genius.

Doriana Meadowes, more commonly referred to as Dorcas. Sixteen complete rotations around the sun. Ravenclaw. Sixth year. -- o -- ❝Two things are infinite: the universe and stupidity; and I am not sure about the universe.❞

[dorcasmeadowcs]

kingsley--shacklebolt:

To say that he was surprised to see Dorcas would be an understatement. Dorcas, the one who was always dolled up and ready to go looked less like herself and more like someone who was greiving. He hadn’t realized just the effect Pomona had had on her students or maybe it was her death that made everyone realize that despite their magical powers, there was a still a mortality that hung in the air. “Hey,” he greeted, approaching the girl slowly. The last time he had seen her, she had been messing with his tie and teasing him out the piece of paper that he had hidden on his person. She didn’t know about the love note he had written for the girl who had no idea who he was. All of that seemed trivial at the moment.

“I did too,” he admitted, crossing his arms over his hoodie clad chest. It seemed that Dorcas had found herself a little hiding spot and he was man enough to admit that he was jealous that she did. If only he was smart enough to think of something like that. “Does your boyfriend know that you are here? He’s probably worried sick about you.” Wasn’t her boyfriend a Slytherin like him? Kingsley couldn’t remember at the moment, but maybe it was a good idea to get Dorcas to someone who truly cared about her. “I can take you to him, if you want. I don’t really think the teachers care where we are as long as we’re in a dorm.”

Tossing what was left of the cigarette onto the floor, Dorcas made it vanish with a flick of her wand, leaving no trace of the object. The way Kingsley approached her, the look in his eye-- it made her want to cringe. He was looking at her in the way that a human being looked at another living, sentient human being-- 

But no one ever looked at Dorcas like that.

They’d look at her as if she was a robot, completely devoid of emotion and capable of only brilliant, mechanical thoughts. As if gasoline run through her veins rather than blood. Pure blood. The status of her blood seemed ridiculous, and though all her life she had been raised to believe that being a Pureblooded witch made her as special as being a genius did, it seemed as if every passing minute it mattered less to her. Dorcas hadn’t taken Muggle Studies because of her first-hand knowledge of their culture, having spent an entire childhood balancing a life as a witch and one as a remarkably clever muggle, but she’d known Pomona from discussions and chats about the bits of Muggle culture that Dorcas actually found interesting. At least Dorcas knew her enough to still be in shock.

It wasn’t the death of the woman herself that troubled her. In fact, Dorcas didn’t even know for sure what was the thought lingering at the back of her mind, that made her throat tighten as soon as blood statuses were brought up. 

“He doesn’t, but I wouldn’t know about worried sick,” She replied when asked if Jasper knew that she was here. Dorcas had hardly spoken to him since the dinner, and she'd purposely not gone looking for her boyfriend in order to keep him from seeing her in such a bad and unusual state. Dorcas knew that she could easily fool the rest of the school into thinking that she was fine, but it’d be useless with Jasper-- he’d see right through her. 

“Oh, no, don’t worry about that. Wouldn’t want him to see me like this.” Dorcas smiled and gestured to her outfit, giving a small chuckle. If only he knew what she really meant. “I think I’ll just go up to mine...in a while.”

[dorcasmeadowcs]

kingsley--shacklebolt:

Taking a walk was the only remedy Kingsley could think for his worried state of mind. The dinner had been all good fun and if everything had turned out right, he would have won, but there was no sense of victory when a life was lost. Pomona was funny and goofy and so full of life that the image of her dead body lying twisted on the ground was seared into his brain. Two nights had passed and suddenly Kingsley was rethinking everything. The job that he had wanted so badly in life would involve death and while he had planned on this, it was different when the person wasn’t a stranger but someone who he knew. That was a tough pill to swallow. 

So was the fact that it was his housemates were the ones accused. No one said anything out loud, at least not to his face, but the looks and stares said it all. Slytherin was responsible. Slytherin had Death Eaters. Slytherin had killed Pomona. That was how this walk came to be. The Professors and prefects couldn’t keep them locked up forever and Kingsley needed to clear his head before he exploded. He hadn’t expected to see someone else with the same plan as him, though now that he thought about, maybe he should have. It felt like the entire student body had experienced this and maybe, they needed each other to begin healing. “You sneak out too?,” he spoke softly, trying to grab the other person’s attention, though they were hidden by the shadows of night. “It’s just me. Don’t worry.” 

Two nights already, and Dorcas always said the same think when asked about how she was dealing with everything-- that she was fine, that she was truly enjoying the flexibility given to her and other students by the professors because it had given her the time to read some very interesting books in the library. Dorcas was calm and collected as always, her robes spotless and her headband straight.

