"What was it Deli was it. Well everyone but Monica is back to there origanal selves have you met Excellior yet" asked Barry

"Yea and I've met the fox Excelsior but not the human." Delilah said looking around. "So the students are finally becoming human again. Thank God!" she exclaimed. "Now we just have to figure out who did this to them."

"Well if you want go up to the infirmy and meet the former animals Deli" said Barry

"I think I'll do that. Bye Barry. I'll see you later!" she called entering the castle.

As Barry was talking to Finn, he heard a voice that made his stomach drop. He turned in time to be pulled to a hug.

He whispered in her ear. "you hit me with a balloon?" His memories stopped when he began to swim and then just now began to register. This was one of the things he would remember.

"I suppose I'm supposed to go somewhere?" He asked her.

It had been a long day. Lex pulled his school bag higher onto his muscular shoulders and strolled along the eroded footpaths to the entrance hall. It was tough, having O.W.L.S, adults trying to cram careers down your throats when you know exactly 'Where you're going to be in 10 years time'. With his free hand, the one not holding onto his school bag, Lex swept his fringe out of his eyes as it, as always, landed upon his left eye.

Frustrated, Lex just stopped. He needed to have time to think and just let time catch up with him for a moment. Instead of the pathways leading to the school, Lex found a tree growing close to the front of the building: perfect. He made his way to it, dropping his bag at the foot of the tree and was rolling up his sleeves, getting ready to jump up when:

"Alex! Alex!" came a voice from far away, down by the gates. Lex closed his eyes, his muscles tense. That had not just been...please, someone tell him that that voice had not been the voice of... Lex turned round and groaned, of course it had to be. How could his life not be getting any worse for, her to come and turn up.

"Alex! How did you know I was coming? You came to meet me! You're so sweet! It was meant to be a surprise, but you're just too clever sometimes." She said in a high, excited voice. It had been ages since she had seen Alex. He still looked as amazing as ever with his tall, strong, muscular figure and his sweeping fringe that covered his grey-green eyes. He was frowning though, maybe he hadn't known about her visit. So then it had been a surprise, brilliant.

Lydia jumped up and hugged his steel frame, even though she was long, tall and thin herself her height didn't compare to Alex's. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek, acting like a real girlfriend would. She modelled a light green cardigan and tight, skinny jeans along with matching green dolly shoes. Her blonde hair shimmered in the light and her blue eyes sparkled with happiness at seeing Alex once again.

"Wh-What are you doing here?" He asked directly but with a soft tone, not brittle as he would have done if it were anyone else. He wanted to groan again when he saw her suitcase, so she intended on staying, and for quite a while to with the size of that thing.

"I came to meet you silly! We haven't seen each other in so long and you woudn't answer by letter so my parents arranged it that I stay here with you for a week. Isn't this great?" She said merrily, linking her arms with Alex as they made their way to the shade of the tree. Her long hair bounced with her as she walked.

"A week?" Lex croaked, astonished yet not at the same time that her parents would allow her to miss a week of school like that. "You didn't have to come all the way from France just to see me..." He muttered, clear signs radiating that he didn't really want her here, but she wasn't seeing any of them. It was only once he had realised that she had come from France that her next words showed a hint of a French accent.

"Don't worry, it's all been taken care of! Now we have the whole week to spend together!" She replied, ignoring his muttering tone. Her smile was wide, flashing all her white teeth as she practically pushed Alex to sit on the floor and sat down right next to him after placing her suitcase with his school bag.

Shayna strode frustrated, long legs skimming down the old pathways, twisted and crooked as though the wizards building them had had no sense of direction or where the paths were meant to be leading. She snarled inaudibly, slim hands raking her glossy curls, pushing her messy fringe out of her eyes.

Her messenger bag banged furiously along her small frame, contents threatening to spill out. She exhaled again in annoyance, muttering darkly. Jason really had no right to make fun of her for spending so much time with Lex the past few hours, and the appalling ideas he'd suggested! Urgh. And Jason was a 1st year, for God's sake, why did he have such a problem with Slytherins? Interacting with the enemy, he'd sneered. What the hell? What was this? Some kind of war between the houses? Besides, Lex, despite his appearances, was different, and...

