A Charming Guide PV Cecily Quinn Locked

Finally, a free period. It was only her third year at Hogwarts, and she was already over all of her classes. Sure, it was still thrilling on occasion-- she had magic, she could literally turn someone's head into a pumpkin-- but she was really not interested in the Great Egregious Gargoyle Strike of 19-Ages-Ago. Beside, essays were not her strong suit, and homework took away from all of the time she could use to read.

As Cecily meandered the corridors of the castle, her feet mindlessly tracing the path to the Ravenclaw common room, she gave small smiles to the crowds passing by. Not because she was friends with them, but because they were on their way to another extensive lecture from Professor Zahid, or a disappointingly uneventful potions class. She preoccupied her mind with books, home, anything but the gross amount of work that was awaiting her when she got back to the common room, until she rounded a corner and almost ran directly into a small body. Stepping back and hastily apologising, Cecily found herself looking at a young girl with an utterly mystified expression on her face. A first year, surely, and one that looked like she had no idea whatsoever what was going on in this magical castle at that. She was probably turned around backwards and late to a class, the poor girl. Cecily remembered her own first days in the massive stone school-- it was a disaster, to say the least. She had a fine sense of direction, a perk of her childhood on the moors, but the moving staircases, twisting halls, and lack of any sort of identifying room numbers had had her brain twisted just trying to get to the Ravenclaw tower. She felt for this girl. "Hey," she said kindly. "I'm Cecily, a Ravenclaw Prefect. Are you lost?"

@Leah Isbell

Hearing the older girl introduce herself, Leah released a breath of relief. A Prefect? Thank Merlin.

"I think so," she admitted, her voice much smaller than she had expected. She cleared her throat, but her tone remained the same as she said, "Do you know the way to the Charms classroom?"

She cursed herself internally. Of course the Prefect - Cecily - would know where it was, everyone had taken the class at some point!

"I mean, of course, you must - do you, uh, could you tell me how to get there?" she amended anxiously.

It wasn't that Leah was uncomfortable talking to people older than her. Her siblings had graduated, and she had been perfectly capable of talking to their friends and classmates. But something about being here, with people she barely knew and half the country away from her family, was completely different.

Her older sister, Kate, said that getting lost was fun, and that asking for help would be as good as giving up. Then again, Kate was a Gryffindor daredevil, and Leah was decidedly not. She was more of a terrified Hufflepuff lost in the almost empty corridors of a huge school.

So Leah took a deep breath, stood up a little straighter, and tried her best not to run off.

@Cecily Quinn

Ah, Charms. That was one of the only classes Cecily enjoyed, mostly because it was the most applicable in daily life. She would use spells all the time-- they were the crux of the wizarding community. Vernatis' class was closely followed by Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Potions, which, on a good day, could also teach useful spells and potions, respectively. That was the reason she had always disliked maths (complex equations were often useless) and history (which would only ever come up in general trivia). Even charms would have its slow days, with theory and the like, but it was still more interesting than anything Zahid had to offer. Nothing personal, of course; she was sure he was a perfectly friendly person outside of his course.

"Oh, Charms! You'll have fun in that class." Cecily put on a happy face for the younger student, trying to inspire a bit of excitement for her schooling. "Come on, I'll show you the way." She began to walk in the direction of Professor Vernatis' classroom, gesturing for the young Hufflepuff to walk with her. The charms classroom was not too far away, and Cecily had time. Given, she would rather be spending it in front of a cosy fire, but she was helping the future generations. This was the ultimate Prefect experience.

"What's your name?" Cecily asked the young student, trying to spark a conversation of some sort. While the classroom was nearby, it would seem much farther away if the walk was in silence.

@Leah Isbell

@Cecily Quinn

Infinitely thankful, Leah fell into step behind the older girl, the only sound their footsteps echoing around the empty corridor.

She was going to be late, but at least she'd be there, right? Suddenly anxious about what would happen if she was too late (what were detentions like?), she shivered.

Then Cecily started talking, and Leah's thoughts were replaced with frantic chatter. It took a moment for her to filter through it and find the right words, but she managed to answer.

"Leah Isbell," she said. "I'm in first year... But I guess that's obvious. I mean, I'm lost, so I can't exactly be a sixth year."

She grinned awkwardly as she tried to convey that she was just trying to be friendly. What if she sounded mean? Great.

"I love Charms," she added. "I mean, I'm not sure yet, but I was really looking forward to it and I'm sure I'll love it, because who wouldn't, right? It's all the useful stuff!"

Having finished her mini speech, she stopped talking abruptly. What was with her today? Usually, she could talk to anyone for ages, but she just felt incredibly nervous.

Maybe it was because, for once, it affected her a lot. Her relationships here would be what she relied on if she was ever in trouble. And if she messed them up, she wouldn't have anyone to help her out.

Hopefully, Cecily wouldn't mind her nervousness. Hopefully, it would fade away with time.

Cecily followed the familiar path to the Charms classroom on the third floor. She had walked these halls many times before, having been in this school for over two years. She had attended an uncountable number of lengthy classes on spell casting and incantations. She had traced these stone corridors hundreds of times, but it suddenly felt different this time, with a young charge beside her. She had to be responsible now; she had to be a prefect. She needed to step up and help this young grasshopper (or, Hufflepuff)-- Leah was her name-- navigate the tricky halls of the confusing castle, just as prefects had helped her find her way around during her first year.

Charms, Leah had said, was all the useful stuff. Cecily wholeheartedly agreed. "Yeah! That's why I always liked the class. You can use spells all the time, but how often are you going to need to know about history?" Yes, yes, she knew that if no one knew about it, history would repeat itself, and no one wanted more violence-- well, excepting psychopaths-- but it wasn't like she was about to create a revolting gargoyle (in more ways than one) any time soon. Either way, she was glad the girl wasn't shying away from a conversation like most young students would.

