Musty-smelling... why WAS this floor always musty-smelling? Anastasia had always thought it should smell lovely, like the bubbles in the prefect's bathroom not that she would know. She stood across from the portrait of Barnabus the Barmy, contemplating something, and then decided to reach into her clutch for a stick of ordinary Muggle chewing gum.

Maybe the musty-smell wasn't the floor. Maybe it was her breath. She quickly looked around and popped the gum into her mouth, then dropped the wrapper on the floor.

Toby had JUST been, y'know, quietly strolling around. Walking. Having some alone time on the Shoelace Express. Getting some exercise. Looking for an excuse to stop studying for NEWTs for a little while. It had crossed his mind to maybe stop by Professor Botros' office to catch up on things, see if he needed any help with anything, and maybe even see Feo. He was, in fact, now on his way to do just that.

Just, y'know, taking the scenic route. Stretching his legs.

He rounded the corner just in time to see-

"Oh... Hello Headmistress Truebridge! I... think you dropped something," was the Hufflepuff's greeting as he approached, nodding towards the wrapper. Toby smiled, just happy to help! Probably nobody wanted to litter, even accidentally, after all.

... It smelled weird here.

But how did one even put gloves on the wrong hands? Had they made left-hand only gloves, back in Boris the Bewildered's day? Or was that wizard really so clueless that he ended up receiving a statue dedicated to his idio---

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

Toby had JUST been, y'know, quietly strolling around. Walking. Having some alone time on the Shoelace Express. Getting some exercise. Looking for an excuse to stop studying for NEWTs for a little while. It had crossed his mind to maybe stop by Professor Botros' office to catch up on things, see if he needed any help with anything, and maybe even see Feo. He was, in fact, now on his way to do just that.

Just, y'know, taking the scenic route. Stretching his legs.

He rounded the corner just in time to see-

"Oh... Hello Headmistress Truebridge! I... think you dropped something," was the Hufflepuff's greeting as he approached, nodding towards the wrapper. Toby smiled, just happy to help! Probably nobody wanted to litter, even accidentally, after all.

... It smelled weird here.

"Oh." A student. Toby Thompson-Fuller-Whatnot. Anastasia stopped chomping her gum for a second to smile at him too, her smile only starting to fade at the edges when she saw what he was nodding to.

A gum wrapper?

"That's not mine," she denied quickly, smoothly, putting her smile back on to full wattage just for him. "Would you get that, though? I can't stand people who litter for no reason!" And not her, no, she certainly was not one of those people. She wasn't even chewing gum at this exact second.

Toby had slowed to a stop, because he was now mid-conversation and it was rude to just keep walking when talking to people who were stood still. Especially when you were talking with the head of the school. He took in the sight of Boris the Bewildered for a moment, long enough to acknowledge, as he always did, that he could definitely relate to old Boris.

The Headmistress' words drew his attention back. "It's not? Oh," OH. OH NO. "Oh, I'm super sorry." Well, see, now he felt BAD. Would he never learn not to jump to conclusions? Toby watched the Headmistress' face a tad anxiously, hoping he'd not upset her with his FALSE ACCUSATIONS. But she was smiling, oh good! Toby matched the smile and nodded. "You got it," he replied, leaning down to pick up the wrapper and inspecting it for just a second before crumpling it in his hand. "I'll sort it. Bet it was probably just an accident." No need for any bad feelings towards anyone, see?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

Toby had slowed to a stop, because he was now mid-conversation and it was rude to just keep walking when talking to people who were stood still. Especially when you were talking with the head of the school. He took in the sight of Boris the Bewildered for a moment, long enough to acknowledge, as he always did, that he could definitely relate to old Boris.

The Headmistress' words drew his attention back. "It's not? Oh," OH. OH NO. "Oh, I'm super sorry." Well, see, now he felt BAD. Would he never learn not to jump to conclusions? Toby watched the Headmistress' face a tad anxiously, hoping he'd not upset her with his FALSE ACCUSATIONS. But she was smiling, oh good! Toby matched the smile and nodded. "You got it," he replied, leaning down to pick up the wrapper and inspecting it for just a second before crumpling it in his hand. "I'll sort it. Bet it was probably just an accident." No need for any bad feelings towards anyone, see?

