Blaise was possibly the LEAST concerned individual in the entire school. Portal on sixth floor corridor. Okay. Missing students. Cool story bro. Curfews and worried Professors? Still couldn't wait for summer. As far as he was concerned, this was simply one of those things that came about as a result of being in a MAGIC school. What did they expect if not a little chaos every now and then.

It'd get sorted, it always seemed to get sorted so the Fifth Year was not at all bummed, nor would he allow himself to be haggard by the thought of those "poor lost souls". "Last I saw him, he was sitting further up the table." It was dinner time, they were all gathered here to eat so he didn't suspect anyone would be escorted anywhere. It was straight to their common rooms after this so it was literally the meeting point.

Blaise helped himself to another serving of mash, his shoulders rising in a nonchalant shrug. "It's been pretty decent I guess. Nothing really out of the ordinary. Hung out in the Common Room for a bit, played exploding snap with Bentley for a while. Spent some time in the library." All between classes of course. His tone alone could speak to how monumentally unscathed he was by the happenings of the past few weeks.

Kitty got a curious raise of his brow at her confession. "A cheering charm? You'd subject yourself to magic over something like this?" Not him, no thanks. He was cheery enough in the face of this supposed uncertainty. If you asked him, it was just waiting, The first set came back so surely the second would too. If not, Rooney was in there so that could be fun. "It'll get sorted, don't worry about it too much." He said with a confident nod. Everything would be fiiiiine.

She glanced down the table again and saw him sitting at the far end. Phew. "You're right, I see him there. Oh well, never mind." She would have sighed if the cheering charm wasn't still lingering. It was starting to wear off, and she knew she'd be back to feeling gloomy soon enough. Already the gloom was starting to creep back in.

Blaise, on the other hand, looked perfectly happy as he described his very pleasant sounding day to her. That annoyed Kitty, though she tried not show it. What, did he think Rooney and the others were NOT being hunted by an unknown monster and were on vacation?

Still, she was a prefect and it wasn't Blaise's fault what was happening, so she tried to push away her annoyance. "That's nice that you played exploding snap. Remember when you invited me to play last year during Professor' Hirsch's training activity with the Golems?" He'd interviewed her about it, so she knew he had fond memories of it.

"I shouldn't have used a cheering charm, you're right," she admitted, feeling the last of her charm slip away. "But it's just been so overwhelming. Gosh, you wouldn't believe how many times I have to accompany people to the bathroom today. Us prefects have to be everywhere at once, and I feel guilty because if anything happens and we aren't paying attention it'll be our fault. And since Rooney's gone, I'm the only prefect for Ravenclaw." she felt like crying but held it in. She'd been feeling that way for awhile now. "The only good thing that's happened is it seems everyone's forgiven me for History of Magic. But this is much, much worse."

She paused to blink water out of her eyes. "Sorry, I didn't mean to talk about my problems right now."

Blaise didn't bother glancing up the table when Kitty did. She was the only one of the two of them currently looking for the Fourth Year; he was here enjoying his meal.

"Yeah, I remember that." It'd been a fun lesson--once he stopped paying attention. Fighting golems wasn't exactly the boy's cup of tea and he'd been glad enough to find others willing to play exploding snaps with him while they waited for the lesson to be over. "We should definitely do it again sometime." Maybe the next time the class would have to participate in magical warfare.

The conversation had been going well enough, Blaise thought, but all of a sudden....Kitty opened the flood gates and all the boy could do was blink and stare as she relayed...all the bad things she could possibly think of. Merlin's beard. "First off, take a deep breath." Seriously, the gloom and doom wouldn't help the situation at all. It was no wonder she'd tried that cheering cheer. "Everything's going to be fine. It's all gonna work out. The Professors are going to find a way to get the others back then it'll be back to normal around this place--as normal as it can get anyway." So...like...chill?

Genny made up her mind to talk to her dad about it whether Kath's mom let her go or not. No one should be left to their wrong belief that Quidditch was mediocre activity, okay?? Okay. "Mkay." She answered shortly, not wanting to let the Ravenclaw in on her plan.

