She soooo noticed when Dylan slipped in with everyone else...but she wouldn't call him out on it. Nah. She did give him a wave and a big smile though. "Dylan!" Yeah, she gave him verbal recognition too. Lex wondered where he was coming from but she wouldn't say anything about it just in case he was keeping it secret--not from her though; he couldn't never dare keep anything from her. That would just be RUDE.

"Oh I like all the ideas so they all work." She said giving the girl an excited grin. At one point or another throughout the night they would do all of them and if not she would sit up and imagine it. No matter what happened she wasn't going to bed so it didn't really matter, did it?

Looking over at the other houses none of them seemed settled down so falling asleep would have made them the under dogs!

"Hello Sir Nicholas!" BEAM. He'd heard about the lock out too. Good. "Do you think you can float inside and convince whatever shoved us out earlier to shove out the candy on my bed and the bag of candy below it?" The thing that did it was probably a ghost and he was a ghost so they must have been friends or whatever ghosts had after they died.


She said YES?!?! Woooooo!!!

Lex nodded eagerly to the little conditions her Head of Head was dishing out. In all Honesty she wasn't really listening that well; she was much too excited that Professor Bentley would be playing with them...plus...there was no way a pillow fight could last only ten minutes. Could it?

Seeing was believing so she'd wait before making that statement. Looking up at the Professor she could see that she was being kinda serious though so as much as possible she would listen to her--just don't expect her to fall asleep when it was all done. Nope. Sleeping people missed everything and--oh yeah, they died.

Lex gave a little squeal of excitement before shimmying a little closer to the Professor and the others. Sarah would be going first so this would be interesting.

Sarah was excited and all revved up to go... she just needed a story to say... Sarah love to improvise!

Where should it take place... many spooky stories took place in a graveyard and a haunted house....
So Sarah began in the graveyard.
"As Darkness covered Britain with her great black veil, no one was outdoors to witness it. It was a dark and stormy night you see, and the only light came from the flashes of lightning that lit up the world every once and a while. It was then that those witches and wizards decided to make their appearance. One by one, all the previous allumanae of Hogwarts rose from there graves. It had been decided by the Governing Board of the Dead Alumnae of Hogwarts, that that night was going to be the time when all the former students were going to reexperience hogwarts. They missed it, and they were eager to kick the present students out of the common room in order to reclaim their place by the cackling fires.From teh fens and glens, the highlands and the steppes they came. Over land them dead spirits flew: Destination: a place in Scotland, near a lake... Sarah said in an ominous voice, and adjusting the pace and pitch as she went.

Making a cup of hot cocoa for Ronnie, the seventh year handed it to her and then figure she ought to fin a sleeping back and sit down on it. The promise of spooky stories being told was, unfortunately, not appealing to the Gryffindor who was sort of terrified of ghost stories. Biting her lip nervously, Kurumi glanced at Melanie when she asked about tea parties. "Well, I am not entirely sure how things are done in Great Britain to be honest," she laughed. "They are awfully formal in Japan. Mother had me trained in the Japanese tea ceremony...so I suppose we can do whatever we want?"

Which seemed to be drinking hot drinks, nibbling on cookies and other snacks, and listening to spooky stories.

"There are some cookies and other things on the table, things left over from the Winter Wonderland event...including that smore pizza," Kurumi replied to Alexa, nodding towards the table with the empty mugs. Waste not, right?

Attention back on Professor Bentley now, Kurumi shook her head. "Not really...besides not being able to get into the common rooms." But that much was obvious. Oh MERLIN Walnut was going to leave a mess in there... Kurumi was ready to take a weekend study break from her NEWTs to clean the common room from top to bottom and deodorize the entire place.

And then the Gryffindor ghost made his appearance, along with Dylan who receive a small wave, at the sleeping area. Nothing said ghost stories like an actual ghost. Shivering at the thought, and somewhat gawking at Sarah who had volunteered to tell a story first, Kurumi shook her head and glanced at the spirit. "Good evening, Sir Nicholas," she greeted. "Sir Nicholas...are you able to pass through the barrier and enter the common room? Or does whatever it is even repel ghosts?"

