It was almost Christmas and Perseus still had no idea what he was going to gift his dads. He had sooooort of forgotten about gifts (where’s Santa when you need him???). Maybe he could ask Serena if he could shopping with her before Christmas Day. Or maybe Cornelius would be in town and Percy could tag along.

It sucked being one of the youngest in an entire lineage.

To be honest, though, technically Serena was one of the young ones too. So why was he not put in the same group as he was??? Was it because she was an ‘Old soul’ everyone loves? PFFT. Whatever.

Thinking about his predicament, Percy remained sitting in front of the fireplace, tossing pieces of parchment that were left over from an essay gone terribly wrong.

"Percy!!"

The small voice of Aiden would be heard as he saw his room-mate Percy in the common room, and rushed to go say hi. Aiden had been afraid of the other boy when they had first met. That was short-lived until Percy and Jacoby had helped light up their room with fairy lights to protect Aiden from his fear of the dark. After that moment, he loved the two other boys. They lived in the same room, and Aiden looked up to them as brothers (And when Aiden had nightmares, it was Percy and Jacoby he would go to).

But while Aiden was often scared or shy or upset, today he couldn't be happier.

"It's almost Christmas!" he gushed, grinning up at Percy and opening his arms hopefully for a hug. The usually shy little Hufflepuff lit up when it was time for the holidays, and to get to go home again! "Santa's coming SO soon!" Christmas must have been the happiest time all year. What could be better? Hot chocolate and presents and reindeer and snow and getting to finally go home. Aiden felt homesick a lot, and when Christmas was coming he could just count down the days to being reunited with his mom.

It’s late at night, time when students should be in bed. Anyone who happens to be in the common room at this hour will notice a strange scratching noise. Scratch, scraaaaatch…

Where is that noise coming from? A quick look around will show the common room deserted. Gradually, the scratching becomes louder and more insistent, and soon the scratching is accompanied by a loud screech, like a cat wailing for food. Screeeeech!

Ryder Jude Anders, as a matter of fact, was still in the common room. Not because he couldn't sleep but but because he was studying. OWLs were quickly approaching, you know. Seated near the fireplace, a snug blanket wrapped around his shoulders, the fifth year was in deep focus as he read from a Transfiguration book he had borrowed from the library.

At first, he didn't even hear the scratches. Not until they started to get louder, at least. His head jerked up and he hastily pushed his head out of his eyes. "Um... hi??" Looking around, there was no sign of anyone else but he could be wrong.

And the screech? Yeah, well... it made Jude shut his book with a snap. Grabbing his wand, he scrambled to his feet.

Daniel had noticed the scratching after exiting the bathroom. He was still in his pyjamas as he'd been sleeping for an hour before nature called. The fourth year initially thought it was the sounds made by the old castle at night. But then he remembered the rhyme he had discovered on the wall some time ago, and before that, he had heard scratching sounds like now.

He entered the common room, alert, to find Jude standing there with his wand in his hand. "Jude" he murmured but loud enough to be heard from the other side of the room near the dormitory entrance. "Did you come across a rhyme scratched into the wa—-" The Hufflepuff was startled by the sudden loud screech and flicked his wrist to grab his wand only to remember that it was still on his nightstand.

Keighley hadn't been awaken by the sounds of scratching. What HAD woken her was her cat Kanga walking across her chest and then laying up on her pillow with her paws in her face. A hand gently tried to brush one of the cats paws from covering her eye to the sounds of several soft 'Meows". Clearly Kanga thought now was the time to play. Cue a tail flicking the young girl in the face over and over to assure that she remained awake.

"Kaaaaaaanga.. it's sleepy time.." she mumbled, yawning into her arm and trying to roll over. Only to which earned her several more slightly louder 'mews' and being pawed at now. "Shhh, you're going to wake everyone.." Besides her that is. She knew better than to ignore her cat though, it was only bound to get worse if she did.

Grumbling sleepily and reaching for her wand on the nightstand, she rolled out of bed onto her feet. "Come on.." Keigh yawned again into her arm. Wandering from the dorm she led the way to the common room, Kanga padding along behind her.

Entering the common room in her pajamas with her hair a mess and rubbing at her eyes, she was more than a little surprised to see she wasn't alone. "Jude? Daniel?.. what's going on?" Why was her brother holding his wand?

The sudden movement turned out to be only Daniel. Jude nodded curtly to the younger Hufflepuff to acknowledge his presence. Curtly because his ears were on alert for other weird noises. Jude felt like Ned, who often sat still with his ears pricked up listening to all the happenings around him. However, he did relax by a hair upon seeing Keigh. Of course Kanga was with her. About a second after seeing his younger sister, protective brother mode stepped in and he hurried over to her side.

