Gripping the broom tightly Lex's eyes ran up the wall and stopped only when they landed on the wide window. There was no mistaking it. That was Headmistress Truebridge's office and one way or another, she was going to get in! She swallowed hard and looked at the distance she would be flying. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad. The worst that could happen would be her falling...gulp...then getting hurt...and having to see the healer...O___O

No! She couldn't harbour such thoughts right now; not when she had a hat to teach a lesson to! In fact the longer she stayed down here was the more likely that she would be caught red-handed with the broom she had swiped from the broomshed.

That being the case she mounted the broom and kicked off from the floor. This wasn't her first time flying one but the nerves inside her were making her shake, leading to a very shaky rise from the ground. She decided to simply rise until she was at the height of the window and once she was up there she leaned over to check that the office was empty. Lex sighed in relief when she couldn't find anyone inside--and what luck! The Headmistress had left her window open. Why wouldn't she? No one expected a student to fly in.

Steadily she eased herself threw the window and did a crash landing on the table, scattering the contents that were once neatly organized...she would have to fix that before she left.

Aha!

The hat she was looking for was perched on whatever that thing was to the corner of the room. She leaned the broom against the desk and hurried over to it with a smirk. "Hellooooo Mr. Hat. Do you remember me?"

Ah yes, the foolish Gryffindor, I suppose you've come to make good on your little threat? The hat mused as if it wasn't even in the least bit intimidated. This displeased Lex. She had stolen a broom and flown in through a window, being taken seriously would have been nice.

"Heh, I guess now you'll see why you shouldn't go against what I say. I told you I should have been a Ravenclaw but you just thought you were a little know-it-all and stuck me somewhere else--though really I like my house, it's so nice."

The hat sighed. Then you seriously expected me to put you in Ravenclaw? That house is meant for the clever and the clever would never get themselves in the situation you're in.

Alright, she'd heard enough. Lex reached into her pocket and pulled out a small container of gravy she had collected from the kitchen. Here's to hoping you taste good." She said as she began plopping gravy all over the dusty old thing. When it was pretty well covered she squeezed her eyes shot then latched on to a piece of it with her teeth.

...

Shoes in hand, Annie calmly stepped off the spiral staircase that led to her door and tapped it once with her wand. Of course it only opened to her and those who had the password, so she wasn't expecting anyone to see her shoeless here.

She didn't look half as scary without those extra three inches, after all.

Sighing to herself, Annie dropped the shoes just inside the door and headed over to her desk.... only someone had already beat her to it. The redhead froze, her eyes taking in the scene. Broomstick by the girl. Desk a mess. Window ajar.

Sorting Hat..... coated in gravy. "STOP!" she cried in a panic. "STOP! Take that hat OUT OF YOUR MOUTH THIS INSTANT." Annie rushed over to the girl, wand out, and attempted to summon the ancient hat from her mouth. When that didn't provide instant results, she started whacking the girl with her wand hand and trying to tug the hat out of her mouth with the other.

"THAT HAT IS A SCHOOL TREASURE!"

Lex gripped the hat firmly with her teeth and tried ripping a nice chunk from it. If she tore off a piece then they would have to believe that she tried eating the sorting hat--it would be like one of those permanent marks that everyone, hat included, would always remember "Bloody hat, should have listened to me!" Her words were muffled by the hat in her mouth.

Get off me this instant!

She got set to really rip the hat a part, feeling the fabric already succumbing to her canines when suddenly the door flew open. Her heart stopped and her muscles all tensed as she watched the redheaded woman walk into the room.

For a moment she thought that standing perfectly still would make her invisible but that clearly wasn't the case when the woman began yelling at her. Even then it didn't occur to her that she should have removed the hat from her mouth so her teeth were still firmly latched on. Her eyes went wide when the woman rushed over to her and began whacking her but not before giving her a near heart attack by pointing her wand in her direction!!! For a moment the poor child saw her life flash before her eyes. Then it finally came to her. Let go of the hat!!!!

Her mouth opened immediately and the hat was released. She blinked up at the woman, not sure how she'd explain this one...

Oh thank MERLIN she had dropped it! Anastasia really had been dreading grabbing that drool-soaked hat from the girl's mouth. To keep her off it, she quickly moved her wand from whacking the girl to levitating the headwear out of reach.

Out of reach for a short firstie, anyway. Annie watched the poor hat rotating around in its state of levitation and took a moment to collect herself, and to right her precious photographs that had been knocked over. She took a deep breath and then GLARED at the invader.

"Explain yourself." NOW.

