It was rainy. It was cold. Which meant only one thing.

Everyone was crammed into the castle. There were students, ghosts, professors, and Peeves everywhere! Getting a headache from all the noise, Chance decided to venture out somewhere that was a little less... crowded.

He hadn't had much luck. He had started out on the seventh floor and had made it all the way down here to the second floor corridor before he had found some peace. There were only a few students around. And when he said few, he really meant himself. And who would want to be here? It was the corridor to Arthimacy and the Headmistresses office.

Twirling his wand, Chance stepped up in front of the suit of armor. He looked at himself in the reflection and wiggled his eyebrows at his appearance. He was pretty. No doubt about that!

It was getting really cold yet Bianca had decided to forfeit the warmth the common room provided and had bundled up to walk around the castle with her camera. As the yearbook photography editor, a title she felt she totally deserved, the lioness was going to take it seriously.

And by seriously she meant she was going to take pictures of EVERYONE's face and put it in the yearbook. Avoiding a few running first years, she stepped to the side to let them pass. Bianca wished she had started at Hogwarts earlier but alas... she had not been so lucky. Though some of the wonder had been lost after her first term, last year. Humming a Beyonce song, the Gryffindor continued to walk and found herself on the second floor. Closer to the ground floor, closer to the outside and oh hey- wasn't that... C-Squared...? Checking himself out?

She stopped in her tracks, ready to turn around. But they were friends and she didn't need to feel awkward around him just because he had a girlfriend right? Fiddling with her camera a bit, she wondered if he had already spotted her. Where was Puck when she needed her? Shaking her head, Bianca simply walked up to the boy. "Sup C-Squared. You think you lookin' fly?" See not awkward. She then snapped a picture of him. With the flash on.

Was that a nose hair sticking out? No. NO. Nose hairs were not cool. They screamed old. Which Chance was NOT getting. Bending closer to exaimine this hair that was sticking from his nose, he heard a voice.

"wha-, Oh hey Beezey!" Grinning at her, he straightened up. The flash almost blinded him and not to mention it came off the suit of armor. "oi! My eyes!" Blink. Blink. Great, now his vision was all blotched from the light specks in his eyes. That only meant one thing. Chance was going to have to ask Beezey about his nose hair. "Question. Because, I need an answer to this. And I dont want you to think this is weird or that Im weird but..." Breathe. Nose hairs were a thing.

"Do I have a nose hair sticking out?" OH THE HORROR!! She was more than capable that telling him if he had a nose hair or not. It was better than walking around this crowded castle with a nose hair sticking out. Well, anymore.

"So?" he asked, putting his nose in the air to give her a better look.

Bianca stared at C-Squared for a second. Did he seriously just ask her to... look up his nose? Was it weird? Yes. To a certain extent, it really was quite weird. However, Bianca was a good friend and when a friend asked another friend to look up their nose, they were kind of obligated to say sure. Plus, this genuinely seemed to be bothering him.

So she stared at him for a little bit longer. In her defense, other than her being a good friend, she tried really hard to look away from the turned up nose.

"Uhh...."

Thatwas all she could really manage. "Shouldn't you get your girlfriend to do that?"

Because that seemed muuuuuch more normal. And then she covered her eyes. She really didn't want to see up his nose. It was kind of gross and seeing as she was not yet a healer, she didn't feel the need to examine it.

She was staring at him. Chance could almost feel the rays she was giving him. His upturned nose was growing cold. I mean, it didnt take long to look up a nose. And if the hair was hanging out, it wouldnt take long to look at it. He put his nose down and cocked an eyebrow at her. Come on Beezey!

His girlfriend? Why was she bringing up his girlfriend? And that seemed to be a topic that came up frequently when they hung out. "Whats my girlfriend gotta do with you looking up my nose?" Another cock of the head at her. She was acting rather strange... well more strange than the regular Beezey. "You're my friend. And I dont want to walk these crowded halls with a long hair outta my nose." His eyes pleaded with her.

"Besides, arent you going to be a healer? Or something like that? You're going to have to see more things wrong than this." Oh wait, speaking of wrong things... "By the way, dont try making your own healing potions until you are a hundred sure you know what you are doing." Nod.

