Confident

[Ellington Hayes]

Ellie was going to be graduating soon, she was preparing to leave after all and had been making sure that she was putting things into place for others that may come after her. Lucas would probably be fine, he's been around for a while, but Marisol was only knew and Ellie wanted to make sure that she was okay with everything and knew how to look after herself. Lucas would be graduating next year, so there wasn't much change to that at all. Instead of meeting in the Cavern though, she would be waiting in the Gardens as it was much nicer and Marisol had to come through here in order to get to the cavern in the first place. She knew what Lucas was like and didn't trust him to make sure that Marisol would be prepared for being on her own. She may not have known it but being alone in that cavern was terrible and it wouldn't be fun at all. Ellie was lucky to usually have people with her, but she also knew what it was like to be alone. Lucas had a bit of strange way of telling people things and Ellie had been stuck with him for two years, so she definitely wasn't going to subject Marisol to his attitude. Ellie tolerated him, she even liked him sometimes, but if it weren't for what they shared, she knew they'd not acknowledge each others existence.
​

 

[Marisol Woods]

Despite not having talked much to Ellie, Marisol knew exactly who she was. So when the older Gryffindor asked Marisol to meet her, despite her unease it, Marisol had immediately agreed to do so. Marisol made the all-too-familiar walk down the castle and across the school grounds into the garden, but was glad she didn't have to head towards the cavern's secret entrance this time. As she walked through the garden in search of the older werewolf, Marisol grew nervous about what this could be about. It was obvious what it could probably be about, but she had been at this school for two years now so she wondered what it was about now that had changed between when she started school and now. Perhaps it wasn't about that at all, but Marisol finally spotted the redhead so she smiled tentatively and gave her a small wave. "Hi," she greeted.​

 

[Ellington Hayes]

Ellie stood up when she saw Marisol and waved at her. She seemed a bit confused about why Ellie wanted to talk to her and so Ellie wanted to go about alleviating that confusion. Ellie sat back on the stone seat she'd found and patted the section beside her. "So I know it's a little weird and we haven't spoken much since you've been here. That's my fault really, I was planning on getting to know you better at the beginning of the year, but I took some time off of school and so that kind of ruined my plans a bit." She admitted, shrugging slightly. She wasn't usually so talkative, but Marisol was just so young, being a werewolf was hard on everyone and she couldn't imagine being Marisol's age. She'd had a really good support network in place by her father, who was an animagus and accompanied her during her transformations at home an she was lucky to have Lucas when she was at school, so she was only alone a couple of time, but there was potential for Marisol to be on her win for years. "You want some chocolate?"
​

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol obediently sat down beside the older Gryffindor when she had gestured at the space next to her. She was a little confused by her statement because the redhead was apologizing for not being on better terms yet she didn't see the reason for it. Just because they were both werewolves didn't mean the older Gryffindor had any obligation to be cordial to Marisol. But she remembered last year when she had begged Monty not to make her take the Wolfsbane potion and she told him that she felt so alone because no one understood what she was going through, yet here Ellie was, willing to reach out to her first. So Marisol was not going to mess this up. "Don't worry about it," Marisol said. She didn't want to pry but she figured that the reason for Ellie's brief disappearance from school had to do with her lycanthropy and instantly Marisol had a lot of questions. But she was too scared to ask - too scared to know the answer to things like, does it get worse?

The latina smiled when Ellie offered her some chocolate and said, "Yes please." Instantly, she already felt understood, and she could feel her insides warm without even taking a bite of the chocolate yet. Marisol took the chocolate and took a small bite before asking, "So what did you want to talk to me about?"
​

 

[Ellington Hayes]

Ellie kind of wished that Marisol wouldn't be so hesitant, but she guess she couldn't blame her. She really just needed to get her talking, surely that would help. This was something Ellie used to do often with students, back before she was a werewolf anyway. She liked to consider herself the school secret keeper, she knew things about people they probably didn't even know. It was this that fuelled her love for the written word and had helped her decide that she might want to go into journalism when she graduates. "Okay, I'll try not to." She smiled slightly, glad that Marisol had appreciated the chocolate. Ellie never went anywhere without chocolate in hand. It was always good for those horrible mornings. She took a piece of chocolate for herself and nodded when Marisol asked why Ellie wanted to talk to her. "Well, a couple of things actually. Firstly I really did just want to introduce myself to you properly, so hello!" She waved a bit harder than she intended and shook her head.

