Isabella cringed when she accidentally brushed up against the wall of the dungeon corridor. And then she shuddered. Dungeons were creepy. Though it was barely below the floor with the Hufflepuff common room, the dungeons just seemed... poorly kept? Mildewy? Isabella couldn't put her finger on it, but she was starting to wish she had brought a friend down here on her search for the hidden swimming pool the Care of Magical Creatures professor had told her about.

It made sense to put it on the very bottom floor, right? Isabella thought so. That way, it couldn't leak and then start raining in a classroom or something. Also, she doubted many people came down here just to wander, so it would be a good place to hide a secret room for a swimming pool. Peering into the dark corners, she wondered if just walking down the corridor was enough. She supposed a secret swimming pool would have a secret door...or a secret passage to a normal door. In any way, the door was probably concealed somehow.

Isabella gingerly pushed on a random brick in the wall. Nope. Not the entrance to the pool.

On the plus side, she hadn't gotten lost in the dungeons yet. She was pretty sure it would be hard to get lost down here, seeing as there were no moving staircases.

Elsa had just exiting the Slytherin Common Room when she spotted a girl walking around the corridor looking rather shifty. Elsa's brow cocked up intrigued and she approached the girl from behind silently as only a snake could be and tapped her on she shoulder "Watcha'doen?" she asked with a wicked grin.

Oh the joys of giving people mild heart attacks.

Isabella jumped so suddenly that she didn't think to keep her arms down and they flailed up toward her face as she spun around, nearly losing her balance. Luckily there was a person standing there, and Isabella grabbed the girl's arm to steady herself.

"D-Don't do that!" she said in surprise. "I'm looking for the swimming pool, of course." Maybe the swimming pool wasn't in the dungeon. She supposed that if it were, the Slytherins would know. Or maybe they were really really good at keeping secrets. Is that what made someone a Slytherin, the ability to keep a secret?

Elsa giggled and opened her mouth in surprise as the girl flailed and nearly fell to the ground. Oh Merlin aren't you a lively one? She grinned wider and held her in return, making sure she didn't fall to the ground over her notion of a joke.

"I'm s-sorry" she said between giggles.

Coughing to make herself straight she heard the girl's answer to her previous question. Elsa blinked once. Twice. A couple more after that and decided she must have heard it wrong. "I'm sorry for the what?" she repeated looking for confirmation that this girl had just told her that she was looking for a pool. There was no such thing at Hogwarts was there? "What do you mean a pool?" she said leaning and nearly whispering to the other girl as she looked around the corridor like she expected to see a door materialize right there and take them to a grand pool. Why was she whispering? She didn't know. But if this pool existed it was one of Hogwarts best kept secrets.

Oh Merlin this was as exciting as the book of Mysteria since she hasn't been in a pool in 2 years.

Well, at least the girl apologized. Isabella noticed the green badge, thinking this must be the first Slytherin she had really met. She frowned slightly when the girl was confused or excited or something about the pool. Darn, she had hoped this Slytherin girl could help her find the pool.

"I'm looking for the hidden swimming pool," Isabella said. "I thought the dungeons would be a good place to hide a pool, since they're damp and smell a little odd anyhow." Seriously, how old was this girl? The pool must be very well hidden (or at least not in the dungeons) if an older student, a Slytherin, didn't know about it. "I suppose you don't know where it is??"

"Oh I.." she snapped her mouth close. The dungeons are damp but they certainly do not smell a little odd. "It doesn't smell odd down here!" she exclaimed feigning being offended "Maybe near the Potions classroom, but not here for sure!"


Why did she never know about the cool things Hogwarts had. She had never heard about a swimming pool before. At least not if the prefect's bathroom didn't count. Or was that it? "Are you talking about the prefect's bathroom up on the fifth floor?" she never seen, but she heard it was as big as a pool and with thousands of water taps that streamed colored and scented hot liquid into it. "Tell me about this pool I've never heard about. I mean, I'm only a second year but I was fairly sure I knew most of the things there were to know about Hogwarts, but everyday is a surprise around here!" she said, her Portuguese accent giving the last phrase a funny sound.

Abby wasn't sure why she found herself down in the dungeons but here she was painting the dungeon corridor green and silver things had been odd the past few days and she had no control over what was happening

Isabella tilted her head thoughtfully and sniffed. "You're right," she said. "It doesn't smell odd right here. Somewhere, it did, though. I don't know if it was by the Potions classroom."

