We’re partners! I hope you don’t mind. PV Tory Williamson Closed

"Um..hi." A voice mumbled, startling Tory half out of her chair. "Gah!" She exclaimed, scrambling back to her seat. "I mean, hello, there." She quickly said afterward, glancing at the girl next to her who was now speaking again, sounding a bit more clear. “I was hoping you could remind me what we're doing-?” She said. "Oh, yeah, sure." Replied Tory in a friendly tone, her eyes flickering to the other girl's pleasant, crystal blue ones. They reminded her of the open blue skies in the meadows back at home during the summer, where she'd play for hours without a single thought crossing her mind. "We were um mixing the lavender and slugs into our cauldrons." She responded, not letting her mind drift away from potions class.

Summer is over now She reminded herself mentally. You have things to do, spells to cast, and potions to make The little voice in her head lectured in an affirmative tone. Although long, and utterly, unbelievably lonely, Tory's summer was a nice break from school. During the year she put most of her time and effort into her schoolwork, not socializing, so being home for a few months was a great time to sit back and relax for once. Still, her and her mother's relationship had started to worsen as they had been cooped up with each other for a full 9 years of both of their lives. Even now the girl couldn't help but think about why she was growing distant from her mother. Was it her fault? Her mother's fault? Maybe they were too different, maybe they were too similar.

Realizing she was getting off task again, the Gryffindor popped back into reality, letting herself and her thoughts come back into the present. She gave herself the same speech in her head as she had before: Summer is over now. You have things to do, spells to cast, and potions to make.

She glanced sideways at the other girl again, taking her appearance in. She was quite pretty, Tory thought, as she had golden tan skin and hair that was the color of caramel. "What's your name?" She proceeded to ask, focusing her attention on her potion and mixing in two teaspoons of some powdery-looking thing she had mindlessly ground up as her mind had drifted lightyears away just minutes ago. "I'm Tory", she reached out her hand to introduce herself, "Tory Williamson".

@Dakota Olson

Dakota had gotten a bit worried for a moment, blinking towards the person she had been seated with as she silently begun to wander if she had been too quiet. She had been reaching out a hand to tap the other girl on her shoulder when Dakota watched as she nearly jumped out of the chair. “Sorry!” Dakota had called out, biting down on her lip as she started towards the other girl. Dakota hadn’t meant to startle her partner, it had just..happened. Pausing for a moment, Dakota listened as her partner said hello, which, in turn brought a small smile to the tanned girls face, though it had only been a small one. Dakota peered back at the other as she awaited the response, giving a little nod once she had the assignment explained to her. “Thank you,” she had said, a happy undertone in her voice.

Dakota hadn’t been able to deduce what was happening behind the other girls eyes, as Tory now seemed to be the one out fo the two of them that was no longer mentally there. For a moment, and only a moment, Dakota had wandered what was happening behind Torys gaze, Dakota starring into hers with her own blue eyes as she gave a little tilt with her head. Though, after that moment was over, Dakota had been quick to round back towards what she was supposed to be doing, her gaze searching the table for her supplies before she pushed the leather bound book closed and away, pulling the supplies she required towards herself before taking in a light breath. Ugh, mixing slugs was always the worse for Dakota, she hated the feeling of them, even as a little girl she’d run from the slimy things. So, ever so hesitantly, Dakota had begun to attempt to do what she needed to do.

Dakota hadn’t noticed the fact that the other girl had glanced back towards her, nor the obvious of what Tory was thinking about. Her attention seemed solely focused on the matter at hand as she dropped the slug into her cauldron, wrinkling her nose lightly before a voice had reached her ears. Rounding to look back towards her partner, Dakota had tilted her head to the side, seemingly attempting to process the question which she hadn’t been paying much attention to in the first place. However, once Tory had introduced herself, Dakota had seemed to get the hint as she perked up a bit and reached her hand out, taking Torys and shaking it. “I’m Dakota,” pausing, it seemed almost like she had forgotten her last name as her gaze flickered around before returning to the brown haired girl. “Dakota Olson,” a warm smile lingered along her lips as it pushed Dakotas cheeks up and scrunched up her eyes, as Dakotas chubby cheeks were also called apple cheeks by her family. “It’s nice to meet you!” she had puffed out, nodding with quite a bit of convection.

