(Early morning, January 22)


"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Eirene's cry of distress echoed through the corridors.

She stared, bug-eyed, at the Ravenclaw hourglass nested in the Entrance Hall. Fifty - Fifty! - sapphires had fallen from the top portion of the hourglass to the evil bottom half. The dregs. The rejects.

She sucked in a breath, and the students around her started to edge away, covering their ears to avoid another mandrake-esque cry. But instead of shouting, she marched past the hourglasses, flung open the doors of the Great Hall, and spotted the culprit: Cyhirae Trishna.

"You!" Eirene pointed at her, hand shaking.

She stalked towards her housemate and paused in front of her, fists clenched at her sides. The rumor was true! The astronomy professor really had taken away fifty points, all because Cyhirae had attacked Storm! Eirene had first questioned whether Professor Trishna could get away with that. After all, Storm had only taken away five, and he was the one who had been on the receiving end of Cyhirae's rage. But fifty! Fifty! That meant they'd lost fifty-five points, total!

"The... hourglass," Eirene rasped at her, looking quite crazed with her braids slightly askew and her face turning colors. "Ravenclaw." She managed. "Points. FIFTY! Fifty points!"

She took in another gulp of air, and pointed at her again. "You. Your fault!"

"You!"

Cyhirae turned towards the door, curious to see who was making a huge racket this early in the morning. She raised her eyebrow at Eirene's crazed look and pointed finger, "Ah, yes, Eirene. Why am I not surprised.

Eirene stormed towards her and stopped in front of her, visably shaking in anger. Cyhirae restrained rolling her eyes in annoyance. She rested her elbow on the table, chin in hand, "Good morning to you too. So what is it Eirene, did I beat you on the last test or something?" Cyhirae was in no mood to be charitable to her housemate's obsession and brown nosing towards their schooling after Eirene's actions in the last DADA class. "After all, how hard is it to say 'Pippa are you alright?'. I know I didn't, but I don't think that Pippa would have appreciated me joining in the upchuck fest due to the smell. And I didn't ignore her plight to suck up to Storm"

"The... hourglass," Eirene rasped at her, looking quite crazed with her braids slightly askew and her face turning colors. "Ravenclaw." She managed. "Points. FIFTY! Fifty points!"

She took in another gulp of air, and pointed at her again. "You. Your fault!"

Cyhirae merely raised an eyebrow at Eirene's lack of coherence, "Oh, that." While she had seen the hourglasses this morning she had known about it since last night. Saying that her father was angry at her was putting it mildly. He had even taken her over his knee and given her a couple of good swats, something that he hadn't done since her mother was alive. The long, very loud lecture last night and her lack of regret for her actions had merely sealed the deal on the lost points.

While she wasn't really upset about loosing those points, she was angry that her father didn't seem to understand why she had acted the way she did. Her walk back to the Ravenclaw dorms hadn't been the first time she had wondered what would have happened if her mother was still alive. "Probably the points wouldn't have been lost. ...  And it would have been a much stronger spell."

Pushing aside her thoughts of the night before, she shrugged and grinned cattily at Eirene. Cyhirae's feelings to needle the girl was larger than the ones to explain her actions, not that Eirene would even listen to her even if she tried.  "It's not that big a deal; we're still at least 50 points ahead of everyone. Besides," she waved her hand dismissively in Eirene's direction, "it's not like we won't earn them back with you're brown nosing and lack of concern for your classmates in your drive to earn points." This time Cyhirae actually did roll her eyes at Eirene.

Eirene looked completely baffled by Cyhirae's unperturbed, flippant response. Oh, that? Oh, that? Yes, that!

Cyhirae's grin and shrug made it clear to Eirene that she was not taking the matter seriously. As her mouth opened and closed in shock and her eyes bulged out like a startled house elf's, Cyhirae went on to claim that the loss of points wasn't such a big deal, that they were still ahead of everyone else, and that Eirene should be able to gain them back anyway. But the way she said it! Brown nosing? Lack of concern for her classmates? Confusion flitted across Eirene's face. Of course she cared about her classmates! She cared about how they contributed to the Ravenclaw house points, and she cared when one of her peers did something horrible to detract from their shining record!

"You- you're- changing the subject!" Eirene spluttered, sucking in another breath, then another. A snickering second-year pushed a paper bag at her and she glared at him. She was not hyperventilating! Not yet!

"It is a Very. Big. Deal!" Eirene continued, putting her hands on her hips and leaning forward. "Fifty points?! Not even mouthy Mairead has lost that many! It's embarrassing! It's disgraceful! It's just not right!"

But they could fix this. They had to fix this. "You need to apologize to Professor Storm and Professor Trishna. Tell them that you weren't thinking! I'll even go with you," Eirene titled her chin up. She was being very generous, she was. "We'll make them see reason. You can offer to serve detentions instead. Help the house-elves. Clean the loos!"

"You- you're- changing the subject!" Eirene spluttered, sucking in another breath, then another.

"It is a Very. Big. Deal!" Eirene continued, putting her hands on her hips and leaning forward. "Fifty points?! Not even mouthy Mairead has lost that many! It's embarrassing! It's disgraceful! It's just not right!"

"Why? Because you feel that way?" Cyhirae snapped at Eirene," Well guess what, not everyone feels the same way you do."  Anger rising, Cyhirae no longer felt like playing with her classmate's obsession, now she wanted to go in for the kill. 'Points, points. Is that all she cares about?'

You need to apologize to Professor Storm and Professor Trishna. Tell them that you weren't thinking! I'll even go with you," Eirene titled her chin up. "We'll make them see reason. You can offer to serve detentions instead. Help the house-elves. Clean the loos!"

