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Siobhan'Hannah'Grey
Hufflepuff Prefect │ Seventh Year │ Seventeen Years Old │ Single



Pulling Lauretta closer to her, Hannah tried to offer her the comfort that a big sister would. "We can worry about your classes a little bit later," she said in a quiet voice. "I'll help you with explaining things with the teachers, so you won't get in trouble with them." Hannah didn't dwell on the unpleasant thought of having to deal with Professor Hill, as he taught all the Herbology classes these days, but such was the way of things of late.

As the younger girl mentioned her older sister, Hannah easily imagined Linny doing the same for her and Fianna if something had happened to Momma and Da. She advised, "Best thing you can do to help your sister is to take care of matters here, so she doesn't have to worry about you so much; last thing she needs is an owl from the Headmaster asking her about what's going on with you, and we'll make sure that doesn't need to happen."

When Lauretta mentioned her schoolwork, Hannah said soothingly, "We can worry about all that a bit later too; it can wait, and I can help you get caught up."

Siobhan'Hannah'Grey
Hufflepuff Prefect │ Seventh Year │ Seventeen Years Old │ Single



Hannah said confidingly, "My cousin pretty much carried me through my first two years at Hogwarts, and she coached me through OWLs, even though she had her NEWTs to prepare for. I probably would have flunked out without her. It's not the same as your situation, obviously, but this is what family does, they take care of each other; so I'm pretty sure your sister won't look upon taking care of you as a burden."

The Seventh Year added, with more of a serious tone, "I'll do what I can to help you, but I can't make many promises; I have NEWTs this year myself, however, I'm willing to try. I'm on good terms with most of the teachers, but I can almost guarantee you Professor Hill won't let you back in his greenhouses the rest of the term, which means you'll be entering Third Year Herbology at a real disadvantage, and you should know, as well as the rest of us do, how much he hates having students whom don't know their business around his plants, and he's a stickler when comes to his rules. You and your sister may have to arrange for a Herbology tutor over the summer. Professor Powell is a lot nicer, and he'll probably be a lot more understanding than Professor Hill, but he will probably give you a bunch of makeup work, and as long as its completed, he will likely give you a passing grade. The others, we'll just have to see what they're willing to do to help you." Hannah then said with a warmer tone, and a note of her usual optimism, "All we need do is work up a plan, follow it, and you should be out of this mess before finals."

OOC: Probable teacher actions based on conversation with Dia.

"If I must pay for your kiss with lonely tears
Say it's not moon love
Tell me it's true love
Say you'll be mine when the moon disappears”
Sparrow let the last note hang in the air for a moment before whirling around, curtseying to her audience of one, and speaking. She had messed up a few of the lyrics, and she sang it way too fast, but as she and Finley walked from Music Club, Sparrow belted her heart out to this new song. ”This looks like a nice place. I’ve never been up here, but the acoustics are lovely, don’t you think, Finley?”

Sparrow slid her weekend bag--usually loaded with scripts and music sheets but now including a few recipes-- on the ground and cartwheeled. With her cousin August discussing picnic plans recently, Sparrow went straight to thinking of picnics: Wouldn’t it be lovely if she could come up here with Chadwick, spread a blanket, light some candles, and have a lovely dinner, watching the sunset through the bells and singing duets with the lovely acoustics? Yes. That was romantic. Surely that would be good for Chadwick? Lately Sparrow felt like she was failing in her role as a girlfriend. She couldn’t figure out what Chadwick’s ideal girl was, but she just knew she wasn’t there. Wasn’t there yet!

But Chadwick was not here now so Sparrow masked her heart struggles with a carefree grin and flopped down with another cartwheel. ”It’s no hair salon, but would here be fine for you to practice?” She pulled the ties out of her hair and shook it out.

Sparrow was, perhaps surprisingly quite good at staying still when she needed to, and loved being the subject for hairstyle practices. Sparrow simply hummed to herself, ruffling through her notes and holding them up without moving her head as Finley got started, but after a while, she piped up. ”I still need to work on the pacing really. It has a trumpet part though! Would you be willing to play it with me?” She gasped, bouncing a little with excitement at the sudden realization. She should have thought to reach out to Finley earlier! He was a Jazz musician! Of course she should have gotten his help for jazz things. ”WE COULD DUET!” She settled back down and stopped mid-turn, settling for a little clap. ”Whoops, sorry, did I mess you up?”

"Oh... no. I don't really play in front of people. Sometimes at the shop... or where I'm alone, but I can't play in front of people. Sorry."

Sparrow’s entire body sagged in disappointment at Finley’s response. Then a moment later she piped up again. ”What do you mean? You don’t like playing in front of people?” She remembered vaguely that Finley preferred to keep people at a distance-- or at least he didn’t want to upset anyone.--”Why don’t you want to share your music with people?”

Oh! ”Then you’re not a Wren!” Sparrow piped once Finley said he did want to play for people. She beamed, sitting up straight and still again as she listened to the rest of his explanation.

Well, that sucked that he had rude critics.But overall, Sparrow was very pleased by what she heard. Good! She had been worried Finley just didn’t like people, like her brother seemed. Wren was much better now-- he no longer corrected her when she called people his friends anyways. Especially since he had reconciled with their neighbor and his former best friend Nim this winter. She was worried Finley would say he didn’t want to play because he didn’t trust humans as a species and he would have to work through a seven year feud. Or something. But Finley seemed to have the motivation to play to people! He just needed some confidence! This was fantastic! And a different story!

