The whole walk up was filled with both encouragement to have more bread, and tales of the Healer’s time on her mission trips around the globe. Whenever you added magic to a mix, you were sure to run into some incredible adventures. The latest was of the city plagued by a nundu that took the place for its own. Lots of disease, lots of hunting expeditions.

There was bread then, too.

“This looks like a good place to start. You can put the bread down and we can get some of these candles up.” Starting on this wall here.

Healer Poppy did a quick spell to clean up the waxy remains of the last candle that was in the holder, then carefully placed one of the new ones down. Wasn’t the castle starting to feel like a new place already??

She wouldn’t wait to get the rest of the redecorating efforts rolled out!

Nem was not lurking so much as innocently stalking. Following from ahead. They'd kept clear of Healer Peppy as much as they could since the start of term, waiting in the wings and watching from a distance whenever possible, until they had the measure of her, and especially steering clear of that 'mandatory' group therapy session. Shame, really, as it sounded like there had been potential for a little entertainment towards the end, but it was what it was.

Now they were done watching, or maybe they were facing death by ennui and willing to do anything to get away from it. Either way, Nem had seen the notices, and turned up at the Entrance Hall, but stayed up at the top of the marble staircase. There had been a brief moment of temptation to go and play with the Headsman and his group, but several factors contributed to their deciding against it, not least because there was potential for a new game in Peppy, and they wanted to test the theory. Ultimately preferring to stay out of sight of the Headsman and that other bloke, Nem stayed away and waited until they were sure of where Peppy's group was going, went on ahead, then doubled back to arrive after.

"What's going on?" they asked, like they didn't already know, coming to a stop by the healer and staring at her in vague bewilderment.

Merlin alive, that bread reeked.

Oh, what perfect timing!

Gabi had been coming out of her office just as Poppy and her group of students had been passing by. Despite the fact that it had been a few months since she first arrived, she was a very hard woman to pin down! Gabi had been wanting to talk to her but hadn't gotten her alone.

"Oh! Healer Poppy!" she cheerfully greeted the woman as she caught up with them after following her up and few flights, waiting until they slowed down. "Oh, the new candles. What a lovely idea. Do you need any help?" she asked, figuring she could offer her services before ambushing her with healer business.

Quinn groaned to himself and rolled his eyes. Great. The two people he liked the least at Hogwarts (Nem and Emm) had come together today to sandwich him while he was on a reconnaissance mission. And he didn't even have Atlas or Eden or Lia or even Ash here as backup.... well, he would just deal, he guessed.

None of Poppy's stories stood out to him as particularly interesting or important. Just a lot of tooting her own horn, which Quinn found slightly annoying after a while. Healer Poppy seemed very nice and simple at face value, but there had to be more to her than that. And Quinn would figure it out.

But... he couldn't just stand around. Quinn got busy replacing the candles in the candle holder, keeping an ear out for Poppy's conversations and doing his best to pay no mind to the terrible-horrible duo.

Backup?

Did someone need backup?

Lia may have been completely oblivious to whatever mission Quinn himself was on. Or what any of them there in the corridor was currently up to for that matter but it must have been someone's lucky day. Ask and you shall receive or something like that, right?

She had just left the comfort of the common room having just finished writing a few letters home, which were tucked away safely in the pocket of her hoodie. Her goal had been a trip to the owlry to send the letters on their way when she the small group gathered at the other end of the corridor. Instantly curiosity got the best of her and she headed over, making a beeline directly for Quinn when she spotted him. "What's going on?" she whispered quietly.

A better glance around and she could see they were changing out the candles that had been in the holders along the walls. Why though? What were wrong with the previous ones?

Well, she had the bread, like she promised. A whole tray of yummy goodness she would be selectively sharing depending on many factors. Good thing someone else grabbed a tray, huh?

A piece of bread in mouth, Emm reached up to one of the now burnt down candles, used a quick spell to pluck it out of its holder then replaced it with one of the new ones from the boxes. She lit that bad boy up then sighed VERY dramatically.

