Poking the Hermit PV Ended

Wyatt was alone most of the time, because that’s the way he wanted it. Wyatt never liked being surrounded by more than one person, and if there was really an option, he’d get rid of that one person too. That’s why he froze when he heard the door to the Abandoned Toilets creak open, and a human person’s voice say “Hello?”

What are you supposed to say to that? “Hello, please leave me alone I am socially awkward due to the lack of human contact I’ve experienced throughout the entirety of my life”? Hello is such a tricky greeting, especially when it’s in the form of a question. It was a question he had the power to answer. He looked down and realized how much of a gap there was between the stall’s wall and the cold, wet floor. So wet you could see your own reflection. Well, half of it was water, the other half was broken glass. This was a truly messed up lavatory.

Through the gap, he saw a pair of shoes, and he realized it must mean whoever walked in could see his shoes too. He shuffled back but assumed the speaker had already seen his shoes. He sighed defeatedly before answering.

“Hello.” He replied. “Why are you here?”
So much for “Abandoned” Toilets.

_{@Adlai Rod}

“Why are you here?” the person on the other side of the door asked after confirming someone else was indeed in the room. “I got lost again and my feet hurt.” She said rocking back onto her heels. “Just looking for a place to sit for a bit before I wander off again. How about you? Why are you here?” She asks.

She heard of frequent rumors of people crying in the abandoned bathroom stalls, or hiding here to skip their lessons, or hiding here to rush through whatever they had left of their homework.
Adlai had always thought to much, at times her thoughts proved to be a bit dangerous to herself. Just another thing she picked up from her mother. Lucky her.

Looking down at the floor again she saw the strangers shoes. They were the standard uniform shoes, nothing special. But still something poked her.
“You know you can open the stall if you want. I don’t bite. I mean unless I absolutely have to bite someone I will. I highly doubt that’d ever happen but you never know. Anyway...I think you know what I’m trying to get at so...”She began to ramble. Not only did she think to much, she talked to much.

Surprisingly, the (female sounding) voice answered his annoyed “why are you here” quite kindly. She said she was exploring the school and was looking for a quiet place to rest. Then, the girl asked, because she just had to, didn’t she. She asked, “why are you here?” Wyatt contemplated whether or not to use a dumb comeback such as “when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much,” and decided it would be just stupid.

The girl probably thought he’d been crying in there. It’s hard enough trying to have a fraction of peace in the whole bloody school, but when you throw Myrtle into the mix? Wyatt would be crying if he didn’t have so much self-respect, or was it pride?

“I’m just trying to get some peace. It’s quite rare here,” he said. It held a dismissive and rude tone. He really just hoped he could annoy the girl into leaving. It was so much easier to get quiet back home, mostly because home was an old factory town in which few people still lived.

That was something he now realized he took for granted. The beautiful silence of home. In a school full of obnoxious witches and wizards, silence was practically non-existent. Wyatt’s favorite pastime was sitting in silence, just him and his thoughts, but the practice was on hold since he began studying at Hogwarts.

The girl spoke up, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“You know you can open the stall if you want. I don’t bite. I mean unless I absolutely have to bite someone I will. I highly doubt that’d ever happen but you never know. Anyway... I think you know what I’m trying to get at so...”

She rambled on for quite a bit. Wyatt questioned if it would never end. He was grateful that he’d stayed in the stall this long because his eyes just couldn’t possibly roll back further, he was sure he looked like an idiot or at least a crazy person. The girl did have a point though, and Wyatt was sick of thinking of her as “the girl.” He decided to step out of the stall.

“Wyatt Starkey, overgrown dungeon snake. And you are?”

_{@Adlai Rod}

The girl that stood in front of Wyatt wore a long sleeved button down shirt, school issued sweater, ankle length skirt, blake flats, and a wide smile that caused her eyes to squint from behind her glasses. After pushing the extra fabric of her hijab off of her shoulders the girl has leaned back a bit and stuck out her hand to Wyatt. “I’m Adlai Winifred Rod. Nice to meet you.” She said with a brief genuine laugh to Wyatts comment about him being an over grown dungeon snake. He didn’t look anything like a snake, or even remotely over grown.

In fact the boy before her seemed to be about the same height as one of her distant cousins, Masoud. She wasn’t exactly sure on how they were related but they were and that’s all she has to know. Her mother’s side of the family was always far bigger than her fathers side. “Isn’t this nice,” She said moving to the side a bit to make room for him. “Now it doesn’t feel like I’m taking to a wall. How about you?”She asked him not wanting to let whatever conversation that had before die into an awkward silence.

Wyatt wore a simple outfit. The only thing that changed about his “look” each day was the color of his hoodie, which alternated from green, to gray, to black. Some days, when he felt really crazy, he’d wear dark blue jeans instead of the usual black. He was wearing black jeans and a gray hoodie today, with a black tee underneath.

The girl stuck her hand out to Wyatt, and he shook it. “I’m Adlai Winifred Rod. Nice to meet you.” She said, with a small laugh after Wyatt’s “overgrown dungeon snake” comment.

“Isn’t this nice,” She said moving to the side a bit.
“Now it doesn’t feel like I’m talking to a wall. How about you?”

