Meeting Ginny for breakfast on Cascade Hall

Francesca Wolseithcrafte

August 30, 2015 9:30 AM

Meeting Ginny for breakfast by Francesca Wolseithcrafte

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen or written to Ginny over the holidays but it wasn’t the same. Parties were noisy, crowded affairs, not really spaces for having friendly and intimate conversations (at least, not normally - she wondered whether her face looked as warm as it felt every time the exception that had occurred to that rule crossed her mind). And letters… Letters were fine, but sometimes one didn’t want to commit things to paper. One wanted one’s friends to know, but creating tangible evidence of the confidences you would share with another person…. That was different.

Thus, she had arranged to meet Ginny for breakfast the day after the Returning Feast - which, although sitting at House tables was not enforced, was still equally unsuited to sharing a private conversation. She wasn’t exactly sure she wanted to share the details of her break with her friend, although she knew she ought to - it was what friends did. And it wasn’t that she didn’t care for or trust Ginny but she had never been good at discussing personal matters. And this felt very personal, and like something she herself was still processing, in spite of the many hours she’d spent dwelling on it over the remainder of the holidays. She was, somewhat, relying on Ginny to bring up the subject, if she wished to know. She had confided, to a certain degree, in her best friend. She had opened up that she missed Jay, and looked forward to his letters. She had mentioned him in such a way that made it clear what Ginny ought to infer from such confidences but without explicitly saying so. She had not dared to voice her intentions to act on said feelings over the Midterm to anyone, lest she should have to return with a confession of cowardice, or failure of a different kind.

Mostly, she had initiated the breakfast date to find out more about Ginny’s holiday. Things seemed to have rather cooled off between her and Maxwell, and between that and the heart on the tree last year… Francesca did not suspect either party of having put it there but she didn’t feel that made it any less true on either person’s behalf. Having done the awkward thing and bared her own soul (with rather satisfying results) she thought she might have it in her to do some cajoling, even if working through other people’s feelings was not usually her forte.

She helped herself to some granola with fresh fruit, yoghurt and honey. It was on the healthier side of the breakfasts she ate. With her Quidditch schedule and a reasonable metabolism, she usually got away with eating what she liked - a thought that made her marvel, yet again, that the rest of Pureblood society weren’t lining up to play. She supposed staying trim by eating little salads was daintier and more refined than achieving it by sweating it out on the pitch, but she knew which she liked better. Ginny, she suspected, could have got away with as many carbs as she wanted, what with all her dancing, but seemed to err on the healthier side. Francesca didn’t like to shove her tendency to eat stacks or pancakes or bacon sandwiches in her friend’s face, in case it was something Ginny wanted to do (who could not want bacon sandwiches?) but felt she ought not to, so tended to work with the healthy (but still sustaining) breakfasts when they ate together.

“So, how was Midterm?” she asked, once her friend was seated and had served herself, her tone implying that this was a genuine enquiry and not just small talk.

OOC - fact checked with Ginny's author

13 Francesca Wolseithcrafte Meeting Ginny for breakfast 250 Francesca Wolseithcrafte 1 5

Ginny Bellrose

September 05, 2015 9:05 PM

Arriving for the breakfast. by Ginny Bellrose

Ginny’s mind this half of term was all over the place. Currently, she was thinking about the dance that her Dance club members wanted to put together in order to draw more members for next term after Ginny had gone. Of course, it would be all for nothing if no one actually stepped up to take on the leadership role for the club, but she didn’t really want to think about that at the moment. All she could focus on was getting the word out about the party, making sure everyone who was going to participate in the dancing had their steps down perfectly and if everyone that needed a costume from Ginger, had one. Costumes weren’t an actual requirement, but they would make the theme more authentic that way.

On top of the party, her RATS exams were only a handful of months away and Ginny had no idea how she was going to manage to make it through them. Thankfully, she was not taking Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Those had been her most difficult classes and she had dropped them as soon as she had gotten through her CATS exams. Now her toughest class was Transfiguration. It always took her several tries to get the spell down and that was only with mild class anxiety. Doing spells in front of examiners was a whole different level of anxiety that Ginny was not prepared to handle right now.

