Bart was still annoyed, "This is taking forever" Not that he minded the brooms, no he loved the brooms it was the manual stuff. "Why on earth would magic not be allowed at a wizard school. Does that seem odd to you?" Snip.. snap.. snip went the twigs as he talked to Cutty. He honestly was bored and bored Bart was never a good thing.

He picked up some of the twigs and stuck them in the facial hair he had. "Look I'm a twig face." He chuckled as he moved to yet another broom. Maybe he should try something else, but looking around it seemed to be all manual labor nothing cool about this project at all. He wanted to fly or hit bludgers.

"Do the bludgers need cleaned? I'd do that!" He wasn't afraid of a broken nose in the process plus something as hard as a bludger had to have magic on it to clean, right? None of this muggle work.

Adelaide blinked at Tyner. Points for brownies? That was a new one. But there was no way she was going to question it. Points were points and they needed them. "I'm glad you like them professor and thank you."

Adelaide turned back to Bart and giggled. "You're welcome." She smiled. "I'm glad you like 'em." She was glad so many people appreciated her baking. Maybe she should do it professionally. Teaching could come later if she wanted to...

Addi smiled at West. "I try. Quite shocked you only took one..." Because West usually demolished a plateful pretty quick. She pulled her brown out and let the liquid drip, before grabbing a towel to dry it off.

Nod. Nodnodnod.

"That makes sense. What good is a dirty cleaning solution after all," Tobias replied, and he did in fact look at the bucket of solution when West pointed it out. Check for the gleam. Okay. "Cool. Thanks man!"

That was cool wasn't it? Toby was saying cool things and seeming cool and everything? 'Cause that was what he was going for.

The Hufflepuff grinned and saluted and instantly realised that that was probably the least cool thing he could have done.

Mentally kicking himself, but outwardly looking as cheery as ever, Tobias located a hot towel and wrapped it around the twigs, moving out of the way of the twig washers section and over toooooo...

..... the twig-clipping... bit, place, whatever. Bart was here, and so was Cutty, to whom Toby offered a cheery wave, so it was easier to carry on their conversation.

"I'm Toby, pleased t'meetcha. And... all over really," Tobias responded to the question about the Quidditch position. It was kinda hard, because he didn't have one position that he always played. "Chaser or Keeper, usually. Wherever the captain puts me, what about you?"

As he spoke, Tobias kind of pat the towel around the twigs, hoping to speed up the drying process. He didn't want to move on until the rest of the solution had been properly soaked up by either the tail twigs or the towel.

At the next question, Tobias looked up from the towel-covered twigs to look at Bart, and also Cutty, even though he knew it was only Bart who was asking. "Oh, I dunno..." he said carefully, choosing his words with as much precision as he would clip his own broom's tail twigs. "I don't think the professors are so bad. They kind of have to make sure they teach us stuff, and I'd rather hear them say it than have to try and read it from a book by myself." He didn't give an explanation for that, but he was pretty sure, from what Bart was saying, that they had a little something in common what with lessons. The only difference was that Toby hated and avoided saying negative things out loud, especially about people. He did start to open his mouth to mention his History of Magic problems, but abruptly shut it again. Too many people around, and Toby had a reputation of positivity to uphold.

"Are there any classes you like here? See? Mr. Brightside.

Tobias hadn't been expecting Professor Tyner to suddenly speak that loudly, and he jumped a bit and looked around. Halfway done? Toby looked around at the brooms and saw that she was quite right. He looked down at his broom he was working on and pulled the towel off.

Reaching into his jacket pocket, Tobias pulled out a set of twig clippers from his very own broom servicing kit. He brought them along just because he was used to them, and figured the school ones might be a lot old and stiffer than his own. Without further ado, he started very carefully and meticulously scanning the broom tail, looking for the general shape of the broom twigs. Every make of broom was different, and as soon as he knew the broom model, it was easier to follow the shape. Eventually he started trimming, being very careful about it, because the broom did not belong to him.

