Walking down this corridor gave Huxley that familiar feeling of her old home, at least that’s what she likes to think it as. The only major difference of course is that the walls here are bare, and the lighting sporadic, as opposed to stacks and stacks of shelves overflowing with scrolls and books.

She slowed her pace as she finally found a break in the seemingly endless miles of dungeon wall to see the Potions Mistress’ office door. Again this young one didn’t know which Professor this was at the feast, so again, the gut was a bit squirmy at the faceless stranger. But she was here for a purpose and she has gotten this far down the dungeons not that she minded.

Knock knock. Is anybody home?

Professor Lafay was perhaps the teacher who MIGHT scare Tobias just a tiny little bit. But it really was only a tiny little bit. He soon got over the initial 'eeeep'ness of being in her classes and regarded her just as cheerfully as everyone else.

There was something bothering him about last term, though, and he came to the dungeons seeking enlightenment. And general advice about other potions related stuff. So... you know... here he was.

It appeared that there was somebody else here who had already knocked, so instead of knocking for a second time, Tobias stood waiting outside the door, too, tugging his school robes tighter around him to keep warm.

It was cooooold down here. Too cold. The cold that made him nervous.

Obviously it was nothing, but Tobias' encounters with dementors last term meant that feeling cold often put him on edge, and he moved so his back was against a wall. The professor's door was right in front of him still, but now he didn't feel quite like anything could sneak up on him and, if it weren't for how dark it was, he'd be able to see up to the corridor in both directions with just a turn of the head.

Cold down here. Cold and kinda scary.

Hecate moved swiftly down the corridor. She rolled her eyes when she saw two students already waiting for her. Why... WHY.... WAHHAAAHHAAAAEEE!

"Let me open my office and you may come in. The both of you." She said as she pulled out her magic wand and unlocked the door. "Come now... don't just stand there. Come in."

Ariel swiftly made her way through the maze that was the dungeons. Originally, the girl had thought she would prefer to be in one of the towers, but she had soon come to realize her fondness of the dark underground maze. Even if it was cold and meant that she had to wear her cloak around everywhere.

Gliding down the hall, back straight and head held high, Ariel ran her hand along the wall. Surely the Head of House's office was around here somewhere... She hadn't made it far down the hall before her fingertips grazed a wooden door.

Ah! There!

Ariel stopped to pull her hood from over her head and to remove her cloak before firmly tapping twice upon the door. The girl stepped back, draping her cloak over her arm. She was only disrupting the Head because her father had insisted she introduce herself. And why was she listening to her father? The situation was almost terrifying.

Almost.

Sophie felt ashamed. Her first time visiting her grandmother at the school, and...she had a beard. She tried to hide it, but there was just no getting around it. She maneuvered her way through the dungeons, looking this way and that, until she finally found the office. There was a waiting area outside, and somebody was already there.

Great. She had an emergency, and there was somebody to wait behind. *SIGH*

She didn't knock. She assumed the girl waiting already had, so it was a moot point. Instead, she slid into a chair, sunk down, and waited with her head hung.

"Cool," Lucian breathed as he caught up with Sophie. Dungeons were cool. It was like a deep, dark pit with hidden things in it, and if something jumped out at him he'd totally fight it off. Because he had a wand. Sweeeet.

His chin still itched, though, and he kept scratching it which made it worse. Then he saw there was someone else in the waiting line as well. Argh! They had an emergency; tons of hair sprouting out of their chins and jaw. He almost wished he'd grown an invisible beard.

Waiting, it seemed was what they would have to go. Unless...

He turned to Sophie. "I didn't get to introduce myself, I'm Lucian." Now that that was out of the way, "Professor Lafay is really your grandmother?" Because if that was the case...

Sophie didn't even want to raise her head to talk, but this Lucien boy had a beard, too, so it wasn't like she was the only awkward one. Looking up, she finally said, "Well, it's a long story. Kind of." She twisted toward him on the bench she was sitting on and sighed. "She married my grandfather years ago, and she's really the only grandmother I've ever known. My other grandmother died when I was just a toddler, so I really don't remember her." She looked at him, because it was clear he was getting somewhere with this. Just where that was, though, she didn't know.

Huh. So they both had grandmothers that passed away. Except that Lucian's passed away when his mom was a child, and the woman he saw as a grandmother was his mother's grandmother. He didn't think this was the time to talk about his, so instead he said, "But she's your grandmother, that's what matters." He paused. "And grandmothers love their grandchildren, right? So...wouldn't she help you us out first?"

Lucian turned his head sideways a little, his eyes shooting in the direction the other girl was. Just as quickly he turned back to Sophie. He scratched his beard. "Besides a great potions professor like her could fix us quick, no?" That's what his cousin said. He said, Lafay is the best potions professor I've ever met. Which was something considering his grandfather's skills in the art.

Airey was having his own panic attack as he walked down the corridor to the Potions Mistress' office. He was pretty sure that just leaving a note was a fool proof way of him either getting hexed or spit fire at, but he also really didn't want to take up her time by actually sitting in her office. Truth was, the woman slightly terrified him.

Which is why he walked by the students waiting with a nod of the head and 'excuse me' before he slipped a note under her door. He smiled nervously to the students, offered them a polite wave, and then hurried out of there quicker than anyone could say black hole.

Sophie just shrugged. "Maybe, but...yeah, we'll just have to see," she said. "Sometimes, my family can be complicated." Complicated to explain, that is. Her mom and her Aunt Sierra were full sisters, but sometimes they seemed more like half-sisters, because they don't consider themselves having the same mother and father. Things like that. That's what was complicated.

