The Dream of the Patronus PV Closed

Jacqueline pretended not to notice when he smiled after she accepted walking with him. Probably won’t happen ever again, anyway, she thought. Adjusting her hold on her things. He’s probably just gonna’ end up annoying me.

She declined the hair tie with a shake of her head. Jacqueline was fond of her large, curly mane. She only tied it up when she was doing something physically tolling, like racing or exercising. The rest of time it was spread around her and down her back, to the middle of her back in it’s shrunken state. Besides, what kind of adventure did he figure they were going to have in this castle, if he even planned to stay inside. Jacqueline hadn’t done too much yet so she wasn’t the best for adventures, but that was really only because she hadn’t thought on it yet. She tried to think about things she might’ve heard about the school that was interest points.

She watched him take in her name. Jacqueline considered telling him her other nickname that often caught people off guard, Jack, but she already told him the normal ones. She usually told people to call her Jack as a small joke. Her father used to call her that back when she was really into looking like a tomboy, taking a hard past to anything fairly feminine. Now she was more accepting of her girliness for some reason. Either way, he’d probably find out eventually if he decided to stick around her; most known her as Jack or Jay, outside of Professors.

Asher? Interesting. She guessed he looked like one. She wondered where ‘Zeph’ came from. Maybe it was a significant nickname, sounded kinda cool.

Jacqueline noticed the Slytherin patch on his bag. Oh…well, then. She wonder what it even really meant to be a Slytherin. She heard all of the primary traits of each House, and their histories, but she felt like most people were just the same, all fit into these things. Well, at least kids her age. Maybe as they got older the signs would be more prominent. To be honest, Jacqueline felt she very well could fit into any of the other houses. Maybe not Gryffindor, though.

“Slytherin.” She looked around then took a step towards the exit. “Where do you even want to go, or are you just trying to wander until you we find the gold? At the end of the rainbow? By the way, I have to stop by the Owlery.” Jacqueline lifted her supplies for emphasis.

He nodded as she declined the hair tie, tucking it back into his bag before facing her front on. He had to admit her hair was absolutely beautiful. It was a lot more curly than his and the way it flowed framed her face perfectly and for some reason, he genuinely could not see her with any other kind of hair, as the curly just fit her, and her personality perfectly. It's maintained, but there's a part of it that's simply out of control and fiery. But for now, he kept those thoughts to himself.

He let out a small, semi-quiet laugh when she made the comment she did. "I believe the only place you can find gold is in Gringotts, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone hid some here in the castle. But no, I was more wondering if you wanted to simply wander the halls or go outside. There's land, lakes, and rivers as far as the eye can see...I'm sure we'll find something."

When Jaqueline mentioned she needed to go to the Owlery he nodded, trying to map out where they could go from there. "Of course, we can stop by, I have to check to see if my mom sent me anything anyways, she said that there may be some mail or a package coming soon...no idea what it is..."

He trailed off, trying to think of what his mother could have sent him. She had a habit of gift-giving to show love instead of saying 'I love you', but he knew she meant it either way. "Alright, let's head out Jay..."

Jacqueline recalled the dying light. Even though she wasn’t against exploring at night she wasn’t really in the mood for it at the moment, and she also barely knew the guy, literally just learning his name. Sticking inside the castle was good enough, though even then being alone with someone you didn’t entirely trust wasn’t always the best. Though Jacqueline didn’t exactly feel unsafe around Asher…yet.

”Hm,” she said as they stepped into the hallway and began to walk. ”After the owlery I guess we can go…I actually really don’t know.” Jacqueline didn’t like admitting when she didn’t know something to much, it kind of made her feel incompetent sometimes, even though she had been told over and over again, even by her own mother who was strict about failures, that it was okay to make mistakes sometimes. When it came to things that she was passionate about, which was nearly anything that had to do with testing her intelligence and strength, Jacqueline just couldn’t help but be hard on herself. Good thing she had goo integrity and self-esteem so it wouldn’t get anywhere close to being detrimental.

“I don’t want to leave the castle right now, I rather stay inside.” They started heading towards the Owlery, which was in the West Tower, not too far away but far enough for them to have a good talk about anything. Unless they got distracted along the way by whatever weird things go on around the castle.

”So, where are you from?” Jacqueline noted his Scottish accent.

He nodded at her comment to stay inside, it was getting quite dark outside and he had to admit that with very little knowledge of the grounds, the possibility of getting lost was high, and if there was anything Asher wanted to avoid more than getting lost, it was getting lost at night in an area that he was incredibly unfamiliar with, and he was glad Jacqueline wanted to stay inside as well. At least in the castle you somehow could always find your way back to where you began.

