"Oh, and on the first try too. That doesn't happen very often." Cutie commented. She and Vamp took their custom seats at the back of the class, which was elevated just a little so they could still see and waited for the rest of the class, as well as their teacher.
"Last night was crazy. But so fun! We should do it again some time don't you think? Maybe we should wait until we get better at disillusionment though. It was kind of shoddy, I'm surprised we weren't caught by that girl. I wonder what was up with her." Cutie said quickly as she got out her books and wand and quills. "Oh yeah, did Sweety tell you if she found anything out? I didn't get a chance to talk to her at breakfast. Me and Choey were discussing the best way to "welcome" the first years..." she added.
"She nearly got caught...kind of got caught. Potter was there, so she was sent back to bed. She didn't say anything else about it."
Vamp also readied his books and quills (although they very rarely had to use them.)
"Uh, just to be random, do you think it's strange that Harry caught Sweetie in the penguinary? As in Harry Potter, being in the penguinary really early in the morning?"
Cutie pondered this while chewing on the end of a quill. It was quite a sad looking quill by now.
"You know Vamp; I do think that is odd. Why would he get up so early just to send a letter? You don't think he's got anything to hide do you? No, that can't be right. I mean, just look at all he's done!" Cutie questioned exasperatedly, her voice getting louder. People began to turn around in their seats so Cutie quieted herself.
"Oh man, if he ends up being a turncoat. So many people are going to be angry. Including me." she added with a very angry look on her face.
"I haven't got any exact ideas, but I guess we can always find out." Said Vamp with a sly smile just wide enough to see two pointy white tips.
"Okay class!" Said the charms professor in her usual loud voice.
"This way please! Books away, wands out."
"You know Vamp, when you smile like that. I kind of get the feeling you're thinking about eating everyone in this room. And then I remember that you're not -that- evil. I hope...I think. Hehehe." Cutie joked. She was especially hyper because of the late night and now it was charms! Her favourite class of all.
"Alright class, today we're using the incenduim charm!" their professor chimed in a louder voice than was necessary.
"Oh goody oh goody oh goody oh goody. FIRE!" Vamp and Cutie chanted together.
"Now" Began Professor Therin "This spell is fairly useful when done correctly. Fire is generally essential if you are in any emergency where you are away from medical aid."
Every student in the class was on the edge of their seats, eager to start, but the professor pulled on. "The incantation is 'Incendio'. But be careful, you have to focus on the flame. I want just a small flame, enough to light this small piece of wood." She held up a small stick. "It takes utter control over the wand! Once you master that, then we will move onto bigger things!"
And with that she handed out the small sticks to everyone.
The next half an hour was full of smoke and fire. Therin had been smart enough to put fire resistant charms on everything in the classroom, which was why when Anthony Kennet produced an enormous fireball; the desk hadn't been burnt to a crisp (Unlike the hem of his robes).
Everyone was either making barely a spark or incinerating their stick to a pile of dust.
That was, until Cutie was made to show everyone in the class how to do it.
"Incendio!" She chanted. And a small but strong flame engulfed the twig.
"Good!" Said Professor Therin. Now Cutie, you can move onto this." And she brought forth a rocking chair. I can trust you to control the flame just enough to only burn the backrest?"
Cutie was a little conscious about being made to perform in front of the entire class, but raised her wand nevertheless, "Incendio!"
A dazzling whirl of flame leapt from the tip of her wand and engulfed only the backrest of the chair, leaving the rest untouched.
"Excellent!" Squealed professor Therin "50 points to Calisto!"
Cutie still stood in front of the class, blushing a little. She wasn't that big of a fan of performing spells in front of people.
"Wow! Thanks Professor Therin!" Cutie smiled, shocked at the large number of points awarded.
The rocking chair that had been burning neatly flared up with the flames licking the ceiling.
"Whoa! Hehe, sorry Miss. Forgot that was still burning." she apologized as she doused the large flames, which had singed the unfortunate Anthony. He was sitting in the front row and now had no eyebrows.
"Cutie, you should know better. Spells like these are very tied to emotions. You'll have to learn to control how your thoughts flow down to your wand unless you'd like to burn down the entire school. Now go back to your seat, take this chunk of rock with you. I'd like to see if you can set THAT on fire! Haha!" Professor Therin laughed, a little crazily, knocking poor Anthony over as he went to the hospital wing.
