Normally Nettie would have been melting at that smile the boy sent her way, but she had matured sort of and if it weren't for the fact that the Beauxbaton kids hadn't said a single word to her yet, she might have fallen for it. Yet something about the situation just put a bad taste in her mouth. Not enough to make her pause, but she knew how catty teenagers could be. Particularly French teenagers.

Still, it was her job as prefect to keep the peace and make nice - and of course Eiji was ruining said peace at the moment, even if he wasn't meaning to. Sigh. She really had to do everything, didn't she?

"I'll take his drink. Both of theirs, actually," she said, grabbing both drinks and saving Missa the trouble of having to choose between being polite and taking the drink from Eiji. There, crisis averted yes? You're welcome Missa and Eiji. "Yes, bottoms up!" she said with a grin to the Beauxbaton kids before gulping down the first cup, and then taking a long drink out of the second one as well.

Something about that had tasted...off. OH NO. Had she grabbed two strawberry glasses from the girl? In her haste to defuse the situation she hadn't even thought of that! She was ALLERGIC to strawberries! Oh Merlin, Eiji was NEVER going to let her live this down...wait, no. The drinks had definitely been cucumber and lemon flavored. Not a hint of strawberry at all. So why did she feel so...weird? She just smiled and nodded, making little "mmmmmm" noises at the Beauxbaton students, unaware that both her hands were starting to sprout feathers, peeking out from under the sleeve of her yoga shirt...

Refreshment water? Sure, Kaiser could do with some of that. He supposed he was still allowed some even if he wasn't doing the actual yoga, and if he wasn't... well... what were they going to do? Take it back? He crossed over to the refreshment table and browsed what was there - as if he had any sort of preference whatsoever - while he listened to what Desmarais was saying.

Something about a ball. At first Kaiser paused, confused, thinking about the kind of ball you kick, but it soon became clear that she was talking about the event kind of ball, which... uh. Yeah, he definitely didn't belong at a place like that.

Finally choosing a cup at random, Kaiser wandered back to where he had just been stood, swirling the water slightly in the cup. He was about to take a gulp, when the next announcement made him pause for just a moment.

Quidditch, huh? Some people were going to be really upset about that, he knew already. Kaiser himself probably could not have cared less about Quidditch. He did care a bit about some people who cared about Quidditch, though, so he supposed it still sort of affected him. A little bit.

But it didn't feel like it did right now, so he simply shrugged it off and tipped back the cup of strawberry water, instantly downing the lot. Once he had, he looked back over towards the table, wondering whether he should banish the cup back over there or whether the French would consider that improper or something. Honestly? They probably would.

Kaiser's wrist itched, and he went to scratch it.

And froze.

And looked down.

Feathers. Poking out of his sleeves, and now sprouting on his hands. Alarmed, Kaiser hurriedly threw away the cup he still held. Too little, too late.

What in the world.

While Aesha's pitiful look had done quiet a number on the girl, Luc's SUDDEN attention had done the opposite. And she was very much blushing without realising it - especially because of the way he had thanked her. It was just really ...... french. The English language clearly had no way of making something so simple sound so sweet. She wasn't sure how else to put it.

But then before she could be polite too and say anything remotely sweet - Eiji was bringing them drinks too?? And Nettie was then snatching hers away??? Missa stared at the girl, confused - and frankly, a bit more put off. It seemed rude, and a bit too haste. Missa wasn't sure what Nettie was trying to achieve by being this ...... extra helpful.

The fifteen year TRIED to not seem as all over the place as she accepted the drink from Aesha instead, before adding a quick 'thanks' - and then turning to look at Luc and Eiji again - only to look down at her drink again, because between the both of them her stomach was doing a rather weird flip.

"bottoms up, indeed" she murmured and took a polite little sip.

Lars might have been late but he preferred to think of it as skipping the pleasantries. Pleasantries that those early to a gathering could scarcely avoid. Pleasantries were for pleasant people, like Eugenia, the eternal bleeding heart. Considering that Lars was far from a pleasant person, it only followed that he should always arrive fashionably late.

