Closed Beaten Down

[Renata Stepanova]

Renata was not at all thrilled about how Quidditch practice had gone. She had barely been able to hit anything, and when she had her hits had veered off course and hit the wrong people who had been quite annoyed with her. Plus, she'd taken a good hit or two, which was to be expected but still hurt. Not that she wanted that to show or anything, she'd volunteered to try out and she'd been through far worse. Still, it knocked the wind out of her physically and emotionally. She hadn't expected to be great, just happy enough to be made an alternate, but it would've been nice to not be completely useless.

The physical side got to her as she wandered down to the dorms, turning to readjust her bag and suddenly being hit by a wave of pain in her side where she was no doubt bruising. Wincing, she stumbled over, dropping her books and holding her side, crouching down and waiting for the pain to pass. It would pass. It had to, before anyone saw. She had to be able to put a smile back on and keep going about her day as normal, surely she couldn't let this get her down.

 

[Louis Vernier]

Louis hadn't been too fond about coming back to Hogwarts after what happened last semester. Professor Corrins had been nice to him about it though, and definitely a little reassuring, but still Louis was nervous and he wasn't sure when this nervousness would ever pass. He had to constantly ball his hands into fists to stop them from shaking and to stop people from asking questions. No one had asked anything yet however, but that was mostly because he kept to himself.

As Louis walked back to his common room after a full day of classes, he stopped as he noticed a younger girl he had never seen before drop some books up ahead. She looked too old to be a first year and so assumed she was simply a transfer. She seemed like she was in pain as she was crouching on the ground, so Louis quickly rushed over. "Are you alright?" he asked, collecting her books for her. He then held out a hand to help her up. "What happened?"

 

[Renata Stepanova]

Panic briefly flickered across Renata's face, fear of being seen as weak, as undeserving of being here. She took a quick deep breath, grounding herself. It was okay now, it wasn't Durmstrang anymore. People here were nice and kind, especially in Hufflepuff. She looked at the hand offered, slowly looking up to the face of a cute, slightly older boy who was holding her books. "O-oh..." she started, feeling somewhat shy. She could feel her face heating up, and tried to ignore the fact her cheeks were likely bright red. "Thank you." She gratefully took his hand, looking away as she let him help her up, and then gave another shy grin. "I'm okay. Just Quidditch practice. Bludger hits," she explained, feeling strangely incoherent suddenly, and taking a deep breath to right herself. "I'm Renata, by the way. What's your name?"

 

[Louis Vernier]

The girl seemed a little embarrassed by her struggle, which was of no surprise to Louis. It really did seem embarrassing for her, but Louis tried his best to be kind, knowing that he had been in many similar embarrassing situations himself and not wanting her to feel horrible about it. As she said she had been affected by Bludger Hits, Louis frowned, immediately thinking of his sister and how painful it could be for her too. "What position do you play?" he asked, wondering if she was the seeker which was usually the one that was targeted a lot. He wasn't sure of the rules but that was what Lucie told him. She introduced herself as Renata. "I'm Louis. It's nice to meet you."

 

[Renata Stepanova]

Renata pulled herself upright, dusting herself off and waving a summoning spell to get her books back into her arms. She cleared her throat, trying to banish the awkwardness and the lighter feeling in her chest. Strange, she thought. Probably the adrenaline from training. "Oh, uh, I'm just a reserve, nothing special. I play beater and chaser sometimes. I thought it might be fun and a good way to meet people, but I'm not very good at it," she rambled. "Oh, and the pleasure is all mine." She bowed courteously, wincing as she did. "I think I may need to lie down."