This was getting complicated. She wanted Harvey, she thought but wouldn't go after him because of Ronnie. Ronnie was with Harvey but thinking of leaving him because of Minnie. She sat down and just laughed. She wasn't even sure why she laughed. "Oh boy Ronnie we have a mess on our hands." Minerva looked at Ronnie and got back up to hug her. "You are a great friend and I don't want to ever see you hurt. I am fine, Harvey and I are just friends that is it. I promise." For now that is what it was going to stay.

Maxwell smiled back. "Yeah, So do you still live in Boston?" Maxwell asked.

Ronnie smiled. "Yeah, I guess we do." she said sitting down next to her. Her eyes widened as she hugged her, and she hugged her back tightly and didn't let go. "Thanks mate." she said. "And even if Harvey broke up with me, I wouldn't go crying about it." she said chuckling. "Besides, look at me. I'm twelve years old." she said grinning. "Oh okay...." she said.

Minerva grinned. "Are we good?" She looked to the puff table. "I think someone is wanting to talk with you. Maybe you should go talk to him. I think I will hang back there are a few people I want to talk to."

Nessie shook her head sadly and thought back to her home town. She loved Boston. To her it was the city that had the most character. You can find no flaw in Boston to her. "No, I still have family there though. We go and visit every once and a while. I miss Boston though."

Oh, dear. Jordan hated to tell his past, or what he thought it was. It was definitely a negative mood changer. "Ok, well here it goes. I can't remember anything about my past or where I was from, due to the death of my parents Shawn, and Tammi Kobe. They were murdered one night, at their home in London. Then they came in to the room where I was sleeping, and performed a memory charm on me. I was only a toddler, so I didn't know what exactly happened. Jordan tried to make his life story as simple and short as possible. "Now I live with my Uncle Chris in London." At times Jordan wished he lived with a different family member, because his Uncle was certainly addicted to working at the Ministry. A true Workaholic.

After recieving Tates orders, Seren made her way down to the house tables, inching her way over to the Gryffindor table. To her surprise, the students appeared to be cool, calm and collected... not phased by the disturbances at all. GRYFFINDORS!

Scanning the Hall she saw Tate talking to one of the elves. She edged closing toward them, straining to catch parts of the conversation of the noise.

0__________0

Did she just hear something about a baby elf?

Seren listened more closely, and indeed, it seemed to be the case.

"Right everyone... stay calm." Yep, check... "... it appears as though there is a baby elf on the loose, could WE all please help out in finding the little dear, DO be gentle, so lets try to capture it."

Scabior wasn't really..there to look for...whatever it was. Or to calm anyone down. He was just following Bentley. Really, whatever she did he would follow. He was far to hungry to care about anything else.

....Did Tate just say baby elf?

"You heard Bentley." Dash said his voice rising slight. "Shut up. Calm down. And catch the baby elf. Everyone." The more people that helped out the sooner they would catch the creature.

Kurumi felt warm and saf being hugged by Carter right now, and it was the familiar feeling that she was going to have to do without next term. Perhaps, all this was coming at just the right time? She was going to be a 5th year now and that meant that she needed to take on the role of being the big sister and role model to students instead of her always looking up literally to older students.

She swallowed hard and squeezed him back again, knowing she was going to have to let go eventually...but not really wanting to do so. Still, she did detach herself from Carter and rubbed her eyes, hopefully drying some of her tears.
Kurumi looked at August and bit her lower lip as she tried to keep back some more tears. Truth was, she sort of felt like throwing her arms around the younger student to hug...

but her thoughts and actions were interrupted by Professor Bentley and Professor Scabior making an appearance at their table. Professor Bentley was fine, Professor Scabior always freaked her out though - not that she really disliked him in that way...she just found him to be unreasonable.

Kurumi jumped to her feet. All the missing things...the baby house elf is what had been taking them, right? "Lions! Chasing after it isn't going to help the situation and will only frightening the poor thing and make it run around more," she said as she walked over to the front of the table. "We need a plan..." Kurumi thought about her cookies. Perhaps...they could set a trap of some sort? This baby house elf did seem to have a pack rat personality.

Finally he broke into a smile. The images that formed in his head of that new life with Lexi anted up his pulse, and even more so when she said something about eating in nothing else but... "You really sure about that huh, me just switching into the role of the Graduated?" he smirked. Wow he cant believe he just said that too. Graduated. Instead of Drop-out

If only he can see the faces of all his past Professors and School Administrators. Hah and a big HAH!!

"Babe, its a bit far to run all the way to France" he winked. He was joking of course, he knew what his Gryffincess meant. He shifted in his seat and felt something in his pocket. Oh yeah! "Hey Luv, I want you to close your eyes for me, then hold out your hand" he said in all seriousness.

Smirking to herself, Seren was curious as to why Dash decided to follow her of all people. Didn't she annoy him? Didn't Gryffindors annoy him? Either way, his voice was more authorative than hers, so it was probably a good thing he'd come with her.

"Brilliant thinking Kurumi."
See! Lions didn't have to be all brawn and no brain. This was exactly what they needed, a bright example of how not to charge around arms flailing looking tough with their shirts off.

