Eden had spent the better part of her morning trudging around the castle, getting used to it and looking for a good place to practice some spells away from the nosy eyes of the staff - her forehead already smarted enough from her new face tattoo.

But SOMEONE had to teach her some magic, even if those somebodies would have to be the authors of her textbooks. Her back was already stiff from lugging her stuffed school bag around and she was thinking of just practicing in her dorm when she noticed an unlocked, slightly ajar door.

Peeking inside, her eyes lit up. It was a big, open space - perfect for the destructive menace-witch she was ready to become. She placed the copy of Standard Book of Spells on the floor along with a large rock from outside and flipped to "Wingardium Leviosa." Had she wanted to start with the finger-removing spell? Yes. But it was too advanced. So instead she focused all her energy (she'd been practicing) on the levitation spell, willing the rock to hurl at a specific part of the ceiling.

And failed. Again, again, and again; the rock would get halfway to the high ceiling, or come dangerously close to smashing a window on the wall across the room, or most insultingly...just flip over on the ground pathetically, not even having the decency to rise. This was getting tiring. But still, she persevered.

Everything was terrible and Kinsay James was terrified. There were hundreds of new, terrible adults roaming the castle and Kizzy saw exactly what they were capable of. They hurt Adam and Kale at the feast! What if they started hurting people Kiz was actually friends with!?

So obviously there was only one sensible thing left to do: Create an HQ.

Kiz had scoped out the WHOLE castle (well, most of the castle) (well, SOME of the castle) (well, the seventh floor) and the spare office looked to be the best bet. It was spacious enough to house all her friends and maybe with Teddy's help they could find a way to lock the door so that the bad people couldn't ever get inside. It'd be their safety from the rest of the world.

Except there was one problem. No furniture.

Being the feminist that she was, Kinsay took it upon herself to bring all the furniture to the room on her own. Because she was STRONG! And a FEMINIST (had she mentioned that part yet?). So here she was, dagging a chair from her common room down the corridor and into the spare office.

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.

And when she opened the door to the room she GASPED. AUDIBLY!

"Um. You can't be in here." It was supposed to be her HQ!

"I SAID FREAKING WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" Eden shouted, and this time the rock did hit the ceiling, but without any pizazz. It wasn't really a hit as much as a knock.

No time to celebrate, though. Nothing to really celebrate, either, but ANYWAY, here was...the Gryffindor girl who apparently talked incessantly, right? James? Except she had her mouth back, and when she opened it, Eden couldn't help but laugh. It was a little too long of a laugh, honestly. Bordering on crazy. 'Cause if ONE MORE person tried to HARSH HER VIBE at this school she was going. to. lose. it. Entirely.

"Why not?" Eden replied, straightening her posture and crossing her arms. "And what's with the chair?"

But she didn't talk incessantly! She really didn't! It was unfair and horrible that the new Headmaster made everyone think she did. He was spreading lies. He was a bully. And... Kinsay was hoping that everyone had forgotten about the whole ordeal because thinking any other way made her feel terribly.

As did the shouting she had stumbled in on... and the laughing.

If there was one thing Kinsay James did not appreciate, it was being laughed at. It made her feel small and silly. So she frowned deeply, folding her arms across her chest. She tried her best to look intimidating, but really she just felt small. The girl was laughing at her. A first year was laughing at her.

"Because," she offered in explanation. "You just can't." It was supposed to be her headquarters. It wasn't fair. Everything was already awful and now a horrible first year was taking her secret headquarters. As for the chair? "There's no furniture." She answered simply. Duh.

Eden could tell the girl didn't appreciate being laughed at...and with a small pang of guilt, thought to herself...well, who did? But then she went ahead and pushed that guilt right out the window. She had enough on her plate and wasn't going to feel bad about not being bossed around by some girl.

Was that supposed to be an explanation? How unfortunate. Eden knew she was new at all this, but she was starting to understand the sorting system better. It made sense why this girl didn't live in Ravenclaw tower.

