Ayla stood off to the side of the brightly lit Hufflepuff common room, the sun just starting to set. The multitude of plants scattered around the circular room made for a pleasant aroma and always seemed to emit a sense of calm amoungst the badgers. However Ayla was still feeling restless and agitated. She had charmed one of the pictures on the wall to become extra reflective so she could have a look at herself (the occupant didn't seem to mind, they were fast asleep) She cocked her head to the side, trying to look at herself from every possible angle.

Now Ayla wasn't a vain girl, though she took pride in her looks. Her current obsession with her appearance had everything to do with her Raven hair having turned a shocking turquoise colour. It had happened before the holidays during a Defense class. Peeves had thrown something on her head and for the life of her (not to mention her Wizard father and Witch Cousin) she couldn't find a way to reverse the colour. She was still trying to get used to it.

She took out her wand and swirled it in tight circles, pointing it at the tips of her hair. Her wavy locks curled and tightened then bounced back, creating ringlets. She cocked her head to the other side, decided that the ringlets at least looked better with the turquoise than her natural waves did. She let her shoulders fall and sighed, "Well it's something."

Rose sat on the floor of the common room, the small of her back pressed against the couch while the remaining length of her spine curled over forwards, sitting hunched over. She preferred to work this way since she couldn't get too comfortable and thus would keep herself focused on doing her work, which was exactly what she was doing at the moment. Her thick textbook on Ancient Runes lay open and sheets of parchment were next to it as she quietly scratched notes. Every now and then she'd glance up with her mismatched eyes at Ayla.

"How long are you going to gawk at yourself?" she asked after having glanced another time before bringing her focus back down to her handwriting and the symbols of runes. She was glad that, as the weeks went by, those marks became more and more familiar. "It's not a bad color, but, personally, I think you'd be better with a sapphire blue."

Not that Rose could or would do anything to make Ayla's hair change to her color preference, but that didn't stop her from just saying what she thought. "If you're still so iffy about it, why not talk to one of the professors?" She may have said that with a little more sharpness than expected, but the girl either didn't notice or didn't care.

Ayla flopped on the nearest vacant couch with a rather melodramatic sigh, "I tried!" If it wasn't for the fact that they had been roommates for nearly five years she may have been offended by Rose's bluntness. As it stood she was simply used to it. She knew the other girl wasn't trying to be rude, that was just Rose being Rose, "no one can figure out what Peeves used to dye my hair. Without knowing the potion, they can't make the antidote."

She looked over at the other girl with a smirk, "Sapphire eh?" She tilted her head back until it was practically underside down, laying on the couch, trying to catch another glimpse of her reflection, "Like blue Sapphire or purple sapphire?" She looked back, "Cause I think either would work actually, though the blue would probably go better with the yellow and black." Ayla was an expert at showing her house pride widely across her entire wardrobe, even when not in school uniform.

For once Ayla was more concerned about what her friends thought and her own preferences than what she thought would be the most appealing to the opposite sex. It had been nearly a year since she had anyone she was interested in. After her fall out with Blake she had pretty much just given up, though she did have an interesting run in with a drunken Xavier during the school trip over the summer.

"I've asked my Dad and my cousin for help and a few Professors. I suppose I could just ask Peeves what he used though I don't really trust him to give an honest answer."

Rose sat up straight, making the length of her back press against the couch, stretching backwards for a moment to give herself some relief from being hunched over for a while now. While doing so she looked over at Ayla again and gave a "tsk" from behind her teeth. "Of course I meant blue sapphire. I can imagine you with a purple color, and it is not pretty." The girl gave a single, not even halfway enthusiastic laugh.

She re-positioned herself after her stretch, lying sideways, keeping her head propped up in her hand with her elbow pressed into the woven rug. "What about color changing spells? Has your hair somehow become resistant to them?" Rose cursed under breath, putting her quill down and rolling to her back so she could look up to her classmate. "Peeves really lives up to his name, doesn't he?"

Had she known any spells, or even any curses, that would affect a ghost she would have pulled out her wand on that poltergeist without a second thought as to the repercussions caused from it. Ayla had been her friend for years now, and having the girl's hair bother her bothered Rose too. Maybe there was something in the library she hadn't checked yet...

"Do you think there are spells or curses that work on ghosts?" she asked, ever unable to keep her thoughts to herself.

“Have you tried asking Professor Donovan?”


Micah shuffled into view, a book tucked under his arm and hesitance marking his every movement. He didn’t know much about hair, except the few styles he could do for his sister and basic maintenance for his own (which was noticeably lacking in length or flair), but he did know one thing: if you couldn’t do something yourself, get an adult – a proper adult – to help you. It was a tried and true method. Even if the first one couldn’t, there was at least a sixty percent chance they would try to find someone else for you.

The professor in question always struck Micah as kind of guarded, like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, reminding the seventh year of a very suspicious cat—and it wasn’t unwarranted. But that didn’t stop him from helping students out, especially those who genuinely needed it. Micah had gone to him himself, and found him to be really patient. In some ways Rick Donovan was even better than his sister, because there was no effusive praise to turn him beet red.

