September: 7ths Need To Study Too (Great Hall - 7th years)

[Arnie Peasegood]

Arnie was virtually left hanging as his joke fell flat. Sure, he'd gotten Charlotte and Pandora quietly chuckling, and reassurance from his fellow eagle, but even his own laughter felt hollow in the absence of Benji's. What was wrong with the two of them? As much as Arnie had thought on it the past few days, he had come up with no logical explanation for the other boy's sudden cold shoulder. Their years-long friendship wasn't flimsy enough to be lost without cause, right? Where had the misunderstanding occurred? For whatever it was had to be a misunderstanding. He hadn't done anything to make him mad, had he?

He'd been running in circles in his mind, chasing after the moments he'd had with Benj the past few months. Lots had gone wrong in his friend's life since June, but what had Arnie done? He'd supported him through his break-up with Willa, or so he thought, and had given him space to heal after the awful attack on the muggle village...

He'd figure it out. Hopefully soon. But for now he had Alex looking at him as if he'd grown a unibrow, Caro studiously as if she was trying to get into his mind, and Benji...avoiding him. Displaying his nervous ticks. Arnie absently heard Charlotte saying something, and hoped it wasn't anything he needed to respond to, as he was trying to catch Benji's eye as the other was determinedly looking anywhere but him. He was brought a bit out of his thoughts as Alex suddenly got up, waving excitedly to a friend, he assumed, and flitted over to another table, and figured he may as well look busy. He finished unpacking what he needed from his bag, unrolling his partly done potions essay in front of him, when he heard Benji and Caro making actual plans. Well, spontaneous plans. But...still.

Arnie looked up sharply as Benji spoke about nobody noticing or caring that they'd be gone, and saw the other boy's jaw tighten, as it did when he was unusually uncomfortable, holding something in. Want someone to notice, to care? Can you see me? But something held him back, made him duck his head to "focus" on his essay as if he couldn't hear them conspiring across the table. Sure, Caro deserved to have some fun, and Benji was a great person for it, but this was seriously low.

ooc: ladies I'm sorry this took so long and he's doing nothing, gah.

[Pandora Nott]

Pandora smiled at Carolyn, glad that someone was talking to her. The mood at the table was...awkward to say the least. Charlotte was busy studying, Alex had left the table, and Benji and Carolyn were making some sort of plan. Fidgeting, Pandora pulled out some parchment and a textbook, deciding she might as well make use of some her time. She felt bad though, as everyone had seemed so perky before she had arrived. Had she said something strange? That was usually the case.

"You should go with him Carolyn, we can always study later," Pandora said fiddling her quill between her fingers. Benji had been moping lately, so he could use some fun. And Pandora couldn't think of anyone she had more fun with than Carolyn, so the plan was perfect in her mind. Turning towards Arnie and Charlotte, she gave them both a smile.

"How have classes been so far for you both? And how are you're significant others doing? They both graduated last year right?"

[Charlotte Fudge]

Charlotte took the slight quiet after Alex had left to work more on her essay, fiddling with her phrasing, and in the background she heard Benji and Carolyn making their plans, Pan encouraging the other girl. The pair of Ravenclaw girls reminded her of herself and Alex sometimes, the way that they supported and prompted each other, and she was happy for them. Hogwarts was a wonderful place, but if you'd no one to share it with, it could be a lonely one. Pan directed her next words towards herself and Arnie, and Char put down her quill as she smiled over at her.

"Classes have been fine so far, Pan - I'm particularly interested in where we'll go with Arithmancy and History this year," she said, citing two of her favorites. "How have you been? Strange that we're the oldest here now, isn't it? And yes, you're right about them graduating," she replied, exchanging a quick look with Arnie as she debated her next words. She hadn't known Arnie particularly well until this summer - he was dating Dorcas, who was good friends with Remus, so they had shared company at a number of events over the summer. She should've asked him or Dorcas about her cover story, since as they'd become better connected and that was known it'd be a true assumption that Charlotte knew what the older girl was up to. It wasn't as if she could be honest about Dorcas or Remus' work - they were secret members of the Order, and there was  direct correlation between the people who knew about their involvement and their danger! Not that Pan would go around telling people that Dorcas and Remus and the rest were off fighting You-Know-Who - but you never knew who was listening...

She'd just pretend to be in the loop but not give anything away?

"As far as I know Dorcas is doing well, but Arnie can tell you all about her," she said with a warm smile. "Remus is well too, thanks for asking. He's been at a muggle office doing administrative work." The Gryffindor wasn't a grand liar, so was glad that her boyfriend's story was close to the truth. He was doing a 9-5 job, and mostly assisting in administrative work, but this was as a Sapper for the Order of the Phoenix, not a muggle office...

