Once referred to as "The Mysterious Tapestry", this wall hanging first came to notice during Draconia's tenure as Headmistress. The passageway which existed behind the tapestry has long since been sealed but, the tapestry continues to be a site of great interest to those familiar with its story or appreciate such textile arts. It also makes a convenient meeting place as there is no other tapestry as grand as this in the castle.

En route to The Owlery to check up on Apollo, Lexi decided to take the so-called 'scenic route' and do a little more touring of the school in the process. She'd been so busy in the past few days that getting a good feel for what the castle was all about (since she'd left it a decade ago) had been...well, neglected, she guessed. As she listened to the soft click-clacking of her heels echoing down the corridor, Lexi became sort of lost in thought about nothing in particular.

Barking...

There was barking going on from...somewhere in the castle. As she blinked herself out of her daydreaming state, Lexi realized that whatever it was that was barking was...right beside her. "Prince Charming!" she exclaimed, glancing down to realize that her little Chihuahua had taken it upon himself to accompany her on the stroll through the castle.

*bark, bark*

Two, quick, Chihuahua-type barks sounded down the corridor. Lexi gave her little dog a glare before trying to walk away and convince him to come along. There was no convincing Prince Charming that leaving now would be a good idea, though. The dog had taken an interest in the tapestry and was...eying it mighty suspiciously.

On his way back to the Hufflepuff Common Room with his new stack of textbooks in tow, Fletcher would have tripped on a little dog by a giant tapestry had he not heard the animal's loud barking just in time.

"Whoaaaaa," the boy muttered, halting as two textbooks fell off his stack. "Hi there lil fella." He crouched to pick up the books and maybe pet the dog when he noticed the professor there too. "Oh, and hello miss....professor, ma'am...."

Lainey came around the corner with her wand out. "Did you HEAR THAT?" SomeTHING was in this corridor, she was SO SURE of it.


And she wasn't wrong. There were ... things in the hall. A student, a dog (the noise), and a student that had turned into a professor.


"Suppose this makes me the TinMan," she mumbled and struck a frozen pose.


Sure that made perfect sense. What any and every sane person would do.

With another two barks from Prince Charming and then a few bang, bangs from someone's fallen textbooks, Lexi was fairly sure she'd somehow helped contribute to causing a small amount of commotion in an otherwise quiet corridor.

...and now, the Tin Man was here? Supposedly? Apparently?

This was exactly the sort of thing that gave Hogwarts that whole 'Expect-the-Unexpected' kind of feel. Yet when nothing...erm, unexpected...happened next, Lexi slowly turned her attention to...some boy...who apparently didn't know her name either. "Hello to you, Mr. Student Sir," she greeted, a joking smile on her face. "I'm Professor Lexi Carlton, and this is...Prince Charming." She glanced down at her little Chihuahua, who was still eying that tapestry like it was one big chew toy he could spend a lifetime tearing to shreds. "Prince Charming," Lexi half-whispered, half-scolded. "Here, boy..." Oh, if she only had a treat...

...If I only had a heart...do do do do do do

Her line of thinking with Prince Charming's 'chew toy' and Professor Lainey's line about the Tin Man brought back 'Wizard of Oz' memories for Lexi. She and Allie had watched the old movie a time or two while sharing an apartment in America. Now she hadn't quite made the connection between Lainey and the Tin Man yet, but she just assumed it was something Lainey had been talking about or thinking about before she'd joined them. Maybe something trivial... "Oh, Professor Lainey! It's good to see you again!" Lexi greeted. ...and it was. She hadn't seen her old professor in...not counting the recent feast...ten years! "It's been...a whole decade, hasn't it? How've you been?"

AHHH, another professor! Fletcher almost jumped and another textbook clattered to the floor with a bam. Great, he'd walked right into this one.

"Ppprofessor Carlton. I'm Fletcher," the boy extended a hand toward her in greeting, hoping she'd overlook the fact that he'd just stuttered.

Merlin the teachers here were hot. With the exception of the uh, older one there. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance as well, Professor.... Lainey....?" he added, bowing his head slightly in the direction of the professor behaving like a statue or something. "Did we hear what?"

It was hard to hear anything over the sound of the little dog. Fletcher decided to just unceremoniously dump the rest of his books on the floor and reached out a hand to tickle the dog's ear affectionately.

Lainey had secretly been hoping they'd ignore her because she'd just behaved ... well, like a crazy person. Sometimes - most of the time even - when she was walking past Knockturn and some crazy was there, doing something crazy, Lainey just walked on by.

Despite HER crazy, these people were still talking to her. Student. And a student/Professor.


