Leah raised her eyebrows. "Uhhh no thank you?" Sometimes Angel was just CREEPY. And she almost always was joking, which made it creepier.

Her eyebrows raised even higher at the first question. Now, THAT was unexpected. "I don't know," the Hufflepuff said honestly. She was confused by her own feelings and she did not LIKE it. She knew for sure that something had changed though, but was it LOVE? Then she thought of Jackson and how she felt different when she was with him. "Yeah, maybe," she continued. It might not be Henric, but MAYBE she was in love.

Angel had a funny feeling she might have gone a tat far. "I'm sorry Bestie." Angel pouted, sometimes she got over excited, it wasn't her fault though, her friend had kept a big secret from her for ages and she was a bit upset about it.

"We can double date from now on then." Angel smiled. "Won't that be awesome?" Angel was still a bit confused as to why her friend wouldn't tell her she was in love with someone, she had told Leah all about Benny.

Awww. Did Angel feel bad? Because Leah didn't want that. "Nooo, it's okay," she said and poked her cheek softly. She should have told her bestie about her love life ages ago - she had much more experience in dating than she did. She did not know what kept her from revealing her secret.

A double date? That would be sweet. "Yeahhh! Except… I'm not dating anybody. Yet." the Fifth Year shrugged. It was the SAD truth.

Angel looked at her best friend. "I'm sorry, I just get carried away when I'm with my bestiest, bestiest, bestiest friend in the whole world." Angel and Leah were going to be best friends forever right. "I just feel really happy for you bestie and if I can do anything for you just remember I am around."

Angel did a double take. "Your still not dating?" Angel was sure Leah liked the boy and she was sure the boy liked Leah. "Want me to go and speak to him for you?" Angel said looking towards the stairs. "Just tell me where he will be and I'll go have a word." Angel was being serious here.

"And I don't mind because my bestiest, bestiest, bestiest friend in the whole world is the best ever." Leah smiled at Angel. She was just so sweet, the way she stood up for her all the time.

The double take might have been a bit dramatic but the fifteen year old could understand. People were constantly wondering why she was not dating Henric, but... ugh. She shook her head frantically at her best friend. If any other person had said this, she would have laughed it away, but this was Angel who could most certainly have a serious talk with the boy right now. "I have to talk to you," she leaned in closer, "so, I think Henric has a girlfriend and well, I'm okay with that. But recently I started liking this boy but somehow I feel guilty because I like both of them... love is so confusing." She rolled her eyes as she came to her conclusion.

Angel giggled. "And my Bestiest, Bestiest, Bestiest friend in the whole world is going to be my Bestiest, Bestiest, Bestiest friend forever." Angel was totally sure of that.

"Seriously why can't I speak to anyone?" Angel was really upset about the fact she couldn't speak to him but then Leah was telling her about something and she looked at her best friend. "You like both of them!!" Angel was shocked at that. "Well which one do you like most?" Angel wanted to know. "Tell me which one you like most and then I'll go and speak to them for you." Angel really wanted to set her friend up with someone.

Cassie was in a hurry, she had to get to the first floor before Nessa came back to her office. How she wanted to surprise her best friend with a birthday celebration. She had decorations, balloons, nose makers, and even party hats in her box that she was carrying. On the very top she had a box of the best chocolate cake the bakery could have made.

This was going to be super fantastic!!

The only problem right now was she was on the third floor and needed to be on the first and her chocolate cake was starting to fall. "OH NO!!!" She stopped and tried to do a balancing act. Her eyes quickly scanned the area and she saw Angel, "Please can you help me. Take the cake from the top before it comes crashing down."

Leah laughed out loud. This could go on forever and she wouldn't have minded. "Of courseee, my bestiest, bestiest, bestiest friend in the whole world." She seriously wondered how she would manage without Angel after she graduated. Nope, not gonna think about it.

She blushed at Angel's shocked expression. "I don't know," How was the Hufflepuff supposed to choose one of them? "But what would you SAY?" She was worried - this could be embarrassing.