Was she a tad bit uncomfortable with looking up his nose? Yes.

Yes she was. "Your girlfriend would do it without any questions probably." While she had a million like why and ... why. Because that was a big question. Bianca continued to fiddle with her camera before sighing. Yes... the whole friend reason. And look he was giving her the eyes. Ugh. Feeling her heart warm up a little she nodded her head just ever so slightly.

"Fine... fine... Keep your head up." She looked into his nose, wincing just a little. Well, wasn't that gross. "Your nose is fine. No nose hairs sticking out." Paranoid much, Chance? She wrinkled her own nose. For some reason, looking up his made hers feel itchy and uncomfortable. Bianca tossed her hair over her shoulder and let her camera fall, the strap around her neck preventing it from hitting the ground. "I can make healing potions fine... but Papa Caruso usually sends me them," she said with a little shrug of her shoulders.

But... why was he...? "You tried to make your own healing potions didn't you?"

HE WAS NOSE HAIR FREEEEEEE!!!
A smile erupted on his face and he felt his nose itch. Probably from all the air flying up there. He was sure to have boogers forming left and right. Ugh, boogers.
"Yeah she probably woulda just looked but she isn't her right now and it was a crisis situation!" Chance said to Beezey grinning at te nonsense of it all. "But I do thank you. For real. Lifesaver" he gave her a genuine smile before looking back at the suit of armor. If that wasn't a nose hair, then what was it? Oh, the suit of armor had a scratch on it. Heh.

Make a healing potion? Himself? What?! A sly smile played on Chances lips as e tried to hide the bigger smile that was holding back that he did indeed try and make his own healing potion. "Papa Caruso to the rescue!" Chance said nodding as he stood back up and went to lean against the wall.

"I don't have a papa Caruso so I attempted to make one." Nod. "I'm not the bes at Potions either." Another nod. A glance up at Beezey. Griiiiin.

He was probably crazy.

Bianca would know because she had been called crazy multiple times. But most of them were good crazy like... crazy hot or crazy gorgeous... then there were just plain old crazy. Which Chance was clearly being right now. Even though he was acting crazy, Bianca couldn't help but smile back. Smiling was like a disease. "I know. I'm fantastic." she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder and grinning right back at him.

... He definitely tried to make his own potion. She could tell. "Well, I told you we could get Papa Caruso to owl some over." Because she was nice and all that but nope, he had refused treatment. So haha, it sucked for him.

"What did you do anyways? Make the potion blow up in your face?" she asked, with a little laugh before sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall.

She could totes imagine that happening.

Sniffle.

Now it felt like he had something up his nose. What the heck nose?? If he could glare at his nose he would. But since it was smack dab in the middle of his face, and he could only see a slim portion of it, he would have to ignore it, for now.

"That you are my friend." Chance said to in response of her sati see was amazing. There was no denying it and he had tol her plenty of times before. No use tryin to say otherwise. Besides, amazing people were allowed to say they were amazing. Like himself, he made it a point to at least say it once a week, or rather more like once a day.

He laughed. Never had a potion blown up on him. Spilled, caught fire, turned colors it wasn't suppose to, yes, but blown up? No. Oh, she was sitting. Scooting down an sitting beside her, he said, "not quite. It bubbled and gurgled and smelled something awful. And then I drank it." Nod. He had. Nod. It was stupid. Nod. He ended up having to go to the hospital wing.

The Weasley Swamp. Right, cats wouldn't be going there so second floor it was. He watched the black cat ran inside the Great Hall when the door opened and turned to nod at Lux. And then without saying anything he walked up the staircase going to the second floor.

Arriving on the floor, the Gryffindor didn't even look at the Hufflepuff but instead looked around. "I already have three cats listed" he said as he checked his note book, seemingly forgotten that he had copied one of the cats she had found. So there was no reason for him to come along right? But he wanted to search for the cats even more because he liked them. He turned to face Lux now and rolled his eyes. "Geez, hurry up already!"

It was nice of Kevin to go along with her to find more kitties on the second floor. Yep, she was going to ignore the eyeroll and harsh tone. Lux knew that Kevin wasn't as gruff as he pretended to be; anybody who cuddled cats had a softer side to them.

