if you break it, better grow it

[Bernadette Atha]

"Eenie meenie minie moe..." Bernadette's voice was soft as she ran her crayons across the paper. A coloring book of wizard animals was in her lap, and she was currently working on one that resembled a tiger. She had no idea what it was exactly, though. About half an hour earlier she'd been running through the corridors, and accidently knocked a picture off the wall, causing it to shatter. She'd panicked, like she normally did. Tears had filled her eyes, and her bottom lip quivered as it jutted out between her teeth. With quick haste, Bernie used her foot and pushed all the broken pieces behind a nearby plant pot.

What was she supposed to do? She'd been at Hogwarts for less than three days! Its not like she'd learned any spells or anything... Besides, how was she to know there was a spell to fix it?

Now she was coloring a picture to put in its place so nobody would miss it. Maybe they wouldn't even notice. Oh! She was so good at coloring... what if she got famous? Giggling at the idea, she slowed down, wanting to make sure she didn't go outside a single line. Perfection meant time and effort. That's one equation she knew, alright.

Bernadette couldn't help but let her eyes fall toward the pot by accident. This was a magical castle, right? What if she buried the painting shards in the soil, and then watered it? Wouldn't a new painting magically grow in its place? After a few moments of pondering, she decided she'd try it. Why waste the time gluing the picture to the wall if she could just make another bloom? Her plan was genius!

Of course, she should've known from experience that her plans never ever worked.

Throwing her crayons and book aside, she crawled to the pot. Bernadette was careful not to cut her hands as she slowly buried the pieces of the broken picture. How fortunate that this plant was so big so there was quite a lot of room! She didn't want to risk leaving a piece out, and the picture that grew wasn't complete. When every piece was buried, she ran toward the bathroom on that floor and quickly filled her shoes up with water. She ran back as fast as she could without spilling them, and poured them into the dirt.

After a few seconds and nothing happened, she pouted. "Golly, how long does this take?" She wondered aloud, rocking back onto her ankles.

[Damion King]

Doo doo dooooo, just walkin' through the corridors, doo doo dooooo...

Damion hated being inside the castle when the day outside was so nice. Unfortunately, he had some last-minute summer homework that he needed to do and he had left it inside. Bother. So, yeah. He was making his way through the corridor, minding his own business, when some crazy person runs by him, panting and carrying a shoe. Awkwardly looking for side to side, he slowed down and looked down at the stone floor beneath him. Water. Was that person carrying water in their shoe?

He continued down the corridor, following the trail of water. Finally, Damion came upon a small girl. It was a sight to see, he could say that much. Muggle coloring books were abandoned on the ground, next to a small pile of crayons. The girl was much more focused on the pot in front of her, where she was apparently... growing... something...

"Erm... whatcha growing?" he asked, sneaking up behind the girl.

[[Hope you don't mind ]]

[Bernadette Atha]

The new voice scared the marbles out of her head! In reflex, her arms went flailing out awkwardly as though attempting to hit the person. Of course, she had no aim or coordination. Bernadette rocked back so quickly she lost her balance, and fell on her back, looking up at some boy. Yeah. Bernadette Panic Mode... AGAIN. She had yet to have an interaction with someone besides her brother at Hogwarts, and to say she was scared was an understatement.

"Y-y-you're lucky I didn't hit you!" She stated, pushing herself off the ground. She quickly placed the pot to her back, arms and legs out as she tried to block his vision of it. "If I would've hit you, I might've caused some serious damage!" She knew she had a better chance of hitting herself before hitting him, and even if she did, she was so small and weak she'd hurt herself instead. But she had no idea who he was and what kind of dangers he'd bring, so she'd gone on the intimidation route.

Though, Bernie failed to remember one must be intimidating to make that work.

"Uhhhh, I'm not growing anything? Nope. Not me. No sir-ee. Just admiring the pretty textures... and colors... and..." Her eyes darted to the empty space on the wall, her coloring books, and then glanced over her shoulder to check the status of the plant. "What are YOU growing?" Bernadette accused, poking him in the tummy. She quickly raised her arms back up, and lifted her head trying to look scary. Maybe he'd turn around and leave before he noticed and she got into trouble.



{ Not at all :3 }

[Damion King]

"Oh noooo, sorry, kid!" Damion said as the girl toppled over. He went to go help her up, but stopped as she began to speak. Wow, this girl had a lot of nerve! Not like he was trying to kill her or chop off her head or "get on her," if you know what I mean. He didn't mean to scare her. Dayum. But then again, she was kind of cute so he would let it pass.

"Yes, I'm sure you would have. I probably would have had to make an express trip to the Hospital Wing," he agreed. He nodded all-knowingly. Honestly, if this girl had even attempted to make a crack at him, she probably would have only managed a slight scratch. But he would let her have her little make-believe crazy person victory.. for now.

This girl was proving to be mighty suspicious. Was she growing Muggle drugs in that pot? Hmm... She seemed a bit too young to be involved in those types of shenanigans, but then again, she could have just been doing them all her life and they stunted her growth. Maybe she was actually, like, thirty or something. WEIRD. It became especially suspicious when she tried to put the blame on him. He had learned a couple of things over his couple of years at Hogwarts, bud, and he knew when someone was trying to hoodwink him! ...if that was even what he meant. damn.

