Thunderstorms (Open)

((OOC: I'd love if someone would join in, as I'm new to the site and I've just been sorted... Therefore I need to make my character bond with someone.

I'd like for a kind character, but a slightly mean one that can bully her would be neat as well. Or a combination, where a mean appears and a kinder chases them away ;P I'll be happy with anything, really. As long as she's got someone to speak with.

Oh and ignore the title... It was quite random.))

***

Walking into the hall made a person feel frighteningly small, and Mary couldn't say she was any different. The roof above bulged and twisted with a darker grayish blue, and thick clouds wandered over it, bearing signs of a thunderstorm ahead.

Frowning she looked at the four neat tables placed through the hall, and she smiled as she spotted the table she had been sorted into earlier. This was indeed her second visit into the Great Hall, but it was just as magnificent as it had been in her first visit.

The young girl tiptoed over to her tablet, clutching a book she'd brought with her from home. She looked down at the title, and smiled gently. The title had almost been rubbed away, although the faint lines of the golden text that had once existed could still be found at the various places. The book was an old version of 'Hogwarts: A history', in which Mary had been reading ever since she got her letter from school. Tentativly she opened the book, and read a couple of lines of how the ceiling of the Great Hall was made.

Closing her book, she glanced over at other students, trying to make out anyone from her own year, who could possibly end up as a good friend. However, every time someone turned their eyes on her, she instinctivly buried her nose into the book again, not wanting to be seen while looking at various people.

The unsocial young girl sat quietly on the bench, and soon her gaze flickered to look at the marvelous windows, the staff table and everything else her eyes could be laid on.

Tshering marched her way into the Great Hall, though there was no one to fan along her walk of pride. As she walked, chin held up in pretentious pride, arms swinging by her sides, she could feel the sneers, the stares fixated on her. She tried her best not to roll her eyes, battling with her heart, mind and willpower.

"Pretentious whore!" yelled a Hufflepuff. She knew her from the Exchange Program, as they had been there together, and it was then that the brunette yelled, "five points off Hufflepuff for insulting a Prefect." Offended, the aforementioned girl starting cursing at her, but hiding her disappointment, Tshering walked gracefully away, with a smirk on her face.

As if rehearsed, the Ravenclaw counted exactly ninety-five steps before gently flopping herself down next to a first year. Damn. She can't be mean to firsties, as much as she disliked them. By the book in her hand, however, this one seemed alright. Brushing her long brown hair to one side, she gazed at the girl before withdrawing a choice portion of roast chicken.

"Welcome to creepy towers, firstie," she announced, though it was heard by none except for her and her intended audience, "I trust you've been settling down well these past few months?"

Mary hadn't really paid any notice to what had happened around her, although heard the call from the other side of the room and shuddered, disliking the way the various people used their tongues. Deeply involved in the Hogwarts History, she barely noticed the prefect that had just flopped down in the seat next to her, and she jumped slightly as she spoke to her.

Genuinly, Mary was frightened of the older students. However, a prefect was supposed to be nice, weren't they? Without really meaning to, her eyes landed on Anna's badge, which had a 'P' engraved in it. She admired it softly, and raised her hand to rub at the locket which had the family initial 'S' ingraved in it.

Looking up at the prefect, she managed to give off a soft smile, trying to calm herself from the shock of having an older student flop down beside her just like that. And judging by the tone of the girl, she definitly wasn't the most standarized prefect. I've always thought of them as proud and perfect. Ironic really, that if you switch the 'r' and the 'e' in perfect, you get prefect. She thought and her smile widened a little more. Nodding gently Mary thought of an answer. "Thank you. Why yes, I've had a good time so far." she said, even though she knew it wasn't all truthful. She didn't have any proper friends within the hall just yet, and she assumed she was viewed as the dork with the book. She did, however, find Anna somewhat friendly. Despite her use of 'creepy tower'.

Tshering cut the piece of chicken she had on her plate. Deftly using her knife to cut the chicken, she could feel the steam rising. The meat inside was cooked, but how cooked? Was it perfection, or overdone? She should have expected perfection, because house eves crafted this divine dish. She took a pre-cut piece of the chicken, and bit into it heartily. The brunette nodded in approval.

