Bart was on the floor or well stairs looking up. Had he fell the entire way? He wasn't even sure. That's when he heard the other boy, "I.. I'm awesome." He crocked out not sure where the pain was actually coming from, but it was so cool to fall like that. He wouldn't tell the other kid he was hurt either, because that would be a wimp thing to do . Nope he would be fine in a few moments of staying on the ground.

When he heard a spell he groaned a bit. "What the..." Thinking the boy was taking the advantage to hexing him while he was down, but something different happened. His wrist that was clearly hurting worse than anywhere else wasn't anymore. He lifted it moving it in a circle motion, "Sweet you have to teach me that spell. It would have come in handy this summer when Wade's girlfriend refused to fix my broken nose." Slowly sitting up he moved his head stretching his neck, yep he'd be sore later, but this was still epic.

"Cutty? Cool name." He nodded "I'm Bart, second year too." He put up his hand in a kind of greeting kind of help me up the rest of the way notion.

"Damn right you are!" Were the affirming words that came out of Cutty in response to Bart's awesomeness claim and they sounded a bit argumentative as if he dared anyone to challenge their truth. Cause this entire incident gave Cutty the impression that if it was daring, rash, and could lose you 800 housepoints, Bart would do it. And that could be immensely useful.

"Oh, yeah. M'moom picked it. She thought it sounded really British." He took Bart's hand and helped the second secundo up to his feet. He did not seemed surprised, however by the fact that his application of the spell had worked, because he was an arrogant little twerp and it didn't occur to him that it wouldn't work. Probably it was just his blind luck, iron will and determination. "Healer Tillstorm did it in the common room to one of the Slytherin students." But he stopped short of saying why. He wasn't trying to tell the whole school that Caleb Newell got punched in the face. It was almost a friendly gesture as if he were looking out for the other's pride, but he probably had something to lose or gain by it.

"It's nice to meet you, Bart. Who's Wade's girlfriend?" He asked, casually.

.... Noticeable. Colour swept across her cheeks as she looked away, feeling embarrassed. That kind of sounded.. flirty. Maybe. Delilah wasn't sure. She didn't know much about flirting but what if the boy had taken it the wrong way? But, she knew that it was better than her saying that he was way too attractive for her to have NOT have noticed him around before.

"Erm.. never mind." They could forget she said that, yeah? She was going to, anyway. The past couple of minutes didn't happen. "Well, you should go out more. The grounds are beautiful.. have you been?" He must have. If he didn't, she would show him around mhm.

Louis smiled and said nothing as Delilah asked him just to forget her earlier comment. He was curious but he wasn't going to push the subject if she didn't feel like explaining something trivial. When the girl went on to ask if he'd ever been to the grounds, the Gryffindor nodded his head.

"I've wandered a few times," he confessed, "but it's a bit scary to be honest. Have you seen that big, angry tree out front?" he asked, wide-eyed. Yeah, there were still some little things about this school that rather puzzled him. Starting with the angry tree. Why did THAT need to be on school grounds?!

..... Scary?

Was this boy alright? The grounds were not scary! They were beautiful and lovely and so green! This is why she almost always spent her evenings wandering about the grounds or swimming in the lake. Besides, she loved outdoors so it was perfect.

"The Whomping Willow? As long as you don't go near it, you'll be fine. But, have you been to the tree house? It's lovely and the view is amazing." Delilah said, enthusiastically. The Lake was still her favourite part of the grounds though. The mountains looked so majestic.. She couldn't help but smile a little.

"That thing has a name?" Hermione Louis asked, surprised. He couldn't help but get the feeling he'd really been missing out at his old school. There weren't angry trees or mysterious lake creatures or any of the weird and slightly dangerous things that were scattered all over Hogwarts.

And then Delilah was mentioning something about a tree house. Nope, never been there. "I haven't been there, no," Louis confirmed. "Suppose I'll have to check it out... whenever I get off these stairs." He chuckled darkly to himself. No, this really wasn't funny, they'd been here for like what, 40 minutes now? Was this normal?

And precisely at that moment, the stairs stopped, connecting to the next set. Louis looked down the steps with temptation. He knew it'd only be a few more seconds until they moved again. Louis turned his gaze back toward Delilah then, eyebrows raised inquisitively. "Wanna jump?"

"Yes, it does. Not a proper name but it's called the Willow. I don't go down there much though. I've read some pretty scary stories about it so I prefer staying away." Delilah said with a light shrug of the shoulders before eyeing him curiously. So this boy was friendly, after all. Nice to know!

