It was hard to pay attention to someone when you were looking at the ground and not at them. Why was staring rude again? Why hadn't he asked her that? Was it too late to ask now?? All he could see were shoes and questions filled his brain so he really was not taking in what the woman with red lips was saying.

Kyroh's shoulders shrunk though at the mention of his house.. So he wasn't being a good Ravenclaw again? He had thought he had been doing pretty well. Look he was even doing his homework and everything! "The bigger kids make it hard to see to the staff table." Kyroh stated sadly.

He was going to have to work on being a better Ravenclaw again.

......he just didn't know how.

"It wouldn't make that bad of a room! You'd just need your bed and some blankets and maybe a fireplace!" And then all cozy! Except she wouldn't have that much privacy but it was like an ADVENTURE. New friends at different parts of the day.

Creating mischief? "What work do you have to do?" His eyes left the floor and drifted back to the lady. "Do you want to help me with my homework?" Yeah he needed THAT. "And my name's Kyroh not Chico." Close though! He'd give her a star for that.

Lolita didn't know if she should find his height troubles amusing, cute, or revolting from being too cute. "Perhaps you should try sitting at the end of the table then, no?" Or simply leaning forward or backward. Either was easy.

And no, it would make a terrible room. No privacy whatsoever. And some people had things they didn't want to be made public... "It is really not of your concern what work I have, but in this case it is merely marking Arithmancy essays." Sticking around and listening to his one-word song was definitely not an appealing option. "I think I have enough homework of my own to be dealing with, thank you very much. Enjoy your potions work, Kyroh." And with that she turned away and sauntered off before he could get in too many more dangerous questions.

After coming up the stairs from the first floor, Penelope ran through the second floor corridor, crying. Stupid. I shouldn't have yelled at Kyroh. That was so mean. Why did I yell at him? I'm going to be in so much trouble. What if Kyroh hates me? What if everyone hates me? What if I lose points or get detention? What am I going to do? Could this day get any worse? The crying girl disappeared into the girls' bathroom.

"I guess I could but then someone might push me and I might fall off." Though....Kyroh didn't mind that too much. He could just sit on the floor and eat! Nothing to bad about that.

None of his concern? If it was not his concern why'd she still tell him?

Arithmancy.

That had to do with numbers and names and dates and stuff, that was all Kyroh knew. He had read about it but the subject didn't make sense to him. "But if your the one who assigned it it's kind of your fault that you have to mark it." SO SHE SHOULD HELP HIM!- But....the woman had already turned away. Oh. No help? He frowned "BYE!" The first year called sadly as he waved at her back. Without another thought Kyroh dropped down on the floor to continue his homework.

So yes, it was now spring time. And you know what they say about spring? All that 'out with the old and in with the new' nonsense. Except there was nothing new about this spring. Nothing at all. Mostly because spring was also SUPPOSED to mean warmer weather. 'Cept it was almost just as cold as the winter months had been. So nope. He was still going to stick to the indoors thank you very much.

Wandering around the corridors was actually a regular part of his routine now. Especially on days when they didn't have classes. There was so much free time and lately Zander had been trying to avoid interaction with certain people. Certain people, meaning: Kevin. That boy was trying incredibly hard to figure out Zander's big secret. The Bentley one.

Either way, staying as far away from the Gryffindor common room was probably the safest bet. So before he knew it, Zander was running down a whole lotta stairs. Eventually the Gryffindor gave all that running a rest, and decided to just venture out on the second floor. He never got a chance to explore here, had he? So eh, pretty viable option. Wasn't too cold, wasn't too crowded, no Kevin in sight? Yes, perfect.

Cosgrach had spent about 12 years of his life outdoors, and the best way to kill him slowly was keeping him inside. This stupid weather was just doing that: killing him neat and sloooow. The usually happy man (y'can't believe he's usually happy, huh?) was slowly getting depressed, grumpy and restless. The fact that his office was in the dungeons didn't help either. He itched to go outside, but he itched to live more, so indoors it was.

And a grumpy Cosgrach.

The man certainly couldn't bother to stay in his office, so he was aimlessly touring the castle. Something FAST passed by him on the stairs, and soon enough the professor was looking at the culprit: That Sandro or whatever boy. The one that had made Cosgrach angry at the first class of the year.

