Foolish thing...[ o p e n] ;; S O L I T U D E

[Devona Edgecombe]

{In a dungeon}

Nights like these Vonna realised she had no life other than prefect duties and Quidditch meets. Her attention had been solely concentrated on work and very little play. Even when a patrol in the dungeons simply wasn’t necessary she’d still be prowling the skanky, cold draughty basement corridors like a haughty lioness or perhaps an auror, because her life in the current situation consisted of nothing much else than what has been so plainly laid out above.

That was in fact, exactly was Vonna was doing now. Aimlessly wondering around the basement floor of the collossal caslte. Having chosen to have a late dinner, she came out of the Great Hall dangerously close to curfew. Her feet carried her to the Library, and then straight from there, her feet had decided to make a detour to the ground floor. Boy, her tummy rumbled slightly, she was hungry considering she’d only been stuffing her face with food about an hour ago. It was now well past curfew. She didn’t have to look at a watch or the moon to tell her that (not that she’d ever been an expert at reading the night sky), but she had that gut feeling that she should have returned to the Ravenclaw Tower and dispatched herself to bed hours ago. Something felt horribly wrong. Despite it being the holidays, the castle was teeming with people, although she was surprised to find it did not irritate her as much as it initially had. Surely there should have been some people around the dungeons?

She released an involuntary shudder as her footsteps echoed ominously around the acoustic corridor, the gate of each dungeon looking worse and worse as she carried on stumbling forward. Vonna hated the dark… she was to some extent afraid, but then wouldn’t any sane person be if all they had for light were sparsely distributed torches sending flickering shadows across the brownish-grey walls? A draft whistled its way through the torch stands causing a few to extinguish and leave that patch of corridor in darkness. Vonna’s feet couldn’t go further. Traipsing along further down the dungeons could not have been a worse idea, she thought as she took refuge in the nearest dungeon, an empty, ashen firegrate and some dusty tables and cauldrons to keep her company. She was very much on her own.

Wand. Back pocket. Damn! No wand. No fire. No warmth, no light. It was all horrible. Her own unconscious stupidity had brought her here and she was so totally out of it. Wasn’t the Slytherin Common room somewhere near by? Perhaps she could go grovel for a wand or if she pushed it, some warmth. What was she thinking? Desperate thoughts. The only light available in the dungeon was the ember of the glow from the corridor flooding in through the door before melting away into the darkness; and the creeping beams of moonlight trailing across the floor through the basement vents directly below was which the lake. A great heaving mass of liquid black which was eerily reflecting the moonlight back through those iron bars. Hell, she’d even be happy to see a tentacle rising up slowly out of the water – at least she wouldn’t be alone. The cauldron’s really weren’t that great a company to keep.

[wyatt]

Wyatt had never liked the dungeons. Not as a student and not now that he had returned as a teacher. The dungeons were cold and dim lit. Not too mention the echo of each footstep gave you the feeling of perpetually being followed. Lucky for him he'd discovered the silencing charm. Used mostly for sneaking around the forest, but it worked just as well on quieting the echo of footsteps. Why the head master even bothered sending the 24 year old Transfiguration teacher on rounds was beyond him.

Of course Wyatt didn't mind, for once he was being given permission to sneak around the corridors of the castle. The thing was even if he found students he wasn't going to punish them. He never really had the heart to do it, especially for something as silly as staying out for curfew. Of course he had been rather lonely lately, so perhaps the 'punishment' would just be accompanying him as he completed his round. As his stream of thought ended Wyatt realized how eerily quiet the dungeons were without the hated echo of footsteps. He almost missed the sound, now he had only his thoughts and the soft flicker of the torches that lined the walls to fill his ears.

As Wyatt passed by one of the Dungeons his wand light spilled over a figure that was out of the ordinary. He jumped, at first afraid it may be a corpse, but after the intial split second he recognized the very alive, and quite beautiful for of Devonna Edgecombe. "Miss Edgecombe," he began a smile crossing his features. "Shouldn't you be in bed? It's well past curfew, even for the prefects," he added a little teasingly letting her know that she had been caught, but need not fear punishment. Still she had chosen an interesting location to rest.

[Devona Edgecombe]

Miss Edgecombe.

At the sound of her name, Vonna jumped, involuntarily shuddering before wheeling around, drawn out of her deep reverie that she’d subsequently fallen into observing the hypnotising scintillations of the moonlit ripples on the lake. She squinted into the light, her eyes only very gradually accustoming to the brightness from which gentle coaxing words were issuing out from. They sounded familiar and warm, but otherwise foreign in Vonna’s state of momentary heart-stopping panic. “Professor Godolphin?” her squint melted away with her frown, her mouth relaxing in the corners to form a small smirk, the usual expression that was fixed on her ghostly visage.

