Hallway Traffic Closed

Elspeth had an intensely pouty look on her face when she made it down to the landing. The halls were an absolute mess just now and it was impossible for her to get to class without being sucked into a river of warm bodies. Walking about her house wasn't supposed to be a contact sport, even if that house was a large castle. You'd think in a castle this big they could spread us all out a little more...

It was hard to hear much over the sound of robes flapping about and the scuttling of shoes on the stone floors. There was something almost melodic about the sounds, a rhythm of the school that Elspeth was sure could be beautiful but right now just sounded like a chore. She took a breath before diving into the black depths. It's always an odd sensation, walking about when cramped with others. Everything is moving, and you can feel everything moving basically everywhere in your body. People jostled by, nudging her shoulders, bumping her hands. Somehow she soon found herself in the middle of a group of seventh years talking about their NEWT results. Elspeth wasn't the shortest person she'd ever met, but she certainly wasn't very tall and now her vision was almost completely blacked out. There was no way to tell where she was in the hall, and she knew she couldn't stop or she'd risk getting run over by the folks pushing behind her.

Slowly but steadily she began walking sideways toward one of the walls in hopes of being able to climb on one of the statues and get a better view of where she was. As she inched nearer to it, she heard a small voice crying out, barely audible over the din of people bustling about. It was impossible to tell where the sound was coming from, but she sensed that it was getting louder as she moved closer to the large suit of armor by the wall.

"help" There it was again! She could swear she was getting closer. Had someone fallen down? Their glasses, trampled? Elspeth broke through the last two levels of students and found herself in a small single square foot of still space, right under the armor's left glove. Yeesh. This is awful. After a few more breaths she turned to the armor and paused. Was she really going to do this? Climbing a suit of armor wasn't exactly her type of thing to do. What if it fell and took her down with it? She gave the shin guards a gentle but firm kick, continuing to press in with her food to see if it wobbled. But the statue stood still. It seemed neither enchanted, nor lighter than an eleven year old. It would have to do.

She grabbed on to the torso and tried to paw her way up. Elspeth, though, had never been very adept at climbing. Spending time underneath trees was maybe one of her favorite things to do. Spending time IN trees was a completely different story and not something she'd put a lot of practice into. In her head she thought she might be able to make it all the way to the helmet, but in reality she had gained herself maybe five extra inches above her usual height. More than enough to see with, if not exactly a large payoff for all the work it took. She was almost at her class now, but she also noticed something peculiar. At the suit of armor adjacent to hers, no more than five feet away, was the source of the cries for help.

It was another Ravenclaw, someone she recognized from seeing around in her common room. The girl appeared to be having a hard time finding her way through the traffic jam, which made perfect sense to Elspeth. Well, I'm already going to be late to class anyways... She swung herself down from her spot near the armor's breastplate and began shimmying along the wall toward the Ravenclaw student.

"Hey! I heard you were looking for some help?" She tried to say this loud enough so the girl could hear, but not so loud that it came out like she was shouting at the poor kid.

Interacting with @Claudia Gears

-------☆-------

@Elspeth Gollens

Claudia was reaching her limit. She had used all of her breath forcing out that one, measly cry for help and was feeling suffocated. Finally, she heard something. Over the crowd, there was a faint scuffling noise next to her. She swung her head left and right, but couldn’t see anything. Had she imagined the noise? The noise stopped, but then started again. No, that was definitely real. Where was it coming from?

“Hey! I heard you were looking for some help?” There it was, a girl’s voice. At that time, to Claudia it seemed like the most wonderful voice she had ever heard. The voice of an angel. Wait a minute. If an angel was coming for her, did that mean she was dead? Had she been suffocated by the bodies of students on all sides of her?

Anything to get out of this traffic, she shrugged. But where is that voice coming from? Claudia looked around, but didn’t see anything. Finally, she remembered the scuffling noise. Could it be...? Claudia looked up and screamed.

