Fandom Grey Spell- A Hogwarts Style Rp

[kibou]

Overview


Grey Spell is a Harry Potter rp taking place years after Voldemort's final defeat.


The premise is that a collection of Hogwarts students form a secret group to experiment with, discuss, and explore the creative uses of a usage of magic that the first member calls Grey Magic.


It's not Dark magic, but it's certainly not good either.


Grey magic is the term created for when normally harmless magic is used in creative and unconventional ways, and is more often than not potentially harmful.


For example, the tickling charm is normally a harmless spell, used as a prank sometimes.


But, if you wanted to you could harm someone a lot by tickling, say, their organs?


Obviously this sort of magic would not be approved of in Hogwarts, and there's always the risk of the group being found out.


The group will not start out with a specific goal in mind, and members will join for a variety of reasons whether it be pure curiosity, or more more devious reasons.


This rp will be mainly character-driven, and the events that happen will mostly be determined by the characters.



Rules



In Character Rules-

1. As this is a more advanced rp,
   
   one and two liners will not be allowed.
   
   I understand that sometimes there is not a lot going on, so when situations arise
   
   where there's not much going on except for a conversation and
   
   nothing else,
   
   
   
   a shorter paragraph will be accepted.
   
   However, if there's
   
   action or anything to describe
   
   your post should be
   
   two paragraphs or more.
   
   So, if there's things going on your posts should describe that, but if there isn't don't feel like you have to make yourself write a super long post. Please be
   
   coherent in English
   
   with both grammar and spelling.
   
2. No god-modding, power playing, bunnying, or anything similar.
   
   Remember, there's a difference between being
   
   creative and obnoxious
   
   . When a character dies or is injured is up to the person who role plays them, please just use
   
   common sense
   
   in this regards. We will not break the character making process down to a science, but please keep it realistic. This role play has fantasy elements, sure, but that is more for the environment than your character. If you have an idea that may help spur the plot along,
   
   please PM it to Ghost before implementing it
   
   .
   
3. RpN's rules apply.
   
   Embellish in gore and profanity at your own discretion
   
   , but know how much is too much. Romance is allowed, but be sure to
   
   fade-to-black
   
   before something becomes too intimate.
   
4. For consistency, stick to
   
   third person limited past tense
   
   . That's just a preference of mine turned pet peeve, but if anyone
   
   really
   
   wants to do things differently, then don't be afraid to ask.
   
5. Do
   
   not
   
   color-code your posts
   
   , or
   
   use any color
   
   . It's incredibly annoying and more often than not hurts the reader's eyes.
   

Out of Character Rules-

1. Treat each other with respect. If you have a problem,
   
   take it off the thread
   
   to resolve maturely.
   
2. Keep all posts in their relevant sections.
   
   There is a section for you to speak out of character
   
   , so please use that rather than speaking in the role play or character sign-up tab. If you've read these rules, link to a picture of Nick Cage at the bottom of your character sheet. Anything posted in the wrong tab will either be edited or deleted and you will receive a warning.
   
3. If you intend to join the role play,
   
   be active
   
   . While school is starting for many people, we understand you being busy and not being able to reply too regularly, but we will have an active chat for you to keep us updated on your whereabouts so we know you haven't lost interest. If you plan on being absent for a while for whatever reason,
   
   please drop a message either on the out of character section or message Ghost
   
   to let someone know how long you'll be absent.
   
4. Follow RpN's rules.
   
   If you're not familiar with their rules, please read up on them
   
   so that we don't get in trouble.
   

If you break any of these rules you will be warned. Ignorance of the rules is not an excuse. If you get multiple warnings, you will be kicked out of the role play.

 

[kibou]

Aimon blinked lazily awake, dimly aware of the soft greenish light filtering through the underwater windows as he lay on his side, head barely visible as his face was buried in his blankets. He was confused for a moment, half of his mind still having thoughts about the dream he'd just had, the other half wondering what the hell those seemingly random thoughts were about.


Something about sharing gummy worms, and then becoming a triangle? Seriously, the ideas that came to him while still half asleep just struck Aimon as so odd. Things like that didn't occur to him at any time, and he could never make sense of them as he'd always forget the dreams he'd just been having, left with only a vague sense of what had transpired in that dreamscape.


After laying there longer, listening to the sound of swishing water, and going through the process of slowly waking up and regaining his sense, Aimon sat up to look around him, pulling the blankets up to his chin to ward off the cool air. He wasn't entirely sure what time it was, but he'd figured that he could judge whether or not to actually leave his bed on if his roommates were still soundly asleep, or not in their beds at all.


His eyes scanned over the room- Jay had closed the drapes around his bed (not a good idea in Aimon's opinion, so little light managed to get into the room in the first place it would be much too easy to sleep through the day like that), Kasimir had fallen out halfway and was slumped against the bedside upside-down on his head and had somehow managing to still be sleeping, Caelum seemed to be just waking up too, and Orion was nowhere to be seen.


Then again, Aimon thought, they aren't very reliable.


Orion was prone to disappearing from the room at seemingly random times, Caelum was an insomniac, Kasimir slept through practically anything and usually had to be woken up, and Aimon couldn't be sure that Jay was even behind the drapes.


He sighed and threw the blankets off of him and to the other end of his bed, swung his legs around over the edge and got out to go open his large trunk.


Over the last week of summer Aimon had tried adjusting his normal, messed-up sleeping schedule to the Hogwarts' one. Despite the fact that the times he had actually woken up while trying to do so had varied quite a bit, he'd decided that, whatever time it was now, it would probably be close enough to get up, get dressed, and go to breakfast.


Aimon rummaged around through his various possessions before finding and taking out his robes, and then pulling them on and stuffing his wand into his pocket.


When he crossed the room to leave, he heard someone yawn and then Caelum called out sleepily, "Hey, uh, is it time for breakfast?"


Aimon stopped with his hand on the doorknob, turned slightly to address Caelum, and shrugged.


"Probably?"


He turned back around and left, heading out into the Slytherin common room and shivering at the sudden cold.


Navigating the Slytherin common room was always fun, as it was so ridiculously badly lit during the morning, night, and evening times that accidentally hitting your foot against something or tripping over an unseen object wasn't rare. Aimon had wondered several times over the course of his time at Hogwarts why, other than a few candles, the main source of light was the dark green underwater windows and those weird slightly glowing- also green- balls that looked like they were made out of glass. Of course, he hadn't ever heard of someone being seriously injured, but it was very annoying.


