Professor Kazimeriz rose an eyebrow and noticed his small crate of personal office effects floating like the Titanic on its way to the nearest iceberg. He walked over to it, his shoes making squelchy noises with each footfall into the shallow water.

"Mine's already watertight-- learned my lesson down in the dungeons on that -- so let me help you, Maximus. Important papers and photos first?" He drew his wand and began assisting Max packaging his things. Just in case. Meanwhile, he began to look around the floor for a source for the water. "Merlin in swimfins, where the devil is this water even coming from?" he asked Max, annoyed.

Max was already working on the files. He had reduced them to the size of marbles and stuck them inside a plastic bag. "Family pictures and my various degrees and certificates," he said and began to remove the framed parchments from the wall. It didn't matter how fast he worked, the water kept on rising. "Quickly!"

Kazimeriz continued to help Max pack up his belongings, focusing not on the Shrine to Max wall of Max's photos of himself but rather on the photos on Max's desk. Children, it seemed, and -- Kazimeriz picked up a rather dated looking photo of a beautiful but older blonde woman. "A relative?" he inquired casually, showing the photo to Max before he packed it away.

The water was rising quickly, it was faster than a Granian with a fire flavored everyflavor bean. The water was not seeping out, it was as if it was contained by an invisible barrier... it was up to the professor's waists now and it was cold, and dank, dingy and gross.

Sabrina had wanted to walk briskly towards the Professor's office. She had pictured it all in her head. How she would march in and knock on the Professor's door and how, when he would call them in, she would tell the Professor about Clifford and his completely unreasonable excuse to doc points off her just because her sandcastle was a lot better than his. She would show the Head Boy that he could NOT just take points off anyone for a stupid reason like that.

Besides, it was his fault that Sabrina had dumped the sand on him. HIS!

He couldn't take five points off for that. She was going to tell Professor Vindictus and get him to make Clifford Carden see sense.

It was not working out according to plan though because on their way over, Sabrina noticed that the pitch was mushy and wet. During the walk up to that point, Sabrina had not uttered a single word to the Head Boy, she had only occasionally looked back to see he was still coming with her.

Looking at the pitch, Sabrina was worried, and she forgot about the little argument they had just had. "Is it flooding in the pitch?" She asked him, horrified. What was happening to Hogwarts? This had never happened before. Well, not as long as she could remember, anyways.

If it was possible, her blue eyes widened even more when she noticed the Slytherin Captain kick the door of Professor Vindictus' office. "Oh Merlin!" She clutched Clifford's arm. "Why is she kicking the door?"

And Sabrina's thoughts wandered as she imagined rather dramatic versions of the truth. How the Professor had been sitting in his office and someone had locked his door then started the floods. How the Professor was now frantically trying to save himself as his office started filling up with water. First, they had Hufflepuffs join their common room, and now, their Head of House was locked in his office.

"Professor?" Sabrina asked aloud, knocking on the door. Surely they would have already tried opening in by magic of the Slytherin captain was kicking it.

"Grandmother," Max answered as the water reached his waist and grabbed his raggedy rule book. At least I used that waterproofing charm so at least nothing valuable is ruined. His teeth were beginning to chatter. "I think we need to get out of here." He waded over to the main door and grabbed the handle. It wouldn't budge. "WHAT? Greenwood jammed the door shut on the outside!"

"Do you suppose it is possible that she even conjured up this water, and cast colloportus on the door as a bit of a magical temper tantrum?" Kazimeriz asked, eyeing the chilly water with disdain. "Magical vandalism is grounds for expulsion. I do hope she is smarter than that." He refused to let himself believe what he knew to be true- that no ordinary student, even a gifted one, was responsible for this... That it was somehow tied to the flooding in the dungeons. He waded to the door. "Stand aside, Vindictus." He ordered, pushing past Max to face the doorway. "Confringo!" he cast at the door.

His wand exploded toward the door nicely, leaving a lovely crater in the upper part of the door's paneling... yet doing nothing to open or even create as much as a hole in the door.

"Blast! It won't budge." Kazimeriz said, his eyes flashing angrily. If this WAS magical vandalism, the student or students involved would pay dearly. The water was cold and reaching places where cold water should never venture on a gentleman.

Shiver and brrrr. Eeep.

Brrrrr. "Oh, great. Blast chunks out of my office, why don't you!" Max stammered. The water was definitely getting colder. Frantically, he ripped one of his portraits off the wall and tried to bust the window open with it. No such luck but the occupant in the portrait was staring out the window and was holding its breath.

"So much for that idea." Then he saw the only open entry and it too, was filling with water. "Quick - the secret entrance! We'll take the short path to the Broomshed." Vindictus waded over to the trophy case and motioned for Valon to follow. "The path veers off to the left."

Kazimeriz nodded, using his wand to levitate the packed boxes -- including his own, again, oh dear; was he doomed to remain a transient professor? He was beginning to feel a bit picked on! He followed Max to the corridor behind the trophy case, hoping the water wasn't coming from the secret entrance, sending them into a worse situation yet. Even with a fair knowledge of bubblehead charms and the like, Kazimeriz didn't fancy being trapped in cold floodwaters again. Not one bit.

"Does anyone know of this passageway?" he asked. It would be most unfortunate to risk drowning in a secret corridor with no one even knowing where to look for them.

"I did not!" she screamed at the door as she heard them splashing around in the water. The door wasn't moving and she didn't know what to do. She tried the lock again and kicked at the door again. "Professor!" she pounded on the door again.