Finding a sleeping back, Kurumi sat down on it and sort of unzipped it so it turned into a blanket and wrapped it around herself like an eggroll and listened as Sarah began to tell her story. Did she REALLY have to make it so... relevant? SIGH.

Now Kurumi really wanted Walnut to snuggle with...or Lewis...but the latter wouldn't be very appropriate right now. Selina? Did Selina want to snuggle?

Sir Nicholas wanted to float down through the floor for unintentionally startling the Gryffindor Head of house. He didn’t though.

Floating slightly backwards to not icy the professor lady again Sir Nicholas replied. "The fat lady got upset when I asked her about it. She had been sleeping in her portrait when the students had been evicted she told me and that she only emitted people not evicted them but she had felt some kind of force brush past her earlier in the night."

Then the Fat Lady had clammed up.

Sir Nicholas turned slightly to look at the young lioness. With sadness he responded "I’m sorry dear I can float in and check that your candy hasn’t been stolen but I can’t bring it out here. We ghosts can’t lift things belonging to the living." It was a stupid barrier but a barrier nonetheless, which the Gryffindor ghost could not pass even if he wanted to.

Diverting his gaze from Alexa to Kurumi he plastered on a beam."Good evening Kurumi!" which faltered slightly when the prefect also asked about the barrier. "Um, honestly I don’t know. I haven’t tried to enter today but it’s possible that I wouldn’t be affected by the barrier like you all are since I’m neither living nor dead." Sir Nicholas said.

"Is there anything you’d like me to check up on if I could get through the barrier dear?" he asked besides Alexa’s candy.

Hearing that made Lex hop up from her spot on the floor and hurry to the table. She remembered the event and what really left a stain in her mind was all the things filled with SUGAR.

"Wow thanks Kurumi, you're the best!!" Anyone who provided her with sugar was the best really and at the moment that just happened to be her prefect! The first thing she got to was the smore pizza. She offered a slice to her. "You want some?" Because she didn't want her falling asleep either. Nope. Everyone was staying up; everyone.



Wait whaaaaat?

O___O

Her eyes widened at the ghost's statement. "You mean she felt something entering the night before and DIDN'T say anything??--the thing was with us in there the whole time?!!?--It had a chance to stalk and make plans to steal my candy?!?!?"

Merlin what was going on?



Her brows crinkled as the ghost made her even more confused. "I didn't mean you should throw out my candy..." She may not have been the smartest kid but she DID know that ghosts had limitations. "I meant, couldn't you be all friendly and stuff to the force thing then get it to evict my candy??? Since it threw us out the candy should be no problem...right?"

Just a thought. A thought inspired by near sugar withdrawl.



With the nice slice of smore pizza in one hand and Felix tucked away quite nicely in the next she retook her seat and listen to Sarah begin her story. While she sat there she tried thinking whether or not she was forgetting something. Deep down she couldn't shake the feeling something was off.

It wasn't until Sarah took that little pause that she remembered.

"Oh!" She hopped up again so suddenly that Felix screeched. It was her turn to take over the story. Let's see...where did Sarah leave it...--oh right!

"Meanwhile some pretty spooky things were happening in the school! The students would suddenly be awoken in the night and find eyes staring right at them from the corners of rooms," She tried maintaining the same tone as Sarah but really she had no idea where this story was going, "their things would mysteriously show up in a completely different common room--even the house elves had started acting weird. Most nights there was a dark cloud hovering over the school that hid he moon's light and a wind that scratched at the winds veeeerrrrryyyyy creepily, the sound alone could send a chill through your bone." She paused a moment to let that thought sink in and so she could think of something else.

"Uhhh..." Yeah...she had nothing else for now. Lex looked at them all hoping someone else would jump in afterall she and Sarah had wanted it to be a group thing.

Anastasia made her way to the Gryffindors next, her heels announcing her presence just a moment before she appeared next to the Head of House.

"Professor Bentley," she greeted the Herbologist with an urgent tone, ignoring all the distractions of children and ghosts and ghosts and ghosts around them. "May I have a word?"

Seren was in a world of her own, processing the information Sir Nicholas has given her. The Lions were fine, accounted for, unharmed... all's well that ends well right? .. Though something still didn't sit right with her.