She remained rooted into her square patch of floor, hesitant whether or not to approach the Hufflepuff head. Had it been any other professor, Vonna would have probably talked her way out of the possible consequences of being caught out in the night, but it made all the difference being a seventh year prefect – teachers weren’t foolish enough to patronize you – you’d been through the rule breaking, rebel-obsessed stage of adolescence of hormones and becoming more mature, more adult like, less… frivolous. And for that, there was a stark difference in intimacy between 5th Years and 7th years – the seventh years didn’t need to even give an excuse. They accepted it or fought it, depending on who’d caught them. It was understandable why Godolphin was roaming the basement grounds; after all, Hufflepuff common rooms down here with Slytherin, and yet they housed completely different personalities to each other, it was amazing that the floors of the castle hadn’t been utterly destroyed yet.

Attempting to stifle a yawn, Vonna met eyes with the young Transfiguration professor. “I was… I erm…” she blinked, attempting to keep the tiredness out of her eyes and bring some coherence and logic into her fragmented stutters. “I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to go for a walk.” She allowed time for her brain to gather the perception and ring to her words that echoed and rebounded off the stone walls before letting out a soft chuckle. “Screw that, I don’t’ know why I’m here. I have no excuse.” Vonna’s arms folded resolutely across her chest, allowing no room for flexibility in her proposed suggestion.

[wyatt]

“I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to go for a walk.”

Wyatt raised his eyebrow at the meager excuse. Was that really the best the bright young seventh year could do. It didn't even bother to hid that she was still guilty of sneaking out after curfew. But again Wyatt didn't really understand the point in assigning a curfew to 18 year olds. Still he was hoping for something a little more creative than going out for a walk. He'd heard some pretty creative stories from the few students he had caught. Of course they weren't anymore believable, but Wyatt gave them points for trying.

“Screw that, I don’t’ know why I’m here. I have no excuse.”

Wyatt couldn't help but chuckle as Vonna amended her excuse. At least she had realized how easy it was to see through the first attempt. "Well I'm not here to punish you," he said looking to put her mind at ease, maybe get her to drop her firm posture. "It's just that, the dungeons seemed pretty low on the list of places I'd expect to find a Ravenclaw prefect," he added with a small smirk. It appeared she didn't even have her wand with her, that or she had it in a pocket and had intentionally extinguished the light, so as not to be found...in which case her plan hadn't worked so well.

"Well I already said I wasn't going to punish you, but I could certainly use company, so...perhaps you would like to help me finish out rounds?" he offered hoping this didn't seem like too much of an imposition. Of course he certainly hoped spending a little time wandering the corridors with the 24 year old would be more fun than sitting in a dark dungeon alone. After all he wasn't that boring was he? Wyatt had been accused of acting older than his 24 years, but even as a student he always appeared more mature, yet he somehow managed a childlike naivety that seemed to balance him out. Or at least that was how he saw it.

[Devona Edgecombe]

And despite her pathetic attempt at a reason, the silence that had managed to gather between the interval of her saying her back-up honest-to-god comment was almost radiating with disappointment – no doubt from her teacher. Probably (logically thinking) from her lack of excuse or lack of creativity at this ungodly hour of the night. Could he really blame her though? Vonna’s stance did not alter as she remained ashen faced and stony looking more adult than her professor at the moment, although that was not difficult to do given his youthful appearance.

Despite the initial disapproval of her ‘excuse’ he seemed gladly ready to accept her lack of reason with even a trace of humour in his manner. His words confirmed the suspicion in Vonna’s mind that he did fall into that category of teachers – the ones who believed punishments to be useless and expected them to be made redundant by the time they achieved retirement. Although his follow up and justification for surprise seem to kindle a slight annoyance within his student, a frown appeared on the crease between her brows, a sharp answer – not lacking in courtesy but about as frigid as it could get – issued forth without much reconciliation: “Oh? And where exactly where you expecting to find a Ravenclaw prefect? The library perhaps? Or somewhere equally as mundane and unoriginal?” Why she took such great offence was unfathomable but it probably had to do with some old stereotype that was common within the student body – that Ravenclaws were bookish and meek and preferred to toe the line as to prevent ever having to see the inside of Filch’s office.

As rigid as she was – she resembled somebody vaguely petrified with a superior look of annoyance plastered onto the contours of her visage – her body loosened slightly at Godolphin’s words. “Help you with rounds?” she repeated dully, her mind not quite registering that this was an open invite to stay up even later than this ungodly hour at which she was currently wide awake at. Her hesitance should have been expected, and her arms fell to the sides, a bemused expression adding to the already defined yet delicate frown upon her forehead. “Patrol? Erm… I can’t see why not.” It would have been too rude to decline; she’d have no reason to. If she said she was tired and wanted to go to bed – why was she down here in the first place? Added to the fact that she was thankful enough to forfeit the punishment option any day, she tentatively made her way to the dungeon door where he was currently stood. Not stereotypical, but not stupid either obviously.

