Rain Rain Go Away, Come Again Another Day.

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

Rain rain go away, come again another day all the world is waiting for the sun. It was as if a permanent depression had drifted swiftly over her eyes, over her smiling face and her happy tones. An eternal rainstorm was to follow her where ever she went, where ever she was destined to go - tragedy would follow. A curtain of hatred and pain would be attached to her forever. Jordan really hadn't reason to be as depressed as she seemed to be, and maybe she really wasn't. Maybe it really was all in her head, all of it; even the attack that didn't really happen. Would it be too horrible if it wasn't real? If none of this was real? If Hogwarts wasn't an actual school? Was she just dreaming, just drifting? And if she was, was it bad that she didn't want to be anywhere else? Jordan couldn't remember any other time she had been happy, truly happy. Not just the happy of a young girl, catching butterflies in a net only to let them go seconds later.

The Courtyard was empty. So empty in fact, that Jordan felt like it resembled her. How she was feeling. Who she figured she was now. The sun wasn't shining brightly, it was a dull shine - one that reminded of hurt pasts and horrible nightmares. It was overcast and Jordan felt the electricity sticking to her. She could feel the lick of the static, and it sent a slight shiver up and down her spine. It was warm, but Jordan wore a sweater over her light pink blouse, her knee length jean skirt didn't help her chill either. With her arms crossed, Jordan gazed around the courtyard as a roll of thunder clashed above. She didn't move, didn't flinch. Nature was natural now. It didn't matter. If it stormed, it stormed. It didn't matter. It didn't matter. Another clash of thunder, and then a flash of lightening; and Jordan made her first steps toward the bench she and Justin had been...when it happened. When the attacked happened. She had escaped with a slight concussion, but Justin hadn't been as lucky.

Still, she couldn't deal. Hogwarts was supposed to be safe. Happy. Not this. Not threatened. Not...not...this. Jordan felt the biting demand of tears, trying to fight them back; letting them burn. She wanted her smiles, her laughter, her happiness back. But how could she? How could she when it was stolen? Like Nature, Jordan had no control over events that she wished she could. If it stormed, it stormed. If Death Eater's attacked, they attacked. And all she was able to do was sit and watch, listen, and be a good Hogwarts student. Jordan reached her arm out to the bench, and just as the rain started pouring - tears escaped from her lids and she sank to the ground near the bench. Her arms wrapped around her legs, her head on her knees, she let the rain wash away her pain and her depression. As her tears rolled, the rain poured and she let it drench her in sorrow. Sorrow. Self-pity. Was she selfish? Others were through much worse. Kori Williams was squashed. Dana had been put under the Imperius curse. Others suffered much worse, much worse.

But Jordan wasn't used to this. She wasn't used to pain. Hurt. Betrayal. Death. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Life wasn't supposed to be this way. Memories were meant to be happy. Lively. Not this. Not this! Her shoulders shook as the tears and rain continued. If she had been cold before, she was freezing now. But she was too numb. Too numb to feel anything anymore. Rain rain go away, come again another day, all the world is waiting for the sun. Rain rain go away, come again another day, all the world is waiting for the sun. Maybe Jordan lived in a bubble. A bubble that kept dangers out. A bubble that kept sadness away. That drove frowns away, far away, far far. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. The world was full of maybes. Maybes and empty promises. What were promises if they were broken? Not promises. Lies. Lies lies lies! All lies! Nothing's safe anymore, why lie and say it is? Why lie and make others believe they'll make it through? Safe to say from here, your getting closer now, we are never sad 'cos we are not allowed to be. The rain continued to pour. Pour on a girl who was once little and then grew up. Pour on a girl that is still little. Pour on a girl...who pours tears on the Earth.

Rain rain go away, come again another day, all the world is waiting for the sun. To lie here under you, is all that I could ever do. To lie here under you, is all that I could ever do. To lie here under you is all....

