After she left all of her sketches quite out of order, piled up somewhere in the dormitories, the fifth year decided to go out for a walk. She was indeed very curious to see what has changed since last year, and because it seemed to be quite a sunny day- why not start with the grounds? That sounded like a good plan. With hasty steps, the girl made her way down the stairs, thrilled to start exploring the castle and the grounds once again.

She only stopped for a second when she got on the first floor corridor. She didn’t really like this place. Ever since she got lost around here in her first year, she had been a bit hesitant when it came to passing around there. 'Good day', she eventually greeted some of the portraits, and stopped once again when she got closer to one of them...

Gwendolyn eyed it for a moment before continuing her walk. Though... Maybe she should stick around for a while? After all... she may come up with something for her own drawings. And,come to think about it... this place was kind of interesting...

There was only one thing on Lex's mind at the moment and that was seeing the portraits. Will had told her that they actually talked back so she was eager to see what they might say. What did portraits talk about all day anyway? They were pretty much stuck in the smae place all day right? Looking at the same walls over and over...and over

...Yeah...Lex was glad that she wasn't a portrait; they lived terribly boring lives!

She stopped for a minute at the staircase and took a look around...she didn't see anything...it wasn't until she saw a girl just a bit off that she was able to convince herself that she hadn't gone and gotten herself lost. That was a relief. The last thing she wanted was to go getting herself lost in a place like this. Nope. Being lost wasn't an option unless she was hoping to find adventure but as the case was, she wasn't trying to find adventure, she was trying to find the portraits.

"Hello!" She said, popping up next to the girl and giving her a wide smile. Lex was a bit bummed that it was another older kid but she was determined to try being friends with this one. If only older kids weren't always so mean and difficult. "I'm Alexa, what's your name?" Yup, name giving; check. She was well on her way to making friends...until an actual conversation started....

As she continued to walk around, Gwen continued to examine the portraits. Hmm. She had been meaning to finish one of the sketches she had started sometime at the beginning of the previous term. Maybe she could inspire herself from here? The Ravenclaw was once again lost in thought, and didn’t pay attention to what was happening around. She did hear footsteps approaching the place where she was standing, but didn’t give any importance to the person until... that other student started talking. All of a sudden. Gwendolyn drew her attention away from the portraits and tracked down the source of the voice, finally spotting one of the firsties she had seen at the sorting ceremony. ‘Hi...’, she greeted the girl, a bit hesitantly.

What did she want?

Gwen didn’t have to wait before the girl spoke up. ‘I’m Gwen’, she said curtly. Whatever it was that this girl wanted, Gwen couldn’t figure out. Psh. Talking to people all of a sudden... Though, she had a few things on her mind, so this made her even avoid rolling her eyes at the younger girl. She wasn’t in the mood to start arguing with firsties. She was not in the mood to make her go away either. Mehh. Just a first year... maybe a bit more promising than the ones she met before...

‘You are umm... one of the Gryffindors, right?’, the fifth year asked the younger girl, drawing her attention away from the portraits. She was almost sure about the house, since not long had passed since the sorting ceremony... not remembering details from the previous day would make her feel totally stupid. Hmph.

And now back to the portraits.

Lex wasn't sure if she should have tried continuing the conversation after hearing the hesitation in the girl's reply. She had had enough of them scowling at her for trying to be friendly. Honestly, she never thought she would have gotten on the nerves of so many of them in the space of one train ride and the feast that followed. Yup. She was done bugging older kids--okay....maybe not done...but she would do it with discretion!...Sort of...nevermind this was a lost cause.

And there it was. The girl gave her her name in return. A pretty good sign seeing as she didn't roll her eyes or scoff at her first. Yes this might very well not end badly.

A wide smile came across her face when the girl asked if she was a Gryffindor. "Yup!" GRIN. "I sure am!" It didn't take very long for her to develop a lot of pride in her house and actually now that she thought about it she couldn't think of any other house that she would rather be in. "And you're a Ravenclaw!" Captain Obvious. "I use to think that house was nice but after last night, nuh uh, terrible!" Referring to a horrific incident in which she saw her life flash before her eyes at the thought of scary bat-girl giving her a good beating for causing them to lose 55 points. Gulp.

Lex followed Gwen's gazed and saw that she had gone back to looking at the portraits. "I heard they talk...is it true...?" If they did then boy was she gonna have fun here!

