[IC] Hogwarts: Before or After

[LostAndFound]

The raven, it keeps rapping, gently tapping, at my chamber door. NO! It can't be back! Raven- raven!'
A black haired girl fell into an abyss, leaving a blonde standing beside it, shocked. The Raven didn't stop tapping though. It just kept going -Tap, tap, tap- at the glass.

Taylor Petterson's pale green eyes snapped open as the tapping continued. Of course, everywhere she looked from the moment she opened her eyes of a morning, she saw a raven, but then again, she was in Ravenclaw, wasn't she? But the tapping, she knew it wasn't Poe's raven. Glancing at the window beside her bed, she saw Silas, her black barn owl with his ghostly-pale heart-shaped face. 'He must have a letter from Mom,' she thought wearily.

Taylor's mother was a Muggle; she hadn't gone to Hogwarts and had no idea that magic existed. That was until Taylor got her letter five years ago. She told Taylor that she wasn't going to raise something as unnatural as a witch, and that she wanted her to leave her house and go to Hogwarts- anything just so long as she was gone. So Taylor exchanged her quiet life in the Tennessee woods for a castle in a magical world that she would have never believed existed. And she was glad. She needed to get away before it was too late for her. She only wished-- No, Petterson, don't go there, she told herself.

Throwing open the window, Taylor greeted her owl, whose intelligent eyes seemed to know what she was thinking. "Come on, Silas, you and I both know it's coming up on the anniversary. You can't blame me for dreaming of her," she told him as she untied the letter attached to his leg.

She looked at her mother's writing and didn't feel like reading it. Today just wasn't the day for "I don't want you home for the holidays. Your uncle says you can't stay with him this summer. Your unnaturalness isn't welcome there." She didn't want to think about it; she was sick of hearing about her family's reactions, she was tired of pretending everything was okay at home, and most of all, she just wanted her mother to understand that she hardly cared what she thought.

"Come on, Silas, let's go to the Great Hall, and maybe after we eat, we can go see Dumbledore." She pulled on a pair of tattered jeans and an oversized tee before lifting the owl in the crook of her arm and setting off out of the tower, refusing to glance at Rowena Ravenclaw as she left.

[Apokalipse]

Bryony woke slowly, the sun shining in her eyes brilliantly – this was the downside to occupying the bed next to the window. She crawled from beneath her blue comforter and dragged tired fingers through her tangled blonde mane. Bryony hated mornings with an intense passion. Stretching, she stripped from her striped pajamas and into her robes for the day – time for the day, no matter how tired she was. Before she went though, she made her bed and straightened her neighbor’s crooked chest that lay at the end of her divan. She didn’t pay attention to her surroundings, but instead concentrated on the amount of steps she took. One, two, three, four, five...

Bryony has been feeling lonely lately, her friends too involved with their work to give her the time of day and her parents had not gotten into the habit of sending her letters quite yet. The past five years had been awkward in her house, but now that they finally reunited. She finally arrived at the Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall, but had ended on an uneven number and had to take a step further from the area she wished to sit. Sitting down, she scooted closer to the door than to the teachers’ table. She found that their scholarly aura tended to rub off and she wanted to slack off for a while before she tried to work. The blonde grasped a slice of toast and a knife of butter, smearing it onto the browned bread, whilst saying a prayer to her higher power above for non-poisonous food and deliciously good dessert.

[LostAndFound]

Taylor packed her small owl down to the Great Hall and glanced about self-consciously. No one else ever brought their owl with them to eat, but then again, maybe no one else loved their owl like she did. So she pushed it to the back of her mind as she walked to her House's table. There were a few people already eating, so she slid in across from the first person who was alone and grabbed a plate.

"Morning," she drawled as she piled some eggs on to her plate. Nightmares always gave her a big appetite, and around this time of year, she was full of bad dreams. But that was okay. She deserved sole bad dreams after what she let happen to Raven. She handed Silas a piece of bacon to distract herself. She needed to quit thinking about the girl if she was to make it through this week. Silas seemed to know where her thoughts were going, and he nipped at her fingers affectionately.

"How are you, Bryony?"

[Razil]

Abagale woke, legs twisted and twined around blue covers ans she sat up and ran her fingers through her Green hair. What what Green. She shreaked and bolted for the window itching to see her reflection. a Seaweed green mop of messy bead hair met her gaze as well as lavender eyes and porsolen skin. her eyes widened in dismay. shed done it again, lost control. she sighed retrnig her appearance to her original state of long dark brown hair and pale green eyes fair skin and slender frame. she turned from the crystal glass of the window and relised that the common room was dead quiet. there was no one in it at all. then her green eyes landed on the clock,witch read well past breakfast time.
OMG im late dam it" she huffed sweeping to get changed and ready, Hugo her pet raven woke from her loud voice and squarked in annoyance as he proceeded to fly around the Raven claw common room stretching his stiff wings.
she ruffled through her trunk screwing up letters and pieces of parchment. one particular caught her eye and she stopped to stare at the familial hand writhing. Alex's hand writhing. there was only one word on the page but it was written messy and scrawled onto the page over and over they word "die" the other side was no happier the words "you will never come back" and you don't Belong" were scrawled over the other. she had many of these letters cluttered her trunk she dident let the page sadden her though. she was late and needed to get to class quick before she got a detention or worse extra homework. she pushed that thought out of her head with a shiver as she threw open the doors and bolted down the stairs, Hugo flowing behind like a shadow in the dark

[Apokalipse]

"I'm fine." Bryony answered absentmindedly, drawing faces into a new slice of toast. She put in a lot of effort in carving a duck into the butter that she had earlier spread onto it. “How are you? Spectacularly awesome?”

Just that moment, an owl swooped overhead and dropped a letter into her lap. Bryony smiled happily and waved twice at the bird. She opened the giant envelope, her finger slitting the opening whilst humming.

Dear Bryony,

How are you doing at Hogwarts? Mum had gotten a raise in her work and is hosting a charity raise. Pa had been busy with business, which is booming this season, and is thinking of opening up a joke shop. We miss you and love you.
Love,
Mum and Pa

[LostAndFound]

Taylor watched the girl smile as she received what the other girl assumed to be a letter from home. A familiar feeling of regret sent a familiar itch through her body, but simply stroking the ropey scar on her right forearm made it fade a little. Now was not the time to miss the past. She had a letter upstairs from her mother, and she planned to ignore it as long as humanly possible. And as much as she didn't want to lie to Bryony, she wasn't going to tell her how she was really feeling today. So with a noncommittal noise and a mouth full of eggs, she had neither confirmed nor denied Bryony's question.

Absentmindedly, she handed Silas a piece of sausage, that he ate with great enthusiasm. She smiled at him fondly, her mind working. Class would start soon. Then she would be a bit more relaxed- well, depending on the class... But they would let her forget about the letter lying on her bed. If she had thought about it, she could have sent Silas back with the letter unopened. But even after all of these years she was waiting on a letter of love. She had to sigh heavily at that. The only person who had any love for her was three years in her grave. Silas was all she had left that didn't hate her. She stroked his glossy black feathers, sudden affection for the little barn owl coursing through her. His amber eyes met hers, and he clicked his beak reproachfully. He knew her thoughts, the ones she wouldn't even voice to herself. She had to kiss that ghostly pale heart-shaped face of his. He was all she had. Then she sent him on his way to the owlery with another piece of sausage. Class would start soon.