She frowned slightly. "I think the swimming pool is supposed to be a secret," she said carefully. "My mother never knew about it, but I was given a hint and now I want to find it." She eyed the Slytherin carefully. Could she trust this girl with her source of intel? Isabella decided she could. She was very trusting. "The Care of Magical Creatures professor, um, what's his name? He accidentally mentioned it to me." Hopefully he wouldn't get in trouble for revealing one of Hogwarts' secrets to a mere first year. And hopefully she wouldn't get in trouble for sharing it further with...what was this girl's name? Isabella realized she hadn't asked.

"I'm Isabella, by the way," she said, sticking her hand out to the girl. "I'm a first year. What's your name?" Maybe not the smoothest introduction, but Isabella was about making friends, not being smooth.

Elsa took a deep relieved breath. She was secretly afraid that there was in fact some sort of smell floating around the dungeons. She smiled at the girl and winked "I was teasing you, but good to know it doesn't stink down here, that would make me really upset...and worried about my nose." she ended with a giggle.

So there was a secret pool somewhere in this castle?! That was amazing. "Really??" Elsa repeated really dumbly, a mischievous grin spreading on her face "That's really awesome, I've never heard of it, and I don't recall ever hearing anyone talking about it either" she rubbed her hands in excitement "Would you mind if I help you look for it? I'm sure two heads think better than one." this was really cool information. Elsa felt glad the girl revealed how she got the knowledge because if she didn't corroborate her story with a teacher she might just think she was inside.

As she took the hand that was being offered and gave it a gentle shake, feeling very grownup all of the sudden, she introduced herself "My name is Elsa, nice to meet you Isabella." Please Merlin allow this person not to be the one that has watched that stupid muggle movie and starts calling me Olaf... This girl was awesomely blunt, which was fine with Elsa. But it still stroke her a little weirdly how people in the UK were formal, if this introduction had been back at Portugal they would have kissed cheeks as a compliment.

"Oh, and by the way, your secret if safe with me"

Isabella blushed when the girl pointed out she had been joking. Isabella wasn't great at recognizing teasing when it came from people other than her family. Probably because her family always punctuated their teasing with their nickname for her, Belly. It was much easier to tell whether or not someone was teasing when they said things like You didn't make the hockey team, Belly, how are you going to make friends at school now? Or in this case... Belly, you're so rude.

She lit up when the Slytherin girl was equally excited about the swimming pool. "Yes, I guess you can help me look for it!" she said. "I was looking down here first because if I were going to put a swimming pool in a castle, I'd put it on the bottom floor." Which was apparently not what the Hogwarts castle builders had done. Or...whoever had built the hidden swimming pool. Maybe it wasn't built by the castle builders.

Isabella happily shook Elsa's hand, glad that her manners were accepted. It was much easier to meet friends here than it had been at her new Muggle school a year ago. Maybe it was because Hogwarts was a boarding school, or because she hadn't started in the middle of the year.

"Elsa is a beautiful name," she commented.

Elsa scratched her chin "That makes sense, but we are in Hogwarts, things aren't known to make sense all the time" she said with humor. She proceeded to look around, thinking hard about where could this pool be "Are you positive it's located inside the castle?" it would be much easier and pleasant if it was located on the outside so they could sunbath.

On the other hand it would be equally awesome to have one inside for the cooler days. "I don't think it would be in the lower levels to be honest, maybe somewhere higher? So people wouldn't stumble across it as easily?" she suggested deeply blushing at Isabella's compliment of her name "Oh.. thank you!" she said with a honest shy smile "Isabella is such a lovely name as well!" she motioned for them to walk down the hall.

"It's funny you say it's beautiful, most people tell em straight away it reminds them of a muggle animated thing of an Ice Queen. I even have a friend that calls em Olaf! Whatever that means!" she explained with a shrug "How about you? I don't think I've seen you around the castle so far. Are you enjoying Hogwarts?"

Ohhh. Isabella nodded thoughtfully when Elsa pointed out that things at Hogwarts didn't generally make a lot of sense. So maybe the swimming pool was... not in the dungeons. No, not maybe. There was no swimming pool in the dungeons. She tilted her head and frowned a little bit at Elsa's question. "If it's not in the castle, where else would it be?" she asked in confusion.

