THIS. WAS. RIDICULOUS.

Ellie had probably been running around the castle for the past hour, searching and searching for Braeden. Yeah, it was great that he sent her a note, but it would have helped a ton if he had told her where he was. The only hint she had gotten was that he stubbed his toe on a mirror.

A mirror? The only thing she thought of was a mirror that could possibly be in the boy's lavatory, but if it was anything like the girl's restroom, the mirrors were above the sink. Although Ellie wouldn't really put it past Brae to attempt some parkour in the boys room...

After running up to her dorm to find a simple spell book her father had given her, she had run up and down every corridor down the castle, searching for a mysterious mirror that Braeden could be at. And yes, she was literally running. She should maybe be used to the fact that Braeden always got hurt, but still... He was hurt enough that he needed to send her a note.

And alas, skidding around the corner came Ellie Johanson. Panting, she stopped several feet in front of Braeden and some girl she didn't know. Ellie bent over and put her palms on her knees, trying to catch her breath.

"I'm here." She said, breathlessly. Who knew the castle could be so hot in December?

Braeden looked completely startled (though he made an astronomical effort not to jump in surprise like he always did, for his toe's sake), when none other than Ellie appeared in the scene.

ELLIE.
HIS NURSE!
He was saved! Oh, thank Merlin!
The boy couldn't help the ear-to-ear dorky grin that lit up his expression at that moment. If Ellie was here… surely he wouldn't have to go to the hospital wing anymore, would he?! His toe would be saved and everything would be alright! Oh, it was all too good to be true. :')

Alright, maybe the boy's glee was a bit of an exaggeration. They still had to see if Ellie could even help him, but he trusted the girl blindly. If anyone knew anything about healing spells, it was her.

"Ellie!" He hopped over to the girl on his good foot. "I thought you weren't gonna come… I'm sorry, were you in class?" he asked, though he didn't look very sorry. He looked absolutely ecstatic as he stood on one leg and hovered the foot with the injured toe slightly off the ground. By this time, the toe seemed to have stop growing (though it was still three times larger than its twin on the good foot) and bleeding, but his sock was still slightly stained pink and the nerves in the mutant toe didn't seem to stop throbbing.

But it didn't matter.
He was saved. SAVED! :''''''''''')

Even though she was breathless and hot, not to mention a little sweaty Ellie couldn't help but smile at Braeden's attempt to hop over to her. In slight fear that he might fall over, Ellie put her hands on his arms to help stabilize him if he needed it.

"Of course I would come, silly. I'm your nurse." She told him with a little laugh. If it weren't for her, Brae would have been in the hospital and traumatized for the rest of his life. "No, I wasn't in class. I was all the way in the student gardens. So I had to run up to my dorm and get the book," She said, while pulling out her little journal of convenient spells, "And then I had to run around the castle because I had no bloody idea where you were. You failed to mention that in your note, by the way." Ellie resisted the urge to roll her eyes and laughed instead. "I didn't even know we had a mirror over here." She muttered, glancing past the Lion to the mirror. Huh. Maybe she just hadn't been on the fourth floor too often.

Ellie looked down and inspected Braeden's giant toe. Huh. Pretty. She sighed a little, finally regaining her breath and opened the book. She flipped to the "H" tab and found "Healing Charms". "Aha..." She mumbled to herself. "Here we go, 'Episkey, used to treat minor to moderate injuries such as a split lip or a broken nose.'" She quoted. Sounded good, right? How different were split lips and split toes, anyway?

Taking a step back, Ellie knelt down on one knee and pointed her wand at his toe. She didn't ask if he was ready. He didn't have a choice. ^__^ "Episkey!" She cast and waited for the result.

"Oh, and here's one to clean up dried blood!" She exclaimed, a little too excitedly. Sheesh, she should be a nurse or something. Ellie pointed her wand at his toe again. "Tergeo!" She said.

Standing up, she looked at her lanky friend and smiled. "How's that feel?"

Braeden beamed as Ellie assured him she would, of course, come. GAH. The girl was SUCH a life-saver. He would've crushed her bones into a hug at that moment, but he was too scared to move and let his toe hit the floor. Again. For the 834758th time since he stubbed it. Exactly how that toe had managed to make it through the past forty-five minutes was a mystery he would never be able to solve.