“Ahhh! Who is it? What are you? Wha?!” Claudia shouted, feeling the wall behind her. The voice had come from a girl. A girl on the wall, to be specific. Speaking of which, the girl looked hurt to Claudia. “Oh. I’m sorry. That must’ve sounded quite... rude.” she said, clearing her throat. “I’m Claudia Gears. Um, are you - are you an angel? Because - to be honest - you’d be a strange one. Is that what angels look like? Because they’re very different than what people make them out to be...”

Claudia’s gaze wandered down, catching on to the Ravenclaw crest on her clothing. “Oh. You aren’t an angel! My mistake - I-I just wanted to get out of here so bad.” she said, looking down. Claudia felt quite foolish. Of course the girl wasn’t an angel! Angels had wings and a halo above their head and were thought to be the most beautiful thing you’d ever see.

She forced her gaze back up to meet the climber girl’s gaze. “Claudia Gears. Oh wait, I already said that. Whatever. I haven’t seen you in the common room before. Sorry for my strange demeanor.” Claudia didn’t ask for the girl’s name on purpose. In fact, she thought that the girl would probably turn around right then and there. What’s the point in knowing someone’s name when they were going to avoid you for the rest of your life? It would just make things more awkward than they already were.

-------☆-------

"No no! No need to apologize. I don't think I've seen you around either, but uh, yeah, glad I'm not an angel cause I think they have a thousand little fiddly eyes or somethin?" Elspeth continued to use a slightly elevated voice to make sure she could be heard, so it sounded a bit unnatural in her own ears. "Um, I'm Elspeth. First year. Have you ever seen the halls this bad before?"

She continued to look around at the throngs of people moving through endlessly, though the more she stared the more she realized that it wasn't really new people shuffling through, but the same ones moving at a very sluggish pace. At this rate no one would be all the way through before their classes began in a few minutes, which was more than a little annoying to Elspeth as she'd so far managed to avoid being tardy (worried as she was about getting detention). There was also something to be said for how incredibly small she suddenly felt as a first year with all of these upperclassmen walking through. The years rarely seemed to mix, save for the common room and Great Hall, so she spent most of her time with other first and second year students in her classes and clubs. Seeing the post-pubescent teenagers walking through made her wonder if she would ever get to be that tall or confident in herself.

But she was wasting time. They had to find a way to move through the crowd in order to get out. What could they possibly do to push through this throng, though? Claudia hardly seemed the brute force type, and Elspeth knew just how noodly her own arms were, staring down at them and suddenly wishing that Hogwarts had a gym. Though, as she stared down she remembered that she had a wand. Which is not something you'd think a witch at a school for magic would have to remember, but Elspeth wasn't the most present student, nor was she the type to use a lot of magic outside of class. Today was a special occasion, though. Today, they were going to use some magic to try and get out of this mess.

Her nerves, which so often plagued every decision that she made, were nowhere to be found amid the sea of her frustration. This moment of clarity gave her the kind of blind faith in her own ability that only a child can have. Elspeth had made some feathers float, and some dinky key chains. But she'd never attempted to float a person before. All the better time to practice.

"Hey, Claudia, uhh I know we just met but, I think the best way to get out of here is going to be levitating. Do you... trust me?" She asked that last bit as if she was asking it of herself. There was absolutely no reason for this stranger to trust her. They'd just met and Elspeth was 11 and had been practicing magic for less than a year. But that didn't stop her from raising her wand and giving it a little swish and flick while uttering, "win-GAR-dium leviOsa", aiming it at Claudia's robes in the hopes that so long as Claudia didn't fall out of her own uniform, they'd take her up to the ceiling and over all of the madness at floor level.

HOLY MOLY I'm so sorry I am incredibly late on this post! Somehow it slipped my response list a bunch. Should be more on top of it going forward ^_^
Interacting with: @Claudia Gears, slight godmodding with permission to attempt levitating her.

-------☆-------

@Elspeth Gollens

Claudia was starting to grow slightly uncomfortable. Not only was she super awkward, but with the crowd pressed on all sides of her she felt helpless. Though she didn’t necessarily feel claustrophobic, Claudia did feel uncomfortable being trapped between so many bodies.

