Icy Cold (Sephora and Cassandra)

[Maryn Livley]

Maryn now felt truly back. She felt free from fears and life for the time being. It seemed a little break down was all she needed to become happy rebel Maryn all over again. She now wanted that old Maryn to return even brighter. The Maryn that snuck out of the common room with Illiya at night and the one who got grounded twice for sneaking out. That's what she wanted to be again without the grounded part. Maryn wanted that strength in her back and she always got what she wanted if she worked for it. It helped her greatly to be back at Hogwarts. It was her true home unlike the on in London. That was just a house with family members, but the love didn't seem there. It was, but not in the way Maryn membered with her grandparents. That love didn't seem common anymore and Maryn was sure it would never truly return to her.

School was now back in session and Maryn loved it. Hogwarts seemed the same, but still a bit different. After all, Parvati, a Gryffindor Seventh Year, had been kidnapped. It of course frightened everyone including Maryn. Months ago, it seemed Hufflepuffs had been attacked a lot. Now, the pressure was back to the Gryffindors where many knew it didn't belong. Maryn woke up with the sun in her eyes. It was Saturday and Maryn loved every second of it. It was frigid outside so inside seemed the best choice for the day. Her dorm mates didn't seem up yet so Maryn was careful not to wake them. She quickly switched into her jeans and signature red sweater. Her light brown hair was kept down as usual and Maryn threw on her cute white and pink tennis shoes. She had little work to do in terms of make-up as usual and put on just a dab of creme shadow and mascara. With that, Maryn grabbed her creme messenger bad with hr Gryffindor crest on it and headed down through the dorm and out the portrait.

The Stairs changed as usual while walking down them and Maryn slipped quietly through a few Ravenclaws that were also slowly making their way down. Suddenly, she stopped at one of the floors which led to the student lounge. She gazed at a ice frozen window. It seemed covered in the slick substance and Maryn gazed a it for a second. Outside had a bit of snow covering places, but it wasn't snowing at the moment. icicles covered the castle and Maryn looked at the icy puddles and things outside. She then slowly reached her wand to feel the window. Suddenly, a sharp pain reached her as she touched the glass surface. The window was harsh and cold and her hand seemed to get a full blast of the temperature. Maryn pulled it away and looked at her red fingers that seemed to be frost bitten. She fastly took her black gloves from her bag at her shoulder and slipped the over her hurt finger. With that, Maryn raced to the student lounge to heat them up. Upon arriving, she threw the gloves off and pushed her fingers close to the fire to warm up. They still were cold and hurt, but Maryn hoped the fire would help. She sat there warming her fingers and not even noticing anything around her.

[britishbrunette16]

Sephora awoke bright and early Saturday morning. Scrambling out of her cozy bed while pushing her red curtains out of the way, she silently tiptoed to the window and took a long look outside. The grounds of Hogwarts was covered with snow and the sun was peaking through the clouds. Hagrids cabin had smoke billowing from his chimney off in the distance and the lake still appeared a huge frozen ice cube.
Sephora turned away from the window to see that two of her roommates were still sound asleep, one of them being her best friend, Alarice. Sephora sighed with gratitude. Finally the weekend had come, and the best part was that she only had one small assignment to do before Monday. Thinking of this happy thought, she got dressed into a pink, long sleeve shirt and her favorite pair of old jeans which were fraying on the bottom. Sephora studied herself in the mirror and groaned. Her hair needed a combing so she pulled out her brush and untangled the unwanted knots. Then she smeared some clear lip gloss on her lips and headed out of the dormitory with her brown suede side purse. Sephora rarely ever wore makeup on her face or eyes. It made her feel gross and fake. Occasionally she would wear some eyeshadow, but never anything extreme.

Entering the Common Room, she noticed that the fire had burned out from last night and only a bunch of burning embers remained. Sephora wanted to write in her journal and sit by a warm fire, so she took the poker that was resting against the bricks and prodded the logs. Attempting to rebuild the fire didn't work so Sephora resorted to using her wand. Over and over again she tried to create some flames using the flame spell. With no such luck, Sephora headed down to the Student Lounge where there would hopefully be a nice fire going. She was both relieved and satisfied when she came upon a perfect seat near a blazing fireplace. Sephora had just unzipped her side purse and brought out her journal when her attention went to a girl with light brown hair who had just rushed in and stuck her one hand close to the fireplace. She looked like she was in pain and her fingers were a deep shade of pink.
"Are you alright?" Sephora asked from a couple feet away in her chair.

[Maryn Livley]

Maryn turned upon hearing a voice. It was one of her dorm mates,Sephora. Maryn knew her a bit, but not much. All the Gryffindor third year girls were in one room, but that didn't mean they knew each other perfectly. Maryn usually hung out with Elisabeth who was her best friend, Alarice, and sometimes Katrina. However, Maryn hadn't really seen Katrina lately. Maryn knew Elisabeth the best as they had been through a lot together. They had been on the train the day of the attack together. Elisabeth sprained her ankle and Maryn had major glass cuts and walked around with a ugly cut on her face for weeks. Madam Pomphry had time to mend the major cut on her leg, but not the smaller one. During that time, Elisabeth and Maryn got to know each other a lot and had been close friends since.

Maryn shrugged her head at Sephora. "Oh, I got a bit of frost bite I think." She said blowing softly on her wound. Maryn pushed her fingers as close to the fire as she could get them. They were becoming less cold, but still hurt. "Who knew you could get it from touching a window." Maryn said managing to smile for a second. She looked at Sephora. Maryn really didn't know her too well and they had both gone to Hogwarts for three years. But, people didn't have time to get to know each other sometimes. Maryn also didn't get too many friends until her second year. She had been very quiet before that time, but at the end of that phase led to another. That was the phase where Maryn loved to talk and have fun. She was still that way but maybe a bit more mature. Maryn looked at Sephora. "So, what brings you here?" She asked nicely referring to the Student Lounge. "Of course I didn't plan to get frostbite here." She joked as she waited for Sephora to say something.

