Adventures in the Ballroom

[Teagan Kelly]

Smiling slightly at this, she realized the girl was right. Of course. It did seem obvious that someone would eventually miss them. Or rather, probably the Slytherin girl. She wondered briefly if anyone would actually notice she was missing if the head of house didn't. But that wasn't the most important issue at hand. Getting out was.

She studied the walls, floor, and the ceiling with a critical eye. It was ornately designed and very beautiful but there just seemed something surreal about the room. Not being able to put her finger on it, she sighed with annoyance. It would be dreadful to have to bang on a door until someone heard them. That would probably take all night. Teagan definitely did not want to be here in the morning.

"Well, that's a lovely idea. Except that it's nearly night and I doubt that anyone will be able to tell we are gone until morning," she breathed with annoyance coloring her tone and slight hysteria owing to the fact that she was getting slightly scared.

She didn't want to admit it though and flinched at her words.

[Dolores Umbridge]

The truth was, if Professor Rothschild did not notice her absence, no one else probably would, either. Or worse, someone might notice and decide that they didn’t care. Dolores was not exactly popular with her house mates. She didn’t really care about that—or at least, she hadn’t cared about that before. But now it did pose a potential problem for her. She had no one who would really miss her if she was gone. But surely this girl did, right?

“Don’t you have any friends?” she sneered, annoyed. “Won’t they be looking for you or something?”

She was not going to stand for being stuck in this stupid room all night. There had to be a way to get out of here. She continued her efforts to find a secret passageway, her back turned to Teagan.

[Teagan Kelly]

Mar 12, 2010 17:01:01 GMT -5 Dolores Umbridge said:

The truth was, if Professor Rothschild did not notice her absence, no one else probably would, either. Or worse, someone might notice and decide that they didn’t care. Dolores was not exactly popular with her house mates. She didn’t really care about that—or at least, she hadn’t cared about that before. But now it did pose a potential problem for her. She had no one who would really miss her if she was gone. But surely this girl did, right?

“Don’t you have any friends?” she sneered, annoyed. “Won’t they be looking for you or something?”

She was not going to stand for being stuck in this stupid room all night. There had to be a way to get out of here. She continued her efforts to find a secret passageway, her back turned to Teagan.

She cocked her head to the side, studying the back of the other girls' head and wondered just what it was that was going on inside it. She could always read a Hufflepuff and Gryffindors were pretty easy as well but Slytherins were a whole nother realm. They bore a very big resemblance to both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, in Teagan's opinion. They are rather brave, some of them, and they are almost always clever enough to get the job done... Or at least follow someone who was stronger then them.

"Yes, well, almost all the people I talk to are older then me and in another house. There is Natalie but I don't really know if she's my friend or not," Teagan stated as if she were talking about the weather with a noncommital shrug.

Then she returned to her task, thinking that it was quite possible this girl didn't have any friends to speak of. Not like she really did. People she talked to were only at aquantance status as far as she knew. She could only hope that someone might find them before too late.

[Dolores Umbridge]

Dolores was getting frustrated. There were no noticable panels on the wall, no discolorations, and the sconces were all completely immobile. There wasn't a button in sight. What if they really were trapped in here all night? It was after dinner, so there was no reason that anyone would be likely to be walking by here any time soon.

Suddenly furious, she kicked the wall. "Stupid ballroom!" she snapped. "How unsafe is that to have only one exit from a room? What if there was a fire at the other end? It doesn't make sense, there has to be a way out!"

Then, just as suddenly, the fight seemed to go out of her, and she slumped down against the wall, sinking to the cold tile floor. "I don't want to be stuck in here with you! We're going to die and it's all your fault!"

[Teagan Kelly]

She rolled her eyes at the girls dramatic display but felt her heart pick up speed at her words. What if they did die here? It wasn't exactly the way Teagan had ever thought she would die and she definitely did not want to die because of her stupidity. Yes, she had finally come to the conclusion, however misplaced it was, that the whole situation was her fault.

Again she wondered exactly how they had come to be locked in here. Did the castle do it?, she wondered wildly. It seemed far fetched but it was the only plausible answer in this situation. She sighed. What an inconvience it was that they had gotten locked in here today of all days. No one was likely to notice their absence and her heart filled with sadness for both herself and the other girl in the room.

"Don't worry," she said gently unsure of who she was trying to comfort, "We won't die here. Someone is bound to notice."

She was pretty sure the confidence in her voice didn't fool either of them.

[Dolores Umbridge]

Dolores shot the girl a withering look, letting her know that no, she was not the slightest bit fooled by her confidence. For the time being, at least, they were trapped in this room together. It probably could have been worse.... At least the room was warm and spacious and they could probably make themselves fairly comfortable in here if they had to stay the night. Dolores refused to consider that they might be stuck in here longer than that.

