Seems I'm Full of Rage

[Zelda Fisk]

Zelda was not the sort to get stuck in vanished steps. She was the sort to lead people into vanished steps. She couldn't remember the last time she'd ended up in such a stupid situation, and this was with years of experience racing up and down the stairs to rush to class/shenaniganery.

But here she was. Stuck in a staircase. Her notebooks were scattered to the stairs below her, and she'd been trying to claw her way out of the stair for several minutes. It seemed as if she were screwed, though - so far, all she'd succeeded in doing was twisting her robes.

She heard giggling coming from above her and flailed her right arm furiously. "When I am free you will pay for this indignity!"

  

[Georg Striebel]

Getting used to the shifting and vanishing stairways had been a challenge for Gogo and almost all the other first years he knew. More than once, he had been stuck on a staircase moving somewhere that he didn't want to go. Luckily, he had yet to actually be stuck inside a staircase, but he knew others who had, so when he came across a staircase full off scattered books, his first reaction was to look up and, sure enough, when he did, he spotted a pair of legs and the skirt of a dress dangling down from the staircase above.

He couldn't tell who it was, as he didn't make a habit of acquainting himself with what his peers looked like from the waist down, but, as it was clearly a girl, he promptly looked away again, gathered up the books and made his way up the stairs to the next floor where he could get a view of the top of the afflicted classmate.

He recognized her much better from the top bit of her than from the bottom. She was a Hufflepuff like him, an older girl, but he couldn't recall her name. Peeking through the landing between the floor from which she had presumably come and the one that she was most likely headed to, he called out "Do you need any help, Ma'am?" over a cascade of giggles from the upper floor which continued despite her angry threat to the gigglers in question. It was fairly clear that she did need help, but whether or not she was willing to accept it at the moment was up in the air.

  

[Zelda Fisk]

"No," Zelda hissed at the younger student, all the while stuck fast in her stair-prison. She tried to avoid younger students - especially first years - on principle, so if anything, the appearance of the boy had just made this even more shameful. Ugh.

She flailed her legs emphatically, as if that would help her get out. At least she hadn't slid further, not that it was much of a consolation when she was stuck and pissed off and being offered help by a tiny probably-first-year.

"Everything's under control here," Zelda added, with an emphatic scowl. If anything, this would be a good time for an appearance from one of her tall male friends - though she wouldn't be able to handle the shame of that very gracefully, either. Goddamnit. 

  

[Georg Striebel]

"Really?" Gogo asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow as an amused grin spread across his face. If she wasn't going to take the situation seriously, there was no reason for him to do so either. "Do you dangle from staircases a lot, then? I think a new hobby might be in order because you don't seem to be very good at getting out of them."

He supposed his comments might get him yelled at like the gigglers upstairs, but he really wasn't all that intimidated. To be honest, the girl didn't seem terribly threatening writhing around in a staircase. Regardless of whether she did or not, he wasn't about to abandon her there. So, he set her books aside and dangled his legs through the bars of the landing.

Well, regardless," he continued, giving the pile of books a somewhat smug pat. I've gathered your books, so until you've proved how under control things are and sorted yourself, I believe I'll wait here and guard them.

  

[Zelda Fisk]

"Did I ask for your opinion?!"  Zelda snapped. She was not endeared to younger students at the best of times, and 'while she was struggling to free herself from a vanished stair' was certainly not the best of times. First years were a plague on her. This could only be more rage-inducing if he was Alfalfa Tinker, and even then she might have at least been able to get Tinker to find someone useful.

Or better yet: her temptation to strangle him would have given her the strength to haul herself out of the stair. 

Instead she was here, neither rising nor sinking, and not remotely willing to admit that she was genuinely stuck. Maybe she could just stay here forever. It would at least end up saving her from her N.E.W.T. exams. 

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Zelda said, taking a moment's pause from her flailing to fix the boy with a dirty look.

  

[Georg Striebel]

Gogo shrugged, giving little weight to the girl's biting tone. The fact that she was writhing around in a staircase still made it quite difficult to take her seriously. "Not anywhere more important than making sure you don't fall to your death or starve in a staircase. he replied in an upbeat tone which he already knew would be less than welcome. "I'm catholic. Do you know how many Hail Marys I would have to say to make up for that? It's a lot and my priest is a muggle. I would have to lie to him about how it all happened and then I would have to say twice as many for lying to a priest, maybe even more.

If only he was Lutheran. That would make getting forgiveness for leaving someone to die so much easier. All he would have to do was feel bed for having done it, which wouldn't be too hard despite how unfriendly this girl was. Well, at least Father Eldridge wasn't all that strict and, to be honest, he would just cross his fingers during the confession so that he wasn't really lying and didn't have to say the extra Hail Marys, but that wouldn't be an issue because he wouldn't let her die there.

"I'm Gogo by the way." he introduced, making a mental retreat from the confessional box. "Gogo Striebel. I'm sure you'll want to track me down and get revenge for my refusal to abandon you after you get out. That should make it easier. Will you do me the courtesy of letting me know your name so that I know who to avoid later on?" He said all this with a chipper grin which he was sure was only fodder for the seventh year's rage. He didn't actually plan on avoiding her, but it would be nice to know the name of the person whose wrath he was incurring and to hear if she was someone that Poldi had ever mentioned, though he didn't think she was. He'd only mentioned a couple of girls and he was fairly sure that they'd graduated the year before as well.

