[Corridors] Dry My Eyes

[Ellie Rook]

Ellie woke with a start, her brown hair wet with sweat. She wiped her face and controlled her breathe. She propped herself up on on arm and looked around the room. She could see the silhouette of the person next to her soundly asleep. She heard someone moan and roll over. Ellie looked at the door with a start. She immediatly got up and grabbed as sweatshirt, leaving the dark common room with socked feet padding on the floor.

Down the stairs she flew and out the portrait hole. She hugged herself as she walked fast, not caring if anyone saw her, or if any teachers found her out of bed. She needed to get away.

She walked. the only sound coming from her feet as they padded across the floor and her breath which was fast and heavy. She headed down the stairs, her feet moving fast past each step as she clung to the railing for support. She had left her wand in her hurry to leave and had no light by which t see, beside the faint moonlight coming in through the stairway window. Finally, she began to feel dizzy. She had made it down to the first floor.

She ran now, down to the end of the corridor and stopped at a rather large window. She flung it open and stuck her head out, her face being slapped with the cold air. This she breathed in deeply, the chill icing her lungs. She pulled her head back in and leaned up against the stone wall, sliding down, putting her head between her knees. Here, she wept. Tears ran down her cheeks. She was silly, but she didn't care. She didn't wipe them away.

[leonrenolds]

Leon had not been able to go to sleep. He tossed and turned, and the other boys in the dorm were snoring so loudly, it was a suprise if he could ever sleep in there again. Frustrated, he flung back the covers, sick of looking at the ceiling and pulled on his socks and a baggy shirt over his loose blue pj bottoms. He sighed and walked out of the common room and down the stairs. He didn't know where he was headed, maybe to the kitchen for a glass of water. He walked down the last set of stairs before reaching the ground floor and noticed someone curled up.
He frowned in confusion.
"Hey" he said softly, he crouched as he walked towards her to see what was wrong.
"What's up?" he asked, sitting infront of her.

[Girty Hubbles]

The corridors were dark and cold, the only light that lit Girty’s way was the very dim beam that was protruding from the end of her wand. She had already been shouted at far too many times that evening by portraits trying to sleep but neither did she fancy walking around the corridors in complete darkness. Girty could not believe she had managed to get Dan to convince her to do another one of his duties, but that bloody man could be persuasive and with one look and a small smile he could get his sister to do anything for him.
It had been three hours since Girty had left the warmth of the charms office and entered the damp cold corridors and she had not seen or heard anyone else walking around the corridors of the castle, they clearly had some sense.

However this was soon changed when Girty was walking along the first floor corridors when she heard footsteps, they were erratic like someone running, not caring about being silent which in a strange way reassured Girty as if it was a mass murder she was sure they would make some effort to quieten their steps.
Turning around a bend in the corridor Girty felt a draft and the cool September air brush across her face. The air temperature slowly began to drop as Girty walked further down the corridor, she was clearly getting close to the open window but it was not the next blast of cold night air that took her attention, but the sound of someone crying.

Risking a little more light the beam of light from Girty’s wand intensified and the corridor lit up like it was early morning and it was then the Hufflepuff caught sight of her fellow housemate sitting on the floor, back to the wall head in her hands…crying. But she was not alone, there was a Gryffindor with her.
Running her tongue over her dry lips Girty just stood and stared for a moment unsure of what to do, she was on duty to catch people out of bed after hours but…but this was not your normal situation of students running around the castle at night creating havoc. With a deep breath Girty lowered her wand and dimmed the light once more not wanting to blind Ellie and the other boy and she gingerly took a few steps forward and managed to summon a weak, slightly nervous voice.

“Ellie….are…you alright?”

’She is sitting crying on the floor…what do you think?’ Girty chastised herself for asking such a stupid question and she was sure she had heard the boy ask her the same thing but it was the only one that came to her, in a situation like this Girty Hubbles was a little out of her depth.

[Ellie Rook]

Ellie was lost in her tears, she didn't hear the boy walk up to her. Hearing his voice, she looked up immediately, suddenly embarrassed that someone had caught her. She frantically wiped the tears away from her face, but the redness of the crying would not disappear with the wipes. Her eyes were huge and red, her nose stuffed and runny. "Nothing..."She said earnestly, not bothering to get up from the floor. She took a deep breath and looked at the boy. "Really, nothing." She said with a smile, which stretched her tight red face.

A small beam of light turned the corner. Ellie squinted, but she couldn't see who it was. She didn't care, she wanted to be alone, that was the whole reason from turning and running from her dormitory. Hopefully it wasn't a teacher. Ellie didn't care if she got in trouble, but she didn't want the Gryffindor who was so nice to get in trouble because of her.

As the person got closer, the face was revealed as Girty Hubbles. Ellie sighed as Girty asked what was wrong. "I'm perfectly fine! Nothing is wrong!" Ellie said standing up defiantly. What did they want from her? She was obviously alright. Ellie didn't realize how distraught she looked. "What!?" She asked them, her voice almost yelling, her eyes still bulging with tear at the ready. She was at the end of her rope.