Heaving a dramatic sigh, Dolores looked up towards the ceiling. If it wasn't so high up, they could possibly have pushed one of the ceiling tiles open to find the air ducts. But unfortunately, the third year and the first year were not advanced enough in their magic to levitate themselves up to the ceiling.

"You might as well get comfortable. It looks like we'll be here for the night, at least. But we should make sure we wake up early enough in the morning, so that we can start banging on the door."

[Teagan Kelly]

Teagan looked at the girl in surprise. She was a bit astonished by the defeat in Dolores' voice but then she realized that she held the same sort of helplessness inside of her. At least it was warm in the room. The cold was not her biggest love and she hated being in it needlessly.

Sighing, she settled down on the floor with her back against a wall opposite Dolores. Her head fell back and she closed her eyes against the headache that had been building behind them. The girl was right. They would have to get up early and make sure they would be able to be heard.

"Alright. That sounds like a plan. How should we make sure that we get up?" she asked, wondering randomly when they had become a "we" in her mind.

[Dolores Umbridge]

Dolores scowled at her. “Well, I don’t know how you’re going to wake up in time,” she began in a snotty tone. “But I’m going to set my watch.”

Being the organized, disciplined person that she was, she wore a muggle watch that had been a gift from her father. It had an alarm feature, which she hardly used, but it was finally coming in handy.

She adjusted her watch to make sure that it would go off around 6 am. That should be early enough, she reasoned, to catch any early-rising students or professors who might be happening by. With any luck, they would be out of here by breakfast.

[Teagan Kelly]

Teagan frowned at the girl, somewhat amazed by her ability to infuriate her and cause such a reaction inside of her. Dolores just had a habit of making her burning mad. It wasn't something that she would have thought that she was capable of but she was oddly proud of herself for being able to feel that.

Choosing to ignore it, she looked down at her extremely bare wrists and frowned. She didn't have no Muggle devices that the other girl had. It slightly surprised her the girl had a wrist watch like that to begin with. Flipping through book pages in her mind, she lit upon a spell that could help her. The spell itself was not advanced at all, being a spell she'd probably learn sometime in the next three years. Being an overachiever in some respects had finally come in handy. Reading ahead was always a good idea. Casting it on herself, she then looked at the girl, feeling a bit smug.

"That's that, then. Well, I'm off to sleep," she mumbled.

She didn't bother with pleasantries because she didn't believe the other girl would care too much.

[Dolores Umbridge]

Dolores, meanwhile, was trying to find ways that she could sleep comfortably. The ballroom had no furniture, which meant she was going to have to sleep on the cold, hard floor. This was not acceptable to Dolores. She was digging around in her robe pockets, trying to find materials that she could transfigure into a makeshift bed. There were a few marbles that she had taken from a second year boy, a fake spider, a pack of Drooble’s best blowing gum, and a piece of parchment with an unflattering drawing that vaguely resembled her on it. Frowning, she concentrated first on one of the marbles, transfiguring them into cushions. Then she worked on the gum, and after several minutes was able to make a large fluffy pillow. Finally, the parchment was transfigured into a blanket.

When she was done, she frowned over at the other girl, whose name she really hadn’t bothered to learn. It occurred to her that her father would be displeased at her for such rudeness and selfishness, and she sighed slightly. She might not like the girl, but it wasn’t proper to be rude, either. Looking down at the fake spider, she transfigured it into another pillow and tossed it over to the girl before she began to get comfortable in her own transfigured bed.

[Teagan Kelly]

A large pillow suddenly hit her. She was startled by it but even more startled by the person it had come from. Looking over at the girl that was just settling down in her transfigured bed, she felt a small smile playing at her lips. They may be whatever but it was the truth when one said that Slytherins knew how to be polite when they wanted to be. That made her happier then she felt was necessary so she frowned but tucked the pillow under her head and sighed warily.

"Thank you, Dolores," she mumbled before allowing herself to drift off into the makings of an uncomfortable sleep.

[Dolores Umbridge]

Dolores would have denied it, of course. But, like it or not, the two girls were in this together, to a certain extent. It wouldn't have been fair to not offer the girl something. Dolores was strict and humorless, but she was not cruel. After all, she was still young, and no one had treated her cruelly, so although she didn't go out of her way to be nice, she also didn't go out of her way to be mean, either.

Her little makeshift bed was only a little more comfortable than Teagan's. The cushions beneath her were somewhat thin, and the blanket was scratchy, probably due to a weak transfiguration spell. It felt like a large piece of parchment. At least the pillow was soft, and she was able to drift into a light sleep.

