The Enemy of My Enemy

[Rabbit]

R a v e n
​

"Well she broke up with you because you were clingy didn't she?" Naomi's usually sweet tone sounded incredibly annoyed, it was almost a little comical to hear that in her squeaky voice but Raven wasn't laughing, because what Naomi was saying was making him really angry. She was his friend, she wasn't supposed to defend his ex after she had shot him a random death glare. All he had done was smile at her nicely at breakfast that morning.

"No, she never said that!" Raven let out loudly and angrily, they were in a fairly remote part of the castle, but the few passing people didn't do anything to stop them, everyone was either used to people arguing by now or didn't want to get involved in something that also would lead to them being in the hospital wing, "stop saying that she said that!"

"But it's really obvious that's what she meant. Look I'm not trying to be mean--" Naomi said in the sharp tone Raven only heard her use when she tried to be mean, which was so rarely he was pretty sure he hadn't heard it in two years. They frequently joked about how she should actually be in Hufflepuff, but Raven knew his friend well enough to know that she was a true Gryffindor, "--but you've been acting all pissy for ages now and I'm sick hearing you whine about her,"

It wasn't untrue that he hadn't been the nicest around his friends lately, but to be fair Naomi hadn't been acting like her usual sugar sweet self either and Jamie had suddenly started to be pretty quick to point out things that really got to Raven. And that annoyed him.

"Oh my god, shut up, you've both been fucking annoying lately stop blaming each other." Jamie let out after a being quiet for a good chunk of the fight.

"Maybe you should have stopped being such a pushover for a second and told us that," Raven snapped at his friend. Upon seeing Jamie's hurt face he instantly regretted it. Jamie looked over to Naomi for support. Usually, if someone had said that to Jamie she would be quick to assure him it wasn't true but today she said nothing.

"Well thanks for letting me know that you're both assholes," Jamie said bitterly, turned and left the other two, who quietly stared at him for a moment before they turned back to each other.

"Why didn't you say anything!?" Raven said angrily, but a little quieter this time, the guilt had replaced some of his anger.

"I wasn't the one who called him a pushover,"
"well, I didn't fucking mean it?"
"...Whatever," Naomi said coolly, turned and left as well, walking in the opposite direction as Jamie, her short blonde curls bouncing with her brisk steps.

Raven didn't stay for long, he was still angry, because neither of his friends were acting reasonably, and hadn't really since they came back to school. The entire Hogwarts castle felt like it was falling apart actually. Raven couldn't pinpoint exactly when but at some point watching people who were usually the best of friends bicker in the corridors had become normal. No one really knew why, the most logical explanation was probably stress, that was what Raven was blaming his own feelings on at least.

He didn't want things to turn out with his friends like they had with Ella Rose and Charlie Lewis, though. They were two seventh years who currently both were in the hospital wing, not talking to one other after having it out in a seriously violent duel. He wasn't too surprised about Charlie starting something like that, he was in Slytherin after all and Raven felt like it was fair to say that people from Slytherin's would be more prone to end up fighting with one of their friends, or anyone for the matter, like that. But Ella was in Hufflepuff, and rumours were that she was the one who had started it, which was incredibly weird to Raven. He had talked to her a couple of times and she was incredibly nice, the type that wouldn't hurt a fly, and the only time Raven had heard her raise her voice it had been to defend Charlie.

Raven reasoned to himself, as he angrily stomped his way out of the castle, that maybe it was better he and the other two had left each other before it escalated. He really needed some time to himself to calm down. The lake seemed like a good place it was October, so it wasn't like a lot of people were out in the cold. He found his way down to the lake and sat down in the damp grass. The sky was grey and dull and didn't do much to brighten his mood, neither did the leaves on the trees and ground that he felt were supposed to be a beautiful Gryffindor red and gold and not the boring yellow and brown colour they were.

He sighed and grabbed a fistful of grass, taking his frustration out on the vegetation. Now that he was alone he felt significantly calmer and he honestly felt scared. He was usually pretty quick to get angry, he knew that, but he rarely talked like he had today or the past week or so with his friends, and fighting like this made him nervous they weren't going to forgive him.

He glanced out over the lake, let go of the grass and grabbed another fistful. This year really wasn't shaping up to be a good one, and he couldn't imagine anyone at the school felt the same.

Raven

General​

Full name
Raven Oliver Murphy

Pronunciation
> /reɪvən/
> /ɒli:vɜːr/
> /mɜːfiː/

Nickname
Murph, occasionally

Age
Sixteen

Birthdate
October 13

Place of birth
Lodnon, England

Ethnicity
English

Accent
Cockney

Background
Raven's mother left soon after he was born, under mysterious circumstances, even his dad didn't know the full extent of. He grew up with his father, step mum and half-brothers in London. He was always an outcast as a kid, was frequently made fun of due to his name (which was his mother's idea according to his dad), and how emotional he got over things. Head no idea about the existence of magic until he got his Hogwarts letter.

Appearance​

Hair
Dark brown, gentle curl, short

Eyes
Brown

Body
Lean, athletic, especially upper body

Height
6'3 (190 cm)

Weight
176 lbs (80 kilograms)

Markings/scars
Random small scars across arms from picking at small scabs

Clothing style
Raven likes to dress to impress most of the time, that isn't to say that he tries to look fancy, but instead just always stylish and put together. His sense of fashion would be best described as a little sporty, a little alternative and casual. The colours you will see him in the most, when he isn't in his uniform, is black white and red. You might find him wearing sweatpants when just chilling around the common room.

