Midnight Adventures PV Miranda Everest Finished

"Thanks, I'd much rather not alert the whole school to our presence." Heather nodded, letting out a small, understanding smile. Though she wasn't sure if Miranda could actually see her reaction, so she decided to voice it out, too. "It's alright, and this way we don't have to worry about getting separated."

Not saying anything more, the girl quietly followed her partner, paying attention to her surroundings. She was specifically searching for something, anything that could help the girls recognize the duelling club easier. Suddenly, the taller Ravenclaw remembered a small detail, which she overlooked it before. "Hey, Miranda...Try looking after a really old armor that holds a sword in its hands, it was placed next to the entrance to the duelling club, so it might help us find it easier. "

Now, with a certain thing to look after, the girl seemed even more concentrated on the things around her. It was truly difficult to search something in the dark without bumping into the decorations placed around, but if she squinted hard enough, Heather could see faintly the outlines of the objects. Soon, her eyes noticed a familiar shape, just what she had been searching for. "Look, doesn't that look like an armor?" Turning her head back to the blonde Ravenclaw, Heather grinned excitedly. "It looks like we have finally found our destination!"

"That'll be reassuring," Miranda replied sincerely, although it almost sounded like she was being sarcastic (she wasn't). She continued walking, not noticing any reaction Heather might have in the shadows. Instead, she focused on staying away from any tripping hazards, because even with the steady presence of the girl beside her, Miranda still feared stumbling over something. Even though she was normally quite graceful, this dark rendered her no better than a headless chicken - maybe even worse. The thought was quite gruesome, and not at all reassuring, which did nothing to help her confidence.

At Heather's suggestion, Miranda made an extra effort to peer through the shadows, but couldn't yet spot the suit in mention. She said as much with a discouraged tone. After a minute or so of walking, Heather suddenly exclaimed suddenly that she'd spotted it. Once again, Miranda tried to delve through the darkness, and this time she, too, saw the marker.

"Finally," she murmured with a relieved smile. At least they weren't going to spend the whole night wandering around fruitlessly. Miranda really needed to get her hands on some kind of map. It would save her so much time and effort. "So...I guess we go in?" It was a strange question, she knew, but she felt like she had to ask anyways.

"That'll be reassuring." Heather turned, a bit surprised, towards Miranda. She wasn't sure that she'd heard correctly at all, but for a faint moment, it seemed like Miranda was actually being sarcastic with the taller Ravenclaw. Assuming, or better said, hoping that she misunderstood the girl's tone, she turned her gaze back on the corridors, silently walking next to the blonde.

When they finally found the entrance to the Duelling Club, both girls stopped in front of the door, as if something held them back from entering the room. Heather's initial instinct blamed their sudden second-thoughts on the fact that they were going to break in a club room. But, she thought, didn't we break so many rules to get to this point? It would be a shame to chicken out and leave, especially when we are already at our destination.

"So...I guess we go in?" Miranda asked as if she sensed the same strange anxiety Heather was feeling. Not moving her gaze from the closed door, the girl nodded. "Yeah, we shouldn't stay here and wonder if we should get inside or not... After all, we didn't come this far only to back out now," Heather let out a sympathetic grin. She tried to be as nice as possible but maybe a slight annoyance could be sensed in her words- a small, harmless payback for the fact that Miranda was ironic to her a few moments ago, even though she didn't realize she'd even cared about it.

Reducio

OOC: I'm so sorry for replying so late

"You're right," Miranda agreed, not sensing anything amiss with Heather's tone. And even if she had, she would have ignored it anyways. "Now's not the time to turn chicken."

She marched up to the door and pushed it open, revealing a large, rectangular room a little over half the size of the small hall. A few painting dotted the walls, but these were far and few between, and all were sound asleep. No windows filtered moonlight through them, so the darkness would've been even more impenetrable if it weren't for the few torches, most of which were in better repair than the ones in the hallway. Miranda assumed it was because the torches were only really needed at night in the corridors, while this place most likely needed them all the time.

"It's big," Miranda said, instantly wincing slightly at how inelegant and obvious her observation was. Heather could no doubt ascertain that fact for herself without her needless commentary. She should've just kept her mouth shut. "I-I mean, I thought it might be smaller, since most rooms on this floor are...but I can see why they'd make it big like this, if they're going to have enough room to teach a whole load of students duelling spells..."

Reducio

The description for the duelling club has yet to be decided on, so I just made this up in hopes of getting close. Feel free to change anything you'd like if necessary @Heather Blair Moretti
Also, the late reply is fine

Hearing Miranda's honest words made the taller blonde feel, just for a moment, bad. It seemed like the girl's previous reply was truly well-intended, so her own sassy answer was uncalled for. Sometimes, Heather wondered if her usual nice personality was just an act she put on all the time, especially when she noticed her flaws and urges to act mean with people who literally didn't do anything wrong.

As Miranda pushed the doors open, Heather's breath hitched in her chest. This room was mesmerizing, despite the fact that the darkness that surrounded them was somehow, even worse than the one from the corridor. At least, there were some windows that let the moonlight filter through them, which the Duelling Room lacked. "It's big." Heather nodded at the Ravenclaw's words, eyes fixated on the paintings that were on the walls. Strangely, she was in this room for less than a minute and she already loved it. "I-I mean, I thought it might be smaller, since most rooms on this floor are...but I can see why they'd make it big like this, if they're going to have enough room to teach a whole load of students duelling spells..."

