A/N – what you recognize is not mine (sadly, that belongs to J.K. Rowling, but what you don't recognize belongs to my crazy and twisted imagination…. "Acres and acres and its all mine!!!" (If you can tell me where that is from I will do anything you wish that is in my power! Seriously.)
Tears of blood I'm crying
Walled up heart I'm dying,
Open wounds that wouldn't heal
From a pride that refused to kneel,
As the shadows play out on the wall
The blood still seeps, continues my fall,
Oblivion would be welcome now
Forever is never, my solemn vow.
She lay down her quill at that point and sighed, unhappy with her latest work. "It just doesn't flow right" Tristan mused to herself and her kitten Cearo as she stood, shaking out her cramps while surveying the mass of orderly beds in the circular room she had been calling home for the past year. She folded the parchment containing the lines into a small square and shoved them behind the lose brick where she put all her unsatisfactory work. Chaos, that's what I need she thought to herself as she sat down in the window seat once more, I've had precious little of that since I've been here, even the magic is orderly and precise, you do this and it does that, nothing exciting about it.
Tristan C. C. Aesalon was about to start her 2nd year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She had been staying there over the summer holiday, for, being a muggle orphan, she had no other place to go. But, in just two days time, the train would be arriving, bringing with it the students of Hogwarts and the newest faculty members. Although not looking forward to the bustle that would come with the start of the term, Tristan was looking forward to seeing the one and only person she had missed, Stephan Askbury. They had been friends since the first day meeting on the train to Hogwarts, and although he was from a pureblood Wizarding family, he had stuck by her side throughout that first year, and Tristan was hoping he would do so again this year.
Tristan was, in general opinion, less than pretty, with abundant acne and a tall, gaunt thinness that, no matter how much she ate, would not leave her. Her only redeeming qualities were her strait bleached hair and large, expressive green eyes. Most thought her slightly creepy, for the way that she wore all black with hints of blue made her pale face even more white, and her faded eyes and hair did nothing to dispel the image of a ghost beneath the clothing that many saw when they passed her. But this very fact made her less than noticeable, for many ignored her as they would either a phantom of Hogwarts or another student they didn't know; this she took advantage of, going places in Hogwarts that only prefects were allowed, seeing things only teacher were supposed to know about, and after only one year at school she knew more about it than any other than probably the original builders, for she had had a lot of free time the previous year and had spent most of it exploring with Steph. She thought of none of this as she stared out the open window, her mind blank, mercifully thinking of nothing.
Tristan yawned, suddenly tired, and glanced at her watch. "My god" she said to Cearo, "its almost two in the morning" a yawn punctuating her statement; and with that she took herself off to bed, curling up inside the warm blue and bronze blankets as it began to rain into her room through the window she had left open next to her bedside.
…
Tristan ran to the 4th story window that overlooked the entrance to the great hall, straining to find Stephen in the crowd of teenagers that was mingling outside the doors, waiting for them to be pushed back so they could spill into the hall and take their seats. Tristan wasn't worried about being late, for she knew about the hidden stair that lead to the hall adjacent to the great one, and it would be the work of moments to be down their, ready to take her place at the Ravenclaw table. Her eyes searched through the crowd once more and, failing to find him amongst all the other brunettes there, decided simply to wait for him to show up at the table.
She took the stairs three at a time, flinging herself over the railing with an ease that an acrobat would envy and making it to the hall before even a third of the students had gotten there. She walked sedately to the Ravenclaw table and took the seat that she had held all of the year past, farthest from the high table and closest to the doors out. Students filed into the hall around her and still she waited for Steph, until, just before the doors closed, appeared with great clamor at her side and sat down without a glance her way, three seats over from her own. She was stunned for a moment, and then remembered that he might not have seen her, and since she wasn't on the train, might not have known that she was even here.
"I thought I told him I was staying here for the holidays" she said softly under her breath, "hmmm, maybe he forgot?" She resolved to not bolt her meal and get out like she had done over the summer, but to wait until the feast was in full swing and then go to him. Only the thought of what mischief they would get up to once school had begun kept her from leaving the great hall and going to her rooms early,
"Dippet is such a bore, I wish his speech would end" Tristan mumbled, getting an odd look from the Transfiguration teacher standing near the door. Once his speech was completed, the sorting began. There were nearly fifty students this year, among them she saw a giant, clumsy looking fellow who nearly tripped while walking up the stairs to be sorted when his name was called. He was almost immediately sorted into Gryffindor. While the Gryffindor table erupted in sporadic cheers, Tristan thought about the unjust fame they got for simply being Gryffindor; it wasn't fair, the other houses worked just as hard and got into much less trouble, and yet Gryffindor continued to be called the greatest house of them all. She sighed and tried to get Steph's attention as the last of the students were sorted and the feast commenced. Once the fest was in full swing and everyone so immersed in their food, it would take a magical fire to remove them from it, She moved over to where Steph was and tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped nearly a foot in the air, as she knew he would, and turned around, nearly spearing his neighbor, a shapely red-head with overly abundant curls, with his fork as he jumped up to hug her.
