“Who goes there!”

Matt blinked at the coat of armour guarding the Ravenclaw common room, which suddenly drew its sword and pointed it straight at his nose; “State your business or be off!” it continued.

“Sounds like someone’s been hanging out with Sir Cadogan all summer…” Richard smirked, pulling Matt away from the sword once it became clear he’d frozen in shock.

“Sir Cadogan?” the armour shrieked, drawing the sword back to its chest, “Where be the scum? I’ll have him yet!”

“Definitely,” Jo added, shaking her head, before she rose her voice and said to it; “Can we just go into our common room, please?”

“Perhaps,” the armour murmured, swinging the sword at Jo now and holding it below her chin, “But only if ye knows the password. Ye could be a Slytherin spy!”

“Puh-lease - what would a Slytherin want in our common room?” Dale piped from behind Richard and Matt.

The sword was turned toward Dale; “Indeed… what would thou wanst in the Ravenclaw common room…?”

Dale wanted to have a go at the armour, but Cat stepped forward; “Honestly, guys, don’t aggravate him - he’s doing a good job” (the armour puffed out its chest at this, saluting Catherine in thanks) “And I don’t think any Slytherin would have the patience to talk it out against him.”

“Too right,” Dale huffed, “I’ve barely got the patience myself.”

Cat turned back to the armour; “Where Eagles Dare!”

It saluted once more, “Then enter your eyrie, proud eagles, and welcome home!”

He stepped aside as the walls shifted behind him and the Ravenclaws scrambled through.

“At least he got one thing right!” Jo smiled as she launched herself into a high-backed chair; “We’re home!”

Cat laughed, “Yes, indeed!”

“ ‘Where Eagles Dare’?” Dale was whittling, “What moron thought up that password?”

“Dale!” Jo snarled, throwing a cushion at him.

“It’s true!” he went on, clutching the cushion to his chest and flopping onto the bronze & navy rug before the hearth, “It’s the easiest password in the world to figure out. If all the other common rooms are protected by such daft passwords, we won‘t have much problem getting into them… Say, why don’t we go round shouting ‘Where Lions Roar’, ‘Where serpents slither’ or ‘Where badgers…’ Erm…”

“Badger?” Matt shrugged. Dale scowled at him.

“It’s reverse psychology, feather-brain!” Jo retaliated, as though to a baby, “Who’d think we’d have a password connected with our mascot? No one! It‘s genius! You‘d think, with you being in Ravenclaw, that you‘d understand that.”

“Are you calling me thick?”

“Yes!” She clapped her hands slowly, “Well_done_Dale!”

Dale threw the cushion back and a small pillow-fight ensued, until Roger Davies, a sixth year Ravenclaw, strolled over and pulled them apart; “Guys,” he warned them, “You’re not setting a good example to the First Years.”

Cat glanced across at the little First Years who were, indeed, frozen in terror across the other side of the common room. Dale and Jo gave up their fight immediately, but continued to give each other surly glares for the rest of the night.