Bulletin Board

[Zoe]

Atop the marble staircase in the Entrance Hall along the corridor that will direct you to the moving staircases, you stumble across a long, horizontal cork bulletin board that is encased in glass. Here you will find an array of notices and signs, stick up by tacks and push-pins, that are meant for the entire student body to read. Anything from requests, advertisements, lost and found notices, and gentle reminders can be viewed for all eyes to see.

If you have something you would like to add to this colourful, paper-filled board, you are more than welcome to do so. Simply slide over the glass surrounding the board (it is never locked) and stick on the board whatever it is you wish for everyone to know. Having this board for your use is a privilege, not a right, so use it responsibly. Any crude drawings or messages will result in the bulletin board crumpling them up and throwing your balled notice at your face, giving you a deep paper cut, before you even have a chance to slide the glass back to its original place.

On the ceiling above, an ominous red hawk glistens. Even though the blood has been there for a while and should be dry, it still looks as if the walls are bleeding and keeping this mysterious hawk alive. Why hasn't anyone managed to clean this mess up? Will it ever go away? And, most importantly, what does it even mean?

[Sylvia Grimblehawk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Argyle

News had made it to the kitchens of a mess on the Ground Floor. From the previous evening. No one told elvesies until time had passed…musta figured they could handle it. Yep…must be it. But Argyle wanted to check it out…see what happened when masters and mistresses cleaned. See if she could help. So armed with a trusty scrub brush, she appeared with a pop, taking note of a young girl and Mistress House-elf on a ladder trying to clean.

“Mistresses!!” she let out as she scrambled closer to the duo. “Argyle help clean…” See…she dips her brush in the pail of cleaning potions on the floor to get it all wet and sudsy. Her eyes going wide as she looked up to the main stain on the ceiling. Too tall for an elf to reach from the ground.

Oh, sweet popin' caramel corn! It was little Argyle! Of course she appreciated the help, but at this point she didn't know if the Elf's magic could even make this budge. Plus she was too little to get up there even with a ladder.

"I don't know if you are big enough Argyle but you can try. Maybe try cleaning the blood on the floor or the walls though. That you would be able to reach for sure." She said with a smile to the little Elf.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sneakeh Cat

As he entered the entrance hall, he remembered the blood on the wall, and his curiosity peaked. He redirected himself to that area and stopped a few feet away from some Hufflepuff he didn't know (Sydney) and Ms Grimblehawk. He tilted his head, examining the eagle once more, and stated, "It looks the same as it did last night." He noticed her cleaning bucket and furrowed his brows. It was obvious Ms. Grimblehawk had been cleaning it because the wall was wet from the cleaning solution. Weird....

Another student had arrived, and was just staring at them cleaning, which frustrated the heck out of Sylvia. Was he really just going to stand there and do nothing? If so he had another thing coming to him. "Listen Flynn, if you are going to be over here it would be great if you would help. Otherwise, we don't need a big crowd watching us clean." It was rather distracting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steelsheen

"Hey everyone..." he greeted the cleaners and the other two students gathered around it as he continued to survey their work. A House Elf and the Hogwarts Caretaker knows a thing or two about making messes disappear, but it seems like nothing was happening to the vandalized ceiling "Blood doesnt even look discolored is it?" usually exposure to air after a time would darken blood stains "It looks like its just been painted on, just like yesterday...."

Painted. What if...? "Ms Grimblehawk, have we actually figured out if the blood was painted on? I mean..... what if the blood is actually bleeding from the ceiling? I mean it looks so new and no matter how much you scrub its still there."

These kids imaginations just astounded her. Plus, she was getting more and more frustrated with cleaning this and it not budging. WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD SOMEONE DO THIS TO HER? She sighed shaking her head, "Tenacious, Honey, this castle isn't alive therefore it cannot bleed." She paused shaking her head. "In my personal opinion, they must have used something to make this either really difficult or impossible to clean off." But she would not give up!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Watson

She looked up at the ceiling and then spoke, "From the ceiling? Is the castle... bleeding? Surely blood can't seep between stone..." Was Hogwarts... dying? Some sort of curse?

And this was exactly why and how rumors got spread. Sylvia shook her head, "No, honey, the castle is not a living thing. As I said to your sweet boyfriend, it can't bleed." Yeah, she knew things about who was dating who in this castle. "So please don't go telling people that the castle is bleeding, Vi. It's simply not possible. Okay?" Impressionable young people. Believed anything they heard when they really shouldn't!

