A Rather Unpleasant Position -open-

[Yvonne Jazmyne Vitellia]

Yvonne looked at Hogwarts Castle and found it too dark for comfort. In fact, she had expected that kind of darkness to belong Durmstrang, not Hogwarts. Of course she tried to find out all she could about the school and its founders before coming with the rest of the Beauxbatons Representatives for the tournament, but she still was not able to picture it like this. She had to admit the castle was magnificent and was beautiful in its own way but she still preferred Beauxbatons, where everything seemed to be more elegant, classy and brighter.

It was her first time to roam around on her own ever since she got to the school. They were shown around but Yvonne felt like a place as big as Hogwarts have a lot more sights than what was shown in a thirty-minute school tour. As her eyes avert from the castle and into the grounds, she could not help but smile. The lake looked so enchanting under the full moon. With another swift glance at the school grounds, she entered the castle, her blue Beauxbatons robes blown by the wind.

After about forty-five minutes of walking leisurely, she had explored several floors and saw at least a couple of couples snogging on their own dark corner. Of course, she merely smirked and ignored them. If she had been in Beauxbatons, she would have done the same. After enjoying a walk with her thoughts, she found herself yawning and ready to retire to bed. She glanced at her watch and saw that it was thirty minutes pass ten in the evening. Deciding to call it a night, she decided to make her way back to the Carriage. As she descended the stairs absently, she found herself meeting the floor. Meeting the floor was about as normal to her as tripping over nothing for she was one clumsy young lady. She knew it was why her professors asked her to come as a representative of the school and not as a champion. However, it was only a matter of seconds before she realized she did not trip. She fell into nothing in particular and was now stuck at what look like a step that just vanished. “Or maybe it was not really there and you are just klutz enough to fall into it.” She muttered to herself, trying to get up but cannot for her awkward position made it impossible. She struggled for a while, gave up before she broke her leg or anything and waited for some student or professor to turn up.

[Svetlana Stacy Corwin]

Svetlana had not been able to go to the last tournament. She had wanted to but her parents refusedbto grant her permission. This time, however, she was old enough to decide for herself. Her school even allowed her to sign up for the tournament. She hoped that she would be picked but was also anxious about competing. The Hogwarts students seemed nice enough, with the exception of those called 'Ravenclaws'. But the students from Beauxbatons seemed as though they'd sell their own mothers to get ahead in life. Perhaps it was simply Svetlana's perception but she felt sickened by how fake Beauxbatons seemed.

She was wondering how such a school could be taken seriously when she almost collided with a Hogwarts student. Svetlana stepped back and wrapped her maroon cloak around her firmly. Her wand jutted up toward the ceiling from the fold in the cloak where she held it together in front of her. Svetlana opened her mouth to apologize but the Englishman with his eyes on her wand spoke first, "So sorry."
Svetlana meant to smile at him but he tore off down the corridor at a run. Nervously, Lana looked around for a place to rest. She had as much luck finding one as she had catchiing a conversation with these elusive Hogwarts students.

Svetlana continued on, deciding to try her luck on the next floor up. She noticed the familiar bright glow of a stairway opening up ahead. Though her head whipped to the side as she noticed the rippling moon light on the lake's surface. A giant tentacle was reaching across the deck of the Durmstrang ship. Svetlana gazed at the sight open-mouthed. Releasing her cloak, she let her wand hand fall to her side and put her other hand to her mouth. Her eyes widened as the great tentacle dropped back into the depths of the lake. With a mighty shake of her head, Lana told herself she'd never sleep on that ship.

With the monster out-of-sight Svetlana continued her way to the stairway. She gasped and dropped her wand at the sight of Yvonne.

[Yvonne Jazmyne Vitellia]

Yvonne was getting rather creative with the expletives that ran in her head as she waited for someone to turn up. She had been falling since she was a child, got minor and major injuries out of a number of it, but she had never been stuck in a position so awkward she wanted to morph into a different person. She tried to relax and hoped a lot that whoever would see her first would be nice enough to not laugh and just help her up. It seemed like an hour to her, but it was just really around fifteen minutes, when she heard soft footsteps ascending the stairs, a gasp and something small, probably a remembrall, falling to the ground.

