The Portraits
 

The portraits.

Noelle tended to get some good information from them once or twice.... or a few several times. Okay, so she used them alot.

Now was another of the times.
Noelle made her way to the first floor after breaskfast. She needed to know a little more about some possible professors.

Tempted to say, mirror mirror on the wall, she faced some of the portraits. There werent too many people around. "My my! Look at all you bright and shiny faces!" Noelle started, already trying to brown nose. She wanted good information right? Of course, some portraits were looking a little dusty. ahem. "You all look very shiny! and so well kept! your frames are so beautiful today!" Okay... so she was laying it on thick. But she needed goooood information here.

Now.. just to wait for a response. See what kind of mood some portraits were in, so she could see which 'cards' to play.

......

As he rounded the corner, Dalton couldn't help but blink a few times. Just to make sure what he was seeing wasn't just some form of illusion. Of course, it wasn't until the girl mentioned 'frames' that he realised she was talking to the portraits.

Until then he'd been sure she was talking to thin air.

And now he wasn't sure exactly which was better. Yes, he knew the portraits spoke and moved, had noticed that over the past five years, but never had he witnessed someone trying to engage them in conversation. Most of the time he found them to be frightfully annoying and fairly presumptuous.

He cleared his throat loudly. "What are you doing?"

Come on portraits, speak to me. Tell the fairest of them all what she wants to hear.
Wait.... this wasnt a fairy tale.

Noelle's eyes were caught up in the portraits that she hadn't noticed noticed someone behind her. ... Bugger. She almost jumped when he cleared his throat and asked what she was doing.

Lie

"Oh... hello. Im just... making sure the portraits are well taken care of is all. " She wouldnt let him in on her little secret that they were good information givers. They watched the halls. Stood unnoticed alot. Really unappreciated, she thought.

My my. What a loud voice. It seemed that way to old Augustus Flume. Even though he was rather old he did have an excellent sense of hearing.

"Hush, child. Why all the noise and sweet talk? Surely you're up to something.'' Augustus peered suspiciously at the girl. ''You there. This is precisely what I am interested in knowing.'' His comments were now directed to the lad joining the girl. Augustus absently cleaned a spot on the cauldron beside him. He was waiting on an answer.

Dalton raised an eyebrow slightly at the girls response. Most of him thought that there was no way that someone was checking that the portraits were okay, but then... he'd met a large percentage of increasingly odd people around this school, and would he be surprised to meet another after six years?

Probably not. But still, talking to the portraits was officially Something Else.

His head whipped around as the portraits began to talk back. Or one of them did, at least, addressing Dalton in a way that made his eyebrow raise higher. He turned back to the girl and shrugged.

Elsa loved the first floor corridor. She spent part of her free time hanging with the portraits, studying their brushes and figures. She loved to try and copy them into her sketchpad and she secretly thought they loved the attention.

She stepped into the corridor with ease and looked ove at some of the portraits, saying hello and good morning left and right, sketchpad in her hand, magic drawing quill tucked behind her left ear.

Colt thought to give it a go and look through the portraits. He heard they could talk and he never got the chance to see them fully. Surely he saw some in passing on his way to lessons but to fully engage them in conversation would be a new thing to him. As he looked up and admired in awe at how many portraits there were, he bumped into someone.

OMFFHHHH

"Whaa..?" he asked before he saw who was there. He was stunned to see Elsa there. He hadn't seen her in ages. "Woah look what the cat dragged in. How have you been?" Seriously where had she been? Under the cupboard somewhere? Now his curiosity got the best of him. "Why do you have a sketchpad with ya?" Usually he was the one doodling but I guess Elsa was an artist too.

Accidental doble post.

"Why, hello, dearies!'' Violetta stated. Were they here to talk to her about her? Violetta adored it when any one wanted to talk to her about her. She was rather bored and she had spied the girl carrying her sketchpad and pencil.

"Dearie, are you looking for someone to draw? If you are, you've found your woman.''

Elsa's mindless dreaming was interrupted by a someone bumping into her. "Merlin watch where- Oh Colt!" she cut her brisk short answer when she saw exactly who had bumped into her. Oh HELLO puberty. Colt was looking good.

She grinned like the chesire cat at his remark. She supposed she had been sort of MIA hadn't she? "I guess I have been keeping to my self lately, other than that I'm doing great! How about you?" she asked curiously.

She laughed softly, removing the quill from behind her ear and making a ticking motion towards Colt "I like to come here to draw the portraits. I really upped my drawing game this summer. What are you doing here, I didn't take you for a portrait fellow!".

She flipped a few pages of her sketchpad until she found an empty one when the portrait of a woman she knew was named Violetta spoke to her. She smiled politely "I'd love to madam Violetta" and wiggling her eyebrows she added "or I could draw you if you're interested, maybe I could even get someone to pay me for it afterwards" she said to Colt. Yeah he had a small fan club back at the Slytherin's common room, she was sure.

Two things happened at once.

