Rachel hadn't said much since Haddie told her the news. The walked all the way down from the Astronomy tower in silence and started to make their way along the seventh floor corridor. "She's trying," Haddie said finally. "Mom's really trying, but Dad's not budging on it." She kicked a pebble or something that was laying in the middle of the corridor. "The only other time I've seen him this way is when it comes to his twin." And Rachel knew all about how strongly Haddie's Dad refused to have anything to do with his brother, from both Haddie herself and Ailsa. Haddie knew her father, and knew he wasn't likely to give in this time. Especially if he found out about Professor Newton poisoning them, like he somehow did about the Hag.

...

Haddie stopped and backed up. Speaking of Newton... They had almost passed right by it. "Found it." She took the parchment, quill and book right out of Rachel's hands. It was nice to have a distraction right now.

N-E-W-T-O-N
5+5+5+2+6+5

She passed the stuff back to Rachel. "If it sends up to the 9th floor, I'm gonna scream."

"I don't think she's trying hard enough,'' Rachel said again in a small voice. The thought of her having to go through the remainder of Hogwarts without one of her best friends numbed her. "Now I know whom you get that stubbornness from.'' This Denaker stubbornness wouldn't stop her though. She would try, she would help her friend as much as she could. This was why, Rachel decided that she would write a letter to Mr Denaker soon.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On and on they walked, Rachel trying to focus on their activity and not of this time next year when she could be Haddie-less. But then Haddie's voice broke through the silence that had followed. Yes indeed she had found it! "Wonderful. Here you go.'' Though she didn't need to hand over the quill and so on.

When the other Eagle was done, Rachel collected them back again with a giggle. "We may have to walk all the way down lots of flights of stairs instead.'' She double checked the assigned numbers for good measure and then did the calculations (double checking those as well):

Quote:

N-E-W-T-O-N
5+5+5+2+6+5= 28
2+8= 10
1+0= 1

"The first floor! Goodness. We have to trek all the way down stairs. What a work out.'' Rachel grabbed Haddie's arm to pull her away lest she thought of sneaking away the clue.

Having made it up to the seventh floor, Janelle wondered where she and Zeke should look first. This whole eighth floor thing was confusing. Did it refer to the towers or something else? "I think we should just cover the entire seventh floor, if we have to. There has to be something here to give us a clue." Looking high and low, Janelle searched for the parchment or something that would lead them to the parchment. This Scavenger Hunt was turning out to be harder than she thought it would be.

"Do you see it? Do you see anything that can help us." On and on they walked and searched. Then Janelle's eyes lit up with excitement. "Look, over there! There it is!" The parchment was hiding in plain sight. She still couldn't figure out the eight, when this was the seventh floor. Anyway, Janelle matched the letters with the numbers for Zeke to calculate.

Janelle handed the parchment to Zeke. "Here you go partner. Do your thing." Where would they be going next?

She followed Esme back down into the towers and out of the patch, glad to be out of the freezing cold. While walking she continued to talk about the Tapestry. "I was wondering the exact same thing! Whoever put those papers there might know the whole story behind the Tapestry. I mean, unless they were just using them as bookmarks - but that would be so lame. Mase and I are planning to sneak into the Forbidden Section of the library to find clues."

Kitty froze and paled as she realized what she had just done. It had been so exciting talking about the Tapestry that she hadn't stopped to consider that Esme might tattle on them. "But you won't tell anyone, will you? We aren't going to damage anything, we're just curious. Please don't tell anyone." If she wasn't curious then she wouldn't have been placed in Ravenclaw. Kitty looked at Esme pleadingly, begging her to understand.

Back inside the confines of the castle, Esme gave a sigh of relief; it was still cold but this was something she could deal with. Quite frankly the sooner she could get near a fire the better. Maybe after class she would head straight for the common room or the kitchen.

"Mase?" Who was that? She was trying to follow along with what Kitty was telling her, but looking for a clue at the same time made it a little difficult. She got the gist of it, however. "So you think that there is a book that contains the information? Could you just ask a Professor for permission?" Yeah, that was the more 'boring' way of doing things, but sneaking into the Forbidden Section seemed a little risky to her and she didn't want her friend to get into a lot of trouble.

