Accidental messes

[Connor Manning]

Thursday the 8th of January
Mid-afternoon

It was Thursday, not his favorite day of the week, but it was up there due to the fact that it was closest to Friday, which would in turn bring the weekend and therefore – no lessons. It would mean free time, replying to some letters he hadn’t gotten around to, and maybe even hanging out with some friends. But seeing as how it was still Thursday and the weekend wasn’t actually there yet, Connor had some studying to do.

He looked down at an old piece of parchment that he had written the charms they would be going over soon, and the ones they had just learned. The list includes sonorus and quietus, aparecium, mobilarbus, and mobilcorpus. It struck Connor that the first and second spells listed had to do with sound, the third having to do with invisibility, and the fourth and fifth having everything to do with moving things. He noticed that there was a small smiley next to the spell Aparecium. It struck him as odd until he remembered why he had marked the spell in such a manner. That particular spell had been from the day he and Celina had skipped out on charms class.

He knew aparecium was simply a spell that caused invisible ink to appear, and in anticipation of going over the spell, Connor had brought invisible ink down to the library to test out his spell casting abilities. He dipped his quill into the special ink and wrote on the paper, “ La la la. Ma fa la saw raw caw ba pa. “ He set the quill down, looked at his ‘ handiwork ‘ and replaced it with his wand, tapping lightly on the parchment he watched as the words disappeared properly as they should have.

The Slytherin took a few seconds to look around, letting the ink set in and disappear completely. He didn’t spot anyone too familiar in the library so he returned his attention to the blank paper in front of him. “ Apparecium, “ He said clearly, though not too loudly to disturb anyone working, and performing the proper wand motions. He watched at the words ‘ La la la. Ma fa la saw raw caw ba pa. ‘ appeared on the previously blank page. He shook his head at his own antics, finding it immature and funny at the same time to just rhyme words that could barely qualify as words. Upon hearing someone else come into the library Connor turned quickly to see who it was and in the process he knocked over his normal ink all over the table and consequently the floor.

He jumped up, knocking his chair down in the process. “ Damn. “ He swore under his breath as he stooped down to start cleaning up the mess.

[Open]

[Eaden Valo]

Eaden needed to go to the library. Since she had arrived at Hogwarts, Eaden had been loaded down with work of all sorts. Charms, Potions, Muggle Studies, you name it she probably had some work to do for it. She tried to study in the common room but since it wasn't late at all a lot of people were in there also doing work. It was too loud for her to get anything done. So with her trusty backpack and some directions she made her way down to the library in hopes of a semi-quiet area.

The directions she was given were quite good, if she may say so herself. Eaden found the doors to the library in a heartbeat. She made a mental note to say thanks to the boy who gave them to her. She walked into the library and gave it a good look around. It was much larger then the one at her other school. Books were crammed in everywhere here! It was like her perfect play place! Her smile widened as she started toward some of the stacks.

Eaden took her time as she wandered around. It was still early and the only assignment she had that was due soon was Charms, so this little tour was perfectly fine for her to take. As she neared one set of stacks she heard someone curse quietly from the next stack over. Curiosity overtook her as she walked around to the other side, abandoning her tour. A boy was on the ground cleaning up some ink he spilled. She'd seen him around before, most likely in class. With a smile she walked forward and put her bag on a near by chair. Getting down on her knees she took out her wand.

"I didn't scare you did I?" She asked quietly, her Irish accent coming on strong. The boy looked nice, kind. His name was something that started with a 'C', Clive? Chuck? She;d have to ask him so she didn't call him something else and look like an idiot.

[Connor Manning]

Connor watched as his papers flew on the ground, and instead of moving to clean up the ink mess he picked up his papers first. Notes, random things he had written down, even letters he had forgotten to send to his parents and sister, all strewn on the floor. Double damn. The sixth year moved around swiftly grabbing a paper her and picking one up there. Once he had gathered all of the papers that had fallen he set them back onto his work table and grabbed his wand, about to clean up the mess he had made by knocking over the ink.

