The easiest way to get from one floor to the next is to take the staircase. But, you' better watch out! It moves

Nancy was on her way back down to the Dungeons to go get some more of her Maple Fudge. Prefect rounds were very exhausting, especially alone. She would ask Torin next time so they could do it together...or Sarah. Hmm, now, that staircase definitely lead DOWNwards so it was into the right direction. Good. Now all she had to do was-

EEK!

The Prefect flailed frantically as the staircase suddenly began to move. To MOVE. CRAP! Holding on to the railing Nancy waited for the stairs to stop moving again so she could...figure out where the staircase now lead to. Erm... Aww, and she had been doing so well with the not getting lost thing. Meh.

Grayson was bored. There was no way around it. She was bored and looking for something to do. The most recent plot hadn't yet been implemented, and she couldn't find anyone she knew anyway. To see if they wanted to entertain her. So she set out to wander the castle, Draco in her pocket as usual. Maybe she could sneak some food from the kitchens or something. But she'd need to get downstairs.

Coming across a staircase leading downward, she stood and looked at it for a few seconds. Watching as it suddenly decided to shift sideways. Interesting, and it gave her a crazy idea. Scooping Draco out of her robe pocket, she set the white ferret on the ground. "I'll meet you at the bottom. I don't want you to get hurt," she told the creature, who simply sat there looking up at her. She didn't know if she'd get hurt, but she definitely wasn't risking her pet. Nodding a little at him, she stepped around him and over to the railing. Now how to do this, she thought, reaching a hand out to grasp it. The fun part was going to be stopping, and not knowing exactly where she was going to end up. Mischievous grin creeping onto her face, she scrambled up onto the railing and looked down its length. She was going down, unless anyone came to stop her, and so far she hadn't seen anyone. 1 . . . 2 . . .

And just like that, her day got better. Or was that worse considering she still wasn't fully on talking terms with the Seventh year Slytherin that had just walked around the corner to walk down the corridor to where Nancy was now standing.

Steven paused, foot mid air and then raised a hand to caress the back of his neck before moving to stand in front of Nancy. "Hey Nance." He said gently as if he was walking on eggshells. All through Summer, he had tried to show Nancy that they were meant to be together; that he had (literally) never thought they were/would be apart... but he missed her and she looked like she could use a hug.

And he used to be that person.

But he wasn't sure if he was now.

And that hurt.

"You doing okay?" He asked her softly, as his hands found his pockets and he looked from her gorgeous face to the floor. He didn't want to get his heart set on something it couldn't have; and she had made that clear over the Summer. No, his parent's and Sarah effectively ruined that for him. He hissed once more silently, glad to have his own flat to go home too.

...and the sudden appearance of Steven did not exactly brighten her mood either. Or...did it? The way her heart reacted to the boy certainly suggested the latter. Crap? Why now? Though, it probably had to be now or some time soon...she couldn't exactly avoid a fellow Slytherin for too long without hiding in the Girls Dormitory or something. So yeah...Err.

"Hey Steven." She forced a small smile onto her face as she glanced up at the handsome boy who was regarding her a little warily it seemed. Okay, who could blame him? After how she had been behaving and all...meh, but it was confusing! And very much so. Meh.

A little anxiously running a hand through her dark-blonde hair Nancy straightened up again to her full height after the rather shaky ride on the Moving Staircase. "Err...yeah...Steven?" At this she locked eyes with him, a little unsure as how to proceed. What was she supposed to tell him? The thing was she wasn't completely sure herself.

And what was a typical Nancy-thing - at least since last term - to do when anxious about something? Exactly. Chewing on her lower lip. "I..." The 17 year old trailed off, simply gazing up at Steven, waiting for HIM to do or say something.

Torin had his head in te clouds right now. Well, more like he was trying to figure out whether he just wanted to go into his business after Graduating, or if he wanted to get a job as a Photojournalist.

There was also University, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to study Herbology there or not. It was hard to choose. Maybe Brody could help him later if he asked her. She was so practical like that and he valued her input.

He sighed as he made his way up the stairs, and that was when he noticed a girl on the railing. That was not safe at all.

"And what do you think you're doing up there?"

