Adventure is not for the Hufflepuffs

[Rhiannon Archer]

it was an absolutely ordinary wednesday evening. Rhiannon wouldn't be able to tell you something unordinary about it if you asked her and being one who couldn't lie you must know that was the truth, at least for her. Well it would have been an absolutely ordinary evening if she took out of the equation that she had just had dinner when the food had just appeared and vanished from the plates in the great hall and she had just been doing some charms homework. but after over a month in Hogwarts castle that had sort of become the norm. She was heading up to the common room. she had a book she wanted to read about transfiguration rules as it had interested her when Professor Davenshire had spoken about it in class.
Rhiannon Walked up a set of stirs it wasn't her normal way up she had seen several students go up a back passage way and she had thought it must be a quicker way up to hufflepuff house as if she tried to remember who it was going through the door they always seemed to be in the common room when she got there. Tonight she went though the small side door and saw a short passageway that soon turned into some stairs up ahead she could just about see someone making the same path. she followed not quickly just quickly enough so she didn't loose them. the stairs turned a couple of times and it was a few minutes ofter this turn that she realised that she had lost them. she walked a little quicker trying to catch up with them she reached a landing and realised she was in an empty corridor. one that she didn't recognise from her classes. judging by the names o the doors it may have been the defence against the dark arts corridor.
She walked along it. her pace quickening as a suit of armer was looking at her and giving her the creeps. she started up the stairs on the other end of the corridor they were one of the sets that all intercrossed. she had managed to get half way up it when she felt it start to wobble. she grabbed on to the hand rail as she realised that the stairs were about to move. looking back she saw someone else "Do you know where this is going?" she asked nervously not sure who it was who was there but hoping that they knew where they were going as she sure did not.

 

[Rafael Fedorowicz]

The sorting hat was categorical a month ago. Rafael was belonging to the house of Helga Hufflepuff and he was indeed a wizard. The boy's insecurity had laid seeds of doubt about whether he was a wizard like his father or a muggle like his mother. Even when the patched hat placed him in a house, proving he was unmistakably a wizard, he had still to cast a spell successfully or do well in a class. He had yet to adapt to his new environment, his new home. Not necessarily because he wasn't really adaptable but because he was losing easily his bearings. His new home wasn't contributing in a positive way either. It was a complex building with numerous stairs, long corridors and secret passages which seemed to be there one day and the next one gone. Afraid he was going to get lost, Rafael used to follow Hufflepuff prefects or other older students in order to get to the common room. It seemed that everyone had their own route because he had never followed the same one after a month and Rafael could swear that the moving staircase was meant to make his life miserable by making him go up to the astronomy tower to find his way from there to the fourth floor.

That wednesday evening, Rafael was at the Great Hall for dinner. While appeasing his hunger, he was keeping an eye for the prefects, ready to follow them when they were going to leave for the common room. Not quite done with his meal, he grabbed a couple of cauldron cakes before leaving the Great Hall, hot on their heels. To his misfortune students had swarmed up at the entrance hall, making him meander through the crowd and in the end lose them. Trying not to lose his cool, he looked around him still holding the cauldron cakes from the great hall to finally spot another first year Hufflepuff. Although he hadn't a chat yet with the girl, he had seen her before around common room and classes. He figured out she was heading to their common room as well so he let a sigh of relief and followed her closely as she climbed up the stairs.

Rafael wasn't sure if the girl was following someone else as well. Her pace emanated confidence and determination. These were signs that earned Rafael's trust. She led him into series of new corridors, passageways and doors, recurring landmarks all around the castle that weren't making much difference to him but at the same time his gut feeling was telling him that he had never ventured this part of the castle.
She seems to know the way, relax. he reassured himself and took a bite from his cauldron cake. A few moments later he was following her in a corridor, armor arranged against the walls. His alerted eyes were darting from armor to armor each time an armor was turning its attention on his with a screech. He quickened his pace as well when he noticed his fellow Hufflepuff doing so. He sure didn't want to be left behind with the company of these animate pieces of steel. He kept looking over his shoulder as they were leaving this corridor behind them. He only noticed he had climbed again stairs when those started to move.

He yelped and released the cauldron cakes from his hands as they went automatically for the hand rails. Once again the staircase had different plans deciding to choose another route for them. He wished the girl was still well oriented but the look she gave him as she turned around make him figure out that this wasn't the case. "What do you mean? I though you knew where you were going. I was just following you." he replied as nervously as the girl. The staircase stopped in front of the new corridor with Rafael having no idea even on which floor they were currently. He looked down, over the hand rail to see the stairs bellow them. "It seems we passed the fourth floor." he said while trying to figure out how many floors they were above the ground floor. "Maybe we should head downstairs." he suggested with conspicuous uncertainty. He climbed up the remaining stairs before him and reached the new corridor. It was pitch black as if it hasn't been visited for days or maybe years. "Do you reckon we should venture through here?" he asked her. He didn't want to make the choice for them when he was fearing he could misguide them.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

Rhiannon released that the person who was beneath her on the stairs was a boy who she had had soe classes with. and who she recognised from the common room. in other words he was another first year hufflepuff. Once the stairs stopped moving she let the boy catch up to her. "you thought i knew where i was going? I was following an older student but lost them" She admitted. looking up. "somehow i don't fancy going past the creepy armer again so lets see what's up there" she said it seemed that the had had the same idea as he too was climbing the stairs. they reached the landing and saw that it was a dark corridor. "we may be past the fourth floor but hopefully we will be able to find another way down" she took out her wand and held it out. she had practiced this spell before but not properly. "Lamus" she said nothing happened. "Loomso" still nothing. "Oh, what was it? Lumas" she tried. not quite she closed her eyes trying to picture the page of the book. she could see the writing as a blur. she tried to focus her memory, that was it "Lumos" she said sure this time with that the end lit up like a torch. helping to illuminate this corridor she took a step forward the floorboard creaked underneath her feet. she tried to ignore it and pretend it was like the floors at aunt Brige's house which also creaked when there was a storm coming. "I am Rhi. It's good to meet you" she said talking to hide her trepidation at the thought of the dark corridor. she had never been a huge fan of dark. It wasn't the dark its self that cared her. She was fine with it in familiar places like her bedroom. i was more the unknown. that could be lurking in the places she couldn't see.
"how are you liking Hogwarts? other than the creepy corridors" she said continuing talking as she walked. Once she was about half way down the corridor and looked at the boy. "there seems to be another set of stairs here. they look dark do you want to give them a try? or see what is at the end" she said her scottish accent getting stronger like it did when she was annoyed or feeling some other emotion. in this case a little scared. she directed the beam of light towards the stairs. they were a tight spiral and they went both ways. sure they looked unused but maybe it would get them back to civilisation.