" Ergh, " He said, noticing he had accidentally stepped in the ink and it was now all over the bottom and front of his nice dress shoes that he wore to classes. Lucky, though, he hadn't gotten any of the ink on his uniform which he was still wearing from the day of lessons.

" Evanesco.. " He muttered as he pointed his wand at his shoe and performed the proper wand motions. He had lost track of the person who accidentally caused him to make his mess, but saw her walking towards him. He stood to his full height and turned towards her, his wand still at the ready. Noticing that his wand was pointed at her, he lowered it back to his side, a small blush rising in his face. He hadn't meant to do it, and with the attacks last January a lot of people were more insecure about a little mistake like that. " No, didn't scare me exactly. Startle might be the correct word, though. " He said, crouching down and pointing his wand at the mess he had made and muttering, " Evanesco. " The mess was only half cleaned up, which frustrated Connor slightly.

" I'm Connor, by the way. Sixth year Slytherin, also a Prefect. And not that smooth if you didn't notice. " He said, tossing a grin up at the girl as he performed the spell several more times to no avail. " Erm. " He said to himself as he looked back down to the floor and saw a hazy gray outline of where the ink had spilled.

[Eaden Valo]

Eaden smiled as he scurried to pick up all of his things before they got inked up. He seemed to be a little frazzled about something. She was sure it might have been her. This thought amused her slightly as she wasn't a very 'scary' individual. The boy pulled out his wand and started to clean the mess up with a spell. It only worked halfway, leaving a slight mark on the floor.

He finally noticed the blond and stood up quickly and brandished his wand. She held her wand in front of her, worried he might duel her. But as fast as pointed his wand at her he held it down, looking slightly sheepish. She did the same, a small smirk appearing on her face. So he wasn't going to hex her. A good sign. At Durmstrang, duels were the norm. People got into them at least twice a day. The teachers cheered the students on, thinking this was a good form of learning. Eaden became quite good at it, she never liked to be the one who lost.

Connor! That was his name! She grinned at him, her eyes happy. "It's nice to meet you Connor, I'm Eaden. Sixth year Gryffindor." A small chucked escaped her lips as she thought about what he said. "I'm quite happy I didn't scare you. By the looks of it you would have hexed me to death." Her smile grew a little wider as she watched him try to make the grey spot go away. For all of his charms it seemed to like it's new home on the floor.

"Prefect? Wicked. I was one at my old school. Though, if my school looked anything like Hogwarts I would have liked being a prefect much more." She walked closer to the boy and took out her wand and tried the same spell on his little stain. It lightened up a little. She shrugged, grabbing her charms book. Opening to the index she looked for a really good cleaning charm. Alas, she found none. "Maybe if we keep using this charm it will go away because the book doesn't say anything about this."

[Connor Manning]

His shoes were ink free, but the same couldn't be said about the floor. Being a neat and tidy person naturally, Connor was extremely annoyed with himself that he had managed to spill ink... everywhere. He kept his eyes on the stain as he stood up once again, this time remaining standing. He took care to leave his wand at his side instead of brandishing it about at the girl in a threatening manner. " Hi, Eaden. Same to you, " He responded with a polite nod of his head. That was where he had seen her before, in lessons... He hadn't known she was a Gryffindor, though.

His free hand slid into his pocket, an easy smile staying on his face. " Yeah, sorry about that. I just wasn't all that prepared for company. " He admitted with a soft laugh. Once his laughter ceased, though, his attention was back on the floor. " Huh. " He said softly to himself, although looking back to Eaden once she started talking again. It was then that he noticed just how much shorter she was than him. She stood at about, 5'4, 5'5 while Connor stood at 6'0 tall. He grinned slightly, thinking about it.

" Oh, yeah? It's alright, being Prefect here. Good benefits, prefect's lounge, giant baths and all... " He trailed of before asking, " What school did you go to before, then? " He watched as she tried the same spell, lightening the stain slightly, but not really making it go away more. He nodded his head, telling her, " Yeah, I think I'm just going to have one more go at it. " He didn't crouch down this time to get closer to the floor, and remained standing instead as he said, " Evanesco, " clearly and carefully. It worked better than it had before, this time only leaving a very faint outline, barely noticable unless you were really looking for it.

