- Invitation Status
- Look for groups
- Looking for partners
- Posting Speed
- Multiple posts per day
- 1-3 posts per day
- One post per day
- 1-3 posts per week
- One post per week
- Slow As Molasses
- Online Availability
- My times are pretty erratic, but I try to avoid being on EST 11pm-9am.
- Writing Levels
- Intermediate
- Adept
- Advanced
- Adaptable
- Preferred Character Gender
- Male
- Female
- Genres
- Fantasy, Modern, Historical Romance.
Feb 11, 2015
Theme Song: Not in Love - Crystal Castles
Song for a Broken Heart: The Wrong Words - Nadya Prince
SNameS
"My name means Star of the Sea."
Stella Maris Prince
SNicknamesS
"I like my name. Don't go slaughtering it."
Koi - Used only by Seri, who is the only one who knows that she's half-Amabie.
Ella - Used by Raven.
Little star - Used by Averill as a pun on her name.
Princess - Used only by Romeo, and beware anyone else who tries it.
Goldi - Used only by Charlotte, who sees her as Goldilocks, curious and with golden hair.
SNicknames for OthersS
"So what if I call you what I will? You can protest. I'll take it into consideration."
Seriphim Brimm - Seri
Ryan McCallion - Rye
Elizabeth Silsbury - Lizzy
Jayden Everdragomir - Ever
Oswin Ravenwood - Raven
Cecilee Marshall - Leelee; "Of Ravenclaw"
Montgomery Knight - "idiot genius"
Jack Sullivan - John; "monster-killing monster"
Romeo Cooper - "loverboy;" "turfhead;" "cockatoo;" etc.
Averill Trevelyan - "god food"
Charlotte Monrova - Snow White; little Arachne; "la charmante princesse" (to others)
All others are simply their last names
SAgeS
"My birthday was June 27th, 2007. I'm a Cancer ()."
16
SGenderS
"I'm sure it's hard to tell from my masculine features, but I am a girl, you know."
Female
SHouse and YearS
"I'm no one special. You'll see."
Hufflepuff, 6th Year
SSpeciesS
"Shhh. It's supposed to be a secret."
Half-Amabie
SBlood StatusS
"I like to think of myself as a proper, simple half-blood, like my parents and brothers."
Half-breed
SPersonalityS
"Does anyone ever really know themselves? Figure it out for yourself."
[Easily Content/Adaptable]
Like her father, she tends to be pretty calm about things. Even when things don't go completely the way she wants, she's able to just roll with the punches and shrug it off. On top of which, she's okay with situations in life. She can quickly get comfortable with any environment she's thrown into. Although she stubbornly refuses to try to change who she is to cater to other people, it's easy for her to adapt to the situation at hand. She almost never panics and rarely finds herself in a situation where she feels conflicted, very sure, as she is, of her moral system. If there's a problem at hand that can be fixed, she'll work to fix it without complaint, but if it can't be fixed, she lives with it.
[Loyal to a Fault]
Once you win her allegiance or friendship, you have it. It's solid, tangible. When she makes friends, she considers them officially a part of her "second family." Her real family and moral values take precedent in all of her decisions, but outside of them, she puts the protection of her friends' safety and happiness before everything else. She will even break rules for them and cover for them. She will not, however, ever fight someone or majorly curse someone, because she's not violent or impetuous.
[Hard-working]
Just because she's easily content, that doesn't mean she has no standards. She has very high standards for herself and works hard to keep them. She's never had top marks in the year, but with her natural intelligence and love for learning, she's always gotten very good grades. In her free time, she puts in all her effort into the things she loves most, including her hobbies.
[Quiet but Straightforward]
She's not talkative with people she doesn't know. She doesn't get to know people without any reason. She can be very talkative with people she is very comfortable with, but practically mute in front of those she isn't. This isn't just because she isn't very sociable, it's also because she thinks that if there's nothing to say, you shouldn't say anything. She likes hobbies that don't require others, and keeps her head down in big parties. However, if she does hold a conversation with someone she doesn't know very well, she can be very, almost rudely, plain with them. This ties into her dislike of small talk and "practical politeness." Not everybody in the world is going to like you, and nobody's really fooled by your pretensions of kindness, so why bother? No, for her just another part of "do unto others as you would have done unto you" is being honest, rather than pretending to be something, do something, or say something that does not reflect your true thoughts and character. That doesn't make her above lying when she believes it necessary, and it definitely doesn't mean she ever lets it make her cruel, just that sometimes she can be rather abrupt.
[Sarcastic]
When she is comfortable with someone, she has a sharp tongue that is merely there for her to play with her wit. She's not an unpleasant person and isn't always sarcastic, she just enjoys using sharp language because it's fun, and because she does it out of habit. It also acts as a deterrent for people who just get close because they like people.
[Suspicious]
Although she's very loyal, this is tempered by the fact that she is very distrustful of other people and doesn't get close to others. Even if she can carry a good conversation with someone, she hasn't even told her closest friends her deepest secrets, and telling other people anything personal about herself comes after having gotten to know them very very well. Unless they prove they'd stay with her through any hardships, she's not likely to pursue or value a relationship.
[Curious]
This trait also leads her to be, in some cases, fearless, quirky, and shameless. That is to say, in the pursuit of knowledge or things that interest her, she will get up in people's faces, ask shameless questions, ignore rules, talk back to people in power, and do things other people don't like without asking. She can also get into her "mode," which is when she is unintentionally chirpy and talks very fast and excitedly with people who may or may not care what she's saying about things that she considers cool. She can kind of bulldoze over people who get in her way, though it is usually unintentional.
SBiographyS
"I like the way I grew up, even if that was a simple and uneventful sort of way. It's easier to enjoy the small stuff when your brain isn't constantly clouded with big events."
[Childhood]
Stella's always been able to communicate with fish. In her fairly ordinary life, with her fairly ordinary half-blood wizarding mother and father with her two younger brothers, that was the only thing a little bit strange about her. Well, that and the fact that she could breathe underwater. Her parents made it no secret to her that she was not her father's child and only half-related to her brothers, but made a considerable effort not to treat her any differently from her brothers. It wasn't always successful, and they had to teach her to be very careful around whom she revealed she was half-merperson in front of, but overall she suffered from very little suppression issues. She only really understood that being half-merperson and not fully related to her brothers was a bad thing when her aunt on her father's side came over and declared loudly that the half-breeds were running wild again, when she was eight years old. Her mother got really angry and when she asked about it, explained mostly that people didn't accept people like her and would make fun of her if she let it out, so she had to be careful not to let it slip. It was also then that she asked about her father for the first time, and found out that her mother had met him while vacationing in Japan, before she got married to her current husband. The man who Stella considers her true father in every way is still the man who raised her, Harold Prince, and it's no wonder, since the two of them told everyone that they had simply had Stella out of wedlock, not that unusual by this time.
[Since Starting School]
When she was in her third year, she fell madly in love with a 17-year old bad boy type. He thought she was cute and agreed to date her, but eventually began feeling she was getting too serious and broke up with her. That broke her heart and since then she has firmly decided she has no interest falling in love ever again. She does treat this cynical attitude, however, with a little bit of good-natured self-mockery, as she knows the only reason it affected her so much is because she's had so few bad experiences to begin with.
SRelationshipsS
"This is them. My family. You don't have to say 'nice to meet you,' because they'll drown you out anyways. They're good like that."
[Mother]
Nadya Prince - A woman of Bulgarian descent who grew up in England. She is a half-blood with a muggle father. Nadya works as a magizoologist studying marine mammals, and this leads her to travel a lot, though she tries to limit her trips to when her kids are at school. She was a Ravenclaw. Stella's maternal grandmother died in an explosion caused by a badly miscast spell some in-over-his-head idiot cast in a public area. Stella's mother had just turned 19 at the time, and Stella never knew the woman.
[Father]
Harold Prince - A half-blood with a large family on both sides of the family. Both sides were half-blood wizard lines. He is a metal-charmer and was briefly a chaser in his house, before he decided it wasn't for him. He also went to Hogwarts, which is where he met Nadya. He was a Hufflepuff.
[Elder Younger Brother]
Darcy Prince - Darcy is currently a 3rd year at Hogwarts and probably one of the nicest Slytherin boys you could find anywhere. He has a strong, driving ambition to make it big in the Ministry of Magic. He takes a lot more after his father than his mother, with thick black hair framing chiseled features, harsh eyebrows, and deep-set grey eyes. In figure, however, it seems he's going to turn out a lot more like his mother - relatively slender and moderately tall.
[Younger Younger Brother]
Sebastian Prince - Sebastian is a 1st year Ravenclaw at Hogwarts. He looks a lot like his mother and sister, with more rounded, delicate features, but shares his father's coloring with his brother, grey eyes and black hair. His figure still hasn't been determined, since he's so young.
[The Armada]
Her father's side of the family - Because there are so many of them, all three children informally call them various names including "the armada" "the mob" etc. Unlike their fairly calm father, "the mob" are associated with chaos for their family, mainly due to a set of mildly hysterical second-uncles on the maternal side, and rather martial second-aunts on the paternal side. Their father has no direct siblings, and they call their dad's cousins "uncle" and "aunt" anyways.
[Maternal Grandfather]
Andrei Krumov - A very cool Bulgarian man with a really great, thick, white mustache. He had difficulty accepting the reality of his wife and daughter's magical abilities at first, and even now they try to avoid doing too much magic around him, but ultimately, his love for his family comes first. He's a big man, with a booming laugh and a gruff manner. He is not terribly fond of Harold, though he loves his daughter and all his grandkids, and both Nadya and Harold have made a great effort to prevent him from ever meeting the rest of the Prince family, whose chaotic manner he definitely wouldn't like. He used to be blonde, and has Nadya and Stella's big blue eyes, though his are crinkled from age. He's a boot-maker, a traditional cobbler hard to find nowadays.
[Ex-boyfriend]
Brenden Miller - A handsome looking boy, graduated a few years ago, heading off to become an auror. He's a pretty good guy, all things considered, very brave and considerate of others. He's pretty glamorous, even though he's got freckles and normal brown hair and eyes. He was a quidditch player.
[Friends]
Elizabeth Silsbury - Very close friend. The two of them met straight off first year by having beds right across from each other. [SPOILI]
The girl across from her, with more vivid blonde hair than hers, spoke. "Hello, I'm Elizabeth. And you are?"
For a long moment, Stella didn't realize she was being spoken to, and stayed completely silent. In the school she'd gone to before getting the letter, she had come across people like this one, who were excited to meet new people. She had always been... friendly enough, but not encouraging. Some of them had thought her downright rude, even. By this time, she had been left alone by most everybody, and was no longer really used to being addressed. "I'm Stella." She eventually responded in her quiet, lilting voice. She offered no more conversation than that and looked back down at a book in her hands. It was a fiction muggle book her grandfather had given her over the summer. Bob nudged her, trying to get her to converse more with the other girl, but she just retorted quietly that she didn't want to and it was none of his business was it.
The other girl didn't seem daunted by her short reply. "What book are you reading? It looks fairly interesting." She asked, pointing at the book in her hands. "Are you fond of literature?"
Stella stopped reading. She looked up at the other girl, closing her book and giving her opponent her full attention. She wasn't smiling, but it wasn't an expression of displeasure, just a neutral sort of lack of interest. "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Yes, I am fond of literature." She stared straight on at the other girl, taking in her features carefully and trying to remember them. She'd have to watch out for this one. Bob seemed delighted by this, though. He refused to say anything to Stella, but hopped up and down on her shoulder, as if to attract the girl's attention on purpose. She put a hand over him, forcing him to be still as subtly as she could.
The other girl spoke in all a rush. "That's a really good book, though I much preferred The Lord of The Rings. A little more heavy on the literature part compared to Narnia though." Then, she abruptly stopped herself. "Sorry. That tends to happen quite often... my babbling. Just tell me to stop if it annoys you." She added with a nervous laugh. Apparently attracted to Bob's movement, though, the girl seemed just about as happy as he was. "Aww, it's so cute. What is it's name?" She asked, looking almost breathless with excitement.
"He's Bob." Stella responded carelessly throwing out his name without his full title. She was more interested in the other thing the girl had said. "What is The Lord of the Rings?" She asked, her eyes trained on Lizzy, now with some interest. Besides her visits to her grandfather, she was rarely exposed to muggle culture, and didn't even know that much about what she was reading now.
The other blonde didn't respond right away, still entranced by the salamander. "Hiya, Bob!" she waved at the salamander with a giggle. The salamander liked this new attention. Stella had gotten him only recently, as a present for getting into Hogwarts, and he was still very small, unused to much interest from others. Scampering off her shoulder, he ran to the tips of Stella's fingers, staring up at the other girl adoringly. In response to Stella's question, she finally said, "You don't know it?" She paused, then facepalmed and mumbled something to herself. "It's a sto- a muggle storybook about a land called "Middle Earth" that has many different creatures living together like, Hobbits, Elves, Humans and much more! It has three books but I've only ever finished the first one. It's written by J.R.R. Tolkien! And he even invented his own language for Elves in the book!" She suddenly trailed off again. "I did it again." She groaned, bringing her palm up to her face again.
Stella stared at Elizabeth, wanting to hear more about this Lord of the Rings, or whatever it was. "What are hobbits? Why do the elves have a different language?" Humans she understood, but she'd never even heard of hobbits before, and the elves she knew of were house-elves, who spoke English perfectly well. She didn't mind the other girl's rambling, not even quite noticing her laments. Stella was too focused on the more interesting things she was saying to pay attention to Elizabeth's worries about talking too much.
Lizzy was distracted again. She held her hand right above Bob's head before looking at Stella and asking if it was alright to pet him. "What do you think?" She asked Bob in salamander, he responded with definite enthusiasm. "Go ahead. He'll let you."
As the fellow Hufflepuff stroked the top of Bob's head with one finger, giggling a bit, she began to explain what hobbits and elves were. When she was done, she added, "You know, if you want, Father packed my book in the luggage... One second." She held up one finger, then stood to rifle through her luggage until she found the book. "Ta-da!" she exclaimed when she had found it. She gave it a quick once-over to make sure it was in good condition before handing it to Stella. "It's a little hard to read, but if I can, so can you!" She said with enthusiasm.
Stella took a long look at the book, filled with a desire to explore its contents and read about these hobbits and these elves that weren't house-elves, but didn't open its cover. The thought that it would be rude to take something of someone else's crossed her mind for a second, but she dismissed it, since the girl had offered it to her willingly. That wasn't the reason she soon handed it back to the girl. "I haven't finished this one yet." She hesitated, "But I should like very much to read it later, if that would be alright."
The other girl nodded enthusiastically in reply. "It's no problem! I have other sto- Muggle books if you wish to ever read anyone of them!" she said, "I'll leave it on the bedside table so you can take it whenever you wish to."
Touched by this offer, Stella's blue eyes grew a little larger, and a small smile of pleasure slowly dawned on her face. Finally no longer distracted by the book, she directed her mind to the other object of the girl's interest. "You shouldn't pamper him too much, he'll get spoiled." She gave the girl her first full smile.
"I can't help it," she protested, giggling at the little creature. "I have a soft spot for animals; especially the cute ones."
Stella leaned forward, bringing Bob a bit closer and looking down at him herself. To be sure, she liked Bob, but was he cute? She hadn't quite thought so. "His full name is Robert Ognyan Prince the Eighth. What did you say your name was again?" She hadn't been listening the first time.
"That's a very royal name!" Elizabeth cooed at the salamander. "Is it of royal blood, like the Queen? Did you come up with it yourself?" She asked with a smile. "My name is Elizabeth. Elizabeth William Silsbury. Liz for short it fine as well. Or any other nickname you want actually." Lizzy then, Stella automatically translated. It was odd, she usually stuck to people's last names, but Silsbury felt odd in her mouth, and she could tell the girl wouldn't mind.
The comment about the royal blood, though, made her nostrils narrow in embarrassment, slight color rising to her normally pale cheeks. "No. My last name is Prince, that's why he's Prince. I did come up with the Robert Ognyan part, though. Ognyan is a Bulgarian name, my grandfather chose it. Nice to meet you, Lizzy." She decided to add, just for effect, "And don't call him cute. He is not cute. He's ferocious." Bob's tongue flicked out with a mocking little hiss, but he nuzzled his head against the girl's finger anyway. And from that,[/SPOILI] they started off with a very amiable relationship. Much more so than Stella entertained with most other people. It wasn't until much later in the year that they became close, though. Lizzy came across Stella dancing, but proved herself to be both genuine, kind, and trustworthy. [SPOILI]
Stella had closed the door to the empty classroom behind her, but as she turned around and surveyed the classroom with a smile spreading across her face, she forgot to lock it. Concentrating very hard, because they had only learned the spell recently, she Levitated the desks, directing them gently closer to the wall. It took some time, but finally, all the desks were up against the wall, and the wooden floor was mostly empty. She pulled off her shoes and socks and stood in the bare room with bare feet. She began mentally playing start in her head.
The song spinning through her head was one of those she had memorized. The melody was one written by Lindsey Stirling, a slightly radical violinist who was at the peak of her fame a little less than a decade ago. She was a muggle, but her mother had liked her and Stella had come to love her music as well. She had listened to her music so much that she knew every note of several of her songs. Dancing was another thing Stella had picked up as part of muggle culture. The "armada" had not approved, so it was yet another thing she had to hide. But here, in this empty room, she didn't have to worry about any of that. She closed her eyes, lifted her arms, and then began to move in the style of modern dance.
Her grandfather's voice in her head just said, "Don't think, Stella, just move. Let the music guide you." Stella's body swayed to the music, seeming as fluid as the water of the lake near her house. She kept her eyes firmly shut, her foot slid along the floor, she twirled, tapped the floor with the tip of her foot, then gave a wide spinning jump, managing to land gracefully on her feet again. Too engrossed in her dance, she didn't hear the sound of the door opening behind her, but she heard when it suddenly slammed shut.
The sound jerked Stella out of her stupor. She ground to a sudden halt and whipped around to look at the disturbance, seeing Lizzy there, hands up defensively. She didn't have her wand on her at the moment. Nor her umbrella. It was making her feel extremely vulnerable, and when she saw who it was, she wasn't sure whether to be relieved or angry. "What are you doing here?" She asked, a small frown on her face. "And how much did you see?" That was the part that worried her the most. Dancing was a little strange, she knew, and she didn't want it to get out.
"I- I was just wandering the halls when I heard noises." Elizabeth said quickly. Her hands fell back to her sides, "I- I didn't see much." She hesitated for a long moment, before adding, "You danced very beautifully. Did you use to dance a lot before?" So she had seen after all.
Stella bit the inside of her cheek slightly, her eyes shifting from Lizzy's around the room and back to Lizzy again. "Yes. I've been dancing for a long time. I... can you not tell anyone you saw that?" She felt uncomfortable with the compliment and shifted on her feet slightly. Meeting Lizzy's eyes full on, she asked again, this time a little more emphatically. "Please don't tell anyone you saw me dancing."
Lizzy's eyes seemed to bug out of her head in surprise. "Why not?!" She exclaimed. "You dance so amazingly!" She seemed to notice the mulish look in Stella's eyes and gave in, letting out a little sigh. Then, she smiled again, as she, for some reason, held up her pinky. "I promise I won't tell anyone... if..." she trailed off, a spark in her eye. Uh oh. This couldn't be good.
Stella wasn't a "vulnerable" person, but real anxiety was in her eyes. "I don't want people to know. It's... weird. They'll think I'm weird. Witches don't dance like... like..." like muggles, but she knew Lizzy was a muggle-born and didn't want her to misunderstand and get hurt. "If what?" She asked, looking at once impatient and desperate. "What is it?"
Elizabeth frowned, "Nothing wrong with weird... Mother always said weird was a bad word; she preferred 'special', but since you don't like it that much, I won't tell, okay?" She assured Stella. Elizabeth grinned, "If you teach me how you dance like that!" She finished. "But if you don't want to that's fine. I still won't tell, pinky promise." She said once more, holding her pinky up again.
For a long moment, Stella was speechless, then she reached out, pinched Lizzy's pinky between her thumb and finger and shook it as if shaking someone's hand. Then, spontaneously, she pulled the other girl into a hug, smiling. "Of course I'll teach you. I'd like to teach you." She said, happily. "I'll teach you everything I know."[/SPOILI] And Stella decided right then that Lizzy would be her friend. She had no choice about it. Their friendship extends to this day, Stella continuing to watch over her and tease her in equal measures. Non-violent Stella never felt adequate enough to protect Lizzy by herself, and thus Montgomery Knight's efforts were much appreciated. Although she doesn't know what he gets up to, and doesn't want to know, she is willing to overlook... whatever it is he does if it stops Lizzy from being bullied, or at least reduces the numbers. Status: Protectorate
Sethen Lockett - Werewolf buddy. During a midnight wandering in first year, Stella came across him in werewolf form and found out about his secret. [SPOILI]
It was a cold October night, but the inside of the Hufflepuff dorm was still nice and warm. Stella was sitting as close as she could to the window so that the light of the full moon flashed as much as it could onto the page of the potions book she was reading. The 11-year old was trying her best not to mutter to herself as she read, since it was late at night and most everybody else was asleep by this time. She'd just not been able to sleep. From the very first class, she'd loved Potions, so she'd taken up the textbook to help occupy her mind before she went to sleep. Unfortunately, it was having the opposite effect and she was getting more and more awake as she read through the entries. She stifled a giggle as she came across an entry for Dogbreath Potion. What she wouldn't give to make it in class. It didn't seem like they would, though, since it caused the drinker to spout flames, and Stella got the distinct sense that the potions master wouldn't trust them not to abuse it. She read through the ingredients almost greedily. Wait, she had most of these. The only thing she was missing was Porcupine Quills. She'd run out after lending some to a classmate a couple days ago. Other than that, the recipe was actually fairly simple. She could do this! A small smile spread across her face. She'd just have to stock up on porcupine quills tomorrow and find an abandoned place to go. Maybe she could even ask the professor to lend her a place to do it. These plans in mind, she was about to close the book when she saw one last instruction in small print at the bottom. "Best brewed on the full moon."
No, no. That would ruin everything. Today was the full moon. Stella frowned at it, as if by glaring she could make the words away. Of course that wouldn't work. Finally, she abandoned her plans, she'd have to wait a whole month to do it. Or... the beginnings of a different plan blossomed in her mind. She would get into so much trouble if caught but.... Stella took another look at the book and threw caution to the winds. Forget the rules. As quietly as she could, she got out of bed and packed her cauldron and ingredients in her bag. Twenty minute later, she was locking the door of the potions classroom behind her, a small fistful of porcupine quills now safely added to her bag, and a small, mischievous grin ever so quietly touching her eyes. Her victory was short lived. An all-too-familiar voice floated down from the corridor, right around the bend.
"Likkle nasty firsties, what fun to make them squeal.
Nasty tricks and clever quips are Peevesies appeal."
Stella's normally pale face turned white as a sheet. It was Peeves. If he caught her, she was dead. Frantically, she looked around her. A door. Thank goodness a door. She grabbed the handle and tried to turn it, but it was locked. Hastily, she whispered the Unlocking Charm and rushed inside, closing the door carefully behind her and turning the lock again. She pressed her ear to the door, her blood pounding loudly in her ears, trying not to breathe too loudly. Finally, she was relieved to hear him cackling past. She let out a long breath of relief and turned around to see where she was.... She froze, her heart leaping back into her mouth. An enormous black wolf, horrid scars marring its back, was staring at her much the same way she was staring at it, with shock and horror. For a long moment, neither of them moved, but then she took a deep breath to calm herself and cast her glance around the room. There was a pile of clothes neatly folded on a desk next to the wolf, a wand sitting on top of it. It was much too neat for it to belong to any victim of the wolf. Besides which, the wolf hadn't made any move to attack her. She looked back at it. It seemed... almost sentient, its eyes trained on her in what resembled fear. Comprehension dawned on her. It was the full moon. A werewolf.
