Lyra stared at Robert for a moment with no emotions as if to say...DUH! "There has to be a reason they have come back," she began while rolling her eyes. It was obviously her playful mood, the one she loved to have. "You don't just slip away for years and years and then just...'Oh! I think I want to go back to school.'"

And then Banana spoke and had an interesting thing to say as well. "See I don't know much about last year but you know there is one thing about ghosts..." She paused as she leaned in closer to the group with shifty eyes. "If you disrupt their sleeping, then they become active, as in remodel, as in what you said you did last year."

It made perfect sense, but Lyra needed to know more about what happened last term. "We need to have a chat about what happened last year for you all to knock down walls and bug the ghosts."

She looked back at Rob just so she wouldn't forget that little comment he made. With a sly smile she began. "The only one who is masochistic around here I believe is you." How odd that she thought that just the other day and then he brings it up? Was he reading her mind? Strangeeeee.

*Gabben walked down the hall with his arms full of books. His pile of books was so high that he couldn't see infront of him.*
"Lyra? Anna is that you two?"

Lyra looked up to find another Huffie walking their way. "Hiya Gabben," she smiled. "What are you up too these days?" She only saw him every once in a while but he was always very nice in speaking to her every time he saw her.

"For being in the same house I never see you. Anyway I'm alright, what are you lot up to?" *He looked around his books at her and the others.*
"Robert right? Ello."

Lyra began to giggle at Gabben. It was true, she didn't visit the common rooms much and knew she needed to change that. "Yeah! I'm mostly out roaming the hallways looking for something to...do." Get into was more like it. "And when I study I like to be in the library in case I need to look something up."

She nodded her head to Gabbens question about Robert's name. It wasn't that she was answering for him, she was just...answering. "Right now we are searching for ghosts." Her eyes shifted around the hallway once again and then it hit her. Professor Truebridge's office was on this floor. "And we might go and see a professor as well." That deserved a whistle

Elizabeth snickered at Lyra's teasing of Robert, even more so at the Huffie's decription of him as tall. She still considered him beyond simply tall, although part of that came from her perspective of being so much shorter than him. And then both of them picked up on her comment about Truebridge, and her eyes widened as she realized Lyra wanted to go see him. "Odd? I mean, yeah, he's maybe a little eccentric. And I did kinda maybe make him start randomly humming once . . . But I don't think he'd be able to help with figuring out the mystery of the ghosts," she tried to backpedal, only to be relieved by Anna's appearance.

Smiling at the Gryffindor, she silently praised her for taking the subject away from the professor, and back to the ghosts. "Yeah, I figured it might have had something to do with all that stuff when we ventured into the walls, to those weird rooms or whatever," she said, agreeing with Anna. Of course, she only knew what the Ravenclaws had had to do, but she figured the other houses can't have had much different.

And then another Huffie boy joined the group, and it seemed nobody was paying attention to her anymore, so she trailed off into silence, leaning against the closest wall. And as Lyra's eyes wandered toward the History of Magic classroom, and the professor's office, then mentioned visiting him again, her head hit the wall with a solid thump. She just knew Professor Truebridge would find some way to consider her at fault for this.

"Ghosts? Why are you looking for them?" *He smirked and raised an eye brow to her.*
"What are you really up to?" *He pulled his wand out and tapped the books. In a flash of yellow light the books were gone and now in his dorm room.*

"Oh yeah?" She exclaimed looking back at Tobi over her shoulder. "Maybe I can't," she sucked in a deep breath. "Then again, maybe I can!" And upon seeing that Tobi was still at the far end of the hallway, she hurried down the stairs skipping every other step.

I'm almost there...almost there... she thought as she made it to the landing in the first floor corridor. Just around the bend and then outside the doors - and into the courtyard where I can hide behind a bench. Tobi was right, she couldn't run forever. Her lungs ached and her knees were growing weak. What she really wanted was a giant turkey sandwich and an ice cold cup of pumpkin juice while she said in a large poofy armchair.

Tobi was so glad she hadn't tried to double back through a passage way or something, but then, he was pretty sure she didn't know them like he did, so to her, her only option for escape was probably through the Entrance Hall and into the Grounds. He knew the insides of the castle pretty well and he was pretty sure Aggie knew that he knew it too... try saying that 3 times fast.

