The Frog Choir I PV Event frog choir

Ruthie was really excited for the first Frog Choir practice of the year. Hogwarts had had a frog choir in the past, but it had seemed to have lost its way over the years. Thankfully, Professor Griffith had been receptive when she brought up the idea to him. It was lucky actually as barely knew the Professor, but her argument had obviously been extremely convincing. It had been clear through the events these past few months at Hogwarts that young Scottish girl had the gift of the gab, and now the frogs could benefit from it.

Once she had secured Professor Griffith's leadership, she had taken up the next process: recruitment. In between Potions and Transfiguration, she'd written out a poster in green ink with the inscription "Frog Choir Singers Wanted. No experience necessary. An interest in singing and/or caring for frogs preferred," above a drawing of a large slightly out-of-proportion frog with music notes at either side. Drawing had never been her strong suit. Hanging it around the halls, she then turned to one of her strengths: word-of-mouth. She mentioned the idea to just about anyone who would listen starting with her fellow Ravenclaws. One in particular, Pericles, had been extremely enthusiastic, which made her glad. The news had apparently even circulated to some Slytherins she'd never met, and she was excited to meet them.

Now that it was time for the first frog choir practice, she was the first student to arrive. Her Ravenclaw robes flowing behind her, her walk had a certain exuberance which had been distinctly missing since the Ball. Her temperament was no where near healed, but the prospect of frog choir was the first thing to lift her spirits in some time. Maybe it was because of the time she spent with Lark and Dymph getting the frog pillows ready for the holidays, or maybe it was just because frogs were cute.

"Professor Griffith!" she greeted him as she took the bag with the frog pillows and put it on the table. They would be needing those once they all picked a frog to accompany them. "Thank you so much for coming and--oh, those must be the frogs!" she said walking over the crate the Professor had brought with him. Inside she could see all the frogs and toads--they were adorable! Looking them over, her eyes eventually locked on a bright green frog with large black eyes. She reached out a finger to stroke him when she began to hear footsteps filtering into the hall.

With each new entrant, her smile grew. When she had suggested Frog Choir, she didn't know if it would catch on, but it brought her joy to see this idea turn into something real. After Griffith explained about picking a frog, she figured she out to mention the pillows in case people were unsure to hold their frog. "Thank you for being here everyone!" she announced, "Once you've got your frog or toad, there are pillows in this bag, which you can use to hold your frog in performance. I believe we're going to be working on material for the Christmas and holiday concert so let Griffith and me know if you have any suggestions. We should be getting started soon." She smiled lightly before going to pick up her frog. This, she suspected, was the start of a beautiful friendship.

~Interactions: @Morfran Griffith | @Ruthie Greer~

Biting her lip nervously, Thora tiptoed into the Great Hall. She had signed up for Frog Choir about a month ago, for once plunging herself into something totally outside of her comfort zone. The Slytherin was not keen on singing at all--at least, not in public. She may or may not have sung off and on when she was alone, but simply the idea of sharing her voice was not exactly on her radar--much less joining a choir. Really, she had joined the choir for the people. For Ruthie. Thora had only seen Ruthie a few times since the fated Masquerade Ball--many less times than the Slytherin had wanted. After all, Ruthie had to have experienced even more trauma than herself, as most of the drama had been centered around her Ravenclaw friends. 

As it was a Monday, Thora was still wearing her robes. The young girl threw back her cloak, exposing the green-striped tie underneath. No longer was she afraid to show her colors. No longer was she afraid to leave her identity exposed. Hogwarts had changed her. Thora had arrived and been sorted, afraid of the stereotypes people set up for her house. Now, after a year, it wasn't so bad. She was proud to be a Slytherin.

Rubbing eyes bleary and exhausted from her extreme lack of sleep, Thora peeked inside. Was anyone even there yet? To her surprise, there were, although they may or may not have been part of the choir. The brunette often prided herself on her promptness and had decided to even arrive early to the first Frog Choir practice. Although she had a general idea of who else would be there, it was better to make sure before she got herself into anything serious. She didn't want to be the odd one out among people who knew each other, or the clueless girl in the midst of chaos. It was better to see who would show up.

But other than the handful of students hovering towards the side, a rather imposing Professor Griffith stood. Although Thora was merely a second year and had never attended his class, it was quite evident who the very unique-looking man was. She had seen him during the Water Balloon Fight during the summer, so that was all that confirmed the professor's identity. Next to Griffith stood Ruthie. Exactly who Thora wanted to see. 

