Look How They Shine For You. [Open]

Guest

Ninety eight... ninety nine... one hundred.

With each step she climbed, the tiniest of taps echoed down the stairwell, an accompanying puff of breath dissolving into the air in front of the witch. Hell, this was a long way to come for a lesson - why on Merlin's good Earth she was doing it for her own enjoyment Emily was starting to forget. Though, as her counting took her to one hundred and thirteen, exactly, the witch found herself to remember.

That view.

The grounds stretched for miles in one direction, and the lake disappearing beyond her sight in the other. Like something from her books of girls locked away for their 'princes' to find them, Emily clasped her fingers over the rail, that wonderfully familiar winter's chill brushing through her hair and stinging the tip of her nose. Eleven years, in the same house, with the same three screaming voices grinding her gears to no end, Emily never thought she would feel the grasp of homesickness when she left for school.

Boy, had she been wrong. The first two weeks had probably been the hardest, hearing her roommates snore into the dead of the night while she clutched that stupid ~~necessary~~ stuffed bear that her mother had sent her off with, breathing in its fur, the lingering scent of coffee and slightly burned potatoes reminding her of home enough that she could get herself to sleep, and... once the letters started coming two-weekly, instead of every few days, it got slightly easier to deal with.

At least, Emily told herself that.

Digging into her pocket, she pulled a neatly folded sheet of parchment from her jeans, her mother's slightly shaky scrawl bringing a slight smile to her face. Ma was doing better, and that was what she really cared about - everything else... Well, everything else she would get over - or, she'd have to; Emily was sticking out the full seven years if it killed her. But Ma was doing better, and so were the girls, and that was good.

Things were good.

Guest

The winter chill seemed a lot harsher in Britain than it ever did from in Southern France. Her brother had told her it would be a good change, that she would "open up" and "blossom" into a social butterfly. But then again her brother was an imbecil who knew nothing about her. Her grand-mere was very clear in telling her that she would bring her back as soon as she could, but as three months passed and not a single letter....she figured her father won the war. Year after year she had been happily ignored at Beauxbatons, known perhaps from afar but no one who would be brave/stupid enough to approach. But here at Hogwarts it was different.

The Christmas decorations made everyone snappier, and more clingy to one another. Where letters coming in never bothered her before, the idea of not receiving a single one made her think that she had done something wrong. So she decided this very night that she needed to get away. Away from festivities, away from the stifling joy. So she found herself climbing up the large stairway up to see the stars. As silly as it sounded it brought her comfort knowing that they still shined no matter what. Even in the foggiest of nights some stars were not hidden but shined even brighter if possible.

When she arrived and saw a young girl there, there was a bit of a disappointment that someone was there but her mouth had other ideas as it uttered "Oh!"

Guest

Any other day, Emily would've clocked on to the sound of footsteps ascending the stairwell in a heartbeat. Usually, that was the sort of thing that the young witch tuned right into. The sound of someone creeping through the entrance to the common room at odd hours in the morning, while she hid her tiny frame in one of the armchairs facing away from the portrait hole. The sound of someone behind her, breathing that little bit too heavy, making her eye twitch just-so. One of her sisters, clambering into her bed after a nightmare; the little sounds Emily was used to noticing.

It was with a start, then, that she whipped around - an accented voice catching her attention as tresses of blonde locks billowed around her face. In technicality, the only way she could be further from where she ought to be is if she were three weeks deep into the forest. "Oh," was all she managed to get out at first, hastily shoving her letter back into her pocket and widening her eyes at the stranger - a girl she was sure she vaguely recognised as one of her housemates.

Emily had no business being at the top of the tower at this time, and in fairness neither did the upperclassman now accompanying her as she stared out at a sky that she could only decree to be endless. But, if everything else planned on changing so fast - Pa leaving, Calum passing, every face she tried to commit to memory a different one - it was kind of... nice, she guessed, to know that the stars would always be there to say goodnight to her.