The look Cy gave Eirene could be described as a flat what.  'Ugh. Suspicion confirmed.' "First of all," Cyhirae snapped, "No, I'm not going to apologize, especially at your say so. You know why? Cause it won't do anything. House points don't work like that, once there gone they're gone for good and no amount of boot kissing will bring those points back. They have to be earned through other ways."

"Secondly," Cyhirae crossed her arms, giving Eirene a pompous look of her own, "I was thinking, thank you very much. Just because you don't think that my actions were the correct one's doesn't mean that I wasn't thinking about them." 

"Thirdly," Cyhirae stood up from the table and got right in Eirene's face, "you don't actually care about it, do you? About me throwing a spell at Professor Storm and all that? All you care about is the points lost." Cyhirae sneered at Eirene, "It's pathetic, really." Cyhirae held the other girl's eyes for a bit before sighing and sinking down on the bench in irritation. 'So annoying.'

Cyhirae wasn't even certain if she was actually angry at Eirene at this point, or if Eirene had merely poked the agitated bee's nest that was her mental state lately. She stared irritatedly at the girl, it had actually been a nice morning before Eirene's points fixation interrupted it. "No wonder people dislike being around you so much."

OOC: I haven't been able to find anything about house points being returned after being taken away, so, I'm making a guess about it. If Cyhirae's wrong, well that'll make things much more interesting, won't it. 

Of course house points could be gained back, Eirene thought, frantically racking her mind for examples. All Cyhirae had to do was apologize, and then all Professor Trishna had to do was to say that he forgave her, announcing in his official professor-ly way, 'I hereby grant you fifty house points'. And whoosh! Those fifty sapphires in the hourglass would fly up into their proper place. At least, that was how Eirene imagined it happening.

Eirene opened her mouth several times during Cyhirae's rebuttal, but when her housemate got in her face much like one of the Gryffindors would, Eirene seemed to lose her ability to nag. Not that the Ravenclaw table as a whole was bothered by that (there might have been a few cheers and thumbs up in the crowd).

Again, Cyhirae mentioned Eirene's lack of caring, which Eirene just couldn't understand. "Of course I care!" She managed to butt in, looking mighty offended. Attacking a professor was Against The Rules. Eirene cared about that. Losing house points was a consequence of Cyhirae's rash action. Gaining the house points back would fix the problem. Her personal feelings (whatever those were) about Professor Storm's smoke experiment simply didn't matter, because he was the professor and he knew better than the students and that was how Hogwarts was supposed to work!

Eirene looked relieved when Cyhirae sat down, but her relief was short-lived when Cyhirae remarked on Eirene's unpopularity.

Though she'd heard it before, she drew back, stung. "You're wrong! People like me!" She burst out, casting an embarrassed glance at the rest of the table. "I have plenty of friends." Eirene tilted her chin up and stared down at her, her face feeling much too hot.

"Lots of people came to my birthday party," she continued, voice getting louder in her insistence to prove her wrong. "I bet lots of people didn't go to your birthday party," she sniffed. Eirene's birthday party had boasted evening tea and sleigh rides! No one could possibly compete with that!

"If you're just going to accept the loss of points, I'm not the only Ravenclaw who will be mad at you. You're just giving up! That's pathetic."

It was the best insult Eirene could come up with, and she smirked a little at her, trying not to think about the fact that the only friend who would speak to her lately was Pax, and that her oh-so-special birthday party had quickly turned to drama and tears once everyone had sat down at the dining table.


(Not sure about the house points either, hehe)

"You're wrong! People like me!" She burst out, casting an embarrassed glance at the rest of the table. "I have plenty of friends." Eirene tilted her chin up and stared down at Cyhirae. "Lots of people came to my birthday party," she continued, voice getting louder. "I bet lots of people didn't go to your birthday party," she sniffed.

"Ooh, the birthday bash." Cyhirae waved her hands mockingly, "You mean that list of people who only show up for the free cake, ice cream and party favors in exchange for giving you a gift? What a great indicator of popularity." Cyhirae rolled her eyes again.  She'd been to  such parties; the feelings from being excluded from a party only went so far when the birthday girl was someone who you'd never interacted with outside of a classroom. The inevitable drama that was always created by such events was never worth it.

"If you're just going to accept the loss of points, I'm not the only Ravenclaw who will be mad at you. You're just giving up! That's pathetic."

Cyhirae could feel her eyebrow twitching, "No, I'm being logical about it, unlike you. The sistuation can't be changed so it's best to just accept it and move on." Cyhirae rubbed the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on. 'It's like arguing with a brick wall.' 

"If you want to try and convince my father otherwise go ahead." Cyhirae made a shooing motion towards the door, "I'll be sure to say 'I told you so' when you fail."

"I'm not going to fail," Eirene retorted hotly, acting like Cyhirae had just cursed at her. "Fine! I'll talk to him by myself. It might even go better that way!" Now she was just being petty.

The comments about her birthday party still bothered her, and Eirene let out a huff, glancing around the Ravenclaw table for support. The table as a whole seemed to be ignoring both Cyhirae and Eirene, in favor of actually enjoying their meal.

She couldn't have that!

"Doesn't anyone agree with me?" The first-year put her hands on her hips and frowned at the students, hoping she could convince one of them to come with her and brave Professor Trishna's office. He seemed nice, but she'd never challenged a professor's decision before, and the thought of approaching him alone was not appealing!

Maybe if she brought him another fruit basket...