Betwixt Epoch RPG

The Hogwarts House-Elves elves had been working tirelessly with a grumbling Filch to prepare the Great Hall for the Hogwarts Farewell Dance, and all the hard work had paid off. To everyone but Filch.

The Great Hall was covered in greenery, with a plant that resembled ivy but had fragrant pink flowers crawling all over the wall, and the ceiling looked like a clear sky at dusk, dark enough to see the stars faintly but not much darker than that. Candles decorated the walls, and so the room was a bit on the darker side, but it was easy enough to see. The table where the professors usually ate was filled with snacks and punch, which refilled as quickly as it ran out.

By the time 7 o'clock rolled around, students had begun to congregate outside the Great Hall, and the 7th years began to miss Hogwarts as they remarked how the school outdid itself each year, and the younger years wondered what sort of marvels awaited them for their last Farewell Dance in years to come.

History of Magic was actually Heather's favourite class. And not just because it was so easy to sneak a makeup reapplication in the middle of Binn's lecture. Heather thought the material covered in History of Magic was important to learn about, despite what an unstimulating lecturer Binns was.

Unfortunately, despite this, it hadn't stopped Heather from using her open book as a pillow and what had been meant to be just a quick resting of the eyes had turned into a nap for at least the past thirty minutes. Everyone else in the library was far too consumed with their own studies to be terribly concerned by Heather passing out and so she had been left alone in her corner to snore away quietly.

Two weeks for sitting final examinations and it was no wonder the library was packed. It wasn't actually dead quiet (though Madame Pince was being the loudest, yelling at everyone to be quiet), but it was certainly better than the Great Hall with all its revision groups and younger students getting a bit stir-crazy.

Mostly 5th, 6th, and 7th years filled the tables, though the room had its fair share of younger, more dedicated students, and Donaghan Tremlett was having a difficult time finding a place to sit. After circling twice, he realised that he really had only two choices - the table with that curly-haired fourth year who kept staring at another fourth year's arse (Gordon Crumb something?) or the table with Haysel Proudfoot, his ex-girlfriend.

His tea leaves that week (since he decided to actually study Diviniation this term) had said something about opportunity and in most cases he would use the fact that his tea leaves said something as a reason to do the opposite, but he really might not have another chance before they all went home for the summer.

Taking a deep breath, Donaghan casually walked over to the table Haysel sat at alone (studying Transfiguration, worst class ever) and sat down, pulling out his books. It might have been more polite to ask, but he didn't want to give her the option of saying no.

Turning the pages of his Potions textbook, Dempster wondered if it was even possible to remember everything that he had learned for the last two years during the exam. He had a feeling that he would be forgetting some things during the exam itself, though he was hoping that this would not be the case. The common room wasn’t exactly the best place to study, but Dempster was quite used to the noise and was tuning out the sounds of people talking around him. Leaning against the couch in the common room, he held up his book, squinting at the messy scrawls that he had written on some parts of the page. Merlin, he had the worst handwriting when he was copying down what ever professors were saying. He could barely make out what he had written. Letting out a sigh, he gave up and turned a page of the book. It was nothing too important, he supposed.

As usual, Dempster was spending his Sunday evening in his dormitory, studying for NEWTs. It was something he considered a routine anyway, so it didn't bother him any more -- except when he ran out of coffee. He flipped some pages of his Charms textbook, trying to find the right spell to use on a certain situation based on the set of questions Professor Flitwick had assigned them a few months ago, a quill in his other hand. Glancing around at his side of the dormitory to find the clock, he realised that it was far too messy and that his alarm clock was probably drowned in the books he had placed all over his bed. At this rate, he would probably need a map to locate the item. For the moment, though, he was going to ignore the mess and... clean it up later. When one of his dorm mates made a fuss about it.

Apollo hadn't been kidding when he'd said he wanted to get away from that Charms corridor. Not because he didn't like it. After all, it was where he'd first snogged Lizzie, and therefore, a pretty great corridor as far as things go. But it was a corridor, and in the school, and near the Charms classroom. And quite frankly, after the last several weeks spent indoors and revising, Apollo just wanted out.