Cutie took her seat back beside Vamp.
"Whew" she said, "That was fun!"
No one was assigned homework, they were in fact forbidden to practice that spell outside the charms classroom.
The students that took Advanced Care of Magical Creatures were outside, learning about dragons.
"Why don't you do Advanced Care of Magical Creatures Cutie?" Vamp asked intrigued, "Almost all the Calisto do it!" But before she could answer Choey cam running through the door.
"I'm so sorry Professor!" she panted, holding on to the doorframe for support. "I dropped ALL my books and everything scattered everywhere. And then when I was picking them up, I tripped again and the ones I had picked up flew everywhere again and-" The professor silenced her and told her to sit down and be quiet. Choey nodded hurriedly, then dragged a chair up next to Cutie and Vamp, who were smirking and shaking their heads.
"Vamp! Choey! Where are you two going? We had Care of Magical creatures yesterday, don't you remember? We're not in the "career" Care of Magical Creatures like Sweety and Pitin are. We have transfiguration now. Lets go! We're gonna be late!" Cutie called as she began to run down the hall, darting behind a tapestry.
"Ah! The joys of Transfiguration!" Choey said airily as she walked down the hall with Vamp and Cutie. "What'd I miss in Charms anyway?"
"Incendio," Cutie replied.
"And Cutie's chair-burning performance," Vamp added, grinning. Choey cocked an eyebrow, then jumped slightly at the sight of Vamp's fangs.
"I'm sorry, you rock and everything, but those fangs creep me out every time..."
"Eh, its not really just the fangs. I've gotten used to those. It's more when he gets that evil-and-yet-far-off-in-though look with just the tips showing. Like this" Cutie joked, attempting to show just the tips of her teeth while smiling - unsuccessfully - until she realized that people were looking at her funny. Then she waved at them.
"Oh, and you also missed Cutie burning Anthony's eyebrows off as she nearly burned down the class. That was fun." Vamp added. Cutie stuck her tongue out at him as the three came out from behind a statue, five minutes early for their transfiguration class.
"I can't believe that NO ONE else except us knows these shortcuts. They're so obvious." Choey commented as she Vamp and Cutie sat down on the floor outside the class.
"So, are we up for another sleepless night tonight?" Vamp mentioned casually.
"My nights are always sleepless." Said Choey proudly.
"That's because you stay up all night trying to jinx the Calisto common room fireplace into a popcorn machine!" Cutie retorted playfully.
The three sat there talking for a few more minutes until more students came.
Pitin and Evy arrived, followed shortly afterwards by Professor Brude.
"Hello." They chimed, joining the circle.
"So where were you in charms?" Vamp asked Choey.
"I knew that excuse about dropping my books wouldn't fool anyone except the Professor!" Choey replied, scrunching her face up in annoyance. "Well, I really did drop my books, and as I was running around trying to pick them up, I bumped into this random first year. Only, he was exactly like that girl last night. Blank stare, no sense of consciousness...it was creepy. Anyways, I tried to follow him, and I got as far as that portrait of the guy who turned his hair into a purple ferret, when I tripped over the edge of that stupid Oriental rug they put down in that corridor. And then, once I got up and straightened the rug, the kid was gone." As Choey finished, the lesson began, preventing anyone from commenting on Choey's strange escapade.
"Good morning class!" the Professor began. "Today we will be turning our shoes into animals and back."
A series of hushed conversation ran through the class. "Animal shoes?" "I heard people get serious injuries from animal shoes." "Last year my Grandma's next door neighbour's nephew had animal shoes!"
Professor Brude talked over this. "The incantation is 'revershoea'. Repeat after me, 'Revershoea'."
The class repeated the incantation in a dull monotonous voice, all except for Choey who practically sung it to the tune of 'Jingle Bells'.
"The wand movement is your standard, inward celestial turn. Please watch. Uhhh, Anthony, could you please stand up."
Anthony had been sent back to class with some orange paste over his eyebrows, which some recognised as burn heal from third year when participating in duels.
Anthony shakily stood in his place as Brude aimed her wand at him. "Revershoea!"
His shoes turned into squawking penguins then faded back to his regular sneakers.
"Uh, sir, do these already count as animals? They're sort of alive."
Cutie questioned, pointing at her bunny-slippered feet
"Come here Cutie, I can give you a temporary solution."
