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Post by AuroraCeleste on May 21, 2011 0:53:58 GMT 10
Aurora stepped out of the fountain shaking the minute drops from her cloak that did not naturally fall away. The enchantment on the fountain was very old, and probably as good these days as it was back when Lady Ameraid first weaved it, however the water was still wet, and while Aurora liked to swim as much as the next Ameraid. She was not planning on remaining wet especially on a day like today.
She considered that as she crossed the flagstones of the courtyard slowly. Her cloak billowed around her in the early autumn breeze, and the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. It was freezing and winter hadn’t even started yet. She could feel the chill in the air and wondered whether there would be snow before the day was out.
Checking her watch again, she stopped by the giant staircase and sat her things down upon the dewy stone. Rubin was late, which was very strange for him. Normally he was waiting for her, always eager to get up into the castle for their extra credit lessons which started in little over half an hour from now. It did however give her time to think on recent events. There had been a murder in the school in this very courtyard not two weeks prior. To look around at it now, you wouldn’t know that such an atrocity had occurred. Aurora regretted that she attended the duelling competition held in the village that night. If she had been in the Ameraid Commons, who knew what she might have heard.
She sighed as curiosity overcame her and she moved toward the gates where the body had been found. The Entrance Courtyard and its mossy flagstone foundations didn’t seem any different than they’d appeared before the incident. She was confounded in the understanding that this castle had seen this murder and so much more in the thousands of years that it stood. If these walls could talk, what would they tell her? If she could ask them anything, what would it be?
With her eyes closed while she thought about this, she heard another mind nearby. One she hadn’t listened to before. She turned towards the Ameraid fountain, intent on finding out who.
It wasn’t Rubin.
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Post by Mia Willis on May 21, 2011 22:55:14 GMT 10
The cold, frozen earth crunched beneath Mia's boots as she made her way towards the commons. She dreaded every moment of the onset of winter. Her books pounded against her thigh annoyingly as her bag swung with every step.
She could hear someone, that little buzz of thought in the air, the weirdest sensation of them all.
She's walking from where it happened, Mia thought, though she didn't want to make the assumption the girl was revisiting the scene of the crime because she did it. Curiosity seizes all thought, she supposed.
"Most people avoid standing over there, they're scared," Mia said as she stood infront of the girl, glancing behind her towards the gate. "Was there much to see?"
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Post by AuroraCeleste on May 22, 2011 0:14:40 GMT 10
Aurora turned to look at the sounds of thought coming from a girl nearby, she hadn’t expected anyone else to be up yet, and this girl looked as if she was heading towards the commons at the fountain. She wondered momentarily what this girls excuse was for being out so early, but didn’t think it was appropriate to ask when she was doing the same thing. Aurora watched her getting closer it seemed she felt her morning exercise was perfectly normal. At least her thoughts didn’t betray any feeling of guilt.
Aurora sighed a little dramatically when the girl mentioned the murder site. Most people didn’t talk about it except in hushed discussions in small groups who didn’t expect there would be people listening in. Aurora couldn’t help overhearing peoples conversations. As a seventh year Ameraid she had become adept at telepathy when she was fourteen years old; she was used to overhearing things people might otherwise prefer to keep to themselves.
She drew her cloak tighter about her while she thought about what the girl said to her. Was it supposed to be a joke of some sort. Aurora’s eyes narrowed a little; “Most people don’t really understand the true reality of what happened,” she said as she moved to the fountains edge, sitting down on it while she continued to wait for Rubin, in the meantime, this girl was in her house group, and as the prefect it was only polite to keep a dialogue going.
“I mean, sure, someone was murdered, and that’s awful. It doesn’t make it any better for us that he was also in Ameraid, but the reality of the matter is that the castle wont allow entry to anyone who has thoughts of committing crime in the grounds,” she said wondering if the girl would understand what she meant by that, to be sure; she added “Which means whoever murdered Finnias is still here, inside the castle, who knows how long until they do it again… who knows if they even plan to,”
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Post by Mia Willis on May 23, 2011 17:43:19 GMT 10
"I'm sure everyone is aware of the gate that this has opened, but to acknowledge it is different," Mia said, sitting down beside the girl. She took off her bag, placing it beside her, taking note of the uncanny pun she accidentally dropped. Woops.
Mia had been shocked to hear the news of the murder, it wasn't something that happened in most peoples schooling time, but she knew the ramifications as well as the girl, however it did not frighten her. Safety in any form is hard to come by, even in the hands of the most wise and powerful.
The courtyard started to glow a little with the sun peeping behind the clouds, however not for long. She hugged herself as the cold started to seep into her bones.
"Who is it that you're waiting for?" Mia asked politely. She brought her knees up to her chest for more warmth, however it had almost no effect. "Do you think that they'll find who did it?"
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Post by AuroraCeleste on May 24, 2011 17:43:56 GMT 10
“You’d be surprised who really thinks about those sort of things,” she said in response to the gate comment, “Some of us think about it all the time while trying to maintain our grades and impress our teachers and all the while still managing to keep an eye on the future however unknown it might be,” she said looking away into space, “Others live a little more on the dangerous side of life, pretending that it never happened, not thinking about it because it bothers them, and pleading ignorance to the reasons while their other friends go about their lives in huddled groups all the while following the groups themselves out of uncomprehending fear,” she was so lost in thought she didn’t even notice the girl’s pun.
“Ignorance can be quite dangerous,” she mused turning her eyes back to the girl, “Though stress also gets us no where, and spreads itself around quite freely,” she grimaced at that listening as the girl went on. She could feel the lost trust that emanated around the school from the murder, some had already mirrored what they’d heard in correspondence from their parents about how it was widely rumours Headmaster Emerindyl might lose his job over the occurrence. She knew this would be a mistake though and hoped the Ministry of Magic would feel the same.
