Moving Staircase
 

http://www.snitchseeker.com/i/school...-staircase.gif



The easiest way to get from one floor to the next is to take the staircase. But, you' better watch out! It moves :shifty:

For mah Roti!! I love you!! <333
 

*shifty*
 

Mah Sila <3
 

And just like that, her day got better. Or was that worse considering she still wasn't fully on talking terms with the Seventh year Slytherin that had just walked around the corner to walk down the corridor to where Nancy was now standing.

Steven paused, foot mid air and then raised a hand to caress the back of his neck before moving to stand in front of Nancy. "Hey Nance." He said gently as if he was walking on eggshells. All through Summer, he had tried to show Nancy that they were meant to be together; that he had (literally) never thought they were/would be apart... but he missed her and she looked like she could use a hug.

And he used to be that person.

But he wasn't sure if he was now.

And that hurt.

"You doing okay?" He asked her softly, as his hands found his pockets and he looked from her gorgeous face to the floor. He didn't want to get his heart set on something it couldn't have; and she had made that clear over the Summer. No, his parent's and Sarah effectively ruined that for him. He hissed once more silently, glad to have his own flat to go home too.

<333333
 

Torin had his head in te clouds right now. Well, more like he was trying to figure out whether he just wanted to go into his business after Graduating, or if he wanted to get a job as a Photojournalist.

There was also University, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to study Herbology there or not. It was hard to choose. Maybe Brody could help him later if he asked her. She was so practical like that and he valued her input.

He sighed as he made his way up the stairs, and that was when he noticed a girl on the railing. That was not safe at all.

"And what do you think you're doing up there?"

hehe
 

. . . 3 Countdown over, Grayson prepared to loosen her grip on the railing to let herself start sliding, glancing down at Draco, who was sitting at the top of the stairwell staring at her as if he thought she was insane. "I'll meet you at the bottom," she said to the ferret, waiting for him to start down the steps. But as he moved, she jerked up as a voice sounded near her, and her pet stopped moving as well. Huffie prefect boy. And she couldn't deny the added height her being on the railing gave her was useful, since she wasn't having to look upwards quite so much.

Curling her hands around the railing again as she felt herself move slightly, she loked at him steadily, mischief still in her eyes. "What does it look like I'm doing up here? I'm finding a quicker way down," she said with a grin. It wasn't like she was planning on falling over the edge or anything. She had complete control. Well, except for the part where she didn't know where she would end up once she got to the lower level.

Grayson had to struggle not to giggle at how serious prefect-boy was acting. Especially since something told her he probably would have wnated to be doing the same thing she had been going to, if he hadn't been so much of a giant. But she wasn't going to say anything like that. Swinging her leg back over the railing so she was facing him, she dangled her Converse as she regarded him standing there with his hands on his hips like a scary big brother. Or a parent, or something.

"Walking's boring," she said, even though by now she figured there was going to be no sliding for her right now. She'd expected Draco to walk, but he was a little bitty ferret, and she hadn't wanted to risk squishing him. "And besides, me being up here means you don't have to look so far down. So really, I'm doing you a favor if you think about it." She gave him her best innocent grin. She actually had perfect control, she hardly worried about slipping anymore. But she hadn't actually answered his question about if she wanted to get in trouble.

Well.... at least she wasn't fully ignoring him. Right? I mean, awkward meetings were better than silence, hateful glances and getting cursed. Right? Steven would have preferred cuddles, soft kisses and long talks. Yeah, definitely would have preferred that.

He watched as she ran her hand through her hair and took a slow step forward. "I'm glad you are doing okay." He whispered to her, as his eyes moved over the form of his ex girlfriend. He had never missed her more than now; as he was close enough to be with her but couldn't be. She had been on his mind the whole time he had been abroad... but he wasn't sure if she could forgive him for not being here.

"I miss you." He said as she started to tell him something but didn't seem to know what to say. So, he said what he had tried to tell her every time he had written to her over the Summer. He couldn't believe how much Sarah had screwed this up for him. For them.

<3333
 

Steven took yet another step towards the girl, and had to fight against himself to stop his hands from slipping his hands around her waist and pulling her close. He gulped and licked his lips as he watched her look away and then straight back up to him.

Running a hand through his hair, as they stood in silence. Darn. Should he have told her that he missed her? Did she miss him? Would this just hurt him? Would she hurt him? Would he hurt her? He groaned a little as they stood in silence and looked at each other... then she said it.

She missed him too.

With that, he took yet another step towards her and locked eyes with her. "I miss you so much, every day, every minute." He stressed. "Let me prove it to you." He added, taking yet another small step towards the Slytherin Prefect.

And then they were too close for him to not move one hand to cup the top of her neck so that his thumb caressed her cheek and his fingers slipped through her hair. "Please..." He pleaded as he took the last step to fill the space between them. The slytherin moved his second hand to the small of her back.

"Baby, I miss you so much." He said to her, his eyes searching hers. "I'm nothing without you." He said as he leant in towards her. However, he didn't kiss her, he didn't want to get slapped again. Instead, he hovered just above her lips, waiting to see if Nancy would seal the kiss. Goodness he missed her.

"I'm not of concern here." He smiled at her. He recognized her, but he couldn't think of what her name was or where he had seen her before. Oh well. It didn't really matter now. "That doesn't matter. I'm Prefect and it's my job to do this. So please get down?" He didn't want to make her come down because that wasn't like him to do. Hopefully she would listen to him.

He rolled his eyes and laughed at her comment. "Well, I'm not a giant or anything."

hehe she's so making him get her off the railing.
 

Grayson grinned yet again as prefect-boy tried to change the topic, as she'd tried to turn it around on him in the first place. "You do know that you saying that actually makes me think you agree with me, right?," she commented, refusing to let him win. Or let him get off without any blame. "Whether or not I could get hurt doesn't matter anymore?," she replied then, affecting an innocent look like she knew she was expert at. Now she was just playing with him. She knew what he had meant, but it was way more fun staying on the railing. And it was highly amusing to think he had nothing better to do as prefect than try and get her off the railing in the first place.

She raised an eyebrow herself, though, as he laughed at her dismissal of his continued assurances that he wasn't a giant. "You really don't pay attention, you know that?" Of course, he was only a Hufflepuff. maybe he couldn't figure out that if she was still lower than him while up on the railing, obviously she would be even shorter standing on the ground.

He was getting tired of the games now. He wanted her off of the railings, and he wanted her off of them now. "It doesn't matter what I may or may not have done. Or anything else. I'm asking you as a Prefect to gt down, and I'm running out of patience." His change in tone of voice showed that he was serious, because all lightness disappeared, and soon he would be talking to her sternly.

