Picture Perfect ((Jordan))

[Justin Finch-Fletchley]

No Heather. No Heather - the fact stuck in his mind as he straightened his tie and looked at the image which was becoming rather boring to him after innumerous family occasions. He did like to take every chance he got to have her to himself, despite the fact that neither of them had said all that much about it out loud. But she wouldn't be here this evening - she was spending the New Year with her family. He hoped with all his heart that for her this would be a joyous and worthwhile occasion, as opposed to the monotony he had come to associate with New Year's Eve in his family. He would still miss her though. Never mind, at least she wouldn't be subjected to the possible attack that Ginny had mentioned in her owl. Justin hadn't even alluded to that when enquiring whether Heather would be coming to the party for Hogwarts-associates-of-all-ages. He was too worried that his owl might be intercepted - the less chances they gave the Death Eaters to realise that they had on this occasion been prepared for, the more chances something less than disastrous might come of the evening.

This was the sort of moment, in private before entering the action, that Captain Hornblower might reflect on the random liklihood of his being smashed to a pulp by a stray cannon ball, or carried wounded below to the surgeon's knife thanks to a peppering of grape-shot, thought Justin as he tugged at the stiff cuffs of his white shirt, reflecting on what his fictional naval hero might make of the occasion. Well, it could be all over with a green flash of light; someone could decide to make it more traumatic. Then again, he might well come through the whole incident unshaved (as Captain Hornblower seemed to do everytime), or with a mundane injury such as a broken arm such as had happened last time they'd seen fit to intrude on his life. But actually, he found himself not in the least concerned - or at least, entirely apathetic as to what the outcome would be, in a reckless burst of the bravery that he'd been building up ever since he decided to join the DA.

Time to go. Justin yelled a farewell that probably wouldn't carry anywhere much in the restrictive size of the manor that the Finch-Fletchleys lived in. He doubted his mother would hear, but if she did it would probably only raise a disapproving eyebrow at shouting in such an undistinguished fashion (honestly, the habits they'd taught him at that school), in his own home. He had a feeling his dad was within earshot though, but didn't wait for a reply before causing a loud crack as he disappeared from his room and a moment later arrived in a splendidly decorated room in Lyme Park Hall. They had some impressive grounds here; extensive. He liked how they had a degree of wildness, somewhere to wander without having to have your mind rigidly arranged. All the gardens at his house were so formally arranged. Well, apart from the rose garden. That was lovely and ramshackle; romantic. He looked round the room with interest; without the magical tweaking it had undergone it would have been easily comparable with his own Muggle home.

Anyway, there was no use just standing here. He caught sight of a familiar figure - a girl who was still at Hogwarts, although only just, since she was in her seventh year now. He walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder, briefly admiring her black floor-length dress as he did so. She was looking a good deal less dishevelled than the previous two times he'd approached her similarly.
"Don't jump, it's only me," he said. "I thought I might be safe from charcoal or rain today. You look absolutely stunning actually." He smiled at her cordially. "I suppose this is somewhat of a reunion for 'old' folk like me who've left. But I don't see why I shouldn't be reunited with someone who's still at the school. Tell me all your news and I'll tell you mine, if you still hold any interest in me once I've taken up as much time as your own much more exciting life will consume."

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

“Jordan! Jordan!” Turning around to see two little girls with long black hair and pretty dresses jumping on her, Jordan had to hold her sparkling cider above her head so it wouldn’t spill. “Asea! Asea! Mia! Mia!” She exclaimed in reply. The two girls giggled and backed away. Mia, the oldest, took Jordan’s free hand while Asea clung to her dress. They pulled her to the couch, and made her sit. Mia and Asea were the daughters of Jordan’s older sister Katrina. New Year’s was the one time they could all get together. The girls both got new dresses, and everyone dressed up. Only this year…. “You aren’t spending New Year’s with us, Jordan?” Asea asked from behind the pillow she held in her lap. Only, she was such a small girl that the pillow covered everything but her arms and legs. Jordan shook her head, “Sorry, I have something for school.” Asea sighed and hopped off the couch to go find her mother. Mia rolled her eyes, “Don’t pay attention to her. She’ll get over it.” She then followed her sister. Jordan raised her eyebrows and then stood. She hated leaving her family, but she felt like she needed to go to the Bash. Jordan glanced at herself in the mirror and smiled. The floor length black dress she had chosen was perfect. It was a halter dress, but it was classy enough to be called simple. Her hair was curled and she let it down, her hair didn’t want to go up for some reason. It was sad she didn’t have a date. Not that my date would have acted his age anyway, Jordan thought with a sigh.