“Phew. What a work out. Bread break.”

She may have only replaced one candle but see, even Professor Recard was here to help and between two grown ups, they could just MAGIC the new candles in place so she really didn’t have to do that much to still be considered helpful. Emm flopped down next to the tray of bread, prepared to supervise from this point on.

“Nem, come sit with me. We’re doing house elf wor—switching out all the old burnt out candles with new ones.” SAME THING. “But I think we gotta switch the fine ones too ‘cause otherwise they don’t match and we’re working on a whole aesthetic~”

You don’t notice it at first, but with each passing second you are brought further and further into a state of...utter calm. The tantalising smell of bread wafts through the corridor with few places to go but your nostrils and if that doesn’t just warm your insides, it’s possible nothing will. Strawberry, melon, cinnamon, plain, sugar, goodness the smell quickly over lowers the scent of the candles and anything else I’m the corridor.

Not that you mind.

It’s a lovely smell. Soothing. So soothing....all your worries melt away. The fears, the anxiety, the thought of that homework you’re sure is due, what does it matter? Does anything matter? Right now, you feel very zen.

Zeeeennnnnn.

Margaret was definitely helping, though she'd more followed Emmerson along with Healer Poppy and company up all the stairs. If was lucky she was an athlete otherwise all the bread and all the stairs would have left her pretty winded.

No matter.

She set down the little bit of bread she'd carried but not eaten, then grabbed a few candles. She was helping, and for once it was useful that she was so tall. Was it more difficult for the little first and second years? Probably. She cleaned out an old candle, smoothly replacing it with one of the extras. This was fun. It was nice. Did these new candles smell like the bread? Mamie thought it was a nice touch.

She barely noticed Nemesis or Recard arriving, or Emmerson being useless, because she was helping and this replacing candles business was soothing. She felt like she should get some of these candles for in their dorm, iit would be a really nice bread smell to fall asleep to, y'know? Mamie sighed happily, still mindlessly cleaning up and replacing the candles. Maybe she should take a bread for more break.

She had followed Healer Poppy based on Emerson’s recommendation. She was older and the younger Ravenclaw found her somewhat... intimidating. So she followed and remained quiet.

Lisa was just minding her business, carrying bread (as one did), and humming to herself as she walked along the corridor. She didn’t suspect anything out of the norm and felt almost as if she was in a trance as they walked. She felt almost kinda sleepy? Yaaaaawwwn.....

Lisa found herself moving towards Mamie and Quinn as the Healer set the candles down. She grabbed a few more candles and made her way over to Quinn. “hey... Quinn.. Mamie.. Why are we replacing the candles again?” she asked with an arched eyebrow.

“Gaaabbbiii!” Healer Poppy clapped her hands in obvious delight at the appearance of the former healer. “We’d love the help! Come, come, there’s a box here with some candles and a lot of burnt down candles in this corridor to rePLAAAACCCE.”

With Emmerson done explaining to Nemesis what they were doing, the healer offered the boy some bread and some candles. “Let’s get a mooooveee on, these candles won’t replace themselves!”

Ah and there it was, the calm she’d been expecting. Healer Poppy went on as if nothing happened, moving toward the third year Gryffindor girl. “Come now, Emmerson. All your friends are busy little bees at work. Why don’t you help Margaret with those candles there.” So zen, so lovely. She enjoyed seeing the children like this.

It was all she ever wanted.

“You, too, Lisa. These candles are burnt down. Do you want to be walking through a dark castle at night? Oh goodness, no, that will cause quite a fright!! Nightmares! Night terrors! Falling down stairs and breaking limbs, oh it simply won’t do!!”

Now would they like more bread while they got back to work!

