This was a mythical place. Not as in it didn't exist ('cause, duh, here she was) or because it had special powers (maybe, though... who knew?), but because it was a place of stories. Of legends.

Like "did you hear someone found a bathroom that doesn't work and occasionally random explosives how up there" kind of legends.

Dot wasn't necessarily keen on blowing things up, but she was sure keen on draining her seventh year of every drop of adventure. The best way to start... go everywhere, see everywhere, meet everyone, and do everything. Starting with this bathroom.

Rumor had it that she could break into the Gryffindor common room from here... Dot kicked at an empty toilet bowl for good measure. That was where she'd hide the common room.

Brian wasn't sure where he was going, really, but he was absolutely positively certain that he needed to know what was behind that strange door thing. It was all old and rickety and dusty aside from the handle. Someone had been here lately which meant that he was now curious in a way that he hadn't been since he was a wee first year.

Using his shoulder to open the door, he stepped into what had to be a disused toilet. The scattering of orange boxes across the floor was vaguely familiar (he'd been here two years ago and someone had set off a dungbomb but didn't recall).

Sitting down on the floor, criss cross applesauce, Brian Woods peered into the nearest box. There were a few roundish things in them? With a button? (They're dungbombs, Brian, you silly billy.)

But this hufflepuff didn't know that. Oh, no. He -in a manner that history tended to do when one forgot it- pressed it.

Silly boy.

Over the sound of Dot's fabulous heels clinking against the dirty porcelain, there was another sound. The sound of someone entering the bathroom. And then silence which drew Dot back to the door of the stall, just in time to witness some boy poking his finger into one of those antique orange boxes.

"No, d-" she took another step into the bathroom, just as a dungbomb exploded, sending foul-smelling smoke and debris into the air. Dot was blinded for a moment, not just by the dank smoke, but by the awful smell that made her eyes well and water.

"You idiot."

Oh no.

Oh no oh no oh no oh no.

You see, the truth is that Brian Woods was a particularly stupid Hufflepuff. With a tendency to do the exact wrong thing. All the time. He'd say it was a talent but it was really just a curse. And as the smoke began to rise from the round orb, he dropped it like a hot potato and scrambled to his feet (and failed, resulting in a particularly unflattering butt-shuffle away) in an attempt to get AS FAR AWAY FROM THE SMOKE AS POSSIBLE.

And heels clicking. Was he in a girl's bathroom? Who was that, anyway? He recognized the voice after the insult but by then it was way too late.

And really, he'd only paid any attention at all to anything Dot was saying after the button had been pressed and he should really know better but he DID NOT. And ergo deserved exactly that and any other insult the Slytherin decided to throw at him because by Jove, did he make bad life choices. Horrible, awful life choices. Lud. "I didn't knoooooooooooooow."

It was a really horrible excuse but that was his excuse.

Dot pointed her wand at her head and quickly cast a bubble-head charm for herself. "Sanuspirantes." Brian was going to have to deal with the bad smell himself, but at least Dot had clean air for the moment. Her poor robes and shoes, on the other hand, were going to need a professional cleaning Dot probably couldn't afford.

"You shouldn't just put your finger in boxes willy-nilly. You might do worse than set off a dungbomb." Dot crouched in front of Brian where he landed and blinked at him through the concave surface of her bubble. It made him look sort of stretched and wobbly... or maybe that was the smell.

"D'you need a bubble?"

CHOKE. COUGH. SPLUTTER.

Yeah, all Brian really could do for the moment was nod and sway a little as the smell of the dungbomb permeated through his nostrils and goodness gracious, he was very sure that death smelled better than this. Eww. So much eww. Too gross to be real.

And oh, Dot was right there in front of him and well - he could see her now. Sheepish smile stretched across his face, he nodded. And then when she asked if he needed a bubble he had to refrain from giving her an obvious OF-COURSE-I-NEED-A-BUBBLE face because there was enough stink around without him producing any variation of the stinkface. So he tried to open his mouth to reply and - CHOKE. COUGH. SPLUTTER.

Yeah. He'd just settle for the pathetic yes-please-do-before-I-die-an-untimely-death-in-a-toilet face.

Help, please.

Alfred needed some private floating space; not only live humans needed thinking time. And this bathroom was often often...though sometimes not. Sometimes he ran into Myrtle in here, but today he was feeling melancholy and hoped he would not see her. The thought instantly made him feel guilty, but he pushed that aside as he floated through the wall right into the midst of students.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" he said to the both of them. "I really just wanted some privacy and, well, I'll leave you both be-"

But it was smoking in here, and the Friar crinkled his nose. He couldn't smell, thank Merlin, but he could only imagine. "Did one of you set off something?" he asked softly. He didn't want them to get in trouble! "If so, you might want to take care of quickly, before a professor comes along! Especially you, Miss Wojack-Gusey!" With her prefectness and all!