Shayna abruptly stopped ranting to herself, hearing a high female voice she didn't recognise. She shrugged, continuing before freezing again mid-step, as another voice reached her ears, a male voice she definitely recognised. Lex.

She covered the remaining distance of the path quickly, rounding the lone tree, only to come up on the sickly-sweet image of the perfect couple, lounging against it. In an instant, it was clear who she was. Lydia. Darn, she really was all Lex had said she was. Shayna contemplated marching straight past, momentarily deflated, but she smirked as she realised this was the perfect opportunity to leave Lex stuck in the middle.

'Lex, hi!' She called out cheerily, 'Fancy meeting you here,' waving, exuding confidence as she moved fluidly towards the couple. Her gaze caught on his apparent discomfort, and her smile grew, eyes narrowing at him with a knowing gleam in her eyes, a gleam that was intended solely for him, and one she knew he would not miss. She nearly turned to the female, about to say, 'Well well, I've heard a lot about you,' when she caught herself, thinking sharply. Shayna was still a Gryffindor at heart, and manipulating was something she took only so far, and she wasn't too sure she wanted to make the situation dire for Lex. Instead, she winked at him impishly, before smiling briefly at Lydia, 'Umm, hey. Are you...new around here?'

Hermy looked up from her feet as she heard him whisper back. His voice made her stomach feel excited but strangely nervous at the same time. How did you explain to someone that you had to fire a potion-filled balloon at them to return them to their normal state? Did Finn even remember he'd been a penguin for that matter?

"Erm, yes, I did." A small tear trickled down her cheek as she gauged his reaction. "I had to, I was worried sick, and..." She filtered off. She needed to be positive. Afterall there were more exciting and interesting things to share, and it would be better for Finn to enjoy the last few weeks of term. She just hugged him tight, wanting him to know that she was there for him, and that she hadn't meant any harm with that balloon. Finn meant the world to Hermy, and she had missed him terribly. She hoped the image of her aiming at him wouldn't wreck that.

She nodded. "The hospital wing." Hermy let go of Finn, and looked at him carefully. "We can talk on the way, if you wish." It was her way of saying that she understood if he needed time to sort things out in his head and prefer her to leave him be, but also that she was there by his side every step of the way.

Lex growled on the inside. Is wasn't a coincidence, this was God just throwing Hell at him from straight out of the sky. How was this even possible was beyond his belief. It made him feel more uncomfortable that Shayna actually knew all about Lydia and his feelings towards her which rested as friends whereas Lydia's were blown out way out of proportion to his. It didn't help that this was the girl who he had recently become close with over the last few days. The second he goes and makes a friend who is a girl and Lydia arrives, it was like she had a sixth sense for sniffing out girls near him.

"Fancy indeed. Uh...don't you have to...uh...go attend class or something?" He pleaded desperately, trying to remove Shayna from his line of vision when a secret part of him prayed that somehow the positions between Lydia and Shayna could just swap. It would make life so much simpler, instead it was getting more complicated by the heart beat.

"No No, what's the hurry Alex? Why don't you...introduce me to this friend of yours, since you seem to know each other so well already..." She said curtly, turning on Alex and giving him an intense glare that said 'Explain-now-or-you're-busted'. Her blue eyes sparked static electricity as her eyes grew wide. Since when did Alex know Gryffindor girls? The only thing that didn't stop Lydia totally throwing a fit was knowing that this girl was completely out of Alex's league, she couldn't even see his league. They were probably just forced into each other's presence.

"She's...She's in my Transfiguration class...Lydia this is Shayna, Shayna this is Lydia..." He mumbled, feeling the tension crawling on his skin like a thousand spiders. Lex already knew the answer Lydia wanted: that he had not willingly made friends with another girl as crude as it may have sounded to anyone else. He had only just looked up to see Shayna's skeptical look and wink and glared back. So she was purposefully here to annoy him to death. He wanted to scream, run, hide or do anything physically possible to get out of this situation. It was horrifying.

Lydia breathed once more. So she had been right. Lydia got up, her height and skinniness an obvious comparison to Shayna's and held out her hand half-heartedly, as if she may be contaminated or something. "I'm not new, I'm just staying here for a while, to be with Alex." She added, showing where her position stood and where Shayna's should stand: in nothing but the friendship zone. She gave Shayna a condesending look up and down at her attire before meeting her eyes. A Gryffindor with an passable taste in fasion, barely.

