Snakes and Ravens in Scarlet PV Siobhan McCarty CLOSED

Date: January 21st, 2024 Interacting/Mentioning: @Edwin Westbridge

Speaking: #7c0a02 Thoughts: #ef98aa Translations:

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ "I am only brave when I need to be ,being brave doesn't mean I go looking for trouble" ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

The slam of another body against hers wasn't foreign to her. If any student out of the entire Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was going to take home the prize ribbon of not paying attention, Siobhan would win first prize, like a prize pig at the fair. Though she was no pig, she was quite the civilized up and becoming young lady. She unfortunately had been quite enamoured with this book on herbology. It had been during the passage on Moondew and it's uses and harvesting processes that she had met the collision that befell the words "Watch yourself" from the voice that was clearly trying to hard to sound intimidating.

She closed her book and lowered it so that her eyesight fell on the scowling face of a greeneared first year. She blinked at him slowly, as though she was processing the tone and words themselves before she spoke to the first year.

"My my. Quite an uncouth and rude way to talk to your upperclassmen. You ought to watch that mouth of yours if you believe that it will get you anywhere without a setting of manners." Siobhan spoke in her cautiously respectable tone. Neither of them stood within less of an arms length of each other but she could see that she was at least three to four inches taller than he was and that he was a gryffindor. How brash and befitting for the first year and his mouth.

"I apologize that I bumped into you. I tend to do so when I am reading and particularly captivated by an eloquent passage. Though you, as plain as day, are bookless and unobscured. I would think that perhaps, you could watch yourself little cub." Siobhan smiled as she settled her book in her side bag and fixed her hairscarf. It had become disarrayed after the bump and she wished to fix it.

She supposed, she thought to herself, that it wasn't kind to be so rude to the poor kid. He seemed disgruntled over something else but her bumping into him had only exacerbated the disgruntlement and it wouldn't do her conscious justice to not ask if he was alright. It would be kind of her to do so- checking in on the younger students who may or may not be experiencing this wonderful world for the first time.

She understood quite well what the disorientment felt like. A magical castle, away in a far away place. It was never more than just a fairytale but here it was real. She knew that it was faltering to step into a world where you knew nothing. And even if you did know something- who was to say that everyone included in how you knew that something actually knew that something.

If it was unclear in the following, how could one really experience tghe world in the same way another did? You couldn't. Eyes and visions of the world were an individual experience but she wondered if this little lion cub was disoriented enough to want her kindness.

"Are you alright though? I doubt my bumping into you is what generated such a sour attitude." She spoke with a kind lilt in her voice. The same she would use when her sister fell and scrapped her knee. Kind, understanding, and empathetic. She made sure her body language was open and receptive to how he may be feeling.

As the other Gryffindor began to speak, Edwin took a step back, his eyes briefly flicking about the girls features, his scowl persisting. Despite a pleasant tone, her words only came across as patronising in the Westbridge's ears, having to bite back a retort to her words. His words would, after all, likely be some cheap, uncreative insult, and that would hardly help with giving himself a good first impression. "Yeah, whatever," was all that he said, his voice barley loud enough for her to even hear.

"It's okay." He began, his lips curling up into a small grin as she seemingly began to take responsibility for the clash. He nodded sympathetically as she spoke of loosing her selves in books, whilst he didn't often read whilst walking around, he did resonate with the ability to loose themselves in a book, becoming almost entirely unaware of what was happening around them. His grin however was wiped from his mouth within an instance when she referred to him as a 'little cub', scoffing at any comparison to a lion, or more broadly, the Gryffindor house. "I was watching myself." He retorted. "And little cub? Don't call me that."

She had no way to know, of course, but Edwin had never been shy about his disdain for the house that he had been so unfortunate to have been placed in. Often if anyone even began to make a comment about houses, Edwin would jump onto the opportunity to bad mouth his own house, and make various insults towards the sorting hat. However, someone he had met only briefly by quite literally running into did not need to be regaled with his complaints. Instead, he would keep his complaints internalised. At least he had intended for it to be kept internal. His displeasure with being referred to as a cub was more than evident across his expression, and became increasingly more and more obvious the longer that he dwelled on it for.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He began, confirming with a slight nod that the clash likely wasn't the source of his mood. He, truthfully, hadn't even really realised he was in a bad mood. "Think I'm just bored, maybe that's why I overreacted." He shrugged. "Not a huge amount to do here at times. Can't be bothered to read, and I hardly want to go look for something to do in that common room. Too loud, too filled with idiots." He paused for a moment, frowning. "No offence, or anything. I'm unfortunately a Gryffindor as well, after all, so I'm only insulting myself as well."

