Eirene stood in the girl's lavatory on the fourth floor, washing her hands and humming underneath her breath. She wanted to make it back to the library and find her things just where she'd left them (spread out on one of the tables), but her mother always said 'cleanliness first', especially after a potty break. So Eirene took her time, using soap and everything! Then she quickly dried her hands on a towel and turned for the door.

She'd gotten started on her Transfiguration homework right after class and intended to study the whole afternoon. Mid-terms began next week, and Eirene wouldn't settle for less than an O! However, she had about half an hour before lunch, and couldn't help but imagine what the house elves would be serving today. Visions of chicken and duck and potatoes swimming in her head, Eirene reached for the handle of the lavatory door, then stopped.

Ribbit. Ribbit, ribbit.

She froze, stared at the bathroom stall in the very back. An odd splash sounded, and then the little pitter patter of tiny feet... tiny amphibian feet!

A frog hopped out of the bathroom stall, blinking at her. Eirene's mouth dropped open in disgust and horror.

A few more splashes sounded and she whirled to stare at the other stalls, clutching for the handle behind her. Where was it?! Then a popping noise, and another, as a frog squeezed out of the drain where she'd just been washing her hands!

Eirene screamed, flung open the bathroom door, and hurried out. The popping and the splashing and the squelching sounds were increasing in frequency, and could be heard even in the hallways. Eirene began walking very fast down the corridor, still mindful of the 'no running' rule.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and ten... no twenty... no, more than that! A zillion frogs hopped out of the loo and down the corridor after her!

Eirene screamed again and broke into a run, her shiny shoes pounding on the stones. If she could just get to somewhere safe, the professors would know what to do! The line of frogs behind her ribbited in unison, mocking her logical thoughts. Eirene turned a corner and pushed open the door of the library, racing in and standing on the table she'd claimed earlier. She grabbed her wand and held it out in front of her shakily, eyes locked on the crack underneath the library doors.

"Frogs!" She cried at the other library denizens, pointing at the door. "A million, zillion frogs!" There weren't really a million. Perhaps fifty or so. And it wasn't just the girl's loo, but all the loos in Hogwarts that suffered from a sudden frog infestation.

Tears seeped out of her terrified eyes. It must be Keegan! He was the only one vile enough to play this kind of prank!

"Look!" Eirene screeched over the laughter of the other students. A frog slipped underneath the door and hopped into the library, ribbiting merrily all the way.


((Please check out this plotting thread before posting!))

-- Uniform. --

Nauthiz, Kenaz, Raidho, Gebo, Wunjo. Leon read the runes over and sighed. It sounded like some greedy bloke wanted a torch from a far away land. But, of course, the runes had more meaning that that. Leon scratched down his interpretation (Sadly, he refused to use the greedy bloke story) and finally finished his Ancient Runes assignment. He decided to then move on to Charms, which not only was more interesting, but he was nearly done with his work. Not that Leon didn't like doing meaningless labor in the morning, he just wanted to finish before classes began. He liked spending his study breaks drinking tea and practicing transfiguration. Not writing about mean men and their need for an exotic torch.

Just as he began to slip his parchments back into his bag, he heard clamping coming from outside the library. Like somebody running. Didn't people know not to run in the hallways? Leon frowned to himself, but since he technically wasn't even witnessing the act, he stayed put and said nothing. Would he really expect to stop something he supposedly couldn't see? The clamping got louder and the doors burst open...

"Frogs! A million, zillion frogs!"

A young girl began screaming. The scene was rather perplexing... Why did the girl run to the library? That was probably the worst place to have a screaming fit in. Leon's eyes quickly darted for the librarian, expecting the girl to get an earful from Morgan, but he seemed to be out of sight at the moment. Leon swallowed, hard, and realized that he would have to help the young girl. He was head boy, after all. He simply couldn't ignore the matter any longer.

But, as Leon picked himself out of his chair, he indeed heard croaking. And he witnessed one of the little buggers slip between the doors. Why on Earth would they be attacking the innocent girl? Did she somehow screw up a curse? She was a young little thing, she probably got her hands on something she should have left alone. Or... Hogwarts was experiencing the plague. Same thing. Death takes its toll and whatnot. Leon wasn't sure if he should start praying or not, but he continued towards the small girl.

