Friendly Mistakes PV Willow Finished

After her confrontation with the slytherin boy in the Great Hall she had stopped approaching random people in the Great Hall. Her mind was still reeling over the fact that people could despise friendship that much. Her friendship bracelet event the week before had refreshed her however, making her remember that there are people that want to make friends with her and others. Sometimes she had to remember to stick to her guns. Especially what her parents would always tell her when she felt like she was fading from who she believed she was.

'Little Willow, you are a beautiful sproutling. But to grow strong and stand tall you have to remember who you are and what you stand for. Right now you're flowing in the wind, but remember which way you truly bend.'

She missed her family dearly, especially since there were so many things at Hogwarts pulling her back and forth. As she walked into the familiar Great Hall, she was about to beeline towards her usual group at the Hufflepuff table. Until she saw a familiar face that was at her friendship bracelet making event. She started to walk towards him but hesitated. Maybe she should restrain herself. But he looked... she couldn't tell. But he didn't look happy either. She was at a full stop in the front of the Great Hall, she looked weird.

She finally shook herself out of it and approached him, sitting herself right down in front of him. She never waited for invitations to join others. Maybe that's here she went wrong in comforting people she didn't ask for permission. But she lived by the fact that it's better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. "Hey friend! Ruka was it? How are you doing?" She assumed the food in front of him was his, so she stretched and grabbed a bowl of some kind of soup that was in the middle of the table next to them.

She noticed that he wasn't wearing any of the friendship bracelets that were at the event that day. Her face faltered a bit her smile falling from her face for less than a second, getting that aching feeling in her heart that was all too familiar from her hometown. Often times people who take her bracelets and they would mysteriously disappear or end up in the trash. She hoped that he just forgot it.

@Willow Anderson

Willow quickly dug into her soup, her stomach feeling more empty than it did as she realized just how hungry she was. She really only had tea in the morning since she would go on morning walks with Flash and then go back to her room before class. She wasn't really a breakfast person and everyday forgot how hungry she would get around lunchtime. "Well, you know we can eat apart from our houst tables. We're not tied to them." She turned around to her Hufflepuff table and gave a small wave which was returned. "And you looked alone so I wanted to provide you some company." She looked at the next Gryffindor which was a fair bit away from where they currently sat. "I couldn't tell what you were feeling, but you didn't look happy at all. Even surrounded by a massive amount of food." As she finished the bowl of soup, it magically refilled much to her enjoyment.

"And no, I'm not here to make friendship bracelets. Although!" She paused and pulled a ridiculous amount of friendship bracelets out of her pocket. "I do have some with me if you want another one!" She made sure her pockets were always stocked and would always make two or three before she went to bed at night. This wasn't even a quarter of the amount she had piled in her room. Her parents would send her a bunch of yarn every month to keep up her hobby.

"I always have them with me, because you never know when you'll make a friend. I honestly didn't expect to make so many in the Great Hall last week!" The brightness in her heart returned, remembering how lovely it was. "Although, you didn't seem to excited to be there despite being there with someone that I assumed was your friend?" She looked up at him with an eyebrow raised. She barely knew anything about the boy in front of her except that his name is Ruka, he's a Gryffindor, didn't want to play hide and seek, and wasn't a fan of friendship bracelets. "The bracelets are the easiest sign of having a friend close to you!"

She held up her left arm, revealing a unique bracelet of green, blue, and yellow. "This is one I have with my friend Flash! We have matching ones, it's a nice way to be reminded that I'm not alone when I'm having a bad day." She fiddled with it for a moment, a warm endearing look coming over her face. "It's nice to be reminded of the people you have around you even if they're not nearby, don't 'cha think?" She smiled up at him, surely he had people around him. Although, after an interaction she had with someone else that perception was changing. She wanted to be that person that people could have around them when they had no one else.

