Well that had certainly been a LOT of fun. Cat was already making plans to have another little dress up party with Sophie before the end of the term rolled around, though they still had the next summer too. It was going to happen at some point, but for now, they had other important things to be doing. After she ushered Sophie out of the room of requirement, Cat messed with her hair a little. "I think I want you to stop growing but I know that's very silly of me." But still.... sometimes Sophie felt less like a little sister and more like Cat's kid herself and she was another year older now! Guh.

She grinned and kissed the girl carefully on the top of her head. "Did you have fun?" Hopefully, cause the adventure was only just beginning.

BIRTHDAY GIRL PRINCESS SOPHIE COMING THROUGH.

Today's events had ALREADY made up for the disappointing birthday she had last year. She knew it wasn't Cat's fault that it hadn't been the best, but she was SO THRILLED that everyone was healthy and okay enough to celebrate her fourteenth birthday this year. IT WAS A BIG DEAL. FOURTEEN.

"No, I think I kind of want that, too. If there's ever a day where you and Mo can't pick me up, or if you say I'm too big to be crawling into your lap when I'm sad, I think life will be over." Dramatic. But true. "I like being your lil Sophie too much." Even though she had grown a WHOLE inch over the summer and was standing at a remarkable five feet one inch. Monstrous.

Grinning the happiest of grins as Cat kissed the top of her head, Sophie nodded. "Uh huh. Couldn't you tell? But... did you have fun? That's important, too." And it was. Sophie's birthday fun was no fun if Cat wasn't having fun, too.

Caterina shook her head, though she didn't stop grinning at all while she did it. "I'm certain that I can't pick you up anymore." She probably couldn't have last term either. Maybe a little and maybe only for a moment if she could at all. Cat wasn't one with loads of strength. "Unless I drank some of that potion we just made." Then she could pick her up no problem! "But you an always sit on my lap, even when you get taller than me. Elodie is about 5 inches taller than me and she still sits on my lap sometimes." And crushed her a little, but that wasn't important.

She tried not to glance down the hall too obviously, but Mo should be showing up soon for part two of Operation: Sophie Birthday Celebration. "Of course I did, you sweet girl." Cat pinched Sophie's cheek lightly and grinned more.

CAT COULD NOT PICK SOPHIE UP? She gasped, feigning surprise. "Tragic. My youth is already gone, then." A dramatic hand clapped over her heart and she tried her best to look horribly pained.

Hehe.

"As long as Mo still can. He's so tall and buff and stuff, so he should be able to always carry both of us." Unless either of them gained a significant amount of weight, but she had a good hunch that their body types would be good to them, considering how lean the both of them were. "That's good, then. Mo'll always be able to carry me around, and I'll always have your lap as a safe haven. S'a good life for a Sophie. M'lucky to have you guys." She wouldn't have it any other way.

Where were they going nowwww?

Knock.

Knock-knock. Doom.

THUMP!

Cutty had been going to Hogwarts for three years now, but it seemed there were still yet mysteries and places to explore throughout the castle. He was rapping his fist against the walls listening...for hollowness or even strange patterns that might indicate that there might be something of some value buried behind the walls of the castle.

Tap-tick, TEK!

Fwip.

The corner of Cutty's forehead had landed into the side of a swath of old cloth, the moving tapestry depicting ...a dance class? Cutty rolled over it, with his back towards the picture, causing a great dip in the surface and all of the inhabitants of the tapestry to fall in towards where the boy's weight was gathered. They were probably not pleased at all, but maybe that was the boy's intention. Maybe. He rolled off the tapestry and walked around to view it. Angry trolls in tutu's and one wizard who seemed to be giving him a mouthful.

Cutty smiled a smile that looked a drunken smile, as he was quite pleased and watched the tapestry resume it's natural image after a while.

What.

In the name of Merlin.

Was this boy.

DOING?!

Grayson had been doing what he usually did: wandering around the school in an attempt to be both lazy and productive at the same time. Lazy by not doing any of his homework or looking through his notes but productive in the sense that he was spying. And finding out new things about the school.

And, as always with his wanderings, he always came across the loonies.

