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last online Mar 29, 2024 6:33:16 GMT -7
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Oct 23, 2016 15:48:53 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2016 15:48:53 GMT -7
It had been two days since Cecelia had seen a boggart on the loose, and she could still barely breathe around the lump in her throat. She had always known that she was afraid of her sister - it was stupid not to be afraid of someone who had shown it within their power to kill you - but Cecelia hadn't known exactly how afraid she had been until she had seen Desi walking down the corridor towards her. It was a good thing that she was only communicating with her sister via letter, otherwise Cecelia was certain she would have been severely punished. As it was, Cecelia was still fearful of repercussions, though she wasn't sure how Desi would ever discover it. Unless Professor Jakebson...Cecelia shuddered. She was up late - again - and had decided to try to finish the homework she had been neglecting in favor of GSA planning or Quidditch practice. She had a candle on the end table nearby to where she was working, but try as she might, Cecelia couldn't focus on her homework. Desi was always on her mind.
grey xavier slater
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
688 posts
played by Colin
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last online Mar 28, 2024 19:39:46 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Oct 25, 2016 21:28:26 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Oct 25, 2016 21:28:26 GMT -7
@cecelia He had done it again. That was, “fallen asleep” somewhere in the castle, missed dinner and just now woken up. There hadn’t even been time to check his watch yet. At least that was the story Grey was going with should an auror or prefect stop him. It had been a few months since he had actually stayed out of the Gryffindor tower past hours. Last time had been when he returned to a relatively passive Ranger laying in the middle of the common room floor. That had been a strange day over all. Since then, he had decided not to test his luck too often, and with the first task of the Triwizard tournament approaching fast, he didn’t want detention to take away from the luxury of watching Anna crush the competition. Unfortunately he had lost track of time and maybe didn’t care about the fact that he was out of the common room after hours. The asleep excuse always seemed to work.
Pushing the entrance to the Gryffindor common room open, Grey hopped inside and moved quickly towards one of the couches. Anyone that was already in there would have noticed him enter, or at most heard the portrait swing open. The last thing he needed was Ranger or Cecelia standing inside and…Grey stopped in his tracks, staring at one of the small tables in the common room. There was Cecelia, doing homework. He had been let off the hook the last time they had met, which was when he had snuck into the Prefect’s Bathroom and found her in there crying. There was a good chance that she already knew he wasn’t in the dorms. It was pretty hard to miss him when Ranger was one of his roommates. Sighing and accepting his fate without Cecelia even saying anything yet, unsure if she even noticed him yet, he approached the small table and took the chair opposite her. “Evening.”
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last online Mar 29, 2024 6:33:16 GMT -7
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Oct 30, 2016 16:03:07 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2016 16:03:07 GMT -7
Cecelia wasn’t looking for a confrontation. She hardly ever was. All she wanted to do was finish her homework so she could go to sleep, but no, things couldn’t be that simple. The portrait hole opened, and Cecelia didn’t need to check her watch to know that curfew had come and gone ages ago. The person who had entered – Grey Slater, Cecelia noted, sighing internally – seemed to be just as aware of his guilt as Cecelia was. That didn’t make the situation any easier, though; he was probably expecting to get off easy because last time she’d let him go with only a warning. She wasn’t a sniveling mess now, though, and Cecelia had a duty to the school. “Detention the next two Saturdays, Slater.” She said, not even bothering to return his greeting. She wasn’t going to allow him to butter her up and get out of a punishment for a second time. “Are you going to make me argue, or are you just going to go to sleep?” Gryffindors were notorious for arguing punishments. Cecelia knew, because she probably would do the same thing in their position. But she wasn’t in their position, so they were just going to have to deal with her.
grey xavier slater
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
688 posts
played by Colin
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last online Mar 28, 2024 19:39:46 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Nov 6, 2016 12:15:32 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Nov 6, 2016 12:15:32 GMT -7
@cecelia Fate had it out for him. He knew he would have at least gotten written up, but maybe this was one time too many. Detention seemed like an appropriate punishment, though he had anticipated it to be during a weekday, or at least keeping him away from some kind of event. But Saturdays? That meant no Hogsmeade. He flinched slightly at her words, but wasn’t going to complain too much about it. Ultimately, it was left to a professor to deal with that, at least that’s what he had been told in the past. So maybe he was still in the clear for now. “Guess I can’t go on that hot date I had planned. That’s too bad.” He leaned back in the chair relaxing as he smiled at her. Why did the prefects always do their homework this late? There was no way anyone could get anything productive done at this hour of the night. That’s why he had taken to wandering around or pestering others in the common room, like he was doing right now.