Brian earned himself a well-deserved eye roll, but at least Dot was willing to give him a bubble. No one deserved the stink that still lingered a little in the hair caught in her bubble, not even the goofball who had accidentally set off the dungbomb. ""Sanuspirantes."

There. Bubbled. She settled back on her heels just as the Fat Friar appeared, and he got an eye roll too.

"It smelled like this when we got here. Do you see how some of the boxes bulge a little in the middle? I think they've gone off. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they all blow up at some point. Brian was trying to fix it, gallant man that he is, and he was taken down by the fumes." So they were both heroes, see? Dot gave Brian a 'shut up and dance' look before pushing back to her feet.

"Why doesn't someone clean this place up, Sir Ghost? It's very disrespectful, don't you think?"

Brian was down for the count, really. The fumes had gotten to his head because he was seeing the Fat Friar here. He was pretty sure this wasn't even a place and there was his house ghost there and well, the Friar knew who he was and if this was a place he was not supposed to be, he was pretty much done for. "Thank you," he rasped at Dot, before coughing a little more.

The stuff was probably permanently dissolved into the ciliated epithelium of his larynx. Probably. Almost definitely.

"Reverend Friar Sir," he stammered, scrambling to his feet as Dot addressed the ghost. Turned out he wasn't hallucinating and was instead being rather rude. What was that look? ??????? But if Dot was gonna keep him out of trouble, he wasn't about to land them back there.

So cue a well-timed and rather fake coughing fit. "Really, sir, it needs a clean and we're hardly the people for it." So many better things to do, like sleeping.

The door creaked open, sending in shafts of light from the hallway outside. The light caught on the dust hanging in the air giving the entire room an old grainy film look. It was eerie in some ways and...Hadley coughed, sucking in too much dust on that last breath. Didn't anyone ever clean up here? Now she was glad she let Asher sleep instead of bring him along. This much dust with his tiny lungs probably wouldn't have been good.

Why did Drapes have to find the unused office? It was a much better location for privately trying to get things done then this. But it would have to do for now. She entered the bathroom and leaned her snowboard against the wall. Hadley took out a few candles, set them up around the bathroom and lit them. Then she closed the door to the hallway. The candles provided enough light to see and read by, but they also made this forgotten bathroom that much more spooky.

Trying to ignore the unnerved feeling growing inside her, Hads took the snowboard to the center of the bathroom and laid it on the ground. Then she pulled three books out of her bag and flipped to the right pages. That's right, nothing to worry about, just keep attention fixed on the books, not the creepy shadows the candles cast. She was determined to figure out the flying charm tonight, and finally cast it on her snowboard. And not even scary, monster like shadows were gonna stop her this time.

Wait, did that shadow just move?

He'd been doing just fine by himself. Having gone through the passage from the Gryffindor Reading Room, Blaise had come to rest in the old bathroom. It seemed this time of the night was the only time he'd get alone time. No First Years leaning over his shoulder asking what he was reading, no older kids telling him he was sitting in their couch and none of his friends to distract him with things that were infinitely more interesting than his Charms Textbook.

As much as he'd have welcomed the distraction, he needed to get himself caught up on the things he'd missed during the many Charms lessons he'd skipped in the last week.

The latern he'd taken with him gave off enough light that he could see the page resting in his lap leaving him no need to illuminate the rest of the bathroom. Besides, it was easier leaving without a trace if you only had one light source to worry about.

The Gryffindor had only gotten to the second topic when he heard the rattling of the door knob. Quick as that Blaise put out his own lamp but before he could scurry back through the crawl space he found himself with company. There was nothing to do but remain crouched perfectly still in his corner. With luck, whoever it was might just have been lost and would leave soon enough. Except....It was that Ravenclaw Davie didn't like....and she seemed like SHE was planning to use this place for a little study too.

Oh Merlin. Blaise remained still for as long as he could--until he saw his quill and notepad float from his side in the shadows and over to the girl. That got a stifled noise out of him in a vain effort to call it back. Worst partner in crime ever.

What was that noise!? It kinda sounded like a strangled racoon. Did she imagine it? No. No that wasn't an imagined sound at all. Hadley paused, holding her breath, and listened. After a few seconds when she didn't hear anything else, but was still convinced she HAD heard something, Hads called out, "Hello?" It was more of a gasp than anything.

