Aiden was maybe a little lost...

A lot lost? No just a little.

But a little was more than not at all.

It was second year. How come he was still getting lost for? Maybe it was cause things seemed to move around at Hogwarts, or cause the castle was so big that if you took one wrong turn you might go down a billion hallways before you ever found where you left from.

Or maybe cause Aiden was trying to read a book with one hand, and hold Wally the teddy bear with the other, and he hadn't been looking where he was going til he had already gotten lost.

Aiden looked around nervously, as he walked forward, realizing he had become the only one in the hallway. Aiden hated being the only one in the hallway. In his first year he had been too scared to talk much to the other kids, but he still liked being AROUND them, because if anything bad happened it was the other kids who would know what to do. And most of them were bigger than him.

What if some kind of monster came or something and he was alone? Or if he fell and got hurt? Aiden listened. Was that a sound...? He walked quicker.

"Hello...?" Aiden called out nervously, walking slowly, trying not to cry. He didn't want to start crying because it was probably nothing and he was probably being a baby but he was scared, and Aiden didn't know what to do when he got scared.

After hearing another bump the boy couldn't take it anymore. He hurried forward and turned around the corner without looking where he was going

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aiden Lockwood

Aiden was maybe a little lost...

A lot lost? No just a little.

But a little was more than not at all.

It was second year. How come he was still getting lost for? Maybe it was cause things seemed to move around at Hogwarts, or cause the castle was so big that if you took one wrong turn you might go down a billion hallways before you ever found where you left from.

Or maybe cause Aiden was trying to read a book with one hand, and hold Wally the teddy bear with the other, and he hadn't been looking where he was going til he had already gotten lost.

Aiden looked around nervously, as he walked forward, realizing he had become the only one in the hallway. Aiden hated being the only one in the hallway. In his first year he had been too scared to talk much to the other kids, but he still liked being AROUND them, because if anything bad happened it was the other kids who would know what to do. And most of them were bigger than him.

What if some kind of monster came or something and he was alone? Or if he fell and got hurt? Aiden listened. Was that a sound...? He walked quicker.

"Hello...?" Aiden called out nervously, walking slowly, trying not to cry. He didn't want to start crying because it was probably nothing and he was probably being a baby but he was scared, and Aiden didn't know what to do when he got scared.

After hearing another bump the boy couldn't take it anymore. He hurried forward and turned around the corner without looking where he was going

Mitsuki had a rather inconvenient habit of setting up camp in the middle of rooms and corridors, which was precisely what she had done today. At least this time she was not with her very specific study arrangement that had already resulted in two ... maybe three ... of her friends becoming cursed because they had disturbed her ancient fox friend that no one else could see. She did, however, have a particular set up in motion - an array of dominos she had found in the common room earlier and had been pulled to make use of. She had found an older Gryffindor boy utilizing them in something called a Rube Goldberg machine...and he had been very disgruntled when she pointed out how unnecessary his set up was. She could not understand the consternation with being presented facts.

The echo of a 'hello' drew her attention for a moment and her dark eyes darted around the corridor to find the source. Silent and staying still, her finger still on the domino she had just placed in front of the other, she waited for another sign...or a shift in the movement of the dust in the air...and when none came she resumed her arranging.

She was not creating any sort of elaborate task accomplishing arrangement with the dominos today, but rather arrange them in a spiral pattern on the floor to push over and watch each fall against the other with a color shift. It was almost meditative in a way, though the uneven stone flooring made for a bit of a challenge.

So, here she was. Sitting right smack in the middle of the corridor with her half arranged dominos when Aiden came barreling around the corner and penetrated the creative sphere like a rock thrown into the Black Lake.

In the silent corridor a scratching might be heard, though you might think it's a cat using the stones to sharpen its claws. This scratching goes on for a few more minutes before something starts appearing on the corridor wall, if you look closely you might begin to read was is appearing.....


Ring a ring o' roses
Pocket full of sand
Door that never closes
Conceals enchanted land

There I while the hours away
I play the whole day through
Before the day I'll go away
I want to play with you

"Cat, stop it. Go play outside or whatever" He whispered as he walked the corridor out of the library with a book that Lisa had gifted him in his hand. She usually scratched the frame of the bed so he wouldn't be surprised if she was scratching the walls too.

But, as he looked down, his cat walked alongside him, and he could still hear the scratching. Then perhaps someone was vandalizing school propriety? Daniel accelerated his pace, eager to catch whoever it was in the act. Was it this way? No that way!. He came around the corner and discovered not what he was looking for but something even better.

He was about to turn around and check the other corridor because he was disappointed that he hadn't found the culprit when he noticed the scribbles on the wall. The Hufflepuff got closer as he read the message, thinking it was the nursery rhyme 'Ring around the Rosie?' but as he read further, he realized it wasn't. After reading the entire thing, he felt a chill, but it wasn't fear, at least not yet.

