A Hidden Alcove

[Lily Evans]

.

[Laurel Skye]

Laurel was wandering around the castle and she stumbled upon an alcove that seemed almost perfect for curling up with a book. Luckily, Laurel always carried around a book. She sat on the floor with her knees up to her chin and a book open. She was just getting to a good part, when she heard footsteps.
[Cue Abby!]

[Jenna Wood]

Jenna tripped and stumbled walked, through the hallways during a particularly rainy afternoon. She was just wandering around the castle as a way of occupying her time. Also, she almost always ended up meeting people that way, weird. She came across a little alcove that she hadn't known was there until just then, and so naturally, she went inside. She wandered in and almost tripped over a blond girl reading in a corner. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking! Are you okay?" Jenna said this all very quickly because she is a very high energy person.

[Laurel Skye]

Laurel looked up and saw a girl about her age. It took her a moment to understand what this girl was saying,
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." Laure said, straightening up.
"What are you doing up here? I thought that no one knew about this place, I certainly didn't"

[OMG ABBY! Guess what I started watching on YouTube??]

[Jenna Wood]

Jenna almost audibly sighed with relief, if any of the professors got another report of her crashing into a person, it wouldn't be pretty. "I didn't even know it was here until about thirty seconds ago. And will you do me a favor and not tell Filch? He's been trying to get me out of Hogwarts for quite some time now."

[Laurel Skye]

Laurel laughed,
"Of course I won't tell Filch. I keep a low profile so I'm pretty sure none of the teachers know I exist, even though I've been going to Hogwarts for 6 years... So, what are you doing on this fine afternoon?"

[I'll just tell you: THE VLOGBROTHERS/ITALKTOSNAKES/CHARLIEISSOCOOLLIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

[Jenna Wood]

[OMG YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!!]

"Well, my brother went here before me, and he was quite infamous around the castle for his semi-annual dungbombing of Filch's office, so now... He assumes that I am going to finish what he started. Which I will, but I won't make it as obvious as he thinks I will."

[Laurel Skye]

"Who's your brother? or a more important question is, who are you?" Laurel asked,
She rooted around in her bag and pulled out a sugar quill (something she always keeps one hand)

[sorry I'm so bad at this. I need tips!]

[Jenna Wood]

[It's fine, I love you anyway.]

"My brother's name is Henry Wood, and I'm Jenna Wood. And who are you as well? I don't remember seeing your face before now." Jenna was a prankster, and she would stoop so low as to prank Filch himself, but she tended to be a more subtle pranker, not that she would be telling this girl yet. Jenna preferred that her powers remain a secret.

[Laurel Skye]

"How much older is Henry than you? Oh, my name's Laurel. No one seems to know who I am. Maybe because I've so painfully shy until this year. I think I've made more friends in the last few days than I have in most of my life..." Laurel put her elbows on her crossed legs, looking thoughtful.

[Jenna Wood]

Jenna sat down across from Laurel, deciding that she was going to stay for a while. "He's nine years older than me, graduated eight years ago, and Filch still thinks that I'm just going to repeat whatever he did while he was here." It was exasperating, and Jenna was getting tired of it, no matter how much she loved and admired her brother.

[Laurel Skye]

"9 is a lot of years! I wish I had a sibling..." Laurel had grown up with her Gram after her parents got too overwhelmed with her wizardry-ness and shipped her to her grandmother

[Jenna Wood]

[Sorry I took so long to post, TONS of work to do before I could log onto here.]

Jenna can relate, she and her mom don't generally see eye to eye. If it weren't for her dad, she would have moved in with Henry (big brother) as soon as he'd graduated. "Well, my mom did ship me off to France for a solid five years sooo..." And she was superdooper lucky to have a brother as awesome as Henry. Even though they were far apart in age, in spirit, they were almost twins.