Stop it, Hads, you're be-WHAT IS THAT!? The moment she'd stopped speaking there was the sound of scratching, right behind her! Hadley turned around, very slowly and let out a small shriek when she say very real movement out of the corner of her eye. There really was something behind her!!! It was...it was...a quick quotes quill!? "BLAISE!!"

Was this some strange weird attack on Hadley now that she'd promised to try and be civil to Davie!? Because if it was both of them were getting their butts kicked. Severely. "Get out here if you want your Quill back!" She made a grab for the thing.

If he didn't have his wits about him, the boy might have jumped at the sound of his name being all but shrieked. As it was, Blaise remained crouched in the corner, eyes wide as he watched the Ravenclaw girl. That was the funny thing about standing in the light as opposed to being in the shadows; it was much harder for her to see him. This would be the perfect cover if he wanted it to be--say what now??

Brown eyes flashed to his quill as it expertly dodged her grip. Honestly, there had been so many people--GIRLS MOSTLY--swinging at it that its reflexes had improved. The notepad....was....not quite so nimble and THAT he needed back.

The boy gnawed at his bottom lip a moment, considering his options. On the one hand he had a whole collection of quick quotes quills but this was his favourite and it would only come if he called...which would surely give him away. What a fix the darn thing had gotten him in. With a reluctant sigh the boy stashed his textbook into the crawl space before rising from his spot on the floor and into the light. "I'll be taking that."

The notepad wasn't exactly for public view, not unless he felt like sharing and right now he did not.

Too late. Blaise was a second too late retrieving his notepad. Hadley had glimpsed some of what the quill just wrote. "I do not shriek like a banshee with a bullfrog in its throat!" Embarrassingly enough though, her protest went a bit high and as a result, her voice squeaked. Noticeably. It's been happening a lot whenever her voice went high, or she was emotional...

And that's how you lose an argument with a quill in a second.

Hadley shoved the notepad back at Blaise. "So, what? You're just spying for Davie or something?" So much for their unspoken truce. Hadley made a point to get Rachel to reign in her boy crush again because this was the only free pass. "Got all the juicy gossip you need from her lying quill, or are you still hoping to get more?" And to think, she'd actually thought this boy was cool when started the food fight her first ever feast. Hadley just stood there, arms folded over her chest as she waited for a response.

She might have also been debating hitting him over the head with her snowboard but that seemed a tad excessive. Right now at least.

...

Huh...?

"Did it actually say that?" snort. Blaise took to scanning the contents of the page once he'd gotten it back, finding the line all too soon. Would you look at that, it was all there. Who said his quill didn't have a sense of humour that was tinged with truths? "I agree, it's much too shrill to belong to a banshee. Darn thing must be embellishing again. It was only trying to be nice. No hard feelings."

The boy released it, snapping a finger to beckon his quill as well. This conversation had gotten somewhat more interesting for him except... "Davie...?" Either the girl wasn't as observant as she could be or she'd trained herself in the art of delusions. "He's on an exchange program this year." Hence him not being around the castle in case she failed to notice. "But even if he wasn't, what would we be spying on you for?" His nose wrinkled at the thought. They DID have guy stuff to do and it didn't involve her.

The boy stepped by her, heading to the door. Carefully he pulled it open and took a look up then down the corridor. "Now keep your voice down. You do remember it's pass curfew yeah?"

Hadley glared at the boy. And the quill. Especially the quill. She wasn't shrill! Maybe a little squeaky, but not shrill. Was she?

"I know he's on exchange!" She wasn't stupid. It would be why he's using his sidekick instead of spying on her himself. Why would they be spying on her? Oh how about Davie's insane mission to prove she's an utter moron or something that shouldn't be allowed into a magical school all because she didn't know who Harry Potter or George Weasley were in her first few weeks at Hogwarts. With people like Davie Truebridge, there was no telling why he'd do anything really. Only he and those he shared with, like his side-kick for instance, would know.

She said all this and more, or tried to, in the glare she continued to give him. The glare only dropped when he chided her and went to check the door. Hadley raised her eyebrows at that. "If you're that scared of getting caught, then maybe you shouldn't be out here after curfew." Besides there were no Professors on the sixth or seventh floor. She'd checked. She also checked some of the fifth floor. Where ever they were patrolling, it wasn't near here. Yet.

Alfred glanced around the room, noting for once that the room did seem dirty. It was rare that he noticed these things in the afterlife. The dust and the general dirtiness was noticeable now.

"Why, I think you're both right. I wonder why no one else has cleaned it..." he trailed off. "I should get someone on that! Though, you'd be surprised how little people listen to ghosts, I'm afraid." He sighed. "Are you okay there, Brian?" he asked gently. "Is it all the dust in here? Tsk tsk." He pursed his lips in an unimpressed way.

