Closed Fight or Flight

[Elio Zephyr]

He'd never admit it, but Elio was terrified of coming up against Vegeta again to the point that even being back in the duelling chamber made him feel uneasy. The Gryffindor knew that he wasn't going to get far with a fear like this, especially when he had to share a dorm with the boy and sleep near to him every night, but Elio felt uneasy whenever he did so, and every moment during the night he found himself restless, his mind wandering at the possibilities of what Vegeta might try and do to hurt him. He'd hurt Elsie, and Elio still had the scar to prove he'd hurt him too during their last meet. The prefect entered the chamber with his wand in hand, things that he'd never considered before causing him to be on edge. Last time he'd practised here, Vegeta had popped up behind him and now the Gryffindor had to make sure his back wasn't facing the doorway. It was his reactions that he knew he needed to work on, he already knew the spells. Firing up one of the dummies, Elio purposely angered it with incorrect spells in the hopes that it would try and stun him, and after a few attempts he was finding a good rhythm of blocking the spells that came toward him. The fact that Elio felt the need to even practise because of another student he knew was ridiculous, but asides from tattling to their Head of House about him, Elio wasn't sure what else he was supposed to do, and besides, he didn't want to anger the boy any more than he already was.​

 

[Elsie Baros]

The dungeons wasn’t an area that Elsie often frequented. But after having found Vegeta in the bathrooms, she’d been spending a bit of time with him. He was different to the bully she’d always seen him as and though he was still a bully, or atleast she still thought of him as one, there was something inside him that had changed and she was helping him get through it as much as she could. It was good practice she thought, for either becoming a healer or an auror, she still wasn’t set on what she wanted to do, though she hoped she’d figure it out soon. Zennon had known by now, so she was upset that she hadn’t figured it out yet, though she also didn’t think Rowan knew either. Elsie has been looking for Vegeta and she’d hoped she would find him in the duelling chamber since she’d suggested to him that might be a good way of getting his frustrations out. She couldn’t imagine it was easy for him, neither of his siblings seemed to care much for him, she didn’t know how long that had been true for but she knew it would suck for her if Rowan or Zennon, especially Rowan, turned their backs on her. As she approached the duelling chamber though, she noticed it wasn’t the Gryffindor she’d been hoping to find, but he was just as good, if not better as she actually liked Elio and whilst she had never hated Vegeta, she certainly didn’t specifically like him either. “Hey, Elio,” she called, stepping into the duelling chamber to watch him for a bit. “Practicing for the duelling tournaments?” Elsie has never been a huge fan of duelling, but she was happy to watch.​

 

[Elio Zephyr]

Elio had only been going for a few minutes but he could already feel himself warming up, and so took off his sweater to give himself more movement and breathing space. It wasn't long before he was no longer alone though, and he tensed when he heard the footsteps over the sounds of sparks flying nearby. Surely it would have been too much of a coincidence for his room mate to come by right here right now? His eyes kept flickering to the door, but he relaxed as soon as he spotted it was Elsie. He'd only really spoken to the Ravenclaw on a couple of occasions, and only one really outside of class. "Hey," he sent her a wave, wondering if she was down here too to practise although he wasn't sure if he'd ever seen her at the tournaments. At her question, he paused for a moment, looking her way and running the back of his hand over his forehead. Would Rowan have told her what had happened last time he was here? Even if she had, would Elsie know that was what he was practising for, or even if she did, maybe she didn't really want to get into it. After all, he knew that Vegeta had targeted the Ravenclaw too. "Sure," he said, not really knowing how else to explain what he was doing without quickly delving straight into it, and for all he knew Elsie was just being polite. The dummy was calm, waiting for his next move, but Elio was looking at his wand for a moment, before back up at the brunette. Even though he'd studied Rowan a thousand times, he always found it so hard to find the twin resemblance to Elsie, although he knew their bond was stronger than anyone's. "Besides, it's good to practise. Never know when defending yourself might come in useful," he said, remembering the time last year in the trophy room. There was no way that Elsie could have forgotten it, but at least it was up to her to push the topic if she'd ever wanted to talk to him about Vegeta. ​

 

[Elsie Baros]

Elsie smiled at Elio, she kind of considered him a friend given what he’d done for her last year and the fact that he was such good friends with Rowan, though she didn’t quite understand the extent since Rowan always just grinned like a weirdo whenever she brought him up. At least they were talking again. “Oh, yes of course, like my dancing,” she said, not really in the habit of practicing much else. She knew she had a lot to thank Elio for, though she wasn’t quite aware of just how involved he’d been with Vegeta. “I realised I’d never actually thanked you for what you did last year,” she said, leaning against the wall. She wasn’t much for emotional words these days, mostly since if she let them out she couldn’t contain them, and she had a lot of emotions she needed to hide at the moment. “So, thanks and stuff,” she didn’t really know how to talk to Elio, he was Rowan’s best friend but they were different people. Rowan was impulsive and emotional, Elsie was more logical and calm. Though of the two of them Rowan was the more confident one. It seemed weird to be thanking Elio for helping her, given what she’d been doing recently.​

 

[Elio Zephyr]

Elio smiled as Elsie brought up her dancing, having heard that she attended practises for it by Rowan, but he didn't really know too many of the details. "What type of dance is it?" He knew the main ones he supposed, and he'd watched a little as part of his own upbringing, especially because of his dad, although he wouldn't have considered himself even remotely knowledgeable on the subject. The fifth year watched as she came a little further into the room and lent there, and he found himself glad that he wasn't on his own. Having Elsie here at least meant that he would have back up if Vegeta did happen to show up, or at least he hoped Elsie would have his back, if not it would just be two against one. He nodded at her thanks, "Of course. Rowan's sister or not, no one should be treated the way he did you," he said sincerely, hoping that Elsie didn't think that the only reason he'd done it was because of his bond with the Gryffindor. "Or me," he added before he could stop himself, although tried to move on quickly before it was picked up. "It's a shame people like him are the reason we have to learn to protect ourselves in the first place." If Vegeta was capable of doing things like this as a fifth year, who knew what kind of person he was going to grow up into. He knew it was harsh to consider, and Elio did believe that people were capable of change, but he also wasn't just going to sit back and watch his friends get hurt because of someone else's selfish motives. ​

 

[Elsie Baros]

“Contemporary, I dunno how much you know of it, but it’s like... interpretation of the music in a specific style, more body than legs.” She said, trying to explain it to him in a way he might’ve understood. Rowan danced too, and very well, though she wasn’t sure how aware of that Elio was. “Picked it up after... after my Dad got hurt, both my parents are, were professionals.” She added, thinking about how hard it had been afterwards. She’d only started dancing to help her dad, but now she loved it. She frowned as he mentioned being treated poorly by Vegeta. She hadn’t really been aware that they’d had encounters of their own. She knew about Vader of course, but he was the only one she knew about when it came to Vegeta. She was going to have to ask him about that. “Did... did Vegeta hurt you?” She asked, not sure if he was going to tell her. Rowan had mentioned Elio and Vegeta didn’t get on, but she hadn’t known the extent. She didn’t know what to say about it. He seemed very down on Vegeta, and if it was true that Vegeta had come after him as well, she could understand, but Elio would have been an escalation, since Vegeta normally went for people who didn’t defend themselves, people like her and Vader. It would be new with Elio. She was concerned what that would mean for the both of them, given they were dormmates and all. “Y-yeah, it... it’s not a good thing.”​