Glancing around furtively, Thora tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, took a deep breath, and entered the room. If she wanted to get a word in with Ruthie, she would have to make a move. As Professor Griffith instructed them--as the choir's mentor, Thora supposed--to grab a frog or toad, Thora hesitated. Although she had no problem with handling animals of any sort, coming from a rural farming background and the snek was by no means afraid to approach the slimy frogs, there were a few things she needed to deal with first. Primarily, Ruthie. Well, making a beeline for the blonde was a little strange, so she would have to introduce herself first. 

"Hi, Professor Griffith," Thora greeted their mentor before she tried to back out and run the other way. "I'm Thora," she said. "Slytherin." It was quite obvious, based on her tie color, but who knew? It had become a sort of habit to introduce her house along with her name in more formal situations and besides, it couldn't hurt to do so. 

Lowering her voice just a little bit, Thora finally brought herself to walk the few steps that brought her to Ruthie. "Hey Ruthie," she said with a smile. "How have you been doing?" Hopefully she didn't look too scary with the shadows under her eyes and unusually pale complexion. Thora seriously considered waiting until after the practice, but she couldn't. Giving the Ravenclaw a quick hug, she almost gawked at her own actions. Thora Larkston, hugging out of the blue? It was rather strange, but hadn't pretty much everything that had happened this year been strange? 

Turning to the large crate that was set beside Professor Griffith, Thora scooped up a small, cute-looking frog. She stroked its smooth--almost soft--back as she turned back to Ruthie. Whether the other girl answered her or not was her choice, but at least Thora had tried. 

Interacting with @Morfran Griffith - @Ruthie Greer - @Serena Davies - @Thora Larkston

Kind of last minute, the dhampir had decided to join this thing called a Frog Choir. It was pretty obvious what it meant but... not what it actually meant. 'Singing with frogs and toads... This really is a magical place..' Nico pondered as she made her way to the Great Hall.

How big were these frogs going to be? They would probably have toads too. She didn't mind frogs. They were usually smaller and more elegant looking. Toads however were abit more plump and covered in warts. Whichever the case, her curiousity and excitement peaked.

Slytherin green tie and robes were usually her first to go look but today she left the black coat behind. The usual sweater and skirt that came with the uniform would be enough. Just to be sure she wasn't cold, she pulled on her warmest overknee socks. Winter in Hogwarts could be rather... cold.

Arriving at the huge doors she peeked inside. Only a handful of people were there. That should be easy. Not too much stress for interactions. Maybe she knew some of the kids who were going to join the Choir. Maybe... she could make some new friends. Apaprantly a Ravenclaw student was leading this amphibian singing group.

Alright. No time to waste, she thought. With a confident and elegant stride, Nico made her way to the front of the Hall. Halfway there, she could make out who she'd meet. One girl was from her House, one was from Hufflepuf if she guessed it right and ah there is the Rav-

Her eyes fell beyond Ruthie, onto the Professor who was present. W- Was it really him? Professor.. Griffith. Nico slowed down, until a full stop. She hadn't heard or seen him since the Blossom Ball incident. How could she be so naive. The Choir used frogs and toads; creatures. Of course they would ask him to lend a hand.

But what now? He acted so weird the last time they spoke. Should she greet him? Avoid him? Dangnabbit, Nico you're a Prefect. Professors shouldn't scare you. Right?...

Right...

Overcome by a certain shame, the dhampir had to take a deep breath. It would be fine. It's been nearly a year. You're fine.

When she finally arrived at the group, she nearly instinctively avoided any kind of eye contact with the Professor. She was scared and confused. But she had to overcome that fear. Avoiding him forever was impossible.

'H-hello, Professor Griffith. Nice to see you again.' With a warm smile she politely nodded at him. As soon as she was done with that, her gaze glided over to the three girls beside her. 'H-Hello. I'm Nico.' Her Prefect badge stuck loyally on her sweater. 'I'm from..well..' The green of her sweater was quite a give away. ' Slytherin. Haha..' If Griffith hadn't been there, this introduction would've gone way more smoothly.

'Oooh, are these the frogs? They're all so cute.' The toads weren't as cute. One of the girls seemed to be looking at the frogs, in awe like her... or quite the opposite. Nico wasn't sure. As they were allowed to each pick an amphibian they liked, the dhampir noticed something that caught her attention. A pale frog.

Frogs could be pale too? She had seen them in the brightest of colors and in the darkest of browns, but never in such a light green. It kind of reminded her of her own skin that in the sun nearly looked like a beam of light. 'You're a cute one...' Carefully, Nico scooped him up. His sticky hands tickled the palm of her hand. She needed to hold back some giggles. 'Ooh. That tickled.... I think I'll call you Giggleleg.' The name was quickly chosen. That was fine by her. No need to give the frog a name referring to the way they looked.

Quietly, she turned around to face the other girls as the dhampir kept an intrigued eye on her new partner.

