Dhruv was not sure why they were even there.

They were not about to waste their precious time cleaning this filthy place. No, that was a job for the elves and anyone else who wanted to follow in the elves' footsteps. Perhaps the DADA professor would spend their time bossing the students around. The idea sent a thrill of delight through them and a mean grin spread across their face.

There was no friendly greeting for Adara upon arrival at the stipulated corridor for the meeting. She was simply spared a cold look. "Amelia." With that short greeting out of the way, they settled at a spot, arms crossed over their chest. Like recent times, Dhruv seemed quite unapproachable.

Although he wasn't a member of the SPEW club and had no idea what it even stood for, Sohrin had heard about the activity and wanted to help. He was tired of sneezing every time he walked through the corridors.

Sohrin smiled brightly at Professor Adara as he approached the location where they would first gather because she was the one who initiated this activity. "Good day, Professor Adara! I'm not a SPEW member, but I'd like to help" It wasn't even a question, it was a statement.

Professor Khanna, on the other hand, did not receive the same enthusiastic welcome. To put it bluntly, Sohrin disliked them. But they were a professor, so he couldn't just ignore them. Well, he could put he didn't want to risk losing house points from Ravenclaw. "Hello Professor Khanna..." he greeted.

Merlin's Beard, he hoped that the others would arrive soon T__T

Spring cleaning? BORING!!!

If it weren’t for the fact that he never turned down an invitation, Norman might’ve skipped this little get-together. In stark contrast to his colleagues, he arrived all smiles and immaculately dressed in vibrant aquamarine robes that matched his eyes. He glanced at the little group gathered so far… Amy, Drew, and a kid (Sohrin) whose name he couldn’t be bothered to remember. “What’s up, my dudes?” He greeted the group.

His face fell as he took in his surroundings. Dreary location, no decorations, no snacks… and what was Amy thinking with that drab outfit?! He tutted under his breath. Oh no no no, this would never do! “Ah, there’s the hostess with the mostest!” he said, standing beside Amy. “What do you say we liven things up a bit? Put up some decorations, get some music going, maybe some snacks…”

Oh, that reminded him! He pulled a bag of candy out of his pocket. “Anyone want a sweetie?” he offered.


Desiree had no idea why the house elves were refusing to work, but she was willing to do whatever she could to help. Although she wasn’t exactly a neat freak, she was tired of all the dust and sneezing. The castle couldn’t stay like this!

She arrived dressed in a pretty yet practical outfit inspired by CInderella’s work dress: a brown dress with blue sleeves, black shoes, and an apron to keep her outfit clean. Her dark hair was tied back with a white scarf that matched her apron. “Hello, Professor Adara,” she greeted the potions mistress with a friendly smile. “Hello, Professor Khanna, Professor Carton.” The other two professors likewise received a smile, albeit one that faded slightly at the professors’ confusing behavior. Khanna standing there like a stone wall, Carton talking a mile a minute and handing out candy… What was going on with them?!

She stood to one side, greeting the younger student (Sohrin) with a smile and a wave. “Hi!”

While Vera was not an official member of SPEW (one could only join SO many groups, you know), it was an organization she very much agreed with. And while cleaning as well was not particularly her favorite extra curricular activity - the castle was starting to feel not all that nice to be in. Plus, maybe lending a helping hand would help out with... whatever it was currently ailing the elves. A way to show them the students cared, perhaps? She was thinking optimistically, as she joined the small gathering group.

Her usual exuberant greetings were withheld however, as she noted Professor Khanna's presence. Since her favorite Professor was not very much like themselves, she found she did not enjoy being in the DADA experts company as much as she used to. Or perhaps it was her petty nature still just being a bit on the upset side due to the Boggart lesson. Whatever it was, she tried to steer away from them and instead sidled up to Professor Carton - who was far cheerier than she remembered previously. She'd just chalked that up to never having been fully focused in Transfiguration, though. "Hi Professor! Can I have a sweet?"

