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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 25, 2022 9:33:05 GMT -8
Gargoyle CorridorCorridor on the second floor that dead ends into the sapient gargoyle guarding the entrance stairs leading up to the Headmaster's office in the tower. This area usually isn't very populated with students as the Headmaster's office is the only thing found off this corridor.
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 25, 2022 9:34:57 GMT -8
***Sherlock and Zinnia enter from Hogwarts - Entrance Hall Courtyard***
So Sherlock and the Inspector left the Entrance Hall. He guided her through the stairwell and its moving stairs. "I am not sure if you have been to Hogwarts during your school years. If so you surely already know these stairs. They are moving from time to time." Just as he mentioned it one of the flight of stairs started to change its position. Luckily it was not the one Sherlock and Zinnia stood onto. Finally they arrived at the gargoyles which guarded the entrance. As a prefect Sherlock was used to the terms to pass the way because the prefects often were the faciliators between the students and the teachers. After he had spoke the current password the gargoyles cleared the way. "Now you just have to follow this spiral staircase and knock at the door," he bowed himself off. Then he turned around and made his way back to the Entrance Hall.
***Sherlock exits to Hogwarts - Entrance Hall Courtyard***
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 25, 2022 9:55:39 GMT -8
Zinnia Fog, Ministry Woman
Temp-play by Hollywood Heidi
Zinnia ignored the curious eyes watching her as she and Sherlock made their way through the castle and to the second floor. She'd merely given a simple, business-like response of "Yes" to the Prefect's polite conversation as she maneuvered herself on the staircases with the familiarity of a past student.
They arrived at the gargoyle corridor, quiet, save for the soft echos of students in the distance. Seeing as this corridor only led to the Headmaster's office, it was usually devoid of anyone unless the Headmaster's office was their destination or if they were lost.
"Now you just have to follow this spiral staircase and knock at the door,"
With another familiar nod, Zinnia excused the boy. "Thank you, Mr. Holmes. You are free to go."
As the Prefect disappeared around the corner, Zinnia began taking the long spiral walk to the Headmaster's office.
***Zinnia exits to Hogwarts - Headmaster's Office***
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Dec 12, 2022 4:10:26 GMT -8
*** Dimi enters from Hogwarts - Entrance Hall Courtyard ***
Dimi hadn't been following closely enough to overhear what they'd talked about or what the password was, but he was sure now that this was indeed the corridor leading to the headmaster's office. He could only guess that Anya had been brought there before, although he still couldn't tell how she made it back to Hogwarts, as Dimi could swear she hadn't been on the train.
Dimi lied low next to a pillar, trying to look ordinary and not too lost, while the gargoyles cleared the way for them. After a little while, the student rearrived, heading back towards the entrance hall. Dimi looked after him yet remained in place. He would wait for either the ministry woman or someone else, maybe even Anya, to return as well.
***
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Dec 17, 2022 21:43:27 GMT -8
The stress of the day and things still to come because of it weighed on her, feeling heavier with each step she took down the long, winding staircase. Near the bottom, she'd felt a hot tear escape and chastised herself for allowing it to get to her. Not right now. Not until she was tucked away somewhere where nobody would see her. But to get to that somewhere, Anya couldn't avoid having to walk through some areas populated by students, more heavily so on a day with no classes.
She hoped Callum would be at the bottom of these stairs, waiting for her. With him by her side, it would be so easy. But she still harbored the worry that he wouldn't want anything to do with her after what had happened today and her thoughts only grew dimmer from there.
Anya couldn't help but think of the time when her bully of a foster brother had decided to share with the school what had happened with her parents. She'd quickly learned that many preyed on any show of weakness. Young people could be so cruel and the few who had good intentions didn't have enough life experience to look at someone and know when it was best to simply not bring it up at all. Their attempt to help and provide a sympathetic ear sometimes triggered the weakness you were hiding behind the tough facade. Then there were the small handful who pretended to care just because they were curious about the gory details.
