From the Ashes

Who: Shane and Brendon
When: Friday night
Where: Hufflepuff
What: Reassurances, awkwardness, and possibly zombies


Shane called out "Be safe!" to William and Patrick, then turned to the painting of Bellamus the Bard and tapped on the bottom left corner three times with his wand. The painting swung open, and Shane climbed in, quickly casting Lumos.

The passage was short and blessedly empty, but Shane still felt like it was taking forever to get through. He knew Brendon could take care of himself--he'd fought next to him in the war, he knew Brendon was competent--but that didn't keep him from worrying or wanting to be there with Brendon, just in case.

Finally, the passage ended and he carefully peeked out from behind the tapestry that hid the passage from this side. The coast was clear, for the moment at least, and he covered the distance to the Hufflepuff entrance in a matter of seconds.

"Brendon!" he called, knocking on the door. "Brendon, it's Shane, let me in."

Who: Shane and William
When: Friday night
Where: Near the library, from thence to Hufflepuff
What: Where do they keep coming from???

William's plan of action had been very simple. He was going to leave Ravenclaw (where it was safe), follow the secret passage through the walls (where it was safe) and cross the hallway straight to the library (where it was safe).

It was an excellent plan. It had continued being an excellent plan right up until the point that he'd stepped warily out of the hidden door into the miraculously silent and empty hallway, checked in both directions to make sure the coast was clear, and shut the door to find two extremely confused and interested House-elves standing behind it trying to puzzle out what was happening with the wall.

He took two steps backward, tripped over his own feet, tried to yank open the door to the passage again only to find that it had sealed up tight, and decided that possibly running was the best option. Unfortunately, the direction he most wished to run in was right where the House-elves were standing. And starting to salivate.

He'd just done the workout from hell with Pete, though. He sent up a somewhat panicked thank-you mentally as he tore around the corner, looking ahead for empty classrooms he could duck into, and realised a second too late that he'd turned in the direction of the stairwell leading to the kitchen. Four more House-elves pricked up interested ears at his appearance, and he barely had time to duck into a new hallway as the two behind him caught up. This time when he turned the corner there was another figure in front of him, but one far too tall to be a House-elf.

"Back!" he yelled, waving his arms. "Back, back, back!"

B,

Where are you?? I know you can handle yourself, but I'm worried. I'm coming to find you. If you get this before I get to you, send an owl or your patronus to tell me where you are.

Shane

Who: Jon and Shane
When: Dusk on Wednesday
Where: Courtyard
What: a cupcake, a house elf, and the beginning of the end


Jon crossed the courtyard, head down as he searched his bag. He was pretty sure that the house elves had wrapped the fresh (or as fresh as two day old Grommice could be) securely, but he didn't really need it leaking everywhere, just in case. It was almost too late to avoid a collision by the time he noticed the black tennis shoes out of the corner of his eye.

"Whoa, shit. Sorr-oh hey, is that the new Pudwallace 3200?"

Who: Everyone
Where: The Staff Lounge
When: Tuesday morning
What: Emergency staff meeting

William came straight from London to the staff meeting, arriving just as the clock was ticking over to 8 AM. The amount of information collected in the archive was vast, and he'd worked through two nights to look at as much of it as possible, not wanting to waste any time. Whatever the students had was getting worse, and still spreading. Over the week and a half since they'd first noticed it, at least four dozen students had developed magic fatigue and an increased inability to perform spells. The affected first- and second-years were all but Muggles. He didn't even know that a quarantine would help them at this point, but that was undoubtedly one of the things they were here to discuss.

Most of the seats were taken when he arrived, and the number of people in the room meant that the way to the sideboard was blocked. He cast a pleading look at Pete for a cup of tea, settling in the corner and shuffling his notes out of the way so he could draw a small vial out of the pocket of his robe; one which Gabe probably shouldn't see. If he was going to get through the day, though, he needed something slightly stronger than caffeine.

"How are the students?" he asked, glancing around the room and blinking back the threatening exhaustion. "Any change?"

