Breaking Branches and Dry Leaves OPEN

There were a lot of ways one might describe a Miss Illowy Magnard. Cold, distant, intelligent, but less known, suspicious and paranoid. Illowy had seen and experienced enough in her time at Hogwarts to believe that there was anything less then trouble going on at all time, and that potential danger lurked around every corner. Especially since the attack on Slytherin during her second year at school. This left the young witch prone to nightmares, and thus she spent many nights awake either studying in the Common Room or staring up at the ceiling in her dorm.

So when she hear the ever so soft shifting of someone coming from one of the other dorming and out into the Common Room, Illowy laid perfectly still, listening. It wasn't until she was sure that she heard the main door open that she hurried out of bed. Something was up, and she wasn't going to set by idly. Not again. The snake shoved socked feet into her boots and grabbed her wand and holster from her bedside table, moving as quickly and quietly as possible whilst securing the wand around her waist.

It didn't take long for her to catch up to the other girl, but took care to keep a safe distance and keep close to the shadows. From the distance though, she couldn't exactly tell who in the world the other was, much less what the hell she was up to. It could be anything as far as Illowy's imagination was concerned.

Once outside of the safety of the school walls and into the open moonlight, Illowy decided an extra measure of stealth might've been in order as the girl wandered out onto the grounds. Soundlessly, the girl hurried forward, her form melting away into that of little more then a dark shadow; a very large, black dog. An irish wolfhound to be more specific, nearly completely black in color save for the few patches of light grey in various part of her wiry-haired body; evidence of why this very situation had her so paranoid in the first place.

The hound follow, moving carefully through the ground and taking care to never lose sight of the girl, but remaining out of her's. Like a child, the rouge snakling pranced and bounded about the place before scurrying up a tree... must've been a younger student. All the more reason she ought to make sure she got back to the Common Room. Younger students were too damn ignorant of the world's dangers for their own good.

From the safety of her own hiding place near some brush, the older snake crouched in the shadows and waited. Maybe the child would come to her senses and get her butt back to the castle.

She couldn't be sure of how long she wait, but patience had never been her strongest quality. As she moved out from her place, she allowed herself to transform back into her natural form, making her way as quietly as she could towards the girl's tree. One could only be so quiet when dead leaves and sticks littered the grounds, rustling and breaking under her weight. Stealth didn't matter as much anymore anyway.

Coming to the trunk of the tree, the fifth year's ghostly pale eyes gazed up, looking directly at the girl; such gaze had been described before as being terribly cold and sharp, as though she were looking right through you instead at at you. Illowy never had had the best reputation for coming off as warm or approachable in looks or demeanor. Granted, she was blooming into quite a pretty thing, but somehow that didn't do her many favors, "Have you a death wish? Or are you simple?" she asked. Despite her stoic, hard tone, another thing that could be said about Miss Illowy Magnard, though she'd never admit it aloud, was that she did have a soft place for first years; and that she genuinely wished to keep them safe and preserve their sweet ignorance from the darkness of their world as long as possible.

Bubba couldn't sleep. Shocking, positively shocking. His sleepless nights had largely deserted him since the start of the second year. He'd started to actually feel fairly well adjusted in his time as a second year. He was making more friends, doing well in classes, and had even been on a date. It had been a good year, all things considered. Then the question was, why on earth was he having so much trouble sleeping tonight? He'd gone to bed fairly early (he'd left the common room between 9:30 and 10:00, which was certainly early for him) and he'd been exhausted when he'd climbed into bed and still was now, but sleep just wasn't coming.

He reached out and scratched Kalle on the head, well he tried to at least. Kalle had decided to vacate the area at some point in the last hour or so. Bubba wasn't surprised, Kalle normally got up to go hunting in the middle of the night. Bubba just assumed he was either wandering the halls looking for a mouse or was out on the grounds, looking for whatever he could find. He decided he might as well go for a walk or something. Sure he'd be out of after-hours but what was the big deal? If you can't sleep you can't sleep, what's the point of laying there and driving yourself crazy? Simple, there was no point.

