A Badger and a Snake PV Closed

Nice to meet you, Mia.

Howie’s eyes flicked away from Mia towards Rosie, his expression softening slightly. She was always so nice, always wanting to please, one of the many reasons he had come to like her so much. Did she see something in the auburn haired girl that he could not, had he missed something?


He smiled at Rosie all the same, although she seemed a bit uncomfortable. She looked back up at him with raised eyebrows, making him become aware of his stance and attitude. Howie wasn’t sure if it was the heat or the exercise, but this Mia girl was rubbing him the wrong way. His usual good nature giving way to his rare aggressive side. He could see through her fake smile, he knew what she was, a bully. Had she been mean to his best friend? Maybe he was just overreacting? Maybe  he was misinterpreting the young witch.

Pleasure

No...no he was not. Howie looked back at Mia rolling his eyes, his expression becoming cold once more. His arms unfolded as he placed both hands on his hips, as if to say, “Try me!” He could tell she didn’t mean it, she was pushing, being testy. What the hell was she doing here anyways? Surely Rosie wasn’t friends with her. He took a step towards Rosie, as if to shield her from any unpleasantness, choosing not to speak further as he continued to assess the situation.

Sketchbook and Potions book in hand, Jessica was heading towards the area where she remembered seeing very intriguing flowers earlier. She wanted to draw them and potentially take a moment to go research them back in the library, or in her dormitory, whichever was closer. She still was getting use to walking the halls of Hogwarts, with it's labyrinth of corridors. She was a very tall and thin girl with smooth black hair braid in two very neat Frenchbraids and a wrinkless Ravenclaw robe. It was an excellent clean up from earlier when she was always clumsy and had a very disheveled appearance. It's a wonder what a long rest could do.

She was quietly passing by the three students when she took notice of the girl with red hair. She reminded Jessica so much of her friends back in Ireland who had bright, curly red hair and the palest of skins. Jessica felt like going over to compliment the girl when she noticed the other girl, a Slytherin. Jessica's mouth turned to the side as she tried to analyze the situation. Was there something going on here? Although it wasn't any of her business, helping someone wasn't a bad thing to do. Jessica didn't have many encounters with Slytherins but she knew that they could be more trouble then they'd seemed.

Jessica walked over to them with a small smile on her face, carefully keeping her eyes trained on the two Hufflepuff. "Hello, I'm Jessica. I just wanted to say that I really admire your hair color. You remind me so much of one of my school friends back home, Anias. She had pretty red hair just like you. What color would you define it as?"

Eavesdropping. Yes, Aurelia was eavesdropping behind a one of the many nearby trees up hill. She was about to walk down to the lake when she noticed a handful of students crowding around a tree. She recognised a few of them. Mia Alexander, a member of the stage magic club and Howie. The red head who seemed to be a close friend of Howie was having a heated conversation with Mia.

Mia's character was hard to predict. Aurelia had spotted her leave the pureblood meeting. The meeting with god damned Charles York, the filthy snake who set the ballroom on fire during the blossom ball. If Mia was involved in his dirty works, she was someone who could not be trusted no matter how nice she was in the drama club. It seemed that Mia chose to be angsty today and the red head was having none of it. Aurelia could help being overly curious, it was one of her bad traits but she was a writer for Gryffindor and it didn't hurt being a bit nosy.

Then another girl who seemed to have noticed the odd gathering approached the three. From the bits and pieces of words Aurelia could catch, her name was Jessica. She began complimenting the red head's hair. Jessica seemed to be trying to lighten the conversation. Smart. She was probably a Ravenclaw.

There was nothing much interesting for Aurelia now. She decided to head back to the Hogwarts castle. As she turned around, her foot hit an unstable rock and a moment later, she felt herself tumbling down the small hill and crashing into a figure ( Jessica ) with a loud thud and apparently stopped the brunette from rolling further down. She looked up and saw three heads. Aurelia immediately jumped up on her two feet.

"Um... Hi Mia. Hi Howie. Whats going on down here?" She said speaking as if she didn't just tumbled randomly down a hill from no where, she brushed of the dirt on her robes. Then Aurelia turned towards the girl she just crashed into and extended her hand, offering to help her up.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry, it was an accident,"Even though her arms were sore and bruising from all the tumbling, her face apologetic face said otherwise. She was good at hiding her emotions, if she wasn't, she would probably be screaming from embarrassment.

