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Post by Prof Grace Marks on Jun 6, 2007 22:28:15 GMT
Grace was a friendly, compassionate person and she loved above all else to get to know people and help them. She always wanted to keep everyone happy because she knew that that would keep her happy. So she was always pleased to make new acquaintances and often got into the mood to make some new ones.
So on a particularly dark night (it was new moon), after supper, Grace entered the Hufflepuff common room with a gleeful grin on her face. She gazed around the busy common room for someone to approach but saw that everyone was busy. Unperturbed by this set back, Grace went to the seats around the fire. Her favourite seat was already occupied so she found another and from there gazed around, smiling the whole time.
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Post by boofhead on Jun 10, 2007 10:06:46 GMT
Moodily stepping into the Common Room from his dorm room, Striker yawned and scratched his belly a little, making himself look like a gorilla with the way his hair was a mess. He yawned again and rubbed his eyes and saw that the Common Room was busy, his eyebrow raised as he wondered why they were studying here and not in the library? Regardless of the students, Striker found the room relatively quiet and with a subdued smile he approached the nearest free seat and plopped himself down into it.
Little by little did he notice that Grace was smiling and his curiosity rose immediately. His eyebrow was raised again and his curiosity spawned a smile of his own.
'What is so worth something extraordinary to deserve a constant smile?' Striker asked, laughing a little after he spoke.
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Post by Prof Grace Marks on Jun 10, 2007 14:25:49 GMT
Grace watched Alluran as he entered the common room, still smiling. She continued to look through the room, watching two third years girls laughing at a four year boy's joke. She spotted a few first years huddled around a table hunched over their books. It warmed her heart to see such camaraderie within their house.
Her gaze continued over the room and snapped back to Alluran when she noticed he was standing very close by. She looked up at him and gave him an extra friendly smile. She shrugged, and said, "what isn't that would keep me from smiling?"
She giggled slightly, leaning back in her seat, then added, "I'd rather smile then frown. It takes less energy to smile apparently." Her last was an odd comment, she decided but had already put it but there by the time she had realised it. She shrugged again and looked to the fireplace, smiling merrily.
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Post by boofhead on Jun 10, 2007 23:11:23 GMT
'Indeed it does take more energy to frown then smile, but sometimes you must frown to release pent up energy plus smiling all the time makes one look quite odd.' Striker said, speaking in a way that he made himself sound superior. He coughed slightly and laughed. 'Not making any fun of you, smiles are infectious afterall and do lift a persons spirit.'
'So, what are your plans for after school finishes?' He said, intrigued that Grace may indeed follow a career where all she had to do was smile to garner favour.
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Post by Prof Grace Marks on Jun 12, 2007 23:30:14 GMT
Grace had to smile just that little more when Alluran brought up the subject of her activities after school. She turned her body to face him and clapped her hands in her lap. "Well," she said with barely contain excitement, "I've been chosen to be the Keeper of The Chudley Cannons so I'll be doing that."
Her obvious excitement brightened her face, her eyes sparkled, and she couldn't sit still. She jumped up and then sat again, turned to face the fire, turned towards Alluran. After having collected herself somewhat, she took a deep breath. "And what about yourself?" she asked, locking eyes with Alluran.
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Post by boofhead on Jun 14, 2007 1:32:40 GMT
'Chase for the Chudley Cannons? Seriously?' Alluran said, having to laugh a little. 'Congratulations, Grace! Make us all proud by scoring an average of ten goals a game!' He said, having to smile more at her over enthusiastic display.
'Me? I'm going home to work on my families farm, they need help and they'll need an "educated" wizard to help them out.' Striker said, feeling his cheeks warm slightly and his smile fade slightly. The thought of having return to the farm was not a good one, not when he was enjoying his life here.
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Post by Prof Grace Marks on Jun 16, 2007 21:38:17 GMT
"A farm?" she said, both in surprise and amazement, "that's very cool but I never took you for a farm boy. What do your family farm?" It seemed a foolish question but Grace had never been to a farm and had always wanted to go. Her mother had once promised to take her to one but ... it never happened. She had always dreamed of owning a vineyard and farming it, like her great grandfather had done but her life, it seemed, was going into a more high paced direction.
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Post by boofhead on Jun 19, 2007 4:37:55 GMT
'I'm a farm boy through and through.' Striker replied with, looking away and feeling isolated now. 'We farm mainly vegetables for the muggles to eat, my parents are very low key when it comes to magic, though both being pure bloods it doesn't really make much sense. Back home isn't anything like here, here is fun and filled with adventure, back home is dull, the same thing everyday of the year.'
