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+------ Thread: Feeling misplaced // Maevie (/showthread.php?tid=1279)
Feeling misplaced // Maevie - Fiona Blackwood - 09-07-2026
Saturday, 1 September 1923
After the opening feast
After the opening feast
Fiona didn’t want to be a Hufflepuff. She could see the pride radiating off her mother and the girl wanted to feel as proud as her, but she’d spent the whole summer convincing everyone that she’d end up in Slytherin. The letdown was almost unbearable. She didn’t know how to hide it. And she knew there was no changing it, and trying to change it would require her to speak to her mother about it.
That wasn’t going to happen. So she let her mum give her a hug as they made their way to the common room, but she walked slower so she could be left behind the more excited badgers. She was the last to enter the common room and she could see some students going straight to her mother. Good, she was distracted.
Fiona went to her new dorm room to change into her pajamas – a brand new, pretty mint green nightgown she’d insisted on to show her Slytherin pride – and then sat in the corner by herself. The fire was lit, which was nice, but she wanted to be invisible. Her mother was preoccupied with other students and would be getting Teddy at any moment. Luckily she could hide at least for the night.
When most students were bonding with their housemates, Fiona found herself among one of the only ones left in the common room. She moved closer to the fire, and had her stuffed niffler sitting next to her on the couch. (She wanted to cuddle the thing but she also wasn’t a baby anymore, so she couldn’t be caught cuddling it.)
The Badgers were nice enough, telling her that they were excited she was a part of their house, but nothing was changing how she truly felt. Misplaced. Discarded, almost. She bet the Slytherin’s were having a lot of fun with her dad right about now. And she was stuck here, by herself.
RE: Feeling misplaced // Maevie - Maevie Golding - 09-10-2026
This year’s Opening Feast had been her best yet. The time spent talking to her friends—and the few outer house visitors—had flown by faster than she had realised, filled with more plans for mischief and rule-breaking, laughter, and anecdotes from past terms.
Maevie couldn’t help but feel brimming with excitement.
She even felt motivated to get her grades back on track. After she had spent last year more in a haze than in real consciousness, with night terrors stealing her sleep and a thousand worries clouding her mind, not to speak of the candy, her marks had taken a serious hit. Not enough to get her into serious trouble.
But enough to earn herself a well-intentioned but no less firm admonishment from her mother.
On top of the extracurriculars she would sign up for and her newly acquired Prefect duties, Maevie found herself looking at a pretty stuffed schedule. Part of her felt a little anxious about everything. Could she do all that? Or would she buckle halfway through?
Maevie didn’t linger on those thoughts. This was her first night back, the one meant to be a fun reunion with friends and sweets, crowding the common room until the wee hours of the morning. Thankfully, tomorrow was Sunday.
The evening was well underway when Maevie spotted the disappointed first-year girl, Fiona, sitting alone by the fire and looking as unhappy as she had at the Hufflepuff table. Maevie watched her for a moment, sighing quietly to herself. She didn’t know what exactly it was that made the girl so discontented with the Hat’s choice, but spending the night pouting to herself surely wasn’t the way to cope with it.
Making her decision, Maevie grabbed an open bag of jelly slugs from the low table between the cluster of couches she and her friends had claimed and crossed the room, leaving the group to itself for a while. She plunked down right next to Fiona’s stuffed niffler.
“Hi!” she greeted, smiling joyfully and offering the bag to Fiona. “Would you like to join us? We can make room for one more, I’m sure.”
RE: Feeling misplaced // Maevie - Fiona Blackwood - 09-12-2026
Fiona had been so mesmerized by the flames in the fireplace that she didn’t even notice she’d caught anyone’s attention until she felt the body sink into the couch next to her and her niffler.
“Hi! Would you like to join us? We can make room for one more, I’m sure.”
