what happened to the fun? -- open

[dromeda]

Andromeda Black quite enjoyed weekends, quite simply due to the fact that she could do as she pleased. Unfortunately, this weekend was unlike the others due to the fact that she had work to be done that she had neglected for the past few days. Normally she hardly ever neglected work, simply because it was better to get it finished then to put it off, which she was learning, once again, at this very moment. Although, a lot of things have happened over the past few weeks at Hogwarts, and her mind was simply clouded by other thoughts and she couldn’t find herself in concentration enough to complete work. Unfortunately, some of this work was due only two days from now, so she had to really concentrate… But as it goes, like the past few times for her, nothing was happening.

Normally, completing a task was hardly difficult for the brunette girl. Andromeda had even taken herself away from the things that were most distracting: housemates, classmates, any place that seemed to collect a lot of gatherings of people… Right now she really needed to focus on the task at hand, but of course she could hear the excited squeals of first years as they were practicing their flying, she looked over and smiled as some gave their friends high fives and did little dances out of excitement for they must have finally been able to lift themselves from the ground. It was comforting to see first years getting excited over such things; she remembered when she learned to take off on her broom in her first year… She remembered once she had learned she almost hardly wanted to go anywhere without it, and she hardly ever wanted to walk anywhere. Of course, during her first year she knew she couldn’t fly it well enough to use it so she had left it in her room most of the time, even now she hardly uses the broom. Actually, as she thought of it more, she couldn’t remember the last time she touched the broom, let alone look at it. That’s not what she was working on now though, at least, not what she was supposed to be working on, however her thoughts had trailed and she was finding herself losing focus on the task at hand; as it had seemed to be for the past few days.

“Bloody hell, Dromeda,” she was frustrated at herself and outwardly expressed it. Of course, no one was around to hear her; otherwise she would have kept the words to herself. Though, seeing as how no one was close by she could freely get frustrated at herself and voice it safely. “Get it together girl, you have things needing to be completed,” she muttered to herself as she forcefully opened the book in her hand to read up on potions. She wasn’t horrible in the class, but she had messed up a little potion that they were working on in class and the professor had given her a paper to write over the weekend; mostly to get her to know the ingredients by heart, and of course the amounts and sprigs one needed for such potions. Honestly it was quite redundant and frustrated her, but she had to get it done otherwise. Quite frankly she loathed this assignment and wished she could have it done already, but unfortunately she had to spend a good portion of her day simply attempting to get an idea out of her clustered noggin, which was full of thoughts, but nothing useful for the paper.

Rolling her eyes the brunette, sitting with her legs flat out and her back against the stone of the school, looked toward the sky and sighed. She was tired of sitting here, reading, thinking words that she couldn’t coherently put into a sentence. It was absolutely maddening and she just wanted to set fire to the whole damn thought of even having to deal with such trivial things. Although, fire was a dark thought and she quickly dismissed it before she thought more of it; she was, after all, from the Black family and if one were to dwell on dark deeds one could definitely take action upon it. Andromeda didn’t want to act on such dark thoughts, she wasn’t sure that who she really was or what she really enjoyed. She was a lot different than her sisters, who were very strong in their decisions… Andromeda on the other hand, seemed to have a different thought about such things. She didn’t ever want to act on dark intentions.

That's not what she needed to focus on at this moment. Quickly, before she gave herself much more time looking at the sky, she looked back down at the book in her lap and tried reading, again.

[rabastan]

Ever since the attack of Hogsmeade, Hogwarts had been in a ruffle. Students were becoming increasingly stressed, and Professors did their best to draw back the work-load. However, there were a few instructors who saw it as an opportune moment to accept the events as a 'fatal accident' and should not disrupt schooling. Though, Dumbledore always promoted a mental well-being, and reminded the stubborn instructors that even if it was an accident, it was still fatal and involved much of their student body. People had lost friends, family, and it all came unexpected. Rabastan understood why the events in Hogwarts were going that way, some people found solace in acting as if nothing happened and the rest felt the need to dot on it until it hit home. Although the staff had pushed back the quidditch games, the Slytherin's Captain felt it was unnecessary to cancel practices because of it. After all, everyone on the team hadn't been harmed, and he was sure the Ravenclaws would use it as an excuse to miss their own practices and become rusty.

