Bed of Roses and Lost Souls Closed

Katrina found herself wandering around the courtyard again. By 'again', it was really a daily thing. She had begun to wander aimlessly when reality was hurting too much. And since reality hurt a lot of the time she wandered away almost all of her free time.

It wasn't a normal instance for Katrina to join already started conversations, however she did this time. It appeared to be a small group of first year Gryffindors of whom Katrina didn't know or didn't remember any of the names of. Upon further inspection, Katrina noticed that Professor Jensen was, seemingly reluctantly, standing with them.

Katrina walked up quietly, hoping to not interrupt the-- argument? that was going on. If it weren't an argument, then it was at least a emotional conversation. Katrina saw in one of the boys hands, a large bouquet of poorly conjured flowers. This looks interesting. She allowed herself to stand behind on of the students and observe quietly. At the comment of one to another about being-- limp? The flower-holding boy spoke.

"My dad died," His voice was hollow, just as Katrina's had been when she had heard her own parents had died. His comment brought up the mess of emotions that had been the reason that Katrina had been out wandering.

Katrina noticed that he was hurting despite the amount of hiding it that he was doing. Averting the conversation. Drawing attention away from himself. Textbook mourning. However cliché, Katrina found herself feeling empathetic towards him, it really hurt to loose a loved one.

"Professor Jensen," Katrina nodded her head respectfully at the Slytherin head of house. She turned to the others, "Don't mind me," The lioness gave them a tight smile and turned back to the roses boy. "And where'd the roses come from if you don't mind my asking?"

Katrina was acutely aware of the fact that this was the first time that she had had a not school related conversation with any of the adults at Hogwarts. This realization was why she had been overly polite. It felt odd, especially since the professor seemed so on edge. The emotion was still unreadable, but Katrina was now intrigued.

Mentioning: @Ruka Tân @Maria Dee @Clay McGlinchy
Interacting with: @Hjørdis Jensen

An idea crossed the young badger’s mind, and she grabbed her journal, tore out a piece and started folding it up, still listening to the people near her.

While Maria would’ve normally stopped listening to the conversation a long while ago (as she did have some manners) she just couldn’t bring herself to stop listening to this one. It was definitely interesting to know that Professor Jensen deems herself an effective prankster, and that she is apparently against students showing affection towards each other (if her expressions were anything to go by). The white haired woman was also very well versed in sarcasm it seemed.

The interest didn’t extend much to her fellow students, though. The badger girl had long decided that the business of her peers, while fun to observe, wasn’t always as interesting to listen to. So she stuck to just looking and making mental notes in her head. Of course with a few exceptions.

“Well, that’s enough eavesdropping for one day.” She thought as she looked down at the small flower she had made, a simple lotus like her father had taught her on their afternoons in. Maria turned to put her things away, still half listening to the bits and pieces that came through. This boy was sad, there was definitely no doubt about that and also very sarcastic…with that a hint of defensiveness. Another idea crossed her mind before she put her journal and pencil into her bag, going into a moment of hesitancy and ultimately resolving with the girl tearing out another page and scribbling something on it.

Putting everything away, the girl stood up and finally approached them. She noticed another girl had since arrived, probably joining them while she was gathering her things.

“Hi, I’m Maria.” She said to the group offering a smile. Without missing a beat, and to avoid further embarrassment, she turned to the Professor and the boy.

“Professor, this is for you. And this is for you.” She said as she handed the paper lotus to Professor Jensen, and a folded piece of paper to the boy seated. If he opened it and read it, it would say:

“If you ever get tired of just brooding and actually want to talk to somebody, I’m a pretty good listener (which I assume you’ve noticed).”

She smiled at the boy with the flowers before finally making her way back to the castle. If any of the group would call her the young girl would probably look back and fall into the fountain she was approaching, being the unlucky girl she was. Otherwise, she would gracefully make her way back into the castle.

If any of you want to keep Maria in thread or just want to have her fall into the fountain before she exits, please feel free to do so

Attempting to Exit Thread

Hjørdis smirked at the boy's response, "Nice try," She replied to his flattery. It was strange to think how different she was now. There was a stage in her life when she would prank her classmates, or even her dad. Young child Hjørdis had totally put hair dye into his shampoo once and received major glares from her father as a result of it. Being a muggle made it a little harder to remove blue hair, after all. Her grandmother found it hilarious to see the very strict, disciplined army son of hers in a new light. Becoming a witch did not make her less mischievous. If anything, it opened up a whole new world of pranks.