From her position, she could only see the steps and the one that vanished and it was with great difficulty that she twisted her torso to try to see the other person. Her eyes landed on a beautiful dark-haired girl who looked surprised at her position. She probably thought she was stupid but Yvonne did not care. This was her chance to get help before the rest of the student body got the opportunity to ogle at her sorry position. However, she did not know how to ask for her help at the moment. She felt like she would rather melt into the vanished step due to the humiliation she felt.

She opened and then closed her mouth about three times before managing to string together something that resembled a sentence. “Good evening… er… I’m so relieved you showed up…. er….would you be a doll and help me up? I’m rather uncomfortable and I think my leg is staring to feel numb.” She bit her lip, fixed her with an earnest pleading look, shifted and tried to regain what was left of her normal composure. “Even an acrobat will feel less at home with his limbs in this position.” She added softly, managing a smile, trying to turn her humiliation into something humorous.

[Svetlana Stacy Corwin]

Svetlana merely saw Yvonne for a brief moment. She had no clue what was going on, only that the Beauxbatons student looked horribly disfigured. Svetlana stared, though she could not see. During the silence, Svetlana wondered if she had witnessed the labor of a particularly dark wizard. She silently wondered what corpses would look like after a dark wizard got through with them. The other girl's voice broke Lanas stupor. First, she frowned then flinched. "Er..." Svetlana tried to think of what to do. "I could help. But I've lost my wand." Svetlana moved her sightless gaze to the ground around her and pretended to be searching. "Could you tell me where it bounced?"

Svetlana was quite worried she might have to heal the Beauxbatons' legs. She was not an accomplished healer but she knew the theory behind it. "I... Well, yes. I suppose you're right about that. I would be..." Svetlana crouched low and ran her fingers along the ground around her. Hoping she was not making her own affliction too obvious. "I'm sorry. This place is just so unfamiliar and I saw a monster come out of the lake. We have to sleep out there. Do you go to Hogwarts?" Svetlana kept speaking, hoping to distract the other girl while she searched for her misplaced wand. She normally wasn't so clumsy with it. But the thought of sleeping with a monster right under that ship and then the strangely contorted girl had shocked her something fierce. "I go to Durmstrang. The beasts there are not allowed to roam freely. Our Headmaster also guards the school against werewolves. We once had a werewolf attempt to enroll. Can you imagine? Sleeping with a werewolf prowling about? Frightening."

[Yvonne Jazmyne Vitellia]

Yvonne felt relief wash over her and her eyes started looking for the girl's wand, her torso and neck did not consent to be twisted even more. She desperately wanted to get out of the weird position because her leg that fully went into the vanished step felt like it was nonexistent, the other one was sore due to the abnormal bending, her arms hurt and there was intense pain in her lower back that she never experienced before. "Unfortunately I can't. I didn't even see what it was that fell." She sighed, not believing how unlucky it was that the first one who saw her at her pitiful position loses their wand. "I even imagined it was a remembrall." For a moment, she looked for the wand herself and then watched the girl's movements. Although the girl seemed to be sincere in helping and was really looking for the wand Yvonne can not help but doubt her sincerity because surely, a wand will not take so long to find. She pushed her suspicions aside. She was lucky that someone agreed to help her.

Despite her uncomfortable position, she appreciated the girl's chatter. It was nice of her to try and divert her attention from the pain and extreme discomfort that she had been feeling for about twenty minutes now to a light chit chat. "No. I'm from Beauxbatons. It's alright. I understand perfectly. I too am unfamiliar with this place. It's too dark for my liking actually..." Her eyes serached for the wand as she spoke. "True, True. That would be beyond scary." She was not prejudiced against werewolves but she knew what the girl said was true. "Wait, what do you mean monster?" For a moment, she forgot that she was stuck, her gaze fixed on the girl. "Surely you do not mean that the headmaster permits werewolves to reside in the school grounds, do you? Because that is completely unacceptable. We have to sleep out there." She fixed her gaze at the girl again, curious and quite anxious at the same time. She was about to add something when she caught a glimpse of what looked like a wand half hidden in the shadow of step. "I think I see something. On the... right. I mean your left. Three steps down from where you are standing." Yvonne hoped it was indeed the girl's wand that she was seeing.

