Light at the End of the Corridor?

[Damian Piper]

It was amazing ... in that way that was also completely horrible. Winter Holidays were canceled, everyone had their knickers in twists and bunches - it was essentially the single most royally sodden he'd ever seen the entire school populace be at one simultaneous point. In short: it was just a downright bloody brilliant phenomenon that could be matched by nothing. There was just one problem; none of it was his fault.

See, Damian was quite possibly the only one in the school who wasn't all in a huff over things. He hated Hogwarts yes; but at the moment his family were the last people he wanted to be with. The simple truth of the moment was that he was quite liable to kill them
for putting him here - except for Garret; he'd kill him for making cracks about his being here...and hating it. It was a shame of pity really, in five months he'd be stuck with them anyway but the further he could prolong that day the better it was for him. Of course, he could join that Deva-cult-crew…its ideals seemed pretty sound to him. Pity that that would get the hitwizards looking for him, then again, so would simply not going home; so which end-game really was the better card for his hand? Money could still buy him a permanently clean record so what did it matter?

What made this whole situation the overall best thing presently existing in the wizarding world was that everyone was trying to avoid everyone else in hopes of not making their bullocks of a vacation even more so. Annnd most of them were failing simply because Damian was making it his job to ruin their solitude and now for a moment he needed his own. He was running out of good interruption lines and you just couldn’t ruin people’s days without those on standby. You could try, but it just wouldn’t have that sinisterly good feeling to it.

There wasn’t much to say about the sixth floor window he was by. If you’d seen one, well actually by this time of year you probably had seen them all. It was January, it was cold outside, there was a nice light-egg white color on the school lawn and that meant where something warm even if charms and wards could keep most of the cold air out. That translates to Damian having donned custom green winter robes and gloves to keep all of the unpleasantness - that he didn’t spawn – away. It wasn’t really working…

the gloves were fading.

(Open)

[Eaden Valo]

Arriving here during the winter break sucked. She didn't know anyone and everyone she wanted to be with was at Durmstrang. Janne was at Durmstrang. She sighed as she sulked out of her common room.

The halls were relatively empty, something that Eaden really liked at the moment. She pulled her hoodie around her body tighter. The halls were a bit chilly at this time. Eaden also noticed how quiet it was. She had been in the hallways when there wasn't anyone in them but it was never this quiet. She pulled her wand out, just to make herself feel comfortable. Sighing yet again she turned and started down a flight of stairs.

As she walked down the stairs she smirked and stopped. She looked around to make sure no one was following her or watching her. Grabbing a piece of her hair she looked at it intently. Slowly the color started to darken, going all the way to black. Her blond hair was all gone. It was replaced by black hair. Giggling lightly she started back down the stairs.

She turned and found herself on the sixth floor. Shrugging she started down the hallway, humming quietly to herself. Eaden walked a corner, not looking up. She didn't look up again until she noticed a boy a few feet in front of her. She gasped a little, scared because she didn't notice him. When she jumped a little her newly black hair started to lighten slowly and turn back to blond right before their eyes. As she caught her breath she tried to calm herself down, hoping she didn't look like a loon. "Hi. Hope I didn't bother you.." Her voice was quiet and slightly sheepish.

[Damian Piper]

“Hi. Hope I didn't bother you…”

Really, were they serious? Were all of those divine powers muggles so stupidly held their hearts for completely off their rocker? Could they not see he was busy!? It was just his luck that someone would pop along while he had absolutely nothing to retort back with. True most retorts came while both caution and thought were kilometers away in the wind somewhere but really, just because he had made it his job to torture people by bothering their solitude didn’t mean he had to have a taste of his own, did it?

Three seconds. Five. Ten. She was still there? Hm, well apparently it did and no one had bothered to inform him. It was a shame the only real power he’d learned to put his faith in was money, this was one of those times where his ‘God’ had come up short. Besides, bribing someone away was just outright beneath him unless they were more important than him or they had a badge. She was neither therefore it looked as though he would have to just deal with – or hurl himself out the window and hope the fall didn’t kill him. He would certainly find solitude…but then if he did survive he would be in a wing full of sick people. And poking fun at people who were already royally miserable held no gain to be had.

Green eyes flicked first to the girl, then to the Gryffindor crest and then back to her face as his brain replayed her annoyingly timid voice back through his head. Gryffindor, socially inept, awkwardly balanced… She was thin ice to start; this would just be too easy, not that he didn’t mind easy wins.

“You succeeding in not being a bother until your lips moved. Since then you’ve failed, have you anymore questioning statements for the hallways to hear?”

Alright so it wasn't the best comeback in the world, but there was no need to waste perfection on this timid kitten was there? No, of course not, now then if she had a bite behind her timidity then perhaps there would be a classier song to play...

[Eaden Valo]

“You succeeding in not being a bother until your lips moved. Since then you’ve failed, have you anymore questioning statements for the hallways to hear?”

If someone was looking directly at Eaden they'd notice her eyes turned from their light colors to pitch black. Her eyes narrowed at the boy. He was exactly like everyone at her old school. Horridly mean. She was used to this treatment. Even as she relaxed her eyes didn't change back. She was pretty mad. But why? This was the usual abuse she endured? It stunned her a little, making her expression change from anger to confusion.

