Howling Invite pv Willow Finished

Interacting with @Elsian Cox
Color Code: #259986

March had been an incredibly taxing month for her. Despite the warmth growing in Scotland and most of the student body flocking to the outdoors to soak in the sun, most of her own March had been overcast with clouds. There had been a rapid development in herself as she had to face the darkness she had been running away from by attending Hogwarts. Luckily she had good people around her to help her through it and to help her continue to heal. Thankfully Elsian was someone that didn't know about her past, and she knew he was not one to pry. She was grateful for the break in feeling like she needed to constantly explain herself and her actions.

Despite their rough start, Elsian and Willow had ended up starting to get along really well. Something that she hadn't expected at all. His presence was now a welcome comfort as they lounged beneath the sun in the courtyard. As she settled down under the tree, laying down her cloak next to him to use as a makeshift picnic blanket she unwrapped her own food that she had taken which included a couple of sandwiches. Her stomach growled loudly, usually she didn't eat much for breakfast and would eat a decent amount of food during lunch. Her thoughts about food were interrupted by a stray bread piece being flicked at her by the Gryffindor. She rolled her eyes at him before starting on her first sandwich.

"I think all of us are tired of being cooped up in the castle, eating outside is always nice but especially after a cold winter." She glanced over him, watching him settle down for a nap. She grabbed one of the pieces of meat that they had grabbed to go with their other food and threw it to land squarely on his face. "You're one of the laziest lions I've ever met. I feel like you can't ever stay awake for more than an hour at a time, which is more like a house cat than an actual lion." She giggled at her observation, imagining Elsian as a lazy cat curled up under the sun. It suited him.

She leaned back to enjoy her food, eyes gazing over the courtyard and watching all of the other students enjoy the sun as much as they were. It was heartwarming to see all of the other students existing outdoors, friendly laughs and different lawn games spread out during lunchtime.

"Cowards all of them, a little rain never hurt anyone," he mumbled knowing fully well how close he and a few of his house mates had come to actually breaking a few bones. Stifling a yawn he didn't even suspect the foul play until it was to late letting out a strangled "Gwah!" in surprise, flinching away at the chill of the meat finger plucking it off his face eyeing it for a moment as if to decide whether or not it was worthy before popping it into his mouth.

"I'll have you know I stayed up for three during classes. So hah-" he replied sarcastically hand blindly reaching for the food to his side. When he got nothing he turned his head to eye the food just barely out of his reach by maybe an inch or two and gave it a dirty look, as if turning to sit up or move a single inch from his spot was the worst thing to ever happen to him. Grudgingly he moved. And by moved he meant simply rolling onto his side with an annoyed groan so the food was within reach before continuing his train of thought. "-besides, lazy is such a strong word...I prefer efficient with my energy," he drawled eyes shutting peacefully as the breeze passed by.

He could have happily stayed that way, did for a while with one arm thrown half heartedly over his chest and the other messing with the grass but it came to an end when he heard a startled yelp and the familiar sound of wings.

Curiously he turned his head towards the noise, eyes peeking to see a Ravenclaw rubbing his head with a wince while their friend laughed, doubled over a long package that had probably smacked them in the head. It was then that a few more owls seemed to appear from thin air, swooping down low to drop letters and goodies to the students lazing around, a few obviously more excited than others with the new mail.

"Huh, I forgot about the post..."he yawned, moving to sit up and rub at an eye. Leaning over he went through his bag pulling out the red Remembrall that had been bugging him since early this morning to see the red fade from existence and he snorted. "So that's what I forgot. Ugh, all that worrying for nothing..." shoving the thing back into his bag he flopped back down, throwing an arm over his face.

Frankly he should have known better than to just dismiss post day. Should have known better than to not keep at least a somewhat decent eye until they all passed. So of course he didn't.

And he payed the price when something suddenly dropped onto his head and then another onto his side as he twisted away in surprise to shove himself upwards with his hands. A quiet but surprised squawk of indignance leaving him as he glared at the items dropped on him . "What the bloody-" he almost swore, looking up to see that damn barrel owl giving him a look before flying out of sight that he swore was smug dammit. The jerk!

"That damn bird...has a grudge worse than mother" he grumbled, moving to pick up the items.

