AJ Murphy Has Done It Again...((Celia))

[AJ Murphy G6]

AJ sat in his History of Magic class, barely awake. He normally didn’t bother coming to his classes, but McGonagall had literally dragged him into going. “Andrew, if you miss one more class, I’m going to be forced to hold you back a year. Would you like to repeat sixth year, Mr. Murphy?” Professor McGonagall had screeched. AJ would rather eat a slug than repeat his sixth year at Hogwarts, so here he was, sitting in class. AJ rolled his eyes. He yawned. He watched as Binns sat in his desk. There was an assignment on the board that no one but some of the Ravenclaws were doing, and Binns was already at his desk, dozing off to sleep. A wide mischievous smile could be seen on AJ’s face. AJ tapped his fingers on the desk, waiting for it to happen. Finally! Professor Binns had fallen into a deep sleep, and most of the class hadn’t even noticed. AJ removed his wand from his pocket and opened the door, making sure it made no noise as it cracked open. AJ glanced at his professor. He was still asleep. AJ picked up his things, waved goodbye to the class, and walked silently out of the classroom. He flashed a brilliant white triumphant smile as he hauled his bag over his shoulder and walked over to the courtyard. He took in a breath of fresh air and dropped his bag onto the pavement. Suddenly, the end of class bell could be heard in the distance.

AJ didn’t have a class next period, and neither did anyone else in sixth year. AJ was grateful for this free time, but he normally had a bit more than most sixth years, with all the classes he skipped this term. He could only remember attending one Care of Magical Creatures class this year, and he only attended his main subject courses about four out of the five days of the week. AJ would never go to class on Fridays, for he felt it was pointless. AJ smiled as his good friend Carson McGreggor walked his way. Carson was more of a friend to Angel than AJ, but they still got along decently. AJ wished Angel would go out with Carson already, instead of that other guy. If Leo ever heard of what Angel was doing, he’d throw a fit. AJ shrugged. He wasn’t one to butt into other people’s business like his step sister was. If Angel wanted to go out with an ex-convict, then so be it. Besides, Angel probably wouldn’t be going out with anyone anytime soon where she was. Angel used to be a sixth year Ravenclaw at Hogwarts, but she was now training for the Winter Olympics in Sweden with some new coach.

“Hey Carson, what’s up?” AJ said, his hands deep inside his pockets. “Eh, I’ve been kinda bored since Angel left, but I think I’ll live. What’s up with you?” AJ shrugged. “I don’t really know how you could have considered things to be interesting back when Angel was here, but whatever, your opinion. I just walked out of History class. Binns was duller than usual today.” Carson raised his eyebrow, but as the bell rang, he took off like the wind. As the courtyard cleared, AJ looked around to see if anyone was left. He was up for some fun. AJ needed something to lighten up his day. This was the most boring Tuesday afternoon AJ had seen yet. He sighed as he looked around. Then, he spotted her.


“Ello, Celia.” AJ said to Celia Richmond, a Ravenclaw in his year. She was in most of AJ’s classes, so he knew her well. He had never had much more than a friendly conversation with her before. “How is life treating you on this fine Tuesday afternoon?” He said with a mischievous grin.

[Celia Richmond]

Another day, another Runes lesson over. She loved Tuesday afternoons. Firstly because she loved Runes, it was one of her favourite subjects, as were, to be honest, most of her lessons, and then she had a free, as did everyone else in her year. That was rather fun-it was the only time when the whole year was free. Everyone had other frees, except, perhaps, those who did 8 NEWTs. There was space in the timetable for 7 subjects, plus astronomy so she had relatively little free time...only 2 lesson. Well, the majority of students took 5, but not many did astronomy, so they had their nights free to work, or actually catch up on sleep. Having to stay up until 2am 3 nights a week was horrible, especially when other professors took their own subject as being the major priority and didn't take lack of sleep due to astronomy as a good enough excuse to not be on best form first thing in the morning. Luckily one of those nights was Friday, so there was no need to get up early the following day, unless you wanted the best possibly breakfast.But then again most of the students slept in so that wasn't usually much of an issue.