Gwen continued to examine the moving portraits, but still listened to the younger girl talk. She only drew her attention back to the younger student in time to see the bright grin on the girl’s face when she confirmed that she was a Gryffindor. ‘Yes’, she said simply, with a smirk on her face. She was a Ravenclaw. But the smirk soon faded away... ‘What are you talking about?’ Not that she considered herself a very nice person, but her housemates were alright... most of them, anyway.

Now the girl made her curious, and Gwendolyn kept waiting for Alexa to tell her what happened. What could have Ravenclaws have done to upset her so badly? Though... maybe the Lion was dramatizing a bit? Or maybe not? Anyway, Gwen jus waited patiently for a reply.

She wanted to draw her attention back to the portraits, since she was there to try and come up with a few ideas for her own sketches. ‘Of course they talk’ Babble, mostly, but yes... they talk. That was the idea. ‘But the harder part is to make them stop’, the Ravenclaw said, with a small smirk on her face, before continuing to walk along the corridor.

Oh so this girl didn't know about the evil that was lurking around in her house? No, this simply wouldn't do! This one had to be warned before the girl became a social cannibal and started letting her own house mates lose points too

She would take her time and explain this to the best of her abilities so the girl would get her point. "Well long story short me and three others were put under a silencing spell by Professor Scabior and he told us that if anyone but him takes it off before the end of the feast then he would take 50 points from each of us. That girl found out and raised her wand at me, trying to take it off! She nearly did the first time but someone jumped in the way but nooooo she just had to do it again--and again until she took it off. Luckily someone put it back." Yup, and now she would never trust anyone who walked up to her with chocolates ever again!

And now that her moment of recollection was over she looked to the portraits when Gwen said they could talk. "Neat! Uh...they don't go telling your secrets and plans to Professors do they?" Because that could pose a potential problem. She didn't like thinking that they would rat her out because it made her thoughts a little less than friendly towards them.

Heh, if they knew what was good for them they would keep certain things to themselves, yes?

Glanmore Peaks had LOST it. Glanmore Peaks was ANGRY!

He didn't know how, but it was gone! There he was, one minute battling the BIGGEST, BADDEST and possibly the MEANEST sea serpent he had ever come across, and the next.. POOF. Gone. Still alive somewhere.

Someone stole it! Stole it right from his clutches and..

"YOU!!" the portrait of Glanmore bellowed, pointing his sword in the direction of the two students congregated around HIM. He did some fancy sword waving, just because he was ANGRY, which, unbeknownst to him, accidentally cut off half his moustache. "Where is she? Where is the serpent of Cromer?"

He knew they took her!! SOMEHOW!!!

As she was walking around, looking at the portraits, the fifth year waited for a reply from the young Gryffindor. She was expecting some short story, which would probably end with Alexa and some Ravenclaw person hating eachother. Something like that. And since she even started with ‘long sory short’, it had to be short, right?

WRONG.

Gwen just eyed the girl for a moment. Professor Scabior? Silencing spell? Fine, she had to admit, that was a good one. The fifth year continued to listen to the girl talk, trying to process the information. Errr. That girl talked...

...a LOT.

Blink. Blink. Staaaare.

Gwendolyn was still waiting for Alexa to finish her speech. In the end, she didn’t even know what to reply. She was slightly amused by the whole story. Suppressing a smirk, the fifth year drew her attention back to the younger student. ‘That seems like... a lot’, she said simply, and then wanted to look back at the portraits. None of them seemed to be in the mood to start talking. Odd. ‘Hmm?’, she said as she heard Alexa say something. ‘I don’t think so’

She wanted to add something, but she got distracted by one of the portraits. Ah, these portraits always amused her. ‘Good day to you too’, she wanted to reply, but eventually didn’t. She waited for a moment and listened to him talk. ‘The serpent?’, the fifteen-year-old mused. How in Merlin’s beard could they have stolen the serpent?!Tsk. Tk. Tsk. These portraits.

