May 1st, Hogwarts castle, in the corridor opposite the Great Hall.
Around 1:00 p.m.

The doors of the castle had opened to visitors at around noon, and it was precisely at that time that Fauna had rushed from her last class, changed into painting clothes, and started setting up the Hogwarts mural. She and a few house elves had cleaned the surface of the wall first with a degreaser, put a coat of matte gel medium over that, and then finished with a coat of clear gesso. And that was just the prep work!

As the gesso dried, Fauna adjusted the drop cloth on the floor and the small fence around the area that was just the height of one of her house elf friends. The fence-like structure separating the space made her think of a crime scene, but they needed a way to keep the crowd from accidentally stepping into a bucket of paint or crashing into a ladder. Now that a larger amount of visitors trickled into the castle, Fauna started to feel more and more self-conscious. She tried to remind herself that people were supposed to watch, it was the whole point of the mural, but the number of eyes on her just made her stomach tie into knots. The art group had picked the corridor opposite the Great Hall because anyone who explored the ground floor would see it. At this moment, however, Fauna wished they’d chosen some remote location so she could hide and work in peace.

Fauna looked at her watch. It was almost 1:00, the time when the mural activity would officially begin. With any luck, Atticus and the others would arrive soon and take some of the attention off of her. She felt acutely aware of her old, paint stained jeans, her ratty sweatshirt, and even the flyaways that kept escaping from her ponytail. Still, her outfit couldn’t be helped, unless she wanted to wear something nice and ruin it.

She thanked the two kitchen house-elves for their services and told them, with great reluctance, that they were free to leave. Because of detention, Fauna had gotten to know the elves much better these past few weeks and enjoyed their company. Taking a deep breath, she turned around and checked the gallons of acrylic paint to make sure they had enough. There were about twenty brushes, some rounded and some flat, stored in an empty bucket by the paint. Of course, the wizarding population could use their wands, but she liked that the muggle option was available. Three ladders leaned against the corner of the wall, ready for them when they had to reach the higher parts of the mural. She thought they had everything. Adelia had made a very thorough list.

After another quick look around, Fauna hopped over the barrier to complete the final step. A suit of armor stood guard by the entrance to the corridor, and in its hands she placed a stack of fliers for the Student Art Booth in Hogsmeade on Saturday. Waker had charmed the text on the fliers to appear and disappear magically, much like Atticus' names exhibit. At the armor’s feet, Fauna placed a huge sign:

We create this mural to remember those we lost ten years ago. All visitors and students are welcome to participate, ask questions, and watch. We’ll be working from May 1st to May 4th, and we would love your help!
Schedule:
Thursday, May 1, 1:00-5:00 p.m.
Friday, May 2, 10:00am-1:00pm
Saturday, May 3, 10:00am-7:00pm
Sunday, May 4, 2:00-6:00pm

Fauna straightened and looked at the people watching curiously.

“Hi,” she said, her voice shaky. “Um, well, uh, welcome… to the mural painting, activity. Oh, and to the castle too. I’m going to start drawing, and planning the grid, so, if anyone wants to help… or has questions… I’ll just.. I’ll just be over here.” She smiled weakly at the crowd, climbed over the barrier, and retrieved the stack of parchment with the image they wanted to paint. After some debate, they’d decided to paint directly on the rough castle wall and incorporate the stone into their drawing. The bottom left corner of the mural would look like a part of the wall exploded, to reflect the battle, and then the rest of the image would appear like it was coming out of the cracks.

The image on the parchment was split up into a grid so that people could easily pick the section they wanted to paint on the wall. Fauna set the stack of parchment a few feet away from where she worked, and began drawing gridlines on the wall with her wand. She soon noticed the lines were uneven and realized with embarrassment that her shaky hand was causing it. Fauna paused for a moment and tried to figure out what to do next. They couldn’t paint without a grid, or a grid that was lopsided and uneven!

Remembering Day was already present at Hogwarts as visitors were already present at the castle by around noon. Meg was not that phased by the sudden appearance of visitors, since she had been present to remembering days in the past. Therefore, the surprise by the amount of people did not strike her as bad. However, that did not mean that she understood everything that much better. Nope. She still could not fully appreciate the celebrations as she clearly should be.

