Surprise! (Arthur and Carlotta)

Guest

His question bought a smile to her lips, and she turned back to look at him "Do you ever wander on a whim? Or just study?" she smirked a little before looking back to the front "Hogwarts is supposed to have seven secret passages, and I'm determined to find them all before I leave," she added "I've found those two, and heard rumors about one in the Whomping Willow, but I figured that one was a bit dangerous, at least until I figure out how to calm it or something," And besides, she imagined Arthur wouldn't be too keen, dodging all the branches.

They reached the third floor and she quickly walked over to the statue and drew her wand and tapping the statue's hump, she murmured "Dissendium". The hump opened and she climbed in "Straight to Honeyduke's cellar," she dropped down into the passage way and waited for Arthur to join her.

Guest

"Wander on a whim? I don't have time..." Arthur shook his head at the thought. Wandering on a whim was illogical, and a waste of time. Carlotta was, most definitely, going to be the death of him. "I'm not an explorer." He finalised, because that sounded much better than not having time.

The Slytherin listened, though, as Carlotta explained about the seven passageways. That was not in Hogwarts; A History... "How can you possibly know about these things? I've not seen these things in any of the school books..." Arthur asked, very confused as to how Carlotta could know something he did not. "Also, please tell me you haven't tried? That tree could kill you!" Arthur added, looking to the Ravenclaw as if she were crazy.

Finding themselves at the witch statue, Arthur took in the movements of Carlotta, and the word she spoke before watching her disappear inside. Following the witch, Arthur descended in to the tunnel. It smelt very earthy down hear, and his nose wrinkled a little at the stench, but it wasn't too bad. "The cellar? Are we allowed in there, Carlotta?" Arthur asked, following after her as quickly as he could, though he caught his head on the tops a few times in the process. Wincing, the boy stooped a bit, rubbing his head. "Stupid ceiling." Arthur muttered to himself, wondering why on earth he'd agreed to this.

Guest

"Not an explorer," she nodded "Well, I suppose not everyone is. But you'll find me rather annoying, I'm afraid. I explore quite a lot," she replied. She listened further, as he asked how she knew the things she did, and to his shock at the possibility of messing with the Whomping Willow.

"Well, all you have to do is ask around a bit. You'd be surprised at how many students know at least something about the castle that isn't in the books," she said "Or follow up on rumours that, I'll be honest, usually lead to nowhere. But occasionally you get something," she shrugged "As for the tree," she added "Well, the tree's difficult... Promise I didn't get too close to it." she assured him "There's definitely at least a hollow bit at the bottom of the trunk. But, like I said, haven't figured out how to calm it yet," she sighed.

Carlotta had begun walking down the passage, deciding to illuminate the tip of her wand with a Lumos. She heard him ask if they were actually allowed in the cellar. She glanced back at him, biting her lip "Not really," she answered quickly before turning back to the front "Watch your head, the ceiling gets pretty low up ahead,"

Guest

The idea of finding Carlotta annoying made Arthur chuckle a little bit. "You already do... I mean... in the nicest way. You're so... spontaneous. I don't understand how you can ever get anything done!" Arthur explained. He wasn't meaning to be rude, she did confuse him with her lack of ability to work to a schedule, but it wasn't like it made him dislike her.

"You're crazy." Arthur told the witch as she spoke of the tree. Perhaps his was self-preserving mannerisms that were coming out with that, but the idea of trying to get close to a tree that was more than capable of killing you did not sound like any kind of fun to Arthur. A puzzle that could be solved, yes, but not fun.

"Not really..?" Arthur echoed, stooping further as the witch said they weren't really allowed in the cellar. "Merlin help me." The boy muttered to himself as they continued. "I swear to Merlin, if we get caught Carlotta, I'm blaming you for all of this." Arthur told her, because he was definitely not comfortable. "And, you're buying me a bag of sweets in Honeydukes." The boy added, because compensation was needed for all this stupidity!

Guest

"I get the important things done," she shrugged a little "What's needed," she added with the comment of him not knowing how she got anything done. She didn't entirely neglect work- but found that when there was something more exciting, she didn't have much willpower to say no.

"Crazy, probably," she nodded in response "I need to find more information about it before I try anything again..." she trailed off into thought. She'd need to look in the library, perhaps find a book about it...

