Lexi was glad to hear that Nolan's classes were going well---except, for the life of her, she couldn't really understand what was so important about a crystal ball breaking. Couldn't he just...buy a new one? She decided not to bring that fact to his attention, though. He seemed rather attached to those crystal balls, and she didn't want to offend him in any way.

Especially since this was just their...what?...second time to actually meet and hold a conversation. "Oh, well, I hate to hear about your crystal ball. I'm sure all the others will be okay, though," she said, trying to reassure him. Although, what was the life expectancy of a crystal ball? Surely they broke often... "I'm sure your personal belongings will be just fine..."

This was what the guy worried about while spinning around and around on a staircase that never seemed to stop?

"Oh, I'm---..." She was about to say that she was doing just fine, when Nolan brought up a hyper Slytherin, cupcakes, and Lexi possibly being the cause. Despite the fact that she was spinning around and around, Lexi managed a small laugh. "I'm afraid I am the cause of that. I taught cooking-relating charms in my last lesson, and we made cupcakes. I have a little kitchen near my classroom, too...so, the kids can make more if they'd like..." She bit her bottom lip and gave him a playful, apologetic look.

Nolan laughed. "Well as long as no one gets the brilliant idea to play a game of catch with the crystal, I'm good with them being a little wound up." Weren't ALL kids a little goofy these days? He thought so. "And if they just HAPPEN to bring me some, that's even better!" he added. Hmmm, maybe he should make that a homework assignment. Extra credit to the kid who brings him the most!

Nah. He'd ruin his teeth with all that sugar. And he was quite fond of those.

"That's a really cool idea, actually. I need something fun like that...not that I didn't think tea leaves were fun, but I had one or two students falling asleep on me," he said wth a chuckle.

"So, how's life here in the castle treating you?" he asked, deciding to change the conversation as the staircase came to a halt. He hadn't been paying attention to WHERE they were going as they talked so...he just kind of stood there.

She had listened to him. Even if she wasn't his biggest fan at the moment, at least she had done what he had asked her to do, and that was all that mattered to him really. He smiled at her now, not bothered in the least by her comment. He wasn't sure if she meant anything when she said it anyway. "Yes, that was me being patient. I could have easily grabbed you and taken you down. But I'm not like that." It was much better to have gotten her to do it herself. "I'll keep that min mind," he replied absentmindedly, not really catching what she was saying to him. He was looking at the ferret which he hadn't noticed before. "You have a pet ferret?" He couldn't think of many people that had one of those.

"Human-giant hybrid? I don't know if I should be insulted by that or not." Though he really didn't mind all that much because he didn't think that she seriously wanted to offend him or anything. Or at least that was what he hoped. Otherwise she was a mean girl, and he would be walking away from her in a moment.

Grayson could tell prefect boy thought she was being all compliant and everything, but she knew better. This was only a temporary pause, since she'd just find another avenue for mischief later. It was pretty much inevitable, especially when she wasn't in class. And she obviously wasn't now. "You're not like what? Rude and forceful, or grabby?," she asked impishly, unable to not continue playing with him. It was just too tempting, especially since he was obviously trying his hardest to not react to her. "It really is good advice, yknow. The relaxing thing. Too many people take things way too seriously. And explosions can get messy." The last part was definitely facetious, if only because she wasn't afraid of messes. But people explosions was definitely not what she had in mind as fun, if it was even possible for a person to literally explode from stress. She imagined there would be evidence of that by now if it was, what with all the people who had gotten to seventh year in the past.

But then he'd noticed Draco, and her little mental tangent vanished as she grinned, picking her ferret up off her shoulder again. "Yep. His name's Draco," she said, stroking the ferret's white fur a little before holding him out. "You wanna pet him? He won't bite." She didn't think. As far as she could remember he hadn't bit anyone. At prefect boy's response to her description of him, though, she giggled. "Well, you'd be one of the nice ones. Like Hagrid, yknow. Not an evil giant." Definitely not. Prefect boy didn't seem evil. Someone she wanted to annoy, but definitely not evil. But he obviously had to notice why she kept saying he was a giant by now.