One year a muggle-born student had even placed legos on the ground as a prank. Most students were wearing shoes and were fairly unaffected, but the few unfortunate ones who had not had been in for a world of pain.


Aimon shook his head at the memory, but a slight smile was on his face. He hadn't been the one to do it, but he had seen the effects and it had been pretty funny.


Now walking throughout the maze of dungeons, which were very empty, Aimon found himself being reminded of the time he had brought pens rather than quills and ink to school, originally for his own convenience. Orion and Kasimir, after seeing his large pack of the super cheap kind, had come up with the idea of selling them to pure and half-bloods for a ridiculously high price and all of his roommates except Caelum had participated. It had worked for awhile, until some muggle-born Gryffindor went around telling everyone that pens like that were very inexpensive and could be bought in large quantities at muggle stores. They didn't offer refunds, and the business had ended there.


By now Aimon had reached one of the three twisting staircases leading out of the dungeons and he climbed up it, glad to be out of the cold corridors and closer to good food.


Upon entering the Great Hall, he looked over the tables and saw that though he was a little early, there were people already sitting down.


As yesterday for the start-of-term feast he had to sit at the Slytherin table, today he headed towards Hufflepuff.


Not long after they had met, Aimon assumed that Munro probably wouldn't want to sit at the Slytherin table, but Aimon did want to sit by him. So he had started sitting at the Hufflepuff table whenever he could. Today too, Aimon silently sat himself down amidst the few Hufflepuffs that were already there, and waited for Munro.

 

[Pine]

Darius was suddenly aware of a particular light blossoming behind his eyelids, making them flicker faintly in agitation. Stubbornly refusing to slip entirely into consciousness, and thus being obligated to start the day, he kicked at the sheets that he was cocooned inside, the boy stretched out on his back and his knees drawn up to his chin and making the motion vaguely reminiscent of someone bicycling. After a moment of jamming his comforter at varying angles with his foot, he rolled over and planted his face into the very corner of the narrow bed, successfully blocking out the light. However, after that little stunt of fidgeting, having to wake up was all but inevitable.


He laid there, his cheek caught between the mattress and being sucked in by the corner of his pillow, before finally giving up on his h0peless attempt to return to his slumber. Darius gave a deep moan from the back of his throat before attempting to open his eyes. He managed to crack them open a sliver. The air itself seemed to sting, making the corner of his eyes pool with a few tears. Not only that, but that blasted light he had never successfully managed to shut out was still present.


Gradually, he was able to form a coherent thought. Three hours of sleep is not enough. The boy couldn't even remember what precisely had preoccupied his time the night before, but he was now certain it wasn't worth the immense grogginess that was presently settled over him. It would be so easy to just lay his head back down. In fact, he could practically sense the wave of exhaustion washing over him, but alas, this wasn't the first time he had pulled a night like that and it certainly wasn't about to be the last.


Darius forced himself up in one quick motion, pushing himself up from the mattress, but immediately regretted doing so. One hand sank into the mattress in an effort to prop himself up as the other went straight to clasping his head, leaving nothing to hold the red comforter against his bare chest. Darius groaned faintly, feeling his brain pounding violently against the walls of his head before the throbbing finally ceased. Caffeine. Need caffeine.


At that point, a thin stream had begun to freely cascade down his cheek. Darius detached his hand from his head, as the tips of his fingers had begun to embed themselves in his thick, coarse hair and press down hard, and moved so his knuckle was brushing away either tears. Suddenly, he was aware of the gunk that was holding his eyelashes together as they were, and he begun to run along their length between two pinched fingers in an effort to remove this.


Even after all the amount of preening he had done for himself, he still found himself squinting as he sat there. Now that he could think more clearly, he recalled a voice urging everyone to get up, presumably for breakfast. When I find the culprit responsible for opening these windows... Darius rolled a stray eyelash from off of his cheek and onto his thumb before forcefully flicking it away. He rubbed his palms over his face one last time before he deemed himself even remotely presentable. He cast a glance down the length of his bed, staring at the disorderly way the comforter had bundled off from the edge of the bed and how the blanket was tangled inside of it, no longer tucked beneath the mattress. He decided to deal with it later.


The boy moved cautiously, so as not to temp the wrath of his caffeine induced headache. He turned to place his feet on the rug below, hands gripping the edge of the mattress before he slipped out from beneath his blankets. The world was rather bleary, still combating the urge to close his eyelids and cease the burning of his reddened eyes. Still, to Darius' credit, his movements were only somewhat sloppy, the occasional jerky movement forcing him to plant his feet where they were and wait for the pulsing against his temples to subside.


At an almost exaggeratedly slow place, he made his way over to trunk where Odetta was faithfully perched. Darius lowered himself to a crouch, cringing slightly as he did. The natterjack toad finally seemed to become aware of his presence when he lowered himself to her level, the toad's eyelids sliding open. "Morning Odetta," he greeted in a hushed tone and with a small grin. As though addressing an actual lady, he continued on politely, "Excuse me." The boy reached over and pinched her sides carefully in order to lift her, the toad's black eyes shifting to better focus on him, before she was turned in the air to be placed on his shoulder. Odetta shifted somewhat, splayed toes slipping over his skin, before she finally settled with her stubby front legs resting in the tiny crag his collarbone created.


Darius flipped the latch open and pushed the trunk open, automatically snatching the article of clothing that laid on top of everything, the likes of which were all arranged in a questionable manner. With the garb now bundled in his lap and having similarly retrieved his wand, he gingerly lowered the lid of the trunk back down, the only action produced from this being the squeaking of hinges in the back. He dragged his index finger down the latch, shutting the trunk for good with a barely audible click. As a final touch, he picked Odetta up once more and set her back down on the chest. "Need to go do that whole learning thing. You know the drill." Darius ran the tips of his fingers down her smooth skin once before standing to throw his robe over his head. His arms popping from out of the long sleeves, he stuffed the light maple wood of his wand into his pocket, slipped on his shoes, and then made his exit.


After passing through the common room, which was pleasantly warm from the fire that was eternally kept crackling in the hearth, he navigated the various steps of the tower with ease, letting muscle memory lead him on. Rather belatedly, now that he had regained control over his inhibitions, he was suddenly hyper aware that he had completely forgotten his socks. Darius groaned lightly as he stepped out of the final corridor and into the section of the tower where the Grand Staircase resided, rubbing the remainder of sleep out of his eyes to the best of his ability. Brilliant start. Still, the thought of a piping mug of coffee spurred him forward, acting as a driving force to press him on to breakfast, letting muscle memory lead him on. There was no time to turn back where his morning cup of joe was concerned.


