Absit Omen RPG

It wasn't really that Gwenna hated Herbology. As far as classes went, time spent in the greenhouses was usually relatively tolerable since it involved things like digging around in dirt, wrestling with Venomous Tentacula, and collecting foul-smelling stinksap from Mimbulus mimbletonia. But the third year student was feeling particularly grouchy after she'd gotten detention for threatening to pull off another student's earmuffs when they'd been attempting to repot some Mandrake seedlings. Even after she'd protested that she'd only meant it a little, Professor Prewett had been unrelenting and assigned her to two weeks' worth of shifts assisting in the greenhouse as punishment.

She was in the process of clomping back to the castle, dragging her feet to leave muddy footprints on the path behind her, when  an unexpected movement near the rose gardens caught her eye. Gwenna paused, squinting cautiously towards the flower patch.

She recognized the older student, Charlie Sinclair, from some of the joint year Care of Magical Creatures classes. Sinclair wasn't bad -- she was one of the friendlier older students, by and by, and not nearly as obnoxious as some of the know-it-all girls in Ravenclaw -- but seeing her standing there, her back to the path and fully engrossed in what she was doing, was far too tempting to let slip by.

Sucking in a breath, Gwenna found her footing, and then quietly crept closer...and closer...

"GRARRRGHLERAAAR!!"

Letting out a horrible roar reminiscent of the Mandrakes that had gotten her in such trouble, she leapt at the Hufflepuff girl from behind as if to attack.

Of course it had to be Professor Storm.  Gwenna eyed the ancient professor as he appeared behind them, unimpressed at his lurking.  She'd been suspicious of his intentions ever since she was a first year, and just because he didn't outwardly appear to have tried to overthrow the Ministry yet, it didn't mean that the evil Defense Against the Dark Arts professor wasn't actually trying to murder them all.

Still dripping wet, she'd held her head high as she'd trooped along with the others into the antechamber.  After all the professors yelling at her to put down her wand when she hadn't used it, she wasn't about to cast a spell to dry herself off so that they could shout at her again.  Besides, Gwenna thought, shivering in her wet robes while she waited for Professor Storm to deign to join them outside, making innocent people stand around and freeze to death while they waited for an unjust punishment to be decreed from above probably counted as some form of child abuse.

Finally, Professor Storm joined them, looking just as sinister as always.  Grant spoke up first, her voice hoarse, and Gwenna shot her a dark look.  It was her housemate's fault that she'd gotten in trouble to begin with, and now she was saying that they both deserved detention?

But Professor Storm was in no mood to discuss it. 

"Ten points apiece for Gryffindor," he informed them harshly, "and detention this evening. Report to my classroom at seven."

Gwenna eyed him through the rest of the lecture, her lower lip curling.  Years ago, she'd assumed that detentions with Professor Storm would at least be exciting, an excuse for him to practice all sorts of horrible dark magic on his helpless charges while they screamed and screamed.  She'd since been awoken to the unfortunate reality that his inflicted punishments mostly consisted of writing essays and scrubbing things with toothbrushes.  The complete lack of torture was astonishingly disappointing.

Finally, they were given leave to go.  Gwenna shot a nasty look at Greer Grant, rolling her eyes as she turned to slink back into the Great Hall.  Another Friday night ruined as she was doomed to spend countless boring hours scrubbing things with toothbrushes, and it was all her stupid housemate's fault.

If it wasn’t bad enough that Grant had knocked her on the floor and called her stupid, now Gwenna’s stupid classmate seized on Gwenna’s distraction to throw her book bag at her stomach.  Gwenna doubled over with a loud oof; it took a moment for her to catch her breath again.

The teachers kept yelling for her to drop her wand, but she hadn’t even been holding one!  Angry and humiliated, she dumped Grant’s book bag on the floor in a pile, hoping that she’d break something in the process, and held both her hands up over her head, just like a Muggle robber might after being apprehended.

Professor Onuris had demanded to know what had happened while she’d had the wind knocked out of her.  One of the little green-clad first year girls spoke up, and Gwenna shot her the nastiest look she could muster.

“That’s not true!” she snapped angrily at the Slytherin first year.  What did she even know?  She hadn’t been here!  “You’re just saying that because you’re mad that my dad arrested your dad!”

Gwenna was furious now: mad at the teachers, who couldn’t even see that she wasn’t breaking any rules by using a wand for hexes; mad at dumb little Sulwen Reid, who didn’t even deserve to be at Hogwarts if she was a liar like her criminal father; and mad at stupid Greer Grant, who had ambushed her and called her names when they were supposed to be dorm mates. 