Oh. Apparently this mission was too top secret for that. "Don't worry. I promise I won't tell anyone about it." So long as no one else overheard the plan was safe...

Looking around to see if anyone was lurking nearby, Esme spotted a piece of paper attached to the wall by the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. "I found it!" she said excitedly as she rushed over. "It's Professor Newton!"

Quickly she used her textbook to work out the numbers they needed to add together:

Quote:

N E W T O N
5 5 5 2 6 5

Handing the notebook over, she waited patiently for her partner to work out where to go from there.

"Thanks Esme!" Relief flowed through her as Esme promised not to tell anyone. "You could join us if you wanted. I mean, I'm not asking you to go to the Forbidden section, but we could investigate in other areas also. Maybe one of the ghosts knows something, they've been here awhile and can float threw things."

Then Esme found the clue that happened to be right behind her. Kitty took Esme's notebook and added her numbers:

Quote:

N-E-W-T-O-N
5+5+5+2+6+5= 28
2+8= 10
1+0= 1

"We have to go all the way back to the first floor. Whew! That's a lot of walking." Kitty hadn't realized how tired her legs were starting to become.

Running up the stairs was tiresome, really. It was the second time in just one class that she had gone up stairs…well, at least it was only three flights and not the entire six that it had taken to get to the floor.

“I’m sick of these stairs” Mel complained aloud as she made it to the landing and then spotted it. The tapestry.

“Lets check behind everything” she muttered and walked forward and saw it. The name.

“NEWTON” she announced….”okay…well lets see that would be” she muttered and opened up her book to compare what numbers would go where.

“555265” and began looking around…”5 and 5 and is 10 there are two sets of that so 20…and 2 and 6 is 8…so 28…and 2 and 8 add up to 10…so” she paused and ground at her workmates. “we have to go all the way down stairs” she ground and flopped onto the ground.

“and my brain is starting to hurt from all the maths, you two get the next one” she huffed as she trudged over to the stairs and peered down. “I really don’t want to climb all the way down there” she frowned and looked at the boys before sulkily stomping down a few steps. “You two ready?” She asked.

Ariadne had been this way before. She didn't come ALLLLL the way up to the seventh floor often, but she remembered there being another tapestry in this direction. "The dancing troll tapestry is this way," she pointed out to Jace. "Since the last clue was at a tapestry, maybe this one is at a tapestry, too." It was a long shot, but they didn't have loads of choices, since they'd just gotten lost. Ariadne wandered further down the corridor with Jace hopefully right beside her.

Reaching the tapestry, Ariadne began searching around and around, occasionally laughing to herself at how silly the dancing troll looked. "JACE!" she suddenly called out. "There it is!" Sure enough, a parchment with the name NEWTON was hiding nearby. Ariadne quickly sat down on the floor and took out all her materials. Then she began to calculate.

N E W T O N
5 5 5 2 6 5

5 + 5 + 5 + 2 + 6 + 5 = 28
2 + 8 = 10
1 + 0 = 1

"Looks like we're heading ALLLLL the way down to the first floor," she said, showing him the parchment. "How's this look? At least it's a floor we know is in the castle. Less chance of us getting lost again!" Either way, they weren't staying on this floor anymore, so Ariadne grabbed her things and began heading off as she waited for Jace to confirm. First floor? Yes? No?

Jace wondered if all Slytherins were this energetic. The Ravenclaw followed his partner inside the seventh floor, and just busied himself rubbing his cheeks. He was sure it had gone pink again from the compliment earlier, and the half-Japanese was sort of embarrassed that he's always turning a certain shade of red whenever he gets a word for a job well done. Ariadne being a unique Slytherin gave him a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Jace knows she'd make a good friend, and a Slytherin at that!

As soon as they got to the tapestry, Jace tried his best not to giggle out loud...failing to do so, he inclined his head towards the funny artefact in apology, his shoulders shaking violently from the chuckles. He didn't want to offend it, should the tapestry be sacred or something.

Jace's head turned to where Ariadne was, and quickly took steps towards her...and a statue. "Newton." A very pregnant pause. "I feel sorry for him. I'm all for hands-on learning, but being poisoned for real, right under his nose?" he said, blinking his eyes...examining the statue for the first time. "Barnabas the Barmy..." he grinned at the man's accomplishment of training trolls to dance, and then turned to face Ariadne who completed her calculation.