Interacting with @Elsian Cox

A giggle couldn't help but appear at his reaction to the sudden flying lunch meat at his face. She couldn't help but continue to tease as he reach blindly for more food, she gently tugged it further out of reach to make him work for it. As soon as he turned to look she returned her hand to her own food, trying to play it cool as he looked at the food as if it had done the worst crime imaginable to him and his family. "I hope you know staying awake for classes isn't exactly an accomplishment, it's kind of... the base line for succeeding in school. While you may call yourself efficient with energy, I'm definitely going to stick with lazy." She shrugged, eyes spotting the massive amounts of post falling down from the sky all of a sudden.

Owls delivering mail still would throw her off sometimes, especially when packages would unceremoniously drop in front of her in the worst of times. Such as the kid in the courtyard who got hit in the head with his package. She kept her eyes on the sky, as she was supposed to be receiving a letter from her parents between today and tomorrow. Her face screwed up in disappointment as Elsian received two letters. "Letters from your family?" Willow tried not to be overly obvious that she was incredibly nosy about the source of his post. She grabbed a cookie out of her bag that she usually carried with her for snacks during class and started munching on one.

"I try not to look at my remembrall, normally it stresses me out more than what's necessary. I usually just leave it in my dorm room." While she carried around the remembrall during the first part of her schooling, she didn't see any need for it now. Especially with how organized she had become, she rarely forgot something and when it did it revealed itself in good time. Stressing over some red mist never did her any good.

"Maybe?" he said, unable to keep the slight wariness out of his voice as he fiddled with his mail.

He eyed the package, small and light and very plain looking if not for the pretty blue ribbon wrapped around it and he knew right away it was from his aunt. It felt a bit off though. He hadn't been expecting anything from her and when she tried to surprise him it was a 50/50 chance of something he was fine with or one of her drunken schemes...that reason making him fight down the urge to just rip up the brown paper and instead focus on the second item. A simple envelope with twine tying another smaller red envelope that he couldn't say gave him any clues to who it was from since upon closer inspection he couldn't find a name at all.

"Huh, auntie must have forgotten to put her name again..." he pondered, fingers pulling at the twin and pulling the red envelope free. He should have been more careful untying the twine maybe, but it had been knotted lazily so throwing away his annoyance at not being able to open it nicely he simply bent the mail, forcefully removing the red paper and in the process ripping the wax seal open by accident.

He realized his mistake the moment he actually got a look at the enveloped design, eyes widening and hands instantly fumbling and dropping it as a voice boomed out, "ELSIAN VICTORIA COX, HOW DARE YOU BURN THOSE LETTERS-"

His face twisted into one of obvious disbelief and an odd mix of what could pass as...begrudgingly impressed.

-"11 INVITATIONS! BURNED! I AM ABSOLUTELY APPALED BY YOUR BEHAVIOR. I EXPECT YOU TO THINK ABOUT HOW YOU WISH TO BE SEEN BY THE PUBLIC SINCE YOUR PARENTS OBVIOUSLY DON'T. IF YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT BURNING EVEN ONE INVITATION AGAIN I WILL NOT HESITATE TO SEND YOU HOWLER AFTER HOWLER YOUNG MAN!"

There was a moment of silence as the howler ripped itself to shreds, Elsian eyeing the torn up paper on his lap before simply dusting it off with a snort. "that just made me want to burn it even more..." he admitted, picking up the forgotten letter he'd dropped when the howler had begun to shriek at him. It showed in the way he grazed the edge of his bag with his hand as he looked over the letter, contemplating whether it would be worth it to cast an Incendio on the paper just to spite his uncle before sighing and popping the simple wax seal open.

"Ugh, he got me good so I guess I'll read it..." he muttered to himself, "...this time..." His brow furrowed as his eyes drifted over the fancy writing of his uncle, blah blah blah hope to see you attend, blah blah blah vital that someone attend as his parents cannot yada yada-

Finished he began to stuff the letter back in the envelope before simply ripping it in half, giving a half shrug towards Willow with a small self satisfied smirk, "I'm not burning it~"

That done he turned his attention to the small package, simply shoving the torn invite to the side of his robes on the grass as he picked up the package from his auntie, turning it over in his hands he gave it an odd look before turning his head to Willow giving the other a slightly embarrassed look. "Sorry, I didn't know it was a howler..."

He would have burned that too if he'd known right away!

Interacting with @Elsian Cox

Willow quickly shrugged off the mail issue and returned to her food. If it was mail from his family she didn't want to be too nosy. Last time she got mail from her family before the last semester ended was telling her that her grandmother wasn't doing too well. If someone had been prying about her mail at that time she would've gone ballistic on them. For now she wiped the cookie crumbs off of her pants and went in for another sandwich.