"Also, and stop me if I'm out of line here, but I wanted to make sure that you'd be right on your own. I'm graduating this year and Lucas is next, so after that, barring another... Accident, you'll be on your own and it's going to get very lonely, very fast." It was so hard to determine who hey could tell about their affliction. Ellie had told only one person outside of her family and even then only her immediate family knew. Her Aunts, cousins and other such people had no idea. She suddenly started wearing long sleeved clothing with high collars just so that she didn't risk people seeing the scars up her arm, chest and neck. She was very much self conscious of them, nothing she did was likely to ever change that. "Being who we are... It's hard for some people and they don't believe we should be treated with the acceptance that we are." Of course that was probably a little strong, acceptance was generally the furthest thing from people's minds. Werewolves were dangerous and there was no helping them according to a lot of people. "Also, sorry about this, but do you regularly take your wolfs bane, feel free to decline to answer, I know it's not my business."
​

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol smiled when Ellie said hello again, more enthusiastically this time and the younger Gryffindor laughed as she said, "Hello," back. Marisol carefully finished her chocolate before it melted while Ellie spoke. At first Marisol tensed up at the topic of conversation because she wasn't used to talking to people about it, but after a moment she relaxed. In fact, it almost felt like a weight off her shoulders, finally being able to speak freely and openly about it. She was a little disheartened to hear that Ellie was graduating so soon and she was now kicking herself for not reaching out to the older Gryffindor first last year when she really needed someone to talk to about this. She had only really conversed with Lucas before and it hadn't been a pleasant conversation so she didn't like the thought of being left with him, or alone after him. Yet she would never wish this affliction on anyone else either so she would rather be lonely than find out that students were still getting attacked.

Marisol bit her lip when Ellie mentioned how hard it was for them to be accepted in the wizarding society. Being a werewolf was hard enough on Marisol, but being Muggleborn added an extra layer of confusion to the witch because she was still learning about the wizarding world as she maneuvered through it, and finding out werewolves had very little rights and tolerance among people had been hard for her to swallow. This was why she hadn't told even her bestest friends, out of fear that they would turn against her as well. Marisol had so many questions for Ellington, but instead the older Gryffindor asked her one first and it had confused her slightly. "Yes I do take my Wolfsbane regularly," she answered with a small nod, "but...why are you asking? Aren't you supposed to take it regularly?" she asked carefully. The way Ellie asked made it seem like there was an option not to take it, when Professor Pendleton had made it quite clear that no such option was possible - at least not for her. "Professor Pendleton monitors me and makes sure I take it every night on the full moon week," she added as if somehow that information would be relevant to the redhead's query. Marisol looked up at her and silently asked if that was the case for her too, or if Marisol was the only one who had to be monitored due to how young she was, both in age and in how long she had been a werewolf. This prompted another question for Ellie before the older girl had a chance to answer her first one. "Can I ask how long you've been..like this for?"​

 

[Ellington Hayes]

Ellie was glad that Marisol seemed to be opening up a little more. She didn't want to scare her of course and would go out of her way to make sure that the younger werewolf was as comfortable as possible in this conversation. She nodded as Marisol mentioned that Professor Pendleton insisted that she take her potion. She was a little suprised by that, as she was usually just allowed to take hers no worries, but she supposed with Marisol being so young. Ellie's father had been the one to pour it forcefully down her throat those first couple of moons. She'd been so distraught that wolfsbane had not been on her priorities list, but she was glad he'd insisted now, though she would much rather sometimes forget that she became... Different. At least this way she knew she wouldn't hurt anyone. She was about to answer her question, when Marisol asked another. It really was a very fair question and she supposed she should've expected it.

