a break was needed -- open

[dromeda]

Classes had been going strong for Andromeda, all the spells and waving of wands... Sure, it couldn't be but so time consuming and tiring, but it did take a lot out of a person with it being so repetitive, along with the lack of excitement some of the professors had for the lessons. She didn't doubt she was alone in the idea of the professors adding just a bit more spark in the lessons to keep their interests. Then again, that could just be Andromeda getting tired of the same old thing all the time... And the school year had hardly just begun.

So she had decided to take a little trip to the lake, to work on less interesting things, like reading. Though as soon as she sat on the hard cold October ground and looked over the surface of the lake, all she wanted to do was lean back against the tree she was sitting by and relax. She didn't want to study, she didn't want to work, and least of all, she didn't want to practice. Dromeda simply wanted to close her eyes and escape from all her thoughts and worries and school work, just to sit there empty and relaxed. Away from all the chaos of the world, and the peacefulness of the lake seemed to be the right place to go. It was calm, soothing, and quiet.

A soft smile formed on her lips as she placed her books down and leaned against the tree. Closing her eyes, a sigh escaping from deep within her, she relaxed for a moment. Everything just seemed to dwindle from her being, and all that was left was her, the tree, and the lake before her.

Other than escaping chaos and drama she wasn't quite sure why she had decided on the lake... There were plenty of other places for her to go, such as the courtyard, the library, the lawn, but the lake seemed to have been the one place she thought was the best. Oddly enough. Dromeda often found herself going random places simply to get away, or be on her own. Like today the lake, the other day the library - in an aisle that tended to go unused - and once or twice Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom, simply because no one else would go there. Andromeda didn't much like going there either, Myrtle seemed to always pester her and she would leave no sooner had she come, which is how she ended up in an aisle that goes mostly unused in the library.

No matter where she went though there always seemed to be people, and they were always discussing some sort of secrets: who likes who, what they think about the pure bloods or the muggle-borns or the half-bloods, their thoughts on the strange masked creatures that attacked Hogsmeade. It was simply nerve racking, it was like a bee buzzing in your ear for hours.

Normally people talking wouldn't bother her, seeing as how she grew up with her two sisters who seemed to find something to nag each other about, or just gossiping about, and her parents who hounded them about the purity of the blood lines being so important.

Although, she didn't necessarily want to be alone, she just didn't want to be around a group of people who had set decisions about people... Those who had their own ideas and cliques. There was just something about it that started to get annoying after so long and she just needed to get away from it and relax.

Opening her eyes again after a while she picked up a hefty book she had checked out a few days ago, and flipped it open to a random page and began reading from the random page. Though, at the moment, she wasn't retaining any of the words she was reading.

- - -

tag: open, so anyone can join and pester her XD
notes: ugh it's crap and i hate it. i'm still getting the hang of her, so hopefully over time it'll get better. so please forgive me for the crappy post, it'll get better i promise.

[mitzeh]

October, or rather autumn in general was possibly Regulus’ least favourite season – the weather was just way too tricky and fickle to his liking. One day it was warm and sunny, the other rain would be pouring down as if the world was coming to an end, and you never knew what the temperature would be unless you actually stepped outside. There was just no telling what tomorrow would bring, in the weather department that is. The youngest Black preferred winter; heaps of snow lying around brought back some good memories. The cold was welcome, too. You had to be accustomed to it if you spent most of your time living in the dungeons, and Regulus had never been a big fan of heat anyway.

As he stepped outside the castle gates, he took in a deep breath. The air was pleasantly crisp, but despite the sun shining down on Hogwarts’ grounds, there were dark clouds on the horizon. It was going to rain in a few hours at most; all the better he had decided to enjoy the weather now. The boy ignored other students running down the stairs and walked down calmly, hands clasped gently at his back. He nodded in acknowledgement at two older Slytherins he passed on his way, but didn’t stop to talk to them. He wasn’t feeling very social at the moment, in fact, he rarely felt social at all, he’d rather keep to himself most of the time. He wasn’t anything like Sirius, who seemed to need other people’s presence to survive. Regulus could do without talking to someone for days.