He noted Jaqueline's English accent and responded with "Scotland...Glasglow specifically. What about you? You seem to have an English accent but I could be wrong." He only asked about her accent as it sounded very familiar to that similar to one a friend had who was from England that often visited Asher during the summer and stayed over for a week or two. He wondered how he was doing.

He thought about where they could go after the library and responded softly with "Well there are many floors here, and if we wanted we could also somehow find our way back to the common room if you would like. But there are dozens of classrooms, study rooms, abandoned lavatories, and I believe that there's a Trophy Room somewhere that somewhat piques my interest. But those are just my ideas...what about you. There must be some part of the castle that seems more intriguing than the rest."

She looked at him curiously. “I’m guessing that you‘ve been around Scotties your whole life. My accent is pretty common to recognize in these parts. I was born in England.” That reminded Jacqueline about how everyone comes from so many different backgrounds in this school, whether it was being born on an entirely different continent or being secluded to their hometown up until now. She herself traveled around Europe but spent most of her time in the kingdom, especially London. Her mother worked for the Ministry while her father was a journalist, and he used to take her along when he would travel the world to get information for his pieces. Jacqueline was aware of many different accents. She found the American ones the most interesting.

”I said I don’t really know where to go,” she replied, in response to his query about her ideas. ”I haven’t explored much before, or thought about it. More focused on my studies. But this place gets quite boring at times, don’t want to yawn myself to death.” Jacqueline thought for a moment about his suggestions. “Yeah, I guess we can try the Trophy Room. I think whatever’s really interesting we’d have to just discover for ourselves, this place is meant to just be a school anyway. Except it’s a gigantic castle so there’s bound to be something. There’s too many crazy stories for there not to be.”

While they were ascending a flight of steps two girls were walking down. Jacqueline instinctively increased the distance between her and Asher. The girls didn’t really pay them anymore, or at least her any mind. They seemed to take more interest in him. Jacqueline pursed her lips but kept going on, focused on making sure they made their way to the Owlery.

“Say, did you want to be in Slytherin?” Although she didn’t particularly care herself, she had met a few years who actually cried because they were sorted into the House of Serpents, fearing that they were either going to be bullied or end up dreadfully evil like He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Asher couldn't help but laugh at her comment. "Yeah my accent is pretty heavy, you should hear my dad's it's genuinely insane how thick and deep it is." When his dad first started working for the ministry there were a lot of people there who genuinely couldn't understand him. Most of them had British or general English accents and they had never heard such a thick, heavy Scottish one before. He remembered his dad coming home one day and yelling that he needed a new voice because all the people at work couldn't understand him and it made his job a million times harder.

Asher shocked himself out of his thoughts and said "I figured you were somewhere from England but I wasn't sure and didn't want to assume. Your accent is pretty though, it suits you..." He trailed off softly as two girls, potentially first or second year, walked past them, and he couldn't help but notice that Jaqueline made some space between the two of them. He frowned slightly and wondered why but just figured she wanted some space. He turned his head back and continued on the way to the Owlry.

At her comment about the crazy stories, he smiled slightly. He remembered his mother and father, and even brothers telling him tales of what Hogwarts was like years ago when the 'Boy who Lived' attended and when He-who-shall-not-be-named wreaked havoc on the whole school and those who resided within the walls. He had heard tales of the Chamber of Secrets, Mirror of Erised, the creatures deep within the Dark Forest, and of course the many forbidden floors and rooms, including the Room of Requirement. So many stories and so little time to discover all of the secrets that lie within the ancient walls.

"I think the trophy room is a good place to start. I would love to see some of the Quidditch trophies and even some of the academic ones...I hope I get one someday." Asher had to admit he was tough on himself, probably tougher than his own parents. He wanted to reach the top but he also wanted to do it fairly, and he didn't want to cheat his way there. He also had to live up to his two brothers who had so many achievements in sports and academics, oftentimes it was stressful.

When Jay asked if he wanted to be in Slytherin it made him stop walking for a second and then look down at his bag before he started walking again. That was a question he had thought about since the day he was sorted. He stayed quiet for a minute or two and then said "My whole family has been in the Slytherin house for centuries, my parents, brothers, aunts, uncles, everyone...Even if I didn't want to be in this house I feel like it was fate. And the Sorting Hat is never wrong, there's a reason why I'm in this house...there's a purpose to it...I just don't know what it is yet. What about you? Did you...or do you want to be in Slytherin?"