She pointed a shaking finger at Greer, her voice quivering with emotion. 

“She knocked me on the ground, and when I told her she should apologize, she called me stupid and said I was whinging too much!” she announced loudly.  “And she hit me with her book bag!”

Gwenna was in the process of snarling and trying to bite down on any of Greer's chompable body parts when the blast of water hit her fully.  She let out a shriek, twisting back, and then redoubled her efforts, attempting to lunge at Greer's shoulder again while the girl was distracted so that she could finally sink her teeth in.

"Wands down, everyone, now," an authoritative voice commanded behind them.

Gwenna, who wasn't holding a wand, gave one last attempted nip at her roommate's fingers before finally twisting away.

Professor Onuris had asked who had started the fight, but the stupid Hufflepuff sixth year who'd come over hadn't even seen the entire thing.  Gwenna was too angry to let Greer Grant get off the hook; too offended to pretend like there hadn't been a fight.  Hogwarts code of silence be damned: she wanted the instigator of this indignity to get in trouble.

"She did it!" she exploded, pointing a wavering finger at Greer.  "She pushed me off the bench! I didn't even do anything!" 

She was shaking with the pure indignity of it all.  Gwenna had been minding her own business arguing about Inferii, and then her fellow fourth year had knocked her on the floor and called her names.  And now she was in trouble with Professor Onuris, who taught one of the only Hogwarts classes that she actually liked!  Glaring at Grant, she bared her teeth at the other girl again and then snapped twice more in her direction, as if warning her what would happen as soon as the professors turned their backs.

Everyone clearly cared that Gwenna had landed on her arse, judging by how many of their housemates were staring at her.   The teenaged witch's face was bright red now, humiliated by the attention that she was getting.  First Greer Grant had knocked her over, and now she'd moved on to accusing her of whinging and calling her stupid in front of the entire Gryffindor table.

As if she even knew!  She'd been gone so long that she was barely even a Gryffindor! 

Gwenna knew that fighting wasn't allowed, especially not in the Great Hall when they were in full view of all of the professors, but she also wasn't about to back down to someone who pushed her and called her names.  She let out a low growl, fingers curling into fists, just as Grant managed to yank her book bag free and nearly stumbled into Gwenna in what clearly had to be the last straw.

"People suck," a voice cut in tentatively from behind them, apparently trying to calm the tension, but Gwenna was past the point of letting anyone else intervene in this particular battle.  She gnashed her teeth at Grant, just like a zombie readying its attack, and then snapped twice in her dorm mate's direction, as if she were preparing to bite the other witch's nose off.

"GRARRRGH!" she roared, and launched herself at her housemate.

The normally chatty Gryffindor table had quieted down quickly, with everyone's attention focused on the exchange between the two girls. 

"Then why did everyone say you did?" Gwenna shot back, hot-tempered.  Embarrassment was starting to turn her face red; now everyone was staring at her, like they'd all been complicit in whatever Greer did that had resulted in her sprawling on the floor.

It wasn't fair. She scowled.  She hadn't been doing anything, just minding her own business and arguing with an older student, when her dorm mate had decided to make her look stupid and knock her onto the floor.  Even if she hadn't meant to, she still should have apologized.

But Greer clearly had no intention of apologizing.  She stood up and began to shove everything into her bag, clearly intent on leaving.

Gwenna huffed at her.  "You don't have to be such a jerk," she said testily, hugging her arms against her chest.  "If you want to push people and lie about it, maybe you should go sit with Slytherin."

“No, they’re like zombies,” Gwenna Trevelyan said vehemently, scowling at the sixth year Gryffindor who was sitting across from her.  Younger student or not, she considered herself Gryffindor House’s resident expert on Inferii, and she wasn’t about to cede the argument, even if it had gotten her banished to the end of their long house table so that no one else had to listen to her argue.

There had been chatter rising throughout the Great Hall, but Gwenna paid it no attention.  Forcefully, she jabbed a finger at the gruesome-looking black and white illustration in their textbook, which showed the head of a man with sunken, deadened eyes and a lolling tongue. 

“You don’t know that they don’t eat brains,” she said firmly.  “And who knows?  Maybe no one’s seen them ever eat brains because no one’s ever thought to offer them any — ACK!”

Like the end of a line of dominos, the student on her right suddenly crashed into her.  With no one on her other side to take the force of the impact, Gwenna found herself tumbling off the bench and sprawling onto the floor.

“HEY!”  In a second, she had bounded back to her feet, looking around angrily for the culprit.

