At what the boy did next, made Livvy lean back and raise an eyebrow. A smile crept onto her lips, but she willed it to not smile. FAIL. "Sure you are, kiddo. Sure you are," Livvy said, laughing at the boy as she pat him on the back. "More like a knight in shining armor. Every little girl's dream, no?" she asked, nudging him in the side, playfully.

"Ooh... I have yet to do that. Maybe next year, right? You do it with me next year when the lower floors all flooded, mmkay?" Livvy asked, with a grin. That would be funnn... but she would never do that alone. At least if she fell, someone would be there to pick her up and bring her to the Hospital Wing, right?

She grinned as she walked onto the fifth floor corridor. Hmm... where to go? She had never gone to the chutes before. Livvy stopped and scratched her head. "Uhhh... G-Man... where are the chutes?" she asked, laughing at herself.

Garret didn't feel like sharing the fact that at the end of the Moving Staircase fiasco, he, Cela, Daphne and Raiden (who was simply a poor third party observer) had all ended up in the Hospital Wing. And then the Mass Detention, where he'd been forced to sew dolls with Nicholai. It wasn't one of the best endings...

But he'd definitely attempt a slide into the flooded lower floors!

"They're just down the corridor," he grabbed Livvy's free hand and pulled her down the hall, "C'mon, before Cela and Barry catch up to us!"

This was bad bad bad.

A werewolf was trying to eat the Headmaster and the rest of the school in the Great Hall and Issy was alone with two thick-headed youngins to take care of. There was NO way, NO WAY in Merlin's Beard she was going to march with them to the basement and dungeon to drop them and then BACKTRACK to safety in the refuge of her own Common Room.

Therefore, Issy had been marching up the many flights of stairs with a youngin on each arm. There was the Australian Hufflepuff who was still indignantly babbling and protesting, jabbering something about her dragging him around and Cam, who'd been THROWING MONEY towards the werewolf and professors. Had she left those two on their own, she was certain they'd be dead or eaten or something by now.

The idea made her stomach churn.

Cam may have gotten on her nerves now and then, but she didn't want him to be eaten. Or worse! A werewolf! And Cyrus! Cute little abrasive, pig headed Cyrus! He didn't need to be a monster!

Stopping on the fifth floor corridor, Issy let out a squeak of relief and despair and threw her arms around the boys, pulling them in towards her with tight, squeezing hugs.

"I'll have nightmares for weeks," she muttered, holding them tight, because now, NOW the fear had finally set in and the shaking had overcome her body, trembling. There she stood, holding two youngins, quakin' in her boots as she muttered "Thank Merlin you're all okay! You'll be safe in my Common Room."

This was bad.

Bad. Bad. Bad.

And in SO many different levels of bad, unfortunately, some of which, Willow Liadan Kovac was fairly certain, had yet to be discovered by men kind.

Because seriously - how the hell had she managed to forget the password that allow her to enter the Prefects' Bathroom? It was absolutely ridiculous, and quite frankly, embarrassing, too. When she'd left that ludicrous assembly before it actually began (because unlike the rest of the Hogwarts population, the Ravenclaw captain valued her life and preferred to not become the meal of some ruddy Werewolf) with the desire of visiting the Prefects bathroom and take an extremely (and well deserved, too, in the girl's mind) bath without any kind of interruptions.

However, those desires had been clearly pushed aside once the sixth year had realized that she could not remember the forsaken password to save her precious life.

SO much for a bath.

SO much for relaxing.

And, especially, SO much for actually trying to remember and then entering the lovely bathroom.

She couldn't dare to enter if there was people strolling around the corridor - it was supposed to be a secret. Also, wasn't everyone supposed to be meeting their death a werewolf? Why was people wandering around the halls -around THIS particular hall- right NOW?

Turning around and ready to snap at the intruders to go back to the great hall if they knew what was good for them, Willow had to quickly swallow her command and think of something more decent to say, for one of the intruders in question, was Issy.

