Open Whispers from the past

[Felix Layton]

Felix had had enough rejection and negativity for one week. He didn't usually feel as though this sort of thing got to him, but after the failure of the Quidditch practise he was starting to see things as glasses half empty. It would pass, he was sure of it, but right now he didn't want to be reminded that deep down sometimes he doubted whether he was good enough at all. He'd tried to put it to the back of his mind how last year Morrie had told him he was wasting his time with his campaign efforts, and even though he was leading the Brew Crew with his sister, he still wasn't sure whether he was even good enough at the subject not to run it into the ground. Now with the pressure of failing at Quidditch too, he had to ask himself whether he'd bitten off more than he could chew.

He'd left the abandoned classroom, ignoring the shouts behind him and made his way further up the castle toward his own common room. Sometimes he wondered whether he would have made a good Hufflepuff, that things might have been quite different if he and Jonah had been given the opposite houses. But no, he was apparently supposed to be a Gryffindor which meant he was supposed to have courage, although there were times he wasn't convinced he did. He strode through the third floor corridor, lost in his own thoughts.

 

[Juniper Veritas]

Juniper was walking through the corridor having taken a peek in the Hospital Wing. She was pretty sure she wanted to be a Healer one day and thought it'd be best to take a look at the wing that had those working there. Much safer than going to St. Mungo's at least. She wasn't really paying attention as she walked, she was looking out the windows. It'd been a nice and quiet day, especially after the rush of first few weeks it'd been something the Hufflepuff felt like she'd needed. Her walk came into a sudden stop as she felt herself colliding with something. Turning to look with a frown if she'd accidentally walked into a door. To her horrification it wasn't a door, it wasn't even a wall. It was a person. Felix she thought his name was. "Oh, I- I'm sorry. I wasn't looking in front of me. Um I'm sorry." Juniper apologised profusely, feeling her cheeks warm up as she looked anywhere but at the Gryffindor. "I'm not in your way am I? Wait I definitely am, sorry." Juniper rushed to the side, being an inconvenience to an older student was embarrassing at best.

(GM to walk into him approved)

 

[Felix Layton]

For some especially wide castle corridors, it was very easy to bump into other students especially if you weren't really paying attention to where you were walking. Felix glanced down as someone knocked his arm, only to see the girl from the greenhouses. "Don't worry about it," he told her. Unless someone was tried to lift something from his person (and in this case Felix had nothing worth thieving) he didn't think anyone would walk into another on purpose. The way Juniper almost leapt out his way made Felix wonder whether he came across as intimidating. Like one of those older students that he would have been nervous to get on the wrong side of when he was younger. Is that how people saw him now too? He was supposed to be someone that the students would feel comfortable talking to, and now he couldn't even be that. Maybe Morrie had been right after all. "Are you alright, Juniper?" he asked the Hufflepuff, trying to claw back some of his ideal reputation.

 

[Juniper Veritas]

Juniper looked at Felix confused, he wasn't annoyed she'd bumped into him? That was nice. Giving the Gryffindor a small smile when he said not to worry about it Juni quickly averted her gaze again. Not because he was intimidating exactly, but because she felt too awkward. Her brows shot up as he asked if she was okay. "I'm okay!" She said quickly. "Are you okay? I bumped into you after all, not that it was especially hard I don't think but you know it was a bump never the less, so are you okay?" Tilting her head a little bit she tried to look if the boy was showing to be in any pain, not that her weak collision into his arm would cause much of a bruise but you know. He looked fine, she thought.

 

[Felix Layton]

"Yes, I'm fine," Felix said, perhaps a little too harshly. He knew Juniper was only trying to make sure she hadn't done something wrong, but every time Felix had to tell someone the same lie he felt his frustrations growing even more. He moved out of the crowd, leaning one shoulder against the hard wall so he could talk to her properly, not wanting the younger girl to be left with a bad impression. "Where are you going?" he asked, desperately trying to change the subject before she could ask anymore about the damage she hadn't done.