@Tory Williamson

Glancing quickly at Dakota as she introduced herself, Tory was careful not to allow herself to get distracted. She'd rather not leave class with slug guts and and lavender covering her Gryffindor uniform. Speaking of uniform, the other girl appeared to not be in one, which the second-year took with some surprise. She had thought it was mandatory, or she was just too much of a 'goody-goody-two-shoes' to actually find out. "What house are you in?" She asked, most of her attention centered on her black cauldron. She was being extra sure not to let it spill over the top as she whirled her spoon around and around through the mixture.

As she repeatedly moved her hand in a swirling motion, she got mesmerized, and her head dipped back into the clouds. Her thoughts and memories engulfing her once again. Her summer had been fairly boring, except for a visit from her close friend and the summer camp here at Hogwarts, but now that she was back at school, it was just different. Of course, she had loved and missed Hogwarts dearly, but she was constantly reminiscing back to the warm, sunny days of the meadows and the forest. Now she had to go back to the grind. The grind of schoolwork and the chilly, Scottish mountains, Gryffindor common room, the oh so many people she had to see each day. It was a rush, to say the least.

She only emerged out of her mind when she realized her lap now had a gooey substance leaking into it . It was just her luck, she had to knock over the cauldron and spill the potion when her heads were off in the clouds. Just had to. It was now spilling across the table at a rapid pace like toxic waste, and it rolled over Dakota's notes and off the edge of the flat surface, babbling into her lap also. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" Tory exclaimed, frantically searching around for some towels she could use to clean it off, and snatching both her's and the other girl's notes before they got more damaged by the potion.

@Dakota Olson

Dakota had been chewing on her fingernails as she used her right hand to stir her cauldron, her legs crisscrossed in the seat. She had seen Tory glance at her out of the corner of her eye, causing Dakota to cast a glance towards the other girl. She hadn’t realized that she had simply dressed in muggle clothing as Dakota had hardly slept through the night. Her tired brain had, instead of stuffing the muggle clothing into her bag for later, had ended up shoving her uniform into it and put on the muggle clothing. This certainly wasn’t uncommon for her to do, seeing as during her muggle schooling this had happened before time and time again, but she had simply forgot the actual uniform and her older brothers had to be called. The question was quick to snap Dakota back to reality, blinking slowly before a soft grin appeared along her thinner lips. “Oh! Hufflepuff,” she stated, puffing her chest out as if she was proud of it. Of course she was, Dakota believed being a Hufflepuff was one of the best houses, “and you?” Dakota questioned, her gaze showing curious.

She watched as Torys mind seemed to slip away from the current moment. Silently, Dakota wondered what the other girl could’ve been thinking about. Instead of questioning Tory on what she could be thinking, Dakota took this moment to examine Tory, her gaze following up and down the other girl. Dakota was particularly drawn to the seemingly straight, shiny brown hair and the other girls pierced ears. Dakota, in all honesty, found Tory to be a beautiful second year on the outside, but she wasn’t so sure about on the inside.

Dakota, however, had not realized the cauldron had been knocked over and was rapidly dripping down into Torys lap. Dakotas gaze was brought to the substance when Tory had apologized, her lips starting to form a question before her blue eyes widened and she had jumped up, reaching onto the table and hurriedly grabbing the leather bound notebook, the one that was her personal one and not for notes. Her heart thumped as Dakota hurriedly swept the gooey substance off of the pages. She hadn’t even realized the substance had rolled into her lap until Tory apologized, Dakotas gaze flickering down to it before she seemed to frown slightly. However, she had set the notebook to the side and begun to attempt to help Tory clean up, a soft giggle rising up to her lips as she grinned softly over at the other girl. “Don’t worry,” Dakota commented, her gaze sparkling “this is the least bored I’ve been all class,” as she swept her sleeve along the table to collect the goop, Dakota had turned to her bag and began to rummage through it. ”Plus, don’t even worry about my clothes,” a soft shrug accompanied this as she pulled the uniform, the one which she had accidentally stuffed into her bag instead of her muggle clothing, out. “I have a ton of other jeans and sweaters,” pausing, another light frown appeared. “Do you have something to change into?” she had questioned, continuing to help clean up the mess.