O___O

Explain herself...? As in, now? She wanted her to actually talk and tell her why she had gone through so much and ended up breaking into he office? Lex swallowed hard. That wasn't exactly the nicest story she could think of and didn't know why anyone would want to hear such a horrible story. How's about the story of Cinderella instead? She had always been a fan of that one...

No...?

Okay. Alexa took a deep breath, feeling herself shrink under the glare of the rather intimidating woman. "Well you see...it's a long story..." Her hand subconsciously moved to the spot on her head that she had been whacked. It was throbbing a bit and she was sure the fear that was rising in her was only making it worse. "but I'm sure you don't have time for a long story so I'll make it quick. Ms. Lainey told me I would have to eat the sorting hat if I wasn't sorted in Ravenclaw and well...as you can see by the robes...I'm a Gryffie..." That was basically it. If anything that wretched Lainey woman should have been getting the lecture for tricking her into the bet in the first place!

Wow. Really? That was it? This girl was a Gryffindor, and Gryffindors were supposed to be good at getting into and out of trouble. Apparently the hat HAD been mistaken when Sorting this one. Anastasia just folded her arms and gave the girl a long, solid LOOK.

"You do realize that Lainey was speaking figuratively, right?" Dear Merlin, if she didn't know that, then she didn't deserve to be at Hogwarts. "I think a bit of detention is in order for you, Alexa, so that you learn that actions," she gestured toward the window, the broom, the desk, and the hat, "speak louder than words. Your actions here clearly show that you do not have the maturity level and intelligence ability necessary for success at Hogwarts. So we're going to work on that, starting tonight at 8:00 pm."

She smirked and then picked up the broom, marching over to slam down the window as well. "Meet me in the Trophy Room. Do NOT be late."

Lex couldn't help but disagree and she started doing so first by shaking her head frantically. "No, no she wasn't!" She insisted. "The lady bent over and sniffed me then said I wasn't Ravenclaw material--then she offered to eat elf food if I got sorted as a Ravenclaw and told me I'd have to eat the hat if I didn't....that doesn't sound very figurative to me..." Not that she knew what figurative sounded like...

Alexa blinked up at the woman as she began giving an animated lecture about consequences. Somehow it didn't seem as fun as when her old teachers use to try doing it. In fact...she was almost sure that the woman had begun insulting her intelligence.

Her eyes went wide when she heard that she had to serve a detention. SERIOUSLY?!?! BUT THIS WAS ALL THAT BLOODY WOMAN'S FAULT!!! She felt like screaming that too but didn't want to have her slap another detention on her or something so she kept quiet--

"WHAT?!"....until she heard that. "B-But...I like to relax in the common room at that hour...p-plus I have homework." She complained and as a finishing touch. And I think you might have really hurt my head with that wand of yours...I think I might have a concussion tonight or haemorrhage as soon as I leave this office!" Yeah she was desperate, can you tell?

But she knew the case was lost when the woman slammed the window shut then told her not to be late. SIGH.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

Lex couldn't help but disagree and she started doing so first by shaking her head frantically. "No, no she wasn't!" She insisted. "The lady bent over and sniffed me then said I wasn't Ravenclaw material--then she offered to eat elf food if I got sorted as a Ravenclaw and told me I'd have to eat the hat if I didn't....that doesn't sound very figurative to me..." Not that she knew what figurative sounded like...

Alexa blinked up at the woman as she began giving an animated lecture about consequences. Somehow it didn't seem as fun as when her old teachers use to try doing it. In fact...she was almost sure that the woman had begun insulting her intelligence.

Her eyes went wide when she heard that she had to serve a detention. SERIOUSLY?!?! BUT THIS WAS ALL THAT BLOODY WOMAN'S FAULT!!! She felt like screaming that too but didn't want to have her slap another detention on her or something so she kept quiet--

"WHAT?!"....until she heard that. "B-But...I like to relax in the common room at that hour...p-plus I have homework." She complained and as a finishing touch. And I think you might have really hurt my head with that wand of yours...I think I might have a concussion tonight or haemorrhage as soon as I leave this office!" Yeah she was desperate, can you tell?

But she knew the case was lost when the woman slammed the window shut then told her not to be late. SIGH.

And that was Professor Lainey for you. Anastasia just sighed and shook her head dramatically. Dumb Gryffindor. Clearly, if she didn't know when to take something literally and when not to, then she didn't belong in Ravenclaw. And Lainey probably knew that when she made that silly comment to the girl.

She'd be hearing from the Headmistress later, oh yes she would.

"Save your excuses," the redhead cut the girl off, holding up one palm. "I don't want to hear it. You have nothing wrong with you, but if it makes you feel better, I'll request the Healer look in on you during detention. And by the way, if I don't see you at 8, I have no problems in dragging you down from your common room by the hair on your head."

