"Is that the last time? What ghost?" Why was Lex even up here? She liked Astronomy, but sometimes the Lake was a much better to observe from with a telescope. Maybe not today, though. "No. I just haven't really wanted to. Why would I?" Pause. "Why would you?"

Weird kid was weird. It was okay, though, 'cause she liked Cambridge.

What. Psh. The seventh year was more than capable of setting up a telescope, thanks. "Relax. There's nothing wrong with my back, just my knee. Besides, I'm not the one who has a head chock full of gray hair, Granny." Had she jumped on that fad too? Alice wouldn't have taken Alexa for one to join the crowd, but as you do, she supposed.

Nudging the other girl out of the way, she bent down to take a look. Oh, hey, she HAD managed to find Andromeda. But her little Beater was growing up far too quickly and getting smart to the point where Alice couldn't instruct her on how to do things anymore. And that was her job. So she might have discreetly nudged the telescope just a little out of the way, because Lex needed to be shown. Mhm.

"Dummy, you found Polaris." Yeah. Totally had. "But that's okay, 'cause we can start there to find Andromeda." Alice could teach her!

"Yeah......I dunno." Lex said, now scanning the area in case something spooky!cool really did happen. "Not sure who's ghost it was but it was up here and flew right through us without so much as a 'hi'." Rude ghosts couldn't stay in the castle. They were the type to steal candy bags and lock you out of your Common Room. Wait, huh? "Why would I what?" Lex asked, turning to Alice again and blinking, somewhat confused. Something told her she'd missed something or maybe she was distracted with ghost watching.

Relax she says. Nothing wrong with her back she says. Lex wasn't buying into it for even a second. Professor Airey must have thought he was fine too til he went and near broke everything--

"It's not like I want it grey and at least it won't affect Quidditch, not like a bum knee will. If I miss a bludger and it shoots right there I don't even think I'll be feel sorry for you." ......No....she'd be too busy feeling sorry for herself when Alice got through with her for one missing and two missing so it hit her.

Lex stepped to the side with a proud beam so Alice could see her good work. Did she see how fast she found it too? Huh? Practice. She was getting back at thi--

Say what now?? "I did not!" Lex protested, bumping her out of the way so she could have a better look. Her jaw dropped at the sight through the lens. "It wasn't pointed there a minute ago. I know what I saw. You must have been clumsy and messed with it when you were trying to look. See this is why we should use spells. You're less likely to mess those up." And a solemn nod from the ever helpful Fifth Year.

Gazing up at stars was something very close to Beverly's heart. It wasn't the beauty the night sky and stars provided, though it was a bonus, but because it brought back one of the most wonderful memories ever since her mom was alive.

It had been an Autumn night and she had 'ran away' from home. Five minutes 'running away' she got lost. Thank Merlin her dad and brother found her. They gave a sermon about the dangers out there, but somehow they had ended up lying on the cool drying grass and staring up at the stars. Being the Know-it-all of the family, Kennedy had pointed out constellations and stuff. Even her dad had joined in.

BEST. NIGHT. EVER.

Now, up here, a few hours before curfew, Beverly was sprawled out on the grass, her hands under her head. She was growing old fast -- literally -- so she had to wear glasses in order to see better. She wondered when her brother would realize she stole borrowed his glasses. She'd taken them because they made him look smart, and she wanted to be just like him. Turns out they came in handy.

Pushing the glasses upward to her eyes, the stars became clearer. Little by little, her sight adjusted to the dark sky, and more and more stars became visible. Squinting her eyes, she still had issues seeing what she was looking for. Good think she'd brought a telescope.

"Lens Focalis," she said with a swish and tap of her wand. Looking through it there had been no change. She frowned. It was supposed to be a simple spell. Sigh. "Lens Focalis!"

There. Much better. She was definitely growing old if she couldn't even focus on an easy spell. Inner wibble.

Snapping out of THAT train of thought, she looked through the telescope again and almost laughed at herself. Turns out she's been looking at the Milky Way Galaxy this entire time. She was just too blind to see it. Hah.

