Lost with Purpose PV Ruka

Ruka wasn't sure he'd ever stop getting lost in this massive castle.

Every corridor looked the same, and after walking up and down multiple staircases, he was barely aware of which floor he was on.
There were some portraits he thought to have seen on the third floor but he couldn't be too sure since the inhabitants of some portraits often liked to visit one another.
It was fine, though, he didn't have any classes he needed to be in time for, and he'd already checked for Donny on the Quidditch Training Pitch but he wasn't there right now, so Ruka also didn't have any people to meet.
That was the reason he was here in the first place; He had already flicked through most of his school books twice, had greeted the few people he knew in his House in passing, gone for a quick ride on one of the school brooms, and fed the giant squid in the Lake a few pieces of bread.
Now there was not much left to do aside from walking around the castle to see if he could find any interesting nooks or crannies.
All he had found so far, however, was a ghost pretending to dance with a long gone lover, and a door that told him knock-knock jokes when he came close.

Ruka turned a corner, hoping to find something, anything, that would give away where he was, but he was only faced with more doors and more portraits of people who seemed to stare at him judgingly as he walked past.
It was okay, he had time to spare, but his feet were starting to hurt and he was really hoping to find something interesting instead of just slouching through the corridors like this.
When he heard someone talking, he perked up a little bit, and he almost stumbled over his own robes trying to go after the voice.
The girl he found around the next corner seemed to walk with purpose, her steps wide with confidence - Maybe she'd be able to tell him where exactly he ended up.
"Hey," he called after her, taking double steps to catch up with her. He may be swift and agile, but being very short also meant that everyone else walked much quicker than he did. "Sorry, I... I got a bit lost, not even sure what floor I'm on." He laughed sheepishly, running a hand through messy red hair. "Do you think... Where are you heading? If I could come along with you, maybe I'd get some orientation back. Would you mind very much?"

Mari stood when she heard the voice: "Hey. Sorry, I... I got a bit lost, not even sure what floor I'm on. Do you think... Where are you heading? If I could come along with you, maybe I'd get some orientation back. Would you mind very much?"

She smiled, happy to possibly have a companion for her journey. "Sure thing," she said brightly. "We're on the second floor. My mum's tasked me with something."

Mari passed the note over to the boy, paused a moment, and then added, "Erm...you don't have to read it if you don't want to. But feel free. Basically, Mum found some portrait when she was here that sang her haikus. He's a bit of a drunk, I've gathered. She loves attention, so I think that's the allure...and maybe she hasn't had as many hours at the pub she works at so she wants a new haiku, I dunno...Mum's a bit of a mystery. Either way, though, this is much more fun than schoolwork, in my opinion...so are you in?"

She giggled a bit, feeling somewhat self-conscious, and tousled her hair. Mari still maintained that she was far too young to be dating, but she couldn't help thinking what Lucy would say if she convinced a boy to help her. Lucy had very different opinions on the matter; at eleven, she already had a boyfriend. Mari found that fact quite disgusting.

Her stomach growled loudly as she emerged from her reverie. Acutely aware of the far-too-stale licorice wand clasped in her right hand, she asked, "Either way, do you happen to have some food? As embarrassing as it is to admit, I left breakfast early to start this, and it's been a few hours, you know, and I just don't want to go to the Great Hall again until I'm done..."

Mari paused. "It's silly, I know," she added sheepishly. "I just want to make Mum happy."

Feeling acutely embarrassed, she pointed at the portrait of the three giggling girls; they were once again immersed in their twirls as if they had not just conversed with Mari. "I know Mum said the third or fourth floor, but I figured maybe other portraits would know. They," she jabbed her head in the girls' direction, "were no use, though. D'ya think we should go back to the third or fourth floor? Or maybe continue asking portraits down here? I haven't tried anything above the fifth floor."