The teacher said as he changed Cutie's slippers back into regular shoes.
Pitin, Vamp, Evy, and Choey chuckled as Cutie staggered back to her seat.
"Quiet you's, I'm not used to shoes!"
"Everyone pay attention! The spell is 'revershoa' say it with me: RE-VERSH-OOA!"
"Oh, that's no good," Professor Brude said shaking his head. "They're supposed to STAY animals. Who wants to try next?"
"Oh, oh, me, ME!" Choey said bouncing up and down in her seat with her hand stretched as far as it could go.
"Ok, fine, Choey, please show us," Professor Brude sighed, resigning to the fact that only Choey would be insane enough to try to turn her shoes into animals and keep them like that.
"Revershoa!" Choey chanted clearly, waving her wand. Immediately, her spotless white sneakers turned into spotless white Bichon Frisés. Choey returned to her seat, put her shoeless feet up on her desk, tipped her chair back, and smiled. Her two Bichon dog-shoes sat obediently on either side of her chair.
The class looked on in amazement as Choey led her dogs on to do tricks in perfect synchronization.
"OK! Now that we've seen the right way of how to do it, I'd like you all to try it!" Soon the room was full of wand-waving and incantation-calling.
By the end of class, everyone had successfully transfigured their shoes. Vamp's were small brown roosters that would cluck and chase him, nipping at his heels, Pitin's were miniature leopards that would do nothing but laze around on the desk as Evy's enormous butterflies glided overhead. And Cutie's were tiny gazelles that would flit around the classroom, hopping over the leopard that would swat lazily at them as they yawned. The class ended up being a total mess and disaster. But at least it was a fun one.
No one was together for afternoon classes that day, so they left in opposite directions after Transfiguration had ended!
"I'll see you after dinner." Vamp said, winking to the others. "I hear the bubble room is nice in the evening, around nine-ish." And with that he left for his next class.
The rest of the afternoon breezed by, everyone was assigned copious amounts of homework and assignments.
Vamp left his final class and headed straight for the Great Hall, not even bothering to attempt the stairs and put his bag in the common room.
"I swear, if that stupid vine rips out another strand of my hair I'm gonna..."
Choey was once again ranting about the rather dangerous vine in Exploratoria Herbology. "That's the seventeenth time it's gone and done something to my hair! If only my mother hadn't made me sign up for that class!"
"Choey, chill!" Cutie said, silencing the rant. "The vine didn't do anything noticeable to your hair, okay? Now take a deep breath, and come with me to find Vamp and the others."
Pitin, Evy, Vamp and Cap sat at the Knocturnes table.
"I've got lots of homework." Said Evy swilling a goblet of pumpkin juice in one hand. "I was also going to the tower tonight to brush up on some astronomy."
"You know the universe like the back of you hand." Nudge Pitin, knocking over the goblet. "Just come."
"Well I'm going to get ready now." Said Vamp, getting up. "Cap, I'll catch you later."
It was eight o'clock. Vamp had already seen Potter leave the staff table- 'O no!' He thought to himself, 'Nulmit! And I still have detention!'
This was true; Pitin and Vamp still had detention for being out of bed after hours.
"I've been looking for you. Professor Potter already explained what was going on. Tell Ms Kathleen that you are both off detention."
Although this was good news, Professor Nulmit retained her irony gaze and her firm brisk voice.
"I suggest you go straight to bed tonight however."
"Yes...goodnight then. Don't let those bed bugs bite." Vamp smiled, purposely letting his fangs show.
"I told you I could do it perfectly!" Choey said, exasperated, watching as Cutie turned slowly in the mirror, making sure that she was completely disillusioned.
"Ok, you're right, you did it," Cutie admitted reluctantly.
"Ok, we've come to an agreement, now let's go!" Choey was impatient to get going. She grabbed Cutie's arm (or what she hope was her arm, she couldn't really tell) and started dragging her out of the dormitory.
Once the two girls reached the corridor, they walked cautiously. Though Choey had smartened up and had worn slippers, there was always the off chance of tripping, as she seemed to be prone to doing.
"This way," Cutie breathed, veering suddenly off to the right and leading Choey through a passage hidden behind a giant statue of a centaur. Unfortunately, Choey's reflexes didn't respond as quickly as she should have and she ran right into the statue, which came down with a crash that made the dead turn over in their graves.
