Nikholas bid his friends goodnight before Claire approached the goblet, turning around to face her just as she dropped her piece of parchment into its flame. He grinned at this, clapping a little bit, and not surprised to see that her old schoolmates were clapping for her as well. After all, his had also done so. For a moment he wondered if anyone else had entered the tournament that night, but tried not to think about it, not wanting to get too worked up over the thoughts of the Triwizard Tournament since the fact remained that he may not be admitted into the competition. In fact, he had a bit of doubt that he would be, but he stayed determined. As Claire talked with her friends, Kayla stood, gave Nikholas a quick hug, and mumbled something along the lines of 'good night' before scurrying out of the Hall with her friends. Only was it then that he felt exhaustion kick in, not having noticed how late it was and how long and exciting his day had been until realizing that they were heading off to bed now. Nikholas had a feeling that with everything on his mind, he wouldn't get much sleep, but he still wanted to see the Gryfindor common room rather badly.

For that reason, Nikholas smiled when Karen brought it up, nodding in agreement. Even if he couldn't sleep with everything going on, he wanted at least take a bit of rest right now. The welcoming thought of rest coupled with the knowledge that to go about and explore Hogwarts over the weekend he would need his strength obnly encouraged him further that sleep would be best right now. As Claire and Karen came to stand over by him as Claire said her goodbyes, Nikholas smiled, "Well, off to the common room?" That felt odd saying, but Nikholas had a feeling that the saying would soon grow on him.

Claire smiled at Nikholas' words, her mind swimming with excitement. Physically she was exhausted, but everything else in her wanted to stay awake, explore the castle. "Sounds good to me." Claire replied to Nikholas, she was barely able to stand still with the sudden exhilaration that moved through her. Karen smiled brightly, "Alright then, follow me." She said turning away from them, but her eyes found them again within seconds. "If you two want, I could show you around the castle tomorrow." Claire brightened even more at Karen's words. "I would love that." Claire said, wishing they could skip sleep and tour the castle that night. Her eyes found Nikholas and grinned, "So one of us might be a Hogwarts champion." She said and then laughed, "If that happens, we would go up against our own schools." The thought of this was rather weird, and deep down she still wished that she could have participated in this event with the Beauxbatons. She shrugged this off though, it was time to move on.

As they exited the room, Karen turned right. Claire followed, her blue eyes widened with curiosity as she took a better look at her surroundings. After all, she didn't have a chance to observe when McGonagall dragged her to the headmaster's office. She was happy to note that Karen was walking a little slow, she seemed to be enjoying herself, this gave Claire the opportunity to do the same. Karen stopped herself, after many minutes of walking, in front of a staircase. Claire was absolutely astonished by the amount of staircases, as she looked up it seemed to be never ending. Karen smiled, "We should be careful." she warned lightly looking at the both of them. "The staircases like to move on their own accord." Claire shook her head, unbelievable, she thought to herself. Claire stepped on the first step of the staircase and gazed at a picture of a young witch, sound asleep. Her snoring was rather loud, which Claire found amusing. Many of the paintings of people were sleeping at the moment, although there was a fair amount that stared at them with sleepy eyes. Claire had never seen so many pictures in her life. This must be a huge castle... she thought, her eyes wide and alert. "How long will it take to get to the Gryfindor common room?" Claire asked her eyes flying back to Karen. Karen smiled, "We got a little walk, its all the way up there." She said frowning slightly and pointing her finger upwards.

Nikholas somehow willed himself to calm down the day's excitement for now, following after Karen as she began to lead the way upstairs. His smile came up again at Karen's words, and he found himself agreeing with Claire, "Yeah, that'd be great." he added, smiling as a curious look came to his face at the various paintings upon the walls and the sight of moving stairs. Shaking his head the slightest bit at these unique magical finds, he grinned. Only at a school of magic. For a moment he thought back to Durmstrang, what he would have been doing by now had he not transferred, and how his friends were now. Were they rooming here, as well? He hadn't asked, but didn't see any reason why he couldn't just ask tomorrow. Nikholas nodded slowly at Claire's comment, grinning, "Yeah. That's weird to think about, huh? Facing our old schoolmates..."