"You couldn't tell?" That was rather weird, and Alice found herself hoping the same ghost would show up while they were here, so they could maybe get another shot at finding out who it was. "Why else would you want to come up here? No offense, but you're not really the type to spend your free time in a garden." Unless there was something interesting in said garden.

What? Miss a bludger? "If you don't get a bludger in time and it hits ME, you better pray to Merlin, Cambridge. And if said bludger hits my knee, you better pray to Merlin AND Marion Burbage." Or Alice would have her head on a stick the next day. Truth.

But now a moment of silence for Burbage. May she rest in peace. XOXO.

Poor Alexa. So distraught over such a simple thing. The seventh year gave her beater a reassuring pat on the back. "There, there. I'll let you blame your galaxy-locating life issues on me because you're in denial today." Alice gave her a look of mock sympathy before bending down to the telescope again. "Now do you want me to show you how to find it or are you going to get Andromeda confused with Polaris forever?"

Of course she wasn't, because her favorite captain was here to help. "So first you find Polaris, which you DID, good job." More back pats here. "And then you wanna find Cassiopeia- d'you know where that is? Just opposite the Big Dipper. It's kinda shaped like a W." She stepped back and let Lex take a look in the telescope before continuing. "If you add another star to the constellation, right under the first point on the W from the left, it kinda looks like a chair." A very uncomfortable chair, but still a chair.

Was she following? Alice glanced at her to make sure she was, momentarily forgetting that the prefect did indeed know how to find it. Minor detail.

"Nope. It didn't look like one of our ghosts and it was kinda far off too." All good reasons for Lex not recognizing the ghost. You think it would have at least introduced itself but noooo. Oh, what was that? "None taken." Lex said with an indifferent shrug. Offended she wasn't the type to hang out in a garden? Nah she actually had very little interest in gardens. "The Common Room was just REALLY loud that day and I can't get homework done in the dorm. It's a recipe for sleep." Perfect logic, she had it.

See that right there? That was why Lex couldn't afford to go missing bludgers and if she did, she had to at least make sure they weren't headed for Alice. The girl was violent and not the good kind either. "Uh-huh...threats like that'll have me hiding up in my dorm on game day. Wouldn't wanna risk it, you know?" Jokes Alice, only jokes. No way was she missing a game. Nuh-uh. Not for anything--

Holy kneazle was the girl patting her back now and getting all sympathetic about it??? For a moment Lex's mouth hung open in disbelief. It probably was her fault in the first place, in case she didn't know. Andromeda was IN the telescope's view until she let her have a look at it. All the grumbling ever was happening right now.

.......

...................

Was Alice giving her some kind of lesson on finding Andromeda???? No no no no no no NO NO.

Lex blinked at her and her expectant gaze for a moment before finally having enough of the ridiculousness. They weren't looking for all those, just Andromeda. The Prefect shoo-ed Alice to the side then shifted the telescope again. "THERE." Look Alice, look. "There is Andromeda now can we move on???" Like to the other stuff on the list the girl apparently had memorized.

"Weird. Does Hogwarts even have any ghosts other than the house ones?" Alice didn't think it did, but she wasn't that interested in the transparent folks anyway unless they started talking about less boring things. "D'you really get your homework done anyway?" Not counting the fact they were doing homework now, but most of the essays they had to write seemed like they'd put Lex to sleep.

Merlin. Everything put her to sleep.

And of course she knew Cambridge was joking, but it wasn't funny. No joking about Quidditch ever. "Please. You know that if you missed a game, you'd have it worse than if I got hit." Then she'd have to add Erik Vinteren onto that praying list right under Burbage and Merlin. And not even all three of them were enough to save the fifth year from the wrath of her captain. Grrr.

Why was she TOUCHING the telescope? No! "There is a process, be PATIENT." Alice scowled at her and positioned the lens so that it was facing Cassiopeia's uncomfortable chair again, not even bothering to look at what Alexa thought was Andromeda. "So now we just look in the direction of that star we added to the W to make the chair, and it leads us to the Great Square of Pegasus." She would have let the other girl look, but didn't for fear of her messing it up again.

