the light is coming (jace)

[Deleted]

timing: Mid November 2024

Night had long since wrapped its cloak around the stone turrets of Hogwarts. Yet Brígh O'Dalaigh lay awake, staring at the scarlet curtains of her four poster bed.Through the gap in the curtains, she could see the moon shining onto the creaky wooden floor. All of the girls in her dorm were fast asleep, snoring gently. Really, there was nothing dainty about the unconscious fifth year Gryffindor girls. Bri only wished she was with them. She couldn't even precisely peg why she was awake. She was a bit worried about her transfiguration work, which was stagnating. It was one of her favourite subjects, and she hated that she was struggling to improve. Especially in such a crucial year. Also, Bri was worried about Albus. She cared so very much for him and his well being. She was glad they were on speaking terms again, after meeting up at the last Hogsmeade weekend. But she was afraid he would fall again into deep depression and she wouldn't be able to help him out.

Sleep wouldn't come, Bri decided at last. She sat up and glanced at her clock. It was only just past one in the morning. She'd been attempting and feigning sleep for the better part of three hours. What a waste of a Thursday night. She snatched up her wand and her dressing gown, unsure of where she would go. She considered just sitting by the fire and practising some transfiguration. That would be the wise thing to do. Yet, she wasn't wise. Instead, Bri decided she would rouse one of her classmates and convince them that it would be best to go on an adventure at half one in the morning.

Bri tiptoed up the steps to the boys dormitories, deciding that the new transfer Jace would do nicely. They hadn't had much time one on one, but Brígh knew that he would be well excited to join her. And Bri really wanted to make him her friend. He was interesting, and could tell her other things about America that Eli had forgotten. She crept to the fifth year boys dormitories and cracked the door open. Peeking inside, Bri found the boys to all be fast asleep. She slipped through the crack and found Jace's bed. She poked him on the shoulder to rouse him. "Jace? Jace. It's Brígh," she whispered.

tag: @jace

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As a general rule, sleeping was easy for Jace. He did enough exploring, messing around and joking during the day that by the end of it he was exhausted, especially if he forced himself to do a bit of homework. It wasn't that Jace was a bad student, he actually did pretty well in school, but at the moment learning magic wasn't his main focus. He wanted to learn more about Hogwarts. The castle in and of itself was a mystery that entirely fascinated the young boy. He wanted to learn more about it all the time and had a hard time controlling the urge to explore.

The same was true this night. Jace spent the day exploring and attending his classes, polishing up an essay before heading up to bed. He fell asleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow and he didn't even wake up when his fellow dorm-mates came in to go to bed. He was out like a light.

He woke up almost instantly when he felt something on his shoulder and Jace turned to the left, his eyebrows furrowing at what he saw. "Brigh? What are you doing? It's ..." he looked at the clock and then back to her. "one in the morning. Am I dreaming?" Granted, this would be a vivid dream, but he honestly couldn't imagine that she came here. Maybe she did though. "Do you need something?" he was whispering like her, then decided it wasn't worth it. "Let's go into the common room," he whispered, grabbing a robe as he got out of bed and wrapped it around his pajamas. Once he was out of his dorm room, he turned back to her. "What's up?"

BRÍGH ENNIS O'DALAIGH

[Deleted]

It was a bit odd that Brígh's not-entirely-conscious mind settled on pestering her new classmate Jace this fine midnight hour. She crept over to the boys dorm, grateful that Godric Gryffindor trusted girls. Still, it was always comical to slide down the girls dormitory staircase to investigate who had tried to get up there this time. For the most part, all of the Gryffindors were well aware that if you wanted to meet up, you did so in the boys dorms. Not like Bri had ever been involved in that sort of thing. Her fling with Steve (thankfully) hadn't made it past the summer and no one else in her house had quite piqued her romantic interest.

Jace, she decided, was going to be her partner in crime. At least for the night. She poked his shoulder and whispered his name, trying to rouse him in the most non-threatening type of way. "Er, no I'm really here and this is really real," she whispered back, feeling her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. She was about to respond to his next groggy question when he suggested that they go down to the common room. Bri nodded vigorously, and followed him down.

Once in the common room, the pair were more free to talk. "Well, I know it's a bit random but I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk with me? Also I know it's one in the morning, but it's the most exciting time of day. I thought we could like... explore a bit. You're new here and... we could see some stuff! What do you think?" asked Bri, with a mischievous light in her eyes that wasn't due to the dying flames.

tag: @jace

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Jace blinked when Brigh confirmed that she was actually here. Okay, so he was awake then. Cool. Now the real question was why she was here. Sure, he and Brigh were in the same year and they knew one another well enough from classes and stuff, but this didn't  seem like it had anything to do with class. At least, not at one in the morning. That just wouldn't make any sense.

