Closed Small, Just For Tonight PV Finley

Flexible as she might seem, method and habit were very important to Fin. Routines were necessary to ground oneself when your external circumstances change so often, when "home" is a state of mind for years and years, not a physical place. Her morning and nightly routines were sacred to her, they helped clear her mind, ground her, even. And Finley Greer certainly needed to be grounded in the past few months.

Tidy up, brush your teeth, take a walk, change, journal, go to bed; the equation for a relaxing night. The quiddich stadium would not be Fin's first choice for walking, especially when it was so full, but it would do. The caretaker passed a few stray students, giving them a cold eye as they scampered off to their tents for the night before breaking curfew. She'd been walking for some time when a familiar red-locked figure came into view.

Farron Horne was alone, looking up at the stars. Figures, she was the Astronomy Professor. Fin stopped for a moment, looking up at the sky from where she was. It was quite a nice view from this point. She stood there, searching for the few stars and planets she could recognize, before figuring her routine could be put on pause for a moment to enjoy the sky.

She walked up to the starry blanket splayed out on the ground, careful not to startle. "Care for some company?" Finley smiled as she sat on the blanket, propping herself up with her hands as she turned her gaze towards the stars. She closed her eyes for a moment as she took a deep breath, inhaling the humid freshness of the night. "God, it's nice to slow down. I don't know if I had this much energy when I was in school. I feel sorry for my old professors if I did," she chuckled lightly.

─── ꟻH ───

Date | 11 August, 2022
Interacting | @Finley Greer
Hex Color | #A13330

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Coded by Rafael D'Spacito

Farron couldn’t help but be mildly surprised when she suddenly had a companion to stargazing. Pleasantly, it was her bunk mate. Her head popped up at the greeting and her nursery rhyme quickly halted wondering where the star was. “The more the merrier. I’m sure we can share the sky. There’s plenty of it.” A kind smiled appeared as Fin took her place, Farron shifting over from the middle to accommodate.

The observant Aussie took the moment that the Caretaker had her eyes closed to do a quick once over. She seemed tense, or perhaps serious? Definitely pretty. Someone around her age finally. Farron had always tended towards a more relaxed approach towards life. Her parents being two individuals driven towards careers, but never wanted Farron to feel like that that was all there was to life. There was joy, belly laughs, scrapes on the knees, group hugs, and exhilarating excitement. Even when the students were driving her crazy she tried to take a moment to watch their joy.

There was a special kind of wonder that came from learning about the lack of ends of the universe for the first time. A type of wonder Farron wished she could experience again. When Fin flicked her eyes back open, Farron would try and hide the fact that she was staring. “ The energy goes down just a bit… sometimes. It’s quite wonderful though, isn’t it? They have the energy and drive to just- run. Not necessarily towards a destination. But a tendency to feel joy at any and all times.” She paused, listening for the distant giggles of friends parting and promising to meet up the next day. Some escaping to tents together sun-drenched and filled with exuberance for the next day. “I never taught before Hogwarts, but my dad said there was something in me, not necessarily space knowledge, that would be profoundly useful to them. I haven’t figured out what it is yet. But now that I’m a Professor I don’t think I could ever go back to working in London as an astronomer.”

It was the first time she admitted it out loud, not wanting to return to her old position. It was shocking to even her own mind. A position she had worked so hard for, but now seemed so far away. An unfathomable decision to become a Professor turned into an unfathomable idea of ever leaving Hogwarts. “Sorry- got a bit introspective there. I just love the little peaches, I can’t wait for you to get to know them too.” She glanced over at Fin, giving her an encouraging look before returning her gaze to the stars.

“So- backpack girl, what brings you to Hogwarts?”

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The energy and drive to just run... It was an admirable quality, even though it could be quite exhausting to supervise said 'runners'. "I guess it is quite wonderful when you put it like that."

Fin looked at Farron, smiling at her new apparent nickname."What brings me to Hogwarts?" Fin let out a long breath as she re-adjusted to be lying down. "A combination of a lot of things." Christ, how was she supposed to condense all of it into a few sentences? "The last job I had kind of.. Went down in flames," a mirthless chuckle escaping her. "And then my dad's health got really bad. He, uh.. He actually passed a few months ago," Finley sniffed, feeling unable to shed any more tears over the subject. "I want to be closer to my mum while I still can, I guess. She was the one who made me apply for the opening, actually." A few silent moments passed as Finley stared up at the sky. Guess it wasn't that hard to summarize, after all. It was strange how the passage of time, even only a few months, could make people and problems feel so small, so far away. Almost as if they were never there to begin with.

She stared at the stars for a moment, quiet. Lost in empty thoughts. She found herself seemingly floating away before catching herself, feeling the texture of the blanket to ground her. "Anyways, that's my deal. What about you, coffee girl? An astronomer who never taught before ending up teaching a bunch of 'peaches' about space... That's got to be an interesting story."

─── ꟻH ───

Date | 11 August, 2022
Interacting | @Finley Greer
Hex Color | #A13330

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Coded by Rafael D'Spacito

Farron was glad the nickname went over well. There was always a slight fear that things like that would offend more than compliment. The young woman couldn't help but look back over when she started to talk about the extenuating circumstances that she talked about. Her face changing from sympathy, shock, compassion, and understanding within a few moments. She turned over, propping her head up with her hand as Finley took a few moments to process what she had said.