"And then Alpheratz.. that's a star shared between the constellations Pegasus and Andromeda... it's her head, see?" No, she couldn't see, because Alice still wouldn't trust her with the telescope. But whatever. "So if you count three stars down the lower curved line of Andromeda from her head, and then count across another three stars.... the galaxy is juuuust above and to the right of that last star." The seventh year was now staring at it. So pretty.

Lex wasn't getting a turn for a really long time, did she know? Her partner was now being a hog of their equipment. "This telescope is awesome. Man, I can even see the outer disk.... didja know it has like 400 billion stars in it?" NOW she could look.

That was actually a good question and the first smart thing Alice had said since she got here. Sure she was spouting garbage about that other less important stuff that she SHOULD have been listening to but NOT when she already KNEW where Andromeda was. "I think we'd have to ask McCormack about that--that's his name right?" She didn't necessarily pay attention to such details. Lex made a face at Alice's question. "No, I just sit in class, look pretty and get SO MUCH extra credit for that that it makes up for my homework I never do." And a straight face. You didn't get on the point board that easy you know.

And of course the logic of the whole thing because her Captain refused to run with the joke for even two seconds. Nice Alice. "Yeah yeah, barring injuries of course. You can't expect me to play if my back does a 90 degree on me and I'm crippled in pain in the Hospital Wing like Professor Airey was." Or well...knowing Alice....yeah....

AND WHAT THE HELL DID PATIENCE HAVE TO DO WITH THIS??? A deep scowl set in, mirroring and outdoing the older girl's. Alice was getting all kinds of ridiculous, did she know?

.....More talking and explaining and and and "Stop talking." Lex deadpanned at her, deciding she didn't wanna hear another astronomical fact from the walking astronomical textbook. Shut up Alice! Merlin! Lex tried and failed at several attempts to have the telescope again while the girl rattled off, clearly not listening to her request until finally, wand out, "Oculo Focalis."

Lex trained her eyes at the sky and for the THIRD time located Andromeda. Talk about Progress. Her eyes roved the night sky, momentarily ignoring her present company. "And there's Mars but I suppose you're gonna tell me I cast wrong on my eyes and I'm seeing things." And again she shooed her from the telescope to find it there as well. "Now you look."

Okaay. So the first time she had tried to find the star things for her homework it hadn't gone down too well. She had tried to look for the milky way, and had not been able to find it. It had frustrated her, but she wasn't too worried. She was only a first year, so she was sure she would learn and be better at this. Though she was kind of hoping that she would see something tonight. The girl had to rest as she got to the tower patch. The walk was tiring, even when she had had a nap before hand. She still had no idea what was going on, but she hoped it would sort it self out soon. she only 11, she shouldn't be feeling this tired all the time.

After her little rest the girl wandered to an area of the tower patch, and set her telescope up. She was hoping to find something today. Opening her text book she looked at the planets. Jupiter. She'd see if she could see that. It was the biggest planet, so she should be able to see it right. Putting her text book down, she looked through the telescope, and frowned. Nope. Not a thing. She twisted it around a little, trying to get a better look. All she could see was stars. She really was not good at this at all.

She stayed up there for about an hour, before she started to get cold. She didn't know if she'd really seen anything. She was unsure. But it was practice right? She'd try again tomorrow.

Writing down her observations of the Milky Way Galaxy, she squinted at the parchment. It didn't help that her vision was blurred, but that it was worse at night. Whatever was going on needed to STOP. Even her moods were confused as she was and...

... She wasn't going to cry. That was for babies.

Shaking her head she picked up the telescope and gazed back up at the sky. Okay, okay, okay. Calm. Then she spotted it. A bright small disc-looking dot. It had to be a planet. Having a guess in mind Beverly still checked her notes for reference. Her old Astronomy tutor would be proud of her for still having this. Too bad he got attacked by pixies and never returned. Mellow.

Indeed! It was a planet. Jupiter to be exact. She wrote it down and explained that she couldn't see its moons. Not because the telescope was faulty, but because her eyes were sensitive and her sight was a bit wonky at the moment. GAH!