He stood there for a moment, waiting for the staircase to rotate back his way after dropping a girl off at some other hall. Finally, when the sound of churning stones and the massive staircase ceased in its path before him, he ascended the flight of stairs at a brisk pace. He ignored the subtle protests of his headache, knowing it would just be made all the worse if the stairs decided to jerk into another direction while he was still on them from past experiences, and managed to land himself before the next corridor just in time.


As he made his way down the last stretch of the hall, he recalled yet another thing he had forgotten: his trumpet mouthpiece. When he thought about it, however, it did not compare to the discomfort that came with his toe freely wriggling inside of his shoes, and if this headache persisted as he was beginning to suspect it would, he would rather not spend too much time buzzing anyway.


Finally, Darius submerged himself into the sea of children that made up the Great Hall. In spite of how crowded it was even then, the room felt surprisingly bare. He approximated that only half of the students were presently in attendance, as it was still far too early in the morning. In a relatively rare moment of not wanting to talk to too many people, the boy made for the comparatively barer center of the Gryffindor table, though there was no escaping the rumble of kids chattering away. Darius lowered his face to the table, enjoying a blissful moment where he could shut his eyes once more, no longer bothering to fight off the tempting tug of slumber. Just a few more minutes, then coffee. Just a few more... He fell asleep.

 

[Lady Luna Ravenswood]

Why do you always do that Hespara? I am quite tired of you! go to your room!


Hespera was having yet another nightmare about her grandmother who hated the fact that she was seer. Whenever she made any sort of prediction her grandmother would walk over and point her boney wrinkled fingers at young Hespera. She rolled over in her bed, her grandmother always came to visit so her chilidhood was filled with much criticism from her grandma, and no one else. She once set fire to grandma's trunk during an argument when she was 10. Her parents made her apologize to her grandma and clean the house.


"Grandma I cannot help it why must you criticize me..."


She rolled over again and landed on the ground beside her bed with a hard thump.


"Wha?? What happened?"


She sat up and looked at her ravens who were cawing at her for making such a loud noise so early. She frowned at them and stood up.


"Ah, shut up! I had another nightmare!"


She was standing on a balcony over looking her classroom. It was the same one that has been used by almost every Divination teacher. Located at the top of the north tower. She waved her wand and the windows opened, her ravens flew out for their morning flight. She stretched her arms and noticed some of the crystal balls had been knocked off their stands.


"Peeves! Oh, I will get him for this!"


She waved her wand again and the everything was put back in its place. She looked out the window to see the sun slowly creeping up. She walked over to her nightstand and grabbed a small journal that was labeled 'dreams' she always wrote down what she dreamed about the night before in case something important popped up. She grabbed her quill and dipped it in some ink. With very neat hand writing she wrote: Dreamed about grandma and her constant disapproval of me, then fell out of bed. She returned the journal to its place and set the quill down. She walked over to her wardrobe and got ready for the day. She decided today was a more relaxed look kind of day and put on her tank top that had a triangles cut out of the bottom. She layered her skirts wearing a black one over a brown one and put on her many silver bangles. She sat at her vanity and fixed her hair putting on a black & white bandanna, thick leather headband with several large tan brown feathers, and a single crystal between her eyebrows. She put on her necklace last and got up and smelled the morning air.


"Today is going to be interesting, I can tell."


She made her way down the spiral stairs to the main part of the classroom. She was excited for another year especially since they added yet another Divination class. She walked to the trap door in the back of the classroom and climbed down the old ladder. Se remembered that she needed to ask the caretaker for a new one. She walked down the stairs and made her way to the great hall. She greeted some students she saw in the halls as she walked to her destination. She spotted the caretaker and asked him for a new ladder, he told her that he will get a new one up before classes start. She looked at the ever fun challenge of the moving stair cases and sighed.


"Not today."


She was still too sleepy to stand and wait for staircases. She transformed into a raven and flew the rest of the way to the great hall taking up her human appearance once she reached the doors. She startled several first years who did not know that she was an animagus. She smiled and walked to the staff table taking her seat in front of the Ravenclaw table. She waited for the Daily Prophet to arrive. She looked up as the same owl that has delivered her Daily Prophet every day flew in and dropped the paper in front of her. She quickly picked it up and started looking over the articles.


"Must be a slow news day"


She looked at the article about an attempted break in at the Department of Mysteries. It was a common occurrence for people to try to break in there. When she worked there it was unusual if at least one person did not attempt to break in. She knew it was a slow news day since they reported the break in.

 

[Athens]

Delilah woke earlier than the other 6th year Ravenclaw girls in her dorm, she didn't know what time it was, but she knew for a fact that it was early enough for her to get to the Great Hall before most of the Hogwarts students. She stretched lightly, creeping out of her bed, and placing to slender feet on the worn carpet. She stood up rubbing her eyes to rid them of the signs of sleep placed in the corners.


She padded over to the windows, turning to look at the peacefully sleeping teenage girls


Well not for long


Delilah picked up her wand putting a Caterwauling Charm on in front of the exit of the door, so that as soon as she left the dorm room it would set off giving the sleeping Ravenclaw girls a nasty wake up call.


She got dressed quickly in her school uniform of a Ravenclaw House sweater, button up shirt, skirt, and tie, with her black tights and flats. Delilah ran a brush carelessly through her hair after and made her way out the door, grinning wickedly as the charm began to wail, and the shocked cries of her dorm mates falling to the floor could be heard from behind the now closed door.


Delilah made her way down the stairs, making sure not to get stuck on one that was about to change. She had made that mistake last year and had been stuck on the 4th floor for a half hour.


She looked around uninterested at the other students as she walked to the Ravenclaw table, but one student caught her attention from the corner of her eye. She used the Augamenti spell slyly and spouted a small stream of water onto Darius' head as she walked by, before sitting down at her table and facing towards the front of the room where the Headmaster and teachers sat as if nothing had happened.


He should keep to napping in his dorm. She thought smugly waiting for breakfast to start. (@Pine ) 
Lucas hadn't slept at all last night, he had been up all night making changes to his lesson plans for the older students, because the Headmaster said they were too extreme, and the students could get harmed. Isn't that part of the point of Defense Against The Dark Arts? He thought bitterly looking around tiredly at the students.


