Lisa was trying to get her bearings and she totally wasn’t lost at this precise moment in time. She rounded the corner and heard mumbling from behind her shoulder which made her jump. “Who’s there?” she asked with eyes as wide as saucers and heart racing by the minute. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw a marble bust mumbling something. Huh? She approached it curiously. “Um.... hello?” she asked it but it seemed to ignore her and continued its maddening bumbling in a foreign language.

Maybe it was Dothraki. “M'ach!” she greeted. That was hello in Dothraki, wasn't it? The bust continued its babbling and on second thought- it didn’t sound like Dothraki at all.

“Odd,” she said before she turned her attention away from the crazy bust and towards the antechamber of lights.

Wooooooooooooooah. This was neatoooo.

Victoria was in search of whoever was talking to herself (it sounded like a girl) so she could inform this person of how WEIRD IT WAS but also maybe it wasn't a person at ALL and it was a GHOST and V hadn't talked to any of the ghosts yet and maybe she just wanted to like TALK TO A GHOST right????

Unfortunately, it was just Lisa, and V was disappointed for about 4.7 seconds before she grinned. "Hey Lisa. Stop being so weird and talking to yourself and instead talk to moi!" she struck a pose and batted her eyelashes. "Where are you going? Where are WE? What is THIS?" she dramatically gestured at the statue. And oof, he WAS mumbling to himself, wasn't he?

Not a good look, mate. V made the face....

Lisa wasn’t talking to herself? Or was she? Okay, maybe she was but the statue started it. She pouted when she heard that voice before looking over to glance at her friend, V. She giggled. “Hey V. I wasn’t exactly talking to myself.... I was trying to see if the mumbling bumbling statue would talk back.... What language do you think it’s speaking?” she asked, looking at her friend with bright, curious eyes. Merlin.... V had such pretty eyes. Vibrant blue and hers were poop coloured. She was jelly jelly of them but that was an internal thought that she didn’t dare be known right now. Nope! Not yet. “[b]I’m happy to see you! And talk to toi?” Was that the right way to say the you version of the moi. She didn’t know french but she knew well enough to know that moi meant me.

And then V was rapid firing all these questions that Lisa was struggling to capture. Okay. Were the questions done? Could she answer and she her intel with her friend? Lisa paused momentarily, trying to figure out the best way to answer her questions. “I was exploring... I heard that there was an Arcade. My siblings told me about it. It’s one of the only things they told me about this school...” Truth be told, she was MORE THAN a LITTLE upset that they hadn’t told her about the going ons of last year at the castle and all. They could have died. But that was BESIDES THE POINT! She didn’t want to be upset when she hung out with a friend!

“Anyway, I think the arcade is around the corner but Mumbles over here scared me,” she said, pointing to the statue with a disgusted look on her face. “It was so rude! I had been in my own little world, exploring, and enjoying it when I felt or HEARD someone. I thought someone was following me.” Okay so Lisa’s imagination may have made her exaggerate what she felt when she recounted the tale but she felt like V would understand the dramatics needed to tell said tale. “He doesn’t speak Dothraki.... Dont know what he’s speaking or what his story is.... but a little bit further on is the shiny arcade with fun games!”

Her eyes flicked back to the statue. “Do you think he has a story?

Victoria eyed the statue as Lisa spoke and just tilted her head to the side. "He IS mumbling. Fine. I give you a pass, then. You're actually not weird and crazy," she shrugged and squinted a little more in the statue's direction because, like, what WAS he mumbling about? Of course, Lisa pointed out it wasn't English, and V suddenly realized no, it wasn't. "I dunno, but it isn't French," she said with another shrug. Since that was the only other language she knew. "Maybe...I dunno. But I've never heard of Dothroki," what was that? It sounded kinda' ancient and cool whatever it was.

"You have siblings here, right?" she asked curiously as she peeked around. "An arcade with actual games? A muggle arcade or a magical one?" She had heard there were some muggle stuff here, but she wondered if there were STILL muggle stuff here after last term. It wasn't something V thought she ask older students, either. Plenty of them got all weird when talking about last term. She supposed that she couldn't blame them for that, but it was soooOoooo hard for her nosiness! "Rude of them to not tell you enough info! My dad told me everything he could remember, but he's not the best at details with this kind of stuff." And yet, he was a detailed artist and stuff. Pfffft.

She eyed the statue again. "Don't know, but he's kinda' creepy, so I don't reaaaaaaally wanna' talk to him. I'd rather see the arcade. Is it this way?" she asked as she nodded her head in the direction opposite the statues.