He'd slipped Lizzie a note between classes, asking her to meet him in the Entrance Hall after dinner. It was spring now, and lighter in the evenings. All he really wanted was to get out of the castle. Sure, the logical part of him realised that once this was all over, he'd have nothing but time outside the castle. But the part of him that was eighteen with a pretty new girlfriend and gorgeous weather on his doorstep said that the logical part of him was full of it and needed to get out more.

Grateful to be out of the bulky jumpers that he'd been forced into for the last several months, Apollo pulled on a t-shirt and a light jacket before heading down to the Entrance Hall to wait. Knowing he had to look casual, and not like he was ecstatic to get time with Lizzie that wasn't in a dark and damp hallway, he learned against the wall, nodding at a group of fourth years that passed by, grinning as they burst into giggles. Just because he was off the market didn't mean he wasn't allowed to make a few girls smile.

Staci was a mess. She didn't look like a mess. Outside she looked as good as she ever did - even when she was in distress, Staci knew how to make herself look good. The only outward sign was that she was wearing her hair in a ponytail - something she usually avoided if she could help it. Only the most strenuous cheer practises warranted it.

But inside, Staci was in turmoil. She was still upset with Demetrius, and she realised that she must not truly trust him if she was worried about Elsie so much. And then she felt guilty about the whole slambook thing. She'd originally only meant to get Demetrius to defend her - that was all she wanted, honest! And all right, she kind of wanted to make Elsie look bad. But that was really just a fringe benefit. And then she started enjoying herself and got a bit carried away, only to feel guilty afterwards. Why hadn't she just given the slambook to someone else? Shouldn't she have known that it would just get her in trouble?

And on top of it all, she was struggling very hard to make sure that no one suspected a thing. She was lying to everyone - maybe not an outright lie, but an omission like that still counted as a lie. So here she was in the library, her books studiously laid out in front of her as she tried to revise. She made a pretty convincing picture, too - except for the fact that she hadn't turned a page in the last twenty minutes.

After a long day of classes and revising and flying and revising some more, Dizzy decided to write her parents a letter. It wasn't anything special, just sort of a review of how her past couple weeks have school had been.. Although she made a point to leave out the fact that Hufflepuff Quidditch had never looked worse, and the fact that one of her dorm mates was likely preggo, and also the small detail of Dizzy's brain likely exploding from retaining all of the information she learned that year, plus her lines and blocking in the musical. No, her parents didn't need to know those things, and Dizzy smiled at her sugar-coated letter to her parents once she finally made it to the owlry.

A moment later she was tying the letter to one of the school owls and watched as it flew up through the window. Dizzy wiped her hands off on her robes as she started for the exit, but a sound from behind her made her stop and turn back around. It took her a moment, but then the nest of baby owls came to her attention, and she smiled brightly. Those must have been Octavius' owls! She walked up to the nest slowly, not wanting to freak any of them out, and smiled again once she was finally peeking up into the nest. "Awwwww. Hi." She couldn't help it, they looked awfully sweet all huddled close in a mess of fluff. "You guys are so cute!"

Dempster was having a productive day – so far. Considering that his first and only class on Tuesday was not until for another couple of hours, he had taken some time to do things he had wanted to settle. He had decided to meet Professor McGonagall earlier that morning to talk about his possible career options – something that he should have done ages ago, but only found the time to talk about it to her that day. It had been, well, interesting, to say the least – but he was still unsure as to what he wanted to do. Sure, it would be fun to conquer the world or take a year off or do the kind of things he usually joked with his friends about but when it came down to it, he knew it mattered that he put more serious thought into it.

After spending a couple of hours in the library, he finally finished off the heavy chapters of Herbology that he had been struggling with, and, looking at his watch, saw that it was nearly lunch time. Gathering his things, he walked out of the library and made his way towards the direction of the Great Hall, joining the students who had finished their classes. Unfortunately, someone ran into him from behind, which made him lose his grip on the ink pot he had been carrying – but he managed to hold on to it just in time before it could fall to the floor. “That was close,” he said amusedly, more to himself, then turned around to see who had run into him. “Are you all right?”