Meg had changed into simple clothing after her last class. It was nothing special, just some clothes that she did not mind getting paint on. As it was, she managed to get paint on herself whenever she painted. Therefore, painting a mural would add to the painting effect of her own person. The young girl decided to dress in an old long-sleeve shirt, jeans with a small hole on the knee, and a pair of old flats on her feet. Her brunette hair was tied back in a ponytail. She was never accustomed to actually dress to impress anyone, and now was no exception.

Meg slipped her wand in her pocket, thinking she may need it. Surely, she was going to paint with a brush, but she felt that it was appropriate to have her wand with her just in case. After all, she carried it around with her as it was. It was just that it may be a good idea at the moment. After getting completely ready, the Ravenclaw left her Common Room, and journeyed down to near the Great Hall. The long walk included a maze of visitors all over the place, so she had to step carefully around.

Eventually, Meg made her way down to near the corridor. In the area where they were supposed to be painting, already a crowd of onlookers were present, even before they started. She gulped lightly at the sight. Indeed, she was going to be watched, and felt like she should clearly leave. However, she knew that she should be there. After all, just because she was a muggle, did not mean that she could not understand the nature of Remembering Day. It was just that she did not have as much emotion as other people did during the day. Besides, she promised to help, and figured that it would clearly be bad to sidestep the activities.

Meg let out a soft sigh, and slowly made her way towards where the mural was going to be painted. She definitely did not like the current situation of onlookers. She smiled nervously to Fauna as she neared where the older girl was already drawing the grid for them to use. "Hi," she greeted the older girl as she crossed the fence that was already present. She was clearly not hiding her nervousness at the moment. She watched Fauna draw the grid, which was not exactly straight. "Maybe re-draw the lines, or..or draw new lines, or even incorporate it into the mural? Not everything we draw will be the same size?" she offered to the older girl, trying to be productive.

Mairead was running on pure adrenaline and just a touch of sugar from the candy she'd splurged on on the train the night before.  There had been no chance of sleep the previous night with  her mind racing through a myriad of thoughts and questions.   The sheer magnitude of all the unbelievable and incredible information that had been tossed her way during her excursion in Diagon Alley had weighed heavily on her mind as she tried to drift off to sleep.  The lingering stimulus from the day could have been enough on its own to keep her awake all night but the strangeness of the hotel room only contributed to the restlessness.  Mairead had grown up a Traveller, an Irish gypsy.  Her whole childhood had been on the road; every night spent in the back of the wooden caravan or on the ground in fairer weather.  The stuffy room and overly soft bed had been hard to feel comfortable in. 

The abundance of awe-inspiring events and things only continued during her second day in the magical world.  The trip to the train station, the train station itself had been spectacular.  The ride was mesmerizing and the castle - well, so far the castle had been incomprehensible.  She'd stood for several long minutes outside the front door, simply staring up at the expanse of stone that seemed to go on without end into the sky.  She'd seen castles before, of course.  The countryside of Ireland was riddled with hundreds of them but most were the jagged pieces of ruins.   

Finally, she managed to work her way into the front entrance and began slowly walking around the edge of the room.  She'd followed the front wall of the room, brushing her hand over the tall glass structures filled with what looked like colored gems as she moved. 

A cluster of people had come to a stop and were all staring in the same direction.  Mairead stepped away from the wall and moved closer to the group and turned to look at the coat of arms that stood at the end of a corridor.  He appeared to be holding a stack of papers and propping up a sign with flashing letters.  The contents of the sign were irrelevant to her but she was fascinated by the waxing and waning text.  Slowly, the other people standing around grew bored with the dancing letters and moved on their way but when the cluster dissipated, Mairead moved up towards the suit of armor.

Why was it holding pieces of paper?  Had it picked them up?  For all she knew, it might have.  She'd only been in the magical world a day but had quickly figured out she couldn't predict how anything worked here.  For all she knew, this suit of armor might tap dance when someone said a special word.  Was it alive?  Did it move?  Was it going to suddenly lurch towards her to startle her  as a practical joke?  Mairead lifted up on her tiptoes and nudged up the face shield on the helm to peer inside. 

Mairead looked behind her, quickly, to make sure no one was left lingering.  It didn't even occur to her to look down the corridor before she turned back to the armor.  "Hello?" she called into the helm.  "Is anyone there?"

“Oh, hi Megan,” Fauna replied, lowering her wand and trying to smile at the girl. The younger student was right on time, wearing the right kind of clothing for painting as well.

