Lavy pushed the heavy door open, leading out of the school to the steps. She wasn't sure what she was doing or even why she was there, walking slowly down the steps. A cool breeze ran across her bare shoulders and ruffled the bottom of her nightgown, which hardly reached her knees.
She was down the stairs and stepped onto the cold grass below her feet. She looked around, seeing every detail of the school grounds like it was midday. The moon was full, shining brightly overhead. It was a peaceful seen, the kind that everyone hopes to have but really get.
She was halfway to the lake when she was suddenly aware that she wasn't alone. She looked around to see who it was.
The large, but skinny black wolf trotted along across the grounds to the lake, making not a sound. His sky blue eyes held a sense of lonelyness as they looked up at the moon.
Axel didn't really understand why he was feeling so down. Maybe it was his longing for a friend, something he hadn't had in awhile. But the lonelyness was nipping at him all night, so he decided to go outside and enjoy the cool brisk air.
As the lake grew closer, Axel sensed another presence very close. Would they be afraid of him? Or would they not mind? So Axel transformed into his normal, ordinary human self. The tall, too skinny, but fairly toned red head with spiky hair and lonely sky blue eyes stood in place of the wolf, waiting for the person to walk by.
"Lavy?" Stacey asked, her brown eyes looking black in the soft light of the moon. "What are you doing out here?" She hadn`t seen Lavy in a while, but then again, she hadn`t seen anyone in a while. Third shift was a crappy time to work, and she didn`t even get to see Aiden as much as she would like to. She was still dressed in her work clothes from the Three Broomsticks-- jeans and a dark long-sleeved shirt. Not only could she be armed without anyone noticing, but the dark colors kept the worse stains from showing. She was glad her boss gave her full run of the place when she was there.
The wind pushed her hair out of her eyes, and she glanced towards the trees, sensing something. She ran her hand over her sleeve, feeling the line of her wand against her forearm.
"Are you okay?" She added. Lavy had helped Stacey deal with the voices in her head, but she never knew if Lavy still heard them or not. Of course, there could be a million different things wrong, but she thought she would start with the basics.
Lavy smiled at the two new additions, "I'm fine," She said quietly, she knew they would both hear her, "I've been away...again. But I'm back...again." She turned to Axel, who was still pretty far from her and Stacey.
"I'm Lavy, by the way," She said looking him over in the moonlight. He looked fairly normal, except for his eyes. His eyes seemed like that of an old man, who had seen more pain and sadness then he cared to remember. His eyes reminded her of her own. Everytime she looked in the mirror she would see that same look in her eyes. She felt for him.
"I don't believe we have met yet."
Axel walked closer, close enough to see the other two clearly beneath the moonlight. He held out his hand to greet Lavy.
"I'm Axel Hampton. Gryffindor seventh year." Despite how he was feeling inside, he was calm and friendly. He then turned to Stacey to shake her hand as well.
"I believe we met a few months ago. You're...Stacey, right?" His eyes had looked like an even brighter shade of blue, almost white because of the moon.
"I'm a no year. I hardly ever go to class. I mostly use the school as a hide out," Lavy stopped for a moment, feeling Axel's mood when they shook hands. His emotions were very low, not depression but worse then just melancholy. She didn't know why his emotion struck her so strongly. She was used to feeling others emotions, even on occasion changing them with her words.
She looked very long at him as he turned to Stacey to shake her hand. His eyes seemed to give way to his feelings while the rest of the exterior seemed rather unaffected. She felt to urge to comfort him, to hug him but resisted, remembering that they had just met and that might make him very uncomfortable
Stacey shook Axel`s hand and smiled kindly.
"Yeah, I`m Stacey. You met me when you first got here. Practically ran you over." She smirked and shrugged an apology, but turned to face Lavy again. For some reason, she shivered, and only after did she know why. She had felt Lavy see his emmotions. She ran her hands over her arms, looking at the ground. It still felt weird to be able to absorb Lavy`s powers.
"You said you were back... again. How long are you staying?" And what happened? She added the end as just a little push towards her old friend.
Neo happened is what happened, I'll explain later. And sorry. i forget that your powerful enough the absorb some of my energy.
"So what are you two doing out here at this time of night. You know students aren't suppose to be out of their beds, let alone outside the castle. I know you know that Stacey. And assume you know that was well, Axel, seeins how your an older student."
Axel grinned, running his hand through his hair.
