'It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.'

-Sherlock Holmes
A Scandal in Bohemia

That quote somehow got stuck inside Ethan’s head and kept on mentally speaking it over and over again. His favourite muggle detective taught him so many things just by reading Sir Conan Arthur Doyle’s works, and one of them was the importance and beauty of research. It may be a nerdy thing to say, but it did help a lot when it comes to solving a problem. Besides, knowing things isn’t a bad thing either. Knowledge is power. Yup.

Ethan glanced behind him to see if Simon was close behind. They agreed to join this research, investigation stuff and maybe contribute an answer…or at least a theory based on their activity. The Slytherin searched the entire library, until he reached the Restricted Section Area. And just a few steps from it was one Airey Flamsteed, looking outside the window…thinking? Scheming? “Do you already have a theory in mind, professor?” he looked like he got one already. Smart man he was. “About the…freak weather? Oh and hi.” With a quick salute, he joined the Astronomy professor and he too looked outside. “Merlin. It looks like Hoth outside.” Oh wait, sorry. Wrong science fiction. notsorry

When Professor Flamsteed had mentioned this meeting, there was no way that Lux was about to miss the opportunity to help. The sooner things were solved, the sooner they would get back to normal again. Things REALLY needed to return to how they used to be before she completely lost it.

Spotting the Professor, Lux gave him a small smile; he seemed stressed and it was something that she didn't blame him for. "Hello, Professor Flamsteed." Oh, and Ethan was there as well. "Hello." He got a smile too.

The only reason Grayson was actually here was because of the slight possibility of sorting out this freak weather. He really didn't care about much else but he did want to be able to go home, thank you. Imagine still being here over the summer? Locked up in the castle and with no way of being able to go outside. No thank you. That didn't sound like his ideal way of spending the summer. A beach did, not being around the snow. There was a reason summer was his favourite season.

Cough.

Soooo, with his hands tucked into his pockets, Grayson headed into the library. Why this had to take place here, he didn't know. He didn't particularly care much for books so they were ignored. It took a bit of roaming and even some grumbling and thoughts about how he could be sitting near a warm fire drinking hot chocolate but finally, the fourteen year old found the right place. Or what looked like the right place.

"Hellooooooo Professor!" 'Sup. Hey. He was here. "Hey Lux! Snowstorm Man Ethan!" 'Sup to you two too.

Jasmine walked through the Library, headed in the direction of the Restricted Section. She was anxious to help Professor Flamsteed with his research. Noticing some tables and chairs set up in the vicinity, Jasmine assumed she was in the right place. Seeing Professor Flamsteed and her classmates, she went to join them.

"Hello Professor Flamsteed", Jasmine said. Seeing that only a few students had arrived, Jasmine said, "Hi guys". Then she found an empty seat and sat down. Curious as to the Professor's theory, she waited for the meeting to begin.

Abby wasn't sure why she had come to this meeting she just wanted to put and end to the stupid weather they were having just now and plus she wanted to be able to go back outdoors again but she stayed quiet as there weren't that many people she knew just now

Angel was totally looking forwards to helping the Professor. "Good day Professor." Angel beamed and then she saw her sister but it wasn't AJ it was Abby. "Abby, how are you?" Angel beamed, she was happy now, she knew her sister was safe.

Abby smiled at Angel and said "I am good hoping to help and find a way to stop it snowing so much"

Just because there was a diagnosis, didn't mean that there'd be a cure. Hello, hemorrhagic fever. And Cutty was interested in finding out the cause of this freak weather. True, the violent cold had brought with it some benefits. Having everyone there conveniently and neatly trapped created a sort of desperate situation and if one knew how to take advantage of that, one could make a fortune. But then, the violent cold. Cutty was not a fan.

A polar vortex was what the lanky Professor Flamsteed had called it the last Cutty had asked him about it. But then he'd confessed to not being any sort of weather expert. Still, he was the most qualified person available on staff to give them answers. Though, he tended to work alone, Cutty thought it would be a good idea to go hypothesis shopping here amongst the minds of others. He could always further develop it later.