Health ailments
n/a

Face claim
Daniel Howell

Persona​

Personality
The first words one would describe Raven with is confident and charismatic as it's the person he tries to be, however, he is actually very insecure. He lives for the validation of others and thanks to being a generally kind of friendly guy most of the time he has managed to make friends with enough people and is popular enough (at least in his house) to satisfy that need somewhat. While nice, he is sometimes judgemental as he often tries to categorize people into boxes, people who don't like him often end up in the bad people box.

He likes to act like he doesn't care about people's opinions and will pretend insults doesn't get to him, the first time, the second time you can be sure he'll bite back and defend himself, revealing that he actually cares quite a lot. He is emotional and is not the best at hiding his emotions, when he was younger he used to be quite a crybaby, and if he lets himself, he still is, but nowadays he mostly channels any negative emotions into anger, causing him to be quite hot-headed.

Raven is impulsive, whether it's about heading headfirst into danger or blurting out things he shouldn't say he doesn't really think things true. However, when he is forced to take a step back and reflect on things he can act a lot more rationally, as he is fairly smart. And despite this impulsivity, he can be seen calmly reading by the fire in the common room just as often as he's energetically laughing and running around in the corridors.

Likes
Quidditch; magic; animals and magical creatures; attention; soccer; fun

Dislikes
being disliked or criticized; confined spaces; rats;

Habits
Picks scabs

Talents
Sports/physical activity - making friends - caring for animals/creatures

Mental ailments
(possibly) Borderline personality disorder

Fears
Confined spaces (Claustrophobia), big rats (less so after being at Hogwarts for a while), deep water, being abandoned

Magical informationa​

Hogwarts house
Gryffindor

School year
6th

Wand
Holly wood - Dragon heartstring -14 inches

Blood status
Half blood

Quidditch
Plays as a batter for the Gryffindor team, is rumoured to become captain in year seven

Amortentia
freshly baked bread ; rain on pavement ; freshly cut grass

Patronus
Ferret

Boggart
Swarm of large rats (would be a confined space if it had been possible for a boggart to become this)

Best class
Care of magical creatures

worst class
Astronomy

Favorite classes
defence against dark arts ; charms ; care of magical creatures

Pet
Barn owl named Cinnamon

Relations​

Family
>Father - John Murphy - alive [muggle]
Raven has always been close to his father as he was the only parent he had for the first years of his life. When Raven found out about magic through his Hogwarts letter he started blaming his father for not telling him, despite knowing, but as he has grown a little older he has mostly gotten over that.

>Mother - Adrielle Storm - unknown [witch]
He never met her and recent her until he realised she was the one who passed down the magic to him, at which he developed a curiosity and almost admiration for her. He dreams of meeting her one day, but no one seems to want to give him any information on her, claiming they don't know.

>Stepmother - Linda Murphy - Alive [muggle]
Raven's relationship with his stepmother is pretty good, he grew up with her and while a little sceptic of her at the start has come to love her throughout the years, sometimes he feels a little distant from her

>Half brothers - Liam and Ludvig Murphy - Alive [muggles]
Raven loves his brother a lot and is very protective of them and misses them a lot while away at Hogwarts, Liam is thirteen and Ludvig is eleven. Raven was thoroughly disappointing, but not surprised, neither of them got their Hogwarts letters.


Friends
> Naomi Brown - 16 - Gryffindor [best friend]
> Jamie Bennet - 16 - Gryffindor [Best friend]
> Finn Davis - 16 - Muggle
> considers most people in Gryffindor year 5-7 his friends

Enemies
Anyone that has shown they do not like him he considers somewhat of an enemy. Doesn't really consider them all enemies but also doesn't really give friendships with people from Slytherin a chance due to being fed the "almost all evil witches and wizards was sorted there" conspiracies once he started.

Past relationships
Has been in plenty of relationships throughout his years at Hogwarts, some he considered kind of serious other's less so. The last relationship he had was with Lily Song, who broke up with him at the end of their fifth year, he spent most of his summer being sad about it.

 

[winnie]

d a n i e l l e​

"What. the. fuck?"

Rolling her eyes, Danielle looked up from the book she was currently reading. The blonde had been rooted to her spot in the Great Hall for what felt like hours, beside a rather moody Lucas who she assumed was acting odd because he had been flat out rejected by the girl he was after. It wasn't unlike Lucas to go flirting with anything that moved -- whether male or female, didn't really matter to him. The slytherin boy had a restless heart that tended to change its mind. This never bothered Danielle, but she suddenly felt as though, as of late, it was becoming an increasingly irritating trait of his.

At the moment though, that was not the cause for concern. She was more focused on her friend Caleb -- fellow Ravenclaw -- who was storming toward her and Lucas, looking absolutely livid.

"What's wrong?" Danielle asked, though seemed quite tired while doing so. Caleb had slight anger issues, so Danielle knew he got angry often, for some reason or another.

"What's wrong?" he echoed as he reached them. "I'll tell you what's fucking wrong. That snake plagiarised my essay!" he pointed to Lucas.

Danielle raised an eyebrow. That was a new one. Usually nobody dared do such a thing, and certainly not to a Ravenclaw, but what was more surprising was that Caleb would actually accuse Lucas, a close friend of his for the past five years, about such a thing.

"Whoa, don't you think that's a bit of a stretch?" Danielle had now put her book down.

Lucas was clearly just as surprised by the accusation. "Do you think that just because I'm not in the smart house like you two, that I can't come up with my own work?" He snapped back at Caleb.

This was definitely getting out of hand, and for some reason, it made Danielle more irritated. "Okay, guys, shut up for a second." It was what she would say any time there was a senseless argument, but now they turned to her with anger flashing in their eyes.

"I'm sorry, but who died and made you queen?" Caleb had now turned on her. "If anything, this is on you."

