Henry had done plenty of exploring the castle the first couple of years he was at Hogwarts. The moving staircases and following his inquisitive kneazle were always good ways to be taken somewhere new and find something he hadn't before. Now that he was older, he felt that he had outgrown that somewhat, not to mention he did spend more of his time outside than he did inside, especially when the weather was nice.

He was fairly certain he knew where everything inside the castle was anyway, that is until yesterday when he was on his way to potions class. The fourth year didn't remember seeing that particular doorway when he was on he walked through the dungeons before. Had he been that unobservant, or was it new? Whatever it was, he had grown fairly curious about it though he couldn't really do anything about it on the way to class at the risk of being late or after class at the risk of being late to his next class. It would wait till later.

Of course, he forgot about it till the next day when it was raining and looking for something to do. Remember there was a new, secret doorway - or at least to him - he headed down the stairs and into the dungeons. It took him a minute to find it again, but when he did he headed inside, big brown eyes taking in everything. It was something different that he hadn't yet seen, but there was really nothing else interesting. At least not yet. Henry had faith that it would lead somewhere cool and he headed down the first windy turn.

If she was honest, Azura sort of wanted to hide away for a bit. She and Chris were talking, but she still had a lot of work to do in order to mend what she had broken. That and the anxiety over her hopefully pending auditions was making the Ravenclaw seek solace.

She had seen the secret passage last year during a run in with Mason and she decided that would be a good place for her to be alone..

Well alone with her ever present notebook of sheet music that she carried around with her.

So she, along with Chopin, Mozart, Bach and Haydn made their way into the passage. Wondering what they would find down its twisting corridors.

Sam could have sworn she'd seen Henry go down to the potions corridor. Having been too far away to call out to him, at least, not without gaining the wrath of any nearby professors, she'd simply quickened her step to follow him.

...but then, he'd just seemed to have disappeared.

Confused, she retraced her steps, alert eyes scanning the stone walls. And there she saw it. A door, previously hidden to her. Well, that was pretty cool. And just begging to be explored, whether Henry was behind it or not.

Light on her feet, she started her on her way down this new corridor, excitement playing on her lips. Having been grounded for most of the late summer, she'd been rather lacking in adventures recently. This opportunity was one too good to miss.

As of yet, Henry had not found anything down here all that interesting. At least nothing in the corridor as everything seemed to look the same and there was nothing discernibly different. But what he did find interesting were the windy turns and the way he felt like he was in a maze.

In fact, he was pretty sure he was lost.

Henry wasn't sure how it happened, but with the few winds and turns he had gone down, he thought he might have gotten turned around. He was still interested in seeing where it led though. After the next choice of turning left or right, Henry stopped and turned back around. Had he already passed that part of the wall with the broken stone? It was tough to say when it all looked the same.

Heading the other way, he turned the corner, nearly bumping into someone. "Azura, hey!" the boy exclaimed with a grin once he took a step back and saw who it was. "What are you doing down here?" He wondered if she had been here before or if she knew her way around. Maybe she knew where the end led. Hopefully she was not lost like he was feeling to be.

Looking around again to try to get his bearings, he paused for a moment, furrowing his brow. "Did you hear that? Sounds like footsteps.." Was there someone else down there with them or was he imagining sounds on the stone floor? It was probably a bad time for his imagination to be running wild, in a dark and creepy dungeon...

Even though Az knew that her sheets of music couldn't help her out right now.. She was still clutching them as if her life depended on it.. Who knows, maybe who ever was down here was scared of classical music?

Or at least the haircuts some of the composers had?

*heh*

Azura was rounding a corner when suddenly she was running into someone! Eek! Who was that?? They were going to kill her.. Oh it was just Henry.. Well not just Henry, but a friend! She liked Henry, (as a friend!) and he liked her as a friend too.. So that was nice.

"Henry! How's it going?" She asked as she gave him a quick hug, her heart still pounding a bit from that scare before! She pulled back and tipped her Raven head back to look up at him.. Tall friend was tall.

"I was just wandering really, trying to get some alone time and see if I could find some music to play.." Auditions and everything! " What about you? " She asked him as she paused as he did..

Was that footsteps? Eeekkkkkk!

Sam carefully made her way down the passage, her left hand constantly in contact with the wall beside her, despite the odd residue there in places. She'd been reliably told in the past it was a way to stay on the same path, and it'd become a habit whenever she explored anywhere new.

She only became more curious as she took more turns, the passage remarkably...well, consistent. She'd expected it to have either been blocked or opened out into something long before now. Where exactly in the castle was she? She didn't think she'd gone any deeper underground, but maybe she had. The Slytherin Common Room was meant to be under the Lake, right?

And then she heard voices. Two, a male and a female...and they were getting closer. "Hello?" she called out. "Anyone there?"