Cutty Mordaunt hadn't come across as anything of the sort when the boy had met him back at the Slytherin table. But tapping the walls? What was he expecting it to do, EXPLODE?! Was he looking for treasure? Oh merlin, if he was, he had to share. Secrets would be spilled, otherwise. Perked up by this idea, the fourth year followed the fellow Slytherin until............

................ LOOOOOOOOOOL. Oh man. Oh MAN oh man. What a SIGHT!

Don't make him laugh so much, he was going to have an accident here.

Gathering his senses and his breathing again, Grayson leaned against a nearby wall, a smirk spread across his face. "Think you might have offended them," he said, nodding over at the tapestry. Oh this was PRICELESS.

"Whitlock." He greeted the other Slytherin boy. "Yes, I think I did. Look at them. Scurrying about. Trying to get back to where they left off. It's funny, isn't it? How such a minor action could cause such a major reaction." Not unlike a ripple in water. Cutty was all Grandmother Willow about things tonight, apparently. But, also this carried other implications with it and he wanted to see if Grayson Whitlock was a big picture Slytherin or an immediate satisfaction sort. He could do things with big picture. He wanted to do things. Grayson was the perfect age for taking Kinsley's place as the Slytherin male prefect.


"Whatyer doin' up here, Whitty? Did the moving staircase nick yer?" Not that he was making fun. It was actually a common occurrence and one that Cutty did find humourous, but he was going to save it. Which was easier now with his daily doses of impulse control potion.

"I'm here," Mo stepped out into the corridor with long, sure strides, and he grinned when he caught sight of princess 1 and princess 2. The prettiest of the pretties, that was, and he got to spend the evening with them. "You look beautiful. And Cat looks nice too."

"What's this I hear about me carrying you? Are your legs broken or something?" Mo stopped a few feet away from them, posing briefly so they could admire his suit. Fancy pants right here. "I'm here to escort you to your birthday party, Soph. But you have to open my present first."

"Both of us? One with each arm?" Cat continued to grin at Sophie, though she did add a little extra because the idea of Mo carrying both her and Sophie around at the same time was very amusing to her and she sort of wanted to give it a try. Cat kissed Sophie's head again and smoothed her pretty hair back. "We certainly like having you around too."

Speak of the devil!

The handsome devil. Cat whistled and nudged Sophie lightly. "Someone cleans up well, hmm?" Mo always looked handsome, but Cat happened to think that just then, he looked way extra handsome. She nudged the younger girl again, but this time it was forward so she would go get her present.

Oh, they were on surname basis? Cool. Good to know. "Mordaunt." He nodded back at the boy. Grayson looked over at the tapestry and snorted. They were scurrying to get back into place. "Yeah, it is." Funny, that is. Especially as a watcher. "Wise words, Cutty," he said, his blue eyes settling on the boy again, "That's probably what makes the minor actions so good. The reaction you get out of it is worth it because it can be so major and dramatic." And, you know, as long as you don't get caught.

SNORT. He was funny, did he know? "I was wandering around. Getting to know the little secrets of the castle." Meaning that if anything happened here, he was innocent. And could possibly help Cutty out of a sticky situation. Possibly. "Have you seen anyone get nicked by the stairs?" If they were using his terms.

Speaking of, how was it that he hadn't seen anyone get their foot stuck on a trick stair? HMMMMM?

Oh. Wait. He was missing out on asking an IMPORTANT question. "What are you doing here?"

While that wasn't what she had meant, Sophie giggled all the same. "YEP." Or, at least, now they definitely had to make him try. "He's a manly man. He can do it. The perks of him being all tall and buff and stuff."

Perhaps the day would come where Sophie would not absolutely love it when Cat ruffled her hair or kissed her on the head, but today was not that day. Beeeeeam.

"Shuddup, Mo," the third year playfully quipped, then grinned in response to Cat's nudge and, though there was no malice in her tone, she replied a short, "Meh." She looked him up and down, her grin still giving away her true opinion, and shrugged a little. "I guess he looks all right." HEHE.

...A present? "A present? For me? What kind of present?" She eyed Mo curiously and only moved forward to claim said prize when Cat nudged her forward. "But I don't need anything. Your friendship is enough for me." Though she said it with a lighthearted, teasing sort of tone, she did mean it.