A figure that appeared at the end of the corridor distracted Leah from the conversation. Oooh, it was Professor Cassie! Though she was barely visible behind the huge box and beautiful cake she was holding in her arms. "Hi Professor - "

And oops, the cake started to fall. Out of instinct, she reached up and took it before it crashed onto the ground. She knew that the call for help was addressed to Angel, but one just could not let watch chocolate goodness drop down. "Would you like us to carry this to wherever you are headed?" she asked the Professor and glanced at her best friend to make sure that it was okay.

Angel looked at her best friend, when she then suddenly saw the Professor who seemed to be carrying loads of things. She heard what the Professor said and was just about to get the cake when suddenly her best friend had it. "Great catch Leah." Angel smiled as she looked at the Professor and then she grabbed hold of the box that the Professor had. "Here we go Professor, we'll give you a hand to where ever you are going, just telling me where we are going with the cake and the box and we'll take them." Angel was totally eager to help the Professor with whatever it was she wanted.

Oh they were both so sweet. Look at them so eager to help out. "Thank you." Once they had the cake she set down the other things to reorganize all the decorations. She moved the Balloons off to the side and then changed the streamers with the presents and then moved the plates over to the side. Looking at the box she nodded and mumbled to herself.

"No that won't be necessary. I have everything under control."

Yes, she felt she was organized enough for her box. Picking the box with the decorations back up she grinned at the two, "Professor Glendowers birthday, but shhh I'm surprising her." She gave them both a wink since she couldn't snap and without another word hurried off down the corridor with her box of decorations.

Angel watched as the Professor went. "Professor what about the..." Angel was flailing her arms around, not paying attention to what she was doing.

She hadn't realised that she was so close to Leah and so when she started flailing her arms, she knocked the cake out of Leah's hand.

*SPLAT*

Angel as suddenly caught by the explosion of the chocolate cake, it splatted all over the place. She looked over at her best friend trying to figure out what to say, she was a bit nervous now, they had ruined the Professors Birthday, and she meant ruined it, how could she come back to Hogwarts next year with the Professors going to be so mad at her for ruining the cake.

Norah stopped next to a suit of armor to assess the blank wall beside it, giving it a quick wave. Suits of armor deserved greetings too, y'know. It was only fair. She gave her head a small shake, and took a few paces to the left. That spot wouldn't work. Nobody would even see it, and THEN how would people know to find Pebbles? That's right. They wouldn't. And everything would keep being tragic.

She chose another bit of empty wall near the end of the corridor and set her pile of posters down to use both hands to rip off two pieces of spellotape. Elevating to her tiptoes, the fourth year pressed a poster against the wall with her elbows and pushed the tape down with her fingers....and a strand of hair may have gotten caught in it too but nobody needed to know that.

Leah tried not to stare at the cake. It was going to make her drool and that would certainly ruin the food. She smiled back at Angel at the comment and nodded as she also offered help.

She glanced at the contents inside the box and was surprised to find all sorts of party decorations. Was it somebody's birthday? The Hufflepuff was slightly disappointed to hear that the Professor did not need their help, she was always willing to give a hand. Oooh, it was Professor Glendower's birthday! Professor Cassie was a wonderful best friend. Leah made a mental note to visit the birthday Professor today. She grinned back at the Divination Professor as she hurried off, the chocolate cake still in her hands.

Wait what?

It seemed that Angel had noticed this too. The Fifth Year followed the Professor's footsteps to hand her the cake, but did not go far before - SPLAT. Uh oh. Her face was full of chocolate frosting. Blinking furiously, she saw her best friend looking all nervous. It did not take a genius to figure out what had happened.

"Pr - Professor?" She called out, raising her hand as if she was in class. She patted Angel's shoulder with a chocolate-y hand. "I think we need a new cake," she said, stating the obvious.

Angel looked at Leah and sighed, seriously this wasn't good and it seemed that the Professor was in front, she decided that she wanted to lick her fingers.

