Niamh was brought up short by a... What was this now?... A turnstile of all things! Horrified, Niamh dug in her robes for her coins. Finding a Knut, she put it into the machine as if the thing itself was responsible for her sudden downfall. "Hogwarts really is in trouble," She said aloud, sadly. "Ooh la la, I miss my wonderful French home,"

Taylor solved the riddle as always and preceded to try to get in but was stuopped by a... a turnstile? What the heck was this? This was new andf she didnt like it. Did the people who run this place really expect that a student will pay a... a knut each time to get in to their common rooms? She huffed and dug around for a knut... good thing that she had her wallet in her robe pocket. Tay put in the knut and sighed, "What the heck is happening to Hogwarts?"

What was this? After having solved the rather interesting riddle, Raven was now met blocked by a turnstile??? The only place she had seen things like this before were in muggle places. It had to do with security, but she didn't think magic people needed them. Her old school didn't have this. "Hogwarts doesn't LOOK like it needs money..."

But with a sigh she lowered the Knut in.

Nigel easily got passed the riddle and was hoping for a relaxing night before classes started. But apparently he could not even do that without paying.

Hmm...

Nigel did not knew what to think. So the school is really this desperate for money. Nigel would have thought if the school really needed money they would have asked for donations from their parents. It would have been a lot easier than asking poor students to paying each time they wanted to enter the common room.

But what did Nigel know he was only a fourth year. Nigel looked around to see how else was stranded because of course he did not have any money.

Shame, he spent all of it on the train here. Who knew he was going to need money to go to sleep. He leaned against a wall thinking about a solution. He was a Claw. He should be able to think of something. He wondered if Blue, Mo, or Mika have entered yet because if they had not then he could ask them for a nut the make a horrible copy of it.

Nigel thought that was a good idea. But the problem was he still did not have any money. So he stayed leaned against the wall waiting for someone with some spare knuts to let him in the common room.

Isobel, proud of herself for answering the riddle as quickly as she did, was surprised to find... brightly coloured turnstiles? Again, not very Hogwarts. In fact, it was very, very, non-Hogwarts. So far, this year was turning out to be very disappointing (though the ice cream had been delicious). Well, if she remembered correctly, she had a bit left over after school supplies shopping and, digging in her pockets, found four sickles and three knuts. She put the sickles back and one of the knuts.

Having spotted the guy leaning up against the wall, Isobel pondered offering him a knut. It was possible he was just leaning there because he wanted to, but it was also possible he was out of money and needed to be let in. Either way, things could get awkward. Well, you don't know until you try... "Do you need a knut to get into the common room?" she asked.

When you're really tired and all you wanna do is sprawl on your bed and cuddle with your pillow because you didn't have anyone else to do so, you would also come running to your Common Room the way Beezus Castell was doing now - with quick, enormous strides.

Having solved the riddle (Which word in the dictionary is spelled incorrectly? Duuh. Incorrectly.), the brunette was so ready to step inside the Common Room when she came across a few of the other Ravenclaws being stationary near the entrance. "Hey guys. What are you all doing here?" Waiting for their friends or what?

She was about to move forward....when turnstiles appeared out of nowhere. Uh, hi hello. Someone trying to pass here. Ignoring the hustle bustle, Beezus stepped in yet the thing just wasn't letting her through. She had answered the riddle. What else did it need from her?! "It wants me to pay, doesn't it?"

UGH.

Was Hogwarts that poor now? Darn it. She was saving up for something very important and then this. Also, why were the Prefects not informed of this setup?

She was getting annoyed and more annoyed as minutes trickled past that she stayed there without the confines of her bed. She wanted to go in. But she didn't have any money with her. Apparently, she left her wallet inside her trunk - she always did - and her trunk inside that Common Room up the spiral staircase inside her dormitory.

"Let. Me. Through!" THUNK! A Chaser kick was sent to the turnstile courtesy of the female Prefect. "DRAT...Awww, aww, awww..That hurt." Wrong move. Now her toes were revolting against her. Curse these turnstiles.

GLARE.

Nigel looked up from his pondering, to see a first year in front of him. Was he that obvious that he had no money. Maybe?

"Hmm.. Thanks for the knut. I have no money on me right now". Nigel said as he takes the knut from her. "I'm Nigel and I have never had to pay to enter the common room before. But I'm probably going to stay back till either one of the Prefects get here."

He might as well ask Beezus who had just arrived if they should copy this knut he had just received from this nice first year.



"Umm.. Beezus, You have to pay one knut to enter." Nigel said as he showed her the knut. Nigel was going to wait some more till more people showed up. But Beezus was the prefect. So why not ask her.

