Wallflower

Not many of the students talked to the portraits. Not a proper conversation anyway, since half of them talked nonsense, repeating themselves in their own memories. It also made it look like you were talking to yourself, which was what Teddy first thought when he passed Veronica.

Back pedalling, he repled, “Tim Burton is the creepy one, right? It’s got to be I guess if it’s to do with Halloween.”

She smiled at the portrait. "I mean I like pumpkin flavoured cookies and juice but all the coffee and pumpkin flavoured everything nonsense is a bi-." She was disturbed by someone voice. She didn't expect anyone to reply. Not even the portrait. Hearing the voice and she jumped up from her seat, letting out a gasp and topling over a bit. "Good lord you scared me." she laughed. 

Eric rubbed his sore neck. Another intense Quidditch practice like that and he would likely end up in the hospital wing before their match against Slytherin on Saturday. He was the last one out of the dressing rooms again, as he liked time alone to think after he practiced. His teammates weren’t exactly peaceful fellows. As he walked across the grounds towards the castle, Eric couldn’t help thinking that he should be Captain of the team. He would run practices right, and make sure each of his players knew what to do in nearly any situation on the field. Sure, he may be only a Beater on the team, but he considered himself a damn good one.

Eric felt his mood drop as he realized what he would be going inside to. A vast hall full of rowdy teenagers didn’t seem too appealing to him, so at the last second, Eric decided he wanted more alone time before he returned to breakfast. He checked his watch. He still had nearly thee quarters of an hour before his first class of the day started, so he turned around and headed toward the Forbidden Forest, intending to walk along the edging trees and no deeper. He reached the edge of the forest and began his walk, muttering to himself about the Gryffindor Captain and kicking stray rocks out in front of him.

Suddenly, he heard a noise to his left, from inside the forest. Something like a twig snapping. Eric instinctively drew his wand and kept it at the ready. He looked around him to make sure he wasn’t being watched, and started hesitantly into the trees. He really had no idea what he may be getting himself into, just let the Gryffindor instinct in him take over. “Hello?” he called into the darkness. It was strange, he thought, that though the dawn was burning bright, it could look so much like midnight inside the woods. "Lumos," he whispered, lighting the tip of his wand so as to see better. Unfortunately, the deeper he traveled into the forest, the thicker the darkness became. Soon he could hardly see three feet in front of him, even with the light. ”Is someone there?”

She took a long walk early out that morning. She woke up at around quarter to six and finally got out of bed at half past six. She did her usual walk. Out to see the Thesterals and wonder along the lake. When it got bright outside she realized it was breakfast. The grumbling in her stomach also reminded her of the time. Heading back she felt herself stumbling. Tripping over little twigs and rocks, falling over a few times. She'd need to eat and find Zachary after.

To some, working your way through a large pile of essays just after dinner might have been therapeutic - that was why people chose to teach, no? To Anton, the only thing therapeutic about it was the glass of firewhiskey he kept within arms reach. 

Reaching for the drink, he downed what little of the amber drink remained, pursing his lips as the bitter liquid made its way down his throat. It didn’t burn quite as much as it used to. Anton placed the empty glass and three quarters empty bottle in the small cabinet next to his desk before turning back to the essay he was marking.

It wasn’t that he hated teaching: if he had, he would have never returned to the post at the beginning of the year. There was just something that was rather, how would one describe it… (painful - no, that was far too generous) tedious about reading two dozen essays written by thirteen year olds that clearly did not understand the concept he was trying to teach. Either that or, as it seemed to be in the case of the perpetrator of the most recent essay before him, they had seen one too many Muggle movies. 

Scratching an ‘P’ onto the parchment, alongside ‘More research needed - werewolves do not imprint, nor are they mortal enemies of vampires’, he deposited the page on the pile of marked work as a knock echoed around the room. Anton’s sharp eyes darted to the door, his hand clenched around his wand staying true to the fact that old habits die hard. “Come in.”

Perhaps it was ghost? But no one else had been reporting these sightings, Or had been sharing the same experience. Where was she to go now? Perhaps talking to the DADA Professor would be a good idea. She made sure that her brother would walk her to his office and wait outside. She didn't want  to be alone anymore and vunerable. 

Veronica knocked on the door of his office. She stepped inside and made Zach wait outside. "Hello Professor." She felt bad for disturbing him but she had enough of this nonsense. "I've been experiencing some troubles lately. It's probably nothing but I'd like your opinion." She took in a deep breath. "I'm used to being teased and picked on by the other students but..not like this. I don't even know if it's a student. But I keep getting tripped in the hallway, I even got bitten on my arm. I just...Do you think it's possible a ghost is haunting me?" Saying it out loud made her realize how stupid she must have sounded. "You know what...I'm sounding crazy I'll just leave you be, forget I said anything."

