Looking for Rumours {open}

[Katherine Finnigan]

Click. Click. Click. A pair of black shoes tapped along the cold, stone ground of the seventh floor corridor and echoed softly off of the walls. Brown eyes scanned the wall curiously as though waiting for something to appear out of thin air. Nothing. Walking all the way down to the top of the staircase with no result, the figure turned and headed back in the other direction. This time, a feminine hand slid along the bricks of the wall just in front of her body. It didn't feel as though anything was out of the ordinary or that there was any space or opening along the wall where there shouldn't be.

"Where in Merlin's name is it?" Katherine's soft voice whispered. She'd heard rumours that there was a room in the castle that only ever appeared when it was needed or if someone knew where to look. Since her father had told her about it on more than one occasion, she thought it would be fun to have a look around for the room. As she recalled, it was located on the seventh floor and near a tapestry but she couldn't exactly remember how to make it appear. It really was quite frustrating.

Tapping her fingernails against the wall, Kat wandered further and futher down the corridor in hopes that the room would appear just like magic. By the time she'd reached the opposite end of the hallway, she let out a discouraged sigh and reached up to tighten her ponytail. She might not have been the most daring of people but she was driven by solid determination half the time. This was one of those things. For over six years, she hadn't really bothered with it but something about this lazy Sunday morning had her keen to find the room of requirements.

[Evelyn Thomas]

Evie looked back as she ran. "Shit.... Filch'll have me hung if I get caught...."

Since it was Sunday, she'd lounged about in her favorite outfit. She wore her blue jeans with her favorite chain attached, her favorite shirt that fit snug over her curves, & shoes to match the outfit. She felt completely comfortable. So the day started off good.... Until she got bored. She soon decided that it would be fun to pull a prank. So she owled her little brother, her favorite prankster, Jules & they came up with the perfect plan. Too bad people were following them.

They'd decided to paint a wall on each floor... & with Evie's magic skills, they'd charm it to do something funny. They did each floor a different color... Making each color do something different. But when they finally made it to the seventh floor, they didnt know a prefect was already there. After painting the wall a briliant shade of purple & making the paint... rather... the wall squawk at passers, they were both caught red handed... well.... purple handed.... by a prefect. Of course... like most honorable people would do.... they ran. They split up & ran seperate ways.

Evie decided to try to get into that old secret room her dad talked so much about. So when she turned the corner, without noticing Katherine, she paced back & forth in front of the wall, begging for a place to hide. After a few minutes, the door appeared... & Evie disappeared.

[Katherine Finnigan]

Katherine should have heard footsteps echoing down the corridor toward her but she was far too busy trying to work out where this secret passageway or door was. If only she could bloody remember what her father had said about how to get in. It was impossible! As the minutes ticked by, she started to get even more frustrated. Sometimes the castle could really get to a person with all its little tricks and hidden places. Sighing again, she was simply about ready to just give up looking. It wasn't worth getting herself all flustered over anyway.

Just as she turned, she spotted one of her childhood friends, Evelyn Thomas, practically sprinting down the corridor. She watched carefully as the Gryffindor girl paced back and forth in a spot and then the door appeared directly in front of her. So that's all you have to do! Pace in front of it and think what you want! I knew it was something like that, she thought to herself. If it hadn't been for her urgency to get in, she'd have slapped her forehead with her palm.

Hurrying along, she tried to get to the door before it shut but she was, unfortunately, a little late. Only a second too late. As it shut, the door disappeared again. Shaking her head, Katherine thought, I need to find the room of requirement that Evie is in. I need to find the room of requirement that Evie is in. I need to find the room of requirement that Evie is in. As she thought it, she walked back and forth in front of the exact spot her friend had earlier. Just as it'd done before, the door appeared. Smiling proudly, Kat opened it and stepped inside to see...

