fin.

finley fleetwood at your service!

[finfleet-blog]

pterpettigrew‌:

“Same thing as you, more or less,” Peter answered, pointing to the words on the spine of his book that looked more like tangled seaweed than any recognizable letters he’d grown up learning. “Though with considerably more luck, I’d wager.” He hoped the comment wouldn’t sound rude once it made it out of his mouth, but it was hard to ignore the other student’s clear struggle with the subject.

“I should hope so! This is a nightmare - they should at least use the same characters as us,” he said, shutting his book. “...or maybe a better font would do them some good, I dunno. Maybe Mermish isn’t even a real language, and Hogwarts created it to torture poor language students. Hell, mate, d’you think the merpeople are even real? They probably made those up too.”

[finfleet-blog]

The wonderful thing about quidditch pitches was that they didn’t have the tendency to change between places. Sure, the scenery surrounding them changed, the people in them changed, but ultimately, they all had three goalposts at either end, and they were all the same size, and they all fundamentally felt the same. The days when Fin could catch it empty and train for a bit on his own were the best, even when he was having an off flying day. There’d been a series of those lately: something about tryouts had thrown him off his game, and he was fighting to get back on top of things, but he was sure it was only a matter of time and practice. Today had been alright, by most standards - he’d gotten in a good, long solo practice, and nobody had intruded on him the entire time, but still, like most days, he ended it frustrated. Everything about him felt heavy, like someone had tied sandbags to him while he wasn’t looking. 

Well, he’d have to break through sometime soon, or so he told himself. He was just about to call it a day and head in when he saw someone standing at the edge of the pitch. Flying closer, he realized who it was, and suddenly he was ten pounds lighter: Remus Lupin, who, as far as he knew, was not interested in an evening of quidditch, was there. He was vaguely aware, somewhere in the back of his mind, that he looked ridiculous. Fin’s skin and hair didn’t mix well with wind, and by the end of most practices his face was red from windburn and his hair went a million different ways, and he was almost embarrassed by it. More importantly, though, he was just happy to see a friend. 

“Remus!” he said, a bit breathless, hopping off his broom once he’d reached a safe distance from the ground. “Hi! What’re you - I mean, it’s great to see you, but what’re you doing here?”

@x-remus​

[finfleet-blog]

Finley had never been much of a library person. There were two places Fin liked to be at Hogwarts: one of them was in his room, and the other was outside. Outside, however, didn’t create the best environment for studying, because if he was outside, he could feel some more exciting adventure waiting for him. That is, to say, of the two times he had tried to conduct schoolwork outside, he had ended up going for a walk once, and ended up on the quidditch pitch the other time. His room, on the other hand, had the opposite problem: it was cozy, and entirely lacking in adventure, and it had Smelly. How could he study when Smelly was looking at him like that, and when his pillow was so lonely? Exactly. He couldn’t. So, after many failed attempts (and many impromptu naps), Fin resigned himself to the library. 

It felt gloomy, and resigned, like the opposite of Fin’s sort of place, but thirty minutes into his work he’d miraculously managed to make some progress. Well, sort of - Mermish was decidedly not his strong suit, and his accent was atrocious, but he felt good about having done something. Naturally, then, it was time for a break, which for him meant pestering the poor soul sat across from him.

“I would’ve been better off with Gobbledegook,” he said, sighing. “Ah, well, too late - what’re you reading? Merlin, you’ve been here longer than me. How have you not gone cross-eyed yet?”

[dorkassmeadowcs]

when: late august, 11 pm where: some party with alcohol  who: dorcas & OPEN

“Right?” Dorcas exclaimed, lifting her arm and causing the fabric of her dress to flutter. “It changes colors,” she said, voice high and cheerful. “It’s some new designer or something. It’s like those muggle things… mood rings!” She snapped her fingers after remembering the word she had been searching for. “Yeah, it changes colors with my mood,” she glanced at the sleeve, smiling brightly at the shifting shades. “It might be effected by sobriety,” she laughed.