The cowardly lion looked a little guilty when Ellie explained her run-around to him. And when she pointed out how he'd forgotten to write a location on his note, the boy smacked his own forehead. HOW could he have forgotten the most important detail of the note!? "I am… so sorry, El," said the boy, who had never felt stupider in his life. Oh gawd. And even so, Ellie had still ran around the whole school trying to find him.
Could someone please show up and give Ellie an award for Best Nurse of the Year? Please? Thank you.

As Ellie flipped through her book to find the appropriate spell, Braeden proceeded to sit on the floor. His leg was tired of supporting all the weight it was used to only carry a half of. He watched as the Ravenclaw girl searched the pages with her bright blue eyes before seeming to find something. He raised his eyebrows slightly with interest.

He saw her point her wand at his toe, and grew a little uneasy. "Oh, uh-- El-- Shouldn't we firs--" TOO LATE. Ellie had cast the spell.

Braeden cringed, but was relieved to find that it had been completely painless. OH, THANK MERLIN. He wasn't sure if his body could handle any more pain. He watched as his toe slowly began to shrink back to its original size before Ellie blasted yet another spell at it. He laughed at her enthusiasm, and watched the pink stains disappear from his lion-patterned socks.

His toe was back to normal and clean.
Again, where was that nurse award?!

"Bloody hell…" muttered an awestruck Brae as he pulled his sock off, only to find his foot looking perfectly healthy and normal. "El, you… you…" He turned his big brown eyes to her, sparkling like he might just burst into tears of joy. "YOU SAVED MY LIFE!"

Alfie gave a soft chuckle as Braeden confirmed that that had been his plan, as he was never that fantastic at flying, that he much preferred driving or riding a bike. Her eyebrows rose, "You've got muggle in you?" she asked with wide blue eyes, a smile growing on her expression. She was half muggle born herself, and had a fairly muggle-oriented household for the most part. But she never got an answer to this question as moments later another girl showed up on the scene, this one seemingly less violent than Ruby.

Alfie gave her a weak smile, understanding that they didn't know each other at all, and watched as she began to explain her search for Braeden around the castle. The fourth year gave a bit of a grimace at this, understanding that that couldn't have been the most fun way to spend the last half hour. But she remained silent, watching as she quickly took hold of the situation and pulled out a couple spells from the book she'd brought with her; healing Braeden's toe completely. Wow, that was impressive.

"Wow," Alfie muttered aloud, hardly aware that the word had made it out of her mouth.

She gave a soft chuckle, quickly returning to silence as Braeden's obvious happiness grew, announcing that 'El' had saved his life. She could only assume that this was one of his many friends, and watched quietly for a moment. "Do...Do you still need that broom ride?" she asked with a weak smile, knowing that he could now run, but also aware that the castle was giant as this healing girl had found out the hard way.

Riley didn't like the threatening tone in the note that he found in one of his textbooks that was addressed to him regarding his friend Braeden...being held hostage or something. Coming from a rich family hostages wasn't something you joked about for Merlin's sake! The Gryffindor left the Common Room and was heading to the Great Hall to begin to look for his troubled Housemate, when he got to the fourth floor.

The seventh year remembered that he had forgot something. Riley rushed down the corridor looking desperately for.....the MIRROR! There it was it was just around the corner and he could see if he looked just as awesome as usual. As he rounded the stone corner of the wall, he ran into Braeden, a girl he had never met before and the girl who was making flirty eyes towards him at Braden's birthday party. "Brae?! Who the Hell is Alfie and what is this about?" he said flustered clutching the note in his hand.

"Nah…" Braeden shook his head when Alfie asked if he still needed the broom ride, the goofiest and most dorky of his lopsided grins lighting up his expression like it was Christmas morning. "I can run now!" he said, pointing at his toe as if Alfie hadn't witnessed the miraculous healing effects of Ellie's spells.

The very first thing Braeden wanted to do with his brand new healed toe, was try it on. And so, in a flash, he had jumped up from the cold stone floor and onto his feet. His brown eyes flashed in Ellie's direction and he could've just burst into tears all over again.

