Not Exactly Colourblind ((Celia))

[Lynne Collins]

It was a nice day, for the start of November anyway. The sun was pathetically weak, no match for the strong rays that Lynne could still remember from the summer. But that was to be expected. Nothing was like it had been during the summer; not the weather, or the freedom she had had during the summer compared to the amount of free time she had now. At least it didn’t take her long to complete her homework, Lynne reflected with a slight smile. Not like it once had. Oh, how she had hated writing with a passion that fought with her need to make her work utterly perfect. Colours had been practically flashing at her on her piece of parchment every single time she had read over her work and it had made her feel dizzy to the extent of nearly fainting. The colours still flashed and the dizziness still occurred but Lynne had forced herself to adapt and adjust until it didn’t bother her quite so much as it once had.

Not that Kael would ever believe that her condition had absolutely no effect on her daily life, no matter how often she told him so. And, as usual, her brother was right. His arguments made so much sense that she couldn’t ignore them, even though she desperately wished that she could. If she had completely accepted her condition, Kael had told her repeatedly, she would be able to call it by name and allow people - people other than him and their parents – to know about her synaesthesia rather than keeping it a secret from everyone. No matter how much she wished he was wrong, Kael was right and she wouldn’t belittle him by saying that he didn’t understand, because he did. How could he not when he had always been there with her? He had sat in on every session with the psychologist and had helped her through her tears when she had been mocked mercilessly for calling people by the colour she associated with their names by mistake. No, her twin understood more than she wished he did.

“Come on Jupiter,” Lynne beckoned to her kitten, kneeling to let her climb agilely from the bed on to her head before standing up again. “What do you think Jup, the student lounge?” She asked playfully, her smile softening slightly at the kittens’ loud meow. “To the lounge then!” Lynne declared dramatically, grabbing a pack of cards before leaving the dorms. Maybe she’d find someone to play with her. Entering the student lounge, her eyes fell upon one of her year-mates and Lynne walked over to her, Jupiter still balanced on the crown of her head. “Mind if I join you, Celia, or has someone more interesting already claimed that seat?”

[Celia Richmond]

It wasn't particularly warm, but the weather wasn't bad for November. It was quite bright, but the sun wasn't too strong. Halloween had recently passed, and now the school was preparing for Bonfire night, in the next few days. She still needed to talk to Dumbledore about her duties as a prefect she remembered, as she thought of it. But whatever happened, it was bound to be fun. It was just a shame it was so close to Halloween, and relatively not far from Christmas. There wasn't really much else in the year, apart from Easter, Valentines and Beltane, again all of which were relatively close together. Depending on when Easter was. And then there was Summer, if that counted as an event to be celebrated. Well, she still had another 52 days to buy Christmas presents. Well, the weekend days anyway.

And among all the hassle of Halloween, Bonfire night and the quickly approaching Christmas, BBBS was taking place too. Something that was a relatively big part of Celia's life then. It had only just kicked off, so there was still a lot of preperation to do. many applications had been recieved, pairs had been made, and yet they were still busy chasing up people they hadn't heard from. They had an excess of older students, so it was really younger ones they needed to find. It was all rather fun though-Celia liked to be a part of as many things as possible. Hence she was always busy, either with homework, prefect duties or BBBS stuff,. Or other commitments she had. But those were the 3 main things.

And BBBS duties were what Celia was doing that afternoon, in the library. She was looking through some newly-recieved applications, reading them to see which other students they could be paired with. It was surprising how many students had put "No Slytherins" on the form, so it was rather fortunate that not many Slytherins had signed up. Having gone through them all, she packed them all into her folder, put that in her bag, and then decided to go off to student lounge. That would be the best place to find one of her fellow committee members, and possibly to hassle some people on her list. And even if nobody was there, it was at least warm-the fire did a good job. And there would probably be someone to talk to.

