The Morning Howler Closed

29 May 2026, 13:01

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The ordinary morning of the Great Hall, was still carried the usual chaos of breakfast hour, surrounding with clinking sound of cutlery, the flapping wings of owls swooped overhead, and the chattering of sleepy students before classes began. Skylar sat at the Slytherin table with a half-finished sandwich, looking far less bothered about yesterday’s punishment than she probably should have been. Her loose braids were still a bit messy from rushing from the dungeon, and one sleeve of her robe had a dirt stain on it. If she lingered on watering her daisy any longer, she definitely would have to skip her meal again.

Honestly, detention had not even been the worst part. Getting caught had been. Perhaps some prefect might keep an eye on her from now on, and she had to lie low before breaking any more rules. She reached for her pumpkin juice when a sudden shadow passed over the table. Most students ducked instinctively as an owl descended through the air. A mail. There was a pretty odd one out to the others. It was tied to the bird’s leg. The red envelope. Yes, a Howler.

The moment the owl dropped it directly onto Skylar’s plate, silence was what she seemed to hear, spreading unnaturally fast around her. Someone at the table whispered, “Oh no.” Right… that should be exactly how she was supposed to react, but she muted, gazing at it like a stone. A howler twitched violently before curling off from the seams. It burst open, aggressively terrifying. “SKYLAR CELESTE ASTOR!!!” Her mother’s voice exploded through the Great Hall loud enough to put out the candles. Skylar shivered in embarrassment, but she kept her poker face like it was not a big deal.

“WHAT PART OF ‘DO NOT ENTER THE FORBIDDEN FOREST’ WAS UNCLEAR TO YOU?” She stared forward in complete silence as she knew every pair of eyes in the Hall slowly turned toward her. “You WERE RAISED with COMMON SENSE, though your father and I are beginning to suspect it was somehow LEFT BEHIND on the way to school along with the REST OF YOUR JUDGMENT… I don’t care if you want to injure or curse yourself as long as you were at home, and DID NOT EMBARRASS US WITH YOUR FOOLISH SELF-DESTRUCTION EXPERIMENT!” There was no gab for the girl to debate, and somehow she heard a long disappointment sigh from her father behind the letter like he was there.

“Your father has started keeping track of your detentions in a notebook. A NOTEBOOK, SKYLAR. WE HAVE ALREADY RECEIVED TWO LETTERS ABOUT YOU THIS TERM. TWO! ONE MORE, AND YOUR FATHER IS PERSONALLY COMING TO HOGWARTS, AND I SWEAR… YOU WILL COME HOME FOR THE SUMMER AND SPEND THREE MONTHS ASSISTING YOUR GRANDMOTHER IN HOSTING SOCIAL GATHERINGS. YES! A BORING GATHERING. YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED NEAR ANY GREENHOUSE, GARDENS, OR ANY PLANTS FOR THE ENTIRE SUMMER.”

Skylar immediately groaned in desperation, “Nooo…” It was the worst fear she could ever imagine. Even detention sounded like child's play at this point. She could do anything… anything except keep herself away from plants. For how long has she act careless, this threat finally got her genuine reaction. Her eyes snapped open in horror. Skylar looked like someone had just informed her of her execution.

“FROM YOUR VERY DISAPPOINTED PARENTS.” The envelope ignited dramatically and crumbled into ashes in front of her. She remained perfectly speechless for a few long seconds, not sure whether she dared to fight against the stare with either pity, fear, or poorly hidden amusement that was coming all around. Instead, she sat there quietly, soaked in humiliation, trying very hard to look unaffected despite the heat crawling up on her face.

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Last edited by Skylar Astor on 27 Jun 2026, 08:21, edited 2 times in total.

