#ilstarter

There were few moments Gavin ever had to himself, running on the grounds or on the quidditch pitch was one of them. Every now and then he’d venture out into the forbidden forest, but that often required not getting caught or being able to talk his way out of getting in trouble. Some of these attempts were more successful than others. 

The day after the dinner party, Mia sat outside the castle by the Black Lake, staring off into the dark water. On her lap was a notebook, with multiple colored gel pens in the grass by her side. She’d brought it out to work on a new song idea, but she ended up just doodling across the page, unable to concentrate. Gavin had told her that James would want her to keep singing and working on her music, but the knowledge that he’d never hear her again, never read her lyrics and tell her his thoughts on them ever again, kept that block firmly planted in her head.

Clare stuck her head out of the Herbology classroom, glancing up and down the hall to make sure the coast was clear. She slipped out, then, carefully shutting the door behind her, as she placed a small brown bag into a pocket in her robes. When she turned around, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she came face to face with someone.

There had been no quidditch team practice for the day, however that hadn’t stopped Declan from trying out a few things on his own. He’d been on the Hufflepuff team since the year before, and once again was in the role of keeper. Part of it meant being fast enough to cover three goals that the opposing chasers could choose to score on. 

Jane sat in her office, going over the papers in front of her despairingly. It was truly incredible how stupid some of her students were. Numbers just made sense to her, and she didn’t understand how they couldn’t grasp the concept of her lessons. It wasn’t as though she purposefully made them difficult.

Nerissa sat with her back pressed against the wide trunk of a large tree, her legs crossed and her gaze turned to branches above her. A hardcover novel sat forgotten on the limb in front of her. She’d meant to read it, but she’d gotten distracted when she realized that if she stayed very still, so as to not disturb them, she could hear the soft singing of the Globulous Laticlave hidden in the leaves. She brought her travel mug to her lips, taking a long drink of her lukewarm tea. It was almost sickeningly sweet, mixed with so much honey that it almost hurt her teeth, but it was the only way to really cover the sharp bitterness of the potion mixed into it. 

Mia sat outside in the courtyard, looking over the class schedule in her hand. At least, that’s the reason why she drew it out of her books in the first place, but her mind started to wander and now she found herself staring through the paper rather than at it, lost in thought. She didn’t realize someone had spoken to her until she blinked and saw the robes of the person over the edge of the paper.

It had been another sleepless night for Gavin. This time he hadn’t woken up screaming, but still the nightmares and memories had come. Everyone was supposed to be in bed or at the least their house common rooms, but they were both too full for his liking. The Slytherin had come up from the dungeon to the basement and into the kitchens. It was both too late and too early for the house elves to be up, leaving it empty. He grabbed a mug and some butterbeer, starting to warm the liquid up til it was a nice warm and soothing temperature. Holding it with both hands he found a spot to sit, “Couldn’t sleep either?” he asked hearing as some one else started to enter the room.