Early Morning

[shadow2]

The night was approaching its end as the sun rose from the Great Lake that graced the terrain of the primordial castle. Of course, from the dungeon- that couldn’t be seen. Early breakfast was to start in an hour or so as Shadow sat in the big-armed chair by the fire. The flames of ginger and gold danced as it engulfed a pebble that she had recently thrown in. She was yet again bored. No trouble to stir, no one to argue or to send a curse at. The commonroom was calm as students had yet to stir from their slumbers. She shook her head- breakfast wasn’t her thing. She would rather explore the castle or torment Ms. Norris than waste her time eating a meal.

Though this usually was a sign with muggles, of the eating disorder anorexia- it was just a sign of pure laziness with her. Her family, being very wealthy and powerful, could offer her any meal she wanted at any given time. Yet lately her family had adapted to the habit of skipping together meals. Why? It was still a mystery to Shadow. She thought that it would have to do with the fact that her parents had to go to a Death Eaters’ meeting, or something that had to deal with the Dark Lord. She was sure that they would be discussing future plans of Shadow becoming another Death Eater, to carry on the family business- or what ever. If only Austin, her brother, was still around. He was somewhere in Egypt doing a job for the community. Mainly for the Dark Lord, but he couldn’t tell Shadow much of what he was doing. ‘Why?’ She thought of this as she tossed another pebble into the dieing flames. This question hadn’t come up in a while but now that she was sitting in the commonroom it did. It had never bothered her before but now it did. Why did it do that so much?

She wondered if anyone else would skip the early meal, but she doubted it. Not a lot of people would skip it. Many would be hungry and thirst for the goblet of pumpkin juice served with the lightly toasted portion of bread. She stood; the train of onyx fabric kissed the stone flooring as she made her way towards the towering shelves. A small book caught her attention as she neared the bookshelves. ‘Family Ties between Slytherin Families’ – she read to herself before sliding the book from it’s dusty keep into her tan delicate hands. A few fine pages fell out of the torn bindings as Shadow opened the rawhide book.

[phoebexiong]

With a groan and a grunt Phoebe woke up and got ready for the day. She hadn't intended on waking up as early as she had. It just soft of happened. She had went to bed early the night before. She quickly put her hair in a clip and made her way out of the girls dormitries. She took a quick glance outside to see the sun barely in the air. She sighed as she exited the Slytherin Common Room and walked up to the Great Hall.

After entering the Great Hall, Phoebe got herself a class of orange juice and a bagel. She quickly ate then walked back downstairs into the common room. It was still early and hardly anyone would be awake.

"Salazar," Phoebe said and the entrance to the Common room was made for her to see. She stepped in to see only one girl that she didn't know. She walked over to her and sat down on the couch. "I see I'm not the only early bird," she said with a small smirk.

[shadow2]

“Guess not.” Shadow said not looking up to see whom she was talking to. So maybe she was wrong, others were awake at this hour. “I’m Shadow.” She closed the book with one hand and a small thump and finally looking up to see a girl about a year older than she was. She returned to sit in the same chair that she had a few moments ago. After she had tied her hair back she asked, “So is anyone else up? Or are you always the early one.” She smiled a bit before sliding out her wand. “Wingardium Leviosa” The book lifted from her open hand and flew at the shelves, landing into its dust-sketched out spot. “So, now that you know me…who are you?” She asked, her small British accent seeping in.

Some footsteps could be heard from the dormitories as other students started to rise from their sleep. “Wow… so are you like a queen here?” She asked, referring to the way that after she woke up everyone else started to stir. Although it wouldn’t really matter to Shadow who was the ‘boss’ in the house, she wanted to know who wasn’t at the head. She thought back to the stories her brother had told her about how he and his friends had ruled the Slytherin house. “We were at the top, everything was ours. We always had special things… not like those mudblood lovers.” Ah yes, that is what Austin would tell her… after that, he would ramble about the number of times he had gotten in trouble at Hogwarts and how he had always managed to slip out of serious trouble. So far, she had only met a few ‘other students’ that were exceptions to the ‘no mercy for outer houses’ rule, but she didn’t know them well.

