Ghost
PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Trish
|
Post by Lavender Brown on Oct 24, 2016 3:45:22 GMT
Mourning. Lavender was very familiar with mourning, becoming quite the expert at it, thanks very much. Most of her mourning was for her own bad hand, but she felt the loss of others intensely as well. Most recently Seamus had been stolen from her forever and she couldn't even take solace in the fact that he was enjoying a peaceful afterlife with their friends who had passed before. He would never know rest or peace, she would never get the chance for ghostly romance. Anyway.. Enough about her (she could talk about herself all day.) what drew her down to the second floor today was something much less selfish than mourning for herself. Professor Lupin was a kind man who was dealt an unfair hand in life as well which had recently gotten even less fair. The shabby, scarred old werewolf had lost his wife and even she was devastated to hear although she'd never met the woman while alive. Any loss of wizarding life felt like a crippling blow, dismantling the very world that Lavender fought and died for. She took the woman's death as an insult to her own sacrifice. It was terrible, and as sick as she felt over it surely the Professor was feeling worse. When she heard students talking about the man's class she figured he'd returned to work (Had he even left? She wasn't sure. The comings and goings of professors didn't register high on her interest list.) and Lavender floated her way down from the sixth floor where she was criticizing a portrait's unfortunate outfit to the lower level, gliding through first the closed classroom door and then into his office. "Hello, Professor Lupin. Should I still call you Professor? You're not my professor after all." She mused over the idea as she ran a hand through formally ash blonde curls, shifting them in such a way to cover the fatal wound in her neck. "I thought I'd stop by to offer my condolences, I would've brought flowers or something but..." she reached out for a potted flower on the werewolf's desk, her hand going right through it. "I can't pick them up." She was used to not being able to touch things by now, but her silvery grey face still took on a note of sadness. What she wouldn't give to feel something. The ghost floated over to a chair, sinking down to hover just above the cushion. It provided a sense of normalcy for both for her and usually whoever she was talking too. If she was 'sitting' she could almost be living, just a little pale and grey. "I've never understood why flowers are so traditional. Don't get me wrong, I like them myself, especially lavender. But after you've lost someone dear to you the last thing you want to do is watch another beautiful and vibrant thing die." She tilted her head thoughtfully before shrugging her spectral shoulder. "At least I felt terrible watching the flowers wither away on my own grave. It really drove home the finality of it all." ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Remus Lupin |
|
Hogwarts
Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor
Werewolf
Order of The Phoenix
|
| |
44 years old
Gryffindor Alumnus
Wandless Magic
|
PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Mego
|
Post by Remus Lupin on Nov 14, 2016 4:36:40 GMT
Nearly two weeks had passed, and no matter what anyone else had to say about the appropriateness of it, Remus was never a person who could sit in idleness for very long. Couldn't do it. He was honest enough with himself to know that he was probably the worst company he could keep right now, when all he was doing was sitting and thinking. He had to get away somewhere, but he if didn't have a destination in mind, he was also honest enough with himself to know that he would very likely just run off. So - work it was. At least it was distracting.
The isolated Hogwarts bubble was actually extremely refreshing, he found. Remus loved his friends dearly, but he found the closeness of their sympathy to be suffocating. Maybe it was trite, but sometimes he really preferred the stiff, formal condolences of strangers and acquaintances. Or even better - nothing at all. Either the students didn't know him very well or they were just kids being kids, living in their encapsulated world of drama and homework, but Remus had finally almost gotten through a whole day without someone telling him they were sorry. Refreshing was a good word for it. Remus had no intention (or capability, honestly) of moving on quickly from this, but he sure as hell wasn't going to get stuck. That's the one thing she never wanted for him.
All of this brought Remus to his office desk, with weeks' worth of homework waiting to be graded before him, and a thoughtful expression on his face. Of course, just because he was trying, didn't mean he was always successful. His mind was half here, half off in some faraway memory - so much for distraction. Maybe he was a little more than half in that faraway memory, because the voice that suddenly rang out in his office caused him to jump. He hadn't even heard the door-- Oh. That was why. There was Lavender Brown, floating in front of his desk in all her ghostly glory.
"Just Remus is fine," he told her, thinking the poor girl had at least earned first-name basis for all her sacrifice to the cause. He watched her with the same thoughtful expression he held before, needing a moment to understand what it was she was saying to him. A ghost offering their condolences for a death. Was this irony? Remus wasn't sure what it was, but there it was again - refreshing. When was the last time he'd smiled? "Thank you, Lavender. I appreciate it." He didn't need anymore flowers, anyway.
Lavender moved to...sit down, and at that point Remus laid his quill down. Ah, well. Surely a ghostly discussion would be more distracting than a stack of essays. Or maybe not distracting, maybe...refreshing. It didn't exactly surprise him that a ghost would want to talk about death. He listened to Lavender's musings with his chin propped up on his fists, trying to look at her rather than through her. "That does sound unpleasant," he offered his apology for her having to watch that. "Do you think maybe we need that reminder of finality, though? It's easy to forget that the precious things we love can be snapped away in an instant, when we expect a lifetime with them." Remus was taken aback by his own words and the ease with which they came. Perhaps he wasn't doing as good a job of distracting himself as he thought. He dropped his hands into his lap and leaned back in his chair.
