Taking Chances ((Ruby))

[Ephraim Eades R7]

He'd done it. It was four days ago, so why couldn't Ephraim just get it off his mind? It was over. Done. He was moving on. But it wasn't as easy as it seemed. The look on Sadie's face when he told her that it was over, they were over, it wasn't a good look. It was a look that Ephraim couldn't shake from his mind. But he knew it was the right thing to do. It was, wasn't it? He liked Sadie. She was a great girl, but the connection just wasn't there. He knew that he could keep trying to force it, but that would only be worse for both of them in the end, right? He'd just keep telling himself he'd done the right thing, and he hoped that the doubt would fade away.

Walking with his beater bat in one hand and a case of bludgers in the other, Ephraim was on his way to the pitch to practice his beater skills. He wasn't normally one to practice in his spare time, since Quidditch wasn't really all that important to him, but he needed something to occupy his mind. Sitting around in his dorm room studying all evening wasn't doing the trick. All he could do was revert back to the feelings of doubt and that face. That sad, confused face. Snap out of it, Ephraim, he told himself.

In exiting the castle, he was just a few paces behind Ruby Lehane, the newly appointed Head Girl who had the suaveness of a Slytherin and the mind of a Ravenclaw. She had quite the reputation, and Ephraim saw her as one of his toughest competitors in the seventh year class. Among the handful of Ravenclaws vying for the top spot, this slick snake had clawed a firm spot in the race. Ephraim didn't despise her for this reason though. No, he wasn't all that competitive, but that didn't mean he didn't enjoy a good battle. In this case, it was a battle of wits.

Watching a stray paper fall from the stack that Ruby was carrying, Ephraim pulled his wand and levitated the paper just before it hit the ground. "Wingardium Leviosa!" Slowly, he guided it so that it was following smoothly behind Ruby's quick steps. "Hey, Boffin!" he shouted, hoping she'd know it was her attention that he was seeking. She'd have to, considering the grounds were abandoned otherwise. "You dropped something." When she turned, she was face to face with the paper, and a few steps behind, Ephraim flashed a wide smile.

[Ruby Lehane]

The laughter skyrocketed once again and Ruby dropped her quill down on her parchment in annoyance. There was nothing more irritating than a bunch of first years running around in the Student Lounge just being pests. Unfortunately there wasn’t much Ruby could do even as Head Girl. She eyed the students darkly, but they seemed to be far too focused on their own ‘homework’ turning some paperclip or something into beetles. It was annoying and she was sick of hearing the girls scream every time one of them got close to changing the paperclip. Instead of causing a scene with the kids she just decided it was best to let them win. She was more interested in finishing her studies before that evening when she’d have to walk the castle. This was the downside of having far too many classes. They pecked and prodded at you from all areas and she was forced to meet every standard. It wasn’t that difficult for her though…she loved reading, loved gaining knowledge. There wasn’t a book in the library that didn’t fascinate her. So the eight different subjects that she now had piled in front of her was nothing…and definitely not her full class roster.

Sighing to herself Ruby pulled up from the seat and picked up all her books, not even wasting time to throw them in her bag. She’d just head out to the grounds…there were always a lot of studying places out there and if she was lucky it’d be nice enough that she wouldn’t have to perform any spells to find a nice place to sit. Long dark brown hair flipped out behind her as she moved, her thin form moving strong and prideful down the steps until she reached the door. It was one smooth motion to open the door; she wasn’t even worried about dropping a book or losing any parchment. It was just so graceful. She continued on her walk, not even paying attention to the fact that she hadn’t been the only one to come out the door. Her focus was the stone bench that had been her place of study more than once. It would be nice to take up studying there once again in the quiet and deserted world around her.

That was until she heard the voice behind her. Ruby’s eyebrows jerked together in annoyance at the name…it was obviously a call to her, from someone that had little respect for her. She had half a mind to just ignore him until he mentioned she dropped something. Ruby stopped at that and turned. The parchment had been one of her notes for History of Magic…very important lest she lose it. She plucked it out of the sky with one hand before tucking it in a book. The boy was flashing his best smile Ruby assumed and so that’s probably why she felt the need to teach him a thing or two about talking to girls. Pulling out her wand she tapped her books without making a sound and then she released them. Now she was empty handed and the books…well they were simply floating in midair waiting for her to tell them where to go. She stepped out from behind them and looked the kid up and down for a moment in silence.

“You think you’re clever?” Ruby asked as her head tipped a little to the left, a smirk playing at the corners of her lips. “That’s so adorable Mr. Eades. I always thought you weren’t quite as brilliant as the rest of the Ravenclaws. Guess I was wrong, how thoughtless of me to make an assumption like that.” Ruby wasn’t necessarily known for being cruel…in fact far from it, but she was a Queen of Slytherin and she didn’t just stand around and let insolent men call her ‘Boffin’. It was not an enduring term and not one that should be used lightly. Of course…it held truth to her character, but it was still rather derogatory as well and Ruby could see that Ephraim was in need of some lessons. “Perhaps you’re just envious of my standings? After all, I do believe I am top of the class as well as Head Girl. Of course this could all be some ploy of yours to get close to the top ranked girl…steal her heart and name yourself King of your own little castle…well Eades…you’re not King of this castle…and you’re certainly not Queen. I believe that’s what I am.” Ruby’s lips curled up to a wider smirk as she moved to Ephraim, blue orbs looking him up and down, especially as she walked around him…sizing him up. A part of her registered just how attractive he was, while the other part registered that he was definitely not a threat. As she came to stop in front of him once again, she smiled wide before flipping a strand of hair behind her shoulder and turning to go back to her books.