"I have an idea about this problem. "What if we copied the coin. But not as real money. But just a plain coin that would read in the turnstile as a the one knut needed."

Nigel was going to stay back and wait till Blue, Mo and Mika got here to get them inside.

"You're welcome," Isobel said in response. "I'm Isobel." Huh, odd that they'd never had to pay before. She guessed that it had something to do with the budget cuts and lack of silverware that they were talking about during the feast, but she was just too tired to care anymore. Waving goodbye to Nigel and the prefect whose name she'd forgotten but had showed up looking stressed, Isobel inserted a knut and walked into the common room through the turnstile.

The dinner wasn’t really that bad, at least not for Aquila. It was a peculiar mix of what she’d usually have back home, so in a way she was used to that, then topped off with the awesome desert that she only experience in Hogwarts, so she wasn’t going to bed hungry. But she was tired.

She had just gotten past the Eagle knocker when she stopped short of running into a fellow Claw. Whats going on?....!!

There was a contraption blocking their path. Fellow housemates were mumbling about and Beezus was in pain. There was the distinct mention of money....

.... really if Aquila was less well fed that night she might’ve had a meltdown right here. Money confuses her...

“Wh... What kind of money does this neeeed??...” she is trying not to hyperventilate, but shopping for her stuff in Diagon Alley was excruciating when it came to figuring out which coins should be paid with.

There was a crowd outside the common room, in a place where there was never EVER a crowd, and Mo puttered around the edges until it was his turn to head through the door. Which was really his only excuse for not spotting those blasted turnstiles sooner. As soon as he stumbled upon them, Mo just gaped. Bright and cheery and WHY WERE THEY HERE?

"My money is in my trunk, and my trunk is in the dorm," he said, his voice rather dull. So today was pretty much a bust, and if he wasn't allowed in to sleep in his bed, tomorrow would be no better. "I'm going to sleep in the corridor."

After a rather disappointing start-of-term feast, Natalie was ready to forget about all the budget cuts and go to bed. Doing so was going to be easier said than done, though. It was going to be a rough year with the setbacks that were already in place. Hopefully disposable dinnerware, voluntary professors, and resigning house-elves were the worst of the new changes. Maybe the Arithmancy professor should have been in charge of the school’s funding. She was supposed to be good with numbers.

But all worries of financial matters she had no control over seemed to have gone away when she found herself standing in front of the bronze knocker. A bit of a smile grew on her face as she answered the eagle’s riddle with ease. The smile faded away, however, when Natalie joined the crowd waiting just outside the common room. Where did those turnstiles come from? How was she supposed to pay when her money was in her dorm? Clearly the ‘genius’ behind this was not a Ravenclaw.

“What in Merlin’s beard…?!”

There was no way she was sleeping in the corridor like that one boy just said he was going to do. Maybe Mr. Kitridge wouldn’t mind her camping out in the library? That is unless she had to pay to get in there too…

Aidan was NOT pleased with the crowd. He was balancing two cups, two plates, two bowls, and two sporks here. Did anyone SEE his load?! He pushed his way through the crowd, kicking shins, elbowing, stepping on toes, whatever was necessary to get him to the front. If it was the riddle everyone was worried about, he could at least try to help them all. The sooner they got through, the sooner he could put everything down.

Only when he reached the front, he realized it wasn't the knocker that was the problem, there were...what were those?

Listening to those around him and learning, though not really understanding, he let out a long sigh. "I only have sickles," he announced before anyone got any ideas. He would have knuts if he'd gotten to the trolley, but that never happened.

Sleeping in the corridor? "I'm with Mo," his eyes drifted to his teammate. There wasn't really any other choice was there? "Beezus?" His eyes silently asked his other teammate/prefect/older student that she should know what to do, right?!

Garrick was not too keen on going into the common room when he could be spending time with... people, but Sophocles was in there and he had to see to him.

...

And WHY was there a congregation of Claws here? Peeking around them he spotted the problem and sighed. He bit his lip, knowing he had the money to get in and out if he so pleased... but really didn't want to flaunt that. Shuffling a bit he moved closer to the front and shoved his hand in his pocket.

What was he to do? Join the crowd and complain and grumble? Orrrr... pay the bloody knut and move on about his business? Chewing his lip in thought he turned the change from the trolley over and over in his pocket and pondered his next move.

SIGHS.

And the Prefect kicking things got an eyeroll. She was an idiot. Not that he would EVER say that out loud or roll his eyes at anyone who COULD SEE IT. Nope. Manners.