"Almost exactly four years." Four years, two months and sixteen days precisely. She counted every moment of it. Every minute and every second. She'd never forget, she never wanted to. She shook her head and smiled. "There are times when it's an advantage, you can get out of boring classes." It really wasn't much of a consolation, but it gave Ellie more time to spend with the magazine and she only had to attend the big group events when she wanted to, she was never the most sociable person in the first place. "I asked about the wolfsbane because sometimes we... Sometimes people don't like to take it, I know I don't, but I'm allergic to one the potions ingredients so it affects me more than it does to others." It wasn't enough to cause really bad effects, but did make her sicker than she otherwise would be. Her dad tried to find another ingredient that would have worked just as well, but didn't want to risk effecting the way the potion worked and so decided against it.
​

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol couldn't imagine having to deal with their condition for that long, but of course she would have to for the rest of her life. She thought of how old Ellie was now, in her seventh year, and didn't know which was worse, knowing a life at Hogwarts before being bitten and after; or simply going into Hogwarts with the pre-existing condition (if only for a few weeks). In the end neither option was favorable for their own reasons. Marisol hummed lightly in agreement when Ellie said skipping classes was a perk of having to take the potion. Normally Marisol would've completely agreed, except the latina wasn't doing too well in her lessons to begin with, so missing a few lessons a month really set her back. But that was an insecurity she wasn't willing to share with the older Gryffindor just yet. Marisol simply held out hope that one day her body would just adjust to the side effects of the transformations and learn to keep up with her busy schedule.

Marisol looked up at Ellie with wide eyes when the girl admitted that she didn't like to take the wolfsbane potion. Of course it was not a pleasant potion to begin with by taste alone, but Marisol hated taking it for other reasons too. She wearily fought with Monty almost every time she had to take it, but the thing she hated most about it was the fact that it made her aware of her condition during her transformation. Marisol so desperately wished she wasn't in her mind when she transformed so she could forget all about her human side and stop pining for normalcy. Somehow, without voicing it, she could tell Ellie felt similarly and Marisol felt known. She could practically cry with how relieved it felt to be able to relate to someone, thinking 'Finally finally finally' over and over in her head. But she refrained from commenting on the matter when Ellie revealed she was actually allergic to the potion. "Are you serious?" the latina asked incredulously. "Which ingredient is it? Does it cause any worse side effects?" she wondered. "That's so awful!" She could only imagine how much more she would protest against taking the potion if she had been in the older Gryffindor's shoes. "I wish I didn't have to take it sometimes," she said quietly, downplaying the amount of times she actually wished this.

"What are you going to do when you graduate from Hogwarts? Where will you do your transformations then? Aren't you afraid you will escape and hurt someone if you're not at Hogwarts? Are there other secret caverns for werewolves outside of Hogwarts? Honestly I feel like there probably isn't, seeing as we got attacked on a full moon which clearly means they weren't restrained in some way," Marisol rambled on. It seemed that once she had felt comfortable with Ellie, she was bursting with all the things she couldn't say to anyone else because she didn't know of her shameful secret. Then she winced at her use of words like 'escape' and 'restrained' because it made her feel even more like an animal. "Sorry," she added, for the offensive words and for loading all these questions on the redhead.​

 

[Ellington Hayes]

Ellie nodded softly when Marisol seemed to interrogate her on which ingredient she was allergic to. She would have laughed, if only it wasn't such an uncomfortable thing. Her father had been very upset when he learned of this issue, feeling horrible for having to subject Ellie to yet another ordeal, which really only served to remind Ellie of the horrible reality she was now living. She held her hands out to placate Marisol before answering. "Yeah, Valerian Root. It generally causes people to be sleepy, I'm not sure if you would have learned of it yet or not. But it doesn't make me sleepy, just sick." She wasn't allergic to it in its natural form either, it was only when it was chopped up and stuck into potions that it became a problem, so she was fine to be near it, she just couldn't ingest it, which was what she had to do with the Wolfsbane potions. "I'm lucky that it's not worse than that really, I'm sure my father would've challenged magical law itself to fix it otherwise." Her father wasn't exactly... Legal, when it came to the things he did in his spare time. Most of them knew about his extra curricular endeavours, though he did his best not to expose them to the issues whilst they were in school.

