Zander, as Kevin saw, was completely freaking out over the mess in the room and the Gryffindor could hardly blame them. If Peeves was telling the truth and he was going to tell "Plant Lady" than their Head of House would be here soon. Kevin was all up for pranks and stuff but he had just gotten a detention with Culloden. He didn't want another one again over something he hadn't done!

Looking from the messed up beds, and the feathers all over the dormitory floor, Kevin then turned his gaze towards Zander who was panicking yet again. In a flash, the second year had pointed his wand at his face and shouted "Aguamenti!" A not so strong but a strong enough burst of water flew towards him.

"DUDE! RELAX!" seriously, this was not the end of the world you know? "I think she will, who do you think she'll believe? Us Gryffindors or someone like Peeves" ....only problem was that Kevin was kind of like Peeves as well...but so far he had seen, Bentley seemed to think that he was a *top student with promise*

He pointed his wand at the feathers in one of the corners of the room. "I don't know how to vanish things though, i only know scourgify..." Would that spell even work on feathers? he had no idea. "But what about the pillows? if they don't have any feathers in them ..." yeah, if it was his pillow he wouldn't be able to have slept all night......

AH, normally the whole water in the face thing would make Zander furious. But this time, it was actually well needed. The fresh cool water on his face definitely helped the boy snap out of his panicked mode. "Thanks, I needed that," he replied cooly. Okay nothing would get done if he didn't have a calm approach to the problem. Totally calm now... SO calm. So calm, he puts the blake lake to shame.... Yeah. Totally calm.... MUSTNOTLETBENTLEYSEETHIS. Yeah, so calm.

With his head back in reality Zander was able to hear Kevin out. "Yeah, you're right," or at least the third year hoped he was right. Peeves was always making stuff up anyways. It'd be like the boy who cried wolf. Except the ghost who cried wolf. So yeah, Bentley would totally take there side... If they're lucky. Hopefully Bentley wouldn't be too angry. Zander did not want her to hate him. Definitely not. Bentley was the best. He couldn't disappoint his favorite ever.

Then at Kevin's next idea Zander let a small grin creep onto his face. Maybe if they did a little housekeeping before Bentley showed up, they could prove to her that they were actually responsible. Either way, it'd be worth a shot? "I haven't learned the vanishing charm either," the third year admitted. "But we could always gather up as many loose feathers as we can and stuff them into the rubbish bin?" he offered. Sure, it would take a lot more time, BUT at least it would help?

O___O

What had they gotten themselves into?!?!

Peeves had been dreadfully unhelpful. On top of accusing her Lins of wrong doing, he hadn't specified where. Gryffindor's going boo boom kaboom or whatever with pillows did narrow don the field, but more detail would have been appreciated.

Considering the cushions in the common room were fine, she'd seen Zahra down at breakfast it could only mean one thing. The boys dorms seemed the most likely. Knocking first, Seren ducked her head into room after room hoping to find this so called mess....

....

KNOCK KNOCK...

.... And oh. Oh. OH. Here it was. Seren stood where she was, letting the door swing open a bit wider. Boom Boom Kaboom indeed.

"What happened here?" she asked, curious. WHY would they do this? Hhhmmmm? Eyes were on the mess before glancing over to Kevin and Zander. An explanation would be appreciated. "Or should I need to guess?"

To be honest, he was a bit dissapointed at the lack of reaction when Kevin had used Aguamenti at his face. Seriously, if someone had done that to him no matter what the situation he would get revenge. like dueling a professor who had attacked him last year, yeah totally happened . And yes, the boy was still calling it 'a attack' eventhough the Astronomy Professor kept saying it was 'an accident' ..whatever...

The fact that he hadn't learned the vanishing charm either made his heart sank a little. Did that mean they had to clean up with their hands?! GAAAAH. He moved to the other side of the room near a corner where the rubbish bin stood. He had long forgotten about the card that now lay downstairs on the snowy grounds. "We should use the levitating spell and levitated them in the bin" he said. This was going to be easier than he expected since the spell was a standard grade 1 spell and they were both older than eleven.

He pointed his wand at a couple of feathers, waved it in a swish and flick , said "Wingardium Leviosa" and watched the feathers fly up in to the air and just when he turned around to guide them to the rubbish bin he stopped.