She went back to staring at it. A werewolf, amazing. Her eyes filled with a gleaming curiosity, she took several steps forward. The wolf flinched backwards, and when she got too close, began to growl. She was frightening it. She stopped and went towards a different wall, sitting down, her back against it, watching it. It seemed wary of her, and when she finally got up and tried to leave, it growled at her again. Alright, it looked like she was spending the night here. What a way to spend the night. She'd only wanted to get some supplies.... The blonde girl jumped upwards, startling the wolf. Ignoring it, she began pulling out her cauldron and supplies. She'd almost forgotten! She only had tonight! How much longer till the sun rose? She didn't know, and had no way of telling, so began rushing. Hastily, she began throwing the potion together, but as she went along, she felt herself calm. Potion-making always made her a little calmer, and she slowed down, measuring each ingredient carefully, and using the clock on the wall to make sure her timing was perfect. She poured a couple of drops of Honeywater in and looked up again, to get her third nasty shock of the day. The wolf was right next to her, staring curiously at what she was making. She hadn't noticed it getting closer, too engrossed in her process. She jumped in surprise, then calmed again. She looked at it and pointed at the potion. "You want some? It's called Dogbreath Potion, it makes you breathe fire. Though, it's not done yet." She smiled in a silent half-laugh. "Though, I suspect you don't need help having dog breath." She didn't mean it in an insulting manner, it was just a good-natured joke.
The werewolf didn't seem to like it and made a little snuffling noise at her before moving back to its corner of the room. She went back to ignoring it, muttering to herself as she continued brewing. Occasionally, she would look straight up at the wolf as she mused out loud, asking it questions about certain measurements that she knew it couldn't answer anyways. It didn't seem to mind. Finally, two hours later, it was done. Should she try it now? No. She bottled it, being careful not to spill any on herself as she did so. She'd try it later, with a bezoar handy, in case she'd brewed it wrong and was drinking poison.
Stella carefully cleaned everything up and repacked all of her things, before sitting against the wall again, knees drawn up to her chest, arms around her knees. Before she knew it, her eyes had drooped closed and she'd fallen asleep. She woke to find a note next to her the next morning. It was penned fairly neatly, but with what seemed like a naturally messy handwriting. She squinted at it and finally made out the words. "Thank you for the company last night. Don't tell ANYBODY. It's probably best if you don't come again." It was not signed, but then again, she hadn't exactly expected it to be.
For the next month, she read every book she could get her hands on that had to do with werewolves. On the night of the next full moon, she ate her dinner extremely early, grabbed Bob, telling the disgruntled salamander that she had something to show him, and took her wand and two extra blankets with her. Night hadn't yet fallen, but she was excited to see the werewolf again, and willing to wait for it to come. Her heart was pounding again, but this time with excitement, as she ran towards the dungeons. She was stopped by a teacher but made a hasty excuse that she'd dropped something in class, and moved on quickly. Getting to the door, she unlocked it without ceremony and burst in.
And froze. Again. A boy with bad scars on his back was standing facing the opposite wall, his shirt off and looking about to take off his trousers. At the sound of the door opening, he whirled around and mimicked her by freezing in place and staring at her in shock and horror. There was a strong sense of deja vu, here. The boy reminded her slightly of her brothers, with thick black hair and grey eyes, but they were much smaller than him. Her eyes were almost inexorably drawn to his bare chest and she blushed hotly in embarrassment. He noticed her gaze and turned equally red. She got over her embarrassment and suddenly, another feeling threatened to burst through onto her face. I will not laugh. She told herself sternly. I will not laugh. I will not laugh. I will not- "HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA." She hastily slapped her hand over her mouth and doubled over, dropping the blankets she'd brought, along with a very scandalized Bob. She collapsed onto her knees as tears of mirth mercilessly rolled down her cheeks, her sides shaking with laughter. She hadn't laughed this hard in front of anyone besides her parents before.
When she got over her laughter, wiping tears from her eyes, she saw he had put his shirt back on. He seemed to be trying very hard to frown at her, but a grin kept breaking through. "I had a feeling you might ignore my warning not to come, but still, i wasn't expecting you so early..." He sounded a little like he was trying very hard to be more cross with her than he actually was.
He then cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head with red cheeks, glancing over at the wall bashfully. She shook her head, cheeks red with laughter, still having a hard time breathing from her little episode, and smiled at him. "No, it's fine. It was my fault. I didn't think you'd be-" She coughed and choked back another giggling fit. "That is to say," she giggled a bit, regained control and finished with a joking, "you really should make sure to lock the door before you start taking all your clothes off." Oh wait, he had. "I mean..." She fell apart laughing again, before finally managing to apologize.[/SPOILI] From that point on, she visited him every month, bringing him blankets, sometimes singing to him, sometimes jabbering on about whatever she found interesting at the time, sometimes just sitting next to him and providing some company. Although they don't really have much occasion to speak during normal times, they still acknowledge each others' presence, and have a fairly pleasant relationship. Status: Protectorate
Cecilee Marshall - Very good friend. Stella met this girl when they were both still in second year. They both "caught" each other outside at night, and were both too stunned, and too young, to deal with each other. Despite their shock, or perhaps because of it, the two of them became rather good friends. [SPOILI]
Stella slipped out of the room in the dungeon, heart in her mouth, anxiously looking around. Although she'd done a few times before, now, she still got the overwhelming feeling that she was going to be caught. It would be bad enough caught out after curfew, but with the blankets she was holding, there were sure to be uncomfortable questions. She breathed yet another sigh of relief as, yet again, no one was there. Rushing down the corridor, she kept swiveling her head back and forth, sure that if she kept her eyes forward, someone would sneak up on her from behind. It worked against her. Distracted by a shadow behind her, she turned her head just before turning a corridor, forgetting to check to make sure no one was there. That was how she slammed into the girl. Her body jerked backwards, though managing to stay upright, unlike the poor girl who fell backwards. Her head whipped around to look at the person she'd run into, her mouth and eyes both wide open in O's of surprise. Her expression froze like that as she locked eyes with the other, panic freezing her in place. Her mind was racing, but no explanation presented itself. Oh no...
The girl blinked shakily and opened her mouth like a gaping goldfish. "Uh- I- uhm- I was just- achoo." The poor girl sneezed before she could actually figure out what she wanted to say.
Stella stared for a few seconds, in more surprise than anything else, then couldn't help laughing to herself, though she tried to keep it quiet. She picked up the blankets she had dropped and handed one to the other girl, who looked rather cold and a lot less prepared for a midnight outing than she. "It's not smart to go out at night without at least something warm, you know. You'll get sick." She admonished the other girl in a gentle, if mocking fashion.
The girl took the blanket gratefully, wrapping it around herself and mumbled to herself, "It was unplanned." She spoke it almost as if she didn't want Stella to hear it. Stella's ears strained to pick up the other girl's words. "Unplanned?" Indeed, the other girl looked as though she'd gone out hurriedly. But clearly that was a thread of thought the other girl didn't want to pursue, because she moved on to Peeves instead. Her next words were a little clearer. "I was trying to avoid Peeves. Do you know the Poltergeist?" It was what Stella would've done if she'd had half her brain with her.
Well, she didn't want the other girl to start to question what she was doing out here at this time of night, so she followed suit. "Yeah... I know him." She grimaced comically. "Who doesn't? He's really annoying. I'm Stella Prince." She smiled, "Who are you?"
"Cecilee. Cecilee Marshall of Ravenclaw. Nice to meet you."
Stella giggled. "Okay, Cecilee Marshall of Ravenclaw. I'm "of Hufflepuff."" She frowned as a worry crossed her mind. "Peeves ... is not close by is he?"
The girl looked over her shoulder, as if expecting to see him there, laughing at the two of them little shrimps. "I think not. I miraculously escaped, diolch byth. He's quite the fiend."
"Indeed he is." She let out a long breath of relief to hear that she didn't think Peeves had followed her. Hastily, she helped pull the other girl upright. "We should leave before he comes, then. I'll take you back to the Ravenclaw dorms, if you'll show me the way. That is my blanket, after all."
Cecilee nodded, "If you insist, thank you for your help Stella," she turned around to lead the way, but stopped abruptly. "Wait a second. Um, I think I'm lost. Where are we?" She peered over her shoulder, looking at Stella sheepishly.
Stella's eyes widened. "You've only just realized you were lost? Were you sleepwalking or something?" She shook her head. "We're in the dungeons. Do you know how to get to Ravenclaw tower from here if I tell you that, or shall I have to have you sleep over in the Hufflepuff common rooms?" It was spoken half-seriously, half-jokingly. Just how bad a navigator could this girl be?
"Of Ravenclaw" gave a little start at the word "sleepwalking," but since she hadn't dwelled on the subject, immediately seemed to turn her mind to the problem at hand. She looked down and frowned in concentration. "Wait, I think I remember how to get there from Potions class." She paused, still thinking, then finally made a decision. "Follow me." She began to walk off and Stella followed suit.
Sleepwalker or one of those people who was always hopelessly lost? Judging from the little start the girl gave, it looked like sleepwalker was the correct answer. No wonder she didn't want to draw attention to herself. How embarrassing. She walked alongside the other girl, and asked, "So... what language was that?"
Cecilee glanced at Stella as if she didn't seem to know what she was talking about. "Oh, it was Welsh." She smiled.
Stella looked at the girl with a curious sort of blatantly excited stare. "Where did you learn it?" Stella herself only barely knew a couple phrases in Bulgarian, from her grandfather. Welsh, huh? It was her first time hearing it.
"Oh, my mother's from Wales," Cecilee replied thoughtfully, as if she'd never really thought about it. Stella rather suspected she hadn't. It wasn't something she herself would've thought other people would have any interest in. "Taught us a handful of sentences."
"That's interesting." Stella said, that open, almost rude interest still shining in her eyes. "My grandfather is Bulgarian." She offered as an equal exchange. "I know a couple words, but that's all." They made their way to the Ravenclaw tower quickly but cautiously, neither one wanting to get caught.
Cecilee smiled at their similarity of having foreign ancestry. "Sounds fun, knowing other languages besides English despite the small amount we associate with our fluency," she said without pause. The words flew out of her mouth as usual. They were lucky souls, managing to arrive at Ravenclaw Tower unscathed. Now, she hoped Stella would not be caught on her way back. She did not want any trouble.
"Do you often go for nighttime jaunts?" Perhaps that wasn't something she should call attention to, but she wanted to know, and the little blonde girl had rarely ever denied herself in the pursuit of knowledge.
There was little tensing from Cecilee. Looking at Stella, she tried answering the question honestly without giving away any serious hints. "From time to time, for a breather. Thanks for the blanket," she said, offering it back.
She smiled. "Maybe I'll see you around, then. I do, too." It might be fun to have someone else to talk to on nights like these. She'd enjoyed their brief conversation, after all.
"You too, Stella." It seemed she wasn't the only one who wouldn't mind seeing the other girl again.
Stella gave the other girl one last grin and took the blanket. "By the way, you have something on your nose."
The girl reacted as expected, grabbing her nose in a panicked fashion and asking, "Really, what?" She sneezed, looking self-conscious.
Stella gently pushed the girls hands away. "Let me see, it's right..." She moved her finger in a sort of circular motion in between the other girl's eyes, then poked her right on the nose. "Just kidding." She gave a muffled peal of laughter. "You should watch out. People will take advantage of how gullible you are. What would you have done if I'd told you we were going in the wrong direction?"
She mumbled something, the only word of which Stella caught was "predilection," but that didn't make much sense. What could she mean by it? She wanted to ask, but the sad look on the other girl's face stopped what would have normally been a very shamelessly blunt question. However, she answered Stella's latter statement much more comprehensibly. "Well, I would often wind up back at the tower before they catch me roaming. Miraculously."
"I see. You're pretty lucky then. Sometimes, when I go back when I'm really sleepy, I get lost or almost run into Peeves." She looked towards a window, where sunlight was slanting through. "Speaking of which, I need to go back, now. It was nice meeting you, Cecilee Marshall of Ravenclaw." She was about to just leave with that, but decided to add, randomly, "And cheer up! I have two brothers. They do lots more embarrassing things than sleepwalking." She gave the girl one last smile before heading back to the Hufflepuff dorms.[/SPOILI] Ever since that time, she found Cecilee one of those rare friends she didn't feel protective of, but confident with, rather. The two of them often met up during nighttime wanderings after that, ruling the halls at night. She was much more gullible and teasable when they were younger, but they were both much purer when they were younger. She also often makes fun of the way they'd first met, by calling her "Of Ravenclaw." She feels comfortable with the other girl the way she feels comfortable around Ryan, but less uncertain about where they stand. Status: Like-minded Equal
Felix Bell - Swimming buddy. They met, as one might expect from this title, at the Great Lake, on a pretty cold day when Stella was out swimming. [SPOILI]
It was the middle of second year, and most people were inside taking shelter from the cold. Stella was swimming in the lake, no one outside to bother berating her. She was fighting her desire to dive deep in the water ferociously, but the temptation was pretty strong. It was killing her, having to maintain this ridiculous farce of having to come up to breathe every half a minute or so, particularly with no one around to remind her not to do it. Finally giving in for just a moment, she dove down, down, and then shot upwards, the giant squid giving her a gentle boost with one of its tentacles. She twisted through the water and shot out, twisting through the air like a dolphin, before splashing into the lake again. She surfaced and looked around, letting her body relax as she surveyed the expanse of water and its shores. To her surprise, she saw a boy near one of the shores... Curiosity overcoming her inhibitions, she slowly propelled herself closer, wondering what he was doing out like this. When he looked up and saw her, he scrambled backwards only to trip and land on his butt. Wincing and laughing at the same time, he told her. "Oi, you got me good eh. Wait...You don't look like a merperson. A-are you ok? Aren't you cold? Do you need help?" His face went through such a rapid succession of expressions it was quite comical.
Stella snorted. "I'm not a merperson, just a person. Swimming." She should think that was obvious and said so with a little mockery, though no scorn. She ignored his questions and asked some of her own instead. Sure that was obvious as well. If she wasn't okay, she'd be getting out of the water. "What are you doing out here? Most people are inside."
"Um, well... I come here every now and then... you know. To think. Even happy people need a break from being clowns yes." Was he a happy person? She didn't recognize him at all, so what was he flaunting his reputation for? He shoved her from her thoughts by adding, "And look who is talking. I would say I do not mind the cold Miss, but you for sure beat me to that. Impressive." Who used "miss" anymore? They were twelve! At least, she thought he was the same age she was. "Oh! Ooooh I am so...I apologize!" He slapped his forehead gently with a "oof" sound, utterly confusing Stella. "My manners went down to drain. My name is Felix. Felix Bell." He extended his hand, smiling. "Nice to meet you." Wait, why had he just apologized?
For a long second, Stella was thrown off balance, then she considered the hand stretched out in front of her.She didn't want to pull her arm out of the water to shake his hand. It was true she could withstand the cold when she was swimming, but the minute her skin broke the surface, goosebumps would appear. Her head was alright, anything besides that made her bone marrow freeze, it felt like. With a little reluctant sigh that probably sounded a lot ruder than she meant it, she quickly splashed her arm out of the water, shook his hand quickly, and ducked it back inside. "I'm Stella." She told him simply. Part of her wondered if she should just go back to swimming and leave the other kid alone. It certainly seemed appealing, but it actually made her uneasy to know that he was just sitting there, able to observe her. Swimming was something she did to enjoy herself. If she couldn't enjoy it, there would be no purpose to doing it at all. She looked up at him with no expression in her empty blue eyes for a long time, then her pale eyebrows knit together in a slight frown. "What's there to think about?" Her long blonde hair fanned out around her, swaying with the water. She really did look a bit like one of those mermaids muggles imagined, except much younger, without much curves to speak of, and only mildly attractive.
He didn't seem off-put by her abrupt, wet handshake, but he did look as confused with her as she was with him. "Very nice to meet you, yes." His expression was a little... absent-minded, she thought, as he answered her question. "Well, you see... I figured that coming here is the best way to wonder where everything went wrong." Now that was melodramatic. Honestly, 'where everything went wrong' indeed. There was never a time when quite literally everything went wrong in a person's life, and here he was hail and hearty, so what was he being all nostalgic about? "Actually," he added. "My sister would be a correct answer. I miss her from time to time." He suddenly seemed to remember something. "Oh... I never seen anyone else around here before. At least not in the weather like this." Changing the subject, huh? "I mean...don't mind me but if you do... I can go?" He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "You came here first."
Oh no. He wasn't getting away that easily. That was a story begging to be told. Ignoring his flustered attitude completely in her usual Stella specific manner, she asked a question most people would consider rude, "What happened to your sister?" If it had been her, someone asking about her brothers if something had happened to them, she would have told them to go away, but she didn't think about that at all. She wanted to know, so she asked. She was simple like that. Her eyes stayed trained on him without wavering, it was almost disconcerting how intently she was staring.
The boy was silent for a long moment, apparently shocked that she had asked. She waited for him to get over it. Everyone did, eventually. Sure enough, he did, and gave a little smirk to boot. "She...it was an accident. Werewolf killed her back in Ireland." He shrugged. "Irish luck, right?"
Stella gave a little frown and a slightly scathing, "Irish luck, indeed," slipped from her mouth. That was unfortunate, though she couldn't see how an attack was unfortunate more than simply grievous. This was one person she hoped never found out Lockett's secret. People who had experiences with werewolves were worse than even just the normal ones. She was silent for a long moment, as she thought. Werewolves that didn't drink the Wolfsbane potion nowadays were rare. The ones who didn't were usually intentional about it. Then again, perhaps it had been rarer when they were younger. She didn't know, having never taken interest in such things before. She wondered if he'd been there when it had happened, the horror and guilt he must have felt.
"Do you have any siblings?" Oh, there he was trying to change the subject then. She let herself continue thinking for a bit before answering.
"Yes. Two younger brothers." She smiled quietly, almost to herself. If the three of them had been attacked by a werewolf, Sebastian probably would've scared it off with just his glare. The little devil. She opened her mouth only to end up being rude again, "How old was she?"
"Wow, I heard younger brothers are hard to handle." He chuckled briefly. "But you can for sure consider yourself lucky. She was just about to turn eleven, just like me. We were twins. Dumb and overly curious twins. She never allowed me to take care of her, you know. She was always the strong one. Strong but foolish."
Stella listened to him talk about his sister in silence. For a long time she struggled to find the words she wanted to say. Finally, she settled for a quick, "I see. It wasn't that long ago. Sorry for asking." She wasn't sorry for bringing it up - she hadn't brought it up at all - but she was sure it was more painful to go into detail about now that it was still so new and fresh.
She began speaking about her brothers again, keeping the focus on them this time. It was her way of trying to help, trying to fill the emptiness. She might be bad at expressing the kinder emotions, but that didn't mean she didn't feel them. "My brothers are seven and nine, but they both still think I need taking care of," she added sarcastically, "because of course, women need their menfolk to take care of them. Still," she smiled slightly, "it's kind. It's their way of showing me they love me, so I let them try from time to time. Darcy is a crybaby, and nice to everyone except for me, when he thinks I'm being stupid. Sebastian is the youngest. He's still so small, it feels like, but he's definitely a little bit evil." She laughed. "Definitely. There's some wild blood in him. Not that long ago, he got into a fight with a kid Darcy's age because they were picking on him. Darcy, not Sebastian. It's funny, because people who just see us don't realize that at all. They see me and they mutter and whisper about how I'm a little strange as soon as I open my mouth. They see Darcy and they go on about how kind and warm he is. Overall, I think that's mostly correct, but they see Sebastian and they think he's so sweet and quiet." She gave a little pfft of laughter. "He's very quiet, true, but he's also the fiercest, and when he thinks someone's hurting us, he goes after them before anyone has a chance to even react." At this point, the blonde girl was almost talking to herself, a far-off look in her eyes. "He's so small, I don't know what he expects to accomplish, but he does it anyways. That's his kind of love." She glanced over at Felix again. "I guess in that way, he sounds kind of like your sister, huh? Small, but with lots of courage. Strong, but kind of silly. Always confident, though who knows why." She smiled, and lost the words to say again, so fell silent.
Felix laughed, though Stella couldn't quite tell why. She didn't think she'd said anything particularly funny. "That really does sound like a handful! Never boring at your place then. Well, I think they're more ought to protect you than to think you can't do things on your own yes?" He took out a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and responded thoughtfully to her comment about his sister. "That really does sound like her. Except for the quiet and sweet part." He laughed. "I was always that 'girly' part that keeps nodding and agreeing to everything. She was quite flamboyant and always loved to have a word in things. I always looked up to her." He took another bean. "Other kids tend to laugh at me for that because, as you know how boys are about 'them being better than girls'. But I never thought of it that way. To me, we were the same. Maybe it was the twin part, but still.We always had each other's back in every way. I was the one always screwing up when we would get into the trouble." He sounded sad and kind of guilty, though she didn't know for what. "Her name was Fiona. Thought I would say that because you said your brothers' names." Stella hadn't really thought of it that way. She'd just said their names because it was easier than going 'brother number one' and 'brother number two.' People did hang on the strangest things, didn't they?
Felix scratched his nose. "But I do think they should give you more credit. After all, I have never seen a girl that can actually handle such cold water. Even I couldn't do it and trust me, I did a lot of silly things. You have to teach me." He laughed sincerely and offered her a Bertie Bott bag, asking in his Irish accent and with a wide smile. "Fancy a bean or two? It must take a lot of energy for that."
She laughed again, a light airy sound, and accepted the bean without question. Lemon. Not bad, not great. She made a squinty face that would have sent her family into raucous laughter. It certainly seemed to amuse Felix. "I wish they could hear you say that. It's not my physical abilities they're worried about." She tapped one side of her head slightly and whispered conspiratorially. "They say I'm a bit knocked in the head, so my people sense doesn't work anymore." Considering in the past year she could only remember Lizzy and Lockett's names, and didn't care to learn others', they probably weren't wrong. She was laughing a good deal in this conversation. "Sebastian says he can't afford to be girly in nature, because he already looks kind of like a girl, and Darcy is only strict with me. He still cries when people push him around. Bas says that's why he does it, because it's annoying when Darcy cries like a girl, but we all know better." She sniggered and added a fact she hadn't really had occasion to tell anyone else before. "In our family, it's actually normal for the men to look up to the women. My aunts are all... rather powerful."
"Really? Wow. Well, women in Irish families prefer a man behind their back. At least where I come from." He shrugged. "I don't really know why. I would honestly say men would be lost without them there." Again, something Stella had never really thought about. It felt weird to have someone respond to something she'd grown up with a "wow." Was it really that rare to have all the women in the family be domineering?
"Yes, really." She said quietly, mostly to herself. She couldn't stop herself from giggling as she thought about how, at Auntie Sarah's wedding, Auntie Margaret had interrupted the new husband's speech with a, "oh shut up so we can get on with it already." He had been the only one remotely shocked at that reaction. Well, him and the rest of his family. The Prince family had just roared with laughter. "And Bas is a Prince, after all. It's natural that the girlier he looks, the manlier he is." Immediately realizing the misconception that could be made from that statement, she explained, "That is to say, my last name is Prince. That's our family name, I didn't mean in the "son of a monarch" sort of way."
"Stella Prince? I can tell why it can get confusing. But then again you're at least royal by it. I am just Bell..."happy bell." Now you can imagine how manly that might have sounded back in my place." She could. Not very much. If any of her aunts had married someone with the last name Bell, the poor male would have been teased incessantly until he changed HIS last name to Prince instead. To think her father's maternal side, the George's, were so prone to paranoia in hysterics. Really, sometimes she wasn't sure if her father might not be blood-related to his family, either.
The half-merperson swished her limbs around in the water a bit, as she thought, and remembered something else he'd said. "Ah. As for the cold water, there's not much to it. You just get used to it after a while. It's not the arctic or anything." A wicked grin crossed her face. "Would you like to join me? I can pull you in if you need some help."
