A Good Cry

[Merrill Piper]

As soon as she was out of the door of the club room Merrill felt the tears in her eyes overflow as she couldn't hold them back any longer. The year was hardly started, and already she felt overwhelmed. Wanting to just get away as fast as possible Merrill walked right past the entrance to her house, and down two flights of stairs before ducking away into a bathroom. From the looks of this place it had been abandoned for sometime, but that was fine. Right now she just needed a quiet place to cry, and let it all out. Merrill sat herself down on the cool floor beside the sinks, and finally let out the full blown sobs she had been holding back the whole way here. Between each one she struggled for breath before another cry wracked her body. If anyone walked by now they would surely think the old bathroom was haunted by some tormented spirit.

The teenager had tried to be strong, and brave like her house, but right now she felt anything but. Ever since she had told Professor Kingsley about her parents she had never felt more alone. She had lost her family even if they didn't know it yet. After she had been questioned by her headmistress, and some people from the ministry she had overheard them telling the professors that they wouldn't arrest them right away. They wanted to investigate her claims first. Since she had no idea when that would be done Merrill had written, and told her family she would be too busy working over the holidays to come be with them. The truth was she was terrified that she would somehow let slip what she had done. Her parents had always been loving to her, and the best parents they knew how to be, but she had no idea how they would react to finding out their daughter had betrayed them. Finally it was all too much for her to bear. The disappointing heta omega meet had just been the final push off the edge.​

 

[Soohye Kendall-Wu]

Soohye was just about keeping her head above water, with both the introduction into a new school and her OWLs now to contend with. Both Amber and Flavio had been incredibly welcoming to the Ravenclaw, and she knew that she would have found the transition much much harder to deal with if she hadn't had their support behind her. The same however couldn't have been said for her siblings. They all seemed to have their own lives, and one that no longer included the Kendall-Wu who'd spent four years living in France. She knew it was her own fault and she'd only excluded herself, but she still longed for the day when her brother and sisters opened up to her once again.

No longer as likely to find herself lost in the castle as she had when she first arrived, Soohye knew precisely where she was headed when she'd left the common room a few moments before. Someone had given her the time and attention she needed when she'd had a recent trip to the hospital wing and there was only one thing she knew she had to do now. Entering the fifth floor, Soohye passed the classrooms that she had begun to call her new home. It would never be Beauxbatons, but she was adjusting and she could see the appeal. The redhead's head turned softly however in the direction of a new sound. An alarming sound. It was faint to begin with, but as the fifth year walked further down the corridor it grew in strength, until Soohye found herself stood in the antiquated lavatory to hear the unhappy sound of tears. For all she knew it could have been a ghost or a elf, but it didn't bother her. Someone was upset and while Soohye wondered if they'd come to be alone, a part of her felt it was important to at least check if she could help. "Hello?" she called out quietly, hoping she wasn't going to make whatever the situation was worse by revealing her presence. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, expecting to be told to go away.


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[Merrill Piper]

Merrill was struggling to draw in breath, and thus was no longer crying so much as wheezing on the floor. Her tears had stopped, but she still felt angry, scared, and alone. Well not completely alone as before long there was a voice calling out to her. Asking if she wanted to speak. Merrill looked up at the girl, and realized she didn't recognize her at all despite the the fact that they seemed to be the same age. I guess if I'm going to talk to anyone it might as well be a total stranger. The teenager nodded her head, but still needed a minute before she would be ready to speak. She managed to get in a few shaky breaths before starting.

"I'm having a really though year, and its only just started. My family, and I aren't talking at the moment, and I haven't seen them in a year. I don't get along with one of my roommates, at all, and of course she was made prefect this year. We are also in a lot of the same clubs, and today I found out she was made social chair for the girls club here at school." Merrill began. She supposed it all seemed very petty, but at the moment it had felt like the most upsetting thing in the world. "I guess I just don't feel like I have any place at this school where I feel like I belong, and can be comfortable. Today at the meeting they were announcing the new little, and big sisters. I thought since I'm a 5th year now that I would be a big sister, but they made me a little one instead. It just felt like yet another insult, and disappointment. So I quit. But that's so stupid because look at me now. Crying, and throwing a tantrum in the bathroom because I didn't get picked for something." Merrill felt tears well up again in her eyes as she said it, but she was able to hold them back. "I guess I really could use a big sister because here I am spilling my guts out to a total stranger. I'm Merrill by the way."
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[Madeline Walden]

Madeline had mixed feelings on how the first meeting of Heta Omega went. On the one hand she was extremely happy with the amount of girls that had turned up and seemed to enjoy what they had in store for them but on the other hand they had lost a member of the society already and Maddie couldn't help but feel a little sad about it. As long as she had been a member of Heta she had never known any one to walk out in the way that Merrill had and she was concerned for her younger Gryffindor.