Bubba stood up and silently got dressed. He put back on what he'd been wearing in the common room last night since it was still out. He put on a plain white undershirt, his navy Red Sox hoodie, a pair of red gym shorts, and his ruby slippers (red running shoes). He knew it was a little chilly out but he was used to the rough, New England winters, so this would be fine. He decided he couldn't be bothered doing anything with his hair in the middle of the night so he grabbed his Red Sox hat off the bedside table. Then he saw it there, his prefect badge. He quickly grabbed it and attached it to his hoodie. He figured this way if a professor or fellow prefect asked what he was doing, he could say he thought there were some students out of bed or something. Just insurance to keep him out of trouble.

He crept through his dormitory and silently went down the stairs into the common room. Unsurprisingly, given the hour, the common room was entirely deserted. He crossed through it and exited into the corridors. He decided he'd wander the grounds for a bit. See if he could catch up with Kalle and see what he was up to. As he finally made it out of the entrance hall and into the grounds, he felt a chill in the air. Still, as a New Englander, this wasn't cold, it was brisk. He could easily tough it out.

Bubba had been walking for about five minutes Bubba came into a more dense area of brush and trees in the grounds. He was just about to give it up as a hopeless attempt to find Kalle when he heard a very soft voice from a little further in. Deciding this was worth investigating, he walked through the brush, making no attempt to conceal his presence, lest they think he was sneaking around. As he came into visual range he saw two girls, the younger one up in a tree and the older one at the base of it looking up at her. "Good evening," he said cheerily, in a voice loud enough to be heard clearly by them but not loud enough to carry much past them.

Interacting: @Irina Sousa, @Illowy Magnard Mentioning: @ N/A

Opeila's paranoia had returned. After her three weeks of coma, the courage that had been with her ever since her time in Finland was gone, leaving behind a person that would need a bit more time to put herself back together. A person that suddenly remembered past events that her subconscious had stored in a back corner of her mind for self protection more vividly than ever.

But strangely enough, she was fine with that. She could accept the memories lurking inside her head like a dark cloud, she would endure their presence, their accessibility in silence and sometimes, in calm moments she would turn to them, allow herself to relive them. Try to live with them without falling apart again and again. Remind herself that she was alive. A survivor in all ways she could think of. She was sure that her grandmother would tell her to be proud of it, that she was proud of Opeila's strength. She was also pretty sure, that her father would have attempted to sue the school about twenty times by now if he could.

No, somehow this magical coma had put Opeila into the mental condition she needed to make peace with some of her past.
And somehow it was her nightly patrols that made it the easiest to make progress in this silent self-therapy. It had become very rare that she came upon curfew breakers and the fourth year had made sure to treat them harshly. Not to be mean, but to make them remember the unpleasantness of the consequences for a long time, since they were still nothing against the consequences they could have suffered.

The consequences Opeila had suffered and seen others suffer. She wasn't secretive about the attacks and she would advise others against it every time. If she had to tell a first year an absolutely not age appropriate story in order to keep them from wandering around the castle at night... it was a sacrifice she would make again and again.

Only that tonight it seemed she would be denied the hour of peace and quiet, as the fourth year could soon make out unusual noises. Not the kind that animals made, no... More like footsteps. "Nox" With a barely audible whisper, the light at the tip of her wand vanished as Opeila walked toward the noises.
Then there was a voice.

"Have you a death wish? Or are you simple?"

A very familiar voice and one that had Opeila hesitate for a moment. She had never caught an upperclass student breaking rules since she became a prefect and for a moment she felt awkward busting someone older than her. Then she pulled herself together and approached the group.

"Good evening"

Another familiar voice, this time one that Opeila connected to a lot less pleasant memories. Wasn't that the kid she had jumped in front of to shield him from a flipendo during George's detention?
If this wasn't going to be a wild get together...

Only when she was right in front of the others, Opeila would illuminate her wand again. "These are some really good questions. I have some more to add, actually- have you lost something out here or did you simply not look at the time? What are all three of you doing out here?" Here eyes lingered on Bubba's prefect badge for a moment. Right. No detention for this guy, but why was he not in his patrol area?

She unpacked her strict face with ease to look at Irina. This was likely a kid in need of a lesson. With Illowy it was different and Opeila was seriously considering to ask Illowy to stay with her for a bit during her patrol to have a chat. Detentions handed out by Opeila had usually the same purpose every time, which was making kids think through and realize what they did wrong and what they risked. In George's case she had wanted to punish him, angry that he had attacked a child.

But why was Illowy out here? What purpose would a detention for her serve? That would be something to think about later.

