Hello everyone, Sunny N. Raine here reporting live from beyond the entrance gates to get the scoop of the century. No big deal, it was only history in the making and Sunny Raine would be making IT. That by-line was his.

"Oi, the castle is magnificent, eh?" He put his hands on his hips, looking up to admire the beaut. They didn't make 'em like this in Canada. She was a beast! A real good lookin' architectural endeavor. Whew. Wonder how many years it took to get that pretty lady off the ground. Though it wasn't the castle he was interested in, it was hard not to get distracted by the ancient beauty. Sunny adjusted his hat while he mused. He kept his quill secured under its ribbon; his hat was an essential accessory for an on-the-go mission like this one. You want the scoop, you gotta go all out. Weather reporting is a cut-throat bizz.

Isla had been on a random stroll around the grounds when she happened to pass by the entrance gates. Whatever. Nothing new to see here. There was no way in or out unless you were a staffer. Since she wasn't one, and since she had no reason to be going out right now, she didn't even glance up. That is, until she heard the sound of a super unfamiliar voice, which caused her to stall right in her tracks.

Was he talking to her? STRANGER DANGER. If she was going to meet a gruesome death, it'd probably be here and now, while she wandering off by herself and currently encountering some strange man. "Uhh, yeah, sure," she said. She could elaborate on that, but she really should be on her way.

Was this one of those door-to-door type things? "Look, I don't think they make donations," she said. "Had to do a fixer-upper a few years back." She'd never been told as much, but she guessed funds were tight after that mist clean up. "You looking to get hired? Slip your resume in between the gate with a few galleons, and I'll put in a good word for you or something."

Yes? No? "If you're looking for Hogsmeade, you missed it by a bit," she said. Either way, she didn't have the powers to open this gate, and even if she did, HAHAHAHAHAHA. Not taking detention for YOU, Sir! She shrugged. "Have a good day."

Avalon Sinclair was stressed. She had been wandering around the castle grounds for over an hour now, trying to find her cat, Shadow. The feline was infamous for sneaking away to hunt, but he had been gone for over a day, and the Ravenclaw was starting to get worried. Not to mention she had finished four pieces of parchment worth of homework earlier, only to have accidentally spilled an entire bottle of ink on it as soon as she finished. So it was safe to say that today was not going as planned. Hair falling out of her bun and robes disheveled, Avalon made it to the end of Hogwarts property. She was about to turn around in frustration when she heard some voices.

That was odd. Hardly anyone ever wandered out this far on the grounds.

Squinting into the distance (of course, she had also lost her glasses today, which made the task of looking for Shadow all the more difficult), she recognized a younger Slytherin, who seemed to be talking to a fashionable-looking man. "Isla?" Avalon asked cautiously. She had no idea who the girl was talking to, but when she got closer to them, she saw that the man was wearing an odd-looking hat. "Who's that?" she asked Isla, raising her eyebrows. Maybe it was rude to ask right in front of the man, but her curiosity had gotten the best of her.

AHA! Sunny positively beamed at the young girl [Anna Banana], until she began speaking of donations. PAH. He wasn’t looking for those. He’d have plenty of money once he turned in the story of a lifetime. ”Naaaah,” he waved his hand in the air to dismiss the words. ”I’m not here for hire.” Sunny laughed in all good humor. What would a reporter be doing looking for hire at a castle!? ”Say,” he took a few steps forward. ”Have you seen anything strange in the last couple of days?” Best keep it vague. Wouldn’t do any good to feed her the lines. That would ruin the authenticity.

Who was he? Sunny took no offense to the question. It was usually one of the firsts. ”I’m Sunny Raine!” he took the liberty of answering the second girl to draw near [Fireheart] and offered up his hand for a formal shake. ”Now, where were we? Ah, yes, weird occurrences… Have you seen anything off?” He looked around, assessing their whereabouts once more. ”And your names, please,” he added as an afterthought as he reached up to grab the quill from his hat and pulled out a notebook from his back pocket. He didn’t trust a quick quotes.

