Timmy was looking around the school, seriously it was huge and he was now on the four, third or was it fifth floor? This was just really confusing and now he hoped that he could find somewhere to practice his magic, because apparently he was a wizard and they could do magic anywhere right?

"Aguamenti!" Timmy had his wand out and he did the wand movement that this person had told him to do when trying this spell, he smiled when the spell worked but then he realised something.

"Stop!" Timmy looked the water didn't stop. "Finish!" Nope that didn't work, hang on a minute how about this.

"I command you to STOP!" Timmy shouted angrily, at his wand but still nothing was happening, there was only one thing for it.

He dropped his wand on the floor and started to whistle, there was nothing to see here right.

Ariadne was on her usual beginning-of-the-year walk around the school, when she happened to reach the top of the staircase and found herself on the third floor. She didn't come to this floor often, save for the one class she took here, so why not take a walk around. She was walking kind of absentmindedly, when she felt a distinct spray of water splash her right smack in the face.

"AHHH!" she called out in surprise. She took a quick step backward and wiped her face off. It didn't do much good. The spray of water that had hit her had really done some damage. Frustrated, she peeked forward and saw some Gryffindor boy spraying water right out his wand. It was...basically EVERYWHERE.

Then the wand hit the floor, causing Ariadne to jump back a bit. There was water spinning everywhere, though. "What are you DOING?" she called out. "Catch you wand! It's FINITE! The spell to end the water is FINITE!" ...and what in the world was this kid doing casting a spell when he didn't know how to end it?!

Gryffindors...

Timmy was just standing there whistling, when this person interrupted him, now that wasn't very nice. "What wand are you on about?" Okay so maybe she had seen him drop it but for now he could play innocent right. "I don't know anything about any water or any wand." Yeah that was going to be his line of defence, "Your the one that is wet, so it was you." Timmy was now watching his wand just spinning on the floor.

"I blame you!" Timmy pointed his finger at the girl. "It's your fault." Timmy wasn't sure if he wanted to pick the wand up or not. "Is it safe to pick up the thing on the floor." Yeah he was still playing dumb. "It looks like it's angry to me." He was sure that the thing could bite if it wanted to. "And what's this thing your saying about finish or something similar?"

Gaston heard loud voices coming from the hall near his office and went to see what all the noise was about. As he got closer, he saw a Slytherin girl and Gryffindor boy who appeared to be arguing. "What's going -?" he started to ask, but he was cut off as a sudden jet of water drenched him. He held up an arm to shield his face from the blast, but his clothes were soaked.

What? Where did that come from? Was this a prank? Maybe the students' way of welcoming a new professor? His head whipped around in the direction of the water jet, and he saw a wand spinning around like a garden sprinkler. But the really odd thing about it was that the wand was just lying in the middle of the floor unattended. Strange... why would someone just abandon their wand like that?

No time to think about it now... stop the spell first, ask questions later. Drawing his own wand, he pointed it at the rogue stream of water. "Finite!" The water jet vanished.

Gaston skidded on the puddle left behind as he picked up the unattended wand. That could be dangerous... wouldn't want anyone to slip and fall! With a quick flick of his wand, he cast a nonverbal drying spell. The dark-haired Frenchman's eyes darted from Miss Greingoth to Mr. Jones as he tried to figure out what had happened. He assumed the wand belonged to one of them. Now, Gaston, don't assume the worst, he inwardly scolded himself. After all, they could've just been i the wrong place at the wrong time. For the time being, he'd give them the benefit of the doubt. "Does this wand belong to one of you?" he asked in a non-accusatory tone.

Timmy was just standing there waiting for the older girl to speak when suddenly a Professor turned up, now that was great and what was worse was that the Professor had picked up his stick. He had best come clean right, no point in making it worse for himself. "It's my Magical stick." Yeah that's what he would call it, "I was just practicing!" He was being truthful, it wasn't his fault that he had no idea how to stop the spell, someone had taunt him the incantation for whatever it was but they didn't tell him how to stop it.

