Stellar choice. Ha ha, very punny, Mr. Astronomy. Erik tsked mildly in response and continued his stroll, certain the astro nut would try to keep pace with him. "Shame, vhat." And that was all he had to say about the tie he was now rather attached to.

And so the not-a-pup had a name. "Is it a rock?" Erik still tried to be polite as he stared more closely at the thing. Funny how Flamsteed thought a rock required minimal care and was quiet. A toddler could have told him that. "Perhaps vhe Muggles who sold you vhat vere playing a prank on you, Mr. Flamsteed." Not a very good one, though. What a waste of money and energy for him, lugging a rock around.

A murdered professor. Ella shuddered a little, nodding her head. "Sad isn't it?" And it unnerved Ella somewhat that this child was speaking so candidly about this and smiling too. She supposed death could be fascinating for some, though. Then introductions happened and Ella's eyes flickered from the younger girl to the rat and back again. "It's nice to meet you Sonea, you too Little Princess." Then there were questions and the blonde Hufflepuff raised her eyebrows a little. "I'm Ella Bishop and I'm going to do some work up here. Tidying up and such. Would you like to help?" Hmm?

Great Odin's Raven! So it was a rock. Erik had no idea what to say about that, so he shook his head as they rounded one of the hedges. "Muggles," he muttered quietly under his breath. Erik himself was a Muggleborn but had been around wizards so long he almost didn't understand his roots anymore.

But enough of that, he needed to find these plaques. "Indeed," Erik agreed with the Astronomy professor, coming to a stop near the first plaque in his path. This one was...dedicated to Burbage, the other victim of the man-eating plant. "You haff some students vorking hard here though," Erik pointed out, even as he was frowning at the sight of the rust on the plaque. "Who put these in here?" he wondered aloud. Same person ought to be maintaining them, no, regardless of whether or not they had an elven slave at their beck and call?

She nodded to the older girl and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you to” said Sonea friendly and looked at Little princes before she said that Little princess also did like it to meet her! “Come Little princess, I need to put you back inside my pocket, I don’t want you to get sicker than you already are” said Sonea concerned while she helped her pink rat to go back into her warm pocket.

“Oh, hello Ella!” Sonea looked again at the older girl and wondered how old she was, she probably was from the same age as her friend Daichi, maybe a year younger, but she was not sure. “Okay, sure I want to help you, what can I do?” Sonea didn’t hoped that helping Elle concerned working with her hands and getting dirty…

Good Odin was Erik going to have to cast Silencio on this man to get some peace and quiet up here? He should have checked the class schedules before coming up here, so he could have visited the tower when the man had class in session. "Yes, I haff used a vacuum," Erik answered shortly, rolling his eyes up toward the heavens as though checking for rain. Or...he was rolling his eyes in other words.

Now was he humming? Vot? Erik glanced back down toward the plaques quickly. "But vhere is vhe plaque for vhe other professor?" he continued, lifting a bit of vine out of the way near the two that were certainly prevalent near the fountain. "Burbage vas not vhe only professor who made the ultimate sacrifice at Hogwarts..."

Tristan was just 'the Ancient Runes professor' to this man? Just? Erik eyed him sharply, he couldn't help it, with his brilliant blue eyes drilling a hole through the man's forehead. Like a comet streaking through the atmosphere, so intense was his stare.

"Tristan Christensen," he corrected quietly, "vas his name. So no one has really asked for a plaque for him."

No one? Not even the Headmistress, whose fault it was that he had died in the first place, had put a tribute to Christensen in the school? Anywhere at all? The blonde man's disappointment was evident in the slump of his shoulders.

Botros...the Runes professor...yes, maybe someone had spoken to him. Erik bit the corner of his lip and turned away from the plaques. Unfortunately, he seemed to be turning straight into the Astronomy man, who was.....wrapping his arms around him.....embracing him....patting his shoulder.....noooo no no no no no, Erik thought, but it was all too late.

He had just been hugged by another man. As though adding insult to injury, the Astronomy professor then suggested that they go ask the Headmistress about the lack of memorial plaque over ice cream. Hell no.