As expected from a male whose guts was just challenged, he drew himself up with a cocky smirk. "I appreciate it, but I can tell you're up to something. Though I am taught to be a gentleman." He said, stripping off his outer layers, leaving only his thin white shirt on and rolling up sleeves. "I can't turn down the challenge now, can I?" Felix stepped on the edge and pretended like he was about to jump but she could tell he was hesitating. She was smirking now, making sure her mouth was below water so he didn't see. "But I think my sad Leprechaun behind can handle i..." His sentence was broken by a sound of his shoes slipping on the wet grass and his body splashing into the water, without any grace whatsoever. The poor boy sank like a rock for a moment, before thrashing wildly like someone who'd never come near a body of water larger than their bathtub before. "Coldcoldcold..." He gasped and he clung to Stella. When he realized it moments later, he let go of her as if her skin was on fire. "Ungh! S-s-sorry..." He took a moment to compose himself, then became the cocky shore-boy again, managing to make his voice level again. "Pft! Told you I can handle it..."
Stella laughed. It wasn't like her previous laughs, where she let the sound slip out of her mouth easily and happily, so that it could be heard, but not expansively spread. She laughed as she so rarely did, the sound pealing out of her wide open mouth without her control, her face turning round as a balloon as she struggled to breathe, tears streaming from her large blue eyes and mingling with the lake water. Her hands clutched her stomach, as she tried to keep her head above water. She was sure he'd find it odd if she went straight on laughing underwater. "AHAHA. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA." This was better than if she'd yanked him in. Her hair got all over her face, and her cheeks, normally pallid in this weather and water, turned bright red. Neither shade was particularly attractive, but the boiled pufferfish look she had now was at least more entertaining. When she recovered, she gave him another sly smile. "You can, can you?" Taking a great scoopful of water, she splashed it all over his head, giggling, ducking her head underwater to shield herself from a counter attack.
In that instant, there was a lot she didn't hear him say. "Well, so much from a clowning break eh. You know, I have to admit, you are so cute when you l..." her splash interrupted his unheard sentence, "...laugh." He grinned after her and said something she would have recognized as, "Oh this is war," had sh been listening.
Stella hadn't gone very deep into the water, wanting to gauge his reaction, and careful not to do so at school anyways. Her vision was fair underwater, but the water was murky, and no manner of water advantages would change that. She kept her mouth firmly closed, trapping a couple bubbles of air that she would let out bits at a time, to create the illusion she survived only on lungs. It was surprisingly hard to manage. Leaving only her nose to suck water in, she had to suck it in purposefully, when she could usually just let it flow through her mouth. It felt very very strange. She turned to look for him, cocking her head to the side slightly. Her hair and limbs floated very comfortably in the water. She didn't see him at first, but the great burst of bubbles, and a weird incomprehensible sort of noise pointed her in the right direction. She considered, for a bit, hiding or surprising him, but decided that it was probably a bad idea. She didn't want him to start drowning because of her. In a slow, calm, wiggly kind of way, she made her way through the murk until she had made her way in front of him. She smiled at him, still struggling to maintain the illusion that she couldn't breathe underwater. He really should have taken of his shirt and shoes. The less clothes on you, the easier it was to swim. She was a perfectly good example of this, pretty much just in her underwear. Having timed herself carefully, she popped her head out of the water and took a long breath. Rather than go back under water, she looked around for the boy, waiting for him to come up for air as well.
He didn't come up for a few more seconds and she began to worry she really had gotten him drowned. Maybe the grindylows had gotten him. But no, they weren't that far from shore. She was considering going back down to look for him, when someone shouted behind her, "BANZAI!" And a whole wave of water went sweeping over her head. "Gotcha." He said gleefully. "You really know how to have a good time. Glad I ran into you here."
She gave a surprised squeak and a little jump, something she didn't know one was capable of in water. But she quickly managed to shake off the shock and smiled, nodding. "Yes. Let's do this again."[/SPOILI] After this interesting and rather amusing conversation, the two of them met again often, mostly to swim together, sometimes to just talk, but quite usually only at the lake. Sometimes she thinks he's probably close to guessing her secret, but any conjectures he comes up with are usually spoken in jest. She personally has a suspicion that he might be part leprechaun. Not all Irish people are so... leprechaun-ish. Status: Situational Friend
Ryan McCallion - Most trusted... something or other. In the beginning of her third year, she met him. They didn't get along particularly well at first, though it wasn't like they were enemies or anything. Her straightforward attitude and his polite stubbornness didn't quite mix, but he found her interesting, so when they came across each other, they ended up talking. [SPOILI]
13 year old Stella Maris Prince was making her way back from Hogsmeade alone sometime in early September. It was her first time going to Hogsmeade. Having heard a lot about it, she'd been intrigued by the small town and had spent a long time walking through it, making sure she took it all in. Originally, she and Lizzy had made plans to come together, but at the last minute, Lizzy had had to cancel, having "fallen down" and gotten hurt. It was more likely the bullies. Stella had offered to wait, but the other girl had insisted she go and enjoy herself, so she had, just that she didn't really have any other friends to go with, unlike the couples and little groups chattering as they walked back together.
Big, piercing blue eyes stared upwards for a moment, to survey the dark sky, grim and cloudy, and their owner missed the hot tropical sun she'd found in the Caribbean with her mother the past summer. The weather here was so sad in fall. The first rain drop fell from the sky. She felt it plop onto her head, followed by another, then another. The people around her began looking up and around, some words of complaint spilling from their mouths. Without waiting for it to start sheeting down, Stella popped open her umbrella and held it loosely, calmly, with one hand, leaning it against the shoulder free of her bag. It began pouring nastily, drenching everyone around. One girl shrieked, most everybody else brought their hoods up and pulled their robes more tightly together to shield themselves, as they began running pell mell towards the castle. They were almost there anyways. Lightly skipping out of the way of the more desperate people, Stella swept her light blonde hair back behind her shoulders and continued on in her leisurely pace, almost completely alone now that the others had rushed ahead. Her steps were light as her shoes splashed softly in the steadily growing puddles, but she remained unperturbed, mind on other matters.
That was when she heard an audible click that sounded very out of place and quickly turned her head to see what had made the sound. A boy with green eyes and black hair was standing there holding a camera. A camera facing straight towards her. The blood drained out of her face and she began moving hastily and purposefully towards him. The minute she reached him, she spoke loudly over the rain, "Delete it." She demanded, blue eyes blazing, arms crossed in a full-body expression of discontent.
"Why?" The boy asked, looking rather confused. "You're pretty. Why would one picture bother you?"
Her umbrella was keeping most of the rain out of her face, but it didn't protect her from the wind, and she had to lift one hand to brush her hair out of her face, her other, firmly holding her umbrella upright. "Because it's a picture of me." She stated plainly, ignoring the note about her appearance. "You don't have any right to it. So delete it." She said, scowling at him.
"Hey, you can have the picture if you want. I'm not just going to destroy the picture though. It's rare to get a good picture like that." He spoke casually, as if it wasn't a big deal, but he did seem to be a bit stubborn about it anyways.
Stella shook her head, not realizing how rude she sounded. She really didn't want people with pictures of her, recording things she did without her noticing. She didn't much care if it was a good picture or not. "I don't want a copy. I'd really just prefer if you deleted it. Aren't there better things to take pictures of here?" She asked, still frowning. She bit the inside of her cheek, a nervous habit. What if someone caught a picture of her gills leaking water? It made her anxious just thinking about it.
"There aren't. Not in the rain anyway. Besides, you can't get any good shots when everyone is running around." Then Ryan was quiet for a bit, as if deciding something. "Well, I'd delete it if you gave me a better reason than my having no right."
A better reason. Stella's mind raced. She couldn't say, "oh hey, I've got a secret that might be found out if you arbitrarily take pictures of me." Then again... she hadn't had any trouble breathing. She'd put her umbrella up right away. Maybe it was safe. She thought about it for a bit, then decided she'd check. If it was harmless, there was no point pestering him to delete it when he clearly didn't want to. "Would you allow me to take a look at it?" She asked him, more consciously polite, this time. It was his camera, after all. Without complaint, he held it out to her silently.
Stella looked closely at the photograph. Her umbrella was definitely up, no sign of gills or any other remotely merperson-like anomalies. He hadn't even taken the picture with her full face visible. She was still hesitant to let him keep it, since she'd learn to just be wary of photographs in general, but it didn't seem like he was going to budge on that account, and she didn't want to raise any suspicions that she might not be all she seemed. She looked up at him, then finally nodded. "Alright, you can keep it." With any luck, he wouldn't mention her strange behavior to anyone, and the picture would just become an artistic piece in a stack of them. The thought of apologizing or saying goodbye didn't even pass her mind as she turned to leave.
Somehow, though, found herself walking alongside the strange boy. He was humming... something. She didn't recognize it, but it wasn't one that featured regularly on the Wizarding Wireless Network. "What are you singing?" She asked him, unable to stop herself, curiosity overcoming her caution.
He gave her a look of wonder, then something seemed to hit him. She knew that look. Lizzy often gave her that look. She thought he had to be a muggle-born (an assumption she still has not gotten corrected). "It's called You Are My Sunshine." He told her, before genuinely launching into the song. It was rather simplistic, but had a nice ring to it. Hearing him sing made her want to follow suit, but she didn't really know the song, and wasn't that comfortable singing in front of other people as it was anyways. By the time they reached the Hogwarts front entrance, he seemed to be just about done with it. From the entrance, she moved to head directly to the Hufflepuff basement, not checking to see what the boy did, though the tune was now thoroughly stuck in her head.
"I'm Ryan McCallion, by the way! See you soon." He called after her, very cheerfully.
She turned back, a little surprised that he decided to continue the conversation. She had thought that he would be content with parting like that. It wasn't like they had any reason to continue the conversation in the first place. At least, she hadn't thought so. They didn't even know each other. Responding to his greeting, she replied, "I'm Stella. Nice to meet you, McCallion. You have a very nice voice." It wasn't a compliment, just a statement of fact.
"Nice to meet you, Stella. Thanks! Well, anyways, see you soon." He'd already said that. Why say it again? Well, it wasn't of much consequence to her. He looked a little familiar, perhaps, but everyone was a little familiar in Hogwarts. She probably wouldn't have to deal with him again.
Or so she had thought, but almost a month later, she heard a vaguely familiar voice call out, "Prince!" Most people didn't call her that, because she didn't really like it, but she turned anyways.
When she saw him striding confidently towards her, though, with his black hair and green eyes, for the longest moment she could not remember who he was, and simply stared at him, trying to put a name to the face. He looked familiar, but where had she met him before...? How did he know her? "I'm sorry. Who are you?" She asked, quite purposefully looking a little perplexed.
The boy just smiled, not seeming the least bit offended by her inability to remember her. Usually, people either showed a slightly disgruntled expression, or laughed, sometimes both in quick succession. What a strange one this guy was. Unbeknownst to her, he thought the exact same of her. "I'm Ryan. I took a picture of you when we were walking back from that one Hogsmeade trip---I still have the picture, by the way, if you change your mind about wanting a copy."
"Oh." She remembered him now, that description reminding her of the encounter. "No, I don't-"
"Who's this, Stells?" Brenden Miller put his big, warm, rough hand on her shoulder, a distinctly American accent falling from his lips. The boy wasn't that handsome, but he had a friendly, devilish grin that most people felt infectious. He also had one piercing in his left ear, a simple diamond in. His brown hair looked soft and wind-swept, a look he achieved without any effort that most girls found extremely endearing. Stella certainly seemed to think so as she looked up at him, a pure, innocent adoration in her face, giving him the most beautiful smile she was capable of, without even realizing it herself.
"This is.." She looked back at Ryan, blasting him with a full smile unintentionally. "I believe his name was McCullen or something." Her head twisted up to look at Brenden again, her light hair rustling slightly with the movement. "We were just talking about a trip to Hogsmeade I made a few weeks ago." She said nothing about the picture, but it wasn't her highest priority at the moment.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Brenden. I'm guessing McCullen isn't your first name." He said congenially, holding his hand out to shake. "Stells here has a bad habit of only using last names." He thumped his palm on top of her head affectionately.
"Nice to meet ya too, Brendan. My name is actually Ryan McCallion." The boy smiled just as politely as Brenden had, but with perhaps less suave charm, extending his hand in return.
"Nice to meet you, Ryan." Brenden said, shaking the other boy's hand once very firmly. "Sorry for intruding on your conversation." He spoke casually, before turning back to Stella. "You want me to get out of your hair so you can finish your conversation?"
She smiled sweetly at him. "Will you wait for me?"
His smile back wasn't as cloyingly sweet, but it had good-humor in it. "Sure, no problem." He headed a little farther into the crowd, but they could still see him not far away, waiting for her as he'd said.
She looked back at Ryan again, returning to normal, though still looking in a good mood. "Did you need something, McCallion?" She asked, neither polite nor rude.
"Well, I was trying to figure out stuff about you. I mean, the way you acted when we were walking back from Hogsmeade was pretty interesting." That was a bit of a surprise to Stella. She hadn't thought she'd left much of an impression on him, he certainly hadn't made much on her.
Him being curious about her would've concerned her normally, but she was feeling too happy to make that worry show. Interesting behavior, huh? "Was it?" Stella asked, almost humorously, the smallest of smirks touching her eyebrows. "How so? I am a little more camera-shy than most people, but do you not think it's stranger to take pictures of someone you've never met before?" She had less on her mind this time and was ready to face him. "My mother always said not to get to close to strangers, after all. What if someone saw it and started following me around?" Yup, her parents had raised her good and cautious, and she wasn't planning to change that any time soon. Still, she spoke with the smallest touch of self-mockery, aware that her family's cautious nature was not shared by most, and willing to concede that it was perhaps a bit on the extreme side. She was still smiling slightly, but in a mischievous way, not with that glowing, pure sweetness.
"First of all, it isn't strange to take pictures of people. Street photographers do it all the time. As long as its in a public place, I can do that I want. If I took a picture of you here, without McGonagall's permission, then it wouldn't matter." The boy argued his case like a lawyer. Clearly, he'd gotten this defense ready long before he'd ever met her. "Besides, it isn't like the picture was too bad. I mean, I was walking almost directly behind you. Obviously I could only have gotten a picture of your back. So there hadn't been any need to look at my picture so closely before you let me keep it. Well, in any case, I spend a lot of time taking pictures of people. If you are camera shy, you really could have just said so, instead of demanding I delete it."
One eyebrow went up ever so slightly on Stella's face, and the slightly mocking smile became something of a noncommittal shrug on her face. "How was I supposed to know how much of my face you'd gotten? You weren't directly behind me, and I was distracted. I don't know anything about street photographers, but don't they make you sign some kind of waiver in the muggle world, ensuring that you don't take pictures without someone's permission? And since I specifically asked you delete it, don't you think it would simply be common courtesy to do so, since it was a picture of me? If I really had said I was camera-shy would you have deleted it? It seems pretty clear to me you wouldn't have. You had that..." She pointed with a slightly circular motion around his face. "Look on your face. Seems much more likely to me you would have simply said that the picture was already taken so there was nothing else to be shy about."
She shook her head, finding the conversation tiresome now. What was such a big deal about it, anyways? "You are awfully defensive, though, aren't you? I was hardly attacking you. I've finished demanding you delete it, so what are you so worried about? It's not as though I'm planning to take you to some kind of privacy court. At any rate, if there's nothing else you want from me, I'm leaving."
"I really would have deleted it," he said with a shrug. "You don't make friends by ignoring their insecurities. Maybe I could have bribed people to recreate the photo. A lot of extra work for nothing though, I think." How strange. That thought had never crossed her mind before. To think someone their age in this time and place would ever waste their time actually bribing people...
"I did want to talk about something else, but I assume you want to get back to your boyfriend instead." That was almost kind of irritating. If he had something to talk to her about, why not just spit it out? But his next words stilled those in her throat. "Besides, I need to do my work," He added, though it was clearly more to himself than her, as he adopted a thoughtful expression. He looked like he'd disappeared off into his own little world. Even she wasn't that bad about communication. "Well, later then. Have fun with your boyfriend," For a moment, he had a childishly teasing tone, dragging out the word boyfriend just slightly. A smile tugged on her lips at the tone, though she flushed slightly with both embarrassment and joy. Now her mind was somewhere else.
She took the dismissal without any hard feelings, but before she turned to go, she gave him one least fleeting, mischievous grin and said, "You want to know a secret, McCallion? I don't make friends at all, I collect them." From then on, they continued to be random acquaintances.[/SPOILI] The actual turning point came, however, towards the end of the middle of the third year, when Brenden broke up with her. [SPOILI]
It was raining hard again, harder than was usual for this time of year, it was already early April. Stella was crying, but unlike everybody else, she couldn't just get let the rain hide her tears. Her umbrella was right above her head, shielding most of her from view, as she was crouched down. The handle of the umbrella was trapped somewhere between her right elbow and her knees. Her back was pressed against the Shrieking Shack, she was hiding behind it. While it had been a while since the rain had started and she didn't think anybody would come here, she didn't really want to be sitting outside bawling her eyes out for all to see.
"Sorry, Stells, really, but it's enough already. It's time we ended this." He'd said it so casually, without a care in the world. They had met coincidentally at the entrance to Hogsmeade and she'd tried to take his hand, smiling as if he was the only person in the whole world. But now she wasn't smiling at all.
"What are you talking about?" Disbelief and horror mingled on her face, her eyes wide, begging her ears to have deceived her.
Brenden had sighed and run his hand through his hair, soaked by the rain. "Look, girl, I'm a 7th year. I'm heading off next year. You're cute, but there's no future for us." He had patted her shoulder gently. "It's time to move on." And then he'd moved past her, as if she didn't matter. She hadn't stopped him. The words had stuck in her throat as her feet stayed glued to the ground. If she lifted them she was sure she'd come flying off of the earth itself, her entire existence felt as though it had been flipped inside out.
Finally, she'd managed to move, it was a broken, robotic kind of motion, but it was motion. She moved as though someone had killed her and brought her back to life again. She let her feet take her where they would and never mind the rest. The rest of it didn't matter. When she'd first gotten here and sat down, for a long time she hadn't moved again, then the floodgates of her emotions had split open and she'd let out a scream of a heart-torn agony, but she was done with that now, silent tears slipping down her face without much fuss.
How long had she been sitting here? She didn't know. She wasn't thinking of him, and yet he was still present in her mind. Almost like the way someone could sit next to you, and you could feel the heat coming off of them even if you couldn't see them. He was present, even if she wasn't directly thinking of him, even if her mind was too full of roiling emotions for her to think anything at all. Her chest felt as though someone had ripped out her heart and left a gaping hole there, aching and throbbing. She should be bleeding.
The tears hadn't stopped yet, but Stella opened her mouth and began to sing quietly, a song she'd heard her mother singing once to herself, after her mother and father had gotten into a fight once. Her mother had written it. How apt. Perhaps Nadya Prince had some seer blood in her. "I can't sleep tonight, but that's nothing new..." As she sang, the rain began to pour harder. She wanted it to rain harder. She wanted it to rain so hard that no one could hear anything, not even herself. Even if it rained hard enough to rip through her umbrella it wouldn't mean anything, she was suffocating already anyways.
She didn't notice, at first, when Ryan came around the edge of the Shack, but she soon became aware of his presence next to her. He stopped just short of her, then leaned up against the wall next to her. "Prince, your expression doesn't match you at all."
Stella stopped singing and gave a choked laugh, as she heard his words, somehow still oddly audible through the rain. She tried to think of something to say, or even something to feel, anger perhaps, but she couldn't. Her mind was blank and her chest still hollow and throbbing. She continued crying silently for a long time and then finally managed to say, "Isn't that the way it's supposed to be? When a mirror is broken, no matter what you choose to try to reflect, every image will come out wrong."
She stood up, leaning against the wall like him and put out her free hand, placing it on his shoulder, just to feel like someone was close to her. Even in this moment where she thought all she wanted was to be alone, it was nice to feel that someone was close to her. "Maybe that's something that you already know." She wasn't speaking as if she knew him; she knew nothing about his past. It was just a thought. "Maybe you understand, and that's why you're not trying to pity me, soothe me. Maybe you know that nothing ever helps." She gave another hoarse laugh. "Or maybe you're just the most insensitive piece of work I've ever had the pleasure to come across." She'd meant to only think the words, but they all came out anyways. They were her honest thoughts, anyways.
Stella continued not to look at him, her lips still moving. It seemed that once she had started talking she couldn't stop herself without babbling a bit first. "I'd really like to hit you right now. It's funny. I'm not even angry, and I've never hit anyone before. I don't think I will now. It's just one of those odd little urges you get every once in a while. I just want to... let something out, but it won't leave. Screaming didn't work. Crying doesn't work. Maybe it's part of being broken. I don't know. I don't think I know anything anymore. It will all come back to me, later, I'm sure. But right now, I think I'm okay with not knowing anything. It'll come back when it means anything at all to me."
It was then that she looked straight at him. "Do you know the song Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree? It's an old muggle song from America. I'll sing it to you if you don't." That hollow laugh resounded inside her chest again. "It's either that or taking a swim in the lake. I feel like doing something; it stops me from feeling like I'm stuck in time." She was silent, then, waiting for his reply, or his silence. Either one was okay.
After she had finished, he let the silence hang in the air for a moment. But then he spoke. "Well, first of all, I do try to be an insensitive prick sometimes, so thanks for noticing." He said this with a grin that Stella didn't see, but after a moment, the smile faded, and he spoke again, more seriously this time. "Maybe I do get it, though. Maybe I don't hide behind abandoned buildings. Or really cry that much. And I get the feeling of wanting to punch things. Trying to let out feelings in other ways really isn't that satisfying sometimes. I get not knowing. At this moment, though, what I don't know is that song. So feel free to sing." What he was saying was almost contradicting himself. It was hard to understand. She didn't respond to it, simply hiding it in some corner of her mind for later examination. Perhaps some of it would make sense to her when her mind was lucid, instead of the pain-fogged state it was currently maintaining.
She immediately launched into the song."I'm coming home I've done my time, but I need to know what is and isn't mine. If you received my letter telling you I'd soon be free, then you know just what to do, if you still want me...." As she sang, the rain came pounding down even harder, making her raise her voice to even be able to hear herself. When Stella had first heard the song in one of her mom's muggle song sprees, she'd hadn't understood what at all it was about. Then her mom had explained to her that it was about a man who'd just gotten out of prison after three years, and was asking his wife if he still had the right to be with her, since it was an old custom for wives to put yellow ribbons around a tree on the property when their husbands came home from war or prison. The part she really liked, though, came at the very end, when the man came home to find a hundred yellow ribbons. She didn't know why she'd felt compelled to sing that right now. It wasn't the least bit related to her situation.
When it finished, the weather had begun to let up a little bit, and her hand had slipped from his shoulder. She'd pretty much been singing to herself at this point. Her tears had stopped as well. It hadn't stopped hurting, but she did feel a little better. "Thank you, McCallion." She gave him a smile that was almost more like a grimace with the grief still haunting her eyes. One would think a family member had died. Man, she was being so stupid over such a small thing. She tried to explain what she was thanking him for, but couldn't figure out how to put it into words. Instead, she opted to address something slightly more light-hearted. "I keep meaning to tell you, It's Stella, not Prince. Using that makes me feel... masculine." Just the slightest touch of sarcasm tinted her voice, enough to make it difficult to tell whether or not she was being serious.
"Alright then, Stella. For the record, though, it isn't fair for me to call you by your first name if you don't call me by mine." He said that with a smile. Ah, how had she been able to tell that was what he was going to say?
