(Untitled)

[williamsparrow]

Week Name/Date/Time: 'A Moment's Peace' / Wednesday, 5 October / 1:00 p.m.
Location: Third Floor Hallway, near Staircase
Open To: Anyone and Everyone
Currently Involving: Will, Emilia, Liesl

Comments

[liesl_jacobs]

Liesl had a feeling she knew just what was responsible for that dreamy expression.

She had come upon him several paces away, and decided to wait in the shadows of the Humpbacked Witch statue, wanting to observe him for a few minutes first. For a while now Liesl had an inkling that Will was up to something the rest of his Housemates wouldn't approve of; not that it would be out of the ordinary for him. He was always acting the part of the atypical Slytherin, mucking about with members of other Houses. Even Gryffindors. And while Liesl didn't take the House rivalry as seriously as some did (coughWESLEYPRESTONcough), there was only so much skulking about by her fellow Sixth Year she could take before becoming suspicious.

And then he had the gall to stand there by that rain-splattered window looking perfectly at ease. As if he was an angel who would never dream of wronging his House.

When Emilia caught up with him, Liesl rolled her eyes. She saw the Fifth Year as nothing more than a hanger-on who believed she was on par with the older students. Although Liesl didn't get along well with other people in general (hell, with anything that BREATHED), she took a special dislike to Emilia. Something about the upstart younger girl really ruffled her feathers. Sometimes she could barely restrain her wand hand from lashing out and giving the blonde something to cry about... But that would only lead to much disruption in the House.

So civility won out. For now.

"Isn't it obvious?" Liesl responded to Emilia's question, finally stalking out in the open. "He's staring into the eyes of some knock-about Ravenclaw, and he thinks no one is the wiser. What a dreamer."

Oooo, who was she talking about exactly? Shihoko? Or someone else...? Liesl folded her arms smugly across her chest as she approached them, gauging both for a reaction.

[williamsparrow]

Ah, there's something to draw him out of his thoughts. The footfalls against the stone floor had registered in the back of his mind, but it wasn't until Emilia was at his side that he glanced up, looking as though she had taken him slightly off-guard.

Not that he wasn't pleased as punch to see her, and in such a good mood, too.

A faint smile dawning on his lips, he started to answer...only to be cut off by a voice from the shadows.

Oh, look here...just his luck. It looked like Liesl was on the prowl and looking to make trouble and...wait. What did she say?

He tensed immediately, a cold chill running through him. She knew. HOW could she know? Nobody knew, he'd never said anything...was he acting differently? How could she have possibly picked up that...

Wait. Again. Ravenclaw. She could just as easily have meant Shihoko. Which meant him reacting like that was probably not a good idea, and the tension flowed back out again...though now, of course, his smile had faded slightly. "Oh, no need to be like that, Liesl," he murmured dismissively. "I think we've got enough little black rainclouds, you might consider taking yours back."

[emiliahawthorn]

As Liesl stepped out into view, Emilia stifled a yawn. She found the girl quite tiresome, and self-obsessed in a manner she thought most unbecoming. It was a particular shame that she'd chosen that very moment to step out, as Emilia had been looking forward to catching up with Will and it seemed from his faint smile when she'd arrived that this would have been the perfect opportunity. Merlin knows it was hard enough to track him down as it was and although he occasionally came into the Common Room, well, there was always someone else there. Still, never mind. She was sure to have Prefect Duty with him at some point and she could talk to him then.

Conserving her manners for someone who deserved them, Emilia downright ignored the girl. Liesl may have thought it obvious what Will was thinking, but Emilia thought it far more obvious that the older girl wasn't welcome and her every action showed this. She turned away from the other girl, focusing her attention solely on Will and not even sending a cursory glance in Liesl's direction. However, though she'd never let on, the girl's comment had sparked some interest. After all, Emilia had her own interests in that particular house. Still, she'd not mention it now.

Smiling at Will, she followed his lead and brought the conversation back to something more dull - that old classic of the weather. After all, if that dratted girl insisting on hanging around, Emilia would do her best to make sure she learnt nothing intersting from it. "I rather like the rain," she said, looking out the window herself now. "Though I'd rather be inside than out in it."

[liesl_jacobs]

Prat. Brut [brat]. Prissy little einfältige [airhead]! All things that came to mind when Liesl took in Emilia's disinterested manner. As if that girl didn't want to know what Will was up to just as much as Liesl did, hmph. She licked her lips, watching as Emilia made a show of yawning and ignoring her. Well, two could play at that game, of course.

She returned her attention to Will, who had responded first. It hadn't got past her, that momentary deer-in-headlights look he had about him when she mentioned Ravenclaws. Aha. He might be relaxed now, but it was evident there was more to the situation than meets the eye. She only wished he wasn't so gosh darned pleasant about it all, not even having the decency to make her a cutting remark.

"Ja," she agreed with him, "but I seem to remember it's the little black rainclouds that get closest to the honey tree..." Liesl trailed off, letting him ponder that one. That's right, if there was information she wanted, she always got it. One way or another.