Tinka was here not Tinka wasn’t here to clean. No Sir! Tinka was here to serve her pastries. These pastries were burnt and misshapen. Did Tinka care? No. In the little elf’s opinion these were delicious little pastries.

“Pastries! Come get your pastries!’’ The little elf squeaked her words as she approached the studentsies and professors. The whisk Tinka so dutifully carried with her was present in her pastry tray-free hand.

“Pastries!’’ Tinka squeaked again while waving the whisk in the air. You had better watch out or it just might hit you.

Emmeline headed down to the dungeons to partake in the SPEW activity dressed in work robes with her eagle pin pinned to her chest, and sneakers. She had a feeling that it was going to be dirty work, and emmie didn't want to get all her robes covered in dust and grime. The castle was just getting dirtier by the day, and it wasn't fun for anyone. Joining the group standing in the dungeon corridor Emmeline chirped trying to sound enthustiastic and happy "Hello Professors Adara, Carton and Khanna! I'm here to help with the cleaning! Can we clean with magic?" Emmie then waved 'hi's to the older girls Vera and Desiree before going over to stand with her housemate. "Hi Sorin! The dust, and dirt is just everywhere you look, isn't it?"

Hearing a squeaking voice behind her back offer pastries Emmeline turned and headed for the little elf's offered pastry tray. Reaching out a hand for a pastry that looked burned she said "Hi Tinka! Nice pastries, why do they look so black?"

Why was she here? On a typical day, Hady would be all for helping out her fellow colleagues in their venture to promote SPEW awareness. However today she wasn't feeling it. There were other things she could be doing right about now. Like relax in her office with her feet up and drink some coffee. Or perhaps take a nap. Yes, a nap did sound really nice. Realistically, she should be grading that growing pile of student reports on her desk but she would get to those when she got to them. The same with the barn. She loved creatures but did everyone else know how many she cared for on a daily basis? A lot. It was tiresome.

Perhaps she was tired or maybe it was the lack of coffee (even though she had a travel mug in her hand!), that has her looking slightly more grumpy than usual. No smile was present on Hady's face nor did she bother to outwardly greet anyone as she approached the group.


SPEW. Elfsie rights. Bryony was down with helping them get all the rights they deserved. She was also down with this castle being free of all its dirt and grim that was making her sneeze. In her young mind it sounded like a win, win.

What was also a win, win was sweets and pastries! Bryony heard talk of both S she bounced her way over, smiling brightly and giving finger wiggles to those already there. "Hello, hello! Did I hear mentions of snacks?" Snacks were the best way to get ready to do anything.

Grumble, grumble, grumble.

Beezley did not want to attend the meeting of the studentsies. But Tinka was going and the elvesies should go in pairs to things around the castle. Pairs were always better, which was why the elf also carried in her handsies two glasses of water. These were not for sharing though, oh no, these waters were all for Beezley. If studentsies or Tinka wanted some too, they could go and get their own.

Beezley stopped next to Tinka and made a face at the ickly looking sweetsies, her tongue poking out in a look of disgust. The elf then looked around the room at all the dirtsies piling up. "Beezley thinks the studentsies have missed a few spotsies." She commented, the slightest smile appearing. It might be nice to see all the studentsies doing the work for a change.

Geez Louise, where were the kids?! Norman was beginning to think this was going to be a professors only affair, aside from the boy over there (Sohrin). Fortunately more students arrived not long after he did, starting with the dark-haired girl in the dress. Finally someone who knew how to dress for a party! What was her name… something with a D? “Nice duds, Diedre!”

The two first year girls (Emmeline and Bryony) received a wave and a wide, toothy smile in greeting. “What’s up…” he began, but his voice trailed off as his mind blanked on the girls’ names. Names, names,,, something with an E and a B. “Emily and Bridget.” There, close enough! Bridget's question got a nod in reply. "Yes! I have some candy if you want any."

