Forbidden Floor [Chris]

[Kaia Doyle]

So... naturally since the third floor was forbidden, Kaia felt the distinct desire to investigate it. The Forbidden Forest would be her next goal, especially since she had heard about ghastly creatures residing in the forest and what did she love more than beasts? It was quite clearly not the most intelligent idea she had ever thought of, but she was prone to throwing caution to the wind and investigating the dangerous before having to think up backup plans. It was a wonder she was even a Ravenclaw. She crept cautiously through the narrow, dimly-lit hallways, her wand in her hand, hoping that somehow stealth would come naturally.

It was fascinating that she could hear her own steps echoing back at her and that everything was so empty and that even the cobwebs that were wound around the torches looked like they had been there for centuries. Apparently the House Elves never cleaned up here. She was quite against the use of House Elves as servants, being an avid member of Hermione Granger's club, S.P.E.W.

She turned around and managed to slip on... nothing. With a great clatter, her wand rolled away across the stone floor and she cursed loudly, tasting the rather familiar coppery tange of blood, from where she had bitten her tongue while falling. "Bollocks," she cursed. "Bloody brilliant job, Kaia. So much for stealth."

[Christopher Zhou]

Damn stairs! Always moving to where he doesn't need them to be when he needed them to be somewhere else. Oh well... He'd just wait for the stair case to the fourth floor to move over this way so he could keep going up to the tower. Really... For magical people, you'd think they'd invest in some 'magical' elevators. Or was this their way of keeping the students fit? Leaning against the railing so professors would see that he was not venturing into the Forbidden corridor, he laid his cheek miserably on his hand... and waited. And waited.

What the hell was that!? Chris' knee jerk reaction to the loud sound from the corridor was to spin around, wand in hand. He heard somebody curse. Definitely a student... Slowly, checking behind him to make sure he couldn't be seen, he approached the corridor and peeked inside. "Doyle?" he said out loud. Bending to scoop up her wand, he walked up to her and held his hand out. "Need some help? You know... You really shouldn't be here. If you get caught, we might as well kiss the House Cup good-bye."

[Kaia Doyle]

Kaia grimaced when she heard a rather familiar voice. Of all the people to see her like this, on the floor, did it have to be Zhou? She would have prefered Snape... okay, maybe not. She rolled her eyes and, ignoring his hand, stood up. She started to dust off her robes with her hands, still not looking right at him. It was only when she heard his remark that she decided she may as well say something.

"Oh, really? Well, thank you for the helpful advice. I really would not have known if you hadn't told me," she said, the sarcasm thick in her voice. Why did he have to go around being smart? Maybe because he's a Ravenclaw, her mind pointed out. That's no excuse, she shot back. She held out her hand, waiting for him to hand back her wand.

[Christopher Zhou]

Wow...

Really? REALLY!?

See if he offered her his help again. It's not like he had leprosy. Would it have absolutely killed her to take his hand. Merlin, why did people force him to be mean? Especially when he tried ever so hard not to be. He stood back, leaning against one of the display pillars and watched as she righted herself. Damn, he could not wait for next term. Hopefully by then he'd be made prefect and he'd have been able to take points from her. Sure, it'd suck to deduct from his own house, but if she was going to be this snobbish about it...

"What can I say? I'm just a helpful kind of guy." He stood up straight and loosened his tie a bit. "Is the sarcasm really necessary, Doyle? Honestly, it just seems like the last refuge for fools and those who dwell in ignorance. Come back at me with a retort that has substance and depth, and then maybe I'll consider bandying wits with you." He looked down at her hand. And just like she did with him, he ignored it. "Guess I'll see you in the common room... or something. Or practice..." And then he turned to leave.

[Kaia Doyle]

Kaia raised her eyebrows at him and actually had to suppress the urge - and it was so very tempting - to kick him. Of course that would only prove his point, but she didn't care. Kicking him would be satisfying, plus, he would probably drop her wand again. "The arrogance is really unbecoming, Zhou, has anyone ever told you that?" She decided against it, her hand still hanging in mid-air expectantly.