Singing really helped one work better, Lux thought as she finished polishing and buffering the broom she had been working on before setting it aside with the other ones that had already been done. Making her way over to the unpolished brooms, she grabbed another one before heading back to her station and dipping her rag in the polish. She worked her way over the handle, using overlapping circles until the whole thing was covered. After letting it dry a bit, she began buffering it so she could put more polish on.

"Hey, Alexa." Dora did have to admit (never out loud), that the prefect's kneazle was very tolerable to all that he was subjected to. Even though she didn't hold any affection towards the thing what so ever, she was slightly amused by it.



"Most students aren't experts on broom care." As if that explained why Dora wasn't surprised that the kneazle was poorly educated on how to clean a broom. That and it was a kneazle. "I'll get my own rags." She didn't mind getting up, nope.

She was listening to Alice explain how to polish a broom while she finished removing the dust off the one in front of her. Dora did know how to care for a broom, since she'd been using hers a LOT over the past summer, but it was better to listen to Alice than the other students surrounding her that held not interest to the prefect. When she was sure her broom was dust free, she grabbed the rag she already had and dipped it into the tin, coming up with polish the size of a knut.

Right, now warming yeah? Dora worked the rag around.

Ok, the broom that Caleb had started with was all done! And sadly, there were still more to do. Sigh. How many brooms did they HAVE in here? "Here you go, Professor" he said with a smile, walking up and giving her his finished broom, all polished and trimmed and ready to be flown again.

"Do you need any more help?" he asked, looking at the other unfinished brooms. Or did someone already claim those?

Nearly halfway done? Okay then. Sophie could handle that.

Another broom was passed her way, and Sophie grabbed a hold of it and prepared to clean the twigs of a second broom. She submerged the twigs of the broom in water then waited a minute. When the minute was up, she gently stirred the broom ten times in a clockwise direction.

She waited another minute while she let the broom sit. Then she lifted the broom and let it drip into the bucket. Finally, she wrapped a towel around the twigs and passed the broom to somebody else.

Lex rubbed and rubbed until she felt her arm was about to fall off. Considering how her joints had been feeling of late, the rubbing actually lasted quite long! Just look at the broom now. It wasn't done according to Alice saying it needed more rubbing after a five minute wait but it was almost there and she was starting to see her reflection in the wood. That was usually promising.

The Gryffindor peered over at the Professor who'd announced them being almost done. Yikes, she needed to get a move on with these brooms didn't she? Though this wasn't some sort of speed contest, just helping out.

Alexa rested the broom next to a few others that must have been waiting or done--she wasn't looking close enough to be able to tell then got another knut sized glob to get the next broom under work. It was back to working the polish into the rag for her. She had half a mind to ask what good it did making it warm first but Alice had sorta explained it earlier and might have thumped her for asking the Professor as if she hadn't just said it.

Soon as that was done Lex began rubbing the polish into the broom's handle itself. Had to get it looking just as good as the first.

A glance down at Felix told her she'd gotten his interest somehow. Clearly this was something worth finding fascinating. Pfft.

Did she really just hear someone ask if the bludgers needed to be cleaned? What did it matter if the bludgers were dirty or not? She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to avoid rolling her eyes. Coming from a muggle background meant that Tiara still felt that magic was not always the best way to do things. Some tasks just didn't turn out right unless loving, painstaking attention was paid to ever minute detail. However, realizing that it was too much to expect a young student to understand this concept, Tiara decided not to respond to this hopeful question; if she had, it probably would have been to deliver a lecture on the value of perseverance and hard work.

Swallowing a bite of heaven, Tiara nodded. "I am likewise glad!" She gave Adelaide a wink. "You're welcome."

Why was she being handed a broom? "Thank you, young man." His name was eluding her, perhaps it would come back to her later? "If you could just set it back in a rack that would be lovely." She held it out for him to take. "Yes, any more assistance you can give would be highly appreciated. If you are bored with the task you were doing, you may move on, but you seem to have mastered it." Which was her way of saying that the broom she had just handed back to him was now looking as good as new.