She considered the girl, watching her hug her knees. Aurora hadn’t considered the cold, she’d been prepared for it as she was most mornings, she drew out her wand, “Do you mind?” she asked before tapping the girl lightly on the head. She saw the warmth of the spell spread across her like the warmth of a hot shower, only dry. This was the same spell she’d used on herself every morning since the beginning of autumn. “That ought to make morning a little more bearable,” she said turning her own attention to the gaining sunlight.
“I am in fact waiting for Rubin, he is usually up by now, though I think he might have forgotten our appointment in the library,” she said looking back up the Entrance Hall atop of the giant staircase. The sun hadn’t quite made it to the top of the first archway yet, which meant while he wasn’t late, he wasn’t especially late. Not yet anyway. “We don’t like to use the library when the other houses are in there, its not especially quiet and one needs to pay attention when dealing with books,”
She was silent for a while with a slight smile on her face from her little joke about noisy other houses when a thought came to her of a question she’d been wondering about “How did your parents take the news of the murder?" it was a fair question as a lot of students families had gone up in flames over the murder. Aurora wasn’t so lucky, and to say she should be lucky to have flames was in part due only to the fact that she didn’t have a family who cared. She knew it was for the selfish hunger to understand what it was like to have a loving caring family that drove her to ask such a question. But she didn’t much care, she was feeling just a little insecure at the moment and being selfish was a fair reaction.
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Post by Mia Willis on May 29, 2011 22:05:19 GMT 10
Mia listened intently on the girls opinion. She looked at her almost detachment from the area, she looked to be as if in her own little world clouded by the questions and thoughts that Mia threw her way. There was nothing she didn’t agree on, the huddled groups, the fear, the ignorance that posed as the biggest danger.
“Do you mind?” asked the girl, raising her wand, Mia nodded. There was a sharp, sudden buzz from somewhere within her, like a fire had been lit and was emanating heat inside of her. It was like the taste of chocolate on the tip of a tongue after a hard stressful day, the thing that makes you go on that extra longer. It was bliss to be warm. “That ought to make morning a little more bearable,”
Mia wondered if she could put a face to the mysterious Rubin she talked about. She was sure she had heard the name before, however she couldn’t place him.
“...its not especially quiet and one needs to pay attention when dealing with books,”
Mia agreed, nodding her head. She’d had many frustrations while in the library herself, interruptions, pranks, loud thoughts.“Books are precious knowledge, disturbances are one thing no one needs when reading them.”
Mia watched the girl smile before asking “How did your parents take the news of the murder?"
She dreaded it as soon as the words spilled out of the girls mouth. Her throat constricted, almost choking her before she could control and relax. Picking her nails, as she thought of an appropriate answer, quickly checking to shut off her unsound mind from possible prying headspaces. Her facial expression dropped from a nice calmness to a grave frustration, crease forming between the eyebrows, lips pursed. Was this girl someone she could confide in? What was she supposed to say? Her mother had died during a natural birth? Her father, 8 years later decided to top himself because everything he touched wilted and died? An odd story to relate to her father, him being a Saphricorn and all.
Mia pried her fingers away from each other, over thinking, self fingernail destroying were not a healthy habits of hers. “I live with my grandma, she’s a wicked old witch and is very... exacerbating when it comes to the news. When she heard of the news, she told me she trusted I would keep myself safe and I haven’t heard from her since.”
Infact, she’d gotten the last letter from grandma a week ago, and it didn’t say that at all. As she recalled, it begged her to come home in the sweet, old voice of hers. Mia found herself caught looking at the sky, rudely ignoring the girl.
“Sorry,” she said, letting a small, innocent smile form at the corners of her lips. “I didn’t introduce myself properly, or at all for that matter. I’m Mia, Mia Willis.”
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Post by Rubin Henessey on Jun 30, 2011 11:49:41 GMT 10
“Lying of course,” Rubin said brisquely as he appeared next to the fountain. Late unfortunately but perhaps just in time. He hefted his bag onto his right shoulder and moved forward jovially. This was odd behaviour for him perhaps, usually the self deprecating type, but then he was among his own kind at the moment and a confidence burned in him during those times that students of other houses were likely unaware of, “I pity she who attempts to keep secrets among Ameraid’s” he said. Though it stood an accusation, there was nothing in his voice to betray that his statement was anymore than emotionless factual proclaiming. Perhaps he should have used a word like ‘concealing’ or ‘misleading’ he’d have to remember that for next time.
“They will try though, will they not Allora?” he said smiling to his friend and then looking back to the other girl, “So Mia, in an attempt not to dig for information you don’t feel like sharing, perhaps I would simply offer my greetings” he said to her smiling fondly and bowing his head slightly. A quirk gesture perhaps and one he felt was used none too often in this day and age. He would work at reviving it to the best of his ability though and whether it caught on or not, it was already habitual at least for him.
“And in further co-operation with the air of introductions that surrounds us now, I am to introduce myself to you as Rubin Hennessy, a pleasure meeting you” he said tilting his head this time rather than bowing as he had already done. His short dark hair was neatly brushed, his dark purple school robes perfectly pressed. He was the quintessential Ameraid student in every way.
“Sorry I’m late Allora, someone thought it might be funny to shrink the doorjam around my door, I was trapped just a little longer than it took me to try the usual unlocking spells and some of the more unusual ones…” his voice trailed off, though there was still a smile in the edges of his eyes that displayed that he was not cut over the prank that had been played on him. “First years perhaps, very tacky”
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