She had saved his liiiiifeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!
Without thinking twice, the overjoyed Gryffindork tackled the small girl into a bone-crushing hug. "El, you're a lifesaver!" Yeah, if it wasn't made obvious by his excitement already, he was very, VERY relieved to avoid the hospital wing.

And then Riley arrived.

Braeden pulled back from the hug poor Ellie was prolly left with some broken bones for, and turned to Riley, brown eyes all sparkly and his expression girlishly joyous. "Riley… you came!" He sounded like a damsel in distress. It wasn't until a moment later that the boy's questions snapped Brae back to reality. "Oh. This is Alfie," explained the boy, gesturing toward the blonde Ravenclaw who'd been witnessing all the craziness since it started with Braeden stubbing his toe. "She's a Ravenclaw, we just met…" he explained. "As for the note, it was…"

Errrrrrr. What was he supposed to say? That he'd sent Riley the note so the boy could save him from Ruby? It all seemed a little embarrassing now. AND SPEAKING OF RUBY - Where was the girl!? He was supposed to find her! "I--I--I just--I needed some help with my toe, but… well, as you can see, everything's good now. Ellie fixed it," he announced with a grin.

Alfie gave a soft chuckle as she watched Braeden announce that he would no longer be needing a broom ride, as he could now use his own toe, watching as he got to his feet in no time and hugged the girl who had healed him. She couldn't deny she was glad Braeden's foot was back to normal, allowing a bit of a weight to lift off her shoulders; all this time she'd been trying to get him healed one way or another. And yet, for some other reason she felt a little sad for a moment; she'd made a new friend, and met a couple other unique people, and she was positive Braeden and his friend (the gateway to this sort of adventurous new Hogwarts atmosphere) were about to disappear.

Before she could mention how amazed she was with the spell's success, another person appeared on the scene. Unfortunately, she didn't recognize his presence until she heard a booming voice ask 'who the hell Alfie was'. She nearly jumped out of her skin. Why was she doing that so much today?! Blue eyes wide, Alfie turned to the newcomer, her gaze set onto a student she'd most definitely never seen before and who was obviously older than herself, but not by much. There was something about him that immediately told her he was an older student.

As Braeden greeted him as Riley, she gave a barely audible, "Oh." So....that's who Riley was. And he didn't seem all that happy to be in their presence, let alone dealing with something that wasn't even happening anymore. Before she could fully wonder what Braeden would tell the boy, she heard Braeden mention her name, gesturing over to her as he introduced her. "I'm Alfie," she agreed with a smile, her features lighting up momentarily as she gave a brief wave. As strange as this was, she couldn't deny that all of this was still amusing her. Again...how often did this happen?

Smiling slightly, Alfie listened as Braeden explained the situation to Riley, though he seemed to leave out a few things; mainly Ruby. But Alfie remained silent, seeming to understand immediately Braeden's hesitance to tell this Riley character about something that ended a while ago.

Connor waited next to the mirror. He leaned into it to check his appearance, making sure his eyeliner wasn't messed up or his hair a mess. He smiled at his appearance as butterflies flipped in his stomach. He was glad that he was going to be seeing Orabelle soon. He hadn't seen her since they went skating. It was odd for even though they were in the same house, they never got to spend any time together. He barely saw her in the common room. He turned his back to the mirror and leaned against the wall next to it. He smiled happily as he waited.

Orabelle wondered why she had even agreed to meet up with him. Or even remember when she had. But her calender had been circled with her purple marker and written on with the date and time so she supposed she had agreed at some point... even if she couldn't remember when it was. She sighed, readjusting her bag on her shoulder, walking down the fourth floor corridor.

Then there was the mirror... and him leaning on the wall next to it, smiling oddly. "Connor," Orabelle greeted before looking in the mirror. Ooooh... her hair looked nice... then again, when didn't it? Hehe. Yup, she looked pretty... what a wasted outfit.

He smiled softly when she came up. He felt his breath catching in his chest at her beauty. Ok Connor, be cool, be calm. Girls don't like it when you're over anxious or when you speak your feelings too fast. Just be yourself you don't have to hide anything. "Hello Orabelle. I'm glad you came." Merlin's beard! She's even more beautiful. How is that possible? How is it that I haven't seen her in a few days and she looks even more gorgeous than when I last saw her? "Your hair is really beautiful today." He complimented her nicely. He could not help but think that the School Uniforms even looked good on her and these ugly things didn't look good on anybody.

