Admiring the view...

"You think Scorpius is uncommon, try pronouncing Andromeda when you're a five year old. Kids can be pretty cruel, they don't tend to improve much as they get older" she said this all very tongue in cheek as she motioned with her left hand in the direction infront of them.
"The stairs is this way. So you're new here?"
she was terrified of asking where he had transferred from incase he said the school she absolutely dreaded more than anything else in the world. Feeling as if she was glowing from the unaccostumed praise he seemed to be doling out to her, Andromeda merely smiled though she knew damn well inside she was doing somersaults. Confident, she hadn't displayed any real confidence since she left this school early last year. She couldn't tell if he was teasing her or not, playing with her just for the fun of it. It certainly wouldn't have been the first time she was the butt of some boys joke.
"I'm not being nosey I hope but what class are you in?" she began to walk steadily in the direction she had indicated.
 
Scorpius arranged his face to be sympathetic as he walked along side her. "But surely you have lots of friends now? You're young, attractive, and a prefect! You must be one of the most popular girls in your house." Judging by the girl's attitude, however, he thought that he might be wrong. "Although I suppose that being a prefect might be cause for a few enemies to emerge, as well."

He nodded. "This is my first day. I transferred from Europe. Family troubles, you know? And I'm in Slytherin, fourth year."
 
The fact was Andromeda was very popular, had been since her first year at Hogwarts. Her housemates loved her and she had made plenty of other friends in various houses too. It was just this year she seemed to be pushing them all away, luckily for her they were all stubborn and knew what she had been through or at least a synopsised version of it and all seemed determined to bring their 'Andy' back on track.

A gentle smile teased her lips as she listed off in her head her wonderful friends here, she really didn't think she had any enemies unless the first year who had stormed off after calling her Andro had suddenly become one.
"I have about as many friends as any girl should have"
she smiled enigmatically at him, it was strange how he looked beside her. The two must look some sight as they walked along the corridor, she was pale tall with red hair and amber eyes and he was tall, pale with almost whitish blond hair and silvery eyes. It was like a blend of gold and silver walking along the corridor. The comparison brought another smile until she heard him say he had transferred from Europe. She didn't mind he was a Slytherin there were quite a few who were genuinely great students, she was glad in a way he hadn't said Durmstrang outright, though now it plagued her a little.

Surely she would have remembered his face though, if he was fourth year then he would certainy have been among the third year group who had attended the dark arts classes where she was the 'show and tell piece'. She had memorised each of their faces and had no recollection of any boy who looked like the one beside her now.
"I'm sorry to hear you have family troubles, they're fairly universal aren't they?"
she chanced a glance at him again, goodness knew she had family troubles herself, "It must be daunting for you though, starting a new school after the school year has started. Do you know anyone here?"
 
As they walked, Scorpius tried to pay the route more attention, so that he could come back up here again without getting lost again. He knew that it would take him a while, though. The corridors just looked all so similar! He frowned as they passed a portrait that he recognized. Had he seen it on the way up, or where there two of the same picture?

"I usually get on very well with my parents-"
he stopped. He never talked about anything personal, unless it was to his own advantage. He cursed himself and smiled again, changing the subject. "How far away are we now, do you know?"
 
Andromeda heard the hesitancy in his voice after only mentioning his parents, she didn't pry. If she could help it she would gladly disown her own mother and just pretend her step-father didn't exist at all.

"We're not far at all, think of it like a one way system. Once you come off the stairs you keep to the right, it all works like a grid. Tell you what if you still can't get the hang of it by next week, I have a map I did back in first year when I was searching for the room of requirement with a few friends. The map got pretty detailed but I don't need it anymore, never found the room either" it was the first time in what felt like an age that Andromeda had begun to waffle. It was an old habit one she only ever did if she was either extremely nervous or totally comfortable. She couldn't make up her mind which one it was at that point but it felt good to just ramble again.

"Just around this corner actually" he's obviously dying to get away from you now.
 
Scorpius nodded, finally understanding, and had he been with anyone but a prefect would perhaps have felt a little silly for having not figured it out himself. He knew that he wouldn't need a map after this - he'd pay close attention next time so that he didn't get lost, in order to avoid embarrassment. However, he thought that asking for the map would give him a good excuse to talk to her sometime again.

He smiled at her as they approached the mentioned corner. "Thank you very much, Andromeda,"
he said as they turned it. He knew where he was now, and recognized the huge set of stairs before them. "Perhaps we could search for the Room of Requirements together some time?"

There had been a Room of Requirements at his old school - his father had told him how to find it - and he wondered if there really was one at this school too, or if Andromeda and her friends had just been spurred on by false rumor.
 
As they turned the corner with the stairs now in full view, Andromeda knew he would be fine from here. She couldn't very well take him by the hand and insist on walking him down to the dungeons, no matter how appealing that thought was. A brief mischievous smile played across her pale features at the sheer notion of just taking his hand and doing just that.

She turned to face him.
"You're welcome Scorpius, any time" she was actually delighted when he suggested they might look for the room themselves sometime and smiled directly at him, her amber eyes almost molten in their sockets now, "You know attempting to find that room wasn't much of a priority back in first year though it was fun, so yeah maybe we could search for it sometime together".

Stepping back so she was now leaning against the bannister rail, she glanced down the seemingly never ending stair case.
"Shame you couldn't just hover down there, those stairs can be a bit of a nightmare but they sure do keep a person fit" she smiled knowing it was time to say goodbye before she made a fool of herself infront of him.
 
Scorpius returned Andromeda's smile, and then followed her gaze to the staircase. "I should have brought my broom," he joked as he walked past her. He paused on the top step, and turned back to where she stood. "Thanks again, it was a real pleasure meeting you," he said, smiling. "Hunt me down when you feel like looking for that room." He turned away with a wave over his shoulder, and began to descend the stairs.
 
Andromeda couldn't help but smile when he said to hunt him down, for some mad reason her brain began calculating out the next full moon and with a mischievous gleam in her eyes and maybe way too many over pumped hormones she quietly muttered to herself.
"Oh, I will" she hadn't felt this intrigued about a boy in a long time, had never before had the notion to even entertain such a preposterous concept as some boy actually liking her, maybe she was reading too much into the smile he had given her or the compliments he had paid her. When a girl wasn't used to that sort of thing, it was bound to go directly to her head. She waved back knowing that he wouldn't see anyhow and turning from the stairs walked back down through the seventh floor corridor to the Gryffindor common room. Humming as she went and enjoying it.
 

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