Geology

[Avie Mitchell]

Avie loved the abandoned classroom, mostly because it was an occasion for him to just be alone and just have fun with a room all to himself, he had never found the mysterious room that was supposed to exist, he hadn't found it and Avie was running low on time to find it, but at the very least he had for the time being somewhere that he could just have fun and that was what he did each and every time he could. Currently the room was void of all it's tables and chairs, all stacked up atthe side of the room, done by Avie's own magic after a few tries, and the boy quickly took out all the rocks he had recently collected, spreading them out on the ground of the room, with Rockie running rings around the rocks as he took them out of his pockets and separated them. Avie was a good many things, unable to concentrate, unable to understand, poor retention, but one thing he could do correctly was his rocks, when it came to Avie and rocks there was nothing that he loved more in the world, and really it was all he believed he had left, aside from his friends.

Avie's trusted companion Casper, a dog almost as old as Avie was had died over the break, and while Avie had been carefully sat down and explained the issue to avoid a repeat of his mother, it just hadn't hit him as hard, he loved the dog, and he would miss it, but Avie hadn't really gotten to see it much over the holidays, so to him, he mourned the loss, didn't want it to have happened but was just dealing with it as it was. He had Rockie after all, and Rockie could never die, so they'd live together forever he would never have to worry about Rockie leaving him because the rock just couldn't. But the important matter at hand was the fact that at the end of the semester Avie would be graduating, and that meant he no longer had access to the Hogwarts rocks, the world would be open for him to find more but for now, he was gathering as many as he could and filtering through the awful ones at this point which was exactly what Avie was doing, any bad rocks got thrown to where the tables and chairs were, any of the good rocks remained.
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[Marcel Haynes]

Marcellus, or Marcel now that he had officially changed his name, walked through the corridors of Hogwarts School, looking for anything that caught his eye. Why? He was bored and had lost all contact with the few friends he had made during his seven years at the castle, and without them he felt lonely. And even though he knew that this year probably would be another boring year with lots of homework to do, especially with NEWTs around this time, Marcel seriously considered not coming back for his last year at Hogwarts. So as he walked through the second floor corridor, Marcel kept an open eye for literally everything, not wanting to overlook something that might have the potential of looking like a lot of fun. Eventually the seventeen year old heard something that made him curious enough to check it out. Marcel walked silently towards one of the last door in the corridor and opened it just enough so he could peek in the room. To his surprise he was Avie Mitchell, a friend he hadn't seen or spoken to in a very long, long time, throwing what looked like rocks towards the stacked tables and chairs. The Prefect pushed the door forward and leaned against the doorway of the abandoned classroom with a smile on his face. ''Hey, dude.'' Marcel said. ''Whaddya doing?''

 

[Avie Mitchell]

The process of going through the rocks and picking which ones he liked best was always the more difficult task, but he liked doing it, it was always the best way to figure out the best rocks, and he only ever wanted the best for his Hogwarts collection, a collection that he'd worked on his entire time at school, from the first few days, when he'd first gone swimming, till the very last where he knew he would swim, one last time. The slytherin prefect looked up when someone he knew from voice alone greeted him in the room, "MARCEL!" he exclaimed happily, before jumping to his feet and wrapping his arms around his hufflepuff friend in greeting, he was so happy to see him, they didn't get many chances to hang out, not like they used to, and Avie did admittedly miss his friend, but he was happy to see him now, and after breaking away from the hug went back to Rockie and the rock collection, "I'm sorting my rocks, any bad ones go in that pile, all the good ones stay," he told him, with a bright and very child-like smile, the enjoyment of the moment just clear on his face, "Usually I do this in the common room, where I can sit with Esme and Lucien, but I've collected so many recently that I needed all this space," Avie just paused at this point gathering back his breath, "Do you wanna help, or do you wanna play with them?" he asked, since his sorting could be done at any point rather than it just being done now, especially if Marcel wanted to play.
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[Marcel Haynes]

Marcel's smile widened as Avie hugged him. ''It's nice to see you too, dude.'' he said whilst he passed his friend on the back. It really was good to see one of the few friend he managed to make again, it made him rememeber the times he and Avie went searching for the mysterious room they had been talking about since their first or second year, he couldn't even remember when they first talk about the room, when their friendship and days of endlessly exploring the castle, tapping on every brick they could find, and reading every book he could find about magic began, but it sure as hell had been a lot of fun with Avie. While Avie told him what he was doing, Marcel stepped into the classroom, looking at the pile of rocks his friend talked about. He grinned at seeing the pile. It was crazy how many rocks his friend had gathered throughout their years at Hogwarts. When Avie asked him whether he wanted to help him with the sorting or to play with them Marcel shrugged. ''As long as I get to spent some time with you I'm fine doing both.'' the prefect told his friend with a smile on his face. He honestly didn't mind whichever Avie chose to do first. Marcel wanted to be distracted from the thoughts of being lonely for awhile, and Avie was offering him exactly that.

