Grade One ((Isabelle))

[phantomlynx]

It was a dark and stormy night. Well, maybe not stormy. But it was dark. That's what happens when the year nears the Winter Solstice. The night becomes longer and the day becomes shorter. So although it was only half past five the common room windows were showered in darkness. The common room however was not. On the contrary, it was bright and well lit. The fire was roaring and provided warmth for the entire room. Skyler often wondered if the fire was enchanted because he could never recall a fire in the muggle world that would be that brilliant not to mention provide warmth to such a room. The Ravenclaw common room was located on the west side of the castle and in a tower. Sometimes Skyler envied the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins who seemed to always be going down to their common rooms. But the downside of that would be having to climb back up everyday.

Why was Skyler in the common room at half past five? Doing a Charms essay that was due the next day. He had put it off until the last minute and he could not neglect it any longer. The common room was full of other studious Ravenclaws. That was sort of the annoying part of Ravenclaws. They were always studying. Always furthering their knowledge. Bor-ing. Skyler admitted that he liked to gain knowledge as much as the next Ravenclaw but having your nose in a book all day was too much for an eleven year old. The chairs and tables nearest the fire were full of older students and their posse. Therefore Skyler had to content to sit at a table in a corner. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not but it seemed to be darker and colder in this corner than anywhere else in the room. He flopped down in a chair and threw his book on the table. He opened his copy of The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) and began reading silently hoping that somewhere or something would tear him away from his homework.

[Isabelle Leynette R3]

Her fingers were touching the frosted window tracing impossible patterns into the glass. The cool of the touch was the only evidence that it was truly cold outside. Unlike the window which was cold and had a distant feeling, her dorm room felt warm and friendly. Belle sighed content. It had been along day. Long, but excellent. She was proud she accomplished something; well to be honest she accomplished a lot. She had done all her work, so there was no homework, she wrote back to her mother, which should keep the theatrics down to a minimum for some time. She had kept a happy attitude all day, and that was an accomplishment all on its own. And she was just plain happy. Maybe that’s not an accomplishment to you, but my friend, that’s one for her. With the return of her mother’s drama Belle hasn’t been the sweetest child. Friends knew and stayed out of the way, Belle felt rather lonely, but understood. Sometimes the angers she tried so hard to control boiled up inside her and she would simply explode. At times like those she wasn’t the most desirable person to be around. She often had to find someone else to talk to. Somebody who didn’t know her. Some of these people were amazing listeners and she would make friends with them, at the same time listening to them in return. Her new friends were always there for her. This had her questioning her older friendships. Maybe they were out growing each other. Belle shook her head at this thought, she wasn’t going to think of her friends as clothes, and she wasn’t going to lose her happy mood. She had to get away from here.

She toke the stairs slowly. She had descended down into the common room and sighed. Yep, this looked about right. Half of the Ravenclaw house was in there doing studying of some kind. Making Belle feel great she had finished all her homework. At the same time she felt somewhat bad for them. There had to be some one who didn’t like studying as much as she did. They would be the person to rescue. Nobody popped out at her. Oh, well. What now? Then she saw a first year. He had too much homework for a first year, and he didn’t seem to be enjoying it. Good boy, Belle though to herself. He was getting sucked in, but he wasn’t enjoying it. Everyone did eventually, but Belle prided in knowing she escaped the stereotypical Ravenclaw behavior. Her studying was a minimum and she was fine with that as long as she did well and class. And she did, go figure. Her heart went out to this young kid. She didn’t want him to get pegged as on of those. Making a quick decision she walked over to him and toke a seat next to him. She waited a minute before speaking. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret.” She told him smiling. “There’s more to Hogwarts then classes, and studying.” She told him. “Don’t let them convince you other wise.” She said pointing to a few students buried so far into their studies she was sure they didn’t even know what was going on around them.

[phantomlynx]

The wand motion is a quick swish followed by a slow thrust... Skyler had been reading the same sentence over and over again. He had his wand out and was watching his wrist swish and thrust. The spell he was practicing was the 'Alohamora' spell. His essay was a foot on the importance of wrist movement. The only problem was that he could not tell if he was doing it right. He had no lock that needed to be unlocked. So he was swinging his wand in the air in a fruitless manner. Skyler knew that if the spell was to work it was very important that his wrist move in the correct fashion. But a whole foot? Who actually could write that much? Ravenclaws. That's who. He had seen many of his fellow Ravenclaws go above and beyond the required length. As if they seemed to get pleasure from writing an essay. What was wrong with them?

