• when things start to slip

[Jeremy Adams]

Everyone seems to forget their house password one time or another. For the greater part of the student body, it's generally in their first year. You get told once, you write it on your hand, you go to bed and it rubs off. You decide to ask the Prefects the next morning, but sleep in and are going to be running late for breakfast and classes if you have to go and find them yourself. So you decide to ask at Lunch, but discover that exploring the castle is more fun, or the Prefects are having an extended lesson. So you think it's fine, and just wait until you bump into them that afternoon. But the odds aren't in your favor, and you end up getting distracted by something all afternoon. And finally, after dinner is over and you really need to get into the Common Room, no one is around for you to ask. Thats when newbies usually forget their passwords, and not at the age sixteen.

However, the above was just the case for Jeremy.

He had learnt the password, and even wrote it down on a piece of paper that he kept in his pocket at all times. It was only after a day of rather difficult lessons, in trying to catch up on the Hogwarts curriculum, that Jez became stressed and easily distracted. He had a whole lot of Herbology work to study, as well as whole era in History to advise. So he had locked himself away in the Library for the good part of the afternoon, went straight to dinner, before going back to his homework. Someone smarter may have put it off for now, or asked for help, but Jeremy still only knew a few people, and he didn't want to be a bother to others who were also study for their OWLs this year.

By half an hour before curfew, the Gryffindor boy decided to finally retire back to his Common Room. At least there he could sit comfortably and fix up the last of his notes for History. While walking back, his mind seemed to buzz with a million things. When was he going to see Tianne next? Would her friends like him? How was he supposed to make friends? Were his grades going to drop this year? He just couldn't be sure about any of it. While walking and thinking, Jez fished through his pockets for the slip of paper that had his house password scralled on it. Only once he had reached the Fat Lady's portrait, he realised it was gone, and for the life of him, the teenager couldn't remember the password.

"Uhm, hi..." he said nervously, glancing around to see if a fellow lion approached by any chance. "I'm really sorry, but I'm, uh, new here, and I honestly cannot remember the password. So can I just go in? I won't tell anyone, I just need to get inside." he pleaded, a small smile on his features. But the lady just shook her head. "No Password, no entry, kiddo." she said rather sourly. He tried to rack his head for the word. "Mandrake? No, thats herbology..." he mumbled to himself. "Godape? Am I even close?" he sighed miserably, glancing around again for any sign of help.

[Henry]

[Henry Lordings Jr.]

Another night on prefect duty was...another night on prefect duty, as always. You patrol a bunch of empty corridors, have a conversation or two with the house ghosts or one of the professors, dock some points or deal some detentions to first years who think they're just too good to follow rules, and occasionally you get to deal with someone who really just needs a little help.

As Henry turned into the corridor containing the fat lady's portrait, he distinctly heard her speaking with someone who sounded rather desperate to gain entry into the Gryffindor common room. He peered curiously around the corner at the individual; a little recon before revealing himself. Far from what he expected, this was a legitimate Gryffindor, and a sixth year at that, who really just didn't know the password.

Henry had always found that the older students that needed a little late night assistance usually were the unwitting victims of a little inter-house pranking and were confunded into forgetting where their common rooms were. Henry had even seen one individual who had been sealed into a suit of armor as a prank. Never before, however, had Henry run into a sixth year who had forgotten the password. If Henry was honest with himself, he was sort of surprised that it hadn't happened before; what with all of the homework that the upper years had to deal with, he was amazed more people didn't just mentally misplace their passwords.

Henry approached stealthily, managing to sneak up behind the individual just as he was taking his second stab at the password...

"Godape? Am I even close?"

"I think you mean 'Albus'." Henry said, folding his arms and standing several feet behind the boy.