Wild Dreams ((Celia))

[Anastasia Castlerock R4]

It was only their second night back. Stacey slept like a log usually the first few days they were back at Hogwarts, the early mornings and the strain of classes after the languid pace and the late nights of the summer left her exhausted by the end of the day. But today she had woken up feeling distinctly out-of-sorts, and all because of a very strange dream she had just had. It was one of those dreams that left a lingering effect even after you woke up, and for a few minutes she was still in the same land she had been a few moments ago, or rather the same state and mood. And the strange thing was, she didn’t quite know whether she had been enjoying the dream or not. She just knew it had woken her up feeling happy about something, like she’d found something she’d been looking for a long time ago – or that maybe she had never lost it in the first place, she wasn’t quite sure. All she knew was, she wanted to talk to someone about this.

Stacey got out of bed slowly, as if any quick movements might affect the mood the dream had left her in. She changed into her robes quietly, not so much so as not to wake anyone up but rather because she was so concerned with her thoughts. She walked out of her dorms and down to the place she fancied to be the most romantic and serene place in Hogwarts, the Courtyard. And her eyes settled on a girl she knew very little about. But things like that didn’t ever mean anything to Stacey. She didn't even notice that the girl was from her house because she wanted so much to talk about her dream. She still hadn’t finished brushing her hair so she had her brush in one hand as she continued to brush it when she sat down beside the girl on the bench she was sitting on and started to talk as if they were old friends. “Hi, name’s Stacey, Ravenclaw, blah blah blah. Anyway, I had this incredibly, fantastically, surrealistically, phenomenally, you-name-it, kind of dream. And it’s really weird ‘cos you know I never dream in the first few days we’re back. Usually I’m catching up on much need sleep. And I didn’t even have dinner yesterday, and then suddenly I wake up this morning feeling all freaked out, and first I thought some sound must have woken me up, but then I knew that wasn’t it, and it was like part of me was still in the dream, you know, really strange but kind of cool at the same time, I could still feel it and I wanted to close my eyes and hold on to it but I obviously couldn’t, and that kind of upset me, but not enough to pull me out of that mood,” she said. Stacey paused for breath. She pulled up her legs and crossed them under her Indian style. The girl spoke first before she managed to say anything else.

[Celia Richmond]

Celia had a slight shock hen she woke up that morning...it was her 2nd day back after the long, 2-month holidays they'd just had, and Celia had become accustomed to her own room at home...yes, in recent years she'd spent most of her nights in school, but it was a slight shock nonetheless. Blinking while her eyes accustomed to the beam of September sunlight entering through the window behind her head, she yawned and looked over at her clock on the table beside her. 6.12am, it read, so still early, but although she was not normally good at all with mornings, today she was feeling fairly awake, having had a decent nights sleep, as she had been so exhausted from the journey there, she had turned herself in early, and slept straight away.

So she threw her covers off and climbed out of bed, walking to the front to her trunk to find some clothes, or her uniform to wear. It was all still fairly in order, having only arrived here 2 days earlier, and her uniform was still on the top from the journey and the previous day. Her eyes caught the glint of her brand new, shiny blue, prefects badge. How on Earth she'd been elected as Prefect, she had no idea. But she had decided to take it into her stride and to take the responsibility seriously-she had obviously got on the good side of the professors up until now, and she didn't want to change that. Maybe she'd perhaps end up as Head Girl when the time came? Well, she had some comprtition to face up to with that-the other girl prefects in her year, Ivy Tunstall, Cass Blackfire and Mack Holden were all very good...but she'd think about that closer to the time, so right now she got dressed, washed her face, and left the room.

Reaching the Great Hall, as to maybe have a quick breakfast, she found it open, but there was nobody else in there. Well, it was still only half past six...most students wouldn't be up for another half hour or so yet. So she decided to have a walk outside instead for a while, to get used to the surroundings again. She ended up leading herself over to the courtyard, where in previous years she spent a fair amount of time, weather permitting. There was only one other person there, a Gryffindor boy in the year below. Before long, another girl came to sit with her...a Ravenclaw, also in the year below, and started talking to her as if they were good friends.

She introduced herself as Stacey, and went on about a strange dream she'd had, and how she never normally dreams on the first nights back...and how she didn't have dinner. Wow...anyway, while Stacey was pausing for breath, Celia thought this the perfect oppurtunity to actually get a word in edgeways. "Um, hi, I'm Celia. That sounds weird, what you just said...how was the dream weird? I don't really dream much, and when I do I usually forget it by the end of the day, or within a few days. Dreams are strange things...like what exactly are they? What's their significance, if any? Are they important? How come some people have vivid dreams, and yet others don't dream at all. So, what was this dream about then?" She then realised she was going on, and let Stacey continue.