He was swinging his wand in the air when a girl came and sat down next to him. She had chestnut colored hair and beautiful green eyes. Skyler stared at her for a moment unsure of what to do or say. His wand hung limp in his hand. He was about to open his mouth and say something when she spoke. Her words washed over him like a breath of fresh air. "Thank god!" he answered her. "I thought as a Ravenclaw I was doomed to a life of books and no social life." He followed her pointing hand to a few other students. They were so involved in their studies that they had no idea who or what was going on around them. The common room could have been invaded by gnomes and they would not have known much less care. It was nice to hear that an older girl could survive without having her nose in a book all the time. "My name's Skyler Willis by the way."

[Isabelle Leynette R3]

"Thank god!" He replied and Belle was pleased that she was correct. She would have died if she had ran into someone who actually wanted to write an essay that was as tall as she was, not that she could remember the last time some body did. Not even she, and lets all be realistic, she wouldn’t. So called her lazy, she called it having a life. But to think about it her life was very confusing at the moment. That was perhaps another reason the day was just brilliant. She hadn’t thought much about her world was falling apart, just a little out of her reach, and her control. How she hated to be out of control. This was taking a lot out of her. But she smiled anyways. What was she supposed to do? Cry? No, crying never solved anything, it only annoyed people, and she was supposed to be grown up about all this. No matter how difficult.


"I thought as a Ravenclaw I was doomed to a life of books and no social life." He was saying as Belle tuned back in to the conversation. She was here for him, to save him from the anti-socialist life, which happened too many of their house mates. “Of course not.” She said with mock shock. “Look at me … I have a brilliant social life, don’t ask me what I’m doing here right now, but I have plenty of people to see, plenty of things to do, I haven’t let studying mess that up for me.” She told him. She was being very friendly tonight. Her regular self, the one before she hit her third year at Hogwarts. Nobody knew she changed though, no one really was in all the drama at home, nobody knew it had gotten worse, nobody knew. She vowed to keep it that way. Think of the scandal it would become if Belle the perfectionists life wasn’t as close to perfect as she needed it to be. The shame, the horror. She imagined the people saying in her head in those sarcastic, mocking tones she often used.

She was brought back to reality but yet again his voice. She was thankful. Mustn’t get lost in a sea of those ugly thoughts. "My name's Skyler Willis by the way." He told her and she smiled. She like that name. “Ah, Skyler.” She said with a smile. His name suited him. “My name’s Isabelle Leynette. But let’s not call me by that name; I’m Belle to my friends.” She told him with a smirk.

[phantomlynx]

She smirked as she told him that her friends called her Belle. Skyler quickly came up with a witty retort but he held his tongue. He had, after all, just met this girl. He realised that he had changed quite a bit over this one semester. The old Skyler probably would have said his witty remark and then returned to his essay. But this term, Skyler had learned that this was not the way to make friends. True, he still was not fascinated by small talk but he was slowly learning that sometimes small talk was necessary. Sometimes a person would not open up and really delve into the good stuff until the weather was covered in the conversation. Skyler was also learning that he appreciated small talk. It felt good when someone would come up to him and talk to him even if it was about absolutely nothing.

He smiled and laughed then said, "Does that mean that I should address you as Isabelle? Or can I be promoted from stranger to friend and call you Belle?" He hoped that she would pick up that he was just playing with her. He didn't want to offend her. She seemed like a very nice person but then again, everyone he met was nice to him. Except Slytherins, but Skyler didn't think they were nice to anyone. The dark cold corner that he was at seemed to suddenly be warm and light as if this girl before him brought it with her. Or maybe it was just because Skyler was not alone in the corner. Still, he hoped that she had something to do with it. The limp wand in his hand suddenly fell and dropped onto the floor. "Oops." He crawled underneath the table and found his wand near his school bag. This was when Skyler noticed that Belle didn't have a school bag with her. Re-surfacing Skyler asked her, "Are you all finished with your school work for tonight?"

[Isabelle Leynette R3]

Laughter was coming from a corner where a girl and a younger boy sat chatting. I believe they had just introduced themselves. It was his turn to speak. "Does that mean that I should address you as Isabelle? Or can I be promoted from stranger to friend and call you Belle?" He said speaking like a true Ravenclaw. She had to laugh again, he was funny. She decided to play along. Belle sighed a sigh as if it pained her, her words came out dramatic. “Call me Belle, but your not yet promoted to friend status, and your not technically a stranger either, your somewhere in between. But I prefer the meaning of Belle, over the meaning of Isabelle. Let’s see if you’re a true Ravenclaw and can tell me what they both mean.” She told him in a mocking way. She never had believed Isabelle really applied to her; the meaning was nothing like her what-so-ever. God’s Promise, ha, what a joke. She felt like a joke when she thought about it. What a great disappointment she must be. Somewhere they were expecting a leader for something good, someone who would make a difference, and instead they were stuck with her. What a great promise she was.