"That was nice" Angel giggled, now though she had to continued with what she was going to do about the cake. "So what we going to do?" Angel still was a bit scared about what the Professor would say. "We know where she is going." Angel smiled, as she realised the Professor had already gone.

And ... the Professor was gone. Not good.

There was silence as the two girls stood watching the end of the corridor. At the comment, Leah laughed too. "So uh," she began, but was at a lost for words. It was pretty clear what they had to do, but the tasks all became a mess in her head. She nodded, her mind clearing slightly. "Okay. We should first get a new cake from the kitchens, then follow Professor Cassie to Professor Glendower's surprise party." Hopefully that would work. If they ruined the Professor's birthday ... that would be horrible.

Forgoing the stairs and instead using the walls, another small herd scurried through the corridor with pincers clicking hungrily.

Cassie moved down the floors trying to pull out of the awful chatter that was always there to focus on her precious Aries. He had darted away and headed down the staircase. She just could never understand why people were so spooked by cats. They were the sweetest animals and she just shook her head thinking about it. "Aries, Aries where did you go. You know I'll find you."

Where was her fur baby?


Glancing towards where she felt she sensed him she started headed towards the opposite side of the corridor. "Come on Gemini let's get your brother. Maybe we could all use a sip of tea and cookie when we get back to the office" This had certainly been a crazy event and she was ready to be done for the day.

Echo had no idea where so was planning on going, but her feet were going to lead her to another adventure. but while she was walking and looking around she heard some noises coming around the corner. as she reached it, the voice was louder and she knew instantly who it was.

"Professor?" she called as she looked at the woman.

"wh---" she was just about to ask what a professor was doing on the third floor corridor, but she knew better than to finish her sentence. "do you need some help?" she had no clue what the woman was doing but by golly she was going to try to help her.

Nessa had just left the library and had a very obscure and dusty old book tucked under her arm as she headed down the stairs back towards her office. It looked rather interesting and she thought maybe she could pull some of the little known stories for one of her classes. She hadn't gotten far down the stairs when she heard a familiar voice on the third floor.

Her curiosity piqued, the History of Magic professor stopped off at the third floor and walked down the corridor a bit to see her BFF and one of their bright little students. She also had a strange feeling, almost like being watched, and she glanced over her shoulder before approaching the pair. "Hello!" she said brightly, her wide smile faltering just a little bit as they seemed distracted. "Nothing's wrong, I hope?"

"Come on Aries, where are you?" She looked around the corridor trying to sense the feline somewhere. Why had he gotten spooked, this wasn't an easy task with all the cobwebs around. She knelt down and set her purse on the floor. "You stay right there Gemini, don't need to be chasing you as well." Just in case she zipped up the purse enough that he couldn't get out other than his head.

Standing back up she heard a voice, "Oh Hello Echo, how are you? My poor Aries has gotten frightened and I'm just trying to find him. Helping would be wonderful. I think he's here somewhere." He just had to be. Her green eyes search around before moving up further, but then sensed he moved and turned her head towards the corner.

Another voice distracted her already distracted mind. Was that? She turned as she sensed something else and then quickly pushed it away. She was way too jumpy lately. "Professor Glendower, what are you doing here?" Had she been to see Leo in the library? That was where the blonde had been heading before all of this started. "We had a little incident up a few flights of stairs and Aries ran away scared. I'm just trying to find him."

Now where was he?

A few minutes after she'd escaped the greenhouses, Kate found herself running around like a wild person. She'd gone to two offices so far, but if the professors had been there, she hadn't stayed long enough to actually find them. Her heart was pounding, and her mouth was dry, but as she hurried down the third floor corridor, she finally saw not one, but TWO professors.

"PROFESSORS!" she cried out, sliding to a halt right before them. She began pointing in a certain direction and waving her finger, trying to find the words to say. "There's a...and it...we tried...but we couldn't!" She stopped and leaned over, resting her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.

When it finally came to her...