She couldn't believe it when he actually turned around and left. With her wand! "Unfortunately for you, Zhou, I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in bandying wits with you, so how about adding that to your list of 'things that are just never going to happen'." She walked quickly after him, though he was faster, she caught up with him quickly. "You can put that right next to, let me think, being humble?" She stepped around him to stand in his way. She held out her hand again. "You have my wand, Zhou and I want it back."

[Christopher Zhou]

Arrogance!? She was calling him arrogant. "I'm sorry... Who is the one running around the third floor corridor, a floor expressly said to be off limits to all students with the hopes of not getting caught? That sounds pretty arrogant to me. Or stupid. You take your pick." And then, with a glance back, he said, "And yes. I have been told that on occasion. But I can generally ignore such childish retorts when I consider the source."

He laughed. "Well... I don't blame you. Judging by how you're doing now, you'd fail miserably. And Doyle... I don't have a list of things that are never going to happen. I'm not a cynic." He concealed his grin when she caught up to him. Merlin, if he'd known she was this fun, he'd have paid more attention to her before. "I'm humble..." he said. Well, he was about certain things. "There are pretty big assessments to be making for somebody who doesn't know me." He easily stepped around her to keep heading to the stairs. "Did nobody ever teach you manners, Doyle?"

[Kaia Doyle]

"Oh puh-leaze, you're the one always telling people what to do, you talk down to everyone and what's with you insulting my intelligence? No, that doesn't make you arrogant at all. So sorry for assuming the worst of star-pupil-Zhou." She sniffed in a rather indignant way. "What you are confusing with arrogance there, Zhou, is really called an adventure. It's just for fun, nothing serious. Have you ever gone on an adventure, just for fun... without any tedious planning beforehand?" Merlin, Kaia disliked people who were too organised, too finicky, too perfect. In her opinion, he fell right into that category and since that was the only side she had seen from him, thus far, she figured that she may as well sort him into a box.

She shrugged. "Oh, I figured that maybe there's not all that much to you, so I thought I may as well assess you." Okay, that was a low blow, even for her. But she was seriously getting pissed off. Now she really would have prefered being discovered by Snape. She ran up after him, annoyed that he still held her wand hostage. "My manners are impeccable, thank you very much. Now, if you would just give me back my wand, I could be on my way..."

[Christopher Zhou]

Did she just say 'puh-leaze?' How did she ever get into Ravenclaw. She must have slid the hat a bribe or something to keep her from Hufflepuff... "I'm wondering where you're getting this from." He really was. Sure, one of Chris' problems is that he could, on occasion, talk down to people. But he never did it just for fun. Normally, they were instances that warranted it. And, okay. He could be bossy, but he didn't go out of his way to do that either, and from his experiences with her, he usually conceded to the captain of the team though as one of the older members of the Quidditch team, he did have the authority to coach some of the players and tell them what to do... It's not like she was above reproach. "There are so many holes in your argument, I'm surprised you haven't fallen through. As for this being an adventure and not arrogant... It was still arrogant. What makes you so special that you can ignore the rules that the rest of us peons have to follow? It must be nice to think you're so important that losing a few points for your entire house is worth just a few moments of self-gratification. That is the definition of arrogant, Doyle."

Had he ever gone on an adventure? Did she know who she was talking to? Hell yes, he'd been on adventures. He did chum around with the Weasley twins. But that was none of her business. If she wanted to keep thinking of him as this wannabe star-pupil who followed the rules, then so be it. "You must be so difficult to understand," he said sardonically. "Us people who just don't understand what it's like to be edgy and cool... We pathetic people who don't know how to seek the simple joys in life by going on stupid, pointless adventures."

