Entrance Hall (1961 - 1962) - Stairs should never move

Lionel Bryant Lefevre's Posts

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Lionel had been out for a general stroll to orientate himself on the locations of the various rooms on the hope that he would lower his chances of being late for classes once they began - not that it actually helped. Sure, the general places like the great hall, the common room and professors' offices never shifted, but the passageways he had to pass through to get there always did. It puzzled him as to why in the world anyone would want for a castle to be like that - Beauxbatons certainly wasn't. Regardless, it was all a matter of getting accustomed to this strange way of life.

Casually, the 5th year strolled through the corridor heading towards the entrance hall to find his way out into the castle grounds, but had his walk interupted by a shoelace coming undone quite unexpectedly. Lionel stooped to kneel on one knee as he worked to retie the laces - this wasn't the first time they had come undone for no good reason in the middle of the entrance hall, perhaps it had something to do with those ghosts uncle Ryuu had been telling him about that lived in the castle. Dusting himself as he rose from the ground, Lionel had been about to continue to the exit when a rather flustered looking young woman caught his eye. She appeared rather frustrated, possibly lost. Lionel wasn't sure he would be of much help being new himself, but it would be courtious to at least greet a fellow student and offer whatever aid he could give. For all he knew, perhaps she had just misplaced something and was in the midst of searching for it.

Walking up to the girl, Lionel greeted her with as good an English as he could muster.

"Bonjour mademoiselle. Do you need some kind of... help?"

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"Bonjour. You are French too?"

A feminine voice drifted from somewhere behind him. Had that question been directed at him? Instinctively, Lionel turned his head to catch a glimpse of to whom he was to address his next reply. A blonde girl decked in the same Slytherin green uniform greeted him. She was about a foot shorter than he was, making it necessary for him to tilt his head downwards slightly to meet her eye.

"Got lost again, Paige?"

So she knew the flustered young lady, and what did she say her name was? Paige? It clicked somewhat; after all, the young ladies appeared to be from the same house. The tone of the younger female seemed to suggest that the two weren't exactly on friendly terms - had he been a little less unsuspecting, Lionel might have benefitted from the warning that the girl he had previously spoken to was not exactly the most pleasent of creatures to meet in the corridors.

All the same, Lionel returned to answering the younger student's question - it would have been impolite not to.

"Oui mademoiselle. Je suis francais." he responded. Pausing for a moment, he then added "Toi aussi?"

Perhaps it was a little rude to communicate in French in front of the other student of whom he was not certain if she could understand the language, but Lionel had been too excited about the possibility of dicovering a fellow French youth to realise that he had relapsed into his native tongue. It had been a rather awkward and challenging few days from the moment he had stepped into England, to the time at the London station, then the train, and finally in the castle. Every word and action of his had to be carefully thought out and hesitated upon because of his uncertainty about their exceptability. In fact, every time he spoke, he had had to first think in French, and then translate mentally before allowing the words to take spoken form due to his insufficient exposure to the English language. He never had much of an opportunity to practice back at home - all the students in Beauxbatons had generally communicated in French, and Armadeo and Ryuu both spoke the language as their native tongue.

For the moment, Lionel appeared to have forgotten about the first girl, and had cast his attention fully on the new arrival.