Stella gave him a sideways glance that failed to hold any emotion in it. The normal Stella's expression would have been downright devious. She peeked up at the slightly clearing sky from under the brim of her umbrella, giving it a weary smile and nodding. "If you insist, Rye." She assigned him the nickname automatically and without shame. She was like that. Turning, she did something that surprised even herself. She gave him a hug, letting go a few seconds later. Without another word, and still failing to smile, the so recently heart-broken girl moved away from the shack, heading back to Hogwarts. She paused, though, and gave the newly dubbed "Rye" a look that seemed to ask, "Well? Are you coming?"[/SPOILI] After being able to be honest in front of Ryan, she trusts him almost implicitly. She still hasn't told him about her little... merperson secret, because she doesn't trust him to always completely have her best interest in mind, but she does trust that she can always be herself with him, without having to worry about either his judgment or his pity. This is why she's not really completely sure if he's her friend or not, because friends are supposed to have each other's best interests in mind... right? Status: Undetermined
Charlotte Monrova - Fairy tale princess. Stella's relationship with this girl wasn't quite as sudden as a number of her other relationships. As a matter of fact, she came to notice the girl's very existence rather slowly and gradually. The girl was just one of those shadows in the corner of your eye, for a long time, but she began seeing her here and there. She also began taking note of the fact that the girl talked to herself a lot. As this was something that Stella herself did with some frequency, she didn't bother much about it, but then she noticed the spiders. This girl kept spiders as pets. Stella doen't like spiders too much, but she holds some respect for them, as they seemed to be the smartest of the bugs. Randomly approaching her, she asked about how to take care of spiders as pets, asking rudely and without much introduction. From there, they just began to talk. About what? Well, most everything. Unlike Stella with others, with Charlotte she is childish and excited about life, wanting to share knowledge with everyone willing to listen, and willing to listen and learn in her turn. They usually only end up talking during classes and sometimes during meals, but it didn't take much for Stella to learn that Charlotte has something of an obsession for fairy tales, and they found something to talk about in that, as well, as both like fantasy books from the muggle world. Status: Like-minded Equal
Montgomery Knight - Slightly wary friend. They became acquainted in second year, thanks to Elizabeth, though they'd come across each other before, being in the same year and house. They were just "friends of a friend" for a while, but in third year, Montgomery asked her about why she made strange noises at fishes. [SPOILI]
Stella panicked. She hadn't made an excuse for it, thinking people would just think her eccentric. Her mind raced nervously, until she came up with a solution: tell the truth, but make the idea sound ridiculous. In a mock serious manner, she told him, "Fish are my friends. They are the most wonderful, intelligent creatures I have ever come across, and I cannot help it if I wish to commune with them, can I?" In her opinion, fish were probably the dullest animals in existence, and it showed in her tone of voice. Stella had never been the best liar after all, but that was precisely why this would work. Or so she'd thought.
To both her shock and horror, the boy took it literally. "You can converse with them?"
She recovered quickly, her surprise changing to annoyance in a flash. Was he purposefully messing with her? Her natural sarcasm rolled off of her tongue without effort. "Sure, I can talk to fish the way religious muggles can talk to their "gods.""
Barely missing a beat, Montgomery replied, "But fish actually exist."
Stella's blonde eyebrows shot upwards and she stared at him in silent shock for a while. When some of her wits returned, she let out a loose laugh and responded with a more straightforward answer. "And I can't talk to fish any more than muggles can talk to ethereal gods." Somewhat relieved, she gave him a pat on the shoulder and added, "You're awfully dim for a genius." As she left the room, she decided that he was mostly safe to be around.[/SPOILI] And since then, she's been careful around him, but also fairly comfortable. She teases both him and Elizabeth about their potentially romantic relationship quite often, though he rarely seems to understand. She has labeled him as the "idiot genius," though she'll never explain to anyone why that's her nickname for him. Status: Undetermined
Seriphim Brimm - Good friend. Stella met Seri in first year but paid little attention to her until one fateful night third year, when she discovered that Seri was practicing being an animagus. [SPOILI]
Stella's eyes opened crustily, as bright moonlight fell on her face. She'd forgotten to close the curtains around her bed to prevent the light from coming in, but who could blame her? She'd fallen into bed without dinner after that awful Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Stupid chimera. Stupid moon. She tried closing her eyes again. The full moon was Lockett's problem, not hers- The poor girl bolted upright, startled by the thought that it was the full moon. Lockett would be waiting for her. She jumped up and was grabbing her hat before she remembered that the full moon was tomorrow night, not tonight. Now fully awake, Stella resisted the urge to let out a scream of frustration. Angrily, she tromped down to the common room, only to find it occupied. A girl with heterochromia was frowning in concentration, gripping her wand like her life depended on it. Before Stella's astonished eyes, she saw the girl transform, shrinking slowly until she became a small... panda... thing. What was that thing? Her eyes widened in wonder and she took several steps forward. That wasn't what mattered, though. This girl... she had to be an animagus.
When the girl turned back into a human, she looked exhausted. Stella approached uncertainly. "Hello?" As per usual, she got straight to the point. "Are you an animagus?" The other girl looked as though her mismatched eyes were going to pop out of her head. She immediately seemed to begin panicking, begging Stella not to tell. Stella moved forward quickly, trying to calm the other girl down. "It's okay! I'm not going to tell anyone. I promise. You can trust me." Seriphim looked a bit dubious, so she reassured her further. "I have a secret, too. I've never told anyone before, and I'm only telling you now so that you know it's fine. Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me." Taking a deep breath, she told Seri about how she was a half-breed, hoping that that would be enough.[/SPOILI] Seri seemed to accept that she wasn't going to tell, and they became closer, trusting each other more, though Stella sometimes still thinks that Seri can be a bit strange. Status: Protectorate
Lucas Grey - Flying buddy. WIP. Status: Situational Friend
Oswin Ravenwood - Awkward good friend. Raven and she met on somewhat unpleasant circumstances. Towards the end of 4th year, Oswin began snooping around Seri and Sethen. Not liking the idea that other people's secrets being thrown out into the open, and knowing Oswin's reputation for snitching, she quietly followed the other girl until she found out she had a secret of her own. Discovering her feeding method, Stella tried to use it to blackmail her. [SPOILI]
Stella was leaning against the wall, waiting for the other girl to come out of the secluded hallway she was feeding in. She could still hardly believe what she'd seen. When the nearly white-haired girl came walking out, Stella didn't try to stop her, just spoke very quietly, so only she could hear. "You're a fool to try to expose other people's secrets when you have one of your own, Ravenwood." Oswin stopped and turned to face her, but didn't look ruffled.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She said back, her face cold and calm.
"Please, I'd really rather not waste my time with verbal parrying. I saw what you did to that boy, so unless you want everybody in this school to know exactly what kind of monster you are, stay away from my friends. Montgomery Knight, Seriphim Brimm, Elizabeth Silsbury, Sethen Lockett. I'd like it if you left them alone. If not... all it would take is a whisper. I wouldn't even need to help the rumors spread. Even that beloved Scriven of yours would turn against you." Stella was not necessarily the nicest person on the planet, but she felt really cruel, doing this to the poor girl. She wasn't planning to actually tell anyone, but just threatening would probably scare her.
Oswin's response immediately banished any sense of guilt Stella had began to develop for her deception. She simply put on a little amused smile and responded, "I don't really care. Tell whoever you want."
Stella instantly forced herself to strangle her shock as Oswin swept away confidently. She kept far back, but kept her eyes trained on her. It looked like she'd have to keep watching her, praying that she didn't find out anything. The half-merperson watched the half-siren make her way into the bathroom. After giving a long enough time for the other girl to enter a stall, she followed her inside. It was then that she really began feeling bad, because she could hear her sobbing. She let out a long, silent breath, then peeked at the bottom of the stalls, to see where there were shoes. Just one stall. She looked to the right, then to the left, then unlocked the door and yanked it open. It was not exactly the gentlemanly thing to do, but she got the funny feeling that she'd get a jinx in the face if she was any gentler. She leaned her palms on her knees and looked down at the other girl, apology in her eyes. "Look, I'm sorry. I won't tell anyone, really. I'd never do that. It's just I wanted to protect the others. You don't want other people to find out all your secrets, I just didn't want that to happen to them, either." She sighed. She really had intended to blackmail the girl properly.[/SPOILI] But she just couldn't do it. Seeing Oswin's vulnerability, she decided to let things be and the two of them became friends. Status: Protectorate
Jack Sullivan - Monster-killing monster. She met this piece of work earlier in October just this year. It wasn't a good first meeting in any sense of the word. For the umpteenth time, her monthly visits to Lockett got her in contact with someone, but this time, instead of meeting someone who was there just as illegally as she was, she unfortunately came across him because he was a prefect on patrol. By this time, she'd gotten good enough at spellwork to be prepared for these situations, but his lightning-fast reflexes killed her. [SPOILI]
She could hear one coming. Her own, socked feet would make very little noise on the stone, as she knew, but the other person, whoever it was, was wearing shoes that clacked neatly against the floor. She breathed with her mouth wide open, making silent, shallow breaths even as adrenaline flooded through her system. She'd been trying to avoid the mysterious opponent, but he had kept advancing unconsciously in her direction. Stella hid around the next corner, her wand at the ready. The boy passed and she sprung forward, hissing, "Obliviate."
To her utter dismay, she heard him shoot back, "Protego. Expelliar-" Before he could finish the second spell, she dropped her wand and swung her umbrella up and out. It went skittering out of her fingers and clattered across the floor. Snatching up her wand, she made a dive for the umbrella, but the cursed boy said, "Accio." Swear words tumbling in a string through her mind, she pulled back, taking her first good look at the boy. He looked to be about her age, wearing the Gryffindor insignia. He was fairly tall, with a shock of red hair and green eyes that screamed mischief. She stood there glaring at him, catching her breath before taking a lunge at him. He dodged simply, holding her umbrella above his head and saying, "Didn't your parents tell you it was rude to attack strangers?" She just regained her footing, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. She let the calm relax her limbs, then finally opened her cool blue eyes and shruged mutely. He spoke again, grinning jokingly as he asked, "What are you doing out here? Meeting a boy?"
She couldn't resist responding to that. The half-merperson gave a snort and sad, "Yes, because I have nothing better to do right around dawn." In an exaggerated motion of contempt, she flipped her long blonde hair over one shoulder.
He twirled her umbrella in his annoying hand, and said, "I think the school administration would be more upset than I am that you attacked me, but I probably should at least issue a detention. Really, attacking a prefect on patrol isn't very bright." He was grinning in a laid-back fashion, as if he thought he had the upper hand.
The fact that he was a prefect was a surprise, but it caused no more than a slight widening of her eyes. Ah yes, she should've noticed the badge. She'd been too hopped up on adrenaline to take notice of it earlier. Stella closed her eyes and shrugged again, easily reconciling herself to the situation. "There are many things I'm not known for. Bright happens to be one of them. So, if you insist, Mr. Prefect." This was not strictly true. In a sense, it was true that she wasn't known for being bright, but that was mainly because she had a good reason to keep her head down. She was just as smart as the next person, in her opinion, even if she wasn't a genius.
The boy eyed her as if she were some kind of strange new animal he'd never seen before. "What exactly were you doing out here? Other than attacking strangers, that is."
She'd thought of a million different excuses she might use in a situation like this. For goodness' sake, it had been six years.Well, five technically, but who was counting? She'd had to consider the idea that someone would catch her, even with her careful practice of the Memory Charm. Unfortunately, it seemed as though such things had no desire to stay when they were most needed, so she blurted out the first thing that came to mind, with all the ease and aplomb as if it were the truth instead of a lie: "Taking a leak." She gave him a steady look, wondering what he would make of that.
The boy rubbed his chin musingly, returning her level gaze with as much solemnity as she was regarding him with. "I see..." He said nothing else, then gave one musing nod.
Unable to control herself, she began to giggle. As much as she wanted to continue the lie, just for the amusement it had proven itself to be, it was a little too preposterous, even for her. "No, not really. I just find myself more awake and restless at nighttime than I do during the day." It wasn't a lie. It wasn't the whole truth either. It was believable and she could say it easily without raising suspicion.
The boy still had his doubts, though. "If that's all, then why attack me? Is attacking strangers some kind of weird hobby of yours?"
She gave him an "are you an idiot?" look and responded, "Well obviously I do this often. If I wasn't ready to obliviate people, I'd get into trouble a great deal more often, just for walking around after curfew. What would you do?" Her arms crossed over her chest in a slight expression of defiance.
"I would become a prefect and use patrol duty as an excuse to wander around at night. In fact, I did just that." He said it rather proudly, and she giggled again.
"That's good thinking, but it would work for one year. Besides, you need to be a model student, and I'm really not interested in drawing so much attention to myself for such a thing." She said it as if she'd actually considered doing such a thing, which she hadn't. It was quite a good scheme, though, she had to admit, but her points were valid, too. The potential cost simply wasn't in balance with the potential gain.
"I'm sure you could still come up with something better than memory charming people. That can be dangerous you know? What would you have done if I were the kind of person who wanted to set you on fire in retaliation?" Now wasn't he being quite the kind and concerned little prefect.
"I have contingencies." She nodded to the umbrella. "As you can see. And my reaction time isn't bad, either. What kind of monster are you?"
"The kind that kills other monsters. Or wants to at least." What exactly that was supposed to mean, she didn't know, but it wasn't something she had any interest in. The red-head eyed her umbrella with some admriation. "This is nice."
She gave him a sort of pursed lips, sideways smile. "You can't have it, though. That one's special." Then, she jokingly added, "I'm no monster! I'm seriously offended that you could even suggest that!" with mock horror.
"Oh but there are plenty of monsters that look just like anyone else. Ones that wander about at night, taking leaks, and attacking poor, innocent prefects who haplessly stumble upon them. It's a rough world indeed."
"An obliviate spell is hardly an attack. You would've just been a bit dazed and forgotten all about me. And a poor, innocent prefect would've taken a run for it and informed the teacher. Not stand around accusing poor, innocent night wanderers of being monsters." She shot back, easily, scoffing. He was very easy to talk to, for someone like her. Perhaps it had to do with how easily he absorbed her skepticism.
Smiling, he said, "You would be surprised, there are some prefects who are far more serious than I am."
Now that was painfully true. Montgomery Knight, for instance, would certainly fit that description. Unconsciously, she answered assuming they were talking about him. "Indeed, but in that case, all it takes is confessing your sins and accepting your punishment. They'll keep an eye on your for a bit, then leave you alone." She hoped. Knight didn't suspect anything about her night patrols, as far as she could tell. If she ever did get caught by him, she'd have to watch her back for a long while, if she didn't want him finding out about herself, Lockett, or Seri. The idiot genius...
The boy seemed to agree with her. "You're probably right. Oh, before I forget, my name's Sullivan. What's your name?" He offered her her precious umbrella, holding it out casually.
She took it with a smile. "Just Sullivan? No last name? I'm Stella Prince, but just Stella is fine."
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Stella. There will be a seat for you at the detention chamber after school today." He smiled at her easily, no threat in his voice or body language.
"Yes sir." She replied back, jovially. "May I go now?"
He pretended to think about it seriously for a long moment, leaning his chin against his hand. "Sure." He finally conceded, to her amusement.
She gave a small laugh, almost a little derisively, though of him or herself even she wasn't quite sure. "Why thank you." And she stepped past him, heading back towards the Hufflepuff dorms, swinging the umbrella coolly in one hand, as if to supplement the sway of her hips.[/SPOILI] After that, the two of them talked often about many random things, the kind of friendly pair for which banter comes more effortlessly than a normal conversation. A dangerous match, and a friendship she doesn't for a second trust. Status: Mistrusted Friend
SPatronusS
"Sorry, but no matter what yours is, mine is better. Take it from someone known to be non-competitive."
Stingray - She first met sting rays in Australia and thinks they're beautiful and loves their graceful movement and calm manner. She identifies closely with them, as most fish she comes across are flighty or extremely dull.
SBoggartS
"You didn't think it was going to be something like drowning, did you?"
Lightning - Ever since she was little, Stella has had an irrational fear of lightning. It got worse when she once saw lightning strike a tree and setting it on fire near her home. The boggart manifests itself as a cloud crackling and occasionally letting out bursts of lightning.
SPetS
"His name is Bob, and I think he's part dragon. You do NOT mess with Bob."
Salamander - The full name of this male, non-magical fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) is Mr. Robert Ognyan Prince VIII. The "VIII" part was literally just tacked on because Stella thought it sounded cool at the time. She was given him as a present by her parents when she got into Hogwarts. He was still only a month old and just barely morphed into his current form. He was still very small at the time. He is very protective of Stella, and enjoys staying on her shoulder, though he insists she keep him wet. He is not magical, but can speak to Stella possibly through an extension of her ability to understand fish and other water creatures. Fire salamanders are terrestrial once full-grown and usually a mix of black and yellow. Mr. Robert is mostly black with only a few splotches of yellow marring his sides.
SWandS
"I think it suits me, but I don't really know. I always mentally fall asleep when I get too close to a wandmaker."
[Wood]
Pine – "The straight-grained pine wand always chooses an independent, individual master who may be perceived as a loner, intriguing and perhaps mysterious. Pine wands enjoy being used creatively, and unlike some others, will adapt unprotestingly to new methods and spells. Many wandmakers insist that pine wands are able to detect, and perform best for, owners who are destined for long lives, and I can confirm this in as much as I have never personally known the master of a pine wand to die young. The pine wand is one of those that is most sensitive to non-verbal magic."
(Directly quoted from Pottermore wiki)
[Core]
Coral - Coral is a relatively rare core, and was one of the first elements to have been put into a wand. Gregorovitch and his pupils used it, though Ollivander did not. It is said to be one of the most balanced cores, and is further rumored to be highly adaptable, but sensitive, durable, and good with protection spells. It supposedly goes well with people who could use a little self-esteem boost, but are relatively comfortable in their own skin.
(Information taken from studyblue, hogwartsishere.com, and aparecium three)
[Length]
11½ inches
[Flexibility]
Springy
SMagical AbilitiesS
"Darcy, look at this! It's cool, seriously." *Darcy immediately mentally begins translating all her words into "blahblahblah."
[Fish Speak]
She can communicate with all fish and most other aquatic animals, such as shrimp, octopi, sharks, amphibians and shellfish. The most notable exceptions are reptiles (semi-aqueous or not) and mammals. The mammals are a big one, since it means she cannot directly speak to dolphins, seals, and whales of any kind. Despite this, she can talk to them rather in the same fashion that we talk to our pets. She doesn't consider this as communicating with them, though. Her little snide comment about this is: "Anyone can talk to animals. It's whether or not they can understand the response that makes the difference." When she uses this power, she is not aware that she sounds any different to the people around her, and so has no idea whether each animals has its own special language, though her brothers and mother tell her it does sound different according to what animal she's talking to. They say she sounds particularly hideous when talking to fully aqueous animals, such as fish, as opposed to when she talks to frogs or salamanders, etc. She does not know whether or not she can talk to other merpeople, since she's never come across any. If she tried, she would find it wouldn't work for any merpeople except her own, the Amabie. She gets along particularly well with the predatory creatures, because they're a lot smarter than the "herbivores" or "plankton-chewers." A conversation with a Cuttlefish is waaayyy more stimulating than a conversation with a shrimp.
[Underwater Breathing]
The minute her head is submerged in water, Stella can breathe underwater. Gills that are very difficult to see form on either side of her neck. There are no other visible signs of physical changes when she is submerged, and the only way to really see her gills is to have her head in the water, but her neck out, at which point the water will come spurting out of the sides of her neck. It looks REALLY weird. A major, and unfortunate, side effect to this is that they activate WHENEVER her head is completely submerged in flowing water. This, for some reason she really doesn't understand, extends to very very heavy rain and taking showers, making her ability to breathe come in and out. To counter this, she's got her shower time down to five minutes tops, though she can technically last longer, since some oxygen does get through. This problem does not apply to snow, thankfully.
[Song Weather]
According to the site used above to describe the Amabie, these Japanese merpeople can control the weather with their songs. While Stella does not have the power to strongly and directly control the weather in detail, when she sings, the weather tends to more slightly resemble the kind of weather she likes. For example, if it's a very cloudy day and she doesn't want it to be, if she starts singing it will begin to get just a little bit clearer. This is an involuntary magic, and she cannot prevent it from happening when she sings. She's never tried this when thunderstorms come, because she's much too scared to try singing at that point.
SOtherS
"I don't know. There's not much more to be said about me, really."
[School Information]
Her favorite subjects are Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions, the latter of which she excels in. She hates History of Magic, but does fairly well in everything else. Her electives are Study of Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. She tried Care of Magical Creatures, but dropped it quickly after getting bit by a chimera. She is signed up to start apparition classes.
[Hobbies]
Besides her schoolwork, she also really enjoys reading, singing, dancing, and swimming. She can sing both above water and below, but her singing always sounds much better under water than it does above, though not Black Lake Colony level of a difference. Most people know nothing about this, but she is actually an excellent flier and seeker. As her father is a metal-charmer, he charmed a mini-Snitch for her to play with ever since she was a little girl. She doesn't have a top-notch broom, but loves flying anyways. She doesn't like Quidditch that much, though, because she thinks it's too violent, and never even tried applying for the team. She mostly only flies, now, when it's not Quidditch season and when she gets home. She also has an interesting collection of dragon figurines, which was started because her father gave her one for her third birthday.
[Location]
Her family lives in an isolated area next to a large lake, but she is used to traveling lots of places during vacation, getting to swim in warmer waters. She is naturally more comfortable with warm water than cold water. Funnily enough, she also likes salt water better than fresh water for swimming in, though technically it shouldn't make that much of a difference.
[From Behind the Minds of the Brothers]
The Prince children are generally considered, among their father's extended family, as rather peculiar children, though this is mostly due to their introvert tendencies, which radically conflict with the extrovert personalities of just about everyone else in the family, Harold excluded. Most of them would like to blame Nadya, but they can't seem to, as she herself is perfectly outgoing and cheerful. Stella, Darcy, and Sebastian, however, don't really care about this outlook, as it doesn't seem to make them any less adored and harassed during family gatherings. Darcy and Sebastian, however, are distinctly different from Stella, possibly thanks to their genuine blood relationship with such a horde of extroverts. More attuned to the way the rest of society works and thinks, the two boys are painfully aware that their sister can be... a bit dense socially, to put it nicely. Since they both also know what she has to hide, and love her sincerely despite only being half-related, they are highly protective of her. The fact that she doesn't understand why simply reinforces their concern for her safety. Darcy, perfectly amiable and thoughtful to just about everybody else, chides her relentlessly on the occasions during which he catches her being rude or unresponsive to someone she just met, because the last thing she needs is enemies. Sebastian, on the other hand, goes about his protective nature in a much more subtle way.
By far, Sebastian is the scariest of the three. Stella may be rude and domineering at times, but she would never actually hurt anyone. Darcy is an openly peaceful individual with a desire to help others. Sebastian differs from them the most in this regard. Calm, cold, and actively unfriendly, he lets his actions speak for himself. Despite being the prettiest of the three, he is quite possibly destined to be the strongest. Stella is strong through her dancing, broom-flying, and swimming. Sebastian is strong by having gotten into numerous fights with other children his age, and a few older than him. Just like the other two, he has fairly good reign over his anger, as much as any child is expected to have, but this doesn't stop him from going after people he perceives as a threat, no matter how low his chances of winning are. Even though he's still only a first year, he has already found himself better at self-taught jinxes and hexes than at any other magic excluding Transfiguration. He is not afraid of using them to his advantage. That, combined with a nearly silent nature and a sharp pair of ears, makes it undesirable for anyone to hold anything against those he cares about.
SAppearanceS
"Don't look at me. Stare at my brothers. They're the pretty ones."
[General Appearance]
Contrary to what one might think hearing she's half a merperson, she's not excessively beautiful, though she is fairly good-looking. She gets all of her major features from her mother, which is why no suspicions have arisen about her not being her father's actual child. She has waist-length, golden-blonde hair that is naturally wavy, but not curly. It's very fine, thin, and light. She has fairly large, piercing blue eyes, with a slender figure that doesn't look as strong as it is. Both her mother and she are not very curvaceous, though, since they spend most of their free time being very active and build up more muscles than fat. She has delicate facial features with a small nose. Her skin is moderately pale.
[Height]
5'6"
[Weight]
124lb
[Clothing style]
Besides the usual uniform, she usually keeps her long hair loose and likes to wear blue. She particularly likes sundresses and wide-brimmed hats, though she's more used to wearing warmer clothing. She wears water-proof underwear and carries a long black umbrella with her at all times because of her little breathing problem in heavy rain. The only actual accessory she wears is a silver ring on her right ring finger, with the shape of a blue waterdrop. The drop is just glass, but the ring metal glows when she says "lumos" and never erodes, thanks to a little charm her father did on it.