[Eaden Valo]

Eaden shook her head and smiled at the boy. "It's fine. I can understand why people would be jumpy these days." She finally took the time to look at the boy. He had a nice face, sweet. She noticed his various piercings, something that brought a smile to her face. Someone who understood the fine art of body modification. She took a few steps back, widening the gap between the two.

" What school did you go to before, then? "

"Durmstrang," She said to Connor as she took a seat in a near by chair. "The job was very different there. We had much more power, like we could punish people. But we also didn't have a special bathroom or anything. Durmstrang as a whole is different then Hogwarts. I like it here much better." She looked away from the boy as she finished her sentence, glancing around the library. Bleak light shone through the windows, illuminating the floors.

Connor bent back down to and gave another shot at the floor stain. This time he made the stain pretty much go away. If you weren't looking for the stain you wouldn't see it. She grinned, a slight laugh escaping her lips. "You can't even see it." She moved from her chair back to the table where her bag was. She fiddled with the zipper on the bag, not really doing anything.

Turning back to the boy she pointed to her lip, saying, "I like your piercing. It's really wicked. I don't have any piercings but I do have a few tattoos." She lifted up the right sleeve of her robe and shirt, showing Connor a tattoo on her wrist that said 'Lover.' "I have three more but they're in spots much harder to show." She pointed to her side, lower back, and left arm. "My parents are ok with tattoos but not piercings. Weird huh?"

(Wrist tattoo)

[Connor Manning]

Connor shrugged his shoulders, saying, " Yeah. With January and now the dragon pox outbreak, everyone's a bit on the edge. " It didn't register to him that the girl might not know what he was referring to when he said ' last January ' so he didn't correct himself or say anything more on the topic of it. It was a delicate subject already and one he was weary of talking or even thinking about. He was set on moving forward, but others weren't so set on the same.

" Durmstrang? Ah, that's interesting. I went to Beauxbatons before I came here. Wasn't prefect then, I was too young for that... " He trailed off as he listened to Eaden's description of why being prefect at Durmstrang was different that at Hogwarts. He offered up a small grin, saying, " Well there are pros and cons to everything. I think I like Beauxbatons as much as Hogwarts, there are good and bad things about both schools really. " Really, there were good and bad things about everything, but for now Connor was just talking about the schools. He couldn't imagine being able to really punish anyone, usually if something too bad happened it was protocol to get a professor to sort it all out.

Connor admired his handiwork with a laugh, deciding that he really needed to work on his vanishing spell the next go around. " Yeah, only took me twenty years but here we go. " He said, shaking his head as he pulled out his chair and took a seat, moving it so he could still converse with Eaden. As the Gryffindor girl mentioned his lip ring, Connor's hand instinctively reached up and touched it lightly, spinning it around in his lip. He dropped his hand back down and grinned, saying, " Thanks. I got it.. summer before my fifth year. " He had been fifteen at the time and shocked that his parents had let him, but they had.

He looked at her tattoo and nodded his approval, thinking that her parents must be pretty laid back if they were willing to let their daughter get a tattoo. " Ah, that's pretty cool. Any specific meaning for it? " He asked, still wondering what her other tattoos were and deciding he would ask in a moment or two. " Really? My parents are the exact opposite. The way they see it, you can take a piercing out if you need to. Tats are forever, though, right? "

[Eaden Valo]

Dragon Pox? Did he just say Dragon Pox? It was her luck to arrive in the midst of a contagious disease. As she sat she leaned her chair back on it's hind legs. She made sure to keep her legs crossed and proper like a lady. "How long has the school been rampant with disease?" She hoped she didn't sound rude, she was just interested about the Dragon Pox. Eaden had already caught the pox when she was a kid and hoped she wouldn't catch it again.

