#thornsstarter

“What, you don’t trust me?” she said as she climbed up onto the tree branch. After swinging her legs over it, knees bent to hold her there, she let go with her hands, now hanging from the branch and swinging back and forth. Looking towards her ‘nay-sayer’, face nearly to their eye level, Dorcas was proud to say, “told you! I’m a brilliant tree-climber!”

“You would think that my mother might have planned a little better so my birthday didn’t fall right before exams start. I can’t even enjoy my presents.” Huffing, Cissa dropped onto a bench, waving the girls who were with her on ahead. “I’ll catch up, go on.” It wasn’t strictly true, because she had no intentions of catching up with any of them until much later. She had been saving a sugar quill for just this very occasion and now was as good a time as any to enjoy it.

“Look, I’m not going to keep arguing with you about this. I want to go eat, so I can then go finish studying for my first O.W.L. exam I have tomorrow, then get a decent night’s sleep. So, let’s wrap this up, shall we?” Regulus glared, the signature Black stare, as he waited for their answer, hoping it would let him leave and continue his night in a more peaceful manner.

“Best of luck with exams tomorrow!” Peter grinned and clapped his fellow student on the shoulder, grinning widely. It was a nice feeling, not having to be stressed about such huge tests. He hated it last year, and he could definitely wait for next year. For now, he was just going to enjoy his free time. “And it would probably be best to not ask me for last minute tutoring... unless you really had no one else. Just saying.”

With one of his many hand-me-down grimoires resting on the table before him, one he was entirely focused on for the time being, Lucius unknowingly sat at what seemed to have been the last tables that was practically empty, and would have been entirely unoccupied if it weren’t for him. That was good –– he liked being able to sit and read alone, without the bustle and chatting of the Great Hall, nor the distractions of the Slytherin common room at this time of day. His drowning out of the world around him, though, was broken as soon as he heard a chair scraping against the floor far too close by, when he looked up to see exactly who it was that interrupted his focus.

Gladys looked down sheepishly at her feet for a moment. Her makeup was dark and dramatic. In some ways, it aged her slightly, but she was still little Gladys. No matter how hard she tried, she would somehow always be the girl who didn’t show magic until Hogwarts and who knew every answer to every question on every test to the point of ridiculousness. Dorky Gladys. 

Bellatrix stopped as a person interfered with her path. She tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. “Do I look like someone who wants to waste away in a corridor? This,” she pointed between them, “better be for a good reason.” She crossed her arms.

Bathsheda found the news of Professor Oddpick’s demise deeply unsettling. She had not had classes with the man for a long time now but he had always been a kind and reasonable professor. It was so close to home as well. Hogsmeade, just right outside their door. Beneath her mask of indifference, she could feel herself begin to panic. Things had been growing intense for a long time now. What was she to do in all this? These thoughts plagued her as she made her way back towards the dungeons.