“No no! No need to apologize. In don’t think I’ve seen you around either, but, uh, yeah, glad I’m not an angel ‘cause I think they have a thousand little fiddly eyes or somethin’.” The climber said, almost shouting but not quite. It made sense that the girl hadn’t seen Claudia’s before - after all, she was barely ever in the common room - and even so, Claudia believed she had told her the truth. The other Ravenclaw looked... nice. She didn’t look like the sort to pettily deceive anyone.

“Um, I’m Elspeth. First year. Have you ever seen the halls this bad before?”

Claudia shot a glance at the students before her. It sure looked like a stampede, but when Claudia looked closer she saw the truth. Really, the same students were in front of her. Or, well, the same group at least. Not for the first time, Claudia wondered why they were even trying at all. It was obvious that no one stuck in this hall would get to class on time - no matter if they sprinted the rest of the way. Then Claudia remembered why she wanted to escape. It was because she didn’t want to be trapped in the same spot forever! But that revelation didn’t get her anywhere, as she was stuck in the same spot she hadn’t been in for about half an hour. No, she hadn’t seen the halls this bad. But there was one time, a close time, where she was almost stampeded. But this was worse than a stampede. That was desperate, quick, and ended eventually. This time, the hall was cramped, sluggish, and seemed never-ending.

Claudia tried to squint over the tall students but failed. If she had though, what would she have seen? A bright light at the end, reaching out to her? Teachers directing the crowd? Or maybe some teachers were trapped in the crowd. Would Claudia’s see the outside through the windows - a place so free and brilliant, yet cut off by a dreary crowd? Would Claudia see a new wonder or some kind of metamorphamagus growing wings to fly over? Or more likely, would Claudia see an animagus who had turned into a bird? Or would Claudia see what she was likely to see: an endless row of students, stretched out to infinity and a hall filled with color - color that’s didn’t look like color, but looked as if seen through a greyscale. Would that be was Claudia could’ve seen? Her imagination went wild as she thought of what was there. Sometimes, creating reality is better than the actual thing itself. Sometimes, you have to imagine in order to live.

Claudia looked back to shake her head no. The girl looked as if she had hit the jackpot of ideas. “Hey, Claudia, uhh I know we just met but, I think the best way to get out of here is going to be levitating. Do you... trust me?” the girl asked.

Claudia gulped. “No, E-Elspeth. I don’t trust you. But-” she said, so silent that she didn’t think the girl could hear her. Claudia looked up at the ceiling and breathed in deeply. “Let’s... Let’s hope this works out.” she said, only a little louder that time.

“Win-GAR-dium leviOsa,” Elspeth chanted, flicking her wand at Claudia’s robes

Well, at least I’m wearing pants today, Claudia thought as she started to rise, now let’s just hope that my uniform stays on.

-------☆-------

This was unprecedented, at least for Elspeth. She felt the telltale warmth running down her arm that let her know the spell was cast successfully, at least. Claudia's robes began to ripple slightly, like there was a draft coming up from the floor. Elspeth tried to concentrate her attention on maintaining that feeling of warmth. Don't break concentration. Focus. Just focus on the robes. As much as this was an exciting event for her, it was also something of a test. She'd spent most of her first year at school feeling subpar with underwhelming performances in most of her classes due to her inability to stay attentive in long lectures or through chapters of reading. Casting spells in class was one thing. Doing it now, with all of the distractions from the hallway present, was another thing entirely and required her to muster the ability to pay attention in a way that she hadn't shown capability for the entirety of her stay at Hogwarts so far.

The robes continued to whip around Claudia, now as if there was a strong gust coming from beneath but still not enough to lift her body up. Had Claudia raised her arms to the sky, there was a chance the robes might just flutter off her arms without her, which was hardly the point of the whole exercise. The crowd of students felt like they were pressing in further. Elspeth's body started to get pushed up against the stone wall, her arm feeling smushed by an especially rude passerby who didn't seem to care that she was standing there.

