Leave fears behind PV Lavinia Cloven Fin

@Haley Rose

The basement of the best wizarding school in the world was bound to have something in it that could scare you to your core. It could have plenty of things but, what could be down there that was that bad, a few spiders maybe and that should not be warranting Lavinia’s fear. Yet it was. For someone who hadn’t gone much of anywhere in 2 years it was difficult not to be a little scared, and after hearing stories of dangerous event, she thought that it made sense to be a bit scared.

Pushing aside her fear for a moment, Lavinia started walking down the halls with Haley where she was asked about herself. “Well I’m from Dorking, England, its a nice place that has a lot of preserved nature. I have a younger sister named Opal who I love so much and my family is hugely into quidditch. My dad used to play professionally so he teaches us a lot the game. I mainly keep to myself but I’ve been trying to change that recently.” What else Lavinia, what else would she want to know?”Oh and I’m just warning you if you get me started I’m quite talkative.” Now after telling a bit about herself Lavinia found that she didn’t know that much about Haley yet so she said; “So what about you, is there anything you want to tell me about yourself?”

As they kept walking through the halls, Lavinia started subconsciously noticing the eyes and whispers being directed their way. She had a feeling it had to do with what Haley was going through because she had mentioned only her real friends were nice to her. She also knew that Haley wasn’t ready to share and she understood that, so she turned to the staring people and said, “What you never seen any cross-house friends before, well get over it, just because were from different houses doesn’t mean that you need to whisper and stare at us!”

She wasn’t even sure where her sudden surge of confidence came from, but if anyone was going to make her new friend feel uncomfortable they would have to answer to her. Rolling her eyes she scoffed at the staring students and muttered under her breath “Stupid people who think there better than everyone else and can just go around making others feel uncomfortable.” Then a little louder she spoke to Haley: “Don’t even think on it Haley, they are only talking about us because your amazing and they are jealous that I get to be your friend.”

Now feeling quite confident from standing up against those idiots, Lavinia took some of the last steps towards the basement. Her fear had gone down a bit and instead of letting it flow back through she tried to hold onto the strength that she had moments ago. It was still there but it was definitely diminished and she responded to Haley. “Yeah I guess this way seems like an alright way to start.”

Reducio

I’m so sorry for this being later than expected, I kept running out of motivation to write but I finally found some!

@Lavinia Cloven

"Oh wow, your dad played quidditch as a professional? Wow that must be so cool. What team did he play for?" Haley could hardly get out of her excitement at this information. How great it must have been to have your dad teach you how to fly, and then to play quidditch. No wonder Lavinia was on the quidditch team and even though Haley had been convinced Lavinia was a good player before, now she was sure. Haley started laughing as the Ravenclaw girl continued, "I like that. I like talkactive."

But then Lavinia did something that instantly silenced Haley and her laughter was gone. But not because she thought it was bad, but because she hadn't expected it. It was like she was being who her friend always wanted to be and there was no spark left of the insecurity Haley could see just half an hour ago. Suddenly she saw the real Lavinia and that pleased Haley. Because now she was not only telling her things that she had not told anyone for a long time, no, now she was resisting others. Amazed and impressed, Haley looked over at her. For a moment her mouth was formed into an O but quickly it turned back into a smile. Of course she wasn't right and the other students didn't look that way because they were friends but because of something else but Haley was incredibly proud of her and impressed.

"Yeah, that must be why." Haley mumbled, looking away sheepishly so she wouldn't have to look her friend in the eye. She felt bad that she was the only one who didn't know. That she was acting like this for Haley and didn't know the truth. It was unfair, but Haley was fighting with herself. She wanted to tell her right away, she felt like she owed it to her but on the other hand she didn't want to say a word about it. She wanted to forget and most of all she was afraid of her reaction. Would she be shocked? Would she be mad at Haley? Would she be afraid of Haley, too? All these questions and the possible reactions scared Haley.

The two wandered down the dark hallways in the basement and things quieted down. Haley had so much on her mind but the words did not find their way out. All that could be heard were their footsteps on the stone floor. And the longer the two walked, the more uncomfortable Haley became with the situation. Lavinia had surely already noticed that something had changed in Haley's mood and so she avoided looking at her.

However, Haley reached a point where she couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't stand the silence and her guilty conscience any longer. She owed it to her friend not to leave her in ignorance. But will she still be her friend in a few minutes? Or will Haley end up being what Lavinia was so afraid of down here. The monster that might hurt her?

"Um, I need to tell you something," Haley began to address, clearing her throat briefly. She was still searching for the right words and scratched the back of her head, "All those students just, well, they didn't look at us so stupid because we're from different houses." Haley tried to take things slowly and not just drop the bomb right away. "They looked at us like that because of ME."