Orabelle honestly couldn't remember why she was here... or since when was this mirror was here. It was really flattering, actually, not like it mattered because Orabelle knew she always looked nice. It was impossible for her not to... unless she went back to first year and thought bangs were cool. Which they weren't. She turned from the mirror and looked at him.

"Yeah, uhm, pleasure to be here," Orabelle said casually. She shifted her weight from one side to the other. When he complimented her hair, she beamed. "Thank you," she said with a smile. See, it wasn't just her. Her hair did look nicer today. Orabelle was half tempted to look back in the mirror to double check that it was indeed just as pretty as it had looked like... thirty seconds ago.

He stood up straight and quit leaning. "So what do you want to do, I was thinking we could go down to the kitchens and grab a snack and maybe just talk. We really haven't had the chance to get to know each other." He smiled kindly. He didn't offer his arm or anything because he'd figured that she probably wouldn't take it if he did and he did not want to make the mistake of seeming too over eager. "How've you been since the impromptu skating outing?"

Orabelle shrugged readjusting the hideous, but warm, Slytherin scarf around her neck. She couldn't even remember putting it on. "I suppose, nothing better to do really," Orabelle sighed. Which was just sad, she could remember a time in Beauxbatons when she rejected people and their invites. "I've been..." Orabelle struggled to look for the right word? Good? Maybe not, she was in Hogwarts after all. "I've been... fine," she said slowly, she had been dealing with it here and all so she supposed she was getting used to it. "And how have you been?" Orabelle asked.

"I've been alright. I'm about sick of being stuck inside all the time." He walked with her down the hallway. "So Orabelle, what do you miss most about France? What is your favorite french food?" He asked, trying to get to know her. He sighed. "I really miss Home, and I don't mean where I live now. I want to go back to Japan."

Orabelle nodded. "Well, there's not really much to do outside anyways," Orabelle sighed. She remembered the well manicured grounds of Beauxbatons, it was always beautiful there. "The lights, the people, my life," Orabelle listed. She missed being that girl in the center stage. Ugh, she couldn't believe going to Hogwarts changed all that. "Beauxbatons the most," Orabelle mused quietly. She shrugged though, it was all in the past but she would be back there eventually, or that was what she hoped. "Favorite French food?" Orabelle repeated. "The pastries, all of them," Orabelle said with a giggle.

Orabelle had loved the fluffy croissants in the morning and the delicious macaroons she loved so dearly. In addition to that she missed the smell of crepes and other fluffy treats.

"Japan?" Orabelle said, slightly surprised. Wow... "What's it like there?" Orabelle asked, tucking her hair behind one ear.

Connor smiled. He was sure then that she'd like their real date... He'd asked Dani what she would like and Dani had helped him tremendously. "Japan's really nice, at lest to me Tokyo's a bustling city and lights everywhere, people bustling about. Little Cafe's on the corner where you can get sushi and lo-mein and Fried Rice and Egg rolls." He smiled softly. "There are all these temples and dojo's and all kinds of Martial arts everywhere. In the country it's peaceful and quiet and in the springtime there are abundances of cherry blossoms everywhere. I really miss it." He smiled.

ooc: Next post Kitchen Level Corridor?

"Hello, mirror."

Here she was, facing a mirror and ready to talk to it. Yes, Helena was completely insane. Alright. She greeted the mirror, since she was going to tell it about her goals, or whatever she had to talk about.

But... what were her goals?

"Okay," the girl mumbled, facing her reflected form. "I suppose I want to be a Head Girl. Yes, it's a lot of work, responabilities, blah blah, but I really want that." That was... good, as a start... right? Now... how was she going to accomplish that?

Helena stopped for a moment, simply staring that the figure in the mirror. "I'll never be a Head Girl," she concluded, with a blank expression on her face. "Because there's always someone better than me."

Uhh stupid assignment.

The girl spun around furiously and left.

Ariella took a deep breath. Facing the mirror, she began.

"Hello. I'm here to talk about my goals and how I am going to achieve them. Don't ask why. It's this weird Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment, because our teacher isn't even caring enough to come and teach us a lesson." This was so stupid. Talk about ridiculous.