 

[Avie Mitchell]

It was hard to make Avie happier than with he could combine his friends with his love of rocks, there was nothing in his mind that was better than that to him, the slytherin prefect was so happy to see Marcel, so glad that they could spend time together, he couldn't help the smile on his lips, "I still haven't found the room, but I think I'll find it before we leave," the boy told him in a quiet tone, wondering if perhaps Marcel had managed to find it, he'd hope his friend would tell him if he had. But, since that wasn't what they were doing the boy smiled at him easily and then looked at the rocks, "We should throw them!" he always liked throwing the rocks, it was half the fun, he perhaps did lose a lot of them that way but it wasn't bad, "Any rocks you think are bad, just throw them, five points if you hit on of the chairs, ten points if you hit the window, fifteen if you crack the window, twenty if you manage break it," he knew he wouldn't be able to keep the count but he hoped whole heartedly that Marcel would be able to keep it and they'd be able to just play easily and just have fun with it, he picked up a bad rock and gave it to Marcel, "That's a bad rock," the seeker told him earnestly so the boy would then know what was classed as a bad rock.
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[Marcel Haynes]

Marcel chuckled slightly when Avie mentioned the room they had been trying to find for a good portion of their school lifes. ''Funny you mention it,'' the Hufflepuff began, ''I haven't really been looking for that room. I believe that we have done everything we can do to find it but if it doesn't want to be found it doesn't want to be found.'' he stated. Marcel knew that Avie was going to disapprove of the way he thought about it, but perhaps he should let go of it, too. Marcel nodded his head to gesture that he agreed with throwing the rocks. He knew his friend liked throwing rocks, he had been a target once himself but as long as he wouldn't be the target today, all was fine. ''Screw the chairs,'' he said, ''I'm going straight for the windows.'' Marcel honestly didn't care if the windows would break whilst they were throwing rocks at them. It was his last year at Hogwarts and he already had a job working at his father's comic book shop, so if the teachers would go nuts and expel him, he had nothing to worry about. The Prefect nodded his head vigorously as Avie stated that the rock that he handed him overwas a b ad rock. ''Right, so all the ugly ones are bad rocks? Got it.'' Marcel smiled at his friend before he turned to face a window on the left and threw the rock aimlessly against the window only to see it bounce off.

 

[Avie Mitchell]

Avie was simply dumbfounded that Marcel hadn't been looking for the mysterious room, and Avie vowed in that moment to force Marcel out of hufflepuff more often do that they could at long last finish the search for the room, and just be able to enjoy it. The teen really couldn't believe that his friend hadn't been looking for it, but he knew how busy classes could make folk he had just hoped that between the business that his friend had tried a little to find the room, "Marcel," Avie drew out the word with an exacerbated sigh, as if frustrated by his friend not looking for it, but it was only a tenth true. The reality was more than with his friends in Slytherin being busy that people were just busy being good students, being adults and Avie was just not. Not that he really wanted to be busy in that way at all, to stop looking for the room was to him a most ridiculous request and his patrolling had definitely helped him in looking between the floors for it, but really that didn't matter when they were about to play with the rocks, and nodded when his friend seemed to get that the ugly rocks were the bad rocks.

Avie picked a handful from the ground and from the handful picked out a bad rock, and after carefully aiming, launched the rock at the window. Years of quidditch, and swimming had much improved Avie's throw and he hit the window dead on but didn't manage in cracking it, "Ten points to team Avie," he cheered for himself before waiting for Marcel to take his turn, the Slytherin really hoped he would beat his friend in this game, it wasn't necessary but it would be fun, so much fun in his mind. Avie did very much enjoy winning, after all, after his gifts from Lucien and Esme and the rocks the snitches he had from the games were some of his most precious belongings.
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[Marcel Haynes]

''No.'' Marcel said to Avie while he shook his head. He knew that his friend wouldn't be happy with him not looking for the mysterious room anymore but the Hufflepuff had tried everything he could think of that would help them find the damned room. ''Look, dude, we literally tried everything we could think of, but if that mysterious room doesn't want us to find it, there isn't much we can do - I stopped looking it last year and I am not going to continue it either, so whatever you're thinking right now: No. I'm not going to waste another year on this, OK?'' Marcel shook his head slightly whilst picking up a rock that looked a bit like the bad rock Avie showed him and threw it as hard as he could against the same window as before, finally making it crack. The Prefect knew that it was pretty much useless to tell his friend no because eventually he would join Avie in looking for the mysterious room again, it was only a matter of time. ''Fifteen points to team Marcel.'' the teen said with a chuckle.