Danielle raised her eyebrows and her lip twitched slightly, but she held back the urge to mutter a curse. "Me?"

"Yeah," Caleb grunted. "You were the one that introduced me to the snake."

Lucas apparently didn't like that term and he was close to launching himself at Caleb. Fortunately, Danielle stood up and intervened, coming between them. Caleb scoffed and turned on his heel before storming off. The blonde then turned to Lucas who looked at her, almost seething, before he turned and headed off as well.

What just happened?

Knowing there was no way she could get back to reading her book now, she let out an irritated sigh and shoved it into her satchel before she made her way out of the Great Hall. There were a few eyes on her, most likely because of the outburst they had just witnessed, but they didn't seem surprised. Why would they? Danielle knew for a fact that as of late, this was happening a lot. Friends fighting with each other. Heck, two close friends, who could never possibly fight, landed themselves in the hospital wing due to a horrible row.

It was strange, and the worst part was that Danielle didn't know what was happening or why it was happening. For her, not knowing something was worse than anything she'd faced so far -- though that fight that had just erupted hadn't been great either. It was enough, both of those things combined, to set her off, and she didn't exactly have a good temper. Not while being diagnosed with Intermittent Explosive Disorder. If someone as sweet as Ella Rose could duel her best friend and land them in the hospital wing, Danielle prayed for whichever poor soul crossed her path when she was angry, and that was considering nothing was wrong.

She had reached the edge of the lake, where she usually went when she was upset or moody, because nobody was around and she could take out her frustrations. She had hardly noticed someone was there as well and had instead tossed her bag to the side. Since she didn't know someone was there, it ended up hitting them, and the sound made her turn, suddenly distracting her.

"Sorry," she muttered, not really sounding like she meant it. She was still trying to cool down. It was only when she noticed who she had hit, that she was even more distracted, and also highly confused.

"Raven?" She squinted, as if to prove to herself that she wasn't imagining it. The irritation slowly seeped back into her features. "What are you doing here?"

---

Danielle

danielle mcgregor

general

FULL NAME
danielle skylar mcgregor

PRONUNCIATION
> dah - nee - ell
> ska - ee - lurr
> mac - greh - gur

NICKNAME(S)
dani, most of the time

AGE
sixteen

BIRTHDATE
february 29th

SPECIES
witch, and part veela

PLACE OF BIRTH
galway, ireland

ETHNICITY
irish primarily, but she also has dutch and belgian roots.

ACCENT
irish

appearance

HAIR
bright, pale blonde, slightly wavy and falls to a little below her shoulders.

FACE
she has an oval shaped face

EYES
stormy grey

BODY
narrow frame, quite petite

HEIGHT
5'0

WEIGHT
80 lbs

TATTOOS
n/a

PIERCINGS
three on each ear + a nose ring

MARKINGS/SCARS
she has a beauty spot close to the right side of her upper lip. she also has a a jagged scar across her eyebrow from an incident as a child.

CLOTHING STYLE
danielle is not one to fret over her appearance so much so her dressing style can be described as casual. she only dresses up if absolutely necessary, like a formal event at school.

HEALTH AILMENTS
daniella has a severe seafood allergy.

FACE CLAIM
lily loveless

persona

PERSONALITY
danielle is a whole lot put into one small package. impulsive and intelligent would be two primary words used to describe her, along with hot headed and destructive. she has a tendency to get into arguments a lot because she never knows when to leave things alone and usually believes she is right. If she feels she's being offended or someone close to her is offended, you can expect the razor sharp claws to come out. to onlookers, with her height, it's a bit comical, but to those experiencing it, she shows no mercy.

she has a very sardonic way of thinking and her tone generally drips sarcasm. she rarely allows herself to get too close to people. she'll talk, she'll make remarks, but it's not very easy to be friends with her. and there are only a handful of people she'd be interested in making friends with. she admires people that can put up with her shit because she knows that if she was in their place, she would have run from the start. she's not very patient, and she has a tendency to be quite reckless.

danielle has no regard for her own health or safety, often putting herself in dangerous situations, either for the sake of others, or merely to satisfy her curiosity. she has her insecurities too. she just doesn't let anyone close enough to find out. if she happens to, well, then it's only because she feels they're very special to her. she would go to the ends of the earth to protect those special people, however if they somehow do something to lose her trust, they can be sure to never gain it again. she isn't very forgiving, and she doesn't forget things easily.

LIKES
books ; reading ; art ; adventure ; forests ; fireplaces ; playing the piano

DISLIKES
bigots ; bullies ; heights ; restraints ; not knowing ; failure ; being wrong

HABITS
biting her nails ; talking to herself

TALENTS
retaining information ; painting/sketching ; answering people whether they want to hear it or not

MENTAL AILMENTS
danielle has an eidetic memory as well as intermittent explosive disorder.

FEARS
heights ; werewolves

magical information

HOGWARTS HOUSE
ravenclaw

SCHOOL YEAR
6th

WAND
laurel wood ; veela hair core ; 12 inches

BLOOD STATUS
half blood

QUIDDITCH
she's terrified of heights so she hardly gets on a broom.

AMORTENTIA
firewood ; pine ; fresh parchment

PATRONUS
a fox

BOGGART
the edge of a ciff

BEST CLASS
most of them really, but her absolute best would be potions

WORST CLASS
divination

FAVORITE CLASSES
potions ; charms ; astronomy

PET
an orange tabby named archie

background

FATHER & RELATIONSHIP
edward mcgregor ; alive [muggle] ; danielle and her father are extremely close. being the only daughter, he dotes on her, and despite the fact that he's a muggle and has to adjust to his children's wizarding life, he loves them all deeply and is quite protective over them.

