Am I lost?

Ash looked around the large bathroom. This was the male's bathroom, right? He pulled out the map his mother had made him before peering over it. This was the right place wasn't it? He made his finger follow the path that he took to get here and when it stopped, he froze. Wait a moment...

He ran his finger over the path again. No no no, this couldn't be right! He was in a girl's bathroom....honestly? How had he even managed that?! "Dear Merlin, what am I doing in here?" He breathed quietly, looking up to the ceiling. "If I get caught in here, I'm so dead. I gotta figure out a way to get out without anyone figuring out I'm in here."

He quieted down when he heard a voice outside. Oh dear Merlin, not in here. He looked around for a place to hide, immediately deciding that there was no way on this green Earth that he was going to hide in a bathroom stall in a girls bathroom. He settled for leaning against the wall and looking cool. After all, how much trouble could he get in for being in a girls bathroom?

He blanched. Loads of trouble.

Liz, who had been about to enter the girls' bathroom, paused when she heard a voice on the other side--one that was distinctly unfeminine. She paused, muttered "Why is a boy in the bathroom?" and pushing the door open, seeing a sight so surprising she let it close on her own face. She blinked once. Twice. A third time, and she opened the door again, walking in before letting it swing shut this time.

She recognized the boy--Ash, a first year that she had met at (where else?) Florean Fortescue's. She hadn't given much thought to him after that, because they hadn't seen each other since, but now that she saw him again, she felt a bit relieved that it wasn't a pervert. He had grown an inch, was in Ravenclaw robes, and was attempting to casually lean against the wall, though he looked rather like he was about to barf. She blinked.

"Hello, Ash," she greeted with a smile that was half-amused and half-exasperated. "I really do need to show you around, don't I? But how'd you land yourself in the girls bathroom?" Her eyes traveled over his cloak, and she sighed, the smile on her face a bit more amused this time. "How did I not see you in the common room if you're a Ravenclaw?" she mused.

Ash jumped and stopped leaning against the wall, letting his arms hang at his sides. He gave Liz a wry grin that morphed into a slight grimace moments later as he realized just where he was. "Hey there. I guess you do have to show me around a bit. I get lost rather easily I suppose." He murmured, mainly to himself.

He looked around the large bathroom, wondering how he got there in the first place. "Is the boys bathroom this big?" He asked, before blinking slightly and slapping his hand to his forehead. "Never mind, you haven't been in the boys bathroom because you're not a boy and I'm not a girl so I don't know what I'm doing in here and I'm going to shut up now."

He took a breath before running a hand through his hair, messing it up further than it already had been. "I have no idea how I got here actually. I think this map is a bit messed up. My mum drew it from memory, but...I don't know. And I haven't really been in the common room lately." He said, tossing a quick grin at the elder Ravenclaw. "I've been up in my dorm room reading and studying. Things of that nature."

Liz laughed as his face distorted from one expression to the next. "It's alright," she assured him with a half-grin. "Happens all the time to first years, but usually they're not so..." her eyebrows rose. "Blatant about it." A grin was on her face by then and she was finding it hard not to burst into laughter.

She shook her head. "I wouldn't know because I found my way around a bit easier than most, but my friend Kyra might. I think she got lost in the boy's bathroom once before---you'll have to ask her." Her eyebrows knit together in thoughtful concentration; had Kyra gone into a bathroom in her first year, or was it someone else?
(OOC: The beginning of the payback, Kiki)
Her eyebrows rose at his explanation of his way around, and she took a look at the paper over his shoulder. She immediately shook her head and begin to touch her wand to faulty places. "This, obviously, is the girl's bathroom, not the boy's. And right here--that's the Transfiguration classroom, not the Charms. And why isn't the Room of Requirement on here?" She frowned and poked his shoulder at the inaccuracy, but grinned at his next response, still looking over his shoulder. "Very Ravenclaw-like things to do, but you should try socializing. Hogwarts really is fun."

Ash shook his head. "Right, I'm sure it happens to all the first years. Maybe it's just my luck to be cursed with bad accidents for the rest of my Wizarding life or something. Wouldn't surprise me one bit actually. I've had a string of bad luck accidents since I was born."

"Kyra? Is she a Ravenclaw too?" Ashwin would have to ask this 'Kyra' how she got lost and ended up in the boys bathroom. It would certainly be a story to tell, as well as a grand story to hear. He'd have to find out where she usually was before asking her.