[wyatt]

"Actually I was thinking, Astronomy tower, or maybe the forest just somewhere less...dank and...creepy," Wyatt explained still smiling. He had probably come off as stereotypical, but really he couldn't see why anyone would be sitting in a dark dungeon this late. It didn't seem to be at all comfortable and there seemed to be a perpetual chill in the dungeons...of course that could just be the constant chill that ran up the young professor's spin from the eeriness of it all. "I forgot how touchy you Ravenclaws can be," Wyatt smirked teasingly. Vonna was obviously not a fan of stereotypes so throwing out another one that he really wasn't even sure existed.

It seemed all the houses hated stereotypes...Well actually most Slytherins seemed to enjoy the stereotype that they were all evil and manipulative. But the Hufflepuff's never seemed pleased that there stereotype was they were nice all the time. Wyatt never really liked being a Hufflepuff at first. He felt kinda dejected. He felt like Hufflepuff was just for left overs, the kids who weren't smart enough, brave enough or cunning enough for the other houses. But as he got older he appreciated the balance of his house the loyalty and such, which was what led him to become Hufflepuff's head now that he had returned as a professor.

"Thank you," Wyatt smiled, not like he had given Vonna much of a choice, but he still appreciated it. "I promise it's not as boring as it sounds," he added hoping to assure her of this. What could be boring about pointlessly wandering the halls of the castle...Well at least it would be nice for them to keep each other company. "Shall we go then?" he asked giving another short smile glad Vonna had finally dropped her all to serious demeanor as she moved towards him. Wyatt headed out back down the corridor, objective number one, was getting out of the dungeons.

[Devona Edgecombe]

Vonna couldn’t help but laugh quite openly at that – he sounded so normal and so un-teacher like it was surreal. Or perhaps this was the other type of professor that Vonna hadn’t really exposed herself to out of lesson time. It was all a learning experience, as they said and yet… she still managed to pull up more stereotypes – clearly indicated by the raise of her eyebrow. “The astronomy tower?” Infamous for its nightly visitors, it was almost more offensive than the subtle implication of being cooped up with books in the library – almost, being the key word. At least she clearly emitted the vibes of having a social life or even a love life outside the confines of her textbooks. And she’d realised he was quite clearly teasing – it was only fit her of to respond accordingly with an amused but nevertheless shocked jaw drop. “Professor!” she gently chastised him in her usual cracked tones, “Is this groupism attitude how you scare off the younger years? Do you threaten to clump them together into an assimilated clique? How very shameful of you sir,” she finished, her voice serious and low with the ever so slight uplift of amusement etched into the corners.

It was odd that Vonna herself did not like to be under the scrutiny of others when she was so judgemental herself. It just the way she was hardwired – her first impressions took hard work to be erased or replaced, and most of the people she had been freshly introduced to during Hogwarts tended to tip the balance towards the ‘dislike’ of the scale. Vonna was not lacking in friends but she certainly was lacking in her perception of others. Luckily for Godolphin, she tended to base teachers on their actual skills as opposed to their looks or mannerisms and he just about qualified her pole vault.

As his gratitude gushed out, Vonna couldn’t help but feel a little sour – she didn’t have much choice in the matter. Well, this was clearly reverse psychology and sadly it was working on her – she wouldn’t be out late again, not voluntarily anyway. She grunted an acknowledgement of thanks and preferred to maintain the stony silence at his welcoming lyrics. She caught the nervous smile and sent one deftly back, stepping out of the darkness and into the light of the torch-lit corridor and his wand. “We might as well… We won’t get much patrolling done in one dungeon, will we?” setting her inhibitions on a low key, she managed to draw up a façade of warmth and openness to the situation no matter how horrible and yucky she felt inside. No, she had that much respect for teachers to actually pretend to want to carry out their will.

[wyatt]

Wyatt was a bit thrown off by Vonna's first comment. Perhaps she didn't like stars. Wyatt himself had always loved star gazing, he hadn't had the chance to get up to the Astronomy tower since coming, back, but it really was a lovely place to gaze at the beauty of the night sky. Of course he actually prefered laying out on the soft grass of the lawns as the Astronomy tower always seemed to attract some people who...oh well that would explain Vonna's raised eyebrow.

Wyatt laughed, "Trust me most of the younger years don't need my help in forming cliques." It seemed the younger years were perhaps more divided than the older students. Entering a new environment mostly with kids you'd never met before, they would make friends with in their house first and then gradually branch out to the other groups, but you spent so much time around your housemates it seemed only natural that they became your strongest friendships. Wyatt didn't have too many close friends, but he did know pretty much everyone in Hufflepuff, but he actually preferred hanging out with other houses.

"No we won't," Wyatt smirked continuing on through the dungeons. It was easy to get lost in the dungeons where everything looked the same so much of the time, but Wyatt was born with a good sense of direction, thankfully they would be out of the dungeons soon. "Soo, how's seventh year going?" he asked deciding to take a rather pitiful stab at conversation. But what was he supposed to say to a student? It seemed like everything would be inappropriate subjects for a student and professor, but maybe he just wasn't trying hard enough to think of appropriate topics.