Leap Before You Look pv edwin

@Elena Clark
Speech

The end of summer was a period which stirred many emotions amongst the student body, be it muggle or wizarding kids. Many loved the return, seeing it as an end to the idleness they had fallen into over the previous weeks. If Edwin had to hazard a guess, many wizarding kids fell into this camp, looking forward to the return to Hogwarts, the oppurtunity to cast magic once more, no longer limited by the Statute of Limitations. For many, Hogwarts had became a home and so many, presumably, missed their time at the school.

Edwin did not.

He firmly fell into the other camp, loathing the return to education, the return to hard work. Where so many had grew bored in idleness, Edwin had loved every moment of it, rarely distrubed by an excursion from his home. It had been perfect.

And so, the return to school, the return to a schedule felt almost cruel. Rose from his sleep by the alarms of his dormmates, Edwin dragged himself from the comforts of his bed, forcing himself to get readied for the day. The dreaded day. The day where he would be forced to, god forbid, apply himself. Edwin's idea of readying himself did not take long, it was no drawn out afair, he simply threw his clothes on, hoping they would fall over him in a presentable manner.

Satisfied that he at least looked presentable, Edwin departed at a snails pace towards his first destination. Even at the best of times, Edwin was slow, lethargic in his movements, but today he moved almost comically slow, intent on making a point. The student populace as a whole would know of his dismay from returning, It was somewhat uncharacteristic of him to intentionally draw any kind of attention to himself, not that his snail-like pace was succeeded in doing so. Many simply charged past him, intent on making it to their first classes as quick as possible. There had, however, been somewhat of a miscalculation on Edwins behalf - the stairs move. Given that he was moving as such a pathetically slow pace this would inevitably become an issue, mere steps before he was about to step off onto his destinations floor, the stair swung around, sending the Gryffindor onto a mostly unfamilar floor.

"Oh no.." Edwin muttered to himself, though the grin that played at his lips betrayed his true expression. Getting lost would hardly hold up as an excuse for a second year being late, but he would employ it regardless! And so, he continued onward, in pursuit of his first class, eventually finding himself on a new set of stairs, where he began to slowly drag himself down.

His peaceful stroll was rather rudely disrupted by a shrill scream that pierced the silence followed by what sounded to be a crashing noise. Demonstrating the survival instincts of a hamster, Edwin opted to spare a glance back towards the crashing noise rather than taking a step to the side.

CRASH.

The two bodies collided and Edwin was sent tumbling down, alternatively having his back smash into the stairs or the other persons body briefly acting as a cushion, saving him from the evergrowing pain. Those brief moments of falling felt an eternity, unable to grab ahold of anything or salvage them before he was greeted by yet another crash.

CRACK.

There was an undeniable sound as Edwin first made contact into the bottom wall, his hand having been outstretched, before the body crashed into him once more, only further pressing him against the wall. He bit back a scream of his own, letting out a sound that sounded closer to a strangled, "Hmph," as he slunk down the wall. "Bastard," was all that the Gryffindor said, before dramatically flopping back onto the ground. His wrist was undeniably swollen, having done so at an alarming pace, but Edwin had spotted an oppurtunity in the midst of this catastropy.

"I am dead." The Westbridge declared, before remaining as still as he could manage. Though, the contortions of his expression as pain flared in his wrist somewhat gave away his efforts to play dead.

@Elena Clark
Speech

Playing dead was a harder task than Edwin had first imagined, he quickly grew bored of laying there, unable to speak. Every instinct in his body screamed for him to open his eyes, and inspect the damage to his wrist. However, he could not. Partially out of fear for what he would see, and another part of him had forseen something mid fall. A trip to the Hospital wing, a trip that if he could play his cards right, would likely require minimal effort on his behalf. It was genius in the eyes of Edwin Westbridge, two birds with one stone practically. A trip that required no effort, and a destination where he could rest, rather than attend his mind numbingly boring classes. Perfect.

