Staircase of Wonder

[Fayette Varenne]

Fay walked briskly through a hallway close to the Hufflepuff Common Room. She was making her way to the nearest staircase, to eventually end up in the library to do some drawing in a quiet atmosphere. Her hands brimmed with parchments and drawings, and a small pouch with her art supplied dangled from her arm.

As she climbed the steps, a seventh year Slytherin brushed past a bit roughly and knocked her belongings from her hands. As her things fell from her fingers, the staircase began to move as well, making it a little worrisome for the fourth year Hufflepuff.

She bent down to pick up what she could, and tried hard to make sure nobody stepped on her precious creations.

[Keladry Lindenshield]

Kel had been walking down the staircase when she saw Fay's things fall underneath the feet traveling along the walkway. She rushed over to help the other girl, noticing as she bent down to grab a stray pencil that the girl was wearing a Hufflepuff House badge on her robes. She offered the supplies she had managed to save from a trampling, tossing her head a bit to get trailing curls out of her eyes.

[Fayette Varenne]

Fay gingerly took her things from Keladry and thanked her profusely. "Oh, thank you! Some silly Slytherin git knocked my things from my hands and it's rather upsetting to see my drawings trampled on."

"You're a first year, right?" she inquired of the younger looking girl. Sizing her up, she knew she must be a first year student, especially since she wasn't all too familiar with her. "Sorry, it's already second term and I still don't really know many new students; I've been so preoccupied with things!"

Without leaving room for a reply, Fay tucked her belonging in the crook of one elbow, and stretched out her hand to the girl, to shake hands. "The name's Fayette. The Fay, at your service," she said, with a bright and friendly smile.

[Keladry Lindenshield]

Kel smiled, grasping the proffered hand tightly. "Yeah, I am a first-year. Those Slytherins can be real prats, cant they?" She hiked her bag up higher on her shoulder, smiling wider. "I'm Keladry Lindenshield. Kel to all except Slytherins and teachers. Sir Nick, most notably, calls me 'Lady Lindenshield'. What a gentleman!" she laughed, not worrying about going on a bit about what people called her, of all things! Fay was easy-going, and very nice to talk to. Kel had discovered that most Hufflepuffs were, along with the two Gryffindors she had the pleasure of being friends with, not counting Sir Nick, who was also particularly pleasant to converse with.

[Fayette Varenne]

"Nice to meet you Kel!" she said, smiling as she retrieved her hand and shuffled her load. She pulled out her wand from her sleeve and cast a quick spell to retrieve her fallen belongings she could no longer reach from where the staircase had ended up.

She slipped her wand back into her sleeve quickly and caught her things with her free hand. Turning her attention back to the first year, she continued. "Yeah, Sir Nick's a wicked professor. And his children are so cute!"

"I'm on my way to the library to work on some drawings. Where're you off to?" she asked, genuinely curious.

[Arcturus MacDougal]

((OOC: Can I join? Don't have anything better to do. If not, I can just walk past or something.))

Arcturus was walking up a staircase back to Ravenclaw Tower after breakfast when he saw a girl get pushed by a Slytherin and drop her art collection. Irritated at the stupid Slytherin who would do that, he hurried over to help, but by the time he got there, a first-year Hufflepuff he'd met before had already helped her pick them up. He stared at the first-year a sec, trying to remember her name.

Um . . . Mary? Sarah? Katie? Katie sounds closest, but not quite . . .

Mentally shrugging, he walked up to the two conversing girls. From a distance he'd thought the girl who had been pushed was younger than him, but up close she seemed as old as he if not older.

"Durn Slytherins. I only know one decent Slytherin. And all the other Slytherins hate him. Stupid Slytherins."

[Fayette Varenne]

Before Keladry could answer her, however, a student, Ravenclaw by the look of his school badge, had approached with a comment of his own. "Oh, hello there," Fay said, smiling in the boy's direction. "Yes, those Slytherins really are a horrid bunch, for the most part."

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I know your name! I'm Fayette, otherwise known as Fay, and, this here," she gestured toward her fellow Hufflepuff, "is Keladry."