"Well, I know that I'm taller than you. I'm tall and you're short. But I'm not like an actual giant." Now move it off of the bloody railing.

Oooh, now he's getting testy, Grayson thought as prefect boy spoke again. He even kinda ignored half of her comments, even. She was beginning to think she was lucky he didn't know her full name, because it was almost like when she needled one of her parents to the point of exasperation.Or her uncle. Eyeing prefect boy mischievously, she purposely slid down the railing a couple steps, then jumped off nimbly. "That was you having patience to begin with?," she commented, looking up at him before bouncing back up to the top landing and scooping Draco up. if she couldn't slide down the railing, there was no reason to make her ferret walk. "You really need to relax a little, you know that? Too much stress will kill you." Even a prefect couldn't be all proper all the time, or at least she thought that way.

She giggled a little as the giant conversation continued. Now that she was back at her normal five foot height, it was even funnier that he was so adamant. "You might be. Maybe a mini-giant or something. Some sort of giant-human hybrid," she commented as she let Draco scramble onto her shoulder. She wasn't about to let the subject drop, especially now that he'd killed the railing idea. For now. She might try that again later.

Even though a part of her wanted to flinch away from the hand which was now on her neck, Nancy simply could not move, mesmerized by the gentle touch. It just felt so...so...right. Could it be wrong if it felt so right? However, all she could concentrate on was the thumb which was carressing her cheek, and the moment Nancy felt his fingers in her hair she automatically leaned in on his hand. It was as if her body had a mind of its own...she couldn't not respond to his touch. Though, did she actually want to?

...and then they were suddenly too close for her to think clearly. His scent was surrounding her, lulling her in, leaving her simply gazing up into his eyes, unable to say or do something. It had to be right. It just couldn't be wrong. At the same time that he started leaning towards her Nancy tilted her head upwards slightly to meet him half-ways, unvoluntarily shivering as they both stopped, their lips not yet touching. Her heart was pounding so hard she was sure Steven could here it too.

"I know." Then with a small smirk on her lips the 17 year old inched just a little closer, causing their lips to finally meet. Finally. She had sealed their kiss...and it certainly felt right. So right.

Oh.

My.

Merlin.

Lexi had forgotten---completely forgotten---what it felt like to be on the moving staircases. Had they been this shaky when she'd been on them ten years ago? She glanced down at her heels and gave them a death glare, daring them to fail her now.

Truth be told, she was a little annoyed with herself for turning twenty-eight years old and letting a simple thing such as a moving set of staircases throw her off balance a little. She sort of...held on to the railing...very tightly...as she spun around and around.

Wasn't there a better way to travel around this place?

Nolan had his nose buried in...his tarot cards. Well, he was only looking at one, observing a tiny rip in the corner of it. BOOOO. This was one of his best sets too! He frowned, turning it over in his hands a few times before pulling out the rest of the stack and put it back in it's place. It was just a small rip, if he was careful he shouldn't have any problems...

HELLO.

There was no stair where he was about to place his foot. EEP! Stumbling backwards a bit, he dropped his stack of cards and watched in dismay as the deck spread out all over the landing. He sighed and looked back down at the empty space where he had almost just taken a step. He forgot just how EVIL these staircases could be!

As he picked up his cards, the staircase arrived with...Lexi in tow. Tee hee. He chuckled as he stood up, shuffling his deck and observing the sight of his colleague clinging to the banister for dear life. "Having fun?" he asked with a laugh as the staircase came to halt in front of him.

Lexi could do nothing but glare in Nolan's general direction as he hopped aboard the thrill ride and nonchalantly asked her if she was having fun. A second later, though, she dropped the glare and started laughing lightly. "Oh, Nolan. I'm only joking with you....but no, I am not having fun. I'm starting to think that I need to come hop on this thing at least once a night just to get back into the...well, swing of thing," she remarked.

There was solid ground ahead...well, solid ground that wasn't spinning. Lexi had a small hope that she could jump off at the next level, but...the staircase just swung on around and passed up that solid ground. She glared again, but this time she really meant the look on her face. "So...how's classes? See anything interesting in our futures?" she asked. "...solid ground, perhaps?"

"Classes are pretty good, actually. Except there was this one incident with this one problem child...she BROKE one of my crystal balls and didn't even apologize! Other than that, though, pretty good," Nolan replied with a grin. Yes, he'd gotten over the whole crystal ball thing--after all, it wasn't his SPECIAL crystal ball. It stil broke his heart to see the thing broken into pieces but, he'd survive. "And no, nothing too interesting, except I have this horrible feeling that my personal belongings are in danger..." he said, his voice trailing off. Probably all Lucky's fault. She had made him paranoid now.

"How about you? I had a rather hyper Slytherin in one of my classes because of cupcakes, and it seemed that the general conclusion was that YOU were responsible," he teased her. "What have you been doing down there?!"

Cause if those students were right, and something she was up to DID involve cupcakes...he wanted in!

Lexi was glad to hear that Nolan's classes were going well---except, for the life of her, she couldn't really understand what was so important about a crystal ball breaking. Couldn't he just...buy a new one? She decided not to bring that fact to his attention, though. He seemed rather attached to those crystal balls, and she didn't want to offend him in any way.

Especially since this was just their...what?...second time to actually meet and hold a conversation. "Oh, well, I hate to hear about your crystal ball. I'm sure all the others will be okay, though," she said, trying to reassure him. Although, what was the life expectancy of a crystal ball? Surely they broke often... "I'm sure your personal belongings will be just fine..."

This was what the guy worried about while spinning around and around on a staircase that never seemed to stop?

"Oh, I'm---..." She was about to say that she was doing just fine, when Nolan brought up a hyper Slytherin, cupcakes, and Lexi possibly being the cause. Despite the fact that she was spinning around and around, Lexi managed a small laugh. "I'm afraid I am the cause of that. I taught cooking-relating charms in my last lesson, and we made cupcakes. I have a little kitchen near my classroom, too...so, the kids can make more if they'd like..." She bit her bottom lip and gave him a playful, apologetic look.

Nolan laughed. "Well as long as no one gets the brilliant idea to play a game of catch with the crystal, I'm good with them being a little wound up." Weren't ALL kids a little goofy these days? He thought so. "And if they just HAPPEN to bring me some, that's even better!" he added. Hmmm, maybe he should make that a homework assignment. Extra credit to the kid who brings him the most!

Nah. He'd ruin his teeth with all that sugar. And he was quite fond of those.

"That's a really cool idea, actually. I need something fun like that...not that I didn't think tea leaves were fun, but I had one or two students falling asleep on me," he said wth a chuckle.

