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[Cerridwyn Glynn]

The Great Hall was beginning to empty.  Dinner seemed to be over once the Professor's all left.  Eventually it was time for Cerri and her new Housemate to leave behind their emptied plates and messy handkerchiefs.  She had promised to show Ori around.  She wasn't sure how far they'd get on the first real night back especially with classes starting early tomorrow morn, but regardless she was eager to see if there was anything new along the hallways she was familiar with.

Before long she was pointing out the paintings and waiving hello to them.  A few of the moving paintings hd left their portraits and moved on to other places.  Those paintings remembered her from last year and how she asked way too many questions of them.
"Hello, General Baptiste.  How has your summer been?"  She stopped momentarily to chat with the General.  Usually he was quite happy to be entertained by walkers by.
"Harumph. hmm.  Quiet and absolutely quite boring, it's been.  Not one blasted, bloody battle erupted from one side of the wall to the other.  hmmph."  The General sounded quite miserable.  Cerri turned to look at the opposing wall and noted that General Baptiste's painted adversary was no where to be seen.
"Yes.  The blasted bearded nimcompoop seems to have found a new past time.  It t'would appear he didn't even have the gall to inform me, by voice, by letter or even in frame."  The General harumphed a few resentment mannerisms.  Cerri nodded awkwardly, unsure how to proceed, she was supossed to be showing Ori around, but so far she had been distracted by the General's portrait and now felt guilty she was about to leave him behind.
"Oh, I wonder why he would do such a thing.  I'm sorry I promised to show a new First year around...umm...maybe you'd like to join us?"  She finally found a loophole out.  Not all the other portraits would allow someone else in there window.

[Orion Gray]

Ori followed Cerri through the first floor with a wide-eyed glance at everything. There was just so much to see! His mom had given him descriptions, but there wasn't any real way to describe what he was seeing now. And this was just the first floor! He wondered what the Ravenclaw common room would be like, since he still hadn't gotten the chance to see what his new home would be like. But just right now, he saw statues, tapestries, and of course multiple portraits, which were of course moving and speaking, and it appeared that there as much of a life in the portrait world as there was in the real one. He blinked in surprise as a figure got up and walked out of his frame, and then reappeared a moment later in the portrait right next to him, saying, "Well lookie here a first year! Welcome to Hogwarts. Why don't you come spend time with me and my friends," the figure said. Orion shook his head and responded, "Thanks for the welcome, but I really have to stay with my guide; I wouldn't want to be one of the first first years to get lost this year." Orion found the talking portraits a little strange, but also very exciting, and he was glad Cerri offered this tour.

The figures waved goodbye to him as he ran down the hall to Cerri, who appeared have gotten involved in a conversation of her own. He slowed as he neared her just as she was finishing up her conversation, and said, "There are so many of these portraits it's really amazing." Seeing the picture was looking at him, he said, "Oh Cerri, you should um probably introduce us, shouldn't you?" Looking back at the picture he examined it; he appeared to be some kind of General. "Is he joining us Cerri?" Orion didn't know how he felt about that; while it would be nice to have someone who had lived her for so long, it might get a little strange if they had to stop and wait for the general to get in and out of his portraits.

[Cerridwyn Glynn]

Cerri had realized she left her youg Housemate behind.  Glancing to where she had been, she quickly waived him forward.  She had hoped she was subtle enough to not appear desperate to get out of the conversation with General Baptiste, maybe he'd never realize.  As Ori approached, she couldn't help but bemuse his wonder.  He must have been uin awe of the enormity of the building all ready and they were only on the first floor.

"You have a very good point.  Ori, this is General Baptiste in portrait form.  General, First year Orion Gray of Ravenclaw."  The first rounds of introductions were mildly painless.
"Glorious, my good sir."  The General harumpffed a breathy hello.
"Welcome to Hogwart's.  Ravenclaw is a good House.  I was a Hufflepuffer myself when I was a student."  Cerri noticed the good General was beginning to digress a little.  If she remembered last year right, he was just about to go into his great story of running into another Huffle in the African Savanna.  That must have been his favorite story to remember.