"Took a bath for you and everything. I'd hate to be the smelly one at your party," Mo dropped the post and strode forward, closing the distance between himself and Sophie. The birthday girl looked especially pretty today, and he gave her hair a very very gentle tug. "I was hoping to escort you, but I suppose I could carry you."

He looked to Cat to see if he really had to carry either of them. That wasn't the plan, was it?

"Maybe this is sort of stupid, I dunno, but I thought that if you were a princess, you ought to be dressed appropriately," Mo explained lamely as he pulled a pretty little tiara out of his pocket. Cat had helped him pick it out, since he was pretty hopeless sometimes, but it had been all his idea and was all from him. "Lemme put it on you."

"How thoughtful of you. I appreciate it." As Mo moved nearer, Sophie braced herself for a negative motion from him in retaliation to her teasing, and she grinned when he just tugged at her hair a little. "You can escort only if you can't carry both of us." She was giggling, because wouldn't it be funny to see him try? One on his back, one in his arms - way too good.

...Wibble.

While she wasn't going to cry a flood of tears, the tiara Mo had presented to her was too much. Too sweet. Ugh. With a stupid, giddy grin plastered upon her face, Sophie surged forward and hugged Mo real good, nuzzling her cheek into his chest. "You're cool sometimes, y'know that?" Then she took a small step back, flashed Cat the happiest, proudest of smiles, and stood on her tip-toes, already feeling regal as she waited to be crowned. HEHE.

Grayson Whitlock couldn't have crafted a better response if he'd had time to go home and write it out in essay form. "Exactly! It's like getting something for nothing." And how many things are free these days, I ask yer?


"Yeah." He said sounding a bit surprised, as if hadn't everybody heard of such an instance as the one Grayson had just asked about. "Plenty of times. It's a fairly common occurrence here, actually. I once had to heal a boy who was jumping from one staircase to another unsupervised. He fell and hurt himself. Good thing I was there."

Cutty's eyes fell on Grayson when he asked his next question. He was actually quite the good-looking boy with his bright and blue eyes and thick, dark hair. "Me? Believe it or not same as you. This will be my thehd year at Hogwarts, but you'll find that there's still parts of the castle that you won't know about." Like his laboratory. Where had it gone?

And now, for the informational truffle-pigging. "Was there anything like that are your old school, Whitty?"

Cat just stayed right where she was and grinned. Mo looked very nice and so did Sophie and so did she, for that matter. They all looked nice. But this being Sophie's birthday, it made her look.... nicer than both of them. Maybe it was because she was so super happy. She stayed quiet and let Sophie go for her present, watching. "Go on, crown the Princess so that we can take her for a walk at the lake so all of her subjects can see her beauty."

Overkill? Maybe. But who cared? This was the last time Cat or Mo would be able to do something special for Sophie's birthday so she sort of figured that they should make the very most of it. "I just hope Mr. Squid doesn't want to marry you, Soph."

Like getting something for nothing. SMIRK. No really, did Cutty know how good that sounded? Because man alive, it made Grayson want to stage something. "It's very satisfying, especially if it goes according to plan. Or better than planned."

If Grayson wasn't so interested in any stories that Cutty had, he would have taken note of the fact that there was surprise in the boy's voice. Alas. There was a story. Once that made the fourth year smirk a little. "Didn't know you were good at healing people." Or that he was the caring and heroic sort but, then again, this was their second meeting. "Good thing you were there, then. I was told to watch out for the trick steps."

Same as him. Man, if this was his third year at the school and he still didn't know all the secrets of the castle, there was very little hope for Grayson. He didn't like that. "Man, I was hoping to figure out as much about the castle as I could." Because he was nosy. And it seemed like a good idea. "Are you a third year, then?"

How was it that this talk had turned to Beauxbatons? His blue eyes turned to look over at the tapestry and he shrugged. "It wasn't that interesting. Only four floors, which means not a lot of secrets to try and find," he said, stealing a glance over at the fellow Slytherin, "And no trick stairs, either." Which was a shame. He might have enjoyed it more if he had gotten the chance to see some annoying people getting their foot stuck in one of those.

Cutty's eyes widened a bit and he said, "Yeah!"