Jordan entered the kitchen and set her glass of sparkling cider on the counter by the sink. Carlos looked up with a smile, “Leaving?” Jordan nodded and fixed her dress watch she had on her wrist. “All right, well, I’ll see you when you get home.” He kissed her on the forehead, and Jordan bid her goodbyes. She made her way upstairs to her room, and locked the door once she was inside. Making sure she had everything, she was off with a ‘pop!’ Another resonating ‘pop’ sound and Jordan was at the Bash. She closed her eyes, letting her stomach settle a bit. After a couple of moments, she made her way to the main area, having apparated to a secluded room. Being there alone wasn’t any fun, she knew she could find some friends but it wouldn’t be the same. If only Dillion… No. Jordan wouldn’t allow herself to think of ‘if only’s. Dillion was Dillion and nothing would change that, not even how much she cared for him. Sadness darkened Jordan’s eyes, but it disappeared when she spotted how beautiful everything was made to be. She stopped in midstep and stared at her surroundings. No matter how sad she was, the emotion was quashed with the beauty of the hall. Jordan breathed in and continued inside the magnificent place. She admired the decorations and the atmosphere. Wondering how anyone could ever come up with something so amazing.

She was admiring the decorations, still, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Before she could jump, a familiar voice told her to not do just that. Jordan turned around and smiled at Justin. She looked down at her dress as he complimented her. “Thanks, but wait; you haven’t seen the whole thing.” From her small purse she pulled out a red rubber ball with a slit in it. She fastened the ball on her nose and smiled; “Now it is complete!” She left the ball on her nose a moment and then took it off again, tucking it in her purse once more. “It gets kind of tight after a bit, cuts off the circulation to the tip of my nose. Thanks, again, for the compliment however goofy my nose might be. You look amazing, though, without anything goofy as a red rubber nose.” Jordan looked around the hall once more and then returned to look at Justin. They’re last chat wasn’t so happy, and Jordan remembered it well. All the attacks had taken their toll on her and for a brief moment in time, Jordan had wanted to disappear. Somehow, she didn’t though. She believed it was partially because of him. She owed him a ‘thank you’ for that.

“It’s good to see you. You look well, and the arm’s healed, I see.” Jordan stood there, a smile on her face. It was odd seeing Justin outside of school, although they had only talked twice maybe the whole time they were both at Hogwarts, Jordan just associated Justin with that day in the courtyard. “Well, let’s see, what can I tell you that is worth a bit of news in return? Uh… well.. nothing really. I’m sure your life is loads more interesting now that you’ve graduated. You know how life at Hogwarts is… the same thing over and over. It’s rather dull.” She laughed nervously and looked down at her hands. “Oh!” She exclaimed as she looked up quickly, “I do know, however, what I want to do after Hogwarts. Does that count as something?”

[Justin Finch-Fletchley]

Justin waited as instructed, his head tilted to one side with its intrigued expression. He grinned as she produced the red rubber nose, but didn't comment as he assessed it when placed on her nose. It was a little incongruous with the simple and grown-up style of her dress, but at the same time, he realised as he thought on the matter a little further, it was a true reflection of her sheer force of personality. She could be classy and fun at the same time. If only the same could be said of certain others, he might be less of a disappointment. He peered at her nose once and then touched the two little white patches it had left initially lightly with a finger. "Yes, it's left two little indents actually. A remnant of a Red Nose Day? I remember those. I always found them more than a little painful. I could never bear to keep them on more than a moment... but it may just be my large nose of course. At any rate, I'd rather wear a clothes peg on my nose. But I do think people who get sponsored for wearing them all day should be generously supported seeing as they're exposing themselves to torture rather than ridicule." He smiled at her. "Is it for the stroke of midnight or another purpose?"