And those two boys. Trouble and Chaos.

"What do you mean you are taking them back to our common room?" And yes, she did make an emphasis on OUR, "Have you forgotten they no longer live up here? Send them back to their dungeons and kitchens, respectively! I'm fairly certain they are missed there right now." Or not, she couldn't careless, really.

The only think she did care about, and she did find important, was to keep the Badgers (and Slytherins, too, for that matter) away from her domains.

The constant influx of words was rather loud, but Cy didn't mind. He just kept talk and complaining and babbling until they had come to a stop on the Fifth Floor. Cy scowled at her, he was really mostly recovered from the whole 'werewolf going after him' situation. But he had been stripped of his dignity as he was dragged out of the hall.

Crossing his arms as she clung to him, his brown eyes rolled.

"Thah' only nightmares I have are gonna be of your claw-like fingers." He said, quite matter-o-factly. And going to the Ravenclaw common room. Umm, Cyrus begged to differ. "I'd rathah' eat Dragon dung before being back in a common room with," Willow rounded the corner, "her."

The stubborn boy should be more thankful! Issy had very nearly saved his life. Too bad he was far too thick to realize.

Oh and wasn't Willow Kovac just the most pleasant flower in the field. Cyrus stuck his tongue out at her. "Of course I'm missed." His smug grin was disturbing, and he pounded his chest twice was his fist. "I can only grace so many people with my presence at once mate... only so many."

The child had problems.

Apparently.

"NUU," squirm, "I," breaaaathe, "HAVE MONEYY!" Oh this brute had inhuman strength, in fact, why were MOST girls stronger in the first place?

Was there a private workout in Hogwarts only available to women?

They were being dragged... UPSTAIRS? HUUUH? "If you don't already know Issy, I live in the dungeons now. Which is like. Down. GO DOWNNNN I SAY," he ordered and tried to squiiiirm out of her grip. Oh for the love of Merlin, if she didn't let go soon she would have a bite mark on her arm. A BITE MARK. Did Issy want a bite mark, hmm? Barnabas would not want bite marks on his girlfriend would he?

WOULD SHE WANT TO END UP LIKE EVELYN MCDONALD?

"DOWN. DOWNNNN MELISSA." If SHE wasn't going to do as he said, maybe her stomach would. Stomachs were laik brains--they could control the bodies and perform mind controls (or sooo he thought). He wriggled and wriggled but his attempts all faaaailed greatly and eventually they were up at the 5th floor corridor.

Safe? IN HERRR COMMON ROOM? "Kidnap me, eh? EHH?!" AAHHHAA! Issy was kidnapping him, alright and he was NOT going to be kidnapped. Eventually and finally, he got out of her grip and prepared to slap the girl in the face for attempting to kidnap--BUT SUDDENLY, Willow was there. YAYAYAYAY Willow. She'd SAVE him, right?!

"WILLOW," gaaaaaassssppp, "this girl is CRAAZZY. PARANOID. PSYCHOTIC. First she tried to keeeeel me and laik--SHE KIDNAPS ME NOW." He scoffed and skipped straaaaight towards Willow, hiding behind her and stuck his tongue out at Issy.

Stupid ungrateful little rats. Hmph.

Issy let go of the boys, pulling back with her nose lift into the air. Here she was, dragging them to safety, and they'd squirmed and wriggled the whole way, complaining and acting so buttheaded. She'd saved Cam from getting eaten by the werewolf and she'd been the one that Cyrus had run to, but the second she actually saved them, they started to act like stubborn, buttheaded brats? Hmph! No wonder Samson had been such a jerk when they were younger. Were all young boys bratty like this?

Her head was beginning to hurt.

"My fingers aren't claw-like," snipped Issy haughtily. "Shall I go and apologize now for saving your sorry bum from becoming a werewolf manburger? We had to get out of there before the Professors took drastic measures, so I dragged you out."

