[Library] You'll rebel to anything [open]

[Rosalie Vincent]

As the books closed in unison making a rather loud noise that echoed slightly through the dungeon classroom, an immovable grin curled her lips as she seemingly looked like she was smirking. Lifting up her books, she was just glad this potions lesson was not a practical one as normally it took extra time to put the equipment away, and she hated carrying her cauldron around everywhere, it was just a nuisance. As she stole a quick glance from the professor he smiled at her and waved them off as she walked out the door holding her books close to her chest, hugging them. She wasn't surprised in the slightest that Dante hadn't shown up for this class, and she didn't blame him she found it just as boring as he did. Now divination, that was a class. Possibly her favourite due to her dreamlike nature. Always in a world of her own in between classes and outside of them, yet it was always inwards, she never seemed to be dreamlike from the outer shell. She was just a normal girl, and that was it. A plain Jane.

As she wandered down the corridor following the rest of her class who seemed to, on the most part, be itching to get out of the darkened dungeons and back into normality. It was like a whole other world down there, dank, dark and always had the aroma of earthly moss. Her hazel eyes searched for the light down the corridor and she eventually found it, it leading her back up to the real world. She wasn't too fond of the dungeons and she was unsure how Professor Vaid, a proud Ex-Hufflepuff could confine himself to teaching down there. She was sure if she was in his position she would be going mad and tearing her hair out, probably using potions to burn words into the walls. He seemed perfectly sane.

As she was met with the brilliant light from the main entrance she smiled, glad to see light for the first time in over an hour. Glad it was a friday, and glad nothing odd had happened to her yet. It seemed strange things were happening in Hogwarts, and there had been many stories passed around, but instead of being scared, Rosalie was intruiged. Mystery always mesmerised her, and now it was the weekend she felt it high time to investigate.
As her robes bellowed behind her, making visible the sapphire silk lining she hopped up the set of main stairs not making a b-line for the common room like usual, but for any entrance possible to somewhere new. Clues were usually found by asking the portraits but she had tried that previously and they preferred not to answer. Coming to a vacant corridor, she made her way to the nearest portrait which happened to be a dark haired man with penetrating green eyes. His face was full of wrinkles yet he didn't look a day over fourty. His creamy white skin stood out from his eyes, and as she realised she was staring, he coughed.
'Do I have something on my face?' he asked, touching all around his face to see if he actually did. He worked around his face so fast that he knocked his oval glasses slightly causing them to sit awkwardly on his nose.
Rosalie tilted her head slightly and greeted him with a warm welcoming smile.
"No sir, I was merely wondering why i'd never seen you before..." she asked.

[Neth Evans]

The Potions lesson had seemed to simply whiz by so fast that just as Neth was getting into it the bell sounded the end of the lesson. With a great sigh Neth packed his bag, pulling out a small well read soft cover book and replacing his textbook in its place. Potions was one of those lessons that Neth simply enjoyed. Perhaps it reminded him of his mother, cooking and baking and always throwing different ingredients into a pot just to see what would happen. She was a wonderful woman and with memories of her still fresh in his mind Neth slung his bag over his shoulder and he walked with the rest of the class out of the dungeon classroom, his soft cover book open in front of him.

For the Hufflepuff it would have been very easy to break away from the group and waddle on into the common room, forsaking all the exciting things that could happen if he avoided it. But for some strange reason on this particular Friday he simply kept walking with the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors towards the higher levels. It could have been argued that even though he was moving with the group of students he wasn't really with them because he was too focused on the magical world he was reading about but what mattered just then was that he wasn't in the bager's burrow.

Past the Great Hall entrance and up the Marble Staircase Neth went, his nose still in his book and his feet going a way they seemed to know by heart. His book was very interesting just then; the princess was just about to discover that her prince charming was in fact an evil dragon lord who wanted her just to sacrifice (a fact the reader had known for many chapters). The book was compelling and Neth had found it hard to put down, though when he did he focused on what he had to, as was his nature. Up some more stairs Neth went, now become separated from the other fifth years; he didn't want to follow them if they were going to their common rooms.