He had them. Unfortunately.

Mika just glanced at the turnstiles and frowned. She really wanted to just jump over them - and she tried that. But when she jumped she fell face first into a barrier. It looked, and felt, like she had ran right into a glass door. Her whole body crumbled slightly as she glanced at the evil turnstiles.

Yeah, that was the wrong thing to do. The rather sore girl reached into her right side pocket and could find nothing but lint. "Merlins this is rubbish" she muttered and glared at the turnstile.

Her wand was in her pocket atleast. That was the only golden bit about this. "Ugh - anyone want me to summon their coins for them?" She asked kindly. "Would this thing know if we used leprechaun gold?" She finally muttered in question before summoning a knut for herself. Seeing yeah she would have to put coins in daily right?

She had a few knuts in hand now really, thanks to her trusty pouch. "Anyone need a a donation in the 'get into the common room for the night fund'...I will accept some I don't know...cooking training in return if you offer if not, well, I'll do it for a hug!" She asked kindly with a smirk on her face.

What the heck was going on? She had to pay to get into the common room? Guess there would be no more forgetting books and running back for them this year. First the plastic dishes at the feast, and now paying for entrance into her room. This was ridiculous. As if she didn't already pay tuition here. Pres tried to hop over the turnstiles, but was blocked. Sighing she fished a knut from her pocket and pushed it into the coin slot.

She looked over, noticing a little kid who looked terribly confused. "Here," she sighed again, pushing another knut into the turnstile in front of the girl. What a seventeenth birthday this was turning out to be.

There so far were no takers. So she dropped the knut into the turnstile and pushed forward. There, if someone needed a coin she'd reach her hand over the other way, or slip it under...she'd come up with a way to Robinhood the matter.

They needed a Robinhood. Maybe she'd become Robina Hood? Yeah? Something awesome like that.

She'd be the huntress - the girl who stole from the turnstiles and gave the money back to the students to put back into the turnstiles. Only to repeat it day in and day out. Oh wait - she was too lazy for that. She'd just owl her mum for a bucket on knuts. She smiled and pushed through the turnstile toward the common room. One step closer. Now all she had to do was answer a question.

There was more grumbling from her housemates... Aquila looked just in time to see Mo turn around, saying he will sleep in the corridors. She winced at that—corridors are drafty and hard, and her magic wasn’t yet up to par to make things more comfortable for herself.

And it seemed to her that more and more of her housemates were looking for alternative places to spend the night. Mika was saying something about cooking... or a hug? They hug or cook these contraptions whut?


But before she could ask her about that she heard someone speaking to her, and as she turned her head she spotted an upperclassman drop some a coin into the slot. A copper-ish coin.

And then the contraption clicked.

Did she see that bar move? She thought she did. Gingerly she pushed the bar with her hand—and lo and behold it swung away! Big brown eyes got even bigger. So that’s how that worked!

The young Claw moved past the turnstiles and tried to call after the girl “Thank you!” indeed she was very grateful, you can see it in her face.

OH! Finally someone went through. With a nod and a few pushes to make his way through the little crowd (as well as a few mutter apologies if he happened to jostle anyway) the boy extracted a knut from his pocket and shoved it in the slot. Did he offer money to anyone else? No. They would stop grumbling and pay eventually, yeah?


Idiots.

Of course all of these thoughts were masked behind the usual smile on his face. Yep. Nothing to see here. Smiles and then he was gone.

Nursing the pain that had transpired from her toes traveling all the way up to her calves, Beezus turned to Nigel and nodded. "I know that we have to pay so we can inside," She was a half-blood, of course she knew how these things worked. "But what I want to know is why!" Was frustration evident on her voice? Ugh. She was definitely going to lose her mind if she kept thinking about it. The Prefects weren't even hinted that this was going to happen. So why did the school even need Prefects if they weren't informed enough to be of help to their peers?!

But when more of her fellow Ravenclaws arrived, she bit back all the complaints she was about to mumble out. Instead, she pulled on her usual Castell smile and shrugged at Aquila. "A knut." Then she saw Presley handing over the girl one. "Pres, can I borrow one knut too?" She needed to get inside and get her trunk and whatever.

But wait, hold it Marcus Branxton. Some arm pulling happening here. The brunette tugged him back and wrung an arm around his neck. "No. You are not sleeping in the corridor." Nooope. Mama Vi had assigned her to look after her lil' bro so Beezus will do that. So, "Oh, and Presley...can you make that two knuts?" One for her and for Mo. "I'll pay you when we get inside......OKAY..actually, make that three knuts." Because Aidan was there and she just couldn't leave her Quidditch boys sleeping in the corridor.