The feathers fell back on to the ground as his eyes saw their Head of House standing in the doorway. He sent Zander a 'too late!' look before he turned back. Naturally, she wanted to know what had happened. "Peeves was being annoying, he stole my chocolate frog card and well, we wanted to get it back so we got up with a plan but. ...you know Peeves... he started throwing pillows at us and ...yeah" Zander could tell about using the reducto spell on them since he had not done that himself.

Zander grinned as Kevin came up with a BRILLIANT plan! That would definitely work! They could easily get all the feathers into the bin in no time! They could even use the placement charm that they learned in CoMC/Charms. Yeah, the plan was full proof. He watched as Kevin levitated the feathers into the air-- WAIT, WHY'D HE STOP.

Zander looked over to wear Kevin was now staring and uh oh... Too late, indeed. Zander felt his heart start racing as he saw his Head of House standing in the doorway. Oh no oh no oh no. Peeves wasn't bluffing after all! It was a good thing that Kevin started explaining first because Zander was too star-struck to even say anything.

But then the boy stopped. Did this mean it was his turn to speak? Oh no. Zander could feel all those fluttery things in his stomach just dancing about. "Yeah, Professor, Peeves was messing up all the beds and the bed posts and knocking things over," he was starting to ramble now and his words were running all over the place, quite like his heart. "And we were only trying to protect ourselves from the pillows and get Kevin's card back!"

He looked up at her with huge eyes and a sorry expression. "We even tried to clean it up when he left because we didn't want you to be angry and we're really sorry but-but-but Peeves was making fun of us and the pillows actually hurt and we ran under the bed, but he started jumping and our backs and--" He kicked his feet around in small circles and did not make eye contact. He was too afraid that he might see a look of disappointment. He did not want that from Bentley.

Ahem, he could totally go for another Aguamenti in the face just about now.

Whoops? Had she startled them? Seren watched as the disturbed feathers floated back to the floor. Well that would need sorting out.

"Uh huhhhh.." she mused as she listened to Kevin contribute his part to the explanation. Peeves was annoying, that much was true, and it didn't surprise her that the poltergeist had a role to play in this. Passing through. Yeah, sure he was. Stealing Kevin's card... throwing pillows at them.

Zander seemed more perturbed by the event than Kevin... or at least, the way he spoke indicated that he was... flustered. "I understand," she added, stepping into the room more and examining the damage that was done. It wasn't anything that couldn't be cleaned up, so... no harm done, right? "Sshhh shhhh shhhhhhhh," she soothed, raising a finger to her lips in hope that this would calm the Lion down.

"I can't say I'm thrilled with the mess, but I know Peeves, and so long as neither of you are hurt, then the rest can be sorted out." Or had they been expecting something else? Detention perhaps? In truth he could use the man labour in the greenhouses, but no, they didn't deserve it.

"Let's just focus on tidying up, yeah?"

...

...

And come to think of it. "What card was it, Kevin?"

Woah woah woah!

Kevin looked at Zander as he talked about THEM being sorry and narrowed his eyes. "Speak for yourself but i'm NOT sorry about this" He wasn't sorry for anything and especially not something that hadn't been his fault. "And neither should you" He turned his gaze to the Professor as she entered the room now and he folded his arms over each other. Ready to defend himself if she called them liars or anything like that.

But that never happened and before Kevin could say anything, Zander spoke again. Or well, he stuttered again. "Dude, what's wrong with you? It's just Bentley not a horrible monster" He kept looking at Zander who was acting very strange but then laughed out loud when their Head of House shushed him.

"I don't think that will help, the aguamenti charm to the face did help calm him down earlier though" gah his fingers were twitching to use it again. And he made a mental note to use it when the Professor was gone. hehe.

Shrugging his shoulders, the Gryffindor lifted up his wand but not pointing it anywhere yet. "I'll clean up the feathers" no way he was going to do the tough work by pushing the beds back in place. Let the older people do that.

Oh? his card ? riiiiight... HIS CARD! Anger swelled up inside of him and his face turned slightly red. "Felix Summerbee! And i didn't have that card yet!" Was it clear that he was frustrated? "That bloody poltergeist threw it OUT OF THE WINDOW!" he waved to the window. "Can you believe that?!"

