I dare you. {AJ}

[Isabelle Leynette R3]

Dares, they where funny little things. Funny little things that had the power to determine how brave somebody was, to determine how adventurous one was, but most of all, something that could also determine how fun you where. Belle was never one to back down on a dare, nor could she remember the last time she had. The time was almost there. It was time for her dorms to have a girl night. Occasionally they played their games, such as truth or dare, or just dare. Usually they just gossiped. Tomorrow was going to be a game of dares. Belle just knew. Lately they’ve been talking about taking a dip in the lake, Belle knew as well this would turn out to be a dare, and with her luck she would be the lucky one. Gee, couldn’t you just feel the excitement? Of course not, that was sarcasm, but Belle had a plan. She was going to test the waters a night ahead, just incase. She was going to be prepared. This wasn’t cheating technically, just cheating unofficially. Belle wasn’t a coward, very much adventurous and very, very fun. She wasn’t going to lose all that just because the water might be cold. Okay, defiantly very, very cold. She knew she shouldn’t worry about the petty things such as temperature, and with a drill sergeant screaming orders in her head she began to mentally prepare for the mind-blowing coldness. ‘Come on soldier you have to do better than that, focus, really focus. Its time to kill the enemy. I can smell the fear, can you?’ She didn’t know what the old guy was talking about, enemy, ha. ‘Let’s go, move, move, move those legs of yours. Be quiet as you go outside. Don’t wake the girls. We can’t afford that right now.’ This man was an idiot, but Belle blocked him out as she went over a mental checklist in her mind as she snuck out. Bathing suit she didn’t know was even in her suitcase; check. Black sweats to go over the red bikini: check, yes again. Towel; ugh, no towel. Well whatever, she would have to do without, besides she was almost outside. She couldn’t go back now, she might wake up one of the dorm mates, and she couldn’t risk that, not now she was almost there. Twenty more feet. The sergeant resumed his yelling till she was outside. Chills ran up her whole body, okay it was defiantly chiller than she expected it to be, but she had to ignore it. She was queen of dares; she was going to win tomorrow night. She had to, being number one came with a price, and sadly she was willing to pay. She was a poor, naïve girl, not that she would admit it.


She approached the water with caution, oh and yeah not to mention, second thoughts. It was really cold outside. She felt incredibly stupid. This wasn’t necessary at all; she would just go back to her warm bed back in the dorm and take her chances tomorrow night. ‘Don’t you dare retreat soldier, you’ve made it this far already. Stop being a damn coward. Your almost there, so keep moving.’ Sergeant kept up the yelling and she was too scared to disobey him. Yeah, smart, scared of an imaginary voice. That would sound great if she ever had to talk to a shrink. Adventure, she murmured under her breath. It was helping her keep peace, one with the world, and balderdash like that. She at least needed to stay sane. Sergeant scream-a-lot was making this task very difficult. Where did she pick up the random screaming man that chose to abide in her mind? She barely noticed his voice fading as she reached her destination. The water was breathtaking, it truly was. The moon was reflecting off of it and it looked amazing. She was stunned. When was the last she had snuck out and felt so transfixed? She silently asked herself. Even if she decided not to get in she could at least sit her and think of a way to paint this. To capture all this natural beauty. Oh, a project, nice, she hadn’t had one of those in awhile. Wow she was inspired. So she ended up sitting there, feet dangling over the edge, as she thought about the colors, wondering if she should paint it or draw it. She wasn’t sure how long she was sitting there like that. But she was sure of one thing when she heard someone whisper ‘hey’ she screamed shattering the silence with her voice. She managed to cover her mouth. Heart racing like a sprinter, she couldn’t hear anything for moments, just the sound of her own heart beating wildly in her chest. “What are you trying to do here?” She whispered loudly, and clearly angry. “Thanks, but I wouldn’t like a heart attack, I enjoy living.” She said her voice dripping with sarcasm. Who was this person who gave her a scare anyway?

