Zhenya thought about that, she supposed it would be. "What does he do now that he's graduated?" she asked. Zhenya was really interested in what other people did after they finished. She was determined to be a healer just like her father, and she wanted to help brew individualised potions to help those in need. It would happen, she would make sure of it.

Ooh happiness! Zhenya smiled. "Mine's excitement. I'd be interested to see the similarities and differences between the two. You know... sometimes being excited makes me really happy and sometimes when I'm happy I find it easy to be excited." Maybe she was overlooking some important point, but never mind. She handed her potion to Lux so that she could drink it when she liked.

What did Bay do now?? Oooh, she supposed that Zhenya was asking because she was a Seventh Year. Crazy to think that she and Kace would be Graduating soon. Lux was jealous. "Well, he never really worked out an exact plan of what to do after school. Total opposite of me." Hehe, she already had everything mapped out. "But he has expressed wanting to open a joke shop." Hopefully that will happen because it would be so cool.

An excitement potion, huh. That sounded pretty neat. "This is gonna be fun!" They did a little switcheroo. "Watch out for my hyper happiness! I'm gonna be going super Hufflepuff on you I think." Haha, this would be something. Removing the stopper from the phial, she downed the whole thing in one go.

"Oh cool! You know it's really nice hearing that people leave here with no idea of what they want to do. I don't think people have to know what they want to do." Zhenya did, Lux obviously did, but there would be so so many people who didn't. But a JOKE SHOP? Zhenya grinned "WOW that would be amazing and so much fun! Good luck to him," she said genuinely. That would be incredible.

Zhenya took the pink happiness potion from Lux, "Thanks," she said, "Cheers!" and drank it. Wasn't... too bad. Hehe Super Hufflepuff! "Super Hufflepuff? I think more people should be super Hufflepuff," she said, feeling quite happy.

"Yeah, it's not an easy decision to make. It's totally normal to take time thinking about it like Bay." Lux smiled. She supposed that there were loads of people like her boyfriend, and it was totally fine because she was so proud of him.

The potion didn't taste too bad, and honestly Lux was used to taking them by now. Some tasted good, and some tasted nasty. She was just happy and EXCITED to work with Zhenya on the assignment. She couldn't wait to write about her observations. There were a lot of things that she couldn't wait to do!!!!

"I want to brew soooooo many more potions! I'm going to be brewing with Professor Culloden!! He TOTALLY said we would be doing that this yearrr." WEEEEEEEEE!! POTIONS WERE TOTALLY AWESOMETASTIC. She couldn't wait to create and brew them for a living. AND BAY. She would get to see Bay whenever she wanted once she Graduated. THAT MADE HEER SO HAPPY AND EXCITED. Like she could make a million Patronuses right now if she tried.

EEEEEPPP!! Lux started bouncing up and down as she sat. "I'M A SUPER HUFFLEPUFF!!!!!!" Yeeeeeahhh.

BOUNCCE.

Zhenya listened to her new BFFFFFFFF Lux talk about brewing more potions with Professor Culloden. WOW. "That is so amazing, Lux, I'm SO happy for you! You are just such a talented potioneer. Do you know my grandpapi was Potions Master at the Soviet School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and he was an incredible herbologist, and so he used to teach me how to brew potions." She nodded, smiling at the thought of him. He was her inspiration for her patronus, after all. He was the BEST man ever.

Zhenya giggled at Lux's proclaiming to be a SUPER HUFFLEPUFF. "Lux of COURSE you're a Super Hufflepuff! ALL Hufflepuffs are super. Super DUPER!" IT WAS TRUE! Zhenya loved being a Slytherin, but she wasn't sure why. She didn't feel like she fit in very well, but that was good. It was good. She was just so happy to be at Hogwarts, really, surrounded by beautiful people and lovely professors.

"Oh we need to write stuff down don't we?" Zhenya asked, giggling. Oops, the giggling turned into a stomach spasming laughing fit. HEHEHEHEHEHE.

YESSSSSSS. Zhenya was happy for her, and that made Lux even more EXCITED. Happiness was exciting and potions were exciting. Boyfriends were VERY exciting!!