 

[Juniper Veritas]

Juniper frowned slightly, he said he was fine but something about the way he was talking didn't seem fine. Last she'd properly spoken to him he'd been kind and welcoming, now he seemed a little... she didn't know. Merlin knew she was very bad at reading people, but suddenly she wished she was better so she could at least tell what was going on. As he leaned against the wall she was closest to and asked where she was going Juniper looked around her. "Um... I don't exactly know. I wasn't going anywhere specific if I'm being completely honest." She admitted sheepishly. "How about you? I can go with you if you want a friend? Or I don't know if that's the right word for it, hold on." Juniper pulled out the paper from her pocket that Freddie had given her last Valentines day and looked at the diagram frowning a little. "I mean this part is at least filled so..." She trailed off pointing to the part that said you like them , she did like Felix he was nice. "But I don't think you are annoying..." She frowned further trying to make out if she could offer herself to him as a friend. Tilting her head she tried to make more sense and then she looked at Felix, even more confused. "Hmph this is confusing I give up." She huffed defeated. Why did it take so much mental power to figure out if you could call yourself a friend to someone.

 

[Felix Layton]

Felix wasn't really sure he did want the company, but he wasn't going to be rude. He wasn't Ares. He was thankfully spared an answer by Juniper pulling out a sheet of paper, staring it with such intent. "Filled in?" Felix asked, peering at the diagram over the top. "Wait, can I?" Felix asked, taking the paper so he could look at it properly. Juniper had a diagram for.. making friends? It both shocked and amused him, he would have chuckled if he didn't think there was probably a reason she had this in the first place. Juniper liked him, although they didn't hang out, not really. Did that mean Juniper was annoying to him? He'd been about to reject her offer of companionship, so maybe. "Well, that one's true," he said, pointing to they like you. Surely that meant the only thing stopping them from being friends, was actually hanging out. "You use this for everyone?" The fourth year asked, handing her sheet back.

 

[Juniper Veritas]

Juniper didn't object when Felix asked if he could take a look at the sheet. Instead she just handed it over to him and hoped he wouldn't think her silly for using it. It was useful most of the time, it helped to try and make sense. When he pointed to the they like you and said it was true a big smile beamed on Juniper's face. The admission that he liked her felt like a weight off her shoulders, she was always nervous people wouldn't like her. "Um yeah welll no, Freddie made it for me last year. I never had friends before coming to Hogwarts so I was confused how I could tell if someone was my friend. I still don't know most of the time so I carry this with me to try figure it out?" She admitted sheepishly. "Its worked so far with a few people at least, though sometimes its hard to tell and I have to ask." Juni added. "Though I don't think the people are annoying usually so I tend to skate over the fact." Specifying that one felt important, she didn't want anyone to think she thought they were annoying.

 

[Felix Layton]

"Susie's brother?" Felix glanced at Juniper, not having realised they were friends. Felix only really knew Freddie as one of the members of the Brew Crew, and only knew he was related to Susie after she'd pushed him into it during signups. He hadn't really taken the Ravenclaw to be particularly, sociable, so he was surprised to hear he was the one who'd designed a chart as accurate as it was. He didn't want to start mentally filling it in with his own friends, in case he came to a realisation he'd rather not know. "Okay well, yeah fine you can join me. You're not annoying," he told her, giving in to the fact he'd have to let her tag along if he was going to consider her a friend. It wasn't even that he disliked having her around, so much as he was struggling to have anyone around. Then again, maybe the Hufflepuff would be a good distraction, especially if she wasn't aware of half the things going on in his life. "I was only going to the common room though. Bit of a long walk for you if you can't go in. Trust me, I've tried," he mumbled the latter under his breath, remembering the time he'd tried to sneak Jonah in.