And then she'd be seeing the girl EVERY NIGHT for the rest of the year, instead of just for the rest of the week. Had she mentioned that? That Alexa had a week's worth of detentions?

Oh well. It'd surely come up that evening. "You are dismissed now. Do NOT be late."

Flynn army rolled unceremoniously into the room landing in a semi-kneeling position, ring of keys jingling on his belt and ruining the stealthy nature of the entry. Looking up at the surroundings his mouth fell open in disgust. Pink. PINK. Just… way too much pink. The room reeked of perfume too, and cats. He hated cats. Standing up to his full height he continued to glance around at the repulsive decorating thinking it could be toned down with a stuffed squirrel or two and waited to see if the new boss lady was present.

It was not as if the password the the Headmistresses office was hard to guess. Really, you just had to be observant of people and what they did. Or rather, what they wore. And Anastasia's guilty pleasure was rather obvious.

After he had a few words with Ivy.

Slipping into the office, Scabior stopped in his tracks as the door closed behind him. It was not because of the pinkness of the room, nor was it because the tortured looking portraits of previous Headmasters and Headmistresses.

It was because of the man who was currently looking around the room in amazement. "Not to keen on pink?" His hands found their way into his pockets casually. "Don't worry you wouldn't have to look at it too long, the Headmistress will throw you out as soon as she sees you in here." And him as well, but that didn't need to be said.

Flynn turned his head and looked down at the young man raising his right eyebrow. Pointing a thumb at his chest and shaking the keys on his belt so the room rung with the sound he said, "I don't think so, pumpkin bread. Caretaker." He finished jingling the keys. "This is my castle, no area is off limits to me. And I have business with the inhabitant of this pink monstrosity. You, however..." He promptly pulled his spray bottle filled with a pungent orange mixture out of his utility belt and sprayed him in the face, pushing him toward the exit. Not that he particularly cared that someone else was here, but just more because he could.

Anastasia was in the back of her office, the place where no one ever went because it was her sleeping and living quarters, when she heard two distinct male voices in her office.

Who...? How....? WHY...???

She had to go investigate. But first, she had to coax Gingersnapple into his cat carrier. "Come on, Gingy, you knowww you don't like Hogwarts... it's all... drafty here, and there's all these rats, and there's no little boys who pull your tail..." Oh who was she kidding. The cat loved Hogwarts just fine; it was just her who didn't necessarily love the cat anymore. It was weird, uncharacteristic for the redhead even, but here she was, getting him ready to get shipped back home.

A few hisses and one tiny scratch to the hand later and the fat thing was back in his carrier. Annie threw a dirty look to the cat, muttered a few dark words about 'dealing with him later,' and then stalked out to see WHO ELSE was in her office.

She paused at the door to take in the scene. "Dash?" Annie's eyes immediately darted to the intruder, who would be... "Flynn?! I thought you'd quit."

If not, he was going to be fired shortly. "DID YOU JUST SPRAY HIM IN THE FACE?!" her voice rose an octave in shock. "You can't just SPRAY THE PROFESSORS, Flynn!" she marched over to him, wand flicking into her hand and summoning the spray bottle away from him. "What's in this anyway? And how did you get here?"

Oh yeah, and Dash. Annie stopped peering at the bottle to eye him up. "Are you all right?"

Watching the scene with perfect ease Flynn scrunched his face in thought looking up into the rafters. "Mostly pumpkin juice from memory, with a few other things thrown in for luck. Sadly it's not poisonous though so he'll be fine." Looking back down at the Headmistress his eyes light up with excitement. "Quit? No, I was merely striking to protest my working conditions. Which is exactly what I have come to see you about.” He took a small step closer and began the speech he had been practicing for days.

“I just have a few requests, simple things you know, just to help me do my job a bit better. I’ll go ahead and list them all out and you just let me know which ones we can make happen. I don’t expect all of them, but 90% should be reasonable right? Right.” He opened one of the pouches on his utility belt and removed a very wrinkled parchment list. It was clear it had been folded and re-folded many times over.

“One – a winged horse. There’s a lot of stairs you know, plus I could get into all those hard to reach corners. Bit of racing on the side… I’d call him Sebastian. I’ve got a great room all set aside to keep him in already so don’t worry about that.” As he was talking he held up one finger, counting along with his list. He flipped up another. “Two – a small portable igloo to keep drinks and snacks in. Three – some sort of cape style robe, perhaps with an ornamental ‘F’ on it to really make it stand out. It would help me do my job better, plus it would drape nicely over Sebastian,” he said quite sincerely, gesturing a flowing cape as he did so. “Four – a sword to accessorize. And five, my own team of house elves.” He finally looked up at the Headmaster, face expectant.