"Uhhhmmmm. Hello." She unfroze from her pose and rubbed at her neck. "I thought I heard a noise. Thought it might be a house efl. Can't ever be to sure with those things running rabid 'round here." So true. So true.


Ehh and they asked questions. "I'm Lainey, yes. That is what they call me. And I've been living and stuff, Lex. Can't complain. I see you're doing well for yourself these days. Makes me very proud of you." And older than dirt.

Was it just Lainey or was the overwhelming urge to BARK at the young Hufflepuff getting to everyone? Must not bark at students. Must not bark at students.


Lainey covered her mouth with her hand and only YIPPED a little. It was quiet, but made her feel better.

Hearing another bang, Lexi turned to see that...the boy...had dropped yet another textbook. She frowned at the fallen book for just a second before realizing that the noise had actually distracted Prince Charming from eying the tapestry like he was...about to tear it down or something. She nudged the little dog further away from the tapestry, hoping Prince Charming would give up on eying it and busy himself with something else instead. He wasn't planning on going to the bathroom on it, was he?

Lexi changed her expression from a look of concern to a warm smile when the boy extended his hand for a shake. Ahh, so now she knew his name. "Hmm...so Mr. Student Sir has a name, does he? It's nice to meet you," she said, extending her hand, too. When Fletcher turned to Lainey and asked about hearing...something...Lexi turned to the other professor, as well.

...and suddenly, just like that, a thought came to Lexi. Was she supposed to call Professor Lainey by her first name now that the two were both staff members? Did Lexi even know Professor Lainey's first name? She sort of thought that it might be Anjelica, but she could never be too sure. She'd just always called her Professor Lainey. ...but Professor Lainey had called her Lex, which was not even Lexi's full first name. Lexi wondered if she should attempt Anjelica or something more like...well, just Lainey?

In the end, she stuck with what she knew best. "Oh, well, thank you for being proud of me, Professor Lainey," she remarked. "Have you been teaching here all this time, or have you recently come back?" Lexi wasn't really up to date on all the comings and goings just yet. She barely even knew everyone's name! Her eyes slightly narrowed in confusion when Professor Lainey put her hand over her mouth. There was a small...odd sound...but Lexi couldn't be entirely sure where it had come from. Had it been...Prince Charming? Merlin, dogs could be so embarrassing sometimes!

Lainey stared at the student (the current one) and his books and him. "Huh."


Huh, indeed. "Maybe you should bring TWO pillows to my class." Probably.


Anywho, questions to answers, awkwardness to fulfill. Lainey lowered her hand and clasped it around a handful of skirt and robes. "No... I just returned. Took a few years off. Had some things to do." Like get hitched, produce a kid. Things. "But then that Headmaster fellow, I reckon he heard of my skills. Or he was desperate for a teacher. Definitely one of those, cause he asked me back." Lainey shrugged her shoulder jerkily and sidled up to the wall to lean on it.


Cool. She'd just ooze cool from her spot on the wall.

"Uh..... what's that you teach again, Miss Professor Ma'am?" Fletcher looked up from trying to coax the little dog away from the tapestry and blinked at the older woman. Why would he need pillows, now, unless her class was something dreadfully boring like History of Magic....

Just sayin. That class sounded like it was designated nap time.

He shrugged off her weirdness and yipping and started gathering up his books again. Didn't want to hang around the staff too much now, naw befriending teachers was for those weird rule-abiding students and prefects. Fletcher did like the little dog though, and found it amusing that he was so interested in the tapestry.

"I wonder if there's something behind there," the boy mused aloud, gesturing toward the wall decoration the dog was still sniffing. "It seems mighty interesting to Prince Charming...."

Maddie shivered, even wrapped up in her cloak, gloves and scarf, and conjured up the little blue flame in the jar again. She leant agains the wall, hoping that the small fire would warm her

Simon walked upto Maddie. "How are you?" He asked sitting down next to her. "I've missed you." He said as he gave her a quick hug.

Awww. Simon was sweet! She hugged him back
'Aw, I've missed you too' she said 'I'm good, just cold. I've been teaching someone to swim, the Lake...' she shivered 'How are you?'

Simon looked at Madie. "That is good." He remembered the days when she and him had gone swimming in the pool at his palace. "I'm good now, just a bit homesick but other than that I'm good."

Maddie smiled
'Well, I didn't think I would be homesick, but I guess I am. What did you think of the Potions and DADA lessons? I loved the Arithmancy one, that was so interesting!'

Amy walked past Maddie just as she spoke, she turned around, did I just hear you right, you liked Aritmacy!? she asked, mouth open

Simon giggled at Maddie. "I loved them all." Simon expecially loved potions." He thought about what he had said in there and that made him laugh. "Arithmancy, wasn't bad." He said after awhile, it wasn't his favorate subject but he could live with it.

