Play all the right games

[dean]

Walking along the third floor corridor, Dean was bored. When he was bored it caused him to do one of several things. Sing, write, sleep or eat. In this case he couldn't get a particular song out of his head, " Everything to Everyone " by a muggle band by the name of Everclear. This song was appealing to Dean because he tended to think this about alot of people, they change themselves to please others, because they think they're not good enough. Really, it was sad.

Singing lightly, Dean went on,

"You put yourself in stupid places
Yes I think you know it's true
Situations where it's easy to look down on you
I think you like to be the victim
I think you like to be in pain
I think you make yourself a victim almost every single day
You do what you do
You say what you say
You try to be everything to everyone "

He stopped mid verse, thinking about the front man of Everclear, Art Alexakis. He had to give his props to the man. His dad had run out on him and his mom when he was younger. Everclear was mainly around in the nineties, but Dean had recently gotten into the group. He was interested in the music. He ran his wand along the wall as he walked at a medium fast pace, he wasn't going anywhere in particular.

( open )

[Gail Lawrence]

Gail was walking along the halls of the third floor. She decided on a whim to skip class, and here she was headed away from the Arithmancy classroom. She had almost made the decision too late, standing right outside the classroom door.

Headed toward the stairs and the great outdoors, she heard a strange noise coming from around the corner. It sounded like singing. Her curiosity was piqued, but not enough to stop. She kept going, not noticing that a new sound was getting closer from the same direction, the scrape of wood along stone.

The Ravenclaw usually paid good attention to her surroundings, but she was taken completely by surprise when something collided with her from the side. It was soft and warm and seemed to be—

It was a person. Backing up a little revealed it was a Slytherin who looked vaguely familiar. He seemed about her age, so it was likely Gail had seen him in class.

She looked around, trying to make sure there were no authority figures around. Not trusting her eyes, she decided to get moving. “Excuse me.” The normally polite statement was very clipped.

[dean]

Dean really must have been out of it, he hadn't even noticed someone was close by. He probably should have been paying more close attention because he had skipped one of his classes and was looking a little out of place ambling along. " Oh, right. Yeah, sorry. " He said, but as she kept on her way, he decided he was a bit bored and perhaps in need of some company? Why not.

" I'm Dean, by the way. And you would be...? " He turned towards her slightly, recognizing her but not knowing who she was really. She looked familiar and he merely figured that he had either seen her in a few classes or just around Hogwart's. It was a big place after all.

[Gail Lawrence]

He put up little resistance as Gail pushed her way past. He murmured an apology that she barely heard. All of her attention was focused on the stairs ahead of her when she heard him again. “I’m Dean, by the way. And you would be…?”

She didn’t have time for this. The Ravenclaw turned on her heel to face him. He didn’t seem to be angry or put out by her dismissal of him. Nonetheless, her response was short. “I’m Gail. And in a hurry.”

Dean probably shouldn’t have been wandering the halls, but he didn’t seem ready to hurry off anywhere either. She sighed. Both needed to be out of the way, should an Authority Figure come their direction. Seeing an empty classroom back up the hall, Gail set off in that direction, pausing only to grab Dean’s sleeve and pull him along.

[dean]

Dean tapped his wand lightly against the wall as she turned around to face him. " Well, hello Gail in a hurry. " He said to her with a laugh. She sure seemed a little impatient. Or perhaps skipping class? A Ravenclaw? Surely, no. He didn't think it possible. Ha.

He had been about to wander in the opposite direction when Gail pulled him by his sleeve and pulled him with her. " Any particular destination? " Dean asked her curiously. It wasn't every day he got dragged along by some Ravenclaw girl. Odd. Dean stuffed his wand into his pocket as he walked quickly with her, still pondering their eventual destination.

[Gail Lawrence]

((Sorry for the wait. This is going to be a little strange. I'll be back to normal next post.))

The empty classroom was silent. It was waiting for someone to find it. It hadn’t been used in more than 50 years, and the dust was starting to become unbearable. Every day, the room listened to the students as they passed by, instead of entering and learning from the still-clean blackboard and the now-dusty desks.

The sound of solitary footsteps outside the door lifted its spirits. A young man asked, “Any particular destination?” There was no response, but the question confirmed there was at least one person. And they were coming closer.

The door opened, and the walls nearly sang. The curtains on the window quickly pushed back, welcoming the visitors to the unused room.

Two people entered the room—a man and a woman. They were clearly students, too young to be teachers, but they seemed to be in the upper years. The young woman looked around and quietly shut the door.