She chose not to let him know that the reason her grip was so tight was because she'd been terrified. It was true; if she was not haunted by nightmares in the next two weeks, she'd be too alarmed. The snapping jaws and the blood on the teeth and the poor Headmaster, just laying there. Another tremble took her body and she bit down on her lower lip. Her skin was still cool and her heart hadn't stopped pounding, probably due to climbing so many stairs so quickly.

"A simple thank you would have sufficed," she carried on. "We were shooed out quickly - there was no way I was going to walk DOWN to the basement and dungeon just to drop you two off only to backtrack. What if the werewolf had escaped, huh? Unlike you, I was NOT going to become a manburger."

NUH UH.

Cam was talking to her stomach again.

And wailing about kidnapping. Issy sighed heavily with exasperation before turning around to the older boy.

"Melissa isn't listening," she stressed, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. "And I'm NOT kidnapping you, I was only trying to keep you guys safe but that's apparently a bit of a crime right here so next time either of you are in danger, I'll just leave you to be killed and mauled or even worse! You can become a monster, just like Professor Lupa!"

Lowering her voice and turning from the boy, Issy spotted Willow and blinked her green eyes innocently.

"Oh. Hi, Willow," she greeted her friend sheepishly, eying her towel. "You know... the castle isn't flooded anymore... You don't need a towel." Her head tipped to the side and she pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, before addressing her friend's pointed questions, and she sighed again.

"I knoooooowwww where they live," she said, feeling as though she'd repeated this a multitude of times already. "But... I was only trying to keep them safe and the werewolf and I didn't want to and I was really, really scared."

The last part of this statement came out in a tiny, squeaky voice.

Willow's forest green eyes blinked at the young, Aussie Boy's reply.

How ... self-centered and full of yourself could one get?

"You need mental help, kid. And soon." And that was all she was saying on the matter of Cyrus Andrus' obnoxiously large ego, for admittedly, if the sixth year was being honest with herself, if young Cyrus needed help for thinking so outrageously highly of himself, it was very clear that she, too, was in need to pay a visit to St. Mungo's for the same matter.

So, it was best to just move on and focus on the next person.

Which was Cameron Karsten, the boy swore statues were plotting against him and would come and poke him at any given second. And, also, the boy who was now hiding behind her, using her as a shiled that was no doubt to protect himself from Issy.

From Issy.

If he needed protection from anyone, it was from her -Willow, that is, of course- and not from her Midget-sized friend who had barely managed to use a beater's bat during that match against Slytherin!

Well, no one said Cameron Karsten was smart enough to see this. He was no Ravenclaw, after all. "Isabella Cortella is not crazy, and nor is she paranoid or any of those words that you've used to describe her," Called Willow sternly, stepping aside and raising her perfectly shaped dark eyebrows at the twelve year old. "Do apologize now, for you are being quite rude to my friend." Also, it was best if he placed himself a safe distance away from her, for Cameron Karsten not only had the tendency to invade her massive personal space bubble, but of also scaring the cruppies out of her.

Admittedly, Willow was afraid that he would have some kind of attack and bite their heads off, and she did not fancy to die in such a hideous way, especially if it was in the hands of a pre-pubescent and delusional Slytherin boy.

And who was this Melissa person they were talking about? Never mind. "I know it isn't, I was just on my way to the prefects' bathrooms," Clarified Willow, not taking her green eyes from the two trouble makers that were clearly Issy's companions. Which, of course, had Willow wondering if her friend was beginning to lose her mind, for surely no one in their right senses would agree to take a stroll around the castle with these two. "And what do you mean that the werewolf was attacking? As in ... wanting to eat people?"

No matter how utterly tragic it was that the Werewolf had decided to stop being nice and have everyone for supper, Willow could not help but to feel a little smug with herself - she'd always known that would end up happening. But people just refused to listen to her.

The first year cracked up as Cam fought against the Ravenclaw. "Yeah Cam! Get her mate!" He was really almost on the verge of staring up a loud chant. But every few seconds, he got the mental image of the werewolf stalking at him again.

