Ravenclaw Bread, Jam, & Company: House Cup Party

A slight smile dared to grace Cel's features as Professor Wright replied. "What a bird," she sighed as she brushed a small teal feather off her shoulder delicately with two fingers. "How are your other classes faring--ow." A pair of claws dropped onto her shoulder once again, cushioned by her robe, as she turned her head to see Rhys returning to his favorite perch.

"Hello, you," she said to the bird. "Maybe if you were nicer to the students, they'd all get straight O's and would leave less work for Professor Wright to do. Your teaching should be good enough for perfect grades, anyway," she added thoughtfully.

Yes, she was so very skilled at making small talk.

"Have we made your first year teaching difficult, Professor?" she asked innocently, blinking a couple of times. She certainly hoped not-- or, well, she hoped she herself hadn't.

"Don't let the attention get to his head." Sorrel laughed, rolling her eyes at the bird. Sorrel was more concerned with the girl's small talk, which seemed to be an attempt at flattering Sorrel. Or maybe she was truly inquiring about Sorrel's classes, and insisting that Sorrel taught well.

It was strange behavior from a child, but expected from a Ravenclaw. Sorrel laughed, shrugging her shoulders. "I'll make sure to train Rhys to be nicer, so easier grades are more likely. As for the teaching, it's been a wild ride. I hope I've inspired some children to learn more about herbology, although I imagine some never want to come into a greenhouse ever again."

Interaction with Celynne Gray [currently Flores].

Interactions: Cecily Queen

Muriel nodded slowly in agreement. Even though she wasn’t very social, she was enjoying the tea, along with admiring the beautiful decorations and the silver trophy. And although she wasn’t the type to come up and talk to someone, she did like to quietly observe and listen from afar the passing conversations of others. She was in fact staring at the green bird on the prefect’s shoulder at one point as well.


The girl’s next question however made Muriel feel a bit more awkward. “Umm... no, I don’t have any... The only family I have are my parents.” She answered, purposefully staring down at her cup again. “Umm, but what about you? Do you have any? ...Do they go here?” She asked, trying to turn the question around in hopes of covering it up. Though she was curious about how many other siblings were present at Hogwarts; she already knew of one person that had a few that were still here and graduated.

Interactions: Muriel Carroll

After Cecily asked this question, she regretted it. Muriel didn't look too excited or comfortable at having to answer this question. Cecily nodded at Muriel's answer, feeling sorry that she didn't have any siblings.

"Do you wish you had siblings? And yes, I do have siblings. Two older brothers, and two older twin sisters. They all go to Hogwarts."
She paused, unsure if she should tell Muriel what houses they were in. That was always hard and difficult for Cecily to talk about since she always wished she was in a house that her siblings were in.
"Uh, and my two older brothers are both in Griffyndor, and my sisters are in Hufflepuff. I'm the only Ravenclaw in the family, besides my mom. She was a Ravenclaw when she came to Hogwarts."
Cecily smiled at this, always proud of her mother that she was a Ravenclaw, one of the first in her family. Then Cecily observed around the room. Still looking around, she asked, "So, what about your parents? What do your parents do?"

Hoping that Muriel was okay talking about this, Cecily stared at the window they were next to, waiting for her answer.
I hope I'm not too awkward to talk to, Cecily thought miserably. Most of the people she met always seemed shy and uncomfortable, and Cecily always hoped that it wasn't because of her.

"You've certainly inspired me," the girl commented-- and it was true, completely true. She'd known nothing of Herbology at first, assuming it a boring class, and yet it had turned out to be one of the best. A teacher who could motivate those already fixed on an idea of a boring class was truly a good one. "I'll never forget the plants native to the Great Lake now-- Gillyweed, Fiara Zoydia, and Vunnus Usua, was it? Well."

She smiled, nudging the bird forward in an attempt to get Rhys back to Professor Wright. Hopefully the woman wouldn't mind what she was about to say next-- after all, it was but the truth. "I think some of the students are being put off by your own reluctance to enjoy their company," Cel supplied, doing her best to stay respectful despite her doubts. Gods, she hoped Professor Wright wasn't too easily insulted.  "I mean-- not that you don't have good quality lessons, just that... maybe give us a chance to grow on you?" Actually, she was pretty sure they already had.

A little bit.

