Its About The Journey PV Dealla Prince Closed

Dealla was a bit bored. Or rather, extremely bored, bored out of her mind.
It was a weekend day, with spotless blue sky which she had mostly seen through the window so far, she had finished her Charms homework and done enough research for her History of Magic essay that her head was swirling with numbers. Every once in a while a random year would just pop into her thoughts, and leave her wondering if she remembered correctly what had happened in that year, or if everything she had read was just blending into one big indefinable History of Magic stew.
Either way, she had filled her schoolwork quota for today, so the rest of the day could be spend on more exciting things.

Dealla's mood lifted considerably when she noticed the time. It was almost time for lunch which was good because, one, her stomach had started subtly complaining at her some hour ago, and two, maybe she'd find a partner in crime in the Great Hall.
Research alone was fun, but research with someone else was much better.
Research - that was what she had started calling her trips around the castle and grounds surrounding it, trying to find and solve secrets and mysteries. Knowledge was power - and knowledge about Hogwarts was super exciting on top of it.
She put the history book she had been flicking through rather aimlessly for the past hour back into its appropriate book in the shelf - no one could ever accuse her of handling books thoughtlessly - and practically skipped out of the library, in direction of the Great Hall.

Once seated at her House table, Dealla's expression dampened a bit, a pout gradually replacing the borderline scary glow of excitement in her eyes. None of her usual companions seemed to be there today - or maybe she was just early, but still! Looking a bit closer, it didn't even look like anyone she'd ever talked to before was here.
But, no matter, if she didn't know anyone, she would just make new acquaintances. She'd never been a shy person, and she wouldn't start now.
She didn't have to search long, either. Just a few meters down the table, she spotted her new victim... uhm, her new friend-to-be. She hadn't talked to him, but she knew his name, and suddenly she remembered a mystery she had been planning to solve, that fit his profile just perfectly. And he seemed to be done with lunch, too! This had to be fate.
Hastily, she swallowed the last few bites of her stew, then got up and followed the brown-haired Ravenclaw who was already on his way to exit the Great Hall.

"Blake Bayne!" she called, trying not to lose him in the crowd.
The boy stopped and turned around, apparently trying to identify who had called his name. He was a Ravenclaw, she knew, a first year like she was. She had seen him around in class and the common room, but they hadn't talked to each other so far.
"Thanks for waiting," she said once she had caught up with him, straightening up and raising her chin. "I am Dealla Prince, but you can call me Dee. Dealla his such a tragically old-fashioned name, don't you think?" She raised a finger without giving him a chance to reply. "And don't say it's not that bad, because it is. My dad says it is an old family name, which just proves my point. But, I am digressing." She gave him an appraising glance. "I've heard you're among the best of our year in Herbology, is that true?" Dealla couldn't remember who she had heard it from - had it been Ileen? Well, it didn't matter. She looked at Blake steadily, her demeanor conveying that this was a matter of grave importance. "Because if so, how would you like to go on a quest with me? I have discovered some species of fungus in a corner on the sixth floor" - or had it been the fifth? - "and I can't seem to identify which one it is. What do you think? Do you want to take a look at it?"

