Solo-fied.

[Lianna Maylorn]

Simultaneous to the Valentine's Dance

February fourteenth had officially become Lianna's Achilles Heel. All she had do to keep herself from going was keep telling herself how pointless it was going to be. But then she kept being reminded and left thinking about all that she never seemed to be able to keep. It was just another stupid dance put on another stupid day that everyone else could enjoy because they actually had someone. Today just wasn't a day she was meant to enjoy.

All she had was memories, most of them good ones and yet those good ones seemed to hurt far more at the moment than any of the bad ones she could conjure up. She could hear them float by further up the corridor, an occasional word managing to just barely make her ears. They were all happy, all enjoying a perfectly wonderful night of smiles and well, love. It was only that way because each of them had someone worth a galleon and then some to them...who did she have here anymore? Her best friends were gone and her only interest she knew she could never have. Her life was cursed, she wasn't sure how, or by whom but she knew it was cursed and someone somewhere was having the time of their life by pulling her strings.

She had no intention of going down there and her clothing certainly showed it - school uniform still bearing the various crumb scars and unwanted stains from dinner. After all, going to the common would've only made matters far more unbearable (and likely worse as well) than they already were. She felt pathetic, childish, stupid, a thousand other things and none of it helped. Let them have their happiness, she could be perfectly joyful there in the dark, silent hallway; with no one around...and no one really caring...

After all she'd managed it yesterday...

[cronon]

Wrong turn? Not quite.

Shined shoes, black slacks, a pink button up, Alexander had actually thought about going to the dance. He’d even gotten dressed for it, and yet, the green tinge he knew was on his back, the fact that he’d never really asked anyone to go with him… Alexander was not showing up to a dance alone. That was just that. Not by himself… it made Alexander think of Krissy again, but the thought fluttered away after a few moments of walking down an empty corridor of the first floor.

The plan was to find his way back to the common room, relax, and bury his nose in his black leather bound note book. That was of course, until he saw another in the hallway. Stopping, Alexander cocked his head slightly, trying to figure out who was sitting by themselves in the hallway. He could see that it was a girl, but who it was, he couldn’t tell until he started walking slowly nearer.

“Miss…” Alexander called out softly. “…are you alright?” he asked finally stopping in front of her. “Lianna?” Alexander noticed whom it was and he knelt down next to her and smiled charmingly. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be dancing your little heart out at the dance?” he jested lightly, but at the same time was serious. The hallway was vacant and lonely… what was the little Huffle girl doing?

[Lianna Maylorn]

Footsteps. Louder. Closer.

"Miss, are you alright? Lianna? What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be dancing your little heart out at the dance?"

Why? Why that voice?

She felt her hands involuntarily tense, even before her name drifted into her own ears. Of all the people whom she ran the risk of happening upon her, why did it have to be him specifically? Honestly, at this point she probably would've been able to respond Jax's mockery of her miserableness with a believably fake smile better than she would be able to to the concerned voice of Alexander. She just couldn't help but be honest with him, even though really she seemed to have that problem with everyone. Maybe it was because he always seemed to care as much as she used to... Why was her life far more complicated that it really needed to be?

Why did he have to care so much and mean it?

And then there were the questions, so simple and yet so equally hurtful. Honestly, couldn't someone just sit in a hallway during a night the rest of the school was to be enjoying themselves if she wanted? Was it so deviant that it warranted an interrogation over? Well, he did see her at least once a day so perhaps it did in his eyes but his eyes and her brain saw two identically different pictures.

"Is there an order you want those answered in?" Lianna replied managing a small, forced smile and reluctantly looking over at him. He was always smiling, always...as if nothing went wrong. Everyone here seemed that way, as if they all had perfect memories of perfect times and yet all she could dwell on was her past. True, once one ignored the Deva invasion none of it was really horrible, many would probably call it typical, normal even. Maybe she was just the only soul in Hogwarts who happened to wear her emotions on her face for everyone to see whenever they chose...

and that was one problem with her life that she couldn't blame on Raynor.

[cronon]

At first, Alexander didn’t say anything. His smile faded slightly, for even in the dark, Lianna Maylorn was just as she always was; alone, sitting somewhere away from everyone, and like him, different than most of the other Hufflepuffs. There was so much he wished he could do for the young girl, for he knew that when she did smile… it was beautiful. And yet, it was a rare site to see. Alexander’s knee hurt from his kneeling position on the ground, so instead he moved his way over so that he was sitting next to Lianna and leaning back against the wall.

Is there an order you want those answered in?

“It’s not the order that matters, Lianna…” Alexander whispered, turning his head so that it faced the young girls. He smiled again, but this wasn’t happiness, or sympathy, but instead one of comfort. “…it’s more if you’d like to say. I’m here to talk, you know.” Alexander didn’t want to press her, but Alexander had always noticed that above anyone he’d ever met, the young Miss Maylorn was the calmest, and probably quietest he’d ever met. Whether that was a good or bad thing, Alexander didn’t know.

He’d only been at the school for two years, and only in the last year had he even bothered with the people who were inhabiting the school, realizing that they were nothing like the Americans.
So, Alexander understood that he probably wasn’t as instantly trusted as he wished he could be… but it didn’t stop him from trying. “Or, you could even tell me to leave…“ Alexander chuckled softly and had a look of thoughts on his face that would have scared anyone. “Course then… I may have to cheer you up forcibly by taking you down to the dance.” Winking at Lianna, he nudged her slightly and laughed again.

[Lianna Maylorn]

"It’s not the order that matters, Lianna…it’s more if you’d like to say. I’m here to talk, you know."

She'd been trying to give the impression she was fine, but once again she'd failed pathetically. Maybe she was just transparent. Abby had seen through her, Jax, Alex, Krissy, Seanna, everyone she'd even remotely befriended could see right through her without having to take even a slight second glance at her face. the only person who had never really seemed to read her completely was Mark, and that was something she actually liked. But if she was so readable, why did everyone insist on not leaving her alone when she wanted to be?

"Or, you could even tell me to leave… Course then… I may have to cheer you up forcibly by taking you down to the dance."

She couldn't deny he was stubborn, and quite possibly the only person left in this school that she both knew gave two galleons about her ongoings and she herself could still respect. Plus that last bit actually got her to smile a small nudge - not to mention provoked her sense of humor to make a showing. True, she couldn't really be sure whether he was kidding or serious but with how all of her previous time at Hogwarts had gone it was probably the only test she had become accustomed to losing on a constant basis.

"You wouldn't dare..." She began, knowing that really at the moment that probably wouldn't be all too bad except for one little fact. "...with me like this?"

[cronon]

She smiled and it lifted Alexander’s spirits just a bit. She didn’t want to be by herself completely… and even if she did, Alexander wouldn’t allow it. She was always alone, and always trying so hard to be by herself. Alexander wasn’t sure if that was healthy, but at the same time, he was sure that if she wanted him gone… Lianna had the mouth enough to tell him so. But when she smiled, Alexander couldn’t help but smile back and figured that she liked his company.

“Oh…?” he questioned looking the younger huffle over and raising one eyebrow. “And why wouldn’t I?” Alexander said smugly. “I’m not going with anyone… and if I could have the best looking girl in all of Hufflepuff at my side,” he wasn’t mocking, but at the time saying it playing sort of way.

Standing, he pushed himself off the ground and held out his hand for Lianna to take. “Come on, Miss Maylorn….” He paused and laughed lightly, his face shying away slightly almost embarrassed for what he was sure to say next. Lifting his lavender eyes to meet back up with Lianna’s and he smiled wider. “…make a lonely guy’s night, and give me one small dance?”