[williamsparrow]

Ha. Everyone loves the rain now. Because the rain is glorious and wonderful and to Hell if he'd ever said anything against it before, because now he was all for it! And if it didn't mean getting all cold and possibly down with said cold (Pepperups weren't exactly pleasant), he probably WOULD be outside in the rain. There might even be a chance that...

...oh, never mind that part of it. Liesl still around, and looking rather keen on keeping that conversation going, as much as Will would have liked to leave it behind. As should have been evident by the smile and nod at Emilia. "The sound of it, it's so relaxing. Nearly drifted off in Charms listening to it," he confessed with a guilty sort of grin and an idle scratch to his sleeve. "Nothing compared with that thunderstorm we had last week, though, did you see...?"

And again, he spared a glance towards Liesl, whose comment seemed to be ever-digging. That was a dangerous sport, trying to get information out of Will...mostly because he knew a lot more than people gave him credit for. And if he ever needed to use that information in defense...well, you'd better be sure there was nothing you'd done that you didn't want becoming general knowledge, because he was more keen to keeping himself covered than being pleasant, truth be told.

He was a Slytherin for good reason.

[emiliahawthorn]

As Liesl spoke, Emilia continued to gaze out of the window. Black rainclouds and honey trees, she thought. What a ridiculous thing to say. Hiding her smirk as best she could, she was less successful in controlling the twitch her shoulders gave as she thought of what her mother would say of such a situation. Emilia was rather looking forward to writing to her and updating her on the ridiculous girl's behaviour, and committed the phrase to memory in order to relay it in this evening's letter.

Drawing her attention away from the window, Emilia gave Will a look of mock disbelief that he should have needed to ask such a question. "See the thunderstorm?" she said emphatically, "I could hardly have missed it. Had to send my owl out in it, poor thing." Although she had genuinely felt rather guilty sending her owl out in such weather, the throwaway manner of her comment gave none of it away.

"Still," she said with a shrug, "the weather's bound to be getting worse now as we get into Winter. I can hardly believe Hallowe'en is at the end of the month. This term's going so quickly, don't you think?"

[liesl_jacobs]

Liesl, for one, hadn’t seen the thunderstorm. Last week she had been out, and most knew the reason even if they didn’t know the story behind it: her parents’ funeral. She had gone to see to family affairs as well as pay what respects she had, and had only meant to be away a day or two. But when she arrived in Berlin, Johnny Law fell upon her, hard and fast. No living relatives, and under 17? She would have to be in the State’s care, they insisted. Well that was just grand. Liesl had stayed a few extra days to settle the proper arrangements; they had even forced her to start seeing a therapist just in case. It was all a load of dung, in her opinion.

Recollection of all this descended upon her thoughts, distracting her from her original intent in joining this conversation. She backed a step away, steeling herself. Now was not the time to be thinking about such things. Where was her spine?

“Yes, Hallowe’en,” she echoed Emilia, almost fondly, “finally a chance for that ugly mask of yours to blend in with everyone else.” She fluttered her lashes at her and clapped her hands in that girly fashion Emilia and Ophelia had. “Aren’t you excited?”

She couldn’t help herself. Emilia’s voice was irritating, not to mention all the phony airs she put on. And without further ado, she winked and grinned at them both in that same mocking, girly fashion, waving her fingers and skulking off. “Ciao!”

Gone. Thank goodness.

[williamsparrow]

Girls and their need to be catty. He'd never understand it, for the life of him...why did they NEED to be so cruel to one another? Honestly? What purpose did it serve? Boys were easier. Person most capable of kicking your arse was the top ranking male, and everything fell into place afterwords. Simple. Effective. And none of this bickering.

Shaking his head as Liesl made her (welcome?) departure, dark eyes shifted back to Emilia almost apologetically. As though it were his fault she'd decided to be such a witch with a capital B.

"Yeah...imagine that. Hallowe'en already," he murmured, furrowing his brow for a moment and trailing off into deeper thoughts...before abruptly pulling himself back up again with a smile.

"Ah, and don't even TALK about winter. Doesn't matter how many coats I pull on, it's still absolutely horrid when it's that cold." He supressed a shiver at the very thought...even as many years as he'd lived here, now, he still HATED the cold with a passion.

[emiliahawthorn]

Liesl's dig at Emilia fell flat. Perfectly content with her appearance and the way she carried herself, the only response the comment and handclapping received was one of slight amusement. Really, she was hardly one to comment on appearances. As far as Emilia was concerned, the other girl was quite pathetic and completely undeserving of her place in Slytherin House.

Paying as little attention to Liesl's departure as she had to her arrival, Emilia turned back to Will with a brief shrug, intended to convey that she had little interest in such petty arguments. Then, as much as she wanted to press the matter of the Ravenclaw who'd caught Will's attention, she continued with the subject of the coming winter. Time and a place and all that.

"You need a bearskin, that's all," she informed Will authoritatively. "Father has a floor length one that my sister and I used to play in as children. You could tunnel through the snow in that and it'd feel like you were in a sauna." She caught his eye and smirked before adding, "I'm sure you'd look fabulous in it. All wrapped up with only your eyes peeping out."

