"You've no idea the ordeal I've been through!" I moaned, while Gemma braided my hair and I painted Lucille's nails.
"I didn't know the stairs could move that fast! I'm shaking just mentally reliving it."
"How do you feel about cornrows?" Gemma asked.
I paused painting Lucy's nails and felt my head.
"Dumbledore's beard, Gemma! I don't even have that much hair!"
Gemma laughed. "It's alright, I'll take them out."
"Eh-hem!" Lucy said, and wiggled her half manicured nails in my face.
I rolled her eyes. "Do you want stripes or flowers?"
Lucy thought for a moment. "One striped accent nail on each finger!" she said, decidedly.
"Rita!"
Meryl called me from across the room.
I shook my head.
"When I'm done with Lucy's manicure!"
I looked over my shoulder.
"And when Gemma takes these cornrows out!"
Later, when I caught up with Meryl, she informed me that she'd made a discovery.
"We need to tell the Deputy Headmistress righrighy away!" she told me.
"Um, hold on there, Meryl. You know my feelings about her have somewhat shifted positively, but how about you tell me first?"
Meryl nodded at me. "Okay. I was in the restricted section in the library, and-"
"The restricted section? Since when do you break rules?"
"As I was saying, I found a book that links the centaurs living in the Forbidden Forest to the centaurs that live back home."
"... The Party Ponies? The centaurs in the Forbidden Forest. And the Party Ponies?"
"Yes. The Party Ponies."
"As in, those Party Ponies?"
"Yes!"
You see, I was having a little bit of trouble connecting the water pistol-wielding, face painted Party Ponies to the mysterious, elegant centaurs that hid in the forest behind Howarts.
"How does that help us, exactly?" I asked.
Meryl looked at me. "Isn't it obvious? We need to go see the centaurs."