He changed his mind, however, as he noticed his cousin’s figure near the lake. Andromeda, the middle sister. Despite being family and in the same House nonetheless, the two rarely spoke, relatively at least. Narcissa, the quiet and gentle Narcissa was probably the closest Regulus had to a friend these days, and it was Bellatrix who taught him everything here at Hogwarts, things they would never teach at their school. Even now, as he was strolling peacefully down the lawn the young Black was limping slightly – a painful reminder of one of those lessons from the day before. Bella was a good teacher, true, but her methods were somewhat… unconventional. For those outside of their family, at least; Regulus himself saw nothing wrong about his cousin’s ways, although he would be grateful if he didn’t end up hexed so often.

“Enjoying the afternoon, I see,” he commented as he approached her, small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He didn’t have his guard up as he would around anyone else, even Bellatrix. Andromeda was different than her older sister and they were related, which was enough for Regulus to feel relaxed around her, as much as he ever felt relaxed at least. “Mind if I join you?” he asked, although he really doubted she would shoo him away.

[dromeda]

She hadn’t quite become engrossed into the large book she was reading, in fact, after a few lines she had given up on actually reading and went to skimming and flipping pages aimlessly as the cool October wind wafted around her. Weather never really bothered her too much, whether it be cold, warm, dry, or wet… It was just another obstacle in the day one had to accompany; otherwise it would affect her in many different ways. She liked the way snow looked, she liked the way rain smelt – before, during, and after – and she loved the way summer was warm and brought some people together for fun vacations after being gone from home for so long… Or it just made the teachings that the pure blood line was the superior of all the blood lines seem absolutely mind numbing; after a few years, one would think it would get quite redundant teaching this over and over again. So weather was nothing to the things it came along with, winter vacations, summer vacations, holidays, trips… It all seemed miniscule compared to all that has happened thus far this year.

As she aimlessly flipped the pages of the book she had sitting on her lap, she looked at the sky above The Great Lake. She was never really good at being able to distinguish what the sky was telling them in the form of colors, but by how it was growing ever darker – though hours away from now – it was definitely going to rain, but that was also tangled with the slight wet smell in the air as it gave her hair a slight toss in her face, which she did not appreciate as she had to move her page turning hand to the strand of hair and brush it from her face. Of course, the girl didn’t expect anyone to approach her as she moved her hand back to the pages to begin aimlessly turning pages once more.

She turned her face, with a friendly smile, towards the person that had spoken to her, instantly recognizing her younger cousin Regulus. She simply, in her cerebral thought, thought of him, in particular, as Sirius’s brother. But she and her younger cousin didn’t talk regularly. Of course, being in the same house they did see each other a few times a week, but their varying schedules ever kept them from speaking for an extended period of time. Although, she did know that he and Bella spent a considerable amount of time together, which she felt may or may not be a good thing. She was a strong believer that pure bloods were the all-powerful, along with just being a member of the Black family. Her smile widened of course when she learned of this intruder being of kin, which didn’t make him much of an intruder anymore, did it?

“Indeed I am, Regulus, and yourself?” She smiled kindly giving him a nod for him to join her after he had politely asked her, of course. “Sure, of course.” She didn’t much mind the company of family, simply because family made things much more comfortable, and there wasn’t always strings attached. Also, it was well known that family was able to pick up on moods and cues rather quickly and simply knew if you wanted to talk or not, or just essentially be around one another without their words to be said. For Andromeda this was a family member she did not often find herself in the company of, so if he was in the right kind of mood, she would be able to strike up a decent conversation out of him. Depending on mood and tone, however, one can learn a lot of what another person expects out of the company – if they expect anything at all, that is.

