won't you come outside and play if you dare [Char]

[sera]

Fall fell on swift wings to the school of Hogwarts, bringing with it rain to soak the grounds and dampen the mood of every student who stared gloomily out the window, wishing for clear skies once more. September’s days were a monotony of thick gray clouds and heavy showers which made Herbology class by and large detested by all the student body. As if it wasn’t by the majority already.When October came around there was a chill in the air, but the rain seemed to have stopped. This brief respite between the rain and the oncoming snow would not last, though, as anyone who knew the weather of the United Kingdom knew full well. When the weekend fell upon the Hogwarts students, therefore, most of them made a last ditch effort for the fresh air, before snow and frost would come and it would be too cold to risk going outside…barring a Hogsmeade trip, of course.

Students could be seen milling out across the lawn, and the Hufflepuff team seemed to be getting practice hours at the pitch, though it was near mid morning and far too early for any of that, if you asked her opinion. No one would, though. A group of boys had found a fanged Frisbee, probably stolen from Filch and tossed it back and forth around the lawns, causing screams from the odd girl whose hair was caught by the razor sharp tip.

Dark brown eyes followed the trajectory of the flying object from a pale, softly rounded face, completely prepared to duck if it seemed even mildly inclined to head towards her. When it took off towards the glassy, chilly lake, Sera Liddell knew she was safe for now and settled back in her seat on the otherwise empty bench. The girl of sixteen watched as the others around her settled in the grass and laughed and chatted with friends.

Unlike the others, Sera still wore her school uniform. Many students took the first excuse to change out of the ties, but Sera didn’t mind them much. The pleated grey skirt settled around her knees when she sat, the white button up shirt and the blue and gold tie around her neck were pressed and clean. The black robe she wore overtop of the uniform was open, the long sleeves covering her arms as an over long jacket might. Shiny black Mary Janes tapped slightly against the ground beneath her, small legs leading up to the navy blue socks that reached her mid-calf.

The girl glanced down at the book balanced precariously on her knees; a distraction from those around her had made her pause in her perusal of it. Standard Book of Spells Grade 6 was probably not light reading material for most of the students, especially in their free time on a weekend, but she’d been running late picking the books up this summer, mostly due to various uncomfortable circumstances, and she’d not had time to look over it for anything interesting.

Despite her studious nature, the girl did not seem much bothered by those around her breaking the rules. The boys with the fanged Frisbee were happy, let them knock themselves (and hopefully each other, too) out, it was their decision. As long as they didn’t bother her, Sera wouldn’t mind them much.

The wind picked up, pulling at her skirt and her dark brown hair. Sera tucked the strands behind her ear with an air of impatience, glancing around her one last time before lowering her gaze to the book on her knees. Her thoughts became lost, and the girl absently ran her teeth across her bottom lip as she glanced over the words of the spells she was determined to learn.

Sera wanted to learn, wanted to know it all. How else would she ever be able to do anything really worthwhile? And there was something wonderfully fulfilling about knowing that you aimed for the top three rank in your entire year, let alone your own house. So maybe most other students wouldn’t be reading a textbook on their day off, Sera wasn’t most people.

[charlus]

Hogwarts was centuries old; a large stone castle with a thousand secrets in every crack in the wall. At night, the gray coloring was only illumined by flickering light from the torches hung from the wall. Cobwebs were often found in the corners the house elves neglected and some of the chandeliers were dull with dust. Any first year could enter the school and see a thousand places to hide, a thousand things to do or see. But seven years after that first year at the school for witchcraft and wizardry, the novelty wore thin.

When he was eleven years old, Charlus had loved Hogwarts. In ways, he still did. But he didn’t like being in it too much- it felt more like a prison than a school at times. It sure as hell looked at it. Down in the dungeons with his professor where there were still out-dated torture devices hanging down the hall you could easily mistake it for such. The thought made him snicker a bit to himself. It probably was supposed to look like a prison- he was in detention after all.

The professor overlooking the detention glanced over at him wearily before returning to his lesson plans. He had a reason to be wary. When Charlus Prewett seemed to be in good spirits it normally meant bad things were on their way. Like his fellow detention mate, Teddy Lupin, he had a poor reputation with the teachers. The only difference was that Teddy was much more enthusiastic about playing pranks on the teachers themselves and was banned from the Quidditch Pitch. Char on the other hand just enjoyed messing around with his friends. But the two of them combined…

Loading the last of the gillyweed into the box to be stored in the potions cabinet, Char was in a fair mood, a grin playing on his face. He was eager to leave the gloomy confines of the dungeon and go outside to watch the Hufflepuff Team strategize. There was no clock inside the room or sunlight to determine the time, but Char knew they had been in there for almost the whole morning. Plus, he had finished his punishment. While Teddy stuffed a handful of gillyweed into his pocket Char glanced over at the professor, casting him a hopeful, eager look. He seemed to understand what Char was asking for lazily, he waved his hand towards the door.