"So, how's life here in the castle treating you?" he asked, deciding to change the conversation as the staircase came to a halt. He hadn't been paying attention to WHERE they were going as they talked so...he just kind of stood there.

She had listened to him. Even if she wasn't his biggest fan at the moment, at least she had done what he had asked her to do, and that was all that mattered to him really. He smiled at her now, not bothered in the least by her comment. He wasn't sure if she meant anything when she said it anyway. "Yes, that was me being patient. I could have easily grabbed you and taken you down. But I'm not like that." It was much better to have gotten her to do it herself. "I'll keep that min mind," he replied absentmindedly, not really catching what she was saying to him. He was looking at the ferret which he hadn't noticed before. "You have a pet ferret?" He couldn't think of many people that had one of those.

"Human-giant hybrid? I don't know if I should be insulted by that or not." Though he really didn't mind all that much because he didn't think that she seriously wanted to offend him or anything. Or at least that was what he hoped. Otherwise she was a mean girl, and he would be walking away from her in a moment.

Grayson could tell prefect boy thought she was being all compliant and everything, but she knew better. This was only a temporary pause, since she'd just find another avenue for mischief later. It was pretty much inevitable, especially when she wasn't in class. And she obviously wasn't now. "You're not like what? Rude and forceful, or grabby?," she asked impishly, unable to not continue playing with him. It was just too tempting, especially since he was obviously trying his hardest to not react to her. "It really is good advice, yknow. The relaxing thing. Too many people take things way too seriously. And explosions can get messy." The last part was definitely facetious, if only because she wasn't afraid of messes. But people explosions was definitely not what she had in mind as fun, if it was even possible for a person to literally explode from stress. She imagined there would be evidence of that by now if it was, what with all the people who had gotten to seventh year in the past.

But then he'd noticed Draco, and her little mental tangent vanished as she grinned, picking her ferret up off her shoulder again. "Yep. His name's Draco," she said, stroking the ferret's white fur a little before holding him out. "You wanna pet him? He won't bite." She didn't think. As far as she could remember he hadn't bit anyone. At prefect boy's response to her description of him, though, she giggled. "Well, you'd be one of the nice ones. Like Hagrid, yknow. Not an evil giant." Definitely not. Prefect boy didn't seem evil. Someone she wanted to annoy, but definitely not evil. But he obviously had to notice why she kept saying he was a giant by now.

Non-spinning solid ground didn't seem to be anywhere in Lexi's future, so she gave up on hanging onto the banister and instead just leaned comfortably against it. "Hmm...catch with crystal. You know Nolan, you may just given me a really good idea. I think I could come up with a charm that might be able to keep something afloat long enough to play a game of catch or...maybe even frisbee," she said. A thoughtful look crossed her face as she thought this one over...

"Oh, maybe they will bring you some," she said, coming out of her thoughtful state of mind. "Part of the homework was to share a cupcake with a student or staff member." She gave him a little look when he mentioned students falling asleep during his tea leaf-reading class. "Hmm, that's not good. Maybe you should have had them drink coffee instead of tea," she suggested. Then again, Lexi really didn't know much about Divination. For all she knew, coffee might not even work well at all. "I'm not sure if...the coffee grains would work the same as the tea leaves, though." She gave him a defeated look. Really...Lexi was terrible at Divination and should just stay away from it altogether.

She perked up when he asked how life in the castle was treating her. Truth be told, Lexi was having the time of her life. Not only did she have a job that she really loved, she'd also had a lot of fun at the same time, too. "Oh, it's awesome, Nolan! I've met so many people, and I've stayed so busy. I'm loving this!" she enthusiastically replied. "What about you? How are you liking it?"

Nolan blinked at her. While the charm did sound rather cool, he hoped she wasn't inferring that HIS crystal ball was going to be used as a test subject. HECK NO. That thing was going NO WHERE after the lesson he had just had. "That sounds interesting...but don't go telling anyone it works on crystal balls," he said with a playful grin, deciding that joking around would be the best way to go with this conversation. "I'll never be able to get them to pay attention to what's actually IN there!"

"REALLY?" he asked, perking up immediately. Oh coooool! Since he seemed to be UBER popular, he should be expecting cupcakes any day now, right? He hoped so! He also hoped he didn't have a much more egotistical view on himsef than what was actually true. Hehe. He could only infer from all those visitors he was getting. "For the record, I like chocolate cupcakes with white or pink frosting on top...you know, just saying," he said with a grin. Oh man Ginger would KILL him right now if she knew what he was thinking. She HATED sugar and was a bit fanatical about her teeth. More than usual lately, she was ALWAYS there getting them fixed--probably preparing her smile for the wedding.

"Coffee works. I couldn't get my hands on any, though," he said with a sigh. "So I only went with Earl Gray. I had a few complainers, but I just dulled the taste for them, and it was all good. I myself am not a huge tea drinker, so I usually use coffee if I can have access to it," he explained.

"I'm busy toooooo. It's nice, and it's nice to have an office that's not...in a dark corner somewhere," he said. Yes, he really DIDN'T miss the Department of Mysteries one bit. He missed the WORK but the work SPACE? Not so much. "And all these visitors! It's nice and keeps the day going by quickly when I'm grading homework," he explained with a smile. "I haven't gotten a chance to meet many of the staff, though--I bumped into the Healer, and then there's you and that Truebridge fellow I met at the feast but other than that...I need to get out more," he said. Although, after hearing horror stories about that Potions lady downstairs...he was staying FAR from her as long as he could. Everyone else he wanted to meet still but her...he was fine up here, thanks.

He noticed two students standing nearby, and one of them was that clumsy Prefect Kane. He smiled and waved politely at the two who were obviously in conversation.

"I'm not either," he told her simply. And it was true and if she didn't agree with him that was too bad for her because he really thought that it was true. He had been trying his best to be nice to her, and he did rather like her as well. She sorta reminded him in a way. Well, how he used to be before now. He was trying to be better so that he could Graduate without getting into trouble. "I am aware that you are probably going to turn around and do something else as soon as I leave, but at least I stopped you from possibly injuring yourself." And that made him happy, because he didn't want little kids to get injured, and she looked as if she was only thirteen or so. "But yes, explosions can be messy. Like setting a Potions lab on fire. But let's not get into that one." That was back in Greece and a few years ago by now.

He was a little hesitant at first, but decided that he liked animals, so he reached out to pet her ferret. "Draco? Like Draco Malfoy?" He had remembered reading all about that Harry Potter history ages ago, and he remembered that Draco was a boy that Harry went to school with and had always hated. He snorted as he stroked the ferret's fur. "I'm like Hagrid? Well, that's a compliment I guess. Even though I don't think I'm nearly as big as him." She could say he was in denial, but he still didn't see it that way at all.

