Hufflepuff Common Room

[Sir Spazalots]

I have fallen for one who can see the future,
I have fallen for one who knows my past,
I have fallen for the one who will know if we will last

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗

Austin walked into the Common room. He smiled as he finally saw Yuan. Walking over the third year sat down. "Did you skip the feast?" He asked. He had not seen the seer at all during the feast and wanted to ask him what he had meant on the platform. "So are you going to tell me what you meant?" He smiled at the older boy, his icy blue eyes looking into the dark sapphires of Yuan's.

╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

Though I may never know,
What he may know,
I still want to stand with him

 

[Firefly_Wanderer]

The ghosts of my future: Grog, Austin

That which dances through my mind: Just let me know who you are

Swirling within me: Content

Yuan smiled when he heard the familiar voice of Austin. He met the younger boy's gaze easily and couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Well why should I attend something I've seen several times already?" Yuan asked still smiling. Being a seer had it's perks. Of course things might have gone differently then what he saw but who knew. The boy looked to be a bit more comfortable in his skin this year and that was nice. The Prefect remembered what it was like his own first two years at Hogwarts till Xenos broke him out of his shell.

"I meant exactly what I said Austin. It's good to see you in the flesh and not in my dreams. I should say visions but to me they are the same. You've been popping up more frequently over the summer." The older Hufflepuff answered. Grog croaked softly at Austin his wings flapping a little in pleasure as his master started scratching between them. The little thing was so easy to please.

For you see, each day I love you more.

...Today more than yesterday...

...and less than tomorrow

 

[Sir Spazalots]

I have fallen for one who can see the future,
I have fallen for one who knows my past,
I have fallen for the one who will know if we will last

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗

Austin looked at Yuan. Hearing that he was a subject of the Seer's visions, he blinked. "So you've had more visions. And of me..." the third year said. What had he seen? Austin thought. He blinked and heard a sound around his ankle. Meow. Austin looked down and smiled upon seeing his new cat. He bent down and picked up Rusty. "Hey there boy" he said petting the year old cat. "How you liking the castle?" he asked the purring feline.

╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

Though I may never know,
What he may know,
I still want to stand with him

 

[Pale Mist]

first year - hufflepuff
▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬

allen w. rhoddes

▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬
muggle born - wizard raised

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.”
– Leonard Bernstein
“Now, somehow, in some new way, the sky seemed almost alien.”
– Lyndon B. Johnson

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

￤￤
Allen sleepily stepped down from the boy's dorms, sleep still in his eyes. He had some free time before his beginning class that day and for some reason or another, he awoke much earlier than would be the norm.
In his dreamy haze, he had somehow managed to dress himself in his school attire sans his dark robes. He was instead carrying them under his arm along with with a few school books and his own personal reading material. On his arm however, was perched his massive great grey owl.
It hooted restlessly at Allen's lack of attention, nipping at his white hair to gain it. Allen could not care less whether his feather pet was allowed in the common room or not. The boy had little choice in the matter of bring him down or not; Poe had flown onto his bed in the morning (waking him) and refused to leave until Allen entertained him. Allen could only assume the bird was lonely and bored.
Flopping onto a squishy armchair near the smoldering fire place, Allen pushed Poe off his arm and onto his lap where he proceeded to strong his large feathered face.
"What do you want, eh? Waking me at the crack of dawn-" his words droned away as he yawned loudly. ￤￤

 

[Unknown Apothecary]

Lennox woke in the early morning to finish some homework on Transfiguration. It was as planned. Sort of. He ended up dozing of late at night so this was his body's way of saying that something needed to be done. Then again, he was always awake at this time of day. His appetite wasn't aroused usually and just liked to read a book or gaze at the fireplace. Today was homework. The boy could just smack himself for his stupidity. He had been spending less time on homework lately. Not good for him. At least his body was used to early mornings or he didn't know how he could deal with this stage of prorastination.