Quote:

Originally Posted by NifflerFan

She was kind of disappointed to see that there was already a crowd of students hanging out around the bulletin board, though allll of them 'cept for one Hufflepuff girl had been here the night before. Emmeline waved and said, "Hiiiii!" to everyone before craaaaning her neck up to get a proper view of the blood bird. Which didn't seem to be reacting to Ms. Caretaker's potions at ALL.

Oh and there was Mr. Argyle the house elf too!! Emmeline BEAMED at the elf and asked gently, "Umm excuse me, Mr. Argyle, but can I help you?" 'Cause she figured he was trying to help Ms. Caretaker clean the blood off and stuff, but he was a liiiiittle too small to get up the ladder by himself. She wasn't opposed to helping clean up the mess, either, 'cause it was interesting that Ms. Caretaker's potions weren't working. Plus, she could get a closer look at the blood that way, mhm. Not that she really knew what she was looking for, but it didn't hurt to try!

"Excuse me, Emmeline, but Argyle is a Miss not a Mister." Sylvia said with a wink. It was hard to distinguish sometimes with House-Elves, though females always had much higher squeakier voices. "And shouldn't you be asking me how you can help? I'm the on in charge around here." She said with another wink. "If you want to you can help Argyle with the walls and floors." Sylvia quickly turned back to her cleaning spot. She had a quick thought pop in her heard when...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toddles

Toddles had heards about the commotion by the board when the news had swept through the kitchens. Blood on the wall? Today, he had been sitting in the kitchen, watching as his fellow elvsies ran around preparing dishes. He stayed quiet until the right moment and then slipped out to go explore the blood on the wall. Curious, he was. Though that curiosity usually got him into trouble. He grabbed two sponges and a bucket of soapy water and then... *POP* Appeared in front of the bulletin board.

"Toddles can helps Argyle," said he. Toddles was being a good house elfie. He totally wasn't here out of his own desires. "Mistresssss!" he nodded to the caretaker and then glanced at the other studentsies. He gave them a brief smile before gazing up at the blood on the ceiling. His round eyes grew to be as big as saucers and his mouth dropped. "Toddles doesn't think that Argyle and Toddles can reachs that...." Unless they stood on each other's shoulders or asked for the studentsies help to stand on their shoulders and makes a ladder?

Suddenly Toddles was there, and it scared Sylvia so bad she gave a little shout, and the ladder started wobbling, sloshing cleaning solution from her bucket and possibly on the heads of unsuspecting students and house-elves below. "Oh, Toddles! Don't pop up like that. You scared the dickens out me!" She quickly got the ladder to stop wobbling and made sure it was securely resting against the wall before she spoke again.

"Yes, Toddles, you go ahead and help Emmeline, Sydney, and Argyle with the floor and walls, okay? That will be just fine." Now maybe she could use the spell that had popped into her mind before Toddles had POPPED into existence. She had a feeling it wouldn't work, but she at least had to give it a try! With a flick of her wand, she called out, "Scourgify!" She watched, and waited.......and nothing. She sighed, deeply upset that nothing was working. She hoped she wouldn't lose her job for this!

[Sneakeh Cat]

Flynn looked at the other three people that arrived after he did. He gave everyone a welcoming nod, except Vi. She got a brief, two second deadpan stare from the Slytherin. There was something about her that put him off. Maybe it was the way she sometimes looked at him like he was up to something - not that she was wrong to give him such a look because more often than not he WAS up to something BUT STILL!

..........

Well, someone was rather direct with him. Excuse YOU, Ms Grimblehawk!

"I wouldn't call this a big crowd," he pointed out. "There are only," he looked around, "Five people? Six, if you want to include yourself in this so-called crowd." Oh, wait. "And two house elves."

Yeah, definitely not a crowd - more like a posse.

Also, did he really want to help clean-up? It wasn't like he did this, so why should he be punished? "I'm fine with supervising." Mhm.

Oh, the talk about the castle being alive made his brow arch. Hmmm. HMMMM. Interesting thought indeed. ”That would explain why the blood isn’t going away though,” he said, glancing at Vi briefly before looking back at Ms Grimblehawk.

[Argyle]

Mistress House -elf seemed pleased with her arrival which pleased Argyle even though she confirned she was a little short for the job on the ceiling. But the walls…“Argyle can do that!” she exclaimed with a vigorous nod. “Argyle can clean the wall.” The house-elf moving close and using the dampened scrub brush in her hands and going to work on the messy surface.

Scrub…scrub…scrub.

Scrub…scrub…scrub.

Oooo new students…some older students arrive. A snakies and a few lionesesses. Castle bleeding? Argyle tilted head confused at the idea. She ahd lived at castle for many years and didn’t know of castle bleeding. But Mistress House-Elf explained that away and Argyle simply nodded. Yep…it was what she thought. No bleeding.