“To be misunderstood is not to be broken. It is to be rare.”	Poison Resistance / Statistically Relevant (wisdom)
Ⓢⓚⓨⓛⓐⓡ Ⓐⓢⓣⓞⓡ	┊ Sta: 6┊Eva: 6┊Str: 4┊Wis: 10┊Arc: 8┊Acc: 6┊

Denisse De Vera

Second year, Hufflepuff

280 106

29 May 2026, 14:18

w/c: 406

Mentions @Skylar Astor

OOC Notes

Denisse’s morning had begun like most mornings at Hogwarts-a babbling rush of voices, the comforting aroma of toast wafting across the Great Hall, and Denisse slipping into a seat at the Hufflepuff table, carefully balancing her steaming mug of tea and her plate of scrambled eggs. The din of chatter, the clatter of cutlery, and the occasional swooping form of an owl seemed to be the steady pulse of Hogwarts; it was expected, reassuring, and surprisingly cozy.

Mid-bite she felt something was off. A shadow had passed overhead, and the owl swooped down, carrying an envelope that caught Denisse's eye immediately; the unmistakable bright scarlet of a Howler. Freezing, her fork suspended midway to her mouth, Denisse watched as the envelope landed with an unsettling precision directly in front of Skylar at the Slytherin table. The silence that fell immediately afterward was so sharp it cut through the ambient hum of morning like a knife, and even across the Great Hall Denisse could feel a coil of tension build.

Denisse jumped as the shrieking voice of Skylar's mother exploded, tea sloshing perilously close to the rim of her mug. "SKYLAR CELESTE ASTOR!!!" The voice echoed off the enchanted ceiling, rattling Denisse's very teeth. Denisse glanced up at Skylar, whose shoulders were stiff and whose face remained impassive, but the humiliation was undeniable. Denisse winced inwardly in sympathy; she'd been told off by her own parents plenty of times. Her dad especially loves to scold her publicly, humiliating her.

As the verbal onslaught continued-Forbidden Forest, detention, summer of shame-Denisse felt a twist in her stomach. She had always admired Skylar’s quiet defiance; she always seemed utterly untouchable when trouble landed at her door. But watching her rigid façade crumble when she was threatened with being kept from plants…Denisse felt a pang in her chest as she saw how much she truly loved her Herbology lessons. It was a raw, unpolished thing to witness, and a mixture of sympathy and unwilling amusement caused Denisse’s breath to catch. Around her, other students muttered and tittered but Denisse kept her eyes fixed on Skylar, silently sending her encouragement.

When the Howler finally turned to ash, the Great Hall seemed to take an audible breath. Denisse set down her fork, her appetite disappearing, and she thought about how vulnerable the toughest of people can be when the rest of the world, or in this case their mother, strips away their armor.

Last edited by Denisse De Vera on 29 May 2026, 15:03, edited 1 time in total.

ency | ✉

slip into the diamond life | Kidult⋆.˚

༘⋆

Stamina 8 • Evasion 5• Strength 6 • Wisdom 7 • Arcane power 6• Accuracy 8

29 May 2026, 14:50

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Word Count: 862/200

Interacting with:
@Skylar Astor

Lauren: #2e5a25
Others: #84774d
Thoughts: italics

Date:
14th June 2026

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Lauren casually strided over to the Slytherin Table a few days after she recieved detention from headmaster Solomon Lear. She remained unbothered about it; the detention had merely been a simple payment in return for her vandalising of the portraits of Hogwarts. They were ruined, torn, and shattered beyond repair -- yet Lauren didn't give a care about them. They were merely portraits. A vessel of those whose lives had ended, paint that could be rubbed off.

To hell with the impact on the portraits. She got it her way by scaring her siblings and making them understand that if they continued to bully and abuse Lauren, they wouldn't facing a pushover. They would be facing a lady, a young woman who didn't even care about the remains of important and influential lives. She was a Slytherin for a reason.

The detention wasn't bad at all, in Lauren's opinion. It simply gave her more time to socialise with Rosie, someone she met when she received her first Howler in the Slytherin Common Room in the start of the year. Just because of the fact that she was sorted into Slytherin, unlike the rest of her family who were all crappy Ravenclaws.

She snorted as she recalled how they mentioned that being sorted into Ravenclaw was what should've come true, if she wished for it hard enough. They said that the Sorting Hat took her choices into account. Well, it surely did, because instead of wishing for being sorted into Ravenclaw, she had indeed prayed against it. She didn't want to ruin her life at Hogwarts by being taunted by her siblings every night in the Ravenclaw Common Room. No thanks.