Now he was offended. "That's pretty arrogant," he said, continuing on that tangent. He really did not how to drive a point home. "What makes you think you have the right to assess anybody? Again, you just prove how conceited you are." Sometimes, he wished it was okay to hit a girl. This was one of those times. "Yes. Your manners are as impeccable as you are modest. And... no. I don't think I will. But it's okay if you won't be on your way. I'm on mine..."

[Kaia Doyle]

Kaia pretended to search for a quill in the pockets of the robes. "Could you say that again? I think I forgot to take notes." At the beginning she didn't actually wanted to be sorted into Ravenclaw. Somehow Huffelpuff had seemed more appealing. She liked that the house had no meaning that one could be labelled with, other than being the "leftover" sort of the house. "Right. So, since we have sorted out our differences, I really do think i must be getting on my way. This is getting a tad tiring." She put her hand to her mouth to stifle a yawn - one that was not actually an act, though might as well look to be one - and when she pulled her hand back, the back of it was shimmering with red paint.

Huh? She was confused up until she remembered that she had bitten her tongue while falling down. "Fantastic," she muttered. She glared daggers at Chris. "I want my wand and I want it now, Chris - I mean, Zhou. Don't think I won't get it myself," she threatened. After all, growing up with five brothers and sisters taught her enough tricks about getting what she wanted.

[Christopher Zhou]

Of course. When wit failed, resort to stupidity. Perhaps she meant to annoy him to submitting. It would have worked if not for Chris' unyielding desire to never lose. "Not all that surprised," he said with a shrug. "You don't strike me as a note taker... Or studious... Or altogether bright." Okay, so that might be a little low, but she did it first, so he saw no problem with doing it right back. In his opinion that was the best way to deal with mud being flung at his face... Just fling it back at the person who threw it first.

"Differences?" he asked, amused. "Don't think yourself so special. We don't have differences... We don't really have anything." He looked back at her and stopped mid-step, his eyes seeing the blood right away.

Without a thought to their argument, he stepped forward and took her wrist, holding it in front of his face to examine it. There was no cut or scrape, so where had the blood come from. She had just touched her face. His scrutinizing eyes looked at her lips, and he could see the blood on them now. How had he not noticed before?

"Doyle, what did you do?" he asked. Rhetorical question. He knew what she did, he just didn't know why she'd been so engrossed with being right that she hadn't even paid attention to her injury. "I'm taking you to the hospital wing," he said, glad that it was just one flight up from where they were. His grip on her wrist tightened so that she wouldn't try to fight him on this. Growing up in a family of doctors and healers, he didn't play around when it came to injuries.

[Kaia Doyle]

Kaia actually froze when she saw his eyes on her. He was not going to actually... was he? She took three steps backwards, because he looked about to grab her - and then he did. He grabbed her wrist in one hand and she attempted, almost automatically, to wrench it back out of his grasp. "Let me go, Zhou. You're overreacting!" He continued to stare at her wrist as though determining where the blood had come from. "It's not my wrist, it - " but he had spotted the source of the blood already. She glared daggers at him when he actually asked what she had done. "I thought that it would be obvious, Zhou," she snapped.

What? Her eyes widened and she shook her head quickly. "You want to what?" He had to be kidding! It wasn't as though she had been cursed or jinxed or anything. She had just bitten her tongue. "The Hospital Wing for this? Zhou, are you crazy?!" She attempted to pull away again, though she was surprised at the determination with which he clasped her wrist. She then did the only thing she could think of that would keep him from pulling her to the Hospital Wing. Since he still had her wand, she couldn't very well run away.

She sat down on the ground. "There." She smiled up at him. "I'm fine, really. It doesn't even hurt that much and I guess it looks worse than it is... and... Zhou!" She attempted to pull her wrist from his grasp once again. "I won't die of the bit of blood. I'll probably just need a couple of stitches. I don't want to go...." She pulled a face. Her initial fear, the reason that she avoided the Hospital Wing at all costs was that she had a deep set fear of hospitals of any kind. She was afraid of Healers, had been ever since she was a little girl.

[Bellatrix Lestrange]

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