[Deleted]

He made some good points. The two Ravenclaws were not gaining any new knowledge from interacting with their fellow students. Some may find it an enjoyable way to pass the time, however, social communication often made Carolyn feel fairly anxious. Her palms would start sweating and she always ended up coming off as an idiot instead of proving her true intellect to everyone in the vicinity. As she thought, she kept an eye on Benji, taking in his pained expression after he had finished speaking with some confusion.

She had heard that he was dating a girl in the year above them, and that love could cause pain in some instances. Was this one of those times? Did he simply need to be around his beloved? Or was he hoping to distract himself with her company. Caro was afraid that she wouldn't be much help in that area...when it came to matters of the heart, she tried to keep her distance purely due to a lack of knowledge on the entire subject. Her thoughts were interrupted by Pan and she looked over at her friend as she slowly collected her things from the table. "I'll see you back in the Common Room then."

With her heart beating very quickly, Carolyn finished packing up her things and looked to the boy asking her to leave a scheduled school-time event with him. Honestly, what I am thinking? What if a Professor finds out? Or if I get detention? Her thoughts were running through her head a mile a minute, a mite faster than they usually were, and she found it all rather disconcerting. For what seemed like the first time in her life she was going to break the rules with the bad boy Benji Fenwick...and she had no idea how to do it properly. She bit her lip, "Is-is there a system to doing this?" By God, if she was going to sneak out she was going to do it right on her first try!

[Benji Fenwick]

Benji always seemed to amaze himself with how much more he could like Pandora Nott. The seventh year had a feeling if Carolyn’s best friend asked her not to go with him she would have stayed with the other girl. And what would he have done? Awkwardly sit back down and avoid his best mate for the rest of this useless study session. But Pan being Pan was all game for her friend having a bit of adventure. Later it occurred to him that he should maybe have asked Pan if she wanted to join them; but in the moment he only cared that they were leaving. He did manage to be considerate enough to make a mental note that he owed Pandora one for letting him borrow Caro for the evening.

Carolyn seemed a little apprehensive, she really needn’t be. They were in their final year and it was known one got in less trouble then, whether by maturity or seniority. And it wasn’t as if they were skipping a real class."You were just saying how much you hated this place right?" Caro got up too, reaching for her things. “Is-is there a system to doing this?” she asked and Benji smiled down at her. It wasn’t like he did this type of stuff every day. But today he just, he just had to get away.

However, he didn’t tell her that, she might chicken out on him, and he really wanted her to go. Slinging his bag over his shoulder he offered the blonde his hand. “Just follow me and keep your head down.” He advised, not wanting to get her into trouble if they got caught, best they think he was dragging her along. Benji gave a two finger salute to the rest of the table pausing to reach over and punch Pan lightly on the shoulder. “See you guys around.” He said, turning to go, a pretty picture of the Black Lake coming to mind.

[Arnie Peasegood]

So. Carolyn and Benji were going on an adventure of sorts.

There was a part of Arnie that was excited, but that part of him was buried underneath a hell of a lot of resentment. Because there had been a time when he would've heard all about this adventure, been up all night with Benj plotting the bloke's next move with the girl - but Benjamin wouldn't even look at him, so how could Arnie expect to hear about whatever the two birdies got up to? What did I do to you? He wanted to shout it at his mate, but that wouldn't help a thing now; Arnie settled for gloomily avoiding the scene, hearing Benji and Carolyn leave rather than watch.

He only looked up from his half-assing of the essay when Pan addressed Charlotte and himself, exchanging a quick look with the Gryffindor as Pandora brought up the people they were dating. He'd never had anything against the girl, but hadn't had enough in common to strike up anything more than an acquaintanceship. But seeing as Dora and Remus were Order members, he suddenly had a whole lot in common with Charlotte Fudge. He nodded along at Charlotte's words, grateful that she wasn't giving anything away. Shouldn't've been worried. He cleared his throat, trying to not think any more about Benji and Carolyn frolicking away from him work.

"Ah - yeah, things are fine, I guess. Dora's at Mungo's - " Please don't fact check that. " - continuing what she started learning with Pomphrey. Bloody good at healing." A small prideful smile tugged at him, because f*ck, how great would it be if Dora really was putting her talents at healing to use? "Things good with you? Any cool experiments over the summer?"