[kris]

Kris broke the surface of the Hogwarts lake and started to swim towards the shore with long and powerful strides. The water was too cold for other people to go swimming in it regularly, but Kris enjoyed it. The coldness made the morning swim even more refreshing.
Reaching the shore Kris dried himself with a simple spell and dressed quickly. He had been out since 5 AM, but fresh air did serve the purpose of making one hungry. Seeing that there was still an hour until breakfast would start, Kris decided to grab something to eat from the kitchens.

Tickling the pear and sending it into hysterics before it turned into a door-handle. Being surprisingly patient with the bustling house-elves who filled his order, Kris gladly ate a couple of toasts and some grapes with cheese.
Finishing the quick snack Kris stood and left the kitchens, with a cup of steaming cappuccino securely in his hands. Making his way straight to the Slytherin common room, Kris entered after giving the appropriate password.
Brushing a strand of his wet hair back, Kris took a sip of his drink being rather surprised to see someone else in the room as well. A brief glance told Kris they were younger, so he didn’t bother with greetings.

Picking up a book on Advanced DADA, that wasn’t actually in school program, because of some rather dark hexes, Kris positioned herself in front of the fire-place and opened the book. Tying his longer hair together in the back, so they wouldn’t bother him, Kris flipped through the book while reaching his legs out and positioning them on an other armchair.
Hearing that third year ask whether she was a queen or something, Kris smirked.
“Oh, the Slytherin queens are still sleeping I think. I’m sure they can teach you some manners about even thinking someone who hasn’t passed their tests into their ranks,” Kris sneered before lowering his eyes back to his book. Kris only knew Dawn and Samantha closer from the Queens but they would certainly not let the girls get away very easily for even such a thought. Brushing the girls away from his mind Kris continued reading.

[Samantha Driscoll]

Arithmancy. She'd revised the first three chapters of that yesterday, maybe she could finish off another three today if she kept her nose to the grindstone for three straight hours with no break. She wanted to do well on her NEWTs next year. She was spending much more time studying than most of her year but Samantha like most perfectionists was a constant worrier. She never felt she had done enough. If only she could stop playing that dratted ballet, it always took up so much of her time. But she didn’t want to lose her figure. She liked turning the heads of the male population at Hogwarts, and also her parents both expected her to practise it daily.

Today she was dressed in robes of gold. Her hair was still a bit wet from the quick shower she had taken after her everyday ballet practice, but it was now drying into fat golden curls as she had just dyed it a lighter colour yesterday. She entered the common room expecting no-one to be there, but she was surprised to see three people in there as she walked in. "Morning," she said, taking a seat on the same seat Kris was sitting on. She flashed him a quick smile before summoning a mug from off one of the tables and placing her wand above it, muttering a charm. There was an orange in her other hand and the mug filled with fresh orange juice in a few seconds and Samantha raised it to her lips than looked at the two girls in the room appraisingly over it as she drank. They were younger than she was and she didn't know both of them, one she was sure wasn't of British origin and the other she couldn't quite place. Japanese and other Asian wizarding families were usually quite rich so she didn't mind talking to one of them at least. She discovered it was high time she got to knew all her fellow Slytherins. She needed to know who thought like her and who didn't, and who was shooting for the stars and who wasn't. Kris seemed busy so she didn't want to bother him.

"The workload is just getting bigger now we're getting closer to the exams. You’d think most of the Gryffindors would have thrown themselves off the Astronomy tower by now," said Samantha disdainfully. "What's everyone reading?" she said, copying down some of the problems from her textbook. It was a large volume with sample problems from past NEWT exams. She had already finished all those in the book Professor Vector taught them from. Samantha could talk while she worked right now. She wasn't going to start solving the problems yet, when she did she would give them all of her concentration.

[shadow2]

Shadow glanced from Kris to the girl whom was sitting close to him. “And I s’pose you’re like what? The ‘king’ of Slytherin.” She said, raising a fine eyebrow. “I’m Shadow by the way… “ She said, offhandedly brushing away a piece of auburn hair. Her eyes flickered from Kris to Samantha; ‘They must be together.’ She aimlessly thought to herself as she glanced at the textbook they were both holding. “NEWTs…Ha.” She smirked, “Have fun with those…” She turned back to Kris, “So… if she is in no standard of the ‘Queens’ who is?” She didn’t like it much when people judged people before hand- yet she really didn’t bother her much because of the fact that she didn’t know anyone yet.