“Daniel… Keigh… did you guys hear that scratching too?” The fifth year briefly paused to pet Kanga then diverted his attention to Daniel. “What were you saying about a rhyme?” Jude was mystified and still very much straining his ears to pick up any weird sounds again. That screech still rang clearly in his mind.

Daniel turned to see Keighley approaching them with a cat at her feet. She must have heard the sounds as well and wanted to investigate. He nodded to Jude to confirm that he had heard the sounds as well and then watched him walk over to his sister's side. He was probably trying to protect her, and he wondered if Minjae would have done the same for him. He definitely would have. And for some reason, the thought upset him and he was glad that his older brother wasn't at Hogwarts anymore. He could fend for himself perfectly fine. Though he did wish he had his wand with him right now...

He felt silly explaining it all in his pyjamas. "I heard those scratching noises before near the study hall and found something scratched into the wall afterwards" he said, pausing for a moment to listen if anything else happened in the room before he continued in a half-whisper. "I wrote it down in my notebook in case it vanished..." However, his journal was in his trunk beneath his bed. "Maybe there's another clue somewhere?" As he talked, a glint appeared in his eyes and a smile crept on his face because just knowing that SOMETHING strange was going on was making him excited to find out more.

Percy’s attention was pulled away from the fire when he heard Aiden’s voice. He sounded a lot more cheerful than other days. Percy liked seeing him happy. Aiden was like a little brother he never had.

“He sure is!” He responded with the same enthusiasm and received Aiden’s hug. Squish squish! See? Percy was totally adopting Aiden as his brother and his dads will simply have to accept it.

The second year was about to ask Aiden about their homework when he heard strange noises. It sounded familiar but not really. “Did you hear that?” He asked Aiden. Just as he did older students came in. Then another sound followed. “Did all of you hear that? I’m not imagining things, right?”

RIGHT?!?!

Kanga was more than a little pleased to receive pettings from Jude. Purring lightly as she rubbed her head into his hand. When the petting stopped however she looked confused and pawed at her person for attention before just as quickly changing her mind and padding away. Leaping up onto the back of the couch where she could safely watch things around the room.

Keighley on the other hand appeared very confused still as Jude rushed over to her side. Then even more so as Daniel joined them. Scratching noises? Words scratched into a wall? What in the name of Merlin were they talking about? "Erm... no? I was asleep.. but Kanga woke me up. She was really insistent that I get up too.." So maybe Kanga had heard whatever it was that she hadn't?!

Now was when she took a much slower look around the room and noticed the two younger boys as well. "It's going to be okay. Don't worry.." There was nothing to worry about, right Jude? Right?!

So Daniel had heard it too. And apparently also Percy and Aiden, both of whom Jude only just realised were there. See, when one was studying as hard as he was, one tended to zone out most of what was going on around oneself. That was definitely why Jude had not noticed those two earlier. “We definitely heard it,’’ he confirmed. The older boy absently watched Kanga wander off, wondering where Ned was. His own cat was possibly somewhere in the common room here otherwise off with Evan’s Padme as usual.

The only one who seemed out of the loop was his sister. Jude decided that there was no need to further alarm anyone, especially the two younger boys. “I’m sure it was just an animal. Maybe a cat or an owl.” An owl could have caused the screech. He gave everyone a smile, hoping that they would believe him. Well, except for Daniel because the fourth year clearly knew something more about this strange event. “What are you guys still doing up anyway, Percy and Aiden?” And to Keigh, “You should head back to sleep.” He snugged his sister by putting an arm around her shoulder and briefly pressing his cheek against her head. “Daniel… could you help me out a bit with something? A question about Transfiguration…” Jude hadn’t the slightest inclination about having a discussion on the subject; his aim was to simply get Daniel aside to question him about whatever had been scratched into the walls near the Study Hall.

Maybe it was because he had been focused on the noises, or perhaps it was because second years were still so small, but Daniel tilted his head in the direction of Percy and Aiden, a mild look of surprise on his face. Jude was right; what were they doing up at this late hour? Even he had been sleeping till he needed to use the toilet earlier.

He wasn't one to pass judgment. When he was younger, he would slip out of the dormitory and sit on the big couch near the fire to read a book all night, and he still did this now and then.
Keighley appeared to be in the dark about the happenings, and he suspected Jude wished to keep it that way. And it turned out that his thoughts were correct when the oldest of them told everyone except for him to go back to bed.

Daniel was not a great socializer. But he was skilled at observing, and when Jude asked him to assist him with Transfiguration, he understood right away that this was not his genuine objective. "Sure, whatever" he shrugged. "Let me get my notebook for a second" he said, turning around before he headed to the fourth-year dormitory to grab the notebook he had written down the rhyme in.