Pushing open the heavy oak door, she looked around to see if she could see any of the committee members. Seeing that none of them were there, she took out her list of people to hassle, to see if any were there, and wandered round. Coming to the conclusion that none of them were there, she put the list back in her bag and went to sit down at a table, by a window with a beautiful view. She loved views, did Celia. One of her favourite passtimes was sitting in the courtyard looking at the sunset. But todays view was out to the grounds, over the long grass round the lake, and then the bright blue water stretching over the horizon, with rather cloudy skies overhead. The sun was rather low in the sky, so there was a slight orange glow among the clouds too.

Then the door opened, and Celia looked up, hoping it would be someone on her list or one of the other Committee members. Unfortunately the girl that entered wasn't either-it was Lynne Collins, in Celia's house and year. And she was heading her way. Not that Celia had a problem with it, she liked Lynne. She was a nice, friendly girl. But there was something odd...something she'd only share with her brother. But that was none of Celia's business, so she always avoided the subject, which seemed to suit them both. So Celia smiled as the other girl approached her, kitten and playing cards in her hands.

"Hey Lynne!" She said, in a friendly tone of voice "How're you? And sure, you can sit there-nobody's taken it or anything." Which was true. She had generally been avoided by the few people that were already in the room when she'd arrived not long before. She then decided to mention the cards "So...I take it you wanna play something then? Any ideas of any good games we could play? I guess we could play rummy...unless you have any better ideas?"

[Lynne Collins]

“Jupiter,” Lynne scolded the little brown kitten with a single word as she started to chew at her ear out of pure boredom. “You didn’t have to come, you know. You could have just stayed in the dorm and played with your toys – you have a nice fluffy toy mouse up there that you could’ve destroyed and then left for me to clean up. But no, you chose to come with me so stop trying to eat me.” She lectured the kitten as she walked, drawing a few odd looks along with a few rolled eyes and light smiles from those who had obviously seen her with Jupiter before.

Was it odd or pathetic to tell a kitten more than you told your friends? Lynne didn’t know – the answer was probably yes if she thought about it – but she didn’t really care either. Maybe it was a side-effect from living with Kael, who rarely cared about anything, but she didn’t care what anyone thought of her anymore. Well, that was a lie. She cared a bit – no one could ever stop caring altogether – but she was her own person and she liked who she was, for the most part anyway. Jupiter jumped from her perch on Lynne’s head agilely, twining through her legs and almost causing her to trip up. Only months of getting used to her kittens actions gave her the ability to not even wobble.

With what sounded like a proud meow, Jupiter clawed her way back up Lynnette’s legs and reclaimed her place on her head. “That hurt,” she muttered to her kitten darkly, her smile returning as she sat next to Celia. “I’m fine. Intensely bored, but when aren’t I really?” Oh, she could think of so many times when she wasn’t bored but Celia didn’t know her well enough to know that. That was the interesting thing about her actually. She appeared so open, like everyone could see exactly what she wanted or what she was feeling, but Lynne was too used to keeping secrets to be as open as people thought she was.

“If you’re not too busy, then I’d love to play. Rummy sounds good. I prefer poker but we’d need more people. Maybe we could get a group of people next time and play for chocolate frogs or something. I don’t think the professors would approve if we gambled real money, do you Celia?” Celia. The name brought up an image of bright blue, brighter than the Ravenclaw blue, that she could see projected out of her minds-eye. Lynne had had years to adjust to seeing that bright blue appear and yet it still made her blink a few times, just from the utter brightness of it. Sometime she really wished she could control the contrast of the colours she saw due to her condition.

