Nerida stopped by the Weasley Swamp with her gargoyle over her shoulder, yeap she was going to do a trick here...Though she would do an easy one, one where he wouldn't fall into the swamp.

Setting the gargoyle down, Nerida cast "Piertotum Locomotor." thinking for a quick moment, she commanded "Be a mime, act like you trapped in a box."

She chuckled as she saw the Gargoyle actually acting like he was trapped inside a box!

Nerida shouted "Finite!" and then picked up the gargoyle though she let him stay out a moment for actually placing him in his box.

Being a seventh year meant that she had to know all the places around Hogwarts. She couldn’t just LEAVE before she saw all the things around the castle and the grounds. So Gwen figured that taking a walk around would be a good start. Hmm. Perhaps she had already seen everything and there was nothing new to discover.

But no.

She couldn’t just give up the plan before even starting. So the search for interesting places around the castle begins. Gwendolyn randomly walked along one of the corridors, having no particular place in mind. After a while, she found herself walking towards the Swamp. Hmm. She had been here before. In one of the classes last year…

She didn't know where she was going yet, she just knew she was walking. For the entire day she'd felt nothing but restless and the feeling didn't seem ready to go away as yet. At first jumping on her bed seemed enough but that had to stop when her sleeping kneazle began protesting. He hadn't been sleeping well lately so she thought it best not to ruin a potential nap time for him.

She rounded a corner and headed down the corridor on the first floor at notable speed. It had started as fast walking and now she was nearly running. Why? She didn't know but she had tonnes of energy to burn so why not??

Oh! Lookit! "Hai Gwen!" She said, coming to a stop by the Weasley swamp and standing just next to the older girl. "Are you planning on diving in? Did you see something move in there??? How's the weather??"

Sugar was good.

Ethan's first stop on his quest for potions ingredients found him on the first floor of the castle. He headed down the corridor until he reached the swamp tucked away in one corner. He remembered this place from last term when they did a bit of studying of it for Herbology class.. and he had visited it a few times since then just for his own research purposes. One of the elements of the swamp, he had discovered, were leeches. And he knew those little creatures were found in certain potions.

As he neared the swamp, Ethan crept down in front of it, peering along the ground and around the foliage for any sign of the little creatures. He was sure he saw one in the mud near the swamp's edge and he pulled out a small tin box from his messenger bag. It had some lemondrops in it but he quickly emptied it, shoving a handful in his mouth and another handful in his pocket. With the box now empty, he plucked the leech from the ground and dropped it into the box. Probably should get a few more though.

He ran his fingers over the ground through the tall grasses and over the rocks in search of more leeches. Feeling a movement, he stopped and looked closer.. another leech. He picked up that one and added it to the box to join his friend. Ethan moved further along the bank of the swamp, slowly pushing the plants out of the way to look for any sign of the small creatures. Spotting another one, he picked it up and added it to his collection. Figuring three was good enough for now, he brushed off his hand on the front of his robes, stood up, and moved on.

So, Forrest wasn't deaf and he'd heard about the swamp in here, of course. It just took him longer than he'd guessed to come and check it out, because it had taken him too long to learn the castle a liiiittle to not get lost. Here he was, at last, trying to make something out of the... swamp as he tried his best not to FAINT because of odour. Being curious as he was, he searched for something in his pockets to throw inside and see whether it sinks, and he couldn't find anything.

Mweh.

He wrinkled his nose but kept standing there, because he was more curious than being grossed out, and he decided to remove his sock at last. Sitting down at the very edge of it, he got his shoe off and removed his sock, ready to experiment with it.

It was a nice day and Sonea had decided to let Little princess walk ahead of her, a little exercise was not bad for her little friend, especially now that she was so fat and she wondered if she had given her too much food, or she was simply sick and needed some rest. But the point was, Sonea had taken Little princess already for a few days away from any exercise and she had only become fatter!

Her rat walked further and further, and because Sonea watched her rat all the time she didn’t saw where she was going… Just when she smelled something bad she realized where she was and cringed. “Oh no, not the swamp” whispered Sonea while she looked with a disgusting look at the swamp in front of her. “Little princess, come here” called Sonea and just when she was bending over, ready to grab Little princess, she saw a boy sitting with… His shoe out? “What are you doing? Is there something wrong?”

Forrest wasn't startled for a change when someone called out for him in here. He simply looked at the girl, sock already in hand and hanging over the swamp. He didn't see the rat, he was so intent on his experiment.

"I'm experimenting," he said nonchalantly, and simply dropped the sock to see what would happen in the swamp.

