Closed Lay Of The Land

[Miles Flynn]

Miles had been disappointed when his sister didn't end up in Gryffindor with him. He had been hoping, but it turned out that the hat thought she was more suited to Hufflepuff than she was to Gryffindor. Which he supposed was fine, just because they were in different houses didn't mean they wouldn't get to hang out. That morning, Miles found himself in the Entrance Hall, rocking back and forth on his heels as he loitered near the staircase waiting on his sister. He'd promised her that he would give her a tour of the castle, something he sourly wished he had gotten when he had first arrived. It had sucked being late to class because he couldn't find his way around, so he was hoping that he could help out Eloise so she wouldn't end up struggling as much with getting around as he had. All he had to do was wait for her to arrive.

 

[Eloise Flynn]

Eloise was finally in Hogwarts, and she couldn't believe it! After finally hearing what Miles had gotten up to in his first year at Hogwarts, Eloise couldn't wait to explore it all on her own. The new Hufflepuff had been a wee bit disappointed that she wasn't placed in the same house as her brother, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to stop seeing or pestering her brother either way. When Miles had offered to show her around the castle, she couldn't say no to the offer, as she knew she'd probably need the help and guidance, as she was always easily lost somehow.

That morning, Eloise had been busy picking what earrings she wanted to wear. She had been indecisive about what earrings to wear, she realised she was going to be late for meeting up with her brother, and she panicked at the thought of being late. She didn't like being late. Eloise then decided to go with her purple mushroom earrings, before hurriedly making her way down to the entrance hall, where she could see her brother at the bottom of the stairs. "Sorry, I'm late! I took too long deciding what earrings to wear. I hope you weren't waiting for ages," Eloise says to her brother in slight panic as she reaches Miles.

 

[Miles Flynn]

Thankfully, Miles wasn't left waiting for all too long before he noticed his sister finally coming over. Immediately he smiled at her, waving his hand just in case she happened to miss where he was standing. "No, I wasn't waiting too long," he responded with a smile, "I'm just glad you found me alright." The Entrance Hall was a good place to start, and it was pretty easy for someone to find. If he had opted to wait for her somewhere else in the castle then she'd probably end up taking even longer to find him. "The mushrooms are cute," he added after a moment, noting the earrings she had decided to wear that morning. It wasn't unusual to see Eloise wearing all kinds of different earrings every day, so he wasn't all too shocked that she had taken her time to try and pick them out. In fact, he had almost expected her to be running a little late because of it.

But, she was here now, so the little tour could begin. "Starting off, obviously, this is the Entrance Hall. You can pretty much get everywhere from here, so if you do end getting lost, try and find your way back here." Of course, actually navigating the castle was a little more complicated than that, but where they were standing was a good a place as any to start.

 

[Eloise Flynn]

Eloise let out a small sigh of relief. "That's good, was worried you were waiting for ages," Eloise said dramatically with a small giggle, though she did still feel bad for making her brother wait. She didn't like being late. Eloise nodded at what her brother had said. "Bit of a maze, but we got there," Eloise says with a laugh and shrugs a little. She had heard plenty of times how enormous the castle was, but didn't really consider how big the castle was until she was actually in it. "There are so many stairs and hallways. I've lost count of how many I've been on and through just today," Eloise says with a giggle. There was a lot she went through, and that was for sure. She easily got lost, so she was glad for the tour her brother had offered her.

Eloise had been confused for a moment, forgetting what earrings she had put on and the whole purpose of her being late, before he touched her earrings, before she smiled in realisation. "Oh yeah! Thanks!" Eloise says with delight, happy with the choice, and she was happy to take the compliment. The new Hufflepuff listened as Miles started off with the tour, listening carefully as she didn't want to mess up where anything was. She nodded along, looking around, pretty much a castle-like entrance hall, Eloise guessed. "Do ghosts usually hang around here? Or do they have a specific hangout place?" Eloise asked her brother, as she had remembered when she arrived, a few ghosts floating around before she made her way into the great hall to be sorted.