Eaden nodded after Connor spoke about how there were pros and cons about every school. "Punishment at Durmstrang was quite....painful at times. They weren't as nice as they are here." Eaden sounded at ease when she spoke of this, like it wasn't anything to think more about. She sighed quietly, her eyes wandering for a second. She was quite happy to have met Connor. He seemed to be very nice and quite fun to talk to.

" Ah, that's pretty cool. Any specific meaning for it? "

Her eyes went back to Connor, a slight blush graced her cheeks. "Yeah, see there is this boy back at Durmstrang. His name is Janne and he's my best friend. He was also my boyfriend and we got matching tattoos. I know, it's so lame but we've been so close for years. Mine says 'lover' and his says 'forever'." As she thought about Janne a glow came about her. She was so far away but she felt so close to him when she looked at her tattoo. "Most people don't like it but....It's my favorite."

[Connor Manning]

Connor turned his head, thinking of how long Dragon Pox had been around at the school. He couldn't even remember when it had started, it seemed like a long time mostly because he hadn't been sick the entire time. He felt fine at the moment, and was sure he hadn't gotten the disease because he had already gotten it when he was younger. It wasn't very likely that he would get it again, either. " Ah, I dunno. A month? Couple weeks? Seems like it's lasted forever, though. I haven't gotten sick, so I'm pretty thankful for that. " He said with a small shrug of his shoulders as he rocked back and forth on the legs of the chair he was sitting in.

The Slytherin tapped lightly on the chair with his fingers as he listened to Eaden talk about the difference between Durmstrang and Hogwarts, at least where punishment came into play. " Seriously? I thought that whole... medieval torture thing died with the mid ages? " He asked with a laugh. Cruel punishment probably wasn't something to joke about, but he guessed the Gryffindor lass would take the comment lightly.

He grinned at her explanation of the tattoo. Now that he knew the meaning for it, it seemed kind of cheesy, but nice that she had someone like that. " That's nice. Must be hard for you two, him at Durmstrang and you here at Hogwarts. " He said with a sympathetic smile on his face.

[Eaden Valo]

Eaden sighed in relief. She came to Hogwarts at the butt end of this disease. Little to no chance of getting sick. "Must be nice you didn't get sick. I hated having Dragon Pox. So I'm guessing you guys were stuck here all of break? I think my parents got a letter from the school saying that." Eaden played with a strand of her blond hair as she spoke. She let the front to chair legs come back to the ground as she switched her sitting position. Her eyes, one was blue and the other was green went over to one of the close windows. She could see the cloudless blue sky out there.

She let out a small laugh as what he said about punishment at Durmstrang. She gave a serious nod. "Seriously. Most places don't go medieval on their students but Durmstrang seems to think it's the only way to really get it into our heads about being good." A small smirk appeared on his lips. "Not that it stopped most of us from having fun. The rule was 'Do it well enough so you don't get caught'."

What was left of the first blush on her face came back in full force. She looked at the Slytherin, grinning. Up until now she really hadn't thought about how much she missed Janne. She would write him a large letter later, telling him about everything. Connor's comment finally registered in her mind. "Yeah, It's nice to have Janne. And I do miss him terribly. But we're not dating right now and this tattoo reminds me of what he and I have. I'll see him over break."

Eaden noticed she'd been talking about herself almost the entire time. Feeling a little rude she grinned again at the boy. "So, Connor. What about you? What do you do for fun around here?" It was an easy question to answer and it would give her some ideas about what she could do when she was bored.

[Connor Manning]

" Ergh, yeah. There was a bit of an uproar about having to stay here over Christmas. It was okay, though. Not nearly as nice as seeing my family would have been, but okay. " He shrugged his shoulders, knowing that just about everyone felt the same way. People's annoyance was still easy to detect, there was always something to bother someone at Hogwarts, no matter how good things were going. And even at that, things didn't stay that good for long. It always changed and something, not matter what, always happened. He remembered the girl's other comment and agreed with her, " Yeah, it does suck. I had it when I was younger. Not very nice seeing everyone else getting sick, though. "

A lot of Connor's friends hadn't had pox before, so when the outbreak started, it was pretty bad for the sixth years, most of him Connor knew and had recently befriended. He could feel the beginnings of a grin tugging at his lips at the girl's next statement. " I think that should be the universal motto for teenagers everywhere. " He said with a decisive nod of his head. He wasn't much of a risk taker or rebel by any means of the word, but Connor did think that sometimes fun just had to happen one way or another.

