Cause Everything's Gonna Go My Way

[Aliyah Wright]

Aliyah had mellowed since her first year. A few days before the start of classes, the newly minted second year once again found herself in the Student Lounge planning out her life. However, instead of claiming the entire floor area in front of the fireplace to scatter her stuff about, she only commandeered half of a large circular table in corner of the room. Small baby steps forward still counted as progress. Her completely annotated map was pushed to the side as she shuffled through a small stack of papers. After spending most of her first semester running around with that old piece of parchment, the Slytherin now had all of her main routes committed to memory. Her weekly pre-Potions orange juices and post-Charms trips to the library were welcomed constants to her ever-changing life at Hogwarts.

There was always something new and unexpected ready to take the young witch by surprise and knock her off kilter and she was certain this year would be no different. For starters, it seemed that the school had gain a number of new faculty members. Aliyah would have been excited about it if one of them was replacing a certain twisted potions master who tried to poison innocent little first years and called it learning. But alas, Professor Axel Zhefarovich was listed right at the top of her schedule for Potions on Mondays. New teachers meant readjusting to new teaching styles, and although she was not a fan of the sudden change in her instruction, hopefully the fresh perspectives on the subjects would be enlightening.

And then there were the clubs. Last year Aliyah stayed occupied her free time flitting from one organization common room to another and participated and in few events here and there. She enjoyed them all, even the sorority. Even though she was not completely won over by her so called sisters, she at least appreciated the spirit of the group and maybe the whole idea of "sisterhood" would grow on her if she just stuck with it. Merlin knew she had to learn a little something about sisterhood sooner rather than later now that her mother was expecting a baby. She hadn't heard what came of Heta Omega's payback prank on the Brotherhood, but she sincerely hoped that they had learned their lesson. With sign ups right around the corner, she knew she had to reevaluate her time management this year. If there was going to be another dueling tournament, signing up for it was definite must. But the increased time she would have to spend training and practicing for duels meant she would have to cut back on something else. Aliyah stared down at her list of extracurriculars with her eyebrows wrinkled in deep concentration. It was a tough decision and deserved thoughtful consideration. She didn't want to cut anything if she didn't have to.

 

[Archie Renner]

The student lounge was a place for students to find peace and quiet, or so Archie had been told. While the adventurous second year had no intention to dwell a minute longer than he needed to in a quiet place, an unbridled curiosity to know if the student lounge was everything it was cracked up to be had never left his mind. Like himself, the company Archie chose to keep were outdoorsy types. Unafraid of adventure and never opposed to getting their hands dirty. They were also however, not renowned for their honesty or knowledge of anything inside the castle walls. This was why the twelve year old was furthermore adamant to discover things for himself rather than hearing through the grapevine. As a kid who constantly followed a fast pace, venturing inside for any other reason barring mealtimes or curfew seemed pointless, a waste of time that could be better spent honing his flying skills or exploring some uninhabited clearing of the forbidden forest. But spite any of his regular habits the Gryffindor let his curiosity get the better of him and found himself confidently strolling into the student lounge as if he had been there many times before.

Boring, was all he could think when the sea of noise from students in the corridor became none but a quiet lull when he crossed into the lounge. The sudden change from loud to quiet almost convinced Archie he had stumbled into the library on accident and disturbed a group of bookworms from studying though the lack of bookshelves in the room forced him to believe otherwise. He paused to take the atmosphere in, only moving when his gaze fell upon a face he recognized from a few of his classes. A Slytherin girl whose name he had yet to learn but figured he may as well approach since none of the other students sparked a sense of familiarity in his mind. "What are you doing?" He questioned as he stopped in front of the table, entirely confident that the huge stack of paper she had caught herself in took less priority than his company. Archie saw the edge of what he could only assume was a map peeking from the pile of papers and reached to pick it up. "Is this a map?" He inspected the piece of parchment, and smiled while he read the annotations. As a first year with an incredibly short attention span he once needed a map to guide him round the endless maze of stone hallways, however threw it away during the second semester when his routes between classes, the great hall and his common room were etched in his memory. He had yet to venture away from his regular routes within the castle but reminded himself that was for another day, a day when exploring every inch of the castle grounds wasn't at the forefront of his mind and he had nothing better to do.​

 

[Aliyah Wright]

What to do...what to do? Aliyah read and re-read her list of clubs and activities, weighing each pro and con of her choice. She couldn't cut the Student Defense Association. She enjoyed working with Able too much and the meetings really did help her out with her school work. But it also wouldn't be wise to ax Heta Omega either. The last two Presidents were also named Head Girl and that coincidence was not lost on the twelve year old who had ambitions of leadership herself. And then there was Club Academia. She wasn't super active with that club, but their lounge was just too nice to pass up. Finding herself more confused then ever, the Slytherin was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even hear the sound of approaching footsteps. It wasn't until a tall shadow blocked out what little light she had that she finally looked up and realized that there was someone standing at her table. She immediately recognized him, though she didn't know his name. He was in her year and the Keeper for the Gryffindor quidditch team. That marathon of a final game between Slytherin and Gryffindor last year was hard to forget. "I'm just..." She began to answer the boy's question, hoping that a decent conversation might help her become a little bit more decisive, but she was stunned silent as soon as the wizard reached down and messed with her stuff.

"Heyyyy..." Aliyah protested with a squeal. She watched the scene unfold before her and was torn between snatching the parchment from the boy's hand and stopping the pieces of parchment he disturbed from sliding between the stone wall and the table and falling to the ground. Knowing she was not quick enough to prevent either from happening, she opted to just sit there and pout. "Ahem..." she cleared her throat trying to draw his attention to the mess he had made, but he seemed to be too interested in her notes to even notice. Heaving a deep sigh, the small witch rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. He had successfully distracted her from her work and her focus was officially shot. She just hoped that he wouldn't be a complete waste of her time. "Nooooo...it is picture of Professor Styx doing the hula..." she replied to him in a mocking sing-songy voice.

