He had to admit he was still in pain a bit from the last curse, his knees feeling like goo in his body. But he wasn't going to say anything, not in front of everyone. He'd suck it up like a man. A man who cried sure, but a man no less. His charm was holding up nicely as he looked down at the Huffe on the ground, gulping.

He finally noticed the other Huffie who had cast the other jinxes and frowned.

He nodded once more, trying out a smile. It seemed like his whole body hurt, but not as much as the other guys did he was sure. "I'm fine, seriously." he said again.

"I'm really sorry." he said again, thinking he sounded like a broken record, but not caring. He nodded sagely, "Yes I guess I do." He said shakily, smiling. "Good job though, I mean that last one really hurt." he said encouragingly.

Jake winced as he stood up but covered it up as a smile. "Honestly," he grinned. "I'd be upset if I hadn't asked for it, but I put on the badge, right?"

Jake smiled again at the compliment. "Thanks..." he grinned. "Obviously you were pretty awesome..."

Jake looked at the three of them. "I'm Jake."

He nodded, and couldn't help but grin. "Nice knee-reversing hex man. That was painful." he said grinning. "Yeah same here. Good practice though eh?" He asked.

William smiled, holding out his hand. "William, nice to meet you." he replied warmly, wincing as he moved from foot to foot.

"If you can believe it I couldn't even do the shielding charm before this." he said sheepishly.

"Ah, thanks," Jake laughed at the fact that he was thanking someone for complimenting his pain making skills. "I think this was pretty awesome, ya know? Puts us on our guard."

Jake looked at William's hand for a moment, confused, until he remembered he was supposed to shake it. "Nice to meet you, too," Jake grinned, shaking his hand. "Though I suppose it would have been better under nicer circumstances..."

Jake eyes went a little wide. "You couldn't?" he asked. "Well, I think that shows that maybe this wasn't a terrible excersise... Except for the stinging hex, all the ones I have done today were basically 'Wave your wand and hope for the best' kind of experience."

Looking up and down the corridor, Jake noticed their time was up. People had stopped. "Maybe... we should go back to class?"

Whoa...that tiny bit smile just said everything to Emiliano. Reese was absolutely angry! Should he go talk to her..?? Yeah, he totally should be risking his neck...

"Hello," He said, with a smile, hoping it would ease the situation. "What is going on here?" he asked.

Jane was getting a hang of the Alohomora charm. Besides the 'Click,click,click' of the unfortunate malfunctioning lock she picked, she thought she was pretty good at unlocking it already. Having borrowed a lock from Lizzie, the semi-clumsiness spell was wearing off. She had lassoed the whomping willow, tripped over the same things twice and gotten a few scrapes on her knees. She headed inside the castle to practice in a safer place, away from swinging/moving objects. She landed on the second floor corridors.

This should be good.

Jane found a few trophy cabinets with accessory latches. (They are locked by Charms) She looked around the trophies, but spots no one she knows in her family. Suddenly, the armour suit creaked.

"Wassatt??"Jane was startled by the noise. It could be Peeves. Now, her lock was NEVER going to work with him around.

"Taint it, untaint it,"a chant echoed in the air. It was coming from somewhere near the suits.

Jane was horribly spooked by the chant. She decided to take a peek in the armour , just to make sure it wasn't the poltergeist in there toying with her. NOTHING. Jane quickly proceeded to lock the latch and stood a few feet away for safety.

"Alohomora!!Alohomora!!!"Jane incantated.


Click. Aaahhh. Jane was satisfied. She had indeed mastered the Alohomora. She went to collect the lock. To her surprise, the lock remained locked. Her charm backfired? Someone else was tricking her mind to think she can master the Alohomora? But she would have known if anyone was thinking it. Perhaps it wasn't just anyone. Perhaps it was really Peeves. How could she read non-living thoughts? Do they think at all?She had no idea how far her gift could go. She didn't have non-living things to try on and be told the truth afterwards.


"Alohomorah!!!!"she shouted at the lock while tapping it furiously. It opened. She took the lock and ran. She did not linger in the spookiness much longer. The corridors echoed with her footsteps.

Reese took a few deep breaths before she answered Emiliano. "Oh,it was just a stupid Hufflepuff who was testing my patience."She crossed her arms and looked at the spot Jack was standing in just moments ago. Then,she looked back at Emiliano. "I-just...I'm not nice to people who get on my nerves." She slightly shook her head.

Emiliano looked around, yes there had been a first year Hufflepuff and sure he had left, but obvioulsy made Reese go into complete anger moment. "Oh, I see..." He said with a playful smile on his face.

He gave her a smile even though he was jealious of her. She had something of her own. Someone she loved and someone she didnt have to take care of. He loved his sister, but he would like to not have to take care of her. To be grown up enough to do it for herself. He had missed a lot do to being her parents when their real ones should of done so. Let alone she had someone who cared about her equally."Sounds like fun." he told her as she went on about football." Im sure you'll find a way to drag my head in there. Even if it was miles away." he teased her as he added,"Maybe trees." climbing trees were fun, let alone you could see far if you climbed high enough.

Kayla looked at Cayden and tilted her head to the side. "Hey are you okay?" she asked softly. It wasn't like him to look so serious, he always had a joke up his sleeve, she didn't often see him like this and it concerned her. "Yes that is always a possibility" she agreed about dragging his head in the way. "Trees? I haven't climbed a tree in years" she chuckled, remembering that the last time she had she had gotten stuck and her father had to come and get her.

Ruby was walking towards the girls bathroom she sighed and all you could hear was the faint click clack click clack of her shoes echoing down the corridor, she smiled she had made up with Sakura and she was speaking to Jack, she had her hand on her wand just in case as you never knew with the Defense against the Darks arts Professor.