"Herbology class! We were attacked by Acromantula! They took the Headmistress and a Hufflepuff!" she explained. "Some are still there with the class..."

...can she faint now?

"Oh I was just headed down the stairs when I thought I heard your voice so I thought I'd see what was going on," Nessa told Cassie when she was asked about what she was doing. But she thought the better question was what was Cassie doing? And it was a question that wouldn't go unanswered for long.

She frowned a bit and turned her eyes down the corridor as if to see if she could locate the kitty. "Did you see him come down this floor?" She glanced at Echo and gave her a warm smile. "Are you helping to find him too? How sweet." And Nessa could certainly spare some time to help her friend look for him.

She took a few steps down the corridor, calling, "Here kitty, kitty," when the sound of running footsteps and a frantic shouting made her jump. Her eyes snapped to Kate as she desperately tried to string some words together. "Try to calm down, dear. Take a breath." She put a hand on the girl's shoulder and watched her with concern. Just what was wrong?

"OHMYGOSH!" Nessa threw a hand over her open mouth and grasped her basilisk necklace with her other hand. "How awful!" It was dreadful, worse than she had feared. She knew Cassie was hearing chatter from the spiders and there were students mysteriously missing, but to have those large beasts attack a class right on the grounds and take their Headmistress and a student... This was really bad. "There are still acromantulas in your class?" She looked at Kate. "Thank Merlin you were able to escape..." But were there still students there? She glanced at Cassie to see what she thought they should do.

Still looking for Aries, Cassie was starting to feel like these damn spiders were harming her senses. She couldn't get a good grasp on anything else. Why was the castle so full of them these days? She shivered at the thought and what could possibly be their motives. "Gemini had run as well, but I was able to get him." She pointed to the purse sitting a little ways from them. Her fur baby all tucked away.

"He has to be here though, I can sense him." Shew as sure she'd find him. Hearing footsteps coming down the corridor, Cassie turned her head as she saw Kate running up to them. Something was clearly upsetting her and as she tried to talk she felt a very uneasy feeling. "WHAT?" Oh dear. oh dear. oh dear. How could this be, nope she took a breath and listened a moment. This wasn't good.

"They have the headmistress? We have to alert the others." She glanced towards Nessa her mind going in so many directions. She needed to focus on one thing, but so much was in the way. "Should we send a message or should we just get out their ourselves?" Cassie wasn't fully sure what to do. They all had their necklaces from what she could see.


"First things first though. You two need to get somewhere safe. This is not the place." Her eyes desperately looked for Aries she was going to have to leave him and find him later it seemed.

Everything was going according to plan. Mother would be pleased when they took the enter castle and gave her the throne to sit upon.

Through the corridor the three crawled, catching the scent of fresh meat.

They were told not to eat, not yet, but the delicious smell pulled them closer and closer until they came to the humans in this corridor.

Nothing wrong with a little bite...

Echo didn't mind helping, not at all. "oh your kitty?" thats who she was talking to. for second there she thought that she had gone mental. while looking around the corridor for the kitty another professor came and those two were chatting. "Hi Professor" she giggled but as soon as she started she stopped laughing.

Kate a girl she had seen around the school had come running and screaming, something about spiders and that they had the headmistress as well as some students. "wait... what" Echo whimpered out, she hated spiders. couldn't even look at them, as soon as she saw one she would run the other way.

"where should we go Professor Morgan" she asked because to be told if the headmistress was taken, Echo wouldn't have felt safe anywhere at all. but it would be a good idea for her to stick closer to adults right, they knew the cool spells and what not. "can't we just stay with you?" she didn't want to move from her spot.

and now she was stuck to her spot. Tugging on Professor Glendowers robes she tried to get her attention with out completely freaking out. "prof...pro.. professor...... sppppiddddeeerrrrsss" she totally wanted to scream right now, she was so surprised that she wasn't yelling at the top of her lungs. her eyes were wide as she looked over at Kate and started to cry...

Echo really hoped that all four of them were going to make it out of the corridor alive.