The HATE PARADE continued and Levi had no choice but to, well, take it. He didn't have a much of a choice! And frankly didn't have time to sit on it, either; Declan was already doing his thing, which never failed to make the curly baby hair on the back of his neck stand up. It wasn't creepy, so much as it was unpredictable and no matter how many times Declan chose to do it in front of him, it was not something Levi had ever gotten used to.

He was under the impression that he was the only level-headed one of the three, though, so Levi made a show of looking totally relaxed by leaning against the nearest wall and folding his arms across his chest. "Thea, you don't do a lot of things, to be fair," He enthused, rather unnecessarily, "But yes, Declan, no more digging, PLEASE. Last time I had dirt literally everywhere." One did not really ever consider just how many crevices the human body had until you were forced to deal with dirt and mud and weed.

Declan turned around to tell Althea the sad news. If Charlotte was in the water there was absolutely no rescue to be orchestrated. While there were spiders out there who were able to skate above water Declan was pretty sure Charlotte was not of that kind. He shook his head. It was too sad to say and it was only making him break concentration.

"Tch," Declan smiled sardonically. "Wouldn't want your fingernails to get dirt under them. My apologies," he remarked holding up one hand.

The bones murmured and he frowned down at them, sensing their impatience. Declan was surprised they even allowed themselves to be held by him much less to be tossed. The truth was, he was still getting the hang of reading them, and more often than not he found multiple meanings in them.

"So, the bones either say Charlotte is now dancing with the blast-ended skrewts, or she lies where the Eagle is balding."

"First of all, that is an inaccurate and offensive statement," Althea noted, turning her nose up at Levi right after. But she was glad they were on the same page about Declan and the bones. There was nothing more disconcerting than having their older brother misinterpret the bones and having them on a wild goose chase around Hogwarts.

As Declan began revealing the intricacies and messages that the bones held, Althea sent a silent prayer up to Helga Hufflepuff, hoping that she graced them with her wisdom before they did anything idiotic.

"The Ravenclaw Common room? But...why?" She wasn't too sure that she wanted the answer to that; knowing Declan and Levi, they would come up with some ridiculous plan that would result in detention or, worse: howlers from home.

"It's not inaccurate and--well, it might be offensive but then, so are you." One day he would get bored of bickering over unnecessary things. But seeing that he was just fourteen and a perfect brat, it was possible that day was not going to happen soon.

Declan was doing the thing he did where it looked like he was having some kind of silent conversation with the bones and Levi had to look around again to make sure they were alone. Just because he found it chilling and unsettling, didn't mean that what they were doing wouldn't look ridiculous to bystanders. Levi wasn't ready to have anyone laugh at him or at his siblings.

"Maybe the Ravenclaws kidnapped to use her as a test subject for some kind of experiment."

Declan didn't know why they expected him to have all the answers. He only knew as much as the bones would tell him and even then it was as much as he could make sense of it. His mismatched eyes landed on the cracks of the shells, and etched lines on the chicken bones in the circle. Sweaty hands rubbed bony knees over trousers.

"That's ridiculous," he said as he pushed himself up. "But entirely possible!" Ravenclaws were all about the pursuit of knowledge after all. Declan wouldn't put it past them to somehow excuse animal cruelty with a 'the ends justify the means' way of thinking.

"We have to save, Charlotte."

Declan opened the satchel and held it open on the edge of the drawn circle. Bones and shells rumbled before they swirl and flew into the satchel. In a swift movement he brought the satchel up, shook it once, and pulled the cords tightly.

"I am hereby accepting suggestions for a rescue mission. You have..." Declan grumbled as he put away the bones in a pocket inside his robes. "Two minutes. Startiiiinnnng...."He pulled out a pocket watch from one of his pockets. "Now."

Well. She didn't have a retort for that, so she pouted and folded her arms across her chest in an attempt to look aloof and cool. Her bruised ego was a force to be reckoned with. It would've been NICE if Declan let his baby sister have the spotlight to herself, but she supposed that Charlotte's life did have a tad bit more importance than how Althea felt. Or something like that.

"I wouldn't put it past them, actually. I've heard of less savory things that go on when it suits their fancy." Not that Althea would deign to name them; she had class, after all. But she was 24% sure that if Charlotte was in the Ravenclaw common room, they would be nearly too late in saving her.

Declan's big, pathetic eyes were looking all sorts of expectant, so Althea exhaled dramatically and threw her hands up in the air--mostly out of frustration but also to prove a point to him and Levi.

"First thing's first, how SURE are you that the bones were correct? Because I have ideas, but I want to be sure that if we get in trouble that it was worth it." Then she could explain to their parents that she was forced into a situation without any opinion at all.

Though the blame was absolutely his and despite knowing that nothing would be found inside the Ravenclaw common room, Levi could not help but to feel excited. The blame was not only being placed ELSEWHERE; it was also leading them far away from mud and dirt and the general dampness that came from being outside.