Cy shuddered.

His brown eyes drifted to Issy again as she tried to prove that her fingers weren't claws. "Yeah yeah yeah. I was on my way out anyway!" So, there was lie number one. "And, if could have fended for myself out thah'... no problem." And well, there was lie number two.

The boy gave a fervent nod none-the-less.

A manburger? Well that was an interesting word. "Hahaha. I'll agree with yah' there mate, I wouldn't want to be on the other side of Alessia Lupa's bad fur day." He shook his head in amusement. "Manburger. I like it Issy, perhaps you do have a bit of a brain upstairs." His wry grin just didn't fade, EVER.

Brown eyes flickered back to Willow, and narrowed.

"I don't need mental help. What I need is a butterbeer. Especially aftah' that showdown in thah great hall." Geez, did she not understand that he'd just been through a trauma?

Wait, she clearly didn't understand what was going on. She didn't know Lupa had escaped her cage?!

"WERE YOU NOT THERE?!" His loud voice echoed the corridor. "Lupa! She broke out of the bloody cage in full werewolf stage and completely massacred the Headmastah'! Scariest stuff I've seen in me' short life full of wisdom." Shaking his head in apprehension, his voice fell to an undertone. "Bontecou could be DEAD!"

Werewolf manburger?? SNORT. And Issy wanted a thank you? Hmm he didn't like giving out thank you's and again, she did try to attempt on kidnapping of two boys.

GAAASP.

Melissa wasn't listening? How DARE she?! He thought he was friends with that stomach but... no, Issy was LYYYING. She had kidnapped Melissa too and made her evil that's right. Tortured her by eating... broccoli or other healthy vegetables, THAT'S right. He continued hiding behind Willow and held onto her robes to get that "comfortable" mood and all.

Oh. Professor Lupa. LUUUUPA. Oh whooo caaaared if all the professors said she was human and perfectly normal when not in vampire form but PSSSHH, she would always be... a monster. Not always. But... still. Issy was right, he could have been killed out there.

"Sooorrrry? I ain't sayin' sorry. I will if you say sorry first," he told Willow, still holding onto her robes and not sure why he said that... but did so anyways, "I'll say sorry if... you flail for us." He'd never seen Willow flail before. Nope. It was like a one in a million chance he'd see her flail actually.

AND WAIT SHE DIDN'T KNOW LUPA WAS WEREWOLF?! Willow was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO slow. Oh she must have been busy flowering the plants or hugging the animals--wait oh right she was allergic, and with that, he hugged Willow from the back just for that! Still hugging, he said, "Well Willow. Lupa turned into werewolf and ate the Headmaster alive and he's probably dead by now," and then immediately stopped with the hugging when...

"HOLY HOBOS, HE COULD BE DEAD BY NOWWWW." Panic. PAAANIC.

"Merlin's Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaants," moaned Issy, throwing her palm to her forehead, massaging her temple with her stretched out middle finger. These boys were giving her a headache. From the panic in the Great Hall to the running up all these flights of stairs with both Cam and Cyrus throwing little fits, her head was beginning to throb.

Grateful eyes turned to Willow even though, as expected, neither boy chose to apologize. Why was Cam hiding behind Willow, anyway? When was he going to learn that Willow wasn't nearly as nice as he imagined and that hugging her was taking a chance with being hexed into oblivion?

A quick hand whipped out to cover Cyrus's mouth, as though that could stop his echoing voice in the hall. Cam wasn't any better at explaining the situation, though, so a look of desperation rounded on Willow.

"Professor Lupa. They stuck her in a cage, foolish, FOOLISH idea and then allowed to her transform into... into that monster! And then she broke out and went straight for the Headmaster." Her lower lip caught between her teeth. "If he's not dead... he'll be wishing for death. He'll suffer a fate far more worse than death..." A shiver encompassed the tiny girl's body.

