Well, this was just…just…wonderful! Daisy was so discombobulated she couldn’t even think of a more colorful word to describe her confusion and irritation. She stamped her foot as she looked around the corridor. It was dark and dank and smelly and all she wanted to do was get to the Great Hall for lunch before her next class. She wished she hadn’t stayed behind to look at the pickled potions ingredients on the shelf (specifically the pickled worm’s tongue) because now she lost the safety direction of her fellow classmates.

What was it her mother had once told her to do when lost? Stay in one place. She stood looking at a wall trying to figure out where to go. Sometimes you just needed a break to figure things out. Right?

*Having just finished lunch Noah walked down the dark corridors on his way to his common room. He had a good thirty minutes until his next class and needed to grab his textbooks. Taking a bite out of an apple he had he skidded to a stop when he saw a familiar little gryfindor. With an evil smirk he snuck around a pillar behind the bossy Gryfindor then jumped out.*
"BOO!"

Daisy thought she heard something and turned to her left, looking around. Too bad for her that the walls in the dungeon made things sound...off. She didn't realize she was hearing an echo.
Daisy let out a very un-Gryffindor-ish yip. She jumped, dropping her textbook into a small puddle. "Blast it!" she yelled loudly turning around to find - of course it was him! "You!" she said fuming. She was so mad, her hair was bristling a little like a cat. She bent down to pick up her books. "Can't you ever be civil?!" she asked trying to dry the book off with the hem of her school robes.

*Yes! That was the perfect reaction that he wanted. Bending over laughing he started to feel tears. It was like the girl had seen a ghost. Well a really freaky ghost.*
"Haha! Just admit it. I got you good. No need to be all huffy. What are you doing lurking around here anyway?"
*He had jumped out a girl looking at a wall after all. Was she lost or something? She was lost or something! That thought made him smirk again as he took another bite of his apple.*

Well then ...

An interesting detour on his roam around the castle. It's not that he was trying to be late for his classes. The castle was GINORMOUS and way more fun to explore than sitting through a professor's lecture. Besides, wasn't it going to be more meaningful if he took everything in like this? All of his senses could work at once (rather than just his sense of sleeping through studies).

Really, he should get extra credit for wanting to familiarize himself with this place.

Outwardly, Damien looked like your typical 11-year-old with a classic baby face, bowl cut hair, slightly chubby cheeks (event though he was slender) and blue-green eyes. He wasn't really ... hyper. Fairly quiet and liked to observe things before deciding on action.

And once he heard voices further down the dungeons, he slowed his pace to hear what they were talking about.

A boy and a girl. Obviously. The girl sounded like she wasn't all that thrilled with being down here, and the boy sounded like he was having a grand old time tearing the Mickey out of her. The Hufflepuff continued to meander in their direction until they finally came into view. He adjusted his book bag on his shoulder. "Right," he said, Irish accent clearly noticeable. "Did I miss anything?"

Daisy fought the urge to shove the boy's (what was his name again? He'd said it in the boat hadn't he?) apple down his throat. The only thing stopping her was that it wouldn't look very Gryffindorish if she did. Arg! "I wasn't lurking," she potested as she finished wiping off her book. She gave him her best growler, the one she usually saved for herbrother Isador. "I was trying to find..."

But before she could say much more anothr boy walked up. "Just him," Daisy said jerking a thumb in Noah's direction. "Being uncivilized."

*Still laughing a little he noticed a new person joining their little huddle.*
"Just having a bit of fun is all."
*Was this bloke Irish? Turn back to the girl he raised an eyebrow and smirked.*
"Uncivilized? I'm an eleven year old boy. How civil are we meant to be?"

Swallowing a combination of a grunt and a laugh, Damien shrugged his shoulders. "Clearly someone is having fun, but it doesn't sound like everyone is having fun."

He shrugged again as if trying to prove some casual point. He hadn't yet caused trouble with anyone, so why start now?

"Civil enough to knoe it's not fine to go sneaking up on people or jumping in and out of boats and to nottryand drown people," Daisy replied with a little more distian than was needed. She huffed a little. Why was it that whenever she found herself around this boy she ended up sticky or wet?

And the other boy chimmed in. Surely he wasn't with annoying Noah. (Ha! She remembered his name....somehow.) "You don't look lime you're habing fun. And I don't recall you being in my potions class." Surely he wasn't lost like she was, not that she would admit it. At least not in front of Noah.

