To Sleep In Fear PV Ivy Bellamy Locked

@Hjørdis Jensen

Interesting choice, Ivy thought to herself as she entered the office, throwing Professor Jensen a sceptical look from the side as she did so. The Caretaker's Office, huh? She had never been up here, but she had heard about it. It wasn't in use anymore for some reason, which baffled the Gryffindor a little. There were so many idiots rebellious students at Hogwarts, those who found joy in breaking the rules, and perhaps hiring a caretaker would have reduced that number of people... honestly, the amount of rulebreakers here who got away with things was insane.

It wasn't as run down as the rumours claimed. Ivy wasn't sure whether she was relieved or disappointed by that revelation, and she turned a full circle as she took it all in. There was a miserable mood that hung over the place, which perhaps could have been expected as no one had been up here for a while - something Ivy deduced from the visible layer of dust resting on the bookshelf lining the wall. "What are we doing here?" she asked quietly. The fear from her nightmare was beginning to wear off, and the Gryffindor's bravado was returning - although she did keep it down a notch; this was Professor Jensen who had caught her roaming the corridors at night.

She lowered herself into the chair the Slytherin Head indicated to, regretting the decision she had made to go for a walk. Of course, the one time she broke curfew, she got caught. "Listen, I... what are you doing?" Ivy stared as she picked up a box of what appeared to be a box of tea, then proceeded to offer her some. "I - what? Tea?" Goodness, this woman was full of strange questions, wasn't she? Perhaps she wasn't as scary as she had first seemed... then again, maybe she was trying to poison her with outdated tea - wait, could you even do that? The first year eyed the box of tea suspiciously. It seemed to look more murderous with each second that passed.

Then finally - "Alright."

Ivy swung her legs on the edge of the chair, watching Professor Jensen silently as she tried to figure out what it was exactly that she wanted. This was not what she had expected to happen when she went to bed that night.

Pouring out two cups of tea one it was ready, Hjørdis moved towards the student and placed one down in front of her. Moving to the seat opposite, she sat down and took a small sip of her own tea as she observed the student. Young Miss Bellamy was most certainly confused by the whole situation, that much was evident by her questions, her tone and her broken sentences. "We're drinking tea here." The head of Slytherin replied to the earlier question to break the silence. She spoke in a matter of fact tone as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Now, where were we? Ah yes... Your nightmare. Is it the same one repeatedly or...?" She asked, wondering if there was one particular thing that was bothering the Gryffindor or if it was a few things. Perhaps it was just stress - which was understandable given what all of them went through on the regular.

It had not been long since the Hufflepuff incident. Just over a week. A part of her had to wonder: who would be next? The attacks seemed to be working its way through the castle. Perhaps Gryffindor or Ravenclaw would be hit next, perhaps Slytherin would have a repeat. There was really no way of knowing. However, information was the one thing that was always useful. Knowledge was power. But this was not about that.

This was about a first year Gryffindor who was willing to walk out of the common room, despite all of the trouble around. Bellamy could have been anything from an idiot to reckless to actually going through something that was worse. Hjørdis was taking the time to figure it out. She did not need to. She could have sent her back to the common room immediately or given her a detention but what good with either of those do? Perhaps this would be fruitless too. But if lending her ear was enough, she might as well try it. Besides, being forced to spend time with the head of Slytherin was likely a detention for anyone. Hjørdis was not exactly known to be comforting, kind or anything but scary.

@Hjørdis Jensen

Ivy glared at the cup of tea that had been set down in front of her, not daring to touch it. She didn't trust Professor Jensen not to poison her - this was the same woman who had joked about throwing her off the Astronomy Tower literally five minutes ago... and Ivy wasn't even sure if it had even been a joke in the first place.

She barely managed not to roll her eyes at the response she was given. Ivy knew that Professor Jensen wasn't stupid - scary, maybe, but not stupid - and that she had understood her question just fine. But instead of giving a real answer, she had responded with "We're drinking tea here". Like, really? The Gryffindor placed her hands in her lap with a pointed look. Professor Jensen would have to cast Imperio if she wanted her to drink the tea.

"Now, where were we? Ah yes... Your nightmare. Is it the same one repeatedly or...?"

She had managed to avoid answering the question the first time, but it looked like she wasn't getting away with it now. Ivy looked down at her hands and sighed, trying not to look across the table at the Head of Slytherin. God, why couldn't she just say it? It shouldn't have been this hard. Ivy opened her mouth, as if to say something, then shut it again. She couldn't even talk about her nightmares to her friends. How was she supposed to tell Professor Jensen about them? She barely knew the woman, for God's sake.

It wasn't like she was asking her to talk about what had happened in the nightmare, either. Ivy felt her face turn red with embarrassment as she realised how pathetic she was being, how stupid this whole situation was. It was a simple question, and she couldn't answer it. "I, uh, they're... they're different," she finally managed to say, her chin quivering. She could feel the pressure building at the back of her eyes and she looked away, biting her lip. Professor Jensen had done absolutely nothing to provoke the tears. Ivy couldn't believe it. She didn't want to cry, not now, not ever. Any confidence that had returned was gone now, that was for sure.