When Ruka had approached the young Hufflepuff, he had not really expected her to be quite so open about everything she was up to.
Before he knew what was happening he held a letter from the girl's mum in his hands, looking a little dazed and confused as she told him about the haiku singing painting she was looking for.
"Uhm," he said slowly, watching as she tousled her hair, looking a mixture between embarrassed and excited. He wasn't sure whether it was the situation that made her act that way or if it was him. "Sure? I mean, I don't really have anything else to do, so..." He smiled, shrugging his shoulders to show that he was fine helping her out if she wanted the company. "I'll warn you, though, I have no idea where anything is. I'm still happy to find my way to the Great Hall most of the time." He chuckled as he handed the letter back to her after skimming the words for a couple of seconds. He thought for a second before putting his hand into his hoodie's front pocket and pulling out a few peppermint bonbons, offering them to the girl. "It's not really food but it's all I've got," he said, biting his lip as he handed her a couple of bonbons. He looked around at the portraits on the wall, thinking for a moment about whether it was more useful to go upstairs or stay here and talk with them. "Let's go up," he said eventually, adjusting his robe as he started walking towards one of the staircases. "There are more portraits there and we can ask them. If the portrait we're looking for is supposed to be somewhere on the upper floors then the portraits up there will probably know more about it than the ones down here." He smiled and offered up his hand for her to help her along and up the stairs. "I'm Ruka, by the way. What's your name?"

Mari could sense that the boy felt off about her, what with his "Uhms," statements phrased as questions, and appearance. She reddened and gazed down at the floor until he offered her some bonbons. "Oh!" Mari exclaimed, "thank you. Funny you have those; you know my Head of House's nickname is BonBon right? I think it's quite silly but" - she lowered her voice - "he seems to have had one or quite a few in his time."

She giggled as she popped one into her mouth. Peppermint! Her favorite.

The boy introduced himself as Ruka as he helped her up the stairs. Taking his hand appreciatively, Mari finished chewing and said, "Thank you! I'm Mari. It's a pleasure to meet you! You're a first year as well, judging by the fact that you are also lost?"

The climbed the staircase as she pondered the her quest once more. When they had completed the climb, she motioned rightward. "This way?" Trudging onward, she decided to turn the conversation to get to know Ruka, instead of discussing the quest further. If they found the portrait, Mari would be thrilled, but she more desperately wanted a friend than to hear some drunken haikus. "Do you like being in Gryffindor?" She wondered. "Did you think you'd be placed there? I honestly didn't know. My mum comes from a family of Ravenclaws and Slytherins and my dad's a Muggle, but I don't really fit either Slytherin or Ravenclaw, honestly. Hufflepuff was kind of a surprise, though. I guess really any house would have been a surprise."

She stopped at a portrait and pondered it. "Do you want to talk to it? I dunno, I find talking to portraits quite interesting, but I know it's not for everyone. Whatever pleases you, though." She smiled genially at the boy, hoping that she was no longer sounding as crazy. Knowing herself, though, Mari knew that probability was unlikely. There was a reason, after all, that all of her friends at the Muggle school actually had loyalty to just Lucy.

Ruka chuckled a little as the girl took a bonbon off him and popped it in her mouth, immediately rambling on about how her Head of House was nicknamed Bonbon.
He only remembered one other person who had been this talkative around him, and it was Aleksi.
At least Mari seemed to be able to concentrate on him, which was a good thing.
"Yeah," he said, nodding quickly at her question. "Yeah I'm a First Year too. Although I don't think I'll ever stop getting lost here. It's a proper labyrinth!"
He smiled lightly as they climbed the staircase, his hand resting on the rails. They went in silence for a moment until they reached the end of the stairs and turned right, walking through the corridors, eyes open for the right portrait. Ruka turned to look at Mari when she asked about Gryffindor and told him how her own house had come as quite a surprise to her.
"I didn't expect anything, really," he said sincerely, shrugging his shoulders. "My dad is a Muggle so I didn't know anything about Hogwarts until I got here. But from what the Hat said about the Houses, I guess I would have expected either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff?" He chuckled lightly and stopped for just a second as he thought he had heard a portrait reciting poems somewhere close by but it turned out to be just a student revising their homework down the corridor. "Anyway, people in my House are nice enough and the Common Room is comfy, so I can't really complain." He stopped talking when Mari stopped in front of a random portrait and asked if he would like to talk to it.
He looked up at the Portrait of a sleeping wizard in a top hat, feeling very self conscious all of a sudden. "I've never talked to any of the portraits," he admitted sheepishly. "Except the one guarding the Common Room Entrance but..." He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "Excuse me," he said to the Portrait, but the wizard in it only snored in response, so loudly and timely, Ruka was sure it was fake. "Excuse me, please, we are looking for a portrait..." The wizard snored again in response, his eyelids fluttering a bit as he seemed to want to get a quick look at who was disturbing him. Ruka looked back at Mari with a frown on his face. "Are all portraits this rude?" he asked genuinely. "This guy clearly doesn't seem to want to talk to us."

