Yep, the girl was preoccupied. Perhaps she should have just continued scurrying down the hallway in her own feeble attempt at finding the bathroom without getting lost. “Sorry, it’s Daisy,” she said while she still had the girl’s attention, because it quickly shifted back to the boy on the floor.
Daisy’s eyes widened a little. Apparently something must be wrong or bothering the boy to just blurt out his problems in front of a complete stranger. Unlike Anna, Daisy had never met the boy on the floor – who’s name was apparently Jake.

Daisy watched silently as the boy snapped at Anna. She didn't know why, Anna always seemed nice and overly helpful. That's why Daisy had thought she would be willing to help her find the restroom. She peeked around Anna as the boy disappeared behind a suit of armor. Yep, apparently Daisy’s problem with finding the bathroom was going to have to wait…the boy had some serious issues and there was probably nothing that Daisy could do to help.

"Nice to meet you, Daisy," Anna greeted. She watched as Daisy took in the sight in front of her. No doubt she must be a little on the alarmed side to walk up on such a situation. Poor Jake puffed up and angry with Anna standing over him trying to play 'Junior Mother Hen'. Maybe she should make polite conversation, though, to sort of smooth things over. "So, Daisy...what brings you here today?" she asked. It was a lame question, but with things being so tense right now, Anna couldn't think of much else to say. "Taking an afternoon stroll around the castle, eh?"

Daisy blinked and backed up a bit leaving Jake out of eyesight for the present moment. "Well, um," How exactly did one tell another one that they got lost looking for a bathroom thanks to a moving staircase?

"I was on my way back from the library and the stairs moved...and I have to use the bath-er-um-," oh boy, did she feel silly and stupid suddenly. She clamed up a little only to see Anne giving her a look that said 'spill it!' as if her embarrassment would be helpful. Although for the life of her, Daisy didn't know why it would be helpful.

With a loud sigh and very pink cheeks. "I-got-lost-looking-for-the-bathroom-as-a-result-of-the-stairs-moving-on-me-and-I-don't-know-where-it-is-in-relation-to-where-I-stand...." boy she said that fast, and she was out of breath now.

"Oh, well no need to worry about that! That sort of thing happens with that moving staircase all the time," Anna said with a laugh. "It's even gotten me a time or two!" Hmm...now where exactly was a bathroom on this floor? Anna normally used the bathrooms closest to her Common Room, but where would the closest one be from here? Ahh, yes! Fourth floor! "Well, the good news is that you're pretty much close by a restroom. All you'll need to do is continue down the corridor until you reach the staircase leading up. Take it until you get to the fourth floor, and you'll find a bathroom there!" she said, pointing in the direction of the staircase. Hopefully the moving staircases wouldn't shift and mislead poor Daisy once again. No wonder the poor girl looked uncomfortable earlier! "Good luck!"

What was she doing... getting all... closer. "Stop it!" Jake yelled, backing up a little more. Why did everyone feel the need to close in on him... it was suffocating. "Back off!"

Take her help? Yeah, whatever... be brainwashed, more like. And... you see that? She was making sure the other girl went on her way. SUSPICIOUS!

Turning away, Jake sprinted down the corridor and out of sight, hovering in an alcove by more suits of armour, his chest leaping up and down with every breath. "Leave... me... alone..." Jake whispered, pushing himself back.

Oh, no! Oh no, no, no! This was sooo not good! Sure, Anna had promised herself she would back away from Jake if no progress had been made by the point, but the boy didn't actually look well at all. He was breathing way too hard, and to be honest, Anna was a little scared he was going to hypervenilate. She turned and gave Daisy and apologetic look, then turned and headed off after Jake. If he didn't calm down, she was going to have to get a professor---or the nurse---to step in!

"Jake! Please!" she said, coming to a halt just before the boy. "Please come out and talk with me. We'll talk a walk down by the lake or something, so you can calm down. Are you alright, Jake? Your breathing...it's too heavy..." Oh, how she wanted to leave him alone, but Professor Lawson had instructed her to take care of him...and taking care of the boy didn't require leaving him to be at a time like this. "Jake? Please talk to me..."

"GET AWAY FROM MEEEEEE!" Jake bellowed, reaching out at a suit of armour and pushing it forwards... away from himself, in the direction of Anna. She could step out of the way for sure... but he'd done it, he'd pushed it forwards... and he didn't care.

Before the clanking metal even hit anything, Jake set off full pelt down the corridor, reaching out and pushing down as many suits of armour as he could. One after another they started going down like well set up domino... thing... a chain reaction. It was too late to go back and apologise.

And then...

...

... he stopped. End of the line.

"Oh... *WHEEZE* Merlin... *WHEEZEWHEEZE*..." he sobbed to himself, backing into another alcove and pulling his wand out, before sitting on the floor and rocking backwards and forwards, hyperventilating... scared...