Non-spinning solid ground didn't seem to be anywhere in Lexi's future, so she gave up on hanging onto the banister and instead just leaned comfortably against it. "Hmm...catch with crystal. You know Nolan, you may just given me a really good idea. I think I could come up with a charm that might be able to keep something afloat long enough to play a game of catch or...maybe even frisbee," she said. A thoughtful look crossed her face as she thought this one over...

"Oh, maybe they will bring you some," she said, coming out of her thoughtful state of mind. "Part of the homework was to share a cupcake with a student or staff member." She gave him a little look when he mentioned students falling asleep during his tea leaf-reading class. "Hmm, that's not good. Maybe you should have had them drink coffee instead of tea," she suggested. Then again, Lexi really didn't know much about Divination. For all she knew, coffee might not even work well at all. "I'm not sure if...the coffee grains would work the same as the tea leaves, though." She gave him a defeated look. Really...Lexi was terrible at Divination and should just stay away from it altogether.

She perked up when he asked how life in the castle was treating her. Truth be told, Lexi was having the time of her life. Not only did she have a job that she really loved, she'd also had a lot of fun at the same time, too. "Oh, it's awesome, Nolan! I've met so many people, and I've stayed so busy. I'm loving this!" she enthusiastically replied. "What about you? How are you liking it?"

Nolan blinked at her. While the charm did sound rather cool, he hoped she wasn't inferring that HIS crystal ball was going to be used as a test subject. HECK NO. That thing was going NO WHERE after the lesson he had just had. "That sounds interesting...but don't go telling anyone it works on crystal balls," he said with a playful grin, deciding that joking around would be the best way to go with this conversation. "I'll never be able to get them to pay attention to what's actually IN there!"

"REALLY?" he asked, perking up immediately. Oh coooool! Since he seemed to be UBER popular, he should be expecting cupcakes any day now, right? He hoped so! He also hoped he didn't have a much more egotistical view on himsef than what was actually true. Hehe. He could only infer from all those visitors he was getting. "For the record, I like chocolate cupcakes with white or pink frosting on top...you know, just saying," he said with a grin. Oh man Ginger would KILL him right now if she knew what he was thinking. She HATED sugar and was a bit fanatical about her teeth. More than usual lately, she was ALWAYS there getting them fixed--probably preparing her smile for the wedding.

"Coffee works. I couldn't get my hands on any, though," he said with a sigh. "So I only went with Earl Gray. I had a few complainers, but I just dulled the taste for them, and it was all good. I myself am not a huge tea drinker, so I usually use coffee if I can have access to it," he explained.

"I'm busy toooooo. It's nice, and it's nice to have an office that's not...in a dark corner somewhere," he said. Yes, he really DIDN'T miss the Department of Mysteries one bit. He missed the WORK but the work SPACE? Not so much. "And all these visitors! It's nice and keeps the day going by quickly when I'm grading homework," he explained with a smile. "I haven't gotten a chance to meet many of the staff, though--I bumped into the Healer, and then there's you and that Truebridge fellow I met at the feast but other than that...I need to get out more," he said. Although, after hearing horror stories about that Potions lady downstairs...he was staying FAR from her as long as he could. Everyone else he wanted to meet still but her...he was fine up here, thanks.

He noticed two students standing nearby, and one of them was that clumsy Prefect Kane. He smiled and waved politely at the two who were obviously in conversation.

"I'm not either," he told her simply. And it was true and if she didn't agree with him that was too bad for her because he really thought that it was true. He had been trying his best to be nice to her, and he did rather like her as well. She sorta reminded him in a way. Well, how he used to be before now. He was trying to be better so that he could Graduate without getting into trouble. "I am aware that you are probably going to turn around and do something else as soon as I leave, but at least I stopped you from possibly injuring yourself." And that made him happy, because he didn't want little kids to get injured, and she looked as if she was only thirteen or so. "But yes, explosions can be messy. Like setting a Potions lab on fire. But let's not get into that one." That was back in Greece and a few years ago by now.

He was a little hesitant at first, but decided that he liked animals, so he reached out to pet her ferret. "Draco? Like Draco Malfoy?" He had remembered reading all about that Harry Potter history ages ago, and he remembered that Draco was a boy that Harry went to school with and had always hated. He snorted as he stroked the ferret's fur. "I'm like Hagrid? Well, that's a compliment I guess. Even though I don't think I'm nearly as big as him." She could say he was in denial, but he still didn't see it that way at all.

