April was in the mood for exploration, and since the Forbidden Forest had given her enough scares for one time in her life, she decided she'd check out the dungeons. She never really had gotten very far, and she knew there was quite a stretch of them at Hogwarts. She left the Slytherin Common Room and took a left, instead of a right, and headed deeper into the school.

She wasn't far along when she heard shuffling. It wasn't a scary sort of noise, but rather sounded like a person moving. She didn't run, but she did pick up her pace, heading in the direction of the footsteps. She rounded a corner and could see, down the tunnel, someone was walking.

She recognized the robes, a Gryffindor's and knew it was a girl. She didn't know who it was though, so she ran and tried to catch up. The girl heard her running now, her boots echoing off stone, and turned.

It was Fawne, a girl she had met atthe Spring Formal. April waved hello as she neared the girl.

"Hey Fawne. What brings you down here?"

OOC: I started loads of topics with this title, weird lol.

Fawne had been having one of those days again. She'd managed to be on time to all her classes but her heart just wasn't in going to dinner. Although she had friends in her house she missed those from others; she never did find out what happened to them Dorien, Adriana and Rasque amongst others. Dorien she'd always miss if only because of all the mess they ended up in together.

With a soft sigh she allowed her feet to carry herself around the dungeons, her mind elsewhere entirly and her footsteps as light a lithe as ever. She really did seem inhuman and intangible at times it was no wonder people saw her as odd. Most actually believed she was a half blood of some sort not a pure blood.

She was snapped from her thoughts as footsteps entered her hearing, as her gaze turned to meet the owner she noticed April waving at her and automatically a smile worked its way onto her face. She was happy to see a current friend. With a languid wave in return Fawne slowed her pace to a stop so she could talk in her normal melodic tones.

"Oh Hello April, i was just wandering. Its most entertaining. What brings you to the dungeons?"

OOC: I'm horrible at titles...

IC:

"Oh Hello April, i was just wandering. Its most entertaining. What brings you to the dungeons?" Fawne responded, a smile lit on her features. April had finally caught up, so they began to fall into stride with each other, walking to nowhere in particular.

April thought this wasa bit of a hypocritical question, since she could ask Fawne the same thing. It made more sense for April, a Slytherin, to be inthe dungeons than Fawne, a Gryffindor. April at least resided in the cold, dankness of the school.

"I could ask you the same thing. However, I was bored, and I've never really been down this way before. So I figured I'd so a bit of exploration. My last adventure, i nthe Forbidden Forest, was a bit of a disaster, so I decided I'd stay indoors."

April paused, trying not to remember the last time she'd gone exploring. Angry forest creatures would not be found in the dungeons, at least. Well, she hoped not.

"So, why are you down here, other than wandering. You seem... not yourself."

OOC: I am too that might explain the similar choice lol.

IC:

"So, why are you down here, other than wandering. You seem... not yourself." The question hit the nail right on the head and she almost blanched. It wasn't in her nature to act surprised though and so she careful keep her reaction to the minimum; her eyes widening slightly at how perceptive April was.

With a silent sigh the smile dropped a little to a half smile, and her voice seemed softer than before as she wasn't looking forward to broaching the topic or she was avoiding the topic.

"My feet tend to lead me here, or rather my brother is in your house so i have often wandered these dungeons..." she paused as if wondering whether she could get away with not commenting on the last part of Aprils statement, she decided in the end it was probably best she did.

"I suppose i am a little, gloomy today. My thoughts had run away once more. I rather think i am in need of a good distraction."

April had clearly been correct in assuming that Fawne wasn't her normal, cheerful self. She could just by the way she spoke, although it was more in her tone than anything. Fawne always spoke with wonderful manners, so there was never any change with that.

"I suppose i am a little, gloomy today. My thoughts had run away once more. I rather think i am in need of a good distraction."

"I suppose you are. I wonder if I'm distraction enough," April said aloud, then laughed. It was good to see Fawne, even if it was odd to see her out of her normal setting.

"What is there to do around here? It just seems so... cold and gloomy. I've never really been this far along this stretch of dungeons."