"And likewise," he said, with a genuine smile of pleasure at the idea Jordan was happy to see him. He hoped she was sincere. Her face reminded him of days spent at Hogwarts, although the particular memories of their encounters didn't form the easiest part of his history. "Yes it has, it's healed splendidly," he said in response to her comment about his arm, flexing it to demonstrate. "I'm still young and determined to bounce back. I won't hide from anything anymore like I did from Harry in second year. That didn't do me any good, did it?" he asked, scratching his head. Having been Petrified wasn't something he talked about very often. The digression from his original thread of conversation was probably due to the fact that he was buoying himself up to do what was requested of him, and what he expected of himself. To guard against being a coward.
"But yes, it's just as well that it's all healed without a hitch, otherwise I wouldn't be able to row." he continued. "The bone's probably still seething with Madam Pomfrey's magic."

He listened to her carefully as she began to answer his enquiry. She seemed to have become uncomfortable suddenly, and with all the masterful opaqueness of reason that you might expect in a girl, though that was something Justin would never be able to understand no matter how accustomed he might grow to it. He concluded hesitatingly that perhaps Hogwarts held something she didn't want to think about right now. "It may be my rose-tinted spectacles but I never found Hogwarts one bit as dull as my home. You're welcome to come and try it out if you don't believe me, although bear in mind my mother will with unfailing speed seize and assess you." He smiled as she started talking about life after Hogwarts with renewed enthusiasm. "By all means, it counts for an awful lot. I've not made a firm decision on that myself yet, even having had six months to do so in."

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

Jordan grinned as Justin touched her nose, when his hand dropped she put hers over her nose, “Yes, well, I suppose it’s a small price to pay to look glamorous.” She let her hand fall from her face and fiddle with the clasp on her purse. Jordan just didn’t feel like herself. She was dressed in this gorgeous dress and standing in the gorgeous hall and she didn’t feel like herself. Perhaps it was a bad idea to go. No, it was a fine idea. She smiled and laughed and what Justin was saying, nodding in agreement with his words. “A clothes peg might not make the person who was wearing it appear to be a clown. Perhaps I’ll wear a clothes peg next time.” Jordan tilted her head in pretend thought, or at least she made it out to be pretend when in reality she was thinking about whether or not it would hurt more than the rubber nose. She shook her head then and smiled at his suggestion about the nose being for midnight, “Not necessarily. On midnight I plan on watching all the couples and thinking, ‘Oh, look at all the lovely couples who are covered with happiness.’ Only, hopefully, with not as much bitterness as I just had.”

She listened as Justin spoke of his arm and how he was determined to bounce back from anything negative happening in his life. If only she had that sense of determination, Jordan was certain that one more fatal attack on her life and she might just be willing to disappear entirely. “Row?” she asked. Out of all the talking Justin had done, the thing that popped out at her the most was him saying he wouldn’t be able to row if it weren’t healed. She didn’t know Justin all that well, and the only thing they really had in common was that day in the rain when Jordan was willing to throw everything away because life itself was slipping away from her. He had set her straight, somewhat. Jordan narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at Justin, “We spent six years in the same house, and yet I know barely anything about you and I’m sure you don’t know much about me… unless you do know things about me, and I must say that would be a little bit creepy.” She sent him a bright smile.

“Ehh…” Jordan muttered as Justin said that Hogwarts wasn’t too bad and that she was welcome to try out his home which guaranteed to be worse than Hogwarts. “I’ve dealt with enough mums lately. Not my own of course, but there’s Mum N. and then there’s…” She stopped rambling and smiled, “You don’t want to hear about my uneventful holiday.” Nervously she twisted a strand of hair around her finger and then let it fall in a curl. “As for what I plan to do, that would be, teaching. I want to teach. Not at Hogwarts though, I couldn’t deal with teaching some of the kids who run through there. I want to be a muggle teacher. After seven years learning magic, I am going to live in the muggle world. Is that odd?” she asked with a slight smile on her face.

[Justin Finch-Fletchley]

Justin was somewhat alarmed. "What, glamour is worth pain?" he asked, his horror showing in his eyes. "I'm not sure whether that's more or less terrible than the daughters and friends and endless relations of family acquaintances that I've met over the Christmas period this year. Well, and other years. I sometimes get the feeling they sacrifice themselves to be glamorous. Well just... I can't help but feel there must be more to their personalities, because everyone's supposed to be different, not the same." He sighed. "Which do you think is worse - causing yourself discomfort or suppressing who you are? Though I should think the latter of those is somewhat uncomfortable too. Bit like my saying 'Oh yes, I like that perfume' to my mother when I really don't and as a result prompting more to be sprayed all over the room so that everyone has to sneeze and choke their way through two hours of conversation."