The next thing Neth knew someone was talking. Yes, it definitely sounded like someone was talking to him. Looking up from his book for the first time since leaving the dungeons, Neth saw a girl in Ravenclaw robes sanding by a painting a few feet away from where he was. He was walking towards her and it turned out that it had been the painting that had spoken and not to him. She seemed to find something funny and Neth was confused.

"What you doing?" Neth asked. He recognised the girl from his classes but he couldn't remember her name, it was some kind of Rose dirivitaive but he simply couldn't put his finger on it. It didn't matter though because he was certain they hadn't spoken before. Stopping about a foot away from her, Neth fround up at the painting of the grumpy looking man while re-adjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder.

[Rosalie Vincent]

'Oh... well then' he continued, rather rattled at her question. So rattled in fact that she was sure she saw the dark mahogany frame that bordered him shake. She frowned ever so slightly as she reached her hand out to the frame inching towards him. Pulling it back before she touched it, she saw the man looking awkward, pressed up against the side of the painting away from her fingers. Why was he so scared of her? And why hadn't she seen him before? Why was he the only random portrait in the vacant corridor? So many questions she wanted answering but looking at the man looking back at her, she knew he wouldn't answer a single one of them.

She opened her mouth to speak to the portrait but her confidence was lost on her that had built up to ask the man the questions. They played on her mind for a few moments more before she opened her mouth to speak again, only to be beaten to it. Shocked, she jolted her head sideways to see a boy approach her. His hufflepuff robes were distinctive and gave a quick look back to the portrait to see him looking anywhere but at her and she took a few steps forward to meet the boy in the middle. A frown etched itself upon her face as she locked her eyes to the boys before flicking her head slightly towards the portraits direction.
She brought a hand to her mouth as she turned her back to the portrait.

"I think he's hiding something" she responded. She turned swiftly back to the portrait and gave him a brief smile to notice he was starting to whistle out a tune. Looking back at the boy, she gave a look of confusion.
"He's being rather... bizarre..." she continued. She leant forward slightly and began to whisper.
"I'm sure he's never been here before. It's rather strange to have just one portrait down the length of this corridor isn't it?" she asked ,sounding like the question was directed at herself more so than the boy, about the unaligned portrait that hung isolated on the white wall.
She stepped back a step, revealing the portrait fully to the boy to see if he could interact with it at all. As soon as the pair began examining it the mystery man began acting obscure once again, as if he really did have something to hide. Rosalie's curiosity was beginning to get the better of her as she began to wonder if the man was a breakable as he was making himself to look.
"I'm Rosalie by the way..." she introduced herself to both boy and man, giving a nod to the portrait and offering a smile to the boy.

[Neth Evans]

Neth couldn't help but give a small sideways smile as the Ravenclaw talked down the corridor some to meet him almost half way. She didn't have to do that, as he would be going her way anyway but it seemed that she wanted to converse away from the lone painting on the wall where she had been standing. Maybe it had said something mean to her or about someone she knows? Neth shrugged to himself as she approached before looking to the girl's face.

She was very pretty, any male could see that, and Neth had to fight to keep his attention on what she was saying, rather then simply staring at her. "Bizarre ..." he repeated, nodding his head slowly, thoughtfully. It had been the only word he'd caught thus far but it didn't seem as though he'd given himself away just yet. She continued unabated, leaning forward and whispering to him. "Aah," Neth sounded slower still as he's head went up, eyes moving to the stange little portrait.

As the Ravenclaw moved back to the painting, Neth followed, his blue eyes fixed on the paining. It seemed they both lent towards the portrait at the same time and immediately the man in the painting began to act ... well, bizarrely. His behaviour certainly wasn't telling but even that was telling. How did he get to be here? And why wouldn't he even look at the two students? Neth's mind ran with a million questions but when the Claw began speaking again.

Neth's bright blue eyes moved from the painting - with some negotiation within himself - to the Claw, his bewildered expression plastered on his face. Rosalie ... Neth ran the name through his mind and realised that he did actually know that. Standing up straight, Neth nodded to her smile and said slightly distantly, "call me Neth." He hadn't been able to hold his gaze from the odd painting for long and sure enough he was looking at it again.