... huh? "UHhh," What Katherin didn't know was that most of Genny's answers were from the top of her head. They rarely stemmed from deep, intentional thoughts. "I dunno. What are the chances that a wizard and a muggle will fall in love, though? Like, they're from two different worlds. There's a slim chance of happening we might as well not consider it." She said casually. "And I highly doubt that law will change. It will be chaos if it does." Like, legit, CHAOS.

What Genny didn't know was that Katherine's mother was a muggle, and father was a wizard. So she just listened to the girl as anger rose inside her chest. She didn't even try to compose her expression - it clearly showed how upset she was with Genny. No, she had not been wrong about her: Genny was a rude, inconsiderate girl and Katherine wasn't even going to show up to her stupid Quidditch game.

"High enough to conceive me," she coldly said, her demeanour completely changed now. "My father loved a muggle enough to marry her, y'know? Unlike you, he didn't consider a muggle to be an alien, someone from such a different world that she wasn't even worthy of his time." Her face was flushed and with each word, her tone had got higher - just short of outright yelling. "And why should that even be a chaos? Because muggles are inferior, completely different species to us?" HMM? Actually, no, she didn't even want to hear her answer. She abruptly got up. Until this moment, she hadn't really let Genny interrupt her, and she wasn't intending to now.

"I hope you'll never have to meet a muggle and your father might as well not bother to convince my muggle mum. Good luck at your stupid, magical match."

She was storming away.

Kitty did as Blaise asked and took a deep breath, if only because she also felt she needed it. "You're right," she said after awhile. "Things ARE going to be okay. Everyone's going to come back safely. We have to believe that. I know it's true."

"Most people have to go to the bathroom about three times a day, and there are so many students - so do you know how many times I've had to go? I've taken to cleaning the walls of the bathrooms, just because of how many times I've escorted people there. In fact, I MEMORIZED the patterns on the walls." She laughed, though as with Daisy she didn't find this very funny. "And yesterday, Daisy snuck away from the main group and went to the balcony on the fourth floor. I panicked and went after her, but thankfully she was okay." And she wasn't complaining about Daisy, who she actually loved and hoped to become friends with. "By the way, I'm not trying to sound whiny. It's been an honor being a prefect and in charge of helping look after everyone. "

She paused to take another deep breath, before decided it was high past time to switch the subject. "We should do it again sometime. Gobstones, I mean. Do you compete in the Gobstones Tournament? I haven't been paying a lot of attention to that, so I'm afraid I don't know."

O____O

What just happened. Genny literally had her jaw drop as she was lectured and yelled at by Katherine.

Muggles marrying wizards? Was this the topic they were talking about? Because last time she checked, people were allowed to have opinions and say the word 'slim chances'.

Anyway. "I don't understand why you're so angry and calling me names, but whatever!" She called after her, frowning but not budging from her place.

"Good, that's better." He said after she'd taken what seemed like a much needed breath. Through this whole thing, he hadn't been freaking out and he didn't need to be around sullen sulkers convinced the sky was falling and the world was coming to an end in short order after that. It cramped his mood, see? And Hogwarts already did enough of that on it's own. "Perfectly fine. No worries." The boy reaffirmed.

He thought they'd moved on to happier thoughts but this evidently wasn't the case. It was funny how you never knew just how much you didn't care about the bathroom habits of your fellow schoolmates until you heard someone else talking about them. Blaise blinked, finding it hard to follow the line of conversation. "Wow." No, really, wow. "Your word, not mine." His quill probably had a whole host of others to be honest. "See, that's the problem right there. You're fixed on very insignificant things and you're letting them drive you up the gum tree--A common Ravenclaw practice from what I've seen." So maybe she'd need another deep breath, lest he be told about another tedious aspect of Prefect life.

There was a reason he didn't envy those with badges. Problems like these.

Gobstones was a safer turn in the conversation. "We could play Gobstones sometimes, yeah. I've only played for my house a few times, nothing I'm really committed to but I'm definitely willing to if it'll help clear that cluttered mind of yours." Nothing but good vibes here.

Calling her names????

Katherine halted and abruptly turned around.

"I'm not even calling you names!" she said angrily, "it was you who said the two worlds are so apart that it was almost impossible for a wizard to marry a muggle, as if muggles were a different species to us, as if they aren't worthy to have ties to us!" Was it her who called the Gryffindor names!!!!!!!????

Why did she even think you could have a proper conversation with one (except Samuel) anyway!?

