Locking The Doors Main Story Closed

Interacting with: @Dymphna Teague & @Phaedra Stavrou
Open to other interactions

Bloom was secretly proud for not wanting to partake in the Masquerade back during Halloween. Ever since her split with Ben, she never felt herself. She was with a man who had hurt others. She, herself, was about to be hurt, too. Her need for attention and to be wanted intensified her first year into Hogwarts and it backfired. So what was she doing instead on the night of the Masquerade? Sleeping in her dorm. Most of her dorm mates were out "enjoying" the night while she laid in bed wanting to go somewhere that wasn't Hogwarts or home.

Bloom's self-esteem was low. She distanced herself from those she knew and she often stayed in her room, not always going to class. This time, however, she had to come out. It was a mandatory meeting for all students. She couldn't be caught not attending something so serious.

While there were some students who were shocked by the rules, there were others, like Dymphna, who were relieved of them. Bloom assumed that all that happened-- or from what she heard from her dorm mates-- was more than intense. It was bloodshed. Bloom wouldn't know how to act if she was in that situation. With her lack of knowledge in spells, she would have probably been killed instantly.

"So, how’ve you been, Bloom? You’ve met Phaedra, right?”

Bloom snapped back into reality from her mind and looked at Phaedra who Dymphna sort of introduced. Bloom nodded with a small smile. She remembered Phaedra. I mean, who could remember such a cool name..., she thought to herself.

"I've been great," she lied. Her heart screamed to be heard, but she knew that now was not the time. She could tell that with all that was being talked about by the Head of Houses, that there were some concerns between the two Ravenclaws.

"How long do you think this will last?" she asked both Phaedra and Dymphna. If she remembered correctly, Phaedra was a part of the Hogwarts Headliner. Bloom couldn't remember if it was during the same time she was shortly a part of it or not. Perhaps she would know some information that others didn't.

Interacting with: @Callie Jensen

Interacting with @Alexis Asterion
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Mars smiled slightly at the girl's posh manners. If they had to put a finger on it, this girl was either an aristocrat or a pure-blood, the idea of either sending a shiver down the wix's spine. They'd never liked entitled, pretentious people, and typically, those two categories fit the bill right on the mark. Still, something about the girl's dark eyes and folded hands kept Mars' anger in check. Don't jump to conclusions, they reminded themselves.

They waved away the comment about interrupting their thoughts. Honestly, by now, it was a welcome distraction. Sometimes they felt as if their only purpose in life was to find ways to not think about everything that boiled over in their brain. Alexis' words weren't something they disagreed with and they had to give her props for voicing her complaints to a complete stranger.

Besides, the girl had answered Mars' first question. She'd probably be more useful as a friend than an enemy. They'd nodded along to the response, sealing the information away in their mind. So dhampirs could be baited with blood and someone also hated them. Got it. Subconsciously, they also stored the fact that Alexis had not attended. Anti-social was the first conclusion or maybe too busy. Ignoring it for now, they turned the idea of race-baiting over in their mind. Honestly, prejudice seemed to be rampant in the wizarding world, maybe even more so than the muggle one. They were surprised, really. For a society that seemed to place themselves so far over muggles, they were all only human in the end. Or dhampirs, apparently.

They pulled themselves out of their trace soon enough to hear Alexis' ask, "Sorry, which one?"

Oh, they probably could have explained that better. Mars gave her an apologetic wince, pointing against at the figure on the far side of the professors' table.

"That one, the one that I think doesn't work here? What's his deal?" Behind their questioning eyes, they withheld the fact they'd assumed the man was Lear from the moment they'd glanced at him, only just figuring out that he wsn't. That wasn't something the raven-haired witch needed to know.

Interacting with: @Thomas Baines

The talk between all students was nonstop. There were so many emotions filling the room. Some kids disliked the thought of having stricter rules while most were thankful for them. It was a lot to put on kids of all ages, but it was needed to ensure that Hogwarts stays open and was safe for each and every one of them.

Maya, taking an orange and peeling it, looked around at her colleagues. It seemed that some of the professors had taken a seat. Maya wondered how calm the professors were. Were they antsy about what was about to come with all the strict rules and extra rounds they were to do, or were they calm because no rules were implemented? Maya shrugged it off and popped a fresh and delicious orange wedge into her mouth.

For Maya, she was a bit antsy. Not because something may come, but because she wanted to go out and do something about it. Perhaps it was the army part of her, but she felt that sitting here eating an orange wedge was not the way to go about getting something done. But alas, she was a part of a team and needed to follow strict orders.

Maya wanted to leave, but she felt it was appropriate to wait a good amount of time than leaving as staff. It was only fair and who knew if there were more announcements that needed to be made.

Still pondering her gloomy thoughts, Ileen was quite surprised when someone approached her. Normally she arrived with one of her few friends or just stayed alone, so this was a rare thing to happen.
She looked up and met the brown eyes of a familiar boy. Wasn’t that hero-guy? Yeah, it was definitely him. The corners of young Slytherin's mouth twitched as she thought back to their last encounter. Last time he had been almost as covered in paint and glitter as she had been. She still had mixed feelings about that guy – she was grateful that he had interrupted the upcoming fight at the Slytherin Party. But he had also splashed paint on her. To be fair, he hadn’t aimed for her at first.
Dee had taken revenge for that and then he had come after them to attack the young Ravenclaw. Ileen wasn’t sure if she had missed something, but it seemed that he had some unresolved problems with her best friend. His fight with Dee seemed rather ridiculous to her. It had been just paint. All of them had been covered in it – it had been practically impossible to walk down the corridors these days without at least a few splashes of paint.

