He was keen on this exploring thing, and he decided he was getting kinda good at it too. How did he know such things? Well simply because HE FOUND THIS PLACE! Immediately upon entering the gallery, Zeke's jar dropped and he stared in amazement. Zomggggg! This was sooooo coool!!!

He dashed forward quickly and went to inspect one of the nearer sets of SHINY SHINY armour. Could he touch it? Could he wear it? Did they move like some of the others? Could he RIDE it?!?!?!!? The Gryffindor had LOTS of unanswered questions.

Samantha was taking a walk around the castle when she came across the Armour gallery. Her eyes widened as she saw Zeke, a first year she had seen around looking like he was going to touch the suits of armour. Sam knew that this could land him in heaps of trouble so she quickly walked over to him. "Hello, Zeke. I wouldn't touch the suits of armour if I were you. It might land you in trouble."

He was right up close to it now, so close in fact that it made his nose look bigger than it actually was. Because, it couldn't POSSIBLY be that big, right? Right? Anyway, he was about to try to shake hands with it when a voice stopped him, making his head swivel as he turned to see who spoke them.

"Uuhhh...okay, why?" he replied, taking a step away from the armour until he decided it was safe. He recognised the Ravenclaw, but she was older and not of his house, so he hadn't caught her name at all. "Sorry, who are you?" he asked, for the moment forgetting the important question of HOW did she know who HE was!......

Samantha looked at Zeke as he asked her why he couldn't touch the armour. "Well, the caretaker really hates it if there are fingerprints or dirt of any kind on the suits of armour. I hear that the detentions can be pretty bad," she told him.

"Oh, forgive my manners. My name's Samantha but call me Sam," she said to him with a smile. Samantha then realised that Zeke might have been wondering how she knew his name. "I've seen you around Hogwarts and I overheard your name being said hence the reason why I know your name."

Caretake? Fingerprints? ............ That all sounded legit, but he didn't see how it would be a problem of his. The caretaker wasn't here NOW, and as far as he could tell, it didn't seem as if the suits of armour could talk. "I'd only be in trouble if I got caught though," he pointed out, tempted to start touching for the hell of it.

She was a NICE older student, didn't seem the type to be grouchy or look down on him - aside from in the literal sense of course. Hehe. "Nice to meet you," he replied politely. "I've seen you too, did you watch my sorting?" he asked, curious. It might have been where she remembered his name from, then again, she was a Ravenclaw and they were just smart in general. Know-it-alls... wasn't that what Lex had said?

Sam rolled her eyes. Why would anyone risk detention? "The suits of armour do move. What if you did touch them and they grasp onto you firmly so you couldn't let go? Oh and to make matters worse, Finn the Caretaker might hear the commotion and catch you."

She didn't want to scare him but she had to let him know about the potential risk. When Zeke asked if she watched him get sorted, she nodded. "Yes, that's where I heard your name first of all."

It seemed she wasn't one to appreciate his logic either... that was exactly the sort of look he got with Emily, only Emily was far more subtle. Death stares only. She did raise an interesting point though. Zeke scratched at the back of his hand a moment as he considered this, he was confident he was a clever come-back, and he did. "Well see, if it DID grab me... that's be insanely cool, but then if I got caught I could simply explain to the caretaker dude very politely that I was simply admiring the armour when it ATTACKED me out of nowhere and how I would greatly appreciate his assistance in getting me out of its clutches!" ......... yep, that would work. "Or you know, I wouldn't mine being attached to some armour for a while, it'd make for a fun lesson accessory."

And now this was excellent! She saw him being sorted... and he had questions about that, and Sam was a Ravenclaw, PERFECT! "The hat was mean to me, implied I was stupid and belonged in Badger yellow... was it mean to you too?" Or was it just him?

"I personally would not risk it because I suspect that the caretaker would sense whether or not you are telling the truth," Sam advised Zeke.

Sam's expression was one of sympathy and slight confusion when Zeke told her about his sorting. "I am so sorry to hear that. By the way, Hufflepuff is a great house. I would not call Hufflepuffs stupid. They're loyal and brave. All the houses have their great qualities." Sam reflected on her sorting about five years ago. "The hat considered sorting me into Slytherin but eventually it sorted me into Ravenclaw."