Argyle heard her name and turned to the young Gryffindor. “Argyle not need help…unless can get Argyle to ceiling.” As for the gender mix-up, Mistress House-elf had fixed that up to. Argyle very much was female. Toddles on other hand…But Argyle was more concerned as the other elf’s sudden appearance had nearly caused ladder to fall, the house-elf scrambling back from it and the dripping water at it swayed a bit.

[The Narrator]

Despite the valiant cleaning efforts of the house elves and even the caretaker herself, the Hawk remained in its position on the ceiling. Would nothing get the blood off?

Perhaps this Hawk is here to stay for awhile seeing as all the scrubbing attempts have been futile thus far.

[Sylvia Grimblehawk]

Sylvia chose to ignore the comments of that young Slytherin boy. He didn't know who he was messing with and she was to preoccupied with her job to care about his rude attitude. So, she scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed and just......nothing.

Frustrated, Sylvia gave up. With a wave of her wand the cleaning solution in her bucket disappeared and she tossed all of her cleaning supplies inside of it, levitating it down to the ground. She then climbed down the ladder. "Sorry everyone but I think who ever put this here has enchanted it to not be removable. Please, head off to where ever you need to be. Thank you for asking to help." She turned back to her ladder and with a wave of her wand it shrank back down, and she put it in her bucket with the rest of her supplies.

She was going to have to have a conversation with the Headmistress now. That was going to be....stressful. Hopefully she would be understanding, she usually was. "Come on, off you go." She shewed the students away, and headed back up the stairs herself. She was going to have to make a lot of new cleaning potions before she could clean anything else today.

[Watson]

Why in Merlin was Flynn K-something-something giving her such a look? A deadpan stare? That just made him seem MORE suspicious. Mhmmm. Olivia was going to be keeping an eye on you, kiddo, even if he was friends with Skylar, Vivian, and Felicity. There was just something that she couldn't put her finger on... but something about his... She became very distracted and was unable to finish that thought as the caretaker, Miss Grimblehawk, had spoken once more. Eyebrows were raised every so slightly now and Vi Holden was not impressed to say the least. Though the part about referring to Ace as her boyfriend did slightly impress her. Was it that obvious? Did adults gossip about the lives of the students around here? She supposed it was one of the few forms of entertainment. She wondered if her brother did such a thing as a Professor at Beauxbatons. She pondered the idea for a moment before smirking to herself as she imagined her brother rolling his eyes, face-palming, and proclaiming that he simply couldn't care about children's drama. But then again... maybe it was all a façade that he wore. She'd have to pester him about it just like every good younger sibling ought to.

But the castle did seem to be alive.... Yet still. The fact that Miss Grimblehawk had said that her idea had been silly made Vi purse her lips. She turned to look at Flynn who seemed to agree with such a theory for a moment. Hm... She stared at Flynn with a new perspective at this moment. Perhaps he would be someone good to discuss what this was with. Suspicion was lifted from the Slytherin.... for now. She turned her gaze back to her boyfriend before looking back at the hawk in front of them. "Perhaps its a symbol..... a message from a secret organization.. a curse? What does the symbol of a hawk mean?" she spoke glancing at Flynn one more time. Awareness....? A shrewd eye? Clear sight.? Maybe Professor Vance would be good to ask about this..

The hawk wasn't fading no matter how hard they scrubbed at it. And now they were being shooed away. Before being shooed away, Vi Holden approached the caretaker. "Miss Grimblehawk... What if we covered it with something to stop the younger years from stressing?" she asked the caretaker. Perhaps have a temporary solution at the moment.

[kayquilz]

Paul had held the auditions and positively ruminated over all the parts and roles...EVERYTHING. And he was nervous to post the results because some people hadn't gotten their preferred roles...some people hadn't be casted at all. But, alas, this was the way of the THESPIAN WORLD, okay? They had to be prepared, hopefully.

He wasn't prepared for the brokenhearted, but....you know. He had to do it.

So......Paul Myers, Herbology Professor, Hufflepuff Head of House, Deputy Headmaster....and dream!crusher.....POSTED. THE. CAST LISTING. He had listed the time he would be putting the list up HALF AN HOUR later than he actually intended to because HE WANTED TO BE BLOODY SCARCE ALL RIGHT?

Ahem.

He stick it on and RAAAAAAAAAN LIKE THE WIND.

SPOILER!!: Cast Listing

Happy holidays, kiddos! He'd be seeing you bright and early in the new year for rehearsals!

