An active, character-driven Hogwarts experience set in the early 2000s. Unique items, plots, and features. Non-canon; this isn't Harry Potter's story, it's ours.
Lost in his own thoughts, Rylan almost jumped when someone decided to speak to him directly. Why was Xcalyn talking to him though? Had he done something that he had forgotten about (can't have been that fun then)? Maybe he'd seen him looking at and talking to his sister, Jurni, lately? Uh oh.
Maybe, just maybe, the guy was actually being friendly and just wanted someone to talk to. Yeah, that too was a possibility, so he smiled as genuinely as he could muster, not seeing the harm in engaging the prefect.
"Yeah, not too bad thanks", he answered relatively cheerfully. "Been an okay couple of days really, only managed to turn up late for one class, got to play teachers pet, as a result and only managed to attack one Slytherin in Herbology" Oops, maybe he shouldn't have quite put it like that.
"It was an accidental splash of water, and I think I was forgiven", he then added sheepishly as he spooned some more mashed potato onto his plate. he wouldn't be letting his guard down any time soon, just in case he presumed incorrectly.
"Oh, and I got to dance with McGonagall. Fun times!", he then added. He had no intention of mentioning the Quidditch either, but Jade Arwell had other ideas, it seemed.
"Good for you!", Rylan congratulated her a lot more genuinely than it may have sounded. Tiana had done the whole House proud, as far as he was concerned, but he had chosen not to make any bets with Mardling. Seemed a bad idea, for some reason.
"Nah, I'm not a betting man", he admitted. "Still, might have lost, but they did us proud anyway, right?", he then added. They'd scored twice and how many goals had Slytherin managed? He was always one to try and find positives, in a situation.
Post by Jaxen Ashworth on Apr 2, 2021 22:40:52 GMT 10
Jaxen didn't know quite how to resume the conversation they'd been having at the pitch, as he joined Mathias at the Ravenclaw table and looked over the assortment of food available, unsure what to choose that evening. What would Reena expect him to ask, it wasn't like this was a typical conversation two friends might have- but the circumstances weren't typical either.
Eventually, he settled on heaping spaghetti onto his plate- before realizing, that it perhaps wasn't the most practical of choices when he was planning on having a potentially lengthy and important conversation. "Well, Reena and I got a letter from our grandpa this morning" he began, using the time to begin cutting up his noodles. "In his letter, he mentioned your mother- Lula Sallow?" it was a little odd to talking about their parents, he'd intended to speak with Mathias after that god-awful interview had first brought the name to his attention, but it had taken the nudge from Reena to get him to actually initiate it.
"I was just wondering if you knew how our parents might've known each other, has your mum ever mentioned anything?" he didn't know Mrs Sallow, but maybe she was more open with her son than his mother was with him and his siblings. The phrasing of his grandpa's letter was peculiar though, what 'drama and danger' had he been referring to? Although his mother had never mentioned Lula Sallow to him, he was sure that whatever part she played in their past, was important.
Post by Jacob Thatcher on Apr 2, 2021 22:42:44 GMT 10
Jacob sulked purposefully into the Great Hall, having finished catching up with various Gryffindor friends on the way back from the pitch. He hurt his arm a bit from all his waving and booing, but it was finally starting to feel better so his mood was too.
'What are you grinning at?' He frowned, plopping into a seat near Jade and others he knew. 'Gryffindor lost, did you know? Lost. To Slytherin. Seabrook. That's the worst kind of losing.' He huffed loudly, grabbing the whole serving bowl of mashed potatoes and just sarted eating it like someone would a tub of ice cream when upset.
He glanced at Rylan, then Anjay. Where were the players? Jacob needed to vent, especially since he lost a lot of money to that evil git Mardling as well. Wait, was Anjay talking about classes? CLASSES? On a day like this? Had he gotten hit with a Bludger or something? Who even cared about classes when they'd lost the match against Slytherin?
Ugh. Rylan said too many sensible words for the kind of mood Jacob was in. He grabbed a chicken drumstick to dramatically eat, while still hugging the serving bowl. At least those things self-refilled. He hadn't seen it happen yet, but was sure that's how it worked since he'd never seen an empty serving container meals.