 

[Rafael Fedorowicz]

Rafael was now regretting following the girl. He should had stuck to the plan and not trust another first year. Now there was no reason to to think about it. They should find their way back before curfew or they could get into trouble. Perhaps if they were going to work this out together, the could find their way back in no time. At least I'm not the only one who gets lost in this maze, he remained positive by thinking he wasn't the only misfit here. "Me neither." he shook his head. The girl was absolutely right. He wasn't fond of returning back from where the came from, although where they were considering to head to wasn't any better. The darkness in the corridor before them looked like it was anticipating to gulp them in an abyss of unknown.

He glanced at the girl next to him who was trying to remember the illuminating spell. Now which was the incantation? Rafael couldn't remember it although he had been seeing his father casting for a lifetime now.
"Oh, try Lomus!" he exclaimed, not really sure about what he had suggested a few seconds later. Embarrassed he watched as the girl finally found the right incantation and her wand lit up like a beacon in blackness. He didn't even consider to get his own wand out of his pocket and cast the spell. He wasn't yet confident enough to cast a spell and deep inside him hoped that the girl wouldn't ask him to do so. The light from her wand revealed the grin shaping on his face as he realized they hadn't properly introduced.
"I'm Rafael. You can call me Raf if you want. It's good to meet you too." he said, really meaning his last phrase. He was glad he wasn't alone in this dark corridor and she was with him.

Fortunately Rhi decided to initiate a conversation or they were going to keep walking in silence. Rafael could be social but only when someone else was helping him to be. "Erm, it's alright I guess but why so big?" he managed to express what he was wondering for a month now. "At least they could have provided us with a map. I swear this place changes all the time." he asserted, thinking that Rhi might have noticed that as well and he wasn't going crazy. "How about you?" he asked her in return. He didn't want silence to creep in again so he tried to keep on the chit chat. But then Rhi tossed the weight of choice on his shoulders as they reached an intersection. The light of her wand shed on a set of spiral stairs and she asked his opinion of whether they should venture this way or not. They both lingered before the dusty staircase for a few moments like they were expecting a ghoul to emerge out of the darkness and charge at them. Come on Raf, don't be a chicken, he pressed himself mentally and clenched his teeth. He didn't want the girl to sense his fear.

After a few moments that felt like eons, he took a courageous step forwards and set a foot on the first stair. "Let's see if this one will get us somewhere." he made his decision and started climbing the spiral stairs, his hands searching blindly in front of him as he took the lead with girl's light behind him. He shuddered as spider webs seemed to have tangled between his fingers but he didn't utter a world. "Do you like any classes so far?" his voice came out a bit shaky as he imagined spiders crawling in front of his feet.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

Rhiannon was feeling nurvous walking down the dark corridor. the megre light from her wand was no where near enough to lift the musty blanket smothering her. the floor continued to creak and she thought she heard something move in an alcove. she turned her wand in that direction and saw that there didn't seem to be anything there other than a door and that was ajar it just seemed to be blowing slightly in the slight draft. "Raf, nice name. Rhi is short for Rhiannon. would have been better if we had met in a slightly less creepy place, but i am glad I'm not lost here all on my own." she said. she tried to ignore the sound of the door banging against the frame. she was glad that she had the distraction of the conversation. "It is a good school i think, though i have not exactly experienced magic before, but you are right, it is too big" she said. "a map would have been really useful. i don't know how it would keep up with the constant changing of the stairs" she said. they had just both felt first hand proof that the castle changed its self. she saw the boy make his way to the stairs. she wasn't sure if she waited to go down them but she didn't have much chance to change her mind as she had given him the option and she was pretty sure this would be the quickest way to the common room. she followed a few stairs behind him trying to angle her wand so that its light illuminated the stairs as best as she could.
she felt a few spiders webs wrap themselves around her hand but she didn't mind it much much after it a she knew that the spiders here weren't too dangerous. "I am finding the classes really interesting. I am really quite enjoying charms, and I think transfiguration sounds really interesting." she said. all of the subjects interested her, the least interesting she was finding to be a history of magic but that was because of the essays they had to write she thought of the one that she was still having to do on the salem witch trials and that made her grimace, se had never been good at writing essays. "how are you finding them" she said as they went down the stairs. she had a feeling they wee going too far but in the castle distances did have a tendency of feeling different and there was no way out and she didn't want admit to getting them lost twice in one evening. "Did you know of magic before you got the letter accepting you into the school or are you like me who knew nothing of magic?" she asked. the mist of magic she had know of were card tricks or in books and movies. however she had heard some people say they were something called pure blood which meant that their parents were also wizards or something.

 

[Rafael Fedorowicz]

Rafael started feeling a little bit braver with each blind step he was taking in the dark.
While Rhi was sharing the same view about the enormity of the castle, he was keep reminding to himself that nothing was hiding in the blackness. What was there in the day light was also now but he couldn't see it. It was not like anything dangerous would be let to dwell inside the castle so there was no reason of concern.
The more he was listening the girl talking, the more he was getting the impression she might was a muggle-born. In the end Rhi just confirmed his suspicions by asking him if he was aware of magic before receiving his letter.
"Yes. I knew all about magic before coming here. My father is a wizard so all the hocus pocus stuff were a part of our everyday life. My mother still hasn't get used to it after so many years." he chuckled as he was implying that his father was a wizard but his mother a muggle, making him a half-blood.
"You seem to like the hard stuff. I guess they are alright but I have found delight in herbology classes. I find interesting this subjects and it is far easier to find the greenhouses outside the -whoa!-" his sentence came short as he missed a step in the dark and almost fell down.

