Open The Owl Hates Me

[Leonardo Orr]

Leonardo had known this would be a risk of taking the family owl, but his grandfather had insisted on it. The owl was old and stuck in its ways and certainly had some disdain for Leo, though really it had a small amount of disdain for everyone. It just made things difficult. Leonardo had sent a letter that morning and the owl had scratched his arm pretty badly. It seemingly did not like its new surroundings at all, and it had been a struggle. But Leonardo wasn't going to go to the hospital wing to fix it, he'd be wasting their time when he could deal with it himself. He'd stopped by the dorm, grabbing the little magical first aid kit his grandfather had packed for him and taken it to the lavatory. One of them. He could've used the dorm room bathrooms but this place seemed quieter. He opened the kit and after he run his arm under water, cleaning it up, he began using a cloth with an essence of dittany disinfectant and healer. The cuts varied, some were just red and angry, others were bleeding slightly. None were bad but Leo hoped the owl would grow out of this so he wasn't constantly having to clean up cuts after sending a letter. ​

 

[Finn Millar]

Finn had spent the morning exploring the castle, and was planning on having a look around the grounds this afternoon. He had gotten up before the other first year Gryffindor boys, preferring to spend his first morning in the castle on his own. He was heading back up to the Gryffindor common room but was distracted by a door left ajar on the 5th floor corridor. It looked dark inside the room and there were sounds of splashing water coming from it. Unable to help himself, Finn walked over and peered through the door. He had hoped to stay unnoticed but the old door creaked loudly as he leant against it. He was sure the blonde boy at the sink had heard him, and it would be weird if he just left without saying anything, so he took a couple of steps inside. It looked like a bathroom, but Finn doubted it had been in use for a while. It smelled a bit musty. "Hey" he said, taking a couple of steps over to the other boy but not coming too close "You okay?" he asked, eyes moving to the cuts the covered the boys arm.

 

[Leonardo Orr]

Leonardo looked up from what he was doing, spotting the other boy and nodding to answer his question. "Yes, it's just my owl..he doesn't really like me," Leonardo explained in a plain tone, he was stating fact, and it was almost clear he was rather unbothered by the fact the owl hated him, nor was there any warmth in his tone to say that he liked the owl either. He wasn't quite sure what this boy was doing, but Leonardo just focused on continuing to clean up his arm. "I have essence of dittany so they'll clear up soon," he didn't want this boy to think he needed an adult or the nurse. He was capable of cleaning them up himself, no need to involve anyone else. ​

 

[Finn Millar]

Finn listened as the other boy explained his injuries. He seemed straight to the point and didn't say too much, which Finn immediately liked. A lot of the fellow students he had met so far talked a lot, and were very excited about everything, it seemed. This boy matched Finn's mood much better. So Finn decided to stay in the weird old bathroom, though it was obvious the boy didn't need help "Yeah, looks like you've got it under control" he replied, looking away from the boy's arm. Finn wasn't sure what dittany was, but it sounded sort of familiar, his mum probably had some high up in the cupboard where his dad wouldn't see it. Finn made a small gesture around the room "What is this place? It looks kinda.. old" he finished, as he was genuinely curious as to why the castle kept the bathroom in such a way.

 

[Leonardo Orr]

Leonardo nodded in agrement, he did have this under control. He didn't need any help, and didn't want this boy to go get any help either. He could take care of himself. "It's a bathroom." he answered with a little shrug, "But it's an outdated and old fashioned one," he thought there was a word for it but he couldn't think of it. His tone was serious and maybe a little bored and he hadn't even looked up from what he was doing. "I'm Leonardo," he then introduced, seemingly remembering that he should be a bit nice and get to know the students in his year, especially because he knew this boy wasn't in his house. ​

 

[Finn Millar]

Finn nodded in return, his suspicions that this was an old bathroom confirmed. This castle did have a lot of strange nooks like this, he shouldn't have been surprised. Finn leaned against the wall a few feet away from the sinks- he couldn't quite tell if the other boy wanted company, and would leave straight away if that wasn't the case, but then the other boy introduced himself. "I'm Finn" he replied simply, then out of curiosity asked "Which house are you in?". It didn't feel like a natural question to ask, because he still didn't fully understand the house system or why they had been chosen for the different houses, but he had to get used to it.

 

[Leonardo Orr]

The essence of dittany in the anti-secptic liquid that he had had mostly done it's job, his arm was looking cleaner and less scratched there were still a few, the worst ones left, but all of those had stopped bleeding. He nodded at the boy's introduction, "Hufflepuff," Leonardo replied, he put the cloth aside as he grabbed a plaster from his first aid kit, twisting his arm to be able to get the right angle to apply it. "You?" he could at least guess that the boy wasn't Hufflepuff or he would've definitely run into him already. Leonardo knew he wasn't the most socialable but it would be hard to not see and learn who was in his dorm. ​

 

[Finn Millar]

Finn glanced down at the boy's arm once he was finished applying the ointment to it- it definitely looked better than it had when he had first walked in "Um, Gryffindor" he replied, not quite knowing how to reply to Leonardo's comment about being in Hufflepuff. He didn't know much about the houses so didn't know whether being in Hufflepuff was a good thing or not. Finn knew his mother had been in Ravenclaw, and that Gryffindor and Slytherin had a bit of a rivalry going, but that was about it. It wasn't often that Finn felt like he had to make conversation, but the other boy seemed to be even quieter than he was so he decided to just ask the question on his mind "So.. are any of the houses good or bad? I don't really know much about them" he admitted.

 

[Leonardo Orr]

Leonardo nodded as the boy said his house and just as Leo was applying the final plaster, Finn asked about the house. Leonardo looked around himself for a second, as trying to see if that question had been for anyone else, but it hadn't. It had been for him. He looked back at Finn and shook his head. "Wouldn't that depend on you define good or bad?" he said. He didn't think any of the houses were bad, people could be bad, a house couldn't be. "How would you define bad?" he decided to ask Finn directly, half curious as to what his reply would be. ​