“Experimenting with what?” Sonea stared frowning at the sock and wondered what he wanted to do, and why he was here at this dirty place. Of course had she heard everything about this swamp, but if she had watched more careful to where she was going she had never been here, at this place. But, Sonea wanted to prove that she was not a coward she only HATED dirt and this was dirty… and did a step forward. She looked closer at the swamp and wondered if there were frogs inside the swamp.

Forrest didn't tear his eyes from the sock that was now in the swamp.

"To see whether this is an authentic swamp," he said, keeping his nonchalant manner.

Look! A bubble rose from where the sock contacted the swamp. What did that mean?

"Would you like to sit and watch with me?"

Eeew! Sonea stared at the sock who disappeared in the swamp and saw the large bubble. This is filthy… Thought Sonea while she watched the swamp. She knew that this place was special because it was created by the Weasley brothers, but that didn’t meant that she liked it! But… She had nothing better to do that day and she was a little curious why this boy was so fascinated with a place like this.

“Okay” said Sonea hesitant and sat down next to the boy. “Oh, I’m Sonea Duvessa” said Sonea to the boy while she also watched the swamp.

‘HI!’, she grinned as she saw the Gryffindor. Well.. she hadn’t talked to Lex in a while, so she was quite happy to see her. Smirk.

Well... she should have got used to Lex being so hyperactive all the time by now. Eh. The Gryffindor had just asked a question, but Gwen didn’t get the time to give any reply before another question followed. Erm.

One question at a time.

Diving in? The swamp? ‘Yeah I don’t think so’ I don’t think so meaning... NO WAY. ‘Are you?’ Hmm. Probably not. Just asking.

Hmm. Did something move there? Gwen narrowed her eyes a bit suspiciously as she glimpsed back at the swamp. Maybe one of those weird swamp bubbles. Anywaaay. The weather? ‘Quite sunny, I think’ But it was November, so even though it was sunny outside, it was pretty cold. Whatever. Maybe there was no need to actually answer this question. Mehh.

But really- why was Lex so hyperactive? There was the one possible explanation: ‘Did you eat chocolate?’ Ice cream? Sugar? Heh.

Lex has actually begun bouncing a bit on the balls of her feet as she stood there talking to Gwen. Bouncing was fun, so was hopping but that wouldn't have been very convenient seeing as the girl was standing so close...or well...she was standing so close but really it didn't matter, the point was, bouncing was fuuuuun.

Was she?

As in diving in? "Gee, I dunno, haven't really thought about it before just this second. I guess I could, couldn't I?? Isn't it mostly gunk though??? Can you dive into that??" The question of whether or not they were aloud to still hadn't crossed her mind.

Pirorities. Oh and the weather was sunny, she should know that too because she'd walked by a few corridors on her way down.

As for the last question..."I MIGHT HAVE!!" Giggle. "That and some ice-cream and I stuck candy in the ice-cream and now the world is a HAPPY place!!!!!! BEEEAM.

Hmm. Could someone actually dive into that? ‘Probably not’ Probably meaning… most likely. Hopefully Lex wasn’t thinking about that. Hmm. ‘Anyway maybe someone could dive in’ Pause ‘Getting out is the problem’. Erm. Gwendolyn drew her attention back to Lex, as the Gryffindor answered her question about having eaten chocolate.

Might have?

MIGHT?

Gwen looked at the young Gryffindor for a moment, trying to keep a straight face. Heh. But she immediately let out a slight chuckle. Heh. Lex was funny. Hyperactive, but funny.

Forrest eyed the girl sideways and he was surprised upon seeing her disturbed expression. He then looked back at the swamp and made the connection: she was too sensitive to odour, maybe. He shrugged to himself. He would be here. Experimenting.

LOOKIT! It sank!

He leaned forward as much as he could go with his hands on the edge of the swamp.

"So it is a real swamp," he exclaimed, almost missing her introduction. He was confused upon hearing her voice, in fact. He had been that into his experiment that he'd forgotten she was there.

"Oh, nice to meet you. Forrest Charlton here." He flashed a cheeky grin, and showed the swamp with his head.

"Do you know why it's here?"

The young girl saw that the boy looked in her direction and shrugged, he was probably surprised to see her here, and that was not strange at all! She HATED dirty places and places who were smelling like this! No, insects were not the only thing she hated… But, she said nothing, she didn’t wanted to look like a stupid girl who only complained and who acted like a little child. No, when she would be back in her common room she would wash herself AND Little princess, she would clean her clothes so that this awful smell would disappear out of her clothes and then she would be happy again!