Mari grinned at Ruka's labyrinth comment. Clearly he had been a bit more social than she; having felt quite antisocial and miserable her first few weeks at Hogwarts, Mari felt as though she had mastered the corridors as much as a first year could. She knew enough about the proper nooks to study in, which steps were trick steps, where to hide from too many people, ...what abandoned toilets to get stabbed in. She shuddered. Now was not the time. She was talking to a boy - a boy! - and she wanted to relish in the enjoyment of being a "normal" girl, like Lucy.

While in her thoughts, she had realized that Ruka had been answering her next question. She thankfully had gathered the context based on him saying "Gryffindor or Hufflepuff" and listened eagerly as he described his first impressions of the house. While Mari was perfectly happy in Hufflepuff, she did sometimes wonder what the other Common Rooms were like - especially Gryffindor, as she knew there was little to no chance that she would have been sorted there in any alternate universe. A little too eager, she inquired, "What's it like in there? Gryffindors seem very nice, yes, but I always wonder if you folks are just getting into duels and stuff." She beamed and added, "Y'know, as you're brave and such. Hufflepuffs are just loyal, so we're mainly just hanging out. It's fine and all, but I always have wondered if the other houses are a bit more...exciting."

She reminisced on her mum's description of Ravenclaw - always studying, very quiet, though occasionally Isa would mention vague, philosophical discussions. Isa had also mentioned that her siblings of Slytherin reported plottings of which students to embarrass next. Mari's mum always finished the description with a sigh and a muttering: "Those snakes."

Finally, finally, Ruka seemed to want to participate in Mari's (or Isa's, Mari supposed) little hunt, but before he began, he gave another little nugget about Gryffindor: they had a portrait guarding their entrance. Without skipping a beat, Mari interjected, "You have a portrait?! That is so amazing." She allowed the statement to be unanswered as she eyed Ruka's attempts at waking the sleeping, portraited wizard. It wasn't going very well. Slightly dejected, she added her feeble attempts; she coughed and loudly uttered, "Sir?!"

He behaved for her the same way he did for Ruka: silence, ill-timed snores, and no mercy for her inquiries. Mari turned to see Ruka wearing a similar frown to her own; this journey did not seem to be an easy one, that was for sure. Mari was half-inspired to give up there, when Lucy's girlish shrill resonated in her head: "Mari, I wouldn't leave a boy who is so willing to help!"

Mari hated when Lucy interjected herself in her thoughts, even though she missed her dearly. Lucy never seemed to understand Mari's lack of interest in boys, and it was unfathomable to her that Mari didn't have a social group that extended beyond Lucy's core group. She reddened at the thoughts that remained unvocalized and muttered to Ruka, "He sure seems unhelpful. I hope that all the portraits aren't like this. Mum will be so disappointed if I can't get this done...I suppose we should try with someone else, though. Do you think we should go left or right?"

So as not to walk in silence, she added hastily, "Maybe you could also tell me more about that portrait guarding your Common Room? I never knew portraits could have jobs like that."