[finfleet-blog]

If whatever emotion this girl was experiencing was the color of her dress, Fin couldn’t tell if he wanted to feel that way immediately or never feel that way at all. Either way, it was pretty cool (and pretty pretty), and he was as chuffed with it as one could be over a stranger’s clothes. “Well, where can I buy one and how much will it cost?” he said, because it seemed like it’d be fun to know what color you were feeling. “Did it come with a little key? Like, yellow means this, green means that, black means that? Also, what does... that color mean?” He gestured to the fabric.

[alektosfury]

The only good thing about being back in Hogsmeade and so close to Hogwarts were the preterm parties. The downside, first years. “Why are you still talking?”

[finfleet-blog]

“And it was crazy, you know, I’ve never seen someone take a bludger so many times and be able to stand str-“ Well, that was rude. Fin hadn’t meant to ramble on, but but he always got a bit caught in his own head when he was talking about quidditch. “Um, sorry, just. I like quidditch, that’s all.”

[nottahero]

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[finfleet-blog]

ophelia-selwyn‌:

It only took one look at him to tell that he was part of her orientation group. His aura screamed of that nervous, sunshiney energy that could only come from a fellow new student and threatened to hit her with an immediate migraine. A future Hufflepuff, no doubt, if she were to try to profile him. Some people you could just tell… 

“I think they probably have a very different definition of ‘clean’ here,” she said, eyes wandering the room at large - cobwebs hanging in every corner, a few disreputable-looking patrons scattered around. 

At Fin’s home, things were always kept neat and in their proper places. There were no cobwebs, no rats (he was certain that little figure he’d seen skittering on the wall hadn’t been a trick of the vision), and certainly no grime. His mother would’ve lost her mind in this place - and probably had a firm conversation with the manager. “I suppose you’re right,” he said, looking nervously to the wall where he’d seen the rat. “So, then, are you... a Hogwarts student? Here for orientation, maybe?”

[finfleet-blog]

x-remus‌:

“Nothing a heating charm couldn’t fix.” Remus mused after a beat, the thought bringing a smile to his lips. He tapped one of his worn leather shoes against the other as he looked out over the wide expanse of sky, contemplating the notion for a moment.

“Have you seen the dorms yet?” The wizard questioned, tilting his chin as he turned his head to face the other man. Compared with the idea of having to share a room with three other strangers, a night in the tower didn’t sound nearly as bad. He had read about some of the house’s dormitories being built into the dungeons of the castle, and silently prayed against that unlucky fate. Given the chance, he preferred to keep his time spent underground to a minimum, the all-consuming sensation of claustrophobia not one that the werewolf particularly favored more than once a month.

“It’s nice to meet you, Finley.” The werwolf answered without pretense, his words genuine. A quick glance over the man’s features revealed a genuine expression of honesty and happiness as the wizard rambled, his words lighthearted and surprisingly void of posturing. A small measure of relief settled the unease that had built its home in the base of his stomach.

“Maybe if I’m lucky enough we’ll share a class or two.”

“Remus, have you ever been told that you’re a genius? Now all our towertop loft dreams can come true,” he said, smiling at the thought. He wasn’t quite naive enough to think that possible, but if it were, he’d be jumping at the opportunity. 

“I’ve found them, but I’ve not actually gone in them yet,” he said, shaking his head. Really, he’d wanted to, but he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to, and he was determined not to get to any serious rule-breaking until he’d settled in better. “I bet it gets cold for Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Again, heating charm, but still. It’s so... the dungeons are too dark, you know? So gloomy.”

“What house d’you think you’ll be?” He asked, a bit suddenly. He really hoped, having fully deduced that Remus was among his favorite people at Hogwarts, so far, that they ended up in Gryffindor together. Besides, Remus had said it was nice to meet him, which had made Fin feel like this whole affair would be quite alright after all (and left him smiling off at the sky). He seemed like a good friend - and housemate - to have. 

