"I know what you said," she replied simply, offering a light smile in response to Olly's signature smirk. Bossiness got you places, passiveness didn't, and Alice wasn't one to sit around, you know? Wasn't as if she cared about what people thought of her anyway. At least not much.

Oh? Did that bother her? The pushing? She supplied the Hufflepuff with a mocking imitation of her narrowed eyes before breaking into another grin. And when Alice pushed herself onto the banister again, this time she was behind Olly. "Guess you're going to have to learn to trust me, then."

Was she wanting to get off yet? Too late. The moving staircase chose that exact moment to live up to it's name and, well, move.

"Right. Yeah." Because they happened to be riding the same set of stairs at the moment which Lex seemed to have forgotten. Must be the sugar...or the gliding motion. Both were distracting in their own right. The girl reached over and dipped her hand into the candy bag Elodie was still looking through. Fizzing whizzbees, when was the last time her hand grabbed at one of these when she went through on a random search?? "Muggles have a tamer version of this." She said absentmindedly opening the wrapper. "It doesn't have as much of a kick to it though. Honestly. I don't understand what they enjoy in their candy outside of the sugar." Perfectly mundane, just like everything else in their lives.

Oh deeear, that sounded like a legit problem if she'd ever heard one. You knew things were wrong when just thinking about something could make you ill. She had the same problem but it was hardly for flying. Still she could relate. "Never? And you've never wanted to try? Not even on like other things like hippogriffs and flying carpets?" So many things could take you up into the air but the girl was afraid of flying. Wow, just wow.

Lex tipped a few of the fizzers on her tongue and felt herself slowly being lifted off the ground. This would have been more interesting if the staircases had begun moving again. "Do you want some?" Floating wasn't flying so it was safe, yeah? And she was offering to teach her knitting. "Neat!" What was neat about knitting? Probably nothing but hey, if it got her the ability to make her own things in blue then she wouldn't pass it up. It could be that extra thing she does when sorting her candy won't effectively clear her mind.

No. Alice you little-

"I really DON'T trust you, Alice." And with good reason too. Olly tried to shift and move off the banister again but...apparently the staircase was not on her side today. The moving staircase had started to, well, move. Just as the name suggested. Brilliant. Perfect timing.

Because with that THEY were moving too. Down the banister. Sliding down the banister. With her in front. WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY. Seriously, there were so many things she'd rather get hurt doing. SO many. This was definitely not on her list. Why had she agreed to this again!?

It wasn't that she was scared or anything. It was just a really useless thing to do.

Well that was all he got for that lie. He just smiled and shrugged. He just would not admit the lie. What was with the poke. It actually hurt, surprisingly. "Sand, Sand, and more Sand. But the history does sound interesting."

"Gasp. No they didn't" Nigel guessed that could be an insult. Even though it was a fact. She was short. Now what was this about his summer. Oh. "Well there was the road trip" Which she was apart of so she knew everything basically." But other than that got my license and it was pretty good....Woah Watch out"

The staircase was of course moving again.

Cutty reached the staircase on his way down to the kitchens for some pickle juice when he stopped in front of them to watch for a moment. The history book Jezebelle had leant him had mentioned that there was a rhyme and reason to how they moved about. Did one have to be a Ravenclaw to figure it out?

Cutty lifted his head slightly, closed his eyes and called for his off and on absent best-friend, "BENZIIIIII???!" Of course, he expected no answer, thus the neutral expression as he watched some kid riding about on the staircases as if they were brooms.

"Ehyew? Wot'yer doin' there?" The kid was a Gryffindor, apparently. Like Jezzie and Cambridge.

The stairs were moving as he looked at the banister could he balance on it. It seemed he might be able too. After the surfing he did with Wade over the summer this couldn't be that hard, right? So maybe he would do it. Getting ready to climb it right before the next one moved he heard a voice and looked up. The accent caused him to lift his brows. "Huh?" Was the boy speaking to him?

He looked back to the banister going to climb up when he realized what the boy actually said, "I'm surfing the stairs." or well he would if the boy would let him and not interrupt. "Want to join?" He looked back to the stairs just as they moved again. "Darn missed it." He looked around. "Which one is going to move next? I don't have much time?" He had to hurry to those steps and get up on the rail so he could surf when it moved.