Zander turned to Kevin who was looking at him with his angry eyes. Oops. He had said too much hadn't he? Buuuuuut he couldn't help it. This is BENTLEY. He literally had no control over himself. And she just made him all nervous and his stomach was all fluttery and WOAH is the room spinning or something? Dizzzzinessss. Zander could vaguely make out the words that Kevin was saying to him at this point, so he just nodded and pretended like he understood. Hopefully it wasn't anything too important...

Zander opened his mouth to speak, but then was cut off by the shhh-ing. Oh? He abruptly closed his mouth shut and nodded his head. Then it was Kevin's turn to speak again and AH NO KEVIN WHY ARE YOU TELLING HER THIS?! Bentley didn't need to know that he was freaking out before she came too. Zander quickly turned to his partner in crime and very softly jabbed his elbow into his side, whilst making that 'don't tell her that, dude!' kind of face.

Then Bentley started speaking again. All eyes on the beautiful herbology Professor now. "B-but--" Wait. SHE WASN'T MAD?! Ahem, OF COURSE SHE WASN'T MAD! Zander had nothing to worry about! Kevin was right. Everything is a-okay! AHHHHH HALLELUJAH! Bentley, he could kiss you right now! Cough. If Culloden was their Head of House, he'd probably give them both a week of detention right on the spot. Well... Maybe. "Oh. So... You're... You're not mad?"

"Oh- uh, erm, okay, yeah.. cleaning," riiiiight. That's what they were doing before she got there. What was the spell again?

Why was there so much .... angst in the room? Hhmmmm? It didn't at all come as a shock to her that Kevin wasn't sorry for the mess, he was seldom the type to be sorry for his actions, but still, what he lacked in manners he made up for with strength - something she could admire.

Seren simply smiled, taking a turn of the room, kicking up a few feathers as she went. She was here to observe, not to clean, the boys could handle this one... with her supervision of course.

...

Monster? Her? A monster?

"Oh heavens of course not! You haven't been talking to Burbage have you?" she asked, turning on the spot - something like a pirouette - to face Zander. Had she harmed a single hair on his head? On either of their heads? Hhmmmmm? Perhaps Kevin was onto something, an aguamenti to the face sounded as if it would make for a decent wake up call. But at least he was slowly coming around..

"No I'm not mad," she repeated the boys words, "I'm not thrilled, but not mad... if you were both rash enough to engage Peeves in his little game, then you can both take responsibility for that. But this is too easily fixed to be much of an issue." She sat herself down on the edge of one of the beds now, crossing one leg over the other and resting her hands on her knees. It was a comfortable perch to watch the domestication of the boys.

Kevin though, piqued her interest with the card. Summerbee... Summerbee... "Cheering Charm developer, no?" she questioned uncertainly. Her knowledge on charms was decent, but far from perfect. Either way, it seemed a shame to let the card go to waste. "Have you not thought to summon it, Kevin?"

Feeling the soft jab in his side, Kevin turned his head to Zander and grinned when he deciphered his look. He just grinned, a bit longer at him than one usually would as if he was up to something but then turned his attention to their Head of House. Of course, he hadn't had anything planned to humilate the older Gryffindor but letting him THINK he had...oh he would have done very well in Slytherin.

"Who is Burbage?" he asked. "I've heard that name before..." where had that been? The boy thought for a moment as he looked around the messy room as if for clues. "Oh! They mentioned that name during a meeting in the staff room...i was there..no one paid attention to me cause you know...still a kid" he rolled his eyes as he remembered the people who had aged dramatically had to come to the room for a meeting. And when he had asked who that Burbage had been, he was ignored.Which was SO SAD.

He was glad that Bentley wasn't mad at them. Because out of all the Professors, she was the only one who actually gave him a chance. Oh and Botros...he thought.. at least he hadn't had any trouble with him yet. He watched her move to on one the beds and sat down. Kevin glanced towards Zander, wondering if it was his bed or not.

"I think so..." he answered. It wasn't like he knew every card by heart. He just knew that he hadn't had that one yet. Listening to her question, the boy blushed. "Well, of course i thought about that, i'm not stupid" he said and had to refrain from rolling his eyes. This was Bentley, his Head of House. No way he was going to be THAT rude to her and make his own life at school miserable. "But, i haven't perfected it yet" the last time he had tried to summon a goblet at the great hall he accidentally pulled half the table with him, causing everything to fall over. "Sometimes it's like this thing has a mind on its own" he said and waved his wand. "Phoenix feather, my mom says they're powerful but difficult to handle...kinda like me" he grinned.

