A Fiery Letter & A New Friend PV Josette closed

Weather cooling down in early autumn was exciting... for a few weeks that is, As the weather went from hot and humid to dry and chilly Jo turned to wearing sweaters whenever she went outside to read her books, or to simply enjoy the weather as a form of a break.

A lot of people were chatting and smiling, when Jo spotted a girl, she seemed to get more angry and sad as she read through the letter Jo assumed she had gotten from someone she did not want to talk to, observed, at the read to come and comfort the girl if anything got out of hand.

Taking a shaky breath (as Jo was getting colder then she would like) Jo watched the girl in distress set the letter on fire, and weep.

Jo slowly stood up, she would not have approached her if it weren't for a specific cause, but at the moment she walked to the girl and kneeled near her.

"Are you okay?" Jo said to the girl, the girls hair was covering her face as she looked down so Jo couldn't very much see her reaction.

She sat down next to the girl, crying was not a fun activity for anybody, especially if it were due to somebody else.

☾ Interaction: @Starlee Kennedy ☾

@Josette Rutledge

Starlee was too in her own head to have even noticed any of the students that were chatting in the courtyard around her and was a bit shocked when she heard someone that was obviously right next to her ask if she was okay. She wasn't expecting anyone to acknowledge her; I mean, who would acknowledge a crying first year in the courtyard? Well, someone certainly was. She slowly lifted her head up to look at the girl, pushing her hair out of her face, with her eyes glistening, her face red, and the remnants of tear stains on her cheeks.

"I- I-..." She wasn't able to choke the words out and she could feel the tears begin to pour out of her eyes again. The other girl sat down next to her and Starlee honestly didn't know what to do. Should she tell the girl about her problems? Would she understand? What if she was another pureblood enthusiast? It seemed like her house was just full of them. It simply wasn't fair. Why couldn't everyone just be nice?

Starlee managed to make it through her second fit of crying and decided to be honest with the girl. If worst comes to worst, then she could just set the girls' robes on fire. That would teach all those snobby purebloods not to mess with her.

She took a deep breath and wiped her face with the ends of her sleeves, unsuccessfully trying to clean herself up some. "I... I just got a horrible letter..." She sniffled quite loudly but continued on, bearing her feelings to the stranger. "A girl here at Hogwarts hates me... because I stood up for a muggle-born... and I have a muggle mum myself... But..." she sniffled again as she began to feel the tears well up in her eyes. She scrunched up her face, trying but failing to hold her emotions in, and began crying again into her sleeve while saying in a muffled voice, "No matter what I do, I can't get away from her! She always finds a way to make my life... miserable!"

Not usually the one to comfort but rather be comforted Jo was taken a back by the girl's emotions. Reading the girls Body language that if she were to say something, her robes would meet the same fate as the offending letter.

Taking a deep breath she turned to the crying girl, not knowing how to comfort the girl otherwise she decided to state the facts.

"That girl seems like a person to really avoid, i'm actually a muggle-born and most likely look it, so the girl (i assume) would avoid me. " Realizing that this was most likely not the best thing to say moments after she said that (considering the girl who wrote the dreadful letter had the guts to pick on a muggle-born that would most likely do more harm then good)

trying to think of something better to say she somewhat leaned back, hoping this would let her think with a bit more ease (as is her manner of leaning back when relaxing or thinking) this would also relax the distressed girl as it would show that Jo had lowered her guard, trying to comfort the girl.

Taking another deep (and shaky) breath she turned to the girl once more.

" I didn't introduce myself did i? My name is Josette Rutledge, Jo for short. I will help, i really do hate people who pick on people because of blood status" she said with a small smile.

As she took a seat next to the girl (since she knew that this would be a longer then a few minutes confrontation and maybe even a pleasant conversation after the Jo comforted the girl) she looked around at the students. The gentle hum of the courtyard somewhat soothed Jo, and she Hoped it would do the same for the girl.

☾ Interactions: @Starlee Kennedy ☾

@Josette Rutledge

"That girl seems like a person to really avoid, i'm actually a muggle-born and most likely look it, so the girl (i assume) would avoid me."

'Another... Muggle Born?' Starlee was a bit taken aback by this. She wasn't expecting the girl to be a muggle-born, in fact, it seemed everyone was Pure-blood... or at least Wizard-born here at Hogwarts. Her tears began to subside again, and she wiped her face with her sleeve and brushed her hair back out of her face behind her ear again.

She managed to get a blurry look at the girl, her red hair and Asian features stuck out in Starlee's mind. In fact, she was actually quite cute. She watched as the girl leaned back relaxedly, and inherently Starlee began feeling more comfortable. Maybe everything wasn't quite so bad after all.

The girl began to introduce herself as Josette, or Jo. Well, Starlee was certainly one for nicknames, it always made her feel more comfortable with the person, so Jo it was. Not only that... but she was going to help her?

"I'm Starlee Kennedy... but people I like can call me Star..." she said with a little sniffle at the end. "You want to help me? I'm not sure there's much we can do about that... girl... she seems to get away with everything." Starlee rolled her eyes at Jo, basically saying 'Pure-bloods... what are you gonna do?'