[AJ Murphy G6]

AJ walked about the grounds late at night. He had business to tend to by the lake today. His friend Bobby, who was a Hogwarts graduate, was going to meet him out on the grounds tonight. Bobby worked at Zonko’s Joke Shop and he had AJ’s latest shipment of great gags and tricks. AJ needed them for tomorrow night, but the next Hogsmeade visit wasn’t for more than two weeks. AJ couldn’t possibly wait that long for this trick, so he set up this operation. He couldn’t have Bobby mail him the stuff, because if it arrived at the Gryffindor table, problems would arise. He’d get the gadget confiscated the moment it arrived. Besides, this package was very large and very heavy, so an owl couldn’t possibly send it in. AJ looked around and waited for Bobby near the whomping willow, which he had calmed with a simple spell. Suddenly, Bobby emerged out of the small hole with a mischievious smile. AJ handed Bobby his money and he smiled again. “Have fun with it then.” He said slyly as he heaved the heavy package out of the hole and it landed with a thud at AJ’s feet. “It was a pain in me neck to carry, so you should be glad I made the journey here at all.” He said, giving the large package a malicious stare. Bobby was expelled from Hogwarts before the end of his seventh year, so he couldn’t use a simple spell to make it hover over him. AJ laughed as he raised his wand and Bobby disapeered into the hole.

He began to walk back towards the castle when he noticed someone was out by the lake. He began to walk her way, the large package still hovering behind him. This girl was dashingly pretty, but far too young for AJ’s liking. She was only in third year. AJ shrugged as he walked up to her. She didn’t seem to notice him, for her eyes were transfixed on the water. He smirked. “Hey.” He said quietly. The girl jumped, and AJ chuckled. He gave her a smile. “God you’re hot. If only you were older…” He said, letting the sentence trail off. “Anyway, I’m AJ Murphy. Sixth year Gryffindor. May I ask why you’re out here in the middle of the night by the cold Black lake in a red bikini?” He said, glancing at the water. He was surprised anyone would want to jump in there. It was an icy blue, and AJ could swear there was a bit of thin ice down by the other side. This chick was crazy.

((Apologies for the short post. It looked sooo much longer on word.))

[Isabelle Leynette R3]

“God, your arrogant, wouldn’t have ever guessed you were older.” Belle replied her voice no longer a soft whisper, but it wasn’t loud either. Not to mention she seemed pissed. Perhaps being scared senseless did that to a person. She needed to grab a hold of herself. Anger was not a good emotion, okay it looked great in a photograph, but in real life it was dangerous. She closed her green eyes and began to count to ten in her head, by five she was already feeling relaxed, anger slipping out of her body slowly and being replaced with the calm she felt earlier. “Hmm, AJ Murphy ….” She repeated softly to herself thinking. Well his named sure seemed to fit him. He defiantly looked like an Aj, or maybe a Colby. “Well evening to you AJ, I’m Belle. No, you may not ask what I’m going here dressed how I am.” She replied only this time her tone was lighter, friendlier somehow. Without really thinking she brought her hand to her shoulder and covered the red of the bikini with the shoulder of her sweat shirt. “I’ll supply the information though, if you might tell me what you’re doing here so late. Maybe it has something to do with that rather large package floating over there over your head.” She said lightly pointing at the package that was suspended in the air. Something seemed suspicious about it. It also looked really heavy. “Mind if I take a look?” She asked, but she was already up and heading in the package’s general direction to see what was inside. She didn’t like not knowing what was inside. She hated not knowing, the suspense was killing her. She stopped though, waiting on an answer. It was still cold outside. Probably even colder than when she first arrived out there. It was a good thing it wasn’t windy. That wouldn’t be good.

She stood there feeling the cold and asking herself what she was doing outside. Who even did this? Who was crazy enough to go outside in the cold? It wasn’t smart, that’s for sure. She asked herself these things. The voice of reason told her she did. Oh, yeah, she did, often, how she could forget.

[[Any who. A bit short? Probably but hey. Longer reply next time.]]

[AJ Murphy G6]

The girl was smart. AJ could tell he would have some fun talking to her. Every word she spoke was dipped in fresh sarcasm, and she didn’t hesitate when she spoke. Most younger students at Hogwarts were very scared and intimidated by their older classmates, but not this girl. She spoke to AJ like she was riding on a great high horse, almost like she thought she was better than AJ. AJ flashed her a bright smile when her voice softened a bit, and the sarcasm lightened up in her voice. Now she didn’t seem quite so angry at AJ. It wasn’t like she had any reason to be angry in the first place. AJ didn’t really do anything wrong. He wasn’t sneaking around on the tips of his toes meaning to sneak up on her after all. He had walked up from behind her very casually, and he was sure he had stepped on quite a few leaves as he walked. He wasn’t trying to scare anyone.