((OK - this is open to close friends. ))

[Justin Finch-Fletchley]

Justin hobbled along the corridor as good-naturedly as he could. He would smile at anyone he passed by, try to make them turn the corners of their mouth upwards and seek out the good things in life. Because there were still good things around, and there was still plenty of hope. They'd just have to seek it, find it. There weren't many people around for him to spread a smile to, though. They must all be frightened and hiding in their Common Rooms still. Justin allowed himself a sigh - there was no one else around in the deserted corridor for him to spread it to. He wanted to see his friends again. They came to the Hospital Wing, but it wasn't the same.

Still, Madam Pomfrey had been ever so kind as usual and today seen that he was bursting to get out and have a look around rather than staying cooped up inside forever. She'd been ministering him with vast quantities of Skele-Gro (well, maybe not vast but the stuff was so foul it certainly seemed so) to make his arm heal more quickly. So he was rather happy to be out here for a while, and strolling - no, hobbling really did describe it better after all; he'd twisted his ankle rather badly as well and the only cure for that was time apparently - along the corridors once again. Although his footsteps seems to have taken him to one of the doors leading outside to the Courtyard. Justin hesitated as he glanced outside. That had been a distinct rumble of thunder and it was already raining; knowing thunderstorms it would probably soon be raining more. But... he might as well. He'd dry himself off before he went back to the Hospital Wing so he wasn't dripping all over Madam Pomfrey's pristine ward, or - worse, worrying her sufficiently to confine him to his bed until she had no excuse to keep him there.

He stepped outside just as the real downpour began, and immediately began running (a rather lopsided run) for cover in another part of the Courtyard. He'd almost reached cover when he saw a familiar head. The hair was darkened because it was soaked, dripping even, and he couldn't see much of the face, but he knew who it was. He adjusted his direction immediately, having to go slower because the ground in that part of the Courtyard was somewhat uneven and he didn't want to twist his ankle again. But Jordan was in much the stance of the 'Thinker' in the famous sculpture, if not looking a little more depressed. Such passive submission to the elements wasn't good in this situation. Justin hastened forward as much as he could with his ankle in alarm, when he finally reached her just touching her gently on the shoulder to let her know he was there. He was about to hold out his hand when he realised he couldn't offer that arm - it still wasn't entirely healed - and so he shuffled his feet round until he was facing in the other direction and sought out her fingers with his other hand.

"I can't support you," he warned as he tugged gently on her hand to pull her towards shelter. "You'll have to walk for yourself." He took a firmer grip of her hand, even though his own fingers were cold and wet thanks to the rain currently soaking them. He was somewhat cold; Jordan must be freezing. So he conjured a towel and wrapped it round her, rubbing vigorously for a few moments to try to give her some warmth before just falling still and keeping his arms around her as he held the towel in place. She was upset, there was no denying it. He thought he could guess why. Of course, there was a distinct possibility he was wrong - the female sex still held many mysteries for him - but he thought he was right. Such self-confidence was a great thing. "We can't do anything about it," he said eventually. "Don't let them upset you, frighten you. That's what they want. You just have to get on with life as best as you can. Sometimes you're lucky... some people aren't. Someday that might be you so you have to just enjoy things while you can. Right now... there's nothing we can do to stop it."

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

Jordan couldn't feel the coldness of the rain anymore, in fact she could barely feel anything. So when she felt someone's hand on hers and heard someone's voice, Jordan was drawn out of her daze slowly and painfully. Listening, she stood and walked with whoever it had been to wherever they were going. It was then she realized there was a towel around her. Then the warmth spread through her body in little bursts and her vision became clearer. In front of her was Justin. He had gotten the worst side of the attack. He had more damage than Jordan did, whereas Jordan only suffered a small concussion - not even that - he had received a hurt arm and ankle. Without a word, not even a sigh, Jordan turned to look at the falling rain. It was pouring rather heavily and you could barely see through it. They stood there in silence for a bit, Jordan trying to see through the heavy rain.