"Just keep telling yourself that, Agatha!" Tobi hollered as he sped down the corridor in hot pursuit. "You'll be sorry for all you did back in the Maze when I catch up with you!"

"You get to work with a partner for Care of Magical Creatures?" spoke Daphne a tad jealous. All she had was a silly crup, and she didn't know anyone who she could compare progress with. With her luck, maybe even Garret had gotten something a bit more--eventful. "With Copernicus Kettleburn none the less," finished the blond bitterly.

That blasted Copernicus Kettleburn! He's gone from one-upping me in manners to friend napper? Friend napper?! How low have you fallen, Kettleburn.

Caught up in her inner melodrama, her arm flew up in a rage. Daphne Hopton forgot entirely she was in Celandine Toussaint's vicinity.

"Sort of." Celandine answered, "We just both got Abraxans, and Cope is really nice and smart and we both wanted to do some research on different kinds of mash and..." Cela trailed off, "Whats wrong with him? He's my friend. He gives me candy." Celandine defended as if it settled it there and then and indicated that nothing at all could possibly be wrong with Copernicus Kettleburn.

Cela let out a little eeep and ducked Daphne's wildly flailing arms, eyeing her curiously. She looked around, having decided that her Gryffindor friend had probably seen someone she knew and had some kind of secret arm flaily greeting with whoever that was.

If she was five, which she wasn't, Daphne would be covering her ears right about now and uttering nonsense phrases such as: 'Lalala!' OR 'Caaan't heaaaar youuuuuuuu!' in that sing song voice which could have proven to be mind numbingly annoying.

Instead, Miss Hopton had to settle with staring blankly over her friends shoulder as she droned on about Copernicus' remarkable qualities.

He was smart. He was nice. He was Celandine's friend. He gave her cand--AACK!! CHEATER! Of course Celandine liked him! He was purchasing her pure and innocent friendship with sugary treats of deceit!

Daphne opened her mouth to point out Kettleburn's obvious ulterior motives behind befriending Celandine but the look in Cela's eyes held her back, and she simply shut her mouth once more. Her bottom lip stuck out in infantile mimicry.

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with him," murmured Daphne, turning sideways. Except that he's a tricky little boy! "I was just...hmm...shocked."

That seemed about right.

"Good." Celandine answered, hooking her arm with Daphne's and leading her forward. "Homework... charms... lets do it in..." Cela continued walking, stopping outside the door to Professor Truebridge's domain, "Here!"

Cela didn't wait for a response, opening the door and dragging Daphne into the History of Magic Professor's office.

Around the bend, the first sign of life was what could only be identified as a gigantic pink bow with polka dots with no owner. Just hovering idly in the air, looking sinister and possessed by demonic powers; waiting for a victim he could suffocate with its tacky colorful fabric.

Except, soon after the bow came a chubby little body full of life, tumbling and spinning on the ground. "I have...to..." struggled the girl pulling at the bow, trying to rip it right off the skull where it had rooted from. "Get...this...off!" Picking up her wand, she pointed it at her head. "Stay away! I'll sever it! Even if I have to scalp myself!"

"Daphne!!!" Varius came running after her, "Stop!!! I can get it off. Promise!!!"

"Alohomora! (Charms homework, maybe?), Engorgio!..." oh hawt damn, hopefully that one didn't hit the bow, "Sonorous! SUPERDUPERBOWREDUCINGSPELL!!!!"

Merlin... nothing was helping. That was it. He had to face his fear - exposure therapy and all that. He pounced from the ground and clutched onto the ever-growing beast that was rooting from Daphne's once pretty little head. "Get. Off. You. Stupid. Bloody. THINGGGGG," this was sooo gross. Varius wanted to cry. It was a polka dotted bow after all!!! He began sobbing... lordy! He was sobbing. It was like a dysfunctional pyramid made by the egyptians.

Sobbing Varius
-
FREAKING LARGE BOW
-
Daphne on a death rampage

He began to bite the darn thing, hoping it made any difference... not a sodden hope! Daphne was doomed and it was all his fault. "Expelliarmus," he tried another random spell.

"Do not touch me!" warned Daphne, amber eyes bubbling over with anger. Her warning went unheard however, even as she pulled at the floppy bow pitifully. Unable to move fast enough, hindered by the weight of the bow, Miss Hopton was struck with the spells, as pointless as they seemed at the time.

