Of lounges and friends

[Arethuse Anna Arbuthnoth]

Sitting right in front of a cozy fire in a richly decorated room of a palace was a red haired twelve year old girl quietly reading a book on christmas tales...
Outside of the high painted windows the snow was lying deep on the grasslawns. A rarity in the 2020ies, one might add, especially in the vicinity of the mediterranean coastline of France, but this year it came for once, adding a bit more christmas feel for the twelve year old.

Her name is Arethuse Napoleona-Arbuthnoth and born to a family of British and French lawyers in 2014, who had moved from England to France and Alsace for the view and settled down there eventually.
Reading books and cooking had always been of a hobby of hers, and nothing really too funny ever happened to her, except this summer when a man dressed most peculiarly visited their home in Hessenheim and produced an official-looking letter adressed to little her.
She frowned at that memory and smiled, that letter had brought her her wand, her class in Beauxbatons and most of all, a whole new world where the magic of fairytales was real.

Quite dreamy now, the muggleborn got up from the sofa and did a little disney-like piruette. But unfortunately she accidentally bumped into someone and fell in a heap on the marble floor gasping. Getting up again was quite a tedious task, while doing so she straightened her tousled hair and wrinkled clothes and started apologising in French.

 

[Ariel Dubois]

Ariel despised the snow. She was used to France being a bit more chilly than usual around this time of year but the odd time it brought snow has always been a horrible year for her. It wasn’t really the snow that she hated, she did enjoy going out and playing in it and it looked very pretty when there was a fresh layer from the views of her dorm at Beauxbatons. Although when she had to walk through it in her school uniform after spending most of the morning in a cold greenhouse she was not one bit amused. Finally getting back into the castle she quickly got changed out of her damp uniform into a much more comfortable outfit. After retrieving a nice hot chocolate to warm her up she made her way to the lounge where she had intended to defrost in front of the fire and look over her homework for today.

Making her way through the lounge she spotted a free seat in the couch right in front of the blazing fire and a small smile crept over the young girls features. As she was about to sit down on the couch though she felt someone bump into her and she let out a small yelp as the hot chocolate spilt down her front, causing a small amount of pain as the hot liquid seeped through her clean top. “You idiot!” she raged as she tried desperately to dry her top with her scarf.

 

[Arethuse Anna Arbuthnoth]

Arethuse had barely managed to right herself up again when the person - correction girl now - started raging at her, something she absolutely dispised. Why can't everybody just take a mistake? Instead of going beserk over it? Those two questions and a flung insult later Arethuse Anna Arbuthnoth could feel the anger and despair rising. So the first word, in hindsight, was perhaps not so kind...
"I said I'm sorry, ok?!" She all but yelled right back at the other girl, "Mon Dieu. Do everyone have to go into a mental frenzy each and every time I clutz up?!"
Taking a deep breath Aria calmed down somewhat, but still not sufficient to rid her of her annoyance. "I'm sincerely sorry..." She said, this time without yelling, and went right into a very awkward moment. Should she help or not. Well, on one hand she might get on her adversary's good term; or on the other hand further arguments, or even violence may breakout. She cringed at the thought of violence and cowered, she was never good in a fight, even with the help of magic. Besides, the First Year hadn't learned much in DADA to even pose a passable threat.

 

[Ariel Dubois]

Ariel continued to frantically dry her top then she remembered that she was magic. When she wasn’t allowed to use magic at home she quickly forgot about using her magic for small things like this, especially when it wasn’t in the classroom as that was really the only time she found herself needing to use magic. Sure there was plenty that she could have used it for but when she grew up with her parents not using magic much around home and doing a lot of things ‘the muggle way’ it had wiped off on her and she was used to doing things the same way. With both of her parents having to use so much magic at their jobs they enjoyed not having to use it when at home, it was a little strange to Ariel but as she got older she started to understand their ways.

Reaching to take out her wand from her back pocket so she could cast a simple ‘scourify’ spell on it she heard the girl that had caused Ariel to spill her drink over her start to shout at her. Raising her eyebrows she looked at the girl with a cold, blank stare. Even when the girl had lowered her tone and sounded more sincere Ariel continued to look at her, there was no way she was taking that attitude from anyone. “Who the hell do you think you are, talking to me in that tone?” she questioned the girl, her tone of voice making her sound more important that she actually was.

 

[Arethuse Anna Arbuthnoth]

Aria simply glared quietly at this girl as she dried herself up. She was in no mood for a fight and just wanted to get out of here as soon as it was humanly possible. Sadly, as she was a muggleborn, she knew almost zilch and therefore was unable to make good of her escape.

