Open To the Village

As Rose bounded off for a wee, Rouge turned her head to see Freddie, a boy she sort of recognised from Potions too, joining them at their table. She didn't honestly realise that Blanc was his friend. "Hi Freddie," she grinned at him. They hadn't been properly introduced, so much as he was the boy from the train before Rouge had gotten distracted looking for the snack cart. "Have you ever had crepes with salmon and cheese?" Rouge was excited to try all the combinations, and while this one hadn't exactly been her favourite, it was certainly among the oddest of choices. "Or with chive. If you like onions. You have to be careful not to breath over everyone afterward though," the first year giggled.
 
Fred. Freddie. It was the same thing, wasn't it? Blanc didn't look back at the Ravenclaw as he slid into a chair opposite his remaining sister, who immediately descended on his new friend. "Um, I don't know," he said honestly, glancing at the other tables around the room was inspiration. There was a nice looking baguette on the table close by, although Blanc couldn't distinguish what was in it. "Is there any pizza?" It was a safe choice. Rouge was still going on about the different ingredients to Freddie, and Blanc looked across to mama with eyes that said please help him.
 
The moment Rose was in the safety of the girls bathroom, she could let go of the mask she'd been wearing. Her eyes immediately filled with tears, and dropped down her hot red cheeks as she began angrily trying to swipe them away. All she ever wanted was for things to be nice and clean and polite and maybe if she was lucky, someone would be impressed with her for being so considerate and caring. She tried to be cool, or at least look cool, because then she was the complete package, wasn't she? She wanted so badly to fit in with the other children and yet realised she didn't really know how, because deep down she was a mess.
 
Lilith had come to Madam Puddifoots to get a drink and maybe a bite to eat in between browsing through the stores. There was a lot of commotion in one of the tables with what seemed like a mum reuniting with her kid(s?). Trying not to spy Lilith noticed a few first year Ravenclaws in the company, one of which was Susie's younger brother. Watching the other Ravenclaw walk away with tears she noticed the adult in the group look very helpless and knowing full well that her parents had struggled with just three kids with two of them at times, she couldn't even imagine how this lady was feeling. Giving her a warm smile Lilith walked towards the bathroom the girl had disappeared to.

She didn't know the girls name yet but she'd seen her around the common room so as she stepped into the bathroom the third year spoke softly. "Everything okay?" Standing by the door she kept her distance just in case the girl wanted to be left alone.
 
Freddie shook his head. "I'm okay, thank you," he said. He could eat his crepes pretty fast, but the only drink he liked here was the latte, and he'd have to wait for that to cool down. He glanced around, suppressing an urge to bounce his leg. This was so awkward. He'd only come over to say hi to Rose, and now he was sitting here without her, waiting for crepes he didn't really want, talking to people he didn't really know. And he still wasn't sure if he'd upset her.

"No," he said, wondering whether to tell Rouge he was vegetarian. It was probably awkward enough already. He leaned on the table, looking at the wood grain while he listened. "I like them with caramelised onion. And cheese." Breathing on your little brother afterwards was the best part, he added privately in his head. Syrah would probably think that was a bit gross. "There's pitta bread. I have to go in, um, ten minutes. Sorry."​
 
As Syrah glanced back down to the kids she noticed the remaining daughter fast at work chatting Freddie's ear off and then Blanc looked at her with pleading eyes. Clearing her throat Syrah gave a smile. "Like he said, there's pitta bread would that be fine for you?" She asked Blanc turning to Freddie again. "Oh it's okay sweetie, leave when you need to. I'm just happy I got to meet a friend of the kids, alright then I'll go get the food please entertain yourselves, though lay off of Freddie for a bit Rouge. It's probably a lot for him already with me around so give him some space to breathe." She gave a gentle ruffle to the girls hair before going to order the food.
 
Rouge didn't know what mama was referring to, she was delight. She just wanted to meet as many people as possible and it wasn't often, she got to have lunch in a cafe with one of her classmates, even if he was a bit of a quiet one. Rouge thought Freddie was rejecting her outright with the no, although she grinned when he offered an alternative he enjoyed. Her face however dropped when Freddie said he had to leave in ten minutes, "What! Why? Where are you going?" He was here for lunch wasn't he? Was he about to have second lunch?
 
