Speaking Gibberish

Izzie had been stalking the corridors of Hogwarts for nearly two hours. Homework was forgotten in her bag in her dorm, and Izzie had been testing how stealthy she could be against the people of Hogwarts. So far she had followed a professor into the Staff room, and would have gotten out too, but a teacher had come in at the moment she was leaving and yelled at her to leave. She had proceeded to follow two Hufflepuff's down to their corridor before losing them from there. She had sat for a good half an hour down there hoping they would come out of wherever they had disappeared into, before giving it up and heading back upstairs.

Now after all this time, she found herself staring stupidly at a portrait of an old professor who had been speaking gibberish in his frame for the past half an hour. She was attempting to figure out if the spell had simply started to wear off, or if the person in the photo had been mad when she heard footsteps. Her first immediate thought was to duck into a classroom on the side, but immediately she dismissed that, she wanted to see who was coming, not hide from them, so instead she stood where she was, facing the portrait and proceeded to speak gibberish right back towards him.

Vivianna was leisurely making her way down from the tower she'd been inhabiting, to the Dungeons. The teenager hadn't run into anyone on the way yet, and this pleased her, most people tended to annoy her these days. It wasn't until she reached the fifth floor corridor that the redhead heard voices. One voice had been expected, the portrait of Marvin the Mad was in this hallway, but the second voice was not that of a painted canvas. Vivianna actually got along quite well with Marvin, the man had been a potions genius in his time. While the man had been a little odd whilst living, he'd never been as insane as his name suggested. Nowadays, his portrait took amusement in pretending to be completely round the bend, the Slytherin had learnt that the only way to get him to speak to you normally, was to talk potions theory.

Turning the corner, Vivianna took in the sight of Marvin rambling on in gibberish, only for the blonde student in front of his portrait to speak gibberish right back! Noticing the Gryffindor tie around the other girl's neck, the younger teen just rolled her eyes. "Hello there Marvin," the redhead said, completely ignoring the other student, "you know I was wondering the other day, do you think that adding peppermint and mandrake could speed up how long it takes Skele-Grow to take effect?" Upon spotting her, the portrait immediately dropped his façade, and began discussing possible modifications to the Skele-Gro potion.

"Hmm.. well there goes that attempt." Izzie thought as some random girl came up and started to discuss something about potions with the portrait, who immediately sprung into language that was perfectly understood. "Hi I'm Izzie." she said, completely ignoring the portrait now, pretending that hadn't happened. "What are you doing on the fifth floor? Not like there is much here, or do you come here simply to speak potions with a portrait?" Izzie grinned, but annoyance was creeping through her.

She had had a plan all lined up for when the person came and asked her why she was speaking gibberish to a portrait, and now the girl had ruined it by knowing the portrait better than her. She'd have to try a different tactic. "I guess I do more interesting things than talking to portraits during my day." She smirked and leaned against the wall. "Had to try it though, thought he might like the attention, and this school gets so boring sometimes, it's a sad day when you are reduced to chatting up a portrait."

Vivianna turned away from Marvin to narrow her eyes at the Gryffindor. The other girl was clearly trying to rile her, and Vivianna had never been one to back down from that type of verbal challenge. Especially when said verbal challenge came from a Gryffindor, the house of the upstanding hypocrites.

"I was making my way down to my common room," the Slytherin responded neutrally. "I have many things to do with my days, I simply couldn't resist showing you how it's done. And unless I'm very much mistaken, you were the one who was spending her time talking to a portrait, who wasn't even talking back in understandable English," the teenager retaliated, left eyebrow raised. "No offence Marvin," the witch added over her shoulder to the painted man, whom seemed to be watching their conversation with must interest.

Izzie couldn't help but smirk as she sized up the girl. She glanced over towards the portrait again and then smiled lightly at her. "I mean no offense of course! It's simply, not many people would know that by talking about potions with him that you'd get him to talk understandably, unless you spent some time talking to portraits.. is simply what I'm getting at." She said with a light, cheeky grin.

"All portraits are different I guess, not spent much time thinking about them.. maybe I will, are there any other portraits your friendly with? I'd love to get to know them." She grinned and flicked a strand of hair off of her face, obviously pleased with the conversation, whether or not she was losing. Izzie didn't seem to mind that she had pretty much been made a fool of, it was the conversation itself that got her in a good mood, and especially with a Slytherin girl, while most people didn't like Slytherins, Izzie loved them, and spent more time than she cared to admit, watching them interact with others.

"What were you doing up in the towers anyway?"

