Worthy? ((Anyone 5th Year And Up))

[Dylan Caoimhe]

That cant be right. Well, obviously. If it had worked properly then his parchment would have been filled, but instead, there was a singular capitalized T, and a short line that trailed off towards the bottom of the short piece of parchment. Surely the incantation should have worked by now? Dylan had been working on it for almost four weeks now- the longest it ever took him to master a spell of his own creation. He had only made, and successfully cast, three spells so far. They were nothing major. Just simple incantations to help him with select annoyances.

This particular spell was supposed to transfer his thoughts into complete sentences on parchment, making it much easier to complete the simpler of his homework assignments. Mainly short, pointless, ridiculous, stupid essays. He got the idea from the Quick Quotes Quill, but ultimately decided that those were too much of a hindrance. Why sit and talk to a quill like a complete nutter when you could do a simple spell and finish essays in mere seconds? Of course, it would probably be a while longer before Dylan even got to the point of being able to make a complete sentence, let alone numerous paragraphs.

He removed the parchment from his lap and sat it on top of his school bag along with his wand. He layed back in the bitterly cold grass, seeing as how winter was nearly here, and placed his hands behind his head. His gloves, scarf, cloak, and hat didn't do much for him as he tried to imagine it was a mild summer's day.

Dylan liked to come out to the Court Yard and sit in the grass in the corner beside the usual fountain. Sometimes he would come to do homework, sometimes he would come to just sit and think. Other times he would come to just lay here. For no reason but to lie down under the sky, and breathe in fresh air. Of course he didn't dare breathe in too deeply in this weather. Dylan couldn't stand the thought of getting a cold. He hated it when he was sick. That was when the worst of him came out, unless of course if he was thoroughly angered.

He remembered the summer before his third year when he was at the orphanage, and he had a major fever. No one who came across his path was safe. He was sleeping, well, trying to sleep in his room when Robert, another one of the kids who lived at the orphanage, who's mere existence bothered Dylan, came in and tried to make Dylan listen to some jokes he had just made up. Before he could get to the second knock of his knock- knock joke, Dylan grabbed his wand and pointed it at him. He collapsed almost instantly. Dylan didn't know what he did, and still doesn't to this day, but Robert had to be taken to St. Mungo's.

Dylan got a summons from the Ministry of Magic, but Alanah somehow smoothed the whole thing over. She knew what happened, but still went ahead and told the Ministry that it was accidental. Dylan was sick with a really high fever. Accidental magic from a minor is bound to happen under that circumstance, right? Surprisingly, the Ministry dismissed it as such, and Dylan was never accused. He remembered Alanah talking to him that night about controlling his anger. Alanah.

Dylan dismissed his thoughts. He wouldn't feel sadness, or any other type of sorrowful emotion. Death was a natural part of life. Everyone was going to die. He was going to die. He knew that.He wasn't scared. Well, maybe how he was going to die was a bit of a bother. Alanah was the only mother he had ever known. His only friend. The only one he trusted. Sure, he had his biological mother. Wherever she was. She could be dead for all Dylan knew. But, Dylan didn't care. He didn't need her or anyone else.

Oh who am I kidding, he thought. Dylan did get lonely. Well, every once in a blue moon. Occasionally. Sometimes? Dylan sat up and shook his head. He even was a little mad at himself for admitting even a little he wanted a friend. Or at least someone to talk to when he felt like it. He grabbed his wand and parchment again, and prepared to try his spell again. Pointing his wand at the parchment he said silently, "Drocer."

To his amazement, a sentence appeared on the parchment just below the capitalized T and the line. Dylan felt a rush of pride. He hastily read the sentence.

I have been here for five years and haven't made a single friend.

"And, rush of pride gone." Dylan said angrily to himself. He balled up the parchment and shoved it in his bag. No, he thought. The parchment didn't deserve such treatment. He took the paper ball back out of his bag and sat it on the cement path that ran through the Court Yard. "Incendio."

The ball caught fire, and was nothing but ashes in mere seconds.

"Thats better." he said with a small smile. Maybe that spell needed to be worked on a bit more. Merlin forbid he should hand in an essay that had random traces of his personal feelings and thoughts on it. But, it was true, he thought. He had been here for five years and never bothered to make friends, or talk to anybody. Suddenly he felt angry again. Was it really necessary to have set the parchment on fire? Was it really that big of a deal?

Here he was angry again. Angry over absolutely nothing. He hated it when this happened. He'd do something as small as setting a small, insignificant piece paper on fire, and then turn around and feel bad about it. The parchment didn't do anything. It was his wand really. Well, the spell. But it only recorded his thoughts, so, no one was to blame. Besides. Dylan has impossible standards for friends. People in general. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to anyone. He just hadn't found anyone worthy enough of his friendship.