"What are you even reading?" He asked, gesturing to her book. "What's so interesting that you couldn't even wait to sit down?"

Date: January 21st, 2024 Interacting/Mentioning: @Edwin Westbridge

Speaking: #7c0a02 Thoughts: #ef98aa Translations:

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ "I am only brave when I need to be ,being brave doesn't mean I go looking for trouble" ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

Oh so this Gryffindor had some bite. She watched as he outwardly frowned at her use of the "cub" remark and she had to bite back a smirk as he got all ruffled about it. It wasn't wrong. In a sense they were both cubs at the moment since neither of them were in the second half of the education level at Hogwarts. They were young and therefore the word was fitting but apparently not all in the congregation agreed. She watched as he bristled, and relaxed enough to speak in a firm but polite tone. She could at least extend the same courtesy and speak to him kindly from then on.

Siobhan couldn't help but observe the way he carried himself.

She listened to the first year belittle the house they both belonged to with a casually hidden smirk. She couldn't deny that at one point in her first year, she too had mirrored his response and had found solace in other parts of the castle in order to simply hear herself think. It was typically full of loud and outgoing extroverts though occasionally, there were a couple of her housemates that she had found weren't typically as bodacious. Thoughh they were few and far between. She sympathized with the smaller blonde student. It was difficult when you found nothing in common with those you were supposedly the closest too.

"I understand. Our housemates are for better or worse at times... animals... for lack of a better word. It becomes particularly irksome around midterm exams and finals. I recommend finding somewhere that you are drawn to for it's silence and solace if you need a study area. The common room seems to retain some form of foolery at all times... Like a magnet." She remarked as she shared her own insights.

Closest, was stated in the sense of proximity at the moment. Not those that one was close to because of friendliness or familiarity. Just because there were mulitple people who shared their innermost traits and conscious thoughts didn't mean that they were expected to be kind and friendly to all above. Sure, respect was helpful but it didn't mean that it needed to be handed out to those who didn't earn it. And since she had accidentally bumped into him, it was the least she could do by being respectful. She caught note of his wobbling lip- though not in the sense that he was gearing up to bawl. It was moreso that he looked as though his words were burning a hole through the back of his throat and needed to be voiced. She could see he was debating in his head and she gently cocked her head to the side as she observed him.

He seemed to win over his resignation and spoke to her about his annoyances. She had planned to respond to that qualm when he turned his attention to the book that she had been reading which was gently tucked back into her bag. He'd had a query about whatever it was she was reading and she was all too happy to explain.

"Oh! Yes- I would love to converse about it. I don't know if you gravitate towards a particular subject, but I typically read about Herbology in my spare time. I've read almost all the literature about Herbology avaliable in the Library and decided to circle back to some Astrology readings. I've been reading about the star signs and their influence on our personalities and character traits depending on where we fall. I was puzzled by my own sign as I truthfully don't think I'm supposed to be a Scorpio." Siobhan explained in one long winded statement, after which she took a large breath to regain her ability to speak.

"My apologies, I tend to get rather dull when I talk for long sentences. What's your star sign? If you know... It may explain some of your own traits."

"Animals," He echoed with a small nod. So often he had yearned for an early night, only for one of his dorm mates to be suddenly revived with a burst of energy that was so foreign to Edwin. On the rare occasion he had chosen to take initiative with his homework, another of his dorm mates would be incapable of keeping their thoughts internal, opting to speak themselves through their work aloud. Of course, these impressions of his dorm mates were likely embellished memories, embellished so that his dorm mates would suit the narrative he had crafted for Gryffindor ever since he had been sorted. "The library seems nice enough, I've spent some time there when I've wanted to read. Just annoying to walk all the way down there for some quiet, you know what I mean?" He said with a sigh. In all truthfulness, the work wasn't bad at all, it was just another excuse he had crafted so that he could delay any work.

"I don't mind it in the common rooms," He began, sounding unconvinced by his own words. "I'd expect it there, and I can at least relax by the fireplace, but it's just annoying when they're loud into the night in the dorms."

"Herbology," He nodded, listening as she spoke of her love for the subject. It wasn't a subject he currently shared the same enthusiasm for, but he was certain that in later years he would come to appreciate it, once they delved into the more dangerous plants. "Herbology will be good in like.. Third year onwards, I think. Once we finally get around to the cool plants, I mean, we aren't even allowed to see non-baby bouncing bulbs at the minute, it's a shame."

