TERM 6 - Locked Out of my Own House - Gryffindor Common Room - Lillian Edeson, Hunter VanDerberg

Okay, are the moving stairs really necessary? Hunter had started up the great staircase at a run, hoping to make his trip from the Great Hall to the Gryffindor Common Room a quick one, but soon found such a seemingly simple goal to be impossible. The reason? The staircases kept changing on him. He huffed in frustration as the final staircase that he needed to climb rotated just before he reached it, making him wait for an unnecessary extra minute. They should have sensors or something, like traffic lights, he thought to himself as he bolted upward before it could pull a fast one on him.

Finally, he reached the seventh floor, which he was certain was devoid of moving staircases of any sort. He sighed in relief as he left the stairs behind him. Now, to navigate the corridors without getting lost. It was easier than the stairs, and soon he caught sight of the portrait of the Fat Lady that guarded the Common Room. He strode up to it confidently, and opened his mouth to give her the password, but found that no words came out of his mouth. Oh no. He'd forgotten the password.

The Fat Lady was looking at him expectantly from her portrait - which was weird enough to begin with, he still wasn't used to moving pictures - but he just couldn't remember it. "Erm... I'm sorry. I forgot the password. But I'm in Gryffindor! You remember me from before, don't you?" Surely she'd recognize him and let him in anyway. She wouldn't leave him standing there. His face fell when the Fat Lady told him that he couldn't enter without the password. "Well, how am I supposed to get in, then? Can't you at least give me a hint?" She shook her head. With a sigh, Hunter leaned against the wall beside the portrait and slid down it until he was sitting on the floor. He strained his mind, searching his memory, but the word was gone. The only thing he could remember about it was that it was absurd, and that was no help at all. Guess I'll just have to wait for someone else to let me in.

After making a pleasant trip to the Library in which she buried her nose in the ever-fascinating schoolbooks, Lillian hummed to herself lightly as she made her way back to the Common Room. She had easily become adjusted to daily life in Hogwarts, and while the Gryffindor adored her classes, sometimes relaxing in the Tower was the best thing to do after an hour-or-so long class. Her memory map(as what she called it) was very handy indeed, for now Lillian practically knew the way around Hogwarts by heart, excluding the rumors about the hidden passageways.

Light on her feet and auburn hair swishing gently behind her, the girl made her way to the 7th floor, giving her usual amused look as she peered down the stairs while they moved. Often Lillian would find that she was so immersed in her school life that she forgot about the stairs changing routes, and while this would occasionally startle her, it was always a nice surprise. Much more interesting then her old Muggle school, even if the students were decent.

After a short trip of waiting and going on to the next staircase, the Gryffindor had finally made her way to the entrance of the destined location, a bright smile played on her lips and her signature twinkle in her eyes as she scanned the hallways that were adorned with moving pictures. It was a strange sight, having the paintings wave, stare, or even scowl at her as she passed. This was something she was not accustomed to, despite there being so many of them in the passageways to classrooms and the like.

She had just made a swift turn of the head to look back at The Fat Lady, her mind tinkering with her memory as she remembered the password, but found that she was not looking at the portrait of the large woman but instead a boy sitting on the ground, looking quite distressed. Immediately she hesitated, thinking that she would simply say the password and assume the boy would follow, but decided that would be the ruder thing to do. So instead, she made the short way over to the opposite brunet(and more than likely first-year Gryffindor) and unconsciously cocked her head to one side. "Um.. y'alright there?" she spoke, a hint of curiosity laced in her voice.

Just as Hunter was about to rise from the ground and begin a second attempt to persuade the Fat Lady to let him in, which he was certain would end in failure, he caught sight of a girl heading toward him. She looked to be about his age, and had long, dark hair. He instantly recognized her from the sorting, and from seeing her in the common room. She was definitely in Gryffindor. Thank goodness - he didn't feel like sitting there all day. Not wanting to seem too desperate, he remained where he was as she approached.

She reached him, and her voice had a tone of curiosity to it when she spoke. "Oh yeah," he responded, a hint of good-natured sarcasm in his voice. "I just enjoy sitting in the corridor all by myself, doing absolutely nothing. Why else would I be here?" He grinned up at the girl before rising back into a standing position. "I forgot the password," he admitted, shrugging. "And she wouldn't let me in without it, even though she knows who I am." By she, he was referring to the Fat Lady.

