Sun and Sunflowers PV D. Lucey Finished

Interactions | @Illowy Magnard

The traumatic events of the Blossomball had long been tucked away in the depths of the eleven-year-old's mind. Darkness, fog, creeping branches that extended towards one like the inevitable claws of death... It'd be a lie to say that Dinara didn't occasionally spring up from her duvet covers with vague memories of that twisted night coming back to haunt her once more.

The girl hadn't expected to have to deal with such terrors in a school of all places -- and her brain did what it had to in order to protect her from having to endure the constant paranoia and fear that came with recalling the events of that night. Some would have dubbed it as amnesia, others as a side effect of potential PTSD; but the fact of the matter was that Dinara Lucey had indeed been suffering from temporary memory loss, choosing to block out all the events of that night. While she did occasionally get flashbacks of the event when she passed by the people who were involved, or even sometimes when she glances a little too long at the Forbidden Forest, the girl had very much opted to forget most of the happenings from that night.

It was this temporary amnesia that also led to her being extremely puzzled about the state of her handkerchief. The handkerchief had been something that she'd always kept close to her -- It was, after all, one of the first few things that she had practiced embroidering on with her grandmother. She had zero recollection of how she had helped the Slytherin girl that had gotten injured during their adventure, and how the handkerchief was likely in her possession at this point in time. Instead, Dinara idly wondered if she'd misplaced the handkerchief under the mountain of socks that she'd left out for the House Elves to play with.

The girl did not like to dwell on such serious topics. and she instead focused her attention on the fine weather that they had been blessed with for the day. It almost seemed rather poetic, really, that the fear and darkness had been washed away along with the frost of winter, bringing forth the new light of day, the dawn of healing and renewed hope amongst the young students.

Of course, one wouldn't be expecting that someone as utterly dense as Dinara Lucey would be reflecting upon the metaphors of seasonal changes. She was simply running about the Grounds, trying to catch a butterfly or another that had captured her attention in the midst of her studying. Despite her seemingly short attention span, it would come as quite the surprise to the other students that Dinara was, indeed, quite the studious girl indeed. It definitely paid off, too, with her grades generally being more than decent.

The butterfly would've never been caught from the way that things were going, but it didn't deter Dinara from genuinely trying her best in this self-proclaimed mission of hers. A sudden voice had seemed to pierce through her focus, allowing the poor butterfly to finally go free without the fear of having a weird, puffy-haired human attempt to hold it in their grabby hands. Whipping her head around, she looked about wildly for the person who dared interrupt her utterly important mission.

It was then her gaze landed on the Slytherin that had been with her through the disaster of the Blossomball. She looked somewhat familiar, though Dinara couldn't quite place her finger on it. Tilting her head, she narrowed her eyes as she racked her brain; trying to place a name to the face. "Yes, that's me." Scratching her head, Dinara struggled to recall what exactly she'd done with the girl. "I know we've met, but I can't seem to remember much of what happened...'

Her gaze dropped to the floor in confusion as she kicked up a tuft of grass in frustration. She hated not knowing, and she was quite sure that something had happened between the two -- there was simply something blocking her from remembering. Deciding to first address the girl in front of her before struggling with her own memory, she looked at the girl with a small smile. Not quite as bright as her usual, toothy grin; but definitely a warm and welcoming smile. "So, how may I help you?"

Interactions | @Illowy Magnard

It wasn't so much so the girl's tired, sickly appearance that scared Dinara. It was the creeping feeling of fear that was slowly finding it's way up her spine, as well as a small headache that had started at the frontal corner of her head. A small, throbbing feeling that was enough for it to hurt, but not enough to really affect Dinara very much.

Instinctively clutching her head with her hand, she stared at the handkerchief on the girl's outstretched hand. Luckily for Illowy, Dinara was far too distracted and confused to actually notice how uneasy the girl seemed. She definitely recognised the handkerchief as her own, and she had been looking for it for quite awhile... Dinara simply couldn't comprehend how she wouldn't have remembered passing it to the girl.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Illowy," she frowned, wondering what exactly happened at the Blossom Ball. "I'm... Dinara Lucey. We seem to have met already, but truth be told..." The girl stared hard at the handkerchief, almost as if it would have helped in regaining her lost memory. No such luck, of course, though the throbbing pain in her head had steadily grown from a dull ache to a searing pain.