Not to be discouraged from his pontificating, he ran a hand through his curls. "The world is crazy! I have to be guilty of both just so that I avoid causing offence when all I really want to do is be frank. Though that's not for the sake of glamour, which was our original thread of conversation, wasn't it?" He stared at her for a moment, realising just how long he'd been talking for, and then grinned. "You'll have to forgive me," he said, still grinning. "I'm still in company survival mode - fighting against all the other talkative people to talk as much as possible so that the conversation doesn't have the opportunity to drift onto such fascinating topics as... oh I don't know, so and so's darling little daughter who's already been discussed a couple of times over, or how utterly fantastic the 'refreshments' are which have already been commented on to infinity."

He paused for an almost imperceptible moment, all he needed to review what he'd just said, before exclaiming, "My, I'm such a grump! It must just be Christmas does this to me. But there's no need for me to complain so much - I do have your company and I'm confident I will find whatever you say at least mildly interesting." He gazed at her sharply, as though his vibrant blue eyes would be able to find the reason behind her every comment, although unaware that the fact he was thinking about her showed. He was wondering over the comment she'd made earlier actually - about bitterness associated with couples. He wondered how long ago 'just' meant. He shook himself out of his reverie to find Jordan saying 'little bit creepy'. She'd been talking about their not being very well acquainted.
"Well, let me see." he responded. "You're friends with the boy for whom it would probably be safe to say making the ceiling rain Chocolate Frogs would be an ideal Christmas present. And a Halloween present to the school would be more like real frogs raining from the ceiling... would I be right?" he asked, with an upwards quirk of his lips. "Although maybe that counts as knowing things about Dillion rather than you... though I suspect you too," he said, thinking back to one particular Halloween Ball. "And well... you're artistically talented. A talented Quidditch player - I know that because I was a reserve and had about enough competence to watch you without being distracted by attempting not to fall off my broom. Probably talented in many other ways that I don't know about." He sighed suddenly, this time in mock frustration. "Oh, it's no use, I shan't be creepy no matter how much I try. No - I don't know as much about you as I'd like to."

He drew Jordan over to a table where an assortment of many different drinks, magical and Muggle, had been laid out. A bottle of red grape juice was pouring itself into a number of different glasses, all arranged in a row. Justin amused himself watching it for a moment, and was rather surprised when suddenly it jerked upwards and some of the dark liquid spilt on the pristine white tablecloth. About to whip out his wand to avoid the decoration of the room being spoilt, he laughed at himself when the small dark patch slowly diminished and faded back to the colour it had been previously. The table was really very pretty. Champagne flutes were arranged in rows, containing not only champagne but a flawless progression of colours from clear water to a dark liquid that looked like it was made out of treacle. He looked at that dubiously, and then moved his eye onto the dark blue ribbon, dotted with silver stars, which was tied around the table. It had evidently been enchanted - every now and then a silent firework would explode into colour on it.

"Well you can start off by telling me what your favourite drink is," he said, choosing the grape juice for himself simply because he'd been watching it pour itself. "As for myself, yes, rowing. I was going to go to Eton before I got my Hogwarts letter, and Etonians are well-known as rowers. Ever heard of the Etonian Boat Song? Well anyway then I was quite eager about going there in my younger days so I started to prepare by learning to row. I used to dream of being an Olympic sportsman as part of the rowing team." he confided, laughing at the idea. "But it's still fun to row as part of a team... I do still take part in a few friendly competitions. And also then my parents own a sailing boat so... it's helpful to be able to row out to that. Swimming out wouldn't be very practical." He smiled at her, returning the degree of brightness she'd used just before. "Uneventful? Mine has been 'event' full... full of functions with very little interest to them." He checked himself suddenly, "Ah, but I'm not allowed to grumble. Well if you want to tell me about it, I would be delighted to hear about it; otherwise then no of course I don't." he said, noticing her slight fidgeting. Somehow he'd started noticing a lot more about girls' habits since he started trying to work them out. "Teaching?" he asked, slightly surprised. Though now she mentioned it, she would make a fabulous teacher. She had the drive to actually be interesting. "Well are you Muggleborn? I think it would be exceptional for a Pureblood to suddenly stop living in the world they've been used to all their lives but... still, exceptional isn't necessarily odd. Just adventurous. What do you intend to teach? Which age group - restless seven-year-olds or stroppy teenagers?"

((Sorry. Sorry.))

