Forum Thread

Heidi groaned. The common room was so boring. Normally she would just use Aurora's magical room to watch her seriel killer documentaries but the room had locked itself since Aurora's injury. Heidi skips through the playlist on her I-pod before selecting a song. At first humming it, she ends up just quietly singing it to herself. After an hour or so of doing this, Heidi loses interest in the music. She locks it back in her trunk and decides to "explore" the castle. At this point, more then one person knows Aurora's in critical condition and not present at Hogwarts. Personally, Heidi had no true opinion on the matter. Emphathy just... wasn't her strong suit. "Then again, that could be the frontal lobe injury..."she thinks with a stale laugh. Heidi is well aware of her lack of empathy. "You know what, the library sounds interesting. Maybe they have something interesting on crime." she decides. To her supreme disappointment, the library has zero true crime books. "Ughh." she says, slamming her head on a table. "SHHH!" someone whisper yells at her. Heidi scowls.

---

When Suvansh woke up next day, Aurora was still asleep, but a few people had came up to them. One of them seemed to be the headmaster, Agilbert Fontaine. Suvansh greeted him with a bow, introduced himself, and proceeded to narrate the story, until Aurora woke up, sparing the details, like Aurora burning the man alive.

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Aurora stared at her old room. She had woken up several hours before, and explained what happened with Suvansh. Suvansh had gone to do something, leaving Aurora to her own devices. Running her finger over the ornately decorated door, Aurora presses her temple to it. Memories flood over here. She may have transferred over to Hogwarts in her second year, but this place was still her first home.

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First thing Suvansh did after confirming Aurora was alright, was to go use a fireplace to use the flee network to first talk to Professor McGonagall, confirming if Holly conveyed everything to her, and then he talked to Rohit. As he thought, he was worried, and he just waved him off of his doubts. When he was done, he went back over to Aurora, who was seemingly in the very room she stayed before she came to Hogwarts. The room where Lenora lived. It was her real home. He knocks on the door, knowing she was just at the other side. "Care to let me in?"

---

Aurora stepped back from the door and sat on the bed. She waved her hand at the door and it creaked opened. The room had enchanted wallpaper that looked like the night sky. Aurora leaned back against the wall as Suvansh entered. "Hi." she said, looking up at him.

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Suvansh entered the room, taking in the room. It was beautiful. "Hey. Just made a few calls over to Hogwarts..." He looks around, admiring the enchanted wallpapers, and just the detailed decor all around. "The room is beautiful...just like you."

---

The "festivities", so to speak, of the night before had been cut off shortly after Suvansh had suddenly disappeared. Hagrid had come through the courtyard to find the little cluster of students and promptly chased them off, not unkindly. A shame; Ri had been looking forwards to egging prefects and head boys without fear of repercussion. At least it hadn't been Filch, she supposed.

With a groan, the Fifth Year rolled over in her bed and, in a dramatic tone, whined to her friend who's bunk was next to hers, "Neneee, there's History of Magic first class today..." If there was ONE CLASS Ri Nightingale hated, it was this one. Charms could be fun, regardless of how terrible she was at it, but History of Magic was boring and dull; the sheer amount of work it produced was terrible in and of itself, as well. No use in putting it off, she scolded herself, reluctantly and slowly sitting up and rolling onto the ground as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

She was wearing a vastly oversized yellow sweatshirt that looked like a dress on her, which she wore whenever she got the chance, regardless of how silly it looked, and black sleep shorts. She really didn't want to change, but she doubted Flitwick would allow her to even step in the door of the classroom if she wasn't wearing her robes. Sighing, she moved to grab her uniform from where it hung at the foot of the bed.

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Radiance sat in her seat in the History of Magic classroom, quickly scanning through the textbook; the only other person there was the class's professor. She had always been an early riser, so this was a surprise for neither of them. Flitwick kept glancing at her with a slight frown before finally saying, "Miss Veraz, you're wearing Muggle shoes. Again, might I add." She glanced up at him. I know, git, she thought, but said, "Hm?" Ha, she could imagine the reaction that would have gotten out of a Legilmens. "If you hurry, you have time to change. Otherwise I may have to deduct points from your house." Coldly, she stood and left the classroom. When she got outside, she knelt and took her uniform shoes out of her bag, switching them for her Converse. Uniform policies were stupid. She waited a couple minutes before reentering and sitting once more in her seat, awaiting the other students with an emotionless face and a scowl in her heart.