"Umm, excuse me," Leon said as he stopped at the edge of the table the girl stood upon, "They're merely amphibians. They wouldn't do you any harm. Perhaps give you a deathly disease or poison you... But they themselves can't harm you," he smiled up at her, blissful and awkward. It was a rather funny sight... Were girls always afraid of small critters? Of course, he could somewhat understand cockroaches, those nasty little things, but a frog couldn't hurt a fly-- Well... Okay, a fly, but not an eleven-year-old girl.

"Come down from there... I'll assure you that the small things won't even touch you," Leon was just so amazingly heroic and kind that he could help a small girl get away from a large group of frogs. He was so gosh darn impressive. Leon was a Keeper, after all. He could block anything away from the little girl. Well, maybe not a bus... Or an air-polluting disease. But frogs and quaffles he could block, no problem.

Leon eyed the room of students and cleared his throat, "Ahh, please, miss?" he asked politely. She was making a scene and he didn't want her to embarrass herself. More frogs began to pop inside the library and Leon pretended like it was a normal situation to witness at a high-class school.

The first round of midterms was almost upon them, and Noriko had taken to spending all of her free time in the library in between fits of anxiety.  After all, she had to do well on her exams!  Her future, her reputation, and her life all depended on it, and of that she had no doubt.   Noriko knew that not only could she be kicked out of Hogwarts and have her wand snapped if she did poorly, but her father had sent a letter threatening to feed her to the monster under her bed if she failed any exams in order to restore the family honor, and even though her mother had immediately sent a follow-up owl that assured her that Papa had just been kidding and not to feel pressured, Noriko knew he'd been telling the truth.

Needless to say, Noriko was getting more and more nervous about the upcoming exams.  History of Magic was easy enough, and she was feeling a little less anxious about Potions and Charms, but the thought of having to cast Expelliaramus again in Defense Against the Dark Arts made her want to hide under her chair, and she'd already had two nightmares about accidentally setting the Greenhouse on fire while a giant evil-looking head that somewhat resembled Professor Bombay boomed down at her that she was expelled from being a witch.

Being in the library, though, somehow calmed her down.  Maybe it was all the books and the quiet; maybe it was the presence of Professor Mister Librarian Morgan; maybe it was just the lack of the Gryffindors, who seemed to avoid the place like the plague.  Whatever the reason, Noriko was actually looking forward to a quiet afternoon spent studying, and was hoping that it would be enough to quell any dreams of giant floating Professor Bombay heads so that she could get a good night's sleep for a change.

But that changed when Eirene burst into the library.  Noriko jerked her head up, nearly falling out of her chair as the screeching girl raced into the room and clambered up onto a table.  Wide-eyed, she immediately followed Eirene's lead, climbing up onto her own table and hesitantly pulling out her wand.

Was this some kind of test?  Had Professor Storm turned them loose throughout Hogwarts because he expected the first years to prove their worth by stunning them all?  Noriko clamped her mouth firmly shut, looking terrified.  She couldn't stun a frog!  She couldn't even stun Eirene!

An older Ravenclaw had made his way over to Eirene and was trying to coax her down from the table.  Noriko didn't pay him any attention, her own eyes glued to the door.  There it was!  A frog!  And another one!  And another!

It was too much for the Slytherin girl.

"I can't do it!" she shrieked, clutching her wand to her chest and looking like she were about to burst into tears.  "I can't stun them!  I'll fail!  They'll send me home and I'll have to go live with the Muggles!"

Eirene stood on the table as if it were a tiny island and the sharks were circling, waiting to make a kill. She noticed a young man walking towards her, but dared not look at him, focused completely on those library doors and the horrible ribbiting coming from beyond. Each time a frog slipped underneath the crack, she shrieked and pointed at it.

Mere amphibians! Eirene finally swiveled her head to stare at the boy, slowly realizing who he was. Leon Monroe. Ravenclaw Seventh Year. Head Boy! Oh! The Head Boy was talking to her!

His suggestion that the 'harmless amphibians' might give her a deathly disease made her shrink back in horror. Leon smiled at her kindly, spoke to her politely, and asked her to get down from the table. The fact that this was the Head Boy and he wanted her to do something made her consider it for a moment.

Then another frog squeezed underneath the door.

"I can't!" She wailed, squeezing her eyes shut, as if she thought the frogs might not be able to get her if she couldn't see them. Only problem was, she could still hear them!

