With a swift wrist movement and muttering "Episkey," just in case he couldn't perform it non-verbally with many things on his mind, Evan let go of her hand. Better not to hold it for too long. He knew Mina was safely in her common room; he was more worried for Sophie's reaction now. "I can also clean your clothes," he said, twirling the wand in his hand lightly. She really should NOT wander like that around all up to the 7th floor... she might scare off people.

Oh, they just talked?! He copied her sigh with a roll of eyes of his own. Right. Finn hadn't flirted, he was all friendly. "Look Sophie, I won't go into detail. But from what Marie had told me, he first starts with only talking, then he will break your heart. Please..." Yeah, he had been there when Marie broke up with that Jim boy, and the next thing Evan knew, Marie was on his shoulder crying because of Finn. He certainly didn't need Sophie crying for him too, not after she was heartbrok in the summer by Evan himself.

"WhatdoyoumeanIcan'tstayaway?!" he questioned in a breath, anger level rising slightly. "Just, cancel it, I dunno! I can go for you if you want!" Seriously, these Gryffindors were sometimes too slow, too willing to please people. Did they not know of a phrase 'to turn down'? That was what she was going to do exactly. Turn. Him. Down. Problem solved.

Oh, great. Now she was thinking he was being jealous. "I'm not jealous," he said, patiently. "I am only warning you. I certainly don't want you to be sad, and definitely not for him. He is bad, Soph... Not a good guy to 'patrol around' the deserted corridors... especially when he is single." He took a small step towards her, looking into her eyes. Why did girls always have to fall for the 'bad guy's?

"And let's keep Mina out of this, shall we?" he added, as an after-thought. She had nothing to do with this... and he didn't want neither girl to think bad for the other.

With a little whisp of his wand Evan made the pain in her wrist go away. Sophie really needed to master that very handy spell. Looking herself over she grimaced and nodded "Yes, clean my clothes too if you can. Madam Donovan will probably freak out if she sees me like this. And thanks my wrist stopped aching."

Echoing Evan eye roll sophie did the same. "Everyone keeps saying Finlay is a flirt. So what? Sebby my ex-boyfriend was a flirt too if you remember? I'm not going to do anything stupid. I know what I would be getting myself into." She extend a hand to give Evan's wand arm a squeeze "It's cute of you to be so protective of me even if you aren't jealous. But really its not needed I don't even know if he likes me enough to flirt with me. We just bumped ino each other by accident."

Honestly though why was everyone trying to make a hen out of a feather? Nothing had happened! She wasn't even sure if it something would happen but she hoped for that. To please him Sophie said "I can ask Ivy to come along if I patrol with Finny, Would that satisfy you?"

Giving her a pleasant smile to show it was nothing, Evan raised his wand once more to perform "Tergeo," on the blood-covered areas. "Not only her, everyone will freak out," he said as he finished his spell. "There, better." She didn't look like a murderer anymore... definitely much better, like the nice prefect she was.

Oh, so she knew what she was getting into, did she? Not only had that statement just CONFIRMED that she was indeed interested in Finn, but it also showed she knew little. "Oh, and we saw how that Sebby relationship turned out to be," he interrupted her in a strained voice. He didn't want to bring up past, but she had started it. Pausing for a moment to look into her eyes through narrowed eyes, he said "You are feeling something for him, don't you?" She couldn't even deny it, because she had just confirmed so. And he hadn't even started flirting, so she had claimed! Hmpf.

"I'm not being cute there," he said in a serious tone. He looked out for her best interest. Considering the offer for a moment, he nodded at last. "Fine, have Ivy. And don't go any more patrols."

Man! This place is large! No, no…for a corridor it is HUGE! Gwen walked towards the staircase and started climbing the stairs slowly, admiring the portraits which were hanging nearby.

Suddenly, the staircase started moving and Gwen, thanks to her phenomenal balance, almost fell down. WHAT?!?, she thought, trying not to scream. After having panicked, she remembered what she had read about the staircases at Hogwarts.

Then, she began smiling. It’s just like Disneyland…., she thought.

Moving shoes were HARD. Especially when they were twice the size of your head. Sitting down on his hind legs, the puppy tilted his head as he stared at the shoe. Woody needed to show Jayce what he had found! Jayce would be SO PROUD of him. Staring at the shoe, he began contemplating ways to lift it up ALL OF THOSE STAAAAIRS. Puppy!frown.

Deciding there was really no way around it, the puppy began thinking. And thinking brought the dog to do what he liked most.

Tongue lolling out, the pup stood upright, and backed up as he stayed low to the ground. With his tail and back end in the air, he dog began wagging it back and forth slowly. But then, without warning, he sprang forward on all paws clumsily as he attacked the shoe.