After smiling at him, she went about looking for another cat. "Are you sure you don't want to redo the one you copied from me?" She really wasn't going to force him, but copying was wrong and she would rather not play any part in it even if it was just the person being copied off of.

Walking some more, she came across a dark grey cat lying in the middle of the corridor. It was sleeping on its side with one of its paws covering its face. Quickly she consulted her book to see what it said:

Quote:

On it's side with paw over face If a cat is fully on it's side sleeping with it's paw over it's face, this means a snow storm is coming.

Looked like there was going to be a icky snow storm. Too bad the cat couldn't have predicted sun, but looked like two of the predictions tied together.

Quote:

Cat 1: The first cat I found was a black kitty who was curled up in a ball and asleep on the bench of the Gryffindor table. This relates to weather and means that things are calm now but it's a good idea to be on the alert for something that is coming. I think that this relates to a bad snow storm or hail, and I do not like this prediction because I would much rather have sunny weather.
Cat 2: The second cat I found was an orange and white tabby who was swatting at the air with his paw. The textbook says that this means I will be receiving good news which makes me happy. It is definitely a better reading than my first one, though I have no idea what this news would pertain to. Maybe it relates to the money I will apparently receive.
Cat 3: The third cat I found was dark grey and sleeping on his side with a paw covering his face. This means that a snowstorm is coming. I think it ties in with the first cat's prediction, because everything is okay now but a change in the weather is coming. A snowstorm is definitely something to watch out for, so it is important to be on alert for one.

Pleased with her work, Lux closed her notebook. "Okay, I'm done."

Kate had made it out into the corridor and realized she didn't exactly have a plan other than she wanted to ask Quigley and Professor Cassie if she could do a reading on them. Kate figured Professor Cassie might be on board a hundred percent, but Professor Quigley might also hex her. That one was debatable.

There was also the fact that Kate really didn't know how to work through someone's Major Cycle. She wondered if either professor would mind guiding her though that, as well. Hmm. Better start with Professor Cassie on that note...

So with a plan in mind...sort of...Kate continued her walk down the corridor.

Cassie had just left Nessa's office and was heading back up to the seventh floor. Tea meeting with the best friend was always something she had to do at least a few times a week. Though they did rent a house together in Hogsmeade so they saw each other more daily during not school sessions. She had left Libra to play while she went to do a little work. The puppy was adorable, but a handful when she needed to focus on readings.

Making her way down the corridor she noticed a student and smiled, "Hello" Was she needing some help or was she just headed to class? Cassie wasn't sure and wasn't sure whether to stop to chat or let her be on her way. "Lovely day isn't it?" January was cold, but it was still nice and comfy in the castle. She had her pink fluffy sweater on so it was all fine by her.

Having an hour free from teaching gave one a lot of opportunities, one such one being the freedom to head down to the kitchen instead of staring a bunch of children in the face for the next hour. It might have been good to check his schedule before leaving his office but it was too late now and didn't matter because he was heading back within the hour--unless he was teaching NEXT hour in which case he should have used this hour more wisely.

Know what? He had no regrets. One apple in his pocket and the other he tossed idly as he walked, this was how you spent your free time.

"Oh, Miss Addison, fancy running into you here." No really, didn't she have a class now? It was still a school day, wasn't it?

"If you're skipping let's both agree I never ran into you." Got it? Otherwise he'd have to be the responsible Professor to give her a lecture and....that was a lot more effort than he could muster right now admittedly.

Ah and there was Cassie. If this turned out the wrong way...he'd...leave her to it. "Hello Cassie." Nice to know there was one responsible adult here.

O_O.

This had to be the works of Professor Cassie. She had somehow predicted that Kate was out roaming the corridors looking for the exact two professors who had just strolled by and said hello. "Did you know I was looking for you?" she asked Professor Cassie. "Because I was. Oh, and yes, it's a very nice day today."

She then turned her gaze to Professor Quigley and asked, "Did she send you here?" Nevermind all the confusion. Kate smiled and laughed a little at Professor Quigley's comment. "I agree, but...I'm not skipping. Professor Tanner sent us out of class to look for two people to calculate some numbers on. I was...actually looking for you two."