Norman grinned as an older girl (Vera) took him up on his offer for sweets. See, he knew candy was a good idea! “Hey, Veronica,” he replied, holding out his bag of candy. “Sure, take one. Take two!” Speaking of sweets…

One of the house elves (Tinka) turned up with pastries. Hmm… they looked awfully burnt, but maybe they were alright. Who knows, maybe it was a new recipe for Cajun blackened pastries that he didn’t know about! “Thanks! Don’t mind if I do,” he said, helping himself to two pastries.

Wow, someone (Beezley) was grumpy today! Norman blinked. Was it just him or did Hallie (Hady) look awfully grumpy too? He knew how to fix that! “Hey, party people! I know just the thing to turn those frowns upside-down!” He jiggled his candy bag, offering its contents to the house elf and his colleague. “A candy a day keeps the grumpies away!”

And so it began!

The students, and elves, were arriving. They had a feeling that most would ignore them, which would not be an issue. But there were some, like those who were too polite and respectful, would not. “Mr. Solberg.” Norman… Norman was an entirely cringe-worthy human being. He was pointedly ignored. Did that answer your question, Norman, about the sweet? ‘Drew’s’ attention turned back to the incoming students. “Ms. Marchand.” They gave her a hard stare. Vera received one as well; thank Merlin she went off to bother Norman. Emmeline earned herself a nod, followed by a judgemental raise of eyebrows. How can Tinka’s pastries {and Beezley’s if that elf helped too} be nice if they were black aka burnt? Dhruv rolled his eyes and in the process, observed two newcomers: Hady followed soon after by Bryony. They ignored the mother and daughter.

Could they get this thing started? Otherwise Dhruv would be taking themself back to the Staff Room.

Who would have thought that SPEW would need reviving under these circumstances. Of course the organization has always been present for over a century now, but it was definitely overshadowed by many of the other wonderful offerings. She glanced over to see Dhruv's arrival but was surprised by his nonchalantness. "Dhruv." This seemed far too formal for the Dhruv she knew from her daughter's schooldays .

"Of course Sohrin!! You don't have to be a member and hopefully this will be fun!" She did have a couple ideas up her sleeves to make this enjoyable because she didn't want them to be so stoic like their dear DADA professor was acting.

The arrival of Norman was welcome except he was so critical ? As if he didn't know her at all! "Who said i didn't have any snacks!!" Also her jumpsuit was brightly coloured, thank you very much. "Honestly what sort of cleaning party would this be without snacks and music." She grinned, as she flicked her wand and some upbeat motivational music started playing from the corner. Not too loud though that they couldn't hear themselves talking but loud enough to be noticeable.

She wasn't surprised to see Desiree here. Hufflepuffs were known for being quite helpful. "Desiree! Welcome, glad you could make it." And there was Vera not too far behind; she could definitely understood the time constraints "Welcome Vera!"

She hadn't expected the elves to show up but nonetheless was pleaased with the arrival of Tinka and Beezley; even if they seemed unwilling to help clean. Although Tinka brought pastries which was quite thoughtful. "Oh Beezley, we haven't started yet!! You're just in time to help guide us. Thank you Tinka for the pastries, so very thoughtful." The misshapen and burnt was to be overlooked of course, even if it was surprising from Tinka.

And there was another first year. They were so precious, weren't they? "Welcome Emmeline. You're welcome to clean with magic if you feel comfortable."

Amelia was grateful at the arrival of Hady as well, even if he she seemed as if she'd rather be elsewhere. She nodded at the creature professor.

"Of course there's snacks a plenty, since it seems Professor Carton didn't realize I'd be providing. Got to make this enjoyable." She said to Bryony. Just as the transfiguration professor was handing out his own candies to everyone. Well she guessed they better get started. She almost commented about Norman saying a candy a day keeps the grumpies away, saying he needed to give Dhruv over there about a hundred candies but decided not.


