These are starting to get super long! :V
 

“The Room of Requirement? What?” Isobel had never heard anyone mention that before, was it like some sort of room where you could order things. “Anyway, I just think that realistically, there’s no way this would work out. We’d have to get the entire House to agree, and besides,” Okay, Isobel was seriously running out of reasons here, but true to her stubbornness, she kept arguing. “don’t you think this is way too much work just to avoid paying a knut or two each day?” The plan could, theoretically, work, but she’d found that implementing fanciful ideas often turned out for the worse.

“Wow, thanks,” Isobel said cheerfully, laughing as well. She was sure her dad would like to meet Tora or Niamh as well, but there was no way that would happen. They’d both had much more exciting lives than she, and there was no way she’d let them come to her sleepy little town where the most exciting thing to happen was a couple getting engaged or something. Isobel didn’t say anything when Tora spoke again, instead choosing to fiddle with the corner of her book and smile awkwardly, bending back the pages somewhat.



“Did you know that even thinking about yawning can make you yawn? Like, if you’re reading, and it mentions that a character yawned or something, you’re probably going to yawn.” Wow, she’d repeated the word so many times there it was starting to not sound like a word anymore. Yawn. Yawn. Yaaaaaaaawn.

Isobel looked at Niamh for a minute, confused. If she wanted the best for her little sister, and she preferred Beauxbatons to Hogwarts, wouldn’t she want her sister to go there? Then, she supposed it would be awful to see your sister having to switch schools like you did, and besides, the jealousy would be extreme.

“Huh, that’s cool!” she said, smiling back. “I don’t actually know what my name means. It’s Isobel with an o, by the way.” She’d told Tora, but she didn’t think she’d ever mentioned it to Niamh. “Oh, I understand. We should probably get to bed soon, then, I’m pretty sleepy too,” She hadn’t eaten as much as she’d expected to, but the food was still making her tired.



“I like the knocker!” Isobel said, frowning. She thought it was great that only smart people were allowed into the common room. Although she supposed that was kind of prejudiced, she preferred to talk to people who actually knew what she was talking about, when it came to intellectual topics. “But no, I don’t think there’s any other way in. Why would you need to be quick, though?”

Astro HW Post 3.
 

Beezus had no words. Really...no words when Aquila just ran off and came back without so much as a goodbye or hello again. But she got the incantation correctly this time! Beaming time. "Perfect, doll." The brunette told her younger 'Claw and even offered a two-finger salute.

As she pulled out a handkerchief to wipe her forehead, Beezus also watched as Aquila's vacuum did its magic. It wasn't really what you'd classify as of that on the proficient degree but she was working on it. It was showing. But there was hardly any litter around their room now since she had already vacuumed. If they were pushing through with practice, in which they were - Beezus called the shots, they'd need a bigger, messier space.

And where was her mind running off to?

Duh. The Common Room downstairs.

So...she waited until Aquila's vacuum whirred down before she pulled on her own and slipped an arm around the younger Ravenclaw's elbow. "Come on, come on, come on." Beezus tugged her companion out of the dorms, down the staircase and finally, gently released her when they were in the Common Room proper.

"You're helping me, right? We shall clean the Common Room!" And no one's going to object. She was being a Prefect here and all. "All right. Let's start vacuuming under the couches? There, near the fireplace?" She didn't even wait for her cleaning buddy - yes, Aquila was now her cleaning buddy - to respond. Once again, she pulled the girl towards the fireplace and set up her contraption. She was going to work with the left side and she gestured that Aquila take on the right.

Wand out. "Vacavus!" SCHROOOOOOOMP. Ugh.. Papers under the couch? SCHRoooOoOoooOOOoooooooOMP. Candy wrappers? Merlin... haven't they established the rule that each of them dispose their own litters? They needed to have a House meeting soon.

SCHHHHHRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOMMMMP.

Dust, dust, dust.

How are you doing over there, Aquila?

Oh they were moving? The young blonde scampered after the brunette Prefect all the way down to their common room. She paused just as Beezus started cleaning the couch and the fireplace, the young one mirroring what she does. But just as Beezus moved away Aquila stayed by the couches.... and staaaared.

