Comrades & Courtyards, Pals & Passageways PV

Ami sighed in defeat as Amadea turned to her for ideas. She wasn't prepared for this- neither of them were. They could only wait, and hope, and pray that the people talking would leave soon. The rats were still painfully present, and the air was beginning to taste stale and metallic in her mouth. The gripping realization came to her that maybe... maybe the two of them would actually die in here.

That was, of course, the more illogical side of her talking. The rational, logical half of her mind that was still functioning seemed to be weighing the risks, and it showed through her furrowed eyebrows, her biting of her bottom lip. "We could... go for it?" she said hesitantly, tugging on the ends of her hair. "Here, what about this?"

Dragging her fingertips along the sides of the walls, she withdrew her hand and presented it to Amadea. Her fingertips were now covered in a thin layer of grey dust and grime, and her meaning would become clear. "What if... what if we cover our faces in soot, pull our clothes on top of our heads to hide our hair, and then just run for it?" After all, their hair was possibly the biggest distinguishing feature about them, along with their freckles and pale skin. If they hid all traces of their identity... well, who could bust them, then? It would be like trying to blame a robbery on a ghost.

She would never forgive Kyden for abandoning them here. Any chance he had of redeeming himself after he had run off was now gone, dashed forever- she really would have to give him a massive talking-to the next time she saw clearly. Clearly, the more reliable, better of the group was Amadea. Sticking her hand out for a handshake, she said, "What do you say we make a pact?"

It had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, but the idea was slowly solidifying in her mind. "A pact that we have each other's back, no matter what. A friendship pact- we don't have to be, like, totally glued at the hip or anything, but we watch out for one another. What do you say?" 

Maybe with Amadea at her side, Hogwarts would become more bearable. They'd fight off bad grades together, help each other through tough times, and it was comforting to know that she would always have someone to turn to in her own house.

This really sucked. Amadea felt so discouraged, which was something that she didn't feel very often. Usually, she could find some shred of hope, something to cling to, that made the situation somewhat okay, but Amadea felt completely hopeless and defeated. And from the looks of it, Ami seemed to be feeling the same way. 

Amadea knew they had to wait it out, so she sank down onto the floor, letting her feet take a break. She no longer felt like she wanted to cry; instead, she just felt empty inside. There was a weariness weighing her down. She couldn't fight any longer. She had no strength left. She just wanted to be done. Unfortunately, the people still hadn't gone away. 

Amadea turned to watch her friend suggest making a run for it. Despite Amadea's longing to get back to her dormitory and her bed, she knew that it would be very illogical for them to do such a thing, not to mention it would break the pact that she, Kyden, and Ami had made. They promised to keep the passageways a secret. While she was sure there were other people that knew about them, Amadea didn't want to expose an entrance to all of the people in the courtyard. 

"You know how much I want to get out of here," Amadea said to her friend, "but I don't think that's a good idea." Not to mention the fact that Amadea didn't really want to cover her face with soot. She already felt grimy enough. As much as she hated to think about it, they were going to just have to be patient and wait it out. Unfortunately, patience was something Amadea could benefit from having more of. This could be a good experience to help her gain some, she supposed. 

Amadea listened to Ami's next idea. A pact. This seemed like a better idea already. Amadea nodded. She already felt as though she needed to watch out for her friends and protect them, but to have it spoken in words, an agreement between them made it even more official. It was in Amadea's nature to be protective of those she held close to her heart, and she was happy that Ami felt the same way. 

"It's a deal," she said with a smile. "Does this mean I get to yell at you when you try to break the rules?" Amadea joked. 

Ami sighed heavily as Amadea, like she always did, spoke with the voice of reason. It wasn't that Ami wasn't sensible... it was more that she liked to think outside the box. Honestly, she sometimes forgot that the box even existed in the first place- it was probably why she got into trouble so often. Unconventional thinking, however, was just how she worked- thankfully, Amadea was there to stop her from doing anything too drastic. Drastic at Hogwarts was always dangerous, if not deadly, and Ami would most likely get far too carried away with things if not for the mindfulness of others.

If patience was a virtue, then Ami would be its vice. She had absolutely no patience for anything, and had a tendency to rush headlong into situations she knew absolutely nothing about. Rather than pause and think about just exactly what she was doing, she instead tended to just assume that everything was going to turn out fine. It was both a dangerous and exhilarating mindset that was honestly, pretty draining, but it was also how she chose to live her life. Why couldn't she live on the edge? Why did she have to conform to society's standards and stay safe and obedient all the time? Where was the fun in being boring and placid? 

