The old professor led Violet out of her office and down a set of stairs. She was amazed at how quiet this castle was! Her school was alway loud, and the hallways were never empty and echoing like these. The professor-McGonagall, wasn't it?-led her into an empty classroom. There were desks pushed up against the walls. The ceiling was very tall, with columns going all the way up. There was a girl sitting on one of the tallest archways, swinging her legs back and forth. There was a carpet hovering in mid-air a little ways below her.
"Ah, Miss Fairview. Would you mind coming down? Our guest is here..." said the professor.
"Oh, sure!" said the girl. She hopped off of the archway and jumped five feet down onto the carpet. She glided the rest of the way down, and hovered in midair at about eye level with Violet. She had bright red hair, and lots of freckles. Her wand was stuck in her hair, keeping her bun in.
"Now, this is Maria. She will keep a good eye on you, won't you." the professor said, giving Maria the eye.
"Oh, of course! I'll go everywhere with her." said Violet's new guide. "It'll be so much fun! I'm in Hufflepuff. Which is NOT a bad house! I have transfiguration next. It's fun, but really hard. Climb on!"
"Wait a second. Don't think I haven't seen your new form of transportation! Maria, you KNOW that is illegal. You could get in serious trouble with the ministry if they saw that!" Exclaimed McGonagall.
"Ah, but that's the point. They won't see it." Said Maria with a mischievous grin. She pulled her wand out of her hair, making it fall around her shoulders in wild curls. She pointed it at the carpet, and it turned the color of the classroom behind her. "And neither will you!"
"Well, if I didn't see it, I can't tell the ministry. But you be careful!" Said the professor, and she turned and left the classroom.
"All right, newbie, ready to go to class?" asked Maria.
"I guess.... But do I have to ride on that?" asked Violet, looking at the now invisible rug.
"No, but believe me, when everyone comes out of class you're going to want it."
"Ok then." said Violet and she hopped on.
Maria leaned forward on the rug and they left the class. She went through an empty hallway.
"Ok newbie. This is the deal. My parents are from America, so the teachers here decided I should be your host. You'll sleep in my dorm, and go to my classes. Basically, where I go, you go." They came out onto a huge moving stairway. "This is the main stairway. The staircases move, as you can see-" she swerved around one that was coming at them very fast. They were about 30 feet of the ground now. "But it's ok, they basically follow a pattern. There are two main stairways here at hogwarts-this one, and the circular one that leads to the divination tower at the top." Students were coming out of their classrooms now, so Maria had to yell to be heard. "WE HAVE FIVE FLOORS, AND MOST OF OURS ARE EITHER ON THE FIRST FLOOR OF FIFTH. HENCE MY FORM OF TRANSPORTATION." They were going almost vertically up the center of the tower, going left and right whenever sets of stairs swung around. "Ok, we're passed the loud part now. Oooh, let's go show off to these shrimps!" said Maria. There were some students on the stairway, apparently also heading up to transfiguration. They were huffing and puffing as they walked up the many stairs. Maria leaned back and the carpet slowed down. They pulled in right next to the stairway and started cruised, going backwards. There were two boys walking up.
"Oh hey kids. Having fun walking up the stairs?" Maria smirked.
"Make fun all you want, but at least we aren't breaking international law." One of the boys said solemnly.
"No! I'm breaking the law? You should have said something earlier! Oh wait... Wait... I remember now! You say this every day!" Maria said sarcastically. "See, Newbie, our boy Thomas' dad works at the ministry, and he thinks it is his personal job to tell me whenever I break the law. But I don't really care! So I do what I want, and Thomas worries every day for me."