Closed Girl Power PV Lindsey Springhall

@Aly Salinger

For Lindsey, Summer Camp sounded like distant. Her memory about summer camps could be traced back to her second year, and only her second year - then it went blank. BBQ, stargazing, wax museum tour, crafting…all these activities were distant. That summer, her laughing, carefree second year summer - she joined so many activities and became acquainted with so many people, and even played against Durmstrang in a superior Quidditch match. Even she didn’t exactly get the chance to actually play the game and was benched, it was exciting. Truly exciting.

And now even Quidditch was a distant sport to her, so did summer tournaments - although they had a wonderful start in first stage leading the board, again Hufflepuff did not get the chance to represent Hogwarts duelling this summer. Lindsey must say that she was a little depressed about the result, them seconding behind Slytherin and Ravenclaw. If possible, she’d quite like to meet some of those international students on the Duelling Stage - really, her duelling life was not a plain sailing, and she was really in need of some new strategy ideas.

And so she had mostly been wandering around these days, carelessly making new acquaintances and joining in activities. Maybe she was already too old for sugar fairs or doll-making, or maybe she was just uninterested - Lindsey knew she had been feeling uninterested in mass events ever after being rejected for the spring ball. Giving your whole heart and kindness to completely unknown and cunning people was tiresome. Lifeless things that would never fail her were much better.

Lindsey took a deep breath and continued her walk, chocolate brown eyes idly gazing around. The summer in the Scottish Highlands was charming, much different from what you could feel from the London parks or the Yorkshire moors. Her steps were much slower than her usual ones, and slowly she let herself sink in the breeze, turning around the corner. Gently pushing some hair back to behind her shoulders, her fingertips played with the curl of her hair, blinking carelessly. Well, what should she have for lunch today…?

Lindsey had quite been in her own world when someone stopped her. Wavy brown hair tied into two braids, pale complexion, lean - it did seem very like Aly Salinger in Lindsey’s “face bank”, who comforted her with some adorable flowers during their second year and remained as an acquaintance with her ever since. “…Aly?” She stopped and looked at the girl who precisely called her name out, some uncertainty in the tip of her voice.

There was a moment of hesitation, but then Lindsey was quite sure of it when the scenes of the random waves and hellos in the hallways as well as polite nods when the two houses shared classes rushed into her head, not to mention the evening when she went sobbing alone and Aly showed up like a flower goddess. Even though she didn’t know Aly well, Lindsey did have a very good impression of this Ravenclaw whose kindness lit her up back in her darkest time. Thinking of this, her lips curled into a warm smile, tone light. “Hey, it’s been quite a while, isn’t it? I hope you are doing well these days?”

When the girl turned to face her and Aly could get a proper glance at her visage, it became quite clear to the Ravenclaw that this was the very same Hufflepuff she'd met during her second year at Hogwarts. Merlin, it had been a long time since she'd seen her - well, outside of classes and such, but they'd not really stayed friends after that one meeting in 2021.

But it seemed like Lindsey recognised her, too, because brown eyes flittered over freckled features before the other girl tentatively said her name. She seemed uncertain, perhaps, that it was really Aly, and that wasn't necessarily a surprise to the Ravenclaw; she did, after all, look quite a bit different than she had two and a half years prior. Her hair was longer and, somehow, messier; she'd grown, even if it was only a little (she still stood at just under 155 cm, despite all her best efforts to grow taller). The main difference was in her style, her vibe, the way she carried herself now, following the rollercoaster that had been her fourth year at school. Gone were the crowns of flowers in her hair, the flowy A-lines, the bright colours and soft sweaters. Those were what had made her recognisable, Aly knew that much. But being different from one's old self wasn't necessarily a bad thing, was it?

"Thought that might've been you," Aly said, casually, coming to a stop a couple feet from Lindsey. She couldn't remember if she had ever known if the other girl was a hugger or not, someone who would give a friendly embrace to greet her friends - someone like Aly herself - but she had gone in for a hug with an old friend recently and gotten her nose broken for it, so the brunette was warier, now, of unasked-for contact. "Been a long time, yeah."

