A Quiet Corner to Cry Closed

    Lucette had been making her rounds in the corridors, as she normally does, trying to find disobedient students, but mostly this time was for herself to have some sort of quiet time; It was so hard to come by nowadays. It was a job that required a lot of energy, the energy that Lucette constantly didn't have, but the passion to help others always pushed her forward regardless. And that brings her here, standing in front of a classroom door, panicking silently and internally. Now that she was closer, she was most certainly hearing someone cry. She bit her tongue. Did they need her assistance? What if this was a personal matter? Would her presence even be wanted? What if they lashed out at her?

    Her hand gripped at the fabric of her shirt, taking in silent, deep breaths. She reminded herself over and over: it was her job to be nosy. If she wasn't, she wouldn't be a good prefect in the slightest. Summoning up her courage and her facade of a confident student, she knocked lightly on the door, speaking in the reassuring tone that students seemed to find... tolerable. "A-Are you alright in there?"

Just briefly, Anatole had escaped the wrath of Anita Norwood. His heart was racing and his head was pulsing to the beat of a horse running at top speed. He had dashed down the hall from one classroom to another, trying to calm himself. It's okay. You're not going to die. Even she said so.

Anatole regained his calm, normal self. Almost instantly, his ears opened to something more than just frantic wheezing. He heard something disturbing the silence of the floor. Something, vulnerable. Slowly, he approached the sound, maintaining his steps as quiet as possible.

It came from behind a closed door, a Slytherin girl knocking on the wood, concerned. Anatole approached her and pinned his small ear to the wall. He heard it better, the muffled grievances reverberating in the room. "Excuse me, but what's going on?" Anatole lowered his voice to a whisper, not wanting the voice inside to notice him until he entered. The last thing he wanted was to stress out whoever was contained in the room.

Oddly enough, the girl reminded him a little bit of who he escaped from. Maybe it was just that she was Slytherin? Anatole didn't know, but somehow he remained concerned.

Just by the girl's shaky tone of voice toward the door after a light knock, Anatole had a couple preconceived notions about her.

However, they both wanted to help whoever was in there.

Xeno heard a knock at the door. He tensed up, and forgot to even breathe for a few seconds. Finally, he managed to choke words out of his mouth. "Who's there?" Xeno asked, trying to no avail keep the tremble from his voice. He wiped his eyes again, trying to keep the hiccuping sobs at bay. He curled up tighter, hugging himself and keeping his eyes trained on the door. He was conflicted on whether to let them in or not. On the one hand, he would rather not be seen in his current state, on the other, he could really use a hug right now. He decided to wait, and see who it was first. His mind started acting up again, though, running through all the worst scenarios.

What if it was Kaegen, coming to fire explosives at him again, to kill him this time? Or Eri, saying that she hated him for his stupid actions, that she didn't want anything to do with him? Or his head of house, saying that he was expelled for acting so recklessly? He was trembling more now, not bothering to wipe the fat tears from his puffy cheeks. They'd just be replaced by more anyway.

Lucette remained there, just leaning on the door for moments before she heard the shuffling of feet beside her. A young lad shuffled and leaned against the wall as if listening to the individual weep inside. Did he recognize the adolescent inside? Perhaps he could help her try to understand? She took a tread backward and opened her mouth to speak, only to be cut short by the boy's words. "Excuse me, but what's going on?"

Shoot. He was as perplexed as she was. Going into a situation was precarious, but would be even more problematic not knowing anything. She bit her tongue. How could she approach this without appearing intrusive or irritating? She recognized she had not yet acknowledged the boy who communicated to her, and she shook her head. "I'd like to tell you, b-but I am uncertain... I assume a pupil requires hel-"


"Who's there?" A weak call out from inside interrupted her, and her head shifted to the door. Right: her focus had to be the sobbing student. She nodded her head to the student in front of her before returning to the door, leaning her forehead on it. She took in a deep breath, letting her voice shape into what was needed: the comforting one she often used on her little brother whenever he was shaken. Whatever happened, she needed to make sure the student was okay. She spoke in that tone, slowly and softly. "My name is Lucette. I'm a prefect. May I come in?"

A perfect. She was a prefect. Wasn't Lucette the name of the Slytherin prefect? What if she knew about the mess he'd caused? But she sounded so nice. Xeno bit his lip. Should he let her in? He looked disgusting at the moment, though. The cuts on his hand had started to scab over, and he picked at them until they bled again, without even meaning to.

"Y-yeah. You can come in." He sounded so weak right now. Trying his hardest to curl up into the corner, he tried to hide despite the fact he knew she was going to see him, tried to dissapear altogether, so he wouldn't have to deal with the humiliation he had caused himself. He was beginning to doubt his decision to let her in, but he couldn't turn back now. His throat refused to form words anyway.

At least it was dark in the classroom. Maybe she wouldn't see him and would just leave. But did he really want her to leave? He didn't know. His mind was a jumbled mess right now, and he couldn't make sense of anything. Still, he knew with terrifying certainty that he was going to be outcast after what he'd done.

