Finished What is tha- ...

At Yolanda's gesture she stood up and walked out of the Great Hall. Walking through the halls she was lost almost immediately. She should be good at this. It was just a maze, right? Nope. She had no idea where she was. She looked around unnerved. She didn't like being lost.
“I’ve heard of these maps that tell you where everywhere in the castle is. And the floors plans change you know! So does the map. It’s all very – magic. I get lost so often when I travel. I’m sure there's a trick to getting around. Maybe the halls bring you where you need to go or maybe there’s a pattern. It’ll all come to us.”
"Thats sounds useful" she said wistfully. She had no idea where the common room was. Hearing that the floor plans changed didn't help her confidence in finding where she was.
“So – how do you suggest we find our ways to -” Yolanda's look at changed. She looked horrified. Silva froze. Was there a monster behind her. What was going on. “Is that… is that a…. look… look behind you!” She couldn't look. I'm gonna die. I thought Hogwarts was safe. She could hardly breathe. In the back of her mind she realized that there was probably nothing wrong happening but her panic had taken over. She saw Yolanda take out her wand but they hadn't learned any spells yet. “A GHOST!” Hearing Yolanda's yell shook her out of her freeze and she jumped around. She knew that it couldn't harm her. She had even seen one of them hanging about the Slytherin table although she had thought it was a trick of the light at the time. Still. Yolanda's look had terrified her and seeing more instances of impossibleness was just too much for her. She screamed and charged the ghost

At Silva’s charge and war-cry, Yolanda yelled out, “RAVENCLAW”, wand up, and charged the ghost as well!

An icy chill ran down her spine – like a frozen shower – her whole body started shivering. She felt… panicked and damp.

They had charged right THROUGH the ghost.

Spinning round she stared at it - or ‘him’ – sputtering a whole lot of non-sensical nonsense.

“Didn’t expect that!” Yolanda blurted out.

I suppose a ghost was to be expected. If one was to expect these sorts of magical things.

She gazed over at Silva and started to giggle.“You charged him.” She couldn’t help but giggle more. “I did too!’ she was full-out giggle-festing it now.

Yolanda held back from saying, ‘did you see your face!’; she didn’t think that was very nice, and she was certain she’d had the exact same look of shock and horror. She swore she heard the ghost mumbling.

“We’re such ‘muggle-borns’!” She was getting used to using that term now. She loved her muggle family and she was loving her new Hogwarts time – even if it was terrifying her. She was glad she had encountered the Ghost alongside someone so brave, as who knows if her feet would have moved without Silva’s bold actions. An older Hufflepuff girl, who had seen it all, looked over at them in disgust.

She didn’t mind now that, maybe, she made a friend.

She wasn't feeling very brave when she charged. She felt panicked. When she had run through the ghost she had felt incredibly cold. She was so shocked at the cold and the fact that she ran through the ghost that she stumbled and ran right into a wall. "Ow..." she turned around and saw Yolanda looking shocked and the ghost looking annoyed. Hearing Yolanda's words she laughed "Me neither!" she and Yolanda looked at each other. They giggled. They giggled some more. “You charged him.” She was full out laughing now. I did. I charged a ghost. “I did too!" Her laughs subsided slightly and she stood up and rubbed her head. "That was weird... and cool" She looked around smiling. The ghost seemed angry as it floated away, but perhaps that was just her imagination. An older Hufflepuff was rolling her eyes at them. She felt tempted to stick her tongue out at them, but she restrained herself.
“We’re such ‘muggle-borns’!” She laughed "Yeah, we really are" It seemed like Yolanda had only grown to like her more after her kind of stupid charge of the ghost. After her encounter with a real not so live ghost nothing looked scary anymore. "Pity the ghost had to leave.. we could have asked for directions" she giggled. The charge had made any remaining reservations about conversation with Yolanda completely evaporate. She took a closer look at the hallway around her. She couldn't see anyone other than the older Hufflepuff to ask for directions and she was already far away. She rubbed her sore head. "Any idea where we are?" Her sense of direction was telling her to go one way, but her reason was telling her to go the other. What do we do now

Silva was rubbing her sore head, a goose-egg appearing, and asked, “Any idea where we are?”

Yolanda had a general idea of how to get to the Common Room – she hoped.

Think; what could help?

Yolanda started ruffling through her robes in search of… found it!

Bringing out the spherical ball, she said to Silva excitedly, “We all got a Remembrall, and it’s showing clear… I must remember the way!

Smiling broadly, a bit overly proud of herself, she lead the way.

It was a difficult and long journey to the West Tower. It was one of the largest towers – so they treaded up the spiraled staircase – floating candles – moving stairs – magic sprinkled everywhere throughout the Castle. Yolanda still wasn’t used to it.