Aston could feel pain slowly growing from a single point on the left side of his head, on the top, six hair follicles large. It was a series of slow, pulsing ripples making him sway where he stood in front of the class. His vision suddenly turned, and he gently touched the edge of his desk. He needed something to anchor himself to or else he very well could have tipped over. The professor didn’t realize that he had been out of it for several seconds trying to get a handle on this onslaught of pain and had only been alerted to that fact when a student spoke up. The voice, however, sounded too far away to Aston. It almost sounded as if it were coming from underwater.

"Professor…are you alright?"

All Aston could do was crack a lopsided grin before standing fully erect once more. “Yeah, Albie; just a bit of a head rush, I think. Too much sugar in my coffee, perhaps.” With a chuckle, and a gentle clap of his hands, he muttered, “Brilliant.” Most of the time he could plow through the headaches, but it was getting a bit harder the longer he kept teaching. Slowly his defenses were cracking. He was a trooper, though. He would keep fighting until there was nothing left of him. He loved his students far too much to give up on them. So the question as to why he kept teaching had never even crossed his mind. The professor made himself a mental note to nip round to the infirmary after class.

It seemed to drag on far too long for him. Since the onslaught of his blossoming headache, Aston’s demeanor had changed considerably (a fact that did not go unnoticed in his students). The pain had become almost unbearable, so he muttered out a quick apology and grabbed his bag. The professor had cut class almost fifteen minutes early. He moved swiftly through the halls to the infirmary (or as swiftly as his body would allow without making the pain worse). Ducking into the doors, he shouted out, “Help! This is maddening.” Beside the head nurse’s desk was a chair that Aston had jokingly deemed his own and found himself perfectly at home just to plop into it. “I need my draft…” His voice had come out much weaker than he had intended it to.

She followed the light very easily. Her pale blue eyes were sensitive to all types of light, which meant she'd always be tearing up. She never wore make-up anymore because she didn't want it running and turning into Raccoon eyes. "Alright Veronica..Everything looks um..fine." The nurse faked a smile. She knew it wasn't. "Just lay down then we can send you on yoor way." She nodded and did as she was asked. This meant she was getting a new prescription. She knew the drill. 

Her head rushed as she sat down/ She felt the blood pulsing in her brain and it felt like someone was beating a drum inside there. It hurt and the pulses carried all through her body . Of course it would end after a minute. But those minutes felt like hours. After getting comfortable she heard the doors open and saw a Professor collapse into his chair. She sat up almost too fast and was blinded for a second. She heard something about a draft. The nurse seemed occupied with yet another Quidditch injury. So she got up and grabbed what seemed to be the right thing. She walked over to him slowly and hoped to not fall over. 

The boy shrugged. “Not everyone is into sports.” He said, knowing she probably didn’t need to hear that answer because it was more of the standard reply to that. “You aren’t missing much.” Hugo replied modestly. “But maybe one day you will.”

"That's a pretty lame joke y'know. If you're going to tell a lame joke, at least tell a pun. Those are much more entertaining." She nodded. "I'm pretty good at most subjects actually. Why? Do you need a tutor or something?" She sat back and smiled. "I'm not really sure. I'ts a forbidden floor right? Always has been. I kinda want to find out what's down there. Of course there's the risk of getting caught."

She nodded. "Yeah maybe one day I will. Hell, maybe even one day I'll try sports. But i'll probably fall on my ass like I always do. I'm more of a quiet intellect if it wasn't already obvious."

"Thank you, Veronica."

Somehow, it was quite a relief, if a bit disappointing, to know that not everybody knew about his predicament.

He hadn’t considered how he might view his problem from another perceptive but talking with Veronica had certainly prompted him to do so. There must be some sort of way to turn his situation around. 

He could still get out of this wedding scot-free. Nearly scot-free. He knew his father’s wrath would drag him back from even the deepest corners of hell. He looked down at his scuffed shoes and smiled grimly.

Adjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder, he asked,

"Say, If you were to encounter a similar situation, what would you have done in my place?"

Not that he really wanted her advice.

He needed one, badly.

"You're welcome, Darren." He seemed disappointed that she didn't know who he was or what he was going through. It was obvious to her her was pureblood. When they talked about their marriage situations all she could think about was why they'd complain when they have all of these other privlages? It was a world that she would most deffinitley not understand. 