"Quite the contrary. Your retorts are certainly witty. Though, you might need to work on that self-esteem of yours," She replied to Ruka, genuinely thinking he was a better conversationalist than most students. However, the sad puppy dog look on his face, the desire to push people away before they even had a chance to get to know him, the words he said that lacked confidence... They made her kind of sad.

There were more students around now. This small incident becoming a bit more of a spectacle as time went on.

Her silvery blue eyes flickered for a moment, falling onto Ruka. My dad died... The words echoed through the air, straight to her heart like an arrow piercing it from the distance. He was far too young to experience a tragedy like that. Of course, he was not alone in that. Many students here had similar experiences. It did not make it any better though. The heartbreak was still real and it was still relatable. Hjørdis said nothing, however. Bringing that conversation up in front of everyone was not the most ideal way of approaching it.

Luckily, another girl appeared, "Miss Walker," She greeted in return recognising the second year by now. Her tangent steered the conversation away from Ruka before Hjørdis could actually respond. "The flowers? Oh. Some older student practicing his transfiguration skills," She replied casually, before glancing over to the bouquet, "Though... it's clear that his skills need a little bit of work..." She added, thinking it might cheer Ruka up a little if she mentioned the handiwork - which was something that he pointed out straight away. At the very least, his own transfiguration skills would likely be much better than the random sixth or seventh year who had given it to Hjørdis.

Before long, yet another girl appeared. The one who had been sitting by the whole time, clearly listening but not joining in. Apparently, something had encouraged her to walk over. Was it just there were more girls outside or where they flocking to Ruka? Perhaps he was more charming than he thought he was. Maybe his sad look worked! Maria, as she introduced herself. Hjørdis blinked a little as the girl gave her a paper lotus. It was perhaps as random as receiving a bouquet of roses but she took it nonetheless. And decided to keep it. She could add it onto her bookcase in the office.

The young badger had already turned to leave before she could respond. "Maria?" She replied, in a form of 'calling it out' but not quite as loud, since she did not really yell, "Thank you." She was not entirely sure what the girl's surname was and unwilling to hazard a guess as she attempted to show some sort of gratitude.

Unfortunately, Maria turned around to look back and... fell right into the fountain she was approaching. Hjørdis blinked. Well then... That was... unexpected. She glanced over to Ruka, "That's how you prank someone with low effort," She muttered to him before hurrying over to the Hufflepuff in the fountain, "Ah, I apologise for startling you. Are you okay?" Hjørdis offered Maria her hand, in an attempt to pull her out of the water.

If Maria accepted, Hjørdis would pull her out of the water and then wave her finger in front of her before clicking, "And voila," She would say, as she cast the hot-air charm over her to dry the soaked garments quickly. From what she could recall, the spell was taught to third years and Maria looked to be younger than that.

OOC: Permission from Maria to godmod.

@Maria Dee @Hjørdis Jensen @Katrina Walker

Ruka couldn't help but chuckle lightly at the Professor's response to him trying to get her to share some pranking tips with him. He hadn't expected her to really tell him anything, but her words told him that she had quite a few tips and tricks up her sleeves if she did want to lay them bare for anybody.
Maybe, someday, in a less public location, he'd be able to hear some stories about pranks she had pulled, but for now it seemed that more and more students were trying to join their conversation than Ruka would have necessarily been comfortable with.

For a moment, as he stared at the flowers in his hands, he was vaguely reminded of the mosps at the Blossom Ball; uninvited yet too attracted by the floral scents to stay away.

While his admission of his dad passing away seemed to have rendered the girl who had first joined them speechless, Ruka could still feel eyes on him, and he turned his head slightly to look at Professor Jensen, meeting her gaze with his own. He didn't think he had ever talked to a grown up about his circumstances - and Jack talking to his own parents about it really didn't count - but he also had never actually had much opportunity to talk to an adult before.
Professor Jensen didn't say anything, however, and Ruka was grateful not to have to elaborate in front of the other students. It was none of their business, and he didn't need anybody's pity, which was surely what he was going to receive upon telling his story. It always evoked the same reaction from people, and Ruka was tired of empty words and pitiful gazes.

He offered the Professor a small smile and a nod of gratitude, whether she realised that that was what it was or not, before turning his focus on yet another girl to have joined their little group. He didn't think he'd ever talked to this one either, but apparently Professor Jensen recognised her, which was all well enough for Ruka. At least it steered the attention away from him again, and he could feel himself relaxing slightly as he just observed the exchange between the girl and the teacher.