Awful snippy, wasn't she? Blaise didn't need to glance over at his quill to know the line along which it was painting the Ravenclaw. Even if the quill had decided to take the path of the straight and narrow, the strictest truth for the night she'd have still managed to make herself look crazy what with all the glaring she was doing. The 13 year old kept his expression even despite the glare he found himself on the receiving end of. He didn't know what he might have done to offend her but it wouldn't be the first a Ravenclaw had written him off for reasons beyond his knowledge.

With a faint creak the door was once against closed. " 'm not scared of getting caught; the Professors never reallydo anything anyway." He informed her, his voice dripping with indifference. "But I'd rather not be sent back to my Common Room if I can help it." Sorta defeated the purpose of sneaking out, y'know? Plus, the secret entrance to his Common Room was RIGHT there. If worst came to worst, he'd bolt without her.

Content with having seen no one out in the corridor, Blaise plopped down on the floor once more. "If you knew Davie's gone, why d'you think I'd be spying on you?" The quill and notepad flew close to her once more, ready to distort her statement. "You two got some game going on?" Had she become Davie's woman without him knowing? Was he missing some best mate code where he was meant to be keeping his eyes on her? Merlin who knew?

Hadley's jaw dropped in disgust. "Ew. Merlin no!" Never. She's made her piece with Rachel liking Davie and Davie liking Rachel and that that might eventually end up with them dating-gag-but that didn't mean she'd every even entertain the idea of being with that Dodo herself. That was just...repulsive.

She actually, literally shuddered at the mere thought.

"How should I know why he does anything? Probably for the same reason he'd yell and scream at a muggle-born three weeks into her first year for having never seen a chocolate frog or heard the names Harry Potter or George Weasley before. He might be your friend, but he's severely unbalanced. You see that right?" His answer to that would go a long way into shaping her continuing impression of him. Which frankly, she had no idea what to make of him. One moment he was throwing food and being awesome the next he was with Davie and plotting to do stuff to her with him, seemingly. And now, well, now she was just confused.

She sat down again, and grabbed her books. "Well, since you're here, maybe you can help me figure out how to cast a flying charm on my snowboard." Not likely. This was Blaise we were talking about here. But, hey, she wasn't getting it, so who knows. Maybe he could. For once.

....

.............

Awful dramatic, wasn't she? "What's ew?" Blaise asked, genuinely confused by her reaction to the suggestion she and Davie might have been playing a game. There...was nothing wrong with playing games...They were fun, helped to pass the time around the castle and anyway they were both Ravenclaws; any game they played didn't have to go on pause when either had to go to their Common Room. The boy's brows crinkled as he considered the girl across from him. "Don't you like games?" How boring.

"He might not be the only one unbalanced." Hadley earned herself a meaningful look, brown eyes accusing her as they stared on. She shrieked like a banshee to prove that she didn't in fact shriek like a banshee, glared at him for...Merlin knew what and now she was shuddering at the idea of spending her time doing anything other than homework. So excuse him for ignoring every wrong she'd just called his friend out on. "I know loads of other people who'd look at you funny if you'd said that to 'em. Doesn't make him unbalanced, just makes him a kid who'd never met a muggleborn before." Which was normal. If she'd told HIM she'd never had a chocolate frog or knew Harry Potter, his quill would have gone flying and it'd have become a game of twenty questions--except she didn't play games. Strange strange girl that she was.

Blaise pulled a face at her suggestion, thinking her even stranger now. They'd shared classes and a castle for over a year and she thought he would help her with a Charm? The boy reached over in that minute, placing a hand to her forehead and pausing a moment. Poor thing surely had to be running a fever. What other explanation was there for all the weird that had been Hadley Denaker in the last five minutes? "We might need to get you to the Healer."

...

"Wait...you actually meant games? As in games games?" Okay, she took that completely the wrong way and assumed he'd meant games like the ones people play when crushing on each other and almost to the point of starting to date and ew. "I like games, just not with Davie Truebridge. I might have promised Rachel to tolerate him, but I'll never enjoy his company even if it's just playing games long distance..."

Hadley narrowed her eyes at the boy. Was he saying she unbalanced!? She was so far from unbalanced!! Hads hrmph'ed and folded her arms over her chest. Blaise Bellaire wasn't nearly as bad as Davie Truebridge but, he was a lot alike. She didn't trust this boy. Which was a shame because last year after the food fight she'd wanted to be friends with him. "Yeah, because not knowing something is ever a cause for screaming at the person." Ugh. If she didn't know Tenacius and Torrence (sorta) already, she'd be willing to right off all Gryffindor Boys as being as bad as Ravenclaw Boys on Blaise alone.