So when she heard the Howler, she wasn't surprised. She was used to getting them, and for a split second, she even thought that it would be directed at her. Except that the Howler drifted somewhere else in the Slytherin Table.

As she turned to see where the racket came from, the Howler started to scream as if the whole of Hogwarts was on fire. She rolled her eyes. Whoever sent the Howler had a loud voice, and most certainly Lauren would not appreciate the screaming. It would probably burn her ears off soon.

“SKYLAR CELESTE ASTOR!!!" was the first shout of the day. Great. It sounded like someone else's parents (or guardian) had the same logic as Lauren's -- humilitate, embarrass, scare. She felt a pang of sympathy towards the girl who had been called 'Skylar'. She knew what it felt to be singled out by a Howler in public, and it was not a good experience.

As the Howler continued on about how Skylar had snuck into the Forbidden Forest, Lauren pursed her lips. Entering the Forbidden Forest was no big deal. It was simply a detention-worthy offense in the eyes of the Hogwarts professors, and Lauren really couldn't get how someone would receive a Howler because of it.

But then jealousy followed her sympathy. She had only been grounded from seeing plants -- Lauren knew that it would be most certainly painful if the girl loved plants, but hey, it sounded much better than being officially disowned from your family after years of being neglected and disregarded by them. But at least her family genuinely cared about her. They were worried that their daughter engaged in 'self-destructive' behavior because they loved her deeply. Lauren's didn't. She shivered as she remembered how her parents sent a Howler to Lauren simply to humiliate her in front of the most of her house. Because they hated her. Because they wanted her to feel misery. And she still hadn't forgotten the dream where they told her to get out of their hindsight and die. But never mind. She didn't care about them any more. She simply sought revenge, and made sure to the fact that she had gotten it, even if there were consequences.

She then decided to approach Skylar, because despite her callousness, she did have a ounce or two of compassion in her heart, and she knew exactly how it felt to be submerged in humilation. That was probably why she still had a respectable amount of friends.

Her gaze carefully filled with sympathy, Lauren patted Skylar's back. "That must hurt, I mean, if your family's usually nice and kind to you. But what they're saying isn't true. You have the right to decide where you wish to go, because you should be your own person. You know, you probably saw me in detention with professor Solomon Lear as well because I, um, vandalised some portraits. I guess he probably hates me. Anyways, I saw you there as well, and -- I'm just guessing, tell me if I'm wrong -- that you're getting this Howler because of your detention?

But you should always remember that you don't need to worry that much about Howlers. I always receive them from my parents -- you see, they hate me. You might've already heard some of them in the Slytherin Common Room when they attempted to embarrass me."

She sat down beside Skylar, hoping to calm her down and make it clear that she shouldn't worry about getting a Howler.

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𝓼𝓽𝓪 2 \| 𝓮𝓿𝓪 3 \| 𝓼𝓽𝓻 1 \| 𝔀𝓲𝓼 8 \| 𝓪𝓻𝓬 8 \| 𝓪𝓬𝓬 8	XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX	lauren vanes \| parselmouth
	❝kill them with success and bury them with a smile.❞

30 May 2026, 13:57

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Skylar was still silent, staring at the ashes scattered on her plate. She was not sure whether she wanted to disappear into the floor or hex every person still staring at her from the other tables. She hated this part the most. The audience. She hated being the center of attention as badly as she hated the crowd. Humiliation was one thing, but being surrounded by a pair of eyes with unknown feelings was indeed uncomfortable, sick in the stomach, bitter, and harsh to the taste.

Lucky, some eyes were concerned, and some looked encouraging enough for her to swallow the awkwardness away. At the sudden pat on her back, she stiffened slightly out of surprise before glancing sideways at another Slytherin girl. Blonde hair. Yes, she remembered. Lauren, the girl, was in detention with her. Clearly, she did not come here to mock. She sympathized with her. It was surprising to find someone from Slytherin showing even a little concern for her, even though she never talked to them. Skylar appreciated every word the girl said, yet some were wrong.

