Falling from the Moon ((Gryffies))

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

"Cassie. Cass, Hey. Wake up...,"

"No-," Cass moaned in her sleep. Thoughts of her Uncle's death haunted all of her dreams. She opened her eyes to find herself in her sweat soaked pajamas. She sat up and put her head in her hands. Luckily, none of her dorm mates could see her since the curtains on her four poster bed were drawn. It had been almost two weeks since the death of her Uncle. It had been a truly remarkable story for The Daily Prophet. Apparently, her Cass' grandfather had died a mysteriously. The killer was never found. When she had read that, she couldn't help but laugh hysterically at the breakfast table. Jeez, her family sure did have a tendency to die under mysterious circumstances. She seemed to be able to count the number of normal deaths among her family on one hand. Well, it did keep life interesting. She truly wondered when Pyro would finally make an attempt on her life.

Cass pulled the golden velour chord to open the curtains. "Yep. still asleep," she said as she watched her slumbering classmates. Cass pushed the covers back and lowered her feet into the warm slippers that were on the floor. The black circles under her eyes belied the fact that she was exhausted. Not only was she having to dedicate herself to school, but she had to worry about all the responsibilities that had come with it. Also, in a few short weeks, she would be taking her O.W.L.S. Cass' stomach lurched at that thought as she found her feet taking her down the spiral staircase to the Common Room. She was thirsty, and she knew a cool pitcher of water awaited her at the bottom of the stairs.

Embers were still glowing in the fireplace as she poured herself a cup of water. Looking at the large Grandfather clock in the corner, she noticed that it was almost two a.m. Cass had gotten off hallway duty about eleven, and she had stayed up studying transfiguration till midnight. Well, the transfiguration book was open, but she was really trying to work out the quidditch tactics she had scrawled onto the bottom corner of the page about Morgana LaFey. Seriously, it was hard to read up on a person in class you had studied extensively in extra curricular lessons. Truthfully, she loved transfiguration, but it was starting to become a bore. She felt like that she way ahead of the other students, but there was still so much she had to learn.

Putting down the cup, she heard a scraping sound behind her. Turing around, she saw the picture of the Fat Lady swing open. This was highly irregular, and it was way pass curfew. As a Prefect, Cass was going to have to give whoever it was lines. She really hated being the bad guy. Cass crossed her arms across her chest, and waited to discover whose night she was about to ruin.

[Ariane Chan]

Ariane lay sitting still in her four-poster bed, careful to be utterly silent. Her glassily empty eyes were open rather than closed, as they should be at about 2am in the morning. It was as if she was terribly tired, but couldn’t find the will to close them and let her mind rest. The clockwork gears were still spinning in her head, and Ariane wanted to silence them so much, but somehow their rotating just got louder and louder as time ticked by. Heavy clinking deafened her sensitive ears despite the dormitory only filled with sounds of quiet breathing by her dorm mates. Ariane watched the other girls blankly though the dark as pain continued to inflict her mind. Maryn’s red hair was visible even from Ariane’s position, and Kiana, Maryn’s best friend, was sleeping soundlessly beside her. To Ariane’s left, Melody, a loner like her, was turned away so her face was not visible. Ariane wished so much how she could be sleeping as peacefully as them. It was terribly late, and still she could not lay to rest. Thoughts of the day’s events clouded her eyes as she remembered that fateful letter.

Wishing to get rid of such consuming thoughts, Ariane finally picked herself gingerly out of bed, almost stumbling over something in the dark. She felt light and dizzy, probably due to her lack of sleep. Her arm reached out blindly to try and find her wand, and the moment she did, she used lumos to light up the room a little and find something to cover her rapidly freezing body, protected only by a pair of black pyjamas. Slipping it on gratefully, Ariane straightened out her hair a little before padding softly out of the quiet dormitory, slippers adorning her cold feet and wand held out before her. Ariane couldn’t stand one more claustrophobic moment in that room; she needed something to take her mind of matters concerning her dead mother. Sliding silently down the stairs and shutting the door behind her gently, not wanting to awake her dorm mates, Ariane entered the empty Gryffindor Common Room with a fatigued look in her eyes. The sudden brightness emitting from the dying flames of the fire burning away cheerily took Ariane’s eyes by surprise, and she had to blink repeatedly to adapt to the sudden change in light.

Not surprised anybody was down here, Ariane glanced at the clock before mentally groaning. It wasn’t even 2am yet, and she had plenty of hours to go before morning, and then another whole day and night till she made her way down to London. Ariane was fed up of waiting, really, especially since her mind was always preoccupied with distressing thoughts. It took all her strength not to jump off a cliff and end it once and for all, because life obviously had it in for her. Ariane didn’t believe in him, but God would probably come for Harmony next, then Aurora. Pick her loved ones out of her life one by one. ”Just take me next.” Ariane thought bitterly to herself as she plonked her tired self onto a sofa near the warm fire. She stared vacantly into the orange flames, wondering how her life had fallen to pieces so easily. How had it happened, and why couldn’t she ever prevent any of it from occurring. Was Ariane really that powerless?

