Surprise! (Arthur and Carlotta)

Guest

Carlotta had a random thought pop into her head when she was on her way down to breakfast early Saturday morning. Honestly, she had random thoughts all the time. She was, how one would describe it, easily distracted. She didn't want to linger around the castle with the same boring people, doing whatever they deemed fun that day. She stopped, mid-pace, her mind wandering way, way back to the boy she had seen playing chess.

He was nice- quiet, but nice. And not at all like other people. It might be interesting to get to know him a bit more. She turned on her heels- Slytherin! He was Slytherin. So she made her way back towards the dungeons, close to where she saw the entrance to the Slytherin common room and leant against the wall for a little while, waiting to see if she would catch him as he was exiting.

Guest

Arthur was ready for the day. He'd dressed himself, combed through his hair, gone through his mental plan of what he was going to achieve that day, and nothing was going to hinder him. Being back at school was good because routine was easier to get your head around. Without a structure set out, the holidays became something of a free for all, and Arthur didn't like that.

It was nearly the end of the time in which breakfast was served, Arthur's tummy was growling softly with hunger as he stepped out of the common room.

Normally, Arthur wouldn't have stopped, but it was the fact that someone was loitering - Slytherins didn't loiter around in the dungeons all that much, and Hufflepuffs didn't come this far down. Well, except maybe one, but that was another thought process all together. No, the loiterer was someone Arthur knew, and couldn't really work out why she was here.

With a small, uncertain smile, Arthur moved over to the witch. "Hi..." The Slytherin boy greeted, his confusion at her presence more than clear in his tone. "Did you get lost?" He asked, because that was surely the only reason a Ravenclaw would be down here...

Guest

She looked up when Arthur approached her and grinned widely "Arthur! Hi!" she said excitedly "I was hoping to bump into you actually," she spoke quickly, pleased that she had managed to catch him. She was beginning to think that he either wouldn't come out, or that he had left early - and in a castle as large as Hogwarts, it'd be a nightmare to try and find him.

"Let's do something today," she went on, beginning to walk, glancing around and seeming to take notice for the first time just how dark it was "It's a bit gloomy down, here, how do you stand it?" she asked "Yeah, anyway," she shook her head, getting back on topic "I'm thinking like a mini field trip somewhere, but I'm having trouble deciding where. Do you know anywhere interesting?" she asked "Because all I can think of that we can feasibly get to is Hogsmede," she said "But you know, I just need to get out for the day, and yeah," she finished with a grin.

Guest

Arthur couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as Carlotta said she had come to see him. It was... well, not something the boy had particularly thought would happen. Sure, they'd played Chess last year - or, well, Arthur had tried to teach Carlotta how to play, but he didn't think they were on a level of friendship that would include being sought out by the Ravenclaw. "Okay..." He replied to her explanation, glancing up the hallway in case this was some kind of prank.

Were Ravenclaws pranksters? Arthur didn't know.

The point of doing something made Arthur feel a little bit uneasy. He hadn't planned to do anything, and now Carlotta was here saying they should go do something together? "I..." But the thought was cut off when Carlotta asked about the gloominess of the dungeons. "You get used to it, really. The common room is actually quite cool!" Arthur explained, but Carlotta was already firing off about what they should do.

"Well... I was planning on getting up to date with homework so that I don't fall behind. And, yeah. I don't know if its such a good idea..." Arthur insisted, obviously uncomfortable with the idea of changing his plans on such a whim. It simply wasn't how he did things, not that Carlotta could possibly know that.

Guest

Her face fell slightly when he stated that he had plans to finish homework, taking note of the discomfort on his face. She thought for a moment before replying "I suppose you could bring your homework along..." she suggested with a shrug "If you really have to do it. Is it due soon?" she asked.

Carlotta was never really good at staying organised, she often only did things when she absolutely had to, in other words, at the last minute. And homework that wasn't checked, she rarely did- unless she found that she didn't understand the topic well- in which case she did as much as she needed to wrap her head around the concept.

