Trouble in the Halls Closed

With nothing to do as her classes had yet to start, Cassie had taken to wandering around the halls of Hogwarts. It was a poor attempt at trying to memorise a couple of routes that would be useful getting to and from classes. However, with moving staircases and disappearing corridors and who knew what else, she knew it was a futile effort.
For this reason, she often allowed her mind to drift as she ambled through the corridors. Her curious nature itched for lessons to begin – all the new things to learn! She couldn’t wait. How long would it be before she could cast spells in an instant? Transform desks into animals? Heal with just a tap? Light up a room with just a few choice words?

The thought of it boggled her mind no end and yet she couldn’t help but feel a certain sadness at the fact that her mother hadn’t bothered to speak to her about any of it. All of her questions had been met with a resounding “I don’t remember.” and that had been the end of that.
Surely, if you knew about such wonders like these you’d want to share them with your daughter? Cassie tried to put aside the crushing feeling of being extremely unprepared but it came with a struggle and she could feel her breathing get a little faster and her face heat up a little.
Don’t panic, don’t panic.

“Stupid school, stupid me, stupid paintings.”

With her brow furrowed, Cassie looked up and over to the other side of the corridor where she could hear a girls voice.

Stood looking like she’d rather be anywhere else in the world was another first year with almost dark red hair pulled into a ponytail but it looked as if some of it had fallen into her eyes. She was clinging onto the wall for dear life and even from across the corridor Cassie could see she was breathing heavily.

“Hey, are you okay?” Cassie called over, making her way in the girls direction cautiously. If the girl was upset, the last thing she wanted to do was frighten her by sneaking up on her. The closer Cassie got the clearer she saw the tears that appeared to only just be pricking at the corner of the girls eyes and the blue emblem on the girls robes. “Hi...I’m Cassie, I’m in Ravenclaw too. Are you okay?”


If Cassie was good at something,  it was pushing away her own feelings to help someone else that was struggling. 

Breathing seemed to become harder and harder as she slowly hyperventilating herself. Unknowingly she seemed to be going against herself thinking about everything wrong that could be happening right at that moment. Vivian's face was burning hot like the fireplaces in the dormitory at night. Her tears felt like tiny daggers as she barely escaped her eyes. Though she was an ugly crier she was also very silent. Ashamed of her own feeling most the time from her own cynicism. She hadn't even noticed the person walking near her until they spoke up. The voice snapped her mind off of everything else and she let her mind just focus on the smaller girl walking up to her almost cautiously . She looked over the rather petite girl and quickly wiped her eyes clean biting back anymore that dared to try and escape.

Breathing in she used her hand to move her stray pieces of hair to the side with the rest of them along with doing a final wipe of her face to get any after affects of her small fit. She must have looked like a mess to the girl. Not only that, but she could help but notice the blue of the girls robes Vivian realized she had embarrassed herself in front of another one of her own house. Still despite the want to break down again at her own embarrassment she wasn't going to continue anymore as she spoke clearing her throat.

"Ah, um yes of course I'm just-" coughing once more she tried to be rid of the shakiness that tried to cling to her voice "- Yes, yes I'm fine. No need to worry."

Continuing to stare at the girl she felt her face slowly go back to it's normal temperature on her speckled face.

"Just having a bit of trouble with adjusting, that's all."

After having calmed down a bit she looked from Cassie's auburn hair to her eyes and then behind her.
Stepping forward on the stone floors she held out her hand keeping a generally blank expression as she introduced herself.

"With that put beside us though... I'm Vivian. Pleasure to meet you."

Cassie smiled happily, glad that the girl seemed to have calm down at least a little.
“I’m Cassie.” She replied, extending her hand to shake Vivian’s. “Nice to meet you too.”

The pair shook hands and Cassie let her hand fall back to her side. Now that the both of them seemed relatively calmer, the air surrounding them seemed to have cooled down and it was much easier to breath normally.  The castle walls no longer seemed to be closing in on them and Cassie was able to take a moment to enjoy the peaceful serenity of the old castle. 

“I know what you mean about adjusting.” Cassie offered in an attempt to relate to Vivian. “From the minute I stepped on the train it’s just been a whirlwind. I didn’t have that much to do with magic before coming here so it’s been a bit of a shock to the system.”

She scratched the back of her neck absentmindedly, an old habit she’d failed to grow out of. Was she talking too much? Was she babbling? Should she give her new friend a chance to speak?

Figuring that would be the polite thing to do she threw Vivian a smile. “So what is it you’re struggling with? Maybe we could work it out together?” 

After their quick hand shake Vivian followed suit bringing her hands back away, but instead of putting them to the side she she used them to fix her ponytail that had slacked too much letting her hair fall from it. Still she made the attempt to keep her eyes fixed on Cassie as to make the point that she was indeed still listening.

Nodding her head as Cassie spoke. Vivian preferred not speaking and just listening to other people. It was easier to stay out of uncomfortable cross ways with people. She liked to have people around her that could talk frequently. It often made everything much easier. There was also the fact that whenever Cassie started speaking it made everything seem much less overbearing, which was definitely a plus.

