Valencia took a seat against the wall in the corridor. To anyone observing her, it would look like all she was doing was working on arithmancy. She had her textbook open to her side and was working on homework on a parchment in her lap. To her other side, was her notes from her last lesson. In the top right corner however, were letters and tally marks. She was determined to get an exact count of how many... visitors there were and how many traveled together. That sort of information seemed very useful to the Ravenclaw.

Today she was scoping out the boy's bathroom to see if any of them used it. For... reasons.

Aboli had very recently started speaking to Valencia again. It was nothing like it had been before...there was no sharing of secrets, no...girl!talk, so to speak. But Aboli had needed something that only Valencia could provide, and since their original discussion, she felt better. Braver. Stronger. Still very much afraid, but she could...do this. She could survive and help at least her fellow this term.

So when she spotted the Ravenclaw outside the boy's bathroom (not like RIGHT outside it, but near it) she quirked an eyebrow. "Are you...waiting on Royse or something?" she asked curiously.

Valencia kept her eyes on the bathroom. She didn't look up to acknowledge the presence of her former friend. It was... weird that they were talking again. But there was a good reason. It was common to bond over a common enemy. Their talk as of late had been strictly business though. That suited the Ravenclaw just fine, this way she didn't have to address how she was still very much hurt.

"No. He's doing some spell research." She tapped the tally marks on her parchment. "I'm keeping count."

Aboli hadn't forgotten that Valencia was supposed to be thinking about giving their friendship another shot, and so that was all in the back of her mind every time they spoke recently. She didn't see their time spent together lately as repairing it, though. She saw it the same way - common enemy, common bond. Royse desperately wanted them to be friends, and Aboli knew it. For his sake, she was trying. not at all for her sake, nope, not even after the recent meltdown she had had with Val..nope nope NOT ABOLI

"And what are you keeping count of, then?" Because Valencia's explanation was, as usual, not an explanation enough, and Aboli wanted to know more. "How many guys go in and out of the bathroom?" Kinda weeeeeird, Valencia.

Valencia meanwhile had more important thoughts on her mind. She didn't really have the emotional bandwidth needed to try and figure out their relationship when she was much too worried about Hogwarts (and the wider wizarding world) being possibly overtaken.

Being ready should an opportunity arise to do something was really the only thing that seemed worth dedicating effort to.

That and NEWTs.

You know, assuming she didn't get... erm... mortally separated from her body... before then.

She looked around to double check that the coast was clear before holding her hands up to the side of her face and flicking her wrists forward like she was putting on a hood. She was trying to count the hooded ones. More importantly, she was looking to see if the corridor bathrooms would be safe places to meet and talk.

Aboli would argue that friendships were equally as important to think about. And, well, NEWTs, too, frankly. Aboli could feel herself both caring too much about them while also caring not enough depending on the day and her mood. It was easy to let herself slip into caring about ANYTHING other than what was happening in front of her, but other days it was like...why were NEWTs even important if she might die before the end of the term?

Something Valencia had mentioned, though, recently, had stuck in her head. They were taking so many notes that she wondered if Val were right. Were they seeing who was worth it to take into the fold? And if anyone refused, they'd be killed? The Slytherin knew what her decision would be without having to think too much about it, and she knew how she'd tell her brother to react as well. The third year seemed to be taking all of this remarkably better than Aboli, but she wasn't surprised. He had always been the colder of the two of them.

She, somehow, understood what Valencia meant without having to ask her to clarify. "I see. Right." Aboli thought that the bathrooms were probably all rigged up to spy, too, but only audibly. She didn't think there were too many places where they weren't being overheard. Bathrooms, usually sacred for their privacy, were unlikely to be that way here at Hogwarts this term. "Need help with anything, then?"

Valencia thought for a moment. "What I really need is someone who can identify wands from a distance." That would give he a better idea of how many there were. It could even help identify their favored spells and if they had a routine. All she knew for sure is that they seemed to come in groups of two to five.

The Ravenclaw remained thoughtful for another few moments. "There are spells to identify if items are cursed." she said vaguely, still watching the bathroom door. "I haven't seen any...", of them, "use student bathrooms... I wonder if they've left anything behind." They obviously couldn't check the men's room, but perhaps they could check a ladies' room. Maybe one occupied by a certain ghost that would know for sure if things were safe in there.

And by safe, she didn't mean search for curses. She was concerned with searching for listeners.

