Out of My Mind PV

XXXXX𝓓esperately eager to spare herself a journey beside her younger brother, Meiyu hurriedly pounced onto the train, her feet moving before she could wave off her parents. The events from the summer had in truth, left her relationship with her parents far more strained than it initially had been, hearing an earful of how she needs to be careful this year now her brother was in the castle — Meiyu only taking that as an indication that he would snitch on her should she remain in his vicinity at any point. She had hoped for a moment of silence, the calm before the storm that the year ahead would bring, thus, she moved through the corridors of the train compartments, ignoring each until she reached the rear, smirking at a familiar grumpy face.

Prying the door open, she ignored the irrelevant, evidently a first year, boy, turning her head at yet another familiar face, only this time she had grown hair. "Aang! Is that you?" Meiyu piqued, her expression stilling, though, eyes slightly narrowing as she scanned the familiar face, confirming it was in fact, a previous duelling partner. "Nice to see your hair grew back, hopefully this year you won't be frozen on the piste." She remarked with a small curve in her lips, a fraudulent attempt at conveying sincerity with her words.

Tossing her bag to an empty seat, Meiyu moved to sit opposite the fellow lion who she had previously questioned in the dormitory, half surprised he still had the nerve to return to the castle — contrary to her own beliefs, it was at the very least, commendable on his part. "Still a loner I presume? I'm surprised that you've yet to make friends, perhaps you are that off putting." Meiyu announced, not entirely caring how harsh she would of sounded to the other two in the cabin. Fortunately for them, she wasn't here to socialise with them, merely kick start the year with some light hearted torment which was exactly what she needed after spending a month cooped up in a psych ward with nothing but nurses tending to her every need, perhaps too tedious for her given she adored her own independence.

Besides, the boy was at the very least, reasonable looking compared to the trolls of the castle, one of which being in the very train compartment they had all found themselves in. Slowly turning her head to the boy she had paid no attention to, her eyes slowly grazed across his features, discontent with another troll they had accepted this year. "I guess administration decided to lower their boundaries this year, not entirely sure how you made the cut, but I trust you'll perhaps enjoy the school given there are a lot of your kind there. I must ask, was your mother or father a troll? It would explain why you appear so frigid too." She commented, directly to the boy she had not met and frankly, cared little for meeting.

Having made a pit stop into the compartment, it was safe to say the contents of people within the compartment were enough to almost warrant a laugh from the usually stoic girl. Though she was not there to stay, she would be sure enough to make it worthwhile.

XXXXX𝓐 piercing foreign accent almost threw the young lioness off guard, his squeaky voice being irritating enough to send a chill down Meiyu's spine in a way she despised. Merely insinuating getting shot had made his position clear to her, evidently a Muggle in this realm and compartment. Irregardless to her desire to torment him on his status alone, her expression remained unfaltering, turning to face him with a small scowl plastering her delicate features.

"What slums in England did you crawl out of? I thought knife crime was all the range here." She blankly rebuked, almost baiting him into a conversation he had no business being part of. Besides, he had not succumb the same fate she had that forced her involuntary admission to St. Mungo's, nor did he have any business of knowing such gruesome details that warranted her stay. Though, he was beginning to lure himself into a trap, should he wish to continue spewing utter nonsense — Meiyu merely scoffing once his attention diverted to a book he whipped out.

"An autobiography? Are you sure that's good use of your time?" She muttered, namely to herself prior to diverting her attention back to the German who sat opposing her.

Harlan, at the very least, had been an enjoyable presence in the brief moment they shared leading up to the Spring Ball last academic year. For once, she was met with a bite, almost foiling her plans in the search for a righteous guard dog for her time at the wretched castle. At the very least, she found it admirable that he had kept tabs on her, likely accredited to the announcement made at dinner one evening with her rise to the prefect position she had obtained. Though, she had always kept her circle small, refusing to spend any free time with others, reserving her solitude for avid observations.

"You flatter me." Meiyu praised, likely for the first time.

"I for one, cannot account for a single thing you have achieved this year, perhaps akin to the shadows you choose to bask in like peculiar wallflower you are. It's a shame, I had such good things planned for you." She chimed, sighing as her gaze momentarily shifted to the formerly bald duellist who appeared to not care for the entire ordeal.