Alright, cleaning. "You go make the beds then i'll clean up the feathers" he ORDERED Zander. What? He liked being in charge! But if he wanted to do something else then fine with him...as long as he kept away from the feathers.

Zander had no idea what this whole Burbage business was about... But quite frankly, that was the least of his problems. Considering the fact that he was totally embarrassing himself in front of Bentley. Ugh. Stupid Peeves pulling her in while he was a complete mess. This was a disaster. But Zander didn't think Bentley was a monster. And if she was she'd be the most amazing most beautiful monster ever. So Burbage is irrelevant. Whoever he is.

The third year listened as Bentley explained that they were pretty much in the clear. PHEW. It felt pretty nice knowing that Gryffindor points wouldn't be harmed in the making of this mess. He could finally relax... Except he didn't... Because he was still around Bentley and he could never relax around her because she made him so nervous and flustered all the time. AH. HELP.

He watched carefully as the Professor went to sit down on a bed. O_____o wait a minute... That's HIS bed!! CODE RED CODE RED!! Zander's eyes widened and he quickly looked down to the ground to cover it up. Of course she was welcome to stay on his bed. She could even sleep on it if she'd like. Mhm. Maybe if he's lucky it'll even smell like her! She smelled really good. Even when they were working in herbology. The scent of dirt and plants and stuff worked on her. Yep. But still, he was kind of panicking on the inside because he didn't know what to do. OMG. Out of all the possible beds in the room she had to choose this one!?

While Zander was having a "mid-teen crisis" it looked like Kevin was getting all "Kevin-like" on Bentley. He really needed to stop talking to Professors like that... But Zander had way too many thoughts in his head to even pay any attention to that. He finally snapped into reality when Kevin turned back towards him. Cleaning? YES WONDERFUL IDEA! That'd totally keep him occupied for the time being.

He wouldn't have to think about Bentley on his bed. OMG BENTLEY ON HIS BED!-- Wait, no cleaning. Make the beds? Make beds... Beds... Bentley.... Bentley on bed! No. Bad. Zander kept his lips shut and nodded a few times. He started walking towards the bed WAY on the other side of the room. As far away from Bentley as possible. Yes. Perfect. "Okay, I'll start with this one," he replied without even acknowledging the fact that a second year was giving him orders. Now, uh.... Is Bentley just gonna sit there and watch? Because that's gonna be super distracting He turned around and gave Kevin a thumbs up for good measure, but avoided eye contact with Bentley because no distractions.

Wait, he didn't know who Burbage was? ... "Good, she's dreadfully loud these days..." one would have thought that death would mellow her, still it wasn't something to joke about, shame on her. "What meeting? When?" .... she could certainly not recall such a time. Was she at that staff meeting?

Her eyebrows piqued a little at Kevin's lip. Was that lip? Was he getting lippy with her? .... no.... no... She continued to listen, deciding not to interject until Kevin had redeemed himself, which it did quite well. "Well you'll never get the hang of it if you don't practice," she chimed, nodding her head to the window. "Go on... don't want that card to go to waste. Take a deep breath, concentrate, make sure you're clear in your delivery... " and see what happens. "Strong wands need strong masters, you need to take control of it, don't let its power keep you from fulfilling great things." Like retrieving chocolate frog wizard cards, obviously.

This was fast shaping up to be an interesting turn of events... and to think she had been entertained by Kettleburn, the girl was something, but these two... together, where something else entirely. The third year, taking orders from the second year. See, she knew Kevin had some stellar leadership qualities! ... so much promise, so much potential, of only his attitude would lift. But Zander was so quiet, perhaps even too quiet. Shifting slightly on the bed, smoothing out the velvet covers in the process, Seren continued to watch the Lion across the room.

Had she said something wrong? Did he think she was a monster? ...

What was up with Zander?

Kevin continued to look at him in a suspicious yet curious way. There was something going on with him and the Gryffindor had his mind set on finding out what it is. "Is that chocolate you ate still bothering you?" he asked, pretending to be concerned.