Timmy just wondered what the Professor was going to do, maybe he would take the magic stick, well then what would he do. "Honestly Professor, I was just practicing some weird magical incantation, I wanted to see what happened." Timmy was after all a muggle born and he was in his first year.

Gaston listened carefully as Mr. Jones told him what had happened. Magical stick? Weird magical incantation? He was beginning to wonder if the boy was a muggle born like himself. that would explain a lot... He almost laughed at his explanation. Well, he certainly had enthusiasm, that was for sure! It sounded like this whole thing had just been an accident, no reason dock house points for that. Mistakes were all part of the learning process.

"It's alright, Mr. Jones," he assured the boy, handing the wand back to him. "No harm done." Well no lasting harm anyway... "Though perhaps the corridors are't the best place to practice magic; you could accidentally hurt someone." He hated having to tell the boy off, but he couldn't have wayward spells going off in the corridors.

Gaston gave Mr. Jones an encouraging smile as he gestured down the hall toward his classroom. "There's a practice room just down the hall next to the Charms classroom. You're welcome to use it any time you want to practice spells," he said. "Everything in there is unbreakable - and waterproof - so there shouldn't be any accidents."

Which reminded him... He drew his wand again. "For future reference, when you want to stop a spell, the spell to use is Finite," he informed the boy. It seemed Miss Greingoth had tried to tell him before, but it was worth repeating, just in case he hadn't understood. He used his own wand to demonstrate. "Fi-NEE-tay," he said the word slowly and carefully, waving his wand in a sort of shield-like shape. "Be sure to copy this wand movement as you say the spell." He repeated the motion a little slower this time.

Now that that teachable moment was over, Gaston turned to the Slytherin girl who, like himself, had been hit with the spray. With a quick wave of his wand, a towel appeared, and he offered it to her. "Are you alright, Miss Greingoth?" he asked, looking at her with concern as he reholstered his wand.

Ariadne was NOT about to bother herself with some Gryffindor firstie. If he wanted to play innocent and pretend like he had no idea what she was talking about, well so be it. If he DID do that, though, she was just going to head on her merry way and not offer him the least bit of help at all. It didn't matter to her one way or the other, and she wasn't about to beg this kid to allow her to help him.

She was just about to tell him that, when out of the blue, one of the new professors showed up. Ariadne still had no idea who he was or what he taught. She hadn't even met him yet, truth be told. "Hello, Professor," she greeted. What a first impression--she was soaking wet with a charm gone wrong. She cringed as the blast of water found the professor and basically drenched his clothes. OUCH. At least her first impression wasn't as bad as the Gryffindor boy's would be. Unless...

...surely the professor didn't think SHE was involved in this mess!

Ariadne flicked her wand out her holster to try and cast the spell she'd been telling the younger boy to do all alone. The professor beat her to it, though. "It's his wand," Ariadne said, using her wand to point out the Gryffindor kid. "This one's mine." She gestured to her own wand held tightly in her hand. At least the boy had owned up to the fact that it was his wand and his spell. Gryffindors could be very annoying, but that move was a plus in his direction.

Wow. The professor was really nice! He was even showing the younger boy how to perform the spell. Ariadne took a moment to perform a drying spell on herself. "Anyone else?" she asked, offering to perform the spell on both the Gryffindor and the professor. She nodded when she was asked if she was okay. "I'm fine. Thanks!"

Oh this Professor was nice and saying that the Slytherin Girl wasn't as bad as he thought she was going to be, anyway the spell was Finite or something like that, he could remember that. He then listened to the Professor as he spoke about charms was it and there being a practicing room.

"But Professor, I want to practice spell with my wand." Timmy wanted a spell room not a charms room. He took out a muggle charm bracelet from his pocket.

"I think I know how to make charms, a few of my friends got together to make them over the holiday, since we were splitting up and there were a group of us that did everything together." Timmy sighed as he thought about that. "But thanks for the offer of letting me create some charms in this practice room of yours."

