The Morning Howler Closed

✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦

Lauren could sympathise. She was merely a different version of Skylar. They probably had gone through the exact same things throughout their childhood, yet Merlin knew how their mindsets turned out to be so different. Skylar had merely wanted forgiveness and her parents to accept her again. But Lauren had chosen the path of revenge, because... she was just born vengeful. Calculating.

For the first time in her life, Lauren began to doubt whether her reaction towards her family was natural, or if she was merely overreacting to her family's actions towards her. Maybe she was just being oversensitive over all those years. Maybe she should've treated things like Skylar did. She was also the golden child of her family when she was young, and she could still vividly remember it? So why didn't those memories pop up when Lauren told herself that she hated her family? Why wouldn't she just remember how amazing the Vanes family have been when she plotted revenge?

Maybe it was just because Lauren's morals were... quite questionable. They had always been, ever since her family started to neglect her. Maybe she was just more easily influence. Or maybe their bond wasn't all that strong, and that her bond with her family was built on lies, unbeknownst to her. Anything could be possible. Anything could be the truth. And, she wondered, if she had just been too self-absorbed in her own loss that she forgot that she was in the wrong, and carried on that memory.

She could still vividly recall how she had doubted herself, severely so, in the middle of her detention with Headmaster Lear. She had hated herself, had her doubts about whether she was actually in the wrong, but being the amazing friend she was, Rosie Willows had pulled her from her tornado of self-loathing. But maybe Skylar was experiencing the same thing. Or even more pain than she did, because it seemed that never once did Skylar ever believe that her family was in the wrong instead of her.

Lauren didn't spend the ruined remainder of her childhood doubting herself, because she had someone she trusted with her life -- her aunt. She had someone to stop her from deciding that she was worthless and that nothing would become of her. But it appeared that Skylar didn't have an aunt Loratrix to help with her mental health. Lauren thought that the pain she had experienced was excruciating, but Skylar had lived her life in a much worse way. She had been waiting for an explanation that never came. And Lauren hadn't.

She admired the other Slytherin, though, for her courage to face the future and for being supportive. She knew that not every person would still be able to look at things in another's perspective -- she had been a rude brat for no reason on the Hogwarts Express just because a Ravenclaw who was the same year as her sister wanted to sit with her. She sighed. Her family really did change her.

"Thanks," she murmured, "that meant a lot. I'll always need you, and... well, I can't really think of anything we should do to prank our family right now. We've just gone through a detention and we still need to deal with the mental trauma of that." She tried to force a laugh. "Don't worry, justice will always be served, and maybe you'll hear them explain one day. But sometimes, things aren't meant to have answers..." Her voice trailed off, then her tone became confident once more. "I'll make sure that there's always justice, you know. Revenge and all that. I guess I'm sort of a perfectionist to make sure that it always happens..." she confessed. "But never mind. We'll always have each other, no matter what."

✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦

✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦

Lauren smiled in mild amusement as Skylar pointed out how they were bonding so quickly. It was undoubtedly true -- she had begun to feel fond of the other Slytherin who she'd just met -- that was probably because they shared so many things in common. Their families seemed to be the same. Their house was the same. And they had both been in detention with Headmaster Solomon Lear. Surely this had to be beyond a coincedence?

But there was no time to think about that now. Students were already filing out of the Great Hall, preparing themselves for the first lesson of the day. With a slap on the forehead, Lauren realised that she had forgotten what classes she had to take that day, and had left all her supplies at the Slytherin Common Room. It had been quite unlike her to forget everything, especially if it was academically-related. The young Slytherin had a natural thirst for knowledge, and nothing about her family had ever changed that.

She got up from her seat, and turned, ready to leave, but saw that Skylar's sandwich was pretty much uneaten. Deciding that class could wait since it wasn't due until a quarter-hour later, Lauren sat down again and smiled at Skylar, nodding for her to continue talking. The Slytherin couldn't help but agree that if they had met during normal circumstances, they would've been arguing. She could only picture how she would've tried to persuade Skylar to give up on her family and to start thinking about revenge.

She gave a slight chuckle and was mildly surprised when Skylar told her that she was good company, considering that she desired revenge so much. She hadn't expected such praise from her newfound friend. For a moment, she felt as if all the worries she ever had were lifted off her shoulders, her inconsistent self-loathing and her family's treatment for her forgotten. She took a breath. That would be perfect.

Then Lauren was whisked back into reality, and the burden was pushed onto her shoulders once again. She mustered a faint smile that faltered before it had the chance to reach her eyes. Life was always like that. And reality would never be done with her. Not ever.

She mentally thanked Skylar for lifting her mood as she started warning Lauren to inform her of any plans for revenge in the future. She leaned slightly forwards, the movement almost unnoticable as she listened for what Skylar had to say next -- that it wasn't because she was planning to stop her, but rather because she wanted to have enough warning to prepare attacks. Lauren smiled. Skylar looked like she really wanted to be her partner in crime.

"Sure, I'd be honored to have you helping with the attacks," she said, her tone light and playful. "Same here, I'm also really glad that we talked. We were each other's therapist, don't you think? You helped me with my trauma, I helped you with yours. Thanks, though, for all this. You're amazing. And try not to get depressed by future Howlers, okay? If you feel like you can't stand them anymore, you don't have to. You can always just let them be. They don't deserve you, anyways."

She then started to wander into her thoughts, and the first traces of the voices that had rung in her mind started to sound louder, but Lauren pushed them to the back of her mind. She really didn't need or want them in this moment. Why couldn't they just let her have some peace, some rest?

Dismissing the thought, Lauren waited patiently for Skylar to finish the sandwich, privately quite pleased with the happenings of the morning. It had started off with trying to comfort Skylar, who had received the damned Howler. And now they were talking to each other like they knew each other for a lifetime. She smiled. Friendship was always more simple than family -- she pushed the thought away again, trying to savour the lingering taste of breakfast in her mouth.

Then, glancing at the clock, Lauren decided that it was time to get her materials for class, and headed towards the Slytherin Dungeons.

Lauren has left this thread.

✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦
✦