Jacqueline actually…liked his accent in particular, but she probably would never, ever say that aloud. It was something about his cadence and demeanor together that made his Scottish accent quite the more relaxing. Usually the Slytherin was put off by boys who were strangely kind to her, being used to constant teasing and horseplay when she was younger with her male cousins and neighbors. Whenever any of them even pretended to be extra nice to her she used to punch or kick them. She very much had been the biggest tomboy of the girls and didn’t like feminine treatments. Puberty seemed to say different now, no matter how much she wanted to revert.

Especially when he called her accent pretty, which she did her best to ignore. It’s literally just an accent, nothing extraordinary about it. She looked away and rolled her eyes. She noticed how his subtle reaction when she moved away but didn’t care. They didn’t need to be that close anyway.

He said that he wanted to see the Quidditch and academic awards, admitting that he wanted one, too. Jacqueline wondered if he would be potential competition, then. She wondered if he was particularly clever. Now that she thought about, Jacqueline couldn’t really read him that well. Asher gave off a lot of ‘average’ energy. Not in the sense of dullness but in casualness. She felt like she wouldn’t be able to judge him unless she actually tested him to see if he were smart, strong, and/or creative. Even though it would sound common sense to do that to judge someone’s persona, Jacqueline usually could tell what kind of person someone was within minutes but either Asher was hard to read or she was clouded by her own…whatever was going on.

He said that his whole family has been in Slytherin for centuries. She wondered if he were Pureblood, which would make even more sense. Jacqueline felt like all types of people joined Slytherin. But maybe it was some deep, hidden core thing that they all had in common that brought them together. Ever since she began observing her colleagues, specifically the ones in her House, Jacqueline has been detecting a subtle similarity with each student. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it was similar to Hufflepuff students.

”Sure. I actually don’t care which. My father was in Gryffindor and mother in Slytherin. My older sister is in Ravenclaw. I feel like any of them would be great—except Gryffindor, cough—but you’re probably right, the Sorting Hat doesn’t make mistakes. And it’s not like we can change anyways, even if we really wanted to.”

They were nearing the Owlery, which was in the West Tower. She wondered how long they would be in the Trophy Room for, and what they would do afterwards. Jacqueline was actually a little hungry, she thought about potentially stopping at the Slytherin Common Room for snacks.

Zeph absolutely loved Jacqueline's accent. The way it so elegantly and softly rolled off her tongue was like sweet honey, but there was a deep, gentle roughness that underlined her voice that was perfect. The way she acted also reminded Zeph a lot of himself from when he was younger. He was tough around the edges and any time anyone would say something nice he would stiffen up, not knowing how to react or what to say, and he noticed that Jacqueline acted the same. She seemed to not know how to accept his compliments, or maybe that was just him being dumb or delusional and not noticing something.

When he explained to her what his house was he looked at her and said "My whole family is pureblood, I don't know if that has anything to do with all of us going into the Slytherin house, but I feel like that must have some small effect on the situation...I don't understand why you must be pureblood though...your blood does not and never will determine talent, effort, or your heart..." Zeph trailed off, thinking about what his mother had taught him growing up. She told him that no matter what house he was in, whether it be Slytherin or Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, he would always be her son, and his house did not determine his effort or his morals.

When she mentioned that she didn't care but showed some deep level of distaste for Gryffindor Asher raised his eyebrows. He looked at her and said, "What's wrong with Gryffindor?" even though Asher was not a part of the house he thought her comment was a little insensitive but maybe she had an experience with a Gryffindor from her past that made her dislike the house but of course...he wasn't sure of much.

He turned and noticed that they were only a few minutes away from the Owlery and he wondered what they would do after dropping off the letter, picking up his alleged package, and then visiting the trophy room...

Before coming to Hogwarts Jacqueline received most of her information about the school from her older sister, Irisse. She was three years older than her and they had a fairly good relationship, only quarreling when it came to comparing intelligence levels. Irisse had told her that she’d noticed that the majority of Slytherins were Purebloods, having the highest ratio compared to other houses. Jacqueline recalled hearing how Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts, had a despised wizards “dirtying” the bloodlines by messing with muggles, even if that endangered the longevity of the wizard family. It seemed like most Pureblood families who shared the same mindset ended up in that house.