Holding out a long forefinger, Neth stretched out and touched the dark wood. It shocked him, as though it had been rubbing its feet on some sort of carpet but that was ridiculous. Paintings didn't have feet! "Ouch!" he murmured and stuck his finger in his mouth as though his sucking on it would take away the tingling sensation. "It shocked me," he informed Rosalie with his finger still in his mouth. Taking it out, Neth glared darkly at it before turning to Rosalie.

"I don't like it," he grumbled, "let's go." He inclined his head down the corridor. He knew that the library was just there and there they wouldn't be bothered by disturbed paintings.

[Rosalie Vincent]

Rosalie's eyes fell upon the boy as his focus shifted to the portrait as he studied it for a moment. She found his gaze fixated upon the man and she too began to look back at the shaking portrait as the Hufflepuff neared the wood, touching it with his finger before thrusting it backwards and quickly sucking the tip of it, indicating pain.

Rosalie stepped forward quickly with a look of concern spread across her face, her features crinkles slightly in surprise at the shock Neth had just recieved. Neth, she was sure she had heard that name before, although other names came swirling into her head trying to convince her she had heard them instead. Ned, Nath, Neg. Neg? She shook her head at such a ridiculous name trying to fix Neth's name with his face for future reference. Neth, Neth, Neth.
"Are you alright?" she asked in a sort of whisper with her forehead creasing upwards causing small ridges to form on her pale face. She turned her head violently at the portrait who even though still shaking, showed no remorse for it's actions. Rosalie was just glad he wasn't laughing or he would soon not have anything to laugh about. She glared at him for a second and the frame began rattling against the wall.

Turning back to him, she smiled.
"Does it still hurt?...I'm afraid I only know the basic healing spells for small cuts and blisters but if it still hurts we shall have to take you to the hospital wing. I haven't learnt about specific healing spells yet" she said with a feeling of guilt. She was a Ravenclaw yet even with the knowledge, she still couldn't help. She offered Neth a friendly smile before looking back to portrait before Neth said they should leave.
"What! No!" she pleaded in a tone of sadness.
"Unless you want to get healed? I mean....I can't leave him, I need to know why he's here" she continued, pointing to the frame. One thing about Rosalie that probably made her the Ravenclaw she was, was her thirst for knowledge. Yet, the way she went about getting that information was probably sometimes considered as bravery or stupidity. Rosalie wasn't particularly brave, or she would be a Gryffindor, but her want for knowledge would drive her through anything no matter how scared she was.
"Are you up for it?" she smirked, pulling her wand out of her sleeve.

[Neth Evans]

Neth had noticed a few odd things happening around the castle lately and he didn’t like it one bit. It seemed like everything was ganging up on him and this Hufflepuff didn’t like to be ganged up on in any circumstance. In reality he had heard more odd stories then experienced them but that wouldn’t be how he told it. But even though he felt ganged up on, Neth stayed in the corridor with the Ravenclaw a while longer.

Giving his shocked finger one last hard suck, Neth took it out of his mouth and looking at it. “I’m fine,” Neth said irritably, glaring darkly at his finger. “Thanks.” Neth added quickly, rolling his eyes towards Rosalie. The shock had done nothing for his irritation factor but because he didn’t want to scare Rosalie away Neth was trying very hard not to let it get the better of him.

Running a hand through his hair, Neth took a deep breath as Rosalie went on about going to the infirmary. Grabbing the excitable girl by the shoulders, Neth gave her a gentle shake and smiled at her. “Rosalie!” he said, “I’m fine! It was just a little shock. I’ll get over it.” He quickly let her go and turned back to the painting. He liked it less and less as the minutes ticked by but at the suggestion of leaving Rosalie got excited again. If he had to be honest, Neth didn’t want to leave Rosalie just yet anyway so he would have to think of some reason to stay.

Taking a deep breath, Kenneth nodded his head slowly. “Yeah, yeah,” Neth conceded, “I’m game. But I’m only staying to make sure that nothing extra crazy happens. There’ve been funny things happening around here lately and … well … it’s just not safe, you know.” Giving Neth have the chance to speak and he’ll prattle himself into a corner. Realising that he might have done that, Neth took his blue eyes from Rosalie and looked at the painting again, thinking quickly.

“So … erm …” Neth tried, cough and then tried again. “What do you propose we do to get this … guy talking?” He waved his hand, finger slightly blackened on the tip, at the painting.

