Did this Reynolds dude really think his glares intimidated her? Who did he think he was, her mother???? In response, Layla folded her arms around herself, stood up a little straighter, and sent him a 'really?' look. Because she felt that RUDE adults didn't deserve her respect (or her time either, really, but that was a different matter).

So, they were checking out Botros too. Good.

And they were joined by an out-of-breath granny second year. Which only made her 'really' expression more pronounced. "You couldn't have at least walked up at a pace where she could've kept up?" Layla said to the man. In case he hadn't noticed, she was one of the aging students. And even though she was tired of looking at the young grannies, she wouldn't be as cruel as this man was being.

Layla walked over to the younger girl and offered her her arm. "Here, let me help you to a bench." Because the poor girl looked like she could fall over any minute.

While she was doing that, it appeared that the non-Hogwarts man had offended the ghostly lady. "Excuse me, Madame Burbage, would you like me to go get one of the professors to escort Mr. Reynolds out of here?" She didn't care if he was here to help there was no need for him to be rude as he was being. Nope.

AH A FIRE CRAB HAD PINCHED H--oh wait. It was the Slytherin girl, having finally caught up with him. "I'm sorry, but this is an urgent matter and I wanted to get here fast, and it would be highly inappropriate to CARRY you," he pointed out. If she had wanted to come so bad she should have anticipated having to WALK. He had told her to stay there, after all!

"Here, have some water," he said, taking a water bottle he'd brought along just in case out of his robe pocket. "It doesn't have my germs on it, I just snatched it for the meeting but didn't drink it," he explained, anticipating the obvious temper tantrum that would come from her if she thought he'd taken a sip from it.

UGH. This was precisely why Nolan had quite the Spirit Room after a while. They were so DRAMATIC. Yes, they had died, and he felt bad for them and would never know that anguish. But they had CHOSEN to stay behind, so why were they so DIFFICULT about it?

Biting his lip and taking a second to regain himself, he called over to her, afraid that if he chased her, she'd vanish completely. "I'm very sorry Mrs. Burbage. I didn't know you, I retired from teaching a few years before you arrived so I didn't know you were married. And I didn't mean to insult you! It's just that some strange things have been happening around here, and we don't know if they can affect ghosts or not," he explained. "We're looking out for YOU too!"

Perhaps a gentle approach would work now..."If you're lonely, why don't you try visiting the kids during meals? From what I've seen, you seem to be pretty popular amongst them," he said with a small smile. It was true! Despite the fact that she MIGHT have caused them all to age inexplicably, she was at least very friendly and kind to the kids, and they had all seemed to like that back in the meeting. They just didn't want to get sick, was all.


Nolan turned and REALLY glared at Miss Sassy Slytherin this time and crossed his arms. He wished he had a VP badge to slam in her face when he told her to BUTT OUT of official Board business, but arguing wouldn't give him anywhere. Thank Merlin he inherited Hufflepuff patience. Breathe. Ok.

"I'm not going to be going anywhere. I didn't mean to offend, really. And I'm sorry, Miss Newell, for leaving you behind," he told her again. Although seriously, that was her fault. She was old enough to decide if she had wanted to come or not!

"This is a serious matter, however, and if you're going interfere with the Board and their investigation, I'll have to have someone escort YOU to detention," he replied. Yes young lady. Remember that YOU are the student and HE was the adult. Don't make him go into Professor Mode now!

Well either Nolan was quicker on his feet than Corin was or that heart of his was in great shape. Probably both. Didnt help either that this castle annoyingly had a no-apparating ward all over the place.

As he made his way into the tower patch he can hear voices. Tense voices. Blood pressure seems to be hitting the high notes, which he supposed should be expected given how nearly everybody qualifies for that sort of medication now anyways.

"Reynold...." he uttered politely as he joined his fellow Governor. "And Professor Burbage, its nice to finally meet you. I heard of good things about you-- my nephew. He was very fond of you." And no he's not bring up the fact that between then and now theres been some differences. Like a pulse.