Well which one should he pick?

"You should," Alice told her, grin evident in her voice. "I'm awfully trustworthy." Her hands lightly settled on the other girl's shoulders as they slid down the banister so she wouldn't fall behind, keeping her upright. This was fun, even if her partner was being a grump.

They reached the end of the stairs soon enough, and Alice wriggled off of the banister and landed on the stairs with a gentle thud, still perky. "See? I was behind you and nothing bad happened. Trust earned." It was that simple, Olly.

"Want to go again?"

Awfully trustworthy? Olly snorted softly, not entirely sure if there was anything she could or wanted to say to that. Feeling Alice's hands on her shoulders made her frown slightly, though she again didn't say anything. It was part of the fun, yeah? Alice had to hold on to something after all.

Plus the staircase started moving right then so she couldn't do anything anyway even if she'd wanted to.

Olly held onto the banister once they'd reached the end and the stairs had stopped moving. She moved so that both her legs were facing the outside of the staircase, dangling in thin air. "Yeah, at least you didn't attack me from behind or something." She turned her head back to look at Alice with a small smirk. Not that that meant she TRUSTED the other girl but it was good to know that she wasn't backstabbing in any way. Literally.

"Do you think there's a spell that would catch us if we fell down there?" Probably right? It must have happened to some clumsy first year at some point and they couldn't just let them die. And it WAS a pretty long fall otherwise. And yes, Olly was going to ignore Alice's question for now.

Heard that snort, Olivia Clarke. Heard it. "I could have attacked you really easily. Like overnight infirmary level cursing." She gave the other girl solemn looks. "Could now even, just shove you over the banister and test that catching spell theory. You should feel relieved that you're in the presence of such a lovely person."

Alice's serious face morphed into another grin as she slid back onto the banister beside Olly, legs dangling in thin air just as hers were. "We could test it anyway." Was she gutsy enough to?

Doubted it. "And you didn't answer my question."

"for (s)he never forgot a question once (s)he had asked it"
 

Oh is that so, Alice? Olly gave the other girl an unimpressed look when she listed all the things she could have done to her. "You could have certainly tried." No argument there. If she had succeeded, now that was a whole other question. One Olly wasn't too keen on answering, though.

"Lovely, right." Such a lovely person Alice was. That assessment was slightly amusing. Olly smirked.

Her eyes rested on the other staircases beneath them for a moment longer before flickering over to Alice next to her. Test it? "Is this still part of the Gryffindoring?" She raised her eyebrows. "I guess we could throw something down there and see, yeah." Actually, yes, they should do that. Because now she wanted to know. Only what? She didn't really HAVE anything on her. Apart from her wand but she wasn't too keen on losing that.

Right, her question. "Not right now, no." There were more interesting things happening right now.

Surfing the stairs. Cutty had seen surfing before and he imagined it felt somewhat like the water-skiing he'd gotten into at the lake. Only you'd be at the command of the waves and not chasing down some resistance from the water yourself. Maybe this kid was good at it...

Or maybe he'd miss his mark and fall several storeys to his doom. Cutty was gonna watch...and participate.

"That one." He said pointing to an (as of that moment) still staircase almost directly below the one the Gryffindor boy had been perched upon. The slightest little smirk present, because what were the odds?

He was pointing to stairs and Bart just had to figure out which ones and if he could get there before it moved. Without further instruction and took off down the stairs. This was taking too long, nope he jumped on the banister and slid down the rest of the way. Yep that was much better and much cooler than walking.

Now onto the surfing. He jumped the next stair case just as it started to move. He had to hurry or he'd miss this one as well. Climbing the banister he got to his knees and tried to steady himself, but lost his balance and grabbed on before falling. By the time he gained his balance again to try and stand it had stopped in it's new direction.

"Oh come on...." He looked up to the boy again. "I need more steps." Once he could get to quick enough before they moved.

It took effort, a lot of effort for Cutty to suppress his smile further still as the Gryffindor boy nearly lost his footing and hung over the edge holding only the bannister...like some type of magical Tarzan. He was going to make it, plainly, but there was this sort of thrill the boy experienced and it was the same sort of thrill that Muggles watching NASCAR often got when the race had been interrupted by a fiery crash. Although, arguably, perhaps this was the reason some of them went in the first place. Cutty would've fit into this latter category quite nicely.