The Caretaker? Hogwarts had one? Scabior hadn't paid attention to that when he was in Hogwarts or even since he started teaching. Why in the world would Hogwarts need a caretaker when it already had a small army of house-elves? "Wow. So you have the lowest job in the castle by cleaning the school and so that makes it yours." Dash started off dryly. In that case perhaps things should change in Hogwarts. Trouble makers deserved points and Sophia was actually a good Professor. You know since everything appeared to be backward in this mans head.

Unfortunately Dash didn't get time to say anything else. Or do anything. Or blink. Not before the oh so important Caretaker whipped out something from his belt and sprayed him right in the face. He did not see the colour of the liquid nor did he know what it was. The only thing Dash Scabior knew was that his eyes BURNED. It felt like he decided to use lemon juice for eyedrops.

Clutching his face with one hand he used the other to thrash at the other man, all while shouting a long stream of obscenities. Once he could SEE he would take a page from LAFAYS book.

Caretaker sur flambé.

Somewhere in mid trashing, the Headmistress had shown up. Dropping his thrashing arm, once the Caretaker was busy, he slowly lifted his hand from his face. Were his eyes still burning? Yes. Was it as bad as when it had first happened? That didn't matter. The Caretaker would be set on fire. Blinking once, then twice he turned his now bloodshot red eyes to the Headmistress. "I don't know. Let me spray you in the face with-" Pumpkin juice? No. That was not pumpkin juice. That was citric acids galore. "-that"He pointed at the bottle now in her hand. No, he was not alright. He was LIVID.

And someone just didn't care. Nope. Someone just went on listing all the things he wanted from this castle. "I can get you a winged horse. It probably won't be well trained. I can almost assure that you that it will attempt to throw you out of a window. Let me demonstrate." Dash piped up, before drawing his wand."Levicorpus."

"I don't think 'fine' is going to cut it with Mr. Scabior, Flynn," Anastasia responded to the caretaker in a lazy, bemused tone. She watched with a mere raised eyebrow as the History of Magic professor cast a levitation spell at him and took the opportunity to digest his list of demands...

...which she had conveniently snagged from his large hands. "There's already one Sebastian at this school. He's the groundskeeper." So that crossed 'winged horse' off his list. "Also, having a winged horse would only cause MORE messes for you to clean up, so....I'm going to go with a firm no for that one."

She snapped the parchment crisply and looked at the second demand. "Two and three are doable," she mused, "but four and five are both unnecessary and improbable. For one thing, you can't be trusted to use a simple spray bottle full of... whatever. How can I trust you to use a sword responsibly?" That was just a risk she was not willing to take. "Also, the House Elves work for me, and I am rather attached to the ones we have, so you won't be getting any of your own. In FACT," the Headmistress' blue eyes lit up with an evil gleam, "I could just replace you WITH House Elves, and for a much better price too!"

She smirked and tapped a glossy fingernail on the well-worn parchment. "How does that sound, Flynn? In response to all your requests to do your job better... I say you're not worth the trouble and are, really, quite replaceable. Do you still need all these things now?"

While excitedly waiting for an answer he felt an odd tugging sensation at his ankle. Beginning to look down he didn't even get to his knees before he was yanked sideways and then vertical, hanging 8 feet in the air to accommodate his almost 2m height. Blinking for a second he looked toward the annoying man who had a surprising yet extraordinary talent at swearing like a sailor for so young a person, and saw the wand in his hand. A slow smile began to break across his face.

“Ah, this takes me back to my days at the ministry… Aurors don’t tend to have a sense of humour either.” He folded his arms and just hung there completely calmly, gazing off into the distance for a few seconds clearly remembering something before bringing his eyes back to… Scabior was it? The name rang a bell in the back of his mind. His smile slid into a glittering smirk at the man before turning his gaze back to the pretty red headed lady who was perusing his list.

He listened as she considered the list, a bit disappointed when she said no to the horse and ruining his grand plans, but it didn’t at all show through his perfectly serene countenance. Of course he’d still get one, just in secret with no riding around the castle; at least during the day. All he heard after that point was that some of them were possible and his mind whirled with the possibilities. Completely ignoring the idea of being replaceable he said, “Ok. Counter offer. How about the igloo, the cape-robe, a new utility belt and I can get a crup to help hunt the rats?” Amongst other things, he thought. He continued to hang there upside down seemingly unaffected.