MOTHER & RELATIONSHIP
patricia mcgregor ; alive [witch] ; danielle and her mother were close once, but she had a falling out with her when her mother and father got divorced and danielle realised that her mother had cheated on her father with another wizard. she is currently married to him and pregnant with another child.

SIBLINGS & RELATIONSHIP
> david mcgregor ; older brother [19] ; alive ; david, as danielle's older brother, is quite the parental figure. he's quite bossy at times, but also protective over his two little siblings. he attended hogwarts and was sorted into gryffindor, and currently is working to become an auror.
> dean mcgregor ; older brother [13] ; alive ; as the youngest, dean is doted on the most in the household. he's the calmest of the lot, and the most optimistic. he never fails to make people smile and danielle is fiercely protective over him. he is currently in hogwarts with danielle, and was sorted into hufflepuff.

OTHER RELATIVES
> estelle beaudaire ; maternal grandmother ; deceased ; danielle gets her veela blood from her grandmother, who was a veela.

FRIENDS
> lucas reichter ; 16 ; slytherin [best friend]
> caleb paulson ; 16 ; ravenclaw [best friend]
> nathaniel gomez ; 16 ; ravenclaw
> adelaide mare ; 16 ; hufflepiff

ENEMIES
> a number of people actually, since she doesn't get on too many people's good sides.

PAST RELATIONSHIPS
she's only been in one serious relationship, when she had just turned fifteen, with a guy named eric dawson. the relationship was short lived, however, as danielle realised there was no real chemistry between them.

 

[Rabbit]

R a v e n​

Raven sat there for a while, completely lost in his own thoughts, murdering the poor grass by tearing it from the ground and throwing it in the general direction of the lake, which was too far away for it to fall into it. It was very unsatisfying but at least the act of tearing it up gave him some peace of mind. However, that peace was disturbed by something being thrown at him. He let out a small yelp as the object made contact with his shoulder and then fell down into his lap, then he peered down at it suspiciously, he had learnt that you never could be too careful with things like this at Hogwarts. But it was just someone's bag, which was a little disappointing.

He looked up to try to find the culprit, half expecting to see someone he knew who had thrown it to get his attention, but instead, he saw Danielle McGregor. Great. Just what he needed, someone who was infuriating on a normal day, right after he had argued with his friends, who he actually liked, unlike Danielle McGregor, who was annoying. He let out a sigh that he didn't bother to hide.

"I was here before you, you can't question what I'm doing here," Raven said dryly, he sounded significantly less angry than he had earlier, "I should be asking you what you are doing here and why you're throwing shit at me, and I'm fine by the way, thanks for asking,"

He stubbornly but her bag down as far from him as he could and gave her a small glare. It wasn't that he didn't realise that Danielle throwing her bag at him had been a mistake, it was just that he tended to question most things she did, because most things she did annoyed him. That's the way things had always been between them. Raven felt like he had tried to be nice to her at first, he tried to be nice to most people he met for the first time after all. But she had honestly just been impossible to talk to.

"Really though, what are you doing here?" He asked, throwing the question back at her, he was genuinely curious what the hell would possess another person to go out to the lake in October when it wasn't even remotely warm out.

 

[winnie]

d a n i e l l e
​

The last thing Danielle wanted was even more conflict to come out of the day. Usually, she was always up for a little banter -- okay it was much more than banter -- with Raven, but currently, she just wasn't in the mood. How was it that of all the places she could bump into him, it had to be by the lake, a place she frequented whenever she needed to think? Things were just not in her favour that day.

"Well it's not like I saw you," Danielle defended herself. She wasn't so angry anymore, so much as annoyed, as she usually was around Raven. "Even if I did, you don't honestly expect things to have gone any quieter than that," she added with a mere shrug. It was expected out of the two of them, wherever they went. It annoyed her own friends to no end, but they were now all too used to it. She had to remind herself though, that in that moment, it was her friends she was fighting with, and not Raven, the person most would refer to as her arch nemesis. If people even had such a thing.

When he asked her what she was doing there, she furrowed her eyebrows and proceeded to take a seat on a boulder closer to the stream. After kicking off her boots, she let her toes graze the surface of the cold water. It was freezing, but it somehow kept her grounded and in tune with reality.

"I don't have to answer to you," she replied in a murmur but eventually, after the cold water bit at her toes, she pulled her feet back and hugged them to her chest. "I come her to think. But I never see you here before, so it's your turn to answer the question," she added, keeping her gaze on the surface of the water, now slightly hidden by a thin veil of mist that was rolling in.

 

[Rabbit]

R a v e n​

Raven glanced over at Danielle as she positioned herself further away. He decided not to voice the fact that he thought that dipping one's feet in the ice cold lake was incredibly stupid. He really couldn't be bothered to argue with her right then and there, he was just calming down to a point where he was feeling stable, which was nice.

He grabbed another fistful of grass as he thought about what to answer her, but didn't throw it. He stared at it for a couple of seconds before slowly tilting his hand to let the grass fall back to the ground, and then finally he said, "I came here to be alone, I didn't think anyone would be out here,"

He actually hated to be alone, but he had needed it to cool down. He was always quick to flip-flop between emotions, quicker than most people according to his step-mother, so even if he had burst out in anger and was starting to feel mostly calm it was likely that Naomi and Jamie were still too mad to talk to him. When alone after being angry like this though, he was always scared it would mean the end of his friendships, today especially so as he had never really fought with his friends like this. He wasn't about to let Danielle in on all of this though.