When was the last time she did something good, something for someone other than herself? She couldn’t remember the last time. How pathetic. She was so me centered it was depressing. She wanted to do more; she wanted to be the voice of something, to help other people. To know she was the one to put the smile on that person’s face. She was trying, and she was trying, but she couldn’t see the difference. Maybe others noticed, or maybe they were like all other teenagers, maybe they were too focused on themselves as well. She vowed silently to try harder at being nicer, and trying to be the promise she supposedly was. Then the boy dropped his wand, he searched underneath the table to get it. “Opps.” He said, and she laughed, how silly. He came back in the chair. His question toke her by surprise. "Are you all finished with your school work for tonight?" She smiled, “Fortunately yes, I was lucky today.” She told him. Once again happy she finished all her work. Instead of being tortured she got to enjoy watching other people suffer.

[phantomlynx]

He giggled as she told him that he was not a stranger but had not been fully promoted to friend. She obviously knew that he had been joking with his question and that made him happy. Some people had no sense of humor. Take Will for example. Once when they barely knew each other, they had been eating lunch in the Great Hall. Will had picked up some vegetables and began to eat them. Skyler was flabbergasted. He had never seen an eleven year old pick up vegetables of their own free will. Skyler had exclaimed, "What are you, fifty-two?" Will, who obviously had not understood that Skyler was trying to make a joke, said in total deadpan, "I like vegetables." Skyler couldn't help but laugh at his friend's expense but that had been a building block for their friendship. Will was allowing Skyler to be more social and likewise he was helping Will discover the mystery of 'humor.' Where was Will now? This girl, Belle, she was hilarious. She had come out of nowhere and relieved Skyler from the boring world. She had lifted his spirits out of the dread that was essays. And they had not been taking for very long either.

"I hate to admit it, but I do know the meaning of Belle. Only because of Disney. It's a muggle movie company in case you don't know. They made a movie called 'Beauty and the Beast.' And there is a song where the townspeople sing about Belle. It's no wonder that her name means beauty," he sang "Her looks have got no parallel! Sorry about that. I just had to burst into song there. Isabelle. I have no idea what that name means." He paused and stroked his chin for dramatic effect. "Maybe, just maybe, it means, 'is it beautiful?' Like when a baby is born the mother screams, 'ISABELLE?' to ask the healer if the baby is pretty." He paused to laugh but realised it wasn't that funny. "Corny, I know..."

He was jealous that she was done with her schoolwork. He looked down at the parchment in front of him. It looked rather empty with no words on it. He would do it, eventually. Talking with Belle was much more interesting though. But he really needed to finish his homework. He didn't want to lose his house some points. But it was only a foot. He could do it later, right? Right. Making connections was much more important. Besides, just because he was in Ravenclaw didn't mean that he had to do all his work perfectly.

[Isabelle Leynette R3]

"I hate to admit it, but I do know the meaning of Belle, only because of Disney. It's a muggle movie company in case you don't know. They made a movie called 'Beauty and the Beast.' And there is a song where the townspeople sing about Belle. It's no wonder that her name means beauty, her looks have got no parallel!” he told her singing the last part causing her to laugh once more. She hadn’t ever seen the movie, but she knew there was a book. She often read it before bed. Was even convinced for months the book was written for her especially. But she got over that, it was no use being conceited. “Beauty, it’s a lovely meaning.” She said out loud more to herself than to him. She wanted to believe she was as well, that she had beauty. But she knew she didn’t. Beauty was what was on the inside, the outside hardly counted. Maybe she just hid the ugliness on that was on the inside, really well. Perhaps that was it. Maybe she was good at pretending. Belle, the great pretender. She bit her lip making herself stop thinking this, she shouldn’t ruin the party.

“Isabelle. I have no idea what that name means." He said in a dramatic way stroking his chin, playing up the act. She gasped playing along. "Maybe, just maybe, it means, 'is it beautiful?' Like when a baby is born the mother screams, 'ISABELLE?' to ask the healer if the baby is pretty." She laughed harder than before and covered her mouth. “No, no, no.” She said shaking her head and laughing. “Nice try though.” She said pointing at him and then covered her face with her fingers so her smile was barely visible. He too began to laugh but stopped and turned to her and said. "Corny, I know..." so seriously she paused, tilted her head and then began to laugh again. This kid was very funny. “No, again, it was funny. See laughter.” She couldn’t help but say sarcastically, adding a ‘ha ha ha’ at the end to prove her point. Silently laughing to herself. She felt it getting warmer in the room, all the laughing.


