A fright and good encounters. (open)

After one and a half years of being at Salem, Gillian still found herself discovering new places that awed her and creatures that looked like they came out of slightly twisted fairy tales. Just a few minutes ago, she had found a creature that assured her it was what it called itself a "house elf". Gillian always though elves were nicely looking, but this one was weird and not really that pretty; but still, it seemed really eager to help her, so when she asked for a cool place to hang out and some food, she suddenly found herself standing in front of this weird room, with a huge basket full of good sweet things.

Now the real problem was how on earth was she going to eat all of that by herself. Guessing she might as well worry about it later, Gillian extended her hand and opened the door to a wonderful and magnificent room.

Mary needed a break. She had so many responsibilities and things just kept piling and piling on until the witch was on a brink of another emotional breakdown. Which is why she decided to ignore the world and do something fun and relaxing. She didn't particularly feel like sobbing her heart out again, she was stronger than that.

So she walked up to the third floor where the Room of Variation was, intent on getting some more Wi-Fi. There were still some episodes of Breaking Bad that she hasn't seen. She was putting them off for a particularly stressful day and well, today was that day.

As Mary was nearing the room, she saw a little girl there and she couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. She wanted to spend a few hours on her own, but she figured she might as well ask the girl - Nightshade - if she could join her. The Room of Variation always made her feel better about herself and maybe some company wouldn't be so bad.

"Hi there! I was wondering if I could join you?" the Head Girl asked as she approached the recently appeared door.

As she was opening the door, someone spoke behind her and made her jump and let go of the door with a yelp. Turning around really fast, she saw an older girl right in front of her, the one who frightened her she supposed, for there was no one else around. In that moment, Gillian noticed how some of the things that were initially inside the basket that the house elf had given to her were on the floor, consequence of the hasty turn.

"Errmm" Gillian doubted the reasons the older girl had, but her gut wasn't telling her to be wary of her, so she just shrugged and answered while she bent down to pick the few things that were scattered around "Sure!, why not? I mean, I don't know what's in the room, but you can come in with me if you want, I do have some nice things here that the nice elf gave to me" she said offering one of the cupcakes form the basket to the girl.

"Sorry! Didn't mean to frighten you!" Mary cringed as the little girl jumped and dropped her things. She bent down and helped her pick up the various things. "It's just, I needed to get out of my room for a bit. Our common room and the library are filled with people right now and I'm trying to avoid crowds. Headache." She offered as an explanation, along with an apologetic smile.

"Sure!, why not? I mean, I don't know what's in the room, but you can come in with me if you want, I do have some nice things here that the nice elf gave to me"

The Head Girl looked from the girl to the door, thoughtfully. "What did you wish for? I once got a room filled with computers, it was wonderful. Of course, they didn't really work at first because of the Anti-Muggle Technology charms, but I just focused on one of them and got it to work." She told the girl happily, taking the offered cupcake. "Thank you!"

"I'm Mary, by the way. Shall we?" the witch motioned towards the door and held it open for the younger girl.

Gillian smiled at the girl and shook her head wanting to dismiss the apology "nah, don't worry, I just wasn't expecting anyone around, I thought I was alone" she said, not mentioning that she thought she was doing something against the rules. "yeah, I get what you mean about crowds" she said agreeing, understanding exactly how the other witch felt, muttering under her breath as she finished picking up the rest of the things with the girl in front of her "they're stupid".

There was confusion written all over Gillian's face "what do you mean 'what did I wish for'?" she asked trying to understand the rant about computers "The elf just said that there was a room that had whatever I wanted, he didn't say I had to ask for it" she said frowning, wondering how did it really work.

"I thought they said computers or other electronic devices couldn't work here because all of the magic around made them obsolete" she said with a hint of hope on her voice, turning to the door, she leaned towards the new girl and asked "so how do we make this work? do you think there might be some music there?" she asked excitedly, if there was something that Gillian missed about the muggle world, was the possibility of listening to music all the time.

"The elf just said that there was a room that had whatever I wanted, he didn't say I had to ask for it"

"Hmm. How would it know what you wanted if you didn't wish for it? Though, it might work even if you don't specify what you want, yes." Mary said, narrowing her eyes at the door, thinking about the subject. "This castle's been surprising me since day one, so yes, it might as well work. It is magic, after all and if it can know what you want when you wish for it, it could know what you want even if you don't." She was thinking out loud without really knowing she was doing it. The witch has thought about the room many times, but has never quite worked out how it worked. At last, she came to the conclusion that not all magic can be logically explained - a thought that bothered her Wormwoodness to no end.

Mary nodded to the Nightshade's question about computers and frowned. "It's absolutely ridiculous. It's 2013, Muggle technology shouldn't be such a problem in the wizarding community. I mean, I love books and all, but do you have any idea how long it takes to do proper research and how much faster it would go if we had internet? I spent a whole day one time searching for one piece of information and I'd be done in a half hour, tops, with internet. Also, writing down every essay and every bit of information you find takes so much time. Honestly, if we could type it all and print it out or just it via email it'd save us loads of time." The Head Girl stopped herself and looked at the girl apologetically. "I'm sorry. I have a lot of thoughts about that. But yeah, I made one of the computers work and I got Wi-Fi, as well. It was an amazing day." she added happily, not mentioning the amount of work she had to do in order for that to happen.

"so how do we make this work? do you think there might be some music there?"

The witch thought about everything she wanted in the room and then grinned down at the girl. "I think there should be. Come on." She opened the door and walked in.

It was like a cozy living room, complete with a set of speakers, a stereo, a huge stack of cds, there were sweeties and chocolates in glass bowls all around, a comfortable-looking couch. There were a few bean bags there and, in the corner, there was a laptop. Mary smiled and silently thanked the room.

Gillian watched bemusedly as the girl in front of her ranted about the room they were supposed to enter. The girl was evidently talking to herself and discussing with herself about the workings of the room in front of them, and Gillian had absolutely no idea what all of it meant. From what she could gather, you had to wish for something and the room somehow would give it to you, but things turned complicated when she started to wonder what happened when there were two people wishing for things, like they were right that moment.

When the girl paused her rant and looked down at her, inviting her along to enter the room. With a small hesitation, Gillian followed the older girl's steps and entered what looked to be the coziest room in the castle, with a really comfortable looking couch and other bean bags scattered around.

She was awed about the room and the music stereo to notice anything else. Without a second thought, she walked towards the couch and sat down tucking her legs under, she put the basket with goodies next to the couch and reached out to pick the first stack of cd's and started reading the music in them as she turned on the stereo and put the first cd that she recognized.

Turning around to take in the rest of room in, she noticed a few muggle novels on top of the coffee table, and picked one. She looked back to the girl and frowned, "excuse me" she said as politely as she could, "I didn't get your name, I'm Gillian" she said, not really sure if the girl had told her her name or not.