Another Saturday ((Stella))

[phantomlynx]

Maybe it's this way, thought Skyler. Or maybe this way, he thought to himself looking the other way down the deserted corridor. It was Saturday again and since there were no classes Sklyer thought it might be a good idea to explore the castle a little. His original thought process was he wanted to explore this maze of a castle so that he wouldn't have to keep following the older years around to get places. He had the route from the Ravenclaw tower to the Great Hall pretty down pat. From the Great Hall he could usually find his way to class with the occasional wrong turn. But other than that he knew nothing about the castle. Skyler could see his tread marks on the corridor floors he had used the same paths so many times. There was one time though that his path had been blocked by Peeves. Somehow he had flooded the corridor and Filch was making all the students go around instead of walking through it. That had been a scary day for Skyler. Once he was off his main path he had no idea where to go. Thus his exploration for today.

Now he wished he had brought Will along with him. Skyler was on the seventh floor, but it could have been the sixth for all he knew. In short, he was lost. Again. "This is ridiculous!" Skyler shouted to no one in particular. On one hand, all his adventures at Hogwarts so far have started because he was lost. On the other hand, it was growing tiresome. This seventh floor corridor (it was actually the fifth floor, but we won't make Skyler feel worse than he already does) was completely empty. There was no one to help him find his way back to the Ravenclaw tower. Not that he wanted to go there. The common room would be full of people studying or practicing magic. Skyler had nothing against his fellow Ravenclaws, but they sure made a Saturday dull. All the same, he would have loved to be in the common room. At least then he would know where he was... Sort of.

Out of the corner of his eye he could swear a pair of suit of armors were having a conversation. Every time he looked however they were not moving. It wasn't exactly a secret that the suits of armor were enchanted, but Skyler still found them to be a little jarring. And suddenly Skyler remembered something. He had heard some of the older students talking about a room that would appear when you were in need of it. Skyler wondered if he was near it (and he would have been too if he had been on the correct floor (see above note)). This gave him a comforting thought because he felt as if he wasn't so lost. But of course he had no idea how to get the room to appear. Maybe, he thought, maybe if I think of something I really need it will appear. With that he decided to sit down with his back against a wall and think of something he really needed.

[stellalocura]

Stella had just gotten a letter from her mother. Her mother had written to tell her that they would be taking a trip over Christmas break to visit old friends in the Dominican Republic. This was great news to Stella, as she hadn't been back there since they left when she was younger. The first thing she wanted to do was to tell Rene. Her mother had told her that it was ok to share the news. She knew that Rene would be more than excited about the trip, since he was older, he had more memories and stronger friendships there.

"Where would he be?" she questioned out loud to herself. She thought about the endless possibilities. She knew that sometimes he and the older boys went upstairs to play exploding snap. It was Saturday evening, and since none of his friends were around to ask, she decided to go and look for herself. She knew he wouldn't be embarrassed to talk to her in front of his friends, especially about such great news.

So her search began, she rarely wandered around Hogwarts, let alone without someone with her. Every floor she got to, she checked up and down the hallways and shouted his name. She finally reached the seventh floor, and was getting tired of looking. She decided that if he wasn't here, she was turning around. She was walking down the hall admiring some of the art. Just as she turned a corner she tripped over what she thought was a boy sitting against the wall.

And she was correct, she half fell and the letter flew out of her hands, but was able to regain her balance before falling completely down in front of him. "What are you doing?!?" she exclaimed, still half surprised, and almost angry. "Sorry," she quickly caught herself, "I didn't mean to be so snappy, you just scared me half to death. Are you ok?" She fixed her shirt and took a few steps to pick up the letter.

[phantomlynx]

What do I need? Skyler thought to himself. What was something he needed. Nothing. And that was his problem. He couldn't think of anything he needed and therefore the Room of Requirement would not appear. Skyler was just about to get up when a girl came around the corner and tripped over him. She regained her balance before she fell all the way to the floor but the piece of parchment she was carrying fell from her hands. She yelled at him half out of anger and half out of shock. She fixed her shirt and apologised to him. The colors on her robes indicated that she was from the Gryffindor house. She seemed to Skyler that she was older than he was. Who wasn't? He couldn't tell how much older. He had always been bad at guessing someone's age.

Skyler got to his feet before answering her. "I'm sorry that I tripped you. I didn't mean to. I thought that this corridor was deserted. I'm quite all right. Are you?" She seemed to be okay. A few of strands of her blonde hair were out of place, but she seemed just fine. He hoped she was anyway. "I know this is going to sound dumb, but I was sitting here hoping to find the Room of Requirement. It's this room that supposedly only appears when you have great need of it." Saying it out loud he thought it sounded lame. He wished that there had been a better reason but there wasn't. "I was trying to think of something that I really needed but I couldn't think of anything," Skyler stated. Then as an after thought he added: "I'm Skyler by the way."

[stellalocura]

He apologized for tripping her. Which was kind of funny to her, because, it seemed that she had just interrupted his personal time, and should be the one giving the apology. "It's ok, don't worry about. Sorry for interrupting you up here. I'm fine, just a little embarrassed about my lack of grace."

"The Room of Requirement..." she trailed off and started thinking. She didn't know much about that, even though she was a third year. She never really paid much attention to things like that. "Well," she continued slowly, "I don't really know, I think you're on the wrong floor though. That's as much as I can tell you. The Room of Requirement is on the seventh floor."

She thought about what it was that she really needed. She, like Skyler was nearly at a loss. There were several things that she wanted, but nothing that she truly really needed. Which she supposed was a good thing. Her thoughts were returned to reality, "Well, hi Skyler, I'm Stella. It's nice to meet you up here." She knew he was younger, but that wasn't important to her. "Well, now that we're up here. We might as well go looking around. You game for some exploring?"

[phantomlynx]

Her words stung him. Wrong floor? "I've been on the wrong floor all this time? I could have sat here forever and the Room of Requirement would never have appeared?" Skyler sighed. At least no one that he knew had seen him sitting here like an idiot. No, it was just a stranger. Someone that he had never met. And now her first impression of him would be a basket case. Wonderful, Skyler thought to himself. It was a good thing that Will wasn't here to see this. He would probably think that this was hilarious and it would take a good five minutes before his giggles had subsided. But he wasn't here. Instead an older year Gryffindor was in front of him. Skyler judged her to be at least a third year. But if she was in her third year, why was she in the castle and not in Hogsmeade?

"Nice to meet you Stella. I would love to go exploring. I often get lost in the castle," Skyler admitted, his cheeks turning a shade of red. "So I would love to know how to get around. And with another person I think it will be easier to find the right path." He looked to his left and then to his right. "Which way do want to start? Lead on and I shall follow. By the way, what was that piece of parchment that you were carrying?" He paused to let her respond. Then realising: "Oh, you don't have tell me if you don't want to!"