Extra credit? Sure, Toby could use all the extra credit he could get this year. The last few weeks had been a bit of a disaster where homework and lessons had been concerned, and even though he had no idea what this extra credit was going to be about (had it been mentioned? probably, but tuning out was a bad habit of his), Toby figured this was the place to be today.

But................ the library. Books. Research. Sitting still and focusing and reading and concentrating and.......................... you know... all the things Toby focused on. That would probably be on today's agenda. But this Hufflepuff was going to try as HARD as he could, because he was a Hufflepuff after all.

When he arrived, Toby took one look at the research materials all set up and died a little inside. Yup. This'd be painful. But still... he wanted to be of some help.

Trying not to bounce and fidget and flail too much, Toby went and stood behind one of the set up chairs (Transfiguration class style), casting his eyes over the many many reading materials and jiggling one of his knees. When they started, he'd sit. He chewed almost fitfully at his fingernails, not out of anxiety, but from a recently developed habit that helped him in his efforts to focus.

Still, Toby was cheerful. Every time he saw a person he knew or even vaguely recognised the Hufflepuff gave them a beaming grin and a small wave. Even Cutty, though he may have faltered ever so slightly.

With his notebook in hand and already scribbling down notes, Simon followed Ethan into the library. He was making notes of all the theories that they had come up with over the course of the year. It felt like something productive to do; however, the boy nearly fell over nothing half a dozen times. It was quite difficult to write and walk at the same time as Ethan was occasionally speeding up his pace to get to the library. “Slow down, mate!” he cried but by the time he said that he was shushed by someone in the library. Brilliant, he thought as he slipped his notebook into the pocket of his winter coat and continued walking down an aisle of the library.

Before he knew it, they were at the Restricted section. Simon’s blue eyes widened with anticipation at all the books that he had never been able to feast his eyes upon. “Hello Professor! Reporting for duty,” greeted Simon with a friendly grin before standing to attention and giving the Astronomy Professor a Vulcan salute. Yep. This was going to be a customary greeting just for his fellow Trekkie. They were on a mission and everyone had to be professional. Ethan’s comment about Hoth made Simon quirk an eyebrow. He nodded his head. It did look like Hoth out there. Ah, so Holmes was a fan of Star Wars. Interesting. Simon had only seen the older episodes of Star Wars since his father refused to watch the prequels with his brother and he. His father said that the prequels hadn’t lived up to the standards of the original trilogy. Simon just thought his dad was being a wee bit silly because he thought that perhaps the newer ones would have much better graphics in it.

Anyway, he gave a nod to the girl that seemed to know Ethan and then turned to see Grayson entering. Before he could say hi, more people had entered. Ooh. He knew this people. How fun! He gave a nod to each of them and a friendly smile. Then he saw a very, very familiar person. Was that Toby? He gave the boy who looked so familiar a wave and a grin? He really ought to know the kid's name by now.

He turned back to the Professor, noticing Airey's clenched jaw. Huh.... Something was amiss. That wasn't a reassuring sign. “So what can we get started on?”

Maddie had a NOTEBOOK full of questions and ZERO answers to most of them which was wildly annoying. The cold just didn't make sense and unless the entire planet was experiencing some sort of push into the next ice age like in that muggle movie her brothers had FORCED her to watch, she had no CLUE what could be causing this. And so she was here, forced into extra credit work by her curiosity and need for some sort of information to quell her longing for knowledge on all of this.

"Hello Professor." There was little enthusiasm in her greeting seeing as she was FREEZING but it wasn't all together unpleasant. "Fellow student people." 'Sup nods and maybe a smile (depending on who you were, of course) happened.

The first year settled quite comfortably in a chair next to an older Slytherin boy who seemed lost in thought and let her notebook fall to the table with a THUD.

With her notebook in hand, Penelope walked over to the place in the library where the research meeting was. She was ready to help with the research.

"Hello, Professor Flamsteed," she said.

Spotting Angel, Penelope walked over to her. "Hi Angel. How are you?" The other girl must be Abby, her housemate, dorm mate, and Angel's sister.