"I didn't know anyone would-... Hell. If I get my hair pulled by one more 'Christmas Pixie', I'm going to scream. What about you?"

Guest

Tess' initial reaction was a brief spark at annoyance; after all she had sought out this place to find some peace within the endless cesspool of loud children. But she forced herself to remove the emotion and analyze the situation. The girl was young, far younger than Tess and with her large blue eyes, there was no telling if Tess could spook her without meaning to.

'She's a child, don't be rude. She has as much right to be here than you' her conscious seemed to be very sensitive to this issue.

Fine. If she had to play nice to get a small moment with the night sky in this place she would. Stepping closer into the night, she looked at the girl in more detail. Young, unassuming, new. But what she did take notice was the girl's gaze, it was not the normal fish-eyed look she got from other students.

"I didn't know anyone would-... Hell. If I get my hair pulled by one more 'Christmas Pixie', I'm going to scream. What about you?"

Whatever she was expecting from the stranger, this was definitely not it. She blinked a few times, trying to figure out if she heard correctly, but at the expression before her she realized that she had heard it right the first time. And for a brief moment, a small genuine smirk appeared on her face.

"No pixies yet, but the amount of tinsel in the air will have me hexing the common room." she sighed and walked towards the edge, grabbing tightly of the side only to lean forward and really take in the sky. She briefly turned to look at her companion once more.

"I'm Tess and you are?"

Guest

The young witch was still very uncertain, not sure what constituted as safe water to tread, and where abouts she would cross the line. After all, her new companion was a solid few inches above Emily in stature, and by the looks of her, a few years above her at least. There was an accent, there - one that Emily clicked to almost immediately, cocking her head a little as she fought not to bring it up. That was rude. At least, it was rude to ask straight away.

At the comment of tinsel, a small, soft laugh left the blonde's lips as she felt herself relax a little, now leading herself to believe that the older witch wasn't out to bring any trouble. She was getting away too - and for that, Emily certainly couldn't blame her. In her home, Christmas decorations were usually fixed at a tree in the living room and a couple of fairy lights, if they could find the ones from last year. It was... different. Not so much in a good way.

"I'm Tess and you are?"

One hand settled on the rail as the other slipped into her pocket, glancing out at the sky as the older witch - Tess - did the same. Emily ran the name over in her mind a few times, looking over at the brunette's face, committing her to memory. Of course, Emily had already taken to calling the girl Frenchie, but she wouldn't do so out loud.

"Emily," the young blonde said, then - biting the inside of her lip for a moment before she continued. "Slytherin. You? Been told I'm 'new blood', apparently."

Guest

She was being stared at; no matter how the young witch tried to hide it (if she even was trying), it was clear that she was staring intently at Tess. But the older witch didn't mind, after all, she was used to being judged after all in her society it was even expected. So as the blonde stared, she in turn turned to face her and lifted her brow. No words were said at the moment and instead, a lazy smirk appeared on her face. If she was perfectly honest, she wasn't sure it was to either placate the girl, or a genuine emotion.

'A work in progress' at least that's what Myce had told her she was. Looking away she took in a deep breath and sighed letting the cold air in her lungs and letting her take in the atmosphere. While in an ideal world she would have been perfectly alone, she wasn't too bothered over the stranger. Emily her mind corrected her. The girl was...well a girl, young, prepubescent and naive. At least that's what she'd been told they were. It was hard to place herself in those early years if Tess was honest with herself.

"Slytherin. You? Been told I'm 'new blood', apparently."

Well that certainly was surprising. She pondered over the information given. The girl was 'new blood', nothing to be gawked at, at least Tess wasn't going to make it a big deal. It had taken a lot of breaking spirit to learn the proper tact that came with being in her position. Politics were an ugly thing after all. And looking at the girl...well who was she to know the real meaning behind the double meaning of that phrase.

"Isn't everyone new blood in their first year?" she casually stated as she flipped her hair back and completely ignoring the purity standards. "Snakes all stay together anyway... at least that's what I've been told"

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