An appreciative grin split his face at Professor Jensen's acknowledgement of the poor handiwork of the flowers. He had assumed that some student had to have conjured them, judging by how sloppy they looked, but to have it confirmed filled him with even more amusement. He should have figured that the Slytherin Head of House was just as unimpressed by whatever student's work as he was.

Looking down at his flowers again for a second, a fond little smile curling his lips now that he had managed to let go of some tension, he barely noticed the arrival of the eavesdropping girl. Only as she introduced herself as Maria did Ruka look up again, in time to see her handing a paper flower to Professor Jensen. Followed shortly after, she handed him a folded piece of paper that he took with slight reluctance, opening it to read her scribble message.

It made him roll his eyes a bit, the offer of being there should he want to talk to someone, like he didn't have people he trusted enough to talk to them if he actually wanted to, but the humour she had ended her note with made him smile appreciatively anyway.
Just as he looked back up again to maybe say something snarky and sarcastic, Maria had already turned her back to them to head towards the castle. He was going to call out to her, had already opened his mouth to do so, but before he could, Professor Jensen had already done so, offering her gratitude to Maria in an only slightly raised voice.

What was an unexpected result of that, was the way that Maria - clearly distracted by someone calling out to her - seemed to simply stumble into the fountain ahead of her. Eyes widening in surprise, Ruka turned his body to face the spectacle as if to assess if there was anything he was supposed to do. His eyes found Professor Jensen's again as she turned to him, and her words actually made him let out a laugh so pure and genuine he couldn't remember the last time something had amused him quite as much.

"Genius," he commented through laughter, lifting a hand to cover his mouth for a moment as he pressed his lips together in an attempt to calm his breathing down again.

With one more look at the two girls around him, Ruka made sure he had all of his belongings on him before hurrying after the Professor towards Maria, amusement still evident on his face as he leaned against one of the statues by the side of the fountain. "Watching where you're going isn't a skill of yours then, is it?" he asked teasingly once Maria was out of the fountain again, whether with Professor Jensen's help or not. "Good thing you're at least a good listener." He laughed lightly as he indicated the note she had left for him. A part of him could sympathise; It had been less than three weeks since Rafa had attempted to drown him in that very same fountain, so he didn't have the best experience with it either.

With a little sigh, he looked down at the flowers in his hands, and he pulled his bottom lip between his teeth for a second. "Here," he said, shrugging lightly as he held the bouquet out to Maria. "Maybe these'll make you feel better. Nothing says "Sorry you fell into a fountain" like a bunch of flowers, right?"

Katrina felt a smile pull at her lips at the mention of the poorly conjured flowers. A small part of her was glad that she assumed correctly. The second-year wondered why Professor Jensen had been gifted the bouquet. Was it just out of kindness? An odd series of events? A debt paid? The notion of a purpose to the flowers was left unanswered as a girl materialized from the shadows.

The girl introduced herself as Maria and handed paper origami flowers to Professor Jensen and the roses boy before turning to walk off. A slight puzzled expression crossed the 12-year-old's face. Was that all? Come out, hand flowers, walk off? All in the span of thirty seconds?

The Professor called out a quick thank you and the girl fell into the fountain. Katrina's lips pulled into a crooked half smile and she could her the roses boy stifling his own laughter. It was just funny, there were no teasing in Katrina's eyes or any ill intentions in her mind. 'That's how you prank someone with low effort' Professor said quietly, probably to the roses boy. At that, Katrina was biting her lip to keep from laughing.

Once she had her emotions under control, the lioness trailed behind the Professor and roses boy to make sure Maria was alright. There was a light conversation and roses boy offered his flowers to the girl with a witty comment. Katrina kept a light expression on her face, head tilted to the side in an almost playful way.

Katrina debated leaving as she wasn't really adding much to the conversation at hand. Instead she shifted from side to side, inwardly asking herself weather leaving now would be rude or not. If someone were to address her she would certainly stay, but she also didn't want to bring down their mood.

Mentioning: @@Ruka Tân @@Maria Dee
Interacting with: @Hjørdis Jensen

Interaction: @Hjørdis Jensen | @Ruka Tân | @Katrina Walker

Clumsy was a word quite a few of the people in Maria’s life (mostly her parents) would use to describe her. Most days the label didn’t necessarily bother her, firstly because it was true, and because everyone had their own little accidents. However, on some days she felt the word to her very core.