He sighed heavily and let his upper body fall down on the ground. The damp grass felt cold but it was actually quite refreshing. He closed his eyes and was quiet for a moment, enjoying the sounds of the wind rustling in the trees and the gentle splashing of the lake.

"Everyone's been acting crazy lately," he broke the silence he had initiated. He didn't know why he said this, not to Danielle. Discussions with her usually led nowhere, even when she was completely wrong and Raven knew he was right, at least in his opinion. But he felt like he needed someone else's confirmation, and he couldn't have a productive discussion with his friends without becoming annoyed anymore. But with Danielle he was always kind of annoyed, so it wouldn't make a difference.

 

[winnie]

d a n i e l l e
​

Well, it seemed as if both of them had come there expecting one thing, but had instead gotten another. Kind of like with her friends, except this was strangely better and less annoying because there wasn't much talking going on. Compared to when they were placed in the same group together for an assignment, this was what could be called a godsend by any teacher that came across them there. Either way, it looked like neither of them was about to leave just because the other was there, so Danielle remained rooted in her position above the boulder.

The silence was good. She could pretend nobody was there around as she stared at the lake. If she looked hard enough through the mist, she could see various creatures swimming around underneath the surface. It was too dark for her to make out properly what exactly they were, though.

When Raven spoke again, it was a bit of a surprise. And it was even more of a surprise to hear the words being him merely voicing his thoughts aloud, instead of saying something to annoy her. That would have been the case if she decided to break the silence before him. Instead, the blonde looked at Raven from where she sat. Not with annoyance for him having broken the silence, but more out of curiosity and confusion, because for the first time, she found herself agreeing with him.

"Yeah, I told myself it was stress, but stress can't exactly land two best friends in the sick wing," she said with a small shrug. She then shifted in her position so she was facing him instead of the lake. She was more curious now. If he said something like that, it had to mean something happened to make him think so. "Did something happen to you too?"

 

[Rabbit]

R a v e n​

Raven curiously turned his gaze over to Danielle as she asked what had happened. He would have told her not to pry, but the keyword in her sentence was the word too. She wasn't just here to dip her toes into the freezing water for no reason. Raven couldn't stand Danielle, and she always annoyed him and he doubted they'd ever be friends, but that didn't mean he didn't feel a little bad knowing something had happened to make her need to seek refuge by the lake just like he had.

He let out a little sigh, and looked up at the grey and dull sky, not really sure if he was supposed to respond or not. Danielle wasn't someone he wanted to talk to about his recent fight with his friends. But she was using the question to further the point of everyone acting crazy, "Eh, I got in an argument with some people, I needed a place to calm down," Raven said, trying to make it sound like it was no big deal at all even though he hated fighting like this with his friends and it was a very huge deal to him,

"I've been thinking it's stress too, but even if it's starting to seem less likely I honestly can't see any other explanation for it?" he insisted, almost habitually disagreeing with the girl. But it wasn't just that he was trying to disagree with her, no he just kind of wanted to believe it was stress or something, at least amongst his friends. He didn't know what else it could be, but the idea of it being something that could cause his and his friends to no longer be friends scared him, "And maybe the people fighting had been at it for a while, I don't know them well enough to know, maybe the stressed atmosphere was the final straw or something?"

 

[winnie]

d a n i e l l e
​

Danielle bit down on her lower lip as she listened to Raven's explanation, and then his reasoning. She would like to believe that it was all because of stress because that was the easy way out, the one with less pain. However, Danielle wasn't one to really just take the easy way out, even if it was less harmful. She was brutally honest for the reason being that she hated lies, and being lied to, and for the moment, she refused to accept that it could simply be because of stress. That didn't make people act this way. Could it?

"I can't speak for Ella Rose and Charlie Lewis," Danielle began with a small shrug. "But who you fought with... was it sudden? Or happening for a while?" She had gone into interrogation mode because she couldn't help that nagging feeling that something wasn't right. Of course, nothing about fighting with best friends was right, but like this? Chaos everywhere? It couldn't be coincidental.

She had been about to question him further, when she head footsteps and sensed movement in the corner of her eye. The blonde lifted her head to see Lucas approaching them, his green and grey Slytherin scarf wrapped around his neck. He looked at her and then, in confusion, looked at Raven, before meeting her gaze again. It was then that she realised what he was thinking -- and she was a little confused by it herself. She had a decent conversation with Raven for once but instead had a major fight with her two best friends.

Certainly nothing odd about that.

"Whatcha doin' Dani?" Lucas asked, clearly curious. She could understand why, since it was the first anyone would have ever seen Danielle and Raven in the same place together, and not fighting about something or the other.

"Nothing," She said simply and slid off the boulder. "Just came to take a breather. I see you did too if you're here," she crossed her arms and looked at him.

Lucas nodded, shoving his hands into the pockets of his robe. "Yeah, I talked it out with Caleb too. Not that it helped. We argued again about where we could find you. He's in your common room right now."

Danielle let out a frustrated sigh before nodding. Time to leave. She went to get her bag and then glanced at Raven, seated on the grass. She was at an odd place where she wasn't sure if she should say something or not. Their interactions usually ended with someone storming off. For the moment, Danielle just met his gaze and nodded her goodbye before following Lucas back to the castle.

 

[Rabbit]

R a v e n ​

There was no time for Raven to answer Danielle's question, because Lucas, who Raven knew was Danielle's close friend, interrupted the first somewhat peaceful conversation they had had, in forever, or possibly ever. Raven couldn't remember the last time they acted this civil around each other at least. He responded to Danielle's nod with a slightly awkward nod back and stared after them as they left.

