This was one of Ash's favorite rooms. Not only could she practice piano and sing in a dedicated room, she could also scream really loud because it was soundproofed. The perfect combo. Currently, she was singing the lower part of Elsa's Song by The Amazing Devil bit by bit and trying to figure out how to play it on the piano, if it was even possible. Then she was gonna sing the higher part and try and figure out how to play that too. And then put together. It was hard work, and it kept her distracted. Given the choice between crying and doing this, Ash would pick this. And that was good. That was progress. This was how you healed, not by doing mandatory group therapy assigned by your school. Mandatory anything had the opposite effect from what was desired when it came to Ash. Would she consider doing therapy if Theodore or Claudine or Minjae asked her to? Yeah. Would she go along with mandatory therapy assigned by Hogwarts? Nope. Would she do group therapy ever? ABSOLUTELY NOT. It was bad enough having a therapist know what you were feeling, but the whole school? Including your enemies? Including the people causing her pain? That was traumatic. THIS was much better. Music alone was better.

Dahlia frequented the music whenever she had the time. Lately it was more often than it had been the previous year for reasons that need not be mentioned. As were most activities, the afternoons little jam session was indeed scribbled in her book somewhere between lessons and dinnertime.

Upon entering the room and assuring that she was indeed all alone, she had set her bag off to the side against one of the walls but only after rummaging through it to pull out a her drumsticks. These were her favorite ones, there didn't make a whole lot of noise and where had been given to her by her cousin Koen when he got back from touring with his band.

Taking a seat at the drum set, Lia made sure everything was set up as it should be. Testing everything out before beginning to play a nice steady beat.

Lately music was one of the ways Tadhg escaped things, if it wasn't him writing in his notebook, he was seen singing his heart out here in the music room. Although he knew it was kinda cheesy, but it calmed him down from a lot of last year trauma he witnessed last year. Besides his therapist told him to do what made him happy and calmed him down, and well this was one of them. Humming to himself he headed towards the music room wondering where his bestie was.


Pushing open the music room he smiled seeing his bestie playing the drums. He had to admit she was rather good at them, better then he was anyways. He was more a piano and guitar person anyways, but that didn't matter. Leaning against the door watching her play with a smile on his face, tapping his foot to the beat.


He knew not to bug someone while their in the zone, it ruined the momentum of the song. Deciding to wait for her to be done he kept on watching her, she looked peaceful and at ease with herself. He missed this side of her, lately she seem so uptight and wary of everything, he didn't blame her. He felt that way as well, always looking around afraid that he was being watched.

Somewhere about midway through the second song, which Tadhg should have known by the beat alone since it was a favorite of theirs, Dahlia happened to glance at the doorway. Seeing him standing there watching her caught her completely off guard that she missed several beats and stopped playing all together. Flushed cheeks and messy hair from moving her head around to the beat as she played, she now just looked at him surprised not expected anyone to be standing there. "Uhh, hi?" Cue bashful grin and soft laughter.

"You can come in, you know. You don't have to stand there in the doorway." That was why he was here, right? He was going to play?He knew not to bug someone while their in the zone, it ruined the momentum of the song. Deciding to wait for her to be done he kept on watching her, she looked peaceful and at ease with herself. He missed this side of her, lately she seem so uptight and wary of everything, he didn't blame her. He felt that way as well, always looking around afraid that he was being watched.

Quinn had been pushing himself go out and about around the castle more in his free time. He didn't exactly have the security or freedom to be pottering around alone last term, but now... he had nothing to worry about. Or, at least, he was still trying to convince himself of that. He wouldn't let last term and the stupid Alliance and stupid dead dead dead Rosier have any hold on him anymore. He was so tired of his life being dictated by other people. He just wanted to be.... fine. He wanted his life to be normal and for his thoughts and feelings and emotions to be fine. So, the start of making himself feel more normal was... getting over his fear of walking around Hogwarts alone. He would go anywhere he wanted and no large hooded figured would be patrolling the halls to kill him on the spot. They wouldn't.