“If I recall correctly you’re in the fifth year now?” She smiled, trying to remember her fifth year; her biggest accomplishment was probably excelling in Charms… Honestly, she couldn’t remember much else about her fifth year. “How has it been for you so far? I would give you some tips and advice had I any, but I do not recall a single detail from my fifth year.” As she stated that, she felt exceedingly old, due to the fact that mostly older people would say something about their lack of memory when it came to details about certain things in the past – though she quickly dismissed the thought. Looking from her cousin to the book in her hands, she finally decided that skimming the pages and turning them for no reason was now pointless, so she closed the book and placed it on the ground beside her. Once again she looked at her cousin, a warm smile, though faint, was still present on her face.

[mitzeh]

“Same,” he replied, sitting on the ground next to her. It was cold, but not cold enough to make it unbearable, besides, his robes were made of the best fabrics. He could stand much lower temperatures; he lived in a dungeon ten months out of twelve, after all. “You know how the weather is these days. Better to enjoy the sun when it’s still here,” he added with a small but genuine smile, only reserved for those closest to him. He made himself more comfortable, leaning against the tree and straightening his legs, wincing only a little as the pain once again shot through him. It would take another day or two for it to completely fade away, he realized. Oh well.

The boy turned his head a little, so he could look at Andromeda’s face without having to squint. He contemplated her features for a short while, pondering how different the three sisters were – but then again, no one in their generation seemed to be the same, or even similar, to be honest. His own brother, one that should have been someone Regulus would look up to, had turned his back against their family and was as much unlike himself as possible. (Regulus didn’t like to acknowledge that he and his brother had much more in common than either of them would feel comfortable about.) Andromeda was probably the most balanced of her siblings, now he thought of it. The younger Narcissa was sweet and playful, but also unbelievably spoilt as the youngest child and the jewel of the family, while the older Bellatrix was, well, simply insane – and not the amusing kind of crazy, no, but the kind of insanity that was cruel and sadistic and made her family proud, just like the oldest daughter should make them feel. Bella was another reason why Regulus felt so uncomfortable in his skin sometimes, especially when his Mother or his Father looked at him and said, “you should try harder, son, we want to be proud of you, do not let us down” – she was everything Sirius had been supposed to be, everything he was supposed to be now that Sirius’ name had been burnt out of the family tree hanging in their house, as if he had never existed. It was suffocating and almost unbearable at its worst, but Regulus was used to it by now; after all, he had always been expected to be like someone else, someone better than him, someone more worthy his parents’ approval.

So he learnt from Bellatrix, hoping that one day he would be as powerful as she was or perhaps more; he talked on regular basis to Narcissa, because she was one of the best people he knew and he could trust her; and he avoided Andromeda, because she was smart and observant and at the same time normal enough to notice that not everything was alright with him. They shared similar views on life, they both believed in what they had been taught about the supremacy of their noble blood – but Regulus, despite his intelligence and sharp wits and skills had that dark twist in him that Andromeda lacked, wickedness that seemed to be a curse of the Black family. They were related, he knew that he had nothing to fear from her – but he felt uncomfortable with the thought that she might know just a bit too much about him. Especially that she had to know about his less than healthy habits; they were in the same House after all, she was bound to have heard of his nightly escapades and malice he could muster if someone crossed him, and all kinds of nasty spells he could cast if provoked enough.

Still, he knew that he couldn’t always avoid her – he didn’t even want to, of course. Family was important, was the most important thing to people like him, why would he want to pretend he and Andromeda weren’t close to each other? Maybe she wasn’t his favourite cousin, and he wasn’t hers, but relaxing together at the shore of the lake on Hogwarts grounds was anything but uncalled for. He was still smiling as she spoke again, and something akin to amusement crossed his features upon hearing his cousin’s question. “Fifth year, yes. It is… not bad,” he added with a small laugh, “I’m managing so far, besides, you know I’ve never had problems when it came to school. I will be fine,” the younger boy reassured her, resting his head against the trunk and closing his eyes. He felt oddly peaceful. It was probably the weather. “Were you about to study? I’m sorry if I disturbed you,” Regulus added as an afterthought, motioning to Andromeda’s book that still lay nearby. He didn’t open his eyes.

