Varius was in the corridor that had a bunch of suits of armour. Goodness knows why the founders of this castle thought 'hm let's have a bunch of metal knights lined up against these walls!'. Varius would bet money on it being Rowena. She would be awkward like that.

Anyway, Varius had opened his book of Hogwarts, a History and turned to his page where he noticed a loose piece of parchment. Apparently some alumni students had placed lickable licorice inside some armour and or course Varius had to investigate!!!

Cy was wandering, because that was what he did when he was bored. He really couldn’t sit still for more than five minutes, and after starting at his Transfiguration textbook for twenty seconds he decided it was time to push homework off to another time.

Somehow, he’d managed to find himself on the third floor, in front of some odd suits of armor. The stopped and crossed his arms in contemplation… those might prove useful in a war. Especially against Katie, and there would be enough for Legend and Mat to have their own suit too. PERFECT. He was took three steps towards them when he noticed another kid there, READING.

Cy hated reading. But, apparently reading floated this guys boat and there was nothing too wrong with that. Back to the mission.

“’Ay!” The young Australian exclaimed, as he approached ‘the other guy’… he couldn’t be too much older than himself. “Ah’ we aloud to take these? I need ‘em, mate.” His dark eyes rolled over in the direction of the suits of armor.

Varius had been very busy on his mission. He opened every possible flap in the armour and stuck his hand in any available hole. Was there anyway he could dismantle parts to get a thorough search? It was going to hard getting licorice like this!

Just as he had finished inspecting his first armour a first year, Hufflepuff he believed, began speaking to him. What was it he was saying? Varius couldn't understand him... he was talking funny. "Excuse me? You want... takeout?" Varius asked confused, "You're in the wrong place for takeout, chuck. But if you ask the elves nicely they might make you some chinese foods or something," he rubbed the boys head, as was his normal, before setting off to the next suit.

Rhea walked along the corridor aimlessly. She wore her school uniform as usual and twirled the end of her skirt between her fingers just to give herself something to do.

She ran her hand along the wall as she continued past the suit of armors until she saw a boy searching them it seemed. What in Merlin's Beard is he doing? she thought to herself. Deciding that it wouldn't hurt to watch, she stopped and stared at him.

Cyrus blinked at the bloke a few times, takeout? Whenever his mom was actually home she always ordered take out because she couldn’t cook to save her life. But takeout had NOTHING to do with this armor. His eyebrow shot up and his dark eyes shot in the boys direction. Was he deaf? “No no no, mate I’m not hungry. Liiiisten. You see, there’s this girl named Katie and she’s meanah’ than cat pee.” He nodded once, promptly. “I need to take this armor so I can take her down once an’ for’all. Not thah’ I need the bloody armor, I jus’ wanna look cool while doing at yah’ know.” The Aussie grinned proudly, unaware of the fact that he talked too much.

“So, you wanna help me swipe it?” His brown eyes flew back over to the armor. Honestly, there was no way two 12 and unders could pull it any further than an inch.

Then, some random girl had popped up where he and this ‘other bloke’ were. She was just… staring. Cy’s brow furrowed a bit in annoyance. “You like what yah’ see?” Cyrus grinned wryly, his sarcasm kicking in fully.

So the boy WAS talking english and Varius was getting the hang of this accent he seemed to have. He must be from like, Liverpool, or something. "So you want to take the armour... to beat a mean person... someone who is meaner than Caprice?" This was getting easier, right? But who was Caprice.

"Well," he began to respond, "I would love to help you out, but first! I am on a mission! You see this book here? Someone left a note in it that said they left lickable licorice in the armours! So I am here to find the licorice," he informed him whilst sticking his hand down yet another hole in the suit's armour.

That was when he noticed the girl and so had the little boy from Liverpool. "You can help search for the licorice too," he offered her, "But I get first dibs on whatever we find!"`

This guy couldn’t understand him, most people around here couldn’t. He’d always figured Australian accents were easy to hear… but that’s probably because he was native. But, this dude was starting to catch on. He nodded fervently to all he said up until the bloke said ‘Caprice’. NOOOO, NO NO NOOOO. Almost.