[Gwendolyn Pearce]

Gwen walked through the halls over to her favorite hidden alcove where she sometimes went when she wanted to find somewhere quiet and out of the way to do work, or just to think. She was having a few issues with the Potions essay she was working on but didn't want to go to the library because Madam Pince had decided that she was a 'person who often displayed suspicious activity'. Gwen often wondered why on Earth she'd think that. Gwen had never even had a detention, she was quiet and was studious. It was probably because of Fred.

[Cali Knight]

Cali strode purposefully through the halls towards a wonderful little hidden area she had found the other day when she had become… disorientated. After all she was a Knight and that encompassed two things, dignity and poise and becoming lost was most certainly neither. Her mind wandered to the coldness of the Slytherin common room and immediately replaced it with the image of the cosy little alcove she was headed to. She just needed a few minutes to collect herself.

Who knew that a school would be so chaotic. She had assumed it would be the same as home tutoring just with others in the class but no… it was so very different. There was no hour long debate with the teacher on the goblin wars nor daily duels in the grounds.

School simply seemed so slow in comparison to what she was use to. She had far to much free time and nothing to fill it.

Striding into view of the alcove she stopped short as she realized it was already occupied and for a moment her mind went blank.

[Gwendolyn Pearce]

Gwen looked up just in time to see another girl slide into the alcove. She hadn't known that anyone else knew about it's existence besides her. She looked a bit familiar, but she wasn't anyone that Gwen specifically knew. She was wearing Slytherin robes, it didn't phase Gwen though, Slytherins tended to leave Ravenclaws alone when it came to house hate. "Can I help you?" Gwen asked, a polite curiosity in her voice. Gwen was quiet, and generally pretty reserved and shy. She was rarely the one to talk first so Cali might have to mark the date and make it a national holiday.

[Cali Knight]

Cali's mind was reeling, it was all almost to much. She hadn't been prepared for someone else to be here, she had been all set in her alone time mode, that the other girl sitting before her seemed to throw everything off in her head. She just couldn't make sense of it.

"Um… yes?…no?… I mean… I didn't think that anyone…" Cali had to bite her tongue to stop the verbal diarrhea spilling forth and felt a fierce heat blossom on her cheeks. She was mortified and yet still too dumbstruck to move. She focused on her breathing to try and clear her head. She could just imagine the tut of her nanny at her display of such unladylike like behavior.

[Gwendolyn Pearce]

Gwen noticed the other girl's hesitance, and took pity on her. Gwen was almost painfully shy herself, and so she empathized. "I didn't think anyone else would be here either, that's why I'm here. I wasn't aware that anyone else knew about it." Gwen wasn't quite sure what to say, and the other girl seemed awfully uncomfortable so Gwen turned her attention back to her potions essay, tucking one long lock of dark brown, almost black hair behind one ear.

[Cali Knight]

Cali had finally settled back into her self and straightening her spine back up she finally took in the girl before her. Dark hair, blue eyes, ravenclaw robes and a worn piece of parchment. Cali couldn't help but wonder at the girls intelligence, for, from what she had gathered from her brief introduction to the sorting hat, they were the most studious house. Perhaps this girl might be an equal, someone she could freely debate history with and share knowledge of potions and the like.

But first she had to rectify the horrible first impression she had made. Gathering her robes in her hands she bobbed a polite little curtsie as she introduced herself.

"Forgive me, in my shock I seem to have forgotten my manners. I am Caliga Knight, of Slytherin House. It is a pleasure…" She tried to fill herself with confidence and grace but all she felt was frustration with herself.

[Gwendolyn Pearce]

Gwen was a bit taken aback at the curtsy. She was nothing special, not the top of her class, not incredibly pretty and rather quiet and unnoticed by most. She preferred it that way, at least most of the time. This Cali girl must have been raised in a very formal household because Gwen couldn't imagine being taught to curtsy when you met another student, someone who was of your own rank at the very least. Gwen stood up, and held out her hand for the other girl to shake. "Gwendolyn Pearce, Ravenclaw. You can call me Gwen though, I'd actually prefer it. Only my grandparents call me Gwendolyn. Nice to meet you too." Gwen smiled sincerely, say what you will about Gwen, but she did everything with complete sincerity. When Gwen said something, you could count on the fact that she meant it.

