Dale's Pain-o Band PV Closed

Interacting with @Dale Kurt
Mentioning no one
RPing as Catriona Staverly | text color #674da8

The castle was drafty at the best of times and downright freezing at the worst. Catriona was bundled up in a sweater and somehow she was still cold. She mentally shook her fist at whoever designed the heating system at Hogwarts. Fireplaces really weren't the most efficient way of heating a stone castle. And Hogwarts was cold more often than it wasn't. Someone really needed to invest in—

Her thoughts were interrupted by a pleasant strain of music drifting out of the rehearsal room. Hungarian Dance or something. She'd heard it before, once or twice, at one of her parent's overly formal parties. Whoever was playing was doing so very well and she was tempted to peek inside and see who it was. They wouldn't be disturbed by her presence if they couldn't see her, right?

Carefully making her way over to the door, Catriona opened it just enough for her to hear the music coming from inside. She leaned against the door, forgetting she'd just opened it. She stumbled inside, arms flailing a little as she tried to rebalance herself.

This was perhaps the most embarrassing thing to have ever happened to her and Catriona wanted very badly to sink into the floor. But instead she smiled at the boy sitting at the piano and waved awkwardly. He looked familiar and Catriona realized she'd seen him at the ball, dancing with Lark.

"Uh, hello. Sorry to barge in on you like that. You're really good." She gestured to the piano. "Dale, right?"

@Catriona Staverly | @Dale Kurt
Font Color=#028228

Bored. Thora was bored. Now nearing the year-and-a-half mark of her time at Hogwarts, work had been all she had known. Well, work and friendships. It had been hard to adjust to the magical school at first, as there was much more homework about subjects she’d had no previous exposure to. Besides, Thora was a nerd. Some would say she was obsessed to learning. And while that wasn’t necessarily true, it was quite accurate to say that the girl had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. While at first Thora doubted the Sorting’s Hat choice of Slytherin, she now understood why. It was her ambition and determination. Never, ever, would she stop learning, even when there was no more homework to do. Why not study if it could get her somewhere?

As a result of her never-ending quest for something new to learn, even if it was just a bit of history or the wand motion of an advanced spell, it was very, very rare to find Thora alone and wandering, especially now. The Masquerade Ball had put a hole, so to speak, in Thora’s life. She had a few friends that she would’ve been willing to talk to, but sometimes she would just rather wander alone. And so it happened that today was such a day.

In anticipation of the flood of work that would soon come her way, Thora decided to just wander the castle—wand in hand and ever-cautious, of course. She deserved a little rest once in a while, didn’t she? After aimlessly trudging up the stairs, Thora had arrived on the fourth floor, home of all of her worst memories. The dueling club, where she had been battered by Flipendo after Flipendo, eventually losing the duel. The Girls’ Lavatory, where she had found a supposed friend whom later betrayed her. And the Ballroom. The room of the horrors of all horrors. Where the Masquerade Ball had taken place. Thora fought down a wave of nausea as she glanced towards its closed doors.

All she wanted to do was leave. Leave this floor, and go to the library. But for once, curiosity overwhelmed her paranoia. There was one door she hadn’t yet entered. One door that could lead to anything—more trauma, a new friend, death. Practically anything awaited behind the door. As she kept glancing at the door, two fellow students walked in, piquing her interest. At least if something bad happened, she wouldn’t be alone. As Thora finally started towards the door, she caught herself. Why was she so scared? She was supposed to be a Slytherin. No, they weren’t exactly known for courage, but they certainly weren’t a house of cowards. So why was she paranoid of practically everything she saw? This was pathetic. She was just pathetic.

Pushing open the door with her left hand, Thora clutched her wand with the other just in case. There appeared to be only two students, just as she had imagined. One was a Slytherin boy about her age. His face was familiar, but it just didn’t match up with a name. That is, until the girl spoke. His name was Dale. But what was the girl’s name. She seemed slightly younger than Thora, but then, she was horrible at assuming ages. So, the snek decided not to assume.

“H-hi,” Thora said quietly, “I’m Thora. Hope I’m not interrupting anything here.” Might as well start small if she didn’t know what else to say. But for now, all she could do was pray that these two students were kind. Thora had certainly seen her share of immature, annoying, and rude Hogwarts students. This was her last day before classes restarted, after all. She didn’t need more trouble in her life.

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The Holiday break had felt like years away from Hogwarts and her friends. She had written some and seen her close group of friends over break to exchange gifts but.. coming back to Hogwarts had felt more like coming home than her actual trip back to Cork. The holidays had been rather exciting at the Flaer household as now that her powers were out in the open, her parents and father's side of the family seemed more accepting almost.. Strangely enough they had even put on a large dinner towards the New Year. Her father had mentioned it was much like the old parties they used to host. Why had things changed? Lark couldn't wrap her head around it... they had taken such extreme measures to hide everything from her and now they were just acting as if it were this wonderful thing... brought on by the chaos of the Ball. At first it was a relief but towards the end of the break her family had set her teeth on edge.