“No, my family has never been kind to me.” She lowered her tone. “At least not for a very long time.” Her eyes drifted down afterward. “They were afraid I’d tarnish the reputation they spent generations building.” The honesty still sat heavily on her shoulders, burning unpleasantly beneath her skin. “They treated me like some kind of stranger in their house for a long time, and you see, I was the only Slytherin of the family. That gave them even more reason to cut me off from the heritage. Part of me actually enjoyed that freedom, but somehow I could never shake off the feeling of the collapse of disappointment that is always thrown at me all the time.”

Even now, she could still hear tiny whispers traveling across the Hall, but they faded from what she had heard before. Maybe it was because Lauren had given everyone something else to focus on. “So… you vandalized portraits?” she repeated quietly, almost impressed despite herself. Still, as Lauren continued speaking, Skylar’s expression shifted little by little from depression mode into something quieter. “You get Howlers often?” she asked softly. “That sounded exhausting.”

At first, Skylar almost laughed off the whole thing again like she usually did with everything uncomfortable, but it would be rude, looking at how the casual way Lauren mentioned her parents hating her made the words catch somewhere awkwardly in Skylar’s throat instead. “Oh.” That single word came out much smaller than expected. For a brief moment, she did not know what to say.

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437

Mention:

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@Lauren Vanes

OOC Note:

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“To be misunderstood is not to be broken. It is to be rare.”	Poison Resistance / Statistically Relevant (wisdom)
Ⓢⓚⓨⓛⓐⓡ Ⓐⓢⓣⓞⓡ	┊ Sta: 6┊Eva: 6┊Str: 4┊Wis: 10┊Arc: 8┊Acc: 6┊

30 May 2026, 18:26

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Word Count: 669/200

Interacting with:
@Skylar Astor

Lauren: #2e5a25
Others: #84774d
Thoughts: italics

Date:
14th June 2026

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Lauren blinked in resonance when she heard Skylar's proclamation of being treated unkindly by her family. Oh, how she wished that her family had only simply been 'unkind' to her, and for reasons as direct as not carrying the bloodline. Ho she wished that happened to her instead of her present situation with her family.

Lauren was only six years old when her family started to hate her. Because she singed a stupid bedside table... she pursed her lips when she tried to think of it. Her family's reason for hating on her was just so unreasonable. Which normal witch or wizard would hate their children because of their first instance of magic?

She felt a pang of sympathy towards Skylar, and wondered how she would feel if she actually cared about her family's expectations instead of disregard them every time. It wasn't entirely her fault for not caring -- she still desperately needed to take revenge on her siblings and parents, to show them what she truly was made of. She was, is, and always would be defiant towards every rule her family established and feel a burning desire to break them to show her family that their logic was wrong; that everything they did was wrong, including treating Lauren like garbage.

She badly wanted to tell Skylar about how much she resonated with her. "Neither has my family," she replied after a long sigh. "When I was six, I singed my bedside table and caused... a small fire, which was my first instance of magic. My family probably thought that I was a monster ever since that event occurred, so they started to hate me. And their hatred for me only grew stronger when I was found out to be a Parselmouth when I was ten and a Slytherin... at the start of the year, though you probably heard the commotion before. And yes, getting Howlers often os exhausting. Not that I care about them, though. I mostly just die of embarrassment because they're loud as hell.

And yeah, my life's the same as yours." No need to mention 'worse' or Skylar would probably think that she was a show-off. "Like you, I was the only Slytherin in my family, if you don't count my aunt, which is one person that's not a maniac in my family. Everyone else were Ravenclaws, and hated Slytherins more than anything... except perhaps Parselmouth. And I just had to fall in each of these two categories. I guess that I can't shake off that disappointment of not being part of the family, well, you see, I was disowned when I got sorted into Slytherin. Typical family decisions. But now I've learnt not to care. Once you never care, they don't have control on you any more. And you'll be free. But as for that disappointment..." Lauren knew exactly how that felt, but for some reason she could never explain it. "I get the feeling, but it's usually just a trick your family's trying to play on you... trying to get you to feel sad. That always happens to me." Explaining the disappointment was too hard. To overcome it, Lauren simply gave up on them and expected nothing except from bullying. But she was scared that Skylar could not accept that so easily. So she would have to find another trick to keep Skylar from being disappointed about her family, clinging to hope when she, Lauren, could see that there was none.

