Closed Troublesome Thoughts

[Alice Holland]

Alice's first weeks back at Hogwarts had been more eventful than they had ever been before. She had thought that after the thing with Phineas things would calm down a little, but the opposite had been true. The big fight in the corridor had been talked about by many of her classmates, and Alice was sad she had been involved in it. No, the cause of it. Eric had been angry at her, and his anger had made Emily react. Alice couldn't help feeling like the whole thing had been her fault. She wanted to talk to Emily about it very badly, but didn't know how. She was thinking it over now, sitting on a windowsill in the corridor, staring at the grounds outside. Her forehead was pressed against the glass as she let her thoughts run free. She wondered about her cousin. What made him so mad at their family? Had they really abandoned him? She didn't know, but she knew that anger had to come from somewhere. How she wished she could just talk to him, but that seemed like a bad idea. But what else could she do?

 

[Ilija Olaf]

Ilija has heard about what happened a few days ago when a fight broke out between a few of his classmates. Even though he hadn’t been involved himself it was hard not to hear what went on around the school, especially when students like Alice were part of it. He’d wanted to help at the time but hadn’t found the best way to approach her yet, not that he knew what to say anyway if he did. As he wandered by himself down the first floor corridor, he actually considered himself quite lucky that he hadn’t been sucked into any drama yet. He was keeping his head down as usual, which meant at least he couldn’t do anything bad too. He spotted the Hufflepuff sitting in the window sill, and as his stomach was silently churning he had half a mind to walk past the girl without even letting her know he was there. It wasn’t like his presence was going to be very helpful. He taken a few quiet steps past her, before pausing in the corridor and arguing with himself in his head about whether to not to just leave her to her own thoughts. “Um, hi Alice,” he said eventually, almost too quietly he thought for her to have heard. He slowly walked back so that he was a few feet away from the Hufflepuff, trying to stop the panic in his head. Why has he done that? He could have been halfway to the gardens by now.

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice hadn't noticed Ilija approaching, too focused on her own thoughts to really notice anything around her. She wasn't even really looking at what was happening outside. She blinked and looked up as she heard his voice. They had never talked a lot, but she had started to notice him more this year. He was a nice guy, and it had been fun to catch up with him and Teliko on the train. Alice tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled at him quickly. "Oh, HI Ilija." She said, trying her best to sound perky but not quite managing it. "How are you doing?"

 

[Ilija Olaf]

Alice didn’t really seem as chirpy as she usually did, and Ilija wondered for a horrible moment whether she’d actually wanted to be alone for a bit. “Oh, um yeah I’m okay thanks,” he smiled at her, trying to ignore the warmth that was already headed to his cheeks, “Are you?” He was hesitant to push her for answers if she didn’t want to talk, especially to someone like him. “I can go.. if you want me to,” he added, unsure whether it was the best thing to leave her to her own thoughts. He lingered around in the spot for a few seconds, feeling awkward and unsure as to if he should make himself comfortable or not, as though that would even be possible right now.

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice was happy to hear Ilija wasn't doing as badly as she was. At least he seemed to be having a normal time. She wondered if he had a girlfriend, she'd never heard much about him. "That's good." She said, trying to keep her smile in place. But then he asked if she was okay too, and Alice went silent. She didn't want to lie, but she also didn't want to burden Ilija with all her problems. She hesitated for a moment, and then Ilija asked her if he should go. Alice quickly shook her head. "No, you don't have to go... I'm okay, just feeling a bit down." She said after a moment. "You probably heard about that whole... fight. It's been on my mind." She said, wondering what Ilija had heard about it. She assumed it was going around the school, as it had been quite dramatic.

 

[Ilija Olaf]

Ilija was a little surprised when Alice said he could stay, although he swallowed nervously when that meant he may have had to actually give his opinion or advice about something. Perhaps if he just stayed quiet he would just be able to be a good listener. Yes, maybe that’s what she wanted too. Alice didn’t look as though she meant it when she said she was good, so moving around her he perched awkwardly against the window sill beside her, hoping it wouldn’t be a step too far. “I, heard there was a fight but, I don’t really know what happened.” He admitted. A few names had flown around in the rumours at school, but since Ilija wasn’t actually there it was hard to know for sure. He wanted to know more details but not if Alice didn’t want to tell him. “Were there a lot of people there?” He asked, trying to be subtly nosy and keep the topic generalised enough to not pressure her.