. . . 3 Countdown over, Grayson prepared to loosen her grip on the railing to let herself start sliding, glancing down at Draco, who was sitting at the top of the stairwell staring at her as if he thought she was insane. "I'll meet you at the bottom," she said to the ferret, waiting for him to start down the steps. But as he moved, she jerked up as a voice sounded near her, and her pet stopped moving as well. Huffie prefect boy. And she couldn't deny the added height her being on the railing gave her was useful, since she wasn't having to look upwards quite so much.

Curling her hands around the railing again as she felt herself move slightly, she loked at him steadily, mischief still in her eyes. "What does it look like I'm doing up here? I'm finding a quicker way down," she said with a grin. It wasn't like she was planning on falling over the edge or anything. She had complete control. Well, except for the part where she didn't know where she would end up once she got to the lower level.

Torin places his hands on his hips impatiently as he watched her, waiting for her to do the sensible thing and get down.

"Okay, you see the smart thing to do in this situation is to get down from there and walk. Otherwise you will get in trouble for riding down the stair railing. Do you want to get in trouble?"

If she was smart she wouldn't. And seeing as she technically hadn't done anything wrong yet, well... there would be no hassle for either of them, and they could forget that it even happened.

Grayson had to struggle not to giggle at how serious prefect-boy was acting. Especially since something told her he probably would have wnated to be doing the same thing she had been going to, if he hadn't been so much of a giant. But she wasn't going to say anything like that. Swinging her leg back over the railing so she was facing him, she dangled her Converse as she regarded him standing there with his hands on his hips like a scary big brother. Or a parent, or something.

"Walking's boring," she said, even though by now she figured there was going to be no sliding for her right now. She'd expected Draco to walk, but he was a little bitty ferret, and she hadn't wanted to risk squishing him. "And besides, me being up here means you don't have to look so far down. So really, I'm doing you a favor if you think about it." She gave him her best innocent grin. She actually had perfect control, she hardly worried about slipping anymore. But she hadn't actually answered his question about if she wanted to get in trouble.

He watched her as she swung her one leg over and turned to face him. This one wasn't just going to do what was asked of her he realized. She might put up a bit of a fight in the process. Though he always did love a challenge.

"It may be boring, but still we don't want to risk anything happening to you. So why not come off of the banister?"

Though he raised his brow at her comment about doing him a favor. "Oh, I'm sure I'm not that much taller than you."

As Huffie prefect boy continued trying to cajole her off the railing, Grayson couldn't help but grin. "Haven't you ever been interested in doing something just cause it might be dangerous?," she asked, hooking one Converse-clad foot around the upright portion of the railing. Letting go of the slender piece of wood with her hands, she loked up at him with eyes sparkling. "See? Nothing's gonna happen." Unless she shifted too much, but that would destroy her intent. No way she was doing that.

But she giggled at his raised brow, forcing herself to grab hold again. "Whatever you want to think." He obviously wasn't very observant, if he thought she was taller than she was. Even on the railing she still had to look up a little. And it would be worse if she was standing on the ground. She just knew that.

Well.... at least she wasn't fully ignoring him. Right? I mean, awkward meetings were better than silence, hateful glances and getting cursed. Right? Steven would have preferred cuddles, soft kisses and long talks. Yeah, definitely would have preferred that.

He watched as she ran her hand through her hair and took a slow step forward. "I'm glad you are doing okay." He whispered to her, as his eyes moved over the form of his ex girlfriend. He had never missed her more than now; as he was close enough to be with her but couldn't be. She had been on his mind the whole time he had been abroad... but he wasn't sure if she could forgive him for not being here.

"I miss you." He said as she started to tell him something but didn't seem to know what to say. So, he said what he had tried to tell her every time he had written to her over the Summer. He couldn't believe how much Sarah had screwed this up for him. For them.

He was glad that she was doing okay? Nancy raised her eyebrows slightly while subconsciously regarding him with her head tilted to the side. The way he whispered made her gulp and avert her down towards her fingers...only to flash back up to meet his a moment later. She just couldn't not look at him, it was just impossible.

There was a small hint of longing in her eyes - even though the 17 year old tried very hard to conceal it - as she continued to simply gaze at him. He missed her. Yes...she knew that. And - although there was a part of her brain which vehemently refused to admit it - she missed him too. A lot. She missed him all the time. All.The.Time. Though, was this the moment to tell him that?

