A Little Bird Told Me PV Finished

Since they were making their steps forward towards their infinite friendship, Meenauh could swear they could tell each other everything. She told her about the other VanCleaf the same very day. She shared her every finding of the tapestries, and what they discussed on her way back with Evelynn. Xailah told her what happened at the ball, about the hags and the doll and what they had been searching in the library with some first-year Ravenclaw boy.

That day was a pretty one. They were back from their holidays and could think about everything to maybe find out new clues. A fresh Daily Prophet was out and it contained plenty of different information Meenauh just couldn't put to use alone. 

When Meenauh noticed Xailah, she was trying to do something with the snow, but she did it in a way as if she had never played with the snow before. Or even if she had, she never enjoyed it. Meenauh could understand — one would need someone to play with. Schrödinger was around Xailah, looking ridiculous in his knitted sweater. If during the previous winters, Meenauh could hear the regular voices singing "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?", this one's was full of brand new melodies featuring phrases like "Into the Unknown" and "Show Yourself", which Meenauh, of course, couldn't know or even guess the origin of.

Meenauh came closer to Xailah, smiled and said hello.

"How were your holidays? I didn't get to writing as we were mostly travelling. My parents try to compensate what they had done in summer," she giggled. She started to carefully roll the snow into a bigger and bigger sphere, stealing more and more snow from the ground of the courtyard. And invited Xailah to accompany her with her own sphere.

Pericles was perfectly pleased about further invitations to Xailah's sleuthing sessions. He was satisfied to suppose that he had proven himself capable- or at the very least, useful- when first she began investigating the matter. The Gryffindor girl had not simply taken his advice and left, but brought him along for the ride, adding a spike of excitement to the lad's life he had not known he needed. Upon receiving the time and location of their next meet-up, Peri arrived punctually as ever. He wore the school's standard winter robes, black leather gloves, and the less glossy set of shoes typically reserved for herbology class. His trusty leather book bag was of course slung over a shoulder. "Hullo you three," came the casual cheery greet once the Ravenclaw was in earshot. A gloved hand raised for a friendly wave, though it quickly returned to the warmth of his pocket just after. Coming close, the greeting continued on a more personable note, that soft spacey smile drifting from face to face. "Xailah. Schrodinger. And...."

Pale eyebrows arched gently. Peri had met the second-year in passing, having introduced himself in mass to the school paper's staff. His time in the Headliner had been a blur- a fulfilling blur which enriched his Hogwarts life, to be sure, but a blur all the same. "Meenauh, yes?" Out came that gloved hand again, palm up, smile stretching. "I don't think we've been directly introduced. Not here on Headliner business, I suppose?" In spite of his boyish voice, young Peri managed to sound perfectly professional, carrying on with her as though they shared an official office. Until, that is, he motioned towards the ball of snow, actual age shining through the cracks. "Mind if I help?"

The young metamorph was ecstatic. "Meenauh!" She would give her fellow lion cub an excited wave, upon turning around. She was always happy to see Meenauh. The lioness almost always acted like it had been years since she had last seen her friend. They had only been separated for about a month- but that month felt like it took ages for it to finally come to an end. They of course got to see each other in between classes, and in the dorm- but it still felt as if they hardly had any time to spend together. "Thats alright! I probably wouldn't have gotten any of your letters anyways." She said in a chipper fashion. "Our letters have recently ssstarted to get lost." Well, her letters were getting lost. Her letters to, and from family didn't seem to make it their destination sometimes.

She had always assumed that the owls she always sent out to deliver her letters, were just dumb- and had simply run into one too many, glass windows. The thought of someone purposely keeping the letters from her, had never occurred to the child- so, she was not particularly bothered by the missing letters. Could it be worrying? Yes. Did it make her sad, that she didn't get letters very often? Yes, very. "My holiday was okay. Ssspent most of my vacation playing indoors, with my sister, while mother and father went traveling." She looked down at the little lump of snow, that sat in her gloved hands. It was starting to melt.