"We can't do anything about it," Jordan turned her attention back to Justin, slowly, but she was focused on him. "Don't let them upset you, frighten you. That's what they want. You just have to get on with life as best as you can. Sometimes you're lucky... some people aren't. Someday that might be you so you have to just enjoy things while you can. Right now... there's nothing we can do to stop it." Jordan looked at him. Her brown eyes blank and her teeth starting to chatter quietly. She cast her eyes down and shook her head. He had to be wrong. There had to be something they could do. Something to make everything better. The world used to be so safe, so happy, so carefree and lovely. Now what was it? A heap of darkness? A lie? A deception? Jordan didn't think she wanted to live in a world filled with hatred.

"W-wh-" Jordan began, but she was so cold the words could hardly form from her mouth. She closed her eyes and tried again, "Why can't we do so-something? Wh-what makes it s-so impossi-ssible to do an-anything?" She looked up at Justin, hoping he had the answers. Praying he had the answers. Jordan didn't like feeling so lost. She was usually so bright, she knew where everything was and she could find it in a split second. She could make people smiley by merely smiling at them. Was she still capable of doing that now? Now that she was so...helpless? All her life, Jordan had never been helpless. Not once. Not ever. She always knew what was happening and how to handle the situation, and now? Now everything changed for her. She was as helpless as anyone could be.

[Justin Finch-Fletchley]

Justin smiled at Jordan as he felt her gaze on him briefly, before she turned away to look at the blanket of rain. He was aware of all the sounds around them as they remained silent: the steady fall of rain; the steady drip-drip of the guttering overhead, his steady breathing - perhaps more regulated than it would have been had he not been in close contact with someone; her reassuringly solid breathing. Everything was steady in this world, even problems and pain. But suddenly it felt all too still for him, and he felt a moment of doubt as he peered over her sopping wet hair at the dismal scene. It wouldn't do him - and Jordan surely wouldn't be different - any good to brood over what had happened, and he needed not to have these moments when he could stop, think and regret. They had to be saved for when he had something good to dream about. Life had taught him that he stayed much happier that way. Somehow he ended up always having a sufficient understanding of the serious things that happened without needing to take the time out to actually consider them. Perhaps he worked on them all the while that he was engaged in conversations he didn't really want to be in, without consciously realising it. His brain must do something to avoid exploding.

He was still concerned about Jordan. Perhaps it was a good thing that she was warm enough for her teeth to have started chattering, but he found it hard to see it as that and rubbed her shoulders again to try to stimulate some warmth into them. "Jor-" he began, but cut himself off as he heard her began to stutter a reply at exactly the same moment. He couldn't really think of an answer to her question that wouldn't sound utterly bereft of hope. And he wasn't bereft of hope - not at all. So he just let the silence grow longer again, the continuous rain washing away the memories of the events that had happened here, and Jordan shivering incessantly and making his arms shake with her. His voice seemed small as he began to talk again, and although that might just have been his perception, he had to strengthen it to stop it shaking in time with Jordan's shivers.
"Because... we're few against so many. Little power again so much. It's a lot easier to create evil than to counter it. Trying to do something would probably do more harm than good." he said, each sentence making perfect sense to him however alien and disjointed they might sound to Jordan. "The easiest thing to do would be to start fearing and hating and suspecting everyone around us and all that's going to do is split the few of us that there are. It's harder to do nothing than to do that - to remain unchanged by an event and come out just as strong for the people around you. They may be sadistic, but still the most we can do is make it not worth their while."

He didn't know whether he'd be of any help to Jordan. That wasn't his goal; he'd only set out to answer Jordan's question with his own beliefs - entirely honestly. But now he withdrew his arms from around her and looked her over. "We need to get you indoors," he muttered to her. "You're going to freeze at this rate. You need to get warm and dry." He took hold of her icy hand gently and turned towards the warmth of the indoors. "Yes?" he asked, not willing to drag her even though he knew it was necessary to get her warmer.

((Okay, late, I know. I just had some of this post and didn't want it to go to waste. This is, just so there's no confusion for other people, set when Justin was in seventh year and Jordan in sixth year.))