WHERE: Puddletown, Dorset
WHEN: Puddlemere United Victory Celebration
Peter didn’t want to be here. That much was probably clear to anyone who happened to catch sight of him yet he went out of his way to prevent that from happening. Honestly he wanted to be at home behind a locked door trying to get some, any sleep… He didn’t sleep well these days… The massive, dark bags under his eyes likely gave that away. He was still doing good at work, enough that some colleagues and his friends asked him to attend the party here and he didn’t want to draw attention by saying no.
So, here he was, a slightly shaking hand raising a butterbeer to his lips while he looked around, worried for both who he’d see and wouldn’t see. He let out a large sigh and looked down, staring into the swirling drink in his hands and tried not to run away with his own imagination. Things would be fine. This was a ministry event. They wouldn’t let anything happen. Half the order was here and they wouldn’t let anything happen, his friends were-
“Ahh!” Peter looked up and someone had decided to approach while he’d been calming himself down; he spilled some butterbeer down his new robes but was too busy trying to stop his heart hammering, “S-sorry, I’m sorry I didn’t- I uhh,” he sniffed, “I really didn’t see you come over…”
Winter had no intention of scaring anyone out of their pants at this particular gathering. (Not that the girl ever really had intentions of scaring anyone out of their pants, but that was far beside the point). She had simply been interested in saying hello to a somewhat familiar face. She’d been at school with Peter Pettigrew (and his band of merry men, but again, beside the point) and had simply wandered over to say hello. Watching the boy jump nearly out of his skin was slightly startling (and somewhat amusing), and Winter bit back the smirk that threatened to crack her features with a sharp bite of her lower lip.
There was something to be said of empathy. Peter didn’t look that great. She kept the comment in her head for once, not wanting to offend so early in a conversation, but simply offered a small, slightly quirked eyebrow as she fished around in her pocket and pulled out a stray handkerchief she kept there (more for aesthetic than anything else, really). “It’s clean, I swear. I haven’t blown my nose in it or anything.”
A small pause, and curiosity finally managed to override the small pang of sympathy she felt, causing her mouth to fall open without her conscious thought. “You alright? I mean, I wouldn’t exactly call myself the most intimidating person on Earth. Look like you’ve seen a walking skeleton or something.”
WHERE: Puddletown, Dorset
WHEN: Puddlemere United Victory Celebration
Quidditch had very rarely been Ophelia’s cup of tea. She could appreciate the hype that everyone had about it, but unless her brother managed to convince her to head along to a game, she tended to avoid getting involved. With that being said however, the victory celebration was a perfect excuse for her to tie up some personal business that she tried to keep out of her shop as much as possible.
No one would question her meeting anyone at a public party, it was what people did at these things was it not? One of her informants had information relating to her family that she needed, and what better place to receive it than in plain sight where it was very easy to blend in.
Getting herself a drink from the makeshift bar that had been set up, Ophelia found herself a relatively quiet corned to stand in. The perfect place for her to observe the festivities going on around her. All she had to do was grin and bear it all. It was one evening, and hopefully it wouldn’t go on forever.
As the night crawled by, Winter found herself more and more interested in wandering around, slipping into conversations where she could, popping off at the mouth and offering any opinion she could get away with, about the game, about the party, about anything in general. She wandered and floated about, every bit the social butterfly no one would rightfully accuse her of being. Perhaps the liquid courage was helping. Perhaps she was simply bored with the people watching. Not even Winter could really say what it was that drove her around.
She could, however, completely blame the liquid courage when she stumbled and fell directly into another body, nearly spilling her almost empty cup, and quickly correcting herself with a half-dazed and slightly manic grin. “Lord help me, I’m sorry. No harm done, right?”
WHERE: Puddletown, Dorset
WHEN: Puddlemere United Victory Celebration
It had been friends that had convinced Wendy to go along to the victory celebration party. She hadn’t been able to get tickets to go along to the cup final match, plus she had also been working that evening, but with no plans for tonight, she had a hard time coming up with an excuse not to take the trip to the small town in Dorset in order to celebrate Puddlemere United’s victory against Kenmare Kestrels.
There had been a lot of negativity in the wizarding world recently, with plenty of terrible news reports of people being attacked and going missing, so she figured if nothing else, it would give her the chance to let her hair down a little.
Entering the large park that had been cordoned off for the party, Wendy was temporarily halted as an attendant offered her a leaflet for her to read. As she glanced over it, she became aware of someone walking up beside her.
“Did you get one of these to? Looks like the Ministry is already focusing on the World Cup when we’ve only just got our British champions.”
Winter was just barely glancing at the flyer that had been unceremoniously thrust into her hands when she heard a voice beside her. Her eyes lifted for a moment, catching sight of the woman and offering her a slight nod of acknowledgement before looking over the thing in her hands again. “Huh.” She offered once she’d actually had a moment to absorb the words.
“Well, you know what they say, always be a few steps ahead.” A small shrug lifted her shoulder as she folded the paper a few too many times to slip it into her pocket, eyes finally looking up to glance around, to take in the energy, the crowd, the everything. It was truly a celebration.
“Shall we go find the drinks? No point in celebrating without a little libation, right?”