The Ravenclaw checked and cross-checked her work and gave her a thumbs up. "Correct!" he said beaming at his partner, and nodded in agreement. "I have to agree. We just have to keep our eyes open for the parchment this time." Hopefully no more tricks? Though he did enjoy figuring out the 8th floor one, in all honesty. Jace checked his things, and gently tugged on Ariadne's sleeve. "Let's go!" And down the staircase he went.

She let her leading the way? Okay then. Once she'd discovered that the clue wasn't on the tower patch, Ava then left that place and wandered around the seventh floor. It must be in somewhere around the portraits and painting at the seventh floor... Because they had found the second clue at the tapestry on the fourth floor.

So here they were, at the Barnabus the Barmy tapestry.

Okay... The clue must've been here somewhere... And BINGO! "There you are." She murmured. "You want to do the calculations?" She asked the Slytherin girl. Maybe yes because... She didn't really like Professor Newton, especially of what he had done in the previous class.

Though it felt awkward working alone already felt a lot faster, and easier. But the downside was she couldn't discuss her thinking with someone, and if she talked out loud to herself the students would think she's batty.

She had gotten tot he seventh floor before realizing there is no eighth floor. Great. But perhaps the towers were the eighth? but then as she was walking past the tapestry labelled as Barnabus the Barmy she saw another parchment. Was this the one she needed, or had she stumbled upon a different clue?

Madge truly wasn't sure, was this considered the towers? She sighed and decided she would just assume this is what she was looking for and scrawled 'Newton' onto her parchment before adding up the math.

[/QUOTE]

REALLY? She has just climbed this ENTIRE castle and now she was to go back tot he first floor? Madge could feel her heart beating, and she resolved to do more physical activity so that when she returned to Ireland in the summer she could keep up with her four brothers, her sister was a bit more sedentary in her activities.

"Right then." she muttered to herself and ran back the direction she had came towards the staircases. She hoped at least one of the paths on the moving staircases was open to the first floor.

It was weird how the top floors didn't feel all that high up until you looked out the windows. Jay bounced himself up the steps, then up moooore steps, then even mooooore, until they were on the seventh. He headed for one of the towers immediately, and spotted some of the students from their class.

"You were right!" He said to Olivia with a nod, pointing and making a beeline for where the others were. There was adding to be done! Eagerly he looked at his Ravenclaw. "You wanna add this one? Or should I?"

SPOILER!!: Ava

She let her leading the way? Okay then. Once she'd discovered that the clue wasn't on the tower patch, Ava then left that place and wandered around the seventh floor. It must be in somewhere around the portraits and painting at the seventh floor... Because they had found the second clue at the tapestry on the fourth floor.

So here they were, at the Barnabus the Barmy tapestry.

Okay... The clue must've been here somewhere... And BINGO! "There you are." She murmured. "You want to do the calculations?" She asked the Slytherin girl. Maybe yes because... She didn't really like Professor Newton, especially of what he had done in the previous class.

Having had no luck up in the Astronomy tower Hady followed the young lioness back down the stairs and into the corridors of the seventh floor once more. Rather then take the lead as she had on the fourth floor she hung back just a bit so that the other girl could lead the way.

This proved to be a good idea as within just a few short minutes of walking and looking at everything they passed they came across the parchment. It was stuck on the wall right next to the painting of Barnabus the Barmy. "Sure, I can do that," Hady answered taking the parchment and pen from partner so she could write down their 'findings'.

Quote:

NEWTON
5+5+5+2+6+5=28
2+8=10
1+0=1

Rechecking her calculations twice just to make sure she showed the parchment to Ava so that she could double check it if she liked. "I got a 'one' so that means the first floor. Ready to head there next?" It was going to be a long way back down.

Good that Hady wanted to do the calculation. Ava just watched her partner doing the calculations.... See? She worked even better than herself. Calculation wasn't just her stuffs. Besides, since the last class with Professor Newton, the young lioness didn't want to respect that man anymore. Even that she didn't want to hear his name again.

So, the family number was one. That meant they both had to go to the first floor. "Where do you think Professor Tanner put the next clue?" She asked. Now she let Hady lead the way because she seemed know where the next clue was located.