[Celia Richmond]

((Finally done! Yes, a lot of off-topic ramble in the middle, but it's Celia's thought processes. And mine actually =). Yes, I love rambling on about nothing in particular. I do it in real life too. See, I'm even rambling in my apology for rambling =). Sorry about that! *end ramble*))

Bored. That's how Lynne often felt. Celia sometimes felt the same, but being on the BBBS Committee, quidditch team and being a prefect kept her busy. If she didn't have those, she would be bored often. heck, she might've decided to take up a 7th NEWT along with her present 6. However she didn't enjoy DADA, couldn't do Potions as she didn't get an O, and she doubted Snape would be leniant about that. So that just left History of Magic, which hardly anyone did, the majority not being able to wait until the end of 5th year to drop it. But then again she doubted it would be any use to her in the future. Not even the All-genious Hermione Granger took it to NEWT...but then again she didn't do Astronomy either.

But whatever. By now, it was too late to change options, and with her extra-curriculars she was busy enough as it was now...a 7th NEWT would just be too much! The majority of other Ravenclaws did at least 7, but none of them were doing BBBS, Quidditch, and Prefect Duties, apart from Jami. But she had to admore him for doing all 3, especially as he was Head Boy. the chances of Celia being head Girl were slim, though not completely out, she still had a chance. The worst thing that could happen was if it was her and Alex as head girl and boy...mack would NOT be happy at all. It could be Mack and Alex...though she wondered if the teachers would put them together for such an important job...they'd most likely distract each other constantly.

That left Ari and Ivy...Ari would be quite unlikely-it was surprising she was a prefect in the first place, and Ivy...quite possibly. Very academic, especially for a hufflepuff. As for the guys...Kennedy would be a possibility, as would Charlie. Kennedy and Mack would be good, though Mack would be annoyed she wasn't with Alex, and Alex would be annoyed he wasn't with Mack, and probably jealous of Kennedy. Charlie, well, him and Ivy would be a good combination. Branden...she didn't know too well, and it was unlikely he'd be chosen.

But her thoughts were now being diverted from the subject at hand, which was Lynne. And her boredom. "Hmm...I used to get bored quite a lot. But then I got involved in loads of things. Plus I'm a prefect, which is a plus I guess, keeps me busy. Are you interested in Quidditch at all? Or the BBBS scheme? We're always happy for you to join. I think it's Professor Hardy you'll have to see, with your applications...she's handing Ravenclaw 6th years. It's a good scheme, you'll get to know some of the other students better, and possibly really make a difference to a younger students life. Maybe you should've taken up another NEWT, that'd take up your time, certainly! Though I'm doing 6, that's enough with my other stuff, but I would've liked to do 7...except with all my other stuff, and the fact that it'd have to be History as my 7th, I decided against it. Ah well."

She was being usually chatty today for some reason. Nothing in particular had sparked it...apart from her own thought processes about such things. She wasn't normally this chatty. Friendly, yes, but not particularly chatty. Someone that people could rely one, someone that people could trust. Luckily she hadn't had a "dark moment" about her past recently...despite what happened last year. Last year...Amy, now in year 5 at the primary school Celia went to, was hoping to come to Hogwarts the year Celia left. She'd be a Gryffindor, most likely. Or even a Slyth, though she was hardly evil...just a typical 9 year old girl. She wouldn't be a huffle, as she wasn't, well, a Hufflepuff type, and Ravenclaw, well, Celia could hope, but Amy wasn't exactly the brains of the family.

"anyway, the cards" Celia said, changing the subject back. "Well, Poker is good...though yeah, it's much better with more people. Ooo, betting with chocolate frogs sounds good! I tend tocollect them for the cards, more than anything, though the chocolate is really good. If you get to eat it that is. Those frogs are pesky little critters, they really are! And I agree...professors probably wouldn't approve of real money bets...and I have to be on my best behaviour, being a prefect and all. So, Rummy it is then? Do you know how to play?" Rummy was a game she'd often played at home on rainy days. It was usually that or Whist...though Whist was harder, seeing as there were only 3 of them in the house now and you needed 4 to play. Celia picked up the pack, dealt 7 cards each, and sorted her own cards. She had a rather mixed hand...it would be hard. She picked up and turned over the top card on the pile to see what it was. It was useful, so she picked it up, depositing the 7 of spades.