Penelope wasn't really sure if she had ever actually met Abby or if she had just heard Angel talking about her. She must have seen Abby sometime, because they were both first year Ravenclaws, and Abby was her dorm mate. If it was not any of these, then it could be the fact that Angel had called her Abby, not AJ, and the Ravenclaw robes, that let her know that this was Abby. "Hi Abby."

Cutty froze for a moment, though not for the temperature. He felt the weight of a glance on him and turned his head in time to catch it.

Toby was smiling. Cutty'd seen him do this often enough that he'd sort of developed a decoder of sorts for the smiles and what they meant. But with a new perspective on Toby as more emotionally corruptible than he initially branded him, Cutty wasn't so quick to assume this meant that Toby's mind was on the obvious.

It wasn't as - well, Cutty had to admit now - forced as the one used when Toby had mentioned his grandfather having shuffled off this mortal coil. It was something else. In a short measure of time, Cutty's smile was plastering itself long and wide and monkey-like as ever.

Creepatron.





The little first year girl from Herbology plopped her wee self down next to Cutty and his smile and gaze was instantaneously distracted by the THUD the ickle bird made with her...was that a diary?

"Ehyew." He greeted back casually. "What's that y'got there?"

Research. That definitely was her thing. Hayden wasn't eager about Astronomy but she did want to know what was up with the weird weather and how to make it stop. She did not appreciate the cold, not one bit. So there she was, ready to research and also hopefully earn some extra credit. It was a win-win situation.

"Hello Professor," she said when she entered. "Find anything yet?" She didn't know exactly when this research session was supposed to start and she was fairly sure she was not late but she did want to make sure that she hadn't missed anything important. Hayden surveyed the room, and the seating arrangements, and went to go sit by the only person she knew. There weren't many people there yet so that probably meant she wasn't late. "Hello." That was to Maddie and the boy she was sitting by. "Mind if I join you?" She didn't know anyone else so hopefully they wouldn't mind.

It was nothing quite so girly, Cutty. If Maddie did have a diary-which she didn't-she'd have it locked away somewhere no one could ever get their hands on it. Save for Zeus, his paws would probably come across it occasionally. That kneazle knew all her secrets.

"'S research. Questions I have and possible answers and things I simply must know before I draw any more conclusions." Did no one else have notes like this? Surely she wasn't the only one obsessing concerned about their current situation. "I'm Maddie." PAUSE. "Or Coop." He could make the choice. "You're a Slytherin but I don't know your name." He should tell her, did he know?




Hayden.

Maddie was seeing her around a lot lately, huh? The brunette smiled a little when the Hufflepuff joined her and the older snake, shaking her head to indicate that THEY didn't mind at all. The first year felt PERFECTLY comfortable answering for others, obviously.

"Maybe we'll get some answers today," She said quietly to the girl next to her. They HAD talked about this subject before, after all.

Zoe appeared and headed for the research meeting. She'd gone and helped with research a few terms back and hoped somehow they'd come up with an idea as to what was causing the cold and snow. She wondered if maybe it was the planets alignment or something, but that was just a thought she had. Nothing conclusive to it. She took a seat and looked around and realized the professor was standing at the window, crossing her arms on the table she rested her chin there waiting for him to tell them why they were there and what they were researching.

Soooo... AJ was not one for research, and she never wanted to do anything extra when it came to things that weren't sports related, but she was over the snow. Deciding at the last minute that she would come to this meeting, she trudged in and saw her sisters. "Hey Abbs and Ang." It was cold, but that pretty much went without saying.

"Where are the treats?" Every meeting that she had been to so far had treats. This was a bummer considering that sweet treats were the second reason for why she bothered to come to the meeting. The first year cupped her hands to her mouth and blew hot air into them. AJ was wearing gloves, but the hot air was managing to make it's way to her fingers.

Truth be told, she had no theories. She was beyond theories right now. A more pressing matter would be to find a solution this mess that was no doubt magical. Whether it was super ancient magic Botros could assist them with sometime, or some hybrid between magic and bad luck which... Flamsteed could help them with, right? Exactly.

