A Sudden Change of Mood

[Cosette Mayfair]

Out of Character:

Obviously , I was quite inspired today.

One moment, blissful, beautiful, and probably part of the Twilight Zone, but hey. The Twilight Zone had its good moments, too, like when that guy turned out to be the last man on Earth. True, his glasses broke, but he had the world on his fingertip; finding new lenses wouldn't be too hard. Unless he had astigmatism. Did they even have ways to rectify astigmatisms in the Twilight Zone era of television? A small smile spread across Cosette's lower face, invading the rest of the skin, cracking and breaking it until her voice box ruptured and laughter spilled forth. It was nice having random thoughts, being able to think about things other than stressful little things; being able to smile on her own musings. All of her work was in, nobody was pestering her, and the upcoming break was far away enough that she didn't dread going home. She just also heard that their family decided to buy a house in France, delighted with the new that she'll be going home soon.

The smile of happiness fell a bit, doe eyes lowering to the floor, as the irony hit her once again remembering her father. It never failed to come to her attention that, of the family she interacted with, Cosette had the attitude that most suites their name. The neurosis, the worry, the freaking out. Only difference was that Cosette had a different set of morals; it was really only their reactions that were similar "And besides," she whispered to herself, starting a thought out loud and finishing in her head, I know how to have fun and stuff. Marianne and Armand doesn't, as she was referring to her siblings who seems to be absent this following months. As the thought occurred it felt a bit… not true. Did Cosette really know how to have fun? "Yes, I know how to have fun," came the weak words from mumbling lips. Insincerity rang out in each syllable, lacing every sound with falsity. She may have been telling a child in dire times that it was all going to be all right. It wasn't. With more force, "I, Cosette, know EXACTLY how to have fun!" Yet they still didn't sound right. She may as well have been pushing paper through her mouth; the sentiment fell soggy and ruined.

Smile completely faded by now, brows set in grim determination, Cosette looked around the corridor for some random person. Spontaneity was always fun; spontaneity with company, preferably random and luckily good natured, was even more fun. And she'd be damned not to have fun. Except she couldn't really find anyone, not with how rapidly her eyes were scanning. Everyone she saw was too far away for her to shout for, or run for. If she shouted for someone she might lose her courage as the trek took too long, that person walked away, or simply ignored her. If she ran for someone... well. Someone running towards another person with a look of such concentration and determination as Cosette's would mean a chase was on. A fearful one at that, since she would look like a constipated murderess. So, seemingly alone, Cosette burst out into song. It was a popular tune, one that the muggles in America started. Catchy, light, a little pervy (but then, what American pop tune wasn't?), she built momentum and stood, dancing as only someone with minimal rhythm and unrefined hip hop moves could. As the song went on her Constipated Murder face eased away, washed down to a content smile and a somewhat broken, out of tune voice. No matter how wrong she was on a word, or the mutterings it took her to get to the next verse, Cosette was having fun. Finally.

 

[Jake Simpson]

When the shadow of the morning sun pierced though the window of Jake's dorm, he felt his mask appear across his pasty sleep deprived face, he was going to hide his true feelings again, behind the masquerade of half truths the third year had kept going with the friends he had made at his time attending his desolate school. He got out of bed and got dressed in the fascist uniform all the students had to wear, his unvarying attire showing the Slytherin colours. A superior start to what would end up being a long day. The young boy ate as much breakfast as he could, in an attempt to have at least a diminutive quantity of energy to last him until his next meal. Jake didn't get any sleep the night before, it was his alternative to enduring a long array of nightmares about his home life, something the student wouldn't reveal to any of his current friends, burdening an already burdened child was too much to ask and no matter how much he had to hide, if he was too much trauma for another person he would surely ease that trauma for them in the only way he knew how, avoiding them as much as he could.

The now thirteen year old sauntered through the day, making it on time to his classes and doing the minimal in his ongoing rush to get out of the school, he had a few years to go until he could finally graduate; it was all so far away. All too isolated for the ill looking boy. The question was, what would he do once he left school? Where would he go? Living with family wasn't an option. Maybe living with a friend was, but unfortunately for Jake, he didn't trust anybody enough to live with them, especially with the way he acted. He could very well have to live by himself, but would it be too hard to make the transition from living in a house with other occupants to living in a house with only one? The thought of this tightened the growing ball of anxiety in Jake’s gut. There was a strong possibility be would die alone, and nevertheless, no matter how antisocial Jake was at times, he still wanted somebody there to help him up when he fell, that was if he was able to get up again.