Choey hit the ground with a thud, stunned for a second, then she doubled-up in a ball, trying to hide her laughter.
"CHOEY! Shhhh! You'll get us caught!" Cutie said in a whisper, looking frantically up and down the hall. Just then a person turned the corned and began walking quickly down the hall. Cutie and Choey froze, they couldn't see who it was, they could only see a silhouette of the person. They looked to be younger than most teachers though.
Quickly, Cutie grabbed Choey and pulled her to her feet and crossed the hall in front of the person, and behind a tapestry.
"They saw us! They saw us they saw us they saw us!" Choey was whispering before she clamped a hand over her own mouth.
"Oh crudmuffins. Uh, uh, where are we? Hold on," Cutie thought aloud, trying to get her bearings in the dark castle while Choey desperately tried to hurry her up.
"I got it!" Cutie said as again she grabbed Choey's arm and pulled her farther along the secret passageway until they reached a certain spot of bricks. She pulled out her wand, pressed it to a crack and muttered something under her breath. The wall opened up with just barely enough room for two people. They climbed in and the walls closed over just as the person began walking down the secret hall. Leaving Choey and Cutie in the pitch dark, listening to heavy footsteps coming towards them.
"Cutie! Choey! It's just me!" Vamp called from the other side of the wall, also trying to suppress his laughter.
"VAMP!" Choey and Cutie both whispered angrily through the wall.
Cutie tapped the wall again with her wand and it opened up. A wave of fresh air hit the two girls as they stepped out.
"Vamp, you dirtbag, you scared the living daylights outta me!" Choey half whispered, half panted, punching him jokingly on the shoulder.
"Yes, well, that crash probably scared the whole school it was so loud. And that hurt!" Vamp replied, rubbing the spot where CHoey had hit him.
"Ok, yeah, can we save the arguing for later?" Cutie said hurriedly. "We have to get out of here in case any-"
"Who's out here?"
"Too late!" Choey said. "RUN!"
Things were on edge around the castle after what happened that night. Teachers re-read the after dark rules before everyone class, informing students of curfews and such.
And to add to that, it was nearly Christmas. Not only were the teachers cutting down on late night walkers, but the infamous 'tinsel fiend' whose last attack had been the quidditch hoops. (Every goal scored made the quaffles loudly sing carols, the bludgers transfigure into giant holly berries and the snitch to explode in a shower of party hats and chocolate just likes a bon-bon.)
It was Christmas Eve before anything was even mentioned snooping about again.
"Tonight would be the best to do some snooping." Said Vamp leaving the Charms room (which had been the last class for the day.) "What with Moon- I mean, the 'tinsel fiend' lurking about and the party tonight."
"Let's prioritise, pudding, then snooping!" Added Cutie.
Sweety waltzed down the hallways, whistling carols and handing out wreaths to every passer-by. She was smiling like a Cheshire cat, but at the same time being sure to avoid mistletoe.
Everyone was in the Great Hall for dinner, sitting together, as there were no house tables during the holidays. Over the dull roar of the students, clear Christmas carols could be heard. Just then the doors burst open to reveal Sweety singing at the top of her lungs and dodging under mistletoe as if it would drop something heavy on her.
"Oh...he he, HEY!" she called as soon as she realized everyone was looking at her. She sat down with Vamp, Cutie, and the others who looked amused.
"You know, the mistletoe only sticks you to the spot if you walk under WITH someone else. When you're alone its safe..." Pitin said through her giggles.
"Really? Good to know" Sweety said as she pulled some pudding towards her.
"So anyways, now that you're here too Sweetie, we're meeting in the Bubble Room again tonight. Real late - 1:30 in the morning so we're not caught by anyone." Vamp informed "Is there anyone who thinks they wont be awake by then?" he added.
"I will!" Sweety said with a hundred watt smile, "That is if my 8 mugs of hot cocoa don't wear off by then..." she was giggling uncontrollably. "Now if you'll excuse me, I cant hold still!" she got up and started to walk laps around the hall, stopping to talk to people and wish them a happy holiday and OCCASIONALLY pass out a gift.
Choey faked falling asleep, banging her head down on the table all to the amusement of the others. Her head shot back up again a second later, casually looking around as if someone might actually inform them of being too tired (with a spot of pudding on her nose she wasn't aware of).