For the end of November, this Tuesday afternoon was rather pleasant. There was a slight chill in the air due to the cold wind blowing about, but that was perfectly bareable with a warm cloak, and so she decided to spend her free lesson outside for a change, something she usually only did in the summer, and earlier in autumn. She planned on reading through the work she'd done over the past couple of days, perhaps starting some of the homework she'd just been given -a long translation and making notes on the history of some rune or other they'd been studying. She also had charms from that morning, and Transfiguration. Her NEWTs were far from easy, plus she had all this extra-curricular stuff, all of which she loved.

She went to sit at her favourite bench-the one that gave her a great view over the lake, and the sunset at that time of day. She remembered that time not so long ago when she was sitting here, and Promise turned up...Mack was NOT pleased when she found out. She'd pretty much assumed Celia was hitting on her now Fiancé, not realising that a) she wasn't remotely interested and b) even is she was, she would NEVER go after someone elses boyfriend, let alone fiancé. She had morals. And besides, with Mack, she was scared. Well, they weren't exactly friends, that was for sure, despite them both being prefects. For Celia, it was all in the past, and it meant nothing. For Mack...possibly neither.

Just as she was beginning to read about that pesky rune she had to write about , a familiar person walked up to her, his usual cheery self. AJ Murphy, the infamous troublemaker if the year. Well, him and Jez anyway. Whatever would happen if they ever combined their plans, she couldn't imagine. They'd probably end up blowing up the school or something. The short of it was, AJ was coming her way, with a conversation. At least it was likely to be friendly, judging by his tone of voice as he approached. He was generally a friendly guy, albeit mischievous and troublesome...she shared some lessons with him. She put away her book, and turned to talk to him. The work could wait for now, she didn't have astronomy that night.

"Hey AJ! I'm alright thanks. NEWTs are hardly a breeze, but life's good in general! i love Tuesday afternoons. What about you, how's 6th year for you? Which subjects are you taking again? But yeah, it's a rather hectic year, it is." And it was...with prefect duties, BBBS and now quidditch, not forgetting 6 subjects, she didn't have much free time. Actually, now she thought about it she still needed to send the owls to the BBBS students on her list, letting them know about the meeting and who their new "sibling" was. Luckily she didn't have many...maybe she'd get that done that evening.

[AJ Murphy G6]

AJ blinked as Celia started babbling on and on about school things. He did try to keep his interest though. Suddenly, he noticed Mandee Washington, a Hufflepuff in the year above passing by. He smiled at her casually, and she blushed. AJ did have that kind of charm on most girls. He averted his gaze on Mandee and snapped back into the conversation he was having with Celia. She was a bit dull, wasn’t she? All she talked about was school, classes, NEWTS, and all the work she hoped to get done. AJ would bet a million galleons that Celia was a part of that stupid BBBS thing as well. The BBBS was probably one of the stupidest ideas Angel Sheridan had ever come up with. He couldn’t think of why someone would ever think of spending their free time babysitting some little brat. What was the point? The first years could handle themselves, in AJ’s opinion. AJ had successfully finished his first year ages ago, and he didn’t need some bossy sixth year to help him through it. He found his way around fine. AJ never did like authority. AJ glanced down at his large red t-shirt and blue jeans that were easily seen, even with his Gryffindor robes over them. He shrugged at Celia’s question. “Sixth year has been rough, I guess. McGonagall is already threatening to hold me back a year. But what she doesn’t realize is that if professors meant for their students to attend their class, they would at least attempt to make lessons interesting. Take Snape for example. I haven’t been to a Potions lesson in weeks, but that’s his fault for making his lessons so incredibly pointless.” He said with a casual shrug. AJ was known for quite a few things. First and foremost, AJ was known as the trouble maker. AJ never liked rules, and everyone knew that fact quite plainly. He didn’t bother with dress codes, and he didn’t particularly like the whole curfew rule. AJ couldn’t help but play back the same scene over and over again in his head.