"They're hopping! They're hopping all over the place!" Eirene opened her eyes and pointed hysterically at the frog resting on Leon Monroe's shoe. "What if they give me warts!?"

A few rows over she heard Noriko shrieking about muggles, and turned to see her standing on a table like she was. 

"It's the Gryffindors!" She wailed over at her, cluthching her wand tighter. "They must have done it! Keegan and the rest of them!"

-Outfit-

With mid-term fever in the air everyone was abuzz with anticipation and, for some, fear. Reggie, on the other hand, could only muster up feelings of mild annoyance. Exams meant lots and lots of free time spent studying outside of normal lessons. Therefore there was less time allocated for other activities (say, sleeping) as a result of these unfortunate yet necessary circumstances. To make a long story short, she would be spending quite awhile in the library, which was where she was at this very moment. Before her lay various books, all of them open to different chapters pertaining to their respective fields of study. She'd been in this position since her last class came to an end, bypassing her usual trip back to the common room. There had been a lot of ground that needed to be made up. That could be credited to her unwillingness to start reviewing the necessary material ahead of time unfortunately. She really had not meant to put off for so long. But her bed had just been so darn inviting. Once she sat upon its plush surface it usually did not take long for sleep to cloud and overtake her senses. Thus, she'd learned early on that studying in bed was not an applicable venture for her to partake in.

Her hastily thrown together regimen had gone well up until she began sifting through the confusing jargon that was her notes for Transfiguration. Goodness how she hated that subject. While she found she could essentially 'wing it' when it came to the other subjects in her courseload, Transfiguration proved to be the one true obstacle that stood in her way. The amount of intricacies that comprised the particular area of magic drove her up the wall. One mispronunciation or hasty wand movement and your efforts usually went up in smoke (sometimes literally). And to make matters worse she had to take an OWL in it. If there was anything she had been worked up about this year it was the reality of that. She told herself that when it came down to it she would likely drop the class come next year and save herself a lot of grief. Or maybe she would do bad enough that she'd have no choice but to not take it. Either way she foresaw drastically reduced stress levels. That is, if she didn't manage to pass by some complete and utter miracle. Stranger things have happened.

With a turn of the page and a heavy sigh Reggie began to mockingly pray for some sort of distraction to save her from this miserable experience. Well, you know what they say; 'Ask and you shall receive, dear child.' The doors to the library burst open and in ran what looked like a shrieking first year. Left brow arching upwards she listened as the frightened child went on and on about 'a million, zillion frogs'. Before Reggie could even start to comprehend that she heard a soft croaking that caused her to direct her gaze back to the doors. Huh. Would you look at that. The girl had not been completely out of her little mind after all. Soon more frogs began to hop through the door, joining their friend in spreading such 'sheer terror'. Letting her eyes linger on them for awhile she looked back over to the girl, who was now being consoled by... Oh. Leon. She really hadn't noticed that he'd been in the library all this time. Thankfully. She probably wouldn't had been able to get anything done if she'd seen him earlier. The familiar butterflies commenced their fluttering in her stomach and for the moment all she could do was stare blankly at him, ignoring the increasing amount of frogs that were piling into the library and causing the ongoing ruckus. It took the shrieking of another girl near her to break the spell. Shutting her eyes momentarily she reopened them once she was sure she was back amongst the general population.

"Calm down." She spoke to the girl, who by her robes turned out to be a Slytherin. "You don't have to stun them all. It's not a test or anything. Just... Hogwarts being Hogwarts." That explanation made a whole lot of sense when one considered all the strange things that usually went on at the acclaimed institution of magic. Nothing shocked her much anymore, including the army of frogs hellbent on taking over the library. Who knew they were such avid readers? Rising from her seat she cast them an amused glance, shaking her head. "Definitely just Hogwarts being Hogwarts."

"They're hopping! They're hopping all over the place!"

"That's what frogs do," Leon's bottom lip quivered and he quickly knocked the frog off his shoe with a kick, sending it flying and hitting the Library door with a thud... Poor Frog. What to do with a screaming first year? He cleared his throat once again. "And they won't give you warts. That's just a myth..." He paused, "With toads. Which isn't the same thing as a frog," what was the difference to this girl? Either way, the frogs were scaring the living daylights out of her and he needed to somehow get her to settle down. He didn't want to cast a spell on her, heaven's no! That was against Leon's nature! But the frogs, on the other hand...