His reflexes were in a good shape and he managed to grab the handrail to his right and prevent himself from falling down the stairs.
"I'm alright. I'm good. Just be careful, it seems to be slippery from here on." he took his next step carefully. It looked like the stairs were greased or something. He couldn't see as Rhi's light was behind him but he could guess it was mold, caused maybe from humidity. His confidence was boosted significantly from the moment they got lost. To this had contributed Rhi when she told him she was a muggle-born.
If she could do it, I can do it as well, he thought determined and searched for his wand in his pockets.
"Lumos!" he recalled the spell that Rhiannon casted before and to his surprise he saw an orb of light bursting out of his wand tip.
"I did it!" he exclaimed spontaneously. "I mean, of course I did it. I've done it before a lot of times." he hurried to clarify. He didn't want the girl to believe he was useless.

Now that his wand was bestowing light and he had managed to cast successfully his very first spell, he was afraid of nothing. He was actually feeling like exploring but the time wasn't right. For now he was going to reduce his enthusiasm and just find his way back to the common room. He lowered his wand to point at the ground and the light shined on the highly polished surface of the floor.
"This doesn't look natural." he commented as the stairs, leading to another closed door, were covered with a slippery substance. In any case, Rafael carefully descended the last steps until he reached the landing. He hoped Rhiannon was going to be careful as well. "We should carry on." he said as he waited for her in front of the heavy double door.
"Let's push together. On the count of three. One...two...three..."

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

Rhiannon walked lowly down the stairs one hand on the hand rail they were steep, uneaven and in a tight spiral. soon her head was going around in circles spinning like a top. at least it was a circle circles were her favourite shape, it they were her favourite shape. she listened to the conversation as she went. he had one parent as a wizard. "wow. magic at home. I bet you never had to do the dishes" she said. At one point she almost lost her footing on a step that had a big lump in it. she was lucky she was holding onto the hand rail. it was a few more circles down that she saw raf stop and light his own wand. that was good for her as then she could light her own feet not both of theirs often leaving her own in shadow. "of course you have done it before. and if you haven't its impressive you got it right first time. i have been practising and it has still taking me five attempts." she said making him feel better.
she kept going, 113 stairs so far. that was about four and a half floors she had worked out that the castle had flights of stairs in pairs of two of thirteen except for between the second and third floor where the flights were twelve this meant that they had gone about four floors. they kept going. she kept counting. "we must be at the ground floor by now" she said eventually. it was barely a few steps later that she saw Far stumble. she didn't say anything he hadn't done when she had almost tripped. however a few steps later she saw that had happened the steps had gone from rough cut stone to slippery stone. as if they were covered with a slippery substance. she stopped and slipped her feet over it testing it, she couldn't tell it was just wet and oily. it smelt like sunflower oil. "it looks natural but not naturally here" she said. as they slowed down through the next thirteen stairs until they reached a door. "apparently the lower levels only have single flight stairs" she said more to herself than raf. she hadn't been below the ground floor yet.
the door indent of them was a large wooden one that looked heavy. she went beside raf ad got ready to push it. three, two, one she heard and pushed on time to go. the door didn't budge. then she realised there was a latch by her elbow. she unlatched it as she pushed and fell forward landing on her knees on the floor. she looked up and saw a lot of little creatures standing around her. "was mistress hungry and want some food" they asked she looked around making eye contact with raf to try and get some reassurance as to what thease things were, she had never seen one before. "where are we" she asked looking around it looked like some sort of large room with long tables in the middle.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Until the end of his first week at Hogwarts, Perseas was familiar with the majority of Hogwarts secret areas and passageways. It was the main reason, along with his sneakiness, for not being caught just yet while he was wandering around the castle after curfew, orchestrating one of his mischief. Until the end of his first month at Hogwarts, Perseas had managed to find an unexpected bunch of house elves as his closest partners in crime. The young cub was blessed with the gift of eloquentness. Just a few minutes around the kitchen's hard-working house elves and he had earned their trust. Since then he had been using the kitchens as a headquarter, a place where he could both scheme and have food whenever he wanted. He hadn't realize it yet but he was actually returning back to the kitchens in order to feel so welcomed by the creatures. It was the first time someone was showing such an enthusiasm for seeing him around but that could be explained easily as he hadn't yet played a prank on them. Not that he was planning to do so. He had grown fond of them and besides, he was targeting someone else.

The good thing with these house elves was that they weren't asking too much questions. They were too eager to assist him even when he was requesting something extraordinary like now. Someone would have wondered why Perseas might needed sunflower oil but the house elves had supplied him already with two large, leather flasks. "That would do. Thanks." he bowed to the house elf who had supplied him with the extra sunflower oil he had requested. He put the strap of the second leather flask over his shoulder and turned around buffled. He noticed that most house elves were no longer around him. He followed them to the kitchens back door were they were welcoming two newcomers with treats. He glanced the girl and the boy through shifty eyes. They seemed to have ended up there by accident as he heard them wondering where they were.

"You just found Hogwarts' kitchens." he swaggered among the house elves as he was their rightful master or king. There was a hint of irritation on his face as his 'lair' was just intruded. It might was jealousy as his trusted troop of house elves had turned its attention to the intruders offering them their hospitality. Perseas eyed the boy. It was the first time seeing him but the girl was reminding of something. When he realized she was the girl from charms class, a smirk crossed his features and the grey of his eyes filled with the spark of mischief.

