Lost In The Castle

[ uniform. ]

With harsh steps, Ana made her way into the dueling tower, quick clacks resembling that of a woman who knew exactly what she was doing. Ana could hardly be described with any inkling of maturity as "woman" presented, but she certainly knew exactly what she was doing. Prior to this, she had a disagreement with her dorm mate, the cheesy redhead with the up-turned nose (absolute awful human being), and they decided to settle it like reasonable witches: within the confines of a dueling ring.

And, of course, Ana had every intention to absolutely wreck that broad's shit, as no one in their right mind would underestimate someone just because they were muggleborn, right? "That fucking rich bitch, who does she think she is?" High pitched snarls came from her, no more threatening than her spoiled cat's hisses. She also made a point to ignore the fact that, outside of the wizarding world, she too was a stuck up rich bitch.

Tossing her bag aside, she readied herself to prepare the arena into, say, a place her roommate had never seen before, had no idea how to navigate. Ana, of course, used to arena plenty of times to do whatever. Normally cardio exercises. She was very fond of the cityscapes, though she was still getting the gist of all those rooftops. However, as she prepared herself, something caught her attention... A first year.

At first, she considered simply ignoring it. But she didn't want it, like, crying? Or something? What was it that kids did? Ana hardly remembered what she ate the day before, let alone how she acted when she was eleven. "Hey." Ana tossed a long strand of hair over her shoulder, looking the kid over, before realizing... "Hey, tiny... child. Are you, uh, lost?" Missing her mommy? Forgot to hold hands with her Buddy? Something else that was oddly patronizing?

Delilah watched, she was behind a concealment charm that hid her from view. She was perched on the shoulders of a suit of armour, like he was giving her a still piggy bank while she chewed on fizzing spider pops. Delilah swallowed the fizzy sweet and rested her head on her hand: she was here to watch Ana and that stupid ginger of slytherin have an epic duel, but now the battle between the two dorm mates seem postponed, as Ana had walked off with the 1st year hufflepuff who stared intensely at her and her dorm mate was probably too much of a wuss to show up.

Behind the charm, Delilah wondered if she had any thing else to do tonight, and realised shes an anti-socialist bastard who hates everyone, so no, she didnt have any plans. So why not follow tiny hufflepuff girl and fellow slytherin student into the entrails of dead-at-night Hogwarts, all while Delilah nobbles on weird wizard candies.

Oh, god. As soon as Ana spoke to the girl, she immediately started splurging on every detail she could give. In a way, it was cute how innocent and excited she was. Muggleborn children were always like that, weren't they? So bright eyed and bushy tailed. Ana never had that excitement. As a child, she felt mostly just guilt as she learned more and more about the wizarding world. It simply proved her entire existence to be... Faulty? But magic had been a blessing, a source of escape. She couldn't wave the child's excitement away, even if the annoyance burned within her.

She wanted very much to turn her away, tell her to go home, or to just deal with it. Figure it out and walk back to your damn dorm. Who keeps going up stairs when lost when they live in a hole in the basement?

But it wasn't like Ana didn't have that same sense of adventure. Ugh. She could argue with herself all day.

Outwardly, blue eyes darted around the tower, unsure and reluctant. But she caved with a large sigh. "Ohhh... Alright... I'll humor you, itty bitty one. Tiny thing. Does it have a name--? I mean, do you have a name?" Ana leaned down toward the girl and tapped her chin with a black painted nail, trying her very best to smile a natural toothy smile and failing (she always looked like a rabid dog, didn't she?)

"How about this. I'll walk you down to your common room, and along the way I'll show you anything you want to see. It'll be a little treat, like ice cream or whatever but magical instead," She flashed her fingers outward, mimicking tiny sparks to emphasize magic. Hell, if her dormmate even had the balls, she would run into her along the way and act the Good Samaritan. "Oh, while you were dragging your ass to the dueling ring, I was helping this poor, innocent child. Are you capable of that level of selflessness?" She would say. And maybe the child would get to see Ana cast bats out of a girl's nose. Surely, that was a level of magic she'd fall into a giddy throe over.

She paused, wondering if she had heard the roommate enter the room. But upon glancing around, they seemed completely alone. Whatever. Ghosts and rats infested this place more copiously than actual human beings.

"Cerys Payne," Ana repeated, standing up straight now. Was she truly not a blooded child? That was such a witchy name. So purposeful. But British folk had such a habit of giving their children names that sounded a bit like they would be burned at the stake further down in life. "Well... Cerys. I am Ana Gray. It's a... to meet you, yes. Very good," She nodded slowly, still so very unsure of how she was supposed to react to a tiny thing so happy to have her company. Lying through her teeth was painful, even if she wasn't actually saying real, coherent sentences.

While she snatched her bag back up from the floor, she couldn't help but hate herself inwardly for starting this. All she had to do was direct the kid in the right path, but she was so absolutely thrilled to simply be there. "Yesss," She said, forcing such a sickly sweet voice to appease the child, "Yes, really." If she backed out now, it would cry. Surely, it was going to cry. And Ana did not want to be near a crying child, how absolutely abhorrent. The only thing more annoying than a happy child was a crying child, and truly "crying" was its own emotion with the way kids broke so often for stupid reasons.

As the child spoke, Ana guided her with a gloved hand towards the direction of the doorway, listening to her tiny, little wish. Ana noted the tone in her voice as she spoke of kittens, and a genuine ghost of grin broke against her painted lips. Ugh, how dare she do something so precious. Cats were a very important asset to anyone's life, within reason. But Ana's own behavior around her fuzzy wuzzy Wolf was less than dignified, the giant bundle of fluff simply melting her into a gushy puddle.

As they descended the stairs, Ana paused to take that moment and grant Cerys her first wish:

From a vial within her bag, she emptied a liquid gold substance into her hand, letting it stick to her palm like a sentient droplet of mercury. From that, she twisted her wand in her other hand, trailing the silk into the air, were it lingered momentarily. Like round, glittering stars. And each droplet suddenly burst into a golden bird, one by one, fluttering above their heads not much unlike real birds would, given that they didn't mind the girls' presence. It was simply a compressed form of fairy dust, used normally for potions. But in this moment, it was a little girl's host of sparrows.

"Was that what you had in mind?" Ana's gaze turned from her handiwork, to the girl beside her. Kittens would be saved for later; something special would have to be used to make them.