Today was one of those days.

From the place where the people talking about the flowers were, anyone heading toward the castle would usually see most of the courtyard, the fountain in the middle included.

Unfortunately, today the term “anyone” excluded Maria.

Distracted from her earlier encounter with the other students and Professor Jensen, her mind was still playing over the events that happened, and then wandering elsewhere. Maybe the boy would talk to her? Maybe not. What were the house elves serving for dinner? She hoped there was pie. Her mind was a thousand miles away, barely noticing her surroundings. Someone calling her name snapped her out of her daze and forced her to register her environment.

When she looked back her mind was able to register that it was Professor Jensen that called her.

And then as soon as she hit the water, it registered the fountain- a large, easily noticeable and an easily avoidable fountain. Let it be known that for a girl who was usually so observant, this made her feel clumsy on an entirely new level.

She had looked away only for a moment, to respond to the Slytherin woman. Next thing she knew, her feet tripped over the edge of the fountain, her arms flailed out, tossing her bag to the side and her body flipped into the fountain. Luckily, the water was deep enough to cushion her fall, and the only thing injured was her pride(apart from her possibly bruised legs).

Rearing her head from the water, she pushed the wet hair from her eyes, and accepted the hand that was extended to her. It was Professor Jensen’s. Through the curtain of hair covering her ears she heard her apologize, before hot air dried her off. Quickly recovering from her incident, she now noticed that the boy and the girl had come over as well.

“It’s alright Professor, I wasn’t watching where I was going.” She assured.

“I guess I’m okay, I think I bruised my shins but other than that I guess my dignity’s the only other thing that got hurt.” Her eyes darted around the courtyard, silently hoping that not too many people had seen it happen.

Directing her attention back to her other companions, she saw that they had looks of amusement on their faces and the boy teased her. So he had noticed her eavesdropping. It seems as though he opened her note as well. She offered a sheepish smile to the bunch as she visibly relaxed. At least he wasn’t mad at her.

“Actually, I’m usually pretty good at noticing things. But I guess my listening skills got the better of me today.” She laughed with a wink to the boy alluding to their “inside joke”.

It came as a surprise to her when he offered her his precious flowers. With eyebrows raised, an amused expression, and a hint of a blush, she accepted them. A closer look told her that the bunch was definitely made by students, as they were rather crude. (And that was putting it nicely)

“Thanks. Although, I’m sure I shouldn’t hog all these thoughtful roses.” The word thoughtful came out a little more forced than she liked, but it was the nicest thing she could say about the poorly conjured bouquet. She took two flowers and offered them to the pair.

“The two of you should have one as well.”

The young hufflepuff student took her hand, accepting and taking the help to stand up. Hjørdis pulled her up swiftly, before drying her off with magic. Perhaps it was a little mean to tease her about it - or at least, bring it up as a prank to Ruka - but it was too late now. She found herself just blinking at the student in front of her though. All of them were rather unique. It was very interesting to see their reactions, if nothing else.

The young badger, whose house was known for its kindness, immediately went to reassuring and acceptance. Hjørdis could not help but smile a little as Maria spoke, about her dignity being bruised a little. Perhaps. Ouch. Whoops, her bad? But it was also interesting to see the other students and their reactions. The boy who seemed hurt and rude moments earlier did something rather unexpected. Quirking her eyebrow, she watched Ruka offer the very flowers that he was defensive and protective over offer the bouquet to the badger. It was not even his fault, yet nonetheless, he chose kindness. Hjørdis smiled softly. It was rather telling of their characters. Their interaction, as simple as it might be, painted a whole picture.

The third student opted for silence. Her reaction was rather similar to the Head of Slytherin's, in all honesty. The silently questioning, the wonderment, the confusion... Yeah, completely Hjørdis too. Watching the interaction between the three of them, she could not help but allow the soft laughter to escape her lips. They were right. It was such a thoughtful bouquet of roses, indeed. Honestly, why the older student thought she would be impressed or considered it a good idea to try and 'charm' her with a set of flowers was beyond her. It was times like this when she preferred the younger years. The ones who did not try and 'flirt' with her - or whatever it was. She clicked her fingers, instantly conjuring up a bouquet of roses that were far better quality. "How about you take these instead?" She offered the trio, giving them flowers from newly conjured one. If any of them accepted, she would give them the whole bouquet. If none of them accepted, she would take it with her.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," She continued with a nod of her head, stepping away from the group to depart before pausing for a moment and looking back at them, "Oh. And if you need anything... Whether it's more flowers, someone to help you out of the fountain or someone to just talk at, I'm around..." Hjørdis said. It was perhaps more words than she normally said but they were mostly for Ruka - at least, the last part was. What he said about his father and the sad look he had on his face or the rude reactions... They painted a picture and it kind of just broke her heart a little. These children went through a lot in Hogwarts as it was... But sometimes, it was just made worse by their own family situations.