 

[Avie Mitchell]

Avie pouted unhappily when Marcel said no to finding the room, and he didn't want that to be true, he just wanted to find the room, and he would do it without Marcel if he had to but, it was something they'd been doing for as long as they had been friends he didn't particularly want to do it alone. And so he just pouted unhappily at his friend, showing the sadness he felt towards not doing that any more, even if he was right about it, "But we could try?" he pushed a little. They hadn't really gone specifically looking for it up in a while, maybe it would turn up sometime soon, "If I can find the snitch in almost every game, I think I can find the secret room, come on, we must be so close Marcel!" Avie knew that if Marcel was stubborn about it they wouldn't search any longer, he had to respect his friends wishes in that regard, but thankfully for now they had a different game to play, and Avie cheered loudly when the window cracked from the pressure of the second stone, and Avie picked up another bad rock, turning it over in his hands to be sure that it was bad, before he threw it, and it hit the window hard causing a further crack to appear, "An extra fifteen points," he said while cheering, just elated at this game and the fact he had fifteen extra points, "That means I have," Avie started at ten and using his fingers counted to that another fifteen, "25 points?" he looked to Marcel for confirmation that he'd counted correctly.
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[Marcel Haynes]

Marcel had to admit that whatever his Slytherin friend was doing worked, because while thinking back at the fun the two had whilst searching the mysterious room, he wanted to do nothing more than to start looking for that room again, with Avie besides him. He let out a sigh and then looked up at his friend when he told him that they could at least try to find it again. The sad expression on Avie's face meant that the boy really wanted to go at it again and give it his best. Marcel shook his head slightly as his friend brought up his success in Quidditch and smiled. ''Then why weren't you able to find the room before, hm?'' he asked jokingly. ''Say that if we were to start looking for the room again, where would we begin?'' The Prefect asked Avie wondering if the boy had thought about a possible location for the room. ''Because we are not going to read through every book in the library again.'' He said with a smile. The teen watched as Avie also managed to crack the window and nodded because he was impressed by how hard the rock had hit the window. It made him wonder if Avie had done this multiple times before in the past. Marcel smiled when Avie started using his fingers to count the points to the points he already had and nodded his head when Avie looked at him, indicating that the boy counted right. ''25 points.'' he said to his friend. ''Nicely done.''

 

[Avie Mitchell]

avie pouted at the statement, they hadn't found it and it had been quite a while since they'd tried together though Avie looked almost every day, or as often as he could but he just shrugged at the other boy with a small grin on his face, "We'll start from the top!" the teen assured him, last time they had begun from the bottom, so perhaps they'd have more luck from the top, that was his thinking anyway, he was sure that they would find it, or if not someone else would, "I've been asking ghosts but ghosts are really unhelpful, they always talk in riddles and I don't understand the riddles," the teen told him easily with the frown on his face returning for a brief second before giving way for a smile, since he did also enjoy just annoying the ghosts since they annoyed him with their long words, and riddles that he didn't understand, so he felt like he was doing better at balancing it all out. And he really didn't want to have to look in the library again so upon Marcel stating that he nodded happily making a noise to indicate that he did not much enjoy the idea of having to look in the library for anything. The Library was a boring place to look, and more to the point, Avie was just glad to be able to sit and just enjoy throwing rocks and looking by themselves, of course he threw the rock as hard as he possibly could and counted up his points before turning to marcel and waiting for him to go, "Come on, it's your go!" he told him with an urgency in his tone not necessary for what they were doing, since throwing rocks was not exactly the worst thing they could be doing and definitely wasn't pressing.
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[Marcel Haynes]

Even thought Marcel still doubted that the two teens would actually be able to find the mysterious room this time, he liked the idea of starting at the top instead from the bottom, like they had done last time because they didn't know where to start. When Avie mentioned that he had asked the ghosts if they knew about the room he smiled. He didn't know why but he was somehow happy that his Slytherin friend hadn't given up on the hidden room like he had done. ''Perhaps you should take me to one of those ghosts than? I'm pretty good at riddles if I say so myself. Maybe they'll give us a really, really helpful tip, because like I sad before, I'm not keen on searching the library for books that could give is more information again. So please, the next time you'll go and see one of them, please take me with you.'' Even at this age Marcel managed to be out of breath by how rapidly he spoke, although he was very serious about this and really hoped Avie would come to him first next time. Maybe Marcel could even confince Avie to finally go and see the Headmistress and ask her about the mysterious room, though he very much doubted if she was going to tell them anything about it. The Hufflepuff smiled when he was told that it was his turn to throw, so picked up a rock from the pile, closed his left eye and tried aiming it at the window only for it to hit the wall between two windows.