”I don’t know what I’m going to do with you, AJ.” Emily Murphy said, rubbing her temples as she put down a note from Professor Snape. “You’re turning out just like your father. It’s like every time I look at you, I see him. Please don’t do that to me, AJ. I don’t want you to be like him.” Emily said sadly, wiping a small tear from the corner of her eye.

AJ shuddered at the memory. AJ’s father was currently in a rehabilitation center somewhere in Whales. He had an ongoing heroine problem that had been going on for a number of years. It was the main reason Emily had filed for divorce all those years ago. AJ never did like rules, but he promised himself a long time ago that he would never turn out like his father. AJ remembered visiting him for the first and last time last year. The place was dark and scary, and AJ became extremely depressed the moment he had walked inside. He never wanted to go to a place like that, not even for a second. Every time AJ saw anything sharp, memories of the rehab center haunted him. He smiled a bright white smile at Celia, trying to ignore the memories. People seemed to know everything about AJ now, but one thing they didn’t know was his past. They didn’t know about his family. Emily was well known amongst the staff members, as they spoke to her often. However, no one knew about AJ’s father, nor did they know about Leo or his children. AJ was thankful of that. AJ would probably transfer schools the day people found out AJ had any relation to Angel Sheridan.

[Celia Richmond]

AJ was obviously distracted. Celia knew she wasn't the most interesting of people to talk to, but she made an effort to talk to people. A 7th year Hufflepuff girl was walking past...she didn't know who it was, though she recognised her, and AJ was looking over at her, making her blush. He did tend to have that effect on many girls, but not Celia. Although he was somewhat physically attractive, his personality just didn't suit Celia. And besides, there was...something going on with him and her good friend Angel, something secretive, despite her leaving. That was a sad day, when Angel told her she was leaving, though she wished her all the best for the future. Hopefully they'd still keep in contact. BBBS had now been handed to Jamison, and they'd gained Carson McGreggor as Angel's replacement, so that was going to work out great.

AJ had finally got round to answering her question, or rather his own question to her, that she'd asked him back. She wasn't surprised to hear that McGonnagall had threatened to keep him back a year at all...he rarely turned up to lessons, and those he did go to he was always the one to mess up whatever they were doing. He was a nice guy, but she couldn't help but think of him being slightly idiotic not turning up to lessons. Well, being an academic Ravenclaw, and one who wanted to succeed in life as well as possible, she would think that. It was his choice....if he wanted to mess up his NEWTs then it was his own choice, and his own fault if it messed up his chances in life. So really it wasn't her business, but she couldn't help but feel somewhat concerned for him.

"Hey, well, if you don't want her to threaten you, it won't do you any harm to go to lessons! Cos if you are held back, you'll just have to go through it again, and stick it for even longer than you want to. Personally, I actually find the lessons quite interesting, most of the time anyway, and besides, they don't get a choice in what they teach, so you can't blame them for boring lessons. As for potions...I don't take it anymore, but I admit that the OWL lessons weren't exactly the best. But you should go to them...though if you turned up after missing so many lessons you'll be so behind that Snape will probably kill you, and he'll kill you anyway for missing so many of his lessons. Just...try and stick it out. You don't have much of a choice, if you don't wanna repeat the year...if you don't wanna do NEWTs, then what's the point in staying, and if you do, then you should go to lessons."