He loved his job at Hogwarts dearly, but sometimes he wondered how they expected him to do his job at teaching these kids how to protect themselves, if they denied every idea or lesson he had planned from him. Honestly, if they were so determined to keep their students safe they should keep an eye on the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, he was absolutely mad, that man.


And just his luck, the curriculum schedule for the morning sticks him as the first teacher to deal with the angst of hormonal 6th and 7th years. He stumbled down the stairs groggily shooting sharp glares at students, and passing out detentions to whoever he labeled as a suspicious character. Lucas may not be the fairest teacher, but he was the best at keeping the trouble and crime rate down at Hogwarts


He sighed irritably as a group of 6th years came tromping down the stairs conversing loudly, making his head ring. "If you want to be a nuisance to everyone else do it while I'm not around." He scowled handing them each a slip of paper. "I'll see each of you in detention tomorrow."


And with that final world he strolled into the Great Hall taking a seat next to the Ravenclaw Divination teacher. "Hello Hespera he replied cooly, watching a Ravenclaw girl spout a stream of water onto the head of a sleeping Gryffindor. "You should keep a closer eye on your House." He commented watching her sit down.


Now don't get him wrong, Lucas would have gotten up and made an example off the girl in front of everyone, but he was just too worn out and tired to put any effort into the action of getting up. He was determined to put that off until he really had to.

 

[Lady Luna Ravenswood]

Hespera was looking over articles making a mental note to order some new cards while her favorite Divination store was having a sale. She didn't even look at Lucas when he greeted her. She heard her had to change his lesson plans yet again. She wondered if it was his young age that made him foolish. She decided it was since she was older then him.


"Good morning Lucas, seems you had to change your lessons again."


She looked at him when he told her to keep an eye on her house. She frowned.


"Don't tell me how to run my house, I am older then you. I should be telling you how to run your house."


She quickly returned to reading the paper. She did not like it when the younger teachers told her what to do, especially those she went to school with. She sighed as 3 of her ravens decided to roost on her chair making vrious caws as she turned and looked at them.


"Don't you guys have anything better to do?"


The three ravens cawed louder as she waved her arm. There were people staring at her as she tried to quiet the birds.


"If you are going to stay here at least be quiet."


She smiled as the ravens hushed.


"So how many detentions have you handed out so far?"


She knew was infamous for giving out detentions like free candy. She wondered if this year he was actually going to go easy on the students. She was not one to do that though, she rarely gave out detentions even if she caught a student breaking the rules. She realized that she was almost acting like a young teacher.


maybe I should start handing out more punishment


she decided not to, it was not her style to be big on punishing.

 

[Athens]

Lucas glanced over to Hespera swirling a cup of soothing tea for an oncoming headache. "I wouldn't call it a good morning, especially since that's the first thing you decide to mention." He responded calmly. Most teachers thought he was a fool, but Lucas just wanted to give students the hands on teaching they needed to learn how to protect themselves.


"I understand that you are older than me Madam Nott, and I am not trying to be disrespectful in any kind of way, it was just a thought.


A minor suggestion. Luckily it's only the beginning of the school year, so my plans wont be changing as much once everything officially takes off and gets back on track."


He looked out over the clusters of students, lingering particularly longer on his own house.


They were a rowdy bunch indeed, not always a fan favorite, but they really weren't a bad bunch of kids, it was just the never-ending rumors that gave them that image. In all honesty, not all of the Slytherins are jerks, some are just a little more cunning, others more serious, and then there's those who just happened to be more ambitious than most.


Lucas had been placed in between the serious and ambitious category, being a mixture of both.


Lucas zoned back into reality at Hespera's question. "Detentions? Well, I haven't give quite as many on the first day as last year. I think the students are finally understanding just how unpleasant their obnoxiously loud conversations and pranks can be to a person.


Especially one was up most of the night working on lessons to strengthen their knowledge. Not to mention I'm helping with the Apparition tests for 6th years, this school year."


He took a brief sip of his tea before continuing.


"And I've decided to leave the 1st year alone after watching a poor boy wet his pants on the the into the Great Hall after a scare from Peeves."

 

[Tenome]

Munro woke with a start when a small set of jaws clamped tightly on the delicate skin of his belly. He shot up and flung his sheets and blankets off to inspect the source of the bite. In the pile of copper and subdued yellow fabric lay a startled and squeaking mass of white and brown fur. With a sigh, he scooped the rat into his hands and gave her a short eskimo kiss. "I thought we talked about this, Hannibal. There are nicer ways to wake me." The rat simply squeaked in protest as if to tell him there weren't, and Munro gave a small chuckle. It wasn't like the rat understood him, but then again he attended a school for wizards. Stranger things happened.


Now awake, he looked up and noticed the morning sun illuminating the room, bathing the earthy tones of their four-posters and quilts in warm, cozy highlights. He groaned and fell back, holding Hannibal to his chest. "It's so late! Why didn't you say anything?" Most of his fellow Hufflepuffs were still fast asleep, but some were beginning to stir and others had already left. Tiredly hauling himself from his warm bed and into his robes, he tucked his wand and animal familiar safely away and exited into the common room. There several students lingered as they chatted before migrating to the Great Hall, and they nodded hellos as he passed them by.


His still groggy feet trudged through the halls until he reached the Great Hall. Munro's face brightened immediately as he spotted an old friend seated at his table, and he rushed to meet him. Sitting down by Aimon's side, he smiled widely. "Good morning!"

 

[Trignome]

The early morning sunlight filtered weakly through the small, arched window above his bed. It was more of a niche in the wall than an actual window, and if it weren’t for the thin panel of glass that prevented him from sticking his hand outside, Yevgeni would have sworn that the window was indeed a hole, some relic of a dorm duel or spell review gone wrong. But whether it was a hole, a window, or a hole that’d been renovated into a window, he didn’t rightly care. Glancing back down at the remembrall that lay on the stained, cotton cloth in his lap, Yevgeni wrapped up the glass sphere, with its screws and golden seal carefully collected in the middle of the bundle. Then, he leaned over his bed and picked up a cork-stoppered vial from the smooth, unwrinkled surface of his pillow.


