Post by GRACE ANDREA HERONDALE on Jul 23, 2023 18:06:13 GMT
Hogwarts was a safe place for so many, especially at the moment, and to Grace it was still that as well but while in the past she had been seen as just an outcast, now there were times when she was met with looks of fear. She knew that she was different, she had known it before she had even arrived at Hogwarts. She wasn’t like other vampires, they were bitten and turned into vampires but most started out human. Grace had never had that, both were parents were vampires and she had been born one so it really was all that she had ever known. It seemed rare that a day would go by without one student or another telling her that she was a cosmic mistake and that she didn’t deserve to be there and at first those words had gotten to Grace but over the years she had learned to ignore them. She knew that she had more than proved herself during her time at Hogwarts, her grades spoke for themselves and even though she didn’t have a huge amount of friends around her the truth was that she had enough. As long as she had a few people in her corner that she could count on then that was more than good enough for her so she really didn’t care what anyone else thought. There were a few girls at Hogwarts who were her best friends while they were growing up but as soon as their Hogwarts letters had arrived they had distanced themselves from her, not wanting to be associated with the freak they were sure that everyone would see her as when she got to Hogwarts. In reality it was her former friends who tended to make things worse for Grace than the other students did a lot of the time but she had learned to stand up for herself and now she didn’t take what they said without firing back at them. They never seemed to like that but it always made Grace feel a little better when they went running away with their tails between their legs so that was just the way it had to be.
Minnie and her growing feelings for the girl were definitely making things more bearable, she knew that she didn’t want to drag Minnie into her mess but the girl had made it clear that she was going to stand by her no matter what and Grace was beyond grateful to her for that. She still wasn’t sure how to tell her dad that she liked girls as well as boys given that he was born in a completely different era and as much as she loved him and he loved her she just wasn’t sure that he would ever understand. Right now she knew that he had more than enough on his plate trying to keep the Ministry running and keep everyone safe so the last thing she wanted was to add to what he was dealing with so she had stayed quiet and she had a feeling that it would be a while before she felt ready to talk to him about it. For now she had other things to think about though, her fifth year had been intense with all of the preparation for her OWLs to contend with but now that was over and she had a year before her NEWTs so she knew that she wanted to make the most of it. That day was a surprisingly sunny one and it wasn’t too cold so she had ended up talking to one of her friends outside during her free period rather than being stuck inside, her lapis lazuli necklace hanging around her neck to protect her from the sun as always. As usual there were Guardians and Ministry workers patrolling the grounds so Grace didn’t feel like there was anything to worry about but as she bid goodbye to Ryan as he headed off for his next class, Grace heard whispering behind her and she turned around to find a group of her former friends standing there laughing. “What do you want?” she asked before rolling her eyes as they asked if she was talking to her boyfriend or whether she was planning on making him her next meal. “He’s a friend. Unlike you I actually have some real ones of those,” she countered, a half smile tugging at the corner of her mouth at the girls’ reaction. As their leader, her former best friend, called her a disgrace and a cosmic mistake for what was probably the hundredth time since the start of the year, Grace couldn’t help but laugh. “You seriously can’t come up with anything more original than that? At least I know who I am and what I stand for. Rumour has it your parents have probably fallen in with the Enlightened and will end up in Azkaban any day now,” she said. Those were rumours that were circulating around the school, it wasn’t something that she had made up, and the look on the girl’s face confirmed it. “If you don’t mind, I have better things to do with my time,” she added as she passed by them, unaware that they had something different in mind for her that day.
BAILEY ROSE CARROW