"I promised to show Ori the Hunpback Witch Staute.  Care to meet us there General?"  She looked over to Ori, hoping he too wouldn't give away that she just wanted to leave the good General before he sucked them both into a story they wouldn't be able to politely escape until it was time to head back to the Ravenclaw Tower.

[Orion Gray]

"Nice to meet you General," Orion replied politely. This general seemed rather old in this picture, and from the long introduction he had just given about himself Orion thought a little full of himself and the type of person who talks non-stop unless you escape. He didn't want to spend too much time in one place, since he'd have all year to come back and see take a closer examination of things that he had liked or wanted to see more of, and tonight would be a good night just for general explorations since they were free of all other obligations until it was time to sleep, or at least he hoped. He was very glad Cerri had introduced herself at the feast, since she seemed extremely knowledgeable about so many things, and he was glad the older students looked after the younger ones. He had felt a bit lost and lonely coming here not knowing anyone, and a lot of that worry had dissipated. Although he had yet to meet any of his year mates.

Seeing Cerri look a him just a little desperately as the General appeared to be preparing a long speech Orion thought quickly. "Oh yes sir we're on our way over there right now! It'd be really great to meet you there since unfortunately we'll have to be back in our common room soon and other nights we're going to have homework and stuff, so I'd like to see it tonight." Hoping he had managed to defuse the General's next statement he waved goodbye, and walked quickly away, realizing with some surprise he had actually made quite a speech in front of Cerri without stuttering, even if he had been rushing his words together slightly. He glanced back over his shoulder to see whether she was still with him.

[Cerridwyn Glynn]

Together, the two of them escaped the drudged dreary of General Baptiste.  Their excuse seemed to meet the portrait's need for a real answer.
"Right, right.  Off you go, then."  The General acknowledge them both as Cerri and Ori had started their goodbyes.  After a bit they were both past the portraits.  Cerri gave her friend a small relieved sigh, not daring to say anything negitive about the General.  She was more paranoid that he would appear at the last frame shoving the dancing goblin out of the way.

"Over there is the doorway to the Transfigurations Hallway."  She pointed out making sure Ori took a glance to atleast know where to go for his required classes.
"And at the end of this hall, is the Ettiquette Hall.  It's not a bad class, just tedious.  But I hear Professor Denman is the teacher for it this year.  He's not as grumpy as he wants everyone to believe."  She giggled a little at the idea.  He was a little gruff and tumble, but it wasn't intolerable.  As nice as she wanted Ori to believe Denman was, there was no way to misinform anyone that he hugged puffs and fluffy kittens.

"So have you had a chance to look over your books?  I mean, which classes do you think you'll enjoy?  I really liked Charms last year, but I'm looking forward to Astronomy this go around."  The second year asked the first, hoping the Hat hadn't placed the wrong student in Ravenclaw.

[Orion Gray]

Orion looked at the various sights Cerri pointed out to him. There was just so much here, and this was just the first floor! He couldn't even begin to imagine what was in the other areas of Hogwarts, but he was already itching to get started. It would probably be impossible to explore every single nook and cranny that existed here, although he did have seven years to try. According to what he'd heard and read, there was even a hidden, magic room that appeared only very rarely. He would love to be one of the few rumored to have seen and entered. It would probably be pretty important

Orion took careful note of the locations of the Transfiguration and Etiquette classes. He definitely didn't want to be late to those two, or any class for that matter. He made a note to check his schedule for the locations, and if he didn't know, ask Cerri. When hearing the news about Denman, Orion almost groaned. My least favorite class and of course the teacher had to be a grumpy old man. Maybe Cerri was right though and he really wasn't that bad. "Oh...really? Isn't...isn't he our Head of House?" he asked, hoping slightly that Denman might be nicer to his own house students.