The weather that morning was perfect for a good jog, and it helped that Shawna didn't have class until later. It had been a while since she had come out to exercise early in the mornings -- ever since she had joined the cheer squad, in fact. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy being a part of the team, but she missed her old hobbies, and she missed days when she didn't feel the need to gossip all the time. Laine's entry had made her a little uncomfortable, considering that she didn't have a firm stand on blood purity. But know her best friend, Shawna doubted she would help much by writing about her opinion the matter.

And that was when she tripped on a bottle of butter beer someone had littered irresponsibly. Losing her balance, she landed on the ground hard. "Damn," she cursed under her breath, making an attempt to get up but failing to do so. This was what she deserved for taking a long break from jogging.

It was a Friday evening, and Cecilia didn't have any better plans than to go to the library. She spent a lot of time there, and she found the quiet to be very peaceful. Even if she wanted to read for pleasure, the soft light of the library and the air of intellectualism made her feel quite comfortable.

With a few schoolbooks and a few other extra texts in her bag, Cecilia stepped inside the library and looked around for a place to sit. After a moment, she spotted Dempster at a small table alone, somewhat away from the central area. Cecilia smiled and walked over, putting her bag down on the floor and sitting down with him. "Hi," she said quietly. It was nice to see Dempster. They hadn't crossed paths much in the past several days, and the last time she'd written to him over the journals, they'd been slightly at odds. Cecilia was over it, though; she only hoped that Dempster was, too.

"Five points from Gryffindor, and please throw that..tomato in the garbage as soon as you find one."

"Five friggin' points? Come on Dizzy, I was only--"

"Not going to work this time. You're out late, so I have to take points. You're supposed to be in your common room, exams are coming up and you should be studying."

"When do I ever study?"

"Go, or its another five."

Daggy Pips stared at her for a while before shaking his head and turning back around, heading towards Gryffindor Tower. Dizzy hated taking points, really hated it, but she was also in a bad mood, and she didn't want to deal with anything just then. It was odd, but right at that moment, she couldn't wait to graduate and not have to deal with this sort of thing ever again. Two of her dorm mates were being more intolerable than usual, the student she was tutoring just wasn't picking up on one of the main spells that would be covered on his Charms exams, and now Prefect duties were getting heavier like they normally did towards the end of the year. She was sure things couldn't have been wor--

No, things just got worse, when she turned a corner and came face-to-face with an evil looking Peeves, who was holding the largest water balloon she had ever seen him carry. Dizzy paused for a second, staring him down, and a moment later she tried to dash back around the corner, but she wasn't fast enough.

SPLOOSH!

It hit her in the back of the head, but somehow managed to completely cover her in freezing cold water. She couldn't bring herself to scream, but she was soon stomping around the corridor, her shoes making squashing sounds as she did so. How humiliating!

Dear Mr. and Mrs. MacFarlan,

I write to you with very upsetting news. I don't know if you have heard yet or not, but your son, Andy, has become romantically involved with another boy, Octavius Pepper. They've been together for a while, though I'm not sure how long exactly (at least a couple of months), and the rumours circulating about what they've actually done together are very troubling.

Friends of both boys, including me, tried to convince them to end their relationship for their own good, and it seemed to work for a while, but they recently decided to get back together again, nevermind what the rest of us said about their future and their health.

As a friend of Andy's I'm really, truly upset and worried about him. I know this isn't in his best interest, and he's been more and more bold about his unnatural relationship the longer he's spent with Octavius Pepper (who is in Slytherin and is known throughout the school for being a troublemaker -- last month he had detention for several weeks for fighting with his roommates, for example). It worries me. I just want him to be happy in the long run!

