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Magical Soul · 08-13-2015, 12:06 PM

The rickety old door that previously would not budge no matter who tried to open it for nearly a century has suddenly become a bit more accommodating.

Upon first glance, the interior of the room resembles nothing more than a disused bathroom covered in dust and cobwebs but with orange boxes embellished with a large 'W' thrown about the place haphazardly. The contents of these boxes, while very old, are still potent and functioning. So be careful opening them and inspecting their contents. You may just set off a dungbomb or Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-bangs. Perhaps you'll get lucky and find some Extendable Ears or a Screaming Yo-yo or something else entirely.

A crawlspace in one of the abandoned stalls will lead you to the Gryffindor Tower Reading Room. You'll just need to stand on the toilet to reach it.

Callie · 05-29-2016, 09:39 PM

Hadley opened her mouth to defend herself but nothing came out. Eventually she closed her mouth and sigh. "You're right." She was being completely unfair to him for no reason at all. What was with her lately? Sure there was the stuff going on at home, but that didn't really explain her moodiness and constantly swinging moods. Oh. "I'm sorry. I think everything is just catching up to me...and that's not really an excuse is it? Can we just start over?" You know, try for her not being a pubescent nightmare?

Oh. Blaise was going to play it that way was he? Hadley rolled her eyes, and resisted the urge to glare at him. It was hard but she managed. She sat down and leaned against the counter. "Okay. Fine. I'm muggle-born," like had already been established, "and my Dad hates the fact I'm a witch and hates the magical world," it was an extreme overstatement. "So I got banned from ever being a witch or having contact with any part of the Wizarding community, including all my friends. I'm not really great at following rules, so to make sure I did follow them, I spent the summer under house arrest and constantly under Dad's supervision. It got really bad and Mom had to break me out and ship me back to Hogwarts just to give me some space from him and they've been at each other's throats ever since, and today I found out they're talking about separating." She shot Blaise a look as if to say, Happy now? "Your turn. Why hasn't Magic been warm and inviting for you?"

Wait did she just...share that so she could satisfy her curiosity...? Was she...becoming Ravenclaw? It's like a cult, and she unknowingly drank the Ravenclaw kool-aid.

DaniDiNardo · 05-29-2016, 10:42 PM

He thought for sure she'd deny it; possibly glare even harder than earlier and ask that he stop talking. That was how many of his conversation had been going whenever he spoke to girls lately, a perfect pattern. Once again, Hadley found herself fitting outside the mold but this time it was in a good way. An apology and a request to start over.

"We can do that, yeah." Blaise could hold a grudge, he very well could, but this was not the sort of situation that called for such things. Hadley was simply confused about her own feelings toward other human beings and it left her at a disadvantage when interacting with others--at least...that's how his quill told it.

The boy settled in, ready for the explanation that would give him more of an idea about WHY she seemed SO angry. Had to be something good, she was almost as grumpy as HE was on a day he was forced to attend either Charms or Transfiguration. "I'm sorry to hear that." Was his initial reply when she was through. Blaise supposed she'd be sad her parents were splitting but truly, he was only sorry she'd been locked inside all summer and made to suffer the presence of a muggle possessing such a high level of ignorance."D"you think you'll be happier after? Y'know, when you can freely enjoy magic and your friends."

In the back of his mind, Blaise thought to skirt around her question once more but she'd come clean and he didn't suppose his reasoning was any more important or critical. In fact, he felt a little silly having to explain after her own story.

"I'm no good at it." Painfully and disappointingly simple, wasn't it? "Growing up, I didn't want anything more than to get my own wand and start casting magic--real magic, not the accidents I made happen sometimes. Dad said I'd be as good as him with enough practice and we thought of all these neat things I could do once I'd mastered the basics." The faintest of smiles graced his features, only somewhat noticeable in the dull light and only there a moment. His shoulders rose in something of a shrug. "Then I got here, and I tried real magic with my real wand that supposedly 'chose' me...and nothing happened. Looked around at everyone else in my year--some of them were getting stuff on the very first go but no matter how I tried, nothing." Another, more defiant shrug was offered then. "Doesn't matter. It's dumb and I don't need it to get stuff done so about your flying charm or whatever." They could just focus on that.

Callie · 05-30-2016, 12:04 AM

"Thanks." She gave the boy a relieved smile. At least she hadn't burned yet another bridge that she'd have to jump through so many hoops to repair. Like Katherine Moss. Or Jacen...on, second thought, she really wasn't in the mood to jump through hoops again with that boy. Jacen could resolve his own damn issues with her himself.