Puddlemere United Victory Celebration
Winter & ____
Excitement filled the air, the overwhelming feeling of victory on all sides, and in the fray, Winter found herself doing what she had always done best. Sitting quietly, sipping on her drink, and observing. The Quidditch commentator in her had, of course, enjoyed the game tremendously, she had several points she wanted to go over with another person, moments that stuck in her mind, and thrilled her to remember, but the time to throw herself into the party and mix with the crowd would come later, when she had more of a pleasant buzz about her and more courage to jump into conversations uninhibited.
The air shifted beside her, and while Winter didn’t look to see who had joined her at her little people watching perch, she did offer a slight nod of acknowledgement as she took another sip of her drink. A small, quiet pause, waiting for the other to break the ice or the tension, before she finally released a happy little sigh and spoke for herself. “Does it make me horrible or simply strange that I’m disappointed there weren’t more exciting injuries during the game?”
Winter Stebbins || 18 || Former Hufflepuff || Neutral
(TW for religious extremism, blood mention, violence mention)
It started with Adam. The Stebbins were eager to start a family and Adam was the first child, the prodigal son. He did no wrong, was a shining light. August followed closely behind, with soft curls and chubby cheeks. Winter and Summer came together, late at night and after too many complications, and they would be the final additions to the Stebbins clan. The siblings were all opposites of one another, Adam was the golden boy, a star and destined for greatness. August was the academic, a bright mind and advancing quickly through school. Summer fit the perfect daughter trope to a T, soft curly hair and pretty sundresses. Winter liked to lure the bugs that her mother was afraid of out of the house with trails of marshmallow late at night, the odd duck. Despite their differences, the siblings were close. They grew up on a farm in Ireland, an isolated place where their only friends were each other and the sheep that their parents raised for wool. Winter always felt blessed that she had the family that she did, a lot of noise and a lot of squabbles, but they would do anything for one another.
Of course, that was until Winter turned 11. A normal summer on the farm, things were going along normally, until an owl of all things landed on their window sill with a letter. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Addressed to Winter Stebbins. Her brothers had never received a letter like this, and there wasn't one for her sister. It was all for Winter. Witchcraft, a dark and sinister thing, something that they learned to fear and loathe at church every week, was suddenly knocking on their door. Her parents were furious, unable to understand or even process. Even the perfectly friendly and helpful woman who came to their farm to explain the situation was greeted with hostility. For Winter, it was an exciting opportunity, something new and something that set her apart from her siblings. It wasn't necessarily a good thing, however, after the nice woman had left. Winter was only 11 years old when her parents tried to have her exorcised, and when that didn't seem to work, kicked her out of her home, the only place she had ever known, and left her to fend for herself.
With no other real options, Winter went to the nearest town, with what little possessions she had and what little money she had managed to take from the stash under her bed and found a place to stay. After a few days of this, Winter was questioned, explained what had happened and saw herself shuffled into a foster home for the time being. It was a few weeks later that the nice woman appeared again, sympathetic to her plight and offering her a place to stay until she went off to Hogwarts. With no other options, Winter went with the woman and settled uncomfortably into a new and unfamiliar place, and a new and unfamiliar world.
Once reaching Hogwarts, Winter was rather reserved, keeping her past to herself and keeping herself to herself as much as possible. She studied hard, wanting to excel in a place where she was technically an outsider, but told that she belonged. She wanted to prove that she belonged. It wasn't hard to make friends in Hufflepuff house, a house full of kind-hearted and wonderful people, though Winter tended to be rather standoffish and strange. She was weary of others as a general rule, simply due to the fact that, as proven by her family, people could turn on her at a moment's notice. It didn't stop her completely from making friends, but made her a lot harder to connect with.
Winter never really had a set life path, even after having them laid out for her. She was the odd duck fascinated with death and weird things, and she didn't feel like any career put in front of her was really a fit. School work was her biggest priority, but more as a way to prove herself as something, worthy, not as a means to an end goal of career. She didn't participate in school activities much, besides the Hogsmeade trips and attending Quidditch games to cheer with her housemates as she felt was her obligation. It wasn't until her fifth year that she found a new interest in Quidditch, watching the games having taught her enough over the years that when they were asking for game announcers, Winter signed up on a whim, taking a spot for one game, and her dry humor and snarky remarks being a hit with students (even if the professors were a little less than pleased). From then, she took to announcing as many games as possible, which were a vast majority, as the students weren't jumping at the chance to do so.
That sparked something of a love of broadcasting in Winter, despite the fact that her school load didn't quite point her in that direction. She still found the hobby fascinating enough that she asked if there was some way to continue it after school, and found out about the WWN. It was perfect, it was exactly what she was looking for, and Winter had a new career goal in mind.
Winter found herself exceedingly lucky throughout most of her school career. She would hear the occasional insult thrown at her about her blood status, the scathing remarks something that she grew rather used to as time went on, once they were explained to her as what they were. It wasn't until her seventh year that things took a more violent turn. Heading back from a class, getting ready to pop into the kitchens for a quick snack, when she was cornered and mocked. Unfortunately, Winter's quick mouth worked against her and landed her with a pretty nasty hex for her trouble, as well as a banged up forehead from where she hit the floor. It seemed that things were getting a bit more harsh in the world, and Winter idly wondered how long she would last.
After school, Winter didn't hesitate in the slightest to find her way to WWN and beg for a job. It was unrealistic to believe that she would be handed a radio show right away, but the network, for some reason, took pity on the girl and gave her a job anyway, a gopher, really, fetching coffee and taking notes on shows, learning everything from how the station worked to how everyone liked their lunch, but it was a start, and that was enough for Winter.