In other words... "Do you have time for that?" she asked. She didn't mention that she also needed their help doing the calculations themselves. She'd throw that marshmallow on the fire after they agreed.

Even before Kate could say what she was doing or answer any of Cassie's questions someone else was in the corridor speaking. "Why hello Professor Quigley, how are you today?" She beamed, she had found that she liked the man. He was an interesting one with his cat thing and she respected that.

Her focus went back to Kate and her question, "No I didn't actually, but I'm glad that I'm in the right place at the right time." Her talents weren't with people unfortunately, but maybe it was getting more in tune being around the students. This could be exciting if it was. YAY! She needed them both? "Oh I hope nothing is wrong." Needing two professors was never a good thing in many cases, but she seemed happy and okay.

Looking back and forth between Kate and Quigley she listened as the first year continued to talk. "A reading with numbers." She enjoyed this even more and snapped with excitement. "Of course you can do my reading. I always like when others do them on me." It was a different subject of course, but it was still a reading!

"Tired and you?" That's how he was today, that's how he was most days unless he was gainfully occupied. Something that wouldn't be the problem anymore by the sounds of it.

Looking for him? Sending him? "Uh...no...I just wanted a snack." He said, tossing and catching the apple again by means of explanation before finally taking a crunch out of it. The man had been saving it for after he got back to the office but the more he listened was the more he realized that wouldn't be happening in the immediate future.

A reading though....? Maddox was a little skeptical, not because he stood the chance of having some deep secret about his past revealed but because not every kid had the aptitude for this sort of thing. What if they stood their in that corridor for hours while Miss Addison tried figuring her quill from her parchment? He made a face, considering it for a moment before finally giving a light shrug.

"Sure, why not? Anything to help a student." Wait no, he took that back. Didn't need students thinking he was at their service. Yikes.

So Professor Cassie, as predicted, was completely on board with this. "Thanks," she said. "I'm not sure how good I'll be at this, but you can just take it for what it's worth." Which meant that the reading may or may not be accurate, but Kate would let them be the judge of that. It turned out that Professor Quigley was completely on board, too. That was surprising to Kate for some reason. "Anything for a student?" she asked, not missing that one. "That's awesome. I'll keep that in mind."

"Okay, so I'll be calculating your Major Cycles today," she said. "This means I'll be giving you information about the beginning, middle, and end of your life." Were either of them forty yet? Kate remembered hearing something about the mid-forties. She was twelve and had no real idea what forty looked like.

"Okay, so the first thing I need is the month in which you were born," she said to both of them. "Oh, and your age right now would help make this a lot easier to figure out." That played a major part in the actual meaning of all this.

"I have some wonderful pick me up tea if you need it." Was he staying up too late? It was never good to be tired through the day. Though she knew the days she had felt tired as well. SO maybe it was just a one time thing for him.

Anyway, she turned back to the excitement. A reading of the beginning, middle, and end of her life. Ooooooh this was exciting! She snapped a little more. "Well I'm a Libra, I was born in the month of October." Very exciting and she loved her sign. The signs meant many things as well! Looking towards Quigely she didn't mind saying her age. She wasn't one of those type of women who was sensitive to it. "I'm thirty four."

This was just so much fun. Her green eyes turned Maddox so he could say his information, though Cassie was sure she already knew his birth month. She was really good at figuring out people's signs.

"It was a joke, Miss Addison; a gross exaggeration if you will." Not 'anything for a student', that was dangerous territory and many of these students' feeling of entitlement was a bit alarming..."And I'll pass on the tea, thank you." Obviously directed at Cassie. "A great man once said 'the only cure for sleep is sleep'." Which meant a nap would be in order if it turned out he didn't have a class to teach in the next hour.

Start...middle...end of their lives. Merlin talk about ruining the surprise, but he would admit he was familiar with the subject. As it happened, Maddox wasn't a complete failure at Arithmancy back in his school days. It was one of those that he never had a problem grasping.