Not wanting to explode on her friends, Lark had taken to keeping to herself the past couple of days. She had eagerly wanted to get back to them but for some reason today was just a muddled mind type of day. Her emotions seemed to be all over and retreating to a quiet room for some sketching had been a treat to herself almost. The room had been easy enough to find, it must be used for rehearsals of some kind, Lark made a mental note to pick Ruthie's brain later on whether the Frog Choir practiced here or not.

First arriving to the room, Lark had found a secluded corner off to one side where a group of chairs had been stacked up against a partition almost making a little alcove. Perfect for sketching undisturbed in.. or napping. The latter had ended up taking precedent. The small Ravenclaw girl had taken off her robes and bundled them neatly into a makeshift pillow, stretching out across a wooden platform that had been stacked atop a smaller one for neat keeping. She had dozed off rather quickly not realizing how tired she still was from all the holiday celebrations.

In fact she had been so deep asleep that she hadn't heard the first person enter... and the music felt more in her dreams than it did real, soothing her back into sleep.. that was until a very real crashing sound made her jolt awake. Her brain hurrying to catch up with her now wide awake body, Lark sat up and peeked out from between two stacks of chairs. Blinking the last hints of sleep from her golden eyes, she caught sight of two familiar bodies. Dale and !

Sliding off of her makeshift bed, Lark was about to call out to her friends when another student entered the mix. No one she recognized. She felt a bit anxious now.. should she interrupt? Maybe they had all wanted to meet up here for something.. Lark didn't want to just interject. A reddish color crept into the girl's long hair as she brushed a couple stray strands behind her ear. Still... she hadn't seen Dale yet since coming back and did want to spend some time with him. Shuffling her way out from behind the stacks of chairs Lark waved towards the others.

"Hey guys!" She choked out, still worrying that she could be interrupting something.

Holidays were a magical time of the year, for Thea at least. Usually, she and her family would fly to Poland and meet all of her more distant relatives - all the aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents... it was a pretty big deal. However, with Anastasia - Thea's mom - catching an intense illness by the end of Christmas, their departure from Poland had to be sped up, and soon enough, the Hufflepuff and her family were all back home.

The flight, however, didn't exactly help the witch's mom, and her dad was... doing less than amazing at having to take on the role of the responsible parent, having to care for two kids and his sick wife. So, shy as she was, Thea suggested she went back to Hogwarts early, and to her surprise, she was soon on Platform 9 and 3/4.

Soon enough, she arrived at Hogwarts, dropped some more drawing equipment off at the Hufflepuff common and decided to have a walk around Hogwarts. It was probably her favorite thing to do - in between avoiding people and practicing all of the spells, exploring the enormous castle always made her feel better, like a 5-year-old, running around and being amazed by things older kids wouldn't be surprised by.

Her school before Hogwarts never allowed that same kind of childish curiosity the walls of Hogwarts ensured. The feeling that you were just free to go out and explore was never encouraged or even made possible at her muggle school, while the castle made sure that Thea felt that way with every unopened door, with every nook and corner, every wall and every window she passed.

The Ground Floor was always the most intriguing. It was so much like the wizarding world was just showing off, yet provided a sense of comfort and openness. The First floor was a confusing one - Thea loved spending time in her common room but hated History of Magic more than any other class. She had quickly passed the dreaded classroom, chuckling while passing a group of students in front of the Muggle Studies one, and made her way to the Third Floor.

The Trophy room had always intrigued her and looking at all of the previous students' achievements put her in a day-dreamy mood, hoping her name could ever be there somewhere. Equipped with a good mood, she made her way up to the Fourth Floor.

The Fourth Floor.

So many feelings, so many memories. Memories a child Thea's age shouldn't have, ones she'd gladly get rid of. Fortunately for herself, she wasn't involved in being beaten, kidnapped, and didn't get damaged by the fire; but just the sight of the door to the huge area made chills go down her spine.
On the other hand, before the Masked Ball Massacre, she had had so many great memories - it was a place no one spent time in, so she'd often come there and draw. It was one where she'd met people.

However, stopping her from moping over the Masked Ball again was music - piano. It took the Hufflepuff a couple of seconds, but as her mom would bore her with classical symphonies over and over again, she'd quickly recognised the piece as one of her dad's favorites - Hungarian Dance No. 5. She liked the music as well, but it wasn't exactly her style. She liked what was playing on the radio or what Spotify put as trending - she couldn't deny it. Classical music was amazing, of course, and watching her sister's dance recitals she had grown to love The Waltz of The Flowers or The Dance of The Sugar Plum Fairy.