It all happened so fast, Anna didn't even see it coming. Jake had reached our and pushed the suit or armor directly at her, and she knew she had a split second to get out of the way. Eyes wide with horror, Anna made a quick move to get out of the way, only to have the armor end up hitting the back of her leg and knocking her straight to the ground. When she hit, she thought she'd break a bone or bust her head open or something wild of that sort. She didn't, though. Merlin, she'd be sore later on, but she'd be fine. She felt a little tingling on her lip, and she reached up to find that it was indeed a bit bloody. At least that was all she was walking from that accident with.

Pushing herself up off the floor, Anna made her way as quickly as she could down the corridor. The tears had already started to fall, but they were more or less coming because of how very troubled Jake seemed to be, and not because of the suit of armor nearly knocking her out cold. "Jacob Upstead! You're out of control! This is enough, do you understand me?" she asked, the tears coming more rapidly now. "I was more than willing to be understanding and assist you, but no matter what's happened, you have no right to destroy this corridor like you've just done! Do you realize how many house points you could lose for this?!?! Or worse...they could expel you!"

"Good! Good! I don't want any of you to control me!" Jake yelled hysterically from where he sat, rocking back and forth. "I don't care... I don't care..."

I do care... I DO care!

"House points, house points," he sobbed, bashing his head backwards on the wall in a single burst of rage. "That's all you people care about... get rid of the kids that lose the points... you people, you're all mad for power! CRAZY! I HATE YOU!"

All he now cared about... was how angry his dad would be. It looked like Jake was right on course for St. Mungo's this coming summer... just like they'd said to him. "Get away... GET AWAYYYYY!" he yelled, finally giving into his crazy urge to flail around on the floor, almost fit-like. It was like a temper tantrum... speeded up... and with a fire lit beneath it.

"Jacob! Stop it this instant!" she begged, tears pouring our faster and faster. She needed to back away from him and leave...she needed to, but she couldn't. He was out of control and had just taken down nearly half of the statues lining the second floor corridor. " You do care! You do!" she yelled at him. She couldn't possibly bring herself to believe that this little boy sitting in front of her had gotten himself into so bad a situation that he felt the need to injure other students and destroy a corridor.

"Jake! Stop! Now...please!" she continued to beg. He was yelling and screaming, though, and nothing she was saying was going through to him. Being Miss Nice Girl wasn't helping at all. Maybe Jake was one of those 'reserve psychology' kids or something. Her eyes widened in both horror and hurt as he yelled out how much he hated her and accused she and whoever else "you people" included of being mad for power. How dare he!?!? Now when she trying so hard to help him! Not when she'd just been the one to have a suit of armor shoved into her.

He'd driven her to her breaking point. She was about to do the one thing she promised herself she was try to avoid at all costs...

"Five...points...from...Hufflepuff..., Jacob Upstead," she said, sniffling back a sob as she spoke. "Come with me. We're going to see Professor Lawson now. I advise you to get up while you're still just a tiny bit ahead and cooperate." She turned and stomped down the corridor a little bit, hoping he'd realize how very much he needed to cooperate right now and get a move on with following her. "Not only that, I'd be surprised if you weren't in detention for all this..."

Oh yeah, just excuse me for one sec while I stop spazzing out completely so I can get up and calmly follow you.

Yes?

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Jake cried. "I'm not going... not there... not HIM!" WHY was everyone so fixated on taking him to Lawson?! Raising his hands and launching his wand across the corridor, Jake grabbed his hair and kicked out at a wall, still flailing slightly.

Points... points... who cared about points when everyone was trying to get you? Nah, points... just a game, just a silly game to make school even more unbearable.

Trying to say one more thing, Jake failed, breaking down completely into hysterical crying, curling up on the floor.

...

Someone's having a breeeakdooowwwnnn...

Reese wandered down the second floor after leaving the Great Hall. She was still eating a cookie and finished right when she arrived at the Suits of Armor. Then, that's when she saw Jake having a breakdown. She looked at Anna, who seemed to be there as well. "What happened?" She said, walking over to Jake, who was curled up on the floor. She sat down beside him and pulled Jake up and onto her lap. Haha. It was like the old days back at the lake.

"Jake....what's wrong?" She asked him, glancing up at Anna every now and then.

Anna couldn't see Jake, but Merlin could she hear him! He was kicking and banging and yelling and making all sorts of noise back there. This was quite possibly one of the worst student meltdowns she'd ever seen, and of course it had to happen when she had absolutele no backup at all! She needed to get to a professor...and quickly!

Realizing that Jack was indeed not going to follow her, Anna sighed and turned around. When she did, she caught sight of Jake's stepsister, Reese, walking up to talk to him. Oh, perfect! Talk about wonderful timing! "Reese! Watch your stepbrother...and try not to let him run off anymore!" she instructed. "I'll be right back." Not wanting to waste any time, Anna took off down the corridor in search of Professor Lawson.