"I know you!" he said, fixing the straps of the flasks on his shoulders. He had remembered the girl from his classes. While learning to levitate a feather seemed such a trivial task for him, he had decided to mess around with her and steal her practising feather. "Sorry for ruining your time back at class. I'm Perseas and these guys are Hogwarts' house elves." he introduced both himself and the house elves which had started piling all around the boy and the girl, either to offer them food or out of sheer curiosity. "What brings you here?" he asked them, wondering if he could help them. The slightest irritation he might had a few moments ago was already casted away as he could already sense the start of a possible adventure.

 

[Rafael Fedorowicz]

The double door creaked as the two first year hufflepuffs pushed it. Rafael used his shoulder to apply extra force against the heavy wood and suddenly light escaped from inside the new room. The door revealed a spacious room full of boiling cauldrons and house elves moving around. The scent of freshly cooked food was wafting through the room and although Rafael was full from the dinner he had a little while ago, he felt his stomach growling again. He could tell where they had just ended up but before he was able to utter a word and explain to Rhi, someone or something grabbed his hands. He looked down and a few house elves were filling his hands already with cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties. "Oh no, no, no, it's alright. I don't want to take your food." he tried to refuse politely. He thought it was theirs to eat and he had already eaten to take their food. It was an act of selflessness from his part but the offended faces of the house elves were showing they had perceived it differently. "I mean, mmm, yummy! Who can say no to house elves' treats?" he tried to make up. As he let his hands fill with treats, smiles returned back on elves' faces.

Instead of him, another boy answered Rhi's question. The stranger appeared from somewhere in the background and walked among the house elves. He wasn't looking pleased with their presence. He was talking like this was his stash and the elves his faithful minions. Rafael got intimidated by the boy's arrogance and flinched when the grey eyes locked on him for a moment. His brown ones preferred to avoid eye contact and focus on the house elves which kept supplying him with food. Rafael had never met the boy before but this wasn't the case for Rhi. Perseas, as he introduced himself, seemed to recognize her from charms class. Rafael decided to introduce himself as well when Perseas started sounding friendlier all of a sudden. "I'm Rafael and this is Rhi." he thought it would be nice to introduce his new friend as well. "We're both Hufflepuffs and we were on our way to our common room but we somehow ended up here." he said with a nervous chuckle. Rafael wanted to say to the house elves to stop bringing more food but he was afraid he was going to let them down. He hoped they wouldn't demand to see him eating all the pile of sweets resting now in his hands.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

Rhiannon looked around and saw that there was a boy making his way across the room between the creatures. she recognised him. he was the boy from charms who had stolen her feather. "This is the kitchen. It is an amazing kitchen" she said looking around. it had a set of huge cookers, large tables for preparing. she looked back at the boy. "were you the one who put oil on the stairs? someone could have fallen and been hurt" she said, not quite realising that causing someone to fall was the point. She got up feeling about ten sets of hands pulling her up and giving her food. "I am okay thank you. I just had dinner." she said. however as they kept handing her food she took it it looked like the dorm would be having a party tonight. "you are the boy from charms" she said a little annoyance showing in her voice. however he didn't seem as annoying as as he had done in charms. "It is nice to meet you again." she said politely. "or at least nice if you weren't the one to put the oil on the stairs." she said. "thank you" she said to the elf who had just given her a box of cake and sweet food, and what looked like a flask she hoped contained hot chocolate. as well as mini sausage rolls and party pies and tomato ketchup. "so you guys are who make all of the fantastic food. Thank you very much. it is really delicious" she said. looking at them. "yes. we lost the person we were following, then the stairs moved and then we ended on a creepy landing hat led to creepy stairs that ended up here" she said. continuing the story. "how are you finding gryffingpaw." she said remembering that charms was with the red house but not quite getting the name right. just then the elves handed her a cup of apple juice and a scone already cut and spread with butter jam and cream. "thank you. but that is plenty" she said taking a tentative sip and nibble of the scone. it really was nice, she wasn't sure what kind of jam was on it but she would be having it on toast for breakfast tomorrow.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

It was the first time that Perseas had the opportunity to share something with someone else. Whenever he was trying to trust his brother with a new hideout or do something together, it was just ending up into fighting. So he had come to believe, he preferred to keep everything to himself and not sharing his discoveries. However, now that Rafael and Rhi had stepped into his little domain (he was considering it this way), he was realizing he had no problem having them around or letting them visit the place again. "Pleasure to meet you." he replied at the boy wondering why he looked so blue. "Oh you remember me! That's good." he said with his half smile as more house elves were rushing to welcome the newcomers. "I'm sorry to disappoint you but that would be me. Although it wasn't intended for you." he said, noticing they seem to be in one piece. Maybe he need to apply the extra oil he was just given if he wanted to teach his brother a lesson.

He let the house elves 'torture' them for a little bit longer as they seem to be bringing all their food supplies to them.
"Guys! Rafael and Rhi will be coming to visit you regularly. There's no reason to feed them to death tonight." he adressed the frenzy bunch of house elves. The creatures paused to glance at him and then erupted in cheers. "Clever creatures they are. They also enjoy the company of students as you can see. They were probably trying to bribe you just now in order to make you return later." he said to the boy and the girl as the house elves stopped bringing them more food. "Okay, I guess I should introduce them to you. This is Fifi and she's the chief chef of Hogwarts. She's to be blamed for the nice food we're having at the Great Hall." he said and the female house elf next to him bowed at them. "Here's Eto, Dori, Lulu, Arto, Powil, Reloto, Poppy...." he started pointing at each house elf around him, making them bow in respect to their visitors. "...Pomela, Welo, Tutu and Peana." he finished a few minutes later. He managed to remember every single name of the dozens of house elves working there, proving he had a great memory. With that, the final and shortest house elf bowed before the group of the pointy eared creatures returned back to their chores.

The three of them were left standing in front of the back door of the kitchens, the one Rhi and Rafael entered.
"Griffinpaw?" he chuckled when the girl pronounced wrongly his house. "It's Gryffindor." he corrected her, proud to be a member of that house. "It's nice! We have a really cozy common room and a great view of the grounds. The benefits of being located on the seventh floor." he smiled as he was describing briefly his common room. "I might not be a Hufflepuff but I'm pretty sure your house is not anywhere around here." he pointed out, his hands on his waist. "Do you need help? I know this castle like the back of my hand!" he sounded confident and able to take them to their destination (or at least he thought he was). He wasn't going to do it just because of his noble heart, it was a chance for a new adventure in his eyes. All he wanted to hear was an affirmative response and he was going to take them back to their common room in no time.