So, technically, she had come to see if Hogwarts held as many bright minds as one would think.

Hey, Grayson Whitlock!

A smile went to the Slytherin boy as she joined them and another to the deep-in-thought Professor. Was he thinking about how to get more fancy marshmallows? Because she was. Lotus had loved them and would've asked for more had she not noticed how difficult it had been to take eight from him. She was considerate, you know? "Hello, Professor!" Your favorite is here, Airey Flamsteed.

Bright minds are here to help, or something. *waits*

She might have had the last straw, because yes, the wind out of nowhere eating all the balloons and slamming the windows shut spoke of something SERIOUS. Any hope she'd previously had of the weather letting up had been crushed in that one Astronomy lesson. That was why Lex was here. She didn't have anything better to do and wanted to see what kind of ideas they'd been bouncing around and would be trying to work through.

Surely someone would come out with something to spring them from this place, yes? Yes.

With a somewhat sullen expression, the Gryffindor dragged herself into the library. For a moment her face lit up when she saw how close they were to the restricted section but then she remembered they wouldn't actually be going in there and her mood sank right back down.


Oh look, the best friend had already made it. Without really taking the time to look at her company where she was, Lex made her way over, resting her head on her shoulder. Yes, very much put off by this weather, this whole thing. June would come before they knew it and storm was too busy eating meterological devices to shove off.

Could things get any worse? Probably.

Grayson got a nod when she realized he was there and the Professor got something like a nod too. She would just...be here, waiting for something to happen.

Penelope didn't really want to sit around reading and studying and researching since it felt like that was almost all she'd been doing all term, preparing for NEWTs since she was stuck inside anyway. But she was tired of all that studying, and it'd be nice to feel like she was doing something to contribute getting rid of this crazy weather so she COULD go outside more. Before the term ended preferably. She kinda wanted to graduate and all.

So she was here. Flamsteed got a nod when she entered but she didn't say anything. Just gonna wait for the meeting thing to start.

Adi was heeere. Was he late? He wasn't feeling so well earlier (hopefully he wasn't coming down with the cold or something) but on the bright side he was alright now. Kind of. Anyway, there was the Astronaut in the corner. "Hello, Professor.'' Was it just him or did Flamsteed look a bit tense?

Wondering what was up, Adi headed off to find himself a seat, nodding to a few of his friends but smiled and waved at Lux.

Why was Zander even here? For one reason, and one reason only: the possibility of house points. Actually no, two reasons: possible points AND getting rid of the snow so that he could finally go to his happy place again. Wait okay there was also a third reason: he was starting to warm up to this Flailsteed guy. After the whole card delivery thing, he didn't actually seem half bad. So yes three reasons and three reasons only-- Oh his friends were there!

He had never been to the restricted section before. This was actually kind of cool! As Zander approached the group, he gave a quick wave to Simon and Ethan, and smiled at Lux and Adi.

"Hello, Professor."Making his way towards the professor, he noticed a somewhat frustrated demeanor? Uh oh. That can't be good. The Gryffindor reached into one of his bag pockets and took out a chocolate frog from the secret-zipper compartment. "Would you like some chocolate, sir?" Oh wait. He wasn't supposed to call him sir. Rightoh. Either way, emergency chocolate was always good to keep around. Chocolate could fix everything (except for this eternal winter)!

With the weather barricading them all inside and leaving them bored, Benn had been trying to keep himself busy. But classes and casual reading and just plain hanging out only worked so much. So when Professor Flamsteed had offered an opportunity for extra work and perhaps a bit of fun in the whole research project, the third year had finally opted to go along with it.

He stepped inside the library and headed towards the area that had been set aside for the gathering. Plenty of students had already gathered and the professor himself was standing by the window. "Good day Professor," he greeted as he came near, passing Angel, AJ and someone who could only be the elusive third sister. The Gryfffindor managed a weak smile at the three girls before opting for a spot near Adi. At least his bestie was safe ground.

"Hey..."

The restriction section...Lucy had never been here before..
She smiled at her professor and her classmates and she said:" Hello!"