So Forrest was the first person to ever set foot in the common room this year. He felt... weird to be the first one. As if this was a great step and...

Nah. It was just awkward. If people made such a fuss about it, then it really was something to make a fuss about. He got nervous suddenly. What if they were planning something like a--like a revolution and he'd just ruined their plans by paying? What if they hated him now and--he took deep breaths, still in the doorway (so anyone who tried to enter would be blocked). They didn't quite look like the revolutionary types, but how many times had he met one, anyway?

Relax, mate. You did the right thing.

After a full minute, he finally walked a few steps into the room and he was awed by... everything. His eyes took every detail in slowly, and they fell on the pictures at last.

Did it just... move?

Running to it with a look of utter wonder on his face, he eyed the portrait for a solid minute as it kept moving and--he was FASCINATED. He could definitely watch it for the whole night.

As for the dust? He didn't even notice!

Ella entered the common room and she did a little spin, taking in the space observantly. SniffSniff. It smelled...odd. And it definitely didn't look as spiffy as it normally did. Made sense though, what with the house elves resigning and everything. The blonde frowned slightly and brought out her wand, deciding to do some cleaning. It just didn't feel right having the room look and smell like this. The badger common room was much cozier and cleanlier than this.

Oh! And another badger. The sixteen year old almost didn't see him there. "Hello," She greeted quietly, standing beside him. "Cool, aren't? The portraits." It was nice, seeing how in awe the boy looked. She remembered feeling that way too her first year. "They're not normally covered in dust. Promise." Grin. "I'm Ella, by the way."

Minerva walked down in the common room wand in hand. She had been up in her dorm thinking about cleaning it, but the common room was so gross that she felt maybe it could use a good cleaning for the rest of her housemates.

Speaking of housemates she smiled, "Hey Ella, Hey Forrest, how are you two doing?" She looked around and then smiled, "I felt the same way looking at them first term Forrest, some of them can have pretty interesting things to say." Not that she had talked to many portraits, but the ones she did were always a little interesting.

But looking at the portrait she frowned and looked at Ella, "They can't be happy with the way this place looks and the dust on them. I think I'm going to do some cleaning around here before going back up and doing my room."

Did Luc move in here? Wade first thoughts on the odour went to his younger cousin's room, that usually harbored forgotten food. He had no idea what gave the common room the stench, but it smelled like it had been around for awhile.. the whole summer maybe?

Anyway, he could see Ella and Minnie with the newly sorted badger, Forest, wasn't it? "Hey Ella, Minnie.. and welcome by the way Forest.". He had walked in just as Minnie mentioned cleaning.

"Yeah? I'll help too." Wade took his wand out as well, making the ugly-pretzle-like movement for the mending charm at one of the chipping tables."Reparo." There, much better. "It looks like the elves had a little party too before leaving."

*Walking in Rom saw the common room. He was in shock. Where were the warm colors and dust free tables. Didn't the school have elves to clean it? Shaking his head he went up to the boys dorm saying. "The state of this place." He quickly walked up the stairs getting the sandwiches.*

Min smiled as Wade came in, "Oh that's great. We could get this place looking nice in no time. Best thing about magic, right?" She chuckled and looked at Forrest knowing he understood the muggle ways of things. This room would have taken forever if they did it by hand. Moving to each chair she pointed her wand, "Tergeo chair" Once they were dust free she turned to the fire place, "Tergeo Fireplace" Then she stood there looking at it, turning to the others "Wonder where we could get new firewood for this. I know we will be wanting it soon."

Just then another first year walked in, but didn't seem to stick around, she gave a small smile and wave before he went to the dorm. Well back to the cleaning she thought and turned, but then got another brainstorm idea.. "Hey want to charm the walls to help brighten up the paint? It's a very easy spell.. I've done it a few times." Speaking of charms she still wanted to Charm Ella's Elephant as she had told her she would.

As she thought about the walls she heard Wade make a comment about the elves, "I really wonder what happened to them. They were such nice little things and they seemed to like it here, it's just odd." She learned a bit about house elves through the years, still a little uncomfortable having anyone do things for her after being use to doing it herself, but they were nice. "I hope where ever they are, they are doing alright."

Ella was busy observing the portrait with Forrest when Minnie arrived and the blonde turned and managed a small smile. Truthfully, she was kind of freaked by the state of things right now. She was doing her best to put on a brave face, though. Things would be fine, yeah? They had to be. "Oh hey, Min. I'm good. Just...checking out everything, y'know?" Making sure nothing was out of place or gone completely. As for cleaning, the sixteen year old nodded. "I was thinking of doing the same." BEAM. "We'll work together, then?"