"But I am. You can still put your chair here," it was a big enough room for two, and the other girl had clearly had plans to be here. "Just watch out for my flying rock."

Annnnnd with that Eden turned around and cast the levitation spell once more. This time the rock zoomed about three feet in the air before plummeting back to the ground. Embarrassing. Maybe she should try a different technique? Knife levitation? Maybe try to levitate teeth out of a mouth - but she'd need a good practice dummy for that, which wasn't happening anytime soon.

If Kinsay had been privy to these thoughts, she would have pointed out that she nearly had been sorted Ravenclaw. Her lack of explanation had little to do with not having a real one and everything to do with not wanting to share it.

"..... How long will you be in here?" Because Kinsay didn't want to share! She NEEDED this room for herself and Emm and Emma and Matty and Sammy and Cousin Cooper and Phoebe and Flynn and Yoyo and Tavie.... And Benjee and Noah and Moose and... The list went on and on. The point, however, was that she NEEDED the room. It was important!

Kizzy wasn't planning on moving the chair anywhere else, so the offer wasn't necessary. She had dragged it all the way from her Common Room, there was no way she'd turn around just to drag it all the way back. Besides, she still planned on using the room eventually. It was still the top candidate for her HQ.

She chose to keep these thoughts to herself while she watched the younger girl attempt to levitate the rock. She wasn't very good, but then again... Kinsay wasn't very good at magic either. Something she wouldn't be admitting to. "You should use something less dangerous." The rock could hurt someone.

Alas, Eden was not a mindreader AND she was not feeling very nice today. So she'd probably keep being rude in the privacy of her thoughts, and probably in the not-privacy of this conversation, too. Sorry, Kinsay James.

Maybe she could be a little nicer if she wanted answers, though. Eden was growing curious and annoyed at the same time. Concentrating with this girl in here was impossible. Worse, she was getting tired and really wouldn't have minded calling it a day soon...and it was the right thing to do...but that would be GiVING UP. Giving up felt a lot like losing and losing felt a lot like trying to swallow the rock she was trying to practice offensive levitation on.

Speaking of rocks... "I don't know." When she could do something remotely cool with Wingardium Leviosa, that's when. "And being dangerous is the POINT. I'm new at magic and want to learn how to use simple spells offensively. I was going to practice with my pocket knife, next, but because you're in here I won't." Eden thought this was very nice of her.

Maybe she could try being nice some more. "Do you...want help moving that chair in?"

Apology not accepted, Eden Tilly!

"What do you mean you don't know?" Kizzy gave the younger girl a disbelieving look. 'I don't know' was a cheap answer. It's what people said when they really did know, but they just didn't want to say. Kinsay knew this from experience because she did it too sometimes. Proper legilimens at age 12, obviously. Eden could ask Cooper if she wanted proof.

............ Though maybe she didn't actually want to know Eden's real answer because her thoughts in regard to using knives was concerning. "Isn't that the opposite of the point? If you're new to magic, it's a bad idea to use knives with spells." Just saying. But also. "Why do you want to learn offensive spells?" Because if she was trying to start an uprising, Kinsay was going to shut that down real quick. Emm was right about this stuff. There's no winning.

And about the chair? "No, I can do it myself." Hashtag feminism! Aka. Struggling with the chair, but not wanting to admit to it because feminists do things by themselves... Right?

"I mean that I do not know exactly how long I will be in this room."
Duh.

Eden's expression tightened at the annoyingly correct point from Kinsay. YES, it was a teensy eensy little bit dangerous, but her knife was small and she was practicing on this SAFE ROCK first. She was over this conversation. "Don't worry about it. Good luck with that chair."

That said, she turned back to her rock and spellbook and a little lightbulb went off in her brain. Smiling, she turned the page to the next spell. The rock and stone floor were perfect for safely practicing a DIFFERENT spell, possibly for hours on end. She left her things on the floor and began to roll up the large rug before the fireplace. Safety was clearly a priority for her (SEE, Kinsay?) especially when practicing the fire-making spell.

Kinsay was growing frustrated. Was there anything that Eden did know?