[britishbrunette16]

Sephora listened to how Maryn got her frost bit from touching a window. She had never heard of anyone ever getting it from just brushing their fingers against glass. Sephora was fascinated.

"So, what brings you here?" Maryn asked nicely. Sephora smiled back and held up her green journal which was decorated with red stars and pink swirlies.

"Just came here to update my journal. Plus, the fire was out in the Common Room so I thought there'd be one here. I'm freezing. It's so cold in the castle during winter." Sephora said, rubbing her arms to warm them. She adjusted herself in her armchair and searched her bag for a quill and some ink. "Oh, shut!" Sephora said. The bottle of ink in her favorite purse had spilled all over the place. She racked her brain for a removal spell but couldn't think of the incantation. She looked back up at Maryn who was still warming her hands by the flames. "Maryn, do you know any good removal spells?" Sephora asked holding up her purse to show why she was asking such a question. A few drops of ink landed on the carpet and spread. Sephora remembered the last time this had happened. It had been on the way to Potions class and she dropped her blue handbag. Her ink bottle had shattered and gotten all over her Potions essay. When she finally had gotten to class (late and flustered), Snape had fixed her purse and given her a zero on her essay which should have deserved a good grade. I was up all night doing that stupid essay. Sephora thought back to that memory bitterly.

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

The bathroom doom opened inside the dormitory for the fourth year Gryffindor girls letting out steam and a slightly damp Cassandra Blackfire. Her wet, black hair hung in heavy ringlets around her face as she began to ruffle through her wardrobe. Sighing, she knew what she was going to wear. Cass had become very fashion conscious over the past year, and the Hogwart's uniform did not reflect her style. Passing over the more worn robes, she pulled out a brand new robe and grey skirt. They were both made of heavy wool material since it was winter. Cass look aggravated as she realized her favorite white shirt was wrinkled. Taking out her wand, she touched it to the garment. The wrinkles fell out of the garment as if, well, like magic.

Taking her time dressing, she surveyed her reflection in the mirror. Satisfied, she picked up her black Green Day messenger bag and left the dorm. Cass had become extremely picky about her appearance over the last year. Not really understanding the driving force behind her new idiosyncrasy, she just sort of went with the flow. However, she was getting the reward for it. Not only did she have Liam now, but she actually saw a fifth year blow her a kiss in DADA the other day.

Hearing a wolf whistle as she opened the common room door, she smiled secretly to herself. The attention was nice even though it did make her a bit embarrassed at times. Just before returning to school from the holidays, the Blackfires had gone to Diagon Alley for a shopping trip. Not only did she buy a new cleaning kit for the Firebolt Pyro had gotten her for her birthday, but her Aunt had demanded that she get some new school robes. According to her, no Blackfire would run around Hogwarts in old robes. Even though it really didn't matter, Cass had kept her old ones. She planned on giving them to a third year who was having some money woes, and Cass' old robes looked much better than what the other girl had shown up in on the first day of classes. Cass only hoped that she didn't mind taking some charity.

Skipping down the stairs in her black shoes, she pondered what she was going to do this afternoon. It was a free afternoon, and she planned on using it to her advantage. Entering the student lounge on a whim, she saw two younger girls from her house huddled in front of the fireplace. Unable to suppress a laugh, " You must of been cold, too. We always keep the heater in our dorm going, but it was terrible this morning. I swear, the house elves must be trying to freeze us out of the common room since there wasn't a fire going this morning. Even worse, there were some older boys in there. They hadn't even thought of starting a fire." Cass joined the girls in front of the fire as she plopped herself on the couch in front of it. Still smiling, she pulled her sketch pad out her bag. " Glad it's going in here though. It can get cold in this place real quick. Oh, I don't think we've met. I'm Cass. Cass Blackfire."

[Maryn Livley]

Maryn nodded as Sephora said that was was writing in her journal. She smiled at how cute and pretty it was as Maryn liked normal things dressed up a bit. She then watched as Sephora held up her ink stained bag and asked if Maryn knew any removal spells. She nodded nicely "Well, cleaning spells." She said. Maryn reached into her own bag and retrieved her wand. "Scourgify." She said pointing her wand at the ink damage on Sephora's bag and the floor. She smiled as bubbled formed around the hurt areas and seemed to scrub the spots clean. "That will do it." Maryn smiled placing her wand back in her bag. "Wow, we are both being so graceful today." She joked even though spilling ink had nothing to do with being graceful. Maryn's jokes didn't always make sense, but people knew that was just part of Maryn. If they didn't like it, then they need to get over it because Maryn wasn't going to change for anyone.

Maryn smiled and nodded as Cass approached them. "Hogwarts always seems cold." She smiled pulling her sweater closer to her letting the soft fabrics heel her cold skin. "Nice to meet you." She nodded, Maryn had seen Cass around the dorms before as she was only a year older. "I'm Maryn, Maryn Lively." She said nicely. Maryn paused for a second staring into the warm fire. "Well, I'm just glad the Gryffindor common room isn't in the dungeons." She said truly. "I'm sure it's colder down there than up here as it is in classes." She said bluntly as he mind had just finished thinking about it. However, even though it sounded mean, Slytherins probably deserved it. Maybe if they were nicer to people, the school wouldn't need to keep them out of sight. Or, at least that's what Maryn thought. She paused a second looking back at the girls. "So, how were your Christmas breaks?" Maryn asked nicely shifting a bit back from the fire as she was warmer than before.