Learned Lessons

[Celina Jedynak]

Celina walked into the Greenhouses looking at all the plants and sighed. Her back was straight and her skin, covered as much as she could possibly cover without being too overdressed or under dressed. It was proper and sophisticated, and yet, she felt as if every eye in the school was staring at her. She could hardly take it... so she had to get out and leave. But where could she have gone? How about somewhere no one would expect of Celina Jedynak? To Herbology... or rather the Greenhouses... just to get away for even a moment.

She could hear her father's lessons in her head. What she was supposed to do, what she wasn't supposed to do, and exactly what he would know what she'd done the very moment she did it. It scared her, and even crying she was afraid to do. What if he knew? What if he could tell she cried? Wrapping her arms around herself, Celina shut her eyes tightly and squeezed tightly with both her eyelids and her arms. She was so lost and couldn't break out of anything.

And yet... wasn't she? Holding oneself wasn't very lady like, and surely enough her mind started to scream, her ears ringing a horrid sound. Screaming out, Celina covered her ears and tried to hold back the tears that threatened to steam down her face. He knew and he was trying to teach her a lesson. She had to stop... she had to stop, otherwise, it felt as if her whole head would explode.

(Open)

[Sophia Crawford]

Sophia had never had the chance to stroll through the Hogwarts greenery, and there was no time like the present. She stumbled through the unique looking plants, paying close attention so as not to touch any of them, not knowing what any of the plants were capable of. She hadn't been a horrible student in Herbology, but couldn't name one leaf from another for the life of her. She stepped to the beat of a song in her head, her heels clicking to the upbeat tempo. Sophia let herself hum a couple of the notes to herself, quietly and softly. She had made her way almost to the middle of the greenhouse when something emitted an earsplitting yell. Sophia's heart almost stopped as she ran towards the noise, not knowing what compelled her. The scream sounded almost inhuman, unlike anything she had heard.

She found the source of the noise, a girl covering her ears and screaming, holding back tears that seemed to well up faster than she could hold them. It looked like Celina Jedynak, the mysterious Ravenclaw in her year, but she wasn't exactly certain. All she knew was that Celina was obviously in pain or frustration...one of the two, most definitely. She knew that yelling back at her was futile, so she instead tried to restrain her.

"Shhh, it's okay!" Sophia tried to comfort her, tried to pull the girl's arms back to her sides. She didn't want to hex the girl, or put any sort of spell on her...she merely wanted to help, but how to help was a different matter completely.

[Celina Jedynak]

With her eyes closed and the ringing in her ears, Celina hadn't heard another approach her. Celina shook her head, trying to shake away the voice that she knew could have only been in her head. She was at Hogwarts... there was no way that her father was there with her. Frustrated and upset at herself, it was only when she felt hands forcefully on her arms, pulling them away from her head where she then opened her eyes. They never looked up though to see whom was holding her, however, for she thought she knew exactly who it was.

Instantly, she crumpled to her knees. She began to mummble words of apology. Almost as if she were begging for forgiveness for something. "I'm sorry... it... it won't happen again..." she kept saying over and over, afraid to look her father into his eyes. She knew what he could do, or even see if she looked within them. All of her thoughts, her inner desires, hopes, fears... he'd know them in an instant because they were all on the tip of her mind. "I've done everything you've taught..." she whimpered. "...everything."

Finally, she looked at the shoes, almost more afraid than what she had been just moments before. The shoes of the person didn't belong to her father... nor to her mother... or even, Alfonz. Realizing what she had probably done, she gasped and shook her head just slightly, her eyes creeping up the obvious female legs.... this was not her father, nor were they anyone she should have told anything to. If anything, she'd just put herself more at risk. "Oh no..." she whispered, a slight sob escaping her lips.

[Sophia Crawford]

"I'm sorry... it... it won't happen again...I've done everything you've taught...everything."

"Celina?" Sophia looked at her with a mixture of confusion and sympathy, her voice full of worry. The huddled mass on the ground had been screaming, now sobbing, now a bit scared. The young girl was nearly speechless. Never before had she encountered such a problem, such a broken person. What internal battle had the girl been fighting? She seemed so terrified, so hopeless. What could Sophia do that could possibly fix anything? She bent down to Celina's level and looked into her eyes.

"Celina, what are you talking about? You are here alone, aren't you?" Sophia surveyed the Greenhouse, checking that no one had been hurting her from afar, from behind some shrub. It truly terrified to see a person cry, especially a girl considered to be so...different from herself. Although she hadn't truly ever known Celina, she knew that the Ravenclaw kept to herself and that she didn't really talk much. She never wanted to pressure her into what was bothering her so, but when something throws you off the deep end it's considered too much.

[Celina Jedynak]

Celina looked around, her eyes just barely open as she tried to take in that indeed, the girl before her was right. She was completely alone in the greenhouse.... well, except for... Celina looked back at the girl, only recognizing her from classes and the fact that Celina had always thought her name prettier than most girls. Sophia Crawford and she were the only ones in the greenhouse. As Celina listened, she couldn't even hear her father's voice... all was silent. She sobbed slightly, her head dropping as she allowed herself to sit off of her knees to the side and she took back her hands, wrapping them around herself.

"I'm sorry. Excuse my behavior," Celina said softly, not really understanding all that was happening to her. She was acting in a manner she knew better than to act in. She was better than that. What would her father have thought, after all? "I should better control such outbursts...." She wiped the tears from her face and looked up at the other girl, her eyes puffy and bloodshot from her crying. Celina tried to smile and laugh it off.

"I must have startled you something horrid..." she began, her voice crackling as she sniffed trying to regain any composure she could have had left in her. "I'm terribly sorry. I really don't know what has gotten into me lately..." it was a lie. But one that Celina learned to tell so well any more.