Snow-Flecked Singing PV Graci Laren

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

English - Thoughts

@Graci Laren

Rehearsal Room

XXX"Getting trouble is always a possibility no matter what you do," Eonaria mused. "I really hope we don't get caught, though. Detention is scary." She brushed her bangs out of her eyes. The snow had stopped falling some time ago. Eonaria didn't remember cancelling the spell, but perhaps it was a concentration thing.

XXXShe beamed, waving her wand to spare Graci from more time getting pelted by vengeful snowballs. "Aha!" she cheered, stowing her wand again. "I win!" There was a proud smile on her face as she stood victorious amidst the snow. Eonaria knew she probably looked very silly, but the atmosphere was just too perfect. And this is part of why I love Astronomy class! Such usefulness. She grinned to herself.

XXX"I guess we should start clearing this up now..." Maybe someone would come by soon, someone who was actually going to use the Rehearsal Room for rehearsing instead of... whatever they were doing. Eonaria eyed the snow suspiciously. Now, it all came down to what spell would work on snow. "Incendio!" she cast. The orange jet of light burst into flame on contact with the snow, though it soon disappeared as the snow began to melt. Eonaria blinked as she saw the melted area, which was larger than expected. The cold water seeped across the floor, exposing the regular wood.

XXX"...oh good, I didn't burn the floor." Hopefully when they were done, there would be no scorch marks on the floor. Then came the next spell: "Scourgify!" Eonaria waved her wand in the S shape and the water quickly siphoned away. To be honest, it worked a little better than expected. And now they just had to... do it a bunch more times. She turned to face Graci. "Uh... do you mind helping me?" Their shoes were probably going to be soaked by the end of this...

.・-: ✧☾♩♪♩♬　. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.　♬♩♪♩☽✧ :-・.

Reducio

Incendio WDC 9 | Eonaria WIS 8 | roll 1d20, min 9 max 28 | result: medium flame?


I don't know what I did but I did something...
Scourgify: not a duelling spell?

Graci raised her eyebrows, "You've been in detention before?"

She herself had never been in detention, but she probably would before the year was over. Hogwarts just attracted trouble, even to people who were generally good kids. Not that there were a lot of those.

Now the snow was starting to melt, the air absent of the pretty flakes. What a shame. I mean, it was pretty while it lasted. But we really do need to clean up. As much as it would be fun to do detention with Eonaria, I would not fancy it.

"Sighhhh," Graci was starting to get a flair for the dramatics, "I hath been defeated, how shall I ever reacquire my pride again?!" She put a hand to her forehead, but kind of ruined the dramatics of it all my smiling and letting a giggle or two slip.

Her giggling stopped when cleaning up was mentioned, but the smile did not disappear from her face. She hadn't actually used a lot of practical spells even though she knew them. It was like her brain was so used to doing things manually it took her a few seconds to actually pull out her wand.

Incendio was not the spell she was expecting, but she was just glad it didn't burn the floor. That would have been a lot harder to explain than some water. More than 'some' but still... I don't think there's a spell for undoing scorch marks. Probably is and I just either don't know it or can't think of it.

Then there came the expected scourgify. That's an awfully useful spell, I should use it more.

She started to pull her wand out of her hair, unravelling it so she could help clear the snow. "Of course I can help. I kinda made the mess too, or spread it, at least." Soaked shoes were the least of Graci's worries, not that she had many to begin with.

Her wand followed Eornaria's lead, the 's' shape and whispering scourgify while watching the water disappear, leaving shiny floors beneath it.

"On the bright side, if anyone does come in they'll only be able to get us in trouble for cleaning the floors, I guess. Or something like that. It'd most likely just cancel out."

Graci didn't often use magic, so when she did it was really cool to her. There was magic in classes, of course, but it was fun to see how it applied to more everyday situations.

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

English - Thoughts

@Graci Laren

Rehearsal Room

XXX"Oh, no," Eonaria said quickly, shaking her head. "I've never gotten detention." She was fervently hoping that she would make it to the end of the year without getting in trouble. "Have you?"

XXXEonaria giggled at Graci's theatrics, though it did cause a pang in her heart as she was reminded of the Shakespearean joking she used to do with her best friend, Sabrina. She hadn't seen her in quite some time. "May your pride forever be diminished in light of the mighty snowballs," she said wryly, though it was slightly dampened by the nostalgia.

XXXHmm, perhaps Incendio wasn't the best way to go. Judging by Graci's work with Scourgify, she didn't need to melt the snow first. Eonaria didn't want to risk flame damage every time she cast Incendio, and she wasn't quite sure if Reparo fixed burnt wood. Scourgify was much safer. "That's true," she giggled. "Don't mind us, we got bored and defaulted to scrubbing down the castle with spells not exactly meant for cleaning floors."

XXXEonaria paused, astonished as Graci reached to unravel her hairdo, only to withdraw her wand instead. "That's definitely... a sneaky place to put your wand." Why did she put it in her hair?? If Graci needed her wand to defend herself, then her hair would get in her face! To be honest, if I tried to use my wand as a hairstick, I'd probably end up breaking it...