“That’s an awful lot of cat hair....” like hello tumbleweed town anyone?

She lifted the tube and gave it a genuinely perplexed look before waving her wand again and uttering “Vacavus” The vacuum cleaner got a bit stronger, at least enough to actually take up the cat hair....

WHHIRRRRRRRR

Astro HW Post 4.
 

Double posted! Huge apologies. :3

Please delete.

Astro HW Post 4.
 

"Ravenclaws own an awful number of cats, apparently." Herself, being one. Where was Davinci anyway? She'd bet her feline had contributed a fair amount of cat hair on that part of the Common Room Aquila was now cleaning up. That cat was bushy.

"Will you be okay right there, Aquila?" Beezus had just finished the part of the fireplace she was to tend to so by now, she was lifting her contraption a bit to the side. Scoot, scoot. Time to vacuum out under the couches in the center of the Common Room. Fortunately, their many couches weren't sold off to like the rest of the school. Although, she had noticed that the bulk of books in their bookshelves has alleviated.

She still didn't have any idea how this whole predicament had started, however. So it was still disappointing.

But nah, that was none of her concern at the moment. She had cleaning up to do!

Beezus set her vacuum next to her as she knelt down next to the couch and carefully nudged its nozzle underneath. "Vacavus!" SLURP. It was so darn dusty under those couches. It was relatively spewing over the brunette's face as her vacuum sucked up the dirt. ...To the other couch! "Vacavus." Same thing going on here. Merlin....that House meeting didn't to happen after she was done with this.

"Achooo!"

Feel free, anyone. He doesn't bite :)
 

Garrick was chewing loudly on a mouth full of Bott's Beans in a display that would have caused his mother to have heart failure. Heh. That was one thing he liked about boarding schools. He was able to act any way he wanted... To a certain extent.

Finally swallowing down the glob of jelly beans he smiled brightly and pulled his feet into his seat and propped his book on his knees. Perhaps he could get a little bit of reading done before Benjy and he set off to get into something. Heh.

Ravenclaws and their cats “I noticed...” this young one smiled continuing to clean up the couches “We have lotsa cats at the temple too, I wanted to bring one here but I wasn’t able to ask permission.” Perhaps next term, provided of course she doesn’t have to split her meager meals with the pet.

Oh! And Beezus sneezed “Bendithia.” she replied automatically, before turning back to the task at hand...

She moved towards the drapes reapplied the spell, stretching her lanky form so she could vacuum as far as she could reach.....

Astro HW Post 5.
 

"Then," ACHOO! Merlin...her eyes were starting to water up now too. "....you can ask permission next time you go back to the temple and bring one when you come back." She can do that this coming summer, maybe? And perhaps, she could let Aquila's cat play with her Davinci. Temple cats were supposed to have some air of royalty in them, right? Or something like that. Davinci will love to have a friend-cat like that. He always acted like he was the Prince of England anyway.

Sniffle. "Bendithia?" Erm. You're welcome? >___<

Rubbing the back of her hand against her nose - which was a terrible idea because dust clung to her hands (she didn't use her brain sometimes, really) - Beezus sneezed yet again. She should take a break, yeah?

But not before she vacuumed under the table that the couches surrounded. She crouched down once more and dragged the machine's nozzle under the table where she tapped it with her wand, "Vacavus!" It whirred into motion and she guided the nozzle to clean up as much space as it could before it died down with a crunching sound.

Her nose was soooooooo itchy. She wanted to scratch...and ACHOOOO! "Ugh. Excuse me..." And another ACHOO!

This time, she rubbed her nose against the clothe on the edge of her shoulder. That was definitely better. Not too close to dust. She sniffled and that's when Garrick came in, walked past them and plopped down into a seat without so much as a hello.

She didn't mind that she wasn't being paid attention to. She wasn't really the attention-seeking type. What she was worried about was that they were cleaning and he was there and there was a huge possibility that he'd be showering in dust in no more than a minute once she turned on the vacuum.

But seeing as she was taking a break, what not ask him to do take her place, right? It seemed as though he wasn't doing much anyway.

"Hey, Garrick. Do you want to help clean up? You can take over my vacuum while go prepare snacks for us and blow my nose." She nodded towards Aquila at that last word. She hoped the boy wouldn't take her words the wrong way....because he often did.

