| Details for A Typical Night in the Ravenclaw Commons |
| Summary: | A short dialogue discussing the previous day's Quiddich match and future plans. |
| Date: | 1940-11-23 |
| Location: | Ravenclaw Common Room |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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It is well into the night at Hogwarts, classes long since over and dinner quickly becoming an afterthought. Many of the Ravenclaw students have already gone up to their dormitories to get ready for bed, but not Brody. Instead, he is busy at one of the tables in the common room. He has a long wooden shaft that has been sanded smooth and polished to a high gloss floating above the table before him and he is leaned forward on his elbows, examining it closely.
Rachelle glances up from her book, realizing it is quite late. She chews lightly on her lower lip and glances around the common room, noting the absence of the majority of their house. She glances over to the boy sitting near one of the other tables and puts her quill down softly. She runs her fingers lightly through her hair, a seemingly nervous tic as she felt very aware of the absence of the majority of the Ravenclaws. She couldn't help but watch Brody though, as he examined the shaft, curious as ever of her fellow students, but still too shy to actually ask.
Reaching into the back down by his feet, Brody pulls out what appears to be a large collection of very thin and supple twigs. With a sigh he begins to affix them to the shaft hanging in midair before him. As he places each stick to the shaft, he points his wand at it, whatever soundless spell he casts apparently securing the twig to the shaft. One by one he places and then moves on. It is
slow progress, but progress indeed, and it wouldn't take long for Rachelle to figure out he is making a broomstick.
Taking a deep breath, Rachelle closed her book, which was clearly one of the Ancient Runes texts. She sighed and adjusted her robes, before deciding to actually ask him something. She mustered up the courage and stood up from her seat, holding the book across her chest guardedly. Her soft footsteps would have warned Brody of her approach. "W-what are you working on?" She asked, knowing the question was obvious, but still too nervous to come up with something better. She really hated taking the initiative in conversations but was more curious about why he was making a broom, rather than studying. But she didn't want to be rude.
Brody looks up from his work and flashes Rachelle a warm smile. "I am working on a broomstick… is it not obvious?" he asks. "If it isn't then I must be doing something wrong," he jokes as he continues on with his work. Brody tips his head toward one of the other chairs and says, "Go ahead and sit down, if you want. You're Rachelle, right? Just a year behind me? I've seen you around."
Flushing silently at the joke, Rachelle sat down in the chair, still clinging tightly to her book. "..um…" She muttered, not quite able to get the words out. She glanced at the floor and mumbled, "It tis…an' I am." She smiled softly and looked up at him again, studying the boy. "Brody right?" She asked him softly. Adjusting the book, Rachelle wasn't sure how to explain what she meant, but tried anyway. "I mean…W-who's it fer?" She managed to force her words out.
Brody chuckles again as he continues affixing twigs to his the handle of the broom he is making. The two older Ravenclaw students are sitting at a table together, Brody working, whilst Rochelle chats with him. It is fairly late into the night and most of the Ravenclaws have gone to bed. "I am in my seventh year," he says in reply to Rachelle. "I would like to be a broom maker when I graduate, so I am working on my prototype now. I hope to have it done by the time I graduate, so I will have something to market."
It's not unusual for Eutheria to be awake late - she much prefers night to day time, and she regrets being cooped up in the Ravenclaw dorms while everyone is asleep - but she wouldn't dream of costing her house points. Still, it'd be not surprise to anyone who stays up late, regularly, to see the diminutive little first year make her way down from her dorm and into the Common Room - a stack of books in her arms, along with a quill and parchment.
"Sounds grand," She said softly. "I'm not sure I've got much in the way of plans. Nuthin' like that anyway." She added, glancing over her shoulder absently noting the first year walking in. Shifting uncomfortably, Rachelle set the book down on the table. "I-It looks lovely." She commented, mostly getting over her immediate reservations in talking with the lad. Her eyes still darted toward the floor but mostly she would focus on the broom that Brody was working on. "S-sorry if I'm being a bother." She said afterward, not wanting to distract him too much. She never was good at social situations.
Brody nods slowly as he continues working on his broomstick. Brody and Rachelle are at one table, Brody's broomstick he is making floating above the table as he constructs the tail. Glancing across the room toward Eutheria as she enters carrying her books he calls out, "I saw you at the game! Glad you made it!" Glancing back to Rachelle he says in a fairly chipper voice for it to be so late, "No bother at all, Rachelle."