"Hello, I'm Jessica. I just wanted to say that I really admire your hair color. You remind me so much of one of my school friends back home, Anias. She had pretty red hair just like you. What color would you define it as?"

A girl walked up to the trio, and Mia sighed. She just wanted to read, and do it under the tree that she always read under. It was hard having people around.

The girl clearly wasn't addressing her, and so she turned back to her book, opening the page and slipping her green bookmark into her hand.

Um... Hi Mia. Hi Howie. Whats going on down here? Oh my god, I am so sorry, it was an accident!

Mia laughed at Aurelia's entrance. It was so...well not her. She seemed so put together at Stage Magic, and was a perfect student, never disappointing her parents, unlike Mia.

Mia smiled at the girl and re-bookmarked her book. Finally. She liked Aurelia, or what she had seen of her, and would willingly talk to her. What a surprise.

Hello Aurelia.

Something about the way Mia said the word "pleasure" let her know is was anything but. She must have misinterpreted that smile. Everything in Rosie wanted to jump up and stand next to Howie, take his hand even. But other people seeing the pair in light felt awkward. Besides, Rosie got the feeling with Mia that the less the girl knew about her life, the better. So, no, she didn't make a move from where she was.

When Howie took a step towards her, she smiled and looked at the ground trying to conceal her reaction. If anyone that was even partially observant saw them, they would know there was something more here. She reached up and took Howie's hand, gently pulling him back towards her. If he would look at her, she would smile and let go of his hand. "It's okay." Yes, Mia was a jerk, but Rosie didn't feel threatened. Not yet, anyway.

Before she could do or say anything else, there was another girl there. She blinked in surprise, not having seen her approach. She must have been to engrossed in the drama. "Oh, um, hi!" She smiled and waved at the newcomer. "My name's Rosie." She thought for a second. "I supposed I never really thought about giving the color a name other than red, honestly. What would you call it?" She liked this girl immediately. It may have been the compliment, of course, but she seemed nice and friendly.

Rosie jumped up when a girl came tumbling down the hill crashing into Jessica. For a moment, Rosie felt like she was in that show her father talked about, "The Twilight Zone." "Oh my God, are you guys okay?" She threw a glance at Mia when she didn't move, especially when it seemed she knew the one that had done the bulk of the tumbling, but she quickly turned her attention back to Jessica and the girl Mia had called Aurelia.

"It's okay."

Howie was still glaring down at the Slytherin girl, when he felt a small hand grab his. He turned his head to see Rosie pulling him back, her smile telling him that she wasn’t letting Mia’s rudeness get to her. Her gentle touch had an immediate calming effect on him, and with a deep breath he quieted the angry beast in his belly. 


Thier hands quickly separated as he turned to look back towards Mia, and when he did he saw a rather tall young witch approaching them, a sketch pad and text book in hand. Her hair jet black and pulled back into very intricate braids, the eagle crest on her robes identifying her as a Ravenclaw. He relaxed his stance as She came to stand before the group, a warm and welcoming smile on her face. However Howie did realize that she hadn’t made eye contact with Mia, well, who could blame her really. Making a mental note of this, he smiled back at her. The black haired witch went on to introduce herself and compliment Rosie’s red curls, his smile grew as he nodded in agreement. Howie reached out his hand to greet her, “Hey there, my name’s How...” 

A tumbling ball of black robes and brunette hair crashed into Jessica. “Woah!” Howie took a quick step forward to see if he could help. Mia just laughed. He shot her another cold look before looking down at the crumpled heap before him. Familiar bright blue eyes stared back up at him. “Aurelia! Geez, are you guys alright?” 

"Um... Hi Mia. Hi Howie. Whats going on down here?"

Aurelia seemed unfazed from the fall as she quickly recovered. Howie’s eyes shot back and forth from Aurelia and Mia, apparently the two knew each other. He had met Aurelia on the Hogwarts Express, and they had shared a particularly nasty DADA class together, but they weren’t particularly close. Friendly acquaintances summed it up best. She always seemed quite nice, but the two acknowledging each other made him slightly skeptical.


“Hey Aurelia. I was just out for a run when I saw Rosie.” He gestured towards his best friend. “And Mia Alexander.” Howie put a sarcastic emphasis on her last name as he jerked his thumb in the Slytherins direction. 