(OOC: I forgot all about this and I'm sorry but then I had muuuuuse)
|
|
Ghost
PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Trish
|
Post by Lavender Brown on Nov 14, 2016 9:09:44 GMT
Ah, her voice made him jump. Lavender had a terrible habit of forgetting that her presence was bound to startle people. There was no footsteps, no sound of rustling robes to signal her approach. People were alone one moment, caught up in their thoughts and then she was here. Some people claimed that the room felt colder when she was near but she thought them to be overly dramatic and she of all people knew dramatic. She wore only a hint of annoyance across her ghostly features at his startling but otherwise didn't acknowledge it.
Instead, Lavender pondered using the man's first name to address him. It felt weird and she had an inexplicable dislike for his name. Even the word 'Lupin' would've tasted sour in her mouth, if she could taste anything. "Actually," she said after a moment of good hard thought. "I think I'll just stick with 'Professor'. There's a connection between 'Remus' and 'Wolf' somewhere, aside from your affliction." Someone, somewhere had mentioned the irony of Remus Lupin being a werewolf. "And, forgive me, but I still feel a bit..." The former--erm--permanent Gryffindor tilted her head and shook away her curls, revealing the very wound she'd taken care to hide moments earlier. "cross when it comes to werewolves, present company excluded of course."
The note of sadness softened at his gratitude and the ghostly seventh year nodded with half a smile across grey, translucent lips. He even had the decency to try and focus on her when she spoke, rather than whatever he could see beyond her. Not many people did, it spoke very well of his character. "Mm." she agreed with a nod, eyes losing focus as she slipped into her own private musings over watching flowers die on her very own grave. "It is." Her next comment brought her right back to the present, though. There was a very small flicker of anger at his words. "Maybe you do." she said stiffly, raising her chin and straightening out her posture. "But I don't need a reminder that all of this is it. While your wife is at peace, I'm damned to drift around here bored out of my skull and watching everyone I loved live on without me.." Except for Seamus, who got neither choice. Still, Lavender felt very miserable with her lot in life..or afterlife.
|
|
Hogwarts
Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor
Werewolf
Order of The Phoenix
|
| |
44 years old
Gryffindor Alumnus
Wandless Magic
|
PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Mego
|
Post by Remus Lupin on Dec 27, 2016 8:53:43 GMT
Not that ghosts could really change all that much - that was kind of the whole point - but Lavender Brown certainly hadn't changed a bit since her death. Still as dramatic as ever. And Remus still found it as strangely endearing as he found it irritating. "That's fair," he nodded at her reasoning for not using his given name, concealing the grin that threatened to spread across his lips with mediocre success. He thought his name was funny, one of the few things he'd nearly always been able to laugh about with his condition. His desire to grin about it, though, dropped when Lavender shook away her curls. Even when it was grey and see-through, the fatal wound was still pretty gruesome. Most fatal wounds were. "Also fair," he nodded again, sincere this time. No offense taken. Most people didn't like being in a room with a werewolf, even if they were dead.
But would you look at that - maybe it was a trick of the light, the way the sun passed through her or something, but Remus almost thought Lavender might be smiling at him. There was a change! He never considered her a very bitter girl, when he knew her, or even a very bitter ghost (maybe a little bitter, but that was of course excusable) - but still, he couldn't remember ever inspiring very many smiles out of her.
So, of course, he mussed that up almost immediately. The words he'd been impressed with had the opposite effect on Lavender. She straightened up as much as a ghost could and let him have it - back to more familiar territory. "I'm sorry - that was insensitive of me," Remus said, holding his hands up in surrender. As he watched her, waiting to see if she would drift away or not (he sort of envied that ability in ghosts), it didn't take much to get to thinking again. He chewed at his bottom lip, considering his options. He had a question he hadn't quite worked up the courage to ask. But he'd already ruffled Lavender's feathers a bit - might as well risk a little more at this point. He had all the time in the world to make it up to her, after all.
"Lavender," he paused, the very thought of asking this question suddenly making him feel very vulnerable - almost like a child. "Can I...can I ask? Why you think it happens to some people and not others?" Surely she knew what he was asking. Wizards had their theories about ghosts, that those with unfinished business or fear at death would come back as spirits, but Remus wasn't all that convinced. Dora sounded terrified when she died. "It occurs to me that everyone is afraid of death."
|
|
Ghost
PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Trish
|
Post by Lavender Brown on Dec 27, 2016 19:43:01 GMT
Professor Lupin's face fell at the sight of her wound and she tossed her hair again, letting it fall over the death wound once again and shielding it from view. While dramatic, she wasn't malicious. There were times while alive where she could have been kinder, but cattiness didn't mean she was mean spirited. He repaid her in his way, wiping the start of a smile off of her ghostly face so they were even, really. "It was." she agreed flatly, standing there for a moment longer as she tried to decide if she was done with the conversation or if she should stay a bit more. Compassion was one of her often overlooked traits and although Professor Lupin didn't look like he needed her companionship well.. it certainly wasn't hurting, was it?
