Miranda kept her eyes on the ground as she heard Oliver's thankyou. But she sort of nodded weakly and just stood still. She could sense the boy's stillness, not that she didn't see it aswell, but he wasn't usually this quiet and that unsettled her. Might be the cold. It always froze things.

How come she didn't believe the bomb thing? Her shoulders lifted in a small shrug. "I dunno..." She didn't know lots of things now. She was too cold and her brain froze and she just didn't know anything anymore it seemed. He was teasing. Did he do that all the time? Then how did you know when he wasn't teasing? She sighed. Oliver was a riddle...Miranda wasn't sure she wanted to solve it.

And so they walked in silence, her mind going through the events that led to this. The feast, the wake up and the Willow. Sigh. Her other terms were never this eventful. Guess she should be happy that something slightly exciting has happened in her boring life. But...tiredness and the cold. Not a good combination. Oliver's robe was still wrapped around her and she held onto it like she wasn't going to let it go anytime soon. Maybe she wasn't. That or her hands froze that way. She didn't know. Cold.

And then they stopped. Huh. Looking around, she shivered and saw that they were in the entrance hall. Oh. The way Oliver spoke next made her look up at him and she knew they both were feeling as miserable as they probably looked. And he looked sincerely sorry. Right? He did...she assumed he was. Right?? Miranda swallowed that stupid lump, that just wouldn't go awat, in her throat again and sniffed. She took a breath and really tried to look...okay. "It's okay." It wasn't, but she was too tired. Cold. She did feel the squeeze of the hand, but she didn't know what to do. "I'm sorry this day turned out to be..." What? "...h-hope you finnd a b-better t-tour guide." She tried to joke. Because really, this was probably the last time she'd have a conversation with him. Oliver wouldn't want to talk to her again. They always seemed to bicker whenever they met.

She nodded at his little farewell and smiled dully at his Willow comment. "You too." He better stay away from it. "Bye..." She said in a low voice and slowly slipped her hand out from Oliver's as he started to walk away. And then she made her slow way to the common room, completely forgetting to return the boy's robe.

Surprisingly, Evelyn was first into the Entrance Hall. She'd been in such a hurry to get away from the lake and start their adventure that she hadn't been paying much attention to whether Ginny and Hayden were following behind her.

One of Hayden's butterflies had followed her into the castle. Evelyn watched as it flew away again. It landed on the floor next to the staffroom door, and also next to a familiar student. Evelyn tip-toed over. "Wesley? Evelyn, remember?" she whispered, "What are you doing down there?" Evelyn grinned deviously. She was a bit of a 'fan' of obscure and mysterious behaviour. And she'd spent way too much time with her Slytherin cousins to not love a bit of sneaking around.

No sooner had the Hufflepuff sat down then the Headmaster himself and Professor Bunburry strode past and entered the STAFF. ROOM. Apparently, with her black robes, Wesley had blended in with the stone wall, because they seemed to not have noticed her. Peering in as they had opened the door, the Hufflepuff had seen no chest of butterbeer, no slide to Floreans, and no magical Foe-Glass. Instead, there had been a wardrobe, a table, and some coffee.

But never fear- Wesley was not to be deflated. This only proved what she had long, or rather, short, expected- there was a charm cast on the room that made everything look plain to student eyes, when in fact it was a palace of untold riches.

Because, honestly, how could a staff room be that plain?

Satisfied with her discovery, the Hufflepuff had just stood up when some shouts carried from inside the room. Paralyzed, she had remained still, listening to it all.

"Wahhh!" Wesley screamed as she was creeped on by an unfamiliar- "Oh! Hi-"

Wait. Wait. The yelling had stopped. Raising a ink-stained finger to her lips, Wesley motioned at the door, sticking her left ear against the wood.

Mother once said curiosity killed the cat, but Wesley was a human.

"Ev", breathed Ginny. "I got lost and found you from one of Hayden's butterfilies that followed you", said Ginny as she looked at another girl next to Evelyn. "Where's Hayden?", she said looking curious at Evelyn.

Wesley had her ear pressed against the door of the staffroom. "Ooooh!" Evelyn whispered, realising what Wesley was doing.