Grayson shrugged as prefect boy defended himself against any of her options she'd given. It wasn't really important, either way, since she hadn't figured he would be rude or any of those things. Not as a prefect. And she knew his name, too, but it was more fun to think of him as prefect boy. For now, at least. "Surprisingly, I wasn't really worried about injuring myself anyway. I mean, I know it was possible, which was why I didn't have my ferret with me when I was up there. But I don't think I would have gotten hurt," she responded, to his obvious concern. That could either be annoying or useful. Annoying if he made it a mission to keep her from doing anything that could lead to her hurting herself, but useful since it could annoy him right back. Annoying people was never far from her mind, at least innocently. But her train of thought was interrupted as he spoke of explosions. "You set a Potions lab on fire?," she asked, interest piqued. "Why?" Potions was fun. And not necessarily in a destructive sense.

She smiled a little as he reached out to pet Draco, especially since the ferret seemed to be perfectly happy with it. Yay for no biting. And then he spoke, and her smile turned into a bigger grin. Yay for people making the connection. "Yep. I think it's funny, since fake Professor Moody turned him into a ferret that one time," she explained. She liked the old stories from the time of Harry Potter way too much, she sometimes thought. Not that it ever stopped her from reading them over again. And she giggled a little as Torin snorted. "No. You're not as big as he was. But you're still way tall." At least he understood the comment had been a compliment, even if it was a little facetious.

Lexi had only met Nolan once or twice, but she'd already come to the conclusion that he thought of his crystal balls sort of like how...a father would think of his children. With her back turned to him (she'd been looking for solid ground once again) she sort of narrowed her eyes into a 'whatever'-type expression. By the time she'd turned around, though, he was mentioning how the students wouldn't pay attention to what was in the crystal ball if they knew how to charm it to act like a frisbee or a ball. Hmm...that actually made sense, so maybe Nolan really didn't think of his crystal balls like they were his children.

She laughed and nodded her head. "You know, you're right about that. I have to admit that if I was a student, and my professor had taught me how to play sports with a crystal ball, I might have...not been paying attention to what was inside the ball either," she admitted. Even now, though, as a Charms professor, a few ideas were already forming in Lexi's mind. Hmm...what sorts of charms would be best when trying to float and throw a crystal ball?

"Yeah, really. I sent them around on a cupcake mission for homework. If no one happens to drop by, just let me know. I can always make you a batch of them in my charmed kitchen," she offered. Hmm...chocolate cupcakes with white or pink frosting. Lexi made a few mental notes before refocusing herself on what Nolan was saying. Oh, so coffee did work. "Hmm, that's interesting. I can't decide whether I like tea or coffee better, so I guess I wouldn't have complained either way." Well, except for the fact that they were talking about Divination, which was a subject Lexi had never exactly excelled at in the first place.

"In a dark corner?" she asked, her eyes narrowing in confusion. "Where did you say you used to work at?" Lexi didn't exactly remember, but the whole 'office in a dark corner' line had certainly gotten her attention. "...Department of Mysteries?" Being a former Ministry worker, Lexi could pretty much put two and two together when it came to offices in dark places. True, she worked at the American Ministry of Magic, but Lexi still knew lots about the British Ministry. "Oh, yeah, we do have lots of visitors here, don't we? As far as staff, hmm...let's see. I've been able to meet the Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, umm...History of Magic, Flying, and Transfiguration professors. Oh, and Divination, of course," she said with a smile. "I've talked with the healer and headmaster, too. Both were really nice."

When Nolan waved at someone just over Lexi's shoulder, Lexi turned and noticed two students standing nearby. She smiled and waved at them, too.

Nolan nodded. "Yup. All the way down there on Level 9. Not many visitors there," he said with a small chuckle. The darkness also made time go by really fast (or maybe it really DID go faster down there?! HE NEVER KNEW) so most of the time, he worked right through lunch and didn't have time to go socialize in the cafeteria. Sigh.

Ah well. He had lots of time to socialize now!

"Really, all of them?" Nolan asked, blinking a bit. Apparently, even here, Nolan didn't get out much. "I need to step up my game, then," he said with a little chuckle. History of Magic...that was Lainey. EEEEP.

"I can't wait to get a butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks. It's been AGES since I've stepped foot in there," he said. Well, not AGES. "It's going to be weird going in there as a professor, though--even now everything is so different than when I was a student. I even got LOST trying to find my office the first day!"

In his defense, as a Hufflepuff, he RARELY wandered up to the seventh floor while in school. Only for Divination.

"Hmm...Mysteries. I don't think I'd like working there too much, but...I bet you loved it. You know, with you enjoying Divination and the such," she said. She honestly didn't know if the two were connected in any specific way, but she just imagined that people who were into telling the future and crystal balls and the such would be right at home in the Mysteries department. "So what made you decide to leave Mysteries and come here? I mean, I'm glad you did...but, I'm just curious."

"Well, not all of them. There's probably four or five I really haven't had a chance to actually talk to yet," Lexi said, replying to what Nolan had said about meeting all their co-workers. She'd just been so busy since school started that she really hadn't had much free time. It was unfortunate that she hadn't really talked to some of her new co-workers, but she was slowly and surely getting around to meeting them all.

Lexi glanced over at Nolan, and when she did...she was immediately sorry. Nolan himself didn't make her feel that way, though. The moving staircase had suddenly jerked forward and spun them around, causing Lexi to tumble forward and into Nolan. When the staircase finally slowed to a reasonable speed, Lexi pushed herself off Nolan, a slight blush creeping up on her cheeks. "Sorry about that, Nolan," she said with a laugh. "...but anyway, you're right. It will be different going to Hogsmeade as a professor, but at least we'll have more freedom that way."

"I definitely liked the work," Nolan explained. Yeah, prophecies and all that...that was HIS thing. "I just like talking a bit more. It was too gloomy down there for my taste," he said with a chuckle. Not that the place was depressing or anything, just...too dark. Too secretive. Sometimes Nolan had the urge to just YELL at the top of his lungs cause he went so stir crazy down there.

"Well, other than getting out of the dark, gloomy cubicle I had down there, this job allows me to be more hands on with my field of interest," he explained. Down in Mysteries, he'd only dealt with Prophecies...and there was SOOOO much more to Divination than just fortune telling through visions or prophecies. "Plus, I've always enjoyed telling people about Divination...I think I'm just a natural teacher," he added with a grin.

Suddenly, the staircase jerked into motion, and Lexi was nearly flung through the air by the force of it, falling right into Nolan and knocking his glasses askew. EEP! His glasses! As she stood up and blushed, he laughed and fixed his glasses so they sat straight on his nose again. "Haha, don't worry about it! These things move faster than they used to, don't you think?" he asked.