As good a start as any hehe @Blake Bayne

An adventure? How could he say no.
He formed his answer carefully, taking the confident and excited girl infront of him in. He had never spoken to her, he would remember that surly, but the prospect of putting some of his knowledge to use was tantalizing and with no afternoon plans in sight, he could see no harm in agreeing.
"Aye I'll go take a look wit ya. I dunno if I can really help ya bu I'll try,"He agreed without hesitation. He cast a glance out of the tree he had been stretched out under and caught sight of a few students sprawled out in the grass. His spot had been taken regardless, so now the prospect of adventure was even more appealing. He set off after her toward the fungus patch, speaking again after a few minutes.
"I guess ya know my name bu I should introduce myself anyway. I'm Blake bu ya could call me the Fungas Guy if Blake is too hard ta remember,"He went on after a moment, a cheeky grin spreading across his freckled face as they made the journey to where ever Dee had in mind. Vast corridors stretched out around the set, some sending blasts of fresh air into his face and others carrying the tell-tale musty scent of the dungeons below. Blake found himself thinking back to his History of Hogwarts classes and he wondered curiously how many students had walked these halls before him and how many would walk the halls after him. It was a bit of a dismal thought but was brightened as he tried to picture his Da before all his fancy Ministry cloaks and suits walking through these halls as a child, like himself. This thought, outlandish in nature but vastly amusing, made Blake chuckle softly. He zoned back into his surroundings as the light in Corridor began to fade. They had moved away from the exterior walls of the castle and now the only light offered was that of the lit torches hung at even intervals along the walls and the earthy smell of the stone around them. For the first time since departing from the sunny Great Hall, Blake felt a twinge of excitement and pressed on enthusiastically behind Dee.

@Dealla Prince

Dee led the way with no less than complete confidence, through the twists and turns of the corridors, up and down moving stairs - yes, sometimes it was faster to go back down by one floor and then go up again, than to try and find your way to the spot you wanted to go while staying on the same floor! She had discovered that weeks ago.
"Fungus guy is a weird nickname to pick for yourself," she remarked with a glance backward and grinned. "But if you manage to identify them, I'll gladly call you fungus master. But if it turns out it is an of yet undiscovered species, I reserve naming rights!" That would be a great first step towards her goals, discovering and naming an of yet unknown magical organism while she was still in her first year at school! She focused back on where they were going, trying to decide which way they had to go at the next intersection of corridors. She thought they should turn left - she was at least 90 percent sure. Dealla took the turn with the confidence of someone who was at least 110 percent sure. "I hope the caretaker hasn't cleared it away, that would be a bummer," she continued. "I can't remember reading about something like that - it smelled earthy but also a bit like chocolate, and I think it has fluorescent or phosphorescent properties! I haven't been able to check in complete darkness, so I can't be sure, but it seemed to be glowing a bit."
Dee took another turn, then came to an abrupt stop. The corridor in front of her didn't feel familiar at all. She looked back around the corner - she didn't recognize that one, either. She took a second to think about this, and realized she couldn't even tell which floor they were on.
She turned towards Blake. How mortifying, getting lost during their first research trip together, when she had been acting like she knew exactly where they were going! Which she thought she had, but apparently she had taken a wrong turn somewhere. Maybe those 90 percent hadn't been good enough, after all.
"We're not lost!" was the first thing that came out of her mouth, maybe a bit more shrilly than intended. "I just need to... re-orient myself."

"Lost? Oh I doubt it. Jus takin the scenic route,"Blake shrugged, admiring the vaulted ceiling about him. The architecture of the castle amazed him and he often wondered who had built the grand building in the first place. Wizards in no doubt but he wanted to meet the designer himself and give him a well-earned pat on the back.
"Ya know, I do think I like tha idea of bein tha Fungus Master. Verra official,"He went on, speaking more to the hall with his head tilted back to look at the smooth river stone of the walls. His voice came out louder then anticipated and he flinched back slightly, hearing his voice echo somewhat.
"Is it possible tha maybe we're on track an ya just furgot what the halls looked like?"He offered, noting the faint musty smell in the hall. They were definitely not near the exterior, which meant better fungus growing conditions, but the only issue was that he could still faintly smell the aroma that had accompanied the beef stew he had for lunch. They weren't high enough yet. Either way, Blake wasn't complaining. With such a massive school and only six more years to explore it's nooks and crannies, he had no issues taking a "scenic" stroll and just seeing where he ended up. It was this kind of attitude that worried his sister and his mum.
"Aye, I think we've about neared HufflePuff,"He called again, the stone of the floor becoming worn from the travel of many feet consistently. He had also been this way once or twice to find Maggie after classes to give her his letter home the odd time he wrote. It was as nice a hall way as many others and he began to wonder if Dee was taking the very scenic route after all.
"Just as long as we make it fur dinner,"he mused lazily to himself while doing his best to keep up with Dee. The two seemed to have very different reactions to getting a tad off course but Blake shrugged it off. Who wouldn't love taking the scenic route to a patch of potentially un-discovered fungus?

