Having read quite a bit in the Hufflepuff dormitory, Ella decided to get out for a little walk around the castle. She found herself standing in front of the moving staircase and smiled, thinking this was the perfect place to start her exploring. She'd simply jump on and go wherever the stairs decided to take her. They were quite tricky after all.

Stepping on to the staircase, Ella held on to the railing as she felt the familiar sensation in her stomach as she started to move. This would be fun.

As soon as class was over, Gwendolyn remembered she had to find Nora. With a quick look around, the fourth year realized that her friend had already left. Gaaah. The Ravenclaw quickly made her way along the corridor and then started ascending the stairs. Well, hopefully Nora wasn’t very much ahead. With hasty steps, the girl started ascending the moving staircase.

Wait-

Gwen just stopped for a second. She remembered the time she and Ari used that board to slide over the moving staircase. Heh. Smart idea…, Gwendolyn thought and shook her head. And it was her ‘incredible’ idea. Come ooon, no time for this now, she told herself and continued to rapidly ascend the stairs.

Exiting the library the fifth year made her way towards the moving staircase. Joanna usually tries to avoid using the moving ones because, they freak her out. She always imagined herself falling off the stairs when they begin moving, luckily it never happened. So, as usual, she went towards the stairs near the walls knowing that they wouldn't start moving.

She had a copy of 'Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century' in her hand. The fact that she's doing the OWL exams rather frightened her, so she decided to start learning now, like all the others. Making her way up the non-moving stairs, she saw Gwen a floor above her. Joanna wasn't planning to start chatting with her friend, she needed to get to her next lesson. So she simply waved at Gwen with a big friendly grin.

Not exactly having a destination in mind, Nora kept walking up the stairs, humming under her breath a random song. But... realizing she was getting to the fourth floor... what in the world was she doing there? No classes were held there at the moment, and the Slytherin common room was waaay down there. Deciding that she'd better turn around and go to the dungeons, the girl turned around maybe a bit too quickly, to make a turn to the left and... THERE WAS A GHOST!

"EEEEK!" It was only after she shrieked that she realized that there was no ghost in front of her, but a girl her age. A very familiar girl. "Gwen! I -" Heart, stop beating so fast. "I didn't see you." Miss Obvious.

Gwen stopped for a second to just look around, but still wasn’t able to spot the Slytherin anywhere around. Hmm. Guess I should go find Nora some other time…, the girl thought. But going back all the way to the Common Room? Three floors back? No thank you. Instead, the fourth year continued walking down the stairs, this time, a bit slower.

As she stepped down the moving staircase, something caught the girl’s eye. A wave. She narrowed her eyes so that she could see better who it was. ‘Joanna!’, the fourth year said enthusiastically. Oh my god, right? Erm… Gwen should seriously stop mocking the girl for that.

‘Hang on!’, Gwendolyn called out as she descended the last stairs in a hurry, trying to get to her friend.


Then again, she needed to find Nora. So anyway, where could the girl be other than on her way back to the Common Room? Or heading outside? Erm… this wasn’t the best way of trying to locate Nora. Merlin’s beard- she could be everywhere, Gwendolyn thought as she went on descending the stairs.

But then, all of a sudden, she heard a shriek. ‘Ahh!’ Stupid reflexes she couldn’t control. At a closer look, the fourth year recognized who the person was. BAM. Exactly Nora. With great efforts to keep her mouth shut and avoid replying a ‘do I look that bad?’, Gwendolyn gave a small smirk and waited for Nora to stop… hyperventilating.

‘Hi!’, Gwen simply said, as she tried to hold back her laughter. ‘Are you all right?’, the fourth year asked, finally managing to keep a straight face. Erm. But this didn’t take long and the mocking grin was back. ‘I was actually looking for you’, she gave a small nod. ‘About the green hair streak…’, Gwendolyn started saying. ‘Looks good’

"Hi," Nora finally said with a smile, when the shock was gone. "I'm fine," she waved a hand in the air, "I just didn't... expect to bump into you... or anyone else." By the time she finished speaking, her cheeks turned sliiiightly pink, knowing how easily scared she was. Tiny coward.

Oh? She was looking for her? "Thank you," the girl grinned, twirling the green streak around her finger. "Mother also gave me a potion to take whenever I want it to turn back," and, you know, in case Gwen had other problems with unwanted blue hair.