“Merlin, I hope so,” he said, realizing quickly that he sounded too eager, “I mean, yes, if you’re lucky. It’s rare that the common man gets to share a class with the Finnster himself.”

[finfleet-blog]

hcstia--joncs‌:

Hestia laughed at his eagerness. “Careful, Fin. You barely know us. We’ve only been here a few days.” It felt like a healthy reminder – not just for Fin, but for herself, too. Having a bit of discernment when choosing friends couldn’t hurt. “You’re not the only one. The castle is confusing, and the staircases keep moving, and… getting lost and un-lost is part of the charm, I suppose. I have, actually! I went out to Hogsmeade yesterday, to the bookshop… and I’ve met a few…” She tried to think of the words with which to describe Gil. She came up with nothing. “People.”

“Which is a great reason to trust you! We’ve just been here for a few moments, so I don’t have any reason not to trust you,” he said. It wasn’t as if he had many other options, and besides, if Hestia were untrustworthy, she wouldn’t have warned him. “It seems like they’d have better things to do than move around and confuse helpless students all day, but I suppose they get bored sometimes. The bookshop’s good! People are good, too, I think - that didn’t sound like a happy people, though. Has everyone been alright?”

[finfleet-blog]

x-remus‌:

Remus’ expression softened at the realization that his presence might not be entirely unwelcoming, his shoulders relaxing at the man’s words. He was likely also a first year, and by the looks of it perhaps someone having a similar day to his own.

“If air is what you were looking for-” Remus smiled tentatively, tilting his head. “You came to the right place. This must be the Astronomy Tower. It’s supposed to have a perfect view of the night sky.” He let out an exhale; looking out over the peaceful evening, it was easier to forget the uneasy start to the day. If it wasn’t for the other man’s invitation he might have left him to his own devices, but Remus decided against the practiced instinct. 

Instead, the werewolf hesitated for just a moment before taking a seat with his back against the stone wall, his long legs stretched out in front of him. 

“I’m Remus. First year Social Sciences student.”

So far, everyone Finley had met had either been entirely standoffish or aggressively friendly. He mixed well with aggressive friendliness, but after a largely confusing and exhausting day, he rather liked the calm of the evening, and there was something about the other young man that somehow made him feel more at home. 

“I’m considering moving all my things up here and living here instead of the dorms,” he said, halfway wishing that were possible. “Of course, it’d get cold quite quickly, so that’d take some figuring out. And I suppose it’s probably technically frowned upon by the staff, but... I think it’d be worth it.”

It turned out that, when he was tired enough, Fin didn’t have the ability to stop himself from rambling. 

“I’m Finley! Fin, if you want - also a first year Social Sciences student. This isn’t the last time you’ll have to put up with me, then.”

[finfleet-blog]

hcstia--joncs‌:

Hearing the friendly voice of Fin, one of the boys in her orientation group, Hestia looked up from her plate and gave him a grin. For all the fuss about meeting new people, it’d been relatively easy for her so far. Most of the people in her orientation group were friendly. Nice. Or, at least, they were decent enough at pretending to be. She moved over slightly, making room for Fin on the bench beside her. “Merlin forbid you have to make new friends already,” she teased, nudging him with her arm. “But I’m glad you found me. How’s your day been, so far? Anything exciting happen? Meet your best friends, yet?”

“Hey! You and the rest of group D are the only friends I need,” he said, smiling. With the way things were going, that didn’t seem entirely unlikely, and even then he wasn’t entirely sure Ophelia wanted to be his friend as much as he wanted to be hers. Hestia, on the other hand, had been overwhelmingly nice. Overwhelmingly nice seemed to be one of the few qualifications in getting Fin to like someone. “It’s been interesting! I seem to keep getting lost, which isn’t ideal, but it’s been fun getting un-lost. What about you? Have any adventures yet?”

