#houseofstarter

[elainesappington]

Oh! Hello. 

You haven’t seen a couple of Slytherins about — I don’t know, yea high and giggling furiously, have you? I feel like I’ve been chasing after them for ages; they keep managing to wriggle right out of my grasp.

[soledad-archer-how]

“It wasn’t me I swear!” Sol ran away from someone’s well placed prank that was currently releasing sparks and a very nasty smell she needed to urgently get away from. 

[jeremy-lockhart-how]

“I’m fine. Just trying to study. Mum was getting worried about my grades.” Jeremy had been letting stuff slide recently but he was trying to do something to get his life back in check.

[william-rath-how]

“Bloody hell!” Will exclaimed in pain as he pulled his arm out of the cabinet. He just needed some ingredients to practice a potion.

[the-trickster-lioness]

“You know, I’m not entily sure you know what it is that you’re holding.” Katie raised an eyebrow at the pack the person was holding up. She’d left it in the Charms, and the enclosed panic in her chest when she got to Transfiguration had her moving quickly through the halls to get it back. She missed the weight of the pouch that was a constant at her hip, leather that strapped to her belt, with a collapsible cauldron, vials, a basic kit for basic potioneering on the fly and a notebook to keep track of what she did, made, improvements and ideas. “Mind giving it back, I sorta need it.” 

[delightfuldelta]

{Owlery}

Delta’s heart was still beating like a hummingbird’s, but she had managed to calm her breathing from the long trek up to the owlery. She had been waiting for this news. She could barely sleep, let alone wait for breakfast time for the school’s screech owl to drop off the news. But her flittering heart was not due to the stairs any longer rather than the bad news the letter held. He dad was right--apparation lessons were too risky, it’d be dangerous if someone splinched and bled right in front of her. Plus, think of the bright side! All the money saved meant new school robes, or maybe a father daughter trip to Diagon Alley! Still, Delta’s stomach had sunk to the floor and she was blinking back tears. She had just wanted to learn how to apparate with the rest of her class. Delta didn’t hear anyone climbing the steps to the owlery, but she wiped her eyes quickly when the owls around her flapped as warning of a new visitor.

[purely-evangeline]

The cracks in the facade were becoming more visible by the day. Not that anyone possibly cared as much as Evangeline did. They just cared that she was losing it, and they were winning. Evangeline had come to the conclusion she was destined to play the bad guy no matter how much suffering that brought upon her. She’d played her role well up until this point, and she’d continue to play it. In an effort to do this she had quit tutoring younger years and announced her resignation as first chair from the orchestra. She’d quit quidditch too if she hadn’t loved playing so much. As for being a prefect... the way things were going there was no point in resigning. Having so much free time felt so strange, and even though it left her with more time to sleep she still felt exhausted while doing prefect rounds. Spotting a whip of robes rounding a corner Evangeline gave a tired sigh rather than her usual sick grin of anticipation, “You’re going to need a hall pass if you’re going to be out of common room after curfew.” she announced as she rounded the corner, her arms crossing, eyebrow raising. 

[paxton-aeterna-archive]

Paxton glanced guiltily at his peer, whose nose was buried in a potions book. They were busily muttering the recipe under their breath, clearly preoccupied. Paxton cleared his throat, pointing at their concoction. He tried to look as innocent as possible. “Er, so, was I s'pposed to stir the alihotsy leaves clockwise or counterclockwise?” Pax wasn’t even in potions. He’d only been trying to help a friend.

[the-hobgoblins]

{Bonfire}

[aceravii]

The morning was cold and cloudy and Ace could feel the damp leftover from the light rain shower from a few hours earlier seeping through his trousers, but he made no move to get up or to use any sort of charm to heat or dry himself off. He was too distracted by the letter in his hand, now rapidly working its way to well-worn under his restless fingers. He didn’t need to unfold it to know the words that it contained – the message was clear the moment he spied his father’s handwriting on the envelope – but yet he hesitated in opening it. In reality, whatever it held wasn’t the worst thing that could ever happen to him. Many people in his same position would be grateful, really, but he couldn’t stop the small, niggling dread that crawled its way into his chest.

“Now or never,” Ace muttered, drawing himself up as if he were readying for a physical blow. His fingertips had just caught on the edge of the parchment when he heard a sudden sound behind him, breaking the still, early morning silence. He jumped in his seat, the letter falling from his grip and into the wet grass. “Jesus,” he hissed, turning abruptly to get a look at the newcomer. “What, tryin’ to take years off me life, mate? You scared the shit out o’ me.”

[soledad-archer-how]

[Bonfire]

“I didn’t want to be wearing this dress but Jeremy is just too sad and he insisted. Even I’m not that much of a monster.” Sol would have preferred staying inside in comfortable pajamas.

[jeremy-lockhart-how]

[Bonfire]

“It’s just normal water I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The water bottle in Jeremy’s hand was most definitely half-full of vodka.

[william-rath-how]

[Bonfire]

“Oh would you like some punch?” Will poured them some from the bowl and refilled his own cup. “How’s your night been?”

[the-trickster-lioness]

[Bonfire]

Katie swirled the flask in her hand, hanging around the edges of the party. The loud noises, the laughter, it put her on edge. Dark circle under her eyes from lack of sleep, and though the remains of her abuse had healed thanks to deft spell-work and the annoyance of the Slytherin, there were still phantom pains. So she hung back, still a little unwilling to throw herself back into that party life she’d always thrust herself into since she was fourteen and allowed to drink at the Gryffindor parties. So when someone grabbed her wrist she couldn’t help the tiny cry of distress and surprise, jumpy still at physical touch that she couldn’t see coming. “Fuck, you scared the shit out of me.” she let out the tinest of sighs, closing her hands in relief that someone wasn’t trying to hurt her. 

[delightfuldelta]

Apparation

“I don’t know, should I do it? Apparation seems like pretty serious stuff, I don’t know if I’m up for it. And with a fee like that I feel like I should be 100% sure. Although it would be nice to get home with it an’ all. What do you think?” Delta talked among the buzz after the announcement was made by the new headmaster. Her mind had almost skipped over the bonfire altogether.

[purely-evangeline]

{Bonfire}

“Well I was planning on staying as far away from the festivities as possible but now that I’m here... no actually, this is still horridly dull.” Evangeline sighed, sipping from her punch. Being called out in front of the whole school hadn’t bothered her, in fact it pleased her to know people would be fearing her again as they should. What bothered her was participating in such a falsely happy event. Valentines day was stupid.