When Cerri asked him about classes, Orion started off by muttering, "Everything but Flying and Etiquette." Realizing that probably wasn't the answer she was expecting, he quickly added, "I mean, um I think I will really enjoy Charms as well, but personally I'm really excited to learn Transfiguration and Potions because I've never done them before and they sound really quite interesting to me. Oh and hopefully I'll enjoy Defense Against the Dark Arts as well." Orion began to lose a bit of shyness when he spoke about classes, and he actually smiled at Cerri. "Really, I'll probably enjoy many of them, as long as I think they are practical."

[Cerridwyn Glynn]

"I'm sure you will."  She looked back to Orion as they neared the point of their tour.
"Transfiguration should be fun.  I still remember when I changed the petal into the leaf for the first time.  I think it's a fun class.  Pretty advanced magic if you can master it."  Cerri offered to Ori about Transfiguration.  It was one of her favorite classes, although she wasn't the best at it.  But in the end, a little practice and everything gets perfected.

Shadowed by the corner of the nook it was hiding in, a stoneworked statue began to peak out.  A woman humped over with a long ankle length cloaked stood there.  If one wasn't expecting to see her, she might have scared any wayward young student.  There were two eyes, but one wasscrunched tight against itself while the other was bulging and overly open.  Near the bottom pedastal a small plaque was attached with a few words, framed in a golden guilt.
"Oh here it is.  The One Eyed Witch.  She was a healer you know.  Dragon Pox.  She doesn't look it, but she was even favored by the King.  The story says she saved his dog from some severe distemperment, but she had to use the back entrance."  The idea was funny to her.  a Witch, summoned by the King to save a pet dog....all for the Glory of the Empire!  And she had to use the backdoor."

[Orion Gray]

Cerri's explanation of Transfiguration made sense and concurred with everything that he knew about the subject. "I hope it will be. Do you know who teaches the class? And how advanced is it...I mean, did you find it really hard or is it just um...different I guess from other types of magic?" Transfiguration was probably the class Orion was looking forward to the most, as it was something new, and it sounded exciting. Who wouldn't want to be able to change an object from one thing to another, with a wave of a wand, a magic word, and a little bit of willpower. It sounded quite remarkable to Orion actually.

As he and Cerri were chatting, he stopped paying attention to his surroundings, finding the conversation more interesting. So, when the two of them stopped, and Orion looked where Cerri was pointing, he almost jumped in fright at the sight before him. That had got to be the one of the most hideous statues he had seen in his stay here so far, not that he had seen that many. When Cerri explained about the witch a bit, he couldn't help from exclaiming "That woman was a healer?! And she looked like that?!" before he covered his mouth with his hands, realizing how offensive that most likely sounded. He got his thoughts under control before continuing, "Well he sounds like a terrible king. And she sounds like a great witch. Imagine coming up with a cure for Dragon Pox! Wasn't it very dangerous? And it's sad to me that such a great healer had to look like that." Orion thought he had recovered fairly well from his outburst.

[Cerridwyn Glynn]

Cerri laughed loudly at Orion's first thoughts upon seeing the statue of the witch.  She didn't think anyone would be caught unaware of her sight, but obviously, judging from Orion's expressions...someone had.
"Surely, you've heard of Gunhilda the Goosemoore Healer?  I think the story says she looked like that because she was a gypsy who had the Pox when she was three.  As she got older, her hump got moldier."  Cerri repeated the line she remembered the most from the story.

As Ori calmed down, Cerri's laughter lightened as well.  She had to shake her head a little in response to the boys comment about the King being a bad king.  If he had said that a hundred years ago, the world's answer would have been quite different.  
"It's all right.  She got worse treatment from the townsfolk.  The King atleast paid her for her time."  She grinned back.

"I don't know who will be the teacher for Transfiguration this year.  Things change a lot in this place from school year to school year.  But I wouldn't worry too much about the class.  Your a first year and it's a class for firstyears.  Everything'll be fine."  She finally got to answering the boys questions from earlier that had all but been forgotten about when he saw the statue.