Lisa smirked. “I’m just as sane as you are, V...” Perhaps even more sane. She resisted adding that she was more sane because she liked V as a friend. Huh? Not french either.... interesting. “Dothraki is this mythical language from a book and tv series. I’m not allowed to read or watch either but I want to cause it sounds like an adventure series which is FUN. I found it on my Dad’s computer as an option and was intrigued. It’s very ahem fleegeberge with side of phlegm.” And then she tried to demonstrate how it sounded. “When you speak it, it sounds like you’re commanding. Not as pretty as Korean or Japanese.” Her native language was much prettier than English too.

Yes, she had two out of three here. “Mhmm! I have Evan and Maya here. Evan’s a Ravenclaw too. Maya’s a Slytherin. She said she’d keep an eye out for you... I asked her after we met. And Noah was a Gryffindor,” she explained. And then she realized that she didn’t know if V had siblings. How rude of her not to ask! “Do you have siblings?” She turned her gaze away from the statue and back to V and her bright blue eyes. “I think both? Have you ever been to a Muggle arcade? Or a carnival? It’s fun!” If not, she’d have to take V there sometime. Lisa was glad that V’s father was able to tell her all the stuff at Hogwarts. “That’s... great.” She was envious that V was able to talk to her father about it. Lisa’s parents only knew about Hogwarts through their children. They’d never be able to share the school as common ground. “Was he a Slytherin too?”

She was a fan of leaving Mumbles behind. “I’m for that. Luckily for us Mumbles can’t move sooo let’s go!” she grabbed V’s hand and darted a little bit down the corridor until they reached the arcade.

“Now this.... is an Arcade. It’s pretty cool...”

That made V laugh, and she didn't know why. But Lisa was just funny. Her way of saying things that sounded cool. But this made up language sounded like a lot of work. Who made up languages just for entertainment? Merlin...Victoria could never. "They should have just used an existing language. People are so extra sometimes," she said with a shake her head. "Since you live in a muggle household I guess you watch a lot of TV. I do, too, but not as much as muggles do. I don't even really know TV shows' names," she shrugged. "You know Korean and Japanese?" Whooaaah. Something she didn't know about Lisa? "I just know boring ole' French," she rolled her eyes. "And not even good French. My Gran used to - " she took a breath, here, and started walking in the direction of the arcade.

"My Gran used to make fun of my French a lot. She was really good at it. I guess it helps when both your parents care to speak it to you, and my dad's the only one who spoke it to me. I don't even know if my brother and sister will learn it..." hmmm.

As they walked and chatted, V hooked arms with Lisa. "So you have three in total? Two here...one graduated. And all in different houses...except for Evan," V said as if there was any shot she'd remember all that. There almost a 0% chance of that, though. "Maya? If she's looking out for me she's either failing or being completely successful because I have NO idea who that is," she snorted. "And yes, I do. Twins. Regina and Roman are both...three now, I think. Four. Something around that age," she shrugged again. Part of her kind of missed them, but she definitely enjoyed not having to deal with their irritation half the time.

They got to what V assumed was the arcade...lots of board games and stuff. Not what she had envisioned for an arcade. "Um...once, I think. There's lots of lights and sound. This isn't really like that, though..." she sounded disappointed, and she bit her lip in a FAMOUS V POUT.

But LISA seemed to like it, so she softened her pout slightly. "IS it nice compared to a muggle one, though?"

She refrained from sighing at V’s lackluster answer. Clearly her friend needed to expand her horizons and embrace the wonders of imagination. Instead of sighing, Lisa simply shrugged. “Perhaps... but I think that wouldnt be as exciting. Like if they spoke French... oh yeah, sure, cool. But mythical land with dragons and kings and queens.... and they’re speaking French? Might as well be a French history television show and not a fantasy one. I think creating a language is creative.” And not lazy whatsoever. She bounced. “V, Imagine creating your own secret language to talk in codes? Your enemies would never be able to break it,” she explained before adding another word in her head. Hopefully. Hopefully it couldn’t be broken . "I can’t watch too too much. Eomma and Appa put limits on it, of course, but.... there’s way to get my siblings to indulge me.”

Lisa paused and was genuinely surprised that V didn’t know that she spoke Korean at least. Well.... she was Korean so why wouldn’t she? She thought it was a silly question before stopping herself to wonder if V wasn’t trying to assume at this point in time. “I am Korean... And Japanese is practical. My cousin’s speak it.”

