So..Ella didn't particularly like the dungeons for reasons but she did have a spot in mind to clean and so the badger pulled her vacuum along as quietly as she could, heading towards the secret passage. She spent some time here reading or hiding or just talking about things with friends and she figured the passage hadn't been given a proper cleaning in a while. Best reason to go there now, right? Right.

Tap. "Vacavus!"

When the vacuum was going, Ella carefully entered the passage way and began vacuuming every nook and cranny, sucking up all the dirt and dust she could find. She wrinkled her nose as she worked, noting the smell. There wasn't much the vacuum could do about that, though. Sigh.

Pulling the vacuum along inside the winding passage was tough, y'know, but Ella managed. It was especially hard in the dark but at least she had her wand to help light the way. She continued to suck up everything in her path, even grabbing up a few stray bugs which made her frown. O___O She didn't mean to be a bug killer! MEEP!

And when she was finished, the blonde began her journey out of the passage and on to more cleaning adventures.

Being a seventh year meant that she HAD TO know all the places around the castle quite well. But somehow, Gwendolyn always seemed to have avoided the dungeons. She used to go this way only to find some of her Slytherin friends, when she went to classes or when she went to the Potions Lab. But ehh... she had no other reasons but those three to be there. So she seldom spent time there.

Hmm.

Things would have probably been different, had she been a Slytherin.

After a while, Gwendolyn found herself wandering along the corridor, getting closer and closer to some passage. Hey. She had been there before. But due to one annoying Slytherin she never got to the end of the passage. Gah. The dungeons were as creepy as ever, but that didn’t bother her. Not now. Not now when she was just too curious to find out where this passage led.

Heh. One curious Ravenclaw.

Well, Wade was on his free period so he decided to take a stroll around the castle after a break from his studying. Hmm.. he hadn't spent much time down here in the Dungeons before, other than for Potions. So he kept his casual speed walking with his hands in his pocket while lowly whistling.

..Hmm? Who was that..? Wade's brows furrowed as he squinted from afar as he saw a certain red-head go through what looked like a passage. He stopped his whistling to follow, maybe it led to some secret room. Heh.

As he approached closer, he smirked at once when he recognized her, "Ah..Gwen, nice seeing you again." He smiled at her from behind waiting till she turned before greeting. "So, where are you headed?" Maybe Gwen knew where this led and came here often, or was it her first time through here too. Well, Wade didn't know.. yet.

Gwendolyn kept walking... walking along the corridor, and attempting to figure out where it would probably lead... walking... until someone suddenly greeted her.

O___________o

Easily startled, the seventh year turned around and spotted Wade. Phew. Just Wade. ‘Hi’, she said, a bit surprised to actually see someone here. ‘I don’t really know’, the Ravenclaw said honestly. She had a few guesses as to where this passage could lead, but maybe she was wrong. So yes. Just stick to ‘I don’t know’.

Anyway-

‘What are you doing here?’ It wasn’t one of the most usual places where you would see someone, regardless of the house they were in. Probably even the Slytherins didn’t hang around this corridor a lot. So?

Cool, so it was Gwen. She looked a little surprised at to see him.. Then again, it had been a while since they last met. "Everything going okay?" He smiled back.

Hmm.. right. Guess it wasn't just Wade's first time exploring down in.. whatever this was in the dungeons. "I see." Wade shrugged when she asked him why he was here. "I was bored," Studying did that for him, somewhat easily. "and decided to go for a walk." Wade looked around in the corridor they were in. "So what do you think's at the end of this?"

Everything going okay? ‘I guess so...’, the seventh year replied. Erm. ‘How about you?’ Because she was not in the mood to talk about herself. ‘What have you been up to lately?’ Hmm. They hadn’t talked in a long time.

Gwen continued to walk along the corridor. But then she drew her attention back to Wade, as she heard the Hufflepuff ask something. ‘Hmm... I don’t know. Maybe some potions room?’ That was just a random guess. ‘Or maybe it just goes around the dungeons and ends somewhere around the main corridor?’ In other words, it could lead exactly back to the place where they started. Hmm. ‘Or maybe nowhere at all’, she said simply. ‘But that would be just disappointing’ Heh. ‘Any ideas?’, she asked Wade.

