A Need To Fill The Loneliness

[Ailis-Naithi Quinlan-Maddix]

Ailis was sat on a bench in the ground of the school. She was alone which for her was nothing new. Everyday in this place she had spent alone, and she still wasn't used to it. It was killing her inside.

Where she sat at the table she had a sketchbook out in front of her and was looking through the drawings in there, her sister, her brother, roses, a butterfly, a wolf, and a fairy. As she was flicking through she hovered for a moment on those of her siblings, she missed them. If she wanted, her brother would have her straight out of here, he'd have a fit that she'd been bullied, that she'd been beaten up. However she knew that Conor wouldn't just take her out of school, he'd take it all too far, like always, which she didn't need right now. She sighed and closed her eyes, sketchbook still in hand.

 

[Magnus Follower]

He was lost, literally. Magnus had spent five years here, and somehow he still managed to get lost. Fustrated, he dug his hands into his jean pockets and continued to walk. He was bound to come across something that he recognized sooner or later. But after 5 more minutes of walking around aimlessly, Magnus was still no closer to figuring out where he was. "Add a sense of direction to the list of things I don't have." Magnus thought sarcastically. Finally breaking down, he decided that he would have to ask someone for help.

He settled for a girl who was sitting on a bench by herself. As he made his way over to her, Magnus wiped the scowl off his face and replaced it with a gentler, less threatening smile. "Hey," he started, "Do you draw?" His question was kind of random considering he had intended to simply ask for directions and then leave, but he had been distracted by the sketchbook in the girl's hands.

 

[Ailis-Naithi Quinlan-Maddix]

At the sound of voice, a male voice close by Ailis snapped her sketchbook shut and looked up just as quickly, eyes now open. "Hello" she replied, "Yes, a little. Do you?" as she spoke her voice had a slight edge to it which she hadn't intended. However nobody ever spoke to her and she didn't really know how to react. She kept her guard up an even though he was smiling she stayed wary.

It could just be a new attempt at spite towards her. She had been bullied too much, too often to not take precautions. She wasn't ready to believe she could have friends in this place. Markov and Sydney were the only ones to have ever showed her any kindness since she'd been here.

Other than that the only interaction she had with other students had left her covered in a multitude of bruises and even a couple of cracked ribs.

 

[Magnus Follower]

Magnus' grin grew wider when she asked him if he drew. He jokingly answered, "Not unless you count stick people." This was followed by a short laugh and a bright smile. Honestly, in his world drawing ranked just above the flu and way below fighting. In other words, it was useless to him. But that didn't mean he didn't enjoy other peoples drawings.

His smile was genuine now. One simple question from this girl and he had already taken a liking to her. It was nice to meet people who knew nothing about your past. Not only that, but her quiet demeaner and stand-off-ish attitude suited Magnus just fine. He decided that, possibly, he had time for her. He could figure out where he was later...

"I'm Magnus" he said, offering his hand. He wasn't great with girls and didn't know exactly how he was supposed to act, but he decided that this much would be safe.

 

[Ailis-Naithi Quinlan-Maddix]

Ailis laughed nervously along with the boy when he said he only drew stick people and returned his smiles in an awkward fashion. She still clutched her sketchbook in both hands tightly. Drawing was important to her, and even if it was only for a short time it made her feel peaceful.

Even though this boy couldn't seem to stop smiling she wasn't sure how to react to him or whether it was ok to befriend him. Sure she'd love to have friends but did he really want to be friends with her? She kept her guard up just in incase. It was better to be wary than stupid.

"Magnus, n-nice to meet you." She replied "I'm...I'm Ailis" She hesitated, sketchbook still in her grasp, and quickly looked between it and the boy before offering her own hand to his outstretched one.

 

[Magnus Follower]

Once Magnus started smiling, he never seemed to be capable of stopping. But when he saw how awkward the girl, Ailis, was around him he suddenly became self-conscious of his constant grin. "Great," Magnus thought, "now she probably thinks I'm retarded and don't know how to stop smiling like an idiot..." He hid his insecurity though, instead saying, "Nice to meet you Ailis." He gently shook her hand before releasing it and returning his hand to the confines of his jean pocket.

"So are you new here?" Magnus asked, hoping that Ailis couldn't sense how awkward he felt right now. He seriously needed to work on his people skills, especially when it came to girls.

 

[Ailis-Naithi Quinlan-Maddix]

Ailis shook the boys hand in response to his gentle hand shake before taking the sketchbook firmly back in both hands. She thought that this boy couldn't really be sincere in thinking it was nice to meet her, she wasn't one of those people that was generally well liked and he'd only met her briefly. In that short space of time she hadn't exactly been forthcoming in friendliness either, but maybe she was being cynical. As always.

She thought however to be polite that she should probably say how nice it was to meet him too. Well he was actually trying to have a conversation with her and showing her more kindness than most. He hadn't hit her yet either, or called her names. "It's nice to meet you too" she replied.

"New? Oh no, not really." She replied, beginning to feel an awkwardness descend on the pair. "Are you?" Ailis asked Magnus in return. She didn't recall ever seeing him before but her judgement wasn't really to be trusted in anything to do with the school or it's pupils, except what she was taught in lessons and that she had no real friends and was tormented every single day.

 

[Magnus Follower]

"Really?" Magnus asked kind of suprised, "Sorry, I just didn't think I'd seen you around before... I've been here for a while." This was one of the many reasons why Magnus hated Durmstrang. It was so huge that, unless you shared a class with somebody, you'd have no idea who your fellow Durmstrang's were.

On the plus side though, Durmstrang's size meant that you could always find somebody new and interesting, such as the girl standing before Magnus right now. She seemed rather shy and quiet, almost as if she didn't want to trust anybody. Which was understandable, especially here. The school was full of wannabe deatheaters, law breakers, and mischief makers. It kind of made Magnus wonder who had made Ailis so distrustful...

He could feel the awkwardness settling upon the pair as well though. So in order to avoid what would be a very awkward silence, he added "So, did you go to any other schools before Durmstrang?" He meant as in Hogwarts or Beauxbatons, another magic school. He always enjoyed hearing where people had been or had not been. Perhaps he was odd that way, considering he hated telling people anything about his past...

 

[Ailis-Naithi Quinlan-Maddix]

"Well I've been been here on and off for a while" Ailis replied remembering all the times she had been dragged out of school because her parents were having problems, as she did so she winced at the memories before pushing them out of her mind. "It's ok, I don't remember seeing you before either." She said a half smile appearing on her face.

Ailis replied to the boys question of whether she had been to any other school before Durmstrang, "Not unless you count muggle schooling, you know before the age of 11. Have you?" She thought back to being eleven when she first found out she was able to do magic. She had wanted to go to Beauxbatons but since her brother had got on ok at Durmstrang and her sister was still currently there, Ailis was sent there too. Ailis sighed, she wished she was more like Aisling and was better at making friends, maybe then her school experience would have been easier.

 

[Magnus Follower]

Magnus couldn't say that he was suprised to hear the girl say that she hadn't seen him before, quite honestly, he tried to stay out of everybody's way and in the shadows. Perhaps that was why he hadn't seen her either. But it seemed unlikely that she stayed out of the lime-light for the same reasons as him, considering she seemed to be rather wary of other people.

He smiled at her answer, replying with "Nah, Durmstrang all the way." The truth was, he had never even been to muggle school before he came here. Not since he was 7 atleast, so quite literally he was a complete Durmstrangian. He chose not to say as much though: something's were better left unsaid.