"Are you serious? I'll take you." Nod, nod. Cause everyone just HAD to visit it once. Especially for the view. And it was her new favourite place to study. "I mean.." She flushed once more and cleared her throat a little. "Only if you want me to, that is."

........ Oooooh! Yes, please! She really wanted to get off these ridiculous stairs. She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder before walking down to the edge of the staircase.

"Ready?"

Scary stories about the Whomping Willow? Now, why did that not surprise the boy at all? He could only imagine - 'First year killed after angry tree on a murderous rampage punched him all the way to the Dark Ages'. Yeah, must've been something along those lines.

As Delilah offered to take Louis to the tree house one day, the boy grinned. "Really?" He'd been needing a tour guide, but he was too shy to ask. "That'd be great, yeah. Thank you."

He watched as Delilah quickly got up to her feet and picked up her things before walking to the edge of the stairs. Louis nodded as she spoke, but just half a second later, the stairs began to move again. The boy didn't even think about it - he hopped onto the next staircase just before they parted ways. He hardly had time to recover his balance when this second set of stairs was moving again. Louis began to remember the pattern then, and just as he predicted, the stairway connected to a different set that led back up to the third floor, rather than downward as he needed.

"On the next one, we make a run for it, yeah?"

A huge grin spread on Bart’s lips when he heard the other boy’s words. “I think I could perfect it if I tried it again.” He looked up to the stairs again, but probably not today. No his stomach was telling him it was way past time to eat. “You did say something about food, right?” but not the pickle juice he thought he heard the boy say.


“Who cares if it sounds British I think it’s cool. You don’t see no lame person with the name Cutty.” Sounded tough to him at least. He wondered if the second year was tough. He might have to prove it before Bart would believe it. He nodded at the boy not having a clue who Healer Tillstorm was, “Well glad you knew it. I’ll have to get some bruise paste for what my back will probably look like later, but maybe I’ll keep them. Battle scars are the best.” Like the scar on his wrist he enjoyed having evidence for his spills.


He rolled his eyes at the girlfriend question, “Oh I forget sometimes that everyone knew him since he was head boy, but his girlfriend was a lame seventh year you probably didn’t even know her. She is such a weirdo. Indy she was a Ravenclaw.” He even said the name with distaste in his mouth. “She has him so whipped it’s ridiculous. I’ll never be like that ever.” Nope not at all girls were not worth the effort to the lion.

Delilah's eyes widened as she watched Louis hop onto another staircase. This was actually kind of scary.. She suddenly started to panic. What if she missed it or something? No, Dels, don't even think about it. You'll be fine. Trying to reassure herself, she followed suit.

.... She was fine. Yes. Thankfully. Although, the boy got a LOOK. "You could have given me a hand, you know." Just saying. And, the staircase was moving again. The blonde leaned back against the banister, clutching her bag tightly. Can this little adventure be over already, please? She really wasn't having any fun.

She answered his question with a quick, nervous nod. Mhm.

AW.
Louis felt genuinely bad when Delilah gave him a look. She was right. "I'm sorry, I didn't-- realize... I'm really sorry." Oh geez, he felt REALLY bad now. Poor Delilah had been nothing but nice and here he was just running away without even looking back! Bad Louis.

No time to mope, though. The stairs had come to a stop yet again.

Louis didn't hop away like a six-foot rabbit this time, though. No, he was going to be nice this time - see? He was a fast learner - and wait for Delilah. Better yet, just take her with him.

"Now!" Louis grabbed Delilah's free hand and pulled the girl down with him as they hurried down the steps onto the next staircase, just before the last one began to move again. One more staircase and they should finally be on solid, STATIC ground.

And it was a little funny to see the two fifth years, actually, as they hurried down the steps so panicked and terrified, while little first and second years behind and ahead of them were just strolling upstairs and downstairs without even looking where they were going, as if they hardly noticed the ground moving. One day the older kids would learn.

"It's okay! Don't apologise." Delilah smiled at him. She'd just been joking anyway.. well, no. Not joking BUT it was fine. She didn't want him feeling bad because of her. That made her feel bad, if that even made any sense. The Hufflepuff was about to continue talking when Louis suddenly grabbed her hand and led her down the steps. Woah. Slow down, boy.

... But, she suddenly noticed the last staircase beginning to move! Eeek, no! She didn't want be stuck here more than necessary and they had a chance to make it. She practically ran down the stairs before hopping onto the next one, hoping against hope she didn't trip and roll down the staircase. That would be tragic.

FINALLY. She took a deep breath when they reached the third floor corridor. Ugh. Delilah was so not taking that staircase EVER again. The blonde turned towards the boy, raising an eyebrow.

