[Corridors] the sky is falling through

[Freya Hawkens]

Wasn’t it just a thrill to stroll down a hallway, shoes clicking against the floor, and have worried looks of students as she passed by? Then relief following as they assumed she was just another student. She might not be a prefect, but hey, teacher’s apprentice gave you some power too. Freya could bust a couple making out or something like that in the hallway if she wanted to. The petite animagus didn’t exactly look threatening—unless you happened to catch her on a bad day with claws instead of nails. That made busting kids oh-so much more enjoyable because of the priceless expressions on their faces.

So that was what the girl was thinking of as she walked down the hallway that afternoon. Her heels clicking against the floor as usual and her arms swinging by her sides almost in a childish manner. Nothing to do today, she finished grading papers a while ago. Some children wrote the strangest responses about mermaids, honestly. “Mermaids are pretty.” I’m not exactly sure what mermaid you’ve been staring at kid, but I’m pretty sure that’s not a fact. “They live in water.” Really? I never would’ve guessed.

Freya passed the Care of Magical Creatures office, and paused for a moment. She peeked into the office, but Professor Max wasn’t there. There was a pretty inviting beam of light shining on his wooden desk though. The thought nearly had her purring, and she couldn’t stop herself from stretching her arms above her head. Interlocking her fingers, Freya pushed her arms above her head and leaned backward. Her fingers cracked in unison, and her back popped as well. A nice cat nap sounded so nice right about now.

But, the last time she took a snooze on Harvey’s desk, he came in and had a spaz attack on her. Freya didn’t want to particularly freak out the Professor more than necessary. Sighing, she turned around and grudgingly trudged away from the door, flicking her wand as she walked to slam the door behind her. Leave it to Harvey to keep the door opened a crack and taunt her with it. Care of Magical Creatures indeed. He should care for his apprentice first off.

With that plan lost, Fee went looking for another place to rest. The constant clicking of her heels alerted people to her presence and it was started to get annoying seeing students jump as she came near them. Freya turned another corner, and found it to be empty. Bones rearranged, and fur grew along her body as it shrank down into a more condensed size. Freya flicked her tail in a small triumph as a chesire grin twitched along her feline lips. Only took several seconds then.

Though her senses were more heightened than a normal person while she stood on two feet, there was no comparison when it came to a cat’s senses. The sharp sent of magic tickled her nose as she moved swiftly down the corridors. Students lifted their feet to avoid stepping on her as she slid through their legs; one even protested that people should ‘keep a better watch of their animals’. Hmph, she wasn’t some common house cat.

Freya noticed a ray of sunlight leaking through the window. The light was cast onto a nearby railing, just thick enough to hold her feline form. In a few short leaps, Fee was positioned perfectly on the railing, with her tail twitching beside her. Slender form stretched along the railing and her paws formed the perfect pillow to hold her head. A purr rose from her throat as the sun warmed her considerably. Now this was the life.

[Jacque Brontë]

The metamorph was starting to get annoyed with Vaid's lackadaisical attitude. The man was off prancing with Hubbles and neglecting the poor potions lab. But never fear, Jacque spent a good portion of her time shifting from the library to the dungeons with a large book of obscure potions that she never had the resources to make until now. Of course, most of the time she could never get them quite right and the girl was currently vigorously fanning her face as a foul odor and magenta smoke errupted from the cauldron. The recipe said nothing about that!

She backed quickly out of the room, continuously trying to fan herself some fresh air as her red locks fell forward into her face and poored over her shoulder. Well, maybe it's a good thing that Vaid doesn't always watch me messing with his stuff. She said while pulling out her wand from behind her ear. With a flick, the windows flew open and a moment later the large doors were slammed shut. Jacque would just let that potion simmer down for a couple hours and hope that it wouldn't explode and dye everything in the room bright pink. That would be difficult to hide.

The brisk, stale air of the dungeons hit her more strongly than before and she quickly pulled her arms into the sleeves of her cardigan. Where was she to go now, she had planned out a very specific portion of her day to spend in the classroom and now that idea was wrecked. Jacque instead took to wandering aimlessly for a few minutes while she pondered on the best way to salvage her day, her feet taking her towards the court yard to try and get her vitamin d of the day.

She stopped in the middle of a nearly empty hallway, though, at the sight of a cat sitting in the window sunning herself. Of course, that girl is hardly ever doing anything. The girl who always needed to be busy thought with a smirk before going to lean against the banister with her elbow.

"Geeze, people shouldn't leave their mangy rodents lying about." She said with a bit of a yawn. "You never know if someone is going to push them off their pedestals." Jacque, was of course teasing and would never do something like that. Being bit by an ocelot was particularly painful and the whole idea of magical creatures was never for her. Studies of things that weren't alive were a lot easier for her to handle without having a panic attack.