Yolanda and Silva finally, panting, made it to the tower. There sat a knocker with an Eagle on it. Wasn’t there a password… or something special she had to do.

She looked down at the Remembrall in her hand, now a deep dark red. Oops.

Her and Silva exchanged looks at ball realizing Yolanda must have forgotten some important detail.

She did the only thing she could think of and used the Knocker.

A booming yet beautiful voice rang out, “It Wears a leather coat to keep its skin in working order. Escorts you to other realms, without a magic portal.”

A riddle?

What was the answer? It apparently was the only way they were going to be let in...“What do you think the answer to the riddle is Silva?” She asked.

Now Yolanda was the one rubbing her head….

@Yolanda Yates

She followed Yolanda through the hallways. It had been clever to use the remembrall. She was completely lost. They came up to the entrance to Ravenclaw. At least it should be the entrance. She didn't know what they were supposed to do to get in. There was a knocker on the door. She stared at it for a moment before looking at Yolanda.
Yolanda pulled out her remembrall again and this time it turned a deep red. She exchanged a look with Yolanda. Uh oh. Yolanda then stepped forward and used the knocker. A voice rang out in the otherwise empty hallway. She jumped. What the heck
“It Wears a leather coat to keep its skin in working order. Escorts you to other realms, without a magic portal.” She thought for a moment. Hmmm.. she felt like she should know this.
“What do you think the answer to the riddle is Silva?” She thought a moment more before deciding to talk through it out loud. "So its got a coat and a skin. But the skin is fragile. And it supposedly brings you to other realms... I'd imagine the 'Transports you to other realms' part is figurative." She thought a little longer before having an epiphany moment. It suddenly seemed so obvious. "It's a book!" she exclaimed "It wears a cover and everyone always says it 'magical' and can bring you anywhere" She was very proud of figuring that out. She grinned at Yolanda and looked to see if it opened.

The door opened to the Common Room for them - Silva had got the riddle correct straight-away! Yolanda was so glad she had someone fun to explore with - and smart too.

Yolanda’s Remembrall turned white once again as she recalled that to get into the Common Room they would be asked a Riddle each time. Oh gosh – she might never get back in the Common Room at this rate. Maybe there was a book on riddles in the library…

“So, which dorm are you planning on going to? There’s a Co-Ed Dorm – my Dad said I’m not allowed there this year, and I quite think it’ll be fun to have a Girls Dorm. Do you think they have some sort of Girl Guides here?”

She peered into the Common Room seeing dashes of bronze and blue, “Is that a small Library, in our own Common Room? I can just grab a book without ever leaving??” She squealed in excitement.

At home Yolanda had had a bookshelf in her room – shared with her older sister closest in age - who was always moving her items. She missed all her sisters though, even if they were annoying. She missed all her family.

Yolanda’s elated mood suddenly deflated. How was she going to maneouver this new world without her family? She had never been all alone and now she had – well – not no one. Glancing over at Silva she tried to put on a positive face. She wasn’t totally alone.

“Maybe we should go to the Girls Dorm and choose one of the Dorms? Want to head there?” Yolanda asked @Silva

Did a portrait just cough – she wasn’t sure. Time to head in!

@Yolanda Yates

She stared as the door opened. She peaked in. There was lots of blue and bronze, but it was comforting. It seemed like home. But she knew it would never be home. Not with her sisters and parents in the muggle world. She sighed sadly. She wouldn't be able to go home to them until winter break, and that was a long time away. She shook her head to clear away these sad thoughts and turned back to Yolanda.
“So, which dorm are you planning on going to? There’s a Co-Ed Dorm – my Dad said I’m not allowed there this year, and I quite think it’ll be fun to have a Girls Dorm. Do you think they have some sort of Girl Guides here?” She thought about that. She hoped there was a dorm that was for daydreamers and people with a lot of imagination. She didn't think long about the girl guides before deciding it probably wasn't a thing. They had magic here. They wouldn't be learning about how to make a fire and cook s'mores. They'd just wave their wands. Simpler but certainly less fun.
“Is that a small Library, in our own Common Room? I can just grab a book without ever leaving??” She looked excitedly at the bookshelves. She wondered what books they had. She doubted any of them would be familiar to her, but it would still be fun to read. She had spent many evenings in her house reading books with her family. Maybe she'd make a new family of sorts to read with here. She had read all sorts of books before. "Wonder what kind they have here?" She said quietly.
“Maybe we should go to the Girls Dorm and choose one of the Dorms? Want to head there?” She looked at Yolanda and nodded. "Yeah, ok" she stepped into the common room. She automatically liked it. It was clear they were at the top of a tower by beautiful arched windows. She gasped and looked out at the grounds. It was growing dark but it was still beautiful. She smiled happily. "It's beautiful" She finally tore her gaze away from the windows and started walking towards a stairway. Hopefully it was to the girls dormitory.