"Willow. Headmaster Bontecou is either dead... or a werewolf."

And there was nothing, NOTHING that could fix him.

"I couldn't let them be," she continued, her face softening. "These two... I mean... what if Lupa broke free again and got these two on their way back?" Her lower lip trembled. "Then I'd have felt terrible and... and... maybe it was foolish of me to bring them up here but I don't know what came over me! When the Professors started to yell for us to get out of there, I just grabbed them and ran. Cam was already with me and Cyrus came running to us after Lupa almost attacked him, so I just wanted to get them out of there..."

It was awful, that whole scene. The transformation, breaking free, the attack. Everything felt like it was a blur in her mind and she couldn't even picture the details properly anymore. She just knew that she felt terribly ill.

Wow

Wow, wow, wow.

A kid was yelling at her.

"I'll buy you a butterbeer if you stop being so bloody loud!" Snapped the sixth year Ravenclaw at the short Hufflepuff boy. Whatever happened to respecting your elders? "And no, if you must know I was not there," Willow answered in a somewhat aloof tone, "Not that it is any of your concern, but I was feeling rather ill." And that was a lie. Unless, of course, you counted being ridiculously bored an illness.

But what was Cyrus rambling about now? Bontecou attacked? Lupa breaking off the cage? And why, WHY pray tell, was Cameron Karsten hugging her?! Her, of all the people! Why didn't he just go and hide behind Cyrus (never mind he was as tall as gnome) and hug him? Or Issy? Surely those two wouldn't mind such an incredible personal space invasion.

Why her?

Torture, this was. And karma, too, Willow was certain.

"I will not flail for you or anyone else, Cameron Karsten," And that was the second time in less than two minutes that Willow snapped a child - well, it was their fault, was it not? "And will you stop hugging me, please?" The please part, however, sounded much more than a command. "I appreciate having space to breathe and - never mind what I appreciate, just back off and go hug Issy!" Because, judging by Issy's face, her friend needed a hug more than Willow did. Then again, Willow never needed hugs for hugs were displays of affection that should be saved for --- I'M SORRY, WHAT?!

So the brats were right. Headmaster Bontecou had been attacked by a werewolf. By Professor Lupa The Werewolf.

Willow had always known there was something dodgy about he. Not really, but that's what she was planning to tell people whenever the subject of their Ancient Runes professor's nature came up.

After blinking her forest green eyes a couple of times at the three people before her, and opening her mouth a few times without emitting any kind of sound, the girl finally settled for ... "And who was the idiot who hired a werewolf as a teacher?" Oh, right. Bontecou. The same person who had been attacked by said Werewolf. Wow, and to think he might be one now ... "I -- are you certain he was really bitten, Issy?" Asked the brunette, concern colouring her voice a little bit.

Well, she liked Headmaster Bontecou. He had always been kind and clever and even if the man had the habit of getting lost in his own school, she'd always find him agreeable and decent. It truly was tragic that ... well, he might have become that.

Shaking her head, dark locks swishing as she did so, Willow sighed and once again referred to her friend, "I think we best take these two back to their respective common rooms." Sigh. She was the babysitter of two bratty pre-pubescent boys now - how lovely. "I'm sure their prefects are probably looking for them right now, and quite frankly, I don't think that wandering around the castle is the wisest thing to do." Her eyes locked with Issy's for a moment, and then turned to the two boys - or rather, to Cyrus, considering that Cameron was still behind her, practically clinging to her, "If you are good and listen to me I'll buy you sweets from Honeyduke next time I visit Hogsmeade." Kids loved sweets and all those things that could potentially rotten their teeth, did they not? And they loved smiles, too, right? Cue Willow placing a friendly expression on her face, and allowing a charming smile to dance upon her lips, "So what do you say? Will you be nice and let Issy and I lead you to your common rooms or shall I have to stun and dragged you all the way there?" And no, she was not bluffing, "And I'm talking to you as well, Cameron."