Magical school could hardly be that different from muggle school, so Anya prepared to revert back to the tough facade she'd always had in place before coming into this new world where she'd thought she could start over as someone normal. That started with ridding herself of any evidence of weakness.
Before the gargoyle finished turning, Anya swiped her sleeve across the cheek she'd felt that traitorous tear travel. Her eyes looked into a seemingly empty corridor. No Callum waiting for her. Once again, she was on her own. Anya nervously tucked her hair behind her ear and as she lowered her arm, her eyes caught sight of a patch of dirt on her sleeve... right in the very spot she'd used on her face. "Well that's just bloody brilliant," she muttered aloud to what she thought was an empty corridor. Using her other sleeve, she scrubbed at her cheek whilst looking down at herself, noticing a couple spots of dirt on her clothing. She must have gone through a few patches of dirt where the snow had dissolved into the ground whilst scrambling away from the Whomping Willow. Or she could vaguely recall there being a boulder that she'd huddled up against? It had all been a terrifying blur. Continuing to mutter under her breath, Anya started brushing away at the patches of dirt.
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Jan 7, 2023 6:43:59 GMT -8
It didn't take long until the gargoyles moved again, spitting just the right person out. Dimi was glad to see Anya walking alone, at least not with teachers or the ministry people, although he was sure she had to go through interviews. He felt really sorry for her, especially when he saw how sad and lost she looked.
Dimi was no one who would pester anyone, especially not to satisfy his own curiosity, but he just really cared for this girl. Anya had grown to him in this little time they knew each other. He wanted her to know that someone was there for her, not bothering what everyone said. Dimi had never given a damn about rumors and such anyway, above all since there always had been and still were a lot of rumors doing their rounds about himself. But, at some point in his life, he learned to just ignore them without even bothering about it a lot.
Eventually, he gave himself a push and walked up to her as casually as usual. "Hey," Dimi greeted her carefully yet without any sign of feeling frightened or something. He honestly wasn't, quite the contrary at that.
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Jan 8, 2023 15:32:08 GMT -8
The sound of footsteps, unexpectedly so close, had her startled gaze shooting up from her task of swiping dirt from her clothes. It took her mind a moment to process who it was and therefore, how she would outwardly present herself.
Seeing it was not Callum or Mr. Malfoy, the only other people besides Boyle she felt safe being herself around and the only other people she'd thought could possibly be bothered to have come all the way over to this tucked away place that only lead to the Headmaster's office, her guard went up.
It was Dimi though; one of the few people who hadn't mistaken her awkward conversational skills or the discomfort that showed in her body language as signs that she wasn't interested in talking to the person or in getting to know them when in truth, her awkwardness and discomfort was toward herself. Thanks to her foster brothers going out of their way to alienate her from making connections outside the foster family, she lacked the experience and the practice.
Most of her peers had normal childhoods. They didn't have the experience yet to correctly read the signs. There were a small handful, such as Dimi, who were patient and didn't give up on her. She'd observed over the years that it was either because they had a friendly outgoing nature that didn't allow them to give up easily on a person, or they'd had some sort of trouble in their own childhoods that created the life experience required to correctly translate the unspoken signs in a person.
Anya was not the same girl Dimi had last spoken to. Gone were the shy smiles, awkwardness, clumsy attempts at being funny, mostly in the jokingly self-deprecating way. She'd tucked her real self away as a form of self-preservation. Still, Dimi didn't receive the cold, tough facade she was ready to put back into place for most everyone else. Rather, she eyed him wearily, unsure what to make of his being here or the fact that he, too, wasn't acting like the person he'd been the other times she'd spoken to him. That outgoing, boldly flirty guy, always showing off that winning smile of his was currently serious, the warmth and care in his features so real and so fearlessly open and on display. It was such a contrast to how he'd been the previous times that Anya didn't know what to make of him.
"Hey,"
And so casual, almost as if everything everyone now knew about her and had witnessed hadn't made him uncomfortable or leery about her at all. "Hi..." She glanced around, avoiding eye contact because she wasn't sure if her eyes still looked glossy. Having been let down far too many times in the past, Anya no longer made the assumption that someone cared, despite what she thought she saw. It was much easier and far less hurtful to assume she's misread the signs or that the care wasn't genuine. "Are you... lost?" she asked, sparing him a weary glance.