It was also due to the fact that he had set out the spread on the table in the rose garden and having run around all morning tying up loose ends, though he would have been late anyway.

In fact, he arrived just in time to hear the headmistress announce the ball. His upper lip curled into a sneer. Surely they did not expect the English students to help or participate constructively. Merlin knew they were all bumbling fools. From the look of the professors they hired, he could expect no less. He needed a drink.

Water would do for now. Even if it was... infused. He raised his glass at Aesha from across the room in a toast and then downed the whole thing.

The sprouting of feathers went entirely unnoticed. For now.

Bernadette was standing toward the back of the group, mostly just watching the French students and trying her best to understand the French headmistress' accent. Actually, any of their accents. She really needed to learn French FAST so that she could go talk to Professor Notre Dame about creatures and ... and...

Wait, were there creatures among them? Bernadette had brought her own water bottle, so she hadn't really moved from her spot yet. But she did she... a... a bunch of feathers coming from some of the other kids? What the heck? What was this sorcery?! Bernadette LOVED chickens, but not half-human ones!

"You're um, you're turning into a chicken?" she announced loudly, leaning forward and tapping the Ravenclaw prefect on the shoulder. "I am so sorry if this was intentional. If it was, your feathers are VERY nice." Bernie nodded seriously, because, well, chickens were sensitive too.

Lucas had never, in all his years at Hogwarts (and now Beauxbatons!), been happier to hear an announcement. It didn't even matter what the announcement was about because it gave him a much needed distraction. Thank you, Desmarais. He owed you one.

And there was flavoured water? A better distraction. It was only water, yeah, but it gave him something to do, and for that he was grateful. The fourth year wasted almost no time in going up to the table and selecting...... a....... hmm. Flavoured water wasn't really his cup of pumpkin juice but if he had to pick one, he was going to take the sweetest.

Taking up a glass of the strawberry water, Lucas headed back to his spot next to Jillian and stood there. He took a sip of the drink but didn't really pay attention to the flavour as much. Not when the Headmistress had continued on with the announcement she had, which didn't stop at the water. Unfortunately.

............

There was...... going to be a ball. A Valentine's Ball.

It took everything in his power to not cover his face and groan. Or scream. Both, if he could. A Valentine's Ball! Not only did this mean mingling and talking to people in a place with loud music, it also meant that he had to have a date for this as well. Which, all things considering, was not going to end up happening. He knew exactly who he wanted to bring but there were a lot of problems. He had to pluck up the courage to ask - which sounded impossible - and then he had to wait and see if the person would say yes - which was even more impossible - and then........ then he had to enjoy the whole thing.

Breathe, Dakest, breathe.

Maybe he shouldn't worry about it. Not yet. Not when it was all months and months away. So he was going to pretend it wasn't happening until it was too late. Good idea.

He took another sip of his water as Desmarais started going on about...... Quidditch? Or no Quidditch. See, Lucas didn't care about Quidditch but he was close to a lot of people who did care about Quidditch, Emma being one of them. She was going to be devastated, wasn't she? So was Jó, he bet. And Anna. Merlin.

The Gryffindor let out a small sigh before taking another sip of the wa-

............

Oh. Oh, that didn't..... that didn't feel good.

He gulped the water down, his nose scrunched up. This felt funny. He felt funny. His nose, his arms, his stomach...... he gave that a gentle rub with his hand. There was no butterscotch in the water, right? Couldn't be. So what was....?

It was then that he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eyes and he looked down at his arm to see what had landed-

...........

..................

Feathers? FEATHERS?!

He had FEATHERS. On his ARM. Lucas dropped the cup he was holding and quickly started rubbing his arm in a last ditch attempt to see if they could go away. The answer? No. They weren't. They only ruffled when he ran his hand over them, and he could even see smaller ones starting to poke out underneath. Oh no oh no oh no.

Could he scream NOW?!

…… Not only were the Hogwarts students annoying, but they severely lacked in manners. Aesha was grateful that Luc pointed out his [sweetpinkpixie] blatant disregard for her peace offering. But before she could say anything more, their Prefect [Lissy Longbottom] popped in out of thin air. She was awfully too energetic and her excitement was entirely off-putting. Aesha watched in horror as the girl reached for both drinks and chugged them one after the other.