Blanc wasn't convinced Freddie wanted to be here at all when he said he had to leave in ten minutes. Was he really going to let mama buy him lunch, just to run away immediately after? Blanc wouldn't have invited him if he thought he was going to be rude. He watched after mama left the table, although the Gryffindor wasn't sure if he was hungry anymore. He shifted in his seat a little, unsure what he could say to make the situation any better. "Is Ravenclaw nice?" He hadn't really had the chance to ask Rose about it yet, but maybe it would be the distraction that was needed.
 
Rose apparently couldn't even go to the bathroom in peace, as suddenly there was another following in after her. The Ravenclaw was immediately cornered. This was it. She'd heard stories about children being bullied in the bathrooms and now she was going to experience it for herself. Rose backed away from the older girl, trying to look away and not let her see the tears that were on her face. Taking some tissues, she wetted them under the tap before scrubbing at her shirt. The sooner she could get out of here the better, although the older girl was between her and the door. How was she meant to get out? "Fine, thank you."
 
Lilith saw the sort of panic in the younger girl so she moved away from the door so she'd have a clear path out there. "I'm sorry for intruding, you are in Ravenclaw yeah? I thought I noticed you from around the common room." Lilith said moving to wash her hands, hoping to talk about something else to get the girls mind off of the situation. She made sure to not look her way either to lessen the pressure. "Have you liked it so far?" There wasn't much she could do, but Lilith was trying to offer the girl some way out of whatever anxiety she was experiencing in the moment.
 
Freddie's polite smile didn't quite reach his eyes. He wasn't really friends with any of these kids. Were they thinking the same thing? Freddie was sure they were. He was playing it cool though, running his fingernail through a groove in the wood, pretending not to notice how awkward this all was. Just ten minutes - it would be over in, like... well, ten minutes.

"Uuuuhm." Crap. Just say something. Anything. Bathroom? No. Haircut? What? There wasn't even a barber here - oh no, he was taking too long. "My friend - is meeting me. My other friend," he added, for Syrah. Because they were all friends here. "Yeah, Ravenclaw's nice. Better than Slytherin. I wanted to be there - I dunno why. You like Gryffindor?" He looked at Syrah. "What house were you in?"​
 
Syrah didn't take long and once se returned it looked like it had turned into sort of an interrogation again. Sigh. She gave a smile to Freddie who asked for her house. "Oh I was a Ravenclaw too, but I attended Hogwarts Scotland." She explained warmly sitting down with them and handing the boys their food. Syrah glanced in the direction of the bathrooms, just in case a blonde head would peek out. She felt guilty really, for not having gone after Rosé.
 
His other friend, right. Rouge hadn't even seen him with one friend, let alone multiple. She was about to ask Freddie why he wanted to be in Slytherin, although he vaguely answered that too before she could get there. "I like Gryffindor. Rouge means red, so I think it suits me too," the first year explained. She thought for a moment, before leaning across the table, using one hand to cover up the space between her mouth and Freddie's ear as she moved to whisper to him, "I think Blanc is a Hufflepuff really," she told him.
 
Blanc wasn't sure how he felt about Freddie wanting to be in Slytherin. Perhaps he wanted to be rude. Then again, the only rude person he seemed to know was Ares and he had the delight of sharing a room with that boy. Blanc shrugged, "It's nice that I get to be with Rouge," he said honestly. He felt bad for Rose about it sometimes. "Is there anyone else in the castle you don't like?" he asked, wondering if asides from Ares, there were other students he should keep his distance from. Freddie seemed to know more about the students that he did after all.
 
Rose nodded her head, still working on the stain on her shirt. "It's fine." Rose realised she seemed to be in a cycle of saying that recently, even though it couldn't have been further from the truth. "I mean, the people seem nice," she was of course referring to Freddie, she hadn't really met anyone else, asides from this girl now who was still cornering her in the bathroom. Rose still couldn't look the girl in the eye, but was quietly hoping that she hadn't noticed she'd been crying.
 
Lilith smiled down at her hands that she was washing, trying to be as casual as she could. "Ravenclaw is nice, most of the people are too." She agreed, there'd been a few mishaps in her time but overall it was fine. "Your mum looked a little worried out there, not that I think you should go if you aren't ready. You should take all the time you need for yourself, but she was looking after you so when you feel ready you should go back. I'm sure she'd love to spend any bit of time with you." Lilith said giving a small smile to the girl. "I'm Lilith by the way and again I'm sorry for intruding on your time alone if you ever need someone around the school feel free to reach out to me. My first year was an anxious mess with feeling all sorts of over the place and having someone to count on really helped." The brunette finished before moving onto the door, "Come on let's go back its all fine nothing's wrong and you got this, okay?" She said opening the door slowly to let the girl out. If that had been her in her first year she'd hidden in the bathroom until the floors swallowed her, she would have needed a gentle push.
 
