( open ) ❝ Door number two - it's for you, little lady...❞

[sorryitasedyou]

Who: 5th Year Hufflepuff Prefect, Darcy Lewis & You!
Where: All over the Mansion
When: October 1st to 5th
Rating: Probably up to PG-13, will update as needed
Summary: Various starters under cut for the Hogwarts event, including a study group opportunity across the houses
The Story:

❖ Attempting to study, Hufflepuff homeroom and the Library
❖ Tutoring for Ancient Runes (w/ Nathan Drake) and DADA (w/ John Winchester)
❖ Hogsmeade
❖ Around Hogwarts/The Dining Hall
❖ Choose your own Adventure!

[ ooc: responses will come from incomingsass, starters all below - will match style. Feel free to hit me up @ riddlesinthedark or through PM if you'd like to work something out/set something up. ]

Comments

Library

[circlejerked]

Yikes, somebody must be studying for O.W.L.s!

<sub>[This remark, said in the tone of a gleeful mock-shudder, comes courtesy of one Anders who spots Darcy and her low-hanging book cloud coming and steps out of the way to let her pass.

He's in the library to... well, not study, so all in all he thinks he's having a better day than her already. He'd just needed a potion book for an assignment, but seeing her and her armada of texts brings him back to his fifth year days. Those had been dark times. Dark times.]</sub>

How many of those are for reading and how many are you just holding onto so your classmates can't hog them?

_{[You can admit it, they've all pulled that trick a time or two.]}

Yooooooo

[incomingsass]

[ If she were less secure in herself, she'd almost wonder if she had it stamped on her forehead. Then again, a Hufflepuff wandering around with this many books usually didn't fit into anyone's stereotypes unless they were a 5th year. Merlin knows she won't be looking like this next year. That's for sure.

Anything she might've said, though, is quickly cut off with a look of confusion before her jaw drops in surprise. She wouldn't -- well... Ok, there are a few people she'd try and take books away from, but not today. Of course, the hint of a blush creeping into her cheeks might disagree with the answer that comes out of her lips. ]

I'd never-- [ Liar, liar, pants on fire. ] Okay, it happened one time... But it was for the greater good.

order's up, (1) annoying Gryff with dipping sauce

[circlejerked]

<sub>[It kind of is stamped on her forehead, if you count the sense of impending doom looming over her. (Plus, Anders knows Darcy is in her fifth year, so that goes a long way to informing his guess.)

As explanation:]</sub>

You have that look of overworked, underslept existential panic.

<sub>[That had been him last year--and he'd dealt with the pressure by eating everything in sight and inking out elaborate cartoon strips in the the margins of library books. You couldn't make him go back to being a fifth year if you paid him with all the gold in Gringotts.

He gives her a pitying look, following it up with a laugh when she freezes up like a deer in headlights. A guilty deer in headlights.]</sub>

There's no shame in that "greater good" being for the greater good of your grades. You don't want to end up mopping floors or pushing pencils, do you?

_{[Loud laughter! Surely bringing up hopeless career paths won't stress you out at all!]}

\o/

[incomingsass]

Ah, yeah I get that a lot.

[ And the reminder of what might happen if she fails all of her O.W.L.s is totally helpful. Really. Like, 100% not a thing she's been stressing over at all. :<

Of course, she has backup plans for her backup plans. And she knows she'll pass at least 2 with flying colors. A plan is in place for her weaker subjects with tutors and tricks. Also that reminder that her Dad would send her to Hogsmeade for a shopping spree if she got Os on over half of her tests was a pretty nice motivator. ]

Well, my brother will probably become famous and he said I could help him out if it all goes up in smoke. Or I'll just become a Hogwarts ghost because the O.W.L.s killed me.

[circlejerked]

Really? _{[Anders lifts his eyebrows like he's surprised she's fielded that joke before.]} A pretty girl like you? That's not the first compliment that should be coming to people's minds.

_{[Does that take the sting out of reminding her exam hell is looming on the horizon? He hopes so. He'd feel a little bad cranking the dial on her stress.]}

Hey, there's a thought. You could be the best of both worlds and become a famous ghost. Signs autographs on frosted windows, that sort of thing.

[incomingsass]

[ One day her first reaction to a compliment won't be to immediately blush. Today wasn't that day. Honestly, it should just be her default skin setting at this rate - a nice rosy pink perpetually chillin' on her cheeks. ] I-- [ don't know what to say to that. Flattery, how do? ] I'm glad to hear I'm rockin' the 5th year look well, then. [ NAILED IT. ]

Ooh, that could be fun. Although should I get famous before or after my ghostly status? [ You know, hypothetically. ]

[circlejerked]

_{[In Darcy's defense, a blush is a good look on her.]}

You'll be beating them off with a stick once you have time to look up from your parchment again.

_{[Pretending not to notice he'd caught her unawares with that complimentary curve ball, his agreement comes flippant and easy. Anders, a perpetual motion machine of flattery, is used to throwing the fairer sex for a loop. Sometimes it's because they're bashfully surprised like Darcy. Other times it's because they're wondering where the hell he got his nerve and are thinking up the best way to tear him a new one.]}

Hmm...

_{[With book tucked under his arm, Anders rests his finger against the bottom of his lip as if giving this some serious thought.]}

Well, it might be good to get some notoriety while you can by perishing under mysterious circumstances. Imagine the headline: "Girl Gets Top of her Class in O.W.L.s, Found Tragically Deceased." It could go unsolved for ages like the Black Dahlia. She's a famous muggle whose case they were never able to solve. You could get your own beguiling nickname and a book deal!

[incomingsass]

[ It'd be so easy to just deny what he said and try to move on. She didn't really look at herself as attractive or anything considering she was so focused on doing well in school and boys tended to be a distraction. Sometimes. Ok, so she indulged in said eye-candy every once in awhile as a way to take a break, but she tried not to make a habit out of it.

Usually.



Ancient Runes, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and History of Magic totally don't count.

She doesn't hide the way her eyes get a little bigger as he speaks, liking the idea. Ok, maybe not liking the whole dying part but that was necessary to become a ghost. ]

I think mystery is definitely something needed to make sure I'm that super cool ghost that everybody wants to talk with. I'd need a gimmick, though. Something that sets me apart from everyone else that floats around here. I can't do the not speaking thing... Oh! I could speak in riddles! No, no, that's way too much work. [ Maybe this ghost thing wasn't panning out to be such a hot idea after all. ]

[circlejerked]

<sub>[Right. Those three totally don't count. Mum's the word.

Darcy underestimates herself, because anyone willing to brainstorm their career prospects as a ghost is babe material. Anders thinks the problem over with the same straight-faced consideration and comes back with:]</sub>

Hm, you're all about the warm and fuzzies in Hufflepuff. How about playing the role of school matchmaker? You could divine secret knowledge of the heart, make sure no student goes partnerless to the Yule ball.

[incomingsass]

[ What a pal.

And the whole plotting to keep busy after death isn't something she'd think of as a winning personality trait when it came to an attractiveness scale. She thinks over what he suggests, cheeks that had previously calmed down flushing again. ]

Oh, I don't know if I'd be a good authority on anything when it comes to romance or matchmaking since I... kind of lack experience when it comes to that.

[circlejerked]

_{[Au contraire! A good sense of humor is always in high demand. Having known Darcy in passing, Anders doesn't get the impression she's lacking in that. And look how adorably she blushes!]}

I don't believe it!

_{[He reacts with an incredulous laugh, propping his hand on his hip with the sort of look one gives when they suspect they're being fed a tall tale.]}

You're beating those fifth years boys off with a stick, be honest.