Occupying a table near the far edge of the common room, he heard footsteps and looked towards the staircase. When the shadow was seen stepping down, he took his eye back on the peice of parchment in front of him. Lennox had already donned the usual uniform with his robes resting on the back of his chair. It seemed the same for that boy coming down. His hair was most peculiar. White hair wouldn't be considered natural at his age and after a glance, the roots seemed much darker than the rest. Maybe dyed? Who knows. He had his transfiguration to finish before breakfast in the Great Hall.

Another thing caused distraction for him as he set to finish it. Accompanying the boy was an owl. Seeing people with owls rather made him jealous at times. His parents wouldn't allow him to have one. Too much responsibility they say. The only thing he was able to take care was fish. Until his grandma put chlorine in the fish tank. Beetle to buttons spell! Think! Turning his head to the parchment in front of him, he adding the finishing touches to his paper before he stole any more glances at ayone or anything around the very distractful common room.

 

[Pale Mist]

first year - hufflepuff
▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬

allen w. rhoddes

▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬
muggle born - wizard raised

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.”
– Leonard Bernstein
“Now, somehow, in some new way, the sky seemed almost alien.”
– Lyndon B. Johnson

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

￤￤
Allen lazily flattened and played with Poe's feathers, yawning every so often. the great bird did not seem content with the halfhearted attempt at petting so her began nipping at Allen's fingers lightly, but with clear displeasure.
Once his beak accidently nipped harder, Making Allen wince back and fell a slow stream of blood from his finger. His dark eyes glared and he let out a harsh sigh.
"I was petting you, bird. Why did you bite me?" Another sigh emitted from him, "Go hunt or deliver mail or something." Allen groaned, waving his arms away, shooing the owl away roughly.
Poe hooted aggressively and flapped his wide wings at him in reflected shooing-manner. With another threatening n** at Allen's nose, he rose into the air and flew awkwardly towards the nearest table. Another boy was sitting at it but he seemed to be trying to finish his studies.
Ignoring the fact, the owl landed right in front of the boy and hotted eagerly, stretching towards him begging to be petted.

"Poe! Le- get out! Stop bothering people!" Allen rushed over, excusing him and his owl as he picked up the Great Grey and carried him to the window where he flew away in an angered huff. Landing on the tip of a nearby tower, threatening to fly back in.

"Sorry, sorry bout that. Blasted bird. He didn't rip your paper or- or scratch you or something, did he?" Allen turned back to the boy, realizing it was not a student he recognized. Not a first year, apparently. Sitting down he offered an apologetic (and still sleepy) smile. ￤￤

 

[Unknown Apothecary]

His train of thought left without him as it was interrupted by an owl. Eyes widened in surprise as he was taken back. Forgetting the other boy's presence for a moment, Lennox went ahead and granted the bird's wish. He didn't get to stroke it for long for the younger boy ushered the distraught owl out of the common room. While he did so, Lennox hand remained in the position it kept while it was petting Poe. An elbow lay rested on the table with his arm up, his hand slightly curled. It wasn't until the boy had come back did he put his hand back down, his silver eyes following him. Poe's feathers felt smooth and soft at his touch. That was the first, well second time he had ever petted an owl. The first was at Diagon Alley.

With an understanding nod, he looked down at the table. The boy remained unharmed and the most the 'blasted' bird had done was slightly rumple up a peice of his parchment. Oh well. His professor would deal with that, not him. But it did bother him slightly. Flattening it out with his hand, Lennox looked up at Allen, following his actions. It seemed that he wasn't an early riser like him and tried to muster a friendly smile. "No, everything's fine," Another hand stroke to flatten the parchment. "What kind of owl is he?" The boy intruiged, already establishing that the owl was a boy.

Was it? It sure looked like it. Then again, nearly all animals looked like they were of the male gender. If there was just some sign indicating their sex, it would make things a lot simpler for him.

Taking a moment of birds, the second year studied the boy in front of him. It didn't make it as suspicious as before now that he had a reason to talk to him. He could look at him all he wanted. No, that sounded wrong. He shouldn't be even thinking like that. There were no harbored feelings nor impulsed heart races. Why would he even think of it like that? The boy's hair was as peculiar as it was when he saw it from across the common room. His eyebrows did not match the hair on his head so it was presumed that it wasn't natural. Nor were his eyes red.