Nevertheless, she took a small peek into the room. 4 students, seemingly her age, were standing around. She'd recognised seeing them somewhere, for sure, but she couldn't quite remember where... She took a small step into the room and tried not to bring any attention to herself, attempting to just slide by the wall into some corner with her sketchbook.

She was really, really hoping no one would notice her, but she'd accepted it as inevitable. She wouldn't get up and leave now - she could've been shy and socially incompetent, but when she finally got herself to do something, she wasn't about to turn around and walk out.

And just like that, school started again. The holidays had passed by fairly quickly, and it was okay for the most part. It was a quiet time for her family, especially with her mother still refusing to visit, but Saskia was happy to have her father and sister to celebrate Christmas with. Her father had managed to pull away from his work in the hospital, at least for a while, just so he could spend time with the family. Something that her mother didn't do.

She still never understood why. Was she that busy? Surely she could have afforded to visit for even one day. So why didn't she? It was something her father couldn't tell her, for whatever reason. It was something she would be irritated about to this day. But once again, she couldn't do anything about it. It was just part of life, and she had to accept it. But other than that, she really was glad to see her family after a long time. It would be some time before she would have that opportunity again.

Hogwarts was like a second home to her. It had been for at least a year by now. Going back didn't disorient her at the slightest, although there were still some things she dreaded. It wasn't anything she couldn't handle, though. She just had to keep working hard in class, keep training for the next Quidditch game, and she would be fine for the rest of the school year. They were all feasible tasks, and there wouldn't be many things that would have stopped her.

And so, she found herself on the fourth floor of the school. What was there to do on the fourth floor? None of the other classrooms were there, and she didn't feel like using the lavatory. She had no business at the duelling club, although she could still remember the last time she visited when she won her first duel. It was a triumph she was proud of, although it was fairly unpleasant, especially considering the terrible cold she got that made her faint right after the duel. Not that she would ever have to go through that again now that she had Quidditch to take care of. And then there was the ballroom.

She didn't have anything to do with that place, and she probably wasn't going to do anything there in a long time. She had managed to somewhat get over the events of the last ball, but that didn't mean it would have been easy to forget what had happened. It was still a traumatic event that undoubtedly affected the rest of the students, and some of its effects would stay on others for the rest of their lives. But that wasn't something she should have dwelled on. In fact, something else caught her attention. It was piano music that probably came from the rehearsal room.

Whoever was the pianist was quite talented, she could give it that. It was as if the music itself had a life of its own. The notes bounced one after the other, the pacing changing from different speeds as the song went on. It was something anyone could have danced to. Not that Saskia knew how to dance properly in the first place, nor did she have the interest to learn. What would she have done even if she did know how to dance? The last balls that took place in the school ended in a catastrophe. It wasn't like she could fit in a dance with someone before something interrupted it at this rate.

Curiosity eventually won itself out in the end. Saskia walked in the room, although she didn't quite expect the other students who were in the room. She didn't recognize a lot of them, but she did manage to identify a few select individuals. Namely, Thora and Thea, who she knew were second years, although Thora was a Slytherin who she happened to have met over the summer, and later in the Masquerade Ball, and then Thea, who was a fellow Hufflepuff. She didn't know her too well, but she did see her in the common room at times. Maybe it was the right moment for her to talk to the other girl more properly.

Looking over at the pianist, she realized she also knew who he was. It was the same person she smacked in the face at the aforementioned Masquerade Ball. Long story short, she had to stop him from dancing thanks to a spell that backfired on him. He didn't seem too mad about it when it first happened, but seeing him again, maybe she should have owed him some kind of apology, considering she hadn't been able to give him one before.

"Hey, everyone. I didn't know there was a live performance going on." In all honesty, she wasn't really sure what was happening. As far as she knew, there were already a group of kids who were standing around, presumably listening to the music, although that meant they probably weren't a formal audience either. Had they stumbled in the room like she had? That would have been a funny coincidence. But maybe they actually knew who the pianist was, and she was the only one who wasn't introduced. Oh, well. Can't hurt to meet new people.