[Orion Gray]

Ori blushed slightly when Cerri laughed, but his comment had been ridiculous, and he hadn't been able to help it, since the statue had surprised him. He was relieved that her laughter seemed good-natured as opposed to ridiculing him, which happened quite a bit. "Well...I've heard of her, but I never much researched her story, and nothing I read or heard told me anything about that! All I knew was that she cured Dragon Pox, and nothing further." Orion thought once again that her story was quite sad, although also seemed to end happily; she had been celebrated through the ages as one of the best Healers of all time he remembered now, and she was praised by all who had suffered through, or known someone who suffered through Dragon Pox.

When Cerri shook her head at his comment about the King, Orion was surprised, but after hearing Cerri's explanation of why, he actually got a little angry, a rare occurrence for him, and one of the few times he actually stopped being self-conscious. "Well shame on the townspeople as well then. Didn't you say she was a great witch and she saved many lives? They should have all loved her. And then the King was better than I thought but still! She deserved better than what she got." As Orion's anger ebbed away, he suddenly became shy again. "At least, well um...that's what I think of it all," he finished off, now angry at himself for slipping back into his awkwardness.

Her answer to his question surprised Ori slightly; things changed a lot here? Before he could stop it, he had asked, "Changed? What happened last year then? I mean, you've only been here for a year right?" He was genuinely curious: what event could have occurred that ended in the filling of a new teacher's post. As a reply to the second half of her answer, he said, "Well I hope that everything will be fine. I um, don't really know any of the first years though..."

[Cerridwyn Glynn]

Cerri nodded with a grin as Orion explained what he knew about the famed One Eyed Witch.  She completely understood why he hadn't heard much about her because she hadn't either.  Most of what she had just said she made up.  It wasn't really a lie, more of an exaggeration of what could have been.  Her imagination was always working.  If Cerri should grow up to tell stories and tall tales, most undoubtedly her imaginarium would be quite extensive.  It's all in the attention to the details.  Without the finer details it's just a coule of words about how one went up a hill and then came back down.  That was the most boring concept she could ever imagine.  Even Jack and Jill rhymed.

"Last year?  Oh..."  The second year paused trying to think of a way to say what needed to be said without scaring the poor boy to death.  On one hand she wanted him to be scared, but on the other it was such a mean spirited thing to do and Cerri was just not that deviant.
"Last year, one of the teachers brought back a curious object for study, but then it hatched and a giant spider ran a muck inside the castle.  But don't worry the spider had been defeated and is now in the hands of the Ministry.  That teacher, I think got fired and now this year is going on without a hitch.  It's nothing really."  Cerri tried to keep the information short and simple and without the bit of knowledge that the spider landed on her face or thast everyone was in such danger.  It just wouldn't be right for Ori to be so scared he couldn't sleep and missed his first day of calsses tomorrow.

[Orion Gray]

Orion's jaw actually dropped when he heard Cerri talk about that year. "A giant spuh-spider?" he asked his voice quavering just slightly. He had never heard about such a thing before, in all of his reading and researching, not that he was that old. "Was it poisonous? I'm mean I've uh never heard of such a thing before and um...if it happens again I'd like to know what to look out for." He was relieved that the monster had been apparently apprehended or defeated in some way and in the hopefully capable hands of the Ministry. "Well I'm glad everything ended up alright in the end...it did right? I mean that irresponsible got fired right. I'm well...I'm surprised that my parents didn't um mention anything about it to me, but maybe they didn't know. Did the school tell this year's class? I mean that would make sense right?" Orion realized after he said it that she probably wouldn't know the answer to some of those questions. He decided to shut his mouth before he continued to ramble on, but he had one last comment to make. "I hope that nothing like that happens this year! I just want to well uh study and learn as much as I can."

He continued to look around, still amazed at the variety and beauty of the objects around him. He wondered which of the statues and portraits were actually from the days of the founders and which of them were added later, and if there was any possible way to find out. He made a mental note to check if the library had a history of Hogwarts itself, and to maybe check that out while picking up any books he might need for his classes that hadn't been included on the supply list, or alternatively while he was working on homework there.