“Sleep sounds nice right about now.” Grey yawned. He wasn’t actually tired. He never was at this hour. The small naps he had taken throughout the day had done their job well, and now he was sufficiently energized for the rest of the night. The last thing he wanted to do now was to go lay in bed and listen to his roommates, who he really wasn’t too fond of, snore for the next few hours. That wasn’t fun. “So how have you been lately? Holding up?” That was mostly in regards to the aftermath that Ranger had caused, and that he had had the pleasure of walking in on. Quite a few good ideas about how to deal with the other Gryffindor prefect had been bounced around that day, but Grey didn’t really care all that much to pay close attention to see if Cecelia was actually implementing them at all. Now that he had her all to himself though, that was about to change. “I ended up talking to Ranger after our conversation,” he added. “He’s not really likeable is he? Not sure what others see in him.” Grey couldn’t help but think that was like the pot calling the kettle black. Wasn’t he the exact same way?
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last online Mar 29, 2024 6:33:16 GMT -7
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Nov 13, 2016 19:07:22 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2016 19:07:22 GMT -7
Cecelia rolled her eyes at Grey when he made a joke about not being able to go on a hot date. It wasn’t funny, and she didn’t want to have to deal with anyone, much less him. He had seen her with all her layers peeled back and now, here she was, desperately trying to recover some semblance of protection so he couldn’t hurt her with everything that he knew. Grey yawned, and Cecelia just blinked at him, not yawning back. Even though she wanted to sleep, she was too logical to believe that she would sleep anytime soon, between the nightmares and the worry. Grey asked how she had been, and Cecelia blinked. “I’m alive.” She responded flatly. Maybe Grey would think her answer facetious, but for Cecelia, it was an accomplishment. Desirae had yet to find out that she was terrified, which meant that, so far, she was safe from her sister’s wrath. How long the calm before the storm would last, Cecelia didn’t know. The other Gryffindor mentioned that her fellow prefect wasn’t likeable, and Cecelia nodded her head. “I don’t know.” She said, voice still oddly emotionless. Maybe she had finally managed to build a wall up. Maybe Grey would see that she wasn’t just a crier. She was Cecelia Rousseau, and that had to mean something. It had, once before. “Obviously Madam Macmillan thought he was good at something.” She didn’t know what that would be, but it wasn’t Cecelia’s place to judge. The counsellor hadn’t done anything about the Ranger situation that Cecelia could see, so she wasn’t hopeful that the Head of House would help at all in anything else.
grey xavier slater
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
688 posts
played by Colin
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last online Mar 28, 2024 19:39:46 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Nov 23, 2016 21:54:24 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Nov 23, 2016 21:54:24 GMT -7
@cecelia This conversation was already vastly different than the previous one they had held. Maybe because he was accepting this punishment, whereas last time he was trying to weasel his way out by offering her insights on her problems. In the end he got roped into it a little, but there was little more than slight curiosity when trying to figure out what had happened since then. Cecelia didn’t seem to be the type to want to give that up so easily, instead giving short answers to what he was implying; answers that were vague enough yet not, all at the same time. “Alive is good. I was kind of expecting fine though.” Grey leaned back in his chair, tapping the tips of his fingers one after the other on the table. “Sounds like nothing has changed.” Petty gossip wasn’t exactly his cup of tea, but this was still better than trying to sleep, or whatever was supposed to happen to normal people at night.