Lisa tilted her head to the side as she listened to V speak about boring ye ol’ french and her gran making fun of her for it. She frowned. “Oh. That’s not that she made fun of you...” She added before listening against to V. “[b]I think French is cool. Did you know Alfie, Slytherin Alfie, is French?[/s]” She was fairly certain that Hufflepuff Alfie was British buuuut she’d have to check.

But anyway it was time to talk about the Nam’s. She nodded when V clarified how many siblings that she had. “Well three related by blood and one adopted. The adopted sister, Sol, is going to Beauxbatons. She lost her family last year... in the battle..” That was all she knew of the battle. No one had discussed it so it was kinda this bad thing that just hung over her head like a dark, stormy cloud ready to storm. She chuckled at V’s assessment of Maya either failing or succeeding. “Maya is quiet but super intelligent. Think of her as your guardian angel.... She probably will never go introduce herself to you right away but since we’re friends... she’ll watch out for you!”

Lisa was, however, curious to learn that she didn’t ask about Evan. “Have you met Evan?”

Woah. V had twins?! “WOW. Three or four is little. Do you get along?” she asked. She had lots of questions about the twins ranging from how V felt about them to their compatibility to whether or not twins had superpowers. She nodded as they continued to walk to the arcade. She listened to V as they travelled until they arrived. Ehh the arcade was better than what she expected. “It’s... nice. Yes. But it’s different.... I didn’t expect much from it. It’s not the palace of arcades but it’s practical and has potential for business and pranks... What do you think of it?”

As V sat her little tush down on the floor, wiggling to get more comfortable, she listened to Lisa's explanation for a made up language just for a fictionally story. She supposed Lisa had some good points. "I guess you're right. I also guess that's why I will never be an author. I hate reading to begin with, so writing is....blegh," she shivered. "I am going to dread writing essays for classes," ugh. The thought of it made her heart do this really awful swirl-y thing that she hated the feeling of. It was the worst. "I don't CARE if my enemies hear me. Let Daniel Yoon hear my EVIL PLANS for his eyebrows," she said as she leaned back on her elbows, kicked her feet forward, and tossed her hair behind her. "Do YOU have any enemies yet? My mum says I should punch Daniel in the face if he's that mean to me. I've never punched someone before........"

She trailed off, deep in thought now. Her dad had different advice, but none the less equally as aggressive. It made her think about how different a lot of the others' parents were.

"Oh. I thought you were just...British," she admitted. "So your family's from Korea? That's cool. Is it nice there? Pretty?" She had never been anywhere in Asia, but it all looked so foreign and pretty to her.

SLYTHERIN ALFIE WAS FRENCH? Ugh. V made a face at that. "I am currently mAD at Alfie. Maybe I'll swear at him in FRENCH." Since he's understand. But then he might make fun of how poorly she spoke it. So she'd stick to swearing at him in English, perhaps, if she could muster up the nerve to. Or maybe she'd let it go for the time being and bring it back up at an opportune time. The possibilities....

SoooOoooooooo Lisa's family seemed fascinating. Muggle born, but all of the kids had magic...and an adopted sibling? "The battle, I heard, was awful," she sat up straight, feeling important from having heard firsthand info from Fowl. "People DIED in front of the kids...the students...I am so glad I wasn't here yet. Imagine being sad from it. I don't want to be that sad. A lot of the older kids look sad...." what an absolute waste of time it was to be sad at a totally cool magic school. She felt a little bad for them. "Evan..." she wrinkled her nose then nodded. "He rode the train with me because he saw me crying, actually. I just....realized that's your BROTHER!" she squealed a little at how POSITIVELY SILLY that was and laughed. "Oh he was SO nice, Lisa. He helped me stop crying."

But back to her own family, and her siblings. "I do, but they annoy me because they always want what I have because they don't understand anything because they're too DUMB because they're so LITTLE. I think my sister will get on my nerves one day. Roman is very quiet. Regina was born first, then Roman came after," she sighed. "I bet mum and dad miss me SO much. The twins are EXHAUSTING." She was only repeating things she had heard her parents say. "Should we play something, then?"

Lisa liked being RIGHT.

V hated reading. Huh. She HAD never met someone hating reading because all of her siblings LOVED reading. “So if you don’t like reading or writing... do you like movies? TV shows?” she asked curiously. Lisa raised both eyebrows when V mentioned that she had plans for Daniel Yoon’s eyebrows. “Oh yeah. What are you going to do? Use engorgio to make them really really large or just shave them? Or dye them bright pink?” mused Lisa, wondering if she could offer a few ideas for a few pranks. She liked Daniel and V so a brief innocent thought crossed her mind and she wondered if she should tell V off for plotting. Hopefully... Daniel wouldn’t fall for whatever V had planned. He was clever not as clever as Alfie because Daniel didn’t agree with her but still clever. Her? Enemies? Lisa shook her head. “Not that I know of... I don’t really like Scarlett... I think. She wasn’t nice to Remy the other day. Came off really rude but then again.... maybe Scarlett was just in a foul mood?” Her eyebrows stayed raised when V mentioned what her mother had told her. “Wait. Let me get this straight. Your mother wanted you to MAKE enemies?” That was so so different from her parents. She had gotten a whole talking to from Appa, Eomma, AAAAND Noah about being nice and not causing too much trouble.

“Born in the US and moved over here when I was really little. That’s why my accent sounds so British,” explained Lisa with a smile. Was Korea pretty? It was. She didn’t find it as pretty as Japan but Korea was home and felt more homey. Japan was modern, clean, and sharp in stark comparison to Korea’s homeliness. “Its very beautiful. I love it. I’m not sure if I’d go live there cause I wasn’t born there... I think I’d have to get reacquainted with the culture.” She was a lot more spunky than most of her cousins (female and male) and she always forgot to abide by certain mannerisms with them. "Is your family from the UK originally or elsewhere?”

Lisa blinked, unsure why V was mad at Alfie... OH. It was probably because he explained how V had cried in front of others. “Is it cause of class? I hope you guys become friends... He’s nice. I like him.” She paused before quickly adding. “I don’t like what he said in class though...”

She nodded, not bothering to comment as V spoke about the battle being awful. Lisa had had no idea until one day her parents brought her siblings home and they looked exhausted. And then not even a week or so later they had another sibling. It was strange for the family dynamics to change but Lisa had persevered. She had to make up for her sister’s lack of engagement and pep. Lisa had to be the liquid sunshine for the group and it had been exhausting. “They do look sad. I guess I understand why the Professors lessons have all been heavily focused on acceptance, apologies, and feelings. They’re trying to give everyone ‘closure’ as my Eomma would say. She’s a psychologist so she knows and uses all the big words for this...” Lisa just listened and put the words to use because she wanted to look SMARTER than everyone else.

A happy smile graced her lips when V squealed in excitement. She nodded. Her brother was pretty great. “He’s awesome. Nice, a little cold, but warm and squishy like a marshmallow on the inside!” Speaking of marshmallows, she could go for some more s’mores like the ones they had in Muggle Studdies. Lisa’s eyes widened as V mentioned that Evan had spent the whole time with her on the train. SO THATS WHY SHE COULDNT FIND HIM. “YOU’RE THE REASON THAT I COULDNT FIND HIM?!” she exclaimed with eyes as wide as saucers. She took in a deep breath before offering V a small smile. “I’m glad he was with you. Sounds like you needed him. Are you two friends?” Hopefully she wouldn’t have to compete against V for her brother’s attention.

Lisa thought V’s words were rather a harsh depiction of her family. It sounded like the siblings didn’t get along and it sounded like V’s parents had favourites. Well..... She didn’t know what to say to it so she simply nodded. “Yes. What game looks interesting to you?”

"I like TV and movies, yeah," V said in reply as she pulled out the Wizard Skittles game box, opening it up and eyeing the pieces. "Ugh, this looks mathy. And complicated. Whatever," she rolled her eyes, flipped her hair over her shoulder, and pulled out the board. "And I THIIIIINK Serena and I will just try to shave them...get rid of them........you know." She shrugged as she eyed each of the little circular pieces and set them in a very orderly fashion. She didn't know Scarlett all that well, and so she didn't comment on that, but she did raise an eyebrow at the making enemies comment concerning her mum. "Not that wants me to, but that I should PUNCH my enemies if they're mean to me." V shrugged. "I don't really want to punch Daniel, so yeah." Again, she didn't like violence like that. How barbaric.

So Lisa was only kind of American. V supposed that made sense since Lisa didn't sound completely American. And then Lisa was going on and on about Japan and Korea, and she had a hard time focusing, so she totally zoned out as she played with one of the game pieces. She nodded a lot, and soon she was zoned back in to Lisa's moving lips.

RIGHT THEY WERE TALKING. "My family's from here - Alfie is cool - " she said really quickly back to back. "I just am MAD right now. But I'm sure we'll become better friends...maybe. Probably. And my Grandma's parents were from France, but we're British mostly. That's why I kinda' know French." Very BAD French.

AND SHE WAS STILL AL !!!!! THAT EVAN WAS HER BROTHER. "I am so sorry I kept him, but to be fair, I didn't KNOW I was keeping him from you, and I veeeeeeeery much appreciate him. And I don't know if we're friends ~yet~ but I think we could be. He's like, super old though. Like...a fifth year right?" he looked old.

Lisa nodded, watching V take out a game and then watching the girl roll her eyes. She didn’t think the game looked hard or whatnot. She had been intrigued by it. “What kind of movies?” she asked as she watched V prepare the game. She had half expected the Slytherin to put the game away and go find a new one but she waited. Get rid of them? Oh.... Her own eyebrows raised at this. Serena was helping V with this? And they were plotting to get rid of said eyebrows from Daniel. “Will you give him a mustache too?” she asked, unsure how to feel about Daniel having no eyebrows. It’d be so so strange to see him eyebrow-less. She listened to V as she spoke about her mother not wanting to make enemies but punching said meanies. That made A LOT more sense post clarification. “Oh. Gotcha. Do you know how to fight?” Maybe she’d have to set up a wager pool if Daniel and V ever dueled or something? Lisa was happy to hear that V didn’t want to punch Daniel. Then again what was worse... being punched or having no eyebrows? Lisa would take the punch any day over losing her eyebrows.

There was a slight pause in their conversation and then V began talking again. Lisa huffed. V totally wasn’t paying attention, was she? Hmph.

The mention of Alfie caught her attention and she was glad to head that the Slytherin would perhaps be friends with him. Oh good. She simply nodded, listening and paying attention, cause she was a GOOD LISTENER. “So you kinda know French... what’s your favourite French word?”

Lisa hadn’t expected V to apologize and she felt kinda bad for bringing up the fact that she had been waiting for her brother. She felt very bad. She waved her hands. “Oh no no no don’t worry about it. It’s fine. Like I said I’m glad he was with you.” Seriously she was.

She gave V a deadpan facial expression now. “He’s a third year. Does he look ancient though?” she asked with a growing smirk. LOL. She’d have to tease him.

"I like looooooove stories!" V said in a dreaaaaaamy tone, putting her hands together by her chest juuuuust like a princess would, batting her eyelashes fully. And dramatically. "And anything with cute boys!" She wiggled her eyebrows just a little, blushed, and put her hands over her mouth in a giggle. She had already started to notice some of the CUTE boys around her age, and had made note of them in her top secret diary. "Oh MERLIN no. I don't fight. I'm a lady," well, somewhat. A young lady. Not an old one. And ladies didn't fight unless absolutely NECESSARY.

But she didn't know what her favorite French word was because she was as fluent as she used to be when she had her Grandma around. "Uh...I...will have to get back to you on that. I really need to be in the French ZONE to think about it. It doesn't really come that naturally to me...not now that I have no one to speak French to. And my dad forgot it." What a lot of help HE was at continuing it. Her Grandma would be SO displeased.

HOW WAS HER BROTHER ONLY A THIRD YEAR? WHAT THE HECK. "I mean..he has a baby face, sure, but he seems OLD. Like super mature," she scratched her chin. "Um...weird. Anyways. That's cool I guess." And V was now staring down at the game in front of them. "I already forgot the rules and how to play. UGH," she scoffed and flicked a game piece at Lisa playfully, giggling just a little bit.

Lisa also liked love stories but she preferred adventure ones for sure. She quirked an eyebrow at her friend as she watched V bat her eyelashes just like a Disney Princess. “They are .... magical for sure! What’s your favourite love story? Do you like Disney ones?” she asked and then she heard V’s next comment, watching the blush and giggle. The giggle was just SO infectious that Lisa HAD TO JOIN IN. Obviously. She smirked at V. “So uh have you met any cute boys here?!”

Lisa blinked at her friend when V said because she was a lady that she didn’t fight. Errrrr.... what? What did being a lady have something to do with not being able to fight? The little feminist blinked. “Wait. Why not? A lady can fight even Princesses can. I’m learning Taekwondo so that I can show everyone how I fight.”

#FIGHTLIKEAGIRLBOSS.

“Oh.” Lisa hadnt been expecting that but supposed it was reasonable. It was sad to hear that V was losing her French language ability. “Maybe when you’re not mad at Alfie, you can practice French together.... That’d be .... romantic.” And she giggled at that thought. Hehe. Poor Daniel would lose his mind over V and Alfie talking in another language...

Ah yes. Evan was an old man trapped in the body of a thirteen year old boy. “Yeah... he’s always been.... ‘relatively’ mature,” she explained using quotation marks to explain herself to her friend. “He’s not as mature as my eldest brother Noah but I think Evan feels like he has to be more mature now that he’s the eldest here. It’s a mantle like the Batman superhero name.” Aaand the cape. And the bat cave. And gadgets. Remember. Power comes with great responsibility .... and maturity after all.

Lisa shrugged. She was a little sad that her friend didn’t remember how to play but maybe they didn’t have to play right now. It was nice just talking too. She flashed V a smile. “We could make up our own rules?”

As a muggleborn, V wasn't surprised that Lisa knew Disney things. "Yes, I do like Disney. I've been to Disney Paris many times. My dad likes to take us sometimes. I alwaaaaays either wear a crown or Minnie ears." And she thought she looked pretty darn CUTE in all of it. "But my favorite princess might haaaaave to be sleeping beauty because of how her prince just managed to come FIND HER and kiss her to wake her up. How ROMANTIC." She siiiiighed and played with a few of the game pieces some more. "I guess. I think Fowl is cute. He's a second year ..." Er. "Ravenclaw." Took a second to remember. "Oh...and uhg. JASPER. Jasper Botros...he is a Hufflepuff. He is SUCH a gentleman...." Ahh.

THEY WERE BOTH CUTE.

PFFT. "French IS a romantic language." She had to agree about that. And she agreed that her brother did indeed some older...but as for...making up their own rules....she thought for a moment. "I don't know that I am creative enough for that. But you're a Ravenclaw. You all are supposed to be creative and stuff. So....what do you think? I keep thinking of checkers."

Disney Paris sounded magical. Lisa had only gone to Disney World and Disney Japan before but that was it. “Cute!! Maybe we could do a trip after school?” she suggested excitedly.

V liked .... Sleeping Beauty? Whaaaaaaaaat. Lisa STARED momentarily. Out of all the Disney Princesses, WHY. She figured that Aurora was a better choice than Snow White but still... both kinda the same. Waiting on a man to kiss them instead of taking fate into their own hand. She scrunched her nose. “Very. Romantic.” But who was she to judge V’s favourite Princess? Or so she tried to remind herself but it was oh SO very hard not to judge! “My favourite is Mulan, Rapunzel, or Tiana,” she explained. “And Megara but she’s not a Disney Princess.”

Fowl’s name sounded familiar. She had thought that she’d heard another girl proclaim that he was cute but she couldn’t remember who. She did gasp at the mention of Jasper, feeling a slight tinge of jealousy. She thought Jasper was CUTE TOO. “Isn’t he? Jasper’s the best,” she exclaimed with a smile. He was really sweet though most of the boys were sweet.... even Daniel Yoon to an extent.

French was romantic. Maybe she ought to ask Alfred to teach her that alongside the ballet lessons that they had discussed? She’d become quite the lady then which sounded sophisticated... yes but kinda boring too. Bleh. She smirked at V’s .... accurate assessment. “Riiight. Checkers is easy. Let’s go there.”

Ash was sitting on the floor in here, waiting for updates from the Vice President. She was alternating between staring straight ahead + zoning out and freaking out. She was chill. NO SHE WASN’T. YEAH SHE WAS!!! And it went on like this for quite some time. She had no interest in playing board games while she waited... she was here for a reason. That reason was to find out if Kayne had the mirror. Ash didn’t want him to have a mirror. She was scared of mirrors. What if Kayne was secretly evil and was gonna trap her in the mirror??? No. Kayne would never. She refused to listen to that panicked thought. Besides, the mirror would be helpful. All the same, Ash hated it.

It was pretty clear that Ash was nervous. She was fidgeting and slowly sliding down the wall until she somehow ended up on the floor. This was exciting! But also really scary... she closed her eyes. Calm down. She was lying on the floor with her eyes closed now, still waiting. This was nothing she couldn’t handle. Everything was fine.

Right?

Finally! Kayne had received the scrying mirror from Professor Euka, and was ready to meet back up with Queen Ash. They could finally attempt at seeing what was actually happening within the Kitchen, because the two students had definitely thought something seemed off about this whole situation. It was just weird that Healer Poppy was locking the students out of the kitchen. There was just almostly certainly something that was being hidden from them. But the question is: what was it? Well, that's hopefully what Kayne and Ash were about to find out.

Bag in hand, the Slytherin boy made his way to the arcade; the spot that the pair of mischief makers had planned on meeting up at. This was certainly going to be a time.

Upon arrival, Kayne's eyes immediately spotted his friend sitting on the floor, looking rather panicked about the whole situation. He knew that the queen didn't like mirrors, but this was essentially the only way that they could possibly find out was happening in the locked room. Speaking in a calm tone, Kayne had greeted Ash "Hello good Queen of the Weasley Swamp, I bring you an offering." At that moment he patted the bag, but still kept the mirror inside. He wouldn't reveal it until he had placed the charm that would protect them from any outside intrusions.

"I'm going to place a charm around us which will essentially make us surrounded in an invisible bubble to make sure no one will be able to see, or hear us." He said in a hushed tone. Mordrake had wanted to ensure the Ravenclaw that they wouldn't be getting in any form of trouble today, and he would do his best to make sure of it.

Ash opened her eyes and pushed herself into a sitting position as Kayne arrived- lying on your back like a corpse was not very dignified. She looked at the bag with a mixture of fear and disgust and approval and pain. Long silence. "I take it you acquired the stuff we need..." And she had acquired a stuffed animal for comfort, although she did not tell him that. "You are without doubt the best Vice president and lord of divination ever." Another long pause. She finally laughed. "I guess we should get it over with. Smart idea for the spell. I'd like to learn that one." What would happen if someone ran into the bubble though? Would they get caught? Well, Ash had ideas for when they got caught. Not really fully formed ideas, but she had a couple of excuses prepared. Therapy. Looking for something. Messing around. Etc. And if they got detention... the reward for finding out what was in the kitchen was worth the risk.

"Indeed, I do." Kayne replied in a hushed whisper. Were they really about to enact this plan? Yes. Yes they were. That's what the Slytherin loved about his friend; she was into making all sorts of ruckus too. This added to the level of friendship that he saw between the two of them. Kayne typically gravitated towards people who were just like him, always up to no good. Even though this could theoretically be seen as the greater good, but still. The means of achieving said goal wasn't typically how most people would go about it, and the secretiveness behind their plan only added more to the puckishness of it all.

Getting close enough to Ash so that way when he casted the spell, she would be in the bubble with him, Kayne drew his wand out from his bag. Hearing that she wanted to learn it, a smile formed. The boy was delighted that she'd want to also know this spell, however Kayne noted "Well, this spell is rather...complex. It's mainly taught to sixth years." Which was the truth. Had it not been for Kayne's seeming obsession and natural forte for Charms, he most likely wouldn't even be able to cast it. "Oh, and I should also say before doing it, the spell might not work. I've never personally casted it before." He added. But regardless, that didn't make the fourth year lose any hope.

With his wand, he made a flourish towards the sky and confidently stated the incantation of the spell "Cave Inimicum!" A haze then started to encapsulate the two students, forming a medium sized dome around them. Eyes lighting up with glee, Kayne told his highness "I think...I think it worked!" A laugh of joy echoed from his lips, if this had actually been casted successfully, then the two would be shielded from view of others, as well as their voices wouldn't be heard.

After the spell was placed, Kayne had then swapped out the wand for the Scrying Mirror. Looking down upon it, he asked "Are you ready?"

Ash was glad that Kayne was here. There were a lot of things she couldn't do without him. Divination and complicated spellwork fell into that category. Also, she trusted him and was sure that he would not let the evil scrying mirror evilly trap her and evilly steal her life force. Mirrors did that sometimes. Mirrors were bad.

Anyway.

"Kayne, I think it worked!" Her voice was quiet because WOW. Kayne was SO COOL. She was totally gonna learn this spell one day. Because that was impressive. And Kayne wasn't even a sixth year... he was a fourth year! Ooooh. She had clearly picked the right partner in crime.

Anyway.

It was time for the mirror. She looked at it and... OH NO SHE WAS BLINDED. Oh wait. Actually she had just reflexively closed her eyes. She opened them again. And then closed them again. And then opened them again. And then stared straight into the mirror. Ohhh no, bad idea. She closed them again. She opened them again, slowly this time. She looked at Kayne instead of the scary mirror that was calling to her and pushing her away at the same time. Kayne wasn't scary. He was nice. And so was... wait. She pulled a little fox stuffed animal out of her bag. "River decided that he wants to come too." And she set the fox down next to her. "He can protect us from the mirror just in case." Okay. Now she was ready. "How do we know if the scrying is working? Is there a way to fool scrying mirrors or detect that you're being spied on?" It seemed that there must be. Ash wanted to be prepared for all possibilities.