Lindsey wanted to make sure that Aly was doing well - well, that much was debatable. In the last year alone, her best friend had gone comatose for a bit, her father had died, her mother had pulled her out of school, her first-ever relationship had crashed and burned... needless to say it had been an interesting "lately", indeed. So Aly just shrugged one shoulder halfheartedly. "'S well as I can be, I suppose," she drawled. "It's nice to see a friendly face, for once. Let's put it that way."

Because, lately, it seemed that every corner Aly turned brought about the same few unfriendly faces she didn't want to see. But she didn't mention that part to Lindsey.

"What about you? How've you been?"

@Aly Salinger

She had to say that meeting old acquaintances was always a pleasant thing. The positive connections she made in her younger years were accompanied by sweet memories when being looked back again, and every time Lindsey would feel the pleasure of regaining it slowly filling the emptiness of her heart. To see Aly again was certainly very pleasing. Lindsey smiled at the girl again genuinely. From what she had just dug out from the pit of her memory, Aly seemed to have changed compared with the second year Ravenclaw’s silhouette dimming in Lindsey’s head. But no, she hadn’t changed. There was still something in Aly’s air that made her sure that she still had the power to make her day, just like what she did two and a half years ago.

But…just to say, how time flies! It had already been so long since they’d last talked. She would turn a fifth year in a month, she would take her O.W.L.s in a year, she would graduate from Hogwarts and step on her career path in three years, she would become a complete brand new person in five years. And I? Have I changed much? There was a moment she wanted to ask Aly impetuously, willing to get an answer. Perhaps. Her hair used to be more gold than brown when she was young, but now it had turned much darker, and sometime a bit reddish perhaps. She grew taller, freckles appeared here and there on her nose, she was no longer smiley towards every face, and much maturer. “Certainly it is.” Lindsey agreed with her.

When Aly drawled and “supposed”, Lindsey sensitively sensed that there was probably something not alright. But Aly seemed reluctant to venture further on the subject, and so Lindsey had nothing more to remark. After all, she herself couldn’t be described as “very well”. Lindsey nodded affectionately at Aly. “It’s always good to hear that.”

She should have thought about it, but asking someone “I hope you are doing well?” was not as easy to reply as “How do you do?”, when you could just smile sweetly and pronounce the four words gently back. Especially when the answer wasn’t exactly “I’m doing great.” “Um, quite.” She hesitated for some seconds and decided to speak the truth. As said, Aly was trusted on her list of acquaintances, and Lindsey wouldn’t mind disclosing some little hints about her emotion status.

And the simple description quite fitted exactly. When her heart, plain and clear as the Great Lake was disturbed, Lindsey had never thought that there would be one day when it would break and fall apart. But life was always unexpected, and the locket was tossed into the very bottom of the case, tears shed alone and smiles faded away. The thing went completely out of Lindsey’s control, and she was mad at him, maybe even more at herself. Unbelievable. The all-time wise and calm Lindsey Springhall who put herself in enthusiastically was deceived and cheated. And then she was in it, for April, when the ball was at full swing, for May, when he frequently showed up with another girl, and until June, before Amadea kindly talked her out. Lindsey could say that after that 85% of her had gotten through the painful experience, but the rest of 15% still suffered from recalling the scenes in Puddifoot’s now and then.

She knew that her reply was rather quirky. “I…” Lindsey tried to explain to Aly, but all she could do was to shrug carelessly. “I’ve been suffering from some issues as of lately…er, affection issues.” It wasn’t worthy to be addressed as love, she thought. “But yeah, it’s all over now.” It was the truth. Lindsey was that kind of person that would smile and say I am fine to others till the very end even if she was currently surrounded by darkness and unable to find a way out.

It seemed that the two girls were more similar than Aly remembered them being. Then again, in the last eighteen months, her ill-fated relationship had sort of eclipsed many of her acquaintances from her first few years, as suddenly, all Aly had wanted to do was hang around her now-ex; so maybe she just wasn't recalling Lindsey as clearly as she otherwise would have. Affection issues that were over now. Well, that was one way of putting it for Aly herself, too.

As such, the Ravenclaw couldn't help but let a wry smirk twist its way onto her lips. "Oh, I feel that." She huffed a half-sigh, half-laugh that was as full of satire as it was of mirth. "Boy problems, I assume? I feel like that's going around lately."