Garrick and Beezus and whoever else wants to playyy!
 

"...or you could play chess with me," Benjy said, as he appeared from the dorms. His nose wrinkled at the vacuum cleaner in Beezus' hand. More because it reminded him that he was supposed to do something with one at some point.

And no, that didn't mean now.

He had better things to be doing than vacuuming. Like playing chess. Or enjoying his birthday presents. Or skateboarding. Basically anything that didn't remind him of how tight and dirty Hogwarts was right now.

Speaking of which, Benjamin's stomach gave a growl - and not for the first time this week. He bit his lip, before eyeing Garrick's beans. "Share?"

He was hungry enough to eat the vomit flavoured ones, and that was saying something...

Beezus and Benjy
 

Upon hearing his name Garrick glanced up from his book and knitted his brows together. Had she asked him to vacuum? Really? "Uh no. I don't do... vacuuming." And no, he wasn't being rude, he even smiled slightly at the girl. He had rarely spoken to her... but she had patted him that once and well, he didn't care for that. But moving on. No. He didn't vacuum. Nope.

Hearing Benjy speak, though, he shut his book and carefully set it on the table beside him. With one last glance at Beezus he smiled once more then turned his attention to his cousin. "Here, mate, take the bag. I have more. Mum told me to split the care package with you, but I haven't seen you of late." Tossing the beans to Benjy he cast a glance about. Vacuums cleaned up dust and such... not showered people in it, so he didn't worry much about that.

Scooping up Sophocles and setting him in his lap he said, "By the way, I got you something. It's up in the dorms. Mum and Dad sent something as well." BIRTHDAY and all that. MHM.

With a furtive glance to the Prefect, Benjy grinned at Garrick. "You sure?" he asked, though had already grabbed a handful of the beans and stuffed them in his mouth. It was an odd flavour sensation: marshmallow, ear wax, pineapple, chocolate, raspberry jam, toast and was that...bangers and mash?

Weird. But also rather satisfying. Like eating several missed meals all in one shot.

Swallowing, Benjamin gave his cousin a sheepish look, and wrinkled his nose. There was a reason Garrick hadn't been seeing him as much. One that he didn't really care to point out, though it did restrict his ability to visit certain areas - namely, the Great Hall and the Common Room - too often.

...

Hang on. Benjy's brain ran through what Garrick had said once more. Care package? "Please tell me it has cake in it?" With deliciously soft and sweet frosting. A dreamy look crossed his face at the thought.

...and then he opened his eyes with a grin. Garrick had got him something? His eyes lit up. "You did?"

WAS IT WHAT HE THOUGHT IT WAS?!

...Or, yeah. Garrick can do that too. Play chess with his cousin instead of helping in cleaning duties.

Beezus caught the look Benjy had thrown at the vacuum on her hand and fought not to roll her eyes at him. Sigh. Did he even know how to use the contraption? She hoped so, since they were to take turns cleaning the Common Room. All of them. No exceptions. So......

Gah. She was sweating all over, nursing an itchy nose and no, these two didn't do vacuuming? Um, no. "It's okay if you don't want to do it right now. But you two will have to help in cleaning just like the rest of us." No one was going to sit around and act like they were kings and queens, okay? She returned the smile though and shrugged.

"Well, see you two around."

And with that, she offered them a two-finger salute before going back to Aquila's side. "Hey, doll...you want to grab some snacks after you're finish with that spot?" Achoo! ....They could have some bonding time or something like that.

Beezus first...
 

Garrick shot a look at the Prefect and tilted his head slightly. "I must have missed the memo that says I HAVE to vacuum this common room. I have no problems helping to clean but I will not vacuum. And I think you probably need to work on your people skills a bit." Just a thought. And again, all of this was said with a smile. So yeah. Back to the more important things in life.

Garrick nodded at Benjy and jerked his head toward the dorms. "Come on we'll go up and you can sort through and see what you want. And of course I got you a birthday gift." What kind of family member would he be if he hadn't??!!

Grabbing his bag he shoved his book inside and took off up to the boys dorms away from the tyrannical Prefect with the superiority complex. Sheesh. She needed to realize she was a PREFECT, not the all knowing authority of all students.