With reality kicking in again, she listened as students told spooky stories... a safe way to use this time..

She heard the clicking of heels before she saw the woman, but had already turned and taken a few steps in her direction. "Of course," she nodded, her brows furrowed in concern.

Anastasia refrained from straight-up dragging the professor off to the side, but she was sort of wringing her hands as she waited to speak with her. Once they were in a somewhat student-free area, Annie began in a low tone. "Have you been to the common room yet?" she didn't bother beating around the bush. Herb prof joke! "I've heard it's bad. Doubt confringo will work on it. I'm actually looking to get some heads together to work on breaking past whatever this barrier is...."

She looked to Bentley hopefully.

After inching away from the students, while still shooting them looks of BEHAVE, Seren turned her attention to Annie, shaking her head in response. "No, I came as soon as I could, but the students were already here when I arrived..." so she hadn't bothered checking things out herself.
"Is it really that bad?" she asked in disbelief.

What could do such a thing? And unnoticed too...

"I'm happy to help in any way that I can, but I'm not sure what use I'll be."

So she hadn't been up there yet. Hmm, well then, she really might NOT be of much use to Anastasia. What she needed was some of Defense expert, and a charms expert to, come to think of it, to break into those common rooms... maybe even a transfiguration pro....

Anastasia sent off a few more Nundu patronuses without warning, since this was on her mind and this needed to be taken care of too. "I'm sorry," she apologized belatedly to Bentley, "but it really does look bad. Would you mind watching the students in here, even if they're not Gryffindors? I'm going to see who else is around to help me get into those common rooms..."

She walked off without really waiting for another response. Annie was definitely distracted.

It WAS that bad? ... Seren, mildly unsettled, shook her head. "Not a problem at all," she managed to reply just as the woman walked away.

Lions, Badgers, Eagles and Snakes... well this would be an interesting... and long night.

Returning to her Lion camp, she sought out Kurumi... if only she could spot her other prefect too.. no matter.
"Looks as if I'll be babysitting the other Houses as well, are you alright to hold the fort while I do the rounds?"

Furrowing her brow a bit, Kurumi wished that the ghost had tried already. It could possibly answer more questions about what all was going on and at least narrow down whatever it was that the magical barrier was keeping out.

Wait...neither living nor dead? Kurumi sort of blinked at Sir Nicholas for a moment and desperately wanted to ask him why he celebrated his Deathday...but now was really not the time to be testy about such things.

Although him calling her dear out of the blue like that was startling. First time for everything?

"No, just my cat...he, um, he doesn't fancy being left alone for too long..." And would retaliate. Sigh. Sorry Gryffindors!

NOW she was the best? Kurumi bit her lip shyly and sort of just bowed her head in gratitude, choosing not to reply to the compliment. "Oh no, I'm fine. But thanks for asking," she smiled in return. She had had enough sweets for a while. Not to mention she was far too worried about everything that was going on to be able to eat anything really. Sipping on tea was about as much as she could muster. "Maybe the house elves can bring it to you?" Kurumi suggested when Sir Nicholas mentioned that he couldn't physically pick anything up. "Assuming they can pop in and out of the common rooms..."

Had THAT been tested yet?
"Evening, Headmistress," Kurumi said, bowing her head towards the woman as she arrived. The woman, who usually seemed to be ridiculously composed and put together was clearly...flustered? Especially when she asked to have a word with Professor Bentley.

This couldn't be good.
Attention back on her Gryffindors while her Head of House went off with the Headmistress, Kurumi couldn't help but glance over her shoulder from time to time wondering just what was being discussed.

After a bit, Professor Bentley returned and Kurumi's attention was back on the woman. "Sure thing, professor," she nodded. Probably easier said than done, but she would do her best. "Is there...anything else I can help with?" To be honest, all this was freaking Kurumi out a bit. What if they were all sitting ducks here in the Great Hall?

"Erm..." Seren thought for a moment, lips pursed in concentration. "Not that I can think of... lets just try to keep people as comfortable as possible and hope they don't do something stupid." She feared stupidity in crowded places... especially when adrenalin was involved, and this was rather exciting, even if it wasn't necessarily good.

