Shoshanna Fischer (nervouslion) wrote in caged, @ 2013-08-25 21:10:00 |
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Shoshanna knew her mother was well-intentioned, but sometimes she wished that her mum would be just a little less involved. Here she was, nearly eighteen years old, and yet her mum still had come home from Mrs. Brown’s shop the day before and informed her that Lavender was coming over to visit, and wouldn’t that just be lovely? Shoshanna knew why this was happening. She’d been spending most of her days lying in bed with Markie, just like a few summers ago, and her parents were worried. She could see it, and yet she still couldn’t seem to motivate herself to do something about it. They couldn’t go on an impromptu vacation this year, so her mother was forced to constantly nagging Shoshanna. She’d been forced to go to the pool party a few days ago, and she looked so miserable when she got home that her mum didn’t even have the heart to lecture Shoshanna for getting too drunk and letting herself get sunburnt. So here they were, sitting in Shoshanna’s bedroom, which had obviously been decorated in a highly girly style by her mother, who was excellent at that sort of thing. There were cookies and tea and lemonade that her mother had deposited on the vanity after Lavender arrived, but otherwise they were thankfully left alone. The only thing worse than having to entertain one of her classmates would have been having her mum watch her entertain one of her classmates. “Have you seen the latest Witch Weekly?” she asked, sitting at her desk chair so Lavender could perch on the bed. Lavender was glad to get out of the house. Any excuse would do really, and when her mother had come home and said how worried Shoshanna's mother was about her and how nice it would be for her to get out a bit, she'd jumped at the chance. She knew that was just how Shoshanna was, a bit mopey, but it wasn't anything a dose of nail polish and the latest gossip could fix, even if Lav's heart wasn't in it so much this year. She sat on the bed cross legged, watching her nails dry bright sparkly purple and considering the effect as Shoshanna spoke. "The one with the fall fashions? I did. Shame we have to wear those ugly awful uniforms, the scarves are so darling! And the skirts. Super short. Umbridge is probably going to make the Hogwarts uniforms pink. Just you wait." She sniffed slightly at the thought. Shoshanna glanced down at her own nails, which she had declined to polish, although she had used a nail file on them. They weren’t exactly perfectly oval - she’d never been very good at making her nails nice and even. “I like pink,” she said with a shrug, picking at her cuticles. Although her bedroom was a bit too frilly for her, she didn’t mind the colour. “Although I’m sure if she picked them out, they wouldn’t be very nice,” she admitted. Umbridge’s style definitely read old lady to Shoshanna. “So what do you think about the journals we were sent?” Shoshanna asked. As far as she knew, hers was currently residing under her bed, since Markie was sitting on the vanity next to her. "I like pink too but not when a toad is making me wear it." Lavender put the polish aside and waved her hands a bit before suddenly brightening, taking out her wand, and casting a drying charm. Her birthday had just been the week before and it was still a pleasure to be able to legally cast spells now whenever she wanted to. The question made her look up and she shrugged slightly before reaching over for her bag and pulling out her journal. It was a dear little thing, even though so far she hadn't written in it much. When she did it tended to make little chirping, encouraging noises although it had something of a tiff when she'd tried to look through her other books, nudging her hand and demanding she pay attention to it. "They're a bit odd aren't they?" she said. "I don't know I know the meaning of them or why we're all being given them. I've not written much honestly. I think I'm a bit suspicious of anything that comes without any obvious strings. They are cool though. It's neat to be able to talk to your friends." “I suppose,” Shoshanna said, looking at Lavender’s nicely behaved journal. Why couldn’t hers have been like that? “Mine is a little odd, though. It doesn’t like Markie,” she said, scratching her cat under the chin. “Last time I checked, it was hiding under the bed.” She sighed, although really, in the grand scheme of things she had so, so much more to worry about than a silly school journal. Like Olive, who had written in her journal just that day, and was apparently going back to Hogwarts. How had she managed that? Shoshanna wanted to ask, but the family was in-between owls, and the journals were public. “You can’t really have a private conversation, though,” she said, still thinking about Olive. “Everything you write can be read by everyone else.” "Yeah. " Lavender shrugged. "Guess you just have to be careful what you say. I mean… secrets and stuff." She carefully didn't mention the really big secrets and awful stuff that was going on even if it was probably on everyone's mind. "No telling who else is reading it." “True,” Shoshanna said, her tone sounding even more defeatist than usual. Lavender had a point - they had been sent by the school. The professors and who knows who else could be reading. She made a mental note to watch what she wrote. She sighed and rested her chin on her hand. All she wanted to do right now was take a nap. Having to entertain someone was exhausting, even if she was doing a bad job of it. “Are you looking forward to starting school again?” she asked, saying the first thing that popped into her head. Lavender smoothed the cover of her book, automatically admiring her nails again. "I don't know really," she said. "Mum was talking about keeping me home before, and I miss everyone of course, but it's well a bit scary everything that's going on isn't it? Course we'll be safe as houses there I'm sure but still. It's going to be different. How about you?" Shoshanna sighed, a bit louder than she intended to. “I don’t know. I guess it’s better than being home,” she admitted. When she was at home, her mother was around. She had more freedom at school. She just hoped nothing bad happened this year at school - although she knew better than to say that out loud. "Yeah." Lavender wrinkled her nose. "This is our last year though. Then we're going to have to think about the future." Which admittedly she should have been doing already but with everything going on it was hard, who knew what the future held. The subject was depressing and so she dropped her journal back in her bag and flopped on the bed. "So. Who do you think is going to come back from Summer Hols looking completely hot?" Boys were much easier to talk about. And always distracting. A small smile appeared on Shoshanna’s lips. Yes, Lavender was right - boys were much more agreeable. “Well, Ernie was made Head Boy…” she said, going back to petting Markie, who was purring loudly. “I think an air of authority is always attractive.” "Me too." A little smile curved up the corners of Lavender's mouth. "And he was already pretty cute." Ron had been kind of cute when he was a Prefect too, not, actually, that she was really thinking about him anymore, even if he did have Splattergroit. "Maybe this year won't be so bad after all." |