“Thanks for coming,” she told her quietly, grateful she was there. Fauna had taken a liking to the girl these past few weeks and could relate to her quiet and shy behavior. Megan had also been very helpful in planning the mural, offering ideas and themes, so it was only fair that she was there to start it.

"Maybe re-draw the lines, or..or draw new lines, or even incorporate it into the mural? Not everything we draw will be the same size?"

The Ravenclaw’s suggestions were good ones, but Fauna wanted to start this off right. Somehow, she needed to get a handle on her nerves and deal with the fact that people were watching.

“Yeah… um, I’m just nervous,” she admitted, pocketing her wand for a second to wipe her palms on her jeans. “I know I’m saying the incantation right… for once, but it’s just,” she wiggled her fingers in front of her face, as if inspecting them. “… I'm all jittery.”

Fauna threw another nervous glance at the crowd. Just as she was about to turn back to the mural, something metal clanged onto the castle floor, and she realized with a sinking feeling that it must be the suit of armor. She should have put a barrier around the armor too, Fauna thought morosely as she walked out of the mural area and took a few steps towards the fallen knight. Fliers were scattered everywhere! The sign they’d spent so much time lettering was crushed underneath a metal pair of feet. She sighed. Some guard.

Most of the crowd began to disperse to other, less dangerous areas of the castle, allowing Fauna to get a better view of the catastrophe. She stared at the crumpled armor for a few moments with a woebegone expression. When the armor shifted slightly and made a very girlish squeak, Fauna froze, then bent down to peer at it.

“Oh Merlin,” she breathed, horrified. Someone was buried under there! With the help of another visitor, Fauna lifted up the armor to find a small, wide-eyed girl.

“Are you okay?” She held out a hand to help her up. “Merlin. I knew I should have used a sticking charm!”

If Fauna was jitteryy before, she was ten times more upset now. The girl could have been crushed! It would have been her fault! All because she wanted a creative way to display fliers and a sign!


(g-modding approved by Mai!)

_Outfit

For the past hour or so, the hair belonging to Adelia Delacroix had gone through many different styles until she was comfortable with the simple twisting the hair up into a bun. It felt good being brunette again - after all, the redhead style was starting to fade again and what with the exhibition of the stage production in a matter of days, she didn't wish to wait any longer.

Soon enough, her outfit was plain and simple, not to mention it was completely different than what she'd be wearing when it came to actually painting. That would have to wait towards either Saturday or Sunday due to other events she was dealing with. Her feet continued to walk at a lady like but rushed pace until she arrived at the general setting. From here, she saw Fauna, Megan and a young lady who obviously didn't seem she was a Hogwartian. Not yet. Rushing over to the girls, she was smiling slightly, soon looking at Mairead.

"Hello there!" she chirped, soon patting Fauna's back. "I'm Adelia, pleased to meet you." Her eyes looked to Fauna, not truly recognizing that Fauna was both nervous and annoyed with the paper that was failing to stay put or avoid trampling.  "What exactly have I missed aside probably your welcome greeting?"

With a quick glance behind herself, Meg was aware of the stares which Fauna and her were getting. If she knew how everyone was staring at her, then for surely she would get nervous about even being there. She did not like having others view her artwork, let alone watch how she actually made her artwork. Oh yes, it was truly going to be an odd time for her. Perhaps if she could just forget that the crowd was behind her? Yes, that could work, but it was not as if everyone disappeared. That would be a good thing, yet she was not living in an alternate reality.

Upon hearing Fauna's response, Meg noted that she could just try to concentrate the task at hand, and the friends that she was with to paint the mural. She smiled to Fauna for her greeting. "You're welcome. I wouldn't leave it for you to do alone," she responded with a nod. She may be a muggle, and failed to be able to appreciate Remembering Day correctly, but she knew she owed it to Fauna to participate. First off, she was late to the meeting, clearly not a convincing sign of her commitment. Secondly, she had expressed some ideas during the meeting, and she wanted to see them play out. Thirdly, it seemed rather hypocritical  for her to attend the meeting, but not help out. It was a group effort as well. She just had to hope that the others showed up too. Besides, she wanted to show that she was not one of the superficial fourth years that she had classes with. She was not rude, and tried not to be.