Kitt was LOOKING. Not having been here for the last two years, there was a lot of catching up and mapping he needed to do. Just yesterday, he'd found out where the forbidden forest was--and appropriately stayed out of it because he'd asked a portrait THAT TALK BY THE WAY OKAY THEY TALK--and they'd told him a rough story of what had happened.

Kid didn't even like normal spiders. Staying away was easy.

Today, he was heading in the opposite direction and it took him to the gate and Isla and that Avalon girl.

And.

This guy.

"Nice to meet'cha, Sunny Raine." Kitt enthused as he came to a stop by the girls. If neither girls was running and screaming, he must have been alright. That was good enough for the 13 year old. Was he knew? What class would he be teaching because um y'know this Gryffindor's schedule was already full. And while the man probably hadn't been talking to him....."Kitt Lazarus. That's L-A-Z-A-R-U-S. Third Year, Gryffindor and boy have I got some occurrences for you. There's a ghost in the girl's loo!! Not that I'd know." Of course not. Ahem. "And ELVES, in the kitchen. Real elves!!! And mate, MATE, the ceiling in the Great Hall looks like outside!! Outside!"

Fascinating stuff in this castle.

With the help of a magical homework planner that she bought, Jina managed to improve her productivity in revision sessions. Whenever she opened the planner, it shouted at her to stop procrastinating on her schoolwork, though not in a nice way. Although she found it annoying, she knew it was what she needed to maintain good grades. She was most hardworking in previous years, but becoming a seventh year and being one step closer to leaving school must have decreased her academic motivation. She was determined to get rid of the planner as soon as she fully returned to her diligent state.

She was taking a walk in the grounds after a good long session of transfiguration practice. She was still going through some incantations in her head, when she noticed a group of young students with an unfamiliar adult. Ummm WHAT? It looked like he was interviewing them about strange occurrences. That was kinda fishy … because she hadn’t seen anything odd in the past few days. Unless he was asking about the things that Kitt Lazarus just described. Anyway, were random student interviews even allowed? Did no one care about child safeguarding at this school? Jina walked towards them, holding her wand in her cardigan pocket. She could transfigure the man into a ferret if he tried to do anything dangerous. “Sir, do you have permission to be on this side of the gates?” she asked.

It was somewhere in between the word 'Naaaah' and that little wave of his hand through the air when Isla became a little more suspicious. Thank Merlin there were others showing up, which meant she wouldn't die alone she was no longer alone out here. Then when he asked about anything strange happening around here, Isla's eyes grew a bit wide. She may have bullied out a piece of Starburst or something when she was a super little kid, but she wasn't falling for this one.

"Sunny Raine? What a contradicting name you have there," she pointed out. His parents sure did have a sense of humor. Had that been a little rude? If so, she hadn't meant it to be. "I mean, nice to meet you?" That had been better but had come out more of a question than anything. She watched with eyes still wide as quaffles and tried her best to shake her head at Avalon. Come on, Avalon. You're a Ravenclaw. Don't do it!

...and then Kitt suddenly came out of nowhere, opened his mouth, and every bit of Hufflepuff he must have had in him spilled out. "Kitt," she said, her voice in a half whisper, half hiss. She turned to face him, and the look she gave was one a kid's mom might give the kid when they are starting to act up in public. She was trying every facial expression she could to get him to stop. By the time she'd finished, he'd detailed at least everything the lower part of the castle had to offer.

"Look, we should go," she said, turning back to look at Sunny. And so should he. "Do you...need to speak to someone in charge or something?"

Sunny Raine? What kind of name was that? Sounded like some stage name for a Muggle meteorologist or something. But why was this guy here, and why was he on the Hogwarts side of the gate? As far as Avalon knew, only staff members could open them, and it seemed very odd that a professor would let this man in and then just leave him to do his own bidding.

Ah, so he was a reporter. Glancing at his notebook and quill, Avalon knew he was working for some sort of publication. The question was, what? Sorry random stranger man, but this Ravenclaw wouldn't be telling you anything until you fessed up. "Oh, you're a reporter then? What publication do you work for?"

