AJ loved to walk around the dungeons, it was so mysterious. He went down there often to try and find any secret passages Today he was with his good friend Sarah and they were trying to find a tunnel they had found earlier in the school year.

"I think it's this was," he said looking over his schoulder. Both of their wands were enchanted with Lumos barely lighting their surroundings.

He and Sarah always liked to explore. Even though she was a few years younger, she acted more mature than a lot of 6th years.

"Do you hear that?" he asked, referring to a dripping noise that was faintly ahead of them.

He picked up the pace a little.
.

"It's probably just a leaky crack in the stone." Sarah replied, following close behind AJ.

Rounding a corner, they came to a dead end. They were surrounded on three sides by blank, rough, stone walls and the faint smell of dampness in an enclosed space.

"Let's turn around and try another way." Sarah suggested.

She strained to remember the tunnel they'd found, but everything looked the same in these empty stone passages, and it was hard to be sure of anything, at least for her. She'd never had a very good sense of direction.

After hitting a dead end AJ felt a little nervous. They turned back and noticed passageways they hadn't noticed before. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him.

They turned down a different passage that sloped downward. It was dead silent, and pitch black. Lucky for magic, AJ thought.

AJ stepped on something and heard a CRACK. He lowered his wand and noticed he stepped on bones.

"Uh oh," he said looking at Sarah. The bones were no problem, small animals could have died down here for many reasons.

"Look," he said trailing his wand showing blood on the ground up onto the wall. He could sense Sarah growing uneasy.

"It's dry," he said touching it and continued walking deeper into the passageway.

"Oh God." Sarah said as she realized that the crack was bones.

When AJ pointed out the blood on the walls, she felt a shiver run down her back that had nothing to do with the cold dank dungeons, and more to do with fear.

"AJ, we should go back." Sarah said to AJ's shrinking shadow. "This isn't good."

Reluctantly, she followed AJ forward down the passage. She lifted he rwand high so she could get as much light as possible ahead, and she saw an image she would never forget.

Ahead was a nother dead end, but off to the right was a passageway light by torches with blue flames. Obviously magic, AJ thought. Bones were everywhere, The grey stone had turned to an art peice with maroon splatter marks all over. AJ was transfixed on moving forward, he didn't even hear Sarah's pleas to turn back.

He entred a small room but nothing was in it. No sign of life. Above was a tall ceiling with light shining through a stain glassed window. The window was broken into four sections: blue, maroon, green, yellow.

"This must be the original meeting place of the founders of Hogwarts. I read about it once."

As he said this he was still worried about the bones and blood behind them.

Forgetting about the threat of danger, Sarah edged into the room, trying her hardest to avoid stepping on bones or blood splatter.

"Really?" she asked, very interested in the room. "I've never heard of it."

She walked around the room, examining every inch. There was an ornate and highly polished wooden table in the center of the room, and the space was not as dark and lfieless as most of the dungeons, even though it looked like it had not been disturbed in quite some time.

"Do you think we're the first ones to be in here since?" Sarah asked AJ in a whisper, feeling slightly awed by the very thought.

Maybe that was why the bones and dried blood were scattered right outside the door. Maybe no one was supposed to find this place. Maybe they shouldn't have been there at all.

As the thought occurred, Sarah grew suddenly fearsome again, and said to her friend, "We really shouid go. What if we aren't supposed to be here?"

He didn't know whether or not they were the first ones there in a long time but came to the conclusion the bones and blood were to scare off any wandering students. The way that room looked was so peaceful, nothing deadly could have been down there. The mazes, it must have been what he thought it was. But he needed to make sure.

"We need to go back there sometime," he said when they were further along the passage. "Maybe with some more people."

Strength in numbers is what he always said. He didn;t know whether or not she felt the same way.

"Yeah, numbers are good." Sarah said. "I don't know i I'll be in the ones you go down there with next time though."

Glad to be back out of that creepy passage, Sarah breathed easy and returned to her lighthearted self.

"So, what's new in your life?" she asked AJ as they walked along another passage.

A lot was the truthful answer. But he didn;t want to spill his guts.

"I, er, sorta met somebody." he said referring to April. He coudn't bare to tell her that he got drunk off of firewhiskey and was flirting with the new medi-witch. The truth was he was turning into a man-whore. All he could think about was girls.

"I entered my name for the Tetrawizard Tournament," he said remembering the excitement that gave him. "I hope I'm chosen. How about you?"

"Wow, fame, fortune, and hot girls? You're doing good huh?" Sarah joked. She wished she could say the same, but no new and exciting stuff was happening in her life.

"Honestly, I've been going to class and hanging out in the common room most of the time recently." she admitted. "But hey, sitting quietly, you do learn some juicy secrets every once in awhile."

"So do you think you'll get chosen for the Tournament?" she asked. "I was thinking about it, but then I remembered I'm not that good at physical activities."

"I hope so. I was a muggle athelete when I was younger. And I love to battle creatures. I love going into the Forbidden Forest and the dungeons, obviously. And I'm in Ravenclaw, the most intellegent of the houses!" he joked.

They continued walking finally making to the main passageway. "You know some people are too afraid to swim in the lake? I love it. Ever been?"

"Ah, no." Sarah said. Not only did the prospect of a freezing cold lake filled with who knows what kind of creatures not sound like fun, Sarah wasn't very keen on donning a bathing suit in front of any boys, or girls for that matter, regardless of the type of relationship she had with them.

"What's in there though?" she said, trying to sound excited. "It sounds creepy."

He thought of all of the wonderful creatures he had seen, "well lots of things, but merpeople are the best. if you dont p**s them off to bad." he laughed a little.

He enjoyed Sarah's company. "Where too now?"

"Hmm, how about a swim then?" she asked, slightly nervous and wondering why she was even suggesting it. If I don't stop this scardey-cat crap, I'm never going to be fun. Let's just get over it and go for it she reasoned with herself, hoping she would follow through on these thoughts.

A swim sounded like a lovely idea. He would love to show somebody what he had seen exploring there one on day. He wasn;t sure if she truely wanted to go, or was just saying it to be polite. He decided to take action.

"Maybe we could go on another day, when it was hotter. Lets just talk a walk around the castle perhaps?"

He led the way, his wand was no longer enchated to give off light.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked, hoping she would pick some place relaxing.

More than relieved, Sarah tried to think of somewhere to go. "Let's see who's around, see what friends might not be busy." she suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea." he said, following her, letting her take the lead.

He has been enjoying his time as a 6th year. It was the best year so far.