Despite the intent, her stammered reply only fanned the frustration within Edwin. Whilst the outcome was favourable, somewhat, the actual process of falling down the stairs he had found to be rather unenjoyable, rather annoying in fact and her weak claims and excuses did nothing to alleivate this brewing annoyance. The stairs moved every day, people rushed about every day, not every day did someone fall into him. And so her apologies were met with naught but the slightest furrow of his brow, a flash of annoyance passing of his visage.

As he settled into his faux death, his mind began to wonder, trying to place a face to the mess of blond hair he had briefly saw before being sent tumbling. The voice that followed had added no clarity, and so he was left frustatingly unawares of who had assaulted him so violently. His imagination had just began to run wild, embellishing the origin of his broken wrist from a simple mishap to something more dramatic, a more entertaining tale for him to spin. However, before he had the chance to spin the tale further, he was jolted back into the moment by a prod to his shoulder. Once again, he bit back an instinct to open his eyes and fling an insult towards her, remaining in his state of faux death.

"Dead people cannot walk," He stated plainly after no more comments came, momentarily opening a single eye to peer up at her. His tone was a strained one, balancing somewhere between pained, bored and frustrated at the situation he had found himself in.

A brief pause followed, before Edwin acted again, only realising now they may be some logistical errors in the girl dragging a body through the entirity of Hogwarts. That certainly would not be a good look. "Wait, I'm thinking." He muttered quietly to himself, deep in thought, some deeply burried instinct compelling him to do the 'right' thing and walk himself.

Another moment of silence, as the boy pondered.

"No, dead people definetly cannot walk." The Gryffindor concluded, the briefest moment of sympathy passing as quickly as it had arrived. He stuck his none injured arm up, as if trying to indicate what he should be dragged by, waving it impatiently.

@Elena Clark
Speech

The dead cannot talk, that much was true but Edwin was content to becoming a talking deadman, it was far more enjoyable to voice his misgreivances, rather than lie completely still, letting them brew. "It's the ghost of Edwin speaking," He declared, opening his eyes for a brief moment once more, checking if his frankly brillitant deception had worked. "Dead men cannot speak, that is true! But Ghosts can!"

"But yes," He continued on, his lips twisting into a grin at the mention of being dragged. "I do realise that. Now, chop chop." He waved his hand once more impatiently. It was good she had caught onto his hidden intentions, a free taxi service, not that Edwin knew what a taxi was, across the castle. He didn't have to exert an iota of effort, and he would be granted with a day free of classes! Or at least, that was what he hoped, his wrist would likely be healed in seconds, but he could plea for some extra recovery time.

He too had to stifle his laugh at her exasperation, and declaration he would get his own way. Something that he was all too familiar with at home, and had slipped back into that expectation over the summer. As he felt her hands close around his wrist, the grin grew even more across his expression, settling comfortably against the stone floor, expecting to fly across the floor with ease!

That did not happen.

He barley shifted half a metre despite all the effort exerted, his injured wrist bouncing painfully against the cobbled floor, letting out curses and exclaimations of pain with each bounce of his wrist. When she took a moment of rest, Edwin similarly allowed himself a moment of respite, sparing a glance towards his wrist, which only looked worse by the moment.

"You're just weak!" He rebutted. "So, so incredibly weak. I'm as light as a feather, if anything." He continued on, which was partially true. Despite being rather tall, he was hadn't yet put on much muscle nor fat to his frame meaning to many he would of been dragged with far more success. Therefore, the only logical conclusion in Edwins mind was that it was solely the fault of this girls inadequency that they found themself in this situation, and it was her strength that further pilled onto the scene they had created, not a drop of fault falling onto the Gryffindor.

"Imp- Bastard! -pressively weak," He added as he was dragged another half metre or so. At that point, he opened his eyes, sitting his head up slightly. "You're a witch, you know? If you're so pathetically weak, I'm sure there's easier ways for you." He suggested, most helpfully, before flopping his head back, resuming his false death. He could likely be wingardium leviosa'd by his hood, though that may result in further injury as it may be hard to controlled. Unable to think of an appropriate spell to suggest, Edwin fell silent once more, snatching his wrist back from Elena's grasp, not wishing to endure his injured hand bouncing anymore.