[spoili]
[/spoili]
[General Appearance]
Like most, she has a British accent. Her voice inherently is a bit on the higher end and slightly breathy. Her voice actor is Ella Purnell.
[Appearance of Brothers and Extra Banners]
SRP ExampleS
Check my RoleplayResume writing sample.
Theme Song: Not in Love - Crystal Castles
Song for a Broken Heart: The Wrong Words - Nadya Prince
SNameS
"My name means Star of the Sea."
Stella Maris Prince
SNicknamesS
"I like my name. Don't go slaughtering it."
Koi - Used only by Seri, who is the only one who knows that she's half-Amabie.
Ella - Used by Raven.
Little star - Used by Averill as a pun on her name.
Princess - Used only by Romeo, and beware anyone else who tries it.
Goldi - Used only by Charlotte, who sees her as Goldilocks, curious and with golden hair.
SNicknames for OthersS
"So what if I call you what I will? You can protest. I'll take it into consideration."
Seriphim Brimm - Seri
Ryan McCallion - Rye
Elizabeth Silsbury - Lizzy
Jayden Everdragomir - Ever
Oswin Ravenwood - Raven
Cecilee Marshall - Leelee; "Of Ravenclaw"
Montgomery Knight - "idiot genius"
Jack Sullivan - John; "monster-killing monster"
Romeo Cooper - "loverboy;" "turfhead;" "cockatoo;" etc.
Averill Trevelyan - "god food"
Charlotte Monrova - Snow White; little Arachne; "la charmante princesse" (to others)
All others are simply their last names
SAgeS
"My birthday was June 27th, 2007. I'm a Cancer ()."
16
SGenderS
"I'm sure it's hard to tell from my masculine features, but I am a girl, you know."
Female
SHouse and YearS
"I'm no one special. You'll see."
Hufflepuff, 6th Year
SSpeciesS
"Shhh. It's supposed to be a secret."
Half-Amabie
SBlood StatusS
"I like to think of myself as a proper, simple half-blood, like my parents and brothers."
Half-breed
SPersonalityS
"Does anyone ever really know themselves? Figure it out for yourself."
[Easily Content/Adaptable]
Like her father, she tends to be pretty calm about things. Even when things don't go completely the way she wants, she's able to just roll with the punches and shrug it off. On top of which, she's okay with situations in life. She can quickly get comfortable with any environment she's thrown into. Although she stubbornly refuses to try to change who she is to cater to other people, it's easy for her to adapt to the situation at hand. She almost never panics and rarely finds herself in a situation where she feels conflicted, very sure, as she is, of her moral system. If there's a problem at hand that can be fixed, she'll work to fix it without complaint, but if it can't be fixed, she lives with it.
[Loyal to a Fault]
Once you win her allegiance or friendship, you have it. It's solid, tangible. When she makes friends, she considers them officially a part of her "second family." Her real family and moral values take precedent in all of her decisions, but outside of them, she puts the protection of her friends' safety and happiness before everything else. She will even break rules for them and cover for them. She will not, however, ever fight someone or majorly curse someone, because she's not violent or impetuous.
[Hard-working]
Just because she's easily content, that doesn't mean she has no standards. She has very high standards for herself and works hard to keep them. She's never had top marks in the year, but with her natural intelligence and love for learning, she's always gotten very good grades. In her free time, she puts in all her effort into the things she loves most, including her hobbies.
[Quiet but Straightforward]
She's not talkative with people she doesn't know. She doesn't get to know people without any reason. She can be very talkative with people she is very comfortable with, but practically mute in front of those she isn't. This isn't just because she isn't very sociable, it's also because she thinks that if there's nothing to say, you shouldn't say anything. She likes hobbies that don't require others, and keeps her head down in big parties. However, if she does hold a conversation with someone she doesn't know very well, she can be very, almost rudely, plain with them. This ties into her dislike of small talk and "practical politeness." Not everybody in the world is going to like you, and nobody's really fooled by your pretensions of kindness, so why bother? No, for her just another part of "do unto others as you would have done unto you" is being honest, rather than pretending to be something, do something, or say something that does not reflect your true thoughts and character. That doesn't make her above lying when she believes it necessary, and it definitely doesn't mean she ever lets it make her cruel, just that sometimes she can be rather abrupt.
[Sarcastic]
When she is comfortable with someone, she has a sharp tongue that is merely there for her to play with her wit. She's not an unpleasant person and isn't always sarcastic, she just enjoys using sharp language because it's fun, and because she does it out of habit. It also acts as a deterrent for people who just get close because they like people.
[Suspicious]
Although she's very loyal, this is tempered by the fact that she is very distrustful of other people and doesn't get close to others. Even if she can carry a good conversation with someone, she hasn't even told her closest friends her deepest secrets, and telling other people anything personal about herself comes after having gotten to know them very very well. Unless they prove they'd stay with her through any hardships, she's not likely to pursue or value a relationship.
[Curious]
This trait also leads her to be, in some cases, fearless, quirky, and shameless. That is to say, in the pursuit of knowledge or things that interest her, she will get up in people's faces, ask shameless questions, ignore rules, talk back to people in power, and do things other people don't like without asking. She can also get into her "mode," which is when she is unintentionally chirpy and talks very fast and excitedly with people who may or may not care what she's saying about things that she considers cool. She can kind of bulldoze over people who get in her way, though it is usually unintentional.
SBiographyS
"I like the way I grew up, even if that was a simple and uneventful sort of way. It's easier to enjoy the small stuff when your brain isn't constantly clouded with big events."
[Childhood]
Stella's always been able to communicate with fish. In her fairly ordinary life, with her fairly ordinary half-blood wizarding mother and father with her two younger brothers, that was the only thing a little bit strange about her. Well, that and the fact that she could breathe underwater. Her parents made it no secret to her that she was not her father's child and only half-related to her brothers, but made a considerable effort not to treat her any differently from her brothers. It wasn't always successful, and they had to teach her to be very careful around whom she revealed she was half-merperson in front of, but overall she suffered from very little suppression issues. She only really understood that being half-merperson and not fully related to her brothers was a bad thing when her aunt on her father's side came over and declared loudly that the half-breeds were running wild again, when she was eight years old. Her mother got really angry and when she asked about it, explained mostly that people didn't accept people like her and would make fun of her if she let it out, so she had to be careful not to let it slip. It was also then that she asked about her father for the first time, and found out that her mother had met him while vacationing in Japan, before she got married to her current husband. The man who Stella considers her true father in every way is still the man who raised her, Harold Prince, and it's no wonder, since the two of them told everyone that they had simply had Stella out of wedlock, not that unusual by this time.
[Since Starting School]
When she was in her third year, she fell madly in love with a 17-year old bad boy type. He thought she was cute and agreed to date her, but eventually began feeling she was getting too serious and broke up with her. That broke her heart and since then she has firmly decided she has no interest falling in love ever again. She does treat this cynical attitude, however, with a little bit of good-natured self-mockery, as she knows the only reason it affected her so much is because she's had so few bad experiences to begin with.
SRelationshipsS
"This is them. My family. You don't have to say 'nice to meet you,' because they'll drown you out anyways. They're good like that."
[Mother]
Nadya Prince - A woman of Bulgarian descent who grew up in England. She is a half-blood with a muggle father. Nadya works as a magizoologist studying marine mammals, and this leads her to travel a lot, though she tries to limit her trips to when her kids are at school. She was a Ravenclaw. Stella's maternal grandmother died in an explosion caused by a badly miscast spell some in-over-his-head idiot cast in a public area. Stella's mother had just turned 19 at the time, and Stella never knew the woman.
[Father]
Harold Prince - A half-blood with a large family on both sides of the family. Both sides were half-blood wizard lines. He is a metal-charmer and was briefly a chaser in his house, before he decided it wasn't for him. He also went to Hogwarts, which is where he met Nadya. He was a Hufflepuff.
[Elder Younger Brother]
Darcy Prince - Darcy is currently a 3rd year at Hogwarts and probably one of the nicest Slytherin boys you could find anywhere. He has a strong, driving ambition to make it big in the Ministry of Magic. He takes a lot more after his father than his mother, with thick black hair framing chiseled features, harsh eyebrows, and deep-set grey eyes. In figure, however, it seems he's going to turn out a lot more like his mother - relatively slender and moderately tall.
[Younger Younger Brother]
Sebastian Prince - Sebastian is a 1st year Ravenclaw at Hogwarts. He looks a lot like his mother and sister, with more rounded, delicate features, but shares his father's coloring with his brother, grey eyes and black hair. His figure still hasn't been determined, since he's so young.
[The Armada]
Her father's side of the family - Because there are so many of them, all three children informally call them various names including "the armada" "the mob" etc. Unlike their fairly calm father, "the mob" are associated with chaos for their family, mainly due to a set of mildly hysterical second-uncles on the maternal side, and rather martial second-aunts on the paternal side. Their father has no direct siblings, and they call their dad's cousins "uncle" and "aunt" anyways.
[Maternal Grandfather]
Andrei Krumov - A very cool Bulgarian man with a really great, thick, white mustache. He had difficulty accepting the reality of his wife and daughter's magical abilities at first, and even now they try to avoid doing too much magic around him, but ultimately, his love for his family comes first. He's a big man, with a booming laugh and a gruff manner. He is not terribly fond of Harold, though he loves his daughter and all his grandkids, and both Nadya and Harold have made a great effort to prevent him from ever meeting the rest of the Prince family, whose chaotic manner he definitely wouldn't like. He used to be blonde, and has Nadya and Stella's big blue eyes, though his are crinkled from age. He's a boot-maker, a traditional cobbler hard to find nowadays.
[Ex-boyfriend]
Brenden Miller - A handsome looking boy, graduated a few years ago, heading off to become an auror. He's a pretty good guy, all things considered, very brave and considerate of others. He's pretty glamorous, even though he's got freckles and normal brown hair and eyes. He was a quidditch player.
[Friends]
Elizabeth Silsbury - Very close friend. The two of them met straight off first year by having beds right across from each other. [SPOILI]
The girl across from her, with more vivid blonde hair than hers, spoke. "Hello, I'm Elizabeth. And you are?"
For a long moment, Stella didn't realize she was being spoken to, and stayed completely silent. In the school she'd gone to before getting the letter, she had come across people like this one, who were excited to meet new people. She had always been... friendly enough, but not encouraging. Some of them had thought her downright rude, even. By this time, she had been left alone by most everybody, and was no longer really used to being addressed. "I'm Stella." She eventually responded in her quiet, lilting voice. She offered no more conversation than that and looked back down at a book in her hands. It was a fiction muggle book her grandfather had given her over the summer. Bob nudged her, trying to get her to converse more with the other girl, but she just retorted quietly that she didn't want to and it was none of his business was it.
The other girl didn't seem daunted by her short reply. "What book are you reading? It looks fairly interesting." She asked, pointing at the book in her hands. "Are you fond of literature?"
Stella stopped reading. She looked up at the other girl, closing her book and giving her opponent her full attention. She wasn't smiling, but it wasn't an expression of displeasure, just a neutral sort of lack of interest. "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Yes, I am fond of literature." She stared straight on at the other girl, taking in her features carefully and trying to remember them. She'd have to watch out for this one. Bob seemed delighted by this, though. He refused to say anything to Stella, but hopped up and down on her shoulder, as if to attract the girl's attention on purpose. She put a hand over him, forcing him to be still as subtly as she could.
The other girl spoke in all a rush. "That's a really good book, though I much preferred The Lord of The Rings. A little more heavy on the literature part compared to Narnia though." Then, she abruptly stopped herself. "Sorry. That tends to happen quite often... my babbling. Just tell me to stop if it annoys you." She added with a nervous laugh. Apparently attracted to Bob's movement, though, the girl seemed just about as happy as he was. "Aww, it's so cute. What is it's name?" She asked, looking almost breathless with excitement.
"He's Bob." Stella responded carelessly throwing out his name without his full title. She was more interested in the other thing the girl had said. "What is The Lord of the Rings?" She asked, her eyes trained on Lizzy, now with some interest. Besides her visits to her grandfather, she was rarely exposed to muggle culture, and didn't even know that much about what she was reading now.
The other blonde didn't respond right away, still entranced by the salamander. "Hiya, Bob!" she waved at the salamander with a giggle. The salamander liked this new attention. Stella had gotten him only recently, as a present for getting into Hogwarts, and he was still very small, unused to much interest from others. Scampering off her shoulder, he ran to the tips of Stella's fingers, staring up at the other girl adoringly. In response to Stella's question, she finally said, "You don't know it?" She paused, then facepalmed and mumbled something to herself. "It's a sto- a muggle storybook about a land called "Middle Earth" that has many different creatures living together like, Hobbits, Elves, Humans and much more! It has three books but I've only ever finished the first one. It's written by J.R.R. Tolkien! And he even invented his own language for Elves in the book!" She suddenly trailed off again. "I did it again." She groaned, bringing her palm up to her face again.
Stella stared at Elizabeth, wanting to hear more about this Lord of the Rings, or whatever it was. "What are hobbits? Why do the elves have a different language?" Humans she understood, but she'd never even heard of hobbits before, and the elves she knew of were house-elves, who spoke English perfectly well. She didn't mind the other girl's rambling, not even quite noticing her laments. Stella was too focused on the more interesting things she was saying to pay attention to Elizabeth's worries about talking too much.
Lizzy was distracted again. She held her hand right above Bob's head before looking at Stella and asking if it was alright to pet him. "What do you think?" She asked Bob in salamander, he responded with definite enthusiasm. "Go ahead. He'll let you."
As the fellow Hufflepuff stroked the top of Bob's head with one finger, giggling a bit, she began to explain what hobbits and elves were. When she was done, she added, "You know, if you want, Father packed my book in the luggage... One second." She held up one finger, then stood to rifle through her luggage until she found the book. "Ta-da!" she exclaimed when she had found it. She gave it a quick once-over to make sure it was in good condition before handing it to Stella. "It's a little hard to read, but if I can, so can you!" She said with enthusiasm.
Stella took a long look at the book, filled with a desire to explore its contents and read about these hobbits and these elves that weren't house-elves, but didn't open its cover. The thought that it would be rude to take something of someone else's crossed her mind for a second, but she dismissed it, since the girl had offered it to her willingly. That wasn't the reason she soon handed it back to the girl. "I haven't finished this one yet." She hesitated, "But I should like very much to read it later, if that would be alright."
The other girl nodded enthusiastically in reply. "It's no problem! I have other sto- Muggle books if you wish to ever read anyone of them!" she said, "I'll leave it on the bedside table so you can take it whenever you wish to."
Touched by this offer, Stella's blue eyes grew a little larger, and a small smile of pleasure slowly dawned on her face. Finally no longer distracted by the book, she directed her mind to the other object of the girl's interest. "You shouldn't pamper him too much, he'll get spoiled." She gave the girl her first full smile.
"I can't help it," she protested, giggling at the little creature. "I have a soft spot for animals; especially the cute ones."
Stella leaned forward, bringing Bob a bit closer and looking down at him herself. To be sure, she liked Bob, but was he cute? She hadn't quite thought so. "His full name is Robert Ognyan Prince the Eighth. What did you say your name was again?" She hadn't been listening the first time.
"That's a very royal name!" Elizabeth cooed at the salamander. "Is it of royal blood, like the Queen? Did you come up with it yourself?" She asked with a smile. "My name is Elizabeth. Elizabeth William Silsbury. Liz for short it fine as well. Or any other nickname you want actually." Lizzy then, Stella automatically translated. It was odd, she usually stuck to people's last names, but Silsbury felt odd in her mouth, and she could tell the girl wouldn't mind.
The comment about the royal blood, though, made her nostrils narrow in embarrassment, slight color rising to her normally pale cheeks. "No. My last name is Prince, that's why he's Prince. I did come up with the Robert Ognyan part, though. Ognyan is a Bulgarian name, my grandfather chose it. Nice to meet you, Lizzy." She decided to add, just for effect, "And don't call him cute. He is not cute. He's ferocious." Bob's tongue flicked out with a mocking little hiss, but he nuzzled his head against the girl's finger anyway. And from that,[/SPOILI] they started off with a very amiable relationship. Much more so than Stella entertained with most other people. It wasn't until much later in the year that they became close, though. Lizzy came across Stella dancing, but proved herself to be both genuine, kind, and trustworthy. [SPOILI]
Stella had closed the door to the empty classroom behind her, but as she turned around and surveyed the classroom with a smile spreading across her face, she forgot to lock it. Concentrating very hard, because they had only learned the spell recently, she Levitated the desks, directing them gently closer to the wall. It took some time, but finally, all the desks were up against the wall, and the wooden floor was mostly empty. She pulled off her shoes and socks and stood in the bare room with bare feet. She began mentally playing start in her head.
The song spinning through her head was one of those she had memorized. The melody was one written by Lindsey Stirling, a slightly radical violinist who was at the peak of her fame a little less than a decade ago. She was a muggle, but her mother had liked her and Stella had come to love her music as well. She had listened to her music so much that she knew every note of several of her songs. Dancing was another thing Stella had picked up as part of muggle culture. The "armada" had not approved, so it was yet another thing she had to hide. But here, in this empty room, she didn't have to worry about any of that. She closed her eyes, lifted her arms, and then began to move in the style of modern dance.
Her grandfather's voice in her head just said, "Don't think, Stella, just move. Let the music guide you." Stella's body swayed to the music, seeming as fluid as the water of the lake near her house. She kept her eyes firmly shut, her foot slid along the floor, she twirled, tapped the floor with the tip of her foot, then gave a wide spinning jump, managing to land gracefully on her feet again. Too engrossed in her dance, she didn't hear the sound of the door opening behind her, but she heard when it suddenly slammed shut.
The sound jerked Stella out of her stupor. She ground to a sudden halt and whipped around to look at the disturbance, seeing Lizzy there, hands up defensively. She didn't have her wand on her at the moment. Nor her umbrella. It was making her feel extremely vulnerable, and when she saw who it was, she wasn't sure whether to be relieved or angry. "What are you doing here?" She asked, a small frown on her face. "And how much did you see?" That was the part that worried her the most. Dancing was a little strange, she knew, and she didn't want it to get out.
"I- I was just wandering the halls when I heard noises." Elizabeth said quickly. Her hands fell back to her sides, "I- I didn't see much." She hesitated for a long moment, before adding, "You danced very beautifully. Did you use to dance a lot before?" So she had seen after all.
Stella bit the inside of her cheek slightly, her eyes shifting from Lizzy's around the room and back to Lizzy again. "Yes. I've been dancing for a long time. I... can you not tell anyone you saw that?" She felt uncomfortable with the compliment and shifted on her feet slightly. Meeting Lizzy's eyes full on, she asked again, this time a little more emphatically. "Please don't tell anyone you saw me dancing."
Lizzy's eyes seemed to bug out of her head in surprise. "Why not?!" She exclaimed. "You dance so amazingly!" She seemed to notice the mulish look in Stella's eyes and gave in, letting out a little sigh. Then, she smiled again, as she, for some reason, held up her pinky. "I promise I won't tell anyone... if..." she trailed off, a spark in her eye. Uh oh. This couldn't be good.
Stella wasn't a "vulnerable" person, but real anxiety was in her eyes. "I don't want people to know. It's... weird. They'll think I'm weird. Witches don't dance like... like..." like muggles, but she knew Lizzy was a muggle-born and didn't want her to misunderstand and get hurt. "If what?" She asked, looking at once impatient and desperate. "What is it?"
Elizabeth frowned, "Nothing wrong with weird... Mother always said weird was a bad word; she preferred 'special', but since you don't like it that much, I won't tell, okay?" She assured Stella. Elizabeth grinned, "If you teach me how you dance like that!" She finished. "But if you don't want to that's fine. I still won't tell, pinky promise." She said once more, holding her pinky up again.
For a long moment, Stella was speechless, then she reached out, pinched Lizzy's pinky between her thumb and finger and shook it as if shaking someone's hand. Then, spontaneously, she pulled the other girl into a hug, smiling. "Of course I'll teach you. I'd like to teach you." She said, happily. "I'll teach you everything I know."[/SPOILI] And Stella decided right then that Lizzy would be her friend. She had no choice about it. Their friendship extends to this day, Stella continuing to watch over her and tease her in equal measures. Non-violent Stella never felt adequate enough to protect Lizzy by herself, and thus Montgomery Knight's efforts were much appreciated. Although she doesn't know what he gets up to, and doesn't want to know, she is willing to overlook... whatever it is he does if it stops Lizzy from being bullied, or at least reduces the numbers. Status: Protectorate
Sethen Lockett - Werewolf buddy. During a midnight wandering in first year, Stella came across him in werewolf form and found out about his secret. [SPOILI]
It was a cold October night, but the inside of the Hufflepuff dorm was still nice and warm. Stella was sitting as close as she could to the window so that the light of the full moon flashed as much as it could onto the page of the potions book she was reading. The 11-year old was trying her best not to mutter to herself as she read, since it was late at night and most everybody else was asleep by this time. She'd just not been able to sleep. From the very first class, she'd loved Potions, so she'd taken up the textbook to help occupy her mind before she went to sleep. Unfortunately, it was having the opposite effect and she was getting more and more awake as she read through the entries. She stifled a giggle as she came across an entry for Dogbreath Potion. What she wouldn't give to make it in class. It didn't seem like they would, though, since it caused the drinker to spout flames, and Stella got the distinct sense that the potions master wouldn't trust them not to abuse it. She read through the ingredients almost greedily. Wait, she had most of these. The only thing she was missing was Porcupine Quills. She'd run out after lending some to a classmate a couple days ago. Other than that, the recipe was actually fairly simple. She could do this! A small smile spread across her face. She'd just have to stock up on porcupine quills tomorrow and find an abandoned place to go. Maybe she could even ask the professor to lend her a place to do it. These plans in mind, she was about to close the book when she saw one last instruction in small print at the bottom. "Best brewed on the full moon."
No, no. That would ruin everything. Today was the full moon. Stella frowned at it, as if by glaring she could make the words away. Of course that wouldn't work. Finally, she abandoned her plans, she'd have to wait a whole month to do it. Or... the beginnings of a different plan blossomed in her mind. She would get into so much trouble if caught but.... Stella took another look at the book and threw caution to the winds. Forget the rules. As quietly as she could, she got out of bed and packed her cauldron and ingredients in her bag. Twenty minute later, she was locking the door of the potions classroom behind her, a small fistful of porcupine quills now safely added to her bag, and a small, mischievous grin ever so quietly touching her eyes. Her victory was short lived. An all-too-familiar voice floated down from the corridor, right around the bend.
"Likkle nasty firsties, what fun to make them squeal.
Nasty tricks and clever quips are Peevesies appeal."
Stella's normally pale face turned white as a sheet. It was Peeves. If he caught her, she was dead. Frantically, she looked around her. A door. Thank goodness a door. She grabbed the handle and tried to turn it, but it was locked. Hastily, she whispered the Unlocking Charm and rushed inside, closing the door carefully behind her and turning the lock again. She pressed her ear to the door, her blood pounding loudly in her ears, trying not to breathe too loudly. Finally, she was relieved to hear him cackling past. She let out a long breath of relief and turned around to see where she was.... She froze, her heart leaping back into her mouth. An enormous black wolf, horrid scars marring its back, was staring at her much the same way she was staring at it, with shock and horror. For a long moment, neither of them moved, but then she took a deep breath to calm herself and cast her glance around the room. There was a pile of clothes neatly folded on a desk next to the wolf, a wand sitting on top of it. It was much too neat for it to belong to any victim of the wolf. Besides which, the wolf hadn't made any move to attack her. She looked back at it. It seemed... almost sentient, its eyes trained on her in what resembled fear. Comprehension dawned on her. It was the full moon. A werewolf.
