Spirit Room
 

For Aryan/Ali <3 (and crashers are welcome)
 

We are so crashing....Hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Miraculously Emmie hadn't gotten teased yet for running out of the Great Hall in tears after her sorting, but she didn't doubt that everybody still knew about it. This castle was a grapevine of gossip, and Emmie wasn't sure if she liked that everyone gossiped about her. Finally she had some time over after classes so she figured she'd go down to the dungeons to see where auntie Amelia had her office and classroom.

What Emmie hadn't expected though was that her pink pygmypuff Laila would get spooked by a gigantic rat, and run off just as they had gotten down to the dungeon level. The rat had given her quite a scare too if she was being honest since it had been huge and she hadn't liked the sight of its big teeth. "Laila! Laila!" Emmie called out as she searched left and right and up and down for her pet as she walked forwards in the corridor. Up ahead she spotted a blonde girl that she had a few classes with. "Hi Emma! Have you seen a very pink pygmypuff run by?"

While Emma was waiting for Aryan to arrive, what she hadn't expected was for the overreactive ravenclaw girl from their year to arrive whining about a missing pygmy puff?? She hadn't really interacted with Emmie much other than polite greetings in lessons but the girl seemed like a complainer and Emma wasn't really on board with that. (but being Emma, she wasn't going to cast too much judgement just yet)

Fortunately Aryan showed up moments later, gesturing to the spirit room as a place that Laila went. She shook her head at Emmie, "No, but are you sure a pygmy puff is down here, Emmie? This kind of seems like the last place one would find such a creature. Where was the last place you had seen her?"

"hey Ary, suppose we need light ... what's the spell Professor Liu said ... Loomis?" She probably ought to pay attention to things like that but who knew when such things would be mentioned!? lessons were long and her attention span was not!

Emmie knew just by looking over at Emma that the other girl wasn't thrilled that she was there, and that she probably thought that Emmie just caused trouble. Well it wasn't her fault that she was bad at hiding her emotions thank you very much or that luck hadn't exactly followed her the first few weeks of school. Trying her best not to huff in reponse Emmie responded patiently to Emma's question. "Yes, I'm sure my pygmypuff is down here, and she might just as well have run under that locked door. My pygmypuff was spooked by a gigantic rat you see as we were going down to see my auntie, Professor Adara for some tea." Emma and Aryan must know that Prof Adara's office was located in the dungeons.

"Its called Lumos!" Emmie chimed in matter of factly with a glance between Aryan and Emma as she watched the other two start pulling out their wands to go into the locked room. Without thinking about what rules they might be breaking she asked them "Can I come with you guys to see if my pygmypuff is hiding in the locked room?" If she was right then this was the spirit room, and that made a chill go up her spine.

you two! <3
 

Bryony and Ally!
 

The Spirit room was not a domain that she often ventured into, but Vera had simply been wandering the castle and found her way down into the dungeons. There wasn't THAT much she could do in the dungeons but since she was here, she wasn't quite ready to venture aaaaall the way back up to Gryffindor Common Room or her dormitory. And the slug pit had certainly lost it's charm after she and Maria had taken a dive into it, with absolutely NO beauty benefits like she'd thought she'd get.

Was she still a bit sour about that? Only a little.

Pushing open the door, she poked her head in and took a glance around. "Helloooooo? Hope I'm not bothering a death day." Except maybe she WAS hoping a little bit she was. She heard Sir Nick's celebrations were some of the best. She wondered if they ever did any OTHER type of celebrations though. Did ghosts still celebrate the days of their birth too? Maybe she should ask one of them.

+ an Emma mention!
 

When it came to adventuring, no room went unexplored. Even the dank, dusty, mildewy ones that looked like they hadn't been cleaned since.. well.. since ever. It sort of matched a lot of the rest of the castle lastly in terms of items being left about and cobwebs clinging to the windows and walls. Only, this was different. There was something about it that immediately gave the young first year the feeling that the room was meant to be this way, and that she shouldn't do a thing about it. Though she wanted to! Some color wouldn't be a bad thing!

Perhaps she should ask a friend what they thought. Maybe even recruit someone to help her! That was the thought happening in her head as she reached the spirit room, a huge smile tugging at her lips when she heard a familiar voice coming from inside the room. "A death day? Who's having a death day?" she asked, having only heard the last few words of what Vera had said.

Bryony had the right idea - no nook or cranny should go unexplored. The castle was huge and there was SO many hidden things here and there. And only seven years to find them all! So taking advantage of going here and there and here again while she had the chance, before studying and coursework got way harder, was absolutely the correct way to go about things. Not that Ve would have expected anything different from the youngest Paton.

Considering that's how she did things too. Which she was also very literally working on now, as Vera moved about the room looking this way and that to see if any of the ghosts were hanging out just hidden out of view. She had just about determined she was in fact alone in the room, when the voice sounded beside her and caused her to jump a bit. Though that was soon followed by a giggle as she spotted who had joined her. "Unfortunately, apparently no one today. I was hopefully there was an event to crash. What brings you down here?"