 

[Juniper Veritas]

Juniper nodded hesitantly. She was vaguely aware that Freddie was Susie's brother, or she'd assumed as much from the same last name. Not that she knew the older Hufflepuff too well if she was being quite honest. "Yes, I think." She said, how wrong could se really be about it after all? As long as she wasn't spreading misinformation to the whole school she'd be fine... Right? "Okay!" Juniper perked up as Felix said she could tag along and smiled that when he also said she wasn't annoying. That was good. "That's good," Juni said nodding to herself and folding the paper back into her pocket. "That's alright, I don't mind." The Hufflepuff smiled gently, if they were friends it wasn't a bother to walk with him even if she wasn't going in. Then the latter mumbles registered to her and she turned her head, almost comically slow, to look at the Gryffindor. "Wait, you have tried to sneak into another common room?" She asked her eyes widening a bit with both curiosity and surprise. "I always wondered what other common rooms were like," she admitted. Perhaps Felix had had the right idea in that activity, not that Juni would ever dare to try her luck at such.

 

[Felix Layton]

Juniper seemed to perk up at the idea she wasn't being a bother and Felix made a mental note to make sure he never made her feel like she was. No sooner had they started to make their way down the corridor, she was asking more questions which only made Felix feel as though she was comfortable talking to him. "Yeah, during my first week here," he glanced to the Hufflepuff with a sly smile, knowing how back then he'd been shocked to make Gryffindor but it was clearer now it was his home.

"There was this kid, running away from Professor Carter. You know, that Herbology professor," he resisted making a joke, remembering how the greenhouse was a comfort place for the girl. "I didn't know who he was then, but me and William had just come out of our common room and well, figured we could hide him in there from the professor." Felix had never found out why he was chasing him, but he'd disliked the man ever since for making the Hufflepuff uncomfortable. "If it wasn't for Professor Cade, we probably would have hidden him in our room." Felix cast another glance at Juniper, "I don't want people in this school to fear others, or feel like they can't be themselves.

 

[Juniper Veritas]

Juniper looked at Felix even more curiously as he confirmed he'd tried that in his first year. She then listened to him as they made their way through the hallway, raising her eyebrows. "Professor Carter? Yeah i know him, he is my Head of House too." She said with a nod, she'd always liked the Professor. He seemed cheery enough, he was one of her favourite Professors but that was also because he taught her favourite subject. "Oh that's very nice of you, to help him even though you didn't know him i mean." She said with a small smile. It reminded her of how Freddie had helped her with Logan in her first weeks and then at Herbology.

"It's good to have people like that, it can be scary here." The Hufflepuff said looking away and her voice quieter at the second part. "Its a big castle and all so new, its good to have people that look out for others." She said a little louder this time, explaining her train of thought. Though she wasn't as lost as she'd been in her first year it still felt overwhelming to her most of the time. She didn't want to admit that she feared most people in the school, after all it wasn't because of them. It was because she was scared of her own shadow on a good day. "I think other students would appreciate knowing there's someone like that." Juniper concluded, giving a few quick glances at Felix, trying to be nonchalant and not let it show it might be something she'd appreciate to know because that'd be admitting she was scared and that didn't seem very grown up of her which she was supposed to be probably now that she wasn't a first year anymore.

 

[Felix Layton]

Felix shrugged, "I felt invisible before I came here, and for most of my first year. I know what it's like to be looking in from the outside." The fourth year hadn't really ever expressed such out loud before, and certainly not about his life before Hogwarts. He cleared his throat, changing the topic before he dug himself a whole he couldn't get out of. "Well that's why I'm a student campaigner. So other students know there's someone listening, you know?" Just because Morrie had called it a waste of time, didn't mean it was.

The blonde made a purposeful effort not to catch Junipers glances. He wanted others to feel like they could talk to him, but it was hard to feel like he could talk to others, too. Not wanting to deem himself a hypocrite, he pushed the thoughts away. It wasn't him that needed to be open. He was just a messenger, not a councilor. "If you wanna know what the other common rooms are like, you should ask. Not me, I don't count." Not for this, anyway. "Make friends with one person in every other house, ask them about their common room and what it's like. Maybe some will even take a photo for you. You're probably not the only one who's curious."