So if it wasn't in the dungeon... perhaps the swimming pool was in one of the more remote towers. "Maybe it's on the way to the owlery!" she said excitedly. She had been to the owlery once, but she hadn't been looking closely at her surroundings. She could definitely have missed a secret passage or hidden door. And nobody lived in the owlery, so it would not be as busy as the Ravenclaw or Gryffindor towers.

"Huh," Isabella grunted as Elsa accepted her compliment and then explained why she didn't receive that compliment a lot. "I don't know what an Olaf is," she said slowly, trying to think if she knew of a Muggle movie with an Ice Queen. She couldn't think of one, so let the topic drop. "I love Hogwarts!" she said excitedly. "It's very big, though. I get lost a lot. I'm hoping that my search for the hidden swimming pool with help with that, but so far I'm just finding corners or rooms that I can't ever find again."

He didn't end up in the furthest corridor of the dungeons by accident. Oh no, Blaise had thought about the decision he had to make all the way down here and decided he would return to the Professor's lesson but returning wasn't all he'd do; the man needed the exercise.

The Gryffindor walked along the corridor, looking for the perfect place to leave his...er...mark. Professor's orders, who was he not to comply? Perhaps on the way back up he'd grab a snack in the kitchen because it would be a LONG walk all the way up to the tallest tower to make the other.

Let it never be said Blaise Bellaire didn't work hard when he set his mind to it.

Finally, when he felt he'd gone far enough the boy dropped to the floor and fished a piece of parchment from his bag. Probably not what the Professor had in mind but....that was life. Blaise took a regular quill from his bag as well then began scribbling. Nothing long, nothing too artistic but he was pleased when it was done.

The boy rose with the glue he'd had sitting in the bottom of the bag and stuck the parchment to the wall then headed off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parchment

Oh, terribly sorry, it turns out I didn't make art in this part of the castle but thank you for having enough blind faith in me to walk all the way down here believing that even without a wand I would do my best to get this done. Maybe you'll have better luck checking the next location. Who knows, I might feel more industrious on the walk back up.

Sweat dripping from her ponytail, arms aching from all the wild movements and cheeks still flushed from the force of the wind. This was how Mason knew that she had had an amazing evening of practise.

It wasn't often that the Second Year had a change to practice, hell, it wasn't as if there was anything to practise for: Seeing as Quidditch had been cancelled for years now. But Mason still took every change she got to go out onto the Pitch, just to try and get away from the stuffiness of the Dungeon.

Not that she didn't love them. They were the best place in the entire castle, in her opinion, but then again that was only cause she was super biased about where the Slytherins lived. . . which was exactly where she was going. She needed to drop off her bag and her broom, then she needed to get to a bath pronto. She couldn't go around smelling like some peasant, and her hair seriously needed a brushing ou-

. . . what the he-

Mason's head whipped to the side when she heard the faint sound of feet slamming onto stone. Why? What? She was seriously annoyed by this, cause who the hell runs around corridors like some loser? And seriously, if it was a Slytherin that was being idiotic and running around like some fool. . . lol no. Slytherins didn't do stupid crap like that. It was probably some weirdo Firstie who'd gotten lost and was now spazzing out like an idiot, typical. Give a frustrated sigh, she stopped and started turning around, ready to give whoever this was a piece of her awesome mind.

But as Mason turned around the face the nearing footsteps, she could clearly see that this person was in distress and . . . bleeding? Wait was that - "Azura?"

The tiny teen was racing down the hallways, not very gracefully either, but the way she looked was the last thing on Azura's mind right now.. She needed to get to Mason and she needed to do it now. Her mother was alive.. and probably hurt or trapped or something.. Why else would she send her patronus to her?

The purple eyed girl's heart was pounding as she rounded a corner and there was Mason!!

EEEKKKK! Azura slid to a stop in front of the girl and she looked at her for a moment, panting heavily and wheezing.. Azura's were not made for running, they were made for walking slowly and making sure they don't trip. So this whole racing through corridors was a recipe for disaster.. or for her lungs.. either way.. the girl that stopped in front of the second year Slytherin was a bloody, panting, sweaty mess...

"M..ason.." Azura was wheezing as she bent over.. blood was dripping onto the floor from her nose..Her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. "Oh Fwoopers.. dying.."

*wheeze**cough**more wheezing*

"Mason.." She got out as she raised her self back up.. "Your.. Dad.. he dealt.." *pant pant* "With my mom's case right?" She asked the other girl.. "I just saw my mom's Patronus.. She's alive."