 

[Rafael Fedorowicz]

Rafael had no idea why someone would have spilt oil on the stairs. Even if it was intended for someone specific, it was a plan that could easily backfire. He and Rhi were lucky they hadn't fell off the stairs. He didn't say anything about it. What did mattered for Rafael was to return back to the common room as soon as possible. He didn't want to get a detention for wandering around the castle after curfew. Instead of stop wasting precious time, they were introduced to all the house elves currently in the kitchen. Rafael had to give credit to Perseas' for remembering all those names. "That's some good memory you have." he commented, wishing he was able to memorize things so easily. "Erm...nice to meet all of you." he said with an awkward smile, somewhat waveringly. There were just too many eyes fixed on him and any good manners towards the elves could make them start again bringing sweets.

Rhiannon and Perseas seemed to have started a conversation over houses. Rafael would have joined this conversation if it was taking place during a more appropriate time. He was considering to interrupt them and tell them he was going to leave. He could deal with the darkness now on his own. Casting the lumos charm successfully had boosted his confidence but still he lacked the sense of orientation. Luckily, Perseas volunteered to help them and show them the way back to Hufflepuff common room. The way he offered his help inspired security to Rafael as he sounded like he truly knew the castle well. Rafael eyed his new friend Rhiannon and wondered if she was alright with the boy helping them. He was the one to talk in the end.
"Sure! That would be great. Thanks." he sounded grateful and relieved at the same time.
"Whenever you are ready." he said, hoping he would be soon enough. He had a hunch that something was going to go wrong. Something like a professor catching them be out of bed.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

rhiannon was a little surprised at the ease that the boy was able to remember the names of all of the house elves. she tried to keep up but got lost after the seventh. "wow perseas. that is one amazing memory you have" she said a little in awe of it. though that still didn't fully compensate for his childish behaviour (especially when he as good as admitted that he was he one to cover the stairs in oil) but it was still impressive. she had been paying the new boy so much attention she hardly realised how full her hands were becoming with food until the elves were told to stop torturing them. "Thank you" she said to the eves as the last couple poppy and something else gave her some rocky road and a couple bogs in which she gratefully placed her acquisitions. "i don't know if i will be coming back here again soon." she said before seeing the look of disappointment on the elves faces. "I mean that, I don't know if i will be able to find here again" she said. she wasn't reall looking forward to going back to the creepy corridor.
when she was corrected on the name of the other house she blushed slightly she didn't like being wrong about things. and the name of the house was a big thing to be wrong about. "oh right." she said meekly. as the boy started explaining the gryffindor common room. "the seventh floor. i hope you don'e have Acrophobia" she said. she had gotten quite interested in phobias a few years ago and tried to remember them her favourite had to be Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia; the fear of long words which was the one with the longest name. "it must be a long way for you to go to find a classroom, or to get anywhere. I like the fourth floor it is nice and close to the library" she said not realising how geekish that made her sound. the boy offered to help them find their way to their house. she knew that they weren't meant to show students from other houses where their house was but she knew she wouldn't have a clue how to get back without his help. after her deliberation the outcome was taken out of her hands by raf agreeing to the help "thank you that would be much appreciated. or oven if you show us the way to the entrance hall if you want to be back in time so that you don't miss whoever you wanted to prank" she said. she would be able to find her way from there given if it was the long route. she looked at her watch as she saw a slightly concerned look on Rafs face she hoped it wasn't late thankfully it wasn't "we still have a food two hours until curfew which means i should have time to make a start on my history of magic assay in the library when we get back" she said more to herself than anyone. this essay was on hogwarts in scotland and she needed to find someone to write about as she had no idea who attend there in the select time frame she had a bit of research to do. she looked around the room and saw that one side had many doors one of which was still open from when they had fallen out. the other side had just one door which was a lot bigger than the other doors. she guessed that this was the main entrance and exit to the kitchen. she made a few steps towards it smiling and nodding at the house elves as she went.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas swelled with pride when both hufflepuffs praised his memory. It didn't need much to stroke this cub's ego. It wasn't hard for him to memorize the elves' names when every single one of them had contributed in some way to his plans of mischief, mostly without realizing it. "It's easy really." he snapped out of his short silence when the girl said she wouldn't be able to find the kitchens again. "We are currently in the dungeons. You can either get here from the grand staircase, all the way down or use the portrait with the empty fruit bowl on the fourth floor. It gets you straight to this door and the password is 'starving to death'." he said and pointed at one of the many back doors, the one coming from the secret passageway behind the portrait he had mentioned.

The gryffindor frowned as the girl mentioned something about a phobia. "Acrophobia?" he repeated and raised an eyebrow. "I fear nothing. I actually use the common room's windows to fly off with my broom." he sounded almost hubristic but he didn't realize it. "You like the library?" he asked surprised right after her statement. "There's nothing interesting there. Just the hidden area behind the bookcase about giants." he said, trying remember if there was anything else there. Then Perseas went eagerly towards the main door and opened it. It was leading straight into the dungeons. "Let's take this route and avoid the greased stairs." he suggested when both hufflepuffs accepted his assistance. "Bye guys! See you tommorow!" he said to the elves as he held the door for Rhiannon and Rafael. The elves said goodbye with one voice and Perseas closed the kitchens' door. "Alright. Follow me closely. This place is worse than a maze and you don't want to get lost here. I've seen a ghost roaming around the other day." he stated, although he wasn't sure if it was indeed a ghost what he had seen last time or it was just a figment of his wild imagination. "So are you girlfriend boyfriend?" he asked them without reserve such an awkward question. Perseas was like this. His straightforwardness could break bones sometimes.