'When's dessert?' he grumbled. 'I need pudding.'
Killed by Devin Kudosen by act of the Killing Curse. June #24, RPG year 1 -- he was a 5th year Gryffindor. Jacob died to save his best friend, Luckett Langford.
Post by Mathias Sallow on Apr 2, 2021 23:02:48 GMT 10
Matt nibbled on his broccoli while listening to Jax, still confused where it was going but now also intrigued. He took his time answering, which probably wasn't particularly appreciated by the one who was kept waiting, but Matt knew this was the sort of topic he had to be a bit more careful with.
'Why would he mention my mother?' Matt wondered, breaking down the entire situation in effort to understand it better. 'I mean, how does that just come up in conversation? Especially since we're not supposed to talk about this.' He was raised to be protective of his family and their secrets, so he wasn't about to get into this sort of thing without know exactly what he was walking into. Especially when it came to the Ashworths.
'I mean, besides the fact our mothers have that pact, of course,' he added, with a shrug. Matt assumed Jax knew that though and it wasn't what he was referring to with his question. He figured Jax had about the same information he did, which wasn't a ton but still it didn't cross his mind how little the Ashworths might know their own family or familial associates.
He and Adeline were informed, so why wouldn't Jax, Reena, and their siblings be as well?
[OOC: I have full permission and access to these details. None of it is god-modding; it's all planned and approved by staff.]
Post by Grace Babineaux on Apr 3, 2021 0:23:31 GMT 10
Grace arrived at the dinner table feeling disappointed. She could hear the celebrating Slytherins over at the table and was a bit frustrated, even if she knew why they were celebrating. It was still upsetting that Gryffindor had lost. With a glance at the Ravenclaw table, she saw Gerald and Jamie talking. That was nice.
She wished she could see Toby. It didn’t seem like he was at dinner yet, and if anyone understood how Grace felt, it would be Toby. They were, after all, in more or less the same boat. It seemed like she was the only one of Gryffindor’s players there, though, so she poked moodily at her food, picking up some nuts and an apple for later. Just in case. She didn’t feel like talking with many people.
Jamie looked up as Gerald sat down and smiled at him as he waved. It was nice to have a friend sit with him. Ryan and Joe were still out there somewhere, probably with Toby. He glanced up just as Grace was coming into the Great Hall and gave a little wave when he saw her look over at his table. It was a small gesture, but enough to let her know he saw her come in. He had waited a few minutes, but he had gotten hungry too.
At the question, Jamie shrugged.
"Looked dangerous... I don't think I can watch another match unless Grace is playing. I just can't take it... I thought she was going to get nailed and Toby was hanging at one point..." Other than the sheer worry he had for his sister, he didn't care much for the game. Rugby seemed safer to him, only because it was at least on the ground.
"So what did you think of the Game?" He eventually said. The Snitch seemed like a Cheat, honestly.
Masaamat had found a snail with a damaged shell on the risers surrounding the Quidditch pitch, so she'd left a little ahead of the rest to hurry up to her dorm for a jar for it. Just a small jam sample jar she'd saved, but it gave her the chance to peer through the glass to see how bad the damage was. With most cracks and small holes, snails tended to recover well. Even with multiple cracks and holes, given adequate care, they were resilient little friends.
Saama also hustled to be among the first to the Great Hall, to check for fresh fruit or uncooked vegetables, and boiled eggs. She found the first two, and saved them in a second jar in her pocket. But the eggs she'd have to ask a Hufflepuff friend for, if they could get them from the kitchen. For now, the snail would be all right overnight without eggshells to chew on.
Saama kept the jar at her elbow on the table as she ate, swinging her crossed ankles beneath the bench. She'd gotten some kind of stain on the corner of her hijab while crawling under the bleachers for the snail, and would have to rinse it out later, but it too could wait until evening.
