The Past

[dreamingophelia]

Aislin bit her lip softlty as she walked through the doors of the library. It was cold in here, there were some sections which were dusty, others which were unclean, the archives which were untidy. Despite the disorder, it was slightly comforting. People didn't talk in the library, it was an unspoken rule. Aislin rather liked that fact. She

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[caer_forelin]

Screwing up his face to stop the tears that threatened to flow from his eyes, twelve year old Caer Forelin pushed into the library. A glare diverted any strange looks for the moment, and another later, his face was composed and cool as it had ever been. His parents had taught him proper behavior, especially under adverse circumstances, and no matter what those older, mudblooded louts did, he would never snap that composure

[dreamingophelia]

It hadn't minded Aislin that she had stood in a dusty place, and that was perhaps indicative of just how much she'd changed in the past two weeks. She had come to realise something, and that was that there were far more filthy things than dirt, and far worse actions than getting dirty. She felt dirty here, at this school. It was disgusting, the people that she was forced to talk to, partnered with, the people that had the nerve to brush shoulders with her in the halls, or even sit next to her at meals. She was as perfectly maintained as ever, her hair clipped back, nails neat and tidy, unwrinkled robes of good quality, but somehow she never felt clean.

She had begun to wonder if she ever would- especially after seeing childhood friends and acquaintances slip into this new life so easily. Most of them had taken to talking to Mudbloods just for fun, for enjoyment, because they liked to speak to them. Aislin couldn't see how they could abandon how they were at home, just because they weren't in sight of their parents

[caer_forelin]

Of course, as he began his second year, Aislin would be in her first year. Though it seemed odd, they were not so different in age. It simply surprised him to see her here, in his place of refuge. This portion of the library, his corner, it did not have easy access from the door. Some finding, it took, and he doubted she had come here by accident.

So, in true Forelin style, and attempting to seem much older than he truly was, he smiled at her. It was a cracked smile, though - while his eyes no longer threatened to spills the tears of torment down his face, he was still considerably uneasy about the events of the day thus far.

"Well, of course you are," he said, sitting down, "May I sit? I was actually wondering what you're doing here in this part of the library."

He smiled softly at the thought of the books around him - yes, libraries did make him comfortable. "They do smell good, don't they?"

[dreamingophelia]

"Of course you may," Aislin replied politely, as was customary. It would be curlish not to allow him to sit here, after all, it wasn't as though this place was highly accessible. He had probably sought it out for the same reason that she had- to be alone.

"I like to have time to myself," she responds. I like to keep away from the savages who litter this school. I like to stay away from my two-faced, cowardly, childhood associates. I like to stay away from the common room because there are too many dirty things that I feel the need to hex back to their own, filthy, horrible, pelgrims' world. None of those sound just as good, put forward to a boy that she hasn't seen in over a year.

"Admirably so," she agrees, startled that he'd have her very same thoughts. Aislin had always found that when she was musing over something, any other child her age was thinking about food.

"Besides," she said, continuing on from her earlier response, "it isn't as if I've much else to do.'

[caer_forelin]

Caer smiled, sitting next to her but far enough away so they could talk quietly while still maintaining the illusion of being alone. He really did not have anyone to turn to among his friends - Colin had the same problem he did, with the older boys picking on him. Different reasons, though - with him, the boys made comments about his family. No one insulted Caer's parents, not ever; it was something that puzzled Caer in his second year, but eventually, undoubtedly, he would understand.

"Me, too," he said, digging his Charms book from the tattered bag strung over his shoulder. "Time alone is the best time to study, and the best time to think."

He paused when she spoke of the books again - the library was a refuge, a place where Madame Noire would never allow the older boys to pick on him. It was the one place in the school he felt safe.

"Really, there's not much else to do, I think."

[dreamingophelia]

Aislin watched Caer observantly, he at least was here to study, but studying distracted Aislin from her peaceful state of isolation from her peers. Besides, she had finished her potions work at lunch, and had only history of magic and charms to study tonight. And, she thought to herself, I suppose I had best read ahead for the next herbology lesson, so I'm prepared for what filth I'm meant to be rolling around in.

He didn't reply to her last statement, so she let him sit, and study as he wished. She was content to just sit here for now, especially since she had realised very early on that if she took every chance she could to be alone- such as now- that when she was around other people, like back at her dorm, or at lunch, or in classes, that she could simply throw herself into her studies then, politely tell people that she was busy, and they could see that it was the truth.

After a long while of silence, Aislin finally realised that she would have to be the annoying one and interrupt. She didn't like doing it- he deserved his

[caer_forelin]

Charms, he had to admit, made for a terribly boring read while sitting mostly alone in the library. So, truth be told, it pleased him when Aislin interrupted his reading. Her question, however, made him a bit uncomfortable.

After a moment of considering, he looked at her while biting his lip. "Promise you won't tell?" he said, forcing his eyes to not well up again.

"The older boys, they pick on me. They tell me I'm too much Ravenclaw, that I study too much, that I ought to prank people more. They think I'm not a Slytherin because I don't like to make an ass of myself."

