Pseudo-Poltergeist

[Alkander Avaskadiras]

Alkander Avaskadiras loved the spirit of Halloween and the energy that came with it. But for a coulrophobic like him, it was a risk to attend a feast where people were disguised. In addition, Halloween wasn't a custom at his homeland so he wasn't as excited as other students. He had found an opportunity with the feast taking place at the great hall and most of the castle attending it. He decided to spend that mysterious night in search of something extraordinary.

It was funny how much you could overhear by just enjoying your breakfast quietly. People were sometimes oblivious of how audible were when they talked excited about something. The boy had overheard the other day at Gryffindor's table a story about a room within the castle that could grand wishes or something similar. Room of Requirements the older students had named it. With that and a couple of hints, his search brought him to the sixth floor.

It was the least visited floor for him since he had no classes there. It was a quiet floor with a number of doors and tapestries of medieval depictions between them, covering the walls from the ceiling to the floor. Part of the festive decoration where the floating pumpkins of different sizes, with their illuminated, wicked smiles. They added an eerie note to his quest that Alkander didn't mind.

A few minutes there and he had inspected a few doors that were leading to classrooms and broomstick cabinets. He wasn't expecting to be an easy feet. Such kind of room must have been concealed really well and it would require something more than opening standard doors. Alkander decided to have a full walk of the corridor for any clues, that could give him a head start.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire waited patiently, hidden and out of sight. She had taken a risk when picking her spot. She'd been here about an hour, but Alkander had started this war and she was going to make him regret feeding her that damned wizard candy. She had used all her skills, both old and new, to set this up. And knowing Alkander, he would take the opportunity of an empty castle to go snooping around. She had done a little snooping of her own, looking for an enticing rumor, and had picked up on some secret room supposed to be on this floor. And with any luck, the salamander would be up here looking for it.

Her patience was soon rewarded as Alkander came around the corner. She grinned wickedly. Gotcha. She waited for him to approach her hiding spot. With a flick of her hand, all the lights in the hall went out. In total darkness, she stepped silently in front of him. She had spent all afternoon perfecting this costume- with the right potion, she had managed to take a shredded black robe and change it's color so it was nearly translucent. Her pale skin worked in her favor today, and with a bit of make-up she'd made her eyes look sunken and had dabbed a bit of fake blood running from her mouth. Her shoulder-length black hair was hanging loosely around her face and shoulders, mussed so that some of it fell into her eyes but still kept her face visible.

She knew Alkander would use his silly light charm to see, and when he did, the first thing he would see would be her face, pale and lonely and haunted.

 

[Alkander Avaskadiras]

Walking down the corridor, Alkander was fully absorbed in his daydream of discovery and secrets. He was rooted to the spot when the lights went off and instinctively flourished his wand. His first reaction was to cast the wand-lighting spell to see what was going on but he thought that while he couldn't see, whoever was there couldn't see him either. With his heart beat thumbing in his ears, he took a few step backwards and his hip knocked something. The sound of smashing pottery followed and he stepped on the broken pieces. "Hello?" He decided to ask, blindly avoiding to step farther on the broken vase or whatever that was. He knew that he could walk around the castle while the Halloween feast was still carried out at the Great Hall. "Homenum Revelio!" He attempted the cast of an advanced spell, not expecting to have any results. His strategy was to act like an older student and pretend he had the upper hand by knowing the whereabouts of the person who had caused the black-out. "I can see you now! Quit messing around!" He slightly raised his voice to heard as he wasn't truly sure if anyone was close to him and waited for a response in the dark.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire tried hard not to laugh, biting her lip. Alkander was busy flailing around, trying to act older than he was. She smiled, moving to avoid him now. She thought on what to do next, then remembered she had a rather useless talent she had almost forgot about. She took a breath and then whispered, creepily, throwing her voice so that it sounded like her words were coming from all different directions.

