Never To Be Seen Again (Open)

[August Jensen]

August Jensen was lost. Well, not lost exactly… Actually, no he was definitely just lost. After six years attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry he still got hopelessly confused by the maze of corridors that made the made up the castle. Normally he just stuck to pathways he knew, consistently following the same route so there was no chance of him taking a wrong turn. It also helped that he usually had a friend with him, walking half a step behind them ensured that they led the way.

It was late as he’d just finished an astronomy lesson, definitely past curfew and the note he had from Professor Port wouldn’t give him an excuse for much longer. It didn’t take an hour to get back to the dorms, even in a castle as big as Hogwarts. He was all alone this evening, his own fault for tripping over and spilling the contents of his bag all over the floor of the Astronomy tower. Even though a few of the other Hufflepuffs had tried to wait for him he’d told them to leave. It wasn’t fair to make them hang around because he was a klutz.

It all went wrong when he discovered somebody had knocked over all the suits of armour in on of the corridors on the seventh floor, blocking the path completely. The detour hadn’t exactly gone as planned, he knew Ash had shown him a shortcut once, but after choosing to go down some stairs hidden behind a tapestry he was fairly certain he wasn’t going the right way. Back tracking only made things worse.

August wasn’t even sure what floor he was on any more. The fifth one maybe. He pouted, using lumos to illuminate the corridor as much as possible and peering in both directions with absolutely no idea which way he should pick. With a small sigh August sat down on the floor, back propped up against one of the cold stone walls. He was tired and it was getting harder and harder to remain optimistic about his chances of finding his way back to the Hufflepuff Common Room. Perhaps after a bit of a rest he’d be able to look at things with fresh eyes.

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[scorpiusmalfoy]

Scorpius stretched and yawned as he walked along the corridor towards the stairs that’d take him up to the sixth floor. He was tired as hell - Quidditch practice ad dawn, then a full day of lessons, then prefect duties, but even after all that he couldn’t sleep. He’d lain in bed for a while, but even in his exhausted state he couldn’t seem to drift off. He chalked it up to having too much on his mind - Karma was back, and things were more than a little strange between them. They weren’t a couple any more, that was for sure, and Scorpius wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about that. He still cared for Karma, but he was having growing doubts about whether she cared for anyone else, and there were only so many times he could excuse her behaviour before bringing her round to his way of thinking seemed like a distant impossibility.

And then there was Thaniel. He couldn’t seem to get the ghost out of his mind, conscious or unconscious, which was, he supposed, another good reason for not going to sleep. Being plagued by disturbing dreams was not something he looked forwards to. They had a “date” - had Thaniel had to have used that word? - to play cards, which had been postponed after Karmas sudden absence, but was now back on. Scorpius was fairly sure that that was a completely terrible idea, but Thaniel was a ghost, so things couldn’t go horrifically wrong, could they? Scorpius wouldn’t feel obliged to break out some kind of alcohol, so he couldn’t get drunk, and the fact that Thaniel could walk straight through him solved most other problems. Just as long as the ghost couldn’t see straight through him, as well, he would be fine.

Scorpius was so deep in thought by the time he got to the top of the stairs that he misjudged where the last step was, and tripped over it rather spectacularly “Bugger!” He yelled as he plummeted forwards, sticking out his hands to break his fall. He hit the floorboards with a slight thud, followed closely by a muffled groan, and a creak as he rolled over “Ow” He mumbled. His palms were stinging - he’d probably grazed them on the wood on impact, but right then he didn’t care much. Perhaps all that sleep deprivation was catching up with him, because now he was horizontal he had no desire to right himself again. Perhaps he could just lay there for a little bit, collect himself, then he could get on with heading up to the owlery. He supposed someone might have heard him cry out, but it was pretty deserted part of the castle, and it was late, so with any luck, he’d be undisturbed.

[August Jensen]

August pulled his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them and resting his chin on his knees. He was feeling very sorry for himself. Being lost in the castle wasn’t much fun. In fact the combination of the cold seeping into him from the stone of the wall and floor, the fact that he was tired from a full day of lessons and hungry because he’d skipped dinner to do some research for an essay in the library meant that August was rather close to tears.

His head shot up as there was a muffled shout and a thump from somewhere nearby. August’s heart started to beat wildly in his chest, looking frantically through the gloom in the direction of the noise to try and see what had made it. What if it was some kind of magical creature coming to get him? He’d heard the other students whispering about vampire attacks. He didn’t dare light his wand in case it led the monster right to him.

After a minute or two of silence August started to calm down a little and he realised rather belatedly that it could just as likely be another person in trouble. Or even just another person in general. He pulled out his wand, scrambling to his feet and making his way cautiously down the corridor in the direction of the noise. ”Hello?” He’d been aiming for inquiring but it came out as more of a frightened squeak.

August had been looking intently for a person at eyelevel so he was almost on top of the Slytherin before he realised the boy was there. ”Scorpius!” He broke into a wide grin, not only had he found somebody, but it was a friend too. He doubted Scorpius had ever got lost in the castle, he just wasn’t the type. ”Why are you lying on the floor?” August asked, face suddenly flooding with concern. ”Are you hurt? Should I try to find help?”

