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[Demeter Hawthorne]

I got no plans and too much time / I feel too restless to unwind…

It was not often that Demeter felt this restless feeling rising in her chest. In general, she had a fairly large attention span and could sit in the Slytherin common room or the library for hours upon end, detailing essays using her favorite quill or reading Hélas, Je me suis Transfiguré mes Pieds, the first play she ever read, for the millionth time. She could sit on one of the richly upholstered couches and stare into the fire for hours, just thinking, which she preferred to the company of most people nowadays, though there were a few she could talk to. But right now, the fact of the matter was that she could just not stand to sit still for another second.

It was almost nerve-wracking to her, this itching in her legs, this burning need to get out and do something. She was used to being the calm one, the collected one, the dignified one that stayed in-bounds at the school and stayed in bed after hours. In fact, she was perfect prefect material, breaking as few of the rules as possible so as to avoid more attention being on her. But tonight, with that restiveness rising in her, she felt just plain weird and decided she couldn’t stand it anymore.

Although Demeter knew well enough that curfew ended in only a few minutes’ time, she left the common room and continued with a long, graceful step through the dungeons, her back kept ramrod straight as usual. Reaching a narrow flagstone staircase, she ascended it, her steps light even as every click her heels made against the floor echoed back at her as though the noise was ten times louder than it actually was. When she came to the top of the staircase, she paused, withdrawing her wand as she lit it with a whispered Lumos.” She was on the Fourth Floor, she remembered, and continued ahead, walking smoothly down a long corridor filled with suits of armor that glinted through dust with the reflected light of her wand. She stepped out into a larger corridor next, heading towards a door directly adjacent to the corridor she had just exited.

This was the Trophy Room. It wasn’t a large room, very simple, round with the usual grey stone walls which were lined with glass classes filled with awards and trophies, plaques and medals. She stepped to the first case, brushing thin fingers with their immaculately kept nails across the glass lightly, struggling to read the engraved lettering on the plaque in the dim light. Award for Special Services to the School, it read, her wand light shimmering off the smooth gold. Ronal… was all Demeter could make of the name, as it was thickly covered in dust. 1993. The award was forty years old. She wondered if her father knew the boy who had won the award; he would have been a first year at the time.

Sighing deeply, Demeter stepped back from the glass. Her warm breath had made a little foggy spot on the surface as she had struggled to read the words on the plaque. Smiling, she drew a small swirl in it with her pinky nail, watching as the picture slowly dissipated and wondering when that restlessness would choose to leave her be.

[[Lyrics at top from “We Are Nowhere, and It’s Now” by Bright Eyes.]]

[Amy See]

Amy walked into the Trophy Room, humming softly to herself. She didnt expect anyone to be out, since curfew was almost upon them, and so when she entered she noticed not the girl that was in there.
Amy walked to one of the cases, looking for the trophy her father had won when he was there, but sighed when it was the wrong one. She had thought it would be in that one.
So Amy turned, and caught sight of someone else. She jumped slightly, since she had thought she was alone. "Er, hey there..." she called to the figure, who appeared to be looking at a trophy or plaque.

[Demeter Hawthorne]

Suddenly, a quiet humming disrupted her reverie. She hadn't expected for anyone else to be about at this hour; then again, what would she know, really, considering she never really had been out past curfew? Demeter's whole posture stiffened as she pulled further away from the case, slowly turning her head to reveal another young woman in the room with her. She studied her with a prolonged gaze.

She wasn't glaring at the girl, nor was she staring, per se. It was more like... watching curiously. Her head cocked slightly to the left, shifting her bangs to reveal an eyebrow raised in wonderment. The girl was not a Slytherin that Demeter had ever seen, that was for sure; she looked to have a rather open personality and was Demeter's own age or slightly older. As the girl turned, her face was surprised; she, as Demeter, had not expected to have company in the Trophy Room at this time of night.

Demeter blinked slowly as the girl spoke, blue eyes snapping up to the other girl's. A response was probably expected here.

"Hello," Demeter said in quiet greeting. There was no need to be rude here.

[Amy See]

Amy smiled, suprised at the girl's reaction. She was a Slytherin, no doubt, according to her robes. And Amy was in her robes, a Hufflepuff. Amy glanced around the room, searching for the right trophy case, but decided she might as well talk to the girl while she did. "Hey." she said again, her eyes back on the girl. "I'm Amy." she added hastily, moving across the room to a cabinet. It appeared to be the correct one, but it wasnt.
Amy sighed, frustrated. How hard was it to find a trophy case with the Quidditch awards. "Er, do you know which case is the Quidditch trophy case?" she asked.