[Goblinfrog]

Her eyes were expressionless. They stared dully forward, as if she were in deep, deep thought or as if she were dreaming with her eyes open. Her hair was half done, it looked like she'd started to comb bangs but had to interrupt halfway through. The result was bangs on the left half of her forehead, and slightly rumpled hair on her right. And even though it was broad daylight, she was still wearing her black pajamas red slippers.

But most curiously of all was the item she carried in her arms. It was a bowl filled with red liquid. She carried the bowl so steadily that the liquid barely moved at all. None of it spilled. The first thought one might have upon seeing it was that she was carrying a bowl of brightly colored punch, but that wasn't what this was at all. It was in fact BLOOD, rodent blood to be precise. Her fingertips were stained with the same blood...

Walking past Professor Paul's notice without so much as glancing sideways, Kitty walked forward until she was standing directly beneath the hawk on the ceiling. Ever so slowly, she glanced upwards to look at it. Then, her face still completely void of expression, she bent down on her knees and placed the bowl carefully to her side. Then she dipped her already blood stained fingers into the bowl and wrote a message with the blood of rodents:

EXPOSE THE INEQUALITY.
END THE STRUGGLE.

[ArianaBlack]

CAST LIST. CAST LIST. CAST LIST.

Zoryn SPRINTED to the ground floor (which was a hecka far run from the Gryffindor Tower, mind you) and didn't even stop to catch her breath when she arrived. Instead, the third year SHOVED the Headgirl out of her way as she pushed her way to stand directly in front of the list.

What was Kitty doing? IRRELEVANT.

Because THE CAST LIST WAS POSTED!!!!!!

Zor ran her finger along the list, scanning for her own name and paying no attention to the others. Weren't the main characters usually listed at the top? Huh. That was weird. Zoryn's name was way at the bottom... Right next to her starring role as...... "THE GROUND??????"

This had to be some kind of SICK, CRUEL JOKE!!!! "No, no, no, no, no!"

She scanned the list again. And again. And again.

How the heck did Emmeline get a better role than her??? (No offense, Emmeline).

But ..... THE G R O U N D???????? Really???? Her monologue was BRILLIANT. She was the BEST actress in this entire school!!! How the heck did she get cast as THE GROUND?

Her dreams utterly shattered, the third year let out the LOUDEST, most DRAMATIC SCREAM of her entire life before remembering the Headgirl's presence. "Look this stupid list is WRONG," she didn't want the older girl to get the wrong idea. Zoryn was BRILLIANT no matter what a list had to say about it.

And while she was at it, the Gryffindor kicked the bowl of blood that was sitting by the Ravenclaws feet.

And the blood went, EVERYWHERE.

On that note, Zoryn was LEAVING. She had to go yell at Professor Myers for giving her the WORST ROLE EVER.

[Sneakeh Cat]

Flynn was walking inside the castle after his gobstones meeting was over, and he was en route to the dungeons until he heard screaming. With furrowed eyebrows, he diverted his attention to the bulletin board where he saw Zoryn rushing off and....

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

What was Kitty DOING?! And why was there blood EVERYWHERE?!

He slowly approached the Ravenclaw, noticing the bloody fingers very quickly, then he looked at the wall. "Kitty?" He asked in a soft tone. "Kitty, can you hear me?" She did not look like herself, and he did not expect this kind of behavior from her of all people.

He was paying so much attention to her that he did not even realize Professor Myers had posted the cast list.

[NifflerFan]

She had taken to haunting the entrance hall at breaks, 'cause the bulletin board was the scene of the first crime, you know? Plus, the entrance hall was waaayy easier for the Dark Wizard to access than the library; there weren't even any pesky stairs or anything like that to slow him down in his old age.

Today, though, Emmeline had taken one look at the casting list -- she'd gotten a PART, yess -- and had sprinted up the stairs to the next floor before a biiig, loud scream called her back down into the entrance hall. She was just in time to see Zoryn knock Miss Kitty and a bunch of red paint over as her Housemate went racing out the front doors. Emmeline figured she knew what that was about; Zoryn had somehow been cast as the ground in the play! Which was...weird. Still, that was no excuse to knock poor Miss Kitty over.

Emmeline bounced back down the stairs from the landing where she'd seen the whooole thing and walked over to Miss Kitty with a biiiig smile on her face. She called out cheerily as she approached the Head Girl, "Hiiii, Miss Kitty! Are you okay? Were you trying to paint over that blood bird?" 'Cause why else would the Ravenclaw girl have loads of red paint around?