Art made his way from his office, and he heard some voices. It wasn't unusual, the Slytherins lived down here, but... none of those voices belonged to any Slytherins. It wasn't really unheard of for other students to be down here anyway, what with Potions and all... "Mr Whittebrook, Miss Kenne- err- Snow... and Miss Tyler, well... hello everyone."

He was just passing by, but he wasn't one to just walk by students without saying hello and seeing how they were first.

Henry reached his arm around Azura and gave her a hug back. He wondered if he might have scared her suddenly bumping into her like that, especially in this dark and creepy hidden corridor. Not that he was scared.. just.. a little jumpy maybe. But in a good way. It was kind of fun to be a little scared like in a haunted house.

"It's going alright, just finding a new place to explore. But I seemed to have gotten turned around." Seriously, this place was like a maze and he turned behind him to have a look at the corridor before turning back to his friend. "Have you been in here before?" He could say he was wandering as well, but perhaps she had a better sense of direction than he currently had.

He hadn't been completely sure if he had heard footsteps or not, but the voice he definitely heard. He glanced at Azura before looking back where the voice had come. "Hello? Who is that?" The female voice definitely sounded familiar and he motioned for Azura to follow him as he rounded the corner to follow the sound. Was it... ? "Sam!" he grinned at his friend, somewhat relieved that it was someone he knew. Even in the dim light of the corridor he could make out her features as he stepped closer. "So, what are you doing down here?" Maybe just exploring things like he was, or maybe she had a real purpose that would tell him what lay down here.

As he thought that over, the boy was suddenly surprised to hear another voice and he looked up suddenly at the professor. Where did he come from? "Oh.. hi professor," he said, giving him a small smile, though he looked on him curiously. What was he doing in this maze of corridor? And maybe he could give a clue to where it led or why it seemed to suddenly appear. He had never had good reason to visit Professor Newton's office, but was it here?

Azura smiled as Henry hugged her back and she smiled a bit as they pulled back. She had been slightly scared when she had run into him. But she was all right now. Henry wasn't scary at all and he could totally protect her if something happened.

Not to mention she knew a charm or a hex herself, so they should be all right. Hopefully.

She nodded as he spoke. "Mmmm, it seems it's pretty easy to get turned around down here." She responded as she hugged her music sheets tighter. She looked around a bit, before turning her purple gaze back up to Henry. "No, I haven't. I saw it last year but never got a chance to explore it."

The dark hair girl paused a bit though as she heard a voice and she nodded up at Henry as she started to follow him around a corner and there was another girl there!

Not one she had met really, but Henry seemed to know her. She waved at the girl and smiled. "Hello, I'm Azura." She said with a smile before Professor Newton was there!

She grinned at his slip up of her last name, yeah she sort of expected that. But, she ignored it. "Hello Professor Newton, how are you today?" She asked kindly.

Art smiled at the young students. "I'm not too bad, Miss Snow. How are you?"

"Just exploring a new part of the castle?" He loved that about the castle. People could turn a corner and find a little undiscovered nook.

The voices were VERY close now, and before long Sam had found the person she'd been attempting to follow in the first place. "Hey Henry," she greeted with a grin. "Followin' you, actually. Saw yeh 'ead teh the potions corridor...and then yeh kinda disappeared, so...yeah. 'ere I am too." She shrugged and gave a sheepish smile. It kinda sounded weird now she'd explained it aloud.

Oh, and there was her house and year mate! "Hey Azura," Sam said, putting the fact that she hadn't been recognised down to the poor lighting. Her hair was quite a bit longer and curlier that it had been for her first two years, after all!

And another person joined them. It was really quite busy down here, wasn't it? Especially for a relatively dank, dark passageway. "Good day, Professeh Newton!" She couldn't quite see if Madam Curie was down here too. "Does it actualleh 'ead out somewhere, Professeh? Or are we jus' in a maze?" It kinda felt like the latter, but she was hopeful it might lead to somewhere slightly more exciting.

So Azura hadn't been down here before either. But maybe she had a better sense of direction than he did when it came to finding their way around and getting out. Henry did want to see where it led, after all. "Do you have any idea what's down here? Or where it might go?" He knew she had just said it was her first time in this maze-like passage, but maybe she had already heard about it or something.

"Oh, were you looking for me?" Henry looked at Sam curiously, wondering if she had followed him because she needed to ask him something, or anything specific like that. "Or just wanted to hang out?" That would be cool too. Sam was always fun. "I was just exploring actually. I didn't know where this place led... still don't.." He chuckled a bit, but the corridor was proving itself to be interesting at the very least, even if just for the fact that it had a lot of twists and turns as well as a sense of mystery.

But maybe Professor Newton would have some answers about the passageway for them, since the dungeons were probably where he spent most of his time. "We are, I guess," he nodded as the man asked if they were exploring. "Do you know what's down here?" he asked, adding on to the questions Sam had posed for him. He was still rather curious about it.