Out of the Spotlight

[Stella Lagowski]

Stella sat on a bench in the corner of the great hall, snacking on pumpkin flavoured candy as she watched her fellow students enjoying the Halloween feast. Her eyes were beginning to water from the red contact lenses she had stuck in, and her legs were starting to sweat under the ruffles of her black dress, but she couldn't go back to her dormitory just yet. To do so would have been extremely antisocial, and Stella was used to having to keep up her appearance wherever she went. Hogwarts was a lot different from the muggle world. Every now and then, a student would recognize her, but it was really of no interest to them that she was an actress. Stella still didn't know how she felt about the lack of cameras, the lack of recognition and the lack of excitement. Hogwarts seemed to be a very exciting place for most of the children, yet Stella found it quite dull and boring in comparison to her old life. Yeah, it was pretty cool that there were pumpkins floating in mid air, but outside of Hogwarts, what use was magic anyway? If they weren't allowed to use their magic in front of muggles, there was nobody to impress, nobody to show off to. The only people she could use her magic in front of were the ones who could already do their own, often a hundred times more skilfully than her.

Stella sighed, flapping her dress around to try and cool her sticky legs. The taste of pumpkin was starting to make her feel sick, and watching the other students have fun only added to her discomfort. She blinked hard, trying to find a way to make her contact lenses less irritating, but to no avail. She wasn't sure why she'd even bothered coming down, since everyone else's costumes were much more extravagant than her. The ones with the best outfits were getting smiles and compliments, whilst Stella sat alone, out of the spotlight and away from the attention. Surrounded by hundreds of people, Stella had never felt so alone in her entire life.

 

[Daniel Clairoux]

Daniel Clairoux he always loved Halloween, and celebrations. The Great Hall looked amazingly beautiful, and he was excited that he had quickly pulled together a costume, having completely forgotten that Halloween was so close. He was not sure what his job as counsellor at the school would entitle, as he was not sure how many students would need him, but he thanked the spirits every day that he was available to them. Everyone needed a shoulder to cry on and a willing ear to listen every now and then, even him. Though, he would refuse to admit to such a notion. He was perfectly happy. Completely.

He had at first found himself looking for his friend, Jonathan, who was a professor at the school, but alas, he could not find him. Dan shrugged to himself, not wanting to spend his entire night looking for Batman when he could spend it hanging out with the other professors - or even the students themselves. After all, he didn't feel that much older than them at all. He remembered school very well, and he had loved it, especially the dress-up parties. He sniffed the flowers he held quietly, looking around to see if there was anyone that looked a little lonely. And that was when he saw a young girl sitting by herself, away from everyone, not looking especially happy. He approached her, and sat beside her as a reasonable distance to avoid encroaching on her personal space, but making it clear that he wished to engage in conversation with her. He presented the flowers to her, smiling gently. "You look wonderful, don't go frowning like that," he said, before holding out his hand for a shake. "Daniel, but you can call me Danny if you like. What's your name?" He shrugged and looked around the Great hall, before whispering to her. "I'm kind of new here. Shhh, don't tell!"​

 

[Stella Lagowski]

Stella was so consumed in thought that it took her a few seconds to come around when a man, who appeared to be dressed as an English nobleman, approached her with flowers. She was taken aback, more bemused than flattered at his kind gesture. Stella's eyebrows wiggled as she tried to make sense of it all. Reaching forward to accept the flowers, her mouth formed a crooked smile. "Thanks," She mumbled, trying to conceal her embarrassment at being seen with a member of staff. It certainly wasn't cool, and the last thing Stella needed was to be caught hanging around with people who weren't cool. "Is this how you pick up all the ladies?" She asked, handing the flowers back to him. "They're part of your outfit," She explained, though that wasn't her real reason for giving them back. The truth was, she didn't want to be seen near an adult at all, and she hoped that her refusal to cooperate would be enough of a hint that she wanted to be left alone.