Speaking of red eyes, he had met one back in the day. Ha. Back in the day. Was he really old enough to be saying that? Anyway, he had met an albino girl his age when he was much younger. She seemed like a procelain doll. So fragile yet so free. Such a nice bundle of spirit. Lennox had barely noticed nor remembered her just now. He always saw it as normal seeing it at a young age, he mused. Then again, throughout the course of his early life, there weren't very many people donning the color white.

By this time, Lennox had stopped rummaging with his parchment now that it resumed it's old stature before the owl came. Well not exactly, there was a slight crease but there was nothing he could do about that. To his right, on top of the table, lay an open bag that lay all his things. Looking at the table, most of his papers had occupied it, leaving no space for his company. With a diligent effort, he cleared most of his mess back into the bag. A little paper slipped out, tight from all papers tucked in. It was a paper that he had been working on for a while. It had to do with a spell he was working on. It was most peculiar, from his point of view, to be creating up new spells at his age but there was a lack of feeling that he was missing that needed to be filled.

That paper was elongated slightly. On it was a very neat and very precise drawing of the keys of a piano. It took several trials to get it to be that neat and close to the original thing. That paper was the closest thing he had to practicing a musical instrument. There weren't any pianos in that castle (none that he had found) so he had to make do with paper. Rather sad isn't it? He didn't want to forget how to play however while studying at Hogwarts. That's why he had devised a plan on creating a spell that would somehow allow notes and music to be played on this simple piece of parchment. When he would have a succesfull attempt, he was unsure but it best be soon. It was hard to determine if what he had pressed was the right note when he couldn't hear it playing.

{ o.o.c. Wow that's a lot of ranting... }

 

[Pale Mist]

first year - hufflepuff
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allen w. rhoddes

▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬
muggle born - wizard raised

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.”
– Leonard Bernstein
“Now, somehow, in some new way, the sky seemed almost alien.”
– Lyndon B. Johnson

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

￤￤
Allen smiled again, a bit sheepishly, at the knowledge that his bird had caused no harm.
"Poe's a Great Grey. Big ol' bird." he added, muttering a bit and glancing out the window where he had stuffed the creature out just moments ago. His small, light yellow eyes were still on him and he was ruffling his feathers threateningly.
Allen and Poe, regardless of their annoyance with each other, were quite seriously the best of friends. They were just so awfully similar. A trait that often made Allen's father laugh and point out. Poe had been his owl, but he had handed him down to Allen on the arrival of his Hogwarts letter as a congratulatory gift. Even before the large bird had officially belonged to Allen, they often could be seen together racing and playing. Poe was incredibly affectionate in his own, rough way. Exactly like Allen. It was their incredible similarity that caused them to always be so close and loyal to one another, as well as what threw them into argument after argument. Even if Poe was just an owl - he had an attitude.

These sudden thoughts swam in Allen's head as he turned back to Lennox, sitting at the table across from him. Only a heart beat had passed and over a dozen memories had slip past his eyes. Snapping from the thoughts and mussings, Allen noticed Lennox was also engaged in his own daydreams and thoughts. That slightly unfocused, over-bright glaze that often overcame a person when they were deep in thought - it was on Lennox now.
With mild curiosity, Allen watched as the sharp, bright thought that Lennox was mulling slowly shrank in his eyes until it was almost gone. A smile stretched on the boy's features. ￤￤

 

[Unknown Apothecary]

Lennox looked back at the boy, giving a small nod, his mouth shaped into a small 'o'. After some time, he could notice himself count how many times he had blinked in the waking seconds. Not that much but there was something in his eye. Lightly rubbing his eye with one hand, he squinted to look at Allen. "How long has he been in your family?" He asked, continuining to rub on his eyelid. Rubbing it only made it even more irritated and so he tried to let it be which only made it in exchange, even more irritated. With one final rub, he stopped interacting with his eye altogether. If his eye turns red then so be it. He wasn't going to spend his owl time scratching his eye in front of a person.