After a while--and noting that her ailing snail was still moving around a bit, an excellent sign--Masaamat noticed one of the fifth-years separating his vegetables on his plate. She wasn't sure she and Matt had talked before, but she'd had interactions with most of the other Ravenclaws over the years, generally over the amount of space her plants in the bathroom took up, or one of her escaped patients. Masaamat only had one pet who stayed with her, but she did have a rotating inventory of animals small enough to hide in a dormitory, and occasionally insects, too, if she thought she could somehow be of service to them. Saama cleared her throat. "Hey, Matt. Can I have your vegetables? If you're not eating them."
{Not trying to butt into your plot here, just saw a way for me to get into the thread.}
Tiana rushed into the hall still carrying her trusty broomstick - it looking more broken in than ever before. It took some damage, but so had she. They were a match made in heaven if you asked Tiana! She met the Gryffindors at her table with a big smile, giving them all a quick wave before dropping into a seat beside her best friend. She grabbed a couple apples, one for her pocket and one to satisfy her hunger. Then, after a big bite of it, she noticed Jacob.
“What's with the long face?” she asked after chewing her apple. “We won the match today if you ask me. Gryffindor was the better team and there's nothing anyone can say to change my mind. We left all the proof on the pitch,” Ti shrugged, taking another bite. “If you want to be technical, Stansbury won today. He just so happens to play for Slytherin. They didn't do anything - he did. So lose the face. We're winners.”
She dropped her apple core and started to serve herself some dinner, looking around at the plates of all her housemates. Jade had some fries, Rylan some mashed potatoes and Anjay some tomato curry. Ti would be the first to dive for the fries, but something about that curry smelled especially good. She smiled at Anjay as she reached for the same and ladled some.
“Did you catch how those thugs played the game?” Ti questioned the group, bringing the curry to her mouth. She blew on it once before giving it a taste. “I don't understand how they get away with half the things they do. It's unfair, but all we can do is rise above it, learn from it and keep going. Not much else until Hooch gets her eyes checked.”
Post by Jaxen Ashworth on Apr 3, 2021 7:18:24 GMT 10
After cutting up his spaghetti so the strands were of a reasonable size, Jaxen began to eat from the plate in front of him. Listening to Matt's confusion, he busied himself with his meal and realized that he hadn't really eaten all day- having been robbed of the opportunity to finish his scrambled eggs that morning.
"I don't know..." he replied, shrugging his shoulders and shovelling more of the noodles into his mouth. "All I know is what he put in the letter, said something about how my mother and Lula Sallow 'went to great lengths to keep us away from the drama and danger'" whatever that was supposed to mean, nobody ever seemed to want to give them a straight answer, adults were so secretive.
It was unfair. Sure, keep the younger kids in the dark about some of the details if they weren't appropriate- but Jax felt that he was old enough to be allowed more information. In just a couple of years he'd be turning seventeen, an adult in Wizarding society- would he even be let in on the secrets then? It seemed unlikely at this rate. He could understand why Reena was becoming so frustrated.
"What are we not supposed to talk about?" he asked, confused by Mathias' choice of words, was he referring to 'we' as in the two of them, or 'we' as in, himself and someone else. Words were confusing and he refused to deal with that confusion on an empty stomach- he spooned more spaghetti into his mouth.
"When I spoke to that reporter, she also mentioned that our mothers were close? That was the first I'd heard of their relationship" in all honesty, he didn't know much about Mathias' family- assuming that it'd be rude to ask personal questions about his home life, considering Jax would feel rather vulnerable if someone did the same to him.
Another voice addressing Matt, caused Jax to startle- his fork clattering loudly against his plate when it slipped from his hand. Looking around, he looked towards the girl who had asked... For Matt's vegetables? An odd request, but who was he to judge. Jaxen hadn't even realized that someone was sitting near them and his cheeks burned with the realization that she might've overheard what they'd been discussing.
Seizing a salad bowl from the centre of the table, he gently pushed it towards the younger student "they don't starve us here y'know, there's plenty of food to go around" he told her, attempting to break the tension with a joke and exchanging a look with Matt- hoping that he wouldn't mind that he'd spoken with the girl when he wasn't the one she'd been attempting to speak with.