She still hadn't quite figured out where she wanted to actually do her project. Kendall had originally thought maybe it could be a present for Headmaster Tate, well, and Professor Williamson, but now they'd up and left and she wasn't sure if the new headmistress would appreciate the meaning. It hadn't really changed her idea at all, but she'd decided to wander and look to see if there was somewhere else she could leave her mark. It almost had to be inside the castle, after all, unless she did it in the corridor outside. Either way, she could wait a bit and really decide on the best location. It was only the beginning of the term after all, and she was still exploring to see what had changed and what was still the same anyhow. Besides the staff changes, and the few things out in the grounds that were different. It all factored into her plan, and she had a million thoughts running through her head as she'd found herself amidst the portraits.

Hmm, I wonder if any of them remember me, she thought, looking around and randomly smiling at the painted people. It wasn't like she'd planned on disturbing them, but they'd always been kind of amusing. She'd kept walking, too, combat boots scuffing along the stone floor, until she realized there were others in the corridor. Another 'Claw like her, and then one of the firsties she'd seen at the Slytherin table at the feast. That had gotten silenced by Professor Scabior, which she was still curious about, and she'd smiled at both of them. She'd gotten ready to ask, not even concerned if she was interrupting, but then she heard the nearby portrait accusing them of stealing a serpent and her gaze turned toward the painted man with the sword. "You know that the serpent of Cromer's a girl?, " she asked him curiously. "Maybe she just moved into one of the other portraits, Mr. Peaks. Or is it Sir Peaks? I could help you look if you like." Or maybe all three of them could help look. She didn't think either of the other girls had stolen the serpent, after all, or that it was even possible to steal something from the portraits. That was something that she should investigate sometime.

He was getting angrier by the MINUTE! This girl was playing something that was the opposite of smart! Glanmore was so angry, he couldn't even think straight! Where was his serpent?!

"The serpent?" he repeated in a mocking tone, "Of course the serpent! Only the MEANEST, BADDEST, and BIGGEST serpent I have ever laid eyes upon!" His eyes bulged out just a little, but Glanmore was trying to make a point. And it would have been an incomplete point if there wasn't some more fancy sword waving going on. Which he then proceeded to do. "Where is she?"

AHA!! Yet another culprit decided to show her face! They were all in cahoots with one another!

His eyes bulged out even more! "Of COURSE I know the serpent is a SHE!" Of course, he didn't really know. "It is CAPTAIN Glanmore Peaks! And I say that is a GREAT idea!" He would trick them into showing him where they put his serpent. It was a great idea!

Turning so that his back was now facing the students, Glanmore took a few steps further into his portrait before stopping and dropping his arms down to his sides. "WHERE IS MY BOAT?!" His voice was incredibly high pitched.

Um...why was the girl staring at her like she was mad or weird or just little? Yes there was a stare for that as well and quite frankly she hated it. Though she was pretty sure the Gwen wasn't looking at her for the latter so she wouldn't pay it much attention. For all she knew she might very well have been mad and well...weird people were fun so she didn't mind the classification!

Most of her her questions had been answered and she was about to ask a bit more about these curious portraits when suddenly one of them jumped to life--well...that's what it looked like it did so you couldn't argue with those logics!

He was even babbling on about a serpent. Then there was another girl that walked up. She flashed her a smile but that was all she had time to offer because the portrait was going on about a serpent and a boat. Her eyes went wide in amusement.

"Neat! You really do talk! That's so cool but then does that mean you're technically dead if you're in the portrait so you wouldn't need to be looking for a serpent...maybe it killed you...just a thought." The 11 year old always babbled when she was excited because there was always so much to say and so little time! "And by the way what serpent are you talking about? Is it like one of those massive things that crush you in seconds because then it may very well be what killed you so you shouldn't go looking for it." Just some friendly advice. BEAM.

"Oh! But if you do find it...can I touch it?" Whether it was a portrait as well or not, it would still have been cool! Something told her that the painting was kinda angry but meh what could it do? Change it's colour on her and go red. In the end she'd still be standing there, as curious as ever!

She heard the girl ask him about the serpent and she was even being nice enough to offer to help him but he just got all grouchy again. An annoying one this one. "Hmm can I help you look too?! She paused then giggled at the portrait. "Silly thing you, if you're a portrait and dead then you don't have a boat." Oh! She pulled a quill from her pocket. "But I can draw you one if you'd like." BEAM some more.