Not one to dawdle, Char didn’t hesitate to grab his bag and quickly step up the staircase. Walking into the sunlight filled corridor was like taking a swig of water after a particularly grueling practice. The slight burn of it on his tan face and the breeze that traced over it was endlessly refreshing, especially after spending the whole morning in the dusty, dark Potions classroom. He didn’t stop to appreciate it though, instead taking it in as he strode down the hall with long, leisurely steps.

With the rest of the day ahead of him Char had been planning on finding some of his friends and relaxing, all the while keeping a keen eye on the Hufflepuffs. The first game of the season was in two weeks. It was important to know what his competition was up to, even if he wasn’t playing them immediately. To fuel old rivalries, Gryffindor would be up against Slytherin first, but Char had missed their earlier practice thanks to detention.

The fact that he had gotten detention for skipping out on homework did not escape the young man. The weight of his books, that of which contained works he had to study, textbooks he had to devour and spells he had to memorize, were not heavy on his side, but the reminder of them was. With a sigh, he rested against the wall, running long fingers through his messy brown hair, letting the wind cool the small beads of sweat that clung to his forehead. He knew he should be studying but he felt no compulsion to do so- at least not alone.

A girl with the signature uniform for Ravenclaws, a golden and navy striped tie and gray skirt, sat on the steps with her nose buried in a book. Only her dark hair was visible from behind but the bag resting beside her was familiar. After a moment’s thought Char placed her- she was his friend Sam’s sister, Sera. He didn’t know her well and whenever he saw her she was quick to glare at him and edge closer to her brother, but looking around, there was no one else he knew that he felt like talking to.

Without a second thought he plopped down beside her, letting his long jean-encases legs stretch out on the steps. Unlike her, he was not in uniform, instead opting for a slightly wrinkled light red shirt with a logo from the store he purchased it from on the front. The look was appropriate for the day off, he thought, though still felt dressed-down beside Sera, who was in uniform from head to toe. “I thought we had today off,” he remarked easily, letting his bag fall by his feet, the books inside already forgotten.

Curious, he snatched the book from her lap, tilting his head to the side a little as he took in the words on the page. “Whatchu reading?” he asked, hazel eyes flickering to her pale face.

[sera]

The play of breeze around the lawn was not too cold, but rather refreshing. At least to some. Others shivered, goose bumps rising and burrowing into their multicolor scarves and pressing chapped hands over their mouths as they huffed hot steaming breaths into them. Sera barely glanced over the edge of her book at the girls who were complaining about the light chill and attempting to subtle move closer to any of the boys near them, under the premise of needing heat. She might have rolled her eyes, but she settled back into her book instead. Drama queens were so irritating.

There was a soft sound beside her as someone took the seat next to her. That was odd in itself, as Sera was sure her brother and most of her friends were off elsewhere. Dark brown hair fell around her face as she leaned down, staring into the open page of her book. Surely if she made no effort to start a conversation they would lose interest and go away. But the curtain of her hair, while hiding the figure next to her from her eyes, did not conceal his voice, and she knew it at once.

Char Prewett was a good friend of her brother’s, and though Sam was exceedingly fond of him, Sera could take or leave him. He was flirtatious, far too…friendly, though he’d never hit on Sera. She didn’t much like those types of men anyway, they never seemed trust worthy to her, just looking for a good time. Maybe she was biased, maybe she just didn’t know him that well, she acknowledged both of those options, but until she proved otherwise, it was what Sera went with.

Unable to pretend to ignore him, Sera raised her head from the book, and turned her dark eyes on him. Her brow furrowed at his words, a small frown of confusion growing on her lips. “What do you mean?” she asked. Of course it was a day off. It was still early in the day and she wasn’t in class, so it stood to reason…. Although perhaps he liked to skip classes or something, she knew plenty of people did. She opened her mouth to respond when he grabbed her book off her lap.

“Hey!” Sera raised her hands to tried and grab the book back, but it fell from her fingertips. A soft exhalation of air, too sharp to be a sigh, escaped her. Here she was, just sitting and reading and he had to come over and mess with her. Figured. She cast him a severe look, up into his hazel eyes, he so much taller than she was. “Standard Book of Spells Grade Six,” she replied, holding her hand out for the book as though it would be that simple for Char to just hand it over to her. “So can I have it back or are you planning to peruse through it?”