@Leah Isbell

The walls, all stone and grey, meant absolutely nothing to Leah. She had no idea how she would learn this route but, judging by how easily Cecily knew the way, it seemed that she would someday learn these hallways. As they walked, she tried to count the windows that passed, but lost count easily. No wonder she was lost - she had a terrible memory.

At the older girl's reaction, Leah laughed. "Exactly! My older siblings said they dropped History of Magic and Divination as soon as they could. Apparently, the whole fortune telling thing is a load of rubbish. Is it really?"

After all, they were magic. Why shouldn't they be able to tap into the strings of fate and see what was on the horizon? Then again, she supposed that fate might not be a thing of certainty. Maybe if she hadn't met Cecily and received help, she would have had a very different fate. Who knew?

Wow, Divination sounded deep.

"Are you taking Divination?" she asked. It would be useful to get to know some more about the other subjects on offer here. After all, someday she'd have to find out, right?

And who knew what had changed since the last time anyone she knew had come to this ever-changing school?

Cecily listened to the younger student excitedly prattle on as the duo made their way down the corridors. Older siblings, History of Magic, Divination. All subject Cecily could talk about-- some with pleasure, some with quite a deal of pain, by which she meant a passionate rant.

"Divination? Yes, I'm taking it, although I don't know why." She really needed to stop taking extra classes, because she had no motivation to keep up with the work, but she just somehow found them sort of interesting. Her schooling was just one big disaster all the time.

As for Divination, well, she didn't quite know how she felt. Seeing the furture-- well, that was every child's dream since they learned the concept, to know if they were going to be rich or if they were going to get their favorite toys for Christmas this year. And it was no different for Cecily. It was a fear if the unknown, bred into all homospaiens, a biological warrior fending for your life. Divination eased those fears, lent a glimpse into the murky time-line that lay ahead. Every on wanted to know what was to come, when they would become rich and successful. But as the years went on, that wish began to fade for Cecily. She was probably better off not knowing what was coming anyway. She didn't want to know that she was going to die tomorrow, or next year, or in five decades. She didn't want to always be prepared for what was up next. Keep it an adventure.

"It's not that it's rubbish, per se, it's just that...well, it's can often be wildly inaccurate, and if even one small unforseen even occurs, bam, the entire future is messed up and the divining was worthless." Which was true. It was all so unsure, unsteady. Who would want to bet their entire life on some leaves?

@Leah Isbell

Leah listened carefully as the older girl explained what she thought about Divination. It certainly seemed like a fragile art, and Leah wondered whether she would ever be any good at it.

Did the Divination teacher mark down students who didn't have the ability to see the future? What if it caused Leah to fail all her exams? Or was it more of the theory that they had to learn and were tested on? She might find out someday, but she had a different issue right now: getting to Charms.

Speaking of which, she'd completely lost track of where she was. None of this corridor even seemed familiar, which was quite alarming. How would she even get to her next class after her lesson? Maybe she had a classmate who would be in both?

She'd only met a couple of Hufflepuffs, but most of them were Muggleborns so wouldn't know the way around anyway. If only there was a map for this place.

"Which floor are we on?" Leah asked suddenly as yet another staircase came into view. "I've kind of lost track, sorry."

Hopefully, she was almost there. After all, she really couldn't afford to be too late, and the empty corridors weren't exactly encouraging.

@Cecily Quinn

Cecily couldn't help but let out a laugh as the smaller Hufflepuff admitted that she had lost all track of where they were in the castle. It wasn't a mean-hearted laugh, though-- it was one of sympathy. Getting lost in the castle seemed like a rite of passage for all incoming first-years. It wasn't the true Hogwarts experience if you didn't end up in the Owlery at least once while looking for Potions. Cecily fondly recalled her own worst nightmare in her first week of school-- she was ten minutes late to Transfiguration because she spend a solid 15 looking for it on the wrong floor. What shame she had felt when she finally stumbled her way into the classroom that had belonged to Professor Y at the time, a burly Bulgarian man who had gone on to be Ravenclaw's Head of House for a while before retiring in her second year. But naturally, she was not the only one that had been late that week, and nothing came of the event. In the future, she just made sure to keep better tabs on which floor she was on.

Which, speaking of, "We're on the third floor right now. This is the one Charms is on. Don't worry, we're nearly there." Cecily smiled as Leah, picking up her pace to try to get the girl there as sort-of on-time as possible. It was just a matter of a few more steps before Vernatis' classroom came into view, Cecily inwardly smiled at a job well-done. This was what her Prefecting duties were really all about-- not getting students in trouble, but helping them out, as she had helped out this young'un. Perhaps she was more cut out for this job than she realised. Although, she still had a ways to go on the whole "role model" thing.

"Here it is," Cecily announced as she stopped just outside the door. "Just tell Professor Vernatis what happened. I'm sure he won't mind." She stepped aside and grandly gestured towards the doorway, ushering the smaller girl inside and wishing her luck before waving goodbye and retreating the way she came.

Surely the two would run into each other again in the corridors at some point, and Cecily felt a warmth at the thought. She liked Leah-- she seemed kind, friendly, bubbly. Perhaps she should just start a Cecily's Mentees Club; members: Leah and Ruthie. She had never really been a fan of children smaller than herself-- of children older than herself, or anyone, really-- but she was beginning to warm up to a select few people. Perhaps they would melt her heart a little bit, open her up. After all, it was a school of magic. Anything was possible.

exit Cecily

@Leah Isbell