Kevin became even more suspicious when Bentley sat on one of the beds and Zander was widening his eyes and looked down. Yes, he had seen that move as he had been watching him, trying to figure out what on earth was going on. Perhaps the older Hufflepuff errr...Gryffindor ...was just weird like that?

Then Bentley spoke again. Forcing Kevin to look at her. "I think it was in the staff room? i don't remember...i was 70 years old or something!" and he wasn't even exaggerating! "I do know that there were these Board people or something and they mentioned that name. Burbage." the boy nodded his head. "But i still don't know who that is!" he wanted to knooooow!

As Zander went to the other side of the room, Kevin stayed near middle where most of the pillow feathers were. Using the levitation spell, he levitated a pile of feathers in the air, dropped a couple of them in the process but some of them went in to the rubbish bin.

EH?! She wanted him to try the summoning spell NOW? Kevin looked at the window where his card had dropped down. Did he really have to? What if he failed? Would they laugh? Still, the young lion looked from Bentley to Zander and then with a determined expression on his face he turned to the window.

Ok...clear mind, think about card and just go. "Accio card!" he waited....and waited....until he was sure that it hadn't worked. Kevin waved his wand frustratingly but when he did so, Sparks flew out of it and shot through the room and even towards both Zander and the Professor.

ehm...oops?

Chocolate? Huh? Kevin what are you-- oh yeah! The chocolate thing. After the whole pillow fight scene and then the Bentley thing, all thoughts of chocolate went out the window, along with that card...But wait. Kevin knew something was up. He must. He would never genuinely show concern for another human being, well as of right now anyway. OH NO, he was totally catching on to Zander's big little crush. Zander did his absolute best to look as calm as he could. "Uh, no, um, I- uh, nothing's wrong," He could almost feel the beads of sweat forming near his forehead. Thank goodness his long hair covered those up.

Kevin could never find out. He wouldn't be able to let that one go. Nope. Kevin would be the worst possible person to tell.

Annnnyways, Zander found himself in front of one particular bed that had seen a whole ton of damage. Ugh. Peeves. They really needed to invest in a cage or something for that ghost. Would cages keep him in? Or did ghosts circumvent that kind of stuff too....? Ugh. Peeves. But yes, bed. The bed sheets were thrown on the ground, the bed was moved a little out of place, and the pillow... Well that pillow was kind of a goner. Zander attempted to push the bed back into it's spot, though it proved to be a bit harder than he thought.

AH, GOTCHA! There. Once the bed was back into usual position, Zander got the sheets and began making the bed. Good thing he had lots of practice at this stuff. Just then he decided to steal a glance at his herbology angle, ahem, Professor, who was now smoothening out his sheets. SHE WAS TOUCHING HIS BLANKETS. AH. How could he ever manage to fall asleep knowing that she had been there?! AH. And cue more stomach flutteries. SOS, Kevin there actually is something wrong and it won't go away make it go away! The stomach butterflies won't stoooop.

"AHHHH!" Just as Zander had reached down to grab the sheets, SPARKS. SOS. Houston, there are SEVERAL problems including stomach flutteries, feathery messes, AND NOW FLYING SPARKS! Looking at Kevin with what was now a look of shock he was able to get a look at the last few sparks flying out of the boys wand. "Woah, be careful where you point that thing!" WAIT, BENTLEY!

Zander quickly turned to Bentley, who he had been purposely ignoring eye contact with. He needed to make sure she was alright. Was she alright? Had the sparks hurt her? KEVIN!

What a day.

The banter between the two boys didn't interest her a great deal, or at least not beyond her concern for Zander's health. Was he okay? She glanced between the two, but easily accepted Zander's response. Nothing was wrong.

Of course, this meeting business was nagging her somewhat, though perhaps moreso because she couldn't recall a meeting at all, let alone one where they discussed the late Astronomy Professor. Not last year anyway. "That explains it... almost.. I don't remember much from last year, it's all a bit hazy." And that was an understatement too. "Burbage is the late Astronomy Professor... died only a few short years ago." Just before his time, she supposed. It was beginning to get difficult, remembering all these years... so much time had passed at this school, it started rolling into one big experience. Survival was her priority. Not just surviving a term, or semester, or a year... just surviving.