He heard one of the portraits talking and he turned his head to know where the voice was coming from, then he heard Elsa talking to him. He grinned at her and he tilted his head at her expression. It seemed like she was staring at him wide eyed for no apparent reason. Weiirrrddd. He seemed to have that effect on girls. He didn't understand why. This is what he gets for being observant. Back to answering his fellow slytherin. "Oh right I have been doing good. I have been keeping to myself too but I am exploring the castle because why not? It is always so much fun. I see you found the portraits room. Check that off my exploration list." he smirked. He was still looking around the room. "Did you go to any lessons yet?" he was curious.

Yeah what was he doing here. "Well surprise here, I am actually a drawer too. I like to sketch landscapes. I don't really sketch people though so I might give it a try.." he shrugged. Maybe Elsa could help him out. Woah woah she could draw him? "Hold on I might melt your sketchbook there with my beauty.." he smirked with his joke. He could see her blushing earlier so he knew he had some effect on her.

He talked to Madame Violetta and said, "Hello madame. What did you do during Hogwarts?" He was curious to know what these portraits did during their time period.

Yesss! The portraits were speaking! This one was a little cranky though. He needed to go back to bed and wake up happier. Him and his cauldron. "I'm up to nothing." She said smiling sweetly. She sure wasnt about to ask them things with this boy standing here.

She did see his astonishment as the portrait talked to him. There was a slight smirk.. or more so of a knowing smile. She knew what it was like to not expect them to talk back.

"I think the portrait is talking to you" It would be rude not to answer.

Elsa choke on her own tongue at Colt's smirk and busied herself with her sketchpad again, looking down trying to hide her blush. Merlin boys were confusing, ever since she started noticing them she had been gifted with all sorts of weird interactions and awkward moments. "Yeah, this castle never ceases to amaze that's for sure. Every time you turn a corner you might find a different thing. Were you there for that mess with the pixies?" she doodled a pair of winged creatures in the corner of her book "I've been to a few, Potions and whatnot. Still my favorite lesson. You?"

She heard his cheeky response about melting her sketchbook and snorted "I'd like to see that" she gave him a small smirk of her own, looking at him from under her lashes quickly and looking in the direction of Madame Violetta curiously. She too found it interesting know more about the portraits, so she looked at the Madame with expectation.

Violetta wiggled excitedly. "Certainly, dearie! I would love that actually. Surely many would be clambering to purchase a drawing of me. You'll enjoy many a galleons!'' Vi didn't care if she came off as snobby. She was quite proud of herself. "How does my hair look?" She patted her hair neatly. Vi hoped there were no loose strands around.

"Oh, my dearie,'' Vi addressed the boy. "I was a great musician. I loved to play various instruments. Do you play any?''

"I would like to think that I am speaking to you both,'' Augustus grumbled in a slightly bad temper. He was settling down for a snooze but had been unfortunately disturbed.

Mr. Flume can join us if he wishes
 

"Augustus Flume? Augustus?" Kitty called out as she walked past several portraits. She hadn't seen him in a long time and was really missing him. It seemed like ages ago that she had first befriended him in History of Magic. She really should have visited more often.

The Gothic prefect spotted another girl (Brooklyn, older than her) lurking nearby. There was no one else around and it looked like if she were looking for a portrait also. Or maybe she was looking for something else. Perhaps Kitty could assist her.

"Hey Brooklyn," Kitty called out cheerfully to her.

A snoozing Augustus jerked his head out of the snooze he had been taking. "Hello? Is someone calling my name?'' the old man asked sleepily. Augustus yawned and stretched. He peered around. "Kitty Valentine! What a pleasant surprise!'' Augustus smiled and waved at her and at her friend.


"Oh my dearie! The violin is quite right. Such an extraordinaire violinist I was. You should hear me play at concerts. Your mind would have been blown away.'' How Violet missed those days. How she missed them so much. "The guitar does count. I find that string instruments are the absolute best. Would either of you agree?''

Still watching her cat and generally just thinking, Brooklyn had found herself leaning against the wall, between a couple of the portraits. She hadn’t spoken, nor was she exactly planning on saying anything. Her questions were more of the type that she expected answers without the need to prod for them, and besides, she wasn’t the type to just go around advertising her presence. Yelling out and expecting a response. As such, she’d rinsed her gaze from the Bengal cat still chasing invisible things near the floor at the sound of someone walking up and calling out a name. She would have thought a prefect would know better than to go around calling out names randomly.

Plus, it seemed the girl was electing to act as if she knew her. “Hello,” she’d said dryly, glancing back down again to make sure Tywin hadn’t run off before she’d suddenly brought her blue eyes back up as another sleepy voice joined the conversation or lack of it.

Apparently being rude occasionally got people somewhere. She’d gotten up from her position against the wall, anyhow, and given the portrait a nod. She wouldn’t have expected being roused from sleep as a pleasant surprise, but then some people were strange. She wasn’t about to bother herself with questioning it.