Her blue eyes looked at the offered jelly slugs, then at the face offering them. She smiled slightly – only slightly out of politeness – and then took the bag from her. She picked out a pink one and put it in her mouth, then set the bag down next to her, in front of her niffler.
Her eyes drifted over to the group that Maevie was referring to. They were happy, and giggling, and talking a lot. Fiona didn’t feel much like that. Probably couldn’t keep up, if she were honest.
She looked back at the Prefect momentarily. “No, it’s okay… I don’t wanna bring everyone down.”
If only she could have wanted Hufflepuff. Then she’d be bouncing off the walls and so excited she couldn’t contain herself.
“Do you think…?” she sighed and shook her head. “Maybe I can talk to the Hat again. Maybe Headmaster MacLean would let me.” She doubted it. She’d never had a conversation with the man.
Knowing her luck, if she had the opportunity to talk to the Hat again, he’d tell her she didn’t even belong at Hogwarts after all. That sounded even worse.
RE: Feeling misplaced // Maevie - Maevie Golding - 09-18-2026
“No, it’s okay… I don’t wanna bring everyone down.”
Maevie pulled a jelly slug from the bag between them and stuffed it into her mouth.
“You won’t,” she said, smiling as she chewed. “We’re way too jittery to be brought down easily. Maybe we can bring you up instead, though.”
She smiled wider, brows flicking playfully. Her words were genuine, light and meant to encourage. Seeing the girl so glum and sad tugged on her heartstrings, and Maevie couldn’t bear to think one of their own spent the evening all by herself. Disappointed or not, someone had to try at the very least.
“Do you think…? Maybe I can talk to the Hat again. Maybe Headmaster MacLean would let me.”
A sympathetic expression flickered across her features, head tilting slightly. “I mean, you can try.” Maevie shrugged, not really believing herself. She hadn’t had much contact with the Headmaster—thankfully—but even from afar, he didn’t look the type to indulge a student’s whims, not even his colleagues’ daughter. And aside from that, she had never heard of the Hat changing its mind.
Maevie released a quiet sigh. “Why do you want to change houses so badly?” she asked, reaching for another jelly slug. There was no judgement or accusation in her tone—only genuine curiosity. “We’re not a bad bunch. And the common room really grows on you after a while, even though it’s kind of underground.”
She chuckled a little and popped the treat into her mouth.
RE: Feeling misplaced // Maevie - Fiona Blackwood - 09-19-2026
“I mean, you can try.”
Fiona knew the answer was ‘no’. She didn’t know much about the man who ran the school, but knew that he wasn’t someone she particularly wanted to speak to. Not even for a matter as important as this. He was tall and big and always looked so serious.
She reached into the bag of jelly slugs and pulled one out without looking. When she did look, and saw it was yellow, she immediately released it and fished around until she pulled out a green one. She was mad at the color yellow, which was also one of her favorite colors.
“Why do you want to change houses so badly?”
It was late. Fiona was tired and disappointed. She didn’t sugar-coat it.
“My dad is Head of Slytherin,” she said after a sigh, as if that was the only answer Maevie needed. It was the only answer that mattered. “I wanted to be in his house.” She turned the green jelly slug over in her fingers. “I spent the whole summer telling everyone I was going to be a Slytherin. My cousin, my friend Lace, everyone.” She finally popped it into her mouth. “And now I’m a badger.”
She spat the word out like it was vulgar, and it landed with the full weight of her feelings about it.
“My mum is Head of Hufflepuff. She was really happy when I got sorted.”
Fiona didn’t expand upon that. She just picked up her stuffed niffler and set it on her lap instead, which she would absolutely deny doing if anyone asked.
RE: Feeling misplaced // Maevie - Maevie Golding - 09-24-2026
It took her a moment to mull Fiona’s answer over.
Maevie couldn’t quite imagine what it was like to have both parents work and live at the same school she attended. It was a strange thought, one she couldn’t wrap her head around no matter how hard she tried or what angle she chose. Fiona’s life and hers were simply too different.