With her arm knocked against, the spell was broken and Claudia's robes sank back down again. Elspeth just didn't have it in her, at least in this environment, to do what she needed to to make the spell work. Her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment and she looked down to her wand to try and hide her face from the other Ravenclaw student. She must look like such a dolt right now and all she'd managed to do was waste both of their time.

"Agh, I'm sorry. I don't uh... I don't think I can actually do it," her inability to cast didn't stop the situation from feeling more and more uncomfortable with each passing moment stuck in the corridor. The air was stagnant, with nowhere to blow through, which meant it was also beginning to smell exactly as one would imagine a hallway full of teenagers in full black robes in the summer might smell. Elspeth scrunched up her nose and crinkled her eyes as a particular rank odor wafted nearby. Hopefully Claudia had an idea for a way to get out, because she was lost for thoughts.

Interacting with: @Claudia Gears

-------☆-------

@Elsepth Gollens

Claudia’s robes flicked around her like a wild storm. She wanted to raise her hands up to bat her billowing robes from her face, but decided against it. She was not in the mood to make Elspeth feel like a failure because of her. She was also in the mood not to feel like a failure herself - because if she did, she would still be abandoned by the crowd. As her feet just barely lifted off the ground, Claudia thought the sensation of flying was wonderful. Nothing to hold her, no tricks, just some magic and her robes holding her up. The weightless sensation was the first thing Claudia had experienced. And also the last. As soon as she up, she was down. They had failed.

Claudia looked over to the where the Ravenclaw girl was to check what was wrong. Had she lost her concentration? Did someone jostle her? Did she see an opening through the corner of her eye? Or, most often, Is she gone? Did she leave me for a small crack in the crowd just to get to her class? Claudia didn’t know anyone who would do such a thing until her mind turned inward. Me, she thought, I would. I would abandon someone with no hesitation, no thought. After all... everyone here is too nice. They need some kind of breather, some kind of reminder to tell them that they aren’t perfect. Claudia touched her eyepatch where those insecurities lay. Maybe it was because of her missing eye that she was annoyed. Maybe she just didn’t want to see anyone happy.

After all, she wasn’t happy.

Claudia gritted her teeth at that acknowledgment and scanned the empty spot. Which turned out not to be so empty after all. A small figure occupied the wall - one with Ravenclaw clothes, one that looked similarly to Elspeth. As she looked closer, Claudia realized that it was Elspeth. She hadn’t abandoned her! She didn’t do what Claudia would’ve.

“Agh, I’m sorry. I don’t uh... I don’t think I can actually do it.” Elspeth said, her cheeks flushed red and her head tilted down. The poor girl was clearly embarrassed and mad at herself for not being able to complete the spell.

But she did complete the spell. Claudia remembered. After all, she herself had floated off the ground - only just a little. It’s just that she broke concentration. If you think about it, she actually didn’t make me fly - er, well, float. Claudia was about to tell her this when she shook her head. Elspeth didn’t need coddling. Even if it would boost her self esteem, she needed a motivator to work harder. Helping her friends - and total strangers like Claudia - could help serve as that motivator.

Claudia didn’t consider herself a positive person, but she sometimes had to fake it sometimes. “So now we know that won’t work,” Claudia began, hiding underneath her hair. She was embarrassed to be talking like an Optimist and was cringing at every word. “So, erm, I guess that’s good. Trial and error is a part of potions - isn’t that... right? So what’s t-to stop it from being part of life?” Claudia cringed at her lame quote that she randomly made up.

Claudia looked around at the crowd and felt overwhelmed. She had absolutely zero ideas of what to try. Wait - potions. she thought. Maybe Elspeth would have some potion or other spell to help them. “Elspeth, what do you have on you right now? I’m thinking specifically any potions or what-not but anything else could also help. And if you know any spells that could help us maybe tell me those too.”

-------☆-------