@Tory Williamson

Don’t worry about it

Taken aback by Dakota's kindness and calmness hroughout the entire situation, Tory stayed quiet for a few seconds. "Er- no, I don't really have anything, " She began, but didn't finish, and instead focused on wiping everything clean with some lose papers she had ripped out of her notebook in the moment of panic. "But um, it's ok, I'll figure something out," She finally finished, taking a good glance at her gooey sleeves and lap. It was only a few more periods until lunch, she could handle it. Plus, one of those periods was herbology, so she probably would have gotten all messy then, anyway.

A sense of relief mixed satisfaction rushed over her as she reassured herself about her filthy clothing. The Gryffindor liked to know the answers; to have everything figured out and covered. Refocusing her attention onto the potion itself, she began to decided what she should do next. The mess, for one thing, had subsided for the most part and the surface of the table and everything else was a whole lot cleaner. Restart the potion and do it all again, she decided after pondering for a few minutes.

"Guess I better restart then, huh?" She said, more to herself than to the sweet Hufflepuff girl sitting next to her. Brewing the potion seemed to go way slower the second time around, especially when she was keeping her eyes on the cauldron as if it was about to jump out and attack. No more spillage was going to happen again, Tory said to herself, hoping it would be true because she seriously didn't have anything else to wear, and if these got any worse she'd just have to suck it up.

"Um, I'm sorry, again, " The words came out unexpectedly, sort of stumbling out of her meekly. Embarassed at how unintetionally quiet she had been, she mentally face-palmed. Maybe she was just having a not so great day. Maybe every class was going to be like this. Oh, Godric, She thought, if every other class has bad luck like this one I'm going to drop out of Hogwarts. The thoughts were clear. She'd fall and hurt herself during Defense Against the Dark Arts, tragically mess up a spell somehow during Charms, and probably manage to ruin another student's day in Transfiguration by turning them into a bird.

Oh, yay.

@Dakota Olson

Dakota had seemed a little worried when Tory grew quiet. Had she said something wrong? Was asking if Tory had another set of clothing offending in some way or another? Dakota had always carried around a extra pair of clothes in case she needed it as her grandmother on the Olson’s side had been sure to drill into Dakota that she should always bring extras of something she may need. When she went to Oklahoma she had a bulging suitcase because of the extras she had packed, which incited a few looks from her brothers and sister. Dakota never minded the looks, instead she actually quite enjoyed them as it made her feel like she was doing something the others hadn’t even thought about doing. She brought extra clothes for formal events, for nighttime, incase she spilled supper on her shirt, and even a extra swimsuit that hung off her shoulders and had little pink flowers along it against a black background.

Her mind had drifted. Dakota barely even realized that as she blinked slowly and seemed to re-emerge into the moment she was currently in. Biting down on her lip as Tory commented on the fact that she in fact did not have something to change into. A soft frown appeared along her lips as Dakota glanced down towards the skirt, shirt and robes tucked on top of her bag. Her mind drifted away again, back to when she was only a little girl and was helping her grandmother clean out a stain in one of her pretty little dresses that Dakota had gotten mud on. “Don’t put any harsh chemicals on it,” she remembered Grandma Olson commenting as she swatted away her grandchild’s hands from the bleach. “Use something gentle, hand sanitizer works to get sharpie off your skin, but food and dirt stains can sometimes be gotten out with a simple bit of water and soap,” once she had resurfaced, it seemed to click in her head, and the look along her face showed it too.

“We can see if we can get it off you after class,” her fingers were reaching out towards her own clothing as Dakota remembered a small trick her cousins had taught her to make it easier when changing. “Sometimes cold water and some soap does wonders,” though she had noticed Tory restarting, a little smile appeared when the other girl had said something, Dakotas gaze showing humor before she had slid the school uniforms white shirt over her own sweater and lightly tugged the sweater out from under her white shirt, knowing she already had a tank top on under it Dakota wasn’t too preoccupied. Next she had loosely put her tie around her neck before slipping on the grey sweater vest. She’d switch her jeans to her skirt after class, but at least her top half wouldn’t be out of dress code for the time being. Her shoulder relaxed slightly as she folded the sweater she had been wearing before and shoved it down into her bag before returning to Tory, Dakota working her fingers to tie her tie and tuck it in. “And again, don’t fret too much about it, super simple thing,” with a shrug, the small girl had relaxed slightly back in her seat and watched Tory closely.