"Thanks," Hadley said again. Normally she hate sympathy like this, but with Blaise, it didn't feel like pity. She as quiet for a long time at his question. It was one she'd probably have gotten around to eventually, once the shock of learning she'd broken her family wore off. Hads shrugged. "Probably. But, it also doesn't really lessen the sting of knowing you're the one that broke up your family, either." She'd rather have happiness as one big happy family and accepting family again. But that wasn't in the cards. "Well, depends I guess. On if they get a divorce too, and who gets custody." She shuddered at the thought of her Dad having custody, but with her Mom's work schedule, it was possible.

Now it was her turn to listen. Wait, seriously? She'd been wondering about this for so long and it boiled down because he wasn't good at it? Hadley probably would have raised an eyebrow or said something had he not continued. Some how despite it still boiling down to not being good at it, the longer explanation actually did explain it where it made sense. A little. Hads nodded quietly. She wanted to say something helpful. More than just sorry, which she wasn't sure how it would come off. Would it come off as genuine like Blaise's or pity, or just false sympathy? She wasn't good at the whole shoulder-to-cry-on, sympathy stuff. And Maybe you should practice more just sounded too obvious, so it was probably what everyone said. Besides, it actually did sound like he had practice a lot. Maybe. "Maybe it's not you. Maybe it's the wand. Like what if the reaction that made everyone think it chose you was actually your wand saying 'Nope, not this kid please,' and now it refuses to do anything because its stuck with someone incompatible, and you're stuck with it so nothing happens." If the wand was the problem, he'd just need a new wand, right? "Maybe you can talk your parents into returning that wand and getting a new one, one that really does choose you. You know spells now, so you don't have to rely on a reaction from the wand, you can actually test it out see if it is choosing you." And if his parents said no, they could save up. Start a get Blaise a decent wand fund or something.

"Yeah, let's start on the spell." It was the reason she came here. A way of distracting herself from the news she got earlier.

Hadley felt a bit sheepish pulling out kira, her wand. She had lovingly mark the wand as hers, inlaying the black wood with gold and silver eagles that turned into spiraling streaks half way up its length that ended at the tip. The eagles represented her house, and the gold and silver spiral was depiction of the first bit of magic she and the wand performed together when it chose her. She loved her wand and it showed. But now, with the candlelight reflecting in the silver and gold inlay, next to the boy that possibly got a wrong wand, it was embarrassing.

She opened the library book that had the charm in it, and refreshed her memory. As she studied it, she mouthed the words, and absently practiced the movements the book laid out. Finally she nodded to herself and looked up at Blaise. "Ready?" Maybe tonight it would work. Hads performed the charm, as accurately as she could, trying to visualize it working. Visualize the board rising off the ground and waiting to be mounted. It was only step one, but it'd be a huge start. When she was done, she nodded to Blaise, signalling him to try.

DaniDiNardo · 06-01-2016, 02:50 PM

Blaise smiled, his own little contribution to this makeshift peace offering of sorts. There was honestly no reason for a grudge. Davie had never asked him to put her on a burn list and she'd never done anything outside of this....spout of craziness.

The smile didn't last long, fading at her next words. The more he thought about it, was the more perplexed he became until even his brows began to crinkle and his gaze grew intense. "It doesn't sound like you did anything. Sounds more like the man doesn't like magic and it'd have happened sooner or later--unless they'd sent you to a muggle school and forgotten the whole thing." Muggles. Odd lot they were. "Not possible either. By hell or high water Hogwarts would have gotten you here, no matter what your parents wanted. If they did what they wanted and you did what they wanted then Hogwarts would have broken them up and if Hogwarts decided they didn't need a difficult Muggleborn and left you be, you'd still find yourself pulled into the magic world and that would break them up, see?" It was only as an afterthought that he realized how easily understood the situation was...for him.

"No one and nothing can make you like magic if you don't. Your Dad would still hate it all if he's decided to." He would know. His parents. His friends. The Professors. They'd all been trying to make him suddenly realize the 'wonders' of magic, to make him open his mind and start bonding with his wand but the boy was set in his resentment and knew that wouldn't change til he wanted it to.