The Slytherin noticed Eaden's blush and smiled slightly, not meaning to embarass her at all but still finding it funny. and cute that, by the mere mention of his name, she could be sent into a blushing frenzy. " That's rather good, then. So you both are into the tattoo thing, then? " He asked, finding it rather interesting that they would get tattoos together. Or that their parents would even think about letting them.

" Fun? Well.. erm.. " He paused, scratching his chin absent mindedly as he tried to think of what they did for fun around here. " Quidditch, Room of Requirement, hanging out, " As he listed these he counted them off on his fingers. " Causing a bit of trouble, and doing whatever comes to mind. " He said, placing his hand back down on the back of the chair. " I'm not sure, really. Usually you 'ave to make the fun, then it just sort of... happens. "

[Eaden Valo]

She smiled sympatheticly at the boy. She could tell he would have liked to go home over break and see his family. "Think of it this way. When you go home for summer break you'll be even more excited to see each other. You know that saying...um.. 'Distance makes the heart grow fonder?'" She let a pause happen, letting the silence encase them. "Going home then will be just a little better."

A light giggle escaped her lips. "Yes, I suppose you're right. About that being every teen's mantra." She set her hands in her lap, linking fingers. She was quite happy to have left the common room for this. Connor was quite fun. What made her happier was she may see him in classes. He seemed like someone she could get along with. She cleared her throat, hoping to not make a huge noise. "I'm quite excited to explore the castle. Hogwarts is huge compared to Durmstrang. I think I'll like the dungeons a lot."

"Yeah. We love tattoos. They're very addicting. I'm thinking of my next one. Not sure what I want but I want them on the tops of my feet." She held her feet out like a little child and looked at them. "Janne wants his ribcage done. He's drawing the sketch out. He was thinking about a pirate ship." When she said 'Janne' he voice was very sweet and caring. She did not notice this , of course. Snapping out of her little love-dream she looked at Connor. "Do you want a tattoo?"

[Connor Manning]

Connor once again found himself shrugging, although his smile never faltered. " I guess. Sure would be nice to open my presents from them with them.. you know... actually there. " He said with a soft laugh. He was one of the few who was taking the news well. Sure, he couldn't go home for Christmas and sure it would mean just a couple more months without seeing his parents or sister or any of his pets. But as Eaden said, maybe absense makes the heart grow stronger? He wasn't sure. " I guess I'll have to test that theory out and let you know. " He commented after a moment.

The Slytherin continued to rock back and forth on the front and back legs of the chair, careful not to let himself fall though. He looked down to the stain just to make sure it hadn't magically reappeared while he was talking. It hadn't of course, and he could just barely make out the outline of it from where he said. His hazel eyes met the Gryffindor's abnormally colored ones and he grinned at her comment. Every teen's mantra... " The dungeons? They're kind of nice for exploring. This place is rather big, easy to get lost. But most people are nice enough to help out a lost new kid. " He said, nodding his head every so often as he talked.

Connor, too, looked down to her feet as she mentioned them. He looked back up to the girl's face, knowing that he could see her getting something like that done. He hadn't known her for very long at all, but she was rather easy to talk to and seemed like fun. Again, Connor noticed her tone of admiration as she spoke of this Janne character. He raised his brow slightly at her, but didn't mention it. Connor didn't know her well enough to be teasing her about it, so he instead remarked on something else she had said, " Pirate ship, eh? That's kind of.. random. " He guessed it might not be so random if the knew the guy, but it did appear to be a little odd to him.

