Absit Omen RPG

Kelvin relaxed when he walked into Rover's and the band hadn't started.  It looked like they were about to start.  He wasn't late he told the little voice in the back of his head that was insisting he was.  Just cause he'd planned on being there earlier didn't mean he was late.  His father had taken him out for a belated just the two of them birthday dinner.  Kelvin couldn't exactly skip out early on the dinner, he'd barely seen his dad all summer.

Then he'd apparated to the wrong place, which Kelvin was never going to tell anyone even if in his defense he'd only had his license for a day.

He stood on his tiptoes looking for his friends finally spotting Blake and the others around some tables.  He snaked his way around tables and other groups toward his friends.  Kelvin wasn't sure wasn't exactly sure what Heather was talking about as he joined them, but he was sure of one thing, "I don't think that is in the Head Girl job description.  I didn't miss anything did I?"

Kelvin looked up as Heather tried to reassure him. "Yeah. No.  You're right.  It will never happen," he said, obviously fighting back tears.

At least he wasn't the only one bringing down the overall joyous mood of his friends.  He and Blake were both doing their stereotypical duty as Ravenclaws to ruin everyone else's fun day out. Kelvin also had the added duty of prefect and apparently hopeful head boy to really quash the fun.  He moved toward his friend to...  Kelvin wasn't sure what  he could do, he wasn't really in a place to be comforting.

"Yeah, getting out of here sounds good."

Kelvin smiled a bit when Zeta admitted to changing what she wanted frequently.  He thought she was being a little overly generous with her timeframe.  Then she was threatening to break the priceless artifact and he was grabbing her shoulder to turn her toward the exit.  "Nope.  We're leaving,"  Kelvin directed it at the curators who might have heard as much as at Zeta.  Though he did kind of agree that teenagers, or at least gay teenagers estranged from their mum, shouldn't be looking in stupid magical mirrors.

Special Title Request

Character Name: Kelvin Watkins
Title Applying For: Head Boy
Character Biography: Bio

What Experience has Prepared You For This Honor?:
A hardworking student, Kelvin has been an exemplary prefect and he very rarely isn't ahead in his classes even with prefect duties.

What Do You Think the Most Important Aspect of This Job Is:?
Fairness. Not playing favorites with friends or housemates.  Kelvin takes no joy in others getting in trouble but besides a few slip ups because of crushes he is fair in applying the rules to everyone.  And following the rules for himself.

Tell a Story From Your Past That Has Proven Your Mettle:  
He works hard and has been a prefect for 2 years.  And while he doesn't participate in many extracurriculars he doesn't hide out in the library or the Ravenclaw common room either and is an active presence in the castle.  He errs on the side of respect for authority but will stand up for what he feels is right even if it means standing up to a professor.

Kelvin quieted and paid attention as the curator motioned them forward and explained the process for each of them to look into the mirror.  He didn't recognize the witch which hopefully meant she wouldn't recognize him either, it had been a long time since he'd hung out in the curator's offices with his mum.  He glared at Heather as much for saying his last name as for the joke.  Kelvin glanced at the curator hoping that she didn't make the connection between the teenage Watkins standing in front of her and the Watkins that worked in the museum. Surely she was too busy to accidently orchestrate a meeting Kelvin did not want.

He didn't have long to stew with those thoughts before Heather and Zeta had had their chance to see their greatest desires and Kelvin found himself being ushered into place in front of the mirror.  He'd watched them both have the positive and loud reactions he generally expected from them.  He forced himself to turn and look at himself in the mirror.

Was he taller?  He was definitely taller in the mirror.  And he was wearing the head boy badge.  Sure he'd thought about that mostly in terms of which of his peers would get it.  Mostly with dismay that one of them would get it.  Did he want—

He wasn't alone in the mirror, his whole family was there.  His brother, his father, his mother... his mother with her arm around him and a handsome guy who looked Kelvin's age...maybe a bit older.. who was holding his hand.  He looked a bit like... Blake... or Connor... or Kyson.  At least his mind and heart agreed on what his type was.  He felt tears start to well up though, it was a kick to the stomach seeing his mother accepting him and his boyfriend.  He hadn't realized how much he wanted her to accept him.  He thought he was fine with his new normal.

"Nope." He shook his head trying to clear the emotion, "I'm done."  He walked over to Heather and Zeta avoiding making eye contact with either as he joined them.  He was doing his best to keep control in front of his friends, and an entire room packed with people.  Head boy would be nice.  Boyfriend would be nice.  Kelvin just needed to focus on that. Not the lost cause of being accepted by his mum.  He wiped at his eyes... he was not going to cry.