[juliet]

Juliet hastily wrote her reply to her father and then sealed the letter. She smiled at the shape that her seal made of the green wax. The seal showed the Moreau Family Crest on it. Juliet valued this crest. It showed who she was, where she came from, and her pure blood. She loved showing those things off. Juliet also had a ring with an emerald and a small crest on it. She had been given in at the age of thirteen and she had worn it ever sense. When needed, it would be re-sized to fit her finger. She never wanted to take it off. This was Juliet’s prized procession. This was the one thing that she loved to show off. Juliet eyed the ring that looked perfect on her finger. This was the one thing that her mother had given her that she still had. Technically, her father had paid for it, but Josephine paid for it. This was the only thing that she had from her mother. She had burned everything years before when the divorce was filled. Juliet never talked about how her mother had picked the ring out nor did she plan to. She just liked showing it off. Nothing more than that.

Juliet eyed her Slytherin Cloak. She felt so frumpy in it. Really, it was the shortest and tightest at Hogwarts, but it wasn’t enough for Juliet. All of her clothes were small and minimal. That was just the way she liked them. Juliet sighed. It would work she guessed. She could get a few smaller ones during Winter Break, but she would have to hide them from her father which wasn’t a hard thing to do. Josef knew of Juliet’s bad, party habits and things like that, but neither of them talked about it. According to Josef, that didn’t exist until he knew anything for a fact. Juliet eyed her reflection again. Whatever. There was no one at Hogwarts that she wanted to impress. So it didn’t matter. Well, maybe it did. Juliet sighed and finally excited her dorm, grabbing her book almost as an after thought. She still had awhile before she had her next class so there was no need to rush. But, maybe she watch people in the courtyard. It wasn’t as creepy as it sounded. Juliet liked to look people in the eyes to see if they possessed anything. If they had passion, personality, anything. Mostly, Juliet found that most students that she looked in the eyes her boring. They had no story, but this was not always the case.

Juliet held her book casually by her side. She wasn’t huge Transfigurations fan, but she managed. She got good grades in there mainly so that was good enough for her. At least she had a good while until her class was to start, Juliet walked through the halls to the courtyard. She wasn’t a huge fan of the grounds. No, too many couples. The courtyard was relaxing. Plus, she liked to sit on the benches near the fountains. This always calmed her down for some reason she couldn’t explain. Juliet’s heart always seemed to beat fast with frustration in the castle, but courtyard, it slowed down to a normal well. Well, sort of normal at least. Nothing about Juliet seemed normal. This was a fact.

Juliet walked through the courtyard. Only a few couples were scattered about. Some first years lingered around. Juliet ignored the group of giggling Hufflepuff girls that looked her way. Annoying much. Juliet noticed a boy in the grass. Weird. She then saw him use a spell to set paper on fire. Weirder. It was good that weird intrigued Juliet. The fact that he would light paper on fire in the courtyard intrigued her. Juliet sighed and shook her head as she approached the boy. “Now don’t take away my life-long dream of burning down the courtyard.” Sarcasm always lined her voice. “Why on earth are you lighting things on fire here? Ever here of Evanesco?” She referred to the spell that made items vanish. Juliet sighed. She didn’t think of it as interfering. Nope, she thought of it as entertaining his boring life. She didn’t know if it was boring or not. But, Juliet loved to assume things. Right or wrong.

[Dylan Caoimhe]

“Now don’t take away my life-long dream of burning down the courtyard.”

Dylan looked up a little amused. Someone was speaking to him? To him?

“Why on earth are you lighting things on fire here? Ever here of Evanesco?”

Getting a better view, he saw it was another Slytherin. A girl. A girl who's voice was dripping with so much sarcasm that for a moment Dylan thought about lighting her on fire. Who did she think she was talking to him like he was some idiot? He turned a little to properly see her. She was, pretty, he guessed. Well, for him to even consider her that was saying something, he thought. She had long brown hair, and rather intriguing eyes. They were dark, but, interesting. Dylan started to grin, but only slightly.

"Yeah, I've heard of Evanesco," he said leaning back on his hands. His voice had a bit of an edge, seeing as how he was slightly annoyed. "But, I didn't want it to vanish, I wanted it to burn." He felt his grin grow a little wider but couldn't help it. He looked at her dead in her eyes. Of course he did this whenever he talked to anyone, but with this, girl, it was different. There was something about her eyes that really sparked his interest. Obviously, she's rather outspoken, and judging by her clothes and her apparent knack for approaching people like they should be grateful to be spoken to and held in her gaze, she was pretty self assured, and thought rather highly of herself.

Well, Dylan really couldn't hold that against her. He was the same way really. Whenever he did talk to anyone, which usually consisted of nothing more than a sentence, he felt like they should kiss Merlin's crusty left big toe that he even wasted his breath on them. Not because he was arrogant or had a big head. When people did speak to Dylan, they acted like they were "close" to him, or like they knew him, or like they'd been friends with him for years like that idiot Hufflepuff boy yesterday. As a matter of fact, this, girl was doing it now. Speaking to Dylan like they have been acqainted for four years or something. He hated it when people did that.