"Right, so for those who don't know, SPEW was created to encourage welfare and improve the treatment of house elves. It seems our dear elves while treated quite well at Hogwarts are maybe under distress so I've created a little game to help us get this castle cleaned up. It's a scavenger hunt of sorts that will have you using various spells if you feel comfortable, or you could just use a mundane method." Amelia explained. "So I have a spread of snacks... cheeses and crackers and nuts and dried meats, as some motivation if you get hungry."

"So how it'll work is you get scored based on the number of areas of cleaning. Everything has a scoring, from the floors to the windows... to whether you venture to the towers or stay to the lower levels. You also get bonus points if you recruit other students to help you in your ventures.... And yes there will be prizes. You'll have three hours. And I have small notebooks and pens to help you keep track. Any questions?"


ooc: sorry for the delay :3 but we'll get this party started now...

There were only two reasons Brandon was here: he had a very annoying friend named Phoebe (at least, she seemed to think they were friends), and she'd begged him to come with. Despite his ambivalent view of her, he felt a little bad watching her get sick from dust all the time. Also, he hated messes. Weren't the house elves supposed to be cleaning or something? It was dumb that he had to take this into his own hands.

He was here. Without his usual smile, and biting back a complaint. He stood silently next to Professor Khanna, who was probably the only person here he liked, half-listening to Phoebe's incessant talking in his other ear and half-nodding occasionally. He was mostly watching Professor Carton judgmentally. Why was he being so nice to students? Totally lame.

Blah blah blah... food, notebook, cleaning, whatever. Prizes. Winning. The moment the professor in charge stopped talking about the instructions, Brandon subtly diverted Phoebe to the snacks table and ditched her to grab himself a notebook and get started. This was a solo effort, really.

Phoebe Calypso had really been struggling recently with all the dust and grime in the castle. It worsened her asthma by a lot. And she was so glad that there was a cleaning effort going on, so she'd come with a mask and a friend to help clean with. A friend... who had now very-obviously-and-not-subtly ditched her instantly, leaving her stuck by the salami all by herself. "Um..." she said hesitantly, looking around. Her face felt very warm. Why was Brandon ditching her? He probably hated her. Just like all her dormmates and everyone. "Professor Carton? Can we team up?"

What was the missus talking about? Didn’t she know that black was the new trend for pastries? “Has one!’’ Tinka squeaked. The tray was thrusted at (Emmeline). “Yes missus!” Tinka continued. The elf looked around at (Bryony) with wide eyes. “Here! Have two! Tinka insists. Help Tinka get rids of them so Tinka can go napsies!”

Tinka stopped in her attempts to force the unappetizing pastries at the humans to glare daggers at Beezley. Lately Beezley had been most annoying annoying. “More than a few sports, Beezley you blind old bat, you is. But Beezley is not here to cleansies, Professor Adara.'' Tinka shot Beezley a nasty look even though Tinka was also not there to clean.

Emily?? Why did Professor Carton suddenly call her Emily? Didn't he remember her name? He was her head of house after all. Confused, she didn't have time to blink or say anything before Tinka thrust the tray of black and burnt pastries practically in her arms. Feeling cornered Emmie took a black, burnt pastry, and took a very small bite. It tasted so burnt that it was hard to not spit it out. Swallowing she lied through her teeth to Tinka. "Delicious! What's the recipe Tinka?"

Some minutes later her auntie Amelia being the SPEW meeting and gave out instructions. They were to group up and go around and clean around the school. They'd get points for their cleaning efforts, and there'd be prizes too. Emmie immediatley looked around, who did she want to partner with? Deciding Emmie ventured over to Pheobe and Professor Carton. "Hey Pheobe! Hey Professor Carton, can i team up with you two for the cleaning competition? I don't want to be alone."

