The breathing of the other nine girls in the room where Sofia slept had finally slowed and evened out. Connie, in particular, had been up irritatingly long, reading something under her covers by a conjured ball of light.

Well. Finally, Sofia could leave. Sofia sent off a quick note that she'd written a little while ago, into a puff of smoke, and - after glancing around to make sure that that hadn't woken anyone - Sofia started to make her way out of the room. She wished she could conjure a ball of light like Connie's as she left, but she knew that would certainly alert someone that she was out and about, long after lights-out. Some of her peers could force the light to be small, held in the palm of their hand, easily hidden and extinguished… Sofia's talents trended more the other direction. There was a reason she'd been assigned to Cedric, though she hardly minded anymore. Still, her lack of control was… trying, at times.

Magical control, at least. Physically, she was surprisingly good at slinking through the most shadowy parts of the dark room, barely knocking against anything, all while in her nightgown. She moved slowly, very slowly, hands in front of her to feel for anything coming up in the darkness. It wasn't entirely pitch dark, though; the light of the moon shone in from the window, and once her eyes were adjusted, she could at least see the vague shapes of most things. Still, she was wary of kicking something with her shin, and the resulting noise - whether that was the physical sound of contact or whatever she might say in pain.

There was, somehow, a mouse in the room. Sofia luckily didn't actually step on it, but she nearly did, and it did let out a small squeak of alarm. She managed to squat down and calm it in time, though she rationalized while doing so that at least she'd have a good excuse, if this is why she was caught. They weren't, though, and both parties managed to go on their way unhindered.

Out of the bedroom and into the common areas of the House, Sofia was nearly caught by a wandering Prefect. Pearl, if Sofia remembered right. Er, that is, Prefect Rivera. A tall, thin young woman, with surprisingly pale skin and short, spiky orange hair. And a nose nearly as long as Cedric's.

Sofia nearly gave herself away giggling at the thought. However, she managed to crouch down into a corner of shadow quickly enough to evade the light of Pearl's candle, but not so suddenly as to trigger the peripheral movement...thing. Corner-of-your-eye jumpiness. Sofia silently thanked years of sneaking out to visit with Ruby and Jade while in Dunwiddee, of learning to evade her parents' eyes and ears.

While she waited for Prefect Rivera to pass, Sofia closed her eyes and thought about her father. It wasn't anything much, just a quiet passing moment of grieving; he'd died about three years ago, now.

And then Pearl had turned around, and the moment passed. Sofia made her way through the rest of the House successfully, though she mentally cursed the slightly squeaky hinges of the main door.

A broom was walking by the outside of the House. It was clearly a different broom than the one Cedric had enchanted - the stick was shorter, a different color, and the bristles were different. A push broom, rather than the regular sweeping broom from the tower. Still, it had the arms, and seemed to be using itself to dust the cobblestones by the moonlight.

"...Uh, hey, miss, mister, or mux broom?" Sofia asked in a low whisper. The broom stopped and...seemed?...to be paying attention. "If… If you're in a helpful mood, and don't mind, and you can, could you maybe oil the hinges on this door here?" Sofia lightly patted the door she'd just come out of. Then she looked about her person and realized, "...I don't have anything to give you for that. To show thanks. If you're here tomorrow morning, I can get something, though I don't know if it'll actually be anything you want. But I'll try?" The broom gave her a thumbs up and scuttled away, presumably to get the oil.

There was a knock on the door. Cedric jumped at his reading, then glanced to the clock on the wall. At this hour? He glanced over to Greylock, who was also still up. For the moment, he was wrapping some linen bandage around a toe he'd stubbed earlier, though with as much as he was using, it almost looked like his foot had been broken in half. His familiar, a fox, was playing with the extra bandage and a small piece of paper with a heart drawn on it at the foot of Greylock's bed.

What Greylock didn't look was surprised. "Oh, no," Greylock said, finally cutting and tying off his bandage, "I'm rather indisposed at the moment, Woodtick. Could you possibly get the door?" Greylock fluttered his eyes faux-innocently.

With a sigh and a roll of his eyes, Cedric got up to do so - and found Sofia there, in her nightclothes and an amulet that was oddly ostentatious for sleeping in. Especially for her.

He raised an eyebrow, but glanced around the hall outside and having seen no one about, said, "Come in, come in now, before anyone sees you. Us. I assume you're here for him?" Cedric nodded towards Greylock and went back to his bed and his book.