And a friendly nod of acknowledgement to all the grannykids here. Yes we know you are all on your way into joining the former Astronomy Professor's state of grace. Dont panic.

"Ah so... you've been lonely Professor Burbage?" he started, trying to pick up on that last relevant conversation he heard "Would have thought there would be plenty of things that would keep you occupied, new things, new people, new developments since last you were around here?"

Sophie glanced up at the ghost and just shook her head. "You're not missing much. Trust me. Friends are sometimes over-rated. It's good to have them, but some people can just be so annoying," she said. Honestly, they could. Having said that... "How come you don't travel the castle more often? There's a ton of people here. Plus, maybe Flamsteed will let you come teach a class sometimes."

Reynolds spoke again and Sophie frowned. HOW RUDE! She glared at the already-been-used water. "No, thanks," she said. "If water was all it took to make me feel better, I'd have consumed the lake by now." She sighed and took a seat on a nearby bench.

"Mrs. Burbage, can I ask you an honest question? I really don't mean any harm," she said. She swallowed hard and then blinked as she looked up. "Does it...hurt? When you die, I mean? I don't...feel so well lately, and I'm only getting worse." A tear trickled down her cheek, and she wiped it away. "I just want to see my mama and daddy." Another tear trickled down her cheek, but this time, Sophie just let it fall.

Sander made his way up to the Tower Patch and looked around. It had been awhile since he last visited this place but he still had fond memories of those times that he had been here. Especially the first time he was up here with Tessa.

He chuckled to himself as he remembered that day. How she had caught him in the pool after he had fallen in. How she had levitated him and changed the color of his clothes to green. How she had laughed when he pretended to be Peter Pan. Thinking back to that day, Sander smiled. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that he would be so lucky to have her in his life. They shared so many happy and fun moments over the days and months that followed.

Then at the ball, when they were in the Tunnel of Love, they finally admitted how they felt about each other. Tonight, Sander was here to meet with his girlfriend. This would probably be the last time they would be able to spend some time up here alone and Sander wanted to make it night neither of them would forget.

Sander was nervous. He was planning to ask Tessa a question. A question he had never asked anyone before. A special question. He just needed to make sure he did it right the first time. So he sat on a bench and began formulating how he was going to go about doing it, while he waited for Tessa to show up.

Noticing the arrival of yet another student, Marion couldn't help but wonder if they had sent the entire castle out looking for her. Bit much wasn't it? Did they honestly believe she would flee and needed to be surrounded? Or perhaps this young (old?) man could do a bit of gardening for her? Existing vicariously through the living.

"Hellooooooooooooooooooo we're all over heeeeeeeeeeeeeere!" she called out to him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH! Who was THIS studmuffin among studmuffins?

"Your nephew?" she questioned, her ghostly eyes looking a bit more lifelike than one may expect from a ghost.

HMMMPH! Was he implying that she did not know how to best use her time? She couldn't doooooooooooo the things she used to love. Like gardening here in the Tower Patch. "I suppose one could say that I am lonely in reflection of the life I was forced to leave behind." Because that hoooooooooooooorrid Herbology professor had said that THING was safe.

Well of course he wouldn't know. She was unfamiliar with the gentleman but his words only reminded her that she was HERE and not on the other side with her husband. "No no, you're right dear, I am teeeeeeeerribly sorry for my outburst. Been a bit hard to adjust," she replied patting her cheeks with her transparent hands.

Well, she supposed she could do that. Although she felt that the Great Hall was not exactly her territory. Perhaps she should speak with her former colleague and student about haunting the Astronomy Tower. Haunting, goodness gracious HEAVENS above what a morbid sounding term. "Perhaps," she nodded while giving the Slytherin girl a small smile. No, no need to escort the man out. He wasn't a criminal.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH dear dear Airey," Marion giggled. There was a thought. Although she certainly did not want to impose on her pupil's professor. Perhaps she would pay him a visit to discuss things. Or just pop in on a lesson. He had seemed pleased to see her again at the........whatever that had been in the dungeons. The event that Annie had fainted.

