Nightmare in the Library Open

Jane Victoria was feeling quite angry, they passed out earlier and woke up confused, which then suddenly led to them having thoughts about their guardian, and then finally led to them being very angry at him, themself, blood types, everyone, life! Jay fixed their black turtleneck under their collared shirt and walked off.

They wandered the halls, they wanted to punch something, they wanted to scream, cry, and strangle something, someone, anything! Lily Gray was gone, perhaps forever, Sir Victoria was also gone, perhaps forever too... They were hopeless. They’ve met a few people and they were all just acquaintances, they met all of them in either bad or kind of bad situations. Passing out, stairs moving, crying, and just the bunch. Tears swelled up in their eyes, they stopped by a very reflective window and looked at their reflection, their eyes were puffy and red, their green newly dyed hair was messy, random hairs sticking out all over the place. 

Jay rubbed their knuckles, their urge became stronger. Jay could hear their own breathing, a lump in their throat. They went ahead and punched a random wall in an area where there weren’t people, they kept punching and punching with pure anger, their knuckles became purple and rough, they were close to bleeding already. Jay didn’t realize that there was another person sleeping on the floor.

At first, it wasn't clear what the noises were. Leah stretched and stood up, trying to collect the shattered pieces of her dream despite how awful it had been. It would be quite funny to tell her friends about it.

She followed her ears towards the source of the banging, wondering if it was a headache and she was just imagining it. After all, the light was still a little painful, and she had to squint to avoid walking into a shelf.

A row of red volumes passed her on the left and an entire column of blue-and-green-striped books covered in dust appeared through a gap in the shelves. All around her, magic seemed to be hovering in the air, waiting for something to harness it.

She finally turned a corner and saw the source of the sound: a student punching the wall, their green hair a mess and their face clearly exhibiting distress. Instantly, Leah's eyes snapped wide open and she spoke up.

"I'm sorry - I don't really know you, but..." She paused, trying to summon the right words. "Do you need to talk about it?"

She gently indicated their bruised knuckles, hoping she wasn't being too intrusive with someone she'd just met.

Jay stared at the girl, a Hufflepuff eh? Pfft I bet she’s a muggle born...They thought in anger, Jay then put down their fists slowly. They’ve punched so many things already and one day their nerves would probably stop working on their hands up to the point where they would not feel pain anymore. Right now their fists were quite a bloody mess and numb.

Jay suddenly laughed as their mind just seemed to come back to reality, “’Do you need to talk about it?” They mimicked in a really annoying manner, “As if I had anything to talk about!” They spat.

Oh she has no idea what I’ve been through! Shes probably having quite the life with her little loyal badger friends and family... And what I get is- is a life filled with gits and tossers! I don’t even know my own parents!

”You seriously think that talking about it will fix anything? At least you don’t have to deal with your guardian suddenly disappearing and having no freakin’ idea what happened! At least you don’t have to naturally think that he probably got but into Azkaban or that he could of probably gotten killed by aurors or other dark wizards! I have to deal with pure darkness and loneliness. I have nearly gotten killed more times than a eleven year old should have! I- I-I HAVE TO DEAL WITH PURE PRIDE, CRIME, AND HATRED ALL OF THE TIME!”

They let it all out. They said things that they shouldn’t of had. They said things that could possibly ruin the lives at the Victoria Manor. They said things that could connect them to crime and expel them... Did it mean anything at this point? Life itself was a prison...

Ew. Studying.

Millie described studying as the worst thing she had ever experienced. It was like trying to learn about something she didn't care about, but pretend to care about it. Well, pretend to care enough so that way her laziness didn't end up in her essays. That being said, she was really tempted to just bribe one of her smart friends to do it for her.

Of course, just as she stood up, putting all of her things in her bag, she could hear someone shouting, their voice becoming louder and much more evident. She jumped up, her wand in her hand, pointing it to the source. Her lips parted slightly, and her eyebrows furrowed. The person who was shouting, was someone in her year, and in her house.

She abandoned her bag, and walked over. Her first instinct was to hug the shouting person, but fought against it. It seemed that the Hufflepuff girl had already tried to be nice.

"Hey!" She called, getting closer to them. Her eyes filled with the one emotion she hated the most; pity. She closed them and opened slowly, refreshing her mind.

"Do you want a hug?" She asked tentatively, indicating the Gryffindor. She pocketed her wand and smiled, trying to be nice. She really just wanted to offer support. People lost their cool pretty often, and being friends with people like Kyle, she had learned to put her judgement behind her.

Hugging was nicer, anyways.

@Euphrasia Millie @Jane Victoria

At the other student's shouting, Leah took a surprised step backwards. Well, this was... not actually too surprising. Maybe she shouldn't have been that direct to someone so distraught.

An older girl came along and offered to hug the green haired child, and Leah felt her shoulders relax a little. Surely the older student would know what to do.

She mulled over the student's outburst. She really didn't know hardship, and was aware she hadn't seen much of the horrors of the real world, but she never knew other children her age had to deal with them.