"How would I react?" She paused. "I would um...I guess rebel against my parents. I'm not really sure to be honest. I wouldn't know what to do unless it was actually happening to me." He was probably in need of advice and that wasn't really a good answer. "But perhaps you should talk to your parents? I mean this isn't the Rennisance anymore, you should be able to marry who you want. But that's just my opinion. I'm not sure that I can be of any more help to you."

He didn’t want to think about all he had missed. 

He stepped into the room slowly, taking in all of the familiar sights - the telescopes, the large, leather-bound books that contained knowledge he really had no use for. He headed over to the book shelf and ran his fingertips over the spines slowly, dust coming off of them as he did. He looked at Veronica over his shoulder, smiling. “I can’t say that I have,” he spoke, standing up and walking over to where she was. “But I’d definitely love to. I bet they’re a sight.”

Veronica smiled back at him. "Well come over here. I'll show you." This was something she did every day. She would often look at the planets and try to notice new things and see the changes happening everyday up in space. She'd make accurate charts of the night sky from what she'd seen from her own two eyes. And honestly, it was nice to have someone up here with her. He may not have been extremely into Astrology, but not into it at all but his slight enthusiasum showed differently. At least she assumed so.

"I’ll let you know when the next party is." He told. “I am on the team. But I haven’t had much of a chance to play.” Hugo shrugged, making as if he were benched majority of the playing season wasn’t a big deal. Although, to Hugo it was a huge deal to him. “Have you been to a game this year?”

Veronica smiled. "Sorry I don't feel like doing all of your work for you, Hugo. Of course I'll help with whatever you need though." Astonomy was her favourite subject. Sometimes she took a break from wanting to be a writer and wondered what it would be like to be an Astrophysicist. Studying the stars and planets all day everyday it was her dream job. "I probably will. Maybe I'll go explore the third floor or something."

"I've been to one game so far. I'm not a big sports fan. So that means I haven't seen you play. I'm sure you're a natural." She was more on an intellect than a sport fan. She spent her time in the tower when games were going on. She didn't like how crazy the crowd was and how rough the sport got.

His soon-to-be marriage status was always a source of insecurity for him. Of course, girls didn’t flock to him like he envisioned them to be, but they’d dropped hints. Father - he loved the man but he could be such a devil, sometimes - didn’t help much, in fact, he was an advocate for his son’s hand.

It got a bit embarrassing at times, especially during community mixers, he was pretty sure that the entire magical community had heard of Marcus Flint’s overachieving dear boy. What a laugh. 

Marriage sounded like an odious trap, a ball and chain shackled to his ankles.

"It’s sounds really silly," Darren scratched the back of his head, grimacing inwardly as he tried not to lose his cool in front of the girl.

"Basically, my father’s arranging my marriage, so I’m dodging would-be wives just so I could enjoy my singlehood a little longer."

It didn’t sound much like a threat, now that he thought of it, more like a lame excuse to escape responsibility, really, but Darren felt the same sentiments anyway. Why he feared it so much was just a bit beyond him.

He looked at the girl for a bit then looked away, as if embarrassed with the way he’d just revealed something about himself. Fucking hell.

"You’d keep that secret for me, won’t you?" 

"Oh come on, It can't be that silly." Actually it could have. Some of the things the rumour mill turned out would be complete nonsense. But how bad could this boy's trouble honestly be? 

The whole idea of an arranged marriage baffled her. Parents were supposed to want their kids to be happy and arranging who they'd be spending the rest of their life with didn't seem fair.

"Oh don't worry." She smiled. "I'll keep it a secret for you. Besides I don't think it's really secret worthy. What teenage boy would rather be talking up his future bachelorettes than be enjoying single life with whatever girl he can find."

A little redness fell on the boys face, still avoiding her look. Something positive directed his way…That never happened. It was always something harsh or hurtful. He had no that such things existed. But he was grateful for it.  “Well thank you…It means a lot to me.” Once she mentioned the Hippogriff, the boy’s eyes slowly moved up.”Oh Merlin…Riding a Hippogriff is nothing like ride a broom. I’d try to explain it to you, but there aren’t words to describe such a feeling. I guess the only way for you to know is for you  to actually ride one yourself.”

Veronica shrugged. "I guess they could. They're dead set on me working back in the muggle world with them. They want me to happy of course but I always feel like they're pushing me to become a businessman like they are. But I don't know what I really want to do with my life and they don't really like that." She finally admitted outloud. Normally she'd keep things like that to herself but she knew she could trust him even though this was their first encounter.