She glanced at the goblet of orange juice, “Nice trick.” She smiled because she didn’t want to come off as a ‘cold’ person, even though most Slytherins were. “So who are you two?” She asked, swishing a delicate tan finger between Samantha and Kris.

'Please let them be a bit like people in Japan... please..' She begged inside her head. Most people in Japan were nice to their own kind, yet snobby to others. Most were loyal to their own families, and suspisious to outsiders. Being in Slytherin house, she decided, was almost like a second family.

((Sorry so short.))

[kris]

Kris glanced up as Samantha entered the room and took a seat next to him.
“Morning. And you can’t throw yourself down from the Astronomy tower – they have wards protecting against it and I doubt Gryffindors are good enough to get rid of them before. Well maybe with the exception of that irritating know-it-all there,” Kris answered to Samantha’s question with one corner of his mouth curving into a smile as he raised his book so Samantha could see the title, “And it’s hardly something we would be taught in class.” There were a lot more… evil spells and hexes but about half of the hexes in this particular book were counted dark as well.
Glancing at Samantha’s work Kris grinned – Arithmancy. It was one of Kris’s specialties. Arithmancy and Ancient Runes – both came easy for him.

That third year spoke up again. Kris glanced towards her with her smile retreating. How did she got so far in this school and house without knowing the power-lines?
“Slytherin doesn’t have a king. Only Queens,” arching an eye-brow towards the girl Kris tilted his head, “And if you want to know the standard of the Queens why don’t you ask them? Samantha is part of it. Even though they don’t allow anyone below sixth year. That’s about as far as I know.” Kris glanced towards Samanatha – at least he thought no-one under sixth year would be allowed.

Kris scowled towards the third year as she swished her finger. Who did she think she was? “And don’t you ever dare to swish your finger towards me again unless you want me to cut it off?” Kris asked icily. Mary was the only girl who was allowed to treat Kris as freely as she wished. A privilege she often took advantage off.
“Not that I see any reason as to why I should tell you, but I’m Kris Graas,” Kris answered dryly. It wasn’t anything personal against the third year. Most fifth and sixth years would have probably reacted a lot harsher to someone swishing their finger towards them, but Kris was in a good mood today. Besides it would be a good chance to see if the girl knew the history of pure-bloods. Kris’s family came from France and Italy mainly and even though it was very influential there, not everyone in England knew about it or could make the connection.

[shadow2]

Shadow let out a small laugh of triumph. “Of course, who couldn’t spot a Graas, let me see…you despise others out of this house, which is good we need more that can spot a filthy mudblood and put them in their place… you’re probably fluent in Russian…you can also speak Italian, French, English is a given. Your parents died” Her face gave off no expression as she studied him, “So sad.” She said in an ‘I could care less’ voice.

“Ehm… You’re family was rich, and as soon as your parents passed- you inherited the family’s grand fortune. Which includes a certain family ring, great power. You think Dumbledore is a joke to this society, which is true; he’s getting too old. You also have high remarks against Ol’ Voldie…” She smirked at this, because her parents had once slapped her across the face for saying negative things about Voldermort. “Finally someone else who thinks he needs to step up or find someone else with more power.”<br>
Her family was also very wealthy, since she was born in Japan; she had learned many things from there including how to speak Japanese. After moving to the manor in Britain, her parents got in with the Death Eaters’ community, which they are now scaling up the ranking as loyal subjects. “Oh! I don’t care if you don’t like it when I swish my finger at you- like you said, Slytherins don’t have a king. Now if one of the Queens” She slightly nodded at Samantha, “…object against it, then I’ll take the swishing thing into consideration.”

