Closed Turned Around

[Margo Fox]

Margo had felt so confident when she told Cameron she would meet him in front of the Slytherin common room to borrow his history text book. Her own book had met an unfortunate end and she was not looking forward to telling her grandma the bad news. The book was hopelessly lost at the bottom of the lake and she hoped maybe the mermaids that were rumored to live down there could enjoy it. But Gran's disappointment would be the least of her problems as she realized she had no idea where she was. She had been walking the way she had been told to go but now she faced an unexpected dead end and a split in the corridor she hadn't been expecting. She looked right and then left but neither direction looked like it lead her anywhere pleasant. Each way held darkness and she turned to try and back track but she was quickly forgotten the way she had even taken to get down here. She knew that the stairs sometimes changed directions but she hoped the same thing couldn't be said for corridors. She took a few tentative steps forward before stopping again.

 

[Elijah Thompson]

Elijah was really happy that his cousin had taken the time to show him around the lower parts of the castle because he knew how easy it was to get lost around these corridors if one didn’t know the way very well. It also did not help that the torches were barely ever brightly lit around the dungeon corridors, which was something he thought the school would have fixed during his second day at the castle, but it turned out that they were always this dimply lit according to some older Slytherin students. Because of this, it had taken Elijah about three days before he eventually asked his cousin for a tour around the dungeon area. When he was on his way back to the common room that day to get something out of his trunk before his next class would start, Elijah noticed that a student was heading towards one of the corridors with a dead end. Knowing that almost no one ever went that way because of the dead end, the Slytherin followed along curiously. These corridors were even darker than the other ones. It didn’t take him too long to find the girl, immediately getting the impression that perhaps she was lost and didn’t know the way back. ''Having difficulties finding the way back?'' the boy asked, stepping out of the darkness to approach her. ''It's awfully easy to get lost in these parts, stupid dungeons.''

 

[Margo Fox]

Margo turned quickly when she heard a voice. Even in the dim corridor she recognized him as being from her year and in Slytherin. She relaxed slightly when she realized he would know his way around, or at least she hoped. Her first instinct was to lie and say she wasn't lost but she didn't see the point. It was rather obvious. "Yes." she said, feeling embarrassed. As much as she liked fantasy stories she didn't like the idea that she might need to be rescued. But she was reassured when he mentioned it was easy to get lost. Maybe she hadn't been the only one. "They're not exactly....friendly." she agreed and glanced at the rough stone walls again. "You seem to have figured them out."

 

[Elijah Thompson]

‘’Barely,’’ Elijah answered back. ‘’If I didn’t have my cousin to show me around these corridors, I still would have gotten lost in them.’’ And then finding the way to the Slytherin common room would have become especially tedious. ‘’I say we start a petition to have them light these corridors up properly,’’ the Slytherin joked. It actually wasn’t such a bad idea come to think of it. Why were these corridors poorly lit anyway? Was there a ghost roaming around these parts of the castle? Or was it just because it was aesthetically pleasing? Perhaps it’d be a good idea to go to Professor Castillo and ask him about it. ‘’Were you looking for something in particular?’’ he asked.

 

[Margo Fox]

Margo wanted to comment that he still knew more than she did but the words died on her tongue when he mentioned that his cousins showed him around. Coming to school had made her think a lot about her brother and how much she wished he was around to share this milestone with. Avery had never gone to Hogwarts so It wasn't like he could have given her directions but she still hated now more than ever that he wasn't around. "That must have been helpful." She said with a warm smile and tried to brush aside any of her more unpleasant feeling. She let out a small laugh at the mention of a petition and nodded. "How many signatures do you think we would need for the headmistress to see reason?" she wondered and sighed when he asked about where she was going. "I was trying to find my way to the Slytherin common room. I dropped my history book in the lake and my friend was letting me borrow theirs to do some homework." she explained embarrassedly.