It was then that Wade joined the party and the fifth year smiled at him, waving a little. "Hey Wade!" And he was going to help too? Brilliant. "I'll just...start over here." And Ella headed over to the round windows, pointing her wand at them. "Scourgify!" A noticeable amount of light poured into the space as the dust cleared and Ella let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. That was better.

She didn't miss little Romulus coming through the common room and she frowned a bit at his reaction. "It isn't normally like this!" She called after him, feeling the need to defend their common room and really just the school in general.

The house elf talk made Ella frown slightly and she ran a hand through her hair, a worried expression shadowing her features. "I guess, maybe they knew something we didn't, yeah?" Maybe they sensed trouble? Was that possible? "And yeah, I really hope they're alright."

Brodie walked into the common room and looked around. Definitely new, it wasn't exactly what he had expected for a common room to look like, but it was nice. He looked, seeing the girl from the train, what had her name been? He paused a moment and when it didn't come to him he shrugged. Oh well, she seemed to be talking to a few other students so he wouldn't inturupt their conversation.

Instead, Brodie reached into his bag and pulled out his sketch book, going over to a couch and started drawing. It was what he was best at, and the only way he knew he'd have fun until he had to leave the room, which he wanted to do as little as possible with his lack of money. He looked around again, Damon had said his house was more for the creative type, so maybe it would work. With another shrug he looked down at his sketchings again and started to work.

Forrest gave a shy smile at Ella as he murmured "I'm Forrest," back. He wondered how long it would take him to be comfortable around them. If they were so nice, surely not to long..?

Hopefully.

He was about to comment on the portraits too, when Minerva and a guy he didn't know entered. Apparently, the guy knew him though. He panicked a little. What if he was one of the people he met? They greeted him so fast and it was really hard for him to keep their names in mind--

SHLAJAL HE REPAIRED IT JUST LIKE THAT!

Forrest was GAPING at the object Wade (that was his name, he caught) just casted a spell on. He expected it to break again, maybe, but it didn't and--AHLFSLD Minerva just cleaned THERE and Ella TOO and--

"Cool!"

It just didn't occur to him to help. He was too hypnotised admiring their magic to remember his own name, thank you.

It could've been that little hope that Wade held on that the elves didn't leave on an angry note, that made him think of them throwing a party. Hmm.. It was difficult to think of a bright side to all of this other than that they still had a place to rest at.

He saw another little new badger, walk by, clearly upset on this. Romulus wasn't it? Wade had only picked up on a few of the new sorted peeps at the feast during the ceremony. Poor kid.. Wade at least knew how nice the school was when he first came here last term. The little guys on other hand.. Meh. No need to get all sad here. Hopefully he at least heard Ella's truthful claim. Wade looked sympathetic at him and the others before he continued cleaning.

Wade smiled at Forrest who had just about rooted at the spot, at the cleaning party before him. "Don't worry, you'll be able to do this soon." In case he was thinking that this task was years above him.

"Well, isn't there only one elf left?" Wade's brows furrowed slightly as he thought for the elves. "Maybe he or she can tell us about it" Well, if he knew who the lone elf was. Perhaps, they all went a little vacation until Hogwarts could pay for them again.. Maybe. Wishful thinking here. "They're probably doing okay now."

Oh yeah, Minnie brought up a good point on the warm fireplace.. "Perhaps the groundskeeper could help us collect the right wood." In case, you know, there were certain trees that weren't allowed to be cut. It also helped that, Mr. Firth, spent his most of his time outdoors. Wade aimed his wand at the lone couches, individually, "Tergeo couch." Cleaning the stains one at a time, before someone could sit on them.

Minerva watched as Ella clean and the topic turned to the Elves. Looking at Wade as he spoke about the one elf, yes.. "I think someone said which one was left at the feast, but I can't remember the name, so I'm not sure. Maybe we could swing by the kitchen and see if we can figure all this out?" She was up for a good mystery or adventure, which ever you would want to call this.

But for now back to cleaning, moving along to the portraits she pointed her wand "Scourgify" Stepping back to make sure she got all the portraits she stumbled after walking into something. Looking she got a little worried, "Oh my Forrest.. I'm so sorry, I didn't realize you were right there." She should have been watching where she was walking instead of looking at the pictures. Standing next to him she smiled, "You ready to learn some of these? Scourgify is an easy one, want to try?" She looked around and motioned him to a lamp. "Here just point your wand and say Scourgify and it will clean the lamp." It was an easy enough spell he should get it, if not the first try the second, she felt confident in that.