The Gryffindor didn't see what Miss Kitty had done until she was down on her knees right next to the older girl. Emmeline STARED at Miss Kitty with wide eyes, 'cause she was the last, last, last person that the second year would've suspected to be behind the blood bird. But Miss Kitty's new message was written in blood red paint right in front of her. But no... It couldn't be Miss Kitty. She wouldn't kill all of those rodents and stuff; this second message HAD to be written in red paint, and clearly it had something to do with that Statute and all the other stuff that Miss Kitty always got all upset about, mhm. Still, the twelve-year-old slid her wand caaaarefully out of her wrist holster on the pretext of getting ready to cast a cleaning spell -- just in case, mhm. She reached out with her free hand and tried to grab Miss Kitty's shoulder to squeeze it all friendly-like and whispered, "Miss Kitty? Are you okay?" 'Cause now that Emmeline thought about it, surely the fact that Miss Kitty -- a RAVENCLAW -- doing this in the middle of the entrance hall was totally evidence that her "Miss Kitty is innocent" theory was right. Ravenclaws were just waaayy too smart to be so obvious, you know?

Emmeline was so absorbed in thoughts of Miss Kitty and all this paint and CONFUSION and stuff that she even somehow didn't notice Flynn until a couple of minutes had gone by. She turned to the Slytherin celebrity with biiig, wide eyes and not a small amount of relief; he'd fix this, right?

[Watson]

Olivia had heard that the cast list had been put up at the bulletin board and so naturally she was curious to see who got what roles and whatnot. Making her way over there, she saw Zoryn, Flynn, and Kitty all standing there... Then Zoryn left. Well she didn't seem too happy about the cast list.... Olivia was curious to see what was up with the list but she became more concerned with Kitty. What.... No, Kitty was doing something. Her fingers were covered in a red ink.....? No.... was that BLOOD?

Her eyes glanced at the words written. "Expose the inequality. End the struggle..." she spoke, reading the words. What did that mean...? She turned to Flynn and frowned. What was going on? Then she saw Emmeline bounce over and investigate. Olivia slowly made her way over, trying to get a read on the situation. What in.... MERLIN...? This wasn't like Kitty...

"Kitty...? Hey.." she said softly to her friend before turning to Flynn and Emmeline. Kitty couldn't possibly have been the person that drew the hawk on the wall earlier. That wasn't like her.... Maybe someone did something to her... Made her do this. Was controlling her....? She bit her lip.

[kayquilz]

Paul had fled the scene of his cast list post BECAUSE he hadn't wanted to deal with unhappy students yet, you know? They could come see him, sure, but...yeah. He wanted a bit of space.

He was almost out of the Entrance Hall when he heard the blood curdling SCREAM.

It didn't sound like a Gryffindor pitching a fit, NOOOOO! It sounded SCARY and REAL and by the time the older professor scurried back to the scene, all he saw was the disappearing form of Zoryn, a spilled bucket of blood, Kitty with her fingers DRENCHED in blood, and Emmeline and Flynn who had apparently come to see what was up.

His brain didn't know where to go to first????

"Kitty---" he didn't know if he should be mad, but... "Kitty, what in the world---where did you get all the blood? Did YOU do the-----" Blood hawk? "Hello?" He waved a hand in front of her face. Not to mention the words she had written---assuming it was her, and Paul WAS because they caught her red handed, literally---were.....scary, to Paul at least. Inequality? End the struggle? Kitty....what in the world....

"Did you three see Kitty do this?" He eyed the spilled blood. And Olivia had joined the small group of them, too. He siphoned up the blood back into the bucket. "I saw Zoryn run away quickly-----" he almost wanted to question her, too. "Did you all see Zoryn do anything? Who screamed and why?"

[SarcasticStrawberry]

Juniper had heard that the cast list was up for the play. She had to know if she had even been cast. She had been completely nervous since her audition. She had heard the chatter about the cast list being up over lunch in the great hall. So at the first chance she had she went back to the bulletin board to see her fate.

As the Ravenclaw approached the board she seen Zoryn there reading the cast list. Also the head girl was there, with a bowl. She was to focused on seeing the list to be nosey at the moment and see what she was doing.

Though the only thing that did take her focus away was the scream of Zoryns. WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN was wrong with her? The third year let out a happy squeal. Hey look at that! She got a part. A pretty good part too. She looked over at Zoryn. ”What’s wrong with it?” She quickly scanned the list for the Gryffindors name. At first she didn’t see it but then she did.

”The ground? You’re the ground.”

Juni couldn’t help but to laugh. ”Maybe we can practice our lines together. Lay down and I can walk over….” She didn’t finish her sentence because she looked up and caught a glimpse of a message in the wall. Written in blood. Man why did all the crazy paints and writings on the wall in blood have to When she was there. ”Mmm… why is that there?” Pointing the wall. Well that was weird where did the ground (Zoryn) go?