Stella refrained from groaning out loud when the man, who she now knew to be Danny, introduced himself. She sighed, feeling hotter and more uncomfortable by the second. All she wanted to do was run back to her dorm and take out her stupid contact lenses, and now she was stuck talking to a sad old man in a stinky costume. Stella was starting to feel like she was on the set of a period drama. "Stella," She replied, but his next sentence caught her off guard. He was new? Well, that ruled out the possibility of him being a Professor, unless he was a substitute. She tilted her head slightly, wondering how he must feel. Was being new something that was scary to adults as well as children? It must have been, since he was asking her not to tell anyone. "Haven't got anyone to tell," Stella admitted, laughing a little. Her closest friends were muggles back home, who she wouldn't be seeing until the holidays. "What are you doing here?" Stella asked, unable to contain her curiosity any longer.

 

[Daniel Clairoux]

Daniel snorted at the concept of him trying to pick up any women with flowers, or anything really, but he was not going to go into his love life with a girl that was probably twelve, if that. However, in light of his current relationship trouble, he did find himself running his thumb along the back of his engagement-wedding ring, before consciously becoming aware of the motion and stopping himself. He was not going to begin wallowing over Corey, about something that he could not change. All he could hope was that everything would be okay, and that they would be able to settle things. Perhaps start again. He smiled at the young girl he had approached. "You can keep them if you like. I can always conjure more." He wagged his fingers. "Flowers are easy, you'll be learning how to conjure some soon enough." He had spent perhaps a simple thought on these flowers, having decided his costume far too late to think of anything spectacular, but he felt they were nice enough. They carried a nice scent, regardless.

Stella was a nice name, he thought. However, this Stella did not appear to be in the mood for a party, which he thought was weird, and sad. Everyone should be in the mood for a party. Daniel only knew a grand total of perhaps nine people in the entire school, but he was still very happy to be here. And it was even more difficult being not a professor, and not a student. Students didn't want to talk to 'old people' and some professors were really into their work. Like, a lot. Some found him a little too young to talk to for long periods. Students found him too old to talk to for long periods. There was no pleasing these people. He smiled as she laughed, and chuckled a little himself. Been there, done that.

He tilted his head slightly at her question. "Sitting?" he answered, mostly sarcastically. Opening with 'I'm the school counsellor' was not going to go down well, he suspected. He didn't want her thinking he was going to turn this into some kind of counselling sob session where he asks her what has her troubled and she starts talking about how it all started when she was born. "I recently came to New Zealand from France after a break up, and moved in with my close friend," he explained, matter-of-factly. "He took I job here. I followed the advice of my spirits and followed. Danny Clairoux, here to help I guess." He grinned, and decided to quickly try and place conversation more towards herself. "I assume you're here to learn. What did you leave behind?"​

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[Stella Lagowski]

Stella began to blush awkwardly as Daniel told her she'd be learning how to conjure some of her own flowers, soon. In theory, this was true. Stella would learn how to conjure flowers in the near future. The problem was that despite understanding how to do magic, Stella was struggling greatly. She supposed it was a mixture of anxiety and a lack of confidence which was throwing her off, but knowing this was no help. "Mhmm," She mumbled uncertainly, pulling back her hand with the flowers still in them. They did smell nice. Not stale and old like she had expected them to. Stella, unamused by Daniel's sarcastic comment, glared at him, forgetting that her red contact lenses made her look more frightening than she had intended. It appeared that Stella wasn't the only one who was good at dodging subjects around here. She still wanted to know what Daniel's job was, but her short attention span quickly took over and she had soon forgotten all about it.