[Rosalie Vincent]

If it wasn’t for her suddenly tensing up when Neth shook her she would of probably been like a rag doll in his hands, suddenly lifeless and unresponsive. Rosalie took a deep breath. She had a habit of panicking a little too much when it came to people. Throw a hundred essays or tests at her and she would have the patience of a saint and work through them with relative ease, but when it came to actually performing what she had learnt, she stiffened up, bottled out and lost confidence in herself and her prior knowledge. Seeing people hurt was probably the easiest way to freak her out. Rosalie was definitely not the bravest of souls.

“Alright then...i-if your sure?” she stuttered giving a concerned raised eyebrow to Neth. His face seemed to give her a sense of slight reassurance and she soon lightened up again, hiding her slight panicking fear well behind her cramped ribcage as her heart still continued to beat twice as fast.

She soon began laughing slightly, out of nervousness too but also because of Neth’s tone in his voice when he said he would stay with her and tag along. A new cheery Rosalie then gave him an obliging smile.
“Alright then...” she said rubbing her hands together before pulling at her robes and covering her hand in them. Looking back at Neth for a split second, she gave him a self-satisfied look before pushing her cloaked hand onto the portrait and not receiving a shock.
“Right you!...erm Mister...?” she questioned.
'Belvedere, Miss...Oops!' the portrait finally answered before slapping his hands over his mouth in shock at his own naive stupidity.

Rosalie’s eyes widened as the portrait was finally co-operating and she began tapping her finger on her pursed lips in thought of what to ask him next.
“Ahh, so you can speak then Belvedere? Well then, if that is the case you cannot refuse to talk to us now can you! So tell us, why are you here?” she asked rather ruthlessly. Rosalie did not usually gang up on people, nevermind portraits and paintings but she had a sneaking suspicion that he was no good.

[Neth Evans]

“I’m sure,” Neth assured the Ravenclaw. It was strange to see her get so worked up about something as small as getting shocked. It was true that it had shocked the feeling out of his hand but as Neth stood to the side, watching Rosalie with the painting he shook his shocked hand behind his back to try and coax the feeling back into it. It didn’t seem to want to co-operate but Neth tried it anyway.

Rosalie questioned the man in the paining who gave his name … it seemed accidentally. Neth couldn’t help but chucked at his obvious discomfiture as his hand covered his mouth. Neth didn’t mean to laugh as loud as he did but he didn’t hide it anyway. Neth could have been nice about it but it was funny how this small young girl coaxed as much as a name out of the unwilling participant.

The next question that Rosalie posed seemed to frighten the man and he seemed to have lost all sense of anything. Neth wasn’t sure what he was going on about when he started jabbering on about this that and the other but his voice echoed down the empty corridor. Neth looked down the corridor they were in kept having the feeling that there was something there, someone watching them.

Neth, not looking away from a spot down the corridor, tapped Rosalie on the shoulder and pointed down the corridor. “Do you see that?” he asked, looking down his own finger. He wasn’t sure what it was he was seeing and he was wanting confirmation that he wasn’t going crazy. It was entirely plausible that he was going mad, this place did seem to have that effect on people so all he needed was a ‘what are you going on about, Neth?’ and he’d be satisfied the hairs on the back of his neck were out of tune.

[Rosalie Vincent]

It wasn’t often that Rosalie Esme Vincent lost her temper, but for some reason this man, this portrait was bringing out the worst in her and she could feel the temperature inside her rising ever passing moment that he refused to co-operate with her and Neth. Huffing out the excess angst, she felt Neth tap her on her shoulder. Flipping her head quickly back to him because in truth he spooked her at that precise dramatic moment, she followed his pointed finger down the darkened corridor and had to squint her eyes slightly into the darkness to see what in Merlin’s name he was on about.

It was never an easy thing to do, look into the dark. One was Rosalie had an over-active imagination and would always swear that she could see things she blatantly couldn’t, or it indeed worked the other way around where she would think she could see nothing when in fact something or someone would indeed be lurking in the darkness. Eyesight was a funny thing.

Blinking a few times, she craned her neck closer to the darkness, before frowning slightly in confusion at what Neth thought he might have seen. Absentmindedly grabbing onto his sleeve of his robes Rosalie cowered away from looking at the dark and looked back at him, ignoring the rattling wooden frame on the wall.
“I can’t see anything, although judging by Mister quiver here what you saw may have something to do with him” she said, flicking her thumb backwards towards the man as if she were hitch-hiking.

