Closed It's A Maze PV Aislinn Crow

Similarly to Efelion, Aislinn was also lost- she had taken to sticking close to some of the other first year Ravenclaws the first few days of classes to find her way back to the common room, but today she had been lagging behind after dropping some parchments off her desk at the end of her last class. By the time she had haphazardly stuffed the papers back into her bag it was too late, the girls she had taken to trailing were nowhere to be seen.

It hadn't take more than one or two wrong turns to get her irreversibly lost; the moving staircases didn't help, along with the masses of students going this way and that- meeting up with friends and making plans before dinner time. The familiar overwhelming feeling started to creep up on her and before it overtook her she turned down a much more empty corridor than the one she had been in. With less noise and movement she was able to stop and collect herself, taking deep- if somewhat shaky- breaths to calm her mind.

That nagging thought that she had been sorted into the wrong house began to swirl in her mind but she forcefully shook her head, black wavy hair tossed around her as she did.

No. Her mother had been a Ravenclaw and had always told Aislinn she would be perfect for the house. Her mother wouldn't lie to her like that.

She took another breath and let it out slowly, forcing her feet to move down the corridor. Surely she would find someone she could ask for directions- perhaps a teacher? Up ahead she could see light coming from a window lit room, the door left open. Her steps quickened and she poked her head in, looking up towards the front where she hoped to see a teacher- instead she saw another student, though he had placed his things on the desk and was looking at something. She thought about silently walking away- her shyness, as usual trying to take over- but she swallowed and instead stepped into the doorway.

"Um.. do you happen to know the way to the Common Room?" She asked, spotting the matching blue that signified they were in the same House. She wasn't sure if he was first or second year, though she silently hoped for the latter as he might have a better idea. "I'm a bit lost."

What an understatement.

@Efelion Berrendow

Efelion looked up at the words to see a girl across the threshold of the doorway, wearing the same blue marks as he. Funnily enough, he didn’t think he had seen her before, not at the table nor in the common room and not in his classes. He wondered if she was maybe a second year that he just hadn’t met that made little sense however as the second years and above were normally more outgoing and seemed to talk to a lot of the first years a lot so he would’ve remembered.

“I hate to tell you this” Efelion spoke standing up off the desk and giving the girl a smile to try and reassure her, he understood how confusing and frightening a new place and the unknown could scare people “I am also rather lost, I haven’t been here for very many days, I thought that I had figured it out but the castle is so large and the moving staircases just make it even harder.”

Efelion thought for a second, two Ravenclaws getting stuck was truly unfortunate, he wondered what their peers would say. He offered for her to come in and sit down with a motion if she was so willing to, he himself had given up on the matter and decided he was just going to wait till dinner time and head to the great hall.

“I am just going to wait around until dinner, the great hall is easiest to find and then I can get back by following the others,” Efelion said gently as he was at ease with his decision, the unknown was something he enjoyed, “I think the worse part of it is that I thought I had been smart enough to remember the way back no matter what but it appears I may have been wrong on that.”

The offer was there, although he had not met this girl before he didn’t feel like leaving someone for the elements on their own. Efelion was always there to help others when he could, that’s what he told himself anyway. He wasn’t used to meeting new people but it looked as if the girl was just as lost as him and he wasn’t about to just let her be on her own.

“If you want, you can stick around and do the same, I’m Efelion by the way, I’m a first year, It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The boy offered to share his personal information to help out the girl in front feel more at ease “are you a second year or are you a first like me? I haven’t seen you around before. At least not in memory.”

Her heart dropped at his words and she sighed, shoulders slumping- it was just her luck, the first person she had the courage to ask for help was also just as lost.. though, it did make her feel a little bit better about it. It was normal for first years to get lost from time to time; her brother told her about getting lost himself when he had gone to Hogwarts.

She hesitated as he motioned for her to come and sit for a moment- for a few reasons, mainly her fear of being somewhere she wasn't allowed, as well as just her general shyness with new people. But- he was just another first year, and in the same House, so where was the harm? Besides, if they weren't supposed to be there, the room should have been shut.. right?

She took a step in and placed her bag on a desk near the front, though she still didn't sit. She nodded as he spoke about just following students back from dinner- it was a good idea, after all. She had intended to drop off her things before dinner like usual but it wouldn't be too bad to carry it around.

"I think I will as well, then. I have been following some other girls from my dormitory but.. well I took a little longer than usual at the end of class and lost track of them." She said with a sigh, looking over at her bag and reaching in to re-arrange the mess.

