Passageways Leading to Nowhere (aka: I'm Lost)

Kyra was already a Third Year, and she was shocked to know that she hadn't even explored the whole castle yet. Sure, she'd gone all over the school for classes, but that was different. Going to classes, she never got to see what was all around her, not knowing what wonders there were yet to be discovered. Her curiosity eventually got the better of her and she decided to dedicate a whole Saturday only to wandering around Hogwarts.

She walked and walked and staggered and limped all the way up the stairs from the Common Room down in the Kitchens. Sometimes I really hate these stairs...

When she finally got up to the fifth floor, she figured there couldn't be much to find, but decided to search anyway. After about half an hour, she nearly gave up. She would have, but she heard footsteps. Prefects.

She leaned into the wall, trying to stay unseen, unheard, invisible to those around her. She backed up and the wall disappeared, sending her on her bum, trapped behind the brick. Scared, she kept walking. It was pitch black, and she still didn't know how to cast the Lumos charm. She heard more footsteps behind her and screamed. "I warn you! I'm armed!"

Bri was startled by a voice in the dark. She had somehow ended up in a pitch black passage of some kind, though she had absolutely no idea how it had happened, and she was absolutely terrified. She couldn't see who was talking but it was definitely a girl. "Please don't hurt me! M- my name's Brianna C-Carter," her voice shook for fear that she was going to be attacked. "Or Bri, f-for short. I'm a second year..." she hoped that giving information about herself would make the person in the dark with her not want to hurt her. "I don't even know where I am!"

"Please don't hurt me!"

"Whoa whoa whoa. No, I'm not going to hurt you Brianna. I thought you were a Prefect or a Slytherin or something. Don't worry."

She couldn't see the girl but knew that she was a Ravenclaw. She'd heard about her from Dree.

"No need to be afraid," she said as gently as possible. "Though I guess it would be logical, seeing how I didn't make a very good first impression of myself. I'm Kyra Henderson."

Obviously Brianna was still scared. Kyra was too, but she wouldn't let the other girl know that. "I'm a third year. And I'm a Hufflepuff, so you really don't need to be scared of me." Hopefully the other girl would take that as an attempt of friendliness. If not, it would be meh. Yes, meh.

Bri started to breathe a little easier once she was sure that she was not about to be killed or hurt or maimed in any way by the person in the tunnel with her, who she found out was named Kyra.

"Where are we?" she asked, trembling slightly. It was very dark in the tunnel and somewhat chilly, and it was added to by the fact that she still had no idea where they were or how they had gotten there.

Kyra was freezing. She had been stupid enough to leave her jacket on her bed.

"Where are we?" She sighed. Brianna was still afraid.

"To be frank, I have no idea. I was just leaning against the wall and this-" she motioned all around her. But wait, the other girl couldn't see it, could she? "-happened. But don't worry. You'll be fine. It's me that we have to worry about," she joked, but only slightly. This place was getting creepier by the second and she wanted to get out as soon as possible.

A sudden thought popped up in her head. "Do you know Lumos by any chance?"

Brianna shook her head and then remembered that Kyra couldn't see her in the dark. "No, I don't." She had attempted to learn it in Charms class, but she hadn't done very well. She still needed to put some practice into it. Sometimes she worried that she wasn't magical at all, because it took her a long time to learn anything about magic. "Do you?" she asked hopefully before realizing that she probably didn't, otherwise she wouldn't have asked in the first place.

"Maybe if we just walk for a while, we'll find a way out," she suggested. She put one hand on the wall so it could guide her and make her less liely to fall on her bum as she went. "There has to be another way out, right?" she hoped.

Kyra groaned as Brianna said that she didn't know. "No, I skipped that lesson. Now I'm regretting it." She leaned against the wall, instantly jumping back forward. It was all slimy and gross and yuck.

The girl realized that the other was right. There must've been another way out. Otherwise, they were screwed. Well, more screwed than they already were.

"You're in Ravenclaw, right? I have friends in that house. I hear that most of them are pretty nice," she said lightly, trying to make pleasant conversation. It would distract her from the darkness and the dripping noises. "It is freaking creepy in here."