"Arthur, calm down," she replied, stopping and turning to look at him "I promise you, we won't get in any trouble." she said, rather firmly by her standards "And if, per chance, we run into someone, I'll handle it," she assured him "It'll all be on me, and you'll get your sweets," she flashed him a smile. She wasn't really worried about being caught where they weren't meant to be, she hadn't been caught before. They'd just need to be quick about it.

Guest

Arthur could only nod when the witch said she did get things done. Arthur wasn't sure how much he believed those words, but thought better than suggesting otherwise. That, he believed, would be rather insensitive of him.

The Slytherin did not comment on the Whomping Willow - he would not and did not want to get involved with her stupid escapade to the Whomping Willow.

But Carlotta didn't appreciate his nerves it seemed as she turned back to him. Arthur gave the witch a small nervous smile as she promised that they wouldn't get in to any trouble. He wasn't so sure how she could promise such a thing when she wouldn't be the one doing the telling off, but Arthur kept that to himself. "Fine, fine. I'll trust your judgement." Arthur replied, though he had no clue why he would. This was stupid.

Waiting for Carlotta to carry on, Arthur wondered what he'd gotten himself in for.

Guest

She turned back when he replied that he trusted her judgement. Though he still seemed nervous. She resolved that as soon as they were in the clear, he'd relax a little more.

She continued on "On days like today, there's one person on, for the whole shop. It doesn't really get as busy as it does on Hogsmeade weekends, with maybe a rush around lunch time. All we do is hide until he comes down to stock up and slip right past him. It's easy," she shrugged. She'd snuck out a few times before, particularly when she was younger, but it had been quite a while since. The last time had probably been at the beginning of the year. She'd been put off by news of the attack during the last student visit.

Eventually, they came to a steep staircase, and she began to climb, until she felt the roof. She lifted the stone, just slightly. Upon seeing there was no one there, she slid the tile open, just enough for her to climb up. She turned and offered her hand to Arthur to help him out of the passage.

Guest

Easy, Arthur knew, was relative to the person in question. But he did not think that slipping past someone was going to be easy at all. He decided not to voice that, though, Carlotta sounded confident enough, he would just have to hope that she was not wrong.

As they reached some stairs, Arthur watched Carlotta climb out, before following quickly after the witch. True to her word, they'd come up in the store room of the Honeydukes sweet shop. Looking around at the abundance of sweets, Arthur was much too tempted to simply plunge in to the bags of sweets, but caught himself upon remembering that would, technically, be stealing.

Turning back to Carlotta, the Slytherin raised an eyebrow at her. "So, what now?" He asked, glancing up at the door with apprehension. If they got caught - Carlotta's insistence that they wouldn't echoed in his mind at this point - they were going to have a lot of explaining to do.

Guest

"So what now?"

"Now," she glanced back to him, making sure to lower her voice. The cellar could make voices echo, and she didn't want to risk getting into trouble because of something like that. Arthur was worried enough about getting caught, it was written all over his face "Take off your shoes," she said, leaning one hand against the wall as she took off her own quickly, tucking them under her arm and moving behind one of the stacks of boxes quickly "That'll stop you from making noise while we're sneaking upstairs," she added softly.

Quickly, she crouched down when she heard the door from upstairs open and someone descending the stairs. She grabbed hold of Arthur and jerked him down with her. She watched as the man who was on walked down the stairs, and started to rummage through the stock. Slowly, she stood and glanced to Arthur, nodding for him to follow her as she quietly began to move up the stairs, shoes in hand.

Guest

Arthur had pretty much looked at Carlotta as if she had three heads when she told him to take his shoes off. The witch was beyond mad. He did not know how to deal with her. He didn't have the foggiest idea why he'd decided to go along with this. And yet, Arthur found himself taking his shoes off, because Carlotta had told him to.

Why are you still going along with this? He asked himself before Carlotta pulled him down in to a hiding position next to her, just in time to be pulled from the view of others.

As a man came down, Arthur watched him, heart hammering in his chest before Carlotta was pulling him in to action, ascending the stairs and out in to the sweet shop. Throwing his shoes back on quickly - but quietly - Arthur shook his head.
"You're crazy!" He whispered to Carlotta, but, he had to admit, that was a pretty big thrill... Not out loud, though, of course.

"I'm at least buying some sweets. Otherwise..." Arthur didn't know what otherwise, but moved to pick up a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans to soothe his conscience.

» A Chance Encounter That Was, Inevitably Planned (Carlotta & Arthur)
» Arthur Peadarsan
» Carlotta De Santis
» Sweet surprise (Josh)
» A Wonderful Surprise (Madison)