Shayna pursed her lips, her dislike for the arrogant girl growing by the minute. And the rate at which she was sending disapproving and sneering looks was atrocious. Atleast Lex was amusing, fun to be around with. What the hell was he doing with Lydia? She looked like the most fun she ever had was plucking out a victim's individual eyelashes, one...by...one.

She smirked at Lex's obvious attempts to get her out of here, before looking in disbelief at the girl's reproachable assuptions that Shayna should stay, and only because Lydia desired for it. She stared at the blonde as she gave him a nasty look, obviously signalling that he had rather a lot explaing to do. And whoa, the way Lex was almost cowering, following her meekly was enough to break Shayna's careful composure. But she felt a small pang of pity towards him, he really hadn't done much to deserve being in a position like this.

'Actually no,' Shayna replied firmly, eyes dancing, 'I had a free next, and...' She continued, saying mischieviously, 'I thought I'd get with you to work on our Transfiguration assignment together,' She gave him an innocent look, her emerald eyes at odds with her light tone, 'I'm hoping you hadn't forgotten.'

As Lex stuttered, Shayna's eyes widened. Bloody hell. Boy did she have a lot to tease him with once Lydia left. If she ever left, knowing the girl, she'd probably find some flimsy excuse to extend her stay. LOL. Right now, what he needed was a hug, seriously. The poor boy.

She watched Lydia move to stand up, trying to use her figure to intimidate. Shayna watched coolly, arms crossed over her own slim, fuller figure in challenge, a dark eyebrow raised sharply, looking mildly uninterested; So being a Slytherin pureblood was all about starving oneself, was it? Well Shayna gladly accepted a pass, Lydia looked positively bones, but she supposed it was what was 'in' with the upperclass these days. Glancing at the hand Lydia stretched out, Shayna smirked, ignoring it completely, 'Pleasure,' She scoffed dismissively, examining her metallic silver nails, bored. She instead focused her gaze on Lex, a corner of her mouth quirked, smug, half-expecting him to reprimand her for what was such an obvious brush-off, 'So Lex, what do you say about our assignment? Ready?'

Finn only nodded at her as he listened to her story. Her hugs were medicinal to him and he felt a bit stronger, but still quite weak.

He leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek. "You can help me to the hospital wing then? I feel as though my legs aren't quite right. You can tell me more when we get there, if you can stay?"

Hermy smiled as Finn nodded. It showed an understanding, and it made her relax slightly. Her eyes scanned him caringly, noting that he was weaker than his usual self. Something to be expected really, after being a penguin for so long.

A warm glow filtered through Hermy at that gentle kiss - her eyes regaining some of their usual twinkle that had been missing recently. "Of course I can help you." She frowned slightly as he said his legs were not quite right, though she was sure that a good rest and some help from the nurse could sort that. "As if I wouldn't stay," Hermy replied, smiling. "I wouldn't want to do anything else than spend time with you."

He smiled greatly as she said the things she did. He didn't want to leave her and he wanted her to let him know what had happened.

As he began to walk he stumbled and nearly knocked her over. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with them. They've never failed me like that before."

Hermy noticed just in time that Finn had stumbled, and held out her arms to help catch him as she moved out the way. She nodded comfortingly, and draped his arm over her shoulders, taking some of his weight and steadying him.

"I'm guessing its probably a side affect," she said thoughtfully, before realising that Finn might not know any of what had happened and therefore what it might be a side affect of. "How much can you remember or know of?" she asked, quietly.

He was grateful that she had caught him and told her, "I think I need to sit for a bit."

"Side effect? Yeah I suppose." He listened to her question and shrugged. "I don't really recall anything. The last thing I remember is swimming in the lake."

She nodded, and guided them towards a nearby bench. Now he was back, they had all the time in the world. It really didn't matter if it was slow going up to the hospital wing, though it had to be said that it was at times like these Hermy wished Hogwarts had a lift.