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Feb 4, 2023 1:29:25 GMT -8
"Hi..."
Dimi wasn't surprised at all about the change in her, the sudden shyness in a different way than before. He was as well in this situation, partly at least. The flirty smile had made place for honest concern, with still somewhat affection visible in his eyes though. How could there not be, after all? Also, Dimi didn't want to give her the feeling that they had to have a seriously talk now. If she wanted to open up to him about what had happened outside there, that would be fine, but if she didn't, it would be too.
"Are you... lost?"
At that question and the fact that she still avoided looking at him directly, Dimi couldn't help but chuckle a bit, yet not in a way like he found her behavior weird but just cute in a way. He was able to make a tense situation less tense by mixing seriousness with casualness. Dimi leaned a bit more in her direction without actually stepping up closer. It was more like leaning closer with only his head so that Anya would have to look at him more directly. "Not lost," he replied with a soft smile then. "I was going to check on you. To see if you're doing alright. People's gossip can be a real pain in the arse also." Dimi usually did not treat someone with kid gloves but, instead, just straightforwardly addressed things.
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Feb 12, 2023 14:26:39 GMT -8
"Not lost," "I was going to check on you. To see if you're doing alright.
Now she really looked at him. Studied his expression and features to determine the sincerity of his words. Anya had spent years building herself up to rid the need of being cared about by anyone, or at least convince herself of it, and in a few minutes, Scorpius had destroyed that. She was back at square one, vulnerable and so badly craving people who genuinely cared, that it would completely crush her if she opened up and put her faith and trust in someone, only to have it turn out that that person had played or preyed on her vulnerability out of selfish curiosity or as a cruel joke.
People's gossip can be a real pain in the arse also."
Anya wasn't picking up on anything other than genuine concern. Blunt and straightforward and with a serious casualness that she almost wondered if he understood what she was going through on a higher level than the average person of their peers.
"You learn to live with it, but it never really stops being a pain in the arse," she agreed, managing a half-smile. Then she thought of the person responsible and her brows drew together in angry frustration. "That bloody little git," she muttered, glancing off to the side. Anya let out a heavy sighed as she tried to let go of her anger and accept that things had gone back to how they were in her old life. "It was nice, having a bit of normalcy for a little while," she said, looking back at him. "Well, as normal as things could be in my case." She contemplated her life and situation in both places and gave a defeated shrug over her lot in life. Feeling a bit more at ease and confident in his sincerity, Anya opened up a little. "You know, 'normal' doesn't seem to be in the cards for me. I'm not the right fit for either world."
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Mar 4, 2023 1:48:26 GMT -8
Dimi noticed and also got that she was studying him, searching for any hint that would give away he was only one of those people as well. But he didn't give her any of that because he wasn't. He might not be aware of the level on which she went through this but, surely, could tell one or two stories about gossip and people who wouldn't get that what they were doing caused even more harm to the situation.
"You learn to live with it, but it never really stops being a pain in the arse,""That bloody little git,"
Dimi gave her a slight nod of understanding yet respectfully waited for her to go on as it seemed that she, despite her difficulty to trust, wanted to open up after all.
"It was nice, having a bit of normalcy for a little while,""Well, as normal as things could be in my case.""You know, 'normal' doesn't seem to be in the cards for me. I'm not the right fit for either world."
Dimi shrugged again at that, not at all in a way as if he wouldn't take since seriously but in the same way he had done that before, with this natural casualness of his. Life hadn't taken the easiest direction with him as well, never had. And for a long time, he'd had a feeling of not fitting in as well, but then taught himself that it wasn't about fitting into a world but become the builder of your own instead. "You'll learn that not being the truth as soon as you stop thinking there would be only two worlds. Everyone's creating their own. Others either fit into it, or they don't," Dimi replied calmly while allowing himself to gently reach out to her face to rub a bit of that dirt off her face. He let a slight smirk follow his words, yet more due to his almost fatherly or big-brotherly action toward her, although he still wanted to believe of something different, less family-like, between them.