[williamsparrow]

The very imagery broke Will's smile wide open, and he laughed outright at the thought of him shuffling around, wrapped in a bearskin and peering out with wide eyes, before toppling over as he was inevitably bound to do in such heavy clothing.

"Aye, that's all I need...Gran's trying to find me something, but complaining about it the whole while, of course," he replied, shaking his head and leaning against the window once more. "She'll want to make something, just to have something to do...not that I'd complain. She makes some pretty decent stuff. And her coats before had warming charms sort of built into them, so they worked rather well."

Coming from a long line of people who just never could leave well enough alone, that shouldn't have surprised Will. It might have been something he thought of, if she hadn't.

And staying OFF the subject of Ravneclaws and attentions and such was preferable. Very much so. Especially with another Slytherin, even one he was as friendly with as Emilia.

"Suppose it's nice, though, having that sort of thing on hand when you need it. Whoever said money was the root of all evil obviously never had any."

[emiliahawthorn]

"Warming charms? Really, your gran sounds amazing!" Emilia exclaimed. She meant it genuinely as well - Charms being a favourite subject of hers she took real delight in hearing of the ways in which people used them. Her eyes lit up and she asked quite seriously, "Do you have one of those coats with you? You'll have to let me look at it sometime if you do." In her mind she was already cataloguing uses for warming charms and trying to decide if they might be used at either Hogwarts or her home.

Will's comment about money drew her attention back to reality though. Emilia had never really thought about it much, she'd just grown used to the fact that she could have almost anything she wanted. Considering his comment, she tilted her head and frowned slightly before saying without conviction, "yes, I suppose so." It was nice to have such things lying about, of course, but Emilia had never quite grasped just how lucky she was in her background.

[williamsparrow]

"Probably in the bottom of my trunk somewhere, but I could drag it out for you, sure. It's a bit too small for me, now," he reflected, before nodding quickly. Oh yes, if it made her that happy, he'd give her all the coats that Gran had worked her special breed of magic into.

"You might have a time trying to figure them out, though. Gran doesn't use the sort of magic they teach here, except when nothing else will do. It's not as though she was taught any of what she knows at Hogwarts, anyway," he added, grinning at Emilia rather slyly. Ha ha, he knows something YOU don't.

...when doesn't he?

[emiliahawthorn]

Pleased as punch with the offer of the coat, Emilia gave the boy a smile worthy of the Cheshire Cat. "Oh, you must! Thank you, Will! But..." she paused, confused. "What do you mean she doesn't use our sort of magic? I don't understand. What other sort of magic is there?"

Now he really did have her full attention. Between the promise of charmed coats to examine and the hint of yet more mystery, Emilia was hooked. Looking eagerly at the boy, she had an expression on her face which rather resembled that of a five year old waiting to learn the fate of the princess in a fairy tale. If it had been another, she would perhaps have been more coy about her interest, but with Will she felt certain such pretence wasn't needed. And besides, he'd probably see straight through it if she tried.

[williamsparrow]

More than likely, though he'd pretend not to, just to be nice about it. But no, he looked rather pleased that she was so interested in, and so he began warming to maybe revealing a little more than usual.

"Well...nearly every culture has their own way of doing magic, I'm sure you knew that. If you took a student from Hogwarts, a student from the Salem Institute in America, and a student from Durmstrang, I'll bet you the way they learned and use magic is completely different from one another. That's a given, right?"

He shifted slightly, leaning backwards now against the windowsill, the distant patter against the glass a calming backdrop to his story. "Well, my Gran's from Jamaica. That's where she learned to do magic. I'm not sure how much you'd know about that, but most of their magic is shamanic, down in those parts. Voodoo." Here he grinned rather widely and lifted his fingers to wiggle playfully in her direction.

[emiliahawthorn]

Emilia was enthralled. Not one for reading unless it was to find a particular spell, Emilia's understanding of the world as a whole was rather lacking and she'd never even considered that the way magic was practiced would be different in each culture. As Will wiggled his fingers, a small laugh escaped and she gently pushed them down.

Her curiousity fuelling a desire for answers, she continued with her questions. "So can you do that sort of magic as well then?" she asked, looking at Will rather admiringly. "I mean, did she ever teach you any?" Emilia was entranced. Voodoo sounded much more romantic and awe-inspiring than boring old Hogwarts magic.

[williamsparrow]

"Gran says I'm too young to be fooling around with things I don't understand...especially a brand of magic that delicate and dangerous," he replied, shrugging lightly. "A lot of the things I carry, though, have that magic locked into them...protective charms. They're meant to watch over us, Gran says."

He reached into his shirt (thankfully an easy task, with his loosened tie), and drew out a chain, with several coins and small charms dangling from it. "She says she's looked through all her books, but can't find one charm that'll keep me out of trouble," he recalled with a flickering smile. "She's tried just about every other charm in the book, though...as you can see."