No Day But Today ((Justin))

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

There was something about the courtyard that always mesmerized Jordan. Whether it was the beauty of it no matter what season it was, or whether it was the fact that it was place that anyone from any house could gather to chat; she wasn't sure. But she did know that it made her smile to sit on a bench in the sun with her sketchpad and a charcoal pencil and just sketch what she saw, possibly later turning it into a watercolour. She wouldn't dare try to do a watercolour in the courtyard, she knew people would always mess it up. At least with her sketchbook she could start over when she made a mistake. Where as with water colour, she didn't have that luxury.

Her hand glided over the paper smoothly, although she had the palms stained from the charcoal - she didn't care. It was art, no matter how messy she got. Jordan was in the process of drawing a tree that had a single flower blooming on it. Apparently Spring was arriving, and this tree was one of the first to get touched by it's beauty. She sighed as she flicked a piece of hair out of her eyes so it wouldn't be in her line of vision. She added a shaded detail to the ground, making the shadow of the tree much more realistic than it had been before. Reality was the most beautiful thing in the world, even if it were one of the most dreadful. Jordan figured this out a couple of years ago when her mother died.

The sun shone down nicely, but it wasn't terribly hot out; just warm enough so all you needed was a light jacket and possibly another one in case it got a little chillier. Jordan was wearing a simple cloak over her uniform, having gone straight from her last class to the courtyard; she felt she had a burst of inspiration developing inside of her. Since she always carried around her sketchbook and pencils with her, she was already set. She looked back up at the tree again and started to draw another branch. That was when she heard someone speaking to her from behind; she jumped and turned around, wondering who could be bothering her...

[Justin Finch-Fletchley]

Justin buried his hands into the pockets of his jacket as he strolled through the courtyard of Hogwarts. It was a pleasant afternoon, also a quiet one in the sun-bathed courtyard; not everyone was yet out of classes, some still constrained indoors with the teachers making their gallant efforts to instill some knowledge into them. Justin was making the best of his free period, aptly placed as it was at the end of the day. The fresh air was wonderful for focusing the mind ready for study sessions later in the day, but that wasn't why Justin was out there, however many good excuses he could think of to justify it. He was there, simple as that. And enjoying it. The peace and quiet, unusual as it might be for him to be absolutely wallowing in the pleasure of that; the chance to think about nothing in particular but the things that mattered to him the most at the same time. Everything about the courtyard today just bred a feeling of well-being. It was absolutely perfect.

Ah! So there were other inhabitants in this perfect world after all. Encouraging. Justin had just caught sight of another human being in the middle of the path he was heading along, apparently one rather engaged in some worthy but solitary task. A girl too. At least he assumed she was, and wasn't just an Inferius. If she was, she bore very striking resemblance to a Hufflepuff prefect in the year below him, after all. He drew closer gradually, quietly watching her work. She appeared to apparently be sketching a tree. A tree which apparently held some hidden virtue to be the subject of such contemplation. Unfortunately his unobtrusive attitude was rather shattered as he suddenly let out an almightly sneeze he'd barely been expecting a second before it occured.

"Oh dear, I am so sorry," he apologised fervently once he had recovered sufficiently, looking a little crestfallen as this caused the other Hufflepuff to turn round rather suddenly as though he'd surprised them. "Really won't do, I know," he continued. "Very rude of me. It's Jordan, yes?" he asked to confirm the name he had in his mind for the other girl. "Justin Finch-Fletchley." he said, extending his hand to shake hers before realising he'd unwittingly given her a rather difficult decision to make considering the somewhat compromised state of her own hands. He grinned to himself and laughed slightly, but left his hand proferred, seeking eye contact with a friendly smile.

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

Jordan grinned and set her sketchbook down, and wiped her hands on the paper towel next to her. It didn't help much but at least it wouldn't smear off onto his hand. Once her hand was nearly clear of shareable charcoal, she shook his hand with a genuine smile; "Yep. I'm Jordan Cortes. And don't worry about it. When you have to sneeze you have to sneeze, the only thing someone else can say to you about it is; "Bless you."" She picked up her sketchbook again and closed it, making sure the black construction paper was in between the pages so it wouldn't smear onto the back of the other sketch before it.