"No," Jake sobbed as he felt hands pulling at him. But of course, it wasn't long before he recognised the familiar sound of Reese's voice. Sure, they'd spent the whole of the summer arguing, but Reese... was... his sister. Kind of. "Don't let them get me," he whispered, gazing up at Reese through his eyelashes that were glazed with tears. "They're trying to get me..."

In one sudden movement, Jake made to stand up. Maybe he could run down the corridor and just get out... he couldn't wait... but it wasn't his choice.

Reese didn't know what happened, nor did she really want to know. She looked back at Anna when she told her to stay with him until she came back. Where was she going? She was about to ask, but Anna already disappeared down the corridor. What was she going to go do? She better not get a Professor involved. It was just a little tantrum. They REALLY didn't need to get a Professor involved, did they? Or, maybe they did. She really didn't know how bad Jake was before she arrived.

"Jake, listen..." Reese looked back down at her stepbrother. "What happened, dear? Why did you go through a breakdown?" She wrapped her arms around him, making it look like she was giving him a hug, but she was really making sure he didn't go anywhere.

Whimpering a little, Jake just leaned into his step-sister, remaining silent as he stared at te wall now ahead of him. Reese would protect him, right? She'd protect him from the teachers... the monsters out to get him... yes. So Jake, with no wand now, and feeling physically and emotionally exhausted, heaved a sigh and relaxed, falling straight off to sleep, forgetting about how much trouble he could well be in.

Lawson made his way up to the second floor and surveyed the devastation that had been caused by the second year Hufflepuff. He made his way slowly down the corridor until he came upon Jake and a girl he didn't know sitting on the floor. "Mr Upstead, I believe you are the cause for this mess."

He looked down at the boy with a frown on his face. "Not only have you caused damaged to the suits of armour but you also injured Miss Greingoth, in the process. So that will be another five points from Hufflepuff and detention." Marcus didn't bother waiting for the boy to say anything, in truth he'd had enough of him. He turned on his heel and headed back to his office.

Dani was wandering around, she'd been doing that a lot lately. Looking down at the floor as she went, she thought about the things that had happened the last few days. There was a lot to think about. With her mind preoccupied, she lost track of where she was and walked right into a suit of armor. A loud clanging rang in the corridor. Being the small girl that she was, she fell but the armor didn't. If it would have, she would have been a pancake. She rubbed her head and laid there on the floor. Ouch.

Shana walked around and clacked her ankles together,ewwww her bones were making a crunch sound,she seriously needed to start eating more.Then suddenly OMD OMD ! There was a CUTE little firstie lying on the floor.Shana dived onto the floor and put her hand round the little girl.OMD! Are you okay ? Are you hurt ? she said looking all worrid.Awww,Well aren't you a cutie. she beamed playing with the little 'un's hair.

Dani looked up at the girl. "I'm okay." She smiled to prove it. "I'm Dani." She said as the other girl played with her hair. Everyone treated her like a five year old just because she was so cute and small, but really she was almost twelve. Hmm.. But she liked it. She wondered where the girl had come from. She thought she had been alone, but she was glad someone else was there. All of the sudden she turned slightly pink, the girl had seen her moment of stupidity. Dang it.

Shana smiled.Aww she was cute.Nice to meet you Dani,Im Shana.Shana Miller.Now what was it she'd acctually come here for ? Umm...Do you know anyone callled Cam Karsten or Jake Upstead ? she smiled.And ruffled the little girls hair Awww she was cuuute.Shana gulped she had bluue eyes,and so her nan had told her...'If someone with blue eyes looks at you funny,the greeks call it the eviiiil eye.'So shana decided she was going to get into the girls good books and as fast as possible.

Dani nodded. "I know Jake." She got all smiley as she thought about him. "Why?" Suddenly she was curious as to why this girl had thought she would know the boys. Hmm. But anyway. Her mind went back to Jake and his cute pink hair, when it wasn't full of jelly of course. Attempting to focus on the moment at hand she asked, "I didn't dent the armor did I?" That would be bad.

Shana nodded.Seen Him around like lately ? And by lately I dont mean a few hours ago.She smiled.Oh No reason.Just my Mates,Was looking for 'em thats all.she smiled,the little girl didn't need to know the reaal reason she was looking for Jake,but she didn't lie about Cam.She smiled.Umm I dont think you have buuut if you move away from it abit just incase. she winked.What year you in Hun ? she smiled it was a obvious,but it kept the conversation going.

Dani scooched away from the armor. "I haven't seen Jake for a while. If I see him I'll let him know you're looking for him." She nodded. "I'm a First Year. What about you?" There was no way anybody would mistake her for anything else. She was tiny. Like miniscule. But whatever. She had a feeling that there was more to the 'friendship' then Shana was telling.

Shana paniced.Oh nooo she couldn't tell Jake,She was looking for him,He'd think she was a right fuuh-reak,Yeah she had a habit to be a bit fuuh-reaky buut he might think she was a stalker or something.And that was Bad! Oh thanks Sweetie,But theres no need I'll probably see him soon anyway.She said trying to act normal.