AJ looked up at the night’s sky. There were many beautiful stars in the sky. Using the Big and Little Dippers, AJ found the North Star. He smiled a bit as he found it. He found it fascinating that the North Star seemed to always shine the brightest, and how it always pointed North, no matter what. He had heard from one of his smarter friends that those in the southern hemisphere couldn’t even see such a wonder as the North Star. It was a shame. AJ had always been fascinated by stars and astronomy. Despite the lateness of each class, AJ enjoyed going to astronomy three times a week. It was one of the few classes he attended every time a class was scheduled. He looked back down at the girl, who had her eyes closed and was counting under her breath. “I remember using that trick. Do I really get you that angry that I made you have to count to ten?’ He said, almost teasing the third year. AJ’s voice was almost always in a tone of mocking. He was rarely ever serious. The girl introduced herself as Belle.

“Well Belle, if you must know, my presence out here does have to do with my package.” He said mysteriously. The package did remind him of something. Prefects were patrolling the corridors, along with a few teachers. If he didn’t get upstairs to the Gryffindor common room undetected, his package could be confiscated. Then an idea came to him. He removed a pouch from his pocket and opened it. He enchanted the pouch with a spell to increase the amount of space inside. As Belle approached the package, he smirked.

“But that doesn’t mean I’m going to tell you what’s in it. If you really want to know what’s in it, I suggest being in the Great Hall tomorrow morning when my hand will ‘slip’ and open up the package at breakfast. But you didn’t hear that from me.” He said slyly, shoving the package into the small pouch. He tied a knot to close it, and placed the pouch in the inside pocket of his robes. AJ loved playing jokes on people. It kept people cheerful. Not to mention pranks like AJ’s were normally a very good way of getting back at people. Most Slytherins had learned by now not to mess with AJ. Once, when AJ was in his third year, a seventh year Slytherin had tried to bully him. The next day, he woke up with permanently pink hair and a skirt that would forever be attached to his waist. He chuckled a bit at the memory. The Slytherins had all claimed that AJ had done it, but professors never found evidence to support their claim. “If I get caught out so late at night now, especially when I’m carrying this, it will surely be taken away. So I’m going to head back to the common room now to get some shut-eye. Good night, Belle. If anyone asks, I was never here.” He said with a smile, walking away from the grounds. In his mind, AJ almost dared Belle to follow him inside.

[Isabelle Leynette R3]

Calm is a very hard feeling to contain inside, very tricky to hold on too. That’s at least what Belle’s grandmother always told her. “You my Isabelle should always try to find at though.” Her grandfather would add from where he would be at the time, most likely in his study. This was when she was still living with her grandparents at their house. When she was there she almost never lost her cool. She had nothing to lose her cool over, not had her that frustrated, but on the occasions she did it seemed like all hell broke lose. The reasons always seemed to tie in with her dear parents. Sometimes it’s because the cancelled a visit, or maybe a forgotten birthday, but more likely the fact they were alive. Her grandma after seeing this a few times decided to teach her how to breath to ten so she could relax and maintain the sought after calm. The trick always worked, no matter the situation, this was one of the things Belle could always rely on. It was an anchor, something that kept her there, connected to the tranquility. Then came the year she was forced to move in with her parents. She found herself using her anchor a lot; in fact she used it almost everyday. The trick still didn’t fail, and it was still working some years later, especially when the human race chose to show how truly imperfect they were, or exposed how less then perfect she was. Something that was very difficult for a perfectionist to understand, so it came as a shock when he asked her the question. ‘No.’ she answered him in her mind. He didn’t get her angry by succeeding at scaring her. No, she wasn’t even truly angry at him. She was more upset with herself because she had lost control of the moment. For a second there when her scream pierced the silence and her fright was evident she was vulnerable and defiantly less then perfect. This was most certainly not acceptable, especially not around this AJ person. She doubted he would understand her need for control. So instead of letting him inside her mind to the raw honesty she smirk and replied with a different answer. “I suppose you would have handled the situation differently?” She answered with her own question. It was even somewhat honest. She was trying hard not to lie. She hated liars and tried never to be a hypocrite. She hated those as well. Honesty was a big thing for her. She was always honest with everybody, even her parents, a bit sarcastic, maybe even played a few mind games with them, but she tried never to lie. Because of the mentioned mind games she knew he was teasing her; that was her tone. She wasn’t sure how she felt having her tone used against her. It wasn’t a great feeling, that’s for sure.