"Would you look at that, they must have rubbed off on me." He commented dryly. Scabiors days in the ministry did not make him more serious when it came to jokes, spraying someone in the face just wasn't a joke. His wand moved to the right, closer to the direction of the window, just because the man was smirking at him. Flynn wasn't going to be put down anytime soon.

House elves replacing the man? "I vote yes on that. He really is quite expendable. I mean just think of how much you'll save by not having to pay him." Hmm. He moved him even cloooser to the window. Turning his eyes to the red head he raised a brow, and gave a face almost to prove his point. "I've never seen a rat in Hogwarts." The guy was useless. Wasting, money. Dangerous.

They could just get rid of him now.

Laughing slightly maniacally he turned his calm gaze back to Scabior and said, "Of course you never see any rats. I hunt them, put out traps and baits... caught 16 of them yesterday. This is an old drafty castle, with holes everywhere, near a lake. They're everywhere!" He failed to mention what he did with them once he caught them. This pretty boy wouldn’t have a clue how to take care of a shoebox let alone a whole castle. His eyes drifted off again, fantasizing about rats overrunning the castle and scratching someone in his sleep. A smile slowly drifted back to his face which was starting to turn red from hanging by the ankles.

"I'll have my cousin design you a custom... robe, if you insist," Anastasia answered through clenched teeth, "but the crup and belt are up to you. Merlin knows you've been paid more than enough to afford both." Plus he had free rent, living here at Hogwarts and doing hardly any work.

She looked to Dash, her eyes twinkling, and found herself wanting to actually give him a raise now. Turned out the man was useful after all. "I have some students waiting on me, Dash, so if you would be so kind as to show Flynn the way out, that would be perfect. I do apologize if you also came here to speak with me about something, but I must be going. Thanks."

Annie scooped up her bag from her desk chair and sashayed out the door, making certain it clicked shut behind her. She trusted Scabior to lock up... and to deal with the caretaker however he saw fit. He wasn't her problem right now. He was Scabior's.

"Impressive you should put that on your resume. You'll need one when you're looking for a new job." Scabior responded dully. Pssh. 16 rats. More like 16 mice, 16 sugar mice at that. Scabior gave a slight nod to the headmistress in response. He would speak to her later on then, the journey from the first floor to the second was no where near tiring.

Once she left, and the door closed with a small click, all of his attention rested on the old caretaker. His face was starting to turn such a lovely colour! Smirking the History of Magic Professor swung his wand left and right. Cloooser to the window, faaaar from the window, cloooooser to the window-"Out the window or out the door?" He'd give him options.

Still unconcerned he dusted some lint from his chest and adjusted the utility belt around his waist. "I prefer the window actually, much more scenic," he said levelly. Two rats dropped from a pouch he'd unlatched on his belt and hit the ground with a thud, scurrying quickly toward the other man’s legs. Simultaneously he mumbled a spell under his breath while touching the wand also concealed in his belt and he was soon standing back on solid ground, albeit slightly dizzy, watching to see what would happen. Offhandedly he said, "It's funny that people seem to assume I don't know magic because I choose to do this job. And that certain people try to take advantage of those they see as unintelligent or vulnerable.”

"I was thinking the exact same thing." Shame the red head had not fired him. Then he would have a legitimate reason. He was actually prepared to let the old man go on the ground and let him go on with his job of cleaning the castle. He had really planned too. Until Flynn's pouch dropped and out of it came two rats.

Two rats that were coming toward his feet. Two rats that were inches toward his feet. Two rats-"Immobulus." The rats froze in place right as they started to nip at his shoes.

They were a distraction enough for the caretaker to turn himself right side up and on the floor once more. Looking away from the rats to the other man, Dash squinted. "Actually I assumed that you could do magic but enjoyed being a rat whisper much more." As for the unintelligent or vulnerable part?

Why yes Flynn. Yes you were. And was Scabior that kind of person? Anyone who had spent two seconds in the same room as the man knew the answer to that. "Would you like me to escort you out or do you think you are capable of finding your way around the castle now?" Perhaps he also wanted a cane with that cloak?

An easy carefree smile came to his now normal coloured face. "Oh, I know my way around this castle better than most, comes with years at the job. Secret passages, short cuts, back entrances to classrooms and professor quarters, you name it." He paused for a short second looking squarely at the arrogant young man, smile still in place before his eyes light up in excitement once more. "Now it's time for my new robe fitting. Don't be so serious all the time pumpkin bread, you'll get wrinkles." He scooped the rats up off the floor and strolled jauntily to the door.

Myrtle was loud enough to wake the dead, and perhaps her shouts might actually reach the caretaker this time: