Setting down the levitated box of candles on the floor, and stacking the second one, the one he'd been carrying, on top of it, Kamran scratched the back of his neck and looked up and down the first floor corridor. Plenty of candles burnt all the way down on this level, so... good call on Healer Poppy's part, he supposed.

As he still had his wand drawn, Kamran conjured up a third box - an empty one - and set it hovering in the air beside the other two. "For the old candle stubs." He'd vanish those himself as they went. "We can start working our way down and around this floor until we circle back around." Kamran was also not above accosting anyone who happened to pass by and seeing if he could get them to pitch in. The more hands on deck, the quicker they'd be done.

More importantly, though, the bread. He had been thinking about that fantastic banana bread all day, and had more than made up his mind that he wanted some now.

Atlas had stayed up entirely too late working on a side project and by the time he realized the time...the run had started peeking over the horizon. Aries had, of course, not allowed for his younger brother to sleep in much (being none the wiser) and thus Atlas was sort of just dragging himself through the day. He may have seen the announcement for this volunteer business, may have even had the intention of coming, but it had completely slipped his mind as he made his way towards the Great Hall with a very VERY rumbly stomach.

To say the Gryffindor was famished was a bit of an understatement.

It was in this delirious from sleep and hunger state that the second year happened upon Professor Kazmi and other students with a box of candles.

Oblivous, the growing blonde approached the Flying professor with another LOUD gurgle from his stomach and surveyed the scene speculatively.

"No offense, professor, but isn't this house elf work? Is Hogwarts in a recession because of the war? Have you been demoted to Hogwarts Caretaker?"

Misa followed the flying Professor up the stairs. "Is the bread any good?" she whispered as they went up the stairs. Because that was important. Maybe she'd try it at some point.

She looked around the hall before going to a nearby burnt out candle, working on getting it down. She glanced over hearing a young boy ask a very important question. He was right. They were doing work as opposed to decorating (which would be considered fun).

Bread.

Merlin, the smell seemed just as substantial as actually eating the stuff... not that that stopped him doing so. Kamran had to wonder how Healer Poppy was so skilled with the baked goods; he bet the scents in the kitchen were dizzying when the stuff first came out of the oven.

He finished a slice of banana bread now, brushing the crumbs from the fingers of one hand, while picking up one of Healer Poppy's new candles with the other. "None taken, Mr Flamsteed," Kamran said, glancing over to acknowledge the Ravenclaws who'd accompanied his group before focusing on removing one of the old candles from its holder, replacing it with a new one, and lighting it with a quick Incendio. "I've not been demoted. Just because house elves do it, doesn't make it lesser work. I think Healer Poppy is just eager to encourage some kind of collaborative productivity, and have everyone involved in making a positive impact on the castle. There are worse things." He was not going to say it out loud, but the disastrous group therapy session by the lake was in the forefront of Kamran's mind.

"Plenty of bread if you're hungry." Was that smell not tempting him? Sounded like it was.

You don’t notice it at first, but with each passing second you are brought further and further into a state of...utter calm. The tantalising smell of bread wafts through the corridor with few places to go but your nostrils and if that doesn’t just warm your insides, it’s possible nothing will. Strawberry, melon, cinnamon, plain, sugar, goodness the smell quickly over lowers the scent of the candles and anything else I’m the corridor.

Not that you mind.

It’s a lovely smell. Soothing. So soothing....all your worries melt away. The fears, the anxiety, the thought of that homework you’re sure is due, what does it matter? Does anything matter? Right now, you feel very zen.

Zeeeennnnnn.

Crimalla was just crawling down the corridor minding her own business. Wait, what? Yes, Crimalla was crawling - not walking. On her hands and knees. Now, the floor was very hard and dirty and so of course Crimalla had two little knee pads strapped to her knees underneath her uniform.

But WHY? Well, someone had dropped several pieces of some kind of money on the floor. It wasn't Wizard money, maybe it was Muggle? That would make sense as this was so close to Muggle Studies. Crimalla, ever a fan of coins, found herself gathering this all up and putting it in her robe pockets.