She didn’t tell anyone that her hands shook too much to write a single word at night or that she’d gone through an entire pack of cigarettes the previous night. She didn’t tell anyone that she’d turned her shoes into seaweed and tossed them into the Black Lake because there was blood on the soles-- 

Dorcas didn’t tell anyone that the girl made of perfectly clean glass was cracking-- and as long as she could hide it, nobody had to know.

Smoking had become a far more usual habit of hers after the dinner, and Dorcas had been smoking in the peace and quiet of darkness before she heard a voice, and stood up from where she'd been sitting to approach the other. For once, she was dressed rather unusually-- her hair was down and free of a headband, she was wearing an oversized hoodie and a pair of leggings and her feet were only covered by socks. She'd been reading as well, but she left the large, thick book on the floor. “Kingsley? I’m just...yes, I snuck out,” Dorcas admitted while exhaling.

[dorcasmeadowcs]

lvcinda-t:

Of course it had to be Dorcas. The girl always managed to sniff out when Lucinda was at her worst. “When stressed I sleep walk so here I am. I don’t actually recall leaving my room.”

“You sleep walk?” A closer look at Lucinda told Dorcas that this was highly likely, considering the clothes she was wearing and how her hair wasn’t styled anymore. “Well. I guess there’s not much to do about that, since it is an unconscious act. Just get back to your dormitory, there’s nothing to do,” she added, frowning.

[dorcasmeadowcs]

smokinteddy:

Fuck you, Meadowes, I’m not turning the fuck around. What are you even doing here? Why aren’t you in your dorm room? God knows you don’t care about her. Your boyfriend was probably part of this. 

Because I’m a prefect. I’m just trying to help you, for Merlin’s sake, you’ll never get the image out of your mind if you see her like that. And for your information, I did care about h-- what did you just say?

Don’t you ever fucking say something like that again, Tonks, because he would never do something like this. Now leave before I have to get my wand out, because I’m done playing nice.

[dorcasmeadowcs]

lvcinda-t:

At first she’d thought it all an act, after all the professors did like their fun. However the look on the Headmaster’s face said it all and even then, had she not truly believed it, the lingering dark mark in the air confirmed her suspicions. Lucinda Talkalot was fine, or so she wanted people to think. She calmly made her way back to the Slytherin dungeon. It wasn’t until later that evening she woke up alone in the corridor that she even realized she’d slept walk, something she only did when she was at her wits end. 

Lucinda Talkalot was not fine and she wasn’t sure if she ever would be again. The war was real and she was going to have to pick a side.

“H-hello?”

It felt like she’d been walking around for hours, and she probably had been. Dorcas hadn’t even changed her clothes yet, and had her shoes in one hand and her wand in the other as she walked through the halls, making sure no one had left their dormitories. Most of the other prefects had already gone to bed, but Dorcas knew that she’d snap the minute she stopped being active and had offered to stay up as long as needed.

No one had crossed her path yet, not even an animal, so when she spotted someone calling out from the end of the hall, Dorcas jogged over, mumbling Lumos and pointing the beam at her.

“Lucinda? Of course it’s you. Why are you not in bed like all the other students?”

[dorcasmeadowcs]

 cruelcoldsmile:

“Oh loosen up a little, Meadows. Even you’ve got to see the irony in a murder mystery ending in an actual murder.” 

“Are you planning on solving this one too?” 

“This isn’t funny! A teacher’s been murdered-- are you in shock, or something? Drunk, high?”

[dorcasmeadowcs]

cruelcoldsmile:

“And there I was thinking that tonight was going to be boring.” 

“Someone’s been killed, and you’re laughing about it?”

“D i s g u s t i n g.”

[dorcasmeadowcs]

smokinteddy:

Like hell I’m going to go back to the tower. Get out of the way, move, I have to…I have to get to her…She has to be okay.

Turn around, Tonks. There’s nothing you can do and it’ll only be worse if you see her, trust me. I can walk you there if you need me to, but everyone needs to get out of here. Especially those who care.

[dorcasmeadowcs]

bellatrlxblack:

The screaming was one thing, but once both the Dark Mark and the corpse below it came into view, Bellatrix couldn’t help but to feel her insides tightening. A series of names flashed through her head – Andromeda, Narcissa, Rodolphus, Regulus, Dorcas. Even Remus, and even-… Sirius.

She charged forward, ignoring the orders for the students to return to their dorms. All she could focus on was making sure the others were safe, recklessly abandoning all sense of reason.

Dorcas had been rushing, r u s h i n g, _rushing. _Here and there and back, leading a line of first years with their eyes covered to the stairs so they wouldn’t see the blood and the Mark. It was her job-- her duty. But when she caught sight of a brown-haired head that she knew all too well, Dorcas abandoned the task at hand and chased right after her friend, grabbing Bellatrix by the shoulder as soon as she caught up. “Bella,” she gasped, out of breath from the sprint and the shock, “oh, Bella.”

