Katy stood in the courtyard with a broom in hand and took a deep breath of clean, cold air.  It could easily be termed frigid outside today but it wasn't the air that burned her airways.  She could feel words of all things threatening to burst from her mouth.  She'd launched into a monologue about traditional Welsh breakfastes, despite the fact that her table neighbors were just looking at her weird.  She didn't even care!  She huffed in irritation with herself.

"Get a hold of yourself," she snapped, staring at the flagstones.  "It's not like you have anything important to say right now.  There isn't even anyone around to talk to so this is really just nonsense."  She continued babbling away to herself irately, unable to stem the flow of words.  Her face was burning hot, despite the temperature.  She couldn't bear to put on a cap because of it but the tips of her ears were red and aching from the cold.

She finally managed to stop herself from talking but taking a deep breath and biting her lip.  She squinched her eyes shut and held her breath until the ticklish urge to speak subsided long enough to open her mouth to take a breath. 

It was the middle of the week, a Wednesday, and despite the cold, Ambrose would much rather be outside than contemplating all those spell derivations he needed to remember for transfiguration, or the list of important dates for their latest history of magic topic.

He hadn't noticed his Hufflepuff classmate stood with her broom in hand until he was almost upon her, crossing the courtyard.

"Oh, hi Katy," Ambrose greeted, head snapping up and arms wrapped around a history book as if it would provide some warmth, "Going flying?" He asked quizzically, noticing her rather different expression.

His classmate could be quiet, but she didn't generally look so flushed in the face as she did just then.

"Been flying?" He rephrased tentatively.

Katy stared at Ambrose with wide eyes.  Her jaw trembled with the effort it took to keep the words inside.  She actually felt a trickle of sweat slide down from her temple because of it.  She tried to open her mouth just to inhale but the moment her lips parted a sea of words just came pouring out without her consent.

"I am going to go flying," she began quickly.  "I love to fly and I have a free period so I figured I could get some practice in.  I'm not really all that good, or at least I wasn't.  I've gotten a lot better in the past couple of months: can't embarrass the team now that I'm on it, I guess.  For some reason I just can't seem to stop talking.  Are you hot?  Is it hot out here because I feel like I'm going to pass out."

She fanned herself ineffectually with her gloved hand then glanced at Ambrose.  "Are you going to study for history? I'm not -"  She looked pleadingly at him in hopes that he might cut her off and give her vocal cords a small break.

Remi just finished a delightful breakfast. He surprised that the school had baklava, let alone find enough for everyone. Since he couldn't have it too much at home, being that the small town didn't have too many luxuries, he nabbed a few in containers for later on while eating so much that he almost felt sick.

He began to walk around the courtyard. He could hear noticeable gossip and some couple snogging to the pillar next to him. Then he could hear over near the middle of the courtyard a girl rambling. Rambling huh, this was too good to miss.

Remi walked close enough so he could hear what the girl was saying but not close enough so that anyone would notice him nearby.

"I love to fly and I have a free period so I figured I could get some practice in.  I'm not really all that good, or at least I wasn't.  I've gotten a lot better in the past couple of months: can't embarrass the team now that I'm on it, I guess.  For some reason I just can't seem to stop talking.  Are you hot?  Is it hot out here because I feel like I'm going to pass out."

Jeez, the girl was more of a chatterbox then all the first years combined. However, last time he saw this girl she was not like this, especially since the boy with her didn't seem to in tune with what she was saying. Remi kept his distance but stayed close enough, just to see what might unravel out of this girl. After all, if she caught his attention other might notice too.

Ambrose's eyebrows rose higher, and higher and higher as Katy burst into a long ramble about what she was up to.

"... For some reason I just can't seem to stop talking. Are you hot...?"

The Gryffindor's limited intelligence could just about keep up but the rapid pace at which his classmate spoke was putting his comprehension to the test.

"Hot? I - er - Cyhirae - er - OH hot, no, its quite cool out here."

Though his face defied him by flushing that instance with the embarrassment of having misunderstood Katy.

"Are you going to study for history? I'm not -"

"No you're going flying." Ambrose replied quickly, looking at her curiously. A second year Ravenclaw was creeping up on them, staring, Ambrose recognised it as Remi, he shared a dormitory with Ambrose's younger brother, Tim.

