[RC.Room] Relaxing with the Claws

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

Dia had felt as though she had been neglecting her Head of House duties though none of the Claws in her classes had said anything about it. She wondered if she was too distant or too wrapped up in her own world to see the goings on in Ravenclaw House. Whatever the case, Dia made to decision to remedy the situation by spending an evening in the Common Room before her evening class.

Dia thought it best to be prepared for a quiet evening as students often didn't want anything to do with their teachers outside of the classroom but nevertheless she wanted to be prepared and took with her the book she had been given by her mother, Persuasions by Jane Austen. It was after dinner that Dia entered the common room and the blue room was busy. Students were playing card games, wizard chess, and all manner of games. Others were hard at work, hunched low over books and parchments.

Smiling at those who noticed Dia waltz by, Dia made her way to the fireplace and the arm chair next to it. She was casually dressed, jeans, tee and sneakers. She didn't like to be formal outside of the classroom or after hours. Naturally before her class she would smarten up but for now she was comfortable. Sitting down in the arm chair, Dia looked around the room with a smile.

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn looked up from the essay he was writing for his sister when he heard the door to the common room open, and shockingly, their Head of House walked in. Raising a brow in curiosity, Bray stored his parchment and quills to be dealt with later. Picking up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder, he made his way over to the professor and sat in a lazy-boy not to far from her own. It seemed he would be the first to greet her, but surely not the only one, as Dia was one of the more well-liked professors. Well, of course, since who doesn't adore their head of house? 'Well, perhaps the Slytherins and old Fagin.' Smirking a bit and pushing that thought out of his head, he smiled broadly at Dia.

"Good evening, Professor." He said cheerily, hoping to be welcoming rather than just overzealous. "Is there any reason why you've visited us today? Or are we just that pleasant that you couldn't find a better way to spend your evening?"

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash sighed in frustration as he tried to figure out some lyrics for the song he was writing for Laney. He played a few chords, and softley sang a few lyrics,

"We don't have to try
To think the same thoughts
We just have a way
Of knowing everything's gonna be ok"

Smiling as he thought of more verses, he rested his guitar on his lap and scribbled the words into his notebook. Ash heard the door to the common room open, and looked up. Seeing Professor Owen enter, he stood and picking up his notebook and guitar, walked over to where she was sitting with Bray. "Hello professor, how was your summer?" he asked, his French accent slightly noticeable.

[daphne]

It was a new term so Daphne had a new list of extra curriculum books to go through, she had spent most of the day in the library flicking through dusty books and talking to the librarian Miss Marsh. However the evening now had drawn in and so Daphne had decided to move from the old library to the warmth of the Ravenclaw common room and read her book in a comfortable chair.
As per normal she had a stack of textbooks and the one on top was an open book so that she could read it while walking, which sometimes had a few inconvenience of walking into people but today fortunately was not one of those days. The question asked to get into the common room was particularly easy this evening and the door swung open quickly and the Ravenclaw stepped inside not paying attention to who was in there and it only dawned on her she was not alone when she was about to sit on a chair that was already occupied…by the head of house.

Her eyes grew wide and looked at Professor Owen and she clung onto her books a tighter in fear of dropping them all. It was only then did she realise that Bradyn and Ashton were also present and seemingly in conversation with the head of house. With a small smile Daphne took a few steps back so that she was not as in the face of Professor Owen as she had been.

“Sorry about that Professor, I was lost in the book…you know how it is…”

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn nodded a bit as Ash sat down. Obviously, he wasn't interested in in his own summer, but then again they were hanging around with Fay most of the time, so what was there that he didn't know about it? Besides the chaos that went on his house that no one really knew about. The Reeds were crazy, rambunctious people and because of their pureblood status, that was all covered up with intelligence.

Turning a bit as he heard their doorknob ask a pitifully simple question before it opened, he spied another girl come in. Bray could recognize her face and name, but he didn't really know her. When she nearly sat on Professor Owen, it took all his focus not to burst out laughing. Instead, he just smirked a bit. "Of course we all know how that is." He said sympathetically, plus how many students could sat that they nearly sat on a teacher's lap?

"You sure have a lot of books there, Daphe. Need some help or something?" Bray said, offering to take a few of the monstrous textbooks out of her arms. Geeze, in comparison with people, Bray could be considered such a lazy Claw. Why wasn't he staying out in the library 'till they kicked him out? Or even better, actually reading a book because he wanted to, not because he had to? Shaking his head a little with amusement, he looked back towards their head of house, still curious why she'd come here.

But then again, who couldn't love the Claws?

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

Dia hadn't been seated for long before one of the students singled her out. It was Bradyn Reed and Dia looked up at him from her seat with a smile on her pale face. She ran her finger through the hair across her face before answering. "Well," she began, "both but the latter explaining to former." Shaking her head briefly to clear her thoughts, Dia elaborated, "There was no one in the Staff Room so I decided to come here in stead."

When Ashton came over, Dia gave him a big warm smile remembering their talk together before the holiday. "Hello Ashton," she said kindly, "my holiday was too short, as they always are." The thought came to the professor's mind that perhaps she should share more but she knew that these children, young adults had problems of their own to deal with they wouldn't need to know hers. She wasn't sure how truthful she would be if she was asked to elaborate.