Ahh, one of the Professor’s was offering sweetsies were they? It was nice to be the one being pampered for a change. At the offer, Beezley put her hand into the bag - pulling two out and popping both into her mouth without a word of thanks. Eyes turned to one of the other adults, as the elf glowered at her. “If studentsies and Professors helped in other years, Beezley wouldn’t need to offer guidance.” She grumbled under her breath, as sour as ever.

Distress? No distress. Beezley just didn’t FEEL like cleaning anymore. That fourth floor had been so nasty and grubby, she hadn’t wanted to clean since. Much nicer to let the studentsies.

Blind old BAT!? Beezley glowered back at Tinka, her arms crossing. “Says yous, Ewart. At least Beezley has the good sense to not force nasty treatsies on the studentsies.” But she was right, Beezley was NOT her to clean. She was here to critique.

The way Amelia said their name reminded Dhruv immediately of Jericho, the one person they felt most connected to. It reminded them of Jericho’s calming nature and all the good times the pair had as friends whenever they hung out. And suddenly Dhruv knew they must reach out to Jericho the moment there was some free time today. Sending movement beside them, Dhruv looked down to see Brandon standing near them. The Hufflepuff’s silence got silent approval from them. Since Brandon wasn’t being annoying, he could stick around with them.

The activity which Amelia had put together would have been a good one if they were in the mood to clean. Then again, who was? Dhruv could see themself supervising aka barking out instructions to the students about spots they would miss or about them not producing proper spell work, should they use magic to get the tasks done.

“Is each group going to have a professor with them? To keep the children in check?” Naturally the question was directed to their colleague who was spearheading the activity.

Emma was here. Although she wasn't entirely sure what SPEW was, she was definitely on board with getting some of this dust under control. How had it gone so long before someone was doing something? She was grateful to Professor Adara for leading a guided (or maybe unguided) overdue cleanup. But her attention was pulled away when she heard the two elves talking and one used a unique name that Emma had only heard recently. She tilted her head as she looked around to see if Logan or Desiree were present and spotting her older housemate, the small first year sidled up to Desiree. "Did he just say ... Ewart? As in from that portrait lady's story?" she whispered, already thinking they probably needed to start with cleaning the library and maybe trying to research as many Ewart's in history to see if there's something in the books.... Cleaning... schmeaning... there was something in what the elves were saying, wasn't there?


Amelia looked to the students already partnering up and was grateful that seemed to be willing to help. The castle was their environment and home that seemed to affect all of them, whether they liked to admit or not. What she was not really on board with was the way the elves seemed so indifferent to her. Professor Adara frowned as they seemed to not even want to supervise and well this just seemed so uncharacteristic for the elves. Perhaps there was something more to why the elves didn't want to do any work as of lately?

That was when Professor Khanna mentioned each group having a professor with them. Ah yes, good idea.... "Excellent, yes, let's divide into three groups? I'll cover the lower floors, you ... Professor Khanna take the middle floors, and Professor Carton, you can take the upper floors." She may have chosen that where their respective classrooms/offices were located. "Oh and Professor Paton, not sure we need a group on the grounds, so uh... join whichever you group you'd like."

Emma didn't need to be told twice, she knew the library was on the fourth floor, which meant she'd be going with Professor Khanna. She gave Desiree a look, hoping she'd get the hint that they needed to be cleaning the library together as the two there who had heard the name Ewart, recently.



ooc: okay, three teams... and we'll commence the distributing to a different area of the castle, upper - with Professor Carton, middle - with Professor Khanna, lower - Professor Adara, within the next day or two, some come join!! And if you haven't yet posted, feel free to join in along the way if your character is elsewhere in the castle and wants to play <3

With Amelia agreeing that the professors head off with a group each, Dhruv nodded when she assigned him the middle floors. This trek included some interesting places: the Mirror, the Weasley Swamp and the Library. “Right,’’ the DADA professor said crisply. “Those who are interested in heading to the Fourth and Fifth floors should follow me. There should be no jostling and I expect you to be on your best behaviour.” Dhruv glared around at the gathering as if to say Or else!.