At least faster than he REMEMBERED.

Lexi nodded along as Nolan talked about how the Department of Mysteries was a little too dark for his taste. She definitely agreed with him on that one. Of course she hated worked in that department at the American Ministry of Magic, but she'd been to it a time or two. It was...well, yeah---dark. "Hmm...natural teacher. I'm not sure if I'm natural teacher or just a natural charmer...or, well...a person good in charms," she playfully said.

"Faster than they used, to---right," Lexi agreed, eying the stairs with disgust. She didn't know if she hated them so much because they moved, or because she just couldn't ride them---yes, ride them---as well as she used to. She certainly wasn't going to allow a set of moving stairs make her feel old. When the stairs passed by the third floor, Lexi jumped off and landed nicely on solid, non-moving ground. "Well, here's my stop," she said, laughing. "It was nice talking with you, Nolan. I'll see you around, mmkay?" She waved and smiled at him then turned and headed toward her office.

He shook his head at her. "Still even if you weren't worried it could have happened." Though he wasn't really wanting to dwell on it anymore since she was down now and there was no concern about her safety - for now at least. But he wasn't stupid enough to think that she wouldn't turn around and do something else later. "I set it on fire because I could. I also set magical creatures loose and was caught drinking firewhiskey." And he wasn't going to elaborate on that unless she really wanted to know. He liked being vague sometimes.

He smiled as she told him about Draco. "That's where the name came from? That's rather clever." He didn't think that he had ever heard of Draco being turned into a ferret. But that was rather funny. "I wonder why he was turned into one.." But he didn't really care all that much. It was just odd thinking on a Professor doing that to a student. Thankfully that didn't seem to happen around Hogwarts now. "And I am tall, but I dunno about way tall. I'm just 6'6." Over a foot taller than Brody.

Grayson only grinned as Torin shook his head at her. "I know that. I already said I knew that," she pointed out, having way too much fun with the non-argument. And she could tell he was trying to get over it, which partially made her want to continue arguing. But she could let it rest for now. At least until the next time. "That makes sense," she said as he gave his reasoning for setting the Potions lab on fire, "but you really did something wrong if you got caught doing stuff." She knew the irony of a thirteen-year-old lecturing a seventh year on getting caught, but it was too much fun. Besides, maybe if she kept prodding him, she could get ideas.

But first she needed to acept the compliments on her choice of name for her ferret. "Yep. And thank you. I like the stories from back then," she said, before her eyes widened as he acted like he didn't know the story. "He was being evil toward Harry Potter," she said, a bit surprised that he didn't know the story. At least now he knew, though. Whether he wanted to or not, and besides, she didn't think there were any professors around now like fake Professor Moody. So maybe he was safe. She giggled a little as he went on to talk about his height. He was seriously confused if he thought that wasn't way tall. "I'm only five feet. So to me you're way tall." She couldn't decide if he wasn't paying attention, or if he really couldn't see that.

He was done with this now, so he only smiled at her first comment before moving on to what she said next. "Well, I was only caught that one time. Er, well two times. Seeing as I was suspended for the Potions lab thing." He shrugged as if it didn't matter because really it didn't. It was all in the past now, and if he hadn't been suspended, he still would have gone to school there. If he had still gone to school there, he wouldn't have met all the amazing people that he did. So it was great that he had gotten caught.

And she seemed a little surprised that he didn't know the story, which made him feel a bit silly. But he couldn't really help it. "Well, I'm not from here, so I don't know all the history. Or at least I don't know as much as some people do. I know the big details of Harry Potter's time, but not the trivial ones." And hopefully that would make him seem less silly to her. Apparently that mattered to him. "And you are rather small now that I think about it. Short." He grinned down at her.

And it seemed the idea that Torin was tired of the discussion about her safety on the railing was true. Either that or he just liked nonverbal responses. But Grayson brushed it off, especially since they now had a much more interesting conversation going. "That would seem like two times. Unless you weirdly got suspended for one thing while being caught for two at once," she commented, seriously thinking about it. She didn't think it was possible, but he obviously was talking about a completely different school. Maybe they did things differently there. And then another thought hit her. "If you only got suspended, why didn't you go back after the suspension was done?" She might not have had a lot of experience in schools, but that was how she thought it worked.

She nodded a little, though, as he explained why he hadn't known the story about fake Professor Moody and Draco Malfoy. "Okay. You really should read the stories sometime, though. They're really interesting," she said. It was cute how he seemed to need an excuse when it came to her, and how she might think of him. Giant seventh-year worried about what a tiny third-year thought. And on that topic, she sighed as he finally seemed to realize what she'd been saying all along. "I know. But just cause I'm tiny doesn't mean you should underestimate me," she said, the last part with a hint of amused challenge. He'd find out sooner or later, especially if Raven kept involving her in things. Not to mention her ideas on her own.

"Ok, bye Lexi!" Nolan said, smiling and waving goodbye as his colleague left the staircase. He continued to stand there for a few minutes, trying to remember where he was going before she had distracted him. HMMMM. Where HAD he been headed?

He never got the chance to remember, because as he was trying to think of where he had been about to go, he felt something collide with him. Blinking, he turned around and looked to see what had happened, only to find a student behind him, holding onto the banister for dear life.

"Oh, it's quite alright. It's what I get for just...standing on the staircase, staring into space," he said with a small chuckle.

Maeve ushered on a small curt smile. She still couldn't believe she had bumped into someone. She let go of the banister, looking down to see her white knuckles. Had she really been holding onto the banister that tight. Brushing off her skirt she looked up at him and nodded. "Oh no Sir, it is quite entirely my fault. My apologies," she lowered her head down in a small nod. Her Irish accent lilted at her words.

She was intrigued however if he was a Professor or not. "I'm Maeve. Maeve O'Connor." She put her hand out to greet him. "Are you a Professor here?" She only wondered.

"Nice to meet you, Miss O'Connor," Nolan said, shaking the girl's hand. It was SO nice to encounter kind, respectful students in this school. They needed more of them, seriously. The rude ones would make him go GRAY!

"Yes, I am. Professor Reynolds," he replied with a smile. "I teach Divination up on the seventh floor," he added. He wondered why she was asking...did he LOOK like a student? Oh joy! That meant he wasn't aging as fast as he feared he was!

Maeve smiled and nodded her head to him. "It is quite a pleasure to meet you as well, Mister Reynolds." Well she was glad she could add at least another person on her list of people to know here at the school. So far: 2 people. She was quite the socialite.

