Michael Grosvenor
July 20, 2011 12:12 PM
Be careful what you wish for... by Michael Grosvenor
Michael was curled into a corner seat in the library. He wasn’t here to study and even the most casual of observers could probably tell. He’d chosen the library because it was quiet. He liked calm, quiet places. They helped him to relax. Although he had a book about Quidditch open in front of him, his focus had drifted and he was looking just above the top of the page, absorbed in his own thoughts.His main thought was that he should be happy. He had everything he’d ever wanted. People didn’t treat him differently. People were happy to talk to him and to work with him in class. There were a few of them who he would even call his friends, especially Laurie. That had been the point of hiding his problems, and it had worked better than he could ever have hoped. And now, instead of being able to sit back and enjoy it all, he was unhappy. Hiding was such a massive effort. It was tiring and it was stressful. He couldn’t always be normal and do everything the same as a normal person, and it was a struggle to keep up the illusion. He found himself having to work hard to hear people at meal times because he couldn’t tell them he didn’t want to eat in the hall, where it was noisy, or having to sit at the back in class if his friends saved him a seat there – he hadn’t appreciated how much closer the front row was, how much the noise of the teacher’s voiced dropped even across the distance of a room, and how much harder It was to lip-read from there. The effort of it all made him physically tired. And then there was the worry. He missed so much at those noisy meal-times, that he just nodded along to. It was bound to catch him out sooner or later. Something would come up that he was supposed to know because he’d been there, he’d “joined in” the conversation about it. Or he would just put his foot in it - what if he made a bad guess at what someone had said and his reply made no sense? He was fairly sure that had happened a few times already. How many times was too many? Either they would start to think that he was a bit dim or weird, or they’d count the number of times they’d had to start a sentence with “No, I said…” and they would figure it out. He couldn’t enjoy them not knowing and being his friends because of it; he was too scared of what was going to happen if, or maybe ‘when’ was more accurate, they found out. His other worry was that they knew already. That they knew and they laughed about it behind his back. But they were friendly enough to his face, and people in general seemed to like him enough that he didn’t really think that could be the case. But when they did find out, he knew all of that was going to change.
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Michael Grosvenor
Be careful what you wish for...
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Michael Grosvenor
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Katrina (Kitty) McLevy
July 24, 2011 1:02 AM
…Cuz you might just get it by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy
Humming softly under her breath Kitty walked the stacks, clever blue eyes dancing from spine to spine reading the different titles. There was just so much to learn, so much that she had to catch up on. Being new to the magical world meant that she didn’t have the benefit of knowing about magic her whole life. That, along with her own unending curiosity often sent the small girl out of her commons room and into the library. Most people who dealt with the small easily distracted girl would think that she wasn’t good at school work, or learning simply because of how energetic she could be. But, in truth Kitty loved to learn, and wanted to know everything about everything. Some of the only times Kitty sat still were when she was reading.Whenever she had free time and didn’t want to go exploring outside Kitty would wander the Library and being reading whatever sounded most interesting at the time. Small finger tips tapped lightly along the different spines, feeling the textures of each book. Her finger paused at a book entitled Wild Dragons and Where to Find Them. A grin lit her face as she plucked the thick book off the shelf. Now, to find someone to sit with. Those who frequented the library had gotten use to the small girl randomly appearing next to them at odd times. Sometimes she’d just say hi and then return to her own reading, other times she’d chat with them until it became apparent that she was bothering them. Kitty just didn’t like being completely by herself, and even if she didn’t speak at all, it was comfortable to sit with someone else.
After hunting around the massive room for about fifteen minutes Kitty spotted someone sitting alone. Kitty made her way over unhurriedly, eyes scanning over other titles as she walked in case something else sounded more interesting. But, dragons won and Kitty ended up in front of the boy still gripping the large book. “Hi I’m Kitty, can I sit with you?” She asked with a smile.