Vivianna was having a hard time pinning this girl down, which was something that she really didn't like. The Gryffindor seem to be provoking her into something, but had no care to win. That was, unusual to say the least, especially for a lion. "Anyone with half a brain would know that this man is one of the most famed Potions Masters of all time, it was simple logic," the fifth year responded dryly. She really didn't like knowing exactly where she stood, and the fact that she couldn't read this girl was getting on her nerves.

"Homework," the Slytherin answered honestly, "the towers have the best view in the school, and are quieter than the Library." Realizing exactly why the other teenager might have asked this question out of the blue, the redhead allowed herself a smirk. "Don't worry, I wasn't up in your little lion tower sabotaging your beds, no matter how amusing that would be," Vivianna informed the blonde, voice patronizing.

Izzie grinned and looked towards her, before glancing back at the portrait, frowning at it seriously, before putting her hand up to her chin and stroking it. "Tell me good sir, what is your opinion on Gibberish inducing potions?" She laughed and ignored the portrait as she reached her hands up above her head, stretching. "Logic is not fun, I prefer to be astounded by what people tell me. Like, cool this guy was some potions dude, sounds amazing! Good for you!"

Izzie grinned towards her, before letting her hands fall back to her sides. "Homework is boring, but sabotaging beds.. now that is fun!" She got a mischievous look on her face and took a step back, looking the Slytherin girl up and down. "You don't seem like the prankster type to me though.. in fact it makes sense you'd be up in the towers." She nodded once and looked away as though her comment meant nothing. "Nothing wrong with that of course."

The Slytherin gritted her teeth. What was this Gryffindor trying to accomplish? Clearly, the blonde was trying to either irritate or mess with her, but why was a complete mystery to Vivianna. The redhead didn't like mysteries when they involved herself, unless they were fun to solve. Something told her that even if she did solve this particular mystery, it wouldn't be very fun.

"If you go through life being astounded by everything people tell you, you will have to be a very naïve person," the girl stated, a hint of bitterness behind her words. Vivianna had never really gotten a chance to be properly naïve, and tended to dislike those who were. The witch tiled her head back and rolled her it from one side to the other. Smiling when her neck making a loud cracking noise, she looked back to the Gyffindor.

"You're right, I'm not the prankster type. If I'm displeased with someone, I tend to do more than a little prank," the girl admitted with a slightly feral smile. Vivianna did have quite the reputation among most circles, especially in her own house. One of the lion's comments had hit home, however. The redhead had been considered for Ravenclaw, simply due to her incredibly analytical nature. Slytherin had won by a landslide in the end, and if anything, the witch had only become more Slytherin over the years.

"I'm not quite sure why naive is such a bad thing..." Izzie looked towards her with a frown, it makes everything that much more exciting when you learn about them. "Like I bet you don't know how to properly do a Japanese tea ceremony, or how to track a lion in the Sahara desert, but I do, and not because I looked it up, because I went to where that stuff happens, and I was astounded by what they told me, and because of my astonishment, it prompted me to learn more about it than I would have normally... I don't feel naive, I feel fulfilled by what I do know." Izzie had gone suddenly serious, staring at the Slytherin girl with a small frown on her face.

Izzie frowned towards the Slytherin again and shook her head. "I understand that you are ambitious, but haven't you ever stopped to wonder how someone else feels about something? Ambition takes you places you normally wouldn't be.. cunning, slyness, doesn't mean you have to be mean.." Izzie shook her head almost sadly. "I respect Slytherins, not that they respect me, but I do respect them for their ideals and morals, I was considered for Slytherin you know. Not because I'm particularly cunning, but the hat thought I'd fit in there. Obviously he chose Gryffindor over it, but that doesn't stop me from respecting Slytherins."

Izzie suddenly grinned and shook her head. "But you don't care about that, because you have your life figured out right? Just like you knew this portrait would speak regularly if you spoke about potions. You have it figured out, and I respect your decision to not understand why I choose to be naive."

When the Gryffindor started going all deep in her, Vivianna just let out a sigh and started to play with the gold ring on her finger. Half of her wanted to like this girl now. The other half of her wanted to loathe her fellow student. Settling for somewhere in the middle, the Slytherin fixed the blonde with a piercing gaze.

"You know what I love? I love how everyone always assumes that they have Slytherins figured out. Most people like to think we're uptight blood purists, or just devil's spawn in general. But you, you may respect us, but don't think for a minute that you understand us," the redhead's voice was cold, and eyes blazing.

"Guess what, I don't have my life figured out. Not even close. But I do know that whatever happens, whatever comes my way, I'll be prepared. I also know that I won't be a blonde-haired pretty girl prancing through life on a whim, and feeling nothing but astonishment and wonder when the world blows up from right under my feet," Viviana said, leaning back against the wall and head tilting slightly to the side as she finished speaking.