Huh... Sam's argument was compelling, but he still didn't see why it was so RISKY. Zeke shrugged, effectively dropping the subject for the time being. Ultimately it was his decision to do what he wanted.

"Don't be sorry, you didn't say that stuff," he added with a shake of his head. The hat was the stupid one for saying it, really. The whole Hufflepuff being a great House thing though, yeah he'd let that part of the conversation die too. Clearly she wouldn't understand, though, she was wrong about one thing. "Brave is Gryffindor, not Hufflepuff... see," he informed, also demontrating for her his bravery by extending his hand and stroking the polished metal of the armour nearest them. Heheeee. RAWR.

He kinda envied her whole Slytherin/Ravenclaw debacle. "My Mum was a Ravenclaw, Dad was a Slytherin... turns out I'm neither."

Samantha internally cringed with a strange mix of fear and embarrassment. She had warned him and if he got into trouble, well she wasn't going to make some excuse for him. This might be sounding mean but lessons needed to be learnt. Her face was showing very little expression except for a look in her eyes that seem to say, "Why did you think that little act was brave?"

"Do you like being a Gryffindor? My parents didn't go to Hogwarts. They are from the USA. I don't know if there were school houses where they each went to school."

In his own way, this simple act of stroking the metal, was a victory. Of course no, it wasn't PARTICULARLY brave, but it made sense to him. It pleased him that she asked though, because now he could share that view. Hehe. "Weeeeellllll... see, you told me not to, and that there would be consequences... said it was risky and stuff..." did she see where he was going with this? She was a Ravenclaw, she should. "So by doing THIS," of course he had to emphasise the point so this time he placed BOTH of his hands on the armour and touched it all over before giving it a hug. "By doing this I'm defying you, defying the caretaker, defying the rules... and its the act of defiance that is brave." Because generally speaking, touching armour was NOT brave, at all. So yeah, consider yourself educated Miss Lady Claw.

Zeke nodded his head and took a step back from the armour, he could have sworn he heard it squeak and didn't particularly want to end up in its clutches. Not yet anyway. "Gryffindor's awesome, I have good friends there, and our Head of House is the coolest." Nothing more to it really, just the best all-round. "Oh coool... Salem yeah?" he asked for clarification. "I don't know if they have Houses either, but I've heard people talk about the place."

Samantha folded her arms and rolled her eyes. "By doing this, you are risking Gryffindor losing house points and showing that you have A LOT to learn. Bravery in defiance is, for example, standing up for your loved ones when they have been wronged. It certainly is not risking detention or costing your house points." Sam's voice shook with frustration.

She had seen the armour move ever so slightly and she smiled to herself. Once Sam had calmed down slightly, she listened to Zeke tlak about Gryffindor and then when he enquired about her parents. "Well, it is good you like Gryffindor. Yeah, my family and I were born and raised in Salem. Family thing."

.............


........

...

..
.

Whoa. What? Somebody needed to take a chill pill. Zeke stared at Sam blankly. Was he.... being told off? REALLY? It was a shame it didn't hold any weight. "How about you don't talk to me like that? With that tone." he asked, his own tone calm in light of hers. See, he was standing up to HER. "I can make my own choices, and I earn points too you know." Not that it was any of her business or anything, but he was doing well in classes so far. Both Culloden AND Airey had awarded him points for things.

"Family thing, right," he mused, pleased for the change of subject - though he wasn't at all sure where it was going, or IF it was going anywhere at all.

FINGER PRINTS! SMUDGES! MUST BE POLISHED!

A low scratching noise came from within the suit of armour that Gryffindor was touching. A low dull tone similar to the sound of a house elf's whisk scrapping across a frying pan. The noise ceased quite suddenly and not a second later both arms of the suit of armour stretched out to the sides and were soon followed by both legs stepping down from the pedestal from which it had been standing.

It's helmet slowly turned from side to side before it slowly looked down at the two students. The suit's right arm moved and soon it was pointing at the Gryffindor right between eyes with its metal index finger in an accusing manner.

