Running into Trouble ((Celia))

[Jason Blade]

Jason zipped up his gray hooded sweatshirt, and took a final look at himself in the mirror. It was early in the morning, and his hair wasn't quite cooperating. It still stood out at odd angles from his restless night in bed. Sighing, he grabbed his wand from his bed-stand and tucked it into his front pocket of his sweatshirt. It didn't fit quite right and stuck out a little, but his running shorts didn't have pockets, so it would have to do. Quietly, he opened the dormitory door and shut it with a soft 'click'. The rest of his roommates were still sleeping, and Jason didn't want to wake them.

As he exited the front castle doors, Jason looked down at his wristwatch. It was ten minutes after seven. He could be back by 7:30 if he ran fast enough. After a few quick stretches of his calf and thigh muscles, he was off.

The cool morning air was sharp as he breathed it in quick bursts. Step by step, he jogged around the grounds outermost boundaries. His path that he usually ran was along the edge of the Forbidden Forest for the most part, but today he chose the path that cut through the small section of pines that grew on the west side of the lake. It was heavily shaded, and very peaceful. It helped Jason to free his mind a little.

As he neared the half way point of his jog, he felt his right shoe begin to loosen. Looking down, he noticed that the laces were coming untied. He stopped and took a few deep breaths, and then he knelt down to tie the laces properly. Before standing up, he heard a loud snap off the path to his left. It was the sound of a twig breaking. Cautiously, he reached to his front pocket where his wand was. But it wasn't there! He must have lost it farther back on the trail!

Slowly, Jason stood up and walked quietly to a tree off to his right. Quickly, he hid behind the tree, and waited to see if he could identify the source of the noise. He wasn't sure what type of creatures lived in the pines, and quite frankly, he didn't feel like finding out when he was not in possession of his wand. Silently, he waited, keeping a wary eye on the open path to see if he could spot whatever it was.

[Celia Richmond]

Celia couldn't sleep. There were just too many thoughts running through her head, about anything and everything, summing up to a huge mass of brain activity, which is not good when you're trying to sleep! It was now about 6.45, and she had hardly slept a wink, so she thought that there was only one thing for it-a trip into the grounds. The fresh air should help her sleep, and maybe help take her mind off things-half an hour should be enough, she thought. Yeah, half an hour, then I'll come back.

So she got dressed and made her way out to the grounds. She wandered round for a while, and eventually decided to go over to the group of pine trees by the lake. They would at lest give her some protection, and she loved the atmosphere under there. She had been walking for about 5 minutes when she heard someone coming...she had no idea who it could be...she knew of nobody that had morning strolls or anything. So she went off the path for a way.

Then, snap! A twig had snapped under her foot. Great, she thought, now whoever it is will know I'm here. Ah well, she thought, I might as well go back to the path and reveal myself to whoever it is. And this she did, but saw nobody. Looking around, she saw a wand on the path about 50 metres or so away, and she saw a glimpse of a foot behind a tree. She went over to it to see who it was. She vaguely recognised the boy as Jason, another Ravenclaw in the year above her.

"Um, hi Jason...what're you doing back here? Did you hear the twig snap? And what brings you out here, anyway...an early-morning jog?" She caught a glimpse at his shorts and smiled "Well, it sure looks like it, anyway...haha..."

((Sorry about the delay...I've been rather busy etc...I'll get the other post up soon, hopefully.))

[Jason Blade]

Periodically, Jason would peer from each side of the tree, trying to see what was in the pines with him. Just when he looked right, he heard a voice from his left. He jumped back quickly. It was only a student, he saw in relief. She even addressed him by name. "Oh, hey Celia," he replied, still breathing heavily from the shock. "Yeah, I heard the loud snap, and I wasn't sure what it was. To make things worse, I relized I had lost my wand, which is why I was hiding behind the tree." He bit his lip, wondering how stupid she thought he looked. She even had the nerve to laugh at him. "Yeah, just out for a run- trying to stay in shape you know.

"Why are you out here?" he asked, eyeing Celia. She didn't appear that she was running. Maybe just out for a walk. Nothing else would indicate any other reason though. "Look, I need to find my wand? If you want, you can help. Even though you weren't some wild magical creature, it still doesn't mean that there aren't any out here. I'd feel a whole lot more comfortable knowing that I was armed at least." He began retracing his steps. His eyes darted back and forth across the path, looking for the slender piece of wood. It wouldn't be easy to find, among all the other sticks and such.