  

[Zelda Fisk]

Now the younger student was talking about Catholicism, and Zelda was beginning to wonder if she'd pissed someone off. It was a valid explanation for this, but not the most reasonable one. She wasn't sure she knew anyone who was both smart enough and spiteful enough to pull something this complicated, and if she did, she wanted to be their best friend. 

Oliver was smart enough for this, of course, but it just didn't seem likely. He'd probably be upset if she had a rage-induced aneurysm, after all. And Xena wasn't this clever - and even if she was, even if Zelda admitted that her sister was intelligent, Xena couldn't get into Hogwarts.

No one could be blamed. It was an amalgam of unfortunate coincidences that had brought her here.

Stuck, both in a stair and with Gogo Striebel apparently watching over her. 

"Zelda Fisk," she said in her most exasperated tone, "I really don't need your help."

  

[Georg Striebel]

"Yes, because you're doing a bang up job on your own." Gogo chirped with a cheerful bounce in his voice which he was sure Miss Fisk didn't find at all endearing. One thing was for sure. She definitely wasn't one of the two girls that Poldi had mentioned i his letters. The name Fisk didn't ring a bell at all and he was sure that Poldi would never be fond of or befriend any girls quite so brash. He would be no match for Miss Fisk. She would eat him alive.

But Gogo was made of tougher stuff than that. He could put up with whatever she had in store for him for as long as he had to and he could do it in irritatingly good spirits at that. He was no expert on women, but he thought that was a much better plan than just grabbing her and trying to pull her out. She might very well kill him if he did that.

Of course, that didn't mean he couldn't try to talk some sense into her while he waited. "Just look at it this way. he explained "The sooner you let me help you, the sooner I'll go away. The longer you refuse my help, the longer I'll stay and make conversation with you. You think I'll run out of things to talk about eventually? You're sorely mistaken. My father and my brother hardly ever talk in company. My mother doesn't even speak English and neither does my sister. I've spent almost my whole life speaking for at least two people, sometimes as many as five in conversations. I can talk forever about anything." Perhaps that was a bit of an overstatement, but he could talk for quite long time about a fair many things, even when the conversation was one sided. Certainly, he could carry on long enough to wear Miss Fisk down and make her let him help her.

  

[Zelda Fisk]

Zelda was starting to wonder if she could set him on fire with her mind. It didn't seem very likely, but if it was a possibility, then they were going to end up finding out very soon. Her experience with younger children was largely limited to her nieces and nephews, and she had no genetic determination to tolerate Gogo Striebel, nor did she have any desire to when she was in such an unfortunate position.

"Oh, I certainly believe that you can talk forever about anything," Zelda said, horribly dryly. Even as a talkative person, this was starting to be a bit much for her. She scowled, and mentally ran through her list of people who would help her out here. There were a great many options.

Unfortunately, all of them would probably judge her for her current predicament.

"And what do you propose doing to help me?" she asked warily.

  

[Georg Striebel]

Yet again, his loquaciousness had come through for him. Anyone who said being a chatterbox didn't pay was a fool. There was no better way to get someone to fold to your will than to annoy them into it. He had gotten almost everything that Vati had ever given him that way. Of course, he had earned himself a few lumps in the process was well, but it was more than worth it.

Faced with the Miss Fisk's sudden willingness to accept his help, however, he did wish that he'd spent somewhat less of his waiting time talking and more of it actually formulating an exact plan as to how he would rescue her when he'd finally won her consent to do so. "Well..." he pondered, pulling his feet back through the bars of the landing and rising up into a standing position. "the first thing that comes to mind is pulling you out the old fashioned way." It certainly wasn't a fancy plan, but he was fairly sure that he would be able to left someone not too much taller than him like Miss Fisk. The only question was exactly how badly wedged into the stair she was. He had gotten people out of tight spots before, but none who were actually embedded in a solid piece of stone. Still, confidence was paramount if he was to maintain Miss Fisk's consent, so he pushed on as if he had no great concerns. " I don't think we can get any butter around the spot where you're stuck, but you could wiggle about like you have been and I could pull on your arms to lift you out. That worked with my friend Fergus's brother when he got his head stuck in a banister.

He did rather wish that he had a magical solution to offer as an alternative. He was sure that it probably would have inspired greater confidence in Miss Fisk, but he hadn't learned anything terribly useful in the art of dislodging people from staircases. He supposed he could try windgardium leviosa to float her out of the staircase or maybe accio. He hadn't learned that one yet or ever actually tried it, but he had read about it in Poldi's books quite often. That had to count for something.

  

[Zelda Fisk]

To her credit, and though it went against every single one of her instincts, she gave his suggestion actual consideration. "I'm not sure that'll work," Zelda said finally, frowning instead of scowling. She wasn't sure if her anger was giving way to exasperation or if it was just postponed; regardless, shouting didn't seem to be accomplishing anything for her, so she supposed that she might as well take a break from it.

"You're much smaller than I am, after all," Zelda reasoned, "You might just get stuck with me." And then she would actually have to strangle him. And Zelda would like to make it through her final year of schooling without killing anyone.