Now Juni could see the bowl of blood and Kitty’s blood strain hands. ”Kitty! What did you do?” It was safe to say juniper was officially freaked out now. Also when did Flynn, Emmeline, Olivia and Professor Myers show up?

[lazykitty]

Hearing word that the cast list for the play had been posted, Ronan naturally headed down to see who got what part. But, his way was blocked by a group of people. At first, he thought that they had all had the same idea as he had. Then, his brain actually registered what his eyes were seeing. There was another blood painting. The head girl was standing there, fingers covered in blood. Blood had been spilled all over the floor around her. It was obvious what was going on here. Although, most were acting like this was out of character for her, so he took another look. Indeed, her eyes had that glazed over look. Eerie.

As for the message? "Expose the inequality. End the struggle.....which inequality? Wage? Gender? Blood purity?" No pun intended. "Or, my mum told me about these people that are trying to get squibs jobs in the Ministry......." But why would they brainwash the head girl into spreading their message? Weirder things had happened at Hogwarts. As for seeing what had happened vis-a-vie Zoryn (?) and Kitty, Ronan had just arrived so he hadn't even seen the younger Gryffindor. "I'm sure that whatever Zoryn did, she didn't mean it." That wasn't her style.

[Goblinfrog]

After the message of blood was finished, the head girl did nothing. She maintained the same kneeling position she'd taken to write, only now staring blankly forward instead of writing. There wasn't very much happening in her thoughts.

How long she would have stayed in that position was unknown, because at that moment Zoryn charged in and SHOVED the head girl out of the way. She fell forward, crashing into the bowl of blood (splashing some of the remainder out) and giving out the smallest of grunts as she collided with the floor. She made no effort to retaliate. Very soon Zoryn was gone, but none of this registered in the mind of Kitty, who slowly moved back into her kneeling position as if nothing had happened. Her hair was a little messier than it had been and her pajamas ruffled.

Moments later, the room was filled with commotion as Flynn, Emmeline, and Olivia entered the room to find what she'd done. She ignored their words. One of them (Emmeline) put her hand on her shoulder and squeezed. To her, Kitty turned her head slowly to look into her eyes. The look on Kitty's face was blank, and if she understood anything she did not show it. Perhaps she only turned to look because of the squeeze.

Then came Professor Myers. Completely ignored at first. When he waved his hand in front of her, her eyes followed it back and forth, but other than that she paid him no heed.

Juniper and Ronan came in around the same time. By now, the head girl was surrounded by a pretty large crowd. She ignored both of their questions. They were good questions, but she had no words to share...nor thoughts to think.

[SilverTiger]

To be honest, Stasya had tried to avoid the entrance hall ever since the blood bird had appeared. Just in case another poor creature got hurt just to leave more mysterious messages, because she really didn’t like that idea. Instead, she usually just passed through it as quick as she could, grateful that her legs were longer now, whenever she went to the Great Hall or outside to head to the barns to visit the creatures. The very much alive creatures, and she was determined that they’d stay that way. She had been out there, after sneaking an apple out of the kitchens to treat Henry’s Granian and a few small treats for Albus and Dobby, and had been walking back through the snow when she’d heard Zoryn scream and she’d sped up. Had something else showed up, or why had her housemate screamed like that?

Except Zoryn wasn’t there when she’d skidded to a stop sort of between Emmeline and Professor Myers, barely noticing the page posted on the bulletin board. She hadn’t auditioned for the play anyway, and the creepy message on the wall was way more important. The one that she was pretty sure was written in blood even before she’d become aware of the Herbology professor’s questions to the Head Girl. Or to the others gathered around. Flynn and Juniper and Olivia and Ronan. And her bestie, of course. “Is this another statute thing?”, she asked, reading the words even as she tried to ignore her certainty about what they were painted in. Kitty kept arguing about how the statute was wrong, after all. And the Head Girl’s hands were still all red. Unless Zoryn was too and that was why she’d screamed.

“I didn’t see anything.” In case he was asking her. “But all the creatures’re still in the barn so…” Where’d the blood come from? The question left her wide-eyed.

[Watson]

Kitty seemed so... She seemed like a robot or zombie or something of that nature.

Before she could try calling out to her friend, Professor Myers, Juniper, Ronan, and Stasya had arrived. Vi watched as each of them approached and then turned rob professor Myers when he asked if he saw Kitty do it. She shook her head at Professor Myers's question. She hadn't caught why Zoryn had run off. "No. I got here after Zoryn ran away and the message was on the wall..." she said with a frown, wondering if the girl was upset about the blood. It didn't seem like Zoryn to be afraid or terrified by this occurrence, surely she would have stayed around. Her eyes turned to the list. Ah... the reason WHY she had come down here.. "Perhaps the cast list?" she offered with a nonchalant shrug and eyed the list to find who was assigned to what roles. "It doesn't seem like Zoryn to run away...."

