Mischief Poorly Managed PV Lallie Luna Closed

Eleanor chuckled a bit in return as she sat down on the steps and wondered if this girl was a mind reader. “Try being a Slytherin half blood in a pure blooded Ravenclaw family with very, very high expectations.” she said, returning the favor Lallie had given her by revealing something so personal. Who cared? After all, it was the dead of night and she was talking to a complete stranger. What harm could it really do to vent a little bit to someone who seemed to understand?

“Or you could try having to make up for the sins of your father, the family disappointment on top of everything else. Having to give up your own life to make up for his.” she said, staring at the ground with her hands balled up into fists, her fingernails digging into her palms.

Eleanor took a deep breath to compose herself before looking up at Lallie, a mischievous fire dancing in her eyes. “But hey, I guess we both missed the Ravenclaw boat. Nice to know I’m not the only screw up around here.”

She quickly backtracked. “Not that you’re a screw up! Because I don’t really know you and you could be super great, I’m sorry.” she rambled, unsure if it was the exhaustion or the situation itself making her like this.

Lallie smiled and sat down on the steps next to Eleanor. She liked the way Eleanor would feel bad whenever she said or did something that she thought was wrong.

"No don't worry, I am a screw up because I decided to be born after my oh so perfect brother." Lallie said laughing, "I guess the saying is wrong. It's really bad luck comes to those who wait." Lallie didn't quite know why, but no matter what weird situation she was in, she would always start cracking joke. Whether the jokes were good or not was up for debate.

Lallie then turned to Eleanor looking at her with curiosity. She had olive skin with brown hair and eyes that complimented the silver and green colors of Slytherin on her cloak really well. She kind of looked like a girl that Lallie used to be friends with, except Lallie's ex-friend was totally opposite in personality to Eleanor. This girl defiantly had lots of turmoil inside her, and Lallie felt that they shared very similar turmoil. "So you said something about making up for the sins of your father? What is he a Death Eater or something?" Lallie asked wanting to know more about this dark-haired mysterious girl she met.

Eleanor let out a laugh at Lallie’s quip. “From the way you talk about having a sibling, I’m glad that I’m an only child.” She pulled her cloak a little closer to her body, trying to stave off the steadily dropping temperature. It didn’t bother her too much given that she had spent numerous nights outside back in Whepstead, but with no trees or conveniently charmed cloaks, the cold was starting to get to her a bit.

She chalked up the embarassed blush on her face to the cold as Lallie took a long look at her. While she knew she was somewhat decent looking, she had always faced problems with her skin tone. Being half Native American with a British accent was a contradiction, and she had spent most of her childhood in pure blooded circles. The children in those circles had not always been...kind. Eleanor had had to work twice as hard to earn their respect, because of her father, her blood status, and the color of her skin.

All of that was running through her head as she thought of the most tactful way to answer Lallie’s question. In the end, she went for the most honest one. Couldn’t hurt, she figured.

“No.” she chuckled. “Though members of my family were back in the day. No, he is the only person in our entire line who was sorted into Gryffindor. He had the world at his fingertips when he graduated. But instead, he went to America and ended up bringing back a muggle wife as a souvenir.” Eleanor sighed. “She fell seriously ill not long after having me. Nobody could tell us what was happening to her until it was too late. Now she’s permanently disabled and my father threw away every opportunity he was given to care for her. He lives as a Muggle now in London.”

"Oh.. I-i didn't realize.." Lallie said the smile fading from her face, "That must be awful. Everyone judging you because your pure-blood dad throwing away all those opportunities for a muggle. D-do you see you parents a lot?" Lallie assumed that Eleanor's father was too busy with her mother to deal with her. That made her feel bad for what she said about her folks.

"I'm sorry about what I said about my parents. I shouldn't be complaining. I was lucky enough to be able to see them everyday and that they were always in perfect health. They may be annoying at times, but I couldn't imagine either of them getting sick." she said solemnly. Lallie was always the shadow of her older brother, but she still got love and affection.

She also realized that if Eleanor grew up around other witches and wizards she probably didn't have a lot of friends. Knowing how tough pure-bloods can be on other she knew that Eleanor probably got bullied. Lallie drew almost completely lucky when she was born, but the girl right next to her wasn't. How in anyway was that fair? Lallie took a rock and threw it down the stairs to try and calm the anger stirring up inside her.

Eleanor’s lips curled into a hollow smile. “No. I haven’t seen them in three years now. The only contact I have with them is through my father’s letters.” she said before looking over at the girl next to her. “At least you know what you have. That’s better than most.”

Her voice got even quieter. “I could go back but...it’s just...” she sighed before continuing. “I was trapped there. For years. My mom needed help 24/7, so there was no one there to help me.”

Eleanor followed Lallie’s lead, throwing a rock of her own down the dark staircase, listening to it hit every stone step on the way down. “I took care of myself for so long. And then my grandparents came and it was a whole different kind of entrapment. I’m my father’s shadow, the embodiment of his mistakes. I don’t know how to escape it.” she said before chucking another rock even harder into the abyss. “I don’t know if I ever can.”

Letting out another sigh, she wiped her hands on her tights in an attempt to gather herself. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have dumped all that on you.” she said before smirking. “I guess it’s because I know if you were to try to tell someone, they’d never believe a Slytherin confided in a Gryffindor her deepest darkest secrets in the middle of the night.”