It was only then, after stuffing the fifth coin away, that the bug eyed Crimalla smelled freshly baked bread. She liked it! It had a nice cheese like smell which reminded her of the bakery down the street from her mother's home.

The smell quickly made her forget about the coin collecting. There were other people coming down the corridor. Normally she would have been embarrassed to be caught on her knees, but the smell of the cheesy bread made her not care much.

She even waved to them. So peaceful.

Ivy nodded at Misa. "It's really good, yeah! The strawberry bread's my favorite." Though the French bread was good too. And the banana bread. And actually there were still a few she hadn't tried yet. Maybe she should give the melon bread a try once she finished this slice.

She did note Atlas popping up and talking to Professor Kazmi and curiously raised an eyebrow at the mention of this being house elf work. Was it a bad thing? But before she added anything to the professor's answer - not that she really needed to, it was a good answer - she'd finished her slice of strawberry bread and was quickly distracted by the smell of the rest of it.

It just smelled so good, y'know? So relaxing...

Maybe she should help with a few candles before grabbing another slice though. The longer it took to eat it all, the longer the nice smell would be around. And they needed it to last since there were a lot of candles to deal with.

She reached up and took out the old candle that was closest to her. She paused upon noticing another girl, thinking nothing of the fact that she was kneeling on the ground, and merrily waved back.

That was good. Some people were so touchy with Atlas' pointed questions, like their Transfiguration professor, and he was not even being all that invasive yet. Atlas nodded a bit as he listened, both grasping and not grasping the whole concept of a collaborative effort and doing good for the castle. But, when he got beyond this baseline and dug a little deeper...he could see the logic a bit. The castle needed candles as they were the source of light in the castle and the existing ones were running low on wax and therefore light and therefore leaving nothing but little withered wicks. So, they were having a positive impact on the castle and, like dad said, putting in the elbow grease provided you with a bit of ownership over a space. Hogwarts hadn't been 'theirs'...it had been more like a prison. So...Atlas could understand the sentimental attachment and value to it.

As for him...he now saw the possibility to play with fire and maybe collect wax on his fingers by dipping them into the melted wax at the base of each candle. That was always fun - especially the peeling off at the end.

"Oh, okay," he nodded in a noncommittal sort of way and general just...acceptance of the situation. Maybe it wouldn't even have mattered if the Flying Instructor's answer hadn't made sense to him...right now he felt like he would have accepted just about any answer without even blinking an eyelash.

As for the bread...no thank you. Even if his stomach was giving another disgruntled gargle and the aroma of the bread itself alike to that of Amorentia. Seriously, even from the day at the lake it had smelled like whatever he was craving...which was precisely why he was veering left and making a hard NOPE. Besides, he had some skills to practice with the Potions Mistress and the bread was a perfect specimen for it. "I'm..." GRUMBLE. "...okay...professor..."

He felt a little more than okay, now that he thought (or didn't think) about it...but still his resolve about not consuming this bread would not waver and he instead followed the lackadaisical hustle that was collecting old candles from their spots. But instead he grabbed some NEW candles and moved over to the older Ravenclaw who had just collected an old one. "I'll trade you," he beamed, a little lopsidedly, while offering her the new candle. "I can bring you new candles and trade you down the corridor." Atlas liked to keep moving so playing delivery boy was perfect for him.

"I'll have to try it some time." Misa couldn't help it. The longer she was in the hall, the higher her desire for bread. It just smelled so nice. It made her calm. It was... nice.

She swapped out another candle and lit it. "Wouldn't it be nice if the candles could hold the smell?" she asked dreamily. She, too, then waved at the girl on the floor. She had no idea when the girl got there and didn't care. Happy waves all around.

Happy vibes all around.