Jacqueline’s family on her father’s side were Purebloods from aboriginal Australia and they didn’t mind mixing with muggles or wizards with muggle in their families, as long as their family were able to prosper in some way from the union. Her grandmother on her mother’s side was muggle-born but her mother was accepted because of her intellect in financial wealth, which greatly aided her Pureblood relatives line when she married her father. Jacqueline’s cousins never bothered her about it so she hadn’t given her half-blood heritage much attention, but sometimes when she saw people with muggle in their family get treated differently by other wizards she felt a heighten sense of caution. Jacqueline didn’t like to be defined by labels but her actual skill. Being Half-blood didn’t make her any less than others…or so she felt.

Asher said that his whole family was Pureblood, which made him one, as well. He didn’t know her story yet, or maybe ever, so she didn’t put much thought into it besides confirmation about it possibly being a link to him being in Slytherin. The thought of all this did make her more curious about what it actually took to be sorted into each house, like the logic behind it. Her older sister mentioned something about how the Sorting Hat actually discerned based off life choices of each student, which made sense. It was something that could only be observed overtime to figure out. Maybe that would be her little project over the years, to figure out the students who weren’t easily readible.

“I don’t think you must be Pureblood, it’s probably just happens to be that way. It probably has relation to Salazar Slytherin, who was a Pureblood who liked to keep the lines pure. My sister said that it has to do with a great sense of loyalty to what we’re passionate about, like our families, friends, or interests…to the point where we’d chose violence over empathy. Or something like that.”

Asher raised his brows at her Gryffindor comment. Jacqueline wasn’t sure why she suddenly felt a extremely tiny sense of shame because of it. She shook her head, she was definitely not ashamed, or didn’t want to be. “That’s my business, actually.” She huffed and walked a little bit faster. Maybe he would just walk away and leave her alone. She didn’t need a buddy to walk to the Owlery anyway.

”Don’t let your head get too big.” Her father’s words echoed into her head. He often said that when she became arrogant, when she was uncomfortable by someone else’s disagreement, even if they were entitled. Or when she felt like she probably was in the wrong but didn’t want to admit it because she could be really stubborn with her ideas.

She parted her lips to maybe answer but then she realized that they were in front of the Owlery. Jacqueline glanced at him with pursed lips and entered the entryway first. There was a long stairway all the way up to the top of the towers. Jacqueline wanted to get rid of some of this antsy energy. “Do you want to race? Might dust you, though.”

Growing up Asher had always heard about his family, how it was a long line of pureblood wizards, incredibly skilled in their craft, each of them specializing in something. From general magic and knowledge to potions and the dark arts, his family was filled to the brim with witches and wizards alike who knew so much about the wizarding world. He had heard many tales from his parents, his father especially, about what his grandparents were like, his great grandparents, and all of his distant relatives. However, being a pureblood was not the focus of these tales that his father told him. The focus was on the amount of blood, sweat, and tears that each of these witches and wizards put into their magic and into their knowledge, all the time they took to learn about the magical world and how to hone its powers to benefit them. Being a pureblood didn't mean anything to his parents, it was merely a title that was added to the family name.

The way he was raised also affected Asher's view on the different families as well. He truly could not understand why so many people were so focused on being pureblood, or why being half-blood or muggle-born mattered so much. What mattered was time, effort, heart, and morals, and none of that was determined by the blood that ran through your veins. That was determined by how you were raised, and how you act. Asher made it his goal to show kindness to everyone, and that had been a goal of his since he was a young boy. Even his parents were astounded by how open and kind he was, and how willing he was to accept everyone no matter what.

"Salazar Slytherin, although a creator of the school, was cold-hearted and mean. He only cared about those who were "pure" in his mind, and that's why he caused so many problems, including creating the basilisk who preyed only on those who were not purebloods...and not all Slytherins are violent you know...many are willing to choose empathy over violence to protect those they love, or protect what they've worked for. Saying that most are violent is just a rumor..."

Asher didn't mean to get defensive, but his entire life he grew up hearing how awful and cold Slytherins were, how mean and determined they were to get their way. People who he considered close friends, upon finding out that his entire family had been in Slytherin, said that Asher was destined to become just as "slithery, heartless, and cruel" as all the others...and one person even said he may grow up to be as terrible as He-who-must-not-be-named...that one stung the most.

When Jacqueline had made the comment about her dislike towards Gryffindor Asher remained quiet and didn't push. He didn't want to make her talk about something if it made her uncomfortable, after all...how was that fair to her? When she started to speed up though Asher quickened his pace. Although short-ish for his age, Asher was all leg and caught up to her fast before stopping at the stairway, and looking at Jacqueline. After she presented her challenge Asher smiled. After years of racing his brothers constantly, Asher had become quite the fast runner and was known to be the fastest young runner in his town. "I would love to race...but don't think I'll let you win easily."