@Tory Williamson

So sorry for the delay!!

It' s not that people weren't nice to Tory Williamson (except for Gabriella Haworth, that rat), it's just that they were rarely this nice to her. Don't get her wrong, she enjoyed the friendliness her potion's partner was portraying. It was no wonder she was a Hufflepuff, being so forgiving and offering to help the Gryffindor clean off her uniform after class and all. In response to the other girl's offer, Tory kept her eyes on her cauldron as she spoke. "It would be wonderful if you could help me wash this mess off, as you seem to know quite a bit about cleaning stains, somehow," a small chuckle came out of the brunette's mouth, "thank you, Dakota."Her tone was cheery, the corners of her mouth tugging into a smile. She jutted out her hand, ready to shake, towards the other girl sitting next to her, "so uh, we're friends, then?"

The 12 year old's eyes stayed on the cauldron as she continued to stir it, the concauction swirling around in a mezmorizing manner. Her gaze wandered over to Dakota, only for the girl to see sky-blue eyes staring right back at her. Flustered by the sudden eye contact, Tory quickly looked away and pretended it hadn't happened. The clock perched on the dungeon wall seemed to go in slow motion after that as she repeated the same process of adding an ingredient, mixing, and then adding something else over and over.

Tory sighed after a while, her mind blank with boredom. "Is it just me, or is this extremely boring?" She inquired, more to herself than to the caramel-haired girl sitting next to her. The Gryffindor's mind needed stimulations and challenges to function properly, and this wasn't much of a challenge at all, other than reading a few sentences to decide what ingredient to add next. Since she was a young child, the girl had been introduced to tons of books and other puzzles of sorts to keep herself busy while her mother was at work and she was all alone all day. Thus, if she wasn't doing anything that at least required a teensy bit of brain power, she'd easily zone off and not put any more effort into it, as she was doing right now.

Yawning, she looked over at her potions partner again.

@Dakota Olson
Also mentioning @Gabriella Haworth

For as long as Dakota could remember, she had always been “the sweet one”. It wasn’t like she minded it too terribly. Did she like being told that crying didn’t solve every problem? No, because she knew that it didn’t and it seemed like a stupid thing to remind people with. Was she treated as the odd one out? Yes, not many people around Dakota was as emotional or kind as her. Did it hurt? Sometimes. Ah, she was being spoken to again. Raising her attention to rest on Tory, Dakota gave a raise of her brows as she nodded along to the girls words. The chuckle roused a small smile to push the corners of Dakota lips upwards as a soft giggle came out. Sure, maybe it was odd that someone her age knew so much about cleaning, but when you’re family owned a farm, and you were a leash kid..you had to know how to get things out.

Gaze falling back towards Tory after escaping the thought of her wearing that little backpack with a leash attached to it. What was Tory thanking her for again? As, yes. “Of course,” offering a much warmer and wider smile, Dakotas apple cheeks pushed her eyes to crinkle up. It was a thing that had happened since she was a child, and her grandmother always attributed it towards the fact that Dakota simply had a chubby face, but she didn’t quite like it. The mention of Dakota and Tory being friends seemed to only brighten Dakotas expression. She hadn’t had many of those I back in her muggle school, and it was funny how she was suddenly making more in a place where she fit in. “I mean, I would certainly say we are!” enthusiasm seemed to ooze from Dakotas words as she held her hands tucked together in her lap.

Frowning, Dakotas gaze flickered around the potions classroom. There was so many other things she could be doing now, seeing friends, reading books, eating..well, maybe not many things. Her attention was caught by Tory’s voice as Dakota raised her thicker eyebrows before giving a hurried nod and in response murmuring a light “yeah, it is boring,” towards her partner as she thought over how exactly the two could make it a little less boring. How was she supposed to pay attention when she was bored? Blinking when Tory had looked towards her, Dakotas mind raced to attempt to figure out why she was. Coming to the simple conclusion that Tory was looking towards Dakota for no reason in particular, Dakota offered her a warm smile.”what do you have next for classes?”

@Tory Williamson