Celia sighed and looked over at AJ. She had no idea what he was going to do in life. Well, he'd managed to fluke his way though his OWLs, so he could possibly do the same in his NEWTs, but they were much harder. He was an odd character, one she couldn't puzzle out. If he hated lessons so much, there was no point in him being here in the first place. In most lessons he was just a distraction to other students, and he wasn't particularly popular with the professors. He was probably more distracted now than ever, now Angel had left. Well, there was something going on there, that she couldn't put her finger on. Angel had been a good friend to her, and Celia missed her. But she was now in Sweden, training for something or other in the Winter Olympics.

"So...how's life in general, outside classes? Heard from Angel at all since she left? She's probably really busy right now actually. She said she'd send us owls, but I've not heard anything from her yet..." Well, it was a change of subject at least. He was obviously bored with talk of school and the like, so hopefully this would be more interesting for him. Though knowing him he'd see something else to take his mind off her, like with her last lecture. She just wished he'd be more interested in the place he lived for the majority of the year. He was probably thinking along the lines of Christmas is coming, and only 3 more weeks of lessons to get through then another few weeks off. this was the longest term of the year, so no wonder he was more fed up than ever.

[AJ Murphy G6]

AJ nodded and pretended to listen to what Celia was saying, but he found it was a bit dull. He had heard these lectures before, and he didn’t want to hear them again. He should have expected this from a girl like Celia. He knew her type. She worked hard, barely ever had fun, and had a bright future ahead of her. What Celia didn’t see was that AJ had a bright future ahead of him as well. He was going to join the army, and then return home to be a radio talk show host after he left Hogwarts. He already had everything her needed. He had the skills. For the army, he was strong, and just a bit lazy. He had already done some military training last summer when his mother sent him to military school as a punishment, not knowing it was really a treat.

As for a career as a radio talk show host, he had that covered as well. He had excellent social skills, and was overall a pretty funny guy. He knew everything and anything there was to know about music. He had already started his career as a DJ. He smirked at the thought. AJ the DJ. Yes, that would be AJ’s perfect life. He didn’t need to know how to mix potions to talk on the radio. He didn’t need to know when Goblins first rebelled against wizards or how to turn a button into a beetle to do his job either. So what was the point of even coming to school? AJ had a job secured for him already, so he technically didn’t even need to come to school anymore. He had scraped decent OWL grades last year by studying harder than he had ever studied before the week before the test. School would be really easy for AJ if he tried hard enough. If he could study for something as hard as an OWLS test in only a week and achieve good grades, then imagine how great his academics would be if he actually showed up for his lessons and tried hard in school. But that wasn’t AJ’s style.

“First off, I’m only at Hogwarts because my mum is making me. If it were up to me, I’d be in the armed forces by now. I know what I want, and it doesn’t involve mixing useless potions or learning how to care for some ugly old plant. Once I’ve served my time in the military, I’m going to come back to London to be a talk show host on the radio. I don’t see how an education at Hogwarts will help me with my career plans for the future ahead. I’m not bothered with NEWTS. I doubt I’ll even stick around long enough to take them.” He said with a shrug. AJ smiled when Celia changed the subject. He wasn’t in the mood to talk about Hogwarts and academics. He opened his mouth to answer Celia’s question, but closed it again when she mentioned Angel. Why did people always think there was something between him and Angel? She was only his step-sister, meaning he wasn’t related to her in any way. He couldn’t understand how Celia had even drawn that conclusion, since AJ pretty much ignored Angel while she was here. He knew that some people knew that AJ was related to her, (thanks to Angel’s big mouth) but AJ liked to limit the amount of people who knew.

“You mean Angel Sheridan?” He asked, pretending to be confused. “That’s the girl that started that stupid BBBS thing, right? Nope, haven’t heard from her. Why would I have? I know we’re in the same year, but I’m not particularly close with the girl. She’s pretty annoying if you ask me.” He said casually. In truth, he did think Angel was absolutely annoying. All she did was talk about school, piano, and her figure skating. AJ admitted it was pretty cool that she could skate like that, but she was too much of a kiss up for AJ’s liking. She cared too much about what adults thought of her. AJ on the other hand, really couldn’t care less if a professor or two thought he was unbearable.

