Charley was only really annoyed that the light dimmed her view of the stars, leaving her focus entirely on the professor. She was a spirit in the dark, all aglow against the night sky. Just for a moment, the urchin could remember what it was like, really like, at Hogwarts. Back before it had been easier to hate it than give herself a chance to regret the truly magical place that had left her behind.
"S'pose you'll be waitin' here for a while, then, if yer 'spectin' my folk'll be by to collect me." Charley didn't mind the woman taking a seat next to her, and now in the light she could see enough to pick out some of the taller, thicker grasses from the ground. Plucking them with her fingers, they set about lining them up until she had the right pair among the rest. It was easier than trying to answer the thousand questions that dribbled forth from the professor's mouth, one that Charley had actually enjoyed listening to during the actual program. Then, they hadn't been the same words she'd heard, and been asked, a thousand times already.
"Sometimes...and nope." Her curt response wasn't trying to be rude, really. The urchin just really wanted the professor to past the point where she was just a sob story. As soon as the woman could understand that Charley wasn't about to crumple into tears at the very mention of the school or parents who had abandoned her, she might be able to figure out the game.
There was always a game.
The makeshift whistle came up to her mouth and she tested it, softly. Being nighttime, though still pretty far from any homes, Charley thought better of piercing the dark with a shrill whistle. Maybe she could summon the Park Ghost, Barnabas, or something from out of the water. The idea put a grin on her face, and she took a second to sit all the way up, still coming half a head below the professor seated next to her. She was a tall one, for sure.
"Jes a working girl now, figured you came by 'cause of my face or summat. Used to be one of 'em in yer class up at the castle when I went, uhh..." Charley had to think with her fingers for a second, and flicked the whistle away to float back to the dark ground beyond their circle of light. Sometimes it was just good to know she could still make a grass whistle, had nothing to do with the tenderheart sitting in her skirts on the grass. She counted on her fingers, coming out to three somehow, and even the urchin was surprised by that. "a while back."
The grin reappeared for a moment to cut in on that sour turn of events, "Reckon I en't quite the same now, eyes wide open an' all."
"S'pose you'll be waitin' here for a while, then, if yer 'spectin' my folk'll be by to collect me." Charley didn't mind the woman taking a seat next to her, and now in the light she could see enough to pick out some of the taller, thicker grasses from the ground. Plucking them with her fingers, they set about lining them up until she had the right pair among the rest. It was easier than trying to answer the thousand questions that dribbled forth from the professor's mouth, one that Charley had actually enjoyed listening to during the actual program. Then, they hadn't been the same words she'd heard, and been asked, a thousand times already.
"Sometimes...and nope." Her curt response wasn't trying to be rude, really. The urchin just really wanted the professor to past the point where she was just a sob story. As soon as the woman could understand that Charley wasn't about to crumple into tears at the very mention of the school or parents who had abandoned her, she might be able to figure out the game.
There was always a game.
The makeshift whistle came up to her mouth and she tested it, softly. Being nighttime, though still pretty far from any homes, Charley thought better of piercing the dark with a shrill whistle. Maybe she could summon the Park Ghost, Barnabas, or something from out of the water. The idea put a grin on her face, and she took a second to sit all the way up, still coming half a head below the professor seated next to her. She was a tall one, for sure.
"Jes a working girl now, figured you came by 'cause of my face or summat. Used to be one of 'em in yer class up at the castle when I went, uhh..." Charley had to think with her fingers for a second, and flicked the whistle away to float back to the dark ground beyond their circle of light. Sometimes it was just good to know she could still make a grass whistle, had nothing to do with the tenderheart sitting in her skirts on the grass. She counted on her fingers, coming out to three somehow, and even the urchin was surprised by that. "a while back."
The grin reappeared for a moment to cut in on that sour turn of events, "Reckon I en't quite the same now, eyes wide open an' all."
![[Image: UNpj1yr.png]](https://i.imgur.com/UNpj1yr.png)
Writer Notes: Charley is a street urchin in both appearance and behavior, unless written otherwise here.
Interactions may reflect Victorian-era morals rather than modern sensibilities; this is allowed and acceptable to this writer.