Well... her lesson does start in ten minutes, and she doesn't need to got to the common room or the bathroom yet so she can socialize for a few minutes. Putting her book into her heavy and loaded bag, Joanna walked towards Gwen. "Hey," she began saying smiling, "How are you?" It has been a while since Joanna had seen Gwen, she was so concerned about the OWL exams that she forgot that there are other things in live to do. Like friends, for example.

Still grinning, the Ravenclaw waited for her friend to recover from the shock. But that didn’t take long. ‘All right…’, Gwendolyn mused as she looked back at Nora, who started explaining herself, even though it wasn’t necessary. But then she drew her attention towards the green in the Slytherin’s hair. ‘I’m so glad it came out like this!’ What? Unlike her awful blue hair streaks, Nora’s actually looked good. But what was she saying? A potion to turn back…

Staaaaaaaare.

Why didn’t I think of that? Gwen was mentally face palming herself. Are you kidding me? I couldn’t have figured out sooner… Wasn’t she supposed to be a Ravenclaw, anyway?

Yes! It was Joanna! With a grin on her face, the fourth year climbed down a few more stairs, until she finally came closer to the place where her friend was standing. ‘Me?’, Gwen raised her eyebrow. Heh. This was a good time to practice one of those American accents… heh. Like the one JoJo had when she first came to Hogwarts. Because frankly, now the girl’s accent started fading away. ‘I’m awesome’, the fourth year grinned. All right. This was the last one. She would stop doing this.

‘How are you?’, she finally asked. ‘Oh, I’m sorry- Are you in a hurry?’ Erm. Because she seemed to be. And Gwen had lots of things to tell her. Maybe they could catch up sometime later that day? In the Common Room? That sounded like a good plan the Gwendolyn, but she waited first for the other gril’s reaction before suggesting that.

"Only because you helped," Nora said, her grin getting wider and wider. But... just as fast as her grin was growing wider, it also faded away when she saw her Ravenclaw friend staring at her in an awkward way. Not that there was a way of staring that was not awkward, if that made any sense. "Err... what did I say?" Because... she probably wasn't staring at the green in her hair, since she'd just told her that it looked good, and Nora couldn't quite find another reason.

Maybe Gwen will enlighten her?

Aw. Only because you helped. That sounded nice. ‘Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much’, Gwen said, imitating those muggles when winning an important prize. ‘It’s nothing… I just…’, the fourth year mumbled, managing to stop staring. ‘I haven’t realized I could have used that’ Pffft. Admitting failure. This was worse than saying ‘I’m sorry’. Anyway, this time she was referring to that potion her friend had just mentioned. Used to turn things back.

’Right’, Gwendolyn mumbled, a bit disappointed of herself. ‘Anyway, looks great on you’, the Ravenclaw gave a small nod and smirked.

Nora couldn't help but giggle when Gwen said her thank you's. Heh, what would she have done without her Ravenclaw friend? Probably would have ended with rainbow streaks in her hair, or something much worse, but she didn't really want to think about it.

She stopped giggling, though, when Gwen said that she hadn't thought of that potion. "If you want to look on the bright side," and Nora could ALWAYS find the bright side of things, "you know now, should anything similar ever happen again." See? Things weren't that bad. Grin. And besides, Nora had always liked the blue in Gwen's hair.

"Thank you," she smiled. "So tell me, how have you been since we've last seen each other?"

The bright side?

The bright side? Seriously… THIS had a bright side? Gwendolyn raised her eyebrow as she waited for her friend to finish talking. Pffft. Bright side. Failure didn’t have anything like that. ‘Seriously?’, the Ravenclaw started laughing as she heard Nora’s answer. Come on. Nothing like this will ever happen again. Never ever, the fourth year told herself. But then her thoughts were interrupted by something that the other girl said.

‘Hmm?’, Gwen mumbled as she drew her attention back towards the Slytherin. Erm. Nothing much? Was that even right? Naaah. Too much had happened to her since they last met. ‘Well… I think we haven’t talked since…’ When? Summer holiday? Diagon Alley? Start of term feast? Gwen seriously couldn’t remember. ‘Anyway, I’m just trying to keep up with everything that’s going on here’ Meh. Boring thing to say. ‘I’ve finished putting my sketches in order today’, the Ravenclaw added proudly. What? It was a lot of work. There were tons of drawings there. ‘You?’, Gwendolyn finally asked with a small grin.