"I vink I vill pass on vhat, Professor," the blonde man answered quite stiffly, and with a quite wide side step away from him. The hug. Ughhhhh. It was still making him shudder. Erik disliked human contact except from for a few certain people that much. He shook his head and took a deep breath, heading straight for the stairs to exit this terrible garden now.

Her pet was sick? Ella frowned slightly as she watched the younger girl interact with Little Princess, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Is she ill?" And if so, maybe Sonea should take her to Professor Barlow? That might be helpful.

She wanted to help? Grin. "Well...today I was going to water the flowers. Are you up for helping with that?" And the blonde took out her wand, motioning her head towards the nearest flower bed. Sonea was following, yeah?

Just when she had put her rat in her pocket where it was safe and warm for Little princess to sleep she heard the question from the older girl. “Yes, I think that she is ill, but I don’t know what it wrong with her, she is suddenly so fat and she isn’t eating much more than usual. It all happened after the day I had lost Little princess, she had run away to play with another rat…” The young girl took a deep breath and tried to hide her concern for Little princess and smiled at the other girl. “I have a appointment with professor Barlow, so I’m sure that she will okay soon” said Sonea and hoped that she was right.

The young girl was happy that the girl started to talk about something else, she was already worried enough and didn’t liked it to talk about her sick rat anymore and helping the other girl was a good distraction! “Sure, I can do that” said the young girl, even now that she had no idea why the older girl wanted to water the flowers…

She imitated the older girl and pointed her wand at the flowers, just as Ella and waited for the girl for more instructions, she had never used this spell before, so she had no idea what to do and how she needed to do it.

Nerida walked along with her cat on her heels, wondering were to go. She had just decided to take a walk and Sky decided to follow her, she made note not to go near the astronomy tower but after chasing Sky up around that area she hoped Professor Flamsteed was not around there.

She followed Sky up to the Tower Patch, since she as here she could do a bit of work. The Ravenclaw bent down and picked up her blue cat and stroked it gently, where to start first? She hadn't looked around for the Professor but it would be funny if he was there...Though she did remember the last time Sky and the Professor met last term. Not a pretty memory it was easy to see the Professor did not like cats at all!

Laura had never been up here before but now here she was ready to get some extra work in she knew that the Professor was really busy and so she was going to do some cleaning for them, then she had another idea, what about the other professor's they were busy as well but they were okay right? Well she would ask the headmistress the next time she saw her.

Laura continued to look around, she saw that the fountain was looking a bit dirty and so she decided that would be the first thing that she cleaned, she knew that it was going to take a-while to do a few thing but best start with that. ""Scourgify!" Laura smiled using her wand to make the fountain clean, she just wished that she could do the spell without speaking but that was hard.

Jory finally had some time to head up to the Tower Patch. He had meant to go earlier but there had been so much things to do. Of course, he had seen the notice on the Common Room board, so he was here ready to take care of those plants.

Right now, he was just strolling around, looking at the others. Most of them were working. And he spotted Professors Flamsteed and Vinteren off in the distance though it look like the History of Magic Professor was leaving.

Jory paused in front of a clutter of pinkish flowering plants. He decided they could do with a trim. The stems were all branching out too far and as a result it looked as if there was a clump of wild flowers. He pointed his wand to the left side of the plant. "Flipnsnipwitit!" Little pieces of the plant fell away. "Flipnsnipwitit!" the badger said again and more pieces fell away. "Flipnsnipwitit!" He repeated the charm until the plant was looking a lot neater.

Deep in thought, Ethan had been wandering the castle, not really paying a whole lot of attention to where he was going. He had a lot on his mind lately.. busy with Prefect stuff, Quidditch, studying for NEWTs, Uni application, spending time with his girlfriend, and just making time for fun.. but now something else was weighing heavy on his mind.

Something weird was going on and even though he was tried to be convinced to the contrary, he knew better. Everyone knew you weren't sorted into Ravenclaw for being stupid.. and he was going to try to figure things out. He just needed to find a place to clear his head and think things through.