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Katrina (Kitty) McLevy
…Cuz you might just get it
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Katrina (Kitty) McLevy
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Michael
July 29, 2011 9:24 AM
Yup. And a hyperactive classmate into the bargain :-p (WotW) by Michael
Although Michael had been fairly entrenched in his own thoughts, he had become aware of someone approaching and hurriedly turned his attention back to his book. He’d assumed the person would just walk on by, as the library wasn’t really a social hotspot, but instead the person stopped, introduced herself and asked to sit with him.“Sure,” he smiled, because agreeing was the normal thing to do, rather than because he really wanted company. He really didn’t. Company was pressure and he’d come here specifically to avoid that. “I’m Michael,” he added because she’d introduced herself. He’d known anyway who she was, seeing as they were in all the same classes together and Kitty was hard to miss. For all that she was very small, Michael felt like she might easily overshadow him – she always seemed to be so full of energy. And always happy. She seemed like she’d never worried about anything for a second in her life. Talking to girls was a weird enough idea but he thought that talking to Kitty might be akin to being on another planet. But luckily this was the library. They didn’t have to talk. They could just sit in companionable silence and read.
Michael turned his attention back to his book and stared fixedly at the page. Trying very hard to look as normal as possible was one of those things that, the more aware of it you were, the harder it was to do. Like breathing. As soon as you thought about your breathing you felt the need to consciously do it. Speaking of which, he was very aware of it right now. He could swear his breathing was abnormally loud. In trying hard to not look guilty, he was sure he was coming off as positively flagitious. Not that he’d done anything, he tried to tell himself. He hadn’t, really. Look normal, he forcibly told himself, his body visibly tensed, the white of his knuckles showing from how tightly he was gripping the book.
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Michael
Yup. And a hyperactive classmate into the bargain :-p (WotW)
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Michael
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Kitty
July 29, 2011 12:37 PM
That’s just a bonus ;) by Kitty
Curiosity warred with concern in Kitty’s blue eyes as she watched Michael. She didn’t know what was going on but he seemed upset. A small pout flashed across her lips for a moment Jeze I haven’t even done anything yet Kitty thought as she watched him. She knew that some people found dealing with her annoying but usually they didn’t have such a reaction before she started talking.Kitty curled one foot under her as she sat down and opened the book on dragons, quick curious glances showed that Michael was not relaxing, if anything he appeared to become tenser as the seconds passed instead of less. He was way more interesting than the book and Kitty pushed it aside as she tried to puzzle out what was wrong. She didn’t know what the problem was but was perfectly happy to try and remedy it.
Small fingertips reached out and brushed lightly against Michael’s white knuckles. Her family was a very physical one and Kitty often expressed herself with casual contact. “Are you ok?” She asked, her voice reflecting the concern she felt. Kitty was a happy creature in general, and preferred the people around her to be happy as well. Michael’s obvious stress made Kitty want to help him, to make him feel better.
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Kitty
That’s just a bonus ;)
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Kitty
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Michael
July 29, 2011 2:12 PM
Ahh, like when you're down and then you also get a kick? by Michael
“I’m fine,” Michael lied reflexively, although the fact that he had visibly flinched when Kitty touched his hand told a different story. With that, he wanted to snap his book shut, declare his reading finished and run out of the library. But he was fairly sure normal people didn’t do that and he was self-conscious enough of having flinched to just rein it in a little. He tried to imagine facing Kitty again if he behaved like that. It would be impossible.So, he was left with answering. He tried desperately to think of a reason he might be this tense that wouldn’t make him sound like a complete loser. He couldn’t be wound up about homework or a test, they were only first years and only real geeks got wound about that sort of thing anyway. He wasn’t being bullied – that, almost, was the problem. He couldn’t think fast enough.
“How are you?” he asked. Setting himself up to receive reciprocal questions was one of his best tactics when he couldn’t hear what the other person was saying. Apparently, batting them back was a good defence when he didn’t know what to say. Admittedly, Kitty’s question hadn’t quite been ‘How are you?’ – hers had implied that something was wrong. But this seemed a good way to try to steer the conversation into nice, safe, normal territory.
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Michael
Ahh, like when you're down and then you also get a kick?
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Michael
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Kitty
July 30, 2011 1:36 AM
I’m not as bad as all that by Kitty
Fine wasn’t really a word Kitty would use to describe Michael as he flinched away from her touch. Her small delicate hand lingered in the air where his had had been before she let it drop. She wondered if he was a magical kid, due to his reaction to her touch. Arthur had reacted similarly, and Kitty couldn’t help but feel slightly hurt by the rejection. She was a person who had strong connections with people, and those connections were reinforced by touch.The silence fell around them like a heavy stone, making Kitty feel uncomfortable. It was obvious that Michael was not fine in any sense of the word, but she didn’t know what to do to make it better. When he finally did speak it wasn’t the sort of response Kitty expected. “How are you?” She tilted her head a bit as she watched him, and then realized he was probably trying to change the subject because he didn’t want to tell her what was wrong.