Grandpas were exciting too!! Lux loved her grandpa and she loved Professor Botros, who reminded her of him. "Wow, Potions Master! That is so cool!! I'm so excited to be working with potions when I Graduate. I am so excited to be going to college!!!" THERE WAS ONLY ONE TERM LEFT. ZOMG SHE WAS SO EXCITED!!!! "I will get to see Bay whenever I want and that makes me so happy!!" More bouncing.

"SUPER HUFFLEPUFFS EVERYWHERE!!" Lux was happy that Zhenya agreed with her there!!! Oooh, they had to write things down??? Lux had forgotten about that because she was so excited about everything - and now she was excited to write down her feelings as well!! "LET'S DO THIS!!!" Writing was so exciting.

Zhenya just felt very one with the world. It made her calm and euphoric, and she was just... happy. And Lux was happy, she was super Hufflepuff happy, and that made Zhenya happy.

Zhenya nodded at Lux's agreeing how cool that was. "It was super cool, he was such a great potioneer." Zhenya beamed at Lux, feeling very happy for her. "Oh that will be super awesome! It must be so amazing when you go home and get to see him on holidays and breaks," she said. She would be happy if she had a boyfriend and got to see him. But she was just happy that she got to see her friends and family. Especially her cousin Sophia, Sophia was a right laugh.

"What are Slytherin's? They're not always happy or exciting or... always Super. They're... They're SUPER AMBITIOUS! I am ambitious about becoming a Healer," she declared. Super Ambitious Slytherins! She would be the happiest healer ever, brewing healing potions for her patients, and curing them. She'd have to look into DNA modification with potions too, to see if she could do things with that. That would be awesome and she'd be so happy knowing she had been able to cure people and help them.

Clara pretended not to notice the concerned looks because, as far as she was concerned, she didn't require looks of that sort. She even went as far as to try and prove it by sitting up straight and clearing her throat quietly ... but, apparently, that just encouraged the girl to sit beside her and ask questions ..... potentially personal questions.

Blink, blink...........

"Perhaps." Vague.

Seriously there was nothing to see here. Nothing that he needed to know about anyway. And definitely not anything to be grinning about. NO GRINNING. OKAY. Mmmmm.... yeah. She was only picking because Kace was so hyper. That was all. Oh yeah she knew all to well the wreath of stealing Emmy's candy. Well not really but she could imagine it. The girl maybe short but she knew that Emmylou could pack a punch if she wanted to. "Yeah, I know she'd get you if you did." She laughed and smirked.

She laughed again. She knew that she was hot and everyone wanted to flirt with her she batted her eyelashes. Okay not really. She rolled her eyes mostly because she didn't see anything funny in it at all. She eyed him again. She wasn't letting her guard down. She knew what he was doing here. "Gross don't wink at me like that." She knew that he was joking, But still she couldn't help but to wonder why he kept bringing it up. She wasn't going to question him or mention anything to him about it. She just continued to eye him and she crossed her arms now.

Ohhhhhh CRAP!

ZOOOOOOM

Cinna has left the fourth floor. Bag clenched to her side, she wasn't giving up her precious bag. Nope he wasn't getting her glitter balloons.

Kace chuckled and asked, "Do you think she would punch me or maybe not talk to me for a while?" He was asking Cinna's opinion is all. When he winked at her, he took her comment to heart playfully. "Gosh Cinna won't you play alooonngg.." he smirked and now he was sooo gonna get her back for the balloon incident. I mean she did start a war. As he ran after her, he saw her bolting. Oh no she don't. He picked up his pace and he realized that the balloon bag was weighing her down. She wasn't running as fast as Kace. Interesting...

He made an attempt to grab the bag and let's see how Cinna would react.

YAAAAAAY!!

Zhenya was happy, which meant that her potion had WORKED. Lux was so excited to see that she had done a good job. Succeeding at something was very exciting and she was proud of herself!! "I hope I can be as good a potioneer as your grandpa and Professor Culloden!!" That would be so amazing because they were geniuses at their field. Lux just KNEW that Zhenya's grandpa was brilliant and she was excited to be like him.

And they were talking about Bay!! HER BAYY. "Yeah, it's incredible!! I can't wait to see him again. I can't wait to talk to him through the mirrors!!" Yeaaaaah, it was going to be incredible. Giggling, she removed her notebook and pencil from her bag so that she could take some amazing notes. "You are a SUPER AMBITIOUS SLYTHERIN who is going to be an AMAZING Healer!" And she couldn't wait to see the day it happened!!