For the past week nightmares had wracked Ellie's mind. they had started with her Dark Arts lesson. Professor Hanzel had perform the imperious curse on her. Ellie had fought it, taking all of her will to break down. It had left a scar in Ellie's mind. it had been unexpected. It was truly amazing that Ellie had been able to break the curse, even though she was sure Hanzel had been going easy on her. However, from that day on, horrible dreams about her father had filled her nights. She went back to the days in which he never came home, the days which Ellie was afraid of being kidnapped and her family killed. The dreams Ellie had as a small girl were only amplified now. Not to mention a foreboding feeling hovering over her. Tonight, it had been at its worst. Ellie had to get away, so like many years before, she had run.

[Girty Hubbles]

Girty was taken aback by the tone that Ellie had taken and when she stood up her face full of frustration and despair Girty gave a nervous glance over at the Gryffindor before looking back at Ellie trying to give her a reassuring smile. She was so tempted to come out whit some sarcastic remark when Ellie said she was alright but Girty bite her tongue thinking that it might just make the situation even worse and she did not fancy getting Ellie agitated especially as she was shouting at them when all they were doing was remaining silent.

With a deep breath Girty swapped hands that her wand was held in and shuffled her feet nervously across the flagstone flooring of the corridor. Clearly Ellie did not want to talk about the matter up front so Girty would have to take a different attack to the situation and also in the process do the job she was meant to be doing.

“Well if you are sure you are ok then Ellie…might I be able to ask both of you why you are out of bed after hours?”

Girty could not remember the amount of times she had be asked that question during her time at Hogwarts, the wand light shinning in your eyes, the pure terror in the young years of detentions and points of your house and the attitude that the tired professors would normally give you. It was because of these experience that made Girty want to have a different attitude to people in the corridors, she was not one for striking fear into her ’victims’.

[Ellie Rook]

Ellie saw the look on Girty's face. she hadn't expected the younger Hufflepuff to lash out like that. Ellie didn't know why she did. It was almost as if the dream was still inside her head, causing her to go crazy. The light from the wand was hurting her eyes, so she turned away from Girty. She didn't want the older girl to look at her face anyway.

Ellie could feel that her face was red and contorted with fear, anger, sadness, a ton of different emotions that one person should never feel at one time. She closed her eyes, they had bright white spots where the light had been. She saw a flash of her dream. Darkness, an Ellie she didn't know, lashing out at her friends. Ellie opened her eye immediatly and turned back toward the light, feeling a break in her mind. The light now gave her comfort.

Ellie looked at the boy with sorry eyes. "I was sleep walking." She said. "And..." Ellie didn't know the boys name. "he said he found me banging around near Gryffindor tower, and then followed me...here." Ellie said, not really knowing where she was going with her lie. She hoped Girty would get the hint to just send them up to bed and be done with it. Ellie figured even if Girty did send them upstairs, she wouldn't go. She would wander around alone, trying to find help in the dark.

[Girty Hubbles]

“Sleepwalking?” Girty mumbled to herself as Ellie explained why they were out and about in the middle of the night. For some reason she could not help believe that that was the real reason why Ellie and the Gryffindor was actually walking around the castle, after all for the Gryffindor to hear Ellie in the Gryffindor common room she must have been making a lot of noise. But Girty was not going to push for the real reason, Ellie clearly did not want to give it and if that was the case then she had no business putting her nose into other people’s business.

With a small sigh and a glance around the gloomy corridors Girty walked over towards the window and closed it to stop any more of a draft and any form of suspicion from any of the other teachers (or ministry) roaming the corridors that night. Turning back to the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor Girty gave them both a small smile before explaining what she was going to do.

“Right I think we need to take this young man back to the Gryffindor tower first and make sure he does not get into anymore trouble and then we can go back to the Hufflepuff common room. This way if anyone else bumps into us we can make up some phoney punishment so no one had to have detentions or points off their houses.”

Even though it seemed like a fair deal Girty could not help but feel she would end up getting some form of protest, after all they were old enough to not get lost in castle and most certainly did not need baby sitting by someone only a few years older then them.

[Ellie Rook]

"Yeah, Sleepwalking." Ellie said snippy, looking at the boy, wishing he would give her some support. She and actually tried and saved him too from any punishment, and after the night she had been having it was a gift.

"Sorry." Ellie said, a rush going through her body. She couldn't figure out why she had snapped at Girty. She was only trying to help, but then again, she was being a nosy busy body. She should stay out of Ellie's business. Ellie shook her head slightly, trying to get all the thoughts to form an idea of what was going on in there. But it only mashed them up more.

"What?!" Ellie said, sounded completely offended, though she was sure she wasn't. "I can take care of myself. I don't need you to help me." She said, crossing her arms, glaring at Girty.
Ellie exhaled, and her face softened again, but she said nothing. What was going on? She looked at the Gryffindor and then back at Girty. "No, I want you to come." She forced out.

Wow. She must sound totally Schizophrenic about now. Ellie wasn't sure what was wrong, something inside her wanted to lash out at everyone, but Ellie had to gain control over it. She rubbed her temple hoping to relieve what was going on. She had a flash of her jumping out at Girty, attacking her, but she immediatly withdrew her hand from her head and looked at the older Hufflepuff, eyes wide, waiting to hear what she would say next.

[leonrenolds]

Leon just looked at the girls talked, and shot the odd sympathetic glance over to the girl. Deciding Girty was right, he decided he would go back to the dorms. After all, it looked like the girl just wanted to be alone.
"Alright, well, If your going to be okay, I'll leave you in Girty's caring hands" he smiled sweetly, putting a friendly hand on Ellie's shoulder before heading back up the stairs.