Guile Begets Trust

What a wonderful day - springtime had filled the void that winter had left in the atmosphere, and joy was returning to the overall spirit held within everyone. This too included Connor; he was not wont to be very active during the winter. There were too many easy ways for him to be caught sneaking around - tracks in the snow, his chattering teeth when he got cold (which happened quite often due to his waif-like build), or a sneeze due to a cold. But no longer; spring warmth in comparison to winter's chill wrapped around his arms, blanketing him in delight. He didn't even pay any mind that it was nighttime outside - in fact, it was close to curfew and he was nowhere near the Ravenclaw Tower. "I have to remain quiet," he thought as he hid behind a statue, "I don't want to be caught here, not now... there's so much to see that I haven't seen... I bet nobody will even find me here."

Several prefects made their rounds, questioning some passerby students from other Houses as to their whereabouts and why they weren't in their room. Connor felt lucky, all the while cunning, to have gotten past them for a moment or two. But there was a student whom he met eye contact, and out of fear that she would tell on him for being behind the armor, he waited until the right moment to sneak back into the walkway of the corridor.

Oh, this was going to be awkward.

Casey had sprung behind a suit of armor and was now finding that a boy was hiding behind the statue next to her own hiding spot. He could not see her because of a hanging banner, but she could clearly see his feet. She looked upwards, cursing her luck. This now doubled the chances of the two of them getting in trouble, and Casey's reasons for sneaking out were much too noble to be ignored. She needed to get out of the castle tonight, of all nights, because if not, bad things could definitely happen.

Lily Potter was not a cousin to her - well, she was, but that was not it. Lily was Casey's best friend in the whole world. Sometimes, her only one. And a week ago, on the full moon, Lily had slipped out without her. Casey understood, she guessed. Even though she had always joined her for the full moons, or at least accompanied her, Lily had been more nervous considering someof the new laws. It was the same concept that now made her more nervous - having another person around doubled the chances of trouble. Still, Casey had been hurt to hear nothing of it. And then she had been worried, because Lily still had not come back. Sure, Lily had communicated that she was fine, but Casey suspected some level of deception. And it was exactly one week after the full moon. And every month, a week after the full moon, Lily got sick. It was part of the lycanthropy curse, and Lily typically fainted if she didn't get medicine. The loving, cautious cousin that Casey was, she could not help but practically panic for her elder kin's sake.

So, she needed to escape. And now this boy was potentially ruining it. The last of the prefect hurried by, and Casey took the chance, walking across the hallway. She glanced back at him, giving him a nice little dirty look. She could hear him scurrying away as soon as she turned down the corridor, and she breathed easy.

But wait. What if he was going to tell on her. She was a Weasley, after all. They had their enemies. It was probably an irrational train of thought, but Casey was a Gryffindor, not a Ravenclaw. She immediately turned around and ran after the boy, her bare feet silent on the stone floor. She clapped her bag down so it would make no noise.

The boy was inadvertently in front of a door that led to a broom cupboard. Casey stealthily ran, using a pillar to hide her figure until she was all but behind the boy. A concentrated flick of her wand opened the door, and she rushed the boy, attempting to knock into the small closet so she could question him and swear him to silence.

The last of the prefects had wandered through the corridors, and Connor was safe.  He guessed that his hiding spot was one of safety, as the prefects didn’t even notice him!  He advanced further down the corridor, only to have met the eyes of a girl who gave him a mean look.  Who exactly was that girl?  She lost sight of him and then ran towards the wall so he wouldn’t be in the middle of the corridor anymore.  Connor was devising a way to play a little trick on her, such as a charm or something.  He knew all about the levitation charm, but what good would that do?  He might try Flipendo, that could work…but not at that hour; it was too dark.  His main concern here, anyway, was that of the nightlife of the castle.  He had heard that it was dull and lifeless but he wanted to see that for himself.  He had an inkling the things he was told weren’t exactly the way they functioned in the castle.  


He stood in front of a door – not the smartest thing Connor had ever done in his life; for he wasn’t thinking about Alohomora, the unlocking charm, that some students knew how to use.  He had practiced it before, sure, but it wasn’t as spectacular as other flashy charms.  But it would be useful to know, especially after the situation he was in.  Whoever used that charm unlocked the doors behind him, and they opened with a small creak.  Then he was rushed inside, barely able to see the girl in front of him.  She had red hair, striking red hair.  “Whoa, what’s going on?” he said in a whisper to her.  “Who are you?  I thought I was the only one out here…Why are you out here?”

