There's something a bit different going on. It might take you a moment or two to realise...


Well, blimey, how did they get there!?

Carl walked into the Hufflepuff Common Room after a long day. All he wanted to do was to go to his Dormitory and fall asleep, but the amount of homework he had prevented him from doing so. He had grabbed some snacks from the Kitchen on his way, so that would be his motivation to work.

He headed to the large wooden tables against the wall, which he knew was a good studying environment because of its positive vibes.

At first, Carl did not notice anything different. It was when he tried to pull up a seat did he realize that there were no seats nor tables. He blinked. Then slowly, he lifted his head. There they were, on the ceiling!

This was ... strange.

Esme planned to get some work done at the study tables except they were on the ceiling??

Confused, the Third Year blinked and looked up. Okaaaaay things were getting a little TOO weird for her tastes. First the hag, then the doll who could apparently walk around, and now this. Professor Myers would not be in the least bit pleased but he would surely know that it wasn't possible for a student to do this.

Finally removing her eyes from the ceiling she noticed a younger boy. "Do you think that the hag is somehow behind this?" That was the only option she could think of. The thought of the old bat entering their common room made her shudder.

What had happened? Who got the tables onto the ceiling? How would they get back to the ground? And most importantly - how was he going to do his homework?

Carl turned his gaze away from the tables and to an older girl who addressed him. The Hag ... Ms Black? It was certainly possible, though he wondered how she had entered the Common Room. Or why she decided to stick the tables onto the ceiling. Or when she came back from her flight to the Forbidden Forest. "Yeah, maybe." He replied at last. "What should we do?" It was difficult to keep a panicky tone out of his voice.

Seemed that the younger boy was in agreement with her, but then Esme supposed that there weren't any other people who could do something like this. Unless... Had it been Peeves? The old Hag had ran of into the forest from what she had heard and the lack of her presence seemed to be proof of that. Despite that she couldn't help feeling slightly paranoid.

It was hard not to with all the weird things that happened around Hogwarts. Maybe it would have been for the best if she hadn't come back but Juno had convinced her after their last term. Second Year had been so uneventful that she couldn't help feel that things had changed around here. Clearly she had been wrong. Shaking the thought away she tried to calm down. Another talk with her sister would help her feel better - it always did. Her parents had attended the school and felt that it was safe so they were probably right. She just needed to be braver.

As to his question... "I think we should get Professor Myers." Clearly he had no idea what had happened here.

While he waited for the older girl's answer, Carl went through a mental list of people ... or things that would do something like this. Ms Black was on the top, followed by Peeves, then student troublemakers. The harder he thought, the more certain he was that it was the Hag that had done this. However, he was still stuck as to how she had managed to do it.

He looked up into the girl's face. She seemed unnerved, though who wouldn't be? The image of the Hag trying to eat Brady popped up into his mind. "Are you okay?" He asked in a concerned tone. He hoped nobody was attacked ... that would be horrible.

Right, get Professor Myers. Carl nodded. "Yes, that's a good idea." His eyes still fixated on the tables on the ceiling, he backed away from the corner and to the entrance of the Common Room. Was she coming?

At the boy's question Esme shook her head. Both to clear her head and respond. She wasn't really okay when these paranoid thought were coursing through her brain. "The Hag threatened to curse my twin sister." The fact that the woman could get into the common room as scary enough, but imagining her enter the dormitories was more than enough to make her shudder.

Following after him, Esme kept letting her eyes wander over to the tables on the ceiling. At least no one would get into trouble for this because Professor Myers was smart enough to know that no student was capable of something of this level. Well, maybe some of the really advanced ones but that was besides the point.

And they were here. After tickling the pear, Paul had hauled his BEHIND down to the common room and....yes.

Yes.

YES, the tables and chairs and EVERYTHING....on the ceiling. "Merlin's SOCKS--" he gasped. "How in the WORLD...."

O_O

He took his wand from his pocket and squinted at the ceiling. He didn't want to...hurt anyone. What if all the furniture fell to the ground once he started prodding with magic? That would be the worst outcome! Paul would never be able to live with himself if he hurt any his students! "And you two say...you...don't have any idea who did this?"

Yep. Everything was where it had been when they left: firmly attached to the ceiling.

The Professor summed it up nicely because there really weren't any other words to describe what happened. Well, 'weird' and 'creepy' came pretty close to it but she was TRYING not to be paranoid. Having her sister threatened had really made things a lot harder for her to deal with even though Juno hadn't been harmed... as of yet. It wouldn't happen at all if she had any say on the matter.

At the question she wasn't sure if she should say anything or not because of a lack of evidence but decided to throw caution to the wind. "Well, don't you think it's rather funny how all this started happening after the Hag arrived at Hogwarts?" Juuuuust saying.

He was quite anxious as he walked down to the Common Room. What if the tables had dropped while they were gone? What if people were hurt? Fortunately, nothing had changed since they left. Or was it unfortunate?

Again, Carl was slightly amused by his Head of House's reaction. It almost mirrored his when he first saw the tables on the ceiling. He was also a bit disappointed that the Professor had not immediately come up with a solution. Perhaps this was a weird phenomenon, even in the Wizarding World.

He glanced at Esme at the question and was glad that she decided to voice their theory about the Hag. "Yeah. Like that creepy Divination thing where she tried to eat people." He nodded.

Paul didn't answer Esme right away. He was too busy staring up at the ceiling...thinking. His wand in hand, he quickly cleared his throat. "Move over there--" he pointed towards the stairs that led up to the dorms. "I'm gonna' bring the furniture down...and I don't want you all getting hurt." #1 priority here, you know?

He gave his wand a little wave, muttered an incantation, and the tables, chairs, and sofas seemed to follow his wand's motions as he lowered them, slowly, to the ground, giving them a flip to get them the right way. Whew. Merlin.

"And as for the hag...well she's gone so...I don't see how she has any connection..." he muttered.

See? She wasn't the only one who felt that way!

Esme smiled at the thought of having someone back up her theory, but before she could comment further they were told that they needed to move out of the way. Yeah, there was no need to tell her twice because one of the last things in life she wanted to do was be crushed under furniture. Quick as a flash she headed into a safe-zone where she watched Professor Myers return everything to normalcy. It had been pretty awesome, she had to admit even though he didn't agree with her theory.

Pout.

"Do we know for sure that she's gone? She might have sneaked back inside. OR she could have something doing her bidding. That doll..." Esme trailed off. He had seen how it had poofed into thin air.

Carl was confused when Professor Myers told them to move out of the way, but soon understood his intention. He quickly headed to the indicated stairs, hoping his Head of House would be safe. There, he watched anxiously as everything returned to the ground, the right side up. It was so cool - this was what he had anticipated seeing!

Anyway, the Professor did not seem to agree with their Hag theory. The First Year tried to think of another possible reason behind this table thing, but turned to face Esme when she spoke. "Yeah ... like a Familiar." He muttered, referring to the second part of her theory. He had heard about the doll but had never seen it before. It made sense that the creepy doll was the creepy Hag's Familiar.