Samantha sighed. "Sorry I yelled at you. It is just that I know people who have lost points. I am just looking out for you. I have noticed you earning points in class. Well done. how about we just let bygones be bygones?" Sam said.

"Well, my family has been living in Salem since the 16th century. The witch trials were horrible." Sam said with a little shudder.

Samantha's eyes then widened slightly when she saw the armour stepping down from its pedestal and moving towards her and Zeke. She bit her lip as she saw the suit of armour pointing its finger between Zeke's eyes. What was going to happen next?

And now THAT was a quick change of tune. Zeke was pleased with himself for standing up to her. Ain't nobody telling him what to do and what not to do, especially when all he did was touch a stupid - but cool - suit of armour. Pfffttt. "Don't sweat it, we're cool," he acknowledged in the end.

The whole Salem thing though, well, this conversation was going places he wasn't likely going to comprehend, so he smiled and nodded. "That sounds pretty neat.... .... I'm from Birmingham." Not so neat. There, exchange of contextual information done.

And... what the? ..

...



The sound was the first thing to alert him to the fact that the suit of armour was indeed MOVING. IT WAS FRIGGIN MOVING. Zeke stared, his jar dropping a little and his eyes widening. This was so awesome. It didn't even perturb him that the suit of armour lacked manners and was POINTING at him. Did it not know that pointing was rude? Tsk tsk tsk.

Zeke went a little cross-eyed at first, inspecting the shiny metal finger IN HIS FACE... but then his face split into a grin as he took its hand for a stiff!awkward!nonshake. Heeheeee!

"I can't believe I'm actually meeting a real live suit of armour!!!" ... this counted as a 'meet' yes? So... "Hi! Can you talk? Can you see me? You must be able to see me... HOW can you see me?" What would happen if he blindfolded it?

Samantha had her hands on her hips in an expression of intrigue. She was carefully watching Zeke's interaction with the suit of armour. How was the armour going to react? Samantha hadn't seen anyone act that way around the suits of armour but then again, it wasn't an area she frequented.

The suit allowed its arm to be moved up and down by the first year. But it did NOT like it. Having just been polished not an hour ago, its shiny was losing its shine. IT'S PERFECTLY REFLECTIVE SURFACE WAS BEING DEFILED.

Suddenly pulling its arm back, the suit returned to pointing at the boy right between the eyes and then to itself. To a spot on its breastplate where there were FINGER PRINTS. SMUDGES. NOT SHININESS!

Okayyyyyyy... so it couldn't talk. But it COULD see, somehow. HOW?! Was he allowed to lift the face flappy bit to see inside? Was it just someone POSING as a suit of armour? Did people do that? Was it Peeves on a good day? Who knew? ........


At any rate, the suit of armour was trying to tell him something, so he payed attention. CLOSE attention. When the suit first pointed back to him again, he wondered if there was something on his face, but now that it was pointing at itself, he figured it couldn't be it. BUT, it was pointing exactly where he had touched him moments ago. NEAT! So yeah, obviously they could see. He leaned in to see WHAT the amour was showing him exactly, and then he saw it. His fingerprints! Trace DNA and all that jazz! Exciting!

"OOOooooohhhhh... you want to be cleaned?" he asked it rhetorically. Well, he could give it a go. "I don't know any cleaning spells, so this will have to do, yeah?" he added as he stepped closer so he could reach, and he used the sleeve of his robe to rigorously wipe at the unshined spots. Pausing though, he added some STEAMY BREATH to help things along, then wiped away some more. Breathed on it again, and then finished off wiping.

That was the best he could do under the circumstances. BEAM.

A black cat came bounding down the hallway as it was roaming around the school. When it reached the suit of armor, thinking it wasn't real, the cat rubbed between it legs trying to hide as best as possible from it's owner who was chasing after it.