They finally unstuck their crossed arms from over their chest. After giving the children a moment to gather themselves, Dhruv led the way to the fourth floor. “We will start at the library.” By ‘we’, they meant the children; the professor was just there to supervise, after all.


OOC: Hi, guys! Those of you interested in joining us on our cleanup quest on the fourth and fifth floors, please join us at the Library where things will be kickstarted! I shall be posting there tomorrow {16th November} to give you time to declone here if you wish.

Huh?! Was Professor Carton trying to be silly or something? Her name was not Bridget. She blinked at him a few times, even giving the slightest tilt of her head. The man had been acting not so much like his self, much more.. lively? since the start of the term when she had met him. Not that she was complaining at all. It certainly kept up with her own hyperness, that was for sure. "Yes, please." There would be no turning down an offer of candy, not from her.

As for Professor Khanna completely ignoring her, well, ummm... that was very unexpected and she honestly didn't know how to react to that. Had she done something wrong? Perhaps he hadn't seen that she had waved at him. No, she was sure that he had. Something was definitely not right with him, even more so than Professor Carton and her mama who was also acting a bit strange today.

Two?! "Sure thing, Tinka! I'll take two that way you can hurry along and go take a nice nap." If she was sleepy then she should take a nap so that she would be well rested to do all the things that she needed to do. With the pastries now in her hand, Bry took nibbles from the none burnt up parts of one of them. It wasn't.. so bad.

Bry gave a smile to Professor Adara as she told her there were plenty of snacks and things to have. This was very good to know! She would be taking full advantage of this knowledge as she helped clean up around the school. So they would be working in groups, each Professor leading a group around several different floors and earning points. Okay, that didn't sound all that complicated. The only question was... which professor did she want to go with?


Meh. If Dhruv's wanted to ignore her, that was fine by her. One less person to deal with. Honestly, he was doing her a favor. She didn't feel like chatting and being all sunshine and roses like most of the others here appeared to be today. The sooner they got on with this task, the sooner she could get back to her office and have some coffee.

Narrowed eyes landed on Norman and his offered bag of candy. Was he joking? "I don't need any candy. What I need is some coffee, I don't suspect that you have an ice coffee in that bag of yours?" If so then he might get a half decent smile out of her. Maybe. Her attitude may have changed quite a great deal as of recently but her need for coffee had not. If anything, that had grown more urgent and the lack of coffee in her hand currently only made her all the more grumpy.

The two house elves, yeah, they didn't really catch her attention. However her daughter eating one of the burnt biscuits did and this caused a deep disapproving frown from her and a shake of her head directed at the first year. What was the child thinking? She was going to make herself ill eating those things.

Hmm, so this was a group activity now, was it? Hearing Amelia divide the floors of the castle up between herself, Dhruv's and Norman, Hady waited a moment to hear where she would end up. Ah, technically she wasn't needed at all, this is what she was hearing. Perfect. She would wait and see how evenly these groups split up and then.. if she truly wasn't needed at all, it was off to have some coffee for her!

Norman’s face brightened at the sight of Amy’s (Amelia) snacks, and he chuckled. “Ho ho, I stand corrected,” he said. “Nice spread you’ve got here!” He bobbed his head in time to the music playing, biting into one of Tiffany’s (Tinka) pastries. It tasted every bit as awful as it looked, but he wasn’t going to say anything about it. The poor dear must be overworked!

He smiled, waving at the three latest arrivals (Brandon, Phoebe and Emma). “Brayden, Fifi, Ewart, hello! Nice to see you! Would you like some candy?” He held the bag out to each of them in turn, giving it a little shake. His smile grew into a big toothy grin as the other house elf (Beezley) and Bridget (Bryony) took him up on his candy offer. “Help yourselves; there’s plenty to go around!”