She liked being at home, seeing that she often got homesick. However, she didn't react very well when left home alone for a prolonged amount of time. She was almost always left alone. Her parents were busy people. "I got to ssspend Christmas, and the week following, with them though!" She looked up at Meenauh, beaming. "Where did you and your family travel to, for the holiday?" She inquired. "Do they plan on leaving you at this god-awful place, this sssummer?" She hummed, hoping that Meenauhs answer would be a yes. The unlikely duo had met each other at the very end of last years summer- not the most convenient time to make a friend, but Xailah was glad that it had happened. The lioness hoped that they would at least get to spend most of this years summer, together.

"I haven't made one of those before." She said, gesturing to the small snowman that the previous children had made. "Ssshould I help you with that one?" Tossing the cold slush from her hands, she would stoop to grab Schrödinger, before going to help Meenauh roll the ball of snow- regardless of the answer that would be given. The large, grey, feline would placed in the general vicinity of the two Gryffindors, so he could be watched- its was rather pointless, considering he could hardly run anyway, with that sweater on; not to mention he wasn't much of a runner to begin with. He had no reason to flee. But, it never hurt to take precautions- just because he couldn't run, it didn't mean that someone couldn't go and run off with him.

Another pair of approaching footsteps, would cause the prefect to turn around, and jump, startled a little. "Hallo Pericles." She waved. Pericles was starting to become a face that appeared more often. She wasn't sure what to think of him, mostly allowing him to stay in her company for the purpose of getting information. Schrödinger mewled, at hearing his own name. "Waow." He made a desperate attempt to roll over and face the boy, but seeing that his mobility was limited; the pitiful creature, was left to lay in the snow, belly up. Xailah gathered a fistful of snow, and patted it on to the the ball that Meenauh had made, waiting for them to finish their introductions. "You can help- if Meena is fine with you doing so." She peered up at the two of them, her feline gaze darting from one face to the other. "Have either of you gotten around to reading they newest issue of the Daily Prophet?" She asked, absentmindedly.

Meenauh frowned over Xailah's comment on the possibly lost letters. She was rolling the second sphere and it started to require deliberately more effort to finish as it became heavier. The expression on her face didn't give it away, but Meenauh felt it wasn't alright. Probably a topic for a later discussion.

As Xailah continued describing her holidays, Meenauh almost choked over the mention of a sister. She was turned to Xailah with her back, so she abruptly stopped and turned around:

"What?! Your... sister? You've got a sister?!" she couldn't believe it, "How? What?" she felt misplaced for no apparent reason as if that was her own lost sister or something. If she'd calm down quicker, she'd realise she didn't know much about Xailah's family. And most probably Xailah didn't know about her own. So much to catch up on.

Xailah was already helping Meenauh rolling the snowy spheres, but Meenauh still couldn't believe it. She didn't hear another person's crispy footsteps either. It was the greeting of Xailah that brought her attention back. She quickly turned and saw a white-haired boy in glasses greeting them all, including Schrödinger. Was it the Ravenclaw boy from the library Xailah mentioned previously? He looked him right in the eyes. The capacity was overwhelming. A great asset to their 'team'.

"Hello, Pericles," she watched him, "Schrödinger and Meenauh, yes, like 'me' and 'now'," she confirmed.

The boy mentioned the Headliner, which was a very good introduction as it revealed his range of awareness and familiarity with a certain category of facts. Fascinating.

"We weren't directly introduced, indeed. Though I can say I am not unfamiliar with you," she smiled, ignoring the Headliner mention for now. She was never spoken about the Headliner stuff with anyone except other students that were on the Headliner. So Pericles would need to become a part of the Headliner team first.

The boy offered assistance and Xailah accepted it, while Meenauh simply nodded and returned to her snow sphere to continue rolling it around. She wanted it big to serve a foundation for a big snowman. At first, she thought to use Depulso to quickly roll it around, but she realised the applied force may be too much to break it. And, anyway, physical exercise never hurt anyone and she loved touching the snow. She'd turn to her wand later in order to place the smaller spheres on top to actually build the snowman. For now, her sphere was on the level of her belly and she planned it to be her own height.

