Maddie stood at the door of the spirit room, camera held in front of her as she peered through it at the space beyond. It was dark, though the light creeping in from the hallway showcased the particles of dust floating through the air. They seemed to be the only things moving in the abandoned space, making the second year shiver a little. She almost wished one of the house ghosts would appear right now so that she didn't feel so completely alone in front of such an eerie room. NOT that she was afraid or anything. Of course she wasn't. Not frightened here. NOPE.

Deciding to just get on with it, Maddie carefully clicked the button so that she could capture what she was seeing. She knew that if she did the spell correctly, one should be able to see the movement of the many little specks of dust. It made for a sad sort of setting. One that made you feel sort of lonely.

*TAP* "Alacer."

And there it was. There they were. Maddie almost expected the sheets to move too, given she was suddenly reminded of some horror movie her brothers forced her into watching. Yeah, she was just going to leave now.

Thornton had taken to exploring the castle when he couldn't focus, opening doors and poking around or looking for particularly absurd tapestries or nooks appropriate for quiet reading.

It was the fifth floor's turn.

Having already discovered that a first year could practically disappear from few if they leaned up against Gregory the Smarmy just right, he approached a door he couldn't recall having seen open.

Pulling it open, finding it surprisingly easy for what looked like a heavy door, Thornton blinks as his eyes adjusted. So.much.dust. Thornton frowned, wondering why a perfectly good room would go unused. He scratched his head and tried to take a step inside, but found himself unable to move past the threshold.

Stepping back, he tilted his head and stared at what looked to be the open doorway. "Huh," he said aloud to no one in particular.

He didn't know where he was going, the kitchens probably, or the great hall... or just OUT somewhere. As a result of this, Zeke was very much in his own little world as he strode down the fifth floor corridor, moving away in a general direction. He'd already mapped this part of the castle.

Halting short of the Ravenclaw boy from Gobstones, Thornton, Zeke watched him for a moment and then looked to the open door. Yeaaaaahhhh... that had him tripped up too. "You can't go in... it's like a special dead people only clubhouse..." so how sucky was that? "You can try though, I don't mind watching."

Thorton was startled by the sudden voice, his attention having been fully on the open, but not open, doorway. So he jumped, just a bit, when Zeke spoke.

"A room just for the ghosts?" He looked at his gobstones opponent and tilted his head, frowning. "That seems like a waste of space."

Reaching his hand out, he pushed against the invisible barrier, he watched as his hand just came to a stop. "I mean, I'm sure there are loads of places in the castle that we couldn't get to that they could use instead?"

Thornton balled up his open hand and stuck out just one finger, tapping against the barrier, wondering if it would make a sound.

Ravenclaw's were smart, or so the Hat said. But Thornton seemed to be catching on.

"Yep, ghosts only," he nodded, "Sir Nicholas told me about it, it's been like, charmed or cursed or whatever to only let spirits in." So no, Thornton, you weren't special enough to make it through to the other side... just yet. It WAS fun watching him try though, hehehe. At least the dude was smarter than to headbutt it like he had. Bad idea.

"See, that's what I thought... a room seems like a pretty boring place to have a special clubhouse anyway, especially for ghosts. They could have ANY part of the castle, even the chamber of secrets!" Now THAT would be a clubhouse worth keeping living people out of - if he were a spirit, but he supposed right now that wasn't such a bad thing, he still had a chance of seeing it. Maybe. Whatever happened to it?

Well, that was disappointing. Thornton thought back to his opening feast conversation with the Grey Lady and how he'd completely bumbled that interaction. He'd tried to shake her hand, for Merlin's sake.

So he supposed he saw the appeal of a spirit only space. Though, he wondered if it was really all that private, here in the hall where anyone could just stop by, even if they couldn't get in.

"It seems like a tease," he said finally. "Letting the door open but not letting anyone through." He shrugged and stepped away from the entry, and moved to lean against the wall.

Thornton made a face at the mention of the Chamber of Secrets. He'd read his history. "Terrible trouble," he great-grandfather had called it, when Thornton had inquired over holiday why his family had not attended Hogwarts for several generations. "You think there are a lot of those sorts of places?" he asked. His adventuring had turned up what had looked like several passageways that were no longer used, either because they'd been filled in or collapsed and never repaired.

A tease. Yeah.... he could see how that was the case.

Zeke just shrugged, there was nothing he could do about the spirit room, he'd already tried all the spells he knew on it - nothing worked. NOTHING. "It's magic, sometimes it's best not to ask questions." Having been a muggle for nine whole years, he could see how NUTS people in the wizarding world could be, this didn't exclude ghosts either.

As for whether there were MORE of those sorts of places, well there was only one answer for that. "I bet there is. I mean, it's an old creepy castle that's been around for like... ever... I'm sure there'd be things we don't know about it. I'm sure there are things even the Headmistress doesn't know." They were SECRET passages for a reason. That being said, most of them were now useless, so who knew, maybe the others were too?