Sofia smiled and turned to face Greylock. "Hey, Grey, are you rea-oh dear! What ever could have happened?" Sofia's eyes were wide, and her hand was to her mouth, but she didn't seem to have her heart in it. Or, rather, it looked to Cedric like she was trying to hold back a smile.

"I have wounded my foot! I cannot go on!" Greylock put the back of his hand to his forehead as he leaned back on his bed in a faux-swoon.

Sofia frowned deeply. "I see. I suppose I shall just have to go explore the grounds on my own, alone." She looked pointedly at Cedric. Cedric pointedly did not look at her, though he could see her from the corner of his eye.

"I suppose I could lend you Fiyero, though I would sorely prefer to have him with me during my convalescence."

Sofia blinked. "Ah, uh, yes! This fox here, right? I'm sure he - ah…" Sofia knitted her brows and sank to the floor, kneeling in front of the mentioned fox, who chittered and gestured a bit. "Greylock? Fiyero's a girl." Cedric put his book down.

It was Greylock's turn to blink. "Is he now? ...She, I guess. How do you know?"

"I, ah. Talk to Familiar, and all?" She grinned and laughed. Cedric raised an eyebrow to himself, and went to get a different book from his shelf. Sofia started to continue, "So, what can-"

-But she was interrupted by Greylock. "Talk to Familiar? And someone else's familiar, at that. That's a high level spell, Sofia! How did you manage that? I, Greylock the Grand-" Both Cedric and Sofia rolled their eyes at that, "-and more importantly a year ahead of you, can't even do that spell. I'd be willing to bet even Cedric can't do that spell. Can you, Cardtick?"

"No, I can't," Cedric answered without looking up, and flipped to a dog-eared page in his book, Mystical and Legendary Artefacts Through The Ages.

Sofia laughed again and leaned back, sitting on the floor and twiddling her thumbs. "Iiit's… a savant skill! I can't do much of anything else that high-level, definitely not finely tuned. You've seen me try to do… well, anything yeah, haha. But since I've been here, around Familiars, it's just - it's just been a thing I don't really think about?" Cedric leaned his head to one side as he looked at Sofia over the book, then glanced back down. And up, and down.

Greylock shrugged, and started speaking again, returning to the over-acted tone from before. "Well, yes. You can borrow her for your otherwise-solo campus grounds exploration. I'm sure she can protect you from any magical mishaps, whether you spring an old spell, or accidentally cast something - which, as you yourself admitted, tend to be of broad-range - or just the residual effects of something a student has forgotten to dispell, or -"

"Like brooms, perchance?" Sofia asked, while trying to nonchalantly tuck her amulet into her nightdress.

"Are those still about? Hah! Or brooms."

Those? Still about? ...OH. The brooms. Cedric jolted as he realized what they were talking about. ...Brooms, plural? Oh no. Cedric finally put his book aside, front cover down, and said, "Yes, yes, all right. I know what you're getting at. Fine I'll accompany you on this escapade, Sofia. Let's go, and be quick about it. The sooner we set off, the sooner we'll be back."

Cedric grabbed a smooth rock from his desk, but otherwise didn't prepare for the exploration expedition, just heading out into the school in his eggplant-colored dressing gown. It hardly looked any sillier than Sofia wandering in her thin blue nightdress, which barely came to her knees.

"Before you go, Sofia," Greylock said just as they were about to head out the door, "I actually did hurt my foot. I mean I know this was part of it all, but my toe does actually hurt, if incidentally."

Sofia and Cedric both rolled their eyes for what were probably quite different reasons. Sofia went back into the room, kissed the tips of her fingers, and lightly patted at Greylock's haphazardly bandaged foot. "There, all better?" Cedric wasn't sure if that was supposed to be mocking or not.

Either way, Greylock smiled broadly and said, "Ah, perfect! True love's kiss." He winked and then waved them out of the room, so they finally went.

It was significantly easier to sneak out of Goodwyn House than Crage, both with the individual sleeping quarters and the fact that most of the students had mothers or fathers (or both) that were rich and/or politically powerful enough to buy their children's way out of trouble, so it was easier to just not bother with much in the way of security where student mischief was concerned.

Once they were a few hundred paces away from Cedric's House, he broke the companionable silence to ask, "It's the Amulet, isn't it?"

Sofia jumped. "What? I don't know what you're talking about." She wouldn't look him in the eye.

"Talking to Fiyero - Fiyer-ah? - like that." Cedric nodded sideways and lazily gestured towards Sofia's torso, and the lump that wasn't well hidden behind only a single layer of cloth. Not to mention other curves… But Cedric wasn't thinking about that, not now. "That's the Amulet of Avalor you're wearing, I think, and I also believe it's given you this power."