Xailah, as if reading her thoughts, asked a question on the topic she wanted to discuss herself. She brought the latest issue of the Daily Prophet (January 2020) for that reason, but she planned to refer to it later. She memorised the good part of the most important articles anyway, to be able to discuss without reference.

"Oh yes, Xailah. I actually wanted to discuss it with you. Pericles, I would love to hear your opinion on that as well. That poisoning incident in the Leaky Cauldron. I wonder why squibs are after wizards and how the hell they put their hands on the Draught of Living Death. As we know, that's a complex and powerful potion. So I think they had help from the wizardkind. But who... and why?"

@Xailah Alptraum and @Meenauh Silmataurea

Xailah's greeting was returned with a kind smile and a courtly nod. Of course, it was the rotund Schrödinger's squirming in the snow which lured him, and Pericles promptly diverted to crouch down besides the feline for a moment's belly rub, should the cat comply. When it was said that the condition of his joining rested with Meenauh, the boy sent a look her way, cheerful expression persisting and head tilted in owlish fashion. That statement alone spoke volumes of the bond between she and Xailah: the catlike witch didn't strike him as the sort to bend readily at the will of others, so he suspected she held Meenauh's opinion in high regard. Encouraged by the smile she offered, though neglecting to ask how she'd heard of him, he stood from the snow to join them. After a moment's consideration for the great boulder of a base they had built, he began running those leather gloves around the edges, dislodging any tagalong twigs or unsightly lumps.

Xailah's question caused a spark in his eye; he'd been mulling over the matter all morning. "It's left me reeling, really," Pericles muttered, falling silent again while absorbing Meenauh's two cents. He took his time before contributing speculations. "Well...." A pensive frown, a crease of thought across the forehead, and he was off. The Ravenclaw spoke with an organized cadence which implied he had been trying his best to align the facts in an orderly fashion. "The Blotter mentioned potion components were stolen from the Malfoy estate, though it didn't mention which ingredients were taken, or if that had anything t'do with the poisoning at the Leaky Cauldron. I thought it strange that it stated pure-blood families specifically have pushed for the criminalization of that 'SCAR' lot." His frown took on a different shade, darkened ever so slightly by disturbance. Blood-based generalizations uneased him. "Strange, too, that the Prophet would highlight the pure-blood community's outrage over the Rosier marriage. I found it especially crude that the author described a Squib's birth as being a 'tragic occurrence'.... Also in the blotter, mention of a Ministry Trace Charm tracking a dark wizard to Hogsmeade, and only a week later, wizards and Squibs clashing in the Three Broomsticks."

Pericles peered from one witch to the next, muttering in his airy way, "Sounds to me like a great deal of convoluted trouble, brewing right at Hogwart's doorstep." Of course, the little investigator was eleven, and after offering his observations was content to stoop and start swirling snow together for a head.

"Yes! My sssister! Meadow? I-... didn't tell you?" Xailah diverted her gaze to the growing glob, of snow in front of her. She had never spoken about her sister? That was odd. Perhaps any recent mention of a sister, had been swept under the rug, by the excited chattering of encountering a new potential friend. "I could have sssworn I told you about her." She felt a little bad. She didn't talk much about her family with Meenauh- mostly because it never came up in conversation, really. Which was probably for the best. "Huh. I sssuppose we never really had the chance to talk about our families, have we?" Was discussing families, something that friends did? Did the failure to inform Meenauh, about having a younger sister make Xailah a bad friend? Oh dear. They were going to have quite a bit to catch up on later.

