Simon looked at the Professor and then at the floor. "Well you see Miss the floor got hungry so I thought I'd give it something to eat." Simon smiled as he looked at everyone else.

Simon couldn't believe that JD had pied the Professor, Simon had only gone for the seventh year because he was threatening them with his wand and Simon didn't think that the Seventh year had the right to do that. Simon would have to give JD a pat on the back if they got out of this alive.

She should have known he'd ask. And she should have thought up a good reply. But she hadn't. "In a word?" Nia asked smugly, raising an eyebrow. "You." Evidently. She added a slow knowing nod, just to reiterate the point. Because she was right. Yes siree.

A number of possibilities ran through her mind, mostly attaining to forensic science. She'd got into detective novels of late. The clues and red herring appealed to her inquisitive mind. But, it'd be worse in magical society. She wondered what magical DNA was like compared to muggle. Was there a difference.

"I couldn't. Though, even with seeing your face I might not be certain either." If he was using polyjuice potion, for example. "You trying to tell me something?" she asked with a wry smile. Maybe she'd been with imposter!Raiden so far, and the true variety was somewhere else in the room...

He looked away, and Nia gave a slight pout before she realised quite why he'd done it. Ah. Apparently the wide eyed look with out of bounds too. Sulk. Except... That would be an epic fail too. This was harder than she thought. And she couldn't give up just yet, because then he'd make fun of her about it for the rest of the evening. Hmm.

She needn't worriy for a bit though, as she heard the words 'food' and 'fight' together. A glance along the food table confirmed it. She rolled her eyes. Why? Just, why?

"So it seems," Nia muttered in reply, knowing full well they would be closest. And though Raiden could probably stay anonymous and out of it, Nia was too obvious. Prefect duties had to be done.

"I can deal with -" she started, knowing that as soon as Raiden reacted, his cover would be lost. But he'd already grabbed her hand and had headed towards them.

Pulling out her wand, Nia eyed the boys. She was disappointed to recognise the 'Claws - and especially JD. And now, someone had the cheek to talk back. Admittedly, he wouldn't know who was behind the mask...but still. At a Hogwarts Ball, will other schools there...they should all know better.

A flick of her wand, and Nia cast a protective shield. Her night was not going to be ruined by someone getting pie on her dress. Or on Raiden. She wasn't going to risk where it had been aimed, or where it might have ended up. Her dress was white, there was no way she was having acky food on it.

She was about to suggest they clean it up pronto - when she heard the voice of a Professor. Usually such intervention would be a good thing. But the voice belonged a certain Potions Mistress. Oh dear. They were gonna be in a LOT of trouble.

Stepping back to allow Lafay through, Nia glanced at Raiden. Were they still needed? Because if not, Nia wanted to get out of the mess before her shoes got all icky or went skidding across the hall. Silly, silly peoples.

Was this kid serious? The frown Raiden wore was mostly hidden by the mask, but it was evident from his posture that he was displeased. Some little kid throwing food at him was not going to fly, and he was lucky that Nia cast before he could.

Because Raiden was not in the mood tonight, and he would've Waddiwasi'd that pie RIGHT up that kid's nose. As it was, his wand hand twitched at his side, as if itching to cast and show this kid exactly why one did not throw pie at a much older, much more experienced student.

"Thank you, Nia," he murmured, his annoyance at the kids evident in his tone.

He didn't know how to feel when Lafay showed up. He immediately lapsed into silence, and his wand disappeared back up his sleeve; with his face hidden behind the mask, he wasn't sure if the Potions professor would recognise him, and he'd really prefer it if she didn't. He was still rather... not fond of her.

Merlin help that Ravenclaw who had just thrown food at her, though. Raiden's wand was already away, and he wasn't really that bothered about protecting the woman from a bit of stray pie. Besides, the kid deserved whatever he got from her. He'd interrupted the conversation he and Nia had been carrying.

smion how did she know it was me i have a mask on.i think its the boots,and my hair.

She glared at the boy watching him put down the pie. Good.

"Fun? Fun?! Is it fun for the house elves to clean this mess up?" She asked the Ravenclaw.

The pie hit the professor square in the face... She slowly wipes her eyes of the cream, flicking it on the floor. "Stevenson... I hope you know your Tergeo charms, because if I'm not clean in 5 seconds, you are not only finding yourself in detention for the rest of the year, but your house will suffer in house points."

"De Simpson, you better have a good reason to be staring, because you will suffer the same fate as Stevenson if you do not!" She said and glared through the cream of the pie on her face.

Her eyes found her prefect. At least there was someone who could clean her if that kid didn't know how...

