⫶ armory

@❛ ? » celine choi。⁰¹ Could this day get any worse? It was fair enough for most to get lost in the many halls and floors of the school with its shifting staircases and countless rooms. But for a seventh year it felt horrific. She was sure she had taken the right staircase to get to her next class, yet the hallways looked anything but familiar. Sirona huffed, her red ponytail swinging behind her head as she looked around.

The vague sound of laughter echoed down the hall towards her. Sirona felt a momentary joy, wondering if perhaps this would be her saviors as she hurried in the sounds direction. The closer she got, the more she could make out their conversation, her hurried steps slowing as she encroached on a corner.
"Did you see her face?" one voice laughed, before another chimed in: "So pathetic."
Laughter echoed off the walls again as Sirona stood there frozen, watching three Slytherin girls maybe 1 year or two younger than her wander past. Their faces showed joy, but the words they spoke showed just where that joy had come from. And Sirona's blood boiled. Bullies....

"Oi! The hell are ye knobheads chucklin' at?" Her feet moved on her own, words flying off her lips with little thought.
"Oh by Merlin's beard..." she heard one grumble, meeting her glare with one of their own. It was not enough to make the Ire back down.
"Don' feckin merlin's beard me. I know yer kind. Yer laughin' at someone's pain and I am not havin' it! Where are they?"
"Where is who?" The slytherin smirked, arms folded with a hint of a wand at the ready sticking out under one elbow.
"Don' feckin play coy, ye know what I mean."
"Not at all. Now move."
The three pushed past her, back to their snickering as they disappeared down the hallways. As much as Sirona wanted she knew better than to pick a fight alone like this, waiting instead to see them turn a corner before mumbling to herself: "..."

Her mind snapped back to her initial thought, scanning the hall to recognize where she was. Whoever those three had picked on might still be in a pickle somewhere, and this remote corner held little but the armory. The worries of her next class got showed to a corner in her brain, her movement instead more deliberate as she got towards the armory. Creaks accompanied the slow opening of the door as she peaked her head in, carefully calling out into the room: "Oi? Ye in here? Those venomous snakes are far gone."

「 ! 」ᴛʀɪɢɢᴇʀ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢ
　　┊ mentions of bullying

it was a curious little thing, wasn't it? the very fact didn't change no matter the era: mean girls would always exist. even in today's day and age, even in a time where something as special as /magic/ existed, in school bullying and harassment was still very much alive, to everyone's dismay and misfortune. even in the halls of hogwarts...even in the very own house she had been chosen for.

she wasn't to blame, not really. sure, she was a late bloomer and given the history with her biological family she was forced to start her magical education a little later than most, but so what? she was here now wasn't she? and sure, some deemed her far too kind and soft to be a slytherin, but her resilience and ambition to /live/, to actually /be/ there against all odds were the deciding factors that the sorting hat saw made her a worthy slytherin. yet, even after all this time, after she had tirelessly tried time and time again, she found herself with her back against the wall. quite literally at that.

"don't make us ask again, be a darling little girl and get in, we've even asked nicely haven't we girls?" a third year tittered with joy, a girl* from a pure blood family at that who had a nasty reputation in the slytherin dorm. the others behind her were harmless really, but they did her bidding and went along with her every cruel whim.

"...you already know this is futile, I'm not the scared little girl that started at hogwarts a few years ago. i don't have to listen to you⸺ matter of fact; i won't, and you're not worth wasting my magic in an unofficial duel either." céline stood her ground. she did as of late, knowing the consequences that would follow but she would not budge, no matter what she would stay true to herself always.

what followed was routine, the older girls pushed her into a dark, cramped closet within the halls of the armory, took her wand and phone, and left her behind, laughter laced with malice echoing through the halls until they became inaudible.

"you've got to be joking, i have potions in an hour i don't have time for their ill-timed shenanigans..." but all the young witch could do was slump against the door and try her best to peek through the keyhole, hoping someone, anyone would be kind enough to let her out.

* ᵃᵘᵗʰᵒʳ'ˢ ⁿᵒᵗᵉ : the 'girl' tormenting céline is currently an unnamed npc from house slytherin but it's open for a connection if anyone wants to take it up, it can be tweaked and further discussed!