When a girl near sat on her lap, Dia was grateful for the change of focus. Dia laughed, something she didn't do very much of recently, and shook her head. "Don't worry about it Daphne," she said chuckling to herself, "it's quite alright. I do know what you mean." Dia fished the book out of the seat where it had fallen and held it up for the Claw to see. Bradyn knew and she smiled at him. "And how were your holidays?" she said looking each Ravenclaw around her in turn.

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash grinned, "Mine were okay. I was supposed to go back to France, but unfortunately Fay and this loser over here" -he indicated Bray, sticking his tongue out at him- "Decided to kidnap me and force me to stay with them at Fay's house." He shrugged, "But it was fun, so no harm done I suppose. Although surprisingly, the best part was coming back to school."

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

Dia smiled at Ashton as he spoke, laughing lightly as he stuck his tongue out at Bradyn, and told her of his holiday. It was nice to see that friendships could still be silly. Hugging her book to her chest, Dia looked at Bradyn waiting a retort but thought she may share a little.

Dia didn't like secrets, not in the slightest. She didn't like hiding things from her parents, who she still saw often, and she didn't like hiding things from her friends. But sometimes she understood it was necessary for self-preservation. It was a weak excuse but a valid human flaw that couldn't be escaped. So why shouldn't seh fight against that and share? she wondered.

Taking a deep breath, Dia said, staring at a patch of carpet just to the left of Ashton's legs. "I was supposed to spend the holiday with Daniel ... erm, Professor Hubbles," she corrected, frowning, "but I'm sure you've all heard. So instead I visited Professor O'Donnell in France." As soon as she realised the irony, Dia's frown went away and was replaced with a smile as she looked up to Ashton. "Did you three get up to much mischief or am I too old to tell?" she eyed both boys in front of her with a teasing smile.

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash nodded as Professor Owen told of what she did over the summer, eybrow raising slightly in surprise when she mentioned France. "Where at in France?" He smiled, "And no, we didn't get in trouble. Just played Quidditch and practiced with the band."

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

Dia couldn't help but smile at the raised eyebrow she got from the sixth year. She knew that it was not his favourite place to be, having heard things about his family life. It broke her heart. But she smiled because thought it caused him pain it had been the relief of her pain for the short time they were there. The smile actually came because people linked emotions to places and little can convince them to change their views on the place.

"We were on a wine estate, sort of a chateau out side of Provence," Dia informed him. Dia was interested to know where Ashton's family was in France but dared not ask. Sensitive ground was not to be trodden on. Dia knew that she wouldn't want people asking about her wounds, why should she do it to others?

Following the next comment, Dia smiled, leaning back in her chair. "This is good to hear," she said thoughtfully. "I remember one holiday my little group of friends went to our mate, Quinn's house. We spent the whole holiday on our brooms practically. Except when Quinn cast a spell. The Ministry was on us like that-" Dia snapped her fingers, smiling at the memory "-We were in an open field surrounded by forest, no people living for miles around, so underaged magic being performed there was pretty unlikely so they sent three officials to search the area. We were in the forest within ten seconds of them arriving and we hid in a thicket till morning. When we eventually got back to Quinn's house her father was furious, he took our brooms for the rest of the week."

Dia sighed, pulling her knees to her chest and hugging them. Those had been good times, simple times when all you had to worry about was getting away with mischief. Time went on though and as Dia's smile faded away she realised just how complicated things could be when you were older.

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash smiled when Professor Owen said Provence, "I live in Lyon." he laughed, "You got caught by the Ministry?"

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

Dia laughed and rocked forward, dropping her feet to the ground again. She couldn't help but laugh. It had been such a stressful night that by the end of it it was a wonder they hadn't been. "That's the funny thing," Dia chuckled, "we weren't. We stayed in the thicket all night, Quinn's dad worrying as he does, and they never found us. I don't know how they missed us though, whenever they came close we'd alway start giggling."

Sighing, Dia looked to the fire and leant back in her chair. "Good times," she said slowly, "nearly being caught by the ministry but being sooo busted by Mr Locksley." The mere memory of the tiny man's red face as he shouted at Quinn for not letting him know where they were. Dia understood now that he had done that, and taken away their brooms, because he had been so worried about them and being a muggle he felt like he was loosing his daughter as well as is wife.

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash laughed, "What were you doing anyway?"

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

Dia smiled. Her gaze traveled the walls to the high ceiling as she tried to recall why they were in such a remote area in the first place. Still gazing at a far away place, Dia frowned. "You know, I have absolutely not idea," she said slowly, looking back to Ashton, "I cant for the life of me remember."

It was such a strange feeling, not being able to remember the why. She laughed. "All I remember was the flash of green that shot from Quinn's wand as were flying over the clearing and us laughing. I do remember we had decided to go in search of something and had been flying for most of the day."

Those times when flying a broom over the local country side were peaceful ones where there were no worries, well, not serious ones at any rate. Hiding from the ministry was fun, it was a game to them. Dia shook her head and smiled. "Isn't that funn?" she said, still amazed that she couldn't remember exactly.

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash smiled, "Wow, sounds like you guys had an exciting day!" He sighed, "Too bad I can't say the same. The closest thing to excitement we had was when me and Bray nearly had a fist fight in Fay's room!"