“I don't know, really. I’d choose walls over real people any day,” he said, honestly. His face was expressionless, and his eyes were just as unreadable. He hoped he didn’t insult her, but he doubted she’d be offended. After all the times within the last minute he’d attempted to insult her, she continued to be kind. It was likely Adlai was a Hufflepuff.

He tried to find something to be angry with about Adlai, but she was being so incredibly kind despite Wyatt’s dismissive behavior and tone. He hoped she wasn’t secretly a Gryffindor, because then he’d respect a Gryffindor, and that was something he tried desperately to avoid.

_{@Adlai Rod}

“Ah, I see. Though that’s a bit silly walls don’t exactly talk back do they? Of course I may be wrong some walls may be able to talk I might not know it yet. After all everything impossible thing seems to be possible here, right?” She said laughing a bit at his comment again as she rolled onto her heels.

Her feet did hurt but at the same time judging from Wyatt’s character she felt as if he’d run away if she took her eyes off of him. And she knew for a fact that she’d probably never see him again even though Slytherin and Hufflepuff have classes together she doesn’t recall his face.

“Though then again there are people who can’t talk as well, but thankfully for them there’s always sign language and writing and visual art- but then there are people who can’t see-“ and again she began to ramble. At some points she’d spit a word out in Icelandic which seemed to alter her accent a bit. Her accent was already a bit off. It was a mix between a Welsh one and an Icelandic one but on top of that she rolled her R’s. She had her parents to thank for that.

“Ah, I see. Though that’s a bit silly walls don’t exactly talk back do they? Of course, I may be wrong some walls may be able to talk I might not know it yet. After all everything impossible thing seems to be possible here, right?” Adlai said, sort of rambling. Wyatt didn’t like eye contact, so he looked down. He was in time to see Adlai rock back on her heels. He remembered what she’d said when he first heard her voice. She’d said her feet hurt and she was just looking for a place to relax

He looked back up at her face and noticed she was watching him like a hawk as if he was an inmate at Azkaban, and he was going to run away to terrorize London the second he got the chance. He raised his left eyebrow slightly to show that he noticed what she was doing. If she hadn’t noticed she’d been staring, he thought this would be a good signal that she was.

“Though then again there are people who can’t talk as well, but thankfully for them there’s always sign language and writing and visual art- but then there are people who can’t see…”

Apparently, she knew she was rambling this time. He wouldn’t mind listening to her talk, though. He liked listening much more than he liked talking.

“Do you need to sit? You mentioned earlier you needed to rest.”

Wyatt’s accent was nothing like it was supposed to be. From what you hear, you’d assume he was from the posh part of London, where all the rich people lived and drank tea, or whatever rich Londoners do in their spare time. He was actually from an old factory town called Cokeworth, where most people talked like they didn’t care what anyone thought of them. Wyatt learned early on that people treat you better when you sound and look important, so he changed the way he spoke with the help of a friend… who happened to be a snake.

They were in the middle of the lavatory, so there was plenty of room to sit, but the floor was disgusting and wet.

“There must be a dry patch of floor somewhere,” he thought aloud.

Paying no mind to his raised brow Adlai answered his simple, yet in a way, kind question.
“Oh! Yes, thank you.” She said as she followed him on the tips of her toes. “There must be a dry patch on the floor somewhere.” He said.

“With the mold starting to grow in here I highly doubt it. But it’s not something I mind.” She said as she knelt down and started to press her hand on the floor, trying to find a spot that felt the least wet. “Then again it’s just water it’s sure to dry. On top of that I do my laundry tomorrow anyway.”

Surprisingly she found a place to sit and she patted a spot next to her. “Come on. Unless you’d rather go back into the stall or you have somewhere better to be? If that’s the case I don’t mind though I’m sure I’d be lonely.” She told him as she brought her knees up to her chin and held her hands close to her chest. Although spring was nearly over and summer was around the corner the school remained rather cold which Adlai didn’t mind, in fact she preferred the cold over the heat with all the layers she had to wear.

“Come on. Unless you’d rather go back into the stall or you have somewhere better to be? If that’s the case I don’t mind though I’m sure I’d be lonely.”

His face shifted to a tight smile. “Are you trying to guilt me, Rod,” the Slytherin said playfully, arms crossed. “Well, it’s working,” he added sarcastically before casting Colloportus on the stall door beside himself. Once it was securely locked, he leaned against it. Surprisingly, the floor below him wasn’t super wet, which was fortunate. He sat with his legs crossed, as well as his arms.

“I can’t imagine what this room will be like in a few years from now if it’s like this already. It’s a wonder they haven’t shut it down or ripped it apart.” Well, actually it wasn’t. The only reason the Abandoned Toilets were still “open” was because of the Chamber of Secrets, well that and Myrtle. Wyatt, being a parselmouth knew that, but he was an idiot if he shared what he knew with Adlai, who he could only assume was just as scared of the ability as everyone else at Hogwarts was. He was used to playing dumb. Wyatt noticed himself spacing out, how interesting could his shoes be.

He looked up, trying not to be suspicious, but it didn't really matter. He was unreadable. His own mother wouldn't know what he was thinking if he put on his mask.

_{@Adlai Rod}