@Dealla Prince

Dealla's lips twitched, and she only fought it off for a second or two before it turned into a full-fledged smile. Scenic route, huh? She could roll with that - it certainly sounded a lot better than being lost.
"I'm glad you see it that way," she said, a little primly, but the smile she offered Blake was genuine, and thankful. She managed to relax a bit after she realized that Blake was not going to complain, make fun of her, or even in any way really react to the fact that she obviously did not know the way as well as she had pretended - and thought - she did.
"Yes, Fungus Master does have a more dignified tone to it than fungus guy, doesn't it?", Dee teased and focused back on the hallway around them. Nearing Hufflepuff? That was not where she had intended to go, but it at least gave her a back a sense of direction. "Although, in what world is Blake hard to remember?"
If she remembered correctly... She made another left turn and let out a quiet sigh of relief when that took them into a corridor with an upwards staircase at the end of it. A sense of purpose returned to her steps. Maybe this wasn't going as horribly wrong as she had feared for a minute. There weren't many things that Dee took as badly as being made fun of or patronized, and Blake had done neither.
She started climbing the staircase with a sense of renewed confidence that she would find her way back to that elusive patch of fungi. And then Blake could prove if he was worthy of the title Fungus Master.
She'd always thought she was rather good with recognizing plants and mushrooms herself, since not few of them were ingredients in the different potions her mother regularly made. However, even her limited time at Hogwarts so far had been enough to show her otherwise. There was a vast diversity and richness to the magical plant kingdom - although fungi weren't technically plants - and by far not all of them were useful as potion ingredients.
The thought of her mother in front of her cauldron, humming softly and carefully stirring ingredients into a potion, gave Dee a short twinge of homesickness - but then she realized that they had already passed the next intersection where they should have turned, and she forced her thoughts back to the present.
"Wait, we should have turned back there," she commanded, and tried to keep her face from turning warm. Could she act like any more of a bumbling idiot? Blake had to think her scatterbrained at the very least at this point. "I'm sure of it," she promised, pushing her shoulders back. "You can believe me."

@Blake Bayne

Somewhere along the leisurely stroll- as Blake was now nick-naming this event in his head- Dee seemed to relax.
"I don know what it is with RavenClaw's bu they either seem ta be verra driven and controlin or verra quiet and self-directed,"Blake reflected to himself, deciding that Dee was indeed very driven but not controlling, as she had allowed his jokes to break up the tension he had seen gathering in her shoulders. No, she was a nice mix of the two when she loosened up.
"Ya'd be surprised. Verra often I jus get nick-named or refereed as someone's brother. I have two siblings, my sister Maggie who's a HufflePuff an my kid-brother Laylen who's waitin fur his letter in a few years," He explained, thinking back to all the times he had simply been refereed to as 'Maggie's little brother' or 'Laylen's older brother' around the village. He didn't mind particularly, everyone had known him since he was a lad and everyone knew his name but didn't feel the need to use it. Now he was no one's brother and was simply known as Blake.
"Plus Blake dosena have as nice a ring ta it as Fungus Master, don't ya think?" He went on jokingly, cracking a slightly lopsided smile that exposed his top row of teeth. Sure enough, they seemed to be working their way away from the familiar corridors Blake was accustomed too and soon he was aware they were now out of smelling-range of the kitchen and the floors no longer seemed worn and well-traveled. Now his shoes smacked noisily against the stone as he attempted to muffle them but taking longer strides. They mounted the stairs and Blake turned to take one last glimpse at the torch lined corridor.
"I wonder how long it takes ta make one hall?"He questioned silently, noting the incredible detail and time it would take to line all the stones up perfectly. Surly a few weeks.
After another few minutes of parading down a very similar corridor, Blake then decided that Hogwarts should color-code the halls but handing a brightly colored cloth on the wall or something, Dee quickly had them back track. She had seemed tense once again as she quickly corrected the incident but Blake shrugged.
"Dosena matter ta me. We could go upside down and backwards and I would still be havin a great time,"He offered non-nonchalantly. In reality he would not have wanted to go upside down, walking on the ceiling seemed disrespectful but not unlikely given the castle's labyrinth feel. This adventure was proving very interesting as they turned down the correct hall
"This one should be labeled wit a green cloth because of the green color of tha stones" Blake decided after casting a glance around. The sun had not shone on these inner walls for who knew how long, and they still retained the green sheen of the river bed they had been pulled from. Blake reached up and run his finger along the surface, almost surprised when they were smooth and cold. They definitely had not felt the sun in a very long time.
"So how did ya find this patch of fungus exactly?"He questioned, trying to take note of how far they had traveled internally. He had never been this far and not originally taken Dealla for the adventure type, but maybe he had been proven wrong and the idea of that excited him.