Jacque fiddled with one of her buttons for a moment, ignoring any noises of warning coming from her friend. The button was the only thing that consumed her thoughts for a moment as she was particularly unsatisfied with the way it laid. She forgot that this was the sweater that someone chewed on when they were having a fight. That woman was really so feral.

"You know, one day I expect you to change back into a human form and be naked." She murmured, forgetting to keep that thought to herself.

[Freya Hawkens]

It was definitely not a good idea to fall asleep on a railing. There were some malicious kids about that would push a poor putty-tat off of the railing. ‘Haha, let’s see if a cat can really land on its feet!’ How about, “Haha, let’s see how you get to class tomorrow with shredded clothes.” Freya sat with her eyes closed, but every sound had her ears twitching. Someone coming close? Her claws would be out and clinging to the rail. Try to push off a cat while it has claws dug into your arms, sucker.

"Geeze, people shouldn't leave their mangy rodents lying about."

Mangy rodent? Humph. Does that girl ever learn to be nice? Freya opened one eye to glance at Jacque. The girl was still talking, and at the mention of ‘pushing them off of rails’, Freya hissed. That potions chick thought she could push her off without feeling the consequences. Bah, no mercy, even if Jacque did happen to be a friend. Freya’s tail flicked to-n-fro next to her as she decided whether to actually turn back or sit here and let Jacque keep talking to a cat like a crazy lady. Knowing her, the potions girl would dump some crazy formula on her to make all her hair fall out. How horrible!

Grumbling—as much as a cat can grumble—Freya leaped off her perch and landed softly on the spot next to Jacque. In a matter of moments, all five foot four inches of Freya was standing next to her friend, hands on hips. “You know we’re all naked under all these clothes.” She pulled up her sleeve to demonstrate and grinned. “And I’m a bit worried that the first thought that comes to mind for you Jacque is seeing me come back naked. You’ve been spending too much time in a room with Vaid.”

Freya leaned against the railing and crossed one food over the other. “What’s an assiduous girl like you doing down here?” In a cat-like gesture, she tilted her head to the side as she spoke. “That’s my word of the day. Assiduous, meaning showing persistent and hard-working effort in doing something, perfect description for you right?” She grinned as she spoke and tapped her friend on the nose as she spoke.

“I like your hair today by the way. You should do it like that more often.” Freya brushed her own dark locks from her face and pushed them behind her ear. “One day I think you should fake Vaid out and pretend a potion turned your hair blue or something.”

[Jacque Brontë]

The button simply refused to lie flat, and she was quite sure that it was doing it to drive Jacque crazy. What, did the sweater not want to be worn? Because that was certainly what it was going to get. Forcing her hands away from the buttons, Jacque could simply not stand still and instead took to moving her feet in a way that rhythmically clicked the heels of her bright flats. "Oh, dear, you should be a philosopher.." She said with a small frown, quite determined not to be left speechless by the utterly idiotic comment. It was something that you would expect to come out of a senseless boy. But, she was good-natured today and shot her friend a toothy grin. "You know me, I secretly wish that that could happen. It's all about the tits." Jacque shrugged off the comment about Vaid as if she hadn't even heard the Hufflepuff's name.

Assiduous girl? Her brow lifted at the word, trying to mentally use context clues to figure it out. But that was the only adjective, leaving her at a dead-end until the word was eventually explained. Word of the day, Freya was still busy with those apparently. 'Maybe one day a hippogriff will eat the dictionary she keeps on her.' Hardworking.. good? Even still, it was difficult to take the word as a compliment. Partially because someone pulling a dictionary definition on you was an intimidating thought in itself. "I was going to go for a walk. Maybe my friend the talking dictionary could accompany me?" Jacque said with a smirk, gladly hooking arms with her fully-clothed friend.

Chuckling at her next comment, Jacque just shook her head. "Don't worry, my dear. I have thought of that before. I'm just waiting for a good opportunity to let something not dangerous blow up in my face." The diabolical thoughts were a rare thing to be expressed like this, usually kept to herself. "Maybe let it blow my nose clear off." The joking manner was quite common, but soon it was interrupted by the loud sound of someone running behind them.

Natural curiosity told Jacque to turn her head, catching sight of a young girl in casual clothes who looked around the age of a first or second year. The breathless girl was barely able to get the words out but said something about a friend in trouble and how she desperately needed their help. Apparently apprentices got a little more respect than she ever knew?