She watched him and saw some wheels turning in his head. She wondered what he was thinking. The human mind was so complex and interesting. For example two people could be having the most in depth conversation and one of them was thinking about boomerangs, or who was dating who instead of the philosophy they were debating. Interesting enough, these people might be the ones to win the debate. The surprising thing. Humans were funny, and always suprising.

[phantomlynx]

((OOC: Sorry for taking so long))
((Gee, d'you mind? I hate jokes about my name. ))

"I'm glad that you found that funny. I didn't think it was that good but I thought I would try. So then, what does Isabelle mean? And why don't you want to go by it? Don't get me wrong though. Belle is a lot easier to say," he told her with a devilish smile on his face. "Isabelle has three syllables while Belle only has one. That's weird. Adding three letters would make a word three syllables. Is-a-belle." Skyler sounded out her name clapping at each syllable. He looked down at his hands and his smile grew. "Sorry, force of habit. They taught us to clap out syllables in Grammar School. Of course, I don't even know if you know what a Grammar School is. I come from the muggle world and so I assume that everyone here knows what I am talking about but that's not always the case."

He had found that out shortly after meeting Will. Will had no idea what 'football' was which still puzzled Skyler. How could a boy grow up and never play football? Of course, he had never played nor seen Quidditch. But then again, he had come from a world where brooms just swept dirt. They usually didn't fly through the air. "For example, I was trying to explain football to my friend Will the other day, but he simply didn't get it. Then he tried to explain Quidditch to me and I was just as confused. So I guess we were even," he laughed. Will and Skyler could teach and learn a lot from each other. It was a good friendship. It was fortunate that they had been sorted into the same house and became fast friends. Skyler had stumbled upon Will when he was sketching and recalled that Will had never shown him the finished drawing. He would have to ask to see it sometime.

He watched the older girl in front of him. Skyler had always wanted an older sibling. His younger brother Chase was... well... younger. He wanted an older sibling. He wondered if he had an older sister if they would have gotten along as well as he and Belle seem to be. The cold dark corner seemed to lighten and warm as the two talked and Skyler hoped that if he had an older sibling it would be just like that. Someone who would guide and teach him. Someone who would reassure him that everything was going to be all right.

[Isabelle Leynette R3]

He talked about the joke and how it really was a try, asking her what the name meant, but glad because Belle was easier to say. This kid talked a lot, almost as much as she did. He had a lot to say too. That was okay. This meant she didn’t have to say much. This allowed her mind to wander. It wandered a lot as it was. But she pulled it back. He deserved that much. “Isabelle means something like … God’s promise. I’m not sure why I was named Isabelle though … I’m not God’s promise. More like warning, I am God’s warning.” She told him with a laugh of her own. Every word truth, but it was covered by something else, a joke, she didn’t want to bring something so heavy into the mix, not today. Too many people already dealt with their own problems, no needed to throw her own in there with theirs. She hated to forget that. She hated to think of herself as the center of the universe, the only one that had a life, and that people were merely extras. That was very conceited, and plain wrong, a reason why she found herself disgusted with the one person she shouldn’t: herself.

His clapping startled her. He explained he was taught that in grammar school when you wanted to know how many syllables a word contained. She felt like trying it, but he was he was telling her that he wasn’t sure if she knew what grammar school was, and how he assumed people always knew about that world. She understood how he could do that. She often assumed things as well. She assumed everyone knew that she and her mother didn’t get along; she assumed people knew she was raised by her grandparents. She assumed so much about people, only ending up being wrong, and finding people knew nothing about her. That she didn’t reveal much. Belle wasn’t sure if that was a good trait or not. She couldn’t decide. Assumptions got people in trouble. Like how people assumed the world was flat, silly assumptions people made back then. "For example, I was trying to explain football to my friend Will the other day, but he simply didn't get it. Then he tried to explain Quidditch to me and I was just as confused. So I guess we were even," He told her with a laugh. “I was raised around some parts of the muggle world, I’m rather aware of major things, but hen again things confuse me, must have sucked for your friend, because seriously, even I know what football is.” She told him laughing as well. There was something about laughing that was contagious, and it made you feel better, that was for sure.

She had been so happy she found someone to talk to that she almost forgot what she had done in order to have that conversation. She had taken someone from their schoolwork, and true she was a firm believer in doing work, it still wasn’t fair to distract some one else. Especially someone so young. His teachers expected something from him, that didn’t mean he had to do work all the time, but he had to at least finish it. “Hey, I think I’m going to go now and let you do your homework. And this does give you the right to disrupt me when I look like I’m doing work, since I did rob you of your time.” She said getting up from her chair. “It was nice meeting you; perhaps we’ll hang out again soon.” She said walking away backwards. “Bye.” That was her final word as she walked away, not even looking back. It was time for him to get back to work; there would be time for goofing off later.