Afternoon Adventure ((Caitlin))

[Jason Blade]

Jason was in a rare mood. In a way, he felt somewhat depressed, yet in another, totally hyper. He assumed it was a mix between his boredom and stress from all the homework he had been working on. As he finished his last line of a Charms essay, he shook his cramped hand to try and loosen it up. At least he was finished now. He would have the rest of the weekend to just relax and have some fun.

Putting his materials away, he exited the Ravenclaw common room and began just walking around aimlessly. He didn't really know what he would do, or where he would go. Anything or anywhere that could get him away from his room though. The place bored him, and he liked spending time elsewhere.

Hogwarts was known to have many secret rooms, and unusual places, and so Jason thought he might just wander around and see what he could find. There was really nothing better that he could be doing anyways. As he walked, he randomly took turns, taking him places he hadn't gone before. It didn't take him long to realize that there was so much in Hogwarts that he had never seen. After a while, he even wondered if he would be able to retrace his steps.

As he turned another corner, he noticed that there was a door ahead. The hall ended, and unless he were to turn around, he would have to go through the door. With nothing better to do, he continued on, and went through the door. As it opened, Jason had to squint, as a bright light hit his eyes. He held his hand above his brow and glanced around.

It was unlike anything he had ever seen. It felt like he was outside, and it went on as far as his vision allowed. But at the same time, there were walls on either side of him, and a glass roof above him, so that he was still enclosed in a room. He didn't exactly know where he was, but it was pretty amazing. Nobody else was around, and the scenery was great.

He walked over to a large tree, and looked up. Why not climb it and see if he could get a better view from the top, he thought. Jason reached up, grabbing a branch, and began to climb. It wasn't the easiest tree to climb, for the branches were spread out quite a bit. In a few minutes, he had only managed to climb up about eight feet. He still had over half of the tree left to go.

Just as he reached to grab the next branch, he felt his foot slide. He panicked, and the next thing he knew, he was loosing his grip fast. Before he could help it, he fell backward, landing flat on his back. The air was knocked out of his lungs, and he passed out.

[Caitlin Martinez G7]

Every word weaved into a sentence, every sentence into a paragraph, every paragraph into a page, and every page into a book. It was a continuous connection and although the words Haeley whispered on the pages of her notebook were those that would be burned later on in her life, she still did it. Considered an outcast, she might be. But Haeley rarely cared. Everyone else around her was ignorant, closed-minded, and a regular bunch of dimwits. They would of course have a problem with what she wrote about, what she spoke out about. These words she adored, weren't their choices, though. They were hers, and for the time being they would have to deal with them. Caitlin brought the ink pen she was using to her mouth and she chewed on the end. It was a habit she had formed years ago when she had first started writing, and when she had stopped - she had slowly stopped chewing on her writing utencils. It wasn't really until the end of last year that she started writing again. Actually, it wasn't until the end of the last year that she had ever finished writing a piece.

Over the summer, as she missed Colin and as she stayed inside a guest bedroom in Italy or in France - she would write notebooks and notebooks of words. Words that meant everything to her. Words she poured her soul and life into. Now, it was finished and probably would never be read, ever. It was based mostly on what had happened at the school, but with a bit of fiction thrown in there so it wasn't completely true. Caitlin didn't plan on letting anyone read it, not sure how Colin would feel knowing people could read how he felt about being kidnapped. She just had to get it out, though. It was bubbling inside her and she had learned from experience that bottling things up inside you wasn't something that should form into a habit. Habits became Caitlin. Even small ones like biting on the ends of writing utencils. As she finished the chapter she had been working on for the past week, she closed the leather bound book and slipped it in her rucksack. She tucked her pen behind her ear, fixing a lose piece as well so it wouldn't swing in front of her eyes.

With everything in place, she stood from her seat in the Student Lounge and headed down the hall to the Gryffindor Common Room - but it was then she heard a crash coming from one of the doorways. Before she could even notice, her wand was drawn - a natural reaction for any witch or wizard, she was sure - and she was rushing into the room the noise had come from. There on the floor was a boy about her age, passed out. Caitlin made her way over to him and knelt down beside him, her brown hair swaying over her shoulder and hanging down as she felt for a pulse. Satisfied, Caitlin stood and instead of running for help, she closed the door and headed back to the boy. She conjured a bucket of iced water and sent it dumped over him. She waited a couple of moments. If this didn't work, she would have to get Pomfrey.

[Jason Blade]

Jason opened his eyes at bolted upright after experiencing a cold sensation. Water cascaded down his face, and he used his hands to push his soaked hair out of his eyes. "Wha... wh... who are you?" he said finally, seeing a girl standing over him. "And why am I dripping wet?" Jason went to stand, but felt a bit dizzy. He put his hands back and held himself up while still sitting on the ground. "Wait a minute!" he said, as he reached his right hand to the back of his head. He pressed it gently until feeling a dull sense of pain where he applied pressure. He then remembered the tree, and how he had fallen. That explained his sore head and the water. The girl must have used it to revive him from being knocked out. Still a little confused, Jason looked around the room. There were no trees. The sky was gone. Instead, he was surrounded by four solid walls, with a roof above his head. Everthing had somehow changed. "Where's the tree?" he asked, dumbfounded.