Sofia shrugged dramatically. "If I had such a thing, which I'm definitely not saying I do, but if I did have something as valuable as that, I certainly wouldn't wear it out in the open, so how would you even-"

Cedric cut her off. "Oh, certainly not. Not unless by accident, when you're not used to being in the open, like tonight for example… or maybe at a masquerade."

Sofia's eyes widened and she bit her lip. Hah! Finally! Cedric knew he'd get her back for the bangs thing earlier. ...There were still several other backlogged subtle wins he'd have to get Sofia back for, but he had at least this one.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to spread it around." Cedric grunted and crossed his arms. "Nor is it obvious. Greylock's around you more than I am, and he doesn't seem to have cottoned on; largely, it's that I take particular interest in powerful magical artefacts. Their, ah, histories, that is, nothing more than that." He slid his gaze to one side, and he fidgeted uncomfortably as they walked.

Sofia nodded. "That's really good to know. Do you think I should be more careful about hiding it, then?"

Cedric shook his head. "I've seen it all of twice, and one of those times I didn't even realize until I looked at it in hindsight. You've hidden it under blouses or... whatever well enough." Cedric was glad for the relative dark, he thought he his cheeks tingling and warm, probably quite colorful in the light.

Sofia nodded, then shivered. "It's colder out here than I expected. I guess I should have known, since it's early November and all. And I know how the temp drops at night. I just kinda… forgot, being here." She crossed her arms for warmth. "Well, I guess this at least gives you a good excuse to-"

"Yes, yes, here, take it." Cedric shucked off his robe, leaving him in his long johns and looking extra gangly for it. He held it by the collar and shoved it in the direction of Sofia, who didn't react immediately aside from blinking in surprise. So, he took his other hand and spread the collar wider and draped it about her shoulders.

"Thank you," she said, finally. "Really. I wasn't trying to get it off you-" Cedric blinked and tried not to blush again at her wording. Merlin's Mushroom his mind was in the gutter tonight. "-so I'm sorry if it seemed like that? Just trying to make conversation. It's really snuggly though, I can see why you like it so much." She grinned and got her arms through the slightly too-long sleeves, and hugged herself.

"Careful, watch th-" But whatever he was going to say was cut off as Sofia pulled him suddenly to one side, and leaned up to put a hand over his mouth.

There was someone approaching. All they could see for the moment was the distant candlelight, but it was definitely heading their way. Sofia and Cedric looked around, and saw a door they quickly went through to hide.

Aaand it turned out to be some sort of closet. Great.

It wasn't a roomy space, by any means, but they weren't being pressed up against each other, forced to share a single square foot of floor space, thankfully. It was more like… four square feet. Still uncomfortably close, but not awful.

...Oddly, it wasn't actually all that uncomfortable, though. Yes, there was the threat of discovery. That was definitely alarming, and Cedric's pulse had quickened noticeably. But, well, since there was a point to it, the physical closeness was not an issue, like it often was. Of course, there's also that this was Sofia, who would certainly push his boundaries - tonight was a prime example of that - but when he directly said no, she seemed to back off. And, well, that she actually seemed to like him, despite his admittedly grouchy demeanor. She made the effort to include him.

For now, though, they stood in silence, Sofia standing by the door with one hand on Cedric's chest to keep him back - which was its own level of stressful, truth be told, but the physical contact was, for once, not the actual source of discomfort - and her other hand on the door's handle to keep it mostly closed without causing the latch to click and give them away.

Eventually, though, the danger passed. "It was hard to tell through the crack, but I think it was just… What's her name? Rainery?"

"The green girl? I wonder what she's doing up." Cedric shrugged, and started to work a minor spell. "Still wouldn't do to be discovered," he said, "by a student or otherwise. So, where are we to head now, then?"

Sofia looked around and shrugged. "I don't really know any of this place. Part of the reason for the exploration. Though it does look so different at night… Still, it's fun! Where do you think we should go?" She blinked up at him and grinned brightly, especially given the witchlight Cedric had just summoned. "...I wonder why she was using a candle," Sofia added, mostly to herself.

"I don't know. Sentimentality, probably. Leering at people over the flames, looking dramatic." Cedric lowered his hovering light to below his chin, made what he intended to be a scary face, and wiggled his fingers. "Oo~oo~ooh," he said in an approximation of bedtime-story monster impressions.

"Maybe." Sofia giggled, then looked thoughtful. "That doesn't answer where we should go, though."

Cedric hesitated. "Well…"

"Yes?"

