Adventure is not for the Hufflepuffs

[Rhiannon Archer]

Rhiannon tutted when perseas asked if she know the diff ignition of fun and called her a buzz kill. "of course I do, why? Don't you? It is something that provides enjoyment or entertainment often done for leisure. she said giving the definition if he wanted it or not. She watched as perseas gave raff a map. He seemed to like the other boy but have something against her. This was once again made clear when he said they wouldn't tell her when they were going. "you may not tell me but if you are not there and I get asked where you are then I will know you are in the forest." She said maybe with a slight tone of distress in her voice. It wasn't that she liked do big her friends in to the teachers it was that she couldn't help it as she just could not lie to save her life. The closest she could do was talk around the truth like "they haven't told me where they are".
Thankfully the conversation shifted when raff stopped on the step above her nthe step that she was just about three inches from stepping on herself and asked for help thankfully she managed to at the last second change step for the one above before stepping back to the origional step she was on. "what's wrong with the steps?" she asked verse as before realising that he too had gotten himself trapped in them. great. Now what do we do" she asked looking at the steps above her trying to tell if they would be sinkers or not. "there is no point pulling you from below as I will be pilling you down and we will still have to get past them. Just give me a minute" she said inspecting the steps to see if she could figure out the ones that were sinking ones. A bout 15 seconds later she was pretty sure she had it. The bog steps had a sort of circle pattern in the wood what may have been a knot in the tree but more likely would be caused by someone pulling their feet out. Also the sinking steps had marks scratched on the wall beside them as if some student from long ago had marked them (which they probably had). She took a step to the one above where raff was then went up to the next one when she made a big jumping step up two the second of which perseas was trapped in. When he asked her to pull him out she offered her hand and tried to pull however just a few seconds and she could tell it was pointless. "you are just going to pull me in then we would all be stuck" she said. Letting go and taking her bag off and putting it down. Her bag was one of the ones which had a detachable strap, she had never seen the point of that until now. She lengthened it as far as she could and passed it over the banister at a point where it wouldn't slide before giving perseas one end and taking the other herself to the step below the sinkers. this should work just remember the step above yours is a sinker as well she said as she started to pull. This was easier and as she pulled she felt it give a little. Though she was pretty sure they would both need to pull to get raf out as he was very stuck.

 

[Theseas Stratis]

Theseas was grateful for the portraits snoring masking his footsteps against the stone stairs. He usually wasn't the Stratis who was lurking in the dark corridors after curfew but tonight was an exception. It was payback time for what have happened at the grounds a few days ago and Theseas was searching for a spot where Perseas was using a lot to get to the common room. He was holding a bag of dungbombs still sealed to prevent the putrid odour from spreading all over the places he was visiting. Knowing some of the shortcuts and the secret passageways he was using, he was planning to place those dungbombs at the exit of one of those passages and give to his brother a nice surprise. Theseas had recently witnessed his brother using a particular passageway at the fourth floor and he had concluded to orchestrate his retaliation there. Wearing a pair of glasses enchanted for thermal vision, he didn't have to use a wand-lighting charm and he could meander like a shadow through the dark corridors without betraying his presence.

As he was getting closer to the location where he was planning to leave the dungbombs he heard voices among the portraits snores. He froze to the spot considering about-face and run back to the common room. Getting caught by a prefect or worse, by a professor while holding a bag of dungbombs was something he wanted to avoid. However the voices weren't belonging to older students, neither to professors. He could actually recognize one of them as his brother. Curiously, he approached the source of the voices and took off his glasses as the lights of the wand's were blinding him. The closest light was showering the figure of a girl around his age holding something he couldn't discern in the darkness.
"Hello? Is everything alright?" He asked her. He had discerned distress in their voices from the distance and wondered if there was something wrong.
"What do you know! The rat got trapped in the mousetrap." He laughed when he saw his twin's foot stuck in one of those trick stairs.
"I should have brought my camera." He continued with sarcasm dripping of his words and pleasure vibrant for watching his brother like this. Theseas noticed the other boy trapped as well next to Perseas. "You should know better next time. Every single person hanging out with my brother ends up like this." Theseas informed the other trapped boy, sounding like he had been in similar situations countless times.