A white mist swirled within the glass encasement, but as his fingers pressed firmly around the vial, the mist became a brilliant shade of red. Yevgeni paused, studying the vibrant color for a moment before slipping the container into the cotton bundle and packing it into his trunk. Had he forgotten something, or was the recollection serum mis-reacting? As he stood and stretched in the gradually brightening room, the faint sound of footsteps outside the room alerted him of another student’s presence. Why would someone be awake this early, it was only…Yevgeni furrowed his brow as he checked the time on his watch. It seemed it was a lot later in the morning than he’d thought.


Brushing past the bathroom without so much as a glance in the mirror, he opened the door and stepped out into the dormitory hallway. Almost imperceptibly, the corner of his mouth twitched up as he looked over the banister into the commons room. The student from before must have already left, for there was nobody downstairs. Good. Silently, Yevgeni made his way down and across the room populated with heaps of books and dark blue upholstered furniture. Heaving an exasperated sigh, he navigated the mine-field of toe stubs and papery avalanches until finally he reached the entrance, or in his case, the exit. It wasn’t long before Yevgeni was proceeding languidly down the winding, stone stairs of the North Tower, with the Ravenclaw dorms left well behind him.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


Tsk-ing under his breath, Yevgeni appraised the mess hall with an air of irritant disdain. All of the tables were occupied with at least a dozen students, and it looked like there were even more pouring in from all directions; it was as if the entire population of Hogwarts was converging into this one room, drawn by the smell of breakfast and the optimism of a bright and sunny day. He absolutely hated it. “Cheery people give me hives…” Yevgeni muttered as he slumped over to the very end of the closest table. A few students gave him a strange look, at which point he noticed their red and gold neckties and robes. Oh, a happy group of Gryffindors. Figures.


“Ungh.” Yevgeni grunted, nodding at them in greeting as he bit into a thick slice of buttered toast.


The diminutive, brunette-haired girl seated across from him giggled. He looked up from his plate in an automatic response to a sudden noise, but instead of saying something, the girl ran her upper teeth over her bottom lip and smiled, abruptly turning to her friend and pointedly avoiding his eyes. Scowling, Yevgeni took another bite of his breakfast. What, she thinks I look funny? He finished his toast and picked up a glass of orange juice, downing it in one gulp. Nah. It’s probably just because I’m not sitting at the right table, though…Yevgeni paused and glanced down at his clothes. He wasn’t wearing anything blue or silver, just a brown t-shirt and a pair of worn jeans. How would she know which house I’m from?


Feeling mildly perplexed, and a bit more social now that he’d gotten something to eat, he waved over at the girl. “Hey.” Exchanging a triumphant expression with her friend, Giggles flipped her hair over her shoulder and smiled coyly at him. “Yeah? Yah got something you want?” True to her name, she attempted unsuccessfully to stifle another giggle. She’s acting so pretentious; what’d I do to piss her off? Frowning, Yevgeni got up from his seat and shook his head. “Nevermind. I was wondering how you knew which house I was from, but it doesn’t really matter now.” He gave the girl a derisive look and said, monotonously, “I dislike you. Hopefully, we’ll never meet again.” Then he turned and headed for a different table. People are so annoying…

 

[Akeira]

Viola was up quite early, making last minute adjustments to her lesson plans for her sixth year students. She had thought to start the year off with Human Transfigurations, but thought better of it, as these spells were among the most difficult forms of Transfiguration. She could only ratiocinate that the Hospital Wing would be very disturbed if her students turned up with mutated animal bites where human limbs should be. Instead, she decided on a Bird-Conjuring charm, which would produce a flock of birds from the castor's wand tip. A much safer spell, this flock would also produce a loud blast, similar to gunpowder being fired from a cannon. Thinking the spell was brilliant, the young professor only hoped her students would think the same. It would require a lot of practice on the part of each individual in her advanced class, though the results would be quite satisfying.


Rising from the desk in her octangular office, she polished off her notes, leaving the parchment to dry for a few minutes. It was best to do so, as there was nothing worse than ink ruining a perfectly written piece of parchment. Viola had enough experience with this, as sometimes she was in far too much of a hurry. Once the page dried properly, Professor Harrington picked it up, sliding it into her bag full of notes and spells. At times, she did regret her decision to become a teacher, though these notes that explored various spells that made her love it once more. Gliding toward the small wardrobe in the room, Viola produced an onyx cloak, a gift from her elder brother, Sebastian, when she started teaching at Hogwarts. She quickly fastened it onto the peach wizarding robes she wore, careful not to get her hair caught in between. A bold color for a professor to wear, she though it complimented her olive-toned skin.


Naturally, Viola's office and classroom were located in the Middle Courtyard, also referred to as the Transfiguration Courtyard. Located in the middle of the castle, there was a large patch of grass in the open area, which seemed to shine under the sun's rays. She loved to glance out the large windows of her room, observing the students soak up the sun and occasionally cutting across the grass to do the same. Of course, she could not linger and recline there for a long period, as it would surely cause curiosity in her students. Despite this, the raven-haired professor did enjoy those moments of sunshine. Even when it rained, she thought the Transfiguration Courtyard to be a beautiful place, the rain drops peeking landing on the soft grass. A calming spectacle to watch, she often took a break from grading or a lesson plan to watch nature at its best.


Instead of admiring the weather on the Middle Courtyard that day, Viola made her way across the courtyard, venturing toward the main sector of the castle. She roamed the corridors, watching the multitude of students heading to breakfast in their Hogwarts robes. A very faint smile reached her lips, as the young professor remembered her days at Hogwarts as a student. Less than ten years ago, she was in their same position, attending classes, trying to keep up with the work, and playing Quidditch whenever time allowed it. Though she was successful at times in her studies, there were others, such as with Potions, that she was not triumphant. In spite of that drawback, it was her failures that lead her to her specialty, Transfiguration, which she was grateful for.


Viola sauntered into the Great Hall, chuckling lightly at the mass of students already consuming their morning meals. Exchanging some greetings with some of her most promising students, she could see their excitement to receive their timetables in due time. The raven-haired woman made her way to the head table where the teachers sat, brushing out her robes to make sure they would not get ruffled. Looking for an empty seat, she sat down near Hogwarts' Divination teacher, Hespera Nott, and Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Lucas Arevalo. Seeing that they were already deep in conversation, she sat quietly for a few minutes, spooning delicious Hogwarts food onto her plate.