Maddie turned to Amy
'Yes, I loved it!' she said 'It was brilliant!' then she looked back at Simon 'Potions was great. I was laughing so much when Proffessor Lafay got that howler, though...'

Talk about pushed out Amy looked at them and said I've got to go see you and walked off leaving the lover birds to the conversation, she turned the corner thinking of her haven and decided to go there

Maddie was shocked
'Oh, Amy!' she called down the corridor 'AMY! Come back, did I say something!?'

Lexi narrowed her eyes in confusion and turned towards Professor Lainey. What did Fletcher need pillows for anyway? She thought about asking but could never really come up with a good way to do so. She would either A, come out looking like an idiot, or B, offend the professor. Either option didn't sound too inviting, so Lexi just shrugged the matter off.

Hmm...was it polite, though, to ask exactly what Lainey had been up to during her off-time? Maybe sticking to something safe would be better, though. "Ahh, I guess you did need a little time off after being in the castle for so many years," she said, realizing only a second later that she may as well have just called Lainey a Tyrannosaurus Rex. "Well, I mean...counting your student years and all...not that you've been teaching for years and years..." Good one, Lexi. Way to possibly offend someone after all...

...but, Lexi was saved by Fletcher, even if it was an unintentional save. Or, at least, she hoped she was saved by the change of topic. "Yes, Mr. Fletcher, I wonder if there is something behind that tapestry? I wasn't exactly here when it was first hung. Do you know, Professor Lainey?" she asked, turning back to the History of Magic professor. She did teach History, after all.

Lainey pretended to have something stuck in her ear, rendering her deaf and therefore exempt from having to answer those... U SO OLD questions/comments Lexi was over there making. Nope. Didn't hear a thing. La la la, what a lovely tapestry and stuff. Ohhh what is that in my ear? A billiwig? Maybe I should visit the infirmary..? La la la


"History." There you go, kid. History. "You'll definitely need two pillows. And wear pants." Poor Hufflepuff, kid. He'd not stand a chance.


But anyway.


"I'd leave things hidden behind a tapestry.... hidden behind a tapestry. Since I've been here, you know, for so many years," HEH, "I'd know." Just saying. "Unless it sounds like a prisoner."

Funny story, that HAD happened that one time... .

"History. I see. I'll be sure to bring the pillows and a blanket ma'am, with your permission." Fletcher nodded toward the weirddddd professor and started gathering his books back into something of a pile. Now why on earth would she be certain to mention his needing pants? Weren't they a required part of life/school uniforms?!

His eyebrows showing a bit of surprise and intrigue at the history professor's hint -- was that a hint, that there was a prisoner behind the tapestry? -- the boy looked toward the charms teacher for guidance. "No harming in looking though, eh? What could be hidden behind an old tapestry anyways?"

Lexi gave Lainey a sort of half-confused, half-what in Merlin's name are you doing? look. The History of Magic professor either...had one heck of an itch or was digging earwax out her ears. Ew. Lexi hoped she didn't have an earwax problem when she got older, too. She just eyed Lainey for a second longer then turned away.

The talked returned to history, pillows, and pants, and for the life of her, Lexi couldn't figure out why the students would need pillows and why pants had to be specified. Didn't the second one just sort of go without saying? Lexi started to just point blank ask what the first lesson was going to be about, but then the talk and attention returned to the tapestry.

At least Prince Charming no longer looked like he wanted to use the bathroom on it. "So there really is something hidden behind it?" she asked. ...and why hadn't she noticed it when she was a student? If it had even been there during that time at all. She thought about nudging the Hufflepuff boy towards the tapestry to see if he'd take the bait and peek behind it. She just couldn't, though.

She needed to divert her own attention...elsewhere. If she didn't, the temptation to peek behind the tapestry would only grow and grow. Oddly enough, though, things seemed to get a little quiet after that. Lexi wasn't sure if it was just that she was talking to one of her former professors and current students, or that there was really just...a lack of things to talk about right now. Either way, she just sort of got quiet and waited for one of the other two to say something.

"There could be harm in looking. I could think of a thousand different things that could be hidden behind, in, on that tapestry that could harm you. But if the Curiosity Bug has bitten your bum..... then by all means, pull it back."

Ahem. Lainey brandished her wand with a flurry - only dropped it once - then stood at the ready. "Don't worry, I'm a professional."


Haaaaaaaaaahaha.



Lainey's eyes flickered to Lexi,then she shrugged a shoulder. "I didn't say there was anything. I'd wager a wall, but you two are the curious ones."