26 May 2020, 19:05
Encounters Before Curfew
Gerald walked briskly through the corridors, robes rustling behind him. Flickering candle lights perched on the walls lit the way, projecting all sorts of shadows and shapes on the stone floors.
The first dim rays of moonlight tinted the windows’ glasses a faint tone of silver and the few students still remaining in the halls had started heading towards their Common Rooms. Prefects would be beginning their patrols soon and, not too long after that, the castle would be asleep.
Gerald thoroughly enjoyed the peace and quiet that usually accompanied late evenings at Hogwarts. No hysterical kids or entitled Quidditch players or noisy third years; just the occasional passing of a ghost or the hushed chats among paintings.
As he climbed down a flight of stairs and nearly tripped over in the process, Gerald realized he felt awfully tired. He’d been studying quite a lot recently, truth be told, and staying up for Astronomy classes every so often was certainly not helping him feel any more energetic. The thought of soft, silky blankets awaiting him in the dormitory made his lips twitch into a smile.
The Small Hall was the final stretch before reaching the spiral stairs that led down to the Dungeons. Walking through the spacious room, he caught glimpse of a darkened silhouette sitting atop one windowsill. Although the moonlight barely lit the student’s face, Gerald was still able to perceive a shade of red in the hood of their robe. A Gryffindor.
Gerald had never been one to believe in stereotypes. He had always been sure all that talk about Slytherins’ inner evil was nothing but rubbish and rarely applicable to actual Snakes. Likewise, upon starting Hogwarts, he was convinced not all Gryffindors could possibly be that reckless —nor that brave. While his stay in the school so far had proven him in the right regarding Slytherin myths (they had much more to them than self-absorbed pureblood heirs), he genuinely did not know how to feel about Gryffindors. The behavior of many certainly did not do too good of a job at defying the stereotype. They were reckless. And unwary. And impossibly loud. Perhaps it was unsurprising, after all, that Gerald’s house-mates’ passive-aggressive disdain towards the Lions had begun to rub off on him.
Taking a few steps forward, Gerald was able to recognize the student on the sill. Alec Mason, Herbology Class. Gryffindor, indeed. The blonde boy slowed down his pace slightly as he approached the window, eyeing the other kid.
“Planning to skip curfew, Mason?” he greeted wryly, although there were still about twenty minutes until the actual curfew was on. “I’ll notify the Prefects so that they can kindly take a few points from you. Won’t be much of a loss, though: Gryffindor doesn’t stand a chance for House Cup.”
@Alec Mason
Last edited by Gerald Fawkes on 1 Jun 2020, 22:15, edited 1 time in total.
Gerald T. Fawkes
26 May 2020, 20:02
Encounters Before Curfew
@Gerald FawkesAlec paused, turning around. He'd been thinking again. It differed between a matter of important subjects this time around. The most recent one being SOATOPIt's an acronym for something. "Oh-um.. no" Alec said shaking his head, realizing he appeared quite shy at first he changed approach a bit straightening his posture. "Rather not get anymore howlers" Alec said his voice was laced with an odd fake sort of confidence."There's still a bit of time left before curfew anyway, isn't there?" He asked. He'd lost track of time while thinking. Normally Alec would have asked Leonard to help him do the thought out planning. Alec came up with rough ideas and Leonard often put detail to them. He'd have to list the few new ideas he had for SOATOP later. Maybe even Clifton would have a few this time around. And he was getting distracted again. Alec shook his head, clearing his thoughts.His deep thinking and often stupidity to start doing deep thinking in front of someone who had just made a threat about curfew. Alec would have found it amusing, especially if he wasn't the one in the situation.The boy in front of him was a Slytherin. Green robes and all. Alec knew very few Slytherin's that sticked to the stereotypes. Although that might've been because he didn't know many. But Alec would have probably strayed away from the stereotypes as well. Going into Hogwarts, he'd thought he'd be put in slyhterin. With the whole 'Slytherin pureblood family' thing, it was expected. Of course.. There Alec was being the disobedient child and straying away from stuff like that again.
1 Jun 2020, 23:05
Encounters Before Curfew
'There's still a bit of time left before curfew anyway, isn't there?'
"I guess there is," Gerald mumbled in response, looking the brunette boy up and down. He had looked almost startled when he'd been approached. Disorientated? Engaged in deep in thought, perhaps? He had not even seemed to acknowledge— or be bothered by —Gerald's snarky remark on the Lion's scarce chances of winning the month's House Cup. Very unlike Gryffindor.
A Ravenclaw prefect walked by just then, slowing down slightly at the sight of them. After giving both boys a look that suggested something along the lines of 'whatever it is that you plan on doing, I'll be back to catch you red-handed', she disappeared into the darkness of the corridors.
"Seriously, now," Gerald spoke, facing the Gryffindor kid again, "you might want to be taking off towards your Common Room soon. I've heard the Castle can get, well, spooky at night."
Just as he finished that last sentence, a cry resembling either a painful howl or a high-pitched laugh cut through the eerie silence that engulfed the room. Perfect timing indeed. Gerald looked behind his back with vague concern; the action being nothing but a mere reflex. He was well aware of the many ghosts that floated along the halls over night; the naughtiest spectres liked to scare away the younger kids left in the corridors just before curfew. The voice they had just heard probably belonged to some ill-willed soul.
"But you know that, surely," Gerald added, forced contempt dripping from his tone. If Slytherin happened to be a country, teasing Gryffindors would definitely be the national sport.
@Alec Mason
Gerald T. Fawkes
1 Jul 2020, 00:53
Encounters Before Curfew
@Gerald Fawkes"Spooky..?" Alec whispered mostly to himself. Who says spooky? Who? Please name someone who says 'Spooky'. Except this boy. Seems as if Alec's on the list now too. Oh, wow though either way he really was looking for a reaction. So.. Alec how would you like to react to this situation you've gotten yourself into now? You've got multiple options here. Play along with the whole spooky thing and maybe seem cool but imply you've been out after hours, which couldn't be further from the truth. Walk away, a great way to get out of a situation you don't want to be a part of but you'll seem much more than wimpy. Make a witty comment, which you don't have any right now so.. nevermind. And that's it.Honestly, Alec was a bit taken aback by well everything. He would've been fine with being left alone. While Alec wasn't introverted he didn't do well with people, he didn't know well. Or people who liked to walk up to Alec while in thought and threaten house points. Luckily throughout Alec's pranking sprees they'd never actually ever been enough to take away house points, er.. or well if they were he hadn't been caught yet. Let's just say the end result of a few of his what he thought were harmless pranks were to never be spoken of.. Ever..Response.. Okay, well fine. Play along with it then. Who knows maybe you'll seem cool?. "Oh, yes very" Alec said regretting it right away. That sounded stupid. "I m-mean um.. uh.." Alec looked away and down at the ground as he tried to come up with something. He looked back up with a nervous laugh. "Talking portraits?" He said he really wasn't asking and honestly it was off topic and sounded much more worse than the first one did. You really just had to dig yourself a deeper hole, huh?