His expression was just as dark and worried as hers and she gave him a weak smile. It was due to the seriousness of the situation and her own emotional state that she was grateful to have someone to talk to. Nevertheless, she could not resist a teasing comment. “Hey, hero guy. Who are you saving this time?” She put her head down and winked. Unfortunately, she was not in a good enough mood for a real grin. “And yes, Ileen is correct.” She paused and frowned. Damn, why did he know her name? She forced herself to recall the situation when she had met him the first time. His name was… “Perce? Right? Sorry, I didn’t recognize you without the paint and stuff. I hope you won’t throw anything at me this time.” One corner of her mouth curled up into a crooked smile to show that she meant no harm. She couldn't stand a fight today.
Her smile, however, quickly faded away again. She just did not feel like joking. “What do you think about all that?” She made a vague gesture that encompassed the entire situation.

Interacting with: @Percival Rainwood
Mentions: @Dealla Prince

Open to Interactions!
Interacting with: @Ivy Bellamy
Mentioning: @Scott Alexander | @Alan Vanes |

Ana rolled her eyes slightly at Ivy's words. Ana hadn't said they weren't being serious. Annoyingly enough, she thought they were. It was really a pity, and for the first time, she was almost glad she was going home for the summer. She would miss her friends terribly, but if the professors honestly believed that making stricter rules would actually protect the students, then she didn't mind being gone while those rules were in effect. The Blossom Ball had technically been against the rules. Actually, there was no "technically", it had been 100% against the rules and had been a response to the teachers canceling the official ball on account of safety concerns.

She had no doubt the teachers were doing their best or at least trying to look as though they were, but the fact was rules did nothing to counter the rule-breaking. Ana had little regard for the rules, and if they were the only thing in the way of her doing something that she wanted to do, then she would simply ignore them. Much of the student body had demonstrated that they agreed with Ana's sentiment by going to the ball. Hell, Ana had seen more than one prefect there and had gone with one! At best, the students found the rules to be an irritation and would follow the letter rather than the spirit, but more often it seemed, they just didn't care about the rules.

Ivy's next words made Ana scowl. Nonsensical things we've gotten ourselves into? That was definitely a jab at Ana's setting herself on fire, and Ana shot Ivy a withering glare before replying. "And that happened despite rules in place designed to prevent it, so I fail to see how new rules solve the problem," she said coolly, taking another swallow of coffee. The way Ivy had spoken, one would have thought that it was Ana's fault the ball had gone so badly. Alright, she certainly hadn't helped, but it wasn't like she had deliberately set herself and that boy on fire. Anyway, nobody had asked Ivy to stay and help, and Ana rather wanted to say so. She opted not to though since Ivy had in fact chosen to fight for her and Ana had to honor that. Ana disregarded most official rules when it suited her, but she did have something of a code of her own.

Glancing away from Ivy, her eyes met Scott's for a moment and he smiled. She swiftly glanced away. Scott was an entire other mess on top of the events of the ball. She had managed rather successfully to avoid him after, and she intended to do so until further notice. Still, she couldn't help sneaking several glances at the older boy throughout dinner. Sure, she was avoiding him, but that didn't mean that she didn't still enjoy looking at him. He was talking to Alan, who Ana vaguely remembered trying to set up with Rafa before the ball. She didn't really know what had ended up happening there, since she had refused to speak to Rafael for who knew how long after the ball. In any event, she was more than certain Alan thought she was absolutely mad.

The entire situation irritated the Gryffindor. If she wanted to do stupid things and she wasn't hurting anyone else, then who were they to stop her? She hadn't even been hurt that badly. Alright, yes, she had, but she was fine now...

She didn't want to dwell on it and abruptly rose from the table. Between her now foul mood from the rules and the discomfort that came with thinking about the ball, she had lost her appetite. Briskly, she wove through the crowds towards the exit.

Anastasia Beckett has exited this thread.

Ileen rolled her eyes and gave the boy the shadow of a smile. Her mood was still pretty dark. “Well, let’s hope it stays that way. The last two times you jumped in, it escalated afterwards very quickly.” To say the least. She shivered as she thought back to the last Slytherin party that ended with students attacking the teachers. Well, Percival seemed to be a bit less chaotic then the rest of her house. He had tried to de-escalate the situation and – not attacked Professor Jensen or Professor Vernatis, when they had interrupted the party. So, she respected him. At least kind of.

She still wondered where he had taken the strength to just walk away after their "paint accident”. Although, judging from how he treated his potato, he wasn't particularly thrilled about that memory. The corners of Ileen's mouth twitched when she thought back to the smiley face she had painted on his face. But she decided to let it go. She had no interest in starting a fight.
She carefully shoved a piece of potato into her mouth and carefully chewed it. Her dark brown eyes were fixed on the boy and a small wrinkle formed between her eyebrows. “Punished? Because of the curfew or the canceled summer boarding?”
A little surprised, she took her time to answer. She had not expected to be asked a counter-question. “Hm. Honestly, I didn’t follow all the events. I mean – I know a few awful things happened. They want us to be safe, right?”
With a shrug, she took her orange juice and her facial expression darkened again. “But it really sucks, that summer boarding is canceled. Now I have to throw out all my plans.” She glared at her plate as if the potatoes had done her a great personal harm.

She looked up again and put her head crooked. It probably wasn’t just her – feeling betrayed. He seemed really unhappy, too. “So, how do the new rules limit you? Are you normally sneaking around a lot?”
Normally she was not so interested in her classmates. But if someone proved to be reasonably decent, she had to seize the opportunity.

@Percival Rainwood