"No not really but i would help them she said with smiled.i made the mess i"ll clean it.My mother taught me that.do i have detention or a warning.

Natalie walked around the food tables. She was looking for something fruity to eat.

His eyes huge he couldn't believe what had just happened! If it hadn't been so serious he would have been laughing.

"I..." Oh crud...taking out his wand he looks at terrified everytime he used it something started on fire. "Professor...I can try b...b...but I warn you something m...m...might start on fire!"

Struggling to his feet he manages to get upright. He waits for Lafays reply holding his wand ready if she still wanted him to.

Wait a minute. Pumpkin juice and chocolate? That didn't make sense! It was butterbeer AND chocolate. That was the way to go, honestly.

Oh, but at least Arya had a good taste when it came to lessons, and all Treyen could do was nod, "True, he is" another nod, "He knows a lot, you know" he said, after his mind trailed off to that one time Kingsley helped him with some Herbology books. Awesome Professors they were, Kingsley and Dodson. Yes.

"You can leave the ruffles alone now" or he'll give her some ruffles, and those wouldn't go well with her costume, trust him, it'll ruin the white tree of Gondor.

It was rather odd, that he couldn't place the costume right away, all things considered. But still, she looked ready to fight something off. Possibly fight Saylen off. Haha. Awesome. "All was well..." he nodded, until Voldemort arrived.

Aha! And here was someone that looked rather sneaky, very, very sneaky. He'd better watch it for Vindictus or Saylen. Lafay was probably enjoying herself right now, no?

"Hey Simon!" he greeted with a smile. Before turning to face Ellie...

A beaming Lockhart nodded. Yes, he'll remember her to do so, and she was seeming to love that idea even more than the whole group that was gathered in front of the table. Odd.

If it was a dare, then she wouldn't be liking it too much, right? But this was no dare, this was some sort of punishment for not planning her costume that long. And it was no punishment either because she seemed happy about it.

Oh, well, never mind.

That's when he spotted. Kingsley.

Looking...horrifyingly muggle. Eek! Scary costume. And lookit! No ruffles! That's a first!




"Excuse me a moment" he said, to the whole group, as he walked away.

EEP

A good reason for staring, Simon had no idea what to say. "I...um... I...um." Simon was getting his world all mixed up. "I was staring because I liked your costume miss." Simon smiled, surely that was a good excuse, and even if it was a lie the Professor wouldn't know that, would she.

"Right." Ellie nodded. From a muggle movie. Which, you know, could be true or not. She wouldn't know. Her muggle knowledge only went so far.

She shook her head at his suggestion. "No. Why would you wear normal clothes at a costume ball if you already have a costume. It makes no sense." None. It just sounded like a lot of work. And wandering up far to many stairs to get his robes all alone in the castle. Which, normally, wouldn't be a bad thing, because you were more than likely to see random students all around. But everyone would be at the ball now. Then he'd really be alone. Freaky.

She nodded and smiled at Treyen. And he didn't say much about what she was going to dress as. So, she was safe in picking her own costume. Hah.

And then... Err. A food fight started? By the people SHE was talking to? Uhm... no. She was not partaking in a 'food fight'. Thank you very much.

With her wand still out, she cast a shield charm over herself. Hopefully to protect her from falling, wasted food. She quickly gathered a good bit of snacks on a plate, and took Treyen's lead and walked away. Only, she wasn't going to the staff table. Just across the room. To safety.

"Just clean it up..." Hecate said to the girl.

"Then don't do it!" Merlin! These children were terrible. "I'm taking 10 points from Ravenclaw. For that. Now. Who started this fight?" She asked still covered in pie.

"Yeah..." She said sarcastically, "It was pretty." She said and waited for her answers.

Yup, Arya liked JD's outfit. Very boy who never grows up.

"Hey, Ellie." The girl rocked back on her heals, nodding to the food on the table. "Better now that I have all these sweets." A grin spread across her face. Speaking of she needed to get more chocolate.

Kingsley did know a lot. Not just transfigurations either. She was pretty sure the man knew a lot about many of the other subjects. Her mind trailed for a bit as she nodded her head in agreement.

No more pokey the ruffles. Kinda made her want to poke them again. Weird how she liked ruffles when they were on others and not her.

And then there was a food fight. Arya wasn't really in the food fight mood. Particularly since she planned on eating most of it. She watched the fight as it began and ended with disinterest. When the potions professor headed over, and got pied in the face, she took that as her cue to leave.

Grabbing more chocolate, the girl skipped far away from the chaos.

Nia gave Raiden's hand a quick squeeze. She could tell he wasn't too pleased, even without being able to see his face. At least he was still anonymous...so long as he didn't go back to being moody. Silly kids. Ruining the fun the two Prefects had been having.