[finfleet-blog]

the case of the missing ferret

[finfleet-blog]

stroutsmiriam‌:

Miriam perked up, feeling like someone actually understood her train of thought for once and wasn’t just being nice. Not that she minded the nice qualities in others but she was used to being on her own train of thought most of the time. “That’s what I was trying to tell her! I could have learned but maybe next year, I’ll try again. Something smaller, maybe like a toad.” Coming to a spot where the tracks seemed to end abruptly, Miriam got down a bit lower and peered around a pile of boxes that were stocked up outside the Three Broomsticks. “It is! I’m rude and didn’t even tell you my name. I’m Miriam and I think she might be behind there.” She said as she pointed behind one of the boxes, a hint of a tail hanging behind it. 

Finley tended to trust people without being given any reason to do so, but currently he would contend that he’d been given several good reasons to trust her. One, she liked creatures (there hadn’t been a witch or wizard in history that liked creatures that’d gone bad); two, she had helped him despite the fact that she didn’t know him; three, she was forgetful, apparently, and he resonated with that. “Toads are fun too. Maybe not puffskein fun, but still, their little faces are so dopey!” Really, though, he was hoping she got that puffskein. She seemed like the perfect pet owner. As she pointed behind the boxes, his eyes widened, and he abandoned her for a second to see if Smelly was there. To his great relief, she was, and he snatched her up off the ground, turning back to Miriam. “Hi, Miriam. I’m Fin and this is Smelly. I speak for the both of us when I say thank you.”

[finfleet-blog]

the case of the missing ferret

[finfleet-blog]

eleanorowe‌:

“Ummmm —“ sweets rarely lasted in Elle’s presence, but she dug deep in her bag anyway, pulling out an old sherbet lemon. “Hah! Here you go.”

“You’re an angel,” he said, smiling with relief. Surely Smelly wouldn’t be able to resist this, so long as she was near enough to hear him say, “Smelly! Deary, mum’s got something for you, okay? I promise I’ll let you have all the sherbet lemons you want if you come back.”

[cmmv-vanity-deactivated20191213]

She honestly hadn’t thought that she’d be that hungry in the middle of a day of orientation. All she’d done was go on a castle tour, met with her group, and had some small conversations. But whether it was the walking up and down all the stairs or the trekking across corridors that seemed to have no end, it left Hestia hungry as could be and desperate for lunch. She sat down at one of the tables in the Great Hall where there were plenty of empty seats around her. This is a time to make friends, a voice in the back of her mind nagged. But she had years to make friends, she reminded herself, settling in and making herself comfortable. So comfortable, in fact, that she hardly noticed when somebody sat next to her.

[finfleet-blog]

Lunch was a daunting prospect, especially since Fin was having no great luck in spotting anyone he knew. His group was certainly here somewhere, but he didn’t know where, and of the people he’d met before orientation, nobody had made themselves less than scarce. Until, that is, in a stroke of both happiness and good luck, he recognized someone in his group. If he needed a sign Hogwarts itself wasn’t working against him, this was it, and he quickly made his way to sit next to her.

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you,” he said, smiling. “I thought I’d lost the entire group there for a second!”

[ophelia-selwyn]

Location: Hog’s Head Inn  Open To: Group D  @finfleet, @hcstia–joncs, @rabastained

Ophelia was lucky, at least, that she hadn’t been placed in Gilbert’s orientation group. There could be no greater indignity than having to suffer through a whole weekend of her brother with a rapt audience, basking in his own damn glory… Not that her position was much elevated, having to meet in some rundown pub off the beaten path. She wondered idly if this was the group for rejects, and whether she’d gotten it on her own merit or Gilbert had pulled some strings. 

She’d gotten to the pub over an hour early - out of boredom, she told herself, and not the weird flittery feeling in her stomach that was certainly not nerves. She’d set up camp at the bar, hands and elbows careful not to touch the grimy, wooden surface. (The long-haired man behind the bar could wipe at it with his sodden, grey cloth all he wanted - that shit was caked into the very core.) 

“I wouldn’t touch it,” she warned, as she heard more than saw someone approach. “You’re likely to contract something for which no healing spell has been created.” 