As his senses began to return to normal, Jason tried standing again- this time successful. He brushed himself off and blinked a few times. His head was now beginning to throb a bit, but the pain wasn't unbearable. "I don't think we've met before," he said to the girl. "But I'm Jason, and if you could maybe explain what is happening here, it would be greatly appreciated." His face had a look of deep confusion. "I mean, one moment, I was in this beautiful outdoor room where I was climbing a tree. I lost my grip, and the next thing I know, I wake up with cold water all over me! Not to mention, there seems to be no tree around. Did you move me or something, because that would be just... well, weird I guess." Jason rambled on, somewhat perplexed by the whole situation.

[Caitlin Martinez G7]

Caitlin watched as the boy came to a sitting position merely seconds after the ice water had made contact with his body. Caitlin sat down, away from the water, and tilted her head as the boy started to speak. He was rather confused and asked her questions. Caitlin began to speak when he exclaimed and then did something to his head, the next question he asked was where the tree was. Caitlin raised an eyebrow, and shook her head. He then stood and introduced himself as Jason and Caitlin nodded, and leaned back on her elbows, “It’s here.” She told him. No name, just those two words. “This room is a room of imagination. In order for it to work you have to imagine it’s there. Go on, try it.” Caitlin waited and then shook her head, “On second thought, don’t. You might be tempted to climb a tree again and where would that lead us? Yeah, not a good idea.”

She stood and waved her wand, watching the water disappear and the bucket disappear with a popping noise. When everything was cleaned, she put her wand in her robes and crossed her arms – looking Jason over. “I’m Caitlin,” she finally answered, “and I heard a crash when I was out in the corridor. I came in here to find you. Of course, when I entered the room was bear again – after all you were kind of unconscious so your imagination was working on it’s own free will. I didn’t move you. But I didn’t run for Pomfrey either, iced water seems to work better than her remedies anyway.” She smirked and ran her fingers through her hair. Caitlin wasn’t a very social girl, in fact the only person she really talked to in Hogwarts was Colin. So this was a new experience for her.

[Jason Blade]

Jason gave the girl a confused look when she told him that the tree was there. Obviously, there was no tree to be seen. Either he was going crazy or this girl was mad. Her next words made it all clear however. "A room of imagination?" Jason asked. "I don't think I have ever heard of the place. So does it basically resemble anything you can imagine?" He listened close as the girl cleaned up the mess and introduced herself as Caitlin. Jason looked her over for a minute. As his brain seemed to be coming back slowly, he thought he might have had a class or two with her, but he wasn't quite sure.

"So Caitlin," Jason began again. "Is this room that I am seeing now a part of your imagination? He looked around at the walls and ceiling. The room was quite bare and rather uninviting. Possibly it was what the room looked like when nobody was using their imagination to change it into something else. Jason walked over to the door, opened it, and looked both ways in the hall. It was empty. He closed the door, turned around, and glanced over the room again. Nothing had changed. "Hmmm," he though aloud, "I'm really interested in seeing how this room works." He looked back at Cailtin. "You seem to know a little about it. Care to share any information that you know?"

[Caitlin Martinez G7]

Caitlin shrugged and looked around, "Not really. It's just an empty room. If it were from my imagination it would probably have the universe or something." She smiled at Jason kindly, "I'm big into Astronomy... which oddly enough is not on my timetable this year." Her eyebrows narrowed and she shook her head again, wondering why it wasn't, before looking back at Jason once more before seriously considering her answer. She didn't know too much about the room, but she had been in there many times before - mainly to work on her writing and get an actual visual of something to describe it, but that was it. Most the time she was in an empty classroom and having fun with her wand and spells she had been learning over the years. What could she tell Jason that she hadn't already said? She tucked some of her hair behind her ear and crossed her arms while surveying the room once more.

"Well, you think about what you want to see. It appears for as long as you like, until you either leave the room or become unconscious - which you did. If someone else enters the room, the image is gone as well because it can't do two imaginations at once, does that make sense?" Caitlin raised an eyebrow, hoping it did - because if it didn't she didn't know how else to explain it to him, how else to say it or what else to say for that matter. It was so very confusing, then again most things in Hogwarts were very confusing. Like the moving stair cases - this was Caitlin's sixth year at Hogwarts and she still didn't have a hang of those things.

[Jason Blade]

"Astronomy?" Jason questioned, raising his eyebrows. "Can't say I much enjoy that class. Lots of memorizing if you ask me. But I guess it is interesting- with the constellations and horoscopes. Just not my cup of tea. Have you met the new Professor?" he asked, somewhat changing the subject. "I hear she is going to be a tough one with lots of work to do. Maybe you won't regret not having Astronomy on your timetable.

Jason listened as Caitlin tried to explain to him how the room worked. He wondered for a moment how she came to know all of this. Must have just been experience he thought. "So let me get this straight... I was imagining that I was climbing a tree. Then, in my imagination, I fell from the tree. Which meant that in real life, I fell as well, knocking me unconscious, and therefore causing the room to go back to normal. Interesting." He couldn't for the life of him remember imagining about a tree. Maybe it had some sort of underlying meaning or something, like a vision or such. Jason shrugged and looked back at Caitlin.

Jason kept thinking about the room though. The idea intrigued him. In a way, he almost wanted to try it again, but Caitlin had said that it wouldn't work with two people. It couldn't read to imaginations at once. "Hey," he exclaimed suddenly, "What if we both think of the same thing? You know, if we both imagine something together. Think it would work then?" He waited for Caitlin's answer. Even if she didn't know, he thought it wouldn't hurt for them to try.