The afternoon had been peace, oh so peaceful, until Elsian opened up a howler. Which she didn't even know existed until now. At the shock of the screaming when she expected the lovely sounds of parchment unfolding her sandwich got flung in the air and away from their picnic spot. A bird promptly flew down and grabbed it, but Willow really couldn't care less about the bird's unhealthy eating habits. Quickly her hands went to cover her ears, but the howler penetrated her incredibly defense system.

Once it ripped itself up to shreds, Willow focused on steadying her rapidly beating heart. She normally didn't spook easy, but that got her good. Her eyes watched as Elsian read, she assumed an invitation, then tore it in half. After a few moments of silence and steady breathing from her, she finally spoke. "What event is so important, yet so deeply hated by you... that requires your aunt to send a howler and makes you burn every letter? Seems a bit over dramatic, and that's coming from someone who is a bit... dramatic." Willow's eyes traveled to the food they had remaining, a slight pout appearing when she realized that she had flung the last sandwich that she had.

Leaning back against the tree she replayed the howler in her head, the shrieking voice still ringing in her ears before looking back at him with a quirked eyebrow. "Your middle name is Victoria? Interesting choice for a boy, not that I'm judging. My full name is Willow Rowena Anderson, my middle name is my grandmother's name." She wasn't one to make fun of people's names, they usually had deep meaning and even if they didn't, normally people were stuck with their names forever. She hoped that offering up her own story about her middle name might soften the blow of her question if it was a sore spot for Elsian.

"Well Aunt Matilde probably just sent it because uncle complained like a baby..." he grumbled starting to undo the paper of the package but stopping short to reread the sender just in case. His fingers trailed over the black ink, the unmistakable swirly writing of not Matilde but Aunt Natalie. The only Auntie he actually cared about.

The one that would never send him a howler just for wanting to stay at school.

That fear out of the way he pulled at the wrapping giving the other a half hearted shrug, looking actually quite pleased when she mentioned the letters. "Well what else would I do with them? Let them pile up? At least I made use of them to stoke the fire in the common room, it's not my fault my uncle doesn't know when to quit. The loon."

Tearing the paper away revealed a simple black box with very familiar green ribbon that his auntie always seemed to use, ribbon that she also knew he loved. Tugging at the end he let the pretty bow break, tossing the ribbon around his neck lazily before slipping the top off revealing a couple of things. His attention immediately turned to the letter, picking up the loose paper on top of everything to read as he continued, "My aunt Natalie," he lifted the box in his free hand slightly, showing he meant the one who'd sent the package he was rifling through now, "fought tooth and nail against my aunt Matilde..." He gave a pointed look to the torn up papers, "the one who sent me the howler, for middle name rights. Eventually she got my dad piss drunk and got him to sign a contract for it. Matilde wanted it to be something old fashioned, family based-

A small look of displeasure crossed his face as he read the letter, making him pause in the story. Putting the letter down he looked through the box, pulling out some colorful looking threads as he went along. "-When it finally came time to choose names she thought it'd be great to make it a game and got drunk before writing a bunch of names randomly and putting them into a hat...she let Matilde choose from the hat..."

Reducio

He looked up from box, giving Willow a small grin, "to this day Matilde won't acknowledge my middle name. And Auntie...she never misses the opportunity to bring up the story around the woman and company. She's very proud of it. And she still has the contract, framed on her wall to embarrass my dad whenever we visit."

Shifting the box he set it down as he dragged out 3 fancy looking tickets to the gala with a small wince as he realized his aunt was trying to guilt trip him into going. And successfully too if the small pool of guilt in his chest was anything to go by. She knew how he felt about wasting things.

"Now I know she didn't buy whatever festival tickets she did for herself. She's just bating me." he grumbled to himself, tossing two of the tickets back into the box and fiddling with the third. "now I feel bad," he bemoaned quietly, flopping to his side with a put off look, staring at the ticket with narrowed eyes, "but the gala's so boring..." he sighed.

Reducio

Interacting with @Elsian Cox

As Elsian talked she realized he had several family members that he knew. Her world was limited to her mom and dad now that her grandmother had passed. She knew that her dad's family didn't talk to him anymore due to him practicing witchcraft with her mom and grandma. Her grandma was a single mom, so this was it. This was their circle, but they were all satisfied with it. Their connections were strong and powerful, more so than the usual family because of just how much they relied on each other.

