Curiosity Killed the Cat, but Satisfaction Brought Her Back

Despite it being a nice day and all, Haruhi decided to remain at the castle, rather than going to Cheval. It was exciting to the third year at first, but after a few visits, it had already lost it's novelty so Haruhi decided to only go when she had someone to go with. Instead, she planned on exploring the castle that day.

She had heard from some upperclassmen about how on the sixth floor, there was a portrait that marked a secret passageway. The story sounded cool enough to her to investigate and didn't have any downsides besides it not being real, so she set off to the sixth floor in search of it. Unfortunately, she hadn't heard enough specific details so she had no idea where to look on that floor or what the portrait looked like. She decided to ask them all.

"Excuse me. I don't mean to interrupt you, sir," Haruhi started, tapping on the frame of a portrait of an old looking wizard with the most bizzare looking mustache that seemingly defied gravity with it's multiple swirls of hair. He must've been dozing off for he was startled by the third year and fumbled around in the frame to find his glasses.

"Good evening, Mademoiselle," the portrait greeted. The man seemed like a good-natured, jolly fellow. Haruhi giggled in response.

"It is just past breakfast, Monsieur," She replied, still chuckling. "I believe the saying is 'good morning,'" she corrected and continued to laugh along with the man in the portrait. This was much more fun than going to Cheval. That was, until suddenly someone came from seemingly no where and knocked right into her. She caught her fall on the ground and rose again, wondering if she was instead pushed.

"Try to be more careful next time, okay?" She said as she helped herself up. No use in making a big deal over such a little fall. "Do you know anything about a portrait that has a secret passageway behind it?" Haruhi asked the student and then turned towards the portrait she was talking to to see if he knew of one.

Cmaeron was a bit of a trouble maker when he wanted to be. This time, things went a bit too far. Though no one had known it was him, he had set off a stink bomb in the Arithmancy classroom. He wasn't sure if anyone had been in there, but it would still be pretty stinky when someone did come back to the classroom. He assumed that no one was in there because he wasn't being chased. No sudden running from the classrpom meant he was in the clear. For now. He didn't want to be around when someome did come around. The faster the got out of there, the better.

So he looked around to see if anyone was close by before he began running down the hall. Once he thought it was okay, he slowed down a bit. But he was still going at a fast pace. Before he knew it, he had knocked someone down. "I'm sorry," he stopped. He was about to help her up but it looked like she could get up on her own. "Secret passage?" He must not have been going to Beauxbatons long enough to know about this story because he had no clue what she was talking about. "I don't know anything about it."

All thoughts about the prank were gone when he took a good look at the girl he had run into. "You play quidditch," he grinned. Though he wasn't the biggest fan of quidditch, he still watched the game with interest. He was a Miller and Millers loved quidditch, so he had to love quidditch too. "You never really get to see how someone looks from the stands. But I'm pretty sure I'm right, you do play quidditch." It would be so embarrassing if this wasn't the person he was thinking about. "Just ignore me. I'm Cameron Miller." He grinned and held out his hand. Two of his family members had been in quidditch and his brother had announced. There were so many Millers that the professors knew him before he knew them. And even some students know him.

Haruhi sighed as the boy claimed he knew nothing about a secret passageway. She supposed most students here didn't, but she had sure hoped to find the secret passageway.

"I do not have a passageway behind me, Mademoiselle, but I know of a portrait just down the corridor who is always bragging about some sort of secret she has, though will never tell any of us portraits about it. Perhaps she is the one you are looking for," The portrait of the mustache man offered. Haruhi's eyes lit up.

"Oh! Thank you so much, Monsieur!" She was about to run and go looking for her when she realized she had no idea what it was she was looking for. "But, uhhh, what does she look like?"

The portrait of the mustache man said she was a young woman wearing a scarlet hijab. Haruhi thanked the portrait again before taking hold of the boy's hand and heading down the corridor in search of the portrait.

"Yes, I do play quidditch," She answered. "I'm one of the chasers on Feu's team." She wasn't often recognized as part of the team, so it felt nice to finally be noticed. "I'm not one of the extraordinary players, I guess. Lucie is more prominent because she's the team captain oh and Bo too, because he's really good at catching the snitch," Haruhi blushed slightly at the mention of her crush's name. She knew Bo probably didn't see her as anything more than a teammate, but Haruhi couldn't help it how he made her heart all fluttery when they talked. "Compared to them, I'm just a sidenote." She was still blushing as the boy introduced himself. She realized then they had gone that long without a simple exchange of names. That and that she had practically forced him to come along on her exploration whether he wanted to or not. "My name is Haruhi. It's nice to meet you, Cameron. Are you interested in playing quidditch?" She asked in return as she continued to scan the paintings searching for the woman in the hijab.

