Regaining Freedom

[Jara Redding]

Jara Redding wheeled out of the Ravenclaw common room, tired of all the stares. It seemed no one in her house wanted to brave talking to who they dubbed "that crippled girl". She heard them late at night, whispering behind their potions books, looking at her with a mixture of curiosity, pity, and disdain for someone they considered weak and helpless. It was a feeling that Jara was quickly becoming used to.

After she was attacked, she was sheltered from the ridicule of having to face people without the use of her legs. Her father and her worked for hours creating and perfecting the transfiguration of her leg muscle to that of pistons and machinery. For those brief moments, she could walk, jump, and be free. Though the feeling was fleeting. That amount of transfiguration took a lot of a person's inner energy for magic, and she had not yet perfected how to grab the energy from the air around her, as fully trained witches and wizards could do with similar spells. However the cost, those brief moments of her morphed self were her happy moments throughout the last year, the only ones in a year of tragedy and drastic change.

Jara continued rolling down the hallway, trying to decide on a place to go. She was shown all of the handicap accessable routes to the major places in the castle, but had a hard time finding a place she could call a favorite, yet she had not braved going down to the quidditch pitch, where she knew break down would occur. She had missed the sport so much. It was her life before this.

And he used to play with her. Liam She forced herself to say the name in her head, not fearing it.

Shaking off her anger, she continued down a hidden ramp that took her to a service lift. She would often run into house elves on the lift, taking their cleaning supplies here and there. Though they never talked to her either, they just looked at the floor. Finding the right floor she rolled off the lift.

Jara had been exploring the castle slowly, trying to find a place to practice her transfigurations, and a place to store some potions supplies. Her new batch of pain killers would need to be made soon and only her and her mother, now dead, had mastered the ability. Nose getting itchy from the dust in the air, Jara passed some simple portraits and landscapes containing magic people and places. There was a door up ahead that she wanted to look into.

She reached for the handle and opened the door without a creak. Suddenly, she quickly caught a glimpse of a person and shied her eyes away, too quickly remembering last night in which she had walked in on a pair of fifth years mid-snog. "Oh sorry, didn't know someone was in here."

[Oliver Fletcher]

Tiffany was lost. Horribly lost. Someone had told her that there was an amazing view of the lake from one of the classrooms on the 4th floor had an unbeatable view of the grounds, and she had been determined to find it. Having a quiet and private place to bring a man friend or two would never hurt, and she enjoyed exploring. Unfortunately, she had not located the classroom, and instead was wandering through a warren of dusty, untouched halls.

She had just entered what appeared to be a large storage room, but it was only occupied by a few chairs, a table, and a second door on the other wall. "Well this is rather secluded, if only I could find it again," she thought to herself. Suddenly, the other door opened, and a girl in a wheelchair could be seen hurredly looking away. "Perhaps not so secluded after all," Tiffany thought. "But maybe she knows where she is!" Tiffany realized with a grin. "Hey, hello! Over here!" Tiffany shouted to the girl.

[Jara Redding]

Jara turned back. She entered the room slowly, making sure the other girl was not a threat. Her wheelchair barely fit through the door, another problem that had embarrassed Jara these past few days. At her house with her father, all the rooms were made for her to move around easily in, and everything was in reach. Here, it seemed as if she had entered a world that had never seen or thought about 'her kind' before. Everything made for people who could move around and reach so easily.

Jara continued into the center of the room, parking herself in a patch of sunlight. The other girl looked nice enough, though trusting her would take time, even if she seemed kind. Jara had been betrayed in the worst way, and was not going to bounce into friendships blindly. "Hi, sorry if I bombarded your room," Jara apologized.

[Oliver Fletcher]

"Oh no not at all, I'm lost actually," Tiffany replied with a nervous grin. "I was looking for a room... took a wrong turn, went down a flight of stairs, did a bunch of other stuff, and bam! Here I am. So, what brings you to this neck of the woods?" She asked the girl. "Oh, silly me, I'm Tiffany! And your name is....?"

[Jara Redding]

Jara looked at the girl, taking in her kind demeanor. She did not seem like she was going to attack her or anything. "My name is Jara, Jara Redding. And I don't really know what is outside that door," She pointed to the one she did not come in from, "But this way takes you to the service elevator and some study rooms, nothing really special."

Jara rolled farther into the room and fiddled with some crackling parchment. She was curious about the girl, which was normal. Jara was always curious, but she did not want to be rude. But curiosity sometimes wins out, "So... why were you wandering?"

[Oliver Fletcher]

"Nice to meet you Jara!" Tiffany said, following her over to the parchment. "I was just poking around, hoping to find the perfect little room in this castle. Someone told me the best views are on the 5th floor. They didn't mention that it also happens to be a maze," She said with a chuckle.

Jara seemed like a nice girl, a potential new friend in this great big castle. She wanted to ask about the wheelchair, but knew that would be rude. The girl seemed a bit nervous, like a wild animal confronted with a human for the first time, unsure how to react. "And what brings you out here?" She asked.