For the record, Kizzy wasn't worried about it. She was only just saying that the first year probably shouldn't be doing spells with knives. And also that she should vacate the room, please and thank you! Seeing as the Ravenclaw was refusing to leave, however, Kinsay quietly huffed under her breath.

Fine.

"... Okay." She gave Eden one last look up and down before turning to head out the door. She was going to get another chair... From the Gryffindor Common Room... where she had stolen borrowed the first one from. Hopefully when she came back Eden would be done practicing her unsafe spells because Kinsay didn't want to talk to her again.

Aboli tried the door to the spare office and peeked her head inside to make sure it was completely empty. So residual younger student energy in here even with that faint pineapple smell. It was pleasant, but Aboli didn't care what the room smelled like currently.

She kept the door propped open as she sat on the old rug, crossed-legged, facing the remnants of the fireplace. She twirled her wand in her fingers, her feaux dragonhide gloves better for practicing wandwork. Avalon would be joining her shortly, and she was glad to have a chance to catch up with the other former prefect. Well, prefect. Aboli hardly used the word former these days. There was zero importance of titles, anyway.

Why did it seem like she was sneaking around everywhere these days? Avalon even felt like she was breaking the rules when she was walking to the bathroom. With the Neo-Alliance around every corner, it was starting to feel like even the most permissible of tasks were against the rules. Wand in hand, she made her way down the corridor to the spare office, trying to keep her footsteps light.

She peeked inside hesitantly, breathing a sigh of relief at the sight of Aboli, who was already there. "Hey," she greeted, slightly out of breath from her hurried steps. The Ravenclaw closed the door behind her. She sniffed the air skeptically before breaking out into a bit of laughter at the whole thing. "Why does it smell like pineapple in here?"

Aboli turned her head slightly, still facing the opposite way of the door, at the sound of Avalon's voice. "Helllllo, Avalon," she said calmly before twisting her body aaaallll the way around to face the sixth year. The Ravenclaw's laugh made Aboli smile. Avalon was one of those humans who radiated according to Aboli. And she was an annoying radiator of sunshine, either. She had depth.

"Not sure, but it always has in here. Ever since I started in fifth year," she shrugged and scrambled to her feet, brushing off her school skirt. "So. Let's get to business, here. We're here practicing Charms," the inflection in her voice, she hoped, would mean something to Avalon. "So where should we start? Have you gotten a handle on nonverbals yet?" She had confessed a bit of an obsession about that to Avalon previously, and so it shouldn't be a surprise that Aboli would want to practice their skills in the silent spell regard.

..."We could also practicing dueling." Aboli's eyes glimmered slightly, wickedly.

Aboli's mysterious turn-around and greeting only caused Avalon to laugh more. She sniffed again, sort of enjoying the pineapple-y smell. "Really? Weird. I guess I haven't been up here much. Except for that one time last year when I had to reprimand a bunch of third years for having a Pepper Imp party in here after their trip to Hogsmeade." Why anyone would willingly eat Pepper Imps, Avalon never knew. She had only tried one once, and it made her throat burn for hours afterward.

She grabbed her wand from her pocket, ready to get started. "Yes, let's begin," she said, jokingly rubbing her hands together in a sinister fashion. "I could use some practice on my nonverbals. I've got Incendio, Levicorpus, Wingardium Leviosa, and Accio down. But I'm a little rusty on the others." Charms was her favorite subject, after all, so she was quite excited for the opportunity to get some practice. And it was a personal goal to improve on her nonverbal defensive spells. You know, with the evil people taking over the castle and all.

She raised her eyebrows at Aboli's comment about dueling, smirking in return. "And hmmm, yes, a duel is never a bad idea!" Perhaps they could have a quick go after they practiced some spells together.

HA! Imagine, a Pepper Imp party. And third years no less. Aboli wouldn't have even bothered - let them learn the hard way. Avalon was a better person than she was, perhaps. "I have to say I've never tried one of those. "Are they that painful?" She was sure her mother had definitely spoken ill of them before.

