Potterverse discussion

"My first is a creature whose breeding is unclear.My second a price you must pay. My whole can be found in the river of Time and refers to events of today.What am I?" the door knocker asked. Saffy pondered for a minute or two, then answered. "A current."

She stepped in as a section of the wall swung open. "This is Ravenclaw."

Saffy stepped over the little bit of wall still attached to the floor and walked in.

Court walked in and stretched, then ran a hand through his hair. "I'm beat."

"Yes, and boys are to the left. You'll see a door marked 'first years', and that's your room." She headed up the right-side staircase. "Oh, and don't bother trying to come up here. You won't be able to." she called down to Jim. She decided not to elaborate; sliding down the stairs after a boy tried to come up was always fun.

She ran the rest of the way up the staircase, stopping at Pam's dorm. "Here's your room."

Saffy nodded and continued walking up the stairs until she reached her room. She went in and collapsed onto her bed, kind of glad that she was the only person in the room so far.

Court made his way to his room and laid down, thinking, until he fell asleep.

Saffy changed into her pyjamas and fell asleap after a quick prayer.

Court waited outside the door, biting his lip nervously. It opened and he waited for Saffy to enter before doing so himself.

She not-smiled and walked in, sitting on a couch across from where Flitwick was. "Hello, Professor."

"'Morning, Professor," Court said, also sitting on the couch. The corners of his mouth turned up in a nervous attempt at a smile.

The diminutive professor looked at them grimly. "Morning. I have some… unfortunate news for the two of you. I don't really know how to tell you this…"

Court could feel the muscles in his neck and back tensing and he gripped his knees, "Just tell us, please..."

"There was an... attack, recently, and your father" He nodded at Court, "Was injured."
Saffy's eyes widened a little bit, but then she realized - "Why am I here, then, if it was Court's father?"
"Ah- well, one of your cousins was there as well, Miss Silver, and she was..." Professor Flitwick took a breath, "She was killed."
Saffy inhaled deeply, shocked. "A cousin? Which of my cousins was it?"
"A Miss Galena, I believe."
Saffy's face remained still, but her thoughts had just dropped out of her head to be replaced with disbelief. Galena was the cousin she always gravitated towards at social functions- she was a great conversationalist, and the two had become close over the past summers.
"And how is Mr. Artin?" she asked the professor. If she concentrated on something else, she would be fine, she told herself.
"He is alive, in the hospital, though."

Court's eyes widened and he couldn't breathe for a moment. "Who was it? That attacked, I mean..." he asked, his voice hoarse. He was relieved his father was alive; he didn't have any other family except for his aunt and uncle, and their few children. But he had always been close to his father, especially after his mother died. He glanced at Saffy, thinking she had it so much worse. He remembered how he had felt after his mother's death, and he vowed silently to help his friend through the grief.

"We aren't entirely sure, yet. I'm sorry I can't tell you anything else, we simply don't know much about the attack. I'll be in my office if you need me." Professor Flitwick said, and left.

Court nodded numbly, mentally reeling from the news. 'Calm down,' he told himself, gritting his teeth. 'Dad's fine... Just in the hospital. He's okay. You should be worrying about Saffy.'

"Are you alright?" she asked Court calmly.

He nodded, then looked up at her, "Yeah... What about you? Are you all right?"

"Yes." she lied. "I'm fine."

"That's the biggest lie I've ever heard," Court said, not unkindly. "Your cousin was killed," he said softly, "I know how something like that feels."

"Do you?" she asked quietly. "Who did you lose?" and then, "I'm sorry, that's really none of my business. But really, I'm fine."

"It's all right," he said, shrugging but not answering her question. He looked at her closely, still not believing that she was really all right, but he didn't press it. "If you need to talk to someone about it, don't hesitate to find me."

"I know." She suddenly went over and hugged him. "Thank you."

He was a little startled by the sudden show of emotion, especially after she had taken the news of her cousin's death so calmly. He wrapped his arms around her and sighed, "You're welcome, Saffy."

"I just hope Aunt and Uncle are doing alright... and my other cousins, of course." She could imagine what was going on back home right now, everybody getting ready for the funeral and changing around the schedules so everybody could come.

Court nodded, "I hope so, too. Things can get pretty hectic after a death, which doesn't leave much time to really grieve, and that's not really a good thing..."

She nodded quietly, still thinking. "So..." she said after a bit. "Should we go back to class, or do you want to skip for a bit? We could probably get away with it, considering." She hated to use 'death/injury in the family' as an excuse, but class had been awfully boring and she wasn't really in the mood to go back.

He shrugged, "I don't think I could focus if I went back to class. I feel like going to the owlery right now..."

"Alright." She stood up, still keeping her face schooled into a mask of calm. If she didn't keep her mask on, she would probably burst into tears, and that wasn't proper.

He smiled weakly at her as he stood, trying to keep from withdrawing into himself to thing this whole situation over. Walking over to the door, he held it open for her.

"Thank you," she said, placing a small smile on her face, and went into the hallway.

((thread change!))

((To the owlery.))