There was not time to dwell on that though, because he went on to answer her question. Not to mention she was correction about the answer. The package was the key element to the whole ‘him being out here after hours’ thing. She had been inches away from the package when be shrunk it, putting it away and told her she would have to wait till the following morning where he would have the big unveiling. “Men.” She murmured under her breath, and rolled her eyes. This guy was difficult. She was absolutely sure he knew that she would be there tomorrow morning because her curiosity was killing her. She decided to use the puppy dog eye card. Her green eyes now with the sad appearance looked into his. “Please …” She whispered softly trailing off. It was a trick that normally worked. By now she was rather impatient and couldn’t wait a few hours, anyway what if she missed the prank? Or didn’t have a good view? She was about to say this, but remembered promising to tell him what she was doing out there since he so generously told her his. She found herself sighing, she wasn’t a liar; she would have to tell him. “Since I promised to tell you …” She trailed off unsure how to turn her scrambled thoughts into words. “I’m here because I needed to take a dip for a dare that will be made tomorrow.” She was sure she wasn’t making much sense. Perhaps that was a good thing around this guy. After all he didn’t admit much, and hiding the package so she couldn’t see wasn’t cool either. Who was this guy? How had he caught her so of guard? He was one lucky guy, yet he didn’t have a clue and she was going to keep it like that. He was never going to find her like this ever again. The significance was so grand and he didn’t know. She found this very funny. She had to cover her mouth so he wouldn’t hear her laughing.


She stopped laughing when he said he was leaving, and did just that. “Oh, no you don’t.” She said catching up to him. “You do not get to disrupt my night, make me curious about your little surprise and refuse to show it to me, and then just leave. Absolutely not. Things don’t work like that.” She made sure he was looking at her as she said this. This guy was breaking all the rules. All her rules, rules that made sure it never ended this way. It was about time he knew the score. She never lost and she was going to get something out of this.

[AJ Murphy G6]

AJ couldn’t help but laugh at Belle’s attitude towards AJ’s secrecy. She was so eager to figure out what was inside the mysterious box, that she was completely distracted by everything else around her. AJ doubted she even noticed her sweater slip down her shoulder, making it easy for AJ to see much of the red bikini. If only she wasn’t only thirteen. AJ wasn’t one of those creeps that dated girls he was capable of babysitting. Despite her obvious beauty, Isabelle wasn’t for him. He shrugged off the thought. Feeling the weight of the small pouch in his robe pocket, AJ smiled. He couldn’t wait until tomorrow morning when the big moment occurred. He could just see it now. Children gathered at their house tables for a small breakfast before their classes, when the box opened somewhere in the far corner of the room. AJ wondered whether he would put it closest to the Slytherins or the professors. Before long, the box’s contents will have spilled out throughout the hall. People everywhere would run for cover just so they wouldn’t get hit.

AJ didn’t even want to think of what was really inside the box, as if he feared Belle had some kind of legimancy power and could read his mind. After all, he didn’t want to spoil the surprise, did he? AJ loved to see the reactions on people’s faces when his pranks were in effect. Some screamed in terror, as if they thought a few harmless tricks were going to hurt them. Others looked around suspiciously, hoping to find the culprit of the silly crime. Some of them automatically assumed it was he, but AJ always had a story made up as to where he had been at the time of the crime. Mostly only prefects and professors had such a reaction. Others laughed hysterically, because they simply enjoyed watching everyone’s reactions to the trick. These were mostly AJ’s fellow Gryffindor peers. AJ wondered what Belle’s reaction would be. She’d probably laugh and shake her head, and walk away with a knowing smile. Yes, from what AJ had gathered of her, that seemed like something she would do. AJ laughed as he heard Belle mutter the word ‘men’ under her breath. It reminded him a lot of Angel, but he didn’t want to think of her now. He was glad that little annoyance was gone. She was such a control freak, and acted as if she thought she was in charge of AJ or something. He rolled his eyes. She tried the classic ‘puppy eyes’ trick that most girls loved to do. He had to admit, Belle was good at it. AJ had almost felt the urge to open up the box right now and show her its contents, but AJ wasn’t that easily swayed.