"I..." At this she locked eyes with him once again as if trying to convey a secret message to Steven. Gulp. "I miss you too." She finally admitted, glancing straight ahead at his shirt, at anything but his face. Now it was said...she could not take it back anymore...

Steven took yet another step towards the girl, and had to fight against himself to stop his hands from slipping his hands around her waist and pulling her close. He gulped and licked his lips as he watched her look away and then straight back up to him.

Running a hand through his hair, as they stood in silence. Darn. Should he have told her that he missed her? Did she miss him? Would this just hurt him? Would she hurt him? Would he hurt her? He groaned a little as they stood in silence and looked at each other... then she said it.

She missed him too.

With that, he took yet another step towards her and locked eyes with her. "I miss you so much, every day, every minute." He stressed. "Let me prove it to you." He added, taking yet another small step towards the Slytherin Prefect.

Nancy stared intently at Steven's hair as he ran his hand through it, involuntarily ruffling it up slightly in doing so. She.Wanted.To.Do.That.Too! But it was wrong, all wrong...or, was it? Meh. Why was it all so difficult? Why the heck was her heart telling her something else than her brain?! Though...there was a part of her brain which was already on her heart's side...

...which was also why she voiced her thoughts. That other part of her brain mentally smacked her now for saying it, however. Simply gazing back into his eyes Nancy did not even move when he took a small step towards her. No, even though that anti-Steven part of her brain had now got out a broom to make the smacking more effective the 17 year old took a little step towards her ex-boyfriend too. They were close...too close? Err.

"I...don't know." Though...somehow she actually KNEW, and the way she still gazed at Steven made that probably quite obvious.

And then they were too close for him to not move one hand to cup the top of her neck so that his thumb caressed her cheek and his fingers slipped through her hair. "Please..." He pleaded as he took the last step to fill the space between them. The slytherin moved his second hand to the small of her back.

"Baby, I miss you so much." He said to her, his eyes searching hers. "I'm nothing without you." He said as he leant in towards her. However, he didn't kiss her, he didn't want to get slapped again. Instead, he hovered just above her lips, waiting to see if Nancy would seal the kiss. Goodness he missed her.

"I'm not of concern here." He smiled at her. He recognized her, but he couldn't think of what her name was or where he had seen her before. Oh well. It didn't really matter now. "That doesn't matter. I'm Prefect and it's my job to do this. So please get down?" He didn't want to make her come down because that wasn't like him to do. Hopefully she would listen to him.

He rolled his eyes and laughed at her comment. "Well, I'm not a giant or anything."

Grayson grinned yet again as prefect-boy tried to change the topic, as she'd tried to turn it around on him in the first place. "You do know that you saying that actually makes me think you agree with me, right?," she commented, refusing to let him win. Or let him get off without any blame. "Whether or not I could get hurt doesn't matter anymore?," she replied then, affecting an innocent look like she knew she was expert at. Now she was just playing with him. She knew what he had meant, but it was way more fun staying on the railing. And it was highly amusing to think he had nothing better to do as prefect than try and get her off the railing in the first place.

She raised an eyebrow herself, though, as he laughed at her dismissal of his continued assurances that he wasn't a giant. "You really don't pay attention, you know that?" Of course, he was only a Hufflepuff. maybe he couldn't figure out that if she was still lower than him while up on the railing, obviously she would be even shorter standing on the ground.

He was getting tired of the games now. He wanted her off of the railings, and he wanted her off of them now. "It doesn't matter what I may or may not have done. Or anything else. I'm asking you as a Prefect to gt down, and I'm running out of patience." His change in tone of voice showed that he was serious, because all lightness disappeared, and soon he would be talking to her sternly.

"Well, I know that I'm taller than you. I'm tall and you're short. But I'm not like an actual giant." Now move it off of the bloody railing.

Oooh, now he's getting testy, Grayson thought as prefect boy spoke again. He even kinda ignored half of her comments, even. She was beginning to think she was lucky he didn't know her full name, because it was almost like when she needled one of her parents to the point of exasperation.Or her uncle. Eyeing prefect boy mischievously, she purposely slid down the railing a couple steps, then jumped off nimbly. "That was you having patience to begin with?," she commented, looking up at him before bouncing back up to the top landing and scooping Draco up. if she couldn't slide down the railing, there was no reason to make her ferret walk. "You really need to relax a little, you know that? Too much stress will kill you." Even a prefect couldn't be all proper all the time, or at least she thought that way.