He didn't try to talk to Danielle again but her last question lingered with him for the next couple of days. Had it happened suddenly? They had been bickering more than usual, just like it seemed most other people in the castle were doing, and they had been disagreeing with each other more than usual, but the fighting, the nasty things they said, it had been completely out of nowhere and they had all regretted what they had said the moment it had left their mouths.

When Raven had gotten back to the common room that day they had all forgiven each other and gone back to being friends, and for a while, Raven had felt seriously hopeful that things would go back to normal, that they'd be just as happy and not fight, just like they had all prior years at Hogwarts.

Only a week had passed when he once again was steering his steps stubbornly towards the lake. This time he was blinking back angry tears, doing his best to keep them from welling over. They had fought again, he, Naomi and Jamie, and it had been worse this time and it seemed as if none of them had been able to even try to stop themselves from throwing out insults. And not only that, but he also felt as if everyone else he considered a friend was turning against him in general and he absolutely hated it.

He kept his eyes glued to his feet as he crossed the entrance hall and went outside, eventually he got to the lake and he was ready to just throw his bag in the ground and yell out some frustrated profanities or something when he turned his gaze up, only to see Danielle in that very same spot he had seen her a week prior.

He threw his bag down on the ground anyways and made his presence known by saying, "Really!? Are you just like always here or something?"

 

[winnie]

d a n i e l l e
​

After getting back to her common room and bidding Lucas goodbye, Danielle spoke with Caleb and the two reconciled, deciding to just forget whatever happened. It was the first time any of them have ever fought like that with each other. Small arguments weren't uncommon, nor was the occasional name calling -- though that was all fun and teasing -- but this had been very different. In being in their presence, Danielle had felt annoyed, and this irritation within her only grew as they spoke. It was a weird feeling, one she hoped she wouldn't have to experience again.

And she was starting to feel the same with her encounter with Raven. It wasn't exactly friendly, but it could be termed that, given the way they usually acted around each other. That was odd too, and something Danielle couldn't just overlook. She didn't speak to Raven, or even encounter him much after that. At least, not for a week. That was when she fought again, this time with just Lucas.

It started off quite silly as it was over a boy Lucas fancied, who just so happened to fancy Danielle instead. Not that she was interested at all. Lucas somehow found a way to blame it on her, and so, chaos ensued, ending in a bit of name calling and, the bringing up of blood status, which Danielle thought would never be a problem anymore, given the history of Hogwarts.

She was quite livid, as she stormed away from her best friend and to the lake. She may have said some things that weren't exactly nice either, but never did she think it would come to what it did. Her hopes of it getting better were a lost cause, because the exact opposite seemed to be happening. The blonde was now seated atop that same boulder, her legs dipped into the cold water. She would probably get frostbite but at the moment, she didn't care. She hated fighting with her friends, and she hated feeling this way. Above all, she hated the tears that were threatening to spill down her cheeks, purely out of anger and frustration. Or so she told herself.

She hardly heard someone coming till she heard Raven's familiar voice and turned. She was too irritated and frustrated to come up with a witty response, so she merely shrugged and murmured an 'I guess', before looking back at the lake. She didn't like being in this vulnerable state in front of her friends, so it didn't make it better that Raven had to see her that way.

 

[Rabbit]

R a v e n​

Raven expected Danielle to snap back, say something annoying, maybe comment on the fact that you could see the tears in his eyes to get back at him. But he got none of that. She seemed irritated, but also sad and that didn't really sit right with Raven.

He wasn't even friends with Danielle, yet he felt a very irrational fear of her not wanting to communicate at all with him anymore. She was annoying, and he didn't like her, and she was basically his rival in all school subjects. But she was kind of a part of what Hogwarts was to him and he did not want to lose that. He would never admit that though.

He sat down on the ground and like last time he grabbed a fistful of grass, just to get to be a little destructive. He sat there quiet for a very long minute then he spoke, two words he had never really said to the girl before, "I'm sorry, I just came here to be alone and I didn't expect you to be here,"

He pushed his legs up against his chest and looked out over the lake as he leaned his cheek on his knees. It was incredibly weird that he had just fought with his friends, for the second time. It hadn't even been about the same thing as last time, it had been about homework. At first. Naomi couldn't remember what they had to do for transfiguration and, Raven had called her ditzy, which normally would have been playful teasing but had somehow escalated to Jamie telling Raven there was something wrong with him and he needed his 'fucking head checked,' after a couple of minutes of yelling at each other. He was probably still angry after Raven had called him a pushover.

The point was though, that he felt like he was about to lose his friends due to homework, yet his apology to Danielle had been near effortless. Something had to be going on.

 

[winnie]

d a n i e l l e
​

And once again, Danielle was filled with confusion. Something was definitely not right, and the fact that Raven actually apologised to her, even though he truly did nothing wrong, just further heightened her suspicions. Last week was different. They had still snapped each other initially before having a decent conversation. This week now had two firsts. Something other than fighting between herself and her so called arch rival, as well as a terrible fight between herself and her best friend at Hogwarts.

Danielle, as she had done the previous week, shifted her position so she was facing raven as he sat in the grass. Her feet felt better now that they were out of the water, and she could feel the warmth seeping back into her toes as she wiggled them to regain some feeling.

"You fought again," she said. It wasn't really a question, but more of an assumption. The last time he was here, he had fought with someone. Him being here again led her to believe the same had happened once more. That, and the fact that it was the same reason she had come there both times.

It was so odd how a guy she once swore she hated had now become somewhat tolerable. Almost as if she couldn't stand the idea of him being upset or annoyed unless she had been the reason behind it. That had just been how things were, from the moment they met, and now suddenly the shit was hitting the ceiling and best fiends were hexing each other and calling one another horrid names.

