Wandering the Halls (open)

[Randell Floyd H1]

Wandering the halls of a chilly Saturday afternoon thinking of how his mother will now have to accept him as a wizard. Pink wasn't paying attention to where he was going and had found that he had ended up in Snape's dungeons. Worrying as much as Professor Longbottom Pink started to retrace his steps but ran into a suit of armor with a loud band. Trying to put it back into place found that his cheeks had began to become hot and flushed with embarrassment even though no one was around. Pulling out his wand and planing to try a charm that his father had taught him. Pink had started to hear footsteps coming from around the corner.

[Noah Hamilton-Blue G6]

{Hope you don't mind if I join. =D Also, I don't know if you've been told, but you need to put 'H1' for Hufflepuff 1st year at the end of your name, via modify profile.}

Take these sunken eyes and learn to see.
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be fr-

The loud crashing sound that echoed throughout the dungeons broke through Noah's peaceful humming. From where he sat casually in a small alcove, tucked away in one of the dungeon's many elusive coridoors, he could tell that the noise was accidental; no intruding army was trying to force through the walls of the castle. Sighing lightly as he shifted, Noah kicked his gangly legs over the edge of the stone and hopped down onto the ground. Of course he had never been a graceful spirit and the stumble as his feet touched the floor was inevitable. Steadying himself with a quick hand to the cold stone wall, Noah threw his shoulder bag across his chest and sloped off slowly for the source of the crash. Perhaps a first year was stuck in a suit of armor. This thought brought a small chuckle from Noah; he himself had been unfortunate enough to get into that situation in his own first year at Hogwarts. While most people would have hated being so helpless in a small enclosed space, Noah enjoyed it. Though he found himself to be claustrophobic when it came to muggle spaces such as lifts, he found that he could think and focus better when he was in a confined area in the castle. That was essentially why he had been sitting one of the dungeon's many alcoves only moments before; to concentrate.

Thought of his mother's cancer had been bothering him since he had received his sister Ariel's letter. He wanted so badly to enquire for more details - after all, she had only written of the sickness, witholding all crucial details. Juni, Mary and Maya, Noah's other older sisters, didn't want anything to do with their parents, and Noah hadn't yet told them about Bree's cancer. He wondered absently if the illness was something that wizards could cure, but soon faintly recalled one of his tutors mentioning that attempts so far had been futile.

Biting the insides of his mouth fiercely, Noah did his best to distract himself from the thoughts before they triggered compulsions. He concentrated instead on the source of the noise, which was now apparent before him. A younger student - possibly a second year, Noah didn't know - had clearly knocked over a suit of armour and was now trying desperately to piece it back together. He smirked lightly at the sight, though the expression was not altogether cruel.

"Need some help, kid?" He spoke gently as he approached the smaller boy. He removed his wand but hesitated before casting the spell; he wanted to see if the kid could fix it. He wasn't sure what year the students learnt the reparo charm nor those for sticking items together or fixing, but paused to give the boy a chance.

[Randell Floyd H1]

"No, I got it... I think." Pink said absently to the older student standing next to him and muttered "Accio Repairo." The pieces on the ground quivered and lifted and started to piece themselves back together. "See I got it," Pink said to the older boy in an accomplished voice. "Thanks anyway. What were you doing down there anyway, 'cause there's nothing down there."

[Noah Hamilton-Blue G6]

Noah watched as the young student cast the reparing charm successfully. He was a little surprised the spell was so fluid; he couldn't remember learning it himself so early in his first year, which he was now certain the boy was. The Accio charm he was sure students were taught much later in their time at Hogwarts; he recalled learning it in his fourth year. The Gryffindor knew that some students took to cramming their heads full of incantations and magical knowledge before they attended and assumed that this was what the young boy had done. Instantly, he wondered if the boy was a Ravenclaw; it would have been fitting from this first glance into his character. He knew that was stereotyping heavily, but over his years at Hogwarts he had found that his initial opinions and suspicions about fellow students usually proved to be true.

Nodding once, Noah's brow creased softly at the first year's question. Rather nosy. He pondered. He hesitated before replying, his mind passing only momentarily on the decision to lie to seem a little more 'regular'.

"Just thinking. It's nice and quiet down there. No mess, no noise." Another nod and he dismissed the subject. He was tempted to ask the same question back to the boy but refrained. If he had been in the dungeon halls for similar reasons that Noah had, he probably wouldn't want to be asked.