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice shifted to make a bit more room for Ilija, glad that he was taking the time to listen to her. He was nice and seemed smart. Maybe she could ask him for some advice on things. She felt like she couldn't really understand her cousin's motivations for being so angry and aggressive. She had never even met him before Hogwarts. Whatever he was angry about, she hadn't done it personally. "I have a cousin in second year, his name is Eric." She told him as she glanced at him. "He's from a side of the family I never knew about until recently, my dad's sister who hadn't talked to him in years. But instead of being happy to know us now, he's angry and upset with us all. I was talking to his brother and he pushed me for it. Then it escalated into a big fight when my friend protected me." She decided to keep Emily's name out of it. She didn't want to spread anything about her friend that might be harmful for her. How she had reacted had been too much, and Alice didn't want Emily to get a bad name because of it. "Yeah, a lot of people were drawn to the noise. Some were trying to be helpful, others weren't." She rolled her eyes. "Uno and Phineas were there, of course. Rude as usual." She added, a rare tone of annoyance to her voice.

 

[Ilija Olaf]

Ilija was paying close attention as his housemate told him about what had gone on. He was glad she’d considered him enough of a friend to know, and he hoped she wasn’t just telling him because a lot of people already knew. He nodded as Alice mentioned her friend had protected her, glad that at least she hadn’t been by herself when this has happened. It was strange to the fourth year that a member of someone’s own family would be so rude to them, and he was shocked to hear that he actually gotten so angry to result to pushing her. Of course he’d heard of Uno and Alice’s ex boyfriend Phineas, and he was once again glad that she’d left him in the past. He didn’t want to speak badly of anyone, but it was hard not to pass judgement over a pair like those two. “Could you ask Eric why he’s angry?” He didn’t want Alice to make the situation any worse but maybe it was better to resolve some kind of family tension. “Do you get on with your dad?” He asked nervously, hoping he wasn’t being too nosy but if there was an issue there, perhaps that was the cause instead.

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice hadn't really been able to talk to anyone about the situation yet. Ava had seemed busy with Vader and her own family problems, and Emily was tricky to talk to without addressing the other things they hat do talk about. She was glad she was able to talk to Ilija, even if she didn't know him all that well. She trusted him to listen to her seriously and trusted him not to spread things around. She guessed that to some people, any sort of unrest in the Minister's family would be interesting gossip. But she felt like Ilija wasn't like that. She sighed at his question and shrugged. "I ... I would like to, but my parents told me not to approach him and give him some space. I don't know if they're aware of how angry he is... or maybe they don't want to involve me in it." Alice blinked at his second question, then nodded. "Yes, I do." She said, wondering why he asked that. "He's been around for us more and more since my mother got so busy."

 

[Leda Layton]

Eughhhhhh

 

[Ilija Olaf]

Ilija had been wondering if the problem stemmed more from the relationship of their parents, which still could have been the case if Alices dad and aunt didn’t get along, but Ilija didn’t feel like it was appropriate to dig too deep into that. “Maybe they’re right. If he’s so angry maybe it is better not to associate with him at the moment,” perhaps it wasn’t necessarily what she wanted to hear right now but what if doing her saved her physical and emotional pain? “When I was in primary school, there was someone who had anger issues. They got into so many arguments and I think they would take it out the school furniture and walls and things. Anyway I think he is fine now. I don’t know if he grew out of it or he spoke to someone, but maybe Eric won’t have it forever either and then you can be friends again in the future.” He was pretty sure that was the most words he’d ever said to Alice, and despite how nervous he was feeling, it was worth it. He flashed her a small smile, before looking away again, his eyes down the corridor before his brain exploded from too much eye contact. “And in the meantime, if you ever need another friend, I’m here,” the last part of the sentence he said through a cracked voice, and even though his speech sounded to be somewhat wobbly, he had to let her know she could always hang out with him if she wanted to.

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice nodded at Ilija's words. He was making sense, even if it meant she couldn't really do anything for her cousin. "I just wish I could help him." She admitted. "I think if he knew what we were really like he wouldn't be so upset." She listened as Ilija spoke about his own experience in primary school. It was a bit scary to think of her cousin taking things out on school furniture, but it wasn't that difficult to imagine. She nodded when he said it might be something he can grow out of, and she felt her shoulders relax a little. "I hope so." She said quietly. She gave him a slight smile as he told her he would be there if she needed him. Alice slid off the windowsill and gave Ilija a quick hug. "Thanks! And thanks for listening to me." She said, letting him go. "You're a good listener." She added. She was glad Ilija was her friend now, she wondered why she hadn't noticed him much before this year.