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Aurora appears not to have heard Suvansh's compliment. "I lived here for years..." she says, sounding sad. "This was my first home." she closes her eyes for a moment before returning her gaze to Suvansh. "This was the first place I was safe." she murmurs.

---

Suvansh nods reassuringly, and goes and grabs her shoulders. "You were, are, and will always remain safe. Always." He gave her some time to settle. They were basically done here, but he wouldn't press her to leave.

---

Aurora took a deep breath. "Should I stay here?" she asks suddenly. Refusing to meet Suvansh's eyes, she continues. "This was where I lived with Lenora. I.. I think it may be better for me to stay here a little while. I think you know as well as I do that I need help. And this kind of help can't be found at Hogwarts." she says, sounding sad but decisive, like she's already made her decision.

---

Suvansh was taken aback by this. He recalls how his mind responded to the thought of her never even coming back to Hogwarts. "Aurora- I- I don't know-" He felt like he was choking. But he pulled himself together, and said, "If you feel like it."

---

Alison squirmed in her sleep. She had started out sleeping peacefully, with no trouble whatsoever. It had been just like before, when she stumbled off to sleep, exhausted and hoping that her mother would not wake her up again. Except for this time, she was at Hogwarts. She didn't need to worry about her mother as she drifted off to sleep, and the gnawing worry that she would hurt herself, or not be able to take care of herself still clawing at her stomach as if there was something trapped in it. But then, she had a nightmare. About her family. Flashes of her mother wandering around the house, talking to herself, her father lying in an alley, unconscious. Her dead sister, faceless, standing in her old room, the one that Allison refused to go into every day. She woke up, sitting straight up, her shoulders shaking and breathing hard. She wiped the back of her hand against her forehead, feeling sweat. Two of the other girls near her rolled over in their sleep, mumbling incoherently. Alison's eyes went to the window. It was late at night. She leaned back, her eyes wide. There was no way she was sleeping now.


The next day, Alison looked as badly as she felt. She'd never had a real nightmare before, and it had affected her badly.

---

Mornings were always interesting. It seemed like every year something would change in the Hufflepuff dorm routine and these small actions were things that Jules loved to try and spot. This year it seemed like no one was lingering around the fireplace, milling about in groups instead. Jules did his best to herd them all to the mess hall, humoring some of the students in light conversation. It was nice, being needed by others and Jules was wearing a smile on his face when he reached the dinning hall even though he had stayed up doing homework. Sitting down at the Hufflepuff table, Jules kept the conversation going as he passed out food to eager first years and more sullen seniors. Breakfast was good as always, letters coming in from owls and chatter floating around the hall as bellies were filled with good warm food. It was lovely. It was home.

Smearing a piece of toast with marmalade, Jules kept half an ear on an eager first year who chatted about her first day in class and he was reminded of Alison who he had walked to her classes the day before. Colored eyes landed on the girl who sat herself at the Ravenclaw table looking awful. Her skin was sallow and hints of dark rings under her eyes worried the head boy. While he was confident that Ravenclaw's head students and Prefects could handle it, Jules still thought of the young girl as a friend and excused himself. Walking over to the first year with another piece of toast in hand. "Good morning!" he greeted Alison with a smile, making sure to not startle the poor girl. "How was your first night?" The answer was obvious just looking at her but it only felt polite to ask anyways

---

Alison had been sitting, slightly slumped, staring at the piece of toast sitting uneaten on her plate. A few other Ravenclaws had tried to ask her what was wrong, as it was quite clear that something was, but she remained unresponsive. Alison had been drained by the nightmare, as well as the lack of sleep. It was just as exhausting as taking care of her mother. She thought that she'd be able to escape that at Hogwarts. But the nightmare had taken that chance, at least today. She did hear Jules aproaching, and she shifted slightly as he spoke. "Fine," she mumbled. She was obviously not fine, but while Alison may have been good at pointing out odd things at odd times, talking about herself was not her strength.

