[Shrieking Shack] Attack of the Dust Bunnies

[Max Hennerdale]

It was a rather windy night, Max had ventured down to the Shrieking Shack as priorly arranged by himself, Laney and Girty. All three had had their times together, though Max had rolled over a new leaf and left behind those deadweight friends who dragged him down and stuck now to the people who made him laugh, and of course, who made him happy. Girty, Lane and Max had spent most of the day together, it was a little strange seeing Girt away from Alex, Max wasnt one to pry but it seemed the two were spending less and less time together. He assumed the stress of Apprentiships was weighing them down. Max's blonde hair blew wildly around his face, the edges poking him in the eye a good few times. Maybe he should have borrowed one of Lane's headbands, he was sure she wouldnt mind, besides. It would be a funny sight seeing Max with a bright pink headband right? His white jacket seemed to be acting as a parachute as the wind got trapped in it and tried blowing him backwards. The tall Gryffindor tried to ignore this and pushed himself forward. Who's crazy idea was this anyway?

Nearing the whomping willow, Max cast an immobulous charm on it to stop it from being so violent. Ducking quickly, he half dived down the tunnell. After a moment or two, Max heard the creakings, signalling the tree had come back to life. Well it wasnt like it could get him now was it, so he wasnt worried. Dusting himself down, he could feel the mud falling into his hair from above him, making his head itch quite horribly. "Lumos" He whispered, the tip of his wand illuminating the tunnell ahead. Max's eyes had to adjust for a moment before he continued. Stepping lightly over the rocks and things that could easily be fallen over until he reached a staircase. Taking a look behind him, he realised Lane and Girty werent here yet, if they were they may be inside already, so creeping up the creaking stairs, he reached the top, where a rickety door was hanging by one hinge. Pushing lightly on it, Max jumped back as the door came loose and fell with a rather loud 'thud.'

Stepping through, the scent of must and dust and goodness knows what else hit him all at once. "Eugh" He murmered as he left the hallway and ventured through to the living room, or what he thought was a living room. This room, he could swear, lived a million dust bunnies. Max hated dust bunnies, the creepy things tickled your nose and made you want to sneeze. As if right on cue, "Aachooo!" Max sniffed, "Eugh. Maybe this wasnt such a good idea afterall." Picking up an old book, he blew the dust of the front, it seemed to be a muggle witch craft book. Smirking to himself, he began to rummage to see what else he could find. Just gave him something to do until the others got here.

As Max went through the room, the huge clumps of Dust Bunnies must have decided they didnt like Max as he started to sneeze as though highly allergic to something. Putting a hand over his nose, the blonde scowered the room for the evil dust bunnies, Max was going to incinerate them. Though of course, it might help if his eyes stopped streaming long enough for him to focus and find the damned things. "I hate Dust Bunnies!"

[Girty Hubbles]

It was a very rare thing for Girty Hubbles to have a day off but for once here she was, no marking to do, no essays to write, no lessons to prepare for and no study groups to answer tedious questions in. She was free…free time, stress free time and so instead of spending it with Alex or Jac she went to the friends she had felt like she had been neglecting most of all…Maxi and Laney. The day had past rather quickly and the trio had spend most of it together just laughing and joking, being normal teenagers which for Girty was something she had thought had died away and it was very pleasant to have it back.

Of course you could never run away from all responsibilities and in the evening she had to do a quick shift in the Hogshead while Warren went and did…well his private stuff. As she pulled her last pint of the evening and downed her third glass of white wine Girty waved goodnight to the locals, slipped her jacket on and walked out into the night covered streets of Hogsmeade. But instead of heading back to the castle and the warmth of the Hufflepuff common room Girty wondered down the side path off the main street towards the old rickety house of the Shrieking Shake.

Girty was not sure why she had agreed to come and wonder around this house with the others, she could be sitting down with a cup of tea and a good book instead of standing here in the cold freezing cold and being scared out of her skin…good job she had a bit of wine in her system to help her though the night. Walking up the old unhinged front door Girty reached down into her sock and pulled out her wand, giving it a flick and filling the darkness with a low glow of light. Her humour seemed unaffected by the fear that was gripping her heart and she gave the door a quick knock and actually waited for a moment for an answer thinking that the owner would run and open the door and welcome her with open arms, instead she was greeted with the sound of a sneeze.

Swallowing hard Girty placed one hand against the door and pushed it open, the old hinges creaking and dust and debris from the house falling down onto her. Brushing the dust off her shoulder like it was dandruff and carried on out of the hall, trying to follow the sound of the other person present in the house. Stepping over the more mouldy and weak looking floorboards Girty slowly made her way through the house, her tracks clear on the dusty floor much like the other pair she was now overlapping.

“I think dust Bunnies are the last thing you should be worrying about in this place Max.” Girty gave a nervous look around as she entered the room where the Gryffindor was sneezing. “I mean those rafters look ready to fall any moment.”