Finishing that up Beverly stood up and gathered her things. It was getting cold and the last thing she needed was to catch a cold. Wouldn't that be lovely?

With one last look up at the sky she turned and made her way back into the castle. Yay for walking down the stairs. All the way to the dungeons.

-________-"

It was a bit chillier than Mo had anticipated, and he pulled his scarf tight around his neck as he navigated around the beds and small shrubberies. It was really too cold out here for star gazing, and Mo resented Flamsteed for assigning any sort of outdoor activity. Secretly resented, of course, since it wouldn't do a bit of good to resent him to his face or on paper.

He'd just quietly be grumpy. No big thing.

He found a bench well away from the castle, clear enough that he could see most of the night sky without any old towers or gargoyles getting in his way, and Mo spread out a blanket and starfished on the bench. Hello, sky. Who was out there tonight? Mo traced constellations with his finger, connecting asterisms from Polaris down toward the horizon.

Time for spells? Mo pointed his wand at his eye, just for starters. "Oculo Focalis." Now then... he was meant to be looking for the Milky Way galaxy. That was sort of like climbing a tree and looking for the forest, since they were technically in the Milky Way galaxy currently, but Mo knew the professor wanted them to identify the pale band of light, made of unresolved stars and debris, that generally was only available when the castle lights didn't blind them. It was plenty dark right now, though, and Mo turned his gaze toward Cassiopeia. That particular asterism was a good starting point, since it was sunk deep in the pale river of starlight.

He wanted cocoa, but Mo settled for the galaxy, flicking his sharpened eyesight from Cassiopeia along to some of her familiar friends. Orion, who was his favorite. His namesake. Jupiter, Pleiades. His father called Pleiades the Seven Sisters, and Orion was their defender. Mo liked that story the best, probably.

So, Vesper was...supposed to do Astronomy homework tonight. The class itself kinda intimidated her because of how animated Professor Flamsteed was. He was insane, to put it simply...and had apparently hurt himself with his craziness in the last lesson...NOT that she'd gotten out of her set to take a look. No, the Head Boy had been authoritative and scary. So, Ves had just remained in her seat, not really knowing what was going on with their teacher.

He'd recovered well enough to assign them homework, though. So, that was something.

Walking with purpose out to the grounds, the Ravenclaw flipped up the hoodie of her sweatshirt, momentarily stunned by the cold. It was odd that they were given homework meant to be completed outside. It was in the middle of winter, after all...but at the same time, Ves assumed the professor was in a sour mood about hurting himself. People did things like that when they were in moods, right? So, really...could he be blamed?

Seeing a Mo along the way, she paused, deciding here was fine. "Hello you."

Why hadn't she brought her scarf? SIGH.

Mo sat up a bit when Vesper appeared, and he had to close his zoomy eye to keep from getting a close up of her forehead. He probably looked something like a pirate, all squinty eyed with his scarf snugged up around his chin and his hair every which way from the wind. A very cold pirate. Maybe not much like a pirate at all.

"Hey, you. Here... take my scarf," he unwound it from his neck and thrust it at Vesper before falling back onto his bench. His gaze returned to the sky, because Mo was now in search of Andromeda Galaxy. "We have better stars at home, and I'm not saying that to be sour. There's a little too much ambient light from the castle, but when you go out on the fell at home, there's no one and nothing for miles and miles. It can be the loneliest spot in the whole world, but the stars..." It was worth it.

He couldn't see anything though. Not with just his zoomy eye, and so Mo resigned himself to using the borrowed telescope from the classroom. "Lens Focalis," he quietly cast on the telescope, but he didn't look through it yet. He opted to turn his zoomy eye on Vesper again. "Are you having a good term so far?"

Vesper blinked at his scarf...Erm, wasn't he cold? Obviously, Marcus would be cold...as it was in the middle of winter. Sigh. Also, once again, she wasn't saying this out loud. She really needed to stop talking in her head about everything. "Aren't you cold, Marcus?" While asking, she went ahead and wrapped his scarf more tightly about her. It was warm...Therefore, her resolve in returning it wasn't that strong.

