Midnight Adventures PV Miranda Everest Finished

Still in a daze, Heather barely heard Miranda's worried voice calling her. "Heather? Are you okay?" Shaking her head hurriedly, the girl waved her hand dismissively. "Uh-yeah, don't worry about me." The last thing the taller girl would want was for Miranda to worry too much.

"It's fine, I'm used to getting injured, I only need something to put over my nose..." Searching through her pockets, Heather sighed, relieved that she found a small pack of tissues. Covering her nose, she tried to apply pressure on it, hoping to stop the bleeding. Leaning forward, the girl closed her eyes, biting her lip. What a great impression was she making on Miranda! Breathing heavily, Heather opened her eyes once more, and out a small smile. "There is a spell that heals minor injuries, but sadly I never thought I would have to learn it. Anyway, Let's continue going, I'll be fine- and we have a duelling room to find!"

Letting out a small laugh, the blonde girl started walking up the stairs once more, much slower this time. She was going to be fine. She had worse injuries before, and, after all, her nose didn't hurt THAT bad- most probably it wasn't even broken. Hopefully.

Heather told her not to worry, but Miranda couldn't help it. Sure, she was used to seeing injuries, but it was different when the victim was someone other than herself or her brother.

"Wait, I might have something," Miranda said hurriedly, patting her robe pockets as she searched for something to help Heather. In the end, she pulled out a crumpled pad of paper, which while not exactly useful, would probably serve as a better rag or cloth than ones hand. Plus, they were disposable. "Well, I mean, they're not the best...but maybe they'll help?" She held the pad out, offering them to Heather. Whether she decided to take them or not, Miranda didn't really care.

After some more conversation, Heather continued walking up the stairs, albeit much slower this time. Miranda followed with a quick glance over her shoulder at the hall behind them. Yes, the Dueling Club. It would have been easy to forget about it during all the drama, and yet they were still going. Huh. Maybe their focus wasn't so bad after all, not if they could keep that in their heads. Or maybe Miranda just had a really bad idea of the normal human standards for focus, which was quite likely.

"Wait, I might have something," Miranda suddenly spoke, making Heather turn her head towards her. She would gladly accept any kind of help since her tissue didn't actually make that much of a difference; the other blonde pulled out a pad of paper and offered it to Heather. "Well, I mean, they're not the best...but maybe they'll help?" Taking it hurriedly from her hands, the injured girl switched the tissue with the paper she'd just received. "At this point, everything would help! Thanks a lot." Heather replied, looking down at her steps. While she had to do that to make sure she wouldn't trip again, it wasn't such a pleasant experience, considering the girl's fear of heights.

After a few moments which felt like an eternity, the two Ravenclaws found themselves on the fourth level of the castle. Looking around, the taller girl didn't notice, nor hear anything, besides the loud snoring of some paint. Turning back to Miranda, she raised an eyebrow. "Now, I know that the Duelling Club is close to the staircase, but I'm not really sure which way should we go... I'm quite bad with orientation," Rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand, the girl let out a small grin. "Do you, by any chance, have a hunch in which part should we go, or shall we try and search both sides?"

Miranda smiled weakly as Heather accepted the makeshift tissues, annoyed that she couldn't do more to help. That was why she read so many books... so if people needed her, she could help. However it didn't exactly help much at the moment, since she'd never been able to remember most of the spells she learnt. And she had no actual tissues, so her limited muggle knowledge didn't help either.

With a sigh, she turned to face the stairs and started upwards, continuing to keep a careful eye in case her new companion accidentally tripped again. It wasn't likely that she'd be able to help too much if she did, but it better to be doing something to help, even if it wasn't all that helpful in the end.

They soon reached the top, and Miranda peered through the dim halls that branched off, trying to figure out where to go next. The Fourth Floor wasn't exactly small, so there was plenty of room to cover if they intended to search everything. She almost suggested splitting up, but then decided against it. Every good reader knew that splitting up was never a good idea. Besides, even if one of them did find the Dueling Room, they'd have to leave it in order to search for the other, since yelling or calling would almost surely get them caught. And if they left, they might forget the way back, and nothing would change. They'd have to repeat the whole process. Realizing she hadn't said anything yet, she quickly struggled to think of an answer.

"Maybe we should just fan out in circles from the middle," Miranda suggested. "If it's close by, it shouldn't take too long..."

Not receiving any answer, Heather turned towards her companion, biting the inside of her cheek. She didn't ask anything weird, did she? At first, the girl was worried that she'd said something that angered Miranda, but the other blonde only seemed to be deep in thought. After a few moments though, she noticed the silence between them, too. "Maybe we should just fan out in circles from the middle," Miranda replied quickly, before continuing. "If it's close by, it shouldn't take too long..."

The taller blonde nodded; she was glad that Miranda didn't suggest splitting up, as she wouldn't have considered it a good idea, mainly because it seemed like neither of them knew the fourth level that well, and they couldn't really find their way back to each other without causing a ruckus. "Yeah, I think that's the best option we have." Moving the paper from her face, Heather touched her nose. Thankfully, the bleeding had stopped, and it didn't seem like anything was broken. Or, at least not yet.