Did anyone else want candy? Kids? Amy (Amelia)? Drew (Dhruv)? Norman’s aquamarine eyes scanned the group, lingering for a moment on Drew… who seemed to be ignoring everybody. Okay, no candy for you then. Suit yourself, Grumpy Gus! And speaking of Grumpy Guses…

Norman’s smile vanished under Hallie’s (Hady) narrowed eyes as she rather rudely turned down his candy offer. He pouted, his lip even trembling a bit. Why did she have to be so mean?! He was just trying to be friendly! His sadness was every bit as over-the-top as his cheeriness. Looking like a wounded puppy, he stormed off. Even if he had ice coffee, he wouldn't share it with an ice queen like her!

Stupid ice queen… Cherie would never have talked to him like that! She was the best friend he ever had, always warm-hearted and fun and… he missed her so much! He was really trying not to act like a Donny Downer in front of the kids, but thinking of her broke his heart! Fortunately, Amy’s (Amelia) directions distracted him before he could start crying. Yes, a game was just the thing he needed to get his good mood back!

Norman smiled as Fifi (Phoebe) and Emily (Emmeline) joined his group. “Hey, girls! Of course you can join,” he replied. “Let’s win this thing!” He was in it to win it! An idea suddenly occurred to him. More people meant more chances of winning, and he knew just how to recruit people to his team. “Follow me to the seventh floor corridor! Everyone who joins Team Carton gets FREE CANDY!!!”

OOC: For anyone interested in cleaning the upper floors, I'll be posting Prof. Carton at the Seventh Floor Corridor within the next 24 hours!


Desiree smiled in reply to Professor Adara’s greeting. More smiles followed for the students who arrived after her, this time accompanied by friendly waves. “Hi, Vera! Hi, Emmeline! Hi, Bryony! Hi, Brandon! Hi, Phoebe! Hi, Emma!”

The two house elves (Tinka and Beezley) likewise got a friendly wave in greeting. “Hello, Beezley. Hello, Tinka,” she said. She shook her head, glancing at Tinka’s pastries. Those didn’t look appetizing at all, and besides, she wasn’t really hungry. “No thank you, Tinka. They’re too pretty to eat!”

No matter how the pastries looked, she was sure Tinka had worked hard to make them. It was odd that she was still burning pastries, though. Almost as odd as the fact that Beezley was still grumpy. Come to think of it, half the professors here were grumpy too! Professor Paton’s arrival was greeted with a polite nod; Professor Khanna’s hard stare barely got so much as a blink.

Desiree listened to the game instructions carefully. Points for cleaning… sounded interesting! She wondered if the point values were different for chores done with magic versus manually, but two things distracted her before she could ask her question. The first was Professor Carton She stared, mouth agape. What in the name of Walt Disney was happening?! In all her time at Hogwarts, she couldn’t recall him storming off that way or looking so sad! Come to think of it, she couldn’t recall seeing him show much emotion at all, besides an occasional smile or look of concern!

The other distraction came in the form of an eerily familiar name, Ewart. Desiree distinctly heard both Beezley and Professor Carton say it. Two people (well, one person and one elf) acting odd who just happened to know that name… Hearing Emma’s question, she replied in a whisper, “She did, and did he just call you-? That can’t be a coincidence!” Although she was personally inclined to join Professor Adara (the only professor here who wasn’t acting completely bonkers!), getting to the bottom of this was more important! She returned Emma’s look with a nod, immediately taking the hint. Yes, she would definitely be going to the library!

Not all of the pastries were gone yet. This was okay. Tinka would take them and her whisk wherever she went. Tinka understood that everyone was splitting up so she knew she could either go back to the kitchen or follow one of the groups. She opted for the second choice.

“Professor, Tinka is coming with you,’’ cried the elf loudly. The whisk was brandished violently through the air for no reason at all. “Pastries is coming too! In case you all is getting hungry!” Tinka stopped next to Paton. She liked the woman who was good with creatures. Wherever Paton went Tinka would go.