Around the seventh floor or so

Louise was standing on the highest of the landings she could find that still had a fair view of the ground floor below, leaning nearly to her waist over the banister. What a dizzying height this was! How tiny all her fellow classmates appeared! She wondered what it would be like to hang from the rail, like a bat of sorts. She was just about to attempt this when she remembered that she was wearing a knee-length skirt. Unlike her mother, she, at her young age, had a sense of modesty. So, she continued to lean, one foot slowly rising from the floor as the rail pressed closer and closer into her stomach.

"Hey--hey, Lauren!"

Josiah ran up to the banister, so he was next to Louise. "You do realize that you're about to fall over the rail, right? That's not a very smart thing to do!"

"Hello, Josiah!" Louise fell back, her feet planting back on the floor. She smiled up at him, a cheerful blush rising to her cheeks; her hair had grown out a bit more since their last meeting, and now met her earlobes in a fluffy mess. "How have you been?" she asked cordially, clasping her hands behind her.

"Um, I'm alright. Why were you leaning over the banister like that?" Josiah wondered. This girl sure was... unique.

"Look for yourself. Everyone looks like those little chigger fleas!" She looked over the banister again. "You know, those little red ones that eat your skin?"

Josiah, albeit hesitantly, looked over the banister. He just looked, though, he didn't lean. "Oh, yeah, those things. They don't look red, the people down there." On the contrary, they looked black. The gray of their uniforms blended together and made them look like little black dots.

"People are pink, aren't they?" Louise had begun to tip forward again without her apparent notice, distracted -- positively enamored -- with the bacteria swarming about below.

"Well, they're pink, but with their uniforms and cloaks on they all look black." Josiah didn't notice her leaning, either. He was watching the people walk around. It was sort of hypnotizing.

"Even the Gryffindors?" Both feet had left the landing.

"Yeah. Everyone's got their ties on under their cloaks." Josiah was quite enamored with the students by now.

"But they've got the emblems and everything..." Louise was nearly balanced like a roman scale.

"Hey, Lauren... what are you doing?" Josiah asked when he finally cast a glance in her direction. "You're going to fall if you aren't careful."

"I'm not going to fall."

"Yes, you are!"

And then, a majority of her weight flew to her anterior.

"Lauren!" Josiah yelled, grabbing one ankle in each hand. "I told you you'd fall... God!" He pulled her ankles, trying to pull her back over the banister.

Louise was screaming like a fool, clutching for one of the little pole things that held up the railing with one hand while trying to hold a flap of her skirt over her crotch with the other. "I WASN'T GOING TO FALL!" she shrieked.

"YOU STILL DID!" Josiah yelled back. Realizing what she was trying to do, he looked away, turning red in the cheeks. "I'm not looking, grab the rail with both hands, you idiot!"

Craning her head to make sure, she let go of her skirt and grabbed a bar with her other hand as well. "PULL ME UP! PULL ME UP!"

"I'm PULLING!" With that, Josiah gave a final tug, and she was over the banister. Desperately trying to cool down his cheeks, he thought about something else. Think about water balloon fights, fairy tales, anything but this... don't get so embarrassed! He held his hand out to her to help her up, still looking away in case anything was being revealed.

Louise found herself unable to stand out of her remaining fear. She knelt on the landing, trying to catch her breath and swallow her tears, preoccupying herself with smoothing out the pleats in her skirt. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

"It's alright!" Josiah crouched next to her. "Just don't lean over like that. If I weren't here, you would have fallen and died!"

"I'm sorry," she continued under her breath, looking the opposite direction from where he crouched. "I'm sorry... My name isn't Lauren."

Josiah looked mighty embarrassed. Thank goodness no one was looking. "Oh, it isn't? Err... what is it, then?"

"Louise." She wiped her eyes on the white sleeve that covered her left forearm.