Hermy looked at her boyfriend, and squeezed his hand. "I don't know everything, but I did manage to piece some things together." Figuring it was best to start at the beginning of her knowledge, Hermy pulled together some of her thoughts, before asking, "Do you remember being in the student gardens with me?"

He sat down with some effort and smiled at her for the great care and concern she was showing him. He kissed her cheek again.

He listened as she began. He watched her as she began to gather her thoughts and smiled when her eyebrows furrowed as she thought how to begin.

He nodded as she reminded him of the last time he had seen her. "Yeah. I feel asleep, as I recall."

Hermy smiled as he kissed her cheek. That excitment rippling through her stomach. She had been worried that perhaps whilst as a penguin he had forgotten all about her, but it seemed she needn't have done. She pulled him in tight, before reaching to get her sketchbook out of her bag. There she had depicted a lot of her thoughts and feelings, and it had been her thing of comfort. There were even bits smudged with tears here and there, not that she would point them out.

She flicked to the sketch she had done in the student gardens, and ran her finger over the page. "You did!" She smiled, remembering the moment. "You had been noticing changes. Your hair had changed colour, for example, and feathers appearing out of nowhere. I have one here." She clicked open the locket hanging from the yellow bracelet on her wrist, and caught the delicate feather as it caught in the breeze. She handed it to Finn. "I left you that day, trying to figure out what was happening, and after a week I still didn't have a clue - and hadn't managed to catch you out and about either. It was shortly after then I met Marco down at the lake, and between him and Llamed, I managed to work out what had been happening." She paused. "I must admit, up until that point, I thought you were just avoiding me."

Finn sat back a little and tried to regain a bit of balance. He seemed quite off as his body tried to figure out what was going on. He did know, though that having hermy here was essential. He didn't want to keep her from her studies, but he didn't want her to leave either.

He watched as she took out the sketchbook that was always with her and flipped to a page showing them the last time they were together that he could remember. He nodded as she mentioned the changes in him. "Yes. I remember those things. I was quite confused as to what was happening to me and you wanted me to get help. I'm sorry I didn't listen. I was scared though."

Then she opened the bracelet that he had never before seen. "That's a beautiful bracelet." Then she caught the feather. Suddenly, he was flooded with memories. Memories of a cage, of exhaustion, of fear. He began to whimper quietly.

Then she said she thought he had been avoiding her. He couldn't hold the emotion in and pulled her to him and cried, telling her he was sorry in between great sobs.

Miles loved this place. Seriously, Hogwarts was amazing. Especially the castle itself. So, where was the best place to admire it? The fron of it ofcourse.
Miles walked to the front of the castle and sort of just .. stared at the entrance. "Wow." He said quietly. He stopped daydreaming and then wondered where Vannie was. Lately, his face kept getting hot when he saw her. Why? He didn;t know, but he'd find out soon enough. He wouldn't dare tell her though.

Lex was at the point of crazy, ready to pull out his hair at the situation and how Shayna was not making it any better. Not one bit. In fact she was specifically making it worse. He was going to go beserk any second now, and Lydia would probably blame it all on Shayna, typical. "I don't remember getting set any assignment together, if I had to chose a partner, you would be the last person I would chose." He said icily.

At that moment, Lydia's Owl flew down and landed on her shoulder, with a letter in its beak. Lydia's eyes were wide with fear as she look the letter and sliced it, her eyes skimmed over its contents quickly before she gasped and tucked the letter in her back pocket. "I've got to go, I'm so sorry Alex. Maybe I'll come again another time!" She said in a hurry, reaching up to kiss him on the cheek lightly before grabbing her suitcase and hastily making her way to the gate and just like that she was gone.

Lex whistled in a low whistle and sighed in relief. He closed his eyes for a second, took a deep breath and suddenly, out of no where, he jumped up and climbed his way, gracefully as always, up the tree. She was actually gone. He had never felt so happy in such a small space of time. But curiosity did take over as he wondered what was the emergency. He looked down at Shayna, who was just standing there.

"You going to come up or what? We need to work on said 'Transfiguration assignment' together don't we?" He joked, happiness melting away the fear and anxiety. He smiled down at her, so excited that he was almost, almost willing to hug someone. It had been the shortest visit ever but it had still been too long for Lex to handle. Just the way she called him 'Alex' made his skin crawl. Lex shuddered at the thought before returning to his joyful mode again.