Ami cracked half a smile as Amadea poked fun at her self-endangering behavior, which breached quite a few rules a lot of the time. She knew that it bugged Amadea about how... rebellious she was, but she couldn't help it. Why create rules, anyway? Why not let the children learn by trial and error? Sure, it would appall most of the parents, but it was much better than setting standards and not letting them experience firsthand why those standards existed in the first place. Twisted logic, but it was still sound logic, to be sure. "Only the extreme rules," Ami relented, with a mocking sigh. "I don't need a lecture every time I go to get a drink of water after lights-out."

The comfortable silence settled over them like a blanket, and to be truthful, Ami sort of began to nod off, her eyelids fluttering every few minutes. Ami settled down on the floor, her knees pulled up to her chest as her back leaned against the wall, waiting for the chattering students to leave. The silence surrounding them was tense, but comfortable- the type of silence that only really good friends would have.

Or, at least for Ami, it was comfortable- she couldn't speak for Amadea, but she liked the silence. It was nice, refreshing, especially for someone who was kind of an all-time extrovert. 

"Do you think they're gone yet?"

𝒜madea didn't think she could handle all of these emotions. Defeat, disappointment, worry, fear. It was all hitting her in relentless waves and there was nothing she could do to fight it. To make matters worse, she was trying her best to stay upbeat so that her friend wouldn't feel so terrible, but it didn't seem to be working. Amadea was ready to sit down and fall asleep here, rats or not. She was so exhausted and all of the fight had worn out of her.

Amadea was out of ideas; she couldn't think of a single positive thing that made this situation better, other than the light at the end of the tunnel that they would somehow get out of this mess. Of course, this was all a metaphorical tunnel because the non-metaphorical tunnel they were currently stuck in had no light at the end. There was only a door that they couldn't exit.

Amadea tried to keep her focus on other things, like the pact that she was in the process of making with Ami. It was a Hufflepuff trait to be loyal to the very end, no matter what, and it was the main reason why Amadea was certain she had been sorted into that house. Even without a pact, Amadea would surely have protected Ami if harm had come to her. Thankfully, nothing too terrible had happened to them. The part of the pact Amadea was most excited about was the keeping Ami in line part of it. She knew her friend liked to live on the edge, and that wasn't always a bad thing. Amadea knew that taking some risks was important; playing it safe led to a boring and uneventful life. However if Amadea was in the middle of the risk taking spectrum, Ami was on the far edge. She was vivacious and daring; while Amadea would never change that characteristic about Ami, she hoped that she could smack some sense into the girl before she found herself in heaps of trouble.

"You get water after lights out?" Amadea asked, wondering why she was surprised. If she was being honest, though, she was usually too busy reading or finishing her homework to worry about what the other girls in her dorm were doing. Plus, Ami was in a completely different dorm from Amadea so it wasn't like she could discipline from afar. "Why couldn't you just fill up a cup with water before lights out and have the water by your bed?" Amadea liked problem solving and it seemed as though there was a simple solution to this issue that didn't involve any breaking of rules. "Don't make me exercise my prefect-ly powers on you," Amadea joked.

She settled back against the wall, enjoying the silence. It wasn't the awkward kind where they didn't know what to say to each other but rather was an inviting one. Finally, Ami spoke up, asking if the people outside of the entrance were gone. Amadea stood and walked over to the door, pressing her ear up against the cool stone, straining to hear. Maybe it was just her imagination willing there not be any voices, but Amadea couldn't hear anything. Turning, she reported back to Ami. "I don't hear anything," she said. "But do you want to check before we head out?"

There were many things that were different about the two redheads, even if they seemed liked twins on the surface- for one, Ami was way taller. Like, way taller. Amadea also wore glasses, and Ami had ten times the freckles Amadea did. Amadea was far more patient and rule-following than Ami was, although Ami wasn’t afraid of taking risks and just putting herself all out there. Perhaps it was better that they were opposites of each other- conjugates, if you would, or reciprocals. They made a whole together, a good team that was pretty equally balanced- all the extremes accounted for, as well as everything in between.

“Well,” Ami huffed, crossing her arms over her chest at Amadea’s indisputably logical train of thought, “I never know if I’m going to be thirsty or not until I get into bed. And by that time, it’s already curfew, so I have to wait another five minutes or so until everyone’s actually asleep, and then I can go grab water without getting into trouble.” It didn’t really make sense, but it also… kind of made a little bit of sense? It was twisted logic, but it still worked. Sort of.

Ami wasn’t dumb, by any means. It’s just that she tended to think… differently? Her logic and reasoning could certainly be considered ‘outside the box’. Rules weren’t something that she liked to adhere to, especially when they restricted the things that she could do. She wasn’t all that academically bright, either, preferring to apply her immense willpower and instinct to real-life situations rather than studying for tests. She would choose street-smarts over book-smarts any day, preferring to know how to negotiate a deal rather than being able to memorize facts.