Violet had set down her platter of bread next to the rest, where everyone else could enjoy some, and had begun taking some of the candles and placing them around the corridor. The place felt warm and stuffy, and the scent of all that different bread was overpowering, stifling almost.

Violet had been in a grumpy mood, but the longer she worked in that space, the less grumpy she felt. She actually felt good...peaceful...happy to be helping the school with these little tasks. Violet came to with a start and shook herself--she was almost dozing off! What was wrong with her, she had come here to keep an eye on things and was standing around here daydreaming. She looked around at the others to see how they were doing; she tried to catch a glimpse of Mr. Kazmi, to see if he thought anything was wrong.

It was the heat, that's what it was, and that overpowering smell of bread. Too many different kinds, the smells all mixing together at once, it was disorienting. Violet looked back at the candle in her hand, trying to think where she should place it. She stared at it for a long time, mesmerized by the sight of it...what had she been about to do with it? Violet couldn't remember.....

She needed a new candle to replace this old one, and then Atlas was right there with one ready to go. Ivy smiled. "Thanks!" She handed off the old one and accepted the new one as he continued. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Teamwork." And that was sorta was this was all about too, yeah? Everyone working together, making things better, creating a calm and warm and peaceful atmosphere...

It was nice. Nothing to worry about...

She added the new candle to the holder and lit it as she listened to Misa's idea. "Oh, that would be perfect. Maybe we could get some scented candles..." Maybe there were some out there that smelled like this, or maybe these ones could be charmed to keep it somehow. Not that she was thinking too hard about it. The candles were nice already...

Maybe Healer Poppy had the right of it, the group redecorating efforts or just the bread - definitely the bread at least, she had the bread right - because Kamran was feeling better already. Not that he had been feeling bad, nor was he ever obviously stressed, but some of the things he'd been worrying about of late seemed suddenly to not be quite so worth the hassle. Clearly he'd making them out to be much bigger issues than they really were. His nephew was fine, the kids here were in good hands, why had he been so worried? He couldn't have said, and what was more, there didn't seem much point in trying to puzzle it out.

"As you wish, Mr Flamsteed," he said, quite serenely. "It's there if you decide you want some." Like Kamran. Right now. He replaced another candle and lit it, then wandered back to the bread as though Summoned. He didn't even bother to hunt down a slice of banana bread this time, just took the first piece his eye fell on without ascertaining exactly what flavour it was. When he looked up again, he noticed another student further down the corridor, on the floor. Good for her.

"Hello, Miss Carmilla," Kamran greeted her, smiling warmly, though he wasn't a big smiler usually. "Bread?" He turned his attention to Blackthorne instead. Something wrong? Couldn't be. "They look nice, don't they? Lovely..." Lovely... somethingsomething... never mind.

Embraced by zen, Kamran leaned up against the wall and chewed on his bread. Miss Grimm, Miss Couture, and now Mr Flamsteed were all doing a fine job. He was about to say so, but again, the words didn't seem worth saying. They'd know. All was right with the world, and all of them surely knew it.

Misa happily accepted any fresh candles that were coming at her. She had no idea how relaxing and calming switching out candles could be.

"This is nice..." she said in an easy voice. "Why does this not happen more often?" She would volunteer for this any day.

"You can make scented candles too!" she said with a nod. She would be more excited about that but... was just feeling peaceful.

The funny thing was, the more he stayed here in the corridor the less he felt like resisting the hunger and spell of the bread. But also...the longer her was here the less he felt like eating period. He was distracted by the thought he had had earlier of playing with wax, dipping it all on to his fingers and peeeeeeeeeeeling it offer after. The peel was the BEST part, after all.

So he sort of just nodded noncommittally at the professor, neither here nor there about anything at this point.

Wait...what had he just been about to do? OH RIGHT! Grab some candles and bring them over to Ivy.

Purpose restored, Atlas strolled over towards the box and grabbed a couple...but somewhere between the grabbing and actually bringing them over to Ivy...Atlas got lost. Not literally lost, he could walk in a straight line just fine, but just sitting in the middle of the corridor and arranging the candles in a formation that suited him. A backwards question mark for the head and chest...and then some more candles aligned in a triangle for the rear.