"I bet you galleons that there's a secret passage hidden in a ceiling somewhere..."

"Asking questions is sorta what I do." Thornton said, lightly and with a laugh. Ravenclaw, remember?

He looked up at the ceiling, though, having never considered that they'd be hollow. He squinted at it, wondering how one could determine if the floor from the level above and the ceiling on this floor were the same or if there was really space in between.

"You think the castle is creepy?" he said, having registered what Zeke had said. It wasn't a word that Thornton had much considered as describing the castle. Or, at least, it didn't feel creepy. Overwhelming? Sure. Intimidating? Yes. But it wasn't the castle that creeped him out so much as the weird things happening in it.

He didn't much like the thought that the Headmistress was unaware of things in the castle, because perhaps that implied that she was also unaware of things that happened in the castle, and that did not sit well with Thornton. He lifted his eyes back to the ceiling, pondering the secret passage possibilities and tossing out a casual "I don't bet."

Right. Of course. Duuuuuuuhhhh...

"I ask questions too," and boy did he ever, "but I know when not to ask too, kinda need to do that to stay alive sometimes." And that was not HIS theory, that's what he'd been told by professionals, so it was all legit. It was probably in a book too, so Thornton might've known.

Zeke shrugged as Thornton questioned his word choice. "I don't think so, but I can see why others would." Like the whole outside of it would totes look creepy and weird and even scary or just ODD to muggles. So yeah, CREEPY old castle it was. Especially considering things in this castle MOVED by themselves, that's the kinda things they put in muggle horror movies.

...

And THAT response had him frowning. "My theory is legit, I've done research," he added.

Thornton looked at the boy and blinked. Repeatedly. Stay... alive? Sure, he'd been scolded once or twice for asking a question at the wrong time, or using a question as a way to be, as his mother called it, fresh. But.. alive?

He didn't know how to respond to that. So he didn't. But he was silent a long few moments.

But back to the passage ways. "Research?" Thornton asked, a smile pulling on the edge of his lips. "It would be foolish for me to bet against you." His eyes ventured back up to the ceiling, bright as they scanned the stone. "What kind of research?"

Awkward Ravenclaw be awkward. Why? He didn't know, but alas, he didn't care. He was right in saying that questions were all well and good, but ask the wrong ones, or the wrong person and... well, you'd best have your affairs in order.

Of course, trust a Ravenclaw to be interested in RESEARCH. Yes he'd done some. And yes it WOULD be foolish indeed. "I'm a good one to back as far as living and being covert is concerned," he informed matter of factly. Because secret rooms had epic spy stuff written all over it. "All sorts of research, internet and books mostly," but he'd also spoken to people, not that they were any help. Useless really.

"Especially considering this is a SCOTTISH castle." See? Did he SEE the significance of that?

Weird Gryffindor was weird. What was all this business about alive and living? And now covert stuff? But, it didn't really matter, he supposed, because there were things to find out about the castle.

Thornton frowned at the mention of the internet. He'd heard the word, but had absolutely no idea what it meant. He knew it was something to do with muggles and these things they carried around with them, but seeing as he was never permitted to interact with them, venture into town near them, or really do anything like them, Thornton was ignorant on all matters muggle-technological. He'd have to pay more attention to his muggle studies text, he reasoned.


"I'm Welsh." Thornton said finally, and shrugged. "Dunno much about Scottish castles." Unless... "Well, I guess maybe a little about Macbeth, but that's it."

Zeke was perfectly in his element. Anything that involved discovery and adventure and mystery and STUFF was right up his alley. Thornton only added fuel to his fire. He was feeling SMART and he was talking to a Claw, this was AWESOME.

"I dunno about... McBeth?... but I know a bit about Scottish castles and that architecture stuff." And now Thornton was in for a real treat. A REAL treat. He about to be educated, Zeke Rogers style. The dude had better be prepared to be amazed. "See, the Scottish had this thing with their ceilings, like... a fetish thing... they liked decorating them with different plasters and like the whole vaulted ceilings too, but one of the other things they liked to do, was build in hidden rooms, or hidden corridors that would lead to hidden rooms. If you pressed on ceiling panels in the right places, you'd uncover the secrets behind it." And so, see, in a BIIIGGG castle like THIS, who knew what hidden secrets were above and below them!

"I'm convinced one of these stones would be the key to a secret room." Yep.

Were they allowed to fly brooms inside? It technically wouldn't be for sport reasons. So no crazy witch/wizard person to come and kill them for it, right?

Thornton listened intently, partially wishing he were set up to take notes, because this architecture lesson was truly fascinating.

He moved his gaze from Zeke back up to the ceiling as he spoke, considering the logistics of testing this theory. Clearly secret passages were a thing in this school, what with the chamber of secrets and the obviously closed or collapsed tunnels. So, obviously many had been found and dealt with, but it seemed probable that some had not yet been.

"It seems likely that you're right..." he said, finally, bringing his gaze back down to the Gryffindor. "But how can we test your theory?"

Surely levitating someone up there was out of the question...