Thoughts: ✕ | Dialogue: ✕ | Portuguese: ✕
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Irina felt her blood drain out of her face when she met the girl's gaze. How did she found me here? And how in the world I didn't sense her coming?, she felt a little irritated and frustrated with her performance at escaping and hiding…how in hell she let that happen?

The older girl that was looking at her from down the tree wasn’t a complete stranger to her, she remembered to had seen her sometimes at their Common Room, however she didn’t knew the girl’s name or year at school. She had wavy long dark hair and her eyes looked like ice, that even at the moonlight Irina could see their pale shade of blue. “Have you a death wish? Or are you simple?" she asked in a sharp tone. “I don’t have a death wish and no I’m not simple! Why did you follow me here?” Irina answered her with the same tone of voice. Despite knowing that the girl was much older than her, Irina never liked to be talked that way, less by a total stranger! Her inicial frustration was turning closer to anger and Irina had to take a deep breath to control her impulsiveness. She had almost apologised to the girl, but her voice never came out of her mouth, when she heard new steps approaching. Another figure had reached them, this time was a boy wearing a hat and shorts, Irina shrugged a little seeing the boy dressed like that walking through the cold night breeze. “Good evening”, he greeted them cheerily. Looking at the boy’s hoodie she immediately notice the glow coming from his Prefect badge…”Oh Merlin, I’m done!” Irina said with a small voice, feeling the heat that had kept at her face from her irritation moments ago, vanish…and changed for a must colder sensation…fear? Anxiety? She couldn’t really distinguish what she was feeling at the moment, but she was terrified with the idea of facing a detention and worse…she would lose points from Slytherin, points that she and her teammates had conquer with so much effort.

Was when she saw a sudden light appear down her right side and a familiar voice coming from it, "These are some really good questions. I have some more to add, actually- have you lost something out here or did you simply didn't look at the time? What are all three of you doing out here?" , it was Opeila Winters, and judging by the look on her face she wasn’t nearly pleased with what she had found there.

Irina decided that that was the right time to come down from the tree. Holding at the branches below her she took a leaped to the ground, landing on her feet and cushioning the jump by squatting her legs and balancing with the help of her hands. Lifting and cleaning her hands of dirt and dry leafs, she looked at the Slytherin’s Prefect, “Hi Pei! I would say nice to see you, but…you didn’t look very happy to see me!” Irina said in a quiet and sweet voice, noticing that her only hope was to be charming enough to touch Pei’s heart and convince her to not gave her the so not welcome detention…

@Bubba McGarry | @Illowy Magnard | @Opeila Winters

The older girl looked far less then amused with the younger's response to her questions. Though there wasn't much time to come up with a response when she heard foot steps approached, whipping her head around and reaching for her wand before she spotted another student, clearly also younger then herself... and sporting a Prefect badge.

Perfect. Absolutely wonderful. Five years having never been caught outside of her Common Room when she wasn't suppose to be, and she gets caught by a Prefect that probably only learned to tie his own shoes the same time she'd been a first year.

Why was he even out here. There was no way the staff would have been so careless to allow such a young and poorly armed Prefect to be running around the grounds. That was hardly safe considering everything that had happened over the years. A liability just waiting to happen. Her eyes flicked up and down him, clearly unimpressed with his presence.

And even still. I could get worse with the addition of getting caught just one more time.

As lumos lit up their little impromptu party, Illowy was about ready to wonder why she didn't just let this child wander into a possible death until she recognized the voice. Opeila Winters. The oldfer snake doubted the other would have considered herself a friend of Illowy; but at the very least she considered Opeila an ally. They'd run in the same circles before, they got on well and she was only of the few peers Illowy had a decent respect for. That didn't change the fact that she was still a Prefect though, catching an upperclassman who ought to know better absolutely breaking rules. Even if Illowy considered it good reason.

Illowy sucked her teeth, closing her eyes and pressed a finger against the bridge of her nose, exasperated as the first year tried to turn up the charm with the Prefects, "Come off it, poppet." she grumbled before turning her attention to her other housemate, "I'm just here t'retrieve the lost lamb, Winters." she explained, point blank as she jabbing a thumb in the snakling's direction. Was it possibly throwing the first year under the bus? Yeah. But Illowy also wasn't one to weasel or charm her way out of trouble for something she considered stupid in the first place. Not stupid as in how minuscule the act might've seemed, but stupid as in how dangerous it was, "Ye know where I'm coming from, about the young ones being out in the darkness alone." even if it did result in a detention, better that then a stint in the hospital wing or worse.