"I want to be Quidditch Captain. How I am going to achieve this, I do not know. Because there is always going to be someone who is better at Quidditch than I am and who probably has connections with people." Wait. This was supposed to be positive, right? Of course, Ariella, the queen of negativity, would turn this assignment into something dreadful.

"I am going to work very hard at Quidditch. I will practice every day and try to learn something new."

Wow. She sounded like a complete idiot.

"I want to be a bestselling author. I will write an amazing book, put a lot of effort into it, and try to get it published. But I have no money, so I will probably have trouble getting an agent."

Ugh. That would be enough for today, yes it would. She turned on her heel and walked away, happy that she had finished step 7.

Selina was running through the corridors with a mission and a piece of post in her hand. Ever since Christopher had agreed that he would move in with her and her family along with his little sister Elyon Selina had been running around and writing letters practically everyday to her parents preparing for the pair to move into the broomshed. She did feel quite awful with the whole broomshed concept, but she knew that her house would not feel at home to Chris. The two siblings needed their own space and yet a home to ancor too. So she felt that the distance between the Skylar's and the James' was enough that they could still be with each other everyday, but give each family a different outlit.

Besides that was the content of the letter she wanted to show Chris. Over the past few weeks Jake and Sophie had been charming the broomshed and preparing it for the new visitors to Whitley Hall. Selina wanted it to be perfect so that when the two came home they felt at home. It had been her pet project for quite some time and today she had gotten the post with a few pictures of the finished project. It only made her anticipation grow increasingly more with each passing moment. However, with all of her excitement she forgot to look where she was going and crashed straight into a mirror. Ugh!

Ever since the Boggart assignment, nightmares and guilt was all Christopher ever expierenced. He was finally starting to feel happy again after his father's death and like himself when Selina invited him into her family, because he learned that good things could come from the worst of situations and to celebrate his father's life, not hang on his death. But ever since he heard Boggart-Caroline's sharp, yet true words, he only pondered on what his life would've been like if there had been no crash. Or what things would have been like if he had died too. Sometimes he wished he would've.

He sat in front of the mirror in the empty room, staring at the images he saw. It was incredible, the mirror's magic. His friends and family sat happily around him smiling, laughing, and just being happy. It made a huge hole in his heart, knowing that maybe if he'd just been a Muggle all along that thing's would've stayed that way. Just as his father, his mother, Elyon, Caroline Krauter, Jack Davies, Robin Stanbrough, Selina, Katie Evans, Violet, and Michael O'Connor, the only people he really truly cared about, were waving to him and making his heart want to explode with grief and happiness and nostalgia, something flew past him, and smacked into the mirror, making everyone he loved fade. "No!" he cried out, even though he knew it was too late and that they were gone, and that even if they weren't they probably couldn't hear him.

He looked stressedly over at the small figure rubbing it's head out of the corner of his eye, and his expression turned from that to bewildered. ".....Selina?"

"W-w-what are you doing here?" he stammered.

Selina muttered a string of profanities under her breath as she rubbed her head. She slowly sat up taking it nice and slow because she knew that her head would hurt worse if she sat up straight and good. Part of her wanted to smack herself in the head again for running into a mirror and the other part of her wanted to lay down. Why was she such a clutsy human being. If she could only be half as graceful as Violet she wouldn't have so many issues. Then again if she were half as graceful as Violet she wouldn't be nearly as good of a Chaser. So it was a toss up for sure.

Once she was well adjusted in her space her ears picked up on the voice of the person who had called to her. She sat up straight and erect ignoring the pain in her head, "Chris! I've been looking for you... ow..."

Her hand clutched her head which still hurt a little, but she would get over it. Besides she had more important things to do when it came to Chris. Her hand jammed straight into her pocket and pulled out a letter. Enclosed in the letter was a series of three pictures. The ones that her parents had taken of Chris and Elyon's new living quarters. And there were the pictures of the rest of Whitley Hall as well if he were curious, but the three main pictures were her goal. So she pushed them in his hand.

"Selina, are you alright? Do you.... need to go to the Hospital Wing or something?" he asked his friend, his voice full of concern. She seemed to be in a lot of pain, and painful head injuries weren't exactly good. They were quite opposite, actually. Though everybody knew that.