[finfleet-blog]

Orientation weekend had come faster than Fin had wanted it to. He was excited, sure: this was a brand new chapter, a landscape not yet explored, a chance to make himself into the wizard he was quite certain he could be. But the closer the day of reckoning came, the less confident he became, until it was upon him. Of course, he was always an optimist, so he didn’t think this would be by any means bad, it was just that he wanted to skip the limbo in between Puddlemere graduate and Hogwarts student. 

He got to the Hog’s Head Inn a bit ahead of schedule, riding on the hope that he might be the first to arrive. Then again, he’d have no way of knowing who his group was - his mother suggested a sign, which she’d offered to make, but he felt that might be a bit much. He slid into a bar seat next to a girl that looked his age (a small part of him hoped she was in his group, but the chance of him choosing the right seat seemed low), and stopped just short of propping his elbows on the surface.

“I’ll take your word for it,” he said, looking uncertainly at the bar’s surface. He had no desire to test her hypothesis, so he kept his hands firmly folded in his lap. He smiled back at the girl who’d saved his health for the evening. “Thanks for warning me. I definitely wouldn’t have noticed it without you - Merlin, d’you think they’ve ever cleaned it?”

[finfleet-blog]

x-remus‌:

Since accepting the headmaster’s invitation to attend Hogwarts, Remus had spent the summer doing as much reading as possible on the school, from the history of its formation to the depth of subjects and skill in the professors. However, one of the things he wanted to see most was the view of the grounds from the tallest tower. Remus knew that there would be a tour of the school the following day, but the temptation to explore the vast castle had been too strong. That, and Remus’ desire to distance himself from the large gathering of students in the Great Hall, courtyard, and accommodation areas. The silence in the stairwell was only broken by the soft sounds of his footsteps echoing on the cool stone as he steadily climbed upwards.

Stepping out onto the open platform of the Astronomy Tower and taking in the evening sky around him, Remus almost missed another student sitting in the middle of the floor, looking rather dejected.

“Oh, hey. Sorry. I didn’t know anyone else was up here.” Remus started, sounding every bit as unsure of himself as the other man. “-I can go, if you want.”

Finley wasn’t one to dwell on setbacks, not unless they were really bad, and his experience today hadn’t been so difficult that it could keep his mood down. Left to his own devices, he might’ve thought about it for a bit, found some way to reassure himself, and returned promptly to the mess waiting for him. The arrival of another student (who had proved himself as a student that wasn’t bothered by the fact he was up here) was perhaps going to be a catalyst in his trip to a happier outlook - Fin had always done better in the presence of others than by himself.

“No, no,” he said, quite sure now that he wasn’t about to get in trouble before his first real day at Hogwarts had even began. He’d be an idiot not to try to make a friend here, especially since they were removed from the mild chaos that most of the school felt overcome with. “I was just getting some air. That, and I might’ve gotten lost and ended up here. You should stay - unless you were looking for a solo tower adventure, in which case you’re out of luck.”

[finfleet-blog]

jakegoldenstein‌:

Jake started heading towards Flourish and Blotts, gesturing for the young wizard to follow. He felt incredibly reassured he wasn’t the only soul who avoided purchasing books until the last minute. “Yeah, Hogwarts.” Jake smiled genuinely. Despite his anxiety regarding selecting a degree, he found himself incredibly excited for this new chapter in life. 

“I’m Jake, by the way.” 

“Oh, thank Merlin,” he said, not bothering to hide his relief.  The prospect of going into Hogwarts knowing at least one person set Fin’s heart at ease.   “I was a bit in my head about going in without knowing anyone, but you’ve basically solved all my problems in one go! I’m Finley - all my friends call me Fin.”

“So, Jake, what house d’you think you’ll get?” He said, placing his bets on either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. Gryffindor because, well, that’s what Fin was going to be, he was sure, and it’d be nice to know someone in his own house, and Hufflepuff because he’d been so nice.