Corridor

Jackson folded his cane and stuck it in a robe pocket, trailing his fingers along the wall. One picture frame. Two picture frames. Three. The entrance to the dormitories.
"Sorry it's kind of chilly down here, be back in a tick." He grinned.

"Alright", she said, leaning with her back against a wall and then sliding all the way down till she was sitting.

"Taylor, keep Ruby company, don't get tangled in her hair."
Jackson told the painting the password and scrambled through the opening, walking fast toward his dormitories.

As Taylor landed on her should she opened her transfiguration book, silently humming a lullaby.

A moment later, Jackson opened the painting and hopped out, a few owl treats in hand.
"Here, Ruby, want to give Taylor a snack?" He held out his fist, Taylor hooting and tipping his head back and forth, walking a few steps down Ruby's arm.

She closed her book and held out her hand to recieve the treats and approached the hand closer to Taylor. She nodded at Jackson with a faint smile. Her mind was still thinking about the theories and diagrams she had read, and she was still humming that same lullaby.

Taylor quickly hopped on the hand holding the treats, eating them and hooting happily before walking up Ruby's arm and nuzzling her cheek.
"What're you humming?" Jackson asked, smiling.

"Hmmm? Oh this? Well... I don't know", she said with a chuckle. "Whenever I'm reading I always hum it, for some reason", she petted Taylor's head with her index finger.

"Huh. That's kinda neat." Jackson smiled. "Can I ask you an odd question?" He clasped his hands behind his back. Taylor hooted happily and nuzzled Ruby's finger.

"You can ask.If I answer or not, that's the unknown part. But yes. Go ahead", she said with smile.

"D'you know why your parents named you Ruby? I just find it interesting 'cause a ruby is a thing and a rose is a thing, y'know?" Jackson frowned, not sure he'd made himself clear.

"Well Rose is the name of our clan. We hail from one of the ancient scottish clans, you see? We were originally muggles, back during the dark age, but sometime during the IX century, a fellow family, which happened to be a wizard family, joined our ranks. With the passing of 2 millenia, we barely had any muggle in our ranks, and so we became a... "pure blood" family. As for the Ruby... My parents say I was born with blood red eyes. It dissipated for some reason, but when they saw me, they both said my name at exactly the same time. And so my name became Ruby Rose." As she finished talking, she remembered her parents' house in the Scottland Highlands. A little cabin. She smiled sadly.

"That's brilliant." Jackson grinned. That had to be one of the best name stories he'd heard yet. He didn't quite understand how her eyes could be like blood and rubies, but it was a color thing. He'd never understand color things. "Can blood purity work like that? I thought all your ancestors had to be magic or you were considered half blood?" He rubbed his head.

((Does Ruby have a Scottish accent?))

"Well... We weren't always peaceful... We kinda obtained our status... the hard way", she giggled nervously. "Let's just say that my sister is not the first Dark Wizard in the family."

(Her accent is typical British, although at time she may pronounce things with in slight "scottish manner". She only lived in Scottland until she was five and then was left at her sister's care, who lived "most of the time" in England, travelling from town to town.)

"I didn't know it worked like that." Jackson frowned. He thought it just depended if your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents were magical. "Hey, you said you're from Scotland? You don't hardly have an accent." He noted. She sounded normal except for sometimes he heard a slight lilt to her words.

"Well... Usually it works like you said... But if you think about it, there are no truly "pure" pure-bloods by that logic. And when a family shows inclination towards dark magic and often allies themselves with the great dark wizards of that age, everyone, even the family themselves start to turn a blind eye on the ancient past. And by ancient, I really mean ancient."
Just as she was about to explain the reason for her accent, she clenched her head and shut her eyes as hard as she could. She let out a curse "Damn it... Wait a minute...", she pulled out a small flask from her robes and downed it. She sighed in relief.
"Sorry about that", she said, trying not to alarm Jackson "As I was about to say, I only lived in Scotland till I was around five... That's when my parents died. Then I was put into the care of my sister, who... err... "lived" in England." She said, putting emphasis on the word "lived".

"Oh, right, people just forget about stuff they don't want to think about." It made sense, especially if a family cared about blood status. Jackson tipped his head a bit, he thought he heard liquid. Could it be a potion? No, Ruby didn't like potions. Probably pumpkin juice or water or something.
"That's a good idea, to carry around a drink for if you get thirsty. Did your sister move around a lot? Or, er, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I mean." He didn't want to make Ruby sad again.

Taylor, bored, flew over to Jackson's shoulder and nipped at his robe. "No, Taylor, no more treats. You can go with the other owls." Taylor hooted and flew off.