"Don't you know running is dangerous?" he addressed the boy grumpily, but then his face fell even further. Mweh. This was old Cosgrach: enjoying pulling people's leg. It wasn't even fun anymore. He dramatically siiiighed and looked longingly out of a window.

He had definitely passed by a few people while he was running. But meh, it didn't really occur to Zander that he wasn't really supposed to be running around. Especially not on the MOVING stairs. But meh, whatever. He just needed to get as far away from Kevin as possible. So rules could wait 'n stuff.

When he heard a voice call after him though. Uh oh. What if it was a prefect! Gryffindor was all comfy in the lead and stuff. And the third year was working hard to keep it that way. No matter, he could probably defend himself out of this one. "Uh... I... I was only--" Zander turned around to face the angry prefect, but stopped mid sentence when he realized...

That's no prefect. That's a Culloden. Double uh oh.

"Oh." Just his luck. The third year was forever trying to get on this man's good side, if he had one, after his mishap during the first lesson, but maybe that was just never meant to be. This was the second time Culloden had caught him doing something he wasn't supposed to. Twice, just this year alone. It probably wasn't in the cards or something. Hm. He'd have to stop by and ask Professor Morgan about that, but anyways. "Er.. Hi Professor, I uh.. I didn't see you there..." Heh. Heh. Oops?

Wait a minute? Culloden looked different today... He didn't look like his usual still-angry-but-also-lively self. He actually looked kind of sad. Should he ask? Nah. Maybe, just maybe Zander could just run away and make a grand escape while this guy was all distracted by the window! Yes perfect plan! "What's.. What's wrong?" DARN. Zander, that is not much of an escape, YOU FOOL!

Cosgrach wanted to dramatically wail. Sure he didn't see him! It wasn't even fun, so Cosgrach made a gesture for the boy to relaaaax. He wasn't in trouble... yet. If he annoyed Cosgrach with his 'dork -

...'dork! Cosgrach needed a 'dork!

His expression drastically changed right after the boy'd finished asking the question. "Nothing's wrong," he answered the boy energetically, and looked at him thoroughly as if he was examining him. Ah, perfect! His brain conveniently remembered his full name: Zander Adair, because he needed the boy NOW, and Cosgrach smirked to himself. He LOVED his brain when it remembered everything while in need! "I mean, yeah, I'm gutted because we can't get out, but..." He paused as if he was mourning over that, but in reality, he was trying to remember Sophie Newell's essay and her exact words: 'I think Gryffindors are excellent people to use when you're seeking out someone to manipulate. It's in their blood to want to save the day when they see a person in need or even a creature or an inanimate object...' A-ha! Zander was perfect material for a little bit of experiment!

"What do you think is happening?" he asked the boy in a sad voice, as if his euphoria was once again gone because of remembering the weather. "Why can't we get out!?" Was it working? Manipulating? Was the ickle 'dork in his net yet?

The boy was starting to prepare excuses in his head. His friend was brutally hurt and he needed to run down to save him before there was too much blood loss. Was that believable? Or... uh... He was on assignment for Beautiful Bentley, who needed him to run a plant up for her from the greenhouses so that it didn't freeze to death. Or no, better yet he was--

Wait? He wasn't in trouble?!?!

Oh.

This was weird. He had been preparing for a full on lecture about the dangers of running and moving stairs and endangerment to the student body and yadda yadda ya. So, oh. Maybe the Potions Professor was starting to finally warm up to him!? Maybe he was finally starting to get on that man's good side, which according to Sophie Brown, actually existed. The Gryffindor visibly relaxed upon these good thoughts and watched as Culloden seemed to regain some new force of energy. What had just happened? Uh.... Had Zander's presence lifted the man out of his sulky mood? Uhum, what was up with all the staring? Was Culloden trying to find another reason to yell at him? Because his uniform was perfect according to all of Hogwarts' regulations. And he wasn't hiding anything... Had the Potions Professor realized that he let the Gryffindor off too easy? Was he going to change his mind? Take points away?