Grayson shrugged as prefect boy defended himself against any of her options she'd given. It wasn't really important, either way, since she hadn't figured he would be rude or any of those things. Not as a prefect. And she knew his name, too, but it was more fun to think of him as prefect boy. For now, at least. "Surprisingly, I wasn't really worried about injuring myself anyway. I mean, I know it was possible, which was why I didn't have my ferret with me when I was up there. But I don't think I would have gotten hurt," she responded, to his obvious concern. That could either be annoying or useful. Annoying if he made it a mission to keep her from doing anything that could lead to her hurting herself, but useful since it could annoy him right back. Annoying people was never far from her mind, at least innocently. But her train of thought was interrupted as he spoke of explosions. "You set a Potions lab on fire?," she asked, interest piqued. "Why?" Potions was fun. And not necessarily in a destructive sense.

She smiled a little as he reached out to pet Draco, especially since the ferret seemed to be perfectly happy with it. Yay for no biting. And then he spoke, and her smile turned into a bigger grin. Yay for people making the connection. "Yep. I think it's funny, since fake Professor Moody turned him into a ferret that one time," she explained. She liked the old stories from the time of Harry Potter way too much, she sometimes thought. Not that it ever stopped her from reading them over again. And she giggled a little as Torin snorted. "No. You're not as big as he was. But you're still way tall." At least he understood the comment had been a compliment, even if it was a little facetious.

Lexi had only met Nolan once or twice, but she'd already come to the conclusion that he thought of his crystal balls sort of like how...a father would think of his children. With her back turned to him (she'd been looking for solid ground once again) she sort of narrowed her eyes into a 'whatever'-type expression. By the time she'd turned around, though, he was mentioning how the students wouldn't pay attention to what was in the crystal ball if they knew how to charm it to act like a frisbee or a ball. Hmm...that actually made sense, so maybe Nolan really didn't think of his crystal balls like they were his children.

She laughed and nodded her head. "You know, you're right about that. I have to admit that if I was a student, and my professor had taught me how to play sports with a crystal ball, I might have...not been paying attention to what was inside the ball either," she admitted. Even now, though, as a Charms professor, a few ideas were already forming in Lexi's mind. Hmm...what sorts of charms would be best when trying to float and throw a crystal ball?

"Yeah, really. I sent them around on a cupcake mission for homework. If no one happens to drop by, just let me know. I can always make you a batch of them in my charmed kitchen," she offered. Hmm...chocolate cupcakes with white or pink frosting. Lexi made a few mental notes before refocusing herself on what Nolan was saying. Oh, so coffee did work. "Hmm, that's interesting. I can't decide whether I like tea or coffee better, so I guess I wouldn't have complained either way." Well, except for the fact that they were talking about Divination, which was a subject Lexi had never exactly excelled at in the first place.

"In a dark corner?" she asked, her eyes narrowing in confusion. "Where did you say you used to work at?" Lexi didn't exactly remember, but the whole 'office in a dark corner' line had certainly gotten her attention. "...Department of Mysteries?" Being a former Ministry worker, Lexi could pretty much put two and two together when it came to offices in dark places. True, she worked at the American Ministry of Magic, but Lexi still knew lots about the British Ministry. "Oh, yeah, we do have lots of visitors here, don't we? As far as staff, hmm...let's see. I've been able to meet the Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, umm...History of Magic, Flying, and Transfiguration professors. Oh, and Divination, of course," she said with a smile. "I've talked with the healer and headmaster, too. Both were really nice."

When Nolan waved at someone just over Lexi's shoulder, Lexi turned and noticed two students standing nearby. She smiled and waved at them, too.

Nolan nodded. "Yup. All the way down there on Level 9. Not many visitors there," he said with a small chuckle. The darkness also made time go by really fast (or maybe it really DID go faster down there?! HE NEVER KNEW) so most of the time, he worked right through lunch and didn't have time to go socialize in the cafeteria. Sigh.

Ah well. He had lots of time to socialize now!