“Your prefect-ly powers are… restricted to the evil that you see. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, do no evil, isn’t it?” Ami added with a bit of a laugh. “See no evil, and you’ll enact no punishments.” Then again, the Hufflepuff could be rather wise when she wanted to… wise in all the wrong ways, but wise nonetheless.

Amadea popped up to press her ear against the wall, and claimed that she didn’t hear anything. Regardless, she asked Ami if they wanted to double-check that there weren’t any lingering students, to which Ami couldn’t help but scoff at. “Where’s the fun in that? Let’s just make a break for it.” She figured that she wouldn’t have to scream at the wall again to make it open from the inside, and pressed her hands up against the door to push it open. “On 3, okay? Then we run. Or is that too sketchy? I feel like that's against the rules, anyway. We’ll… um. We’ll speedwalk back to the dorm.”

𝒜madea wanted to laugh at the absurdity of her friendship with Ami. She wasn't sure how the two girls could be more different from each other, aside from the fact that they both had red hair and were in Hufflepuff. Ami was the epitome of a rebel: she was daring, not afraid of trouble, and didn't care if she was breaking the rules. Amadea on the other hand couldn't break the rules without it weighing terribly on her conscience. Rules were rules and they were there for a reason, most likely to keep everyone safe!

As Amadea listened to Ami try to explain herself, she grew more and more confused. This explanation was not very helpful. "I just don't see why you couldn't get water before you go to bed just in case you are thirsty later," Amadea said. "That way you are prepared in case you need some but it does no harm if you end up not being thirsty." It  seemed like a good solution to Amadea. It didn't involve any rule breaking it and still got Ami what she needed in the end. It was a win win situation for everyone involved! Ami did prove a good point about seeing no evil, though. Amadea hadn't actually seen Ami ever sneaking out so it wasn't really a problem. Amadea comforted herself in the knowledge that she and Ami were in separate dorm rooms. 

Amadea liked thinking logically. In most situations, there was a good, logical solution that didn't involve getting hurt or causing any trouble. Maybe this was why Amadea was a prefect: she was good at coming up with solutions that didn't have to involve trouble. Unfortunately, this current situation seemed to have no logical solution to Amadea. Thankfully it seemed as though the people outside of the door had gone, which meant that the coast was clear for the two girls.

Amadea listened closely as Ami laid out the game plan. They would open the door on three and then speedwalk back to the dorm. Running would cause too much suspicision. Amadea was glad they were only one floor away from the common room: she couldn't wait to get back to safety and clean herself up!

"Alright," Amadea said, positioning herself next to the door, ready to dash from the passageway. "On three. One...two...three!" Amadea counted, pushing the passageway open with all of her might and running out back into the daylight of the courtyard. She turned around to make sure Ami was following her. 

Ami opened her mouth to respond to Amadea's incredibly logical argument, but realized it was probably futile. Of course, Amadea was actually right. It was only natural that one of them was genuinely smart. Amadea obeyed the laws of logic and common sense, while Ami only bowed to complete and utter impulsiveness. She supposed that this difference between the two was the greatest and most notable difference between the two of them.

But, what a rush! Ami could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins as Amadea counted down, the words echoing in her head... or maybe it was just the tunnel. It was probably just the tunnel. Regardless, this was it. Make it or break it, this was their shot towards freedom, towards cleanliness, and they couldn't screw up now. If they did, Ami didn't know if she would ever forgive herself for it. Bracing herself against the door alongside Amadea, the two girls shoved at the door hard, and between the two of them, it managed to give, which was probably incredibly lucky within itself. What if the door hadn't opened? How embarrassing would that have been?

Amadea took off without looking back, Ami hot on her heels. While she tried not to run, she certainly tried to stretch her strides out as far as possible, trying to cover as much distance as possible with her long legs. The sooner she got back to her dorms, the sooner she could get a shower and try to forget that this experience ever happened. Well, maybe not all of it. All that bonding time with Amadea was great, but those rats? Nope, absolutely not. Never again. 

As Amadea glanced back at her, Ami offered her a small smile, trying to keep up without looking overtly panicked about trying to get back to her dorms. However, they seemed to be getting nearer to the Hufflepuff area, as Ami could already smell food from the kitchens. "Almost... there..." Ami managed to wheeze out, glancing to the left and right and making sure that they weren't attracting any suspicion from any of the other students or any teachers that might have, by chance, been wandering around.

Finally, she found herself at the entrance of the Hufflepuff quarters, and she squinted at the stack of barrels serving as the entranceway to her salvation. "I, uh... which barrel, again?" Damn it all. She'd been at this school for several months, and she still couldn't remember how to get back into her own temporary home. She generally entered with other students, so she never actually had to enter in the sequence to get back in.