"Hello, Hespera, Lucas." She said after getting everything she wanted, a light simper gracing her face, as she took a bite of her porridge. "What insufferable group do you two have this morning?" She asked casually, continuing her meal and glancing at her colleagues.

 

[Lady Luna Ravenswood]

Hespera rolled her eyes when Lucas mentioned Peeves. She and Peeves never really got along even when she went to school. Always scaring her or messing with her stuff. It only got worse when she started teaching. He made a habbit of destroying her classroom every morning. She looked at Lucas.


"Ugh, don't mention Peeves. He has taken up destroying my class room as a hobby."


She conjured up some tea and lemon, she loved lemon and tea. She grabbed some toast as well.


"Good Morning Viola."


She smiled at the transfiguration teacher. She felt like an old woman sitting at the table. She went to school with all of them, so she knew them both fairly well. Well, kind of, she was not the most social person. Most of time she hoarded herself in the library practicing divination. She almost chocked on her toast when Viola asked what group she had first. She quickly took a sip of tea and responded honestly.


"Um, I don't know."


She quickly took another sip of tea. She had forgotten to check her scheduale, she had no idea who she had for first period. She thought hard and remembered.


"I think I have 3rd years first then 6th years after that."


She dreaded having another batch of third years to explain how divination wasn't an easy subject and how she could not teach them to be seers.


"Every year new third years asking why I cannot teach them to be seers. You either are or aren't."


She shook her head, and took another sip of tea as her ravens who were starting to make a lot of noise again. She turned in her seat and looked at them.


"That's it out, now."


The ravens cawed and flew out of the great hall.


"How Peeves manages to do anything in my classroom without getting them worked up is beyond me."

 

[Pine]

Distorted images floated around in the boy's mind. Some might call the collective sequence a dream, though even for a dream, a good amount of the logic involved was incomprehensibly nonsensical. Aside from the physics of people entering new rooms by walking up the wall, children eating the donut tires of a police car and house elves delving into boiling cauldrons at the end of a rainbow, there did come a certain point where a basic premise for the story line was established. Upon Darius' entrance to the fray, the crowd went wild, some exchanging babies from having thrown them so high. Wobbling in his steps in such a manner that it made the most intoxicated man look as though he was walking in a straight line, Darius hiked up the tile wall of a confectionery and straight to the bathroom, causing some faceless girls to screech and rush over to the softball field up the north face of the wall. Arriving before a urinal, his clothes disappeared from his body, running in the opposite direction, and just as he was relaxing for a morning urination-


Darius' head shot up and he crossed his legs tightly so as to prevent any sort of accident, the last of the Augamenti spell spraying his hair. I'm awake! I'm awake! He would have reassured his unseen assailant of this had the abrupt movement not brought on the most powerful series of pulsating in his head yet, racking him over in another rush of agony. Darius placed his head between his hands and pressed hard against his temples, as though to physically suppress his headache, but to no avail. He waited for the waves of pain to come to pass, his eyes reddened and stinging even more so now than before.


Finally, he felt confident enough to untangle his legs from one another and lift his head back up, making a slightly pained "ah" as he did so. Darius turned carefully to look over his shoulder, expecting a stern teacher to be looking down at him crossly with an emptied bucket in her hand, but this was not the case. Instead, he was greeted with the sight of... nothing. There was another table of Gryffindors seated behind him, but all their backs were turned to him. Now thoroughly confused, he turned forward again, running his hand over his head to brush off the small pool of water that had gathered over him. Perhaps I underestimated the window culprit. He's craftier than I could have imagined... and really doesn't want to let me sleep. For the moment, he was especially thankful for the wavy, somewhat frizzy texture of his hair that seemed to repel water and made his job of drying himself significantly easier.


He blinked, his hand clasping the back of his neck now. There were mountains of food piled before him now. Had that been there before? His memory was fogged a little from having barely been awake at the time and the misshapen that had been his dream state. Darius rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm, tracing his lower eyelid when a eyelash came dangerously close to falling in, before he finally connected observations and realized what he had been waiting for was sitting right in front of him. Well, more like diagonally to the left, but this didn't stop him from acting like it was. Darius reached over unceremoniously, lifting slightly from the bench and not caring too much at that point that someone was catching a face full of his armpit as he snatched for the coffee. He settled himself back down and filled his goblet to the brim, the beverage puffing a cloud of steam in his face, filling his flared nostrils with a flood of scent that he inhaled deeply, making his mouth water.


As though something of a placebo effect, he had begun to feel better even before he had taken a sip. Darius blew over the cup, having the steam roll away, before he couldn't wait anymore and grabbed the glass by the stem without bothering to find any sweetener, tilted it towards his lips and slurped noisily. His tongue protested somewhat, forcing him to put the glass down, but the burn wasn't anything too severe, and he managed to convince himself it was all worth it. In an effort to quell this somewhat, he grabbed for a piece of toast, lathered in butter, and crunched down on it. He relished in the caffeine that was safely replaced in his system now. Within moments, his headache had ebbed away to such a degree that only a faint throbbing remained, in turn uplifting his spirits.


This process continued as he filled his second cup, leaving the boy feeling like himself again in moments, though a few irritated veins were still apparent against the whites of his eyes. Looking around him now, he felt alarmingly alone. The students farther down the bench on either side of him were already engaged in conversation, and in any case, he already knew them. And that's just boring. The boy looked down the narrow aisle between his table and the next. It didn't take long for his eyes to land on the first victim of his social antics for the day. It was another boy that he was only vaguely familiar with, as any of the kids that were at least third years always managed to spark some degree of recognition from him. As just another face that had floated by in the past, he was faintly surprised to see him opting against using any article of clothing for the school uniform, instead clad in a plain shirt and jeans. Without any hesitation on his part, Darius waved him over, his inviting smile soon concealed by his goblet as he drank in yet another cup.

 

[Trignome]

I really should have kept better track of the time, Yevgeni wistfully mused, as he slowly surveyed the rows of crowded tables in search of an open seat. It was now mid-morning, and steady beams of light came from the large, arched windows, their glass panes lit bright white by reflection of the sun. The vaulted ceiling absorbed the chorus of raucous voices and sent it back down in an ear-shattering cacophony. For the other students, the reverberated noise was simply a blur of background fuzz to their own, much more important conversation which they needed to shout to each other because it was so important. But that meant the echoed effect increased in volume, which caused the students to converse even louder, until eventually, the mess hall was exploding with a freakishly violent tempest of garbled sound. Yevgeni’s eyebrow twitched in irritation, as his auditory acuity gathered a swarm of unnecessary phrases that flittered about like mosquitoes in his ears.


