Determined not to give up

[Charlotte Owens]

Life for Charlotte at the moment had been relatively perfect. Upon coming back to Hogwarts for another year, she took it as a second chance to start over from last year, despite how amazing that had been. She wanted every moment to be better than the last and was not going to waste any minute of her free time. She had promised herself that she would try her best not to get into too much trouble and with quidditch to worry about, she was mostly sure that was not going to happen. On top of that, Maddie had found herself a boyfriend which slightly startled Charlotte to say the least. The Slytherin had never thought about getting a boyfriend and thought that 13 was too young to start and find one. The fact that Maddie ended up getting one so easily was what slightly frustrated her but she wasn't going to let it worry her too much. Instead, Charlotte was on the lookout today for a hidden room that Avie had told her all about. She told him that they could look together but she didn't know where he was and just was not bothered looking for him. She wanted to get a good head start by herself and found herself skipping out of her common room and up to the first floor where she would begin her search on each corridor.

As Charlotte skipped up the steps, she began feeling the walls as if the door was already there but was just camouflaged in. She did this all the way until the third floor corridor where she found people wondering around, perhaps on their way to a charms class or simply passing by. There seemed to be more people on the third floor than the first or second, or maybe it was just that Charlotte was beginning to be more observant of the things around her. Whatever it was, she had a feeling that this room was getting nearer and nearer and walked as closely as she could to the walls without trying to look too suspicious, listening in to hear if there was anything peculiar on the other side. Unfortunately, she didn't hear a single thing and felt herself getting tireder and tireder as she walked, eventually giving up and sitting down with her back against the wall. She had only searched two and a half floors and yet there were so many more left to go. The third year buried her head in her hands and sighed. A five minute break wouldn't hurt, right?

 

[Cairo Savage]

The sight of Charlotte sitting against a cold, stone wall along the third floor corridor with her head in her hands was peculiar sight indeed. One that Cairo recognized almost immediately for many reasons and one that caused him to stop dead in his tracks in what would have been a trip to the library for some extra minutes of study. The most prominent reason was that she was the only person sitting still in an otherwise busy corridor. Students of all ages were walking around, minding their own business much like Cairo was moments prior to recognizing Charlotte and it made him curious to what she was doing and also slightly worried because her usual demeanor was that of happiness. He characterized her with an endless amount of energy and a constant smile on her face, not sitting still in complete silence. It was an unexpected contrast to see her face hidden and her movements minimal and he of course weighed up the possibilities of what could have caused this in his mind before he even thought of approaching her.

He did eventually approach her, however, turning his steps in her direction and keeping his defense against the dark arts text book held tightly against his side so he didn't drop it if he accidentally bumped into someone along the way. He cleared his throat awkwardly when he was in earshot of Charlotte and then said her name inquisitively, refraining to ask if she was alright because that would first of all mean that he cared if she was alright and that he thought of her as a friend. The word sounded weird in his mind. Friends cared about the other's well being, friends were happy to spend time with each other. Acquaintances, on the other hand were lucky enough not to have either of those burdens on their shoulders and Cairo was glad to deny himself the stress of calling someone a friend that wasn't his literal and figurative other half. "Charlotte?" He repeated her name as he stood awkwardly, waiting for a response from her and alternately unsure of what he was supposed to do or say. Speaking to Charlotte was always awkward for Cairo. It was far out of his comfort zone and that fact had not changed since the Halloween feast nor in that moment as he stood near her, wondering what she was doing and still hoping something wasn't wrong with her despite adamantly refusing to think he cared.​

 

[Charlotte Owens]

As Charlotte sat against the wall, she began to think of the possibilities and wondered if perhaps the hidden room didn't want her to find it and that was why it was so hard to discover. She also began to wonder if maybe the room had a spell cast upon it and it changed its location every day. That would surely explain why no one had ever found it yet and it would also explain why it wasn't really talked about. Why would anyone ever want to find a room that was virtually impossible to locate properly? But Charlotte knew that she wasn't going to give up. Besides, if she really wanted to, she could always ask Maddie or Hemi for some help or she could even find a Hufflepuff as they always seemed good at finding things.

Charlotte was getting so worked up about why it was taking her so long to find the hidden room that she jumped when a boy spoke her name. Looking up, she realised that it was Cairo and smiled at him. She was glad that he had enough courage to walk over to her as it gave her something to distract her from her thoughts. He looked rather concerned and Charlotte brushed the matter off before happily greeting her friend. "Hello!" she exclaimed, not wanting to look like anything was wrong. Truthfully, there wasn't much wrong at all and she was merely just taking a small break from her exploring. She didn't want her friend to worry too much and pretended to act as if everything was okay. Instead, she asked her own question before he began to ask any himself. "Where were you off to? The sun's great outside today! If you were looking for a place to study than I suggest outside."

