First Floor: Moving Staircases

[Wilber Winterbottom]

To get to History of Magic, or Muggle Studies, one will have to make use of the first floor corridor. Getting here is usually relatively easy if you're coming from one of the lower levels of the castle as you need only deal with the moving staircases for just a few minutes. Rugs with intricate patterns have been placed on the floor to soften your footsteps so that any learning going on inside the classrooms isn't disturbed.

Make sure you are not dilly dallying on your way to or from class. This corridor in particular is often times filled with students during the school day and a few professors pointing those who have managed to get lost in the right direction. Various doors flank this corridor, so make sure to memorize which of the portraits are outside of the classrooms you should be entering. And don't freak out when the corridor comes to a sudden halt -- the door at the end of the hallway will take you outside to the stone bridge and then to the rest of the first floor over in the next tower. Just keep moving!

[The Narrator]

Polished stone steps and ornate railings, pieces of the castle constantly buzzing with life as students frequently traversed them on their way to and from lessons or common rooms. It was not uncommon for the staircases to get a bit mucked up every now and then, but this was a curious scene indeed.

Upon the steps and landings, bleached out footprints sprawled in every direction, each step seemed to weave a story of its own and yet the sheer volume of prints made it impossible to discern their origin. Along the bannisters, a chaotic tapestry of handprints in shades of gray added to the monochromatic conundrum, the impressions layered one atop another, creating a ghostly trail.

It was as if a gathering of shadows had danced through the castle and held a soirée upon the staircases and none had bothered to cleanup after.

[Zoe]

Beauden's pace slowed as he descended the polished stone steps, his eyes drawn to the eerie spectacle before him. His brow furrowed, and his usual carefree attitude was temporarily overshadowed by curiosity. The bleached footprints stretched out like a puzzle he hadn't asked to solve, and the chaotic layering of handprints gave the impression of something wild having swept through. He leaned over the railing, fingers grazing the gray smudges, half-expecting them to vanish under his touch, but they didn't. They stayed there, ghostly and silent.

"Oi... What's all this about?" he muttered to passersby, running a hand through his tousled hair. This was different. Weird. And Beauden loved weird.

He squatted down near one of the larger footprints, squinting at the bleached-out edges, as the staircases continued to shift in their usual erratic pattern. "Bleach charms maybe?" he murmured aloud. "Or some prank gone a bit too far?"