Picking herself up again after a short while, Ariane paced around the empty Common Room, noticing its large size as the lack of people in it finally let her view it without having to rush through the room to avoid others. Ariane barely spent time in the last five years in this Common Room, but now that she inspected it a little more carefully, it was a rather nice area. It was a shame she had to share it with strange people. A light smile touched Ariane’s lips. She didn’t mind most Gryffindors, really; she merely convinced herself most people weren’t worth trusting. She knew that wasn’t true, but at the same time Ariane was aware that once you were close to someone, they could hurt you much easier than your enemy. Ariane preferred to have neither friend nor foe. Aurora was simply the only exception to that rule.

Ariane suddenly had the urge to leave the Common Room, go outside and just… properly clear her head. She knew well that it was beyond the rules, but just going into the corridor wouldn’t be considered a crime, right? Convincing herself anyway, Ariane gently pushed open the door, half not knowing what her body and mind were doing. She was only part in control of the situation. Stepping outside silently, she was alerted to the Fat Lady complaining behind her, and Ariane jumped in shock, finally remember her house guardian’s existence. “I’m sorry.” Ariane started softly, feeling guilty for having woken her up unnecessarily. Perhaps this was a very bad idea after all. The Fat Lady continued to say that she shouldn’t be out here at this time, plus it was unhealthy to not have one’s beauty sleep. Ariane stared at her sheepishly before apologising again, neglecting to put on a cold visage for the portrait. She didn’t have the heart or strength to pretend she was a distant and cold person. “I just wanted some fresh air. I’ll go back in a minute. Couldn’t sleep.” Ariane replied courteously, turning around and staring down the dark corridors. Being alone out here was refreshing, but also lonely and dark. How did the Fat Lady survive?

“Thank you.” Ariane finally turned around again after a short while of thinking in the dark silently, a small but grateful smile on her tired face, “I’m sorry for disturbing you. Can I go in now please?” Grumbling, the Fat Lady slowly allowed her access to the Common Room again, but Ariane was met with a surprise when she saw a familiar looking girl in the year above, drinking some water with a fatigued look on her face. She was a prefect. Groaning internally, Ariane prepared to be slaughtered for wandering at night. She’d have to explain her situation clearly otherwise a detention would be on the cards, even if she didn’t really know the girl. “Sorry. I went out just for a moment, but I didn’t go anywhere. Ask the Fat Lady.” Ariane began quickly but calmly, making her way to sit down in her old seat again. “Couldn’t sleep.” She added quietly, staring back at the flames. “Sorry.”

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cass stared in amazement as a fouth year that she recognized as Ariane Chan walk back into the common room. The girl stared at the prefect in amazement. The girl muttered something about only being out in the hallway for a moment. She didn't know what to do. The girl seemed oddly remorseful and not up to any real mischief. However, McGonogall had impressed upon the prefects that they were supposed to adhere strictly to the rules. Even though they may not want to, they were supposed to enforce the rules fairly. Cass couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt at this moment. It was only last year when she was running around the school at night after curfew. Suddenly, she could only wonder, how in the hell did she become a prefect? Surely, the administration must have seen something in Cass that she had never seen in herself. Cass had become oddly tame this year because of her new found responsibility. Of course, it had never occurred to her that she had received the job because McGonogall believed it would keep her out of trouble. "Um," Cass took a step toward the girl, "okay." She seemed to be at a loss for words.

The girl continued to stare at her. "Even though it was only a moment, it's still against the rules. You know, I really don't feel like giving lines or detention tonight." Cass didn't want to work tonight. Hell, she had only gotten off of patrol duty three hours ago. Then, she had stayed up another hour studying for her upcoming O.W.L.S. "You need to understand. You put me in a serious predicament here. If I let you go, every other underclassmen is going to think they can get away with this." Scratching the back of her head, her already knotted up hair because even more messy. "Don't think I don't believe you know. I do. You've never been known as a troublemaker. Up until last year, I was the resident troublemaker in Gryffindor. Did you know, about two years ago, I was caught in the Forbidden Forest with Kris Grass?" Sighing dreamily, she stared off into the distance. "I remember those days. They were so much."

Cass walked into a nearby chair and flopped into it. Resting her chin in her hand, she lounged over arm. "Okay, I will let you go just this once, but if I catch you again, I'm going to have to give you detention. I won't have any other chose. Let's just keep this between the two of us, okay? I really don't want those little hethan first years to think I've gone all soft on them. I had to give three of them lines just this morning for trying to change the color of the Fat Lady's hair. You should of scene the aghast look on her face." Cass dropped her jaw and opened her eyes real big to imitate the animated portrait.