This was unfortunate.

For her.

………. Aesha’s frown deepened further when the pitiful girl [Samia] reached for the last drink Aesha held. The one that was meant to be hers. Instead of saying anything about the matter, Aesha simply reached for the drink her friend [sweetpinkpixie] was holding out for her [Samia] and took that one. The Ombrelune added a sardonic ”merci,” knowing that the boy had brought it over for his little girl friend and not for Aesha. But there was no way that she would be without a drink and look guilty in the midst of this chaos.

Aesha Amin would not go down for this. ”À ta santé,” cheers, she raised her glass, catching Lars’ gaze from across the room. Unlike the prefect, Aesha took her time sipping.

A ball.

There was going to be a BALL.

Octavia was elated, bright hazel eyes glowing with dreamy excitement as she looked to Yoyo, expecting the same reaction. She was so excited she didn’t even realize that Teddy was far off in the back, or else she would have pulled him over to share in their excitement. ”We're going to a ball! She giggled out happily. This wasn’t going to be one of the MANY balls Tavie held back in her play room with her friends, this was going to be a PROPER romantic Valentine’s Day ball. Of course she was going to help and of COURSE she was going to wear the best dress ever and find someone to go with. Her friends maybe? It was a safe option and she wanted them there. She didn’t think any of the pretty Beauxbaton boys she’d been admiring would ask her since she was just a first year (but a girl still day dreamed).

How could anyone worry over drinks when they’d announced a BALL (and no quidditch, but Tavie didn’t really care about quidditch here). And they hadn’t even started doing anything yet, so she dismissed the drinks in favor of thinking about the ball.

That was probably when she noticed it. The feathers sprouting on students and professors. Tavie stared confused for a moment, then wide eyed. Feathers. The students and professors were sprouting feathers.

That wasn’t normal, right?

At first Eiji assumed that the reprimanding coming from the Beauxbatons bloke was because he had utterly and completely butchered the pronunciation of the French and accidentally ended up saying something insulting. Turned out not to be the case and further turned out that there was nothing accidental about it.

"I do not know you nor your lovely friend from a house elf," he replied calmly not, entirely, meaning to be insulting only absolutely meaning to be. "I prefer to take my drinks from people I trust over complete strangers." And considering that is what they were and the history Hogwarts had with tampered food, not to mention some of that coming from his own little sister, Eiji was not keen to trust the good Samaritan.

What came next was THE most absurd game of musical cups ever played. There wasn't even any decent music to accompany it. Trinetta taking the cups intended for him and Missa from this Beauxbatons gal (Whatever that was about, honestly. He sincerely hoped that that was not her way of trying to look impressive to these students. But he was also not optimistic enough to believe otherwise.). The bloke getting his own cup as intended. Missa taking the last cup in the Beauxbatons girl's hands and leaving him with two cups, seemingly for himself, only to have that same girl take the cup he had intended for Missa. Know what that left him? The cup intended for him, so really he lost nothing in this whole ridiculous exchange. Save for a bit of pride since his own girlfriend hadn't taken the cup that he had gone out of his way to get for her. But, you know. No big deal.

Whatever.

"Trinetta accepted the drinks just fine, so nothing went to waste," he shrugged as he took a deep sip of this cucumber water which...really just tasted like a cucumber had been soaked in water for a long long time. There was hardly any flavor. What was so great about this? More fanciful things just for appearance's sake? Beauxbatons was absurd.

Turning towards Missa, Eiji opened his mouth to say something...when all that came out was a loud, unceremonious. "QUACK!"

Normally, a valentine’s ball would have excited her. Lenora enjoyed dancing ( she wasn’t good at it though ), loved wearing pretty dresses and having a good time in general. But, a ball also meant having to find a date and that will prove to be extremely tedious and frustrating. Besides, she had enough things to worry about currently. Maybe she shouldn’t go at all.. MAYBE.

But she wanted to.