As more Gryffindors joined the table, the conversation naturally turned back to Quidditch. Anjay didn't begrudge them that. He had assumed it would be so, and was happy to get a few words of idle chit chat in with Marsh before the talk about the match overtook him. The boy seemed earnest and likeable... perhaps a bit too talkative and silly, but certainly there was potential there if the boy wanted to make a name for himself. Anjay would have to get to know him further.
He made a face at Jade and smiled, trying to endear himself to his classmates. "Kettles and I actually tried to shut down Mardling's little black market gambling ring this morning, so no, I didn't manage to cash in. But I'm glad you found success," he chuckled, his laugh genuine. He knew he had a reputation for being uptight and difficult to approach. He wouldn't stop being that way, of course, but he had no problem poking fun at himself.
"I agree, though, I'd never take a bet against Tiana," Anjay said right as their team captain made her way to the table and sat down, Babineaux close behind. He wanted her to hear him praise her, and he definitely meant the compliment. The way she had played was genuinely impressive, even to the eye of one who wasn't particularly fond or knowledgeable of the sport. While Anjay had never considered Tiana like that before... first time for everything, right?
"Well played, both of you. The House Cup is still ours for the taking. Every witch and wizard at that match can testify to the truth that Gryffindor never needs to cheat to be competitive." Why did he always feel the need to orate? It made him feel good to make bold proclamations, to be a voice for the whole group. Did others allow him to fill that role because they saw him as a natural leader or because they were too bored and disinterested to say anything? Sometimes he wondered.
He had been doing his best to dutifully ignore Thatcher, the boy's long face and strange ways a constant annoyance, but he couldn't resist throwing in one little jab. "You are pudding, Thatcher," Anjay said with a wicked grin, and then turned his attention back to his curry.
Post by Mathias Sallow on Apr 4, 2021 0:29:21 GMT 10
Matt blinked in surprise when someone else talked to him, rather informally too. Did he know her? She seemed familiar but...
'Just Mathias, thanks,' he said politely. Matt let Jax handle things, still a bit confused why he was being asked for his vegetables when there was a whole serving dish of them to pick from. 'I am eating them,' he said a bit defensively, gripping his plate as if half-expecting her to steal his food.
He'd starved all day watching bloody Quidditch; he needed his food. He'd earned it.
She meant no harm, of course. The girl looked like Adeline's age anyway so probably was in her class. He shook his head, focusing back on his conversation with Jax. Where was Nyx, anyway? Or anyone else he recognised, come to think of it. Had he missed out on an invitation to hang out? Again.
Ohhh. Masaamat. The girl with the critter rescues. Now he remembered. Still, he fidgeted at being referred to as a friend. Why were social stuff so confusing? Those distractions aside, Matt glanced back at Jax, completely perplexed by the other boy's own confusion.
'What do you mean, "what are we not supposed to talk about?" You know... the whole pact thing? And that we used to all play together as kids? That stuff with...' Matt frowned, having lowered his voice the more he said. thankfully, the hall was quite noisy so it was easy to have a more private chat, for the most part.
Did Jax have poor memory though? That had to be the reason, right? Or was he being coy on purpose? Then Jax talked about a reporter, and it slowly began to dawn on Matt that maybe Jax really didn't know. When he said it was the first he'd heard of their mothers being close, that finally confirmed it. Matt frowned, nibbling at his vegetables, considering what he should do. How did one respond to that?
The Great Hall was no place for being more specific on the subject, but he didn't understand why Jax had such little information. Was he even allowed to explain it, then?
'Maybe we shouldn't talk about this here,' Matt said.
Saama laughed, accepting the salad bowl. "Thanks, I know, I just hate to see things go to waste. Sorry--Mathias. I didn't mean to bother you."
She dumped a pile of salad on top of her potatoes, since she'd once again failed to organize her plate in any reasonable way, and set the salad dish aside again. Since the snail wasn't a flight risk, she unscrewed the lid, and dripped a few drops of water from her goblet into its jar. She followed the water with a few slices of broccoli and cucumber for him to munch on, if he felt like it. He probably wouldn't eat for several days, until he was feeling better, but at least then she could gauge how the snail felt about its own condition, more or less.
