Rainageddon PV Edwin Westbridge Closed

@Eldred Grayswell
Speech

Pacing around the school was one of the few past times that Edwin could truly say he enjoyed at Hogwarts, the classes all demanding far more effort than he was willing to give them, the homework biting out of his precious rest and recovery, all in all Hogwarts had not been the most enjoyable experience for the Westbridge thus far. However, one thing that he could admit to enjoy was the grounds, setting aside some time most days so that he could walk through the hall ways, walk around the grounds, alone. This was the part of his walks he wouldn't admit to enjoying, but he loved to be alone, removed from the constant chatter that echoed the corridors, and surrounded him in classrooms. Whilst he was walking, he could simply escape into his own head - unbothered.

Today's walk had not offered this escape.

All through the day, it had rained, but this was not uncommon. Rain was hardly a rarity in the UK, but typically it passed by quickly, and Edwin had hoped this would be the case for when he had finished his classes. And as he had started his walk, it had briefly seemed that his wishes had been granted, and so he had began to wander out into the grounds, blissfully unaware of the rain that would soon return.

Seemingly as soon as he had strayed a distance from the schools main doors, the skies opened and rained poured down upon him. He glanced briefly up at the sky, thoroughly unimpressed by the timing, before dragging himself back up towards the building, his hair stuck now drenched and plastered down onto his forehead. As he stood alone, just inside the school and by the doors, he was incredibly put out by this turn of events, staring down the corridor as the rain slowly dripped off his body.

It was as he stood, scowling by himself that he heard the gates once more open and approaching food steps, though he opted to ignore them for the time being, hoping desperately to be left alone whilst he waited for himself to dry. Much to his displeasure, instead of simply passing by, the approaching boy instead opted to call out to him, and so Edwin turned to face the dark haired boy with a sigh, and his best attempt at a polite smile.

"Sure, what is it?" He spoke with a drawl, his tone almost bored of the situation already. However, as his eyes flicked up and down the boys form, he felt a twang of sympathy for another who had unfortunately been caught in the rain. "Just lead me there, I guess." He began to stride over towards the other boy, intent on following him, should he lead Edwin elsewhere.

"Edwin, by the way." He added after a moments silence, quickly realising he ought to introduce himself, given they shared a house, and yet the other boys face was still unfamiliar to him.

Spoken: #75001d Clothes: Wet clothes & Hair

Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to approach a stranger about the student‘s problem. Especialyl since the blonde turned around and Eldred could get a better look at his face. Immediately a strong feeling of embarrassment set in, emphasized by the heard sigh.

The blonde seemed no less wet than he himself was. Eldred had barely noticed it from behind, honestly, he hadn’t really paid attention to it either. Under normal circumstances, he would have been more observant, but in his freezing state, the ability was suspended.

Nevertheless, it seemed to him as though the grey-blue and pale eyes of the other Gryffindor were scrutinizing Eldred from head to toe. He inferred it from how the pupils moved up and down under the black eyelashes. Internally, Eldred tossed the plan of impressing this person with decent behavior into the trash.
As the blonde had agreed to the requested help and asked Eldred to go ahead, a reliefed sigh escaped from his mouth.

Still, he hesitated for a moment. His gaze did not leave the other boy. Internally, he took note of the name: Edwin, and tried to adopt a calmer presence by breathing slower. "My name is Eldred," he introduced himself, followed by a turn around of the back of his heel.

Eldred took the few steps back to the gate, opened it, and held it for Edwin to follow. The rain hadn't stopped, but it had turned into drizzle. Although the wind was still bothersome, it was far more pleasant than it had been an hour ago. Especially since the gusts were weak enough for Eldred to barely notice them on his nape. The feeling of guilt, on the other hand, suddenly grew stronger. Edwin was, after all, wet too, and the 12-year-old could feel the cold damp himself. He instinctively hoped that the blonde was less bothered by it than he was.