Aaaand they had company. She looked incredulously at the Gryffindor boy as he gave the reporter a bunch of information, without any second thought. Not that it was any secret that house elves worked in the kitchen, but she was just amazed that Kitt gave his full name. At least Jina was here, though. She probably knew some more advanced spellwork than the younger kids, in case anything weird happened. Avalon had to agree with Isla that they should go, but she was kind of intrigued at this point. She wanted to find out what this guy was doing here, and if she should go tell a professor about it.

This one [Anna Banana] had a ‘tude. Sunny humored her with a charming laugh. ”Ever seen a rainbow, kiddo?” He waggled his eyebrows at her. Sun and rain? Not all that contradicting if you really put your noggin’ to the test. All in good fun though. She wasn't the first to point it out and wouldn't be the last. No skin off Sunny's back! Though his jovial spirit did take a momentary pause when the other youngling [Fireheart] spoke again. ”…………….” But she couldn’t have known, ”it’s a touchy subject.” A sore spot, if you will. No matter! After THIS scoop, he’d be back in the bizz. No problemo.

These kids, they were popping up like an unexpected raincloud. It was fantastic! Keep 'em comin'! The more quotes he could get the better, especially if they were to back each other up. Reliability of sources mattered. He positively beamed at Kitt Lazarus and diligently took notes as the strapping young kidderoni began speaking…… Until he realized that none of that information was of any use to him.

Scratching that. Scratching all of that. No offense, kid, but house elves are not the type of story he was after. He made a big show of scratching out those lines before looking up to address Kitt l-a-z-a-r-u-s. ”That’s great stuff, kid, and I mean really, but not the scoop I’m lookin’ for.” There was one thing about the occurrences he shared that caught Sunny’s interest. ”Tell me more about outside… any funny business with the sky?” He leaned in real close, as if sharing a joke with an old friend, before turning to the girl dawning robes of blue [Sunflower]. He gave her a knowing smile. ”A fellow investigative journalist!” Excellent! She should know how to answer questions then. ”Have you taken note of anything out of the ordinary? Anything whacky going on outside?”

Isla just didn't know what to think about this man. On one hand, he seemed somewhat innocent, but on the other hand, there were internal alarms blaring in her head. For one, she had specifically asked if he'd like to speak to somebody in charge, and he'd conveniently ignored the question. Then, he'd only given Avalon a very vague answer about him being a reporter. A touchy subject. Riiiight. She decided to return the favor and ignored his questions about rainbows.

Isla was only going to give the rest of the students another minute or two of warnings, and then she was out of here. "Excuse me, but...she'd asked if you had permission to be on this side of the gate," she pointed out, looking toward Jina but not giving her name. "We'll be happy to help you, and maybe somebody'll answer your questions, but we should go get somebody who's in charge." So in other words... "If you'll give me the name of the company you're with, I'll let somebody know."

She took a few steps back. "Guys?" she asked, gesturing for them to come with her. "You want to...come with me or something?" This was one of those 'take two steps backward, turn around, and run' kind of situations here. They were going to have to drag Kitt out of here, weren't they?

Isla and Avalon were clever - they were not giving out any personal information. Kitt though ... well, at least it seemed like the man was not interested in the large chunk of information that the young Gryffindor released. So he was looking for a specific story then? It was as if he already knew some funny business and just wanted to hear about it from them. Adding this to the way he evaded all of their queries, she decided that he was definitely fishy and worth informing a staff member about.

And uh she was not an investigative journalist. She was not going to answer his question, not just because she did not trust him, but also because she really had not noticed anything strange about the sky. It just rained a lot and got purplish once, nothing interesting.

"Yeah, let's go," she said to the younger students as she gestured with the hand not gripping her wand in her pocket. She was going to wait for them to turn around and leave first before following.

....Eh?

Kitt looked about at his schoolmates, wondering what all the secrecy was about. From everything he'd heard, it was pretty difficult to get to Hogwarts. The fact the man had, he obviously must've known how and was probably invited. That's how he saw it anyway and he didn't see what was so wrong with getting into the NEWSPAPER!!