"The pleasure is also mine," she said to the Professor with a broad smile. She nodded at the invitation. "I definitely will, thank you! I want to be ready for this summer..." It was her plan to try out and get on to a Professional team. She was sure that she would be fine- but any extra pointers helped. She had been training hard, a few more practice sessions with an expert eye would be very beneficial.

She looked over as Sander spoke up and smiled. "It was great meeting you- I hope we can speak again soon!" she said, before going over to join Sander.



After settling with Sander, she fell into a routine of cleaning broom handles. It was a soothing past time, and didn't require much attention or thought. She had been doing this task since she had gotten her first broom, and it was one of the few things that had kept her sane as she had moved from school to school. One of the few things that had never changed. Before she knew it, there were half a dozen brooms that she had done and a smile flickered on her face before she continued her work.

"Well, no matter the reason, I'm sure everyone is glad you are here," she told him. "Including me," she added, for his ears only. "Besides, I think there are more than enough brooms here, there are plenty to go around, and other tasks that need doing," she said with a shrug. She sunk into the rhythm of cleaning, and before she knew it, she was humming along with Sander's song.

"Did you just make that up?" she asked him with a soft laugh. "It was very well done," she complimented.



"Hey Lux!" she called to the younger Puff. "If you can, come over and join us!" she said, indicating the pile of brooms that still needed to be cleaned. She was sure that she and SAnder could handle it, but it would be nice to have an extra set of hands to make the load easier. And, she liked having the little Hufflepuff around, of course.



Tessa shot the girl a grin- as if to say she would make sure Sander were doing it right. After all, these brooms were important to the school. "Don't fret Alix, we'll get it done!" Tessa called over, seeing the other girl sigh. "Besides, we can't be Quidditch players without our brooms- it would make the game... interesting. And a lot less exciting," she added with a laugh.

Bri listened as Professor Tyner listed the various things that needed to be done. "I think I will polish."She said before heading towards the area where the other students were polishing the brooms. She picked up the broom and the rag. She put a small amount of polish on the rag, and start to rub the broom stick, until it was nice and polished. Bri grinned at the broom before starting the process again

Tessa looked up as she heard someone mention polishing. "Hello there!" she called. "You can come over and join us if you'd like," she said, indicating one of the open seats near them. "If you need a hand, just ask- Sander and I can both help you," she said, indicating the Hufflepuff boy she was sitting next to.

That set her mind at ease in the guilt trip department. She nodded and headed back to the table she'd left the broom on. She stared at it for a while, gathering all the information she'd learned from her dad about broom care. The professor had mentioned the brooms from the pile she grabbed one from needed polishing, so she'd need Fleetwood's High-Finish Handle polish.

Glancing around her eyes landed on a can of the stuff she needed. It seemed pretty much abandoned, so she decided to borrow it for a little while. Grabbing the towel she'd gotten earlier she opened the can of polish and scooped up a small amount of the stuff. Friction, her dad had once commented, made the polish easier to spread on the broom, making appliance less of a hassle. So she clapped her hands, the towel with polish between them and rubbed them together.

In almost no time she felt the polish smooth on the towel. Time for polishing. Now for appliance. Circles, the motion her grandmother instructed the elves to clean the windows by hand. Apparently it was better than just zigzags.

Oh for the love of dragons, she felt like an elf. A very grouch elf.

The image of a bearded little boy who then went on to stick twigs into said beard asking if something seemed odd struck Cutty as hilarious. Bart had a sense of humour, he noted to himself. "Oh, yeah! It's like we're forbidden at home and forbidden at school."



And Toby got a wave back, "Hi, Tempus!". And then Cutty was pretty much eaves dropping on the conversations around him. Mostly that of Toby and Bart as they were within the closest range. Cutty had been unusually quiet lately. Laying low. As if he'd done something or was about to do something. He ran a hand down the tail of the broom he'd been working on to check for stray twigs he could've missed. His hand drew back rather quickly as he'd almost stuck himself with the jagged edge of one such twig. Trimmers in hand, he snipped away at it and moved on to the next broom.