And he was already three steps ahead of Hadley, at least. The thought had long ago come to him that maybe the wand wasn't his and he'd try to convince everyone else, to no avail. "There was no reaction when I got my wand. Nothing happened. At all. I told the lady maybe I need another one but she insisted that meant it was working perfectly and said it's the one I had to keep. I tried returning it the very next summer but the guy at the shop just gave me a vicious wand that nearly took my hand off--told me the fact my wand wasn't trying to kill me like that one meant it was the one for me." He'd have told his parents but then they'd have wondered what he was doing in the wand shop to begin with. "Char thinks it's mine though, says it's only non-responsive because it can tell I don't like or respect it. We're working on it, til then she stays in my dorm." Under his pillow; an upgrade from the bottom of his trunk.

Even in the dim light of the bathroom, the boy could see...the...er...extent to which the girl went when it came to wand personalization. Merlin's beard, it looked like something his little sister might do (and probably would do once she got her own wand). He might have had a snarky comment about it but in the next minute there was a spell being cast and he was up.

Blaise hauled himself off the floor and headed for the board. "So...I just...step on it and...wait...?" She'd never explained what he was meant to do.

Callie · 06-01-2016, 03:59 PM

Hadley simply shrugged. Blaise was right and wrong at the same time. "He somehow found out about the Hag and Professor Newton poisoning us. I don't know how, though. But that's what set it all off. He was just trying to protect me." He just went about it in the worst possible way. Especially for someone like Hadley. She didn't think she'd ever truly forgive Dad for it, either.

...

So, why was she defending him?

"Nevermind." Hadley quietly studied the book a moment. "And it's not about liking magic or not. It's about accepting the person for who they are." Hadley nodded sagely. Even if that person is yourself, Blaise. She didn't say that bit out loud, but she did give him a pointed look.

"See, I thought wands were supposed to react. That's how they choose you. Like would a muggle picking up a wand get no reaction at all? So by that logic, every wand chooses the firsr muggle that happens to pick it up." She shook her head. "And, I suppose by that logic, Kira, reacting to me like this," she gave the wand a flick and gold and ivory light corkscrewed out from the tip, as if an extension of the gold and silver inlay, before bursting like a bubble, "would have meant she was rejecting me, not choosing me, and yet here we are. A perfect pair."

Hadley shifted her focus back on the boy. "You have the wrong wand." She was convinced of that now. "If you want, we can try again. Tell the guy a Ollivander's yours was lost or broke, and you need a new one. I won't let you leave with a dud this time." The choice was completely his, and she wouldn't push. But her offer stood if he wanted to give it a shot. "I can even help you pay for the new wand."

When it came to the board though, Hadley shrugged. "I never cast a flying charm before, so honestly, I don't know." She was making it up as she went. "I've been standing over it and commanding it up like a broom." But that hadn't been working so...Hadley shrugged. "Let's try it your way first, then if it doesn't work, try standing over it and ordering it up."

DaniDiNardo · 06-01-2016, 04:47 PM

So then....it WAS Hogwarts' fault. If that was the catalyst that started this whole locking inside, protecting from magical friends and not wanting her back at the school, it probably had nothing to do with her. He might have said as much but then she was on about accepting the person. The natural response would have been to assure her that if her father went through so much to protect her then chances were he still loved her and it wouldn't change for all the magic in the world but she'd said 'nevermind' and that usually meant a girl was done talking about it. Anything after that was just him asking for trouble so the boy did the only thing he knew in the situation, he nodded and dropped it.

"That's what I was thinking too, especially when everyone else's wands were doing amazing things. I was sure mine would be as excited as I was when I got it."

He thought about the offer for a moment, about going back to the wand shop and having to see the grounchy man again. Chances were he'd just magic them out of the shop broken wand or not. "We can try, yeah." He was allowed to go into Diagon Alley on his own now. All he'd have to do was ask for some spending money, meet Hadley there and see where their luck went from there. "We should do it. They'll never be able to say no to us both." The more he thought about it was the more confident he felt.

Blaise's eyes fell to the board. She'd never cast a flying charm before...this could go either way.

Welp, no time like the present to find out how this thing worked. What was the worst that could happen??? The boy hopped onto the board, ready for whatever might happen but what he didn't anticipate was the thing suddenly shifting from under him and zipping to the other side of the bathroom like it did.

"Whoa!" In no time at all, Blaise was flat on his butt (that ached slightly from the fall) with a somewhat stunned expression. "I think....it almost worked." His lips slowly split into a grin. "Give it another go, I wanna try that again!"

Callie · 06-01-2016, 05:23 PM

"It's a plan, then." One that she was sure would work. Blaise just needed to leave his current wand behind, and they'd make up some sob story about his lost or broken wand...broken might be better. They'd have to replace if it was broken. Probably give the teens a lecture about it too, but it would be worth it if he got a wand that actually chose him.