[Svetlana Stacy Corwin]

Svetlana worried that what she now knew was a Beauxbatobs girl, would find her need to find her wand annoying or show a lack of sympathy. A desire to inform Yvonne of her blindness came upon Svetlana. But she is a Beauxbatons and if she were to become champion. . . Resolving to keep her secret, even at the risk of seeming unsympathetic. A remembrall? Svetlana's face screwed up with indignity. Do I seem like a fool? She asked herself as she kept running her hand across the cold stone floor. The desciptions of those Beauxbatons seemed to be accurate. Even as Yvonne gave Svetlana the directions, the unseeing girl stumpled toward the spot she was led towards. Crawling slowly on hands and knees, wary of Yvonne's intentions. Svetlana eventually curled her fingers around the cylindrical wooden instrument.

"Aha!" Svetlana uttered her sight spell quietly then climbed to her feet once her vision returned. Turning her gaze to Yvonne, she realized now that the girl merely had her leg stuck. Svetlana ascended the few steps toward Yvonne. "I'm Svetlana from Durmstrang." Svetlana noted how beautiful the Beauxbatons girl was. Her eyes were enticing, despite the pained expression of the Beauxbatons girl. Without a trace of hesitation, Svetlana bent low and put her arms around Yvonne's waist. Her hands clasped behind the girl's back and her wand held between them. Lana had trouble ignoring Yvonne's sweet scent. She tried to distract through speech again, this time herself though. "Monster. Not a werewolf. I say a great tentacle come out of that lake outside. I wouldn't be surprised if werewolves lurked about. That forest on the grounds seems ominous." Gently, Svetlana began her attempts to hoist Yvonne from the vanishing stair. "This castle is most untamed. I doubt if there is reliable security within these walls."

[Yvonne Jazmyne Vitellia]

Yvonne tried to shift so that she could catch a better view of the girl as she tried to retrieve what she thought, and really hope, was the girl’s wand half hidden in the shadow of one of the steps but failed to do so due to the protests waist made. So, she ended up watching sideways, through her peripheral. The girl’s soft ‘aha’ brought a feeling of inexplicable relief inside her. With her wand in hand, the girl can now help her, probably levitate her out of the vanished step. Her mind was imagining spells that the girl could use in order to hoist her up and out of the missing step, as she heard what could only be her soft footsteps approach. She looked up and saw the girl’s face closer than before, her initial thoughts had been right, the girl really was beautiful.

Yvonne earnestly nodded when the girl introduced herself. “My name is Yvonne Vitellia.” She said pleasantly. Though surprised at the girl’s action as she expected her to use magic in helping her out, she did not say anything and just tried to cooperate with the girl. Since the girl practically hugged her, she noticed her frame was rather slim and she wondered if the girl was strong enough to hoist her up. Even with her awkward position and the girl’s exquisite dark locks all over her face, she managed to talk. “A tentacle? Maybe its an octopus or a grindylow. I heard there are quite a lot of creatures in that massive lake.” She let out a sigh. “I do hope none of us is harmed while we are here. I honestly really want this tournament to be fair.” Yvonne shoved her negative thoughts out of her mind as the girl started to attempt to help her. Yvonne wrapped her arms around the girl’s shoulders and slowly she felt her leg leave the gap in the steps. Maybe the girl was indeed strong enough to pull her out. “Are you one of Durmstrang’s Champions?” She found herself asking.

[Svetlana Stacy Corwin]

Svetlana did her best to wrest Yvonne free from the vanishing stair. But the fruitless effort was in vain. Svetlana dropped the Beauxbatons girl rather accidently. Svetlana flinched and fell back onto the next step behind her. She regained her balance even though she was more concerned about uttering a sharp, "Sorry!" to Yvonne. Svetlana kept a firm grasp of her wand. She was not actually so prone to losing grip of it at all. Instead she was much more liable to attempt to do things she was clearly incapable of. Svetlana surveyed Yvonne grimly. She didn't look heavy, so Lana must be really that weak. Lana rolled her wand in her hand as she stared at Yvonne with a look of worrisome expression. "Right. That was stupid of me. Sorry again." Svetlana raised her wand and swished it toward Yvonne, "Levicorpus!"