Shana gripped her lock in her hand trying not to drop it,the last thing she wanted to do was lose it.She walked down the stairs and started to think about somewhere she could lock without getting in trouble.She walked up to one of the empty classroom doors,She peered inside just to check there was no-one inside.She didn't want to lock anyone in.She closed the door and put on her lock.Come on ClockWork Lock this door.Shana was going mad she was talking to a lock.Weird.She tried to open the door just to check it was locked.Shana got her wand ready and pointed it directly at the the lock Alohomora! She exclaimed trying not to disturb anyone.The lock opened.Good work Clockwork!She pulled the lock off the door and put her wand away.She opened the classroom door and left it just how it was when she started and began to walk back up the stairs.

Lyra kept running but this time she was beginning to slow down. She was almost to her destination of choice and only hoped that Professor Shackleton was in her office. If not, she would run to see Professor Vindictus instead. She had to go somewhere and to someone she trusted, because these other professors were just not making any sense at the moment.

Reese wandered into the second floor corridor.She was on a mission.To find Cale.She really needed to give him his Christmas and very late birthday present.Yes,Reese did forget his birthday. "Cale?"she said.Her voice echoed down the corridor.Hm.Maybe he'll hear that.

Cale had heard an odd echoing down the hall--almost like someone was calling his name. Weirddddddd. Maybe it was one of the ghosts--if it was, this would be the opportune moment to ask about Kazimeriz.

But it was Reese. Cale grinned and hurried down the hall towards her. He still feel kind of bad about his freakout attack on her earlier in the week but he hoped she had gotten over that by now--she seemed like she had. "Reese!" he called. "What's up?"

Reese stopped walking when she heard Cale's voice coming up from behind her.She turned around to face him and smiled.Geez,it's about time she found him. "There you are!Where have you been hiding,young mister?"she asked. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Qaz was still trying to find out what was going on....perhaps the Headmaster'f Office....but there didn't seem to be any action there.

Then she spotted Professor Vindictus. Surely, he would know what was going on...so she walked over.

"Oh, I've been around," Cale said with a grin. "Things have been kind of hectic since that kid...well, you remember what happened," he said with a head nodd. He still wasn't sure if he should be creeped out about what happened or if he should try and forget about it. "So, what's new with you?"

"Yeah,I remember.That was really sad,"Reese said with a nod."I just can't imagine what kind of person would do that...if it was even a person.Are they looking into this?Trying to find who did it?"

"Oh,nothing much...Buuuuuut,I have something for you,"she told Cale.She sat her bag down on the ground and pulled out two boxes that were so nicely wrapped. "One is you're birthday present and the other is you're Christmas present. Yesss,I know you're birthday has passed,but I sort of forgot it.Sorry." She handed Cale the presents.In one of the boxes (his birthday one) held a blown-up,well it was deflated in the box,but you can blow it up, guitar and microphone.The other box (the one for Christmas) held some muggle mousse. She knew Cale only liked the wizard hair products,but it doesn't hurt to try new things,riiiiiiight?

Lyra leaned against the wall of Professor Shackleton's door and waited to speak to her. The last words she heard as she was shutting the door was the professor asking about her dear uncle, Fabian. She placed her head in her hands as that was not the right thing to hear as she only hoped that was not something else to add to her problems, but Fabian was now her biggest concern.

She knew that Vindictus mumbled something after the professor spoke but she didn't hear. Tears began to fall as her thoughts turned into worrying and more stress. Her uncle was one of the two people who meant everything to her, Christian being the other.

Robert walked down the second floor corridor humming a random song quietly under his breath with, surprisingly, no books in his hands. As he rounded the corner he saw Lyra leaning against a door with her head in her hands and walked over to her. "Lyra?" As he got closer he thought he saw a shimmering streak over the part of her face he could see and he took her in his arms, "Lyra...shhhh." He didn't know why she was crying but he wanted to do anything to make her stop. "It's okay...what happened?" He asked quietly as he held her close to him, his head on top of hers.

Lyra heard Robert's voice and then felt his arms around her. Immediately she responded by holding him close as she cried into his robes. "I-I came here to speak to-to Professor Shackleton," she stuttered slightly from crying. "They are in there talking right now and I'm afraid something is wrong with my uncle." Then the tears began to flow even harder.

"I-I-I cccccan't lloooose him t-t-tooo." Her fingers grasped his robes as she pulled him closer to her. The girl needed sleep but she was definitely not leaving until she heard any news of her uncle.

Robert held Lyra close as she continued to cry, letting his hands run soothingly over her back he thought frantically for a solution. One that preferably didn't end with him losing points would be good. Sighing he kissed the top of her head and hugged her tightly.

"I'm sure it's nothing. It probably was just a coincidence..." Looking thoughtful he pulled back slightly and bent down to look into her face. Lifting her head to meet his gaze he smiled softly, "Come. Is there someone else you can talk to? Someone else who might have answers? If not I'll go into there with you." He said nodding toward the door to Shackelton's office. Not that he wouldn't go with her regardless.

Lyra's eyes widened as Robert asked if there was someone else who could help her. "No! You don't understand," she said through her tears. "Professor Shackleton and....my uncle have been dating for a couple of years and..." She stopped to take in a deep breath as there was no telling what was going on right now in that office. "Professor Vindictus is the only other one, and he is in there with...with...her."

She closed her eyes as Robert's hand kept her head lifted to meet his face. "I can't loose him, I just can't. He is my family and..." She didn't say anymore as she couldn't bare to reveal the name she loved so dearly and the one person she grieved over for a long time.

Abby walks down the hall looking at the paintings. She can't understand why it's so hard to find this Sir Cagodan.