"Divination? That's fascinating. That's actually my favorite subject." She enthused. It really was something she loved to do back home. "Are your methods done with mostly Tarot, Tea Leaves, Palmistry, and Scrying, Mister Reynolds?" Well she was quite glad she had bumped into the right teacher.

He shrugged at what she was saying to him. "I didn't want to go back," was his simple reply. And it was true. "I also got expelled in a few places." Yeah, that had been a lot of fun really. And he liked it a lot. "But it wouldn't have mattered anyway, because I would have had to come here when my dad got his job anyway." Since he didn't like being away from his family during breaks and all that.

"I shall look it up," he added with a nod. If he had time. And if he could find the books in the library. He had an impossible time in there really. Half the time he gave himself a headache with not being able to find what he wanted. Bloody libraries. He didn't know why his sister loved the things so much. "Oh, I don't underestimate you." He wasn't stupid. He gathered that she would be quite the mischievous one. Why he had figured that she would just turn around and do something else as soon as he wasn't around.

xD *pets Torin*
 

Grayson couldn't help but grin as Torin went on about why he'd ended up in Hogwarts and everything. "So how exactly did you end up a prefect, then?," she asked, almost impressed. Considering the staff at Hogwarts had to know his history. But then he was explaining more about how he'd ended up here, and she blinked at him. "You moved cause of your dad?" That was kind of sweet, but then she couldn't imagine anything like that. Not when she considered that her father's job wasn't like that. It was a weird feeling, and she didn't really like it.

So she was happy when Torin went on to say he'd look up the stories about Harry Potter, and Draco and all of them. "I could probably help you find them. If you wanted." Of course, she had copies of all the books in her possession, but she could probably find them in the library too. Of course, whether or not she could reach them would be a different story, but if she was with Torin that shouldn't be an issue. And another mischievous grin crept onto her face as he admitted he didn't underestimate her. "Good. Then I won't have to hurt you," she teasingly threatened. Not that she thought she could. He was really awfully bigger than her. But she could always annoy him to no end. That sounded like fun, really.

"Really?" Nolan asked with a grin. Awww yay! No one had said Divination was their fav yet. HMMM. He wondered if it was her favorite because she had like...the GIFT like he did. Or supposedly did. He was a bit shocked it had taken him this long to find someone who loved it too...didn't anyone like it anymore?! Frown.

"Tarot cards are my speciality, but yes, I do like tea leaves and of course, crystal ball reading but, not so much with the palms. I've never really gotten a good grasp on that one," he said with a chuckle. "Are those some of your favorite types of Divinaion?" he asked in curiousity. They were certainly some of the most well known, but there were some weird ones out there too that many people preferred over the traditional.

Maeve smiled and nodded her head, her curly red ringlets bounced. She decided to curl her hair today, so what. A girl can primp herself sometimes. "I really do. Maybe it's because I live in Ireland. We love Divination, it seems."

She put her index finger to her lips and thought a moment. She really loved all the ways to it. But what was her favorite. "I could honestly say that my favorite has to be the Runes. Though I am particularly good at Scrying and Tarot," she grinned, happy to find a person who loved Divination too. "Oh I know what you mean! Palmistry is quite hard. It took me a good long while to grasp it. I'm fairly OK at it, but I wouldn't pay myself for a reading." She let out a soft chuckle.

Nolan chuckled a bit. "Well, that might be true...I'm partly Irish and it seems I've inherited the gift. In a matter of speaking," he added as an afterthought. Oops. He didn't mean to tell anyone that, especially on a first meeting but...eh. It was hardly a surprise, he was sure. A Divination Professor, a SEER?! The horror!

"Scrying, that's always good...you might enjoy my next lesson, then," he said with a smile. "I always had difficulty finding the lines...might be my rubbish eyesight," he joked, tapping his glasses with his fingertip.

"I got to become a Prefect because I'm awesome." There, it was as simple as that. But not really the true reason because even if he sometimes acted like he was arrogant, he really wasn't. He blamed Brody and her constant complimenting him. It as making him seem more vain that he really was. But he loved it. hehe. "We moved because of him. But sometimes I regret it. I hate my father." Something that he didn't really tell people he didn't know well. But it was true; he hated his father. "I miss home. But I also love Hogwarts. And my friends and girlfriend." Brody made things easier for him.

"I'd love for you to help me." Because he figured that she had to have some idea where these books were if she knew the stories. Or maybe she owned some. He didn't know how big she was on reading since he didn't know her well, but she seemed smart. And he knew that his sister for one had a lot of books even if a lot of them were on mythology. She was such a nerd like that. He snorted as she said something about not hurting him. "Yeah, because I was really scared of that." He smiled, hoping to get that he wasn't meaning to make fun of her. He knew not to underestimate people.

Maeve smiled, realizing his mistake of telling her. But then again, she was one as well. "Don't worry, I won't tell a soul; living or dead." She winked. "I happen to be a Seer as well." She nodded, looking down about to point to her book on Interpreting Pendulum Reading and realized she had dropped it when they collided.

"Oh, I will definitely be there." She looked around and saw it was on the staircase. Thank goodness. She didn't know where she would be able to find another copy of that book. "Yeah, there are just so much to remember with Palmistry, it's hard to differentiate with looking at someones palm and remembering everything."

!?

What? Oh gosh... Miranda looked afraid, and she slowly put a hand to her mouth as she heard Torin cough and say he wasn't feeling well. MERLIN! He'd better not drop on the floor because the dude probably wheighed a ton. Hehe.
But then totally showed her he was fine...with the showing off! Gah! "Torin!" Meeeeh, oh she was going to get him. "C'mere, I'mma skate over your feet!" And she tried to WILL herself forward, arms reaching out to the boy to like, poke him, or something. But she almost tripped. Thank Merlin he was holding her up. Hehe.

Oooooooh. "You are!" She grinned. It wasn't a question, but apparently it was supersecret. "Oooh, okay. So what's your supersecretheroname? Hm?" Regardless of what it was, she'd have to come up with one herself too.

Hehe. "You ARE an amazing skater!" Like, look at him go! "I bet you could like be a world champion in skatez. Have you ever considered that, Tor? Skating champ." Which brought an idea to mind of him with a comical wheightlifting costume. Taking in a deeep breath, she spoke loudly in an announcer voice. "Turtleeeee the TriumphaaaaanT!" Hehe.

But oh, they were here!
"Staaaaaaaaaaaaairs!" She pointed and grinned.

Torin smiled as they reached the stairs, braking right before he got to the edge of them. This was going to be a lot of fun, and he knew it.

"So, Miranda... You wanna make the stairs soft?"

Blink.
"Me?" She raised an eyebrow and then glanced around. He was...talking to her, right? "Oh, yeah sure Torin, go ahead and roll down and I'll cushion them for you if and when you start falling on your face." She shook her head and snorted.