"We're going to be good friends you and I, just wait until you hear this." Farron had already started adding up the similarities in their lives in her head. Friends were made from similarity and proximity, and they had one of those down working together at Hogwarts. Next was similarity, and it was scary how similar their stories were. They just happened to have different timelines. She pushed up, sitting up but still leaning back on her arms to have a slight tilt towards the sky.

"My family and I grew up stargazing together, it was a common activity for us. I ended up getting a telescope when I was really young. So the astronomy career wasn't that much of a stretch." There was a small pause as she prepared herself for the latter half of her story. "I grew up in Australia, but my dad's English. This will be important later. My mom- died. In a broom accident when I was 16. It was really sudden and- awful." She shook her head, forcing her tear ducts to disappear for the moment. It had been 11 years. This was not the time to get emotional, even if she rarely talked about it. "So- when I graduated school me and my dad moved here since his family is here, to have more support. I actually inherited my mom's wand before we moved." She slipped the wand from her cardigan pocket, setting it next to her if Fin wanted to take a look.

"My mom always wanted to be a teacher. But ended up in a career of- business and gross office work and stuff like that. I'm grateful that she taught me for most of my life. So when I brought up the astronomy position with my dad, it kind of seemed like a no-brainer. An element of beginning a legacy she never had the opportunity to achieve." She looked over at Fin, a bittersweet smile on her face. "I've lived with my dad ever since we moved to London, I get wanting to be close to the parent you have. There's a part of me that wasn't able to let go of him until now. Not that he's- gone. But it's certainly different, y'know? We don't have morning tea and after dinner chats about our days. But, ultimately I'm glad I made the decision. While I miss him dearly, I know he's proud and couldn't be happier that I went for it."

Farron took a deep breath, having word vomited more in this conversation than she usually did. "Sorry, again. I'm not used to talking to adults that much anymore. Talking about- harder subjects. The realities of growing up." Her eyes moved back to the stars, her head slowing following. "The reality of burying a parent far too soon."

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Reducio

Finley was quiet as she listened. Had she buried her parent too soon? Was it ever the right time to?

She let Farron share entirely, nodding and adding the occasional "hmm" when pauses called for something to fill the silence. She took the wand that was set beside her, turning it over in her hand, feeling the texture of the wood. Would she want to inherit her mum's wand when... when the time came? Fin pursed her lips as she recalled the most recent conversations she had with her mother. They were not amicable.

Fin took out her wand from her pocket, holding the two next to each other, comparing them. She laughed softly, "I suppose if you work at a boarding school you talk to mostly kids. Didn't really think about that. What do they usually talk about? Kids, I mean." Her wand was lighter and ever so slightly longer than Farron's. God, it had been so long since she had held her wand, let alone hold (or even see) someone else's. Both felt foreign in her hand. "I keep forgetting to bring my wand places. I almost didn't bring it here, my mum had to remind me." She dropped her wand at her side before handing the other back to Farron, her eyes glued to the sky. She pointed up to a bright light, "Mercury, right?" She let her hand rest on her stomach, feeling her breath as it went in and out. "Where is your favourite place in the whole world to stargaze? I did some nighttime photography in Chile once, I might still have the photos on my pho-" Nope. No more phone. "Well, I might have printed it. I brought a few prints with me for when I actually settle in. I'll show you if I can manage to find it."

─── ꟻH ───

Date | 11 August, 2022
Interacting | @Finley Greer
Hex Color | #A13330

🌑︎ 🌒︎ 🌓︎ 🌔︎ 🌕︎ 🌖︎ 🌗︎ 🌘︎

Coded by Rafael D'Spacito

Finley seemed to be a quiet bundle of introspection. Unlike Farron she seemed to mull words over, think about what she was going to say before saying it. Farron was a never ending fountain of words. She tried to make them count, but often she found herself spilling over and out onto whoever she was talking to. At least Finley didn't seem to mind, at least for now. "What don't they talk about. They actually have a decent amount going on, those little buggers. I have some kids that ask me about astrology which is-" She paused and sighed. "-not my field. But they just want to know their future so badly, they'll do anything to figure it out. There's also things about like- farts. So, you really get the whole spectrum. There's a lot going in their heads, especially the muggles. I get it, they're trying to figure everything out."

Farron raised an eyebrow at Finley almost forgetting her wand. She would never consider leaving it at home, especially when going to a wizarding school. "Did you not use it a lot in your previous work? I mean- I supposed astronomy isn't very magic heavy. But I do use it a lot for the mundane things." Farron had a bad habit of using magic to bring papers to her or stir a pot on the stove. Something her dad admonished her for, especially since he had grown up a muggle. He preferred to do those things by hand. But she took after her mother in reaching for her wand first.

The astronomer simply made a noise of affirmation at the correct spotting of the planet, laying back down on the blanket to return to the original purpose of the night outing. She pointed at a star towards the East. "Pegasus is over there. There a few fun constellations out this time of year. Aquila, Boötes which has Arcturus, Ursa Major." She tried to point them out as she named them. Though having people see the constellations that stuck out like sore thumbs to her was always hard. "You'll have to show me when you get back. I'm sure they're beautiful. I'll even look at the ones without stars, just for you." She giggled, light and lilting. "As predictable as it is, Australia. You can go way, way, way out in the middle of nowhere. Obviously light pollution in the city is a problem. But there are parts of Australia that are untouched by it. It creates the most stunning night sky. Sometimes I wonder what the sky would look like if there were no lights." It was an optimistic thought. One that require man not to be able to see at night, but she would trade sight for the stars in less than an instant.

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