While Meenauh, and Pericles said their hellos; Xailah took the time to set Schrödinger upright. A brief, and gaze would bounce over to Meenauh, at her mention of being familiar with the Ravenclaw lad; but would quickly divert downwards towards Schrödinger. "Try not to roll around too much, or else you'll get sssoggy." She whispered to the slightly damp cat. "Alright?" He blinked at her dumbly. Xailah took that as an affirmative, a sign of understanding. She gave the miserable creature a gentle pat on the head, before turning around and resuming her work on the snowman. Schrödinger, would flop over limply, once his mistress had her back turned to him. The metamorph inquired about the Daily Prophet, and it would seem that those in her company would have quite a bit to say on the subject.

Xailah had only skimmed the newspaper when it was released- she wasn't one to really read the papers. She mostly looked for certain articles, and keywords that piqued her interest; cutting them out, and storing them in a box so she could refer to them if she ever needed to. She kept everything- and that included articles from Hogwarts very own newspaper. She wasn't fond of newspapers- or news in general for that matter. It was too biased, and people liked to hide the whole story. The stories that people were reading from the Prophet, were only snippets of something much bigger. "Well yes, it is a complex potion, but realistically anyone could make it. The ingredients are readily available for purchase in most potion sssupply stores." She let out a pensive hum.

"Except for Sloth Brain, maybe..." She murmured, and then shook her head. No. Anyone could purchase Sloth Brain. It wasn't that uncommon of an ingredient. "But thats besides the point, once you have the ingredients, all you need is the patience to brew the potion." She glanced at Meenauh and shrugged. "You know, this really only has to do with politics, when you pick away all the 'interesting' bits" She thumbed at a few spots on the snowball that had been formed. For every twig Pericles tossed away, the metamorph placed a new one in place of the last one. She did this for awhile, in silence while she listened to what the young Ravenclaw had to say.

"Everything circles back to the Squibs...- Uh, leave a few of the twigs Pericles, I like them. They make our sssnowman unique." The lioness fell silent for a moment, as she tried to find the exact words she wanted to use. "This has been going on for years. Wizardkind has always needed a ssscapegoat. For centuries the ssscapegoats had been muggles- but muggles can not be blamed for things that happen in the magical world, now can they? But squibs?" She wagged a slender finger at the hatchling and the cub. "Squibs are just different enough. I mean, wizards don't want to point fingers at each other. It makes them look like animals. But if they ssstart pointing fingers at the little man... at the freak- if you will; it makes them look like heroes."

She spoke with an oddly confident tone. Like she knew what she was talking about. She did know, really. She could even say that she was an expert on the subject, of being the odd one out. She was the freak, among freaks. "The Malfoy Estate was broken into? Irrelevant. A poisoning in the Leaky Cauldron? Irrelevant. Those two events are just there for flavor. They are there to tease the idea, that maybe it was a squib that committed both of the crimes. I bet you both a galleon, that those two events aren't even related." She clicked her tongue. "I mean think about it, if you're going to break into the home of a well-known wizarding family, why would you only take potion ingredients, that could be easily bought or ssstolen from a ssstore? Potion shops have poor sssecurity-" She suddenly panicked, she didn't want to reveal that she had a stealing problem. "-Not that I would know." She tried to shrug it off, in hopes that the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, wouldn't question her partial confession.

"My point is, that whoever broke into the estate, most likely took other things, as well as potion ingredients. But the writers aren't going to mention that in the paper because that isn't interesting. Its not what the people want to hear. The theft of the potion ingredients on the other hand, is not only intriguing but it also works so, so well with the poisoning in the Leaky Cauldron." The cub brought her gloved hands up, and linked her fingers together, as if they were puzzle pieces. "The writers got lucky. Both ssstories come together so well, that no one even questions if they are even remotely related. Or if they even have anything to do with squibs." She had little to say after that. Meenauh had asked for thoughts, and both bird, and lion had delivered.

Meadow! Her sister Meadow! How in the world could Meenauh miss that if Xailah had told her? She shrugged after Xailah made a pretty close call that they had never really shared anything about their families. Meenauh silently insisted that yes — that was her topic of interest now — but also she'd like to have it later when they would be alone.