Benjamin smirked. "Plus," he said to Beezus after Garrick had his say, "I don't plan on making it dirty...if you hadn't noticed, I've barely been IN the Common Room so far this year." He would quite happily tidy up after himself, but he didn't see why he should clean up after others if they couldn't be bothered to. Especially if he had to pay to access the Common Room an extra time during the day to do so...because somehow he didn't see the other Claws being very impressed at him doing it and getting under their feet whilst they were doing homework, or right as they wanted to go to sleep.

Eh, whatever. He followed Garrick's lead, and shot the Prefect a smile. He didn't know why she apparently had a bee in her bonnet, but he MUCH preferred the male Prefects. Ethan was cool, and Spike had been pretty chilled in his first three years.

Turning to Garrick, Benjy's grin grew. "Sounds like a plan." Since Garrick hadn't said there wasn't any cake...maybe there might even a birthday cake hidden amongst the stuff his aunt had sent? Benjy could hope!

Of course? Hah. Benjy chuckled. "Well, you shouldn't have..." he said, with a playful punch on his cousin's arm as his followed up to the dorms. Knowing Garrick, it'd be something awesome - if only because he wanted to try it too. "So has there been any excitement at home?" Y'know, except that it was his birthday, and he was FIFTEEN now?

wrapping this Astro thing up...
 

She caught that quizzical look on the Prefect’s face “Benditha... its what we say at home to people who sneeze.” she smiled. Other than the usual glare of please-cover-your-disease-spewing-pie-hole.

She continued vacuuming, moving from the drapes to the cushions on the chairs by the study tables, periodically having to reapply “Vacavus...” onto the contraption specially when the whirring was barely audible—and therefore isn’t being much more than a very gentle leaf blower.

When she was done she gave a small huff, dutifully pocketing her wand to free up her hands to pick up the contraption. She turned to Beezus, who by then was speaking to the Ravenclaw boys “Uhm Beezus.... I should return this back to the cabinet in Astronomy, other students might need it.” plus the whole look of this thing frightened her—it was like a one-armed deformed metal squid to her.

Tea. It wasn't often that the common room smelled really pleasant, although it usually managed not to smell terrible. The perk of being in a well-ventilated tower with people who understood personal hygiene, Mo supposed. And right at this moment, the common room smelled like tea. Good tea.

Mo drew a cushion off the couch and seated himself on the floor across from a snoozy looking Mika. "Tea for two?" Please please please?

"You know... you don't have to sleep out here. You could sleep in your very own bed," Mo offered helpfully as he examined his cup and saucer. It was a perfectly good cup and would do extremely nicely for a cup of tea. What else were cups for, hmm?

Mo filled both their cups with the boiling water and then added loose tea leaves to his own. Stir, pause, and steep. He ought to think of a question, too, right? Like maybe a question about... what to say to Mika about that hand-holding thing? That might make things between them awkward, and Mo really valued her friendship right now. "You want me to give you loose tea?"

Mika was clearly NOT in the right frame of mind to be doing a tea leaf reading, and Mo was fully distracted from his meditating on the question by her yawning and fidgeting. He put down his own cup and leaned over to add leaves to Mika's hot water, giving it a stir to get her moving.

"This isn't a campfire, silly. Won't you have trouble focusing when you're so tired?" He lifted the tea to his lips and blew gently across the surface before taking the first sip. Oh, see? This was MUCH better tea than what they had in class. "Good tea. Did you buy it in Hogsmeade?"

Ethan walked into the common room, exhausted from a long Charms lesson. With a big assignment due, there was little room in his head to think about much else. Plopping down into a squashy armchair and pulling out his quill and parchment, he got to work.

"I dunno. I've never been into Puddifoots before. You know, this is much better tea than we had in class," Mo mused as he took another tip of his tea. It was probably really unrealistic to have someone donate tea to the professor, right? But still, it was nice to dream, especially after that appallingly bad cup they'd had to endure during class.

He reached the bottom of his cup and did the quick swirl-swirl-swirl and dump motion they'd practiced in class. The extra tea sloshed into the saucer, and Mo left the cup there for the time being. "So... did you think of a question already?"