Quinn encountered a room he had never entered before, and it seemed pretty quiet, so he assumed that no one would be in there. He cracked the door open to peek inside and found Ash, sitting at a piano and singing. Honestly... he liked Ash, but what happened at the group "therapy" session was... strange. He was a little scared, truthfully, but... he saw both sides of the argument. He just thought that... some of the kids were being a little too hard on the Professors. They were stuck, too, you know? "You sound really nice, Ash. I can tell it's not, you know, flowing yet, but.. it's still nice." Quinn managed a little smile.

Lisa found it unexpectedly nice and calming in here. The conductors stand, the clean piano, and the lone drummer kit waiting for someone to play all three. She closed her eyes, imagining being at a live concert and watching the conductor step up to his post before revealing his wand like baton.

The show commenced.

She had always liked music. However, Lisa had never been one to play music but she had always appreciated listening to music. Her cousins were far more skilled in music than she. One of her very first early memories had been listening to one of her older cousins (Chase) play piano and sing. He has such a pretty voice. She remembered asking him to sing her favourite song over and over and over again. Each time he sang it, the better it got.

She trailed her fingers along the top of piano in a world of her own unbeknownst to people around her.

"Thank you. I'm trying to put the song onto the piano. I've been doing that with a lot of songs lately. Very therapeutic." COUGH COUGH. Was Healer Poppy listening? COUGH COUGH. This is probably what she would be doing when she was skipping mandatory therapy. Because this was helpful and group therapy absolutely was NOT. This was optional and mandatory therapy was NOT. This was private and those mandatory group sessions were NOT. This activity was also not likely to end in disaster or screaming, and it wasn't stressful. It didn't have to opportunity to kindle a fire. And Ash had a highly flammable and explosive personality. Basically, this was good and group therapy was bad. Just in case there was anyone listening.

It had been a few years since Ollie had pick up her violin. She had packed it with her in case she wanted to start playing again. Today was the day. She had tuned it up in her dorm, since no one was in there, and packed it up again to head to the music room. It was supposed to be empty now, perfect for Ollie to start practicing again. She wasn't sure how well she was going to play, since it had been a while. She made her way through the halls to the music classroom and opened the door.

Quinn's smile tightened uncomfortably at her choice of words. "Uh... yeah. I understand what you mean... I've been doing basically the same with plants. Going to the greenhouses and tending to them... it's nice. And takes my mind off things." Quinn shut the door behind him and sat on a little stool, a bit away from the piano. He was not going to steer the conversation towards the group therapy stuff, but maybe they could talk about it without.... talking about it? "Are you alright? You seemed... you know... kinda angry." Kinda angry may have been sugarcoating it a bit, but Quinn wasn't trying to peeve Ash off. But he still felt like she should talk about that to someone. There was... a lot there. Quinn could tell.

"More like present tense seem, if you ask most people." She always seemed angry, didn't she? "I was mad. Not at Gemma though." Although throwing the bread was probably not a smart move on her part, seeing as it triggered Ash's FIGHT or flight response (she picked fight, obviously). "I'm just mad at Healer Poppy, because I don't trust her one bit. And I'm mad at the government for letting this happen. And I'm mad at all the people who expect me to heal when I haven't even heard one apology or seen any justice or acknowledgement happening." Those people were super dumb. Ash hadn't received any sort of compensation for this (mandated therapy did not count), and she hadn't received an apology. And most importantly, she knew it. She wasn't some dumb little kid who didn't know what was going on, and she was nowhere close to a forgiving person. Ash finished the bit of song she was doing and decided to switch the music to a love song. Lighten the mood. Just like they would hopefully be lightening the subject soon. "You like plants, do you?"

Quinn bit the inside of his cheek. That... is definitely a lot. But maybe Ash didn't want to talk about that right now. He pushed down his worry and mustered a smile. "Yeah, I do. I have my own garden back home. Well, it's... it's not as good of a garden as it has been since I'm away a lot of the time, now, but... yeah, I like plants. I'm good at looking after them. They're pretty." Plants were what he took solace in when there... wasn't really anyone else to hold that role. Maybe he liked them so much because they needed him. But he didn't like that thought very much. "And... you like music?"