Ronnie smiled, taking the hot cocoa from Kurumi. "Thank you," she said before taking a drink of it. Mmmm, this night sure was great! Ronnie had never felt so...full of energy like this before! She'd probably be up ALL night tonight. Well, maybe...today had been a long day and she was kinda tired.

WAIT. NO. She was GOING to stay up tonight. She could NOT miss anything! This was just to awesomeee!

She finished the cocoa quickly and placed her cup next to her pillow. She wiped at her mouth where a little cocoa had been and sighed, leaning back into her pillow a bit, beginning to stroke Oliver again. A wide grin spread across her face as Sarah spoke to her. She turned her head towards her friend. "I know, right?!" she cried, giggling out of excitement.

Then, Sir Nicholas floated in. Tonight was just getting more and more exciting! She sat up more in her sleeping bag, bouncing a little where she sat. "Hello, Sir Nicholas!" she said with a smile and a little wave.

And then the spooky story was starting! Ronnie eagerly turned her attention towards Sarah as she began to tell the story. After a while though, she sorta tuned out and before she knew it, she had collapsed onto her pillow and was fast asleep.

Arabella-Marie hated the lockout she wanted to go back to the common room and she sighed she looked about at her fellow housemates wondering what was happening as she was a bit confused

And now the Headmistress was here...ruining her story...

Well it wasn't much of a story but that didn't make it right to just barge in without saying 'excuse me' then simply disrupting it. What if she was just about to get to the best part? Did the woman think of that? No. She just waltzed on over and took their Head of House' attention.

How ruuuuude.

Lex eyed Kurumi suspiciously. Why didn't she want any? Was she planning to fall asleep and thought sugar would make it impossible to do so, 'cause that was totally the point. This wasn't even funny. As prefect she was the last person Lex would allow to sleep, next to the professor of course.

"Hmmm...you think they could do that???" As in, there was HOPE for her candy?! Gooood. "Do you know where they'd be at the moment? I think I need to have a word with them." It wouldn't take too long. She'd be gone and back in no time. They wouldn't even miss her. Lex took another bite of her 'pizza' as she continued stroking Felix's fur. The story in her head had stopped and she needed someone to pick up so no one could have a chance to fall asleep.

-______-

Why did there just always have to be this one person who fell asleep? "OI!" She called to the sleeping girl. "This is NO TIME to sleep!" She said, nudging Ronnie a bit too forcefully for her to wake up. "You don't know what could happen any second now so get up! Get up right now!"

When she said no one was going to sleep, she meant it. This was serious and she didn't have time to wake up people if something came and threatened their lives. Nope.

Oh merlin. This one just looked confused. There was no time to be confused either!! There was something going around, stealing candy and they needed to remain alert. being confused was just as bad as falling asleep. "Look alive Arabella! We have to stay focused!"

Arabella-Marie looked at Alexa and said "Yeah i guess so but i wish that i was still in the common room but i guess that whatever happens we do need to stay focused"

Ronnie suddenly began squirming a little in her sleeping bag. "Mmmm...nnooo..." she muttered. Then, someone had nudged her.
"NO NO NO! NOT THE KITTIES-" Ronnie screamed, sitting up in her sleeping bag. She blinked. She glanced around her, realizing she was in the Great Hall...not...where she had been...when she was dreaming.

Ohh. That was a dream.

She yawned, rubbing her eyes. Well then. That was kinda...embarrassing. She turned to Alexa with a small smile. "Thanks for waking me, I didn't wanna fall asleep. Like, at all." she said. She really didn't. She wanted to stay up ALL NIIIIGHT!

A voice boomed out around the Great Hall. It was the Transfiguration professor and she had a message. So listen up kiddies.



"Can I have your attention please everyone! I have some good news and some bad news... Plus a request. Firstly I am pleased to inform you that the common rooms have been successfully unlocked, however we ask that you remain in the Great Hall for the time being. This is due to the fact that Professor Burbage has, apparently, been kidnapped by a plant." That sounded ridiculous even to her, but anyway. "Search parties are being set up to look for the Astronomy Professor and the plant, so if you would like to join in and help, please make your way here to us at the entrance. Those of you that don't, please stay where you are and someone will remain with you. Thank you!" Okay, well hopefully that got their attention.