((Sorry so short... I just figured Jason didn't want to go too far without his wand, and I assume Celia will be giving it to him. ))

[Celia Richmond]

So Jason had been out for a jog, apparently trying to stay in shape. Maybe it was something she may do? She'd never been the fittest of all girls, not by a long stretch, but half an hour very couple of days wouldn't be so bad. Maybe not at 7am though...that'd be asking too much! he also mentioned losing his wand...so it was his that she had seen lying on the ground. Well, she thought she'd seen something among the twigs. She did find it rather amusing that a 16-year-old Ravenclaw boy, of all people, would be hiding behind a tree, just because of a twig snapping...well, she always knew the world was strange.

Celia giggled "Ah well...I understand. I'm pretty sure I saw your wand, or a wadd, at least, about 50 metres or so down the path. I think I know where it is, just about. I'll help you look for it." Then Jason asked her why she was out aswell. "Well, basically I just couldn't sleep, so I thought that a walk in the grounds might help a bit. No doubt I'll still feel dreadful tomorrow though...or later today, rather. For me, insomnia=tiredness=grumpiness. Which is not good, seeing as I have potions first thing..."

While looking, Jason said something about her not being some wild magic creature, but there were still some out here. "I suppose so...but aren't the worst lot out in the Forbidden Forest, not in this little bit of woodland. There's probably nothing very harmful out here. Unless Hagrid's had some idea about using this area as a home for whatever creaure he thinks is cute and cuddly, but is really scaly, or whatever..."

After about 5 minutes of looking, she found a wand. Turning to face Jason, she asked him "Is this it?". It was a long, slender wand, which seemed to fit Jason perfectly. Well, they always said that "The wand choosed the Wizard, not the other way around..."

[Jason Blade]

Jason was glad that Celia has apparently seen his wand back a few meters or so. He didn't understand why she wouldn't have picked it up though. Had he seen a random wand lying around he figured he'd have at least taken it to a professor or something, just to get it back in the right hands. On the other hand, he might not have, but the thought was nice.

As he walked, he half listened to what Celia was saying about her insomnia and Hagrid with his magical creatures. Jason was more focused on finding his wand. He had heard that witches and wizards who lost or broke their original wand never quite were as good with the new as they were with their original. He rather liked his as well. If he had to get a new one, he was not going to be happy.

Luckily though, Celia came up with the wand after only a few minutes of looking. "Thanks," he said quickly as he took it back from her. Pointing it at a leaf on the ground, he cast a mental spell and leaf was turned to ashes after being engulfed by a small flame. "Still works," he said, raising his eyebrows. This time, he didn't put it in his jacket pocket that it had fallen from before. Instead, he kept it safe in his grip.

"So this sleeping problem," he said as he began walking back on the path alongside Celia, "you might want to get that fixed you know. Nobody likes a grumpy person," he added with a grin. "Any reasons you can't sleep?" he asked, not really sure why he was sticking on the topic. In a sense, he was somewhat interested in psychology and things similar to it. "You know, is it a fear, a nightmare, or something like that?"

[Celia Richmond]

((Sorry it's been a long time-I've just had a lot on my plate recently, with school and various other things...))

Celia smiled at Jason as he thanked her for finding his wand. That wasn't something you'd find every day-a polite, 16-year-old boy. It was somewhat of a privilege meeting Jason, and getting to talk to him-many boys would just grunt and then wander off, as if she didn't exist at all, if she'd done the same for them. So Jason was part of the preferable minority group, and she liked that. Although he probably thought that she was strange, not picking up the wand when she saw it. Well, she wasn't deliberately trying to be unhelpful, and lazy, it was just that if she picked it up, the person who had dropped it might come looking for it later, and then find that it was gone. But nevertheless, she had found the owner, and found the wand, for which the owner was thankful.

She watched as he pointed the wand at a leaf, and it burst into flames. He was obviously a skilled wizard-not many peoplew would be able to do spells silently-albeit simple ones. Celia herself wasn't yet capable-maybe it was an NEWT thing? Then he said with a smile that it still works. "Well, that's good. You never know what might have happened to it, and you don't need to get a new wand-another bonus! And when did you learn to do silent spells? Is it something you learn at NEWT level, or did you learn it yourself? Whichever, it's still impressive."

Then they started talking about her sleeping problem. Well, it wasn't really a problem-just the odd night she found it difficult to sleep. So she answered his statements. "Yeah, I know what you mean-being grumpy isn't good for anyone, the grumpy person, or the victims of the grumpiness. The grumpy person is, well, grumpy, and the victims often get fed up at being shouted at, or whatever the grump says or does to them. And nope, there's no particular reason. Except being a 5th year, if that counts. The teachers going on about the importance of the exams, and letting yourselves have the best possible choices at NEWT. And being a Ravenclaw seems to make it worse-they all expect you to get all "Outstandings", and to take most subjects to NEWT. I mean, we're capable, but still."