A very small, minute, and pretty much microscopic little bit.

Maybe she'd be better off talking to one of the other professors... or not at all.

Interactions: Cecily Queen

"...Yes, it gets really lonely sometimes." Muriel answered the first question she brought up rather easily; it was the truth. She then listened to Cecily talk about her siblings and was surprised to learn that she was the only Ravenclaw of the bunch, along with her mom.


"My mother was in Ravenclaw too!" She suddenly blurted, finding it really cool that they both had one thing in common. "She uh, became a Healer at St. Mungo's right after she graduated and she's still there now," Muriel answered her next question and started with her mother, whom she connected to the most. "And my father... he's a muggle, and works as a Herbalist." She finished, though decided to explain further in case she was from a fully magical family and wouldn't understand. "He's like a Healer for muggles, but he uses only muggle plants to help them."

"...What do your parents do?" She then asked, though felt kind of lame for just turning the same question back towards her again. "...Are you a pureblood?" She asked as well, attempting her own question this time. Bloodlines weren't too personal of a question... right?

Interactions: Muriel Carroll

Cecily nodded. Muriel seemed excited to talk about her parents now. This made Cecily less nervous. It also made her less nervous that she was a half-blood. She knew that some pure-bloods were hard to make friends with. She became excited too. "That's cool! Ooh, that's an interesting job for both of your parents! St. Mungo's would be a interesting place to work at. So many people are healed there, it's amazing!"

She paused, then answered Muriel's question, "No, I'm a half-blood, just like you! My mum works in the Ministry of Magic, the International Magical Office of Law." Cecily smiled at this. She was always proud of her mother's accomplishments, sometimes almost too proud.
"And my dad, who is a muggle, is a Journalist. He loves writing," Cecily finished.
She smiled at Muriel after saying this. "Soo, do you have any idea what you want to be when you get older?" Cecily asked. It was an interesting question, and Cecily wouldn't be surprised if Muriel didn't know yet, but it was worth a try.

Interactions: Cecily Queen

Muriel returned the smile back, this time more genuinely. She was beginning to warm up to Cecily, and listened intently when she talked about her parents. “That’s really cool too, she must be really well respected to have a job in the Ministry if Magic!” She replied, her answers reminding her even more of another person she’d talked to in the past.

As for the next question however, Muriel paused for a moment to think it over. “Well... I really want to be a Healer too, just like my mother. I really enjoy Herbology and Potions, so it’s a good possibility... but I’m not certain about anything just yet..." She answered with a shrug. "What do you want to be? Will you work at the Ministry of Magic too?" She asked curiously, wanting to see if any other First Years had ideas of what they wanted to do; she hoped she wasn't the only one uncertain still.

Interactions: Muriel Carroll

Cecily smiled enthusiastically as Muriel talked.

"That would be so cool to become a Healer! I'm sure you could do it," Cecily said.

"I haven't thought much about it either, but I think becoming an Auror would be really cool. I have always wanted to work extra hard on Defense Against the Dark Arts because of my mother's history. However, Potions isn't my favorite class, so I'm not too sure. But I also think becoming an animagus would be so amazing. I love Transfiguration, but I'm sure it'd be so hard to become one. Well, and that's what I was told in Transfiguration.
Cecily sighed, then smiled again. "But, just like you, I'm not really sure about anything yet."

Cecily looked around again, unsure what to ask Muriel next.

Interactions: Cecily Queen

Muriel smiled at Cecily’s encouragement before taking another sip of her tea. She listened again intently as the girl talked about becoming an Auror, though Muriel was relieved to know that she wasn’t sure about anything either. However, Cecily beginning to look around was a sign that she was running out of ideas, and Muriel felt the same. She had no idea what to talk about next. And once she took a final sip, she was out of tea as well.


Panicking again, Muriel thought hard on what she could say next. Unfortunately, no questions were popping into her head. But she couldn’t just end the decent conversation she’d finally managed to get into... could she? That’d be rude. But at the same time... taking another cup of tea before leaving to go do some more homework was starting to sound really nice. 

“Ummm... which magical creature do you like out of the ones you’ve learned about so far?” She asked, improvising the sentence as words came out of her mouth. It was a very trivial and off-topic question, but it was still something nevertheless. Internally screaming, she waited to see how Cecily would react; she probably just made herself look stranger.