[Evelyn Thomas]

Evie paced the room, terrified of being caught. She ran past everything & hid in the back of the room. "I guess wanting somewhere to hide translated into being in a crowded room... Really wish there was something to drink in here..." She muttered to herself. Seconds later a bottle of butterbeer appeared. "Hmmm...." she took the drink & sipped on it as she looked around.

She walked around then froze as she heard somebody come in. "Oh shit.... how'd they find me... Im dead. Merlin.... Im dead." She stared at the door, waiting to be expelled. As soon as the door opened, she screamed. "IM SORRY! IM SORRY!" She yelled. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw Katherine & almost fainted. "KAT!!!"

[Katherine Finnigan]

The room was full of all sorts of things but it wasn't so much what she saw as what she heard. Almost the instant the door opened, she heard someone scream and apologize. It was clearly Evie's voice but Katherine had no clue what she'd be apologizing for. "Oye! Calm yourself Evie," she giggled softly, shutting the door behind her and taking a few steps into the rather interestingly decorated

[/b] room.

Having a quick look around, Katherine scrunched her nose. It honestly wasn't what she'd been expecting to find. From what she'd heard, from her father, it was supposed to be...well...different. Rather than dwelling upon that thought, she looked back over at the Gryffindor and curiously asked, "So what in Merlin's name has you running all about and yelping out apologies to anyone that walks in the room?"[/blockquote]

[Evelyn Thomas]

Evie took a deep breathe. "Jules & I did a prank. Got caught by a prefect.... Almost got killed." She laughed. "Well... You scared the crap out of me!" She grabbed at her chest. "THANK YOU! For giving me a heart attack!" She went up to Katherine & hugged her. "Where've you been?! Ms. 7th year!"

She smirked & crossed her arms. "Im hurt.... You dont care about your 6th year childhood friend!" She faked a cry then laughed. "Im telling Uncle Seamus!"

[Katherine Finnigan]

Katherine couldn't help but break out into a fit of giggles over how dramatic Evelyn was being. Even despite her giggling, she managed to hug her dear friend back. Oh how she'd missed hearing all about the exploits of Evie and Jules Thomas. They always were quite the pair when it came to pranks and causing all sorts of havoc...but getting caught?

Shaking her head in an amused manner, she managed a giggled reply of, "Almost killed? Come now Evie...I highly doubt a prefect would kill you." It took a second or two for her to think on the question posed though. She honestly didn't know how exactly to answer it. Where had she been? Shrugging a little, she skipped it and said, "And what in the world makes you think I don't care about my darling sixth year friend Miss Evie Thomas? I'd try to look you up sometime but I'm sure you're always off torturing your prank victims."

[Evelyn Thomas]

Evie laughed. "Hard to believe... But Im sort of... out of the pranking business... I rarely prank people... I havent done this all year... which is exactly why I was so freaked out about getting caught." She sighed deeply. "You... of all people know how crazy 6th year is.... getting ready for my 7th year... Dealing with the screw ups on my OWLs. How will I be an auror like Teddy if I can't even get good grades?"

She thought for a while then shook her head. "Enough about me.... Im proud of you Kat. 7th year & all.... I know Aunt Lavender & Uncle Seamus are super proud." She smiled softly.

[Katherine Finnigan]

"You? Out of the pranking business?" Katherine asked in mock disbelief. She did grasp what Evie meant about just how busy sixth year could be but it was still nothing when compared to seventh year. Yes, Katherine Finnigan, of all people, did know exactly what that was like so she could understand why Evie had taken a hiatus from pranking and starting up trouble. Nodding she added, "So you're still determined to become an Auror, eh?"

Kat couldn't help beaming at the mention of how proud her parents, her father in specific, were of her for being almost finished with schooling. "Mum's proud and all but she's determined to make me her little protégé...which we all know I'm determined to NOT become," Katherine sighed, "But, yeah, my daddy's excited that I'll be all done with school after this. Scared half to death...but proud all the same. Speaking of parents, though, how are yours? It's been so long since everyone's gotten together for a summer party or anything."