She shook her head at his last question, though she smiled just a bit at the fact they had both apparently thought the other might have been a year ahead. "No- I'm first year as well. My name is Aislinn.. and well, I mostly keep to myself, so that's probably why you haven't seen me." She said, looking back up at him from her bags. He did look at least a little familiar but there were so many new faces that had probably only seen him in passing.

"Um.. are we supposed to be in an empty classroom..? I don't remember my mother ever telling me.." She said with a slight sigh."Though I suppose I was always more interested in learning about the subjects than the rules."

@Efelion Berrendow

He had been doing the same, most of the time he would follow the others back however he had been trying to learn the layout of the castle a little more so he would stop getting lost. Sometimes he would make it back alone perfectly fine and other times he would find himself completely lost. He was never truly free of being confused about where they were.

As she dug through her bag and spoke it relieved him a little bit to know that he had met someone the same year as him, the few he did know were from Slytherin and it felt odd to him that he knew more people in the other house than his own. He was no stranger to keeping to himself either, Efelion was often quiet and preferred to read a book however he had thankfully made friends in doing so.

As she looked up at him he spoke with a smile on his face “I am like that as well” he spoke gently “I prefer to just hide away from others sometimes, don’t get me wrong, I love exploring and learning new things but people are something I sometimes struggle with.”

When she asked him about the room he wasn’t really sure, Efelion hadn’t remembered what the rules were on empty classrooms but he believed that there shouldn’t be anything bad about being in one. It’s not their fault that they were lost and it’s only fair that if a school wishes to be so complex that they should allow them to seek places to wait.

“Excellent question that I, unfortunately, do not have an answer to,” Efelion said to her query “However, If for some reason, we do get in trouble, I will take the blame.”

Efelion wasn’t going to let her get in trouble for a decision he had made, he wasn’t even keen on himself getting in trouble for rules that were not clear. Maybe if the castle wasn’t so confusing to even a pure-blood wizard they wouldn’t have had to be stuck there until dinner. To him, rules were not always fair and it was somewhat a contention he had always had with his parents as well.

“The girls didn’t wait for you,” Efelion asked now curious about Aislinn a bit more “You didn’t ask them to wait up for you?”

The boy shifted a little bit to face her better so he wasn’t talking out to a classroom as if he was a teacher. He should have known she was the first year, she looked just as disorganized as he was. He thought he was alone in that, a bag of chaos that never seemed to be sorted properly no matter how hard he had tried. It made him feel relieved knowing he wasn’t the only awkward person struggling with everything around them.

Satisfied with how the papers and other various supplies were tucked away now, Aislinn nodded to herself and closed the bag once again before looking up again- though she had been listening all the while. "I used to spend more time with the family cat than any friends my age- though I suppose it didn't help that I was homeschooled.." She sighed; on one hand, she understood why her mother had chosen to keep her home.. her brother, before they knew he was a wizard for sure, had more than a few incidents at muggle schools as a child- and adjusting to a magical school for children had been difficult as well. So, when she came along, it had been a simple decision for her to simply stay home with her mother and learn about both the magical and muggle world that way.

She looked a bit nervous about him not knowing if they were allowed in there- but it was a bit late for that anyway.. besides, they weren't actually hurting anything. "Well.. alright. I suppose we don't have too long until dinner and we can head to the great hall.. I guess it should be easy enough to find our way to the ground floor."

She looked a bit confused at his last question before she realized and felt her face blush a bit. "O-oh.. um, no.. I don't think they know I've been following them back to the common room.." She said, her voice going a little quiet as she looked down and wrung her hands together. "I've been too shy to try and talk to them.. they seem like they were already friends before coming here, you know? I don't want to intrude.."

@Efelion Berrendow

Efelion knew how she felt, Efelion barely knew anyone in their own house either and was too afraid to really speak to anyone. He was fine with people once he knew them but the first step was always the hardest and he was trying to make strides in fixing that. Efelion looked at her and smiled before speaking to her again.

“Well I am sure they wouldn’t mind if you asked, if they did I would say they weren’t people worth getting to know at any rate,” Efelion said to the girl as he relaxed a little bit “If you want you can follow me back next time, no promises we will make it back” Efelion gestured around the room as a testament to that “But I don’t want you thinking that you have to always just hide away, you seem like a perfectly nice person and I wouldn’t mind your company.”