"I mainly just like Defence Against the Dark Arts, to be honest with you." He shrugged his back off his shoulder, reaching in to grab the courses compulsory reading, his book notably looking damaged from his repeated readings. "Read this back to front a dozen times probably. I guess transfiguration is cool too, just causes a bit of a headache."

He was, however, rather caught off by her interest in Astrology, a subject that he'd barley even managed to stay awake with. His confusion was rather evident on his expression, staring back at her blankly as she voiced her confusion with her own star sign. "You don't think..?" He asked. "As in you were born early, or something?"

"Not sure." He shrugged to her question. It was a question that he should be able to answer, but astrology lessons were far too late for him to ever have the energy to even pretend to pay attention. "July 26th is my birthday though, if you know it from that?" He wasn't entirely convinced that the position of stars when he was born would have much correlation with his traits, but the question had piqued his curiosity just enough so that he decided it was worth enquiring about.

Date: January 21st, 2024 Interacting/Mentioning: @Edwin Westbridge

Speaking: #7c0a02 Thoughts: #ef98aa Translations:

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ "I am only brave when I need to be ,being brave doesn't mean I go looking for trouble" ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

She almost looked bewildered when he mentioned that he didn't much care for any subjects other than Defense Against the Dark Arts. She couldn't understand how anyone could only find interest in one subject when in all honestly- they conicided so much more than people realized. It was all a part of the learning process but it was so important to understand how thing worked with each other. Without Defense Against the Dark Arts, you wouldn't be able to successfully harvest many plants needed in the darker areas of the world. And without Herbology or Potions, you wouldn't be able to heal from the ailments that some Dark Arts could bestow upon a person.

It was understandable though. When she was a first year, she had been clinging to her plants and the subject of Herbology as her only lifeline in this sea of uncharted territory. Once she had learned to utilize her subjects hand in hand, she grew more confident as a student. She hoped that perhaps he would too. Even if he insisted that it didn't matter. She smiled when he mentioned his taste for the school textbook he held in his hand. She too, had read it about a dozen times.

"Oh well then perhaps if you ever find yourself struggling in Defense Against the Dark Arts perhaps I can help. I have mostly O's in the subject except for one E. My wand core is supposedly beneficial when it comes to Dark Art combatency. Though I think it's just plain awful. You'll learn more what your wand can do for you in spell work but some of this schoolwork requires a hands on approach. Such as Herbology even if it isn't so interesting at the moment." Siobhan said wrinkling her nose in distaste at the Troll-tail hair that resided in her wand core.

But when the subject moved on to the zodiac signs and he asked about his, that look on her face disappeared quickly.

She had to bite back a laugh as she covered her mouth with her hand so as not to let him realize how hilarious it was to her that here stood a very arrogant Leo who had admitted to detesting a house full of lions when it seemed as the stars had fully aligned to put him in Gryffindor house. She wondered if it was a cruel twist of fate.

"Oh my- You must be joking otherwise you may not find it as funny as I do" She laughed whole heartedly, unable to stop herself. "You're a Leo- a literal lion and you detest the very things that make you who you are. I couldn't imagine a more perfect house for you! Where else do you think you would fall if not Gryffindor? You even look like a little lion cub-" She continued as she tried to settle down and compose herself. She didn't want to come across as rude but it was just far too ironic to pass up the chance at a laugh. Perhaps he would see it as well and he would learn to find the humor in the situation.

Trying to direct some of the attention off of him, she turned the focus to his question before his announcment to his birthdate. Why did she think she was the wrong sign? Well it was mainly because she didn't believe that she fell into the possessive tendancies and the envious controlliing behavior that women under the Scorpio sign were said to embolden. Though thinking back, she could understand why it made sense. It was her star sign after all and the stars were rarely wrong.

"Well besides your irony living with you for the rest of your life, I think my sign is just due to my insistence that I forget my pride until it comes to what I am passionate about. Though I do understand my stubborness. It's something our signs have in common actually. Most fire and water signs don't get along but they do both offer a great deal of stubborness when they butt heads." Siobhan explained.

[color=#7c0a02"You have found other people with whom you have things in common correct? I hope you won't throw away our house just at a first semester's glance." [/color]Siobhan asked. She would feel sorry for the young student if he wasn't able to make friends due to his own prejudice against their house. "Or is it perhaps, the thought that Gryffindor is just... not where you want to be?"

