Lost and Seek | The Courtyard PV Dewey closed

The halls, while normally pretty dreary, were especially dark at night. There were only a few sources of light scattered around leaving it nearly impossible to navigate alone. Luckily, they weren’t alone. Dewy followed close behind Martyna. While she was busy trudging forward through these abysses of hallways, Dewey was busy looking everywhere but forward. His own wand clutched to his chest as if he would’ve been of any use if they came across something remotely threatening. It was for emotional support. He watched as candled flickered and faint creaks within the night caused his attention to dart around the room. His rationality told him it was probably just their footsteps against the stairs. His fear reminded him that there is a possibility that those footsteps could be coming from someone else.

Luckily, they were able to safely traverse the castle and make it all the way down to the courtyard without any untimely interruptions. No prefect had instructed them to return to their dormitories and no professor has yet to catch them snooping around the castle after hours. It was a miracle. Maybe the slippers would have actually held them back.

They weren’t finished yet though, they still had to find the mystery item Martyna was looking for.

Just as they stepped out of the building and into the courtyard, Martyna looked to Dewey. As soon as she spoke, his eyes stopped darting around and latched onto her face. He wasn’t expecting so tense of an expression on her typically chipper features. His own eyes widened as she brought up the idea of an alarm system being attached to their common room’s door. A pit formed his stomach as imagined the most horrendous sound possible emerging from that quaint little door, alerting everyone in the castle that they had snuck out past curfew to snoop around the courtyard.

His eyes moved from side to side as he tried to come up with some kind of solution if that were to be the case, but he drew a blank. He looked back at Martyna, “I don’t know… It’s too late to worry about that now. We’re already out.” If this were anyone else speaking that phrase might hint bravery. For Dewey, it sounded more like an acceptance defeat.

Before he could further slump into his fear, he felt something grasp around his wrist. Instinctively he looked down only to find the Martyna had wrapped her hand around it, his gaze moved back up to meet her eyes. It felt as if they had silent pact, and there was no way he could leave now. Despite every ounce of fear welling in his gut, he returned that sheepish smile with a grin of his own. The hand that was currently being restrained was able to wiggle around far enough to grab her wrist in return as an indirect agreement to the contract she was putting forth.

Once they let go, Dewey gave a single nod. He looked away second before back at the girl. “This’ll go a whole lot quicker if we split up.” It was more of an observation than a suggestion, as he was already starting to wander off to begin his search around the yard. His wand was still in hand despite being practically useless, and he was on the hunt for something “fluffy and pink.”

@Martyna Romero

Interacting with @Dewey Hughes

With that single, persevering grab of the other's wrist, the downtrodden look on Dewey's pale face transformed into one of determination. Tina felt her chest lighten a little at this reaction, her eyes sparkling with what looked to be pride. This meekness was surely a downfall of his when it came to being taken advantage of by other students (not that she was taking advantage of him okay she totally was ) but right now it was downright inspiring. He gripped her wrist back, although not too hard, showing her his loyalty. A worthy minion, she thought wickedly.

That was when he made the fatal mistake of suggesting they split up.

"No!"

Tina's voice cried out into the night as soon as the words left poor Dewey's mouth, quite probably louder than she should have done. She would sacrifice them possibly being found in favour of her dramatics, forever and always. The Hufflepuff surged towards him again, not grabbing - they'd already made their silent pact of loyalty - but instead imploring with her eyes that he stay right by her damn side. Her two dark pupils were like invisible chains or laser beams, tying him in place. Once she was certain she had his attention, Tina allowed her gaze to drift about the courtyard, checking once again to make sure that no unwanted watchers were keeping tabs on the troublemakers.

"Don't you know that's how people die in horror films?" Martyna explained, her tone suddenly more hushed. She had quite the vocal range, it seemed. She wasn't sure if he was wizard born or not, or whether wizards even had horror films honestly, but she was certain that if they did this trope of 'efficiency over safety' would be one that came up somewhere. "If we split up, you might get eaten, or get hypothermia, or like... drown. And then I'll look like a rubbish protector! And feel pretty bad."

In reality, Tina was probably more nervous about all that, likely impossible, but who knew with Hogwarts, stuff happening to her. Now that she'd made herself clear, however, she jerked her head to the side, beckoning him over to their first place of search: the fountain. She remembered spending lunch time here when she'd been... with this mysterious pink and fluffy thing, sticking her feet in the water and eating pasta. It was hard to see, with only the moonlight lighting their path, but Tina could see her reflection in the shallow water.

"So, Dewey, how's life?"

Tina couldn't bare a moment of silence - she was far too much of an extrovert for that. Every second that passed in which no words were spoken only fuelled the bubbling need for her to chat, and it didn't take long for it to overflow. There were a million things she could talk about, but it was important for her to get to know Dewey. He was being a good asset right now, and maybe if she made him like her, he'd be a good source for homework help, and other late night adventures.

"As in, everything. Tell me everything."

Reducio

Sorry for the lateness on this ack!! Things have been piling up irl -u-

Reducio

you're totally fine!! i just got caught up with holiday stuff, so i'm sorry about being kind of late on this too. this feels a little short, but hope this works!! '~'

Despite Martyna not laying a single finger on him, he felt like he was being pulled to a halt as he whipped his head around to look at her. Any ounce of determination was now gone as his eyes went wide. In a twist of events, he shushed her. His brows furrowed a bit in a vague mixture of confusion and betrayal. He couldn’t wear his slippers outside, yet she was allowed to belt out a dramatic cry? For shame.

