Just can't seem to shake | OPEN

[Deleted]

December 22 2025

She could hardly believe the first half of her last year at Hogwarts was over. She was the last Windsor left at Hogwarts. Since Ed had graduated last year she knew she would have been the last one left this year anyway, but something felt so different now that he was gone. He wasn’t just at home and just an owl letter away, he was dead. That made everything feel different. The end of her term snuck up on her. She wasn’t even sure what she had been doing over the past few months. It was a blur. She was head girl, sure, and that took up a good deal of her time. But she had made no progress on her personal goals this term. She had wanted to be fluent in Italian before the end of the year, she had got distracted with that goal last year and was hoping to add Italian to her repertoire before she was thrown out into the real world. It would be her 5th language and help her feel a little more prepared for her future career in diplomacy.

Christmas break had her feeling completely turned upside down. She didn’t have coursework to do, and she was barely practicing her languages due to her own lack of motivation. She didn’t really want to be home because then she had to act normal. She didn’t want to act like the thoughts going through her head weren’t all about Edmund. It was her first Christmas without him. How else was she supposed to act? Her mom suggested she get out and Lusie took her suggestion readily, agreeing to go do some Christmas shopping in the alley for the day. So she traveled to Diagon Alley and made her way down the lane, poking into and out of shops as she went, collecting a few gifty bits for her friends and relatives. However, as she approached the Quidditch shop, she stopped in her tracks as thoughts of Ed came flooding back into her head. Why couldn’t she shake this?

OPEN - please someone distract her from her angst

[Deleted]

December 22, 2025

Even after over a year of working at Hogwarts, Clarence Corntassel couldn't say that he was fully comfortable there. He had hoped so strongly that he would only need to be living in Scotland for a year, but the previous academic year had come and gone. So, too, had any hope of returning to Ilvermorny any time in the near future. The bright side was that travel outside of the British Isles was no longer restricted, and he had considered going back to Oklahoma for a little while now that there was another break. It was a thought, at least, but Clarence hoped that going back home might help to refresh him a little bit before yet another semester at Hogwarts.

For as long as he was on that side of the ocean, however, Clarence supposed that it wouldn't be a bad idea for him to take the time to go into Diagon Alley. He didn't spend much time there at all. He went between the castle and Hogsmeade, for the most part, and that was just about it. He didn't have any intention of purchasing anything specific; he was mostly just there to browse, but it wasn't too cold outside despite the time of year.

As he neared the shop that sold Quidditch supplies, he noticed Lusie Windsor standing there. Clarence didn't know the girl exceptionally well, apart from her being royal and Head Girl, plus the loss of her brother in the Quidditch explosion over the summer. Though it was rare that he brought it up, Clarence knew what it was like to lose a sibling tragically and suddenly. He had been there with his own sister, Dotty. Even after over fifty years, it bothered him not to have closure over who had killed her.

The pressure of being royalty in the No-Maj world wasn't something that he knew anything about first-hand, but Clarence could only imagine that Lusie must have been feeling a lot of pressure. He, too, had received an invitation to the upcoming ball, though he had respectfully declined the offer. For multiple reasons, it wasn't something with which he felt completely at ease.

That, though, wasn't a reason to walk on by the young woman as though he hadn't seen her, and Clarence approached Lusie with a slight nod. "Miss Windsor," he spoke, hoping that he wouldn't startle her, "how are you?"

@lusie