Unfortunately, Aboli was not that person. "I don't know of anyone our age who is that good at wand stuff. You'll just have to teach yourself, I guess, oh brilliant one," she kept her voice even, but she was being reaaaally cheeky, all right? It wasn't done maliciously, though. Aboli really though if anyone could learn all that stuff quickly, it was Valencia.

"I'd volunteer to check this one, but I like my skin attached to my body. And having a body at all, actually. Be a pity to become a ghost this soon," she muttered, still glancing around every so often nervously. She remembered joking with Valencia the year they had all almost become ghosts that she wanted to be a ghost when she died. Sigh. It stung her just thinking about those times...how she would love to go back for plenty of reasons.

Valencia knew that Aboli was being sarcastic. But... "That's an idea..." she said slowly. Maybe she could quickly study up on at least how to identify woods. Maybe that and a combination of length and shape would be enough to figure things out.

Or at least get a better idea.

"That's a rather complicated spell, from what I understand." She paused. Aboli didn't mean that literally did she? That's not what she honestly expected to happen. Heh. "At least we're still in the right timezone." Having missing memories was the worst.

Of course it was an idea. Aboli had lots of 'em. Most of them were good, too, lately, if she DID say so herself. She had matured a lot, you know, and was quickly learning the ways of the world thanks to the Neo Alliance. "Well add it to your extensive list, then, Valencia. We don't have a lot of time," she raised an eyebrow at her former-maybe-friend.

Ah, Valencia could be funny sometimes. Like, in that way that really smart people aren't trying to be funny, but just are with how straight forward they are. Aboli actually let out a LOUD bellow. Maybe it was pent up anxiety and fear, but it felt good to do so. "I was making things up and - there's actually a spell?! I guess I'm not surprised." Her curiosity about it was probably too much for a sane person, but she found herself suddenly wanting to read up on it. "Right. Right. Timezones. Same zone at all..."

A noise from the left of them made her jump and snap to attention, but it was only someone's cat lazily passing by. "Be careful, kitty. Don't get in any hooded one's way, all right?" she told it gently.

Valencia nodded, making a mental note that she had to work much faster. There were NEWTS to study for, a government to overthrow, universities to apply to, people to spy on, and now learning about wood.

She could do this. Yup. No pressure. Because if anyone could come up with a game plan, it was her, right? At least that's what everyone has been saying.

She tilted her head slightly at the unexpected laugh. She did that thing again where she accidentally made a joke, didn't she. "There's a spell for pretty much everything." Pretty much. Except for how to eliminate muggle haters. She didn't know what the Latin base of that phrase was, or if those words even existed in Latin.

She watched the cat for a moment. "I wonder if any of them are animagi." she mused. "Maybe we ought to get a pet registry passed around and have people keep on the look out for anomalies."

She supposed that was true. There was a spell for practically everything, and if it didn't exist, there were potions. Aboli often thought about poisoning those New Alliance members, but she was much too scared to ever mention it aloud or put it into writing. Plus, it would have to be done so carefully. The Alliance probably were veeeeery careful about ingesting anything around this place knowing the general attitude of the students and staff members.

But it was nice and satisfying to think about, even if it were a far-fetched fantasy.

"That'd be a lot of work," she made a face. "Especially when we have no proof any of them are."

Valencia scoffed. "Are you really more afraid of a little work than utterly disgusted by the thought of accidentally petting one of them?" Because. Priorities. Besides, an animal form would probably be easier to subdue than a person.

She watched the bathroom door carefully. "You know... they might actually hate using it because of the pipes." Muggle technology and all.

"How often do you pet a random cat?" Aboli found herself asking Valencia with an eyebrow raise. "I would not advise that. Cats can be foul." Aboli liked animals, but cats could be weird, right? So Aboli didn't really go around approaching random ones she didn't know. So in her eyes, that wasn't an issue. "And anyway..it seems like a pointless use of time is all. We'd do better giving energy elsewhere." She shruuuuugged.

Hate using what? "The bathroom?" Everyone had to use the bathroom, though. "Are pipes a muggle thing?"

Valencia shrugged. "I tend to pet them if they come up to me." Animals tended to like her, she blamed that on her upbringing. "I've never had a cat be mean to me?" she said, mostly as a question, because that didn't actually happen, did it?

"Energy should always be used to improve one's knowledge."

She nodded. "Yes. They are. A very muggle thing."