@Dealla Prince

Dee took a minute to mull the story about his siblings over in her head. Being an only child herself, she couldn't really imagine being most present in someone's mind as a relation to someone else. She had always just been herself. She'd never really wished for siblings either, always content to just run around with the Muggle children in her neighborhood, and to take centre stage in her family for herself. "You'll have to prove yourself worthy of being the Fungus Master first!" she declared cheekily while skipping across the floor tiles in a complicated pattern, leaving out some and only stepping on others, her brown locks jumping with her. Once she had reached the end of the hall, she turned around to face Blake with vigour. "What are your siblings like?" she wanted to know. "I don't have any, I can't imagine."

Dealla was increasingly beginning to enjoy herself, and Blake's company, on this trip. He was nice to be around, she decided. None of her intense energy, but... comfortable, she supposed. It made her worry less and less about being judged with every passing minute.
His next question gave her a slight pause. "How did I find it? Uh..." She scrunched up her face, trying to remember. That had been some time last week, right? Oh, right! Her face cleared up. "I was with a friend, we were trying to figure out where a particularly insistent draft was coming from. We were both wondering about that, since we're so far inside the castle walls, you know? We never found it before we had to go back to the common room for our curfew, though. Another mystery for another day." Dee shrugged. "There are so many weird unexplained things around here, right? I feel like you could try to find out everything about Hogwarts for the next few decades, and still barely scratch the surface." She gave the walls around her a rather fond look. The castle had already started to feel like home to her. "But that won't keep me from trying!"

Dealla led them up another flight of stairs next, but suddenly stopped, staring intently at the next step. It hadn't been these stairs - had it? She didn't think so, and even if it had been here, she wasn't sure it would be exactly the next step. She should have counted - rookie mistake. Carefully, she put the tip of her foot on the step, testing its reliability with a wary expression on her face. It felt comfortingly solid beneath her toes, so she let out a breath of both relief and disappointment, and started walking again. Turning towards Blake, she tried to offer an explanation for her strange behaviour. "On some stairs, there are steps that..." Vanish, she had wanted to say. Instead, she let out an unseemly shriek, that she would later deny ever leaving her mouth, as the step beneath her foot disappeared and she sank in up to her thigh. "Um, explanation by example?" she offered weakly, looking rather pitiful.

As Dee skipped head, her feet dancing across the stone floors, Blake set his sights on the torch above his head as he approached it. Most adults would probably be able to touch it but he, having not yet hit his growth spurt, could only stare up at it. The iron holder, nailed solidly into the wall, was covered in a blanket of dust. The castle had dust? The realization had not occurred to him before but before he could ponder what exactly made dust in a corridor this bleak, he was pulled from thought by Dee who was waiting at the edge of the corridor.