Shayna sneered at Lex, feeling annoyed she'd actually bothered to try and help him out. How was it her fault if she hadn't been able to come up with anything better on the spot? She opened her mouth to retort, maybe even curse at him, when an owl flew out of nowhere, and the next second Lydia was a flurry of movements, leaving in a whirl of perfumed clouds.

What on Earth? Shayna watched Lydia's receding figure, mimicking her in a falsetto voice, 'Yes, I'm just completely ecstatic about seeing you again, cow.' She turned back to Lex suddenly, Lydia already forgotten, arms crossed over her body, displeasure showing her face, 'You loser, what was that for? I was trying to help you, I mean any normal person could see you were practically wetting yourself! Hmph,'

'And bloody hell,' Shayna muttered loudly, her expression showing very obvious pity for him, 'You're spending the rest of your life with her? Pfft, good luck. Because trust me mate, you'll be needing it. She's a nightmare,' Shayna scoffed.

She opened her mouth to sneer some more, when Lex's invitation reached her, and she paused, 'Yeah, wait...w-what?' Shayna stared up at him as though he'd clearly lost his marbles before recovering quickly, pursing her lips angrily, and waving her hands wildly, 'A second ago you refused to acknowledge this assignment of ours, and now it suddenly exists? Why the change of heart, hmm?' Shayna asked in challenge, not quite ready to forgive him. 'And if I'm the last person you'd want near you...' Shayna pouted, wanting so badly to stamp her feet. This Lex was confusing her, and when she was confused, she was unsure of herself. And when she was unsure of herself, anger usually took its place.

But it was something in the way that he seemed suddenly so carefree, light, happy, that she couldn't resist. Still, this joking, joyful Lex was weirding her out, scaring her even. The change in him ever since Lydia left was instantaneous, unbelievable. Warily, she climbed slowly up the tree, perching close beside him, smirking internally at the thought of his personal bubble again. His happiness seemed contagious, and she ruffled his hair almost affectionately, before asking innocently, 'So tell me, how come you've never told Lydia to stop calling you 'Alex'? I mean it's not as if you like it, that much is pretty obvious.' Actually, it'd been quite interesting. Cassandra had given her the name of 'Lex Deven', never 'Alex Deven', was it because he never used it that hardly anyone even knew his birthname?

"BFF!," Fallon exclaimed, walking up to Miles. "What's up? I haven't seen you in like, forever! So what's the latest?"
Miles was the first person whom she met, and he was already her best friend. She didn't care that he was a Slytherin or a third year; he was cool and a good person. Plus they had a lot of fun laughing together. Fallon swept her hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. Her earrings shown brightly, now that her long dark hair wasn't in the way.

"I know you were," Hermy said gently. "And at that stage we didn't know the scale of things...that others had strange symptoms too." Her eyes met his, showing that she fully understood.

"Thanks," she said, smiling. She wondered whether to explain the reason why it was Hufflepuff yellow, though she guessed he had possibly figured that out by now, considering her wardrobe only basically consisted of blue, turquoise and a bit of green apart from her school robes. She held up her wrist to show him the tiny pictures inside the locket. Portraits she painstakingly painted with the finest of brushes.

Hermy's gaze flicked up from the pictures and the feather in her hand, and she saw that Finn looked slightly perturbed. She rubbed her hand up and down his back soothingly.

As she said that comment, Hermy realised perhaps she had given across slightly the wrong impression. Tears started to trickle down her face at Finn's reaction, and she hugged him tight, resting her head on his shoulder. She couldn't bare to hear his sobbing when it really wasn't his fault. "Finn, please don't...there was nothing you could do about it...and your owl came and told me the truth..." She couldn't help it, she was sobbing along with him too. All the worry she had hidden inside for so long suddenly all rushing out.

Finn listened as she carefully explained that she wasn't upset.

As he looked at the bracelet, admiring the tremendous amount of skill in the pictures she had painted on the bracelet. He smiled, pleased about her homage to his huffyness.




As they sat there together weeping, he felt an emotion he did not quite understand, but welcomed. It was a comfort, a safe feeling a place to be himself. He just sat there with her.