 

[Miles Flynn]

Even if he had ended up standing there and waiting for his sister for ages, he supposed he wouldn't complain much about it. After all, he knew how complicated Hogwarts could be and how easy it was to end up getting all turned around and horribly lost. "It is quite a lot to try and get used to, yeah," he agreed with a nod of his head, "But, that is the reason for this tour, to help you get a sense of the castle and to help you try and get to class on time." Because, unfortunately, he also knew how easy it was to end up getting lost on your way to class and then end up being late and getting told off by a Professor for showing up late. Something he was hoping wasn't going to happen this year, as he absolutely hated getting told off. As did most people, he would think.

"I... don't actually know," he admitted with a small frown, "They just always seem to be about, but I don't know if they have a specific hangout spot." Truth be told, he had never really paid all too much attention to the ghostly residents of the castle to notice if they had a specific hangout spot or not. And he'd never really thought to ask any of them about it, either. "You have to be careful, though. Because they like to just suddenly appear through the wall in front of you and you end up walking through them."

 

[Eloise Flynn]

Eloise smiled, glad that her brother was happy to help her so she wouldn't be lost, with a castle this big, she knew she was gonna get lost. She doubted she'd be able to make her way back to the castle. Was there a pit stop area for those who were lost? Surely there was some sort of map around her somewhere? But Miles helping her would likely give her a rough idea of where things were. She nodded when her brother wasn't sure about where the ghost hangouts were. Maybe she'd be able to bump into a ghost and ask them herself. Eloise's jaw dropped a little, shuddering at the thought of walking through a ghost. "Walking through a ghost? That sounds weird, I dunno if I like that idea"

 

[Miles Flynn]

He did have to chuckle ever so slightly as his sister admitted that she didn't like the idea of walking through a ghost. "Well, you don't get a choice in the matter half of the time," he admitted easily with a small shift of his shoulders, "It's not really like they give you any kind of warning when they suddenly appear out of the wall right in front of you." The only thing to stop you from going right through them was having the reaction time to stop in your tracks. Which was harder than it looked when the ghosts gabe you absolutely no warning it was going to happen.

 

[Eloise Flynn]

Eloise pouted slightly. "That doesn't seem fair, but I guess that makes sense" Eloise says with a small shrug and smile. Ghosts seemed cool, she wondered if you were able to make a conversation with the ghosts, but she guessed that was a question for another time. "What's next on this tour?" Eloise says with a small smile, bouncing on her heels, deciding to change the subject, she wondered if maybe her brother knew any sort of passageways.

 

[Miles Flynn]

His sister was right, it wasn't very fair, but he doubted that the ghosts actually cared much about that. And he didn't think they would be open to having a conversation about it, either. But that was enough about the ghosts, the Hogwarts Grand Tour needed to move along and Miles smiled as he looked at his sister. "Er, right. So this is the Entrance Hall. Off there you have the Great Hall," he used his finger to point to the side, "The Professor's common room is over there, but obviously you can't go in there. And, the courtyard is through here." He paused his pointing, looking back down to Eloise, "Have you been to the courtyard yet?"

 

[Eloise Flynn]

Eloise listened and watched as Miles pointed out where everything he listed was. She guessed these would be pretty easy to remember, as she'd pretty much be in the area a lot of the time to have meals in the great hall and whatnot. She quickly shook her head. "Nope, I don't think so" Eloise says with a shrug. "Anything interesting out there?" Eloise says with a grin, as she tries to get a peek in the general area of where the courtyard is. Eloise wondered what else the castle had in store, she sure was excited for her time here.

 

[Miles Flynn]

"Oh, well, not much, actually. But it's a nice place to sit outside if you don't want to go wandering all over the grounds." Miles did like to just hang around in the courtyard sometimes, especially when the weather was nice, and he didn't feel like being all cooped up indoors. "We can go and have a look, if you want." This was supposed to be a tour, after all, so it was worth taking Eloise all over the castle and actually getting her to look at all the different locations instead of just standing there and mentioning where everything was. After all, you learned better by doing.