Haley again paused for a brief moment and looked over at Lavinia uncertainly. With the two of them still walking, she played nervously with her hands. She certainly had to wonder why Haley could be so sure about that, but she would find out the reasoning in a moment. Before Haley continued, she took one deep breath and gathered all the courage she had. "That's part of the reason I haven't been doing so well lately. All those stares, all that whispering. And to be honest, it was nice to finally meet someone who didn't know. Who didn't know me from all the rumors and made me forget for a moment." At those words, Haley now looked back at Lavinia and gave her a grateful smile. Haley wasn't sure, but she suspected she could see confusion in her gaze. Who could have blamed her, either? After all, Haley had been beating around the bush for a few minutes.

"You have to know, I received a howler from my mother not too long ago." At that memory, the anger in Haley came up again and her gaze, which was once again fixed on the floor, narrowed. Her fists clenched and she felt that hatred again. "I was lucky because it was early in the morning on a Saturday. Yet you have known Hogwarts longer than I have now and the whole thing has spread like wildfire and it almost feels like the whole school knows about it." But that wasn't all, and Haley knew now came the part of the story she wanted to drag out as long as possible.

"But they're not just talking because I got a howler. That wouldn't be interesting enough and I'm sure hardly anyone would talk about it today." Why couldn't it be that way Haley kept asking herself. But no one could change the past. "Everyone looks at me that way because of the contents of the howler. Because of what my mother said and because of my secret that she told." Haley's heart beat faster and stronger, feeling like it was about to jump out of her chest. Her palms became sweaty and she was incredibly afraid of the reaction to come.

"Lavinia, I'm sorry I'm only telling you now. It was wrong of me to leave you in this unknowing while everyone else knew. Because of me, you got dragged into this and because of me, you got looked at strange too. Lavinia, I'm a parselmouth." Haley only dared to look shortly at her friend, if she wanted to be friends with Haley at all. And then Haley fell silent. She didn't know what else to say, and so she said nothing. And it got quiet. Quieter than before, because it had suddenly occurred to Haley that she had unconsciously stopped walking. Now it was a pure silence, not even her footsteps on the floor could be heard and Haley was sure that if you listened very carefully, you could hear her heart hammering in her chest.

@Haley Rose

“It is pretty cool to have him as a dad, he used to play on the Appleby Arrows but before he retired he was barely ever home so it’s good to be able to talk to him whenever I want to now.” Lavinia didn’t really want to talk about her dad but it did take her mind off the fear that the basement could bring. She just didn’t want Haley to think that she was boasting about her dad’s great skills.

Then as they kept walking down, Lavinia noticed that after she had called out all the students staring Haley’s mouth formed into an O shape for a half a second. What did that mean? Was she shocked that she had stood up for her or was it something else? There was no reason for those students to think that they could just be rude to someone for a probable personal reason.

After a little bit more walking in silence Haley started to tell Lavinia about why the students were staring. To Lavinia this seemed like Haley was going to share what had been nothing her so much and it made Lavinia feel better to know that she had the trust. As Lavinia had assumed, Haley said that they were staring because of her and it didn’t make Lavinia care about Haley any less, if anything she wanted to make sure Haley knew she cared about her so she put a reassuring smile on and turned to face Haley.

A Howler. Her mom had gave her a howler that almost the entire school had heard and it was about a secret Haley held, Haley was a parselmouth.

In all honesty this didn’t come as much of a shock to Lavinia as it probably should have. She knew that something was different about Haley that had made most of the school turn on her and it made so much sense now. Even though she had just known Haley for a little bit she felt compelled to make her more comfortable about herself. Being a parselmouth wasn’t something she could control and it didn’t matter to Lavinia that much, the only thing that really mattered was that Haley was still going through all of this whisper and bullying. All of this was just because of the stigma sand the stereotype that all parselmouths were evil witches and wizards.

So Lavinia about 10 seconds after Haley dropped the news, turned to her and started talking in a curios tone; ”So you’re a parselmouth. If I’m honest with you it doesn’t matter to me a bit, I think that people need to get out of their head and their biases that everyone who is cool enough to talk to snakes is going to grow up to be some sort of psychopath.” Pausing for moment to recollect some of her thoughts and let the message sink in, Lavinia realized that this journey wasn’t just about her conquering her fear of the unknown, it was also about Haley being able to talk to someone about being a parselmouth.

Upon realizing this, she started up again;”Haley, I know we’ve only known each other for a few minutes but I want to let you know that this treatment that the other students are giving you is disgusting and you deserve so much better. I think that being a parselmouth is a unique ability that should be celebrated not bullied for and what your mom did with the howler is very un called for, I mean it’s not like you can change the fact you got this gift through genetics. You are awesome Haley and the fact that you can talk to snakes does not damage this, what I’d like to call friendship that we’ve made.”

There wasn’t much more to say and Lavinia had put her heart into every word all that she could hope was that Haley understood the message she was trying to send.