Eutheria freezes in place with her books held to her chest as she is addressed, looking at Brody uncertainly, her gaze shifting to the broom he is working on, and then back again. "I, umm- well, it rained," she announces by way of explanation. "I can go out in the rain. Usually."
Susan Carmody steps through the door of the common room wearing her warm cloak and carrying a rolled up scroll in the crook of one arm.
Brody looks around at Susan as she enters and waves her over toward the table. "Must be a late night party for Ravenclaw…" he says absently, gesturing Eutheria over to join them as well.
Rachelle jumps a bit as Brody spoke up louder, startled by the change in tone. Her expression changed quickly from one of surprise to confusion and then quite obviously something dawned on her. "T-the Quiddich match." She mumbled. "I completely forgot since I was after a bit of studying." She glanced over to Brody and back to the others and gave them a shy smile. She shifted in her seat and resisted the urge to run her hands through her hair.
"It was, umm, very exciting," Eutheria offers quietly as Rachelle professes she forgot the match. "Umm. Do, uhh… is it unusual, someone getting hit by lightning like that? I mean- I thought it was unusual. Lightning strikes. She is alright, isn't she? That girl?" She moves closer to Brody - though only slightly.
"The curfew chimes just rang," Susan tells Brody quietly, coming over to the table where he's at work and peering at his project. After doing this, she gives sober nods to the other girl sitting there, adding to Eutheria's comment, "I don't think I've ever seen it happen before. Quidditch happens in all weather, but that's… awfully unlucky." Her voice carries a lilt of an Irish accent and nods, too, at Eutheria. "I haven't heard anything. Does anyone know?"
Brody shrugs his shoulders lightly as he says, "I heard some of the Quidditch players saying that she has been down on the pitch every chance she has gotten since they healed her. Practicing. You could tell she was getting kind of mad out on the pitch when the Bludgers kept nailing her, but I can't say that I blame her."
Rachelle glanced between the two and whispered to Elspeth, "Someone got hit with lightning?" She asked, curiously. She glanced at the others and wondered if she was taking too many classes, but only for a moment.
Eutheria nods. "During the Quidditch game. I'd never seen anything like it. I thought she was dead," she explains solemnly. "But- well, if she's been practicing, I guess she must be alright. I'm glad."
"She did seem like some practice could do her good," Susan admits judiciously. She doesn't sound as if she's trying to be mean, just stating the facts. "It was very plucky of her to keep trying, though, and honestly, how many Quidditch players can say they've ever been struck by lightning? If she keeps on playing, she'll be notorious in a year or two." The corner of her mouth turns up at Rachelle in a friendly manner, and she sets her scroll on the table while unhooking her cloak's clasp so she can hang it up.
Elspeth looks up from her book when Rochelle asks her the question and nods. "Higgins, Hufflepuff's beater. I am not sure she was being hit directly, I think it was just that it was being so close to her. She fell off, but she was caught, and was being alive when she was taken to Madam Spleen." She closes her book as she hears Susan, marking her place. "Almost time, then. Maybe it is being lucky for Higgins that her brother is not being here anymore. After making sure she is alright, he would probably be teasing her all the time."
Brody continues to attach the tail twigs to the shaft of his broom with his wand. He has made it about halfway around, giving the broom a very odd appearance, with half it's tail missing. His eyes shift to Elspeth as she speaks before returning to Susan. "What do you got there, missy?" he asks of her, nodding with his chin toward the scroll.
Rachelle gives Elspeth a shy smile at the last quip. She adjusts her robes again absently and runs her other hand along the book on the table, listening intently to the other four, trying to follow both conversations at once.
"I- it looked like she got hit, but I guess you probably had a better view of it," Eutheria murmurs quietly. "I'm, umm, glad you could help her," she adds, hugging her books a little tighter. She really doesn't think she's going to be playing Quidditch anytime soon. "Oh, and congratulations on winning the game." There's the slightest hint of questioning in her voice - as she's not entirely sure if that's the right thing to say.
Rachelle chews on her lip and looks to Elpseth, idly wondering the same thing that Brody had asked, then answered aloud as well. "Glad to hear she's okay." She offered as the others continued to converse. "Ravenclaw won?" She asked, her tone sounded more as if confirming rather than that of surprise.
"Being honest, it was all so bright that I am not really sure if she was hit, or if it was close. I was just thinking that I am not sure she would be surviving a direct strike," Elspeth says to Eutheria with a little shrug and then smiles, and nods that it was the right thing to say. "Thank you. I am hoping that we can keep it up, especially as I was hearing that someone was acting a little big for his breeches afterwards?" she directs a 'look' to Brody, although there's a bit of amusement there, too.