Maybe it wasn't polite of her to pry into Lindsey's affairs of the heart, but after seeing her ex-boyfriend parading around his new girl - and having to see said new girl at Spin the Bottle just a week before, as if having her face permanently burned into Aly's mind wasn't bad enough already - Aly was ready to wreak some havoc. No girl deserved to be heartbroken... well, maybe most girls didn't deserve that, anyway, and certainly not sweet Lindsey, whose kind and newly-freckled face looked like it was about to break in two from whatever pain some horrible person had inflicted upon her. Suddenly, the smoldering embers of wrath in Aly's own heart - those that had been poked into a fire a few times over the last couple of months following her return to Hogwarts and thus having to see a certain dark-haired Hufflepuff's rage-inducing face again - flared to life, but not for herself.

Maybe hearing someone else complain about their romance issues would make her feel better about her own. Or maybe fixing someone else's (read: wreaking revenge) would help, somehow.

"Who's this prick? I'll fight him," she said, fiercely, the words slipping from her mouth before she could even realize that Aly was very much not suited to fighting. She was no duellist, after all, and rather small at that, but at least what she lacked in skill she could make up in pure determination, right? "I mean, er, you don't have to tell me. Sorry. I've been through that recently, too, so... I understand, I think."

@Aly Salinger

Lindsey smiled, though rather bitterly. She couldn’t help but feel the slight ache in her heart when calling to remembrance of that single person, despite the fact that she had already made up a resolution to turn a new leaf, and had indeed swiped the existence of him out of her life successfully over these moths. But when it came to teenage love time had, as if, become still - in the midst of dark nights on her soft bed in the Plant Palace dormitory, when her mind relaxed in the light fragrance of herbs and flowers, pieces of recollections would flood themselves into her head, and Aaron Jones’ charming smile was especially large among others. Oh. Lindsey might avoid him in the Hufflepuff Common Room, find a seat far from him at the breakfast table, and pay zero attention to whom he was hanging out with and where he was heading in the castle, but she couldn’t just cast an Obliviate at herself and forget those daily pieces - those happy, happy memories. And him? Lindsey didn’t know, but probably he hadn’t suffered from anything like she had. How unfair.

“Yeah.” Lindsey sighed. Boy problems - or girl problems, there’s no difference - had always been the top on the gossip list among students, and the most charming yet most destructive part of adolescence. Just see how the Spin the Bottle game was so often organised at summer camp, and how secrets and gossips were exchanged under giggles and whispers. Ah, sweet, sweet teenage dreams!

“It’s…well,” there was a second when Lindsey hesitated. To tear the band-aid off the scabby wound wasn’t as painful as a newly cut one, but still it hurt. Lindsey looked into Aly’s eyes where those sincerity and understanding were contained, and took a deep breath. Why couldn’t she…why shouldn’t she, to pour all her feelings to a friend who genuinely cared for her? She was pretty sure that if she said “yes” and they would go straight to find that shameless heartbreaker together, and - sorry, it should be heartbreakers. Lindsey couldn’t finally fully understand what Aly meant by “boy problems were going around lately”. “Aly, I - I hope you are doing well. ” She whispered, chocolate brown eyes looking into Aly’s green eyes, affection contained in the depth of her eyes. Who could have been Aly’s heartbreaker? Lindsey hadn’t really been paying attention to school gossips these days, and she found that, as Aly was unaware of her abortive first official love, she was ignorant of the Ravenclaw’s as well. Some annoying guy, perhaps. Lindsey clenched her fist at the side of her torso.

“No, no, it’s certainly okay. He’s a housemate of mine…in the same grade as us.” Lindsey made a gesture, slightly shaking her head. “You know Jones? I used to be on the Quidditch Team with him and he was a good teammate, but that was ages ago.” Lindsey squeezed a bitter smile out, looked up and shrugged. “And now…how time flies.”

Lindsey's smile seemed wistful - acidic, almost, or wry, like there was something going on inside her brain that she hadn't shared with Aly. In fairness, as nosy as Aly was, as nosy as she had always been, she wasn't going to poke or pry beyond what she had already done. If Lindsey wanted to keep her secrets, then she could; she and Aly weren't particularly close - not nearly enough to be sharing this sort of thing, not after a few years of not having spoken.

