Where did we go wrong? Open Closed

Interactions: @Glen Pope

In all honesty, the badger could not help but wonder if she had disturbed the Slytherin or was being an inconvenience to him with her rambles. She was just talking constantly and he seemed kind of... confused, perhaps? She was not sure but there was a lot of stuttering in his words. Like his thoughts were all jumbled and he was jumping from topic to topic to try and make sense of everything. It was a bit confusing for her to actually follow and comprehend. Perhaps he was just being polite when he said she should stay. He was not rude, by any account. So far, he seemed to be welcoming the conversation as he said he would. But her own lack of confidence made her a little hesitant. The nerves made her a bit unsure.

Nonetheless, he spoke and she listened. Well, she tried to listen. Serena blinked, trying to comprehend his words. She frowned, "Are you sure that you're okay...?" She sighed softly, before shaking her head to herself. Now she was not making sense. She paused for a moment before formulating her thoughts out into words, "I don't want to like uh intrude or whatever. But I guess, I just know there's always stuff going on and there are things that... go really badly..." Her voice was soft, recalling some of the terrible things that happened in the past couple of years. More events going wrong than she could count on one hand, usually ending in a student starting a fire. Her mind went back to the fire in the Hufflepuff common room not too long ago and the dangers that lurked beneath the surface. The last big one school one - the October ball - was also a disaster. She tugged on the ends of her sleeves as a shiver went down her spine, instantly making her feel colder and giving her goosebumps.

Serena sighed softly, "But uh I guess... if you want someone to listen, I'm here?" She offered, not really knowing what else to say. She did not really want to talk about it to be fair but these things were happening and they were scary. She could use a friend and perhaps, others might want one too. "I mean I'm not very good at studying or spells either but uh Quidditch. I can help there. Or uhh I dunno, really. Listening. Or talking. I can do that too..."

She scratched the back of her head a little awkwardly. The music changed. "Well... They aren't done..." Serena chuckled as she looked over to see her head of house and fellow badgers still dancing. Honestly, she knew none of these songs but it was kinda of catchy. "Waterloo!" She said softly, singing along to the one word she had picked up from the song.

♫ Open to interaction ♫
Interacting with @Serena Towers

Intrude? Oh no, he hadn't wanted to leave that impression. Glen flushed a bit. “Ah, no. No. You're not, uh, intruding. Uhm, I'm fine. Just... Uh, It's a bit too early to be coherent yet? I guess?” Now Glen was just waffling. He might not be the earliest riser but he also wasn't really a person that took that long to be fully awake. Just imagine! So much wasted time each morning – he didn't want to know how much he would miss if he took that long to function! … But it was probably as good an excuse as any to be this much of a mess while talking.

“Ah. Well. Not much of a Quidditch hat, me. It's fun too watch but..” Glen shrugged. If he was perfectly honest, he found the game a bit boring. Well, not boring exactly but nothing particularly fascinating tended to happen in a game, did it? “But thanks for offering.” He smiled.

This was awkward. He didn't really know what to say so he just hummed along to the song. The music was catchy, he had to give it that even though he found it a bit bewildering to see a Head of House dancing on a table. But hey, it was fascinating behaviour to study, maybe?

The dancing man was getting closer and it was becoming harder and harder to resist throwing a full body bind at him. His wink was met with a glare from the Head of Slytherin. The song ended at that very moment. Was it finally ov- No. No it was not over. Waterloo by ABBA started. Of course he was a fan of ABBA. Why would she expect anything else?

At what point was it acceptable to hit your colleague with a silencing charm? He was not wasting any time in singing so loudly. And his dance moves never seemed to falter. Honestly, did the man never actually get tired?

Hjørdis ate her breakfast silently, trying to avoid the crazy that was happening not too far away from the professor table. She took a bite of her toast as her eyes flickered upwards. The badgers were approaching. They were shuffling towards them... She chewed the toast slowly, her eyes widening as the head of hufflepuff stopped in front of her. Oh lord... what was he going to do?

Her eyes narrowed at him. Her message was clear: Whatever you're doing, don't do it... But she had a feeling he was going to ignore her and do it anyway. Why? Because he was Caradoc friggin' Browne. He seemed to be happiest when he annoyed her. Why was he so irritating that he made her want to throw him off the Astronomy Tower? It seemed to be a competition. To see how long it took for her to just snap.

She almost choked on her toast, coughing slightly as she lifting her closed fist to her mouth to prevent from spitting food out. The trio fell backwards as though they had been hit in the heart. Hjørdis was going to kill him. One day, he would either be the death of her or she would hit him right through that heart of his.

Interactions: @Glen Pope

Serena tilted her head, as she listened to Glen ramble out some words. The grin on her face grew as she gave an awkward chuckle, "It's definitely too early... I dunno why we can't get a lie in sometimes. Like have afternoon classes only. Maybe like... every day... Yanno?" The hufflepuff rambled on, deciding that she was just better suited to afternoon class life and that morning classes should be banned.