Striker sighed, and kicked the chair he was on, driving his heel into the woodwork. His smile completely faded as he stared into space.
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Post by Prof Grace Marks on Jun 25, 2007 7:49:30 GMT
Grace had lost her smile now too. She studied Alluran for a moment as he stared into nothingness. She would have given anything to have what he had, a home, a family. She had neither and she was not ungrateful for what she had but sometimes she wanted more then just semi-adopted parents and an over excited semi-but not really half sister.
Grace sighed, turned away from Alluran, and gazed at the fire. "You're very lucky," she said, "having all you do." She looked back to him now, smiling encouragingly, "Family is the most important thing in all the world and without it ..." she looked away, "you don't know who you are."
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Post by boofhead on Jun 29, 2007 13:19:36 GMT
'Family is important.' Striker said, thinking about what Grace had said. He continued to remain staring into space, his face remaining blank. 'But there are times when a person has to get away from it all, maybe never return. Who knows...'
Striker looked at Grace and forced himself to smile. 'You do know who you are, but you believe you are not that person. In that belief you become a person who is totally opposite of who you truly are.' Striker said, continuing.
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Post by Prof Grace Marks on Jul 1, 2007 23:04:16 GMT
Grace nodded her head as Alluran spoke but stared at the fire. She understood why Alluran though that way but he couldn't properly know... "But when everything is ripped away from you, you are left with nothing, not even the memory of who you are ..." Grace now looked at Alluran, tears in her eyes that she was trying to hold back. "... if only for a while."
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Post by boofhead on Jul 2, 2007 11:13:23 GMT
'You're wrong, you're left with yourself.' Striker said, seeing the look on Grace's face. 'Being left with yourself means you still have everything; dreams, hopes, aspirations... Just because you may lose everything around you, it doesn't necessarily mean you lose what makes you, you.' Striker tried to give her a warm smile, but he couldn't tell if it was working.
'We've all gone through hardship; leaving family, living in a place far from home where you know noone, having to work in soil that doesn't really like to be worked in.' Striker said, continuing. 'I've had my struggles and still have them, but that doesn't mean I won't ever have nothing left, nor even having no memory of it.'
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Post by Prof Grace Marks on Jul 2, 2007 14:34:18 GMT
Grace managed a smile at Alluran. He did seem very optimistic and Grace appreciated what he was saying to her. She nodded her head and said slowly, "you're right. Not even death can take who you are away from you." This she knew to be true. But then the memory of that day in the hospital came back to her and she looked back to the fire. "Sometimes I wish I did have no memories of ... hardships."
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Post by boofhead on Jul 3, 2007 12:56:28 GMT
'If we didn't have those memories then we wouldn't be able to grow stronger from them.' Striker said, a confused look crossing his face. He shook his head and glanced away knowing it was none of his business, whatever it was. 'By having those memories we are stronger and by having them and remembering what the times were like before they seem less... painful.'
Striker felt a tear well in his eye, quickly wiping it away as he remembered his first dog. He looked at Grace one more time and smiled.
'We all have things were cherish then lose. I lost my bestfriend when I was little, saw him die...' Striker said, feeling his throat choke on his words but he forced himself on. 'I still remember the times I had with him before, so his death was a little less painful than it should've been. I never replaced him with another dog.'
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Post by Prof Grace Marks on Jul 4, 2007 21:32:10 GMT
Grace glanced up at Alluran as he spoke. He doesn't know, she thought, how could he? She lowered her head again and sighed. "Memories are powerful things," she said thoughtfully, "they can both a blessing and a curse in different situations. But I'm always worried," she confessed looking up at Alluran once again, "that my memories will break me instead of make me stronger."
She gave him a weak smile in return and watched his face as he spoke. He seemed to have had much love for this friend he spoke of and it warmed Grace's heart with a bitter sweet sadness for his loss. To find out that it was a dog, Grace giggled slightly. "A truly loyal friend," she declared smiling. Should she share her loss? Should she tell him about her father?
She looked at the fire and locked her fingers together. "My mother died when I was younger," she began, "leaving me with my drunkard father. He was abusive and belittling. And about a year ago he was hospitalised for it. I went to go visit him while he was there. He -" she chocked on tears that were welling up, "-he died that day from seeing me. I killed my father." She began to weep into her hands. She had not told many but since then she had been haunted by him and she had to tell someone.
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