Closed An Uncaring Mask

[Diana Hollis]

Diana's life was pretty good at the moment. With her boyfriend things were going great, as the two had kissed which made their relationship feel official and and mature. At least, in her eyes. Her mother had won the election, something she was still wrapping her mind around. For the most part, she was happy about that news. It meant her mother was now very well-known, and she would be too by association. Diana didn't care much about politics, but she did care about attention, and the Slytherin was mostly focused on what this win meant for her, rather than for her mother or the wizarding world at large. But there were always worries and uncertainties that came with new things, so there was a part of her that was a little anxious about the changes in her future. Would people treat her differently? She hoped so, for the most part. But if anyone didn't agree with her mother's policies, she hoped they wouldn't take it out on her. It wasn't like she had anything to do with it.

But right now she was on her way to the Ravenclaw common room in an attempt to seek out Edmund. Up until recently she would never have made the long trek up from the Slytherin common room only for the possibility of seeing him. Especially since she had no reasonable excuse to be up there in case anyone questioned her. But she was finally ready to admit, even if only to herself, that she cared about Edmund enough to let people know she cared. They were serious, the real deal. And if others were jealous, they would just have to deal with that. She climbed the stairs to the towers with a slight smile on her face, feeling reasonably confident that everything in her life was going well. She had good friends too, for the most part. Winnie and Domi were reliable at least, and she thought the three of them were a good group. Sometimes she missed Sapphire, but she didn't want to be the one to apologize first. It hadn't been her fault, at least not only her fault.

 

[Onyx Derouin]

Onyx had just been up to Ravenclaw tower to borrow a book from Kira Wolf. The pretty little thing had a bit of a headstart on him, and he meant to catch up to her quickly. He had gotten a bit caught up talking to the brunette and was leaving the towers a bit later than he had originally meant to. He read the back of the book he'd borrowed as he made his way back down the stairs. He glanced up just in time to see a familiar dark-haired girl turn the corner, coming in his direction. He smiled, slipping the book into his messenger bag. "Diana!" He called cheerily, waving his hand a bit as he approached. "I didn't expect to run into you up here. How are you?" He asked conversationally.

 

[Diana Hollis]

As Diana climbed the steps up to the tower, she was starting to wish she had memorized Edmund’s schedule so she would know for sure if he was up there. She would hate to walk all the way back down without him, but she had gotten this far so she would just keep going. The distance between their common rooms was really quite a lot, but since Edund liked hanging out in the dungeons for some reason they often stayed near the Slytherin one when they were hanging out. Unexpectedly, she heard someone call her name. Diana looked up to see Onyx, and she immediately stared at him in suspicion as he greeted her cheerfully and approached. She paused in her step, wondering if he had an ulterior motive for talking to her like this. She was sure he must know about her fight with Sapphire, unless the other girl had hidden it from him for some reason. There hadn’t been anything really hostile between them lately, but they still weren’t back to being friends either. Wasn’t Onyx supposed to dislike her by association? Especially since he seemed so protective of his sister. “I’m fine.” She said as she looked at him appraisingly. “I’m on my way to meet up with my boyfriend. But why are you talking to me? You should know Sapphire isn’t talking to me, and you might want to follow her lead.” It seemed to her like Sapphire was the one in charge of the two twins, she definitely seemed more like a leader type than Onyx.

 

[Onyx Derouin]

Onyx shrugged as Diana said she and Sapph weren't talking. He'd heard about the fight, sure. "Sapph told me about it, yeah. She also told me she's not mad at you. If she's not peeved I have no reason for it. If you two argue that's between you, yeah? Though I'm not sure if her waitin' 'round for you to stop bein' mad at her is really the greatest way to go 'bout it." He rubbed his nose unthinkingly. Last time he'd tried getting in the way of her decisions and thinking he knew best he'd been popped in the nose. He didn't intend to interfere so directly again. He changed the subject then, back to something she had mentioned. "You have a boyfriend? It's one of the Ravenclaw twins, innit? Key told me a bit about them. They don't tend to talk too much anyone besides each other. You must be special or somethin' to get one of 'em's attention." He told her with a grin, hand on his messenger bag.