At least they were getting somewhere when talking about Ranger. It seemed they had similar feelings on the other prefect. Grey didn’t necessarily dislike him, they simply didn’t see eye to eye on things. He nodded his head back and forth as she stated that Madam Macmillan had seen something in him. Whatever that was, it seemed like neither Grey nor Cecelia could figure it out. Grey shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve never really talked to her outside of being head of house, so I can’t really speak to her choices I guess.” What did she even do again? Wasn’t she the school counselor or something? Grey had never seen any use in her in regards to things he was doing. Apparently a lot of students talked with her after the events of the prior year though. “Doesn’t mean I think they’re right or wrong decisions though. That something could literally be anything.”
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last online Mar 29, 2024 6:33:16 GMT -7
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Dec 3, 2016 20:31:12 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2016 20:31:12 GMT -7
Cecelia sighed a little when Grey said that he was expecting a ‘fine’ instead of ‘alive’. If she had been a better pureblood – better at her poker face, that was – Cecelia probably would have said as such, but really, what self-respecting pureblood got Sorted into Gryffindor house? She and Andromeda Lestrange were the only exceptions, and the latter wasn’t even a part of a respectable pureblood family anymore. Whether or not Cecelia’s own family was considered respectable remained up for debate, Cecelia thought, since there was the whole murderous sister to consider. “With my family, sometimes I think the distinction is important.” Cecelia said. She didn’t care that she was being heavy-handed with the sister being a murderer thing. People already knew it anyways, so why bother trying to hide it or dance around what everyone was already thinking?
“She’s fine, I guess.” Cecelia said when Grey said he hadn’t talked to Madam Macmillan outside of her duties as Head of House. Other than the one disastrous meeting, Cecelia couldn’t claim to be much better. She wasn’t the kind of student to make personal relationships with her professors, preferring instead a polite distance so that they could remain objective about her marks, and she could remain objective about receiving them. Things were probably different with a counselor, but Cecelia couldn’t claim that she knew much about that, either. Counseling had never made much sense to Cecelia. Her problems were hers and hers alone. “Why do you think I was chosen to be a prefect?” Cecelia asked Grey bluntly. Maybe the reason Cecelia was chosen would be enlightening as to why Ranger was.
grey xavier slater
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
688 posts
played by Colin
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last online Mar 28, 2024 19:39:46 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Dec 19, 2016 1:09:40 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Dec 19, 2016 1:09:40 GMT -7
@cecelia Was the distinction between alive and fine really that important though? One couldn’t be fine without being alive, but at the same time Cecelia’s reasoning made sense to him. He recalled the conversation the two of them had in the bathroom about her family situation, and while he had mostly just provided advice on what he thought could work, it didn’t erase the fact that she had told him how one sister had killed the other. That was goddamn messed up in his books, and the emotional toll that left on someone obviously wasn’t an easy on in the slightest. So in this instance, he was going to leave Cecelia being alive as meaning she was doing well. “Fair point.” Grey stated flatly, shrugging his shoulders. There wasn’t much he could argue about when it came to that anyways.
It seemed like the fine descriptor didn’t escape Madam Macmillan though. Like he had previously said, there really wasn’t much he could say on the counselor since he had barely talked to her. Given the chance though, he probably would have dragged Cecelia there himself. Obviously she was having issues she was trying to deal with on her own and it wasn’t exactly working out. Unfortunately that was too much effort for him, and showing that he actually cared about someone else’s well-being like that wasn’t exactly something he would do. Had it pertained to him, maybe then he would step up and help out. As of now though, it looked as if Cecelia had already taken the step towards talking to the counselor, so it her going was of her own volition at this point in time.
Grey tilted his head to the side as she asked him why he thought she was chosen to be a prefect. That was a tough question. He wasn’t sure of what the qualifications were in the first place. Did they have to be strict? Pencil-pushers? Have no leniency for students breaking rules? Maintain high grades? Or simply be responsible individuals? He was rather responsible when it came to the newspaper, but outside of that he was a lost cause. Holding his chin up with his hands, Grey stared at Cecelia, trying to figure out what made her get chosen. He had numerous reasons that he could think of, but they all seemed rather stereotypical; indicative of the questions he had about Prefects. “I think you’re really good at pretending, or at least putting up a false front, that makes it seem like you having everything together. Obviously I know that it’s not completely true, but the average student doesn’t. You know when to be professional and I assume when not to as well. While older students are able to see right through that, the younger ones can’t, and that builds enough credibility that everyone else will respect you.” Grey leaned back in his chair once again, wondering if that would be enough, or at least made sense to Cecelia.
