What Grief Looks Like [Aisling]

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A week. A week was all that had passed between the death of her elder brother and returning to Hogwarts. Was that enough time? Poppy didn’t know the proper times allotted for grieving. Her parents had told all four of them if they wanted to stay home longer, they would be able to; McGonagall would understand. Poppy couldn’t imagine staying away from Hogwarts though, away from her friends, her Prefect duties; rumor had it that Gilderoy was planning a Valentine's day party, and Poppy was not one to miss such an event. Being home with her family had made her feel better at first, but soon she felt like she couldn’t breathe. All their family wanted to do was talk about Rob; how he was the perfect Hitwizard, how good-looking he had been, how he had wanted to marry a pretty foreign girl at the Ministry. Poppy could no longer stand it. Talking about Rob and what was and what could have been wasn’t going to bring her brother back - nothing would.

Luckily, Hogwarts had plenty of space for her to breathe whenever she was feeling sad. Today had brought her out to the Courtyard, where few people ventured out due to the chilly weather. Poppy had always liked the cold though; it was the hot, sticky weather of summer that kept her indoors. The sun made her skin turn red and splotchy, and sweat profusely - she hated it. Keeping her cloak close around her, Poppy chose a spot in the secluded corner of the Courtyard and pulled out her needlework. She was working on an embroidery piece that she hoped to add to her new deep green dress robes, which - if rumors were true - she planned on wearing to the Valentines Day party. She began to sew, not even noticing her little sister creep up on her, as she often did these days. She glanced up, and blinked twice, acknowledging Aislings presence. “You’re getting very good on that sneaking up on people thing,” she commented, leaning her head to one side to study her sister.

@aisling

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082E87

Ever since she had found out about her brother, Aisling didn't know how to feel. Hurt? Betrayed? Broken? She felt all those things. Lost, desolate and empty. She felt all those things as well. What sort of carelessness on the behalf of the owners cost her brother his life? Robert had been her idol, her trainer, the one who kept her safe. Now she had to take the mantle for herself.

Somehow, tears hadn't come. Perhaps Aisling was in shock. This was something completely unexpected and completely unbelievable. Still, she felt as if she would return home to Yorkshire and see Robert, smiling or cracking a joke. She was incapable of processing that none of these things would happen again.

Aisling had taken to floating along the corridors, murmuring to herself. The people who had wronged her. Especially those dragons. How had they escaped? How were there not more safety measures in place to ensure this didn't happen? Aisling would make sure this didn't happen again. They were added to her list.

On one of these wanderings, she came across her older sister Poppy. Aisling was silent as a ghost, not even a whisper of sound. Poppy was surprised to see her and noted her silent approach. Aisling inclined her head slightly in agreement. Previously, she and Poppy had not quite gotten on. Everything was different now. "Justice is silent, so I have to learn to be too," said Aisling. "how are you doing?"

Tag: @poppy

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Poppy restrained herself from rolling her eyes. Aislings’ knee-jerk reaction to what had happened that fateful day in Hogsmeade was to serve justice for their brother, by any means necessary. She didn’t necessarily disagree with her however; while she tried to have faith that the Ministry’s investigation would have some sort of satisfying conclusion, it could not replace the hole her brothers’ death had left behind. Aisling wanted a concrete person to blame, and Poppy couldn’t really blame her. “Well you’ve got the silent part down,” she commented, setting down her needlework to give her younger sister her undivided attention.

“I’m working on a new embroidery for my dress robes. Rumor has it that Gilderoy Lockhart is throwing a masquerade for Valentines’ Day and since mum was…..well, not able to take me shopping for new ones, I thought I’d spruce up my green ones a bit,” she explained. Their mother had been as silent as the grave they had lowered Rob in since the day he died; trying to talk to her was much like talking to a mute. “Are you planning on attending?” she asked her curiously. Masquerades were definitely not Aisling’s ‘thing’, but if her friends were going, perhaps her sister would take a break from whatever training she was putting herself through and let loose for an evening.

@aisling

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Aisling's gaze moved from her sister to the robes in her hands. She had been so focused on not drawing Poppy's attention, she hadn't realised what Poppy was doing. "Why do they need sprucing up at all?" she asked honestly. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with her green ones. In fact, Aisling had quite liked them. She thought back to her dark blue dress robes. She'd had them for a number of years, and didn't see any problem with them. Though she supposed maybe Poppy had a keener eye. She was vain in that way. Aisling had never much cared for clothing or that sort of thing-- it was best to just wear what was comfortable. It had worked out well with her brothers as well. She chewed on the inside of her cheek. The thought of her brother was still intensely painful.

"Am I planning on attending? Merlin, no. That's not exactly my sort of soiree, Poppy," said Aisling, returning her eyes to meet her sisters. "I think I'd rather eat frog spawn than go to that. And Gilderoy is so full of himself. Well, most of those lot are so vapid that they can't see more than two inches from their own noses unless it's a mirror," she muttered, more to herself than her sister. "Are you going to like, take a date or something?" asked Aisling stiffly. She had been avoiding the company of most people since the dragon accident, and didn't plan on changing that any time soon.

tag: @poppy

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Poppy shrugged. “Just looking for a little change you know. I’ve had these for almost two years, so people have seen them before. If I’m going to wear them again, I’d like them to look a little different.” Truthfully, Poppy had had an idea of a grey dress robe with red embroidered leaves, but with the engagement party so soon she simply didn’t have the time she needed to complete it. “I know you don’t really care, but it is important to me,” she said a little defensively.

Poppy couldn’t help but chuckle at Aislings reaction to whether or not she’d be going to the party. It didn’t surprise her of course; fancy parties like this weren’t exactly her thing to say the least. Still, frog spawn was pretty disgusting. “Gilderoy isn’t vain Ash, he’s just very self-assured,” she said, defending her fellow Prefect. “But no, I am not planning on taking a date. That would involve being able to hold a conversation with someone for more than five minutes time without the dragon attacks coming up somehow,” she told her, trailing off at the end. It hadn’t been that long since that day, and it was still painful to Poppy, even though she knew deep down that Rob had been closer to Aisling. “I miss him too you know,” she admitted softly, wiping away a stray tear that had trickled down her cheek.

@aisling