Oh, this was not good. Not good at all.

The Fat Friar has been floating around aimlessly looking for any of the other ghosts to talk to. He was worried. Even more so now he'd heard on the grapevine that his precious Badger's had been locked out of their common room. Something wasn't right.

As he made his way up to the observatory, he spotted just the person/ghost he wanted.



"Sir Nicholasssssssss!" The voice boomed out, echoing around the room.

"Have you heard? Something is wrong with the Hufflepuff common room. The students can't get in apparently. I don't like it, Sir Nicholas. I don't like it." He floated around sighing loudly and shaking his head.

"Sir Nicholas!"

Sir Nicholas spun around and just gaped as the Friar's booming voice echoed around the room causing his head to almost unhinch itself and actually be cut off this time.

Staring at the Fat Friar when he floated into the room itself, Sir Nicholas replied in a cut tone as he fixed his head. "Good day Friar!" Less boooming please?

Listening his brows furrowed in disbelif. "PREPOSTEROUS! Are you sure they can't get in? I mean its not just a clever prank?"

"Good day, yes, yes." For once the Friar was less interested in pleasantries, but he did wave a hand to apologise for nearly sending his fellow ghosts head flying.

"If it is a prank, Sir Nicholas, it's not a very nice one. I overheard a conversation about it, so did a discrete fly past by the entrance. And there they all were. LOCKED OUT!" His arms flew wide and his face creased in concern. His poor Badgers. "Do you think it's just my lot? Because I have a baaaad feeling about this...." Very bad. If he had bones he'd feel it in them.

Where were the Baron and Grey Lady when you needed to talk to them?

Myrtle had been following the Fat Friar around alllllllllllll daaaaaaaaay, well, invisibly, all day. She'd seen him try to fly through all the food sitting on the floor of the Great Hall and had giggled to herself when he'd looked in a mirror and freaked out at seeing THROUGH himself.

He was such a fat old goof. But, she was doing her job for her friend, and now she was doing the job here, where he was hanging out with Nearly Headless Nick. Myrtle floated in after the Friar and hovered about the pair, more or less eavesdropping from her post at the top of the observatory.

Sound carried so well here.....the room had great acoustics.

Sir Nicholas accepted the silent apology mutely. His old friend had always been LOUD. And nothing would change that.

He frowned as the Friar told him what he had overheard and seen. "No not a very nice prank at all if its is one. Hmm, I don't know there is only one way to find out." Worried Sir Nicholas floated to the nearest wall and dissapeared through it with his mind on his precious lion cubs.

Several minutes later Sir Nicholas retreated back into the Observatory with a look of shock and worry etched across his transparently pale features and stammered out. "My lions......are.....lockeeed out...toooo."

The Baron floated into the Observatory as angry as he had ever been. "Peeves!!!" He turned and saw the other two ghosts. "Sir Nicholas, Good Friar. Pardon for raising my voice, but he's gone too far this time." He said in an eerie low voice. "He's locked my snakes out of their common room, and dorms."

Always fashionably late, the Grey Lady floated into the Observatory. She was trying as hard as she could to hide her frustration but she had enough with the lil useless poltergeist...

She cleared her throat as she floated in, "Well, looks like I found the party...I hope it's a let's shun the lil poltergeist party because he has locked my lovely Ravvies out of their CR as well...when is Peeves going to grow up..." she asked rolling her eyes and trying her best not to yell.

The Friar nodded as Nick went off to see if the Lions were having the same problem. He resumed his floating round in circles while he waited for him to come back. If he'd had legs he'd have been walking a trough into the floor. And the news was not good. "Oh, my dear man. This is terrible. TERRIBLE!"

When the Baron and Grey Lady showed up, the Friar was all ready to tell them what was happening, but it seemed they knew as their own houses had been locked out as well. "Baron, Grey Lady," he nodded a welcome to them, before his mouth dropped open. "He's done the same to my Badgers and the Lions too. All. Four. Houses. You're right, Baron, Peeves has gone too far. What in the name of Merlin can we do about this?"

The Grey Lady shook her head up and down and thought about ways to remove something as annoying as a pebble in her shoe...well a pebble in her shoe when she was alive....

She floated back and forth and back forth with her arms crossed over her body as she thought.....shaking her head up and down as she went...