Meg turned her head to her side, and looked at the crooked lines in front of her. She honestly knew that if she tried to draw those lines, they would surely look worse. Yes, she did not fully have confidence in some of her abilities. At the older girl's response to her, she could've smiled. Yes, at least she knew that she was not the only nervous one in attendance, let alone the only nervous one about to help paint the mural. Oh yes, nervousness does produce so much. "W-well, it always helps to try to calm down, which may not be as easy to do as it is to say. Perhaps try focusing, and concentrating on drawing the lines?" she questioned.

Meg spun around when she heard some metal crash on the ground. 'Already a disturbance? I hope there aren't many of those…' she thought to herself with a small shake of her head. In her mind, she hoped it was not one of the younger years making a ruckus. After all, Remembering Day was not about causing any chaos within Hogwarts. She noted the fliers that were scattered all over the floor. As the crowd was beginning to disperse, she made her way over to where Fauna was already tending to the mess that was created.

Meg figured that it would probably help to start cleaning up the mess. Thus, she began to collect the fliers that were scattered all over the place. But, she noticed the fallen suit of armor that was nearby move. She froze for a few seconds, as it was discovered that a young girl was underneath the armor. Dropping the fliers, she rushed over to where the girl was found. "I hope you're not hurt?" she questioned to the young girl. It did not appear to be someone from the castle, but she had no idea. She looked up as Adelia came over, and made a small smile to her as she joined the rest of them. "Hello," she greeted her back.

When it came to classes Atticus was not one to be prompt or to even give a damn about making it there at all. His interest in class didn't seem to start up to near the end of this recent year. However that might have been due to the influence of them having more activities he was interested in. Atticus did love the idea of art booths and having exhibits. This was what he wanted to do when he left school so it was no surprise to him that he had started to throw his whole self into it.

In fact he even offered to bring in extra supplies to be sure they would want for nothing. His mother owled him a care package or two to be sure he had enough of what he desired and didn't question him for once on his needs. It was almost like she was just happy he was getting involved with something. Unless of course she figured he was just becoming a vandal of some sort who needed paint and crayons in large quantities.

Atticus arrived late, and winded. In his hands were supplies they may need. An assortment of colors, paint brushes, and even stensils for those who don't have a steady hand. It had taken him much of the afternoon to collect all the supplies he figured they would need and what he had discussed with Fauna ahead of time to bring. A lot of it was out of pocket, he brought his own things to be sure that they had enough for anyone who wanted to be involved.

Seeing the crowd and the people he was working with, Atticus walked towards them with great stride. Making his way up to Fauna, who looked like she was going to jump out of his skin he gave her a weak smile. "Sorry I'm late," he offered up the large box of supplies in hopes of keeping her from ripping his head off. Not that he had seen a puff do that just yet, what he did know was this was a high pressure situation and he was quite late. He just didn't want to miss anything, if he had brought it specifically for the mural he wanted it in that box.

She wouldn't admit it, but Mairead's nerves definitely built as her finger nudged up the helm of the suit of armor.  Experiences over the last day had taught Mairead that absolutely nothing in this world was predictable.  For all she knew, the armor would talk back in some high pitched, girl's voice or laugh at her.  She'd been tense, expecting it to do something when it suddenly lurched forward towards her.  Unintentionally, Mairead let out a small 'yip' of surprise as she tried to scramble back out of the way of the falling metal.   Before she couldn't get out of the way fast enough, a cold, shiny outstretched hand snagged on her sleeve as she tried to retreat and dragged her down to the floor with it.

Her head knocked against the floor and the point of the helm caught her on the nose before the tangle of girl and metal came to a rest on the floor.  The thing was heaavy.  Quickly, she tried to push the armor off of her, but there was no way she could have shoved the thing off of her.  Almost immediately, Mairead stopped trying to budge the thing and grew still, staring up at the metal face laying just on top of her.  The back of her head still smarted, but Mairead couldn't help it?  How could anyone not find getting trapped on the floor by a metal man hilarious?  She started to laugh. 

"He jumped me," Mairead said between laughs when she heard footsteps approaching.  The point of the helm kept her from being able to turn her head but she tried to roll her eyes far enough to look at her visitor.  "I - I'm fine," she said, her laughter settling some.  "Me head hurts.  But, I've had horses kick me harder.  He's just - he's bloody heavy." 