Before Zander could question anything, however, the man was all sad again? Awh. So it wasn't his presence that lifted the man up? Darn. But wait he was speaking again. Hold up. The man wanted HIS opinion. What did HE think about the wonky weather? Well he did have some theories. Actually he had a bunch of theories. Like the Romanos controlling Cold Ones theory? That one was the most developed and Sophie had semi-confirmed it, well she didn't stop it, and she was a Ravenclaw! But Romanos was a staff member.... And so was Culloden. So they were probably all buddy-buddy. So..."Well I think there's someone controlling all of this," he answered matter-of-factly. That person- Sophie had convinced him that it was in fact a person- that ran out of the forrest the day of the playmates meeting. That person was most definitely Romanos. It had to be, but that portion would be left out for the good of this conversation. Ahem.

Why couldn't they get out? Well, Professor that is because of the weather-- something he would never dare say to the man's face. He wanted to get on this Professor's good side, assuming that Sophie was telling the truth about it. "Whoever that person was running out of the forrest the other day, I think they're controlling this unstoppable winter," thinking about the lake disaster the other day, he added, "and the blizard." Was that the right answer? "Whoever it is needs to be stopped because I'm tired of this weather too." SEE he was trying to establish some common ground because that's how friends are made. Zander didn't want to become friends with Culloden exactly, just on the good side. Yeah. The good side.

Was it working? Getting on the man's good side?

Oh, so ickle 'dork HAD some ideas. Sure he did. This bunch also tended to be arrogant and proud of their ideas. Hah.

Though, Cosgrach had to admit, he agreed with the kid with the rumours of a person seen in the forest. Cosgrach siiiiiighed and nodded. "I don't even know why someone would want to do that. I am stuck in the cooooold dungeons. Do you know how cold it is down there because the lake is frozen? I can't sit without some heavy winter coat. It's so hard for the Slytherins and me."

Was Zander ready to swap beds yet to help this coooooooold professor?

Woooow, for once Culloden was acting almost... human. Woah. So the tin man actually did have a heart? A heart that Zander was going to wiggle his way into, soon enough. "Me neither! It's cruel." So, Culloden didn't appear to know anything about Romanos' evil plan. So yes, he could be trusted.

The Gryffindor never really considered how bad the temperatures must be for the Slytherins. Sure, the dungeons never seemed like a cozy place, but they must be absolutely DREADFUL now. "Oh... Uh... I'm sorry about that Professor." The third year looked down at his feet, unsure of what more he could say. Was he supposed to comfort the guy? Or... uh. What does one do with a sad Professor?

"I wish there was some way I could help... Or cheer you up?" Not because he genuinely wanted to help Culldon per say, but because if he were to help then he would for sure find himself a spot on the man's happy list!

It WAS cruel! Outrageous! Terrible! Cosgrach wanted to WAAAAAIIIIL and CRYYYYY. He peeked at Zander and was pleased - HAH! The boy was already wishing there was something he could do.

"I don't know," the man breathed, "I wish I could sleep at Gryffindor towers. Bet it's warm there."

Huh??? Ready to give that yet? Plus, he'd sleep at a professor OFFICE. Who had that priviledge?

To say that the third year was utterly confused would be a total understatement. Zander was more than just confused. He quickly scanned the hallway to see if anyone could have sneaked him a confundo. Nope? No one looked suspicious. Uh. So what was going on? Culloden was actually looking... vulnerable? Like a real person? Zander was actually feeling bad for the man that had angered his friend. While Zander didn't like Culloden, no. But he did want to be on the good side! More than ever.

.... But how was he supposed to comfort a grown man?

The Gryffindor towers? Well, they did get some chill up there too, but it wasn't actually all that bad. Maybe it had to do with the warm fire places? Or the fuzzy blankets? Or uh hot air rises, right? Maybe it had to do with how much snuggling all the Gryffindors got up to? "I-uh yeah, I reckon it's a lot warmer than the dungeons..." He actually felt kind of sorry for the man. Actually, for all of the Slytherins. Simon and Ethan were probably freezing too! "Maybe there'd be a way to uh, house some Slytherins up in our dormitories?" There were always a few beds that weren't taken? Although... It'd be kinda weird if Culloden wanted to stay there too.

...andddd... Cosgrach held his breath...

AH! THERE! The boy'd said it! Cosgrach GRIIIIINNED then, chuckled and muttered to himself: "She was right." He didn't know how much of it Zander'd heard, but he doubted the boy possessed the courage to ask it. The man'd already known Gryffindors were weird creatures, but to SEE them doing it was priceless.