Hi

Sha

Look,

Valdés,

In his infinite wisdom, the headmaster has appointed us coheads me head of Hufflepuff, with your help, so we should sit down and discuss what this will entail. Of course, if you are unwilling to take the position with me alongside me, I am sure the headmaster would not object in the slightest.

Sincerly yours,

Professor Urie.

Who Anyone and everyone
What Staff party
When Eleven and any time after on Friday
Where Pete and Brendon's Magical Muggle Pool Ballroom

For the evening, they've given up on the dream of muggle accuracy and the whole thing is decked out magically; the pool is full, but the water glows for no apparent reason. Brendon has decked shit out with trees, there are portraits of jungle animals hung on the walls in various parts of the ~forest that make their applicable noises, and there's even a "beach" of pure white sand. The ceiling is charmed to look like the night sky, complete with a moon about half-full (just in case there are any werewolves in attendance whose biology might get confused), and there is a "cabana" of sorts with food and more alcohol than you can shake a stick at.

It's a casual affair and, despite Pete's careful wording on the invitation, the point, plain and simple, is to get wasted.

[OOC: basically a free for all where time is fluid and threads can be started all willy nilly!]

WHO: Adam the hot pink parrot man and [Shane/Gabe/Brendon/Anyone who has skillz (Dear Jon Walker, please don't let Tommy eat the Bird-Man.)]
WHEN: Sunday afternoon.
WHERE: From the library, straight to your office, helpfully delivered by William Beckett!
WHAT: What started out as being cursed to be pink... escalated when William Beckett accidentally made him the parrot-man and the countercurse didn't work! A continuation of this scene, with a bailing William!

What started out as a Pretty Bad Day was only getting worse. Sure, it sucked having been turned pink, but... being turned into Adam the Parrot Man was even worse, since now he had feathers instead of hair, and was... well, kind of multicolored. Oh, and there was the whole aspect where he felt the need to flap his wings arms wings and squawk and generally repeat everything anyone said, and he was looking for shoulder perches and wondering how interesting it would be to go and pester the owls in the Owlery.

Probably not too productive, but he was definitely growing more bird-brained by the second. Which was, perhaps, why William had taken him to find someone who could fix this, regardless of whether or not Adam would ever live it down and spend the rest of his life being known as Parrot, or Parrot-Man, or something equally ridiculous.

Mostly, he just needed... help.

Who: Brendon and Shane.
What: Old friends meet again.
When: Sometime in the afternoon of Shane's arrival.
Where: In a classroom, in the deep, dark heart of the castle.


Sometimes when they were sent to fix a problem that had cropped up somewhere in the castle, things ended up a little less straightforward than they had initially expected. What Brendon first expected to take him an hour or two of easy charm work, had taken four, five hours of exhausting, intricate work, and what's more, he was beginning to suspect there was a boggart in the teacher's desk at the front of the room.

He sighed, collapsing onto a student's desk, a safe distance from the boggart. He'd ask the DADA professor if they had any use for it before he went forth and started dredging up deepest fears. Yes. He rubbed his elbow where he had earlier slipped and jarred it against the wall, frowning. Some things were better left buried.

Who: Shane and Jon
Where: The grounds between the gate and the castle
When: Mid-morning
What: Shane's arrival at Hogwarts

Shane stops just shy of the gates, closes his eyes and tries to talk himself into going through them. He had thought that getting on the plane from Vegas to London would be the hardest part, that once he arrived he would be prepared to be back. That was why he had decided to travel the Muggle way, to give himself some time to prepare, to be ready to face this place (these people) again. Apparently it hadn’t worked. Shane takes a deep breath and opens his eyes. He can do this. He picks up his trunk and forces his feet to move.

As he approaches the castle Shane looks around taking in the changes. It’s obvious that cleanup has begun; the last time he was here, during the war, the grounds were a wreck. Now it looks close to how it looked when he first arrived. Memories of his time at Hogwarts flash through his mind: studying in the common room, quidditch on Saturdays, singing Muggle songs with Brendon. Shane smiles. He really did have some good times here. He is so lost in thought that he doesn’t see the person approaching until they are almost on top of each other.