He nodded at the prefect's comment. It made sense that she was confused, but remained concerned. "Wait!" Anatole called back in a whisper. "May I come in too?" He took a breath, expecting a stern no to arise from either of them.

Anatole moved closer to the door, raising his tone and introducing himself."My name is Anatole Evans and I'm a Gryffindor, wanting to help for once!" Well, he let his lips fly loose again. It was as if every time he spoke here, he was losing some of the earlier finesse of planning out his words that he had grown up on.

Anatole was a dog, waiting to go outside. Well, considering outside was inside a classroom and the perks of being outside were soothing a boy he had no idea about, then yes, he was a dog. He passed that look to Lucette, who was keeping the situation in control. It was very nice of her to do that, surprisingly.

The voice inside permissed Lucette's entrance but did not address Anatole. It was logical, since you could trust prefects usually more than regular students, since they had many more responsibilities.

Not wanting to come off as too anxious to enter, Anatole waited patiently for a muffled reply.

Xeno tensed. There was someone else out there? A Gryffindor? "Y-yeah." Why had he said that? What was he doing?! Xeno tried to speak again, to say he'd changed his mind, that they couldn't come in, but his throat had closed up again, and no words came out his mouth. He hid his head on his knees, hugging them close to his chest as he cried more, louder now. He couldn't stop, but every sob took more and more breath away, and his head was spinning, he couldn't breathe. Why couldn't he breathe?

He was panicking, digging his sharp nails once again into his palms, drawing red, bloody lines on them, biting his lip way too hard to try and muffle his tears, his body shaking for no reason. He shut his eyes tight. He didn't want to see the looks on their faces when the came in, when they saw how pathetic he was. He held his hands up over his face protectively, smearing more blood over it, the stickiness making him feel even more gross. He could taste it on his tounge, in his nostrils, the cloying, metallic scent sickened him. They would hate him for sure, when they saw him in such a disgusting state.

Heyo Xeno, let's try to keep to a posting order so we don't skip over people, mmk? Currently, it's You, Me, then Anatole. 

Lucette internally trembled as the both of them were given permission to enter. Would the other pupil be as sensitive to this situation as required? For a flash, she even envisaged to go it alone. Just a few hasty glances at the student's... big yet forthcoming demeanor made her apprehensive. She chewed her lip; Since when was she so quick to judge? She mentally slapped herself for even assuming such matters and gave her fellow concerned student the benefit of the doubt. She internally scowled; Her time here at Hogwarts was surely poisoning her. Ignoring her inner tumult, she turned her attention to the student inside. She dithered for a moment before speaking tenderly once more. "I'm coming in..." With that, she turned the knob slowly and glanced in. 

Near the far corner of the dim lit classroom remained the student in question, writhed up and clearly quivering as they tried to stiffen their sobbing noises. A smell permeated her nostrils that drove her stomach to churn. What was that? She took a tread in, letting the smell linger for a few moments in her thoughts as her heart and mind scrambled. Then it hit her: it was blood. Blood. Why was there blood? Her eyes readjusted to the dark, and she stifled an alarmed gasp.

In front of her was a sight right out of her nightmares: the student was smeared with blood. The edges of blood and tears intermingled in some sort of sickening dance, the smell remaining pungent in the air. She kept herself from puking, but that doesn't mean her stomach badly desired to. What was she looking at?! She so badly desired to run, to just run and never come back. She then wanted to slap herself; why was she thinking like this? The student needed her more than ever, so why did she badly want to leave? She hated herself. Swallowing her fear, Lucette slowly stepped forward. As she walked, she remained watching yet silent, gently removing her own scarf. She then knelt beside the student, wiping away the smeared blood, cupping his chin gingerly.  She didn't care that it stained her scarf; they were replaceable, a student's needs were not. All the while, her expression remained one of care, her eyes gentle and her lips in a subtle smile. She wouldn't peg for answers. She didn't need them, not now. Her main concern was him, and she would be there if he ever needed her. 

Anatole watched Lucette turn the handle, opening the door. Instantly, a new, morbid fragrance wafted up at him. He instantly recoiled, partly doubting what he was getting into. The pungent smell almost was too familiar for words. He vocalized his disgust in a small groan. Upon a dirty look, he ceased, following right behind the Slytherin's quiet, careful footsteps.

A small bit of light shone through the window, revealing a miniature section of the liquid in question. This is odd... He hadn't seen any hint of violence in the school...until now. It was all too strange. Out of some eerie horror movie Patricia wouldn't let him watch at his age.

The figure was shaking in the corner, the blood dripping out. At any second, could he lunge at me...? No, that would be a bit too peculiar, no. He forged ahead, following behind the girl closely. It would be simple to lose someone in this light. The small, severed weeps led him toward the figure, bloody and almost unrecognizable. If Anatole turned his head one way, then the..thing, didn't even look too human.

Right as he could distinguish a pair of close-tucked, narrow legs, he watched Lucette's kind action. Carefully, he took off his scarf, passing it to her without a single anxious word.

Anatole was never good in these situations.