It was disappointing that neither Mkichaa or Jez had made it any lower in the castle, but Genny suspected that Jez was correct in her belief that the dungeon levels were likely to be worse.  Dark things did have a tendency towards residing in dark and damp places, and you didn’t get darker or damper than the dungeons.  She made a mental note to give dungeons a wide berth.

“I'm gonna try to clear the corridors up here before I switch base to Hufflepuff.” 

Base.  That was an interesting way to refer to residing in one’s common room, in fact that whole sentence sounded like a muggle soldier implanted into Hogwarts.  Genny wondered what it was that Jez had been doing before coming here.  While asking that may have been a perfectly acceptable conversation point in normal circumstances, she was afraid the other women might band together to bite her head off if she brought it up now.  It didn’t matter, if they were all planning on staying, she was sure it would come up eventually.

"So I'll be staying here, too. If you want, you can come with me to Hufflepuff."

“Thanks.”  Genny was surprised. There was something very proprietary about the common rooms, so it was a very generous offer.  “We’ll see how successful I am with the traps, first.”  Looking up from where she had been trying to decide if her pumpkin mash was salvageable, Genny gave Jez a genuine smile, feeling much better.

“So, Mkichaa, what are your plans, now?  Will you bunk here with us,” Bunk!  Genny was picking up on the army-talk, it seemed, also the term somehow made the idea of sleeping on the floor a tad bit more palatable, “or do you think you’ll try the dungeons tonight?”