't already know - OH OH OOOOH! Her hand SHOT UP when he mentioned her having a name, and she politely kept her hand HIGH IN THE AIR until he was done talking. "Sir? S'important to know our school's history and respect people who are important 'nuff to have statues put in the school based on them, though, so I think we should all note that her name is Gunhilda of Gorsemoor and she's SUPER IMPORTANT because SHE is the one who invented the DRAGON POX CURE." There would be NO DISREGARDING a POWERFUL WITCH who made huge strides in potioneering. No, not around Sophie Brown. She DESERVED to be honored. Even if the statue looked kind of ugly and horrifying. NO MATTER.

And she beeeeamed at both of them. Passion was a good thing, see? Fueled the soul. Knowledge was power. Et cetera.

BACK ON TOPIC. Sophie nodded along with what Tobes was saying about the Honeydukes passageway because she knew that, too - really, Quigley had gotten a great deal out of this group situation today because she and Tobes had explored nearly every nook and cranny of the school - and kept nodding even when the Hufflepuff was done explaining. "The passage is blocked off, yeah? I don't think the password even works anymore." Which was lame.

His face almost lit up at Tobias' response because it had been right on the mark and meant they could quickly move on. Kid almost got a thumbs up too but then...

....

........

"Whoa there Ravenclaw." Merlin. Blink. Blink. Had he just been Ravenclawed? The feeling was similar to his own days back in this castle. "What'd you do, swallow your History of Magic text?" And light jab at her head to make sure she hadn't crammed the entire collection up there. "But, yes....what she said. Gunhilda of Gorsemoor." Nevermind the fact he still scribbled Humpback Witch on his own map.

"The reason I was looking for though," before they got hijacked by Ravenclaw knowledge, "was the secret passage that led down to Honeyduke's cellar. This statue was a dream come true for children too young to visit Hogsmeade or even those whose parents never signed their slips. No man gets left behind and all that shot of brilliance. D'you know the password?"

They were right about it being closed though, as far as he knew and to his disappointment. "And there's still that small hole though." Point. Point. Point. "A galleon to either of you that can still fit."