"Xander! Come back here maintenant!" Gregoire said as he came running down the hallway after his dreaded cat that had somehow gotten out of it's bag back in the common room, and made it all the way up here. If his shouting wasn't obvious, his loud footsteps were. This was a big deal to him. If he lost his cat, that would basically be like losing a family member. This cat meant the world to him! After days of searching, he had finally found him, but Xander just kept on running. Thankfully he noticed the cat stopped...right in between a suit of armor that was...

O-O

Off of it's pedestal!? What was with it and this school! Was everything alive here? There was a nearly ballistic- on second thought- TOTALLY ballistic tree outside in the grounds of the school! The portraits could talk and walk into the other portraits around it! Now there was an animated suit of armor!? That's when he noticed there was a first year, and what seemed to be someone not to older than him, maybe a fifth year, there as well. This could then just be a pair of practical jokesters messing with the suits of armor, or messing with transfiguration magic. Though...that would be something, most likely even seventh years would have trouble with, let alone a single first and possible fifth year.

Coming to a halt at the statue and the two people Gregoire stated in an authoritive tone "What is le sens de cette?" Flicking his wrist he corrected himself. "I meant to say what is the meaning of this?" With a very heavy French accent. A dead give away that he was from the City of Lights, not love, Paris! The accent wasn't like a Canadian or New Orleans type of accent. It was as if he came straight from the city where romance basically started. The sights and sounds of the city were adored by tourists coming from all around the globe! It was quite a remarkable place! Thinking about it brought back so many memories! Like the time him and Giovanni went down the River Sienne. How they explored the bell towers of Notre Dame. When they went biking underneath the Arc de Triumphe. Visited the real Mona Lisa in The Louvre! Even dared the dark, deep, and dank depths of the catacombs underneath the very streets of Paris! Ahhh. Those were good times.

Samantha could only watch in shocked awe as Zeke cleaned the armour in his own special way. Sam knew about cleaning charms but she was not going to get involved. The use of his sleeve was bad enough but when Sam, saw Zeke use his breath to assist the cleaning process, she sighed an inaudible sigh.

.................................

DID THIS BOY KNOW NOTHING?!

That was NOT how something as regal as a Hogwarts' suit of armour was cleaned!

The suit reached forward and gave the boy a firm THUMP on the head. Stupid child.

The cat had not gone unnoticed. In fact, the suit's right leg began to bend at the knee so that it could kick it out of the way. That was the last thing the suit needed. Cat fur stuck in the cracks between the metal pieces of its legs on top of finger prints and moisture from a human mouth its torso had already received.

See, he didn't see what the big deal was with all these suits of armour. AND h hadn't been caught by the caretaker or anything. IT WAS FINE. In fact, he had been about to turn to Sam and say so when another person joined them... kinda... or at least, the persons cat did - and the person was just standing at a distance speaking crazy things to them?

Say what? Come again?

Zeke turned to see where the noise was coming from, only to see the Slytherin boy. And WHO exactly did he think he was? Seriously? Were ALL Hogwarts people this rude? First Sam and now THIS weird person. Ugh.

"Mind your own business, Snake," he said, effectively turning his back on the guy and returning his gaze to the suit..

...only....

The suit seemed to have ideas of its own though, and he didn't get a chance to dodge or deflect the incoming metal fist. OOOOOUUUCH!

Fksjsbcjsovne!!!!

Despite the throbbing pain, only a faint groan escaped him.

"WHATCHU DO THAT FOR! I TRIED CLEANING YOU!"........................... yeah, YEAH! "I'm a newbie! You want cleaning, then it's this or I use spit on you next time!" Did it WANT spit? To... lather up its... er... hinges? Did it have hinges?

Cassie had planned a little best friend time, but not in their usual places, no she wanted something different so she had Nessa meeting her at the Suits of Armor. She needed to do some monitoring of the corridors anyway, it was her day. So why not catch up with her friend while doing it. Checking out the third floor all the students seem to be doing just fine. None seemed to be causing trouble nor where they shouldn't be.

Making her way down she stopped and turned into the Armor. Looking around she smiled, it had been awhile since she made it over here and the Armor was always fun to look at. She had never seen it move in her time as a student, but she had always wished it would.

Taking a seat off in the corner she looked at the suits just standing in a line and waited on Nessa to join her.