[Ariane Chan]

Ariane silently watched the prefect, Cassandra… Blackfire, was it? Something like that. Ariane wasn’t sure, but she had a vague idea of the names of most people in her house. Especially the prefects, and the Head Girl happened to be in Gryffindor too. Ariane had rarely interacted with Cassandra, but she seemed all right, she supposed… and right now appeared rather tired and stressed. Come to think of it, what was the redhead doing down here at night anyway? Cassandra was rather surprised at Ariane’s presence, and she realised her being down so late was probably also a surprise to the other girl. Ariane shrugged a little from her position, fatigued yet bright eyes trained on a talking Cassandra, making herself comfortable on the sofa. She’d probably be down here for a while. “I don’t mind if you do give me detention… I know I technically broke the rules, but I know I didn’t go far, so I thought I’d tell you. I understand it’s not fair if you let me off, but if you do, I won’t mention it to anyone. I don’t talk to many people.” Ariane gave Cassandra a strange look, as if to say, “Didn’t you know that?” It was a known fact that she was overall a loner with exception to Aurora, her best friend, and Harmony, her little sister, and they were both in Hufflepuff. Ariane didn’t do friends in her house, and she knew some people thought her personality suited Slytherin a great deal more. She didn’t pick fights with people, but she was willing to be just as mean as them when dealt with, and so others just stayed away from her.

Ah, so Cassandra knew she wasn’t a troublemaker. Ariane couldn’t resist a tiny smirk edging on her lips. Although she had a reputation for being a Slytherin-like girl, she was glad to know that people didn’t know her as a troublemaker. Ariane fought her own fights, but they never got out of hand, and unlike some Gryffindors, her curiosity and mischievous attitude were pretty limited. Cassandra struck her as the latter sort of girl, and she confirmed it with her next sentence. Plus Ariane had heard things about the redhead girl. Something about a cousin in Slytherin had passed her once, but it wasn’t as if Ariane was inquisitive about it. “I think I heard something like that.” Ariane shrugged nonchalantly, her mind stirring with familiarity. However, the main things that popped up were those about the two Slytherin third year girls who got caught recently, and lost a great deal of points for their house. Ariane wasn’t surprised if they were blamed harshly for it, and felt they deserved it. if those girls were stupid enough to break the rules to that extent, they’d have to suffer the consequences. Even innocent people had to endure retribution sometimes, because they were there at the wrong time, or adults didn’t believe their story, or they were set up and blamed. Ariane was glad that the guilty people were for once punished, because she knew exactly what it felt like to be blamed for something that had nothing to do with you.

Ariane nodded as Cassandra sat down, still talking in her animated voice. Despite looking tired, it seemed she could still talk anyone’s head off, reminding Ariane of her cousin. Ariane had always been the opposite, not much of a talker, and preferring to keep to herself. However, since Cassandra was letting her off, Ariane felt the need to give her less stick than she did other people. It was good to change one’s attitude now and again… and Ariane would experience some life changing times soon enough; actually, those events were already occurring right underneath her nose. Gripping her hands tightly, though they weren’t in the view of Cassandra, Ariane gave a small smile despite her inner turmoil begging for attention, “Thanks. My lips are sealed.” She managed a cross between a snort and a chortle at the mention of some silly first years, but remembered quickly that this morning she had discovered something beyond what her brain capacity allowed her to believe, and her smile faded away as soon as it had appeared. Looking at Cassandra’s face brought it back again though, because she looked rather amusing with an expression of the Fat Lady, and Ariane thought back to the said portrait’s grumblings about her a few minutes ago fondly. Their front door was certainly entertaining, even she had to admit.

Eyeing their surroundings, Ariane’s gaze landed on something that caused her to alert Cassandra’s attention again, “Hey, do you mind if I have some water?” Ariane motioned to the glass nearby to Cassandra, drawing out her wand to summon it over. Come to think of it, she was rather thirsty, and had rarely drank all day… Ariane didn’t think Cassandra would mind sharing, and was about to utter the spell needed to guide the jug to her, when a creaking caused her to stop and look up, realising someone else from the dorms was entering the Common Room. Ariane wasn’t sure if she wanted any more company, but that might at least distract Cassandra from talking to her any longer, as she didn’t feel like a friendly banter. The Common Room was mighty popular tonight, Ariane realised… How many couldn’t sleep?