Fawne's eyes lit up at the prospect of keeping Aprils company for a little longer. Lets face it what she needed now more than anything was some real company not memories. With little effort the smile increased in size and warmth, it seemed that adventure was in the air. She twirled quickly on the spot, as if she were a dancer or something of the sort. Her voice returning to normal in tone and some of the gloominess waring off.

"You are a friend rather than a distraction, and perhaps we should explore then? If you like of course?"

Her eyes clearly showed she loved the prospect of adventure the misty grey becoming a sparkling silver, she'd always loved exploring the castle there was so much to find. And now she had a new friend to so so with.

OOC: Blah short, sorry

"Exploring would be nice," April said, looking around at the bland stone walls. She hadn't seen any doorways in ages, but then again, she hadn't been paying too much attention. There had to be some sort of purpose to these dungeons, other than getting horribly lost.

"Let's just not get lost," April said, and had a suddent idea. She pulled out her wand, and put a fiery X on the wall that they just passed. She planned to do this everytime they changed hallways, that way they wouldn't get lost.

"Rather good idea, I'd say," she replied, smirking at her own brilliance. They walked down the same stone hallway, which didn't turn for awhile. "There's nothing here..." she trailed off.

She had spotted a door.

Fawne smiled when April agreed to explore with her, thankful she wouldn't have to wander alone anymore. She stared with grey eyes when she marked the wall with a flaming X. She hadn't thought to be logically about it, she usually would have just continued to wander till she recognised the area.

With a bright smile at April, in acknowledgement for the clever act, she followed her down the now marked corridor. Eyes looking for the next path to follow or a door to go through. When April's words began to trail off Fawne trained her gaze to where April's was. A Door, an old wooden typical dungeon door but a door none the less.

"Oh a door!"

Without pausing she grabbed April's hand in her own and pulled towards the door; only letting go when she was within easy reach of the handle. Fawne placed both hands on the handle and pulled only to find the door was locked, with a glint of disappointment in her eyes she let go and reached her hand to the belt loops of her school skirt. It returned momentarily with her wand, with a short flick and a silently spoke spell the door clicked, unlocked.

"I rather like to hope this is more than just another empry classroom..."

April had an odd, uneasy feeling, as Fawne unlocked the door, that it wasn't exactly just am empty classroom. She didn't want to say anything to Fawne, to scare her or anything otherwise. Clearly, if the door was locked, students shouldn't be allowed. But then again, it should have been more secure if it was any real trouble. Even a first year knew the simple Alohamora spell.

"Well, I'd rather hope so too... but I have some serious doubts," April said, shurring her shoulders. She glanced at Fawne, who had her wand out, and she did the same. She pointed her wand at the door, and creaked it open slowly.

It was really dark. They were in the dungeons, so there were no windows anyways to give any light, and the room had no candles lit. April searched along the wall blindly for a candle bracket, but found nothing. She gave up.

"Lumos," she whispered, and a pool of light surrounded them, barely filling the room.

It was a large dungeon, she could tell. She couldn't see the opposite walls, or any of them actually, even with her spell lit. Beside her, Fawne followed suit.

"What d'you reckon?" she asked.

As the door creaked open with April's instructions Fawne's eyes went form naturally misty to alert. The grey colour didn't change but her gaze seemed more aware, excited even. Other than that the dreamy half smile was still in place and she still walked into the room like she wasn't really real; making hardly any noise with her footsteps.

She stood next to April's lumos spell automatically, a subconscious will for the ability to see. Her first impressions of the room were that it was large, dark and damp. The smell was mouldy and reeked of lake water, like most of the dungeon did since it was after all only a little distance away from being directly under the lake.

With her wand still wrapped in the pale fingers of her left hand she too whispered the Lumos spell, causing the light to extend from its tip. After all the more light the better. However even with the extra light she couldn't see the far edges of the room or much more than the stone of the floor.

"It is horrid. Let's explore!" her soft tones had a tint of impish like mischief in them and it became perfectly clear why Fawne was like a walking trouble magnet.

Fawne seemed to want to explore, and April agreed, nodding her head, though you couldn't see in the dark. She crept forward quickly, only shuffling her feet. She kept a tight grip on her wand, and only took small steps. Fawne was creeping behind her. April looked back every few steps to make sure Fawne was still following her, and not being choked by an unseen threat, or else bleeding on the stone floor.