This broom....looked okay now. Lex rested it next to the others and grabbed the first she'd left to dry. What was it Alice said...? It didn't involve more polish, yeah? Probably not. That would defeat the purpose of letting it get dry first but that kinda meant she'd be needing a new rag. Heh. Yeah, Alexa's eyes trailed down to her kneazle. Surely he knew this was coming. Look at all those people she'd have to push through just to be able to get a new rag. He was small and agile and all those nice words she'd have to use to get him to.

"Feeeeelix?"

His sharp eyes settled on her and she grinned. "Rag please?" The kneazle didn't budge but merely glanced toward the box then back at her. Lex gave a sigh. "I'll get you a bunch of rats from the dungeon later if you do." Not like the Snakes had much use for them. Who'd complain? Exactly. No one.

She waited patiently as he headed over and brought her a fresh one. "I'll get you a nice big, fat one." Lex promised with an even bigger grin before returning to the broom in hand. Tight little circles to get it nice and shiny, she could do that, even though it was making her arms hurt again. Almost there.

"Planning ahead, an excellent trait in a young person." Or any person, really, but as young people seemed to lack it so much, Tiara appreciated it wherever she found evidence of it. "I enjoyed meeting you as well, Miss Hedge. I look forward to seeing you in my office at some point."

This was incredible. There were only a few more brooms to go! She spoke up to get the students' attention. "It appears there's only a few more brooms to go, everyone. Whenever you finish, just place your things back in the box here or on the shelves. Again, I truly appreciate the giving spirit within each of you." Even if some of the Slytherins were only here because they were forced to be, or even if they just needed to make up for lost points, they were still willing to put a little elbow grease into her brooms.

Oh good, Caleb's work was deemed fit from the professor. That was a good sign! He really didn't WANT to do another broom, but he decided to get to work anyways. Might as well. He took the finished broom and put it back on the rack that she'd indicated to him and then grabbed another one that wasn't in the best shape.

Taking the clippers again, he sat back down in his spot and began to trim the bristles again.

Adi had just finished polishing the broomstick and was bracing it next to the others when Professor Tyner announced they were almost done. Too bad. He was actually enjoying this. He grabbed one more broomstick. He'd just finish this one before he went. Adi began polishing.

He was grinning at the thought of Bart. "I might have laughed out loud right there and then. I mean, I know it was dangerous but if I saw someone I least expected to squeal did just that, I would laugh. It was a good thing you didn't, Ian or the big dude might have taken more points.''

"Yes, I noticed you two in Potions class.'' It reminded him of himself and Hannah last term. "Maybe you'll be friends sometime.''

Tessa smiled at the Professor and nodded iner head once in thanks. Little did the Professor know that Tessa had been planning to be a pro Quidditch player since she played her first game of Quidditch- many years ago. She have carefully planned out her life- well, as best as she could- so that she would be ready for her opportunity, whenever it came.

"I will be sure to stop by, Professor!" she replied, before returning to her work. She continued polishing handles, and had a fair number of them done. She had lost track of the number many brooms ago. Besides, the number didn't matter anyway. Seeing that most of the other brooms had been picked up, she carefully took a few of them and began putting the brooms back in their proper place. After all, getting everything organized was important too.

Bart grinned at Addi, this was great. "Well anytime you want to make brownies I'll always be up for eating them." Just so she knew if she ever found herself with way too many. "So are you having fun cleaning brooms?" He figured he'd ask, because he was getting bored doing all this long muggle type work. So why not talk to others about it too. Maybe it would get fun again.



Toby that was a cool name Bart nodded, "Nice to meet you too." That felt weird saying since he knew he had seen the boy around, but they really never spoke. Oh he played everywhere well that was super intersesting and awesome to. "Well what's your favorite place to play?" He wondered if there could be a favorite really. He hadn't found one yet. "Oh well I played chaser at my old school, but I kind of want to play beater. I watched my step brother play last term and thought it was awesome." So either of those positions would make him happy.

He listened about the professors as he continued snipping the twigs. "I guess, they just all seem to talk to much." He nodded at Toby's words though. Boy had a point now didn't he. "Yeah I guess you're right. I can't stand to open books. They are all so boring, but lectures are boring too. I'd much rather do spells and play quidditch than sit in a boring classroom." Who wouldn't really. Though he knew one puffer that would probably be afraid of the great outdoors if ever given the chance.