"Uh.. yeah, of course. Just lead the way and we'll see what we can do?" Was her reply, her naturally good soul determined to help rather than questioning what could use the supposed expertise of a potions master and a care of magical creatures guru.

[/blockquote]

[Freya Hawkens]

What had engrossed her friend so much that she wouldn’t even look at Freya as she spoke? Of course, it was something completely useless. A button was laying awkwardly on the sweater—which Freya happened to maybe recall chewing on said button—and being the OCD girl that she was, Jacque couldn’t quite let it go. A small, triumphant smirk curved to life on her lips, though was quickly wiped from her face as Jacque looked up again. “It’s a shame I never became one. Who knows what people would look up to my words of wisdom to brighten their otherwise dismal lives!” Snickering at Jacque’s response, Freya placed her hands on her hips and wiggled her waist. “Oh you know you love it when girls wear the tight shirts.”

Success! Freya confused the poor apprentice, who waited until her explanation of the word before responding. Pick about the sentence all you like girly, but this one was a stumper. “I’ll take that as a compliment I suppose. Your friend the walking dictionary would quite enjoy a walk.” She laced her arm around her friend’s, happy that there was little height difference between them. The stark contrast of looks made each other compliments—much like a well planned accessory.

“Please wait until I can see it. I want to see the look on his face.” Was that a malicious smile that spread across her face? Ah, perhaps, but who could tell when the next comment had her chuckling. “I wonder if Vaid is a fainter or a screamer. I bet some of the guys here scream like—” But, a sound soon reached her sensitive ears, and the girl’s voice trailed off to silence. Footsteps were clear behind them, running at such a speed that it hinted at an emergency.

Partly from curiosity and partly from instinct, Freya turned her head to the side, glancing over her shoulder to see a young girl running towards them. The tiny blonde was dressed like every other student at the school, though appeared to be either a first or second year. Most likely was that she ran to Freya and Jacque because they looked like older students who could probably help her. Doubtful was the fact that she knew they were apprentices.

“Help…I need…Help!” The girl barely got out her words as she hugged her arms around her stomach, trying to catch her breath. Worry had Freya’s ‘brows knitting together as she removed her arm from Jacque’s grasp and turned around to face the girl full on. “What’s the matter?”

“My friend…she’s in…trouble. It’s this way!” Without waiting for a response from the two, the little girl began to run the way she came from. Casting a worried glance over to Jacque, the feral girl walked at the quickest speed she could manage to try to catch up with the small girl. The scent of the girl was strange, almost like the smell of paint. There was another smell in there, something that seemed to be lingering around the school was surrounding the girl, but Freya couldn’t place it. It was the constant nagging thing in the back of her mind, plaguing her with unanswered questions.

The girl had stopped in front of an empty painting, and was gesturing desperately toward Jacque and Freya. Cautiously, with her movements growing more feline by the moment, she approached the girl. “Here, here!” Freya glanced around curiously, but didn’t notice anyone outside of Jacque and the small girl. “Perhaps we can get someone else to help as well? What was your name again?”

For time to come, this moment in her life would be engrained in her mind. The sweet little girl changed, her features taking on a more malicious look as she disappeared from sight. The hairs on her neck stood on end as Freya was overwhelmed with the stark scent of paint. With a disturbing chuckle, Freya and Jacque were pushed in the back.

“My name’s Alice. Welcome to Wonderland.”

[Jacque Brontë]

Jacque, quickly feeling awkward at the way their sarcastic conversation turned, seemed to just ignore the comment as if it hadn't been said and she really wished that crazy Freya would've left that one in her head. "My dear, friendly dictionary, someone must take you out before you begin to gather dust on the shelf!" She said in an attempt to be pleasantly flattering while she hooked arm-in-arm with her. They looked like losers, sure, but in all honesty they did not care. They were older than even the seventh years and clearly did not mind being made fun of in the least. Or, at least, Jacque basically dared someone to go head-to-head with a Slytherin who knew far more poisons than you would expect her to.

Raising her brows as Freya went off on a morbid tangent about finding joy in seeing Will scream, Jacque just shook her head lightly to clear the thought from her head. Sometimes the ocelot woman could be more frightening than the Slytherins she was accustomed to. "Erm.. I think I will pretend I didn't hear that before you corrupt me with your ill wills." But she did not have long to dwell on the slightly disturbing ideas before the girl came rushing clear out of nowhere and dragged them away regardless of whether they were willing to help or not.

The girl was really starting to give Jacque the heebie jeebies, considering that with every turn she made they got closer and closer to the dungeon corridors that she was so familiar with. Either someone had a trick played upon them down in the dungeons, again, or they were the ones to be punked. 'Honestly, how do you pick two apprentices out of a crowd of the casually dresssed?' Her mind that she usually regarded as quite rational, seemed to take an irrational route as thoughts of the odd things that happened as of late filled her thoughts. No, no, she was simply being silly. Someone just needed help and it didn't matter who gave it.