"I'll bare that in mind, but no need for any help, all O's so far!" He declared proudly, showing no hint of modesty about his capabilities for that subject, as it was, after all, the only real subject that truly clicked for him. "Do you know about all that wand stuff, then?" He reached down into his pocket, pulling out his own wand. As he spoke, he imitated the tone of the shop owner who had sold him his wand. "Cherry wood, phoenix feather, 30.9cm," He idly turned the wand over in his hand. "Been meaning to see what that stuff was supposed to represent, but never got around to doing it. What's the core in your wand if it's good for Defence Against the Dark Arts?"

The shift in Siobhan's expression as he mentioned his birthday wasn't lost on Edwin, but the reasoning continued to elude him, not quite able to remember his sign, no matter how much he thought back to his astrology lessons. Given this, he thought back quickly, concluding that he must of said something that she didn't agree with, or he'd accidentally said something to annoy her. As he began to think back, his concentration was suddenly shattered by the girl beginning to laugh, causing Edwin to glance over at her, his confusion more than evident on his expression. "Joking? About what? Dunno how any a birthday could be funny, or why I'd joke about it."

"Oh." His face dropped at her revelation. "Just perfect." He glanced briefly up towards the sky with a scowl, half tempted to shake his fist at it and curse the stars for their cruelty, before returning his gaze to Siobhan. He was cursed, that was the only logical conclusion he could draw from this news. The hat had played a sick and twisted prank on him, after learning of his birthday, it wasn't senile, it was aware of what it had done. He silently dwelled on this news for a few moments, his expression conflicted, evidently not quite sure how to respond to this terrible event.

"This is quite possibly the worst news anybody has ever heard." He concluded eventually, his tone for the most part serious. Though a slight curl at the edges of his lips did betray that he could, begrudgingly, see how amusing it could be. "Where else would I fall?" He began. "Slytherin, like every single Westbridge in history was.. Makes it even more annoying that they just didn't seem to care when I came home for Christmas, treated it like nothing was up." He shrugged. "I mean, if I'm being honest and not just playing it up a bit, I don't care as much as I did in September. It still annoys me, I guess, but can't do anything about it."

Despite his words only a moment prior, claiming that he had began to get over his sorting, he did scowl at her description of him looking like a lion. "I do not look like a lion." He retorted quickly, but his voice was barley loud enough to be heard, speaking mainly to himself.

After his retort, Siobhan, thankfully, led the conversation away from Edwins sorting perils, and back towards her own astrology issues, which once again bought about a look of confusion on the Westbridge's face. "You aren't proud, so you should of been born in another month?" He asked, before glancing away to the wall, muttering to himself. "No, no.. That can't be right. One moment." Just as he was trying to work himself through any attempt at logical connections he could make, she mention sled fire and water signs, which only seemed to confuse him further, staring off at the wall behind Siobhan, looking gormless.

"Leo is fire then, I'm guessing." He eventually said. "And that means you're water.. Aquariaus sounds watery, are you aquarais? And as your aquarisus, you shouldn't be proud? Or maybe, you should be?" All of his attempts at pronouncing the word were wrong, and different. "I am following now. Kind of." He spoke with his best attempt of conviction, trying to convince himself more than anyone else that he had any understanding of what was being said.

Thankfully, another shift in conversation came, rescuing Edwin from his increasing level one confusion. There was a brief pause before his answer, before eventually shaking his head. "Not really in our house, to be honest with you. There's a handful of people I get along with, sure, but it's not like I have a huge amount in common with them.. Though, I guess maybe," As he spoke, it seemed as if admitting he was perhaps part of the issue caused physical pain for him to admit. "that is partly my issue, I don't really go out of my way to talk to house mates, I just assume they'll be annoying."

"I'd guess that happens every year, though. Did you know anyone like that?" He asked, assuming that she was an older student from her height, and having referred to him as 'little' and 'cub' so many times. "And if you did, did they become more.. Gryffindor-y after a while?"

Date: January 21st, 2024 Interacting/Mentioning: @Edwin Westbridge

Speaking: #7c0a02 Thoughts: #ef98aa Translations:

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ "I am only brave when I need to be ,being brave doesn't mean I go looking for trouble" ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

She chuckled as his face most grotesquely contorted at the news that he was a Leo. She found it amusing that this was just the worst possible news that anyone could ever give him. This was so amusing- she knew that he was going to hate the Zodiac lessons in Astronomy and later Divination.

"No no, I am no Aquarius. I am a Scorpio. Aquarius, despite their sign quite literally being "the water bearer," is surprisingly not a water sign." She clarified for him. "Born the day before Halloween to be exact so I am right in the middle of the Scorpio season."

