A Ghost of the Not-So-Distant Past.

[Sara Moon]

Sara struggled under the pile of books she was carrying. Studying had become a bit of a habit over the last year, and even though she hadn't any major exams this year, she still wanted to keep up to date. This way, Seventh Year mightn't be as stressful. So far this year, she'd set aside one night a week to study, and she was hoping she could stick to it, but her heart wasn't in it tonight. Her mind kept wandering, wondering about what her friends were doing right now. Willow, her best friend, she hadn't seen her in ages. Stefan, who she'd become close to, despite the stupid things she'd done. She still lcringed when she thought of how she'd shouted at him. She missed them all. She had Jake, and Shiloh, and she supposed Kayden, though he was at Salem, but she didn't want to have to replace them, she wanted to find them.
Things at home were a bit weird. Ever since she'd found out about Jake, things had been different. Their parents had read him the riot act-something she thought had been too harsh. He'd been bullied, no need to shout at him about it. She was glad she'd found out, but if she ever lay hands on the idiots who'd done it, they'd be in the Hospital Wing for a month recovering. She had a few nasty little jinxes that would come in handy if she ever got the chance.
It just wasn't the best start to a new year, but getting the Captaincy has been a big boost. She hadn't expected it, and she'd been delighted when Jeremy told her. Still, it was going to be tough trying to manage the team as well as schoolwork. She'd manage it somehow.

She loved having new First Years around the castle. Most of them were innocent, and cute, and she liked being around them. Luckily, she hadn't had to take points away from anyone yet-which would really ruin her mood. The Summer had been good, outside of her family life. She'd met Kayden, the boy she'd been completely enthralled with when she was younger. He'd been her best friend, and he hadn't changed much. It was weird to think that they'd grown up so much away from each other, yet had such a similar pattern. Yes, he was a chaser, but he was also Captain of his Quidditch team, and a Hall Monitor-which was their equivalent of a prefect. It was nice to think that though they hadn't seen each other, neither of them had changed completely. There had been a time when she didn't think it was possible for people to change drastically, but time had taught her otherwise.
She dropped her books down on a table, with a loud bang. She sent an apologetic look to the librarian. She'd come to be a regular in the library last year, and so she doubted she'd get in any trouble. Plus, the librarian was nice, as long as you obeyed the rules. Smiling, she opened the first book, it was about Magical Theory, and she was picking up from where she'd left last week, chapter ten. She had to re-read one page three times before she absorbed it. Yes, tonight was going to be a hard night to study.

 

[Tybalt Archer]

Classes were one thing the pre-teen felt very nervous about. He was a young, small boy. He had poor vision without his glasses, and just didn't always find classes the easiest of things. He was always trying to get himself a head of the game but it never did work out in his favour. He had to work twice as hard as others to be able to know what was going on, and to add to this, apart from a little potions, Tybalt had no real idea was to what he was going to be learning about. So much so, that the boy had taken to the library. It was a fairly quiet place. It was somewhere out of the door room, and it was somewhere that he could find a book, a small, well lit corner and just dive straight in. Where he could lose himself, into whatever he was reading. It wasn't hard to imagine that he was pretty good at diving into a world full of characters, strong brave people with the weight of the world on their shoulders and the ability to be able to do it. To be victorious. To defeat the bad guys. Like most his age, Tybalt had his favourite books. The ones that he could never stop reading. Now, at eleven he liked to think of himself as an aclumpished reader, but he was only eleven, and he much preferred the young stories than the ones with anything hard hitting. His favourite book was one called Alex Rider. It was a british novel, written many years before he was born. But, he loved it. The story of a teen spy, someone who had been through so much and yet could be so brave. In a sort of sense the boy idolized him. He was everything he wanted to be, and everything he wasn't. Tybalt spent most of his time when he was reading wondering how he had managed it. How had he pulled the magic that was Gryffindor house. It was something that he didn't understand. Gryffindor was a good house, full of people who were brave. Who stood tall, and feared next to nothing. He was nothing like that. In fact he didn't know how the hat had ever thought that it would be a good idea to put him in such a place. It was surely a mistake. The young boy thought again as he closed the book he was trying to read. After reading the same word over and over, he realised he wasn't moving anywhere, so he ad to stop. Find something else, something that was more interesting. Something that caught his eyes more than anything else. Something that would command his attention no matter what. It was a good thing that the young gryffindor knew exactly where that section was. The best place he had found in this library. The young boy knew that it would be best for him to go do such a thing.