Ah, that was a good lad, Toby, believing the Headmistress and everything. "That's alright," she replied slowly, watching him with her bright blue eyes as he bent to pick up the wrapper. Once it was in his hand and off the floor, she nodded cheerfully again to what he was saying. "Probably. But five points to Hufflepuff anyway, for your good citizenship!" She smiled again brightly and then turned back to the statue of Boris.

"Have you ever looked closely at this, Toby?"

Five points? For good citizenship? Toby hadn't been expecting that, but he certainly wasn't about to complain, either. He simply returned the headmistress' smile and bounced slightly on the balls of his feet. "Thank you!" This was a Good Day, he had just decided.

Toby looked at the statue too when she did, absentmindedly fiddling with the wrapper he now held. "Sorta," he said, tilting his ever so slightly to look at it. "When I was in first and second year, exploring the castle and stuff. I always felt bad that he looked all lost and I couldn't help him find his way."

True story.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

Five points? For good citizenship? Toby hadn't been expecting that, but he certainly wasn't about to complain, either. He simply returned the headmistress' smile and bounced slightly on the balls of his feet. "Thank you!" This was a Good Day, he had just decided.

Toby looked at the statue too when she did, absentmindedly fiddling with the wrapper he now held. "Sorta," he said, tilting his ever so slightly to look at it. "When I was in first and second year, exploring the castle and stuff. I always felt bad that he looked all lost and I couldn't help him find his way."

True story.

"You're quite welcome," she returned, glancing at the boy glancing at the statue. "Well he's a statue, of course there's no helping him now." She let out a low, dark kind of laugh and looked again at old Boris. "Makes me wonder why we dedicated a whole stone statue to him, though? What did he do?"

She should probably just ask Zan this, sometime, if she were really interested. He knew pretty much everything historical.

Hmmm, well... that was a good point. He was a statue. But a statue with a name, and everyone knew that if something had a name it basically had feelings and stuff too. Still... there was no helping statue!Boris, which was sad. Toby hoped that reallife!Boris had, at some point, become a little less lost.

At Truebridge's question, Toby blinked and looked from the statue back to her again, giving the Headmistress the most curious look, verging on looking almost as lost as Boris over here. It only lasted for a moment or two, and then his eyes were back on the statue.

"... Perhaps he was really nice. Like a good guy, y'know?" Yeah? She probably knew; he didn't doubt that Truebridge would understand his line of thinking. Mostly because he didn't doubt that of anyone. "Or famously confused. Can you be famously confused? Is that a thing?" Toby thought it might be, and he also thought that if that was true, it was a genuine career option that he could look into.

Marsha was looking for somewhere hidden. An alcove of some kind that would let her change the colour of a wall without it being too obvious. She was wondering if she could get to the end of the day with all five sections of HER red still in place, and not turned. Though, she hadn’t touched anyone else's colours walls, but that didn’t mean some of the other students wouldn’t try to claim back some of the castle… but, really it had sounded like the Professor wanted them to share the castle between them, not try to win the castle for a sole house.

As she moved through the fifth floor, she found the statue of Boris. Boris who looked way more confused than even her eighteen month old sister, Alis. Poor thing. She stood for a few minutes looking at him, wondering how it was even possible to put gloves on the wrong hands and why that would be confusing… Surely there were other things such s money and job hunting and love (eeewww) that was way more confusing.

Annnywwaaayyyy.

Getting back to the subject at hand, Marsha moved towards the back of the statue and looked at the slight curved alcove that was behind it. It wasn’t that small of an alcove, more a wider section, but curved. That curved section, was what she was going to aim for.

Raising her wand, she said ”COLOVARIA!” Think red. Get red. Hehee. The student watched as it stained the wall, falling low and rising high above her head. The single charm covered almost 80% of the wall. WHEEEEEE. That was awesome. Raising her wand a second time, she moved around the statue so that she was on the section of wall that still needed to be changed.

”COLOVARIA!” She said, smirking as she happily watched the rest of the wall turn red. YES! Another wall conquered for Gryffindor.

… But now she was hungry. Time to head to the Great Hall for dinner.