He then looked at himself, he was the least wet of them all but it wouldn't hurt for help once in a while right. "Can you use the spell on me, with that magic stick of yours."

Gaston smiled at the Slytherin girl. He was glad she wasn't hurt by the rogue spell. It seemed she had things under control. She'd already thought to perform a drying spell on herself and was offering to perform the spell on him and Mr. Jones as well. Of course he could've done the spell himself, but he wanted to make sure the students were taken care of first. Still it was awfully kind of her to offer!

"Yes, please," he replied. He didn't have the heart to turn down the girl's offer. "Thank you, Miss Greingoth." He had a mind to award house points for her kindness, but was he allowed to do that? Give points just for being nice? He was still learning the ins and outs of the Hogwarts points system, but he decided to take a chance on it. After all he could always answer to the other staff later if he found out he wasn't supposed to give points for something like that. "Five points to Slytherin for your kindness!"

Now that that was taken care of, Gaston turned his attention back to Mr. Jones. It was taking every bit of self-control he had not to burst out laughing at the Gryffindor boy when he said he already knew how to make charms. Was he just playing dumb to get a rise out of him or did he really not know what a magical charm was? Either way, he had to turn his head and fake a coughing fit to cover the few giggles that he couldn't quite hold back. After all he wouldn't want to hurt the poor child's feelings by laughing at him!

Now he was sure this kid was muggle born! That sounded like a mistake he himself might've made when he was younger, though admittedly he never confused the Charms practice room with a room to make charm bracelets. The poor boy really had no idea how the wizarding world worked, did he? Well, no matter.... he could fill him in; after all teaching was his job!

As soon as Gaston could keep a straight face, he turned to the boy."That's a lovely charm bracelet, Mr. Jones, but that's not the kind of charm I meant," he said gently. "A charm is a type of spell; that water spell you just tried out is an example of a charm. So the Charms practice room is a safe place to practice spells." Did he understand now?

Oh dear.

Oh dear.

The Friar flitted about the corridor, making his way up from the kitchens because he was looking for someone, any of the ghosts! Anyone, actually! Good Merlin!

The Friar had never pinged back and forth so much!

SOMEONE?

Heading back to her Common room miss Katerina was just walking the corridor, when she she caught sight of a ghost. Not just any ghost. Her house ghost the fat friar.

She went in his direction. She watched curiously. Was he in distress? He seemed that way. "Umm Mr. Friar? Oh hello Mr. Friar is.. are you okay?" With a tone of concern and compassion.

Did he need a hug? Ghost could hug right? After three years here this should be something she should know by now.

Sir Nicholas was a touch anxious. Never had he felt this way since... well, since the Miffy Poltergeist appeared. Something was happening. He decided to notify someone of the phenomenon that he was experiencing and thought he might bump into the Headmaster. On the way there though he spotted the dear Friar, and another of his students.

"Friar," Sir Nicholas said, accelerating his floating to his ghost colleague. "Do you-" Sir Nicholas began. What did he mean to say? "Sense... thiiiiiiiings?" he asked.

And not to be Rude, Sir Nicholas looked towards the young girl of Hufflepuff. "Good day, kind lady," he said.

Little Hufflepuff! The Friar circled around her, his grey eyes widening. "I am most certainly okay! However, I think we need to find-"

But it seemed the very person he needed had arrived! A ghost! Sir Nick! "Yes! Yes I do!" he cried. "Something is amiss! Something is here!" he lowered his voice as if Katerina wasn't right next to them.

Then, he gave Katerina a look with one eye squinting at her as he rubbed his rotund belly nervously. "Have you...seen anything abnormal happening lately, Miss?" What if it was only a ghostly thing? Or...was it carrying over into this realm?

Azura was walking down the hallway on her way to the Hospital wing when she stopped in her tracks..

"Sir Nicholas, Friar? Is everything all right? " She asked curiously as she started to move again and ended up next to Kat, she smiled st the Hufflepuff before turning back to the fretting ghosts..

"Do you need help?" Az asked kindly.

