Time: Before lunch

After divinations class, which everyone knew was one of Astrid’s favourites, she had agreed to meet a sixth year for some tutoring from the Hufflepuff house to do during the study break. She had actually rushed afraid she might be late only to get to their meeting place, the humpbacked witch, to find she was left standing there. Apparently that sixth year had no dignity in letting Astrid know they were no longer interested in the help, or couldn’t make it an rearrange the time. In her frustration she exhaled and leaned on something causing a doorway opened in the wall opening up to a passageway. “Cool,” she said quietly as she peeked in.

Astrid in her curiosity picked up her bag, slung it over her shoulder and started to wander in. the hidden door closing behind her. The floor was dusty and messy so she paused part way down the passageway removing her robes and folding them into her bag. No need to get her robes dirty. Astrid was very curious to see where the passageway would take her, perhaps some neat hidden room in the castle and she could use it for the SAWS meetings. Astrid was dying to find a location that was hidden but open for all the houses to get too. She was sure that the authority, namely the headmistress, might have a big of an issue with a group rallying for the rights of someone she supposedly kicked out of school. Astrid was by no means keeping her opinion quite on the matter but having a quiet place to host meetings was probably a good idea.

The passageway seemed to go on forever, she wondered where in the world this led. Was she beyond the walls of Hogwarts? Astrid began to think perhaps she should turn back, but then what if she was more than halfway? If she was then was it worth turning around not knowing something. A Ravenclaw sought knowledge and something interest and fascinating could be at the end of the tunnel, plus Astrid would be more than curious as to what was at the end of it and probably find herself back here so she might as well continue on the way anyway.

Finally she saw a door at the end of this long tunnel she pushed it up and peered inside. So it was a room. She pushed the trap door open more to find the area filled boxes and the smells of sweets. “Where am I?” she asked curiously. She noticed some stairs and wondered where they lead.

Outfit

It had been a long morning of work for Ringo Cavendar.  A group of wizard tourists from France had come in to visit.  And of course, they’d never seen any of the candies that Ringo had invented, and had many questions for him.  It was a bit frustrating trying to communicate with them when he wasn’t able to speak French.  But he’d been able to get through to them with hand motions. 

Now, he was ready to go home and relax.  Or go home and make up a new candy.  Ringo’s way of relaxing tended to be experimenting with flavors and sweets. 

Walking down to the basement, Ringo had to pick up a few things before he left.  First off, a few different candy bases, as well as flavors.  He also needed a few new tools.  Well, then of course he needed his bag which had his house keys.  Couldn’t get in without keys.

As Ringo stepped down the stairs, he thought he head some movement.  I don’t remember anyone being down here... He thought to himself as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Hello?” Ringo asked, looking around.  As he walked over to where he’d heard the noise, he nearly ran into someone. “Aaah!”

Startled, he looked at who he nearly ran into and opened his eyes wide. Astrid O’Malley.  “Am I dreaming? Astrid?”

“Ringo?” Astrid knew the voice better than she would like to admit. She turned on her heels to face him completely and smiled brightly as her realization was made true by cold hard facts. Ringo was right there in this place, wherever this place was. The only logical conclusion one could make was that she was in Honeydukes basement, and that the passageway led here. “Fascinating.” Astrid mumbled looking at Ringo still in momentary shock over the fact she was now standing outside of the Hogwarts grounds and in front of Ringo.

“I…” she pointed down pausing, “Followed a passageway and it led here.” This was just so mind blowing, because she really had not thought that the passageway would go off the school grounds let alone this far to Hogsmeade. Though the initial shock was slowly fading and the excitement of the find was settling in quickly.

“Blood Merlin and Chocolate Pancakes!” She exclaimed with excitement. “I just found a way off the school grounds without going through the main entrance.” She clapped her hands together in excitement and giggled while doing a little hop in the spot. The hop soon faded into a little dance or jig. It was only at that moment she remembered that Ringo was here and the embarrassment set in. She flushed pink in the face and barely made eye contact with the boy. It did not take a Wizengamot member to realize she could now see Ringo whenever he was working and she could make time for it. She had to admit that was rather exciting.

“I... Followed a passageway and it led here.”