(ooc: whoops x3. i think this is one of the last longest-owed that i owe...we'll see. kthxbyeee)

[Pandora Nott]

Sometimes it was sad that they were all sorted into different houses. Sure, she had classes with the Gryffindors some times, but they didn't really get to know each other that well. Not like how it was with the people she had shared a house with for seven years. And while there were some in her year that she wasn't fond of, Charlotte seemed like a very sweet person that she could have gotten along wonderfully with. "Oh, I've been quite well. I'm very intrigued by what we will learn in Care of Magical Creatures this year myself. It seems a shame that we do a lot of theory and no practical application of the things we learn there. But it is peculiar to be the oldest and have young ones ask me for advice. I hardly know what to tell them." Because while she was brilliant, she wasn't exactly the smart upper class men who could give you directions around the castle. Half of the time she ended up in places she wasn't sure about due to her own wandering.

She looked over to Carolyn as she gathered her things, waving to both her and Benji as they left. Carolyn did deserve to have a bit of fun, and Benji was a very fun person in her opinion. She was glad that Benji eased Carolyn's worries about sneaking out - she hardly doubted Carolyn would be disciplined for her first offense if they were caught - and she gave a smile as they left, before directing her attention back to the other two people at the table.

Charlotte mentioned Remus was working in a muggle office, and Pandora nodded along. How fascinating, to leave a world of magic and work with muggles! She had quite enjoyed her muggle education before she turned 11, and often did miss hanging out with some of the friends she had made. But she was a little too different for them now, and she had plenty of others things to do to pass her time during the holidays. And Dorcas was working at Mungos, which was brilliant. "I'm glad they are both doing so well! You will have to give them my congratulations on their new jobs," she replied as she titled her head to the side. "But no, I'm afraid I didn't make any progress on my experiments this summer. Not after I almost burnt down the house last year."

[Charlotte Fudge]

It was with relief that she hoped she covered up - wouldn't have a need to feel relieved, after all, if she truly had been on the same page as Arnie like she'd tried to play off - that Charlotte heard the bloke back her up, adding on to her lie about Remus with his own about Dorcas. She felt for him as he, for the first time she'd seen today, got excited about something...and that something not be real. Perhaps they could find some time to commiserate soon - it would be good to have an outlet at Hogwarts when (because surely it was more of a when than an if) things got difficult. Having a partner on the outside that you couldn't honestly speak about to most people was definitely going to be a challenge. Usually she'd discuss this sort of thing with Daisy, but her best friend was still so raw from the break-up...may be best to not bother her with this right now. In her kind way, Pandora celebrated the successes of their partners, and Charlotte gave her a nod before the other girl went on...oh dear.

"I can see why your parents might be apprehensive if that's how last year went," Char said simply, empathizing with Pandora's parents more than her, in truth. While it was unfortunate the Ravenclaw didn't have that outlet at home, it was far safer for all of those involved, wasn't it? "But surely you can get back to that now, and maybe Professor Slughorn could even give you some credit for your efforts," she offered, hoping the Potions professor would be encouraging...and to have a professional aware of the situation in case things went haywire wouldn't be a bad thing.

[Arnie Peasegood]

As he spoke of Dora's cover story, Arnie was hit with a pang of missing the girl he loved. He'd known going into this year that being apart from her would be difficult, especially as they'd spend as much of the summer together as possible, but he was missing her more than he thought he would already, just a little bit into the year. He couldn't imagine getting used to this feeling, used to knowing she was off living her life within the Order, in London, when he was still at school, unable to talk with her in any real way. Because, yeah, they had letters - but how much of her life would she really be allowed to put into what she wrote him? Dumbledore surely would have a cow if she mentioned anything of her real work, in case a letter ever got intercepted by the wrong sort of wizard...

He could feel Charlotte's sympathetic gaze on him, and avoided her eye as she and Pan got back to chatting. Arnie gave a half-hearted chuckle at his housemate's mention of her family home, remembering the story from the year before, and gave an equally half-hearted nod to the Gryffindor's suggestion. Sluggy was a foolish fellow, sometimes, but he did know his stuff when it came to potioneering. If Pan truly wanted to excel and get creative, it could be supremely beneficial for her to set up some sort of independent study. A quiet fell among the small group again, and to Arnie, it was a tense quiet. Ever since mentioning Dora he'd become preoccupied (the weirdness with Benji and Caro wasn't helping his want to talk with her), and quite honestly wasn't in the mood for small talk, or to be around anybody. After not too long, he scooped up his things, just needing to move. "I've got to get another book for reference, forgot about that," he said in a white lie, getting to his feet. "See you in the common room later, Pan - have a good one, Charlotte." With that, Arnie was off, allegedly to the library proper, but really...his feet led him back to his dorm, quiet at this time, to try and puzzle out what it was he'd done to Benji to warrant whatever was happening between them. (Thought experiments were inconclusive, unfortunately.)