[Corridors] Intelligent Artwork

[Girty Hubbles]

The March sunlight shone in through one of the many cracked windows that lined the corridors of the castle. Peering through the shattered glass Girty looked at the distorted view of the world outside, the trees of the forest blowing in the wind, the glistening of the lake and the small black dots of students moving around outside. It was strange but after eight years at the same school Girty thought that the simple things would no longer amuse her, seeing a portrait move would be second nature but from time to time the Hufflepuff still jumped out of her skin when she saw something move out of the corner of her eye.

Pushing herself away from the window Girty continued to walk down the deserted fifth floor corridor, she watched her feet as they carefully avoided the many cracks on the flagstone flooring ‘If you step on a crack your mum would break her back’ that is how the saying went although it was only a supposition over the years Girty knew to take nothing lightly. Her grubby yellow converse seemed to be in contrast to the dark and cold flooring, Girty always found it amusing how the school could be called beautiful when really it was a dingy place that was falling to pieces. Almost too mentally prove her point she gave the wall next to her a light kick just to watch the mortar and bricks crumble away, there was a tuting sound from a painting next to her and the Hufflepuff looked up, eyebrows raised.

“What?” she inquired
“I just expected better of you Miss Hubbles that is all. I never had you labelled as a vandal.”
“That is not vandalism all you have to do is touch these walls and the turn to dust. If I wanted to do serious damage I would have kicked it harder.”
“If I ever catch you doing that again though Miss Hubbles…”
“What will you do? Come and get me when I am sleeping in my bed?”
“I will tell your bother!”

Girty waved away the portraits moaning and carried on walking down the corridor ignoring the shouts that were following her. She did not have time to stand and have a slagging match with the school portraits. She knew she would regret this current argument, the last time she had a small tiff with one the word spread quickly and she was unable to get into the common room until she went to apologise. As another portrait started to rant at her about how she was disrespecting distinguished members of the school Girty had had just about enough. Spinning on the spot she looked at the closest portrait with a glare of pure venom and almost spat out an apology.

“Will you tell Sue the surreptitious snob that I am sorry.”
“Tell her yourself!” The wizard in the portrait snapped and walked off to one of his neighbour’s frames and started talking in hushed voices. Stamping her foot to show her anger Girty stormed down the corridor to the portrait of the old witch who had chastised her before only to find it empty. This toed the line for Girty and kicking the wall once again she gave a small scream of annoyance.

“I hate this school!”

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash stood by, hidden in the shadows, watching Girty's antics. Stepping forward, he spoke. "Now Girty, surely you don't mean that?" he said, a hint of amusement lacing his tone.

He looked at the wall she had just kicked, stone and mortar crumbling to dust. "Hmm, okay, well maybe you did." He shrugged at his friend, "Stiil, no need to beat the castle up is there? Besides, I'm pretty sure that hurt you more than it hurt the wall. I could be wrong though."

He smirked at the empty painting, "Huh, looks like somebody woke up on the wrong side of the canvas." he quipped.

Leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest in a casual, relaxed posture, he smiled at Girty, raising his eyebrows slightly, "What's got you in a tizzy today? Not get enough sleep?"

[Girty Hubbles]

Grinding her teeth together Girty just looked at the empty painting, the easy chair which the witch had been sitting in and particularly the small fish bowl with a little goldfish swimming around it in circles. Some modern cultured folk might say that this painting was a master piece, Girty on the other hand could only see red and it took her everything not to draw her wand and set the bloody thing on fire. The painting was only saved by the sound of Ashton appearing behind her.

With a small frown Girty looked over at the Ravenclaw and listened to what he had to say. He seemed to be finding the whole situation rather amusing and had Girty been in his position watching someone else get flustered then she too would be laughing, but sadly this was not the case. Trying in vain to smile at Ash Girty gave a sigh and carried on walking down the corridor searching every painting as she went to try and find the witch.

After peering into a portrait of Gwyneth the Gardner ((OOC: Credit to my Dad for that name haha)) did Girty actually zoned into what Ashton was saying. Her frown only grew as she looked back at the Ravenclaw as he lazily leaned against the wall, Ash was being so calm and jovial about everything and for some reason that grated on Girty.

“Who says I am in a tizzy?” She tried to give a laugh only when she noticed Sue peeking out behind a chair in another portrait. Sprinting into a run Girty began to chase after the witch along the corridor…that was until she hit a brick wall. Swearing loudly Girty felt like kicking and screaming the corridor down but she knew from experience that that never got you anywhere.

“And for your information…” Girty snapped as she turned on her heel back to the original portriait and towards Ashton. “…I have been sleeping, well sort of, ok maybe not at all but still that has nothing to do with it. That bloody portrait is the problem!”

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash just stood there and laughed, "Girl, you have issues!" He folllowed Girty down the corridor glancing at the paintings as he walked. "So, exactly why is this particular portrait the problem?" he asked

[Via Thorn]

For March, the weather was normally slightly sunny but with no heat coming through. However, today was a warm day along with the light, and Via welcomed the nice day. It had been miserable weather for the past few weeks that overhung around the castle and it seemed to show in the students ways. Everyone seemed to be going through some sort of issue and the atmosphere in the castle was thick.