[Anastasia Castlerock R4]

“It’s not weird. If you’d been there – I mean if you’d had my dream you’d understand what I meant by weird by kind of cool. Anyway the whole thing is beginning to escape me – so I’d better tell you, I was going to but then you asked. Anyway, so I’m like in a boat in this river, and I’m moving very slowly, or at least the boat is, on its own, I’m not steering. And all these trees are around me and I’m enjoying the shade very much indeed and then I pull at the fruits but just before I can bite into one of them, I see faces, like faces I know but don’t know, like people I should know or think I know but don’t really. And then all of a sudden the boat speeds up and then slows down again, and just before I wake up I get the sense that it almost speeded up again,” Stacey concluded the story with a most uncharacteristic like frown. It lasted for moments though and then her face lit up again, she was really excited about having such a dream for a reason that wouldn’t appear clear to most, but Stacey thought it wasn’t everyday or everyone who had a dream like that and that was enough reason. She’d finally abandoned her hairbrush and was momentarily distracted by another topic. “Do you get people who sing into their hairbush? Don’t really see the fun in it. Singing in the shower I get, people always get annoyed when I do that here though,” she said with a sad face.

Though she had showed no signs of acknowledging what the other girl had said up until this point Stacey finally addressed Celia’s questions. She’d looked at her for a moment and sighed inwardly when she realised she was a Ravenclaw. But at least she hadn’t made fun of Stacey as most of her house did. Stacey had suddenly recognised who this was – it was hard to miss the shiny badge, but she’d been too caught in what she was talking about. She was Celia Richmond, their newly appointed Prefect. That made her someone that Stacey would normally have stayed away from because she was probably a good-two-shoes who thought everyone else should be as well. But the questions she asked temporarily put her into Stacey’s good books.

With a most unladylike snort Stacey threw her hands up in exasperation. “So you’re not like those high-and-mighty know-it-alls in our house who think they have all the answers? Personally, I don’t understand the unexplainable maddening quest all our house members seem to have to find an explanation for everything. I say, not everything happens for a reason. And we should embrace and enjoy the mystery and not look for explanations of why things happen because sometimes it just makes those things – ” Stacey paused to pull a face here and sigh, “ - boring and no longer fascinating. I mean, even with people, you look at them long enough, and then you can understand them and predict what they’re going to do next and then they’re no longer as interesting as they were. Few people are different enough to make you keep wondering what their reactions and their perceptions of things and their views of things are,” she finished with an air of exaggerated sadness.

[Celia Richmond]

Celia listened as Stacey went on about her weird dream. Hmm, it did sound pretty weird...something about a boat, and faces, and fruit...Celia just blinked. As Stacey said, it would probably make more sense if she was actually there...which she wasn't. Celia didn't dream much, so she couldn't really empathise with the situation-she had never had such a weird dream. She'd had one a while back involving some friends and a theme park...where everything was there but, different. And from what she remembered it wasn't even the friends she had been there with. But that was abotu all she could remember of the dream, so she wasn't about to mention it to Stacey...she was thinking that the other girl would probably prefer to talk about her own dreams, not Celia's. They seemed to be more interesting, anyhow.

The conversation quickly switched to singing and hairbrushes. Stacey asked her whether she got people who sung into them. "Umm, no, not really. I'm not a big singer myself, I'm more of a 'hum-along-to-the-radio' sort of person. Singing into hairbrushes does seem sorta strange...though I suppose some people might see it as the closest thing they have to a microphone, so it's the best way for them to get into character of a pop star, if you get what I mean. As for singing in the shower...I don't really get that either. People can hear more than you realise, so it ends up being embarassing, especially if you can't sing particularly well, like myself."

It was about then that Stacey seemed tor ealise exactly who she was. She supposed that it wasn't hard to mis the badge pinned to her robes, but if you were in the middle of telling a story, then you were more likely to be distracted by what you were saying rather than the badge. Stacey snorted-why was that? Was it because of the questions she had asked? Or becuase she wouldn't normally expect a prefect to come up to her and be friendly? Well, whichever, Celia thought nothing of it really, and just ignored it. Then she asked Celia whether she was one of those people who thought they were better than everyone else...just cos she was a Ravenclaw didn't mean she was a know-it-all.

"Nope, I'm not one of those people that thinks they're the best, just 'cos I'm a Ravenclaw. I was actually pretty surprised that I was placed in Ravenclaw when I first arrived. I generally thought that I'd be a Hufflepuff. I knew that I was pretty good at all subjects in my primary school, but I didn't know I would be able to get into Ravenclaw. None of my parents were-my mum was in Hufflepuff, and my dad was a Gryffindor. And I certainly don't think I know all the answers, and that's the way I want it to stay. I like finding things out in my own time-that's the fun of knowledge, I find. If you thought you knew everything, then what do you do?"