"Do you have a favorite flower?" Ash was quite interested in the meaning of flowers. And some of them were just pretty. "I like Alstroemerias, forget-me-nots, and carnations. Although wildflowers of any kind are just so pretty. And all flowers are pretty, mostly. I also like medicinal plants, because that's helpful. And I like trees because they're cool. And I like grass and ferns. And I like magical plants. And I like Venus Flytraps and other carnivorous plants. Plants are cool. I just like all of the plants. Even the mean symbolic plants, and the actually poisonous ones." Ash liked plants. Not on a loving-herbologist level, mostly just on a I'm-ignoring-reality/trauma-by-looking-at-plants level. "I do like music. Especially sad music. And showtunes. And love songs. And rap. And rock-and-roll. And classical music. And anything interesting." She liked music. It was a good therapist. Just like art. And surfing. All of her hobbies were like therapy for her, especially since she didn't want to do ACTUAL THERAPY (scary). "Can I paint you Quinn? I know we're talking about music, and we probably WILL be talking about music and flowers etectera, but I just want to know if I'm allowed to paint you because I wanna paint everyone I know from memory." SO that everyone could finally SEE what humanity looked like. It could also be considered a therapy exercise, if that helped his decision in any way. Pleaseeeeee. Pretty Pleaseeeeee. With a fruit salad on top?

She continued tracing the piano with her fingers, enjoying the smooth feel of the keys. She wished she knew how to play. The piano was incredible. She loved the sound of the notes, the feel, the sound it produced too. All the sounds were calming. ... Maybe she could ask someone to teach her it?

Maybe.

Lisa began humming to herself an old folk song that her eldest cousin had sung to her when she felt lonely. It made her feel incredibly warm, calm, and most importantly safe as she continued to walk around the room. The door opening made her stop humming and she whipped her head to the door way to find a familiar face walking in. Oh it was Ollie! "Hi Ollie!" she greeted. "Coming to practice?" She didn't know the Slytherin played an instrument. She was quite intrigued.

Leaning against the doorframe he sung softly the second song seeing how he knew all too well what it was, it was one of his favorite songs. Seeing her miss a few beats and stop playing he shook his head chuckling softly. "Hey Bubbles, knew I'll find you here." He knew her places all to well, just like she knew his. In a teasing voice and a bit of a smirk. "Think you missed a few beats there."


"I know, but you were in the zone I didn't want to ruin your momentum, turns out that I did without trying to." Walking in he grabbed a guitar and started playing a familiar melody. "Came here to sing and play a little, although you beat me to it." Positioning the guitar more he smiled at her. "Take it from the beginning?"

Ollie was caught off guard. She wasn't expecting anyone to be here, especially Lisa. Did Lisa play an instrument? Won't be surprising, Lisa was full of surprises. "Oh hey Lisa." She considered hiding her violin behind her but it was too late. Lisa had already seen. "Umm yeah, I'm coming to practice." She didn't mean to sound uninterested in the conversation, but she was almost disappointed to see Lisa here. No not disappointed, that was the wrong word. It would come to her later.

She decided it would be better to be upfront with Lisa so there was no harm done. She didn't want to accidentally hurt Lisa's feelings. She stepped further into the room closer to the piano where her friend had been. "Honestly, I was hoping to have the room alone. I haven't practiced in like 3 years and I don't want to sound like an amateur when someone listens." She was a perfectionist, obviously.

Disheartened, that was the word.

Lia knew he was teasing her right off the bat and rolled her eyes at him before scrunching up her nose and sticking out her tongue at him. "It's your fault that I did. You distracted me by just standing there like that, you goof." Her tone was light and playful like the gentle smile that tugged at her lips.

