Wandering the Dungeons

Morgana was feeling restless where she was sitting in the common room. Her mouth was tightly shut and she was done with her homework, which basically meant she had nothing more to do. She rose from the chair and looked around. There was nothing thrilling about the common room. After the trip she had taken into the forest, meeting Darcy, she had gotten a thirst for excitement. So she walked to the exit of the common room, not wanting to stay in there for another second.

She soon found herself in the dungeons, looking left and right. Up or further down? She smirked as she turned to the darker parts of the dungeon. She wondered what she might find there. Something interesting, perhaps? She hoped so. She walked down a short staircase and wandered in the direction of the Potions classroom, but she made a turn before she reached the room and found herself somewhere she hadn't been before.

There wasn't anything much interesting about this place, but it was new, and Morgana took her time, looking at the sculptures around and the knights in armor. She frowned at one of them that looked to be studying her, something that wasn't so weird when it came to the knights placed around at Hogwarts. This was a magical place, after all. She did turn, however, when she heard footsteps behind her.

Zoran was searching for Shah. He'd just returned from...somewhere and he wanted to talk to his sister. She wasn't in the common room, or in her dorm (as the girls had told him). It was almost curfew and she wasn't in any of the classrooms. So the last thing that he thought, with disgust, was that she would be with her boyfriend, Wade Malfoy.

So he went searching all over the castle. He'd heard that the Slytherin common rooms were somewhere around the dungeons. He made his way over there. It was a really creepy place and he really didn't want to be there. But he really wanted to find his sister. He'd left her alone for so long and he knew what would happen if she was alone for too long.

While trying to find the Slytherin common rooms around the dungeons, he found a girl standing alone. She seemed to be around his own age. "Hi." He walked towards her. "Do you happen to know where the Slytherin common rooms are?" Of course, he didn't actually expect her to know or tell him even she knew. But he decided that it was worth a shot.

Morgana looked at the boy who had made his appearance. She didn't smile, as was normal to her, and simply continued to look at him when he spoke to her. She tilted her head to the side. What would he want with the Slytherin common rooms? He quite obviously wasn't a Slytherin. Someone in their fourth year - or around it - wouldn't forget the way to their common room. She then straightened a bit and let her face relax some more.

"I do. But I'm not going to tell you, as you obviously don't belong there," she said calmly. "But what do you need from the Slytherin common room? I could always debate whether or not I want to help you," she added, figuring it wouldn't hurt.

Zoran smirked. Just as expected. "Well, I was just wondering if my sister, Shah, would be in there." Zoran never missed an opportunity to meet new girls. He walked closer and said, "Why don't we debate about something else?"

He still had to find his sister, but then he figured that he could find her in the Gryffindor Common room sometime later. Shah never actually broke that many rules. He looked at the girl and took in her appearance. She seemed to be someone who could be intimidating, but then so could he. "I'm Zoran Mandelino. And who might you be?"

Morgana watched the guy move closer and asked to debate something else. She raised an eyebrow. "Why would your sister, who is obviously not a Slytherin, be inside the Slytherin common room?" she asked, ignoring his question to debate something else. But he seemed intent on leaving the whereabouts of Shah behind and figured it out later. Morgana, however, wasn't very interested in talking, but she was getting rapidly more and more bored so why not divulge in some conversation?

"I'm Morgana Gaunt," she said shortly, not really knowing what more to say. She then looked at him again. He really did seem to be around her own age, but she hadn't seen him in either of her classes, so she couldn't quite wrap her mind around it. Was he a fifth year? "What year are you in?" she then asked.

Zoran was losing his patience. "Well, I don't know. Maybe if you could tell me where the bloody common room is or if Shah's in there, then I could ask her and let you know what she's doing in there." Zoran had temper issues. But this wasn't the right place or time to indulge in those issues. He ran his hands through his hair and tried to breath normally.