“Wow Belle, I’ve got to admit, you’re quite good at that.” He said with a teasing smile. “But not quite good enough I’m afraid. You’re going to have to wait until tomorrow like the rest of Hogwarts. I can’t give you special treatment, now can I?” He said, making sure his smile didn’t falter. He loved doing this to her. The curiosity was probably killing her inside to a point where she needed to see what was inside, and would not rest until she did. If only she understood that if she went to bed now, AJ wouldn’t get his package taken away, she would get her beauty sleep, and morning would come faster. But no, that logic didn’t seem to come to this young Ravenclaw. He assumed she was a Ravenclaw, for he now remembered seeing her face at the Ravenclaw table quite often.

Belle then started to explain what she was doing out so late. Her logic was quite funny. AJ loved how she made the oddest things sound so normal. “So, what are you psychic or something? Or did you just randomly guess you’re friends were going to dare you to jump in this ice cold lake? Because it would really suck if you made yourself jump into the lake and all they ask you to do is pick your nose. He said, imagining Belle’s face when no one dared her to jump in the lake. As AJ started to walk away, Belle continued to protest. He turned around and smiled. “Then how does it work?” He said, almost teasing her.

[Isabelle Leynette R3]

She was looking at him, wondering what was going through his mind. Belle couldn’t figure it out. It was often so easy to read people. But not this guy. He was difficult. But what did she expect. He didn’t follow her normal guidelines. He treated them as they where simply recommendations and he had a better way to live. A way to drive her crazy. Normally Belle would be frustrated by now. Perhaps the reason she wasn’t, was because she had already lost her cool once that night, and wasn’t ready for a repeat. Or perhaps she was letting him break the rules. Maybe she wanted to see who had the guts to break the rules. This was silly a silly thought though. No one really knew she about the rules, or that she had a way of wanting things to go so she could present herself in a fashion she saw fit. So she showed poise, wit, and control. So far this night she had lost her cool, had a loss of words, and lost control. This AJ person was not presenting her in the greatest light. Oddly, she didn’t mind. Her curiosity was bigger that her need for order. She was very curious, and he was very mysterious, making her even more curious. The best way to describe the situation was that he had captivated her attention. He most certainly had. He could have said anything and she might have doubted him but believed him eventually. All these babbles of thoughts made it hard to concentrate at the task at hand. For those with small attention spans, she wanted to see what was in the box.

He didn’t give in. She didn’t give up. But she had no other plan. Therefore she had no other choice; she would have to throw in the towel. Don’t get me wrong. She had no want of giving up, but she had no idea on what else to try. He had won, she had lost, that she had to accept. She would have to wait till tomorrow morning like all the other unsuspecting people. Except she wasn’t unsuspecting. But there was a bright side, the silver lining in this cloud, tomorrow morning was a few hours away. With one finally sigh she looked at him and said in a fashion which was tad over dramatic, but perfect. Her words were heavy, and drug out. Her tone; of course it was a tad on the sarcastic side as well. But still had that ‘if you’d like to tell me now, its okay’ thing going on. That little once of hope, to see if he’d give in. “Fine, you win, I suppose I’ll wait till tomorrow, but just so you know I get special treatment all the time, why? I don’t have a clue, but let’s not ruin something that’s been going perfectly.” She told him and looked away. This whole ordeal was driving her crazy. Why did she want to know so badly? ‘Because he won’t let you, you are being denied soldier.’ Ah, lovely, the damn drill sergeant was back. How was this supposed to keep her sane? Perhaps she was crazy after all, but weren’t all those who were great a bit on the nutty side? She was defiantly losing it; all this stress was bad for her, obviously. She forced the voice out of her head. The drill sergeant cursed her as he left, she was glad the pest was gone.

“So, what are you psychic or something? Or did you just randomly guess you’re friends were going to dare you to jump in this ice cold lake? Because it would really suck if you made yourself jump into the lake and all they ask you to do is pick your nose.” He said and Belle laughed. “Well, you obviously don’t know my friends. They’ve been talking about jumping in the lake for weeks. Then one would protest that it was to cold. Then they would say, no it would be cool. Seeing as tomorrow we’re having our regular game of truth or dare, and there all to scared at the beginning and I always choose dare … well … its rather obvious.” She explained this to him as if it was the most logical thing, but of course it wasn’t, but Belle had no clue.

He was walking away right, so ran after him right? Well good, you’ve been paying attention. She told him things didn’t work like this, be of course had an answer. “Then how does it work?” he asked her, teasing her, mocking her. She sighed. “I don’t know, just your not supposed to just walk away.” She told him. If anything she was supposed to be the one walking away.