Katy left the Great Hall after breakfast just with a bunch of other students leaving for their first class.  As she exited, the staircase she needed was settling back into its proper place.  She breathed a sigh of relief.  A 5 minute walk to class could easily turn into a 45 minute safari through the long, abandoned, and quite often haunted corridors of Hogwarts' innards, depending on which landing it decided to put you on at the other end.  There was no predicting it either.  But seeing it settle into place was a reasonably good sign that she'd make it to class on time.  Sure enough, the steps beneath her feet were solid and steady.  There was no grinding of stone on stone, not the tremble of new movement. 

She had already allowed her daily trepidation over the moving stairs to pass and had begun to think about yesterday's homework assignment.  The ground dropped out from beneath her feet.  Her stomach lurched in shock as she pitched forward onto the smooth, angled surface in front of her.  She scrambled to grab hold of something but the thick baluster slipped from her grasp as she slid down feet first on her stomach.  She hit the floor of the Great Hall with an umph and pushed herself to a kneeling position.  She stared at the stairs with her mouth slightly open.  They weren't stairs any more though.  It was a slide.  How and why had that happened?

Kiba strolled down the hall, whistling a happy tune as he went. He was feeling great today, he had spent hours the previous night working on his transformations and for once he didn't wake up with a migrane. He had a hearty breakfast that left him feeling warm and satisfied, preparing him for the long day ahead. Life was good. As Kiba approached the moving stairs, he witnessed a kid, probably a fourthie, sliding... down the stairs?

A smile broke out onto Kiba's face as the girl slid to his feet and picked herself up onto her knees, apparently not seeing him yet. Could this day get any better? Now that the stairs were malfunctioning, he could take his time getting to class, or just not go at all. One the inside, Kiba was just a big kid, he loved the idea of sliding to class. Could this be the work of a professor wanting to make getting to class funner? Or was it just someone's incredibly good joke? He placed a hand on the girl's head, ruffling her curly hair. "Hey," Kiba said with a grin, "I'm pretty sure that's not how you use the stairs."

Katy surged to her feet and slapped away the hand ruffling her hair with an irritated huff.  She glared at him and backed up a few steps until she was safely out of his arm's reach before she brushed the dirt off her uniform skirt.  "Don't you think I know that?" she snapped in response, ducking forward to grab her bag.  "Something's wrong with the stairs."  Indeed, all the steps had vanished and the plane where they'd normally be located was smooth, as though it had never been any different.  Although, as far as Katy was aware, nothing like this had ever happened before.

She regarded the boy a little more closely and finally recognized him.  She couldn't think of his name but she knew he was some sort of trouble maker. 

"Did you do this?" she accused.

Kiba chuckled at the girls antics, she seemed to be really peeved off about the whole situation. The way there was a permanent frown on her face, how snappy she was, it was all quite funny coming from such a small and nonthreatening girl. Or maybe she just didn't appreciate Kiba touching her head. Either way, Kiba was delighted to have such irritable and amusing company.

"Me?" Kiba said, touching a hand to his heart in mock hurt, "Why, I would never do anything to inconvenience any of my fellow peers. But, whoever did do this, is a bloody genius." Saying the latter more quietly.

He was kind of shocked that he hadn't thought of doing a prank like this, it was very amusing to see the girl all flustered. Kiba pointed his thumb towards himself and a big grin spread across his face. "I'm Kiba Attwood! The totally innocent guy that's going to help you get up these stairs, or slide... whatever it is!"

Katy wasn't sure whether she ought to be thankful or wary of Kiba Atwood.  He was dramatic and troublesome, no matter what he told her so mockingly.  And his stated admiration of the culprit could easily be his way of giving himself a complement.  However, the clock was ticking and with every passing second Katy was getting closer to being late to class.  In the end, did she have much of a choice if she wanted to get to class on time?  Would she just have to trust this fool?  Wow, the word tasted bitter.   

She glanced at the stairs turned into a slide meaning to think of a way up but was immediately sidetracked by the mystery.  It was incredibly difficult to influence a castle as magical and willful as this one.  It was doubtful that a student, no matter his talent or penchant for trouble-making would be able to accomplish it.  Was it purposeful or just an accident?