" Do I? " He paused, his hand going back up and twisted his lip ring around once or twice. " I've always wanted one, but I dunno what I would want to get. What about you, ever wanted a piercing? "

[Eaden Valo]

" I guess I'll have to test that theory out and let you know. "

A small smile tugged at her lips. The conversation was lovely. It was light and happy, well minus the whole being-stuck-at-school-during-Christmas bit. But Eaden really loved this. She felt like she was speaking with someone she had known for ages. Grinning contently she listened to him. "It works. Distance, I mean. It does make the heart grow fonder." She was sure of it, you could hear it in her voice. She glowed with calmness and serenity. "Whenever I'm away from my parents for longer then necessary, whenever I go home I always feel so happy to see them." She shrugged slightly, looking away. "I love them more then I did before."

She held his stare for as long as she could, cutting it off with a chuckle and smile. "Best not explore there then. I'm very apt to getting lost. I got lost trying to find the History of Magic classroom. That was embarrassing." Another chuckle escaped her. "Had to ask a firstie. I think they were as mortified as I was." She lifted a hand to ruffle her bangs and pull them out of her eyes. She set the hand back down in her lap, entwining the fingers again. "Are the dungeons dangerous?" Not that danger bothered her, Eaden would just like to be well prepared.

"Janne loves pirates. It's his little obsession. In his bedroom he had tons of books on 'em." She again pushed her chair back onto two legs, moving back and forward slowly. Falling would be so unladylike, something Eaden would hate to happen to her right now. "Janne drew my tattoo that I have on my ribcage. It's a human girl and a boy skeleton hugging. Took him forever to draw it. I got it done about a month before I came here." Her left hand went to her ribcage and rubbed it lightly. "Most painful tattoo ever. If you're going for your first don't get it there. I swear I almost fainted. Twice."

" I've always wanted one, but I dunno what I would want to get. What about you, ever wanted a piercing? "

Her lips were positioned in a smile as he spoke. Connor seemed like the kind of boy who would understand her. She thought Janne would be the only boy who she could have little discussions like this but she was wrong. "If you get one, take someone you care about to hold your hand. Trust me. It helps a ton." She thought about the idea of getting a piercing. "I was thinking about my lip for a while. Or maybe a monroe. It's on my list of things to do."

[Connor Manning]

In all honesty Connor was pretty surprised that he and Eaden were getting along so nicely. He didn't expect to hate the girl, or she him, but usually when he first met someone he wasn't sure what to make of them. He tried too hard to analyze them and see what they were made of, but this time he had just hadn't. Whether or not he had made the decision subconsciously or not, he wasn't sure, but it was nice to not try and figure someone out within the first five minutes of knowing them. He listened carefully as she spoke about her family, really wondering if it worked like that. The longest Connor was away from his family was the end of August to the end of December, and then the beginning of January to the end of May. " Yeah? you have any siblings? " He asked, curious if she loved her siblings more when she was away from them too. Maybe it was just a parent thing.

' Had to ask a firstie. I think they were as mortified as I was. ' He winced sympathetically, saying, " Ouch. Bet tha' was a bit of a blow to the ego. " He was only joking, and knew that Eaden shouldn't feel that way. She was new, of course, so he couldn't blame her for getting lost. He shook his head at her question, answering, " Nah, I wouldn't call 'em dangerous. Just a bit dark. " He said with a small shrug. Some people preferred it, and others didn't.

Connor wasn't sure he had an ' obsession ' with anything, but he nodded as if he knew what she was talking about. " Pirates, eh? That's rather interesting. " He said, and as she spoke of her tattoo on her ribcage he nodded. Connor had been just about to ask which one hurt the most when she answered his question without him having to ask it. " Oucchh. I dunno what I would want, let alone where I would get it. " He smiled in a hesitating manner as she mentioned bringing someone he cared about to hold his hand. Only one person came to mind, and he was sure she wouldn't ever be able to go with him to do something like that.

Connor looked at the girl, picturing both a lip piercing and a monroe piercing on her. Both would be suiting. " Yeh? That'd look good. Monroe would probably look better though, " He added.