September 15, 1892 — Ravenclaw Head of House quarters, Ravenclaw Tower

Basil loved being Ravenclaw Head of House… it was everything and nothing that he’d expected. It was still disconcerting not being in his room adjacent to the Transfiguration classroom, but he'd always missed the view from Ravenclaw Tower. It had always been more familiar and comforting than the view out his own window in Wellingtonshire, at the very least. It was from his place by the window that the brunette ran a hand through his hair. (His hair was still somewhat neat from his pre-term cut, but was starting to grow out. Mama would be telling him it was time to consider another trim soon.) Basil sighed.

He was starting to feel some of the pressure to perform as his duties expanded. Pressure from whom, he wasn’t sure exactly. His family couldn’t have cared less… they were proud, he supposed, in their way. But they didn’t understand the responsibility it took. The rest of the staff seemed to regard him the same as before too, thankfully -- even Headmaster Black; not that the man acknowledged him any more than usual. Still, Basil felt the added responsibility on his shoulders like a coil of weights. He hadn’t stumbled yet but…

Shaking his head of these thoughts, the professor turned back to his quarters and moved towards the bed where Duchess was lounging in a ray of sunlight that streamed in through the window. He settled next to her and scooped the pretty feline up into his arms. Then, burying his face in her fur, Basil let out a warm breath. He could hear the cruel voice in his head chittering behind the conscious stream of thoughts. Doubts, fear, anxieties... all of them were heavier on his shoulders than any real expectations. He wished he could just banish them entirely.

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Diana Selwyn & this muse song

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   Diana Selwyn

Diana was pleased to have made it to Hogwarts with Basil, having grown increasingly concerned she’d be left alone with the rest of the Foxwoods. (They were sweet, but nothing like her beloved little scholar and pseudo-son.)

At first, it was clear this was a much better environment to suit her extroverted craving for constant attention, something the children offered in spades. Though two weeks in, the weight of it all started to wear on her little furry shoulders. The girl with ribbon in her hair, the cheeky know-it-all second year, the timid boy with the mess of dark curls. Obviously, her children were much older now. Grown, even. And she’d missed all these precious years, their special milestones. It shattered her heart to thousands of tiny pieces to think of it much.

It would seem a dark cloud also loomed over her companion as of late. Though they were a newer chosen family, she’d grown more than a little familiar with his patterns. The manic excitement that drove sleepless nights over books and papers, his constant correspondence with various other scholars. Then, the other side of the coin: the times he’d spend staring out his window with a lost daydream in his eyes, where his productivity waned, and he’d forget to eat.

Diana thought she knew the reason that look lingered in Basil’s eyes. Not explicitly, but she was there the evening It Happened. And so she knew, the way all mothers understand something happened without really knowing what happened. Mums feel it in their bones.

A mewl of surprise escaped her throat as she felt herself hoisted up from a light slumber into Basil’s arms and this too, she recognized in the pattern. The boy was broken-hearted, and she nuzzled into his face in response. Times like this she wished her arms were longer, so she could properly give him a hug. Or perhaps that she had the vocal cords to sing him a proper lullaby. But having no way to do these things, she curled up into him more, a bit like a fanciful warm scarf that could attempt to smother him with love she had nowhere else to deposit.

‘There there, my darling,’ she said in her head, purring soothingly into his cuddles. ‘I promise that this too, shall pass.’

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The following 1 user Likes Diana Selwyn's post:1 user Likes Diana Selwyn's post
   Basil Foxwood

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beautiful set by gin <3

The feel of his cat’s warmth and fur against his face was grounding in a way that Basil hadn’t realized he’d needed. Something in his mind was spinning. The daemon on the edge of his sub-consciousness, always sleeping, lurking, waiting, was awake for the first time in… awhile. He could feel it, pressing into his reality, and one day - Basil knew - it would drown him. Today, as he lowered Duchess into his lap and snuggled into her sweet little face, he felt a flicker of doubt run across his mind.

“At least you’d miss me,” he muttered in response to the incoherent feeling that had flickered briefly.

With a sigh, Basil looked out over the strangeness of the new room. Perhaps in time it would feel more his. He hoped as much at least. The little room behind his office had been home for the past seven years now in a way Wellingtonshire had never been. Basil hated the thought of feeling homeless, but somewhere in the deepest pits of his stomach he new it was true in an overprivileged, indulgently painful kind of way. He had everything and nothing. Nothing that mattered—

Scooping Duchess up into his arms like a baby, Basil began to pace lightly around the room. This too would pass, he tried to remind himself. The chimera of his inner-most self would crawl, reluctantly, back into its little box and… his vision would clear like it always did. It had to, right?

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Diana Selwyn & this muse song

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