 

[Avie Mitchell]

Avie seemed to visibly contemplate the idea of taking Marcel to one of the ghosts, he all but sat down as he thought of it, the other girl, the last time had given invaluable help when he was trying to figure out the ghost and Marcel was far older than that young girl, he would surely be even better at deciphering what they were saying, "Okay!" Avie said finally, in a manner that seemed to indicate that he'd had a large internal discussion with himself about it, and he had clearly come to this decision in a very clear manner, "Next time we go room hunting, I'll see if I can find a ghost," the boy assured him with a light smile, looking directly at him as he said this, not taking his gaze away from his best friend, as if making a promise, "Before we graduate you will help me crack the riddles of the ghosts," Avie's entire expression seem to light up at this prospect, he really wanted to solve it and find the room before they left the school.Avie then just happily, and very satisfied watched as the boy then threw a rock missing the chairs and the window, and Avie laughed lightly, "You need better aim Marcel!" he picked up a rock and then easily threw it and it hit the window, Avie since he did quidditch and had in his life done a lot of target practice had gotten fairly good at aiming with rocks, and so rarely missed what ever target he had set, "Come on, you can do better," he told him, picking up what Avie deemed a bad rock and pressing it into his friends gh and, essentially telling him to have another go, try harder this time, aim it properly.
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[Marcel Haynes]

The thought of regretting the fact that Marcel had come back to school for his final year quickly faded as he was talking with his friend about the mysterious room they had been trying to find for years. A little smal appeared on the prefect's face when Avie finally told him that he would take him to the ghosts the next time they would go look for the room. To be honest Marcel seriously hadn't thought he'd be doing this when he thought about his seventh - and last - year at Hogwarts. However, the Hufflepuff didn't mind doing all of this again as long as he was with his best friend - Perhaps they could even ask more people for help this time. ''Thanks, Av.'' he said, his voice a little bit softer than before. The only reason Marcel was still around was because of how upset his father got when he told the man that he didn't want to finish his school and start working with his father instead. Marcel smiled at Avie's comment and nodded his head to let the boy know he agreed with him. ''Definitely.'' he told the Slytherin prefect. Marcel laughed when Avie told him to aim better and shook his head a bit. He was fully aware that he should aim better than he did before but wasn't sure if he could aim better than that. ''Maybe I should've joined the Hufflepuff team, perhaps then I'd be better at aiming than I am now.'' the teen said jokingly whilst closing his right eye once more in the hope that it would actually help him aim. Marcel threw the rock as hard as he could and much to his surprise he managed to hit the a window. ''That's better right?'' He asked his friend with a bright smile on his face.

 

[Avie Mitchell]

Avie smiled at his close friend, one of the ones he'd known since getting to the school and really in Avie's child like mind there was no one else he would rather do this with, finding the room was their mission and though Avie knew he probably looked more than Marcel did, he would always go to him first to tell him when he found it, before he would tell Lucien or Esme, it was their thing and boy was Avie determined about finding it. It had always been a disappointment when it got to the end of term and he had to leave being no closer to finding the room. However it was the mere act of looking, of spending the time with his friend that he enjoyed. Through the years, Avie had not been blind to the fact that his friends had grown up and were perhaps looking beyond school life, not playing anymore because it was childish, and as almost adults they could no longer be childish. Child like Avie had done such things, so it was therefore understandable that he continued to act, behave and altogether seem like a child, far younger than he actual years, and he would know that his fear of life beyond hogwarts drove him to be like that. But, since he did not realise such a thing, his soft and friendly gaze was settled on his friend, as he commented, "Why didn't you?" he asked curious of the answer, Marcel in Avie's mind would be a great player, and he loved playing against his friends, he still remembered how happy he was when Mason caught the snitch rather than him that one time Mason played as seeker. The slytherin prefect smiled and nodded enthusiastically, giving a thumbs up to indicate that it was good, a good throw, "How many points does that mean you have?" he asked, his features forming into an expression where it was clear he was trying to remember and hopefully to then count up how many total points his friend had.
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[Marcel Haynes]