The darling's next question would have broken her heart had it still been beating. "Children like yourself shouldn't have their minds worried over such things," she said sadly before giving the two adults, the people meant to help protect these children from hair, a tragic look. And then the poor dear was crying and Marion simply could not take it anymore and slowly glided towards the girl to wrap her up in a ghostly hug. "We must stay positive, darling."

She couldn't bring herself to answer such a question from a child. It was simply too horrible.

OH GOOD! Another adult to back him up! Nolan cast Corin a thankful smile and then turned back to Burbage. She seemed to be calming down a bit, thank goodness.

Excuse me, Sassy Slytherin, you are NOT making things better! "What are you talking about? Friends are fantastic! And you can have that, even without your husband," Nolan said, turning to Burbage again and giving her a smile. He'd lived away from HIS wife when he had been teaching and he'd survived, right?

And now...oh MERLIN. She was crying. Nolan didn't do crying, even with his own kids - that was Ginger's job. "Don't worry, you're not going to die. I PROMISE," he said. He knew that he probably shouldn't be promising something like that, but they HAD to crack this. That was why he had joined the Board - to help the kids, and by Merlin he was going to help them!

Suddenly an idea came to Nolan and he figured out how to use the little Slytherin's outburst to his advantage.

"You see how worried they are?" he asked her softly. This woman clearly cared about the kids still, and he hoped that would get her to come talk to them. "Perhaps nothing will come of it. BUT perhaps something WILL, we won't know until you come speak with us," he explained.

Lou had almost completely forgotten about this place. But as he suddenly remembered its existence on his way down the seventh floor corridor toward the Gryffindor common room, he knew he just had to pass by. He’d been meaning to snack on some of the sugar quills he had gotten at Zonko’s during the last trip to Hogsmeade and perhaps catch up on some reading.

Finding an empty wooden bench facing one edge of the patch, which exposed a breathtaking view of the clear sky and the Black Lake, Louis smiled to himself. He walked over to the bench and proceeded to lounge on it, bending his right arm behind his head to use as pillow, while his left hand held up a small book right above his face. His blue eyes scanned the lines on the paper for the spot where he'd left off, and once found, he began silently reading to himself.

Lux had never found herself in this part of the castle before, so she was having a lot of fun walking along and looking at everything. Oooh, the sky was so pretty and there were benches that she could sit on. How come she hadn't come here sooner? It was weird, because she loved to explore!

Seeing Louis reading, Lux grinned and made her way over to where he was. "What you reading?" she asked as she peered over his book like the nosy person she was.

"Hiiiiiiiiii." Beam.

Wait was someone calling out to him? Sander looked behind him and to his dismay he saw that not only was he not alone...other students were also up here....but there was also a GHOST!!

No No...this was going to ruin everything he had planned for tonight. He needed to get everyone off the Tower Patch before Tessa arrived.

"Um...I'm sorry..I didn't meet you when you were alive, but you're Professor Burbage right? I mean I've heard you've been wandering the castle. I'm Sander Strand. Is there something you need me to do before you have to go somewhere else...like maybe downstairs?" Sander tried to be as polite as possible without making it too obvious that he wanted to be alone....up here....at the Tower Patch.

....and since he hadn't even noticed the others earlier, he didn't know what they had been talking about and wasn't even going to ask...at least not until someone told him what was going on. There were too many nosey people up here at it was.

....way too many!!

Maybe if the ghost lady wanted him to do something and he said he would do it, she would be satisfied and leave and bring her entire entourage with her.

Sander looked expectantly at the Ghost.

Yeah, maybe it hadn't been the best idea to tag along to the Tower Patch and see the ghost. Because ghosts were really scary, and dead and all... transparent. So this woman had taught at Hogwarts before?