With that, she turned and made her way back to the castle.

[THREAD LEFT]

Rolled for Casting:

Reducio

Interacting with @Maria Dee @Hjørdis Jensen
Mentioning @Katrina Walker

Maria, it seemed, wasn't very fazed by her incident, shouldering it with a surprising graze. She didn't seem to be offended by the laughter, only commented vaguely on her slightly bruised ego, which made Ruka smile in appreciation. No use wallowing in situations like that, and the girl seemed like she was about ready to simply move on from it.

Nodding silently, Ruka watched Maria take the flowers from him before deciding that she couldn't just take the flowers all for herself. Thoughtful, she called them, which really gave them more credit than they deserved. Uncreative, Ruka would have said instead. Sloppy. A failed attempt at impressing a teacher who clearly had no use for them. Still, the fact that that was the nicest adjective Maria was able to come up with to describe them told him that she wasn't exactly impressed with them either.

Still, he took the single flower offered to him with a little smile before turning his attention back to Professor Jensen who made simple work of conjuring yet another bouquet of flowers; this one of a far better quality, clearly the work of someone much more skilled than whoever had conjured up the ones in Maria's hands. With the offer of the new bouquet, Ruka hesitated for only a moment before taking it. Maybe he should have let one of the girls take it, considering they may have been more grateful to the teacher, but there was something... She had given that first bouquet to him, and he had already let Maria have that one, he didn't want to give up on this one as well.

Instead he also plucked two single flowers from it to wordlessly offer them to the two girls. The rest of the bouquet would be put in a vase on his bedside table the second he got to return to his dorm.

Looking up again, Ruka almost wanted to call out to Professor Jensen as she moved away, maybe to thank her, but before he could she had turned back to their small group, offering her assistance should either of them need anything but Ruka could feel the words piercing him especially, like a hook in his stomach pulling him into temptation of reaching out to a grown up, maybe just to talk for a while.

"Thank you, Professor," he said with a small nod and a slightly startled expression on his face as if not having expected to be offered an open ear.

For a second he glanced between the other two girls as the Slytherin Head of House moved away to go about her day, and his eyes ended up focusing on Maria. "Well," he said a little awkwardly, hiding his face behind the flowers for a moment. "Should I require your listening skills, I know where to turn to now." He chuckled lightly, a small shrug accompanying his words. "I'm sure we'll run into each other again." It was a big castle, but only a few spots were frequently visited by the majority of the student body, so running into each other was quite likely. "I guess I should better... Get these some water." He lifted the bouquet of flowers as well as the single one he got from Maria as if to emphasise his words.

With that he lifted a hand in a sheepish wave and turned around, ready to return to his dorm. That was enough social interaction for a day.

Leaves Thread unless stopped

@Maria Dee @Ruka Tân @Hjørdis Jensen

Katrina was slightly assured when the girl--Maria-- recovered quickly from her dive in the fountain. Katrina stayed on the outskirts of the conversation, still quite unsure why she had came. When Maria offered her a flower from the bouquet, Katrina smiled graciously and reached out to grab it. She wasn't sure when she would do with the rose, but she was sure she could find some use for it, press it perhaps, or dry it.

Professor Jensen conjured up a new batch of roses, a smile of awe creeping it's way across her features. She saw magic every day, yet it never ceased to amaze her. Especially since all the Head of House had to do was snap her fingers in order to cast the spell. Nonverbal magic was super cool. When the Professor offered Katrina flowers, she gratefully took them, adding the single rose to the bouquet.

The Professor left, extending the offer of an open ear or help whenever they might need it. Katrina gave her a wave before turning to see that the boy, roses boy, was going to leave. She gave him a nod and a knowing look, hoping that her offer to him of a listening ear was as evident in her gaze as she thought it was. No one should ever have to deal with a loss like that alone.

Katrina realized that it was just her now. She sat down on the ledge of the fountain, her wandering mind somehow at ease. She rested there until the sun set enough to indicate it was dinner time. Sometimes, just being around can help others.

Katrina Walker Exits Thread