"Okay." The Slytherin boy sounded perhaps a bit too over it, though truly, he found this exciting. "But if you fall down and break your legs, don't come running to me." Because that's what his own mum would've told him. "North by North-east! Then continue in an Anti-clockwise motion."

"Do you even remember where you're going?" He asked, wondering if the kid had started upon the He was new here, wasn't he? Cutty thought he remembered seeing him get sorted at the opening feast, though the only name he recalled with any sort of vivacity was that of Hope Evans.

delete please

Bart wasn’t really looking at the boy he was looking at the stairs. Where was he needed to go next? “North by North East?” He looked a the boy for a while and then looked around trying to figure out where he was and what direction was North. “Anti-clockwise motion” He was repeating, but it was just so he could figure this out. “That one” He pointed and flew up the steps to try and get to it.

Was he right was he?

He jumped over the edge to get on the staircase before stopping and looking “Of course I do my stomach is still growling and telling me I was after food, but it can wait this is fun.” He was always looking for the fun things. “You should join me.” Come on Dude you scared?

He climbed the banister but stayed at his knees waiting for it to move before standing all the way up.

Why were people always inviting him to do ...things? Cutty didn't like it. He worked alone anytime and all the time if he could help it. Not that it ever hurt to have a toady. Cutty stared blankly out at the Gryffindor boy as he lept and climbed not very unlike a sifaka and somewhere in the further-most gears of his oiled mine he knew that agility would be useful. How did this boy get to be this way? If he thought to title the activity surfing the stairs, did the boy surf oceans as well? Interesting.

Yes. This one could be good for keeping around. This one took no prisoners.
"I'm going down to the kitchens to get some pickle juice." Which was as inviting as Cutty Mordaunt got at the moment as he turned to go.

He waited and waited and waited... Did he grab the wrong stairs? He was beginning to think he did as he stayed knelt down. Come on he wanted to prove he could do this. Prove that he knew what he was talking about. He needed to become the Bartman or the boy who surfed stairs whichever worked.

Then the stairs started moving and he got to his feet and stuck his hands out. It was an awkward angle on the banister like balancing on a moving balance beam. Just as he started to get the hang of it the boy said words that made his head whip back to where he stood. "Pickle Juuuuuuu"

Crash

ROLL

BANG

Those words were enough to distract him and send him falling. Thankfully he put his weight to the steps and not to the nothing the other way that would have sent him falling stories down to the ground. Hitting the steps and rolling wasn't the greatest feeling either.

He lied there for awhile feeling the pain in his head and side where he hit the steps. "I'm good!" He pulled himself up slowly. "That's going to mark."

Mansa <3
 

It had been fourteen minutes now since Louis had left the Gryffindor common room, and he still hadn't made it past the fourth floor of the castle. The reason? Moving. Stairs. Every time he tried to go down, he found himself going back up, and just when he thought it was safe to make a run down the steps, the stairs would suddenly turn in a different direction.

He was trapped. He was trapped here for the rest of his young life, destined to climb stairs until he was nothing more than a ghost that haunted the area and terrified all first years that dared climb these steps.

Okay, no, there had to be some sort of strategy involved. Louis was a logical boy, surely he could figure it out, yeah?

Determined to find a way out of this never-ending cycle, the boy stopped halfway through one of the stairs and caught his breath as he looked over the banister, registering the pattern in which the stairs below moved.

He reeeaallyy could've used a tour before transferring to this school.

He'd heard it. He'd heard it before he'd seen it, but it had lasted long enough that Cutty was able to turn in time to see that kid spill out across the staircases. He hollered something monosyllabic that perhaps could've been Gobbledegook, but far from sounding angry, it sounded more the surprised delight. As if his own breath was taken away by what he had witnessed.

"Ch! You alright, mate?" Cutty wasn't going to laugh. He was NOT going to laugh. The little Slytherin boy had been dying to try something since he'd been reminded of it in his common room, so a few leaps and bounds with his lithe little body placed Cutty on the same staircase as the Gryffindor boy. "Episkey!" He said, repeating the spell he'd most recently seen his Head of House work on Caleb's freshly-punched nose.

