Escape Interrupted ((Noah))

[Ryann Taylor G6]

Thirty-seven. Thirty-eight. Thirty-nine. Ryann sat by herself in the corner of the small cottage she lived in with her parents. The sound of laughter and random chatter surrounded the warm environment, as everybody (everybody except Ryann) enjoyed the good food, company, and celebration that her parent's were having for the local business owners. Instead of joining in the fellowship, Ryann sat on the cushioned chair in the corner, counting the number of floorboards that stretched from one wall to the other. She had promised her parents that she would at least stick around for the first hour or so, but as she sat bored, that promise seemed more and more impossible to keep. Ryann was used to the boredom around her house though. Her whole childhood consisted of growing up around adults, nobody her age living close by. In a way, she matured quickly because of it, but at the same time grew very isolated and accustomed to spending time by herself. Glancing at the clock, she figured she had paid her due and would soon retreat to her place- a place she had claimed years ago in which she could just relax and often get away from a world that held no interest of hers.

Standing up and taking her empty glass with her, Ryann passed a few huddles of people chatting happily together. She smiled politely at those who took at least a bit of effort to make eye-contact with her. Turning into the kitchen, her mother saw her and questioned what she was doing. "I just need some fresh air," she said rather softly as she placed her glass in the sink and went to go upstairs to grab her mini-wireless. "You're not going out to that dangerous tree-house are you, honey?" she asked. Ryann rolled her eyes as she scaled the stairs to her small room. Grabbing her music and a sweatshirt, she retreated back to the kitchen and straight for the door. "I won't die, I promise," she retorted rather melodramatically. "Just be careful sweetie," he mother cautioned as Ryann shut the door, cutting off the last of her words. Shaking her head and laughing to herself, Ryann put the small headphones in her ears and welcomed the tune that filled her head.

As she neared tree-house, she noticed that there was a light coming from the single window that faced her cottage. She assumed that on her last visit, she simply forgot to extinguish the lamp that she had charmed to stay lit on its own without needing any source of fuel or electricity for that matter. After learning about electricity in Muggle Studies, Ryann was always curious to try to hook up some sort of electrical contraption of her own, but remembered the danger that they had learned when studying electricity.

Climbing the steps, she pushed the hinged door open with loud crack. Then, she lifted herself through the square hole, flipped the wooden door back in place and then turned to take a seat on her couch she had brought to make the place more comfortable. "Wwhhaaaa!" she screamed with a high-pitched squeal. Ryan quickly grabbed for her wand which was tucked in her pocket and pointed it toward the boy who was lounging on her couch. "Who are you and what are you doing in my tree-house?!" she questioned between gasps of air. Her heart was pounding excessively, and she eyed the boy with caution as she used her free hand to start feeling behind her, searching for the handle of the door in case she needed to make a quick escape.

[noah]

Noah tapped his foot the tempo of the music playing loudly in the room, his pale finger flipping through different CD covers. All of his CDs were organized in an unusual pattern that only he knew. They were sorted alphabetically, but also by year, and which ones where his favorite from the artist of band. Coming across the JET album, Noah took the CD out from the shelf opening the front of the plastic case. He made his way over toward the muggle stereo his father had bought him for Christmas last year, clicking the open CD button. The case slid out, moving to an open cover where he set the new CD on it. It closed automatically, turning to the new CD that was added. It didn’t take long for the music to start back up again loudly. The reason why none of Noah’s siblings or parents was upstairs was because of the music. He would just listen to different CDs all day, and when he got a new one, it was played at least a million times. His father normally was the only one who told Noah to turn down his music. Lance was too busy getting ready at the moment to tell his son to turn down the volume, which meant he could turn it up as loud as he can. Noah really did not want to go to this party his father got invite too. It was just going to be a bunch of adults standing around, holding punch glasses in their hands and talking about the oldest stuff. Noah never really minded too much getting dragged along to these parties; at least one of his siblings was going to be there.