She went back to staring at it. A werewolf, amazing. Her eyes filled with a gleaming curiosity, she took several steps forward. The wolf flinched backwards, and when she got too close, began to growl. She was frightening it. She stopped and went towards a different wall, sitting down, her back against it, watching it. It seemed wary of her, and when she finally got up and tried to leave, it growled at her again. Alright, it looked like she was spending the night here. What a way to spend the night. She'd only wanted to get some supplies.... The blonde girl jumped upwards, startling the wolf. Ignoring it, she began pulling out her cauldron and supplies. She'd almost forgotten! She only had tonight! How much longer till the sun rose? She didn't know, and had no way of telling, so began rushing. Hastily, she began throwing the potion together, but as she went along, she felt herself calm. Potion-making always made her a little calmer, and she slowed down, measuring each ingredient carefully, and using the clock on the wall to make sure her timing was perfect. She poured a couple of drops of Honeywater in and looked up again, to get her third nasty shock of the day. The wolf was right next to her, staring curiously at what she was making. She hadn't noticed it getting closer, too engrossed in her process. She jumped in surprise, then calmed again. She looked at it and pointed at the potion. "You want some? It's called Dogbreath Potion, it makes you breathe fire. Though, it's not done yet." She smiled in a silent half-laugh. "Though, I suspect you don't need help having dog breath." She didn't mean it in an insulting manner, it was just a good-natured joke.
The werewolf didn't seem to like it and made a little snuffling noise at her before moving back to its corner of the room. She went back to ignoring it, muttering to herself as she continued brewing. Occasionally, she would look straight up at the wolf as she mused out loud, asking it questions about certain measurements that she knew it couldn't answer anyways. It didn't seem to mind. Finally, two hours later, it was done. Should she try it now? No. She bottled it, being careful not to spill any on herself as she did so. She'd try it later, with a bezoar handy, in case she'd brewed it wrong and was drinking poison.
Stella carefully cleaned everything up and repacked all of her things, before sitting against the wall again, knees drawn up to her chest, arms around her knees. Before she knew it, her eyes had drooped closed and she'd fallen asleep. She woke to find a note next to her the next morning. It was penned fairly neatly, but with what seemed like a naturally messy handwriting. She squinted at it and finally made out the words. "Thank you for the company last night. Don't tell ANYBODY. It's probably best if you don't come again." It was not signed, but then again, she hadn't exactly expected it to be.
For the next month, she read every book she could get her hands on that had to do with werewolves. On the night of the next full moon, she ate her dinner extremely early, grabbed Bob, telling the disgruntled salamander that she had something to show him, and took her wand and two extra blankets with her. Night hadn't yet fallen, but she was excited to see the werewolf again, and willing to wait for it to come. Her heart was pounding again, but this time with excitement, as she ran towards the dungeons. She was stopped by a teacher but made a hasty excuse that she'd dropped something in class, and moved on quickly. Getting to the door, she unlocked it without ceremony and burst in.
And froze. Again. A boy with bad scars on his back was standing facing the opposite wall, his shirt off and looking about to take off his trousers. At the sound of the door opening, he whirled around and mimicked her by freezing in place and staring at her in shock and horror. There was a strong sense of deja vu, here. The boy reminded her slightly of her brothers, with thick black hair and grey eyes, but they were much smaller than him. Her eyes were almost inexorably drawn to his bare chest and she blushed hotly in embarrassment. He noticed her gaze and turned equally red. She got over her embarrassment and suddenly, another feeling threatened to burst through onto her face. I will not laugh. She told herself sternly. I will not laugh. I will not laugh. I will not- "HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA." She hastily slapped her hand over her mouth and doubled over, dropping the blankets she'd brought, along with a very scandalized Bob. She collapsed onto her knees as tears of mirth mercilessly rolled down her cheeks, her sides shaking with laughter. She hadn't laughed this hard in front of anyone besides her parents before.
When she got over her laughter, wiping tears from her eyes, she saw he had put his shirt back on. He seemed to be trying very hard to frown at her, but a grin kept breaking through. "I had a feeling you might ignore my warning not to come, but still, i wasn't expecting you so early..." He sounded a little like he was trying very hard to be more cross with her than he actually was.
He then cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head with red cheeks, glancing over at the wall bashfully. She shook her head, cheeks red with laughter, still having a hard time breathing from her little episode, and smiled at him. "No, it's fine. It was my fault. I didn't think you'd be-" She coughed and choked back another giggling fit. "That is to say," she giggled a bit, regained control and finished with a joking, "you really should make sure to lock the door before you start taking all your clothes off." Oh wait, he had. "I mean..." She fell apart laughing again, before finally managing to apologize.[/SPOILI] From that point on, she visited him every month, bringing him blankets, sometimes singing to him, sometimes jabbering on about whatever she found interesting at the time, sometimes just sitting next to him and providing some company. Although they don't really have much occasion to speak during normal times, they still acknowledge each others' presence, and have a fairly pleasant relationship. Status: Protectorate
Cecilee Marshall - Very good friend. Stella met this girl when they were both still in second year. They both "caught" each other outside at night, and were both too stunned, and too young, to deal with each other. Despite their shock, or perhaps because of it, the two of them became rather good friends. [SPOILI]
Stella slipped out of the room in the dungeon, heart in her mouth, anxiously looking around. Although she'd done a few times before, now, she still got the overwhelming feeling that she was going to be caught. It would be bad enough caught out after curfew, but with the blankets she was holding, there were sure to be uncomfortable questions. She breathed yet another sigh of relief as, yet again, no one was there. Rushing down the corridor, she kept swiveling her head back and forth, sure that if she kept her eyes forward, someone would sneak up on her from behind. It worked against her. Distracted by a shadow behind her, she turned her head just before turning a corridor, forgetting to check to make sure no one was there. That was how she slammed into the girl. Her body jerked backwards, though managing to stay upright, unlike the poor girl who fell backwards. Her head whipped around to look at the person she'd run into, her mouth and eyes both wide open in O's of surprise. Her expression froze like that as she locked eyes with the other, panic freezing her in place. Her mind was racing, but no explanation presented itself. Oh no...
The girl blinked shakily and opened her mouth like a gaping goldfish. "Uh- I- uhm- I was just- achoo." The poor girl sneezed before she could actually figure out what she wanted to say.
Stella stared for a few seconds, in more surprise than anything else, then couldn't help laughing to herself, though she tried to keep it quiet. She picked up the blankets she had dropped and handed one to the other girl, who looked rather cold and a lot less prepared for a midnight outing than she. "It's not smart to go out at night without at least something warm, you know. You'll get sick." She admonished the other girl in a gentle, if mocking fashion.
The girl took the blanket gratefully, wrapping it around herself and mumbled to herself, "It was unplanned." She spoke it almost as if she didn't want Stella to hear it. Stella's ears strained to pick up the other girl's words. "Unplanned?" Indeed, the other girl looked as though she'd gone out hurriedly. But clearly that was a thread of thought the other girl didn't want to pursue, because she moved on to Peeves instead. Her next words were a little clearer. "I was trying to avoid Peeves. Do you know the Poltergeist?" It was what Stella would've done if she'd had half her brain with her.
Well, she didn't want the other girl to start to question what she was doing out here at this time of night, so she followed suit. "Yeah... I know him." She grimaced comically. "Who doesn't? He's really annoying. I'm Stella Prince." She smiled, "Who are you?"
"Cecilee. Cecilee Marshall of Ravenclaw. Nice to meet you."
Stella giggled. "Okay, Cecilee Marshall of Ravenclaw. I'm "of Hufflepuff."" She frowned as a worry crossed her mind. "Peeves ... is not close by is he?"
The girl looked over her shoulder, as if expecting to see him there, laughing at the two of them little shrimps. "I think not. I miraculously escaped, diolch byth. He's quite the fiend."
"Indeed he is." She let out a long breath of relief to hear that she didn't think Peeves had followed her. Hastily, she helped pull the other girl upright. "We should leave before he comes, then. I'll take you back to the Ravenclaw dorms, if you'll show me the way. That is my blanket, after all."
Cecilee nodded, "If you insist, thank you for your help Stella," she turned around to lead the way, but stopped abruptly. "Wait a second. Um, I think I'm lost. Where are we?" She peered over her shoulder, looking at Stella sheepishly.
Stella's eyes widened. "You've only just realized you were lost? Were you sleepwalking or something?" She shook her head. "We're in the dungeons. Do you know how to get to Ravenclaw tower from here if I tell you that, or shall I have to have you sleep over in the Hufflepuff common rooms?" It was spoken half-seriously, half-jokingly. Just how bad a navigator could this girl be?
"Of Ravenclaw" gave a little start at the word "sleepwalking," but since she hadn't dwelled on the subject, immediately seemed to turn her mind to the problem at hand. She looked down and frowned in concentration. "Wait, I think I remember how to get there from Potions class." She paused, still thinking, then finally made a decision. "Follow me." She began to walk off and Stella followed suit.
Sleepwalker or one of those people who was always hopelessly lost? Judging from the little start the girl gave, it looked like sleepwalker was the correct answer. No wonder she didn't want to draw attention to herself. How embarrassing. She walked alongside the other girl, and asked, "So... what language was that?"
Cecilee glanced at Stella as if she didn't seem to know what she was talking about. "Oh, it was Welsh." She smiled.
Stella looked at the girl with a curious sort of blatantly excited stare. "Where did you learn it?" Stella herself only barely knew a couple phrases in Bulgarian, from her grandfather. Welsh, huh? It was her first time hearing it.
"Oh, my mother's from Wales," Cecilee replied thoughtfully, as if she'd never really thought about it. Stella rather suspected she hadn't. It wasn't something she herself would've thought other people would have any interest in. "Taught us a handful of sentences."
"That's interesting." Stella said, that open, almost rude interest still shining in her eyes. "My grandfather is Bulgarian." She offered as an equal exchange. "I know a couple words, but that's all." They made their way to the Ravenclaw tower quickly but cautiously, neither one wanting to get caught.
Cecilee smiled at their similarity of having foreign ancestry. "Sounds fun, knowing other languages besides English despite the small amount we associate with our fluency," she said without pause. The words flew out of her mouth as usual. They were lucky souls, managing to arrive at Ravenclaw Tower unscathed. Now, she hoped Stella would not be caught on her way back. She did not want any trouble.
"Do you often go for nighttime jaunts?" Perhaps that wasn't something she should call attention to, but she wanted to know, and the little blonde girl had rarely ever denied herself in the pursuit of knowledge.
There was little tensing from Cecilee. Looking at Stella, she tried answering the question honestly without giving away any serious hints. "From time to time, for a breather. Thanks for the blanket," she said, offering it back.
She smiled. "Maybe I'll see you around, then. I do, too." It might be fun to have someone else to talk to on nights like these. She'd enjoyed their brief conversation, after all.
"You too, Stella." It seemed she wasn't the only one who wouldn't mind seeing the other girl again.
Stella gave the other girl one last grin and took the blanket. "By the way, you have something on your nose."
The girl reacted as expected, grabbing her nose in a panicked fashion and asking, "Really, what?" She sneezed, looking self-conscious.
Stella gently pushed the girls hands away. "Let me see, it's right..." She moved her finger in a sort of circular motion in between the other girl's eyes, then poked her right on the nose. "Just kidding." She gave a muffled peal of laughter. "You should watch out. People will take advantage of how gullible you are. What would you have done if I'd told you we were going in the wrong direction?"
She mumbled something, the only word of which Stella caught was "predilection," but that didn't make much sense. What could she mean by it? She wanted to ask, but the sad look on the other girl's face stopped what would have normally been a very shamelessly blunt question. However, she answered Stella's latter statement much more comprehensibly. "Well, I would often wind up back at the tower before they catch me roaming. Miraculously."
"I see. You're pretty lucky then. Sometimes, when I go back when I'm really sleepy, I get lost or almost run into Peeves." She looked towards a window, where sunlight was slanting through. "Speaking of which, I need to go back, now. It was nice meeting you, Cecilee Marshall of Ravenclaw." She was about to just leave with that, but decided to add, randomly, "And cheer up! I have two brothers. They do lots more embarrassing things than sleepwalking." She gave the girl one last smile before heading back to the Hufflepuff dorms.[/SPOILI] Ever since that time, she found Cecilee one of those rare friends she didn't feel protective of, but confident with, rather. The two of them often met up during nighttime wanderings after that, ruling the halls at night. She was much more gullible and teasable when they were younger, but they were both much purer when they were younger. She also often makes fun of the way they'd first met, by calling her "Of Ravenclaw." She feels comfortable with the other girl the way she feels comfortable around Ryan, but less uncertain about where they stand. Status: Like-minded Equal
Felix Bell - Swimming buddy. They met, as one might expect from this title, at the Great Lake, on a pretty cold day when Stella was out swimming. [SPOILI]
It was the middle of second year, and most people were inside taking shelter from the cold. Stella was swimming in the lake, no one outside to bother berating her. She was fighting her desire to dive deep in the water ferociously, but the temptation was pretty strong. It was killing her, having to maintain this ridiculous farce of having to come up to breathe every half a minute or so, particularly with no one around to remind her not to do it. Finally giving in for just a moment, she dove down, down, and then shot upwards, the giant squid giving her a gentle boost with one of its tentacles. She twisted through the water and shot out, twisting through the air like a dolphin, before splashing into the lake again. She surfaced and looked around, letting her body relax as she surveyed the expanse of water and its shores. To her surprise, she saw a boy near one of the shores... Curiosity overcoming her inhibitions, she slowly propelled herself closer, wondering what he was doing out like this. When he looked up and saw her, he scrambled backwards only to trip and land on his butt. Wincing and laughing at the same time, he told her. "Oi, you got me good eh. Wait...You don't look like a merperson. A-are you ok? Aren't you cold? Do you need help?" His face went through such a rapid succession of expressions it was quite comical.
Stella snorted. "I'm not a merperson, just a person. Swimming." She should think that was obvious and said so with a little mockery, though no scorn. She ignored his questions and asked some of her own instead. Sure that was obvious as well. If she wasn't okay, she'd be getting out of the water. "What are you doing out here? Most people are inside."
"Um, well... I come here every now and then... you know. To think. Even happy people need a break from being clowns yes." Was he a happy person? She didn't recognize him at all, so what was he flaunting his reputation for? He shoved her from her thoughts by adding, "And look who is talking. I would say I do not mind the cold Miss, but you for sure beat me to that. Impressive." Who used "miss" anymore? They were twelve! At least, she thought he was the same age she was. "Oh! Ooooh I am so...I apologize!" He slapped his forehead gently with a "oof" sound, utterly confusing Stella. "My manners went down to drain. My name is Felix. Felix Bell." He extended his hand, smiling. "Nice to meet you." Wait, why had he just apologized?
For a long second, Stella was thrown off balance, then she considered the hand stretched out in front of her.She didn't want to pull her arm out of the water to shake his hand. It was true she could withstand the cold when she was swimming, but the minute her skin broke the surface, goosebumps would appear. Her head was alright, anything besides that made her bone marrow freeze, it felt like. With a little reluctant sigh that probably sounded a lot ruder than she meant it, she quickly splashed her arm out of the water, shook his hand quickly, and ducked it back inside. "I'm Stella." She told him simply. Part of her wondered if she should just go back to swimming and leave the other kid alone. It certainly seemed appealing, but it actually made her uneasy to know that he was just sitting there, able to observe her. Swimming was something she did to enjoy herself. If she couldn't enjoy it, there would be no purpose to doing it at all. She looked up at him with no expression in her empty blue eyes for a long time, then her pale eyebrows knit together in a slight frown. "What's there to think about?" Her long blonde hair fanned out around her, swaying with the water. She really did look a bit like one of those mermaids muggles imagined, except much younger, without much curves to speak of, and only mildly attractive.
He didn't seem off-put by her abrupt, wet handshake, but he did look as confused with her as she was with him. "Very nice to meet you, yes." His expression was a little... absent-minded, she thought, as he answered her question. "Well, you see... I figured that coming here is the best way to wonder where everything went wrong." Now that was melodramatic. Honestly, 'where everything went wrong' indeed. There was never a time when quite literally everything went wrong in a person's life, and here he was hail and hearty, so what was he being all nostalgic about? "Actually," he added. "My sister would be a correct answer. I miss her from time to time." He suddenly seemed to remember something. "Oh... I never seen anyone else around here before. At least not in the weather like this." Changing the subject, huh? "I mean...don't mind me but if you do... I can go?" He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "You came here first."
Oh no. He wasn't getting away that easily. That was a story begging to be told. Ignoring his flustered attitude completely in her usual Stella specific manner, she asked a question most people would consider rude, "What happened to your sister?" If it had been her, someone asking about her brothers if something had happened to them, she would have told them to go away, but she didn't think about that at all. She wanted to know, so she asked. She was simple like that. Her eyes stayed trained on him without wavering, it was almost disconcerting how intently she was staring.
The boy was silent for a long moment, apparently shocked that she had asked. She waited for him to get over it. Everyone did, eventually. Sure enough, he did, and gave a little smirk to boot. "She...it was an accident. Werewolf killed her back in Ireland." He shrugged. "Irish luck, right?"
Stella gave a little frown and a slightly scathing, "Irish luck, indeed," slipped from her mouth. That was unfortunate, though she couldn't see how an attack was unfortunate more than simply grievous. This was one person she hoped never found out Lockett's secret. People who had experiences with werewolves were worse than even just the normal ones. She was silent for a long moment, as she thought. Werewolves that didn't drink the Wolfsbane potion nowadays were rare. The ones who didn't were usually intentional about it. Then again, perhaps it had been rarer when they were younger. She didn't know, having never taken interest in such things before. She wondered if he'd been there when it had happened, the horror and guilt he must have felt.
"Do you have any siblings?" Oh, there he was trying to change the subject then. She let herself continue thinking for a bit before answering.
"Yes. Two younger brothers." She smiled quietly, almost to herself. If the three of them had been attacked by a werewolf, Sebastian probably would've scared it off with just his glare. The little devil. She opened her mouth only to end up being rude again, "How old was she?"
"Wow, I heard younger brothers are hard to handle." He chuckled briefly. "But you can for sure consider yourself lucky. She was just about to turn eleven, just like me. We were twins. Dumb and overly curious twins. She never allowed me to take care of her, you know. She was always the strong one. Strong but foolish."
Stella listened to him talk about his sister in silence. For a long time she struggled to find the words she wanted to say. Finally, she settled for a quick, "I see. It wasn't that long ago. Sorry for asking." She wasn't sorry for bringing it up - she hadn't brought it up at all - but she was sure it was more painful to go into detail about now that it was still so new and fresh.
She began speaking about her brothers again, keeping the focus on them this time. It was her way of trying to help, trying to fill the emptiness. She might be bad at expressing the kinder emotions, but that didn't mean she didn't feel them. "My brothers are seven and nine, but they both still think I need taking care of," she added sarcastically, "because of course, women need their menfolk to take care of them. Still," she smiled slightly, "it's kind. It's their way of showing me they love me, so I let them try from time to time. Darcy is a crybaby, and nice to everyone except for me, when he thinks I'm being stupid. Sebastian is the youngest. He's still so small, it feels like, but he's definitely a little bit evil." She laughed. "Definitely. There's some wild blood in him. Not that long ago, he got into a fight with a kid Darcy's age because they were picking on him. Darcy, not Sebastian. It's funny, because people who just see us don't realize that at all. They see me and they mutter and whisper about how I'm a little strange as soon as I open my mouth. They see Darcy and they go on about how kind and warm he is. Overall, I think that's mostly correct, but they see Sebastian and they think he's so sweet and quiet." She gave a little pfft of laughter. "He's very quiet, true, but he's also the fiercest, and when he thinks someone's hurting us, he goes after them before anyone has a chance to even react." At this point, the blonde girl was almost talking to herself, a far-off look in her eyes. "He's so small, I don't know what he expects to accomplish, but he does it anyways. That's his kind of love." She glanced over at Felix again. "I guess in that way, he sounds kind of like your sister, huh? Small, but with lots of courage. Strong, but kind of silly. Always confident, though who knows why." She smiled, and lost the words to say again, so fell silent.
Felix laughed, though Stella couldn't quite tell why. She didn't think she'd said anything particularly funny. "That really does sound like a handful! Never boring at your place then. Well, I think they're more ought to protect you than to think you can't do things on your own yes?" He took out a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and responded thoughtfully to her comment about his sister. "That really does sound like her. Except for the quiet and sweet part." He laughed. "I was always that 'girly' part that keeps nodding and agreeing to everything. She was quite flamboyant and always loved to have a word in things. I always looked up to her." He took another bean. "Other kids tend to laugh at me for that because, as you know how boys are about 'them being better than girls'. But I never thought of it that way. To me, we were the same. Maybe it was the twin part, but still.We always had each other's back in every way. I was the one always screwing up when we would get into the trouble." He sounded sad and kind of guilty, though she didn't know for what. "Her name was Fiona. Thought I would say that because you said your brothers' names." Stella hadn't really thought of it that way. She'd just said their names because it was easier than going 'brother number one' and 'brother number two.' People did hang on the strangest things, didn't they?
Felix scratched his nose. "But I do think they should give you more credit. After all, I have never seen a girl that can actually handle such cold water. Even I couldn't do it and trust me, I did a lot of silly things. You have to teach me." He laughed sincerely and offered her a Bertie Bott bag, asking in his Irish accent and with a wide smile. "Fancy a bean or two? It must take a lot of energy for that."
She laughed again, a light airy sound, and accepted the bean without question. Lemon. Not bad, not great. She made a squinty face that would have sent her family into raucous laughter. It certainly seemed to amuse Felix. "I wish they could hear you say that. It's not my physical abilities they're worried about." She tapped one side of her head slightly and whispered conspiratorially. "They say I'm a bit knocked in the head, so my people sense doesn't work anymore." Considering in the past year she could only remember Lizzy and Lockett's names, and didn't care to learn others', they probably weren't wrong. She was laughing a good deal in this conversation. "Sebastian says he can't afford to be girly in nature, because he already looks kind of like a girl, and Darcy is only strict with me. He still cries when people push him around. Bas says that's why he does it, because it's annoying when Darcy cries like a girl, but we all know better." She sniggered and added a fact she hadn't really had occasion to tell anyone else before. "In our family, it's actually normal for the men to look up to the women. My aunts are all... rather powerful."
"Really? Wow. Well, women in Irish families prefer a man behind their back. At least where I come from." He shrugged. "I don't really know why. I would honestly say men would be lost without them there." Again, something Stella had never really thought about. It felt weird to have someone respond to something she'd grown up with a "wow." Was it really that rare to have all the women in the family be domineering?
"Yes, really." She said quietly, mostly to herself. She couldn't stop herself from giggling as she thought about how, at Auntie Sarah's wedding, Auntie Margaret had interrupted the new husband's speech with a, "oh shut up so we can get on with it already." He had been the only one remotely shocked at that reaction. Well, him and the rest of his family. The Prince family had just roared with laughter. "And Bas is a Prince, after all. It's natural that the girlier he looks, the manlier he is." Immediately realizing the misconception that could be made from that statement, she explained, "That is to say, my last name is Prince. That's our family name, I didn't mean in the "son of a monarch" sort of way."
"Stella Prince? I can tell why it can get confusing. But then again you're at least royal by it. I am just Bell..."happy bell." Now you can imagine how manly that might have sounded back in my place." She could. Not very much. If any of her aunts had married someone with the last name Bell, the poor male would have been teased incessantly until he changed HIS last name to Prince instead. To think her father's maternal side, the George's, were so prone to paranoia in hysterics. Really, sometimes she wasn't sure if her father might not be blood-related to his family, either.
The half-merperson swished her limbs around in the water a bit, as she thought, and remembered something else he'd said. "Ah. As for the cold water, there's not much to it. You just get used to it after a while. It's not the arctic or anything." A wicked grin crossed her face. "Would you like to join me? I can pull you in if you need some help."
As expected from a male whose guts was just challenged, he drew himself up with a cocky smirk. "I appreciate it, but I can tell you're up to something. Though I am taught to be a gentleman." He said, stripping off his outer layers, leaving only his thin white shirt on and rolling up sleeves. "I can't turn down the challenge now, can I?" Felix stepped on the edge and pretended like he was about to jump but she could tell he was hesitating. She was smirking now, making sure her mouth was below water so he didn't see. "But I think my sad Leprechaun behind can handle i..." His sentence was broken by a sound of his shoes slipping on the wet grass and his body splashing into the water, without any grace whatsoever. The poor boy sank like a rock for a moment, before thrashing wildly like someone who'd never come near a body of water larger than their bathtub before. "Coldcoldcold..." He gasped and he clung to Stella. When he realized it moments later, he let go of her as if her skin was on fire. "Ungh! S-s-sorry..." He took a moment to compose himself, then became the cocky shore-boy again, managing to make his voice level again. "Pft! Told you I can handle it..."
