Roland smirked a bit to himself as he heard Kella shout at him as he continued toward the owlery to write home. His grandparents had recently owled him asking if he could send them an update, which he was begrudgingly doing as his time at Hogwarts, so far, had provided him the opportunity to spend a good amount of time with himself as opposed to having to break his back everyday training in the arts. He came into the owlery and called over his grandparents' family owl, which was lodging there for a brief time so he could reply.

Pulling out a small scroll of parchment and a quill, Rou wet the end with his tongue before dipping it in his small, portable inkwell to begin writing his reply letter. As he finished the brief reply and began attaching it to the bird's leg, he began to hear noise at the door.

Violet didn't make a habit of reading outdoors, particularly in January.  But she never stopped thinking, and if a train of thought meant she needed to consult a book from her bag, then she stopped wherever she happened to be and did that, cold be damned.  It didn't have to take long, she could just read the passage she needed then continue on to somewhere warmer.  Maybe just one or two pages more, if they were particularly interesting.

Thirty or forty 'just one or two pages more', Violet was by now sitting on one of the stone benches.  She'd seen and heard bits of the package incident which had sparked a minor commotion of the first-year variety, though she didn't understand what the fuss was.  She hadn't gotten around to researching it thoroughly yet, but they seemed to put a great deal of faith in the accuracy of owl-delivery here, so really you ought to assume if an owl dropped something on you, it was yours, address or no.  Particularly since the strigiform in question had left afterwards, rather than hanging around and trying to get the package back as you might expect if it had dropped it accidentally.

Violet didn't understand the appeal of a great many things children her age got caught up in, 'adventures' among them.  But despite her adult demeanor, if there was one thing able to pierce her intellectual defences and strike directly at the eleven-year-old girl hiding beneath them, it was the mew of a kitten.

She immediately put away her book and walked over towards the clump of first-years, trying to figure out what the social protocol was, but if there was one, she couldn't discern it.  Violet broke into a bit of a trot to catch up to them as they headed off towards the owlry, and fell into step beside the kitten's guardian.  A raven with deep red hair clawing at a man in armor on a horse...knight...raven...claw...Rowena Knight.

"Hi, Rowena...your kitten is adorable!  May I pet her?" the young Ravenclaw asked straightforwardly, sounding much more her age than usual, excepting the correct usage of the word 'may'.

“It just flew that way. I saw it!”

Rowena nodded, and then started to follow Kella towards the tower, and hopefully the owl. Only to hear a distracting voice beside her, one that she couldn't quite place.

"Hi, Rowena...your kitten is adorable!  May I pet her?"

She couldn't place the girl's face either, as it fit into that irritating miasma of almost recognizable. Not a housemate of hers, then, but perhaps one of Sophia's. Ravenclaws were the most common source of people she couldn't quite place. "Of course you can pet her. She likes people." Which Rowena wasn't always sure was a good thing, given how it tended to lead to Boudicca wandering off in search of them. "But she doesn't really like getting picked up. Just petting."

The kitten did still have claws.

Lucas couldn't help but laugh at the thought of someone leaving a toothbrush at home. He was sure there was some way to get a new toothbrush at the school or somewhere around there. Certainly no one would go that long without brushing their teeth just because they left theirs at home!

When Kella started to jog to the tower, he followed suit and went with her. He wanted to see what was going on as much as much as she did! Granted the package didn't fall on -his- head, it was still a mystery that needed to be solved and he was already set on solving it. Kella seemed to be a good partner in this. He decided he would keep her in mind for the next mystery that needed to be solved. This one had to be taken care of first though.

Violet nodded solemnly at the Gryffindor's warning, and observed the proper cat protocol by offering her hand for the kitten to sniff first, sort of like a handshake but fingers curled non-threateningly back towards herself.  After the kitten inspected her hand dutifully and didn't show any sign of reticence, she gave her a stroke, then gently scratched the top of her head and behind her ears.  It was hard to hear amidst the activity of the little group, but Violet could feel a rumbling purr through her fingertips that made her heart melt.

"Awwww..." she cooed, for the moment without apparent self-consciousness.  "So cuuuuute...what's her name?" she asked adoringly, as the clump of first-years continued to approach the owlry.

Kella jogged ahead of the crowd with a focus that those who'd only ever seen her in the classroom may have found unusual. She seemed to have put her mind to figuring this mystery out without succumbing to diversions, as difficult as that was. The kitten had nearly foiled her once, but this time she wouldn't be tripped up by sweet little pink noses and teeny tiny paws! No! She didn't even pause to see what the red headed girls were chatting about (though she wanted to), simply forging ahead at her speedy clip, Lucas at her side. Her focus did not waver for the majority of their jog, and the entrance to the tower was in her sights. Any second she'd be there, bounding up the stairs, solving the mystery and...

Hey, what was that over there?

