Anything You Want Closed

Clary returned from her fleeting investigation in the other herbology greenhouses, still on the hunt for Puffapods, Knotgrass, Fluxweed, and a few other infamous herbs that had made it onto her list. (The mandrakes were sadly locked up in a location she could not reach - probably for the best, considering she'd been wanting to attempt to pot one. That wouldn't have gone so well without ear muffs.) She danced back over to the group, scanning the area a moment to track down Evan, who she'd accidentally abandoned during the search. The Gryffindor was quite impatient, and he honestly only ended up throwing insults her way at the end of every conversation they ran into, so his first impressions weren't going very well at the moment.

Noticing her sister's flickering expression of utter and complete dejection, though she attempted to hide her face behind a pretty, hidden smile- a North Family talent-, she flitted over to Marissa's side, wide eyes flitting back and forth between the Gryffindor boy who she'd yet to meet/introduce herself to and her twin. Hearing his hasty apologies, her expression suddenly shifted from her usual pleasant mask to fierce accusation. "What did you do to my sister?" she demanded, scanning his face for any possible explanation. Surely there was an explanation for this, but at the moment, all she wanted was to figure out how this boy hurt Marissa and how she could get revenge.

Rosie frowned when Marissa ignored her. Nice job, Rosie! You managed to scare her off. Already. She shrugged it off, she'd have other chances to talk to Marissa in the near future. Afterall, they were both in Hufflepuff, maybe she could try again at night. Rosie once again got distracted with the plants, turning her back to the rest of them. She figured they'd probably be better off without her constant babbling anyway.

She let her mind wander to the future of herself at Hogwarts. What would she learn? How good would she be at spells? Not at all? A little bit? Oh, and oh god, Quidditch. Would she even be in that? How bad would it go? What if she falls down and die- Rosie mentally smacked herself. Stop overthinking! That's not your thing, Parker! Get a hold of yourself! Stop talking to yourself in your head, that's weird! Yeah well, you're weird! Fair point.

Rosie sighed and looked off at the sky. It was so mysterious, everything about Hogwarts. It was magical, exciting, shocking. It was a lot more different than home in London, where her adventures were pretty limited. But here? There were many many spaces for Rose to get herself in trouble for.

The boy gulped. So this was the other blonde. At first, he thought she seemed pleasanter of the two...

...but once again, he was wrong. Ergh. It pained him.

Thankfully, she did not throw him across the muddy grounds or something else of sorts. That would have hurt.

Looking up into her narrowed, angered eyes, Anatole took a deep breath. This is one of the few times he could not conjure up something to say, so he just let it flow, trusting himself. "I...I did not mean to do anything...I...I..." he shut his eyes, trying to remain open. "I was utterly surprised when she spoke." His tone grew softer, hoping Marissa would not hear. Once again, this was one of the few chances he had, and he could easily go along and break it. "I never expected her to become even slightly open to me."

Quickly, he glanced around, watching Rosie about to leave. He wanted her to stay, help him out, maybe. Be a friend.

Back to the situation. Anatole shook his head, in dismay with his explanation. Who knew her twin could seem so intimidating. The last thing Anatole wanted was to draw a scene. "I...I don't know what I did to get your sister to speak, if that is what offends you...I...just...out of surprise I grew flustered and laughed." He had mistook her at the first impression, and that is what got him caught up into this mess. He hated it, almost wishing he could run fast enough to run from this girl's manic grasp. Ha, no, he thought, realizing he had a duty to do. Welp, this kid was Gryffindor for a reason, so he thought.

The blonde began to relax, understanding the situation that was at hand and glanced over at her twin for confirmation. Despite the girl's not-so-identical appearances or personalities, they were still close to one another and shared some form of an unspoken bond, not needing the ability of verbal words to communicate with one another. From her understanding of the situation, Mari had said a word aloud! She offered a reassuring smile at her sister, making it clear she was proud of her and that it wasn't anything she needed to be disappointed about. Most likely, she'd muttered a quick, "Hello," or something along those lines and the ignorant Gryffindor boy had laughed or reacted poorly to her sister's misused voice. 

Doing her best to think like a Ravenclaw (as she'd been learning to do), instead of losing her temper, she nodded her head slowly and turned back to the Gryffindor boy, a now slightly-less-hostile expression on her face. "I apologize for snapping at you. You need to understand that Mari's a selective mute, and when she speaks, it means a lot to her. I know you reacted poorly and understand that now... so sorry for lashing out. Just be more careful in the future." She tossed the boy a knowing glance, an unspoken threat twirled elegantly through her words. Hurt Mari and I hurt you.

Done with the drama, she attempted to plaster on a half-pleasant smile and held out her hand for the boy to shake, introducing herself. "Clary North, member of the Ravenclaw house. Evidently, you've already met my twin sister Marissa, who, by the way, prefers going by Mari. I'm usually the clumsy or easy-going one, so sorry for all the drama." She offered him a sheepish smile and nodded her head in greeting, attempting to clear the heated air between them.

Rosie turned towards the group again, seeing Clary was a bit upset and that Anatole was a bit intimidated. She made her way over, standing next to him. She managed a small smile as she held up her hands. "It's okay, I'm sure Anatole didn't mean it! Sometimes things just slip out, I'm sure you can understand. But he apologized, so everything should be okay, right?" Rosie darted her eyes between Anatole and Clary, and slightly at Marissa, almost checking up on her. She rested her hands behind her back as she waited for a reaction from either of the two, hoping things would calm down.

Rosie didn't think she was intruding much, but she didn't want an argument to start so early in their year, so she just wanted to make sure everyone was a-okay! Normally, she would be against getting involved so she wouldn't be seen as the 'white knight', but she could feel tense feelings plaguing the air as the Gryffindor boy struggled to get his words out, the least she could do is help him feel like he wasn't alone.