"Pfffffft." *This girl just needed to have fun. She sounded way to uptight and unfun. Were all fuzzy heads (Gryfindors) this lame? His sister sure wasn't.*
"You just need to lighten up. Have some fun. I thought fuzzy heads were brave by the way?"

*Turning to the new boy he started to laugh as he saw his robes. A Hufflepuff?! Was a Hufflepuff coming to save a brave Gryfindor?*
"Is a Hufflepuff really coming to save a brave Gryfindor? Haha this is too much!"

What exactly was this kid playing at? Sounded slightly mad, which wouldn't do his house any good. "Maybe your kind of fun is different from hers," he commented. Hey, he hardly knew either one of them, but Damien knew the difference between having a bit of fun, and full on torturing someone.

Obviously the girl was not having any fun.

And clearly this bloke wasn't going to be threatened in Damien's house colors. He still had no idea why the Sorting Hat put him in Hufflepuff. Just saying the house's name alone made you sound like a marshmallow.

"Maybe lay off a bit on your fun, yeah?" he replied. "Find someone who understands you better."

*Now the laughing had stopped from Noah. Who did this Irish bloke think he was talking to him like that? Stepping up to the guy he gave him a glare.*
"Look here mate, you have no idea what kind of fun I have. This girl...*Who Noah forgot the name of.* ...has been sour to me since the train. It was a total accident that I ran into her. She was the one who stopped all suddenly. And the boats? We were still docked! Just wanted to have a little fun. So back off badger boy, you don't know me so don't talk like you do."

"Wow...wow...wow!" Daisy said stepping up between. "Just because he's a jerk," Daisy said jerking a thumb in Noah's direction. "Doesn't mean we have to stoop..."

And then Noah started in on her about the train. "You! Mister, didn't even stop to make sure I was alright, which I wasn't! I lost a good chunk of hair to that caldron cake and the wall! Least you could have done was say 'sorry' which you didn't bother to do. A toad has better manners." She placed her hands on her hips as she yelled at the Slytherin. "And your fun got me all wet and almost tipped us over like that other boat!"

*As soon as he was done yelling at badger boy the flower named girl was yelling at him. What was that for? Was she dead? Nooooooo, she was still here.*
"Did you die? You seem to be doing just fine... and-"
*Leaning over he smirked as he looked at her hair.*
"-by the look of it your hair should grow back... eventually.*
*A part of him, the part that had the voice that sounded an awful like like his dad, told him that his comments were mean and that he should have apologized. But he was starting to get upset that this girl could not let things go.*
"Besides the first bit was an accident and I was just trying to have some fun with the boats. Gryfindors are meant to be brave right?"

”If it was an accident. Then it shouldn’t be so hard to apologize!” Daisy’s voice raised just slightly at the end of her sentence. Her hands were balled into fists, shoved against her boney hips under her long school robes. Once again she as resisting the urge to sock Noah in the ear. What was it about this boy that drove her so crazy! Honestly, he was worse than her brother Isador.

And then he started in on stereotypes. Song of a Banshee! What was wrong with this boy? Her seriously couldn’t be that – that repugnant. It wasn’t the 18th century anymore after all! Nobody thought like that anymore did they? Daisy suddenly wasn’t so sure. “Brave is one thing. Stupid is another. It’s a fine line sometimes and I can see you cross it quite often.” She turned to the Hufflepuff boy next to her who she still didn’t know. “Common, I’m hungry. Let’s go find the Great Hall for lunch.” If she had known the boy belter, she would have grabbed the boy’s arm and dragged him along behind her. As it was, she hoped he’d follow because she still had no idea how to get out of the dungeons.

*Rolling his eyes he took a bite out of his apple and smirked. Stupid was he? No. But by the look of it he was braver than this Gryfindor. And why should he apologies for something that was technically her fault in the first place? Noah saw no point in arguing further with this girl and her badger buddy. Thankfully they seemed to feel the same and were leaving. But by the look of it the girl had no idea where she was going as she was heading the wrong way. Sighing he yelled after them while he leaned against the wall.*
"You lot are going the wrong way... Go up this hall, take a right, a left, up the stairs and another right and then you'll be at the great hall."
*There. He wasn't a total jerk, he could be nice. And that would be the closest to an apology she would get from him. Not looking to see if they took his directions Noah started on his apple again and headed to the common room.*

Zeke trudged forward, pausing every so often to copy something down, drawing neat lines in his notepad and labelling them with whatever was appropriate. His frown by now had dissipated, and though he hadn't forgotten what that nasty and UGLY portrait had said, it wasn't his primary concern at the minute.