Eagerly, Lux began to jot down her thoughts so that she could elaborate on them later:

SPOILER!!: Lux's Notes

• Boyfriends are exciting
• Potions are exciting
• Succeeding is exciting
• Grandpas are exciting
• Hufflepuffs and Slytherins are exciting
• ALL Houses are exciting (especially Gryffindor and Hufflepuff)
• Becoming a Healer is exciting
• Summer holidays and vacations are exciting
• Two-way mirrors are exciting
• SO MANY THINGS ARE EXCITING!!!

Zhenya smiled happily at Lux, who was very ambitious. "Lux! OH Merlin you know you're SO ambitious! If you didn't tick every other Hufflepuff box, I'd have thought you could have been a green snake too! I'd be happy if you were in my house," she said. But then thinking about what Lux had said, "And Lux, you KNOW you're amazing at Potions. You know one day, one day, people just like us are going to be sitting here just like we are now, and they're going to say... I want to be an amazing Potioneer just like Lux Carrington." Zhenya nodded, totally 100% truth. But it would still be cooooool if Lux was a Slytherin. OR if Zhenya was a Hufflepuff. That would be so cool, though Zhenya was happy just to be at Hogwarts, whether in Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Hagrid's Hut.

Zhenya was so happy Lux was so excited and happy with Bay. It made her so happy that her friend was happy, being loved and having lots of fun. She hadn't ever used a two-way mirror but anything that made communicating to those long distances away was a good thing. A happy thing! People were happy when they were talking with the people they loved, weren't they? "I'm SO happy for you Lux. You have a two-way mirror, you've got Bay to talk to over it... life is GOOD!"

'You are a SUPER AMBITIOUS SLYTHERIN who is going to be an AMAZING Healer!'

Aww, Zhenya felt her face go pink and she smiled. "Thanks Lux," she said, happy. Yes, she WOULD be an Amazing Healer when she graduated. She would be such a happy healer, too. She'd heal everyone with a smile on her face, all day every day. How could anyone NOT be happy and smiling all the time? They were ALIVE and... and stuff. They could talk, breathe, eat, laugh, have fun, see the beautiful RAIN and stuff. Yeah, she was so happy here at Hogwarts. Could be cold and snowing or it might be warm and sunny. Everything.

PERHAPS?????

Maggie leaned in a little, ready to hear more about it. Only Clara didn't go on. Like....seriously???? "Can I help?" She tried again, still that rather concerned look on her face. "Do you want-" Err. "-chocolate?" That was something people ATE when upset yes? She'd seen it.

Was this girl a psychiatrist? If so, then she probably could help ..... but, she didn't look like one, so it was unlikely she could. Clara simply shrugged, trying to think of something to say to make the girl either leave her alone or stop looking at her like she was a wounded deer ..... "What's your name?" She asked after a moment, when it dawned on her that the blonde seemed familiar with Clara, but she had no idea who she was. And in regards to the offer of chocolate, she shook her head. "No, thank you."

She was probably one of the few that didn't eat chocolate when distressed.

Lux a Snake? Really? She didn't really agree with that (since she was a LION), but still a huge compliment. Maybe Zhenya could be a Hufflepuff because she totally had that House down. "Sharing Houses with people is awesome!!" It would really suck if everyone was in their own House, because that would be lonely. Her symbol would be a mermaid though because they were exciting creatures and she loved them. And whooooooa. People were going to talk about HER like that??? The redhead's eyes widened as she thought about how amazing that would be. "It's so exciting!! I don't care about being famous, but it would be wonderful to be good at what I do."

SQUEEEEE. Maybe she really WOULD be as good as Professor Culloden and Zhenya's grandpa one day!! She couldn't wait to find out.

Zhenya was happy for her and Bay!! YAAAYY. She loved when people were happy for her and her relationship. Everyone should be happy for other people because it made the world a better place. "I am so happy too!!" Happy and excited because she loved her boyfriend. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. "Life is amazing and I can't wait to be in the real world!!" YESSSSS.

"You are going to be my Healer!!" Yep!! She'd ask for Zhenya by name when she injured herself or got sick. Wouldn't that be fantastic?

Happily she gave her friend a hug because she was awesome.