Uhm. Genny remained where she was seated which was a little far away from Katherine at this point (thank merlin, because she valued her eardrums so much).

"Uhhh, I did not say that. I said muggles had their own world and wizards have their own, it's unlikely that they communicate and meet often to fall in love. There's a slim chance of that happening since we go to different schools and jobs." Pause. "I didn't say they weren't worthy, they're people and they have electricity." Which was basically magic but with a logical explanation.

Another pause. "You know, for a Ravenclaw, you're quite dumb." She threw that at her with a haughty expression.

......

...............

..............................

Okay, maybe. Maybe Katherine misunderstood it, as confirmed by her ears, which were getting quite red in embarrassment now. But, she wasn't going to focus on that. Instead, she was going to comment on how RUDE Genny was.

"And you're very rude!" she said, glaring RIGHT BACK (which was a very hard thing to do when you misunderstood the situation, so deep down knew you should be apologising, but you were also too proud (or dumb, really) to do it). She paused too as she quickly replayed Genny's words. The girl really... hadn't said much. Just that she didn't really need to be educated about muggles, that the worlds were different... which was, come to think about it, true. Katherine wished she knew the obliviate charm well enough to delete this whole part of the conversation instead of apologising.

"'M sorry though."

Was that supposed to be a jab at her? Genny did not respond to that, because she wasn't trying to be rude, she was trying to hurt Katherine's feelings... which evidently worked.

Again, a long pause passed before Katherine whispered. Wait, what? Was this an apology? Why? Genny was confused a little, not used to apologizing to people or having people apologizing to her. UHHHH. "Alright." She said softly. "I don't think you're dumb for real. I just said that to hurt your feelings." She confessed easily. One of the strongest trait of Genny was how honest she was when talking to people.

Okay, good, Genny didn't make fun of her for apologising. She also didn't seem to think that she was superior for making Katherine apologise. Actually, she seemed... pretty nice, and it was Katherine's turn to be confused this time.

"Why did you want to hurt my feelings?" she asked. Was it a revenge? Genny didn't even look like caring what Katherine'd said.

Had her fretting gone a little too far? Judging by the "Wow" from Blaise and his expression, she reckoned she had. "Sorry, too much sharing," she apologized, a chastised expression on her face. See, that was why she'd taken the cheering charm before, so explosions like this wouldn't happen. Though, that cheerfulness was artificial and she didn't like it either. Maybe breathing and focusing really were the best cures to anxiety.

"I know, I'm not usually like this. But you can't really blame me, considering the circumstances." No need to go further into that. She attempted a faint smile. "Guess that's why I came here, being in the Gryffindor table makes me braver."

That was mostly a joke, in case he was wondering. "Well, maybe later today or in the weekend we can play," referring to Gobstones. "I haven't played since the summer, so I'm LONG overdue."

Which reminded her of something else she hadn't thought of in awhile...

"Hey Blaise...I know this will sound very random, but I want to know what are your feelings on the Statute of Secrecy. I'm not trying to quiz you or anything."

"I never have a problem with sharing itself." He reassured, gesturing to his quick quotes that particularly liked when others opened up. "Just, I'm trying to separate myself from the anxiety riddled doomsayers who're convinced the world's coming to an end now that a magical portal has opened up in a magical school." Really, was he the only one who thought this was normal? The school had a crap ton of incantations and magic all over it. What were the chances something like this wouldn't happen at some point or another? Pretty slim if you asked him.

"You've come to the right place." He continued, not caring how serious she was with her comment about the Gryffindor table. "You'll find good conversations here, not just woes and cries about the missing." Merlin, not to sound insensitive but he'd just about heard all he wanted to about the ones on the other side of the portal. He'd love a sit down INTERVIEW with them, but he'd rather not see another sniveling First Year convinced they were all going to die. There were only so many times you could say 'everything's gonna be alright' before you started asking them to shut the hell up.

The boy leaned forward at her question, a certain spark now present in his eye. "I say we play it tonight. You're a Prefect, escort me out of my Common Room after curfew and we'll find someplace to play it....unless you're scared." Taunting? Maybe. But he was very serious with his request. If she wouldn't oblige he'd likely find someone else who would and if THAT didn't work either, there was always plan C.