[dromeda]

“Indeed, cousin,” she smiled. It was most definitely great to get out of the school halls, the common room, and just relax under the last breath of sun that they may see before the rain comes pulling in, along with the dark clouds that will mask the sun. It was a kind relief seeing the sun; it was actually quite comforting considering the darkness of their common room and the dimly lit halls. She smiled as she looked at the sky once more before she looked back to her younger cousin. He was quite handsome for his age and growing ever more, she could tell. He did resemble his brother, although she knew him well enough to know he and Sirius didn’t much get along since Sirius took the road to the lighter path rather than standing for what the Black family stood for… She found Sirius admiral for that, if only she was brave enough to stick up for what she believed in sometimes she too may have chosen a different road. Of course, she feared what her father and Bellatrix would do to her, so she kept her thoughts to herself and simply agreed with what the family stood for, even if she didn’t always find herself agreeing with their opinions.

Unlike Bellatrix and Narcissa she didn’t strongly express her opinions about being a pure blood, nor did she express the use of dark magic. In fact, she hardly ever expressed any of that to house members or classmates alike, and thus many people question her allegiance. Of course, being a daughter of the noble Black family, one learns to work their way around suspicions, making people believe what you want them to and persuading them against asking over and over again. There were a many times that Andromeda has wormed her way out of the spotlight when it came to her opinions and speaking of her beliefs. Luckily, she’s more submissive then some suspect, as the middle child, and thus she tends to still be overlooked when it comes to how powerful her sisters believe in the teachings of their father. She never had to work hard in convincing people that she too believed in the teachings, in fact, it was quite easy to convince them… The only thing was that Andromeda wasn’t quite sure yet what she believed. She didn’t see anything wrong with the muggle-born or the half-bloods, they all seemed like good people, and she didn’t see anything wrong with that. The only thing that kept her from speaking those thoughts was the fact that she didn’t want to be deemed a traitor to her family and her house – at least to those that strongly believed in the superiority complex they had.

“I’m glad to hear that it’s going well for you,” she smiled, and laughed when necessary. She had no doubts that Regulus wasn’t doing good in his classes, he had always seemed to be a fairly good student when it came to doing the work, especially dark arts as it seems. Of course, she had heard of his behavior going around the house and the school, which at first she was quite surprised to hear about; she was hoping better for the younger lad, but he wasn’t like Sirius, and much more like Bella when it came to magic and his attitude. Then again, they did spend a good amount of time together, and he was the only person that probably dismissed her insanity while others deemed her bloody mental and tried to avoid her – simply out of fear of getting on her bad side. Though, Andromeda loved her sister despite being slightly insane and having different methods; Bella was family and she always would be… Given that Andromeda didn’t grow any courage and go about sharing her opinions. “You always were head strong, I like to assume that you’ll be a great wizard one day Regulus,” she smiled at the younger boy beside her.

She laughed slightly as the boy mentioned the book and studying. “Oh no, was just trying to find something to do while taking in some of the last rays of the sun before the clouds cast over it,” she sighed as she thought of the sun making its leave as the clouds came through. “Fickle weather these months give us.” She laughed slightly, though felt humorless. It was actually quite saddening that the weather had to be such ways during months like these.

[mitzeh]

The younger Black kept watching his cousin’s face with careful curiosity, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable under his gaze. He wanted to see, though, how her features changed as she looked up to the sky, the sun, the few clouds visible directly above them. Regulus himself was rather indifferent to the weather; sometimes, when he was feeling particularly thoughtful, he would admit that he actually preferred cold, but those were rare occasions. He could cope with all kinds of weather: rain, snow, heat, it didn’t matter to him. It was a petty thing, nothing compared to the bigger picture, but it actually showed how Regulus dealt with most things in his life – he couldn’t help it, so he didn’t bother being affected by it. There was… barely anything that affected him, truth be told, and it was both relieving and scary, even to him. Andromeda looked like she really did enjoy the sun, and would truly miss it once it was gone. Regulus didn’t understand her, he’d never had; they were too different. He hadn’t decided yet which one of them was the luckier one, though.