A mysterious scratching sound? Mysterious writing on the wall? A mysterious riddle? Daniel could hardly contain his excitement as he reached for his small notebook in his pocket and began to copy the words.

Adam was heading down to grab some food - let's be honest, he was almost ALWAYS headed to the Great Hall to grab some food - when he heard what sounded like scratching nearby. Was there a cat loose in the school? If so, then it found something to serve as a scratching post and the staff probably wouldn't be too pleased....

He paused, looking around for a small feline friend, but didn't see anything nearby. He was about to shrug it off and move on when something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Was that...a message on the wall?

He blinked a few times and turned to the nearest passerby (Daniel) and blinked again. "You seeing that too?"

Around the corner Aiden flew. His feet kicked up many little black somethings, as he barrelled through the spiral of dominos that had been left on the floor. The dominos fell alright, but probably not the way they were supposed to. Aiden almost tripped and stumbled, just stopping himself from tipping over. With a yelp, he turned, holding his teddy in his left hand, when his eyes lowered and he saw the girl on the ground.

If she was unhappy with what he'd done, he was too relieved to see her to care.

"Mitsuki!!" The tiny boy squeaked. He rushed over to her, and knelt down beside her. He only had a LITTLE bit of tears in his eyes. If there WAS something out there she would know what to do. She was brave, not like him. "I got lost," he said breathlessly. "A-and, I heard..." he whimpered.

It wasn't the first time Aiden had heard monsters. His room-mates were well used to the routine of the smaller boy waking them up to listen for a noise in the night. Anybody who knew him would know how jumpy the boy was. But...

"L-listen," he muttered. At first it was quiet, but then? A scritchy-scratchy sound. His eyes widened and looked up at Mitsuki. It was coming from over there.... And he heard voices now too!

"There...!" he pointed breathlessly nervously clutching Mitsuki's arm.

It wasn't that Milo had not noticed the scratching noises, more that it was only one of a number of things trying to commandeer his attention, and failing to win out over the others. He came this way only on the tail of a whim, which led him straight down this corridor and directly upon...

He paused mid-step, backed up a little, and read through the words scratched upon the wall. In spite of the mention of roses and sand , Milo immediately understood that it was not a message for him; his were seldom so clear or easy to be discerned by others, and he always knew immediately even if they were. So it was here for someone else, or perhaps simply:

"Vandals."

At which point he looked towards the older students loitering before the scene. Vandalism did not concern him; the concern was what stood behind it, and, depending on the what, the who. What a coincidence that a Hufflepuff should be discovered here, taking notes. Milo did not yet know that another was nearby, apparently lurking just out of sight, nor of the individual he consorted with. The powers that be had designated that a future problem.

Daniel wrote the words into his notebook when he heard another pair of footsteps approach. He glanced to his side and nodded in response to Adam's question. "I do" he stated as he wrote the last word"I jotted it down in case it vanishes." Who knew it would disappear in the same way it had appeared seemingly out of nowhere? He shut the notebook and held it by his side. "Doesn't it sound like a nursery rhyme?" He asked the older Gryffindor before looking at the wall again. "Door that never closes... what kind of door never closes? Or is it a metaphor?" he chewed on the end of the pen as he thought.

"Duh" he replied with a roll of his eyes as Milo approached. He ceased chewing on the pen and tucked it behind his ear. Whichever way you looked at it, whether it was done by a student or something else. It was vandalism. "Have any of you seen anyone acting suspiciously when you came here? Maybe someone who hurried away from this floor? Or avoided eye contact?" That was how they usually started in the detective books he had read.

The pleasant clink clink clink, like rain falling on cold metal, of the dominos as they both fell and flew out of position in juxtaposition to the massacre of her efforts left Mitsuki feeling both distraught and delighted. But mostly regretful that today was clearly not meant to be the day that she played with dominos. She had misunderstood the lint.

Even more confusing, however, was Aiden's disheveled appearance. His tears felt rather unwarranted, it really was not such a dramatic thing that he had ruined her domino display so he ought not let the guilt bring him to tears (which was another layer of confusion itself), and he seemed to be talking even more oddly than usual. "Voices?" she repeated, her own lowering a bit as she began to piece together the tears. Yes, it could be alarming to hear them at first too...though she had not taken him to be the sort that could. Interesting. But then she hears it too and rather that freeze, she slowly got to her feet and allowed a few more dominos to join their brethren on the floor with a clink clink clink. "They are carving," she stated, her eyes aglow with fascination and her heart drumming. Her head snapped around as Aiden grabbed her arm and, briefly, she felt a pang of sympathy for his bear that had to endure such grips and embraces frequently. Her head turned, following his indication, and soon her strides followed - he would be coming with her, right? "Let us go see," she said while pinching a bit of salt from her pocket and sprinkling it over Aiden with an accompanying nod of the head. He would be okay now, yes.

