Open A Marvellous Place to be Lost

[Deepa Pillai]

Open after Seren!

Deepa did have a map, yes. Had she remembered to take it out of her bag before she went off exploring the castle? Not exactly. All right, so she'd thought about bringing it - she hadn't really forgotten - but after making her way to the great hall three times she'd arrogantly assumed she no longer needed it. As it turned out, the castle was full of passageways that went round and round; corridors led off to nowhere, or turned up in unexpected places; doors weren't always placed where they should have been. And then there was the staircase. It was very easy to turn around and go back the way she'd come without even realising it. After an hour or so of this, she was beginning to get tired, and, though she was loathe to admit it, a teeny tiny bit worried. Would she ever get back to the common room? She would have asked somebody for directions, but that would have been embarrassing, and she couldn't spot anybody she recognised from sorting.

Leaning on a random door, she found herself suddenly in a large, open room filled with cabinets and tables, upon which hundreds of trophies stood glittering proudly in the early evening light. There were trophies for Quidditch, and house points, and competitions and contests and just about everything else. Glancing over her shoulder to ensure she was alone, she picked up one of the Quidditch trophies, wondering what it would be like to see her own name on it one day. A ghost of a thrill travelled through her, and she thrust the cup in the air as if she had just secured a victory for Gryffindor. As she indulged in the fantasy, she grew more and more excited, jumping up and down and racing around the room with the trophy lifted above her head, cheering in a stage whisper as she showed her prize off to all her imaginary new fans.

 

[Seren Dipity]

Seren was wandering the corridors, at least that's what she called being hopelessly lost. She had been lost so regularly the last few days that she embraced it and used the time to explore the castle in greater detail. After all, Hogwarts had made her life far more interesting than she would have expected. Indeed, interesting was an understatement. She had never been anywhere like Hogwarts in all her life, with its talking portraits, changing staircases, and trick doors to name a few features of this magical place.

The discovery of trick doors was interesting and triggered Seren to start trying every door she came across to see if it was real or not. And if it did open, she hoped to find hidden delights behind it. Seren tried the next door and found it to be real and also unlocked. She peeked inside before entering and looking around at lots of shiny stuff. Well polished shields and trophies lined the shelves and cabinets of the large room. She looked closer at a particular cup and was reading the label when her eye caught a flicker reflected in the shiny metal. She turned around quickly.

Seren was not alone in the Trophy Room. She watched with an entertained smile as another girl circled the room with a trophy held above her head. Seren giggled, clapping her hands together and cheering. "Woop! Yeah! You go girl!" She cheered merrily. The other girl looked so happy and Seren was glad to see that.

 

[Tyler Lee]

Tyler liked to be prepared, so he had decided to explore the castle as soon as he got the chance. No one would catch him wandering around lost after a few weeks, as he worked hard to memorize where everything was. He was glad the Slytherin common room was close to the Great Hall, it meant there was less chance of him getting lost on his way to a meal or party. He just needed to know on which floors all the important places were, like classrooms or places students could spend their free time. On the third floor, the Hospital Wing was certainly something to keep in his mind, but it wasn’t the only place of interest. As the boy passed the trophy room, he felt a surge of curiosity which made him step inside. He liked sports, but wasn’t a big fan of Quidditch. He would like to see if the school had any awards for athletic achievements that had nothing to do with Quidditch. He stepped inside and quietly marveled at the many trophies and plaques the room contained, all proof of past victories and achievements. It was a little sad to think almost every person whose name was in here had graduated by now, and probably already forgotten about whatever it was they had done at school.

But the boy wasn’t alone in the trophy room. His attention was quickly caught by a girl who had her hands on one of the trophies and was jumping up and down, racing around and pretending to cheer. He couldn’t help it. He snorted. Another girl was also there, apparently encouraging this behavior. Tyler thought it was rather silly, and honestly a bit ridiculous. He would definitely tell Blake about this later. “You must be quite special, winning something for the school only a few days in.” He told the girl with a slight smile. He recognized her from the sorting ceremony, so knew the trophy couldn’t possibly be hers. “I do wonder if students are allowed to just pick up any old trophy and play around with them, especially when they didn’t do anything to win them.” His tone was light, and he didn’t say she would get in trouble, but the implication was there. The smile stayed on his face, remaining friendly even though his words weren’t.

 

[Deepa Pillai]

Hearing somebody else in the room, Deepa jumped so hard she nearly tripped over a table leg. Under usual circumstances, she might have revelled in the cheering and attention - even asked the girl to join in - but as it was, she was embarrassed to have been caught and angry that she hadn't heard the girl enter. Deepa opened her mouth to ask whether the girl always sneaked up on people when she realised somebody else had come in, too. This boy also had something to say, and it was so snarky and rude that suddenly the girl could have been Deepa's best friend. "They wouldn't be here if we weren't allowed to touch them," Deepa said, seeing no fault in her logic. "Anyway, this is my sister's, isn't it?" She looked at the blonde girl, hoping she would play along.

 

[Seren Dipity]

Seren felt bad for disturbing the girl and embarrassing her. It certainly had not been the intention. She regretted cheering in the first place, to be made worse by a boy coming in and telling them what they should, or shouldn't be doing with the trophies. Seren did not think that this was fair, the boy looked the same age and clearly not a prefect or teacher. A fire roared in Seren's belly and she felt she couldn't hold her tounge with this one.

She rolled her eyes and looked at the boy, her arms folded around eachother. "Oh? I don't see any hands off signs." She commented, "And you heard her, that trophy has family ties. She's at perfect liberty to celebrate her sisters achievements if she wants to. What's it to you?"