If someone would pass them by, they'd definitely be looked like three detectives trying to solve a very complicated case. Which, to be honest, was actually the case.

Once a pensive frown climbed to Pericles' face, one could hear a distant gong in the realm of deep thinking, which meant the process commenced. The facts mentioned in the newspaper were colliding with each other, making connections between them: squibs and poisoning, and ingredients theft.

"Hmm," she said after Pericles finished his deduction, "yeah, the squibs had also had an incident with wizards in November, as was mentioned in the December issue of the Prophet. As well as thefts from Weaver's and Yaxley's — pureblood families are the targets, so they may try to push the agenda towards the squibs because the thefts are performed with muggle means. And the only non-magical people that know about the wizarding world are squibs," she explained to Pericles' thoughts on the confrontation.

She liked how Xailah was both in the process of discussion and in the snowballing: the short remarks about the snow and how they built the snowman were making her look more childish than she actually was. That made Meenauh smile.

"And that dark wizard — they are surely the doorway into the wizarding places for SCAR," she continued and then listened to Xailah's point of view on the connection between the thefts and the poisoning. After pondering over it as she finished the middle part of the snowman's body, she levitated it on top of the big snowball created earlier. Now she needed the head.

"It does look like a diversion, yes. Or maybe it's a threat. Like that dark wizard wants to tell the pureblood families that they are not safe. That they are not protected. They target the houses, they target their... children," she said after a short pause, remembering the pain in Xailah's eyes after the masquerade horrors, "but I still don't see the reason behind the poisoning. Maybe we lack more facts, or more events are to unfold later," she said and proceeded with the next snowball.

"Also, I cringed several times when I read Harold Potter — why would someone suddenly start to call him Harold several times in a row. Do you think it's relevant?" she asked, "And by the way, have you heard about some Liberation Club? I heard they believe Harry Potter hid his wand somewhere in the castle and they need to find it to prove him innocent."

[quote]
[quote]Xailah had a sister. Meadow was a pretty name, albeit significantly different from the unique one the Gryffindor was given, and Pericles wondered what differences in personalities there may be between them. Following Xailah's precise train of thought- Was discussing families something that friends did?- he interjected helpfully, "I've a sister as well: Abigale. She graduated from here a few years back, and she was a Gryffindor, just like you two." There; no sibling surprises on his end, and no wonder he seemed to make more Gryffindor acquaintances. A doting smile slid towards Schrödinger while his keeper chided the cat in a motherly way. But the boy's focus returned from the drifting pleasantry of family and felines, a comment about the potion's simplicity sparking an odd look in his eye. For a time, Pericles was mute, silence only broken by a mildly unhappy hum when it was pointed out that politics were at the root of the situation. Aren't they always, the unsavory note seemed to say, though it was at that moment he realized each twig he removed was being replaced. Silvery eyes sent the metamorph a faux accusatory squint, smiling all the same. Xailah asked that he leave them be and he nodded once, mumbling with a hint of entertainment: "As you wish."

The Ravenclaw continued to listen. He absorbed Meenauh's input, much of which was news to him, some confirmed by a nod. He had been silent for some while, letting the two share what they knew. Something Xailah observed had him chiming in again. "I wouldn't say it was utterly irrelevant." He remained relaxed, speaking as though they were discussing a publicized Wizard's Chess match, though that was not to say he wasn't devoted to the mystery. "Even if those events were ploys, we should observe them as such. Anyone could make it, yes," he agreed, volume quiet yet eyes alight. "Anyone with magic. SCAR either stole the potions, or they were made for them. But if so, by who...? And even if they were responsible for the thefts, the Weavers, Yaxleys, and Malfoys are all powerful wizarding families. I wager whatever defenses they have in place could not have been easily overcome by squibs, the Malfoy estate in particular." A slice of bark was plucked from the ground, brushed free of dirt, and weded into the snowman's head as a makeshift pointy ear. "Strange to suppose squibs had access to dangerous potions a'tall," Pericles murmured, politely overlooking Xailah's implication of thievery. "Who supplied them, I wonder? What sort of witch or wizard or being would help them make such a thing... and why? What would they weave a distraction for?" He pondered over Meenauh's description of the tracked dark wizard also acting at a gateway for the Squibs, a sort of ringleader for the chaos, and said with a soft sigh: "I wish they'd given a name. It would save us a good deal of trouble."