While he held his head down as he entered yet another corridor, Jake was making sure he wasn't noticed by anybody who was going to ruin his day, he wasn't having a bad day so far, but he wasn't having a good one either, he had reached a safe medium between good and bad, something he wanted to get used to, though with his luck it wouldn't last long at all. The Slytherin was stopped in his tracks when his ears metaphorically twitched at the sound of singing, it was a girl, Jake looked up from the view of his shoes to see her, she wasn't much older than himself, her dancing beat was out of time and her voice was out of tune, never mind the girl's performance, the childish curiosity of the thirteen year old grew and he observed the girl for a swift second. He had decided that she was having fun, no matter how peculiar she looked to the other students, including Jake. A current habit of the Slytherin made itself obvious again as he ran a fragile white had through his jet black hair, before he unhurriedly made his way towards the girl. "Um, hi." Said the self conscious boy, the reason he was talking to her was because she looked happy, something Jake needed. Although it might have just been the illusion of fun, giving the appearance of happiness to mask true feelings, something Jake knew all too well, but he was never able to detect a mask on somebody else's feelings. Something he might be able to learn in time.

 

[Cosette Mayfair]

As always Cosette was seemingly strange that day, she never was alone though. She was with herself that very day, the one that she could just particularly be with all day. Once when she was younger , Cosette use to pretend to have an imaginary friend, though she knew that there wasn't such thing as an imaginary friends. She just made the thing up, using it a reason when she gets irritated with her siblings arguing about their physical appearance. Although Cosette was indeed beautiful she never overestimated nor underestimated her beauty to some. She was very humble indeed, and loves to goof around with her pets. Also she was much comfortable of being a loner if not then only one friend will suit her. Swinging both of her arms while humming a particular tone, unaware that some students along the corridor could actually hear her. Cosette loved to sing although she was a bit tad shy sharing her beautiful voice to some.

Mild yet stable was her thing about her voice. It took her a couple of minutes to notice that her Flute was missing. She probably forgot bringing it along with her. Bowing her head down and looking at the floor she felt quite sad and without even thinking, Cosette decided to turn around and go back to her dorm to get her flute. Just when she was about to take a step away from her spat she heard an unfamiliar voice. She was a bit surprised to see a guy maybe a bit younger or the same age at her looking at her direction. "Hey!" she quickly returned back. Cosette remained still and was not moving at all but she was breathing deeply. Not that she wasn't used to boys, it was just a bit of a shock that possibly the boy saw the whole incident a while back. If ever then that would be just embarrassing to take in.

 

[Jake Simpson]

The usual social anxiety Jake faced on a daily basis continued to render it's ugly head as the pleasant girl turned to face him, the ball of uneasiness tightened in Jake's gut, making him feel out of breath, as if he didn't already fell out of place in a reasonably crowded corridor. Damn people. He thought. Why do they have to make me act so weird? he asked himself, not hoping for an answer any time soon, it was a question only Jake could answer, and even he didn't know where to start. But for now he was just going o continue to ignore what he was really feeling and put on a brave face. "Hi." Jake said, repeating himself, he knew his nerves were showing themselves again. "My name's Jake, I was wondering why you were randomly singing and stuff." He stated, looking past her into the distance, hearing his heart beat in his ears. Nerves were the thing he was most worried about right now, he knew that he needed to make a good impression on the girl and being an antisocial nervous wreck was the polar opposite.

To achieve what he wanted at this moment, Jake needed to hide his anxiety even more, he hid it behind a fake smile and chuckled pleasantly, even he impressed himself with his acting. The Slytherin took a quick glance around each of his shoulders, the other students were ignoring him, this was a small contribution in aiding Jake to become less insecure, but it wouldn't help it go away significantly just yet, it was still too early for him to open up, even just a little. This brought Jake to ask her a question, managing small talk was one way to make the situation seem less awkward from Jake's part. "So, um, what year are you in?" Jake asked, running his hand through his messy black hair again, this girl did seem kind, not like his housemates. This was a good thing, it meant he actually wanted to start up a conversation with her and get to know her a bit more.

 

[Cosette Mayfair]

Cosette watched the boys impression, as she was always fascinated by the lines curved and straighten on some peoples face. As if she wanted to draw their emotion in her sketch book, capturing that very moment. Though that wouldn't be a great idea, since it was her first time meeting the boy. Smiling once more she watched the boy some more hoping she wasn't staring creepily at him. "Hello, Pleasure meeting you Jake. My name's Cosette." she told the boy not sure if it was a good decision to not mention her last name. She wanted to be different among her siblings, as making a different yet reasonable statement. Cosette somehow hated being overshadowed by Marianne and Armand that she decided to remain her last name a mystery. Also the boy didn't told her last name. "Oh it's quite a long story, just think of it as a self expression of mine." she stated as the tome of her voice remained calm and mild like always.