He went to the common room, turning and listening as Brigh started to explain. Jace couldn't help the smile that covered his face as he realized what she wanted. "Heck yes! You had me at "explore!" Jace teased, his grin widening. He couldn't wait to see what she had to show him. "I'm so in! What do you wanna do? You have anything specific in mind?" Jace was literally game for whatever she had planned. He was just excited that she invited him to join her. He loved going stuff like this!

BRÍGH ENNIS O'DALAIGH

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The duo tramped back downstairs to the common room so that they could talk at a more normal level rather than conversing in hushed whispers. Brígh made her suggestion of after dark exploration, a mischievous glint in her eyes. Jace agreed at once, bringing a surge of relief to Brígh. Imagine, it would have been so mortifying for him to reject her. "Your accent is so cute!" she replied after a moment. She'd not heard him speak very much, but Brígh had to admit she loved a good American accent. It was just so... different.

"You can trust me on this one. I'm an expert at night time prowling," said Brígh. She leapt to her feet and started towards the portrait hole, glancing back over her shoulder at Jace. "I've got just the right idea. But we've got to be careful," said Brígh, before slipping out of the portrait hole.

It was best to remain quiet as they snuck their way through the castle, avoiding professors and prefects alike. It was eerily silent within the stone walls, and there seemed to be fewer patrols than usual. When they reached the Entrance Hall, Brígh held out an arm. One of the seventh year prefects was trudging slowly around the hall, eyes half shut. After a few moments of waiting, the prefect passed into a corridor off the hall and Brígh motioned to Jace to follow her as she dashed to the oak front doors, and pulled them open. She didn't waste any time checking to see if they were caught, but moved as quickly and quietly as possible. She hoped Jace was an expert at sneaking as well.

tag: @jace

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Jace grinned when Brigh told him that his accent was cite. "Well, glad someone thinks so. I've never been somewhere where my accent is the different one." He gave her a look and then added, "I guess your accent is pretty good too ... it's all proper and stuff," he teased with a wink. It was one of his favorite things about being at Hogwarts. Everyone always sounded like they were pretending to be proper, but it was real. 

Brigh said she was an expert and Jace nodded, "Sounds great to me! Teach me your ways, oh knowledgeable one," he teased, but at the same time he was entirely serious. Jace wanted to sneak out right now with Brigh, but he also wanted to be able to do it in the future, whenever he wanted. If she could teach him how ... that would really help. "Careful is my middle name." Yeah right, but Jace was gonna pretend like that was true. Anything to make the good time start sooner. 

He followed her out of the portrait hole, trying his best to sneak along after her. It didn't take Jace long to realize that Brigh was a genius! This definitely wasn't the first time she'd ever done this before and he was excited and felt somewhat honored to be her first choice of someone to sneak out with. He was glad that he often practiced sneaking around Ilvermorny, sure that it was helping both of them now. Jace wasn't making rookie decisions. He could follow just as quietly as he could lead. He hurried into the room after her, whispering only after the door was closed behind them. "Where are we going?" his voice was hardly loud for him to hear, but he was certain she could. He felt the anticipation rise within him. He loved the chance to do things like this.

BRÍGH ENNIS O'DALAIGH

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Brígh snorted with laughter. "My accent? Proper? First time I've heard that one," she said. Usually her accent was classified as a bastardised British and American one, except a lot less understandable. In reality, it was a miracle that any of the American students could understand what she was saying at all. "Can't imagine going to the United States. It's so far! But I bet there are a lot of Irish people there," she said, thinking of all the immigrants. Brígh nodded as Jace asked her to teach him her ways. She was quite good at sneaking around, and only got caught every so often. She had a good feeling about tonight though, that the pair wouldn't get caught at all. That would be awful luck.

"Just gotta know the secret passages," she said with a smile, beckoning Jace forward. They slipped out of the portrait hole and Brígh led the way through the corridors, creeping along. They made their way down to the entrance hall without incident, and Brígh leapt to the oak front doors as the prefect trudged out of sight. She pulled them open and wasted no time in dashing outside. She looked around and saw Jace follow her. She nodded in her approval. "Excellent work, don't you think?" she asked before setting off in the direction of the forest.