"Really, all of them?" Nolan asked, blinking a bit. Apparently, even here, Nolan didn't get out much. "I need to step up my game, then," he said with a little chuckle. History of Magic...that was Lainey. EEEEP.

"I can't wait to get a butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks. It's been AGES since I've stepped foot in there," he said. Well, not AGES. "It's going to be weird going in there as a professor, though--even now everything is so different than when I was a student. I even got LOST trying to find my office the first day!"

In his defense, as a Hufflepuff, he RARELY wandered up to the seventh floor while in school. Only for Divination.

"Hmm...Mysteries. I don't think I'd like working there too much, but...I bet you loved it. You know, with you enjoying Divination and the such," she said. She honestly didn't know if the two were connected in any specific way, but she just imagined that people who were into telling the future and crystal balls and the such would be right at home in the Mysteries department. "So what made you decide to leave Mysteries and come here? I mean, I'm glad you did...but, I'm just curious."

"Well, not all of them. There's probably four or five I really haven't had a chance to actually talk to yet," Lexi said, replying to what Nolan had said about meeting all their co-workers. She'd just been so busy since school started that she really hadn't had much free time. It was unfortunate that she hadn't really talked to some of her new co-workers, but she was slowly and surely getting around to meeting them all.

Lexi glanced over at Nolan, and when she did...she was immediately sorry. Nolan himself didn't make her feel that way, though. The moving staircase had suddenly jerked forward and spun them around, causing Lexi to tumble forward and into Nolan. When the staircase finally slowed to a reasonable speed, Lexi pushed herself off Nolan, a slight blush creeping up on her cheeks. "Sorry about that, Nolan," she said with a laugh. "...but anyway, you're right. It will be different going to Hogsmeade as a professor, but at least we'll have more freedom that way."

"I definitely liked the work," Nolan explained. Yeah, prophecies and all that...that was HIS thing. "I just like talking a bit more. It was too gloomy down there for my taste," he said with a chuckle. Not that the place was depressing or anything, just...too dark. Too secretive. Sometimes Nolan had the urge to just YELL at the top of his lungs cause he went so stir crazy down there.

"Well, other than getting out of the dark, gloomy cubicle I had down there, this job allows me to be more hands on with my field of interest," he explained. Down in Mysteries, he'd only dealt with Prophecies...and there was SOOOO much more to Divination than just fortune telling through visions or prophecies. "Plus, I've always enjoyed telling people about Divination...I think I'm just a natural teacher," he added with a grin.

Suddenly, the staircase jerked into motion, and Lexi was nearly flung through the air by the force of it, falling right into Nolan and knocking his glasses askew. EEP! His glasses! As she stood up and blushed, he laughed and fixed his glasses so they sat straight on his nose again. "Haha, don't worry about it! These things move faster than they used to, don't you think?" he asked.

At least faster than he REMEMBERED.

Lexi nodded along as Nolan talked about how the Department of Mysteries was a little too dark for his taste. She definitely agreed with him on that one. Of course she hated worked in that department at the American Ministry of Magic, but she'd been to it a time or two. It was...well, yeah---dark. "Hmm...natural teacher. I'm not sure if I'm natural teacher or just a natural charmer...or, well...a person good in charms," she playfully said.

"Faster than they used, to---right," Lexi agreed, eying the stairs with disgust. She didn't know if she hated them so much because they moved, or because she just couldn't ride them---yes, ride them---as well as she used to. She certainly wasn't going to allow a set of moving stairs make her feel old. When the stairs passed by the third floor, Lexi jumped off and landed nicely on solid, non-moving ground. "Well, here's my stop," she said, laughing. "It was nice talking with you, Nolan. I'll see you around, mmkay?" She waved and smiled at him then turned and headed toward her office.

He shook his head at her. "Still even if you weren't worried it could have happened." Though he wasn't really wanting to dwell on it anymore since she was down now and there was no concern about her safety - for now at least. But he wasn't stupid enough to think that she wouldn't turn around and do something else later. "I set it on fire because I could. I also set magical creatures loose and was caught drinking firewhiskey." And he wasn't going to elaborate on that unless she really wanted to know. He liked being vague sometimes.

