She was supposed to keep going down...right? Hayden had lost track of how many staircases she had gone down and, come to think of it, which floor she had started on in the first place. It wasn't her fault the school was so big. And even though it probably was her own fault that she was hopelessly lost, she wasn't owning up to that either. There was probably a flaw in the system somewhere before her. Maybe it was the founders' faults for making the school so big. Or maybe it was the headmistress' fault for not handing out maps to the tiny first years to help navigate through the huge school. Yep, definitely not her fault.

Somewhere (hopefully close to her common room) Hayden stumbled across a wall lined with portraits. They looked nice? (Hopefully) Maybe one of them could help point her in the right direction? (Hopefully)

"Um...excuse me." Her voice came out tentative, but she cleared her throat and tried again because only the few portraits closest to her would have been able to hear, and her results would be more accurate if she had a larger sample. "Will anyone tell me where I am? And, um, how to get to my common room." Hopefully someone had heard her. If not a portrait, at least an older student walking by who would be willing to help her out of her current predicament. (Hopefully)