"Yeah, I like it there. They're nice for the most part. There are a few people who I don't think like me very much, but I don't know why, and they're still polite to me, so I suppose it's okay," Bri frowned as she thought of Sami and Terry. She didn't know what she had done to them, but neither of them seemed very fond of her.

"You're the only Hufflepuff I've met besides Natalie. I don't really get out much," she said sheepishly. She had very few friends, since she rarely left her house and was usually terribly shy around people that she didn't know.

She frowned as Brianna said that a few people didn't like her. "I know someone in Ravenclaw that hates me with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns. Her name's Sami Criss. If she wasn't already walking away from me when I called her something that I won't repeat, I'd probably be dead right now." She recalled the wedding and shuddered. "It wasn't pleasant."

Kyra knew what it was like to not have many friends. "It's alright, you know. I don't have a whole lot of friends. I know that I have two that I can depend on no matter what. They're awesome." She placed her hand on her chin. "This is completely random, but do you like anyone at all? You know, like like?" She was curious, she had to admit, if not a bit nosy.

Brianna wrinkled her nose at the mention of Sami. "She's one of the people that doesn't like me, I think. I don't really know what I did wrong though. I swear I didn't say anything mean to her," she said.

She was a little jealous when Kyra said that she had two people she knew she could always count on. She wasn't sure she even had one person like that. Her closest non-family friend was Andy, but she still didn't see him around much. Ethan was there, but he was in Hufflepuff and he was a little too hyper all the time for Bri's tastes, so she didn't see him much either.

When Kyra basically asked if she had a crush on anyone and she immediately thought of Andy again and blushed furiously, making her glad for the lack of light. She thought he was cute and he was very nice to her, so she liked him well enough and supposed it might count as a crush. "Maybe? Sort of? I don't know, it's complicated," she replied. "You?"

"You don't have to do anything to make Sami dislike you. I didn't do anything, and I think that might be part of the reason why she hates me so much."

It was super dark, but she could tell Brianna was embarrassed, especially with her answer. "Me?" She immediately blushed too. "Er, sort of. It's complicated and weird and I don't know what's going on with it. It's like...Er, it's very-"

Then she screamed. "WHAT'S DRIPPING ON ME?! THERE'S SOMETHING DRIPPING ON ME AND I DON'T THINK IT'S WATER!" Kyra didn't care if she sounded like a spaz. It was sticky and smelled. "IT'S SO GROSS!"

Bri could definitely understand where Kyra was coming from with the boy situation, although she got the feeling that Kyra's might have been even more complicated than hers was. When Kyra screamed, she jumped back and screamed as well, though it was more out of shock than anything else, since nothing had dripped on her. Yet.

"Maybe, we should just keep moving," she said. "The sooner we get out of here the better. And the sooner we get out of here the sooner you can get that stuff off you," she wrinkled her nose, it really did smell terrible.

Brianna screamed. "Why are you screaming?" she yelled over the girl's continuous screech.

"Yeah, let's go. This stuff is starting to burn," Kyra said, wincing. It really was hurting her. She guessed that everyone had something like that happen to them. "The sooner we get out, the sooner my shoulder stops feeling like it's on fire."

She had to admit that Brianna was very nice as far as she could tell. "I'm sure that your situation is going to get less complicated one of these days," she said, going back to the earlier subject. She grimaced slightly. The liquid was turning into goop and it was really, really sticky and burning her skin.

Bri put her hand to her heart, feeling the accelerated beat. "You scared me!" she said in defense of her reaction.

"Yeah, you're probably right," she said.

She was concerned that whatever had fallen on Kyra was burning her. That was obviously not a good thing. "Hold on a second," she said, reaching over blindly and grabbing Kyra's arm to stop her. She dug through her pockets for a minute but couldn't find her handkerchief. If they could at least get the stuff off her, then maybe it would stop burning. She couldn't find it, so instead she shrugged off her school robes and used them to wipe the gunk off Kyra as best she could in the dark.

"Better?" she asked. It was cold in the tunnel in just her uniform, but she could make due until they got back to a recognizable area of the school.

Kyra felt Brianna wipe the goo off of her skin, most likely with her robes. She appreciated the effort, but knew it was cold in the deep tunnel...cave...thing. "Better?" Brianna asked.