{ o.o.c. Real sorry leaving you like that! Got busy with school! }

 

[Pale Mist]

first year - hufflepuff
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allen w. rhoddes

▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬
muggle born - wizard raised

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.”
– Leonard Bernstein
“Now, somehow, in some new way, the sky seemed almost alien.”
– Lyndon B. Johnson

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

￤￤
The question made Allen think with a curious frown stretched on his lips. With a bit of a shrug he shook his head. "Can't say. He was my dad's and ever since I can remember, he had Poe. But he can't be older than five." Just as he was about to turn around and glace over his shoulder, he realized how many times he had done it and stopped himself. If he glanced at the bird too often, the thing might think it was okay to fly back in.

Focusing instead on thinking of Poe rather than looking at him, he did not seem to be that old of a bird. He was still in his full color with only slight lightening of age. Allen had first come into the family at six, so it was possible Poe was older than five. Allen wished he could ask his dad now that the question was up in the air.
"Anything wrong?" He asked in a sort of thoughtful state as he mildly noticed Lennox's eye-rubbing. The boy quickly ceased it, however, leaving it slightly red from the contact.
"You have a pet?" Allen finally inquired with a friendly smirk. ￤￤

 

[Unknown Apothecary]

As Allen presumed talking, Lennox made some finishing details on his parchment before adding it to the collection that was in his bag. He didn't want to forget about the homework that he set out to do. While it may come off as rude, well he wasn't going to get yelled at for that manner. It also eased his mind. Finishing the darn assignment made him focus more on the boy rather the parchment he was supposed to finish the night before. A hint of curiousity couldn't remain hidden in his face with Allen's explanation. His dad's had Poe since he could remember but was no older than five. His mind must be playing tricks on him. He wasn't always quite bright. It took him several moments to have an inkling of just what Allen was thinking of. By then, he was too scared to ask something so personal as that to someone he barely knew so he just kept quiet that was accompanied with nods of understandment.

Apart from his itch, nothing was wrong. Except for the bloody fact that it was still there. "No I'm fine," the boy replied. When the conversation started to dwindle in his direction, he felt his chest squeezing his insides. Just relax. No harm in having a conversation. No matter how awkward you are. "Ah no, my parents won't let me have one. Not up to the task yet," He explained, his voice lazy and dissapointed. "I did have some fish once though. Until my gran killed them by putting chlorine in the tank." It was follow by a slight chuckle and a tint of embassement. That was just great. Now his granny would be marked as a fish killer. And he was the grandson. Just lovely.

 

[Pale Mist]

first year - hufflepuff
▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬

allen w. rhoddes

▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬
muggle born - wizard raised

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.”
– Leonard Bernstein
“Now, somehow, in some new way, the sky seemed almost alien.”
– Lyndon B. Johnson

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

￤￤
Allen hadn't noticed Lennox's attention switch back to his parchment. He did not take note of it, and even if he had, he would not have found it in anyway insulting. Rather, he would have been interested in the prospect of learning some advanced magic from the second year.
His mind was slightly else where however at the time.

"It aint that big of a responsibility. There's an Owlery and they feed themselves. Owls are quite easy to keep." He encouraged, feeling that the older boy's parents were being slightly shortsighted in this aspect. His cheeks puffed out childishly as he offered the possible advice for persuasion. "Fish? We only ever had Poe and a bunch of plants around the house from some family friends. They were serious Herbologists." Allen added fondly, thinking of the vines and odd appendages of the flora.
When Lennox brought up his grandmother, Allen finally lost himself and snorted in surprise. His face flushed with embarrassment at his outburst right after.
"Oh, sorry I shouldn't laugh. Sorry, it is just so...funny." He said in a tight voice as he silently began to laugh and try to hold in another snort of amusement. He would have made the same mistake, he realized. He had accidently watered the house plants with vinegar on more than one occasion. ￤￤

 

[Unknown Apothecary]

Lennox pursed his bottom lip up as his head came into agreement. What Allen said was plausible. It certainly seemed like it was easy to take care of. But his parents were muggles. Owls were not domestic animals for all they knew. What if other neighbors saw him bringing in an owl with the daily prophet? Utterly absurd. He may be easily persuaded but not his folks. That would need some soothing over. "Are they really? My parents are exceptionally common. I don't know how they would react if they ever saw an owl carrying a dead rat for dinner," He retorted, unknowingly bestowing his pessemistic attitude in the air.