Aurelia mentally sighed, relieved that they never questioned about where she had came from and why on earth she came tumbling down the hill. It was most likely the most embarrassing thing she had encountered. It was all over now. Mia had greeted her, slightly laughing from her sudden entrance. She didn't mind. As she thought of early, Mia's personality was hard to predict. She seemed to have been making the other two uneasy a few minutes ago and now she was greeting her with a smile on her face.

"Yes, I'm fine,"replied Aurelia as she rubbed her sore arms. Howie shot Mia a look that told Aurelia something was wrong. She remembered seeing from up the hill Howie tensing and becoming slightly defensive when Mia had said something to Rosie. There was something going on between the boy and the red head especially when both of them held hands.

What could possibly make them uneasy just with a few words? Then it hit Aurelia. Mia was involved in the meeting with Charles York. She was a blood-purist and Howard was a muggle born, she didn't know what Rosie's status was, maybe it was the cause of angsty Mia. Aurelia knew she couldn't just jump into conclusions, Mia was probably not that nasty.

"Its nice to meet you Rosie. Are you a friend of Howie's?" She asked. She was merely curious.

Hey Aurelia. I was just out for a run when I saw Rosie. And Mia Alexander.

Howie sarcastically emphasized her last name and jerked his thumb towards her. Mia rolled her eyes slightly and turned away from him. He really hated her-or so it seemed.

Yes, I'm fine

Aurelia's clear voiced floated over the group, and Mia smiled at her. She rubbed her sore arms, and Mia shot her a look.

I'm delighted that you are fine

Its nice to meet you Rosie. Are you a friend of Howie's?

Mia looked at Rosie. She was interested in her answer-very interested.

She wasn't sure of something, and that irked her. She always, or almost always, had her grip on everything, and placed things into little boxes.

She wasn't naive. She wasn't naive at all. She knew the world wasn't all black and white-Merlin, she was a shade of grey herself-but she usually found a way to stay sane. To file things away and not be bothered.

She remembered when she told Scott this, and how he laughed at her. But it wasn't something to laugh at.

Her parents fighting? Stored away in the never mention section.

Her borderline anorexia? Also stored there.

A lot of things were stored in the DO NOT MENTION section. It was the cost of being part of a prestigious pureblood family with skeletons in its closet.

When Jessica saw the girl tumble the hill she just stared at her with pursed lips, calculating her sanity. That seemed so cliché, and that was a really...terrible way of introducing yourself to other people. But it was kind of funny so Jessica had to give it to her. Maybe she did it on purpose, and when it happened Jessica snorted into her fist, looking away. But she wasn't trying to bully the girl, it was just so clumsy. And how did she fall anyway?

"I supposed I never really thought about giving the color a name other than red, honestly. What would you call it?"

Jessica rubbed her chin. "It's more like...pumpkin orange. Or marmalade orange. Or apricot. But the first thought I had was fire, imagine running around and everyone was fascinated by your hair, the Hair of Fire. What would you say?"

Jessica heard the tension in the conversation. Now there were every House here, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hufflepuff. But it wasn't wise for her to get into possible bad situations, especially when she wanted to have a good relationship. Deciding that she had other things to do, and the flower research could hold on, Jessica quickly excused herself. "Er, I have some intense studying to do, you know, trying to keep my grade average at an A, you guys would understand. It was nice meeting all of you, but I have to go now." Jessica waved and hurried towards the doors into the school, disappearing around a corner.

Er, I have some intense studying to do, you know, trying to keep my grade average at an A, you guys would understand. It was nice meeting all of you, but I have to go now.

Before Rosie could respond-or even think about responding-the asian girl fled, her hair flying behind her.

Mia pursed her lips. She surely meant O. A was average, not good enough to please Grandmother or any one else in the Alexander family. O was definitely what she meant.

As the girl hurried away, Mia found herself wishing that she could do the same. It was hard for her to be here, Howie already hated her, and Aurelia was the only one she felt comfortable with, and the wind was picking up, making her shiver.

Still. She had to stay. Leaving might be considered a sign of weakness, and she was not about to do anything remotely considered weak. She was not weak.

Curling her hands into small fists, Mia tried to distract herself so that she wouldn't pull her cloak tighter. She didn't succeed.

How was Howie still in his shorts and tee-shirt?

The boy-at least to Mia-seemed relatively fine, and she was left questioning her own sanity. First the maybe hallucination-and now this?