In an effort to prepare the other Gryffindor for the situation, Eldred spoke about the poor circumstances that weighed on his soul. "I have to warn you," he began, trying to force a polite, friendly smile on his face. "It might not be such a big problem for you – but my wand fell into a place I can’t reach."

That might not have been exactly the truth, but it was still not a lie. At least as he spoke, the feeling of guilt in his stomach lightened. "I'm really sorry for the circumstances. You can still reconsider if you urgently need to go somewhere. It's almost a 10-minute walk from here and I don‘t want you to miss out on any classes because of me." Of course, he sincerely hoped Edwin wouldn’t change his mind. Still, Eldred wanted to offer him the chance to back out of helping if he wished.

@Eldred Grayswell
Speech

"Edwin Westbridge." He returned the greeting, his voice thick with pride as he mentioned his surname. This tone alone very telling of Edwin's background, and the sort of family he had been bought up in. His hand had began to extend, expecting the same gesture from Eldred, however before Edwin made his intention clear, Eldred had turned and set off. Edwin glanced down briefly at his partially extended hand with a frown, before silently stuffing it into his pocket, hoping that no one passing by had noticed his failed formalities.

"Thanks," He muttered beneath his breath as Eldred held the gate open for him, following him out of the castle. As soon as he stepped out, he was once again greeted by the rain, the drizzle thankfully far more calm than it had been before, but steady enough to effectively undo any of the progress he had made towards drying. He ran a hand through his hair, sweeping back his fringe from his eyes as he replied. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out, no matter how hard it may be to reach." Images of a wand stuck in a high place, and any other manner of impossible situations flashed through the Gryffindors mind, slightly put off by the effort that he would inevitably have to exert in rescuing the wand. However, a good deed today would likely cover him for the rest of the year, able to think back on this selfless act if he was ever accused of being lazy.

It was a win-win situation, really.

"No, no. It's fine, trust me." He shook his head at Eldred's words as they walked, his mind now set. "Bet it's in the lake, or something." He guessed, the walk distance sounded about right, and he could see how that may be hard to reach alone. "I guess I'm wet enough already, so it's no big deal to help you look through the lake." He smiled as kindly as he could manage towards the boy, before falling silent as they continued their walk.

The eventual destination was not as Edwin had expected, opting not to voice his confusion as he was lead away from the lake. Edwin had began to try and think of alternative situations, possible places around the school that a wand could get stuck, but none of the scenarios quite matched the sight he was met with when they eventually came to a halt.

Edwin glanced down at the wand, surrounded by a pool of mud, before glancing back up towards Eldred. Once again, back down to the wand and then to Eldred. With each glance between the two, his expression got increasingly confused. After a few moments, his gaze was eventually fixed onto the other boy. "You're joking?" He pointed down towards the wand. "That is maybe one step out of reach, and you can't grab it?"

Spoken: #75001d Clothes: Wet clothes & Hair

As part of a family living in England, Eldred was indeed familiar with the name Westbridge. While he didn’t know much about them, he was aware that the family held Pureblood status. Therefore, he wasn’t too surprised to hear the proud undertone in the blonde’s voice. The student secretly wondered if the Westbridge family might be one of those who always get sorted into the same house for generations. Worrying whether it would be considered rude and too curious to ask, he decided to leave it for now.

As the brown-haired Gryffindor walked through the rain with Edwin, the friendly-sounding comment telling him not to worry reached his ear. Eldred had to swallow quietly. Unfortunately, the relief came with a tinge of guilt. After all, he wasn’t an idiot who thought his problem was a universally understood dilemma! “I’m glad you’re helping me, thanks again” he repeated kindly, hoping desperately that Edwin wouldn’t take it back once they reach the location. With the showcase of gratitude, Eldred mentally bent forward, hoping the blonde would later realize that it was important to him.