He was little taken aback by her question. "I'm in my fourth year. Why, what year are you in?" She pretty much seemed around the same age as him. He decided to change the topic. "So, Morgana," It was a name he'd never heard before. He tried to smile. "What brings you here at this time? Searching the castle for hidden doors?" He didn't know why he said that. Probably because that's what he was doing.

Morgana could tell the guy was impatient. She didn't care. She simply raised an eyebrow at his retort. He seemed pretty angry as well. However, it took more than a few snarky words to intimidate her. She leaned heavily on her left foot, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Sorry, not going to happen," she said annoyed, looking at him, "Do you honestly think I'll let a Gryffindor wander into the common room as if he belonged there?" She didn't wait for him to answer, as the question was rhetorical.

She was surprised when he bothered to answer her question though. She had expected him to keep up on the ruse and just be a pissed of bother, but he answered. Not that that made her like him. Nowhere near it. She let a soundless sigh escape her lips. "Fourth as well," she stated. She let her annoyance of him go when he seemed to try to smile. She then shrugged. "Not really. I was just bored. Wandering the dungeons soothes me," she said calmly. She then looked at him and let the slightly better part of her take over. "So, I'm not going to let you into the Slytherin common room, but I could always go check to see if she's there myself," she suggested, trying to add something nice to her voice, but in a tone as neutral and dead as hers, it wasn't easy.

Zoran sighed. He knew she wasn't going to let him in their common room, and he dropped the topic. Searching for Shah seemed all that he was doing lately, and he didn't like it. She always left the common room early, he didn't see her during breakfast, lunch or dinner. She clearly wanted to be left alone. And clearly something had happened.

"No thanks." Morgana Gaunt seemed bored. "I think I'll find her later. She's been running too long." Not that Morgana needed to know that. He didn't want to go back to the common room so fast. He decided he might as well make some progressive conversation. "What classes do you take?" He asked. "I've never seen you around." Not that he actually attended class. He didn't remember attending more than two classes in this entire term. And he was surprised no teacher had come yelled at him. Maybe if Shah knew that she would yell at him.

Morgana studied his expression, noticing how he decided to leave the subject. She got slightly curious to what he meant about the girl having run for too long. Morgana wasn't curious about why the girl was running, but she found it curious that he seemed to be rather upset by it, not visibly so, but if you knew what to look for, he clearly wasn't very happy about the girl's abscence.

She thought about it for a moment. "DaDA, Potions, CoMC, and I'm considering taking Arithmancy. People keep bragging about the teacher," she said calmly. "And I haven't seen much of you either. Which ones do you take?" She asked, knowing it was usual to ask back. And she was honestly very bored: she might as well use time being social. Mordred always encouraged her to be social. Especially lately.

Zoran noticed that Morgana seemed to observe everything. Either than or he was being delusional. Zoran nodded. People were bragging about the Arithmancy teacher? He knew nothing about it. "I don't take that many subjects. Just DADA, Charms and Potions." He didn't think that that would be enough for him. He should probably take more classes.

He sighed. He didn't know what to talk about. The girl didn't seem that interested. "So, what about you? Do you have any siblings?"

Morgana raised half an eyebrow before letting it back down again. He had two of the same classes as her, and yet, she'd never met him? A ditcher then. She didn't mention it. Maybe he'd get serious this year. He ought to. This was the OWLs year. This was about the only thing Morgana was excited for this year. She would actually see some results from all her hard work.

"I see," she said, "Maybe I'll see more of you this year." Now that I've met you, she added to herself. What Morgana didn't know was that in an ordinary conversation, that comment might be taken as flirting, which was far away from her mind. Of course, even if she did notice this, Zoran seemed like a smart guy despite the low attendance on classes and would most likely understand that a person like Morgana wasn't the person who flirted with others. At all…

"No, I don't have any siblings. I've got my father, and that's enough," she said calmly. "What about you? Apart from Shah, of course," she said, "What is your family like?"