Waiting.
The warm summer air was over now, and the cold wind had decided to return with a bite. Grey swirling clouds were often the coverage at Hogwarts these days. After news that the Dark Lord really had returned there were less students, but more trouble. Alice sighed and sweeped her lose honey curls into an elastic band as she walked to the drowsy warmth that emitted from Professor Binn's History class. His class was one of the few classes never seemed to cool in the grey weather.
"Hey, Alice, wait up!" a lofty boy with muddy hair and large brown eyes strode towards her as she was about to enter class. He was wearing blue trimmed Ravenclaw robes, like her, and a sheepish smile across his long face. Raymond Korkins, a sixth year, like her. Who had become her friend when she had started Hogwarts as an outspoken girl with a bad habit of burning people that made her angry. She smirked up at the youth, knowing already what he was going to ask. "Can you-"
"Cover you in class? Sure, Ray. Where are you off to?" she finished, her smirk stretching over her pale cheeks.
"Tammy wanted help with her Transfiguration essay, so I promised to help because she…" he trailed of, looking over Alice's shoulder. She turned to see Pansy Parkinson, glide past into her class with her usual defiant manner. Alice snorted as she looked back to Ray's glazed expression. His infatuation with the Slytherin girl was almost verging on freakish. Since he was in the house that accepted 'the rest' and Pansy was in the other house that only allowed pure bloods to walk its dungeons. She waved her hands slowly over his face waiting for the usual reaction. He blinked and looked back down at her, his face flushing.
"Ah, sorry. I just-" he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Alice rolled her eyes and reached up on her toes to pat his head. She smiled slightly before turning back to her class.
As she walked in, she glanced around her housemates to see if any Ravenclaws had saved her a seat, and as usual, they had not. She turned to the other half of the class, full of Slytherins, all looking particularly unwelcoming. A few seats at the rear of the class were free, but next to a blonde boy with a bored expression on his pointed face. Looking to see that none of her housemates had cared to look back to her, she quickly moved next to the older teen. Ray really didn't need to worry about not being in class, Professor Binns never even bothered check everyone was present. She pulled out her quill, ink and parchment hurriedly as the ghost of a teacher floated through the blackboard and began the class in his usual bland droning voice.
"What do you think you're doing?" a cold voice hissed. Alice looked up to see the blonde teen looking at her scornfully. His stormy eyes flashed angrily at her. She smirked harshly at him, and turned back to her note taking about the later history of the warlocks of the twelfth century. The teen turned back to his work, still scowling. Several minutes later, a piece of parchment fluttered under her nose irritably and landed on her work.
Why are you sitting here?
The note was written in neat cursive writing with a flourish to the stroke, making her smirk again. So this boy was an aristocrat. Arrogant too. She could tell because only an old family such as her own would be taught such a fluent font. Also like her father, this boy used the curls of a vain and arrogant man. She dipped her quill in her bottle of ink and replied, making sure to match his strokes.
Do I know you?
She flicked her wand and sent the note fluttering back to the boy. The note returned soon enough.
No, but you should.
Alice snorted at the note and replied. Her mind ran through all her past memories of Slytherins. He played seeker in the Slytherin quidditch team and he was often bickering with 'the boy who lived' or the likes. She had recognised him, but not enough to remember a name. He, after all, he wasn't the type of boy she cared associate with. He probably didn't even know her name.
Why is that?
She did have to admit that he was particularly attractive, even with that scowl on his handsome face. The pale blonde hair and stormy eyes were certainly alluring, but made him look like some pure breed stud. But not her type of guy. She preferred boys with a little less, arrogance or beauty.
Because, I said so.
As she shook her head, she realised how much of a twit he must be. 'Because, I said so', who did he think he was? Alice laughed silently and returned back to her work. Discarding his reply and returning back to her notes on Warlocks. Her writing was the perfect font of an aristocrat, just much less curls.
After all of her lessons that day, she had to collect her scrolls on the medicinal uses of Murkweed for potions from Ray. He had been borrowing them and she needed them to check her notes to an essay. As she clambered up to the Ravenclaw tower, she met a familiar face.
"Hello Luna." She smiled slightly at the younger girl "how's your father's search for the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks?"
Luna smiled dreamily up at Alice "He's planning our trip to Sweden soon, to find them. But, I don't think I will be happening too soon, do you?"