She wasn't going let them give him one that didn't have a nifty and positive reaction to him either. Hadley Denaker could be the most stubborn person alive when she wanted to. "We'll meet up infront of Ollivander's this summer." And Blaise Bellaire would finally get his wand.

Hadley let out a startle gasp as the board rocketed across the bathroom. Her mouth hung open in shock and astonishment. It...worked! Kinda. But still! Blaise had cracked part of the puzzle. Excitedly and without thinking, Hadley threw her arms around Blaise. "Yes!" Then she remembered they were breaking curfew, which prompted the realization she was hugging the boy. Hads broke the hug awkwardly. "Er, sorry about that. Are you okay?" In the excitement of casting the flying spell semi-correctly, she'd forgotten to check if he was alright.

Wanting to put a little distance between herself and the boy after the awkwardness of her hug, Hadley got up to retrieve the board. "I have been casting that spell everynight since the opening feast and it's never done that before!" She was grinning so wide her face was starting to ache, but she didn't care. It was starting to work. "When I get this perfected," she said, making her way back with the board. "You get first turn on it." After her, of course. "And credit in helping me invent Wizard surfing."

Hadley set the board down between again, studied the spell one more time then tried casting it again.

DaniDiNardo · 06-01-2016, 06:00 PM

"Sounds good to me!" By the time summer rolled around, they would have a foolproof plan too and a story so air tight the man might offer them the wand for free. It was perfectly likely, afterall, he'd offered him that salve that was supposed to make the wand more receptive for free. What was another thing from his shelves? Kids crowded the shop every summer, they were bound to be rolling in galleons.

Next thing he knew, there were arms being thrown at him and she was screaming. Blaise blinked, taken aback by the hug and the level of enthusiasm. "It's fine. I give excellent hugs and some of my friends are huggers; this happens more often than you'd think." Awkward situation? He didn't notice or rather, he didn't think it awkward at all. What he DID notice was the volume and how unacceptable it was for students who were out after curfew. "Now sshhhh."

Blaise pulled himself into an upright sitting position, watching the obviously excited Ravenclaw. It kinda made sense she'd be so loud. If he'd been working on something since he got here and it finally showed promise, the boy would be through the roof.

"I'll hold you to that. For now, let's focus on making it not try to kill anyone who gets on." Surfing was his thing....typically in water...in the Caribbean but an old forgotten bathroom with a girl near the middle of the night wasn't so bad. It was an interesting setting if nothing else.

Once she'd gotten the spell cast again, Blaise got back on the board--this time with a little more caution. This time when the board moved it was at a steady pace rising inch by inch from the ground. "Hey...hey I think this time it migh--" Without warning, the board pulled an immediate 180 degree turn, throwing the Gryffindor off in a similar fashion to an abraxan throwing its rider. The boy landed with a thud and a groan. "New rule; cast a cushioning charm on the ground before I get back on that thing."

Callie · 06-01-2016, 06:43 PM

"Sorry," she whispered. Honestly, the girl hadn't meant to be so loud in her excitement. But come on. Wizard surfing was gonna be a huge success once they were through with it. And she really did mean them. Blaise had figured out how to get the board working the first time. Though it seemed an easy enough solution to try, Hadley hadn't thought to try getting on the board before she knew if it worked or not. And thus, Blaise Bellaire was just appointed the official tester. Together they would make this work.

"This is gonna be better than surfing Venice Beach." Which was her favorite surf location back home in LA. Well, her old home before she moved to London which had absolutely zero surfing spots. No, she still considered LA home and that wasn't going to change anytime soon. Merlin, she wanted to go back and visit all her old favorite haunts. Maybe even see Thomas, her one sorta friend she had back in the states.

"Right." Hadley consulted the book again. What if the spell was working right, and that was just the boards temperament? Nah, she knew her board's personality and it wasn't angry. "Maybe it needs stabilizing charms?" That could be it. It took her a minute to locate stabilizing spells in the book. "Er, wow, these look harder than the flying charm was." Which meant it was probably gonna take her longer to get those than it did to get the flying charm. "I'll start practicing those ASAP, and in the meantime I'll keep casting the flying charm on it until it starts functioning relatively well." Then there was the hover charm, steering and braking charms and still so much left to figure out. So much left to do for it, but this, tonight, was a huge leap forward. She had full confidence she'll have a working board by time she graduated if not sooner.