ANYWAY. Could she leave? She wasn’t in the mood for any social interaction.. besides, she did have a lot of homework to finish. Lenora quietly started heading towards the exit, hoping no one would notice her.

Jillian is just looking at the place, mainly admiring the interior of it all. She loves this place, it looks like a garden her grandmother has but hers is smaller. The rose garden on the other hand is pretty grand. She redirected her attention when Lucas spoke to her. Giving the fourth year a soft smile and chuckle "You bet" she replied to the guy and adding a nod as well.

Soon after the headmistress of Beauxbaton came in and did her announcement, some of her students are here to join the yoga party too. Swell. Jillian didn't really care, she just wanted to do some light exercise as all the grown ups have promised them. But then....

Whoah... No quidditch.

.... Okay?

BUT THERE WILL BE A WHAT? A Valentines Ball?

Ha.....?

It can be fun, Jillian does enjoy dancing and she occasionally does that by herself but a ball is a lot different. This also means that she has to have like a really nice dress and glam up and all that fancy shamncy stuff that people do in a ball. Does this mean she has to write to her father later and ask for a nice dress to send or something? Then again, nothing is set in stone yet, there's no date, no anything for now. No need for her to get all panicky. It' just a ball.

Yeah, just a ball.

Jillian had a drink in her hand, she gave it a whiff and made a face. She looked at Lucas who was drinking it - then looked at the other students who were also drinking it. "Water?" she uttered under her breath. Are they oblige to drink this or no?

Before she can gesture and offer her drink to Lucas- who looks like he likes drinking the water- her eyes cannot believe what she is seeing. "A-are.... Are you okay?" she asked the Gryffindor. Surely there is an explanation to this!

Blink. Blink.

He managed to rein in the compulsive urge he had to square up to the other boy and teach him a thing or two about manners. He wasn’t at Hogwarts anymore. This was Vayssière turf. Today was a lucky day for the unsavoury Slytherin boy in the ankle swingers though. Why? Because there was a plan in place and Luc wasn’t going to deviate from it.

Besides, what happened next wasn’t a bad consolation.

CARNAGE.

Carnage he surely had absolutely nothing to do with because he TOO had had a few mouthfuls of the fruit infused water and he TOO was sprouting feathers. A rather impressive set of tail feathers to be precise.

It WAS a feather and another and another. Malachi’s eyes widened immensely at the multiplying feathers, unceremoniously dropping his cup. What...what had...what was...”QUACK!” Both hands clamped over his mouth, stunned.

He looked around him and saw the worst case scenario unfold. Whatever was happening had spread to the students and other faculty. It reminded him of the love potion disaster and one Zoryn Spinnet and sent the man PRAYING his students had nothing to do with this.

“Water down QUACK, everyone! No one QUACK take another QUACK sip.” He chose to remain calm for the sake of the students despite the alarming progression of quacks but there were already a million questions running through his head.

“Don’t QUACK panic, you might only make whatever QUACK QUACK this is worse.” Malachi looked to the Headmistress, uncertain of what to make of the situation.

Cole followed suit and got stretching in preparation for the yoga mimicking what his peers not really sure what was required to warm up. Some minutes later the french Headmistress arrived and dropped some announcements that had Cole’s mouth dropping open in astonishment mixed with shock. There was to be no QUIDDITCH but instead they we’re expected to attend and decorate for a valentines ball. Ball meant dancing and Cole was not amused. He didn’t like dancing very much but then another thought occured, would they be expected to ask someone to be their date for it? Oh no,no, no he’d not do that. He liked the girl’s in class fine but had absolutely zero idea who he’d want to spend a ball with. Yikes, scary and nerve-twisting…..

In his own thoughts Cole didn’t see how the peers around him started to sprout feathers and QUACK, QUACK QUACK out loud. Taking his own bottle of cucumber water since he actually felt thirsty and he was about to drink from it when he really took in the scene around him. Headmaster Trent was talking QUACK and making little sense and so was everyone else. Not understanding that he shouldn’t drink any water not even a sip Cole drank up the whole bottle and felt how he started feel and see feathers sprouting out from all kinds of places on his body.

