Prof. Griffith's door.

@Morfran Griffith

Relief surged through him the moment he realized that he had finally gotten help. There was a part of him that believed that the story was so ridiculous that no one would be able to listen without laughing. As the boy led the welshman on towards the campgrounds, he began to share more information. "Last time I saw Professor Lear," he mused, "he was scolding the students who spiked the punch in the first place and using a spray bottle on all the snogging couples." Isaac looked disgusted just at the thought of it. But then, he began to realize something, and his eyes widened as he slapped his hand over his mouth. "I meant Headmaster Lear!"

In truth, it was hard to believe that the Headmaster of the school was out on the dancefloor spritzing students. His old principal wouldn't be caught dead doing that.

"Then everything started getting worse, and I dunno, no one came to stop it. Prof-Headmaster Lear was supposed to be watching us, but it's going out of control." He waved his arms wide just to emphasize how 'out-of-control' it was. Just thinking about the Ball brought his mind back to Elizabeth, who he still suspected was making lethal charges into the fire. "I really hope no one dies before we get there," he sighed to himself.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he went on, "There's also this really tall half-giant student I think, talking to some girl in an odd way about dragging her out to a bonfire in the forest. And a Slytherin telling us to go to the forest and meet her by some rock. She was the one who cut a bloke with wickedly sharp glass, and then fell into the table, causing a fire." At that, he held his head. All of this was giving Isaac a massive headache. When he first went to the event, all he wanted was to snatch a cupcake or two and go back to bed. How had it gone so wrong?

"Please," he said, feeling the urge to run even faster. "We have to hurry! The trees might even be burning by now."

Blossom Ball Dancefloor

This has moved on to the blossomball. Feel free to approach the stables, and assume that the interaction takes place either before or after blossomball. Bottom line is, this is open.

Nico trembled, reading the latest owl she received. 'Wh-.. That's...'
Pressing her hands on her mouth she looked out the owlery, down at the grounds where Professor Griffiths house was located. With teary eyes and heavy breathing of disbelief, she ran down the stairs as fast as she could. 'T-That's not what happened!' It was one of the worst nights she had in a long time. She was tired back then. Tired of crying, tired of being picked on... During her sprint, she swiftly dodged some clueless students that botheringly stopped in the middle of her path. Her reflexes helped to manoeuvre around them safely without interupting their daily duties.

Her red hair waved as the wind stroked across her face. She had to explain what happened. She had to! She didn't ignore her duties on purpose. She truly didn't! 'I-I didn't mean to..' Fastening her pace, with energy of adrenaline that carried her all the way over the Grounds.

The Stables of where they had an R.O.A.M. event before, rose up at the horizon. It distracted her, losing sight of where her feet went, tripping over a root from a tree. 'WH- ACK' It caught the tip of her foot and made her smack the ground hard. At the speed she had ran, it hit her rather hard, making her roll over a meter or three. 'H-Heck..' Nico bit her lip and groaned in pain. Not today. Not here. This is important. Her hands were pretty okey, they got mostly caught by grass, making them have a slight greenish color. Some light bruises on her face, a twig gave her cheek a slight cut, some blood dripping out from time to time. Her legs were less fortunate. Her Slytherin green stockings got ripped and her knee had a bruise that bled slightly. It stung, to say the least.

Hesitantly, carefully getting up, Nico tried her best to not limp too much. For crying out loud, she didn't broke anything.. but it still hurt... 'A-awtch'

After some minutes of limping, she finally reached the door. Professor Griffiths door. Sniffling. She had to keep her cool but it was hard. Nico didn't want to be kicked from the program. She loved it. She wanted to learn more. Thinking over and over about the owl, tears started to stream down her face again. The salt stung her cut cheek.

Carefully, Nico reached for the cord, pulling it firmly, twice. She never rang a door this way. As far as she knew, she couldn't hear anything from the inside. No ring whatsoever. Did...did she pull hard enough?

When he opened the door, he was slightly surprised to see the little slytherin prefect, Ms Shymane. She looked like she had been playing outside for a while, with grass stained hands and torn stockings. A prefect was running around like that, really? It was a whole lot more excusable than what had gotten her in trouble in the first place, but it was another straw on the strained back of a mad camel.

"Your detention isn't scheduled until tomorrow. Don't waste my time."