"What do you want?" Ambrose asked him outright, surprised at the way the boy had snuck up. But he looked back to Katy.

"Are you, er, feeling alright? Its just if you're going to faint its probably not time to go flying?"

"Alright, find you later."  Figaro waved off a friend from Hufflepuff's Quidditch team as their paths forked, Figaro's across the terrace into the Entrance Courtyard. They'd been training and miracle of miracles, they were getting better.  Turned out that a little focus, once found, could work wonders on a struggling Hufflepuff team with a constantly shifting roster of clod-fliers.

The sixth year came upon a cluster of young'uns - he recognized Ambrose Pepper (about whom he'd teased Winifred Oliver on more than one occasion) and his own Katy Bevans (who last December he'd bothered relentlessly about being kicked off the Quidditch team).  And there was a second year he almost didn't even notice was there.

"Alright, Katy? Oh hey - you should talk to that barmy new Head of House of ours.  Betcha he'd let you back on team now that Old Dusty's retired." 

Figaro said as much leaning on the stock of his broom and rubbing his hands together in the cold.

Katy's head felt so fuzzy; it was like she knew what was happening but couldn't quite think about it the way she normally did.  HEr thoughts just came spilling out her mouth before she even realized that she'd thought them at all.  No filter, no stopping it, and Katy was convinced it was the end of the world.

"I have to go flying.  The longer I stand around here, the more I talk.  It's like people have suddenly decided that now's the best time to ask me things.  Of course they would.  Now they can ask and feel like I'm compelled to answer.  I can't seem to stop it.  No matter what I try the words just keep coming out.  Is that why you're here?  Are you hoping to catch a juicy piece of gossip?"

She turned on the second year and fixed him with an explosively angry glare.  "It won't do you any good," she continued.  "I'm not about to spill any dirty secrets in front of you!  Or maybe you're the one that caused this.  Are you?  Did you find someone to cast a little spell for you?  Or maybe your just a clever little boy who got in too far over his head.  Now I can't stop talking so I'll find the person who did this and I'll talk, yell, and scream until it's reversed."

"You!" Katy gasped when Figaro sauntered over.  "You helped that little twerp didn't you?  All those questions I wouldn't answer.  You finally found a way to make me talk.  Well the joke's on you!"  She shoved Figaro angrily, overcome with the emotions tied to her words as they came spilling out.

Lovely! The second time in a month a fourteen-year-old witch was pushing him and accusing him of horrible transgressions.  Perhaps he should wear more deodorant?  Fig's broom clattered to the ground as he raised his hands in defense.  Katy was being very convincing - there was no question.  She was really pissed about something.

"Hey hey hey...!" he laughed, taking the steps back required to put some space between them.  "Bevans, that's some crazy mouth you got there.  No idea what you're on about."

He glanced at Pepper.  "What is this?"  Perhaps he'd be coherent enough to provide an explanation.

It was all Ambrose could do but to gape at Katy. What was she saying - how was she talking so fast?!

"I have to go flying.  The longer I stand around here, the more I talk...." Ambrose's eyebrows rose in alarm as Katy ranted. This was really not like his classmate at all.

"You - you helped that little twerp didn't you?  All those questions I wouldn't answer...." Sellaphix's arrival didn't seem to help matters, it was quite imposible to get a word in edgeways with her.

"Hey hey hey...! Bevans, that's some crazy mouth you got there.  No idea what you're on about. What is this?"

"I- I don't know." Ambrose admitted, shaking his head in mild fear of Katy. "This.. this isn't normal," he told Figaro, "unless its y'know, what happens when girls.. well... you know, have that thing that only girls get, where they go a bit..." he raised a finger to his temple and rotated it to indicate insanity of some kind.

"It isn't normal, is it?" He asked, and looked back to Katy.

When Ambrose began to imply that Katy's strange behavior could be the result of her period, Figaro frantically attempted to shush him, reaching for Ambrose's mouth to stem the flow of words that would only make this worse.  You see, Figaro was a man of the world and had had at least 3 girlfriends already - the way of things was thus: absolutely never imply that a witch's strange behavior could in any way be related to their period.  Ever.