Then again, his brother was captain, and no one wanted to step on his toes.

After quidditch practice, he decided to take a little detour and visit the lawn area and check out some first-years. He always liked to watch the random students try out their flying ability, in hopes that he could scout someone to join the team in the future. Next year his brother would be done with Hogwarts, and he was curious as to who the Captain position would go to. Rabastan, of course, felt that he should be entitled to the team but he was also aware there were better candidates. If anyone, he hoped that Kyran Sinclair wasn't the one to take Rod's place. The very thought got him angered and he felt himself coming close to the lawn too fast. As he sped forward he rushed right through the first-year females gathering to practice, and they screamed in response. He watched as one girl ducked down while the other one practically threw herself off to the side. Oops!

Rabastan slowed down, taking his time so that he could turn around and apologize to the girls. There was nothing wrong in shameless flirting, and he truly didn't mean to bee-line right through them. But as he got closer to the ground he noticed a fellow Slytherin, sitting there with a frustrated look. Pulling the broom out beneath him he allowed his feet to make contact with the ground, walking forward with slight haste. He didn't know why he always felt like he was in a rush, that if he didn't grab something immediately that it would slip right through his fingers – perhaps he should have been a seeker with that philosophy. It was obvious that he just came from practice, he still wore the cape, the arm guards – the whole uniform. Just from far away he knew it was a Black girl, just from the dark tresses of her hair. He had been somewhat close to the pure-blood family, knew of them, but he wasn't sure how to treat each individual... there always seemed so many, like an army.

“An~dro~meda!” he called out to her, intentionally butchering her name in slow syllables. To call her by 'Black' was an understatement, it was also very vague... that would be like calling Rabastan Lestrange, when the title went to the eldest brother. As he got closer he looked down and noticed that she was attempting to do her schoolwork, and he felt a little apologetic for interrupting her, just a little. Without invitation, he dropped his broom upon the lawn and settled himself next to the girl. It was nice that the weather was cooling down, the breeze brushing off the heat that touched his skin from practice. All he had to do was sit here and his body temperature would drop. He reached his hand over to the girl's shoulder and patted it. “Wow, so dedicated!” he beamed at her and gently removed his touch, weary how she would react to his sudden outburst.

Woman weren't his expertise, and he hoped that she would be... warm toward him, he was already irritated with one of his best years being disrupted by said dark wizards.

[dromeda]

In all honesty she hadn’t actually been able to focus on her work; ever since she heard news of Hogsmeade – since she had actually decided against going – she hadn’t really felt like doing much at all. She heard the rumours of what had gone down, people in black capes, white masks making harming people – which once you took a deeper look, according to some of the rumours from the big mouthed Slytherins that thought they knew everything, most of the victims happened to be half-bloods or muggle borns. Hardly any purebloods claimed to have gotten injured or harmed unless they tried doing harm to the cloaked beings. Of course, she didn’t want to believe what she had heard, especially if it was coming from some of the high and mighty Slytherins, even other pure-bloods not from that particular house that thought they were better were saying their thoughts. Of course, a good fair few were mostly Slytherins… Which, thinking upon it, actually bothered Andromeda, but she cast the thoughts away before she wouldn’t be able to think of much else.

She loathed rumours, and people choosing sides without giving the opposing one a change. Andromeda preferred to stay on neutral ground and thoughts and give vague enough answers to satisfy those around her, for she hardly knew how she felt about it herself. She liked to think of herself as neutral simply because she wasn’t choosing which side was better, pure against the other, but she didn’t necessarily think them all horrible or good in any manner. Hardly thinking pure blood were the only deserving blood lines, of course. They were all wizards and witches, therefore they all deserved a chance. What they did with their magic and their abilities is what makes them bad or good, and it’s not always a pure blood or the like doing good things… She had mixed feelings about it all, but until she knew what she truly believed she was going to remain a neutral force – and one that tends to be the middle person, and the one to come between disputes between her sisters and other housemates and classmates.