Seriously? Yes, Nora was serious, even though the grin on her face might tell otherwise. "Aww, why don't you try to think positive, like I do?" Some wouldn't call it a Slytherin trait, being so cheerful and all but, who knew, maybe there was a dark side in there. It was just somewhere really, really deep and well hidden. Only the Sorting Hat would know. Hehe.

Giggling as Gwen didn't seem sure of what to tell her, her attention had suddenly been caught by her last statement. "How come I didn't know you drew?" And, since she mentioned sketches, the plural form, it surely meant that she had lots of them, and maybe she was even good at it. And Nora had no idea about her friend's talent! "You have to show me some!" Yup.

Ahh, and her? "Nothing really happened," she shrugged. "I've been trying to read more for Muggle Studies, because I realized it's one of my worst subjects, being raised in a wizarding family and all." But anyway, the flying lessons would ALWAYS be her worst.

At the very very verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry top of the moving staircase sat Dora watching an enchanted rubber ball bounce haphazardly down the staircase. Occasionally it would bounce back up a few steps only to take a tumble down many more with GLEE.

She was sure it was doing all of this gleefully.

The first year had her wand in had, and when the opportune moment arrived she swished and flicked the wood, casting the levitation charm. Sometimes she would miss, and sometimes she would get lucky and catch her ball mid-air.

This time was one of those times. She bounced it around in the air before letting it fall back on the steps to bounce around.

Penelope was making her way up the staircases, trying to get up to the Gryffindor common room. But even after several months at Hogwarts, these moving staircases still kinda frustrated her. Why did they have to move and complicate things? They really should just STAY in place like normal staircases.

But of course they didn't listen to her.

Her trips up and down the stairs were generally the same every time...except this time. This time, as she was making her way up one staircase, she saw a ball bouncing around on the stairs - and, at one point, in the air before returning to the ground - and she saw a girl sitting at the top.

"Is that your ball?" Penelope asked, pausing on a step a few steps down from where the ball was at that moment.

"Whose else would it be?" Isidora wasn't being rude or sarcastic or anything, just curious. Really. Who else WOULD it belong to? Hehe. The first year looked around to see if anyone else was around to try and claim ownership, then back to the gryffie girl.

The ball seemed to sense the presence of another girl, bouncing around her and sometimes OFF the girl's legs. Dora swished and flicked while mumbling the incantation, catching the ball second try and leviating it away from the girl. "Sorry, it has a mind of it's own and can be rude sometimes."

Her uncle gave the BEST gifts.

"I'm Dora. Isidora."

Who are you??

Penelope simply shrugged in answer to the girl's question. Sure, maybe it was obviously her ball, but it wouldn't surprise Penelope if it was a completely random ball and belonged to no one but Hogwarts itself. This place could be weird sometimes after all. It had moving staircases, so why not a random bouncing ball to go along with them?

Even if she'd never seen the ball before.

And then the ball was suddenly right there next her, bouncing around her and against her legs. The Gryffindor eyed it. Was the girl doing it or...

...It had a mind of its own? "What kind of spell's on it?" Penelope wanted to know even if she probably wouldn't be able to perform it.

Oh. Introductions. "I'm Penelope." Did they have to shake hands?

"I dunno." She shrugged and watched it bounce between steps and off the railings. It was gonna drop to a lower level staircase if it kept that up when the moved. "I haven't figured it out yet, but there's more than one. It changes a lot too. Sometimes the color and sometimes the shape." But it was always rubber and bouncy and having a mind of it's own.

She wasn't shaking hands.

Isidora didn't do the handshaking thing.

"... I've got guesses though. Of what some are." Now all she needed was the time to look up the others, but she had SO MUCH OTHER STUFF TO DO.

Positive thinking. She’d been told this before. ‘Wish I could…’, the Ravenclaw said with a grin on her face. Truth be told, the girl was mostly expecting the worst. Perhaps at least trying to think positive sometimes would be an option. Mhm…

Hmm.

Good question.

How come didn’t Nora know she enjoyed drawing? The Slytherin was, after all, on of her best friends. Hmm. ‘Beats me…’, the fourth year simply raised her shoulders as she gave the short answer. ‘Sure! Anytime’ Of course she wanted to show Nora the drawings she had finished. There were a few more she only started sketching, but still… she could present her work to the Slytherin. Smirk.