[Celia Richmond]

AJ was clearly bored by her lecture. She got the impression it wasn't new to him at all, and that wasn't surprising to her. Teachers had been pushing him to put in more of an effort in his lessons, quite understandably, it was quite likely people at home knew of his slacking and were giving him the same lecture too, not to mention other students-his friends and other classmates. Frankly, most people he shared classes with were annoyed with him. The majority of them wanted to do their NEWTs and do them well, and having AJ as a distraction wasn't doing any of them any favours. So in some ways she was glad he was rarely in class-in that way they could make progress and write more than about 2 lines of notes in the lesson.

He then went into a lecture about how he was going to be successful in life and that she'd got him all wrong and all that malarkey. She was impressed-she thought he'd probably make a good soldier, if he stopped clowning around so much. So she nodded her approval at his choices. "Woah, those are great plans! Well, the country needs it's armed forces and what would our evenings, and mornings in some cases, be without a good talk show eh? Hey. I wish you luck with that. But yeah, if that's really what you wanna do, you don't need your magical education." Wow, she actually found herself saying something AGAINST schooling, for once. To her, Hogwarts and work were basically her life, and what she did here would determine what she'd do in the future. She'd have to decide soon, seeing as she had little over a year and a half left in school. A year and a half that would almost certainly fly past before she realised she was at the end of it all.

But one thing she thought was odd was that his mother was making him stay. Naturally mothers want the best for their children, in AJs case get good NEWTs and get a decent job. She was surprised that AJ was letting her make him stay-he was such a bold, brash boy that she assumed he'd be able to stick up for himself and not be told what to do. Especially if he wanted to be in the army, for which you have to be strong and assertive and not let yourself be bossed around. As for being a talk show host, well, it was basically part of the job description to be powerful enough to be able to undercut people, perhaps embarrassing them or making them reveal things that they didn't want revealing. Or just ask relevant questions at least and be a memorable character.

She decided to ask him about his career plans, seeing as that would actually keep him interested. "So...what part of the army d'you wanna be part of? A soldier on the front line-I could see you doing that. Y'know, I thought someone like you would be able to go against your mother, and would've dropped out by now. But I understand how hard it is to disobey and hurt parents..." Celia hated disobeying anyone...parents (well, her mother only since her father left), teachers, friends...anyone. She didn't want to give a bad impression-most people that knew her knew her to be clever, courteous, probably rather friendly if not boring....not a bad girl at all, well, as in naughty bad anyway. There were probably some people that thought she was rather dull and boring, well, AJ did for example, but whatever.

"Yeah, I do mean Angel Sheridan" she said when he asked her. She'd thought that'd be obvious-she didn't know of any other Angels in school. "And yup, she did start that "stupid BBBS thing" as you put it. Which I don't think is stupid, but it's a matter of opinion. I assume you're not joining then, or is that a stupid question?" Yes, well, Celia was on the committee for BBBS, and preferred people not to say things against it, but it was their own choice if they didn't want to join, and she wasn't gonna make them join. She thought it was an excellent idea, hence why she was not only a "big sister" but a committee member, as the secretary. It could be rather tedious at times, but in general it was a rather fun experience.

"Hmm, ah well. I thought you knew her quite well. She used to talk about you quite a bit. Well, mention you anyway. Maybe one of her other friends has heard from her, I'll ask someone later. It's a shame you find her annoying. I always thought she was a great friend, and someone I always enjoyed spending time with." In truth, they had been friends since their first year there, seeing as they'd been in the same house and year. She was sure they'd stood next to each other at the sorting ceremony, when they were ready to be sorted. Celia, on her 12th Birthday, much younger and thinking that her time at this big new school would be really fun and exciting. Angel, well, much the same she assumed. Then they'd both been sorted into Ravenclaw and from what she remembered quite likely sat next to each other at the feast-firsties together!