"I can't stun them!  I'll fail!  They'll send me home and I'll have to go live with the Muggles!"

Was that really a problem? Living with muggles? Leon sighed, realizing the voice came from behind him and was, indeed, not the girl that stood before him. Did first years even need to know how to stun things? Petrify, maybe... But not stun... Wait... Weren't those just the same thing? Why did they have to have multiple spells to stun things? Leon stopped staling and removed his wand and with a drastic movement of his wand, the frogs froze, stiff as a board, into place. He hoped a Professor wouldn't be angry with him for using magic... He was only practicing his internal spell casting, of course! On vicious frogs! Petrificus Totalus!

A large portion of the frogs were stunned, but more continued to pop in. The girl standing above him was shouting something about the Gryffindors and someone named Keegan that Leon had no clue about. He turned to address the other girl and help her calm down also, when he noticed Regina Grayson already beat him to it. His heart skipped a bit and he smiled, slightly. "H- Hello, Regina," he said, almost forgetting what was happening all around them. But he snapped out of it and quickly turned back to the girl. Leon began thinking... Perhaps he could throw the girl over his shoulders and take her away from the library to the common room, where she'll be able to safely scream and cry all she wanted.

Leon knew this had to be a bad choice. The small girl would either comprehend his actions the wrong way or she would freak out even more. And Leon didn't want a spazzing girl to be on his shoulders. Nor did he wanted to be called a pervert for picking up the girl. Was it even a good idea? No. It wasn't.

He quickly stunned a few more frogs and turned back to the girl, "What do you think they're going to do to you?" He asked, completely puzzled by the whole situation. Usually he knew what to do in situations that involved screaming children... But if it's fear-based, he didn't exactly know what to do. He tended to make matters worst with his logical reasoning. Somehow. He glanced back at Regina. He didn't want her to think he was showing off, either... Leon wasn't a show-offy kind of guy.

Leon quickly analyzed the situation and decided to sweet talk her down. Leon could sweet talk professors, why not little girls? They were all stubborn, anyways. There wouldn't be much of a difference. "It'll be alright, I swear to you, Miss..." He quickly studied the girl. He knew her name. He knew plenty of Ravenclaws' names. Leon had a knack for remembering names, he always had... She was... "M- Miss Antonopoulos. Please, if you get down from the table, I won't let any of the frogs touch you," He wiggled his wand in the air to show he was armed. Plus, didn't she see him petrifying the frogs? She had to listen to him now.

"I'm your friend here, okay? I won't let anything harm you," His eyes flickered around her expressions, seeing if she was going to listen to him or not. Was Regina watching? Did Leon look alright? Did he shave that day? "I assure you, if you get down, it'll be alright," More frogs popped in and Leon simply stared up at the Ravenclaw girl with wide, innocent eyes.

Noriko's eyes widened at the other first year's accusation.  She had no doubt that the Gryffindors would be cruel enough to attack Eirene with frogs (although she was secretly a little disappointed that it wasn't anything man-eating), but could they really be so much better at magic than she was?  She couldn't even manage an expelliaramus predictably, let alone summon hoards of amphibians.  If this was what was being expected of students in her year, she was going to fail her examinations for sure!

The frogs were hopping into the room in greater and greater numbers, green and brown spots slowly edging inwards in a croaking cacophony.  The assault showed no signs of stopping, and as the noise got louder and louder, other students were looking up throughout the library.

Another girl came over to try and coax her down from the table, but Noriko's eyes went wide as she recognized the older girl's house colors.  She was a Gryffindor!  For all Noriko knew, she was the one behind the attack! 

The young Slytherin shook her head furiously, clamping her mouth shut as she absolutely refused to come down from the table.  She couldn't go anywhere with the enemy!  For all she knew, the Gryffindor girl was trying to lure her away so that Noriko could be turned into a frog!

"No!" she tried to squeak without opening her lips.  The sound came out slightly muffled and incomprehensible, but Noriko ploughed on nonetheless.  "Mm mmmt mmm mmn!  What if it's contagious?" she asked anxiously, as the urgent desire to express her fears quickly won out over keeping her mouth shut.   "I can't sit exams if I'm a frog!"  Not to mention that Professor Bombay would probably think she was there to eat his plants and take away points.  This was getting worse and worse!