She guessed. Hmm, seems things were going fine for Gwen. "Cool." Wade smiled happy to hear that. "Pretty good, here," That was the cool thing with Gwen, she went straight to the point. "Just been studying and looking up possible jobs after graduating." He still had another year to go though. "Otherwise the usual Quidditch practices and classes."

Hmm.. Gwen was in her final year though, he had been hesitant on talking with her about it. But, he was still curious on what she was into, career-wise. You know."So, what are you thinking of doing after-" He glanced around, to mean the school. "everything here, with your OWLs and NEWT results?"

The thought of what could be beyond this passage(?), Wade guess he could call this, was exciting to him. "Yeah.. since the class is around here and everything." Hmm.. nowhere? "Is that like, the Vanishing Cabinet.. or room of requirement?" He smirked at the thought. Hmm, what other ways this could lead to. "Maybe, since Potion's is nearby, it could be Professor Lafay's secret room." Random guesses from Wade.

Secret Passages were cool, especially if they led somewhere real neat. So far, this one didn't seem to do much. The furthest it got her was the Slytherin Common Room but she wasn't trying to get there, thanks. Maybe she'd go looking for some other secret passage? The castle had plenty of them and not all of them would be lame, right?

Alexa made her way back down the passage, tapping at the walls occasionally in case there was something she was missing. You never knew with a place like this where to get food all you had to do was tickle a piece of the furniture. Quite clever on their part actually. She didn't exactly go around tickling portraits. Who thought it up?

As she walked she figured she had to give this some props. It was dark and kinda creepy, perfect place to scare people. Everywhere down in the dungeons providing a good place for that.

That practice had been intense! She hadn't been able to find the broom she usually used in the cupboard, so she'd been on a different school broom today. And it didn't seem to like her very much... but she was saving up everything she could to buy her own broom. Which was difficult, because she didn't have any money to begin with, and the whole paying-for-everything at school wasn't helping that. But SOON! ...Or... within the next year hopefully.

Anyway, practice was over, so she was heading down to the common room. She took the secret passage, swinging her arms by her side and humming to herself as she took her hair out of the bobble. She shook her ginger mane out, but let go of the bobble and it flew from her hand and...

DID IT HIT SOMEONE?!

"God... sorry... did that hit you..?"

Since this passage didn't actually lead anywhere special they should have considered lighting it a bit. She could hardly make out where she was going and didn't have her kneazle with his good sense of danger and direction--

THWACK!

Merlin's beeeeard!!! Her hand shot to her forehead immediately as something smacked her there. This passage attacked people and no one bothered to mention this to her because? Well, whatever the reason, it didn't change the fact that it. was. COOOOOOL. If only she knew what hit her. What were the snakes keeping down here anyway??

Oh but then she heard a voice. "Hm?" She walked forward a and squinted, but it wasn't necessary, her eyes were adjusting. "That was you? What was it?" She asked curiously, still rubbing her forehead.

Uh oh, it had definitely hit someone. Luckily, it was just made of cotton and elastic so it couldn't really have hurt her could it? Hopefully not. Derry lit her wand and held it up to see who it was. A Gryffindor? What was a Gryffindor doing down here? It was faaaar from their common room.

"It was just a hair tie." she said, bending down and picking the bobble up from the floor. "It didn't poke your eye out or anything right?" She examined the girl's face just to make sure she still had full use of both her ocular organs. Yes. Good.

Bested by a head tie? This was the greatest scandal of her young life. She gave the girl serious looks as she examined her face. "Yeah...I'm fine...listen." She moved the lit wand from her face. "The story I'm willing to go with is that some mutant bug whacked me in the forehead and I narrowly escaped with my life after performing just about every spell I know, 'kay???" GRIIIIN. That was easy enough to remember and had a nice ending.

Head tie. Noooo. Mutant bug, yeeees.

"And I've seen you around! You play Quidditch toooo...um...Derry? Is that it?? Am I right?? Do I get a cookie???" She was bouncing now. Company in a secret passage was exciting. Things were more likely to be epic noooow!!!

Serious looks, serious looks, there were a lot of serious looks around in that moment, until Derry just smiled. Because the girl was okay. ... Mutant bug. Right. She nodded. "Sure. Bug. Mutant. Whoosh, bam, spells." Derry wiggled her fingers as she spoke. For emphasis. Okay?

