Alone In My Mind PV Rowan Bane closed

"One day, it takes time I think, I'm not sure why though." Elena frowned as if trying to see something in her memories she just couldn't find, "It'll be fine, I'll talk to her soon."

Elena wasn't sure if she was trying to talk to Rowan or promising herself she'd do it.

"I know little to none about this world, so I will take you up on the offer. Although I do have one question of extreme interest to me." Elena dropped her voice a little bit, "When I got my owl from this school, it was addressed to the alleyway I was sleeping in. Meaning they knew where I was and they haven't done a thing to try and rectify it. So what on earth are the teachers here actually doing, bar Griffith who actually bothers to help."

It was the question buzzing in the back of Elena's mind for her whole time at this school, what had the professors known, what did they do to save her. Why didn't anyone do anything, why did the Head of Houses exist if not to help the students in their houses. Telling Rowan her paranoias was probably not the best thing to do to a new friend but it felt important.

“We... well... I don’t know exactly. I don’t think anyone does. So why don’t we think it out? The letters. They’re magic, I believe. No one hand writes them. That would be a waste of time and energy. They find the magical children they’re supposed to go to, and they continue on. However, they may not be. And someone does choose which people are magically eligible and whatnot. In that case... the most likely option would be they don’t have the resources to do anything. They can’t bring in any children early, because they probably aren’t equipped to deal with anyone that young. Too many hazards for little hands. And the professors need to handle grading papers, or setting up lesson plans, or any number of things. And they still have their own lives. So the next option would be external housing. But that’s expensive, and they don’t have the money for that. Don’t have the staff to raise a child.”

He kinda saw Elena’s eyes glazing over so he decided to paraphrase.

“Cost, no time, the letters run themselves, or teachers have their own problems.”

It was funny. Rowan couldn’t pronounce teacher properly. He sneered a little as he heard himself butcher the word.

Rowan's idea made sense, as much as Elena hated to admit it. Even though the idea of putting the school over the actual dozens of kids like her, or worse, the ones that had abuse and neglect to deal with as well, made her feel a little sick. Chaotic good thinking like that was not for Hogwarts, she supposed.

"I guess I'm here now, and it's lucky that some of the teachers here bother to check in from time to time." Elena said quietly, her eyes flicked to Rowan who was sneering, although she wasn't quite sure what it was about.

Elena racked her brain to find something else to talk about, trying to figure something out was hard because her thoughts were moving like treacle, but there was something there to figure out. That was it, "Have you named any of the rabbits? I keep calling them random things I think of, but I don't really know if they're the same or different..."

Everyone liked animals right? They were the universal best friend, maybe that's why Griffith spent so much time with them. They didn't share your secrets or betray you, the ultimate in loyalty and companionship, creatures. That's why Elena was looking forward to having a pet so much.

“There’s one that visits pretty often. He's spotted brown and black spots over white, so I named him patch.”

Rowan rubbed at his eyes slightly, transferring the khol onto his hand. He grumbled and wiped it off. Exhaustion clung to his eyes. He likely hadn’t slept in... he didn’t even remember. A day or two? He slept for an hour or so in between there, but it was riddled with nightmares. 

“The teachers may not like you- or whatever- but it’s still their job to make sure you’re okay. Like your head hates children if I remember correctly. She’s very vain.”

The cold air made him want to snuggle under the covers or something. Or snuggle with someone, who knew. He was just tired, and he needed to get back to the dorms before he passed out. 

Rowan let out a soft yawn, covering his mouth as he did so.

“Ah- gods- sorry- I’m terribly exhausted. I’m probably gonna head up to the dorms so I don’t fall over and make a fool of myself. I believe I have classes tomorrow as well.”

Rowan still had the energy though to pull himself into his wheelchair, and rearrange his legs.

Elena smiled just a little at the rabbit. The creatures were everywhere around Hogwarts, ferrets were too but nobody had tried to tame them yet, "I'll make sure to call him Patch if I see him. So he knows his name, if that makes sense."

Rowan rubbed his eyes, getting a bit of a racoon effect from eyeliner. Elena wondered if she should invest in makeup too, it looked good on Rowan. Although it was a bit worrying that he looked so tired. The blue haired girl decided against pushing the issue, better to let him go sleep than try and keep him here for no reason. Besides, they'd already talked a lot.

Elena huffed out a laugh, "Sorry about being so... is bitter the right word? Annoyingly bitter, yes. That's the word. It's true though, one of the many reasons she knows nothing of my problems that she couldn't find herself."

"Exhausted sounds like the order of the month, I need to get back to the dorms too." Elena got up and stretched, "See you around Rowan, it's been... good talking to you."

The girl smiled and waved goodbye, fidgeting, Elena would put her hood back up after Rowan replied, if Rowan replied that is.

"Alright. I'll walk you into the castle then if you're gonna go to your dorms too." 

Rowan started rolling in the direction of the castle, assuming Elena was following him. Or maybe she wasn't, and that was okay, Either way he was going back inside. His muscles were tired from rolling around all day, and his brain was getting foggy from low blood sugar. He always had low blood sugar, who was he kidding. Lower blood sugar. Bottoming out, per say. Dangerously low. This is why he usually had snacks, so he didn't pass out randomly during the day and end up in the hospital wing with someone watching him eat. Ew.

They eventually came to a split in their paths, and Rowan mumbled a goodbye, before he started  the long trek up five floors to his dorm room. It was times like this he hated the steep ramps of the halls. One of the few times he actually was forced to think about his wheelchair situation. The rest of the time he could find a way around. This, however, he was forced to use for the time being, as he couldn't traverse the stairs. Maybe he could get an enchantment on the wheelchair at one point that would give him a solution to that.