Closed Following Into Disaster

[Ivy Ashworth]

After the latest potions class, Ivy immediately wanted to read up on the information they'd need for next week. She was not doing as well in her classes as she wanted, even if she had perfect grades. Ivy just wanted to... stand out and impress her teachers, but somehow it was difficult to do so. But if she knew more information than her classmates because she did extra research, Ivy knew she would be able to show off what she knew. She had her book open as she walked out of the class, reading while walking. She followed Hester from her dormitory, quietly trailing behind her as they made her way out of the corridor with the potions classroom. If she simply kept an eye on Hester, she was sure she would end up at the Gryffindor common room. And she may have even finished an important chapter while walking. It was efficient, and it didn't matter that Hester didn't like her and that feeling was mutual. She likely wouldn't notice Ivy following her, and even if she did, Ivy was allowed to go in the same direction as the other girl. She was simply easy to keep track of with her striking hair, even while half focused on a book.

 

[Delilah Thorne]

Delilah was starting to feel the strain of the semester and the sheer number of assignments was starting to weigh on her. She wasn’t having trouble but it wasn’t as easy as she had hoped either. After potions she followed Ivy and couldn’t help but laugh at her friend. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” she asked, a mix of curiosity and caution in her voice as Ivy continued to read as she walked. She had to admire her dedication to studying but Delilah also thought it was at least a little dangerous considering how confusing the castle could be at times, even after being here a year.

 

[Hester MacGillivray]

Hester knew she probably shouldn't be bringing her toad with her to classes, but what else was she supposed to do? Big Douglas needed to see the world, he couldn't spend his whole life cooped up in a tank like a prisoner. He had been a very good boy today, staying sat contentedly in her robe pocket with a small handful of grubs to nibble on. But by the end of class he had run out of food and started to get restless, and now that they were out of the classroom Hester had quickly removed him from her pocket, settling the large toad precariously on one of her shoulders. "There, now you can enjoy the view." She said cheerfully to her toad as she made her way down the corridor towards the common room. She hadn't even gotten out of the dungeons yet when Big Douglas decided this wasn't enough, hopping off her shoulder with startling confidence. "Big Douglas!" Hester exclaimed as he hit the ground with a splat. "Are you okay?" Hester had barely gotten her question out, feeling a little silly talking to a toad, when he began hopping off, taking a side-corridor Hester had never been down before. "Hey, come back here!" Hester hissed, moving off the regular path in the hopes of quickly catching up to her wayward toad.

 

[Sawyer Carnahan]

Sawyer had been caught up trying to scrub the last remnants of his potion's untimely demise from the bottom of his cauldron that he needed to hustle to catch up with the rest of his classmates once he was finally free to go. He'd spotted Delilah and wanted to ask her a few questions about their homework before they had to be in their next class, but any questions he had were delayed when he saw Hester produce a frankly massive toad from her pocket. "Wait, have you had that the entire class-" He started, startled when the toad, 'Big Douglas' splatted to the ground and took off, Hester following quickly after. Sawyer didn't know what sort of things lurked down here in the Dungeons, but he wouldn't put it past the castle to have something that ate toads, even big ones, so he quickly followed after, wand out to help though he had no idea what he might actually be able to do with it.

 

[Ivy Ashworth]

It was fairly easy to follow Hester, and Ivy didn't even notice that Delilah was walking near her until she spoke. Ivy turned the corner, still following Hester's vague shape ahead of her. "What? Why not?" Ivy asked, a little frustrated that she was being questioned when she was trying to read. "I'm just heading back to Gryffindor, I can do that while reading." Ivy said with a shrug. She then realized the girl she had been following was walking faster, and Ivy sped up as well. She frowned as she watched her roommate. "What is she doing?" She asked Delilah. She spotted a Ravenclaw boy following as well, and then realized this wasn't the normal corridor she passed through on the way to the common room.

 

[Delilah Thorne]

Delilah felt a faint smile cross her face as Ivy began to argue with her. "Just seems a little dangerous." she explained calmly. Knowing better than to push the subject. She pointed out her concern and it wasn't like she was the one at risk of missing a stair and falling down face first. Delilah glanced up at the girl they were following and noticed her bright curly hair, just in time to watch a frog leap out of it and make a very uncomfortable slapping sound as it hit the ground. She made an involuntary sound of disgusts and wrinkled her nose at it. But her distaste for the toad had to fight her desire to laugh as the girl called out for the thing calling it 'Big Douglas'. "I think her toad got loose." she said with a shrug and craned her neck to get a better view of the corridor she had gone into.

 

[Hester MacGillivray]

Hester only half glanced back at the sound of Sawyer's voice, more busy focusing on catching up to her toad. "Of course I did!" She said, almost frustrated. "I'm not just gonna leave him in a cage all day, I took him to see the castle!" Big Douglas was seeing far more of the castle than Hester had intended now, unfortunately, and she quietly marvelled at how fast her toad was as he hopped far ahead of her, turning off down another, darker side-corridor. "Uuugh, no, come back Big Douglas!" She called out, breaking into a full run and chasing after her wayward toad, ignorant of anything going on behind her.

 

[Sawyer Carnahan]

Trying to keep up with Hester and Big Douglas, Sawyer had a horrible premonition of him accidentally stepping on the toad like he had with some of Thistle's worms she'd brought inside once. It forced him to keep his eyes trained on the floor in front of him, only skidding to a stop when he nearly ran into a wall when the corridor forked suddenly. "Wait, Hester wait, where are we?" He asked trying to get her attention before glancing over his shoulder to see Delilah and Ivy had both followed them down the corridor. "Lumos." Sawyer raised his wand, squinting down each fork of the hallway to see if he could spot either the toad or some part of the path that looked even remotely familiar. It felt colder in here than it did in the potions classroom and Sawyer started to wonder if they were a lot deeper underground now than they had been before.

 

[Ivy Ashworth]

Ivy frowned when Delilah explained the situation, because it still didn't really make sense. "Why on earth would she bring her toad to class?" Ivy hissed, though she didn't particularly take care to keep her voice down. Ivy hadn't realized how dark the corridor had become until Sawyer cast Lumos up ahead, and she scowled as she approached him and Hester. "Where did you guys lead us?" She asked, clearly frustrated. "Is this some sort of joke?"

 

[Delilah Thorne]

Delilah followed her friends and Hester, and noticed they weren't going the usual way out of the dungeons but she didn’t say anything after being too distracted by the toad’s great escape. She was at a loss for words for a moment, not entirely disagreeing that he shouldn’t be locked up all day. “But why class? Never mind.” she began and stopped as Ivy asked nearly the same question. She quickened her pace to get a better look at things when Sawyer cast Lumos but not too fast since she didn’t want Ivy to get too far behind. “Unfortunately I don’t think this is a joke.” Delilah said softly, realizing too late that there was nothing around them seemed familiar anymore. If it was a joke, it wasn't funny at all.

 

[Hester MacGillivray]

The corridors had gotten dark and winding, and when Sawyer lit his wand, Hester realised in frustration that she had lost sight of Big Douglas entirely. "Where did he go?!" She said in dismay as she looked around, ignoring Sawyer's question entirely. His voice was followed by another that Hester found much more difficult to ignore unfortunately, and she grunted in frustration. "I didn't ask you to follow, Ivy!" She snapped, glancing back at her roommate in frustration for a moment before hurrying down a corridor in a random direction. "If you're gonna be here at least help me look!" Hester added firmly, lighting her own wand with a quick, "Lumos," to better search for Big Douglas.