Cy laughed a bit breathlessly, “NOOO, mate. I said meanah’ that cat pee. Like, a cat as in the animal peeing on thah’ floor. ‘Smells horrible… and a pain to pick up. Me’ grandparents cat’s pee all over my room…” That’s when he noticed he was off topic. “Pardon the yabber, mate.” He added, Cy knew when he talked a bit too much.

Cy’s brown orbs widened considerably at the word ‘mission’. Nothing interested Cyrus more than a good adventure. The young Aussie eyed the book expectantly, “I’m in!” The eleven year old proclaimed in glee, “How do we take these blokes apart then? You think they dropped em’ through here?” He asked, looking at the head piece where there were holes. HE LOVED LICORICEEEE.

"Oh cat pee!" Varius exclaimed, finally getting what the boy was trying to say. Sheesh, this translating stuff was difficult! It didn't particularly help that the boy tended to ramble in that wonderful accent of his... about grandma's and mean pee and felines and the like.

"You are?" Varius sounded with excitement, "Great!!! Then after we get the licorice we'll go teach your cat peeing bully a lesson or too."

SEE!? The boy had the same question as him! How tha hell do you dismantle these things!? "I don't know how to take the parts off... i've just been sticking my hands in all the holes. Maybe if we pull hard enough the head or hands might come off," or completely collapse the whole structure... oh well, Varius was a fast runner, he could escape without detection.

Cy nodded in relief, “Bingo.” It was a long journey to understanding, but this guy finally caught on. Good think too, if Cy had to explain cat pee any further things might start getting strange.

“’Course I am! Nothings bettah’ than some licorice. EVEN if it’s older than my grandparents. And I’ll tell yah’ this much mate, they are freakin’ OOOLD.” Very wrinkly and extremely hard of hearing, yeah they were definitely artifacts. And of course he’d help him take down Katie, he was in danger of her wrath as well, after all. “Right-o, she’s probably plotting against us as we speak.” Cy nodded seriously, her plottege was a problem.

The eleven year old took two steps back and crossed his arms. He rubbed his chin expectantly as his brown eyes scanned the structure. “Hmmm, yeh’ that should work like a charm.” He walked over to one of the suits and grabbed on to one of the arms, and began to pull on it ferociously hard. The suit of armor started to teeter on top of Cy. Fortunately, it swayed back into it’s original position. “Almost.” The kid frowned, maybe with a bit more strength the arm would come off all together. “Hey--- wait, what’s your name? Anyways, give me a hand ovah’ here I think if we both pull we could take it’s bloody arm off. ‘Should be a lot easier to see in thah’ if we do that.” Cy’s expression was fierce, like he was doing something of EXTREMELY high importance. Yes, licorice was important.

Varius smiled, glad he was catching on to what this boy was saying. His accent was actually pretty neat. No one else around here had one like it and he pronounced words strangely which interested him, "You're from liverpool, right? Could you say 'Fish are friends not food!' Please!!!" And no, Varius had never seen Finding Nemo *innocent*.

"That old huh?" Varius said with interest as if the boy had actually given him an ancient figure as opposed to a generalised description. Heck, 21 was an old age for boys their age! "Do licorice not have sell-by dates? I don't wanna be poisoned... maybe we could give a piece to your meaner than cat pee person and see if they get sick... and if they do, we can laugh... if not, well, we have edible licorice!"

He watched as the boy tried to pull the arm off the suit of armour and failed, that is when he turned round to him for assistance. "Oh my name is Varius, yours?" He gripped tight onto the arm of the armour, "Let's hope this works... or at the very least doesn't topple the whole bloody thing... otherwise, get ready to run!"

Rhea threw a reproachful look at the boy. Boy was this one full of it. What was up with everyone and the bloody armours. She straightened her robes and proceeded to respond to him and the odd boy that was looking in the armours .
" NO I dont like what I see, I find what I see very odd, even for Hogwarts standards," she added.
She then sighed exasperatedly.
"You know, if you want licorice, you could get some from the kitchen, I'm sure the house elves wont mind giving you some, but then I have nothing better doing, so I might as well help you look for it." She moved towards one of the armours and stuck her hand in, then quickly pulled it out.
"Just so you know, your licorice might be covered in spider webs."
Rhea turned around to see them trying to pull the armour apart.
"What are you boys doing??? you'll topple the whole bloody things down. Why dont you try oiling the armour before..I mean they have aobviously been here for over a century they must be rusting."