Ash felt himself being poked in the shoulder as Liz talked and he grinned. He glared at the piece of paper slightly, wondering if the castle rooms moved. He closed his eyes, wondering just how bad his mother had it. She couldn't have much longer if she was confusing places in Hogwarts. The one place she called home for seven years. "Socializing sounds...hard. But I guess I'll give it a try."

She laughed a little; even if she wasn't sure whether or not he was joking, it was an innocent comment and she wouldn't dig too deep into it. The experiment was over, after all. "I'm not going to ask what those events are, just in case it really takes a long time to say them," she decided. "But even if it isn't common, you're not the first to accidentally walk in the wrong bathroom and I doubt you'll be the last."

She shook her head. "No, Hufflepuff and a year above me. She's really easy to find if you want to ask her." Liz herself wanted to ask Kyra if it was true, because she'd only heard rumors; she'd have to hunt the girl down and ask her.

She watched his expression, noting that he looked rather sad for a few moments; she wondered why. "Well, it's not easy to remember Hogwarts," she commented, hoping to make him smile again. "The castle changes so often, it's nearly impossible to make a map if you came years ago." She laughed. "Yes, I know that's contradicting what I said before, but it's true. And don't worry, you'll learn to social eventually." As an afterthought, she commented, "I certainly did."

"I certainly hope I'm not the last," he snorted to himself, shaking his head as he thought about it. "I mean, I'd be known as the last first year in history to walk into a girls bathroom because he followed a faulty map, or because he wasn't paying attention. I don't think that's an award I'd like." He made a face before grinning slightly.

He folded the map his mother had made with care before tucking it back into his pocket. "She's a Hufflepuff, and she got lost? And here I thought that Hufflepuffs were good finders! So she's a third year then right? I guess I'll have to find her if I really want know about her adventure into the bathroom."

"I guess so," he said finally. "It's a big place, to be true. And it's magic. So, there's that added in all together. I didn't know the castle changed though, so I guess it'll be even easier for me to get lost by mistake. Watch as I go to the Charms classroom and end up in some sort of dungeon. Wouldn't surprise me really. And as the socializing goes, well, I'm talking to you. So I must be making some progress."

Liz grinned crookedly at his observation, shaking her head. "Somehow, I could imagine the Slytherins giving you an award for that," she said, still half-smiling. "Just don't tell anyone and you'll be fine. I won't let anyone know if you won't." She winked at him, hoping that that wasn't weird considering they still barely knew each other.

She watched as he put the map back in his pocket, laughing at his comment. "I find this to be very strange," she agreed, continuing the conversation. "Don't expect to get everything out of her, though--she might not even have done it. But if she has, you better tell me what happened."

She nodded. "It's kind of weird. The outside doesn't change, but the inside is never arranged the same way twice. It's like a never-ending puzzle." She nodded at his statement. "I started at the common room and ended up in the laundry once. You'll never know where this place leads to." She made a face at his final comment. "If you call talking to someone with about three friends a step forward, then sure, you're doing better."

Ash snorted. For some reason, he could imagine the Slytherins giving him an award for something like that. It just seemed in their nature, to him at least. Of course, maybe he was just being stereotypical. He hadn't met any Slytherins yet, but still.

"Of course," he answered, grinning slightly. After all, they had no way to know if she had done it at all. It could have been some stray rumor, or some type of way the Slytherins would get back at her for something she might have (or might not have) done. "And don't worry, I'll tell you if she had gone in before. I'll give you a nice story."

"A never ending puzzle," he murmured to himself. "Sounds like a great challenge actually. The common room to the laundry? Well, that would be...rather odd to say the least, but it does sound like it'll be a lot of fun to figure out which way to go." Ash listened to her last word before canting his head slightly. "Surely you have more people to talk to. You're very friendly and kind."

She watched him snort and grinned before realizing that she was still leaning over his shoulder and taking a step away. Apparently, he had the same view on Slytherins that she did; terrible troublemakers. She could definitely learn to be friends with this boy if she saw him around more.

"I hope you're great at story-telling, because I only accept the best," she teased. She hoped that there would be a story to tell, but rumors around here flew and changed almost every moment. It was, at the same time, one of the most terrible and most entertaining parts of Hogwarts. "Make sure to exaggerate so that I'm not left out of anything."

"It is," she agreed. She shrugged. "It was a rather...confusing day. I had thought that I was headed for the Room of Requirement, actually..." she shifted uncomfortably at the mention of the room. She'd actually been rather desperately trying to return that day to look in the mirror again. "Well, I didn't have much time last year. I only made it halfway through the year for...personal reasons."