Frogs.  The disgusting, slimy things were Everywhere.  They were swamping his greenhouses, and while Graham had put up enough defenses to keep the plants relatively safe, they were still a nuisance.  He needed something stronger, and would prefer to keep his inability to be rid of them to himself.  To the library it was.  But they followed him.  The damned pests followed him like some amphibious pied piper.  It was repulsive, and if this had happened while he was a student, Graham was certain a variety of nicknames would have immediately resulted from the sight.  It did nothing to help defend his hygiene. 

Steadfastly ignoring them, Graham continued to the fourth floor, only to see a new flank of amphibians.  Where on earth were they coming from?  Fortunately they had found their own leaders, indicated by the repeated high-pitched, girlish screams emanating from the typically quiet library.  He made his way in, tree frogs clinging to the hem of his robe, as he spotted his least favorite first-year, among the Ravenclaws that was.  "Oh shush," he sighed, realizing it would be up to him to rescue the students.  From frogs.  How...unheroic.  He would have preferred a werewolf, at least for the storytelling afterward.  In terms of difficulty it was nice to have just frogs to deal with, for once. 

Avoiding the hysterical child, Graham was pleased to see the Head Boy stepping up to the situation.  All too often he saw his prefects more interested in snogging than fulfilling their duties.  It was quite trying, and a bit envy-stirring, at times.  "Well done, Monroe.  Keep at it," he spoke in passing to the boy.  The older Gryffindor was consoling the little shark as well.  Seeing nothing needing his immediate attention, Graham continued on with his quest.  He walked down the aisle of books, skimming the titles as his index finger ran over the spines.  Exterminating Species, Lifestyles of the Mammal and Aquatic, How to Get Rid of Annoying Pests, his thoughts ran back to the screaming table-top child, Defending the Castle: Protecting the Moat and Home from Animal Invasion. Aha, perfect.  He withdrew the book and began flipping through its table of contents.

This year was completely different than the last and it made Ayla miss the carefree days of being a first and second year. Ayla was never the most attentative in class but she was really good at testing, it was usually where she made up all her marks but her usual confidence was being tested this year. As a third year she now had extra classes to worry about testing in and when it came to courses like Divination she wasn't sure how well she was actually going to do and so she had gone to the library - a very rare occurrence as her little sister was more than happy to point out - to make sure she actually was ready for her mid term exams. The Christmas holidays couldn't come any sooner.

As an easily distracted fourteen year old it was hard to just ignore the whole frog situation. Ayla had been off in one corner with several text books piled up in front of her. Her uniform was in complete disarray, her low cut tank top not exactly the most appropriate but at least her loosened house tie covered most of her ample chest. She had been rather stressed out lately, the past month had just been horrible. Not only had she dealt with the disturbed affections of Xavier Tawse and the consequences that came with it but now she was facing down rumores about her bust being magically altered. As if! They were big enough on their own she didn't need to have them any bigger, no doubt Tawse or one of his stupid lackies had come up with it.

When she heard Eirene screaming she looked up and sighed. She closed her book wrapped up her parchment put her wand back in her waistband and made her way over to the first year. She looked up at Leon gently touching his arm to get his attention and giving him a small smile and a wink to let him know she had it from here. She climbed up on the table next to the frightened first year making sure she kneeled so that her skirt didn't ride up.

"Eirene sweetie, it's alright." She glanced at the door and saw that half of the frogs had been immobilized already, no doubt thanks to the handsome seventh year trying to hold down the fort, "Look they're not going to hurt you, I promise." She took her wand out of her waistband and showed it to Eirene figuring the best way to calm the young girl was to teach her something. She swished her wand and flicked it towards the nearest frog, "Petrificus Totalus!" The frog froze mid hop and fell to the Library floor with a disturbing thud, "I bet if you try you could have them all petrified before I can." She spoke softly feeding to the girl's ego of being a fantastic student.

She gave the younger girl a playful smirk, "As for Keegan well I wouldn't worry about him." She leaned in close to make sure Leon didn't hear what she was about to say to the young girl, "Do you really think that dumb little Gryffindor has enough brains to conjure one frog let alone an entire plague of them?"