When on their way Edwin tried to guess and bet on the lake surrounding Hogwarts, a hint of embarassment crept onto his face. Of course, it wasn’t in the river, but he could understand why Edwin might think that. The timing would fit, and partly the direction as well. “Not quite the river, but something similar” he muttered. In a way, Mud was also wet, and both were places Eldred didn’t want to go in. The thought of being stuck in the river and accidentally touching mud-like textures with his toes made goosebumps appear on both his arms. Following silence on the rest of the way to the location felt like it played in slow motion to Eldred. In his head, theories and ideas piled up about how he could explain everything in detail, to make the dilemma more believable. He didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of another student, especially someone from the Westbridge family. Unfortunately, he couldn’t remember exactly what his father had said about them – how the family stood in relation to the values of the wizarding world or to Muggles. He wished he had paid more attention. In the end, he couldn’t and didn‘t to detour just to think. There was no real answer to how he best could explain it.

Once they arrived, for Eldred, a sea of mud lay ahead of them. The puddle felt like an insurmountable obstacle, and his brown wand was lying right in the middle, tip-up and stuck in the wet dirt. He immediately noticed how the blonde kept looking from the wand to him in disbelief. The serious internal battle appeared on Eldred's face with every passing second, until Edwin asked if it was a joke.

The brown-haired student‘s face grew pale immediately, and finally turned his gaze to the blonde. The lips were pressed together in a tormented shape. “I have a huge problem with mud... I’m sorry. Could you please take the step? I owe you something - whatever you want.” In this regard, he really didn’t care. Even if Edwin were to ask for money in a sly way all of sudden, Eldred would try to get it. Desperation was clearly written in his gray eyes. His gaze briefly shifted to the puddle, and they squinted further in discomfort. Just the idea of touching that disgusting substance anywhere on his body made him feel sick. He probably had to actively work on solving this problem in his life eventually, he knew that. But he couldn’t do it in one day.. “I’m really sorry. Normally, I don’t have problems like this; wet mud is the only issue.”

@Eldred Grayswell
Speech

Edwin wasn't someone overly experienced with gratitude. Though, this was mostly due to him very rarely bothering to do selfless things for others, and not because he surrounded himself with rude people. And so as he was thanked once more, he simply nodded his head awkwardly, muttering something beneath his breath that vaguely sounded as if he was saying thank you to the thanks.

Though whilst he wasn't particularly used to any kind of gratitude, his short time at Hogwarts had awoke somewhat of an adventurous spirit within him, even if he did deny it. And so whilst his guess of the boys wand being lost in the lake was shot down, the promise of it being in a similar situation intrigued the Westbridge, almost growing uncharacteristically excited at the rescue mission that lay ahead of him.

To describe what lay ahead of him as a sea of mud would be taking the piss. If you were speaking in bodies of water, this was perhaps a pond of mud, compared to what a sea of mud would look like. In fact, Edwin wasn't even sure that a step needed to be made to made to rescue the wand, you could probably just lean over if you trusted your balance enough. Eldreds explanations, and attempts at justifications did little to alleviate Edwins confusion, his expression growing more and more confused by the moment. "You're kidding.." He repeated this earlier words, glancing down at the supposed sea of mud. "But you're a.."

Gryffindors. The house of the courageous. The house of many famous heroes throughout history. And yet, here stood a Gryffindor bested by some mud, and Edwin quite literally couldn't string together a sentence, he was well and truly flabbergasted.

"How did that even happen?" He eventually asked, after having been stood in silence for a few moments. "If you've got such an issue with mud, why'd you have your wand out near it?"

Edwin had already settled on that he would, albeit now reluctantly, help the boy, but this was hardly something that would take immediate action. "I mean, you don't even need to use your hand.. Just flick it out with your toes, or something?" He rose his foot, demonstrating a motion that looked as if he would of stuck the tip of his shoe into the mud, before flicking up. "Only your shoe will gt muddy then, and I bet they're already dirty."