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

Jordan thought about it a moment. What did hurt more? Honestly, she had never really suppressed herself at any moment in time. She was always Jordan, the Hufflepuff that always seemed to be happy and if she were ever sad she would certainly bounce back with ten times more happiness than she had when she fell into the sadness. Wait. No. There was one time, one brief moment when she bad been someone other than herself, although she hadn’t really suppressed her true self, she had in fact been someone other than what she normally was. That was a long time ago, and something Jordan rarely thought about, so why would she start to think about it now? “They both are equally horrible, I suppose. Though, in a few moments the discomfort that you would cause yourself would disappear whereas the memory of suppressing yourself to become something you clearly aren’t might haunt you forever.” Jordan bit her lip slightly, “My, I’m depressing aren’t I? Heh, well, I’m sure that your mum’s perfume isn’t too bad. Though, I doubt having to smell it for two hours or so is something that many people would want to do.” Jordan smiled as Justin said she would have to forgive him, she didn’t quite know what else to say. She didn’t have that problem. Yes, she did have to deal with the large Moore family when she went to visit for Christmas, and yes her own family was a bit chaotic, but she never really had to put up with small talk or had to avoid it, rather.

Laughter escaped her lips as Justin said he was a grump, “A grump and a rather cynical seventeen year old, what a pair we make. Hum,” she covered her eyes as she tried to not completely break down in laughter. A smile was still on her lips and she was still stifling giggles, “It is quite funny, actually. Here we are, in this magnificent hall, and we both sound rather… grumpy. Honestly, who would have thought we would be this...uh… upsetting. Upsetting, but highly amusing.” She laughed again and uncovered her eyes, “Or perhaps, not so much to you as it is to me. Maybe I have a whacky way of seeing things.” Jordan’s smile was bright and although there was truth in her words, it was still very amusing to her. As Justin began to guess at a few things about her, most of them involving Dillion, her smile wilted and she felt her heart sink. She looked down at her hands and then back up at Justin as he mentioned Dillion’s name. He then began saying things he knew about her and Jordan offered a small smile, “Yes, well, that would be. Jordan Cortes, always linked by reputation with Dillion Moore. Though, lately, not so much. I am an artist, of sorts. I like to draw, paint, anything. I suppose I always have.” Jordan thought about it a moment and then shook her head, “No, that’s not necessarily true. I started drawing when my mum died…” She smiled softly and tried to hide the sadness in her brown eyes. When she looked back at Justin, her smile brightened. “So, perhaps you don’t know quite as much about me as I thought you did. Hmm, not so creepy after all.”

She walked with Justin to the drinks table and admired it. They really did go all out for this party, didn’t they? Jordan’s smile remained on her face as she looked at everything… she didn’t know any words that could do the wonderful decorations justice. Her eyes remained on the table until Justin spoke; she looked up at him and grinned. “Believe it or not, my favourite drink is water. I can tolerate soda and sugared drinks, but most of the time water is the only thing that will really quench my thirst.” Jordan reached a little past him and picked up a glass of what seemed to be a sparkling cider, “However, on New Year’s I always drink sparkling cider.” She raised the glass to him and then took a sip, trying not to let the bubbles tickled her nose. She touched the tip of her nose, glad to feel that the indents were gone from the rubber nose, as she listened to Justin explain about what he had meant about rowing. A smile crossed her face and she took another sip of her cider before replying with, “Sounds like fun, although, I would probably be physically incapable of doing it. It’s hard enough to keep a paint brush straight for three minutes, much less rowing. It’s good to have something that will calm you or something that you love to do enough to consider doing it forever. If I thought my art would get me anywhere, I would do something with it… but I don’t think it would.” Jordan smiled softly and looked down at the bubbles in the cider. She took another drink, only this one was much more than a sip, and then shook her head as she swallowed it.