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last online Mar 29, 2024 6:33:16 GMT -7
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Dec 25, 2016 19:46:51 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2016 19:46:51 GMT -7
Grey seemed to be scrutinizing her fairly thoroughly, which didn’t bother Cecelia as much as it ought to have. Between him staring her down or Desirae (or worse, Elaine), doing the staring, Cecelia would prefer Grey any day. There wasn’t any malice behind his gaze, just…polite indifference, maybe. He didn’t appear to have any emotional attachment to the question, or to her, which made it all the easier to just sit there as he looked on. If he had cared about her – if they cared about each other, really – it might have been hard to wait for his judgment to rain down. But at the end of the day, he was just another person that she was lying to. Cecelia barked out a short laugh when Grey said that she was good at pretending. He probably meant it in respect to pretending like she was fine when she was so obviously not, but if he only knew how perfect her mask was, how deep her secrets were hidden, he would probably rethink that comment. At some point, it stopped being pretending, and started being something else. But Grey didn’t have to know that. “Do you really think that someone like me can survive with a sister like mine without a little pretending?” For a moment, Cecelia considered doing something very, very stupid. She wanted to tell Grey about the Vow. Not Grey, specifically, but someone, and Grey was there. And of all the people she could die in front of…Grey wasn’t the worst choice, really. He wasn’t her friend, she didn’t think, so it wasn’t like he’d be that emotionally scarred by the ordeal. Besides, he was a journalist – he’d report her death as it happened, without leaving out any of the details. She could prove that she hadn’t been at fault, and then…Cecelia shook her head, even though Grey likely wouldn’t know why she was doing it. She had kept her silence too long, now. It had been seven long months, and the time was only getting longer. “I don’t know if anyone named Rousseau will ever be respected, after what my sister did.” It was hard to respect the relatives of a murderer.
grey xavier slater
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
688 posts
played by Colin
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last online Mar 28, 2024 19:39:46 GMT -7
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Jan 15, 2017 22:11:28 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Jan 15, 2017 22:11:28 GMT -7
@cecelia The laugh when he said she was pretending was reassurance that there was still something there. He didn’t want to know if he was right or wrong, mainly because it had been a hypothetical on why he thought she was chosen as a Prefect. Clearly not all of it was true, but from his observations, he could tell there were things purposefully omitted from her job persona that her normal persona had to deal with. Whatever normal meant. Grey knew he had only caught a slight glimpse of that once before, in the Prefect’s bathroom, and it had soon been wiped away by her other front, the public one he had seen time and time again. “I’d say we both know it’s more than a little pretending. I don’t really care what you had to do to achieve that level of fakeness, but if it keeps you alive, then why stop? At this point, that might be more real than whatever you were like before.” Was that too harsh? Probably, but he believed there was a mutual level of understanding here that neither of them really cared what the other did. He surely didn’t care that she had just given him detention two weekends in a row, and there definitely hadn’t been any hesitation on her end either.
The silence that followed seemed to go on and on. She was thinking. He had no way to tell what it was about though, especially if his last comment hadn’t really had an effect on her. It shouldn’t have, since it was true. Then Cecelia finally spoke. Grey had a hard time not laughing at it. “Then change that. Might sound hard to do, maybe impossible. I don’t know. If someone isn’t going to respect you because of your last name, then they don’t deserve your respect either. Because that’s petty grade-schooler bullshit.” He continued leaning back and forth in his chair. He definitely didn’t think he’d be giving out advice like this, especially at this hour. It was always something interesting with this girl. “If it means anything, I respect you. And I’m not saying that just because. Not many people can go through what you have and manage to act like things are fine still, whether they really are or not.”