@Lavinia Cloven

It took a moment before Haley's legs started moving again, her gaze still fixed on her feet. Her thoughts and feelings were going crazy and she didn't know what to do with herself. As she walked slowly beside Lavinia again, she rubbed her sweaty hands together restlessly. She felt relieved on one side because she was honest and it was never easy for her not to be. Even if she hadn't lied to Lavinia, it had felt that way. But she was also afraid. Afraid of her reaction. And while all this was going on inside Haley, only a few seconds passed before Lavinia spoke up.

At first, she thought that was the end for their friendship. She prepared herself for Lavinia to throw all kinds of things at her, but she didn't. She didn't care. Haley looked up from her feet in amazement and looked at Lavinia in confusion. She couldn't help laughing, she loved the dry humor and was glad to have found someone who also had it. Haley was anything but a psychopath, but she would be lying if she said she had never thought about whether the gene that triggered this talent in her would eventually affect her personality.

The nervousness subsided a bit and Haley felt even more relieved. She listened to Lavinia's words and smiled softly to herself. It was incredibly nice what she said to her. The words she chose and the honesty reflected in her voice. "Thank you. Not only for being my friend but more for your words. This really mean a lot to me." Replied Haley, smiling at her again with gratitude. She felt like the whole school was thinking negatively about her, but that was bullshit. Her friends had her back, new acquaintances who became friends weren't deterred by that either, and even all the strangers who really thought badly of Haley were much less in reality than it felt to her.

While the two were talking, they had taken a lap around the basement and were now back to square one. Not only was Haley able to put her worries and frustration about her whole situation behind her, but it also seemed like Lavinia had put her fears behind her. "So, still afraid of the basement?" Haley asked cautiously.

@Haley Rose

Lavinia had meant every word to Haley and really hoped that she would feel better around others. No one deserved to be treated the way that Haley had been treated by other classmates. Just the fact that Haley was going through this lit a spark in Lavinia and all of her previous worries were pushed to the side. She wanted to make sure that Haley and others felt comfortable being who they are in public.

As Haley responded with thanks, Lavinia was unsure what to say next so decided to just say, “Of course Haley, I meant every word.” She would always try and stand up for what she believed because everyone deserved the same treatment. With her brain on other matters, Lavinia didn’t even realize that they had already taken a lap around the basement until Haley pointed it out.

Was she even still afraid of the Basement? There was a little part of her that definitely was still scared but she had buried that with her other emotions. They had already done a lap and she hadn’t been afraid during it. This didn’t mean she was completely cured of her fears, she was just adjusting. Her mind had been in something else in that moment and now that she thought about it, it wasn’t bad. The basement was just what she had tried measure her fears as.

Lavinia turned to Haley and said ”In some sense I still am scared but, I think I was more focused on the awful treatment your going through that I didn’t even realize we had just finished a lap.” Lavinia was a talkative person and felt as though she could trust Haley to say a little bit more. “So . . . I guess I owe you some thanks in a way for making me realize that there are much worse things out there then just the fear of the basement or unknown. This lap even effect me and I’d like to thank you for that.”

@Lavinia Cloven

It almost seemed to Haley that Lavinia was this little coincidence that was supposed to show her that she shouldn't hang her head. That things would get better and she should look forward. And that was exactly what she was going to do. In a few weeks everything would be forgotten again, as it always was, she was sure. She was more than grateful for this spontaneous meeting and already felt a little better.

Haley nodded to Lavinia with a smile. She was sure she had meant every word and silently expressed her gratitude again. She just hoped that she could help her a little too, at least a little or a first step in the direction without fears. And if not, Haley would still continue to offer her a helping hand, because fear was the last thing anyone should feel permanently.

Haley started to laugh a little as Lavinia explained her thoughts, "Well, at least I could help a little then. But you don't have to thank me, really. You can come to me anytime and I'll be happy to help where I can to shake off the fears a little." She smiled encouragingly at her new acquaintance and as the two made their way back, she really hoped that their paths would cross again.

Haley has left the thread

@Haley Rose

Lavinia smiled back at Haley as they started walking out of the basement. She felt as though she had accomplished a great feat by going down there. As Haley started to break away, Lavinia said, “Bye Haley! It was great to meet you and I hope I see you again soon!”

Just hours ago, Lavinia would have never predicted that she would have traveled to the basement of the school or met a new person. She had assumed her trip to the owlery would have just been her taking a small trip out of her comfort zone to mail a letter but it had been so much more. She was so glad that she decided to go because she wasn’t just able to help Haley out, she was able to help herself.

It was the small steps like this that made her more comfortable with going to school events and would really help her fears start to go away. Soon she might be attending the balls or leaving her room to meet others. Haley had helped her out in a great way, she hadn’t even noticed her fear when talking about what Haley was going through. This was making her realize that it must not be as bad as she thought and that she needed to start living her life without being in a constant state of fear.

Lavinia has left the thread