Turning to Wade as he talked about the firewood she smiled, "Yes that's a great idea, Mr. Firth would know and might even have some to already place in the fireplace. I could go in a bit if you like, unless someone else would want to go or if someone would want to go with in case he does have some already. I might need help bringing it back."

Turning back to the room Min looked at the walls she was still disappointed in them, " Anyone have an opinion about the charming question I asked? I'm thinking about a nice yellow? Anyone have any objections?"

Forrest was adorable and probably a bit freaked out given the older students and current condition of things so Ella let him continue to check things out while she went about her cleaning. She hummed while she worked, stopping now and then to answer her housemates when they spoke to her. "I think stopping by the kitchen would be good though I'm not sure we're meant to know anymore than what we were told at the feast," She said to Minnie, shrugging her shoulders. It didn't mean they shouldn't stop by and thank the elf, though.

She smiled as Wade and Min then talked to Forrest who seemed really interested in what they were doing. "Yeah Forrest, you want to give it a go?" She asked cheerfully, giving the boy a small smile. No need to sit on the sidelines, yeah? Besides, they could use all the help they could get.

"Should we wait and see what Nessie and Oakey found out before we do anything else?" The blonde asked, working on a particularly dirty spot on the carpet with a wrinkled nose. She was quite curious to see if they got any information or had any news for them on what was happening.

She noted the unfamiliar boy who entered the common room and gave him a small smile. The guy looked to be a bit older than her and he seemed pretty into whatever it was he was drawing so she didn't bother him.

Oh and Minnie was asking something..."I think as long as you don't stray too much from what was already here?" Shrug. Oh and... "Anyone know any spells to help it smell better in her?"

Forrest just couldn't believe how easily they cleaned around--if only his MOTHER'd seen--

His face fell a little when he thought about her, so he did his best to focus on the show in front of him instead. And before he could think too much, Minerva stumbled into him and he forgot all about his family again luckily. He grinned, opening his mouth to say it was okay but she beat him to it to offer--that he tried magic.

He. Forrest Charlton. As if he could do it.

His grin faded away, although he tried to keep it. Ella suggested that he tried to perform it too. They didn't know what they were suggesting. They were clearly out of their minds. None of his parents were wizards, how was he supposed to perform magic as well as they did?

"I--no, I don't want to try. I--" Can't. He simply couldn't. "But I can, uh--" WHAT could he do, really? He looked around desperately. "I can help--straightening up." Like, putting things in their right place and any kind of wandless help?

"Yeah, that sounds like a good plan." They could go to the kitchens, and hopefully, get some answers.. Otherwise, at least thank the lone elf for not leaving everyone to fend for themselves. Ah, right. Nessie and Oakey may have the news already, but just in case.."We could, and if Nessie and Oakey haven't heard anything, then we could all go there." Mystery solving at its best.

Wade chuckled a little at Forest' reaction. Not that he was surprised. What eleven year boy would want to clean up? "Are you sure?" Though.. he did look more frightened than disinterested. Hmm.. "It could put you ahead of your classmates tomorrow if you can do it now." But, it was his choice, Wade wasn't going to force him to do it. "If you're worried about blowing something up, we could fix it up." Or worst case scenario, pretend it was apart of the chaos. Heh.

Now about that firewood.."I could go see Mr. Firth for you, otherwise we can both go and get it brought here faster." Wade looked around at the walls, they definitely needed a fresh coating. Hmm.. He wasn't much of an interior decorator, so shrugged smiling.. "Yellow's fine with me.." Looking at the others for objections, though he didn't see any."any other ideas?"

Hmm? Oh right, the odour. Usually the cleaning spells did the trick, but since Wade didn't know exactly where the stench was from, he had another suggestion. "Well, we could also see Professor Bentley on having fresh flowers around to keep it smelling nice again." He looked at the dust pots by the end tables before working on those next, "Tergeo pot." Vanishing the dust and cobwebs from the pots individually instantly.

Minerva listened as the others talked, "Oh well that's good if Oakey and Ness are getting answers, I hope they do, but our back up plan can be to find the little elf if needed." That would work if they really needed to find the elf, plus wouldn't it be fun to go on a mystery solving adventure. That would be something new that Min hadn't done before.