Another set of footfalls could be heard on the other side of her and, finally, the mass of metal was lifted off of her.  Mairead pushed herself to her feet and dusted off the seat of her pants.  She lifted a hand and rubbed the back of her head as she looked around.  "I'm sorry," she said, looking behind her at the spilled sheets of paper.  "I didn't mean to make a mess.  I was just - looking at the flashing letters and the armor."

It seemed a cluster of older kids - students presumably - had gathered.  Not surprisingly, she didn't recognize any of them but she hadn't expected to.  Mairead offered a sheepish grin and shrugged in a moment of shyness.  She wasn't usually such a klutz but it seemed, since arriving in this world, it seemed everything crashed down when she touched it. 

Fauna was extremely relieved when the young girl stood up and dusted herself off. She didn’t seem injured, except for perhaps a bump on the back of her head. Fauna hovered, feeling guilty and annoyed at the same time.

“Well, as long as you are… okay. We do have a healer,” she told her just in case. The girl’s surprise at the flashing letters and armor made Fauna think she must be a visitor to the castle. Maybe she had family at Hogwarts, and this was her first time seeing the sights.

Fauna turned, puzzled over Adelia’s outfit, but decided not to say anything. Her friend appeared cheerfully oblivious to the disaster that had just occurred, and Fauna shook her head in amusement.

“You haven’t missed too much,” she told Addie. “We had a crowd earlier but I think the noise…” she glanced at Mairead. “I mean, I think I scared them off. Look at those crooked grid lines!” she sighed, gesturing towards the wall. “Could you help me fix them?” Adelia was probably more confident than Fauna at the moment. She’d done murals before and seemed excited to get this one started.

Fauna spent the next five minutes cleaning up the fliers on the floor, straightening the sign, and finally placing a sticking charm on the armor so it wouldn’t get knocked over again. When she was done she realized the young girl was still there. She smiled at her nervously.

“Did you want to… I mean if you have time- did you want to help us start drawing? I can kinda show you what to do, and… we’ll get to painting faster.”

Fauna didn’t know what else to say, so she handed the girl a copy of the image and waited patiently as she looked at it.

“Sorry I’m late.” Atticus had arrived. She glanced at the box but was too distracted to get a good look at what was inside it.

“Where were you?” She asked, still upset by the armor accident, and disappointed that the crowd had dispersed. Before, she was nervous about the people watching, and now she was unhappy that they were gone. Fauna tried to stay positive but she found it very difficult at the moment.

Being in his own little world as usual Atticus almost missed the little girl getting pinned by the armor. If he was a man who reacted a bit quicker, he might have run over to help but others had already approached her in an effort to make sure she was righted. Atticus didn't feel he needed to attempt anything of the sort.

The reaction from Fauna caused Atticus coil back and go on the defensive immediately. Bristling his brow furrowed as he looked her over. Who the hell was she to question him? Was he not there? Was he not with the required items?

“Where were you?”

"Where was I? Are you kidding me?" His voice was in a low hiss at this point. The expression on his face looked to have been painted with extreme annoyance. Each stroke of the brush would have brought out a little more of the anger he was feeling rising up insider his stomach.

Dropping the supplies on a near by table he turned back to her, "I was getting the supplies I promised I would get. In fact I went out of my way to bring you the different pieces you said we needed," the last time he went out of his way for anyone if that was how they were going to act.

Atticus felt his lip curl as he spoke. This was not how it was supposed to go. He was looking forward to this mural and now he was just aggravated. This ruddy Hufflepuff was awfully high and mighty all of a sudden to talk down to him like that. Seeing the other people near by he didn't care to make a scene, but he wasn't going to stick around if that was the greeting he was going to receive. 

Walking over to the grid lines, 'a five year old could have made them straight', he thought angrily. Atticus grumbled tapped his wand onto the misbehaving lines and turned, "So there," he said in a short fashion as they straightened out. Atticus headed back towards the exit feeling his work there was done. He had intended to spend the day working with them but he was now fuming.

Meg looked down at the girl that was just found under the armor, hoping that she was alright. She did not believe it to be anyone's fault that the incident happened, rather that it was an unfortunate consequence to the current moment. After all, even if one was incredibly careful with something, just one simple thing could cause it to get screwed up, which was what happened in this case. Being the youngest person present, besides the girl that they just found, she stayed quiet. After all, she knew that she probably had no idea how to remedy the situation.