Then Meenauh dropped that fateful word- Liberation. The young wizard ceased his amateur snow sculpting, glancing between them both with owlish eyes. It seemed the question was genuine, not a subtle way of seeing who knew what, and after a moment's pause he admitted with a wry smile, "The 'club' believes many things. Or at least, it has a great deal of speculations. But then there are an awful lot of pieces to that puzzle." Pericles launched into a tidy recap. "Harry Potter and his partner, Mister VanCleaf, were here searching for something... two dark artifacts: a glove, and a mask. Supposedly, whosoever wears the glove can control the person wearing the mask. Three students accused Mister Potter: a Ravenclaw named Vladimir, and pair of Slytherins... Davenport and Moore is all I can remember. I wrote their names down- I could share my notes with you two later, if you like. But I dunno what they claimed to have seen, or where they were when this happened. I tried to track down Vladimir and question him, though it seems the three of them are doing their best to be unavailable to the public...." His eyebrows knit lightly while he tried to arrange the jumble of observations in his head. "Half-giants have been attending the SCAR sit-ins. Some attacked the Ball, here, and one of them turned out to be a hag in disguise. We've already discussed the discovery of their dolls," he nodded to Xailah, "so it is safe to suppose there may be a coven of them between here and Hogsmeade. All in all it seems... a dark wizard arrived in Hogsmeade, wizards and squibs had a scuffle in the Three Broomsticks, hags are in the area, our Headmaster is missing, squibs purportedly poisoned patrons at the Leaky Cauldron with potions made of stolen components, and Harry Potter has been imprisoned for the murder of Dolores Umbridge. Or so someone would like us all to think. Tracing the initial outline of a happy little snow smile, Pericles added on a faraway note, "I do wonder where his partner was at the time of the murder."

Pericles reveal of an much older sister, resulted in a chipper: "Oh. Thats nice." from his metamorph counterpart. "Funny though, I would have figured that you were the middle child. Course, I've heard that the middle children are bitter, and resentful." She observed him with an unwavering stare. Her eyes flickered downwards for a second, before darting back up to the lads silver hues. "And you seem to be neither of those." She didn't seem to have much else to say on the topic, after that. There wasn't much for her to say. Nothing interesting or noteworthy at least. Though if she were being honest, she was far more surprised that he didn't have a bigger family. He seemed like the sort that had four siblings, considering his friendly nature, and ability to get along with others quite well. "I think I'd like to meet your sssister. I'm sure Abigale has some interesting ssstories to tell. Maybe even some very embarrassing ones about you." The last part came out in an airy snicker. "And don't look at me like that. You know, 'as you wish' can be a dangerous phrase, best be careful who you tell it to." She teasingly returned his accusatory look, as she flicked a spattering of snow his way. So, Abigale's alma mater was Gryffindor. That would have made sense, as to why Pericles got along with the lions- if not for the fact that the two with him currently, weren't exactly meant to be in Gryffindor. Meenauh should have been a Ravenclaw. She had the smarts for it. She was bookish enough too. Xailah on the other hand, had longed to be in Slytherin like her mother, or Raveclaw like some of her other family members. When Xailah was placed in Gryffindor, it came as a surprise to everyone, especially the young metamorph. She hated the house in the beginning. And she still did to some extent. The talk about siblings, and families would pass. However, thoughts of Xailahs sister, Meadow would still linger in the metamorphs head. Xailah wondered what she was up to. Did the child even miss her?