Willow absentmindedly picked a flower and laid back on her cloak to relax and let the meal she had digest before the afternoon classes. Her fingers gently stroked the petals, her eyes drinking in every detail to draw in her journal later, still attentively listening to Elsian. She looked over at him with a laugh when he mentioned helping the fire. "If you ever have extra paper, Hufflepuff is always in need of stuff to stoke the fire since we have it going 24/7 basically." Her gaze stayed fixed on him as he told the detailed story of how he received his middle name, in a gamble.

Her eyes widened as the story only got more hectic as it went on, there was a whole contract involved just for a name that was rarely spoken. "Your family seems like quite the trip, Elsian. I'll have to ask if there was a particular reason for my first name since there's no fun story behind my middle name. I doubt it'll match that brilliant story, I don't think there's any kind of contract hanging up in my house regarding names."

Her nosiness peaked out again as she strained her neck to get a peek at the fancy invitation that Elsian was playing with in his hands. "Why did they send you three tickets if they're just trying to get you to go? What even happens at a gala? That sounds like something for adults, not kids." Even the word 'gala' felt uncomfortable on her tongue, like she wasn't supposed to speak of such a fancy occasion at her age. She had no idea what a gala even entailed. Was it a dance? A food dinner thing? Both? She had absolutely no reference point and hoped Elsian wouldn't tease her about it too much.

"It's really just my aunt Natalie," he admitted, "she's the one who likes to stir up trouble. As for the gala..." seeing the other shift he simply handed her the invitation.

He played with the ribbon around his neck, loosely tying it into a bow and playing with it's edges as he thought of how to put the gala into words. It wasn't one of those things that were just shared with other pureblood families after all, it was much different, something that their family had hosted for generations and had up until recently, been something only meant for family, friends and close partners.

"The gala's something my family have done for a long time. Way before I was born. There's food, dancing, garde-" he stopped himself, wanting to say what it used to be rather than what his uncle had made it into, "it used to be something that we did to celebrate raising money for replanting and gardening but now it's just another charity grabber for people to throw money around and call it a day."

He couldn't remember what it had been like when his great grandparents had been in charge but he'd seen the old pictures. Heard the stories Natalie had from when her and dad were still kids. Nothing like what they'd made it into. Nobody even did the gardens anymore except for a few of the older family friends, his parent's didn't even go half the time these days.

"Aunt Natalie...says she has tickets to some sort of festival. Probably a muggle one. She wants me to come to the gala so I use them instead since she's 'busy'," he quoted, voice obviously disbelieving, "she wants me to bring others since she got three for the festival. Or rather-

He tapped his fingers against the grass, propping his chin up as he looked over to Willow, "-she just wants an excuse to get me to bring friends to the Gala for her to meet before shuffling us off to whatever event she thought would be fun. Probably with the threat to bring her back some muggle candy."

Interacting with @Elsian Cox

Willow put the flower in her hands tucked behind her ear to keep for later. If she continued to fiddle she would most likely get too distracted and miss the actual things Elsian was telling her. She took the invitation gently in her hand, it seemed important and she didn't want to ruin it at all. It was a beautiful design, the minimalist design helping to prove it's formality. She handed it back to him after only a couple moments, it felt like it didn't belong in her hands. "Raising money for planting and gardening?" She giggled, "My family does that on a daily basis basically, I can't believe you guys had a whole party just for the occasion. Nature does deserve to be celebrated more than it is."

She rolled onto her back arms raising up to gesture at the space around them. "I mean just look at it. It deserves to be invested in when so much of the world is slowly destroying it. I'm sad that that's not the purpose of the gala anymore." Bold words for someone who didn't even really know what it meant to raise money for gardening. While her family wasn't wealthy, they were extremely comfortable. Supplies for gardening, witchcraft, food, clothes, everything was provided for. But this level of money seemed unimaginable to her.

Quickly she rolled back over to look at him when he mentioned a festival, eyes alight with joy. "It's probably a spring festival! With all the new flowers peeking out and blooming and the first days of warmth. Those are the best! My family and I usually travel and go to the ones in London when they first start popping up. Have you never been to one?" The sensations of a festival flooded into her mind. The smells of the most belly sickening sugar sweets filling the air, screams of children on the roller coast rides, the sticky touch of her fingers after eating candy floss, all the swirling colors of big tops and flashing signs, the taste of the best food that you can only get at a festival. They were always spectacular fun, the fact that Elsian wasn't excited just at the mention of them absolutely threw her off.