As he shrugged his leather book-bag further across his chest Noah quickly noticed that the suit of armour was missing a small piece; the knight's visor was still lying on the floor a few yards away from the two boys. Instead of using magic, Noah crossed the narrow corridor and picked up the heavy metal. It took him a moment to secure the visor to the knight's helmet, but he managed it without too much difficulty. Once it was on, he turned to the boy. "I'm heading back up, you coming?" He paused for just a moment before walking slowly towards the nearest staircase. After a few steps he turned back to the kid and introduced himself absently. "Ah, and I'm Noah... Gryffindor." He smiled lightly. "You're young." The words were very matter-of-fact and Noah was unaware of how awkward they might have been; he was merely noting the age difference between the two of them. The difference wasn't an issue for him as he had no qualms with talking to the lower years, unlike some of the sixth or seventh year students.

[Randell Floyd H1]

Regretting saying that nosy question after he had said it. He suddenly thought of his 'nosy' mother smiling a little Pink didn't notice that he had missed a piece. "Oh, thanks." Pink said noticing the other boy had put it back for him. Sitting down as the humiliation set in. Pink was awfully glad that he had read ahead in his charm book.

Pink was pondering how old this other boy was he couldn't be younger than a fifth year but people can surprise you.

Feeling all the sudden very tired and exaustied. Pink's mind went back to his mother and her unapproving thoughts on him and his father being wizards.

"I was planing to read a little but sure." Pink said noticing that the other boy had started towards the staircase and asked if he was coming. "Randell Floyd... but everyone calls me Pink, Hufflepuff.

[Wynd Lehane]

Although he would never admit it aloud, Wynd was tired of living in the dungeons. Why did the Ravens and the Lions get to enjoy the countryside while the Slytherins were forced to live under a lake? Granted, Wynd originally thought the idea brilliant. To think that the founders of Hogwarts had put this much thought into the castle; to build a dorm underneath a lake. But there were times when Wynd would love to feel the warmth of the sun's rays as he woke from his slumber. Nevertheless, he was very possessive of this space. As all Slytherins were. Other Houses came down here for Potions class and then they left. Nothing more. Even having them come down to Potions was intrusive enough so when there were intruders, well, Slytherins could not be held responsible for their actions.

Wynd listened to the conversation between this obviously brand new student and the older boy. Wynd could not be sure without seeing his face but he was pretty positive the older boy was Noah. A Gryffindor. The younger boy was irrelevant. This year Wynd would graduate and the story of this first or second year was of no interest to him. What was of interest was whether or not he could use this to his advantage. Slytherin had won the House Cup last year and it would be wonderful if Slytherin could win again. His sixth and seventh year. So far neither had done anything "wrong" but he still stayed hidden around a corner eavesdropping.

After the spell that the kid had attempted to cast, Wynd had had enough. He thought that Noah must have performed a silent spell to help the kid along. 'Accio' in no way helped a Repairing Charm. Do something wrong or get off Slytherin property, he thought. Noting the boy's hesitation in response to Noah's question, it was time for the prefect to step in. "Listen to your elders, Pink," Wynd stated calmly as he swung his body around the corner and made himself known. "And run-along. Before you destroy any more property." Wynd glanced over at the shoddy charm the first year had performed to repair the armour. "You may want to pay more attention to Professor Flitwick in the future, Pink," the words spilled out of his mouth like venom. "Accio is the summoning charm." The Slytherin finally made eye contact with the Gryffindor. "You may take your charge and leave now," Wynd said with a wave of his hand.

[Randell Floyd H1]

Pink startled at the angry voice that came from around the corner, jumped a little and stated the Accio Repairo was a charm his father created to help fix things when the pieces are scattered not just in one place. "It combines the summoning Accio charm with the ordinary Repairo charm." Pink stated hesitantly.

All the time Pink was thinking what the boys problem was. 'I mean it was an accident and I fixed it so whats wrong with it.' Pink thought silently to himself. 'Maybe he thinks he's better than me because he's older than me.'

"I just wandered down here and didn't mean anything by it I wasn't watching where I was going," Pink said shyly shuffling his feet. "And I fixed what I broke so what's the big deal?"