He smiled as she told him about Draco. "That's where the name came from? That's rather clever." He didn't think that he had ever heard of Draco being turned into a ferret. But that was rather funny. "I wonder why he was turned into one.." But he didn't really care all that much. It was just odd thinking on a Professor doing that to a student. Thankfully that didn't seem to happen around Hogwarts now. "And I am tall, but I dunno about way tall. I'm just 6'6." Over a foot taller than Brody.

Grayson only grinned as Torin shook his head at her. "I know that. I already said I knew that," she pointed out, having way too much fun with the non-argument. And she could tell he was trying to get over it, which partially made her want to continue arguing. But she could let it rest for now. At least until the next time. "That makes sense," she said as he gave his reasoning for setting the Potions lab on fire, "but you really did something wrong if you got caught doing stuff." She knew the irony of a thirteen-year-old lecturing a seventh year on getting caught, but it was too much fun. Besides, maybe if she kept prodding him, she could get ideas.

But first she needed to acept the compliments on her choice of name for her ferret. "Yep. And thank you. I like the stories from back then," she said, before her eyes widened as he acted like he didn't know the story. "He was being evil toward Harry Potter," she said, a bit surprised that he didn't know the story. At least now he knew, though. Whether he wanted to or not, and besides, she didn't think there were any professors around now like fake Professor Moody. So maybe he was safe. She giggled a little as he went on to talk about his height. He was seriously confused if he thought that wasn't way tall. "I'm only five feet. So to me you're way tall." She couldn't decide if he wasn't paying attention, or if he really couldn't see that.

He was done with this now, so he only smiled at her first comment before moving on to what she said next. "Well, I was only caught that one time. Er, well two times. Seeing as I was suspended for the Potions lab thing." He shrugged as if it didn't matter because really it didn't. It was all in the past now, and if he hadn't been suspended, he still would have gone to school there. If he had still gone to school there, he wouldn't have met all the amazing people that he did. So it was great that he had gotten caught.

And she seemed a little surprised that he didn't know the story, which made him feel a bit silly. But he couldn't really help it. "Well, I'm not from here, so I don't know all the history. Or at least I don't know as much as some people do. I know the big details of Harry Potter's time, but not the trivial ones." And hopefully that would make him seem less silly to her. Apparently that mattered to him. "And you are rather small now that I think about it. Short." He grinned down at her.

And it seemed the idea that Torin was tired of the discussion about her safety on the railing was true. Either that or he just liked nonverbal responses. But Grayson brushed it off, especially since they now had a much more interesting conversation going. "That would seem like two times. Unless you weirdly got suspended for one thing while being caught for two at once," she commented, seriously thinking about it. She didn't think it was possible, but he obviously was talking about a completely different school. Maybe they did things differently there. And then another thought hit her. "If you only got suspended, why didn't you go back after the suspension was done?" She might not have had a lot of experience in schools, but that was how she thought it worked.

She nodded a little, though, as he explained why he hadn't known the story about fake Professor Moody and Draco Malfoy. "Okay. You really should read the stories sometime, though. They're really interesting," she said. It was cute how he seemed to need an excuse when it came to her, and how she might think of him. Giant seventh-year worried about what a tiny third-year thought. And on that topic, she sighed as he finally seemed to realize what she'd been saying all along. "I know. But just cause I'm tiny doesn't mean you should underestimate me," she said, the last part with a hint of amused challenge. He'd find out sooner or later, especially if Raven kept involving her in things. Not to mention her ideas on her own.

Maeve was walking down the moving staircases, avoiding when they were switching to different floors. She honestly didn't need to fall down a few flights and hit the bottom floor. Not quite on her agenda. She turned the page of her book and didn't seem to look up to see a tall stature in front of her as she knocked into him.

"Oh my," she looked up, her eyes wide like a quail just found on the hunt. Her book had fallen onto the marble stairs and she had to fling her arm out onto the banister to keep herself from falling. "I am so sorry Sir." She looked up at him. Glasses, dark hair, tall and older. Must be a Professor.

Of great. She just collided with a Professor she had never met. Way to go girl.

"Ok, bye Lexi!" Nolan said, smiling and waving goodbye as his colleague left the staircase. He continued to stand there for a few minutes, trying to remember where he was going before she had distracted him. HMMMM. Where HAD he been headed?

