Changes for the better? ((Open))

[Delilah Mortis S3]

Delilah walked out of the Entrance Hall into the bright sunlight. She entered the calm, peaceful courtyard. As she walked by the fountain she paused in front of it. She put her hand into the nice cold water and smiled. She loved the water. It was always changing and never stayed still. She sat on the fountain wall and thought about the other night when she was with Payton. She really didn't like change when it hit her like a brick wall. She liked it when it came slow to her.

She sighed and looked at her reflection in the water. Not much had changed about since she was little. She still had black hair and blue eyes but her eyes now showed some sadness in them. Once they use to be happy and care free but now they were sad and life-less. Something had changed inside her when she had kissed Payton and it was eating at her heart.

Delilah felt better when she was alone and away from the common room. She liked coming here to relax and get away from her problems. When she ever entered the courtyard, she would leave her problems at the entrance.

[Payton Laslie]

Payton walked along the empty corridor sleepy and triered and steped into the yard to see delilah there "Hey delly" he said to her through yawn, he hadn't gotten much sleep that night because he was so excited to be playing for The Slytherin team, though sad about not being able to play beater, instead he had to play chaser for the team at this match....the last match of the entire year. he thought of this as he sat next to delilah

[Delilah Mortis S3]

Delilah was deep in her own world. A world that never changed. It always stayed the same. A world were everything was peaceful and calm. A place were you could be yourself and not get judged. Everything was always green and lush in this world. She was removed from this world by footsteps on the stone floor. She heard a voice speak her nickname that only one person could call her....Payton. The one person she didn't want to see at the moment had entered the courtyard.

She longed to be in her world, sitting on the grass, staring into the sky and watching the birds fly by. She put a smile on for Payton and turned around. "Hey Payton." she said trying to be her normal self.

[Payton Laslie]

"I....um....the quidditch match is today..." He said silently

[Delilah Mortis S3]

Delilah sighed as he spoke to her again. She knew the game was today. She hadn't decided on if she was going to go. She hated Quidditch and didn't really want to sit during a game alone. Yet she wanted to support Payton. After all she was his girlfriend she thought she should be there for him, it was the right thing for a girlfriend to do.

"I know." she said quietly. "Good Luck today." She wasn't sure what else to say to him. They had gotten into another fight and wasn't sure if he was even wanted to discuss it.

[Payton Laslie]

"Thanks, I'm playing chaser instead of Beater, so don't worry" he said quietly sitting next to her

[Hebe Bang-Bala R7]

Hebe was a people-watcher. Not a stalker, just a watcher. She would place herself somewhere where she was comfortable - perhaps on a bench, or on top of a wall, or on a lush blanket of grass (literally: her Transfiguration skills were excellent after years of recreational honing) - just somewhere comfortable, anyway, and then she would observe anything that crossed her sensory field. It wasn't always humans... sometimes she could close her eyes and focus on the small sounds around her: the strange, harsh yet somehow harmonious chorus of grasshoppers; the tinkling of a fountain; the rustle of trees swaying in the breeze (the last sound was not available today as there was no breeze - it was stiflingly hot).

But it was people that she was most interested in, because from their dramas, mistakes and triumphs; their words, expressions and actions, she hoped to somewhere find an answer to her own problems. People weren't very good at understanding themselves, and Hebe was worse than most; she hoped instead to gain some understanding of herself, and of her family, through understanding people in general. It was a tall order, and perhaps a task doomed to failure, but it was interesting regardless of its potentially limited success.

Hebe did not want to nosy into the affairs of people in her year - if she knew them, it would be unforgivably rude to treat them as subjects for observation, however invisible she might be to them. But a very interesting younger pupil had just joined her (or, at least, entered her vicinity). Hebe didn't know her, so it was okay to watch her. What was interesting about her was her stance... it conveyed tranquillity and pain at the same time, and that was quite odd. Not something that Hebe had seen many times before. So she was quite happy to sit and ponder it, and share in the girl's tranquillity while perfectly unnoticed. She was actually a bit piqued when someone came and disturbed it.