A piece of something floating on the breeze had caught her attention, and she stopped short, pausing just long enough to turn her head, verify that she wasn't seeing things, and change direction. “Come over here!” she called to Lucas (and anyone else who was still trailing them) once she'd already started running in that direction. It may have just been trash, but Kella was willing to take her chances. After all, this had all started because a box had fallen from the sky! It wasn't that outlandish to think that something blowing around the grounds might be related to their mystery!

Upon closer inspection, the item that was flying around on the breeze appeared to be an envelope, which seemed very relevant to their current search! It took a few moments of chasing the lightweight object around before she had it in hand, but eventually she caught it and held it up to be read. Pink cheeked and grinning, Kella examined it. Unlike the box, it was addressed, but only to “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” When she turned it over to examine the back, she noticed some writing on the envelope's flap. “Hey, who's, ah... Adelebert Hughes?” she asked, her nose scrunching up with perplexity as she read the name off of the envelope. “Does he go to this school? I've never heard of him.” 

"Her name's Boudicca." Rowena grinned, happy to see the wonders of kittens appreciated. And it mean that she didn't have to do all of the petting herself. Boudicca got attention hungry at times.

And Rowena was sometimes easily distracted. Which might have been a good thing when she rushed over to answer Kella's question. "I don't think he goes here. The Hughes are related to the Peppers though. One of them might know." Maybe Ambrose wouldn't be too busy. Or something.

"Can I see the envelope?" Her hair fell forward as she leaned in to look at it. Maybe it was related to the package!

Violet giggled.  "Boudicca," she repeated with delight as she continued to scritchie the kitten.  "Are you going to raise all the other kittens in rebellion against your oppressors?" the peculiar Ravenclaw cooed to the object of her fascination, who did not appear to be planning anything along those lines, but one could never tell with kittens.

When Kella diverted to yet another wayward delivery and expressed puzzlement over its addressing, Violet for once was in agreement.  She hadn't yet needed to post anything by owl herself, so she wasn't sure what writing a name on the back meant - was that who it was from?

Violet nodded at Rowena's speculation.  "He definitely doesn't attend or work at Hogwarts," the girl said absently, still mostly focused on the kitten.  "I've read the student and staff rolls in the library, and I'm sure I'd remember seeing an 'Adelebert'.  Unless he's one of the Tournament visitors?"

At the sound of the name, Lucas perked up a bit more than he already was. He snatched the envelope from Kella's hand and looked at it with wide eyes. To most people it wouldn't be that big of a deal. To Lucas though, this was one of the most amazing things he had ever seen.

"Adelebert Hughes. Wow. I know -exactly- who he is! He's one of my favorite Aurors! He came to the house a few times when... well... stuff happened. He's so awesome at what he does! I wonder if he's here! Oh, if he is  I  -so- want to get an autograph from him! I wanted to before, but it wasn't the right time. Now that things have settled down, I could ask him though! If he's not here... I don't know why this would come here. It doesn't make sense."

Lucas eyed the envelope and flipped it a few times in his hands still wondering for a moment if it was really real. He couldn't help how excited he was. Sure this was out of the ordinary for Lucas and no one had seen him this vibrant before, but her really couldn't keep it all inside.

"Maybe the package could be for him too? It could be something he needs for a case or something like that. If he's related to the Peppers, then we should probably definitely take these to someone and see if we can figure out what's going on."

Before Kella could hand the envelope off to Rowena for a closer inspection, Lucas was enthusiastically grabbing for it, and Kella wasn't one to deny someone their enthusiasm. She was surprised to find it suddenly missing from her hands, but she caught on quickly enough, training her blue, buggy eyes on the Ravenclaw boy. “What!?” she asked frantically, wondering what he knew. Was Adelebert Hughes a cool person? An evil person? A celebrity?! The Hufflepuff sucked on her lower lip, listening to his explanation with bated breath. He had plenty to say! Her breath wasn't bated for very long, because if she'd held it for his whole enthusiastic ramble she probably would have turned blue and fallen backwards, but she wasn't any less intrigued. Thank goodness she'd stopped Lucas first thing!

“Look!” she exclaimed, sidling up close to him and sticking her head right next to his so that she could look at the envelope, too. “From. From, it says. From Adelebert Hughes,” she spoke, pointing to the tiny from above the address. “That means he sent it. And, look, look!” she insisted, flipping it over herself, “It only says 'To Hogwarts,' so I guess it got delivered properly after all!” she grinned. That was weird! “Maybe it really is for you!” Lucas was the only person who knew this mysterious Adelebert Hughes Auror Person personally, so he was the only person in their party who the package could conceivably be for.

“Hey. Hey! Does that mean, ah... can we open it?” Kella asked, looking at the faces of her peers and settling on Violet's. Usually she would defer to an adult in a situation like this, and Violet was the closest thing they had, at least in Kella's mind. “Lucas knows him, and the box fell on my own head,” she reminded them. “Besides, we do go to Hogwarts, right?”