Before Evelyn could ask what Wesley could hear the professors saying, Ginny came in. Hayden wasn't with her. "Oh, I thought she would have walked up with you. We'll just wait here for her then." Evelyn took a pause to turn and smile at Wesley, letting her know that she was still interested in her 'detective' work.

"So, Ginny, what did you think of the lake?"

"Yeah it was fun as", said Ginny. "And Hayden's butterfilies", she added. "Is this your friend next to you?", asked Ginny as she smiled at the girl.

"Uh, that's Wesley," Evelyn whispered, "Don't ask me why she's doing that. I have no idea."

Evelyn watched in stunned silence as Wesley bolted away from the door and ran to the broom closet, eventually getting it open and running inside.

"Wha-? Ginny, wait here in the hall for Hayden. I'm gonna go see if Wesley's okay."

Evelyn trotted over and stepped into the broom closet.

OOC: Uh...why did my comment get posted before yours?

Waving absently at the new girl, Wesley squinted her eyes, pressing her ear against the wood 'til it hurt. At first, the Hufflepuff believed the two teachers had actually gone down the magical slide to Floreans. But then, Professor Bunburry's voice became clearer as if it was closer. As if...it was on the other side of the d-

OH! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

The Hufflepuff pulled away from the door like she had received an electric shock. Looking at the two girls, Wesley rocked on her heals, before motioning her hand, mouthing "Come on!," and running in an awkward tip-toe fashion to the- the-

Wesley looked around wildly for the first available exit.

THE BROOM CLOSET!

In her anxiety, the 13-year-old pulled on the handle, trying to open the door. "Please open up! Please! Please! Please!" she muttered under her breath, voice becoming steadily louder and panicked. "Why won't you open?" She banged her head on the door several times, before realizing she was holding onto a door knob. Which, of course, meant Wesley was supposed to turn it instead.

This she did, sliding into the room and closing the door quietly behind her.

"Ok, yeah, sorry if I freaked out Wesley", said Ginny looking at Evelyn as she walked away.

Emily walked down the stairs toward the great hall, step by step.

Tp
Tp
Tp
T...poff

Emily tripped and went falling down the stairs
one
after
the
other
down
to the
bottom
CRASH!

She landed on her arm, she heard a big snap and then there was pain. Emily pushed herself hard up with her good arm and saw her arm was at a very odd angle... she also noticed somehting else, she couldn't breathe. Emily was freaking out! she couldn't breathe and her arm was broken... Emily got up and ran to the hospital wing.... what a sight she must have been to everyone ele, running through the halls, a wonky broken arm, and a face turning red from nto being able to breathe.

BRRRR. Tiberius made his way down to the entrance, shivering. It was near midnight and it was cold. But he didn't have time to go back up to the tower to get his coat. He needed to get out of the castle and outside, now.

Looking back over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't followed, Tiberius slipped out the door and made his way across the ground.

JEEEEEZ! It was even colder up here!

Heh. That made sense. It was a larger area; at least the corridor, the warmth was held in by the closer walls. And here it was so close to the front door.

And it was the front door that, shivering, Jake went through, into the even colder night air. BRRRRRRRR!

But still, he didn't make a sound. And as far as he could tell, nobody was following him.

It was slightly warmer in the Entrance Hall. But not warm enough. He pulled out his wand and cast a warming charm. So much better. He hadn't been followed so far. Well as far as he knew. He checked again before opening the front doors, and leaving into the night.

Weeeee!

Tyler skated around the entrance hall on his skateboard, due to teenage boredom and not wanting to do homework. Some things just enver changed with him, but he rather have it that way. After conversating with Luce about something important, we ran upstairs, grabbed another hoddie and his board. He was a bit rusty since he became more passionate about soccer.

After a while, Tyler was becoming tired and just sat on it instead. So he just pushed himself back and forth, trying to think of something else to do.

Cadence walked into the Entrance Hall out of the Great Hall and saw some boy just sitting on a skateboard, and she giggled and said, "Hey, you know that's not how you're supposed to use it, right?" to the back of SkaterBoy's head. She just stood there smiling with her arms crossed in front of her.