"It's fiction. It's just fun."  Kelvin paused to gather his thoughts, "They aren't telling our stories.  They are telling their stories in a world that exists inside their own imagination.  Sometimes the real world, our world makes it in, but I think that's just because some of their myths and fairytales have bits of truth in.  Sometimes it's just chance. Though I've read a couple books that I think might have been written by squibs."  But Kelvin had no idea how to actually find out and he liked the books, what if asking around caused problems for the authors with the Ministry.

"Me write one?  I don't think I have any stories to tell.  And I'm not sure if the Ministry would let a wizard write a book for muggles."  Not that Kelvin thought muggles would believe what to them would be obvious fiction.  The only book Kelvin could see himself writing was a history book but he didn't really see himself doing that either.  He liked history but Kelvin didn't plan to make it his life after school. 

"Are you going to write for Witch Weekly?  You could probably go from that to writing books and if you write for muggles there are a lot more of them than us."

Kelvin didn't think that Blake would get too much grief if the Ravenclaw team lost.  At least not from his housemates.  There was certainly an unusual excitement about two wins so far, but beyond Blake and the other players, Kelvin wasn't sure that the quidditch cup was near the top of most of his housemates priority lists. Or maybe that was just because it had always seemed beyond reach.

Kelvin held his tongue when Blake said he may not obsess as much about quidditch.  To Kelvin, Blake not obsessing over quidditch seemed about as likely as Blake focusing on his N.E.W.T.s.  Despite not responding to that unlikely comment, he couldn't keep the skeptical look off his face.

Kelvin looked over at the pair that had abandoned them when Blake waved at them and watched the headmaster descend on them before they came back to the group.

"Quidditch talk or loo, I know which one I'd pick too.  Though if I was going to drag someone off with me it'd be you," he said to Blake, "and then the quidditch talk would follow me." Not that his male friends made a habit of going to the loo together.

Zeta was quick on the draw with her remaining mischief for the break.  "A tattoo?  But you don't know of what?  Shouldn't you figure that out before you decide to get one?"  It wasn't surprising to Kelvin that Zeta would want one though. "Maybe you'll see it in the mirror."

Kelvin snorted when Heather suggested Blake was going to see himself holding the quidditch cup.  Kelvin had no doubt that Blake would see himself holding the Hogwarts quidditch cup.  Really the only question in his mind was how many other quidditch cups Blake would be holding.  Probably every quidditch cup that Blake knew about.

"It was nice that we beat Slytherin for once, " Kelvin's smile turned to a frown before he continued, "Though I'm pretty sure your brothers were trying to kill you."  He might not care a fraction as much as Blake did, but that didn't mean Kelvin didn't have plenty of house pride.  And it sucked when Ravenclaw lost.

“Plan on me still being annoyingly competitive until the end of the year.”

"End of the year?  You do remember we still have one more year.  Are you quitting the team?"  It felt weird even suggesting such a thing.  That'd be like Kelvin dropping History of Magic, no, it'd be like him dropping out, pulling an Ambrose.

Girl things.  Kelvin looked off in the direction Zeta and Meredith had disappeared to and frowned, he wasn't sure that was really the answer to his question.  But he wasn't about to clarify either.  And he was saved from even attempting to by Blake changing the subject.  "I saw my dad a couple times, but my brother's been busy, so I've mostly been by myself at his flat."

"What about... Hey Heather."  He watched her look around, she didn't seem like she'd actually wanted to join them which meant she'd probably come for the girls who were now off dealing with girl things. Kelvin couldn't help but wonder if they even needed to use the loo.  And if that was the case, he kind of wanted to know what they were talking about.

"They should be back soon, assuming the line for the toilets isn't as long as this one."  Also assuming that's why they'd actually exited the line.

"I don't need the extra credit, I'm just here to see the exhibit."  And hopefully not run into his mother.

Kelvin stiffened for a moment when Blake put his arm around him and Meredith.  "At least you can do it.  It will practically be the end of summer before I can."  It really did suck sometimes that his birthday was after nearly everyone in their year.  "As long as I can get there.  I'm not apparating with any of you lot, you'd probably leave half of me behind."

Then there was singing.  Why were they singing?  This was a museum, sure there were a lot of people so it was noisier than usual but still.  They were making a scene. More then they, well he, already had. Right, Kelvin thought, this is why I don't go to museums with my friends.

"Eight at Spellpunk," Kelvin repeated. "Okay."  It would take a much bigger scene to stand out there.  Which meant it was a much better place to be with this lot. Less likely to embarrass himself or be embarrassed by everyone else.  And if the worst happened and they got kicked out, it wasn't like it was the museum.

Thoughts of getting kicked out of the museum were pushed from his head when Zeta was ducking out of line and trying to pull Meredith with her.  "Okay.  Yeah. We'll be right here.  Just you know in line."

Kelvin turned toward Blake.  "What was that?"

"Missing out."

"Doubt it." Kelvin shot back.