Well wasn't Valencia just great? Cats were never mean to her. COoooooOOoool. She scoffed, rolling her eyes subtly as Valencia spoke. "We aren't all lucky." Aboli had been scratched once. It was traumatizing! She would rather a dog any day. HER dog, actually. Who she now missed above everything else....oh no, she missed Liam. Oh no, she actually missed her mum. And her dad.

UuuUuUuUgHhhHhhhh. Her whole family. WHY couldn't she connect psychically with her mother?! She had been trying EVERY NIGHT. TO NO avail.

"Not always. Knowledge sometimes isn't worth it," she muttered. "Okay...so...wonder why we're still allowed to use bathrooms then."

Valencia shrugged. She didn't really consider herself lucky, she just had good genetics. Animals loved her mother, her mother loved animals, she wasn't quite Connor, but she definitely wasn't hated.

She leaned closer, not quite making out the first part of that statement. The Ravenclaw figured that that was on purpose. "Honestly. I don't think they know better." She paused, imagining what it was like to not even know about what she supposedly believed in.

Well.

WELL.

Aboli just shrugged. "I'm not about to let them know. I'm good. The less time I have to talk to any of them, the better." She shivered uncomfortably. "Speaking of...I don't much fancy being out here lingering much longer. Dangerous times to be doing that. If you wanna talk anymore....I'll be in the library. Or we can talk outside."

She liked NOT being tortured, as Valencia should know.

Valencia nodded. That made sense. She, however, knew that she was about to enter a battle of words. History taught her that. She'd already picked out the bathrooms as her first target.

She nodded again. "Sure. You can go ahead." She checked her watch wondering how long she should do this before she can draw a conclusion. This wasn't nearly enough data.

"I'm going to wait here longer."

Right then.

She'd tell Royse to check in on Valencia tonight, if she saw him. Make sure Val wasn't, like, skipping meals to prepare whatever plan she had in mind. Why do I even care? It was hard not to. Sigh.

"See ya, then, Valencia. Don't stay here all night." And Aboli would be right on here way now.

The candles flicker as the followers march down the corridor. Your new castle-mates need a place to sleep. Every classroom, spare study, and office space in this hallway has been turned into barracks for the soldiers of The Greater Good.

You best stay out of their way. This corridor is theirs now.

Besides coming to this floor of the castle for Transfiguration, Cornelia had been using some of the room for practicing spells. She tried out a little bit of everything, but the one spell she had been working on the most was the very first one she had been taught at Hogwarts. For a little first year, she had gotten rather good at blowing things up.

Today she was planning on getting in a few blasts before curfew. Sure, she could have done that anywhere in the castle, but no one seemed to have minded the little messes that she left behind sometimes in some of the rooms on the sixth floor. Plus there were a lot of useless things in some of those rooms. In her mind, no one was going to miss a bunch of dusty junk. Nobody had told her otherwise.

"Oh..." her quiet voice sounded, turning the corner and taking in the sight of a bunch of people in the corridor. She froze, unsure of what to do. Should she go to a different corridor in search of a new practice room? Or would they let her go into that one storeroom? She was pure-blood after all, and she was practicing what Headmaster Rosier had taught them. "Hello..."

Irithel was looking forward to a secret practice session in the music classroom. Secret practice, not because she was afraid of the inquisitorial squad, but because she was still quite lousy and did not want other kids to make fun of her. When she turned the corner to the sixth floor corridor and saw a whole lot of bad guys hanging out there, she knew immediately that she would never learn how to play the piano, or how to conjure things from thin air. No, she was never returning to this corridor - home of Neo-Alliance followers - even if it meant she had to skip Transfiguration lessons!

"I don't think we should be here ..." she said to the first year, using her clever Ravenclaw brain.

She stood there, silent and unmoving, counting in her head just how many of them were there while she waited for someone to respond. But, of course, no response had come (perhaps they didn't hear her?) and Cornelia just kept on counting and counting and counting... She didn't get very far before she gave up. Why were there so many of them? But, most importantly, why did they need to take over this floor when the fifth floor was basically useless?

She jumped when a voice registered in her ear, one that she had not been expecting. Her face shifted slightly, just enough to take in the Ravenclaw girl for a brief moment, before returning her gaze back to the Neo-Alliance followers. They shouldn't be there? Perhaps...

"Then where else am I supposed to practice?" Whether that was an instrument or magic, she didn't specify. "What about Transfiguration? And they wouldn't hurt a pure-blood like me for being here, right?" All were valid questions in her mind.