Rae sprinted into
Professor Wolfe’s office out of breath, heedless of the many warning received
yesterday for running in the castle. Urgently, she thrust a rolled-up parchment
at the professor. “Here! Sorry its late – we were up so late cleaning your
office, I fell asleep before I had a chance to write this!”

Biting her lower lip, Rae
waited on tenterhooks for the Professor’s response.

-----------------------------------

The day before:

Rae careened around the
corner, nearly knocking over Rachel in her mad dash through the corridors.

“Sorry, Rae 1,” she called
out, only momentarily slowing her pace.

“Miss Elliott! NO running
in the castle!”

Rae slowed to a rapid
power-walk at the sound of Professor Wolfe’s voice, but had no intention of
actually walking normally – not having just come from that particular
professor’s office; not having just set off fireworks in that particular
professor’s office. No way! The still had 8 offices to go, and she wasn’t ready
to get caught yet.

Earlier in the day, Rae
had flopped down on the familiar orange couch in the Room of Requirement,
bemoaning the extended deadline for the Potions Club project. “My group is
almost done – what on earth am I going to do for a whole extra week?”

Apolline nodded
sympathetically, but their friend Rune Phoenix shrugged. “Well, it give me more time to play around
with recording software, so I’m happy about it. But, you’re right… now that we
are on break, it can get kind of boring around here. Hey Rae remember what we
talked about earlier…”

Rae met Rune’s eyes; it
was as though she could read the other girl’s mind. “Yes! Let’s do it! I have
everything we need under my bed. I’ll go get it right now! Who first?”

“Ooo…what are we doing?”
Apolline asked, “Can I join?”

“Sure!” Rae explained the
plan, listed the order they would go in, then all three girls took off to their
respective dorms to grab supplies, agreeing to meet in the Astronomy office in
twenty minutes. 

“I hope it’s all right if
Addie joins us,” Rae said to the others, as they lined up fireworks along
Professor Polgara’s desk and all over the room. The other girls didn’t mind at
all; the more the merrier! After lighting all the fuses, the girls took off
down the corridor, headed for the next office on their list.