Snapping her attention back to the sixth year, Katy asked, "What did you have in mind?"  She'd research it in the library later.

Kiba shrugged at the girls question, he had no idea how to conquer the stairs-turned-slide, he would just have to improvise. Magic was out of the question, he never managed to more than a simple spell with his wand, he didn't want to kill the poor girl. You couldn't really threaten the stairs into changing back, they probably didn't have ears to even listen to him, so that was out too. Maybe just trying to climb up the slide like Kiba used to do with his friends at the playground would work, he was always pretty good at that.

He scuffed his feet on the ground to test the grip, then he took a few steps back for a run up. "Here goes nothing." He said to himself, breaking into a sprint. He ran up about halfway before he slipped, sliding on his knees all the way to the bottom again. Kiba sat on he floor, laughing at his lousy attempt. "Ah, that was fun," He smiled, getting to his feet, and facing the girl, "Have any other ideas, Uh, small angry girl? I could try again, though I'll probably fall again. My shoes don't have enough grip."

Katy scowled.  Little angry girl, while probably appropriate and certainly not the worst thing someone had called her, was not her name.  "My name is Katy," she told him.

She looked at the stairs and her scowl deepened.  Kiba, taller and more athletic than she was, couldn't make it up.  And her shoes, dressy uniform shoes, had no more grip than his.  "We should just go around," she said.  She  turned around and began to walk across the Entrance Hall.  She would be late to class whether she made it up the slide or not.  Why should she make a fool of herself in the process?  The next person could handle it.  Hopefully that next person would be a professor capable fixing the problem.

Kiba scrunched his nose as Katy went to leave. He didn't really like the girl, she was much too grumpy for her own good. If she stopped frowning and perhaps put a smile on her face, she'd look much more nice and welcoming. But even though he didn't particularly enjoy her company, it was better than having to go to class on time and Kiba was not one to step down from a challenge. "Hey, wait a second," He said, taking a few steps so he caught up with her, "I can't believe you're going to leave me and this potential hazard. How would you feel if someone was to badly injure themselves because you weren't here to prevent it? What sort of a Hufflepuff are you?"

He turned and shrugged at nothing in particular, "But, if you don't want to help me, then I guess you can go. Just know that if anyone gets hurt it will be your fault."

He was goading her.  She knew that but the implication that this ridiculous stunt was somehow her fault was one that nipped at her gut and refused to leave her alone.  Add that comment about somehow being less than a true Hufflepuff and he had her hook, line, and sinker.  But that didn't mean she had to like it.  The clip of her shoes on the floor ceased, punctuated by her heavy sigh.  She turned with her eyebrow raised.  She almost asked him again what he had in mind but he'd already made it clear he didn't have a mind. 

She regarded her scuffed school shoes with a critical eye.  She shuffled them on the floor to test the grip and pursed her lips , unsatisfied with the unfortunately smooth results.  She took out her wand and shot a cluster of red sparkling lights.  The red lights crackled as they flew through the air.  They narrowly missed hitting Kiba in the back of the head and settled at the top of the slide to warn people that something was amiss.  She smirked slightly to herself.  She hadn't meant to hit him, only warn him that, despite her age she would not back down when insulted.

Success. Kiba had prevented her from leaving and therefore enabled him to miss out on more class and actually work out how these darn stairs worked. He didn't react fast enough to move out of the way of her spell, but it didn't hit him anyway. He looked back between the stairs and Katy several times, wondering what in the world she was trying to do. "Were you trying to hit me?" He said dramatically, covering his mouth with his hand, "I don't believe it, that was quite rude Miss Katy." Kiba ruffled the girls hair again, knowing he would get an utterly hilarious reaction out of her.

He strode over to the stairs and stretched his arms up. "How do you think we should approach this? I mean, your little  fireworks show will warn people about the stairs, or slide, but what about if someone really daft comes along? What happens then?"