"Uh, well maybe we should meet somewhere different." Began Evy. "It's always the bubble room and habits lead to getting caught."
Everyone nodded at this, then silently thought for a moment.
"Well what abo- ahhhh-" Choey had just been dragged away to dance.
Sweety saw people dancing and jumped with happiness! "DANCING! WEEEEEE!" she said happily and grabbed the nearest person, which just happened to be Vamp.
"Lets go! I wanna dance!" she said with another enormous smile.
Vamp didn't have time to say no, so he just played along. There were so many people dancing it was impossible to be spotted but Vamp (unlike Sweety) still felt incredibly nervous and wasn't a very good dancer.
In fact he wasn't very good at all. He just seemed to be there, not dancing, but rather standing next to Sweety who was moving to music at her own pace.
Sweety smiled, "Come on! Move!" she picked up his hands by the wrist and made a feeble attempt to make him move, "It's no fun otherwise! You just have to suspend your vanity! Nobody CARES what you dance like, that's the beauty of it!"
"Hey look! Mistletoe!" Vamp said while pointing to the roof.
Sweety jumped out of the way.
"Just kidding!" Said Vamp smugly.
Sweety looked up at the ceiling, bare of mistletoe.
"I think I'll go tell Choey she still has pudding on her nose."
Sweety looked at her feet, "Awwwww, its no fun to dance alone..." she snapped out of it in a second though, "hey! Maybe somebody else will dance with me!"
This was true, a 7th year Calisto boy was about to ask her before Cutie zipped her way and up into the girls bathroom at an unbelievably fast rate.
"I've spoken to Moo- I mean, the tinsel fiend, and something will be happening. We're meeting the others in roughly..." An enormously large bang went off from down stairs "now."
Cutie lead Sweety back downstairs, and pulled her through people running in all directions. And there was the gang, all standing calmly amidst the havoc.
"Could you please be a little less inconspicuous?" Said Cutie as a large holly wreath fell and landed straight into Sweety's hands.
"Err, here, Merry Christmas!" And she handed it to a screaming 2nd year that went running by.
Sweety looked around before she finally saw the enormous Christmas tree situated directly in the middle of the room. "CHRISTMAS TREE!" she said with another trillion watt grin, "YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" then she noticed it was decked in..."MISTLETOE? AHHHHHH! IT BURNS!"
Not only that, but it's branches were growing at a magical rate, reaching for students and tangling them in tinsel and decorations. Strangely enough, it had also been jinxed to yell the phrase "How do you like it?"
The group casually left through the passageway that lead to the kitchens.
Sweety waited until they were out of sight before she burst out laughing. "That moon-I mean... tinsel fiend...sure is creative!" she smiled, glancing back over her shoulder, though the mistletoe was a bit frightening..."
Choey bumped into Vamp as she stumbled, purely by chance, to where they were. She was giggling uncontrollably.
"Um...Choey, are you feeling okay?" Vamp asked hesitantly, gently pushing Choey a few feet away from him.
Choey said something that sounded like it was about mistletoe, but no one could understand her due to the continued fits of giggles.
"I knew we shouldn't have let her have sugar!" Sweety said, forcing Choey down in a chair. She continued giggling silently until Vamp got an idea and flashed his fangs.
"I hate it when you do that!" Choey whined, folding her arms and pretending to pout.
Sweety giggled, "we ALL hate it when he does that. That's why he does that."
"Nuh-uh!" vamp said indignantly smiling wide enough to show his fangs.
"Vamp!" cutie swatted at him.
"Okay, so...oh yeah, I almost forgot!" Choey started rummaging through her bag, getting blank stares from everyone else. Finally, she pulled out a handful of candy canes and started handing them out, then stuck one in her own mouth. "No sens in having a secret Christmas Eve meeting without the proper sugary treats!"
Sweety squealed happily, "Candy cane!" she grabbed it then saw that it had a little stick of mistletoe tied on it, "AH! IT BURNS!" she dropped it and the candy cane shattered. "Awwwww..." she made a sad face "candy cane go bye bye..."
"Oh my gosh..." Choey said, shaking her head. "Reparo!" The candy cane flew back together. Choey picked it up, removed the mistletoe, and returned to candy to Sweety.
"Yay!" Sweety squealed, happily beginning to eat the sugary delight.
"YAY!" she said, munching happily and hugging Choey at the same time! "Candy cane came back!"