The Alptraum girls were very different. But there was no denying that they were sisters. They had their similarities. If one were to meet Meadow, one would have suspected that the ten year old was the 'black sheep' of the family. She didn't seem to quite fit the name Alptraum, based off of appearances alone. But she was not the black sheep. She wasn't the one that had been given a strange name. Meadie's name was indeed pretty, and it fit her like a glove. Meadow was a meek winter lamb, and something of a flower child. Unlike her sister, Meadow would not have to go through the transition from sheep, to dog. That was the hope anyway. Xailah had always taken the blame for the things Meadow had done. Thankfully the little blossom didn't really do much- anything 'bad', that is. Xailah had no problem with taking the blame, or doing 'bad' things. Her thought process was something along the line of: if she gathered enough negative karma, then there wouldn't be any left in the world, that could find its way to little Meadie. What Xailah was doing was simple. She was playing the role of the big sister. Because thats what she was. Meadow needed to be preserved. She needed to be kept safe and sane. The Alptraum family needed a heir. If Xailah failed, Meadow needed to take the spotlight. It was preferred that she didn't follow in the footsteps of her older sister. Tabitha- the matriarch, didn't need two failures in the family.

The cubs mind wavered between her own thoughts, and how much she missed her sister, and what Meenauh was saying. And what Meenauh was implying, did scare her. If the children from pureblood families where the main targets, then was that something she needed to worry about? Were the people targeting the 'big names' a threat to other pureblood families such as her own? Her eyebrows began to knit together, in an expression of concern. "But... why? Why children, and why purebloods?" She would answer her own question. Sort of. "Because they will be the first to point fingers?" She peered up at Meenauh, seeking some sort of confirmation. Her gaze momentarily darted to Pericles, as he claimed the events weren't entirely irrelevant. "Well of course. Everything has some relevance in some way or another. But looking at the overall picture, I don't think they are as nearly relevant, as the paper makes them out to be." She admitted, later nodding to him, as an response to whatever else he had to say. "You know what I don't see, Meenauh? How no one witnessed someone ssslipping something into twelve drinks."

The Gryffindor shook her head, her dark tresses swayed lazily. "I know how unobservant people can be, especially here at Hogwarts. Granted there are a lot of interesting things to observe here, but-" She peered around, to see if she could spot any unwanted eyes. "But at the Leaky Cauldron? No. You see the same old people. Husbands whose wives left them, and tired people looking for a temporary place to stay." Her expression would turn into something of a distant sneer. "And sometimes old ladies that try to offer you funny candies." She blinked down at her gloves, they were now cold, and soggy from poking, and prodding at the lumps of snow. She flexed her fingers, in an attempt to warm them up a little bit. "The Leaky is also rather small, so I think the lack of witnesses is utter-" She quickly stooped towards Schrödinger, and clasped the sides of his head for a second. "Horseshit. Or even if there were witnesses, how come no one was told sooner, that someone was tampering with customer's drinks?" Releasing Schrödinger's head, she would give her two human companions, a dissatisfied shake of her own. "It doesn't make any sssense to me. There are too many pieces missing from this ssstory."

Names had always been an odd thing. To the cub at least. They were supposed to give one purpose. Direction. Hers virtually had no meaning. At all. She had no purpose. Why did people need names anyway? "Calling Harry, Harold, is an attempt at... dehumanizing him, I think. Harry was a nickname- a pet name, if you will. To my understanding, pet names are given to things that are loved. Everyone loved Harry potter. But Harold? Who's Harold? Harold wasn't the boy who lived. Hell, put him in Azkaban. Ssstripping Harry of the name he was known by, makes the people feel better. Its easier to accuse a ssstranger of a crime, than a friend." She evidently had much to say on the subject of names."Without his name, Harry is just another nobody. And few care about nameless nobodies." The third-year said, in a matter-of-factly tone. "So is it relevant? At the moment, I do not think so. But it might hold some relevance in the future, so it might be best to keep an eye out for repeated use of the name in future articles- Harold could also be a name that his associates address him by..." She started to trail off, as she played with the possibilities of why the name 'Harold' was used instead of 'Harry'. "Oh yes. The Liberation club. I forgot that was today." She randomly interjected, in a distant tone. Her voice would eventually become a soft murmur that only she could hear.