XXXThey worked together, continuing to clear out the snow in patches. Magic was a funny thing. Each time Eonaria cast Scourgify, it came out slightly different. Sometimes it cleared out wider swathes, other times just the few layers on top. It was probably something to do with intent and concentration, but it was fascinating.

XXXShe thought it was a good thing that casting a spell wasn't just like pressing a Muggle button over and over again. Electry was boring. Elecitry. Elcetritey? Whatever. I can do a little research on the 'light switches' in the library tomorrow. Lumos was way more useful because you could adjust the brightness at will. And most wizards have their wand on them at all times. Light switches aren't exactly portable. They're stuck to the walls. Eonaria sighed slightly. Now, if Muggles had portable walls... they would incredibly inconvenient.

.・-: ✧☾♩♪♩♬　. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.　♬♩♪♩☽✧ :-・.

Graci figured that it made sense. Detention wasn't all that common. "I haven't either, but the way you spoke of it made it sound like you had done it before. Not that I'm saying I think you're a trouble maker just- well, you get what I mean." Graci's face flushed a bit at her rambling, but she just passed it off as being cold. Or something.

"Hm... light of snowballs, eh? Glow in the dark snowballs would be odd." Maybe Graci just had an overactive imagination. Maybe not. Maybe she was just odd. Either way, it was a weird notion.

It was quick work, but she began to realize just how much snow there was. It's impressive. She was growing fonder of winter, snow in general, just because of one positive encounter. The joys of life are usually the most simple.

"Hey, it's the good intention that counts, right?" Graci shrugged, smiling and chuckling a bit. Burning down the school would not be excused by some good intentions.

Graci laughed a little at Eonaria's comment about her wand in her hair. "It's definitely not the most conventional place to put it. But I don't lose it that way and I couldn't find any hair ties this morning so... yeah."

That was her predicament most days, which should have spurred her on to actually find a hair clip or hair tie, something that was actually meant for it. Conventional is for boring people. Or just ones with common sense, I suppose. Probably the latter.

With all these thoughts of snow and Christmas, one thing on her mind was Christmas carols. Or just Christmas/Winter themed songs in general. Frosty the snowman. Jingle bells. A lot of other songs more along the lines of 'O come all ye faithful' or 'Silent Night'.

One of these days I'm just going to randomly burst into song. That has infinite potential for embarrassment.

The 'scourgify's murmured seemed infinite, much like the amount of snow. Graci knew she was just over exaggerating, and that it hadn't even been too long. But what was life without a few dramatic moments? Maybe one day I'll just gaslight myself so hard I'll think I actually like maths.

Graci liked the feel of her wand in hand. It felt right. Nice. Which was probably helpful, she would have to have it her whole life. Sighhhh, using magic is so wonderful. I really should use it more.

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

English - Thoughts

@Graci Laren

Rehearsal Room

XXX"Oh, right. Okay." Eonaria blushed slightly. There was no way she seemed like a trouble maker, right? More like trouble maker on accident. Her wand was a bit warm from the many repeated Scourgifys, which alarmed her a little. Was it possible to explode your own wand from overuse?

XXX"That's not what I meant, but..." Eonaria tilted her head slightly. The phrase 'in light of [insert word here]' was rather obscure, and she didn't think she'd even be able to explain what she meant. It was just one of those things that your mind grasped but not your consciousness. "There's probably a spell for that." Who was she kidding? There was a spell for everything. Almost everything. Eonaria didn't think anyone in their right mind would deliberately invent a spell for enchanting vases to grow octopus tentacles, but you never knew...

XXXTo be honest, if Eonaria just walked around with her wand in her hair, she'd notice if her hairdo came undone, but wouldn't really realize that it meant she'd lost her wand until she reached for it. "Huh," she mused. Graci seemed to have a pretty relaxed attitude. She didn't even look embarrassed about using her wand as a substitute for a misplaced hair tie.

XXXAt last, the rehearsal room was pretty much clear of any remaining snow, though the floor was rather damp. Hopefully it doesn't, like, grow mold or something. Yikes. Was Hogwarts protected from mold? Was that a thing? Did the founders consider mold as one of the plausible scenarios to defend the school from?

XXXIf the room grew mold, it was totally the wood's fault for not drying properly.

XXX"Hey, we did it!" Eonaria cheered slightly, tucking her wand away safely. "And our shoes aren't even all that wet." Well, Graci's shoes didn't look very wet, but it was hard to tell when their robes covered most of their shoes. I actually don't think I've seen many major tripping moments. Huh. That's surprising. She knew some students liked to change into more casual clothes once classes ended, but Eonaria did not appreciate that long trek up to the common room to change when she could just change before bedtime.

.・-: ✧☾♩♪♩♬　. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.　♬♩♪♩☽✧ :-・.

Eonaria had a very expressive face. Not that Graci could read the emotions going across it, but it was true nonetheless. Note to self: Learn how to read facial expressions better. She had a lot of 'note to self's, plenty more than she cared to admit, and even more that she had forgotten to work on, or just forgot in general.