Getting scared and eyes growing wider with panic he shuffled closer to Headmaster Trent looking up at the elder man. "QUACK, help, quack, help quack!" This was not a fun year, first he threw up at the feast and now thisssssss.

While Nettie tried to not think about how weird and light headed she was feeling - the last thing she needed was to pass out, she took a few deep breaths and tried to regain control over her racing thoughts. That whole exchange had been a bit...absurd, upon further review, but all she had been trying to do was keep the peace! The Beauxbaton boy had just seemed so offended, and Nettie had an uncontrollable urge to please people. She'd make a mental note to apologize to Missa and Eiji later for her weird behavior, but for right now, the crisis had been averted, and that was all th--

Her thoughts were abruptly halted as she heard a young Gryffindor girl (Bernie) talking to her, mentioning something about feathers. What on Earth...she was turning in to a CHICKEN? Was this some weird joke Eiji had convinced her to play on her? Knowing how self conscious she was about the kanji translation of her name...she looked down at her hands and let out a piercing SHRIEK when she saw what was happening.

Except it wasn't a shriek.

"QUAAACK!" she yelled out in horror, not even registering at first that the noise that had come out of her was a QUACK. Her immediate thought was to the turn to the Beauxbaton boy (Luc) and demand to know what he'd done - this was obviously all his fault! All of the Beaux kids! Yet...had he also taken a drink? He too was sprouting feathers all over the place.

For once in her life, Nettie...paused. She heard a choir of quacks as more and more students began to feel the affects of whatever the water was spiked with. Even Trent looked like he had fallen victim to it. Trying not to panic as more and more feathers started to poke out from under her sleeves - Merlin knew what she looked like under her yoga gear - she took a deep breath. She was a prefect, she had to remain calm.

"YOU HEARD *QUACK* THE MAN! Everyone try to *QUACK* remain calm and put *QUACK* your drinks down!" she exclaimed, thankful she was able to get out a sentence. She turned back to the French boy who was currently sprouting feathers and eyed him. It couldn't be the Beaux kids, they were drinking it and turning in to ducks themselves!

Unless...

If Nettie had planned a prank like this which she never would actually follow through with, but as was evidenced by past *ahem* acts of revenge she'd enacted, she was more than capable of thinking up things like this she would want to look as innocent as possible. Would she even go as far as to take a sip of the spiked drink herself? If it was her...yes, she would. It would be too obvious if all the Beauxbaton kids remained unaffected.

"What did *QUACK* you do?" she asked with a glare at the small group that had been so EAGER to give them all drinks. The only consolation she could think of right now was that, if the Beauxbaton kids had been willing to drink the drinks themselves, whatever they'd been spiked with would be easy to undo. Hopefully.

Oh Merlin. And she'd had TWO of them. Was it only a matter of time until she sprouted a beak?!

Dorian had been standing near the back of the rose garden, observing the others as they entered for the yoga class that the Headmistress had set up. Nothing much happened yet, well, except for Professor Schmoe’s outfit. The man looked like a student without a sense of fashion in those clothes.

He looked around the place some more until he noticed Rylee and he was about to wave at her and make his way over to his friend when the Headmistress started to take offend to her greeting. To him, her greeting had been perfectly fine and he did not get what the woman was getting worked up about. Probably a language missunderstanding.

Before he stood next to the Gryffindor, the Headmistress spoke to everyone, the Head Boy stood still, facing her way to give her his full attention. At first, he thought she would begin the yoga class but what came out instead made him lose his character for a second as his face fell. A ball? Not just any ball but a Valentine’s day Ball?

He took a deep and calming breath like he did whenever he was meditating. A ball meant he had to dance. But that was the least of his problems. He needed a date didn’t he? They all had to bring a date…. Coming alone to a valentine’s day ball was just sad. Would anyone even go with him?

While hundreds of questions swam in his mind, the Ravenclaw was frowning as he thought. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he did not hear the first quack and neither the second or the third until he looked up and saw that students were getting feathers? What in Merlin’s Beard was going on? He looked over in confusion at the Headmaster and his mouth fell open when he saw the same thing had happened to him.