Vamp and Choey watched as Sweety, Cutie (with a little tinsel strung through her hair), Pitin and Evy ate their candy canes.
"Uh…you want a bite?" Evy said to Vamp and Choey.
There was a silent pause as everyone slowly took the candy canes out of their mouths.
"Okay, what did you do to them?" Said Pitin in an interrogating voice.
"Well, we knew if we handed you something both Choey and I had made, you would have gone running for the hills…"
"Which is why," Choey cut in "we disguised the potion Vamp and I made in these candy canes!" Choey finished with a very large smile on her face.
Simultaneously they all spat out the candy cane into tissues and handkerchiefs.
"What's in them?" Said Sweety, her face white and stricken with fear.
"No, it's called an escape potion! Choey and I devised it whilst skipping those compulsory dance lessons they made us take last year." Vamp said proudly.
They all looked at Choey as if for reassurance.
Choey nodded madly, still holding the large smile on her face. "What they do, is, when you start to get really nervous, you basically just teleport yourself back to someplace safe."
"It's like a portkey, only weaker." Vamp intervened.
"And tastier!" Choey added hooking into a candy cane.
"So, what's to stop us from teleporting home?" Said Sweety, eyeing of her candy cane suspiciously.
"It's weaker, it can't really take you very far."
"Have you tested them yet?" Asked Evy in an excited tone.
"Yeah, Choey and I both got sent back to our common rooms."
"So, without further ado, shall we snoop?" Choey whispered handing a candy cane to Vamp.
Sweety held the candy cane out with her thumb and forefinger, "I uh... lost my appetite. But sure, snooping sounds good!"
"Okay, let's go!" Choey whispered, gesturing for everyone to come. She started walking but then faulted. "Sweety, you have to eat it. It's the only way we can guarantee a safe escape if we get caught."
Sweety glanced down at the half-eaten candy cane in her hand. It didn't look like she had any intention of so much as licking it. Choey, however, had run out of patience. She first shrunk the candy cane, and then stuffed it in Sweety's mouth. While the others laughed, Sweety chewed purely because Choey was starting to scare her.
"Well, now that that's taken care of..." Choey said breezily, compulsively straightening her clothes before turning and starting to walk.
Sweety stared at her toes and swallowed the candy cane. She didn't like being laughed at. She followed obediently just the same though.
Vamp finished his candy cane and followed the others down into a long corridor. To the left were the kitchens and to the right was a short cut to the penguinary.
Sweety stopped and tried to pull them into the kitchen, "C'mon! I'm hungry!"
"Sweety!" cutie frowned. "Could you PLEASE think about something OTHER than you stomach?"
She blinked, "Is that possible?"
"Actually..." Vamp began thoughtfully. "If something strange is going on, the house elves probably saw something."
Everyone silently agreed except Pitin. "Will they speak though? Remember they're incredibly loyal to the staff and their-" Pitin put on a high pitched elf voice, "seeecrets."
"Worth a try." Said Evy laughing.
"Lot's o' cleaning, no time for suspicion!" Squeaked an who was wearing a rather handsome purple sock as a scarf.
"I told you this was a waste of time!" Said Pitin plainly, looking about at the large kitchen.
Vamp politely asked a female elf standing next to him "Could we please get some drinks?"
She zoomed away excitedly then cam back with a double-decker tray twice the size of her decked with numerous drinks.
"So we're going to the kitchens?" Sweety asked.
"Yup!" said Pitin.
"OH PRAISE THE GODS ABOVE!" Sweety yelled rather loudly. "What are we waiting for? LETS GO!" she grabbed them and dragged them inside, the house elves swarmed them immediately.
"Oh! What would the miss like? A nice cake? Or a pie?"
While Sweety pigged out, Moony stepped forward, "Have you seen anything... suspicious lately? We need to know, it's important.
"Lot's o' cleaning, no time for suspicion!" Squeaked an elf who was wearing a rather handsome purple sock as a scarf.
"I told you this was a waste of time!" Said Pitin plainly, looking about at the large kitchen.
Vamp politely asked a female elf standing next to him "Could we please get some drinks?"
She zoomed away excitedly then came back with a double-decker tray twice the size of her decked with numerous drinks.
Sweety snatched a drink, "thanks!"
Moony pressed on, "Are you SURE? 'Cause the teachers have been acting odd... and what with Harry Potter coming here and all...it's making us wonder."