She had no idea how to cushion stuff.
Did he??

They were both gonna be in trouble if neither could.



Hehe.

O______o

Did she not know how to do a cushioning charm or something? He couldn't believe it. He had thought that she was a nice and clever Badger. How could she be his sidekick in fighting crime if she didn't even know basic things like this?

"Miranda, do you not know the spell?"

Blink. Again.

"Whaaaaaaaat? Pfffffffffffft." Miranda waved a lazy hand, the one NOT clinging onto Torin or the nearby wall, and laughed akwardly. "Of-ofcourse I know how to do the spell, Turtle." Like, whuuuuuuuuuut. "Here, lemme show you." She took her wand from her holster, swished it, almost dropped her wand, pointed it at the staircase and .... "Done." It was cushioned.


She hoped.


"So? Turtles, first." Hehehe.

[color=brown]Sigh of relief. He had been worried for a moment that she had no idea how to do it.

"Sorry, I was just wondering by the way you acted," he explained, hoping that she wasn't annoyed with him for having asked her that.

He smiled as she dropped her wand. How adorable. She was such a cutiepie. He wanted to pinch her cheeks. But that would have to wait for another time.

"No, we're going down together."

And still holding onto her hand tightly, he sent them on their way down the stairs.[/color ]

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh. He was apologizing! How sweet. "Aw, it's okaaaaaaaaaaay!" She grinned, making her nose wrinkle.

Allright, spell doned and hopefully she hadn't looked all that crappy doing it. Hehehe. Eh...!? Going down together... "Okay!" She grinned again, grasping his hand tightly aswell, she was about to make a little speech about how their awesomeness had lead them to this awesome day and awesomely rolled on these awesome-skates, BUT...they were already rolling down. Hehe.


!?
Ohmygosh they were ROLLING DOWN THE STAIRS! Haaaaaaaaaaaaalp!
"Torii-i-i-i-i-i-ii-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin! D-d-d-don't f-f-f-f-fall down on y-y-y-y-your faaaaacE!" and please don't let her do it either. But soon enough, she was laughing, never before had she rolled down the stairs. "Next-t-t-t time, y-y-y-you should sit-t-t-t on my should-d-d-ders!" Bahaha.

Torin was starting to laugh now because she was. Her laughter was infectious and adorable. And he just really liked it a lot. hehe.

"I don't t-t-t-hin-n-nk that wo-o-ould-d-d be the be-e-est idea-a-a" he added as she said that next time they do this he should be on her shoulders. He would crush her to the ground, as he was over a foot taller than her.

And then he stumbled and started falling face first.

She started to laugh harder when Torin joined her. How in the WORLD hadn't she spent more time with Torin before this? He was like the awesomest guy everrrr!

He head was shaking so much it was crazy that she could hear him talk. Her brain was probably getting all smushed in there. HEHE. "Oh-o-o-okay! May-y-y-y-ybe some other-r-r-r t-t-t-time then-en-en-en-en." She snorted.

But then their not so smooth ride down got all wonky as Torin stumbled. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek! "Ahh! Torin!" She shrieked and sort of REALLY clinged onto the boy...like, she was a koala. Plus, the boy was tall and all that, hopefully that would...help. Miranda flailed her arm and tried to take her wand out. It took some time and some more shrieking, but she finally got it out, pointed it at the stairs (she HOPED it was the stairs, tumbling down made it difficult to know which way was up and down...) and yelled the incantation. Hopefully, if her casting the spell before had not worked, this would do it.

"Toooooriiiiin! Uff!" Grimace. This bouncing off the stairs was painful, even if they were cushioned.

They were cushioned, right??
"Do one of your awesome show-off tricks!" Maybe that would help them not get their faces rearranged.

This was really starting to hurt his face and he was sure that he was looking worse than ever now. It might not be as bad as the two times that he broke his nose though.

Her clinging to him was making it hard to breathe, and it was trying hard to figure out how to right them again.

"I ca-a-a-an't. I don't-t-t know ho-o-ow to st-t-t-op." How could he maneuver like this?

Okay, ouch.
Seriously, in movies, they broke their necks by now. Like.

"Uff!" Gaaaah! All this spinning was making her dizzy. Hehe. If she closed her eyes she could imagine they were playing Quidditch. "Gah!" But this hurt more than being tackled! "I- UFF! Think- I- my head... I broke- GAH! my cronsphagus." Whatever the hell that was...it was probably broken by now.

And then she hit her head. Seeing double, not a good sign right?

When the HELL was this staircase going to eENDD!?
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

"Oof! Oof! Oof!"

Pain.

Paaain.

Paaaaaain.

Why did this hurt? Did she not cast a strong enough spell on the stairs?

"My head..." He probably had bumps on his face now and his arms and legs hurt.

But then finally he reached the bottom.

"I see stars," he moaned.

She heard Torin's airy exclamations and totally echoed them. Once she thought she had bumped heads with the boy. Not good.

His head? HER head. Pfffft. Hehe.
"UmPH!" With one last bounce, Miranda felt herself being still... but it was as if there was something pressing her down. "Ouuuuuuuuuch...Haha..haha....ha..." Gigglesnorts and moaning. The laughing was to stop herself from crying. Hehe. And they were a bit muffled due to her face being pressed against the floor.

He saw stars? "It's the roof...there are stars on the roof...T-Torin." Yeah, right? But...gosh...had she punctured a lung? "I- c-can't breathe..." She gasped and tried to take a deep breath but her ribs hurrrt.

Wait... What the hell did she have ON her?? Her arm curled backwards and she started to pat her back...which wasn't her back at all. "To-Torin?"

He took deep breaths and it hurt because his ribs. Stabbing pain in his chest and ribs. UGH.

And there was something under him, but he couldn't see what it was. All he knew was that it was hard and not the floor.

But where was Miranda? He could hear her, but not see her.

"Miranda?"

OooOOoOoo. Why was there something touching him? O_o

Torin was around here somewhere...and he was concious - that was good. But where WAS he?

And this...thing that wasn't her. She kept patting it. But...she couldn't get what the heck it was. Poke. Prod. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

"I'm h---here." AIR. "Whhhhhhhhere are-" Gasp. "YOU?" Poke prod poke prod poke. "There's---something...ontopofmeh." Meeeeeeeeeeeh. AND IT WAS HEAVY!

Oh, she was on top of him. That made sense. And Masterson was insulting his looks. Pfft. He had better be joking because Brody would be displeased.

Wincing, he was rolled off of Miranda. He was all tender and it wasn't nice to be dealt with like that. Mr. Masterson was a rather mean guy sometimes.