He'd learned that lesson many times over. 

"N-n-n-no-no," he said as quickly as he could.  "Not that.  Not that."

Then he switched his tone to a syrupy sweet drawl.  "Heeeey Katy, you doing okay there?"  In an attempt to placate her from hitting them more.

"Pepper, you had better thank your lucky stars that Sellaphix has some shred of common sense, however small it might be."  She glared at her classmate.  "You'd be surprised at how many girls make through an entire month without going a bit... you know..." She jerked her head and made the same twirling motion by her temple only hers was aggressive and mocking.

"And it's certainly no thanks to boys like you."

She swiveled her gaze to Figaro.

"I am certainly not ok and if you could, for once in your miserable life, learn to actually listen to the things people say instead for just hearing them then you would already know.  I can't stop talking and no one seems to care!  They think its some great joke.  The quiet kid is a chatterbox now!  If you didn't do this to me then stop standing there making placating jokes.  Just help me."

She shoved her fingers into her thick, wavy hair and dropped to her knees.  She really was feeling quite hot... and dizzy.

Ambrose's mouth was agape.

"Merlin, I'm sorry I didn't realise - I don't have sisters, I have cousins, and hell I'm boy I'm not meant to know stuff like that am I?!" He floundered as Katy spat viciously at them both and then went to her knees. In his surprise at her actions, he reached forwards and awkwardly tried to catch her and realised she was very warm indeed.

"No, we do care, we just - I don't know what's wrong, what do you mean - that you really can't stop, like someone's hexed you?" He asked hurriedly, feeling incredibly uncomfortable suddenly coming so close to his classmate of four years. He looked back to Figaro.

"Do you think we should take her to the hospital hut?"

"You literally can't not talk?"  Figaro echoed Ambrose's question.  She wasn't talking right at this exact moment - but she had barely paused since he'd walked up and she was way more talkative than she ever had been that he could remember. 

Maybe something was actually wrong.  He recalled a Rennervate gone a bit wrong which had caused Remi Filder to literally run about in circles babbling like Katy...[1]  He had learned that day how useful an actual Healer was when it came to matters of the mouth...

"Yea, why don't we do that..." he said to Ambrose.  Then, to Katy, in that same sing-song voice. (Just to annoy her this time...)

"Heeey, Katy, you wanna go see Madam Nagde, huh?  Get you sorted?"  He reach out to pat her shoulder like a little kid.

1.	Falling Up, 13 Dec 2009

Without moving from her knees, Katy pulled out her wand and sent a stinging hex in Figaro's direction.  "Stop talking down on me!" she snapped before surging to her feet once more.  Her eyelids slipped down to accommodate the sudden rush of motion sickness that threatened to make her fall over.  She placed a hand on her forehead.   

"Just leave me alone.   I don't want to go to the Hospital Hut.  I don't want to be poked and prodded.  I don't want to talk anymore but if I can't have that then I don't want to talk to anyone else.  I'd rather just be by myself."  She looked around and then began moving.  "I'm just going to go for a walk like I intended to.  Some fresh air should clear my head.  Maybe I'll stop talking if there's no one to talk to.  Please just leave me alone.  That's what you people usually do, isn't it?  Ignore me?  You can do it now and it oughtn't be a problem.  No problem whatsoever.  I'm just gonna... go for a walk."

She stumbled on an uneven paver and fell towards the ground.

Wow...a lot was happening at once. Remi stood there for a few moments. Kay was babbling until she couldn't breather while the two older boys were just sitting there, trying to figure out what on earth was going on. Then he heard someone yell along with a flash of light and POOF. Remi saw the stinging curse.

Although it wasn't uncommon to see spells cast at school, it usually wasn't so sudden. With the amount of stuff coming out of Katy's mouth, Remi was wondering if he could help the older boy just zapped. He quickly ran over to the older boy and started whispering. "Ya know...if she's talking so much. Why not ask her some personal stuff, maybe delve into her thoughts and learn some secrets?"

Although he didn't want Katy to get completely embarrassed, she just zapped a kid. Besides, some gossip wouldn't hurt.