The Chamber of Snogs

Who: Ora Yang, Alison Mallory, Lysienne Aldrern, and Leah Chase
When: the second week of classes
Where: The Chamber of Snogs
What: The girls plot to spy on their new Headmaster

Carefully, Ora padded down an abandoned corridor on the sixth floor of Hogwarts, looking around to make sure there were no other students in the vicinity. The sixth floor of the castle was usually strangely empty, most of the classes being on the lower floors and the greater parts of the rooms in this wing being abandoned, or having been, like most rooms at Hogwarts, shifted by the castle to some other part. The Chamber had been on the fourth floor their second year, before suddenly being moved to the sixth their fourth year, and it had taken almost of a week of prowling around Hogwarts after and between classes for them to find Gilbert and Serge again, who had giggled and snickered about how long it had taken.

Ora strode up to a wall lined with paintings that did not seem particular, and waved a hello to the boys. The darker-haired Serge was the first to notice that Ora was standing there, and he spared a glance for her before seeming to whisper something to Gilbert that made them stop mid-Snog.

"Everybody's here already," Gilbert said lazily, waving a lazy greeting at Ora before wrapping his arms around Serge's neck again. He raised an eyebrow. "You four seem to be spending more time here than usual."

Ora shrugged. "Well, with things going on the way they are this year..." she trailed off, figuring it best to leave it at that.

"Ah," Serge nodded knowingly, "I've heard rumors, bits and pieces, about the new Headmaster and the new teachers." He kissed Gilbert loving on the nose before diving back in. "Small wonder," he said, as the door swung open.

Ora entered and the door swung closed behind her, once more melting seamlessly into the walls. The other girls had various textbooks and parchments open and spread out on the floor, looking up as Ora entered.

"Sorry I'm late," Ora grinned, finding her favorite couch and plopping herself on it, dumping her schoolbag at her feet. "I think I've figured out how we're going to get those Extendable Ears in Snape's office," she said as the girls look at her and carefully set down their homework. They all seemed to be listening, so Ora launched into her idea.

"We're going to need the following things," Ora started, counting on her fingers. "A tightly controlled Reductor or Deprimo, a good enough Reparo to fix it, a good silencing charm, a quill charmed to write down everything it hears, an infinite journal (like ours), a few brooms, a good Disillusionment Charm, a perfect Sticking Charm, a good Disillusionment Charm, and probably a few brooms." Ora paused to take a breath. "In short, we are going to make a whole in the roof of Snape's office, lower down an Extendable Ear, fix the hole, leave the other end on the roof where a quill and a journal will be recording everything that's happening in there. We'll need to affix the other end of the Extendable Ear and the journal to the roof, make sure no one can see them, and make sure they won't get rained on or blown off the top of the castle.

"There," Ora said proudly, taking a big breath. It had taken her nearly all week to try and tackle the particular problem of spying on her new Headmaster. "It's that simple."

Ora sipped her tea quietly, her thoughts clouded with worry. She'd dropped off her cat and her trunk at the Twins's flat, figuring it was the best, if not only place to leave it if she was going to catch up with Alison and the rest of her friends before boarding the Hogwarts Express.

The small teashop on Diagon Alley was subdued this early in the day, though perhaps part of it was the spillover from the furtive fear which seemed to permeate all of Wizarding London. Florian Fortescue's was still boarded up and Ollivander's was dark and silent, its owner missing. Various other shops were in a similar state, and it was nearly impossible for Ora to walk a few paces without seeing some shop she had once loved to visit completely abandoned.

The copy of today's Daily Prophet lay before her and she read it over and over again, hardly believing her eyes.

Severus Snape, long-standing Potions master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was today appointed headmaster in the most important of several staffing changes at the ancient school. Following the resignation of the previous Muggle Studies teacher, Alecto Carrow will will take over the post while her brother, Amycus, fills the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor...

Ora looked up from the newspaper, full of dread. "Is this good news," she asked hopefully, "or bad news?"