Avalon's list was short. Aboli smirked. "What about expelliarmus?" she asked as she gave her wand a little flick as she sent a nonverbal one of those at Avalon in a smug kind of way. "It shouldn't be too hard, since that spell isn't that difficult normally," she shrugged and crossed her arms. "So try it on me, now." It was better, when dueling or attacking someone/defending oneself, to be nonverbal. It was more of a surprise for the other person(s). She knew if she ever got into a real duel with an ACTUAL adult witch or wizard her skill wouldn't compare, so she needed every advantage she could get.

Soooooo Avalon would be down to duel at some point. Cool. It made Aboli smirk even more. How fun.

"If you don't mind a lingering sore throat that basically feels like it's on fire, they're not too bad," Avalon replied sarcastically. "I'm just glad they didn't burn the office down."

Her expression changed to one of surprise as her wand flew out of her hand and into Aboli's. She wiggled her eyebrows. "I'm impressed! Teach me your ways!" Avalon had been trying to master a nonverbal disarming spell for a few months now, but the best she'd been able to do is make the person's wand fall to the ground. Dropping the incantation made the spell way trickier. "Toss me my wand back and I'll give it a go."

Once she had her wand in hand, she steeled herself, preparing for the cast. She sent a nonverbal toward Aboli, focusing on the Slytherin's wand breaking free and soaring into her own hand.

An on-fire throat did not sound too fun. Also glad the office was not burned down. She tossed Avalon's wand back at her and stood as if she were about to send another spell at the Ravenclaw, just so she could practice on a moving target. Next thing Aboli knew, her wand was flung from her hand. She practically BEAMED. "Avalon! You did it!" she said gleefully as she rushed to grab her wand back. "Try it again, though, because we gotta' make sure it isn't a fluke. That you've actually mastered it!" she collected the wand and stood across from Avalon once more, and she again moved around so Avalon could practice on a moving target.

COME AND GET US, AVALON! Aboli smirked as she flourished her wand, pretending to send a spell right at the other girl.

Avalon's jaw dropped in disbelief as Aboli's wand soared into her hand. She broke into a grin at her quick success. "Okay, that seemed a little too easy. Lemme try again." But then again, a nonverbal disarming spell wasn't exactly at the tippy-top of her spells-to-practice list, so maybe she just hadn't given it enough thought before. Luckily, Aboli wasn't going to make it easy on her (Avalon wouldn't want it any other way—it wasn't like a real enemy would just be standing around waiting to be disarmed), so she tried to focus as the Slytherin bounded around the room.

Once she felt like she had collected herself, Avalon sent a silent spell toward the seventh year. Hopefully this would become more second nature as she continued to practice—because right now, it almost gave her a headache with how much concentration it required.

Ahhhaaaa, Avalon! Aboli REALLY wasn't going to make this easy! She bounced to the right, shot a "fake" spell at her again, then JUMPED to the left, spinning and cackling. She wondered if she'd be this annoying during a REAL duel. Or a REAL duel with someone she was legitimately trying to escape murder from, not just a duel partner from school.

Hmm.

The spell hit Aboli's wand, and it flicked from her hand less enthusiastically than before, but she was still disarmed! "See? I think you do have it. God, wouldn't it be nice to be able to do wandless magic? I don't know anyone who can," she quickly went to collect her wand from the floor. She didn't know that many biiiiig and powerful magical folk, though. Did any of the professors here know how to do wandless magic? Peralta? Hmm. "But that's a future me problem. Most people can't even do it anyway. OH - " She grinned. "Random, but related....can you produce a patronus?" Aboli was curious about her peers since she couldn't really produce a corporeal one yet. Hers was still a thick, blue-ish silver mist. Sometimes, she SWORE she could almost make out an animal's head, but....nope.

Still just misty.