For how long had he been lost in his thoughts?!

The drinks. Dorian looked over at the refreshments for a second before his attention went back tot he chaos around him. What on earth did he have to do?! Had someone spiked the drinks? But who? Dorian sighed, this was going to be a long day wasn’t it? ”Cole, it’s alright” he said as he moved towards the Gryffindor and as he was now asking the Headmaster for help. ”I’m sure it’s just a harmless prank” he hoped it was though and nothing more sinister was happening. Did bad luck follow Hogwarts students or where the students bad luck? He wanted to keep every spiked student aside but the Headmistress was still in the room as well so he waited for her instructions.

Yes, it was very good of her to invite the Hogwarts students to the ball. It would be an evening of culture and refinement, something this....lot could certain make use of. They would see how the better half lived and perhaps even learn a thing or tw—

Eh?

Giselle herself had a cup in her hand, ready to have a drink and toast to good relations with Malachi when she caught the feathers on his hands. The feathers that were spreading.

Quacking?

The Headmistress looked around her, shocked beyond words at what she was seeing. What was this? How...why? The words of the Head Boy caught her attention. A prank? Yes, this suspiciously looked like further rule breaking and bad behaviour and she would NOT stand for it.

”Oo iz responsible for zhis?!” She thundered, her eyes flashing from one Hogwarts students to the next. Oh, oh her poor students, they were caught in this cross fire as well. “No, mes chers, no, ar’ you alright? Doez it hurt?” Poor babies. This was surely the doing of those poorly bred, hooligans.

“Speak up! I will ‘av namez! You will be severely punished! We do not tolerate zhis sort of zhing in our castle! Malachi! Handle zhis or I will!” The woman demanded. Ruin her morning yoga, would they? NOT ON HER WATCH!

"What is- quAAAACK!" Kaiser tried to speak, but when an almighty duck sound came out instead he slammed a hand over his mouth. A feather-covered hand, to match his feather-covered face.

It didn't matter, anyway, because Kaiser didn't really need anyone to tell him what was happening; he could see it (and hear it) quite plainly for himself. The question now was who had done it, and how it was going to be undone.

See? SEE? He had been right to not come here in the first place. But no, his feet had to betray him and bring him here anyway. Ugh.

Kaiser absolutely did not miss the accusatory looks that the French Headmistress was throwing around, none of which were directed at her students, either. Then there came the much more obvious implication that she was blaming Hogwarts for this - We do not tolerate zhis sort of zhing in our castle! - with not even a hint of proof. Kaiser bristled, and uncovered his mouth to voice a defence of his school.

"Quack quack quaAAACK quack QUACK. Quack quack. Quack!"

....... Problematic.

Oh no, nope, the Ravenclaw prefect wasn't a chicken... she was a....

"DUCK!" Bernadette exclaimed, immediately collapsing into a fit of giggles as the girl began to quack. Oh no, SO many people were ducks! Bernie just couldn't take it, they all looked SO SHOCKED to be quacking instead of talking. Look, there was that older Slytherin boy from all her classes. QUACKING up a STORM. AHAHAHAHAHAHA.

...even the headmaster had only FOWL language. HA.

Finneas looked down at his feathered arms in absolute shock! But when he went to exclaim his surprise, all that came out of his mouth was a loud, "QUACK!"

Well this was entirely unhelpful. The Muggles Studies professor tried to calm down those few students that were standing near. Hoping that he could play his contribution in that way, as he really had no idea how to solve this mess. Perhaps the Potions' Master had some sort of antidote?

"Quack.... quack.... quack."

He'd just. You know. Until the Headmaster told them what to do. Anyway.

Calm thyself, woman.

Those were the first words in Dorian's mind as he looked over at the Headmistress as she freaked out. It was probably because Hogwarts students experienced far...far worse things than this but the Head Boy found it pretty funny. Of course, as Head Boy he couldn't exactly laugh out loud.