Christopher scooted towards her, looking at the pictures she'd just shoved into his hands. He looked at each one in awe. "Selina.... you didn't have to go to all of this trouble just for us! Anyway, we're not living in your house, we just need the little broomshed." He shook his head at her. She really didn't have to go through all of the trouble and spend all of the money on him and his sister. They were just greatful to be living in the shed; they didn't need something this extravagant!

His eyes flickered back to the mirror again, but there was still nothing there. He knew it was a very, very personal question, but as they were going to be unofficial siblings soon enough, he was dying to know. "I know this is a really off topic and highly personal question, and you by no means have to answer it, but I just really wanted to know......" He smiled half heartedly at her and asked, "What do you see when you look in the mirror, Sely?" Part of him just thought it might have something to do with Quidditch, but he knew better than that. Selina was much deeper than that, but she probably had her secrets too. And he respected them completely.

Selina swatted his shoulder and said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "This IS the shed Christopher. And we didn't do anything that extravagant. I knew you wouldn't be comfortable like that so I did it very low key and all. Just to make sure that you two were comfortable. Of course, if you ever get sick of that little shack you can come and visit the main house. I'll be there and Violet is usually there too in the summer. What with the whole Mom's being friends thing."

Then Christopher grew quiet and he looked in the mirror. She just watched him and not the mirror because she knew if she looked she would never look away. That mirror was a danger to her sanity and the boggart had already messed with her sanity enough this year. She was just trying to smile and look normal as she struggled to put the pieces back together. But when he asked the question she knew was coming her eyes drifted to the mirror. Just like she knew she would be Danielle smiled back at Selina. True the only image Selina had of her baby sister was of an infant, but the image of the infant was enough to make her heart ache.

She swallowed hard and answered, "I see myself winning the Quidditch World Cup and scoring more goals in that match then ever before recorded. Why? What do you see?" She could not verbalize how much she wanted to say I see my dead sister, but that was a secret that had only come to the surface when the boggart showed its nasty face. She never spoke about it, but it was always there. It was why her mother left to go to Australia, why her Dad worked so long and hard, why Selina grew up basically alone. She had killed her sister.

Once again, Christopher stared at her with wide eyes, looking very bewildered. "WHAT!?!?!" He spluttered, trying to make sense of it all. "This mansion is your broomshed!?! And you're calling it a tiny shack!?!" He couldn't believe what he was hearing. This 'shack' was probably bigger than his whole Muggle house all together. "Selina, is this broomshed two stories!? Are you sure this is a broomshed and not one of those guest houses that are the size of a normal house? Because I don't think it's possible to have enough brooms to fit in there, I really don't." The whole thing was crazy! And if this was their broomshed..... He nearly felt chills down his spine thinking about their actual house. It was probably the size of a whole city. He smiled happily, still. "Selina, thank you so much. You really are the best friend in the whole world."

Then he perked up, sounding really dorky, "Violet's going to be there?" His smile was so cheesy, but it was so big and truly innocent it might make a Death Eater vomit. "But I thought she lived so far away! In Paris!"

He smiled and said, "I knew it. But I think you're going to be living your desire in no time." But really, Christopher new she wasn't telling the full truth. He could normally sense people's emotions by their face, eyes, and how they sat and acted. She was hiding something. Most definitely. And he respected that she keep her desire a secret, for after all, he had asked a very serious and personal question. She probably saw something much deeper, but for now, he wouldn't mess with it.

"Why?" He felt his hands become a little shaky, but he shrugged and acted as if what he were about to say was totally normal and not emotional at all. "Oh, I was just hoping that maybe someone else saw something that didn't make them feel worse, and not happy at all. Something that tore their heart out because they could never have that desire." At first he'd tried to play it off cool, but by now his voice was small, and scared.

"Me? I see what you would expect. My sister, father, and mother, smiling at me happily, all of my best friends waving at me and laughing like nothing was ever wrong." He sighed. "Only four out of those ten people I named aren't dead, and it's all my fault." He put his head in his hands for a moment, but realizing that he was still sitting there with Selina, he just ran his fingers through his hair and looked at her with his piercing blue eys.

"What do you really see?"