See, Bryony knew that Vera was smart. The fact that she understood how important it was to explore and have time for adventures proved that. What she really liked about the older girl though, was that she was not only fun to be around, much like her own sisters when they had time for her (yes she knew they had their own students as well this year...) but she also didn't question every single thing that Bry did. It was nice to not always be immediately suspected of something.

Oops! Bry giggled a little herself when she heard the older girls laughter at making her jump. If there was anywhere to spook someone accidentally, this was it. "Aaww, well that's no fun." If there wasn't anything happening here, what were they meant to do in this room? "I'm exploring and I can't leave any of the rooms out." She could miss something that way and she didn't want to take any chances. "Do you come in here a lot?"

Bryony, bless her sweet sweet soul, was in the minority of people who would have classified Ve in a ‘smart category’. And truthfully, she herself would have sided with the other side from the first year. But that didn’t make her any less appreciative. And as for suspecting Bryony of doing things? Well.. it was probably a given the first year WAS but that wasn’t really her business to rain on the snakette’s parade. Vera had been blissfully left to her own devices as a first year, except for when she had partners in crime. Why shouldn’t the youngest Paton have the same experience?

Though if she wanted an older person to accompany, she’d be happy to tag along for the more dangerous excursions. She wasn’t as useful as Atlas had been, BUT she’d still go so far as to say her adventures with the older Gryffindor were her tops.

That was truly the problem - without a party there wasn’t much TO do in this room. Unless they wanted to hold a seance or something. This seemed like the proper location to do that if someone was in the spooky or talk to the dead and gone type of mood. “Good plan. There’s a lot of things everywhere to see before you graduate. And there’s no starting too early!” Who knows, maybe Bry would be the one to uncover a NEW way out of the castle. “Only when I can’t think of anywhere else. I try to not frequent the dungeons/basement area a lot though. The only reason to HAVE to come down here is Potions.” And her facial expression, nose scrunched in a ‘blech’ type of look, told all it needed to about how she felt about that particular lesson. “Have a favorite hangout you’ve found yet in the castle?”

In Bryony's defense on this, there were many types of 'smart'. There was also the very simple fact that the first year didn't know how well or not well, Vera did in her lessons. The same could be said for Bry herself if they were being honest. And that wasn't for a lack of trying. Try she did. Studying too. There was the focusing issue still. As well as the not always being able to remain still problem. These things were all a work in progress. Some days better than others... each lesson with varying results.

So these little excursions of hers, they were very much needed. Normally she did her best to drag Aryan along on them but was it just her or was he going off on his own a lot more lately? Nah, it couldn't be. He wouldn't leave her behind like that. Anyhow, she would be happy as a baby niffler than just found its first shiny should Vera want to ever come along with her!

"I want to see and do it all! There's lots of places to find and explore." She wanted to uncover all the hidden mysteries that the castle held within its walls. Bry giggled. "But there's lots of good places down here." The face Ve made about Potions only had the blonde giggling even more. "I'm not great at potions either. It's not as fun as getting to climb and run around." Sitting still chopping up ingredients and mixing things was difficult. "Ummm, the charms cabana is nice and the kitchen but I like being outside mostly." Anywhere the creatures were.

She always failed to consider there were different types of intelligence, though… if she had it was quite possible Vera still wouldn’t have said she was good in any particular category. Maybe social intelligence? She seemed to do okay with people and interactions, but maybe that was because she just kind of plowed through talking to anyone - whether they wanted her to or not.

Vera would be more than happy to go along with her any time she wanted. She still had a list of things to do on her inherited bucket list, and while she had internally marked it as a Gryffindor legacy, that didn’t mean she couldn’t share with her favorite tiny snakette. Maybe she could drag Logan and invite Scooter and Vasco along as well and just make it a whole sibling affair. That would have seemed appropriate too.

“That’s the right spirit!” She grinned at her, giving her an exaggerated thumbs up. “Have you gone to the Portraits yet too and just picked their brains? Some of them are kind of rubbish but… there are a few that let slip some pretty interesting tidbits to follow up on in the castle. Even if it ends up being nothing,” Which was often her experience, “A little bit of a mystery to try to solve is fun!” At the mentioning of there being a lot of fun things, Ve raised an eyebrow at her. “And what have you found fun down here?” And common room didn’t count! She was forever jealous of how cool the Slytherin common room sounded. “Agreed. The lessons where there’s a lot more movement are better. Like DADA and Care of Magical Creatures.” There wasn’t much reason to just sit in either of those classes. “Outside is definitely the best! Do you spend a lot of time helping your mom in the barns?”

Hmm, what about the way to always find adventures? And Vera always knew how to look good, now that required thought of some kind, yes? Oh, oh! She also liked Bry so that was very very smart! None of this was likely the smart that Vera was thinking of buuuuuuuut it all counted in this girl's mind. So, you're welcome.

Bryony would absolutely be up for this. Any day, anytime. The thing was.. would Logan? Then again, yes Vera, ask him! Bry wanted her to. Cause chances were very very high that he would accept any invites to do anything from Vera then he would coming from his little sister. They probably both could ask him to hangout on the very same day and she would be told no cause he had to study or something like that and Vera would get a yes. Whatever though as long as some sort of adventure was being had. She could always bring Aryan along too.

