"You're welcome, Amanda," Rae watched him go before she returned to her desk to write a few words on the back of the Quidditch roster.

Doyle, my love,

J njtt zpv, boe uif hjsmt ep upp. J ibwf tpnfuijoh jnqpsubou up ufmm zpv. J offe up tff zpv jo uif wjmmbhf tppo. Njeojhiu po Uvftebz. J mpwf zpv.

Your darling,
Cassandra

She returned and put the folded note in Mia's hand.

Amelia smiled as she watched the Headmistress write a quick note to her husband. How did she get roped into this message thing anyway? Shaking her head, she put the folded note into her bag, which her curious eyes would view once out of sight of the Headmistress. Not that this would make much more sense than Shackleton or Clark's cryptic poetry.

"Thank you," she said confidently. "I will see that he reviews this as soon as possible. Take care now." With that, the seventh year hurried away from the office towards the pitch again. She had all the messages she needed.

Steelsheen ran to the Headmistress' office and knocked on the door, albeit incessantly. "Professor Rae? May I speak with you please? Its a rather urgent matter." she said through the door, hoping the Headmistress can hear her.

Sophie was still in a huff as she practically ran to the headmistress' office. Her face was red and she practically had steam coming out of her ears. Something had to be done about this. She knocked loudly on the door and waited.

"Professor Brooks" she said startled as another fist pounded on the door. Recalling how the Professor was treated at the Courtyard Steelsheen felt sorry for her. "I guess we both were thinking of the same thing huh?" she giggled nervously.

The Headmistress opened her office door at all the commotion. "What's going on? Is someone injured? Come in... can I get you something?"

Sophie did not even notice the student standing beside her, so she may have jumped a little when she heard her name. "We must have." Sophie smiled, as the door opened.

Sophie stepped into the office and glanced from the student to the headmistress. Surely she couldn't say what she was going to say with a student around. "No one is injured- much." Sophie said hesitantly. Who knows what those women were doing to the poor student. "There was a fight between two students in the courtyard. When I arrived, three of the ministry professors were 'taking care' of it." She spoke the last few words slowly and hoped that Rae would catch on to what Sophie was really trying to say. She really didn't know how else to explain it with a student so close by.

Rae sat on the edge of her desk. "And you're concerned about the methods of discipline the Ministry is choosing to employ? May I ask what the punishment was?"

Sophie nodded, "Yes I am. The girl who got punched was the one who seemed to get punished. She was hit several times over the head with a magazine, and grabbed in a rather forced way. They even went as far as calling the girl a liar for saying a Slytherin student had hit her. Clearly she wasn't lying. There was blood on her face."

Rae sighed and shook her head. "Who was it?"

"Wystan, Dion and Shaw. I think Shaw has the girl in her office now. For detention." Sophie frowned.

"And who was the girl?"

"A young Hufflepuff student by the name of Kayla Winters, I believe. The girl she was fighting with was Amanda Lesalle, from Slytherin." Sophie answered.

"I suppose I'll stroll down there and see if I can't help out in some small way," Rae sighed. "There's tea if you want it. Good day to you." She left her office at a leisurely pace.

Sophie watched the headmistress leave the office and sighed. She couldn't stand those ministry professors. Tea was the last thing she felt like, so Sophie left the office with the tea untouched.

Steelsheen entered the Headmistress' office with Professor Brooks. She kept silent as the adults discussed the incident at the Courtyard, nodding her head at times in support of what the COMC Professor had said. She certainly explained it better, a lot better than simply 'They're manhandling my friend and humiliating a Hogwarts Professor. Do something!' she thought as she watched the Headmistress calmly left the office. She sighed Well, I guess that's that. she shrugged, shoving her hands into her pocket. She followed Professor Brooks out and closed the door behind her.

Rae slipped back into her office and curled into her chair. This was a hard lonely job, and she needed Branxton more than ever right now. She was reaching for her cup of tea when a mysterious owl dropped through the window and left a scroll on her desk. She reached instead for that scroll and examined the seal. A wry smile crossed her face and she unrolled the scroll to read the contents with interest. "Really? Now?" Rae set the scroll aside and finally reached for her tea, a pensive look on her face.

Larissa strolled up to the door and knocked. She would usally wait for an anwser before going in but she didn't care much today. She strolled in and said " I got suspened for going to the boys school and going into the comon(sp?) room. I am supposed to see you." she took a seat since she knew it would probably be a while before she could leave.

"Have a seat," Rae shoved the roll of parchment beneath a stack of papers on her desk and smiled thinly. "So you were suspended. Do you feel you've learned your lesson?" This little girl had a major attitude problem.

"What lesson was there to be learned?" she said rolling her eyes. She crossed her arms. " I think this whole deal is so stupid! I hate not being able to see at least half of my friends because they are guys." now she was screaming standing up flinging her arms all over the place. "What lesson are you trying to teach us?!?!? Guys are nasty people and we, as girls, need to act prim and poper? We are not in the 1800's anymore!" She sat down and half maditated to calm her self down. Then she began again. "Sorry for yelling. I lost myelf for a moment. I think girls need to be with boys to learn and grow."

"I agree, and yelling at me will not get you your way. This is beyond our control, so we must make due with what we have at the moment. The Minister believes the schools are unsafe at Hogwarts, and we must do as he says. I can only enforce the rules he has given us and try to teach you in the meantime. But if you continue to act like a spoiled child..." She put her hand to her suddenly flushed face and sighed. "I apologize. If you can't follow the rules, I can't help you."

"Fine. Fine. Fine. I'm sorry. I am just very frustrated. I will behave till the term is over. And then I am going to think of something! I don't know what it is yet but, I will think of something. Thanks for sort of letting me vent. I don't really have many friends around here since I did that. I am trying to start on a new foot. Thank you so much." she said standing up shaking Headmaster's hand. She walked out of the door and went to her common room to think.

After just seeing a hooded figure come in the Belle's School Front Gates from her window in the Gryffindor Tower, Jillian ran down to investigate and saw the figure enter the Nurse's office.

She quickly ran to the Headmistress' Office and pounded on the door urgently. Not waiting for someone to answer from within, she entered and quickly stated her intentions.

"Sorry for bargin in like this Professor, but I just saw this...this..." she struggled to find the right word to describe the figure, "This hooded figure come in the gates and it looked suspicious. I ran downstairs and saw it enter the the Nurse's office." she said with the utmost urgency.

"I think you'd better come quickly!"

Rae rose with a distressed look. "Yes... you said the figure went to the nurse's office?" She followed the girl out of the room toward the infirmary.


ooc: Posting there next.

Jillian nodded and lead the way. She walked as quickly as her feet would allow her, making sure she wasn't about to burst into a run.