She took a step away from the boy, casually looking him up and down. Snorting quietly she leaned against the wall, still looking at him. "I'm so sorry. I thought you were doing something important. Guess not." Her voice was sarcastic, with a hint of malice. She didn't move from her spot on the wall. Eaden knew this would annoy the boy. Not that she really wanted to, but she hadn't been in a situation that could have gone either way since school. He wouldn't do anything to her. She wasn't in Durmstrang anymore. She was safe at Hogwarts. But by the way this was turning out she may not me.

People like him made her sick to her stomach. They think they own everything and everyone should kiss their shoes. She usually dealt with them by giving them a good hex to the chest. At Durmstrang, dueling wasn't acceptable, but encouraged. It made people stronger and more independent. Two things Eaden were. If this boy even tried to hex her she'd get him back just at bad.

[Damian Piper]

“I'm so sorry. I thought you were doing something important. Guess not.”

A step back and what was that glint there? Could it possibly be? It was, it was anger, followed by confusion, more anger and then - then she spoke again! Why did she have to keep doing that, more importantly what arctic chill has suddenly turned the water beneath her smile and ineptitude frozen solid for a meter's thickness? That was the real question because now it meant he had to actually work to obtain his personal mark of success. Did she really intend on having him waste energy on the likes of herself? For now it was still easy sailing but just how far could this lion cub be pushed, could she really end up turning into a mongoose? More importantly, did he care about the answer to that question?

Psh! No, of course he didn’t! The moment he started caring would be the moment he started submitting to all of these nobodies. They were nobodies, and even if they suddenly grew a mob mentality in the end he would still be better right? Money was power and they had no money, or at least they didn’t have as much as him so they held less or no power. In summary, they just didn’t (and never would) matter so why should he care about anything to do with them?

“Looks are deceiving, didn’t anyone tell you?”

So the little cub could nibble big deal. Nibbles hadn’t hurt anyone yet and probably never would, if this was how it was going to be their entire ‘conversation’ then he was probably better off just finding a new window now instead of humoring her. And yet, that glare in her eyes made him stay, not out of fear but rather curiosity. He wanted to see just what that glare was shielding…alright so really he just wanted to rain on her parade because odds were no one else was around anywhere.

“Besides, it doesn’t look like you’re doing anything world changing either, love.”

[Eaden Valo]

“Looks are deceiving, didn’t anyone tell you?”

A small sneer appeared on her face. This emotion was rare in Eaden, she usually never found the use of anger. Right now it's use was needed. What did this boy think he was? Perfect? She could tell he was pure blooded by the way he acted, like he was better then her. She was just as pure blooded as he was. Not that she thought he would treat her any different if he knew this fact about her.

She counted back from ten in her head, calming herself down. Coal black irises turned back to their unusual colors. Her right eye was blue while her left was green. Most people who knew about her special ability thought this was her using it to make herself more unique. Sadly it was not. Now that she was back to her almost normal state she sighed, eyes glaring at the boy. "I may have heard that." Her voice was cold and sarcastic, egging the boy on. How far could he go before something happened? It might be a death wish, but she wanted to know.

“Besides, it doesn’t look like you’re doing anything world changing either, love.”

Another snarky comment. What did this boy do? Make them up in his spare time? Her sneer turned into a smirk as she nodded at the boy's comment. He did have a point. She really just wanted to get out of her common room for a bit. It was heinous in there. She shifted her weight so she was now one leg was crossed in front of the other, her weight on the uncrossed leg. "I guess you're right. I just needed a breather from my common room. But you. You seemed like you were in deep contemplation. Having problems?" She didn't expect him to answer her. This was a cat and mouse game but who was the cat and who was the mouse hadn't been decided yet.

[Damian Piper]

"I guess you're right. I just needed a breather from my common room. But you. You seemed like you were in deep contemplation. Having problems?"

Her first words were much like a child's, his disowned second cousin's to be more precise: cute and short, but not much worth saying to outside of an 'aww' and then wait for something else. He chose to just skip to the second step because he wouldn't humor her with unnecessary words. Her second string however, that was much more worth his time, did she think by admitting he was right in some minute fashion that all was done and the game would end? Did she think that it would all go away? She had much to learn about both himself and the game if she did. Much to learn indeed.

"Don't kid yourself love. You care about my dilemmas as much as I care about yours. Who's to say I have any, who's to say that my world's not exactly how I want it for the time being? More importantly, even if it wasn't, what could possibly make you think you could fix it yet alone anyone else's?" He smirked, turning his head just the slightest so that his green eyes locked with her... now just downright odd ones. "Why waste your time on people who don't care for you?"

How could anyone be this confident that people like her could make a difference? They already had control; these insignificant blood traitors and freaks. What more could they possibly want, what more could they do? The freaks had a whole other world to call their own, the traitors welcomed them into their realm with open arms and bowed heads. If anything needed to change, needed to be cared about or eliminated it was people like her - people like those traitors and rabble. His problems were not easily solved by conversation, not extinguishable by a smile and a nod of good day.

His problems could not be solved by her confident and giddy filth.