"Inte så." Svetlana covered her mouth with her free hand and flushed with embarassment. Quickly, she directed Yvonne to a safer place. "Liberacorpus." She put the Beauxbatons girl down at the top of the stair then followed her up, making sure to skip the step that had vanished, though Lana had to double guess which actual step it was and tried to skip another step though she had already passed the vanishing step and fell foward. She grabbed ahold of the banister but fell forward and scraped her left shin against a step. "Ugh." Svetlana climbed back to her feet and closed the rest of the way to the top of the stair.

"You have a very nice name." As she spoke, a sharp pain as she put weight on her left leg caught her attention. Looking down, Svetlana grimaced at the state of the front of her leg. The skin was torn and droplets of blood dotted her rippled skin. "No. I am sure we will all be killed here. This castle is a death trap!" Lana tried to recall a healing spell as she scratched her head above her ear. She looked up at Yvonne and shook her head. "Our headmaster has not decided upon his champions yet. I hope that I am one. I would not want to perish without having accomplished that at least."

[Yvonne Jazmyne Vitellia]

Just as when Yvonne thought the girl was actually going to manage to literally pull her out of her misery, she hit the stairs fast and hard. She felt sharp pains on her hips and her arms too for she used it instinctively to break the fall. She tried to breath in and out to ease the pain and panicked and managed to stretch out her arms to the girl as if she could help her when Svetlana looked like she was going to lose her balance. “Don’t worry about it.” She managed to say as she tried to deal with the pain of the fall. Yvonne was too busy trying to deal with the pain when the girl apologized for the second time. The next thing she knew, she was up in the air and out of the vanishing step. It was all good except for the fact that now that she dangled in mid air by her ankles, the hems of her robes and skirt fell down, exposing her purple set of girly undergarments. Yvonne’s cheeks reddened, along with her hair.

Relief filled her when the girl released her and she landed away from the vanishing step. Yvonne immediately straightened her robes, her cheeks as red as her hair and expressed a shy but grateful “Thanks!” at the dark-haired girl. “Bugger!” She exclaimed when other girl fell forward. She stood up slowly, as if afraid that she will find out she broke her leg, to go to the girl. Her hips and some of her limbs hurt but she was confident that she did not break anything. But before she could leave the spot, the girl was already beside her. “Thank you.” She smiled because she loved her name too.

Yvonne laughed when the girl said they were all going to die. It was funny but there was some truth to her statement. The castle proved to be more dangerous than it was safe. “At least you still have a chance to be champion. I have spoken to our headmistress and she said I can come only as a school delegate. She said I lacked certain qualities to be the school’s champion.” She said casually, shrugged and smiled. “So unless she changes her mind… Anyway, are you alright? I have fallen enough times to know how it feels like when my shin-” Before she could finish, she saw blood on the girl’s shin. Yvonne instinctively drew her wand out and bent down. “Episkey!” She muttered and looked up at the girl. “Feeling better?” She asked, quite confident that her charm worked without looking at its result. She never really specialized in basic healing charms but it was part of her Auror training so she was quite reliable when it came to subject.

[Svetlana Stacy Corwin]

The scrape felt hot, as if blowing air over it would calm the pain. To make matters worse, Svetlana could not get her head to stop spinning. She didn't think the scrape was all that bad. She hadn't even noticed it at first. However, it did make focusing on a conversation rather difficult. Her mind kept plotting against the founders of Hogwarts castle cursing the foolishly irresponsible running of this so-called 'school'.
The spell had been the only levitation magic Svetlana could think of. Her eyes instinctively moved over the Beauxbatons girl's robes, where her purple underwear had been exposed just a moment ago. She flushed again and gave Yvonne an apologetic smile. Lana raised an eyebrow at Yvonne's comment. She wondered what those 'certain qualities' were. But was already overly embarassed about dangling the poor girl by her foot that she did not wish to ask a possibly personal question.

"Its just a scratch-" Svetlana began to dismiss her injury. She was surprised when the girl in front of her crouched before her. Lana peered down at the top of the blonde's head and watched her wand work closely. She had never heard the spell before but assumed it was some minor healing spell. "Your wand. It is beautiful. It looks barely used at all. Is it new?" Lana hadn't realized that her pain had abated, being so distracted by the blonde's wand. The question brought her attention back to her shin. Lana took a step back and bent low to run her hand against the flesh that had been dotted by blood and torn just a moment ago. "Much better." She felt a sharp pain as her fingers pressed lightly against the middle of the now healed wound. She winced and her hand recoiled. "Ouch." She looked at Yvonne, still bent over. "It may still bruise."