She had enough to worry about. Like the issue with her Grandfather. She still had no idea what her father had done that had upset him so much, but she was certainly the one being punished for it. Her parents were stressing out over the fact that Ginny had not made any love connections while at Sonora. Her parents had groomed her to be the ‘ideal wife’ but apparently Ginny had failed to portray that along the way since no one at Sonora and now Maxwell had lost all interest in her. Of course, it was always her fault. Her father refused to take any blame in this whole matter.

Her life was so laughable.

She was in love with her best friend who didn’t see her as anything more than just that. The guy who had made her feel normal and safe, the one who seemed interested, Maxwell, wasn’t actually interested in her at all. She was merely his backup plan. She felt degraded and worthless. Seventh year was supposed to be her best year, her happiest year, but it was turning out to be her worst. Well, second worst. She still thought not having her friends in her fifth year was the worst. If she were disinherited, would they still want her as a friend? She was terrified to know the answer to that.

Ginny shrugged at Francesca’s query. She didn’t really feel like telling anyone about the predicament she was in. She was hoping that it would just disappear if she ignored it. “It was the same parties as usual. Saw Maxwell, briefly. “ She shrugged again. “Nothing worth talking about.” Ginny gave a smile and took a sip of her juice. “So, tell me about your holiday!” She said, wanting to move away from her own. “Anything exciting happen for you? See anyone special?”

6 Ginny Bellrose Arriving for the breakfast. 0 Ginny Bellrose 0 5

Francesca

September 06, 2015 9:54 AM

Not really eating said breakfast by Francesca

Ginny brushed off the enquiries about her own Midterm, although on the plus side, it didn’t sound like things had gotten any worse. Not that Francesca could think of many ways it could have… Maxwell getting engaged perhaps, in order to rub salt into the wounds, but as far as she was concerned, Ginny was better off with someone who would regard her as a first choice, not a consolation prize. And she was sure said person was out there. She was, in fact, fairly sure that said person was really rather close. She had voiced all but this last thought to Ginny, in an attempt to boost her self-confidence and… well, general level of happiness, both of which must have been taking a bit of a kicking lately, but she wasn’t sure how much it had sunk in. She had imagined being rejected, and that had hurt enough - been enough to make her doubt her sanity in thinking Jay, or anyone else, would want more from her. To have actually had it said to one’s face…. If she ever happened across Maxwell, in a nice, quiet spot, without any witnesses, she was going to see how attractive anyone found him with his nose poking out the wrong side of his head.

“Jay came to the coffee morning,” she replied a little awkwardly to Ginny’s enquiry. She was fairly sure she was blushing furiously, and she furiously avoided any eye contact that wasn’t with her breakfast. It wasn’t that she wanted to hold out on her friend but, after years of keeping her feelings to herself, she wasn’t much of a natural story teller. She wasn’t sure how to go about sharing this sort of thing, worried that however she said it, it would somehow sound stupid. “It was nice to see him,” she added lamely. She poked the fruit about with her spoon, a picture of absolute guilt. Or at the very least, of someone who was hiding something.

13 Francesca Not really eating said breakfast 250 Francesca 0 5

Ginny

September 07, 2015 9:43 PM

But enjoying said meeting. by Ginny

Ginny looked at her friend suspiciously and tried to hide the grin that was trying to overcome her features. In the end, she looked like she was smirking, which seemed like a fair thing to do anyway considering the blush that was residing on her friend’s face. It was clear that Francesca wasn’t giving her all of the details (which Ginny thought she should be a little miffed about but also knew her friend well enough to know that talking about personal things was not her strongest ability) and because she was hiding something more than just ‘oh, we had a lovely chat’, Ginny knew it was bound to have been a life changing moment for her friend. Plus, it had to be a wonderful thing because Francesca wasn’t at all upset by whatever it was that had happened. If she had been upset, if Jay had decided to not do anything or didn’t like her, Ginny felt that her friend would have avoided the topic altogether or possibly looked close to tears instead of simply blushing and avoiding Ginny’s look.