The door to his bedroom flew open followed by the sounds of springs squeaking on his mattress. With a raised eyebrow, Noah looked out of his closet seeing his younger sister Elaine sitting on the bed. Leaning up again the side of his door, he stared at his sister, who just remained calmed. She was still in a pair of shorts, with an old tee shirt, her brown hair pulled into a high ponytail with a few strands that had fallen out. “Are you going to wear that to the party?” he asked calmly heading back inside his closet toward the clothes rack section. She didn’t answer, but his music was turned off, leaving an aching silence in his ears. “What did you do that for?” Elaine shrugged staring at her older brother with those chocolate brown eyes. “Your going to do death someday you know?” Noah just snorted pulling a black dress shirt off from the hanger. “When I do become death, I won’t have to listen to you throw you little tantrums and I would still have my music.” Tugging the dress shirt on over his cotton white one, he then looked around for a pair of pants. “So tell me, why aren’t you dressed for the party?” Finding a nice pair of dark washed jeans he turned around at his sister who left the closet so he could pull them on. “…..because I’m not going. Mom said I could stay home. So have fun with dad.” Before he could even say anything, she left the room leaving the door open as she went downstairs. Shaking his head, Noah took his wand from his dresser, setting into the back of pocket.

By the time Lance and Noah both made it to the small cottage, Noah was already bored out of his mind. He stood by his father, holding a glass of punch, just nodding and seeming interested. One thing you learned from going to something like this was just to stare at whoever was talking and seem interested in what they were saying. It was the polite in some way, but kept Noah from having to say a word. Setting down the glass on the table he excused himself the group, feeling his father’s eyes on his back as he went to the other side of the room. Opening the door that led to the backyard, he closed it silently behind him stopping to look around. There wasn’t much, but he could make out a form of a tree house in the distance. Heading toward that, Noah unbuttoned the front two buttons of his shirt, the heat getting the best of him. Running his fingers through his dark hair he stopped at the base of the tree staring up at the leaves. It seemed sturdy enough. Climbing up the foot bars, Noah made his way up, pushing open the little door, and heaving himself into the room. Well it did look like someone actually came to this place frequently. There were girl magazines on the table, and a small couch. Sitting down on the couch he stared around the room, trying to take in everything.

Suddenly the door open making Noah advert his gaze toward the frightened girl who held out her wand at him. Sighing, he stood from the couch moving the girl’s wand away with his finger. “Do you really think I’m going to hurt you?” he asked a calm expression on his face. Alright this did seem bad if you looked at it from her point of view. A strange boy in her tree house, sitting on the couch did seem rather suspicious. “Sorry I didn’t know that this was your tree house…” Looking over the girl he offered a small smile toward her. “Looks like I’m not the only one whose bored out of their mind…I’m Noah Bentley and I’m just trying to get away…I can leave if you want….” Noah stopped suddenly trying to remember her name. “What’s your name?”

[Ryann Taylor G6]

Seeming to ignore her warning, the boy stood and approached Ryann. She searched frantically for the door behind her while keeping both her eyes and wand aimed at the boy. If his expression would have at all been threatening, Ryann wouldn't have hesitated to jinx him right there. However, his calm stare and slow approach made her hesitate to use any magic, especially since she wasn't permitted to anyways. As he pushed her outstretched wand away easily, Ryann opened her mouth in protest, but no words came out. When he spoke, Ryann began thinking to herself rather than answering. She realized that had she been in any danger, she would have been rather helpless with a hesitant tongue and her frozen state of shock. Her nerves dying down however, Ryann began to ease up, loosening her grip around the thin wand in her hands and relaxing her arm as it fell to her side. The boy apologized with a smile and then eased his way into some light conversation. Forcing a smile of her own, Ryann finally worked up the ability to speak again.

"You do realize how close you were to being cursed," she said, stretching the truth a bit. Oh, she had the intentions, just not the ability when it all came down to it. Her fear seemed to get the best of her in tense situations. Watching him closely still, Ryann smiled again, this time less forced than the other, and introduced herself in return. "Ryann Taylor," she said, recognizing him as well. "You are a sixth year Ravenclaw, right?" she questioned. "Or, wait, you were sixth year, meaning you are going to be entering your seventh year. Sorry I always have a hard time adjusting to remember when years change and all." Seeing that her nerves were now causing her to ramble a bit, Ryann walked over to the cupboard that had been part of the tree house since she found it. Opening the door, she reached inside and pulled out two bottles of pumpkin juice. "It's all I have, and please stay," she added, seeing that Noah was still standing, unsure of what he should do. Popping the cork to her own beverage, Ryann gave an apologetic look. "I'd offer to chill it for you with the charm, but I'm not exactly of age to do magic outside of the school. Perhaps your seventeen..." she trailed off with a hopeful look.