"Thank you, Zander. I'll pass that to the Headmistress before we freeze." He tried his best to keep serious. The boy shouldn't suspect anything! "We need more people like you." Definitely, to USE! HAHA. Oh, Merlin. Gryffindors were so much fun.

"Don't break anything or hurt y'self now, boy. See you around." With that, Cosgrach turned and started walking towards the stairs in clearly a much better mood.

What was that? What did Culloden say? Eh, it probably didn't really matter anyways, but uhhhh that grin was kinda creepy. And this is the part where Zander finally realized he was talking to creepy Culloden and not some sad lost puppy. Sure, he was a creepy Culloden that had a good side (apparently) that Zander wanted to get on... But still, the man was scary. Nothing could ever change that fact.

Honestly the Gryffindor hadn't truly meant what he had said... He didn't really think that Culloden would take up the offer, but the man did? And in a heartbeat. Uh oh. Would they be sharing their rooms with all of Slytherin house now? At least he could hang out with Ethan and Simon? But all those thoughts were canceled out when-- 'we need more people like you'!!! HAD HE DONE IT?! HAD HE OFFICIALLY GOTTEN ON THE GOOD SIDE!?! The Gryffindor couldn't help but swell up with pride. Beaming at his Professor, he forgot all thoughts of the creepiness of the grin and the weird shift from the sad behavior and GEE WIZ! Need more people like him!? THAT WAS EVEN BETTER THAN HE HAD HOPED FOR!

"Why, thank you Professor! It means a lot!" He was practically oozing feelings of a successful mission. Ah the glow of Gryffindor pride was so good to him. Wait, Culloden was leaving? B-b-but he had just announced the good stuff!! Zander needed to secure his good side position waaaaaaiiiiiiitttt! Sigh. "Oh, okay yeah I won't bye Professor!"

All in all... That was so weird.

Penelope was coming back up to the Ravenclaw tower from the great hall. She decided to stop to use the loo on the second floor because she reallyneededtogo. Not really looking where she was going, she ran right in to Professor Culloden. Oops. Would he be mad at her? "Sorry, Professor Culloden! I didn't see you there." She would have just made a beeline for the girl's bathroom, but it would seem rude if she didn't stay for a minute to see what the professor would say. Turning to face the professor, she squirmed uncomfortably and waited to hear what the professor would say, while slowly creeping backward toward the bathroom. It would be in Culloden's best interest to not try to stop Penelope if she disappeared into the bathroom while he was talking. Doing that would definitely bring on a dramatic mood swing, for the worse on Culloden's side of this. He could say anything he wanted to, but it could be dangerous to get between Penelope and the girl's bathroom right now. She could talk to the professor later. Right now she was just waiting to hear if the professor was going to lecture her on the dangers of running in the corridor or something

Cosgrach was a very happy man at that moment, because he'd got to prank Zander thoroughly. Of course, this was only the first part of his prank, but the hardest too. The rest would be easy. He only had to...

...be HIT by some IRRATIONAL, HIGHLY CARELESS girl right in the middle of the stairs!

His pleasure ALL forgotten, he turned towards the girl immediately and started giving her DEATH stares.

"Clearly you haven't!" he roared, "or else, you wouldn't have tried to murder me." Murder, yes! Was it not her who'd hit him ON PURPOSE in this vast staircase? And her cheeky way of apologising! "Give me a reason not to deduct points!" She had exactly... three seconds.

Readysetgo.

It looked like Culloden was not in a good mood right now. Murder? He thought that she was trying to murder him? Penelope had gone from uncomfortable squirming to bouncing up and down. She really needed to use the loo now. Culloden wanted a reason not to deduct points right now? Penelope was too busy bouncing and needing to use the loo to think of a reason right now. "I... I," she started to say something to the professor, but turned and ran the rest of the way to the girl's bathroom. Before Culloden could say anything else, she had disappeared into the girl's bathroom.

About 2 minutes later, Penelope came out of the bathroom. If Culloden had been mad at her before, she hated to think what he might do to her now. She walked back to where the professor was, and waited to see if he would yell at her. Although she was not exactly giving Culloden death stares, she was not in a good mood right now.

She...she...

Had to use the bathroom.

