Right In The Middle ((Kennedy))

[Mary Evans]

This was it, the final stretch. Well, not really, but that is what you would think if you were sitting in the common room watching the fifth and seventh years scramble to get all their revision in before their exams. Mary was glad it wasn’t her, this year. Last year she had been a great ball of stress too, this year she decided just to relax, worry about next year when it comes. Of course, January was ending, and next year seemed to be coming a lot quicker than Mary anticipated. Stretched out, legs hanging over the arm of the chair, Mary contemplated what she would do when she graduated. She still had no idea and when they had their career consultation thing Snape had seemed mildly concerned about that. Especially with Mary being a Prefect, he would have expected her to be helping everyone else with their career plans, never mind already have her own set. But, thankfully, it was still only sixth year as she kept reminding herself.

She was just scared, terrified more like, that she would have to go home after graduation. Nothing could be worse than being a witch of age and living in her house. It wasn’t that Mary thought any less of other people who returned home, they must like their families, but Mary would never listen to her mother rant on and on about how she was wasting her life and needed to find herself a husband to raise a proper family of her own. She was only 16 and her mother was already getting on her case about finding a proper boyfriend. Not likely, that wasn’t at all what Mary wanted. Sure she loved boys, they were wonderful to waste away a night flirting, but who wanted to keep one? What a hassle. They were like an over packed purse, bulky, heavy, in the way, and soon to go out of style. She would settle down one day, but not yet, not soon.

As she lay there, watching the other students scramble, Mary noticed Kennedy was in the common room as well. “Oi!” she called, tossing a piece of crumpled paper from a nearby seventh year at his head, “Kennedy!”

[Kennedy Valak S6]

A boring day had led Kennedy to a boring mood. He laid on his bed, tossing his Quaffle up in the air repeatedly. His mind was partially on Fiona, partially on the upcoming Quidditch match against Ravenclaw, and partially on all of the homework he kept putting off. It was that time of year where he simply felt like not doing anything and just being able to relax without the worry of school or Quidditch or anything else that required some sort of responsibility. Sometimes, it just wore on him to have to worry about this and that. Every now and then, he just wanted a break... needed a break.

The Quaffle went up and came down. Time after time as he watched the reddish ball move in the air, Kennedy felt like just taking a walk outside and getting some fresh air. It was so cold out though, and he really didn't feel like putting on all of his winter clothing. That was too much of a pain. He could always see what Fiona was up to, perhaps talk a walk with her through the castle with no apparent aim. He figured she was busy though. Not too busy for him, as he knew she'd always make time, but just busy in general. He didn't want to distract her from the work she was likely doing.

Standing and letting out a large sigh, Kennedy tossed the Quaffle carelessly onto his bed (which still wasn't made), and then he pulled on his zip-up gray hooded sweatshirt and decided to see what was happening in the common room. If that provided nothing to keep his interest, he possibly just take a walk on his own, allowing himself to just unwind and get his mind off of the everyday clutter that kept him constantly moving.

The common room was somewhat full for it being the middle of the day when some students still had classes to get to. Kennedy was pleased with his schedule this year. He had plenty of time between classes and he didn't have to get up too early, nor have those dreadful late afternoon classes that were impossible to stay awake in. The darkness of the dungeon was somewhat depressing, and Kennedy wished that they had windows in the dungeons. Though, that would defeat the purpose of a dungeon. As he passed through, not planning to stop, he felt something brush against his back, just as his name was being called.

Bending down, Kennedy saw a piece of crumbled paper on the ground. He picked it up and turned to see Mary sitting just a few metres away. "You rang?" he said, smirking at his classmate and fellow Quidditch captain. Mary and Kennedy had sort of a random friendship. It seemed that they were mostly connected by either Quidditch or the odd Express ride home. Also, she was roommates with Fiona, however the two weren't necessarily best friends nor enemies. Overall, Mary probably spoke more to Kennedy than she did Fiona.

Kennedy unwrinkled the paper, curious to know if anything was written on it. It was blank though, and so he used his wand to levitate the trash to where the flames were dancing merrily as they licked the stone insides of the large fireplace. "You look like you are being quite productive," he said, seeing that she was seemingly doing nothing productive at all. "About as busy as myself, it seems," he added with a laugh. "Too bad it's freezing out there. I'd challenge you to a bit of Quidditch." Mary was quite the Beater, though her appearance might not suggest so. He was glad she was part of the team though, for she had more experience than anybody out there. He never knew if she was jealous that he had been given captaincy, and he wasn't even sure why he was given it over her. Maybe she didn't want it, or maybe Snape saw something in Kennedy that Kennedy didn't see in himself. He wasn't exactly the most notable leader, after all. He wasn't a bad leader, but he just had to learn to accept the role. Slowly, he was learning what it required though, and he was starting to hope that he might be given the Head Boy position for the following year. Wouldn't that be ironic if he and Mary were given the Head positions. It had been a few years, at least from what he remembered, that Slytherin had produced any Heads out of their lot of prefects. It seemed Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were common choices. That's just the natural result of stereotypes, he figured.

"I was thinking," he said, deciding to share a bit of his random thoughts. "What do you say about you and I making a hard push to be selected as the Heads for next year? Not too much of a stretch, eh?" He laughed, wondering if it really was something that would be considered. It seemed that the Hufflepuffs had two very responsible sixth year prefects at the moment. As for Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, Kennedy couldn't think of anything bad about them. Perhaps it's be a close call when the decision was finally made. He wouldn't be surprised one bit though if he didn't get it. It wasn't like he had the most amazing reputation like some students could gather through their years at Hogwarts.