"IT IS!" Zhenya agreed! Zhenya loved being able to sit at other house tables and partner with people from other houses, and be friends with people from other houses. Imagine if she could only be friends with other Slytherins? She wasn't sure that would be very good, she had more friends who weren't Slytherin. But friends made her happy, and house diversity made her happy. Sometimes she just had to have a break from some of the cunning or ambitious snakes. BIG SMILE, "Of course it's wonderful to be acknowledged for being great at something. And you WILL be acknowledged," she nodded. True. TRUETRUETRUE!

"Only one year and the rest of this year to go for you," Zhenya said happily. It was a long time, but it would be over soon. Zhenya's sixth year went by too quickly. Perhaps that was because of no torturous exams, the odd year sandwiched between OWLs and NEWTs. Zhenya was super happy to be leaving at the end of this year, getting a job and doing what she loved, living with Sophia and actually being there all the time, but she didn't want to rub it in.

Aww! "I'd LOVE to be your healer! I want to create healing potions, too. I want to heal the world!" It was a BIG declaration but she wanted to. No illnesses, muggle or magical. She felt doing that would make the world happy, just like how Zhenya was feeling now. She smiled as Lux hugged her, and Zhenya returned the hug.

Ouch.

But then again, they hadn't really interacted much so Clara was forgiven. Plus, if she got upset with her now she was never going to find out WHAT it was that was upsetting her. So Maggie just continued to smile. "Magdalena." That sounded more....sophisticated yeah? More trustworthy.

Okay. No chocolate for you then, Clara.

YESSSSSS. Zhenya knew what she was talking about!! Lux was so happy to have someone agree with her and feel the same way. If everyone loved all the Houses, Hogwarts would be a school filled with love and joy. It was so much fun sharing Houses with the people you cared about. "You will be too!! I can see it now; Zhenya Burton the famous Healer!!" It would be amazing and she couldn't want to see her friend be super successful in her life.

SUCCESS FOR EVERYONE!!

One year after this year... Lux couldn't wait for that time to pass by as much as she loved this school. "OMG, I am sooooo excited!!" Flail. Did Zhenya even KNOW how excited she was???? Because she SHOULD. Everyone should. At least this term was going by pretty fast and there were loads of things to occupy her mind.

"I'm so happy you will be my Healer!! I know you will do AMAZING at creating those potions!! I could create some with you!!" Yeaaaah, that would be so cool. Lux was so excited for this to happen. She was so excited about everything right now and it was fantastic.

Zhenya saw how excited Lux was about EVERYTHING! The potion must have worked, even though Lux seemed like the person to be positive about life. That was good. Everything was making Zhenya happy; that her potion worked, that Lux was excited about lots of things... it was just GOOD.

BIG SMILE! Zhenya tried not to get too wrapped up in that image; getting awards for her good work as a healer, everyone knowing her, even helping with muggles in those muggle hospitals. That would make her feel so happy and accomplished. She was a Slytherin, though, and she was ambitious... surely that would count for something. "Thanks Lux! I think... I think I can see it too. Together we will raid the front pages of the newspapers! Lux Carrington... Potioneer, Zhenya Burton... healer, awarded Order of Merlin, First Class," dramatic pause. "Oh that will be us, Lux." It totally would. They would heal the world!

"You're going to be SO happy when you leave here, Lux, and you can see your niece or nephew EVERY day and Bay and... and your friends, and make cool potions EVERY day! It's going to be awesome!" It totally would! Zhenya would have to see Lux too, *cough*.

AND YES "YES YES YES!" Zhenya squealed happily! "You can help me with HEAPS of potions! You'll be like my encyclopaedia of potions!" YES! "And some of the potions to cure illnesses could be like... a Carrington Burton creation! We could have our own LABEL of potions! Can you imagine?" Zhenya said, exploding with happiness. THEY WERE ACTUALLY GOING TO DO IT!

Magdalena. Squint.

....... "I've seen you around," she said, recognising her face and height. Yes, height.

Clara felt herself relaxing a little, some of the haziness fading away. "Pleasure to officially meet you, Magdalena," she said, aiming for a smile, but ending up with a awkward half-grimace. "I....just..get like this sometimes." That was meant to be an apology, but sounded more like the beginning of a heart-to-heart. Heh.

Of course she'd seen her around. Maggie was very hard to miss.