Before he knew it, he was being pulled towards another portrait. Not that he minded, he liked a bit of an adventure. This was something that he would have thought up if he had known about it. "I think everyone is special, even if they're looked over. You have your abilities and they have theirs." He knew the feeling of thinking you weren't as special as the people around you. "I know the feeling of being on the side lines. It's an all too familiar feeling."

"Me play quidditch? Oh, no. My family, they're huge fans of the sport. I just watch it to fit in, I don't get into it like they do." His brother had been an announcer and two of his cousins were players, he figured that they would be the last. Unless Kayla joined. Then she would be the last Miller. But he wasn't going to play, it just didn't suit him. "I would say I rather watch it, but I don't like doing that either." He much rather explore the castle or doing something fun with his best friend. "But if we become friends after this, Haruhi, I wouldn't mind watching the sport."

Haruhi smiled sweetly at Cameron's comment. He was an awful nice boy, she decided. "I don't mind being on the sidelines," Haruhi said. She was incredibly athletic and good at what she did, but it didn't bother her if she never got recognition for it. That's not why she did it. "I play quidditch to have fun, and besides, even though people like Bo might not notice me, they depend on me. Every position is important in quidditch, even if one might not get as much attention," Haruhi explained.

She felt bad that Cameron said he only really pretended to like Quidditch to fit in with his family. She understood how it felt to stick out in one own's family. Her mother was a great businesswoman, smart and refined, and she expected Haruhi to be the same way. However, Haruhi's passions revolved around the activities her mother signed her up for in order to keep Haruhi in shape. She didn't care too much for business and plus this whole 'being a witch' thing really threw her mother as well. She didn't know what that meant for her future.

"It would bring me joy if you were to come to one of my games but you do not need to do so just to be friends with me," Haruhi replied. The last thing Cameron needed was another person in his life pressuring him to do something he didn't want to do. "Tell me, Cameron. What is it that you like?"

Cameron decided that he could trust this girl and that she was easy to talk to. But he had to be careful because once he found someone he was comfortable with, he had a hard time shutting his mouth. He wasn't the best at being sociable and he tended to say the wrong things at the wrong time. He was just waiting to screw up this conversation. He had to think before he spoke which he always had a hard time doing. But he was going to try because he needed more friends. Wolfie was a great friend but Cameron wanted more than just one friend. Well, there was Isobel too. So that was two friends. But three friends would be even better. He just couldn't say the wrong words and make Haruhi not like him. "Bo is the keeper, right?" He was probably so wrong. Honestly, he hardly watched the games, he liked occupy his time with other things. "I don't know who he is to be honest." But besides that, the girl did have a point and he kind of understood what she was talking about. "Well, it's nice to have fun doing something instead of doing it to show off."

"So, you want to be friends?" he asked. This was going much better than he thought it would and he was quite glad that she might be agreeing to be friends. "I like...." Oh crap! What did he like? All of the activities he enjoyed had suddenly left his brain and he was left standing there looking like an idiot. "I like food,"

Haruhi giggled at Cameron's blunder. He definitely lucked out knowing that she was on the quidditch team. She shook her head no gently before answering. "No, he's the seeker. One of the best I've seen at this level," Haruhi relayed, though maybe that was bias since he was on her team. "He's tall and has shaggy hair," Haruhi described. "He doesn't smile much, but when he does, it's really cute. Erm, I meant that he has a nice smile," She blushed as she realized she was rambling. "No matter. If you come see me play, you'll see him." And then she dropped it and walked a little bit faster in her pursuit for the secret passageway portrait.

She smiled as Cameron questioned if she wanted to be friends with him. She supposed her wording definitely insinuated that, not that she was regretting it. "You seem like a really nice guy, I don't know why I wouldn't want to be friends with you," She pointed out, laughing as he struggled to think of something he liked. Maybe he just hadn't found his passion yet. "Food definitely," She nodded. "Any type of food in particular? Obaasan often cooks pretty traditional Japanese dishes, but I still enjoy eating other types of food. I actually really like pizza, but I don't get it often and I don't think the house elves here would make it," Haruhi confessed.

A blush formed on the second year's cheeks. He had been wrong and she laughed. But it didn't seem like a mean laugh, instead it sounded sort of sweet. "Whoops," he let a small chuckle escape from his mouth. He grinned at his new friend when she talked about the seeker. He didn't really pick up on whatever the reason behind her blush was. He was kind of glad that he wasn't the only one that had blushed, now it was her turn to blush. "Smiling is always nice, if you smile when you feel like frowning it makes you in a better mood." He always tried to smile but sometimes felt himself failing at it. "Smiles are pretty."

His grinned seemed to grow brighter when she said he seemed like a nice guy. Cameron was happy that someone saw him as a good guy and that she was nice. 'You're nice too," he grinned. Cameron liked all kinds of foods, but not spicy foods. Spicy foods made his mouth burn and he didn't like that at all. "I love pizza, it's like my favorite food. I like it more than I like my stuffed bear."