Celia sighed now. Just thinking about it made her feel slightly depressed. She decided to ask Jason about what 6th year's like. "So, is it any better than 5th year? Obviously it's harder, but in general what's it like? Do the free lessons help? Do you get a lot more work to do that for OWLs? Are the teachers wlways lecturing you about the importance of exams? I'm interested, that's all..." She stood there, wating for Jason to answer her questions.

[Jason Blade]

"Oh, thanks I guess," Jason replied when Celia commented on his mental spell after asking about them. "Well, we learned the concept in class, but then I did some extra practicing on my own to perfect it for most of the basic spells. They're quite useful," he explained. "It's also not very hard if you really put your mind to it," he added with a shrug.

He grinned as they walked and Celia went on about grumpiness. She quickly transitioned into her school work being the main cause. Then, she rattled off a rather large list of questions about the difference from being a fifth year to a sixth year. Jason bit his lip as he pondered her inquiries. "I guess it's a lot like any other transition from year to year. I'd say that the biggest difference is that we never stop hearing how we only have one more year ahead of us and that we need to prepare for it since it is the most important year. I don't know how much I believe it thought," he commented with a shrug. To Jason, every year was just as important as the others. It didn't matter what the subjects of study were or what the exams were like, all parts of his education were equally important to him, even if, at times, it totally bored him to death.

He was about to explain himself a little more when he heard a soft rumbling noise. Raising his hand to his mouth, he stopped in his tracks. "Shh," he whispered to Celia, indicating that he had heard something in the distance. He listened again closely for the sound. The rumbling was getting slightly louder by the second. "Hurry, over here," he said quietly as he told hold of Celia's arm and led her behind a small mound. His finger over her lip, he looked at her and then back to the path which they had been walking on.

Suddenly, the rumbling noise even louder, Jason heard a burst of sound like leaves being scattered. The noise turned to a galloping sound, and he watched in amazement as a beautiful, white unicorn ran across the path and disappeared into the trees on the other side. He turned to Celia with wide eyes and an open mouth. "Did you see that?" he asked excitedly, still talking in a whisper though, wondering if there might be something chasing the unicorn.

[Celia Richmond]

((Again, sorry it's taken me absatutely ages to get back to this thread...))

Celia nodded at what Jason said "Yeah, I thought you'd say something like that...you can learn loads in class, but in many cases it's out-of-class practise that counts...especially in things like Charms and ransfiguration. I should probably pratise more myself...I do occasionally, but not that much. And as you said, putting your mind to it helps. I just love learning about different things people can do with magic...and what help it could do in the long run...you never know what might come next. You never know, you might end up coming across a troll or something...and the silent spells could really help."

Celia noticed Jason biting his lip as he seemed to be pondering over her questions about 6th year. maybe she'd gone too far with them-she had asked a lot there, which could be overpowering even to the greatest of minds. But he seemed to answer the question fairly quickly...talking about hos the main problem was the teachers going on about the importance of the exams, but otherwise it was just like the change to any other year. "Hmm, I was sort of expecting it to be a lot harder than the previous years, as all of the subject content, from what I heard, is in more depth and detail, and generally a lot harder, especially when most students don't actually choose that many subjects. I'm not surprised about the emphasis they put on the exams though-they are important...I suppose that's similar to what they do in 4th and 5th yyeasr with the OWLs, only worse. And how do you mean you're not sure how much you believe them? Like, do you think all years are equally important? Or something else that I've not picked up on"?

He then suddenly stopped her in her tracks. He'd heard something in the distance, coming closer, by the sounds of it,, probably while she was talking about what she thought 6th year would be like. Before she knew it, he'd grabbed her arm, and pulled her behind a mond of earth nearby, and placed his finger over her lip. It must be serious-what could it be? Perhaps a troll, like she'd been going on about before, in which case this would e rather ironic...or maybe just another student out for a late night stroll? Or maybe something else...a centaur, perhaps?

Then the sound to a galloping sound, which ruled out the first 2...trolls and people didn't gallop. Then she saw it. A Gorgeous bright white unicorn runing across the path to the other side where mor trees were. Then Jason sked her if she'd seen it. "Of course I did! I knew there were unicorns around here, but I didn't expect to see any..I thought they genreally liked to keep themselves hidden-I got the impression they were rather timid creatures, rather than outgoing." Then she stopped to listen for anything else that may be coming.