First Floor: Stone Bridge

[Wilber Winterbottom]

You will find at the end of the corridor on the first floor is a door that will reveal the Stone Bridge when opened. While it may seem like an odd place for a bridge, do note that it provides easy access to the next tower nearby and makes moving around the castle significantly easier. One will need to use this structure to get to Defence Against the Dark Arts, unless, of course, you are departing from there and need to get to the moving staircases.

It is not uncommon for this bridge to be a meeting place for students because of its prime location in between towers. It also provides a nice view of the viaduct and part of the lake down below. During the fall and spring seasons, this small bridge is a pleasant place to pause for a bit of fresh air before heading back indoors to fill your brain with more information. Though it is is a different matter entirely when it is winter, which is why you will be advised to wear your thicker robes and a scarf when trekking across this bridge in spite of the torches that are lit along the way.

[Emzily]

So far, his seventh year was BUSY. Solomon Duck didn’t have the most booming social life in the world, but trying to balance that on top of his classes was becoming exhausting. Contrary to battling daily thoughts of not being good enough, Solomon was actually working hard to better himself scholastically, and was even studying outside of classes. It was a miracle, but it was HARD.

Today, however, was a rest day where he had nothing planned and was heading nowhere, seeing no one. After doing his rounds around the grounds, where he loved to spend his time, the Slytherin had ended up peering over the stone bridge, taking in some of the views of said outdoors.

Nothing could ruin his content mood right now.

But he was also TIRED.

Hence his current state of dramatic yawning.

[Lottiepot]

If Aurora had spent as much time in the library last term as she had exploring the various locations around the Hogwarts grounds, she might not have scraped through her exams by the skin of her teeth. Alas she had not learned her lesson and instead of starting her homework like she should have been, she was in the midst of a stroll between the parapets.

..or she was trying to had she not spotted the very familiar site of a best boy friend whose very presence left a nagging feeling at the pit of her stomach.

There was a very real possibility that she had been avoiding seeing him for the first couple of days, or maybe it wasn’t him specifically but them. After their little heart-to-heart last term it had come as rather a shock, a BIG one actually, and the Ravenclaw couldn’t help but feel a little betrayed by the whole situation.

Deciding that avoiding him any longer was futile and that she hated the trio not trio-ing, the sixteen-year-old traversed the last few steps between them. “I’ve heard that teenage boys need 10 hours of sleep every night” she added rather helpfully to the obvious state of tiredness Solly was in whilst joining him in peering over the ledge on her tippy toes.

[Emzily]

Relaxing after his yawn, Solomons eyes adjusted as he recognised his friend. He felt an array of emotions upon seeing her, but mostly gladness, and he smiled at her. “10 hours wouldn’t be nearly enough.” Sometimes he surprised himself how long he could sleep in without being disturbed.

Of course, the other emotions came flooding in seconds later. Feelings after the train incident, how they have avoided each other since, thoughts of their conversation last term. The revelations of their heart to heart were something he thought about often, though was something he had pushed to the back of his head since summer. He truly hated himself that he had let Aurora in on those thoughts, terrified that she would tell Sage.

Not that his feelings for Sage were untrue. At all. But his history of crushes would perhaps have her questioning him. No more than he was questioning himself, that is.

Feeling flushed suddenly, Solomon looked back out to the view of the grounds, desperate to carry on avoiding the subject. “Surprised you didn’t carry on walking.” The Slytherin said lowly.

[Lottiepot]

Don’t ask her where any of her own energy came from because it certainly wasn’t from hours of uninterrupted sleep. It could’ve been the copious amount of sugar she and Anna had consumed on the train and in the days after. “Don’t let the Professors catch you napping in their lessons. Although I suppose that detention would be a great opportunity to catch up on a rest.” Dependent on who was running it of course, she couldn’t imagine some of them being lenient enough to allow that.

Ouch.

Aurora might’ve been putting a little distance between them but that was only because the revelation stung and she found it best to ignore her feelings than to dwell on them. Maybe it was more of a case of not knowing what to say, it was all quite foreign to the chatterbox who would usually be able to talk to a brick wall and who hated silence and alone time and ultimately it highlighted how alone and yet very not alone she was.

..and in a way it also felt like the special moment they had shared had been a lie.

“But the view is so pretty from up here” she lowered her heels, folding her arms across the railing in front of her and resting her chin atop. She knew what he really meant but would be disregarding any hostility.

[Emzily]

Solomon snorted, “An impossible task, given how boring every single class is.” It was true that he didn’t really excel in anything that was above average. Nor did he have much interest in anything other than learning wand work and defence skills, his concentration seeming to dwindle with each passing term. Sometimes he dreamt about retiring to Knockturn Alley, living his life prowling and sneering at every person he came across.

A miserable thought amongst many.