"Want some tea miss tinsel fiend?" An elderly elf asked Moony.
"No thank...you." Moony stood there, transfixed by the old elf, smiling politely and holding his long grey beard in one hand.
Vamp smiled to himself and took a glass of green liquid from the tray, then bowed to the female elf who blushed and quickly looked at the floor.
"Uh, well..." Moony was looking for something to say, then quickly straightened up. "I will have a cup of tea...not too hot, and just one and seven eighths grams of sugar, and make sure the lemon doesn't mix in until the low fat butter milk is added, but add some fresh room temperature cream first."
Before she had even finished the sentence, three elves ran in front of her, holding her tea on a tray for her to take.
Sweety whistled. "Wow. Okay, I'm impressed."
The others nodded in agreement.
The house elves beamed.
Everyone in the room eyed Moony in silence.
She took the teacup from the tray, her hand shaking but her face straight and collected.
She raised it to her lips, and sipped the warm liquid.
"Goo-yumm-ni...hmmm." Everyone knew that meant she loved it, but the elves stared at her with solemn faces.
The truth was, that was the best tea Moony had ever had. It was absolutely beautiful, and Moony didn't even like tea...she had butter beer at every meal (and usually sneaked some into History of Magic).
"Anything else for you then?" The old elf gestured politely to a table covered in sweet cakes and fruit.
Sweety burped, "no thanks I'm full." she smiled at them, "That was WONDERFUL! Thank you so much!"
"Our pleasure!" Bowed the old elf.
"Thankyou...feel free to tell us anything you're hiding, 'kay?" Moony said mock politely, but the elves didn't quite understand.
Back into the hall room they realised how silent everything was.
"We wasted too much time!" Said Cutie.
She was right, by now Moony's christmas tree would have been taken care of and everyone would have been retired back to the common rooms.
"Shall we be off to snoop then?" Sweety asked her friends.
"Okay, so where are we off to first? The teachers' lounge? Headmistress's office? Or someplace else? Maybe we could sneak into Harry's office? Goodness knows what HES hiding..." now that Sweety was fed she was in a fully sneaky mood.
"We only have time for one, so we should probably split up" suggested Evy.
"Sounds good." Sweety said, suddenly all business, "I'll take Harry's office. Who's coming with?"
"I will," Choey offered. "So that leaves the teachers' lounge, the Headmistress's office, and someplace else." She grinned. "So, choose your poison."
Cutie grinned mischievously "Well, I'd like to hit up the teachers lounge first. Then if we have time we could always check the headmistress's office right? So who's coming with me?" she questioned as spinning around in circles with a glass of iced tea in one hand and a tube of Sweet Tarts in the other.
"I'd love to." Vamp said pleasantly, mock bowing. "Shall we?" And he held his head up high and gestured in the direction of the teacher's lounge.
Cutie played along."Why thankyou young man." And she walked in through a thin tunnel in the brick wall, barely visible due a large emerald green banner whilst taking tiny bites out of a tart with her pinky finger out.
Sweety and Choey just stared at the pair walking daintily down the hallways, still talking as if they were in the 1920's, and shook their heads as they walked in the other direction towards Harry's office.
As Vamp and Cutie were wandering down the hall, Cutie suddenly took a sharp turn.
"What are you doing?" Vamp asked.
"Oh, just a shortcut" Cutie grinned, as she hip checked a statue. It slid out from the wall, leaving a small gap behind.
"Wanna make a deal? You teach me to do the origami frog thing, and I'll teach you all the shortcuts I can think of ok?" she asked, waiting for a reply.
Vamp pondered for a moment. "Throw in one of those sweet tarts and you have a deal!"
In a few minutes they emerged from the passage on the other side of the teacher's lounge. The hallway was dim, most of the candles were burning low, they probably had around four hours until sunrise.
"Listen." Cutie whispered.
They both stood still in the shadows of the passageway.
Two people were whispering on the other side of the door inside the lounge.
Evy, Moony and Pitin had already made their way to the headmistress's office. Although getting in would be no easy ordeal. And they still had no idea where she was.
"I wonder who that is..." Cutie whispered quietly. Vamp shrugged.
"I'm not sure, they both sound like women though." He said thoughtfully, listening hard, "I can't quite understand them, think we should get closer?" Cutie nodded and the two crept across the hall and lay with their ears to the bottom of the door.