She could even feel the boy being nervous around her, which was kind of awkward to her really. For some Cosette was always seen beautiful but to her she never even thought that she was near beautiful, she felt blessed that her mother's and father's genes was just amazing. Nor was she proud of being a Mayfair that she would take her beauty as cruelty, take for example her sister Marianne. As she uses her beauty for power. Cosette was always humble and accepted everyone, as if she never had a standard for her. She was left smiling at Jake hoping she didn't look like a clown or maybe a fool for smiling. "I'm in my Fourth Year and How about you?" she answered as she then also returned his question.

 

[Jake Simpson]

This girl was kind and Jake needed a few more kind people in his life, he wouldn't be opposed to getting to know her more. In an unusual way, this conversation was reasonably refreshing for Jake, he did have friends, and they were really nice and he loved being around them, it was just no matter how nice and humble they were, there was no way that could counter act the negativity in his life, but it was a good distraction. "That's a curious name, my name's really boring compared to yours." Jake said, pleasantly smiling back at Cosette, keeping the atmosphere around him as calm as possible under the circumstances. Once Cosette answered his question, Jake raised an eyebrow, he was pretty self-expressive, but that was only if he wasn't being made fun of by his housemates, but Cosette didn't need to know that. "Expressing yourself is a great thing, I like to draw comics and cartoons, but they aren't very good." Jake said, continuing to smile politely at the girl.

Jake's first impression of Cosette was that she was a confident girl, this was based on her singing earlier, Jake thought Cosette was fun to be around and for the Slytherin, first impressions lasted, in more ways than one. Jake didn't know many people older than himself and learning that Cosette was a fourth year was really fascinating for the third year. "I'm a third year, I don't know many people who are fourth years, what are the assignments like?" said the sickly looking boy, changing the subject to school, maybe that would make him less nervous, at least he was passing school instead of failing, Jake never wanted to fail but nevertheless, he didn't want to try too had in school either, this brought the Slytherin to a safe medium of achieving passing grades in his subjects.

 

[Cosette Mayfair]

Cosette enjoyed the company of others, it made her feel that she wasn't alone from time to time. These past few weeks she tried to live alone and just enjoy her time alone. Meeting Jake seems to be quite a good distraction from all that is happening in her life. "Every name has a meaning and a reason." she cheered. Cosette have met many people who would look down at themselves and think that they weren't good enough, well they were very wrong. Everyone is special in it's own way you just have to believe in yourself. Cosette was one of those girls who remained optimistic and welcomed life. "It is, I'm sure that isn't true." she answered him as she placed her hand on the boys shoulder. "What house are you from again?" she asked him not sure of what was his house.

"Well, it's stable. It's actually the same just that it's a bit more advance and quite harder I guess?" Cosette answered. This days Cosette wasn't that active with her classes, she always stayed at the near end of the classroom and remained quite as ever. Although her grades weren't that low, she managed to keep them stable. Hogwarts was keeping her hidden with all the good things outside. Also it's been a while since the last time she saw her parents, home was just a miles away and how she wish to go home.

 

[Jake Simpson]

The Slytherin sighed at Cosette's question, because of his house, sometimes people would stereotype him as being a spoilt brat and leave him to continue being antisocial. Even so, Cosette had never given Jake the impression she was going to react that way, there was a small possibility she would but her positive vibe made Jake actually feel reasonably comfortable enough to answer the question, after all, it was just a house, he was overreacting as usual. "I'm in Slytherin, but I'm not a snob or anything. Just to clarify." He said, smiling optimistically in Cosette's direction. Honestly, he wasn't feeling too positive at the moment, he was just as awkward as he would usually be around new people, he had grown so sick of being antisocial, but he just couldn't stop it plaguing almost every conversation he had.

At the pleasant change of subject, Jake contributed his two cents to the conversation. "Same here, I pass but it's better than failing, I guess." He said, glad he had successfully managed to change the subject and talk about something normal with Cosette, maybe after this, she wouldn't think he was a total freak like a few other people the thirteen year old had met in his lifetime.

 

[Cosette Mayfair]

For some reason Cosette remembered the well known Luna Lovegood, she felt possessed. She felt surprised that the boy could possibly think she would even stereotype anyone. It was obvious that the Hufflepuff never judged a person, by it's appearance. "Slytherin sounds nice. My sister was sorted there, as it quite suits her." she answered smiling at Jake. Sure Marianne was a snob but never did Cosette had the idea to see students in Slytherins as snobs and mean. She even wished that Jake could be her friend, her first friend from Slytherin.Cosette was used to idea of talking with a guy, one on one. After all she had a brother, a part of a triplet.