[Carolanne Roberts]

The past couple days had been hard on the Ravenclaw, what with the divorce her mother was going through and agonizing move she wasn't looking forward to over the summer. They were moving out of the Laurent/McLane residence and back into her father's house back in Surrey. It wasn't the divorce or the move that had her worried, it was the long summer alone with her mother. The two hadn't been alone together since Matthew, Laney's father had passed and it would definitely be something to get used to, thankfully Maxi and Girty were there to get her mind off of her hippie mother. They had spent most of the day together but went their seperate ways in the afternoon for a bit.

Laney had found herself in the Ravenclaw common room waiting for the time to pass by as she tried to convince herself that writing the essay for Astronomy would probably be a good idea. Of course, she ending up setting it aside, she just couldn't be bothered. Carolanne gave a quick glance up at the clock that hung above the fireplace and decided she'd just take her time as she headed for the shrieking shack. Grabbing her purple jacket off she headed out of the common room and down the grand staircase.

The quickest way to the Shrieking shack from the Castle had to be the passage way under the Whomping willow, however, Carolanne decided she'd take the longer route and head to Hogsmeade first. The path to the small village was dark and wasn't always best to walk alone, thankfully Laney never left without her wand, besides, it wasn't that long of a walk.

Finally, the shack was in view and she could see a faint glow through a window. She was late. "Great," she muttered as she continued to the door. The creak of the wood as she pushed the front door caused a shiver to run its course down her back. Carolanne never liked that feeling, made you feel as if something would pop out of the next corner, but all she got was a shower of dust that made her cough as she continued to the next room.

Voices.
Voices are always good... or was that bad?

Lane walked into the next room, painted gray with dust. Standing in front of her were the ones she was supposed to meet. Girty with her back turned to the Ravenclaw and Maxi a few feet in front of the Hufflepuff. She had only caught the last sentence spoken by Girty.

"Eh, this place has been through harder times than this. I'm sure it can handle us three," she responded with a laugh as she shook her head causing a cloud of dust to fly into the air.

[Max Hennerdale]

Dust Bunnies. What was worse than Dust Bunnies? Bunnies themselves were bad enough, what with their fluffy tails and big ears. The fact they look so innocent and nobody would ever suspect them of trying to take over the world or anything would they? Cute little bunnies all hopping along, yeah well Max was onto their game. Max wasnt fooled by their overall cuteness and fluffy tails. He knew they were upto something, those evil bunnies, and he was pretty sure the Evil Bunnies got the Dust Bunnies, evil minions of the actual bunnies, to attack Max cause the Bunnies knew Max was onto them.

Okay!
So the Gryffindor has an overactive imagination.
No harm.

As Max sneezed, coughed and stomped, it seemed like the bunnies torture would never end. The blonde boy was becoming a little short of breath and he was sure a Dust Bunnie had lodged itself in his throat. It wasnt a nice thought, minion evil bunnies trying to kill him from the inside. Stop trying to take over the world already! Its not like Bunnies could run for president anyway! Evil little fluffy... Things!

Spluttering, he turned at the sound of a voice, apparently Girtys, but his eyes were streaming too much and all he could see was a blur. Bending down, which proved to be completly stupid as even more Dust Bunnies attacked him, he quickly stood up and jumped up and down quite violently as though that would unlodge the thing stuck in the guys throat.

"Rah-ffturs" Max began, "Ahnt try-hi-in to khill meh!"

It was a bit of a wheeze, but he thought he managed the sentance alright enough. He banged hard on his chest, though it didnt help much at all as another figure came into view, Laney. Yeah, the rafters may hold up but these bunnies are relentless killing machines! He gave his girlfriend a small wave, daring not to speak as he conjured a glass of water. Without words, it took him a couple of tries as he hadnt quite got that spell down yet. Gulping the water down extreamly quickly, he felt the relief of it, his throat was less tickly and he could actually breath now and not wheeze. Though, still trying to catch his breath, Max didnt know how long it would be until his enemies striked again. How dare they. Really.

"But the Dust Bunnies seem to be terrortorial"

[Girty Hubbles]

Girty never liked to see anyone in pain or discomfort but for some reason seeing Maxi like this was rather amusing. The Hufflepuff just looked on with a small smile on her face as the Gryffindor tried to splutter his way through a sentence and it took Girty a few moments of thought to actually work out what the hell he was saying, when it finally dawned on her all she could do was wave his comment away with a small pfffft there was nothing wrong with any form of bunny and Maxi was clearly over reacting in this situation.

Carefully walking a bit further into the room Girty looked around still feeling slightly nervous of the stability of the building as it swayed from side to side with every gust of wind that blew through the cracking wooden panels. Wrapping her coat tightly around Girty was about to tell Maxi that this was most defiantly a very bad idea when another voice joined them. Turning around Girty greeted the Ravenclaw with a small wave although she was not reassured by what she had said. If anything there was a greater chance of the rafters collapsing because of the age of the sodding building and as the amount of dust and dust bunnies around it showed that not many had been here in a while.

“Territorial?” Girty frowned as she turned to look back at the Gryffindor. “They are bloody rabbits dude, why the hell would they be…”

The Hufflepuff never got to finish her sentence as a dust bunny jumped up behind her and tried to cling on to her back. With a small squeal Girty spun around desperately trying to get the creature off her back, she was trying to bend her arm around and bat it away but the bugger would not budge.

(Sorry it took so long and then it was bloody crap…my apologise!)