Ahem.

Removing her notebook, because she was going to just sit with her Captain and complete the homework, she pulled her wand. At least they were working with charms. Vesper could bam out some charms. Pointing her wand at her eye, she whispered the incantation. "Oculo Focalis."

As her vision did that weird SUPER FOCUSING thing, she turned and smiled. "It's weird being out here when it's so cold, too."...if she could just add that. Marcus was sorta ranting...and it was nice. Vesper figured he could be too nice about things sometimes...and really, that was her job. "I'm having a fine term, thank you."...and then she kinda frowned. "...and thanks for putting me back on the team."

Gazing back up towards the sky, the Ravenclaw seen the stars in amazing focus...but she also got what Marcus had been saying. The light from the castle dimmed their view. "Where should I look to find the Milky Way?" Hopefully by talking and keeping him talking, she wouldn't think about the cold so much.

"I'm cold, but I have designs on cocoa when I get done here. If I'm lucky, I'll find a snack too," Mo was already way ahead of himself, his thoughts all the way downstairs in the kitchens with a warm fire and cocoa so thick and chocolatey that a spoon would stand up in it. And warm socks, and maybe a Cat making him pancakes at midnight. That's what he wanted.

Mo put the telescope to his zoomy eye, and then lowered it as Vesper continued. "Silly. I put you on the team because you're really good. You don't have to thank me. I should thank you. With this team, we're going places this term. We really are." Mo tilted his head back until he was looking at Vesper upside down, and then he grinned broadly. "Cassiopeia. The Milky Way runs right by her. She doesn't deserve such a view, considering she chained up her own daughter and all, but she has it."

He really did put the telescope to his eye then, pointing it back towards Cassiopeia (and the Milky Way) and then dropping his gaze a few degrees to pick out Andromeda. The chained daughter herself. The galaxy was much harder to see, even with the bespelled eyeball and telescope - really not much more than a distinct cluster of unresolved stars.

Stars made something empty open up inside of Mo, and he sighed as he twisted the focus on his telescope. Loud, dramatic sigh. "You know what Carl Sagan says? He says, "The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space." It makes me feel small sometimes." Mo lowered the telescope and looked for Mars, although it didn't seem like the little red planet that could had risen in the sky yet.

His brain was ticking away at something, which made Mo restless and generally bad company. He poked a finger at Orion again, admonishing the hunter to protect the Sisters for another night, and then Mo sat up and blinked at Vesper with blurry eyes. "Finite. Y'know what? I'm going to go get us some cocoa right now."

Oh this was simply horrible. HOOOOOOOOOOOORRIBLE!

Oh goodness gracious HEAVENS above. Floating through some of the bushes, Marion had hoped that returning to familiar surrounding would bring back a bit of cheer to her invisible bones. It was doing the opposite. But she had always been a "the goblet is half full" sort of lady, so she was not about to allow herself to fall in appearance and resort to wailing about like OTHER ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude ghosts in the castle.

Ooooooooooooooh but to garden again! Perhaps she could find a kind spirit among the living, or two, that would indulge the ghost if she waiting about here long enough.

Ahhh. Sun. She had missed it over the winter that seemed like it would never end. And this little patch of rooftop garden seemed to be the best place to enjoy it. Er, the second best. The best would be the lake, if there wasn't the risk of someone's volleyball or something hitting her, something otherwise interrupting her sunbathing. Plus it was way too close to all the grannies.

Anyway, Layla had started laying out her blanket when something caught her eye. A silvery thing. Er. How did one talk to a ghost again. "Um, hello?"

When in doubt, start there.

Floating a bit closer to a rose bush, one that she herself had planted now that she thought about thing, the ghostly woman refused to allow her somewhat poised expression to turn into a sulk.

Her floating figured turned around with elegant speed when she heard the voice of a student and her lips turned up into a wide smile.

"Oh hellooooooooooooooooooooo darling," she clucked. Her right hand beckoned the girl to come closer. "Come come, you must introduce yourself properly and not just stand there looking like a lost little kneazle."