"As you said, the grounds look very different at night. The light and shadows are different, everything is interpreted differently. Not to mention, it's harder to see period. I'm not sure where we navigated, exactly, especially while I was concentrating on you so much." Er. Wait. That sounded bad. "That is, while we were walking, I was paying attention to you and how-" How nice she looked in his robe. That was even worse than before. "How you, uh, and we…"

Sofia tilted her head. "So, what you're saying is… we're lost." Oh thank Ouranos, she thought the stumbling was because of that. ...Not that that wasn't also rather awful, now that he was brought back to it, but it was easier to admit that than… than...

With a sigh, just as much relieved as it was conceding defeat (though hopefully Sofia couldn't read that much into a single exhalation of air), Cedric said, "Yes, that about sums it up." He felt for his rock in of one of his robe's pockets and was satisfied that he did, in fact, have it. "Familiarus Comhericus," he said without enthusiasm, and Wormwood materialized on his shoulder, the lump in his pocket disappearing. "Wormy, please go and fetch… Better thought, lead us back to Crage House."

"Aww, so soon?" Sofia asked, less in a whine than just a generally sad tone. "Is there any chance you'd do this again, at least? ...Maybe with a guide of some sort, but still."

Cedric had already set off after the raven, but once Sofia caught up he answered, "I make no promises one way or the other."

On the way back, though, they passed by the big clock tower on the school's grounds, and Sofia managed to get Cedric to go inside the base of it. It was past the holiday by now, but she'd heard the spooky stories the other children leading up to Halloween about it.

They hadn't expected it to be already occupied.

By a Professor no less. He wore an exceedingly tall top hat, brown like his suit, making him seem rather tall while sitting down.

Both students tried to think of some excuse, but both barely managed a word before the man in front of them said, "No worries, children. Stay, if you'd like. If someone else comes, we can tell them I commandeered you for some task." His dark eyes twinkled in the summoned witchlight, and he smiled warmly, gesturing to the bench he sat on and the others in the room.

Both students looked visibly relieved. Sofia said "Thanks, Professor… Latham?" and sat on the bench by the older gentleman.

The man cocked an eyebrow but didn't manage to say anything before Cedric cut in. "He's Layton," he answered to Sofia, still standing. Then, turning, "Thank you, indeed. Have there been any new recruits in the Invention Club?"

Layton shook his head. "No, just the old regulars. If you do find time this year, you're more than welcome to come back any time, you know." He took a breath, looked at the two of them, and smiled. "So, what has you two wandering the grounds so late, anyhow?"

Sofia shrugged, more gently than before, only a slight uplifting of her shoulders. "Exploring. Adventure. That wonderfully odd feeling of going through places you're used to being busy and bright and loud, and seeing them as dark, dull, quiet but for the echoes of your footsteps. Spookiness. Like the tower here, I hear there's a ghost?"

Cedric's eyes widened and he tried to gesture to her to stop talking, but he was behind her and didn't manage to work up the nerve to touch her intentionally. (...Baby steps, apparently.)

Layton nodded, though his smile fell. "Yes, the students do… go on about that. The supposed ghost is - was - my fiancée, and the incident happened near Halloween… It's no puzzle to see why they would."

It was hard to tell in the dim light in the room, but it looked like Sofia blanched. "Oh," she said softly. "I'm so sorry, Professor. I didn't mean to disrespect you or her like that." Sofia bit her lip and lowered her head, and Cedric thought he saw Sofia glancing at the amulet. He certainly did, or where it hung under her dress. Not that he knew what to expect when it activated, but he knew the rhyme in his book: "With each deed performed, for better or worse, a power is granted, a blessing or curse."

But nothing happened.

Professor Layton spoke up again, "I believe I've been here, remembering her, long enough." He stood up, and it turned out that he was rather short. The top of his hat was a few inches above the top of Cedric's head, but his eyes were closer to Sofia's level. "If you two wish to gallivant about, I won't stop you, but for the excuse to hold that I've taken you out of your beds, it would be best to return with me to them. Now, which houses do each of you sleep in, then?"

They answered, and given that Crage House was closer, all went to drop Sofia off first. On the way to Goodwyn House, Cedric and Layton spoke more of the Invention Club, but Cedric gave no more promises about returning to Layton than he did to Sofia.

A/N: Thank you all for your kind words! No worries on the story front despite the slow uploading, btw; I've passed 22k words today. It's just that going back, editing, beta reader thoughts, etc, that takes time and being in the mood. Thank you all again, your words spur me on to greater heights. Until next time~!