Stella laughed. It wasn't like her previous laughs, where she let the sound slip out of her mouth easily and happily, so that it could be heard, but not expansively spread. She laughed as she so rarely did, the sound pealing out of her wide open mouth without her control, her face turning round as a balloon as she struggled to breathe, tears streaming from her large blue eyes and mingling with the lake water. Her hands clutched her stomach, as she tried to keep her head above water. She was sure he'd find it odd if she went straight on laughing underwater. "AHAHA. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA." This was better than if she'd yanked him in. Her hair got all over her face, and her cheeks, normally pallid in this weather and water, turned bright red. Neither shade was particularly attractive, but the boiled pufferfish look she had now was at least more entertaining. When she recovered, she gave him another sly smile. "You can, can you?" Taking a great scoopful of water, she splashed it all over his head, giggling, ducking her head underwater to shield herself from a counter attack.
In that instant, there was a lot she didn't hear him say. "Well, so much from a clowning break eh. You know, I have to admit, you are so cute when you l..." her splash interrupted his unheard sentence, "...laugh." He grinned after her and said something she would have recognized as, "Oh this is war," had sh been listening.
Stella hadn't gone very deep into the water, wanting to gauge his reaction, and careful not to do so at school anyways. Her vision was fair underwater, but the water was murky, and no manner of water advantages would change that. She kept her mouth firmly closed, trapping a couple bubbles of air that she would let out bits at a time, to create the illusion she survived only on lungs. It was surprisingly hard to manage. Leaving only her nose to suck water in, she had to suck it in purposefully, when she could usually just let it flow through her mouth. It felt very very strange. She turned to look for him, cocking her head to the side slightly. Her hair and limbs floated very comfortably in the water. She didn't see him at first, but the great burst of bubbles, and a weird incomprehensible sort of noise pointed her in the right direction. She considered, for a bit, hiding or surprising him, but decided that it was probably a bad idea. She didn't want him to start drowning because of her. In a slow, calm, wiggly kind of way, she made her way through the murk until she had made her way in front of him. She smiled at him, still struggling to maintain the illusion that she couldn't breathe underwater. He really should have taken of his shirt and shoes. The less clothes on you, the easier it was to swim. She was a perfectly good example of this, pretty much just in her underwear. Having timed herself carefully, she popped her head out of the water and took a long breath. Rather than go back under water, she looked around for the boy, waiting for him to come up for air as well.
He didn't come up for a few more seconds and she began to worry she really had gotten him drowned. Maybe the grindylows had gotten him. But no, they weren't that far from shore. She was considering going back down to look for him, when someone shouted behind her, "BANZAI!" And a whole wave of water went sweeping over her head. "Gotcha." He said gleefully. "You really know how to have a good time. Glad I ran into you here."
She gave a surprised squeak and a little jump, something she didn't know one was capable of in water. But she quickly managed to shake off the shock and smiled, nodding. "Yes. Let's do this again."[/SPOILI] After this interesting and rather amusing conversation, the two of them met again often, mostly to swim together, sometimes to just talk, but quite usually only at the lake. Sometimes she thinks he's probably close to guessing her secret, but any conjectures he comes up with are usually spoken in jest. She personally has a suspicion that he might be part leprechaun. Not all Irish people are so... leprechaun-ish. Status: Situational Friend
Ryan McCallion - Most trusted... something or other. In the beginning of her third year, she met him. They didn't get along particularly well at first, though it wasn't like they were enemies or anything. Her straightforward attitude and his polite stubbornness didn't quite mix, but he found her interesting, so when they came across each other, they ended up talking. [SPOILI]
13 year old Stella Maris Prince was making her way back from Hogsmeade alone sometime in early September. It was her first time going to Hogsmeade. Having heard a lot about it, she'd been intrigued by the small town and had spent a long time walking through it, making sure she took it all in. Originally, she and Lizzy had made plans to come together, but at the last minute, Lizzy had had to cancel, having "fallen down" and gotten hurt. It was more likely the bullies. Stella had offered to wait, but the other girl had insisted she go and enjoy herself, so she had, just that she didn't really have any other friends to go with, unlike the couples and little groups chattering as they walked back together.
Big, piercing blue eyes stared upwards for a moment, to survey the dark sky, grim and cloudy, and their owner missed the hot tropical sun she'd found in the Caribbean with her mother the past summer. The weather here was so sad in fall. The first rain drop fell from the sky. She felt it plop onto her head, followed by another, then another. The people around her began looking up and around, some words of complaint spilling from their mouths. Without waiting for it to start sheeting down, Stella popped open her umbrella and held it loosely, calmly, with one hand, leaning it against the shoulder free of her bag. It began pouring nastily, drenching everyone around. One girl shrieked, most everybody else brought their hoods up and pulled their robes more tightly together to shield themselves, as they began running pell mell towards the castle. They were almost there anyways. Lightly skipping out of the way of the more desperate people, Stella swept her light blonde hair back behind her shoulders and continued on in her leisurely pace, almost completely alone now that the others had rushed ahead. Her steps were light as her shoes splashed softly in the steadily growing puddles, but she remained unperturbed, mind on other matters.
That was when she heard an audible click that sounded very out of place and quickly turned her head to see what had made the sound. A boy with green eyes and black hair was standing there holding a camera. A camera facing straight towards her. The blood drained out of her face and she began moving hastily and purposefully towards him. The minute she reached him, she spoke loudly over the rain, "Delete it." She demanded, blue eyes blazing, arms crossed in a full-body expression of discontent.
"Why?" The boy asked, looking rather confused. "You're pretty. Why would one picture bother you?"
Her umbrella was keeping most of the rain out of her face, but it didn't protect her from the wind, and she had to lift one hand to brush her hair out of her face, her other, firmly holding her umbrella upright. "Because it's a picture of me." She stated plainly, ignoring the note about her appearance. "You don't have any right to it. So delete it." She said, scowling at him.
"Hey, you can have the picture if you want. I'm not just going to destroy the picture though. It's rare to get a good picture like that." He spoke casually, as if it wasn't a big deal, but he did seem to be a bit stubborn about it anyways.
Stella shook her head, not realizing how rude she sounded. She really didn't want people with pictures of her, recording things she did without her noticing. She didn't much care if it was a good picture or not. "I don't want a copy. I'd really just prefer if you deleted it. Aren't there better things to take pictures of here?" She asked, still frowning. She bit the inside of her cheek, a nervous habit. What if someone caught a picture of her gills leaking water? It made her anxious just thinking about it.
"There aren't. Not in the rain anyway. Besides, you can't get any good shots when everyone is running around." Then Ryan was quiet for a bit, as if deciding something. "Well, I'd delete it if you gave me a better reason than my having no right."
A better reason. Stella's mind raced. She couldn't say, "oh hey, I've got a secret that might be found out if you arbitrarily take pictures of me." Then again... she hadn't had any trouble breathing. She'd put her umbrella up right away. Maybe it was safe. She thought about it for a bit, then decided she'd check. If it was harmless, there was no point pestering him to delete it when he clearly didn't want to. "Would you allow me to take a look at it?" She asked him, more consciously polite, this time. It was his camera, after all. Without complaint, he held it out to her silently.
Stella looked closely at the photograph. Her umbrella was definitely up, no sign of gills or any other remotely merperson-like anomalies. He hadn't even taken the picture with her full face visible. She was still hesitant to let him keep it, since she'd learn to just be wary of photographs in general, but it didn't seem like he was going to budge on that account, and she didn't want to raise any suspicions that she might not be all she seemed. She looked up at him, then finally nodded. "Alright, you can keep it." With any luck, he wouldn't mention her strange behavior to anyone, and the picture would just become an artistic piece in a stack of them. The thought of apologizing or saying goodbye didn't even pass her mind as she turned to leave.
Somehow, though, found herself walking alongside the strange boy. He was humming... something. She didn't recognize it, but it wasn't one that featured regularly on the Wizarding Wireless Network. "What are you singing?" She asked him, unable to stop herself, curiosity overcoming her caution.
He gave her a look of wonder, then something seemed to hit him. She knew that look. Lizzy often gave her that look. She thought he had to be a muggle-born (an assumption she still has not gotten corrected). "It's called You Are My Sunshine." He told her, before genuinely launching into the song. It was rather simplistic, but had a nice ring to it. Hearing him sing made her want to follow suit, but she didn't really know the song, and wasn't that comfortable singing in front of other people as it was anyways. By the time they reached the Hogwarts front entrance, he seemed to be just about done with it. From the entrance, she moved to head directly to the Hufflepuff basement, not checking to see what the boy did, though the tune was now thoroughly stuck in her head.
"I'm Ryan McCallion, by the way! See you soon." He called after her, very cheerfully.
She turned back, a little surprised that he decided to continue the conversation. She had thought that he would be content with parting like that. It wasn't like they had any reason to continue the conversation in the first place. At least, she hadn't thought so. They didn't even know each other. Responding to his greeting, she replied, "I'm Stella. Nice to meet you, McCallion. You have a very nice voice." It wasn't a compliment, just a statement of fact.
"Nice to meet you, Stella. Thanks! Well, anyways, see you soon." He'd already said that. Why say it again? Well, it wasn't of much consequence to her. He looked a little familiar, perhaps, but everyone was a little familiar in Hogwarts. She probably wouldn't have to deal with him again.
Or so she had thought, but almost a month later, she heard a vaguely familiar voice call out, "Prince!" Most people didn't call her that, because she didn't really like it, but she turned anyways.
When she saw him striding confidently towards her, though, with his black hair and green eyes, for the longest moment she could not remember who he was, and simply stared at him, trying to put a name to the face. He looked familiar, but where had she met him before...? How did he know her? "I'm sorry. Who are you?" She asked, quite purposefully looking a little perplexed.
The boy just smiled, not seeming the least bit offended by her inability to remember her. Usually, people either showed a slightly disgruntled expression, or laughed, sometimes both in quick succession. What a strange one this guy was. Unbeknownst to her, he thought the exact same of her. "I'm Ryan. I took a picture of you when we were walking back from that one Hogsmeade trip---I still have the picture, by the way, if you change your mind about wanting a copy."
"Oh." She remembered him now, that description reminding her of the encounter. "No, I don't-"
"Who's this, Stells?" Brenden Miller put his big, warm, rough hand on her shoulder, a distinctly American accent falling from his lips. The boy wasn't that handsome, but he had a friendly, devilish grin that most people felt infectious. He also had one piercing in his left ear, a simple diamond in. His brown hair looked soft and wind-swept, a look he achieved without any effort that most girls found extremely endearing. Stella certainly seemed to think so as she looked up at him, a pure, innocent adoration in her face, giving him the most beautiful smile she was capable of, without even realizing it herself.
"This is.." She looked back at Ryan, blasting him with a full smile unintentionally. "I believe his name was McCullen or something." Her head twisted up to look at Brenden again, her light hair rustling slightly with the movement. "We were just talking about a trip to Hogsmeade I made a few weeks ago." She said nothing about the picture, but it wasn't her highest priority at the moment.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Brenden. I'm guessing McCullen isn't your first name." He said congenially, holding his hand out to shake. "Stells here has a bad habit of only using last names." He thumped his palm on top of her head affectionately.
"Nice to meet ya too, Brendan. My name is actually Ryan McCallion." The boy smiled just as politely as Brenden had, but with perhaps less suave charm, extending his hand in return.
"Nice to meet you, Ryan." Brenden said, shaking the other boy's hand once very firmly. "Sorry for intruding on your conversation." He spoke casually, before turning back to Stella. "You want me to get out of your hair so you can finish your conversation?"
She smiled sweetly at him. "Will you wait for me?"
His smile back wasn't as cloyingly sweet, but it had good-humor in it. "Sure, no problem." He headed a little farther into the crowd, but they could still see him not far away, waiting for her as he'd said.
She looked back at Ryan again, returning to normal, though still looking in a good mood. "Did you need something, McCallion?" She asked, neither polite nor rude.
"Well, I was trying to figure out stuff about you. I mean, the way you acted when we were walking back from Hogsmeade was pretty interesting." That was a bit of a surprise to Stella. She hadn't thought she'd left much of an impression on him, he certainly hadn't made much on her.
Him being curious about her would've concerned her normally, but she was feeling too happy to make that worry show. Interesting behavior, huh? "Was it?" Stella asked, almost humorously, the smallest of smirks touching her eyebrows. "How so? I am a little more camera-shy than most people, but do you not think it's stranger to take pictures of someone you've never met before?" She had less on her mind this time and was ready to face him. "My mother always said not to get to close to strangers, after all. What if someone saw it and started following me around?" Yup, her parents had raised her good and cautious, and she wasn't planning to change that any time soon. Still, she spoke with the smallest touch of self-mockery, aware that her family's cautious nature was not shared by most, and willing to concede that it was perhaps a bit on the extreme side. She was still smiling slightly, but in a mischievous way, not with that glowing, pure sweetness.
"First of all, it isn't strange to take pictures of people. Street photographers do it all the time. As long as its in a public place, I can do that I want. If I took a picture of you here, without McGonagall's permission, then it wouldn't matter." The boy argued his case like a lawyer. Clearly, he'd gotten this defense ready long before he'd ever met her. "Besides, it isn't like the picture was too bad. I mean, I was walking almost directly behind you. Obviously I could only have gotten a picture of your back. So there hadn't been any need to look at my picture so closely before you let me keep it. Well, in any case, I spend a lot of time taking pictures of people. If you are camera shy, you really could have just said so, instead of demanding I delete it."
One eyebrow went up ever so slightly on Stella's face, and the slightly mocking smile became something of a noncommittal shrug on her face. "How was I supposed to know how much of my face you'd gotten? You weren't directly behind me, and I was distracted. I don't know anything about street photographers, but don't they make you sign some kind of waiver in the muggle world, ensuring that you don't take pictures without someone's permission? And since I specifically asked you delete it, don't you think it would simply be common courtesy to do so, since it was a picture of me? If I really had said I was camera-shy would you have deleted it? It seems pretty clear to me you wouldn't have. You had that..." She pointed with a slightly circular motion around his face. "Look on your face. Seems much more likely to me you would have simply said that the picture was already taken so there was nothing else to be shy about."
She shook her head, finding the conversation tiresome now. What was such a big deal about it, anyways? "You are awfully defensive, though, aren't you? I was hardly attacking you. I've finished demanding you delete it, so what are you so worried about? It's not as though I'm planning to take you to some kind of privacy court. At any rate, if there's nothing else you want from me, I'm leaving."
"I really would have deleted it," he said with a shrug. "You don't make friends by ignoring their insecurities. Maybe I could have bribed people to recreate the photo. A lot of extra work for nothing though, I think." How strange. That thought had never crossed her mind before. To think someone their age in this time and place would ever waste their time actually bribing people...
"I did want to talk about something else, but I assume you want to get back to your boyfriend instead." That was almost kind of irritating. If he had something to talk to her about, why not just spit it out? But his next words stilled those in her throat. "Besides, I need to do my work," He added, though it was clearly more to himself than her, as he adopted a thoughtful expression. He looked like he'd disappeared off into his own little world. Even she wasn't that bad about communication. "Well, later then. Have fun with your boyfriend," For a moment, he had a childishly teasing tone, dragging out the word boyfriend just slightly. A smile tugged on her lips at the tone, though she flushed slightly with both embarrassment and joy. Now her mind was somewhere else.
She took the dismissal without any hard feelings, but before she turned to go, she gave him one least fleeting, mischievous grin and said, "You want to know a secret, McCallion? I don't make friends at all, I collect them." From then on, they continued to be random acquaintances.[/SPOILI] The actual turning point came, however, towards the end of the middle of the third year, when Brenden broke up with her. [SPOILI]
It was raining hard again, harder than was usual for this time of year, it was already early April. Stella was crying, but unlike everybody else, she couldn't just get let the rain hide her tears. Her umbrella was right above her head, shielding most of her from view, as she was crouched down. The handle of the umbrella was trapped somewhere between her right elbow and her knees. Her back was pressed against the Shrieking Shack, she was hiding behind it. While it had been a while since the rain had started and she didn't think anybody would come here, she didn't really want to be sitting outside bawling her eyes out for all to see.
"Sorry, Stells, really, but it's enough already. It's time we ended this." He'd said it so casually, without a care in the world. They had met coincidentally at the entrance to Hogsmeade and she'd tried to take his hand, smiling as if he was the only person in the whole world. But now she wasn't smiling at all.
"What are you talking about?" Disbelief and horror mingled on her face, her eyes wide, begging her ears to have deceived her.
Brenden had sighed and run his hand through his hair, soaked by the rain. "Look, girl, I'm a 7th year. I'm heading off next year. You're cute, but there's no future for us." He had patted her shoulder gently. "It's time to move on." And then he'd moved past her, as if she didn't matter. She hadn't stopped him. The words had stuck in her throat as her feet stayed glued to the ground. If she lifted them she was sure she'd come flying off of the earth itself, her entire existence felt as though it had been flipped inside out.
Finally, she'd managed to move, it was a broken, robotic kind of motion, but it was motion. She moved as though someone had killed her and brought her back to life again. She let her feet take her where they would and never mind the rest. The rest of it didn't matter. When she'd first gotten here and sat down, for a long time she hadn't moved again, then the floodgates of her emotions had split open and she'd let out a scream of a heart-torn agony, but she was done with that now, silent tears slipping down her face without much fuss.
How long had she been sitting here? She didn't know. She wasn't thinking of him, and yet he was still present in her mind. Almost like the way someone could sit next to you, and you could feel the heat coming off of them even if you couldn't see them. He was present, even if she wasn't directly thinking of him, even if her mind was too full of roiling emotions for her to think anything at all. Her chest felt as though someone had ripped out her heart and left a gaping hole there, aching and throbbing. She should be bleeding.
The tears hadn't stopped yet, but Stella opened her mouth and began to sing quietly, a song she'd heard her mother singing once to herself, after her mother and father had gotten into a fight once. Her mother had written it. How apt. Perhaps Nadya Prince had some seer blood in her. "I can't sleep tonight, but that's nothing new..." As she sang, the rain began to pour harder. She wanted it to rain harder. She wanted it to rain so hard that no one could hear anything, not even herself. Even if it rained hard enough to rip through her umbrella it wouldn't mean anything, she was suffocating already anyways.
She didn't notice, at first, when Ryan came around the edge of the Shack, but she soon became aware of his presence next to her. He stopped just short of her, then leaned up against the wall next to her. "Prince, your expression doesn't match you at all."
Stella stopped singing and gave a choked laugh, as she heard his words, somehow still oddly audible through the rain. She tried to think of something to say, or even something to feel, anger perhaps, but she couldn't. Her mind was blank and her chest still hollow and throbbing. She continued crying silently for a long time and then finally managed to say, "Isn't that the way it's supposed to be? When a mirror is broken, no matter what you choose to try to reflect, every image will come out wrong."
She stood up, leaning against the wall like him and put out her free hand, placing it on his shoulder, just to feel like someone was close to her. Even in this moment where she thought all she wanted was to be alone, it was nice to feel that someone was close to her. "Maybe that's something that you already know." She wasn't speaking as if she knew him; she knew nothing about his past. It was just a thought. "Maybe you understand, and that's why you're not trying to pity me, soothe me. Maybe you know that nothing ever helps." She gave another hoarse laugh. "Or maybe you're just the most insensitive piece of work I've ever had the pleasure to come across." She'd meant to only think the words, but they all came out anyways. They were her honest thoughts, anyways.
Stella continued not to look at him, her lips still moving. It seemed that once she had started talking she couldn't stop herself without babbling a bit first. "I'd really like to hit you right now. It's funny. I'm not even angry, and I've never hit anyone before. I don't think I will now. It's just one of those odd little urges you get every once in a while. I just want to... let something out, but it won't leave. Screaming didn't work. Crying doesn't work. Maybe it's part of being broken. I don't know. I don't think I know anything anymore. It will all come back to me, later, I'm sure. But right now, I think I'm okay with not knowing anything. It'll come back when it means anything at all to me."
It was then that she looked straight at him. "Do you know the song Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree? It's an old muggle song from America. I'll sing it to you if you don't." That hollow laugh resounded inside her chest again. "It's either that or taking a swim in the lake. I feel like doing something; it stops me from feeling like I'm stuck in time." She was silent, then, waiting for his reply, or his silence. Either one was okay.
After she had finished, he let the silence hang in the air for a moment. But then he spoke. "Well, first of all, I do try to be an insensitive prick sometimes, so thanks for noticing." He said this with a grin that Stella didn't see, but after a moment, the smile faded, and he spoke again, more seriously this time. "Maybe I do get it, though. Maybe I don't hide behind abandoned buildings. Or really cry that much. And I get the feeling of wanting to punch things. Trying to let out feelings in other ways really isn't that satisfying sometimes. I get not knowing. At this moment, though, what I don't know is that song. So feel free to sing." What he was saying was almost contradicting himself. It was hard to understand. She didn't respond to it, simply hiding it in some corner of her mind for later examination. Perhaps some of it would make sense to her when her mind was lucid, instead of the pain-fogged state it was currently maintaining.
She immediately launched into the song."I'm coming home I've done my time, but I need to know what is and isn't mine. If you received my letter telling you I'd soon be free, then you know just what to do, if you still want me...." As she sang, the rain came pounding down even harder, making her raise her voice to even be able to hear herself. When Stella had first heard the song in one of her mom's muggle song sprees, she'd hadn't understood what at all it was about. Then her mom had explained to her that it was about a man who'd just gotten out of prison after three years, and was asking his wife if he still had the right to be with her, since it was an old custom for wives to put yellow ribbons around a tree on the property when their husbands came home from war or prison. The part she really liked, though, came at the very end, when the man came home to find a hundred yellow ribbons. She didn't know why she'd felt compelled to sing that right now. It wasn't the least bit related to her situation.
When it finished, the weather had begun to let up a little bit, and her hand had slipped from his shoulder. She'd pretty much been singing to herself at this point. Her tears had stopped as well. It hadn't stopped hurting, but she did feel a little better. "Thank you, McCallion." She gave him a smile that was almost more like a grimace with the grief still haunting her eyes. One would think a family member had died. Man, she was being so stupid over such a small thing. She tried to explain what she was thanking him for, but couldn't figure out how to put it into words. Instead, she opted to address something slightly more light-hearted. "I keep meaning to tell you, It's Stella, not Prince. Using that makes me feel... masculine." Just the slightest touch of sarcasm tinted her voice, enough to make it difficult to tell whether or not she was being serious.
"Alright then, Stella. For the record, though, it isn't fair for me to call you by your first name if you don't call me by mine." He said that with a smile. Ah, how had she been able to tell that was what he was going to say?