At the very least, she figured Opeila would sympathize with her reasoning. They were both painfully aware of the terrors that lurked in the darkness; and they were made to learn that lesson when they were no older then the young pair standing with them when they learned it. The upperclassman surely had some responsibility to protect the youngers after all; especially their own housemates.

Bubba had scarcely uttered his own greeting when, from the darkness, the tables had turned! If he had known you couldn't apparate inside the grounds he would've sworn Opeila had done just that behind him, so sudden was her appearance. Apparently, she had shirked his approach in the open and had instead opted for stealth. Well played, he hadn't heard a thing.

This was a problem. He needed to come up with a plausible explanation on the fly as to why he was out here. He didn't think Opeila would throw another prefect in detention (could she even do that?) but he didn't want any trouble with the authorities, he was an honest copper after all. Plausible... plausible, plausible, plausible. He thought as he tried to come up with something. In the light emanating from Opeila's wand, he got a good look at the miscreants for the first time. He placed one in his year and the other was definitely older than him, possibly older than Opeila as well. He didn't know either of them, however, when they spoke he felt reasonably safe in assuming that they were Opeila's fellow Slytherins.

At last, it was his turn and he quickly spun his web of bullshit. Looking over at his fellow prefect he said, "Opeila, good evening, nice to see you again." Calling to mind their last meeting he quickly added, "No need to look so stricken, I don't intend to have anyone try to flip me tonight," to try and defuse any tension that might arise between them.

Here goes, he thought as he started his eminently plausible explanation, "I was doing my rounds a little later than usual as I fell asleep in the common room. My last stop is always the owlery, there was nothing there but as I stood at the edge, looking out on the dark horizon and contemplating the mysteries of life, I thought I might've seen a figure creeping away from the castle." At this point, he turned to look away from Opeila and toward the other two, "I figured I should make sure no one was sneaking off to find trouble," he looked down at his legs and gave a little shiver, "As you can see I wasn't planning to go any further outside than the owlery."

"Anyway," he said turning back to face Opeila, "I happened upon them mere moments before you did. I get the impression this is probably your patrol area and they're also probably in your house so, I'm happy to leave it to you to decide what to do with them."

The plausible explanation given, Bubba fell silent again and waited to see what horrible fate would befall the sneks.

Interacting: @Irina Sousa, @Illowy Magnard, @Opeila Winters Mentioning: @ N/A

Where did these young Slytherins take the courage? The last time Opeila had caught a younger girl fighting another student, that girl had tried to charm the prefect, something that had already irritated her a lot then. It was no different with Irina. And why ever would they think that digging up a nickname that Opeila never let slide with anyone would persuade her to let them off the hook?
"The name is Opeila.", was the harsh response Irina would be getting.

Bubba's reaction to her expression did not help her mood much either, instead it only added to the fourth year's concern about giving such a young student a prefect badge. If he truly thought that there was no reason for her to look stricken, he had not been sufficiently prepared for his task. Did none of the older Ravenclaw prefects pull him to the side to explain a few things to him ever?

However his reasoning was a good one. As a prefect it was his job after all to make sure the students were safe and inside during the night. Opeila nodded, her expression becoming a little more friendly. Illowy's explanation didn't surprise her at all either and she appreciated it greatly. She knew her fellow duellist to be a capable witch and there was no way she would punish her for looking after reckless little snakelings like the one next to them.

However, maybe Opeila would have to think of something... She would never discourage any of the older students to make sure the younger students were safe, but she could imagine that Professor Jensen would also have some words to say to her if she appeared too tolerant to this kind of behavior.

"I see. Thanks to both of you. And to you-" Opeila would face Irina again, anger showing on her face, "I don't really care about your explanation, you have no business out here during this time at night. You were told not to sneak out, you were also told what to do if a classmate decides to sneak out, which is not going after them yourself but getting an older student if no prefect or professor is available. And I know you were told about this, because it was me, who told you all when I led you up to the dormitories on your first evening. Being unable to sleep or bored is not sufficient reason to leave your dorm during the night."

She would take it a step further. "You may very well thank and apologize to Illowy who is right now sacrificing a good night's sleep to risk coming out here at night to keep your ass safe."