"It's so quiet," she whispered, not even realizing she had lowered her voice. She started to hum lazily, just for the sense of sound. Then she heard a noise. It was a low shuffling noise, but it wasn;t coming from Fawne's feet. Her left ear was picking up the noise ,so she turned.

"Do you hear that?" she asked Fawne. She turned back to Fawne quickly, who was just staring into the darkness like her. The sound happened again, as if something was moving along the far wall. April heard a scraping noise.

"What's that!" she asked, still not exactly frightened, but definately anxious. She tried to point the wandlight closer to the noise, but she didn't want to move. Her boots were stuck to the floor.

Her footsteps were as light as always but in the silence of the room even they made little pattering noises. It was strange for Fawne to be able to hear her own footsteps, a little disconcerting even. Like an omen. She decided not to think on it any further; her optimistic personality refusing to let the thought dwell and she continued to hurry after April into the darkness.

The noise hadn't crossed her hearing at first due to April's talking but when the scuffling ad caught her ears her grey eyes had soon set onto the darkness hoping to peer though its vale to the source of the noise. Of course the human eye couldn't perform such feats so why they were both peering into the darkness logically made no sense.

As Aprils feet seem to freeze to the floor Fawne's did the opposite, with light footsteps, even quieter than normal she took a few quick steps towards the noise. Wand arm extended to expand the light further. Again this proved beyond a doubt that she belonged in Gryffindor she was so wrapped up with curiosity she didn't even think about what she would find. She suppose she was brave unknowingly.

"I would rather like to hope it is nothing large...Will you follow?" she was referring to the steps she had taken away from April, not wanting to explore further if April wanted to leave. Though in the Darkness Fawne could no longer see the door.

April wasn't all too crazy about getting any closer to what could possibly be lurking in the dark. Fawne, however, moved forward quickly, peering into the dank dungeon as if on an adventure. April thought she was crazy; who knows what could be hidden there? April shuddered and tried to adjust her eyes to the darkness, so she could see better.

"I would rather like to hope it is nothing large...Will you follow?"
Fawne asked, and April frowned. She didn't think getting any closer to whatever may be hiding was exactly the right course of action, but her foot moved anyways.

"I'm coming," she said quietly but confidently, edging closer to to Fawne. With each smal lstep she took, she could hear her heartbeat increasing. Her palms were a little sweaty, but mentally, she was perfectly calm. She was seperating her mind and body, so they have two different reactions.

She got closer, and finally saw what it was. She shrieked.

"Spider!" she yelled, jumping back. The inhumanly large spider jerked forward. It wasn't as large as the ones in the forest, April knew, but it was still the size of a small dog. She backed away as it twitched.

Fawne had gone from being in the lead to being at April's side. It was nice to have some company on one of her wandering adventures. It was strange to think she'd usually do this kind of thing alone, no wonder the hospital wing had a huge file for her. Without deliberating further she continued to move forward with April until sh shrieked and jumped back yelling something about spider.

It was then Fawne's wand cast light upon the dog sized spider, her reaction was extreme for her but not quite as obvious as April's. She took a light, fleeting step backwards, hand placed over her heart ad other gripping her wand furiously. Her mouth forming a 'oh' shape and her eyes wide. With a deep breath she pointed her wand towards the spider ready to cast the first spell that came to mind if it got any closer. However that didn't stop her from taking a few more fleeting steps backwards from its form.

"I am unsure as to what we should do..." Her voice was calm and soft, thought strained, like it was breaking.

April was shocked and kept going backwards, with Fawne backing up at the same speed at her. It seemed that Fawne disliked spiders just as much as she did, or perhaps it was the shock of seeing a spider that large. Her wand pointing at it's underbelly, hoping that her first spell would at least slow it down.

"I am unsure as to what we should do..." Fawne said nervously, but still calmly.

April exploded. "KILL IT!" she screamed. She sent a stunner towards it, but it bounced off the animal's horrible hairy body, and it headed straight for them.

"ARG!" she yelled, tripping over he feet and falling to the ground. She scrambled backwards, aiming her next spell underneath it's protected body. The creature got the full power of the red jet of light and stopped, keeling ove.r It twitched horribly.