She looked also in the swamp, like the boy and saw that his sock sank in the swamp… Okay… What was here so important? It didn’t mattered for Sonea if this swamp was real or not, it was just a dirty place here at Hogwarts…

The boy leaned forward and Sonea’s first reaction was to grab him by his elbow, afraid that he would fall forward and into the swamp. "Be careful..." Sonea was still not so good in using magic and she was not sure if she would be able to help him if he had fallen forward. Sonea was not sure if he would have fallen, he probably knew what he was doing, but Sonea just wanted to make sure that everything was okay.

“Eh, yes… I suppose that it is a real swamp, are there some more experiments you want to do?” Sonea was a little worried but she was also curious about this swamp, so if he wanted to do more she would stay, what was strange thing for Sonea… And also, the other reason why she wanted to stay was because of the boy, he seemed so interested in this swamp that he had leaned so close to the swamp… Sonea was a little worried that he would fall into it!

Sonea smiled back at Forrest and made a mental note to remember his name.

Forrest definitely wasn't expecting that and he gasped and nearly fell inside the swamp when she grabbed him by the elbow. Instead of being angry at her though, he was touched by her concern, and simply grinned at her.

"Why is it here, though?" he asked as he pulled back and sat on his butt again. "It's another trap of Hogwarts?" As if moving staircases and mysterious doors weren't enough.

Getting out his wand, he pointed it confidently at the swamp and said "Scourgify!" That could clean--"What in--!" he exclaimed as the swamp vomited DIRT on them. He couldn't see her, but he was all covered in smelly disgusting mud.

"Eeeeew," he muttered and tried to wipe his eyes with the back of his hands.

The young girl just looked at the swamp when Forrest talked to her and she looked thoughtfully, “all I have heard was that this swamp is created by the Weasley Brothers while they tried to break some rules, but that is all what I know about it” Sonea shifted uneasy and wondered if there were insects around her and if she sat on them… “I don’t think that this is a trap, this swamp is here already for so long… If it was something more than just a swamp I’m sure that somebody already would have found its secrets…”

She wanted to say more when Forrest used his spell and… “EEEEEEEEKKK!” Screamed Sonea while she was drenched with mud, dirt and ALL the other dirty things who were inside the swamp! “GET IT FROM ME! GET IT OF ME!!!!” Sonea screamed while she rolled away from the swamp. The young girl saw when she looked at her hand that there were all sorts of small insects inside the mud and they were all over her whole body! “No, no, noooooo” Sonea felt dizzy from the shock and the fear for all the dirt she was covered with and she almost blacked out! “I- I need to sit still and…” She vomited…

Leo was out on one of his afternoon strolls around the castle. Following an impulse to go see if the weasley swamp was as luscious green as he remembered it from his own school days, he took the staircases down to the first floor.

Coming into the area of the floor where the swamp was located Leo first set his eyes on the swamp and then on the commotion beside it. Why where there studen'ts covered from head to toe in swamp dirt? Striding over to the two students, a girl and a boy Mr Kitridge asked "Why in Merlin's good name are you two looking like you've just had a mud fight?"

And was that vomit on the floor, next to the girl?

Weasley Brothers... Forrest was sure he'd heard about them before. Only, he couldn't remember where... hmm... might as well ask Alexa...

...

Save for not being able to open his eyes for the possibility of mud sticking in it, he was fine with the situation, really. At least, he didn't mind it that much. But Sonea--she went hysteric. Forrest jumped to his feet when she started yelling like that and he finally found a clean spot on his robes to wipe his eyes with. Once they were clean, he opened his eyes, with his wand still in hand--

To see her vomiting. D'you know what's worse, as if anything could be worse than the odour of vomit and a swamp? To see a PROFESSOR coming and being accused of MUD FIGHTING!

Deep breaths, Forrest, buddy, deep--

"We weren't fighting sir I swear we were just sitting by the swamp and it drenched us all in mud and she started to yell and vomit please no detention no point loss please it wasn't my fault at all please--"

After concluding the whole story in ONE breath, save for the detail he'd performed magic on it, he started to breathe properly as he STARED at the professor to see what he'd do. He wasn't even sure if the man could keep up with his explanation, because he had never spoken this fast before... And the wand in his hand? Let's hope it was camouflaged with the mud, with it being the same colour and all.

breathe, i need to breathe slowly… Said Sonea in silence to herself. One… Two… Three… breathe… It is just mud, dirt and the insects who are inside the mud are just… Insects… There is nothing to be afraid of… Just insects… The young girl took another breath and sat still on the ground, with her eyes closed. She heard how somebody talked and how Forrest tried to explain what had happened to the person, and Sonea suspected that the person was a professor because Forrest was afraid that they were in trouble, but the truth was, Sonea had done NOTHING wrong, but still she was drenched with mud!

