It's Tough To Be a Dreamer PV Falentra Closed

@Serena Towers

Unlike the previous years of being organised and having everything neatly in order, Falentra’s side of the desk was scattered with books and notes, specifically on Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts. “When the fuck did we learn about this?” Her irritated mumbles followed by more foul language spewed whilst the aquatinted Hufflepuff beside her seemed more focused and composed with her thoughts. Falentra on the other hand, had the bridge of her nose pinched between her fingers whilst her eyes darted back and forth frustratingly at the pages in front of her.

“Serena, am I right?” She asked, half expecting her to have even paying attention to the previous ramblings. The other half didn’t. She often mumbled away to herself weather alone or in the presence of others, so took little offence on getting a direct response straight away.

For a moment her eyes shifted from the paper and across to Serena, studying the girl momentarily as she finally spoke up about her distaste for studying. She seemed different from what she had remembered. It was likely from the jewellery she wore and those pointy ears being more noticeable now that her hair was tucked away behind them. Was she more comfortable within herself? Even after what had happened between her and Arjan? Either way, the idea of her confidence and self-acceptance brought a soft smile against her usual blank expression.

Falentra hummed in agreement, giving a slight nod before she slide her book aside, a sign she was happy in taking a break for a while and focus more on Serena now. “Hm.. yeah. If I could down a litre of The Draught of Peace potion without any consequences.. I would.” She joked to lighten the tensed mood— thought honestly.. if it was possible, she really wouldn’t turn the idea down.

“Anyway. Enough of this shit for now. How… uh.. how are things?” Falentra brushed off Selena’s comment about missing Hogwarts once they graduated. It wasn’t something she had thought about too much, and hadn’t planned on either. Attachments to things of all kind, in Falentra’s opinion made you weak and doubtful.. things that clouded your judgement. Besides, the real answer Falentra wanted to know right now was about all that drama a while back that she had with her brother. The Slytherin hadn’t been there, but from the gossips she heard, it was far from good. However, she did know that gossip spread like wildfire and often words would switch around along the way and create a whole new story.
She wanted to hear it for herself, from the real source.

Letting out a small sigh before brushing a batch of her own dark thick hair behind her ear and leaned back in her chair. “I just-.. I just heard.. y’know.. ’bout you and Arjan awhile back. Been meanin’ to ask and didn’t know the right time so.. thought ‘fuck it’.” She followed with a quick laugh, a nervous one at that. Arjan was Fals friend, but Serena wasn’t a bad person and slowly the two were bonding in their own way. So.. she was torn on how to approach the subject so confidently.

S E R E N A - J O D H A - T O W E R S

{ Interacting with @Falentra Black }

you must forge your own path for it to mean anything

Serena squinted at the Slytherin's textbook, which was upside down from her and stared at it for a few moments as she tried to figure out what she was working on. She couldn't. In fact, she was pretty sure that they had not learned that. It was clearly made up! Or neither of them had paid much (or nearly enough) attention during classes. Maybe she should have taken notes during the lessons.

She sighed as she returned to her work. Runes stared back at her. They were a completely foreign language, how was she supposed to be good at this? It was a while later before she looked up, on hearing the other girl. She could not help but allow her lip to curl up into a small grin, "Oh, I'm sure one of the questions will be why that would be a terrible idea," She teased back lightly as she picked up her quill and scribbled down a couple of notes.

"Hm?" She started as she heard Falentra suddenly seem a little hesitant. She blinked, not quite expecting the question that followed. How were things? Well exams sucked so she supposed kind of stressful. She also had no idea what she was going to do when she graduated. At Hogwarts, she had a roof over her head, a warm bed to sleep in, three meals a day and got to spend time with her friends. Classes and studying may have sucked but she got to enjoy things like broom racing or just chilling.

She was days away from her 18th birthday and weeks away from having nowhere to live, rapidly eating into any savings she had until she could find a source of income and had absolutely zero clue how to cook much. It was terrifying, to say the least. But Falentra did not care, right? She was just being polite.