[Teagan Kelly]

Teagan awoke as a warm, fuzziness spread through her body. As she streched and yawned lightly, she realized that the spell had worked with more than a little satisfaction. Her back was complaining and her body was protesting the night she had slept on the floor. It had been rough and uncomfortable but it's not like she hadn't had any sleep. She felt rather which was weird but she was okay with it.

Looking over at the other girl, she saw that Dolores was still asleep. She wondered if she was or if she was pretending but that was silly. The other girl didn't seem that type. Teagan wondered if she should try to get her up but then decided not to. It was probably still early. There wasn't anything to do.

Her eyes went to the door and then to Dolores. Sighing, she sat back and pulled her feet up to her chest and attempted to lose herself in thought. Teagan tried to imagine what would happen if they were stuck here for another day. This wasn't possible however. Another day had happened upon them and with it, the chance to be rescued.

Summoning her courage, she got up and stalked over to the door. Her hands reached up and she pushed in vain at it. Not to be swayed, she started tapping softly at it.

[Dolores Umbridge]

A short time later, Dolores's watch went off. It was actually an enchanted version of a muggle watch, and the alarm sent a quick little shock through her wrist, causing her to sit straight up in her little makeshift bed. There was a reason Dolores didn't use the watch's alarm very often.

Blinking in confusion for a moment, she slowly remembered where she was. Despite her slightly more comfortable sleeping arrangements, she had actually not slept very well. She kept having strange dreams in which she was trapped in this room forever.

She rubbed her eyes, then scowled over at Teagan. "I see you woke up," she said in a tone that indicated that she really didn't care one way or another.

[Teagan Kelly]

Hearing the other girl start stirring, she grinned and began to pound on the door. If the other girl was already awake, there was no use in trying not to wake her up. Her efforts were in vain but she continued before looking over her shoulder with a slight smirk on her face.

"Of course I did. You probably expected me to stay asleep forever and never get up, allowing you the chance to escape properly without me. Well, I am sorry to disappoint you. Magic is wonderful, is it not?" Teagan questioned teasingly.

Her own actions were sort of surprising. She was in a wonderful mood this morning. It must of been the ever present thought that they would not escape.

[Dolores Umbridge]

Dolores narrowed her eyes and glared at the girl. "Well, aren't you cheeky today?" she said in a sour tone. It really was much too early to have to put up with this girl's attitude. Especially since she had not had her morning tea.

Standing up, she stretched sleepily and paused to clean up her makeshift bed before she moved over to the big double doors. "We'll see if you still think it's so funny when we're trapped in here for another day. Start knocking, will you?"

[Teagan Kelly]

The glare did nothing to dampen her spirits which were amazingly high at the moment. It did not even offend her when the girl told her to knock. For a moment, she considered saying something equally cheeky about the fact that she had been knocking on the door and refrained from saying it.

"Right, well, I don't think we will be forced to stay here another day. I have a good feeling about today," she said cheerfully.

[Dolores Umbridge]

She never should have given the girl that stupid pillow. Surely that had given her the wrong impression and made her think that Dolores was her friend or something. But make no mistake, once that door was opened and they were free, Dolores full intended never to speak with this girl ever again.

But first they had to get out. Scowling once more at the girl, Dolores began to bang on the doors with her fists, trying to make as much noise as possible.

"Hey! Anyone out there? Help us!" she shouted.

[Aubrielle Newbury]

Aubri was avoiding breakfast. This of course meant that she was avoiding the dining hall, even if she couldn't give a proper excuse as to why. She was in a mood, perhaps, and she was pretty certain that it all had to do with her sister. Lyra had been so angry lately. Even with Nicholas, who Aubri thought was a much better catch than Rystain, Lyra still seemed angry at the world. And that meant that she usually took it out on Aubri.

So forgive her for not wanting to deal with it this morning. She was wandering a bit aimlessly, but hoping that she might even run into Dominic.

So it was sheer luck that she even heard the knocking from a ways down the hall, and being curious, she went to investigate. On the other side of the door she finally came to, she could hear two voices.

"Wait, hold on," she called to them- whoever they were. The door wouldn't open on it's own, and she fumbled an "Alohamora" before finally hearing a loud click, and the doors popped open.

Aubri looked at the two girls, eyebrows raised. "What are you doing?"

[Dolores Umbridge]

Dolores would never have admitted it, but she had been getting extremely nervous about being stuck in there. She was hungry, and working herself into a near panic as she banged on the door. After all, she was a girl who was used to eating promptly, and when she didn't, she became even more cranky than usual.

So when the doors opened, Dolores nearly fell over in exhausted relief. And it was a Slytherin who rescued them... that was a bonus. She would not be indebted to some Gryffindor or Hufflepuff.

Getting to her feet, she dusted herself off indignantly. "We got trapped in here. The doors swung shut, and the Alohomora spell wouldn't work from the inside. We've been stuck in here all night." She shot an accusing look at Teagan.