If he had to guess, he supposed she would say something like she didn't mean to, or she didn't realize, or she didn't know. But that was all a huge lie. She had known exactly what was going on, she would have heard the screams, seen the fire. She had even looked over her shoulder at it a few times while smiling at her date. She had made a very conscious decision to chose young love over her duties and it bothered the welshman to no end.

"If you're here to contest my decision, make it quick and intelligent."

He was in no mood to listen to a sad story about how both her parents died, or how they were too poor to afford a television or whatever backstory card she was about to play. He had looked her up and down, seen the sorry state she was in and decided his reaction.

Professor Morfran Pryderi Griffith was not amused.

And there he was. For some reason he looked way more intimidating than he did before. An uncertain guilt grabbed hold of her as she tried to speak up. She carefully looked up at him, trying to face him. Her parents thought her to look a person always in the eyes. Be polite. Show them you listen and pay attention to them.

'S-sir...I-I want to clarify what happened... I-' She tried to take a deep breath. For a second she seemed to be fine with talking but the next moment she started to sob. 'I-I'm so sorry, sir. I really didn't intend to leave them in harm if there was. But when I arrived they all had the fire under control. It-It wasn't going the spread anymore..a-as far as I could see.' Resting her hand on her elbow, she got lost in her thoughts for a few seconds. Her mind going through the events of the Blossom Ball. The rejection from Kae, the screaming from Donnovan. And ofcourse, Alex's face. Yes, he did help her feel better.

She pressed her hands on her eyes and sank on her knees, weeping. 'I- I'm so sorry, sir. I know how it looked like. I know how bad it looked like. I know I seemed irresponsible. But I- ' Her shoulders shrugged with every sob. 'I-I was looking forward to a fun night, I-I had a first date, sort of. B-But he just ran off without a warning. I was..I-I was all b-by myself. It was scary... I'm still not sure if I did anything wrong towards him. I know he's a strange boy but I..I just.. ' She rubbed her eyes with her sleeve and tried to calm down, but it stayed the same panicky voice. 'I..I went to the Lake. J-Just to explore the scene. And I saw some of my friends. But before I could get there a boy approached me. He-He was one of the kids I gave detention to before. A-And he was acting so .. weird. I-I didn't even approach him. He came to me! He was angry at me for giving him detention.. C-Calling me.. nosy.. when I was just there.' Trying to catch her breath she rubbed her cheek, trying to keep her tears from her wound. 'I-I'm so sorry, sir. I had a horrible night and I couldn't focus... Because of all the stuff that happened. And yes, I did hook up with..with Alex.' She carefully looked up at the professor. 'H-He saved me from the bully, sir. I was in a bad state and the boy was being agressive. Verbally.. and.. If Alex hadn't stepped it.. it was possible that he could've hurt me. Sir... It was Alex who convinced me to go away from the crowd. B-Because I was rather ... unable to do anything efficiently. He.. just did what he thought was best for me, sir. I..I ...' Her iceblue eyes, stood out from within her red cried face. 'I-I came as soon as I got your owl. And I.. I fell on my way here, sir. I..I know I look...'

Had the fire under control? Was the girl lying, oblivious, just plain stupid? Or had she just rationalized events to make sure her mind didn't paint her as the villain. Knowing kids, it was probably that last one. Anyone could have seen that the students were disorganized and pathetic. Several of them had been hurt, one had even passed out. And she thought that was all okay, that was alright?

Still, real or no, she was crying, and Griffith did not do so well with crying people. And when said crying person was a child, then it just hurt, it hurt him to his core, but he was aware of the hurt and aware that the prefect could be using that against him. Maybe that was how she had gotten prefect, heck she could have gotten her boy friend like that too. Her parents could have unwittingly taught their daughter how to emotionally manipulate, and no one would ever know. It was a scary thought, to say the least.

He quietly listened to the girl's story, feeling more and more sorry for her. She had just wanted to have fun, people had treated her poorly, some boy had dumped her but then she had been able to hook up with Alex, who he assumed to be the Gryffindor boy, and was trying to salvage the ni-

Wait. No, he must have misheard. His eyes grew wide, then wider. It was all he could do to keep his jaw from going slack as his eyebrows knit together in consternation and confusion. She had done what with the boy? Please, no. No no no no no no NO.