“No, you wouldn’t want to hear about my holiday. I stopped by the Moore’s dropped off my presents as usual, then spent Christmas morning with my family. I cooked supper, and made sure everyone was well fed. Then we all opened presents and we went off to visit the nearest relatives. Only my brothers and sister were at my house and their families, of course. So, we had to stop by Katrina’s mother-in-law’s house, would that make her my mother-in-law as well? I don’t know, but she’s a character. She always thinks she’s funny, even if she’s being completely rude.” Jordan rolled her eyes and looked off to the side, watching as more people seemed to walk in. She smiled and then turned her gaze back to Justin, “I suppose I just don’t like her… see? Uneventful.” She smiled slightly, though she wasn’t sure if it really was all that uneventful. After all, she was here wasn’t she? She had seen many friends and been with family, but Jordan still felt lonely. No one liked to feel lonely on the holidays. Returning to the conversation, Jordan nodded her head. “Yes, teaching, and yes I’m Muggleborn, so I suppose it wouldn’t be too much of a change, would it? I’d just be going back to what I was used to before Hogwarts. Only now, I have magic added into it.” Thinking about what age group she would be teaching, Jordan shook her head at the thought of teaching teenagers. She couldn’t deal with that, but she also couldn’t handle younger kids all day. “Perhaps something… in between. I don’t want to have to deal with the snootiness of the teenagers and I don’t have the energy in me anymore to deal with younger kids. As for what I would teach… I was thinking about art.” She smiled, art, it was perfect. Though it wasn’t the direction she wanted to go with it.

[Justin Finch-Fletchley]

Justin awaited Jordan's response patiently as she cogitated over the matter, interested to know what her thoughts would be when she'd finally decided. He nodded at her eventual judgement and then laughed as she said she was depressing. It was certainly a serious conversation, and when he looked back over it one with a definite depressing tone. But Justin hadn't really realised that to start with - he'd just accepted what she had to say. He shook his head as though to clear it of confusion, and smiled back at her, his head slightly tilted as he continued to contemplate the conversation they were having more than what he was going to say next. He grinned as she started laughing - laughter was infectious, even though he couldn't start laughing himself. He had too many sobering thoughts in his head - too much knowledge of the implications this evening could have. But still he grinned in sympathy, and he could see why she found it so funny. He just couldn't bring himself to laugh as properly as she was.

"No, not at all whacky," he said, noticing how her smile had fallen and trying to work out exactly why. Was it because of his lack of participation in the laughing fit, or something else? He wished girls weren't so hard to understand. Then as she began to reply he understood - he must have made a mistake in mentioning Dillion. He felt a crazy impulse to apologise, but fought it back, his common sense telling him that would really not be helpful. When she mentioned that her mother had died, he felt a jolt of surprise go through him, and he thought over how lucky and privileged he was with the same sort of guilty regret he always did when people told him about the hardships they'd faced. He'd never managed to understand why it was him that was Justin and not someone else. It could so easily have been someone else. Some other members of his family would do well to remember that. That it was just a matter of chance that they were who they were and not the kind of people they despised.
"No, but that doesn't mean I can't learn," he said as Jordan realised that he didn't actually know all that much about her. "We have the rest of the night," he said, wondering quite how true that was and so feeling the need to give them more time, "and you know I'll be easy to get hold of as long as I live. Do you think owls have trouble finding ghosts? They always seem so good at finding living people but... I've never tried contacting a ghost." he added suddenly with a slight laugh at the thought, as he was about to joke that he might still be contactable after his death and then wondered whether even that was possible.

He smiled as she picked up a glass of sparkling glass and raised his own glass of grape juice in return for her gesture. He hesitated for a moment before telling her about his own drinking preferences.
"I like juices quite a lot... and blends of them. I find them interesting to taste. But I don't drink any alcohol at all - I'm teetotal. That's probably a little strange, but experience has taught me I really need to keep my own judgement." He smiled at her, although pondering over the memory that had been brought up. He'd decided to become teetotal just over a year ago, when he'd made an indiscretion that he would probably regret for the rest of his life. He smiled as she commented on her painting and his rowing. "I'm sure you're good enough for it to get you somewhere, if you have the determination," he replied in response to her comment about her art, his brain whirring into action as usual to try to think of what routes it was possible to go down when you had artistic skill. Artist... designer... architect. He couldn't think of much else, but then then he hadn't associated with all that many artists in his time. He attempted to keep up with everything she was saying about her Christmas, mostly failing. Being obliged to make visits didn't sound much fun either. He tried to escape to his rooms whenever possible, unless he had someone to talk to who was actually worth talking to. Even those interactions were vulnerable - people thought nothing of interrupting.