"Alright everyone, let's devise a plan, HOW can we capture the elf without scaring it off? Remember we don't want to hurt it."

"Maybe we could trick it into COMING to us instead?"
Go Lions! Sit! Think! Plan!

"Of course I am sure. Aren't I always right? And sure about everything?" HMMMM. Cue the nose poking. "I believe in you even when you are too worried to believe in yourself."

When had she become a personal cheerleader? Heh.

"And that was a terrible joke." SNORT. He really was a terrible comedian. TERRIBLE.

WAIT A SECOND --

PRESENTS!


Quirking an eyebrow she did as she was told... and even bounced in her seat with anticipation. "Hurrrrrry or I will peek!" She would, too. He knew she wasn't bluffing.

Rose beamed. 'I don't know, maybe I have a secret twin...' she said mysteriously, waving her hands around. Mwaha, two Roses would be hell for Hogwarts... 'Nope, not one bit... They're looking forward to it as well, though.' she said, nodding her head. She was soon going to be a third year!

He grinned, did he say how much he loved seeing her all excited for presents? It makes arguing with his contacts and the accountants back and forth all worth it. He reached out for her hand and clasped this onto her wrist. The deftly he turned her hand over and placed this onto her open palm before folding her fingers gently over it.

Lexi was a PRINCESS. She DESERVED presents. Especially for NO REASON. Yes, she was still not acknowledging her birthday that just passed. Nope. Not at all. This was a Tuesday gift... Yep. Or whatever day of the week it was. Friday perhaps. Anyway.

She felt the cuff clasp on her wrist and squealed a little... then the other object in the palm of her hands. Hmmmm. "The suspense is killing me!" she exclaimed as she opened her eyes and STARED. Was that... Oh. No. It was a Gryffin. Heh. Lexi awwww'd and inspected the pin first. "Oh it's beautiful, Stradivarius. I simply adore it!"

Next her eyes fell on the cuff and she squealed again. THrowing her arms around him suddenly she burst into tears again. Tears of joy, thank you tears, I am sad I am leaving here tears. "They -- they're P-p-p-erfect!"

''Right then,Lovely to meet you.''He said smiling and shaking her hand.''What card did you get.''He asked curiously.

Kurumi smiled in Professor Bentley's direction. She was glad that she, and the prefect assumed Professor Scabior felt the same, felt that running around chasing after the little creature wasn't the way to go about things. Having lived with Walnut for the past four terms in the dorms was a sure indication of this. Whenever he did something bad and she would chase him around the place, it never resulted in anything good and the dorms usually ended up looking like a war zone.

It was now that Kurumi turned to the box of cookies that she just hadn't felt the desire to set out on the table yet - saying good bye to seventh years had distracted her from playing her role of Cookie Girl. "What if...we charm these cookies to dance around this end of the table?" Kurumi asked as she opened the lid on the box to reveal its cookie contents. Kurumi wasn't entirely sure about whether or not house elves were the cookie type, but when one looked at what all had been taken from various locations in the school, the only thing that was certain was that the little guy was a bit of a kleptomaniac. She thought a bit more and then looked down at her feet.

OF COURSE! Why hadn't she thought of this before?

"Professor! Socks! We should all remove our socks as well!" House elves liked socks, historically speaking. She understood the principles behind the mature house elves and clothing, but this was a baby house elf...perhaps this whole idea of enslavement wasn't applicable yet? Was this little guy to blame for the snowmen too? That was more proof that the principles didn't apply, right? House elves never used their magic besides mundane work due to the whole concept of "enslavement." Kurumi hated that word and she even wrinkled her nose a bit thinking about it.

Focusing back on those surrounding her, Kurumi slipped off her school shoes along with her sleeping bear socks.

Auggie was about to freak out if Kurumi began to cry infront of him. He had no experience with girl tears apart from his little sister and she didn't count. He had looked up to Kurumi this entire term and he didn't think he could handle the waterworks.

But before they began to fall, Professor Bentley came over and warned them that a baby elf was on the loose.

O__________o

Oh well a baby one must be better than the adult ones he still wasn't so sure about. After Professor Scabior showed up, shouting at them as usual, Auggie realized this must be a real situation. "Professors why isn't the baby elf with the other babies in the elf nursery?" he asked in all seriouness. He didn't know elf stuff, GEEZ!

They needed a plan, and naturally Auggie looked at Kurumi first who had shouted the word socks and began to take her shoes off. He had read that somewhere about House Elves obessesion with clothing, especially socks. "Great idea Kurumi! Guys we need to take off our socks!" he said to the professors and other students around them to try and help Kurumi get this thing going. The third year used the table as support as he removed both of his shoes and socks and holding the latter in his outstretched hand. The stone floor was COLD on his feet.

It was good to see that Gryffindor had an active Prefect, Kurumi seemed to be doing a spectacular job at leading people and remaining calm in stressful situations, not to mention her ability to think RATIONALLY in a time of crisis. Was she a Gryffindor- Ravenclaw hybrid? Perhaps.