NOOOM. RIIIP. SHREEEEEED. Teaaarrr. The pup sat there, chewing on the shoe because he could think of nothing else to do.

Vashti was making her way down to the Great Hall, hungry as always, but especially so after the hour she'd spent studying. Who knew reading through a textbook for an extended amount of time could make you so hungry? She did, of course. Good thing it was time to eat because going down all these flights of stairs just to get to the Great Hall was tiring enough. She didn't want to have to go down yet another flight to get to the kitchens.

She was halted in her journey when she heard a ripping sound - and saw a cute ickle puppy dog at the bottom of the stairs. AWWW A PUPPY!!

"Hey there little guy," she said sweetly as she jogged down the last few steps to kneel down by the little creature. "What've you got there, hmm?" she asked, spotting the very ripped up object the puppy had his teeth into.

CHEWCHEWCHEWCHEW. NOMNOMNOMNOMNOM.

Shoes were TASTY. Woody simply couldn't get enough. He was addicted to shoes. If he had been a person, he probably would have been sent to Shoe Addicts Anonymous. But no, he wasn't human even though he did think of himself as one at times.

HE HEARD VOICES! The puppy paused and tilted his head upward spotting a human standing up the stairs. He wagged his tail furiously as she grew closer. AND LOOK! She wore shooooes! The puppy's eyes gained a tiny twinkle of evil in them as the shoes filled his vision.

As she grew closer and knelt beside him, the puppy backed up a bit and laid low to the ground although his back end was in the air. This was called his pouncing position. His tail began swaying back and forth slowly before he sprang forward onto the girl's shoes. Then, he attempted to dig he teeth in to them. NOMNOM.

Jayce frowned, as he walked around the third floor. He couldn't believe that the puppy managed to get out of the dorms again.

Jay jogged down the moving staircase, taking them two at a time. Where in the world has that pup gotten off to? He missed a step in the process and went tumbling down the stairs. SECOND TIME. He'd done that last year. Not fun. But as he hit the bottom, he managed to knock into someone.

OWWWWW.

He was ripping a shoe...and it probably belonged to someone. But who? Should she try to take it? Nahh, he was TOO cute. How could she take something from such a-

GAAAAAHHH!

HER FOOT WAS BEING ATTACKED! *flail*

"Whoa! Agh! Hey! Stop! Stop that!" she cried while moving her foot jerkily around to try and shake the animal off her shoe. It didn't seem to be working though, so she then lifted her foot up a little, hoping the higher altitude would encourage the puppy to let go...

Bad idea.

"EEEEEEP!" She was suddenly ATTACKED from the side, which, as she was already off-balance with only one foot on the ground, knocked her completely off balance and land with a hard thump! on her side on the ground.

Ugh...

Owww...

Sophie looked on as Evan cleaned her from looking like someone who was all blood covered to a presentable prefect again. Giggling slightly she nodded "I know. Thanks for fixing my clothes. Now I almost look presentable. I’m still swinging by the prefect bathroom to clean my face and hands before I see Madam Donovan."

Why had she brought Sebastian up? It didn’t help her case it seemed since Evan only pointed out how bad it had turned out protesting she said "Sebastian didn’t dump me because he didn’t like me. He dumped me because his family was moving away and he wasn’t going to come back to Hogwarts." There she had shown that that hadn’t been her fault even if she had ended up heartbroken.

As Evan narrowed her eyes at her Sophie gulped and admitted "I might be feeling something for Finlay, yes but I don’t know if it’s a crush or anything like that. I’ve only spoken to him once remember?" Evan turned serious on her again which made her smile at him. "I know you are only looking out for my best interest Evan and I love you for that but I have to make my own mistakes. If it does or doesn’t work out with Finlay is written in the stars at this point…."

Evan shrugged. "You're welcome," he muttered, glancing backwards for a moment to see where they were. It seemed like the third floor, and the stair had stopped moving now. They could get off here, and then she could go to library... then he frowned. Why was she even going to her head of house? Finn was from Ravenclaw, as far as he knew... Eyeing her, he asked "Why aren't you looking for Vindictus?" It was only occuring to him now... So much for Finn excitement.

"All the same--he still dumped you," he said in an emotionless tone. And Finn wouldn't even dump her, he would flirt and flirt and she would learn about it herself. Much more sadness over an idiot who probably bribed the Sorting Hat to put him in Ravenclaw.

Checking his watch, he sighed. He should be going to the Great Hall, or he would have to send a firstie to kitchens to bring him food go down the kitchens himself.