"I'm glad you are," Tshering replied, bobbing her head, nibbling into the chicken. She swallowed it once it proved small enough not to get caught in her throat. "If you start eating before your OWLs come around, I suggest you try the chicken," consented the Ravenclaw, gazing darkly first at the book, then at the girl herself, "it is cooked to perfection, and the juices line your tongue quite nicely. The sauce is worthy of Merlin, I tell you. It sets your tastebuds on the sort of fire you never want to get out of."

Her fingertips lined the soft, aged timber of the desk, before swallowing another piece of the chicken. Tapping them on her plate, the Prefect turned back onto the younger Ravenclaw, "If you have any trouble, come straight to me and I will kill the perpetrator's ass." She gazed longingly at her hair, "Do you mind if I braid your hair?"

At lunch break, the Slytherin couldn't help the feeling of anxiousness as she strode through the Great Hall, the eyes of the curious still wobbling on her as if they will never believe the Azkaban story. She stuck her tongue at them with a glare, and carried on, pushing a bit of the first years blocking her way, "Move over, knucklehead! Gobble your lunch or something! I'm hungry!" she screeched, gliding her way through the tables and towards her House table.

Frances stopped, spotted Tshering and another small head of a first year Ravenclaw. Smirking, she walked to their direction, swaying her arms in a fashionable manner with some swag, and called out, "Hey, Tshering! I need to talk to you! You need to help us out here!"

"Sup? First day was rather boring except for Charms," she spoke with much confidence as she sat beside her best friend. Raising an eyebrow at the newcomer and unknown face, she questioned, "Who are you? First year, huh? Well then. Welcome to the darkness. Good thing you're a Raven and with this prefect though. I could have pushed you aside like those bunch of Slytherins over there. Stupid people."

"Anyway," she turned her head to face Tshering and began to fill her plate with roast chicken and poured tons of gravy on it, "Gray and I talked something out. And since you're a goody prefect, we need your help. We saw that Huffles and Ravens work perfectly together. And the Slyths and Gryffs don't go along like you two do. Hell it's been years and years. We need a team-up or something. Your opinion. Go."

(ooc: eye would like to join too!)

Mary nodded, feeling a little awkward about being this close to an older student, let alone a prefect. She smiled slightly, happy that at least one person had decided to give a good chat with her. She chuckled slightly, and smiled widely as she described the chicken. "I've heard the Hogwarts house elves are good chefs. Or at least this book says so." she said and lifted her copy of Hogwart's history.

As silence fell again, she listened to Anna's fork clicking against the plate, and read a little further into her book, before the prefect once again decided to speak with her. She gave a mischievous grin as a reply, glad that she was somewhat safe with such a tough prefect guarding the halls.

Her question, however, surprised her a little more. She'd hardly ever braided her hair at all, and usually let it flow loosely down to her shoulders. She smiled and raised her shoulders slightly. "Why not?" she said, although before she could do a lot else, a Slytherin had bumped down next to the prefect and had started chatting with her. She felt rather frightened at Iris's appearance, although her face remained quite unemotionless. Assuming she wasn't supposed to answer, she realised it would be a while before any attention would turn to her, and decided she'd get herself a plate of chicken, and try it.

As soon as her plate was filled, and she had gotten a good grip on her fork and knife, she cut through the tender meat and smiled at the delicious scent. She opened her mouth cautiously, not wanting to be burned by the hot meal. However, once the food got into her mouth it seemed to explode with flavours, and she smiled softly. The sauce was, indeed, good enough to make anyone hunger for more. And it was just then she realised how hungry she'd been. Tucking in, she soon wiped the plate clean, finishing the meal and throwing a quick glance over at the two fifth years.

"They are, indeed, excellent chefs, especially when the really big feasts come around." She paused to look at the girl's book. "Books don't tell you everything," remarked the Ravenclaw, before watching the girl turn around so she could braid her hair. Placing her cutlery down with a soft clatter on the plate, the brunette pursed as she analyzed the young girl's hair: wavy and long and a volume so unachievable in her lifetime. Her fingers reached out, trailing across her hair, brushing it as she separated it into three, hopefully equal sections.

Tshering smited her brow. "I will not partake in a stupid battle between houses," chided she firmly, eyes locking themselves with the Slytherin's. "One, it's out of my league. Two, I am not getting myself in trouble. I'm a Prefect, not a juvenile delinquent. Three, why do you care? As long as you and Gray get along life should be fine. If people say you shouldn't, then don't listen to them."

