'In the Meantime...Something for Fun' Cont..

[Nicci]

Juliet turned, surprised at the sudden sound of Vixie loud voice and furrowed her eyebrows in a concerned expression. Questions were flying around her head a mile a minute and as ridiculous as the statement sounded she found herself protectively pulling the frog even closer to her.
“It’s not a toad!” she furiously explained shaking her head “And IT....HE..will dry out unless you three know how to turn him back again..It’s barely breathing right now”.

Opening her hands slightly wider for a mere peak, she looked at the limp frog body and began to lose as signs of her sudden excitement. If what Vixie said was true then Lance was seriously at risk, they needed to do something.

[Lauren]

Vixie sighed at Juliet's furious outburst that Lance wasn't a toad. "Right then. We need to get somewhere NOW that has all the stuff we need to stop Lance from dying while we figure out how to turn him back Human." Vixie said to them. "We were on our way to the Room of Requirement on the seventh floor if you guys want to join us... But we have to hurry."

"The Ravenclaw girl disappeared down there," Leilani added in a whisper, nodding her head towards the corridor. "She's waiting for us to turn away so she can jinx us."

"Yeah, she probably doesn't want to take us all on at the same time, so she wants to wait until our backs are turned." Vixie spat bitterly. "So we need to be fast."

[Nicci]

Still not convinced, Juliet turned away from Vixie and continued to descend the staircase in the opposite direction that the others were in intending to go.
Whether this aggravated another nerve or not she didn’t care, her instinct was clearly focused on creating a temporary transporting habitat for Lance and the water from the Black Lake was what he needed right now.

[Lauren]

"Fine, go then! I'd like to see you Transfigure him back into a human on your own." Vixie called after her angrilly; she had no right to walk off like that! Lance was their friend too. "In fact, you'd probably rather keep him as a toad anyway because you're so morbidly fascinated with animals!"

[Nicci]

At the animosity behind Vixie’s tone of voice, Juliet stopped and glared over her shoulder “HE IS A FROG!!” she hollered out for the final time of having to correct their ignorance. “Stop calling him a bloody toad, if you actually cared about him you would have noticed those rather prominent details”.
Stomping her heel against the ground she gritted her back teeth knowing she needed a smart come back.
“And I supposed you rather turn him back into a human just so you could treat him like an animal again wouldn’t you....”

[Lauren]

Vixie froze in shock at her words. It was kind of odd; nobody but Leilani had ever had the nerve to stand up to Vixie before. She took a few steps down the staircase towards Juliet before speaking again. "I care about Lance, which is more than you do - you're just his "friend" to piss off Carrington because you and lover boy have split up." Her voice was low and deadly, like the hiss of a snake before it strikes. "And if I treat him like an animal so much, how come he still hangs out with me? You'd think he'd have better things to do if he was oh-so badly treated."

[Nicci]

Juliet froze, stiff and empty for a few long seconds as the colour drained out of her face. How did Vixie know? It was impossible....Not even Lance knew because she had ignored him in magical creatures class that morning which now in his unfortunate, severe state she wholly regretted.
“He’s...loyal...and..” Juliet spluttered, feeling weak at the knees. She hadn’t even got over the issue of Seth before Vixie was using the subject as ammunition.
“I’m going to help him my way first....whether you like it or not” she trailed off trying to hold back any signs of forming tears.

[Lauren]

Vixie watched Juliet closely. She really hadn't known that her and Seth had split up - she was just using it to comment on how little her and her supposed boyfriend hung out any more. But Juliet's reaction to Vixie's words had more or less confirmed what she had only guessed at.

"Which is why we need to Room of Requirement!" Vixie called after her. "It'll have everything we need to get him back to normal!"

[Nicci]

Wrinkling her nose, Juliet shook her head defiantly. “No it won’t! I will bring him to you when he is conscious....But not in this condition!”.
Stepping down another couple of steps distancing herself from Vixie even more, Juliet remained firm with her decision. It was possible that they might find a solution in the Room of Requirement to help Lance but with niggling feeling that she still didn’t trust the dark haired young woman; the frog wasn’t going to leave her hands anytime soon.
“Now I’m leaving...!” she spoke, taking a final glance over her shoulder before preparing to walk away.

