Open With My Mid-Youth Crisis All Said and Done

[Anisha Khatri]

Anisha had finally found a quiet moment in between studying to add some things to her scrapbook. It was a hobby of hers she had neglected a little over the years, but with her time at Hogwarts coming to a close, she realized she really wanted to capture the memories here before it was too late. She had just finished a page of pictures of her and her roommates, and was now working on sticking the notes of the roses she had gotten this year on the next page. She had gotten way more roses than she would have imagined, all of the notes were kind and made her smile, especially the one that just said 'I guess you're okay', it was the funniest one by far, especially because Anisha had no idea who had sent it. She put all the notes on the page and added some decorations to it, including some of the dried petals of the roses she had gotten. Then sighed as she looked at the book and stroked her fingers over the page. She flipped through it, feeling a quiet melancholy fall over her. It felt... empty somehow. There were plenty of pages left, but she didn't think she was going to fill all of them. There were only a few months left at Hogwarts, and with the NEWTs on the horizon, she would probably mostly be doing homework and studying for the next few weeks. And then what, she was done? Forever?

The thought made her feel a little restless, and Anisha grabbed a spare piece of paper from the pile of crafting supplies around her. She grabbed a pen and at the top of the page wrote: To do before graduation in big bold letters. She underlined it for good measure. It was then that her pen started to falter. What did she want to do before graduation? Her dreams of winning the duelling tournament had been squashed by Terror, but it had been a fair fight so it wasn't like she could do anything about that. What else did she want? She had gotten the head girl badge, she had friends, she had decent grades. She had discovered enough secret passageways at Hogwarts to satisfy her. She hadn't gone into the forest as much as she had imagined when she was a first year, but it had kind of lost its appeal to her. Maybe it was her brain maturing, but she really didn't some trees and mud were worth endangering her life over anymore. Was that what growing up was about? She thought about how the year had gone so far. It had been fairly quiet, besides the disaster of a prefect's meeting at the start. That gave her an idea, and she wrote down one bullet point: - Organize something nice for the prefects, she had been a bit hurt and frustrated by how the first meeting had gone, but maybe she could do something fun for the prefects who did appreciate their jobs. She would have to talk to Zerrin about it though. She tapped her pen against her chin, was there anything else she could think of?

 

[Lilith Ilves]

Lilith needed to study, there was a lot to do and even some catching up so she had decided to go to the Student Lounge. Perhaps she'd get some studying done there or she could just reflect on what electives to pick if nothing else, though she was heavily leaning on just taking everything and seeing how it all went from there. As she stepped in her eyes scanned the space, there weren't many people around at the moment but she did see an older girl, the Head Girl in fact. The Ravenclaw contemplated for a second whether or not she should approach her, but was there any harm in doing so really? Perhaps she could ask her opinion on some of the subjects or just have a chat and see how the upper years were like. "Do you mind if I sit with you?" Lilith asked sheepishly as she got closer to the girl, not wanting to be a bother. She hovered around awkwardly holding onto the few books she had with her for dear life in case she'd be told off.

Out of Character:

You ask for someone and you shall receive Ngl I kinda have wanted to throw Lili at Anisha to see how it goes anyways so this shall be the perfect opportunity

 

[Anisha Khatri]

Anisha hadn't even noticed the young girl approaching until she spoke. She looked up from her list and gave the girl a quick smile, though she wasn't familiar to her. Anisha was pretty aware of most students in the two years below her, but most of the students below fifth year weren't familiar to her. She wondered if this girl was a first or second year, or was she older? It wasn't always easy to guess. "Of course not, feel free." She said with a smile, scooting her papers to the side a bit to make room. "Sorry for the mess. I was working on my scrapbook earlier and it always seems to come with an explosion of paper and stuff." She said, moving some of the leftover paper scraps onto a pile.

 

[Lilith Ilves]

Lilith took a seat, skimming her eyes over what the older girl had spread on the table. it looked like a lot of pictures, papers, roses and what not. All that was going into the little book in front of her, a scrapbook of sorts then? "Oh no don't worry about it! I'm the one who wanted to intrude your personal space after all," she joked smiling as her suspicion was confirmed of what she had been up to. "Is it scary?" Lilith blurted out before she could stop herself and quickly went to specify what she was talking about. "Being in your last year I mean, I'm only in my second but the thought of life after Hogwarts is kind of scary and you have been to the school much longer and only a few weeks away from graduation..." It felt like a lifetime away for her but she knew it'd sneak up on her in no time. This was not the conversation the second year had planned on but it kind of just came out of her mouth before she could stop it, she did wonder though. How it felt to be in the Head Girl's shoes, knowing that life as she knew it was about to end.