"Nice meeting you too." Maggie agreed with a small smile, this time even expressing a genuine sentiment. At least her own smile looked a lot better than that thing on Clara's lips. It made her look weird. Not that she would say or show that in any way.

And since sometimes less was more, Maggie just nodded to the other girl's words at first. "Why?"

OOOOH! SHE COULD SEE THEM INVENTING POTIONS ALREADY!!

Lux kept bouncing because YAAAAAY. "This is going to be so awesome. We are going to help make the world a better place, Zhenya!!" That was absolutely thrilling and she wanted to help others as much as she could with her work. She didn't even care if she became famous, she just wanted to invent potions.

"I KNOW!! I AM SO FREAKING EXCITED!!" Lux wanted to graduate today, but she knew it wasn't possible. "And we can see each other too!" Because there was no way that wasn't going to happen.

"Let's work on our potion brand! Just call me your encyclopedia!!" Even though Culloden technically should be. Maybe he was as well because he was a genius.

Zhenya beamed her happy smile at Lux, "Making the world a better place one potion at a time. Oh this will be SO good! What kind of potions should we make? A whole lot of general health potions or focusing on a few ailments? OR we could work on a super healing potion that heals a huge array of ailments!" How cool would that be? It would be super versatile.

Zhenya could see just how excited her friend was about graduating and seeing everyone, and was even happier that Lux wanted to see her too. "YES! Oh amazing, and we can totally hang out in our lab... because we will need a lab one day." she nodded.

"Lux the encyclopaedia! Oh has a ring to it, this will be great. We could even write a book about potion making." YES Zhenya could see that TOO! "Do you have any ideas for names?" Zhenya tried to think of some.

It occurred to Toby on the way back down through the castle that the corridors were probably fair game. All day he'd been walking around and had only just realised on his way back through the corridors that different stretches of wall had been turned red or yellow or blue or green. He wondered 1. if that was why he was in higher spirits today, what with all the colour on the walls, and 2. how the heck he'd managed to not notice it earlier, given he'd been looking for something to charm with 'Colovaria'.

Although, was it really such a surprise? There had been times in the past when much bigger, significant things had escaped his notice, so it wasn't all that strange. Anyway, he'd noticed now.

The fourth floor was easily the emptiest when it came to colourful walls; Toby hadn't seen a single yet on this level of the castle, so he actually felt like it was his DUTY to turn it yellow. Cheerful castle, woo!

He stopped in front of a large empty expanse of stone wall, and looked left down the corridor, then right, thinking. Toby didn't know if they were limited in how much of the walls they were allowed to change colours, but it was a good opportunity to see just what the extent of the spell was in his hands. He raised his wand, which up until now he'd been spinning between his fingers.

"Colovaria!" With a point of his wand, and a more forceful enthusiastic incantation than before, the wall began to change colour. Toby took a step back, watching the yellow creep across the stone in bother directions. Soon, he had to start turning his head left and right to keep checking on either end, until eventually a stretch of the wall that was no less than twenty feet had turned yellow, fading back into the grey of the stone at either end. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Once again, Toby wrote that down on his parchment, which was steadily becoming more and more crumpled every time he repeated the process. He should probably... rewrite this all on fresh parchment when he was done. Yeah.

After taking a few moments to get down the details, Toby shoved that back in his pockets and went on his way again.

Really. The yellow wall made the corridor that bit more cheerful.

Maggie had run UPSTAIRS instead of down. Which made absolutely no sense but she was trying to get away from an ENORMOUS spider so the part of her brain responsible for logical thinking wasn't working right now. So, naturally she'd run up the first stairs she'd been able to find.

At least she couldn't hear anyone running after her anymore.

Nor could she hear pincers.

Or someone calling her tasty.

Out of breath she slowed down enough to be able to look behind her. There was nothing there. No acromantula. She glanced up at the ceiling to make sure it wasn't hiding up there. Nope. Nothing.

WHAT ON EARTH HAD JUST HAPPENED?!?!?!??!?!

Eventually she stopped moving altogether. She should find someone. A professor or something. But now that she wasn't in any immediate danger anymore - as far as she could tell - her body was out of adrenaline to spare. Maggie couldn't even speak. Instead she leaned against a nearby wall, wand still tightly gripped in her hand.

Hello?