February "28th", 1890 — The Great Hall; Breakfast

It had been a normal morning. Had been. That feeling didn't last long. Crystal had mysteriously aquired a diary that she had apparently gotten over the summer. It had some entaries in it, most recently she had written about a "Cat named Martin" and couldn't, for the life of her, remember what the cat looked like or why she had settled on naming it after her father.

When she made it to the Great Hall for Breakfast, she'd expected it to be like any other time. She just wanted something to eat and something to drink. Her eyes scanned the room, to see if there was anything else that was weird but she couldn't find -

Her eyes landed on someone who should be dead. Someone she watched die. He looked a little older, like he'd never been mauled, and killed, by a tiger. She tried to make her expression less-shocked, but she wasn't sure it worked.

She dragged her eyes away from her brother's look-alike and found Acacia. Her sister was to far away for Crystal to make out her expression. The Slyterin made her way over to the Ravenclaw, having no clue what she was going to say.

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MJ made the pretties

Nothing unusual had happened as of the morning. The letters were not at the front of Acacia's mind as she went about her morning to get ready for classes. It wasn't a morning that needed much in way of conversation, which she was fine with if she were to be honest. A quiet day meant no drama, and it seemed like it would be that sort of a day. Perhaps she would paint today.

Having headed to the Great Hall, she hadn't been looking for anything out of the ordinary. Focused on her discussion with a fellow seventh year ravenclaw girl in regards to some homework. She had even sat down and was beginning to get her own food together. Looked from choice to choice, grabbed some tea, and as her eyes wandered she saw him. Tea cup handle in her hand, her eyes widening, her grip loosening, it was only the luck of one of her friends taking notice that they grabbed the cup before it slipped from her grip completely.

In all honesty, Acacia couldn't hear a word of wondering as to what was wrong. What? What had just upset her so abruptly? She remembered the tiger sinking its claws into her brother. But... that was him there. A little older, sure. But him. How was that possible? Suddenly Chrysanta was by her side and she looked up with her startled expression. No amount of words seemed to want to leave her lips. She looked to her younger sister for any kind of help in the matter.

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Magic by Elaine!

Crystal didn't know what to think. She hoped, it was just a bad dream. Or a good dream, depending on how someone looked at it. Her brother, her baby brother, was sitting at the same table as Acacia, but she was pretty sure he couldn't hear them. He looked... healthy. She didn't remember watching him get sorted, and she wished she did.
"Do you...?" she couldn't bring herself to say the words. Her eyes darted back over to where their brother sat.

Did Acacia remember Dunstan dying? Was Acacia seeing the same thing that she was? She really hoped she wasn't seeing things that weren't there. Her first thought would be he became a ghost years after his death but she wasn't sure if that were possible.

Crystal's eyes turned back to her sister, hoping she understood what she was trying, and failing, to say.

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MJ made the pretties

In a small but meaningful gesture that was Dunstan Ruskin in a nutshell, he donated his last rasher of bacon to the skinny boy sitting opposite. "It's no trouble, I'm barely hungry at all", he lied, giving the grateful lad a reassuring smile before rising from the breakfast table.

As he did so, he felt two sets of familiar eyes on him. While the rest of the Ravenclaw table chattered away, quite unperturbed, two of his older sisters were looking at him as if he were covered in blood. And judging from the casual presence of his other Housemates, he was absolutely not covered in blood.

Flame-haired Acacia was sat there, having abandoned her breakfast, while he could see the golden Chrysanta at the Slytherin table behind them, both looking at him, both as shocked as each other. Dun ruffled his dark brown hair uncomfortably, and approached Acacia he swung his satchel onto his shoulder. "Are you alright...?"

  

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There must be some kind of mistake. Some explanation as to what was going on. Could this have something to do with what happened in America? No, this couldn't be Dunstan. This was some Ravenclaw that Acacia had somehow failed to notice for far too long.

But that voice. She couldn't scream. Couldn't make a scene. But what could she say? What could she do? It was all so overwhelming. The room was spinning. Then it all went black.

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Magic by Elaine!

Ordina was far too consumed with her daily routine of stuffing her face with bacon to notice that her dead brother somehow sat at the table nearby and that her sister had fainted at the sight of him. In fact, when somone tried to tap on her shoulder to point out the scene that was happening at the Ravenclaw table, she even gave a hum of annoyance.

