Gendry found himself wandering up to the divination tower more often. He was feeling out of sorts and not quite adjusted. As much as his parents tried to prepare him for this, he just felt a wee bit inadequate. He'd found that being up here a few minutes a day helped him to center himself and deal with the thoughts he was having.

Angel had decided that since it was her last year at the school and a lot of people wouldn't remember her in a few years time, she would try and make it so that her fellow students would remember her. Fred and George had managed to get a portable swamp in the school right, so how hard could it be.

She looked at the wall in question, she was still a bit nervous about doing this, the guilt in her mind was eating up at her, she had never been in trouble at the school and it was hard to see how she wouldn't get in trouble for this.

She grabbed her wand and did the spell that she had been taught that colours stuff in, she made sure that it was in big red writing, her nerves were playing havoc with her aim though and it took a bit to get what she wanted down, she then put her wand away and looked at the wall, now that was better.

The Valentine Sisters
WERE HERE
Gryffindor forever

Angel looked at her handy-work and give a half sigh and half smile, she and AJ had planned on doing it together but she had lost her sister and now she had done it on their behalf, that was the only thing that was stopping her from losing the plot right there and then.

Minding his own business, Paul was, when he saw it. HE SAW HER IN THE ACT. LIKE. WHAT WAS EVEN HAPPENING. He wasted no time in marching right over to the girl. What was he doing in the castle?! Pffft. Going to visit the Owlery, obviously. What he had NOT expected was this.

Ahem.

"Miss Valentine." He gestured at the wall. "Might I ask what in Merlin's name you're thinking?" Had she lost her damn marbles?

Angel had not expected the Herbology Professor anywhere in the castle, this was just so strange. "Hello, Professor." Angel smiled as she looked at the Herbology Professor. "Well I was just thinking that Fred and George, got a nice monument at Hogwarts, so I thought that I would give the Valentine sisters a monument." Angel was not going to say which Valentine sister she was just in case he thought that she might be AJ.

Ummm.

The look Paul was giving the child was of immense.....disbelief. "Well, we can't ALL have a monument at the school, m'dear. Merlin, if we all did that, the school would be covered in our little artwork." He had his wand out and quickly wiped her little display clear. "I'm taking FIFTEEN points for clear...graffiti to school property!" He sighed, though, because he understood how she was feeling. "Look, I know you're graduating soon, Miss Valentine--" he didn't have any idea which one she was, HEH, just one of the Gryffindor ones, "But STILL. Look, my pods down at the Greenhouses? I've let some students graffiti on those....if you want to, you can go do that--but I recommend NOT doing that in here." He took a small breath.

He hated taking points away. It left him with this awful, churning feeling in his stomach. But Merlin, blatant disrespect of the rules right here!

Angel looked at the Professor and sighed. "I know but you see, us Valentine Sisters are going to be great one day and so I thought it would just be fitting for all the future generations." Angel was sure that AJ would say just that. "Okay Professor I might just do that." Angel was trying to act all AJ style, she hated the idea of someone being able to graffiti a plant.

Fifteen points from Gryffindor, now that just wasn't right. Surely when Fred and George had done it, they hadn't lost any points. This was just an outrage. Though she wasn't going to let the Professor know her thoughts.

Nicky wasn't sleeping again. The frustrations of being at Hogwarts, coupled with the absolute crazy-making happening with Tali via owl, were wearing down Nicky's resolve. It was the night where she got to let some of the facade fall away and just.. not be ok with everything. When the rest of the castle stilled, it was quiet enough that everything she wanted to ignore was the loudest thing. Sometimes she slept. And sometimes, she went down to the common room and burned things in the fireplace. And still some other times, she would slip away and search for something, anything, to occupy her mind instead.

And tonight, Nicky needed a distraction. Waking Sloan up wasn't an option tonight and, frankly, she was starting to think her roommate made things a little muddier anyway. So she'd pushed her covers to the side, cast a featherlight charm on herself to keep from making any noise, and began her creeping down the stairs and out of the common room.

She walked down the seventh floor corridor, fingers lightly dragging along the stone wall. Yesterday's makeup smudged around her eyes and her blonde hair tied up in a sloppy bun, she sighed, casting glances at whatever portrait she passed, checking to see if they were awake and, if so, almost daring them to tattle.

Nicky had spent months wanting to go home. And with each letter that crossed the Atlantic, she wondered how much of 'home' was still left to go home to.

Having broken into a sprint the moment he was clear of the Innovation Lounge, Daxton had reached the seventh floor corridor in less than a minute. He made no trouble to keep his footsteps quiet, given that his mind was entirely preoccupied with other matters.

Nevertheless, it was somewhat disorienting. He had woken up not knowing how much time had passed; clearly it was still early enough for the castle to be quiet, and yet late enough that Airey Flamsteed had showed up in the Lounge.

Daxton did not - could not - think on the matter for very long. The very thought of him sent his thoughts spiralling all over again, and though there was no longer any danger of tears, the surge of emotion that went through him was almost blinding. Bursting into the corridor at speed, he skidded across the floor, his bare feet scuffing along the stone slabs, and ricocheted off the opposite wall, colliding painfully with the edge of a picture frame.

Breathing heavier than even before - an effect of both his rage and the sudden upswing in cardiovascular activity that his body was most certainly not used to - Daxton pushed himself away from the wall, ready to get his bearings and decide where to go and what to do. Instead, he immediately laid eyes on something else in the corridor, someone that made Daxton start in surprise; given her smudged eye make-up and generally disshevelled appearance, haunting characters from the dozens of horror movies Daxton had seen in his lifetime suddenly flashed before his eyes. But no, it was just another student. A familiar one, though Daxton did not care to remember her name.

He stood still for the moment - chest still heaving noticeably up and down, fists clenched by his sides, and a tell-tale wetness around his eyes from tears that had not quite had the opportunity to fall - having suddenly stalled, lost, not knowing what to do, still consumed with all of the emotions that had been sprung on him up in the tower. No matter how fast or how far he ran, he knew he would not be able to leave them behind.

It was the shuffling of something further ahead in the corridor that had given Nicky reason to pause. She narrowed her eyes to squint down the dim hallway as the hairs prickled on the back of her neck. She wasn't terribly concerned with being caught - what could they do to her, after all - but given the ridiculousness of the school, she also wasn't terribly keen to run into anything or anyone cursed or possessed or not human. Whatever it was careened into a portrait, making what Nicky perceived to be a terrible racket, and then stopped.

It was then that the blonde resumed her walk, quietly placing one foot in front of the other as she considered the shape still somewhat hidden by the shadows of early early morning torchlight. She did, however, make sure to fish her wand out and held it at her side. It was as the shadow pushed itself away from the wall that Nicky could finally make out who the noise-making blob ahead of her was.

This was a distraction. Nicky let all of what she'd been carrying fall away as she approached. "You're going to get us both caught out," she said in a whisper, approaching slowly, eyes never leaving him. She couldn't make out the tears, but the fists she saw, and the rhythmic heaving of his chest. It wasn't compassion that drew her closer, but rather a sort of morbid curiosity about the kid who'd cut class with her that first day.

If all that time dueling this term had taught her anything, it was to be aware of more than just the thing she was focused on. And so as she drew even nearer, she cast a supersensory charm on herself. Nothing was going to surprise her...