[lazykitty]

That statement hadn't gone unnoticed by the Gryffindor. "What statue? The Statue of Secrecy.......?" Ronan asked Stasya. Because that would go a long way towards explaining the writing that was now on the wall. "Does it mean the inequality between Muggles and wizards?" He looked to the head girl for answers on that one, but it appeared no answers would be coming from her since she was still in whatever trance she had been in when he had arrived.

The very possibility was sending chills up and down his spine. Because he remembered a few times himself when she was talking about the very same thing. In fact, one time she had mentioned-"Son of a biscuit eater! Kitty, are you a-a-a CULTIST?!" Yeah, he hadn't meant to shout that last part. But he was currently having trouble breathing here. So, it was more of a panicked shout. For after the first time he had heard the term from the head girl's mouth (five terms ago now), he had asked his mum about it. To which Roxanne Gwen Carter had gone into horrible, excruciating details about them and the takedown and had made him promise to stay away from them. And now one was possibly the HEAD GIRL!

Oh, nevermind him. He was just going to sink to the floor here and have his panic attack, thank you. Totally unaware of everything else that was going on.

[Goblinfrog]

Another student came in (Stasya) and asked a question to the others which Kitty had no way of answering. It didn't even register in her mind. Many words were spoken, but Kitty's only acknowledgment was the occasional eye flicker in the speaker's direction. Under normal circumstances, Ronan's question on if she was a Cultist would have inspired her to make a passionate argument in return, but now she was like a zombie, unfeeling and unresponsive.

But then...

"Huh?" Where was she? She was on her knees, but this wasn't her bed...the floor was way too hard. And there a bowl of something red on the floor, and she was in her pajamas surrounded by people...

"GAA!!"

She tumbled sideways and had to throw her arms ahead of her for support. Flushed with embarrassment and alarm, she hoisted herself up her feet and turned to face all the others in the room, not seeing the message at first. "Where am I?! What's happening???"

[kayquilz]

Paul was eyeing the growing crowd with some......desperation only because he didn't WANT everyone here to see this, or Kitty doing this/like this-----and honestly,

HE HADN'T A CLUE WHAT WAS HAPPENING.

Ronan mentioned the squib stuff that he, too, had heard about in the Ministry. He had made DONATIONS to some squib alliances recently, too, and he...he wouldn't be talking politics with his students, of course, but KITTY of all students doing this...she was a known muggle activist, was she not?

Hmm.

Students...students shouldn't be getting this political in school. it wasn't appropriate.

"Ronan, the last time a cult was on the rise was long ago. Please, be quiet with that MASS hysteria nonsense," he snipped at the Gryffindor boy who tried his patience D A I L Y.

It was almost as if Kitty were in a trance, but as slowly as he had noticed, Kitty had snapped out of it quickly. Paul had no time to really...ask questions. Or examine her in that glazed over state. Headmistress or Healer? His two opposing ideas...fighting, in his head. "Kitty...you're at the Bulletin Board. You...you draw these letters - " he gestured at the words she had drawn. "Or I'm assuming you did because of your hands---" he took them both in his. "Are you feeling okay? I think we need to see the Healer ---STAT!" he was not the best at handling situations that involved MANY people. Hirsch was good at organizing crowds. Paul was not. Paul was....best at handling small groups, individuals in distress...so this small crowd was doing his head in. What prefects were present? Merlin.

MERLIN.

Of course, NONE. He eyed Ronan and Olivia. "You two, shoo everyone away for me. I'm going to send a patronus to..." LMAO WHO? When the hawk had been drawn, Hirsch and Tristan had been sent for. "Leave EVERYTHING as is for evidence taking purposes---keep EVERYONE away while we wait for Professor Wayland to come---" And he shot one of his silvery, quick binnturong patroni in that direction. "I will be escorting Kitty to Healer Reed. If you happen to see any PREFECTS come along this way, recruit them for help, yes," he nodded at Ronan and Oliver.

He put a hand on Kitty's shoulder. "Let's go to the Hospital Wing, m'dear, and have you checked out. Come on." He'd sent a patronus to both Hirsch and Regina as as they walked, quickly.

"EVERYONE...GO BACK TO WHERE YOU WERE BEFORE. SHOO. SKIDADDLE."