 

[Rafael Fedorowicz]

Rafael wasn't sure what to make out of this boy. The moment he was going to like him, he was hearing something that was turning him into an arrogant person with extremely high self-esteem. Additionally, he seemed to be out after curfew pretty often. There was no other way to explain how exactly he knew so well the castle. Tell him a location and he was going to come up with eight different shortcuts. Despite not being the kind of adventurous person, Rafael did memorized the password that Perseas shared with them and made a mental note of the secret shortcut in case he needed to use it in the future. Rafael said goodbye at the group of house elves and followed Perseas.

He regretted doing this as soon as they left the warmth and vivacious kitchens and stepped into the silent and grim dungeons. "A..a g-ghost?" he stuttered and clenched his now again lit wand. He hadn't met a ghost before and he had no idea if it would be threatening or just peaceful remains of a soul. Either way, he hoped he wasn't going to meet one tonight. Rafael had started thinking of his cozy, warm bed back at the dormitory when Perseas asked them something that detonated like an exploding potion. "What?!" he exclaimed and turned to see Rhiannon's reaction. "No, no. We just met. We are only friends." he refuted Perseas' impression, his face blushing from embarrassment. The there was silence. The silence of awkwardness that Rafael didn't dare to disrupt and make it even worse. He just couldn't glance back to Rhiannon, not even say anything else, afraid that Perseas was going to keep on shooting awkward questions.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

Rhiannon shrugged as the boy said that the names weren't too hard. they sure sounded like it to her. but she wasn't going to complain. she knew different people were better at memorising different things. she much preferred numbers to names or words. "Acrophobia. it's the fear of heights. and why don't we use the shortcut straight to the fourth floor instead of sulking around the dungeons" she suggested. surely that would be quicker. and although she hadn't been in the dungeons yet before the thought of them scared her a little, especially potions class. however perseas didn't seem to hear as he started heading to what was clearly the main door. talking about how there is nothing interesting in the library "of course there is interesting things in the library. seriously if you can't find something interesting in there you are either a boring person or you aren't looking hard enough. you know you actually do have to actually open the books" she said a little bluntly rolling her eyes. they exited the kitchen and she turned to the elves before she crossed the threshold " thank you guys for everything" she said. the dorm would have a little party tonight.
they walked along the corridor she kept looking in front of here focusing on the light at the end of the corridor and sort of blocked the commentary out about ghosts. however her attention was recaptured again when she heard a question directed towards her and Raf. "what?!" she said immediately looking over to Raf to try and read his expression before realising he was looking away from her seemingly on purpose. she looked back to perseas "no. we just got lost together. we are just friends." she said a little surprised.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas' grey eyes rolled as Rhiannon started waffling. His opinion was that the sorting hat had made a mistake about her case. She obviously wasn't a Hufflepuff but a know-it-all Ravenclaw. Of course he knew what acrophobia was since the particular word had roots from his mother tongue but he didn't say anything. He just let her enjoy her lecture. "Because I want to try another one I found out today. Besides, it wouldn't be fun to reach our destination so soon. Life is an adventure. The longer lasting, the better." he replied to her query with his favorite quote. "Lumos." he followed Rafael's example as the only source of light (the kitchens) was left back in the distance.

Damage was done and Perseas was enjoying it. It was on his smirk. Their reactions were priceless and entertaining. "Relax guys. I was just joking." he snickered. He liked them both already and the teasing was part of showing he liked someone. Especially Rafael looked like the type of person that could easily fall for Perseas' quips. Unfortunately, they both weren't the adventurous type but he was going to work on it eventually. Perseas halted abruptly at an intersection and shed some light to all three, alternative routes, looking for a familiar landmark. "This way." he gestured and continued to his left. "Has any of you visited the forbidden forest?" he asked them, not really expecting to here an affirmative answer.

 

[Rafael Fedorowicz]

The gryffindor might have been merely joking but he had achieved in making Rafael avoid looking at Rhiannon. It was too dark for them to see it but his face had blushed and looked like a ripe tomato. A few minutes earlier he wanted to get back to the common room and give an end to this unwanted adventure. Now he dreaded the moment he was going to be left alone with Rhiannon. He was considering girls to be strange already. Now it was feeling even more awkward to be around this specific girl. Thankfully Perseas was able to change so many topics in such a short times that soon their conversation moved on to the forbidden forest.

Rafael hadn't visited the forest yet and he wasn't really planning to do so. The word 'forbidden' had such a discouraging influence to him that he hadn't bothered to start and wonder why it was forbidden. "Not yet." he responded, wanting to sound a little bit brave by not dismissing completely the idea. Only he knew how much he didn't want to get there. He decided to pick his next words carefully. Perseas could change his mind in an instant and lead them to the forest instead of the common room in case he was going to sense a tiny bit of willingness. "I've heard it is full of dangerous creatures. There's the rumor that a professor was murdered once there." he disclosed a piece of information he had overheard from older students. "Don't we receive a detention if we get caught in the forest?" he queried although he didn't need an answer. It was a reminder and an attempt to prevent the from making any reckless plans.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