"Maybe... just try to expect less from them in the future, and convince yourself that they're not going to change. You can still find 'found family' here in Hogwarts, I mean, your life isn't over because your family's cutting you off from the heritage. They just don't deserve your brilliance. You should really find someone else who actually cares about you..."

Lauren's voice trailed off she she realised that she was saying everything again and again. Talking and giving advice to people was always hard, and not exactly Lauren's strongest point.

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𝓼𝓽𝓪 2 \| 𝓮𝓿𝓪 3 \| 𝓼𝓽𝓻 1 \| 𝔀𝓲𝓼 8 \| 𝓪𝓻𝓬 8 \| 𝓪𝓬𝓬 8	XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX	lauren vanes \| parselmouth
	❝kill them with success and bury them with a smile.❞

1 Jun 2026, 18:50

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Listened quietly without interrupting, she appreciated that the girl had opened up to her. Skylar was not the type who liked to talk about her family. There were so many wounds in the story that only a few people would see her vulnerable side. But the more Lauren spoke, the more the embarrassment from the Howler seemed to fade into the background. Before she could swallow the pumpkin juice, she paused immediately with curious eyes.

“It happened when you were six? That was the same year my parents started pulling away from me, too.” Skylar could understand parents being strict. Even though it was hard to take, she could still understand disappointment. But hating a child for accidental magic? That was awful. She could imagine how miserable it must be. If the roles were reversed, Skylar did not think she would survive as Lauren did.

One thing led to another. She was almost in disbelief at how much she and Lauren had in common. “My aunt is my only supporter, too. You know, we’re a big family. We have a lot of gatherings, and she was the only one who helped me get through these boring times every year.” She gazed at the girl as she was spitting out her secret. “I hated family gatherings so much because I had to pretend that I belonged to the family. I have to be the perfect Astor girl, like my older sisters, to earn the slightest of my parents' attention. If we had guests, I was expected to stay quiet and follow their laughter every moment. I had to say things that I did not want to, like a hypocrite. The only time I felt free was when they left the house.” She lowered her tone as her eyes were full of sadness. “Sigh… But… Even though… How much I pity myself, I still can’t stop crying out for their affection. I just want one day that they can look me in the eyes and say that they are proud of me.” She held back her tears while she drifted in her thoughts.

When Lauren mentioned being disowned, she did not know what to say to that. No matter how frustrated she was with her own family, they had never kicked her out of the house. Should it be called lucky? They had simply perfected the art of making someone feel unwelcome without ever saying it aloud. The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth, then a faint laugh escaped her, changing the mood faster than a passing breeze. “Funny, isn’t it?” She leaned back slightly. “We both ended up in Slytherin because our families didn’t want us there.”

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Mention:

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@Lauren Vanes

OOC Note:

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“To be misunderstood is not to be broken. It is to be rare.”	Poison Resistance / Statistically Relevant (wisdom)
Ⓢⓚⓨⓛⓐⓡ Ⓐⓢⓣⓞⓡ	┊ Sta: 6┊Eva: 6┊Str: 4┊Wis: 10┊Arc: 8┊Acc: 6┊

2 Jun 2026, 03:34

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Word Count: 636/200

Interacting with:
@Skylar Astor

Lauren: #2e5a25
Others: #84774d
Thoughts: italics

Date:
14th June 2026

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Lauren widened her eyes in disbelief as she found out that every single one of Skylar's words applied to her. Parents pulling away from her when she was six? Check. Her aunt is her only supporter? Check. Ended up in Slytherin because her family didn't want her? Double check.

But not everything Skylar said applied to Lauren. She had never cried out for her family's affection; she just learned to accept it and got used to it. Blinding wishing wasn't going to lead to a miracle, as far as she was concerned. She no longer had such high hopes for her family as to wish that they would one day look her in the eye and tell her that they were proud of her -- it would be a miracle if they merely pretended that she never existed and stop plotting to make her life miserable.