"It's a potion I learned to brew myself... It's to prevent a certain condition of mine to take control. Nothing serious though!", she said with a wave of her hand.
"Aye", she said with one of those rare moments of Scottish accent. "It was her way of avoiding the authorities, both muggle and magic. It also her way of gaining underworld connections in several towns and cities. I think the longest I stayed in one place when living with her was 6 months living in Manchester. Then there was those horrible 4 months living in Bristol and I think that's the two cities where we actually stayed for a while", she sighed, "I never did return to the cabin... I think this summer I'll visit it."
She looked at Jackson "You're the first person I shared so much of my personal history with, you know? I don't know why, but I feel like you're trustworthy", she said smiling widely.

"Well I'm glad you have your potion." Jackson smiled. "And, er, thanks? I like to think I'm trustworthy..." He rubbed the back of his head. "I like when you use your accent. Er, I mean, it makes you sound different than the other kids? This isn't coming out right." He wiped his face and tried again. "I've never really been on holiday abroad, so I don't really hear different accents often. The kids from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang when the Triwizard Tournament is held here, and sometimes a transfer student from across the pond, but that's it." He shrugged. "So hearing yours is ace."

"Aye... My potion is a must. It would be...err... troublesome if I didn't drink it every 4 hours."
She blushed. It was the first time someone had complimented her scotish accent.
"You've never been abroad? Hmmmmm... How about you and your family come with my visit my homeland?", she sounded excited "My godmother doesn't like thinking about the cabin I used to live in. It brings her too many memories you see? So I never did actually go there, despite my independence. So? What do ya say?", she asked, her scottish accent making itself noticeable again.

"That sounds brilliant, d'you really mean it?" Jackson couldn't help the grin that spread over his face when Ruby didn't hide her accent, and it got bigger when she offered to take him to her old cabin. True, they hadn't been back at school for long, but it sounded like a swell way to spend some of their summer holiday. His mum did like meeting his school friends.

"Aye! Plus it's a wondeful place for to spend summer vacation. If I remember correctly there's a small lake in a forest near the cabin. My memory is blurry because of my age back then, but I can't forget that image. Me, playing with dad while mom braided Milliana's hair. It's one of the few memories I have of her before it happened. We were so happy on that day. Milliana had just ended her 7th year at Hogwarts, scoring an Outstanding in every N.E.W.T. she took. Mom was so proud of her. She kept saying she didn't understand why the Sorting Hat had put her in Slytherin when she was obviously a Ravenclaw. Milliana simply laughed and then conjured a flock paper birds for me to chase around while she talked to our parents about her ambition of traveling around the world and learning old magic", as she talked about her memory, Jackson may have noticed her accent was becoming more and more scottish. Probably triggered by the memory, where obviously, everyone talked with a rough Scottish Highlands accent.

(goes to the cat-cave to prepare a hidden plot! *cue evil laughter*)

((Sounds fun! Hope next summer is more than a week long!))

Jackson couldn't stop smiling if he tried, but he wasn't really trying. It sounded like a really nice memory, as Ruby's accent slipped more and more. He didn't want to say anything wrong and possibly accidentally remind Ruby of bad stuff, but...
"If, er, if we do go, I figure you should know, my mum's pretty overprotective of me. I've got a mobile for summers but she'd probably be coming with us places so we couldn't really explore on our own very much." He stuck his hands in his pockets. "Reality of visiting the blind kid out of school is dealing with the blind kid's mum." He shrugged.
She'd let him hang out with friends at the beach last summer, but she wasn't happy that he'd left the beach without her. They hadn't ever gone camping, though it sounded fun to Jackson.

((PS- Since I have no idea what Ruby would sound like, I'm reading your posts in Merida from Brave's brogue.))

"That will be no problem", she said with a chuckle. "Even if we don't go on adventures, there's plenty to do. We can visit a ruined castle nearby... I think it belonged to the Rose clan back in the day, before it became a bunch a ruins. And we can have picnics by the forest or near the lake!", Ruby was obviously still excited with the idea of visiting her old home. She would make sure that both Jackson and his mother would have a good time. She would be their host after all... Kinda atleast.

(When she goes scottish Merida's voice is almost perfect. Imagine it a tiny bit higher pitched :b)

"Those sound like adventures." Jackson grinned. "Well, maybe not the picnic, 'cause that's just sitting, but visiting ruins? That sounds like an adventure right there." He was getting so excited and they were still months away from summer holiday. He'd have to write to his mum tonight...
"Er, bit of an odd question, are there ladders in the cabin?" He wasn't the best at going down ladders...