But aside from that problem, following the girl’s logic felt increasingly impossible. Did she like her dad more than her mum? Was that it? Or did she like Slytherin more than Hufflepuff, and her parents had nothing to do with her discontent?
Perhaps it was a combination of both.
Maevie stuffed another jelly slug into her mouth, her brow faintly creased in thought. She pulled one leg up against her chest, settling further into the sofa.
“I bet she was. Do you not want to be in the house your mom is the head of? I feel like that’s a pretty cool thing, no?”
The question almost felt too intrusive, but when had Maevie ever been good at nuance?
But having her mum at the castle did sound rather nifty. She wouldn’t have to wait days on end for a letter if she needed her mum’s advice. She could simply go to her room and ask for comfort if she needed it. To Maevie, that sounded like a great deal.
Her confusion on Fiona's petulance only seemed to grow.
RE: Feeling misplaced // Maevie - Fiona Blackwood - 10-03-2026
“I bet she was. Do you not want to be in the house your mom is the head of? I feel like that’s a pretty cool thing, no?”
Was it cool? Fiona couldn’t think of any bit of it that she would consider cool. The truth was, she hadn’t felt very close to her mother in a while. She couldn’t pinpoint when it happened, really, but… maybe she had never felt especially close to her.
For so long it was just the two of them and then Evander was born. And now Teddy.
“My mum is everyone’s mum now,” she said, lightly, as if it was a funny observation and not the thing that had been sitting in her chest all night. “That’s sort of what Head of House means, isn’t it? She looks after everyone.”
She ate the jelly slug and looked at the fire.
“I just wanted my dad’s house. That’s all.” A pause, then she tilted her head as she looked at the prefect. “You fit here. I can tell. I don’t think I do.”
Fiona looked at the stuffed niffler in her lap, considering this.
“Maybe I’m just tired. It was a long day.” Maybe the best place for her was bed.
RE: Feeling misplaced // Maevie - Maevie Golding - 10-12-2026
Maevie shrugged one shoulder and plopped another jelly slug into her mouth.
“She looks after everyone, but she’s only your mum. I feel like that’s a difference, no?” A smile tugged at her lips, humorous, her eyes twinkling as she winked at Fiona. If her own mum were the Head of Hufflepuff—a thought that felt so incredibly absurd it almost made her laugh—Maevie thought she would have the greatest time of her life.
But she supposed people were different. Her mum was all she had left, besides her brother, so maybe that played a role. Maevie stopped herself from thinking about her dad too much before it got too painful.
Chewing, she watched the younger girl tilt her head. “You fit here. I can tell. I don’t think I do,” Fiona said, and Maevie smiled softly.
She thought she fit here, too. She couldn’t imagine belonging to any other House anymore. It felt warm here somehow, comfortable and easy. Like a second home. She did hope Fiona could one day see it that way herself.
Her smile lingered when the other girl mentioned bed.
“You can sleep over it,” she said gently. “Mull it over. I’m sure it won’t feel so terrible anymore in a few days. And if you do wanna hang out.” Maevie nodded towards the group of friends she had left earlier. “You’re welcome to join.”
RE: Feeling misplaced // Maevie - Fiona Blackwood - 10-13-2026
Fiona looked over at the group for a moment. They were laughing at something, leaning into each other the way people did when they’d known each other long enough to take up the same space without thinking about it.
Maybe another night.
“Thank you,” she said, and meant it. She slid off the sofa and tucked her niffler under her arm, which was better than holding it close to her chest like she would if no one older was watching. “I think I’m just going to go to bed.”
Fiona hesitated for a moment, looking in the direction of the dorms before looking back at Maevie. “The jelly slugs were good. Thanks for sharing.”
It was the closest she was going to get to saying she was glad Maevie had come over. She thought the older girl probably understood that.
Fiona glanced again at the other girls, before finally making her way towards her dorm room.