As they headed down the dark dungeon passageway rhiannon saw that the other two were lighting their wands. lumos she said thankfully this time she got it correct first time and an extra beam of light lit up the passageway. She wished they were going to take the shorter route, she had planned in reading up in the Lara regular ding transfiguration that professor davenshire see,ed to talk about a lot however she wasn't going to complain as she didn't want Perseus to leave them here. Tus corridor wasn't quite as creepy as the one upstairs but it was still not somewhere she would want to be left in the dark.
It was a minute later when they reached an intersection in the passage that the boy asked another prying question this was an interesting one and as much as she would usually say no to doing anything wrong or going anywhere forbidden much like rafs reply she actually had Really a professor was murdered in there. Professor wolf never fold us that, i have been in there once, collecting mistletoe in herbology, I stated pretty close to the edge good job really she said wondering why raff hadn't been in that particular class. why do you want to know all about us anyway? she said a rhetorical question, he was a hufflepuff first year and all hufflepuff and slytherin first years had herbology at the same time, at let that was how she had thought it had worked. where are you from? You don't sound particularly kiwi she countered her accent still retaining a lot of its scottish twang despite having lived in tasmania or six years. she was countering his questions with one of her own, it was only fair. She liked to now things too maybe even more so than him.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Now there were three orbs of light floating in the dark as Rhiannon casted light out of her own wand. Perseas' one was preceding thrusting through blackness in search of the right wall. When normally a warning about dangerous creatures lurking in the forest was going to be deterrent for most people, it actually had the exact opposite effect on Perseas. "Really? What kind of creatures?" he asked Rafael with unrestrained excitement. He already knew about acromantulas from his brother and he wondered if there was something even bigger than those huge spiders. "Don't believe in the rumours the school is buzzing of. It's just older students trying to scare us with all these crazy stories." he dismissed the possibility of someone getting murdered in the forest. "If this forest was indeed dangerous they could have casted on it protective charms so we won't be able to access it or even see it." he pointed out, remembering his mother casting similar charms on parts of the house she wanted them to stay away. "In my opinion, they just want to test the brave and courageous ones." he said, hinting he was the right candidate to enter the forest. "Why don't we go and explore sometime? At night when everyone is sleeping." he suggested and looked at Rafael, hopeful that he was going to persuade him. As for Rhiannon, he could only think of her joining only if there was a library hidden deep in the forest.

"Doesn't count." Perseas interrupted Rhiannon when she said she had entered the forest during herbology classes. He was going to argue more with her when for some reason she was making him want to oppose her views but the wall before them reminded him of something. "Oh here we are!" he announced.
"Students in distress, this is an S.O.S." he intoned facing the wall. The wall responded to Perseas' little rhyme with stone bricks reshuffling and creating first small hole. In a matter of seconds the three of them were standing in front of a large archway leading to a network of uphill passageways. "Brilliant!" Perseas smirked and took a stepped forwards. "These walls are scattered throughout the castle." he started and turned around to face the hufflepuffs. "It is a network of passageways connected the whole castle." he went on, explaining why there were so many stairs leading to different routes. "Let's follow this one." he speculated it was the right one to take them to the fourth floor corridor. As the hufflepuffs left as well the dungeons behind them, the stone bricks reconstructed again the wall, hiding again the passage. "This way." he gestured and took the lead.

While climbing stairs that hadn't been walked too many times before, Perseas listened as Rhiannon wondered why he was asking so many questions about them. "Oh please! Who cares about you?" he replied and rolled his eyes. "I'm just searching for people to join me and visit the forest, that's why I was asking." he added. "Obviously you are not one of them so don't worry, I won't ask you anything again." Perseas lowered his wand' s light to hide his smirk. He was daring her in his own canny way though he didn't have high expectations for this hufflepuff. "Rafael is going to come. Right Rafie?" he addressed the boy instead who seemed easier to induce to a late night walk in the forest. "And how exactly a kiwi sounds?" he countered her question in an attempt to get on the girl's nerves. His wide smirk was a sign of this intention.

 

[Rafael Fedorowicz]

Awkwardness was slowly fending off now that the topic had changed to the forbidden forest. Perseas seemed interested in everything having to do with the forest and Rafael decided to use it to his advantage and prevent the gryffindor from saying anything awkward again. "Er...I'm not sure. It isn't that I have met any, as I told you I haven't visited the forest yet." He stated. "But I've read at a book that the forest is home to centaurs, unicorns, bowtruckles, a colony of acromantulas and if the rumors are right, they say werewolves are hunting in the forest during full moon." He recounted, adding the piece of information about werewolves to discourage Perseas a little bit. "If it is infested with dangerous beings, I can see why they named it 'forbidden'." Rafael pointed out, hoping now that Perseas was reconsidering his visit to the forest. Still he couldn't deny that he was finding himself agreeing with Perseas about the protective measures Hogwarts' staff could have applied on the forest if it was indeed dangerous. Rafael avoided to agree openly with the gryffindor as he didn't want to revive his reckless intension.

Rafael could sense the tension growing between Rhiannon and Perseas. He decided it was better for him to stay out of this and let them argue as much they wanted. He was more occupied thinking if Perseas knew were exactly he was taking them. It seemed he quite knew as they stopped in front of a wall which had nothing suspicious or unusual on it. Unusual until Perseas spoke of a rhyme and the wall transformed into a large enough archway, revealing a network of different passageways. Rafael listened in awe as Perseas explained that different staircases were leading to different floors and that walls like this one were everywhere around the castle. "Wow!" Rafael uttered, thinking he wasn't going to get lost again. At least if he was going to find out where the other walls were located. "Could you tell me please where the other walls are located?" He asked, quite impressed with Perseas' ability of finding secret areas like they were abundant around school. Or maybe there were a lot of them but still he was talented at finding them.

Wondering how old these passageways could be, Rafael followed Perseas, now fully trusting him that he could get them to their common room. He let Perseas and Rhiannon argue a little bit more as he was checking where he was stepping on until he heard his name again. "Huh?" He responded absent-mindedly, just catching his name and not exactly what Perseas had said. "Erm, yes. I guess." He replied hesitantly but the damage was done when he realized to what he had responded positively. Let's hope he won't remember it tomorrow. Rafael thought and kept climbing the stairs while following Perseas. He was also checking if Rhiannon was following them.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