Looking to the walls she smiled as Wade agreed, "Glad you agree!" She pointed to the first wall, "Colovaria" . Watching as the first wall turned a better yellow she looked at the group. "Before I do the rest, what do you think?" Looking to Wade she shrugged when he mentioned going to Firth, "Well if you want to go alone that's fine, but I will gladly go as well, maybe we could go after the extra practicing we were going to do on the pitch." Yeah, because she was holding him to those as they discussed.

Looking to Forrest she smiled, "I was not sure of myself my first term as well. Living as a muggle I didn't think I could do it, but I was actually pretty good at it. I be you will be to. Just pull out your wand and I will help you." She watched hoping he would change his mind. Chuckling a bit to his straightening up, "It's faster with the spell." That was true, she did the muggle way all the time and would take cleaning this way any day.

Looking back to Wade and Ella she shrugged, "What if everywhere looks like this though? There might not be any flowers to get." She was worried about that. "I bet there is a spell that could help us, I'll look in some of the books at the library."

Oakey came into the Common room after paying the sickle into the Turnstile to let him in twenty-nine times. His fingers were in his ears constanly picking at them to try and stop the ringing. This better not be an issue later on, Seriously two red-heads screaming their faces off and not getting any warning about Renesmee's. The Head Girl needs to find a better way to loose her cool, or just not loose it at all. His head hung low and he didn't really take notice of all or any of the other Puffs in the Common Room, he looked over at the bare fireplace, then over at a few of the dusty and unkempt places in the common room. He wasn't concerned about any of that though in his head the word 'failure' continued to pester him.
Only the first evening back, and he was a terrible Head Boy in the eyes of the Headmistress? All he did was go along with Renesmee so she could discuss the money situation. "I'll get Firewood first thing tomorrow." he told the group that was gathered around. "I pass by Mr.Firth's Hut on my walks." He was not in the mood to talk about anything else right now. In fact the boys dorm looked a little inviting at the moment.

Kace decided it was time to chill out in the common room area. He actually liked this common room area. It was nice and cozy. It made him feel right at home. Even though he felt like he was in a underground fortress, he felt right at home.

He saw all the other puffs in the room. They were happily chatting away and he did not want to disturb them. He also saw the puff prefect Oakey. Belle told him about Oakey and said he should keep his distance which he will. Kace already had a quill and paper out and was ready to write Belle and his family a letter about his week at Hogwarts.

SPOILER!!: Kace's Letter

Dear Mom and Belle,

I am having an amazing time at Hogwarts so far. I have met new friends and Belle i met Minnie, Ella, Alec and Ethan and Minnie the friends you were talking about! They were so welcoming. I felt right at home. I hope i can live up to your greatness soon enough.

I went to my first two lessons. I went to Transfiguration and Astronomy. In Transfiguration i got to transform a gargoyle and make it do tricks! I got it to do a hand stand and a back flip. It was so cool! I am loving using my wand and doing magic!

In Astronomy i met professor Airey and he was pretty chill! We did the activity of sucking up planets in a vacuum cleaner.The main part of the lesson was we were learning about Black Holes in the solar system. Well i gotta go and do my first homework of the semester.

I will write to you more and keep you updated!

Love,
Kace

Once we was done with letter, he smiled at it and was sitting there enjoying the fireplace and snacking on his muggle snacks he brought from home.

Nashville rubbed his eyes. Blink. Blink. Where was he? What was he laying on? Nashville poked his head up. OH. Hufflepuff Common Room. Soooofa. That makes a lot more sense. Yeah? Yes. Nashville rolled off of the sofa and slowly stood up, he looked around the common room and the first person he saw was the Head Boy, Oakey. What was he blabbering on about. Was it his cooking? Too bad taste the damn pie and have a nice day, Sir. NashyWashy nodded his head slightly. He slowly walked over to the Head Boy. He cleared his throat. Would he just be straight to the point and ask him what was going on or would he make a smart remark towards the boy. Nashville cleared his throat once again.

"What are you blabbering about?"

Jory figured he would give the common room a bit of clean now that cleaning wasn't as frequently as it used to be. He knew his house mates tried to keep everything in order, so why not pitch in?

The Puffer decided he would start with the walls. Yup. They looked a bit dusty. "Vacavus!'' he said tapping the vacuum. It roared to life. "Time to clean this place up a bit.''

He aimed the hose at the wall along which were lined with couches. Up, down, up, down and all around he hose went. Jory made sure he got as many nooks and crannies as he could. It wouldn't be right to do work sloppily, would it?