Though she composed herself enough to answer his question about the wand and whether or not she knew about the magical properties of wand cores.

"Perhaps not 'all that' wand stuff, but I am aware of how my wand core and wood react to those who handle it. I have Ash wood, which is said to be quite stubborn but loyal to those who wield it. As for my core- disgusting though it may be, I have Troll Tail Hair. It's supposedly supposed to rouse the raw power inside of an individual and channel it into unpredictable but alarmingly powerful magic." She explained as she fished out her wand to display it for him. It wasn't a beautiful wand by any means but it was hers. And she supposed one day it would become her best friend. But she still preferred the use of magic from the source inside of her being.

Something intrigued her about his statement on his family's history. They had all come through Hogwarts and studied within its walls. And they had all been Slytherins, yet this one was a Gryffindor. How peculiar. How quite peculiar.

"Forgive me for asking, but what could the damage do to you simply for belonging to a different house? I am a muggle-born, the only magical individual in my family. So I don't quite understand." She said as she marred her sentences with an apology first and foremost. She knew house pride ran deep, no more so than the Slytherin's but she had seen her fair share of it in her fellow lions. They were quite prideful and though they were courageous, this vice would most definitely be their ultimate foil going forward in life. Naturally, she was prideful too but she understood how to reign it in when it came to situations that did not call for an appearance of pride.

As he explained his confusion and seemingly disloyal feelings toward their house, she understood exactly what he meant by not feeling the same camaraderie that their fellow lions shared between themselves. Despite being pack animals- it seemed the two of them were not quite ready to be a part of the Pride.

"I didn't know anyone particularly like yourself, other than my own experience. I hid away from much of our classmates as I could and I only talked to my dormmates with pleasantries. It is difficult to find your footing during your first year. You will soon find where you belong inside our house. They are all not so annoying as they seem." She explained as she hesitantly placed a hand on his shoulder, offering some form of kindness and assurance if he would accept it.

"I am only a second year after all. I have much to learn about our newfound "family" so to speak." She said with a smile as she watched the confusion find itself a home on his face as he tried to calculate where exactly she belonged in the order of years at Hogwarts.

"You're making things up," He muttered as she revealed Aquarias not being a water sign. "Or maybe not you, but whoever decided that the sign with 'Aqua' in it, isn't a water sign, they're making stuff up or are incredibly stupid, most likely a combination of the two." Right as he had just started to believe he could understand any of this stuff, all confidence had been discarded, his one attempt at a guess being wrong on all possible fronts. "Scorpio, as in like a scorpion or something? Cool birthday, though, you sort of get to celebrate something two nights in a row."

He fell silent as she began to explain her own wand, slightly disappointed that she wasn't knowledgeable enough to help explain his, but he had been meaning to make a trip to the library to read into it at some point, this conversation perhaps acting as the final push that he needed to make the trip. "Troll hair?" He made no attempt to veil the disgust he felt at the core, disgust evident through both his tone and his expression, as he leant forward to better look at the wand. "Raw power sounds cool, I suppose, but just.. Trolls, you know? Not nice things." He muttered, leaning back, sparing a glance at his own wand, the cherry wood looking far more appealing than it had done in the past.

"Muggleborn, huh?" He muttered, barley loud enough for anyone but him to even hear. This revelation of her blood status caused thousands of questions to rush through his brain, however, it didn't seem like the time for him to finally question a muggleborn, no matter how much he desperately wished to. "I mean, no damage would come to me, I'm the favourite." He said smugly. "But if my brothers had been placed anywhere but Slytheirn, I bet my parents would of been livid. It sort of becomes a tradition in a lot of families, like no Westbridge has been placed outside of Slytherin, I guess you start to just associate yourself with that house. And then getting placed in the house that has historically stood opposite to that house," He simply shrugged. "Just kind of disappointing, I guess, breaking tradition and what not. Plus, there's so many loud idiots in this Ho-." He cut himself off abruptly before he could start ranting and raving, opting to keep the discussion, at least in some way, productive.

He hadn't expected the reassurance that her words offered him, offering a slow nod as she placed her hand atop his shoulder. Whilst she was from a muggleborn background, and so had slightly different reasons for hiding herself away, there was comfort to be drawn from being told he'd eventually find his place.

"I guess you're right, but if you don't mind me asking, why did you hide yourself away if you're a muggleborn? I can't imagine you'd felt misplaced or anything if you didn't have your parents telling you what house was good, and which wasn't?"