Open let it down

[Christa Langley]

*Set after this class

Christa stepped out of the classroom, her notebook clutched tightly to her chest and her brow furrowed in through. The brisk air of the corridor was a welcome contrast to the heavy atmosphere of the lesson she had just left. Unforgivable cures? Azkaban? How do people even come up with that stuff? She couldn’t understand it and her mind started spinning with so many questions. She needed to understand it, so even as she leaned against the cool stone wall, she glanced down at her notes, trying to make sense of everything she had written word for word about these classes. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand what she’d written, she just couldn’t wrap her head around the idea that magic, something she had only recently learned was real, could be so dangerous. She closed her book with a loud snap and a sigh, half-hoping someone would walk by who looked as overwhelmed as she felt about it. “How do wizards even sleep knowing this stuff exists?” she asked aloud, though she wasn’t sure if she actually wanted someone to answer her.​

 

[Lilith Ilves]

Lilith was taking a walk on the first floor corridor, thinking about all the things she'd have to do before exams would be in a few weeks. There was so much to do and go through that her head was spinning most of the time. The second year was brought back from her own thoughts at the sight of a younger Gryffindor, who seemed horrified to say the least. Realising this was the first floor corridor where DADA took place she made the assumption the girl had just had one of those lessons. "What was the topic today? If it was the unforgivables I can tell you some of us don't find the knowledge anymore comforting than you do." The Ravenclaw gave a weak smile to the girl. It was about the time of the semester they had had that lesson and Lilith herself had been rather unwell, despite already knowing about some of them.

 

[Christa Langley]

Christa looked up when an older girl spoke to her and she nodded. She nodded, swallowing as the girl seemed to hit the nail on the head. “Yeah… that’s the one,” she wasn’t sure how she felt knowing that everyone just seemed to go along with it. She’d just learned that a wizard (or witch) could simply kill a person with a single word probably, since it was a curse and that that was it. In he muggle life you couldn’t just do that, it took more than just a word. And this stuff about Azkaban was also sitting on her chest heavily. “It… it’s a lot to think about, I… how am I supposed to just deal with it?” The girl looked like she at leat sort of knew what she was talking about. She was clearly older especially with what she said, because she wasn’t in Christa’s class, and she didn’t have Defence with Ravenclaws.​

 

[Lilith Ilves]

Lilith gave a sympathetic smile to the girl as she nodded confirming her suspicion. Yeah the unforgivables lesson had been a though one. She took a second to consider her response before speaking gently, making sure to keep her expression soft and understanding. "Well, after that lesson I found it hard dealing with it myself. It took some time, but I liked to go on walks or in the astronomy observatory to see the stars. I thought of all the good things magic can do too, it is important that we know both the light and dark of this world. After all one cannot exist without the other, night and day are just one example." Lilith gestured towards a bench for the younger girl to sit down and then went to take a seat herself. "I also find it comforting talking to my friends about these things, well my best friends mainly. One of them is in your house, a second year Gryffindor Tori, friends help to remind me of the fact that there is good too." It was true, she doubted she would have managed the surge of thoughts were it not for her friends in her first year. There had been so much to take in.

 

[Christa Langley]

Talking to friends seemed like it would make sense, but she didn't really know if she had anyone she could consider good enough friends to admit this kind of a thing to. There was Mania and Callie of course and Peregrine as well as Tessaria, but Mania and Callie were always together and it was hard to talk to them both. She liked Callie alright, and she even agreed with her sometimes, but she sometimes felt she overreacted to things, and then Callie could be very righteous and she was likely just as put off as all of this as she was. Peregrine seemed mostly to keep to herself or her dragon thing and Tessaria, well she was one that Christa didn't know anything about since she'd barely spoken to the girl despite being in her dorm. "Hm, I guess I could find someone, I don't really..." she didn't want to say she didn't have friends because that wasn't strictly true, but she really didn't know if she considered any of the girls to be her friends. Well, they were her friends, but she didn't really talk to them, this seemed like the kind of thing someone spoke to their best friend about and she definitely didn't have one of those.​

 

[Lilith Ilves]

Lilith watched the girl calmly, she could almost see the cogs turning in her head. When the girl spoke it seemed like she might have been about to say she didn't really have friends but stopped herself at the last minute. "Ah I see well how about this, my name is Lilith and if you ever find yourself in a situation where you want to talk about a lesson, or anything else really, to someone you can find me and I'll chat with you?" She offered with a smile, she could understand finding it hard to talk to those around you, perhaps Lilith had gotten lucky finding someone like Eoghan so soon into her first year and then Tori too.

 

[Christa Langley]

Christa didn’t really know what to say to that. She hadn’t really expected anyone to care about her feelings on this topic because a lot of people seemed to brush all of it off as if it was nothing, but it meant something to her and that was why she kept trying to think it through properly. She smiled though, and nodded at the older girl - Lilith - thankful that someone seemed to at least agree that sometimes the professors seemed to say some scary things that she wasn’t entirely sure she liked, or was happy with. But she didn’t know what to do with that information. All she knew was that it was there and now she would have to find a way to deal with it. “Thanks, I’ll try. I’m Christa by the way.”​