"Mm' it doesn't seem to take much for things to ruin my flow anymore but thanks for trying." She appreciated the thought. When he finally walked fully into the room and grabbed a guitar a true smile spread across her face. "Not my fault you're too slow." Laughing softly she sat up straighter on the stool and pushed her hair back off her shoulders. "Yup. On my go," she nodded her head. With that she tapped her drumsticks together. Once, twice, three.. four times before she began to play. In her her head she was already singing through the song waiting for the right moment to sing aloud.

If Lisa knew that Ollie thought that she was FULL of surprises then she would have been wearing as smug smirk on her lips. But she didn’t so she just looked pleasantly surprised and happy to see her Tallfriend. She titled her head to the right, noting the instrument that her friend carried was a violin. “You play violin?!? How cool! Maybe we can jam... I totally play piano.” Well she thought she knew how to play chopsticks and jingle bells on the piano thanks to Chase but she didn’t consider that knowing piano. It was simply a party trick. Lisa heard the slight polite suggestion to leave but ignored it. “Oh come on! I can help you keep tempo? No pressure. I won’t judge,” she said before taking a seat on the piano bench and then kicked her feet. Her feet didn’t touch the floor.

She lifted the piano cover and readied herself. “Come on. You’re probably just being a little too self conscious. All in your head.”

Probably or ..... not.

Lisa wanted to "jam" with Ollie? Not that she was opposed, but she wasn't sure now was the best time. "I don't know, Lees, I think I'll sound really bad." She didn't need to think, she knew. Even while tuning up her violin, she had played a few cords that were ear-piercing. She didn't want to turn Lisa off from listening to her play for forever.

She set down her bag and took out her violin. What songs did she know again? "You can keep tempo if you want. But I promise I won't sound any good". She gave a nervous chuckle before pulling the violin up to her shoulder, prepping for the first note.

Quinn smiled and nodded. "Alstroemerias are very pretty, but I didn't have any in my garden sadly." He had forget-me-nots. They reminded him of Atlas's eyes. But, you know, in a friend way, of course. But he would never say that... anyway. "My favorites aren't that interesting, honestly... just dahlias, pansies and chrysanthemums. They're some of the first flowers I grew myself, so I'm pretty fond of them." Quinn liked trees and ferns and stuff, too, but he couldn't really grow those himself. Not right now, at least. "I like plants regardless of their meanings, too. Those meanings are cool and stuff, but I feel like... you should like things because they appeal to you. And not because other people think something differently about them, whether good or bad." ....his smile faltered a bit. That sentiment could be applied to some other things, too. "And, I mean, I'm definitely a fan of plants in general. But... y'know, I'm still scared about the man-eating ones. They're... spooky." He shivered just thinking about the man-eating hedges. Quinn would probably have to get over that, though... he was very interested in pursuing herbology in the future.

Quinn listened as Ash listed off all the music she liked. Which was... a lot. There wasn't much music that Quinn particularly disliked, but there were some that were... a bit much for him. Rock was a maybe, rap was a not often and metal was a never. He mostly liked pop music, but that was mostly what he heard in the car with his parents.... he wasn't a big music listener generally, honestly. He didn't really have anything to listen to music on, so... he never got into it. So he didn't really have much to contribute to Ash's music talk. "Well, that's pretty cool. You seem to know a little piano, too."

Quinn blushed a bit. "Um... well, I mean... if you want to, I guess that's alright.." He felt a little weird about being painted, but there didn't seem to be anything inherently wrong with it, so... why not? "What do you plan on doing with the paintings?"

mhmmmm. A friend way. It was maybe a good thing Quinn didn't bring up Atlas' eyes, or Ash might have derailed the conversation to brainstorm on setting the two of them up together. But he didn't say that so she didn't think about it and so she did not bring up how cute Quinn and Atlas were. But if she HAD thought about it, the conversation would definitely be going in that direction. Ash hardly thought of herself as a child, but she occasionally liked to play pretend as one. Hair braiding, nail polish, giggling about crushes. Ash would be longing for those, if she had been thinking about them. Which she was not.