This Whitlock person knew a lot about how the system worked. And Cutty found that a tremendous relief. If more Slytherins were more careful, it meant that they were less likely to land themselves in trouble. And, for Cutty, they were just easier to understand. Whitlock was perfect prefect material.

"I've healed quite a few people at the school already." And by quite a few, he meant exactly two. Bartholomew Maroon, the Gryffindor boy of whom he'd just told a story and his fellow Slytherin third year, Caleb Newell, who Cutty also considered a good contender for the male prefect. "But you pick up a few things when your Head of House is the school's Healer."

Cutty was tempted to tell Grayson about the girl he'd met from Beauxbatons a year or so back when they had to compete for their school funds. But what would be the point of Grayson would know that he'd be lying about having snogged her. Or worse yet, what if he knew her? Actually, what if he knew her? Cutty thought he'd made a good enough impression on Mlle Maltisse that it wouldn't have hurt. "I met someone from your school a year ago. Her name was Léa Maltisse. I think she liked the fact that we could have our conversations in French. I wanted her to teach me bad words, but she was gone before I knew it." He said sounding a little forlorn.

"Well, I'll tell you what, Whitty. You just keep hanging about me and I'll show you everything I know about the castle. Mmmaybe in exchange, you could help me improve my French. If you know what I mean?" Reciprocity. The strongest foundation for any snake!friendship.

"D'you really want me to carry you?" Since Cat hadn't rescued him, Mo had the sinking feeling this was really going to happen. He carefully slid the tiara onto Sophie's head and stepped back to admire it. Pretty. Like Sophie. "C'mon, then. Lemme carry you and Cat can walk."

He did offer his arms to her, although Mo paused when Cat spoke about the squid. With a scowl, Mo shook his head at Cat. "That squid better ask me for permission first. No one gets to marry our Sophie without my say-so."

HEHEHE. "No, I'll walk. Tobes already offered to carry me around all day earlier and I took advantage of that a little." Who wouldn't? "So I have some saved-up energy to walk. I'll give ya a break."

With the tiara now placed upon her head, Sophie struck a dramatic sort of pose for the two to admire how it looked, since she couldn't see herself just yet. "Good?" Hm? Was she even prettier now?

Instead of jumping into Mo's offered arms like she wanted to, she positioned herself between the two seventh years and took both of their hands, swinging them merrily and beaming up at them. There. They could walk just like that. This was a happy place to be, between her two favorites. "Bartholomew Henry isn't really my type, Cat, s'okay." She was giggling, then she gave Mo a cheeky grin, "Oh yeah? No one? All of 'em have to go through you, then, and ask permission? Even... people you might already friends with?" Even Tobes?

Just wondering.

Yeah, was right. Grayson nodded along, smirking slightly. This was new. "It's funny, I haven't met a lot of people who think along those lines." But then again, the boy seemed to attract the loony types and the sassy ones. Weird.

Whatever. It was a good judge of character.

A few people? "How many?" Not that it mattered too much but this gave him a rough idea of who to come to if he needed to be healed and didn't want to be embarrassed in the process. Er. Hold on. "Our Head of House is the HEALER?!" Oh jeez, out of all the things he was trying to find out about the school, how was it that he didn't know about that?! "I've never actually met the Healer." This was less of a confession and more of a pondering.

Léa Maltisse? The name rung a bell. Grayson tapped his chin thoughtfully as he tried to think of who exactly she was. And Cutty had me her a year ago? Oh. OH. WELL. "This was when the Quiz Bowl was taking place at Hogwarts?" Which, unfortunately, Beauxbatons didn't do too well in. Shame. Not that he was too attached to the school but it was a matter of pride. Shrugging this off, the fourth year decided to concentrate on what else Cutty had said. "You speak French?" As for ad words, Grayson smirked and said nothing about the matter. He didn't know Cutty that well but maybe............. just maybe.

It didn't look like he needed to mention anything either. The idea of knowing everything about the castle did sound appealing. Besides, teaching someone French wasn't bad. "Okay, you've got yourself a deal, Mordaunt," he said, holding out his hand, "And the more I learn about the castle, the more bad words I could teach you."

"You will. I'm sure of it. So long as you keep hanging about with your housemates." Cutty wasn't much for one house being better than the other, but thus far in the game he'd found most stimulation and ease with the Slytherins. Perhaps, that beat up old hat knew what it was doing afterall.