[Demeter Hawthorne]

As Amy moved, Demeter could clearly see the color of the emblem on her robes; she was a Hufflepuff. Not that that really mattered to Demeter, anyway. It was bloodline that really mattered. And that couldn't be told just from appearance, or even from conversing for a few minutes. Muggleborns didn't smell any different; they didn't have curlier hair or rounder noses, they weren't paler or had bigger eyes. They looked exactly the same. This was one of the reasons Demeter chose to be polite to everyone; there was no use in trying to sort out the Muggleborns, because the fact remained that you couldn't. Why risk being rude to another Pureblood? And what was the point anyway? Being rude didn't make a person better.

"I'm Demeter," she replied, her face holding little expression. Quidditch trophies... did they separate them between types of awards? She hadn't ever been in here before to tell. "Er..." She paused, looking atthe couple of cases nearest her. "This one may have Quidditch trophies," she added, pointing t the case next to the one she had originally been viewing. They looked like trophies, anyway, not many plaques present in that area of the room. It was possible that they were Quidditch trophies. She wondered if a Quidditch trohpy looked any different than a regular trophy.

"Looking for one in particular?"

[Amy See]

"Nice to meet you, Demeter." Amy said. She moved to another case and peered inside. School awards. Amy sighed, and then her eyes darted back to where Demeter was when she pointed out a case. She walked over and peered into the case, the same one Demeter had been by.
"Yea, I am." she said. "I'm looking for Amrith See." she added. Amy wiped the glass a couple of times with her robes. Did they not clean these things? She peered in again, and saw it. A Hufflepuff Team plaque, with her dad's name under Seeker. They had won the Quidditch Cup many years ago, back when her father was only in his Sixth year.
Amy stood back up from stooping to look into the case, and looked over at Demeter. "My dad was a Hufflepuff Seeker, back in his days, and they won the Quidditch Cup in his Sixth year." she explained. "I'm hoping that maybe we have a chance this year, me being in my Sixth year as well, and all." she explained. "So, what are you doing in here?" she asked curiously.

[Demeter Hawthorne]

Demeter nodded toward her in polite acknowledgment, grimacing as Amy had to wipe the glass with her robe. They should definitely clean the glass more, she thought. She found herself nodding again, however, as Amy spoke. Great. Another conversation about Quidditch. Wasn't that just Demeter's luck? As if she wasn't socially awkward enough, the people she kept coming into contact with were always talking about Quidditch, something Demeter had absolutely no interest in whatsoever. So she just kept nodding, trying to look interested. At least, until Amy changed the subject, when she was forced to respond.

Oh. Well. What was she doing in here anyway? She didn't really have an explanation for it. She wasn't very well going to go into detail about how she was feeling to this girl she'd only been talking to for about a minute, especially considering she didn't even tell her closest friends how she felt.

She shrugged slightly, her thin shoulders setting back into their stiff, straight position afterwards. "I was just..." She faded off, pursing her lips. "I couldn't sit still any longer."

[Amy See]

Amy watched as Demeter kept nodding. It was a little obvious that she wasnt into Quidditch as much as Amy, since she hadnt said anything. Amy had a tendency to do that, bore people with her talk about Quidditch. Well, at least those who werent into it. Some people she could talk to them about it, but some, well, it wasnt their thing.

"Yea, Hogwarts tends to do that to you sometimes. Whether its havign to endure a long boring lesson, or sit still long enough to do homework." Personally, Amy hated homework, but yet somehow managed to pass still with putting it off, even if it meant taking a whole day to just sit and do homework.

Amy decided to switch the subject to Demeter, since she had just given her the whole thing about her dad playing Quidditch and the Quidditch Cup. "So, why not go down to the lake? Do you like to swim?" she asked. She didnwasnt trying to seem rude, like she was butting into Demeter's life or anything, she was just curious. After all, msot people she knew went to either The Three Broomsticks, when they could, to get away, or went down to the lake, either to just sit and enjoy themselves with a couple of friends, or to swim.

[Demeter Hawthorne]

Ah. This one was a talker. Of course, to Demeter, pretty much everyone was a talker. She hated those. Okay, well, she didn't really hate them. She just disliked that the subject was now on her own life, since she was quiet and tried her hardest not to tell everything about herself to other people, and those talkers, as she called them, tended to pry, good intentions or no.