“Oh yeah, just see him, did you?” Ginny asked, trying to goad her friend into telling her what had happened during the Morning Coffee. “The way you are acting certainly seems to say that is was more than just a casual glance in his direction.” Ginny teased. “Did you make any conversation, admit to any feelings?” Ginny paused for a moment before continuing on. “Are the two of you madly in love now?”

She watched her friend for any sort of reaction. Sometimes it was better to understand a person just by their body language alone rather than the words that they spoke. If something had happened between Francesca and Jay, Ginny would be so ecstatic for her friend, a little jealous of her friend’s good fortune (as always seemed to be the case for her), but happy for her all the same. She wanted at least for one of them to find someone who loved them and had a decent future in front of them. Ginny knew it wouldn’t be her, but she was glad that it was her friend, assuming things had happened for her.

6 Ginny But enjoying said meeting. 0 Ginny 0 5

Francesca

September 07, 2015 10:55 PM

Vicarious happiness or pleasure in my discomfort? by Francesca

Francesca’s awkwardness only increased at Ginny’s teasing - at least, until she took it too far.

“Oh, please” she laughed, shoving Ginny playfully as she asked if she and Jay were now madly in love. “Yes, Jay and I talked about the deep and meaningful interconnection of our souls and how we couldn’t live without each other,” she deadpanned. The thought of the two of them acting in such a way was ridiculous. She much preferred what had been said. It was much more realistic, and therefore a lot more meaningful.

“It all happened by accident, really,” she explained, “We were both in the drawing room at the same time, and someone had decorated using mistletoe... “ she decided to leave that part to inference and imagination. “And we talked. He wants to take me out properly in the summer,” she smiled. After lapsing into hyperbole, it was easier to talk about the real events without so much embarrassment. She wondered whether it had been a deliberate ploy on her friend’s part, rather than just teasing.

She ate a little of her breakfast, feeling much better now the topic had been broached without her burning into a little cinder of pure mortification. It felt good to share it with someone. She would probably divulge more details, if asked, now that she had had a chance to warm to the topic and open up a little.

13 Francesca Vicarious happiness or pleasure in my discomfort? 250 Francesca 0 5

Ginny

September 12, 2015 6:05 PM

A little of both. by Ginny

Ginny laughed at the reaction that Francesca gave to her when she teased her about her relationship with one Mr. James Carey. In all honesty, Ginny had no idea what it was that Francesca and Jay discussed. Did all their conversations have to do with Quidditch or did they discover other similar commonalities between them that they discussed? Ginny didn’t know Jay at all, so she wasn’t sure of the sort of personality that he had, but she assumed it was like most other Aladrens and all bookish. That would probably suit Francesca all well and good. She was just stereotyping anyway. It wasn’t all that fair of her to believe him to be a tad boring and care only for knowledge simply because he was an Aladren and she certainly wouldn’t want someone to think of her only as a blood snob (Ginny always thought she was very fair and polite to everyone, but she knew that sometimes that doesn’t matter if someone had an assumed thought about her).

Her friend seemed infinitely happier now than before Midterm, so whatever it was that she saw in James was enough for Ginny. For now anyway.

Ginny listened quietly as Francesca explained, partly, what had happened between them. At the mention of the mistletoe, Ginny made a ‘whoa’ sound and a mini celebration dance quietly in her seat, which probably made her look like she was having a mini seizure to anyone who didn’t have any idea about what they were discussing. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of a story to tell, but Ginny figured that was more of a Francesca thing than what actually came to happen.

“I’m really happy for you, Francesca.” Ginny said once it looked like her friend was not going to add anything more to the story. She genuinely meant it. There will always be a part of Ginny that would be jealous of her friend’s happiness (or anyone’s happiness) when it seemed like the world was against her own, but she felt like that was normal for everyone and something she would get over with time. It certainly wasn’t something she would ever hold against her friend. “It’s good to know that one of us has something to look forward to come summer. I’m sure he’ll be the perfect gentlemen too.” She added, with a nudge and a smile. I’m sure summer felt like forever away for Francesca, but for Ginny, it felt like it was only around the corner.

6 Ginny A little of both. 0 Ginny 0 5