Sliding Stairs (Nina)

Why couldn't Hunter have picked a less time-consuming subject to enjoy? Like charms or defense against the dark arts? Why did he end up putting his effort into potions, which now had him running all over the castle and waking up in the middle of the night just to tend to the cauldron simmering in his room. He'd just finished stirring the potion, and would have to return to it in a short time to add the next ingredient. And until then, what was he supposed to do? Not homework, even though he had loads of it, because that was boring.

Instead, Hunter double-checked the burner below the cauldron to be sure it was at the right setting and then took off out the door. Maybe something interesting would be going on in the common room - he took the spiral stairs two at a time, emerging quickly at the bottom of the staircase. But unfortunately, the common room didn't hold any excitement. Just a few boring older students doing homework and some annoying first years being annoying. None of his friends were in the vicinity. With a sigh, Hunter flopped down onto one of the couches and stared at the fire. What now? He couldn't exactly go on some epic adventure, because he had to stay close to the common room so that he could look after his potion.

Where was everyone, anyway? It was nearly curfew, so surely everyone should be back by now. So if they weren't in the common room, where were they? In their rooms, maybe? Hopeful, Hunter heaved himself up from the couch and went to go check. He'd actually never climbed the staircase to the girl's dormitory. He'd never had any reason to before. But there was really no reason not to, right? So he started casually up the stairs. And he made it about a quarter of the way up when, out of nowhere, the stairs all molded together! And before Hunter knew it, he'd slid all the way back down and landed ungracefully at the bottom. "What the hell?" he muttered to himself, watching on in confusion from the ground as the stairs shifted back to normal the moment he was off of them.

Nina had stayed late in the library again. This seemed to be a habit for her. She always wore her zebra onsie, after dinner and things calmed down, and now she was hoping she made it back to the common room before curfew, and got into trouble. She was NOT one to get into trouble.

She tried to blend into the dark places in the hallway in case a teacher, or painting spotted her and wanted to make attention to her appearance. She finally made it to the Fat Lady, and said the password, and she grumpily opened, and Nina walked in to see a boy falling down from the girls dormitory.

She jumped back a little, as she was almost scared as to why a fellow Gryffindor would want to get into their dormitory. She then saw that it was Ariel's friend Hunter. That still didn't make the situation any better. She asked, "Umm... what are you doing?"

She hoped his reason was good enough to where she didn't have to go and get the Head of House, Professor Henley.

The stairs turned into a slide... why? He'd never seen them do that before, and he'd seen Ariel and Aoife go up and back down dozens of times. Hunter just stared at the stairs incredulously for a moment before heaving himself to his feet with the intention of trying again. Maybe it wouldn't happen this time. But unfortunately, before he could put his foot on the first step, someone spoke up from behind him. It was a girl's voice, but not one that Hunter was very familiar with.

Turning around to face the person, he saw that it was that girl in Ariel and Lyra's year that he didn't know that we'll. And she was asking him what he was doing. But Hunter was too busy trying not to laugh to answer. "What are you wearing?" he retorted, accidentally releasing a short, amused gasp. Honestly, what kind of third year walked around the castle in footie pajamas? "Do you like zebras then?" he asked, mostly for his own amusement.

After taking a moment to fight down his laughter, he figured he could probably talk normally. "Nina, right?" Hunter asked, his attention already wandering away from her and back toward the staircase. "I'm just trying to go see if Ariel or Aoife are in there rooms. Because I'm bored. Even my sister would be better than sitting around by myself," he admitted, bending down to inspect the first stair carefully. "Only the stairs turned into a slide and I couldn't get up."

Nina laughed at his questions. There were so many! Of course the stairs turned into a slide. It did that when a boy tried to go up when the girls didn't want them too. All guys new that right? Well, OBVIOUSLY not all guys. She said, "I like zebra print yes, and I'm wearing my reading clothes. I like to be comfortable in the library when I read."

He explained about Aoife and Ariel. She didn't know Aoife to well, but she figured that Ariel was up in their room. Then she laughed again about how he tried to go up. She said, "The girls dorms are charmed to not let boys in. If one tries to go up...well, you know what happens."

She laughed again imagining him slide down the stairs. She said, "Excuse me, I need to get to my dorm."

She stepped around him so she could go up. Honestly... boys where so idiotic sometimes.