He put his hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. "Look Sophie, love isn't a mistake to be done. You'll hurt yourself badly. So, please listen to the sanity and save yourself from him, OK?" Looking around again to make sure the stair wasn't moving, he grabbed his bag and ball and looked up again. "I need to go now to catch the meal time, but please don't do anything stupid with him, o'right?" With that he smiled at her and climbed the stairs down, past her, to The Great Hall.

NOMNOMNOM SHOOOOOOEE. It was tasty. He paused for a moment, looking up at the girl. Why was she yelling? Why did people yell when he played with them and their tasty shoes? AND WOAAAHH

Now he was in the air! He chomped on harder, holding on with his little teeth for dear life. Puppy did NOT like heights. He was scared. Whimper.

OUUUUUUCCCHH. That hurt. That really hurt.

Rubbing his head as he came to a halt, the boy frowned and sat up. That was PAINFUL. And he most certainly did not want to do that again. Thank Merlin he wouldn't be in this school for much longer. He couldn't afford any more brain damage pain.

BUT WAIT! There were things to attend to first! He hopped up quickly and spoke with similar speed. "Ohmerlinohmerlin. I'm so SO sor-" Pause. He knew that face. "Oh. It's you." You had a name, but he wasn't really thinking about that right now. "I didn't kill your or anything, ri-" Another pause. He noticed a small mass of reddish brown fur. "YOU FOUND WOODY!" He beamed and scooped up the puppy into his arms.

"You okay boy? I didn't hurt your little paws in the fall did i?" But as he touched one of the dogs paws, the dog yelped in pain and whimpered after Jay took his finger away. "Oh no."

OH RIGHT. VASHTI. "You okay?" he mumbled in her direction.

Jogging up the staircase to the fourth floor, Thea grabbed onto the strap of her bag as it slipped from her sohulder and nearly fell.

As she stumbled, the stairs jerked underneath her. Oh no.. Grabbing onto the banister, Thea looked about sending her earings swinging slightly. Merh. Great, the syaircase decided to go on a bit of a wander...

Sitting down on the step, Thea leant her head to the side and fiddled with the laces on her shoes..

It was the end of classes for that day, and Eino was on a cheerful mood. Having just had a strange experience in Transfiguration with that Shaw person, Eino was more than ready for an afternoon of relaxation. Later he would have to go down to the grounds to make sure the Bowtruckles weren't anywhere near the fairy eggs again, but for now he had to go all the way up to the Ravenclaw Tower. On his way he noticed a younger student, a Gryffindor as the crest on her robe identified her, who seemed to be having some problems with the moving staircase. It had been over two years and Eino still wasn't used to them. "My buttons! Are you alright?" He said as he approached her. He had seen the girl slightly off balance and now she was sitting, so he suspected she had hurt herself.

Ok.. how long had she been sitting here now? These staircases had started to make her feel a bit ill if she was honest..
She jumped slightly as she heard somebody call out to her.

Turning her head, she brushed her dark hair back to see an older student standing there. Looking him up and down she took in his blond hair and stocky build. Realising the stairs had stopped moving, Thea stood up. 'Yeah, yeah I'm fine!' She smiled. 'Just took me by suprise a bit..'

"That is relieving to hear." Eino said in response along with a nod. He then took a good look at the staircase, put his hands on his hips and shook his head. "And to think that Rowena Ravenclaw is responsible for these! Surely she should have made them a bit safer." They could at least give some sort of warning as they were about to change, like those Muggle street light things that indicated when it was safe to cross the road. "Oh, dear me, where are my manners!" He said bowing slightly, then extended his hand. "I am Eino, a third year Ravenclaw."

Thea grinned as the boy placed his hands on his hips, and raised her eyebrows slightly as he did a little bow.
'I'm Thea-Aurora, first year Gryffindor.' She took his hand and shook it, smiling at the boy. He looked older than a third year, she had been expecting him to say he was in his fifth year, at least anyway!

Tucking her dark hair behind her, she put her hands inside the pockets of her robes. 'Sorry if I got in your way..' She mumbled. 'I could tell you were on your way to somewhere..' Thea fiddled with the strap of her bag again.

"Delightful to meet you, Thea-Aurora!" He returned with yet another bow. He had no idea why he was bowing, but it seemed appropriate to do so. He did suspect she was young, and he was right, she was a first year. He could remember during his first year he was so afraid of the staircase that he couldn't go all the way down to the dungeons, so he missed Potions and was scolded by the one and only Professor Lafay. Still the staircase was up to no good. He shook his head in disapproval. At her apology he replied: "You weren't in my way..." Or was she? He turned around and then turned back at the girl with a confused look on his face. "Just now I was certain I was going somewhere, but I seem to have forgotten where I was headed off to." He was now speaking mostly to himself, but loudly enough for the Thea to hear him. He scratched the back of his head as he examined his surrounding looking for a clue as to what his destination might be, but eventually gave up. "Where were you off to?"