He never got the chance to remember, because as he was trying to think of where he had been about to go, he felt something collide with him. Blinking, he turned around and looked to see what had happened, only to find a student behind him, holding onto the banister for dear life.

"Oh, it's quite alright. It's what I get for just...standing on the staircase, staring into space," he said with a small chuckle.

Maeve ushered on a small curt smile. She still couldn't believe she had bumped into someone. She let go of the banister, looking down to see her white knuckles. Had she really been holding onto the banister that tight. Brushing off her skirt she looked up at him and nodded. "Oh no Sir, it is quite entirely my fault. My apologies," she lowered her head down in a small nod. Her Irish accent lilted at her words.

She was intrigued however if he was a Professor or not. "I'm Maeve. Maeve O'Connor." She put her hand out to greet him. "Are you a Professor here?" She only wondered.

"Nice to meet you, Miss O'Connor," Nolan said, shaking the girl's hand. It was SO nice to encounter kind, respectful students in this school. They needed more of them, seriously. The rude ones would make him go GRAY!

"Yes, I am. Professor Reynolds," he replied with a smile. "I teach Divination up on the seventh floor," he added. He wondered why she was asking...did he LOOK like a student? Oh joy! That meant he wasn't aging as fast as he feared he was!

Maeve smiled and nodded her head to him. "It is quite a pleasure to meet you as well, Mister Reynolds." Well she was glad she could add at least another person on her list of people to know here at the school. So far: 2 people. She was quite the socialite.

"Divination? That's fascinating. That's actually my favorite subject." She enthused. It really was something she loved to do back home. "Are your methods done with mostly Tarot, Tea Leaves, Palmistry, and Scrying, Mister Reynolds?" Well she was quite glad she had bumped into the right teacher.

He shrugged at what she was saying to him. "I didn't want to go back," was his simple reply. And it was true. "I also got expelled in a few places." Yeah, that had been a lot of fun really. And he liked it a lot. "But it wouldn't have mattered anyway, because I would have had to come here when my dad got his job anyway." Since he didn't like being away from his family during breaks and all that.

"I shall look it up," he added with a nod. If he had time. And if he could find the books in the library. He had an impossible time in there really. Half the time he gave himself a headache with not being able to find what he wanted. Bloody libraries. He didn't know why his sister loved the things so much. "Oh, I don't underestimate you." He wasn't stupid. He gathered that she would be quite the mischievous one. Why he had figured that she would just turn around and do something else as soon as he wasn't around.

Grayson couldn't help but grin as Torin went on about why he'd ended up in Hogwarts and everything. "So how exactly did you end up a prefect, then?," she asked, almost impressed. Considering the staff at Hogwarts had to know his history. But then he was explaining more about how he'd ended up here, and she blinked at him. "You moved cause of your dad?" That was kind of sweet, but then she couldn't imagine anything like that. Not when she considered that her father's job wasn't like that. It was a weird feeling, and she didn't really like it.

So she was happy when Torin went on to say he'd look up the stories about Harry Potter, and Draco and all of them. "I could probably help you find them. If you wanted." Of course, she had copies of all the books in her possession, but she could probably find them in the library too. Of course, whether or not she could reach them would be a different story, but if she was with Torin that shouldn't be an issue. And another mischievous grin crept onto her face as he admitted he didn't underestimate her. "Good. Then I won't have to hurt you," she teasingly threatened. Not that she thought she could. He was really awfully bigger than her. But she could always annoy him to no end. That sounded like fun, really.

"Really?" Nolan asked with a grin. Awww yay! No one had said Divination was their fav yet. HMMM. He wondered if it was her favorite because she had like...the GIFT like he did. Or supposedly did. He was a bit shocked it had taken him this long to find someone who loved it too...didn't anyone like it anymore?! Frown.

"Tarot cards are my speciality, but yes, I do like tea leaves and of course, crystal ball reading but, not so much with the palms. I've never really gotten a good grasp on that one," he said with a chuckle. "Are those some of your favorite types of Divinaion?" he asked in curiousity. They were certainly some of the most well known, but there were some weird ones out there too that many people preferred over the traditional.