Rose wasn't sure if this girl knew mama or why she felt like she needed to look out for her, although if she were honest she was probably glad for it. She could understand she was just trying to help. She felt guilty that mama was trying to look out for her and Rose was here ruining it, that was just sort of what she did at the moment she supposed. Rose still didn't look up at Lilith properly, although she wondered if she was the sort of girl that liked her own privacy in the bathroom so maybe it was in her interests too to get her back outside. "Alright," she said slowly, straightening out her shirt once more and putting the tissue into a bin. Freddie would just have to excuse the wet mark. Sure, she could keep telling herself nothing was wrong.

The first year moved past Lilith, hoping to at least get a grip of her tears before she got to the table. When she finally did so, she slipped back into her previous seat and glared at the cheesecake as though it was its fault all this had happened. In truth, she was just nervous of meeting eye contact with the boy next to her.
 
"Oh wow." Freddie hadn't grown up with many Ravenclaws. Most of his aunts, uncles, and cousins had been in Hufflepuff. There were so many badgers in the Lagowski family, in fact, Uncle Nathaniel had named their barn the Warren. Weird how Freddie had ended up so different. He didn't try to be different. He tried to be good and nice and loyal. It just never really worked out.

"Uh-huh. It suits you," Freddie agreed. He leaned in to catch Rouge's whisper, then grinned, nodding. Yeah, Blanc was for sure a Hufflepuff. The hat made some pretty crazy decisions. Then again, he'd thought it was crazy putting him in Ravenclaw, and he liked it here way more than he'd expected. There must have been something Gryffindory about Blanc - deep, deep, deep, deeeep down. "I dunno," Freddie said, cutting up his crepes. There were lots of people he didn't like, but telling Blanc was probably a bad idea. Telling anyone was a bad idea. People always talked. "I just hate everyone. Not really, though - just kidding. I don't wanna piss anyone off. I mean, um - make anyone mad." He glanced at Syrah. It was an accident. She wouldn't tell him off, right?

Oh - Rose was back! Freddie tried to pretend he hadn't really noticed. He wasn't certain he'd made her uncomfortable, but he wasn't going to risk looking at her again. Just look at your crepes. "These are good. You like the pitta?"​
 
Syrah glanced between the kids, a small smile forming on her lips as Rouge whispered something to the newest addition to their little circus and the boy grinned. "I really enjoyed my time in Ravenclaw, I still to this day miss our common room." She said remembering back to the time she had spent at the common room, those times had been good and she'd never change a single experience. Her brown eyes fixated on her other daughter as she slowly made her way out of the bathroom, the older girl that had slipped in after her following in suit and making her way to continue what she'd been up to. Syrah gave her a grateful smile for whatever she'd done to get Rosé back out to her. Fixing her eyes back on the kids she focused on the conversation, something in what Freddie was saying sending alarms ringing all over her head. Was he having trouble at school? "Freddie, is everything alright at school? Is someone bothering you?" The former Ravenclaw asked quietly aiming it at only Freddie, she gave him a reassuring smile wanting to try and make sure he knew he wasn't in any trouble.
 
Rouge wasn't sure it was possible for anyone to hate everyone, there must have been someone Freddie liked. She almost let out a little gasp at his curse word though, glancing across the table to mama who she could only assume was going to tell him off for it. However, she didn't. Did having Freddie around mean that they could get away with more things? She wouldn't know if she didn't try it for herself. "I don't think you p*ss anyone off," she grinned at the Ravenclaw. "You helped that girl on train, didn't you?" January had been crying by the looks of it, not that Rouge had been there too long to find out. As Rose came back looking a little sheepish, she wondered why her sister had kicked her under the table earlier, and whether she wanted her to continue the story. The only reason she didn't was because the topic had now seemed to change. "No one is bothering Freddie, mama, he's the one standing up for people." How could anyone bully the boy who was acting like a human shield?
 
