Closed Stopping before class PV Renelle Dalton

Being more familiar with her school had both its upsides and downsides. Oh, not constantly getting lost in the seemingly endless corridors of Hogwarts was nice, of course! But this also meant Renelle would not be able to excuse being late for class as easily. Being a Prefect certainly didn’t help in this situation either.

It was kind of interesting to note how most of her more exciting endeavours had taken place earlier in the school year. Getting up to assorted shenanigans with Astra, bumping into new people a freakish amount of times, attending events. As the months went on, the Ravenclaw was slowly disappearing from the social scene. She didn’t even think she’d had a good talk with her snake pal for some time.

There could be several explanations. Maybe she was beginning to tire of running around all the time, or it could be the copious amounts of homework the professors delighted in setting. Or perhaps her Prefect duties were taking up more time than she’d expected. Who knew?

Musings aside though, Renelle was still in quite a predicament. Somehow, the next class had completely slipped her mind earlier and now she was paying the price. She’d simply grabbed any of her school supplies she could find in the rush and stuffed them all in her bag carelessly, then set off on her frantic way.

That was now proving to have been a very stupid decision indeed. The things in her bag kept falling out, and stopping to pick them up every five seconds meant that she was not making very good time. As a textbook thudded into the ground yet again, Renelle sighed and bent down to retrieve it. She might as well skip the lesson at this point.

Another hand picking the book up instead was quite expected. A frown made its way onto her face almost subconsciously. Great, someone was helping her. Looked like she was going to have to navigate through a whole labyrinth of social nonsense yet again. Why did Renelle even bother? She ought to just sit on the floor and wait for the period to end.

“Er, I’m good.” She replied curtly. Renelle held out her hand for her fellow student to give her her textbook back. “Thanks for the help, I guess.”

As she peered closer at her acquaintance, her frown suddenly deepened. “Wait. Have I seen you somewhere before?”

Interacting with @Keith Moore

Handing her the book she dropped, Keith noticed she seemed to be in a sour mood. "She must have had a bad morning Keith, don't take it too personal..." he thought to himself, he hated how sensitive he was. "No problem-" he mumbled, trying not to sound weird, or nervous.

His mood couldn't really be told by looking at his face, as he'd gotten better now at hiding what he was feeling. All Renelle could have noticed from his face was sort of tired eyes, slight blush on his cheeks, and a small smile, a smile in which someone did when they were trying to be polite. He looked almost the same as he did at the ball some moons ago, but also different, his hair dyed blonde near the ends, and it had grown a little since the ball.

She must have recognized him, cause she seemed to get more upset. "um... y-yeah, uhm... I was at your birthday party, I uh, and the... ball..." Keith frowned at mentioning the ball. "Which I am still very sorry over and I really really hope you'll forgive me for being such a clumsy idiot-" Keith said, his voice finally above a mumble. He crossed his arms a little, doing his best to hide the fact he was nervous and scared of her still being mad about it.

Wc: -226- Interacting with: @Renelle Dalton Mentioning: @

So that was where she recognized him from! Upon his mention of the event, her eyes widened. “Oh right! The BaiKim thing! And, uhhh…” She racked her brain. “Wait, are you the one who ruined my clothes?”

As those words left her lips, Renelle realized that they were true. The boy’s hair was relatively blonder, and he was in the school uniform, but it was definitely him. Even the mumbling and nervousness was on point. Her poor outfit never did manage to recover. And she’d kinda liked it too.

“Yeah, whatever. It’s fine.” She waved off his insistent apologies, stuffing her book back in her bag. Really, he was acting like she was going to punch him in the face for something that happened four months ago. She wasn’t even that scary. And Renelle had forgotten the incident long ago, anyways! She didn’t hold on to grudges for random careless stuff like that.

Though what was it with them two bumping into each other? If it ever happened a third time, she was going to have to investigate. Nothing was impossible in a place such as Hogwarts. The chaos that always seemed to erupt at every school-sanctioned event proved that. The place seriosult needed to get better security.

She looked down at her watch for the time, then remembered she didn’t have one. “And I’m super late and in a lot of trouble now, yay. Bye.” Then she turned and set off down the hallway.

Interacting with @Keith Moore

Wincing once she remembered who he was, Keith sighed, "I'm still very sorry about that, um, did-" He mumbled, then in an ever quieter voice, "Did you get the dress?" He hoped she did, it costed quite a bit from his aunts. He was referring to the dress he'd left near the Ravenclaw dorm entrance. He thought she'd like it, it was close to what she wore at the BaiKim winter ball.

Keith took a deep breath, calming himself down some. "It's just a girl, how are you this nervous, a very pretty girl, but just a girl. You really really need to stop being so scared, shes gonna think you're weak." He thought to himself, looking at her again. She said something about being late and Keith mumbled "Crap-" under his breath, turning to her, then watching her leave, he stood for a few seconds, then went after her, not getting to close.

"Hey wait- did you wanna go to that ball coming up together maybe?" He asked, not too nervous this time. He had wanted to ask her since he heard about it, just to make up for how he ruined the last ball, or that's what he told himself at least. "Just as friends- if ya want to-"

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“Dress? Oh yeah.” She nodded. It wasn’t every day you got free clothes from someone who was practically a stranger. “Er, thanks for that, by the way.” Renelle really wished he would speak up. Straining her ears every time just to be able to hear what he was saying was getting a bit old, and she didn’t bite!