Her thoughts had obviously dissolved into something other than the work she had been meaning to do, and with a loud sigh she gave in for a moment to just relax; she get back to what she was meant to be doing before long… Grant she didn’t – did she just here her name because called? Looking around she spotted a fellow Slytherin, Lestrange, specifically Rebastan, coming toward her. From memory she couldn’t remember if she had ever talked to him, but she probably had… He was in the same house, and in at least one of her classes – but she was much too tired to remember which and when. His family too was not one that went unknown either, though probably a little lesser known than hers, unfortunately. She gave a curt smile before greeting him, “Hello Rebastan.” The smile didn’t falter, and when he mentioned her being dedicated to her studied she looked down at her books and remembered what she had come out to the lawn for to begin with. She laughed and then looked back at the boy beside her, “Yes, so dedicated that I keep forgetting that I came out here to work at all, it’s just so nice today.”

Note: Sorry if this is crap, but I tried to get more out of my brain for this but it’s just not working without making it sound even more ridiculous. Sorry it took so long, also. I hope it’s not as horrible as I feel it is.
In all honesty she hadn’t actually been able to focus on her work; ever since she heard news of Hogsmeade – since she had actually decided against going – she hadn’t really felt like doing much at all. She heard the rumours of what had gone down, people in black capes, white masks making harming people – which once you took a deeper look, according to some of the rumours from the big mouthed Slytherins that thought they knew everything, most of the victims happened to be half-bloods or muggle borns. Hardly any purebloods claimed to have gotten injured or harmed unless they tried doing harm to the cloaked beings. Of course, she didn’t want to believe what she had heard, especially if it was coming from some of the high and mighty Slytherins, even other pure-bloods not from that particular house that thought they were better were saying their thoughts. Of course, a good fair few were mostly Slytherins… Which, thinking upon it, actually bothered Andromeda, but she cast the thoughts away before she wouldn’t be able to think of much else.

She loathed rumours, and people choosing sides without giving the opposing one a change. Andromeda preferred to stay on neutral ground and thoughts and give vague enough answers to satisfy those around her, for she hardly knew how she felt about it herself. She liked to think of herself as neutral simply because she wasn’t choosing which side was better, pure against the other, but she didn’t necessarily think them all horrible or good in any manner. Hardly thinking pure blood were the only deserving blood lines, of course. They were all wizards and witches, therefore they all deserved a chance. What they did with their magic and their abilities is what makes them bad or good, and it’s not always a pure blood or the like doing good things… She had mixed feelings about it all, but until she knew what she truly believed she was going to remain a neutral force – and one that tends to be the middle person, and the one to come between disputes between her sisters and other housemates and classmates.

Her thoughts had obviously dissolved into something other than the work she had been meaning to do, and with a loud sigh she gave in for a moment to just relax; she get back to what she was meant to be doing before long… Grant she didn’t – did she just here her name because called? Looking around she spotted a fellow Slytherin, Lestrange, specifically Rebastan, coming toward her. From memory she couldn’t remember if she had ever talked to him, but she probably had… He was in the same house, and in at least one of her classes – but she was much too tired to remember which and when. His family too was not one that went unknown either, though probably a little lesser known than hers, unfortunately. She gave a curt smile before greeting him, “Hello Rebastan.” The smile didn’t falter, and when he mentioned her being dedicated to her studied she looked down at her books and remembered what she had come out to the lawn for to begin with. She laughed and then looked back at the boy beside her, “Yes, so dedicated that I keep forgetting that I came out here to work at all, it’s just so nice today.”

Note: Sorry if this is crap, but I tried to get more out of my brain for this but it’s just not working without making it sound even more ridiculous. Sorry it took so long, also. I hope it’s not as horrible as I feel it is.