The little blonde giggled. "Not on purpose. I won't stop them from talking to me though. If they have stuff to say, I'll listen." The older girl was definitely right with that, so many things could be learned if she spoke to the right portrait. Or at the very least heard the correct gossip. "Besides lots of dust and bugs? The kitchen is down here." It was super close like it was for the Hufflepuffs but it was close enough. "Yeeeeah! If all my lessons were like that.. I probably wouldn't need to ask Ary so many questions all the time." She must drive that boy crazy with her constant pestering, it was a good thing that he adored her. "Of course! In the barn, the pasture or with the reptiles. There's lots of creatures to help with."

See, and it was exactly that type of optimism and ingenuity that made the petite blonde one of Vera's favorite underclassmen. She might have even been able to go as far as to say Bryony was her favorite first year, though she had to admit the more she interacted with Aryan as well the higher he climbed with the youngest Paton. Which seemed fitting regardless, considering the pair were so close.

While Ve wouldn't assume that a question from her would result in higher chance of an affirmative answer than his sister, she wouldn't mind being the one to ask either if Bryony thought that'd work best. The idea was actually a fun one in her mind too - she knew the sisters got along, and obviously Logan and her brother did too considering best friends. Actually, in the situation if you really looked at it SHE'D be the odd man out of the group - though that didn't really bother her.

"You're so polite." She replied, a fond smile. "Just be careful of the redheaded one. She's kind of feisty and doesn't really have anything important to say. Though she certainly THINKS she does." Her eyes rolled at this, reminding of her only interaction in which she'd given the portrait any time of day. And immediately regretted it. Ah, yes, the dust and bugs were certainly plentiful - even more so this term than any other before. "Kitchens is a good point. Kitchens is always worth the long trek." Though she'd noticed too there was also a whole lot more of making her own snacks. Which was okay but... she missed some of Tinka's treats. "I'm sure he doesn't mind sharing information with you." She replied, a small wave of her hand dismissing the implied idea that Bryony could actually bother her housemate. "I think the reptiles is the only place I'm really good with helping in." She knew what she liked!

While Bry didn't know all of that, she wouldn't mind once tiny bit sharing the spotlight with Ary. Anyone else, yes, but Aryan, no. Even if he pushed himself ahead of her and took place as Vera's favorite firstie, Bry would allow it... because it was him. Indeed her level of affection for him was like none other.

It could work out to be a really fun time! And if they wanted to even things out more, Ve could always invite another friend along? Her bestie maybe or something like that?

Bry giggled. Most of the time she was polite. Or at the very least she tried to be. "Redheaded one. Got it." Right away she was making a mental note of that and filing the information away for further notice. Sometimes though, unimportant things could very well BE important. Her older siblings tended to think that she never had anything important to say cause she was younger than them all. "Uh-huh! Gotta have all the snacks!" she nodded her head quickly, grinning widely. "Ary? Nah, we tell each other everythings. I've known him since forever." So sharing their notes wasn't an issue. They had always helped one another and that was no different. "I've grown up around them all so I'm used to helping out with them." There had never been a shortage of creatures in their home. It was just a matter of what their mama would be bringing home from work with and how long that creature would be staying.

The first years and their friendship was really too precious for words. Vera loved her own best friends more than she could put into words, but that didn't mean she hadn't been exempt from moments of jealousy when it came to them. Mainly her and Sia, considering she seemed to often have a bad habit of comparing herself to the blonde so often. Perhaps it was because they shared so many things or maybe it was just the amount of regard she had for Sia. Whatever it was, she couldn't go so far as to say the fifth years were as pure as the first.

It was probably true that even the red headed portrait could say something important here and there, but she was just still feeling bitter based on the previous comments. "Snacks are the most important meal of the day, really." The real MVP of getting all the growing teenagers through the days at Hogwarts and outside of. It occurred to her between the two comments from the petite blonde of where the connection from the families might have come. "Does your mom do work with Aryan's family's reserve too? Was that how you guys had first met?" Or maybe the parents had been at Hogwarts together or something. Her Papa didn't have those type of connections, so she often forgot about them.

This may or may not be true. When it came to besties, Aryan was it for her. Friends she has more than she could count. Close friends, sure. But besties.. no. There was only one. Sorry not sorry. That's simply how it was. For anyone that didn't understand, well.. that was on them. They had been together their entire lives, no one else fit in with that. Maybe she just didn't understand things, or maybe she didn't care to have anyone else as her number one.

"I can totally agree with that. What's your most favoritest snack ever?" This was always an important question for many reasons. Either they had something in common or they didn't. It also came in handy as good gifts depending on what it was. Bry smiled brightly and nodded. "Uh-huh! She does all the check-ups for the griffs and takes care of them should anything happen too." Cue some little giggles now. "Mama and Ary's daddy's all knew each other from Hogwarts. Uncle Adi and mama were like brother and sister, super close. I've ALLLLLWAYS known Ary since the day hims came home to live with his daddy's." So since FOREVER!