“We’re coming somewhere no one can find us,” she said. “I don’t want to be found standing in the middle of the corridor right now. Neither should you.”

There was a moment of silence. “It’s the middle of the day, and everyone has class right before lunch,” she continued. “What class are you skiving off?”

The room rather thought she was more a girl than a woman. It had seen many students grow up, and her maturity did not seem to match her appearance. She was angry and cold, but the young man seemed to be good-natured about it.

Whatever their age, the room was strongly tempted to get rid of both of them. They should be in class, not hiding out in an old classroom. But the sound of voices and the presence of the students were a balm on its exile.

They would stay.

[dean]

(( ooh.. cool. )

So he was getting a bit annoyed with her stiff answers and all, but Dean didn't say much else until they were safe inside the empty classroom. He cast a glance around them and almost started coughing. The dust was almost too much. But then Gail In A Hurry started talking to him and he paid attention. " What? I wouldn't really care who found me. It's none of their bussiness why I'm not in class. " He told her with a shrug.

He tilted his head slightly to the side as she continued on. She was a peculiar person. At least, that he could tell. " What class? Muggle Studies. And yourself? " Dean asked her. She seemed so determined to find out what he did wrong when she was skipping class too.

[Gail Lawrence]

((I'm going to have to apologize for two things here. First for the wait, once again. I'm having a hard time writing "disagreeable." Second for the end of this post. I'm furthering a plot point.)

He didn’t seem to care about being found, and that was fine if he was by himself. She sighed. Normally, Gail didn’t mind either. However, she had a meeting in Hogsmeade tonight. Her contact wasn’t exactly agreeable to being stood up because of a detention. And she still had some compassion.

Gail was so distracted thinking of a spell to ward the door from eavesdroppers that she almost missed when he asked what class she was missing. Her wand was in the air, ready to cast the spell, when she turned in surprise. The wand came down as she spoke. “What? Arithmancy.” Her voice was clipped and slightly incredulous.

The Ravenclaw quickly turned back around. Unknown to her, this caused the tip of her hazel wand to hit the leg of a nearby desk with quite a bit of force. She raised the wand and cast the spell. It had a bit more force behind it than it really needed. Her frustration was fuelling it and adding to the power.

Gail was surprised by the sound of cracking wood. However, she jumped outright when the tip of the wand exploded out. She was frozen a moment before bringing her wand closer, staring hard at the very end of the wand, now bearing only a tiny bit of exposed unicorn hair.

[dean]

Dean nodded, he hadn't chosen to take Arithmancy, but he had heard it was a bit of a nightmare to learn at times. Complicated. He was sympathetic to Gail. Leaning against a desk, Dean whistled a low tune as Gail did... whatever she was trying to do. He wasn't to sure why she was casting a spell on the door. He was looking around the room again when he heard the dreadful sound of cracking wood. He forced himself to look over at Gail, to her wand in her hand. " Uh, oh. What happened? " He asked her. Scratching your wand could be bad, but breaking it? Worse.

( tis fine. )

[Gail Lawrence]

Gail cursed softly as she heard the whistling stop and knew Dean was watching now too. “Uh oh,” he said. “What happened?”

She ignored him for a moment, still staring wide-eyed at her clearly broken wand. She knew little about wands, but an exposed core was likely not good. Dean was still looking at her. He couldn’t know about this.

“Nothing.” She managed to say it with a straight face. If she hadn’t waited so long to answer, it might have been believable. Dean merely stared harder.

“Nothing’s wrong,” she said louder. Her eyes were wider now and a bit frantic.

He still didn’t seem to believe her. Gail pocketed her wand and picked up her bag. She didn’t have the patience for this. And if she got a detention, her contact would survive. However important his information was, he could wait.

Face set, the Ravenclaw strode back toward the exit, only to smash into something very solid. Her eyes went wide. The door was gone.

Gail gaped at the blank wall. A push at the stone changed nothing. Neither did a scrabble for the doorknob. A few more tries revealed the futility of leaving the room. She did not want to test her wand without knowing what was wrong.

Shoulders slumped a bit, she turned back into the room and sat down near the door. She pulled out a Defense book and began flipping through it. Gail looked up to see Dean still looking at her.

She sighed. They were stuck here, so it was time to make nice. Marking her spot with a finger, she asked, “Alright, why are you skiving off class? Muggle Studies, right?” Her eyes were dim, and her voice quiet at last.

((Well, I'm alive, and I managed to pull the "sentient room" into the story too.))