"You're a life saver. I was starting to think I'd be waiting around until next week," he continued. "I can't understand why they make such strange passwords, anyway. They're impossible to remember." Maybe the passwords were wizard words, and were easier for everyone else. Hunter was muggleborn, and the passwords always sounded like gibberish to him. "You do know the password, don't you?" he asked her.

To Lillian's surprise, the other Gryffindor offered her a smile(possibly a smirk) and sarcastically responded. She let out a laugh before shrugging. "Well, in the wizarding world, y'never know who does what." she grinned, giving another chuckle before glancing at The Fat Lady, who was now scowling at the duo. "You -- forgot the password?" the brunette said in slight disbelief, again tilting her head to one side before offering a reassuring smile.

"Well, I guess they are kind of hard to forget for some people ; You've heard of Neville Longbottom, haven't you?" the halfblood stepped the short distance to stand directly in front of the portrait of the still frowning woman, but whether it was because of the mention of the old hero or because one of the duo had forgotten the word, Lillian didn't know. She listened patiently to him before playfully scoffing. "I would never," she giggled before adding, "and the password is 'animus.' That's Latin for bravery, I think." the girl tapped a finger lightly to her cheek before nodding in confirmation.

"Not to be pushy, but why don't you try telling her? Maybe it'll get on her good side." the Gryffindor glanced back to the portrait of the huffy woman before looking towards the boy again.

"Neville Longbottom?" Hunter questioned, the look on his face making it clear that he had never heard of such a person in his life. "No, sorry," he said. He hardly knew anything being muggleborn. He wanted to ask her who Neville Longbottom was, but he didn't want to keep her standing in the hallway. He'd ask her once they were inside, if he got a chance.

Hunter laughed at her mock indignation. He raised an eyebrow at the girl when she went a step further than just telling him the password, but explained the meaning of it, too. "Well, at least you know enough useless information for the both of us," he teased. "I wasn't even in the right ballpark. I thought it started with an S. Or a D... or any letter really, who am I kidding? I didn't have a clue." He shook his head incredulously. Why couldn't it be a normal word?

The glare on the Fat Lady's face told him that the brunette was probably right about him giving the password instead of her. "Not a bad idea," he agreed, stepping up to the portrait. "Animus. And, er... sorry for the trouble," he added, hoping to further amend the situation. Thankfully, the Fat Lady's expression softened slightly before she swung open, granting them access to the Gryffindor Common Room. With a grin, Hunter stepped through the portrait hole and into the comfortable room beyond.

He turned and waited for the girl to follow him, and spoke up again when she emerged. "I guess I owe you one," he said to her, offering her a grin. "Oh, and I never introduced myself! The names Hunter VanDerburg. I'm a first year. What's your name?"

The halfblood let out another of her cheery laughs as she listened to the rather friendly and amusing boy. "Well, if it's so useless, then I s'pose we don't need to remember the passwords anymore, do we?" she chuckled, stepping back to let the other Gryffindor stand. Glancing briefly at the look on The Fat Lady's face, it made Lillian feel a pang of guilt despite knowing she had not done anything wrong. But the mere thought of getting into trouble here at Hogwarts was one of her most awful fears yet.

Smiling as the brunet apologized to the portrait after uttering the Latin code, the girl stepped into the painting hole and into the Common Room. And yet, she could not help the look of surprise on her face as she studied the cozy room ; it always gave her such a pleasant surprise to see people of her House talking quietly to one another with a warm fire lighting the rose colored room. Lillain focused her attention back on the opposite Gryffindor before she returned the broad grin played on her lips.

"It's fine, really. And m'name is Lillian Edeson. I'm a first-year too, actually!" Pushing back a stray strand of auburn hair from her face,  the halfblood tapped her finger to her cheek as she motioned for the newly-named Hunter to follow her into the Common Room. "By the way.. didn't you say something about not knowing who Neville Longbottom was?" the girl spoke, another hint of incredulous disbelief laced in her voice.