Gwen eyed the portraits curiously for a moment, but frowned as she heard one of them talk. Hmph. That mocking tone made her dislike the portraits even more. This one, at least. The fifth year was drawing her attention back to Alexa, willing to say something, but another person caught her eye. Who was that? Another girl was walking towards the place where the two of them were standing. ‘Hello’, she greeted the other student, but she had no idea who that was. Hmm. She did look familiar, though.
After a moment, the fifteen-year-old looked at Alexa. The reaction of the firstie made her smirk. Hehe. The facial expression of the kid was simply… priceless. And she seemed very enthusiastic. Even though the Gryffindor was becoming rather hyperactive, Gwendolyn didn’t mind.

But back to Glanmore now.

‘Fine, Captain’, she said simply. ‘I’ll help you look for the serpent as well’ There. Gwen didn’t really know why she accepted but mehh. Just as she was examining one of the other portraits, the Ravenclaw heard Captain Glanmore say something. The serpent AND the boat were gone? See. So it couldn’t have been them. They had been standing right in front of him the whole time. At least he couldn’t accuse them of stealing the boat.

Lex looked away from the silly portrait for a minute and caught Gwen smirking at her. She took a step away and eyed her suspiciously. The last time an older kid smirked at her she silenced her right afterwards.

No! Not again!!

She didn't want any more people waving their wands at her!! The past few times she was lucky that nothing had gone wrong with the spell casting but how could she be so sure that this time she wouldn't find herself walking around with a new face?! Her eyes rushed to the girls wand for a split second. If she saw her reach for it then she was going to grab the painting and use it for a shield. Yeah bud, better you than me.

It was only after Gwen turned to the portrait again that she realized she wasn't going to cast anything at her. She let out a sigh of relief that she hoped wasn't all that noticeable. Oooo, she offered to help look for the serpent too! "Great!" She said to her. "But...how are we going to find him though...? I don't even know what he looks like...is he even real or just another picture on the wall...maybe we can draw him too?"

Sweat still dripping from her brow a little, Kurumi dabbed it with her pink handerchief as she walked down the corridor. Her trip to the dueling arena hadn't been a total waste, not entirely. She still hadn't been able to produce a proper patronus just yet, but her whisp of silvery smoke was becoming more vibrant and was taking on more of a shape than a puff. Her goal within the next few months? Produce a proper one. She was SURE she had the memory to do so now. It was the happiest moment she had ever been, hearing Lewis say that to her in that moment, but now it was putting that to the spell.

"Good day," Kurumi said, bowing her head towards the portraits as she walked by.

Dealing with the obviously upset, and quite possibly delusional portrait man at least was interesting. It hadn't distracted Kendall from noticing both girls' reaction to her inserting herself into the situation. She'd smiled back at the little lion and Gwen in reaction to their greetings, but it was mor eimportant to figure out exactly what was bothering Captain Glanmore Peaks, as the portrait man had so loudly corrected her. "Okay. Captain Peaks then," she replied, matter-of-factly. "I don't see why it matters. You should like being mistaken for a knight. That's almost better than a captain after all. But anyway, I'm Kendall Lily Quinn. I don't have a title, so maybe that's why I don't see the difference." She also didn't really see why Captain Peaks seemed like now he thought she'd stolen the serpent of Cromer, but for now she held herself back on pointing that out. At least he'd accepted her suggestion that they help look for this hypothetical serpent. And now it seemed his boat had run away too, as they'd started looking at the other paintings. "You know, Captain, I think you might have a problem worse than thinking we somehow took your serpent out of your painting," she observed. "You would have seen if any of us had taken your boat, so obviously they're just running away from you on their own. Maybe it's your temper."

Maybe she should go find Abby and introduce the Hufflepuff to Captain Peaks. She was sure that they'd have fun arguing with each other, at least, and then Abby wouldn't be going after her and Patrick and who knew who else. She'd turned back to the little Gryffindor as she'd gone off about the captain being dead, though, widening her hazel eyes. "It must be a sea serpent, if Captain Peaks needs his boat, and I don't think he'd like being told he was dead. Are all the people in the paintings dead anyway? I know the headmaster and headmistress portraits don't start talking until the real ones are dead, but does that mean it's the same for all the portraits? Maybe the serpent's dead then too," she responded, only half-reprimanding the girl and fully in babble-mode. "Maybe the captain can tell us more of what she looks like, although I don't know how us drawing her can get her back in his portrait. Does the serpent have a name other than just the serpent of Cromer, 'cause maybe then we can just call her and she'll answer." That worked with Pooka and Accio. Her pets weren't the same as a painted wild sea serpent, though, but it was worth a try.