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Mar 4, 2023 2:13:45 GMT -8
*** Callum enters from Hogwarts - Board of Governors Boardroom ***
Despite the, for once, sentimental exchange between father and son before, Callum was quickly back to shrugging it off as a facade, a way to get him on his side to cooperate and make him feel like he belonged in the Malfoy family. He never did and never will. He simply didn't want to. For a long time, Callum had had a feeling of not fitting in, but at some point, that had changed into not wanting to fit in by all means. It had made him become a stubborn rebel for sure. Back in a state of mind like that, Callum walked up the corridors to see if he could find Anya somewhere. That was the only thing he wanted ever since she'd run away from him, to tell her that she wasn't alone but instead had... someone. Callum's thoughts were immediately interrupted by a sight of two figures standing close to one of the gargoyle statues, and very close to each other at that, with a hand reached out to pull the other even closer like you would when you want to give someone a kiss. What the heck? Really? That dude again? So after all that had happened between them, Anya would just go back to him and- what? Crying out at her shoulder after she ran away from him, her actual best friend and also- boyfriend? They were, or weren't they? Well, whatever they had been, this scene was made him cringe and break his heart. But instead of his usual going-into-the-situation-bluntly behavior, Callum was still too overwhelmed with everything that he just couldn't confront them right now. It was just all too much for one day. With a quiet hiss, most probably out of their earshot, he turned and let them be, his heart breaking some more while he felt even angrier than before. The world could just go and get stuffed. It didn't care about him anyway, never had. *** Callum exits to Hall of Hexes ***
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Mar 4, 2023 19:10:36 GMT -8
"You'll learn that not being the truth as soon as you stop thinking there would be only two worlds. Everyone's creating their own. Others either fit into it, or they don't,"
His words opened an entirely new way of seeing the world. Her eyes glanced unseeing to the side as she was caught up in considering it and imagining this new way to view the world when his hand was suddenly near her face. She stiffened and her eyelids blinked flinchingly for a moment, reflexive evidence of someone who did not usually have a kind hand raised to them, but no other movement beyond that, showing a person who remained strong and uncowering despite what people of her past hoped to accomplish in treating her that way.
Anya didn't believe Dimi would hurt her, but she'd been distracted. She quickly recovered and relaxed as he gently rubbed at the dirt she'd forgotten might have still been there. "Just trying to complete that street urchin look," she said, making fun of herself and lightly laughing off her initial reaction as a silly overreaction from having been taken by surprise. She quieted and kept still, absorbing the lovely feeling of a caring hand, unknowingly letting out the quiet sigh of someone taking in a comfort rare to them.
Anya kept her eyes focused to the side. She wanted to look at him to see what he might be thinking, but at the same time, didn't want to know if another part of her past she'd rather not be known had inadvertently been revealed. Not that she believed it would change how he acted around her, especially not after everything else hadn't changed that. She just needed to find some solid ground now and avoid digging up any more unpleasantness of the past.
That sensation of a presence and a sound so faint that she wondered if she'd heard anything at all had her shifting her attention beyond Dimi, but she found the corridor empty and passed it off as her imagination. "Thanks," she said, finally looking back up to Dimi with an appreciative smile before glancing down at the state of herself. "Kind of wish I could catch a shower and change of clothes before my first parade through the school after... everything," she finished on a mumble. She didn't overly care what others thought, but she didn't want to give them more to gossip about by looking like she'd crawled through an old, dirty tunnel, which she'd literally done. "It'd be nice to start the creation of my own world with a little dignity. Hey wait, are there fairy godmothers in this magical world? Someone that can just," she gestured at her clothes, "Cinderella this whole situation?" she joked, unable to hold back the smile from the serious expression she was failing to pull off.