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[scorpiusmalfoy]

Scorpius sighed and folded his arms across his eyes. For some reason, lying down here was making him a lot more sleepy than lying in his own bed had been, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense, given the absence of a mattress. The rational part of his brain was trying to point out that falling asleep in the middle of a random corridor really wasn’t the best of plans, but the rest of him was too tired to care, and now he’d blocked out the light with his arms, he was really beginning to appreciate how comfortable the floor actually was.

Unfortunately, it seemed that his hopes of not being disturbed had fallen on deaf ears, as a moment or two later he could hear footsteps approaching. So much for sleep, he thought. The trouble was, he didn’t know who it was that was approaching him - if it was a teacher, he didn’t quite know what story he’d give, but even if they didn’t believe him, the worst that could happen was detention. On the other hand if it was one of his peers, that wouldn’t be nearly so easy to worm his way out of - and he really couldn’t afford for rumours about him to start flying around the castle.

His fears were abated slightly, however, when he heard whoever it was call out. The voice sounded more terrified than terrifying, and Scorpius vaguely thought he recognised it, although with his arms half covering his ears, he couldn’t be sure. It was only when he heard his name squeaked out that he took his arms off his face and looked upwards. “Hello August” He said, blinking slightly against the light, a smile spreading onto his face. That had turned out better than he’d hoped - August was a friend, and a good one at that, although they didn’t spend quite as much time together as he’d like. Or very much time together at all, really, what with the front Scorpius put up most of the time.

Scorpius’s smile widened when August asked him what he’d been doing on the floor “Just having a nap” He said, chuckling lightly. August was one of the very few people he would have actually told the truth too. Shifting slightly he made to push himself upright, although he flinched a little when his palms touched the floor - he’d forgotten about the grazes. Trying to ignore them, he got to his feet and dusted himself down, before flashing his friend another smile “What about you? I’d have thought you’d have been in bed hours ago.”

[August Jensen]

”Hi!” August said, still beaming. All the fear of being attacked by some unknown monster and worry about being lost forever was visibly melting out of him. It would all be okay now, Scorpius was here. He didn’t get to talk to the Slytherin nearly often enough, mainly because Scorpius was nearly always with his Slytherin friends. If it was humanly possible for August to dislike a group of people it would be the those Slytherins. They were just so mean sometimes!

”A nap.” He echoed, nodding in understanding, it was late and sleeping seemed like a good idea to him. August didn’t even question the absurdity of Scorpius deciding to nap on the floor and only looked at him with innocent curiosity. ”Is it comfortable there then?” He asked, tempted to bend down and feel the floor to find out. ”I was sitting down the hall and I don’t think it was very comfortable down there.” August pouted, looking like he expected all corridors to be comfortable enough to nap in.

”I would normally be,” He agreed. ”But I got lost and I’m really tired.” The small yawn that escaped as he explained how tired he was somehow accidentally turned into a quite a big one and he had to lift a hand to cover his mouth. Scorpius probably didn’t want to examine his molars. August smiled apologetically, then paused wondering if he should ask Scorpius to show him the way back to somewhere he recognised. ”Actually I still have no idea where I am.”

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[scorpiusmalfoy]

Augusts bright greeting made Scorpius smile as he pushed himself upright, dusting off his clothes as he stood. None of his friends - or, more accurately, the people he spend most of his time around - would greet him like that. The might be enthusiastic, but that was only if they thought they could get something out of it. Talking to August, someone who genuinely had that affection for him, was sometimes a bit of a shock to the system. Once you got used to living behind a veneer, it was awfully strange to step out from it and actually be yourself.

“A nap.” Scorpius smiled again at that - from anyone else’s mouth, it would have sounded incredulous, but August made it feel like a complete reasonable thing to be doing, sleeping in the middle of a corridor. A lot of the time, Scorpius found himself wishing there were more people like August in the world - his way of looking at things may be simplistic, but it was a much nicer, purer way than most other people out there. It was refreshing, to say the least.

“I wouldn’t call it comfortable, no” Scorpius laughed in response to August’s question “But I was so tired it didn’t really matter” Using the word tired probably hadn’t been the best of ideas as it reminded him that he was, in fact, still tired. Then August said it as well, and when the other boy yawned, Scorpius couldn’t help but do the same. “Looks like we could both do with getting to bed then” He said, smiling sheepishly, his hand still hovering around h his mouth from the yawn. He had been intending to go to get some thinking done up in the owlery, but nearly falling asleep on the floor had convinced him that he was in no fit state to be thinking about anything, let alone trying to walk somewhere to do it.

Scorpius looked around him as August mentioned he didn’t know where they were. He was fairly sure this was the sixth floor, but it was late, and August’s uncertainty was contagious. “I’m pretty sure we’re on the sixth floor” He replied, flicking his eyes back to his friend “Far out to tea east side though - I was trying to get up to the owlery, but I heard there was some kind of blockage on the seventh floor, so I came this way. Good thing I did, or you might have been left here all night!” He flashed August a quick grin, hoping that what he’d just said wouldn’t scare the other boy as much as he was suddenly worried it might.