Grinning to himself, Atlas sat crisscross applesauce on the floor and swayed back and forth for a bit while he waited for the flames on the candles to melt the wax more. The candle nearest him, the nose of the Great Lion, had a hearty pool of melted wax and thus the blond blew out that flame and lazily poked and swirled his finger in it until he had amassed enough layers to make a little ball at his finger tips. Relighting this candle, Atlas moved on to the next candle and repeated with his thumb and then aaaaall the way down the line of reachable candles until he had little balls of wax on all five of his fingers.

"Looooook! I'm a kappaaaaaaaa!" he laughed while opening and closing his fingers, wiggling them a bit as well, to show off his handiwork.

Candles in the middle of the corridor was what he should have been doing, right? Did it matter?

Hehehee...waxy fingers.

The smell of bread was overpowering and Violet was beginning to think that maybe she should have some. But the heat and the smell also made her want to just keep standing there, examining the candle she was still holding and doing nothing. She felt at peace, like she was floating in the air and wanted to just relax into it, but at the very back of her head there was the beginning of a throbbing headache. She should go lie down, maybe, but she just couldn't bring herself to move...

Crimalla really didn't mind as the corridor filled with people. It didn't matter really that she was on her knees in an awkward position. Who cared about that when there was such wonderfully cheesy bread all around them (though nowhere to be seen)? She wasn't sure why bread made her feel so peaceful, but it kind of made sense to her.

"Hi Kamran! I like bread!" She returned his smile with a bright one of her own, and even addressed him by his first name.

And she waved back at Lisa waving back at her until she felt too lazy to do that anymore, and instead just gave her a sincere smile before turning to gaze peacefully at the wall.

"Violet, isn"t that bread wonderful?" She said this with a vague smile.

It was nice, Ivy agreed with Misa. This was something that really should happen more often. Or simply just...never end. Maybe they could just keep doing this forever?

"Scented candles are nice." They should make some. Though she didn't actually know how to make them. But that wasn't important. They were nice either way...

She took another old candle down and turned to hand it off to Atlas who...was not there. Hmm? Where had he...

Ohh, he was over there. Being a kappa. Well, that was okay too, yeah? She chuckled. "Maybe we should have cucumbers here instead of candles."

And speaking of candles again, she needed to...do something with this one. She needed...a new one? Yeah, that's right. Or maybe she should gather a few candles before grabbing some of the new ones? Hmm. Either method would probably work.

But while she considered what to do, she did notice Violet just standing in place and the first year referring to Professor Kazmi by his first name. Normally this would've made her raise an eyebrow, but right now...it was probably fine. Everything was fine. Nooooo problems here!

After being dismissed from Muggle Studies, Dahlia waited outside the classroom in the corridor. There was someone she needed to have a quiet word with. Someone who had nearly knocked the bread she had been holding right out of her hand. Thankfully that hadn't happened but they had managed to crumble it all up where it hadn't really been very edible.

Atlas. No where was he. Telling her not to eat the bread and ruining it on her so she couldn't eat it. What was up with that?! People shouldn't mess with other peoples food. That boy was acting all kinds of strange this term and she wanted to know why. And now seemed as good a time as any to find out.

With her bag slung over her shoulder, the second year leaned against the corridor wall and waited until Atlas by. "Atlas? Psssssst.. Atlas. Can I talk to you for a minute?" They could walk and talk if he had to be somewhere. Whatever worked was good with her as long as she got the explanation she needed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kolyander

After being dismissed from Muggle Studies, Dahlia waited outside the classroom in the corridor. There was someone she needed to have a quiet word with. Someone who had nearly knocked the bread she had been holding right out of her hand. Thankfully that hadn't happened but they had managed to crumble it all up where it hadn't really been very edible.

