Pretty Little Fluff errand PV

I have just finished potion class, my last lesson of the day.
Ophelia was walking beside me, my partner for the lesson, and now for this errand. Not ideal. But efficient enough. Ophelia felt like the kind of person wanting to help everyone and get involved in everything.
My first impression of her.

We heard about this errand in class today, from a girl who couldn’t manage to speak without ruining her own potion at the same time.
Almost impressive, really, the level of incompetence it takes to multitask that badly.
I didn’t plan on getting involved. And yet, here I am.

I continue down the corridor, properly analysing how bad this pink thing could be.

The castle is covered in the stuff: pink fluff clinging to the floors, walls, doors, portraits. It’s everywhere, some even glittering from the splash of sunlight coming from the tall windows.

No one’s dealt with it before. Who exactly is meant to be maintaining this place? And more importantly, why am I the one fixing it?

Ophelia suddenly stops walking
"We can put the fluff in here," she said, taking a cotton tote back out of her bag. Did she just carry that around casually with her?
I glance at it, then at her. "…Right. Useful, I guess." I replied sighing.

I walked to the side, passing my finger on the fluff off the edge of a suit of armour to see how it felt when you touched it.
It felt like it was going to be a pain. Just pure pain.

As I looked back up to Ophelia, I saw another person joining the party.
Was everyone a fan of cleaning?

Ophelia looked at the boy, who seemed to be around their age, a little older. "Oh, sorry! Don't worry about it, I was looking at where I was going, either," she smiled apologetically and offered her hand to help him up. Noticing some pink fluff peeking from the boy's fallen bag, she realized he was doing the errand as well.

"You're doing the cleaning up," it was meant to be a question, but it sounded more like a statement, though. She waved Tes over with a grin as she saw her looking at them, also having gathered some fluff. She suddenly felt embarrassed as she hadn't even taken a little in her hand.

Fluff was all over the castle, and Ophelia wondered how many Pygmy Puffs were actually roaming around freely. Were they gathered somewhere until all the fluff was collected and then set free again at some point?

She took some purple fluff from an armour's shoulder, flinching when it moved a little. Still hadn't gotten used to the moving armours. As she put the fluff in the tote bag, she couldn't help but glare at the armour, who was really not at fault here. Ophelia held the bag for Tes to put her collected fluff in it. She didn't expect them to be so... soft. It felt like cotton candy, although she was sure it did not taste like one, and she didn't want to try tasting it either.

"Do you want to join us to collect the fluff?" She asked the boy, then immediately turned to Tes, "Can he join us to collect the fluff?" She asked her.

I see him properly now as he picks himself up, as he apologises immediately, "Apologizes, I didn’t see you both there ha ha!"

I just look at him for a second longer, thinking about the ridiculous situation of all of us apparently wandering the castle collecting pink fluff.

My thoughts were interrupted as Ophelia speaks up, naturally
She’s already offering a hand, being polite, being... Ophelia about it. Then she’s talking like she’s confirming a fact instead of asking a question, "You're doing the cleaning up,"

I glance at her as she spoke, smirking at her tone.
Then she’s waving me over like I’ve suddenly become part of a group activity. I walk over slowly, dreading what was about to come next, starting to seriously regret what I put myself into.

I stop beside them, eyes flicking briefly to the open bag not yet filled with pink and purple fluff. It was annoyingly soft-looking.
I carried over and drop it into Ophelia's tote bag,"Can he join us to collect the fluff?"
I tilt my head slightly.

There isn’t exactly a reason to say no. And it’s not like I care enough to turn this into an argument in a corridor full of enchanted dust during a hot day, where my time could've been spent elsewhere, but here I was so, "The more the merrier I suppose" I say finally, "Try not to fall again" I finished, muttering it under my breath.
Because if I’m doing this, it’s at least going to be efficient.
I turned back around, picking up some of the soft texture from portraits, who were clear in expressing their discontentment, like it was my fault.

He agrees. Good. That makes this quicker.
I keep walking for a few steps, already scanning ahead for more of the fluff, mentally noting where it’s gathered the most. The sooner this is done, the better.

Then I heard a voice, "You wouldn’t happen to have something to carry all this fluff in would you?"

I pause, then turn back. My eyes drop to his arms, and I take in just how much he’s holding... that was a lot.

"You picked up all of that?" I ask, a hint of surprise.
I glance at Ophelia, then at the tote bag in her hands.
Right.
That solves it.

I step forward and takes the bag from her, adjusting my grip on it before holding it open slightly.

“You can put everything in there” I say, nodding toward it.
My gaze shifts briefly between them before I look back down the corridor again, already refocusing.
“The more we collect now, the faster we’re done.”
I look outside the tall windows, splashing light on the floor, silently being grateful that the trees weren't covered in pink, like cotton candies.
I stay around the windows and collect the fluff from the window sills, before putting them back into Ophelia's tote bag, that has been placed in the middle as we worked our way through the castle.

"Tes, slow down, will you?" Ophelia asked hurriedly as she hung the tote bag over her shoulder, an unnecessary move as Tes took it almost as soon as she'd done so and offered it to the boy. The Ravenclaw, she'd only then noticed which House Damien was in, had collected more fluff than they had, and had carried all that with himself, which Ophelia found amusing.

When the boy introduced himself, and Tes didn't -at which Ophelia almost rolled her eyes because of how rude it must've come off as-, she decided to do so as well. "I'm Ophelia, this is Tes," she stated before he could answer, shamelessly introducing Tes as well.

Ophelia couldn't help but think about how many people were still collecting fluff, and how many had finished doing their part of the work. This errand certainly required a lot of walking around the castle, which Ophelia was a fan of, and a lot of going up and down the stairs, which Ophelia was not a fan of.

From her peripheral vision, she saw some fluff behind an armor, "Sneaky little Pygmy Puffs," she muttered under her breath, and crouched down to collect and put them in the tote bag, which proved to be able to hold a lot of fluff.

"Shall we go this way?" She asked as they reached a 3-way intersection, pointing to the left, and turning her head to look at them to see what they thought.

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