Awful Joy

[Turquoise Tangerine]

No matter how hard Turquoise tried to concentrate to turn back time it wasn't working for her, she desperately wanted to change the sorting hat mind and change houses, but she was trapped and suffocating in the red and gold colours that were Gryffindor house. A regular white shirt, Black skirt, a form of Army jacket and a pair of scruffy army boots replaced the crisp uniform other students were wearing, instead of a striped school house tie she was wearing a Tetris tie which she preferred.

Turquoise had let her sister enjoy being in Slytherin although she desperately wanted to join her sisters house she had no choice, she knew her Cousin was around somewhere, she had heard his name at the sorting ceremony but she was to busy giving looks to the other first years who were trying to introduce themselves to her to look, she hadn't seen her cousin for a long time and hardly remembered what he looked like. The young student belonging to an undesirable house brushed her blonde and purple hair out of her face, the cool air was making her nose cold but she much preferred it to the joyful students exclaiming how they got into the house they desired. Turquoise studied her nails in the silence she decided that the cool air would do her good and she would have some room to breath and fix her nails. Pulling out three bottles she set up a little set on the seat and sat on the ground in front of it to use it as a table. Turquoise set up her nails in a certain design and started to paint.

 

[Crimson Sterling]

Finally being able to wander the school grounds was such a thrill. The castle had turned out to be a lot bigger than Crimson had originally thought, and he hadn't even fully explored it yet. It was like every small thing about the school was so different and interesting. Up until the last few days, the boy had never even spoken to, let alone seen a ghost before, nor did he know of any portraits concealing shortcuts. Hogwarts was full of little secrets and he was determined to find them all, both inside and out.

Bright sunlight warmed Crimson's face as he left the old castle, stepping onto the neat lawn. The grass was pleasingly crisp and made a satisfying crunch underfoot as the Ravenclaw made his way through Hogwarts grounds and slightly south. To his left lay the Lake, supposedly inhabited by merfolk according to the school's history, and directly ahead was the Quidditch Pitch. Like most wizarding kids, he'd had a small broomstick for toddlers that he flew around on when he was younger, barely a foot or two from the ground. But that had been years ago and he hadn't flown since then. I wonder if I'll enjoy flying. Maybe I could even make the Quidditch team. Crimson wondered, thinking back to the matches his parents had taken him to at least twice a year. The sport looked both dangerous and enjoyable at the same time, which was always the best combination.

Crimson realised he'd absently drifted toward to right and came to a stop at the edge of the Hogwarts Gardens. The area was surprisingly beautiful and inviting, full of hedges, shrubs and multi-coloured flowers, a lot that he couldn't possibly bring a name to. Everything had its own definite air of elegance, and Crimson soon found himself walking among the plants, feeling absolutely content.

He'd only been walking around for a minute when Crimson passed a stone bench, in use as a nail beauty station by a uniquely dressed girl with purple hair. Her thick jacket, boots and colourful tie set her apart from most of the students he'd seen so far. Weren't they meant to have a dress code? Crimson cleared his throat,
"Uh, hey there. Won't you get into trouble for wearing...well, all that?"

 

[Turquoise Tangerine]

Starting with the most difficult hand first Turquoise made her way through Delicately painting her right hand first with a base of black, things were easier with her sister to help her but without a place for them to hang out without other students pouring down upon them there wasn't a really sisterly time. Turquoise often wondered if she should bother exploring the castle soon, she only know the basics, Food, Room and Classrooms, Nothing about hidden rooms, abandoned rooms or anything like that, she didn't even know where the Hospital wing was yet. Test-Touching her nails Turquoise changed hands and started on a base black coat to get them going when she heard someone emerge and standing on the cool crisp grass which seemed to turn into little icicles with the weather, New Zealand could get rather cold but Turquoise was used to the warm weather of Brisbane she often spent most of her day down the coast on the beach or at the skate parks getting tanned with her Sister.