Huh?

Tyler turned leaned his head back to see who it was. It was Cadence. But leaning back was a bad idea too. Ty slipped off his board and landed on the floor. But at least it wasn't as bad as before. "I know that, just bored with nothing else to do," he chuckled and sat on his board again.

"So what brings you to the Entrance Hall?"

Cadence's face turned red when SkaterBoy looked up at her and she realized it was Tyler. Then she crossed her arms a little tighter; she didn't really want to talk to him. Because of HIS niece and HIS girlfriend, she and Nate had been in a fight. Her tone was icy as she replied, "Just finished eating." She wasn't going to get mad at him because she promised Nate she wasn't going to let people who made her feel bad get to her anymore. That didn't mean she had to be nice to him, though. She didn't care if Tyler hadn't thrown the pie, he had to have known it was going to happen.

Okay....?

"What's with the coldness?" he asked, looking up at her with a strange look. Could she possibly be mad at when Kat threw pie at Nate? It wasn't his fault. They were playing pranks at each other and the pie was the last prank. Or was it cause he ruined their dancing moment.

This is why Tyler preferred to have guys as friends. Girls caused too much drama sometimes, and it was one thing that makes him annoyed. "Are you still upset about the pie thing or is it something else?"

Okay, so, cold-shoulder wasn't Cadence's thing. Passive aggressive didn't work for her. She dropped her arms to her sides and sighed. "Just forget about it. It... it was just a joke. It wasn't a big deal..." LIES. Cadence's mind was so confused about how to deal with this. Hmm... change the subject? Yes... good idea. "I heard it's Kat's birthday." Err... what else did she want to say? "I hope she has a good birthday." And Cadence genuinely meant that. She would never wish a bad birthday upon anyone!

"Doesn't seem like that to me but whatevs," he said and shrugged. Duhh. Of course she's mad about that. Well, excuse me for laughing I thought was funny, Tyler thought to himself and looked at Cadence again. "Yeah, she just turned thirteen," Ty said and moved side to side on his board. Conversations with Cadence were know getting kind of awkward.

They're not ike the way they used to be when they first met. But then again, she had a crush on him. "Thanks," he nodded.

"Mhmm." she said in reply to his thanks. The awkward tension began to build in the silence that followed, and that need inside Cadence to tell the truth and express her feelings began to overwhelm her desire to not make anything worse. Her face began growing really hot, and she could tell it was getting read. There was this tension in her chest and she began playing nervously with the ends of her hair. Finally, she said quietly, "Nate had just told me he loved me for the first time when Kat threw the pie." She didn't make eye contact, but she was no longer as upset about that fact of the incident as she had been when she and Nate had fought. She had accepted it and moved on and all that mattered was that Nate loved her, but her incessant need to tell the truth had overtaken her.

Tyler looked up at Cadence when she spoke. Now Tyler knew why she was upset. "Oh, so that's why you were mad. But at least the pie didn't hit you," he said and stood up. His lower half was already becoming numb and it was time to move around. "I guess I'm sorry for what Kat did..."

Cadence stepped away from him a little bit as he stood up. "Yeah, but I mean, it's okay. Kat couldn't have known that that was had just happened or I would like to thank that she wouldn't have done it. All that matters is... is that Nate loves me." and with that a silly, goofy, smitten smile spread across her face and she blushed a little as the butterflies in her stomach fluttered. "Anyways, she should count herself very lucky that the pie didn't get on the dress I had been wearing at the time. That was... a very VERY special dress. Don't ask why I was dancing around in it in the pathway... it's a long story..." she finished with a giggle. "Oh, and don't be sorry, you didn't throw the pie." She said, finally looking up at him and smiling a little.

Hayden ran up to the Castle upon realising that her friends had left before her. Skidding into the Entrance Hall feeling severly out-of-breath, the 11 year old spied Ginny standing around idly. "Hey Gin," she said, gasping between each word, "Where is Evelyn? I didn't realise you guys left so quickly!"

"She's in the Broom Cupboard with a friend of hers I don't know", said Ginny. "I think I sort of scared Evelyn's friend", whispered Ginny trying not to make eye contact with Hayden.