Closed Some Independence

[Louis Vernier]

Louis had a good year at Hogwarts last year, despite everything that had happened, and he was hoping that this year would also be good. With him not needing to worry too much about successfully casting charms in classes, Louis had a lot of pressure off his shoulders. He came back to Hogwarts a little more relaxed and he just wanted to focus on fitting in this year whilst also getting some good grades as he had done last year. He cared about his studies, as long as the professors were patient with him. The boy wanted some alone time before he began catching up with his friends, and so after the start of year feast he slipped out of the great hall and made his way to the abandoned classroom. He sat down at one of the desks and took his gobstones out of his backpack. He enjoyed the game a lot and it was definitely a good distraction. The boy practiced flicking some marbles onto the board by himself. The abandoned classroom was a good spot as the chances of someone coming and wanting to play with him were slim. He just wanted to do this by himself and hopefully grow a little bit more independent.

 

[Weston Stirling]

Though Weston couldn't exactly say he was looking forward to another year of classes, he was definitely glad to be back at Hogwarts. Breaks quickly got boring without his friends, and he missed doing magic. He'd spent the start of the year feast talking up Ravenclaw to all the new first years, and he was eager to make it back to his common room for some more house-specific celebrations. As he made his way up the stairs with the other Ravenclaws, Gryffindors, and Hufflepuffs, he spotted one person suddenly break away from the crowd and turn down the second floor corridor.

Curiosity piqued, Weston decided to follow them. It didn't take long to realize it was Louis, who seemed to have a habit of doing this. Weston could still remember the time the Hufflepuff abruptly ran out of DADA in the middle of some spell practice, and he was pretty sure he'd seen the boy do the same thing in Charms, too. After some turns, he lost sight of the boy and was forced to try a couple doors at random. The fifth door he tried finally opened, revealing Louis sitting in an abandoned classroom. He grinned, pleased that he'd found the Hufflepuff and made his way over. "Hey Louis! Why are you here?" He caught sight of the marbles and abruptly switched his line of questioning. "Oh, are those Gobstones? Can I play?"

 

[Louis Vernier]

As the door opened, Louis quickly looked up to find Weston. The Hufflepuff smiled slightly at him, despite wanting to be alone. He thought it would be too rude to tell him to go away. At his question, Louis shrugged. "I'm just practicing gobstones." he told him simply, gesturing to the marbles on the table. Weston wanted to play with him, and truthfully Louis didn't want to, but he sighed a little, happy to stay for a little longer if that was what Weston wanted. "I was going to leave soon, but I guess I could stay a little longer if you want to play." Louis began collecting the marbles again. "Take a seat." he said, gesturing to the chair in front. "You know how to play, right?" Louis wanted to make sure, hoping he didn't have to spend his time explaining the rules. He gave Weston some marbles. "You can go first."

Sorry this took me a bit!

 

[Weston Stirling]

Any other person would have likely read between the lines and understood that Louis' offer to stay longer was mostly a result of politeness. But Weston had never been good at understanding those subtleties, and he took Louis' offer at face value. "Awesome." Beaming, he slid into the seat in front of Louis. "Yup," he said, nodding when Louis asked if he already knew how to play. Weston used to have a set at home, until his mum had taken it away due to the smell. He accepted the marbles with a grateful smile and isolated one of them. Weston carefully lined up his shot and flicked it towards the space between them. As he waited for Louis to take his turn, he decided to ask the question that had been on his mind. "How come you're always disappearing from things? Like events and class and stuff?"

((you're all good!))