He then noticed the girl trying to help his brother.
"Why would you do that?" he asked her like she was doing something crazy. "Haven't he show you yet the jerk he is? Just let him stay there all night until the caretaker is going to find him." He smirked overenjoying watching his brother struggling to release himself.
"Let's just help only the other guy." He offered to help just the other trapped guy as he was looking around him. Blindly he reached for the curtains at nearby window to untie their curtain rope. "Here, catch this." He tossed on point of the rope to the trapped boy he didn't know while he was holding the other end of it, tottaly ignoring his brother.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas couldn't understand how he got in trouble all of a sudden. He must have been jinxed by the constant nagging of the Hufflepuff girl who was objecting all the time. And if this wasn't enough, a familiar voice from somewhere in the darkness made his blood froze in his veins. "Theseas?" he asked and soon enough his brother's dark, grey eyes emerged from the blackness, reflecting malice under their wands' lights. Perseas wasn't sure if he would prefer a professor to find them in the middle of the night and out of their beds or his own twin. Although he was usually harassing his brother by playing pranks on him, this time he considered to be good to him. Maybe suspiciously too good to him. "Oh! Hello brother!" he greeted Theseas with a wide smile, completely ignoring his malicious jests.
"Do you remember those cauldron cakes I once gave you out from my good heart?" he recalled one of the few moments he had share with Theseas some brotherly love. "For the shake of this fine moment, please lend me a hand now that I need your help." he tried to strike a chord while his foot was sinking deeper in the trick stair. Desperate times required desperate measures and diplomacy was the only card he could play although he would much rather prefer to jinx his brother on his face.

Perseas pursed his lips as his brother was continuing his catastrophic work by advising Rafael and Rhiannon to leave him there until a staff member was going to find him. You better wish I won't get out of this trap, he thought, masking his frustration about his twin with an other wide smile. Maybe Perseas was too hopeful that he was going to change his brother's mind because he was surprised to see him tossing a rope only to Rafael. "You must be joking, right? This step is going to swallow me whole. I need your help!" Perseas barked irritated and desperate at the same time. "Are you really gonna leave me here?" he turned to Rhiannon hoping she won't listen to his uncompromising brother.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

Rhiannon looked up as she heard someone approaching. She wasn't sure if she hoped it was a professor or not. She had never been here and although she was sure it wasn't too late yet this back maze of stairs may be out of bounds but then again a professor may be able to help her get the boys out. However this concern became if relivent when another boy appeared, a boy who looked an awefuk lot like perseas then she remembered that there were two of them in class, twins. great, tweedle dee and tweedle dum she though to herself as the other boy who appeared to be called theseas started talking. well things could be better" she said tugging on the strap again trying to get perseas out. if it is people who hang out with him who gets like this how come he is the one in the step, surely by that logic it would be me in his place she said being as skeptical as ever.
When theseas suggested that they leave perseas and help raff she raised her eyebrows, she knew what brothers were like. She had one of her own. But she would have liked to think that if she was stuck Michael would help her. "you go and help raf then before he gets any further stuck. I just knew perseas was a lot shallower than him so thought I may have some hope at getting him out on my own then we could both help raff out she said. It was true. When she had started perseas wasn't past his ankles in the step where as raf was almost up to his knees. She was not a particually big or strong girl and she would need help to get raff out, but perseas may have been possable to free. "from what I see you are the one acting like a jerk. Perseas was actually helping us until we got stuck she said it wasn't that she had any particular like for the boy in some respects (like seriously encouraging raf to go into the FOBIDEN forest at night) but he was helping them which she was very greatful for. f course I am not leaving you here. How else would I be able to find my way out she said giving the strap another pull, if she wasn't mistakend she thought she could finally feel the step give a little she pulled again butting all her weight into it hoping that would be enough.

 

[Rafael Fedorowicz]

Seemingly the situation couldn't get worse but then in his endless martyrdom of plunging deeper in that step, Rafael heard Perseas groaning he had stepped on a trick step as well. "Now what are we going to do?" Why do this steps exist in the first place? Maybe we should ask a professor help. Rhi, go fetch someone!" Rafael started raving relentlessly waking up the surrounding portraits' inhabitants from their slumber. Unlike Rafael who had lost his cool, Perseas and Rhiannon were trying to cooperate and find a solution. Rhiannon who was still collected used her bag's straps to help them get out of the sinking trap. Rafael grabbed them first and tried to pull his weight and leg out of the step. The leather straps slipped through his sweaty palms. "It won't work! We need something stronger!" He whined as his leg disappeared an inch deeper in the trap.

Then there was a new voice in the dark. A professor maybe. Even when a boy appeared, Rafael was still hopeful that Rhiannon was going to get the help needed to get them out. Rafael casted away his panic as he found out that the stranger was Perseas' twin brother. They didn't look much alike apart from their eyes and it also turned out that they weren't really fond of each other. Rafael didn't know why but he wasn't really interested to find out now. He just grabbed the rope that Perseas' brother threw at him and eventually felt his leg pulling slowly from the sludgy trap. A few deep breaths of relief and Rafael stood up to thanks his saviour. "Thank you." he muttered and snatched the rope from the guy's hands unexpectedly. No matter what issues the two brothers had with each other, Rafael wasn't going to let Perseas there struggling alone as his brother suggested. "Perseas! Catch!" He announced and tossed the thick rope at the trapped boy.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas was feeling like he was playing in an absurd scene of a movie. His brother like another villain was suggesting his well-deserved doom while sadistically overenjoying watching him struggling in the trick step. Rhiannon was intending to help while overanalyzing everything, even the crap his brother was talking about and trapped Rafael right next to him was overwhelmed with paranoia. A group of misfits trying to work together. Perseas' brother as he had promised, helped Rafael get out of the trap but Perseas still had Rhiannon's assistance. "Keep resistance. You will be useless if you end up here." he advised and grabbed the straps she provided him. Surprised, he saw the rope hsi brother used to drag out Rafael, tossed right next to him. Rafael was holding it, prompting him to use it as well. Perseas held both Rhiannon's straps and the rope and told them to pull him off. Their combined effort got him out of the trick step, lying on the cold floor with a breathless smile.
"Wooh! We did it!" he laughed and stood up from the stairs. "Thank you so much guys. You're quite adventurous for Hufflepuffs." he thanked them, quite impressed, especially with the girl. Perseas glared shortly at his brother who was eager to dump him there trapped but he decided it was too insignificant took keep a grudge now that he was free.
"This is my twin brother Theseas." he introduced his brother and fellow Gryffindor.
"This is Rafael and Rhiannon. Both Hufflepuffs. They got lost while returning back to their common room. Would you like to join us?" he offered his brother despite their ongoing controversy.