The words kill it were the only words that seemed to register in her mind becuase shortly after the spider was running at them and April was on the floor. just as she was about to mutter her spell April's stunner caught the spider and it landed flat on its back, twitching helplessly.

She suddenly look horrified by the idea of killing it, her eyes large and sympathetic. It was only protecting its home, right? With a last attempt at sympathy she spoke the petrificious totalous spell clearly and aimed at the soft under side of the spider, freezing it in place. Without a further glance to the now frozen and stunned spider she turned to April and extended a slender hand towards her to help her up form the floor.

"Do you think it is perhaps worth exploring the rest of this room? yes?" She sorely hoped April said yes, she was enjoying herself right now.

April looked at the spider one more tiem, and shrugged. She wasn't a fan of spiders at all, but at least she had been able to knock it out. It seemed that Fawen didn't ant to kill it, though Apri ldidn't see any good reasons not to. She sighed,and got off the ground, brushing off her new robes.

"Let's carry on, I suppose. If I can take on one, I can take on some more," she resigned,and walked forward, past the spider's sbody. It didn't seem like it would be making more movement for awile, so she didn't use any other curses. She had thought that they were reching a wall, but she was wrong. It stretching on for quite a awhile longer.

"Where to now?" she asked. "This place goes on forever..."

Before Fawne followed April she pointed her wand, still in her left hand, at the floor marking the spot next to the spider clearly with a flaming x. The same spell April had used earlier. She was doing this for a few reasons, one was the fact she was already loosing sight of the door and the other was that any source of light was useful since this placed appeared to be huge. The draft of old air could be felt everywhere.

"Yay." her yay was soft and quite and more of a thanks to April.

Satisfied with her work and the fact April wanted to continue exploring she followed after her, still making barely any noise as she walked. It was almost as if she was treading extra lightly, lighter than usual, afraid to draw too much attention to them. She stopped next to April, eyes scanning the darkness but seeing no more than they usually do wand held out to try and make more visible.

"Perhaps we should find the nearest wall and see if there are torches in the room? I rather think we should mark where we stop also, so we do not get lost in the gloom?"

April thought that this was a smart idea, and nodded her head in agreement. Torches would be helpful, and she also liked the idea of using a Flagrate curse in order to set up the flames. She smiled at Fawne.

"Yes, I think torches would be a better idea. And maybe, let's hope not to meet any more spiders..."

She set on, heading in a straightforward direction, or at least trying to. She tried to make sure she didn't turn in any directions accidentaly, so she wouldn't have to take longer to reach the wall tha nneccesary.

"Are we heading in a straight line, you think? It's hard to tell in the dark."

Fawne kept her wand raised high as the moved, trying to cast a bigger light area. Though hers and April's shadows were beginning to make the task difficult. She smiled in return at April when she mentioned not finding any more spiders, it had caught Fawne off guard to be honest. A Hard feat to accomplish and so April had been the one to react, but then Fawne had never been good at duels either...

"I think no more spiders sounds like a delightful idea."

As they continued forward in a semi straight line Fawne would occasionally mark an X on the floor behind her, other wise they'd never get out again. At April's question she gave a quick glance back, most of the X's were in line so it was safe to say they were heading vaguely in the right direction.

"I rather believe this is a straight line, but the room is so large."
As Fawne held her wand further forward the lumos spell hit another solider shadow, was it the wall? With her other hand she pointed towards the solid shape and spoke with some excitement laced in her voice.
"I rather think we have found a wall"

"I rather think we have found a wall!" Fawne exclaimed, and April ran forward excitedly. She almost knocked her head off the stone but managed to catch herself beforehand, and bounced back a little bit.

"Oops. I guess we have. Are there any torches?" she asked, searching along the cold stone with her fingertips, hoping to find any type of candle or torch bracket. In a few moments, she felt hard metal.

"Got one," she yelled to Fawne ,who was a few feet down the wall in the opposite direction. She grabbed the bracket and used her wand to light the top of it. Luckily, there was no type of monster crawling on this one, and it illuminated the room a great deal.

She flitted a little when April nearly walked into the wall, she was sure she wanted to deal with any injures whilst in the dark room. Not that she had to worry about the dark for long, before Fawne really had chance to react April had lit the torch on the wall illuminating a portion of the room and emphasising how large this place was.