Cowering in the back, Lux tried to listen to all that the dead woman was saying. She seemed like a nice woman. Shame she was dead and all.

Louis, who had been lounging on the wooden bench, jumped and nearly rolled over to the ground as a cute little face peered over the top of his book, large eyes looking down at him. “Lux!” he gasped breathlessly, his heart feeling like it was ready to jump out of his chest. Merlin! She gave him a fright!

Sitting up on the bench and chuckling softly to himself, the Gryffindor shook his head at the girl’s cheery greeting. Merlin. To be so young and full of energy… not that he was THAT much older than her, but still.

“It’s an old book, childhood favourite,” he answered to her earlier question with a smile. “How’s my favourite little lady?” he asked, patting the empty spot beside him as an offer for her to join him.

And down Louis went.

"You are like Humpty Dumpty," Lux told him with a smile, seeing that despite his near fall he was okay. At least he had not splattered everywhere. Though really she should stop scaring old people her friends. Shame on her!

Taking a seat on the bench, she tried again to peer at what he was reading, but it was not woooorking. "What is it though? And I am good. How are you?" She had not seen Louis in a little while, and it was good to see that he was still alive and kicking.

Well, not literally. He might break a hip if he tried that.

Louis laughed aloud at Lux’s Humpty Dumpty comment. “Are you calling me an egg, Lady Lux?!” he asked with mock offense, raising an eyebrow at the girl. As she went on to ask him about the book again, Lou’s blue-eyed gaze fell to the pages of the open book he was still holding in his right hand. “It’s sort of a suspense story about… magic and enchanted books in a secret library,” he explained with a smile. It sounded stupid to say it aloud, but it had been his favourite book since he was ten, so to him it was the greatest plot ever.

As Lux asked how he was, Lou nodded his head to show just how well he was. “Good. Still lanky, still bad at potions, still a squire…” Yep, not a lot had changed in the past couple weeks for him.

“What have you been up to? I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” he pointed out with a smile. “Staying out of trouble, I hope. Hmm?”

Giggle. Lux flashed Louis a big grin. "I might be. What are you going to do if I was?" It was fun to tease Louis, like it was to tease Bay because they both had a good sense of humour. And Louis was her Squire, so he had to like it or else he would be fired or demoted. Curiously, she continued to look at the book he was reading. "Seems interesting. What is it called?" Lux loved reading, so maybe she would enjoy this book. It had to be good if Louis enjoyed it so much, right?

Nodding at what he told her, she laughed at the part about not being good at Potions. Awww, that was one of the classes she liked the most. Maybe if Louis actually came to class he would be good at it. "Are you going to need more wrinkle cream?" Because if so, she supposed she could be a good Lady and make more for him since he was so bad at Potions and all.

"Oh, I've been attending classes and doing work like a good Hufflepuff. And seeing friends. It's kind of boring though... I feel like I can't play with anyone now because they are all so old. And then I feel selfish for thinking that." It always caused Lux to feel guilty. Meh.

Louis playfully narrowed his eyes at Lux as she teased him, asking what he would do if she was really calling him an egg. “I might just have to roll over you and crush a pretty lady, m’lady,” he decided, like the big giant heavy egg he was.

As she asked for the name of the book, Louis replied, “Shadow of the Wind” I totally didn’t base that off a real book. He looked at her for a moment before adding, “If you’d like, I can lend it to you.” He was always willing to share his books with friends; gave him more people to talk about them with.

At Lux’s comment about the wrinkle cream, he laughed aloud. “I think I might, actually! And you’re so good at it, you might consider opening a business,” he suggested playfully. “‘Lady Lux’s Royal Rejuvenating Potions’!” he announced, opening his arms to the sky as if announcing an invisible banner that carried the dramatic name for Lux’s new shop.

He did feel a little bad at her following comment though, not finding it selfish at all. "I'm sure everything will go back to normal soon... and then you don't have to be the youngest student in the school anymore." He chuckled softly, only able to imagine how annoying it must be for the girl to be treated like a 2-year-old by all her 80-year-old-looking classmates.

