look like the innocent flower

OPEN: anyone LOCATION: near the courtyard

He hadn't even bothered to check the time when he'd slipped past the curtains around his bed. He knew it was late, had felt the hours pass painfully slow as his head had pressed back against the pillow and his eyes had been squeezed shut, hoping silently for sleep. Instead, just like it had for all these months, Gregory's mind drifted to the past, unable to sit still whether the memories flashed to bits of fire, a headstone set off in the distance, or just an old simple memory of three boyish figures walking down a corridor. After that he just couldn't lay still any longer and so he left the Slytherin dorms in his wake.

There had been no direction, no plan, just his feet carrying him forward as his eyes took in all the old sights. The portraits still looked the same, the one near the commonroom still snoring in a way that reminded Greg of his grandfather. He wasn't sure what was stranger: to walk the halls now and find it all so similar or to pass a section and remember when the stones had been blown out in battle. What weighed heavier? Years or one fateful day? Gregory shoot his head as these were the thoughts that he had been trying to escape from.

He'd only just reached the courtyard— a deeper part of him perhaps needing something beyond four walls— when he had heard a noise behind him. "Shite," he muttered before ducking behind a pillar. Not the best choice in hiding spots but the best a tired brain could come up with in the moment.

It was eerily quiet, and after a whole day of friends catching up with one another Astoria felt almost on edge with the silence. She preferred things to be loud, busy and full of harmless chitchat. Now, alone in the silence her thoughts felt deafening. After hours of restlessness the blonde finally decided to take a walk around the castle to clear her head. 

The castle was as silent as the dorms had been, the only movement being the ghosts that roamed the corridors. Tiptoeing softly the blonde made her way to the courtyard, in need of fresh air when she heard someone speak, her eyebrows raising. “Sounds like I’m not the only one who can’t sleep.” she called, arms wrapping around herself as the cold of the evening brought a chill to her skin. 

An excited smile graced the blondes lips as she settled on the grass, the unofficial ‘welcome back’ party a smashing success. It was incredible what word of mouth could do when you mentioned ‘party’, ‘drinking’ and ‘music’. There were students from every house there, and the Slytherin was pleased to see more than a few mingling outside of their houses.

It was more than likely that the professors were well aware of what was happening just outside of the castle, but after everything everyone had been through it was hopefully something that they wouldn’t get asked to stop just yet. 

─── providing warm drinks within a cold dungeon, oversized sweaters to conceal a tiny frame and lips chapped and red from gnawing at the surface whenever they’re lost in thought.