 

[Anisha Khatri]

Anisha smiled at the younger girl. "It's a public space, don't worry about it." She said, shuffling papers a bit more to the side. She capped her pen, then turned her head in surprise at the girl's question. "Scary?" She asked, but as the young girl clarified, she understood. She hesitated only for a moment before nodding. "Honestly, yeah." She said with a slight grimace. "I love it here, and I'm good at school. It's intimidating to think of what will come next." She said with a small shrug. "But all I can do is make the best of the last few weeks." She grabbed her list again and smoothed it down. "I've been trying to think of somethings I'd like to do before graduating, actually, but I haven't really been able to think of much." She said with a sigh.

 

[Lilith Ilves]

Lilith gave a nod and a smile as she settled to listen. She could understand what the older girl was saying because Lili too loved the place and felt like she was good at school. "I honestly get that, well obviously I haven't been here as long as you but it is a home." Lilith said shrugging also understanding the scariness of the unknown, but luckily she still had a few years before that. "That is true, just gotta make the most of the time you have left and make every moment count." She agreed easily, it was important to make everything count after all. Leaning her hands on the table the Ravenclaw leaned forward intrigued by the next set of words. "Ooh kind of like a bucket list? What have you got so far?" She asked her eyes widening slightly for the intrigue.

 

[Anisha Khatri]

Anisha wasn't sure what made her open up to this stranger, but it seemed like the girl understood, despite being a lot younger. She nodded in agreement. "I know it makes me sound like an old lady, but time really does fly. Make the most of it." She told her. "I guess that's my wise advice of the day." She laughed softly. "I'm sorry, I forgot to ask your name, I'm Anisha." She said, though she figured the girl might know it, she didn't want to assume. She nodded, then showed her the list. "Not much yet. The prefect meeting at the start of the year was - er, not entirely how I hoped it would go." She realized she probably shouldn't give too much away. "So I want to do something nice. But I haven't thought of anything else yet."

 

[Lilith Ilves]

Lilith laughed softly at the way the head girl said it made her sound like an old lady. "Nope I think it just sound smart and it is good advice. I am trying my best to make the most of it and stay present in the moment." She admitted feeling a bit more comfortable than before. As the girl introduced herself Lilith nodded, she had vague recollection of hearing her name before but hadn't wanted to assume that was her name and accidentally use the wrong one. "Anisha, I like that name. I'm Lilith," The Ravenclaw replied with a smile. Taking a peek at the list showed to her Lilith bit the inside of her cheek gently, the nosy part of her wanting to ask more details on how the prefect meeting had gone, but she held that part of herself at bay. "It's nice that you want to do something for the others as well but you should do something for yourself too perhaps. You know maybe one last very very veeerryyyy late night at the library or one last full trip around the grounds. Something you enjoy and just soak it all in while you still can." She responded, knowing it was easy to get sometimes lost on doing things for others and forgetting herself in her case. "Orr maybe you can do something you have NEVER done before, never perhaps dared. You know go out with a bang and all that?" Lilith suggested, perhaps she'd do so herself on her last few weeks. Do something she'd never done before, just to see how it felt.

 

[Anisha Khatri]

Anisha nodded at the young girl's words, she seemed pretty wise. Unsurprisingly a Ravenclaw. She introduced herself as Lilith and Anisha smiled. "That's also a nice name." She responded. The girl's suggestions were sweet, though she did find it funny that her idea of rebelling was staying late at the library. Though Anisha couldn't say she disagreed. "Those are pretty good ideas, but I've had my fair share of late night trips around the castle." She said with a smile. "I'm still a Gryffindor, it's part of the deal." She laughed a little. "I kind of want to do something daring, I just don't know what yet." She sighed and tossed her hair back. "Maybe it's a sign I've done what I needed to do here, as sad as it makes me." Besides winning the duelling contest again, but there was nothing she could do about that now.