The accusatory looks the Headmistress was then giving out made him frown though. He had definitely noticed that she looked specifically at the Hogwarts students. And if it wasn't obvious enough her words said it all. She was accusing his school without any evidence that suggested that they were the culprits. What if it were her precious little Beauxbaton students? She probably wouldn't 'severely punish' them. A choice of words that almost made him open his mouth and speak his mind before he closed it again. There was a time and place for everything and this wasn't it to speak his mind. It would only trouble them further.

His gaze looked at the Headmaster as the woman was yelling at him to fix this mess and Dorian waited for any instructions if he needed to help out in any way.

Noble had given Kaiser a pointed look at that greeting, before turning his attentions back to Eiji. "As long as it is gone by dinnertime, I'll consider the matter closed." So hopefully the boy would find time to either finish brewing the bruise paste, or go via the infirmary before then. If he hadn't, then he'd been warned.

His gaze swept over the gathered students as the Headmistress made her announcements, lips pursed at the mention of the ball. He had no problem with the ball itself - such an event seemed fitting in their opulent surroundings - but in his opinion, hosting it on Valentine's Day was almost as ridiculous Schmoe looked with that band around his head. It was asking for PDA, and sneaky love potions hidden in food and dr-

A variety of quacking noises soon broke through his grumbling inner monologue.

On initial assessment, he'd thought it was a prank charm. But with the sheer prevalence of the effect, Noble's face soon turned sour. It rather seemed like the water had been tampered with.

With a grumble, he pulled some empty vials from his robes and proceeded to take a sample from each of the water coolers. The last vial he gently swirled around, before holding it up to the light and examining it more closely. The transparency narrowed the list of possible agents somewhat, but he wouldn't be able to make any conclusions until he'd tested them in the lab.

He moved towards the Heads, pausing next to Malachi. "I suggest we move those afflicted to the infirmary," he said with a glance toward Beryl. "Assuming it's just a prank, the quacking may well wear off within the hour...but in case of more...er...adverse reactions, I think it's best I go run some tests."

He could trust his Prefects to direct the Hufflepuffs in his stead.

"Goodness." Carmine remarked, relatively calmly considering all the quacking going on. She exchanged a look with Noble and nodded. "I'll dose them with a basic untransfiguration potion, and we will see if that does the trick. I'll send a runner to you if not." Just another day of working with children, really.

"Come along then, everyone who needs help." It was not lost on her, that if they followed along in a line, it would be rather like a mother duck with her ducklings all in a row. Quite a sight, she was sure.

With that thought, the healer lead the way to the infirmary.

Malachi cringed internally at the sudden, shrill call of his name by Desmarais. It hadn't escaped him that the blame was already falling on his students, nor had it that she was waiting for something to be done. How often was he going to need to say he was tired? To think this was only the start of what he was sure was going to be a long term.

"Everyo--QUACK!" What a time to be a duck man. "Everyone! If you're--QUACK--if you need--QUACK!! Go with Professor Beryl." Just...just go. Sentences would clearly not be a thing.

"Those unaffe--QUACK--cted, please head back--QUACK--to the castle."

There was no proof pointing in any particular direction. He quite thought all the unpleasantness could be saved until they had definitive evidence.

"Headmistress." He looked to her, calm as he could manage to be. There was no point in them both yelling. "Have a quick--QUACK--talk with your--QUACK QUACK--students. Just a brush up--QUACK--on the rules. I'll--QUACK--do the same with mine. They may--QUACK--have just forgotten themselves over the long--QUACK--summer." Whether the "they" was his own students or hers was left up to interpretation, but the man wasn't yet willing to believe it was the doing of his own.

It couldn't be. "If you'll--QUACK--excuse me." He bowed his head then headed off after the Healer.

So... so was this likely to just wear off, or could they do something about it right now? Kaiser's vote was for, you know, right now. He didn't like being a duck boy. It was impractical. How would he talk? How would he climb?

How was he meant to trust any of the food and drink at Beauxbatons now? It wasn't like he could just give it up. It was kind of essential for, you know, that whole living thing.

Okay, well, at least it looked like the current situation would be sorted out right now. That was something. Not bothering to say anything - because he was certain he'd only quack anyway - Kaiser turned on his heel and followed the Healer and Headmaster back to the castle.