There was yelling in the Tower Patch. She hadn't gone completely deaf yet and the Patch was on her way down for food. It wasn't really the fact that yelling was happening that got her, yelling was almost normal by now--all these old coots unable to hear a blasted thing, making all kinds of loud noises--but this yelling was different...yet familiar?

Alexa detoured from her intended trip and headed into the Tower Patch. First thing she saw was the loud ghost then the Slytherin she didn't quite know.

All her attention fell on the ghost--er....Professor Burbage...was she still a Professor?....Um....welp, they still refered to the House Ghost as 'Sir' Nicholas so......"Professor Burbage!" By way of annoucning her presence. The woman probably didn't remember her. She was only a Firstie back then, but it was because of her that Lex developed a love for Astronomy. Pity the plant got her but she liked Airey so it was okay.

Lex walked right up to her, taking her in in all her ghostly-ness. "I heard talk you were in the castle. Glad I ran into you." You know how long she was hunting this ghost? MONTHS! Where was Mikey Toussaint? They were meant to find her together.

Wiggling her ghost tooshie a bit as she waited for the young lady to give a proper introduction, she let out a long hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm when she heard her name being called.

"Oooooooooooooooh HELLOOOOOOO Miss Cambridge!" she chirped at the Gryffindor. "Goodness gracious HEAVENS above, look at how matured you've become!" Had she really been dead THAT long? The goblet was beginning to look a little half empty now. "Madam Burbage will do for now, dear. Keep professor for that studmuffin of an Astronomy professor you have," she continued with a wink.

OoooooOOOOooooohohoho wasn't she such the little dear? Pleased to see her and everything. The ghost would have pointed out that they had quite literally ran into one another earlier in the term, Marion going right through her specifically, but she was overcome with womanly giggles. It was nice to feel wanted and sought after.

Terribly lonely existence it was. Being a ghost.

Oh wow, what luck! Nolan hadn't really expected to find the ghost here as he approached the tower patch, yet there she was! Talking to some students! This was fantastic!!

Grinning like a loon since it had been YEARS since he got to talk to a spirit, not even remembering to check if that young Slytherin girl was even following him. Forgetting his proper manners and interrupting the kids who were gathered around, he walked right up to her.

"Hello, Professor Burbage? My name is Nolan Reynolds, former professor here and current Vice Presidents of the Board of Governors for Hogwarts," he said. Whoops. Bit of a lengthy intro but ah well. "I was wondering if I could bother you to come down to our meeting really fast? We'd LOVE a chance to talk to you," he said, deciding to leave out the REAL reason why for just a moment or two.

Lex found herself grinning. She REMEMBERED her! You know she figured with age and all plus having been gone for so long she'd only remember some and even if that was the case she no longer CARED because she was included in that few.

Her grin got wider at the woman's mention of her maturing. Yeah, funny that, it had to happen at some point and it'd been a couple years. Lots could happen in that time. "I have. Got myself a nifty Prefect badge and everything." She said with a BEAM as she proudly pointed to it. This of course was one of the few times Lex had actually bothered to pin attach the thing to herself and own up to it but this was Burbage and she remembered her and this was a BIG deal OKAAAY???

She gave a firm nod. "Right. Madam Burbage." She could pull that off and wait til Lex told Professor Airey he was a studdmuffin now. He'd love it coming from a ghost...though in her memory the Professor only called the old guys that....well technically Airey was old so....Yeah. "By chance were you the ghost that ran into me? Mikey thought it might have been another former Professor."



And one of those people from the BoG who wanted to do nothing but ban Quidditch and put them all under quarantine. Lookit that. Lex watched curiously as he tried to persuade the Profes--Madam Burbage to follow him to the meeting. She couldn't see WHY. If nothing else they should have been questiong Botros. Sorry, but when an old and grey Professor is no longer old and grey it causes PROBLEMS!

Walking around the place with blonde hair. Just who did he think he was???

"Excuse me Sir, I've got another suspect for you." He wasn't getting away with it, not when her hair was grey and she was living on wrinkle cream. Nope.