There was an uncomfortable shifting and shuffling around the Gryffindor table.  Finally, a space seemed to clear around the middle, and someone pointed at Greer Grant.

Gwenna gaped at her dorm mate.  Greer had left after her first term at Hogwarts, and no one had seen or heard from her until she’d come back to school at the start of the month.  Now everyone knew she was a werewolf, which was pretty cool, except she still didn’t seem like she wanted to make friends with anyone.

Scowling, she stalked over to her dorm mate, looking as if she didn’t know whether she wanted to cry or shout. 

“Why’d you do that?” Gwenna demanded indignantly, crossing her arms against her chest.  “That was mean!”

Gwenna had been stewing a little over being told she was wrong, but she found herself listening to the story, fascinated.  This sort of potions lesson, with stories about injuries and war and death, was much more interesting than simply trying to mix a bunch of ingredients together because their professor said so.  The Gryffindor sat with her chin in her hands, clearly entranced.

As the professor began to give them instructions, she sat bolt upright in her chair.  Okay!  This time she would get the wing question right.  She immediately began studying the wings, trying to select the ones that were slightly wider at the base, like the professor had said.

As she glanced around the room to see if anyone was ahead of her in the process, she noticed Frank Sellaphix peering about as well.  Gwenna shot him a dirty look, hunching her arm over her workspace to protect it so that he couldn't see how she was sorting the wings.

She was...not in trouble?  Gwenna's brows knitted together as Professor Onuris began to speak, his attention focused on Frank.  Usually, Gwenna had been the one on the wrong end of a lecture: at home, at school, and nearly everywhere in between.  This situation -- standing there as her classmate was sternly scolded for endangering her -- was not a predicament that she had experienced before.

She shifted awkwardly next to Frank, not sure if she should feel smug that the Ravenclaw had gotten in trouble for nearly making her mess up, or embarrassed that he was crying. 

As her classmate tearfully apologized, her eyes darted over to him, and then she glanced away again, shuffling her feet.  Was she supposed to say something?  Accept his apology?  Or was she supposed to be serious about the situation, like Professor Onuris?

Gwenna gave a noncommittal shrug, her gaze flickering to Professor Onuris, as if to check in with the Care of Magical Creatures professor to make sure she was doing the right thing.  Seeing Frank in tears made her feel worse than when her little brother started to cry.  She desperately wanted to go back to feeling sad about the poor bees.

Gwenna eased the wobbly frame back into place before ending the spell.  She'd been doing so well until stupid Frank Sellaphix had distracted her!  Only the professor's praise and the five points she had earned for Gryffindor in front of Mairead and the other fourth years stopped her from scowling.

She stepped back towards the other students as the bees began to swarm around their hive again, mouthing a silent 'Sorry!' in the direction of the poor, sad insects.  Even if she was proud of getting to show off in front of the older students, she still felt bad for helping to take away their honey.

At least Professor Onuris was pulling Sellaphix aside to have a word with him.  But Gwenna only had a second to feel smug before the professor called for her to join them, too.

Was she in trouble, too?  Her brows knitting, Gwenna looked at Mairead, and then looked back after the professor and Frank Sellaphix.  Frowning, she obediently followed him back to the gazebo, trying not to glare at her fellow third year student who had nearly made her mess up in front of the whole class.

Still no sign of Noah.  Had he made the train?  Gwenna huffed, finally tearing her attention away from watching the door.  Either her friend was onboard somewhere or he wasn't; she'd likely see him at the Welcome Feast once they arrived at school.  If he wasn't looking for her, she wouldn't waste time looking for him.

Aoide's question pulled her back to the conversation.

"I'm from Exeter," she said matter-of-factly.  "We've lived in London for years, though.  Near Hammersmith," she added, as if all of the first years in the train car were surely familiar with the city's geography.  "I went to a Muggle school there before starting at Hogwarts, but Hogwarts is loads better."  For one, there was magic; for another, it meant she got to escape from her overbearing parents and go adventuring.

Why had she rushed to the front?  Gwenna blushed.  She wasn't sure what a veela was, unless it was some kind of very blond elf, but she rolled her eyes at Noah nonetheless.  "Your dad thinks everything will eat his soul," she hissed back at him, kicking her feet under the desk.  She sat in the back during classes like Defense Against the Dark Arts, where she wanted to have her back to a wall just in case Professor Storm got any bright ideas and tried to kill them, but in classes with less evil professors like Potions, she liked to sit where she could wave her hand and easily get attention to be called on.

Especially now that Potions was being taught by a Legolas look-alike.  Gwenna quieted down immediately as Professor Darkfall began talking, looking between the two sets of wings that he held up with interest.