"Yes." You know what ideas Quinn was (probably unknowingly) expressing? Fight the Establishment. And that was one of Ash's favorite ideas ever. "Like whatever flowers you want Quinn, even if the flowers are just regular flowers that you think are cool. And hobbies and people and ideas." It was always good to see people express defiant ideas. Even if they were deathly afraid of being defiant half the time. "Even and especially if other people think what you like is dumb." People thought she was insane for standing up for muggleborns. And hating 'innocent' bystanders. But she didn't quite care. "Maybe you'd like venus flytraps. They're carnivorous, but they can't hurt humans."

Ash didn't know that Quinn didn't listen to music. If she DID know, there was only a 50% chance of her caring. "I came in here to play a lot last year. Rosier never found me, but Sammy Summers did. That didn't end too well, I must say." She sighed. Who knew Cambridge would react like that? Not her.

"I'm painting everyone I can find. Even Upstead. Because right now, I have a photographic memory. But if and when I get better, it might go away, but there are some things that I actually do want to remember." She supposed her photographic memory was a safety mechanism, so she would not forget her spells or identity in the mirror even though her soul was withering away. She couldn't live, but she could remember what it was like to. It was a double edged sword though. Ash found that the majority of the things she remembered were things she wish she forgot.

Quinn smiled and nodded. He was glad that Ash agreed with him. She was really cool when she wasn't scary. He hummed when she brought up Venus flytraps. "I've seen some around the greenhouses, and they seem alright... I kinda feel bad for the buggies, though. Why can't they just produce their own food, like a regular plant? Why do you have to hurt something else when you could just... not?" he frowned. Quinn hated unnecessary violence. There were some people he wanted to punch, though. He probably wouldn't. Probably. But he thought that you should only resort to violence when you have no other option (or in some very specific cases when someone deserved it because they're terrible-horrible and you hate them).

Quinn's mouth made an O as he nodded. "Ohhh so that's how that stuff started. Yes, I remember that whole debacle... vividly." He had almost gotten killed because Eden was so mad at Emmerson. Nose sardines. Amendment to his previous statements: only commit violence against the terrible-horribles if you're in a position where you probably won't get killed for it.

And then Nem was brought up and Quinn's face soured. The terrible-horrible in question. "They don't deserve to be painted, I don't think." Quinn was still unsure why Ash was hanging around them.... they were the reason she got trapped in a freaking mirror, right? So... that made no sense to Quinn. She should hate them more than even he did. "I... I didn't know you had a photographic memory, though." Quinn pushed through his bitterness to keep the conversation going. He didn't need to be on Ash's bad side—again, kinda scary sometimes.

Ash might never be cool in Quinn's eyes then- because she was almost always scary. In different ways too. Sometimes, it was "oh no is Ash going to kill me". Sometimes, it was "oh no is Ash gonna die right now?" But it was almost always scary.

"I think it's because of the soil. Venus Flytraps maybe aren't able to only exist on the soil they grow in, I guess it's not nutritious enough."
Ash didn't feel too bad for the bugs. Yes, they were living and dying, but so was everyone else. It was the natural world. It was nothing more than a starving cheetah catching an antelope that was lagging behind. "They also evolved so that they wouldn't eat too many pollinators, because the flower of the plant is far away from the trap. Well, I think that's how it works." Something like that. Despite seeming to know everything, Ash did not, in fact, know everything.

But she did remember almost everything that had happened to her at Hogwarts, aside from being possessed. And there was magical influence on that. A thing she did remember? Being called a mudblood by Cambridge. "We hung out, talked about music. I told him I wanted to start a charity. It was cool, except for the part where I got into a physical altercation with Cambridge and decided to avoid him. Heard you and Eden almost died somehow. Congratulations to the two of you on not dying. And making sardines fall out of Cambridge's nose." Because that was great. And she was impressed that someone would do that for her. Loyalty was a rare trait.