Looking around at the hard stone counters and floor, Hadley winced. "I don't know the cushioning spell yet." She'll add that to the list to learn along with the sticky spell that Professor Primeaux placed on the shoes last year in the first charms class. That would be good to keep the surfer from falling off at high altitudes. "We probably shouldn't practice in here anymore though. The Room of Requirement would be better for next time. We can customize it to have plenty of soft pads and pillows to catch you until we work out the kinks."

DaniDiNardo · 06-01-2016, 07:08 PM

"I don't know where Venice Beach is but I'll have to take your word for it and remind myself we'll eventually get this right." At the moment, this didn't feel better than surfing anywhere--though he wouldn't deny there was a certain thrill to it. Never knowing quite which way the board will decide to turn or what it'll try to do.

Which got him thinking.

"You know what could be good until you work all those things out?" Blaise glanced back at the ornery board. "A regular ol' sticking charm. It can be like that mechanical hippogriff they had at this fair my parents took me to in Diagon Alley a couple years back. It's definitely vicious enough. Find a way to keep people on it and just enjoy the chaotic ride." It wasn't nearly as controlled as actual surfing but the boy was falling more in love with the idea by the second.

"With how fast it was zipping just now, it'd be wicked fun. Colloshoo should do the trick." Blaise might not have been a fan of magic, but he kept up on his reading; he knew his spells. Occasionally he even had to cast them during duels. Colloshoo happened to be on his wand's approved list of spells to be cast without embarrassing him first.

No cushioning charm made him all in agreement for the Room of Requirements. "Works for me. I can do without hitting into anything else they've got in here. I'm free during Charms and Transfiguration time slots," pause, "if you're up for that."

Callie · 06-01-2016, 07:43 PM

"L.A. Surfed there constantly during the summers before moving here. I miss it." The longing expression on her face was apparent even in the dim candle light. "We'll get it, because I'm not going to stop until we do. It just might take a while." A really long while. She was, after all, a second year.

Okay, that piqued her interest. "I like that. Sounds like a blast, actually. We can even charge people for rides, make some coin on it." What? She was saving up for a proper broom and all. Plus Blaise needed a new wand. "We'll make it affordable, like ten sickles or something. Possibly get more business that way..." She could sell t-shirts on the side or something. "I don't know. Could work. Could be great!" Okay, Blaise was officially Hadley Denaker's new favorite scheming buddy.

"Colloshoo?" She thought it over. As long as the kids tied their shoes on tightly, it could work. More over, she could cast it. "Yeah, that works." The idea was already starting to come together nicely, but... "I actually like transfig and charms." She sighed, and let the idea percolate. "I wouldn't mind missing a few of Itchy Mara's classes though. So, yeah. How about we start during next week's transfiguration class?"

DaniDiNardo · 06-01-2016, 10:24 PM

L.A? As in...in America? Huh, fancy that. "Must have been nice there." He thought aloud. "And I'm not worried. Eventually we'll get this thing working and when we do, it'll be a huger success than any wave either of us has ever ridden." The thought brought a smile to his face, both because of the memory of all the surfing he'd done just a few months ago and because of the promise of even better things--once this was sorted.

And now Hadley Denaker was putting her Ravenclaw brain to good use. It was about time. "I like the way you think. It's always best to get value for your innovations and it just so happens we'll have a great one."

He thought they'd had everything sorted and rose with a stretch to grab his book he'd stashed so he could head back through the secret passage up to his Common Room when the girl mentioned the classes....and...liking them. Right. Sometimes he forgot people actually did that. Thankfully Hadley didn't like both SO MUCH this couldn't work. "Next week's class is brilliant." A conspiratory grin spread across his face. "I wasn't going to be there anyway."

Callie · 06-03-2016, 03:05 AM

She felt a bit foolish about how she reacted earlier. Blaise was a cool guy, and he just got it. That desire that cared more about reaching the goal than how long it took. Hadley returned his smile. "It will be incredible. And who knows. It might even take off and we can earn a living selling them." Even if that didn't happen, they'd still have their boards and that in and of itself was a prize worth all the effort.

And Blaise was on board her money making scheme too. ~~Pun intended.~~ Awesome. This seemed like it might be the start of a very productive friendship.

More than that though, Blaise had helped take her mind off the news of her parents potential separation, in such a way that it was unlikely to return to the depressing news again tonight. She had something new and exciting to occupy her mind. For that she was immensely grateful to the boy. That said it was late and there wasn't much more they could do tonight in the bathroom. It was time to try and sneak back to the Ravenclaw tower. "Great. Meet you at the Room of Requirement just before class then?" With that settled, Hadley began packing her books up and bowing out the candles.

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