Still with her eyes closed she asked with a shaking voice, “Will somebody use a cleaning spell on me? I- I don’t think that I can handle this any longer” her voice was shaky and she was so upset at the moment that it even didn’t mattered to her if she was in trouble or not. But if the professor thought that she had done something wrong, than he had made a mistake, because she only had sit besides Forrest and had talked… And the next moment… This! “Please?” asked Sonea shivering, the mud was wet and cold and she wanted to go back to her common room, she wanted to shower and to have clean clothes!

Leo listened as the boy in one catch of breath explained his side of the story. Oddly enough he managed to follow what the boy was saying. They hadn’t in fact been mud fighting, just sitting by the swamp when the swamp had drenched them in mud. He glanced over at the swamp briefly before he turned to the girl that was on the verge of hysteria. Pulling out his wand Mr Kitridge aimed it at the girl’s clothes. "Tergeo!"

When the girl’s clothes were clean again Leo asked her to get to the bottom of the situation. "Is what the boy saying true? Were you just sitting by the swamp when it drenched you two in mud for no apparent reason?" It seemed unlikely. The swamp didn’t spray mud unless you experimented in some way with it.

"I'm the librarian Mr Kitridge. I don't believe we've met. What are your names?" He asked of both of them. It was nicer to address someone by their name instead just something generic as boy or girl.

The young girl sat still still on the ground and tried to not think about all the dirt she was covered with and felt suddenly how all the dirt had left her clothes! Quickly she opened her eyes and the first thing she did was looking at her clothes of they were really clean and mud-free! And they were! “Thank you professor!” Sonea was so happy that she would have hugged the professor if he had been a student and not a adult! But his next question startled Sonea.

Had Forrest done something wrong? He had used his wand, but he didn’t told it to the professor… Quickly she looked at the first year and wondered if it was not allowed to use magic on the swamp. But, if it was not allowed, then she NEEDED to tell it because she refused to get in trouble because of something she hasn’t done! But she also didn’t wanted to get Forrest into trouble! This was a problem…

But, she needed to tell the truth, and the truth was… “I- My name is Sonea Duvessa and... What Forrest is telling is true but… He used his wand at the swamp, he wanted to know if this was a real swamp or not, but I don’t think that he had done it on purpose professor, so please don’t punish him, he is just a first year…” Sonea swallowed and did a few steps away from the swamp, afraid that she would be dirty again and she realized that she still smelled like the swamp, she smelled like something really dirty! “We were just sitting here, I told Forrest what I knew about the swamp and that it was created by the Weasley brothers, and then… This happened!” Sonea stopped and stared at her own feet, she really felt bad about this and she was afraid that not only Forrest would be in trouble but she also, because she was with him and she was older… She had needed to stop him when she saw that he wanted to use his wand, but… She didn’t knew what he wanted to do!

Forrest watched hopefully that the Professor would come and clean HIM after the girl, but he apparently chose not to. He wondered grudgingly whether he needed to CRY and VOMIT like the girl did too to get his attention and be cleaned. Because honestly, his condition was WORSE than hers since HE had been the real target. So he kept eyeing the man through narrowed eyes, but he preferred to introduce himself and know whether Forrest skipped telling something.

This was his punishment, eh? Until he was proven to be innocent, he'd be dirty? Then, Forrest would NOT complain like the girl did. He didn't mind a little bit of dirt. It was probably organic anyway, and he was very capable of cleaning himself too.

HMPF.

So, refusing to share his name too--because it was kinda condescending to tell his name while he smelt and was covered all in mud--he just held his breath and heard what Sonea had to say.

'...He used his wand at the swamp, he wanted to know if this was a real swamp or not...'

BETRAYER! She gave him in just like that! He just looked at her in disbelief and slight fear. Luckily, his face was ALL muddy too so NONE of his face expressions could be read. Her words, though, they opened a visible hole in his heart. Right in there. Wanna stick your hand in there too, you Slytherin? Hmmm?

Alexa had been right about Slytherins. They were the WORST people in this castle. He'd had the bad luck of meeting four of them, and three had let him down in some way. Only, Kahlan proved to be a charmer--and that was because she was a first year and hadn't been poisoned yet. So, trying to ignore the stiffening mud that stretched his skin, he just stood there silently and waited what the professor would do. If the man decided to punish him in a way...

Bring it on.

That was a rather interesting point to consider. What would make it so hard to come out of it in the first place. Was there some kind of monster that no one bothered to tell her about--she could wrestle it you know, or was it simply because of all the goop ad gunk in there?

She supposed that could cause a problem too...

Hmm...

"So anyway," She said, turning to face the girl again, "how've you been coping with all the changes so far? You know, paying to go to your Common Room and all that?"

For her it was less of a problem now because her father had sent her money. Such a good Daddy he was.

GRIN.