The Prefect found himself at the top of the North Tower at the Tower Patch. Orienting himself with his surroundings, his eyes immediately drifted to the last place he saw Professor Burbage and the night of that lesson come filtering through his mind. Pushing those thoughts away, he glanced around at the greenery. Much like everything else in the school, it seemed to have suffered. Shame really.. he loved his plants, they typically brightened the environment.. until they weren't taken care of.

He glanced around at some of the other students there and headed over to a bench away from some of the others. He gave them a glance before setting down his messenger bag and rifling through it. Nice to see some of the others trying to take care of the environment.. and after he did some of his work he figured he'd help out a little too. But for now he pulled out a journal from his bag. The Herbology one Minerva had gotten him at the end of summer.. He glided his fingers over the front of it and opened up. What he was doing wasn't exactly Herbology-related, he thought as he opened it and skimmed past his notes and sketches until he found some blank pages in the back, but it would do for now.

Wade had been enjoying his free-time exploring around the castle. It had mainly been around the grounds, so a trip up to one of the highest areas seemed like another good spot to loiter at. So here he was.

Wade saw the few tending to the Tower Patch, that was nice. After taking in the scene he looked for a bench to sit at, and recognized this guy sitting at one. Hmm.. Sure, it was a while ago when his bludger hit him, but, hopefully he didn't mind Wade sitting by him. He was dating Minnie, after all, so he should be cool.

"Hi," Seeing that he was into some book, he was going to ask what he was reading. "So what are you-" Though the page he was on looked blank from where he was at. "doing?"

Quill poised above his journal, the wheels in Ethan's mind began spinning faster as he tried to organize his thoughts. Sudden mood changes - near hyperactivity.. extreme happiness and excitement over even mundane things.. giddiness and giggling.. making up nonsense and passing it off as real.. no regard for consequence.. seeming obsession with ice cream.. There were at least three people he could think of off the top of his head that all of a sudden fit those traits that hadn't before. Could he think of anyone else? Maybe that would help him piece this together. What about Flamsteed? Ethan wasn't sure as the guy seemed overly excited all of the time from the day he met him last year, so.. He didn't seem to have a drastic, sudden mood change. But as for anyone else, he'd have to keep an eye out.. And what was the connection?

The Prefect was so consumed with his own thoughts that he didn't notice someone sitting next to him until he heard a voice. Pausing his quill in mid-word, he looked up to see a remotely familiar looking guy beside him. "Oh, hey.. Wade, isn't it?" he said after a brief moment's thought. He made it his business to know members of the opposing Quidditch teams. Besides, he spent plenty of time watching Minerva practice, so he had familiarized himself rather well with the Hufflepuff team. "I'm Ethan, by the way," he added as an afterthought, just in case the other boy wasn't as observant as he was, having never formally met the bloke before.

Hmm? Ethan looked at Wade curiously before glancing down at his journal with one half-written word on the page. "Well.. I'm trying to figure something out, I guess," he started, eyeing the bloke carefully. He was probably a smart guy, maybe he could help a brother out? "Have you noticed anything.. uh, strange going on lately?"

Well, there wasn't a lot Wade knew of Ethan beforehand. Today though he was picking up on what kind of guy he was, and one of Ethan's traits was shared with Wade. He was a deep thinker, since he took his time to finish jotting whatever he needed down before addressing him.

"Yeah," Wade nodded as he held out his hand to shake. "Nice meeting you, Ethan." Getting the formalities out of the way now that they were finally acquainted. "You're a pretty good Keeper, you know." He could only imagine how that burden of saving carried along with his own Prefecting duties. Heh.

One of Wade's brow rose at the reason for his documenting(?). "Oh? Like what?" Curious, since he wanted to know what he was trying to find out. "Strange?" Blinking at the question just then, "Like when- Oh." Furrowing his brows as he thought back not too long ago. "Well, there was that Unicorn that came out of the forest during Ancient Runes.. if that's the kind of strange you mean." Now Wade tilted his head slightly at Ethan, careful not to glimpse at his writing in case it had personal stuff. "Have you found anything strange?" You know, just for reassurance since they both clearly weren't crazy.