Svetlana straightened out and backed into the wall. She leaned against it and gazed at Yvonne with interest. "I have heard of Beauxbatons, yes. They say that you are all rather smug." Lana held her wand up and began to fiddle with it with both her hands. Looking down at her wand, Lana was disappointed that it wasn't quite as long as Yvonne's. And it was decorated with much more dust and dirt. "Maybe that is wrong though. I have heard that the common perception of Durmstrang is that we are all Dark Arts enthusiasts. That is very untrue. Although, there are bad eggs. Like my cousin, Ivan Corwin. Our Headmaster is hard to place. I have heard stories, but none of them seem consistent. As long as you're pureblood, I think he is okay." Svetlana dropped her wand into one of the maroon pockets on the side of her robes. Her vision failed suddenly and she made a gulping sound. "Do you have any siblings?"

[Yvonne Jazmyne Vitellia]

If the girl answered her unfinished question before she bend down to heal her, she did not know because she was intent on helping her. Sure, the girl’s help came with the utter embarrassment that involved floating upside down and showing what she’d rather keep to herself, but still Yvonne was beyond glad that she was finally out of the blasted step. At the back of her mind, though, she wondered if the girl purposely embarrassed her. It would not have been surprising if she did. She was from Durmstrang and student there were known for being in love with the dark arts and Yvonne knew that it was foolish to expect pureness of intentions from the practitioners of that sort of magic. For a moment, she wondered if the spell the girl used on her was dark. She frowned a bit at the thought but it was quickly turned upside down when Svetlana asked about her wand and her smile grew when she said she indeed felt better. She cringed a bit when the girl winced and frowned a bit at the spot where the bruise will be.

She started feeling the remainder of the pain from a while ago’s incident so she straightened up, bit her lip and twirled her golden-toned wand as she thought of a solution to the bruise. “I do not know any bruise-removing charm.” She sighed and continued worry her lower lip. “Wait, maybe I have a vial of bruise ointment with me.” Her left hand held her wand as she stuck her right hand into her robe pocket and started to feel the small vial with her fingers. “It does not remove the bruise but it does dull the pain.” When she felt that it was not there, she searched her left pocket felt that it was not there either. “I must have left it in the Carriage.” She sighed. “We can go there and get if you want. Or would you rather look for the school clinic? Everything in this school is hazardous. They surely have a clinic around here somewhere.” She wracked her brain, trying to remember if they were shown to a clinic during the brief tour because she certainly did not see the school clinic during tonight’s walk.

Yvonne’s eyes followed the girl as she backed against the wall and grinned at what she had to say about her school. She knew how the students of Beauxbatons were described. She listened at the girl, obvious interest on her beautiful features, her hair back to blonde again since she was no longer embarrassed. “You are right. I hear they say we Beauxbatons pupils are all haughty, big-headed and snob. But it is not true. Well at least it does not apply to around forty percent of the school.” She paused and eyed the girl. “You seem alright… I take it you are not one of the worshippers of the dark arts? As for blood purity, I hear one of the founders of this school is blood conscious. It is Slytherin if I’m not mistaken. By the sound of your Headmaster, our Headmistress is way more lenient. She let’s half-bloods and muggleborns enroll. She is rumored to be more selective when it came to muggleborn enrollees though.” Yvonne shrugged and looked thoughtful. “If you ask me, these stereotypes people place on everything and everyone is the reason why we most of us harbor more than half of the ill feelings we have for each other.”

She saw the other girl play with her own dusty wand. Her eyes fell on her golden wand in her hand and remembered she still owed the girl an answer. “It’s not new. My wand I mean. I’ve had it since I was eleven.” She gave the girl a smile. “I think it’s the awesomeness of the pear wood that is responsible for its always new look.” Her eyes were fixed at her beautiful wand as she had been always fond with it. When she made a gulping sound, she looked at the girl with concern etched on her features. “Oh yes. I have a brother. Unfortunately, he already graduated years ago. He would have loved to have this opportunity to attend the tournament. Are you alright?” She answered and continued to eye the girl with concern.