Nikholas payed better mind to the staircases' movements after Karen's warning about them, watching them warily as they moved up from staircase to staircase. Claire's question had also came to mind, and Karen's answer made him rather glad. Maybe that would mean a long walk, but he was up for that if it meant the possibility of a generous view from the common room's windows, assuming that it had any. Not only did he want to see more of Hogwarts' grounds, which he could do from a window that had a good, high altitude, but he knew that he could get at least a glimpse of their surroundings tonight if there was a little light outside yet.

Claire smiled at Nikholas as he replied to Karen's offer. What a day it will be tomorrow, Claire thought to herself as they made their way up the stairs. Karen looked back at Nikholas and Karen, seeming overjoyed, "Great!" she said, and Claire grinned back at her. "There are so many things to show you two." Karen and then let out a loud sigh, "But unfortunately not enough time to explore everything. This school is monstrous in size if you haven't noticed." Kare laughed. Claire laughed, of course she noticed. She had no doubt that there were many places in this school that were undiscovered, even by the staff. Claire nodded her head in agreement with Nikholas, grinning back at him. "It would make for an interesting tournament." She said and stopped walking as Karen put an arm in front of her. She peered over Karen's shoulder and realized that the staircase they were ready to step on had moved. Shock moved through her as she noticed how far up they had gone. "My first year here, I nearly fell off a staircase." Karen said gazing at the ground that was far bellow them now. Claire stared at her unsure of what to say to that. Karen continued and looked back at them with a wide grin on her face,"I wasn't really paying attention. It scared the bloody hell out of me." Claire smiled and laughed, hoping that never happened to herself.


Karen soon stopped abruptly in front of a large portrait of which a fat lady sat there dozing off. Claire tilted her head in confusion, wondering why Karen had stopped. Karen turned to Claire and Nikholas and gestured to the large painting, "This is the Fat Lady." She announced, at her words the lady in the painting opened her eyes and wearily eyed the three of them. "You're late." She said, her voice full of irratance from being awoken from her nap. Karen frowned, "This is actually the entrance to the Gryfindor common room." Karen continued ignoring the Fat Lady's comment. "You need to give her the password to get in which is..." Karen paused, apparently trying to remember what the password was. Claire stared at the Fat Lady slighly entranced, so this the way to get to the common room. "Ah," Karen said taking a small piece of paper out of her pocket and reading it out loud,"Wattlebird." She said with confidence. "In you go then." The Fat Lady said, and to Claire's surprise the portrait swung open revealing a small entrance behind it.

(Sorry this one took so long, my internet connection has been iffy this whole week. :/)

Nikholas nodded in agreement with Karen's comment on the school's size, not having thought about that until now. Durmstrang had been large, in Nikholas' opinion, but Hogwarts was most definitely quite a bit larger. It was somewhat disappointing to hear that exploring all the grounds would be impossible, but he was sure that that would give him something new to look forward to every day. He then smiled as Claire replied, "Yeah, it would." Nikholas then stopped abruptly behind Claire as Karen stopped her, his eyes widening in surprise as he realized that falling off of the staircases was really that simpel to do. He made a mental note to be extra careful on the stairs.

The portrait entrance to the Gryfindor common room caught Nikholas by surprise, but he ended up grinning as he realized that they were just about to enter where he would be living for the upcoming months. A flutter of excitement went through him as he heard the password to enter, smiling when the Fat Lady moved to reveal the passageway. Wattlebird. He said the password in his mind a few times to make sure he remembered it. Then, (assuming that they did enter) Nikholas followed Karen and Claire into the common room, smiling brightly as he looked around the room.