Once she and Izzy had tidied everything away, Maddie decided that she would go and find James and ask him how his brotherhood meetings were going and what he would have done in the situation with Merrill. She knew that he would be on prefect duties that evening so she she decided to go out and search for him. She made it to the fifth floor before deciding to give up looking for him, she'd probably see him in the common room before she went to bed anyway. As she was walking back, in the direction of the Gryffindor Common Room, she heard distressed voices coming from behind one of the doors in the corridor.

Maddie paused for a moment, wondering whether she should enter the old bathroom when she didn't know who was in there. But the voice sounded upset and Maddie couldn't walk away from something like that so she pushed open the door to see two younger girls, one of which was Merrill. She rushed over and crouched down in front of her fellow Gryffindor. "Oh my gosh, Merrill! Are you okay?" she exclaimed wondering whether to hug the younger girl but she decided against it in the end. She didn't know Merrill that well and after her announcement at the meeting she thought that she might be the last person that Merrill would want to see.

 

[Soohye Kendall-Wu]

The girl that Soohye had found looked more upset than she'd ever seen anyone. She'd only been that sad herself on a few occasions, but she hadn't really spoken to anyone about it at the time. Soohye moved across to the student, sitting on the floor beside her as she began to speak about what was troubling her. She was surprised that a stranger would open up to her as she was now, but grateful none the less that she appeared to be trustworthy. The girl seemed to be having similar problems to herself, at least in regards to her family, and Soohye listened as she explained her problems through teary breaths. Soohye in all honestly had no clue what she was talking about when she mentioned big and little sisters, but she nodded sympathetically, her eyebrows raised slightly in concern. "Well Merrill, I know I'm new here but I don't think it's stupid that this makes you sad. You have things that are of importance to you, and that's always a valid reason to be upset if things don't turn out the right way." Soohye said, hands resting in her lap as she did her best to console her. "If you like, we don't have to be strangers though. I'm Soohye. I transferred here this year, fifth year Ravenclaw" she introduced herself with a warm smile. She looked around the room, hoping that she could find something to wipe the girls tears with, and a few moments later appeared with a handful of tissues that she'd located, before resuming her seat on the floor beside her. "I know how difficult family situations can be. My own siblings haven't spoken to me properly for a while, but the fact that you're putting yourself out there and you want a relationship with them only shows to me that you're heading in the right direction." Soohye didn't really know how much the student was comfortable with sharing about details, but she hoped that she'd at least been able to comfort her a little. Just then Soohye heard another voice, and looked across to see a second girl enter the room. It seemed that the pair were friends, and it crossed her mind whether she should leave them to talk alone.
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[Merrill Piper]

Merrill felt a little better when the girl validated her feelings. At least she didn't feel like a complete psycho anymore. "Hey were in the same year, but I'm in Gryffindor. What school did you transfer from?" Merrill asked. She knew they got new transfers every year, and sometimes people left to other schools to. In fact she had just learned that HNZ had an exchange program. The teen had thought about checking out the original Hogwarts, but the idea of leaving all her friends even for a year seemed hard. Merrill bit her lip nervously when Soohye mentioned wanting a relationship with her family. Of course she wanted one, but more than that she wanted a relationship with a normal family. One who had a home, and didn't murder people. All of a sudden Madeline came rushing in, and was crouched down next to her. Merrill quickly wiped the tears off her cheek not wanting to make even more of a fool of herself in front of the older girl. "I'm better than I was a minute ago." she admitted trying to form a weak smile. "I'm sorry for the way I acted at the meeting." she said quietly looking back down. "It wasn't a good example for the younger girls."
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[Madeline Walden]

Maddie shook her head at Merrill, almost waving away her apology "you don't have to be sorry Merrill" she reassured her fellow Heta sister. She felt a little guilty that she hadn't ran after Merrill straight away after she had stormed out, that's what sisters were supposed to do. They were supposed to look after each other, not just let them run off. Maddie should have known there were deeper issues brewing inside Merrill, god knows she had done her fair share of shouting and storming off. "No one's going to hold it against you. We're sisters and we're all going to be there for you and you're welcome to come back whenever you're ready" she said to the younger Gryffindor, offering a small smile. She didn't know whether Merrill was a 'hugger' so she delicately stroked her arm.