Giving a quick glare to the man, she turned back around to Neth again and gave a devilish smirk before grabbing harder onto his sleeve, her hand casually and slowly skimming downwards until her fingers interlinked between his.
“Come on, i’m dying to know what’s bothering him” she said in excitement, pulling at his hand slightly as she advanced towards the darkness.

[Neth Evans]

Neth wasn’t quite sure what to do now that he had tapped Rosalie on the shoulder. He knew there was a very high possibility of him being mad! but he wasn’t sure that this Ravenclaw would be all that happy with standing around a deserted corridor with an unaccommodating painting that was now making his frame rattle. Was he prepared to admit to this girl that he was going mad? Certainly not, not after just plucking up the courage to speak to her.

Neth watched Rosalie’s face closely as she looked down the corridor. His blue eyes quickly darted to the painting of the shaking man before Rosalie suddenly took hold of the sleeve of his shirt. Neth nearly jumped with fright but he retained his composure, mostly. He slowly looked down to the hand that was so near his own but his eyes darted up to Rosie’s face when she spoke.

The painting over their shoulders was rattling and trembling picture frame. Rosalie was right, he did seem to be well and truly petrified. Neth couldn’t be sure of what he had seen, or if he had seen anything, but there was something there for sure that gave his a shiver all down his spin that made the little hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. It was one of those situations where Neth would much rather just walk away, cute girl or no, but when the Hufflepuff felt skin against his own he looked down again and saw Rosalie’s hand in his.

Giving her a hand slightly, Neth couldn’t help but give her a dorky grin. His heart was racing but it wasn’t because Rose was dragging him down a dark corridor towards something that might or might not be there at all. “Rosie, we don’t have to …” he tried protesting, “it’s probably nothing. Yeah, I’m not even sure I saw some … _thing …” He trailed off.

Rosalie was resolute though and didn’t let go of his hand. That gave Neth the confidence boost he so badly needed. Holding onto the Claw’s hand as though his life depended on it, Neth trotted so he was walking next to the girl. He wasn’t going to be the wimp in this story, not a chance. “Right.” Neth took a deep breath. “What I saw was ‘round here …” Neth pointed towards a bit of wall that was a few feet ahead of them, down the dark corridor.

“Hmm …” Neth murmured, looking around, “I don’t remember the corridor being this dark when I walked down it a few minutes ago …”

[Rosalie Vincent]

There was a reason why Rosalie wasn’t a Gryffindor. She wasn’t the bravest of souls, but sometimes her need for finding things out overwrote her common sense and this could sometimes be misconstrued as bravery. How wrong it was that her inner geek was mistaken for valor. Giving a quick sideways glance to Neth, she paused, mouth slightly open as if she was about to express her worries before her eagerness kicked in again and she boxed up all her worries in favour of a little adventure.

The trembling of the wooden frame was beginning to annoy Rosalie now, and she clenched her teeth as she took a deep breath in and released it loudly before she glared at the portrait quickly which only made it tremble even more. Sighing, she pinched the bridge of her nose at the unsteady rattle coming from the portrait before she opened her eyes again and looked straight at Neth.

She didn’t have to tug at his arm much as she led him down the corridor before he was soon trotting next to her, their timed steps seemed to flow in unison as they held hands. Rosalie was unaware that they still had their fingers linked together and normally she would be extremely shy around boys, but it seemed to come easy to her now and the closeness seemed to be calming both her and Neth, something that was much needed now that they were leading themselves into the darkness and the unknown as her heart began beating harder against her ribcage.

Rosalie failed to listened to him until he interrupted her thoughts as he mumbled something about the thing he saw being around the corner. Her eyes followed his finger once again as they continued to walk, her fear now setting in as they crept into the heart of the darkness.
“No...” she replied, gulping back a lump.
“I don’t remember it being this dark either” she continued, grabbing onto the sleeve of his arm with her other hand so she was clinging onto him once again.
“Well, we’ve come this far right? Might as well go on...” she sighed before peering slightly round the corner. The fight or flight instinct was taking over her, and right now, the latter was winning.