"Older students like to break the rules."
He looked out ove the grounds.
"I like to run at night. I was thinking about going tonight."
Stacey smiled fainty as Lavy replied to her mentally.
It`s okay, i can block you out if I want to, I just forgot to put up the block. She didn`t question her when she said that she would explain later. Either Lavy would spill, or she would become very annoying.
"Have the rules ever stopped me? As long as my grades are good, they don`t care what I do. I think the Astronomy proffessor is kinda scared of me." She smirked and shifted her weight on one foot.
"He well may be. But unfortunately for you, I most certainly am not.However, fortunately for you I really don't care if your out of bed. I'm more worried about you. I wouldn't suggest running around the forest. Ever. There are some nasty beast in there who are just waiting for their next meal to waltz right in there."
Lavy shivered slightly as a breeze went across the grounds. For a moment she had forgotten that she wasn't in warm clothing at all. She looked across the lake for a moment before turning back to them, "Wouldn't want you to get hurt."
Stacey replied with a roll of her eyes. She snapped her fingers and a blue flame appeared in her hand.
"Don`t you know by now that I can take care of myself? I`ve been in that forest so many times, the monsters should be scared of me. You know that I have a temper."
Her words were confident and sure, but her mind was in a whirl. Lavy had done it again, with just a single sentence, she had made her head go into a flurry.
Wouldn`t want you to get hurt.
The words echoed around her mind, and pictues soon followed. Her and Aiden. Their home together. Then future dreams; her and Aiden, but with a baby. Yes, it was something they had thought about and decided on and Albus had pften teased her on when she was going to get pregnant. She realized that she would have to start thinking about being safe, in more than one way.
((OMG OMG OMG OMG! Little Staidens![stacey+aiden babiez))
Lavy laughed, "Actually I was talking to Axel in that moment. But it is good that your thinking about Aiden and your future family. Wouldn't want you to get hurt either."
Lavy turned again, feeling like she was being watched. Another breeze reached them, "Do...do you feel something. Or hear something. Or am I just going crazy." She feel silent, "I think I am going crazy," She said more to herself then to Stacey or Axel.
Stacey blushed, her eyes flashing pink.
I have evil friends. She thought as she crossed her arms. Her eyes scanned the trees.
"I feel something, but I also feel everything." She paused to expand her mental radar. "Yeah, I can`t see anything, but that doesn`t really mean there`s nothing out there." The image of Neo flashed through her mind.
Axel looked around but felt nor sensed nothing. Curses for not having that extra sense. If he were in his animagus form now, he could probably sense something, but oh well.
"You love me don't even pretend," She said with humor behind the otherwise serious tone, "And I don't think it's Neo. He's only been stupid enough to follow me here once and the teachers put him in his place. Besides, I'm pretty sure he is in Tibet, trying to 'find himself'. I don't think he wants to hurt me anyways."
Lavy sighed, 'I'm probably going crazy. Just ignore me."
Stacey smirked again.
"I always do. I`m used to it by now." Lavy`s comments on Neo made her curious and 'later' was starting to feel like a long time away. Well, everyone knew that she had patience problems.
Axel held out his hands and blew air into his palms, a small fire igniting and hovering there. The orange and red flames glowed on their faces as he stood there with the tiny ball of heat.
"Who's Neo?" Axel asked.
"Ex fiancee. Probably one of the most powerful wizards in the world so I suggest you avoid dark allies just in case he's in one of them. He sort of went off his rocker. He's trying to get back to the way he was. He was a really good man once. I miss that about him. But that's the way of the world so I broke it off. Long story short."
Lavy sensed Stacey's impatience building. She ignored it as much as possible.
Sorry. Stacey quickly sent to Lavy, trying to control her very limited patience. It wasn`t very often that she actually had to wait for something.
"He seems like he could be nice if he tried. Of course, that little image was a little broken when he kidnapped me." She shrugged. "I`d like to see him as a nice guy. He looks like he could be really sweet." Her eyes had changed to a dusky grey and she looked down, scuffing the ground with her foot.
"Let's move off that subject I can see where that's going," Lavy said taking both of their forarms and walking them away from the forest and lake towards the castle, "We should be getting back to our rooms don't you think kids?"
She didn't wait for any arguments. She walked them swiftly across the lawn, up the steps and into the doors. She decided not the tell them the real reason for her hastiness as she closed the doors behind them all.