Marcel shrugged when his friend ask him why he didn't join the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, and said, ''I don't know, probably because I'm really bad at it.'' Truth be told the Hufflepuff prefect had never even played Quidditch in his life before and that was mainly due to the fact that he didn't see the point of joining a team of already good players, and it wasn't like he couldn't fly as well because he actually was a pretty good flyer. Although he himself didn't play, he loved watching the Hogwarts matches, especially Slytherins. He was amazed by how good of a player his best friend was and had cheered for him in every game Avie played in. ''Are you going to be a professional Quidditch player once we graduate?'' He asked the Slytherin next to him whilst the sudden question of what they would be doing after their last year at Hogwarts. He smiled at the thumbs up Avie gave him and counted his points together, ''25 points.'' Marcel said while turning towards his friend. ''Maybe I should've tried out for Chaser, hm?'' From the three rocks Marcel threw he managed to hit the window twice, which he was pretty satisfied with.

 

[Avie Mitchell]

Avie shook his head at Marcel, utter disbelief written on his face, Marcel wasn't bad at anything, he was a smart person, an incredibly smart person, but he couldn't formulate the words that he needed to express such a thing. Avie of course had a slightly skewed view of intelligence since he knew that he wasn't so anyone who could do even a little more than him was smarter, but the boy had stopped being bothered by that, he was getting better, he was working with the muggle studies professor so often and he was working hard, which to most wouldn't be very hard, but to Avie it was hard. At the question Avie shrugged, "Maybe," he hadn't give the future much of a thought, he didn't know what skills he had that he could do after school, photography and quidditch were the only two things he could do, after all, he didn't think that having a vast collection of rocks really counted as a skill. He then just looked at Marcel as he confirmed the amount of points and then watched as he threw the three rocks at the windows, and two managed to hit, Avie cheered loudly, before just breaking into easy laughter and though nothing was really funny Avie just couldn't stop the joyousness in his heart, or the laughter.
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[Marcel Haynes]

Marcel smiled at Avie's answer. Like his close friend, Marcel hadn't given the future much of a thought either. He knew that he would probably work at his father's comic book store for maybe a year or two, but the teen wasn't going to be working at the store for the rest of his life he knew that for sure. ''You're the best Seeker I've seen in our time at Hogwarts,'' the prefect began, ''There must be coaches waiting in line for you!'' He wanted Avie to know that even he could get succesful, even if he didn't want to believe it himself. ''Now me on the other hand, I'll probably be stuck doing some boring office job.'' Marcel told his friend with a grin on his face, though the Hufflepuff hoped that that wouldn't be his future. He looked with surprise as he managed to hit of the rocks he threw at the windows. ''Hell yeah! Did you see that?!'' But with Avie cheering loudly besides him Marcel figured that he had seen it as well. ''Oh man, Av, watch out or I may even win this.'' Laughing too, Marcel knew that he would miss doing things like this with his friend for sure.

 

[Avie Mitchell]

At Marcel's compliment Avie blushed a deep red colour, he couldn't help it, though he knew he was good, he didn't think he was the best, Avie couldn't help the slightly sheepish expression which crossed his features, ducking his head and grinning both in a shy but proud manner, "You honestly think so?" the boy asked, glancing at his friend with a hopeful expression, people didn't usually line up for him, or half the time give him the time of day, he hadn't known what he might do after school but if this was true, if Marcel was telling the truth he absolutely would. He didn't care about what Marcel was saying about himself Avie's mind still reeled from the prospect of the future, of a future. He could help the bright and suddenly more carefree expression which sat on his features, there was a load in his mind that was sitting so heavily, so even as Marcel took new shots at the targets he had set out for them, Avie mind was just else where, and he just took Marcel's hand and began dragging him away from where they'd been targeting, "Let's go play outside, come on," he gently tugged on the boys arm hoping more than anything that he'd wanted to join Avie in playing a little more energetically and outside, he was grinning at him, his warm and childlike expression dominating his face.
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[Marcel Haynes]

Marcel nodded his head. ''Dude, totally.'' he told Avie. ''If not you can hit me.'' Though he doubted the fact that there wouldn't be a single team interested in the Slytherin seeker since he was obivously a very good seeker ginving the fact that Slytherin did pretty good in the Quidditch competition. The fact that Avie didn't even respond to him taking another shot at the windows was enough for the seventh year te realise that his friend was somewhere else with his mind, though Marcel didn't mind that Avie was not paying attention to the rock throwing, he was sort of used to it by now. ''Alright, alright, easy, Av.'' the prefect said as he was being dragged away from the broken and cracked windows and the rocks. ''I'll go with you.'' he told his friend with a smile.