“There’s a passageway that leads into our basement from Hogwarts? Are you serious? That’s insane!” Ringo was quite surprised at this.  And wondered if anyone else at Honeydukes knew about this secret passageway.  Well, if it was a secret passageway, not many people should know about it.  Though now Ringo and Astrid knew.

“Blood Merlin and Chocolate Pancakes! I just found a way off the school grounds without going through the main entrance.”

Ringo couldn’t help but laugh at her little dance.  She could be so cute sometimes. Well, maybe more than sometimes.  Though Ringo might have been dancing too, because this meant he’ll probably get to see Astrid more often.  Just as long as she didn’t get discovered by Headmistress Snark.  Even though he wasn’t on Hogwarts campus any more, he still heard stories about how vile the woman was.

“So, now that you’re here, what do you plan on doing? I just got off work if you wanted to do something... or if you needed to get back to Hogwarts. I don’t want you getting into trouble.” He really didn’t want that. Because then there was a good chance he wouldn’t get to see her at all.

“This is brilliant!” Astrid said with excitement. She was beginning to think of the endless possibilities and nearly each scenario involved visiting Ringo and seeing him, hugging him, running off to lunch with him. The ideas were endless and for the moment all thoughts of hr causes were gone, which was a rare occurrence. This meant she could spend time with Ringo more than just the visit to Hogsmeade, the trick was not to get caught.

“No no!” She said with excitement. “Let’s go do something.” She looked down at her attire, it screamed student. “We will just have to fix the outfit, I look like a walking advertisement for rule breaking.” Heck Astrid was just assuming they would go out somewhere, but if they weren’t she definitely made a fool of herself.

She started to undo her tie, if she got rid of that it would help and perhaps the sweater. She was determined to find away to go out with Ringo and not attract unwanted authority attention. Face it Astrid usually attracted unwanted attention by the way she dressed. Astrid did make a mental note to bring a change of clothes next time.

Ringo laughed at how excited Astrid was.  He then watched as she took off a few of the Hogwarts-related clothing articles.  Hopefully she wouldn’t be recognized when they left Honeydukes.  Of course... how would they get out of Honeydukes together? It would be a little weird considering he’d gone down to the basement alone, and no one would have seen Astrid walk in either.  Think think think....

“A disillusionment charm!  Think we should use one? That way it’s not weird having you walk out with me when you didn’t come in with me? Or think anyone would notice? No, never mind. There’s a lot of people up there, so they should think too much of you being there. Just blend in!” He said, getting even more excited.

He then grabbed her hand and led her up through the door into Honeydukes.  From there he led her out onto the street of Hogsmeade.  Thankfully no one had noticed the two of them through the crowded store.  Ringo then turned and smiled at her.  He seemed to have a bit of an adrenaline rush for having snuck her out. 

“So, what should we do first? Anywhere you want to go?” He asked, noticing that he still had her hand in his.

Blushing a little, he let go of her hand.  Ringo then moved his hand to his side and gave her a small smile. Was she all right with him holding her hand? Or was it awkward? Ringo didn’t know how she thought of him.  Well, he knew she had to like him at least somewhat since she was hanging out with him and breaking rules to do so.  But did she like him as much as he liked her? He surely hoped so.

Astrid giggled as Ringo seemed to blabber on about how to get her out of Honeydukes. All that giggling stopped once he had grabbed her hand and lead her out of the basement and through the shop. Just like he said nobody noticed, she just blended in and it was as if it were completely normal. Astrid felt she could do anything at this point because of that rush of adrenaline from sneaking out of the class and then out of the Honeydukes basement.

As Ringo’s hand left hers she pouted slightly, she wanted the hand back in hers. She felt awkward at the thought of reaching for it again and just remained in a pouty in her mind, but perfectly happy on the exterior.

“Could we go to the Three Broomsticks?” She asked with a chipper smile on her face. “I have never been there when it hasn’t been full of Hogwarts students.” She then paused, “Or we could go to Signature?” She had never been there before. She wasn’t sure what it was like night or day. She began to wonder if Ringo would want to go on a date with her one night, she could attempt to sneak away again and perhaps they could go on a date in the evening.