Closed Walking on Ice, But Nobody Breaks It

[Celia Vu]

While watching the Ravenclaw Quidditch tryouts, Celia had been a little startled to see a face she'd long forgotten about. Crystal Holmgaard. Celia had never paid much attention to the girl, finding her utterly unremarkable. In fact, Crystal was so unremarkable that Celia hadn't even realized she'd left and come back until she saw the Ravenclaw flying around the pitch. When had that happened? She tried to think back to the last time she'd seen Crystal before this year, but her mind came up blank.

It was a mystery, and not one that Celia was particularly interested in solving. But on one lazy afternoon in the Student Lounge, Celia realized that Crystal was sitting nearby, giving her the opportunity to question the girl a bit. It wasn't like she had anything better to do (unless you counted the absurd History of Magic assignment Professor Borisyuk had given them, which she did not). Celia set down her quill and waved at the girl to catch her attention. "Crystal, right? Didn't you leave school?" she asked, deciding to cut straight to the chase.

 

[Crystal Holmgaard]

An place she now often came was the student lounge. It was the best place to be since whenever she was she usually runned into someone familliar. She had been finding an place at the table and next to the magical creatures book she had her fashion magazine in case that was needed. But Ive had told her, her father was now professor here and he needed an assistent or could use one. Crystal was thinking of doing it, since she knew what she wanted to do in the future. But she had to think about what would help her around her. She wanted to be cool ofcourse. Lost in her thoughts she suddenly heard an voice and looked up noticing an familliar face but some she didn't spoke to much before leaving here. But she knew she was the quidditch captain and an prefect. Crystal had an feeling she had to really be carefull with what she said to this girl, and since she seemed cool Crystal had to. So gave the girl an small smile. '' That's correct.'' The white blonde said neutral. She sometimes wondered if people even knew she was gone, but people seemed to notice. But she figured her hair was usually the thing people remembered and not who she was. '' Your Celia right?'' The blonde than replied. '' It's been a while, so some people I remember some less.'' Crystal said to the girl with an smile.​

 

[Celia Vu]

Celia nodded. "That's right." She considered Crystal's comment, hoping that it meant she was one of the people who the Ravenclaw barely remembered. Her first year had been marred by a number of embarrassing and regrettable moments, and there had a been a point when Celia had worried that she would forever be known as the girl who had tried running away. She had worked hard to build herself a new reputation since then, but she wasn't sure if Crystal had been around for her image rehabilitation. "Understandable. There's not a lot about this school worth remembering." Celia included her first year self in that statement. Her sixth year self was a different story. "Why'd you come back?" she asked. By leaving Hogwarts, Crystal had accomplished what Celia had never been able to do. So it was a mystery to Celia why the girl would ever come back.

 

[Crystal Holmgaard]

Crystal watched Celia and tried to understand every look she would give. And than would change her own attitude to it. But it seemed like she was glad that she remembered her so to please her was something good perhaps. The girl didn't seemed to be excited about Hogwarts and she somewhere deep in her mind remembered something about the girl not liking this place. If she would disagree the girl would be at her perhaps so Crystal just went along with it, although it didn't made sense why she was back than. So she just nodded. But than the girl asked the question and Crystal kind of felt nervous in a way but hide it from the girl. '' Well my parents changed their mind. Wanted me back here where I started. Where all my family has graduated.'' Crystal than explained. Which was one big lie, she was the one wanting to get back here.'' Is it so bad here now?'' The girl asked than figuring to let the girl explain, and pretend to go along in it. ​

 

[Celia Vu]

Celia gave Crystal an appraising look as she tried to recall whether there had been any notable Holmgaards during her time at Hogwarts. None came to mind. However, her supervisor at EVELYN had had the same last name. But there was no way Crystal could be related to her... right? "Why did you leave then?" Celia asked, wondering if Crystal's parents had also made that decision. She snorted a little at the Ravenclaw's question. "It's as bad as ever," she said dismissively. The problem with Hogwarts was that it never changed. There was no desire among the staff or the students to improve their circumstances. It was 2058 and they were in New Zealand, yet they lived in a castle modeled after a school that had been started in 10th century Scotland. Celia could understand the importance of tradition, but not at the expense of progress. "Actually, it got worse for a bit," she said after a moment of reflection. "When did you leave again? A couple years ago, some students set a basilisk loose in the forest and nearly got someone killed. Pretty sure Alicastell lost her job over it." It was honestly shocking that Hogwarts was still allowed to remain open after such a grave oversight. Even more appalling was the fact that literally nothing had changed; there was nothing stopping a similar incident from happening again.

 

[Crystal Holmgaard]

As Celia was directly asking an question Crystal knew she had to really put up her act like she had prepared over the break before coming here. But she could just repeat the answer she had been giving to people who asked. '' Ow well. Also my parents who wanted me to have more experiance than one school. Hogwarts Scotland has a lot of history and well, it was closer to home.'' When Crystal said she figured someone like Celia must have find this stupid, following her parents around anything. But what could she do? But actually it wasn't her parents choice it was her own, and it was the most stupid choice she ever made. But thankfully she quickly went on with how bad this place was, according to Celia. Crystal just nodded, and would not go against it. It was not as bad as in Scotland, but it was for sure an scary place to be still. Crystal could avoid the questions and ask about what it was that was getting worse here. But that would look suspicious. But actually Crystal looked suprised as she mentioned a basilisk. What? That was a lot to miss. Although she read a lot about creatures and also an basilisk, but she never believed it was real. '' Well.. I certainly have missed that. I spend my fourth and fifth year in Scotland.'' Crystal than explained. She did remember the previous headmistress, which was not longer here since she noticed an man at the opening of the year. '' Where did that Basilisk come from?'' Crystal asked, she couldn't hide her curiousity. ​

 

[Celia Vu]

Celia couldn't say she understood Crystal's parents' reasoning for making Crystal switch schools twice. "So your parents wanted you to experience another school, but then they just sent you to the other Hogwarts? I know it's older, but don't they basically do everything the same as here?" Wouldn't it have made more sense to send Crystal to literally any other wizarding school? It reminded Celia a little of Americans who claimed they were going on an "international" trip, but it turned out they were just going to Canada, which hardly counted. Celia noted with some satisfaction that Crystal hadn't heard about the basilisk incident yet. It was always fun breaking a good piece of gossip to someone. "They bred it themselves. You remember Professor Summers, right? It was his kid and some other Hufflepuff who did it." Sometimes it was still hard to believe that a professor's kid had attempted a mass murder at the school.