It was only then that the Ravenclaw began to artfully braid the younger girl's hair, resting one portion on her left shoulder, the second on her right, the third and final section on her back. She wove the girl's hair like they were pieces of pre-cut strings, careful not to pull too harshly to ignite pain through the girl's vein. Tshering did not want to seem a barbarian, wiping a band of sweat off her brow.

Mary was slightly surprised that Anna, as a Ravenclaw said that books didn't tell everything. Sure, everything isn't in this book... But if I read enough, surely I'll know everything that is to be known? She asked herself, and was rather puzzled as she let the prefect braid her hair.

While she just sat there, allowing the fifth year to stroke through her smooth hair and create the three pieces that would soon become braided into one, she listened to the conversation between the two. She was rather curious at the mention of a battle between the houses, although kept quiet. She had a feeling that the Slytherin girl didn't want anything to do with first-years, and she dearly didn't want to end up as the poor firsties from the Slytherin house. The tales of battles bothered her slightly though. Surely, there'd be no one hurt? She'd always imagined Hogwarts as the safest place possible, despite the stories she'd read in the renewed version of Hogwarts: A history. The tale of the basilisk spooked her the most, even though she, as a pureblood had nothing to fear for such creatures.

Admiring Anna's skilled handswork, she noticed how careful she was and smiled softly. "Don't be scared of pulling a couple of hairs. I normally don't notice it." she said and smiled slightly, putting her old history book onto the table and letting her eyes wander to the nearby students.

((Sorry that it's a bit shorter... I'm at school and I dislike writing a lot in case they look over my shoulder o3o))

Furrowing her eyebrows, the Slytherin looked at the older Ravenclaw with ignorant eyes, as if disbelieving the reply and expected more of help would return to her from her best friend. She frowned, stood up, and said confidently, "Fine. Eye and Gray are just mental people, like you do, who cares more of peace than of hatred and those stuff. Because somehow, we would want a change before carrying out the most stupid things possible in the near future. And fuck Hogwarts. People don't care at all."

She turned to glance at the first year, "And I hope you will turn out to be a peace-maker someday. The world needs it. And if Hogwarts suffered years ago, we surely don't want that to happen again, don't we?" she grunted and mumbled incoherently as she strode of on her way to the common room to spare her precious time studying for her next lesson, "A waste of time to even drop by for a couple of minutes."

Clear that Frances was in a bad mood after torture of her boring first day back in school, she pushed a second year Slytherin out of the way, muttering her favourite curses with a yell, "Woops! A crazy girl on the loose here!"

"Oh my God, Eye!" yelled the Ravenclaw as the Slytherin walked away, "I never said I wouldn't help! I just said I wanted to stay out of trouble!" She rolled her eyes once she knew there was no way she was getting the Slytherin's attention. "Even their founders were rivals," she muttered, mostly to herself, "what makes you think that you can stop something that runs that deep in your house's veins? Idiot."

Tshering bobbed her head when she heard Eye mutter spells at the second year. Clearly, she had no control now, and control over herself, Tshering believed, was something she did possess. The young Slytherin stared up at the Prefect with wide eyes, clearly begging for help. The brunette muttered about going to the Hospital Wing and the Slytherin limped her way there.

After some minutes, it was decided that the young girl's braid was done. To complete it, Tshering took a rubber band off her wrist and tied it gently around the edges of her hair. "There," she announced, "Miss... I dunno, your braid is finally complete."

Mary couldn't really help but notice the ongoing matters, and thought of the Slytherin as quite weird. She shuddered as a second year Slytherin was hit by the spells Iris sent and sighed softly. No wonder Slytherins have a bad reputation. She thought grimly, distasting the way the Slytherin girl had bullied the second year.

SHe could hardly believe that Iris was hoping to start something, and that the prefect, after all, didn't seem quite as friendly as she had got as a first impression. If anyone wants to help out in something like that, they're quite as mad themselves. She thought bitterly, disliking any kind of bullying. She'd experienced enough of it in kindergarden. Sighing she waited for Anna to finish her braid, sitting as silently as a rock and with a slightly fearful look on her face.

Finally, when everything was complete and the braid was finished, she smiled. "Mary. Thank you." she said, and ran her long fingers over the braid, revealing her short finger nails. They had been clipped that short to make it easier to play the piano, so the long nails wouldn't make clicking sounds when they hit the keys. "Are there many people like her?" she asked silently, making sure that no one but herself and Anna could hear what she'd muttered.