The boy had always wanted to be in one of those articles, his name in print. Maybe his parents would see. They'd know he was okay and making waaaaaves.

Oh, but his info wasn't what the man had been thinking about. "Um...I guess....I dunno.... What do you think should be happening outside? If you told us, I bet we'd be able to answer better. Sometimes you don't remember things til your memory's been jogged."

And they were leaving already? But they hadn't gotten to answer any of Sunny's questions!! That was anything but helpful. But he couldn't stick around by himself. He didn't know magic and didn't think standing at the gate with a stranger was wise--some common sense, at least.

Kitt turned with the others but paused to look back at the man. "Come with us."

It was a touchy subject? Avalon quirked an eyebrow. What, had he been fired or something? Embarrassed to say what publication he worked for? Or was he deliberately hiding it? She didn't want to jump to any conclusions, because the guy seemed nice enough. But at the same time, massive alarm bells were going off in her head. At least Isla and Jina were being cautious. Kitt, on the other hand, not so much. Although it was quite clever of him to turn the question back around on this Sunny Raine fellow and ask the reporter what he thought was going on outside. Avalon couldn't determine if it was deliberate or accidental, but either way, she was mildly impressed.

She nodded to her classmates, glad that they were in agreement that they should get out of here. But was it safe to turn her back on the guy? Just in case, Avalon started by taking a few steps backward. "Thanks, Mr......er.....Raine, was it? Nice talking to you. But we should go," she said with a slightly nervous smile.

Wait, Kitt wanted the man to come with them? Umm, was that really a good idea? On one hand, Avalon thought it would be completely stupid to invite this stranger further onto the school grounds. But on the other hand, was he really trustworthy to be left alone? She glanced back and forth between her classmates as she continued backing away. They just needed to stick together until they got back to the castle, right? Hopefully.

...and finally, it seemed as if the others were starting to pick up on her hints and were agreeing to leave. Things looked to be going perfectly, until Kitt spoke up again. Isla really liked Kitt. He was a really fun person, and she thought they had the potential to be good friends. He was bound and determined to unintentionally get her into a ton of trouble, though. Between this and scooping up animal poop, she just couldn't stay out of mischief with that boy.

At least he'd asked a really good question, though. "Yeah, have you heard something? What should we be looking for?" she asked. She kind of got the impression Mr. Raine wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, so maybe he'd slip up and say something. Good thinking, Kitt. Really good thinking.

...and then Kitt dropped the bomb on them. She spun toward him slowly with her eyes wide. "Trent is going to kill us for bringing an uninvited guest onto the grounds and into the castle," she whispered to him. "If he's up to no good, though, that might be our best shot at catching him..." Isla turned toward Raine but didn't necessarily echo Kitt's offer. At least when it was all said and done, she could at least say 'It wasn't me!'.

The little one [Anna Banana] was really grinding his gears, but Sunny kept his charming smile in place. He had ample practice doing so, keeping up appearances and the like. ”I’m sure I have my press pass somewhere in here,” he tucked his quill into his hat again and began rummaging through his messenger bag. Press pass was permission enough, was it not? Granted, the pass was slightly outdated and from one of his old, old jobs. Not that it mattered because it had no written expiration date over front. He handed the identification card over to the young one with all of the questions.

Speaking of questions, none of his were being answered. A real shame because they could have all had mentions when his article was published front-page! Maybe he’d give Kitt Lazarus a cheeky mention though. That kid was trying. ”Torrential rain, strange colours in the sky... Weird weather stuff,” he gestured vaguely up at the sky. It wasn’t entirely clear what it would manifest itself as this time around. Besides, receiving a tip was not something that happened very often. Had to run here fast as he could before anyone else beat him to covering it. No time for big research endeavors. He knew what he was supposed to know and that was enough.

Sunny began following the crowd the moment they decided to head back towards the castle. There wasn’t anyone else around and he was in need of a lead. ”Don’t need to tell me twice, kid,” he hit Kitt with a razzle dazzle smile before matching him in stride. They could chat as they walked towards the castle. ”The guy in charge would be great!” He bellowed over at the smallest one who was heading the group.