Dale slammed a few keys mid-song as a girl... crashed into the room, Dale stared at her with wide eyes. "Uh, hello. Sorry to barge in on you like that. You're really good" "Dale, right?" Dale was bit shaken up, but the first thing was.. how did this person know him, he had never seen her before. But for some reason, she knew who he was, "Uhhh, ye-yeah, I'm Dale... and you are? But before the girl could answer another person walked in.. “I’m Thora. I hope I’m not interrupting anything here. Dale was not happy with the way things were going, how was he supposed to practice with this many people in the room, he gave up all hope, maybe he would come back later, for now, he had to find a way out. Dale spoke up quietly "N-no, I w-was o-" But before he could finish his mess of a sentence, Lark... emerged? Out of some corner out of the room. Dale looked at her wide-eyed. where had she came from, was she already in the room, had she heard his playing? Well, of course, she did, if people outside could hear it! Apparently the walls weren't soundproof, great thing to learn now. "Hey, guys!" Dale sighed, he gave up on leaving, "H-Hey" He said, defeat in his voice. As if on cue another person walked in, and again, Dale had no idea who she was. But she didn't try to talk, she tried to quietly walk to the corner of the room. But he guessed him staring at her did not help. And another person walked in. Dale actually recognized this girl... yeah... it was the girl who slapped him, well it was a helpful slap, but it still hurt. "Hey, everyone. I didn't know there was a live performance going on." Dale internally groaned, this was all his mother's fault... somehow? "N-no, there's no performance, I was just-" Dale motioned at the piano, "Practicing."

@Dale Kurt | @Lark Flaer | @Saskia Nicholson | @Thea Knott

Thora glanced around, beginning to fidget with the strings of her hoodie as a few more people entered. There were... almost too many people in the small room for comfort. But it wasn't like she could just barge out of there. It was a matter of politeness and etiquiette, after all. There was no hiding that the young girl found her current situation, like pretty much everytime she talked with more than a couple people at a time, uncomfortable. 

It was part of Thora. She didn't do well with people she didn't know well, and was much, much more often wary than not. After the odd social with her mother's side of the family, it had been clear that it was a running trait in the family line. It quickly became obvious to young Thora that her partly Irish, partly Scottish ancestors were not at all the best at carrying on a smooth conversation. While at the time, it had been almost amusing to the girl that even adults would struggle at such things, little did she know that later, simply the knowledge would help her out. At least it made her feel somewhat better that she wasn't alone in her awkwardness, however much it felt like it. 

"Hey, Saskia," the girl offered with a smile as the Hufflepuff entered. Glancing around, The boy at the piano, after introducing himself as Dale, seemed to give up on his playing with something close to embarrassment? Defeat? Thora's intention wasn't at all to cause him to stop playing--let alone scare him. Could she, a slip of a girl, even scare someone? Honestly, she doubted it. 

But the boy's--Dale's--playing was quite beautiful, even soothing. The gentle notes floating out across the room had been quite soothing, and Thora, while she wasn't about to randomly suggestion something, would rather him have kept playing. But a break was a break. Still, complete silence was worse. 

"Uh--'scuse me--Dale? Y-you could keep playing, you know. Y-you're pretty good," They would probably think that she was weird now--even weirder than she appeared before. For her, reputation was important. And first impressions affected that a lot. If she wanted to quit making a fool of herself in front of so many strangers, Thora had better step up her game soon. 

But the problem was, she didn't know what to say. Several of the other students seemed to know each other, some more than others, while Thora barely recalled seeing any of them other than Saskia--except maybe Dale. Now that she thought about it, she had seen the boy several times before. In the Common Room. Yes, that was right. "Y-you're a Slytherin, right?" Thora addressed Dale, "Sorry, I just wanted to see if I could figure out where I'd seen you before." 

And with that, she clamped up. Why was she even talking so much--so much being more than a stuttered, fragmented statement? This was just getting worse and worse. Thora was positive the atmosphere would just get more and more awkward until someone--someone braver than her--would speak up.

Reducio

@Catriona Staverly, feel free to pop in a reply whenever you have the time to! Don't sweat it if you are busy, though  

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A couple of others made their entrance, most likely drawn by the music. Lark couldn't blame them, Dale really had a way with the piano. It had been soothing to listen to that was for sure. Yet... he didn't look too pleased with people having shown up. Lark fidgeted with the hem of her uniform jumper. She immediately felt he need to apologize but one of the newcomers had mentioned a live performance. Did people still come here to watch them? The room didn't look like it had been used in awhile.

"Nice to meet you." Lark held out a hand to the girl who had entered, one of the others calling her Saskia. She didn't recognize her from around the castle but there were always so many people rushing to and from classes that Lark knew they may have passed by each other at least once.

The brown haired girl who had spoken to Saskia was complimenting Dale. Lark had to agree, he had sounded good up until being interrupted by all of them. The blush across the girl's face though had sent a bolt of jealousy through Lark. Pushing it down...deep... deep down, Lark offered her a hand as well. "I'm Lark." She looked at the other girls as she introduced herself. "Do you guys usually come ta this room? I haven't been in here before... sort of was hidin' out.. nappin'." She smiled at the girl seeing she appeared rather nervous.