Cutty was about to give a totally made-up answer when Whitty chimed in with surprise about the position of their Head of House. "Yeah, Healer Tillstorm." He explained. "She helped last year when the whole school had suffered from an aging illness. Are you fascinated by the healing arts, Whitlock?"

The third year gave a nodd. "Un peau." 'A little', he explained. Then, his hand was extended and giving that of Grayson's a firm shake. "We can start now, if you like, because actually that's what I was doing. At the end of last year I'd run into a well-stocked independent laboratory. It was incredible. Had absolutely everything I could ever need or want and it was on this floor, I'm sure of it."

That was a very definite answer that Cutty had just given him. There was the 'will' and then the 'sure of it'. Definite. "Looks like I do belong in Slytherin, then." A moment of house pride please and thank you. "I've met some interesting people in Slytherin, actually." Interesting was definitely the right word to use here.

Healer Tillstorm. He was going to have to remember that one. Unless they only had one Healer here, in which case this would be far easier to remember. But, what Cutty went on to say made Grayson raise his eyebrows. "Yeah? I heard some things about that disease. Sounds dead awful." Or a little funny to watch. Whichever way you took it. "Er, dunno? I think it's a useful skill to have if you're stuck in, say, a jungle and you end up getting hurt. There's no way you can call for help under those circumstances."

Oh. Oh. There was some French speaking going on. The boy smirked. "Not bad, not bad." Two words but whatever. At least his handshaking skills were better, from what he could tell. Whoa, hold on. "You serious? A laboratory?!" Oh man oh man, this school really was full of surprises, wasn't it? Though, he didn't understand why it'd be all the way up here and not near the Potions classroom. A little dumb, don'cha think?"You know what we should do? Find that laboratory. Take a good look around it and then tell no one about it." Because with how big this school was, there were bound to be people you absolutely did not want around a place like that. They'd ruin it for everyone else.

Truthfully, Cutty wasn't anticipating any specific type of answer, but it was good to know what sort of field the people he knew might go into. And also, where their talents lie.

Cutty returned Grayson's smirk with a proud-looking smirk of his own. Not bad. He'd save the bulk of his language skills for a time when they really were needed. Then his black little heart felt like it might burst as Whitty suggested relocating the lab and not telling anyone else about it. It was like he was reading from a script of Cutty's dreams. "That's a really good plan, mate!" And with that, Cutty resumed his poking around of the walls when it occured to him. What if they didn't find the room and Whitlock thought him a liar? A couple of ideas flashed through his head, but he'd rather not have to do any of them as he had other plans at the moment. That room had to be somewhere thereabouts. It just had to.

"It actually wasn't that bad, actually. Being old." Cutty's personality finally matched his exterior whilst a little old man and he considered all the benefits of age. "But I had been serchin' for a cure and I came up with an idea that using Polyjuice Potion to change into your former, that is, younger self might be an effective way to stave off the effects of the aging illness. At least temporarily. Like say, long enough for part of a Quidditch match." Was Whitty into potions, maybe?

Cutty was an odd one from what he had gathered. Or maybe it was because Grayson hadn't met that many people who thought along the same lines as him.

And then the boy was calling him mate. Were they mates? He wasn't sure. Friendship was just difficult, mkay? And it was hard to tell whether you were 'mates' with someone you had met just a while ago. Regardless, he nodded once at the third year and said, "Thanks, mate." Mates. He would have dwelt on this a while longer but Cutty seemed to be doing something again. Er. "Is that why you're poking around here? Because of the laboratory?" He was going to walk along, of course, and being 'mates' or whatever, it was almost as if he was making Cutty seem more normal. Who wanted to poking around things on their own?

It wasn't that bad?! "With the way people have been going on about it, I thought it was one of the most horrible things to have happened here." Maybe that was a slight exaggeration. Not that many people have been going on about this. But then again, this would be a good way to get more out of the subject from Mordaunt. Huh. Polyjuice Potion. Grayson nodded slowly before saying, "That's smart, that is. Considering the match lasts under an hour. I doubt anyone wants to play Quidditch in the old state." He wouldn't. "Were you successful?" That was the important question here.