Normally not one to let things go so easily Kitty decided to just go along with it this time because Michael seemed so out of sorts. Maybe talking about something else would make him feel better? “I’m doing really great. Everything here is so neat, this is just like Alice in Wonderland, all we need are talking rabbits, and tea.” She said with a grin, hoping to get him to smile.
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Kitty
I’m not as bad as all that
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Kitty
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Michael
July 30, 2011 4:00 AM
I do seem to be coping, I suppose... by Michael
Although it probably wasn’t an especially long wait, Michael felt the seconds of silence boring into him, emphasised by the surrounding silence in the library. He felt as if Kitty was scrutinising him, evaluating whether to reply to his question or keep pushing. He was very relieved when she ran with it, and he found himself smiling at her comparison of the school with Alice in Wonderland. As he might have guessed, she was fine. Nothing seemed to be able to dent Kitty’s enthusiasm about just about everything. But then, was anything really wrong with that? It wasn’t like he wanted his classmates to be miserable just because he was. They’d all been so nice to him, so far, and that was just mean.“You never know,” he replied, “Maybe next Care of Magical Creatures lesson, we’ll have bread and butterflies.” Although he’d just meant to divert attention away from himself, it was nice to have something else to talk about, even if – or possibly especially if – it was something frivolous. “I guess that means you’re Muggleborn too?” he asked. “It’s pretty neat here but there’s an awful lot to get used to. Sometimes when I’m not paying attention, I’m still surprised when the paintings talk to me and stuff.”
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Michael
I do seem to be coping, I suppose...
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Michael
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Kitty
July 30, 2011 11:46 PM
That’s always a plus by Kitty
A giggle escaped the small girl when Michael went along with her little joke. “Mmm True. I keep waiting to see the Cheshire cat’s smile pop up out of nowhere.” She said with a Cheshire cat grin of her own. Really, a this point wasn’t anything possible? Kitty was glad she’d decided not to dig for whatever was bugging Michael. He seemed more relaxed now and that was a start.
Kitty wrinkled her nose a bit. “Muggle is just such a silly word.” She replied when Michael asked if she was also a Muggleborn. “But yeah. I’m the only magic one in my family. Three older brothers and not a drop of magic in any of them. What about you?” Kitty asked. It was something she wondered about a lot. How often was it that only one child was magic?
“I love the paintings! They’re always so neat, they’re usually very helpful when I get lost.” Kitty said as she remembered a very helpful painting of a knight in shining armor that led her all they way to DADA class one day when she couldn’t find someone to follow. It still made her giggle when she remembered how he would vanish from one painting only to reappear in another.
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Kitty
That’s always a plus
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Kitty
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Michael
July 31, 2011 5:28 AM
So... that title thread has run its course... by Michael
“Yeah, it is,” Michael agreed when Kitty said ‘Muggle’ was such a silly word. “I’m not sure when I started using it… I couldn’t make myself when I first got here cos it seemed so strange. I guess it’s just easier though, and then people know what you mean. Though I’m still not sure I could call my family Muggles – it seems different to saying people are Muggleborn. I dunno why…” He hoped Kitty would get it without him being able to explain very articulately. After all, she felt it was a funny word too.“I’ve got one older sister,” he answered, “So it’s a bit harder to work out whether there’s any pattern or which of us is the odd one out. I mean, our parents don’t have magic either, so I am in that sense, but,” he shrugged, again expecting Kitty would get what he was getting at.
“For the most part, I like them,” he nodded when Kitty talked about how helpful the paintings were. “I just sometimes still forget, or I’ll be off in my own little world and then it’s a bit surprising. Like the other day, one of them tried to warn me my shoelace was untied and I was so surprised that I tripped over it.” At the time that had seemed horribly embarrassing and he’d been glad that no-one was around to see. Now, sharing it with Kitty, it seemed rather funny.
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Michael
So... that title thread has run its course...