Once she was done though it was a bit of a challenge to think of what to say. Vivian's reason was very similar to the girls.

"Oh I guess it's basically the same reason. My Mother and her female relatives were the only... I guess magical people in my life so I suppose we're in a very similar boar here." Though it was meant to be just a small pause Vivian made quite the awkward cut off as she stared up to the painting only to scrunch her eyes back closed. "The paintings moving in the halls though are something I'll have to get used to in this hall the most though." Cracking a smile she spoke with a bit of humor in her voice before ultimately decided it wasn't the right time to do so and reverting back to her resting face looking off to the side instead of facing Cassie as she shuffled her feet.

Cassie nodded as Vivian explained about her family life and the reason she felt so anxious. As she finished speaking, she let the silence settle between them for a moment.
To Cassie it didn’t feel too awkward, just a little empty. Silence had never bothered her too much - she was more than capable of filling it with her ramblings.

She was about to being spouting one of these random thoughts when Vivian scrunched her eyes closed in frustration.

“The paintings moving in the halls though are something I’ll have to get used to in this hall the most though.”

Cassie nodded along, she had thought something similar herself while she had been wandering the castle. The pictures moving was something of a problem. Mainly because they were too much like the videos she used to watch in the muggle world and so she would often stop to watch what the painting was doing, waiting for it to end. But of course, it didn’t end because it was a painting not a video.
It also made for too much movement when trying to find classes. What with the moving staircases and disappearing doors, adding the pictures all moving as well simply made Cassie feel like she was lost in a whirlwind.

Thinking about it was making her feel nauseous so she focused her attention on Vivian.

The girl had tried out a smile before ultimately deciding it wasn’t the right thing to do but Cassie disagreed. Vivian looked a lot less anxious when she was smiling.

“You know, I heard if you tip one of them over, all the people fall out the picture.”
Cassie glanced up at the nearest picture where several bearded wizards were sat enjoying a game of wizard chess. At her words they looked over and shook their heads worriedly.

Norman walked along, reading. He paused. He had a literal nose for mischief. He looked upwards. A poltergeist was quietly loading and pumping a paintball gun. He finished and aimed it and two girls right in front of Norman. "Look Out!" Norman called. 
He shoved the two out of the way as the Poltergeist began firing. The spirit covered Norman in about thirty good welts before turning back to the two girls. Before he could get the chance, however, another ghost came to their rescue. It was the Bloody Baron, the Slytherin house ghost. The Poltergeist ran off, well, floated away quickly, leaving his stash of paintballs behind. "Sorry about Peeves, he does that to almost everyone." The Baron said before floating off.
 Norman turned to the two girls, who he expected to be in shock. They, however, were staring at his robes. They were covered in paint. One of them said "You'd better wash those off before your next class. If you don't I bet you teacher will go ballistic." 
The trio walked over to the nearest loo so he could clean his robes the best he could. After his robes were washed to the best of his abilities. They walked over to the Infirmary so he could get his welt looked at. The woman there looked at his red arms and chest, sighed sympathetically and said "Peeves always gets a First year with that. Hopefully, he won't bother you again." After his skin returned to a normal color, they continued on their way.

Turning to Cassie, Vivian flashed a smile and laughed as the wizards looked concerned at the two of them.

"Maybe I could see that happening... But where would they go anyway? do they have other rooms in those little paintings?"

Just as she had finished her sentence she felt herself being pushed off to the side. The sudden contact hurt her arm as well as aggravated her. Scowling she looked at what she could barely tell was a Gryffindor boy now covered in paint. Looking up at the ghosts she remained quiet letting The Baron speak before he left. After the two ghosts had left Vivian directed her attention over to the boy once more."You could have given us a bit more of a warning than that, maybe with a bit less shoving too" adding the last part more quietly she gently rubbed at her arm not used to any sort roughhousing at all despite the shove not being nearly as hard as it seemed to Vivian.

It only took a quick up and down analysis of the boy to see just how horribly his robes were ruined with paint . "You should get those cleaned up or at least change immediatly. I doubt any of the teachers would enjoy having a paint splattered student in their hands. Especially if you have one of our more stricter professors. I know for a fact that some will give you quiet a talking to if you show up to their class looking like that." After that little encounter she couldn't wait to learn useful spells that could easily clean things. She'd seen her mother use them before so at least she knew it wasn't wishful thinking.
Despite the obnoxious first meeting of the boy she managed to find out and confirm that it wasn't just paint, but that he really was a Gryffindor. Once out of the infirmary she wondered if it was really necessary for them to be in there in the first place. It was just a paintball stain after all. She decided to just let it be and continued on with their walking. It had taken her mind off of what her normal troubles were walking through the halls. Now she had people she could actually talk to. "So... Whats your name anyway Gryffindor? It would be nice to actually call you by your name after all." Still walking at a brisk pace she kept an unbreakable stare as she walked with the two of them.