"Come on Lions! We'll need to work as a team if we're going to pull this off." They knew what team work was right? .. Sure Gryffindors were typically brave and often acted irrationally, not thinking before making their move, and often doing so without assistance. "Gather round, gather round, Kurumi has a plan..." which sounded interesting to say the least. BUT the girl was definitely onto something. The baby elf had been stealing a number of items from around the school, so there was the possibility that it would stop for a cookie or a sock. Maybe long enough to be captured.

"Socks are a good idea," she said nodding in agreement, "Though I won't be taking mine off.. I'm sure we won't need that many."
Plus she didn't feel comfortable with the idea of her students seeing her feet. That was sort of personal.... private. NOT FOR STUDENT EYES!

Seren turned to smile at August. Gosh that boy had some interesting ideas about the Wizarding World. Then again he was muggle born, so that explained why his questions were rather sweet in a way.
"Well for starters... there aren't any other baby elves, and there certainly isn't an elf nursery. We do not employ baby elves.. nor do we breed them."

It was strange. Standing here in these enormous Hogwarts crowds, Braeden had never felt so alone. The time to leave the beloved castle had come, and he hadn't even seen any of his friends - Theo had dropped off the face of the earth eons ago, Ruby was nowhere to be seen, he hadn't seen Ellie since their meet-up at the pathways, even Alfie had been missing for a while now. Pretty much everyone and anyone the boy had met through his years at Hogwarts had just sort of… vanished into thin air. And now that it was his time to leave the castle, it left this gloomy cloud of nostalgia hovering above his head.

In his thoughts of memories and times spent with good friends, Brae could hear a soft, faint voice calling out his name somewhere in the background.

Oh great, now he was imagining voices!

But as the voice came closer, the Gryffindork realized at that moment that it was real. The voice wasn't in his head. He whipped his head in the direction of the voice and caught sight of a small head of short blonde hair floating somewhere deep within the crowds.

He could recognize that hair and that voice anywhere.

"EMMA!"
With the largest of his goofy lopsided grins, Braeden forced his way through the crowd (and being taller than most students certainly helped get them out of the way) toward the small blonde girl calling out his name. "Emma!" As he finally reached the girl, the lanky boy spread his arms around her and held her tight in a nearly bone-crushing hug.

His Emma! She was here! :'))))

Auggie looked up at Professor Bentley as she turned towards him to answer his question about why the baby elf had even been released from its caretaker at the Elfish Nursery. "Oh...really? Well I didn't mean employ them, although I bet they would be able to clean the dishes pretty well, OH and probably fit into nooks and crannies better than the older house elves." Yeah. Baby House Elves could be a good thing no?

Ok so it was decided they were going to make a sock trap to lure the baby elf over to the Gryffindor table and capture it. Auggies socks were off and so were Kurumi's but Professor Bentley said she would not being doing the same.

She was going to ruin their plan!! "Professor Bentley you MUST take your shoes off. Your socks are bigger than ours!" that was totally meant as an innocent comment on the fact that she was an adult--in Auggie's mind.

She wasn't going to help. But that baby elf needed them! Quickly dropping to the floor, August scrambled to the professor's feet and began to until her shoes. "Professor we need your socks!"

AHHHHH!

Before she knew it the Gryffindor boy had gotten down to the floor and began untying her laces!

Bouncing Blueberries!

"August! What do you think you're doi-.... oh what the heck!" She couldn't really fight it could she? The kids would have their way eventually especially with these manic Gryffindors driven by the need to get involved, capture and succeed. Really, at the end of the day they were an admirable bunch. So it was with a strained smile, she sat herself down and pulled her boots off, the laces really didn't need to be undone.. silly boy.

At least Tate wouldn't be able to say she didn't do anything to help the students. This was their plan, and she was helping them enforce it. So really... this was a learning experience, a hands on apporach to ... capturing baby elves? Why not. It was Hogwarts after all.

Pulling off her cornflower blue socks she exchanged a look with August.. did she want them back when this was all over and done? Well she wasn't sure yet. Did he owe him for this? Yes, yes he did.
"I'm trusting you with my socks Goldstein... and only because I think this experience will be educational." And why would anyone want them otherwise?

Gosh the floor was cold. Seren starred down at her pink toenails. Well THIS, she never expected.

"Right team, get your socks off! If I can do it so can you!... Now, we have a plan to lure the baby elf hear, how are you planning to catch it?" This was the most important part right? Seren was curious to see how they were at problem solving.

Maxwell smiled. "I spent my first few years in New York, i went back a few times to visit the people i thought were my grandparents, i thought it was the most perfect place in the world."

Right. So they were trying to lure the baby elf in with socks? Dash thought he was understanding everything correctly. Interesting.

"I'm sure you have enough now." He said to August with a grin. Yeah. Take Bentley's socks, not his. It was as if the boy knew better. "Well...go catch him." Somehow. He shrugged. Who really knew how this would work?

Jordan was getting so so hungry. At this point, he honestly thought about eating a hippogriff, plus the events concerning some little creature in the Great Hall was making him a tad annoyed. Just as he turned his back, he recognized a very familiar face. It was Rose. "Hi, Rose. How are yeh?" Jordan said trying to entertain himself. He couldn't wait for Professor Tate to begin his speech, so he could begin eating.