"I bet I can get you to talk. A lot." ((Jude))

[Ingrid Lewis H4]

Ingrid looked through the Charms book that sat on her lap while she sat in an armchair in the Hufflepuff common room. There wasn’t anyone around so it was relatively quiet except for the crackle of the fire that was roaring with life. Ingrid loved it when she was alone in the common room because it meant she could get something done if she put her mind to it. Ingrid was a relatively studious girl, she always had been, but times had changed her and now she tended to procrastinate – if only for awhile. She got everything done, just not at the ideal pace she would have gotten them done in her first year. Ingrid didn’t mind, as long as she got them done and did them well, that is; but she knew it was showing in some of her classes. Charms was one of those classes, which was so odd to think of because Ingrid had always been so good in Charms. She just didn’t quite know what was wrong with her in that class. Aaron was in that class with her, she had to have a good reason for not being able to focus. Oh, right…Aaron’s all I can ever think about anymore… Ingrid thought to herself as the words in her Charms book seemed to blur together.

She thought about Aaron quite a bit, but she didn’t know why. She knew there was something there. The feelings she felt for him were far more than feelings someone should have for their best-friend. Ingrid had already thought of that, she had already thought of the fact that what she felt for Aaron was something she did not feel for Gavin. That was how she was assessing her feelings. She had two guy best-friends. Aaron Byers and Gavin Armstrong and she didn’t feel for Gavin like she did for Aaron. She loved Gavin, Gavin was absolutely amazing; he was always making her laugh and he had been there for Sita when Ingrid had decided to be a terrible friend, but she didn’t…like Gavin in the way that she was certain that she liked Aaron. There was just something about Aaron that made her think differently or not think at all. Ingrid sighed slightly as she shook her head to rid her eyes of the blurriness that came over them whenever she thought of Aaron. She didn’t know when she started to feel this way toward Aaron, but she knew it wasn’t a good thing…or was it?

She knew it would affect their group…their friendship with Sita would change drastically, Ingrid was sure of this. Ingrid looked up at the fire as she thought about Sita. She had done so much to her best-friend that she felt so entirely guilty about it. Their relationship still hadn’t completely healed and Ingrid knew that was partially her fault, again. She had been so caught up in the fact that Aaron was pushing her away that she didn’t focus all of her energy on Sita like she should have been doing. Ingrid also knew that Sita wasn’t happy with Aaron at all. Ingrid didn’t have to ask Sita to know that she held some sort of resentment toward their friend of 4 years. She just wished she could make everything better. Fix it so everything was like it was in first year. She knew she couldn’t do that, though, and so she sat in the common room – alone and muddling through her thoughts. She wouldn’t be alone for long, though, because it was just then the portrait hole opened and in came someone new that Ingrid did not know. She turned around in her seat and smiled warmly at the newcomer, “Hello.”

[Jude Esben H7]

Jude laid on the grass under neither his and Eevie’s tree. He was laying flat on his back, and at such an angle that he could see the top of the tower where Eevie would be no doubt looking up at the stars. Occasionally he would think he could see her, and his arm would wave frantically to get her attention. Once or twice he even whispered her name loudly, “Eeeeevieeeeee!” in hopes of her hearing him; whispered of course though, because he really didn’t want to interrupt the whole class. Just get Eevie’s attention. Of course, it finally occurred to Jude that Eevie didn’t have bat ears, but that someone else in her class might. Oh my! That would mean maybe Jude was disrupting someone else’s studies! Jude stopped whispering abruptly, for fear of disturbing the class that was being held far, far above his head. He was lying with his head propped up on his book bag, just staring at the top of the astronomy tower. That tower had become like the tower from fairy tales, where princesses are locked away from their princes, and guarded by evil dragons (Eevie told Jude that up there, they called the dragons, te-le-scopes, and that they had one big giant eye that could see things from very, very far away. Te-le-scopes sounded scary to Jude and he had assured Eevie that he never wanted to meet one!). That tower and those te-le-scopes had been keeping his love away from him for so long and yet every night he would lay on the grass for at least half an hour, just hoping that somehow his Eevie would magically fly down from the tower and be with him again. Jude knew that it wouldn’t be long before Eevie joined him again in the student lounge like she always did, but he still wished she could come back to him sooner. Normally Jude sat outside for at least half an hour, but it was starting to get colder during the nights and Jude was already as bundled up as he could be without carrying around a blanket. So, after a mere fifteen minutes of waiting for a miracle, Jude decided he’d go upstairs to the hufflepuff common room and get his keyboard before going to wait in the warm student lounge.

Jude hurried up the grounds towards the castle, rubbing his hands together for warmth and then crossing his arms over his chest. He took the stairs two at a time and then yanked open the doors, rushing into the hopefully warmer castle. It had always amazed Jude that the castle managed to retain some form of warmth even though it was made of stone. It was still colder then the common rooms sure, but it was warmer then it was outside. Outside it was just a death trap. And Jude didn’t so much like death at all really. It wasn’t the loveliest of things. And it was very cold. Jude didn’t like to be cold. But he didn’t like to be hot either. Jude liked to be just nicely in the middle where his body was shaking with shivers or sweating from overheating. Jude didn’t like extremes really, except being extremely in love. That one was worth it, and Jude could tolerate the extremity of it. Jude tended however, to like things nice and simple and easy. He liked things that made sense, and things that didn’t jump too far out of the box. But that was odd because Jude lived outside of the box. So maybe he just meant he didn’t like things to be outside of his own little box. Jude liked his own little box very, very much; though Eevie occasionally told him that he didn’t get any great adventures if he never left his box, but that was ok, because living with Eevie was an adventure all in itself; a very fun, loving adventure. Jude loved it, so that was good. As Jude walked and discussed with himself (in whispers of course, for fear of disrupting someone else’s personal discussions) all his loves for staying inside his box and not doing things that took him outside of his comfort zone, he accidentally tripped over his own feet. Though he was sure it was some conspiracy, probably a rabbit tripped him or something and then ran. Those things were super fast. Jude bent over and picked up all his things, grumbling about how the evil army was becoming stronger, and then headed off to the common room again.

He walked into the room, dusting off a pomegranate that had fallen out of his bag and onto the cold stone floor that was probably littered with germs. Of course, the pomegranate wasn’t really what Jude would be eating, he’d be eating the seeds inside of it, which were protected by a tough skin, but Jude had a suspicion that if it really was a rabbit that tripped him in the hallway they might have had reason to poison the floor on which Jude walked, knowing he would spill a pomegranate, knowing it would be contaminated, knowing Jude would eat the thing eventually. It was a great bit conspiracy, but Jude didn’t expect any less of the evil spoons and rabbits. And so (even though dusting off the skin might not keep it from being contaminated by a pomegranate, Jude had a feeling the rabbits hadn’t thought about the fact that Jude would know their plan and so he would dust it off, and that dusting it off would in fact help because the spoons and rabbits hadn’t thought about that! Aha!) Jude walked into he common room, dusting off a pomegranate and grumbling to himself. He didn’t look up until he heard a voice. Then Jude raised his head and looked at a younger girl, who was obviously in his house, I mean, she was in his common room...unless...”Are you a spy?” Jude looked at the girl seriously.