"There. Now no one will know you had a spill." Why was Cutty being...kinda nice? "Cutty Mordaunt, second year, Slytherin."

Delilah had just spent the past three hours studying in the library and she was tired. TIRED. She knew she still had plenty of time left for her OWL's but still. It was always better to start preparing well in advance, yeah? However. Now, it was time for her to nap.. or maybe go down to the kitchens first. She definitely deserved a treat.

The skipped happily started to skip down the stairs when she suddenly caught herself on the banister. It moved. The staircase moved. So, this was the moving staircase? Oh, no. No, no, no. Sad!sigh.

"Hey, there." She sat down and eyed the boy curiously.

“Left, right, right… left, right, left left…” Louis mumbled the stairs’ pattern to himself, holding on to the railing as the ground under his feet moved suddenly every now and then. Alright, if he just concentrated, stored the pattern in his long-term memory, and moved quickly enough, he should be able to finally make it to the ground floor. Yes? Yes.

”Hey, there.”

GAH!
The stairs began to move just as the boy turned around, startled. The abrupt motion caused him to lose his balance for a moment in which he held on to the banister for dear life before regaining his composure. Where had she come from?!

“Ah—Hi,” Louis stuttered out. He realized at that moment that he’d just completely forgotten that stairs’ pattern in his sudden shock. He groaned but said nothing about it, not wanting to come off as rude to his unexpected prison guest. She seemed unusually casual for someone in the same situation as him. Unless she WASN’T in the same situation as him and actually knew how to get off the stairs. Louis tilted his head to the side just slightly as he examined her with curious blue eyes. “So is that how you do it?” he asked. “Get off the stairs, I mean. You just sit and wait?” It was an honest question. He had no idea.

Oops. "I really didn't mean to scare you.." Delilah muttered, flushing with embarrassment. "I.. um.. yeah. I'm sorry." She tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ears, looking away. She was just being nice and besides, talking was a good way of passing time because it didn't look the moving stairs was going to stop moving anytime soon. Heh, never mind. Maybe she could get some reading done.. But ugh. Nope. She'd had enough of studying for a day. Now, what?

... But, the boy was speaking to her. Her grey-blue eyes turned to look at him, a small smile making it's way to her lips. "Yeah. We just wait. We can't really do anything else, can we?" Unless they wanted to break their ribs or something. Nope. NOPE. She'd rather wait.

"It's alright," Louis replied with a smile as the blonde girl apologized for startling him. He looked down the steps hopefully as the stairs came to a halt, but before he could even think about running to the next staircase, they were moving again. The boy began to consider the idea of perhaps just summoning his broom and flying to his destination. It'd be a little sad, though, that he was the only student who had to resort to flying around the castle because the moving stairs were simply too complex for him to understand.

And then the mystery girl was explaining that they had to just sit and wait. After spending twenty minutes trapped on the same staircase, Louis wasn't sure how he felt about just sitting and waiting some more, but he had to trust the girl. Surely she knew more about getting around the castle than he did, right? He was just a newbie, after all.

"I'm Louis Bolton, by the way," the boy said after a moment, holding out his hand out for a handshake, polite smile on his young face. "This is my first year here... hence the cluelessness."

Ah, okay. When was this going to stop? She wanted to eat, nap and start with her Ancient Runes homework later. Go swimming too, maybe. But at this rate, it looked she was going to be stuck here forever. Oh, gosh. She sighed and buried her face in her hands. Bad day was slowly starting to get worse. UGH. But she got to meet a cute boy.. so not THAT bad. Heh.

.. And he was introducing himself. She looked up and gave the boy a proper smile. Delilah shook his hand, "It's nice to meet you, Louis. I'm Delilah Starr." She tilted her head and eyed him curiously.

"How have I not seen you around before? You're very noticeable." Serious!nod.

Delilah? Pretty name. Louis wasn't sure he'd ever met anyone with that name before. But then again, the boy had been attending an all-boys school for the past five years so he didn't hear girl names very often.

As Delilah asked why she'd never seen him before and commented on how 'noticeable' he was, Louis raised his eyebrows. "Noticeable?" he repeated with a chuckle. Was that a good thing?! A bad thing? He wasn't sure. "Um, well, I'm usually in the common room doing homework. I suppose that's why?"