Okay, the whole 'dragging words out' thing was weird. But, the ghostly lady seemed to be an alright person, er, spirit. "I'm Layla, and you are?"

But she got her answer soon enough, thanks to the Gryffindor prefect. The extremely old looking prefect. Sigh. There went any and all hope of sunbathing and getting away from grannies. Oh well, her skin could still soak up some sun while she was standing and talking, right?

She had been about to ask Madame Burbage how long ago she'd been a professor and how she'd died, but she was interrupted by someone else joining them up here. An adult someone who most definitely wasn't a professor. Layla's first thought was that they had been invaded and she let out a small gasp. Then the man introduced himself. Then, the prefect, who she now knew was Cambridge, said something about suspects. "Excuse me, but you think Madame Burbage here has something to do with the rapid aging going on? Because I'm pretty sure ghosts can't do anything like that...... Not to mention, if she suspected anyone, it'd be the de-aging Professor Botros.

Nolan couldn't help but GLARE at the two young ladies who were already interrogating the ghost when he arrived. Couldn't they see he was trying to be SUBTLE?! He wasn't sure how sensitive she was going to be about this whole matter, and after all, she was probably still dealing with the fact that she had DIED. He didn't want her to think they were going on a crazy witch erm, ghost hunt after her as well.

"If you're talking about Botros - I'm aware. Other Board members are going to seek him out, I think," he assured the two girls. Yeah, he was totally with them, but he didn't want to start gossiping in front of a distraught ghost EITHER because that could be just as bad. Was Burbage a gossip?

She was a woman, so yeah, probably.

"And I'm simply here to ask Miss Burbage if she's seen anything strange lately. Or even felt a bit odd herself," he added. Hey, this disease was doing impossible things to the kids - why couldn't it affect the undead as well? "So Miss Burbage, again, I was wondering if you could answer me a few questions. I'm sure you've noticed that the kids are aging way too fast, and we are trying to find the root of it all to find a cure for them," he explained. "So do you know anything? Have a hunch? Anything at all?" he asked.

Pleaseeee? For the children?!

Sophie was gasping for breath by the time she reached the Tower Patch. If she ever managed to get herself healed, she was going to give that Reynolds man a good, swift kick in the LEG! Yup, that's what she was going to do.

*GASSSSSSSSSSSP*

"You could have...carried me...you know," Sophie said, holding on to things here and there to push herself along. "If I wasn't dying before, I think I'm sliding into the grave as we speak." It felt that way, at least.

Oh. They'd found the ghost.

"Miss Burbage," she said, because Sophie hadn't known as her Professor.

Maturing perhaps a bit TOO much. Marion kept such thoughts to herself and simply smiled along as the Gryffindor continued to speak. "Oh well my stars, that IS exciting," she clucked at the mentioned of the badge. "Another professor?" she asked while thoughtfully cupping her face with one of her ghostly hands.

Unfortunately, she did not have the chance to properly continue their conversation, or greet Layla properly, as a gentleman appeared and interrupted them. OOOOOOOOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHO another studmuffin. It was one thing she had missed about the school. Always full of so many studmuffins.

"Nolan, daaaaaaaaaaaarling, pleasure to make your acquaintance," she smiled at him as she extended her hand towards him. "Mrs Burbage, if you must. Don't write my husband off just because I am dead." How ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!

Felt a bit odd herself.

Felt a bit odd herself?!

Well OF COURSE she had been feeling a bit ODD. It had only been a few long and lonely months since she had 'awoken' in her new...............state of being. SO OF COURSE SHE FELT A BIT ODD HERSELF AND HOW SIIIIIIIIIMPLY RUUUUUUUUUDE!

Her eyes had narrowed at Nolan now, enough that she did not register the arrival of the lovely young Slytherin she had met earlier in the year, and huffed LOUDLY with displeasure.

"The only ODD thing I have been feeling is [SIZE="5"]lonliness[/SIZE," she scoffed as she floated several feet away from the group.

HMMPH!

The NERVE of some people!! HMMMMMMMPH!!