"If it's Major Cycles you'll be calculating then you'll need my birth year, not my age." Crunch. "It's the dates you focus on." Something for her to remember in the future. Never let it be said that Maddox Quigley watched a student going astray and left them to it because he couldn't be bothered telling them better.

"So that's May 2050." See? If she had ages, she'd have to subtract to get the birth year anyway. He just saved her the trouble. "If you need the day as well, it's the 23rd." Helpful Maddox was helpful. Crunch.

Kate pretended not to hear the conversation going on between the two adults. She knew it wasn't meant for her to hear, but she kind of couldn't help it considering she was standing right there in between the two of them. So Quigley was tired, and Morgan had a tea for that kind of thing. Heh. "So was I," Kate said, perking up at the mention of Professor Cassie's birth month.

Quigley's first response wasn't quite so positive. "I figured," she said, responding to what he'd said about the exaggeration. She didn't really think a professor would do anything a student asked them to do. She just thought she'd call him out on that anyway. "I know," she said, now talking about the birth month, "but the professor said something about using the age for figuring out when the beginning, middle, and end of your life is. Well, the general gist of it anyway."

"Okay, so..." Kate awkwardly flipped through her textbook to see what she should do next. "Oh, right! So you'd be a one, Professor Cassie, and..." Pause. "...you'd be a five, Professor Quigley. Now this is what that means for you..." She was doing SO AWESOME so far. She thought.



"In the first twenty-eight years of your life, you acquired independence and formed self-confidence. You also felt different and lonesome," she said. Whatever all that meant. "Is that true?" Now for Professor Quigley...



"Professor Quigley, your five means...you had to adapt, change, and live with uncertain finances," she began. "It also means a lot of change and freedom from responsibility. Does any of that sound like you in the first twenty-eight years of your life?"

OHMYSTARS!! These readings were always so fun, but Maddox was correcting her. "It's been a long time since I've done reading with numbers. I might have to freshen up on them." She always believed in the saying if you don't use it you'll lose it and she was fearing she might have lost some of her Arithmancy abilities. Which was a shame since they were so closely related. Possibly a joint lesson could happen with the two one day. Wouldn't that be super fun! Glancing as the two spoke she was glad she didn't just over look helping a student if she was told to use their age.

As Kate opened her book and started reading Cassie's first cycle she snapped excitedly. "That sounds like myself to a T. Very good!" Anyone that knew her knew she was different as a child. She could sense animals, as a student that wasn't the most popular thing to be able to do so she did spend many times alone. That was until Nessa got to school. Her best friend had vanished many of the alone feelings and Javy helped as well.

"Being different isn't a bad thing though, so I wouldn't take that as negative." She grinned from ear to ear letting her positive vibe jump off of her. Now to see what Maddox was. A five, so interesting.

Maddox wasn't going to argue with Miss Addison about whatever the Professor said. He wasn't the one teaching Arithmancy and wouldn't appreciate very much others giving extra info in an area he would have been all too happy to answer himself. The important thing was that she knew, which she just confirmed so they could move on.

Even while the Ravenclaw was reading through his prediction, the Charms Professor moved closer, opting to read over her shoulder for himself.

Huh. Fancy that.

First 28 years of his life....what did he do with that time again? The prediction...made a good deal of sense...and sounded familiar. By then he was married to his wife but they weren't exactly tied down to anything. "Yeah....actually that does sound like a fit." He had never been one to make sense of how predictions worked. When they were right they were right and when they were wrong, they were wrong.

A sick child, Sophie Brown was, and she emerged from the girls bathroom only because Myrtle wouldn't let her be miserable in peace. It was okay, though - she would just... y'know, go back to the dorm or whatever... or... maybe not...

The floor felt like a better idea.

Her head hurt a lot, and she knew she probably needed to go see Culloden because there was no way she would go see Murdoch, but for now... it was good to lay down. So she did. Right in the middle of the second floor corridor.

Just a brief resting period and she'd be on her way. She was totally fine. Probably. She actually was for the moment, and she laid contently on her back, satisfied that the throbbing in her head subsided when she laid down like that, and smiled up at the ceiling. Yeeeeah... she probably wasn't moving for awhile. Why should she? The floor was treating her very nicely, thank you.