"Much." She reciprocated the other girl's actions and took off her robes too, then took off her jacket. Her mum had always said to wear a jacket under her uniform robes just in case; you'd never know when you might need it. Offering it to the girl, she said, "You might want to take this too. It's freezing." She then pulled her robes back on.

She kept walking, the silence and occasional dripping making her tense up a little.

Bri didn't know what Kyra was offering her until she reached out to grab it and felt that it was fabric and had two arms. She smiled softly when she realized it was a jacket and pulled it on. She held her robes at arms distance on the opposite side as Kyra was walking, so that she wouldn't accidentally touch it.

She walked for a little while further until she had to literally stop in her tracks. Her path was blocked by a wall and a sudden collision with it rattled Bri for a moment, though she did not fall. With the robe over her hand (just in case there was any more of that goo stuff around), she felt around on the wall until she felt something hard and round jutting out to her- a doorknob! "Kyra, I think I found a way out!" she said excitedly.

Emily was walking back from the Great Hall, having just won some Everlasting Paste (and its counterpart) from a seventh year in a casual game of Gobstones. She decided to take a shortcut through a portrait hole. She gave the password lazily and began to peruse the corridors...until she found a secret one. She walked down it, but then realised that she didn't know how to get out. Keeping her Slytherin cool as only she could, she groped around on the wall for a door. Her hands found a crack in the wall, but then she heard voices coming from the other side. "Kyra, I think I found a way out!" one shouted.
"Not for long," Emily muttered to herself. She stepped backward, and smeared the Paste through the crack, sealing the door shut. Still, she stood there with the counterpart, just in case the one called 'Kyra' or the other got insistent.

Thomas had been wandering the corridors when he saw the entrance to one he hadn't seen before, he wasn't really looking for anything or anyone, so he was about to head towards it, when suddenly a girl in Slytherin Robes popped out. He took a couple steps back so he wouldn't be noticed before watching as the girl, Emilia, he vaguely remembered, smear some kind of paste in the crack of the door. He heard another girl saying about finding a way out.

Thomas guessed that they had been trapped there for a while, so he took his wand out his pocket, walking up towards the girl. "Hi Emilia, good to see you." He said, though he was lying through his teeth. "Are you trying to get through the door here or something?" He asked, pulling on it experimentally. "Ah, it's jammed. But I notice there's some paste of some sort here, I'll get rid of it and then you can get through." He said all this very quickly in the hope of confusing her, before pointing his wand at where the paste was and saying. "Scourgify," clearly, grinning as the paste washed away and he opened the door. "There you go Emilia, have fun." He said, before standing where he was, waiting for her to either go in or for someone to come out.

Bri tried to pry the door open but it was stuck. "Oh no!" she tried again but to no avail.

She was disappointed with their luck. First the goo, then a door that wouldn't open. What else could go wrong? "I think we're going to have to find another way out," she said, but as she finished the door opened.

She gave a sigh of relief and walked out into a clearer area. It was then that she found out what else could go wrong. Standing there was Thomas Celare and some girl that she didn't know. She assumed that he'd done something to the door to make it so they couldn't get out, then had a change of heart; she had no clue what the girl was doing there.

"You!" she said accusingly. "Can't you find something else to do than find ways to make people miserable?"

She was tempted to slap him like she had by the library, but he hadn't actually caused anyone any physical harm this time, so she ignored him and turned around to look at Kyra. "You should probably head to the Hospital Wing to see if that goo stuff did any lasting damage. I could go with you, if you like," she said in a softer, kinder tone. She'd be more than glad to go with Kyra; she wanted to check on Andy anyway.

Thomas wondered if he should've just let Emily do it when he saw Brianna step out, and immediately suspecting him of doing it. He hated that, he was honestly sorry and he'd tried to show that, but Brianna just seemed to ignore it each and every time. "Oh come on!" He started, before sighing and calming himself.

"Look Brianna, I tried to help, not get in the way again. But if you really refuse to believe it, then fine. But it was this one." He gestured to Emilia. "Who kept you in there, and I tried to help. I once again apologize for the idiotic and stupid things I've done, and realize I had no right to do any of them and never should have. You have no reason for still wanting to talk to me, which I understand, but I'm really not always a terrible person!" He said, words pouring out of his mouth now he had the chance.

