Metal Mayhem Closed

It was evening, just before curfew, and Rhea had decided to roam around the castle to try to get to know it a little bit better. But after she'd made her way all the way down from the seventh floor, where the Gryffindor Common Room was, she realized that she was starving. She hadn't had the chance to properly eat a dinner, as she was too busy finishing up homework like the good student she was (yup, definitely...). 

Rhea decided to walk over to the kitchens, hoping that she remembered the right way to gain access from what her nanny had told her previously.  But as she got closer and closer, she saw a small, black haired Hufflepuff girl exit her common room and start to walk around. Rhea abandoned her thoughts of food and decided to follow this girl, wanting to know what she was up to. 

The girl wandered into the Great Hall, and after wandering around for a bit, walked closer a suit of armor. Slowly inching her hand towards it, as if she was scared of what might happen, the girl moved closer and closer. Wanting to scare her, Rhea moved so she was right behind the girl.

"What are you doing?!" Rhea exclaimed. "Do you know what will happen if you knock one of those suits of armor over?!" Rhea, in fact, did not know what would happen, but she was pretending she did to play a prank on this clueless girl.

Mariah gave an embarrassing squeak, her body jumping on reflex. Mariah whipped around to face the girl, her hand planted firmly against her chest as if she were stopping her heart from making a run for it.

"Are you CRAZY?" Mariah hissed, glancing around them paranoid. "What did you do that for?" She looked the girl over, noting a Gryffindor robe.
Jealousy burned through Mariah's stomach like wildfire.

It wasn't fair. Her entire family were Gryffindors, all of them, but not Mariah. Mariah got stinking old Hufflepuff.
She assumed she had some sort of glitch in her brain that told the Sorting Hat she wasn't brave enough and, if that were the case, maybe she could get a redo. If she did something ridiculously brave, that is.

Throwing her green thoughts fo the side, Mariah glanced around them to make sure no one heard the girl's questions and then leveled her with a stare.

"What happens if I push them over?" Mariah asked. "Will they get back up?" Mariah rocked back and forth on her feet and glanced behind her at the suits of armour. If they did, if she knew for sure what they did, would she still push them over?

Probably.

Serena yawned a little as she was on the way out of the Great Hall. It was a quiet day, she liked those sorts of days. They were peaceful and it made a change from the hectic moments of life. That was until someone's voice caught her attention. She had no idea who it was but it made her jump, hearing the words 'what are you doing' nearby. Quickly looking over to the direction that the sound came from, Serena spotted two students near some suits of armour. Blinking, the girl walked a little closer out of curiosity. What are they doing? That was definitely a good question.

She approached them, noticing one was a Gryffindor with fiery red hair and the other was a Hufflepuff standing incredibly close to the metal suit. Blinking as she overheard the Hufflepuff's questions, Serena pondered for a moment. She had no idea what happened if they pushed them over. In all honesty, she suspected nothing would happen other than the obvious things - such as falling over, making a loud clattering noise and drawing lots of attention to themselves. She had never seen the armour suits move whilst she was patrolling the corridors so... she did not think they did anything except look cool. The portraits, on the other hand, were constantly moving around. Surely they were far more interesting? 



"Who knows? Why don't you give it a go?" Serena's voice perked up from behind the two students, "If they don't get back themselves, you'll have to put them back together, I guess," She continued with a light shrug, "Though... make sure you don't break them. I'm not sure the professors would take too kindly to damage on school property..." She advised the fellow student as she thought about it a bit more. If the helmet fell off, for example, putting it back on did not seem like the end of the world. She was not sure if they were bewitched into automatically putting themselves back together, as she had never actually seen one being knocked over. However, if it got damaged then there would definitely be some repercussions. 

Could metal even break by hitting the ground? She doubted it. They seemed pretty sturdy. 

Though perhaps her presence would advice the girl not to try it out. It seemed a little foolish to damage school property in front of a prefect, "Though... may I ask why you're interested in pushing them over in the first place?" She asked curiously, wondering what the two girls were up to. She was not sure if they were together or not yet so looked between the two students, waiting to see what they said.

It seemed the world was set on giving Mariah a heart attack. A Hufflepuff bled out of the woodwork, reminding Mariah of Rules and possible consequences. Surprisingly, she didn't say Mariah couldn't do it, just stating she would have to clean the mess she made. Mariah hadn't really thought of the consequences. She wasn't a consequence kind of gal. It wasn't like she'd never been punished at home, but she was a rash girl, acting on feelings rather than thinking things through.