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last online Mar 29, 2024 6:33:16 GMT -7
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Jan 16, 2017 11:00:37 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2017 11:00:37 GMT -7
Cecelia let out a soft sigh when Grey said that it was more than a little pretending. “That is…the truth.” She admitted quietly. She flinched a little when Grey called her armor ‘fakeness’ – there had to be a better way to put that. The word fake implied malice, malic that Cecelia didn’t have. All that she wanted was to keep herself safe. That wasn’t malicious. “It does keep me alive.” She added, once again hoping that Grey understood that she meant that very literally. “I…don’t know what’s real anymore.” Cecelia said with a sigh. Admitting that she was losing her grip on reality probably wasn’t the smartest thing to be doing, but if worse came to worse, Cece would just blame it on the late hour.
“Are you saying that I should change my last name, or do something so good that everyone forgets about Desirae?” Cece asked Grey, blinking listlessly at him. She had noted that Grey had said bullshit, but it almost didn’t register that she’d never heard him curse before. In any case, Cecelia wasn’t sure she could do either of those things. “It does mean something.” The prefect said when the other student said that he respected her. “…I should go to bed. Chew on this.” Cece said with yet another sigh.
grey xavier slater
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
688 posts
played by Colin
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last online Mar 28, 2024 19:39:46 GMT -7
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Jan 20, 2017 21:40:32 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Jan 20, 2017 21:40:32 GMT -7
@cecelia He didn’t have to guess that he was correct about Cece pretending; he knew it. Calling her fake clearly went a little too far though. That meant there was still something there other than an empty husk of whoever she was before. Even more so that she was aware of it keeping her alive. It was somewhat scary to think she meant that literally. Grey wasn’t going to pretend that he understood; he had already tried to do that in the Prefect’s bathroom. It might have worked for her, it might not have. What it definitely did was help him realize his own flaws. At the end of the day, she had to do the exact same thing. If he had to guess, Cecelia probably already knew what they were but was either afraid to confront them or physically couldn’t because of her sister. Her comment on not knowing what was real or not anymore made sense though. “You can start from there then.” Grey nodded his head slowly a few times. “The past you is still you. Figure out a balance and go from there. At least then it’s of your own volition.”
Grey laughed slightly at her bringing up the idea of changing her name. “Either could work. You are your own person. You’re Cecelia. Not Desirae. Like I said, if someone can’t get past the fact that you aren’t your sister, then they aren’t worth the time.” That was almost like looking in a mirror. It was the exact same thing he had gone through with having to live up to Claire. Apparently everyone went through the same things with siblings. Sometimes they were smart, sometimes criminals. “Sleep sounds nice.” Grey stood up from his chair, pushing it back under the table. “I better get it now before I have those dates with detention. I always knew it had a thing for me.” Jokingly winking at the other Gryffindor, Grey waved goodbye and headed up to his dorm.
[Grey Out~]
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last online Mar 29, 2024 6:33:16 GMT -7
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Jan 21, 2017 10:01:47 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2017 10:01:47 GMT -7
Cecelia blinked at Grey. It frustrated her that most of what he was saying made sense, because she should have been able to figure it out for herself, not be told who she was (or how to figure out who she was) by somebody else. There just wasn’t enough time to sit down and think about it, though, between prefect duties and Quidditch practices and GSA organizing and trying to be Desirae’s slave. Not to mention studying, which was honestly falling to the wayside in the whirlwind that was the rest of her life. Cecelia let out a soft breath, barely even registering when Grey began talking again. He made it sound so easy, to cut off any connection with anyone who saw Desirae in her. That really only left Grey, Chantal, and Ramsey. And the latter two didn’t even know who Desirae was, so it wasn’t like they were actually rising above – just living in ignorance.
“Sleep well, Grey.” Cecelia said, smiling shakily at him when he made his joke before leaving. She quickly made her way to her own dorm room, opening the door slowly so as not to wake any of her many roommates. Cecelia slipped into bed, and found that instead of fighting for sleep to come, she simply drifted away.
grey xavier slater
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