But when they stopped in an empty corridor, with no one around, and certainly no one injured, Jacque narrowed her eyes dangerously. If this girl was messing with her, she would certainly be in a lot of trouble. Ignoring the conversation between the two of them, Jacque instead took to scanning the surroundings once more in case both of the girls were missing something. It was then that she saw the once empty portrait change to a quaint country seen, zoomed in on a bush with a deep hole in front of it.

Then wham, down the rabbit hole! There was a push against her back and she closed her eyes to brace for impact against the wall. Only this never came in the way she expected. Instead she fell tripping forward on solid ground before falling forward with someone landing on top of her. Waiting for them to recall their senses and get their large bum off of her, Jacque pushed herself up and took in her surroundings for the first time. It was a dark, thick woods and her hands had an abnormal green coloring on them from the grass.

Something white flashed in the corner of her eye and by the time she was able to turn her head she only saw a head of brown hair retreated past the trees in quite a hurry. "Hey, wait!" She said instinctually, trying to tract down the first thing she saw in this disorienting.. place... Jacque swore that she's never seen this in Hogwarts before. Was this a secret path behind a tapestry or something? Maybe she was knocked out and rolled down it. That would be the only thing she could piece together this quickly.

[/blockquote]

[Felicity Locke]

“Ohh! So late, so late!”

The voice, the face, nearly everything seemed to be the same. Nearly. A pair of white rabbit ears sprouted from the top of the curly-haired veela’s head, and a small, cute rabbit tail completed the look. The already pale girl had on white gloves, along with black pants and a red vest (which had a white shirt underneath). Who was this strange creature? Why the white rabbit, to be certain.

Something disrupted the girl’s mad dash though. The sky above wonderland had to be falling, because two objects were plummeting toward the ground. In a fright, the hare jumped behind one of the trees and peeked out tentatively. Two girls, both with the same light blue dress, landed not two feet away from her. Girls falling from the sky? In any other place it would be strange, but in Wonderland it seemed to be the norm.

The watch in her pocket chimed furiously at her and she pulled it out. Quickly snapping the gold thing shut, she jumped out from behind the tree and intended to run off again. The voice that addressed her though, caused the animalistic girl to halt. “Wait, wait? Do you not know who waits for me?” Worry clouded her voice as she started to walk again. “The Red Queen, the Red Queen!”

Running forward, she disappeared into the forest. A small door, near covered with vines, awaited her at the other side. As she pushed it open, the last words that trilled from her were:

“The Red Queen, the Red Queen, don’t upset her Majesty the Red Queen!”

[Freya Hawkens]

And so they fell, down the rabbit hole and onto the oddly vibrant green grass. Landing with an oof, it took Freya a moment to realize she had actually landed on someone. Forcing her eyes open, she blinked down and saw Jacque lying beneath her. Freya jumped up and muttered an apology, her cheeks flushing slightly from embarrassment. Her knees were stained an odd green, as were her hands. The scent that should’ve been coming from the grass was tainted by a paint-like smell. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, Freya dropped her hands and moved to brush them against her clothes. Only then did she notice the change.

Her outfit of the old was replaced with the outfit that Alice had been wearing when she came to them, right down to the ruffled socks and black shoes. As she looked down again, the green stain on her hands disappeared, as did the green on her knees. What the hell was going on here? Had she blacked out and someone was playing a sick joke on her? Dressing her up in this ridiculous outfit and trapping her in some sort of fantasy.

As she looked up to complain to Jacque, a flash of red crossed her. Blinking a bit spastically, it took Freya a moment before she could finally see what had invaded her path. What was it? A girl? No, no. That couldn’t be. The thing had ears and a tail. Then again, animagi could do things like that…Curiously, Freya didn’t scent anything feral about the girl, only that same paint scent.

The voice that trilled from the creature’s lips shocked her, and as it turned around she could see it looked almost exactly like Felicity Locke—save for the ears and the tail. She pressed her hand over her mouth, trying to stifle her gasp of surprise. The ears twitched as she turned back around, racing away from the pair. They were real, and as far as she knew, no veela could pull off being an animagus.

“Wa…wait, come back!” Without thinking, Freya latched onto Jacque’s wrist and dragged her along, running through the forest after “Felicity.” She came to a sudden halt though, when the trees abruptly stopped. There was a wall, covered in vines with a door leading to who knows where. “What the hell is happening Jacque?”