She hadn't wanted to come. Leaving her mother behind had been the hardest thing she'd ever done. Maisie sat on her trunk, back straight, knees clenched together. She wasn't used to other people. She'd been home-schooled and knew nothing about socialising with other kids. Here, there were dozens and dozens.

Maisie took some deep breaths, counting her breaths in twos, like she'd been taught. Her mother had made her a book of anxiety management techniques. They'd been practising them all summer. The book was covered with navy blue fabric embroidered with silver stars. She thought about it, tucked up in her dressing gown in her trunk. If she could make it through one term, she could go home for Christmas. Her mother was insistent on a Hogwarts education for her.

Maisie sighed. She wondered who the other first year girls were, who she'd be sharing a room with. Maisie had never shared a room in her life.

"Ollie...where yeh goin', me dorm's that way!"

Apparently the beginning of term had got her familiar all excited, and Sam sighed as her rat scampered off in the complete opposite direction to the sixth year dorm. Into the first year dorms, perhaps? Groans were happening.

"Oliver, you're not gettin' any treats tonight..."

Wherever he'd ended up, she'd prefer he didn't get trapped; he'd slept beside her since they'd first met. So, searching for him before bed it was. She started her search by knocking on the first years' door lightly. "Sorreh teh interrupt...you haven't happened to see a rat, have yeh?"

A light knock sounded on the door. Maisie jumped slightly and stood up. A sixth year girl appeared.

“Um, no, sorry,” Maisie mumbled. She trembled. Her breathing was becoming more and more difficult.

She tried to remember to count, seeing stars in her mind and assigning numbers to each one.

A squeal interrupted her panicking and distracted her from her anxiety. “Oria…” She said. “I have a cat… Somewhere.”

Her eyes were full of fear. She didn’t want Oria to eat someone’s rat! How did they manage with rats and cats, and owls and rats at Hogwarts? No one ever explained that to her. If Oria had caught anybody’s pet…

Maisie scrabbled around for her cat box. “I’ve got treats, I’m sure she’ll come to me. I’m so sorry!”

Sighs. Sam had them. She was pretty sure Ollie pulled this stunt at the start of every year to date. If it wasn't the wrong dorm, it was the Common Room. She supposed she should have been expecting it, but here she was.

"Nevermind," she began to reply, "I'll check next do-" Was she okay? She looked a little...nervous.

Maybe because she apparently had a cat. Far from looking worried, Sam chuckled. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about Ollie. He'll be fine. Put up with the Ravenclaw felines for the last five years...wouldn't surprise me if they end up as friends." Sam shrugged. "He'll probably beat...Oria, did'ya call her?...to the treats. Thinks with 'is stomach, Ollie does."

She gave the girl a warm smile, remembering how scary some of the older years had looked to her as a firstie. "I'm Sam. Didn't get to meet yeh at the feast. Who might you be, if you don't mind me askin'?"

Maisie nodded. "Yep, good. I'm good." She took a big breath and tried to smile. "I'm Maisie. It's nice to meet you." She really didn't want to be the reason Sam lost her rat. "Do you need help finding him?"

Maisie pro-offered the bag of treats. "Oria won't mind sharing,"Well she will, but since she's run off somewhere, it's her own fault, Maisie felt cross with her cat, but deep down, she knew she was just freaking out because Oria was the only person she knew. Someone steady and familiar to calm her nerves. That was the point of the cat in the first place. And now she's run off somewhere!

"Maisie," Sam repeated, to help put the name in her memory. "Likewise. Welcome to Ravenclaw." She smiled, before surveying the room for either of their familiars. "Eh, he should be fine. I'll leave some treats out for 'im on me bedside table, and he'll find his way back."

Sam waved off the treats. "No worries. So what type of cat is Oria?"

"Thanks," Maisie said. "Do you know any other First Years? I somehow missed everything at the feast. A little overwhelmed. I've never been to school before." She flushed, her white skin lighting up with embarrassment.

"She's a tortoiseshell."

Maisie felt a little steadier. Maybe she just needed to mix a little.

"I met a few who sat near me at the feast, yeah. But you'll meet more soon enough - 'specially your dorm mates." She leant back against one of the dressers, and gave a reassuring smile. "It's okay to be a little overwhelmed. I'd never been to school either, when I started 'ere." Although that was only one of her worries, having been sorted into Ravenclaw despite barely being able to read or write. "But it'll quickly feel like home. Jus' don't be afraid to ask us for 'elp, whether it be homework...or finding your way to class...whatever. We've all been there, and on the whole, are a pretty friendly bunch."

Honest.

And a tortoiseshell? "Pretty!" Sam grinned. "You had her long?"

Maisie smiled. She liked Sam, although the social aspect of school was still terrifying. “Oh wow, that must’ve sucked. How did you manage it? Were you homeschooled?” Maisie was intrigued. She hadn’t expected to meet anybody else who hadn’t been to school before. Her nerves seemed to disappear as her interest took over.