The steps seemed to get closer but Turquoise ignored them and got out some tape to line her nails so she wouldn't have messy lines when a voice sounded from behind her commenting on her code of dress, Turquoise briefly glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes 'Hi, Won't you get in trouble for not having a soul' she snapped. The Blonde used her palm to brush her hair out of her face the blonde base lightly covering the purple ends before standing up to face the boy. Raising an eyebrow she looked at the boy before her, he looked familiar but probably from the sorting ceremony 'Is my state of dress really an issue for you?' she asked looking at the Red headed boy before her wondering if he took offense to the soul-less joke she played.

 

[Crimson Sterling]

Crimson held up his hands defensively and took a step back from the rather out-there girl. Straight-up rudeness from an innocent question was not what he expected, especially from the one of the few students he'd spoken to since he arrived. She was probably one of those Slytherin girls. "Um, woah. I just asked a question, in case you didn't know that we had to wear certain uniform, or if there was some exceptions." he explained, keeping his hands up at chest level.

The girl actually stood up and he took it as a more aggressive sign. "How you dress doesn't concern me, really. Just pretend I didn't ask at all." he muttered and slowly half-turned, backing up away from her. Maybe she'd just return to her nails and he could go find someone else, someone who wasn't totally nasty.

 

[Turquoise Tangerine]

The boy seemed threatened by the girls response, part of her felt sad that she had made him feel that way but her current half was loving the fear she was putting into him. Turquoise smiled briefly 'I got sorted into the wrong house so I refuse to go by any' she said bluntly, the boy probably wouldn't understand he must have been sorted into the house he desired and everything was wonderful for him.

Turquoise put on Hand up calmly as a sign not to be scared 'what is your name, people can tell a lot by someone's name' she said cheerfully, the girl noticed her nails and almost shrieked, matte black that wasn't like her, she sorted through her colours and pulled out a bright Fluro orange and begun to paint the tips of her left hand first the harder hand for this personality making sure she kept within the lining so that her nails didn't look bad, waiting patiently turquoise smiled at the boy before her waiting for his response

 

[Crimson Sterling]

Crimson stopped pacing backwards when the girl, in a bi-polar way, took on a nicer personality, voice now a friendlier and happy tone. The boy was stunned and completely thrown-off. She is so, so weird. Are many witch-girls this weird? he wondered, lowering his hands and casually slotting them back into the pockets of his black pants. He was used to his friends back in Salem, a mix of Muggle and Wizard boys. Very rarely had he spoken to a girl in his age group. When he was younger he'd always been afraid of catching some dumb disease from them, according to the muggle boys.

"Er, my name is Crimson, or just Crim...What's yours?" The Ravenclaw mumbled after a moment, still not sure about the Tetris chick. She'd taken to suddenly painting her nails once more after seeing them, as if there was something terribly wrong with the coating she'd just done, but she still had that creepy little bi-polar smile on her face.

 

[Turquoise Tangerine]

Turquoise smiled when the boy said his name 'what an interesting name, I have a cousin names Crimson I haven't seen him in a while ' smiling the girl changed hands and continued to paint her tips in the Fluro orange, her mind travelled of to what magic could do to make painting her nails easier that she forgot that crimson had asked her a question.

The blonde shook her hand out to help her nails dry and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand making sure it was still there 'oh my name is turq' she said suddenly realising tht they boy had asked her what here name was.
Turquoise smiled at the boy and recapped the nail polish gently placing it down on the bench. 'what do you think about the students here, full of themselves always so happy with their sorting choices' the blonde smirked 'I know the first thing that they would do was laugh at my name, ask what house I was in and then want to share details' she scoffed

 

[Crimson Sterling]

The witch commented on the fact that her cousin shared his somewhat uncommon name before getting lost in her own little nail-polishing world. Crimson was caught between deciding whether to just leave her alone or bring her attention back to the present when she once more gained her senses and introduced herself as Turq. Crimson laughed inwardly, the slightest smile touching his lips. Was he really that stupid? Of course he hadn't seen his reatives in a while, nor had he even seen them more than once or twice a year, but he kicked himself for not recognizing his own blood. Though, he remembered, she hadn't either. There was absolutely no chance of it being a coincidence that they both had cousins with the same names, it had to be her.