He's probably been hiding this from you, so this letter may come as a surprise, but I just wanted to make sure you knew so that you could get Andy the help he needs. We've tried to help him, but so far, we've had no luck. I hope he'll listen to his family more seriously. Please don't be too harsh too soon -- he's probably very confused -- but I know you'll want to help and take care of your son. I know you'll want what's best for him, just like we do.

All the best,
A Concerned Friend.

Now that the cat was out of the bag, so to speak, Lizzie had one more thing she had to do. She was tired of not talking to her best friend, of things being so strained. She had to tell Hestia the truth, since it was coming out anyways.

Finding Hestia had been a bit of an issue, but she finally caught her tucked away in the library. "I need to talk to you," she said, taking Hestia's arm and pulling her towards the entrance. She wasn't going to take no for an answer - not this time.

"Let's go outside," she said, once she discerned that Hestia wasn't going to run back into the library. "We need someplace private."

Andy was getting moderately good at tuning out the rest of his issues in time for studying, and it was a good thing, too. Since around December, things had gotten a lot more complicated for him, and it was only through luck and sheer force of will that his grades hadn't been suffering much. He was still shaken by Laine's attack the other day, but he was not about to let it show in his Transfiguration essay, which he was busily hunched over.

The school year was so close to being finished, and Andy had been trying to convince himself that as soon as it was over, everything would get easier. The logical side of him, however, realized that it would just be the start of a whole new slew of problems. He was probably better off suffering through Laine and the blatant favoritism she held than he was facing his parents. Andy once again pushed those thoughts from his mind and reveled in the public forum of the Great Hall. He felt safe from Octavius' pleasant distractions, Laine's ire and Cecilia's lectures so long as he was out somewhere everyone could see him.

Andy sighed with some degree of satisfaction as he dotted the final period on the essay, but the accomplishment was tainted with stress.

Melissa felt like the happiest girl in the world right now. Well, second happiest, as she was pretty sure Gwenog was even happier right now. Ravenclaw had won the Quidditch game against Gryffindor, and while it wasn't enough to get them the Cup, Melissa was grinning from ear to ear. She knew going into this game that it would take a miracle for Ravenclaw to get enough points to beat Slytherin out for the Cup, but they'd pulled themselves up to second place- pretty good for the team that started the season dead last with double digits.

Having showered and changed, she entered the Ravenclaw common room with a spring in her step and a smile on her face for the victory party. Being a common room party, it wasn't much, but there were blue and bronze streamers and a big banner to match that said 'CONGRATULATIONS RAVENCLAW QUIDDITCH TEAM" while the latest song by Danu blasted from the wireless, and a table filled with refreshments sat in the middle of the room. Apparently someone had smuggled in some firewhiskey for the occasion. Melissa surreptitiously poured a little of it into her fruit punch, just enough to give it a little kick, loaded up a plate with snacks, and found a comfortable place to sit down with her food. She was always extra hungry after a game, and today was no exception. No sooner had she sat down than she was surrounded by ickle firsties wanting her autograph. Even as hungry as she was, Melissa didn't really mind. She couldn't help but enjoy being in the limelight. After signing the last autograph, she sat back with a grin. Right now, life was good.

Octavius, as a rule, did not spend much time in the Slytherin dungeons. It carried too much risk of forcing him to see his roommates even more than he had to, and plus, he'd always found the dark and damp common room rather disheartening. When it came to sitting alone and brooding miserably, the Slytherin common room couldn't be beat for ambiance.

Right now, however, Octavius wasn't brooding or miserable — he wasn't even irritated. Okay, maybe a little irritated, but only because the lighting was so damn bad in here. He frowned at the roll of parchment in his hands, and glanced to the textbook which lay open beside him. The common room wasn't his ideal location for studying, but it did guarantee that he couldn't be distracted by Andy, which was sadly a plus for as long as their exams loomed ahead.

He was so absorbed with his homework that he didn't notice when Laine entered the common room. When he'd broken the news to Anastasia, Octavius expected that she would tell Laine, and as far as he could guess, Laine knew. They'd barely spoken in the last few days, but Octavius was determined to keep acting like everything was normal until she made a point of bringing it up.