Mariah caught sight of the shiny badge pinned to the girl's cloak and felt a bitter scowl spread across her face. The girl wasn't just a Hufflepuff, she was a Prefect Hufflepuff. It was just her luck.

"Though... may I ask why you're interested in pushing them over in the first place?" Mariah felt her scowl deepen and looked to her feet with a shrug. Mostly, she itched for a fight, a way to take her aggression and spend it. A good long game of dodge the dangerous suit of armor seemed like a decent way to use the negative energy. It wasn't as though she had any friends to keep her mind f off her insecurities. To be frank, she hadn't even tried to make friends. She didn't want to just in case the house she was sorted into was a mistake and the headmaster fixed it.

"I dunno," she muttered, huffing. "It looked like fun."

With a start, Rhea realized that yet another girl had joined them in standing beside the suit of armors. She turned around and furrowed her eyebrows when she saw the prefect badge attached to the second girl's robes. Would she scold them for trying to knock over the armor?

To Rhea's surprise, the prefect didn't. Instead, she told them to give it a try, as long as they cleaned it up-the professors wouldn't appreciate it if there was a mess in the Great Hall once it reached morning. Rhea couldn't help but agree. Then the prefect asked why, in fact, the two girls were doing this. Rhea was about to open her mouth and tell her that she wasn't planning on doing it, but the other girl beat her to it. 

"I dunno," the girl muttered with a huff. She looked down to her feet and shrugged. "It looked like fun."

Rhea nodded her head in agreement. "It could be fun. But I wasn't planning on knocking it over, I just wanted to scare her," Rhea pointed at the girl with a shrug. "I guess it worked."

Rhea chuckled at the memory of the expression that the girl harbored when Rhea had spoken. "By the way, I'm Rhea. Rhea Bishop," she introduced herself, sticking her hand out for either of them to shake. "What're your names? I know you're a prefect," she said to the prefect, and then turned to the other. "But I haven't seen you around before."

Serena observed the Hufflepuff who did not seem very happy at the moment. She shrugged and looked at her feet, huffing as though she was upset about something. Technically, Serena never said she could not do it. So the Prefect wondered if it was because of her or because of something else. Either way, she made no comment on it for now. Instead, she just smiled at the girl, "I think I get what you mean," Serena replied. She was not sure pushing suits of armour was fun but she definitely did enjoy exploring the castle and uncovering the hidden secrets of Hogwarts. Before she turned up here, she did not know much about it. Now, she was getting used to the moving staircases and the talking portraits, "I'm sure there are plenty more fun things to do around Hogwarts, though?" She offered the Hufflepuff, hoping the girl did not resort to damaging school property every time she got bored. 

Laughing softly, Serena nodded as she heard the redhead speak up. It definitely seemed to have scared the Hufflepuff girl and deterred her from trying it. She introduced herself as Rhea Bishop, which caused Serena's eyebrow to quirk slightly. Bishop... It may have just been a coincidence but she recognised the name instantly. Her parents had forced her to know the names of all of the pure-blood families that they knew and the Bishop family was one of those. "Yeah, one of the Hufflepuff Prefects," Raising her hand to shake Rhea's, she smiled and introduced herself, "Serena Towers," Serena shook her hand before letting it go and nodding, "I don't seem to meet many Gryffindors, I'm not sure why," She replied with a shrug. She wasn't sure why. She didn't avoid them actively. Perhaps she just patrolled areas that they were not in much. After all, their common room was supposedly towards the upper floors of Hogwarts and hers was near the Kitchens, "Perhaps you're all hiding somewhere?" She joked with a smile on her face. 

Thinking about it, she only knew a few Gryffindors by name. Most of them were nice enough to become her friends... One name hurt her though. She tensed a little, thinking about that boy who had hurt her so badly. She never thought it would hurt as much as it did. In fact, if someone told her to go away, she would not care. Perhaps it was just because he was meant to be her friend. Her closest friend. She trusted him and... he broke that trust. Perhaps beyond repair. And she hated herself for that, rather than him.

"I think I get what you mean,"The prefect said, but Mariah didn't think she did. Pushing over armor wouldn't be fun at all if it was just armor. Now armour that pushed back? THAT was fun.

The Gryffindor explained herself to the perfect and Mariah felt indignation push it's way to the forefront of her feelings. She did it on purpose!