Cyrus shook his head, “Nope, born an’ raised in Melbourne.” And boy did he miss that place. Playing some football, maybe rugby if the other kids actually wanted to, and of course surfing. OHHHH how he missed surfing. But his eyebrow shot up at this guys next request. Whaaaaat? “That’s pretty random mate.” Cy laughed and shrugged, “But who am I to say no? Uhh, fish ah’ friends… not food?” His Australian accent rang out. This kid was relatively loony but Cy liked him.

The eleven year old looked to the ceiling in concentration. That, was an excellent question. But he had an awesome solution to that situation. “You are brilliant.” Cyrus nodded a few times in appreciation of the genius idea. “And if she DOES get sick, I don’ need this armor to try and terminate her!” This plan was all too perfect for words. Cy’s brown eyes were glowing.

“Varius eh? That’s an awesome name mate.” He’d never heard anything like it before at least. “Me names Cyrus, most call me Cy though.” Cy said that as he scanned the armor, his concentration was set. As Varius got his hold on the arm of the armor Cy looked at the thing with a war-like expression of power. “Ah’right then, on three. 1…..2…….3!!” Cy pulled with ALL his might and and glove part of the armor just popped right off at the elbow joined. Cyrus flew backwards on his back and the breath was knocked right out of him.

He struggled for breath for a few moments, but his struggling face was full of jubilation none the less. “V-V----Viiictory!” The young Aussie shouted out as he pounced up to his feet. “Now look in thah’ mate, any luck?” They needed to be fast though, if a Professor came by they were probably toast.

The first year looked back to the older girl. Cyrus scowled and stuck out his tongue at her. “But this is special licorice. Varius found it in a secret book! It’s probably worth a million galleons.” Cyrus nodded proudly as he brushed himself off. “Isn’t thah’ right mate?” He asked, looking to Varius.

Rhea's eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw that he broke the elbow off. She looked around wildly to see if any professors were coming their way. The last thing she wanted was for hufflepuff to lose anymore house points.
She pulled out her wand and looked at them.
"Alright, you boys break and I'll fix. Nothing a reparo charm can't fix,"she said taking up the piece of armour. Suddenly the idea of special licorice enticed her, anything to break the monotony of class common room bed and class.
"If its worth anything, I get a cut of it." she said eying both of them.
"That's only fair."

"Melbourne? That's in like... New Zealand, right?" Varius wondered, clearly he was the worst geographer in the entire world of geographering. At least it explained the accent, which made sense. If you came from half way across the world, you would be hard to understand, right? Of course. JUSTIFIED! However, he couldn't help but burst out laughing when the boy recited what he had requested, "Thanks. I think that just made my day." He rubbed the boys head in thanks.

"Please to meet you Cy," he said genuinely as the boy grabbed hold of the arm as well. 1, 2, 3 and it was off! And the rest of the armour was in one place, which was a bonus!

Varius stuck his arm up the... well, arm, of the armour with no luck. "I think, we need to take the feet off. If the licorice was put in the armour, it would go straight to the bottom of it."

He nodded frantically in response to the fact he HAD actually found the parchment with the licorice secret in his Hogwarts, a History.

"You'll repair it for us?" Varius said with glee, "Awesome, because to be perfectly honest I hadn't quite thought that far."

Pondering on her request though, "You will get 10%, for your wand swishing-ness."

Rhea rolled her eyes. Wand swishing-ness? This kid was looney, both of them were. However, she went along with it, despite the small cut they wanted to give her. She frowned and eyed the row of armors. Might as well start pulling them apart too. She looked around again just to see if any professors were coming, when she saw none she dropped her school bag and tucked her wand into her skirt waist then began pulling at the head of the armor. Once the head is off she thought..."I'll just use lumus to look in, instead of pulling the whole bloody thing apart like those ninnies.
Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead and her face was screwed up in concentration when finally, the head popped off and she fell back, shocked.
She quickly got to her feet and pulled out her wand pointing down into the neck of the armor.
"Lumus," she whispered and smiled as her wand flooded the suit of armor with light. She grinned as light escaped through the joints in the armor spreading the light in different directions.
"cool."