"Well.. that was fun." Kind of. Maybe. Now that it was over. Heh.

Solid, non-moving ground: the stuff dreams were made of. Louis had never realized how much his feet and entire being appreciated a floor that did not move on its own until now. Seriously. He'd have to make a note to avoid the moving stairs like the plague from now on.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise when Delilah announced the whole experience had been fun. "Fun? You must be easily amused," he said, though he knew the girl was far from entertained.

Right. Well. Now that they had both regained their freedom... "I'd love to celebrate, but I was just heading to the Great Hall, so I still have a way to go," shared the Gryffindor with a smile, "What about you?"

"I usually am easily amused but.. well.." Delilah laughed, feeling a little awkward before giving a light shrug of the shoulders. "YOU looked pretty scared, though." Not that she was teasing him. Who wouldn't be, though? It had been pretty scary. She'd made up her mind to never take those stairs ever again.

"Well, I want food so.." She was about to suggest that they head down to the great hall together but she wasn't sure if he'd appreciate it or even wanted company. So she just stood awkwardly, wondering if she should just walk away.

Louis laughed when Delilah pointed out how scared he'd looked. "I was!" he confessed honestly. "Stair-hopping isn't exactly my forte." But at least they got a work-out. Right? Gotta look at the positives.

And then Delilah was confessing that she wanted food, but said no more. "Well I suppose you could always go to the kitchen..." he muttered, turning quiet for a moment before replacing the suddenly-serious expression with a smile. "I'm joking. Would you like to join me?" Hopefully she didn't think he was being too clingy or anything, but the poor boy didn't really know anyone and Delilah had turned out to be rather pleasant company.

.... Delilah BLUSHED. Yes, she could go to the kitchen and eat. Thanks for pointing that out, Louis. Ugh. This was so embarrassing! She was about to run walk away when he said that he'd been joking. Right, of course.

The Hufflepuff ran a hand through her messy hair, trying to straighten it out a little. She smiled back at him and nodded, feeling a little shy. "Yes, of course. That would be lovely. Only if you don't mind.." Wait. He wouldn't have asked her if he did. Gosh, what was wrong with her?

Aw. Louis felt a little bad when Delilah blushed and turned awkward after he jokingly sent her off to the kitchen. Oops. Maybe it was too early on in their friendship for tasteless jokes. He'd have to save those for another day.

"Not at all," the Gryffindor replied when Delilah spoke. "What House are you in, by the way? I can't remember if you've mentioned it," the boy asked curiously as the two teenagers began walking down the corridor.

Delilah grinned at the boy and started walking. Okay, so he was actually pretty nice. Honestly, nearly every person she'd met so far in school had been super nice.. except for a certain someone and the Hufflepuff STILL wasn't sure why the girl hated her but anyway. She'd met some awesome friends already!

"Why don't you guess, Louis?" You know, that would be fun. As for him.. She eyed Louis for a second. He definitely wasn't a Slytherin and she hadn't seen him around in the Hufflepuff common room so.. "You're either a Gryffindor or a Ravenclaw.. Am I right?" Delilah asked, with an eyebrow raised. Most probably Gryffindor.

Sitting at the top of the bottom set of stairs, Lux waited for it to carry her all the way over to the next ones. As she waited, she pulled out a Chocolate Frog and quickly took a bite before it could hop away on her. Of course there were no classes she had to head to, so this was more of her just walking around the castle because she had nowhere else to go or nothing else to do.

Christmas was waiting for the stairs to move and she spotted her friend Lux on the same stairs and said "Hey Lux what are you up to today or where are you heading to"

Not really paying attention to her surroundings, Lux was slightly surprised when she heard someone talking to her. Oh, it was Christmas! She had not seen her in a while! "Hey there! I'm just wandering around, bored. What about you?" Maybe Christmas had somewhere more exciting to go.

Christmas smiled and said "Well i was going to the library i need to study for my NEWTs but i can postpone that for a while"

Oh, right. Of course it would make sense that Christmas would be spending a lot of time studying for her NEWTs that she would be taking at the end of Term. "Are you almost ready for them? Are you nervous?" Of course she would have already done OWLs, but since NEWTs would be harder, it would still make sense to maybe be nervous about them.

Christmas smiled and said "Well i am mostly ready but i am nervous but i mean i am just going to try my best in them cause my future is already sorted"

Lux nodded at what Christmas was saying to her. She could understand how it would be that way for her since she was going into Quidditch and not Healing or Auror training for instance. Good NEWT scores were good, but not crucial in that situation. "Well, if you want, I can help you study some time... like test you?"