“dog ate it, so I tried to use a Puking Pastille to” “the coffee creamer? It’s right next to Jason’s” “but he said no way I’d ever date you, and I was all like, whatever, I didn’t really want” “where’d you get your shoes, I love them soooooooo much. They are soooooooo cute” “good mornin’ babe. How’s ‘bout a lil love on the lips?” “and I hear she talks to crows” “about some Quidditch practice today, if you’re up for” “then the clasp broke, and my bikini”


Slowly massaging his temples, Yevgeni stumbled down the narrow aisle he was currently in, and desperately wished his peers had the decency to whisper their conversations. He hated having to listen to people’s mindless drivel, which was part of the reason why he usually ate breakfast early in the morning. Scowling at the obliviously chipper expressions on most of the students, Yevgeni silently promised himself that he’d wake up extra early tomorrow morning. There wouldn't be anybody in the mess hall at 5, right? Just to be safe, I’ll come down at 4:30. As he nodded to mentally affirm the decision, he suddenly realized he’d walked past a break in the row of tables without even noticing.


Turning back towards the exit, he was assaulted with a musty smell as a Gryffindor boy seated at the table to his right brushed back a mane of shaggy, blond hair. Yevgeni swallowed hard, suppressing the urge to gag as a horribly sharp, prickling sensation skittered up his nose. A sudden wave of nausea slimed down into the pits of his stomach, which roiled and churned with the vigor of a bubbling cauldron. How much Axe did this guy use? Breathing shallowly through his clenched teeth, Yevgeni continued down the aisle, fiercely avoiding the strange expressions that the people at the table were giving him. Not caring that he was leaving his escape route behind, he strode through the bustling mess hall, still rowdy and blaringly noisy. He’d have to risk the deafening sounds for now, because nothing was going to make him walk past McSmelly again.


With that conviction in mind, he slouched past a group of students in the throes of lively, morning banter and glanced about, wondering where the next exit was. “Is there no end to this? I’m a stranger in hell,” Yevgeni muttered, as he brushed past a bespectacled girl pouring over a heavy tome of runes. She looked up briefly, a sleepy, dazed expression clouding her dark-rimmed eyes. Must have pulled an all nighter, studying for some pointless test. Shaking his head once in exasperation at the girl’s pitiable behavior, he looked up just in time to see a boy at the table ahead wave at him. What? No, not me. I don’t know that guy. Yevgeni stopped in the middle of the narrow aisle, taking a moment to look at the people around him.


A few paces back was Dopey, but her face was already buried in her textbook; she was no doubt asleep, judging by the slump of her shoulders. Then, was the guy trying to get the attention of one of the Gryffindors sitting near him? Yevgeni turned slightly to his right. A flirtatious couple, two guys arm wrestling, a group of Quidditch players hovering over a sheet of paper, and a little boy scrambling madly across the table after his pet toad. None of them seemed to be acutely aware of their surroundings, certainly not enough to notice a quick wave from a student several tables down. Frowning perplexedly, Yevgeni tilted his head towards the row of tables to his left. A trio of girls giggling over a magazine, a boy absent-mindedly flicking away the bread crumbs on his plate, and a tall, gangly boy apologizing profusely to a dark-haired, heavily-pierced girl trying to wipe up a puddle of juice. They all seemed preoccupied as well.


Finally, Yevgeni looked back at the boy that had waved in what he now realized was his own direction. Furrowing his brow in a mildly incredulous expression, he gave the student a quick once-over. From what he could see, at the distance he was at, the boy was wearing Gryffindor attire, the red and gold color bold against his light skin tone. The majority of the boy’s facial features, besides the very edges of his wide smile, were blocked from Yevgeni’s view by a large goblet. His face was long, with a dark, woolly mess of hair on his head. Yevgeni began to walk down the aisle of tables again, slowly this time, as he mentally sifted through a list of people he knew. Still not recognizing the Gryffindor in the least, he reviewed the list again. He’s not my father, he’s not my mother, he’s definitely not Aunt Karina. A teacher? I don’t think that’s possible, considering where he’s sitting. There was no more time for Yevgeni to search his mind for an answer, as he was just about to arrive at the edge of Waver’s table. I should probably say hi. He slowed down a bit when he was almost directly in front of the boy…


…then proceeded to walk past the Gryffindor without so much as a glance in his direction. Nope.

 

[kibou]

Feeling the bench wobble as someone sat down next to him, Aimon turned his head around quickly to see who it was, expecting and hoping that it Munro. He was not let down, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly as he was greeted with a cheery "Good morning!" and big grin.


"Hey." he said simply, his delight doubled as in the next moment food appeared all along the tables.


After surveying the selection, Aimon picked up some toast and began to meticulously spread cinnamon butter on it, making sure that no corner was missed, and that there was a fairly even thickness so that no bite would have too much or too little. When he was done, he plopped it on his plate and grabbed a nearby pitcher. He held the pitcher near his face so he could inspect its contents, before putting it back where it was before.


Orange juice with that amount of pulp should be illegal.


Aimon grabbed the next closest pitcher, but even before getting it near his face he could tell what it was from the heat and the strong smell. Coffee.


Deciding that maybe he would be adventurous, he poured some into his goblet. As he held it up to his face he hesitated, before carefully taking a sip of the burning hot liquid.


Immediately his face screwed up into an expression of immense displeasure as he forced himself to swallow the foul substance.


"Uggch."


Alright, so black coffee was a terrible mistake, his goblet still had coffee in it and he really didn't want his juice tasting like coffee, and now that students had filled the tables there weren't any extra goblets he could just take.


He took the pitcher of coffee again and filled his goblet about two-thirds full, put the pitcher back down. Spying a clear-colored pitcher with milk a ways down the table, he stood up out of his seat to grab it from the center of the table without bothering to ask any of the joyfully chatting Hufflepuffs, and bring it back to where he and Munro were sitting to fill the rest of his goblet. Then he dumped at least a tablespoon's worth of sugar in, and swirled it around.


Taking another sip, he decided that this was much more stand-able, and set the cup back down.


"How was your summer?"


With the volume of everyone else's conversations he practically had to shout his question as he picked the toast back up and took a bite.