Angry! Angrier!! Angriest!!!

If Glanmore Peaks' eyes could have bulged out of his head anymore than they already were, they would have!

All this jibberish talk and all those questions, it was doing nothing for his already high blood pressure! "I AM NOT DEAD!" Glanmore turned back around so quickly, and raising his sword once again, he used it to make quite a few angry jabs towards the Gryffindor girl. If only he wasn't in this portrait! "I do NOT WANT a drawing, I want HER! My serpent!" The one he needed to defeat!

"And my BOAT!" But there were two Ravenclaw children surrounding HIM, he figured they knew why!

Letting out a huffy breath, CAPTAIN Glanmore Peaks turned his sword to the Ravenclaw, Kendall Lily Quinn. And he stared at her with bulging eyes! "Knights do not have boats!" Neither did he at the moment, but he did HAVE one! "And I DO NOT have a temper!" He stomped his foot in frustration before jabbing his sword at her. Why were the girls being so MEAN to him? Calling him DEAD, saying he had a TEMPER. How would they feel if two somethings was stolen from them?!

"I WANT MY THIIIIIIIIINGS BAAAAAAAAACK!!!"

He was pretty much ignoring everything they said now. He was also throwing a tantrum.

This girl was making sense. The portrait was going on about nothing. Wasn't it a good thing when someone presumed you to be higher than you actually were? He was hung up about it because Knights didn't have boats? "Well yeah they don't have boats--but they don't get attacked by sea serpents either! Don't you think that if you were a Knight then you wouldn't have died at the hands of the serpent and could have lived a nice, full life?" She said rather patiently to the portrait man, hoping he would start seeing things the rational way. "Plus Knights get cool looking swords, nothing like that puny one you're trying to stick at me." Just saying.

She watched him make a jabbing motion and her and crinkled her brows. "You do realize you're stuck in there and can't hurt me...right? This all goes back to you being a captain and getting yourself killed." So she didn't feel sorry for him! No.

Lex turned to the girl again and listened...sort of...as she explained that he might not have liked being told that he was dead. Most things probably didn't like being told that but facts were facts and there was no changing them. Then something she said caught her attention. "Hey you're right!" She told her. "If the Captain's dead and he's looking for his serpent it must be dead too!"

Facing the portrait she tried to explain this to []him[/i]. "Mr. Portrait Sir, I don't think the serpent or your boat were as famous as you so they probably never made a painting for them--unless of course you didn't kill the serpent in which case it might be at the bottom of the lake, gnawing away at what's left of your boat." Shrug. That was a possibility too.

She made a face at the statue when he started whining. "No no, we don't listen to whiny portraits. If you want we can turn you over and you can have a minute to compose yourself." She said firmly. She hated whiny boys and he was a whiny MAN which made it all the worse.

After the firstie managed to finish the story, Gwendolyn noticed the scared look on the girl’s face. ‘I’m not going to silence you’, the Ravenclaw rolled her eyes. Well… maybe the younger girl even had the right to react like that, after everything that had happened at the feast. Gwen just felt the need to assure her that she wouldn’t be casting any spells on her. The fifth year was drawing her attention to the portraits, but stopped herself as she heard Aexa say something.

Draw him?

How would that help? ‘Surely she just moved to another portrait. That, if the serpent was really painted...’ That, if the Captain wasn’t lying about it. Maybe the serpent got tired of Glanmore too? Gwendolyn suppressed a smirk and continued to look at the portraits. Even though this Captain Glanmore was annoying, it was definitely fun to see his reactions. She continued to listen to the two girls, rather amused.

How many serpents could there be in this place? This was probably the only portrait in which there was one. Gwen thought about that for a moment, and waited patiently for Sir Glanmore to continue babbling about his serpent. And his boat. With her arms folded, the fifth year continued to eye the Captain’s portrait, and listened to what the other students were saying. ‘He doesn’t have to be dead to be in a portrait’, she said, accentuating the word ‘have’. As they learned last term in Magical Portraiture, the person could be very much alive. True, that didn’t apply to the portraits of the Headmasters.