Oria flew through the door of the dorm like there was a mad owl after her. “Great Merlin!” Maisie said. “What’s up with you?” She grabbed the cat as it sped past her. “She was my going-to-school present from my mum,” Maisie’s voice caught and she hugged Oria hard. The cat squealed.

“What about Ollie? When did you get him?”

"No exactly, no," Sam mused with a smile. She didn't haven't a home back then, and the only way she'd been schooled was in the ways of the streets around Knockturn Alley. Probably not what the first year meant. "It was a bit of a culture shock from where I grew up, but not in a bad way. For the first time...it felt like home."

Before she could expand further though, a spooked looking cat shot through the door. "That's Oria? Poor thing." She half lent through the door to see if there was an Ollie close behind, although there didn't seem to be. "I'd say she looks like she's seen a ghost, but Lady Helena is lovely." Sam gave her a crooked grin. "She's a lovely gift. I'm sure you'll both have lots of awesome adventures here."

As for Ollie? "We found each other when I was seven or eight...can't really remember. I fed him scraps of food, 'n' he kept coming back. Been together ever since." And yes, she knew a rat was an unusual choice, but she wouldn't have it any other way.

After a wonderful Saturday spent down in the Hogsmeade village you come back up to the Ravenclaw Tower with your cheeks rosy from the December air, your bellies full of honeydukes candy, and your pockets full of pranks.

Taking the stairs up to the eagle girls' dorms for a change of clothes and possibly some quiet time before dinner, you're met by the door hanging slightly ajar and off its hinges.

Easing up the door to to look inside, you are met with a stomach-turning, heart-wrenching, and eye-watering sight.

The whole dorm is in utter and complete shambles.

The sheets and blankets have been pulled out of all the beds and left in piles on the floor and it even looks as though someone has gone over them with a razor, since there are visible holes. Pillows have been torn apart and their feathers are flying everywhere in sight which is enough to make anyone sneeze.

Trunks lids have been thrust open with extreme force and their contents have been tossed out helter-skelter around the dorm so much that it's almost impossible to know just who each sock and sweater belongs to.

On the floor someone has ripped out pages from several textbooks and strewn them around haphazardly.

And if that wasn't enough a drawer or two in each nightstand has been pulled out and their contents has been emptied out on each bed mattress.

It seems as if someone has ransacked the dorm, but for what purpose?

If you clean up and assess everything, you might notice that something of yours has gone missing...

What a wonderful day at Hogsmeade. She'd restocked on quick-quotes quills and makeup, and had even visited the Shrieking Shack. Merlin, she remembered when that place used to scare her. The fear vanished when she found out Tenacius partied there. Now she visited it every time she went to Hogsmeade. Of course she also made sure to keep a watchful eye on her fellow students to make sure no one got in trouble.

Now she was back with her arms full of supplies and heading back to her dormitory. She was going to unpack and then head on down to the library and then to the great hall.

But the door was slightly ajar. "Huh?" she said quizzically, glancing at it in a puzzled way. Was this Peeves doing? Frowning, and with a creeping sense of urgency that it might be something worse, she hurried into the dormitory and gasped.

"MERLIN!"

She was going to Professor Hirsch!

Sam heard the Head Girl's shout from where she'd been heading up the stairs to the dorms, and quickly rushed up the last few steps. Her eyes widened as she saw the door hanging off its hinges, and she gasped as she saw the disarray inside.

What in Merlin's Pants had happened in here?

It'd been completely turned over, and Sam found her eyes going over to her own bed, her stomach giving an uncomfortable lurch. The lock on her trunk had been forced, and it contents appeared to be strewn all over the place. There were feathers from her duvet everywhere, and Sam's heart sunk further as she saw the pillow Al had given her had been torn. Thank goodness she'd been wearing his hoodie whilst studying, and that whoever had done this had the decency to turn out her nightstand onto her mattress. Because the rest of her stuff, who knew where it was.

And Ollie...was her rat okay? She scanned the room for him, feeling even more uncomfortable as she remembered what she'd heard about rodent blood at the bulletin board.

"You going for Hirsch and the Headmistress?" she called after Kitty, snapping back into the reality of the situation. "I'll stay here and make sure it doesn't get touched." Because as much as she wanted to start checking through her stuff, she knew it needed to be seen as was by a Professor first.

It was just a prank, right? Just Peeves going a step too far...nothing more serious. She'd keep telling herself that.

Juni had been in Hogsmead most of the day, she had came back to her dorm to change into so warm dry clothes. Her winter appeal was put into good use today. She was just about to to go down the common room to relax for a while before starting to work on some homework.

She had just stepped out of her dormroom when she heard a commotion. Following the sounds of the commotion. She seen the head girl and another other girl, Sam that was her name right? "What's wrong?" Joining the other two girls at the door of the seventh years dorm. "Oh my. Who could have done this?" It had to have been another Ravenclaw or someone who could answer the riddle to get in.