The Girding potion sounded exciting.  If they learned how to make it properly, maybe they could use it to stay out exploring the Enchanted Forest all night, and then still make it to classes the next day.  It had been a few days, but Gwenna still hadn't forgotten the warning that Headmaster Greyfriar had given them at the Welcoming Feast.  Sooner or later, she was determined to find a way into the Forest.

Sellaphix had gotten to answer the first question, but Gwenna was ready for the next.  When Professor Darkfall posed it, her hand immediately shot up.

"Those are the fairy wings, right?" she asked, pointing to the delicate wing that he held in his right hand.  "They're a little bigger, and they look kind of like a rainbow, if you squint at them."  She squinted to demonstrate. 

Already, this was shaping up to be the Best Class Ever.  Not only had Gwenna been allowed to gather honey with the fourth years, but now she was getting to help Professor Onuris demonstrate.  She listened attentively to the professor's instructions.  Once the hive was loosened, cast a levitating charm.  She nodded earnestly and stepped closer to the hive, holding her wand at the ready.

The bees, who had been more of a theoretical presence a few moments before, had started to rise around them in a swarm, unhappy that she was threatening their space.  It was a little nerve-wracking to have them get so close, but as Professor Onuris had said, none of them seemed able to touch her. Gwenna squinted at them as they buzzed around her head, trying to pick out a Glumbumble from the yellow and black mass of bees. 

Here, standing so close to the hive, she almost felt sorry for them.  Poor little bees, who had worked so hard to make their honey only to have it all taken away.

"S'il vous plaît," said Professor Onuris, and Gwenna bit her tongue, focusing on the role she was supposed to play.

"Wingardium leviosa!" she said, with a swish and flick of her wand.

The lid of the beehive wobbled for a moment, and then one of the frames floated straight up, hovering above the top of the hive.  Gwenna kept her wand pointed at it, concentrating on the spell to keep it floating in place.  The bees were still flying around her, occasionally making darting passes towards her face, but having something to focus on made ignoring them a little easier.

"Hey, sorry!" someone called loudly behind her. 

Startled out of her concentration, Gwenna jerked back, making the frame wobble in the air.  Scowling, she re-focused on her spell, trying to get the frame to hover steadily in place again, and then shot an angry look over her shoulder in the direction of whoever had caused the interruption.

Gwenna had been ecstatic that she'd been given the okay to trade places.  She quickly found a fourth year student who was less than enthusiastic about participating in the first round of their Glumbumble excursion, and convinced them to trade assignments.

As she'd been delayed in tugging on her suit, she'd been one of the last to get her head tapped.  Gwenna hurried behind the group to the second gazebo, trailing a step behind the other students but clearly not wanting to be left out of the excitement.  When Mairead nudged her, she blinked.

"What?" she asked, looking back to see what the commotion was about.  Seeing who it was, she shrugged.  "Oh, that's Sellaphix.  He's --"  Strange was really not quite the right word to describe Frank, whom she didn't really mind, even if he did sometimes spend too long thinking of a different answer or try to find exceptions to things that were common sense.  "Unique," she finally settled on.

At Mairead's second nudge, she nodded eagerly.  "I'll do it!" she called, stepping forward towards hive number one.   But then, unsure but not wanting to seem uncertain, she paused, glancing back at Professor Onuris as if to check with him.  "Um.  Just like we talked about in class, right?"

Potions was one of the classes about which Gwenna had never been quite sure how to feel.  On one hand, it seemed like it should be very similar to Muggle chemistry, which she loved.  She'd guilted her father into buying her a chemistry set once, but her career as a world-renowned chemist had only lasted about a week until her mother (who completely lacked any appreciation for science) had taken it away after she'd managed to explode something in the kitchen.  From then on, chemistry had been banned in the Trevelyan household.

Potions, somehow, was not nearly as fun.  Gwenna loved cutting things up into very small pieces, concentrating and peering over them to ensure that they were all exactly the same size, but all the rest of potion making -- waiting, counting the number of times she stirred something, following endless directions, waiting, and trying to remember which ingredients she needed to add in which order -- was simply boring.

Still, they had a new professor this year, and maybe he would make it more fun.  He smiled at them as they entered the room, and Gwenna's face flushed.  She hurried up to claim a desk at the front, elbowing another student out of the way.  He looked a little bit like an elf from Lord of the Rings, Gwenna thought, eyeing Professor Darkfall as she slid into a seat.  She'd never really had much interest in Legolas before, but now, suddenly, she could understand a little bit more why some of the older girls at school had clung to folders and rucksacks with his face on them.