Ethan grasped Wade's outstretched hand and gave it a firm shake. "Good to meet you as well, Wade," he said with a small, but friendly smile. The smile on his face might have normally been more broad, but it was certainly nothing against the Hufflepuff.. Ethan just had a lot of concerning things on his mind at the moment. Wade seemed like a decent bloke and he was mildly impressed with his good manners concerning cordiality.

He tilted his head slightly at the compliment, not helping but to smile a bit modestly. "You think so? I'm not so sure.." he said with a shrug. "I'm still trying to get used to the position change, I think. I much preferred Chasing.." He hated this insecurity he felt with playing Keeper. He usually did rather well in practice, but after the last game he wasn't so sure he was suited for the position. "I noticed you changed positions, too," he grinned, subconsciously rubbing his arm. He remembered once being on the wrong end of a bludger courtesy of the former beater sitting next to him.. but he had no hard feelings about it. He knew it was a part of the game. "So, do you like Chasing? I've seen your practices.. you're quite good." He had seen most of the Hufflepuff practices so he knew what he was talking about. "You know, we'll be opposing each other very soon.." he added with a chuckle.. as in direct competition. Ethan would be doing his best to block Wade's shots when Ravenclaw played Hufflepuff.. but he loved a little friendly competition.

Ethan glanced down at his journal before looking back up at the other boy at his questioning. He thought over how best to respond when he heard Wade's response.. or the start of one. Maybe he did have something to add and he could piece this together. He listened for a moment, then thought over what he had to say. "The unicorn.. right.. I had almost forgotten about that." Probably because he hadn't thought it that strange since they had been close to the forest, but.. "They don't often get that close to humans, do they? Especially boys.." he mused aloud. And that one had seemed rather frightened but it could just be for the fact that it was so close to people. He decided to add that in his notes. Maybe it would connect to the other stuff somehow.

He took a deep breath, thinking over how best to proceed when the question was turned back to him. Yes.. he did notice something quite strange going on lately.. he just hoped Wade wouldn't think he was completely mental once he said it out loud. But he knew there was a problem and maybe if he talked things through with someone, he could work out just what it was. "Well, I was meaning more like strange behavior. Have you noticed anyone acting weird lately? I mean, like extremely excited and happy.. um, almost bouncing off the walls with hyperness. And an obsession with ice cream.." He looked at Wade carefully, waiting for him to think it over.. and hoping he could confirm his observations.

So Ethan was somewhat modest too, it looked like. Wade wondered if compliments came rare for him as well. "Yeah? You seem to be pretty good so far." From the few times Wade had awaken from his napping to see some teams practicing, he was sure of recognizing the players. Oh, yeah, so Ethan did remember that bludger of his. "Oh.. yeah, sorry about that." Letting his hand rub the back of his hair sheepishly, smiling at the compliment though. Sure, it had been part of the game but harming someone wasn't a favorite thing for Wade. "Thanks, being a beater was nice, but it's been awesome being able to look out for my other Chaser mates as well playing as one too." Heh. Right, they wouldn't know for sure until their upcoming game how their skills are matched this year."Well, I guess I'll have to step up my game then." Smirking from Wade.

Wade merely shrugged, guess that wasn't the kind of strange Ethan was thinking of from his tone. Pity indeed that guys aren't automatically trustworthy to the Unicorns. "Yeah, it's a shame certain people had to ruin us guys' chances from getting to know them better." Oh well.

Wade listened as Ethan carefully explained what strange thing he noticed. He titled his head slightly. Huh.. It wasn't the kind of answer Wade was expecting, really. He was concerned about someone and not just the whole in school in general.. or so it seemed. Wade had to make sure. "Kind of sounds like a good number of people here." Like his house.. quidditch team.. Hmm..Tilting his head slightly, he was beginning to have some clue on who he could be refering to as he thought of every member of his house team. "Was there.. a certain someone you had in mind?"