[Samantha Driscoll]

"Well that is indeed a pity," said Samantha sarcastically. "Still at least life would be rather boring without Gryffindors to taunt. Though with our workload and other activities one does not find much time for that," she added as an afterthought. Samantha was not like some of the other Queens, just looking for some fun by insulting Gryffindors and mudbloods, even though she did enjoy doing it as much as her fellow housemates. However she was more bent on honing her defense skills and studying hard so she could achieve all her goals. She was driven by her ambition to working more than almost all of her fellow sixth years, and she wanted to score O's on all of her OWLs, even Ancient Runes and Herbology which were her least favourite subjects. She leaned over to look at the title of the book and a devilish glint was in her eye as she looked back at Kris. She knew the book and its contents, and it was no surprise that it was not taught at school. It was not for the weak of heart. She wondered for a moment if he had got in the library then remembered his family and connections. He probably would have no trouble finding and reading books that had much more "violent" material than that if he wanted to.

Kris and the third year Samantha had addressed her question to got into a squabble over the girl's attitude. She had just opened her mouth to say something about what she had done with the oranges and her wand, and then decided to let them continue for a while. She had never seen Kris riled up before. Samantha had to admit Samantha was rather annoying, but then almost everyone in their house spoke in the same way; however the girl should know not to speak to an older member of her own house that way even if she did talk to people outside Slytherin that way. "Just because we are acknowledged as Queens and the elite of our house does not mean we do not see the potential in some of our fellow Slytherins. I personally believe that all Slytherins should stick together for we have the same goals and ideologies. So Kris doesn't need the title of King to be respected, and if I were you Shadow I wouldn't do something to annoy him, after all he is older than you if by only two years and has mastered a lot more spells and hexes than you have. All Slytherins must treat each other with respect once they have established that they think the same way. If there is one reason why the muggles can never get anything done it is their inability to co-operate and work as a team. They seem to prefer starting wars over every little problem between them," she said. "Though that is a relief really, because that way they just kill each other and save us the burden of enduring their existence."

"I don’t care for the swishing but as long as I can feel your respect I don't mind it. People who cross the Queens have to learn the hard way to respect us," said Samantha, a slight relish in her voice as she said the last sentence. "Of course that is the same with any self-respecting Slytherin," she said arrogantly. "My name is Samantha Driscoll," she said, remembering the girl having asked her who she was. "And by the way you haven’t answered my own question, it seems you preferred to irritate my friend rather than do so," she said, finishing off her juice and placing the cup back on the table. She wondered what the girl's response would be. She still didn’t know much about her background, but she could ask anyone once she had her surname. Of course that depended on whether Samantha was going to deem her worthy of her interest or not.

((Shadow, Samantha and Kris are holding different books if you’d just take a quick look at our posts again. ))

[kris]

Kris listened calmly as Shadow stated his language skill – those really weren’t a secret. As well as loathing mudbloods and Dumbeldore’s choice of professors – which Slytherin did like those? It was Shadow’s tone that irritated Kris. His wand slipped out of his sleeve touching his fingers even though it was shielded from the eyes of others. Slipping it’s tip out form between her fingers Kris stated the charm – it was almost harmless. Just a couple of stings that wouldn’t leave any mark. The third years attitude was amusing to one point, but even when most stings wouldn’t have any effect some were bound to hit.
“Be careful who you wag your finger at though, someone else might snap it off completely,” Kris said with an arch of his eye-brow as his wand disappeared into a secret pocket in his wand once again.

Kris closed the book with a snap and placed it on a near-by table carelessly: “Wanted to get some light reading material and Meredith – she and Julien are supposedly my legal guardians – picked up some books for me. At least she still has taste since when she was a member of this house.”<br>Kris smirked as Samantha told Shadow off from irritating him.
“Oh, do let her continue. She is free entertainment as there aren’t any mudbloods around to torture,” Kris answered with half-mocking, half-teasing tone of voice.
But actually Kris was curious as to who this girl really was as well, so he just tilted his head and waited for her to respond to Samantha’s question.

((Shadow, those things about the ring and Kris’s opinion of ‘old Voldie’ as you called him, are known only to a selected few. SO you possibly couldn’t know them. Samantha knows about the ring and ONLY Mary and Dana knew about Voldie. As you possibly couldn’t know them, I just ignored those parts of your post - just so you wouldn't wonder why I didn't react. )

[shadow2]

((Oops, forgot about Kris's book. Sorry about that one. Gah... give me a moment or two...lol, I'm trying to at least make my posts half as good as yours.))