Reducio

Interacting with @Morfran Griffith

Suddenly, Persephone couldn’t remember why she’d signed up for Frog Choir in the first place. Her mind wandered back, and she thought hard, but couldn’t figure it out. Something acted for her. Adrenaline? Desperation? Loneliness? Within her, she knew which one of those was most likely, but she wouldn’t admit that until the day the dead rose. Persephone Barret didn’t need anyone, and she never would. People could “need” her all they wanted, and hell, they probably did considering how utterly perfect she was, but God forbid she ever finds herself desperate for someone else or dependent on someone’s irrelevant opinion.

Pushing her stubbornness aside, Persy crossed the Great Hall, suppressing her pure admiration for the atmosphere. All around her, fire illuminated the room beautifully, giving everything a warm appearance. Welcoming, even. Silently, she wondered how she was ever nervous here, not only because it was such an inviting room, but because it seemed she had forgotten that nerves were for the weak. Nerves were for people who lose. And losing was simply not Persephone’s style, against everything she stood for. Failure was not an option, and it never would be. Her parents had failed, and she was nothing like them. They wouldn’t join a Frog Choir.

Maybe that’s why she signed up.

Persephone realized she had lost herself in thought, looking around once more and registering she was already with everyone else. As she’d expected, no one she really recognized. There was a Slytherin girl that she had probably seen before, but her name was a mystery. As for the rest, including the professor, Persy had no clue. Regardless of this angering ignorance, she approached the professor directly with a stiff nod.

"Professor," she smiled slightly with this, "Persephone Barret, first year Slytherin."

After her own brief yet formal introduction, she turned to the other girls, who seemed to have already picked their frog. Moving towards the crate which contained the various frogs and toads, a shiver ran down her spine. They were kind of… creepy, she decided. That was definitely the right word. One of them let out a croak, which (she would never admit this) made her stomach jump to her heart. Her eyes darted from toad to frog and back again, and she quickly decided that she wanted the smallest one, one that was a pleasant shade of forest green. Smaller meant easier to escape, in case it turned on her.

Since when did I become such a wimp?

Her hands clasped around the small frog as she lifted it into her arms, holding it stiffly as a result of the anxiety. She tried to relax as she retreated to a spot by herself, where she thought that she could perhaps get an idea of who exactly she was working with. Other than the creepy frog. Persy glanced from girl to girl, noting their posture and body language, looking for signs of what kind of witch they were. Mean? Kind? Brilliant? She hated to stereotype based on houses, but she hadn’t even officially met anyone at all yet. She’d spent her time at Hogwarts so far alone. And she was quite sure that was the way she wanted it to stay.

Cecily was running late again-- but then, what else was new? It was a perpetual habit of hers, regardless of her attempts at punctuality. She simply was too distracted all the time to remember everything that was going on. Case in point: she was lounging in the common room, minding her own business, when it struck her that she absolutely had something that she had committed to today. But after sleeping in past breakfast, misplacing the homework she had worked so hard on until late last night (causing her to miss breakfast in the first place), and nearly spilling a hot mug of tea all over herself, she was understandably preoccupied with trying not to die or commit some other form of failure in life. And so, by the time she remembered that she had told Ruthie that she would come to the first Frog Choir meeting today, it was very close to being too late.

Nearly tripping down the entire flight of stairs from the Ravenclaw tower (again) in her haste to make it to the Great Hall, Cecily wished, not for the first time, that she had gotten more sleep last night. If only she hadn't had as much homework, if only it hadn't taken so long, if only she had done it earlier. If only. See this, this was why she just didn't do her homework in the first place. Okay, yes, it was admittedly perhaps not the best solution she could've come up with-- or the most responsible-- but if it kept her from feeling like crap, sign her up. At least she would get eight hours of sleep a night. Someday maybe she would find a happy medium, but until then, the Ravenclaw was going to do everything in her power to take the easy way out. Well, for this, at least.

Upon entering the Great Hall, the blonde realised that she was, quite surprisingly, not nearly as late as she thought she was-- unless, of course, everyone else was also late, which was completely possibly but also significantly less likely, considering the strange punctuality that plagued almost every student in Hogwarts, but had quite unfortunately skipped over her. A small-ish group of bodies bearing robes of all colors was congregating towards the centre of the room, of which Cecily only recognised Ruthie and vaguely one of the Slytherin Prefects, plus Professor Griffith, with whom she had had little interaction outside of lessons anyway. The rest looked younger-- perhaps first years that she would not have met, maybe some second years. All of them were huddled over a medium-sized box of what Cecily assumed was the promised amphibians.