It seemed to her that the girl wasn't actually that happy to have the boy there at that moment either, and after a little time she stood up, a little way off from the couple, and from behind them she murmured a quiet 'Stupefy' with her wand aimed at the boy’s back. It was a spell strong enough to knock him out, but fairly gently at least. He slumped sideways, so she felt satisfied that it had worked and greeted the girl with a quiet “Hi.” She sat down on the edge of the fountain and put her wand away, feeling that it might give a slightly threatening appearance. It was possible that the younger girl might decide to curse her, but Hebe wasn’t particularly scared by the prospect.

“Don’t worry thysel', 'e’ll be absolutely fine,” she said, glancing towards the boy. “At most a wee bit groggy once I wake 'im up, but that'll pass quickly enough. So, mind if I talk to you a bit?"

((Thanks a bunch to Payton for granting me permission to do this to his character! I've tried to keep G-moding to a minimum nevertheless.))

[Payton Laslie]

As payton was talking to delilah about quidditch he felt a strong thump hit him in the back, it took him a few seconds to realize he had been stunned but by the time he noticed he was falling to the ground and went into a quite dream about the strangest girl stooping over him to talk to Delilah about something, but then he wasn't entirely asleep and not entirely awake....either...then...why was.....hmmm....payton couldn't think anymore, and fell into a dreamless sleep

[Delilah Mortis S3]

Delilah smiled at Payton's words. She knew she would worry no matter what position he played. She sighed and turned away from him. She wasn't sure how much more of him she could take. He was starting to annoy her. She wished they could just go back to the way things were before he had confessed his feelings for her.

She felt a present leave her side and turned around. Payton was on the floor in front of her. She realized it was a stunning spell and looked around for the source of the spell. She saw a girl sitting next to her. "Hi." said Delilah quietly back to the girl. She listened to the girl and nodded her head. "I am not worried. I am kind of glad you did that."

[Hebe Bang-Bala R7]

Hebe raised her eyebrows slightly at the girl's response, not because she disapproved of it, but just because it surprised her a bit. She would have been less surprised had the girl been irritated with her. Perhaps she'd simply underestimated how annoying the unfortunate recipient of her spell was.
"Really?" she questioned, not hiding her surprise. Nevertheless, she relaxed visibly, a sign that she trusted the girl's word. She hadn't even realised that she was slightly tensed until she relaxed... she hadn't felt scared, but she supposed that she had put her wand away while there was still some uncertainty about the girl's reaction. Hebe's subconscious must have been likening it to the other times when she was wandless and threatened - in her grandmother's power. Hebe frowned and put that to the back of her mind. There was a bit of time before the end of term yet.

"I hadn't realised 'e was as bad as that," Hebe continued, having registered her surprise. "Many folk would ha' been put out at t'interference. Me not minding me own business an' all." She tilted her head slightly, regarding the girl curiously. "Thoo mus' be more honest with thysel' than is usual - to admit that it made you jus' a bit glad rather than choose to be annoyed wit' me." She leant back over the still water at the edge of the fountain and trailed her fingers through the water. It was deliciously cool, and her fingertips came out tingling. "I found t'way that thoo put up wit' him interesting," she commented dispassionately. "It made me curious." She stared at the Stunned boy thoughtfully (she hoped that he wouldn't have sustained a bump on the head as he fell sideways since she didn't wish him any harm), finally turning back to the girl and asking her a very direct question - the young Slytherin had earnt her respect by being so frank before.
"Is 'e usually so obtuse?" she asked. "Thy stance toward 'im was quite clearly saying 'Go away' - I could ha' read that from a mile off - but 'e seemed completely oblivious to it."

[Delilah Mortis S3]

Delilah looked down at Payton and nodded her head. He never left her alone and it was starting to annoy her. He knew exactly were she was at every minute or everyday. She couldn't get a moment of peace to herself for he was right there by her side. She half listened to girl talk but nodded her head showing she was listening. She was glad Payton was knocked out. It gave her time to talk about what was on her mind. Even though she had just met the girl, Delilah needed someone to talk to.

"Yeah, very." she said sadly. "He use to not be like this. Before we became couple he knew what I was thinking before I was thinking it myself. He knew when to back off and when I needed a shoulder to cry on. Just by looking at me he would know what I was feeling. Now...he has to think about what I am thinking. We are always fighting. He saids he wants to make me happy but then we start fighting. I told him I needed to be alone for a little and there he is by my side." She sighed sadly and looked down at Payton.