[Lenora Byers]

“Everybody’s gonna be happy. And that means you and me my love.” Lenora sang under her breath as she lay in bed staring at the ceiling. She had just finished her book a few minutes ago but couldn’t sleep yet because the songs just kept playing in her head. Right now it was Everybody’s Gonna Be Happy from The Kinks and before that it was Pale Green Stars from Everclear. She just didn’t know what she was going to do, there was no way she was getting to sleep at this rate. Glancing at the clock Lenora noticed it was 5 after 2 in the morning, at least it was a Saturday so it was okay if she didn’t sleep. In fact, that’s the only reason Lenora stayed up with her book, allowing herself to stay up. After the Friday she just had, she deserved it. In fact, after the last few months, since about September, she deserved it. N.E.W.T. coursework and prefect duties had Lenora extremely stressed, though thankfully things were going okay in her personal life. She felt like she had no time for her friends, though. Heck, she hadn’t seen her best friend Ashley in what felt like ages. It didn’t help that Ashley was a Hufflepuff and therefore in a completely different common room. She had gotten to see Robert the other day, though, and that was always a rare treat. Lenora smiled remembering throwing snowballs at him around Christmas time.

With a peek out the curtains Lenora saw all the other beds covered and so felt free to pull open her bed. She stepped out onto the hard, cold, wood floor. Walking over to the mirror Lenora saw her hair was still neat as she had just brushed it maybe 20 minutes prior. Lenora pulled her hair up in a ponytail, resolving that she wasn’t going back to bed any time soon, and smiled at her reflection. Grabbing her wand off the bedside table Lenora walked out the door before muttering “nox” and extinguishing the light she had been using to see in the room. The lights were on in the stairway and oddly enough Lenora heard voices coming from the common room, though she couldn’t make out what was being said from there.

Standing at the top of the stairs, listening hard, Lenora decided that it was only a few people, were it more she would be able to make out the words. That was good, she didn’t feel like breaking up a party right about now. Slowly she made her way down the stairs until she saw 2 girls sitting on the couch, one she recognized as Ariane who had been in her Muggle Studies class, was looking up at her. “Hey”, Lenora said in a cheery voice as she approached the couch. “Hi Cass. How come you two are still up? Or is it up already?” Lenora asked as she rounded on the couch and could see the other girl properly. They both seemed a little worse for the wear, both Cass and Ariane looked exhausted.

[Ariane Chan]

Ariane recognised the newcomer immediately as another Gryffindor prefect, except this was a girl called Lenora in the year above Cassandra, the sixth year. Ariane groaned in her head at the sight of the blonde haired girl, before letting only a small smile grace her lips in greeting. So many important people were here, it was like the Prefects were having a meeting, and she felt slightly, if not very, out of place. Well, admittedly she always felt like she didn’t belong anywhere, except at home with her family… And now that was shattered. Again. Forcing herself not to think of the miserable reality and numbing the pain, Ariane returned to summoning over the water jug, and poured herself a glass of cool, refreshing water. Placing it to her lips, she took a grateful sip of the liquid, and almost sighed with pleasure. Her parched throat worshipped her from below as she swallowed some more, before hearing Lenora’s question and looking up. “Up already. Couldn’t sleep.” Ariane muttered factually in a dark tone of voice, running her tongue across her dry lips in relish. She pointedly avoided looking at both Cassandra and Lenora and focused on her drink instead with narrowed, tired eyes. She didn’t want to be involved in their conversation.

Ariane gripped the half empty glass tightly as she stared at it, the dying flames of the fire flickering in its reflection. Immediately she was reminded of the morning from yesterday, when she had thrown an innocent glass so similar to this one at the wall, breaking it cleaning into a thousand pieces. No doubt Aurora had fixed it upon her departure and cleaned up the mess, the thought igniting a burst of guilt in her chest which she pushed away hurriedly. With a building frown, Ariane raised the glass to her lips one more time, draining the revitalising water before placing it down on a table beside her loudly with a stony expression, staring at the glass with tight lips. Tearing herself away, Ariane glanced at Lenora before flicking her wand and making the water jug fly across the room to float before the sixth year’s face, “Water?” Ariane offered monotonously, before running a hand through her limp hair that framed her tired, pale face. What was she doing down here with two older girls that she didn’t, barely, know? And prefects, at that.

Ariane turned her attention to the last embers dancing playfully, but pitifully, in the fireplace, and let her wand do its magic as she pointed the mahogany piece of wood at it, muttering the correct spell and igniting the flames into a powerful flare once more. Staring into the orange firelight, Ariane ignored the other two girls’ conversation as her mind tried to pull her into the darkness again, but she grudgingly let the flames burn her retinas, casting any shadow out of her head. Ariane wanted to resist the sleep that was now falling onto her fast, rather than having obstructed her before, because it would only make her return to a place she would rather not go back to.

((Apologies for the prolonged reply. Hope this is sufficient to keep the thread alive. ))