NIGHTLY ROUNDS || MAX

[Deleted]

FEBRUARY 10, 2025

Peyton waited by the stairwell waiting on another prefect, Max, who was supposed to be walking around with her. They were supposed to be checking for any trouble makers, or like the likes, as the castle started to calm down for the night. It wasn't yet time for everyone to be in the common rooms asleep, or else that was where she would be, but it was getting there.

After everything that happened with Hogsmeade and Azkaban, the prefects have been working extra hard to enforce new rules that students have to obey. She tapped her foot against the ground, waiting for the other witch to arrive so they could get started.

maxima ruqayyah greyback •• didn't know where else to really put this!

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

February 10, 2025

After over a semester of having done rounds as a prefect, Maxima Greyback was more than used to the routine. While it had seemed like a lot to manage on top of her schoolwork at first, she had found that it really wasn't so bad. Sure, sometimes, it got a little bit annoying, like when she had recently let Bryelle Goyle off the hook for wandering around the castle after curfew, but it wasn't anything that she couldn't handle. She was just glad not to have prefect duties assigned to her on Valentine's Day.

That night, though, she was scheduled to do her rounds with Peyton Bainbridge. Although the Hufflepuff girl was in her same year, she wasn't exceptionally close to her but also didn't mind her. Peyton was friendly, and it probably wouldn't be too bad or take them too long to get their rounds done before they could go back to their respective common rooms and go to sleep.

She found Peyton waiting right where she had expected her to be—on the ground floor of the castle. Hopefully, Max thought, she hadn't kept her waiting there for too long.

"Hi, Peyton," Max called towards the blonde as she approached her, listening as the sound of her footsteps against the stone flooring was one of the only things that she could hear at that time of night.

@peytonbainbridge

[Deleted]

Was Peyton a little nervous over what was happening within the world currently? Just a little bit. It seemed a lot worse from where she was standing, and from the looks of some professors faces, it was worse. With those having broken out of Azkaban running amuck, who knows what the terrorists will do and if those prisoners will help out or continue whatever they did to get put away in the first place.

She was pulled from those thoughts by the sound of a familiar voice and her name being spoken, and she looked up, a smile appearing on her face. "Max - hey. You ready?" she questioned the other girl.

maxima ruqayyah greyback

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

February 10, 2025

As she first approached her, Peyton seemed slightly distracted, as though she had been thinking about something. Max wasn't really bothered by it, though, as the Hufflepuff responded to her quickly upon hearing her name. "Max—hey," the blonde acknowledged her with a smile. "You ready?"

Max continued walking the short distance that remained between the two of them and nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready," she answered her, pulling out her wand once she had stopped and holding it by her side. "Hopefully it's not too bad tonight," she commented, looking around. It didn't seem like it would be too bad.

@peytonbainbridge

[Deleted]

Max was ready, pulling out her wand and keeping it at her side. With everything that had been happening, Peyton couldn't blame her. She nodded her head, agreeing as the girl made a comment about it not being too bad. Peyton had yet to experience a bad night, and she hoped that would remain that way. "I agree, let's get going." she said, "Where do you want to start?"

maxima ruqayyah greyback

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

February 10, 2025

Max was happy to hear that Peyton didn't think that the night's rounds would be too bad, either. Even though there hadn't been anything all that recently to suggest that things were going to take a turn for the worse, she knew that a lot of people were still on edge—and understandably so. Having even more Aurors around, including the ones that had more recently come from MACUSA to protect the castle, was a little bit scary, although she was appreciative that the Ministry and the wider magical world had started to take the security threats more seriously.

"Where do you want to start?"

"We could start down in the dungeons and work our way up?" she suggested. It was generally easier to cover the castle if they went floor by floor, she had found.

@peytonbainbridge

[Deleted]

With everything happening, especially the most recent attack in Hogsmeade over the Christmas Holiday, one could never be too careful. But as someone once told her, Hogwarts was the safest place that they knew -- and the professors would take good care to protect them all. She was sure this was true, but it still came to the Prefects to make sure that everyone was safe. Maybe that was why she was so confident in this night going smoothly.

'We could start down in the dungeons and work our way up?' Peyton nodded, smiling as she tuck a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Good idea, let's go." she said, and the two started making their way down the steps to the dungeon area.

maxima ruqayyah greyback

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

February 10, 2025

Peyton agreed that it would be a good idea to start from the dungeons, and Max nodded. She illuminated her wand to make it that much easier to see the castle around them as they walked, descending the stairs that Max had just ascended to meet up with Peyton. They kept going for a few moments, fortunately not seeing anyone or anything of concern as they went.
 
“Are you going to Gilderoy’s Valentine’s Day ball?” Max asked Peyton curiously as she looked up from the light of her wand to the blonde beside her. Gilderoy, as Lily was, was usually one to host some exciting events, and the fact that he had reportedly received permission from Professor McGonagall to hold it made it that much more intriguing. It was only in a few days’ time, and Max had decided that she might as well be in attendance, even if she wasn’t much for the holiday itself.
 
@peytonbainbridge

[Deleted]

Peyton produced her wand, following suit of Max who illuminated her own. "Lumos," she breathed out, waving the wand slightly and watching the tip come to life and illuminating the stairwell as they descended. The two walked for a few minutes, not seeing anything or anyone that brought concern when the silence was filled with the brunette speaking.