Instead, she was forced to simmer in supressed irritation which not only went up a many notches when she was condescended, but almost broke the surface too. To her immense chagrin, Ariel over there was not relenting on her, apoarently. Urrgh... why?
"Umm, I'll say I'm sorry for the tone, I had you surprised and you had me surprised. Okay?" Defusing horrible situations like this was terrifying gor the First Year.

 

[Ariel Dubois]

Ariel crossed her arms over her chest and continued to stare down the younger girl. It wasn’t all that hard to get Ariel in one of her moods and when she got into it, Merlin help anyone that crossed her – like this girl for example. Ariel may not be the most rationale of people and never really thought a situation through and it was those traits that got her in trouble. Not to say that Ariel got in trouble, she was very clever actually as she was able to act the right way around those that matters, Professors, Prefects, Parents, all the usual people that had an effect on her.

Although when she was on her own she was quite the opposite of the perfect little angel everyone thought she was. “Well at least you have the sense to apologise for something that was your fault.” she said to the girl in a snide tone. “But that’s not okay,” she continued, mocking the young girls tone. “What’s your name?” she asked in a demanding tone.

 

[Arethuse Anna Arbuthnoth]

Aria continued to simmer quietly as the situation progressed, to her exasperation. Why could not this girl just acknowledge that they were both unlucky enough to end up in this mess and that it was not anyone's fault? Why does she have to be so jerky?
Lips twitching visibly now, Aria, a normally well behaved and mannered girl, was at unrest. Frowning as the response came to her apology, and mind you it was a most unusual reply, Aria mouthed "Right." to thin air and was increasingly looking displeased.
"What my name is?" She said, "Arethuse Arbuthnoth. Could I ask you to please leave me alone?"
She sat down again with her book upside down on her lap, irritated and mildly glaring at the window.

 

[Ariel Dubois]

Ariel folded her arms over her slender frame and watched the girl. Anyone that knew Ariel knew that she wasn’t one to let things go lightly at all and this case was no exception. Not only did this girl try to fight back but she hadn’t got the idea yet that she should just go away and leave Ariel alone. It was one thing to actually disturb Ariel in some form, such as spilling liquid over her, but then to stay and fight it was not something Ariel was all too happy about. Then again, no one had ever tried to stay and defend themselves so it was something that she had to admire about this girl, no had stood up to her before so she was either brave or very stupid – both were good assumptions until she found out more about the girl. Ariel, for only a third year, had some great connections around the school and was able to find out whatever she wanted and she always got what she wanted.

As she was about to reply back to the girl, Arethuse, she saw someone approach out of the side of her eye. She rolled her eyes when she saw that it was Amelia Jones, the goody-two-shoes Prefect that never let Ariel have any fun. “This isn’t over Arbutnoth.” she whispered before turning on her heels and walking away before Amelia had anything to say. Unfortunately she wasn’t lucky enough and had the Prefect’s words she rolled her eyes once more and walked on.

 

[Amelia Jones]

Amelia had been outside helping the Herbology Professor with a few extra procedures that had to be carried out during the winter months to ensure that the plants stayed healthy and alive as the cold weather could have terrible effects on them and it would be such a shame to have something happen them. When she returned to the castle she put on a pair of jeans, plain tank top and a pair of ballet flats, the typical clothes that she could be found in during the colder months as it wasn’t really advisable to wear skirts and dresses in the cold. She missed her slightly odd yet pretty dresses, she had a rather strange fashion sense where it was fashionable but in a ‘hippie/indie’ sense, but she liked it and that’s all that mattered to her. Taking her books into the common room she had hoped for a relaxing afternoon to catch up on a few assignments but that wasn’t going to happen as she heard a rather heated discussion going on at the other side of the room.

Having been appointed Prefect this year she had a few extra responsibilities but she didn’t matter, in fact she enjoyed being Prefect. Although at moments like this she wasn’t too fond of it. Setting her books on the table she looked over at the two girls causing the disruption. She rolled her eyes when she saw the Ariel Dubois was part of the problem – typical really. Amelia wished she could have been like her brother, Gaston, who had graduated. Truth be told Amelia had a bit of a school girl crush on the older boy but he was sweet and very cute and the two had gotten on well as she worked in the Herbology area and he in the Care of Magical Creatures area – they saw each other frequently and helped the other when needed. Walking over to the two girl she hardened her stare on Ariel just as she was walking away. “Don’t worry, Ariel. The Headmistress will hear about this.” Ariel was treading on thin ice as it was but no matter how hard Amelia tried to get the girl in trouble she always seemed to be able to get out of it. “Are you alright?” she asked the younger girl who, from what Amelia could see, was the victim in all of this.