Cosgrach raised one eyebrow perfectly behind her. Wasn't she a queer one? He stood there and thought: should he let her be, or should he torture her further? He wasn't really going to deduct points, Ravenclaw was already too pathetic to do that. Hmm... what to do, what to do... oh, there she appeared. Good girl.

"Well?" He was still expecting a reason, y'know.

Culloden hadn't come after her to torture her in the bathroom. That was very good, but she still had to think of a reason. Penelope was still thinking of a good reason for Culloden not to deduct points. She hadn't come up with any good ideas yet. What should she say? Culloden was still expecting an answer. Penelope did not really want to talk to the professor right now. What would he do if she didn't say anything? Well? She needed to think of a reason now. Bumping in to the professor was not exactly a thing that she should lose points for. Ravenclaw was already over a hundred points behind the other houses.

Penelope looked up at he professor, but then looked down. the shy first year did not like talking to most professors. At this point she was wondering if he would give her detention. Things could be worse than losing points when her house was already in fourth place for the house cup. Quietly, the shy girl said, "Ravenclaw is in fourth place for the house cup. If you wanted to punish me, there are other things that you could do, like give me detention." She really hoped that he would not take away points or give her detention. It would be stupid to get a detention for running into the professor. That was not a very good reason, because the professor might get ideas about giving her detention.

She thought of a better reason. "I wasn't trying to murder you. It was not really anything that I should lose points for."

Simon eyed his surroundings and eavesdropped on Professor Culloden's conversations about being cold. He smirked. Yes, this would be the place to cast the insulation spell again. He'd make Professor Culloden a bit warmer and make that Professor happy. Yes, yes. It was a brilliant plan. So he nodded towards the Professor's generally direction politely and then set off to work.

Facing a wall, he pulled out his wand. He took a deep breath, pointed it at the wall, moved it in the sideways figure eight way, and then cast the charm, "Caelum Saepio! Caelum Saepio!" he muttered. A little puff of fog appeared in front of him so he cast the charm again. A bigger puff of fog resulted. One more time would do the trick, he figured. "Caelum Saepio!" Then he got a big puff of fog to appear.

That meant it was working? That was what Fuller had said, right? That's what Simon figured so he set off to the next location.

Three down. Two to go.

...

......was she going to talk today?

Cosgrach wasn't the most patient man when it came to people as he spent all of it for the potions. He almost told her to speak at last, too, when she muttered something. She was right about that. Ravenclaw shouldn't lose more points. It wouldn't mean anything.

What she said next... haha. Cosgrach actually chuckled.

"I believe ya, I s'ppose. So you're free to go." Turn and go, because that was what he did. He turned and climbed the stairs down.

Weird girl.

Okay, sure it was far from the common room, but the kid just wanted to get the homework done. And he was already here? So uh... Why not, right? Right. With a shrug the Gryffindor took his wand out of his holster and started getting right down to work. "Caelum Saepio,” he chanted over and over as he moved his wand in an infinity sign motion.

As he walked off around the hall to practice a couple more times, he smiled to himself seeing the fog. Ah, it was good to know that his spells actually worked. Sometimes.

With another infinity sign and a "Caelum Saepio,” the Gryffindor was successfully making his way down the entire corridor. Fuller would be so proud. Hopefully. Anyways, for his last spot of choice he would venture off to DRUMM ROOOOOLLLLLL: the common room, of course!!

Despite the cold, Sophie hurried up the stairs and toward the next level of the castle. She could still feel the cold temperatures, so she knew she wouldn't be just up here randomly casting for no reason. She was here to do the Insulation Charm, after all. She finally reached the second floor and walked a good ways down it before finding a spot that seemed colder than others. Maybe nobody had insulated this area just yet. Well, there was no time like the present!

Sophie already had her wand in her hand, so she gripped it tighter then pointed it toward the wall. With a wave of her wand in a figure eight motion, she said, "Caelum Saepio!" She tried to put all her attention on what she wanted the charm to do. She tried to picture a nice, warm environment, but it was still a little hard with the temperatures inside the castle. She thought about her home and hoped she could get there soon.

"Caelum Saepio!" she said a second time. Again, she moved her wand in a sideways figure eight movement. Okay, two times should do it! Sophie turned on her heels and headed to the stairs, trying to hurry and find more places that needed to be insulated.