As he stood up to his full height, which wasn't very high, he stretched, reaching his arms above his head and standing on the tips of his toes. He shook his arms slightly as he brought them back down. The boy sighed slightly as he bent down to pick up the book from his little corner. The glasses on his eyes slid slightly, almost about to fall off his nose, but just in the nick of time, he was able to stop this from happening. He stood up straight again and wandered over to where he had found the book in the first place. He placed it on to the shelf with ease and began his search for the history section. Despite the amount of time that he had spent in the library in recent times, the young colourblind boy had problems remembering where things were. It wasn't easy to just remember everything. After all, finding books were not the first thing on his mind. In fact on the list of things that he was struggling with, this seemed to be very near the bottom, something that would change the very soon after the classes started, after all he was sure that it would be something that he would want to remember for all his classes. It was something that would eventually go to the front of his mind. For now, he was happy with his wandering. Tybalt wandered around until he stopped in a section with a girl sitting at the table. He saw that she had a large book, and was appearing to be studying. Tybalt ignored it, he knew that a girl who was clearly older would not want to be inturrepted just because he was there. He kept looking at the shelves, until he came across a book shelf with a book that he thought could be quite interest. He reached up, standing on the very tips of her toes to try to reach it. His fingers didn't manage it. Tybalt lowered himself back to the ground. He was now more interested than ever to read the book. He turned to the girl. "Excuse me, I'm sorry to disturb you," Tybalt smiled at the girl, his southern accent making his tone light. "I can't reach the book, could you help me?" Tybalthoped he hadn't disturb her too much. Hoped that he had done enough to not sound too desperate. He just liked reading and he wanted to read that book specifically.
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[Sara Moon]

Out of Character:

I've actually read Alex Rider Sorry for rubbish-ey post :/ Can't get in Sara's head recently

Sara's thoughts were interupted as she noticed a First Year came into the aisle. He was looking for a book, as far as she could tell. She watched him from behind, there was something familiar about him, something striking. It was at the back of her mind, and she couldn't remember. Maybe she'd seen him somewhere, Obsidian? No, she'd gone shopping early this year, and hadn't seen many First Years. She watched as he reached for the book, she knew what that felt like. She was one of the shortest girls in her year. She frowned, preparing to get up and help him. However, he suddenly turned to her, and asked for her help himself. She smiled, and got up from her seat; "No problem." she answered, taking out her wand; "Accio book." she commanded, and the book came flying down into her hand. "Sara Moon-pleasure to met you." she greeted him, holding out her hand to shake his, while handing him the book. It was then that she looked into his eyes. They were a startling blue, a startling blue that took her completely by surprise she knew those eyes.

How often had she pleaded with those eyes. How often had she prayed for those eyes, imagined how things could be different. Wishing she could see those eyes happy, full of life. Praying that they were still open, hoping that their owner was still alive and well. A quick intake of breath. Stefan? It could be a coincidence, it could be chance. There were millions of people in this world who had blue eyes. There were plenty of them, but there was that niggling at the back of her head. She'd known she knew him, and wildly her mind tried to understand. There were other things also, this boy looked healthier, and happier, but there was a definite similarity. She then realised that she'd been staring at him for too long, and stammered; "Sorry, it's just, you look a lot like a friend of mine..." She smiled at him awkwardly, but she knew that there was something to be discovered here. She'd failed Stefan, she'd let it go, believed him when he lied about his bruises. "He's gone now, but...your eyes are very like his." she explained. She hoped to God there was an explanation for this, because right now, all she wanted to know was how Stefan was. If he'd gotten himself into trouble, she'd murder him.