Torrential rain, strange colours in the sky ... Perhaps he really was referring to the purple sky that she saw! Her eyebrows rose in surprise, but she recomposed herself. She wondered why he had to hear it from them, because it seemed like he already knew a lot. There was probably some journalism rule about there needing to be a certain number of quotes in an article.

At first she was astonished that Kitt invited the man to go with them, but on second thought taking him to a staff member might be the best course of action. She released her wand in her pocket, dried her sweaty hand and held it again (constant vigilance). The more she observed him, the more she thought that he had no wish to harm them. Walking into the grounds with him should be okay, as long as they quickly handed him over to "the guy in charge". She stayed at the back of the group as they walked towards the castle together. "Should we take him to Professor Fuller-Thompson? His office is the closest from here." She whispered to the other students.

Isla started to roll her eyes at the fact the man was rummaging around for some press pass he likely didn't even have. But when he actually produced one, she grew wide-eyed and accepted it immediately. It was legit! HONESTLY LEGIT.

OOPS.

Whatever. She handed it back to him without another word. She still got this weird, stranger danger vibe from him, so press pass or not, she was still being cautious. At the words 'strange colors in the sky' she couldn't help but pass a glance toward the others. The thing was, they had seen strange colors in the sky. "So what if we did see strange colors in the sky? What might that mean?" she asked. Apparently this guy knew something they didn't. Go ahead, Rainy Sun...Sunny Raine...whatever your name was. We're listening.

In the next instance, though, they were all heading toward the castle. "I have a feeling this is the beginning of the end of my Hogwarts career," she whispered to a nearby student. But they were too far in now. Sunny Raine was actually walking with them...toward the castle...uninvited except by them.

He had asked for the guy in charge, so...Trent? "I think he wants the guy in charge," she whispered to Jina.

OOC: Next post here knocking on the door?

All the stuff that guy had mentioned...it was jogging memories for young Kitt and while his peers were less forthcoming, Isla got him thinking. There had to be a reason Sunny was asking. It couldn't just be because he cares about afternoon showers in the Scottish Highlands, so he sprang for the truth. "Oh yeah, mate. We've got red skies, purples skies, you name it. Nem says the world is ending. It isn't really, is it?"

Kitt didn't mind where they were taking this reporter guy, but Isla was right, he'd asked for the head. Technically....Fuller-Thompson was Head of House. Did that count? Was that the same thing?

He didn't know, so he continued blabbing on about all the things he'd seen and how they could be what Sunny wanted. Consider him a VERY useful source. Totally welcome.

The girls could decide where this trainwreck was heading.

These kids did not want to answer questions did they? ”That’s what I’m here to find out! It’s called investigative journalism for a reason, kiddo,” he gave the youngest one a charming smile. He wasn’t about to tell them what he thought it meant! Too risky. Nah, he had a head start on the other guys! Couldn’t let a twelve year old blow it.

Kitt though, he was giving the kind of information Sunny was looking for. ”Red and purple skies, eh?” Sunny took avid notes. This was real good stuff. Exactly what he needed. ”Nah, hope not.” End of the world? Who could really say? World couldn't end yet, he had a piece to publish.

Sunny followed the group along, taking a major interest in the words of Kitt Lazarus. Made sure to ooh and ahh, giving the kid all the reassurance he needed to continue.So long as Kitt Lazarus kept talkin' it didn't really matter how long it'd take to get to whoever was in charge around here.

Nobody seemed to be heading toward any place in particular, but Isla had decided two things. One, she was staying with the group, and two, she was staying with Kitt. Somebody had to babysit him. He had nearly told all, and although that might end up being a good thing, the fact still remained the Sunny Raine was a stranger. An uninvited stranger. Who just got invited into the castle. By them.

...and then Kitt opened his mouth and literally spilled everything Isla had been afraid he'd spill. It took her by surprise, but at least she could walk away from this whole ordeal saying 'I DIDN'T DO IT'.