Hjørdis leaned back into her seat, simply sipping her own cup of tea. It was clear that the Gryffindor student had no interest in drinking the tea that she had agreed to by the way she was glaring at it. Though, the professor could not fathom why she bothered to accept it. Ivy was not forced to accept it. But other than being slightly miffed at a wasted cup of tea, the professor said nothing. In time, the student might change her mind.

Instead, she simply observed her. Her silvery blue eyes fell onto the girl's posture, the way that the student looked down at her hands, the signs of fidgeting. Ivy seemed to want to say something but seemed torn on what to say. Hjørdis frowned slightly as she saw how scared the girl looked. Was it the content of the nightmares itself that scared her or admitting to them? It could have been the head of Slytherin herself that scared the Gryffindor but it was unlikely. In their entire walk, this sort of reaction would have come a lot sooner if it had been her.

She sighed softly after taking another sip and lowering her up, "I see... Well, sometimes, I find that it's easier to talk to a complete stranger than a friend... So... if there is anything you feel like you would like to talk about, you may do so now..." She explained, opening up the space to acknowledge that she would listen to whatever Ivy had to tell her. Even if it was stupid. Even if Ivy's biggest issue was that her friend had borrowed her hair brush and lost it. Whatever it was, she would listen. If Ivy chose to remain silent, Hjørdis would continue after a few moments... "Are you feeling particularly stressed by anything? The nightmares, is there anything you can tell me about them?" She asked, prompting her in case she got a little stuck or did not want to talk.

@Hjørdis Jensen

Ivy didn't dare to move or look in Professor Jensen's direction, her grey eyes focused on the wall instead, as if trying to stare the tears away. This feeling was all too familiar. How many times had she held back tears in front of someone else, she wondered? Smiled brightly and told them that she was fine until they believed it? She couldn't seem to do that now. Perhaps it was something to do with the fact that Professor Jensen knew that she wasn't fine. It was easier to lie to someone who didn't know they were being lied to.

And why was she being so nice about it? Ivy had honestly thought of Professor Jensen as, well - there was no nice way to put this: an emotionless block of ice. But she wasn't so sure now. The Head of Slytherin probably had a million other things she could be doing, but she was in the Caretaker's Office with Ivy, with a pot of tea... she felt awful for being so difficult. Why was she so bad at this? Ivy willed herself to talk, to give an explanation and cooperate, but her voice seemed to be stuck in her throat.

Only when Professor Jensen prompted her gently with a few questions did she manage to speak, and the Gryffindor tried to keep her voice as even as possible, blinking a few times before to get rid of the tears. "I don't know how to tell you anything about it," Ivy admitted slowly. How was she supposed to talk about it without getting Jack and Thomas and Erin in trouble? They weren't friends in any way at all, and she hadn't spoken to any of them since that night in March, but it was like a sort of secret that she had to keep for them. She didn't know why, but it felt important - and besides, she was protecting herself as well. Although she knew it was so stupid, she didn't want to admit to breaking so many of the school rules - breaking curfew, sneaking into the Forest, etc. Ivy found it slightly troubling how concerned she was with such a trivial matter of school rules when there was a freaking hag roaming the Forest.

It was a big fat mess no matter which way you looked at it. Ivy groaned internally and began to fidget with her hands, her mind racing. "I guess I'm stressed," she said in response to Professor Jensen's other question - partially to turn the conversation around, partially to buy herself more time to think of something to say about her nightmares. "But it's nothing unusual. I'm always stressed about one thing or another." Her grades, of course, but also her sister, who she knew was miserable at home... "I know why I'm having nightmares," she said after a short pause. "I just don't know how to make them go away."

The Slytherin Head of House had nothing but patience as she sipped her tea, waiting for the Gryffindor student to speak. It was clear that Ivy was struggling. She could see it. It very much looked like the student was about to break down into tears very soon. With a silent nod, she took in the words spoken. The nightmares seemed to be something that had started more recently, based on different things. Ivy put them down to stress but in the same breathe, also claimed that she knew the cause of it. Perhaps a specific incident had triggered them or was often the cause of the nightmares.

But nonetheless, it was also clear that the student was hesitant to share the cause - or perhaps the cause itself was simply an unnecessary thing to share. Either way, Hjørdis did not push for information. In this room, the whole intention of this exercise was to comfort Ivy and to somehow attempt to make the situation better - not worse. Forcing a student to share something that was upsetting or made them uncomfortable likely would not help.

Hjørdis sighed, "If it's bothering you, then it's clearly important. Maybe we need to look at how you deal with stress," She replied, pondering if the girl actually did anything to help relieve stress. If she had acknowledged that was an issue, then destressing would likely be paramount. Stress could be very good at times. It can make you more aware, more capable, more responsive but it can also be overwhelming and hinder you or physically manifest into symptoms beyond your control.

"Do you have trouble falling asleep or is it just often waking up?" She asked, wondering if the girl fell asleep quickly but woke up with the nightmares or had trouble with the whole experience. There were things that could be done to help make it easier to sleep but sleep, alas, was a rather hard topic to fix. The brain was weird and wonderful. It's ability to create dreams and nightmares was a point of fascination but also sometimes nuisance.