But snapping out of her daze, she smiled as she watched Kevin consider the task at hand. She hoped he'd try... or at least... she had hoped he'd try.

Bouncing Blueberries!

....

As the sparks flew, Seren found herself flopping to the mattress, arms out like a starfish. "Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!" She'd felt a zap shiver down her left arm, but she didn't think much of it, the shock had come and gone, and as far as she could tell, she was in one piece. Was it safe to come up for air now? ...

"Okay... alright... you win, Kevin."

There was definitely something the matter with Zander. Why else would he stutter over a simple question about chocolate? hmm? "Come on! You can tell me, we're friends riiiight?" Cue a creepy grin that literally showed that they weren't friends 'yet' but that he only wanted to know what was going on.

Zander Adair, you can not rest until you confessed 'cause this boy didn't stop until he found something out. And he WAS going to find out what was going on even if it took him years!

So this Burbage person was an Astronomy Professor. Scratch that, a late Astronomy Professor. "What happened?" Perfectly normal question right?

Well, at least the feathers had been cleaned up and Zander had made up some of the beds already handn't he? before the Sparks started flying all through the dormitory. Luckily it didn't leave that much of a mess. The rolled his eyes at Zander as he shouted at him to look out. Like he didn't know that! But then his eyes widened like the older Gryffindor when the Sparks actually hit their Head of House.

Bentley was different. Kevin actually liked her and not just because he wanted to be on good terms with her so that she kept defending him when other Professor spoke ill of him. Like last year with Culloden. "I didn't mean to do that! i swear, no lie this time!" Eh...maybe he shouldn't have said 'this time' ..................oh well.

He won? okaaaaay...what had he won? CANDY?!

He quickly pocketed his wand and sighed. The card was still down on the ground outside. "Are you okay? i saw the spark hitting your arm" Kevin wasn't the type to actually hurt someone. He was more bark than bite, although if someone would bite he would bite back of course. "Zander, help her up" Actually, he just wanted to see his reaction....oh yeah, he was gonna test theories now. HEH

KEVIN KNEW. HE TOTALLY KNEW. Code red! Code red! Abort mission, ABORT MISSION! Kevin was getting suspicious. And he was doing that creepy grin thing... Friends?.... Were the friends? Zander had literally just met the kid... And he was being so rude and stuff.... There was know way that he considered Zander a friend. Unless he treated all his friends like that? But no. That smile. It's way too creepy. Something is up. Kevin totally knows that something is up. Must. Not. Give. In. "Um.... Don't worry about it, Kevin.... We can talk later...."

But see, talking later involved seeing each other later. Which also meant that Kevin would have to plan to see him later. Which also... Well basically.... Hold on. Zander hadn't really formed his plan yet... Either way, Zander would find a way to test Kevin to see if he was actually a real friend. And even if he didn't have the plan now... He'd think of one by the next time they met! Or he'd get a Ravenclaw to think of a plan. That's their specialty right? Other than knowing the right amount of chocolate to eat Heh.

HER ARM!? WAS SHE OKAY!? Zander had only really noticed the aftermath. He didn't really get to take a good look at what happened to Professor Bentley because he was trying too hard to avoid her. Which was difficult. Considering she was sitting on his bed.

Help her up?

As in, help Beautiful Bentley?

As in, help the person he has been trying to avoid throughout this whole debacle.

Kevin will so pay for this. Eventually. But he will pay. Someday. Maybe. But hopefully yes.

BUT HIS HERBOLOGY ANGEL WAS IN TROUBLE! He'd deal with Kevin later. Zander wasted no time, after the whole wide-eye panic thing he did for a minute after Kevin had assigned him his next task. But that only lasted a minute. Heh. Totally under control. Zander ran over to Beautiful Bentley and grabbed her arm. He tried inspecting it, but he totally didn't know what he was doing and it looked like a normal arm? Hopefully. Well a very beautiful normal arm. But yeah. He tried pulling her up, but then immediately realized what he was doing. WHAT IF SHE DIDN'T LIKE BEING PULLED UP!? WHAT IF HER ARM HURT? WHAT IF. He abruptly let go of the Herbology professor and looked at her with apologetic eyes. "Are-are you okay? Do you need the healer? Is your arm okay? Did Kevin hurt you? I'm sorry for pulling at your arm. Did I make it worse?"