"You don't still think it's to do with stress?" She asked, her tone a little hopeful. She had tried suggesting it to Caleb, but that had just led to another argument. The only other person she had spoken to about it was Raven, and he had certainly taken it in a more civilised manner.

 

[Rabbit]

Raven thought about it for a moment. The last time they spoke he had hoped it was stress, because he was scared that alternative was that his friends actually secretly hated him. But he no longer wanted it to be stress, he didn't want his friends or himself to be s stressed they didn't care about saying such horrible things to each other, because that could only mean that they actually hated him.

But he was a part of the fighting too and he knew he didn't hate his friends, he just felt different around them, and it had started when they got to Hogwarts, he hadn't argued with them when they had talked over the summer. His feeling for Danielle though, wasn't different, it didn't matter that he had just apologised to her, he still wanted to comment on the fact that it was dumb that she kept putting her feet in the water and that he found it annoying that she just stated the fact that he had fought with his friends as a fact instead of asking him.

But he could keep himself from saying those things because he knew it wasn't the time for it.

"No I don't think it's stress," He turned his glance over to Danielle, "It's too much for it to be stress, and it doesn't even make sense that the entire school would be stressed enough to fight like this."

Maybe if it was all of the older kids they could still deny what was going on right in front of their eyes, but Raven had seen first years jinxing each other in the hallways and the other day the entire Gryffindor house was woken up by the third years yelling at each other at the top of their lungs in the common room.

"I just don't understand what else it could be?"

 

[winnie]

d a n i e l l e
​

Hearing Raven's answer almost sent a wave of relief through Danielle. She was just glad to see that someone -- even if that particular someone had to be Raven -- saw that something was up and didn't think it was all in her head. The last time she brought it up, she was straight up shut down, and it led to yet another fight. It came to the point that Danielle would come up with excuses to avoid being near her friends because she didn't want any of them, including herself, to accidentally slip up and say something that couldn't be taken back.

Kind of like Lucas had done.

"I don't know," Danielle murmured and bit down on her lip as she stared at her toes, keeping her knees close to her body in order to conserve her own warmth. There was just something about being in the cold that was jarring, and it helped her think better. That, and, though she would never admit it aloud, Raven's presence was definitely... valuable. He was smart, there was no denying that, so if anyone could figure out, it should be them. Right? After all, they were so far the only ones remaining civilised -- the last people anyone would ever expect to not fight.

"I read in muggle books of how certain drugs can get people to act all aggressive, but this can't exactly be that. Every student in school -- especially not first years -- can't have access to that sort of stuff. But... But maybe something everyone has access to..." Her brain was working overtime. Possibly something like a toxic gas. What was the equivalent of that in the wizarding world?

 

[Rabbit]

R a v e n​

"I don't it's any kind of muggle drug, And if it was a drug like that someone would have to like regularly administer it into the water supply, since it's affecting everyone, it just doesn't make sense" Raven spun off on the idea Danielle was proposing, it wasn't dumb idea, Danielle's ideas were rarely dumb, it was just that Raven tended to feel like his own were better. Not today though, for once he was just putting that to the side. He wanted things to be normal and he knew that if he and Danielle were able to work together, if only a little, they'd be able to figure something out.

"So, it's probably something from the wizarding world," he speculated out, "I'd say it looks some shit prank by a third-year gone wrong, but if it's a curse, even if it got messed up, it would be too advanced for anyone at Hogwarts level."

Raven pulled his coat closer to himself as he was starting to feel a little cold, he wanted to go back inside and hang out with friends in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room but he couldn't do that. If it really was someone pulling a prank he would actually punch them in the face, even if it was a third year. This was the reason he was out there in the cold, communicating with Danielle as a friend instead of his actual friends. He had to admit he didn't mind being there with Danielle too much though, not with how things looked at the moment. This was the first time in a while he didn't feel like he was walking on eggshells talking to someone. He didn't have to actively stop himself from blurting out things that he knew would lead to arguments. It was refreshing.

"Maybe it's some kind of creature doing it? It wouldn't be the first time something like that happens at Hogwarts... But I can't think of any that would cause this kind of psychological reaction in humans?"

 

[winnie]

d a n i e l l e
​

Danielle had figured that normal drugs couldn't be the reason behind it, but for some reason -- and for the very first time -- she had needed reassurance, and only Raven could do that at that point. It was odd, but she put her thoughts on that aside for a moment because whatever they seemed to be doing, it was working, whereas with her friends, little comments that she made all the time were suddenly incredibly offensive or taken the wrong way. It was all too frustrating.

"Well I haven't read of any creature that could do something like that but it's possible," she said with a shrug, though her mind kept going back to what he said earlier about it being a prank. It could be that, if someone messed up, but this was a huge thing to mess up, and Raven was right, it was pretty advanced. But probably not for everyone at Hogwarts.

"But, I mean, a curse like that may be impossible for a third year... but a sixth or seventh year could be likely," she said, lifting her gaze from her bare toes to meet his. "Think about it. There have been powerful wizards in the past. Some downright scary, with how talented they were." Case in point, Voldemort. "All of them were in their last years of Hogwarts so maybe we shouldn't rule that out as a possibility just yet?" she suggested.

Danielle didn't know if she would have come up with that theory at all if she hadn't been spurred on by Raven's words. Okay maybe she might have, some time down the line, but discussing it with someone she wasn't arguing with was definitely helping things move along faster. If they were right, that is. But it was a start.