Rhiannon lagged a little behind the boys as they talked about creatures, it wasn't that she didn't want to know it was just that this dingy corridor was already a little creepy for her and she didn't want to make it worse for herself, she would read about them over the weekend somewhere well lit. soon they stopped and were looking at a perfectly normal blank stretch of stone wall. she looked at Perseas wondering what he was doing stopping here, and was about to suggest that they go back to the kitchens and go back up the passage to the fourth floor. however before she managed to get the words out Perseus had said a password and the wall opened. After a few months at the school she should be used to it by now but she was still surprised. she quickly tried to hide her surprise before perseas saw as she had the feeling he was the kind of boy who would find information on others and then wait and use it to his advantage when he needed to. her attention was caught when perseas asked Raf if he wanted to go out exploring at night. something shocking enough for her to have to speak up. "you know that's against the rules ton't you" she said. she had read through the list of rules several times before she had started. "you are not seriously going to go. If you are you should know i am not going to lie for you" she said. she couldn't lie. but she wasn't going to admit that.
At the call of doesn't count when she said she had been into the forest she raised her eyebrows. "does so. you asked if anyone had been in the forrest. and i said i had been in there. you can't but restrictions on the question after it has been answered" she said not quite sure what point she was arguing as she wasn't particularly one who wanted to be associated with the rule breaking that was usually involved with going into the forrest but she just thought it was unjust that the one time she ever had (and possibly ever would have) was being immediately discounted. It seemed like her earlier comment had been ignored when Perseas once again asked raf to go into the forest with him. "don't you go. because quite frankly it is a stupid idea." she said a slightly irritated tone coming thought her voice. it still didn't seem to get through to the boys and when raf accepted (thankfully sounding more reluctant than keen) she decided there was no point fighting, and she had done her duty to warn them. "remember people have died in there, you said it yourself" she said as one last ditch effort. to convince them otherwise. still the boys didn't listen. she rolled her eyes thinking boys will be boys before the conversation turned to her comment earlier. instead of answering the question like a normal person would he countered in a way that asked her a question. she skoffed. "I asked the question first you should answer before I have to answer yours. but if you must know kiwis have a rather distinct fush and Chups accent" she said demonstrating though her with a scottish accent attempting a kiwi accent was pretty hopeless.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas' grey irises flashed with excitement upon hearing Rafael adding creatures in the long list of the forest's dwellers. His enthusiasm could only be smothered by Rhiannon's persistance of reminding them about the rules. "Man, what a buzz killer." he rolled his eyes referring to Rhiannon who was still lecturing somewhere behind them. "Do you even know the meaning of the word fun?" he addressed her although he wasn't facing her, leading the way upstairs. He just ignored her for the rest of her monologue and searched with his free hand for something in his pockets. "Sure. Here, you can have this one." he handed Rafael some sort of offhand map where he was including all the entrances to this tunnel network. "I've marked in red all the locations from where you can enter the network." he explained eagerly to Rafael and let him study it.

Perseas' attention was drawn back to Rhiannon who was trying her best to sabotage him and speak some sense to Rafael.
"We'll do fine and you don't have to lie as you won't know when we'll go." he hinted that they weren't going to tell her when they were going to visit the forest since she wasn't interested anyway. "Then you're not kiwi as well." he concluded as her own accent was far from what she was describing. Although Perseas had lived for most part of his life so far at New Zealand, his accent was somewhat dynamic, rolling a bit his 'r' and placing emphasis on certain parts of words. However, he didn't reveal from where he was coming from. The least this girl knew about him, the less trouble he was going to have as he was suspecting she was a snitch.

They were reaching a dead end but as Perseas stepped closer to the wall, a new archway formed to let the three of them exit the network. Minoas jumped off first on the stairs of the grand staircase, just outside the fourth floor corridor. "We are almost there." he announced.
"I told you I was going to get you back to your common room." he boasted and eyed the girl who was the most skeptical out of the two hufflepuffs.

 

[Rafael Fedorowicz]

Rafael was feeling like he was trapped between two different words, got caught in the middle of their retaliating fires. He looked apologetically at Rhiannon. He didn't realize how exactly he had managed to accept and join Perseas in a late night exploration. "Weren't just rumours?" He searched for affirmation on Perseas' face when Rhiannon warned them again about the killings. He certainly didn't want to die in a forest away from his family but at the same time he didn't want to call off and make Perseas think he was a scaredy fairy. He agreed with a few nods when Rhiannon repeated how stupid was going to be such a reckless act but he couldn't take back what was said. Perseas would have been planning how they were going to sneak out of the castle already. Possibly in an attempt to not change his mind, Perseas handed him an elaborating, handmade map with all the locations included in this network. "You don't need it? Thanks." Rafael lisped feeling bribed but grateful at the same time. Now he was never going to get lost again. With this thought and with a weak smile he pocketed the map and climbed off the new archway forming on the dead-end they came across.

Jumping off the opening, he recognized the grand staircase with the snoring portraits and the moving stairs. He flashed a smile and his eyes lightened when he thought he was going to be back soon in the common room's snugness. He tried to make a step and let more space for Rhiannon to step out of the passageway when he realized he couldn't move his right leg. He shed some light from his wand on his feet and found out what was going wrong. "Umm, guys." He interrupted their quarrel, sounding evidently worried. His foot just bellow his ankle had sunk into the step and he couldn't release it.
"What's going on?" he panicked and struggled to release himself but he was stuck for good. "I need some help here!" He wept in need of a helping hand.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas chest inflated like a male peacock. He had shown her he was capable of taking them to their common room without getting into trouble but there was something he had forgotten to mention. He knew all about the trick steps scattered all around school but he was preoccupied to impress Rhiannon that he totally forgot to warn them. When he remembered that a trick step was just outside the opening, it was already too late. Poor Rafael was the first victim and not the only one. As he called for help, Perseas felt the solid surface of the stair liquefying and sucking his foot. It was the same sensation as if being stuck into a swamp or in sticky mud.
"Oh great! Just great!" Perseas cursed their bad luck and tried to release himself by grabbing the stairs' railing. Helplessly, he watched his trapped foot sinking deeper in the stair almost reaching his knee. He had to crouch now in order to remain his balance.
"Don't struggle!" he snapped before Rafael was going to get consumed by the greedy trick step.
"Don't come closer or you'll get trapped as well!" he warned Rhiannon who was the only one not trapped yet. She was a little bit further from the snaring spot.
"Just give me you hand!" he prompted her. She was possibly not to strong to pull him out of the trap but they had to try. If this wasn't going to work, the plan B that Perseas had in mind was to call a professor for help. Not a good idea when they should have been in their common rooms.