[Cali Knight]

Cali straightened up and eyed Gwen's hand for a moment as if she had never seen one before. It had been such a very long time since she had shook hands with someone that she wasn't sure she even knew how. In the circles she had travelled in in Asia everyone had bowed or curtsied and were formal and polite in everything they did, rudeness or a slight of any kind could result in a duel or the loss of your honor within certain circles.

Reaching forward she clumsily grasped Gwen's hand and yet, though she felt mildly awkward holding hands with someone she had just met, she allowed the happiness she felt at that moment play upon her lips. There had been fears that she had been away from England to long, that she wouldn't be able to adjust to the more relaxed culture without guidance, they had even thought to send a maid to watch her but here she was, shaking someone's hand.

"Then you must call me Cali and please forgive my apparent strangeness… I've been traveling around Asia for the past 12 years. This is my first week back in England and I haven't fully adjusted." If only her nanny could see her now she thought, shaking hands and voluntarily giving away personal information, she'd have a fit, and the thought of that made her feel just a little rebellious.

[Gwendolyn Pearce]

Gwen was a little taken aback at Cali's rather unsure handshake. However, once Cali elaborated on the reasons, she was washed in a sudden understanding. Gwen smiled back broadly when the other girl let a small smile slip across her face. It was a bit odd though, she had never been the outgoing one in a group of people before. She was normally the quiet one, answering as shortly as possible, and speaking only when asked to. "That's really cool! I would love to travel one day. And don't worry, you'll get used to the UK soon enough. Or not, I was born and raised in Ireland but I still find myself baffled by my own fellows! Don't worry though, we may be loud and rude, but we mean the best, and are as loyal as can be."

[Cali Knight]

Cali couldn't help but smile gratefully at Gwen as she accepted her with such apparent ease. She would be the first to admit that the UK was a very different place compared to what she was used, and having only a handful of memories of spending time with her parents in their countryside home, most certainly hadn't prepared her. In Shanghai for example everyone had been so soft spoken, moving about at a sedate pace as if they had all the time in the world and of course their was no physical contact with those whom you were not especially close with, while here everyone was so loud and constantly moving in a running to classes or to catch up with friends, wrapping their arms around everyone they seemed to meet.

Part of her had to admit it filled her with a slight thrill, everyone just seemed so full of life here that it was almost contagious. She was sure that she would quite easily be raising her voice to shout and roar by the end of the year if not within the next few weeks.

"Thank you Gwen...may I ask what you were working on before I interrupted?" She smiled softly at her new acquaintance.

[Gwendolyn Pearce]

Gwen couldn't help but smile back. It wasn't often that she met someone even more shy than herself. Gwen couldn't bring herself to imagine living outside of the UK. But, she had always thought that it would be amazing to travel around the world. Living somewhere like Shanghai seemed so amazing and exotic to her, she would love to visit there someday. Gwen somehow always managed to end up daydreaming, even when she was engaged in the conversation. She shook herself mentally to focus. "Oh, this is a Potions essay. I have to do it for some extra credit. For a Ravenclaw, I'm awfully bad at Potions." She laughed and shrugged. Everyone had a subject that they were bad at.

[Emily Prescott]

Louis and Emily have of course been hanging out all the time always because they are dating and that is what people who are dating do. They probably walk everywhere holding hands and being obnoxiously lovey-dovey and stuff. ANYWAY, it was Christmas and by Christmas I mean January 4th, so it was presents time. She and Louis had previously arranged to meet at the hidden alcove, during one of their many dates which they have almost definitely gone on. She was super excited to give Louis his present, all wrapped up with a bow and everything because bows are CUTE. Anyway, cue Louis.

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