Ryann walked to the old couch and took a seat, sipping from her pumpkin juice. "Anyways..." she said, finally over the shock of finding Noah lounging in her tree house. "... yeah, I was a bit bored. This is my normal hang out though. With just me and my parents, the cottage can get a bit boring. I just come out here and listen to music. Sometimes, I spend hours just sitting here and thinking. What kind of music do you like?" she inquired, standing and walking over to the small collection of records that she had. Ryann liked a lot of older music which was why she tended to prefer records. For traveling though, her mini-wireless was the best option she had. She was still trying to find a way to get some of the songs from her record collection to work on her wireless. "I'll admit, my taste in music is a bit... vintage."

[noah]

Noah watched the freighted girl in front of him calmly as he waited for her to settle down. Her hand was still stretched out behind her near the door knob, while the other still held the wand firmly where you could see the whites of her knuckles. It seemed like he had scared the living daylights out of her. She had the right to be afraid. Finding a strange boy in a tree house did seem rather scary if you didn’t know them. Noah soon averted his stare at her clenched hand, noticing that she seemed to loosen up. Sighing, he looked back up at her trying to take in her physical appearance. She looked quite familiar. Maybe he had seen her around the castle at Hogwarts? Noah wasn’t the social kind of person. Actually, he only had a few friends, just enough to count on two hands. He really didn’t believe in having many friends to be popular. All you really needed was a handful, and know that they were all the and trust worthy A smirk soon was replaced on his lips as she spoke again, her composure more relaxed and less threatened than before. His eyebrow rose just slightly as he stared at her. “You looked like a deer that was caught in headlights. You were too speechless to even say anything else,” he said crossing his arms over his chest, his brown eyes staring focused on her face. “Anyway, if you did curse me, the Ministry would be on your trail about it.” Uncrossing his arms, he offered a small smile. “It’s a good thing that I’m not a threat.”

When she introduced herself, Noah nodded approvingly now having a name to remember her face by. Ryann asked about his year, rambling on about how she forgot about the whole year changes that happened over the summer. “Yeah….Seventh year now…..” he began stopping realizing that the next school term would be his last year at Hogwarts. It was crazy how fast seven years could go by. Just like in a blink of an eye. “Amazing how those six years went by so fast you know? I almost didn’t realize that this will be my last year at Hogwarts.” Shaking his head, Noah pushed away his worries about what would happened after Hogwarts. He really didn’t know what he wanted to do career wise, or even given much thought about it. “You’re going to be a sixth year now, correct? Gryffindor too?” he asked in return, noticing that Ryann looked around sixteen. He watched carefully, as she opened up a little cupboard, taking out two bottles of pumpkin juice. Taking one of the two bottles from her, he nodded a thanks reached toward the cap to loosen it. His hand stopped on the rigid metal as she said something about a chilling charm. “Here….” he began his wand already in his hand as Noah took Ryann’s bottle out of her hand. Reciting a simple charm, a blast of cold air came from the tip of the wand, cooling the glass. Handing it back over to her, Noah did the same to his, before unscrewing the top.

Ryann had already taken a seat on the couch, chatting on about the party that was going on in the cottage not too far away. Noah listened as he took a sip of the juice, enjoying the icy feeling down his throat. When she mentioned the word music, Noah perked up suddenly as he noticed she was going through a small record stack. With a curious, raised eyebrow, he made his over toward her side, shaking his head at her final comment. “Vintage is good music. It’s what started all the new genres we have now.” Setting the bottle down on the end of the table, Noah looked through her small collection. “I normally listen to about everything; classical, modern, punk, rock, alternative and even some vintage....” he stopped coming across a good album. Pulling it out from the stack he handed it toward Ryann. “The only thing that I can’t stand is rap. That’s just a poor excuse of music. I honestly don’t want to listen to someone who can’t sing, talking about drugs and girls and how horrible there lives were on the streets. I could care less actually, but now this,” he said pointing toward the record that she held in her hands, “Is what I call good music. Could you play it?”

[Ryann Taylor G6]

More comfortable by the minute, Ryann wondered what might feel different if she were in Noah's position, moving into her last year at Hogwarts. Her thoughts were cut short though. "Yeah, sixth year Gryff," she replied as he handed her the bottle of pumpkin juice that was now chilled. Sipping it, she continued flipping through her record collection. Noah had joined her search through the many different varieties she had, commenting on the many genres of music as he went. Ryann simply smiled and nodded.