Honestly, Reggie shouldn't have been too shocked when her attempts to calm the rattled girl down failed miserably. She had never been good at that sort of thing. Ah well. Couldn't blame her for trying. Rolling her eyes and scoffing she turned away and made the short trek back to her table. What was up with this batch of firsties anyway? They all seemed so daft. Either they were freaking over the simplest things, causing destruction in some way, or just being plain aggravating. She really did not remember her class being this way when they were first years. Save for one or two troublemakers, of course. Taking a quick peek over her shoulder at Leon she felt a rush of heat overtake her cheeks again, causing her to look away again just as quickly. He was being all Head Boy-ish. That was commendable. He actually did something, which was more she could say about some of the prefects.

Stooping down to stick her hand in her bag she stood up once she had her wand gripped firmly in her hand. Sigh. Might as well help out a bit. Flicking her wand lazily she shot off a few spells, mostly stunning or petrifying the amphibious creatures. She really didn't want to hurt them since... well, she liked them. Yes. She liked frogs. They hopped around, made funny sounds, ate flies, and generally bothered no one (except for now, of course). To her they were the ultimate low maintenance pet one could have. In fact, she saw herself possibly getting one in the future. The only hindrance to that was her mother, who was deathly afraid of them. Getting her to agree to having one in the house would be like pulling teeth. The effort in the end was simply too great, and Reggie had been mostly content with keeping things pleasantly effort-free.

As she was petrifying another of the croaking invaders Professor Bombay walked in, gave Leon some words of encouragement, then continued on his way to one of the shelves. "Some authority figure you are..." Reggie muttered under her breath, a little miffed at how useless he was being. Leaving Leon to take care of this all on his own. Not to say that he wasn't perfectly capable of doing so. But still, you would think a Hogwarts professor would step in during a situation like this. Ugh. At least it seemed someone else had decided to help; a Hufflepuff she'd seen around in fact. She didn't quite know her name but flashed her a small smile of thanks either way. Yay for being proactive instead of screaming on tables or ignoring things completely like some people...

Leon Monroe. Knew. Her name! If certain doom wasn't hopping all around them, Eirene might have swooned in delight.  Instead, she stared at him in shock, nodding slowly when he said he was her friend. Leon Monroe! Head Boy! Seventh Year! Her friend!

She couldn't understand why he wanted her to get down from the table, however. It was probably against the rules for her to stand on the furniture, but these were dire circumstances! Eirene bit her lip, and then thought of something brilliant. Brilliant in her mind, of course.

"You should come up here!" Eirene said, nodding. "That way you can defend me - I mean the students! Without risking warts!"

She was still convinced that the frogs could pass on warts, or something even worse, considering they'd popped out of the toilets.

Eirene noticed Professor Bombay pass by, casual as can be, and then her friend Ayla appeared, climbing onto the table with her. Eirene knew she was making a huge scene when the third-year knelt in front of her as if she were a small child. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. Like Leon, Ayla began petrifying the frogs, even complimenting her and showing her how to petrify them too.

She almost smiled at the Keegan insult, and then raised her wand, about to attempt the petrification spell just for Ayla, when suddenly...

The table shook beneath them. It was built to hold dozens of heavy books and sleepy students' heads. It was not built to support whole students, even small girls like Eirene and Ayla.

She looked down fearfully, thinking at first that the frogs must be doing it, and then she clung onto Ayla as the table gave a great shudder and crashed to the floor!

Eirene let out another shrill scream. The frogs! The frogs would surely get her now!

"You should come up here! That way you can defend me - I mean the students! Without risking warts!"

"Ahh... No, I don't think the table would hold the two of us..." Leon shook his head, doubtfully. "I'll stand here and defend you... But it'd be better if you... Um... Got down," since he didn't want to get into trouble, after all. The girl was making a scene. Frogs weren't worth a detention (Which was definitely not something Leon was willing to give the innocent girl) or the pain and humiliation. If she got off the table, Leon knew he could get the situation in order. He could get the girl away frogs and then help clean them up. He only wished his plan could be easier.

"Well done, Monroe.  Keep at it,"

Leon's head immediately turned to see the source of the voice. Strange, Bombay didn't usually compliment Leon. He felt a surge of pride, but remained focused on the matter at hand. "Thank you, Professor Bombay," He grinned, but then noticed that Bombay wasn't even going to help him. His grin faded and he spun around to watch the Professor continue on his merry way. Well, Leon WAS head boy. He could do it all on his own. That's why they put him in his position... Leon was a trustworthy boy. Leon turned back to the younger student. He didn't need any help from Bombay... The Professor was probably going to help get rid of the frogs, anyways.