"We can always just plant a dung bomb or two or three outside their common room to create a diversion, wait for everyone to come out, and then sneak in." It was a solid plan, albeit clearly still missing some key details. "I suppose we'd first have to figure out WHERE the Ravenclaw common room is, though I have always assumed it isn't that far away from MINE because I always do see a lot of Ravenclaws around when I am going down for breakfast or coming up from dinner or walking to class..." He really did go on rambling until his voice was so low he mostly was whispering to himself, no longer needing his siblings' input (he never really had needed their input anyway).

There was a slight frown between his brows when he said: "I think that just to be on the safe side, we should steal some Ravenclaw robes in case we have to mingle with them in the common room."

Althea sometimes liked to bedazzle her conversations with facts that weren't exactly 100% verified. She had shaky resources the kind you couldn't attach to your five foot long Potions research paper without being told that your own opinion was not a reliable source.

Something like that.

"Not at all!" he replied earnestly and with a bright smile. "I'm sure there's at least an 82% backfire rate but that's nothing we can't overcome." Declan brought one arm around Althea's shoulder and tried to bring in Levi as well but his brother was fighting him. "Together. Semi-together. Fine! Not together!"

Sometimes Declan felt Levi must have been grown on a banana plant.

"Alright, that's fine but where are we going to get robes from?"

Incredible. Leave it to Levi to suggest something explosive--something that could potentially backfire and get them all in BIG trouble. Because that was what Althea's life had been reduced to: troublesome moments with her older brothers. Wonderful.

"No, we can't use dung bombs--you've never been good with being sneaky," she smacked his arm again because, it felt good, and to further her point about how Levi wasn't thinking hard enough. Dung bombs were messy and unpredictable if they weren't done right. And they were just plain nasty to use. But then Declan was bringing them together and she couldn't help but feel resigned to help out in whatever way she could.

"Fine, fine, look I might know someone who will get us some robes for a price."

She wouldn't say HOW but she knew that it wouldn't matter much to Declan so long as Charlotte was found. However, to reassure her brothers that she was on board with whatever plan they came up with, she smiled, wide and pretty like. "Just know that whatever happens, I'm blaming you and Levi."

Levi felt kind of bad that he wasn't a participant in Declan's displays of affection more often. It wasn't that he was against hugs or one armed hugs or even allowing one of his parents to peck him on the cheek and forehead; it was that he felt like Declan's affections were a prelude of bad things to come. But he still felt bad, and he kind of liked hugs; so he smiled and joined in (LATE) by coming in between Declan and Althea, winding an arm around his brother's shoulder and linking his arm with his sister.

This turned out to be a bad idea because Althea decided to smack him. He shot her a sour look. "Alright, who's your seller? Although, I am not sure we should trust anyone else with this." He really was not sure and he was beginning to feel very annoyed at his parents for not having a fourth child; a Ravenclaw brother or sister (brother--let's be real, here) would have been tremendous help. "Anyway, I like those odds a lot, Declan. Definitely could be worse, like--didn't we almost end up in the Forbidden Forest, once? In hindsight, following the stars was not the most sound of our plans." It was a clinical observation. Levi was actually not being sarcastic.

Declan shrugged.

"Okay," he said, being used to taking the blame. As it was, he was surprised he wasn't completely socially frozen out in his house for the constant misadventures he had with his siblings. Declan figured they were probably resigned and just waiting for him to finish his stint at Hogwarts already.

"Do I know this person? Can we even trust a Ravenclaw?" Declan thought it over quickly. "Well, maybe we can. They're smart. They wouldn't do anything that would make them look bad." Declan just wasn't sure that meant they wouldn't throw them under the bus if necessary but every rescue mission had its risks and Charlotte needed to be found.

"Okay, but it was a beautiful night, and we did see what could have been a Centaur. Maybe."

Sour looks aside, in Althea's most humble opinion: Levi should be grateful that she was being so pleasant. Because the trio's interactions usually were more explosive with a lot of yelling and name-calling and finger pointing. But they were surprisingly amicable. It was nice.

"You know that really unfortunate looking kid, the one with the thick eyebrows and droopy eyes?" They had to know who she was talking about! It was the most descriptive description she'd ever given in her entire life! "Anyway, he's so ugly that he's basically unnoticeable; as in invisible to everyone. So, that's our guy. He can knick some robes for us easy." Which was the most Althea was willing to contribute outside of actually sneaking around the Ravenclaw common room with her brothers in a foolish attempt to locate their pet.

"Do any of you know how to get into the common room, once we get the robes that is? I hear they change their password like every other day!!!"

Levi really didn't know who Althea was talking about, which was not surprising. The fellow in question sounded unpleasant to look at, after all, and the fourth year made a point of forcing himself to repress the memories of unpleasant situations. Or, in this case, an unpleasant looking student.

Same difference. "Okay, but you still haven't told why we can trust this bloke." He raised his eyebrows, felt his mouth twitch. "Is that your boyfriend, Thea?" Uuuuhhhhhh. Levi snickered. "You KNOW, it's only polite to introduce me and Declan." He shot their brother a pointed look. "He needs to declare his intentions before we can give him our stamp of approval." Possibly on his forehead.