Meg looked up as she heard Atticus arrive at the scene. He seemed to not have noticed the scene that just unfolded. "Hi Atticus," she greeted him as he came over with a box. If her memory served her correctly, she believed that the box he was carrying contained supplies to help with the mural. Oh yes, it seemed as if everyone who approached the mural was a better asset to the whole mural than her. Yes, it seemed as if that was a bad idea to join that Art Booth meeting late.

Meg looked back over to the girl as she talked to the people who gathered at the scene around her. "These suits of armor are pretty heavy. I hope that it did not crush you too much?" she asked the girl in a quiet tone. Even though she was normally more outgoing, she would rather stay quiet for the moment. After all, she had no idea how she could help, and attributing the fact that she was one of the youngest people currently in the area. She looked down to the sheets of paper. "It's alright, you don't need to apologize, it can be cleaned up," she said to the girl. It was true that she could not offer too much to the situation, she figured that it would be good to keep the girl talking. After all, the situation would make a turn for the worst if the girl actually started to cry. Then, for sure, they could not get anything done on the mural.

Meg was going to help clean up the rest of the fliers, but stopped as Fauna seemed able to clean them all up. So, she decided to get out of the way of her cleaning. She looked up for a moment, noticing that the crowd was not nearly as intense as it was a few moments ago. Indeed, she was able to relax herself a bit. She was not a fan of showing off her artwork, and thus she did not like people watching her. She was suddenly brought back into the scene as Fauna and Atticus exchanged a few irritated words. She watched as Atticus fixed the lines on the wall with his wand. Noticing that he was heading towards the exit, she decided to speak up, "Wait, we're going to need your help!" She tried to get him to come back to the mural. Despite the eventful occurrences, they still needed to paint the mural.

Color splashed up on Mairead's face and she busied herself with continuing to straighten her clothes and brush her fingers through her hair as some of the cluster of older kids fussed over her.  She was still amused, but there was nothing like added attention to enhance one's embarrassment.  She glanced up at Fauna; the older girl's change of wording wasn't lost on her, nor was the original intended comment.  But, she let the comment pass without responding.  Mairead was well aware that she'd caused a ruckus, though she did blame the suit of armor for some of it as well.

"No, no.  I'm ... I'll be fine," she insisted, grinning sheepishly as she shrugged.  "I may be a little sore tomorrow, but - it's not everyday ye get attacked by armor, right?"  In fact, Mairead couldn't wait to tell her friends at home about it.  She'd only been in this place a day, but already she couldn't count the stories she had to tell the next time she was home.  Mairead looked at Meg and nodded.  "Yeah, it is pretty heavy."

Mairead watched quietly as the girl gathered up the fliers and righted the armor.  By now, she recognized that some sort of spell was cast on the armor though what it did, she didn't have a clue.  She'd been watching the metal figure when a picture was handed towards her.  Mairead glanced from the page to the girl who'd handed it to her and nodded her head. 

"Well, I can try - I don't know if I'm that great at drawing."  Holding the page in one hand, she traced a line with the finger of the other, studying the page.  She was still studying the page when the girl who handed it to her turned her attention to a boy that joined the group.  The girl was angry, though Mairead didn't understand why.  She understood he was a little late but that wasn't that big of a deal, was it?  But, it wasn't any of her business; she continued to study the paper and watch as the lines were prepped on the wall.

As Fauna stood in shock, a child’s voice flitted through her thoughts, but the words weren’t making sense. They sounded awfully nice (especially with the Irish accent), but none of it sunk in.

Fauna turned around, clearly flabbergasted. Her mouth opened and closed. Aha! The armor toppler had reluctantly agreed to try her hand at drawing. Whether she agreed out of guilt or actual interest, Fauna didn't know, but it was quite frankly the last thing on her mind.

“Meg, could you? Help… I mean you know… start, show her?” She made frantic motions with her hands between the mural, the kid, and Megan, hoping that they somehow understood.

“I have to…” she trailed off, and sprinted after the quickly departing form of Atticus- the very stiff, and pissed off form of Atticus.

“Wait!” Fauna finally reached him and touched his arm. “I’m sorry! I’m a jerk.” She paused and waited for him to turn around. “And I don’t know how to deal with stress. Real stress. Not just… homework and everyday life.”