Could someone make him stop talking now? He was sounding like an idiot.

She was oblivious, still, to the banter going on between the boys... from where she was sitting it didn't seem at all significant. They were peaceful... therefore no need to intervene and moderate the exchange. Boys were boys, but they seemed fine - and Kevin did say something about being friends. Aaaawwwww.

With regard to Burbage, and what happened... "An unfortunate accident," was the only answer she had to offer him. The last thing she wanted to discuss right now was the deceptive man-eating plant that had literally eaten a man... er... woman, Burbage. The rumours about her being responsible for Burbage's death was ridiculous, but it didn't make her feel any better.

...

...

Great mother of Circe.

Seren believed him, she believed Kevin when he said he didn't mean to, she believed that his wand was difficult to control... and she was oblivious to his this time. "I'm fine... I'm fine..." she noted uncertainly as she took another moment to compose herself. Zander's quick response and his aid at her side was appreciated, gladly accepting his assistance in helping her up from the be-----d... only to be let go of abruptly, flopping back to the covers. "Zander, Zander, Zander.... I'm fine, I'm okay, just an accident... it could have been worse," much much worse. Propping herself up on her elbows, Seren helped herself up into sitting position and inspected the affected area. It was a bit red, with mild swelling.. nothing some green tea and aloe wouldn't fix up. "It's nothing, really," she decided eventually.

An unfortunate accident. Wow, she was definitely hiding something and now the youngest Gryffindor had a second mission. Find out what had truly happened to this Garbage person and his first visit would be the current Astronomy Professor. Which also reminded him that he STILL needed his hat back that the man had stolen from him almost a year ago.

And as for Zander's words about talking later about it, he did know what he was getting himself in to right? But Kevin just nodded with a hint of a grin before turning his attention on their Head of House. Oh right...the attack. He had almost forgotten... He watched curiously as Zander went to help her get up and chuckled when he released her arm and she flopped back down. What? that was funny!

From where he was standing, Kevin did not see the red mark or the minor swelling and when the Professor said that she was fine, he believed her. Zander on the other hand was still freaking out and Kevin rolled his eyes. "She said she was fine , didn't she?" Did he need another blast of ice cold aguamenti spell or what? Merlin's beard how did that guy get in to Gryffindor in the first place?

......"Is the bed damaged?" what?

There was an unnatural silence in the room now, and it seemed somewhat awkward considering she was still essentially sprawled on the bed. But!.... from this angle, she could see just how well the boys were doing with putting the room back into order. It was... what would Airey call it? A stellar effort! That's what it was.

Rising from the covers and getting up from the bed, Seren continued to inspect her arm before turning her attention to the bed. Damaged?! What?! .......

On closer inspection of one of the posts, it seemed there was a bit in the way of a scorch mark, but nothing that couldn't be fixed. "No dramas," she reassured Kevin, waving her wand over the area of impact and essentially waving away the damage. Now.... getting out of here before any more wand waving, was probably a sound idea.

"Finish this up," she instructed to the two young men, "and there'll be house points in it for you. Five each..." because cleaning up after themselves and managing the aftermath of Peeves in a mature fashion was to be commended. "I'll see how you've done later, but if you don't mind... I need to tend to this." A raised eyebrow at Kevin, swollen arms were not desirable. And if she might have been mistaken, but it seemed to be swelling more, still.

Without another moments hesitation she was out the door!

Okay, okay maybe she was actually fine. The look of her swollen arm said otherwise, but Zander could just feel Kevin giving him weird stares (even with his back facing the boy). So he'd drop it, but really he was super worried on the inside.

Ahem anyways. She was leaving?! Awh, wait okay no that'd be for the best yes. With Beautiful Bentley gone, Zander would finally be able to relax a little bit. Then Kevin could stop being all suspicious. AND house points!?! REALLY!? Here he was thinking that they'd lose points for the mess, but Beautiful Bentley was going to REWARD them instead! JOYOUS DAY JOYOUS DAY!

The Gryffindor looked back at his favorite Professor and smiled, despite his rather nervous self. "Thanks Professor!" He would make sure that they cleaned up properly and impressed her and stuff. Yep. They'd make her proud. "We'll definitely take good care of this mess." But the mess in his heart? Yeah... That was not going away anytime soon....