Crush her? Really? hahaha! "You wouldn't crush me, would you, Louis?" She was his Lady, and he would not do anything to hurt her with his big heavy self. Nope. Louis was way too nice for that, and he did not want to kill her. Though, if she became a ghost, she supposed she would have no need to fear them anymore. It would be pretty tiring to be scared of yourself and all.

"Oooh, I would like to read it, yes." He was so kind for offering to lend it to her, and it would mean less boredom on her part. She was almost done reading The Princess Bride now, and even though she wanted to go back to The Lord of the Rings, adding another book to her list couldn't hurt.

More wrinkle cream it is then! "Okay, I can make you some more soon, since you are such a good and loyal Squire." Her own potion shop? Really? Even though he was teasing her, Lux actually gave it some consideration. Potions was one of her favourite classes, and she was actually GOOD at it when the Professor wasn't tricking them and making them mess things up on purpose. Ahem. "You know, if this Quidditch thing doesn't happen, I might just do that. A phobia of heights makes it utterly exhausting." The whole issue stemmed from the fact that in order to play Quidditch, you needed to go up a million feet into the air on a enchanted piece of wood. Unless a miracle happened, there was no way Lux could realize her dream.

It saddened her.

Smiling slightly at his next comment, she really hoped that he was right about that. She missed having her friends play with her. She wanted Bay to give her more piggy back rides. She also wanted him to kiss her again, but she was not going to let anyone know about that. "It's so weird seeing people my age or younger who look like my grandparents." She gave a snort at the whole ridiculousness of the situation. "But yes, I think everything will be back to normal before the end of the school year." Positive thinking and all that.

Louis bit at his bottom lip as Lux asked him if he would really crush her. Why was it that whenever the girl asked him something, it was like he’d just gulped down an entire glass of Veritaserum? He just couldn’t lie to her, even if it was just as a joke. Giving in, he sighed and shook his head. “Nah, I probably wouldn’t. You’re too cute to get rolled-on by a giant egg,” he said with a playful smile.

His eyebrows raised when Lux accepted his offer, a little surprised that she had so eagerly decided to give the book a try. It wasn’t very often he met students who were just as into reading as he was, so it was nice to see his close friend happened to be as big a lover of books as he was. “In that case… it’s yours.” He closed the book he’d been holding and handed it to her with a smile.

Lou listened, smile still on his face, as Lux spoke about potions and him being a good squire, but her following comment about Quidditch got his smile to falter. Aww. He hated seeing his lady so discouraged. “You’re only twelve, m’lady, you have plenty of time to work on that fear,” he said, ruffling her hair playfully in a gesture of affection. “I bet Bay could help you. He’s in the Quidditch team, after all.” Possible date ideas for Baylux, maybe? Hmmmmmmm?

Just as Lux had thought. "I'm not cute, but thanks." Hehe. She stuck her tongue out at him. She did not get why people kept calling her cute because she wasn't. She couldn't help it if she was small and young. But at least Louis was not going to flatten her. Yay.

Awesome! She had another book to read. "Thank you so much, Louis. You are wonderful." Did Louis love reading as much as she did? Because if so, that was amazing! Bay also loved reading, but then Bay was the best so it did not surprise her.

"I suppose..." She knew she had time, but it was proving to be really difficult to master this fear when she hadn't practiced with Tessa in a while. Oh, Louis mentioned Bay helping her. "Funny you should say that, because he has offered to help me. Though I told him I would hold on to him for dear life." Hugging Bay was awesome, but she did not want to squeeze the poor boy until he popped.

Sooo Grace wanted to go look at the tower patch again. It was pretty. And she hadn't climbed all those steps for nothing you know. So here she was. It was pretty. But she got distracted. By people. And.. Wait. Was that a ghost? Oh wow. Grae just stared. She'd never seen a ghost before. She knew they existed. Her mom had told them about them. Though right now Grace looked older than her mom.