Celia listened as Staey was goign on about how trying to know everything is boring. "Oh yeah, I co pletely agree. if you spend too much time with someone, you get to know their habits and quirks and things...it's good if you don't know what's going to happen next. it's good to be different. Unpredictable. Then people won't think you're boring. You want others to remain interesting, and you want yourself to remaing interesting too. That way, the world goes around. What would happen if everything was predictable, eh?" She let out a sigh. These deep thoughts filled her mind, even overfilled it.

However, having said that, it made her think more. She realised that despite saying how great it is to be individual and unpredictable, she wasn't. She paused for a while, thinking about what she could do to change this. New hobbies? Change her ideas about certain things? She closed her eyes, thinking about this for a few seconds, then she opened them slowly, and sat up. It wouldn't be eay, trying to be more unpredictable-it was just how she was.

[Anastasia Castlerock R4]

“Well yeah that’s the idea – but in our world it’s so easy to transfigure anything into a microphone! I mean, that would make more sense. And I don’t understand the whole wanting to pretend to be a pop star, I mean they’re lives are so painful. Drugs, too many marriages and messed up relationships, if you want to sing, sing because you feel something, because you’re bursting to express yourself, because you were moved by the words in a song or because you’ve just got it stuck in your head? Who cares who’s listening, people should respect that you just can’t help breaking into song and then you’ll respect it when they can’t help but break into a song and then generally it’ll just be a happier world,” Stacey finished off. She really gave very little thought to what people considered proper or the way you should conduct yourself in public. Here father said it was the Italian blood in her. Stacey was just glad she wasn’t like him, withdrawn from society and scared of adventure.

“Oh goodness, I can’t even let that thought my head, I think I’d die if I even dared to think it,” Stacey said, her eyes widening. “You know Celia; I’m not going to completely hate you despite your being a prefect because of what you just said. How come your parents sent you to primary school when they’re both magical? I thought purebloods got home-schooled – or did they think you might turn out to be a Squib? Ooh, did you resent them for doing that to you when it turned out you were a witch?” she asked.

[Celia Richmond]

((Really really sorry it's taken me so long to get onto this thread! I've been so preocupied with other stuff it's unbelieveable...revision, exams, work experience, going out etc...sorry!))

"Oh yeah, I completely agree" Celia said as Stacey was going on about the painful lives of stars. "Their lives are often really sad, and as you say, messed up with drugs and drink and things like that, and they end up dying before their time so to speak. Others just can't handle the fame, and end up just commiting suicide, at young ages, because they'd rather have just played in small clubs rather than in big stadiums and the like. Nobody should be forced into things they'd rather not do, whatever it is. It often just ends in at least tears, often worse, not meaning to be pessimistic or anything. Everyone should have the right to do what they want with their lives, and not be controlled by others. I want to lead my own life, without it being controlled by anyone else, thanks very much". She took a minute to think over what she had just said. She could think of several rock stars who had come to an early end, and she couldn't help but think why. Why weren't they helped! Celia wasn't the most enthusiastic music-lover, yet she still took an interest in those sorts of issues in the lives of various celebrities to some extent. Not as far as she'd ever buy magazines about celebrity culture-that was too shallow...and she didn't care about what some celebrity wore for some awards ceremony or anything. She was more concerned about how they actually felt about being famous...did it make them depressed or did they absalutely love it, or what?

Anyway, Celia them moved on to Stacey's next point, about people singing. "Mmhmm, I agree with that too, singing should be more of a spontaneous thing, like singing along to the radio or when you have some annoying song in your head. As for the respect, then yeah, others may think you're weird for busting into song randomly in the street, but nobody should care, as you say. If they respect you, you respect them and the world would be a better place. Sometimes society just seems to have obscure views about what you actually have to do to be respected...it's not all about fashion and the like, which the media seems to show, it should be the finer things that are more important that should be respected. It would be better to respect someone who regularly gave to charity for a good cause than some celebrity as they always look fashionable."

Stacey had then changed the subject to what Celia said after that. She assumed that when Stacey was talking about not hating her for a certain comment she meant when Celia said about her probably being a Hufflepuff. Then she was talking about Celia's primary school. "Well, I think it was mostly so I could get a good understanding of the muggle world before I was thrown into the magical world, I didn't actually know I was magical until sometime in year 6, though I guessed there was something strange when I could do certain things that other people in my class couldn't. Have you ever seen the fim or read the book "Matilda", about this magical girl? I guess it was kinda like that in a way. Though not as much. I seemed to be stronger than the other girls in my class, and I could light a match without striking it sometimes. I guess I was pretty talented, but not as much as was originally thought. What about you, what was your background before you came to Hogwarts?"