And then another student stepped in. A young Hufflepuff... With a uniform that definitely wasn't following school regulation. But Leon wasn't about to comment on it. It was no time to distract himself. Plus, the girl seemed as though she was about to help him. He wasn't going to argue with a little help... But then she, too, stepped up onto the desk. Leon showed a look of disapproval, but hopefully the girl knew what she was doing. "Err... Alright then..." Leon quirked a brow and watched, carefully, as the two students whispered.

He sent another quick glance towards Regina before turning back to the two girls. Eirene, the small Ravenclaw, seemed to be coming to her senses and raised her wand... But then the table fell underneath them. Leon wasn't surprised, really, but his jaw dropped and he took a step back. The poor girl screamed and panic began to rise in Leon. She was going to go into convulsions... She was going to scream and wail for no reason simply because the frogs were jumping near her... Sort of.

Leon did some quick thinking and went back to his original plan. He swiftly picked Eirene up and cradled her, feeling like he just made a huge mistake. What if she began yelling some more? What if everyone thought he manhandled her and that he was the worst person in existence? But he didn't want her to scream and cry the whole time about frogs! Plus, now he could get the girl out of there.

"I'm s- sorry, Miss Antonopoulos," Leon quickly said, "I don't mean to scare you, I just didn't want you to be... Uhhh..." He paused and looked back at Regina. What a sight that had to be. "Since you're afraid of the frogs, I thought... I thought maybe I should... But..." He began turning red in the face and he looked down at Eirene, "I could put you down if you like, I mean... I don't want you to be uncomfortable... I just..." He stopped talking and clenched his jaw. He put himself in an awkward position.

Then there was the girl on the ground... Leon looked down at her and felt bad that he didn't also help her. Then again, she wasn't screaming because she was near some frogs. Leon figured, if he held Eirene with one arm, he could help the Hufflepuff up with the other. He clutched Eirene, tightly, so she wouldn't fall, and extended his left hand out to help the girl on the floor get up. "I'm sorry... I just... You weren't the one who was screaming and... Here, let me help you," Leon continued to mumble and feel embarrassed.

Bombay was going to kill him. And Morgan was going to resurrect him and kill him again for letting those students step on top of the Library desks.

Eirene Antonopolous had the worst luck in the world!

First she falls into the lake before even getting to school, then she ends up in a fist fight during the Halloween dance with one of the rowdiest of the first years, then she somehow finds herself being chased down by a mob of frogs and now this. Ayla found it hard to believe that a desk which had withstood thousands of texts books piled dozens high - not to mention the occasional sleepy studier - for hundreds of years had collapsed under the mere weight of their combined hundred and seventy pounds - give or take a pound.

Ayla had been slightly winded when the table gave way mostly because Eirene had flung herself at her. She hadn't been expecting the girl to do so and was completely taken aback. Perhaps she had underestimated how terrified she was of these frogs. Thankfully though Leon seemed to have corrected the situation by lifting Eirene off of her and carrying her not unlike a toddler.

Ayla lay back on the splintered table looking at the ceiling of the library wondering how this year could get any worse. She couldn't remember ever having such a hard time at Hogwarts before. She could only hope that the new year and term would be better for her or she might try and convince he father yet again to get transferred back to Pinebrook.

She smiled and nodded as Leon offered his hand. Normally she wouldn't have bothered but she had fallen into a particularly difficult spot and didn't think she could get out of it on her own, at least not without making her uniform a lot more revealing that her tank top was already doing. She pulled herself up and straightened her skirt making sure there weren't any embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions, "Thanks Leon." She turned to Eirene, "You alright hunny?"

Through the midst of the frogs croaking, hopping, and giving Eirene a heart attack, two lanky arms appeared from above and scooped her up to safety!

Eirene stopped screaming and clung onto him, oblivious to how worried and embarrassed Leon was about holding a first-year girl. Her main concern were the frogs, and how long Leon could keep her away from them. Even the Head Boy couldn't carry her forever!