Ash understood why Quinn didn't like Nem. Yep, she definitely did. Maybe better than anyone else. But... they were so calm, all the time, that it was hard to be upset. Of course, if they suddenly decided to give her more trauma, she would me more mad. But for now, she was exhausted. She was tired of thinking about what they did all the time. Cambridge was a different story. Ashley Fox would hate Emmerson Cambridge quite possibly for the rest of time, and she would never get tired of it. Nemesis Upstead traumatized her more than anyone else ever had, but she could tolerate talking to them. Sometimes she even thought she related to them. She could not relate to Cambridge at all. "It's alright, if it's only from memory. I like to paint people even if I don't like them. There's only one person I don't wanna ask. Well, two. Well, three. I refuse to paint healer Poppy or Lucien Rosier. But other than that, only one person." Sorry, but Nemesis Upstead did not have the #1 spot on the enemies list. They could get most of the perks, like passive-aggressive conversation and knowing that you messed up someone's whole life, but they didn't get the grand prize of retaliation. Yet. Ash had never quite felt the need to ruin their relationships (if they had any) or get them punished or expelled. "Only three people I can't stand painting."
Only three, not four.

And there was a reason why Quinn didn't know about her memory. "I used to not have as good a memory, but I had two or so months where remembering was the only thing I was able to do. And I needed it... to like remember who I was and what I was fighting for, spells I'd learned, when my birthday was, who my friends were, what my name was... y'know, that kinda stuff. But I don't need it to exist anymore, and I kinda wish is would magically go away now." Sometimes remembering who you were and what you were fighting for felt like it did more harm than good. There were only two things that made it worth it: love for her friends, family, and boyfriend, and rage. Getting back at the memory of Rosier was fun. Unhealthy, but fun. And even when she forgot who her friends were, she could always count on remembering her enemies. Always and forever.

“Nah, it’ll be fiiiiiine,” she quickly said with a confident nod. They were going to be awesome. Believing you were awesome was half the battle, right? Besides she figured Ollie was too humble about her ability. She then proceeded to crack her knuckles like a professional and watch Ollie get ready.

She nodded in reply and then set the tempo. “A one.. two.. one.. two.. three. Four!” And Lisa Nam started to play a glorified mashup of chopsticks and jingle bells.

By Jove, it was atrocious.

Quinn sat back in his seat and harrumphed. "Well, they could've just evolved to eat nothing, right? Like, they could've just... evolved to subsist off of the nutrients in soil like all the other plants. And, I mean, they must've started using nutrients from the soil, cuz they're still plants, right? And then they evolved specifically to eat bugs. That's super uncool, if you ask me." Flesh-eating plants felt unnatural. Why couldn't they all just be pretty flowers with no drawbacks?

The near-death nose sardines weren't a memory Quinn enjoyed reminiscing on. He had forgiven Eden for it, but it was still just... a bad experience all around. And not something he felt deserved a congratulations. Quinn's brow furrowed. "...yeah, still not very fond of that memory. Glad that I didn't die. Don't think the sardines were worth it. I had nothing to do with them, anyway." Quinn was liking certain parts of this conversation less and less. Let's bring it somewhere better. "What was the charity you wanted to start? And are you back to talking with Samuel?" Quinn didn't like calling people by their nicknames if he didn't know them well. It felt weird to him.

Quinn thought Nem's constant calmness was rather annoying. Like they were keeping up this air to pretend like they were better and smarter than everyone else when they were really just a horrible person. Quinn thought they deserved to be taken down a notch. Quinn wanted to be the one to do it. He listened as Ash listed off the people she would never paint. "Is the third Emmerson?" He was pretty sure it would be. He wasn't sure who else could be so high on her list of enemies.

Quinn blinked at Ash's explanation of her memory. "Um... I'm not exactly sure that I follow." You could just... switch your memory from regular to photographic? That seemed basically impossible... unless it was some magic thing? But then she could just un-magic it, right? And did this have something to do with what happened the term before he got to Hogwarts? Where Ash, like, nearly burned down the forest?