[ttd] the sun is going down [trudy]

"Oh," JR said for what felt like the millionth time today, nodding as Trudy explained yet another Charms concept that he had thought he had a grasp on, but it made so much more sense when she talked about it. He sat back in his chair, noticing the golden rays of the setting sun where streaming through the window across from them, shaking his head with amusement. "That makes a lot more sense now," he said as he lifted his arms above his head, feeling the stretch along his back, twisting at the waist to shake off the stiffness that had set in from being here for so long.

Well, it hadn't felt like a long time. Trudy had offered to help with some of their Charms homework, one of her best subjects and not one of his. One assignment led to another and soon, JR was finding the way she explained things really clicked with his brain. It was a relief from the usual frustration he felt when working on homework for Flitwick.

"This has been helpful, thanks Trudy," he added after a beat, thinking he couldn't possibly not thank her after all her help today. But his brain was starting to feel mushy and he was itching to walk about and his stomach was already grumbling, hoping for a filling dinner. "You hungry?" he asked as he stood, grabbing his bag. "Ready for dinner?"

They were headed to the Great Hall from one of the unused classrooms moments later and somehow got to chatting about languages, how he knew French because his mum had been born in France and used it around the house, and then asking her a few basic phrases and then laughing at her pronunciation. They had just started down a staircase, JR giving tips on how to say the French phrase better when the staircase began moving.

"Oh, come on, not again!" he complained immediately as he glared at the staircase. "This one hates me, I swear it moves every time I'm on it." Except it swung in a different way than he was used to and when it finally stopped, it was leading to a landing and then two corridors that he wasn't very familiar with. "Which way you think?"

@Wiltrud Wagner

Studying with JR was fun. Trudy enjoyed the company of the Slytherin. She felt that explaining things to him made her grasp a topic better herself. When she explained to him how charms worked, details finally fell into the right places and she felt like she really understood things.

“You’re welcome,” Trudy said brightly as he thanked her for her help. It was really a pleasure. School work could be fun. The Ravenclaw didn’t like all of her classes and had extracurricular interests as well but Hogwarts was a great school and they learned so many things that were really worthwhile.

“Oh is it that time already?” Trudy asked, eyes widening. It seemed like the days were too short for the Ravenclaw lately. She wanted to get so many things done and then the day was over and there were things on her to-do list that she hadn’t crossed off yet. “But sure, I’m hungry,” she smiled.

She was excited to hear that her companion’s mother came from France and that he knew French and happily told him about her German ancestry, that she knew German and had actually lived in Germany for a while.

They were so distracted by their chat about languages that they didn’t notice that the staircase began moving until it was already too late.

“Oh no,” Trudy moaned. JR asked her which way she thought they should take and the girl shrugged indecisively. Truth be told Trudy was leaning towards waiting on the staircase until it would move back but that was hardly an appealing prospect and so she finally pointed at one of the corridors. “Maybe this one?” she asked, her expression clearly giving away that she had no clue where it would lead.

JR nodded and his stomach grumbled helpfully again. He gave her a rueful look and was grateful when she started moving. He was starting to feel like Tomie when she didn't eat, grumpy, always needing food. He just hadn't picked up her habit of taking snacks whenever he went. Not yet, at least.

"Where at in Germany?" JR had asked as they walked, his bookbag tight against his back, his hands on the straps as they continued down the stairs. All thoughts of foreign languages and living abroad went out of his head the moment the staircase started moving though.

Typical. He was starving and now the castle wanted to send him on a little 'adventure'.

JR glanced down each hallway, but neither way looked really familiar, but he had been on this staircase before and it was a stubborn one, not wanting to move until someone got off. Cranky old castle. "Yeah, let's try it," the Slytherin said decisively after a moment. "It's better than waiting for this one, besides there's more than one way to get to the Great Hall, right?" he told her as he started walking.

Just as he expected, the staircase started moving as soon as they had stepped off. JR threw his hands up. "Of course," he muttered before he set off down the corridor they had picked where they soon were passing lines of suits of armor and old men in pointy wizard hats snoozing in their paintings. "This .. kind of looks familiar.." he ventured before he found another staircase leading down. Down was a good direction seeing as they were still two floors above the Great Hall.

Nodding, Trudy got off the staircase and watched it move away from them with an expression that gave away that she didn’t really like that they had gotten off track. “Yeah, there are several ways to get to the Great Hall,” she confirmed but didn’t feel too confident that they’d find one of them.

“Hmm,” the girl said in response to Wyatt claiming that the next staircase they reached looked familiar. Although she was a second year student by now, she had hardly seen and memorised all corridors and staircase at Hogwarts and wondered if she’d ever reach that state of knowledge of the castle that she would navigate here without any trouble.

“Okay, let’s go downstairs and hope for the best,” she said lightly as she took the first few stairs. She assumed if they made it to the right level they’d have to find the Great Hall, too. It was only logical. Then again, Hogwarts wasn’t always logical… but that wasn’t anything to worry about right now.

“I’ve been to Cologne,” she belatedly answered Wyatt’s question from minutes ago. “I have family there,” she explained and then trailed off as she wondered what her friend would think if she confided in him that she had gone there during the war with her muggleborn mother.

"Alright," JR agreed easily as he started loping down the stairs, his hand lightly running along the banister to the left. The stairs turned to the right and he really hoped it wouldn't lead back up. Yeah, it sounded wacky, but he had seen weirder things in the castle and it seemed like the castle sometimes went out of its way just to mess with students, as if it were bored and looking for some entertainment at times.

Cologne? "Nice," he replied, thinking of the times he had traveled to Germany with his father for different events. "I haven't been there before, but I've been to Munich.. and Frankfurt and a few other places," he said, trying to remember all the places. "My mum's family is from France so we travel around in the summers sometimes," JR explained as they turned the corner and he spied a suit of armor that someone had tied a Gryffindor scarf around its neck.

"Oh wait, I think I've seen that before," he said and his steps quickened, taking the last few steps quickly before he peered around the corner and grinned widely. "Found it!" he said as he glanced back at Trudy. The staircase had dumped them out further on down the Entrance Hall, a stairwell tucked away and not easily noticed, but at least they were there. "C'mon, I'm starving."

/end

Trudy didn't really trust the staircases of Hogwarts and sometimes she wished she didn't have to walk up and down them so much. However, being a Ravenclaw, the girl lived in a tower and had to walk all the way down every morning to have breakfast in the Great Hall.

"Wow," Trudy said, feeling truly impressed. "I haven't got around that much." There was a hint of disappointment in her voice. Trudy loved to explore, loved to discover new things. However, what she couldn't do as long as she was still a child would be no problem anymore once she was an adult. Then she would protect animals and magical creatures and would travel the world. There were just a few more years of magical education between her and her adventurous life in the outside world.

"Amazing," Trudy beamed at Wyatt, happy that the Great Hall was only a few steps away from them now. "And so am I," she admitted. The scent of food was already recognisable and it seemed like they were not the first ones coming in for dinner.

[end]