Looks like Aurora was still avoiding the conversation that needed to be had, and Solomon initially didn’t mind that much, but really he just wanted to go back to normal with his friend. “Well I’ll take that as a compliment,” the Slytherin finally looked in her direction to offer a ludicrous pose, before sighing heavily to show his frustration over the whole thing.

He’d managed to patch things up with Anna quite easily, but it felt different with Aurora…

“Can we… talk?” He managed to bravely ask. This was NOT his strong suit.

[Lottiepot]

Aurora couldn’t agree any less with that sentiment, nothing about Hogwarts was boring but there was a lot going on that she didn’t understand. She tried in every lesson, got lost in the process in many but even those she couldn’t claim were ‘boring’ just because she was too stupid to figure it out. “I don’t think that anything that involves magic could be boring, maybe complicated but even magical runes have their appeal and perhaps we just don’t understand them. Besides, the Professors try their best to make things fun!” Historical re-enactments, constant practicals and bribery in the form of stuffed toys seemed to be in favour.

If it was any consolation, Aurora was quite certain that Solly could achieve greatness if he just set his mind to it. He was a Slytherin after all and weren’t they supposed to be ambitious?

She also considered him far too much of a teddy bear to survive life in Knockturn Alley.

What was assumed to be a playful interaction had clearly flown straight over the Ravenclaw’s head from the relatively blank expression on her face at the pose. “What are you doing?” Her lips twitched into an amused smile. She wanted to comment about her talking about the view across the grounds but well.. Solomon WAS pretty too and she did appreciate his face.

Did.

…Anyway, the change in conversation towards something obviously much more serious was not appreciated. “We are talking,” she responded naively.

[Emzily]

“Things are boring when you’re no good at them, you wouldn’t understand that.” He had accepted this and spoke with humour in his tone. Potions was about the only exception, as she knew, but Solomon could barely mount a broomstick without internally freaking out. Such a sad excuse for a wizard. Sheesh. He gave a curt nod, silently agreeing that the professors did do their fair share of trying to keep them interesting.

“What?” He cocked an eyebrow, “This is just my face.” His expression returned to the silly little pose he was doing a moment ago, before breaking character and smirking.

We are talking.

He stared blankly at her as she was clearly trying to make this difficult and even more uncomfortable for him.

Well. Two could do that.

“Okay… well now that we are talking, can you tell me what I’ve done to upset you SO much that you can barely talk to me? Or even look at me?” His questions full of accusation and frustration. Solomon was afraid to hear the answer but he would have to admit that she was driving him a little insane..

[Lottiepot]

Well that was an utterly ridiculous statement and Solly only needed to look at Aurora’s grades to understand that there was a LOT that she wasn’t good at. “That’s silly. I failed Astronomy but I still appreciate it and I’m terrible at flying but I still think that watching people play is entertaining.” He wasn’t alone in that sentiment, Aurora too was awful on the broom and had dropped flying the second she was able to.

The Ravenclaws expression had been somewhat restrained for the early part of their conversation but the face pulling had drawn out a soft and genuine giggle that lasted a brief few moments. “It’s a great face” she complimented him.

Oh Merlin.

This was exactly why she DIDN’T want to ‘talk’ about anything and why the blonde often spent her time masking any feelings that she was having with the huge smile on her face. If Solomon was feeling uncomfortable then the squirm that she did, a sort of shift away from the Slytherin and an immediate drop of the head like a crup that was being scolded by her owner, was evidence enough that she was feeling rather out-of-sorts herself. “It’s not.. I’m not..” she started, suddenly losing the ability to string together a sentence without the threat of tears infiltrating her eyes. She HATED people being mad at her, she despised upsetting people or being the reason they had a frown on their face. “You just.. you could’ve told us.” Her voice came out small and croaky. “I thought we were in this together.”

[Emzily]

Solomon was too dense to think Aurora was bad at a subject, though it did make sense that everyone was bad at something. “You and I are very different then. I suck at flying, AND I hate watching Quidditch.” Solomon stated. Yes, it was purely out of frustration that he could never join in the fun, but that was his stubbornness shining through. Oh, how he would love to excel at such a beautiful sport.

All he could do was chuckle when she complimented him, however true that was, he just felt triumphant to have gotten Aurora to say such things when she wasn’t his biggest fan at the moment.

“Well…” he paused with his eyebrows frowned, “I was going to tell you, when I was ready. I was excited to tell you and I thought my best friends would be happy for me.” Obviously he didn’t need to clarify whether this was about him and Sage. That much was very clear. Memories flooded back of their conversation last term and Solomon could feel his head scrambling that he couldn’t make sense of anything anymore, his eyes beginning to sting a little.

He frowned even harder, frowned the coming tears away.

“It’s my business anyway. I don’t have to tell you anything that I don’t want to.” Aurora knew a lot about him, ironically more than anyone, so why couldn’t that suffice? It felt easier to turn to frustration as opposed to emotion right now, otherwise Solomon would be a blubbering mess on her shoulder.