Micah shot Rose an uncertain look; the witch might be younger, but she had something of reputation for being kind of… blunt, and had a stare that he preferred not to be on the receiving end of. He wasn’t certain he wouldn’t be, for sticking his nose in a conversation where his lack of expertise was obvious. But Ayla seemed pretty concerned about her hair, and if there was something one of the faculty could do about it…

Ayla sat up at Rose's suggestion of a colour change spell. As if she hadn't already tried that, she was only the best of their year in charms, of course she had already tried that. However instead of giving out the snarky response that was dancing on the tip of her tongue she took out her wand. Ayla gave a few well practiced flicks. Her hair changed from turquoise to red but then fizzled back to turquoise. Another flick, blue, fizzle, turquoise, Flick, yellow, fizzle, turquoise. She repeated the process until she had gone through the entire rainbow each colour only lasting a few seconds before fizzling back to the turquoise.

She raised her eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders, "Who ever thought Peeves would have charm resistant hair dye in his arsenal." She pondered for a moment, "Scratch that OF COURSE Peeves has charm resistant hair dye in his arsenal." She gave another sigh and flopped back down on the couch, "If there's a spell or charm that sticks to a ghost I have yet to find it." Then again she hadn't really actively tried but her brother had, just for kicks.

“Have you tried asking Professor Donovan?”

Ayla was thankful that she had flopped down again, it helped hide the blush from the sudden extra voice in the conversation. She liked Micah, not like liked him, he was just a really nice guy. The blush had less to do with whether she liked him or not and more to do with the fact that she had somehow gotten a seventh year interested in her beauty woes.

She sat up again hoping the blush had dissipated, "Umm well . . ." She chewed on her lower lip for a moment, "Okay so no, I haven't actually asked Professor Donovan for help but I mean if a Wizengomet level wizard and a master potioneer couldn't fix it, what more could Professor Donovan really do?" That I haven't already tried myself. Okay, so maybe she was a little over confident in her own skills in charms but it was the one thing she was really good at. She also didn't want to admit that she was really rather intimidated by Professor Donovan.

Rose made another face as she watched Ayla make her hair change color for a few moments before it dissolved into that turquoise again. Yeah, she really would have preferred if Peeves had made her hair sapphire blue. It made her a little more irritated too when Ayla said that she too didn't know any spells that would work on a ghost. Rose made a mental note to do some personal research into that...

She blinked and sat up when she heard a new voice come in. Ah, it was only Micah. She wasn't too familiar with him, but she at least knew his face. She gave him a lazy wave of her hand before lying herself back down on her back to look up at the head of blue-green hair now stuffed into the couch.

"He's still an option," Rose commented after Micah had made the suggestion for Ayla to go see Professor Donnovan. Rose would have thought the professor ruggedly handsome if she cared enough to think that about her instructor. But, she was more concerned about overall coursework and grades to really bother having a silly crush, like most other girls in the school it seemed.

"I'll do some research as well...see if I can make Peeves talk." A devious little smile appeared on her lips, and her mismatched eyes gleamed for a moment with thoughts of having the bothersome ghost actually be useful for once.

     If a Wizengamot level wizard and a master potioneer couldn’t fix it, what more could Professor Donovan really do?


Micah’s brows furrowed a bit at that, causing soft features to scrunch up in puzzlement. She probably had a point there, if she meant the headmistress, but potions and charms… While similar, they still followed their own rules, and one of them was that one couldn’t be used to fix the other. The big book their Charms professor had assigned had been very clear on that.

Still, he wasn’t about to argue. Ayla seemed to have made up her mind, and in the end it was her choice.

Relieved by Rose’s laid-back greeting (he returned it with a hesitant smile), he looked to her then, switching his burden to his other arm. Its weight reminded him that he should get going soon, but– “Spirit Division deals with all kinds of spirits, and poltergeists are one of them,” he offered shyly. “Maybe you’ll find something in the library.”

Usually they were gotten rid of as quickly as possible, and this one had been around for hundreds of years—since the founding of Hogwarts, even, and it was a stay that was rife with multiple attempts to get rid of him, some more disastrous than others.^[1] There was a theory that his kind derived their power from the dwellings they haunted, and given Hogwarts’ combined age and amount of enchantments, Peeves was one of a select few, maybe even the most powerful one in all of Britain.

But if anyone could get answers from him, Micah was sure Rose was one of them.

There was a low, growling sound, thready and drawn out. Micah’s hand flew to his stomach, face turning a deep, painful red. “Um,” he said, cheeks reddening with every second. “I’m going to. Um.” He began to edge towards to the entrance. It was a very slow, feeble progress, until he could bear it no longer. “GoodluckwithyourhairAyla,” he blurted, and hurried out of the common room.