[Cerridwyn Glynn]

While Ori was sputtering over the word spider, Cerri nodded.  It was true, but to hear her talk about the matter parents just would not understand...nor believe.  A spider the size of Prof Llwellyn's palm sqautting square on her face, jumping from student to student and wall to wall.  To Cerri this vehemoth spider was the size of a dog.  Vehemoth being, of course, a merging of the words venomous and behemoth.  If the girl wrote her own dictionary it would be made of all sorts of made up squashed together words to get the point across.

"Maybe no one told you before because they didn't want you to get all scared and worried.  It really liked the darkness.  So If you stay out of dark corners and memorize the Lumos spell, I think everything would be fine.  Plus the spider is gone away.  A beast like that deserves to be somewhere else than here."  She said as certain as the day was long.  She started out saying such a story to make the boy scared to break the rules and keep him in line....but as she continued to talk about the spider she started to see he might really have been bothered.  She really was too nice a person to let someone, anyone...let alone her own Housemate, have night mares.  It's easy to pick on the young'ens, but following through is a whole different topic.

Ori seemed quite distracted by the artwork.  She could see he was amazed.  If he was anything like her, he was all ready counting the number of pillars and doors and corners, let alone the number of rafting beams across the ceiling.  Cerri was one of those types of people that when they got obsessed with something they couldn't stop until it made sense in some matter.  Cerri alone had all ready deduced that each section of the hall ways were divided into parts that had a number value of 5.  There were 5 rafters between each beam and 5 beams between each set of 2 columns.  But on that there were 5 sets of 2 column areas along the hallway that composed of 5 doors.  But all that was just here the second floor was different.  She supossed that a knowledge of some form of architecture was needed if one was to decorate it with tall paintings.  How would one get the frames through the doors if you didn't know all the details.  There was the idea that the tall paintings could be shrunken for ease, but where is the fun in all that?
"So this place is beautiful right?  I want a Hallway in my house that looks almost just like this.  Of course I have to have a house for that first...but I want one."  She laughed.  There noises echoing through the hallway against the stone walls.

[Orion Gray]

Ori was quite relieved to be reassured that the spider had definitely been dealt with and would not bother them. It also sounded like the teachers, or at least someone in authority, had figured out how to deal with the beast and remove it before anyone got seriously hurt. At least, he assumed no one got seriously hurt. He was about to ask Cerri, but his common sense rescued him in time, and he thought to himself, you really don't want to know that. Besides, if they didn't tell the parents then probably everything ended up fine in the end. And from what Cerri was saying, the spider had been easy to avoid, if you had a little common sense. "I'm glad I uh know Lumos then, and I would definitely have stayed uh with people and away from dark places. Also, I'm glad to ah hear that it's gone now."

Ori had been distracted by the walls and the artwork, so he wasn't listening all that closely to what Cerri was saying. When he did focus, something about her comment struck him as funny, and before he knew it he was opening his mouth and saying, "You mean you want your house to look like the inside of a castle? Rather strange house that would be." He immediately realized how ridiculous that sounded and had to laugh at little at his own statement. He hadn't meant to say it, but he figured Cerri wouldn't get upset at him for saying what was on his mind. She seemed to be too nice and polite for that. And the fact that he felt comfortable enough with her to not watch what he was saying was actually good in his mind, since it meant he was coming out of his shell, when talking to her at least.

[Cerridwyn Glynn]

"And what's wrong with the inside of a castle?  Atleast it's not a straw thatched shack."  She had to laugh at the idea.  Thatched roofs were fine but they did conjure up ideas of farmers for her.  There was nothing wrong with farmers, but she could never see herself being one or married to one.  She had grown up in the middle of a large city and to be honest, she couldn't think of anything different when it came to her adult life.