His grin faded. He was getting angry again. Over what, he thought. This is exactly why he never really made any friends. He was so easily annoyed by the littlest things that no one talked to him for more than a minute without him exploding on them. But lately, his temper was worse than usual. Well, its got to be normal. Given what happened. No, he thought. That wasn't it. He was just stressed out because of school and his spell not working right, not that. He was fine with that. At peace with that. He was acting just fine. Nothing out of the normal Dylan.

[juliet]

Juliet nodded and eyed the boy. He was younger than her but only by a year. She had never really noticed him before, but Juliet didn’t pay that much attention to younger students. She didn’t mind that much. She just didn’t have time to bother with them. Juliet had her own life to worry about that was for sure. Juliet eyed the boy. She wasn’t familiar with him really. Juliet really only knew sixth and seventh years with only a few exceptions. She had too much going on to notice really. Some people called her self-obsessed but that wasn’t it at all. She was simply confident. Was that such a bad thing? Juliet didn’t care. People could say and think what they wanted. She couldn’t change there minds just as they couldn’t change hers. She sighed. People could be so difficult sometimes but Juliet was used to it. She was used to get talked about and she was used to people not understanding her. Oh well. It was simply a part of life.

Juliet nodded. “Ah. Yes burning things can be quite fun.” She nodded with her usual sly smile. She was truthful about that actually. Juliet used to make it a hobby of burning ants with her muggle magnifying glass when she was younger. It was a fun activity for her back then even if it was a bit odd. Oh well. Juliet in general was a bit odd, but she didn’t notice much. She eyed the boy. He looked angry like he just wanted for her to leave. Juliet didn’t want to annoy the boy but she did wonder why he didn’t seem to want her around. People usually felt either one of two things when Juliet approached them. They felt honored to be spoken to by this ‘party girl’ or they felt like the wanted to leave to avoid any craziness that could occur. Juliet sighed. She could deal with someone not wanting her around. After all, her presence could be a little much. She didn’t know this boy. Maybe he just didn’t like talking to people that he didn’t know. Juliet didn’t have a problem with it. She had enough confidence to talk to whoever she wanted to. But that was just her.

Juliet looked him dead in the eyes. “You don’t want me here.” She said plainly. She didn’t mind stating the obvious. She didn’t mind confronting the boy. Juliet could be quite stubborn at times so this wasn’t anything new for her. “I can leave if you would rather bask in the glow of your loneliness.” She told him. Yep, Juliet could be cold at times. But different people took her coldness differently. They either saw it as a challenge or they blew up and got angry at her comments. “Or I can help you at whatever you’re doing. Then again, you might be one of those guys that refuses help from girls or anyone really.” She paused. “Either way I don’t really care.” She told him point blank. Yeo, she could do that sometimes. This boy was either going to take this fine or he was going to take it badly. Either way, Juliet didn’t really care.

[Dylan Caoimhe]

Dylan laughed. For the first time, in a long time, he laughed. He got up off the ground, pulled himself up to his full height, and walked over to the girl and stood right in front of her. An inch separated them, which maybe was a little too close for comfort, but he didn't care. He was only a little taller than her, but he wasn't trying to intimidate her or anything. He found her rather amusing. He hadn't dropped his gaze yet, and she seemed just as determined. He smiled.

"Actually," he said studying her face. "I only accept help when I find that I absolutely can't do something on my own. It doesn't matter if it's a woman." He said looking her up and down before settling his gaze back into her eyes. "Or as you put it, a girl. One of the most intelligent, most brilliant people that I ever met was a woman. She taught me alot."

He felt his smile fade a bit, but once again suppressed those thoughts that so anxiously waited to creep into the front of his mind and torture him. But, he wouldn't let them. He would fight them. Fight them until he beat them. What he would give to use Incendio on them.

"Anyway," he said replacing his grin, "I don't need any help with what I'm doing. I'll admit, I'm having a bit of trouble, but thats how you learn. You keep going and practicing until you get it right. Besides, you wouldn't know how to help me, given that you've never cast this spell before in your apparently rich and meaningful life where in your spare time, which is very seldom of course, you take the time to talk to people you could care less about just to add zest to their pitiful lives. But, if I find I can't get it right by next week, will your sincere, oh so polite offer to help still stand?"

Dylan bit his lower lip. He hadn't meant to go that far. He didn't want to have anything to do with this girl. Did he? It was almost like his tongue got away from him, which was something that never happened. Never. Dylan always said what he meant, and meant what he said. But, for some reason, he couldn't help it. He didn't like her or anything. He didn't like anybody. Dylan was sure he was asexual. Not once had he ever had romantic feelings for anyone, and doubted that he ever would. That was just, him. But if he did come across an attractive girl, he liked to study them. He didn't know why, but he just did. Maybe that was it. He just thought she was pretty. On top of that, she seemed to have some sort of a brain. Appealing. Thats all. He found her appealing.