Of course she could understand why Clary would be protective, as they are sisters. So she wasn't blaming anyone!

Anatole suddenly felt reassured with the Hufflepuff by his side, backing him up when...honestly there wasn't much to back up!

She gave him just the support he needed. Apparently he had friends now. Whoa.

Getting friends this fast was a record for Anatole. In the corner, normally, reading books or discussing with teachers in Muggle school, he never had more than one or two close friends at a time. It felt strange, like the plants surrounding him, but he liked it. Anatole liked that feeling, just like he likes being surrounded by girls (not in a romantic way, Anatole considered that gross).

Taking yet another deep gulp, and with Rosie's gracious reencouragement, Anatole looked to Clarissa and noted, "It's alright. I forgive you. Part of him hated how he couldn't sympathize since he was an only child who had always been social. He had nothing in common with them, it seemed. "I...I will manage the situation better next time, Miss." Clary, the way she seemed to dominate the conversation, somewhat intimidated Anatole at first. He wished to conquer that, hopefully making it feel like more level ground between them all.

He took the girl's handshake eagerly, smiling as he introduced himself. "Anatole Evans, First Year Gryffindor. Had a teensy bit of trouble adjusting, I take the blame as much as needed." After noting her expression, he gulped again. This would be a long day.

He winked back at Rosie, a somewhat 'Thank You' response without even opening his mouth.

Rosie smiled at Anatole, reassuring him that he indeed had backup, even if he didn't need it. She turned back to Clary and Marissa with a big grin. "See! All good." She commented, doing cute little finger guns in their direction. "I'm sorry if I freaked you out, Marissa. I'll be mindful to be more quieter and keep my talking shorter in the future!" Rosie assured, doing thumbs up with her fingers as a switch from finger guns.

She shifted on her feet back and forth nervously as the two kids talked, excited just to listen to them talk for a while. Rosie didn't need to be talking constantly, she was fine with just letting people talk as well. Honestly, Rosie was thinking of ways to approach Marissa in the future. She was nervous of overwhelming her, because that would also cause Clary to possibly unleash her wrath. MOSTLY though, it was because they were in the same house anyway, Rosie didn't plan on having any bad blood with anyone in her house, it could cause unnecessary drama and exhausting confrontations, which Rosie wasn't at Hogwarts for. She was there to learn magic and build last longing friendships so she could be mentally healthy in the future!

As Rosie wandered up to the conversation, shifting back and forth on two feet, as always, as she seemed to shuffle about, Clary felt herself begin to relax. It wasn't common for her to lose her anger so easily, but Mari had always been a weak spot for her. She knew Anatole had made a mistake, and once the boy apologized, she felt her anger ebb away with his words. She was fine. Mari was fine. Everyone actually seemed to be fine, and she didn't want to let one unfortunate/uncomfortable encounter stop her from having any fun with her opportunity to explore the herbology greenhouses!

She offered a tentative smile, actually smirking in amusement as the boy called her "Miss". Clary was just a young girl, probably no older than the rest of them here, yet somehow, she'd already managed to insight fear in the "bold" member of the Gryffindor house. Once he'd shaken her hand, she dropped it, taking note of his name. "Gotcha, Anatole." His name was a bit strange, and she wasn't completely sure where he was from, based off of his accent, but at least they'd gotten over the initial hostility of their encounter. "It's fine... but don't call me 'Miss'," Clary replied, twirling around to explore the rest of the area. She was pretty sure she may have accidentally slapped Anatole in the face with her blonde hair upon her pivot.

Marissa seemed fine now. She was thankful that her sister came to the rescue. Both slowly but surely, the crowd started to grow along with the anxiety. Big crowds were not a favourite of Marissa’s. She sighed. You have to try. Sociable people are always the most likeable. She had a war inside her head, trying to debate on what she would do next.

She tapped her throat, giving Anatole an apologetic look. He did not know she was selectively mute and that Claryssa was quite harsh on him. She wanted him to understand that she did not mean to be rude by not talking to him. She stopped tapping her throat and gave Claryssa a smile, to show she was ok.

Mari stepped back slightly away from the group. She wanted give both, them and her some space. Slow and steady wins the race, right? You just need to practice more. She gave a smile to the growing group and then went back to playing with her buttons. But she was also listening in on their conversation. Marissa may be terrible at communicating and speaking, but she was a good listener. That was the only way she could learn about the others.

Nervously, Anatole scratched his head. This conversation kept getting worse and worse by the second for him. He knew by the earlier girl's look that he shouldn't hurt either of them...or else he'd get beat up in a heartbeat. Of course, like most, Anatole wasn't fond of the infirmary. The ones he had experienced as a Muggle were terrible, but no one said a wizards' would be any better.

At Clary's recognition of his name, he smiled at her, repeating basically what she said back to himself. "Gotcha, Claryssa." He chuckled to himself. It had been so long since he'd said a slang word like 'Gotcha'. It felt fun. Maybe he might say it more often.

Gulping, he looked back to Rosie, who had backed a little away. Hopefully he didn't need her help much longer.

Ergh. Anatole suddenly regretted his instinctive formality upon her. Was 'Miss' a bit much? At her comment, Anatole nodded, still stricken with a little bit of fear on his tongue. "Yes ma'a-" He cut himself off. No formality."Yes, I understand. No formality from now on, Claryssa." He tried to muster up a smile, but it came out awkward and deformed since he was scared.

The ponytail hit the left side of his face like a whip, cracking onto his cheek. It hurt, and he blushed, looking back at anxious Marissa with another apologetic smile.