Hunter smiled at Lillian as she introduced herself and followed her further into the common room. The good chairs by the fire were taken by some older students, which was to be expected, so he took a seat at one of the sturdier, but still cushioned, chairs by the window. In actuality, he liked the window spot better than the chairs by the fireplace. He loved looking out at the grounds from the height of Gryffindor Tower. He set his schoolbag down beside him and motioned for Lillian to take the chair next to his.

She brought up that Neville Longbottom character again, and seemed amazed that Hunter didn't recognize the name. He nodded, confirming her words. "Never heard of him," he replied, shrugging. "I'm muggleborn. I'd never even heard of Hogwarts before I got my letter." He still couldn't help his eyes wandering away from the girl to glance at the moving portraits around the room. "This whole place is strange for me," he admitted.

He turned his attention more completely back to the girl. "So are your parents wizards, then? I'd assume so, since you know about this Longbottom character," he asked her. It must be nice to not be completely amazed by all things wizard. Hunter sometimes felt like he had the word muggleborn stamped on his head from the amount of times he turned to gawk at something particularly weird. "Who is he, anyway?" he continued, still curious about Neville Longbottom.

Lillian did as she was lightly instructed, setting down her things next to her with care. Not that she cared so much about her schoolbag, of course, but you never knew when something was bound to disappear in a wizard-y school. Listening patiently to the brunet, the girl nodded. "Muggle-born, huh? I can't imagine what it feels like." the girl murmured, giving a sigh in the mixture of confusion and content.

"Well, 'm sure you've figured out that Hogwarts isn't your ordinary Muggle school, right?" the halfblood grinned, taking note of how Hunter seemed uncomfortable on his little knowledge on the wizarding world. "It is strange, but consider strange to be normal." the brunette added, blindly fiddling with the necklace on her neck.

She seemed surprised when the tables turned and the attention was now on her. "Well, not exactly," the girl blinked, snapping her out of her thoughtful daze. "My mum was a halfblood like me, and my dad was a pureblood." Lillian said with a touch of haste, wondering how her family was doing at this very moment. Again she was pulled back into reality as Hunter began to ask more about Neville Longbottom. And again she was surprised on how he didn't know, despite her new knowledge of the boy being Muggle-born.

"Well, you've surely heard of Harry Potter, haven't you?" the Gryffindor tapped a finger to her cheek lightly before continuing without waiting. "If I remember right, Neville Longbottom was Harry Potter's friend, a Gryffindor.. and always had difficulty on remembering the passwords to this common room." the girl laughed, her fingers back to twiddling with her pendant.

"Neville was, well.. he wasn't the brightest nor the bravest.. but in times of need, he proved to be both of those things." the 11-year-old finished, a proud glint in her eyes as she gave a broad grin. "I read he had been smart enough to write the changing passwords down on paper, but then lost the paper. A wanted murderer -- who was after Harry, who could be in the Common Room -- found it..!"

Consider strange to be normal. Hunter laughed lightly. Such a contradiction, yet Lillian had summed up everything he'd observed about the wizarding world in five simple words.  "I'd say that's a good way to describe it," he agreed. "And trust me, being muggleborn is the weirdest feeling. I actually thought someone was pulling a joke when I got my letter," Hunter grinned. "I didn't really believe it until someone took me and my family to Diagon Alley. Mum nearly fainted. But my little sisters were in heaven." He laughed again, picturing the nine-year-old twins running around Diagon Alley like two-year-olds in a candy store.

He listened as Lillian explained her family and then went on to explain more about Neville Longbottom. He actually hadn't heard of Harry Potter, but she didn't wait for an answer, so he kept that to himself. He didn't want to look too clueless. He'd just look up this Harry Potter character later on. Ah, Neville Longbottom always forgot the password. Hunter grinned. "So it isn't just me!" he said. "And so far, I've only forgotten it once," he added comically. "Though I'm not saying that won't start a trend."

Not the brightest or the bravest... "That sounds like me," he grinned. "Well, I wouldn't say I'm dull... but I'm definitely not the best at magic," he admitted, shrugging. "I just can't seem to get the hang of it yet. I hope that's only because it's so new." Hunter listened to the rest of her story, and tilted a head at the end. "He wrote them down and then lost them?" Hunter asked incredulously, raising an eyebrow. "How did a murderer even get into Hogwarts? Was it one of the students?"