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Michael
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Kitty
August 01, 2011 3:47 PM
Now we begin again! *giggles* by Kitty
Kitty was glad that at least someone agreed about how silly muggle was for a word. In protest she’d refused to use it, and that was becoming more trouble than it was worth. It was interesting to see how the magic kids reacted though, when she used her own terms of regular and magical. But, having to fight with them about the merits of one word over another was starting to get annoying. As silly as muggle was, it would just have to do.Kitty nodded when Michael agreed that he was the odd one out. So that made at least two people who were the only magic one’s in their family. It was curious, and she’d have to ask more muggleborns to see if the trend followed though. The fact that only one child in a family received the gift made it seem less likely that it was genetic. But, she’d have to do more research to figure that puzzle out. “I wonder if it’s the same for magic families? The number of kids born with out magic I mean. Does it match up with the number of magic kids born to not magic families?” Kitty said, voicing her thoughts aloud.
A small giggle escaped her at Michael’s story about the painting. “I bet some of them just like messing with the kids. See how many they can scare though the year? That would be kinda fun if I was a painting.” Kitty decided with a grin, imagining what it would be like to be one of the paintings. How intelligent are they? Do they have a whole world in there? Have any wizards managed to get into the paintings before? Something else to explore when she had time.
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Kitty
Now we begin again! *giggles*
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Kitty
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Michael
August 02, 2011 2:23 PM
Ok. Think of something witty, Kitty. by Michael
“Are there any?” Michael asked, surprised, when Kitty mentioned non-magical children of magical families. He'd not really thought about the idea. He supposed, if it worked one way – i.e. people with magic were born to non-magical families – it made sense that it happened the other way too. Or did it? Maybe once your family had magic that was it. Maybe that made just as much sense. He didn't really know enough about how it worked to know which of those was true – both seemed perfectly plausible.“Some of them probably do,” Michael agreed about the paintings, though he was sure the one that had made him trip had really just been trying to be helpful, “And some of them are just of plain old strict or mean people. Have you seen any ghosts? Apparently they're real and the school has some but I haven't met any of them yet.
“It's so weird... Sitting here talking about ghosts and talking paintings. If we'd been doing that just a few months ago, the people around us would have thought we were crazy. Can you imagine what it'd be like being in a non-magical school? I... can't,” he grinned, “I really, really can't even picture myself there.” Well, maybe if he thought about particular people, he could picture exactly what would be happening right now if he was at school in his home town, but he preferred not to do that. “I'm so glad I'm here instead,” he said seriously, talking more to himself than Kitty.
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Michael
Ok. Think of something witty, Kitty.
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Kitty
August 02, 2011 9:18 PM
Once cats were worshiped as gods, they haven’t forgotten it by Kitty
Kitty nodded with a grin. “They don’t wanna talk about it, but I figured if there were magic kids by non magic parents, the reverse had to be true too, yeah? So I looked it up and found out that I was right! I kinda feel sorry for them because their word is even worse than ours. Squibs, wow that’s bad. Can’t magic people come up with better sounding names?” She said with a small giggle.“True, true. There’s a really snotty old guy who always says mudblood under his breath when I walk by. It’s really annoying. What a weird thing to say, but he always does, nothing else even when I tried to ask him what his problem was.” She gave an indifferent shrug, they couldn’t all be nice Kitty supposed, but that didn’t make it any less annoying. Kitty was half tempted to get a sharpie and draw a smiley face on his wrinkly old forehead. Not that she ever would but the thought still made her grin. How hard would it be to draw on a painting that could move and dodge?
“I know! I haven’t seen any ghosts yet, but I can’t wait to. Imagine all the stories they know! I hope there’s a nice one around that wouldn’t mind talking.” Kitty agreed with a laugh, the whole idea of ghosts was not scary to Kitty. Of all the monsters, ghosts really were the least threatening as a whole. They couldn’t hurt you, maybe be annoying and not go away, but it wasn’t like they could drink blood or anything. “I don’t think I’d be able to go back to normal school after all this you know? It would be too weird to know about magic but then try to pretend it doesn’t exist while dealing with all the normal kids.” Kitty said as she tried to imagine going back to her old school, and just not being able to picture it.
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Kitty
Once cats were worshiped as gods, they haven’t forgotten it
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Kitty
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