[Keladry Lindenshield]

"Wow! I'm going to the library, too! I'm going to work on a present for my uncle! It's a drawing of a hippogriff, because he loves them, and I want to animate it. I got some good tips from different professors on how to animate drawings, and I have some special pencils that will help, too. I want to see if I can do anything new with the spells, and there's a tincture I also want to try out." Kel stopped for breath, her cheeks slightly flushed with her excitement.

"Yes, we've met!" Kel beamed at Arcturus, also having heard his comment. "And I totally agree. But Donall Kennedy is quite nice, for a Slytherin. Though the others treat him like crap for being civil."

[Arcturus MacDougal]

Arcturus grinned at the two girls. It was really cool how nice everyone in this castle was.

Except Slytherins . . . .

Well duh.

"Hi! I'm Arcturus! You can abbreviate that however you want. Most people do . . . well, except Nick, but then he never does abbreviate anything. I think I've met you before." he said, looking at Keladry.

"The Halloween Ball, right? But I haven't met you."

he said to Fayette.

"You're Fayette? That's a cool name. It sounds French. Do you live in France? France is cool. I'd love to go there sometime."

he beamed at the two girls, the thought suddenly occurring to him that he might have come off as slightly insane. But he was just happy, he thought to himself. He finally met someone new his own age. He didn't know anyone his own age really well, and Keladry (was that her name?) was nice . . . but . . . well . . . there was no getting around the fact that she was a first-year.

[Fayette Varenne]

"Well, Arcturus, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said, flashing him a friendly smile.

She nodded, answering his question. "Yes sir, indeed it is. Fayette's french. I like having the word Fay in my name; so fitting!" She giggled; she loved saying that.

"My father's from France, but my mum's English. I live in France during the summer; we have a cottage in a tiny Muggle country area."

[Arcturus MacDougal]

Arcturus smiled back at her. He decided that smiles, like yawns, were contagious.

"That's cool, and I would definitely agree that it's fitting. I have no idea what my name means, but I still like it. I live in a castle in far northern Scotland, not all that far from here. Couple dozens miles away straight . . . thataway!"

He pointed where he thought north was, and then another direction he thought north was, before settling for pointing at the ceiling.

He started walking up the stairs with the two Hufflepuff girls, still talking. He was wearing his trademark trenchcoat, scorning robes most of the time. Not that he really minded them, just that everyone wore robes, and it got boring after a bit. He was also wearing a fedora, deciding they were cool last semester when his Ancient Runes teacher wore one. Underneath he had just normal jeans and a T-shirt with the Scottish flag on it. He was wearing tennis shoes, but deciding they were too boring, he had changed their colour to bright orange and lime green.

Going back to addressing Fayette, "You live in a cottage in France? That sounds so cool! Do you draw there?" he asked. "Clearly you're an artist, and that sounds like the perfect place for art."

[Fayette Varenne]

"You actually live in a castle? That's fantastic! I love castles; they're usually beautiful and fun to explore."

Fay enjoyed the silence for a moment as they continued their walk up the stairs, on the way to the library. Then, she answered Arcturus' question as they walked.

"Yes, it's a wicked place for drawing." she exclaimed, and then elaborated. "I have a special place in the forest behind the cottage where I sketch my backgrounds for my fairy drawings. It looks so magical there for a Muggle place."

They walked on; the castle was a big place, after all.

[Aesir MacLeod]

"You'll never catch me alive, Syhinad! The day is mine!"

Aesir boisterous laugh can be heard from lower down the veritable tower of staircases. Several moments later, his distinct appearance can be seen flying upwards at a decent speed. The broom was upright, with him holding the top part in his left hand, his left foot standing on one of the pegs near the bottom and ascending like an elevator. A silly purple hat on his goggled head crested the banister and he waved at them with his right hand, an enormous toothy grin plastered on his face.

"Hullo everyone. An' how's it all going here?" he asked as though nothing was wrong.

[Arcturus MacDougal]

Arcturus grinned. He hadn't had the chance to talk to this Professor yet, but he had admired him from afar.

"Well, it's going just fine. We're having a lovely chat here. How are you doing? To lazy to use the stairs, I see."

[Fayette Varenne]

Fay giggled, and waved hello to the professor, even though she had not yet had the chance to be introduced to him. Too bad she wasn't a first year... "Hello, Professor!"