"No! You can't possibly do that!" one of the voices cried, a note of anxiety found in her voice, "people will talk! There'll be scandal!" A sound of papers rustling and something thick being placed on a desk was heard, and then two sets of footsteps walking towards the door.
With nowhere to go, Vamp and Cutie crouched as far back into the shadows as they could go. The two women left the lounge and before hesitating a moment, turned the other direction. Cutie and Vamp relaxed a little, but still didn't move, or breathe. As the sound of high heels echoed in the halls, one of the teachers stopped and turned around. Nothing but the eerie glow of light reflecting off her eyes could be seen, and she took a few steps back towards the lounge. With an impatient sigh from the other teacher, she turned around and the two clicked out of sight.
Vamp fumbled around in his pocket then pulled out a long flesh coloured string.
"Forgot I had these." He said with a toothy grin. "Got them in London, from "Weird Whizzers" or "Wheezing wizards" or something like that. Anyway, I'll show you how they work." He handed one to Cutie.
"We'll just see if anyone else is in there."
He held it up to his ear and the other end slithered under the door where they had previously been lying.
Cutie did the same with hers.
"I don't hear anything." Cutie said bluntly.
"Then no one is in there."
Cutie wasn't exactly satisfied. "Well, here, have your toy back, let's go in."
They listened hard before creeping out of the shadows, the quickly glanced around the corners of the corridors surrounding the lounge- nothing but the feint patter of rain.
"Well, do your thing." Vamp said, referring to the door.
Cutie pulled out her wand and made a few complicated motions with it, then tapped on the doorknob and the door silently swung open.
Closing the door, behind them, Vamp and Cutie slowly walked into the lounge. There were comfortable looking couches and large desks scattered throughout the room. All of them had drawers and cupboards, but with very complicated looking locks on them. Papers were filing themselves in some of these drawers. It was just like before.
"Okay, we need to look for Nulmit's desk. I think it's moved since we were last here" Vamp whispered. They split up, looking at the desks until Vamp found it.
"Hey, it's over here. But there's nothing on the desk, and its locked. I don't we should try that lock, it'll probably set off an alarm. But how should we open it?"
Cutie frowned a little, biting her bottom lip in concentration as she stared at self-filing papers. An odd light gleamed in her eyes and she whipped around, "I've got it! Come here Vamp, you've got the most professional handwriting" she said as she whipped out a piece of paper and quill and gave it to Vamp.
"Just write something, fold it, and put 'Professor Nulmit' on the front! It will file itself and then the drawers will be unlocked" she said excitedly.
"Okay okay, just...be quiet" he warned. Carefully writing a short note, he folded it and let it soar into the air.
"What'd you write?" Cutie asked.
Vamp grinned, showing just his fangs "I just put 'we know what you're up to' on it"
Just as Cutie thought the paper landed neatly on top of a filing cabinet, folded and unfolded itself then came back to Nulmit's desk where the top drawer opened and the letter rested.
Quickly Vamp clutched the heavy wooden draw with his bony fingers and grabbed his wand with the other hand.
"Conglacio." He casually chanted and the draw seized up, frozen and frosted in its place.
"Should we just go through it?" Asked Vamp.
"I guess so." Said Cutie. "Wait, remember we heard a really loud thud before. It sounded like a book being dropped… really. Don't ask me how I know...okay, I know because my brother generally 'throws' books around...at me."
Vamp tried not to laugh.
Cutie continued. "Of course I took my mother's wand and turned his hair into worms."
Vamp snickered more.
"Of course, she did make me change him back, and then sent me a howler." Cutie mumbled, "This drawer is really, really cold you know?"
"Well, it is frozen, covered in ice. Tends to make things cold" Vamp retorted.
They continued to flip through the file folder, finding nothing of interest, going through the entire thing and only seeing papers to be marked until Vamp began tapping his fingers on the bottom of the file folder in frustration. THUD.
"It sounds hollow...like a compartment under the drawer. Should we look?" Cutie asked her mind already made up.
Vamp picked up another piece of blank paper and a quill. Scribbled a really bad drawing of cat, labelled it 'kitty', folded it and wrote 'Professor Nulmit' on it, just like the previous letter.
And just like the previous letter, it finally came to rest in the already opened drawer.
"Uh...how are we going to get into it?"