Taking the record that Noah had chose, Ryann looked over it, a twinkle in her eye. "Rune Lords?" she questioned, a bit of disbelief in her eyes. "I thought I was the only person left alive that actually listened to them," she said excitedly as she pulled the slim disk from its protective sleeve. Lifting the arm of her record player, Ryann happily placed the record on its place and put the arm back down as the circular knob in the middle started spinning. The record label began to swirl into a colorful blur as the music resonated throughout the tree house. Ryann turned the volume so that it cast a nice tone of background music, allowing for her and Noah to still be able to hear each other talk.

"This record was my dad's," she explained. "I think he was my age when it first came out." She cast a smile Noah's way before joining him back on the couch. "Lucky for me, my dad's taste in music faded with his age, meaning I inherited his collection. Now days though, he seems to have lost his once impeccable taste," she joked. "That's why I come out here to listen to my music. I don't have to worry about bothering anybody." The song had reached its chorus, and Ryann sang along quietly.

Taking another swig of juice, Ryann looked back to Noah. "So, Noah," she said, the last bits of boredom finally gone from her system as she enjoyed the music, and for once, company of someone her age at the tree house, "if you're going to come up here and invade my oh-so-secret hideout, you've got to at least tell me a bit about your self. After all, we're practically strangers, save for the fact that we go to the same school, and happen to love the Rune Lords. Let's start with the basics," she said with a shrug. "Biggest dream. Biggest fear. And, a random fact about yourself." She looked at him with scheming eyes and finished off her juice. "No answers means no music," she threatened jokingly.

[noah]

Noah waited, watching as Ryann looked over the label across the colored album. Her eyes seemed to grow big with shock. With a raised eyebrow, he listened to her before letting out a silently chuckle. “You sound surprised?” he began, sending her a teasing look before picking up the cover of the album. Ryann was putting the disk into the player as Noah looked over the cover. “My dad liked them as well, but grew out of it too.” Setting the plastic back down on the table, Noah looked back over his shoulder at her. “I guess when you get older you grow out of some things.” Thinking this through, Noah nodded as he remembered his mother used to love write, but rarely ever did, unless it was a letter to Grandma Louise. Shaking at the thought of his grandmother, Noah pushed the fact that he had to visit her sometime soon with his sisters. “I don’t think I’ll ever grow out of loving music, no matter how busy my life gets. Anyways, how could someone just give up something that makes you forgot almost every worry you have?” he asked, with a questioning glint in his brown eyes. It was quite true. Noah planned of listening to music until he turned death, which was probably going to happen anytime soon if he kept blasting the music from his stereo any louder. “I take it that your parents don’t like to hear your music blasting from inside?” he asked toward her comment about this tree house being built to where she can listen to music. “The neighbors don’t complain do they?”

Picking the bottle of pumpkin off from the table, Noah took a large gulp, listening to the music. There was silence for a second before Ryann began to talk, asking questions about himself. “Your saying I was the first actually person to find this hideout?” Noah joked, smiling as he took another sip of the pumpkin in his hand. He really didn’t know how to answer her questions. There were some that could be answered quite simply, but the others, not exactly. “I really don’t know too much about my dreams. I’m the kind of guy that lives by each day, than rather think about the future.” One thing about Noah was that he only really thought ahead of time when it came to school assignments. Yes, he was the typical Ravenclaw, but there had to be a reason why he was sorted into that house. “My biggest fear I guess would be if you turned that record player off because I’m not giving you enough information about myself,” he said, smiling as he glanced back and forth from Ryann too the record player. “I’m only joking, but what I’m really afraid of is if something happened to my sisters. They may be annoying at times, but their still my family.”

Looking over at the small clock on the window he noticed that it was almost about time for the party to end. His father wasn’t about to leave without finding Noah first. “For that random fact about me…I guess I can say is that I’m going to go to a Muse concert sometime soon. A new band that you might like actually,” he said with a nod trying hard not to hum one of his favorites by them. Smiling he handed her the finished bottle of pumpkin juice, “It was nice talking to you Ryann.” With that he quietly went down the stairs, finding his father by the fireplace drinking some firewhisky.