"Whatever I have it would never be pink.  I'm glad Hogwart's isn't decorated in that.  I can't stand that color.  It's fake.  Not red and not white. It's....it's...pastel."  She said with a bit of disdain.  Pink reminded her of her mother, and that was something she didn't want to ever be.
"I'm sorry.  I went off on a tangent about something we weren't talking about.  What do you say about heading to the Common Room.  I'm sure you need to settle in and claim your bunk."  She motioned the boy along as she started the dubious trek to and up the staircases.

"So, I don't know what the boys dorms are like, but if they're like the girl's dorms take a bed beside a window, not opposite.  The sun through the glass will seek you out."  She grinned, obviously speaking from experience.

[Orion Gray]

Ori was a little nonplussed by Cerri's response. She wasn't exactly upset, he could tell, but her response seemed quite passionate. He stammered out in response, "Nuh-nothing is wrong with a uh castle I was just thinking well how would you uh...make the inside of your house actually ah look like one?" He smiled at her, hoping his response would calm her down a little. Although hearing her go off on a tangent made him feel better. He had to grin at her attack on pink; he personally thought that it looked fine for some rare occasions, perhaps on a fancy dress gown that his father created, but it usually looked either too pale or much too bright. "It's alright. I go off on tangents all the time, at least, thats what me mum and pop always said, and of course my sister never fails to remind me of that." Realizing he was actually starting a tangent he quickly shut his mouth, then opened it to say quickly, "I uh understand."

Realizing it was actually quite late now that their tour seemed to be over, Ori yawned widely and then blushed. "Sorry about that. And uh...thank you very much for the tour. I um...I had a good time." Her advice about the beds seemed very good, and he would make sure he got a bed by a window. Plus, not only would that effectively wake him up, it would also probably give him a wonderful view of the grounds. Or any view at all. He would probably never get tired of just looking around at what would be his home for the next seven years. "Yes I think going back would be to go back. So...uh what is the Common Room like then? And uh.." and here he paused, not wanting to admit his shyness about meeting people, but also wanting to know what kind of people were in the house. Supposedly they shared common interests but that didn't necessarily mean they would be friendly. After all, Ori wasn't exactly the outgoing type. Finally he decided that knowing was probably better, and that Cerri wouldn't feel bad for him or anything if he was worried about meeting people. "Uh...are the other um Ravenclaws nice then?"

[Cerridwyn Glynn]

(grumble the net just ate my reply...try number two)

"Oh, you are silly.  With magic of course."  Cerri answered Ori's question as if everyone should have known the answer to that question.  It was one of those moments that was funny by every stretch of the word, you just coould help but laugh.
"How else will someone get the grand interior from a nonillustrious exterior.  Surely you have heard of the Raja's Cabin?"  Cerri was of course talking about the magic of a small building holding a large interior.
"It was all the rage last year for the Russian Fair.  A visiting magi came to Russia, all the way from Persia.  It was the biggest attraction at the event.  It was carried in all the big newssheets.  I think the Prophet even did a three day report on it aswell.  I think they called it a magical momentary pocket?"  Of course, Cerri read a lot especially last year when she was bored or left with nothing to do.  But thanks to her Aunt Mathilda, a worldly woman ahead of her own time, Cerri had traveled a lot, but only so far as to go to Wizard Fairs for a single day.  Cerri had fallen in love with the idea of spacial and dimentional pockets that Wizards seemed to make their own.  Cerri had decided she was going to have one too, one day, and hide her most deepest secrets there.  Of course to her, right now, her deepest secrets were answers to tests and diaries about things she liked that she didn't want anyone else to know about.

Hearing Ori ask about the other Ravenclaws, Cerri grinned.
"You will absolutely love them.  A Ravenclaw doesn't have to mean that you do nothing but read books all day long.  There's a different Ravenclaw for every type of person imaginable.  Leave the books for the Gryffindors who need to study because they are secretly scared to fail a test.  We just ask a question and then go find out.  I guess that's a lot like science."  She shrugged never having really put it all together before.
"Come on, let's go to the Tower and get you all introduced before the first day of class."

[Cerridwyn Glynn]

Double posting...to ask this thread be closed.  thanks.

[Professor Denman]

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