"We cushioned the stairs first though." He just wasn't sure how good a job Miranda did.

Mister Torin and Mister Masterson
 

A VOICE!

Wait...it was coming from somewhere else...and it WASN'T TORIN!
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!
Miranda blinked...she felt awfully tired and out of breath. And it wasn't because the boy was ON him. Errr.


Torin...couldn't see her!? OH noeS! "Whaaaat?" Wheeeeze. "The...where AM I?" Oh, this was baaaaad. "Where are you?" Poke. Prod.


Miranda...zoomed off into ther Quidditch land, because the next thing she knew, her lungs took in a buttload of air and she groaned/growled most unladylike. "GAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" AIIIIIIIIIIIIIR.

And whuuut?
"I beg to differ...um..." Whomever it was speaking. Wait, that sounded like Masterson! He had that sarcastic tone. Hehe. "Bumblebees were never meant to fly either, but they do." Lack of oxygen, people. "And it DID work....before we started to tumble down." Heh.

Her. Ribs. "It worked well..." The cushioning that is. Because, really, this could've gotten ALOT worse. Hehehe.
Tester? Well, it was a leetle difficult seeing as she was clinging onto Torin. PFffft. Hehe. She wouldn't do that though. "I assume...heh...you have experience..." Breathe. "...with this, sir?" She grimace-grinned and looked up at Masterson, but soon flopped down on the floor again.

Ouch! Poking by foot! "Stoppit!" Her hand went slappity against the intruder. It was most annoying. Hehe.

Miranda sighed. It was pretty nice here, one the cool stone floor.
Smart Aleck?! "Sir, please don't compare me to someone I do not know." Hehehe. And yes, she WAS fully functional...or she had been before. Now, not so much. But she didn't think anything was broken.

He hadn't?
Lifting her head up to look at the man, "Why not?", she asked looking genuinly curious as to why he hadn't done a close thing to this when he was younger. And what is UP with the foot poking! Her hand formed itself like a claw and she starting to wave her hand around towards the foot. Shoo! SHOO! Hehe.


Help?
Oh... "Oh, ha-ha, don't let us bother you with some face deformation and minor crocosphgus puncturing." Because whatever that was, she might have broken it.

Eirian dashed to the staircase and pulled Jayce on, beginning to walk up yet another flight of stairs. Then, as she continued up, the staircase jerked into motion and she squeaked, swaying with it. Merlin, since when did staircases move!? What was wrong with this bloody school!? "What's it doing?" she asked through gritted teeth. "We need to get up there... but the bloody staircase has its own bloody mind. That's not the fourth floor."

Jay followed Eirian up the stairs but as soon as he placed one foot on it, it began to move. Seeing Eiri loose her balance, he quickly grabbed her, to make sure she wouldn't fall. He sighed as it moved away from where they wanted to go. "It's moving. Duh. Haven't you ever heard of the moving staircases?" he questioned her, with an eyebrow raised. He chuckled as she got all upset. "Relax Eiri." he smiled, and laid an arm on her shoulder. We'll just have to wait. No biggie." he added with a shrug.

Eirian grumbled as Jayce had to steady her. Bloody staircase. "I know it's moving," she said, crossing her arms. "I don't know why something would possess someone to let it. It's a waste of time." And it wasn't moving one bit. "What's the point of this?" She paused, looking at the top of the staircase before sitting down on the step she inhabited. "Do you know how long this takes?"

Jay chuckled. "Is it? But what if you needed to go this way?" he asked as he took a couple of steps ahead of her and pointed towards the path. "It would be convenient then." he said with a nod. "I don't think it takes long. I've never been stuck in the situation be-" and just then, it began to move again. With a sly smile, Jay sprinted up the stairs.

"Hey!" Eirian yelled, jumping as the staircase began to move. Then, Jayce stepped over her and sprinted ahead, and she hopped up and followed after him. "So not fair.. What happened to ladies first?" she asked herself.

What?? Pout. Miranda wasn't sure WHAT had happened here, but it didn't sound good. She turned her head slowly to look at Torin who wasn't far away. "Turtleee... he took it back." And she wasn't really sure what it was. "Make him...take it back-back." Poke poke.

Wait. What? Blink. There actually was something called an shuflsophaghus? HOW COOL. Miranda grinned tiredly. "Pffft, I knew it was called...that." Yeah. Nice guy? Opening her mouth, she was just about the start gigglesnorting, but she wasn't on the ground anymore.

It was as if she was tumbling down the stairs again. CONFUSING. Eeeeeeeeeeek! "AgH! Wha-" WHAT WAS GOING OOOOOOON, "Torin! Are we falling again!?" She reached out for the boy, trying to cling onto him and she did...she was now sort of hugging his head! Hehe.

Torin had sorta blanked out. so he had no real idea what was going on until he felt like he was being lifted up from the ground and suddenly something was hugging his head.

Awkward much?

"Miranda? What are you doing?" You're squishing my face...

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeek!

What she was DOING? What did it loook liiiiiiiiiiiike?
"I'M CLINGING TO YOUR HEAD, TORIN!" Whynow? "It's the only thing I could grab ontoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

But, ohmygossssh. It was Masterson! She squinted at him and noticed he had his wand drawn out. "Oh, look, Turtle! It's aLLRIiiiiiight! We're SAFE- Floating!" She pointed at Masterson. "We're not falling down the stairs again, allright? There there." And then she started to pat Torin's head. o.O



But meh, where were they goiiiing??
"Sssssssssir? Where are you taking ussss?" Ooooh, he'd better know his magic. "I sure hope you know what you're doing sir, 'cus I'll tell ya, falling once was painful enough. Bleh."

Nia skipped happily behind her team, grinning widely. She was totally gonna remember this - her first victory as Captain, and with such amazing people.

"Of course," Nia replied to Becca with a wink. How they had the energy to carry JD all this way, Nia wasn't sure. Nia was in that mix of tiredness and excitement. Then again, she hadn't been able to eat any breakfast through nerves. "I'll catch him, don't you worry!" She didn't want her awesome seeker injured and unable to play next term, after he'd finally got some confidence. And then she cheered, just her team was so great.

Starting to waver a bit on the shoulders, he looks a little nervous. Sighing with relief when Nia said he was watching the back and was behind him.

Being on shoulders was one thing, climbing stairs like that...well that was downright frightening. Wait...catch him?!?!

Bug-bite-covered Jacob Sprinted up the stairs two at a time, brandishing his Beaters bat. They Won! And Gryffies didn't take even one snitch grab, or even a point in the match!

"WHOOOO YEEEEEAHH!!!!!!!"he screamed at the top of his lungs, as they bounded up towards the common room.