‘Oh… Muggle Studies’, Gwendolyn said as the smirk on her face started fading away. ‘I’ve been willing to start reading a bit more for this subject…’ But she had, of course, failed to do so. There were far more interesting books about Potions in the library she decided to take instead of the ones about muggles. ‘You too?’ It seemed like they were sort of in the same situation. ‘My worst subject is Astronomy, though’, she mused. Good thing they didn’t have that class anymore! Sure, it was interesting… But only interesting to the ones who were ACTUALLY able to understand what that whole thing was about.

"Come ooooon, it's not that difficult," having positive thoughts, that is. "Or I could think positive enough for the both of us," Nora said with a large grin on her face. If there was something she was really good at, that would be positive thinking, and no one could stop her from being that cheerful almost all the time.

Anytime? "Anytime you want. You have no idea how curious you just made me." But Gwen probably knew already how curious Nora could get. And, even if her drawings weren't something special, she was sure she'd like them. Her drawing was the same as a five year old's.

"Welcome to the club," the girl giggled as Gwen seemed to be in the same situation as she was, having problems with Muggle Studies. And... Astronomy? "I guess you're happy the observatory is closed, except for the Alchemy class?" Nora was not. And after what happened with the headmaster when they protested... she'll NEVER forgive professor Scabior for making them do that. Hmph.

Gwendolyn simply raised an eyebrow as a response to Nora. Not that difficult? ‘Of course it isn’t’, the fourth year said doubtfully. But then the other girl said something that made her grin. ‘I think this option might be better’ Not that she didn’t want to think more positive… but she just couldn’t. Pffft.

Bahahaha. Gwen just wished she had some sort of ‘curiosity-o-meter’ for Nora right now. ‘Sure… well…’, she started saying. Erm. She was not really going to go to the Common Room RIGHT NOW to get them. Obviously. Why did the Ravenclaw Common Room have to be so far away. Four floors above. Gwendolyn always thought the Slytherins were so lucky for not having to come down for classes and then having to go back. The only problem for them might have been getting to the Astronomy tower. And well… now it isn’t.

‘Not exactley’, the fourth year started saying. Because it would be sort of too rude to say she had been so thankful for not having to attend to any Astronomy lessons this term. Truth be told, she was sorry the Professor left, but still… Astronomy was something she would never be able to understand. Or so she thought. ‘You don’t seem very pleased about that…’, the girl mused. She had no idea her friend liked that subject.

‘You know what? I could go grab the drawings’, Gwendolyn said with a small smirk on her face. Who knows how curious Nora would get until they would meet next time. Actually, it wouldn’t be very hard to find the time to show her the drawings, since she was almost always carrying the sketchbook with her. Except for this time. Hmph.

Penelope's eyes followed the ball as it bounced effortlessly all over the place. Did it know where it was bouncing or did it just go wherever the bouncing took it? And it changed colors and shapes? That was actually really pretty cool. And no handshaking for them? That was also cool.

Guesses? "What are your guesses then?" she asked, glancing between the crazy bouncing ball and Isidora.

"Color changing charms of course!" That was the most obvious. But the way it changed colors... wasn't like the simple charm. She rose to her feet and hopped a step down. "A some transfiguration's spell. Like Avifors, Lapifors, or that spell that transfigures rocks into dogs. Something like them cause sometimes my ball with shapshift into a Pika."

But Dora was done talking her ball and what cool stuff it did, she had questions for this girl. "You're a Gryffindor." She knew this from her robes and class AND from their sorting. Isidora had the memory of an elephant. "What's your common room look like?"

"Fine," she giggled, sort of giving in. "I'll do the positive thinking part for the both of us." She surely had plenty of positive thoughts if someone didn't. It just made it all easier for Nora; no stress, no urge to crawl in a corner and be lonely and all those depressing things.

Hmmm, she didn't seem very pleased about it? "I just want the observatory to be open again," she said with a little shrug. "I mean... not only for Alchemy, if there is ever going to be another lesson." Because stars were pretty, and she liked taking a closer look at them. She also missed the astronomy classes, even though it wasn't her best subject. Not even close.

But then... Gwen told her something that brought a grin back on her face. "Really? Now?" She'd even go up there to where the Ravenclaw common room was, even though she couldn't enter... and never really wandered around that place. It was way too far from the Slytherin common room. Too much to walk.