Sitting up straight once again, the girl let out a breath of relief. "Well, I think I'm getting better, so now we can fully concentrate on our search. I'm sorry once again for the trouble I caused..." Looking down at her bare feet, the Ravenclaw continued, suddenly joyful once more. "So! Where do we start?"

After Heather voiced her consent, Miranda once again glanced around at their options for pathways. "Okay, there's three hallways from here. If we take one of the edge ones and take any corridors that lead backwards, then come back and do the other edge, we should be good." She realized her explanation wasn't very good, and her way would mean trading speed for thoroughness, which would also mean more of a chance of them getting caught. But it seemed better than walking around almost aimlessly. That way held a distinct chance of getting caught.

Miranda peered down both the edge paths, but the dim light didn't offer much in the way of sight. The only illumination originated from half-burnt-out torch sconces that seemed as old as the castle itself - Miranda wouldn't have been surprised if they were. She sorta wanted to take out her wand and cast a 'Lumos" spell, but worried that the bright light would attract unwanted attention. It was better to play it safe and rely on natural means.

It was times like these that she wished she knew more specific spells, like one that would allow her to have night-vision or make a light only she could see. Useful in her situation, but not much else. Still, some specified spells were nice to have in your arsenal.

"Okay, there are three hallways from here. If we take one of the edge ones and take any corridors that lead backwards, then come back and do the other edge, we should be good." Nodding thoughtfully, Heather stared at the blonde. "Yeah, this plan sounds good." She didn't really consider the chances of being caught or the fact that Miranda's plan did include more time. Heater usually did things out of impulse, without thinking them beforehand; if somehow she got in sticky situations, which happened quite a lot, she would craft a plan B right there and then. The girl liked to go with the flow, and just deal with problems when they were imminent.

As the girls stared into the dark hallway, Heather squinted her eyes, trying to see anything in front of her. The torches were emitting a dim light- and while Heather thought about casting 'Lumos', she supposed that Miranda thought about it too- and since she didn't cast it, she believed that it could attract attention on them. Sighing softly, Heather crossed her arms, a chill going down her spine. Stepping forward, the blonde turned around to the other Ravenclaw- she could faintly make out her silhouette in the dark. "Come on, let's move," the tall girl whispered. "We shouldn't stay too much in the same place, in case someone might find us."

"I try," Miranda replied with a wry grin that could barely be seen through the shadows. She turned her head back to face forwards, and started walking down the left-hand corridor. Almost immediately, she stumbled over a crack in the stone floor. "Argh, stupid darkness," she muttered as she balanced herself to avoid falling. She found herself wishing very hard that some of her more useful werewolf traits could be used in her human body - like the ability to see in the dark better, for one.

"I agree," Miranda murmured when Heather spoke again. "I'm just a bit worried about tripping and falling into one of the armor set, or some other ridiculous thing. And alerting everyone in the nearby vicinity to our presence. I've never been good with the darkness, no matter how many times I sneak out."

She took a few more tentative steps forwards, then continued at a normal pace when she didn't encounter any tripping hazards. Hopefully, she wouldn't make too much noise, even if she did stumble or fall again. Even the least clumsy people could find themselves tripping over their own feet in the shadows. There wasn't any shame in that, well, that's what Miranda told herself.

Heather walked in line with Miranda when she suddenly noticed the Ravenclaw stumbling upon something out of the corner of her eye. "Argh, stupid darkness," The blonde muttered, balancing herself just in time.

Thank goodness, Heather thought, one of us getting injured is enough for tonight. The taller girl slowed down her footsteps, going behind Miranda- just to make sure she wouldn't fall again. "I'm just a bit worried about tripping and falling into one of the armor set, or some other ridiculous thing. And alerting everyone in the nearby vicinity to our presence. I've never been good with the darkness, no matter how many times I sneak out." Nodding absentmindedly, Heather didn't reply at first, seemingly thinking about something. Then, she held out her hand, smiling. "Here, take my hand. That way we surely won't get lost, and the chances of hurting ourselves once more will lower, too."

She wasn't sure how Miranda would perceive her gesture, but Heather didn't have a problem with touching other people. in fact, she could be considered a touchy person- and while she respected that not everyone liked this fact about her, she instinctively searched ways she could be closer to the others. And, of course, right now some support would be appreciated by both sides, since it seemed like the girls were having trouble navigating through the darkness.

After Miranda spoke, there were several beats of silence as she continued to struggle in order to peer through the shadows. It was an almost fruitless endeavor, but that didn't stop her from trying. Anything was better than not trying in the first place. Otherwise she'd just generally feel useless and out of touch with her own future, and...wow, that sounded really weird now that she thought about it.

When Heather offered to hold hands, Miranda accepted gratefully. She didn't really mind touching others, and anything was better than falling or tripping in the near-darkness. If it ended up helping... "Thanks, I'd much rather not alert the whole school to our presence."

She kept walking, her eyes swiveling back and forth as she tried to take in everything in order to prevent another mishap. Maybe it would be worth it to use the Lumos spell...because if she crashed into something in the dark, they'd get caught even more surely. But that didn't seem all that likely, now that she had Heather to help guide her. Better to wait until it got truly bad before skipping precautions like that. Things were progressing fine for the moment...at least, unless she'd just jinxed herself.