These situations had to find him, of course they had to find him. what was wrong with the girl? What the hell was her problem and why did she not sound more embarrassed to be telling something like that to a professor?

"Excuse me you did what?"

Sure, there had been a lot of questions he could have asked, most of them far more diplomatic than the one he had ended up with. But there wasn't anything he could do about it now. He felt a surge of nausea, followed by the inexplicable urge to cry. Nora was going to have to deal with this. Where was a conveniently metaphorical basin of water to wash your hands in when you really need one?

"Excuse me you did what?"

Nico sniffled and tried to hold back the tears. She wasn't sure what he was referring to. 'S..Sir?' He frowned at her. The tone in his voice made her freeze up. She carefully tried to stand but her knee still hurt. Maybe, she had to repeat herself, to make herself clear. 'P-Professor... I- I know how it looks like... M-Me walking away from a fire. It's bad.. no matter how you look at it.' She looked up at him, carefully holding onto her scarf. 'I'm sure if... if things went differently, I wouldn't have stepped away from the students at the Dancefloor, sir...I..' Her voice was shaking. The aura that the Professor gave her, this strong, dominant aura made her feel even smaller than she already was.

'I... I didn't want to... let anyone down. T-There are no excuses for .. leaving them in danger. But I'm telling you the truth! I... Please. Alan can confirm in what state of mind I was, Professor. I couldn't think straight after-' She pursed her lips together. An image of the Ravenclaw boy, running off the scene. 'A-after I was left alone.. with people I didn't know...' Was it enough? Was it enough to apologise over and over? Was there anyone else that could confirm her story? 'P-Professor Lear was present aswell. He.. He probably saw Kaegen run away, sir. I-... Maybe that doesn't change things.. I.. I'm .. I'm not a liar. I-' She clenched her hands tighter around her scarf, trying not to burst out into a crying fit again. Instead, tears quietly ran down her cheeks. 'T-The boy I gave detention to, Donnovan Perrywinkle, he.. he was the one that approached me, sir. I... About a few days prior, he and Ruka, his friend, were setting up a fire on the shore of the Great Lake after curfew. I was doing my patrolling to check if everything was okey before heading to my dorm, when I noticed the light of the fire. I-..I both sent them to the Owlrey to clean up owl poop... Because I heard that was a decent punishment that wasn't too harsh...'

She swallowed, closing her eyes to take another breath. 'S-So... H-He was being mad at me... Screaming at me, when I wanted to approach Alan and Serena Towers, sir. I had no quarrel with him..s-since I just did my job. B-But apparantly he felt th-... the need to verbally attack me about it.' Looking down at her hands, she could hear the words again. They were vicious and cut her like a knife.

'I think you should keep your greasy nose out of peoples business for a change! Maybe settle down once and a while eh'? Take a break and just PISS OFF because I'm tired along with the rest of everyone here, of your lousy, stupid, arrogant--AUTHORITARIAN remarks, before little Ms. Slytherin gets a taste of her own medicine!"

She sniffled, trying to wipe away the tears as they kept coming. 'H-....I just did my job... They weren't supposed to be there. Defenitely not at that time...And then before Donnovan could lash out at me more, Alex stepped in. A-Alex Cloverfield, sir. He-He helped me back then. Truly. I... ' Nico rubbed her forhead abit nervous. It looked bad. It looked so bad...

'Sir... I.. I was in a bad state. Because of the... r-rejection and the sudden screaming when I was already hurt. Alex might've... distracted me. I...I think that was his intention. I... Sir, I came to the Ball to have fun, like everyone else. And ofcourse as a Prefect I have my..r-responsibilities. But... Everything came together in a strange way. I couldn't think straight. I-..' She felt like she had no way to go. She was the worst excuse of a Prefect. Her gutfeeling back then was right. She shouldn't have left them... She shouldn't have... His emerald eyes. 'S-Sir!' Nico set a small step closer to him. 'I-..I know.. I.. I dissapointed you... Deeply. I... probably have no right to just.. run up to your door like this... But I .. I only dared to because... Sir, I couldn't be happier than when I received your owl. T-The one that wrote that I was accepted. F-For.. the ROAM program. I.. That wasn't a mistake, sir!'

She started to sob again. Why wouldn't she... She felt desperate. This was her only chance to redeem herself. Honestly, she had no clue if this was helping or worsening her case.