Stella gave him a sideways glance that failed to hold any emotion in it. The normal Stella's expression would have been downright devious. She peeked up at the slightly clearing sky from under the brim of her umbrella, giving it a weary smile and nodding. "If you insist, Rye." She assigned him the nickname automatically and without shame. She was like that. Turning, she did something that surprised even herself. She gave him a hug, letting go a few seconds later. Without another word, and still failing to smile, the so recently heart-broken girl moved away from the shack, heading back to Hogwarts. She paused, though, and gave the newly dubbed "Rye" a look that seemed to ask, "Well? Are you coming?"[/SPOILI] After being able to be honest in front of Ryan, she trusts him almost implicitly. She still hasn't told him about her little... merperson secret, because she doesn't trust him to always completely have her best interest in mind, but she does trust that she can always be herself with him, without having to worry about either his judgment or his pity. This is why she's not really completely sure if he's her friend or not, because friends are supposed to have each other's best interests in mind... right? Status: Undetermined
Charlotte Monrova - Fairy tale princess. Stella's relationship with this girl wasn't quite as sudden as a number of her other relationships. As a matter of fact, she came to notice the girl's very existence rather slowly and gradually. The girl was just one of those shadows in the corner of your eye, for a long time, but she began seeing her here and there. She also began taking note of the fact that the girl talked to herself a lot. As this was something that Stella herself did with some frequency, she didn't bother much about it, but then she noticed the spiders. This girl kept spiders as pets. Stella doen't like spiders too much, but she holds some respect for them, as they seemed to be the smartest of the bugs. Randomly approaching her, she asked about how to take care of spiders as pets, asking rudely and without much introduction. From there, they just began to talk. About what? Well, most everything. Unlike Stella with others, with Charlotte she is childish and excited about life, wanting to share knowledge with everyone willing to listen, and willing to listen and learn in her turn. They usually only end up talking during classes and sometimes during meals, but it didn't take much for Stella to learn that Charlotte has something of an obsession for fairy tales, and they found something to talk about in that, as well, as both like fantasy books from the muggle world. Status: Like-minded Equal
Montgomery Knight - Slightly wary friend. They became acquainted in second year, thanks to Elizabeth, though they'd come across each other before, being in the same year and house. They were just "friends of a friend" for a while, but in third year, Montgomery asked her about why she made strange noises at fishes. [SPOILI]
Stella panicked. She hadn't made an excuse for it, thinking people would just think her eccentric. Her mind raced nervously, until she came up with a solution: tell the truth, but make the idea sound ridiculous. In a mock serious manner, she told him, "Fish are my friends. They are the most wonderful, intelligent creatures I have ever come across, and I cannot help it if I wish to commune with them, can I?" In her opinion, fish were probably the dullest animals in existence, and it showed in her tone of voice. Stella had never been the best liar after all, but that was precisely why this would work. Or so she'd thought.
To both her shock and horror, the boy took it literally. "You can converse with them?"
She recovered quickly, her surprise changing to annoyance in a flash. Was he purposefully messing with her? Her natural sarcasm rolled off of her tongue without effort. "Sure, I can talk to fish the way religious muggles can talk to their "gods.""
Barely missing a beat, Montgomery replied, "But fish actually exist."
Stella's blonde eyebrows shot upwards and she stared at him in silent shock for a while. When some of her wits returned, she let out a loose laugh and responded with a more straightforward answer. "And I can't talk to fish any more than muggles can talk to ethereal gods." Somewhat relieved, she gave him a pat on the shoulder and added, "You're awfully dim for a genius." As she left the room, she decided that he was mostly safe to be around.[/SPOILI] And since then, she's been careful around him, but also fairly comfortable. She teases both him and Elizabeth about their potentially romantic relationship quite often, though he rarely seems to understand. She has labeled him as the "idiot genius," though she'll never explain to anyone why that's her nickname for him. Status: Undetermined
Seriphim Brimm - Good friend. Stella met Seri in first year but paid little attention to her until one fateful night third year, when she discovered that Seri was practicing being an animagus. [SPOILI]
Stella's eyes opened crustily, as bright moonlight fell on her face. She'd forgotten to close the curtains around her bed to prevent the light from coming in, but who could blame her? She'd fallen into bed without dinner after that awful Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Stupid chimera. Stupid moon. She tried closing her eyes again. The full moon was Lockett's problem, not hers- The poor girl bolted upright, startled by the thought that it was the full moon. Lockett would be waiting for her. She jumped up and was grabbing her hat before she remembered that the full moon was tomorrow night, not tonight. Now fully awake, Stella resisted the urge to let out a scream of frustration. Angrily, she tromped down to the common room, only to find it occupied. A girl with heterochromia was frowning in concentration, gripping her wand like her life depended on it. Before Stella's astonished eyes, she saw the girl transform, shrinking slowly until she became a small... panda... thing. What was that thing? Her eyes widened in wonder and she took several steps forward. That wasn't what mattered, though. This girl... she had to be an animagus.
When the girl turned back into a human, she looked exhausted. Stella approached uncertainly. "Hello?" As per usual, she got straight to the point. "Are you an animagus?" The other girl looked as though her mismatched eyes were going to pop out of her head. She immediately seemed to begin panicking, begging Stella not to tell. Stella moved forward quickly, trying to calm the other girl down. "It's okay! I'm not going to tell anyone. I promise. You can trust me." Seriphim looked a bit dubious, so she reassured her further. "I have a secret, too. I've never told anyone before, and I'm only telling you now so that you know it's fine. Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me." Taking a deep breath, she told Seri about how she was a half-breed, hoping that that would be enough.[/SPOILI] Seri seemed to accept that she wasn't going to tell, and they became closer, trusting each other more, though Stella sometimes still thinks that Seri can be a bit strange. Status: Protectorate
Lucas Grey - Flying buddy. WIP. Status: Situational Friend
Oswin Ravenwood - Awkward good friend. Raven and she met on somewhat unpleasant circumstances. Towards the end of 4th year, Oswin began snooping around Seri and Sethen. Not liking the idea that other people's secrets being thrown out into the open, and knowing Oswin's reputation for snitching, she quietly followed the other girl until she found out she had a secret of her own. Discovering her feeding method, Stella tried to use it to blackmail her. [SPOILI]
Stella was leaning against the wall, waiting for the other girl to come out of the secluded hallway she was feeding in. She could still hardly believe what she'd seen. When the nearly white-haired girl came walking out, Stella didn't try to stop her, just spoke very quietly, so only she could hear. "You're a fool to try to expose other people's secrets when you have one of your own, Ravenwood." Oswin stopped and turned to face her, but didn't look ruffled.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She said back, her face cold and calm.
"Please, I'd really rather not waste my time with verbal parrying. I saw what you did to that boy, so unless you want everybody in this school to know exactly what kind of monster you are, stay away from my friends. Montgomery Knight, Seriphim Brimm, Elizabeth Silsbury, Sethen Lockett. I'd like it if you left them alone. If not... all it would take is a whisper. I wouldn't even need to help the rumors spread. Even that beloved Scriven of yours would turn against you." Stella was not necessarily the nicest person on the planet, but she felt really cruel, doing this to the poor girl. She wasn't planning to actually tell anyone, but just threatening would probably scare her.
Oswin's response immediately banished any sense of guilt Stella had began to develop for her deception. She simply put on a little amused smile and responded, "I don't really care. Tell whoever you want."
Stella instantly forced herself to strangle her shock as Oswin swept away confidently. She kept far back, but kept her eyes trained on her. It looked like she'd have to keep watching her, praying that she didn't find out anything. The half-merperson watched the half-siren make her way into the bathroom. After giving a long enough time for the other girl to enter a stall, she followed her inside. It was then that she really began feeling bad, because she could hear her sobbing. She let out a long, silent breath, then peeked at the bottom of the stalls, to see where there were shoes. Just one stall. She looked to the right, then to the left, then unlocked the door and yanked it open. It was not exactly the gentlemanly thing to do, but she got the funny feeling that she'd get a jinx in the face if she was any gentler. She leaned her palms on her knees and looked down at the other girl, apology in her eyes. "Look, I'm sorry. I won't tell anyone, really. I'd never do that. It's just I wanted to protect the others. You don't want other people to find out all your secrets, I just didn't want that to happen to them, either." She sighed. She really had intended to blackmail the girl properly.[/SPOILI] But she just couldn't do it. Seeing Oswin's vulnerability, she decided to let things be and the two of them became friends. Status: Protectorate
Jack Sullivan - Monster-killing monster. She met this piece of work earlier in October just this year. It wasn't a good first meeting in any sense of the word. For the umpteenth time, her monthly visits to Lockett got her in contact with someone, but this time, instead of meeting someone who was there just as illegally as she was, she unfortunately came across him because he was a prefect on patrol. By this time, she'd gotten good enough at spellwork to be prepared for these situations, but his lightning-fast reflexes killed her. [SPOILI]
She could hear one coming. Her own, socked feet would make very little noise on the stone, as she knew, but the other person, whoever it was, was wearing shoes that clacked neatly against the floor. She breathed with her mouth wide open, making silent, shallow breaths even as adrenaline flooded through her system. She'd been trying to avoid the mysterious opponent, but he had kept advancing unconsciously in her direction. Stella hid around the next corner, her wand at the ready. The boy passed and she sprung forward, hissing, "Obliviate."
To her utter dismay, she heard him shoot back, "Protego. Expelliar-" Before he could finish the second spell, she dropped her wand and swung her umbrella up and out. It went skittering out of her fingers and clattered across the floor. Snatching up her wand, she made a dive for the umbrella, but the cursed boy said, "Accio." Swear words tumbling in a string through her mind, she pulled back, taking her first good look at the boy. He looked to be about her age, wearing the Gryffindor insignia. He was fairly tall, with a shock of red hair and green eyes that screamed mischief. She stood there glaring at him, catching her breath before taking a lunge at him. He dodged simply, holding her umbrella above his head and saying, "Didn't your parents tell you it was rude to attack strangers?" She just regained her footing, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. She let the calm relax her limbs, then finally opened her cool blue eyes and shruged mutely. He spoke again, grinning jokingly as he asked, "What are you doing out here? Meeting a boy?"
She couldn't resist responding to that. The half-merperson gave a snort and sad, "Yes, because I have nothing better to do right around dawn." In an exaggerated motion of contempt, she flipped her long blonde hair over one shoulder.
He twirled her umbrella in his annoying hand, and said, "I think the school administration would be more upset than I am that you attacked me, but I probably should at least issue a detention. Really, attacking a prefect on patrol isn't very bright." He was grinning in a laid-back fashion, as if he thought he had the upper hand.
The fact that he was a prefect was a surprise, but it caused no more than a slight widening of her eyes. Ah yes, she should've noticed the badge. She'd been too hopped up on adrenaline to take notice of it earlier. Stella closed her eyes and shrugged again, easily reconciling herself to the situation. "There are many things I'm not known for. Bright happens to be one of them. So, if you insist, Mr. Prefect." This was not strictly true. In a sense, it was true that she wasn't known for being bright, but that was mainly because she had a good reason to keep her head down. She was just as smart as the next person, in her opinion, even if she wasn't a genius.
The boy eyed her as if she were some kind of strange new animal he'd never seen before. "What exactly were you doing out here? Other than attacking strangers, that is."
She'd thought of a million different excuses she might use in a situation like this. For goodness' sake, it had been six years.Well, five technically, but who was counting? She'd had to consider the idea that someone would catch her, even with her careful practice of the Memory Charm. Unfortunately, it seemed as though such things had no desire to stay when they were most needed, so she blurted out the first thing that came to mind, with all the ease and aplomb as if it were the truth instead of a lie: "Taking a leak." She gave him a steady look, wondering what he would make of that.
The boy rubbed his chin musingly, returning her level gaze with as much solemnity as she was regarding him with. "I see..." He said nothing else, then gave one musing nod.
Unable to control herself, she began to giggle. As much as she wanted to continue the lie, just for the amusement it had proven itself to be, it was a little too preposterous, even for her. "No, not really. I just find myself more awake and restless at nighttime than I do during the day." It wasn't a lie. It wasn't the whole truth either. It was believable and she could say it easily without raising suspicion.
The boy still had his doubts, though. "If that's all, then why attack me? Is attacking strangers some kind of weird hobby of yours?"
She gave him an "are you an idiot?" look and responded, "Well obviously I do this often. If I wasn't ready to obliviate people, I'd get into trouble a great deal more often, just for walking around after curfew. What would you do?" Her arms crossed over her chest in a slight expression of defiance.
"I would become a prefect and use patrol duty as an excuse to wander around at night. In fact, I did just that." He said it rather proudly, and she giggled again.
"That's good thinking, but it would work for one year. Besides, you need to be a model student, and I'm really not interested in drawing so much attention to myself for such a thing." She said it as if she'd actually considered doing such a thing, which she hadn't. It was quite a good scheme, though, she had to admit, but her points were valid, too. The potential cost simply wasn't in balance with the potential gain.
"I'm sure you could still come up with something better than memory charming people. That can be dangerous you know? What would you have done if I were the kind of person who wanted to set you on fire in retaliation?" Now wasn't he being quite the kind and concerned little prefect.
"I have contingencies." She nodded to the umbrella. "As you can see. And my reaction time isn't bad, either. What kind of monster are you?"
"The kind that kills other monsters. Or wants to at least." What exactly that was supposed to mean, she didn't know, but it wasn't something she had any interest in. The red-head eyed her umbrella with some admriation. "This is nice."
She gave him a sort of pursed lips, sideways smile. "You can't have it, though. That one's special." Then, she jokingly added, "I'm no monster! I'm seriously offended that you could even suggest that!" with mock horror.
"Oh but there are plenty of monsters that look just like anyone else. Ones that wander about at night, taking leaks, and attacking poor, innocent prefects who haplessly stumble upon them. It's a rough world indeed."
"An obliviate spell is hardly an attack. You would've just been a bit dazed and forgotten all about me. And a poor, innocent prefect would've taken a run for it and informed the teacher. Not stand around accusing poor, innocent night wanderers of being monsters." She shot back, easily, scoffing. He was very easy to talk to, for someone like her. Perhaps it had to do with how easily he absorbed her skepticism.
Smiling, he said, "You would be surprised, there are some prefects who are far more serious than I am."
Now that was painfully true. Montgomery Knight, for instance, would certainly fit that description. Unconsciously, she answered assuming they were talking about him. "Indeed, but in that case, all it takes is confessing your sins and accepting your punishment. They'll keep an eye on your for a bit, then leave you alone." She hoped. Knight didn't suspect anything about her night patrols, as far as she could tell. If she ever did get caught by him, she'd have to watch her back for a long while, if she didn't want him finding out about herself, Lockett, or Seri. The idiot genius...
The boy seemed to agree with her. "You're probably right. Oh, before I forget, my name's Sullivan. What's your name?" He offered her her precious umbrella, holding it out casually.
She took it with a smile. "Just Sullivan? No last name? I'm Stella Prince, but just Stella is fine."
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Stella. There will be a seat for you at the detention chamber after school today." He smiled at her easily, no threat in his voice or body language.
"Yes sir." She replied back, jovially. "May I go now?"
He pretended to think about it seriously for a long moment, leaning his chin against his hand. "Sure." He finally conceded, to her amusement.
She gave a small laugh, almost a little derisively, though of him or herself even she wasn't quite sure. "Why thank you." And she stepped past him, heading back towards the Hufflepuff dorms, swinging the umbrella coolly in one hand, as if to supplement the sway of her hips.[/SPOILI] After that, the two of them talked often about many random things, the kind of friendly pair for which banter comes more effortlessly than a normal conversation. A dangerous match, and a friendship she doesn't for a second trust. Status: Mistrusted Friend
SPatronusS
"Sorry, but no matter what yours is, mine is better. Take it from someone known to be non-competitive."
Stingray - She first met sting rays in Australia and thinks they're beautiful and loves their graceful movement and calm manner. She identifies closely with them, as most fish she comes across are flighty or extremely dull.
SBoggartS
"You didn't think it was going to be something like drowning, did you?"
Lightning - Ever since she was little, Stella has had an irrational fear of lightning. It got worse when she once saw lightning strike a tree and setting it on fire near her home. The boggart manifests itself as a cloud crackling and occasionally letting out bursts of lightning.
SPetS
"His name is Bob, and I think he's part dragon. You do NOT mess with Bob."
Salamander - The full name of this male, non-magical fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) is Mr. Robert Ognyan Prince VIII. The "VIII" part was literally just tacked on because Stella thought it sounded cool at the time. She was given him as a present by her parents when she got into Hogwarts. He was still only a month old and just barely morphed into his current form. He was still very small at the time. He is very protective of Stella, and enjoys staying on her shoulder, though he insists she keep him wet. He is not magical, but can speak to Stella possibly through an extension of her ability to understand fish and other water creatures. Fire salamanders are terrestrial once full-grown and usually a mix of black and yellow. Mr. Robert is mostly black with only a few splotches of yellow marring his sides.
SWandS
"I think it suits me, but I don't really know. I always mentally fall asleep when I get too close to a wandmaker."
[Wood]
Pine – "The straight-grained pine wand always chooses an independent, individual master who may be perceived as a loner, intriguing and perhaps mysterious. Pine wands enjoy being used creatively, and unlike some others, will adapt unprotestingly to new methods and spells. Many wandmakers insist that pine wands are able to detect, and perform best for, owners who are destined for long lives, and I can confirm this in as much as I have never personally known the master of a pine wand to die young. The pine wand is one of those that is most sensitive to non-verbal magic."
(Directly quoted from Pottermore wiki)
[Core]
Coral - Coral is a relatively rare core, and was one of the first elements to have been put into a wand. Gregorovitch and his pupils used it, though Ollivander did not. It is said to be one of the most balanced cores, and is further rumored to be highly adaptable, but sensitive, durable, and good with protection spells. It supposedly goes well with people who could use a little self-esteem boost, but are relatively comfortable in their own skin.
(Information taken from studyblue, hogwartsishere.com, and aparecium three)
[Length]
11½ inches
[Flexibility]
Springy
SMagical AbilitiesS
"Darcy, look at this! It's cool, seriously." *Darcy immediately mentally begins translating all her words into "blahblahblah."
[Fish Speak]
She can communicate with all fish and most other aquatic animals, such as shrimp, octopi, sharks, amphibians and shellfish. The most notable exceptions are reptiles (semi-aqueous or not) and mammals. The mammals are a big one, since it means she cannot directly speak to dolphins, seals, and whales of any kind. Despite this, she can talk to them rather in the same fashion that we talk to our pets. She doesn't consider this as communicating with them, though. Her little snide comment about this is: "Anyone can talk to animals. It's whether or not they can understand the response that makes the difference." When she uses this power, she is not aware that she sounds any different to the people around her, and so has no idea whether each animals has its own special language, though her brothers and mother tell her it does sound different according to what animal she's talking to. They say she sounds particularly hideous when talking to fully aqueous animals, such as fish, as opposed to when she talks to frogs or salamanders, etc. She does not know whether or not she can talk to other merpeople, since she's never come across any. If she tried, she would find it wouldn't work for any merpeople except her own, the Amabie. She gets along particularly well with the predatory creatures, because they're a lot smarter than the "herbivores" or "plankton-chewers." A conversation with a Cuttlefish is waaayyy more stimulating than a conversation with a shrimp.
[Underwater Breathing]
The minute her head is submerged in water, Stella can breathe underwater. Gills that are very difficult to see form on either side of her neck. There are no other visible signs of physical changes when she is submerged, and the only way to really see her gills is to have her head in the water, but her neck out, at which point the water will come spurting out of the sides of her neck. It looks REALLY weird. A major, and unfortunate, side effect to this is that they activate WHENEVER her head is completely submerged in flowing water. This, for some reason she really doesn't understand, extends to very very heavy rain and taking showers, making her ability to breathe come in and out. To counter this, she's got her shower time down to five minutes tops, though she can technically last longer, since some oxygen does get through. This problem does not apply to snow, thankfully.
[Song Weather]
According to the site used above to describe the Amabie, these Japanese merpeople can control the weather with their songs. While Stella does not have the power to strongly and directly control the weather in detail, when she sings, the weather tends to more slightly resemble the kind of weather she likes. For example, if it's a very cloudy day and she doesn't want it to be, if she starts singing it will begin to get just a little bit clearer. This is an involuntary magic, and she cannot prevent it from happening when she sings. She's never tried this when thunderstorms come, because she's much too scared to try singing at that point.
SOtherS
"I don't know. There's not much more to be said about me, really."
[School Information]
Her favorite subjects are Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions, the latter of which she excels in. She hates History of Magic, but does fairly well in everything else. Her electives are Study of Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. She tried Care of Magical Creatures, but dropped it quickly after getting bit by a chimera. She is signed up to start apparition classes.
[Hobbies]
Besides her schoolwork, she also really enjoys reading, singing, dancing, and swimming. She can sing both above water and below, but her singing always sounds much better under water than it does above, though not Black Lake Colony level of a difference. Most people know nothing about this, but she is actually an excellent flier and seeker. As her father is a metal-charmer, he charmed a mini-Snitch for her to play with ever since she was a little girl. She doesn't have a top-notch broom, but loves flying anyways. She doesn't like Quidditch that much, though, because she thinks it's too violent, and never even tried applying for the team. She mostly only flies, now, when it's not Quidditch season and when she gets home. She also has an interesting collection of dragon figurines, which was started because her father gave her one for her third birthday.
[Location]
Her family lives in an isolated area next to a large lake, but she is used to traveling lots of places during vacation, getting to swim in warmer waters. She is naturally more comfortable with warm water than cold water. Funnily enough, she also likes salt water better than fresh water for swimming in, though technically it shouldn't make that much of a difference.
[From Behind the Minds of the Brothers]
The Prince children are generally considered, among their father's extended family, as rather peculiar children, though this is mostly due to their introvert tendencies, which radically conflict with the extrovert personalities of just about everyone else in the family, Harold excluded. Most of them would like to blame Nadya, but they can't seem to, as she herself is perfectly outgoing and cheerful. Stella, Darcy, and Sebastian, however, don't really care about this outlook, as it doesn't seem to make them any less adored and harassed during family gatherings. Darcy and Sebastian, however, are distinctly different from Stella, possibly thanks to their genuine blood relationship with such a horde of extroverts. More attuned to the way the rest of society works and thinks, the two boys are painfully aware that their sister can be... a bit dense socially, to put it nicely. Since they both also know what she has to hide, and love her sincerely despite only being half-related, they are highly protective of her. The fact that she doesn't understand why simply reinforces their concern for her safety. Darcy, perfectly amiable and thoughtful to just about everybody else, chides her relentlessly on the occasions during which he catches her being rude or unresponsive to someone she just met, because the last thing she needs is enemies. Sebastian, on the other hand, goes about his protective nature in a much more subtle way.
By far, Sebastian is the scariest of the three. Stella may be rude and domineering at times, but she would never actually hurt anyone. Darcy is an openly peaceful individual with a desire to help others. Sebastian differs from them the most in this regard. Calm, cold, and actively unfriendly, he lets his actions speak for himself. Despite being the prettiest of the three, he is quite possibly destined to be the strongest. Stella is strong through her dancing, broom-flying, and swimming. Sebastian is strong by having gotten into numerous fights with other children his age, and a few older than him. Just like the other two, he has fairly good reign over his anger, as much as any child is expected to have, but this doesn't stop him from going after people he perceives as a threat, no matter how low his chances of winning are. Even though he's still only a first year, he has already found himself better at self-taught jinxes and hexes than at any other magic excluding Transfiguration. He is not afraid of using them to his advantage. That, combined with a nearly silent nature and a sharp pair of ears, makes it undesirable for anyone to hold anything against those he cares about.
SAppearanceS
"Don't look at me. Stare at my brothers. They're the pretty ones."
[General Appearance]
Contrary to what one might think hearing she's half a merperson, she's not excessively beautiful, though she is fairly good-looking. She gets all of her major features from her mother, which is why no suspicions have arisen about her not being her father's actual child. She has waist-length, golden-blonde hair that is naturally wavy, but not curly. It's very fine, thin, and light. She has fairly large, piercing blue eyes, with a slender figure that doesn't look as strong as it is. Both her mother and she are not very curvaceous, though, since they spend most of their free time being very active and build up more muscles than fat. She has delicate facial features with a small nose. Her skin is moderately pale.
[Height]
5'6"
[Weight]
124lb
[Clothing style]
Besides the usual uniform, she usually keeps her long hair loose and likes to wear blue. She particularly likes sundresses and wide-brimmed hats, though she's more used to wearing warmer clothing. She wears water-proof underwear and carries a long black umbrella with her at all times because of her little breathing problem in heavy rain. The only actual accessory she wears is a silver ring on her right ring finger, with the shape of a blue waterdrop. The drop is just glass, but the ring metal glows when she says "lumos" and never erodes, thanks to a little charm her father did on it.
[spoili]
[General Appearance]
Like most, she has a British accent. Her voice inherently is a bit on the higher end and slightly breathy. Her voice actor is Ella Purnell.
[Appearance of Brothers and Extra Banners]
SRP ExampleS
Check my RoleplayResume writing sample.
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