Open Hiding in a Dark Corner

[Gregory Friend]

As soon as Gregory had been able to move his feet, he had bolted from the great hall. His whole body felt like it was shaking. He knew that this incident had been his fault. If he wasn't so clumsy and stupid then he wouldn't have fallen over at exactly the point that he shouldn't have. He wouldn't have spilled it over Cassius and he wouldn't have also lost the christmas present. Gregory could admit he'd gotten off lightly. The moment it had been spilt over Cassius he had feared that the other boy might actually try to kill him. But he wasn't even bruised. He didn't know where he was going, just up some steps and into a room. He found a corner of that dark room and pressed himself as much as he could into it.

Gregory felt pathetic, he felt stupid, he felt worthless. Cassius was right, he was so low on the status pole, and he was so unworthy of friends and affection. he was useless. Gregory hiccuped lightly, bringing his knees up to press against his chest as he sat in the dark corner. Maybe it was time to quit, magic wouldn't be for him. He could go back home to equally few friends, but at least his dad would be there, his mum too. He could play video games and go home every day. Magic wasn't for someone like him, no matter how cool it felt. ​

 

[Dahlia Doherty]

It was easy, Dahlia had realized, to make friends when you all came from the same place. She'd never struggled to befriend the girls she went to school with, or played netball with, because they all had the same background. Well to do families who all got along and girls who all liked the same music, had similar fashion taste, were able to understand each others lives. That was simple. Now it wasn't so easy. She liked her dormmates, they were all nice girls who she got along with alright, but Dahlia couldn't help but feel that discomnect. They had grown up around magic, and while Dahlia loved her family and wouldn't trade her parents for anything, sometimes she wished they had been magical too just so she wasn't the odd one out. And it wasn't like they were mean about it, but it was always there, and always preventing her from having those shared experiences.

The school also was confusing. Dahlia wasn't an academic by any stretch of the imagination but she at least got her old schoolwork, and had her parents to help. Magic wasn't coming easily to her at all. And the classrooms were easy to get mixed up, as she opened the door thinking she was heading to History of Magic but realized she'd ended up on the wrong floor. At least the classroom was empty...or so she thought, until she saw a familiar figure. "Gregory? Is that you?" Dahlia apprpached, crouching down near the boy. At least on the flip side, he was someone she genuinely liked and appreciated and felt a sense of camaraderie with. Even if he wasn't one of the cool girls. He was genuinely nice, and was in the same boat as her all things considered. She only wished she could kick Cassius' rear for him free of any repercussions.

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory wasn't sure if someone was allowed to drop out mid-semester but he was thinking about it in the dark corner of this abandoned classroom. But it suck because magic was so cool and he wanted to maybe see about the quidditch team and they were learning so many cool spells but it just...Cassius was always picking on him. Things would be good and then someone would happen and it would be bad again. Gregory heard someone come in and tried his best to still in case it was Cassius but he was still fidgeting a little with his hands. And as it turned out, it wasn't Cassius but one of his friends. "Yeah, it's me. Hi dahlia," he said, his voice shook as he spoke. He was trying to put on a brave face, pretend like everything was okay, but he knew no part of him backed that up. ​

 

[Dahlia Doherty]

Dahlia sighed. She didn't want to go running to the teachers to dob on Cassius, as that wasn't something she did, but she hated seeing her friend like this. Maybe she just had to get in there more to try and take the hits. Not that she wanted to get beaten up, but she was probably a bit tougher than Gregory was. Which wasn't a bad thing, boys didn't have to be tough and aggressive and rude. Confidence was good but not if they were using it to hurt people, she thought. Dahlia shuffled over, sitting down next to Gregory and looking straight ahead, stretching her legs out in front of her. "Hi," she replied, not completely sure what to do. "We're not much of a prince and princess in this castle, huh."

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory didn't know why Dahlia opted to sit with him, he wasn't exactly good company in his mind. He would bring her down, and he was just feeling sad. He had a good friend in Dahlia, but it wasn't much in the face of everything with Cassius. "No, we're not," he said quietly in response. He leaned his head on his knees, turning his head towards her. "Although you could be a princess Dahlia, I could be...like your jester," he told her, he was grasping on to the slight out she'd given him in talking about something else. He didn't really want to go into what had brought him here and he didn't want to tell her, at least not right away, that he was thinking of leaving the school. ​

 

[Dahlia Doherty]

Dahlia shook her head, giggling despite herself. "Nah, we could be a pair of jesters," she suggested. "When I'm making stage magic videos online and get a heap of money you can help me and we'll split the profits." Dahlia nodded, a little stubbornly. She probably couldn't actually do it because of the laws and all but she'd find a way to make it work. "Or like...theatre shows. And we'll be so cool and everyone will totally love us and think we're, like, super awesome." It probably wasn't something he wanted but that wasn't at the front of her mind unfortunately. But she did know she wanted to distract him a little since he looked so miserable.