 

[Pine]

The boy had just turned his head as Darius had started to wave, clearly surveying the area. This reinforced the idea that he was doing a good thing by offering him a place to sit, which made his morning seem somewhat more fulfilling. When he managed eye contact in the next moment, the other boy stopped in place, his expression appearing largely unchanged from what had already been a relatively impassive state. The boy's mouth did not break into a grin, nor tug down into a frown, instead turning his head to look around him.


Darius was not surprised by this development. With as often as he ushered other kids to be in his company, their initial reactions were generally to assume that he meant to indicate someone that he had at least spoken to before, so it was something he was used to at this point. He responded in kind, making his waving gesture more animated, parting the goblet from his lips briefly to nod at him and bring his hand even more briskly to his face before suckering the edge of the cup back into his mouth.


By the time the casually dressed boy looked back at him, he had already relinquished the cup and swapped arms, as his other had begun to tire from the repeated, vigorous motion. A shadow of a doubt began to eclipse on him, the other boy more clearly expressing his perplexity now as he stared forward, but such a negative emotion was instantly wiped from his conscious when the other boy had started to move up the aisle once more and towards him.


Darius downed the final drops of his third cup and finally set it back down, the circular edge of it rotating a little before flattening against the table. He beamed as he continued to gesture towards himself, the seat before him, any sort of motion to indicate that his table was empty. Catching the slight shift in the boy's pace, the beginning of a cheery greeting had already formed on his lips. "Hhhhhhhhhhh." The word caught in his throat as the other boy passed him, making the phrase strangulated before it could pass up his vocal chords and consequently leaving him to exhale the syllable awkwardly.


The motion of his waving shifted, almost a little too practiced in his transition of making it look like just a passing greeting, the likes of which would have only managed to fool individuals who had chosen to look over at that moment. Darius maintained as wide of a grin as ever even as he felt his cheeks heating up and his ears flaring red. He attempted to play the rejection off casually, chuckling lightly and finally allowing his arm to uncomfortably fall behind his head, plucking his fingers through the curls of his hair. He just... thought I was waving at someone else. That's... definitely what just happened.


Darius' head tossed furtively to the people surrounding him, and while most of them were too preoccupied with their own conversation to notice that particular interaction that had not transpired or had the courtesy to turn the other way, one girl was looking straight at him and not bothering to conceal her giggling. Ah, perfect. He had not thought it possible, but contrary to that belief, his blush had intensified and his cheeks were approaching scorching. In an effort to give himself some time for his dignity to recover, he turned back to the breakfast before him, avoiding all eye contact, and finally grabbed a fistful of the sweetener packets to properly prepare his fourth cup of coffee that he wasn't even sure if he would drink.

 

[Athens]

Delilah had seen the awkward interaction, and rolled her eyes walking over to the Gryffindor table to sit next to Darius. "Well he totally made you look like an idiot, now didn't he?" She mused taking a small cream filled pastry from the tray on the long table and biting into it.


She smiled savoring the taste of the flakey treat. All too soon it was gone, but she didn't attempt to take another.


Instead she looked around the Great Hall smiling briefly at the Ravenclaws staring at her with disgust. Of course, after 5 years of being at Hogwarts she'd gotten used to the rudeness of the purebloods who claimed that muggleborns like Delilah were tainting their school, and plotting how to take down the purebloods.


It was foolish.


But at times she could still feel the scar on the bridge of her nose burning and searing with an unbearable pain at the memory of the torment and pain they had put her through that day.


She looked up at the seemingly endless ceiling of the room, smiling faintly. "So on a scale of 1 to Oh my God, kill me. How awkward do you feel right now?" Delilah asked as if she was a game show host, holding an imaginary microphone up to Darius' face. "Also, I must ask, did you get my little wake up call?"


She asked with a raised eyebrow. "Honestly, if I hadn't woken you up, I could have sworn you would've slept straight through breakfast." She mused, sighing with longing as Owls brought mail to the students.


Why couldn't her parents been wizards? Why couldn't at least one of them had magic, or at least been a squib? She though wistfully, grinning halfheartedly when some poor Gryffindor down the table got a really embarrassing and nasty Howler. It was obvious the kid had put off to the last minute to open it, because its screaming contents could be heard as loud and clear as a foghorn from all ends of the Hall.

 

[Pine]

Darius had kept his head lowered right up to the goblet to aid in blocking out the world around him, keeping his focus zoomed in on its contents as he swirled the creamer into the mix, not caring about the billowing steam that was only serving to contribute to him overheating. The creamer had begun to spiral inside the cup, creating a light curve that gradually overcame the dark contents surrounding it and-


Darius jumped a little, his head snapping to the side as a girl plopped down next to him, nearly leading to the liquid inside the goblet to slosh out. He stared at her, bewildered by her sudden appearance, before a forced smile stretched his progressively inflaming face. "Ah, not his fault. He just didn't know I was trying to get his attention," he chuckled, though the statement sounded even less convincing now that he was saying it out loud.


As hypocritical as it was for him to feel as alarmed at this girl spontaneously sitting down and conversing with him, her presence only served to fluster him farther, in spite of the color gradually draining back from his face. Darius' confusion was further spurred by the blue and bronze accents on her otherwise dark uniform, as there was no apparent reason for her to be seated next to him when the were spots plainly available at the Ravenclaw table, if not to harass him, which she was doing more or less. Beyond that, his attention was drawn to a nasty scar that stretched across her cheekbone and onto her nose in a most gnarled fashion.


He tore his eyes away in an effort not to stare, still managing to hold up a rather nervous grin just before she addressed him again. "Um..." A scale of one to 'oh my god, kill me'... is there something beyond the 'kill me' phase? Darius decided it was best to keep that to himself, lest the girl may catch a whiff of how she was contributing to his discomfort. In any case, her next question only managed to further his confusion, causing the smile to finally dissolve from his face. "What?" he responded automatically. How could she have possibly been responsible for opening up the curtains? She would have to know the password to get into the Gryffindor and managed to get by all those boys...


It finally dawned on him what she was referring to as she continued to speak. "Wait, that was you?" he asked incredulously. Before he could speculate too much further, a Howler was heard plainly just down the length of the table, commanding everyone's attention if only for a moment, but soon he was looking back at the girl again, managing a laugh again. "Yeah, I didn't sleep too much... What did you do?" Darius had never even noticed this girl at the time of him being woken, as no one had stood out among the throng of students.