Lallie's thoughts were swarming like mad. Why do we have to clean up after our parents? Why do we fall in the shadows for others mistakes? Why do we get judged based on things we were born with and can't control?

Finally, Lallie stood up and started ranting. "Why do we have to be controlled by things out of our control? Why do we have to live in the shadows of our parents past?" Lallie tried to maintain a quietish voice level, but it was getting hard to, " So many children are born into situations they can never get out of and are never able to control. Why in god's name did our society decide that was a good idea" Lallie sighed trying to maintain enough composure as she doesn't want to start crying in front of a stranger.

She took another rock and chucked it down the stairs watching it clink at bottom of the Owlery. She slumped down again and placed her forehead in her palms. "I'm sorry you had to see that. Most people never see that side of me and sometimes I just need to let it out, you know?" Lallie puffed out some air watching it freeze and disperse in front of her.

Eleanor watched Lallie with great interest as she stood, angrily yelling things that had passed through her own mind more than once. After allowing Lallie’s words to hang in the air for a moment, she laid a hand on the other girl’s knee in an attempt at a comforting gesture.

“I don’t plan on living in their shadow.” she said, her voice solemn and quiet, filled with an almost unsettling certainty. “Whatever it takes. If it takes me the rest of my life, I’ll figure a way out of the cage they’ve built me out of their mistakes.” 

Eleanor meant every word. No matter what it took, she would do anything to be free. In that moment, she began to understand why the Sorting Hat had made the choice to put her in Slytherin. In her mind, nothing was off limits. If it meant hurting others, using forbidden magic, anything as long as she achieved her goal.

“You don’t need to be sorry. You shouldn’t be.” she met Lallie’s eyes, locking her with an intense gaze. “You deserve better. I don’t think you plan on sitting in the shadows either, Red.” she chuckled. “I don’t think you could if you wanted to. Especially not with that temper.”

Eleanor removed her hand from Lallie’s knee, chucking another rock down the staircase. “So, besides your brother, what exactly happened to make you so angry? It’s only fair since I told you my dirty secrets.”

Lallie smiled and blushed slightly when Eleanor called her "Red". No one really ever gave her nickname except her brother who did it in a teasing fashion. Eleanor was obviously giving it to her teasingly too, but when she said it, it made her slightly forget that she was in the cold Highlands of Scotland in the middle of the night.

She chuckled slightly at Eleanor's last comment. "Fair enough. Don't make fun of me for it though." she said tossing a rock a couple of times between her hand before once again throwing it. Sighing Lallie started, "You're right about my temper, always had it even as a small child. My parents always joked that I was an angel until my anger was tested, then I'd become Satan. That temper causes me to get really frustrated whenever things aren't fair for everyone. I've never been one to get teary-eyed if I don't get things my way, or when someone gets more or less than me even though they deserved it. However, if something unfair happens that's out of people's control I get really frustrated. I understand that's a part of life, but I can't help it, I am only twelve after all." she said biting her cheek looking at the sleeping owls for a moment.

"Anyway, at the Sorting Ceremony, I wanted Ravenclaw, but the hat gave me Gryffindor instead. I was disappointed but didn't really mind too much after a while. I looked at the other kids who were also disappointed and realized something. Almost everything about the wizarding world is based off silly things like blood status and personality, not skill or talent. Sure we are judged on skill sometimes, but that thought has been boiling up in me all day. I mean take us for example, everyone expects us to be enemies because we're on opposing teams, but we're friends." Lallie paused for a second turning to Eleanor, "We are friends right?"

Eleanor listened quietly to Lallie's story, surprised at how similar they seemed to be as she went on. She wasn't the type to get teary eyed either, but to be fair, she wasn't the type to show much emotion anyway. Her coping method was to contain and repress. Never let them see you cry, unless "them" is a small Gryffindor girl that you just threw a rock at apparently. That little part of her mind where her grandparents' voices lived was telling her to run before she revealed anything else, but she couldn't find the will to. She didn't want to go back to her cold room in the dungeons, she wanted to be up here in a freezing tower, baring her soul to this girl. 

"I might be going insane." she thought to herself.

Eleanor pushed that thought aside. "I think so." A genuine smile formed on her face. "Plus, if you really are Satan, it would really be on brand for us to be friends." she laughed. A friend would be nice. She didn't know how to be one, but she'd try for this girl. She didn't know why, but she would. "I don't think I could be on an opposing team from you, I'd feel too bad if I had to take you down. I've already proven my prowess in battle." she chuckled, holding up a rock like the one she had thrown earlier.

Lallie laughed. "If there's ever another Wizarding War you'll be our number one rock thrower," she said plucking the rock from Eleanor's hand, throwing it down the staircase.

This is the most fun I've had in weeks. she thought smiling to herself. Eleanor brought out a side of her she never knew she had. She and her friends were always just playing around, being mischievous, or just talking about random stuff. When she was with Eleanor she could just sit down and talk about everything and nothing at the same time, and she rather liked it. "You know I think I'm starting to get more accustomed to luck and chance. I mean I would've never learned about this serious side of me from you if even the slightest difference happened before you threw that rock at me," Lallie said smiling genuinely.

Looking back at it now she really was glad that the dice of odds rolled her and Eleanor on to this path. "So now I guess we're at the point of no return right now. Raise your right hand up and swear that nothing in this Owlery is ever uttered on the outside ever again," she said jokingly putting her left hand over her heart and the right up in the air.