Anywaaay…

In her opinion, the Captain was losing precious time talking to them. Shouldn’t he be looking for the serpent? Hmm. Wait--- ‘Haven’t any of the other portraits seen the serpent?’, the Ravenclaw mused.

Sierra was taking a random walk down the corridors. Well, maybe not random, but...she didn't exactly have a purpose either. She just needed some time to think things over. It's been months, and her mother's cure still hadn't been found. Late at night, when everybody else was in bed, Sierra had actually cried a little bit. Some nights, at least. Not all the time. Her mother was as much her rock as her father was, and if she lost one of this so early in life, she...she...she didn't know what she'd do.

She didn't know what to do now, though, either. She just wanted her mom back, the one who didn't get so tired so easily, the one who didn't have that painful look in her eyes, and worst of all, the one didn't have rot growing behind her face.

She'd been looking down, lost in way too much thought, when she felt herself crash into something. "Ow!," she snapped. Watch where you're going! Even though this was technically her fault. Glancing up, she saw Hollingberry. Oh. Peachy. "Erm, ...excuse me." She frowned, though, having gotten annoyed by the sudden throbbing in her head.



...and then there was yelling on top of that, and the prefect peered down the corridor to see what in the name of Merlin was going on. Walking a few steps away, she came upon the portrait and just looked it over for a few seconds. Merlin. Couldn't he just go somewhere else and do all that yelling? It wasn't like he was confined to his frame like the Muggle portraits were.

"What happened to your things?" she asked. Anything to stop the yelling...

Kurumi had paused for a moment to look at one of the portraits, one where the name had somewhat been covered with dust so she couldn't see just who the person was. Which was why she removed her handkerchief to wipe the dust away when her body was pushed suddenly and she stumbled just a little to the right. Ouch? Kurumi could say ouch too...

Only she didn't when she saw just WHO it was that had bumped into her. No, it wasn't just because it was Sierra. It was because the usual look of almost obnoxious confidence that the Slytherin wore when she walked the halls was all but gone. Kurumi had seen Sierra like this before. It had been when she had run away to her home several summers ago. Only this...this was worse somehow.

Didn't mean that Kurumi wasn't still on guard a bit. She was still pretty sure that Sierra was capable of spitting venom if she put her mind to it.

"Sierra is everything o---"

But then the LOUD noises from down the corridor were distracting and, well, loud. How can a portrait misplace its things?

By now, Kendall really did want to go find Abby to sic the Puff on Captain Glanmore Peaks. At least then she could be amused listening to him have his fit while she had one right back at him. Obviously the captain didn't want to listen to sense, which oddly made him seem even younger than the little firstie who she'd also been talking to. At least the Gryffie had seemed to accept her comments about how the portrait might not like being called dead. Plus, she'd been way more logical by suggesting that Captain Peaks should just compose himself. If he wasn't dead, she was worried he might get there just with the way his eyes were all bulgy right now. She hadn't even blinked as he'd pointed his little painted sword at her. In fact, she was tempted to reach out and see if touching it would prick her, which she was fairly certain wouldn't happen. They were dealing with a portrait with a temper, not living in a faerie tale. "Your serpent isn't coming back while you're being all loud and everything," she pointed out. "And I don't see why a knight couldn't have a boat. I'm sure they could if they wanted one. Maybe that's where yours went." There had to be some portraits of knights in the castle. Maybe one of them had decided they wanted a boat. Either way, there was no possible way any of them could have taken it without knowing how to reach into a portrait. Just like how she didn't know how drawing the serpent would get her back to him, even though she knew she could likely draw him an awesome serpent. Sea serpents weren't that much different than dragons.

She had turned back to Gwen as she'd so helpfully pointed out that magical portraits didn't always have to be of dead people, nodding to at least show she'd heard. That wasn't helping Captain Peaks get over his temper tantrum, but she had a feeling the little Gryffie's idea of him going into time out wouldn't help either. "He'd probably just accuse the wall of having stolen his serpent. And his boat," she replied under her breath. She wouldn't have blamed the wall, honestly. Except she was really getting tired of all the yelling. The theory that the missing things were hiding from him was becoming clearer by the minute, but she glommed on to Gwen's suggestion thankfully. "Maybe we should ask them." Maybe asking the other portraits would convince him that they hadn't stolen anything, and he'd quiet down. Especially as all the noise was bringing even more people into the mix, and she'd looked over at Sierra as the Slytherin prefect had joined them. "He thinks we stole them, but I keep trying to tell him that we couldn't have, " she explained. At least she could get in her say before Captain Bulgy-Eyes started scream ing at her too. And, looking around, she also noticed the Gryffindor prefect staying a distance away. Good idea, she thought, sending her a smile. There was no need to get him mad at even more people who COULD NOT have stolen his precious serpent and boat.