Feeling no need to go back to the tower just yet, Saama retrieved a book from her overstuffed satchel, and laid it next to her place. Leaning comfortably into it, and hoping she didn't get any dressing on it, Saama continued picking randomly at things on her plate as she read.
Post by Luckett Langford on Apr 4, 2021 6:33:27 GMT 10
Langford strut in behind Harris Teague and his other friends, all machismo and confidence. He was grinning from ear to ear, not because Gryffindor lost, but because he made a considerable chunk of change on Slytherin in the betting pool. Maybe Mardling was useful for something! He turned out to be a nice middleman in making some extra galleons and Lucky would be sure to participate in his pools more often. He liked the feeling of winning and going home big.
He pushed his hands into his pockets, galleons jingling as he walked to his seat. He hadn't put his yellow sweater on yet, his painted torso showing for those who hadn't seen it at the game. The paint job looked messier than before, wet again from the hot temperature of his body. It must've been all the jumping, yelling and running around that worked him into a sweat. But hey, he had fun. How could someone not have fun at a Gryffindor vs. Slytherin game?
'Slytherin suuuuuuuucks!' He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. 'We all know who really won today's match! Let's give Gryffindor a big whoop, whoop!' He laughed, repeating the words with more of a bellow. He might've bet against Gryffindor, but that didn't mean he wanted them to lose. He just knew Slytherin would be cheapskates.
He looked over at the Gryffindor table in search of the Twiggs', but didn't see either of them. Lucky wanted to give his favorite first year some words of encouragement and a pat on the back for a game well played, but it would have to wait for another time. And Amy? Well, he wanted to lay on the flirtation of course. But again, it would have to wait for another time.
'What's on the menu?' Lucky dropped onto the crowded bench beside Harris. 'I feel like I could eat a whole serving of brontosaurus ribs. Fred Flinstone style.' He knew his friend would get the reference, being a Muggleborn and all. Lucky was well versed in all cartoons.
Trix smiled and laughed at, well with Lucky as he entered the great hall. He seemed to be in a happy mood. Trix thought is was best to keep quiet. He seemed like a cool guy and he the captain of the hufflepuff quidditch team. Like she have loads of question to ask him about Quidditch.
"There some really nice cheesy mash that for sure." Trix said shyly as she pointed with her fork in the direction of the cheesy mash that she had. She still was learning how to interact with other people within her house and tried make friends. She found it hard to do so, but she hoped that over time it became better and find it easier.
Some of the players started to join them at the table, but somehow they didn't seem nearly as glum as Thatcher. It was a good thing he had managed to take some mashed potato before his arrival, as now it would have been nigh on impossible. At least, not without having to hunt further down the table.
Yes, how dare he try and find some semblance of happiness, despite the Quidditch result. He wasn't best pleased either, in fact the way Slytherin had played, it was downright unfair, but that was the was it was.
"Yeah, I was there for that bit", Rylan replied somewhat dryly (for him), as he continued to fill his plate. There was no comfort food quite like what his dad called 'bangers and mash' (except for maybe dessert.
He had to laugh out loud when Thomas mentioned Hooch needing her eyes checked. Over his years at Hogwarts, he had noticed that she tended to miss a lot that went on in a game.
"Maybe there's a spell for that?", he suggested half jokingly. If magic could fix broken bones (so he'd heard), then surely there was something to improve someones eyesight?
Rylan suppressed a groan as the prefect just had to go and make a speech. Was that part of their job, or just something prefecty kind of people did? Oh well, so long as it had the intended effect. He wasn't wrong. This wasn't over by a long shot!
"Thatcher's pudding?", he asked, feigning ignorance to the fact that it was quite obviously a joke. "Well, unless he's made of chocolate, maybe I'll give pudding a miss!", he added with a grin.
He then turned to Thomas, sporting a slightly more serious expression. "Yeah, well played though. Unlucky, really, considering that the Slytherins clearly came in looking for blood. Still interested in trying out, just waiting for the folks to give the go ahead". Yes, he'd need his parents permission to get a broom and try out for the team, and he wasn't sure they'd be keen. Oh well, maybe he'd have more luck with being allowed a pet?
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