She jumped back from the door as something slammed into the door, it should have knocked it off the hinges. But the door held firm. She needed to get some help. She turned to a Ravenclaw student. "I'm going to get help." She told her.

Max shoved Valon forward into the hidden corridor. "Nope. Just the two of us. Why do you ask?" he replied and his body was slowly becoming numb from the cold water. "What the . . . ?" He stopped and stared as a rubber duckie floated by. Where did that come from? "Ha ha ha. Whoever is doing this, very funny." But the water was now at his armpits. "Uh oh. Move!"

Kazimeriz balked. The water was freezing, true... but the water, and the dark corridor, and no idea where the water was coming from. "I have a bad feeling about this..." he muttered, still trying to keep the boxes hovering above them as he moved forward. He heard Miss Greenwood shouting and banging on the door. At least someone knew they were in a grave situation. "THE BROOMSHED!" he shouted, hoping the students could hear. "WE ARE TRYING TO GET OUT THROUGH THE BROOMSHED!" He said and followed Max into the corridor with a sigh of resignation. Fortune favors the brave, right?

Surprised as she was that her guesses were correct, for once, Sabrina wished it wasn't so.

'I'm going to get help.'

"Okay." Sabrina said, standing at the door, unsure about what she should do. Well, there wasn't anything she could do, to be perfectly honest. The Professor would have already tried everything. So all she could do was wait. Because if the Ravenclaw Professor couldn't get out, she doubted she would be of much help.

When she heard the someone yelling that they were trying to get out of the broomshed (it didn't sound like Professor Vindictus), Sabrina realised she might be of some help at least.

"OKAY!" She yelled at the door and went around to the Broomshed.

"Quit pulling a Plymouth Morgan and telling the world what we're up to!" Max shouted and waded forward in the passageway. "About twenty feet and we're there. Satisfied?" And if you screech any louder, you'll sound like my grandmother singing.

"Control your tongue, young man, before I control it for you!" Kazimeriz growled. Professor or not, he was not going to let little Maxie Vindictus get away with cheek, even in these cirumstances. He strode forward; he'd be a blast-ended skrewt before he'd let this whippersnapper patronize him.

Wow. So very cold. He cast a warming charm on himself and then on Maximus (though he'd never admit to doing so, not even to himself). Time to trudge on through the waters as they rose. "This is a little too reminiscent of the dungeons to be a student prank." he commented. His tone was the only thing left of him that was dry.

Satine came skidding into Professor Vindictus' Office waiting area. She nearly ran into the girl standing by the door....and was instantly horrified...

"What's going on? I need Professor Vindictus...it's...it's an emergency." she was getting tired and losing hope fast which was a big deal for such an optimistic heart.

"Okay, dad," Max mumbled sarcastically under his breath and saw some light up ahead. "Almost there. Do you think you can stop your whining and thank me for getting us out of this mess?" What he didn't realize was that the wooden door in the Broomshed was blocked by a few crates of broomcare products.

The water had now gotten up to their necks, and quickly threatening to submerge them...

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

Helios was trying to get in the office fist first. There was people trapped inside. He wouldn't let water kill the old man. There was a curse to reverse.

When he'd followed Sabrina to Professor Vindictus' office he had not been expecting ... this. He'd been expecting to listen to her ramble on about how unfair he'd been when really she'd been the bad guy here. Throwing sand was just not nice! Especially at people's heads! His eyes were still sore! GRRR.

Yeah, that's what he'd been expecting.. more bickering. Not... mayhem. Chaos. MORE BLOODY WATER.

... he'd rather listen to Sabrina whining and complaining then risk drown again. GULP. On the plus side, Sabrina had just run off - to the broomshed he supposed - and left him here. Result!

"Still alive back there?" Max called out because Valon was unusually quiet and he continued to wade ahead. But the water was now up to his neck. Why is it taking so long? We should be at the Broomshed by now.

"To... my knowledge." Kazimeriz said, his breathing labored as they waded-swam through the waters. "I didn't happen to notice the ceilings; are they high enough to permit broom flight? Because I think that summoning a couple of of brooms seems the most... expeditious... way out... of this mess." He cursed Hogwarts' founders inwardly for enacting that no-apparition ward on the grounds, and wondered if Vindictus' floo would have worked. Ah, well... surely they were almost at the broomshed now. He hoped. He let their office supplies dip into the water long enough to cast another warming charm on both of them... Things were bad enough without being uncomfortable, after all.

Suddenly, and without warning, the door to the office unlocked and opened.

A wall of water stood in the hut. It was as if it was contained by an invisible force... it wasn't leaking! But if you put a hand through, it would submerse, and you'd feel the water.

WHAM! WHAM! SPLASH!

Splash? Wait a second..Why was his hand wet?

Ah, it appeared he was wrist deep in a flooded office. But why wasn't it rushing out? It seemed like someone wanted to keep the water, and whoever was there, inside.

What could he do? Something had to be done. Something wreckless.

Into the water he went.

The doors flew open at a powerful force as Cyrus was sitting at the base of them. The force was SO strong, in fact, that Cy was launched forward doing two tumbles. He looked back to a wall of water with an irritated expression.

“Stupid door, they outta fix thah’, you know.” His furrowed brow looked up to the head boy and some other Hufflepuff bloke.

The Australian put his hand through and feel the water. How bizarre. “BONZAH! Mate, feel thah’.” He was waiting any minutre for the column of water to fall on them. If only he had his surf board…

He couldn’t see the professor back there though. HE NEEDED A BROOM. He NEEDED, to practice before the game.