The student was looking more and more nervous by the minute. Renelle self-consciously glanced down at herself. Did she accidentally pick up a knife at lunch or something?

She looked back up. Nope, nothing. Now she really had no idea.

Renelle bit back a groan when the boy followed her as she headed on her way. She had a lesson to get through, and the Ravenclaw really could not afford to be held back any more! Her heart sank at the thought of all the trouble she was already in.

She really needed to ask him what his deal was. “Hey, is there a reason why you’re fo- ” Suddenly, her inquiry was cut short as he spoke up. He was…. Asking her to the ball?

She stumbled, a book crashing onto the ground again. As she dove down to retrieve it, her mind whirled? What had just happened? It was just… None of it made sense! They’d met a total of two times, and the instances had been less than pleasant. Well, the second was still ongoing, so maybe just the first. But still!

What was even his name? She took her time with the book, buying herself precious time to think. It was possible it’d been written on a note with the dress? It was such a long time ago though, how could she be expected to remember?

Renelle finally managed to get her textbook back into her bag, and got up slowly. A bystander would look at her and see the first year frowning, though she really wasn’t mad or anything! Just thinking.

“You, uh-” What did she say? “When did we become friends?”

Renelle was very charming that way.

Interacting with @Keith Moore

Nodding, Keith was glad she liked the dress, or at least got it. He smiled a tiny bit, but it didn't last long. His happiness never did last long when he was a nervous wreak, which was frequently happening recently.

Keith could see her kinda getting annoyed at how quiet he was talking and also knew that they'd both be late to class if they continued to stand in the hallway, he looked at he after asking about the ball. She dropped her book again, he went to pick it up for her before seeing her already doing so, rather then risk the chance of bumping her anywhere, hands or heads, he let her get it. He took another deep breathe, realizing she looked, confused, or so he thought. "You were dumb to ask Keith, you hardly know each other, you idiot. She probably doesn't even remember your name. Look, she's frowning, you better say something, quite just standing there like an idiot, gods why didn't you just go to class. She doesn't hardly know you, you hardly know her."

Speaking in a clearer voice after she went silent again, Keith said,"Look I'm sor-" He was interrupted, by her asking when they became friends. Keith frowned. "I- dunno- Just thought maybe we were, can we be friends? actually, just uh, forget I asked about the ball, we're gonna be late. See you later" Keith said before walking quickly towards his class.

Wc: -241- Interacting with: @Renelle Dalton Mentioning: @
OOC NOTE: Renelle can either stop Keith or they can find each other after class or in the Great Hall since lunch was after this class, if the latter options, it can be a super quick thread, whatever you wanna do.

Great, now she felt like a complete jerk. Renelle really hadn’t meant to be mean! But her bluntness could tend to give that impression sometimes - the question had been genuine. The spooked response her fellow student gave, as well as his hasty departure, seemed to show he had not interpreted it as such, however.

She just stood there for a moment, torn between rushing to class and explaining her intentions to him. Ah, whatever. She rushed ahead, not in the direction of the Charms classroom but instead the opposite. She might as well skip it at this point.

“Hey, wait up!” Luckily, Renelle managed to up to him relatively quickly. “Look, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings to whatever. It was actually a real question!” She paused, considering her next words carefully. Didn’t want to scare him off again. “Like, we don’t really know each other that well, you know? I don’t even know your name!”

“So, uh.” She adjusted the strip of her bag awkwardly. “Of course, calling me your friend is appreciated, but it just doesn’t hold up very much. Like, technically. ”

But what was she saying exactly? Even Renelle was confused on the message she was trying to convey.

This was why Renelle stuck to herself most of the time. It was so much easier, with far less pressure. You couldn’t misinterpret your own words, after all! The only person she kind of liked was Astra, but her Slytherin friend really was one of a kind. As far as Renelle was concerned, no one else could possibly hope to match up with Astra!

That didn’t mean she wanted to seriously upset anyone, though! At least, not when the other person was so nervous and fidgety and looked like they were going to go cry in a corner later. She didn’t want to be responsible for that!

Interacting with @Keith Moore

She stopped him, he wasn't too upset, just embarrassed he even asked her. He had understood why she responded the way she did, she had been right, they weren't friends, they hardly knew each other.

"My feelings aren't hurt." He said in a rather cold tone he hadn't meant to use. He took a deep breath, "My apologies, you didn't hurt my feelings Renelle, you're right." He looked at her, hiding his emotion better now.

"My name is Keith, Keith Moore, second year Gryffindor and used to be on the broom racing team, had to quit cause of some other issues. There, now you know a little about me." He spoke quick on accident, noticing she seemed to feel weird he backed up some so they weren't so close, but close enough if he put his arm straight in front of him he'd be able to tap her shoulder.

He looked at the time on his own watch, and noticed now they were super late. "Oh well, it ain't like you've never been late before, it'll be fine Keith, ask about her or something, come on, you've gotten better at talking to people, why are you struggling now? Speak dammit!" he told himself in his head.

"What about you- I guess- really we should get to our classes soon, we are already late..." He asked and told, he didn't want to seem rude but he felt bad that he even stopped her first, he should have just helped and went away to class.

Wc: -252- Interacting with: @Renelle Dalton Mentioning: @