As for the statute of secrecy....she was right, it was random. Not that he minded, but random all the same. "I think it does it's job. Necessary and all that. Don't need a bunch of ignorant muggles trying to study us like that one creepy Ravenclaw girl you lot have that collects rats." Why his sister spoke to that girl was beyond him. She was a little too...eager about everything for his taste.

Worry warts. Befuddled baboons. Tempered teens. The melting pot of feelings erupting from the students and adults lately were FUELING his desire to be naughty.

He had been floating about the school invisible, plotting very naughty things, when he stumbled across his next victims having a serious chat. Had he been visible to them, they would have seen an enormous grin grow on his face and the large bowl of water that was in his hands.

"PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!" the polter-kid shouted unexpectedly right in the boy's ear.

He then floated over to the girl and hollered in her ear too. "You two smell WORSE than TROLL POO!"

Turning visible, he then added in a singsong voice, "Not to worry, not to worry. I have juuuuuuuust the thing for you!" Gliding above them, Storm did a fancy flip that caused the water to fall out of the bowl right onto their heads.

TEEHEEHEE!

Why? Well. "I was angry with you for believing things I haven't said." She answered truthfully. How was that not obvious? "I'm not mad after your apology, though." In case that was not obvious, either. Internal eye roll at Ravenclaws.

Well, okay, that made sense. Katherine nodded and took a step forward towards her. "Am I still invited?" Because she wanted to watch a match live, and also wanted to become Genny's friend in a small rebellion against her mother that would grow bigger over time.

hjfvutektflotltfkbyrfy !!!!!

What in Merlin's bloody beard was THAT???? Blaise cringed at the sudden noise by his ears, twisting in the direction it had come from. The voice itself was very familiar but Blaise hadn't SEEN the poltergeist anywhere near the Great Hall. If he had, he'd have skipped this meal entirely and gone to find an elf to feed him. A part of this not having others cramp his vibe was NOT having the Hogwarts merry band of poltergeists anywhere NEAR him. Obviously, storm had not been given the memo...obviously.

Now Blaise had only JUST seen the water that floated above them, leaving him no time to protect himself and only just barely enough time to protect his quill and notebook. In life sacrifices had to be made. The Gryffindor was now soaked to the bone but his possessions would live to write another day.

"Bloody hell Storm...." Blaise muttered, not nearly as willing to dry himself as he was to protect his notes--priorities, y'know? "You probably don't even have a working nose. The hell do you know what we smell like?" And where was his adopted mother dearest? Did no one TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR and keep their own kid in line anymore???? The Fifth Year turned to his friend. "Maybe if we ignore him, he'll go away."

Her eyes widened in surprise at Blaise's daring question. COULD she escort him out after curfew to play Gobstones? Students weren't supposed to be out, and she was pretty certain she'd get in trouble if she were caught. She began to say so, but she changed her mind at the last moment. "Um...sure, why not? We won't get in trouble if I'm with you. Yes, let's do it." She felt herself becoming braver as she spoke. "How about an empty classroom on your level?" Wow, was she actually doing this?

Blaise's answer on the Statute didn't really surprise her. "It certainly has had its advantages," she admitted. "But over the past few years I've been wondering if we really need it anymore. I'm half-blood as you know, and this past summer I became friends with some Muggles in a Yoga class I'm attending. You must know some Muggles too. Doesn't it feel wrong to hide part of yourself -"

"GAAA!!"

Whatever long speech she'd been about to go into was interrupted by the very scare (at first) and VERY rude screaming's of one bratty Poltergeist child.

"Storm!" she shouted, throwing her arms up over head - but not quite fast enough. Storm's water drenched his hit her arms and the front half of her head, making her hair bangs cling to her forehead and running down her face and the front of her robes.

Furious, she reached for her wand and said in a commanding voice, "Come near us again and I'll use the jinx we used on your dad when he barged in our charms lesson in my second year. Oh, and I do NOT smell like anything." She may have been distraught over recent events, but certainly not distraught enough to forget to wash.

"I can ignore him now," she told Blaise, pocketing her wand. Could she have her cake and eat it too?

"OOPSIES!" the polter-kid shouted, sticking out his tongue, before his high-pitched giggling filled the entire hall. This was just absolutely HILARIOUS to him. He wasn't sorry at all.