 

[Tybalt Archer]

The young boy was happy when girl wasted no time in getting up and helping him out. He knew that it would have to be a bother for an older student to have to help a young boy like him. He wasn't exactly the loudest kid but, he was small and this meant that he always had great difficulty in being able to reach things that were high up. In his last school, he wouldn't have dared to ask for help. He would've reached up, climbed and just done everything in his power to be able to get it without any help. But in Hogwarts people had proved to him many a times that they were different. They were not the people he was used to. It wasn't just his family who could be kind to him. The little time he'd spent at Hogwarts so far was still better than all the time he had spent in school in Georgia. He didn't know how else to say it. It was pretty simple think how hard it would be for him in a small town school, where his father had married in, where they were the odd Archer family, were all the males could see no colour. Tybalt had felt the full force of it. He had felt the full force of what it meant to be an Archer in the small town. He smiled as the girl got up and walked over to help him. He watched as she cast some form of a spell that got the book down. This was a spell the boy wanted to learn. How useful it would be for him. He was just too small to reach most things. He was too small to be able to fight back well. It was only useful for hiding, which he had needed often enough but he was hopeful that he would grow, that he would no longer be the height that he was currently. All his family were tall, and yet he was very small. He was small and it was the one thing about himself that he disliked. He was happy about most things about himself. He couldn't really see himself, what he truly looked like so he could be bothered by it, but the fact he was so small annoyed him more each day. Almost more than he hated his eye sight. It was pretty easy thing to hate. He was always lost under a crowd, an easy light target. He pushed his glasses up his nose as the girl introduced herself to him, though his mind was still on the spell that she had just cast. He was very impressed, he looked from her to the shelf above, he knew that he would learn it soon. He also knew that he would have to look it up. He wanted to be able to do it more than any other spell he had ever heard about. which albeit wasn't too many, but he wanted to be able to do the one that.

"Thanks" Tybalt took the book from her and met her eyes, smiling gratefully at what she'd done for him. It was a pretty simple thing, but it was also something that he didn't actually think people would help him, the girl looked nice, she looked friendly, which was more than what he could say about a lot of other people who just did not look as friendly. Tybalt was all about looking as friendly as he could manage without looking scared. He then noticed that the girl who had introduced herself as Sara was staring at him, staring at him oddly. He didn't quite know what do with it. He knew that his eyes were bright blue, his mother had always told him so much. She always talked that while the Archer curse was something that meant he couldn't see colour it also meant that every Archer had the same kind of eyes. Bright blue. The curse being that the people with them, would never be able to see them. Never be able to see what they looked like, or how bright they were. Tybalt liked that his eyes were also a unique thing. The colourblind boy raised a hand and pushed up his glasses. Briefly glancing down as the girl began to speak. The way she spoke, it made Tybalt wonder what had happened to this friend. Why would she have stared at him in such a fashion, over some friend. He was gone? Tybalt was confused. He looked down at his feet and then back up to her. "It's quite alright." Tybalt couldn't think of why it was such a terrible thing. "I'm Tybalt Archer," He introduced realising he hadn't done it yet. He hadn't introduced himself to the girl. The fact she'd said they had similar eyes made him wonder. Could they really? Who was this guy. "What happened? To your friend" Tybalt asked, for once his curiousity getting the better of him. It wasn't something that happened often, but he was curious to know what would cause such a reaction. "If you don't mind my askin' " The boy added, for once, the Southern accent clear. His bright blue eyes meeting hers once again, and a small smile reached his face. Hopeful for some answers.
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[Sara Moon]

Sara could've slapped herself to wake herself up. It was uncanny. It couldn't be a coincidence! Though, she knew that she might just be making this up, she was desperate for news. Her world was falling apart, and the only constant was Jake. They'd be picking up again this year, as they'd decided to calm things down for the OWLs. She was probably scaring the hell out of this boy. He'd only be in the school a week, and immediately he had a prefect staring at him google-eyed. She knew that she should let him pass, Stefan was nothing to do with him, but he was a big part of her life. She'd known him since First Year, since she'd first blinded him by opening the curtains. She almost though of him as family, and there'd been a time when she'd hoped he'd come and live with them, but he'd always shrugged off their offers of help. he was too proud, but she could understand. She was proud too. It was something her parents always gave out to her for. "So, are you a First Year?" she asked, knowing the answer, but trying to distract herself. She must look like a complete creep. She smiled as he thanked her. He probably didn't know much magic yet, so it was only right to help him out, plus it was sort of her job.
She frowned as he gave her his name; "Archer? As in A-R-C-H-E-R. That's...weird." she stared at the ground. There was no doubt about it now, he was something to Stefan, and she was going to find out what, or her name wasn't Sara Moon; "It's just that, that's...my friend's surname." she explained. This was so strange. She was sure that Stefan was an ony child, so who the hell was this boy?