Honestly, Sparrow wasn’t sure how to build his confidence. She always had plenty of it, and she couldn’t think of a character she played that was fundamentally insecure. Maybe shy? Well, she was just going to do her best! ”Well, it’s just as you said,” Sparrow started, as plainly as she could. With each word though, her reply became more animated. ”Music is part of your personality. You can’t stand in front of people and play, but as it is, these critics are stifling your music--stifling your personality. Stifling...you! You can’t let that happen either, right?

“So what if some people hate your music? Them hating it doesn’t mean you have to enjoy it less.

“These critics who say to just stop playing and get out of the way-- okay, that’s their critique and advice. Are you actually going to stop playing though? Are you in anyone’s way by playing?I guess the question is, can you actually stop playing?” She paused, but barely left a moment to respond. The answer was obvious to her: ”No, it’s part of who you are. So you can’t actually do anything about that. So this advice is not helpful. You have to ignore it.”

It would be a different case if Finley didn’t want to play. But thankfully that wasn’t the case. Sparrow adored the notion of a butterfly effect, but she couldn’t imagine losing music to a hater. Music itself! The world may as well stop spinning if she was denied music and stories.

Sparrow changed her tone and cadence suddenly, and repeated parts of Finley’s words back at him in as close an approximation of his voice as she could muster: ”I wish I could play for crowds of people. So what if they hate it? I can’t lose music because without it, who would I be? Music...” A pause as she tried to remember. Ah. Sparrow sighed. ”Music and sighs are all part of my personality.”

Sparrow had examples and ideas of characters to channel bursting to mind now, but she also distinctly felt like she had talked too much for her turn. This was not a monologue, but a dialogue. Her next lines should depend on Finley’s reactions.

“Never be good enough to play?” Sparrow couldn’t imagine such a thing. “Nonsense. Performing has nothing to do with being good at something. It’s just confidence!” she declared. She was trying to think of an example of that but only comedy was coming to mind and she wasn’t so ignorant as to think that was what Finley was aiming for. “Well I guess it’s always nice to be good at what you’re performing...but that just means you need to practice more!”

Before she could think of a proper response, Finley asked if she was mocking him. “Oh no! I didn’t mean to offend! I was just copying your voice but changing the words? Do you not like it when I copy you?” She paused to think about it. Did Finley not approve of her mimicking? Mimicry was the highest form of flattery, she had heard. That, and she had only meant to provide an example in his own voice. Like she was reframing his words. Sparrow embraced weirdness, but she didn't want to offend or hurt her friend. She decided if he replied he didn't like it she would make an effort to not use the Finley-character as she had.

When Finley said she was done, Sparrow leapt up with excitement, admiring the do with a squeal. “I love it! It’s adorable as always! You're fantastic! Thank you Finley!” She was about to sit back down to let him undo it and continue practicing when instead another idea came to mind: “FINLEY! What if you practice here, with an audience of one. We’ll build your stage confidence up! And then when you get more comfortable, we can bring toys and pets and work our way up to people and the music club and then a big stage like the school or a theatre!” Yes, this was a fantastic idea! “Kake has a teddy bear! Mr. Huggles? Mr. Snuggles? We can recruit him and then Kake herself! Duchess Duncan--that’s Wren’s cat--is a wonderful audience. She’s very supportive. Not Wren, not yet. And I have Hestia, she’s very polite. Maybe we can get Ella, or Tori from Music Club? Aire’s been asking for an improv jam session which might be fun! Everyone messes up in those so there’s no pressure and is a good way to build up your confidence! Reblivioakley has a great ear-- I think she might even have perfect pitch?-- so she could make sure you’re in tune. And Aria! Aria’s a musical prodigy, you know. And Nim! He’s also too shy to join Music Club, but he plays at our parties sometimes.We can get Spazz, their cat too! What about playing for the Quidditch teams to boost morale? ….”

Sparrow rambled on. She had more friends, and more ideas for “audience members”. She had meant to just start with herself and maybe a plush or pet, but was quickly getting carried away and would, if not stopped, go on to name half the school.

Finley was sighing again. Did he always sigh so much or was it just her? Maybe Finley would indeed get along with Wren. They both seemed to sigh at her a lot. Sparrow managed to pause long enough to listen to perhaps the most confident thing she’d heard from him: he knew he was good. That confirmed it! It was just stage fright!.Finley didn’t have some deep insecurity about himself and the role of music? It was a breakthrough! Stage fright was understandable. But they could do something about it!

Finley didn’t really like her mimicking. Maybe it was just mimicking him? Maybe she would try impersonations with him later.

She giggled when he said the halo look suited her. Aria was the angel, of course-- Sparrow played the villain and the demon to Aria’s angel. But she was pleased nonetheless.

She launched into a rant when an idea struck her. She was pondering if she could get a group together to fill the Quidditch Stands with song before the final match-- like a marching band! That was a thing schools had!--when Finley stopped her with a shake of his head and reminded her that they were here to start small. He punctuated it with another sigh and frown. Sparrow floated back to earth, entirely undeterred. “No no, you’re absolutely correct. We shall start small. Just me for now. I’ll bring Hestia next time, and maybe Spazz. That’s all for now. ” She took Finley’s hands with an excited smile. “Okay? ”

The next moment she was cartwheeling away. “We start now! Arm yourself, Mr. Finley!!” Sparrow exclaimed, gesturing to his trumpet case with a flourish. She mimicked her cousin’s calm but precise Quidditch-Announcing voice, speaking at a normal speaking volume--which was just quieter than her usual energetic tone. “Good afternoon, Hogwarts! Welcome to the integrated--antegrated--antegurat---first! performance by Ravenclaw’s very own Finley Archer. Let’s give him a warm welcome. ” She switched to her own voice to cheer and clap before settling with an expectant smile.