Quinn smiled a bit as Lia came over, glad to have someone he actually knew with him. And, well, while he knew Lisa a bit, he didn't know her awfully well. "Uh, well, we're supposed to be switching out the candles in the corridor with new ones. Something about how they burn, I think?" Quinn answered, shrugging. He leaned in a bit closer to her, making sure no one would be able to hear. "But I want to keep an eye on Healer Poppy. Don't eat any bread. I'll explain later." Quinn handed her some candles. "Well, since you're here, might as well get to work, yeah?" he said with an inconspicuous smile.

Speaking of Lisa, Quinn turned to her and ws about to answer her question when the Healer did it for him. Her answer was... strange, somehow, wasn't it? But for some reason... he didn't really process the weirdness that much. He just kind of went... with the flow of things. He grabbed some candles and started replacing them with a sleepy smile on his face. It was surprisingly relaxing to replace the candles, wasn't it?

Dahlia was certainly glad that her and Quinn wasn't that different in height, it made things a whole lot easier to keep their conversation to themselves. "Oh, well I guess that sort of makes sense." Not entirely but she was only twelve and didn't really know all that much about candles and how they burned. What he happened to admit to her though, didn't take her by surprise as one might thing and Lia only nodded her head as if she had expected him to say such a thing. Only she hadn't. Yet, she herself wasn't quite sure how she felt about the Healer. That group therapy session she had walked out on at the start of term was still very fresh in her mind. As for the bread.. well.. it was extremely tasty bread. "Bread? There's bread?" she whispered in reply already glancing around for where some might be, the fresh scent of it filling her nostrils as if perfectly on cue.

Mmmmmm, bread...

Huh?

Ooh, oh, yeah. Right. The candles. Dahlia nodded. "Yeah, sure. I might as well help out since I'm here." She agreed, taking the candles from him. Whatever she had been meaning to do earlier could wait a bit longer, the letters she had written for her family already forgotten in the pocket of her hoodie. "Hopefully I can reach to get these candles into the holders."

Seeing Lisa she smiled at her. "Hi, Lisa. Are you helping too?" Maybe they could all work together in a group?"

Also, where was that bread?

There was no denying the twinge of annoyance when Recard showed up; Nem had been trying to get this Peppy woman on her own. Children didn't count.

The Ex-Healer Professor Deputy Head of Whoever received just the briefest glance, before Nem looked at Healer Peppy again, just in time to receive a double handful of bread and candles. No thanks. "Whatever." This woman was not at all worth their time.

So they did indeed join Cambridge, foisting the bread and candles off onto the third year as they took a seat beside her, on the other side of the tray of bread. Something on that tray smelled especially cloying and offensive, and Nem wanted no part of it. "Thrilling," was all they said to Cambridge. There might have been more, but they didn't particularly feel like talking all of a sudden. This was nothing out of the ordinary for them, so they just went with it and leaned back, head resting against the wall, long legs stretched out in front of them. A veritable trip hazard.

Speaking of which, Healer Peppy was living in a dream world. As if Nem cared about anyone's frights, nightmares, or broken limbs, especially if they weren't the driving force behind them. Actually, even then. As if they cared about anything.

Dispassionate and disinterested, they watched.

And Healer Poppy had semi-answered her question rather quickly. She nodded her head in agreement to the Healer but still wondered why THEY had to do this work. Wasn’t this the responsibility of the upkeep crew not students? And then Poppy elaborated on nightmares and things of that nature. Why.... why nightmares? Couldnt they use magic? She picked up two candles. “I suppose that makes... sense.” Sure. Somewhat. She didn’t feel alarmed by the question just calmly confused.

“But Healer... aren’t we supposed to be out of our Common Rooms at a certain time or has that changed?” If she had, she wanted to know so then she could easily slip out and around and explore the castle at night. “Just curious,” she added as she began replacing the candles. Sure Lisa felt zen in this moment but the whole task and answer felt odd. She’d have to ask around.

Anyway back to the task at hand....

She nodded to Lia and fished for a few more candles. “I can help!”