Focusing for a moment on Miranda's words, Heather shrugged. "It makes sense. To be honest, when the Duelling Club re-opens I think I'll become a member only to spend time here, as crazy as it sounds. I just-- I feel really at ease here." Heather took a few steps forward, twirling around. "Just look at this! This place is amazing!" She said, maybe a bit too loud, since one of the painting tossed in their sleep. Wincing slightly, the girl quickly shut up, hoping that her little burst of excitement didn't wake up any painting... or someone else.

Miranda glanced around nervously at all the paintings, hoping against hope that none would wake up. She'd met some before on her nightly trips, but had gotten lucky - they'd pretended to not see her. But she couldn't count on that happening again. It was best to be on her guard, and also keep the noise to a minimum for the foreseeable future. No sense in tempting fate, after all.

"I'd probably join as well," Miranda agreed, taking a few more steps into the room as she craned her neck in order to see everything. "It would be fun to get a chance to try out some spells on other people - in a controlled environment, that is. Otherwise it'd no doubt end up as chaos, which sounds interesting up until you get hit with a jinx you'd rather have avoided. There are quite a few of those." The way she spoke almost made it sound like she'd had a similar experience to that before, but in truth, all of her duelling knowledge came from books she'd read on the topic. But then again, didn't one almost live the events they read about? If the writing was good, anyway?

"I'd probably join as well." Heather noticed Miranda taking a few steps forward warily, making sure that the taller girl's previous exclamation didn't compromise their adventure. Thankfully, none of the paintings gave any signs of waking up. And, even if they were, they choose to ignore the two Ravenclaws.

The girl's next reply made Heather raise an eyebrow in surprise. It seemed like Miranda had some knowledge about spells and duels, which made the taller girl believe that she maybe had some bad experiences. Though, she couldn't be too sure; there was always the possibility of a simpler explanation out there. Maybe she was just a witness, or read about them? Either way, it was clear that she knew what she was talking about.

"Well, you seem to know a lot about spells, so you'd probably manage to last a duel without getting jinxed. Me, on the other hand..." Heather trailed off, shaking her head playfully. "With my muggle upbringing, I wasn't really exposed to magic before I came to Hogwarts. And, on top of that," the girl stopped for a moment, pointing at her nose, "I think that it's obvious that I'm not the most... gracious person out there."

Letting out a small laugh, Heather looked around her once more. While before finding the Duelling Room coming here sounded like a great idea, now the taller girl was suddenly aware that she didn't know what to actually do here. "So...what are we going to do now?"

"I don't think having a muggle upbringing is much of a detractor," Miranda began with a thoughtful expression, her gaze distant. "I mean, unless someone spends their whole wizarding childhood studying spell books in preparation for Hogwarts and beyond, it's pretty much even between the two. And besides, you're in Ravenclaw. The house of wit and knowledge! That's a definite bonus right there." Her expression broke into a playful smile as she finished speaking. "I wouldn't be too worried about grace if I were you, either. Knowledge is the most important factor in a duel. Knowledge and reaction time. If you can find a nice, strong shield spell, you're pretty well off as long as you can cast it in time to ward off jinxes, and other spells."

Miranda didn't add that it was likely neither of them knew a shield spell of any kind just yet, but hey, she was trying to be positive. Pointing that out would ruin the reassurance for sure.

"As for what we're doing here," Miranda continued after a long beat. She glanced around the room again, trying to think. She came up blank. "I...don't really know. I guess I imagined there would be some kind of cool thing to check out...but it's pretty empty here."

As she listened to Miranda's words, a strange calmness fell over Heather. While she was a half-blood, pretty much the whole life she had been living without the knowledge of another, more cooler world, besides the muggle one. So, she was still fairly new to everything happening around her, but, thankfully, adapted quite easily to change. The blonde's reply though made her feel more confident in herself. Miranda was right, almost everyone out there was equal, despite the initial, obvious differences.

Grinning, Heather smiled warmly and looked at the blonde. "Thank you, for giving me some reassurance. I guess my nickname was quite on spot," Heather said, alluding to the previous name she called Miranda. She really was like a star at that moment, for giving some hope to a girl who thought much less of herself.

As she heard the Ravenclaw voice out exactly what she'd been thinking just a few moments ago, Heather sighed. "Yeah- it's kinda empty around here. I guess that at least finding the room was an adventure itself, though... Right?" The girl asked, hopeful; she didn't want to feel bad for suggesting a boring place to find. She'd already made that night so much worse with her carelessness, back when she almost broke her nose- that was embarrassing enough. But, if they didn't have anything to do there, they should probably return to the dorms.

"You're welcome," Miranda replied automatically, although she herself felt a bit confused. Most of the time it was other people reassuring her, not the other way around. Having the roles reversed, even by accident, made her feel weird. And proud. It was nice to see that her words had helped Heather. Maybe, when the Duelling club opened, they would spur the other girl to join. That would be incredibly heartening to see.

She let her thoughts trail off, then remembered something Heather had just said. A star? Maybe it does fit, at least a bit. Even if I'm not bright or shiny or anything.

"I guess so," Miranda said with a small sigh when the other girl spoke again. "But meeting you was definitely an adventure. Maybe we could meet up again? Later?" After all, she liked talking to Heather. The other girl was smart, curious, and didn't mind bending or breaking a few rules if necessary. Traits Miranda saw echoed in herself, from time to time.

Miranda waited for Heather's reply, then smiled, waved, and left the room, being careful to make sure no prefects or professors were nearby before slipping off into the darkness in the direction of the Ravenclaw tower. Hopefully before her absence was noticed.

Miranda leaves the thread unless prevented.