Stacey sighed mentally as Lavy started to lead them back towards the school.
"Why?" She complained out loud, having to restrain herself from asking what was wrong in her mind. "Tomorrow is Sarurday, and we all get to go to Hogsmead anyway. They`re aren`t going to care." She didn`t pull away from her grasp, though. Lavy could easily just immobilize her mentally or something.
"Disbite the fact that tomorrow is Saturday and that the vast majority of the teachers could care less if your wandering around the grounds completely unsupervised, it's still against the rules. Just be happy it was me and not Ginny."
Lavy lead the way up the first flight of steps, "So how have you been Stacey?"
Stacey couldn`t help but smile.
"I`ll tell you later." She said softly. How was she supposed to explain the whole deal with Jonathan, her uncle, when she hadn`t seen Lavy since before the wedding?
"Lots of stuff has happened, and not all of it good." She looked down at the stone steps as she walked up them, pretending to be concentrating on not falling.
Lavy laughed inwardly. She figured she deserved that answer, since it was the same she had given Stacey. The only difference is that the more she thought about it, the less Lavy wanted to tell Stacey about what was happening with Neo. It would probaby cause Stacey to hate him more if she told her. She would just have to avoid that conversation as long as possible.
"OK, but I want all the dirt," She said with a smile in her tone, starting up the next flight.
Stacey rolled her eyes and pulled her arm out of Lavy`s grasp, jumping a few stairs ahead.
"Who says there is dirt?" She asked, raising an eyebrow and glancing over to Axel. "Maybe I just have something to say about being ripped out of the forest for the first time." Her eyes were purple, indicating that she was teasing.
"First time? Very unlikly. Ginny has done it to everyone at least once. I know I've been kicked out of that forest more times then I can count. And yes, dirt. All of it. We both know that there is plenty of it."
Lavy
((I love how you ended that. =P ))
Stacey smirked and started going up the stair backwards.
"Okay, it`s the third time, but I`ve been found I there many more times than that." She paused on the stairs, tilting her head. The paintings were all moving, some of the more familiar ones waving or smiling in her direction.
((lol sorry I was going to say more but i sent it before i could so i just left it alone))
((Is Sky coming back?))
Lavy walked a little faster to keep up with Stacey. "See, no one gets away with that." Lavy ran up the last few steps and beat Stacey to the common room door of Gryffindor. She said the password and pushed the door open.
Since it was so late no one was in the room but the fire was still going strong so Lavy grabbed the closest chair to the fire and sat down. She grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders.
((Yeah. I`ll go poke her.))
Stacey smirked as she jumped up the stairs, almost forgetting about Axel. She entered the common room, throwing her hand towards the fire to make it jump back to life.
"I`ve been caught, but only towed out three times." She explained further, sitting in the other patched armchair.
((WTF?! T_T I'm lost....))
Axel walked quietly along with the two, letting them enjoy their conversation. He took a seat on the floor infront of the fire and blew on it, making the flames just a little bit bigger and stronger. He was cold and was glad to feel the heat on his pale skin.
(( lol it's ok we'll work you back in))
"Ok so now that we are all settled and warmed..." Lavy tossed Axel and Stacey blankets as well, "We can either sleep or talk it's up to you guys I guess."
Stacey caught the blanket and wrapped it around herself.
"I`m not tired." She announced, then looked at the quiet boy. "You haven`t said much. What`ve you been up to?"
Axel laid down on the floor and covered himself with the blanket, laying his arms on a pillow.
"Not too much. Just listening to you too chatterboxes." He said teasingly.
Lavy throw one of the cushions at Axel and started laughing, "That's what girls do silly, we talk to each other, out boys and school and life and all that stuff.
Stacey giggled, her eyes flashing blue.
"And these two girls happen to talk a lot." She winked at him. "Just ask Ginny, if you see her. She got mad at us once for talking. Remember, Lavy?"
Axel got hit in the head with the cousin and smirked.
"So what's a guy like me supposed to talk about?" He was in a room with two girls.
"Don't know. We could tell you about the girls in school to avoid like the plague, if you would like. All the ones who have boyfriends or are otherwise unavailable. Or we could try and talk about some sort of sport. Or just talk about boring things like homework. That's always an option."
I have fake plants with my FH and he actually leaves them alone. The only landscaping he has done is digging a large area to hang in during wcs.