"Wowww. A ghost!"

The slytherin giggled, wandering closer. This was so coool. Could she take a picturee?

The ghost's sudden wailing startled Sophie. Did she HAVE to be so loud with her OOOO's and AHHHH's? With old age suddenly upon her, Sophie's heart just couldn't take too much of that. Nevertheless, she looked up at the ghost, tears still in her eyes. "I'm not sure Professor Flamsteed's going to be with us much longer, though," she said. "Something's happened to him--to all of us. We've aged so much we're not going to last much longer. I don't even feel like going back down the stairs."

Sophie felt a sudden coldness and realized she was being hugged by the ghost. "They're looking for a cure for us," she told the ghost. Sophie had never been comforted by a ghost before, but she felt so weak and fragile that it didn't much phase her.

Sophie looked up from her position wrapped in the ghostly hug. "Well, he's right," she said, even if his new nickname was Mr. Sassy Pants. "Sometimes I make a pretty decent friend," she told the ghost, "but I'm too weak now. All I want to do is sleep." She slowly felt herself drifting to sleep in the ghostly hug. Would a ghost's arms catch her if she slumped over in her sleep?

On dear, was she shivering? Marion had once again forgotten the effects her new form had on others, perhaps this one hurting the most of all. Releasing her transparent hold on the young woman, she floated away from her just enough to be able to look at her and the surrounding company more easily. Oh goodness gracious HEAVENS above there were quite a few people gathered here right now.

Her gaze moved to Nolan and for the briefest of moments considered the possibility that he was implying that SHEEEEEEEEEEEE was the one at fault for causing those within the castle walls to age. She was lonely, yes, but she would never do such a thing. "I am afraid that I may have nothing to offer you in the way of aid," she replied while pursing her lips. "When I first appeared here in this form the aging had already begun... But...if you siiiiiiiimply must ask me questions we may. In private. And once this little dear has been brought back to her common room."

Sophie was just about to fall asleep when she felt herself nearly fall. She looked up and realized the ghost had moved away. Either that or it wasn't possible to be held by a ghost after all. She blinked in order to wake herself up. She listened to the ghost explain what she knew, or lackthereof, to the Reynolds. "That makes it sound like you know stuff," Sophie said. "Or at least something. Can I know, too?"

At least Burbage was trying to get Sophie to the common room. "I'd like that. To go to the common room, I mean. I want to write to my mom and ask her to come get me," she said. If she was going to...die, she wanted to go home first.

Well, ok, that was SOMETHING at least. So she claimed she had appeared AFTER the aging occurred? Nolan wondered if there was any way they could verify that. UGH this whole thing was so frustrating and confusing! He was SURE he had had a good lead with the ghost thing!

"That'd be great, thanks. Anything we can do to try and help the situation," he said with a nod.

Ok, now onto the dramatic Slytherin girl...

He didn't want to pull the "adults doing stuff that is none of your business" card on her, but...he wanted to. She was already so sassy though and had started crying and all that stuff and he didn't want to make it worse!

"I assure you, we are going to get this worked out and soon so it doesn't affect your schooling," he told her. Again, that was his job, to get them all taken care of! "Even though Mrs. Burbage here said that she doesn't know anything, maybe even something that's been off lately can be the next hint in our hunt!" he said, trying to get enthusiastic and excited for her sake.

Affect her schooling?! That's what he thought she was worried about?! She just wanted to go home, see her mom and dad, and stay away from Hogwarts for the rest of her life. Why did weird stuff always happen at this very castle? Why not Beauxbatons or Durmstrang?

Still, he seemed enthusiastic about a cure, so...she'd at least give him that. "Fine," she said. "I'll just go wait in the corridor then." Since one, she supposedly wasn't allowed to hear the conversation, and two, since someone was hopefully still going to carry her back to her common room. She stood up, wiped a stray tear from her cheek, and left for the corridor.