First a painting painted with blood, now a trashed dormroom. Why was she always close to these things? One of the seven habits of a highly effective Hogwarts student. Someone should write a book about that.

"No, no one," she answered very truthfully. "And I know there's no way any of our Ravens could have done this, not a chance." She knew all the Ravenclaws and none of them would ever dare to do something so foolish, unless they were under the Imperious Curse.

Professor Hirsch invited her to lead the way, which she promptly did - walking in quick strides to back towards the Ravenclaw common room. As they walked she voiced her top concern. "I hope it's just Peeves, but I think it might be the monster. Do you think the portal could have been reopened?"

The riddle to enter the Ravenclaw common room was:

Two girls were born to the same mother, on the same day, at the same time, in the same month and year and yet they’re not twins. How can this be?

"Because they're part of a set of triplets," Kitty answered confidently. It was the same riddle all week.

Then she led the way up the stairs to the girls dormitory...

No one near the scene of the crime and not a chance that anyone in the West Tower could've done something like this. It wasn't as though he suspected anyone in Ravenclaw Tower but it did make the situation slightly more serious and less likely to be a prank. Pranks could be dealt with pretty easily - depending on the severity of the prank and who was involved - but something worse was...... well.

And then Kitty mentioned the portal incident, making Hirsch frown as he strode quickly alongside her. "I.... don't know. The portal was meant to have sealed off when the two poltergeists went through it so unless another one has opened up somewhere else, I don't think it's the monster." Unless it has found another way to enter the castle. "Let's see the damage first and then we can decide where to go from there."

Under any other circumstance, he would've felt quite proud that the Head Girl had answered the riddle so confidently but seeing as this wasn't the time, no mentions were made. Instead, he scrambled through the hole and made his way towards the staircase that led to the Girls' Dorms. His wand, which had been out during their entire journey here, was now being pointed in the direction of the staircase itself. Anyone near him might have heard a small whisper of incantations as he lifted the spell that stopped him from entering the dorms.

Up and up they went, the Defence Professor following Kitty's lead up the spiral staircase, past Sam and Miss Primeaux, until......

..............

Er.

This didn't look good. Not at all.

Something else it didn't look like? A prank. A thought that made a heavy feeling settle in the pits of his stomach. Someone, for some bizarre reason, might possibly want to search the girls' things, but to tear down the room entirely? The frown deepened and, wand still held aloft, Hirsch stepped carefully into the room. For a long time, he didn't say anything but simply looked at everything that was strewn about the room. Everything was taken note of: the clothes, the bed sheets, the miscellaneous items that had been in the drawers, not to mention the contents of pillows and the holes in the bedding themselves. Every once in a while, he bent down to examine the contents on the floor even more or to see if there was any kind of trail or obvious signs but.....

.... sigh.

"Someone has gone to great lengths to demolish this room," he finally muttered, standing up from near a window and turning towards Sam and Juni, "Has anyone else come in here while Kitty was gone? Or even walked past?" Possibly looking fishy but that wasn't always the case. "Because, unless they have a grudge against the girls in this tower, it looks as though they were after something." You wouldn't ransack a room for no reason....

Sam just looked crestfallen as the younger girl joined her, and she shook her head sadly. "I...I don't know." She was still trying to persuade herself that it was a prank gone too far. Her things...it unnerved her that someone had just torn threw them all, without the slightest bit of care. "I'd hazard a guess whoever it is had a warped idea of prank, or just doesn't like us very much."

And then Kitty turned up with Hirsch, and Sam's stomach knotted as she watched their Head of House search it over. Either Ollie was hiding reeeeally well, or he wasn't here; she wasn't sure if that made her more or less worried. Maybe he'd snuck down to the kitchens in her absence? She sure hoped her rt had been feeling peckish this afternoon.

Demolish. She looked up as Hirsch spoke. It was a good description, but it didn't make her feel any better.

"No. I got here as just Kitty was leaving, and I ain't seen anything...or anyone, until Juni joined me a few minutes later." She supposed someone could have slipped past disillusioned or something though; she hadn't actually thought of that possibility until now. "What sort of something would we have that'd cause someone to rip everything apart?"

She turned a little pale at the thought. Her Pa couldn't have done anything that stupid, could he?

Kitty listened with a frown as Professor Hirsch asked questions and Sam mentioned not seeing anyone other than her and Juni. This seemed much worse than Peeves average everyday pranks. But if it wasn't him...who did that leave them with?

"There is one student who personally doesn't like all too much," she admitted, and she knew Professor Hirsch knew who she meant. "But she's honorable and would never do this, especially not to the other others. I know she's innocent. And I don't know who else could have a grudge against us." It was scary to think there was someone who hated Ravenclaw girls out there.

"We should get the Bloody Baron to ask Peeves if he knows anything," she said at last, hoping they could get back to thinking of this as a prank. "It might seem worse than his usual style, but don't forget he almost killed people on the stairs a few years ago."