She looked back at Justin and smiled again, this time it was a teasing one; "So may I ask what you were doing out in the Courtyard, aside from startling innocent girls. I believe it's fairly obvious as to what I was doing. I'm just curious." She pulled the elastic band out of her hair and placed it around her wrist as her brown hair fell down. Jordan then raked her fingers through it, to disentangle any knots that were most likely in there. She kept her eyes on Justin the whole time, she wasn't trying to be creepy, just not rude.

Jordan made friends fairly easily, she wasn't shy, but she wasn't too outgoing to the point of driving the other person completely insane. She knew where to cross the line, especially into personal territory. She knew what to ask and when to ask it and how to ask it. When she wanted to know something, she didn't skirt around it - she cut through to it. No other way.

[Justin Finch-Fletchley]

Justin nodded steadily to Jordan as she set about the task of making her hands shakeable, just as he would do briefly to anyone he was meeting, but the period of time he did it for was prolonged since it took a while before she was actually able to shake his hand. "Bless you?" he asked with a smile as he leaned against a log wall which protected the soil on the other side. from falling out (the path was higher up to the other side). "Well, thank you. Very kind of you to be so thoughtful. Am I not now supposed to make a wish?" Justin pinched his nose momentarily as he often did when in deep thought, although he wasn't particularly. He just spent a lot of his time acting as though he were far more studious than he really was. It was fun to do that, and fun and amusement were things Justin liked to have every now and again. He smiled at the girl standing in front of him.

"Hmm... you see, I would wish for love, but I wouldn't want something like that to stand on a base as shaky as a wish." he explained, scratching his head as he did so, his blonde curls momentarily dislodged by the action but springing back into place soon enough when he moved his head again. "Or I could wish for my cultivation of sneezewort in Herbology to flourish." he added. "But no doubt I'm not supposed to reveal what I'm wishing for or it will be negated. I don't know... you're a girl," he stated suddenly, turning towards Jordan. "What's your opinion on it?" Whilst Justin waited for an answer to his rather odd question he walked over to examine the tree she'd been drawing, trying to work out what indeed made this tree more remarkable than any other. Its trunk was not particularly wide, nor particularly thin either; in fact it was a perfectly regular trunk as these things went, with a couple of knots where the tree had once sported branches and the usual slightly rugged surface.

"Not all details are obvious," Justin protested. "I don't happen to be of artistic enough mind to appreciate the particular features of this tree which make it worth your charming time and attention." Justin smiled at her perfectly aimiably as he ran his hand gently along one of the stronger branches. There were small green buds forming there and he smiled at the fact it was March and the winter was nearly over. It had been cold this year. "I was just taking a stroll," he continued, "and curiosity got the better of me since I was headed this way anyway. That is to say - I didn't divert my course so as not to disturb you since whether I understand the subject matter or not, it's always interesting to see other people's drawings. I don't possess any talent in that area whatsoever." Justin squeezed one of the buds just slightly as he fell silent for a moment to allow the other Hufflepuff to talk. It was tough and resistant to the action, and a little bit sticky. Just as well it wasn't a magical tree or it would probably have already activated a more lethal defence mechanism. But the Courtyard was beautiful, as well as peaceful; with magical plants kept to a minimum here you hadn't to worry too much about them attacking you.

((Ever so sorry for the late reply; I'll endeavour to be better next time though I really should be busy right now.))

[mulciber]

Mulciber and Rookwood slipped into the castle unnoticed. Upon seeing any signs of the others they turned randomly to the left and started searching the hallways while keeping a good pace. They didn’t find anyone special until Rookwood stumbled onto a door that led outside once again. This time into the courtyard. Mulciber stepped out of the castle to get a good look outside and sword nastily upon noticing a couple. The boy was decidedly not Potter though. But they had been noticed so this boy would pay the price!
Mulciber pointed his want towards the boy and snarled the knee-turning jinx and let out one more chuckled as he watched the boy fall and break his arm at the process.

Rookwood had handled the girl while at it. Mulciber glanced at the girl but only saw her laying on the ground blacked out as well. There was no time to stay and chatter so Mulciber entered the castle and leaving the door behind them open Mulciber and Rookwood hurried on.