Hearing her favorite expression, What in Merlin's beard from someone within the group, Beezus broke off her hold from Mo and faced the girl. "Natalie, right? And yeah, what in Merlin's beard indeed. " This situation called for appropriate expressions. "Do you have knuts on you? You'll be needing one to get through."

Thankfully, the others had money on them and were now making their way inside. Garrick got a slight nod. Then Mika....with her numerous questions. "Mika, dear....one question at a time? I don't think everyone can catch up considering we have so much going on." But it would really help if the girl can summon their coins so all of them can get inside at the same time.

Well, It seemed to Nigel that everyone had an idea about what they were going to do about this turnstile. But since he only had one knut. He could only go to sleep in his bed this one night. But he could ask his uncle for some in the mail. He would be more than happy. But Nigel would have to help him with some more of his research at the ministry over this summer.

But that is far in the future. And maybe he will get the room to his self. He walks up to the turnstile and puts the knut in that he just received from the nice first year Isobel. He then walks on through to get to his bed. He was tired and other than Mika's cupcake, the food was pretty bad.

What WAS this hold up? First his toad had run off at the station, second he'd been faced with runny foul 'orrible mash for dinner, and now there was a blockage getting in to the Common Room.

Didn't that usually happen BEFORE solving the riddle.

Benjy eyed the crowd, before eying the turnstiles behind the crowd more. "Don't tell me we have to PAY to get into our own Common Room?" He groaned. What WAS Hogwarts coming to? His Uncle would NOT be happy.

"Anyone tried jumping it yet, or is it bunk down in the corridor time?" Yes, Benjy was totally up for jumping it if possible. It might even be the start of an EPIC skateboarding trick.

Presley was about to step through into the common room when she heard her name. She turned to Beezus and fished out another knut. "Sure, no problem." This turnstile thing...she was going to speak to the Headmistress about this. It was ridiculous. Okay, three knuts. Pres pulled out her last three and handed them over.

She felt a little bad, because there were tons of students out here, and she didn't have enough knuts on her to pay for all of them. Maybe she would run up to her dormitory and grab some more? Wait, shouldn't Beezus have known about this? She was a prefect. "Beezus, how come you didn't tell us about this before we got here?" she asked. And more importantly, how come Beezus didn't have any knuts on her? Did she forget?

Ethan was tired and wanted nothing more than to crash into his bed. The long walk up to Ravenclaw tower only exacerbated his fatigue and by the time he had gotten to the knocker, it took his cloudy, tired mind some time to work out the riddle. But he eventually did and when the door opened, he could go no further because of the crowd blocking his path.

"What is going on here?" he began as he looked at the faces, most of them looked awfully grumbly, and he edged his way through the crowd to try to assess the situation until.. turnstiles? "They can't be serious.." he said aloud, more to himself than anyone else, after he stared incredulously at the turnstiles for some time. Then he shot a questioning look to Beezus. Did she know about this? But no, she looked as bewildered as he did.. Shouldn't the prefects have been informed?

He stood for a few minutes, staring at the turnstiles, trying to decide what to do. There didn't seem to be a way around it for the time being and he really wanted his bed. Maybe he would thinking more clearer in the morning and come to a better decision, but for now, he figured he'd have to drop a knut in the slot. He could see that a few students had already made it past and into the common room.. obviously they had pared their fare already. But what about the rest of them?

Ethan dug around in his pockets for some money, sorting out the knuts from the rest.. three of them. Really.. who carried around that many knuts anyway? "So.. listen," he started, rubbing the back of his neck after a moment's thought. "I think we should get inside and talk about this in the comfort of our common room.." Though with the state of the rest of the castle, or at least as much as he'd seen, he was apprehensive of the state of the common room. "Either tonight.. or regroup in the morning after some rest." And sleep in their own beds was better than the alternative, right? "Now.. does anyone need a knut to get in?" As annoying as this situation was getting to be, he wanted to make sure his Eagles could get inside.. where else were they planning on sleeping?

Or not. It did actually look as if Beezus had no idea what was going on either. Presley nodded at Ethan. "I'm with Ethan. Let's just get everyone inside, and tomorrow morning before classes we can come up with a plan." They were eagles. There had to be something they could figure out that would get rid of this system. And several ideas were already spinning in her head.

It looked like Ethan might have enought knuts on him to get everyone through. "I'm going to head in. Do you guys need me to come back with more knuts?" she asked the group before pushing through the turnstile into her familiar common room. She stood on the other side and waited for a response.