"Welcome," Nia replied quietly, glad of her Quidditch reflexes. The kid should be glad she'd got the shield up in time. Seventh years did not appreciate having to deal with this when they had far better things to be doing. Nor did they like wearing food. Unless it was a 'Claw Quidditch Party, an oversized cake and in the prescence of Becca and Jacob. But that was an entirely different matter.

If she got anything on her dress, Nia would not be a happy bunny. Nuh-uh.

It was only after she had stepped back for Lafay she saw the food heading on the prefect trajectory to make the hit. And glancing at where it came from, Nia's eyes widened.

Not a good move JD. And then, not even attempting the charm. She grinded her teeth, staring at him in disbelief. One of her own? Why JD, why?

She shouldn't have been surprised at the points loss. Given the event, ten was probably Lafay being nice. She gave JD a stern look. It was still disappointing. So much so, Ellie had walked off. Nia didn't blame her, it's what she'd be doing right now if she could. But duty...

Actually, Lafay was there to deal with it all now, right? And Nia had no desire to found out who started it, or be in the general vicinity of this mess. Time to make a quick exit, before she could get too annoyed on the points loss front.

"C'mon," she whispered, turning away from it all and heading...somewhere. She rolled her eyes and groaned. She shook her head, trying to clear it back to where they'd been before the interuption. Argh. "Where were we?"

...he had underestimated just how high the comedy factor would be with Lafay covered in pie. Turning his head slightly, knowing that the mask would hide his eyes from view if he did so, he held back what would have been a snort of laughter. Would have been, but wasn't, as he managed to keep it from slipping out. Good thing too, because the woman was a psycho sometimes and would probably take points from him for being there.

He almost wondered why she hadn't cast a shield, as she was a professor and supposed to be adept at magic, but he supposed that her focusing on Potions for most of her life and probably made her slow with wand reflexes.

No shame in that.

With Nia tugging on his hand to draw him away from the scene, he turned his attention away from the kids and nodded. They shouldn't really have to be all prefecty. Especially since he wasn't being Raiden tonight.

Giving a shallow sort of bow to the professor, lips never parting to speak a word, the young man turned to take his leave with Nia.

Though as he followed after her, his wand slipped into his hand and he cast a silent cleaning charm in the professor's direction, not particularly bothered to look and make sure she didn't block it or step out of its way. She'd likely come after them if she was left covered in pie and angry.

"I believe you were insulting me with made up words while trying your best to not turn me into a puppet." His irritation was still evident in his voice, however, and he was grossly out of character. "Sometimes I hate being a prefect."

EEP Simon looked at the Professor. "Well I was the one who shouted food fight and pied JD." Simon said truthfully he wasn't going to let anyone else take the blaim for something he had done, but he hadn't sort of forced them to join in, Simon could see that the Professor didn't buy his excuse but he was going to stick by it.

"joey starts to clean up the floor mess with a mop and wash colth.she clean up everything.i'm finsh cleaning up the mess.

Good, he was following her. She didn't want to neglect her duties. But, this way was safer. The sitaution was being handled by a supposedly responsible adult, and the usual loyality she felt for her 'Claws had been tainted with disappointment and almost shame. They could deal with the consequences.

Seeing Raiden's dipped bow, Nia figured she should probably react to the Professor's presence too. She gave a polite curtsey, her face unreadable as she tried to cover her annoyance at the disruption.

And then she turned, lifting the skirt of her dress so it wouldn't catch on any stray acky food. Catching the movement of Raidens' hand in the corner of her eye, she looked at him curiously. Had he just done something? She couldn't tell. She'd just got the slightest gimpse of movement in her peripheral visual. It might have been nothing but the swing of his arm.

She slipped her wand away, and looked to him as he recalled the conversation. "Oh yes," she said with a nod, still trying to shake away what she was feeling towards those kids (and particularly the 'Claws) right now. But the sound of Raiden's voice, he was doing the same. "Dollop head," she stated, trying to break through that annoyance and irritation. "Though, clot pole would work too." Her lip twitched.

She wasn't going to highlight the fact she'd been failing at the whole not stealing his will thing. And she didn't need to, because she pulled him into a hug at his next statement. "You're a good one though," she said as she wrapped her arms round him. He'd have a harder job negotiating her wings if he wanted a proper hug. "It's fine. Sorted." Well, she hoped it was sorted, by leaving it with Lafay. Hopefully the incidence hadn't annoyed him so much that he didn't want to stay. Because that would be sad times indeed.

Safely away from the idiocy that had just occurred, Raiden leaned against the wall once more, one hand automatically rising to rub his face in annoyance. However, with the mask there... well he ended up with his hand on the mask instead.