Blanc narrowed his eyes at his sister, feeling as though she was telling Freddie something about him and he didn't like that. Especially when he smiled at her because of it. By the sounds of it, Freddie didn't know who he did and didn't like. Maybe he didn't really have any friends, and that was why Blanc had found him on his own earlier. "Who are you meeting later?" he asked, wondering if it would be someone they both knew. Blanc was growing increasingly suspicious of the Ravenclaw but he couldn't really work out why. He looked at mama when she asked if someone was bothering him, wondering whether or not to mention the Ares boy that he'd shoved. What would mama do if she found out? Blanc shoved another piece of his sandwich into his mouth as Freddie asked him a question, conveniently now too full to speak with his mouth full.
 
Last edited:
Rose was sat there look at the sad remains of her soggy cheesecake, wondering why Freddie didn't even bother to acknowledge her presence. Did he care that she was here? He kept talking with his family, and even though Rose was specifically looking at the others, she could feel the way Rouge was giggling with him about some inside joke. Rose's ears pricked up when mama asked Freddie is someone was bothering him, if not only because if there was she would certainly keep an eye out for it. She wouldn't want to do anything too obvious that he knew she was involved of course, but maybe if she was sneaky..

The Ravenclaw risked a glance in Freddie's direction, feeling sorry for him giving the hounding her family were currently giving him. What if he just wanted to leave, and the excuse he was meeting someone else was just because he didn't want to be here? He was too cool after all to be hanging out in a little cafe like this, but too nice to say so. "He's meeting Lilith. We both are," she chirped in, not meeting eye contact with Blanc. "She's helping us with our potions." She just hoped Lilith didn't overhear.
 
"The common room is so cool," Freddie agreed, reaching for some chocolate sauce. Susie had told him what the Hufflepuff one was like - it sounded really boring, just plants everywhere, all brown and natural.

He looked up at Syrah, startled. Someone bothering him? Why would she think that? Did he say something accidentally? He didn't remember saying anything. Nah - it was just a guess. She didn't know him. And he was fine. It was just Ares, and Ares was dumb, being bothered by Ares was dumb.

Rouge! Uurgh - she was making him sound so much nicer than he was. He wrinkled his nose, looking down at his crepes. All right, she'd made him sound pretty cool, too - and now everyone would be thinking about how tough he was, instead of how tough he wasn't. He tried to be cool about the compliment, brushing the hair out of his eyes, but something inside him was glowing. "Yeah," he mumbled. The glow was flattened a bit by the feeling Syrah was still watching him. She saw something, and he didn't like it. "Yeah, yeah."

The grilling continued - but this time, to his surprise, Rose rescued him. Wasn't she just running away from him, like, two minutes ago? Why did she want to hang out now? "Uh-huh," Freddie said, feeling a bit like he'd missed something important. "She's in the Brew Crew club," he added. "She helps us."​
 
Syrah watched Freddie and then glanced at her own kids who offered an answer to her question she'd tried to put out quietly. She raised her brows in question as her kids kept on grilling on the poor boy, "Alright lay off of him for a bit. This isn't the Auror's office no need to interrogate anyone." She said with a light hearted tone. Returning her eyes to Freddie she kept her tone even as she spoke the next words, "Well if there is anyone giving you trouble and or you need anything you let me know, alright?" Syrah saw something passing through the boys face everytime he looked at her, as though he was trying hard to hide something but she wasn't going to press on it just tried to make it known that he'd always be welcome to reach out to her. After all the door would always be open for any of her kids' friends. "The Brew Crew? That the Potions club you guys were talking about?" The woman asked curiously and suddenly something clicked. "Oh the older girl that was just here? Was that Lilith? You tell her I said thank you for helping you guys out, it's very kind of her." Syrah said with a smile, casting another, a more knowing, glance at Rosé. It was quick enough for the others to not notice but Rosé had always been observant and sharp with these things.
 
Rose didn't really know what an Auror was but it sounded intense. Freddie was probably hating every minute of this and wishing he was anywhere else. Rose couldn't help but notice Rouge giggling as she peered at the Ravenclaws crimson cheeks, trying her best not to be jealous that she was the one making him blush. It didnt matter. It didnt matter.

Surely there was no way mama put two and two together that quickly to work out that it was Lilith she'd just spoken to. No, she wasnt about to start overthinking things. She met the woman's eye briefly, before dropping her gaze again. "Yes mama." Rose hoped Freddie would hurry up and finish his crepes so she could get them out of here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top