"I'm actually not growing anything, but you're looking a little suspicious covering up that pot behind you," said Damion with a "WHAT NOW" look on his face. "Look, kid, if they're, like, illegal substances, I'll let you go on your merry way... I don't need to rub my nose in that stuff. But you should probably know that, erm... they're not that great for you and... they stunt your growth... which you really look like you cannot afford."

[Bernadette Atha]

Illegal Substances? Bernie frowned, her arms lowering to her side without meaning to. What is he-- "Oh! Golly! Do you mean that proposal stuff that makes muggles feel good? Mary-You-I-Wanna?" She never understood that. What was so wrong with wanting to marry someone. "I don't understand how that's illegal." Frowning, she narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "Are you asking me to marry you? 'Cos no offense, I think you're nasty and I got my cootie shot, and I reject your offer."

She threw her head up in the air. The nerve of this boy. She didn't even want to talk to someone. She just wanted to fix the picture so she wouldn't worry about getting expelled. And here he was, trying to convince her to marry him. She didn't want to hold his hand or kiss him. And--

"What is THAT supposed to mean?" Bernadette interrupted her own thoughts when she heard his insult. Did he just call her short? Her eyes went wide, and she raised her hand to pat herself on the head as though checking her own height. Her lower lip stuck out again, and she sniffled. "I'm not short, you big bully. You're... you're just giant! And mean! Andandand..." She wanted to threaten to tell her brother on him, but what could Rad do? She was bigger than he was!

She covered her face in her hands, trying not to cry. "You're mean! I-was-just-minding-my-own-business-cos-i-dont-want-to-get-expelled-and-here-you-come-just-being-a-big-giant-jerk-face-and-why-cant-you-just-go-away... and I'm not short!" Bernadette rushed out, eyes squinted shut as she tried to prevent the tears from falling. Her first interaction was not going well.

[Damion King]

HAHAHA. Wow, this kid was a hoot and a holler. ...wait, had he just thought that phrase?

Damion was trying to process what this girl was asking of him. Marry-You-I-Wanna? What the Merlin's trousers was that? Then, she proceeded to say a bunch of weird and totally untrue junk (mostly the "nasty" part was untrue), the gist of which was that she thought that he had just asked her to marry him. Without meaning to, Damion began to chuckle. He knew that that probably wouldn't make the situation any better, but he couldn't help being as amused as a Bowtruckle at this girl's naivety.

Along with being naive, this girl also seemed to be rather sensitive. Meh. Damion listened to her call him a bully and stuff, but he wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying. "Look, kid, I'm sorry -- " he said, without really meaning it, but she just kept going. Before he knew it, she was near to crying and running in the opposite direction. Bloody hell... she was probably going to tattle on him.

Before going after her, he peeked into the flower pot. It looked like it was filled with broken pieces of a portrait... Cocking an eyebrow, Damion shook his head and... sort of... walked quickly after the girl. He really didn't want detention or anything. "Hey, kid, wait up! Look, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything! It's just... uhhh... you are kind of short! That's all! But I'm not really tall either so it's not a big deal!"

Darn.

[Bernadette Atha]

Bernadette frowned, still sniffling as the boy kept insisting on speaking. Stopping, she turned around. "I'm not short! I'm eleven! How old are you? 'Cos unless you're eleven, you're short... kid." She commented back weakly, wiping at her eyes again. Another reason why she wasn't ready to wear make up: she was waaaaay too sensitive and not nearly patient enough to keep reapplying it. Not that boys were worth that much effort anyway, of course.

Picking up her coloring book, she ripped the page out she had been coloring it, looking at the wall. The plant didn't seem to be growing like it should, and she was getting desperate. Someone had to walk by soon and notice the gap on the wall. Turning to the boy, she clasped her hands behind her back, looking down at her feet. "Uhhh, I'm kinda new to the magic stuff... but shouldn't that be growing by now?" Bernadette asked as she nodded the top of her head toward the pot, hoping he didn't laugh at her.

[Damion King]

"Hey! I am not short!" said Damion defiantly, his voice cracking due to the puberty monster was drawing ever closer. It was one thing for a girl to be called short - but a boy? It was almost unacceptable. "I'll have you know that I'm the tallest in my class!" He wasn't. "And I'm thirteen, for your information!"

He was slightly annoyed/angry/what have you, and just because this girl was having a spot of trouble didn't make him feel sorry for her. Well... that sorry. "Look, I'm not sure if a painting can even be --" Damion started to say, an annoyed tone to his voice. But then he stopped himself. Maybe it could... with the right ingredients.

"Well, as I'm a third year, I reckon I know a little bit more than you," said Damion. He continued without hearing what she had to say, "Anyway, the reason it's not growing is because you don't have everything in it yet. You need... erm... two napkins that people blew their noses into... five candy wrappers... one whole shoe - so you should probably just get rid of the wet one - and... uh... seven globs of spit from the person growing it! Then, you tap the edge of the pot with your wand, and wah-lah! It should grow before your very eyes!"

Damion grinned widely at the girl, sure that she would buy into what he was saying. Bahaha. This was going to be perfect.