Stella groaned inwardly as the man began telling her where he'd come from. She didn't even want to talk to him, let alone hear his entire life story to date. Her eyebrows raised as he mentioned a break up. "Why'd you break up?" Stella asked, with absolutely no consideration for his feelings. The young Hufflepuff had not yet mastered the art of empathy, and was not aware that breaking up with someone could be so upsetting. Relationships baffled her; she didn't want to be in one for as long as she lived. The idea of living a life trapped by someone else's side was horrifying. Stella's freedom was of utmost importance to her, which was probably why Hogwarts seemed like a life sentence in prison. She shrugged dismissively at Daniel's question, unwilling to talk about what was bothering her to a complete stranger. "What does it matter to you? Even if I told you, you couldn't do anything about it. Nobody around here cares enough to help," She said moodily, folding her arms. "You all think magic's so wonderful and brilliant, but it's not. It's a load of rubbish." The girl looked away, refusing to cooperate with his happy-clappy helpful guy attitude. The temptation to grab the nearest tray of halloween themed cakes and throw them across the hall was overwhelming, but there were too many people around, and Stella wasn't about to make a fool of herself in front of them. Stella's eyes began to water as she thought about her predicament. "I'm not crying, it's the contact lenses," She said before the man could get a chance to assume she was upset, but her voice was thick and muffled. "Why are you still here?"

 

[Daniel Clairoux]

Daniel noted that the girl seemed disinterested - and it was do be expected, really. He doubted they had all that much in common, and he liked to think he had slightly different interests than that of a little girl. While her stare did creep him out a little - one too many late nights with Jon watching horror movies - he did realise that she was probably anxious. She had said she had no friends - and that could have been an over-exaggeration on her part - but no girl liked to sit alone at a party she bothered to attend.

He had not expected her to pry about his romantic life, as it was just one thing buried among other pieces of useless information that he doubted she would have cared about. He felt uncomfortable, but shrugged and replied nonetheless with w small smile. "Difference of opinion, one could say." And it was, Corey needed independence, and Daniel needed someone that didn't freak out all the time. Time and space would do them both good.

That hardest part about his job soon came flying at him within Stella's question. His reasons for caring were odd to others, as he came from a not so common familial belief that had been corrupted over several generations from what it would have once been, to what it was now. From her outburst on magic, however, he assumed she was a muggle-born, or at least someone that had no magical role models to speak of. He did not interrupt her, instead he chose to listen to her outburst in a contemplative silence until she came to a pause, assured him that no, she was not crying, and then spoke to him once more. He shrugged at her. "Perhaps there are people that care enough to want to help," he replied softly. "Believe it or not, Stella, there is always someone to talk to. Even if it's some adult you half-know. Sometimes just getting it off your chest can help." He stood him, and gave her a a quick, gentlemanly bow. "That is why there is a counsellor. I suggest you go say hello to him, he gets lonely at the back of the library all day." He smiled at her. "Have a good night, Stella, and take the contacts out if they're bothering you. You will look wonderful either way."​

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[Stella Lagowski]

The young girl didn't falter when Daniel's reply came about his relationship. If she had been a little older, she may have spotted the sadness in his smile, but even her contact lenses didn't improve her blindness to his feelings. She chose not to reply, however, since she knew nothing about his problems and could offer no advice. She still stood by her opinion that relationships were a complete waste of time, but she was smart enough to realise it wouldn't be helpful to voice this.

Stella scoffed when Daniel told her that some people might want to help. If it was true, then they sure had a funny way of showing it. His next comment took her completely off guard. Counsellor? Was he out of his mind? She opened her mouth to indignantly point out that she was perfectly fine thank you very much, but he had just complimented her. She paused for a moment, conflicting emotions running through her head. Why were adults so good at wrapping children around their fingers? She couldn't get angry with him now, not after he'd said she looked wonderful, but at the same time she wanted to point out that counsellors were over-paid crooks and a complete waste of time. Those were her Mother's words, of course. But before she could decide what to say, Daniel had already taken to leave. She watched him go, not trusting herself to speak for fear of telling him in which orifice he could go and stick his stupid ideas. Say hello to the counsellor? She wouldn't be caught dead.

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THE END.​

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