What was the worst she'd seen, anyway? She'd only heard about things, about friends of her siblings who had depression and anxiety. Never spoken to anyone, or offered to help. A little guilt settled in her stomach, and she immediately thought of several owls she needed to send as soon as possible.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, hoping she didn't further upset the other first year. "I guess talking really doesn't help too much. But surely attacking the wall doesn't either?"

She hoped the green haired student would accept the older girl's invitation for a hug. Hugging always cheered Leah up, and hopefully would help this upset first year as well.

They looked up at the other second year in complete annoyance, did she seriously ask if they needed a hug? A freakin hug?! Jay took a deep breath, What is wrong with these people? They thought. Jay has seen the girl, they were even in the same dorm, but they had no idea what her name was, it wasn’t anything they cared about anyways... 

“You know what? You’re right- attacking the wall doesn’t help, perhaps I should attack a person instead eh’?” They said at the hufflepuff. No, they weren’t going to attack her since they were surely smarter than that but they wanted to make her fearful. Jay then looked away from the both of them and closed their eyes, not crying in front of people was never a problem, they’ve trained for this for years now... they have learned to not cry in front of others, they have learned some self control, which is why they always seem to be in a empty classroom or somewhere quiet crying.

The lump in their throat started to bother them. Their breaths became jagged and messy once gain, Don’t you dare... Don’t you dare be pathetic and cry... No! I can’t... I must not....

Millie waited. Patience was always important, and especially when she was dealing with someone else's emotions, it was key. She didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable, or make them more anxious than they already were.

She waited a moment, gathering her thoughts. "Can you please tell me what happened?" She asked, lowering her voice. Maybe what they said was right, talking couldn't solve a big problem, but it could definitely make someone feel a little bit better. As she thought more about it, maybe just offering advice could make someone feel better. If she kept on going down a patient and kind path, she could probably be a muggle therapist.

Taking a look over to the second girl, she smiled slightly, but redirected the majority of her attention to the crying child. In an instant, she knew what her new goal was. She was going to make her classmate feel a thousand times better, even if they didn't want to talk about their problems. 

She quietly sat down at their feet and patted the two spots next to her. "Come on, both of you, sit with me." She said, smiling her natural smile again. She tilted her head slightly, and under her heap of black hair, purple streaks that matched the color of her eyes shined through.

@Euphrasia Millie @Jane Victoria

(That's fine, no worries!)

One minute, the angry student was threatening some kind of violence, and the next, looked like they were going to burst into tears. The change was extremely confusing to Leah, so she froze for a few seconds, unsure of how to react.

Thankfully, she didn't have to worry, as the older girl started to speak gently and proceeded to sit down. Leah copied her, silently willing the green haired student to do the same. Surely this would help.

She didn't particularly want to cause a scene, but letting this child - who was the same age as her - suffer in silence would be against everything she believed in. And from what she'd heard, they were in danger, and she wanted to help in any way she could.

She turned back to the older girl, who had a kind smile on her face, and relaxed a little. The older girl seemed to radiate peace.

In the back of her mind, she remembered how she had only just had a nightmare about homework. Those troubles seemed petty now, like salamanders compared to the great dragons chasing this student.

If only she could help more than just watching quietly as the student flew through their raging emotions.

Guinevere winced as a loud bellowing filled the library, knocking over her open pot of ink as she swivelled around to locate the noise. The jet black liquid spilled onto her hand, staining her skin dark and mottled.

'Seriously,' she thought, 'If these wizard folk are so smart, why don't they just let us use pens?'

As Gwen attempted to dab the blotchy mess from her wrist and keep it off her parchment, the shouting noise continued.

"Is everything ok over there?" She asked in a hushed tone. No response. More indistinct yelling.

'Something's wrong.' Gwen rose hesitantly from her seat, flicking specks of ink onto the carpet as she brushed herself off, and made her way deeper into the library. She gingerly drew her wand, holding the long hornbeam stick in front of her as she crept. She hadn't even learnt any decent spells yet, so the best defense she had against whatever creature was screeching, was a swift wand up the nose.

The noise had lulled into a hush. A quieter noise emanated from nearby now; whispering perhaps.

"Who's there!" Gwen exclaimed, gasping as she rounded the corner to find three students sitting in discussion.

"Oh!" she cried out, her face flushing with a mixture of relief and embarrassment. To make matters worse, it wasn't just a group conversation she had interrupted, but a teary-eyed student sat directly opposite her, accompanied by a fellow first year and a girl who must have been in the year above, at least.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't realise you were..." she glanced awkwardly towards the distressed Gryffindor student, "uh... well, having a moment."

The student's green hair hung low over their face and their eyes were coated in a sheen on misery. While the student's companions each had a friendly demeanour, Gwen got the sense that her presence wasn't exactly helping the situation.

"No one's injured or anything?" she queried, wishing she hadn't walked in on such a private conversation.