Via of course was included in the heaviness of the atmosphere that surrounded the castle, and she had been swamped under with work, and preparing herself for her final exams which she would be doing in just a few months. She was so nervous, and knew her future at the school all hung on this year, so it was more important that any other predecessor years. She had been accepted as the Herbology apprentice at Hogwarts if she got the highest grade possible, if not then she had no back-up plan, which wasn't really sensible, but all she wanted was to be the Hogwarts apprentice. Of course it was hell for Via to bang herself up within the walls of the castle and not go outside, so when it wasn't raining she spent her time outdoors, on the lawns or at the courtyard. The past few weeks had been lonely ones, and not once has she spoken to anyone outside of classes, but Via was used to this, she wasn't exactly the most popular girl in school, but she was friendly, and she was herself, that was all that mattered to her.

Looking at the few pieces of parchment next to a stack of books she sighed as she twiddled her quill inbetween her thumb and forefinger. The parchment was half filled, but ink drops were splattered on random pieces of the page, and it looked an utter mess. Staring at the pages for a moment before she flicked through them, she dropped her quill onto them, causing more ink stains before un-ravelling her legs from the chair and walking out of the common room. The radiant light which had filled the common room was soon replaced by the dull grey stone walls of the castle. Her long legs carried her without her knowledge to the voices of two students, A Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw. Turning the corner a moment to see the back of the Hufflepuff running into a wall and Ashton seemingly quite amused at this. Via just gave a slight smile and observed for a few more seconds before walking towards the pair. She noticed Gwyneth the Gardener and gave her a slight wave to be greeted with a "Hello Via dear".

"And which portrait is this exactly?" she smiled, bouncing on her heels.

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

((SJ!!!!!!!!! Oh my god, I missed you! Where have you been!? You got lots o' 'splainin to do young lady!))



Ash turned at the sound of another voice, "Hey Via. Apparently, our bright sunshiney friend here is at odds with some portrait. Apprently portraits don't take it so well, when you kick the castle walls."

[Girty Hubbles]

“The bloody thing will not let me apologise!” Girty huffed at Ash's question as her eyes scanned the other portraits looking for any sign of the particular witch in question. After a frantic and fruitless search Girty let out a groan and stomped back up the corridor once again. “These portraits can be so stubborn sometimes; but I will tell you this for free two can play this game.”

Stopping briefly Girty bent down and pulled her wand out from her sock before continuing to march down the corridor back to the empty portrait. It took Girty a lot to keep her wand steady in her hand, she was literally shaking with rage, it was the first bit of free time she had in a very long time and instead of spending it with Alex she was playing hide and seek with a portrait at the amusement of a Ravenclaw…and now another Hufflepuff.

Looking down the corridor Girty noticed they were no longer alone, Via Thorn had now joined them and in her typical jovial way was rocking backwards and forwards on the balls of her feet grinning happily perfectly content with the world. Suddenly feeling rather tense at the possibility of a growing crowd Girty ran her hand through her hair and took a deep breath trying to compose herself. Removing her hand from her messed up hair and down to her side Girty turned to look at her fellow Hufflepuff giving her a slightly warmer greeting then she had given Ashton.

“I would say good afternoon but bloody Sue the infuriating, egotistical, self-absorbed snob is refusing to let me apologise after she demanded it.” A mischievous glint filled Girty’s eyes. “Well if she will not let me apologise then I will not let her go back to her portrait.”

Raising her wand Girty pointed it at the portrait and at first she thought about carrying out her threat and setting the thing alight but she did not have the heart to destroy someone’s home, no instead she was just going to take the portrait hostage. Tapping the frame with her wand the corridor was filled with a sound resembling of tearing Velcro and soon after the portrait fell to the floor, the bang echoing around the corridor and a nice cloud of dust.

“Now that is what I call vandalism.” Girty laughed to herself and she slipped her wand back into her sock.

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash shook his head as the portait clattered to the floor, the sound reverberating thoughout the corridor, a nice cloud of dust followed. "And you, are what I call mental..." he muttered under his breath. Honestly, did the girl not have anything better to do?

Granted, the portrait was a bit snobby, and a bit too flirty for his taste, he'd run into Sue many a time before. But still, did Girty really have to do that? "You do realise that if your brother finds out you did this, you're going to be in a world of hurt, right?"

He sighed as he looked down at the painting on the floor. "Oh well, I suppose you had to shut her up some way."

[Girty Hubbles]

“No Ashton.” Girty snapped. “This is what I call determined.” Girty looked down at the portrait that lay on the floor with her hands on her hips; a small cruel smile filled her face as she scanned over it. The little fish in the bowl seemed to be unable to understand what was going on and was banging the side of the bowl almost as if it was trying to escape. Girty was actually surprised that she felt very little remorse for this stunt a lot had been getting to her recently and this was just her way of venting her anger and Ash’s threats of Dan having a go at her were simply shrugged away.

“Dan would understand” The Hufflepuff was now crouching down next to the portrait and running her fingerer along the dusty frame. “He would just be thankful I have not set it on fire…yet.”

There was a glint in her eye as she added the threat of possibly setting it on fire, she knew she would not she just wanted the world to spread around the other portraits that she meant business. With a small nod to herself Girty slipped off her jacket and draped it over the painting before standing up and picking up the painting. She walked down the corridor a little and stood in the middle so she could be seen by all the other portraits on the floor.

“Ok listen up you old fools. I am taking Sue’s portrait hostage! The next time you see her tell her I will only give it her back if she lets me apologise, I am in no mood to play silly games and if I can not get into the commonroom tonight then there will be a bonfire by the lake!”

There was a murmur of noise from the other portraits some looking rather frightened, others with disapproving scowls one rather red cheeked rotund looking wizard was finding the whole situation rather amusing, it was Hogwarts after all and a student holding a portrait hostage was not a far cry from normal.