Soft at Heart PV Falentra Reopened

June 14, 2020 ~ Sunday morning, 8:45AM
Private thread with @Falentra Black

The second half of the school year had been absolutely crazy for Ivy. The hags, then the Ball... although both events had occurred months ago already, they still haunted her, both in her dreams and when she was awake. Ivy had held on, counting down the days that she would finally be allowed to go home and see her sister. She had planned to run wild and have fun that summer, to get her mind off Hogwarts and be a child, like she was supposed to.

Then her mother wrote to her, telling her that there had been a change of plans. Ivy would have to attend summer camp, and once that was finished, she would stay with her aunt in London. The Gryffindor was furious - but not because of that. She was angry because Alison was staying in Wales, and she wouldn't be able to see her for the entire summer. Ivy had been forbidden from returning home during Christmas for no apparent reason, and now they were keeping her away again. This time, they'd given a reason, but there were a few inconsistencies and problems in that reason that she could spot from a mile away. And that was what stung the most.

Why didn't her parents want to see her? Was she really that bad of a person?

It had been fifteen minutes since she had recieved the letter, at the breakfast. Ten minutes since she'd finished reading through the whole thing, five minutes since she'd run out of the Great Hall. It was funny how quickly her world turned upside down. One moment, Ivy had been fine, chatting with her housemates about the lovely weather, the next, she was on the verge of tears and outside, trying to catch her breath.

She was still holding the letter, she realised, although half of it was now scrunched up in her fist. Ivy looked up at the sky, her eyes wet and her legs shaking. It was unfair, she thought, that it was such a beautiful day. The sun warmed her back and the cloudless skies were a brilliant blue, and the trees were greener than ever. Ivy wished that it was raining. That way no one could see her cry.

She wiped her eyes on the back of her hand and took a deep breath. "That's enough now," she whispered to herself, trying to calm herself down. Ivy stared at the letter in her hands before looking at the doors she had come through, intending to head back in. But before she could even take just one step, someone swiped the letter out of her hand so fast it almost gave her a paper cut.

Ivy whirled around, panic rising in the pit of her stomach. It was a group of older students - third or fourth years, by the looks of it, and one of the girls was holding the letter tightly, grinning maliciously. The Gryffindor's grey eyes widened and she stepped forwards. What on Earth were they doing? "Hey!" She hoped she sounded braver than she felt. "G-give that back!" Judged off the way they laughed, she assumed that she did not.

"What's this?" the one with the letter jeered. "Why are you out here and not in there with the rest of the teeny tot first years, huh? Got some bad news from Mummy and Daddy?"

Ivy's grey eyes followed the letter as the older girl waved it around carelessly, only half-listening to what she was saying. "Please give it back to me," Ivy pleaded. She hated how desperate and weak she sounded at the moment, but what could she do? Being rude would get her nowhere - it would only piss them off further. To her horror, her eyes started to pool with tears again, and this time they spilled over. Ivy's cheeks flushed pink as the older students started laughing even harder. She wanted nothing more than to run away, but they had the letter from her mother, and she wasn't going anywhere without it. "Can I p-please have it back?"