They reached the seventh floor in good time, and then came the hard part. Locating the actual parchment. Siiiiiiigggghhhh. Opting to split up for this part, Zeke worked one side of the corridor while Janelle worked the other. Eventually one of them had to find something, right? "Sounds like a plan to me," he agreed, because they didn't have much choice but to find it, so, no giving up, they'd scour the whole place if they had to.

Did he see it? Anything? "Nope, you?" he called back to his partner.

With no success on his end, Zeke was beginning to think they were at the wrong place, and that they should explore the towers, split up if they had to. Maybe. But as he was about to suggest it, Janelle came through with something, and that something, was IT. "Nice one," he praised as he joined her, noticing that she'd already assigned the values. As for 'doing his thing', Zeke grinned, slipping both the parchment and quill from Janelle's fingers.

Quote:

N E W T O N
5 5 5 2 6 5

5 + 5 + 5 + 2 + 6 + 5 = 28
2 + 8 = 10
1 + 0 = 1

"First floor corridor, is Tanner serious?" he exclaimed, hoping he'd made an error with his calculations. Like... that was a fair walk away. Geeeeez. Then again, class was down there, SO.... not so far in the grand scheme of things? How many of these did they have left? Just one more? And then... that was it? The woman was sending them in a circle through the castle? Some might see that as rude, she could have at least put a stop at the kitchens or something.

SPOILER!!: Ava

She let her leading the way? Okay then. Once she'd discovered that the clue wasn't on the tower patch, Ava then left that place and wandered around the seventh floor. It must be in somewhere around the portraits and painting at the seventh floor... Because they had found the second clue at the tapestry on the fourth floor.

So here they were, at the Barnabus the Barmy tapestry.

Okay... The clue must've been here somewhere... And BINGO! "There you are." She murmured. "You want to do the calculations?" She asked the Slytherin girl. Maybe yes because... She didn't really like Professor Newton, especially of what he had done in the previous class.

At hearing Ava's question she had to admit just then that she wasn't sure where the next clue would be. With a small sigh escaping her lips Hady shrugged her shoulders as she looked to the side at her partner. "I'm really not sure. The other clues were set out in the corridors by paintings so maybe this next one is too. Ooorrr maybe it's in the least likely place someone would go on the first floor?"

The one place most people wouldn't normally go on their own with a good reason. If she was hiding something that's what she would probably do. One the first floor there was only one place like that. The Weasley Swamp. A disgusting spot really but a good place to put a clue. "The Swamp?," Hady asked curiously as she headed down the corridor towards the stairs that would take them to the first floor.

Tenacius actually ran ahead of their group, wondering where this 8th floor could be. He tried pushing his way up the Divinations tower but that was sealed shut. Well ok, if that wasn’t where they were supposed to look WHERE then? Up on the roof?

He has just made his way back down onto the 7th floor just as he heard Mel complain about the stairs. The curly top had to chuckle at that. The Moving Staircase probably found it funny to lead Mel the long way around.

But lo and behold theres the other parchment. "But its on the 7th floor?" Yeah that made no sense to him. And he was pretty sure their arithmetic was right previously so yeah, tricksy Tanner was tricksy.

So the trio worked over the numbers again and Tenacius paused when the numbers showed 10. "That does NOT mean we have to start looking for some phantom tenth floor again are we?"

Oh wait, reduce the numbers again and they get a 1.

"One. That’s the first floor." the curly top muttered. "Is that really the first floor, the ground floor or the dungeons?" See what happens when tricksyness is dealt out?

"Yeah race you down!!" he suddenly called out to his other tired team mates.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ameh

It was weird how the top floors didn't feel all that high up until you looked out the windows. Jay bounced himself up the steps, then up moooore steps, then even mooooore, until they were on the seventh. He headed for one of the towers immediately, and spotted some of the students from their class.

"You were right!" He said to Olivia with a nod, pointing and making a beeline for where the others were. There was adding to be done! Eagerly he looked at his Ravenclaw. "You wanna add this one? Or should I?"

Olivia simply nodded as Jaemin told her she had been right. The proof was right in front of her with both her fellow students there on the seventh floor and again when they spotted the parchment with another professor’s name on it after following the others in the same direction they were going. They were at another tapestry, this time one of trolls doing ballet that she had seen occasionally in passing given its location.