[dorcasmeadowcs]

Dorcas knew how to react under stress. Breathe, she told herself, turning away from the symbol that wiped any bit of color off her face and was making Dorcas shake, a blade of grass caught in a hurricane. Still, she walked on, setting her hand on children’s shoulders, making them group up and head straight to the dormitories-- before they could see. They were too young to see glazed eyes and blood flowing like many scarlet rivers, making its way further and further away from the corpse.

                  A teacher was a corpse,  

                                                                and the Dark Mark had been glowing above it.

Bile rose in her throat and her breaths were coming in small gasps, vision blurring at the edges. Dorcas knew what happened before one fainted, but she was a Prefect-- she had to hold her god damn self together, for Merlin’s sake. Passing a familiar face as she resumed her walk, she grabbed their arm and pulled them along. “I need to make sure that all the younger ones have already been taken to their dormitories, and I’ve been going from the bottom up. You haven’t seen any stray first or second years, have you?” Her speech was fast, faster than usual-- do not faint, Meadowes, she told herself.

[dorcasmeadowcs]

caradoc-cares-not:

Mmhm, sure, whatever you have to tell yourself, sweetheart.

Yep. Lots of kicking, lots of energy, lots of fun. Hopefully zero falling on our asses, but, hey, that can be fun, too.

There is only one person in the world allowed to call me sweetheart, Mr. Dearborn, and it is my fiancée.

Alright-- let’s dance, then! But let’s avoid falling on our asses, because rather than fun, we’d look like complete idiots.

[dorcasmeadowcs]

jxsper-f:

As the muggles say, I’m just here so I won’t get fined.

Then you might as well be here to watch me solve the mystery and beat everyone else.

[dorcasmeadowcs]

timeturnerclubs:

Oh, it was just awful. For the most part, the Countess and I have a very amicable relationship, she’s kind and patient with me even when I make mistakes, but today… Today, she was on edge. There was a handkerchief that wasn’t hers left in her room, and she scolded me for leaving it there. I said that I didn’t, that she must be mistaken, but that only made her even angrier. When she left to go greet the guests, she was still in a terribly sour mood. 

I swear I didn’t leave that handkerchief there, though. I don’t even know whose it is, the embroidery along the edge looks familiar, but I can’t seem to place it.

That handkerchief must be a clue. Look at Viola’s-- does the embroidery match the one you saw? And what exactly where the Count’s whereabouts along the time that you found the handkerchief?

[dorcasmeadowcs]

timeturnerclubs:

You’ve solved it? You know what happened to the Countess? Oh, please do let someone know so this ugliness can be over. I feel awful just sitting around and waiting, thinking about when I saw her last. If that encounter ended up being our final impressions of each other, I don’t think… I could bear it.

I think I do. I’m sorry to hear that, and all. You know, many students think it was you-- but I don't. So why don’t you tell me about this last encounter? In detail. You could prove my theory, and only when I’m certain that I’m right I will let someone know.

[dorcasmeadowcs]

luciusmalfuck:

“Did you finally figure it out, Miss Meadowes?” Lucius says, coy, even as he takes a drink of champagne. “I have to admit, I did have my money on you, so I’m rather impressed you’re so close to being done.”

“I’m pretty sure I have, although I’ve been hanging around the professors to see if they let some clues slip. Just for good measure. And well, you’d have been a fool to place that money on someone else.”

[dorcasmeadowcs]

timeturnerclubs:

Certainly not! I can’t think of a higher honor than serving the Pennypincher family. My father was their butler before me, and his father before him, back as many generations as my memory can extend. Everyone has a place in the world, and I’m quite happy with mine. I would do anything for the Count and Dowager.

Oh, please. It’s not like either of them is going to hear if you tell me quietly. I don’t believe for a second that you’re content with just being a butler.

[dorcasmeadowcs]

timeturnerclubs:

Excellent. So reassuring to know that the best and brightest of the children invited to the dinner party are on the case. 

Sorry, Ms. Meadowes, this is just the character I’m supposed to be playing, obviously I know you’re very bright. I’m sure you can solve the mystery, just the way you figured out how to disarm that nundu in the exercise we did last week…I mean! Sorry, I don’t know what I’m talking about. I have always just been the Pennypinchers’ butler! 

That’s alright, Professor, I’m perfectly aware of my brilliancy. Wait-- did I hear you say just the butler? I assume you have some ambitions, everyone does. Care to tell me what they are? A whole life dedicated to servitude must be quite boring, of course-- ever thought about being served rather than just serving?