Okay.... Katerina didn't normally get cheeped out over things. Being the sister of Phillip, she was almost immune to such things. Now that he Friar was aScting quest abnormal, but quite his bubbly self. She was about it reply to him and ask who they needed to find... Before Sir Nicolas showed up.

Sense something? She listened quietly as the two ghost discussed this thing. Needless to say that she was slightly confused by there ghostly language but followed along with their conversation. She got a cold chill and goosebumps. Azura arrived on scene and Katerina returned her smile. They were still good.

What was going on?

She nodded to Sir Nick when he spoke to her. "Same too you, Sir." She wasn't sure if she had ever spoken to the Gryffindor ghost before. Then her own house's ghost spoke to her. Abnormal? This was Hogwarts, right? 'No Sir but all due respect this is Hogwarts, abnormal is nearly a daliy thing." She wasn't wrong. Kind of. She looked between the two ghost and got enough courage to ask the question that had been on her now. "Is there something going on or something?'

She had never seen the ghost so on edge, even with the events of the term with team Piffy and their wedding, and terrorizing leading up to it. Their honeymoon was until the end of term, right? Please say yes. Forever would be even better.

Sir Nicholas KNEW he wasn't a mad old bat. He wasn't going senile in his old ghost age. The rancid cheese most certainly was not slipping from his stale cracker.

His dear friend, The Friar, also sensed things. He knew something was amiss. He knew something was here.

The purple eyed Ravenclaw approached making their trio into a quadruple. "No Azura, everything is certainly not okay. At least we think not. Something is AMISS. Something is HERE. Do you not sense it? Things... things happening," Sir Nicholas said, his legs floating beneath the floor as he hovered eye-level to Azura. He peered into her face with wide eyes, searching for any sign that SHE TOO felt... something amiss.

Sir Nicholas swivelled in mid-air to face the young Hufflepuff who had just said the truth. "My dear girl, yes, so often there is something going on within the castle. But you see it's not a normal sort of happening. No, it's something else. Something I can sense," he started floating up towards the ceiling, his hands crossed over his body with his right hand at his chin. "Something else entirely I think. I can sense it."

Alfred, were he a sassier fellow, would certainly have kept count of how many times Nick had said the word "Sense" in one go and then proceed to tell the other ghost something quite witty; however, seeing as the Friar was not snarky, and was, in fact, quite worried, he merely nodded solemnly at Sir Nick.

"All the sensing! Yes! I do! Have you girls seen anything...strange lately? Stranger than usual?"

Azura was pleased to see the smile on Kats face when she saw her. Oh good, things were still all right between them then? Cool! She would have to talk to her later but right now there was more important things to deal with..

Such as Sir Nicholas looking her right in the eyes! She held her ground as he hovered to her level, her eyes looking right at his and also somewhat though him, but the fourteen year old was trying to concentrate!

"Something is amiss and here?" Oh dear Fwoopers please tell her it wasn't the hag again.. "It's not the hag again right?" She asked curiously, had Professor Draper gotten her? Were they sure? Maybe they needed to get him back here to check..

Umm..

"I uhh.. is it on this plane?" She asked again curiously as she motioned around before turning her purple orbs from Sir Nicholas to the Friar (whom she refused to call Fat because that was mean), She kept meaning to ask his name but..

All in due time.

"Stranger than usual? I uhh.. hmm.. It's not Peeves and Miffy right?" She asked curiously. Were they even around? Did they go on a honeymoon? Errr Polter-moon?

The HAG? "My dear girl, I shan't think you need worry about the Hag anymore." He would have given her shoulder a pat, but he knew people didn't appreciate that.

He hovered higher, towards The Friar. "I cannot tell if it is only on our... plane, as Azura says. What say you?" he asked his dear friend.

Sir Nicholas shook his head, making it wobble slightly. "Peeves and Miffy have promised to stop their pranking. I wish to give them the benefit of the doubt." However, Azura's words had some truth in it. It wouldn't be unlike the poltergeists to have crossed their fingers behind their backs or something. "Do you think it's them?" he asked her and The Friar.