Serena opened her mouth to give a standard 'yeah fine thanks', because that was what you said when people asked how you were. You were fine, always. No one cared for details! "Fi-" But before she could finish the sentence, Falentra spoke again. The Hufflepuff frowned slightly, noticing how awkward she seemed all of a sudden. The realisation of why dawned on her mere moments later. "Oh uh," She started, biting her lip slightly as she pondered for a moment what to actually say. Not many people asked about that. The ones she would speak to regularly were present at the incident. And she had kind of just avoided most of Arjan's friends otherwise, which was easy to do when most of them were in Durmstrang.

Chewing her lip was probably not great for it but she was really unsure. It came out of the blue. "I dunno, to be honest. I've kind of just avoided him since..." Serena responded honestly after a few moments. She had disowned her family and had gone to live with friends for the rest of the summer holidays... Then she came back to Hogwarts and well, he had not visited this year - likely because of her. "He's probably doing the same, in truth. I don't think he's visited this year and it's not like either of write to each other. It's fine, really. Great, actually. If I don't see him, I don't have to think about him so that's a win," She continued shrugging lightly, before pausing as she recalled the Slytherin was a friend of his, "No offence," She added quickly.

The goblin had no idea what else to really say about the situation. She had no desire to slander his name and reputation. If anything, she just wanted to spend her life without thinking about him, seeing him or being associated with him. They weren't family anymore, as far as she was concerned - and she had zero desire to change that. He did not deserve her time or energy. "I'm more worried about what the fuck I'm going to do once I leave here..." She admitted. It kept her up at night. She had spent weeks looking through the Daily Prophet for appropriate job opportunities and writing letters whenever she found somewhere or someone who might hire her on graduation. There weren't exactly a ton of things she was super qualified for and most people wanted the results of the NEWTs before they would even consider her but she did not have the luxury of waiting around. Disowning her family came with financial concerns in that she had very little money saved and no income.

Interacting with: @Serena Towers

Falentra’s eyes were watching Serena’s expressions like a hawk. They darted from her eyes that furrowed and widened slightly as she spoke, and then down to her lips that she chewed. She was uncomfortable on the subject. It was plain as day. Falentra frowned herself now and leant back in her chair, her gaze softening as it broke away from the Hufflepuff and down to her scribbled notes. She took a moment to process her thoughts, something that had taken her a long time to learn. Normally she would blurt out the first thing that came to mind, or the first type of emotion would jump right out of her. Now though, she was calm, at least outwardly.
The nerve Arjan had. If rumours were true, which seemed they were, even without Serena actually going into any context of the event, what she saw just now was enough. There was a part of her that wondered how many people she had made feel such a way back when she was a cold-hearted, well.. bitch.

“I.. I’m-” Falentra stumbled across her words, finding a way to approach with her apology. One she really didn’t have to apologise towards, but felt the need to nonetheless, since she was a friend of Arjan’s.

Her hand raised slightly in the air and her eyes once more made contact with Serena. “I’m sorry for asking. And I’m sorry for what happened that day. He had no right. I know I’m hard work but..” She bit on her own lip now and narrowed her eyes, her gaze still peering into the others. “Still...” With the hand that was slightly raised in the air, she placed it against the girls shoulder and gave it a light squeeze, deciding to change the subject in hope of lightening the mood.

Only Serena beat her to it, and not in the way she hoped. “Ah. Yes..” She too had previously pondered on what she was going to do when she left Hogwarts. The idea of becoming an auror was her go-to.. but it required a lot of work. Too much in fact…

She let out a sigh and removed her hand from Serena’s shoulder and placed it back onto the arm of the chair, tapping it lightly with the tips of her fingers. “Well- I think those pieces you are wearing are quite pretty. You made them? Maybe you could make some stuff? Or work in.. a bank? You are clever and.. ain’t money.. something.. goblins- part gob-” Falentra’s fingers strummed quicker against the arm of the chair, obvious that her words were not helping other than digger herself a hole to dive into and silently weep away her poor social skills. “God I don’t bloody know. But you are strong. A toughen. You took my hits didn’t ya?” She winked playfully to try and cover her tracks with a bit of light teasing.