"Alkander," She repeated his name six or seven times, throwing it in different directions. With every creepy whisper she brought her voice closer and closer to her, moving until she was right behind him. "Alkander," She was right behind him now, and when his light finally flashed onto her face, pale and forlorn, she whispered brokenly, "You're late, Salamander,"

 

[Alkander Avaskadiras]

The situation didn't progress the way he had expected and in the darkness, whispers starting calling his name. Alkander had heard of the school's poltergeist before and initially, he thought that the rascal spirit was victimizing. However, he could sense movement around him in the blackness that didn't suit the locomotion of a poltergeist. Any doubt was removed when he heard a moniker that only one person delighted in calling him that way. "Lumos!" Finally the orb of light unveiled his surrounding and turned around to face Sapphire with a half smile on his face. As soon as he made eye contact, his expression changed drastically in astonishment. "What the-" He cut his swearing short and jumped a step away from his friend who had a pretty horrifying appearance. "This is not the best way to make new friends!" He came up quickly with a quip, recalling the time at the lake where she had told him that she had trouble with other people. "You should make an entrance like that at next defense against the dark arts though. Epic!" He said with a chuckle, imagining the other students' faces when she would enter like that the already bleak classroom.

Judging from her disguise, she was intending to attend the feast downstairs or she came all the way from there. "You should have been haunting the great hall Sapphie, what are you doing here?" He raised an eyebrow in suspicion. Alkander wasn't believing in coincidence anymore. She must have followed him in an attempt to retaliate for the prank he had played on her in Honeydukes the other day. "You could have done a better impersonation of a poltergeist you know. I didn't buy it for a second." He stated intentionally in order to vex her. "The trick with the lights however...how did you do that?" He asked impressed this time as he looked at the floating pumpkins whose luminous expressions had faded out.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapph was filled with satisfaction as Alkander jumped away, looking freaked out before yelling at her that this was not the best way to make friends. She snickered, completely full of herself now that her trick had worked. She crossed her arms, smiling mischievously when Alkander asked what she was doing haunting the hallway. "Oh, you know, I heard this rather enticing rumor about some sort of secret room on this floor, and I just knew an empty castle was too good a chance to pass up looking into it."

But it was when he asked about her tricks with the pumpkins, her eyes lit up. She waved for him to follow, going back to her hiding spot. She grabbed the string hanging there and pulled it, and the pumpkins once again lit up the hall. She wrapped the string around the hand of the statue and grabbed the broom she had borrowed before doing a quick trip around the hall and gathering the little cups out of each of the pumpkins.

She came back down next to Alkander, her arms full with the little cups. "Everyone around here is so used to doing everything with magic, no one ever seems to remember you can work without it."

 

[Alkander Avaskadiras]

Alkander furrowed his brows. Not only he gave her the satisfaction to see him startled by her trick but she also seemed to be after the same thing. He wondered if she was keeping an eye on him all the time. He would have been really very frustrated if she succeeded in finding the room first. "We are on the same page." He admitted, regaining his usual smirk on his features. "Too bad for you, I'm going to find it first." He stated with overabundant confidence. He was a bit disappointed that he had to halt his search for the room now that she was around. He didn't want to provide her with any clue that might give her a head start. However, he thought it was nice to hang out with her and see if she had any clues he had missed.

Alkander followed her as she took him to her hiding place and raised an eyebrow impressed when she demonstrated the trick she had performed to extinguish the flames of the floating pumpkins. He had definitely underestimated her and he couldn't disagree with her about magic not being always the ultimate answer to everything. "That was smart. I would have awarded you house points if I was a prefect." He praised as he mutter the countercharm to extinguish his wand light now that the pumpkins were shining through their carved expressions. "So what have you dressed up? A ghost?" He wondered whether this was a fictional being from the muggle world.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapph cocked her head to the side as Alkander challenged her about finding the room of requirement first. She hadn't really thought about finding it yet, but now that she knew for sure he was looking for it she might as well take the challenge. Nothing would be more fun than the look on his face if she found it first.

She tried not to show the pleasure his compliment gave her when he told her how clever she was. She had already known that, but for some reason, it was nice to hear other people notice her better qualities. He asked her about her costume then, and she shrugged. "I dunno, I guess I could be. Horror movies are really rather enjoyable, if done right. I rather enjoyed 'Ju-on'. The grudge, I think." She smiled, thinking of the different translations of the movie. The english one with Sarah Jessica Parker was pretty good, but she liked the original just a bit better.