Casey managed to steamroll the boy, who was about her size, into the closet. One of her hands reached behind her to close the door behind them, while the other reached out to pin him against the opposite wall so he would not do anything rash or stupid. He immediately seemed to panic, spitting out questionins in a slightly terrified voice at a rapid pace. She had to guess he was a first year. Either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, surely, because a Gryffindor would have fought back and a Slytherin would have been much more annoying and indignant. Much louder too.

"Shut up, already," she growled. "The prefects might have heard the door close so we don't have long. I don't like that you saw me on the one night that I really needed to get out of the castle. So, here's what I figure. The only way I can make sure you don't run off and tattle to a prefect, is if you help me get out of here. Sound like a plan? The alternative is a I beat you up and tell you attacked me in the broom closet. And I'm a great liar."

It was all just her talking big and scary, but she looked mean and mad enough to do it.

"Why would I tattle on you right now? The prefects would see that I'm out past curfew, too; we'd both get in trouble." He was honest with his words: of course, many times more in his life he would enjoy the thrill of tricking someone, or playing a joke, but right now they were facing possible detention; something that Connor didn't want, and he felt sure that this girl wouldn't want either. But she did sound quite convincing with her threats, and Connor did not want to risk being beaten and then have his position be the assaulter instead of the victim. So, he complied. "Sure, I'll help you with whatever you want. Sounds like we're both out here to seek some kind of adventure, so why not go together? There's safety in numbers."

Of course, he didn't know what she really wanted to do. Questions were blazing through his mind, one right after the other: where was she really going to lead him to? How risky was their adventure going to be? Was he prepared? Ooh, but what if they didn't make it back? So many precautions raced through his mind, but there was no way to make sure he was totally prepared for everything. Part of him wanted to go back to the Common Room, but the prefects would no doubt hear him answering the portrait's riddle. Not to mention the Grand Staircase moving in all sorts of different directions. What a calamity that would have been. He listened to the other part, the more adventurous side. He wanted to ask her some more questions, but now was not the time to have any kind of conversation other than what was essential to progress.

Keeping his voice in a whisper, he said "Okay, you lead me to where we need to go after a few moments - we need to make sure that the prefects aren't passing by or investigating the door."

The boy spoke more truth than Casey Weasley was going to admit. She had acted out of surprise and panic, and now with her head more level, she was finding that she probably would have been better offto just keep on her way and hope that the boy could not describe her if he needed to offput the blame onto someone else. She cursed herself for the small lapse in judgment, but these were the mistakes made at such a young age. Besides, Casey (unlike Lily) liked Hogwarts, and she did not want to jeopardize her stay here. Sure, Salem had been fun, but this place had so much more history for her.

She only briefly showed evidence that she recognized her folly, before tightening her grip on the boy and once more baring down on him. "Better safe that sorry," she growled, finding her mother's old phrase was definitely not as threatening as she had thought it could be. Either way, he agreed to assist her. She quicklysearched his face for tales of betrayal, but he genuinely seemed interested in staying out of trouble. As long as he thought she could cause him some trouble, he would help her - she could feel it. She held a moment, before releasing him and backing away, finding that there was not much room in their shared broom closet.

He began to take charge and Casey let him, for now. She wanted to make sure he felt good and involved so that he could not sell her out. She muttered, "We're going for the Entrance Hall." Truly, they were headed to Hogsmeade, but they needed to get outside, and she had a feeling he would freak out if he knew to just what extent she was ready to go. He seemed like he was probably a first years, and very few first years were willing to go outside while breaking curfew. It was a very risky, daring, and potentially dangerous endeavor.

She scooted out of his way so he could do as he said and check the outer corridor for prefects.

Perfect; she knew his honesty. He was irked that she didn't completely trust him, but she would in time. He felt like she was keeping something from him which gave him an unsettled feeling in his gut, but he was never one to trust his gut feeling in the first place. Guile was always the best way to go; brains versus the brawn was his motto. She stepped aside, giving him room to check the corridor. He put his ear to the door and he heard nothing. It must have been at least a half hour after the curfew checks, so the prefects must have returned to their respective common rooms. Thankfully, it was very dark in the corridors, so thought that after he opened the door he wouldn't have been seen. Slowly, he opened the broom closet's door and every few seconds it would make a 'popping' noise. Every time, he felt his stomach drop a little. Even some of the talking portraits grunted in their sleep, questioning what the noise was coming from. To them, it was nothing; their sleep was mostly undisturbed.