[Evelyn Thomas]

Evie nodded. "Teddy's got me hooked on being an Auror. Just the thought of getting rid of all the bad people in the world. You know how my dad was convinced that he was muggleborn? Yeah well... He encouraged me to get a muggle penpal. Funny shit. The guy has people called police.... If I read correctly. They do the exact same thing Aurors do. Except Aurors use magic & go after magic folk... Police go after muggles." She waved her hands. "But enough about that. My mom & dad are fine. Still get the weekly howlers about Jules & Alex." She rolled her eyes. "Hey! Why dont we call my cousin Vic & she can get all my family together. You call your family & we'll have a big something over the next break.... or during a weekend...?"

[Katherine Finnigan]

Katherine listened intently as Evie went on about muggle penpals and the whole lot. It was quite interesting to hear about how the muggle enforcement was like aurors in the magical world. Kat had done all sorts of history assignments and even a comparitive essay on the similarites between muggle and magical worlds. The strangest thing in the world was that it did actually interest her a little to learn about those sorts of things.

"I'm glad to hear that your parents are doing well...even if your youngest siblings are still little troublemakers," Kat giggled softly, "Has Alex gotten worse than Jules yet? You know, Alex being the youngest and all..." It was another thing to ponder. Kat's little brother was still an evil little Slytherin but that would never change and, even so, she didn't care. Smiling brightly, she went on to say, "That would be amazing...probably over a break since you know how some of those events go. If it was over a weekend, I doubt we'd all make it back to school by Monday."

[Evelyn Thomas]

Evie giggled. "Not yet. He's actually so much nicer than Jules. Jules is like evil." She laughed. "He's trying to recruit Alex & his little friends to make a new version of Dumbledore's Army.... It's weird. But then again Jules has always been the one to follow someone great. & Alex has always been the one most likely to run to mom's arms when something isnt right..."

"I think that would be great... I didnt think about our previous parties... My fault. So next break would be perfect. I'll send an owl to Vic. We should suprise our dads though. How long has it been since they've seen each other? They're getting pretty old." She laughed & thought about the last time their fathers were together.

[Katherine Finnigan]

Laughing along softly as Evie talked about how evil Jules was. She'd always remembered him as being a troublemaker but she hadn't thought he was evil. But, then again, it had been quite a while since the last time she'd actually seen or heard from Jules. At least he wasn't a spawn of satan...like Kat's little brother. She swore he was evil incarnate...but that was a whole other discussion topic that she'd rather not get into.

"I think it's been at least four or five years since we've all gotten together for something. I mean, your family and mine, of course. I bet they'll be so excited to see each other again," she said with a happy smile just thinking about how much her father would enjoy seeing his old school friend. If Seamus was happy, his daughter was happy...except for when he was just pretending for the sake of Lav...then so was Kat.

[Evelyn Thomas]

Evie sat down & sighed deeply. "Four or five years....? Really? Its been that long....? I wish we could go back to how it used to be. When we were little & there was no Jules & Alex & little Fin... When we were allowed to act all boyish & not get scolded for it. It was fun... right?" She looked up at Katherine. "Now my mom will go nuts if she see's me in this... my favorite oufit... "She said looking down at herself. "& Aunt Lav... GEEZ.... She'd murder you if your in jeans..." She laughed. "Crazy huh?"

[Katherine Finnigan]

Kat sat down beside Evie and nodded. As they reminisced, she wished they could go back to being loud, tom-boyish little girls. Back to a time when the only thing that mattered was having fun and just being kids. There weren't stresses over exams and fashions and what they were going to do after school. Sure, there were always those little "when I grow up" talks but it wasn't ever serious...like it was now. Sighing softly, she looked down at her feet and nodded.

"Those really were the good ol' days. We always had so much fun and there wasn't anything our mums could say about it because we were just little kids," Kat laughed softly, "Now, every bloody time my mum catches me in a pair of torn jeans or my sweats, she goes into a huge fit. Thank Merlin my dad's always got my back. I bet it's the same with you, huh?"