His offer was genuine, he knew how she felt as he had felt it as well, most of the people he knew were in other houses which meant when it came to after-school hours in the common room or anywhere else he tended to be alone. He hadn’t intended it to be that way but it seemed like life decided that it to be that way so knowing someone in his own house would be a relief. He didn’t know if she truly wanted a friend or whether she would rather be alone but the offer was there.

“Besides I haven’t really gotten to know any Ravenclaws and it would be nice to have a friend with that I could spend time within my own house,” Efelion said softly as he hopped off the table and strolled around the room a little bit “It can be a bit annoying when I return to the common room and without my own choice sit alone.”

Efelion wasn’t really sure if she would take his offer but he wanted her to know that she didn’t have to be alone if she didn’t want to be, there were others like her that were socially awkward and that just needed to be reached out to. He recognized that and it was why he decided to overcome his own to offer it to her, knowing there was someone else that was like him helped him feel more comfortable.

Aislinn shrugged at the first comment- she would be more comfortable talking to people one on one, and the girls in question were usually together, so unless they approached her first it probably wouldn't happen. But when he offered to walk back with her she grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "That would be nice! Even getting lost wouldn't be so bad with someone else." She said, absent mindedly reaching up and pushing some stray long hairs from her face; she had cut her own bangs in a fit of independence right before the school year was supposed to start and they hadn't grown back out evenly yet.

"I'm okay once I've made friends.. it's just the first part that's hard, you know?" She said, turning to lean and half sit on the desk she had placed her bag on. "It will be nice to have someone to talk to that isn't just working on things in class." She said, still smiling a bit, though she could feel the shyness wanting to take over she was trying her best to fight it back.. after all, she had promised her mother she would try to come out of her shell this year.

There was a bit of a lull in the conversation as she watched him wander around the room a bit, and she finally took the time to look at the room fully herself- she couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like it was maybe an unused room; there wasn't much in the way of supplies or decorations that might give some idea what subject was taught in there, either.

"Hm.. I wonder what this room was used for? It looks a bit dusty, so maybe it's been empty for a while.. Or maybe it's just an old dusty subject." She said with a small laugh.

@Efelion Berrendow

“I’m the same way in relation to the first step being the hardest,” Efelion said as he looked around the room “The friends I have made so far have been people that have come up to me first” the boy said as he kept looking for signs on what the room had been used for. Slight relief was given at her words that she seemed to have the same issue that he did.

When she wondered about the original use of the room Efelion giggled a bit “Hmm and old and dusty subject…?” he queried his own brain “Maybe… A posion class that was somehow more boring than our current potions.” Efelion said as he looked to see if he could find some reason for the room being empty, maybe an old book or parchment left behind. But it seemed to be cleaned through well of anything that would give off a reason for its existence.

“Or maybe they used to hide monsters here” Efelion jested with his own laugh “to eat students who would annoy them.” Efelion turned around and smiled at his new friend with a large grin “Or maybe it’s where they used to hold students for detention for disobeying the rules too often.”

Efelion was only joking of course, he himself wasn’t sure what the room was used for but he often wondered what most of them were. The school was so big and yet a lot of the corridors and rooms were commonly unused and it made him wonder what secrets were strewn around the school. Not that he would ever drag himself or others into dangerous situations but it was an interesting thought to him.

“Are you still new to this world? My friend Alora had never experienced it until coming here” Efelion asked interested to hear more about his friend, “I was always in it so I find the muggle world as interesting as she finds this one.”

Aislinn laughed a little at his potions comment- that was one of her favorite classes, second only to herbology at the moment. "I grew up with my mum teaching me about herbs- so Potions is actually quite interesting for me, but I know a lot of students don't like it much.." She said, though to be fair they had only had a short time in classes so far and she never knew what would happen in the future.

She side-eyed him at the "eat students" comment, grinning a little. She had always been fond of magical creatures and learning about them- one of her mothers friends had a half-Kneazel who she had adored. "Well- I won't have to worry about that then. I don't intend to ever get a detention.." She said, though her voice trailed off- she didn't know if they were really supposed to be in there, after all, but hopefully she would get a warning before anything bad happened..

His last question made her look up at him, tilting her head to the side. "Well, my father is a muggle and my mother a Witch, so I suppose I always had one foot in each world." She said with small smile. "My dads family doesn't know about my mom, brother and I, but they are nice enough anyway. My dad loves it." She said with a giggle. "I think he was more excited to find out me and my brother were both magical than my mum was."

@Efelion Berrendow