Still, he couldn’t deny that he wondered about her sometimes. Not often, because it usually lead to questioning himself, and that he tried to avoid at all costs, but – but, yes, sometimes Regulus would think about his family, either as a whole or its particular members, and sometimes he thought about Andromeda, too. He knew little about her, close to nothing actually, despite what he could see of her during their family meetings or in the Slytherin common room – and he knew better than anyone that almost nothing was what it seemed in those places. Regulus was a liar himself, and he knew another one when he saw them – he just didn’t know what exactly Andromeda kept lying about. They all had their secrets after all, more or less significant in the grand scheme of things, and not everything you wanted to hide from your family was something you would be disowned for. There were days when he wanted to talk to her, really talk to her about everything, the doubts that kept plaguing him, out of sheer desperation to be able to tell someone, anyone about all those things – but he never did, and he doubted he ever would. He had a feeling she wouldn’t understand him. (But then again, he had a feeling that nobody he knew would.)

It was funny, the neutrality in her voice. Though, what else had he expected? He returned her smile, even though his eyes remained wary as always. Magic wasn’t something he would take lightly, it was actually one of those few things that he was truly devoted to. There were times when he wished it was the only such thing. “I do hope so myself,” he answered, allowing himself a small laugh. Regulus wasn’t usually a giggly or cheerful person, even when he was truly amused he preferred to express his emotion through a smirk or a smile, rarely a laugh. It really showed how at ease he felt around his cousin. “Why bother learning anything if you can’t be perfect at it one day?” That was perhaps the biggest of the boy’s problems: he craved perfection in everything he did, but as perfection was never, ever possible, he sought its destruction instead. It was a vicious circle, one he couldn’t find a way out of.
Not that he tried very hard, no.

“It’s not actually fickle during the winter, and that will come soon,” he said, the corners of his lips turning upwards just a bit. “Something tells me, however, that you won’t appreciate that either.” The Slytherin himself had rather ambivalent feelings about the season: the snow was nice, he liked the feel of it, the way it looked, but then again taking long walks around the grounds was difficult then; trying to make his way through heaps of snow that were sometimes higher than him wasn’t exactly Regulus’ idea of relax. He had a feeling that Andromeda wasn’t a big fan of it, too.

[dromeda]

Andromeda looked at the boy, slight concern and worry in her face as she did so. He strove to be perfect in the eyes of everyone, including himself. Did he really feel there was no use in learning something if one could not perfect it? She looked at him for an odd moment, her thoughts wrapping around the idea of always needing to strive to be perfect, or never learning something unless you would be able to perfect it. It baffled her and confused her a little bit, because just because she may not be perfect at it doesn’t mean one won’t need to know how to it for any reason in particular in the future; it could come in handy just to know… That’s probably one of the few things that separated these two people; even if she didn’t perfect it she still found it useful to learn. Of course, she wasn’t sure she could openly share that logic on this boy for he seemed dead set in his ways.

As Andromeda sat there thinking about this boy and her family, he truly was taking the way the family normally did, unlike Sirius who too was dead set in his ways, but was completely different with his thoughts – he openly didn’t go along with his family ways, and Andromeda admired him for that, for she feared she wouldn’t be quite as open with her thoughts… Granted, she ever truly believed in what she felt.

“I don’t think any one person can be truly perfect at anything, unfortunately,” Andromeda spoke softly as she looked back toward the horizon above the lake. She smiled and gave a slight laugh as he spoke of the winter weather. Though she found watching snow fall soothing, and the snow covering the ground beautiful the chill was something she did not particularly like, along with the tediousness that snow seemed to cause: getting stuck on clothing and boots, melting and then getting everything wet and chilly. “Snow can be a bothersome thing to me,” she smiled, “Although it does have a remarkable beauty to it.”

Truly she was at a loss of words in talking to her cousin, apart from the occasional run-ins her sisters were two of the few she actually talked to on a regular basis. She hadn’t been around or talked to her cousin Regulus enough to really know what kind of person he was or what to say to him, let alone to feel absolutely comfortable or confident in herself around him. Although, she had to admit that was probably a bad thing considering that she was older than him and they were cousins.

Note: It definitely sucks, I’m sorry.