Exit for Micah

Ayla had her lips squeezed tight as she watched Micah make his exit and when she was sure he was gone she opened them and let out a chuckle. Poor guy. He seemed to be perpetually embarrassed by his own existence. As if having your stomach rumble in front of a few housemates was anything to be embarrassed about. If he hadn't run off she would have offered him one of the many bags of sweets she constantly kept with her. Speaking of which, Ayla pulled a clear bag of gummies out of her school bag and grabbed a handful before offering some to Rose.

"Okay well I suppose I could go see Professor Donovan. You guys do kinda sort of have a point." She didn't want to concede that there may be someone more qualified to help than her two favourite wizarding people in the world.

She chewed through another gummy, "Do you think the library will actually have something we could use on Peeves? I mean wouldn't someone have already tried that?" She thought for a moment, "Unless it's in the restricted section. I doubt we'll get a Professor to approve of us wanting to get into the restricted section just to look for spells we can use on Peeves. Then again maybe I can use this Prefect Badge to some kind of advantage." She smirked. It was a joke more than anything else. While she never expected to be made a prefect she did take the responsibility seriously and wasn't actually willing to use it to abuse power or anything of the like.

Rose smirked and gave an amused snort as Micah quickly left. She couldn't understand being so easily bothered and flustered over every little thing, like he was. She was like that in her younger years, but she quickly got over that. Nevertheless, she accepted the offering from Ayla and sat with her back to the couch, letting her head roll back and rest on the seat cushions.

"Well, the option's open to you," Rose shrugged before popping a gummy into her mouth and chewed. "There's always the option of just accepting it, too," she added, once again letting her thoughts go straight to her mouth. Rose tilted her head back to look up at Ayla. "It's not that bad of a color, really. I just would have chosen a different color, were I Peeves."

"And, well, we won't know until we try, hm?" Rose asked upon her friend's suggestion of using the badge to get into the restricted section. Looking ahead at nothing in particular Rose tapped her fingertips together like a cliche villain, then chuckled darkly to herself as she imagined what sort of spells and tricks would be available in getting the poltergeist to talk, or just to even behave a little better. Well...at least around herself and her friends--bugger everyone else. "All I hope for is something that will even work. Although I won't mind making a discovery or two that may or may not be unrelated to our search."

Ayla contemplated the thought of just accepting it. True it wasn't the colour she would have chosen for herself but it wasn't horrid either. It sort of made her green gold eyes pop in a way, though admittedly would have looked nicer with the twins' green blue eyes. It didn't really clash with anything in her wardrobe, nor did it distract too much from her love of her house colours (which admittedly was a large portion of her wardrobe anyways) Besides if she simply chose to accept it that would mean she wouldn't have to speak with Professor Donovan afterall. Really in the end it was a win win situation for her.

She let out a dramatic sigh with a smirk Rose wouldn't be able to see, "I suppose I'll just have to accept it." She chuckled slightly and focused more on the inner super villain she seemed to have awoken in her friend.

"I'm with you, finding something that works regardless of what it is would be a victory." She thought for a moment pursing her lips, "Scratch that, convincing Mr Landis we should be allowed in the restricted section would be a victory. Then finding something we could use against Peeves would be like winning a bloody war."

She sat up and crossed her legs, leaning forward closer to Rose, "Now do you think there's a Professor we could actually convince to let us into the Restricted section. I doubt Mr Landis would allow me based just on my being a Prefect."

"Oh, I'm certain we could convince somebody," Rose replied, tilting her head back again against the couch cushion to look up at Ayla. "I just can't think of anyone off the top of my head." She paused. "Wait, perhaps the new History of Magic professor. He won't be as familiar with things as the other professors are, so we might be able to convince him."

Her curiosity continued to grow as she thought about getting into the deeper sections of the library and what sort of knowledge they held. Also, her Muggle upbringing simply made the the idea of looking up any sort of magic-based information all the more interesting to her. There was still so much that she didn't know, and she wanted to get her hands on everything she could possibly grasp.

Her mismatched eyes kept their focus upward towards her friend. "Any thoughts on your end?"

Ayla pursed her lips and tapped her chin thoughtfully. There were few choices really when it came down to it. So many Professors that had come to mind no longer worked at Hogwarts. They had gone through so many in the five years she had been there. She was sure she could have convinced Professor Frasier, and surely Hagrid would have said yes to anything if you just asked kindly enough.

She nodded a bit, "Yeah, Professor Butler may be our best bet. I mean there aren't too many Professors I really get along with this year. We could always ask Councillor Maiko but she may not count, even if she is our Head of House."

She fiddled around with her sweets and popped one in her mouth. This was now her new favourite obsession. Complaining about her hair had already gotten old and really, it wasn't like she couldn't pull it off. She just had to get back to her own inner fabulousness she had locked away the past few years. Now she was possessed by the idea of exacting revenge on the poltergeist.

"Maybe Professor Blackburn. I mean Charms is my best subject but there's no way I'm going to go to Professor Donovan about this and I'm not exactly rubbish in Divination. We could probably convince him we saw a vision or a tea leaf told us we needed to do it right?"