He laughed at Meredith's questions about what muggles wrote about.  "Yes, sometimes its that.  Sometimes its completely made up worlds. Sometimes its their world but with magic."  He turned to look at her, "Sometimes its about secret magical communities set in secret magical schools."  The details weren't ever right but sometimes they seemed to get close.  A few times he'd even wondered if the author had a squib in their ancestry, or a wix cousin. Did the Ministry check all the muggle fantasy books?  Was that a job?

"I could lend you some fun ones if you want."  Probably not the one he was currently reading, he wasn't sure he had the courage to lend someone else that one.  "Something short?  I could find you something with pictures."

Kelvin was glad that he'd come on the field trip once he saw the line.  While he liked his friends and some of his classmates, that didn't mean he thought they were generally good company for trips to the museum.  At least on his normal trips, but when there was a line of wondering wixes, he was much more appreciative of not being there on his own.  He was half listening to Zeta and Blake and half cross referencing information in the brochure and the different parts of the exhibit they were slowly passing by.

The history and enchantments on the mirror intrigued him more than what he'd see.  Certainly he was curious. Besides wanting perfect N.E.W.T.s and past for dinner, he didn't really know what he desired.  He wanted to know how the mirror worked.  He wanted to be able to make something like the mirror.  That would be amazing.

But then so would the concert Zeta was talking about. It sounded like fun. Though Zeta didn't really need to rub in her ability to apparate.  "Apparate here, apparate there.  You know some of us still have a few months."  Four months and a day, Kelvin thought to himself.  Not that he was counting or anything.

He rolled his eyes and tried to keep from smiling too much at Blake's teasing.  Or he was until Blake ducked behind him.  Zeta needn't bother trying to smack Blake, Kelvin was all too happy to swat at Blake with his brochure albeit for different reasons.  "I. Am. Not. A. Shield."

Kelvin wasn't sure why several people had told him he needed to go on the field trip.  Like he hadn't already planned on going to the exhibit.  He just didn't need the extra credit and hadn't worried about going on the field trip.

"I don't understand why everyone hates average history," the air quotes around average were evident even if Kelvin didn't actually make them.  "It's fascinating."  At least it was as long as Greyfriar wasn't inviting terrible guests to give a lecture.

"What does a Ravenclaw read for pleasure other than reference books?"

Kelvin frowned at Meredith, "plenty." But he couldn't keep the laugh from bubbling up at reading Witch Weekly.  "I've never read more than an article from Witch Weekly."  It was impossible to avoid some articles from the magazine.  But he'd never willingly read anymore than that.  He wasn't embarrassed by what he was reading though.  Was he?  No. He wasn't.  Not much.  And besides, Meredith read Witch Weekly.

"It's a muggle romance.  About wizards." He said it matter-of-factly, and he hoped with his best 'I dare you to take the piss' expression.

Some pasts are worse than others though, Kelvin thought to himself. "Eh, professors don't really bite your head off if you do what they say."  And other than the few times where professors had pushed him too far, Kelvin always did what was asked.  He didn't really understand doing otherwise.  Which he assumed was why he was a prefect.

"Merlin, I hope the headmaster doesn't do that.  That'd be terrible."  And he'd probably do it. Seemed like the kind of thing the headmaster who hired Malfoy would do. It seemed to Kelvin there would be much more interesting guest speakers with less questionable pasts.  Though he guessed they weren't already employed at Hogwarts.

"I wasn't reading a textbook," he blushed thinking about the book he'd been reading.  It was a romance between two wizards.  Not real wizards, it was written by a muggle. But it did mean that between that and its topic it was less likely to be recognized by anyone else in Ravenclaw.  He'd debated transfiguring the cover but had decided against outright hiding what he was reading.

Kelvin was enjoying a book before patrol. Normally he was trying to finish up whatever work he had left, but considering there were no classes for the next two weeks, he was reading for fun.  Which was why he'd lost track of time and even if he flew through the school there was no way he'd make it to the entrance hall in time to meet up with Meredith to start their patrol.  He hadn't meant to get so engrossed in the book, but he'd needed an escape after the stupidity at dinner.

After rushing up to the dorm to stash the book, he hurried through and out of the common room only to nearly run over Meredith.  "Oh, hey."  Well this meant he wasn't late right?

"I hope not.  Maybe everyone got it out of their system and are going to behave until they get home?"  He glanced over at Meredith when she indicated that she didn't know what the figure had been.  It had been a crude attempt at something like a dark mark, but maybe he was wrong and had read more meaning into the jack-o-lantern.  But what was the point if it wasn't supposed to be a dark mark.  And the professor seemed to react to it in way that suggested he thought it was supposed to be a dark mark too.  Not that Kelvin felt sorry for Professor Malfoy.  He'd read the books and heard some stories from his brother and even without that Kelvin would never be able to muster any sympathy for a potions professor.

Not that Kelvin was one to say all that, well not without being provoked, "I don't know.  He's still a professor."