Had Ash not previously told him about the reasoning as to why she didn't like mirrors, the Mordrake heir would be kind of weirded out by her behavior. However, since he did know about her rather traumatic experience with being trapped in one, he was understanding as to why she was rather reluctant on doing this; and bringing the stuffed fox with her. Some people just needed that extra added comfort, and Kayne most certainly wasn't about to judge his friend for it.

Watching Ash's amazement at the spell though was rather fun. The boy had learned to love people's joy as new spells were cast in front of them. Some were rather marvelous and spectacular; which was also another added joy about magic. One could literally do so many things because of spells and charms, Kayne was lucky and blessed to be able to use it.

Kayne nodded at her question. "Yes, there are certain charms that can be placed upon rooms in order to protect against divination such as scrying. I'm not entirely sure if it goes the extra length to know if and when they're being scried upon, and I'm not entirely sure if there's a way where you can project a false image into a scrying mirror. However, just because I'm unsure doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't away, but it also doesn't mean that there is." He took a brief pause before explaining "We'll know if the scrying is working because the mirror will get foggy at first, and then the destination will be revealed to us." With all that being said, it was time that they got this show on the road.

Placing the mirror on the ground in between the two of them, hazel eyes gleaming down upon it, he spoke "Show us the Kitchen in Hogwarts." Hopefully, this would work.

Yes, River was mostly for her comfort, but who didn't want to have a stuffed fox with them? Besides, he was a royal pet and nobody messed with those. And he was sooo cute. And his ears were pointy. And he was a fox. What was not to love?

"I hope that's true. That means that we'll know if the room is blocked to divination magic, and we hopefully won't be fooled by a false image." She nodded, not entirely sure what she was talking about. Honestly, most of her divination knowledge came from overlap between divination class and Dungeons & Dragons. But Kayne seemed to know what he was doing. She'd leave the confusing technicalities to him and focus on watching the mirror without passing out. She focused on the mirror, blocking out all her unrelated thoughts and ignoring her sudden light-headed and dizzy feeling. She waited to see if this plan would work. It really depended on how smart Healer Poppy was and how smart Healer Poppy thought the students were. Because if Healer Poppy was smart and knew the students were too, she'd probably have thought of this, and they'd need to try water scrying. But if the mirror worked... well.

All of his focus and concentration being put into the mirror, a fog started to glaze over the surface of the magical device. But instead of actually showing what was going on inside the kitchen, a scene was laying out before them that was happening in front of the door to the kitchen. A few students along with Professor Euka had seemed to be gathering outside there.

This came as a bit of a surprise to Kayne, as he would have thought this was a surefire method to see what was happening inside the room.

Quickly glancing back up to Ash, a disappointed look appeared on Kayne's face; which meant that something was truly wrong because the boy had rarely actually showed his inner emotions unless it was happiness. "Are you seeing this?" He asked his queen. The Mordrake heir was rather puzzled as to why the scrying was showing this to the pair instead. Maybe he didn't focus hard enough on trying to peer inside the actual kitchen itself? Maybe it was a mistake on the Mordrake kid's fault. Scrying had worked 99.9% of the time for him.

Ash’s attention was being sucked into the mirror as she watched people gather outside the kitchen. She couldn’t see in the kitchen. Aw man. But hey! At least they knew that it was blocked. She tore her attention away from the mirror and grabbed River. She needed a break. Her hands were shaking, and her vision was all blurry. The light-headed and dizzy feeling had intensified, and she thought she might pass out soon. She lay down on her back and took some deep breaths. After a few moments, Kayne started talking about something. She opened her eyes but didn’t sit up quite yet. “I... saw the outside of the kitchen, yeah. So, if we’re doing this right, it means the kitchen is blocked to scrying.” Her voice was wobbly, quiet, and very stressed. “That’s very suspicious. What could possibly justify that in a kitchen? That tells us something. Any information is good.” She took another deep breath. “We can... try one more time, and then see if water scrying works.” Despite her stress, she tried to keep her voice soft. She didn't like seeing Kayne so disappointed. They had learned something. That was good, right?