Despite the fact that she now had a boyfriend - and a boyfriend who was one of the most popular, coveted blokes in school, no less - Lizzie was not all sunshine and roses. She never would be, probably, but right now she still had plenty of good reasons to be stressed, worried, upset, annoyed...the list went on.

Things with Hestia were still awful. Her best friend was practically refusing to talk to her, and she hadn't been able to force Hestia to listen to her yet. She still felt woefully unprepared for the NEWTs that were approaching. And then there was Kaleigh.

She worried the most about Kaleigh. And felt the most frustration, the most anger, the most guilt. She'd been a horrible friend and pretty much given away Kaleigh's secret - even if it had been anonymous and no one would ever know. She just didn't know how to handle this, and she was tired of carrying Kaleigh's even more shocking secret - who the father of her unborn child was. She wanted desperately to tell someone, but she just didn't. Maybe she was more of a Hufflepuff than she realised.

She hadn't talked much to Kaleigh lately - she didn't know if she was avoiding Kaleigh, or if Kaleigh was avoiding her. Maybe they were both avoiding each other. But she had to find out what had been happening lately. Make sure Kaleigh was all right. Make sure that Lizzie hadn't ruined her life by letting the secret out. So when she spotted Kaleigh in the Common Room late at night, when about half the students had already filtered up to their dormitories, she headed over to the couch Kaleigh was on, sitting next to her. "Hey," she said quietly, with a small smile.

Laine was furious. Anastasia had told her the other day about Octavius approaching her and telling her that he'd gone back to MacFarlan. After all they'd done to protect him! After all he'd promised! With everything that he had to lose -- it was ridiculous and totally not okay, and now she had to stop being friends with Octavius, which was completely unacceptable. And it was all MacFarlan's stupid fault for corrupting him and turning him queer. Even the exciting news about Slytherin's Quidditch Cup win couldn't quite distract her and cheer her up for long enough.

For the past couple of days, since she heard the news from Anastasia, she'd been very distant with Octavius, avoiding him if possible and not engaging him if they were near. She'd tried to be polite -- for now. It had begun to grate on her. She'd been reluctant to break the news to the school in the vain, lingering hope that he was having a delusional episode and would change his mind, but so far, nothing had seemed to change. He just walked around smiling, and from what Laine had noticed of MacFarlan in the halls and at meals, he seemed to be much the same. Which was completely outrageous.

It was only so long before her anger began to bubble over, and so she set her sights on her target. Rising abruptly from dinner when she saw him get up, Laine followed him out and down the corridor a ways before they were a little bit away from everyone else. Laine didn't want to cause so public a scene. Her shoes slammed loudly on the floor as she stared daggers into the back of the person who'd been making her so angry recently. When she thought they were far enough away to not attract the attention of the entire school, she stopped.

"MacFarlan!" she said loudly, with an air of superiority and authority that was both natural and deliberate, and waited for him to turn around.

Anastasia hated crying and hated people who cried, and was disappointed in herself for falling into the weakness every now and then. She was so angry, but all it did for the moment was leave her sitting in a corner of the castle sniffling into a handkerchief while she stared blankly at the parchment and quill in front of her.

Dear Aunt Agrippina,

I sincerely hope that you and Uncle Marcus are doing well. It is nearly time for exams here at Hogwarts, and I am quite busy studying! Octavius has been as well. I will be ever so relieved when we can return home to our families. I will visit you post-haste!

However, I fear that the nature of my letter is not to inform you of such trivial things. This owl bears terrible news! Something has happened to Octavius...

And it was right about there when Anastasia's words faltered. She had no idea how to write down what had happened, knowing that Octavius' mother would read this. No doubt she would be terrified for Octavius, as Anastasia was. She wanted to tell her aunt how she tried so hard to stop him and protect him, but Octavius was foolish and stubborn. And now he said he was in love. It was so ridiculous.

Of course, she had to tell Laine. She tried to convince herself that it was simply for business purposes, and that Laine had a right to know, but Anastasia also needed some kind of commiseration and maybe comfort.