But it seemed that Lindsey did want to share. After saying, once more, that she hoped Aly was well - Aly scoffed internally, for when had she been well at all over the last year? - Lindsey hesitated for a moment, her dark eyes meeting Aly's green. Aly frowned at her, about to speak - Are you okay?, she was planning, or maybe Uh, what's going on? - until suddenly, the Hufflepuff's lips parted, and a name came out of her mouth. There were descriptors, too, but she didn't need those. The name in and of itself was enough.

Jones.

"Jones? Like - as in Aaron Jones?" Aly couldn't tell if the words passing through her mouth were a shriek, a gasp, or whatever, but they were a combination of horrified and disbelieving. Her mind ran through the details, knowing that Jones was a fairly common surname, but it all matched up - Hufflepuff. Fifth-year. Formerly Quidditch. It matches. It all matches - and that led her to the one conclusion that she didn't want.

"Oh, Merlin, you've got to be kidding me," she groaned, her wild head running a mile a minute. Aaron would have told her if he and Lindsey had been an item before he and Aly had started dating partway through their third year, and she hadn't heard anything about it then, so it couldn't have been before. That meant that, in the seven or so months since she had last seen her Hufflepuff ex-boyfriend before leaving for the Christmas holiday and not returning til June, Aaron had had enough time to decide he was single, get over Aly, get into some kind of "thing" with Lindsey, break her heart, move on from that, and get a new girl.

He'd been busy.

Any lasting feelings Aly had had for Aaron evaporated instantly.

"If we're talking about the same person, Lindsey, I dated him, too," she bit out, trying to internalize her fury so that Lindsey wouldn't think it was directed at her. It wasn't. They were kindred spirits, apparently, more than they'd known, and Aly would never start to hate someone who had lived through the same things as her. (Well, some of the same things, apparently.) "Bloody hell, that two-timing, nasty, son of a-"

They might not have been in Charms or Defence Against the Dark Arts, but she was cursing, all the same.

@Aly Salinger

It wasn’t as bad as she had thought, to finally speak the name out after all these time. In fact, Lindsey did feel even better, as if she had eventually had the chance to share and get rid of a big trouble . She was expecting Aly to say something, and was fully ready to comfort the Ravenclaw with her own hesitations in love - and so she gazed earnestly into Aly’s eyes, hoping to get some kind of a response. And yet it wasn’t going as smoothly as she had thought - no, it certainly wasn’t, for Aly was now groaning in a somewhat awkward and uncomfortable manner, like the name Jones had some special effect on her. “No, no, it’s…yes…?” Lindsey was in utter confusion now, and maybe a little bit of anxiety. Please. What’s going on?

As her mind wandered unconsciously, hoping to come up with a possible answer, Aly bit it out, and everything went that way, thunderstruck and splintering into pieces. Dated him too. DATED HIM TOO. For a moment Lindsey could feel that something in her heart which had been mended carefully had again sank into the vast, vast ocean, and the last little shiny recollections of Jones she tried to keep in her memory had cruelly been crossed over in black markers. “You mean, he dated you and dumped you as well, Aly?” That wasn’t funny, nor was it wise, but Lindsey somehow just wanted to confirm it again. No. This wasn’t possible. It was impossible. How could he, how could Aaron Jones, how could this bloody…

Lindsey could feel the slight tremble of her arms, and the sudden urge to find somewhere and sit down to rest. She looked up and seized Aly’s hands, letting her own warmth transport into the other girl’s. This was a totally unexpected moment - really, you wouldn’t possibly just come across someone and find that your hearts had both been seriously broken by the same boy - and yet, it’s just happening. Magically, devastating, and yet it was true. Sounded like a tale. Lindsey’s heart was beating fast. She wanted to reach out to something to get her back on track, but in vain.

And finally she dug something out from her memory, something Amadea had been kind enough to use to support her back in June. Now, shs was going to convey this message to Aly, whom she knew shared the same sentiments with her. “Jones isn’t worth it. Aly, he really isn’t worth it.” The words had a little shiver in it, and yet Lindsey tried to keep it calm and determined. “I used to think that he’s the best person in the world…” She smiled bitterly. “It seems that we both were wrong.”