And now what the heck was he doing? She waved his hand away from her forehead and glared at him, sharply for another second. "I'm not sick you loon! I don't need the healer. There are other ways to help beyond casting the spell." Like testing out if it worked or not so Hadley could remain safe...er, not have to lose her focus. Yeah, the second one. She was trying to include the boy, put water under the bridge so to speak. "What's with your whole no magic thing anyway? Trust me, the muggle life isn't as glamorous as you might think." Hadley would know. She grew up as one.

Um.... "Yes...?" What...else could he have meant by games? Games were games. You played them to have fun. Thankfully she DID like games. "That's fine, you don't need to like playing them with Davie, so long as you like them at all." He told her, though he didn't stop giving her strange looks because it was official, Hadley Denaker was a strange girl. Just ask his quill that had been dutifully misquoting her.

Op, and now they were back to narrowing eyes at him. Maybe...maybe this was just how she communicated with others? Kinda like how Daxton only wrote unless the quill was present then he signed. Or like how sometimes Liv just liked hugging and disney talk--even how Katherine was his friend but most times she pretended like she didn't want to be around him. Perhaps it was just a thing so the boy would shrug it off as nothing more than that. "I said they'd give you looks, not that they'd yell. I don't know why he yelled at you and I'm not him so I'm not gonna apologize." 'Cause he didn't do anything and hadn't been the one to yell at her, y'know? Can we stop with the accusing looks now? Yes?

And then she called him a 'loon'. This had to be the biggest turn of dramatic irony he'd experienced in a while. The crazy one thought there was something off in HIS head. "Fair enough I suppose. It'd have to be another way anyhow; I don't have my wand." Back up in his Common Room, that's where it was. "What'd you have in mind?" Blaise was slowly becoming accustomed to crazy thanks to all his friends. What was adding one more person to his growing list of experience?

"There's nothing with the magic thing." He replied simply as an afterthought but... "What's with the being angry about everything?"

Note to self: Blaise Bellaire is rather obsessed with games. For some reason. Maybe even unhealthily so, but she wasn't willing to confirm that. "Yeah, I like games."

Moving on.

Hadley simply shrugged. "I wasn't asking you to apologize for him." Just stating the obvious fact that he was unbalanced. Heck, she wasn't even bothering to ask Davie to apologize. She honestly didn't think he would even if she did. And even if he did, Hads still wouldn't trust him. That kind of reaction just wasn't normal, and since Rachel and Davie seemed to mutually like each other, it was Hadley's job to keep an eye on him for her friend's sake. And she was going to do that.

When he was actually here of course.

"I was thinking I'd try to cast the flying charm and you command the snowboard up, like a broom and see if it works...just, you know, quietly and all." That way she could stay where she was and stay focused on the casting of the charm and not have to get up and check every time if it worked. But then Hadley sized up Blaise curiously. "Why don't you have your wand?" He didn't have his wand a lot. "That's kinda what I meant with that whole no magic thing. You seem to avoid it with a passion. Why?"

And, oh. He went there. Fair enough, she guessed. Hads sighed. "It's not...Home isn't exactly warm and inviting for me lately." That was enough right? She didn't really need to get into details about how her Dad was a huge jerk, or how she'd single-handedly caused her parents talking about separating did she? "I answered, so now you have to."

Well then, if she liked games, perhaps the girl couldn't be completely off her rockers. Something to consider he supposed--though he would be on guard. Hadley seemed to change moods in a nanosecond and while some considered that interesting and a good way to keep one on their feet, Blaise simply thought it was confusing. The boy did not make a habit of sticking around things that confused him.

"You act like it though." He pointed out, just as she'd insisted an apology wasn't what she'd been after. "Can't think of any other reason you'd keep glaring and squinting at me. This is possibly our first feature length conversation and I've done nothing to you otherwise." Or had she suddenly forgotten how...unwelcoming she'd been just a few minutes ago. Was memory loss a thing for her now too?

The Gryffindor would try connecting the dots later in the hopes they'd make more sense then than they were now--much like the flying charm help was now making more sense. He nodded his consent but shrugged when the question followed.

"I don't use it. If I don't use it, I don't need to take it wherever I go. Just takes up space for no good reason." To say the boy hated magic with a passion though, that.................was completely accurate but his answer would mirror her own. At her insistence that he reply, the boy obliged in the only way he saw fit. "Magic isn't exactly warm and inviting for me lately." THAT was what he thought of your answer Hadley Denaker. Vague and answered very little.