[Ephraim Eades R7]

Ephraim normally didn't do what he did just to get a rise out of people. No, quite contrarily, he just did what he did because it was who he was. He liked to joke, to make light of serious situations, and rare was the time when he let the seriousness of something bog him down entirely. That's just who he was. And, for the most part, his optimistic light-hearted persona was what gave him the ability to be a beacon of light for others. They fed off his quirkiness, his easy-going demeanor. It seemed, though, that Ruby had misinterpreted his mild banter as an attack. Or, if she hadn't viewed it as an attack, she still took the opportunity to practically rub in in his face that, in her perception, she was somehow better than him, more refined if you will. He found it amusing though, and, for that matter, he left her shower him with less than subtle words of jeering ridicule before he finally spoke up.

"When you're at the top, the only place you can go is down," he reminded her. Fully aware that this was a flawed philosophy at best. The top could always go higher, the best could always be better. But, the truth of the matter was that once you were at the top, there was nowhere else to go. The top was the top, no matter how you viewed it. Perhaps there could be a quantitative gain, but there'd never be a new label. The top was the highest you could go, and so, if Ruby considered herself to be the top of whatever it was that was so important to her, Eprhaim found it necessary to remind her that there was also a bottom. And, the higher up you went, the farther down the bottom did become. As some would say it, the bigger you are, the harder you fall.

Hardly the time for a philosophical debate though, especially one with Ruby Lehane, Eprhaim ignored the rest of what she had to say, letting it slide through his brain like water through a sieve. Some things just weren't worth dwelling on. "People call us boffins all the time," he said, referring to the Ravenclaw group. He assumed Ruby knew what he was implying. "But, if it really bothers you, I'll be sure to remember that. I guess I was just playing on the fact that you're probably the first Slytherin in decades to have the entire Ravenclaw class beat when it comes to marks." He hardly wanted to get her ego going again, but Ephraim wasn't afraid of the truth. Ruby was a good student. She may not have been the brightest, but she worked the hardest, and that was evident. Surely, it was what allowed her the top spot to begin with. He wasn't going to deny that. And, when it came to comparing himself against her, Ephraim wasn't even going to bother. When it came down to it, they both had their strengths, and that's all that mattered to him. Plus, who said there was a clearly defined scientific method of declaring who was the best anyways? And what exactly did the "best" imply? He shrugged thoughts like that away, realizing that they weren't worth obsessing over either.

"Going somewhere to study?" he asked, noting the dreadfully large pile of books she had in tow. And, judging from who she was, it was a safe assumption to think that she might be doing something school related. "Care to join me for a walk?" Again, his forward sort of personality wasn't easily bruised, even when someone like Ruby, the head girl, just basically insulted him seconds ago. "Great day for a walk, don't you think?"

[Ruby Lehane]

Ruby smirked and quirked a brow at Ephraim. He had more courage than she would have ever thought. In all honesty she hadn’t really ever spoken with the Ravenclaw or paid much attention to him. She didn’t pay much attention to anyone other than herself however, so that could hardly be considered shocking. Ruby Lehane had been and always would be more concerned with herself and the matters that were vastly more important than any second rate student. However, standing there matching wit with wit Ruby couldn’t help but find herself amused and rather entertained by the boy in front of her. It had been a long time since she’d been able to find herself entertained by a boy, or better yet amused in any form or fashion by what they were saying. Ephraim sure was a different sort of boy than she was used to. More upbeat…joyful, and at the same time mysterious. She knew little about him, which was odd considering that they’d been in the same year for seven years. Either that was her short coming or he was a private person, either way she was intrigued by him and therefore stood her ground instead of walking away like she had originally intended.

Smirking wide she shook her head. “Oh contraire my dear Eades. There are so many more places to go once you reach the top and none of them are necessarily down. Once you reach one top, another door opens and allows you the opportunity to reach the top of another food chain. You don’t ever have to go down and I don’t ever plan on it,” she smiled innocently as she flipped a strand of brown hair back over her shoulder. Her brother was sure to get a kick out of this when she told him later, unless of course she felt the need to keep this from him…usually she told him everything, but it wasn’t unusual for her to keep her private thoughts about boys to herself…at this point she wasn’t sure if she had a private thought about Eades…not yet anyhow.

Stepping back to him she crossed her arms over her chest and looked up a bit at him. “It’s good to see someone likes to stroke my ego every now and then, but really the only reason I have such good marks is because I study every minute I’m not in class. Which is what everyone should be doing in my opinion. I’ve spent my entire life devoted to my studies and trust me there was a hair moment when that sorting hat hit my head that I feared being placed in Ravenclaw. Lucky for me and the whole school the hat chose wisely,” Ruby said with a smirk. It was meant to be a joke on the surface, but it was clearly the truth. Ruby would have hated being placed in Ravenclaw. She had her own agenda, things she needed done, and her family legacy was etched in Slytherin, had she broken that chain she would have made every Ravenclaw’s life a living hell. That was no lie.

Ruby was suddenly taken back by Ephraim’s offer. Not only was she confused, but rather shocked, and stunned into silence. Her mouth hung open a little from her surprise, but was quickly closed when she realized her emotions could easily be read. Ruby wasn’t one to really go walking off with random boys that she didn’t know…she’d already been rash one night…under the moon with a fellow Slytherin that had in the end broken her heart and torn her from her brother. She couldn’t let that happen again…but then again it was merely a walk…what was wrong with a walk? Friends walked together? Enemies even walked with each other occasionally? Maybe a simple walk would be good for her, get her calmed down from the annoyance in the student lounge, so that she could study properly. Tilting her head a little to the left a soft smile pulled at the corner of her lips, as she nodded. “All right…I’ll join you, only because your fearlessness is definitely intriguing,” she mused as she turned and began to walk toward the path around the lake.