And one thing she almost never did was work on the weekends. She'd pull all-nighters to keep her weekend free to do whatever she wanted. Though maybe Arthur liked his sleep a lot more than she did.

Guest

The look on Carlotta's face was evidence that she was not in the slightest bit happy about Arthur's response to her question. The Slytherin wasn't one hundred percent sure how he could rectify that without stepping back on his words. That would make him look stupid, and Arthur wasn't stupid.

But her questions made Arthur frown a little. "Well... no, it's not due for like, two weeks, or so. But if I don't keep on top of my homework, I won't keep to my schedule, and... everything would be a mess!" He insisted, not for the slightest moment understanding how any one could leave things to the last minute.

"Also, if I took it with me, I wouldn't have the resources of the library, and there would be so much background noise... I couldn't bring it with me!" Arthur insisted, deciding in that moment that Carlotta was made. And disorganised. And yet, he hadn't walked away from her in disgust.

What, then, was keeping him here?

Guest

She thought for a moment before replying "Well, what if we're back here by one?" she asked "Do you think that could give you enough time to keep up with it all?" A compromise could work- that way he could stay somewhat on schedule. She was good at compromising, she did it quite a lot. Being able to compromise was a necessity, she found. Especially in those moments where her brain couldn't stay focussed.

"We could grab lunch or something, have a bit of a wander, it'll be fun," she smiled again. She didn't want to stuff his schedule up, especially if it meant that much to him (which, from the way he spoke about it, it did). She didn't understand how people could be so motivated to actually finish things so early, but she wouldn't complain about it, and definitely wouldn't try to mess things up completely.

Guest

Arthur considered the compromise - because he could see through it enough to know that Carlotta was really trying to get something out of him - for a moment, weighing up the pros and cons. Working out in his head if this timing would work. It would knock on to other things, of course, but if he substituted some of his free time he had planned for the evening with free time now...

"Fine. But only until one. I really do have a lot of homework to be getting on with." Arthur gave in, hoping that he wasn't going to regret this later.

"Just not lunch at the Hogs Head. That place is disgusting." Arthur insisted as Carlotta talked about lunch. "We'll lunch first. Then make a plan about what else we want to do so that we don't waste time walking around aimlessly." Arthur added, because that much would make him comfortable. Moving past the witch, Arthur started the route up towards the main doors, before looking over his shoulder.

"Well, come on. You're wasting time!" He insisted, shaking his head to himself as he turned round to continue on his way.

Guest

Carlotta couldn't contain her excitement when he finally agreed to go with her. "Yay!" she jumped a little and hugged him quickly "Awesome. And yeah, one o'clock, no worries," she spoke quickly, hurrying to catch up to him "We'll have lunch somewhere really nice, and to be extra efficient, we can plan where to go during lunch too," she beamed.

"Let's take the one-eyed witch passage," she grabbed his hand to lead him along "It's the only one I can think of that will get us right in the middle of Hogsmeade," she rattled on "The one behind the mirror's caved in," she added. Yes, she occassionally went looking for passages. Only when she had nothing better to do. She'd managed to find three of the famous seven secret passages. The one-eyed witch one was the most direct she could find.

"Unless, you have a better idea that's faster?" she asked.

Guest

The hug caught Arthur slightly off guard, and was so obvious from the wide eyed expression that he was graced with a moment later. Quite glad that Carlotta let go quickly, Arthur ignored that situation completely until she caught back up with him and echoed his previous thoughts on a plan over lunch. At least she was willing to work with him on this.

"The... what?" Arthur asked as Carlotta took his hand and started to show him up the stairs rather than out of the door in the Entrance Hall. "I..." Arthur shook his head as she asked if he knew a quicker way. Truthfully, the Slytherin had never expressed a want to find anything hidden in the castle, the ghosts were quite enough for him, thank you very much.

"Do you spend any time studying? Or do you just wander on a whim?" The boy asked, more than bemused with the fact he'd been given in that moment. The one-eyed witch passage... what in Merlin's name was she on about?