She side-eyed Mr. Weatherman, taking note of how he was taking so many notes. Great. Nobody had really confirmed exactly where they were going, and so far two different ideas had been thrown out. Fuller-Thompson? Trent? Nobody had confirmed anything in particular, so Isla decided an executive decision needed to be made. "Is everybody okay with going to the Headmaster?" she asked. If not, speak now. They had to drag Raine somewhere...

So this guy actually had a press pass, and he was particularly interested in the mysterious sky colors. That, combined with his name, probably meant that he was some sort of weather reporter. Sunny Raine seemed harmless, but Avalon had experienced enough peril in the past few years at Hogwarts to know that inviting a stranger into the castle with them was not the smartest idea. They could bring him to Fuller-Thompson, but the guy had technically asked for the Headmaster. Perhaps some of them could go get the Headmaster, while the others supervised the reporter.

"It's not safe to just bring him into the castle with us," she whispered to her classmates. She could hear Trent's constant vigilance mantra ringing in her head as she spoke. They might never hear the end of it if they let some random weather guy into the castle, no matter how harmless he seemed. "Isla and I can go get Trent. Jina and Kitt, can you stay here with him until we get back?" Unless anyone had any objections. She was open to negotiation, but they needed to make a decision either way. Avalon turned to the reporter and gave him a smile. She didn't want to act too suspicious around this guy. "Mr. Raine, we're going to see if the Headmaster is available. We'll be right back."

FINALLY.

Somebody around here was showing a little common sense when it came to Sunny Raine. Truth be told, more than one person was, but red flags had been going up for the past...ten minutes? Something like that, and there was finally an idea that Isla could get on board with.

Apparently, she was going to Headmaster. Avalon had just volun-told her to, and Isla was okay with that. She nodded. "I'm okay with that," she said. They didn't have to time to wait on a round of discussions about it, so she turned toward Jina and Kitt. This could either turn out to be a good thing...or a complete disaster. At least Kitt was getting babysat by a seventh year.

"Okay, well, I guess we'll be back in just a bit," she said to others. More than ready to get away from Mr. Sunny Raine, the second year turned on her heels and headed toward the castle with Avalon.

”I have a feeling this is the beginning of the end of my Hogwarts career”. Jina agreed with Isla on that. She had a bad feeling about this whole business. Firstly, the sky turns purple and red. Then a fishy reporter comes to ask precisely about that! Well there wasn’t anything odd about a reporter doing his job, but there were small details that made her suspicious. What if they all got killed - or worse, EXPELLED? In her final year of school??

She had suggested Fuller-Thompson because of the proximity of his office and because then Mr Reporter would not have to enter the castle itself. Avalon’s idea of splitting up worked too, as long as they did not increase the potential of themselves and other students being harmed. She nodded and watched as the two girls headed back to the castle. And so, Kitt, Sunny Raine and Jina were back at the entrance gates, waiting for the others. She was … a bit nervous.

”They won't take long,” she said to the man, though truthfully she had no idea how long they would take. She did not even know where the headmaster's office was located. She hoped the girls could bring Professor Trent here, and maybe some Kelpie bodyguards too. Should she make small talk while waiting? She did have some questions to ask him. ”Um, where are you from, Mr Raine?”

All the whispering the girls were doing? Kitt didn’t hear any of it, mostly because he’d stopped paying attention to them in favour of talking to this Sunny Raine fellow. He was alright and seemed keen to hear everything Kitt was saying which made him PRIME company on their walk over to the castle.

Only thing was, suddenly Isla and Avalon were leaving? Had he missed something? Obviously. Too engrossed in his own conversation clearly.

Kitt stopped walking, the castle now within view when the girls took off and left him with Jina and Sunny. They were so close, why were they stopping now? He could practically SEE the Headmaster’s office from here.

And also was he the only one not whispering and paying attention?????

Sunny was an interesting bloke!

“Wait for us! Come on, Sunny! Kitt took off at a half run, half jog—old people couldn’t run fast and he was being helpful. He was welcome. “Jina, you, too!”

He bet he knew or shortcut but he probably didn’t but they were gonna use it anyway. So off the Gryffindor went, trusting at least one of them to be following.