TEEHEEHEEHEEEEEEEEEEE!

Laughing uncontrollably for a few moments, Storm did a number of mid-air back flips and twirls. His little feet kicked about as he did so, his hands still holding into the bowl. How Peevesie didn't like him was a mystery. He was a genius prankster!

But what was that? Were his victims trying to IGNORE HIM?! Puh-lease!

Storm zoomed up close and personal to the boy, scrunching up his face and sticking out his tongue. He could smell just fine with his nose, thank you very much. A sly grin formed on his face. "How well does your nose work then?" With a swift kick of the air, his rear end was level with the boy's face and he let one rip.

FRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTT!

Next up was the girl, who was trying to SCARE him. Her words made him laugh even more. "You don't scare me!" he shouted at her as she pocketed her wand. "I'll do as I please!" He rose the empty bowl above his head and flung it at her.

The polter-kid then floated hiiiiiiiiiigh above them. "Toodleloo, losers!" he said to them, sticking his tongue one last time before he disappeared and floated away, laughing hysterically as he whizzed through the doorway and further into the castle.

Pft, was she serious? Genny chuckled and hauled herself up from the seat. "Are you kidding? I was going to have my dad talk to your mom whether you let me or not. Quidditch is a serious sport that you should learn about!" She moved towards Katherine, to leave the room together.

Kitty was absolutely crazy if she thought there was no margin for getting in trouble with the plan he'd suggested, Prefect or not. Getting in trouble wasn't the issue though. It was all the fun they would have as a result. Blaise was always the bigger picture kind of guy and right now, a few stern words from a Professor or a night in the dungeons wasn't enough to sway his stir crazy mind. Something had to give. Thankfully, it wasn't her trying to wiggle her way out of it.

Blaise had only just managed to nod his confirmation of their plans and give his take on how he honestly felt it best muggles not know based on their past actions and the fact that even if SHE felt so, the law wouldn't change overnight and she'd be in huge trouble with the DMLE but....Storm.

For all the ignoring the Fifth Year was prepared to try, the poltergeist was once again in his space, this time with unfortunate results. The 15 year old reeled away from the sudden assault on his nose, finding he'd now lost his appetite completely. "Ugh. Storm. That was absolutely foul. What're you made of, mate?" Rotten curry? Ripe eggs? Circe.

Blaise might have told Kitty it was a bad idea dangling anything of value before the annoying thing (hence his own quill and notepad now floating much closer, but it was too late. The threat had been given and the Prefect had just lost her wand. Sigh. Suppose there was no way to REALLY ignore him now--unless she didn't mind. Personally, if Storm had taken his wand he'd have told him to keep it. The boy rose, figuring the matter would be entirely different for her. "Let's go. We may catch him before he gets too far. Might even run into a Professor to do the dirty work for us while we're at it." Wouldn't be too hard, just follow the wild cackles of the overly amused poltergeist.

Upon entering the Great Hall, Rula headed for the Gryffindor table instead of the Slytherin one. She was hoping to find Dora there. Just to hang out and catch up on things. Plus she had some big news! News that might have been obvious, or at least suspected, if one noticed the ring on her left hand. But she wanted to let her friends know personally, and Dora was one of those she definitely wanted to tell.

She didn't spot her at the lion table yet, so she decided to slip into an empty seat and wait, her hands in her lap, the right one covering her left hand. Surely she'd be around soon!

Rula knew Dora so well. If there was a place to look for the lion... that wasn't the CR, library, or kitchen... it was always the Great Hall. Girl had to eat, right?! The blonde made her way in and checked the Claw table first. Sighs. Sam and she had had a row so she had HOPED her bestie would be there, but as luck would have it -- she wasn't

But that was fine.

F I N E.

And so as she turned toward her own table a huge smile crossed her lips as her eyes landed on Rula Botros. RUUUUULA. Gah. She was such a lovely person.yes. friend.

Slipping onto the bench next to Rula, Dora laid her head against her friend's shoulder and gave a heavy sigh. "OWL year is dumb. Not to mention all this extra... stuff. How are we supposed to focus? "

Give us answers, Rula... and then we shall give you NEWS. Good and bad.

Get ready.

P R E P A R E D.