Merrrr.

At least he hadn't gotten anything on his shoes to track around the area. Almost tiredly, he dropped his hand and his eyes went back to Nia, who was obviously still just as displeased as he.

"Right. Dollop head and clot pole." He managed to edge the irritation out of his voice, and replaced it with amusement. "You often make up insults, then? Naughty angel, indeed."

He let her wrap her arms around him, pulling a bit away from the wall to give them a place to go, and let his head lean down onto her shoulder. One arm moved awkwardly around her to her back, fingertips twitching and pulling back when they felt the feathers from the wings.

He liked hugs. They tended to kill frustration and annoyance pretty effectively.

"We're both good at our jobs. Unfortunately though, it tends to distract us from things at just the wrong moment."

Which just plain sucked.

"That was it. They only get one tonight. I'm officially off-duty." He lifted his head and looked at her. "My date should also be, as well."

As he leant back, she cast a quick glance back at the food table. So early in the evening too. She smoothed her dress from where she had lifted the skirt, and let her eyes close as she breathed out slowly. Upon opening them, Raiden's hand was touching his mask again. It must be weird going touch your face and finding only fabric...

Nia's lip twitched again as she caught the amusement in his voice. A smile slowly crept across her lips. "Not often," she answered, a bit more brightly than she had previously looked. "They are reserved for the right people." She smirked. "Personally tailored to suit the requirements." She laughed lightly. "I could try being the cringeworthingly prefect angel, if you'd rather," Nia remarked, after thinking about the naughty thing. But this version had to be so much more fun, right?

He was so considerate, even leaning forward so she could hug him fully without getting crushed fingers. She felt his own fingers having a harder job, catching on the feathers. Whether he just wanted to avoid damaging them or whether were simply tickly, she didn't ask. She just enjoyed the embrace, letting the irritation seep away from her.

Both good, seriously? He did an amazing job. Nia was doubtful of her own abilities, however. She was far better suited to Captain. She had enjoyed her stint as Prefect more than she'd thought she would, given the circumstances, but Captain was where her heart would be, if given the choice. "Definitely the wrong moment," she muttered, laying her ear onto his shoulder.

Prefecting brought certain perks - but it had downsides too.

He was taking the night off? Whoa. She was shocked, but admired him too. It was probably about time he time off from the stresses of being a Champion, and Prefecting and NEWTs looming. She was proud he'd made such a decision. It was all too easy to wear yourself down by trying to do too much at once."

"Me off duty too?" She thought about it, very tempted. "I'll accept severe and drastic emergency responses only," she replied, making a decision. "I'm not as disguised as you are." She looked up at the staff table - she didn't want them to think she was just being lazy if something else was to occur. "And that way, I can make sure you are true to your word." By doing the job herself where necessary. With any luck though, they shouldn't nave to worry, and that food fight was it for the night.

About to at least try to use tergeo, JD jumps when the professor cried not to do it. He at that point took a step back, his foot squishing into more food on the floor, thankfully not falling again. Lowering his head when she mentioned losing 10 points, he nods. It could have been worse, like 50 or 100 and for that he was thankful.

Waiting for the blow to come down on the detentions and how many he'd have to suffer...she'd mentioned through the end of term, so he figured he was doomed for sure now. Looking up as she asked who had started it, he wasn't going to tattle on Simon, because they'd both done it.

When Simon replied, he shook his head "I'm at fault too, ma'am. I didn't have to return smushing the pie in his face or throw mashed potatoes either."

His eyes widening in horror as the younger Ravenclaw attempted to clean her up with a mop, he groans, doing a facepalm. He totally couldn't help it, who cleaned people up with a mop!?!?

"Do you think i'm cleaning her i'm cleaning my face and the floor she laughed.if i cleaned her with a mop i was have hell to pay.

Mmmm! Food table. This was definitely Carter's part of any ball. He looked around quickly just to make sure that Destiny (and her cat) weren't around. Not seeing them he smiled. He grabbed a plate and began piling it high with food.

Hecate was just going to leave when she found herself looking at her prefect. He bowed to her and then effortlessly took care of the mess that was the pie covering her. She nodded her head at her prefect. She knew she could count on the boy.

"You two will head to detention. I will send a note to each of you when it will take place. This will be discussed there." And if there is another food fight, whether or not you started it, I will hold you personally accountable for it.

"Less talking, more cleaning!" She said to the child.

His eyes still lowered, he nods silently. He knew he was in major trouble, but didn't dare meet Simon's eyes if he did he knew they'd both burst out laughing. Even with the detention looming, he couldn't believe he'd actually hit Lafay in the face with a pie!