"I was not scared," Mariah cut in, scowling, but the girls continued on, introducing themselves. Rhea Bishop and Serena Towers.

When Rhea inquired about Mariah, noting that she hadn't seen her around, Mariah blushed. It wasn't accidental that Mariah was scarcely seen around the castle. After the Sorting Hat delivered its verdict, Mariah swore to herself that she was gonna be a hermit. She hadn't even sent a letter to her parents yet. What was she going to say?
Dear Mum and Dad, Remember how you said the best days of my life would be in Gryffindor tower surrounded by my Gryffindor friends? I'm a Hufflepuff. So sorry to be the mistake that ruined our perfect Gryffindor streak?

No thank you.

Eating alone every day and spending her nights cooped up in her dorm was lonely for Mariah, though. She loved people, loved talking, loved interacting. She was a natural social butterfly and being without human contact was taking it's toll on her mental health. Maybe that's why pushing over the metal memory seemed so appealing.

"Mariah, Mariah Menstil," she introduced with a shrug. Secretly, it was nice not to have herself as a conversation partner. She hadn't been the best company of late.

The prefect, Serena Towers was her name seemed not like other prefects the redheaded girl had come across in her time. This one was more laid back instead of worrying about every single tiny thing. Although maybe knocking over a suit of armor was no small feat. 

When the other, small girl finally spoke, it was to defend herself, saying that she wasn't scared when Rhea had scared her. Rhea knew it was a lie, as she had seen the fearful expression on her face, but decided to let it go. 

As Serena started to make various comments about her not seeing any Gryffindors as of late, Rhea listened along. She shrugged when the prefect asked if they were hiding anywhere. 

"I'm not," said Rhea. "But I can't speak for everybody. I'm always out and about, usually just out on the pitch or doing other things."

Serena had trailed off and was in deep thought now, as was Mariah. They both had somber expressions on their faces, as if thinking about unpleasant things. Rhea had no doubt that was the case, and wanted to inquire what about they were thinking about, but knew that it would be too intrusive and rude. 

The petite Hufflepuff finally introduced herself as Mariah Menstil. It was a really beautiful name, in Rhea's opinion, but she hadn't heard of it before. Perhaps the girl was one of the least well-known pureblood families? Or maybe a half-blood? Whatever the case, her name was unknown to Rhea, but the redheaded girl found herself not caring too much. It was a great step in the right direction--of not caring about others' blood statuses--and Rhea was quite proud of herself. She grinned to herself, and in her haze did not realize her stumbling into a suit of armor. 

Serena smiled at the Hufflepuff girl as she claimed she was not scared. She certainly did look a bit scared but Serena was not one to argue with that. Instead, she smiled softly and nodded. She would believe her, if that helped anything. Looks can, after all, be deceiving. The girl introduced herself as Mariah Menstil, a name that Serena had not heard yet. However, this was a large school and it was hard to keep track of every single student around. She did try to commit that name to memory though - in case she ever ran into her again. Mariah Menstil, the girl who wanted to knock over armour for the fun of it apparently.

"Nice to meet you, Mariah," She replied, attempting to make some sort of conversation with the girl, "Perhaps we can find you something else fun to do, if you'd like?" Serena offered her, wondering what she might be interested in. Whatever possessed her to think it was a good idea to knock over armour was lost on Serena. She had no idea what made that idea suddenly appear into her head but the idea itself seemed interesting. At least, it was interesting to think about why they were here or where they came from... But perhaps this was all too "Ravenclawy" to think like. 

Sighing softly, she tried to stop herself from thinking about the friend that deserted her and hurt her so much. Instead, Serena focused on the words Rhea said. Something caught her attention. The pitch. "The Quidditch Pitch? Do you play?" She asked her, recognising the terminology instantly. She loved Quidditch, "I'm surprised I haven't seen you before..." She continued, more to herself. 

Serena could not help but feel like she knew Rhea's family. She recognised the Bishop name, that much was certain. However, was it the same Bishop family? Had she met them? In all honesty, she could not quite place a face to their names. Perhaps she had not been forced to meet their acquaintance. This was Serena, however. She was more likely to have attended the social gatherings, made curt replies to people who spoke to her and refused to engage in unnecessary conversation before swiftly leaving. She really did hate going to her parents' social gatherings, after all. They were always dull and full of pure-blooded families only. Most of which were the sort Serena did not get along with, share views with or care much for. They were often very "reputation" focused people, making it difficult for Serena to be carefree around them, in case she said something they deemed inappropriate.