Diverting her gaze back to the only person of her interest within the compartment, Meiyu's eyes momentarily lingered, as though to observe his features, which she had rarely done before. He was tempting, the perfect toy awaiting a creator — much like a real life Frankenstien. "Say Harlan," she began, slowly leaning in to inch closer to him, teasingly resuming with what she assumed to be the perfect bait, "was your summer that awful or have you always been a miserable bastard?"

Perhaps it would not be wise to pick a fight with someone vastly older than her, though, she had nothing to lose at this moment in time. Besides, there was no better way to kick start the academic year without some friendly rivalry, was there?

It wasn't as though the previous year, as action packed and immensely traumatic it had been for her, served as fruitful in her own eyes. For now, there was only one way she would be able to test this and that would only be if Harlan was stupid enough to take the bait.

XXXXX𝓕lattery was a fool's game. More often than not, it reminded Meiyu of the grotesque times spent at galas — faux pleasantries were disguised as both conversation starters and aids, caring minimally for either. It came to no surprise that the strange boy who sat somewhere Meiyu paid no mind to divert her gaze to, made an insulting comment that she had been flirting with the foreigner who sat directly across her.

"It is very apparent that you do not know what you're talking about." She quickly rebuked, refusing to divert her gaze to him and fixating it on the upper year before her, instantly becoming infatuated with tormenting him. The brief summer spent with her family prior to her involuntary admission, much to her disdain, had only given her a few weeks at best with her brothers, though, she had spent that time miserably glaring out the window for the most part. Engrossed in fantasies of a reminiscent past, memories of her mundane summer gushed back, almost bringing a small frown to her usual stoic expression that she plastered across her face.

It hadn't been until Harlan began once more, spewing nothing but utter compliments her way, that a small smirk formed with the curve of her lips. Her rise to her hard earned prefect position, one of power, had served the young girl with the authority to do as she pleased, though she cared little to enforce rules on others, it enabled her to by-pass what she had once presumed to be a hinderance during her first year, granting her access to private facilities where she could enjoy her solitude once the chaos of her mind resumed once more. Though she had not made use of the facilities last year, she had planned to do so this up-coming term, fully aware that her discharge notes would only bring prying eyes her way.

Meiyu's initial coy demeanour, wavered within a second at the mere mention of the hospital she had found herself encaged in, for almost an entire month. Her gaze narrowed ever so slightly. She could give him what he wanted, which was evidentially a claw to the face, painful enough to draw his blood out, though she promised to be good, namely to herself so she wouldn't wind up back in that horrid ward. Surely she had been nothing but nice to the foreigner who clearly sat where he didn't belong, alone and cooped up with underclassmen whilst others sat in carriages with friends — sardonic in a rightful, yet twisted, way.

"Guess you spent your summer there drugged up, I did read that delirium causes one to imagine things they desire." Meiyu muttered, inquisitive to how his slight remark had been so spot on. It never took much to brew irritation within the young girl, she had immediately become bored of the silent ex-airbender, the misguided young boy and most importantly, the boy who clearly, did not belong.

Swiftly shifting her gaze to the odd trio within the carriage, it soon became apparent that this was evidently a waste of her time. Her own house mate clearly sought to impress the others, irregardless to what he had been through over the summer, and respectively, what she had been through. Despite his harsh words entwined with sprout of venom, there was something about Harlan that had evidently shifted over the course of summer; something that had piqued Meiyu's intrigue. Harlan was a force to reckon with, perhaps for this particular instance, she would grant him the pleasure of earning his first win, regardless to the fact he was on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, meaning the wins very rarely came his way.

Cautiously pulling back, Meiyu scoffed at the entire arrangement, quick to rise to her feet at the lacklustre events within the carriage. Turning on her heel, she moved to the carriage door, pulling the heavy metal to the side to make her exit. In her haste, she turned back to gaze at the boy with a mix of disdain, displeasure and disappointment.

"Careful of your tongue Montgomery, you wouldn't want to lose any privileges would you?"