Alohomora? Was he trying to lock her up? Daphne inadvertently crossed her legs together. His engorgio (what an idiot) charm hit one side of her bow, making half of it swell up in size. With the bow, went Daphne's head and she was now stuck sideways on the cold floor. From the floor, she tried to fight off Varius attacks one-handed, stabbing him repeatedly with her wand between the ribs.

However, he had managed to utter another spell around the bow in his mouth and unarmed her. Groaning, Daphne seized Varius' robes and pulled. "I told you not to touch me!"

Where was a dashing Slytherin good with a wand now?

"But I have to try and help..." in all truth Varius, for once in his life, realised his wrongs and felt incredibly guilty for it. Probably because he had put himself through this as well and wasn't just Daphne suffering here... A LARGE POLKA DOTTED BOW! need I say more?

"What if... what if the counter charm is the same incantation which started it in the first place?" he prepared himself to cast the spell, not waiting for Daphne to even try and protest - who was she to defy him without a wand now anyway? "RIDIKULUS!"

"Oh, what do you know?" managed the girl to interject briefly, just right before Varius hit her yet again with another spell. Daphne made a mental note to discuss with the Headmaster what to do with an obviously mentally unbalanced student who was a bit wand happy. "Oh, I'll use Lumos as a defensive spell. That was brilliant! Would have worked wondrously too--if I was Devil's Snare!"

There was a sudden click, as if she had been unlocked, and legs uncrossed themselves as she lay sideways on the floor. Not daring to move, Daphne blinked repeatedly, before touching the bow and trying to push it aside, it felt--lose. Maybe it needed some persuading.

Daphne began to rip it off her head again.

Varius let her rant on, his head down in sheer disappointment and sadness. Not only had he produced the damned horrid thing, but he had went to all the hassle to TOUCH it to remove it and that hadn't even worked. He began sobbing again. What a disaster!

He noted a hint of surprise run along Daphne's face however, as she began tugging at the bow again. "Is it coming off? Is it loosening?" he would have tried to help her rip it from her head again, had it not been for the exposure therapy not working whatsoever and Varius refusing to go near the darn thing ever again.

On a sitting position, Daphne tugged, half of the bow already over her face. It covered her features entirely with the exception of her left eye, and she focused that one on a disheveled looking Varius Tipps. "So," she began in a mumble nearly getting rid of the bow. "Don't tell me your one fear are bows."

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Daphne began to laugh but distractedly she had pulled too hard and had ripped a few hairs out. "Ow! Darn it!"

She seemed much calmer now... and she was laughing, that was good right? Unless the laugh was actually a demonic 'i'm so gonna kill you once I get this ridiculously large and scary bow off of my head'.

"It's not my only fear," Varius said defensively, "Jelly freaks me out too! It's so wobbly and scary!!!"

He shuddered at the thought, so pleased to see the bloomin' thing coming off her head with little difficulty. At least she could keep it and hang it above her bed in memory or something... "So, I think we should call this the end of our duel..." He wasn't sure whether it was obvious or not. He really didn't want to risk growing more things on her head.

Tittering, Daphne shook her head, trying to get rid of the last bit of hair and fabric knot that she couldn't quite separate. "I don't suppose you're scared of big eyes too," commented the blond jokingly, finally having lost her patience and just snapped the last two strands of hair. They would grow back.

Holding the bow in disgust a good distance away from her, Daphne suddenly swung it in Varius' direction. "End of our duel? End?" repeated the girl holding the bow even closer to Tipps' face. "Apologize! And promise you'll practice your defensive spells lest you kill someone next time! Go on! Or I'll make you eat this bow!"

Just for good measure, Daphne swatted the boys head with the huge pink fabric.

"Apolog..." he ducked and screamed all at the same time, "Keeeeep the bow away from me!!!" he pleaded. Then she proceeded to whack him over the head with the horrid, monstrous thing.

"I'm sorry!" he fell to the ground on his knees, "I promise I will practice, practice, practice - just get that THING away from me!!!"

"And Lumos!" added Daphne sternly, rubbing the bow against Varius' forehead. "Is not a defensive spell." Pulling back from her torture, Miss Hopton huffed and ran her free hand over her hair. "I hope you learned your lesson."

"Yes. Lumos is not for defense," he repeated. Varius rocked back and forth on his feet for a moment, unsure whether or not he could leave just yet, "Erm... until next time then? My dearest Daphne... It has been... somewhat, a pleasure."