Griffith started to choke, trying very hard to not either burst into tears or scream. Why was this happening to him, this girl was eleven. ELEVEN. Twelve at the most, but she looked more like she was 8. She had those big baby blue eyes that made her seem more like a fat little cherub with wings than a 11 year old slytherin. Her whole face was just so freakishly bright. Her hair was so bright red that it looked like a wig. In fact, maybe it was a wig. A anime cosplay wig?

The fact that she looked young enough to be placed in day care where they told stories about the stork delivering babies made the entire situation so much worse. His stomach churned as he thought over what the girl had said, about her being in a bad state, and not in her right mind, and about how she had hooked u-

His body lurched slightly forward, the color entirely drained from his face. He hadn't even been able to finish thinking it. What the heck was wrong with this school, he had not signed up for this. He hadn't signed up for this at all and he felt himself wondering, for the first time in almost 25 years. What would his mother do?

What he finally decided to do had nothing at all to do with what his mother would have done, but he didn't care. He was going to place a hand on the girl's shoulder, to give more weight to what he was about to say, but it just seemed so icky he couldn't bring himself to do it. As the word icky crossed his mind, his already pale face took on a slight green hue. He needed a bathroom and a corner to recover in.

"Go... Okay, just go to the nurse and explain what you did with Alex, to- to the nurse. Just explain it, okay? You can talk to me about R.O.A.M during your detention when... when I'm feeling more up to it."

He reached out his hand, pulled it back last second and then reached out again to give her a very brief, very weird single pat on the head, only touching her with two fingers before wiping his hand off on his coat and stashing it in his pocket.

He started to edge back into the building, composure very much shattered, very much not okay with any of this. He closed the door behind him, leaving the girl outside. The nurse could deal with this. He needed to deal with the nausea, and the inevitable legion of nightmares that were just waiting for night to fall.

Ew. Just.... Ew.

GRIFFITH HAS FLED FROM THE ICK. This topic is now open to other comers, however nico, if you want you can post a final post regardless of if anyone posts first. Just realize that you came at a different time than they did, and you guys wouldn't see each other.

SO: GRIFFITH'S DOOR IS AVAILABLE.

Ardis made her way to Professor Griffith's door, quite unsure of what to expect. The professor was said to be grumpy, certainly, and that scared her only a little. Her curiosity was far too strong to be deterred by the possibility of a little sour attitude. After all, she only had a couple questions. They were written down on a folded piece of paper she clutched in her hand.
He wouldn't be upset with that, would he? After all, didn't professors enjoy talking with their students? Before Hogwarts, she had been allowed to stay after class for a few minutes to ask questions with those teachers. Surely this couldn't be much different.

She just wanted to know more.

So here she was, face-to-face with the cord. Ardis took a deep breath, adjusted her robe, and gave the cord a good tug. Announcing her arrival seemed like it would have been rude, so she remained quiet. As she waited for him to answer, a dreadful thought popped into her head.

What if he thought she was foolish? She had grown up in a muggle town, with entirely nonmagical creatures. Her mother, though a witch herself, never brought up the magical world, let alone any creatures that resided there. She glanced down at her piece of paper. Were they silly, childish questions? Even while writing them down, that was a concern of hers.

But then, wasn't it a good idea to come to speak with him in person, as opposed to asking these things in class, where other students might snicker. Besides, stopping a lecture to ask potentially unrelated questions didn't seem like a good idea, anyway.

Professor Griffith walked slowly to the door, dreading who he might find on the other side. The accursed head of slytherin house, perhaps? Or maybe some student yelling about a fire? He didn't know, but was painfully aware that he was about to find out. Shoving the stone door open a few inches, the towering giant of a welshman peered out, only to discover a little girl, who looked like she was more nervous than a wet worm.

He internally sighed, but didn't let that show on his face. He found it standard procedure to not immediately sigh in the student's faces, just in case they actually did have something important to say. He could sigh at them later after they informed him that their rat died because they didn't give it any food and now want him to "fix it" or some such foolishness.

That didn't mean he was going to smile, however. As he opened the door about halfway, just wide enough for his wide shoulders to fit themselves in the gap, he just looked at the girl. He didn't stare harshly, it was more of a neutral, appraising look that made it clear he had not decided if he was going to brush her off or give her the time of day. This was his job, however, and if she had questions, he was going to try to answer.

"Yes?"