Ruka had to laugh a little bit at Mari's questions about Gryffindor. She wasn't the first to want to know about the Common Room, but nobody had ever asked him if they had any dueling going on in their spare time. "I hate to disappoint you," he said sincerely as he put one of his peppermint bonbons in his mouth as well, smiling at the taste. "But it's pretty calm. There's just people trying to figure out their homework, playing games, sitting by the fireplace..." He shrugged and ran a hand through his already messy hair, making some strands stick up in random directions. "The most daring thing I've ever seen happening was a group of third years daring each other to eat a bogey flavoured Bertie Bott's Bean." He chuckled a little but felt like he didn't have too much right to judge it considering he'd never tried any of the flavoured beans before himself.
He shrugged again and looked over at Mari with a smile. He wanted to ask her about the Hufflepuff dorm but he'd already heard about it from Cassie and Donny so he didn't really feel like hearing the same things again. "I have a couple of friends in Hufflepuff," he just said with a little smile before turning his attention on Mari's question about the portrait guarding the Gryffindor entrance.
"Yeah," he answered with a grin. "She's not too helpful either. Usually she's sleeping or fixing her hair. Sometimes she acts like we're just disturbing her when we want to give her the password." He snickered gracelessly, putting a hand over his mouth to muffle the sound a little bit.

When trying to talk to the portrait of the man in the tophat, they both failed miserably. No matter what they attempted, the wizard seemed unfazed and not at all willing to give up his pretence of sleeping. "Oh well," Ruka said with a little shrug and reached out to grab Mari's hand for a moment to guide her along in the direction he thought they may have better luck.
"Anyway," he said, slowly letting go of her hand as they walked further down the corridor on the right, past a few suits of armors and towards another row of portraits they could potentially ask for help. "The lady in our portrait doesn't seem too happy to do her job most of the time. That's probably why they put her there; they knew she wasn't going to put up with anybody who wasn't able to just straight out tell her the password." He chuckled, then came to a halt when he saw a portrait of a young witch with long red hair, not unlike his friend Veronica's, and a beautiful green gown, blushing furiously at the knight serenading her on one knee. "Could that be it?" he asked Mari with raised eyebrows, laughing a bit as the knight went a little off tune trying to hit a high note. "Is that the guy your mum is looking for? At least he seems like the type of... portrait... to court a lot of girls!"

Mari was slightly disappointed that the Gryffindor common room was about as exciting as the Hufflepuff one, but she warmed inside slightly to know that she wasn't missing out on much by being a Hufflepuff. She giggled at his comment about Bertie Botts and nodded: "I've had one of those before. It was awful!"

Ruka then mentioned that he had friends in Hufflepuff, and Mari looked at him quizzically. "May I ask whom?" She wondered. She had never noticed the boy; perhaps he was in a class with her, but she would think he would at least look familiar if he had Hufflepuff friends. Then again, Mari did not really know any of the Hufflepuffs, either. She had settled quite well into her role as "loner."

The boy transitioned back to talking about Gryffindor's portrait, and when he covered his mouth to muffle his snicker, Mari wondered if he was embarrassed. She didn't think that she had come off as someone who would ridicule but perhaps Ruka had a differing impression of her. After all, she found herself a perfectly pleasant person, but there must be something wrong with her if she still hadn't made good friends here. She shrugged it off and giggled with him, though the laugh sounded a bit forced. Mari had fallen back into her habit of insecurity in the face of social situations. And to think I had felt this was going so well.. She thought sadly.

Thankfully, they had wandered aimlessly enough to come across another portrait: this one featured a red-haired witch in a complementary green gown who seemed to be wooed by a knight. "Could that be it?" Ruka wondered."Is that the guy your mum is looking for? At least he seems like the type of... portrait... to court a lot of girls!"

Focusing first on Ruka, then turning her face toward the knight, Mari analyzed the portrait. The knight hiccuped a bit after his serenade, then raised a mug of Butterbeer to his lips. She grinned and emitted a squeal, saying, "Oooh, yes! You've done it Ruka!" She skipped towards him to give him a hug before she thought better of it; whether he accepted it or not, her face would redden in embarrassment as she realized her thoughtless action. She certainly did not hope that Ruka thought she was trying to put moves on him.

Quickly, Mari refocused on the portrait and cleared her throat for the third time on this adventure. "E-excuse me?" She wondered, flustered from surprise that they had actually found him. "Are you the haiku knight?"

The knight turned toward her and belched. Gross... Mari thought. She wasn't entirely sure why Isa was so enamored with the knight; he was quite handsome but drunk enough to lack proper manners. Shockingly, the red-haired witch seemed to feel the same about him as a young Isa had: she merely giggled. Mari shrugged; she didn't understand men.