"Marisol, you're allowed to not want to take it. Yu have to, obviously, but... Don't feel bad for wanting to not take it. I certainly don't blame you. I wish I could forget every moment of it, but that'll never happen whilst I'm taking the potion." She admitted. She was never going to tell Marisol that she didn't have to take it, because clearly with the Professors involved, she did, but Ellie would probably forgo it every now and then when she was older. She still had her dad for Company and unlike others, she didn't just sleep through her transition. Still, she didn't fancy taking a life either, so she knew that if she wouldn't be able to access her father, she'd have no choice but to take it. She was lucky that her father would always supply it for her, because it was very expensive to get and so she would definitely need to find a way to support herself. Her intended career would not provide her with much in the way of money for some time and so she would definitely have had to give up Wolfsbane for those months if she didn't have money coming from her dad.

Suddenly a flurry of questions erupted out of Marisol and Ellie was suddenly very aware that Marisol was so much younger than she had been. Her use of some harsh terms surprised Ellie and she frowned slightly. Restraint... Escape, they only served as a reminder to the fact that werewolves were no better than animals in the eyes of a lot of people. She couldn't completely blame Marisol for her words though as she had been guilty of the same thing not long ago. It was only natural and, unfortunately, it was also true. "It's okay. I don't blame you for using those words, I mean, it's unfortunately true. I wish it wasn't, but, you no doubt know by now that we and people like us, don't have the same rights as other people." She hated it and she hated the Ministry being allowed to know about it. In fact Ellie blamed the Ministry for the fact that so many Werewolves were in such dire straights. If they'd only make the treatments accessible to all and yet not require them to be registered, maybe more of her kind wouldn't have so much hatred in them. "I can't answer all of that, because I don't know, but I'll tell you that I'll be fine, because I'm determined not to let any of this stop me. Once I find my place in the world I'd be happy for you to contact me or I you, I'd like to know you had someone to talk to." It could be a very lonely world after all.
​

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol couldn't believe that Ellie still took the Wolfsbane potion even though she was allergic to one of the ingredients, but she supposed since they were at Hogwarts surrounded by students, it was best she took it. "That's awful," Marisol said once more. She thought of the complicated potion and how Professor Pendleton made it for her because it was obviously too advanced for her, and wondered when she would have to learn it on her own. Was it even part of the curriculum at Hogwarts or was she just going to have to learn how to brew it since someone wouldn't be around to make it for her in the future? "I wish I could invent a different type of potion for us, something a little less disgusting, and maybe even without Valarian root," Marisol said with a smile before letting it falter once she realized how unlikely that was. The thought of discovering an alternative potion had crossed the second year's mind from time to time, mostly when she was begging Monty not to make her take the current concoction. But if a new type of potion hadn't been invented by now, what made her think she would be able to find one?

Marisol still had so many questions for the other girl, but given how tactless she was with the first round of questions, she held back on unleashing them all on the older girl. She didn't know how Ellie could not be so scared to graduate and not have the safety of Hogwarts, or the Howling Cavern, to retreat to every month. Perhaps it was just her age, or the fact that she had dealt with this condition much longer than Marisol had. "I wish you weren't graduating so soon," the Gryffindor admitted. "You seem much easier to ask for advice than Lucas," Marisol chuckled slightly. She still didn't know much about the other werewolf at school because he was very reserved. She wondered if it was a result of his condition or if he had always been that way, but she would likely never know. "I would say I wish I wasn't going to be alone soon, but I wouldn't ever want someone else to join me," she shuttered and shook her head. If the alternative was more innocent people being bitten, she would much rather choose a life of solitude in the cavern.
​

[Sorry I'm literally the worst lol, I've been soooo busy!]