Wait...WHAT? "But i don't love anyone!" he said , trying his best not to roll his eyes. He liked Norah of course, a lot but...love? That was too...but then she was covering up the crystal ball. "That's it?" he asked, his voice raised slightly. "How many of your predictions have actually turned out to be true?" He asked and a moment later a very dirty string of necklace was put around his neck and he tried not to breath too much of it. Oh this would definitely keep away the love... "But i dont want to keep the love away!" he hadn't even had his first kiss and now he couldn't even get love itself? "Thank you for your concern but i don't need this" he said and he took off the smelly necklace and handed it back.

What was that noise?! It had to be a bear or a violent creature of some sort. Who BREATHED like that?! Turning when the breathing brought a new form of smell and a voice, Rooney came face to face with the talk of the castle. YIKES. "A gift?" Damn. He should have brought food with him or something of that sort. Deodorant, soap, a face cloth..? Maybe next time. And maybe he'd pay someone else to drop it off. Any hairs that had been growing in his nose to make him a man had burned away in venturing down here. Back to square one.

"I was fixing your home. It had many holes." Or hadn't she noticed that? He ignored the comment about the grim, aware that it couldn't possibly be something she could throw around willy nilly in conversation. Surely she had to give him a chair and prepare him for this news? No way were his boxers going to bring him that awful life. Hadn't she seen how great the stitching was on them? They were also weather dependent and he wasn't too chilly in areas. Mama had brilliant products, really!

Deciding not to let her spook him for doing a good deed, Roo straightened and stood at his tallest. "I ate an acromantula once. And it's legs were my favourite." What. A. Lie.

Her grin growing more and more at his words, "Oh but you do, you just haven't figured it out yet." She moved to a dirty tea pot and poured what looked like muddy water, "Tea dearie, it will calm your nerves." Her eyes widened and she laughed as he took off the necklace, "It wouldn't be good to be ungrateful. When Ursula is just trying to help. Pity you will be gone so soon, but maybe I could keep this safe for you." Her fingers wrapped around a shiny badge that was just on the poor boys robes.



"My home is just fine the way it is. No one touches my home without losing fingers." Fried children fingers sounded so good right now, maybe she could have just one. No one would notice just one. Turning quickly before the thoughts of a good meal took over.

"You will find your death out here doing good deeds like this." Moving she grabbed one of her rags hanging from the line and wrapped it around him. Breathing in his sent as she got close, "You'd be perfect for stew." She licked her lips as she started to grip him and pull him closer to the entrance of the tent. "Acromantulas are only to be eaten a certain way, if you get it wrong it will not end well for you or your insides."

Losing fingers? Uh oh. But he was too talented to die or have anything bad happen to him. Mama told him that often. He hadn't gotten his first kiss or been on a date or anything. He couldn't possibly be en route to death? There was no way that this person had been hired to teach at the school and was able to take fingers, make stew or feed them to spiders. Right?! Rooney still had to make an honest woman of Miss Charlotte! "I was trying to help. The winter will be harsh outside of the castle..." Couldn't she see that he was doing her some good? If anyone was going to be losing fingers..it would be her and from frostbite, not from touching anything.

.........

O______O

Rooney was pretty good at not being pulled places he didn't want to go -- mostly to the bathroom with his youngest siblings who had a fascination with sharing that time, but he hadn't been expecting this and could only literally dig his heels in so much. "What are you doi-- Stew?" He laughed and shook his head, using his youth and nimble movements to get out of her immediate space and that rag and her hands and yikes. "I'm a little too bony for stew, actually."

After plotting her adventure with Garreth, Kitty left the Pathways and continued exploring the grounds. Then a terrible stench reached her, causing her to wrinkle her nose in disgust. What was that?! Kitty followed the smell and stumbled upon a very raggedy looking tent. Kitty realized with a start that she had stumbled upon the residence of Professor Black.

Should she approach and say hi? Kitty was normally a very shy person, but a Hag who could see the future intrigued her very much. Maybe Professor Black knew the story of the Tapestry!