Angered, the fourth year would rub the base of her nose, thinking through what would be the best course of action now. "Right. Ummm... Illowy, if you could take Irina back to the dorm and make sure she goes to bed. It seems that this one could use some tucking in." The sarcasm in her voice would make it hard to tell if she was being entirely serious or not- honestly, Opeila didn't know it herself. "I would like to talk to you tomorrow.", she would add before eyeing Irina again. "You will hear from me tomorrow, I will let you know when and where to meet me for your detention."

Finally she looked at Bubba. "You said that you were done with your patrol? I would like to talk to you in a moment if you are not too tired." Sarcasm and anger were gone from her tone now. If none of the Ravenclaws had prepared him for the things that used to lurk in the darkness- and never officially were said to have disappeared- Opeila would.

It was best to count it a blessing in the moment that she was on Opeila's good side. The phase 'small but mighty' came to mind when it came to incurring the fourth year's anger. Even if they were about the same height. Illowy had come to be so accustomed to seeing the other in typically calm and collected; it was a rare sight for her at least to see her housemate so stirred up. Though it was a perfectly good reason to be.

Despite Opeila's urge for the first year to offer some semblance of thanks for Illowy's 'sacrifice' in having followed her out here in the dead of night, the eldest student wasn't about to expect it by any means, much less press for it. She'd simply done what she felt she was supposed to, and count her stars that it didn't seem like she was going to get in trouble for it. Certainly, she could attempt to argue on Irina's behalf for the Prefect to spare her a punishment... but frankly, it was an important lesson to learn in hopes that any further attempts on midnight adventures may be avoided in the future.

The Slytherin Prefect gave Illowy her final order to them for the night: get the child back to the safety of the House. Simple enough, even if was likely to be a terribly awkward walk back. It was always terribly awkward to escort stray underclassmen back to their houses, even if only to make sure they made it safely lest something be lurking in the dark shadows of the castle, "Aye." she agreed before making a short gesture to Irina to follow, trusting it would be without much trouble.

She only paused when her housemate made one last request to talk to her again tomorrow... okay, maybe she hadn't made it out as scott-free as she might've thought. At least she was going to be spared some embarrassment of punishment in front of a bunch of literal children, "Aye." she repeated herself, "Will do." her attention went back to her newfound ward for the night, "Come along, Poppet. We've class in the bright an' early." she gestured again for the girl to walk on before starting back to the castle.

Bubba didn't know Opeila very well at all. He'd only met her at George's detention and there she had seemed a bit strict. Thus far the interaction tonight was doing nothing to dissuade him from that perception. He was at least glad he'd called her Opeila and not Pei. That was clearly a sore subject and she seemed to get extra annoyed at the girl for calling her that.

At this point, Bubba was just happy Opeila was yelling at the younger Slytherin and not him. He was quite pleased with himself for coming up with his story so quickly and under such pressure. As he listened to Opeila go off on the first year. He hoped the same fate wasn't going to befall him. If she felt he deserved a stern talking to he would just have to deal with it, he could, but he'd be a bit annoyed, he was a prefect after all, same as her. He did feel sorry for the first year, though, he imagined she'd be getting a detention at some point for her nighttime wanderings. To be honest, Bubba thought that was a bit unfair. Just send her back to bed and tell her not to do it again, no need to take these things too seriously. Speaking of taking things too seriously, Opeila was really going on at this point. While he'd been dealing with his own internal monologue, she'd been chastising the poor first year. We get it, she shouldn't have been out, now send her to bed before she needs some pepperup potion from the cold.

At last, that was over and Opeila turned to the other girl, Illowy and asked her to take the first year back to bed. He had been quite glad that Opeila had accepted his explanation for his presence at this impromptu soiree at face value. Well at least she thought she had, however she'd asked him to stick around and he was now worried that she might take him to task for being out here at night regardless of his reason. Still, he figured unless she could read minds (a scary thought), he was reasonably safe. Plus, after the episode with her vision at camp, he highly doubted she could read both the future ]and minds. That would just be OP(ei).

As the other two left he bade them a perfunctory, "Goodnight," and waited for whatever Opeila had in store for him. He hoped the tongue-lashing wouldn't take too long, even he was starting to get cold out here. Not that he'd ever admit to such a thing. Instead, he tried to keep his nerves at her wanting to talk to him to himself so he turned back to her, "Sure, what's up?"

Interacting: @Opeila Winters Mentioning: @ N/A