What was his favorite subject that got Toby a grin, "Potions." He loved the class. Making things from scratch was fun especially when you could have a possible explosion in the mean time. But really where else could you make fireworks and breath fire. It was a great class.



He watched the professor closely was she going to answer him? No? She would play the didn't hear him card. Yeah that wasn't a first time. Bart shrugged whatever. They all came to help her do her work cleaning these brooms. He had his own up in his room, he didn't need to be down here taking care of rubbish, but he was the least she could do was answer him and let them use magic.



"Right? It's ridiculous. How are we ever going to learn if we never get to use our wands. It's pointless we midaswell be muggles." He was tired of all the no's. No at home and now no here? Something that was a positive at his other school. They never ever would have done muggle way of things.

"So Cutty you play on the team? I mean you are helping with the brooms, do you play quidditch?" He liked learning who his opposing teams were, but at the same time which of his friends would like to go flying during down time.

This wasn't fun, but house points were house points and she really wanted to see Slytherin at the top. So far, it wasn't looking so good. Rubbing in circular motion, she made sure to have covered the entire broom handle with polish. It wouldn't do to rush through it only to have missed a spot and have to do it all over again.

Her hair fell from behind her ear and she blew at it, the gray hair reminding her why her mood was so foul. Seeing as she had thick, wavy hair, it simply fell over her eyes again. She paused and quickly braided it. Oh. Sad.

Siiiiigh. The sooner she finished here, the sooner she could go up to the library and search for spells to make it go away.

Once the entire broom handle was covered in polish she waited for it to dry. Five minutes should do.

...and now it was time to wash the next broom in line.

Sophie accepted the broom from a nearby student then started the whole process over again. She submerged the twigs in water then waited a minute. By this time, she knew the steps by heart. She mentally reviewed them, though, as she let time pass by. When it had, she gently stirred the broom in a clockwise direction.

She thought about the next steps as she waited out another minute, then she lifted the broom and let the excess water drip back down into the bucket. Then she wrapped the broom in a towel and passed it on.

Lux looked up from her work on her broom, and nudged Tessa slightly with a smile on her face. "Want to go and get something to eat after we are done?" Of course the invitation was extended to Sander as well, but she wasn't as near to him as she was to Tessa, and she was not sure if he had even heard.

Turning back to her broom at hand, she finished with the polishing, smiling when it looked very pristine. She wanted them to look amazing for everyone who would be flying for lessons, practice, and Quidditch matches.

Hearing that it was almost time to head off, Lux put the broom among the ones that were finished, and went to get a new one before starting to do the polishing process all over again. It was sort of soothing in a way, applying it to the wood. She liked working with her hands and being productive.

Food that sounded like a good idea but was Lux's invitation just for Tessa alone? Maybe she wanted some alone time with Tessa but he decided to asked anyway. "Uh Lux can I join you ladies for lunch too? If you ladies rather be alone, I'll grab something on my way back to the Common Room." he informed her.

Then he continued finishing up on polishing his broom before picking up the last one. He worked the polish in before buffing it, and then applying a second coat and repeating the process until the broom handle was nice and shiny. He placed his finished broom next to the others before returning to where he had been working.

He picked up all the dirty rags. Then he picked up the container of polish, made sure that the lid was screwed on tight before carrying them over to where he had picked up the supplies earlier. Returning the container back into the basket, he dropped the dirty rags where the others had dropped theirs.

"Are you done, Lux?" he returned to where his young friend was sitting. "If not, I'll sit here and wait for you."

Looking up from her work, Lux shook her head. "Don't be silly, Sander. That was for you too." She had nudged Tessa because she was actually beside her. Lux wouldn't ask only Tessa to lunch unless she wanted some alone girl time, which she didn't at the moment. Her and Tessa had plenty of girl time anyway.

Going back to her work on the broom, continued making the circular movements with the polish. "I am almost done, I just have to buffer and polish a little more."