See, here's the thing, Keighley could very well have believed Jude. He was her brother and he wouldn't lie to her. Not to mention that a cat or an owl was a very plausible answer for the noises that everyone else had seemed to hear. However if that was only the case, why was he so eager in getting them back to bed... yet he was worried about some silly Transfiguration question and he was asking a young student for assistance? No offense to Daniel at all she was sure that he was smart with his studies and all but couldn't it wait until morning?

The blonde still had one arm around Jude's waist, leaning into his side as she tilted her head to the side looking at him curiously. "Really? You're just going to send me off to bed without even really telling me what's happening?" She full on pouted just like Reagan had been teaching her. How could Jude do this to his bestest most favoriest sister?

While in fact Jude needed help with Transfiguration {Vanishing Spells were giving him such a difficult time!}, Evan had offered to assist him with that. The fifth year nodded at Daniel and watched the boy head off to get his book. Jude’s line of thinking? He and Daniel could review what had been written in that notebook and then maybe decide if it was worth bringing to a professor's attention. So far, it sounded as though they should… especially if they found more of these markings somewhere here in the common room.

Keighley was way too smart for her own good. Jude hadn’t really expected her to be simply dismissed but he had hoped that she was too sleepy to focus on anything. “I just didn’t want you worrying about anything… but if you want to stick around, that’s fine.” Jude’s gaze went in the direction of the Boys’ dorms, looking for Daniel. “I’m super curious about these markings Daniel referred to.”

It was none of his business if Percy, Aiden, or Keighley chose to stay or leave. His main goal was to get his notebook from the trunk under his bed without waking up the other fourth years.

Once he had it, the fourteen-year-old returned to the Common Room and approached the siblings who were talking to each other. "I got it," he stated as he sat down on the couch and turned through the pages until he found the one he needed before giving it to Jude. The handwriting looked as if it had been written with haste but it was legible enough.





"This was written on the wall after those scratching noises happened" the screech earlier had been new though. "I thought that maybe it would happen again when I heard the scratches just now but" he trailed off and looked around the room, he didn't see anything obvious yet.

Sleep didn't matter right this very second. The third year could've been falling asleep on her feet and she would've wanted to know more about what was going on. Okay, so maybe that was pushing things a little bit but Jude would get the point. "Juuuuuuuuuude, haven't you learned by know that not telling me things makes me worry even more?" Plus, they told each other everything. If something was going on around the castle wasn't it better that she knew, then not know? That way she was more prepared? "I just want to know what's going on.." Keigh starred up at her brother with big blue eyes. She wasn't going anywhere until she knew what he knew.

Within only what was maybe a few minutes time, Daniel returned with a notebook in his hands. Following him towards one of the other couches in the room, she took a seat waiting while the book was handed to Jude. She could read it after he was finished or he could tell her what it said, either way was fine with her. As long as she was being kept in the loop now.

Jude had the decency to look so sheepish that he was sure that Keigh would not be mad at him for a second {even though she never did}. And she was right. They told each other everything, which was why he was closest to her as opposed to either Reagan or Koen. “You’re right. I’m sorry, protective instincts just kicked in.” Besides, it would be better because it would put Keigh on guard. Yeah… what had he been thinking seconds ago, wanting to keep it from her??? Talk about a brain fart moment! Jude chuckled. “Alright, you win! Those precious blue eyes helped a lot.”

The older Hufflepuff looked around as Daniel returned and he followed his sister to the couch. He sat between her and Daniel because it would be easier for the three of them to read {in Daniel’s case reread} the words that had been written. Jude read them in his quiet voice, his frown deepening with every line. “So uh… it sounds as though there’s something living somewhere… behind a door that’s always open?” Pause. “It makes me wonder if there might be other clues around the Castle that no one’s noticed.”

This was all so very peculiar.

Keighley looked over at Jude and gave him a soft smile. "I know, Jude. You're always doing that." Which was why she couldn't really get upset with him even if she tried. It was how they were. Constantly wanting to do what was best for each other, keep the others safe. They couldn't help it. "Is that all? Well I'm thankful for my big bright blue eyes." She laughed softly in amusement.

Leaning slightly into Jude's side and peering over his arm to read what the book said, it was much easier to sit back and let Jude read it out loud. The third year sat in silence for several moments pondering over the rhyme. "It does sound that way.. but what door is always open? And one that conceals an enchanted land?.." Maybe it was speaking of the Room of Requirement? The room changed to what those that found it really needed at that moment. And it wasn't so much locked as it was hidden?