Turning to his newly formed ally, "Kevin, I-I guess I'll go back to that side of the room? And you can take some of the feathers in that corner?" Hopefully the rest wouldn't take too long. Especially with Professor Bentley gone. He wouldn't have any more distractions around. The third year walked over to the other side of the room and began fixing the beds once more. There were some limp pillows thrown about, but other than that the damage seemed to be pretty repairable. Nothing but a few thrown blankets skewing here and there. Nothing he couldn't handle.

Was this the wisest thing he had ever done? Nope. Far from it. But it wasn't the dumbest thing he had ever done either. Not that that was saying anything since he had done some REALLY stupid things in his youth.

Not the point. FOCUS FLAMSTEED.

After having double checked Gryffindor's class schedule to make sure that second years had Herbology at this time of day, he crept up the stairs to the boys' dormitory and did his best not to be seen. No Disillusionment Charm in place this time, because that was just beyond unprofessional of a professor to do in a dorm room setting, he checked the various plaques on the doors until he found the one Mr. Hirase had been assigned to. The professor was 99.9% certain that the boy would not carry the blanket around with on on his person...so surely it was around here somewhere...

And surely not somewhere obvious like on his bed. Maybe under a pillow?

Walking towards the bed, the astronomer lifted up each of the pillows only to find that there was nothing there. Well, at least Mr. Hirase didn't go for the obvious and unoriginal hiding places.

Wand out now, he gave it a flick. "Accio Star Trek blanket," he commanded in a voice just above a whisper. He listened carefully for any hint of movement or sound that indicated that it was being locked up in a trunk or closet - he wasn't THAT low that he would go rummaging through students' trunks looking for his precious blanket.

Hearing and seeing nothing, he gave his wand a more persistent flick. "Accio Star Trek blanket!"

Nothing. Hmmmm....interesting...very interesting...

The scorch mark on her arm seemed a bit painful but if the Professor said that it wasn't so bad he shrugged his shoulders. Whatever, if she was fine then it was okay right? He walked away from the window, his chocolate frog card still outside somewhere in the snow but then stopped walking and literally dropped his wand on the floor.

He didn't pick it up immediately and simply STARED at the Professor. Five....five....he ..what? ...he got five points? Actually GOT FIVE of them? After everything that had happened, Kevin would have thought that he would have lost points but to have actually EARNED them? He closed his mouth after she walked out the door and stooped down to pick up his wand.

"Did we just....earn 10 points for making a mess?" he was still confused about all this. Maybe the spell that had hit her made her confused and give points instead of take. He wasn't going to ask her later though, they got the points now. He turned his gaze towards Zander and immediately narrowed them.

"Don't tell me what to do" he said in his usual rude voice and with a huff he walked over to the corner where some feathers were. While he was busy cleaning, he suddenly spoke up although his voice was soft and mumbled. "thanks for helping me clean up...weirdo"

Zander was a whole ton more relaxed now that Bentley was gone. Phew. Now that had been a real mess. Literally. And figuratively too. Thank goodness that was over. Hopefully she'd be okay. He wanted to ask if he could walk her over to the Hospital Wing or something, but she had said she was okay.... Which was kind of doubtful.

He looked over at Kevin at the sound of the guy's voice and let out a small laugh. "Yeah- I-er- I reckon we did?" Whaaaaa? Even though Peeves had provoked them and all, it was just as much their fault as it was his... But whatever. Bentley was proud and that's all that mattered! Besides, the EARNED POINTS!? YAY!

Oops. Zander forgot how Kevin was all touchy about this stuff. Instead of responding, he just shrugged because wowieee Bentley was proud of them for cleaning and stuff! He was EVEN happier than he was when he was eating the chocolate! But then, what was that? Was Kevin actually thanking him... Whaaa? Still a little confused, Zander looked up towards Kevin, "Of course," he'd ignore the whole weirdo bit because the thank you could cancel that out. It was the nicest thing that Kevin had said to him all day. He wanted to add a 'that's what friends are for' too, but he wasn't actually sure if they were friends yet.... Considering Kevin was kind of testy.

"I think we're almost done!" Zander exclaimed as he levitated a couple of the feathers on his side towards a trashcan. The mess was almost all taken care of! They made a pretty good team.