Caradoc slammed the front door shut purposely, letting the loud noise announce his arrival to the inhabitants within. Well, really, one inhabitant within, as the other had presumably been asleep for the past hour; but Andrew would not be woken by familiar door activity. Emmeline, on the other hand, the mother of his child, the witch he had been living with for the past two years, the one Caradoc had restarted his life with, she would definitely notice.

Notice, and then proceed to ignore him like she had been for the past couple of weeks, but notice nonetheless.

Letting out a long sigh, Caradoc proceeded slowly through the front hallway, stopping only to toss his gloves and scarf on the side table. It was cold out, and it had taken him much longer this time to locate Emmeline and Andrew (there were a few of houses in possession that Emmeline could choose to ignore him in), so he found his patience properly tested. It had only been two days in which they had been out of contact, and Caradoc didn't truly believe it was in Emmeline's best interest in knowing what he had been up to in France, for---

He had almost walked by her, with how quietly she had been sitting in the study. Stopping abruptly, Caradoc watched Emmeline from the doorway. She appeared unfazed, continuing to write whatever it was she was writing (a letter, perhaps?) as if she continued to be the only body in the room. After a few silent passing moments, his chin dropped to his chest as his brow furrowed.

"How much longer are you planning on keeping this up?" he asked, one of his hands waving idly around the room. To what he was referring, of course, wasn't an object in the room, or her writing, but the small detail that every night she would, instead of staying home, move to one of their various decoy houses without him, leaving him to either stay home alone or go on a hunt for his family. At first he had let Emmeline do as she wished, as a necessary means to state her displeasure over him, but now it had just become irritating.

"Just so I know."

Sitting solemn, Max waited until Melania's brother had passed by before letting his gaze follow the younger boy out of the room. Dinner had been... pressed, as was usual these days, with Oliver seemingly becoming more withdrawn, and Melania, in turn, responding to this shift in the only way she knew how, by loudly addressing it. That didn't exactly lead to the most peaceful of mealtimes, not necessarily filled with yelling fits, but not happy chatter, either. So, it was with an almost silent sigh of relief that half the tension was now currently retreating to his quarters for the night.

Momentary relief, that was. There was still Melania before him, stewing with exasperation and confusion. It created a pang in his chest to see his friend so visibly upset, and, for not the first time in the past couple of weeks, Max thought heavily about a certain piece of information that he was carrying that might help deflate the situation between his best friend and her brother.

Once again, Max felt the difficult rise to speak up fill his throat. That something, that life event, that Melania needed to be aware of... he blinked quickly, and immediately set to busy himself. Pulling his wand out of his pocket, Max collected the plates and sent them zooming toward the sink. But he couldn't bring himself to flick the water on, or begin cleaning up the kitchen (not that it was really necessary to, but seeing as he was living here rent-free, Max liked to do something to pay that back. It was just the right thing to do.

The right thing to do...

He would simply keep his cousin's name out of it. Yes, that would be better.

Max waited for one of Melania's lulls, speaking up quietly, but with purpose.

"Melania." He glanced down at the table before propping himself back up straight in his chair. Oliver's dog beneath him stirred, and even Uffizi turned her head toward him in relative attention. Max tilted his head slightly as he spoke. "There's something you should know about Oliver."

WHO: SHIT
WHAT: YIKES
WHERE: OH GOD
WHEN: NIGHT BEFORE HALLOWEEN

( You! It's not possible. )

While she wasn't particularly keen on parties, she was set on saving wildlife. Everyone else seemed to rake in the galleons by throwing large events, no matter the scandals that erupted from them, so why couldn't they? Nora had conservatory's committee for quite some time now, and being the youngest by a good forty years, had devised this plan as a new and fresh way of funding. It helped greatly that she had friends that had access to some of the best party planners (or that she could twist Charlie Spinnet's ear until he helped her out), and things seemed to have turned out well. So far.

For the brave at heart, there was a grand maze that made its way throughout the haunted castle. Guests would be offered clues to get themselves to the ballroom, and if they were truly lost (as Nora was sure was to occur), for just a small donation (it's for charity), any money dropped into a clue box would light up a blue path down the correct route to lead the way out. With all the Gryffindors that Nora had put on the guest list, she was sure they were going to triple their goal.

There was a simpler route than the maze, which was simply to walk through the double doors to the dance floor. Nora was currently wavering between the two, having run out of pamphlets to give out at the front entrance therefore giving her no excuse to join the festivities. She felt rather exposed, as Delilah had stolen her cloak, and when someone tapped her shoulder she jumped nearly a foot in the air.

"Bloody hell!" she let out, spinning around. "You scared the life out of me!"