There was nothing in the corridors. No footsteps, no Lumos had been cast, and best of all, nobody was close. He tiptoed back to Casey, and whispered to her. "I'll need you to lead the way - but we need to keep together somehow. We're gonna have to hold hands while you lead the way to the Entrance Corridor; just make sure nobody's around." He hoped she wouldn't feel to awkward holding hands, but if they were going to get this done, it was the only way he would be able to make sure he was with her the entire time. He was excited for whatever was going to happen, or where they were going to go. He wanted to talk to her and get to know her a little bit better, but now was not the time; not until they got out of the castle completely would they be able to fully converse.

Casey knew she sounded paranoid, but it was just the way she had sort of been groomed to think recently. With Lily's turn into a werewolf, her elder cousin had become much more secretive, and much more protective of her secrets. The young girl had followed suit, and the once open little Gryffindor who shared every detail, important or not, now found that she was paranoid that people would begin to suspect all that Lily feared they might figure out. And as guilty as she felt abut th wereolf-thing, she was afraid to be the one who let Lily's secrets be discovered.

He had offered to get them out of the cramped broom closet and she was putting it all on him. She had no problem doing it because if the plan backfired, she had no problem playing the innocent. (It was a wonder she hadn't been sorted into Slytherin.) She watched curiously as the boy began to figure out whether or not they were alone. He had to be a Ravenclaw, now that she felt free to judge and discriminate based on this small view into his life. He was being much too methodical about his next move to be a Hufflepuff, and he seemed too timid to be anything other House.

She gave him the briefest look of disgust at his suggestion that they hold hands - gross. But she understood the need and sighed. In a swift motion, she took his hand and pushed the door open, peering out. And then, she was tugging him out into the corridor and they were sneaking past one corner, down a flight of stairs, and down in the directionof the Entrance Hall. Casey was surprised. It was actually working.

Casey had a firm grip around Connor's tiny wrist. But he let her lead the way through the many corridors of Hogwarts Castle, trying not to run as he didn't want their feet to echo throughout the halls. Most of the time there were large carpets that were lush and comfortable so their footsteps would not be heard, which was a relief. To his surprise they hadn't yet been caught, but he was waiting for anything to happen. He noticed that a lot of the sleeping portraits were, in fact, asleep in their frames. But some of them were grunting a little bit and there was one of a family around a portrait and as Connor passed them, the family woke up. "I do say," a member began, "What on earth is a student doing up at this hour? Aren't you to be in bed?"

Connor's heart dropped - but he was trying to remain calm, thinking quickly of what to say. Nothing came to mind that would make sense to the speaker in the portrait, which hatched with him an even better idea: not to say anything at all. That way the speaker in the portrait wouldn't be able to know that there were actually students down there, and maybe it was just a dream that they had had. Connor put a finger to his lips as a signal for "ssh, don't say anything," to Casey, and hopefully she saw it. He looked around and there was nothing else dangerous around, but since that portrait spoke he was wondering of what else could go wrong. Were some of the statues of armor actually animated...?

There had not even been any close calls, really. Casey chalked it up mostly to their small figures - it was harder to detect them because they moved quietly and with less disruption to the environment around them. On top of that, Hogwarts was well suited for trickery. There were many places available to duck into hidden alcoves, broom closets, and behind curtains. It did not come to that, but Casey walked with more certainty, knowing that even if they did suspect that a prefect or a professor was approaching or nearby, they would be able to find some shelter.

So it was a bit dishearteneing that their major source of detection came from one of the meddling photographs. Salem Witches' Institute did not have nearly as many portraits and pictures lining their walls, so they had easily become an irritation to the young Gryffindor girl. She paused, staring up at the picture. Connor spoke but as she tried to take another step, the subjecgt of the painting called out, "I said, are you not supposed to be in bed?"

Casey looked down at their clasped hands and improvised. "He's feeling sick. I'm taking him to the hospital wing." She gave the boy a death glare, prompting him to feign some sort of illness that would support her lie.