Katy clenched her jaw and sent another spell at Kiba.  This one was a jinx that felt like getting slapped with a wet fish: sharp, cold, and wet.  She was small but that didn't give anyone the right to make fun of her.  Miss Katy, indeed.  She patted her hair to make sure it wasn't sticking up. 

"Someone really daft?" she asked bitingly as she walked past him back towards the slide.  "Someone like you, you mean?"

She stared at the slide, puzzling about it, trying to figure out what they could do.  Running up was not an option with the slick soles on their shoes.  Perhaps one of them could climb up the side of the balustrade.  Not her though, she was too clumsy for such acrobatics.  But like Kiba said, getting to class wasn't the only concern here.  Fixing it, or at least fixing it so a student coming down to the Entrance Hall wouldn't fall and break their necks was also quite important.  But was it really up to them? Katy wondered.  She was only a fourth year.  She barely knew the most basic spells.  Spells that were powerful enough to change Hogwarts itself were way beyond her.  Probably way beyond Kiba as well.  Perhaps between the two of them they could figure something out but then they'd have to actually work together.  Heh, yeah right.

Oh troll scat...

Of all the things, for Philo to forget his materials for double Potions. He had a half hour but usually he saved himself from multiple climbs to Ravenclaw tower on a school day. Although double Potions was kind of a misnomer, more like 3/2 Potions so that three class hours a week could be achieved.

As such, he thought he could save himself a leg by trying a shortcut from near the Great Hall his brother Foster talked about using to shave time going to class. Although the shortcut must have opperated differently in Foster's years at Hogwarts. Philo found himself a few floors up but in the wrong wing of the castle to head towards Ravenclaw Tower. We would have to brave the twisting stairs of the grand staircase.

Emerging on a landing, Philo had the worst sense of timing. One set of sets that continued up swung away from him. He turned, only to find red sparks in his face. And from there, picking the wrong direction to avoid the sparks left his foot meeting nothing but air.

"Argh!" Philo fell to his side, head plunging down the slide where a normal set of stairs should be, satchel bouncing along behind. During the ride he managed to twsit so that his feet went first, just in time to avoid crashing into two people as each of his legs went through gaps in the next banister.

All the while, from his bag, Arlaug his swear frog protested the changed of altitude with notable croaks like "D'Arvit!", "Crivens!" and even "Sliemo."

"Someone really daft? Someone like you, you mean?"

"No, someone like him," Kiba chuckled, pointing towards the small figure as they half tumbled, half slid down the stairs turned slide. Kiba was somewhat surprised that someone had actually ignored Katy's firework warning, he had to hand it to her, it was a good idea. Either that boy was incredibly stupid, or he was preoccupied with something else. Kiba cringed as the boy crashed into the banister, his backpack croaking loudly, and rushed to him with a concerned look on his face.

"Hey there, are you alright?" Kiba said, giving the boy a few moments to recover from the collision before helping him to his feet. "So what was it, are you daft or were you not paying attention?" Grinnning toothily at the boy, Kiba crossed his arms over his chest and chuckled quietly. "It'd really help me in my argument against the little devil over there." Kiba whispered, motioning over to Katy.

Once his lungs had confirmed that they had survived the trip, Philo managed to croak out "What?" as he was assisted back into a standing position. Were the calling him daft as a joke to Ravenclaw? Though, intelligence wasn't the main criteria he had found in the house. Mainly an enjoyment of mental pursuits that included free thinkers and dreamers.

"No, distracted." He didn't want to know what kind of argument the other students were having but hopefully that had been an agreeable answer. "Was someone setting off fireworks? And what's with the stairs?"

"They're not fireworks," Katy said with a glare at Kiba.  Her red light was still sparkling at the top of the stairs, apparently ineffectual in its warning intentions.  She left it up though, just for good measure.  Perhaps the next person wouldn't be so foolish as to ignore it. 

"Something's wrong with the stairs," she added gloomily.  "We don't know what happened, they just turned into a slide when I was halfway up.  It could be a malfunction or just a trick.  Who knows?"

She eyed the younger boy critically as he stood.  He didn't appear to be hurt but one could never tell for sure.   "Are you injured?" she asked in a clipped tone.