Once he had taken another sip of his butterbeer, the knight nodded and flashed a toothy grin at the pair. "Do you remember an Isa..." She paused. He wouldn't know her as Haynes, would he? "Peters? Isabella Peters? Very pretty, black, was at Hogwarts maybe...twenty years ago?" The knight nodded again. Mari looked at Ruka and grinned. She then held up her mum's letter and explained, "You see, Mum wanted me to see if you were around. She said you were very kind and missed your serenades. Would you mind composing a new one for her?"

The knight affirmed for a third time. Yes! Mari internally exclaimed. She clasped her hands together and looked at him eagerly. Smiling, the portraited man looked at Mari, hiccuped once more, and bellowed in a singsong voice: "My Is-a-bell-a / The wisest girl in the land / Beaut, I'd be your man."

If Mari had been holding something, she would have dropped it in astonishment. That was...quite bad. She flashed a puzzled look at Ruka, mixed with laughter and disappointment. Leave it to Isa to just like a portrait because it complimented her, even if it was a poorly constructed compliment. Furthermore, leave it to Isa to request her daughter to go on this epic adventure, just for another poorly constructed compliment.

Mari couldn't help it; she let out a giggle. The whole situation was just too much. The knight had turned back to the woman he was attempting to woo, so Mari shot Ruka a more ridiculous look, trying to signal without being outright rude her true feelings about the situation. While laughing, she also added, "Care to have the master complimenter come up with one for you, Ruka?"

Ruka grinned brightly when Mari told him she had already had one of those Every Flavour Beans before, and his eyes sparkled excitedly. "Yeah?" he asked, feeling almost too interested in something as simple as a candy. "I haven't had one yet but I heard some of them are really gross while others are like... Chocolate Pudding and Cinnamon Biscuits! Which flavour did you get?"
Feeling a little sheepish, Ruka shrugged his shoulders lightly when Mari asked who his Hufflepuff friends were. A part of him was scared that the people he considered friends never even mentioned him, that maybe none of them really thought about him that much but then he thought about his latest adventure with Donny and the doubt left his mind. "Well, there's Cassie. Cassiopeia? We're not super close but we both like stars. We get along." He smiled and skipped a little bit when he spotted a small stain on the ground he didn't want to slip on. "And then there's Donny. Donnovan Perrywinkle. Do you know them?" He assumed that she must considering they were all in the same house, but then again he barely knew any of the people in his own House so maybe that was a bit of a premature assumption.

Either way he was glad to be able to focus on the task at hand again; It wasn't that Mari wasn't easy to talk with or unpleasant in any way, but for some reason he felt a little more at ease being able to focus on what they were trying to do. He assumed it was his own social awkwardness and the fact that he had no idea how to talk to people.
Afterall, everyone he had talked to thus far had approached him, not the other way around.

He beamed when they finally found the portrait they had been looking for, and Ruka opened his arms a bit as it looked like Mari was about to hug him.
However, she seemed to change her mind almost immediately, and he kept his arms open just long enough for it to be slightly awkward before he dropped them at his sides again, only smiling gently at the other girl.

Instead of focusing on that one moment of awkwardness, Ruka turned his attention to the... knight of sorts, frowning at his disgusting behaviour. He was clearly drunk, his face a little swollen and his nose red, and as he talked to Mari his words were slurred with alcohol.
"Charming," Ruka muttered under his breath, raising his eyebrows as he suppressed a laugh. He did his best not to roll his eyes as to not to offend the knight, but he couldn't help turning to Mari to say: "Would you like me to write that down? It'd be a shame if thai masterpiece got lost!"
He chuckled a little when Mari asked if he wanted the knight to compose something for him as well, his eyes widening a bit in horror at the thought of having to listen to another horrible Haiku. "I think I'm fine," he said, taking a step back as he waved his hands to decline the offer. "I get really shy when people want to skmg haikus about my stunning looks, so..." He laughed and gestured for Mari to get closer to the knight, raising his eyebrows at her jokingly. "But if you wanted one for yourself as well just go ahead, I'll be sure to write down every word!"