"Wow, he sure has gotten more affectionate since last year" she thought, and moved to hug him lightly back. She was not normally given to overt signs of affection, but this was her best friend, so she hugged him back, abet unenthusiastically, as he made room for her between him and the red-head.
"Wow Tristan, you haven't changed at all" Steph said, punctuating the statement with bites of food and loud slurps. Wow, you have changed Tristan thought back, although holding her piece for a private conversation they would surely have later. "I mean, I couldn't find you on the train so I wasn't sure about anything! Blimmy I missed you over the summer, almost wrote to you a time or two, just somehow couldn't remember your address." He scratched his head and laughed good-naturedly at himself, a look of confusion on his face. Now this is the Stephen I remember, thought Tristan, her mood once again restoring itself to good humor as Steph chattered on about his summer and introduced her to the others sitting around him.
"This" he said, pointing to the redhead next to Trisan, "is Veronica. We met on the train and she's a fourth year." Stephan said, barely hiding his excitement at knowing someone older then himself after a year of really only knowing people his age. "And these lovely ladies are Jess and Megan" he said, gesturing across the table at a pair of twins who waved saucily back and flipped their artificially colored and unnaturally strait hair over their shoulders in unison, hazel eyes flashing back at her in a mocking way. "They are also fourth years. Later, they promised to introduce us to the rest of the Ravenclaws they know. Isn't that great Tristan!" Steph was nearly bouncing with excitement, his newly muscled frame reflecting his enthusiasm at this idea as Tristan simply nodded, feeling queasy around all these good looking and popular girls Steph seemed to have fallen in with.
"yea" she said slowly as the smiles around the table faltered, "that would be great. But for now steph, I think I will go back to the common room, meet you there in a bit ok?"
Stephan nodded absently and waved goodbye before starting in on an animated conversation with the 3 girls with whom he seemed to get along with so well.
Tristan ghosted back to her rooms by the normal path through the school, knowing everyone was still at the feast by the amount of noise coming from the hall and the still deserted feel from the corridors. She was puzzled by Stephan's new aditude. Where had the fun yet puzzled and unsure boy who had been her confident gone? What had become of him to replace her best friend with this self-confident boy, floced around by girls other than herself. She tried to think of him objectively but failed. "I've never thought of him as handsome before, but I guess he must be" she murmmred, and was starled as a voice near her left ear answered her back "of course dear, they always are"
It was just a sleepy portrait, but it shocked her out of her reverie and that was when she relized she had walked strait past the portrait containing the door to her common room. She laughed at her mental self, but relized she wasn't ready to go back to the boring common room. "let the dunderheads have it, I think I will have a walk by the lake"
"that's the spirit dear" the portrit called back as she sped away, running lightly, impatient to get out of the castle and to the grounds, not caring that they were as cold and unforgiving as where she was leaving from.
"What has happened to him" she mused, continuing the train of thought she had had while still inside the castle " he has changed, that's for sure. I mean, last year he was smaller and skinnier, more like me in that regard, but not this year; he certainly has more muscle, and I bet when he stands up he is taller too. I wonder if that's what getting ghim all this attention" Tristan came to the edge of the forest and turned around, walking in the direction of the lake. " I should have known this would happen, him and his pureblood. It was to good to last. I guess he thought he was doing charity work 'I'll hang out with this sad muggle-girl for a year then leave'. Its so frustrating, but I lived the summer without him, I can do it again." She sped up her pace from a leisurely walk to a jog, refusing to let the thought that it was only knowing he would return that had kept her sane over the summer come to surface in her mind. "He's different now, his blood is pure, and now so are his friends, no more charity for the lowly, its all gone now, him and me, like it never was." She started running as her humor turned foul, running out her anger until she hit a rock overlooking the lake, skidding to a halt right before the drop off. Wondering if she should throw herself in, she laughed at her thoughts, " This is silly, all he did was make some more friends, its nothing as I paint it to be, nothing at all. I will just go back to the common room and talk to him and I bet he will say the same thing, there is nothing to worry about" she started heading back to the castle, resolutely ignoring the little black thought in her head that told her all her thoughts were true and she had no one, trying to believe herself that she still had his friendship and things would be even better than last year… even better.
A/N – what do you think? Don't worry, there is a much larger plot coming to be, but I need to work up to it. Just please read and review and let me know whatever comes to mind when you read this sad piece of work. Oh yea…. I also need a really quick Beta Reader, so if you are interested or know someone who is, let me know.