It came out all in a rush, and it was probably more than he meant to say, but then, she had promised not to tell, right?

[dreamingophelia]

Aislin frowned, the worry that she heard in his voice when he asked her to promise not to tell was alarming. She didn't have much experience in comforting people. "I promise," she managed say. It seemed very important to him that she did, and what type of person would she be if she went and told other people something which Caer had told her in confidence.

His predicament shocked her to no end- people would pick on someone else because he studied too much? "But surely they're just silly. Surely they would see that you get better grades than they do, and be jealous. There's nothing wrong with studying," she assured him. "Why, I study all the time and people don't tease me- because I can actually do the work in the classes, unlike them

[caer_forelin]

Caer frowned. "Silly or not, you try being hung upside down for minutes on end, then dropped to the ground in a heap only to have fires lit all around you. It's mean."

It was mean! Damn those boys - he'd show them someday, he would. His father, though, would never know. "You know my dad, Aislin - how would your dad react if you told him stuff like that was happening to you? I don't want anything drastic to happen, and he'd overreact. No...I'll just have to deal with this myself."

It just sucked to have to do, that was all.

[dreamingophelia]

Aislin didn't want to try that at all, "that's horrible!" she gasped. "How could they do that to you? Why? Studying isn't any reason at all!"

She nodded when he bought up his father. Yes, yes, she had been wrong to suggest it. Not only would his father probably go to extreme measures, it would also be better for Caer to handle this himself. "Well. Why don't you just show them what superior studying can do? It's better than brute strength," Aislin suggested.

"There are certain advantages to having more than two braincells, surely you can teach that to them."

[caer_forelin]

Caer threw his hands up uselessly. "I'd love to - I don't even know the spells they're working and I know they're wandwork is shoddy. Unfortunately, try as I might, I can't make the spells work, not right. They...fizzle."

It frustrated him to no end, the fact that he could not seem to muster the control, or the strength, or whatever those spells required. Bothersome failed utterly to describe it, and he had simply stopped trying. He needed more training, and more training was something he would only get by plodding through the mundane schoolwork the professors assigned them.

[dreamingophelia]

"I could see if I could help a little if you like? I've been told that I'm a natural at transfiguration... and I could help to read over any charms with you... I mean, I know it's not much, but if it might help a little," she admitted. "I know it's probably nothing that I've done yet, but Mama has always said that I can do anything if I put my mind to it."

"Who does it, anyway?" she asked curiously. After all, Caer might not be able to tell his father, but Aislin might be able to do something. She had quite a bit of blackmail on a few of her fellow Slytherins. Some embarassing childhood acts that they mostly wouldn't want anyone to know about. Even a few photographs.

Being exposed to the children of her father's friends sometimes had great advantages.

[caer_forelin]

Her offer of help made him smile, and he nodded at her a bit shyly. He did not like asking for help from anyone, but surely she would not tell. And two minds were better than one, after all...right?

The question about who had tortured him made him angry again, though, and he clenched his fists. "Filthy mudbloods. What right do they have to tell me how a Slytherin should act? After all, we should be teaching them how to behave properly." He was not behaving properly, and he knew it, but then, it mattered little, if she knew he was upset.

[dreamingophelia]

Mudbloods, Aislin went cold. Mudbloods, mudbloods mudbloods. They're horrible. They're disgusting.

"None at all," Aislin replied, forcing her voice not to take on a venomous sound, trying to make it seem as though she didn't care about them as much as she did, as if the mention or sight of them wasn't enough to make her want to go home, and live out the rest of her school years in civilization. "You're absolutely right," he told him.

All thoughts or restricting her hate, of attempting to hide just how passionate it was went out the window. "They're like house elves, but worse, because they've got no use. They don't belong here, in our world. They've never belonged, and they never will." She took a breath, closed her eyes, and steadied her breathing. "I'm trying to write father to ask him if he'll take me out of this place," she begun

[caer_forelin]

Caer grimaced. "Oh, they've a use...in testing. Like animals, you know?" She was right - it stood against everything they had been taught. Why should they eat with mudbloods, learn with them, talk with them, tolerate them? Magic belonged to the proud Pureblood families, did it not? Of course.

But leaving? "You can't leave! You've just promised to help me, and..." And he needed a friend to confide in. As much as he did not want to admit it, talking to someone who understood was nice. "You just can't go. Please?"

[dreamingophelia]

Aislin dragged her knees up to her chest and nodded. He talked some sense, they would be useful in testing. Aislin had read books in her father's library about things that could be done to people, she'd heard all of the men and women who had come sometimes to dinner that she had affectionately called 'aunts and uncles' talk about how they had done those things to people, and she had been rather amazed that they could do such things without practice.

She suddenly knew how they had all perfected their skills, and she admired them even more. Caer was right, there was too much of an opportunity here open for her to take up, and she had promised to help him. "I imagine," she begun, "that Father would think any letter of mine whinging, no matter how carefully I worded it," she told him finally. "And you're right, I promised to help you... I don't feel even slightly so bad now that I know I'm not the only one who isn't a blood-traitor at this school. And if we both know what the use of Mudbloods is now, isn't it time that they were