"Well...siblings can be a tad tricky..."he started thoughtfully, taking time to carefully craft his answer. "Some days, they can be yer bestfriends an everythin is rosie bu other times they can be yer worst nightmare an ya feel like they're only round to drive ya mad,"he went on shaking his head slightly as he caught up with her as they prepared to ascend another staircase. He had stayed as close to the truth as he could without making his siblings sound horrible. Maggie and Laylen did the best they could and most of the time the three had a very close relationship.

"Musta been a mighty cold draft ta get ya this far inta tha castle. Coulda been a ghost or something else magical,"Blake teased lightly as he mounted the steps behind Dee. He just about plowed into her when she froze and tentatively reached her foot out. He sprang back, unsure of why these stairs seemed different from the rest but he was given his answer as Dee fell thigh-deep into the vanished space of another stair. Without must thought, Blake lunged forward and helped her back up, her shriek having left his ears ringing and heart pounding intensely against his ribs. He hadn't heard a girl shriek like that since Maggie had burnt her hand on the kettle back home which had properly spooked his Da and him.

"Aye, careful Lass wit tha rest of tha stairs. Don't need ya fallin' inta some cool secret room wittout me. Ya are my guide after all,"he exhaled with a shaky laugh as the stairs morphed back into it's solid stone appearance. "I guess tha castle has some secrets she isna ready ta give up jus yet," he smiled understandingly before carefully picking his way over the false step. Maggie had spooked him into respecting the building as if it was a living, breathing person with some of her own "ghost stories" from before his time at the famed school. He intended to learn everything he could about the school, but he was wary of the many twisting corridors and nooks and crannies around him.

"Ya'know,"he pipped up once they had reached the next landing and he felt relaxed once again, "Now you've a story like all the great explorer's. Ya can tell people bout tha time yer leg was almost taken off by a vanishing stair! Ya can always jazz it up ta sound more risky bu it would still make fur a interesting dinner conversation,"He joked boldly and let out a loud chuckle, trying to imagine his own Mum and Da's reaction to such a tale. The thought made him laugh even harder until he had to pause and place and arm on the wall for balance.

@Dealla Prince

"You could always just follow me, should I fall into a secret room," Dee suggested and hid the fact that she still felt a bit shaken behind a grin that set her eyes twinkling mischievously. "I would maybe even share the credit for the discovery if you came to save me." She took the last of the stairs carefully. Stepping into empty air where you had expected solid ground and then falling into nothing was... not a pleasant feeling, and not one she felt keen to repeat any time soon.
"Speaking of," she picked up on what he had said before, "you don't suppose that the draft might have come from a secret room, or maybe a tunnel?" The thought hadn't really occurred to her before, but now that it had, it seemed like a very real - and exciting! - possibility. Where else would it have come from? They had not been able to make out an obvious reason for it, after all, and there must have been several corridors and thick walls separating them from the nearest wall to the outside.

On top of the stairs, she took a second to get her bearings. They should be nearing their destination soon, she thought, the old, weathered stones around her, and that soft, slightly dusty scent in the air seemed familiar. This less used part of the castle always seemed to exude the promise of knowledge to be gained and mysteries to be solved.
"Jazz it up?" Dealla huffed indignantly. "No way. I don't need to resort to such tactics - I'll have real discoveries to talk about at some point, you will see. Also, these vanishing steps?" She waved her hand dismissively. "They're not even novel, they're everywhere. All older students know about them." She paused, frowning suspiciously when Blake did not seem to listen to her at all, too busy grabbing at the wall for support in his laughing fit.
However, it only took her a second to decide that there was nothing malicious about his laughing, and watching him positively shake apart with laughter only made her want to laugh along with him. "What's so funny?" she demanded, or rather tried to, while her own giggles threatened to spill over and out of her, clear and bell-like.

@Blake Bayne