With the extra light to guide her Fawne ran her fingertips along the wall looking out for another torch bracket, it took her less time than April to find alight source. Since April had already lit one. Without pausing she raised her wand to the light, causing flames to erupt from its tip lighting the room further. They appeared to be in a corner, though what shape the room was Fawne couldn't guess.

"I wonder if this was perhaps, just a dungeon?" Her thoughts were voice allowed almost without her noticing, she was wondering about the purpose of the room it seemed to big to be a classroom but it could have quiet easily been a larger holding cell for groups. The castle was after all once a castle...

April nodded in agreement.

"It's possible it was just a dungeon, or maybe an unused classroom. But, it's so large, so it's really difficult to tell! It could have been used to... hold people captive or something! Do you think they tortured people down here...?" she asked, a little worried.

She was now afraid they would run into some sort of place to hang people from the walls by thier fingernails or something. She shivered.

"Maybe we should walk around the perimeter and light all the torches, now that we've got one wall?" she suggested.

"I rather hope they did not, the spider was excitement enough." her voice was quieter, traces of worry laced it tones. She didn't like the idea of this place being a torture room, the very idea of the shackles on the wall reminded her of when she first found Dorien; he was prisoner to her leader, and she helped him escape. Those were memories she wasn't quiet ready to relive yet.

Shaking her head slightly she placed a half smile on her lips and turned to April her eyes examining the area of the room now bathed in light; all stone.

"That sounds like a glorious idea, perhaps we should travel in differing paths and meet at the other side? " she didn't think splitting up was to bad of an idea, the worst they'd found was that spider, but then it might make most sense to stick together, that way it would be quicker to help the other if in trouble. "Nevertheless maybe we should sacrifice speed for safety?"

April shuddered at the idea of going by herself, but she knew that Gryffindors were usually obnoxiously brave. She felt it was her duty to protect Fawne from her own Gryffindor stupidity. Who knows what could be lurking in the shadows of this room, waiting to ambush them the second they were seperated? April wasn't willing t ofind out, or let Fawne find out for her.

"I say, we stick together. No need to be heroes here," she said. She led the way along the wall. Every few yards there was a bracket. Soon, this side of the roo mwas flooded with red glowing light. It look ominous.

"did you just see that?" she asked, looking into the darkness. She thought she had saw a shadow move.

"I do not think i want to be a Hero..." her voice was questioning and curious, though still melodic.

She looked puzzled at April's hero comment, her eyes showing a mix between curious and confused. Of course that was until a flicker of intuition passed through them; house stereotypes. Of course April was pinning her as a brave, stupid, Gryffindor despite the fact Fawne's bravery was more subtle. She didn't feel insulted becuase she saw April as a friend and she'd heard similar comments before. Craven being eager to dish them out.

With a half smile she followed April, helping to light the odd tourch along the way, she was so absorbed in her work she didn't notice whatever April exclaimed at but a feeling of uneasiness washed over the usually clam girl. If she was the type to shiver she would have.

"I did not but i belive this place is turning out to be rather horrid"

April giggled a little, and then sighed. She rubbed her eyes. The darkness was clearly getting to her. She continued to creep along the wall slowly, but she didn't take her eyes off the spt where she had seen a ltitle shimmer of light. It had flashed and then... was gone.

"There it is again!" she exclaimed, swerving her whole body to face it. A little light was now pulsating in the center of the room.. or dakrness.

"You see it, right? What is that thing..." she said, trailing off. She started walking towards it, as if she was mesmorized.

As she took another step following April the light caught in the corner of her eye, she realised it had a solid shape. they'd only lit the torches to half of the room and she could vaguely see one of her x's on the ground in the direction of the light. It seemed like a bright light source than the murky flames and without thinking about it she grabbed April's hand pulling them closer towards the source. Maybe gryffindors were stupidly brave after all.

"I wonder what it is..." her voice was curious and soft like she expected the light to disappear if she spoke to loudly. As she got closer to the light and further away from the lit wall torches she realised the light was a very strange shape. A few steps closer clarified why. Letting go of April's hand she slowed to a walk. she was giggling uncontrollably a hand placed to her lips in modesty. When the soft sound stopped she turned to April.

"i rather think we have found the door..."