Right, the "frog" part of Frog Choir. It wasn't that she was unhappy about them, she just...was more here for the singing, not the creatures. She loved animals, of course, but frogs were...not her favorite. Their moist skin had never been particularly appealing to her, and particularly the common frogs that she had always encountered Ireland were not much to behold. Although, she supposed, however indifferent she felt about their singing companions, she had known exactly what she was signing up for when Ruthie coerced her into joining the choir, so she might as well accept her fate.

And so Cecily made her way to the crate, reached down, and selected an animal. Nothing seemed particularly important in this process-- none of them "called to her", or seemed especially friendly. She couldn't even tell which ones were frogs and which ones were toads. Was there even a difference? She really needed to pay more attention in...well, all of her classes, really, but particularly ones that taught about animals. Regardless, she lifted out of the box one that had been nestled against the side of the crate and stood up, nearly colliding with a girl who was gaping, dumbfounded, at the animals. "It's okay," she whispered jokingly to the girl. "They don't bite. I think."

Cecily took a moment to look at her frog, not having paid much attention when she chose him from the selection. He wasn't anything special, really; he was small and green, with slitted black eyes. Okay, so he was kind of cute. "I think I will name you Late," she said quietly to the frog sitting placidly in her cupped hands. "Then there'll be two of us."

Louder now, she raised her head and faced the group surrounding the frogs. Right, she probably should've introduced herself first, and then gotten her frog. Oh well, it didn't make much of a difference anyway. If anything, it simply gave people a more accurate view of her style. "Hi everyone, I'm Cecily," she said with a sheepish wave and an awkward smile.

She was lucky she'd managed to get a good grip on the frog in her palm, because one of the first people she happened to see was Thora, the exceptionally bright second year Slytherin who had saved both Jorah and Dymphna's lives the night of the masquerade ball. Thora had rushed up to her and enveloped her in a hug and Ru hugged her back. It was quick, but warm. As she let her go, she noticed the bags under Thora's eyes and the pale color in her cheeks. That was why it was a bit curious that the Slytherin asked her how she was doing. "Okay, I'm okay," she explained, somewhat unconvincingly. Thora could easily guess about how traumatized Ru had been but this truly was the best she'd been in a while. The Slytherin, on the other hand, might also be suffering if her appearance was any indication. "And you?" she asked, "You're okay?" So far, she'd really only bonded strongly with her housemates, but Thora was an exception and she did care about the girl.

As Thora picked up a small, black frog, others started to filter into the hall. Ruthie was excited to see her school mates turn up like this, even and perhaps especially when there were those she did not know. The first was a Hufflepuff, Serena, who became somewhat paralyzed when she saw the crate of frogs. The Ravenclaw emitted a small chuckle seeing the girl with her mouth hanging open. She, who was so accustomed to wildlife, couldn't help it. Luckily, Cecily appeared in time to calm the girl or try to before scooping up her own frog and naming him Late. Ru just shook her head, thinking about Cecily was routinely late to Quidditch practice too. Perhaps she was right, now there'd be two of them late.

Meanwhile, one of the girls she didn't know seemed to be admiring the frogs and their cuteness. "They are, aren't they?" Ruthie said to her as she passed, wanting to try and talk to as many of the new frog choir members as possible. This girl looked older and, by the badge on my jumper, a prefect. Ruthie didn't really expect the choir to gather the attention of prefects, except perhaps Cecily, but Cec was more friend than prefect. But as she overheard the girl cleverly name her frog, Ruthie studied her until she realized. "You're on the Slytherin Quidditch team, aren't you?" she asked. The snakes had a fierce team, especially Erin, so she suspected it might be better to make friends with them. And this girl, Nico as she'd overheard, seemed nice enough.

Meanwhile, there was small blonde [Persephone], not unlike herself, holding a frog quietly nearby. Ruthie waved and said, "Good choice. Thanks for coming!" But it was bleached blonde boy who caught her attention. (Speaking of boys, where on earth was Jorah?) Ruthie remembered him from Gris' rake clearing task. What was his name? She should really have known or stopped to see him in the common room. With his standout hair and candor, the boy was easy to spot and should have been easy to remember. Wait! Peri it was and he introduced himself as such. "Peri!" she called, "I'm so glad you came." It was perhaps too friendly, but that was her way, especially before the ball, and she was desperately trying to get back to that. "You're musical, aren't you?" she queried him, vaguely recalling him saying something of the like in passing. "What do you think of this?" she pulled over some of the sheet music they would be working on at practice. Ruthie had to admit her musical experience was mostly singing on her own. If someone was more knowledgable, that'd certainly be helpful.

Meanwhile, she kept an eye on the door for stragglers. Hopefully a certain Ravenclaw beater would be among them.

Interacting with: @Thora Larkston, @Nico Shymane & @Pericles Dralt
Mentioning: @Serena Davies, @Cecily Quinn & @Persephone Barret