He continued along moving along more walls and trying hard not to disturb the students there.

Annabeth sat on the floor. She was devastated: how it would be possible to do a potion for her homework with those ingredients? At least if Professor Lafay had had willingness to help her telling how to filter the Flobberworm mucus... But she was a witch, just as people had told her, a bad witch. But staying here feeling sorry for herself it wouldn't help to do what she had to do. She was flipping the pages of the Potions book when she noticed someone approaching her. It was that boy, Jori, who had helped her in the Laundry. She said: "Hi!"

With Mags perched on her shoulder, Lottie came out of the dormitory and camped in the Common Room for a bit. Decision-making time.
There was still a bunch of yellow stuff all around. Even if it was all dusty and seemed old, she needed to make this look like an accident, right? Riiiiight.

Since she was very fond of the fireplace that could only be lit by the students now, she went over to that area and actually vacuumed one of the sofas in there. Tap. "Vacavus!" THERE. She took a seat and mulled things over. One of the banners would make a perfect combination with the curtains already inside the vacuum, yeah? Also, Mags seemed to think the same, since the pygmy puff was looking that way too.

The black takes the yellow. Okay, go!

She got up and pretended to be vacuuming near the fireplace, because, you know, ashes and whatnot. By the time she came to one of the banners, she tapped the black vacuum again, "Vacavus," yup, almost a whisper, why? Because there's nothing to see here yellow peeps, nooothing to see, move along.

Also, OOPS, look at that! The banner was gone! Let's hope Airey likes yellow.

The girl faked a gasp, "Oops," and shrugged, pretending to keep on vacuuming and stuff. We're very good at acting.

Sophie chose a time when she knew not many people would be in the Common Room. She didn't want to bother anyone while she did her homework. But... everyone would have to do it anyway, right? So they wouldn't be bothered or anything. Hopefully.

After inserting the knut in the coin slot and coming through the Common Room's entrance pulling the vacuum with her, Sophie took a good glance around the area before pulling out her wand. Yep, hoovering was necessary right now.

"Vacavus!" The brunette said, tapping her the hoover with her wand and beginning to work.

How clever were all of the professors, really? Teaching and making them all do stuff that were related to cleaning around that term. They were quite nice, actually! Imagine if they had to do it without magic! Though hoovering like that was a very Muggle thing to do, but anyway.

Sophie smiled to herself as she walked around their Common Room, pushing the vacuum back and forth and watching as it sucked up tons of dirt, dust, ashes, cat hair and whatnot. Merlin, that place was dirty!

Annabeth was sitting near the fireplace, trying to filter that disgusting Flobberworm mucus when she heard a sudden noise of vaccum behind her. She peered over her shoulders and, for her surprise, there was a girl cleaning the room with a vaccum. A vaccum cleaner: if there was something she didn't expect to see there it was a vaccum cleaner. No doubts. She grinned at the girl and said: "hi!" *waves* "Do you need some help?"

Just minding our own business, you know? Making the Common Room dust free and stuff, vacuuming our way to the other banner next to the fireplace...

...but people intruded, sort of. So she actually pretended to be taking care of all the ashes in the fireplace. It wasn't lit, no worries.

Tap. "Vacavus," okay, so, we're not pretending to be vacuuming, we're actually getting rid of allllll the ashes that big fireplace had. Ashes to ashes...

HEY MAGS! Stay put. She nudged the pygmy puff before it could fall onto the fireplace and be sucked and probably die into BLACKNESS. However, the pygmy puff had other ideas and decided to dwell above the fireplace. Well, that was good too. No banners or anything yellow on top of that. Except for a portrait.

So, moving on...

...onto the other banner.

Tap. "Vacavus," quietly, it was said. And the Hufflepuff banner turned into dust as it succumbed to darkness and vanished from sight. It did some harm, since it left Lottie coughing as well. The dust cloud went away quickly, as it also vanished into the vacuum, but the coughing effect remained. Seriously.

SIGH. Hufflepuff.

At any rate, the banner was gone, and the fireplace was free from ashes, dust and yellow. BEAM. Or..no, not BEAM. She pretended to be entirely confused as to why the vacuum had swallowed the ENTIRE banner. "Uh-oh." Riiiiiiiiiiiight. Inner BEAM. "Oh, well...," another shrug, and off we go.

It may seem suspicious if she takes all the yellowness of the room, right? Also, Mags decided to stay, it was cool, she could do whatever she wanted.