She turned quickly towards the two as an idea came to her...of course they needed a Ravvie to solve the problem, "I remember reading somewhere that salt can be used to weaken or entrap an entity like Peeves...so I say we find a barrel and lead him to it and then put salt around the rim to keep him locked in..." she said quickly with a little twinkle in her eye staring off into nothingness...yes she could be evil when you messed with her lovely Ravvie babies...

Then something clicked and she realized how awful that sounded and she made eye contact with the other two ghosts, "Or, maybe we could just go talk to the new Headmistress Bunz Bunz..." she said with a little defeated shrug of her shoulders.

Terrible...

Terrible....

Sir Nicholas wailed in his head. His precious lion cubs were locked out of their common room with no place to sleep. Floating around in circles he couldn't do since the good friar was already doing that. He settled with punching his fists through a wall. It helped some.

The Baron arrived soon after accusing Peeves of being the instigator of the current crisis. And the ever beautiful Grey Lady was of a similar mind when she floated in.

Sir Nicholas sighed before agreeing. "Yes let's go speak to Headmistress Truebridge. I heard she is in the great hall checking out the christmas decorations."

Floating out of the observatory through the nearest wall the Gryffindor house ghost fully expected the others to follow him. His poor lions....

The Grey Lady followed as ordered...yes yes yes...maybe the Headmistress would suggest the salt solution as well...she thought with a little smirk as she disappeared through the wall of the observatory...

Headmistress Truebridge.

Yes, that would be a very good place to start. The dear woman was a former Hufflepuff. She'd be horrified at what was happening with the poor Badgers. HORRIFIED.

Oh, they were off. "Wait for meeee!" he cried, floating off through the wall after the other two ghosts.

Vickers burst through the Observatory like a tornado, zooming about the circular room, peeking out of every window until he finally settles under one-- the one with the ornate balcony. He dumps his things unceremoniously on the floor and grabs hold of the stretchy rope, unwinding it in a manic energy until it has completely unspooled, then looping one end and knotting it tightly around the balcony’s ironworks. Giving it a few sharp tugs he thinks (or however you call thinking in a feverish manic state) it can support his weight, then began tying the other end of the rope all around himself.

BUT there is a reason why there was a bag full of deflated balloons see…

He seized the bag and ripped it open, the strings and wrinkly balloons spilling all over the floor. With a spell he began inflating the balloons and closing it up with strings, then began tying those strings around his wrists, the loops of his pants, around his arms-- and pretty soon he was hidden in this large colorful cloud…. which started to lift him up up the ceiling…

Oh but he’s not quite done yet.

With a bit of effort he grabbed Vivi’s gift from within his shirt then threw open the lid. The whiff of the charm hit him square on the face, the effect taking ahold of him quickly. The charm gave the sensation of flying… and indeed that’s what he’s feeling right now….

”I’m flying!!!” he wheezed and cackled in that cloud of colorful balloons-- of which are inching closer to the open balcony. ”Fly! Fly!” he hollered as he waved his floaty arms, making those balloons slip right through the balcony and up the open sky…

So there he was, floating into the great blue yonder, gazing at all of Hogwarts slowly shrinking beneath his feet, he could even see thestrals whizzing by him, waving back at them as they stared oddly back at him.

----TUG!

Oh he’s not moving forward anymore. In fact, he feels like he’ streeeeetching.

The bungee cord still tethered him to the balcony, but the balloons were pulling him up and away from it. Still manic-- and still feeling like he was flying under his own power-- he whipped out his wand and started taking aim at this nice red thing infront of his face…

POP!

There goes one balloon…

POP!__________________POP!

…..and another… and another….

POP!_________^POP!_________POP!_________^POP!_________POP!_________ ^POP!_________POP!

… and for anyone with really sharp hearing around the castle grounds, for a few seconds it sounded like a string of fireworks was going off…

And without his floaty friends Vickers started to fall… fall fall fall ”FLYYIIIINGG!!! WOOHOOHOOO!!!” he cackled, zooming towards the ground. Oh look he can almost touch the grass--


-- BOIIIIIIIIINNNGGGG!!!


Bungee cord yanks him back up into the air, the Ravenclaw’s cackling drifts away as he zooms back up towards the sky. Arms flailing, laughter echoing, and the happiest smile he’s had in his whole life plastered across his face, Vickers zooms up and down the side of the Astronomy tower, the flight charm compounding the effects of the bungee jump. Who cares if he cant keep his balance on a broom, nothing beats feeling like a Fwooper set free.