She soon, however, heard whispers rising around her— Miss Ruskin this, and she's fainted that. Being nosey as she was, it didn't take very long for Orinda to be craning her neck to get a good look.

And it was true. Acacia had fainted, and Chrysanta was there with her. And so was... Dustan? That was enough to make Orinda drop her piece of bacon altogether.

Yet she still didn't move.

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OOC: Oh looks like I had Crystal's location wrong in my previous post; edited! :)

Had Dunstan not been a naturally rather quiet young lad, he would have yelled out Acacia's name in sheer alarm. For she had just fainted outright, there on the breakfast table. "Acacia... Acacia!" he gave her shoulder a gentle shake, concerned and alarmed.

"What happened?" he asked some of the other nearby Ravenclaw students urgently. And — "somebody fetch Madam Delacour."

  

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Crystal shook herself out of her stupor when she heard Dunstan calling for Madam Delacour. His voice, like his physique, made her heart ache. She hoped that this was not just some fever dream of hers.

If it was, she didn't want to wake up from it.

"Acacia will be fine, she just needs a moment." she heard herself saying to Dunstan, gently lifting her sister's head out of her breakfast. She wasn't sure how she was moving, talking, when her mind was still spinning in circles.

If Acacia hadn't fainted, Crystal was sure she would have. "No need for anyone to call Madam Delacour."

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occ: I totally meant for Crystal to be next to Acacia, jsyk

  

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MJ made the pretties

By now Acacia was in a state between unconciousness and waking. Not enough to open her eyes, but enough to hear half of what those around her said and feel the anxiety of it all.

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Magic by Elaine!

Girls fainted all the time he supposed, but it was different when it was a girl he was related to. Dunstan felt pretty helpless as he stood there with his sisters, one of whom remained staunchly unconscious. Much of the alarm in the vicinity had died down as students began to return their attentions to their crispy bacon and letters from home, but the Ruskins were still drawing stares.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked Crystal hopefully. "As brothers go, I'm not a very effective one right now, am I..."

  

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Crystal shook her head at her brother as she wiped the breakfast from Acacia's face, "I don't think there's anything we can do, besides waiting for her to open her eyes." she hoped it wouldn't be much longer. She didn't want to be the one to tell her brother why the older Ravenclaw had fainted. She would much rather Acacia tell him what their reactions meant.

Acaica was much better at the kindly saying things that nobody else had the tact to do. Telling Dunstan he'd died at the World Market in 1887 is definitely one of the times she needed her older sister.

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MJ made the pretties

It took what felt like a while - though was probably only a few minutes at best - but Acacia did come to. In her daze, she looked around. Seeing Dunstan, she almost felt ready to faint once more.

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Magic by Elaine!

Waiting... fine. Dunstan didn't like this feeling of helplessness, but he trusted Crystal and thus remained still, lingering, watching...

Finally Acacia opened her eyes. Dun breathed a sigh of relief, but frowned slightly; why was she looking at him as if he were covered in blood or something?

He reached for an empty goblet, filled it with clear water and passed it to her; "Acacia — here."

  

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Crystal was relieved when Acacia finally opened her eyes. It had felt to long, and she'd almost wanted to tell her ... brother ... that maybe calling Madam Delacour was the best thing for them to do.

If their older sister had waited any longer, Crystal would have been forced to tell Dunstan the truth. Now she didn't have to. Unless, of course, Acacia didn't say anything about it. They couldn't very well not tell him.

Crystal didn't even know how she would start the conversation. Hopefully after Acacia drank the water that their brother gave her, they'd both know what to say.

She wished Orinda would join them, instead of staying at her own table and not saying anything or wiping the shock off her face.

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MJ made the pretties

How was she supposed to explain the look she was giving him. The water was welcome, but was he? Was this an illusion meant to torment her? She looked to Chrysanta for some sort of assistance.

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Magic by Elaine!

Dun felt increasingly unsettled by the situation, especially now that Acacia was looking at him with a very strange but unreadable expression. What on Earth was going on? He followed Acacia's gaze, and now they both looked at Crystal for answers.

  

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