His question gave her reason to stay. "Not wanting to die and being afraid of death are two very different things." It may sound a bit too philosophical for the previously frivolous Gryffindor but she had a lot of time to think over ghostship and Death. "Everyone is given a choice. Fear motivates the choices some make, I think, but not necessarily a fear of death." She shrugged her ghostly shoulder and tilted her head thoughtfully. "Personally I lingered because no one important to me had died yet, and I've never done well on my own. I didn't want to move on to an afterlife and find no one waiting for me when I had so many friends here. I thought things would be almost the same if I hung about. I was very shortsighted."
The note of sadness had returned, it may not be what Professor Lupin had asked exactly but once she started to talk it was hard to stop. Very few people talked about death and the beyond with a ghost, maybe they thought it was rude. Then again, Lavender was never known for being especially approachable in life or in death. "You wouldn't have wanted her to come back. It might have felt nice at first but being unable to even wipe away a tear from the cheek of someone you love is a wretched feeling." Lavender might have been saying things like 'you' and 'she' but she was lost in her own thoughts and experiences, talking about her and Seamus. "It's very lonely when other people's lives go on and leave you behind." No one she knew was still at Hogwarts. Seamus was gone, out of reach. "And she wouldn't feel like she belonged here." There was a time where she thought she could haunt her own home, be with her parents but the pain in their eyes was too much. Their daughter was gone, a spectral shell that they would never see actually live her life. There would be no getting a job or opening the Divination shop that she used to babble about. There was no getting married in a lavish wedding to a handsome Irishman and having lots of handsome Irish babies. There was just grey and floating.
Realizing she'd delved too much into her own feelings, Lavender snapped out of it and brushed it off, brightening suddenly. "You'll see her again. Aren't you the lucky one? Every dog has their day, I suppose."
|
|
Hogwarts
Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor
Werewolf
Order of The Phoenix
|
| |
44 years old
Gryffindor Alumnus
Wandless Magic
|
PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Mego
|
Post by Remus Lupin on Jan 14, 2017 11:06:08 GMT
Remus was a bit worried he had chased Lavender off with his bad choice of words. Strangely enough, when he thought she might go, he found himself not wanting her to leave. Her presence was just right, he supposed. She wasn't in his face like he so abhorred when he wanted to be alone, but she was there just enough to not leave him feeling lonely. Alone but not lonely - exactly what Remus needed.
He tried patching things up with a question - another risk, to be sure, but he was of the belief that ghosts took offense differently than the living so what the hell - and to his relief, Lavender stayed. And she said something that utterly surprised him, coming from the former student he once knew. Remus leaned back in his chair and folded his hands across his chest, nodding along. Not wanting to die was indeed vastly different than a fear of death - not wanting to die was a fear of many faces, or sometimes not a fear at all. Sometimes a choice. Remus held a thoughtful frown on his face as Lavender explained her own choice. Shortsighted, yes, but honestly - Remus highly doubted she was the first young person to ever make such a choice.
Remus sat in silence when Lavender paused; she didn't really seem like she needed him to say anything, anyway. She looked far off somewhere, and he was headed that way as well. What made Dora choose? There were people waiting for her in the afterlife that she knew and loved; too many people. But he...he was still here. She didn't choose him. Would he have wanted her to, when it came down to it? This was the clarity Remus realized he needed from Lavender, but he had no earthly idea how to ask for it.
Still, Lavender rose to the silent challenge beautifully. It was fairly obvious, after listening to her for a moment, that she was very much not talking about Dora and him but rather something far more personable - but that didn't mean at all that it wasn't applicable. Remus leaned forward, elbows on his desk now, hanging on her every word. He wouldn't have wanted her to come back. He wouldn't have been able to hold her or touch her. He wouldn't have been able to grow old with her. He wouldn't have been able to grow with her, period. It would be nothing more than living with a photograph, and he already had plenty of those.
While Remus was still quietly contemplating, Lavender suddenly perked up, startling him enough to sit up straight. Her words splashed like cold water on him. He would see her again - one day. "I suppose," he murmured, smiling just slightly. He adjusted his focus so he was again looking at Lavender and not through her. "That helps, thank you. You've given me a lot to think about. I just feel so...lost. How is it we know so little about the one thing every living person must eventually face?" Realizing Lavender may have exhausted her philosophy reserves for the day - heavy as their topic was - he relaxed again into his chair and widened his smile. "You know you're always welcome around me. I don't know how much comfort that is, but...and I promise not to ask you so many damned questions all the time. I just hate to think you feel like you don't belong. We're all still here, for a time."
|
|