Confusion seemed to win over the rest of Dewey’s expression as she continued to ramble off in her now hushed tone. He’d never seen a movie, let alone a horror film. It wasn’t like he wasn’t allowed to. He was sure if he asked his mother if he could go to the cinema with his muggle friends, she would be perfectly fine with him going. It just so happened that all of his muggle friends growing up preferred to run around in the streets and spend their spare change on sweets. Films just weren’t on their agenda. Besides, Dewey did prefer a cheerier story than what he expected a horror movie might entail. Who decides that they want to be scared?

Oh, right.

“Who said you get to be the protector?” Dewey’s brow arched as he asked, desperately trying to ignore the fact that his voice had managed to squeak as he spoke. The silence was a little overwhelming. Ultimately, he averted eye contact, shoulders slumping once more as he whispered, “Okay, you’ve got a point.” His arms crossed over his chest, hands tucking themselves beneath his arms. Shaking his head twice, he finally looked back towards her from his hunch and whispered, “Let’s just find this thing before one of us loses a finger.” He didn’t imagine that fate would be very easy to explain to a prefect. Hiding that you’ve snuck out past curfew is one thing, explaining a missing digit is another.

With that, Dewey followed Martyna towards the center fountain. It seemed like a reasonable place to start, as most of the Courtyard was either filled with grass or sidewalk. While she took on the water itself, Dewey had begun to look around the fountain. Small patches of grass that had managed to break through the concrete seemed like prime real estate for something pink and fluffy to hide in. His head was ducked down as he looked along the edge of the fountain, hoping that maybe something would break the grain of muddled green and stark gray.

He only glanced up when spoken to again, the sound of Tina’s voice breaking the faint chirps of crickets in the night. His tone was more relaxed than it had been earlier in the night, his attention focused on searching rather than dying for once. He gave a small hum before responding. “Fine, I guess.” He continued to circle around the fountain, leaning down to brush his fingers along the ground on occasion. “Still adjusting to the whole school thing. It’s nothing like what my taid did.”

Once he made it about halfway around the fountain, he stood up and gave a stretch. His eyes still surveyed the ground, hoping that maybe from this vantage point he could spot the pink and fluffy thing.

@Martyna Romero

Interacting with @Dewey Hughes

For all the protesting he did, Dewey appeared to struggle when holding his ground against Martyna. She didn't fully notice it, or pay him much mind when he made those futile comments of indignation that she did pick up, knowing that it would be all too easy to get her way, and not to bother wasting precious time fighting back. Instead, she'd spend this 'precious' time much more productively: staring into the fountain as though waiting for her item to reveal itself from within the murky depths.

"What's a taid?" she asked, genuinely curious. 'T-eyed', he had pronounced it. To her, it sounded like another language, and languages just so happened to be something that Martyna was actually very interested in. She couldn't speak any other than English, unlike her sister and parents, and she was absolutely rubbish at learning them, but it was something she was very determined that she would learn to do - one day. One of the downsides of going to a magic school was that you didn't really learn stuff like that: maths, languages, taxes... Did wizards pay taxes? "Like the sea tide?"

If he graced her with an answer, she would listen and take it on, before offering some of her own thoughts on Hogwarts as a whole. Insight into how a Muggle-born thinks for sweet Dewey, maybe.

"For me it's well weird," she started, eyes glancing over the rest of the shadowy courtyard. Her tone wasn't demeaning, more just confused. Even now, and even with an older sibling who was lucky enough to be blessed the same gift of supernatural talent, the idea of magic in and of itself was honestly absurd. It was easier to confess these thoughts in the dark, especially to someone like Dewey. Although her thoughts about how easy to persuade to do silly things he was might make it seem as though she considered him lower than her, she didn't. Not completely. In fact, her father would say that willingness to help was a very important trait to adopt, and one he tried to instil in her from a young age, too. In a way, she thought of Dewey and his non-judgemental attitude towards her in the same light as she did Starlee with hers. They just... weren't quite her friend, yet. "Like, it doesn't feel like normal lessons at all, and I dunno if it ever will. I think that's cause I'm a... what do you call them? A Muggle-born."

She would have been happy to ramble on from here, but thankfully for poor Dewey, it didn't take long for something to catch her eye: something pink and fluffy. For a moment, she was beginning to think that a teacher might have found her prized possession and taken them away for good, which would only mean sleepless nights of horrible nightmares would become something she'd have to grow used to. She was sure that they would be hiding somewhere in the fountain, but that hadn't been the case. Instead, the place they were hidden away was quite unexpected.

"Oh my God, no way!" she cried out, again not bothering to keep her voice down as she pointed to the far wall of the courtyard. There, vines and roots and branches of overgrown trees crept up the walls, grabbing at stray stones and birds nests and, most importantly, her thing. "How'd it get up there?"

Clinging desperately to one of the topmost branches, most likely soaked through, looking admittedly a little worse for wear than usual, was none other than...

Reducio

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...her favourite pair of fluffy socks.

Tina let out a gasp, racing towards the bottom of the tree. "There! Right there! Oh my God, Dewey, we have to get it down! I'm literally going to die without them!" They would have to either climb up, or knock it down, or something... These were desperate times.