 

[Diana Hollis]

As Diana looked at the boy, she was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Surely, there was some sort of ulterior motive to his greeting. But as he told her Sapphire had told him about the fight, and that she wasn’t angry with her, Diana had to pause to consider that information. Of course, Sapphire hadn’t really seemed angry even while they were arguing. It had been part of the reason why Diana had been so annoyed. No matter what she said or did it didn’t seem to ruffle Sapphire at all. The girl was independent and didn’t seem to get angered easily. Diana hadn’t known how to handle that, as she was used to getting reactions from people when she wanted them. Her own anger at Sapphire had cooled over time, though she was still annoyed about being called mean by someone she had considered a friend. Lately she had been hanging out more with Domi and Winnie, two girls who never really challenged her actions and usually went along with what she said and did. It was definitely a lot easier to handle. But there was a part of her that missed Sapphire and her sense of humor, even if she tried to ignore that part most of the time. “I suppose that makes sense,” she said after thinking it over for a moment. She considered telling him she was no longer angry with Sapphire either, but had the feeling he might meddle with things. She didn’t trust Onyx, and if things between her and Sapphire were going to change she wanted that to be between the two of them.

A smile appeared on her face when Onyx mentioned her boyfriend. It pleased her that he knew enough about the situation that he knew who it was. She liked that people were talking about it and apparently aware of who she was dating. Diana was still very proud to be one of the few people in their year to be in a serious relationship. “Yes, I’m dating Edmund, he does have a twin.” She said with a hint of pride. “Who is Key?” She wanted to know who was talking about her, and she had never heard anyone by that name. His last comment was nice, but Diana narrowed her eyes at him as she wondered if he was making fun of her. “Well, I am.” She said after a moment. “So what about yourself? Do you like anyone? Any relationship in your future?” Onyx seemed to be flirty, but she didn’t really know much about him. Generally, she didn’t really care, but she did like gossiping about her classmates and if he let something interesting slip she had something new to tell her friends.

 

[Onyx Derouin]

Onyx smiled. Maybe the subtler approach was better? He didn't really like being so involved and dramatic all the time- but if it was what his sister needed, he knew he would do it again in a heartbeat. He nodded as Diana confirmed she was dating Edmund and blushed a little when she asked who Key was. Was he not supposed to say? He could never remember with girls. He had two girl cousins, sure, but that didn't mean he was any better with them. "Ah, Kira Wolf." He rubbed the back of his neck, unsure. It shouldn't be too much trouble, right?

He could tell Diana still didn't trust his compliments, but he paid it no mind. What they did with his words was up to them. She continued by asking if there was anyone in his life, and he could see how he'd left himself open for that. His mind flashed to Jacob, but he couldn't really see the two of them in any kind of relationship... well, not of that sort. Jacob didn't seem to be too interested in Onyx anyhow. He decided to leave the subject of him alone, feeling incredibly awkward about it.

"Now why would I be bothered with anything like that when I have my sisters' love life to meddle in?" He chose to tease his twin instead, hoping it would be enough to distract Diana from the light blush coloring his cheeks.

 

[Diana Hollis]

Diana suspected Onyx was going to tell everything she said to him straight to his sister, but she didn't mind. She wasn't sure if Sapphire knew about her and Edmund yet. Diana had never said anything about it to her directly, because she hardly spoke to the other girl since their fight, but she felt like she probably knew because Diana didn't exactly make a secret out of it. That was probably how Onyx knew in the first place. It satisfied her to know she hadn't somehow missed out a student in her year. She thought she knew all of them, and Kira Wolf was definitely familiar. The girl didn't stand out to her much, she was kind of a nerd. But Diana knew she was friends with Sapphire, so there had to be something to her. "Right, cute nickname." She said with a slight smirk. She filed away that knowledge for later. She watched him closely after asking him if he liked someone, eager to see if he would give anything away with his body language. Romance was always interesting to gossip about, and she was also just genuinely curious. Onyx wasn't bad looking, and he flirted seemingly at random. But was there anything real? She thought the topic change to Sapphire was kind of an obvious deflection of her question, but after a moment she decided news about Sapphire was even more interesting so she didn't mind. "Oh?" She asked, her eyes growing wide. "Is there anything going on with her? I hadn't heard anything." She stepped closer, clearly very interested in this information. A part of it was her hunger for gossip, but another part of her was genuinely interested in hearing what Sapphire was up to. What kind of boy would catch her eye? Unless she was still mooning over that Mervyn boy, but surely she had realized by now she was way too good for him.