She looked up as he asked about Stefan; "I don't mind, no.." she answered, then took a deep breathe; "His name's Stefan..Stefan Archer, and we've been friends since First Year." she explained, sitting on the table behind her. "He's a very..private person." she didn't want to reveal all of Stefan's secrets to a stranger; "He decided to leave school, out of the blue, and he's been gone for ages now." she finished. "I have no idea where he is, and I'm worried." She really didn't know what to do. Stefan was a survivor, that much was for sure, and she knew he'd manage, but was he happy? Kate must be out of her mind with worry. She just wished she could see him, and if she did see him, she'd probably be torn between hugging him, and slapping him. He'd never been comfortable with hugging, it always seemed to hurt him, but she didn't think she could slap him. He didn't deserve it. "Sorry, I don't mean to be bothering you with this, it's just that...you look like him." she apologised, looking at the small boy, with a sad smile.

 

[Tybalt Archer]

The Archer family was not large, there were a lot of Archer's. Well, there were a few, himself, his parents, his sister, his aunt and uncle and their two kids and the grandparents on his father's side. This meant that he was the only Archer left to carry on the name. Tybalt had no idea how many Archer's there were in the world that were not directly connected to his family. Tybalt wondered if there was maybe another Archer that this girl thought he could be related to. They might looked very similar, but there was no guarantee that it was anyone that he would know. Especially since, Tybalt knew no other males that were Archers. His cousins were both girls, and the only other person in the family who could've passed on the name had been dead for 16 years now. Tybalt doubted it could be him. He was sure that she was mistaking him for someone else in a way where she just thought that he was related to someone else. Tybalt nodded at her question. He was a first year, if this person was someone she had known then he was maybe a lot older than her. "What about you?" Tybalt didn't think that he would be related to whoever she seemed to think he looked like.. But, maybe it was just that, she just believed that they looked a lot a like and that was it. They didn't need to be related they just looked a like. Which was easier for her to see than for him to see. Tybalt wondered if people felt like that often, It wasn't something he could do easily. He couldn't see easily, for him to be able to tell clearly if two people looked a like was pretty hard, because he pretty much thought that everybody looked pretty alike. In his eyes they really did. He couldn't really help it. He was colourblind and the lack of colour made it hard for him to tell the difference between people. He wouldn't be able to tell if two people had the same eye colour. He couldn't see similar hair, or skin colour. All he saw were the features, and generally that wasn't enough to be able to tell. At least not for him. He didn't think that his sister looked like him, even though she really did look like him. His mama always said so. He looked at the girl as she spelled out his name. He nodded as she did so. He was sure there weren't any other spellings. Apart from maybe an 's' at the end, but there wasn't. He scratched his head a little awkwardly. Unsure of what to say, unsure of how to act. It didn't really seem like he could do much with her and these questions. He was curious, he wanted to know more about her friend. He watched her carefully, looking away every so often. Knowing that this was pretty odd, and that talking about the friend would be hard for her.

Tybalt was glad when she said she didn't mind. He was now very curious. He wanted to know. He was so curious. He just wanted to know so badly. He wanted to find out why she would've thought that he would now him, or that he looked just like him. He was under the impression that blue eyes and brown hair were common. His da was always one to tell him. Though the strikingly bright blue eyes were a definite Archer trait. Clutching the book, he followed the girl and sat down at the table. He placed the book on the table and crossed his legs on the chair so he would be given more height, and didn't look so small. He just listened to her, the boy, a boy named Stefan Archer, the name was not familiar. He didn't know it. Though the way she spoke of him, made Tybalt think that maybe he could just be the Archer, a private person, his whole family was private. Private and just unlucky. He didn't really know what to say. It was like the girl really missed this person. Missed the guy who had left out of the blue. They must have been pretty close friends. Which was more lucky that him, because he still didn't have any friends, but it would take time. "I'm sure he's alright." Tybalt said, trying to appear comforting and friendly. He wasn't so sure, if this boy was truly an Archer than he might not be. Archer's were unlucky and if he was somehow connected to him, then he would be too. Tybalt shrugged, he actually found he didn't mind too much that she was telling him this. "I really don't mind. He would be 16 right now right?" Tybalt asked, then he thought about it, it would fit in with his dead uncle, maybe he'd gotten someone pregnant before he died. "I think it's just coincidence. My da's older brother has two girls, and his young brother, died 16 years ago." Tybalt said. Smiling at her. "I'm sorry about your friend. I hope he's okay."
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