Eirene looked down at Ayla, very concerned about the fact that her friend's feet were vulnerably planted on the ground. Why were she and Noriko the only ones seriously disturbed about the frog invasion? The green and slimy frogs surely carried all kinds of diseases!

"I'm alright now, I suppose," Eirene answered in a small voice, glancing at Leon in the same way she'd looked at Sasha Schlagenweit after he'd saved her from drowning in the lake.

"But don't put me down!" She squeaked, looking around at the frogs frantically. "Put me on the chair," she decided. Perhaps the chair would keep her off the ground better than the table had.

"You should stand on a chair too, Ayla," Eirene instructed her friend. If Ayla contracted the Warts disease, she'd be put into some kind of quarantine, and then Eirene would have to visit her in a protective bubble, if she could visit her at all!

But no sooner had Eirene instructed Ayla as to the safest way to escape from the frogs, came the ominous voice of the librarian: "No one will be standing on any furniture." Landis strode into the scene, flicking a scrap of parchment onto the floor and transfiguring it into a cage. Frogs sailed gently through the air and into the top-opening cage as he began casting Banishing spells left and right. His long hair was back in a low ponytail, the truest indication that Landis was ready to kick some amphibian arse. He did spare one withering, ego-destroying glance over the little tableau of Leon, Eirene, Ayla, Noriko, and Regina. "After all," he continued, still Banishing frogs, "You've already destroyed enough library property."

Truth be told, Landis was a little embarrassed to be so late. He'd been brewing a potion in the back room behind his office when he heard Eirene shrieking; as fast as he'd moved to stabilize it enough to survive his absence, he'd still, if the broken halves of the desk on the floor was any indication, been far too late. How unprofessional.

But then, to walk into this? Frogs, really? Even for Hogwarts that was a bit odd. Landis was less concerned about the tiny amphibians than he was the effect of their slimy skin on the books... or his shoes. Even now, he stepped daintily through the hordes of petrified frogs, careful not to squish any underneath his shiny shoes as he cast spell after spell. Frog guts were not something he felt like cleaning up at any time of the day.

As for the students assembled in front of him... Landis wasn't sure whether to be impressed or deeply, deeply disappointed. There was the Head Boy - Monroe, wasn't it? - holding a first-year girl in his arms like a medieval hero and simultaneously trying to help up another... how very dashing. Then another girl, Gryffindor by her colors, attempting to talk down - oh, it was Wakahisa. Well, no surprise that she was the one on top of a desk; obviously the broken one had suffered the fate of too many frightened girls on top of it. And they'd all, quite obviously, been Petrifying the frogs. It was a cute effort, but it did nothing to remove the things, which should have been the top priority. Still, they were the only students to have tried to do anything at all to stop the tide of incoming frogs. The other students in the library all looked on, with various degrees of amusement or apprehension; a few other girls were even perched on top of their desks as well, peering nervously down at the frogs hopping between their desk legs. Landis glared, but their fear of the frogs were stronger than their fear of him, and they all studiously avoided making eye contact and stayed where they were. Landis was amazed - they were just frogs after all. Potions ingredients! He hardly understood all the fuss.

Displeased, Landis took a moment to throw off another round of Banishing spells, his wand arm going through the movements at top speed. The frogs already in the cage croaked their protests as more and more came sailing in through the top of the cage, but the thing was too high for them to jump out of, and half of them were too Petrified to even try. He also cast a containment spell at the big Library doors, which would stop the tide of frogs slipping in under the cracks. Granted, no one else could get in or leave until he took it down, but if he could just banish all the frogs in here now...

A few frogs were still hopping around at this point, and Landis was quite certain that some had escaped to the stacks (where they would have to be hunted down sometime later), but the majority of the things had either already been banished or were still petrified. He spared another glance back at the group, but spoke only to Noriko when he said, "Get down, Ms. Wakahisa. Represent your House in a more suitable way than cowering on top of a desk." His words were harsh, but he'd gentled his tone somewhat; the girl was plainly terrified, after all. To Leon, the only 7th year, he said, "Mr. Monroe, please assist me in Banishing the remaining frogs. Your... friend -" Eirene, whose name Landis did not know, although he'd seen her in the library before - "May sit in a chair and put her feet up if she wishes." And finally, to Ayla and Regina he instructed, "If you two would like to learn how to Banish objects, it would more than likely come in handy for your Charms exam. Or if you already know the spell, by all means, use it."