[Noah Hamilton-Blue G6]

It was perhaps ironic that the moment Noah thought about inconsiderate seventh years, one popped up. The Gryffindor eyed the Slytherin while the Hufflepuff lingered between them both. Noah wondered how long Wynd Lehane had been standing close and his brows furrowed at the thought; he hated people listening to him talk if he was not speaking directly to them, and even that wasn't as bad as very deliberate eavesdropping, something he supposed Wynd was guilty of.
With a small sigh and a scratch of the back of his neck, Noah turned to face Wynd directly as the older student spoke. He knew that Lehane was a prefect, and so whatever he said in the end should be listened to. But titles such as 'prefect' often didn't make much of a connection with authority in Noah's mind, and so he conveniently forgot the fact in his attempt to remember what he knew about Wynd.

Before he could come up with an appropriate greeting, the Slytherin spoke directly to him. His tone was calm, but Noah sensed the derogatory voice lacing through. He doubted that Wynd even knew his voice came across like that; perhaps it was by default. Swallowing nervously, Noah frowned at Wynd's words and shook his head. "My charge? Wynd, younger students aren't the scum of the castle. It is possible to have a conversation with a first year without it being a huge burden." He cocked his head and glanced down at Pink here. Maybe spoke too quickly. He was beginning to wish he had just walked past the Hufflepuff - or, even better, had remained in his alcove. But then he would probably have been found by Lehane before long anyway and no doubt a similar conversation would have erupted.

The moment his 'charge' began to explain himself, Noah cringed. He believed that was one of the worst things the younger boy could have done; no doubt now Wynd would have at least three or four different aspects of his argument to attack. Running his hand through his messy blonde hair, Noah spoke in an undertone to Pink. "Merging the two charms together was a little... unorthadox. You're lucky it worked I guess. But sometimes when combining incantations elements in the spells will cancel each other out. It could end up being dangerous and foolish. I guess that's what Wynd meant to say." He shrugged absently. Already the pressure of Wynd's aggressive presence was giving him a headache, and his fingers twitched at his wand subconsciously.

[Wynd Lehane]

A smirk found its way to Wynd's mouth as Noah spoke. 'Unorthodox' was not the word that Wynd would have used, but it suited the situation. Wynd wondered whether the young student would listen to the older Gryffindor and actually understand or if he would agree because he had no idea what was going on. "Good word choice," Wynd said with his smirk. "I would probably have described the spell using a stronger word. But that works." Even though Noah was a Gryffindor, he seemed to know what he was talking about. Wynd didn't hate all Gryffindors. In fact, there was one that he was particular fond of but he would never admit that to another human being. Oscar Flynn had been especially helpful during the Prefect night last year going along with everything without much groaning and Oscar knew what he was doing on the Quidditch pitch.

Wynd's cold blue eyes once again focused on the younger student. "The 'big deal' as you call it, is that you are some place you are not supposed to be, Pink." He hated the name. Why would anyone want to be named after a colour? Every time Wynd said it he said it with extra emphasis letting the younger Hufflepuff know his disdain for his name. "You are fortunate that I was the one to discover you, not Mrs Norris or Filch. That squib would do untold things to you if he found you done here. However," Wynd added with an evil smile, "If you don't think it is a 'big deal' I can find Filch and see what he thinks of you damaging school property."

[Randell Floyd H1]

Shuffling his feet as the two older students talked it over. Pink felt shame and anger wrapped into one but decided it'd be better if he kept his mouth shut. "Sorry," he muttered "I ended up down here 'cause I lost my way. When I saw where I was I panicked and ended up bumping into the suit of armor. Sorry." Looking down at his feet he could feel tears coming to his eyes not from grief but from anger. 'Why did he have to be so mean? I said it was an accident.' But keeping to his feet he held them back. Sometimes he would cry over the simplest things.

Now he could feel heat on his cheeks as they became flushed with anger. Controlling his rage he kept his mouth shut and thought of soothing songs. 'Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da life goes on brah!... Lala how the life goes on.' Thinking those soothing lyrics kept the tears at bay and he felt his cheeks cool. He now felt he could look up. Seeing Wynd's face made the anger come back so he continued to look at his feet. Reading the words on his converse calmed him even more. 'Think of me, Think of fondly. -The Phantom of The Opera' He smiled at the song it kept him thinking of his muggle family and friends.