Again, she giggled as Eino bowed once more. 'You don't have to keep bowing you know..!' She smiled, her tounge sticking out slightly. She was glad he ha dstopped to talk to her, knowing her luck Thea'd probably still be sitting on the stairs.. her bum getting number by the minute.
She chewed her lip. 'The library.' Thea wrinkled her nose, slightly. 'But I have loads of time to go there.' She told him. Craning her necl, Thea looked at the many portraits on the walls. She loved the portraits, and was often chatting with them. Some were very friendly, others.. well.. not so much really. The torches on the walls fflickered, casting shadows on the walls.
'Nice to meet you too.' Thea smiled, turning back to Eino.

He really didn't have to bow, and it wasn't a habit he usually had, so he was unsure as to why he was doing it now. The library... Was he going to the library, too? No, he had been there just yesterday, he remembered! He checked out a book about fairy eggs-- "Dear me, I do believe I recall where I was off to!" He interrupted his own thoughts. He was going to put his backpack and books in his chest in the dormitory then visit the grounds for some... field research. "Oh!" He said as he returned his attention to Thea. How rude of him to momentarily ignore her presence. "And what will you do there?" He asked knowing that there wasn't a wide variety of things one could do in the library, but he was curious nonetheless.

'Um..' She raised her eyebrows in suprise. 'Homework stuff.. stuff I really don't like doing really..' She wrinkled her nose again. 'For some subjects I don't mind homework.. I suppose..'

She grinned at his tone. 'You can go if you like, it's not rude.' Thea smiled. Thea had no idea where to go or what to do.. She had plenty of time for the library and she had lost Matt completely. She bit her lip. She'd find him later..
'So, where was it you were going?.. If you don't mind me asking.' Thea smiled.

She didn't like homework? "What a curious being..." He said leaning forward and examining her like she was some sort of alien. Eino enjoyed doing homework. Well, Borr's homework was rather tedious but he was keeping up with it as much as he could. Everything else he enjoyed doing very much, especially when it required field work. He nodded. "My my...." He said after pausing for several seconds. "Just now I did remember I was going to..." He forgot again. "No matter." He said waving his hands in the air. He was going to do what he always did when he forgot to go somewhere: walk around until it came to him. Eventually it would, even if it took a couple hours, but it would. "I will let you know when I know where I am to go." He usually wrote these things down, but he couldn't find a destination written on his notebook, so he would just have to wait to remember.

Thea giggled slightly as the boy leant forward.
She rubbed her arm, listening to Eino. Thea only liked.. Divination, CoMC and Herbology. The DADA homeowrk was totally not what she had expected for a first assignment. It was tiresome, and made Thea irritated and tired.
'Okay, you do that.' She grinned, nodding in agreement.

Hitching her bag further onto her shoulder, Thea leant on the banister. 'You could come to the library with me if you like, I may aswell go now. ' She sighed, and get it over and done with..

"I suppose I could..." Eino said as he pondered. Truth be told he didn't have many options. It was either the library or to roam the castle until he could remember what he had set out to do. Although, whatever it was that he had to do mustn't be too important if he forgot it so often. Hr pursed his lips and squinted one eye on deep consideration. "I shall accompany you." He finally decided, tossing his arms in the air. He might as well, and if he remembered on his way he would resume to his original task, otherwise he would just spend the rest of his day in the library. "Only one more floor!" He said pointing up and urging Thea to follow him as he ran up the stairs, tripped, nearly fell, recovered, and ran up the steps again.

Presley climbed up the stairs with her books stacked high in her arms. She gripped the hand-rail tightly as the staircase shifted. She hated that. It made her feel sick, not controlling her own motion. When the stairs stopped with a slight jerk, Presley gasped in suprise as her books went flying everywhere, and she tumbled down. She hit the bottom, and all of the air rushed out of her lungs. She couldn't breathe, she was paralyzed and suffocating! Presley started to panic. She quickly called back the excersices she'd learned. Take a calming breath, and think through the situation. okay, she'd simply fallen down the stairs. Presley breathed deeply and stood up to begin gathering her books. She was pretty sure she would have a couple of wicked bruises, but the damage seemed to be minimal. Thank Merlin.

Oh. It's you.

That was all he had to say?

Merlin's beard. What kind of a response was that after rudely knocking someone down? And then his attention was on the puppy. Gee, thanks, friend.

Vashti got to her feet slowly, feeling rather sore, and she felt a pang of pity for the shoe attacker puppy when she heard it yelp, but right now she was annoyed with the monster's puppy's owner, so she didn't say anything.

Oh. Now he was asking if she was okay. "Yeah, sure, just peachy," she answered flatly. "You and your pet monster okay?"