She pitied Skylar for having to pretend that she belonged to the family in family gatherings -- in hers, she simply stuck to her aunt and got shunned by other family members and treated like outcasts. Only allowed to eat scraps. Side-eyes would be directed at them for as long as they stayed in the family gathering.

Though, why were she and her aunt Loratrix forced to attend the family gathering? If everyone hated them so much and didn't want them in their sight, why did they still attend, and not spend their day entertaining themselves back in the Vanes mansion, or having a day trip to Hogsmeade? It wasn't as if she were barred from doing so -- her aunt was here, which meant that she was free to enter it whenever she wished to.

It was because the Vanes family members knew how much she and her aunt hated family gatherings. Their purpose was to make them feel like outcasts and ruin their lives. And what would be a better way to do so than to force them to attend and make them feel the weight of their hatred?

Yes, that was exactly how much her family despised her.

"That must suck," she replied at last. "Being forced to be something you aren't? That's... that's just plain controlling behavior. Even I wasn't forced to pretend to be the perfect daughter... because my family just wanted my life to be miserable, and they didn't care about how others thought about me -- I mean, rather, they did care, but only about how bad my life was. Apparently they didn't think that making me pretend to be something I'm not would tank my happiness."

"And I already gave up on trying to make them proud of me. They never will, you can be sure of that. So why make your life even more traumatic than it already is, hoping for something that already lurks in the void? There's no hope for me any more." Her voice was curt with indifference; she was a rebellious girl who didn't give a crap about her family members' opinions, and nothing could motivate her to change that.

She nodded when Skylar suggested that they both ended up in Slytherin because their families didn't want them, but privately she disagreed. Her family had initially thought that Lauren would 'change' -- even though she couldn't control who she was and would like to keep it that way -- if she got sorted into Ravenclaw. But they were so stupid as to make her life so miserable that she wanted to be everything her family wasn't. That had been why she had explicitly requested the sorting hat not to sort her into Ravenclaw -- who in their right mind would want to be in the same house as crappy brats who bullied them mercilessly?

She guessed that it, along with many different concerning reasons, was what put her into the house of Salazar Slytherin.

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𝓼𝓽𝓪 2 \| 𝓮𝓿𝓪 3 \| 𝓼𝓽𝓻 1 \| 𝔀𝓲𝓼 8 \| 𝓪𝓻𝓬 8 \| 𝓪𝓬𝓬 8	XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX	lauren vanes \| parselmouth
	❝kill them with success and bury them with a smile.❞

8 Jun 2026, 17:47

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For a moment, she almost envied Lauren, not because of what had happened to her. Never that. But because Lauren sounded so confident that there was no hope, or confident that her family would never change, and she no longer cared. Skylar wished things were that simple for her as well, yet she could not shake off the thought of the word ‘what if.’ Even with so many bad memories in her story, there were good ones, too. Her life before she turned five was the life that she always treasured. Being loved and cared for by her parents like a normal kid. That was the reason she was still having hope in them. Sometimes, she wished she could go back and fix where things went wrong. Maybe she was the problem in making them distant from her somehow. Sigh… But…

“You know what…” She paused before sipping another sip from her goblet. “You’re probably right.” Her shoulders lifted in a helpless shrug. “Maybe they probably won’t change, and I shouldn’t care so much. I won’t pretend to be someone I am not anymore, and if it hurts them so much. That’s their problem. If they aren’t proud of me. I’m proud of myself. Besides, if I completely stopped disappointing them, I’d lose half my hobbies.” She chuckled, though it looked tired around the edges. “But… I cannot guarantee that I would feel alright if they sent another howler as well.” She smiled, then glanced back at Lauren again.“Maybe I should have more practice, and you would be a great teacher since you are stronger than me.” The laughter came out more awkward than she expected, so she grabbed her drink once more and swallowed it all.