 

[Rabbit]

R a v e n​

"Yeah, maybe we shouldn't," Raven agreed, it was weird to agree with Danielle, but since no one seemed to be able to agree with anyone anymore it was quite nice to just do that for a change. Besides, what she was saying was true. Raven had not grown up in the wizarding community, in fact, he had not found out about it at all until he was eleven. His dad had known, but he hadn't told him. He still knew about the kind of wizards and witches that had attended Hogwarts though, and he knew that every once in a while one popped up who was incredibly powerful. Raven couldn't think of who in their or the year above it could be, but he supposed it was possible.

"Okay so, let's say it's a person at Hogwarts having done this, just to have something to build off," Raven said, apparently they were trying to figure this out together now, it wasn't like they had decided on it or anything, but Raven wasn't going to stop it, actually trying to figure something out was better than letting this go on, "was the intent to cause everyone to fight, or just a few people? And was the intention to make people fight or not?"

He sighed because there was really no way for them to know these things, it was possible to assume that if it was someone who was powerful enough to do this, they curse wouldn't have backfired as they would be skilled in magic. But everyone could make mistakes so that wasn't really a productive assumption.

He sighed, wondering if they'd actually get anywhere with this. They were both smart, but would they really come to a conclusion the teachers and staff hadn't already… Had the teachers even come to a conclusion? "Do you have any idea about what kind of curse or whatever they would have been going for?"

 

[winnie]

d a n i e l l e
​

Danielle tried to think over Raven's questions. They weren't really easy to answer, and honestly, there were so many possible answers that Danielle couldn't really generalise anything, but she did come up with a few theories that could help them narrow down their search a bit.

"Okay, so if this is someone at Hogwarts, like we're assuming," she began, letting her feet slide off the rock so they dangled over the edge, just inches from the grass below. "This could go two ways. if the intention was to get everyone to fight -- which I think it is -- then this person could either be satisfied with the way things are now, considering the fights haven't stopped and it's been over a week. Or this person has no idea how to reverse the spell," she explained, biting down on her lower lip once she finished.

If it was a complex spell, it was likely that the person that cast it may not know how to reverse it. But then again, if this was a spell they wanted to cast on every student, and not just a few, as a prank, then perhaps they never meant for it to be reversed anyway. The degree of these fights were only getting worse as time passed, with more and more students, even the youngest ones, landing up in the hospital wing.

"Not sure about the curse though," Danielle admitted, meeting Raven's gaze. "The teachers must have noticed something is up, right? I mean, if we did then they have to have noticed it. Unless this is affecting them too." Danielle never actually noticed if that was the case or not.

 

[Rabbit]

R a v e n​

Raven hadn't even really thought much about the teachers, sure sometimes he wondered where they were when he passed some fight in hallways that looked like it needed to be stopped, but his main focus until Danielle mentioned it now had been the students. It really was good to have someone to speculate with, it made you think of those kinds of things faster, even if Raven was sure he'd think of it by himself eventually.

"Well I can't say I've thought about it much, but logically, if it's affecting everyone at the school it would be affecting the teachers as well," Raven reasoned, casually repositioning himself to sit with his legs crossed and leaning back on one arm, all while properly looking over at Danielle now, "And if it's affecting them too it might be why the whole issue hasn't even been addressed yet,"

It really hadn't, all teachers were acting as if this was normal, possibly adding something about how they wanted everyone to try to get along in passing, which honestly only irritated Raven, because it wasn't like everyone was trying to fight. Maybe his irritation towards the teachers he normally wouldn't have a problem with was proof that it was affecting the teachers as well.

"Let's keep our eyes open, and if we think it does affect the teacher we wait with trying to put this forward to them until we have more concrete proof that something is going on," Raven suggested, there was no point to bring something up and get it shut down just to come back later with proof and be denied explaining it because they didn't have said proof the first time, "Maybe we should try to figure out who it is affecting in general? Like? It seems like it's between all houses yeah? So it's not like a Slytherin specifically trying to go for you guys in Ravenclaw or whatever,"

Raven had both seen people from different houses fight and people in the same houses fight, he too had been bickering with friends he had in other houses, but the people he was fighting the most with was in Gryffindor, because that's where he had his closest friends, "Really it's like everyone's just fighting with everyone, no matter who they are. The only one I'm able to have a normal conversation with is you, and I don't even consider you a friend, no offence," he knew Danielle wouldn't take offence, they knew where they stood with one other.​

 

[winnie]

d a n i e l l e ​

Danielle knew Raven was right. She hadn't seen any teacher actually behave as if something was going on. Most went about as normal, thinking all this fighting wasn't out of the ordinary. It only meant they had to be affected too because such a thing couldn't go unnoticed if they weren't affected.

Danielle nodded at his suggestion of waiting till they had more concrete proof. Even then though, there was uncertainty. "If this whole thing is affecting them, I have a feeling that no matter what proof we bring to the teachers is going to help. As far as we know, this is contained to the school, right?" She said, thinking back to letters from her family and visits to Hogsmeade and whether there had been any fights there. With her family, things had been okay, but they were just letters so Danielle didn't know if that completely passed the test.

"Maybe we need to go to someone beyond school walls?" Danielle suggested. "Once we get more intel on all of this obviously." The word of two teenagers from Hogwarts was likely going to go over any official's head that they got in contact with. And that was another thing. How would they catch hold of someone while in school? They could send an owl, but they needed to know someone in the Ministry or elsewhere in order to do so.

"No, I don't think it's specific to houses," she murmured, biting down on her lower lip. "It's mostly only happened with my friends. I mean, the closer the friend, the worse the fight," she said before rolling her eyes. "Don't worry," she said in response to his comment on her not even being considered a friend. "No offense taken." It wasn't like she considered him a friend. Even now, they were just allies, trying to figure this out.

"Maybe it doesn't work on us because we aren't friends?" She suggested, suddenly getting the idea.