 Bathes in Maple Syrup | Dancing Lobster | Moy Pomidor | Seneca's Beard | That Is So Fetch!
Miguel stared at Professor Voss for a moment after she appeared and called him Mr. Rosales, momentarily forgetting that he was still half-swallowed by a staircase.
At her observation, his gaze dropped to his trapped leg. His cheeks had gone noticeably pink. "...Yeah," he admitted. "And I'm losing pretty badly." The staircase gave a self-satisfied creak beneath him, which the boy frowned at.
When Professor Voss explained that Hogwarts occasionally developed opinions regarding punctuality, he blinked. Back home, staircases were simple: they went up, they went down, and occasionally they squeaked. They most certainly did not develop opinions.
"Wait, so you're saying it likes doing this?" he asked incredulously, looking back at the step that had swallowed him. "That's somehow worse."
Miguel remained sprawled across the staircase for a moment after his leg was released, staring at the offending step as though it might decide to grab him again.
Following the professor's question, he scrambled to his feet, reaching for his books while trying—and failing—to look dignified. The stone rippled once before settling, its surface seeming to undulate beneath his gaze. He immediately took a cautious step backward.
"Mostly offended," he admitted, wincing as he experimentally put weight on the rescued leg. "Maybe a little bruised. But mostly offended."
Still, he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Sorry for yelling, Professor. I just kinda panicked. One second I was making my way to class, the next—" His eyes widened slightly. "Oh. Am I going to get in trouble for being late when a staircase tried to eat me?"
The question came out with the unmistakable concern of a first-year who had suddenly remembered the original problem he was trying to avoid. Miguel glanced toward the corridor leading to class before looking back at Professor Voss with an expression that suggested he was already preparing a defense involving hostile architecture, magical entrapment, and at least three eyewitness portraits.
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