Newton

“Sure…I can do it,” the Ravenclaw answered willing to do her part. She took the parchment and such back before going to work, writing it all down and then doing the matching and math.

SPOILER!!: work

N – E – W – T – O – N
5 + 5 + 5 + 2 + 6 + 5
28
2+8
10
1+1
1

“1? As in first floor?” she suggested, looking to Jaemin as she finished. “Guess that would mean we’re heading down again.”

Jay watched as Olivia added up the numbers for Professor Newton's name, rocking back and forth on his feet absently. It was easy math, so of course she got it right without any problems. And according to the math, they had to go aaaaaall the way back downstairs.

"It's right... I wonder how many there are. Did you count the scrolls before she sent them away? I didn't..." he tilted his head thoughtfully, turning back toward the stairs, and bounced off again. To the first floor they'd gooooo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ameh

Jay watched as Olivia added up the numbers for Professor Newton's name, rocking back and forth on his feet absently. It was easy math, so of course she got it right without any problems. And according to the math, they had to go aaaaaall the way back downstairs.

"It's right... I wonder how many there are. Did you count the scrolls before she sent them away? I didn't..." he tilted his head thoughtfully, turning back toward the stairs, and bounced off again. To the first floor they'd gooooo.

Cue inner groan.

There was a part of her that wished she was off and saving them from the long, looooong walk back down to the first floor. She did the walk down every morning so she was well aware of what it entailed. But no such luck, that was to be their next destination. So they better get a move on so they could make it to the next clue with time to return to the floor above at one point before class ended. They didn’t have all day after all.

As for how many parchment scrolls there were as a whole or left for them to find, she was clueless. “Me neither…” she said with a shrug.

Onto the first floor!

Ariadne kind of thought she MIGHT have noticed a slight blush coming from Jace, but she didn't mention anything about it. She didn't know why he might be embarrassed over something, so maybe her eyes were just playing tricks on her. She glanced down at her parchment and mentally re-checked her work while she waited on Jace to do the same. "Newton...yeah," she said, agreeing with what Jace said about him. "I haven't told my mom yet. With her being the former Potions Mistress here, she's liable to have a fit once she finds out..."

She grinned when Jace agreed that her calculations were correct. For a couple of first years, they sure were good at calculating! Well, except for that one that led them to the eighth floor. She still hadn't decided if that was a mistake or just a trick. Either way... "Off to the first floor we go!" she said, and she gathered everything in haste and followed after Jace.

Janelle watched as Zeke completed the calculations on the numbers she had written. She groaned as he noted that their next stop was the first floor. "Is she trying to make sure that we get our proper exercise today?" At least they were going down this time, not up.

"Now the big question is, where on the first floor might the parchment be?" They had way too many options and that was not good. The clock was ticking and Janelle was not sure how much time they had left. She guessed that they could think about it on the way down.

"Come on. We'd better get going before we run out of time." Janelle headed toward the stairs and then turned around to make sure that Zeke was coming. "First floor, here we come", she thought to herself.

He loved exercise, really he did, but this seemed to be more of a case of messing them around more than anything else. Tsk tsk tsk. "Maybe, I guess if people are rushing this they can't complain about being cold." Stairs were pretty good at getting the blood pumping.

But Janelle was right, it wasn't just that it was on the first floor, but WHERE on the first floor. "Your guess is as good as mine," he all but snorted. Zeke was quick to get moving again, he wasn't interested in being last or missing out, and time was a factor in this. How much time did they have left???

Keeping up close behind Janelle, Zeke followed her back the way they'd come.

Apparently Professor Tanner liked putting up these parchments near famous tapestries in the castle, because heading up the towers (because that's the only thing that comes after the seventh floor), it didn't take long for Tia to spot the next clue next to old Barnabus. The name of her potions master; Newton, it was just there.

Adding that name down right below her calculations for Moxley and Myers, Tia added NEWTON and began working through it.

N-E-W-T-O-N
5-5-5-2- 6-5

28 = 10 = 1


So apparently she was headed back down to the first floor after climbing all these steps to the towers. Merlin, if Tanner wanted to give them all exercise this was definitely one way to do it.