She deposited the bobble back into her pocket and looked up again. She'd seen her around..? Wait. The girl knew her name. That was just... odd, in Derry's eyes anyway. A lot of people around here seemed to know her name, and she wasn't used to it - maybe it was the Quidditch thing, but back home she was never recognised unless it was as that-girl-who-is-always-reading-and-is-really-weird-why-doesn't-she-have-any-friends. "Derry, yeah... but I don't have any cookies..." she said, almost apologetically. Though she didn't really see why knowing someone's name warranted a cookie...

She was actually willing to go along with the story?? "NEAT!!!" She knew a good few people who would have rolled their eyes and told her to get over it. They would just never understand. SIGH. But she did!!! Why else would she add brow wiggling?? They were on the same page here. "We can work out the specifics later. It'll sound real legit by the time we're done." But for some reason...she was acutely aware of the fact that she would be lying. Knox.

She tried to shrug the feeling away and instead focused on the girl who seemed just a little spooked. "I know a lot of people's names. I go everywhere and listen to everything my ears catch...besides...you play Quidditch, don't you?" She knew everyone on each Quidditch team, didn't everyone else? It seemed like something to know but now she was assuming she didn't know her. Lex stuck her hand out. "I'm Alexa." Or Lex, but whatever.

Possible jobs after graduating… Graduating… This conversation made her think about the fact that it was her final year at Hogwarts. And she wouldn’t be coming back. But anyway, Wade was one of Gwen’s friends, and the seventh year was curious to see what he had in mind to do after he would graduate. ‘And what have you thought about?’, she eventually asked, before taking a couple more steps along the passage.

Gwen narrowed her eyes suspiciously, trying to figure out where this dungeon corridor led. But she couldn’t spot anything. Not yet. It would be great to find something at the end of the passage. It would be another thing to remember from Hogwarts. Hmm. Gwen couldn’t believe she hadn’t been to the end of this passage in the previous six years.

‘Hmm?’, she mused, drawing her attention back to Wade. Oh. What was she going to do? Gwendolyn took a deep breath first and tried not to think about graduating… and leaving from Hogwarts. But Wade’s gesture (when he glanced around) made her smile. Heh. ‘I want to become a healer’, she said simply, though she was very enthusiastic about that. It was the job she had been thinking about since her first year. Well… she was actually looking forward to starting her career…

She then listened to what the Hufflepuff was saying. Like the room of requirement? Probably not, since there was one in the castle. Hmm. Secret room? ‘That’s possible’ But still… it there were a secret room- and not just a secret room- Professor Lafay’s secret room… then they would be in trouble. ‘But hopefully that’s not it’, she chuckled.

Alright so…

Walking. Walking.

The Ravenclaw kept looking around for some exit way, but she couldn’t spot anything. Anyway. She drew her attention back to the Hufflepuff. ‘You are a great friend, you know?’ Random but straight to the point. Wade was one of the people she would certainly miss.

This was pretty cool to Wade, the longer they ventured through. Seriously, it was like above ground Chamber of Secrets with the length him and Gwen were going, though much more relaxing with the conversation they were having. Wade pondered a moment, "Well.. I'm into creatures and some ancient runes studying.. I like the thought of discovering new ones, mainly. Then there's also Quidditch, since it's so much fun." Yep, still a little undecided as he shrugged. "For now, I'm just talking with the Professors on my options."

Wade surveyed up ahead, it felt like this path could go on forever. Heh. His attention returned to Gwen after asking on what she wanted to do. "Cool." He beamed, Healers were awesome. If his charms grade was up to snuff, he could've had that into his potential careers too. Oh well. He chuckled with Gwen at the thought of them ending up in Professor Lafay's secret room.. If she had one that is. Somehow he had the feeling she wouldn't be too upset at seeing him there if that were the case.. Whatever.

More walking ensued.. Maybe, they should turn back. At this rate, they would be walking until Gwen's graduation.. maybe even Wade's too. Hmm? Oh. Wade's brows briefly rose before leveling to normal height again. "..Yeah?" That was such a sweet thing to say. He grinned at her. "You are too.. just about awesome. It's going to be weird not seeing you around the halls again next year." and he meant it. They would never forget their time here.