 

[Theseas Stratis]

"These cauldron cakes were imbued with a strong dose of the draught of living death. I was put in a comma for a week." Theseas recalled furious another prank his brother had played on him. He couldn't really remember of a time the two of them were getting on well. Theseas had usually to endure torture such as being trapped somewhere, put in a life-threatening condition, find himself involved in his brother's pranks without even realizing it and in the end, being blamed for something he never did or wan't his intention to do. Perhaps this was justice slow to come for Theseas and he wanted to see his twin brother suffer as well a bit. Theseas tied the curtain rope on the solid railing of the stairs. He pulled as hard as he could and felt the other trap guy being released. Like he was trapped in quicksand.
"You're wel- hey, what you're doing?" The roped in his hands changed hands and the guy he had just helped, threw it at Perseas. Theseas shook his head as both the boy and the girl were helping his brother. "Some people deserve to suffer in his hands." Theseas commented as he leaned at the railing to watch with an imperturbable expression on his face his brother's rescue.
"I hope you won't regret this later." He told them as he watched his brother standing up, not really grasping the graveness of the situation. Theseas' brother was always like this.

"Unfortunately..." He commented as his brother introduced him to the other two.
"Nice to meet you." He nodded at the Hufflepuffs. Theseas had already made first impressions. The Hufflepuff guy was unmistakably a crybaby. It was his yelps that Theseas heard first a few floors above. The girl on the other hand, although she wasn't looking particularly brave, she looked normal. Exactly the type of person his twin brother would never really hang out with. Theseas shot a questionable look at his brother when he mentioned he was helping them to get back to their common room. He wasn't used to hear his brother helping people. Mostly the other way around. "Fine." He finally replied.
"I should make clear that I'm joining you only because I don't want them to get into trouble because of you." Theseas stated with his index finger pointing at his brother. The truth was far from that. Although he was convinced that the Hufflepuffs were going to get in trouble eventually with his brother around, Theseas was envious that the three of them were in an adventure. He just didn't want to admit it.
"So, where's Hufflepuff common room?" He wondered, having no idea of the other houses' common rooms locations.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

Rhiannon was glad when Theseas managed to get Raff out. she was starting the think both of the boys would be stuck there all night/ she let out a sigh of relief as she herself still tried to pull perseas up, still nothing. "Raff be careful the step you are on s fine, so is the next one up but the two above that are sinkers" she said one of those two were obvious as perseas was still knee high n it. although theseas wasn't helping Raff turned out strong enough to manage to get perseas out too. "phew" she said in relief as she went to reattach the strap to her bag, luckily she had a sturdy bag and the strap was just as sturdy. knowing her dad it would be designed to last her entire time at the school it was a heavy woven gotten a it like a seatbelt but much thicker and not as shiny. she heard perseas say they were quite adventurous for hufflepuffs. "thanks" she said "but i don't know what you mean by for hufflepuffs, every house can have a sense of adventure, even if it isnt as much as the gryffindors" she said. not that she really saw herself as adventurous, or even particularly wanted to, it was still nice that someone would say she was, not that it would likely ever happen again.
she had just picked up the bag when she heard perseas introduce them. "it is nice to meet you Theseas" she said offering her hand to shake. sure it was a bit formal but wasn't that what you were meant to do. as the boys bantered she realised they reminded her of a couple of characters from a book she had read once, and a movie she had seen. to her they seemed a little like the tweedle twins from wonderland. always fighting with each other but no one actually winning as she was sure neither of them wanted it to be over.
She followed the boys as they made their way up the stairs she kept an eye out to make sure that they were all real stairs and weren't going to turn into quicksand beneath her. she jumped one which she wasn't sure about as it had scratches on the side but the pattern wasn't why like the others were. "if you could just help us get to the fourth floor then we should be able to find our way" she said. she knew the fourth floor best out of all of the floors as that was the floor the hufflepuff house was on as well as the library and the student lounge, all places she liked to hang out.