[Lauren]

"Please, Juliet, please!" Leilani called, desperate. She hurried after Juliet; Vixie tried to stop her from going down the steps, but Leilani wrenched her arm free. "He's my friend too, Juliet, please." she pleaded.

[Nicci]

Twisting her head in the direction of Leilani, Juliet’s face remained with a fixed scowl of gritted determination. “Leilani, I’m sorry...” she began, growing weary of the disagreement “Whilst I’m sure you have far more heart for tending to the injured than Vixie and are also considering yourself to be a friend to poor Lance here, I however don’t think you really have his best interest at heart. It’s because of the pair of you that he’s ended up in this... state”.

Shaking her head slightly, Juliet paused before adding an extra train of thought “He cannot just be submerged in standard tap water because of the risk of overexposure to high chlorine levels. He needs rain water or river water and the Black Lake is the closest body of water we have to the castle that could provide a safe enough temporary environment.”

Felling a tear trickle down her cheek, Juliet let it fall onto the hard floor below.
“If you really knew what to do you would also wade out into the shallows of the lake and use the natural clay sediment combined with oils from one of the nearby plants to create a mild muscle warming balm. But what does a Nature Freak know anyway?”

[Thomas]

Erin continued to watch Olli as he sauntered into the Hall, blinking his eyes then rubbing them with his knuckles.

His head turned in their direction, Erin's warm smile vanished as she saw a look of irritation flash across his face before he turned right around and disappeared into the crowd.

Her face crumpled, cheeks flushing hot as tears started to streak down them, embarressed she let Ganny see her like this she turned away and dabbed her eyes "He's still annoyed with me, maybe I did go a little overboard nagging him to get some rest"

He must think I'm such a fuss pot, nagging him is the last thing Olli needs right now. She started to sob "I shouldn't let it get to me" She choked out "It's just so hard seeing him like this, and I know he needs his space, but it's" silently sobbing she didn't try to finish the sentence but just though "It's heartbreaking".

[Thomas]

Olli felt too guilty to get to sleep. Poor Erin it wasn't her fault, he was just exhausted. She'd been right, he really did need to rest a little, but even the thought of admiting it made him irate... he wasn't some old age pensioner, and her didn't need her help.

Just the thought of Erin was making his blood pressure rise. Sure she meant well but she was just exhausting. He was going to be fine, he just needed some time to himself, and he had more pressing matters in hand, not that he could let Erin know that.

Sighing he rolled over in bed... what was he to do? He'd try and find Erin tomorrow and apologise, then head back to the library again. He wouldn't overdo it this time though, his head still hurt from concentrating on the dusted pages.

He smiled, glad Erin didn't know the real reason he'd fainted or what he really was reading in the library. Now he could get on with his research without arousing any suspicion.

[Nicci]

Preparing to pack away his sixth half of sandwich, Tristan paused and glanced concerned at Erin. Raising an eyebrow, he frowned as he was suddenly left with more questions than answers as Olli vanished into the crowd. Ever since he had helped her pull Olli inside of the castle on that stormy afternoon, things hadn’t been the same.

“I don’t think it’s about you Erin” Tristan spoke seriously as he looked up at the space where he had last seen their friend standing. If Olli really was annoyed over something that simple then he had the young man totally figured out wrong. He felt it inexcusable for anyone to brush aside such kindness and maybe if Olli had spent a lifetime in someone else’s shoes he would view the world totally differently.

“I thought you were meeting him later to study? Surely that’s something he'd look forward to? Why would he still stay angry?” He offered, attempting badly at a comforting question.
Something about their current situation didn’t feel right, like the unemotional look that the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor had given him as she instructed that they hand Olli over to her care.

[Jazzie C]

Lia grinned even more widely, leaving her worries behind her as she walked with Kalina. Kalina seemed to have brought out a more carefree side of Lia, one that hadnt seen the sun in a long time. This was how she used to be, and how she wanted to be again. 'I knew I'd persuade you.' She winked at her new friend and entered the library with her.

She'd not really been in the library before. The dusty old volumes gave off a musty scent. It was a nice place, homey. She'd always like libraries. The quiet comfort of losing yourself in a well written book was always appealing to her. She walked around with Kalina slowly, glancing up to the top of the huge, ornate wooden bookcases and smiled a little. She waited before speaking, certain that Kalina would come up with an interesting fact or two.