Alice shook her head in agreement and watched as Luna drifted past her, still smiling dreamily. Luna was a nice girl in her opinion, but often eccentric about her passions, which tended to get her ignored and ridiculed by other students in her year. Alice tended to avoid these situations, because she knew Luna's mother when she was younger and Luna was often her playmate. Both she and Luna's family were well known in their own right, but tended to stay out of the lime light, unlike the Potters, Weasleys, LeStranges and Malfoys. Alice stopped walking. Malfoy. The blonde teen's name was Malfoy. She remembered now. His father, Lucius, was a large contributor to the Ministry, a 'renounced' Death Eater too. She sighed. The poor boy would most likely join the force of Voldemort in his own time. Not as his own choice, but that of his family and his life.
"Hey, Alice, you free this afternoon?" Ray called out as she entered the Ravenclaw Common room.
"I suppose" she mused and walked over to his cosy corner by the fireplace. "Why?"
"I was thinking of talking to her…" Ray's face softened as he spoke and Alice realised that he must be talking about Pansy.
"You do realise that this, 'Infatuation Situation' you have with her will only end in heartbreak." She stated bluntly, dropping tiredly onto a large cushy blue seat. He frowned at her and shook his head.
"If she sees me for who I am as a person, I'm sure she'll forget that we are from different houses and we'll be together and then…" Ray drifted into a glazed appearance again, earning a pillow to the face.
"What was that for?"
"Wanting something you can't get"
"Why not?"
"Several reasons. Do I need to repeat them? And why can't you be with Padma? She obviously likes you"
"She's just too… I don't know" Ray sighed, rubbing his neck.
"Normal? Nice? Pretty?" Alice shook her head in disgust and threw another pillow at the now pouting Ray.
"Geez, you about to have your period sis?" Alice looked up to see her (one year) older brother, Jenks, smirking down at her. He was a tall wiry teen with wiry honey hair and a crooked smile. Often seen practicing Quidditch or swimming in the lake with a group of his loyal followers, he was the Ravenclaw epitome of cool. In addition, when he wasn't being his usual sporty self, he was flirting with some girl (usually younger than Alice). Yet he had a reputation for being a gentleman too. When he tried. Alice scrunched up her nose at him. His cool gaze, waiting for her to retort. As she usually did when she was in a bad mood, but today she felt, different.
"I wish." She snorted "Where's Abigail? You know your 'girl'?" (She quoted 'girl' cause it usually got a rise out of him)
"I dumped her." Jenks rolled his eyes at her "She was too clingy anyways, and she was alwa-"
"Uh huh. You know that Malfoy guy? What's his name?" She cut in and smoothly changed the subject, her thoughts returning a recent exchange of inked words.
"Draco," Jenks spat venomously "why?"
"Just wondering" she smirked at her brother's twisted expression. He didn't like Draco Malfoy obviously. Possibly stole a girl he was chasing? She mused. Ray looked at her as if she'd grown a second head when she turned back to him.
"Right, and I love men" he snorted, looking un-amused.
"Hey Jenks! You busy?" A tanned boy called out to her brother, ridding her of his presence. But not with out a last questioning look, implying that being the brother he was, he would be asking her about it later. Some times she couldn't see how they were related though. They were such opposites of each other, he had a wiry build with wiry hair and she delicate with silky curls. The only proof that they were related was that they didn't like being indoors, they had the same pale-blue eyes and that they both had parallel family heirlooms laced around their necks. Only when she had come to Hogwarts did she learn that she was related to him. Not that she even knew her parents, as she was brought up by her Muggle foster parents whom she loathed with a passion. They were the type of family who had enough kids of their own to deal with anyway. The constant noise and mess caused her to do things that she didn't intend on doing. Such as turning her fat neighbour's hedge into a blue ball of fire or turning a teapot into a pink frog when she was forced to play tea-party with her younger 'sister'. As for Jenks, he had been living with a wizarding family that took him in when they discovered that their neighbour's adoptive baby kept belching out blue flames. So ever since coming to Hogwarts she didn't bother returning back. She had been offered a home with her brother, but declined as she didn't feel happy to ruin his happiness by interfering with his family after a Christmas visit.
"Want to go out side?" Ray stood up stretching. He had learnt over the years that Alice couldn't stand to be indoors for long periods of time, if at all, or else she became almost claustrophobic.
As they sat by the Black Lake,