She gave a self-pitying shake of her head and then widened her eyes. “I didn’t mean to… to snap at you.” It was exactly what she had done. It was strange, because she rarely snapped at anyone, even people who deserved it. No, Fauna was much better at stewing in silence when someone angered her. In the worst case scenario, she’d complain about the person to a friend, but Atticus was only trying to help, and she had focused on the petty detail of his tardiness!

“It was… very nice of you to get those supplies,” she mumbled, glancing at the box she’d foolishly overlooked earlier. “And to fix the lines,” her voice grew quieter and harder to understand.

Fauna took a deep breath. It also surprised her that Atticus reacted so strongly and took offense to her question, but she supposed that her tone had warranted it. Her mum once said that if she was always quiet and nice to everyone, it would shock others -not necessarily in a good way- if she ever suddenly deviated from that behavior. Maybe that’s how Atticus had felt. Shocked and attacked. Of all people, she’d snapped at him. Why couldn’t she have snapped at Neely or any of the other annoying fourth years a few days ago? Why, oh why, did the Re-enactment have to be later this afternoon?

She gulped at the thought and shrugged her shoulders apologetically at Atticus. “I really am sorry…” Fauna didn’t know if her apology would be enough, but she didn’t know what else to say.

Atticus nodded to Megan when she greeted him but when he retreated from her and Fauna he wasn't going to slow down. This was not going to be how he remembered his work. Not with anger, he never let anger and his work mix it just didn't work. Megan told him that they needed him but he still felt the sting of Fauna's biting remark and was not slowing his feet.

Her could hear Fauna calling and he kept on. It wasn't till she touched his arm that he stopped and turned to look at her.

Crossing his arms he let her say her peace. Because if she wanted to start with him he had all the fire and ammunition to take her down. He was not one to just start with people for fun, but he felt justified in cutting her down.

“I’m sorry! I’m a jerk.” Atticus tried to keep himself from making a 'pfft' sound as she said it. His anger radiating from him. “And I don’t know how to deal with stress. Real stress. Not just… homework and everyday life.” His brow furrowed as he looked at her turning his body to get a good look at the girl who just a second ago made him feel as small as a first year.

"Yes, I had gotten what you asked and you spoke down to me like I was slacking off for fun." He gulped hard and told himself to let the anger go. It was the stress of the day, it was not the Fauna who he had helped plan out this event with that was back there. It was some other version, one he didn't care for one bit.

“I really am sorry…” Atticus nodded. "Well I suppose that I can let it go then. Those supplies were from my personal stock as well as things my mother sent me. She tried to owl them to me straight away but could not get everything until last minute," he ran his hand through his brown messy hair.

Meg looked down at the young girl as she assured the group that she was alright. Now, she did not mind the ruckus that was playing out, but there was only so much before it turned into outright chaos. That would be something that they all needed to keep from happening. Thus, she figured that it was best at the present time not to say anything. With a few tensions rising high, their group did not need any more catastrophes.

Meg heard that the girl said that the armor was heavy. Yes, those suits of armor were very heavy. She had even experimented with the suits of armor during her first year, thus she knew where the girl was coming from. Naturally, she doubted that the girl was a muggle-born like herself. The fact that the girl was there, proved that she had some form of magical heritage in her family. Thus, she doubted that the girl was a muggle-born at the very least.

Meg turned her head as Atticus continued to leave in an angry tone. Oh yes, the mural painting was going so well so far! She would've ran after him, yet she knew that even if she did, it would not help. She had noticed the confrontation between Fauna and Atticus before, and thus knew that those two would need to talk to each other about it. Besides, being the youngest student present at the moment, she knew that she was not the best there with magic by a long shot.

Turning back around, Meg looked at Fauna as she tried to say a few words to her. It took her a few moments to actually understand everything that was just said to her. Just because she was a Ravenclaw, that did not mean that she would understand everything that was going on. When she first entered Hogwarts, she knew absolutely nothing. Honestly, right now made her think that she had no idea what she was doing.

Shaking her head lightly, Meg turned back to the young girl who had agreed to help them paint the mural. "So, did you want a few quick lessons in painting, or did you want to just start?" she asked the young girl. She figured that they would not get anything done if they did not get back over the barrier to where the painting supplies were at. "Let's go get a few brushes for the mural," she said to the girl, gesturing for her to follow her. She walked back down to where the paint buckets were located, and waited for the girl to come over.