Peyton smiled, shrugging her shoulders lightly. "I might. I'm not sure...Are you?" she questioned, glancing towards the brunette with curiosity.

maxima ruqayyah greyback

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

February 10, 2025

As she had already done before her, Peyton also illuminated her wand prior to going down the stairs. After her question about the ball, she said that she might go, although she wasn’t sure. “Are you?”
 
“Maybe?” Peyton probably knew that she wasn’t exactly someone who partied very much. Even if she wasn’t into the romance side of it, Max considered, it wouldn’t hurt anything to go. It wasn’t as though the masks Gilderoy was using were laced with Amortentia or anything; she could go just to enjoy herself, couldn’t she? “It’s either that or knitting in the Slytherin Common Room, isn’t it?” she shrugged, keeping her voice low so that no one would be disturbed by their conversation. “I reckon the teachers will want some prefects there, though.” Even if they couldn’t see beyond the masks in the way that they had been informed that the staff would be able to, they could still help to keep anything from getting too inappropriate if needed. “And Gilderoy’s nice enough,” she added. Not wanting Peyton to take that to mean that she liked the Ravenclaw who—like them—also happened to be a school prefect, she elaborated. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to be locked in a room alone with him whilst he’s talking about himself, but…”

@peytonbainbridge

[Deleted]

'Maybe,' the other girl concluded to her question, Peyton wasn't all that surprised, she knew that Max was something that strayed away from those types of scenes - something that Peyton did as well. Max continued, adding that it was either that or knitting in the common rooms, before concluding that the professors may want some prefects at the event. The blonde nodded her head in agreement, she was sure that someone would likely spike the drinks again, and that would need to be stopped. Peyton giggled at her statement about Gilderoy, "I don't think anyone wants that!" she said between giggles - Peyton surely didn't want that herself.

maxima ruqayyah greyback/div]

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

February 10, 2025

Peyton was reduced to a fit of giggles by her comment about Gilderoy and how she didn’t think that she could have stood to be locked in a room with the young man. The Hufflepuff agreed with her, laughing that she didn’t think that anyone wanted that.
 
Max, smiling slightly, shook her head. She had come to realize that Gilderoy wasn’t so terrible. He didn’t mean to be so egotistical; he just was. It was sort of a quirk, except that he was a bit annoying when he got self-absorbed. She didn’t think that he did it to be mean or to put other people down; again, he was just… Gilderoy.
 
“We’ll just make sure that the rest of us have got the power to veto how many mirrors he can put up for this party,” she suggested lightly, motioning with her hand for Peyton to keep her volume down given the hour. “It is sort of clever, though… Giving the Blishwicks a run for their money.”

@peytonbainbridge

[Deleted]

Peyton was still a fit of giggles as Max went on to talk about the party that Gildeory wanted to throw for Valentine's Day. She almost dreaded the idea of going, mostly because she wasn't that type of person. Though, at the same time - hadn't she been the one that wanted to find her soulmate? Wasn't she ready to find love? Isn't that why she participated in the last two Blishwick thingy?

She nodded her head, "Very true. I should ask Jimmie how her father is taking it." she said in a somewhat joking manner. Jimmie didn't care for her father's business; she probably liked the idea of Gildeory trying to steal her father's thunder.

maxima ruqayyah greyback

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

February 10, 2025

The Hufflepuff continued to laugh as they conversed about Gilderoy's Valentine's Day Ball. She said, albeit in such a way that was almost certainly joking, that she should ask Jimmie how her father was taking it. Although Max wasn't very close to Jimmie Blishwick, she did know that the Gryffindor wasn't the biggest fan of her father's matchmaking business. It must have been sort of amusing, though, to have a fellow student so intent on taking over what the students might have been paying the elder Blishwick for some sort of Valentine's Day services.

At a personal level, Max had never understood the appeal of the Blishwick Matchmaking blind dates. It would have been a waste of time, she thought; she was asexual and knew that the chances that her interests in that department would change substantially were slim. Sure, she supposed that she could have done it as a "friend date" thing, but the whole point of a blind date was to find something more permanent, wasn't it?

Regardless of her own feelings on love and Valentine's Day, she found the humor in Peyton's comment. "I'm sure Jimmie's devastated," Max chuckled. As long as Mr. Blishwick didn't send a Howler or anything to Jimmie, then it probably wouldn't be an issue for her. Granted, there was another Blishwick who would probably take it harder: Cassiopeia Blishwick, Jimmie's cousin. "And, erm, Cassia might actually be devastated," Max noted aloud. It would be interesting to see.

@peytonbainbridge

[Deleted]

There were times when Peyton wondered just why Jimmie hated her father's business. The last time she mentioned going on a date with Daniel through the service, Jimmie had given her a look of disappointment. Did she not believe in her father's abilities? Peyton had never really asked, always just listened to Jimmie's rants instead. There was something there, but Peyton was too afraid to ask about it.

'I'm sure Jimmie's devastated. And, erm, Cassia might actually be devastated,' Peyton's lips formed an o-shape, she had forgotten about Cassiopeia Blishwick. She had never really spoken to the other one, might closer to Jimmie. She doubted that Jimmie was devastated, but she was sure Cassia was for sure. "Maybe we should go to the dance just to see Cassia's reaction," she said, giggling at the thought of Cassia ranting and raving, yelling at Gildeory and ripping down decorations.

maxima ruqayyah greyback