Violet listened to Lucas wax rhapsodic on the subject of Adelebert Hughes, and was a bit confused.  Aurors were the equivalent of policemen, weren't they?  Normal policemen didn't have 'fans', so what was different here?  The population size, maybe?  Compared to the normal human population, there weren't very many wizarding folk, but a larger proportion of them seemed to be involved in either wrongdoing or law enforcement.  And since there were less people to cover overall, the media had to delve further into society to find 'interesting' ones?  Also, given the spell-dueling aspect, it sort of made policemen more like 'wandering kung-fu masters' full of impressive skill and adventure and mystery, so in that sense some hero-worship wasn't entirely out of place.

The Ravenclaw was pulled out of her latest curious introspection on some element of wizarding society - which were still quite common, even months after having joined it herself - when Kella noted that the name on the back was indicating the sender.  Violet nodded in satisfaction at her guess being confirmed, though that only opened more questions, and they were clearly not ones obvious to wizarding natives, or the others wouldn't have been confused as well.

"Well," Violet said, accepting Kella's deference to her as natural and sensible, "if deliveries are frequently sent simply to 'Hogwarts' without specifying a person or even a department or something, then that would presume there's some normal way such things are dealt with...like un-specified packages are opened by whoever is supervising the owlry, or the Keeper of Keys, or the Headmaster or something, who then makes sure whatever's in the letter or package goes to wherever or whoever makes sense?  In that case, that system has gone wrong somehow, since it's with us and not with them already.  Could be the owls are sick or confused or something."

"On the other hand," Violet said, just warming up, "Both the package and the letter could be addressed unusually, in that they omit a specific recipient.  There could be innocuous explanations for that, like, the person wanted to send something - like a donation, or a letter requesting information - but didn't know who would handle such things.  But you wouldn't think an Auror would be that sort of person, would you?  They of all people ought to know who's responsible for what, or at least the name of the position.  Which suggests it's possible that just because it says 'From: Adelebert Hughes' on the back, that's not who actually sent it - unless owls have some advanced security features I haven't read about yet?  Say if some Dark Wizard wanted to-" kill a bunch of children, she'd been about to say, but she wisely censored herself, "...cause trouble, they know if they sent a cursed thingamabob specifically to someone important they'd probably be able to defend themselves against it trivially.  But if they sent it unadressed, there'd be at least a chance it would be opened inside the school wards by someone...less capable."

"So, the options are to open them ourselves or take them to someone in authority first.  The only practical benefit to opening them ourselves would be that if the contents made it obvious who they were for, we might take them to them slightly earlier than they'd arrive otherwise.  Whereas if we shouldn't open them, there are a huge number of things that could go wrong, not the least of which is the cursed-whatever scenario.  Given that, I'd say we really ought to take them to a Professor immediately..."

Violet shivered as she realized that her initial assumptions about owl-delivery would've probably caused her to quickly open the original package without much further thought, had it been dropped next to her instead of Kella.  The girl's sense of drama suddenly goosed her, and she did a quick House-count of the little group of first-years.  Including herself, three Hufflepuffs, one Ravenclaw - there'd been another before - and only one Gryffindor, who was a cat person and thus probably more sensible than the rest of that lot.  Her frown relaxed and she let out a little sigh of relief.  Surely with that makeup, common sense and reason would prevail...

Really? asked a cynical part of herself.  Are you taking House-affiliation as some sort of reliably predictive measure of psychological makeup now?  Honestly, next you'll be believing your horoscope in the Daily Prophet.

The girl's frown slowly returned as she watched the package and letter warily.

"Maybe he just forgot to address it properly? Are there coffee stains?" Having received lots and lots of packages from someone who didn't always sleep well, it was the first thing Rowena thought of.

And it didn't seem too odd, from what she'd heard of the Hughes. "But I guess we could find a Professor, they'd probably know how to make sure that things go where they should."

She'd never had Aurors show up at her house before. It almost sounded cool, except for everything with his Mum and all that. Even if she was curious about Aurors. And Quidditch and clothes and a lot of other things. There was so much to learn.

Rou was now watching this gaggle of classmates from the entrance of the owlery, contemplating just how much further they'd gotten toward figuring out just what it was. From what the boy could see, they were still figuring things out, and as tempted as he was to just walk in and open the damn thing, Roland preferred to just stay where he was and watch them deduce it. He wasn't one for hanging out amongst people, anyway.

Lucas scrunched his nose as he looked at the letter. Thinking that it was for him would have been amazing! There would really be no real reason for the auror to write him though. He was only eleven. If anyone would be talking to the aurors it would be Zel and the letter would have been addressed to him. He picked at the edge of the envelope contemplating opening it or not. He finally let out a sigh and held the letter back to Kella.

"I guess we should take it to someone. Violet is right. There are too many things that could go wrong with this thing and t would be better safe than sorry. I guess we should head back?"