 

[Cairo Savage]

Cairo was confused when Charlotte smiled happily at him, greeted him and then changed the subject to what he was doing that day and it caused his brow to furrow. It wasn't what he expected from her demeanor when he approached her but he was thankful both because there was nothing wrong and because he wouldn't be made responsible if anything was wrong. He was too indifferent to deal with someone else's problems, let alone an acquaintance he ran into in one of the corridors by nothing but chance. At least that's what Cairo told himself before he shook his head, changing his frown to his regular, neutral expression as he answered her questions. Not truthfully but not with a lie, either. He still could not help but keep the entire truth from people whether he could tolerate them or not. "I was just walking, for the sake of it." He said as he tightened the grip his hands had around his book.

To change the subject, Cairo quickly looked around each of his shoulders before looking back at Charlotte. "Are you waiting for a friend or something?" He asked, hoping that if she were waiting for someone that it would be his out, a way for him to escape having a full blown conversation with the other Slytherin again. She was fun to talk to, more than fun to talk to, truthfully, but if Cairo spent more time with her it meant running the possibility of being seen with her more than once and probably causing rumors to start that they were friends. Cairo enjoyed being seen as cold and relatively anonymous by his peers as he was constantly in Rome's shadow and spending more time with a girl who's smile shone brighter than the sun would likely ruin that. It was a poor excuse for Cairo to avoid talking to Charlotte longer than a few minutes but it was one he would happily use in the middle of a crowded corridor.​

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte raised an eyebrow at Cairo when he replied to her question. Who would ever just be walking around for the sake of it? It made Charlotte curious as to what he was really up to. Was it something that Charlottte could join him in? The Slytherin smirked, hoping that they could perhaps get up to some fun. "What are you really doing?" she asked him excitedly, wondering if Charlotte could help him in any way. After all, that was what friends were for. "Walking around for the sake of it seems boring. What's that book in your hand?" She gestured towards his book, too nosy to even care if he didn't want to talk about it. She knew that her friend rather liked reading but she was curious as to what it was about and if it had anything to do with what he was doing.

As Cairo looked behind him before asking a question, Charlotte began to wonder if he really wanted to be there talking to her. It made her feel slightly horrible with the way he was acting, as if he didn't want to be seen talking to such a person, but Charlotte just brushed it off and thought a while before answering him. She didn't know at all where any of her friends were and she thought that they were perhaps too busy to want to explore with her, and that was why she was alone. "No, I'm just... sitting here... for the sake of it." Charlotte smiled slightly at him, mocking his words. She didn't particularly know herself what she was doing there and so there was no point discussing it with him.

 

[Cairo Savage]

Charlotte was clearly a persistent person. It was something Cairo noticed during their first encounter in the abandoned classroom and furthermore during their interactions leading up to that moment. He also noticed she was especially persistent in finding out about the books he was reading, regardless of the subject or his willingness to tell her about the books and though the book in his hands was a school book, Cairo wasn't pleased to talk about it or anything about himself, really. It was why he avoided the subject by lying and why he grew annoyed at Charlotte's persistence because he couldn't do anything but cater to her whims.

"Alright. Fine." He said, disdainfully shifting his grip on the book so he could show it to her. He then sat down awkwardly next to her, straightening his posture against the cold stone wall as he looked at Charlotte and held the book towards her in case she wanted to flick through the pages much like he had done the last time she caught him with a book in their houses common room. "It's a defence against the dark arts text book, and I am studying. But there's no way I'm going outside to do that." The book must have been familiar as they were in the same DADA class so he hoped he didn't need to elaborate further. Talking about himself so honestly, even if it was about something as meaningless or stagnant as a school text book made Cairo feel more uncomfortable than he was willing to admit, both to Charlotte and even himself so he was glad when he could finally shift the subject back towards the other Slytherin. "Now, what are you really doing? Sitting there for the sake of it sounds boring." He mocked her words the same way she mocked his to keep the conversation light in case something was actually wrong with the girl and her sudden change to being her normal, bubbly self was an act to cover something up.​

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte smiled at Cairo when he sat himself down next to her and gave her the book. She knew very well what the defence against the dark arts textbook was all about but still proceeded to open it and look through in case something suspicious was written in there. Unfortunately, nothing was and Charlotte just shrugged and gave it back to him. It wasn't that she didn't trust him but was more because she wanted something interesting to happen to distract her from her thoughts. "I'm sorry." she told him, hoping he wasn't too hurt by her being so nosy. "Do you like Defence Against The Darks Arts? My favourite subject is Flying, even though we don't do it anymore. What's yours?" The girl looked at him, waiting for an answer. She wanted him to feel like he could tell her things. After all, that was what a good friendship was all about.

As the conversation went back to Charlotte, she hesitated before saying anything. It made her slightly glad that Cairo seemed interested, but what was really on her mind was definitely not something she wanted to talk about to anyone. "I was just exploring." she told him half-truthfully, hoping he wouldn't question her even further. "Except exploring outside is much better, and you really should go outside to study. I'm sure if you found a good enough place that no one would disturb you. Personally, I don't study quite as much as you do but going outside always makes everything better, especially on a day like today." Despite what she was saying, Charlotte would have preferred if Cairo went with her to explore rather than him going off and studying. More than one person exploring made the experience even better, even if Cairo didn't particularly seem like the exploring type. Maybe if she tried hard enough she'd be able to get him into it?