"Ehh, it's not for everyone! My dad and I used to watch it and I just kinda got into it and now I love it so much but it's not for everyone. Lots of people don't really feel the same, and that's fine too, of course. Ahh I'm sure we can find something else in common though maybe, probably," Serena mumbled, rubbing her nose with the back of her hand before moving it to scratch the back of her head. She was not sure what else they had in common but perhaps they could find something. From what she knew of him, they were very different people but everyone had something in common if you tried hard enough.

Serena laughed, "This isn't normal in Slytherin, is it?" She asked as she motioned towards the dancing and singing from her head of house. Glen's one seemed to be rather unimpressed by the whole thing. She could not imagine this happening in the snake house at all. But this was not the first time she heard Professor Browne sing and she highly doubted it would be the last.

The third year had been quite captured by all that was going on and eventually loosened up a little until he stopped caring whether anyone would be there to see him dance and judge him for it. To be fair there was not much of a reason to judge him in the first place since he was by no means a bad dancer. He had been at balls before such as at home when his parents had invited guests over or when they traveled per floo network to a friend of theirs even though it was quite rare for him to accompany them anymore. Usually they would hire a house elf to watch over him on those specific days because him leaving the manor would mean bad news if he was detected by anyone.

Whatever dance was going on he would go with it until hunger and exhaustion would grow stronger as he left the rows of dancers to finally get some well deserved food from the Gryffindor table. His cheeks were red from the exercise and the motion was quite refreshing to do and had been a well needed distraction from the dreadful every day routine. He was quite happy with this and dug into the food to fill his empty stomach with its deliciousness.

Interacting with @Hjørdis Jensen
Mentions: Caradoc Browne, Jack Warren & Jake Morris

did not comment on Nora's half-hearted attempt of convincing herself to intervene as it seemed that she had addressed herself more than him. Instead he returned to his glass of tea and decided to nibble on an apple slice or two. He was not particularly in the mood for a tea biscuit now but the way this day was beginning he figured he might need some sustenance.

back up, Zahid blinked in surprise. Was Caradoc and his posse coming closer? Narrowing his eyes, he hoped they wouldn't plan on dancing on the head table... That would take things a step too far, would it not? He was still half in disbelief that this was happening in the first place. But no, they merely came to a stop in front of them and Zahid incredulously raised an eyebrow at Mr. Warren.

then the badgers all fell backwards and he could not help but wonder if Caradoc had choreographed this with them beforehand – and if so, why? He was not sure if this was stranger as an unplanned activity or a planned one.

once again back to the Slytherin Head of House as the three returned toward the centre of the room, he could not help but ask: “Are you sure this is normal for him?”

♫ Interacting with @Serena Towers ♫

Afternoon classes only... Heck, that'd be something, wouldn't it? Less time stuck in lessons that way! But alas, most days the afternoons would be better for exploring or any other hobbies one might have – it was warmer in the afternoons than most mornings – so he wasn't too torn up about them having morning classes... Ah, well.

He blinked in surprise as Serena quite enthusiastically pointed out that they surely would find something they had in common... He wasn't so sure. Not that he wouldn't like to find some common interest with some more people and gain some friends. (To be fair... he still wasn't sure if he and Edric where friends and even less if they had much in common except maybe some social awkwardness...) “Most people have some things in common, I guess.” That... had sounded more indifferent that he had meant it to. Crap.

He scrambled for something else to say but luckily she seemed to be distracted by the dancing still going on. Normal? He grinned. “Normal? Nah. I mean, we have trouble makers” he coughed “I mean, we are all perfect little angels. Ahem. No, I don't think this would be considered normal – it's fun though! I think we have less singing and dancing and more, uh, Dorm Battles.” Dorm Battles sounded far more impressive than a huge organized pillow fight in the common room, right? “Is this normal for you in Hufflepuff?”

Interactions: @Glen Pope

Serena paused for a second at Glen's kind of indifferent response. Maybe he did not really want to find something in common. The doubt lasted for less than a second though. It was quickly replaced by her regular enthusiasm. She was likely just overthinking things. Maybe. She could reflect on it later. For now, she nodded excitedly, "Yes! Maybe urmmm..." She stopped as she thought about what else she liked, "Other than quidditch... I guess... just being outdoors is nice, maybe swimming, uh I like animals too! And uh... erm... Anything that isn't really studying. Travelling is fun. Not that we get to do a lot of it here but sometimes just walking aimlessly around the school can lead to a new path being found and that is kind of fun for me. Uh er what else... Food. I like food and urm. Parties, I guess. Dancing! And uh, drawing?" She rambled quite a bit, her voice trailing off as she kind of as she fell into thought to try and find other things she liked.

Jewellery making had been kind of fun, and getting muddy was pretty enjoyable. Maybe camping - if things were safer - would be nice. She had no idea what Glen was into so she was just trying to hazard some guesses in the dark, hoping something connected with him.

Grinning at him, she nodded, "Yup. This is Professor Browne pretty much on the regular!" Serena acknowledged. Well, it was not specifically true. It was not like they did this every day. But most of the times she had met him and spent more than 5 seconds passing him in a hallway, there was some sort of music involved. There would be singing or dancing and she honestly would not be surprised if he did that every minute he was alone in his office, "Dorm battles sound fun though. I don't really think we have any trouble makers in Hufflepuff... Well not that I know of. It's been a while since I had to pay attention to that sort of stuff, I guess..." She admitted, realising it had been quite some time since she stepped from from her role as Prefect / Head Girl. Those days, she needed to be mindful of the troublemakers. These days? Not so much.