However much she disliked talking about herself, however, Demeter couldn't help but look back at Amy wide-eyed. Was she serious? Swim in the lake? Beg her pardon, but lakes were dirty and had grimy stuff on the bottom and fish living in there and (since it was Hogwarts, after all) Merlin knows what else resided in that lake and frankly, Demeter thought it was a bit nuts to even think about swimming in the lake.

"Yeah," she replied incredulously, "I like to swim..." As long as it was in a very clean pool with no bugs or nasty things. "But in the lake?" Who knows what's in there? Between fish eating and... doing other things... she added silently, willing herself not to shudder or anything embarrassing.

[Amy See]

Amy laughed. "There's nothing wrong with the lake." she added. And then she thought about it. True, there were fish, and weeds at the bottom, as well as rocks, and the Squid, but as long as you knew what you were doing, there really wasnt anything to it, unless you didnt know how to handle the Squid or was afraid of the rocks and dirtyness.

Amy sighed. "Yea, I guess you are right, in a way." she said. "About the lake." she added. "Sure, there's risks to it, such as the Squid, and it is pretty dirty, but it's still fun. You can always take a bath afterwards." she said.

[Demeter Hawthorne]

Demeter scrunched her nose good-naturedly. "Yeah, but..." She faded off. That really did make sense -- regardless of all the nasty, indescribable things that the lake most likely contained, none of it was so bad that it wouldn't come off in the bath. But still, she could just imagine the disgusting quh of the dirt between her toes, the little fish nipping at her legs, the dirty, unsanitized water getting in her hair, on her skin... it was probably better for her to just stop thinking about that aspect of swimming in the lake altogether.

"It's mostly the 'before the bath' part that worries me," Demeter admitted with a sheepish smile. She wasn't germophobic or anything, nothing extreme, but she jus liked to feel in control of herself, not a hair out of place, immaculately clean. And the lake was anything but clean. The water was pretty to look at and she was sure even the Giant Squid was fascinating. But she could do all that without setting one inh of herself in that water.

[Amy See]

Amy laughed lightly. "You're missing out." she said. "It's fun, actually, swimming in the lake, and the fish dont really bite...to hard." she joked. "You know they're more afraid of us then we are of them, right?" she asked. That was an old saying, about bugs and spiders, that they were mro afraid of you then you of them, which was true, considering how huge humans were to the poor things.

"So, have you even seen the Giant Squid?" Amy asked.

[Demeter Hawthorne]

Demeter laughed softly in response. "I'm not really afraid of the fish," she said, which was true; she was more... disgusted by the dirt. Not to mention that if fish ate in the late, they also rid of waste in the lake, and what if she accidentally opened her mouth or something? It was just unthinkable.

The Giant Squid was a very interesting creature; at least it was when she was far, far out of its grasp. "Yes, but only from afar," she answered truthfully. She'd seen in many times, dirupting the smooth glassy surface of the water, causing ripples or even larger waves to arise, poking out its tentacles and teasing the kids that were swimming in the water. It was quite amusing and intriguing to watch, actually.

[Amy See]

"Only from afar?" Amy repeated. "Well, then, you must not have been there about a week ago. There was a girl, Rilly, who got into the water, and was, well, it looked like she was being attacked by the Squid. And everyone was just standing there, until a Professor arrived and saved her. It was scary, really. I've never seen the Squid come so close." she explained. Amy shook her head. "Poor girl. I know I would of been scared if I was her." she added with a small laugh.

Amy glanced around the room. She spotted another case not too far from her and went to look into it. "You're not like most Slytherins I know." she said, while peering into the case. She straightened and glanced over at Demeter. "Most of them wont even look at me, whether alone actually have a normal conversation." she said.

[Demeter Hawthorne]

Demeter started slightly, her eyes widening as she knit he eyebrows. She had no idea the Squid had ever gotten so close to someone. She had heard, though, that squids were intellectual creatures, and she wondered if maybe the Squid had been trying to make friends or tease the girl, rather than hurt her in any way.

"Wow," she let out, frankly surprised. "Did she get hurt?" she asked simply, eyes widened with curiosity and the still-lingering surprise.

Oh. This was the subject she disliked. Was she that unlike the other Slytherins? She wasn't really around people from any house a whole lot, mostly preferring her books, but from what she did know of other Slytherins, they hexed more than they spoke when it came to people of other houses.

"I just don't see the point in all that," she replied. "I was raised with those prejudices of the blood, like they were, but I don't see where that applies to houses, really," she added truthfully, though sugarcoating it a little by not mentioning that she still mostly believed and followed the blood prejudices.