Hufflepuff Common Room

Theo never took her Prefect duties seriously, thinking that maybe if she just ignored them they would eventually go away. The badge never stopped her from breaking the rules, she still had a crowd to entertain and some less fortunate targets cursing her; at some point she tried purposely docking off points and assigning them to Hufflepuff, until finally she unpinned the damned thing off her chest and lost it somewhere inside her yellow bag. Unfortunately, all her effort seemed to have been in vain when a new badge arrived that summer, all shiny and stating that she was being promoted to Head Girl, of all things. Which would have been fine, Theo might have ignored that too, only if Gran hadn’t found out about it.

Theo loved her sister, she really did, Nora was her little most precious thing besides Muffle and Quentin; but apparently Gran had brainwashed Nora, that was the only obvious explanation, because there was no way Nora would have said anything to Gran if her mind was still her own. Now, being in Hufflepuff was already insult enough, being Head Girl of the said House was probably worse, according to dear ol’ Gran; and just, no matter what Theo did, she’d probably end up dead the moment she stepped out of Hogwarts, her own Gran would sell her to the Death Eaters or something-

Starting from her thoughts, the pink-haired girl leaned backwards in her chair. She moved her arm from the round table, realizing it had fallen asleep; she had rested her head on it too long. Theo squeezed and released her fist a couple of times, trying to rid it of the uncomfortable feeling. Her fingers were smudged with ink and on the table before her lay quill and parchment, her tiny handwriting dotting a couple of lines of an unfinished letter. She was really, really trying to be more serious this year and to make a good Head Girl; it was so dull she wanted to cry sometimes, but closer she was to graduating, the more Howlers Muffle got from Gran whenever Theo stepped out of line.

Grunting, Theo dumped both the parchment and quill back inside her bag; she felt far too stressed to concentrate on the letter. Homework seemed even less appealing, so she promptly dismissed the thought. And yet she needed to do something. It was a slow and lazy afternoon, she didn’t have a scheduled patrol for another hour at least; so, turning on her chair, Theo’s eyes travelled back and forth as she scanned the basement for any sentient beings. She caught Jackson, hugged in the corner of one of the overstuffed sofas; and stood to try and sneak up on him. She sagged over the back of the sofa, a little to the right behind the poor boy, and exclaimed gleefully, “Heeey, Jackson!”

"Ack-" flailing her arms Theo staggered backwards, having got a face full of pillow. She was in red alert by the time she got away from the feathery menace, hands now positioned in front of her head to ward off any further attack. “Cease fire! It’s me, Theo.” Hopefully her name rang a bell. She hadn’t talked to Jackson in ages.

Okay, well, she hadn’t talked to anyone in ages. Anyway. Circling the sofa, careful to keep a friendly distance from Jackson’s reach, she plopped down at the other end. If she were honest, she hadn’t expected to so easily sneak up on the blind boy; she’d expected him to have heard her before anything, didn’t blind people have like super-hearing or something? But maybe Jackson hadn’t been paying attention, as she sometimes got caught up in her own little world and failed to notice anything else around her.

Theo fidgeted in her seat, trying to make herself more comfortable. Her eyes kept on the younger Hufflepuff a moment before she cast her gaze over to the hearth. The flames danced in the gentle warmth, as they always did. “So.” Awkward. Between mixing a potions and causing trouble, Theo forgot to learn how to casually interact with people. “’sup?”