♫ Interacting with @Serena Towers ♫

Travelling sounded nice. Glen was glad he hadn't chased her away with his awkward almost-dismissal. Animals or swimming were okay, he supposed, but being outdoors and especially the aimlessly walking around the school part were where he perked up. ... 'walking aimlessly around the school can lead to a new path being found' … that sounded a lot like exploring! So there. That was something they could have in common. Maybe they could go explore the school together one day.

Food was cool, too. Dancing, Drawing or Parties... less so. Still, exploring!

Aaaand... he'd been silent too long again. Dammit. At least this time he'd been grinning at her and couldn't (hopefully) be thought to be disinterested. Possibly. Maybe. Ugh. Why were conversations so … messy? Well, his were. He'd seen enough other people have perfectly normal conversations to know that people could actually quite easily talk to and with each other. He just seemed to... suck at it. Suddenly he was drooping a little. Why was this still so difficult. He'd been at this school for almost three years now (and technically known her by sight just as long), he should know how to talk to classmates.

Sigh. By now, she really had to think he was an idiot.

Thump.

With a dull thumping noise his head hit the table – luckily, at least he'd dropped his head on an empty spot and not on a plate or something – and he groaned. “Hey, Serena?”, he questioned weakly “Why is it so difficult to have a conversation?”

Suddenly he sat straight up again instantly and in a panicked voice tried to do damage control – with probably questionable success. “Not that- not that that's your fault, you're awes- I mean, I just, I meant -” His head hit the table again, this time with a slightly softer thud and only barely missing a serving plate. “Oh Merlin, kill me now. WHY?! Why is this so hard.” Two more soft thuds as he (softly) bashed his head against the table again in frustration. “ARGH. So, uh, could we just- could we just forget about this and start over?” Glen sounded miserable.

“Like, Hello Serena, I'm Glen”, his voice wavered, having lost any and all confidence. “Walking aimlessly around the school sounds really cool. I love exploring the school and grounds – maybe we could do that together sometime or something?” Really, why in the world would she ever want to associate with him after this.

Oh heck, how bad had he been at the whole prefect thing if she'd done his job for him last year without even paying attention??

Interactions: @Glen Pope

The coming to the end of her third year - almost fourteen - hufflepuff trailed off kind of awkwardly. She had been rambling on for some time and the Slytherin seemed relatively interested. He was quiet but there was a grin on his face, so he was interested! At least, that was her logic. But then, he just let his head fall onto the table in a literal 'headdesk'. O-oh. Was she that bad at conversation? Serena scratched the back of her head, a little uncertain of what she was meant to do. Was it her fault? Did she bore him or upset him? Or maybe it was the food? Was he sick? Maybe he was not feeling well?

She opened her mouth to speak, when she heard him groan - finally speaking up. Wh- Serena blinked at his words. Was it that difficult? You just... open your mouth and say some words. She frowned as she stared at the top of his head - mostly because that was all she could see whilst he was leaning against the table.

He quickly sat up again, saying some more words, about hoe it was not her fault. Serena blinked as she watched him hit his head straight after. Soft thuds followed as he repeated his action multiple times, clearly frustrated, "Ahh please don't hurt yourself!" Her tone of voice was rather quiet, almost a whisper but it was full of panic as she waved slightly frantically. Not that he would see her waving but she was trying to get him to stop and was attempting to do so without catching too much attention. Unfortunately, her frantic hands waving over the table, near his head was probably not helping. Those seated nearby could probably see the mess if they had not heard Glen's frustration.

She stared at him, wiggling her nose as she fell into thought. She opened her mouth to say something again, this time a little bit more useful. Perhaps she could tell him that it was okay, that he was doing fine. That she did not mind or think he was terrible at conversing. But he spoke again before she could.

This time, she looked like the idiot - just sitting there, watching him hit his head against the table, freaking a little as she just waved to the top of his head with both hands.

He asked to start over. Serena sighed softly, calming down a little once he stopped hitting his head against the table, "Hi Glen, I'm Serena-" She started, deciding to play along - even though she had already screwed up because he called her Serena so she did not really need to introduce herself again. Nonetheless, she continued, "I would love to explore the school with you! I have a really cool cloak too, and uh... can help us explore things without getting caught..." The description of her invisibility cloak was a little vague, since she was not sure how much she was really meant to say. But, perhaps it would come in handy in their adventures.

"We can call them Glen and Serena's days of Adventuring! No wait... The Adventures of Glen and Serena. That has a better ring to it... Though the first would make more sense... Ah! It's not important. Yes. Yes Glen, I'd love to go explore with you. Just let me know when?" Serena replied with a grin on her face as she went to stand up, indicating that she should probably head off soon though, "I should probably get to breakfast right now though. I'm getting a little hungry..." She added, given that she had been unable to eat since she was on the wrong table and did not want to eat someone else's food by mistake.