---

Jules smile was understanding as he polished off his breakfast. "Thats good." He simply said, choosing not to push any further. Saying his greetings to other Ravenclaw students he knew, he returned to ALison's side. "Do you want me to show you your other classes or to Madam Pomfrey? Knowing where the infirmary's located is nice for a lot of things." He offered, muttering a quick charm to clean off his hands from the sticky condiment that had dripped onto his fingers. "Or if I'm being too nosy just ask and I'll get out of your hair." This too was spoken with a nonchalant tone, slipping his wand back into his robes. Dusting off his heads, he streched languidly before flashing a smile at Alison. He wouldn't blame the first year if she wanted him gone. He knew that he could be slightly overbearing at times and could understand if others needed time away from him.

---

A girl donning pale, blue robes topped with a bycocket of matching colors fumbled for her map in a corridor unbeknownst to her. This place was nothing compared to Beauxbatons! Too many corridors and the place looked so drab...and weary. But she supposed that was part of the beauty to it, she could clearly tell that this castle was a testament to time and wizarding history. Due to the fact that she joined the school year late, she wasn't able to partake in the famous sorting ceremony in front of others. She did, however, do it in front of the school staff. The headmaster (McGonagall, if she recalled correctly) barely had time to place the hat upon her head before the raggedy hat bellowed "Snuffly-huff" or something along the lines of that.

The deputy headmaster handed her a map and asked her several times if she would like a guide. Despite the offer, she declined, not wanting to pull anybody out of their buisness just to guide her to where she needed to be. She would have no trouble reading the map, or so she thought. Not only was the school bigger than she imagined, but she didn't understand some of the words on the map! She released a sigh of frustration. Thankfully, she understood the words "Dining Hall" that was where she was supposed to be! If only her sense of direction was a bit better.

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Alison poked the toast, and after a minute, picked it up, half-heartedly crunching it. The dry toast felt strange in her mouth, and she chewed slowly, trying to force it down despite not having any real energy to do so. Still, she knew that she had to eat. She had to do something about her mom. She couldn't leave her all alone. It wasn't right. But if she told someone, then they would try to stop her. They would try to take her mom away. Then Alison would be all alone, with no one. Dad was never coming back. He was probably dead, like in her dream. Mom was the only person that she had left. She didn't want to leave her. Alison didn't want to be alone. She hunched her shoulders together, and when Jules spoke, she carefully swallowed the bite of toast and said, "I wouldn't mind if you could show me where Madam Pomfrey is. And I don't mind, really." Anything to take her minds off of things while she thought of a way to leave. Coming here was such a bad idea...

---

"We'll go whenever you're ready then." He assured, not wanting to rush Alison. She seemed haggard and he would hate to make it any worse than it already was. He was worried and though he did his best to hide it it still showed as he took note of how little Alison ate. While he didn't have the right to lecture anyone on their eating habits (his were equally bad, if not worse) it did concern him slightly. Alison seemed much more glum today compared to yesterday. He could only hope that she was okay.

---

It took Alison a minute to force down the rest of the food, and after taking a long drink of water, she gave him a sideways glance. He wasn't doing a very good job of hiding his worry, and she could tell. At least it wasn't pitying. That would be worse. That just meant he noticed that she looked as bad as she felt. As she set down the water, she finally spoke. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

---

Startled as if he wasn't even aware that he was doing it, Jules chuckled and rubbed the back of his head apologetically. "Sorry, I guess I'm not good at hiding it, huh." He couldn't really escape from it and while he knew that he himself would hate it if someone told him that they were worried for him, it was still something that should be addressed. "You just kinda remind me of myself. Or well, it might be better to say you remind me of the part of me that my younger self hated. It's not a bad thing, I had a stick up my spine and was in a really bad place back then, but I guess its weird seeing someone else going through what I did back then without all the angsting. Well, not really? I don't know what you've been through or if our experiences are similar at all but the stuff you're doing right now as a defensive mechanism? I've done that before so yeah. I'm not going to pretend like we're the same or anything, our experiences are our own, but i guess thats just something I've noticed." He was rambling and the moment he realized it, he forcefully clicked his jaw close and shut himself up. Ah he's definitely overstepped here but he did speak the truth no matter how weird it sounded.

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