@Willow Anderson

She was confused as to someone could not be eating all of the delicious food around them, but if he was having a bad day which it seemed like it made sense. "I don't eat breakfast so this is when I eat the most food. Especially since it's basically like an unlimited buffet everyday. It's amazing! This could cure world hunger, but I suppose we have to stay hidden from muggles." She shook her head, "It honestly doesn't make sense to me."

With his statement she tucked the bracelets away back in her pocket with a shrug, "I literally always have them with me so if you ever need one or more just let me know! I can also make any with any kind of combination, free of charge." The idea of charging for the hours she spent making these bracelets had crossed her mind, but it felt greedy and wrong to charge for friendship. Friendship was a gift, not a product.

Suddenly the air changed as Ruka began to talk about Flash. Her energy changed with it, but was more confused than anything. The way he was talking about Flash was so mean, when Flash had been nothing but kind and caring for her. He broke into a greenhouse with her just because she was upset about it, and then he stayed. He didn't have to do that. Slytherins sometimes did have a bad reputation, but she couldn't imagine thinking of Flash like this. The people she had met in the Great Hall recently were just so... mean sometimes. She immediately went on the defensive for the person she called her brother.

"The only invisible leash attached to this bracelet is the connection that we have. A-And it's not even a leash! It's a string of fate. That's my brother that you're talking about like that, so I'd appreciate it if you weren't so mean. He is one of the kindest and most caring people I've ever met. I don't know who you've met but that couldn't have been my Flash." Her face was turning red as she got frustrated with how Ruka was portraying someone that she held so close to her heart. "He would never hurt me, and it is a mutually beneficial relationship. He would do anything to protect me and I would do the same for him. He's my best friend." Her blood boiled more as Ruka rolled his eyes. "Why are people so mean sometimes. What could he have even done to you? He wouldn't hurt a fly." She paused, catching her breath as she defended Flash rapid fire. "You obviously don't know Flash like I do, and I highly recommend getting to know him more because you don't know anything about him."

@Willow Anderson

Suddenly she didn't want food, sour emotions usually turned her stomach sour as well. She admittedly didn't know enough about magic or world hunger to offer further opinion on the situation. "I still don't think we should hide from muggles. There are people like me who have been practicing a different type of witchcraft all of my life. I could've just started with this, rather than questioning everything about who I am now." It was something she'd given a lot of thought, was her type of green witchery invalid now that she was practicing this? Would she eventually lose touch with her type of magic later down the road as this magic got more complicated? Her home magic was something so intertwined with who she is, imagining that part of herself broke her heart. So she tried not to think about it.

She was growing increasingly frustrated with the person that sat before her. He seemed a little standoffish before, but she couldn't have imagined the conversation turning into this. He was getting into specifics. She was angry! Of course she was going to mess up her words. Who was he to pick out how she spoke, she had never been in a physical fight but this was the closest she had felt like getting into one as her frustration continued to bubble and bubble up through her being. She was a hot-headed person, when someone got on her bad side she was ready to fight until her last breath. "It's not a leash! It's a sign that we're family now. Who are you to determine whether or not you know the real him. His kindness is too real for me to ever believe that it's not real." She laughed at the thought of it, "I am way too annoying to pretend to be nice to for the benefit of himself! If this was an act he would've dropped me a long time ago. He wouldn't have snuck into a greenhouse with me, he wouldn't continue to walk with me every morning if this was an act. If it is, he should get an Oscar!"

As Ruka continued talking she tried to calm herself down, this was just one person's opinion of Flash she didn't have to take it so intense. But she felt like she had to defend him after all that Flash had done for her. She laughed at the thought of him being her friend as an act. "I am way too annoying to pretend to be nice to for the benefit of himself! If this was an act he would've dropped me a long time ago. He wouldn't have snuck into a greenhouse with me, he wouldn't continue to walk with me every morning if this was an act. If it is, he should get an Oscar! This won't break because we're stronger together rather than apart." She stood up angrily, feeling like she needed to remove herself from the situation before it got too intense, students were already glancing over at her yelling. "I don't know what he's done to you, but it can't have been anything too bad to cause you to act like that."