"The forest of course! It's not as scary as some thing," said Brígh brightly. She crossed the grounds with purpose, glancing at Jace. "So, how have you found your first couple of months at Hogwarts so far? D'you like it? D'you miss home?" she asked.

tag: @jace

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She seemed to think his comment about her accent was funny and Jace realized that hers was different than most people at Hogwarts. "I mean, it's different. From mine and from most of the people here. I like it," he told her honestly. Jace wasn't one for trying to trick people into believing things, but he really did like the way she talked. There was a sort of lilt to her voice that really just made him want to continue to listen to her. He shrugged when she mentioned not being able to imagine going to the United States. "Yeah, well I never thought about coming here until I had to, you know? I mean, I like it. It's different and really interesting, I just never planned on it." 

Jace followed instantly when she started mentioning secret passages. There were secret passages in this place?! He absolutely loved that idea! Jace liked anything that was adventurous, honestly, and the idea of secret passages made him more excited than he'd been in a while. "Are you going to show me some?" he whispered, not even trying to hide his enthusiasm as they crept through the corridors. Then she was leading him out of the front doors and Jace raced after her. "Yes! That was great!" He told her, excitement growing as he realized where she was headed. The forest! 

Brigh confirmed his thoughts, saying it wasn't scary and Jace nodded. "I'm not worried about it." He'd already been inside once with Jack, but that was during the daytime and they didn't go in far. He wondered if Brigh just wanted to explore or if they were going somewhere particular. He walked beside her, nodding at her question. "I like it here! The castle is awesome and the classes are pretty good, even though I don't like how much work they assign." Then he shrugged a little. "I miss Brooke. She's my best friend, but she had to go home at the beginning of the semester. Most of the time I'm too busy to miss people." Which was exactly the way he liked it.

BRÍGH ENNIS O'DALAIGH

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Brígh beamed at Jace. It was a rare occurrence for her accent to be complimented. She'd been resigned to frequent misunderstandings from a young age, and so usually just assumed people didn't know half of what she was saying. She probably chatted enough to make up for it and get the important things across as it was. "Thanks..." she added after a moment, realising that Jace was actually paying her a compliment.

As they made their way purposefully through the grounds, Bri turned her face up towards the moonlight. It was freeing, being outside after dark. She didn't care much for rules, especially the ones along the lines of curfews. Jace's excitement was infectious, and she turned her grin towards him. "There's something about the air out here. It's like an extra dose of courage. Like we're not afraid of anything," she said. Though there were rumours of curious beasts and beings in the forest, Bri didn't fear them. She'd never come across them anyways, and much like her accent didn't trust that half of them even existed.

The troublesome pair made their way across the grounds without much incident. Bri paused at the forest edge, glancing over at Jace. "Was Ilvermorny like this? Secret passages and sprawling grounds and forbidden forests? And, Brooke, I remember her a bit I think. Brown hair? She was only here for such a short time... such a shame she left so quickly," she commented. " There's no time to miss people, that's true. Not when there's so much adventure to find!"

There was movement from behind them and Brígh turned around, her heart stopping. "Adventure to find, Ms O'Dalaigh and Mr Hunter? I think you'll find detention in my classroom for being out of bounds and 20 points from Gryffindor instead," said professor Archibald Reed, the no-nonsense potions professor. Bri had been so focused on getting to the forest, she hadn't noticed his creeping shadow. Bri swore under her breath, before professor Reed ushered them back to the castle.

tag: @jace
ooc: I thought we could end it here and then do a more recent detention thread

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Jace didn't say anything else when Brígh thanked him for the compliment. Honestly, he didn't think it deserved thanks. He was just being honest, and he didn't mind that in the slightest. 

Outside, Jace was enjoying every second. He didn't know the castle well enough to explore it on his own, but having Brígh here definitely gave him a confidence boost. He nodded at her words. "Definitely. Being outside is the best, and doing it in the dark when we're not supposed to ..." It was better. Jace loved breaking rules, even though he didn't normally come off that way to adults. He was pretty good at hiding how much he liked to mess around. 

She paused when they reached the forest, asking about Ilvermorny and Jace grinned as he started to nod. "Yeah, it was. A little different because it wasn't as big or as old as this place, and the forest wasn't actually forbidden. We were allowed to go wherever we wanted." He paused when she mentioned Brooke. His best friend. He was writing to her actually, but she was still struggling a bit. He nodded when she said that there was no time to miss people, trying to pull himself out of his sudden sadness. "Yeah, let's get going!" 

They didn't have the chance to go inside the forest though. Professor ... actually, Jace didn't remember his name. He was the potions professor, and they were caught. Jace sighed as he followed the professor back to school. He wasn't too surprised, more disappointed that they'd been caught. 

--- the end ---

BRÍGH ENNIS O'DALAIGH