 

[Tyler Lee]

Tyler snorted as the girl nearly tripped and watched as she noticed his presence. She saved herself well, he had to admit, but this was still embarrassing for her. They both knew it. "Maybe we're allowed to." He said with a shrug. "But it is pretty weird, isn't it?" He shrugged casually before looking at the blond girl, who seemed to feel the need to defend the other girl. Tyler rolled his eyes at her, giving her a dismissive look. "Sure, she is at liberty to jump around like an idiot holding a trophy that's not hers, but that doesn't mean I can't comment on it." He told her with a smile. He glanced back at the first girl. "Even if that is your sister's, I don't think that makes it any less embarrassing. You're still using someone else's accomplishments to make yourself feel better." He shrugged. "I'd be pretty embarrassed if I was caught doing something like this. Good on you that you're above that, apparently." He concluded with a small smile.

 

[Deepa Pillai]

Deepa smirked as the girl, whose name she suddenly remembered was Seren, stuck up for her. She was fast beginning to forgive Seren for sneaking up on her and causing her a little bit of embarrassment. She was definitely the kind of girl Deepa wanted to be friends with. Her smirk quickly fell, however, as the Slytherin proceeded to humiliate her, carefully choosing his words to make sure they stung as much as possible. What a jerk - a complete and utter raging, salty jerk! What had Deepa ever done to him? Her cheeks burned with embarrassment, and, realising that was exactly what he wanted her to feel, she harnessed the adrenaline and turned it into fury. But before she could think of some quick riposte to make him feel stupid, she found herself marching across the room towards him. When she was close enough, she lunged, shoving his shoulders with all her strength. "You're the one who's embarrassing!" she shouted. "Come on, then - fight me, if you want to fight. Or are you too embarrassed to be beaten up by a girl? "

 

[Seren Dipity]

Seren did not agree with the Slytherin boy's opinions and did not think that his delivery was constructive or fair. It was unkind, and and a lot of fuss over nothing. He had the problem, not Deepa, and Seren needed her fellow Gryffindor to know that before she made a big mistake.

Seren stepped forward and placed a firm hand on Deepa's shoulder. "Hey, hey! Fighting about it won't solve anything. He just has an opinion. Remember, opinions are like one of these..." She pointed to her own backside, this was a tactic to draw the Gryffindors eyes away from the boy. "Everyone has one, but that certainly doesn't mean that we want to hear it." She flashed a quick glare at the boy, annoyed that his attempt to provoke had worked, then set her eyes back on the girl. "And wouldn't you agree that most of them stink anyway?" Seren's lips curved into a smile as the analogy wafted around the room. She pinched her nose, "His really does stink, I can smell it a mile off and it's toxic! Come on, I don't think we should stand so close." Seren hoped that this diffusion would work for Deepa, but she couldn't guarantee how the boy would react to being shoved.

 

[Tyler Lee]

Tyler could tell his words had the intended effect, and really it was her own fault for doing something so stupid. But he hadn't expected the girl to march over to him and attack him. She shoved him back, which made him stumble a bit. Tyler frowned. "I never said I wanted to fight." He said, pushing her away from him without shoving her. "I'm not fighting a girl." He added dismissively. "And I'm not fighting over something so stupid. It's not my fault you did something dumb." He glanced at the other girl, who was trying to make the peace. Her way of talking was ridiculous, though, and he laughed at her silly little ramble about opinions. It sounded childish to his ears, and he wasn't going to let that be unsaid. "Amazing, did your mum tell you that when you were being picked on at school?" He mocked, shaking his head. "Some people's opinions do matter, that's not something you can deny. I'm not saying mine does, but you're just delusional if you truly believe this baby crap." He snorted, but subtly took a step away from both girls in the direction of the door. "You two seem perfect for each other, so I don't really see a reason to stick around. I thought the trophy room would be interesting, but maybe I should come when there's less... immaturity." He rolled his eyes to punctuate is words.

 

[Deepa Pillai]

Feeling Seren's hand on her shoulder, Deepa stopped to reflect on what she was doing. She didn't really want to be in trouble for fighting in her first week at school, but then this boy was just so obnoxious - he deserved it! Seren had a strange way of attempting to de-escalate the situation, but to her credit, Deepa was incredibly distracted. A smirk formed on her lips. Comparing the boy to his stupid opinions was really kind of clever. Seren had totally humiliated him. Or at least, Deepa thought she had; when she looked back at him, he hardly seemed phased at all. In fact, he appeared to find the whole thing hilarious. Deepa clenched her fists. Don't do it, she warned herself, running through the consequences again in her mind. But they all seemed so insignificant compared to the satisfaction she would get from punching him. As he took a small step away, she took a small step back. "Well, we're going to be here for a while, so... bye," she said, shooing him with a small motion of the hand. "Run along."

 

[Seren Dipity]

Seren bit her lip, there was no way this boy could have known her mother was dead, or that she had been homeschooled, and she had no intention of revealing such intel. "Actually no, not either of those." Seren nodded in agreement when the boy said his opinion doesn't matter, and she also agreed with him that some do. "Of course, we can choose the opinions we take on board, some are helpful. It's the toxic ones we need to avoid sooo see yah!" She stood beside Deepa and joined in waving the bully away.

She turned back to Deepa, "Are you okay? Did you want to resume running around like a loon with a trophy?"

 

[Tyler Lee]

While Tyler found it amusing he had managed to anger the one girl so much, he was glad the other girl had stopped her from actually trying to shove him or anything. He really didn't want to fight a girl. He glanced between the two girls dismissively. "Have fun behaving like idiots together then." He said with another roll of his eyes. Without giving them any more attention, he turned and left the trophy room. Some of the students in his year really were still so childish.