"I mean... I don't know how to explain it, but what I did then was a... different me? I suppose that's the best way I can put it. In first Year I was one me, I changed for a while, but now I'm the first me again. I'm really not sure how I'm supposed to make it up to you, or if I even can. But if you ever think of a way, tell me and I'll do it." He said, trying to not end up rambling too much when it would just annoy Brianna and while Emilia was still there.

"Bri, what's all the fuss-?" Kyra asked as she followed the Ravenclaw, only to see two people she hadn't expected. One was a girl she didn't know, the other was Thomas, the Slytherin she'd plotted with.

"Oh, hey Tom," she said, smiling at the Slytherin boy. "Haven't seen you for a while." She wondered if they were still going to go along with their Torture-Sami-and-by-some-miracle-stay-out-of-a-whole-ton-of-trouble plan.

She saw a tube of paste, light coming in from the cracks in the wall. Thomas had his wand; it was obvious that the tube wasn't his. She pointed at the girl she didn't know. "What the hell did you do?" she asked accusingly. Kyra's temper and patience was wearing thin. Very thin.

Kyra heard Bri and Thomas argue (or at least she thought it was arguing) and she sighed. Thomas said that it was the girl who'd tried to trap them inside. She snapped. "Are you insane?! Were you trying to kill us or something?! Who the hell are you anyway?!"

She huffed. "Yeah...it'd probably be a good idea for someone to take me to the hospital wing. This goop crap is still kind of burning." Hopefully someone would actually listen to her.

Thomas' eyes went wide for a moment when Kiki showed up to. She was going to be his plan buddy for getting Sami, but he hadn't seen her for a while. "Hi Kiki." He said quietly, feeling like he should be more reclusive after his outburst. He let out a giant sigh of relief when Kiki didn't think it was him too, if she did then he would likely just give up altogether, it would mean just about everyone he had met either hated him or disliked him. He felt extremely thankful when Kiki didn't change her mind either, and continued to berate Emilia.

At Kiki mentioning some goop was on her arm and it felt like it was burning, he bit his lip anxiously. "I-I'll take you to the Hospital Wing if you want..." he said, though he wasn't sure whether to offer. Brianna and Anthony would likely not take it kindly... It might be his chance to apologise to Anthony as well though.

Emily nonchalantly listened to all this gibberish...it didn't concern her. She smeared the paste counterpart on the door and pulled another of the four she had received out of her pocket. 'Here,' she said. 'Rub this on your hands; it won't burn anymore. It's the only way to cure it.' She handed it to Thomas and stood there, hoping that they would answer kindly...though she didn't really deserve it.

Bri listened to what Tom had to say and felt a little bad for immediately pouncing on him. It was possible that it wasn't his doing that nearly had them stuck in there but he hadn't exactly built up any trust in her by sending Anthony back to the Hospital Wing. Still, she didn't say anything to him. Kyra was in need of the Hospital Wing herself and she didn't want to get into what was bound to be a long discussion with Tom until she was safely with a healer.

The unknown girl offered up some tube of stuff for Kyra. "Don't take it," she advised. "She apparently tried to get us shut in there so I doubt it would help, especially since none of us know what that goop was, least of all those two since they don't even know what I'm talking about."

Impossible was probably the correct word to use for how the Slytherin girl would know what had gotten on Kyra without being there, without seeing it, and just so happened to have an antidote of some kind on hand.

"Come on, I'll take you to the Hospital Wing," she said to Kyra, still holding her robes away from her and sticking close to Kyra so she could try to help if something else happened along the way.

'Okay,' Emily said. 'I can see you don't believe me, so I'll confess: I put the paste on the door. Seriously. It can do some pretty weird stuff to yer skin-' Emily cleared her throat; some of her native Cockney had escaped '-so mind put that counterpart on real quick. I'm not fooling you, I swear it on the grave of my parents.' Emily chided herself harshly for being such a bloody idiot; she was going to turn into a true Slytherin soon if she didn't watch it. 'Please, Kyra, Brianna, won't ye believe me?' There's that bloody Cockney again, Emily thought exasperatedly.