"Exactly."Cosette answered flashing a smile. She then stopped and stared at Jake, something was different. She then gently reached for Jake's arms and held it unto her. "Your hand is cold, you don't need to be nervous you know?" she told him still her accent flowing through her words. She never understood why boys seems to be nervous around her, was it because she's weird or was it her golden eyes that made her more weird?

 

[Jake Simpson]

Jake wasn't the kind of person to judge another at first meeting, but he also wasn't the kind of person to be completely accepting of another either. This was because of his own faults, there was a dark undertone hidden beneath everything he did and nobody knew, he didn't even think he understood what was going on. It irritated him but at least he had something to keep his mind of his anxiety for a change and Cosettewas one of the most friendly people he had met in a while and having less social anxiety would contribute to him being friendly towards her, or more social at least. "I don't think I've met your sister." Said Jake, shrugging casually at Cosette, "But I don't think you're the kind of person to want to be in my house. I mean, you're too nice and you're already in Hufflepuff." Jake ignored the irony of what he just said and hid it beneath a warm smile in Cosette's direction.

Once Cosette touched his hand, Jake pulled away, he hated it when people he didn't know invaded his personal space, it had been that way for as long as he could remember. Jake took a step away from Cosette and stared at his feet, a typical sign of discomfort within the young teenager. "Sorry if I'm being rude, I just don't like people I don't know being so close to me." He thought it reasonable to explain why he had just been so insolent to the girl he had just met. "I'm always nervous, it's just the way I am, um, so, what are your hobbies?." Said Jake, he had asked Cosette this question as his nerves would deplete if she had the same interests as him. This was the only reasonably polite and normal thing Jake could come up with and he didn't see any fault in it, now it was all up to Cosette's reaction.

 

[Cosette Mayfair]

"You shouldn't." she said to him giggling. It was such a bad idea to to ever meet her sister Marianne, she was such a snob and the complete opposite of Cosette. "I guess, though you've just seen my good side." she told him followed by a wink. It was true though, she somehow inherited their father's temper. Sure she had golden eyes though it instantly turns red once she gets mad at someone, a blazing fire running through her body that after that moment she somehow forgets the whole argument. Cosette then taught of the first day she arrived in Hogwarts, or was it before the school starts. She had a big argument with a silly girl, she was indeed a brat that girl not to mention her name was Brat something. Shaking of her head she glanced back at Jake wondering if she did something wrong when he took a few steps away from her.

Cosette looked down to her feet and started to frown, she didn't imagined that the boy would be offended at all. "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to, I mean I didn't even knew at all. I'm sorry." she apologized feeling a sudden fear. Her heart started to beat faster, she felt she did something wrong. Something that was too hard to apologize. From hearing Jake's word she simply kept nodding but never gazed back at him, she remained looking down at the floor. "Sorry." she said once again, before hearing Jake asking his hobbies. She wasn't still back to her old mood as sadness came through. "Uhm.. Sketching and Playing the flute." she said in an mild tone. She seems to be still shocked about the whole incident, it wasn't easy as she was quite straight forward.

 

[Jake Simpson]

Learning that Cosette sketched interested the third year, he drew himself but he wasn't very good and he only drew comics and cartoon characters, Jake naturally assumed Cosette would be way more of an artistic talent than he was. "Awesome, what kind of stuff do you draw?" Asked the Slytherin, he knew that Cosette felt bad for earlier but it wasn't such a big deal to him anymore. The reason he had backed away was simple because he hated it when people invaded his personal space, Cosette was a nice girl and Jake wanted to be her friend, there was nothing wrong with her so she didn't have to worry or anything, the problem lied with him instead. Jake was the antisocial one, he was the one that was constantly scared of facing judgement; this was no fault of Cosette's. "You know, you didn't do anything wrong, I'm the one with the problem." Stated the thirteen year old, of course he was trying to reassure Cosette that it wasn't her fault he backed away from her and he was the one truly in the wrong.

The worst thing about this situation was that Jake actually had someplace else to be, it was now time for him to return to his common room and work on his assignments. He didn't quite know how to tell Cosette this, he didn't want her to think he was leaving because of her. The third year ran his hand through his messy hair again and thought it best that he was blunt about it. "I have to go now, I have some assignments to finish, It was nice meeting you Cosette. I hope I see you around sometime." Jake smiled casually and turned around to make his way back towards the Slytherin common room, he could feel the sickness of guilt as he walked away from her, he remained optimistic he would see Cosette again, he would enjoy having a more in depth conversation with her about art when he got the chance.