As they walked around to the corner, there stood something in the darkness, but Rosalie could not tell what. She froze and as she still clung onto Neth, her hand gripped tighter onto his sleeve.

[Neth Evans]

Things couldn’t be going any better for this Hufflepuff. Sure, death seemed imminent and he hadn’t even said goodbye to his gold fish but as Rosalie’s other hand also moved to his arm Neth couldn’t help but grin. He turned his face away of course, hiding his grin behind a hand that scratched his cheek. He was loving this. Under normal-er circumstances he might have realised that it wasn’t him but the fear that was driving her to cling onto him like she was but he always was an optimistic guy.

Dropping his free hand from his face, Neth looked ahead like Rosalie, wondering what could be around the corner. What monstrous deformed figure would be waiting for the two unsuspecting students to simply stick their heads around the corner so it could bite them off? Ok, so not so optimistic now but nothing that was going through Neth’s mind was comforting at this point. He forced himself to take long deep breaths in and to slowly let them out. That usually helped calm him down though today, not so much.

“I didn’t think so,” Neth admitted hopelessly when Rosalie admitted to the darkness being new. It disturbed him some that it had gotten this dark in the middle of the day without either of them noticing. That blooming portrait of Mr Belvedere was nothing but bad luck. He’d known it from the start. Why o why had he stayed. Neth nodded to the Claw and they went around the corner. Rosalie grasped Neth tighter and the fifth year remembered why he’d stayed.

His grin quickly faded as his blue eyes saw – or didn’t which was more worrying – the … thing in the darkness down the corridor. Rosie’s hand in his gave Neth strength and some sort of courage that he hadn’t known he had. All he wanted to do now was protect the Ravenclaw and so he pulled her behind him some as he tried to get his eyes to focus on the black shroud that was concealed in the darkness. “I don’t like this,” Neth whispered over his shoulder.

Just as he spoke something seemed to move in the darkness, very quickly and right at them, it seemed. Neth grabbed Rosalie by the shoulders, spun her around with him as he danced towards the wall, landing with his back against the wall and his eyes closed. He’d hit the wall harder then he’d meant to. He was still holding onto Rosalie though. “What in blue blazers was that?” Neth asked softly, exasperatedly.

[Rosalie Vincent]

Rosalie was completely oblivious to boys in Hogwarts if they liked her. She would never know unless they just came out and said it to her and even then she would always think it was a joke and just laugh at them. Like there was a Gryffindor who admitted to liking her last year and Rosalie simply brushed it off not realising he was being truthful. Of course he was probably the only boy to ever like her, she just wasn't anything particularly special when it came to the pick of the girls.

Rose took a deep breath in and held it. Thoughts of monsters and evil beings swamped her mind and attempted to cloud her common sense and as she fought against it, she gave a fleeting glance to Neth who seemed to be thinking the same thing as her...the worst.
Almost choking on her own lungs, she realised she had been holding her breath for a long time, longer than her lungs could cope with and she quietly spluttered before her breathing returned to normal.

She had seriously bottled out now, but what was she meant to do when she was the one who forced them both into this situation.
"Neth, if we die I know it's my fault but please don't haunt me or anything because I'll feel guilty enough without you blaming me for your death too, I'd know it's my fault-" she gasped as Neth pushed her away before a small scream emitted from her as she caught the faintest of glances of the thing in the darkness. All she could think was 'this was a great time to rebel, Rose' as her mind was again drowning in thoughts of dying in a corridor at her school.

'What a way to die'.

"Jesus H Christ, what the HELL was that!?" she screeched, obviously in a panic as she buried her face into Neth's back, her balled up fists covering either side of her face in fear. She squinted her eyes tight and her hearing became extra sensitive, jumping at every little noise, even Neth's breathing.
"I'm not a Gryffindor, why the hell was I trying to act like one. I don't wanna die, i'm too young to die!" she mumbled into Neth's chest, tears threatening to overflow from her eyes. No, she was being silly. Sure there was something lurking in the dark but it could of been anything, right? It was probably a slimy slytherin trying to scare them.
It sure was working though...

"I have no idea Neth, but you remember when I said I was 'Dying to see what was bothering him', I didn't mean it literally. I think it's time to go"