It wasn't that he just tried to shoot down just about every idea others threw at him. It was how he was thought. How he was raised. The parent's of his turned him into a paraniod and gloomy state with all the precautions and whatnot that had to be dealt with during the course of his life. "Herbologists? " His tone of voice ringing slightly at the word. Always very curious with plants he was. Studying plants in the muggle world was plenty but learning about others during potions only put fuel in the fire. Perhaps kerosene. Gas is bad.

The boy's sudden burst of laughter caused his ears to redden but the tension he gave in the air simmered away. It was the icebreaker he needed. Soon laughing a sort of silent laugh. His shoulders moving visibly up and down but his mouth making releasing sound only once in a while."It's fine, I find myself laughing when I look back into it anyway." Lennox stopped his chuckles for a moment to reveal a geniune smile that he hadn't been really able to conjure throughout the convesation.

 

[Porcelaine Ivory]

• ＭＡＧＩＣ ＩＳ ＭＹ ＳＴＲＥＮＧＴＨ • ＰＯＷＥＲ ＩＳ ＭＹ ＷＥＡＫＮＥＳＳ •

Bailey slipped through the opening to the common room carrying her new Nimbus 3000 over her shoulder. Her palms were so rough from all the extra practice she had been getting lately, that blisters no longer seemed to accumulate. Whether that was a good thing or not, she didn't care to know. Despite the visible exhaustion on her face, Bailey's mood was sitting at a much higher level than usual, her cheerful attitude radiating outward as she pressed further into the room. Originally aimed for her usual seat next to the crackling fire, her chocolate brown eyes caught sight of a silver-haired boy chatting leisurely with her new chaser. Feeling like a good talk, and having recently been abusing her prefect qualities by practically living on the Quidditch pitch, she approached the two younger students with a hefty smile.

"Good day. Or should I say good morning?" Her gentle face glowed attractively as she hinted to the look of tiredness worn by the first year whom she recognized from this year's sorting ceremony. She realized that it must still be rather early based on the fact that it had still been dark when she first began her early morning practice.

Inviting herself to take a seat across from the two students, Bailey carefully laid her broom atop the two chairs on her right before turning her attention back to the chatting children. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I? My apologies, I was only aiming to engage in a bit of friendly conversation. Been rather unsociable lately." Her words rolled together with ease as she eyed the growing flames in the fireplace, the heat having a somewhat drowsy affect on her.

 

[Pale Mist]

first year - hufflepuff
▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬

allen w. rhoddes

▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬
muggle born - wizard raised

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.”
– Leonard Bernstein
“Now, somehow, in some new way, the sky seemed almost alien.”
– Lyndon B. Johnson

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

￤￤
Both their chuckling became controllable after a longer period of self-creating giggles. But once they could hold it in without bursting, Allen felt he could pose his replies to Lennox's previous spoken thoughts safely.
"Well, that is true. The muggle lot aren't used to it at all, are they? It isn't all that bad though. No real mess." Allen's mind wondered what living with Muggles was like, having that seemingly complete opposite so close to oneself. It intrigued him. But at the same time, the thought petrified him.
"Yeah. My old man had a few friends and distant blood that had a lot to do with Herbology and research and what-not for the Ministry. Had a lot of weird things laying around the house. I always found the subject very interesting." The last sentence had trickled away into a sheepish mumble.
The study of those peculiar flora had hit a string in his heart at a very young age, and ever since then, every oddly-colored leaf and moving vine brought a genuine shine to his eyes.

Allen offered the kind Hufflepuff boy a smile of his own, straightening up at seeing how much of a real smile it was. Allen hadn't noticed the small smirks hadn't been real until he saw this one now spread on the boy's face. It made Allen replay their entire conversation in his mind. Lennox did not seem unkind. Far from it in fact. Just unsure. Allen's smile stretched further still as he thought this. ￤￤