"I know it's not what you meant, sometimes my brain goes weeeird places." Graci nodded fake-solemnly, "I bet there is. If you get creative enough there could be a spell for anything and everything."

In all reality, there probably was. Just learn Latin and boom fifty more unknown spells in your arsenal. Most likely why it's highly advised that wizards and witches alike don't get it in their heads to learn it.

Now that the floor was cleared for the most part with a few last scourgifies Graci tucked her wand up her sleeve, pulling her hands into the sleeves of her jumper that was likely out of season in May. She didn't care. In fact, if she could, she would wear jumpers all year long. But alas, that was not the case, tee shirts and shorts for the rest of the year it was.

Graci forced her brain back to reality, smiling at Eonaria's enthusiasm. "That we did! And wet shoes would truly be a tragedy, glad we dodged that bullet."

Was that too muggle of a saying? I suppose it would be. I hope she doesn't notice. If I remember correctly she's pureblooded...

Graci slightly lifted up her robes to look at her shoes, they didn't feel wet yet, but there was always the off chance that the water just hadn't fully penetrated. Her cherry red converse were holding up quite nicely for how much she used them, and only slightly damp near the bottom edges, but nothing serious. Thank goodness, I don't think soaking shoes would be very comfortable for the day.

Letting her robes drop back to obscuring her shoes she took a few steps towards the other Gryffindor girl, hoping to maintain a respectable conversation distance. The last vestiges of water from their snowball fight on her hands were soon wiped down the front of her robes and she looked up again, smiling.

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

English - Thoughts

@Graci Laren

Rehearsal Room

XXXEonaria giggled slightly at Graci's solemn face. Weird places? Very relatable. "I guess that just happens to everyone, huh? No one's really normal." I wonder if there's a compilation book of tiny, minor, mostly useless spells. Her thoughts drifted to Transfiguration class. For such complex theory, it was very odd to be learning how to turn glass into sand. Why would you ever need to do that? Glass seems more useful than sand.

XXXGraci smiled. "And wet shoes would truly be a tragedy, glad we dodged that bullet." Aside from the note that she had more than one pair of shoes, so wet shoes wouldn't be too bad, the first thing that went through Eonaria's mind was 'what kind of bullet?'

XXXShe was fairly certain Graci was not referring to bullet ants, which would be an extremely out of place topic here, but she asked anyway: "Like bullet ants?" They were nasty little buggers that Eonaria hoped she would never encounter. Not that she would, considering they lived all the way in... in... Wait, where do they live again?

XXXIf someone brought an invasion of bullet ants into Europe, she would never enter the forest near her home ever again. She usually didn't mind most ants, but these ones were worse than wasps, and that was certainly an achievement. I guess wasps are more intimidating. And they can fly.

XXXNow the image of a flying bullet ant was in her mind. Eonaria grimaced, batting it away. Yikes!

XXX"Um, anyway!" Eonaria smiled. "Thanks for having a snowball fight with me. I'll see you around, I guess?" She felt a little sad that this encounter had to end. But what would they do now, stand in the empty, damp rehearsal room chatting? There were way better places to do that. Like the common room. She almost wished that school was year-round.

.・-: ✧☾♩♪♩♬　. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.　♬♩♪♩☽✧ :-・.

"Normal is overrated anyway." Graci shrugged, an ever persistent smile on her face. It seemed that being in the presence of another joyful person really brought the best from her, a thing she quite liked. Then again, she just liked people in general, so the bar would be considered very low for who she enjoyed being around.

Muggle references and slang were one of Graci's weaknesses at Hogwarts, something she spoke of far too often when in the presence of those who weren't raised as she was. It made sense in her mind, though. Her grandparents on her father's side were both muggleborns, her mom and grandma were technically muggles, and her best friends back in London were, too. Sometimes it felt as though she couldn't go a day without thinking something so obviously muggle it felt like she would never fit in a school full of purebloods.

Which was why she currently faced the inquiry of if the bullets in question were ants. Frankly, that thought had notably not crossed her mind as to bullet possibilities.

"No, not bullet ants. The 'glad we dodged that bullet' phrase is a muggle thing, something my mom would say when we narrowly missed something bad happening." It felt quite serene to explain something that seemed to be common sense to her to another person. She regularly forgot that the whole world didn't know life as she did.

Honestly though, bullet ants sounded much scarier than wet shoes. Then again, Graci did have an irrational dislike, bordering on fear, of insects and rodents of most types. 'Irrational' being the key word in that statement, for it was lacking validity in any way, shape, or form.

Graci shifted her stance, most likely seeming as though she was uncomfortable, but 'oddly hopeful for a new friend' would be more accurate. Hope was one thing the young Gryffindor girl was becoming accustomed to. It made life far brighter, and gave her something to look forward to every single day.

"It was quite fun, and I'm definitely all for having another snowball fight, my horrible aim aside. The probable 'next time', though, should probably be outside." While she was all for snowball fights and fun, detentions were decidedly 'un-fun'. Or not fun, or whatever grammatically correct way you say torture by boredom and/or physical exertion.