What were those students still doing just standing there? Standing there and talking! They were the ones who suggested LOOKING for his things. They were the WORST lookers!

Dropping his sword, since the angry jabbing didn't seem to do anything to get the girls to be QUIET, CAPTAIN Glanmore Peaks slapped his hands over his ears. "LALALALALA!! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" And he really couldn't. His own voice drowned out the sound of the Gryffindor girl.

He wondered what he would have to do to get Peeves to shove a sock in her mouth.

Of course, he would have continued to IGNORE the girls if he hadn't noticed TWO MORE in HIS corridor and he quickly dropped his hands when he noticed the badges the girl's were wearing. Glanmore fixed his hat, straightened out his jacket and bent over to pick up his sword. If he was going to explain, he needed to point! "PERFECTS!" he stood, still too ANGRY to know the difference!

"THOSE THREE!" he was jabbing his sword in the direction of the Gryffindor without the badge and the two Ravenclaws. Kendall Lily Quinn received MORE jabs in her direction. HE WAS EXPLAINING! "Not only did they STEAL my SERPENT, they STOLE my BOAT! Right from my PORTRAIT!"

HIS portrait!

HIS portrait.

HIS portrait...

Glanmore lowered his hands when realization struck him. "This isn't my portrait!"

"Really?" Lex asked Gwen, clearly shocked by the fact that one didn't need to die to have a portrait of them made and hung. This got her thinking. "So then...does that me I can have a portrait of me made then I can talk to myself?" Now wouldn't that be neat?! She could spend hours talking to herself and she would never get bored.

Who knew portraits could be such a good thing?

When the portrait finally seemed to calm down a bit she opted to continue offering her help when that annoying Slytherin Prefect from the feast (yes, anyone who yelled was considered annoying which made her annoying) and Kurumi, who was a bit annoying at times but wasn't so bad, walked over to the portrait as well. She decided to ignore the fact that they were there.

The 11 year old gave Kendall a look when she tried reasoning nicely with the portrait. Honestly she thought they were long pass that! He was being rude and calling them thieves!!

She shot the thing a glare when it started talking loudly and making noises but the glare disappeared and she snickered in amusement as it tried telling the prefects. Hah! One, they didn't steal anything and two, Lex didn't care what Prefects said so telling would have done him no good. This was actually quite funny--

"Whaaaaaat?!" Lex screamed when the portrait made the realization that the portrait it was in didn't belong to it. She felt her fingers twitch and a strong desire to smash the frame with him still in it. "So you mean you nearly sent us on a wild goose chase and you called us thieves for nothing?!" No! That was too much! She jumped forward and grabbed both ends of the portrait in and attempt to yank it off the wall. "When I get my hands on you you're gonna be with the other big portraits in the sky!"

Why wasn't this thing coming off the wall?!?!?

No. Everything was not okay. Hollingberry had been in the way a few seconds ago and had so obviously interrupted Sierra's walk and thought process. She was just about to say that, or at least glare, when one of the others spoke up.

OOC: Pixie, we'll finish our scene in a bit.



Stole something? Out of a portrait?

So what was the problem anyway? It was a portrait. Couldn't they just ignore it and move on? Sure, that was a little hard to do with the way the portrait was yelling so loudly, but hey, it could be done.

Nevertheless, Sierra found herself nodding in understanding then turning back to the portrait.



"Perfects?" Sierra asked, and a big smirk spread across her face. Of course they were perfect, well, she was, but still... Prefects, he meant.She looked from the portrait to the three supposed thieves then asked, "So did you see them take it?" she asked.

"...and wouldn't the serpent and boat still be here, in this corridor, if they had it?" she asked. Neither one of them looked capable of making a whole boat disappear...

...and then in the next second alone, recognition was dawning on him, causing Sierra to roll her eyes in disbelief. She glanced over at the Gryffindor girl who was spazzing over the latest. Again, it would be all too easy just to ignore the portrait.