Atlas. No where was he. Telling her not to eat the bread and ruining it on her so she couldn't eat it. What was up with that?! People shouldn't mess with other peoples food. That boy was acting all kinds of strange this term and she wanted to know why. And now seemed as good a time as any to find out.

With her bag slung over her shoulder, the second year leaned against the corridor wall and waited until Atlas by. "Atlas? Psssssst.. Atlas. Can I talk to you for a minute?" They could walk and talk if he had to be somewhere. Whatever worked was good with her as long as she got the explanation she needed.

Quite ready to head straight down to the barns to check on his familiar, Atlas was not expecting anyone to be waiting for him and nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the whisper. Skin all covered in goosebumps, the Gryffindor calmed his roll and turned towards his classmate with wide eyes and utter confusion. "Huh?" Which was started Gryffindor for 'why?' but he soon got to that translation on his own. "Uh...I mean...sure? What's...going on?"

Oops. Hadn't meant to startle him, that wasn't her intention at all especially after the previous term and her nose wrinkled up slightly when she noticed that she had done so. "Sorry," she apologized quietly right away also taking note of the look on his face which for a moment had her wondering if perhaps he was the wrong Flamsteed twin. The boys were identical and unlike Lily and herself there was no difference in their houses to help tell them apart.

"About the bread. Why I shouldn't eat the bread. How come you nearly knocked it out of my hand?" Dahlia answered for simple clarification on what the conversation was going to be based upon. Maybe. There might be other things on her curious little mind that she was wondering about still.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kolyander

Oops. Hadn't meant to startle him, that wasn't her intention at all especially after the previous term and her nose wrinkled up slightly when she noticed that she had done so. "Sorry," she apologized quietly right away also taking note of the look on his face which for a moment had her wondering if perhaps he was the wrong Flamsteed twin. The boys were identical and unlike Lily and herself there was no difference in their houses to help tell them apart.

"About the bread. Why I shouldn't eat the bread. How come you nearly knocked it out of my hand?" Dahlia answered for simple clarification on what the conversation was going to be based upon. Maybe. There might be other things on her curious little mind that she was wondering about still.

Atlas had, initially, hoped to be in a different house from his brother so they could do a robe swap and see what sort of antics they could get up to that way. It was mostly experimental as far as Atlas had been concerned on the limitations and strengths of house magic. Being sorted into the same house had, initially, been a disappointment but ultimately he had been relieved to be. There was a certain codependence there that he pretended did not exist.

He had been expecting a more difficult sort of question, so this was an easy one to answer. "Because I don't trust it. Beware of Trojans bearing gifts. It's advice dad gave us before coming to Hogwarts. Historically, there has not been the best track record with new people suddenly showing up and bringing some sort of food or drink with them. One year dad was a professor here, there was this ice cream that made everyone happy...and it cause this full on dementor attack. Like...hordes of dementors. One staff member even got their soul sucked out." Despite the heaviness of the topic, Atlas may as well have been reading from the dictionary. He was, after all, just stating facts. "And she brings it everywhere and people can't stop talking about it...it fits the pattern too much."

Most days, Lia had questions. She was an adventurer. A reader. A learner. One of those kids that wanted to know things but also liked to figure it out all on her whenever possible first before asking for help. Defeat wasn't an option. Today, however, her main focus at the moment was on Healer Poppy's bread. Any other questions could wait until this one was answered.

Dahlia didn't say not one word while Atlas spoke. Not a peep. Everything he was telling she was going over in her head. Had she heard any of this before from any of her older siblings? Happy ice cream? Dementors? None of it rang a bell. Maybe they hadn't been there for it. "I haven't heard about any of that.. and I've heard plenty of stories." Tons. With as many siblings as she had some of the stories sometimes got jumbled up in her head. "You didn't have to knock it out of my hand, you know." Just saying. "What else did he tell you?" Important stuff. Stuff that might help keep her alive.

"When was your dad a professor? Maybe he taught my older siblings."