The Slytherin Wall.

What was the password? Hhhmm?

Zeke paused a bit from his documenting of the area, and instead he started feeling around the shapes and textures of the wall. It was pretty nifty.

He liked the Fat Lady, she was pretty cool... minus her singing, and though a wall seemed less personable, it was just... cooler? Something like that.

Hady made her way along staying with her group, generally falling into step beside or either right behind Zeke. Whenever she came along something a note or sketch would be made inside the notebook. Granted her sketches weren't great or very clear but they made sense to her and she'd fix them up when she had more time to do so.

She'd been up and down these corridors more then enough times but with this castle there was always something new, something over looked. Not today. Now she had something to write her findings in and others to explore with. This was interesting...something she could write home about. She knew her father would like to hear about whatever she came across.

Cosgrach quickly walked past that portrait and came to a halt in front of the Slytherin Wall. Zeke and... he'd remember her name... HADY! were already there, and he smiled at them.

"All noted down?" Hmm? He opened a blank page and began drawing and describing too.

coming to a halt in front of a wall, Kevin stared and frowned at it. Why was everyone standing here? He looked at the little Slytherin who looked like she knew where she was like she walked this path every day and the Gryffindor figured that the Slytherin Common Room had to be here somewhere in this area. "Are we going in the Slytherin common room as well to document?" he asked the Professor , his eyes seemed to shine with excitement because if he said yes than he could FINALLY see what that common room looked like! SO COOL!

For him it was fascinating, though, he wondered if the enjoyment was the same for Hady, or if it was lesser. She didn't seem to mind.

Zeke continued to finish up his notes and print for this part of the castle, making sure his work was neat enough and therefore at least mostly accurate, even if some of the measurements were a bit off. Wasn't that special fancy pants dude supposed to be helping them? Weren't they supposed to be doing this right? Where was the skill involved? He wanted to learn how to do it proper, not just repeat what he'd already done in his first year - though he hadn't gotten any further than the fifth floor.

Sigh.

Looking up from his notebook Zeke nodded to Professor Culloden. "Yep, done."

He hadn't even considered any such dilemmas as he'd had when he was documenting the seventh floor towers last year, but ... WERE they allowed in other common rooms? Was Kevin onto something?

"Yes! Can we? Please?!" preeeeetttyyyy please with tons of cherries and icing and nuts on top!

When everyone else came to a stop so did she leaning against the wall slightly as she made her sketches. She knew where everything went on her little map but she jotted it all down anyway just in case.

"Yes Professor." She stated simply. It wasn't hard to keep up but since the others weren't all Slytherins maybe they needed the extra time. Hady didn't mind it all. Glancing around she laughed quietly hearing the boys ask if they'd be going into the common room. Shifting her gaze to the Professor she waited on his answer. Would they be?

With a small smirk she nudged Zeke gently whispering in his ear. "Save me the trouble of shrinking you." This was followed by a playful wink and a smirk.

Cosgrach nodded in approval, then. They were quick probably because dungeons were all humidity and stone, and he liked that! He noticed that the rest of the group were somewhere else... probably in the secret passage? Hmm. He hoped so.

He laughed briefly at the Gryffindors. He didn't answer right away, but looked as if he was contemplating it - should he let them in, or not? Let them in, or not? Let them in, or -

"I'm sorry, but I can't." He really looked sorry. "We can't do that. But you'll see it, sort of, how it looks anyway, when the mapping is done." How about that?

"If you're all done, shall we move to my office?"

The idea was awesome, and it DID need mapping, so... COULD THEY?! He had his fingers crossed beneath his writing pad, but it seemed as though it wasn't meant to be. Culled was being a party pooooooper. BORING.

But off to his office now? Could they... look around in there? or just sketch the walls? Hehehe. "Okie dokie," Zeke nodded, his shoulders slumping in a little shrug.

He'd still find a way into that common room... whether or not a Professor was going to take them.

"Shrinking me it is then," he whispered into Hady's hair as he turned to pass her.