@Elena Clark
Speech

The dead could not walk. The dead could not walk. Being dead sucked, even being the speaking dead sucked. But, he had the opputunity for a free ride to being able to skip class and a comfortable bed, if he had to be bored for a few moments, then he could endure that. Though, given the pace he was moving at, those few moments may be significantly longer than he had first anticipated when he'd stuck his hand in the air to be dragged.

"Ghosts haunt when they have unfinished business!" He countered quickly, raising his head slighlty and opening his eyes. "And your, my killers, ears are hardly innocent. Therefore, my eternal slumber can wait until I have been escorted to saftey." He concluded, flopping his head back against the floor, dead once more.

"You are weak!" He retorted quickly, rearing up once again. He knew for a fact he was fairly light, therefore her lack of strength was the only logical conclusion that could be drawn. He let out a dramatic gasp at her weight-based accusations towards him, thought he opted not to dignify them with a response. He turned his chin up slightly towards her, exhaling sharply through his nose before falling into complete silence. If she wished for silence, she would get silence, and she would suffer with the boredom that accompanied it.

Edwins silence did not last long.

When she next spoke, Edwin was quick to counter it, "Weak, and stupid!" He began, his lips curled into a grin. "I could not imagine a worst fate.. Terrible, truly." Using his good hand, he pushed himself up so that he was now sat upright, finally sparing a glance down at his swollen risk, recoiling away within an instace. "That's grim."

"There's a Tongue-Tying curse, though. If you weren't so stupid, you'd be able to do that one, I could do it in first year." He paused."Though, I ask you do not do that. It would not be pleasant."

Whilst he had sat upright, no further movement followed, seemingly perfectly content with remaining perfectly still, centerpiece of the hallways that grew quieter by the moment. "Now, if you think really, really hard, I'm sure there's a spell somewhere in that stupid brain of yours that can make this process a whole lot easier. If you keep dragging me, I may really die. Hit my head on a corner or something.." He rambled on for a moment longer, before falling silent. Waiting impatiently for her to come up with some kind of genius plan to transport him.

@Elena Clark
Speech

A smile played at the Westbridges lips as her voice rose to a scream, having finally drawn an amusing reaction from the girl. Though, the smile was short lived as pain flared through his hand, which by now had swelled and discoloured enough to be rather unpleasant to look at. He bit back another comment about her being weak, allowing for a moment of relief, a moment for her to actually think if she decided. Insted, he was met by veiled threats of curses, which only elicted a short laugh from Edwin.

"No need for that now, is there?" He countered with his typical drawl, his gaze directed down the seemingly endless corridor for a moment. Whilst the idea of being dragged to the infirmary had seemed amusing, the reality was far more dull than he had hoped. In a moment of charity and great goodwill, Edwin began to turn to face her, intent on declaring his miracolous recovery and new found ability to walk himself to the infirmary.

Unfortunately, he was greeted with a sharp stare, and his expression immediately soured, scoffing to himself. His brief moment of kindness ending before it had even truly began. With her having fallen silent, Edwin could only assume she had decided to finally give some proper consideration to the issue at hand, and so her opted not to comment further. Instead, with his non-injured hand, he began to rythmically tap his finger against the stone floor, a light tapping noise sounding out in the otherwise silent hallway. Whilst he had suggested magic, it was hard for him to think of what he would actually do were the roles reversed. Likely walk off, he thought to himself, though he was saved from any further consideration was uttered.

As if hoisted by invisible string, Edwin rose, his body awkwardly suspended in the air. "This is a low point." He declared as he felt himself being dragged off suddenly.

"Perhaps the lowest point in my life." He added helplessly, staring up at the ceiling in horror. "Oh, the horror.." He sighed dramatically, attempting to recline back against the floor, only to be met by a strange resistence that kept him suspended.

A brief moment of silence followed as Edwin was dragged along, suspended as they passed by now filled classrooms. Perhaps too mortified to speak initially or even somewhat suprised that she had managed to land on a spell that had actually worked. Thankfully, however, the hallways had cleared during Edwin's brief dead performence, leaving no witnesses to the lowest moment in Westbridge history.

"You couldn't of thought of anything better than this?" He eventually asked, breaking the silence.