"Doesn't sound quite uneventful, but I suppose if you insist on putting that spin on it, it was." he conceded with a grin. "And I don't know... I don't think that makes her your mother-in-law. We each only get one of those to deal with at a time, thankfully. I don't think there's a specific name for that kind of relation. I often have to remember who people are by their relation to other people in my family." As the conversation drifted back onto what she'd do in her future, he pulled a comment she'd made earlier back out of her head to fire it back at her. "Well, that's doing something with your art isn't it? Teaching is one of the most noble professions... whatever age group you choose will be difficult, I'm sure." he said, in a mock-comforting tone. "I'm sure you'll have the energy to pass on your skill and enthusiasm to everyone you teach." he added, seriously, and then, with a new burst of worry, he glanced up at the clock. It was nearing midnight. "Nearly Happy New Year," he said with a grin. Then, his misgivings overcoming his resolve to not say anything too much about what he'd been told, he glanced askew at the girl beside him and asked, "Jordan, do you have your wand with you?"

[Jordan Elizabeth Cortes]

Jordan tilted her head as Justin’s mind seemed to be elsewhere. On a normal occasion with anyone else, Jordan would have asked what was on his mind, but tonight she figured she would just let his mind wander without her seeming nosey. She smiled softly when Justin told her it wasn’t whacky at all, but she still thought it was. Jordan had always had a whacky way of seeing things. “Would you really want to learn about me, Justin? Honestly, I’m really out there. I think I’ve even scared some people off. If not with my amazing optimism or my talkativeness then it’s because I’ve got anger issues and tend to frighten them to their deathbed.” Jordan smiled jokingly and looked down at her hands for what seemed like the millionth time that night. “As for contacting a ghost via owl… I’m not so sure. Perhaps we should try to send one to the Grey Lady or one of the Hogwarts ghosts, then I can know and that way I’ll be able to write you an autobiography for your death day.” Her smile brightened and she looked back up at Justin.

She listened to him talk about him being teetotal and smiled when he said he learned from experience that he needed to keep good judgment. Jordan had never drunk anything that had alcohol in her life, ever. She had always had the better judgment on things like that. It was something her friends had started to become dependent upon. She figured that could be a good thing and a bad thing, but nonetheless Jordan was always there to help her friends when they needed it. She wasn’t so naïve to think that everyone was able to deny alcohol, she just knew that she could help her friends stay away from trouble while doing it. Jordan nodded after she took a sip of the apple cider, “That’s admirable.” She said with a smile. “Though… I wouldn’t say juices are something I love. Don’t get me wrong, really, I could live off juice if I had to. But… water would serve just as well.” She looked around for awhile and then returned her gaze back to Justin who was talking about determination. She shrugged, “I’m sure I have the determination, it’s the confidence and the talent that I think I might lack.” Jordan was never very confident with her art or her dancing; she always saw it as there was going to be someone out there who was better than her. With that little bit of information roaming around her head, Jordan wouldn’t dance for any competitions or enter any art for anything.

Jordan’s eyes remained on Justin as he began saying it didn’t sound too uneventful. She found herself rolling her eyes at that. Her holiday was the definition of uneventful, or at least of the word ‘boredom.’ Justin was now talking about mother-in-laws. She couldn’t help but smile and nod in agreement when he said everyone gets only one of those. It was a logical statement and she couldn’t think of anything else to answer her question. “Yeah, I suppose it has something to do with my art. But, honestly, I don’t think I consider teaching younger children how to draw circles something I would pursue as a career choice.” She smiled at Justin and looked back around the room. Everyone seemed so happy to be there, so happy to be celebrating the New Year with those they loved. Jordan took the last sip of her cider as Justin said it was nearly midnight. She looked at the clock. So it was. She raised an eyebrow when Justin asked her if she had her wand.

“Yes, of course I do. I always have my wand.” She answered with curiosity in her eyes. Justin knew something was going to happen and Jordan didn’t like being left in the dark. As people began counting down, Jordan’s eyes remained locked on Justin’s and just as everyone shouted ‘1!’ there was a scream from the center of the room and a flash of light. Jordan whipped around, her wand already clenched in her hand. She had learnt how to draw it out rather quickly after the attack last year. She was afraid that she might be attacked again so she taught herself many nifty tricks just in case she was. Death Eaters were streaming in from the main entrance and people were being cursed and harmed all over the place. Jordan turned to Justin with fear riddled across her face, “You knew about this?” she asked in slight awe. Why hadn’t he said anything? Jordan turned around again to step in and help but was immediately hit with a spell from a stray Death Eater. She flew back and landed into the beautiful table, the drinks spilling over her. She slumped to the ground unconscious.