 

[Onyx Derouin]

Onyx laughed as Diana commented on Kira's nickname. "Yeah, her sister thought of it. We stole it. You ever met Kira's sister? No, probably not. She's great. She designs clothes." He chattered, hoping he had distracted the Slytherin.

Diana seemed eager to hear news of Sapphire, and eager himself to get away from thoughts of the boy that probably didn't like him, Onyx was all too willing to share. "Oh, I've been trying to set her up with this one kid. I don't think it's working, she punched me for it last week. I still think she really likes him though. Maybe after that whole mess with Oliver she's not ready for it." He shook his head, pouting a bit. "I still think he's an idiot." He muttered, half to himself.

 

[Diana Hollis]

Diana thought the question Onyx asked her about Kira's sister was kind of dumb, she barely knew the girl. A sister that designed clothes did sound pretty awesome, though. The best Diana had was Rose who knit things, but they were usually pretty ugly and Diana had stopped wearing them years ago. Onyx' willingness to talk about his sister's love life surprised Diana a little, but she eagerly listened to him. "Why are you trying to set her up with someone? Don't you think she can manage by herself? If any of my sisters tried to do that to me, I'd be so annoyed." It was a pointed comment, and she wondered if Onyx would take it that way. Diana hadn't talked much to Sapphire over the past months, but she couldn't imagine the girl enjoyed her brother meddling in her life like that. It seemed confirmed when Onyx mentioned she had punched him for it. "Maybe you should take the punch as a hint." She said, not entirely unkindly. "What happened with Oliver?" She added, her tone still casual. Diana had no idea about the boy, though she remembered Sapphire having a Hufflepuff scarf from him, if she remembered correctly.

 

[Onyx Derouin]

Onyx laughed when Diana told him the punch was a hint. "Yeah, you're telling me." He smiled. It might seem silly but he really admired Sapphire's fire. He almost laughed at the thought. Diana asked what happened with Oliver then, and he shrugged in response.

"That's just it. No one knows what happened. One day they were really close- he took her to a dance, gave her a rose. Even got her a sucker pen for her birthday. But then he just... Disappeared from her life. No warning, no nothin." He grimaced. "Idiot."

 

[Diana Hollis]

Diana wondered how Sapphire felt about the situation. She didn’t seem like the type to punch anyone without a reason, but the way Onyx was laughing about it made it seem like he wasn’t taking it very seriously. But, she reminded herself, Sapphire wasn’t her friend anymore, so why should she care? All she wanted was to hear more about her so she could remember it for later. Having knowledge over other people was having power over them, in some ways.The story about Oliver was new to her, but it didn’t sound as interesting as she had hoped. Maybe he had moved? Gotten sick? Or maybe just gotten new friends. But the fact that Sapphire was apparently still a bit caught up on it all was interesting, but not very useful. “That’s terrible. I hope whoever has caught her eye now can keep her mind off things. And I'm sure you help, too.” She said with a small smile. “I should probably get going. I was going to see if Edmund was in the common room.” She said, thinking that she had probably wasted enough time talking to Onyx. It had been a little interesting, but it had mostly made her feel a little weird. She was missing Sapphire now, which was a feeling she had been successfully ignoring for a while.

 

[Onyx Derouin]

Onyx shrugged. "I dunno, I heard the bloke she likes was kissin' another girl. Maybe I was wrong? Or maybe it was just a rumor." He looked at Diana. "You heard any interesting rumors about the Slytherin Quidditch team?" He laughed, rubbing his neck. "Ah, don't mind me. I'm just goin' loony." Diana said she should go then, and he nodded. "Alright. Well, it was nice talking with you." He gave her a smile and started back down the hall, waving at her cheerily. "Bye Diana!"