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Outfit:

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287

Mention:

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@Lauren Vanes

OOC Note:

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“To be misunderstood is not to be broken. It is to be rare.”	Poison Resistance / Statistically Relevant (wisdom)
Ⓢⓚⓨⓛⓐⓡ Ⓐⓢⓣⓞⓡ	┊ Sta: 6┊Eva: 6┊Str: 4┊Wis: 10┊Arc: 8┊Acc: 6┊

16 Jun 2026, 07:24

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Word Count: 738/200

Interacting with:
@Skylar Astor

Lauren: #2e5a25
Others: #84774d
Thoughts: italics

Date:
14th June 2026 so sry fr the late replyy

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Lauren smiled as Skylar expressed her confidence and opened her mouth to tell her that she would always support her, but snorted in disbelief and surprise when the other Slytherin commented that Lauren would be a great teacher as she was stronger than her. Because she had always appeared weak in the past. And she hated it.

So she had been interiorly happy when Skylar said that to her. But a sense of doubt gnawed at her stomach, because she knew that she could never be as great as that. She was just eleven, probably younger than Skylar, since her birthday was merely a few weeks ago. The only thing she had was experience from living with insufferable family members who hated her and wanted her life to be miserable. This was clear as day, and standardised. The knowledge that her family would never change, would never come to love her sounded indifferent after hearing it in her head so many times.

If they hated her, then they could spend their energy writing hate letters. Lauren had more important things to do. Like plotting revenge, because justice was the most important thing in her life. She lived her life for it. Because it was sweet, and the reminder of it was the only thing that kept her sane for her entirety of the time after her family turned against her.

Yet she could never be able to let go of the pang of regret. When she was young, her family had loved her and treated her like a 'golden child'. Always adored. Always the favourite of her parents. Always praised and loved. Until that fateful day where her stupid instinct had to burn her fucking maloghany table and nearly cost her family cat, Blaze, his life. To hell with him. Lauren hated him for how he ruined her life.

She knew very well that it wasn't his fault, but a burning anger still raged in her whenever she thought about it. If Blaze was never born, then this would never have happened! If Blaze had never decided to scratch her until she bled, then she would never have impulsively singed her beside table!

But there was still her fucking Parselmouth ability. Because of her fucking Aunt Loratrix. If her aunt wasn't Aunt Loratrix, then everything would be all right! She wouldn't have gone through so much trauma.

But what's done was done, and Lauren decided not to give a fuck or shit about it. Currently, she hated her aunt more than ever before, because of the letter she had sent her a few weeks ago. She could feel her fingers scratching against the dining table, leaving ugly marks. How dare her aunt, someone she thought had always supported and encouraged her, give up on the strength of their relationship and switch sides? How dare she fall bait to the Vanes family's deceptive schemes and turn her back on the niece who actually loved her? How dare she suggest that she apologised to the Vanes family and forgive them for what they did to her?

That was another reason why Lauren would give up on her family. It wasn't because she had no hope. There might be a chance that the members of the Vanes family would forgive her and accept her. But Lauren wouldn't. They had caused too much harm in her life. So much that even if they kneeled at her feet, apologised repeatedly and begged for forgiveness, Lauren would still turn on them with pure hatred and cold eyes.

She then decided that Skylar deserved to know the truth. That the reason behind her don't-care attitude towards her family was not that of knowledge that they would never accept her, but because she, Lauren, would never accept them.

"Skylar," she began, "thanks for telling me what you think. But I just realised that that wasn't the only reason why I don't care about her family anymore. It's because they have caused too much pain, and I will not forgive them even if they beg for my forgiveness. Never! I hate them! I guess that's another reason why I was put into Slytherin. And... if you get another Howler again... I will personally be at your side, and if anyone tries to mock you, I will tell them to fuck up. You can trust me."

A smile formed on Lauren's face as she waited for Skylar's reply.

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𝓼𝓽𝓪 2 \| 𝓮𝓿𝓪 3 \| 𝓼𝓽𝓻 1 \| 𝔀𝓲𝓼 8 \| 𝓪𝓻𝓬 8 \| 𝓪𝓬𝓬 8	XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX	lauren vanes \| parselmouth
	❝kill them with success and bury them with a smile.❞