[lazykitty]

Well. In the time between the start of his panic attack and Professor Myers snipping at him, Ronan had gotten himself together enough to pull himself up off the floor (NO THANKS TO THE PROFESSOR!), though he was still visibly SHOOK. Yes, it was that bad. "But-but, she's been known to spout those views before and now with the writing, in blood," it didn't matter to him whether it was rodent, human, or tomato "well, groups like that can come back, can't they? I mean, everyone had thought that the Death Eaters were dead and gone when Voldemort disappeared after attacking baby Harry Potter....until they came back in 1995." There were many other examples, from both magical and Muggle history, but this wasn't the appropriate place to go into that.

Also, he was one of the most Muggle friendly people you could meet, but that didn't mean he thought it was a good idea to reveal themselves to them, just saying.

And then he and Olivia were being put in charge, as a result of no other prefects being present. Interesting. Also, Professor Myers seemed not to know who to call Ghostbusters. "The Headmistress?" he helpfully suggested. Because the head of the school should know they had a potential Cultist (he wasn't letting that go) in their midst. Anyway, crowd control time. He gave Olivia a grim 'let's do this' type face.

"ALRIGHT, YOU HEARD THE MAN! EVERYONE AS YOU WERE! NOTHING TO SEE HERE! TRY NOT TO DISTURB ANYTHING!" Now, what was the spell for caution tape?

[DaniDiNardo]

She wasn't aware of any commotion or issue down by the bulletin board. All the Ravenclaw knew was that the cast list was posted and she needed to ensure she was the narrator like she'd hoped for. It was the only role she was interested in--could you imagine anything else? Acting before an audience, remembering SO MANY lines? Nah, she was fine narrating.

Jessa headed down the final set of steps but as she approached, she saw this crowd. Normal. Cast list was out, people were coming to check what part they'd gotten. There was nothing to rouse her suspicion...until Ronan yelled something about a cult and Professor Myers was sending everyone away....?

"But I haven't looked yet." She said, coming up behind the man to join the others.

What were they all looking at if not the lis--hello there. The 14 year old gravitated from the list and closer to the wall where an odd set of words caught her attention. They said Kitty did this? A Healer while they all went back to pretending nothing happened? What had she walked in on?

"She's not sick, she's persistent." Jessa said, moving back toward the cast list to have a look before she was forced to leave. "Always on about muggle equality and exposing them to our world. She did it on purpose and no one ever tells her to stop. This is what happens." Her tone was distant, distracted while she perused the list. No, she wasn't shocked. No, she wasn't afraid. She was just not a fan of the Head Girl and her ideologies. There was no need to fuss, as long as someone promised the young girl that Kitty wouldn't get her way.

There would only be a struggle if she won. Now then...Jessa ...Jessa...Jessa.... Amata???? Seriously???

[PhoenixRising]

The cast list might have been meant to be posted hours ago, or only forty-five minutes ago? But Skylar had been deeply focused on memorizing the twelve uses of dragon blood and various potions it could be used it, that she'd lost track of time.

Once she finally realized the cast list was meant to be posted, the fifth year quickly exited the library and headed down to the bulletin board to see where (or if) she'd been cast. Only to find, chaos? A message in paint (blood?) about inequality and ending the struggle. That apparently Kitty wrote, which hearing Jessa's comment, Skylar had to admit she was in agreement with the fourth year. "Yes, she's been on about equality between muggles and wizards for years," honestly, nothing new here. Skylar was not about to forget the infamous debates in History of Magic two years ago. And last year.

Although to write in blood? That seemed contradictory, which had something else cross the Slytherin's brain. Something about the Secrets of the Darkest Arts book and well, suddenly Skylar felt sick. Speaking of History of Magic; was it just her, or was anyone else feeling the deja vu?

But she was here for the cast list... narrator or something small, maybe, and yet there was her name ... Asha... Skylar... Wait, what? She'd been cast as one of the three leading protagonists? The one who was sick, ironically enough.

[Goblinfrog]

Her eyes bulged and her mouth dropped as she read the message in all its gory detail. Quickly closing her mouth, she pointed at the message. "But I didn't do that! I don't even know why I'm here!" But her fingers were stained with blood...

And then Ronan accused her of being in a cult...the Cult of Walpurgis??? Then Jessa stormed in and accused her of writing the message on purpose, and then Skylar. And they were all using her past activism as proof. An unbiased part of her knew how bad this looked, especially in connection with the message. This was terrible. The only thing that would make it worse would be if Katy showed up.

"How could any of you think I'd do this!?" she said, almost screaming out of panic. "I've always been open about my beliefs, so why would I lie now? And why would I do this in pajamas and stick around to be caught???"