Not really paying much attention to where he was going or what he was doing, Jake found himself by a bunch of... apparently popular... suits of armour.

Now, that brought him back to Defence Against the Dark Arts class... and that was bad... baaaaaaad. He didn't want to think about that... guy.

Sighing, Jake lowered himself so he was sliding down a wall, then leaning against it as he sat there. Hardly thinking about it, Jake raised the wand he held in his left hand and muttered "Protego."

...

Just. In. Case.

From her spot a good ways down the corridor, Anna Greingoth eyed Jacob Upstead's every move. She'd been instructed by Professor Lawson to keep an eye on him, so of course Anna was alert and ready for any possible action that could...and probably would...happen. For a professor to make the effort to ask for Anna's help, Jacob Upstead must seriously be up to no good.

As she watched the boy slide down the wall and then cast a spell, Anna figured now was as good a time as ever to confront him for a little casual conversation, so to speak. She click-clacked down the hallway, Head Girl badge pinned proudly on her chest, and came to a halt directly in front of him. "Hey, Jake," she greeted. Hmm...probably best to keep things polite and friendly. He seemed upset...irritated, even. "You alright?" she asked.

Becoming distracted by the distored reflection in the leg of the suit of arour he sat next to, Jake didn't really hear Anna make her way towards him, though he kind of saw it. Dragging his eyes away from the odd shapes and colours he could see, Jake glanced up at the girl.

Alright? Was he alright? Jake wasn't sure... so much had gone pear-shaped recently, including things in his own head. "No," he said simply, leaning back against the wall, tilting his head so he was looking up at the ceiling. Feeling suddenly nervous, Jake began to jiggle his foot around and tap his fingers on his wand.

Shifty, jumpy, dangerous.

Bathroom…bathroom…it appeared that thanks to a moving staircase, Daisy had been twisted around. She had thought she was on the 3rd floor, only to find she was on the second and she only discovered that because she passed by the large gargoyle that was further down the hallway.

And now she found herself surrounded by talking suits of armor.

She could hear soft voices bouncing off the metal and echoing just enough to make it hard to figure out what they were saying. Daisy rounded another corner and poked her head out.

There was nothing there. “Huh,” she said aloud to herself. “I didn’t know the suits of armor talked.”

She turned around and took yet another wrong turn. Only this time she found herself looking at two people talking. One was a fidgety boy she’d never seen before who was sitting on the floor. The other was Anna, the Head Girl and overly perky Gryffindor girl prefect.

“Hey Anna?” she called out, fighting the urge to do the potty dance while wondering if Anna had even the slightest idea what Daisy’s name was. Maybe Anna could help her find the bathroom, although, now that Daisy thought about it, the Head Girl looked a bit preoccupied.

Anna stood still and quiet while she waited for the young boy to answer her. He seemed hesitant to answer her question, although Anna imagined that could be because he was feeling a bit down and discouraged at the moment. Or, at least, that's how he appeared in Anna's eyes. She'd never seen Jake Upstead in a less-than-happy mood. He was usually laughing, cutting up, or full of life and energy. This Jake Upstead looked as if he'd lost his very best friend or something of the sort. She didn't imagine that even a chocolate frog would cure this little situation the boy had managed to get himself into.

When he finally answered, Anna sighed deeply and moved to stand a little closer. Her eyes briefly flickered to the nearby suits of armor, before turning back to Jake. "No? Well then perhaps I can help...and no, not because I feel like it's my job or something," she said, with a slight laugh. Even though she was Head Girl, she still wanted to help others just for the sole purpose of being nice. Besides, Professor Lawson had specifically asked Anna to look after Jake, so look after him she would. "What's happened? This surely isn't the Jake I've come to know..."