At the mention of having helped the Slytherin in some way or another, Dinara looked the girl up and down. Despite the horrendously scorching weather, she seemed to be bundled up from head to toe. It was kind of embarrassing to have to admit to not remembering that she had helped someone, especially since Dinara wouldn't have so readily just forgotten about the person whom she had offered her favourite handkerchief up to. "I mean, thank you for returning it. I'm really afraid I can't accept your thanks... I don't..." her voice dropped to a whisper as she struggled to recall the events of the Blossom Ball. There was the punch, some awful tasting cupcakes or another...

Then what?

A scene of raging fire, dark forests and twisting roots was thrust forth in her mind, causing the girl to stumble back -- almost as if she was pushed by a physical force herself. Still holding the handkerchief, she stared wide-eyed at the Slytherin.

"What exactly happened after the Blossom Ball?"

Interactions | @Illowy Magnard

Physical touch had always comforted the Huffle, and she visibly calmed down as the snake attempted to explain the happenings of the day to her. At every mention of the Forbidden Forest, a sharp pang of pain shot through her, causing her to hunch over and eventually crumple to her knees. Scrambling to her feet in a bid to keep up with the Slytherin, she shuffled over to the shaded area of the school Grounds, quite nearly tripping over her robes multiple times in the process of doing so.

Eventually, though, the girl managed to settle down beside Illowy who had just begun to launch into a wordy retelling of the Blossomball's happenings. Well, at least it seemed wordy to the little Hufflepuff. It couldn't have been further from the truth, considering just exactly how long the group of students suffered through that arduous night. Dinara couldn't quite comprehend what had happened, considering that the memories of the night seemed to already have been completely buried into the depths of her mind.

She tried her best to pretend she remembered, though anyone who even had a brain could've seen from her vacant eyes that she genuinely didn't remember anything. Scratching her head sheepishly, , she fiddled uncomfortably with her handkerchief. It wasn't that Dinara didn't handle confrontation well -- in fact, she was likely one of the more confrontational 11-year-olds around. It just so happened that she didn't handle emotional situations well.

"I mean, we're safe now. So that's sort of what matters right?" If there were any bystanders at hand watching this scene, they'd be cringing at Dinara's attempt to steer the conversation away from a place of such awkwardness. She clearly wasn't comfortable with dealing with such serious topics, but one should be commending her for even trying, right? "Well, if you'd like, I could make a handkerchief for you too?"

Dinara shook her handkerchief out, showing it to the Slytherin as she offered a small smile. The girl knew full well she wouldn't deal well with such an emotional issue, so she attempted to bring the conversation around to something she was much more comfortable with -- cute handkerchiefs and embroidery.

Interactions | @Illowy Magnard

Solemn talks never worked well with Dinara. The lass simply hadn't developed the emotional maturity for it yet, having been a relatively sheltered kid for the majority of her life. It was also why her brain had somehow developed short-term amnesia as a way of coping through that night's particularly traumatic memories -- though the memories are slowly piecing back together with each trigger that Dinara experiences.

In this case, Illowy's scars served as the first of many potential triggers that would help Dinara in recovering the memories of that night. It wasn't a huge trigger, to be sure, but a vague sensation of uneasiness washed over the girl as she looked out towards the Forbidden Forest. As far as she was concerned, she hadn't even stepped foot in that place before, yet the odd sensation of deja vu and a strange urge to turn away seemed to imply otherwise.

She smiled pleasantly at the Slytherin, noting the sudden dimming of the Grounds, overcast clouds shielding the sun from the duo. The Blossom Ball disaster had also contributed to Dinara's sudden fear of darkness and having her vision obstructed, though she wasn't quite consciously aware of this as of yet. Looking up uneasily, she nodded at the Slytherin.

"Y-yes, I'll get to that real soon. Actually, you know what? I think I might just go do that right now!" Feigning excitement, her sentence ended off with an odd squeak before the Hufflepuff turned and dashed into the castle, imprinting heavy footprints into the sandy terrain. It would be quite obvious from the sheer force in which she had dug her heels into the ground how badly she wanted to escape the place; not because Illowy had been particularly bad company, but because the fogginess of the night time seemed to carry with them dark, heavy secrets that Dinara wasn't ready to face up to just yet.

Perhaps in time, she will grow to fight her demons.

Dinara has left the Grounds.