@Willow Anderson

Content Warning - Willow being held down and burned lightly is described within this post.

For the first time, it seemed, Ruka finally mentioned something that she could get excited about. "I practice Green Witchery at my home. This means we work with the elements, herbs, plants, nature, et cetera. My parents describe it as altering the energy of the universe to fit what we would like to happen. Usually promoting well-being, happiness, good health, all that type of stuff is what my family does. I could always show you a spell if you're interested at any point." She smiled up at him, but it didn't quite reach her eyes because of the exhaustion from this conversation.

She figured at this point she'd just drop the argument about merging wizards and muggles. She didn't have nearly enough information to make a good enough argument. She was still learning, especially in History of Magic. "You win this one for now. You obviously have more brains about the relationships between witches and wizards. I just feel like we can't hide forever. I wouldn't want to hide forever." She had done a lot of hiding in her life. Hiding from schoolmates that would constantly belittle her, hiding from her family when things had gone bad, hiding from herself for a time not knowing who she was. She was tired of hiding so much of her. If this Willow had come back home, her family and hometown might not recognize her. She was freer, happier, more willing to say what she thought and felt than before. It was exhilarating this type of freedom.

But then there were people like Ruka. Who ripped her out of the castle and put her back into her small town. Her close-minded, awful, vicious town. Her anger was rampant, but she felt like she couldn't escape because he kept talking. There was a part of her that couldn't leave because she wanted to hear him out and have his piece heard, even if she wasn't being heard. Her mind was reeling, the image he was painting of Flash didn't fit in. It didn't make sense. This wasn't who Flash was. Was it? What if Ruka was telling the truth, a warning to flee now before she found out the truth.

She just couldn't believe it. There was a new cold fire raging inside Ruka, and she didn't know how to deal with it. This was new, when people who tease her and bully her at home it was never like this. She felt her heart to accelerate and her breathing became more shallow as he kept ranting on. She was shaking her head as he spoke, stuttering small sentences of; "No, he wouldn't" or "He's not like that." Her mind couldn't put together more words than that. Had Flash sugarcoated her with words of praise and the fantasy of being liked? Had she fallen for it? She didn't know, she couldn't tell especially not like this.

Ruka had suddenly stood up, and Willow tried to back away but her legs were trapped in by the bench and she suddenly froze. She never would freeze, but it had been months since something like this happened. Her instincts had left her when she needed them the most.

Then he grabbed her.

Suddenly she was back home. The boys in her class holding her down after class. Teasing, screeching voices, "We're going to burn the witch." Chanting. Endless chanting. They were in the forest that separated herself from being home. They had matches, how did they get matches? Bringing them close to her skin, burning her up and down her arm. Not enough to leave any scars, but she remembered. She would always remember. Tears were streaking down her face. They had muffled her mouth so her screams couldn't be heard. It was her fault. If she wasn't a witch they wouldn't be doing this. If she was just normal, she would be fine. But she wasn't. She was always going to be the weird witch, the dumb witch, the naive witch.

She would always be the lowest, which is why whenever someone showed her an ounce of kindness, she ran with it. She never knew when she would be able to feel the luxury of kindness shown to her again, so she would take it where she could. Flash not being the person that spoiled her with that luxury and being like the others would destroy her. Ruka was lying. He had to be.

Then in an instant she was back at Hogwarts, but he was still holding on to her. Without thinking about it she raised her right arm and swung it to hit him in his left cheek and continued to follow through with as much force as possible. She wanted to be let go. She wanted him to get away from her. If he were to let go, she would collapse on the bench. Sobs racking her body as she couldn't get the images out of her head combined with the confusion about who Flash really was. Her voice cracked as she spoke, but it was angry. "Please. Just shut up." There was her own cold fire in her eyes, but hers was sad and lonely as she watched Ruka deal with the first punch she had ever thrown.