Anna continued to watch Jake until she heard another voice calling out down the corridors. Talking suits of armor? Maybe whoever was approaching had yet to see Anna and Jake talking amongst the statues. She glanced up and down the corridor, trying to put a face with the voice she was hearing. Suddenly, she found herself face to face with...ohh, she'd seen this one in the Common Room and in classes. Now what was her name?

"Hey," she greeted. She noticed the fact that the girl appeared to be a bit uncomfortable for some reason or another, although with Jake Upstead around, Anna really didn't blame her. "I'm sorry. I don't believe I know your name." Anna felt horrible for not knowing the girl's name when the girl had clearly known her's, but then again, it was always possible to meet a new face in the large castle.

Help? Pah, nobody could help, not really. If Jake didn't know why he was acting like such a fool, then how could anyone possibly help?

He shrugged, looking down the corridor as another girl approached. Jake didn't recognise her, and apparently neither did Anna, from what the girl was saying. Oh well...

"Everything's all gone... wrong," Jake blurted out, looking up at Anna. Kayla was gone, Lima was gone, Reese was off with Merlin knows who, Cam was no longer an acquaintance, let alone a best friend. Jake didn't like being there... and why Lawson really got his goat, Jake didn't know. "I'm just... angry at everything," he added, scowling down the corridor. "Including interfering teachers," Jake muttered under his breath, harshly.

Once again, Anna sighed as "new Jake" (yes, she refused to believe this was the Jake she'd always known) pretty much blew off her answer. What in the world had possibly gone wrong to cause such a dramatic change in Jake's life? Just the other day he'd been vanishing stinky, smelly, old shoes with her at the lake. Now, just a few days later, he was acting as if his entire world had come crumbling down at his feet. For a short, passing moment, Anna's eyes flickered up to the statues once again. She watched them as they contemplated Jake's current behavior. What had gone so wrong that had caused a professor to assign Anna the job of looking after this kid?

Just when Anna thought he'd never speak up and give her answers, he did. Her eyes shot from the statues back to the young Hufflepuff. "What's gone wrong, Jaco---Jake? That's what I just can't figure out. You've always been such a happy, go-lucky person, and now...I just don't know," she said, frowning at him. He just looked so lost and misunderstood. "What's caused you to be angry? And what do you mean by interfering teachers?"

Staring past Anna at first, Jake managed to refocus on the girl and fix his gaze there for a second, frowning slightly. "I don't know," he said, the tone of his voice becoming more impatient. "If I knew whyyyyy, I'd be fixing it," Jake pointed out, getting rid of the sheild charm and pushing himself up from the floor.

"Interfering teachers... Kazi, Lawson, Professor M-" he broke off. No, not Professor Morgan. She was the only that Jake liked to interfere for some reason. "Saying I'll end up in an early grave... saying I make myself the victim... I have to learn ways of looking out for myself. Lawson, he goes on about controlling emotions, but it's not that easy. I can't DO that..." Jake ranted on. "And... I don't want their help, if they're just going to be like that... I'd prefer to do it on my own, let them all hate me," he snapped, bitterly.

Stepping back, Jake put that shiny, shiny, shiny suit of armour in the space between him and Anna, but so they could still see each other.

Wow. This dude was bitter...seriously bitter. Anna bit her bottom lip while she considered what she should say to the young boy. He seemed so angry at the world in general right now, and sometimes when people got that way, it was best to back off. Anna made a promise to herself to make one final attempt, and if Jake didn't come through then, she'd turn around and leave him be. Perhaps he'd be able to cool down on his own sooner or later. Then again, though, this was Jake Upstead she was referring to. The boy did have a rather strange way of having trouble follow him with his every move.

"Don't you think they were only trying to help, Jake? Don't you think they meant well and just didn't want to see you hurt?" she asked, stepping a little closer. She glanced at the distorted reflection of herself bouncing off the shiny statue. Her eyes fell down to her Head Girl badge, and she suddenly felt the urge to remove it for the time-being. Maybe then Jake would get the impression that she was coming to him as a friend and not as a Head Girl. Eyes still on her reflection, Anna moved to unpin the badge, then stopped herself as a sudden thought occured to her. "Would you take my help, Jake?" she asked.