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Apr 1, 2023 10:08:41 GMT -8
Anya's first reaction was followed by another too quickly - probably one that was to cover up the uncomfortableness that had been written on her face for at least a moment - for Dimi to react to. Also, he knew she wouldn't like him to do so in the first place. Respecting her feelings and needs was his first priority, no matter the secret urge to reach out some more even. He would never take advantage of the situation of her being vulnerable at that, so he just smiled softly to her jokingly remark before they got covered up in silence again, his smile not dying and his hand only slightly drawing back at some point though, especially when he noticed her attention wandering completely elsewhere, almost as if she had seen something or someone.
Just when Dimi wanted to turn a bit to have a look himself, Anya spoke up again, making him join in her beautiful smile. He could tell, however, that hers, right now, was rather forced.
"Thanks,""Kind of wish I could catch a shower and change of clothes before my first parade through the school after... everything,""It'd be nice to start the creation of my own world with a little dignity. Hey wait, are there fairy godmothers in this magical world? Someone that can just,""Cinderella this whole situation?"
Dimi's smile widened a bit at Anya's becoming less forced then, obviously unable to pull off her serious expression all the way through their conversation. He was glad she was since he saw this his mission, make things a bit easier to her.
"Well, actually-" Dimi replied with a slight grin, "You could be your own fairy godmother in the magical world." Unluckily, he wasn't quite good at performing transfiguration spells himself, but he knew of some being helpful for such situations. Still, his reply was supposed to be rather funny and to ease the situation between them just some more.
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Apr 2, 2023 17:34:55 GMT -8
Anya chuckled at the amusing truth to that. "You're right! Well, for those who have mastered magic. I'm rubbish at it," she said with the self-deprecating eyeroll of someone who'd accepted that face of themselves. "If I attempted a spell for this," she momentarily pulled at her dirty clothes as she glanced down at them, "I'd probably... turn myself into a bunny," she decided, amused at the thought, then starting giggling even more as the idea had an even funnier connotation of one of the main staples of stage magic. "Hey, then I could serve a far more useful purpose to the fake magic community."
Finding herself in drastically different spirits than she'd been in a handful of moments ago jarred her back to reality. Sobering, she glanced at the gargoyle statue behind here then up, showing that the meeting between the Inspector and Boyle had entered her mind once again. "I should get as far away from here as possible. I have a strong feeling that Inspector woman is not a fan of mine."
She didn't use 'we' because she didn't want him to feel obligated to keep by her side, especially after the one-way-out corridor and beyond it, to the students who would be staring and whispering and passing judgements. Stepping around to his side, she glanced back with a grin as she gave a nod toward the path ahead in silent invitation for him to join her if he wished, walking slowly at first until he was by her side as they trekked away from the gargoyle.
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Post by DarkSideCookie on May 6, 2023 7:56:52 GMT -8
"You're right! Well, for those who have mastered magic. I'm rubbish at it,""If I attempted a spell for this,""I'd probably... turn myself into a bunny,""Hey, then I could serve a far more useful purpose to the fake magic community."
Anya probably wouldn't think so, but Dimi was well aware of the fake magic community, same as of the non-magical world everyone around here used to call the muggle one. Before he had received his letter from Durmstrang, he'd been just a boy who never ever heard about anything magical existing outside of stories and movies. Before Dimi could say anything to her statements though, going further into talking about them not being as different as she might think, especially with him being a lazy shit who sucked at casting spells himself, she suddenly turned serious again.
"I should get as far away from here as possible. I have a strong feeling that Inspector woman is not a fan of mine."
Of course, he took notice of the little word I instead of we. He would never force his company on someone, so it made him nodding in acceptance at first. But when Anya gave him silently to understand that he was free to join her on the way elsewhere, Dimi was quickly back to his confident self, walking by her side as they started heading away from the gargoyle corridor.
"You know, I'd probably fail at fake magic the same as at the real deal," Dimi picked up on their former thread, smiling again. He'd had a feeling that this way of talking was a lot easier for her right now, especially since they couldn't change the situation anyway. And bringing back a smile to her face was still his secret mission.
***Dimi and Anya exit to Hogwarts - Corridors (2nd Floor)***
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