As Pericles began to share his experience at the club meeting, Xailahs tone would eventually rise again to mutter the name: "VanCleaf..." The name was familiar. VanCleaf wasn't a particularly common surname either. She had heard the name exchanged, not in the papers, but through the school. Hogwarts had a VanCleaf- but he was no Auror. He was the school nurse. That could not have been a coincidence. Xailah leaned closer to her fellow pride-mate, as she spoke in a tone no higher than an excited whisper. "Oh Meena! You should tell him what you told me, about your visit to the nurse!" The teens slender elbow, would stretch; giving the other lion a gentle nudge. The VanCleafs must have been brothers, or cousins- maybe even father and son. Though the latter of was a little less likely. The metamorph had never seen the school nurse for herself- yet. She was going to have to take a trip there eventually. If only she knew how soon that trip would be. She had managed to convince herself, that she would never actually need to go to the hospital wing. She never suffered from life threatening injuries- if one could consider cracked ribs from the Masquerade, and a future stab wound that would be afflicted by her roommate, non-life-threatening. She would go on without hospital care, even when those three cracked ribs broke, and a new stab wound appeared, afflicted by a mosp this time; both during an event that had yet to take place. It was an odd thing for someone who put a lot of care into their outer-appearance, to not do. But her reason for not going was simple. She was scared of such facilities. Hospitals were for the weak. They were the places people went to, to die.

So the liberation club evidently discussed a lot of... names. The Ravenclaw offered to share his notes with the two Gryffindors. Xailah nodded. "It would be much appreciated." If only the liberation club had gotten a physical description of the students. Maybe that way, the metamorph would have actually chased Victor down, when she caught him in the caretakers office- which was another day that had yet to come. Oh, if only the three little detectives knew of what surprises, hurt, and horrors, the future held for them. "Ah well, they can not avoid the public forever. I imagine at least one of them will ssstep forward eventually. It will only be a matter of time until the guilt, will be too much for them to handle." She would start to drift away again, this time physically. She absentmindedly wandered a few feet from the snowman, that was in the process of being built. She was looking for... ooh a stick. She walked over to the snowman, that had been built by a previous group of children, and de-armed (disarmed??) him. He wouldn't be needing them anymore. She would make her way back to her group, with the repurposed snowman limbs she had 'found'. She clicked the branches together knocking some snow off of them, and looked at both the Ravenclaw and the other lion. "Arms." This was wonderful, she was finally getting the chance to make her own Frankenstein's monster. It was a great feeling.

The mention of the Masquerade suddenly made the Gryffindor grow very quiet. Her arms fell limp to her sides, her hand still clasped the would-be-snowman-arms. She clenched her jaw, her needle-like teeth dug into the flesh of her tongue- filling her mouth with the taste of metal. A thin dotting of red, formed in the outer corners of her mouth. There was a lot she could have prevented on that Halloween night, but she had been too late to realize it. It wasn't like anyone would have listened anyways. So, was it safe to suppose there was a coven? No. There was no supposing. There was a coven, and it was in the forbidden forest. And only god knew how long it had been there. Hold that thought. She quickly spat something, about the Auror that was supposed to be with Potter. "Well, not with him evidently. Which was where he should have been. You don't just, leave your partner." She opened her mouth again to say something in regards to the hags, and giants, but quickly snapped it shut. A trembling hand wandered down to the metamorphs waist, where the velvet satchel hung. It squeezed the bag, and the fingers wrapped around the clumsy form of the doll inside of it. Now would have been the time to say something about it. But alas, nothing except for a miserable, and inaudible groan, left her parted lips. Pericles didn't need to know about it, and Meenauh didn't need to be reminded of it. Right? Right. The metamorph didn't want to risk the doll being taken from her, because it was an answer. That doll was an answer to so many questions, that no one else wanted to give her the answers to.