Hmm. Not too bad. Although it was certainly a spell she still needed to practice. She plopped into a seat on the rug for a moment, a little tired from the nonverbal effort. "Tell me about it!" Avalon exclaimed, thinking about how nice it would be to not have to whip out her wand every time she needed to cast a spell. Carrying it around everywhere she went was second nature at this point, but still. In a real duel or moment of panic, it would certainly be handy to not have to reach into her pocket to grab it. "I bet some of the professors can." Avalon also thought of Professor Peralta. Or maybe Professor Carton. Both of them seemed quite capable of it.

Her eyes brightened immediately at the mention of a Patronus charm. She jumped up from her seated position, instantly intrigued. "Oooooh!! Not yet. I've tried so many times, but it's just this swirly blue stuff." Yes, Avalon also experienced a similar mist coming from the tip of her wand when she attempted to cast it. "That's my number one goal before I graduate though. I'm determined to do it." She briefly thought about what Aboli's patronus might be. Probably something cool and fierce. "How about you?"

Aboli, too, plopped down next to Avalon even if she wasn't as tired as the girl. "I have gone to Peralta for help with nonverbals. Once a week, I'd like her to help me practice. She is such a good witch. Smart, too. And pretty. And kind," she siiiiighed a little. It would be lovely to be someone like Peralta when she really grew up. Yes, she was seventeen and an ADULT, but being a student still felt like she was a dumb kid. A teenager. She wanted to be the kind of adult that you were once you were twenty. In Uni, everything figured out, life was in order, et ceteraaaaa! yeah right, kiddo

She laaaaughed when Avalon hopped up at the mention of the patronus charm. "No. I only get a mist. Cloudlike stuff. It's hard, especially this year, to produce something that requires happy memories. But even before this year I wasn't able to produce a corporeal one. I just am so curious to know what mine is," she leaned back on her elbows, looking up at the Ravenclaw curiously. "Maybe...maybe we should practice that. What if one of us needs help from a professor or each other at some point this term? It'd be dead useful, wouldn't it?" she gritted her teeth, then sighed.

"She is smart. And cool," Avalon agreed, slightly envying the Charms professor. Avalon could only hope to be as talented and pretty as she was in the future.

Ah, so she wasn't alone in only being able to produce a bunch of mist. That made her feel somewhat better. She, too, wondered what her own Patronus would be, a smile spreading across her face as Aboli suggested they practice. "It'd be very useful. Let's give it a go!" Avalon grabbed her wand again but paused shortly after, her expression growing confused. "But...it's gonna be tough to think of happy memories. I hate to be a downer, but I'm pretty miserable right now," she admitted. Not, like, right at this very second. She was actually enjoying hanging out with Aboli. But overall, her mood had been pretty down lately. How would she conjure up positive feelings?

Aboli admired Peralta, that was for sure. Peralta could probably produce a patronus charm even amidst the gloom and doom of the castle lately.

Sigh.

To be an actual adult during these times.

Aboli nodded firmly at Avalon and stood up once more. "Well....while I agree because I, too, have been pretty bloody miserable, but I feel like we have to try. Skilled witches and wizards produce them even when scared, so we have to practice being able to do during dire times anyway." She clutched her wand tightly. "I'm wondering if we're not thinking of happy enough memories...maybe we need to like....REALLY feel the memory. Think of that happy feeling in our stomachs. Let it billow and....whatnot. And maybe we should steer away from thoughts of our families. It will make us sad. Let's try to think of happy times with people HERE. At school." Hers being Noah for sure.

Happy memories. About Hogwarts. Right, okay. That sounded doable.

Avalon stood up and puffed out a breath of air in preparation, her hair flipping up as she did so. "Okay. I'm thinking. Happiness...." A few thoughts raced through her mind, but the one that stuck at first was receiving her Prefect's badge. She recalled the owl edging into her bedroom window, a crisp Hogwarts-stamped letter in its beak. "Expecto....patronum!" And then racing down the stairs yelling to her parents.

Wait, her parents. Her mind flipped to how she hadn't written to them in months. Nothing came out of her wand. "Rubbish. I turned my one memory into a depressing one," she complained. But no, she was not about to give up. "Okay, okay. Trying again." Avalon tried to conjure up some more happy memories...like making the Quidditch team during her first year at Hogwarts.