 

[Remy Forrester]

Remy was at a bit of a loss. Keeping to himself and not engaging with other students was a good way to keep out of trouble, but it didn't do him any favours for his loneliness. Which was silly, as he had books to read and a pet bat in his pocket to talk to. He was successfully scraping by the bare minimum in his classes and hadn't fallen out of a tower window yet, so he really didn't have a lot to complain about. Still, he felt strange and out of place in the castle and had all year. He was heading over to one of his favourite quiet places in school and was disappointed to find it already occupied. Remy was about to shut the door again before they noticed him, but paused as he recognised them from his year, and by that point it would have been awkward to leave.

Remy suffered from some misplaced protectiveness over his roommates, which was hard as Gregory seemed to have a target painted on his back that Remy couldn't fathom the reason behind. He felt like he should do something to help Gregory be happier, but Dahlia seemed to have it handled. Remy found her a bit intimidating but the mention of theatre caught his interest. "You should totally do that. Theatre... is cool," Remy gave the two of them an uncomfortable thumbs up.

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory smiled at Dahlia, despite how he was feeling, she just made it so easy for him to feel at ease and content. She was too good a friend for a loser like him, he couldn't help but think. He just smiled so easily with her. "I was briefly in a show at muggle school," he told her smiling slightly and then glanced up suddenly. Remy. He didn't know the other boy, just that the boy kept to himself and had a bat. "We could do that," he agreed, he didn't sit up or move from his position. Dahlia and her words had easy some of the initial ill-feelings, he'd had after everything with Cassius. "Don't ask me to dance though...I will trip up and destroy everything," he said it almost lightly, like he was trying to make a joke, but even as he said it, he felt bad, because he knew that he was likely to ruin it anyway. ​

 

[Dahlia Doherty]

Dahlia was a bit surprised to see Remy, she hadn't exactly talked to him but she hadn't really gone out of her way to talk to the Hufflepuffs. There were people who were alright in each house but she mostly stuck around the Gryffindor girls. Earlier on she would've said she was too good for some of the others - there were a lot of kinda weird boys - but apparently blood status was a whole thing. Still, she put on her best smile at him anyway, not really feeling like being rude. "Yeah? I love performing," she admitted. It wasn't as cool as sport but she did like it a lot. "That's okay! We'll get someone else to dance," Dahlia nodded, looking back at Remy. "And you're totally in on this too, by the way."

 

[Remy Forrester]

Remy wished he'd been given a pamphlet on how to interact with other wizard kids when he'd arrived at Hogwarts. Instead, he had to rely on his limited social skills and muddle through. Remy wasn't a performing sort of person. He was more of the understudy's understudy at his community theatre, though being on stage was theoretically interesting. "That could be part of your act - destruction ballet." Remy said to Gregory, his mouth quirking into a small grin at one side. He wasn't entirely sure what they were actually talking about before he'd barged in, but Remy hadn't been met with outright hostility so he was attempting to put on an upbeat social mask. He nodded solemnly at Dalia. "Roger that, I'll dazzle everyone with my, uh, incredible dance moves?" Remy flailed his arms a bit in an awful attempt at rhythm to try make the other two laugh.

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory felt himself smile at Dahlia as she said she loved performing. The boy glanced to Remy and nodded. He wasn't sure that that would be could. He hadn't ever tripped up or destroyed something on purpose, she was sure it wouldn't even be possible. But it was nice, to be here his friends joking and smiling. It was such a contrast to how things tended to be at school. The interaction with Cassius felt fresh in his mind but it was fading a little as watching Remy flail his arms around made him laugh. "You can be like those inflatable dancing things," he was sure if anyone knew what he meant it would at least be dahlia. I can do my performance in bubble wrap so when I destroy and fall, it'll be fun popping sounds,"[/b] Gregory was getting into it. Into the idea, even if they did never do it, the mental images alone were fun. ​