With her Hufflepuff companion, friend, Mitsuki walked along the corridor and around the bend until they came upon a group of their peers. Daniel, another Hufflepuff who she knew somewhat and found rather pleasant from their brief interactions, another boy she did not know, and Milo. It was Milo who she moved to stand beside, still with Aiden because he was her friendly parasite for the occasion. She meant such thoughts in the most endearing of ways, for the record.

The pleasant clink clink clink, like rain falling on cold metal, of the dominos as they both fell and flew out of position in juxtaposition to the massacre of her efforts left Mitsuki feeling both distraught and delighted. But mostly regretful that today was clearly not meant to be the day that she played with dominos. She had misunderstood the lint.

Even more confusing, however, was Aiden's disheveled appearance. His tears felt rather unwarranted, it really was not such a dramatic thing that he had ruined her domino display so he ought not let the guilt bring him to tears (which was another layer of confusion itself), and he seemed to be talking even more oddly than usual. "Voices?" she repeated, her own lowering a bit as she began to piece together the tears. Yes, it could be alarming to hear them at first too...though she had not taken him to be the sort that could. Interesting. But then she hears it too and rather that freeze, she slowly got to her feet and allowed a few more dominos to join their brethren on the floor with a clink clink clink. "They are carving," she stated, her eyes aglow with fascination and her heart drumming. Her head snapped around as Aiden grabbed her arm and, briefly, she felt a pang of sympathy for his bear that had to endure such grips and embraces frequently. Her head turned, following his indication, and soon her strides followed - he would be coming with her, right? "Let us go see," she said while pinching a bit of salt from her pocket and sprinkling it over Aiden with an accompanying nod of the head. He would be okay now, yes.

"They want to play," she read aloud, her eyes igniting just a bit more from the thrilling invitation. "In the Spirit Room. Death's door is always open, it never closes," she noted thoughtfully, the words sounding cryptic though her tone was very pleasant. Curious, if anything. Was it an invitation to a Death Day Party? She was hopeful in receiving an invitation to one during her time at Hogwarts. "A door that never closes also never opens," she added thoughtfully. "A locked door." She paused to consider Aiden and his attachment. "We should not keep them waiting."

"C-carving...?" Aiden responded breathlessly, looking up at Mitsuki with wide eyes. He didn't know what that meant, but he DID know that whatever it was it sounded scary. Everything was scary when you were in the hallways alone. Hogwarts had everything you could ever imagine, both good AND bad. At least he wasn't alone anymore...

Not yet anyway. But then Mitsuki began to walk towards the noises, and Aiden scurried after her. "G-go see? But Mitsuki what if..." he asked nervously, but she was going, and wherever SHE went HE was going too cause he was NOT gonna be left alone lost in the hallway again so he hurried after her. He hoped that the dust she sprinkled over him was gonna help. When they got around the corner Aiden saw another Hufflepuff boy and his friend Milo (Even if it was only Aiden who thought that they were friends, but Milo had been nice to him at Diagon Alley a year ago, and after that Aiden had decided that since he was nice they were friends even if he didn't understand him sometimes.)

He looked at the letters on the wall and held onto both Mitsuki and his bear tightly.

"Play what...?" he asked, not understanding what it all meant. He knew the first few words cause they were part of a nursery rhyme. The rest just made no sense. Maybe the words were friendly...? But what could they play? Or was it the person who had written it? Was it he who Aiden had heard?

"What's the Spirit room? Keep WHO waiting? What do they want?" Aiden asked, whimpering a little. The whole thing seemed creepy and he didn't even know why.

But if Mitsuki was going to go look, did that mean she was gonna leave Aiden all alone?

"I'm comin' too," the tiny boy insisted, pouting as he held onto Mitsuki's arm.

Mitsuki was really going to have to find a very specific kind of rock and utilize the remaining jewelry wire she had tucked away in her craft box nestled in her sock drawer to make him an amulet as well. She had for Yukie and Michael and they were not nearly as skittish as Aiden. Even without the Shinto fire, it could at least work as a placebo foil to his illogical behavior.

She briefly wondered which of the places she ought to explore first, but her Hufflepuff friend seemed to have a certain focus on the Spirit Room and therefore the choice obvious. It would be rude of her to ignore the signs. So she simply turned her head and observed Aiden clinging to her arm a bit before turning her attention back to the words on the wall. She could not be certain that her hopes in the meaning were true, but there was also no reason for her to not believe that they were possible. In any event, she did wish to stop by the Spirit Room and perhaps ask one of them if they would like to accompany her to the dance. It was, apparently, imperative that one attend the dance with someone else like some sort of ritual. It was curious, to say the least, and she very much wished to consult either Sir Nicholas or Helena on the matter.

"To the Spirit Room then," she nodded while pivoting with Aiden still attached to her. "It is a safe haven for the ghosts residing here at Hogwarts." She felt that answering the other two questions was rather redundant at this point, so she didn't. "Come on, Aiden. Let's go play."

And with another little tug, she began pulling Aiden down the corridor and towards the staircases so they could make their way down to the dungeons.