She looked back down at the letter, which was almost done burning at this point. Luckily nothing around it had caught fire either, but she still liked watching the embers slowly float upward. She wished her encounters with Liz would be over, but she knew it wasn't likely to happen. She also knew that if Jo got involved... the girl would no doubt face Elizabeth's wrath as well.

She turned back to Jo and said "Truthfully... I hope you never meet her. All she will do is make your life absolute hell..."

As Starlee looked down at the letter, Jo's mind was racing with possibilities of how this problem could end. "How can we stop this? What can i stop this? Can i get Ash and Riley involved? Is it even best to get involved? What do i do?" Jo's mind was so full she didn't notice the students start to leave the courtyard. The rustling of peoples clothes, the chatter and the laughter snapped Jo out of her train of thought.

She looked at Stalee looking for ways to comfort her.

"Its pretty stupid to bully people for their names and other features, like personalities and clothes you know? Most of us didn't have a choice in it and if we did other should respect that, and -" Jo stopped herself before she trailed off and got the usual reply of "no one asked" "no one cares" and so on.

Jo sighed as she stood up, the grey walls seemed more warm as the day wore on. The chatter grew somewhat quieter as more and more people started to leave the courtyard and head to their classes, books in hand. The day was starting to speed up like a train getting ready to leave and head to its next destination, filled with chatter and laughter carrying both the possibility of sorrow and happiness.

She put her hand out as if to help Starlee up.

☾ Interactions: @Stalee Kennedy☾

OOC: i finally got it out Might not be as nice as i liked but i tried, i'm really rusty lol/revelio]

@Josette Rutledge

Starlee continued to watch the embers from the burning letter; it was almost entirely out now. She listened as she watched the embers, nodding along with everything Josette was saying. "Exactly!" she began exasperatedly. "I really just don't get it, can't we all just not judge each other and get along? There's no need for this 'better than you' attitude it seems that half the school has." She ended, also still feeling a bit lost in her feelings. She was upset, but she had still found someone that still seemed to care about other people. What a novel concept.

At this point, it seemed that people were beginning to leave the courtyard, perhaps getting ready for bed, as it was quite late now. Almost late enough to were they would get detention if they were caught outside much longer. Josette stood up, and offered her hand to Starlee. She accepted and stood up next to the girl.

"Thanks..." she said, looking at Josette with a small coy smile on her face. "It looks like everyone's heading in for the night, we should probably get going too. Judging by your robes, your a Slytherin too right? Care to join me down to the dungeons?" She grabbed her messenger bag that she had laid down in the grass and looked expectantly at the girl for an answer.

I just realized I'm a second-year Woah nelly *trying best not to curse*
Jo was surprised by the invitation to join the girl as they head to their common room. The most of a friend she had Was Riley and Simmon, but Simmon moved.. Riley was out and about somewhere too probably.

"Yeah, that would be great!"she said smiling.

She slowly patted her robes, shaking the dirt from her already somewhat stained robes. The stains of the tea and toast and jam have fallen onto the robe over all their years of use.

"And just so you know, I think it's best to tell a teacher about it. I heard bullying never goes unpunished here" she said calmly.

She looked out onto the mountains, the ridges illuminated with the setting sun, the crisp autumn air filling her nostrils. She sighed a breath of relief, Her hometown always felt stuffy with all the people around especially with the sport and everything, and especially with almost everyone being outside and enjoying their day. Hogwarts was a welcoming break from that, the Scottish mountain air, the majestic animals, the victorian-esk feel with all the candles and books away from electronics was odd, amazing as much as she hated them in her hometown.

As she started to walk away from the now almost empty courtyard she realized how much she has started to like Hogwarts even though of the odd feeling of being a muggle-born in Slytherin.

☾ Interactions: @Starlee Kennedy ☾

Starlee couldn't believe she was actually having a friendly conversation for once. Josette smiled back at her, accepting her offer to accompany her back to the common room. Before they could finally set off back inside, Josette made another comment. 'Tell a teacher... bullying never goes unpunished.' She pondered this notion. Perhaps she would tell someone... but tonight, tonight she was just too tired. After setting a letter on fire, crying about it in front of a relative stranger, and then making a friendship, she was certainly ready to pop right into bed, where her eyes would probably collapse immediately.

"Yeaaa... you're probably right..." she said lackadaisically, her head looking up towards the open sky. She figured even if she wasn't sure about it, the girl at least deserved an answer to her question. She began to head back towards the large doors into the castle, much happier about the nights events. Sure, Elizabeth had been rude and mean, but something came out of it - a brand new friend. Starlee smiled as they made their way back down.

When they finally reached the common room, she would head straight to the dorms, and would flop herself into bed, dropping her messenger bag down beside it carelessly. She would fall asleep within moments, comforted in the fact that she knew that someone in Slytherin cared about her, at least a little bit.

@Josette Rutledge
Starlee leaves the thread.