Crimson creptforward and sat himself down on the corner of the stone bench while 'Turq' warbled on about Sorting again. The Sorting Hat was no troll, as he'd told him during the Ceremony, she was in the house she suited the most and that was that, but the witch had some serious issues about it. "Well, maybe you'll end up liking the house you were put into? If it's a really big deal, perhaps you could bring it up with the Headmistress. Can I ask what house you were put into, Turqouise?"

 

[Turquoise Tangerine]

The Boys courage seemed to multiply suddenly and Turquoise rolled her eyes, he still seemed to creep around which wasn't very convincing by the sound of his voice. 'Whats your last name?' she asked ignoring him who seemed to try tell her that she would like the Perfect Gryffindors and that the Headmistress would swap her house, didn't he know anything, once the sorting hat had made its choice that was the end of it, no Ifs, buts or maybes.
Turquoise picked up a glitter gold from the bench and shook it a few times before unscrewing the lid 'Oh no wait, let me guess your last name is Maroon-Sterling' she said, no one knew her proper name and the chances of him being someone else were little to none. Turquoise stood in front of her cousin and started to paint her nails again, she wasn't going to stop something just because someone took her attention 'Where have you been for the past few years, thanks for getting in contact' she said with sarcasm, she hardly talked to her aunt and uncle or cousin apart from the yearly Christmas and birthday card.

Sighing the Blonde sat down on the floor and waited for her nails to dry 'How is Aunt Milli and Uncle Walter?' she asked since she may as well be nice to her cousin. 'Have you run into Lilac yet?' she asked curiously wondering if Lilac had met Crimson and not told her yet, Turquoise and Lilac were joined at the hip unless she had to be in the common room then Turquoise would go off on her own for a while until she could find her again.

 

[Crimson Sterling]

Crimson huffed and hung his head backwards, facing up towards the sky. He'd forgotten how annoying his cousin could be, the way she spoke and her current obsessive nail-grooming irritated him a little, plus he'd never adjusted to her bi-polarity. Her sister, too, seemed to carry the same trait, which of course wasn't surprising seeing as they were twins. Now that he remembered, they'd both been hell to be around and he couldn't talk to them like he could with other people. Even the clouds passing overhead was more interesting that a conversation with the Tangerines. At least I have someone to talk to.

The Ravenclaw shot Turquoise a look after she had the nerve to ask why he'd never gotten in contact with her. Really? "I could say the same about you, couldn't I? It's not like its my choice to go visit you or not. It was you guys who moved away in the first place, and you know how busy my parent are. Mom and Dad are great, though. Same as they always are." He shrugged and looked back down, where Turq seated herself on the ground. "And I haven't seen your sister yet, shouldn't you know that? You probably see her more than I do. Does she have coloured hair too or...?"

 

[Turquoise Tangerine]

Turquoise looked at the boy who seem really standoffish about her saying that he never contacted them, she tilted her head on the side and smiled 'oh Angel Face, i was just playing' she said her eyes bright with amusement, she looked at the boy again, he had changed a lot since he was little 'She's around, and no she's normal blonde. And of course i see her more than you do, she's my Sister silly' Turquoise shook her hands as the nail polish dried.

'Lilac told me to Pipe the hell down when i told her i was dying my hair, she helped me and we were going to do her but our parents went ballistic at my hair we didn't dare try hers, maybe while she's at school' she said while she packed up her nail polish set into the box, her nails weren't anything like she planned, her personality's chose different colours.
Turquoise stood up and put her things into a shoulder bag and linked arms with Crimson leading him through the Garden 'Tell me what you've been up to Angel Face'