She giggled a little as the giant conversation continued. Now that she was back at her normal five foot height, it was even funnier that he was so adamant. "You might be. Maybe a mini-giant or something. Some sort of giant-human hybrid," she commented as she let Draco scramble onto her shoulder. She wasn't about to let the subject drop, especially now that he'd killed the railing idea. For now. She might try that again later.

Even though a part of her wanted to flinch away from the hand which was now on her neck, Nancy simply could not move, mesmerized by the gentle touch. It just felt so...so...right. Could it be wrong if it felt so right? However, all she could concentrate on was the thumb which was carressing her cheek, and the moment Nancy felt his fingers in her hair she automatically leaned in on his hand. It was as if her body had a mind of its own...she couldn't not respond to his touch. Though, did she actually want to?

...and then they were suddenly too close for her to think clearly. His scent was surrounding her, lulling her in, leaving her simply gazing up into his eyes, unable to say or do something. It had to be right. It just couldn't be wrong. At the same time that he started leaning towards her Nancy tilted her head upwards slightly to meet him half-ways, unvoluntarily shivering as they both stopped, their lips not yet touching. Her heart was pounding so hard she was sure Steven could here it too.

"I know." Then with a small smirk on her lips the 17 year old inched just a little closer, causing their lips to finally meet. Finally. She had sealed their kiss...and it certainly felt right. So right.

Oh.

My.

Merlin.

Lexi had forgotten---completely forgotten---what it felt like to be on the moving staircases. Had they been this shaky when she'd been on them ten years ago? She glanced down at her heels and gave them a death glare, daring them to fail her now.

Truth be told, she was a little annoyed with herself for turning twenty-eight years old and letting a simple thing such as a moving set of staircases throw her off balance a little. She sort of...held on to the railing...very tightly...as she spun around and around.

Wasn't there a better way to travel around this place?

Nolan had his nose buried in...his tarot cards. Well, he was only looking at one, observing a tiny rip in the corner of it. BOOOO. This was one of his best sets too! He frowned, turning it over in his hands a few times before pulling out the rest of the stack and put it back in it's place. It was just a small rip, if he was careful he shouldn't have any problems...

HELLO.

There was no stair where he was about to place his foot. EEP! Stumbling backwards a bit, he dropped his stack of cards and watched in dismay as the deck spread out all over the landing. He sighed and looked back down at the empty space where he had almost just taken a step. He forgot just how EVIL these staircases could be!

As he picked up his cards, the staircase arrived with...Lexi in tow. Tee hee. He chuckled as he stood up, shuffling his deck and observing the sight of his colleague clinging to the banister for dear life. "Having fun?" he asked with a laugh as the staircase came to halt in front of him.

Lexi could do nothing but glare in Nolan's general direction as he hopped aboard the thrill ride and nonchalantly asked her if she was having fun. A second later, though, she dropped the glare and started laughing lightly. "Oh, Nolan. I'm only joking with you....but no, I am not having fun. I'm starting to think that I need to come hop on this thing at least once a night just to get back into the...well, swing of thing," she remarked.

There was solid ground ahead...well, solid ground that wasn't spinning. Lexi had a small hope that she could jump off at the next level, but...the staircase just swung on around and passed up that solid ground. She glared again, but this time she really meant the look on her face. "So...how's classes? See anything interesting in our futures?" she asked. "...solid ground, perhaps?"

"Classes are pretty good, actually. Except there was this one incident with this one problem child...she BROKE one of my crystal balls and didn't even apologize! Other than that, though, pretty good," Nolan replied with a grin. Yes, he'd gotten over the whole crystal ball thing--after all, it wasn't his SPECIAL crystal ball. It stil broke his heart to see the thing broken into pieces but, he'd survive. "And no, nothing too interesting, except I have this horrible feeling that my personal belongings are in danger..." he said, his voice trailing off. Probably all Lucky's fault. She had made him paranoid now.

"How about you? I had a rather hyper Slytherin in one of my classes because of cupcakes, and it seemed that the general conclusion was that YOU were responsible," he teased her. "What have you been doing down there?!"

Cause if those students were right, and something she was up to DID involve cupcakes...he wanted in!