She could fix them quickly, though. That part Sophie could fully agree with. "I think so," she said, "at least, Aunt Sierra talks like she's better than Merlin at these things." What was taking so long in the office anyway?! The people in there--did they have BEARDS? Because if they didn't, Sophie was sure her problem was far greater than theirs. She got distracted then by the Astronomy professor, who simply dropped a note under the door, waved, and left. She waved back at him, unsure if he'd even stayed long enough to see.

She flung the door open with her wand to let the student out and seeing the other children said "Oh for Merlin's sakes... IN!"

Complicated families. Lucian knew those well. In fact, they lived a few miles away from here. Not that he wanted to visit them. His mother said they were obnoxious, though, he disagreed when it came to some. "Oh. Well...at least you have family," he said trying to sound upbeat. "I hear complicated families are sometimes tight knit families. Like, if you attack one of them then you'll have an angry mob of wizards and witches after you," he rambled. But it was true! He's seen it!

Sierra. That name sounded familiar, but he lost his train of thought as professor Airey passed by, slid a paper under their Head of House's door and left. "Bye!" Lucian yelled after him so he'd be heard. What a peculiar teacher. Lucian liked him.

He looked back at Sophie. "My cousin says she's great, your grandmother, I mean. He used to be a Slytherin too." Just FYI. It filled him with a sense of pride that his family before him had all been Slytherin...well, his mother's side. His dad was still cool, being Gryffindor and all, but the Slytherin side was just so...fulfilling? Was that the word? Sure.

He wasn't expecting it, so when the door swung open and the voice of a woman came from that room, Lucian jumped in his seat.

Looking at Sophie he raised his eyebrows. "Guess we're all going in." GULP. Itchy beard was still itchy. Hopefully professor Lafay would help.

She would, right? RIGHT?

Sophie's face somewhat fell. "You don't..." But she just trailed off. She was about to finish that line with 'have a family?' but then she figured it might be sort of blunt to come right out with that. So she coughed a little and changed topics.

"Oh, yeah? Well, that'd be kind of cool to see a mob of my family members attacking someone," she said with a grin. Maybe they'd attack Cutty Mordaunt, since he'd been such a big pain to her since she'd gotten here.

She didn't really have time to say anything else, because...

OOC: Kind of keeping it short and sweet, since we're moving threads.

...just as she was about to, the door flung open, and she nearly jumped off the bench all thanks to not expecting that at all. She just looked at Lucien, shrugged, and then made her way into the office. Maybe if she was first to come in, she'd be the first to be seen. The others could wait--MWAH HAHA!

Just as she was considering turning around and leaving, the door flung open in Ariel's face.

Well... there was no turning back now. Thanks, dad.

Had he not ulterior motives, Cutty would've merely gone to the library. Paid the fee. But he had ulterior motives and so he was there, with a head full of questions. He waited outside of the office for his Head of House, all the while biding his time trying to perfectly piece together what words he would and in what manner.

"Master Mordaunt." Hecate said making her way back to the office. She opened her door without saying anything. And moved to hold the door with her back, leaving him room to make his way inside.

Cutty turned rapidly to see his Head of House prying open the door to her office with her body. His rather large and unsightly grin again exacerbated his monkey-like features as he leaped to attention and filed into the office.

It was considered, you know? That she just stepped inside Lafay's office and force the Professor to make a potion for her best friend, but... well, this was Lafay they were visiting, yeah? So...

...not that Lottie was scared of the woman or anything, but the chances of getting help ASAP increased if you followed the rules...sometimes.

Knock, knock, knock.

Truth be told, Lottie was just TIRED and done with hearing how perfect Gaston was at everything. Let's get real, not even Lottie was perfect at everything, so he definitely wasn't. It was so annoying, Lex. ANNOYING. Capital A. "We'll go to the kitchen after this, I just need to check something with Lafay first. It's Gaston-related, so it'll be worth it, you'll see." COME ON, LAFAY, COME OUT. Knock, knock, knock. OR LET THEM IN, whichever way works best.

Also, this couldn't be considered lying, it IS Gaston-related.

This was NOT the bathroom Lottie and it wasn't the kitchen either. Merlin, did the girl forget where every room in the castle was over the short walk they had inside? What part of 'needing to hurry back to Gaston' was her bestie NOT understanding?? This was like a huge emergency here! Every minute she stayed down here was another minute Claudette and Sarah could fangirl HER boyfriend. Goodness, think Lottie!! This isn't how you save lives.

And why were they at Professor Lafay's Office? This wouldn't help either...unless she got the Professor to brew her a special something to take care of those two boyfriend stealers.

Okay, yeah, hurry up--

Gaston related??? KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! Open uuuppppp this had a lot to do with her future husband!! So not the time to be absent, nope!! "Why didn't you say so earlier??" And a few more KNOCKS. "Professor! It's an emergency! Mega emergency!! You have to hurry before they take my boyfriend!!" Open! Open! Open!

Could she knock a few more times?? She'd wait before doing that.

"What in Hades' name..." Lafay said when she opened the door. "Oh for Merlin's sakes... Get in." and lead them inside.

Sarah ran down the corridor, out of breath. She had never really run so fast in her life. SHe stopped just outside the door. What should she do? Call? Knock? This was an emergency, no time to think. So Sarah knocked loudly on the door. "Professor Lafay. Its an EMERGENCY! The future of Hogwarts and its winning the Triwizard is at stake., the headmistress said I should come to you for help, I need a love antidote or hate potion quick, I can;t hav him distracting me during the task" Sarah said projecting her voice so the professor coud hear her very well from the other side of the door. knock knock. Answer woman. This is an emergency. knock knock. "please open up! I need to be back at the stadium before the next task starts."

Again?!? Another crazy student?

Perfect.

"What now?" She asked as she opened the door. "Come in and calm down!"