Lifting a brow, Susan unfurls half of her scroll, tipping it towards Brody. "Astronomy homework," she replies cooly. "Ursa Minor and Major this week. I haven't memorized all the names of the stars yet, but it's getting there." She glances at Elspeth as she ribs Brody, and the corner of her mouth turns up again, as she rolls up her scroll. "Oh, what was that about then?" she wonders. "Cheeky."
Brody glances up from his work toward Elspeth as the 'breeches' are brought into the conversation. As his eyes meet Elspeth's, he offers her a grin and a bit of a shrug as he says, "Malfoy and Black needed to be brought down a notch or two. I guarantee you they were sitting up in their stands talking about how the lot of us shouldn't be allowed on the field being a bunch of muggle borns and half-bloods, and how they were doing us all a service even subjecting themselves to watching us play. It makes me sick." Brody's voice has taken on a bit more passion as he shrugs. "I probably did let my excitement get the better of me though… But it was fun, none the less." Turning his attention back to Susan, Brody shrugs in reply and grins. "Call it what you will. I think it made a statement."
As the older students talk more among themselves, Eutheria retreats to an empty table, setting down her book, and parchment and quill. She should start working on her notes for the next chapter. It never hurt to stay ahead. Right?
Rachelle blinks as the others discuss the match, intently listening, but not really finding a good time to ask anything, she couldn't help but agree that the two were nothing but trouble. She still recalled her first years dealing with that very issue. She mumbled under her breath as well, "It's too bad they can't study as well as they can act the dosser." She glanced over to Eutheria as she sits at the other table. Taking a breath she was just glad to let her mind clear up from all the studying today. "S-so w-what happened?" She stuttered out quietly when there was a pause in Brody's tale.
"It is only bringing them down a peg or two if we win," Elspeth says mildly to Brody, giving him a little grin. "Slytherin is going to be tough, this year. You can believe that Malfoy is taking his position as captain seriously. While they may be putting us down for not being pureblood as they are," her book on the table is suddenly very interesting as she looks down to the cover, "they are not going to be underestimating because of our blood status." Considering it was her presence, a muggleborn at the Malfoy's hallowed Christmas Party, that caused so much furor and a certain Slytherin to now be persona non grata in his own house, one can be sure she knows what the Slytherins say about her and them.
Brody shakes his head and says, "It would be doubly good if we were to beat them, but for someone to stand up to them on a public stage, is just as much a victory in my book. Small victory, though it may be, I will take it where I can get it."
"Well, I hope you do beat them," Susan chimes in seriously. "Not just for the score, though that's important too, of course, but you placed a challenge, everyone saw it. It'll be much better if you can follow it through with a win." She grins. "But we're undefeated yet this year! It's encouraging." They've played one game thus far. Hey, still undefeated.
Eutheria keeps an ear on the other students' discussion as she opens her Charms book and brings reading - one finger tracing over the words to help her keep her place. She's not entirely sure who exactly they're talking about - but she imagines they must be difficult to deal with, and she'd be better off steering clear entirely.
Rachelle glances between the other two, apparently she spoke too quietly and she decided against saying anything again. Instead she glanced at the cover of her book and sighed. This was going to be a tough year. It already had been. She cocked her head to the side, her golden hair fell over her shoulder in a smooth cascade.
Elspeth says, "I am hoping so, too," Elspeth says, giving a look over to Rachelle and trying to look a little stern at the mutter, but she can't. She grins slightly, and then nods. "Well, it is being after curfew time for me to be going on a patrol. I better not be finding any Ravenclaws roaming the halls." Her voice spells dire things for any she catches. She gives a flick of her wand, stacking her books on the table, and then with a grin, she gives an extra flourish and charm on them, just in case anyone decides to touch them while she's gone."
"See you, Elspeth," Susan lifts a hand to wave the Head Girl off, taking her Astronomy homework and nodding to everyone else still crowded around the table. "I'm heading up to bed. Have a good night, everyone."Rachelle absently waves to Elspeth and glances at her book and nods. "I-I think I might have to do the same." Her voice carried lightly. Standing up she adjusted her robes once more and picked up the book, hugging it tight. "G-good luck with your broom Brody." She offered.
Brody nods his head at the departing females and says, "Goodnight you three. I think I am going to burn the midnight oil and work on this broomstick a while longer." And he does, likely spending most of the night awake and working, rather than sleeping as a good boy should.