And so Kitty made up her mind. She was going to meet with the professor. First she examined herself in her small hand mirror to make certain that her long black hair was combed and that she still retained her gothic look. Then she took a few steps towards the tent, being careful not to get too close unless she was invited.

"No, no, you will be perfect." Ursula's grip might have slipped but she was determined. Hunger taking over she thought this one could be perfect. "Little is better when it comes to stew. It will mix nicely." She snapped her fingers and soon her macaw was on the boy squawking and gripping at his shirt.

Her eyes turned to see another child coming to the tent. How easy it was to get them near. She hadn't meant for them to be so attracted to her living space, but it was working out better than expected. She didn't have to go out hunting when the meals just walked towards her all the time. "Come to join in dinner dearie?"

Kitty felt her nervousness go away when Black invited her to dinner. She wouldn't be inviting students she had never met to eat with her if she was mean, right? And Kitty didn't believe that Professor Black really ate children, as she had explained to Garreth earlier that day. That was probably just a rumor invented by the students because of how she looked like.

"Thank you Professor, I will!" Kitty was not really that hungry, but she thought it would be rude to decline the Professor's offer, and she was curious to see what the inside of her tent was like. "I'm Kitty Valentine, by the way." The Gothic girl smiled at the Hag shyly. "It's nice to meet you."

"Ow! Get off.. get.. Get OFF!" Why wasn't anyone hearing the squawking and coming to save his backside? Literally. He was in underwear, that was it. His underwear and he was becoming so scared that he was potentially going to wet himself. So this was all a big problem. "Who even hired you?! You're so unprofessiona--OW! Bloody... Ow!" With a grumble, the third year tried to wriggle away another few times, willing himself not to cry. Men didn't cry, and he was a man now that he was thirteen.

"I still have to get Miss Charlotte to kiss me! You can't eat me!"

Nothing confused him more than someone willingly accepting an invitation to dinner with the mad loon before him. Especially when it was a Ravenclaw. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!! You're for dinner!" And him, it seemed.

No, no, NO.

This one was fighting pretty well and Ursula had to dig her long fingernails into his arm even more to keep a grip on him. "No use fighting dearie, no one will even miss you."

Her fight with the boy stopped as she looked to the other one. Her eyes moving back and forth from the boy to the girl. Was she that clueless of what was going on? The hag could only hope, but in her state of shock she might have lifted her hands from the boy.

"I hope you taste well dearie, because it will be a nice treat to have both of you for dinner."

Kitty froze in fear as she realized what was happening. Her mouth hung open and her already pale face paled even more. Esme had been right all along. Professor Black really did eat children.

"Let him go!" She shouted, trying to sound much braver than she actually felt. "My-my fr-friends know I'm here! They'll tell the Headmaster, you're never get away with this!"Her voice trembled. Kitty was more scared now she had ever been before in her life. She wanted to run but she couldn't just run away and leave Rooney with the Hag, could she???

No one would miss him... That struck a cord and even though he was trying not to cry, he couldn't help that his eyes glassed over at that. "Yes they would..." His parents, his siblings, his friends. They would. Would they miss him or his talent? Him or his brains? Him or him? What Rooney really wanted to do was strike out and just hit the woman for being so mean and for hurting him so much. He knew his arm would bruise thanks to her grip and just wanted her to back off and let him be. All he had tried to do was help her out. And now he was left in his underwear at the promise of being for dinner.

Soup de Roo.

BUT what was this?! In all of the shouting from the other student, Roo was free. He had been able to bring his arms back to him, grab for his wand and sent a quick defiant "Bombarda!" at the ugly old woman. And as soon as he was able to do that, he moved toward his housemate, grabbed her arm (completely unlike how he had been grabbed) and pulled her with him as he ran back towards the castle.

She heard the girl yelling and this made her cackle, "Silly child there is no man at the head of this school. That is the biggest problem. No male leadership will get you all killed."

What was this? The boy had gotten out of her grip and before she knew it she was being thrown backward by a spell. "That was a big mistake dearie." She lay on the ground laughing loudly as the children fled away.