 

[Archie Renner]

Archie did not realize the extent he had disturbed this girl's silence, driven by his all-consuming interest to pry into her notes the thought failed to even nag the back of his mind. He had however, noticed the mess of papers in his wake and intended to help her reorganize everything he had rudely allowed to fall to shambles, but not before his insatiable Gryffindor curiosity shone through. He smiled to himself as she made a comment about Professor Styx, but ignored it for a different reply. "You know, I used to have a map." He said as if no other first year required a map to navigate the endless maze of seemingly identical stone hallways, and as if his lack of ability to figure out where he was going was a feat to be proud of. When even he was well aware most first years found themselves lost many times before they knew which routes to take to find their classes. "Yours is more detailed than mine, though." He pointed to one of the many annotations lining the parchment. "I threw mine away halfway through second semester." Looking back on the action now, Archie wished he hadn't thrown his map away if he knew it could have the same amount of detail as this girl's map. Maybe now, he could have written down the secret passageways he had discovered, and attempted to figure out how to open them instead of forgetting their whereabouts entirely.

He shook his head, keeping himself from feeling annoyed at a past mistake so he could focus on the situation at hand. "I'll help you clean up now." Without any warning Archie threw the map onto the already messed up papers before picking them all up and shuffling them into an unorganized, though slightly neater pile. "You're welcome." He pushed the pile towards her with a pleased grin that anyone could describe as arrogant. "Anyway, what are you doing?" He repeated his question from her after remembering he had not yet received an answer, then pulled over a chair and continued their conversation as per normal. Like he had not disturbed her silence, invaded her privacy and continued to do so by remaining at her side. ​

 

[Aliyah Wright]

Aliyah stared at the boy with a tight smile as the boy went on about the map. "Uh huh..." she simply replied with polite sarcasm. She was fairly certain the boy was a second year like herself, so she was unsure why he was talking like first year was some distant memory or something. And it wasn't like she was still using the map. It was handy to keep around for reference. The patronizing tone to his statement was only briefly forgotten when he followed it up with what she felt to be a compliment. "Hmm sounds like your loss then." she quipped with a small smirk. It wasn't hard to get a standard map of the Hogwarts campus. The gotten her's from the Slytherin common room after the house meeting her first year. She assumed that every house must of had the same materials on hand and that any reasonable student would grab one just in case they needed it. Of course she was going to add her own notes and make it even more useful. Aliyah only used her map for practical reasons like finding short cuts to class so she could get there early or avoiding unnecessary staircases in the castle and hills on the grounds. Who would want to sit around in class all sweat and smelly? She silently appraised the Gryffindor as she still sat frozen in her seat with her arms crossed. The young snake was mildly curious about why he was so interested in a map. He didn't strike her as the practical type, so whatever it was he was up to, it couldn't be good. This boy looked like he was trouble.

Aliyah stifled a scoff when the unnamed Gryffindor announced that he was he was finally coming to her aid. She watched as he attempted to straighten out the mess. He actually thought he had done a good job. "Oh how kind of you. Really, I'm touched." she said flatly and feigned a smile. Thanking someone for doing the right thing was unnecessary. Why should someone be thanked for doing what they were supposed to do. The Slytherin didn't have much personal interaction with Gryffindors, but if this delusional self-important hero act was their thing, it was easy to understand why people found them so insufferable. The witch shook her head as she took the papers, realigned them into a neat stack, and slid them into her spare notes folder. "I was trying to sort out my extracurriculars for the year." She purposely left out her list of activities. She had come to the Student Lounge for a specific reason, to get organized for the school year. And she wasn't going to leave until she had accomplished that, no matter the intrusion. The girl could multitask and humoring the boy while working should be easy. "What's your name anyway?" she asked glancing from her paper to the boy seating next her.

 

[Archie Renner]

Much like Archie failed to notice he had intruded on this girl's peace and quiet, he was also entirely oblivious to her stifled scoff and flat tone of voice. Whether or not he was subconsciously ignoring any negative reaction she had to his presence or if he was just that blissfully unaware he was unsure, however none of this seemed important and rather pointless as she finally answered the question he had to repeat about what brought her to the student lounge today. "Oh, cool!" Archie suddenly became over enthusiastic, and possibly seemed fake, but the smile on his face hinted to the fact he was genuinely interested in any extracurricular activities she could say. Archie already knew she didn't play on the Slytherin quidditch team, because he had only seen her face in classes and not on the pitch during a game. "What extracurriculars are you part of? Are there a lot of them?" While Archie had no interest to be part of any other extracurricular or join a club he was curious to know what clubs this girl whose name he was still completely clueless to had joined. Anything besides quidditch seemed like a waste of time but he was happy to listen to any rambles she had about organizing non-quidditch related things. It would beat sitting alone and bored in a place he would rather not be.

While some students preferred the relaxed atmosphere the student lounge seemed to have, Archie didn't and now realized the outdoors were far more interesting than a quiet little room with a few tables and chairs. He noticed his gaze drifting towards the window before returning to the Slytherin as she finally asked for his name. "The name's Archie!" His enthusiasm didn't falter after his attention wavered and especially not now that the subject had moved towards him. Though as much as he wanted to talk about himself because it was a sure fire way to keep him from dealing with the boredom that usually followed when listening to other people's interests, he quickly asked her name in return to avoid looking rude (as if he hadn't been rude already). "What's your name?" He propped his head up with his hands and fought the urge to look out the window again, because despite how interested he was to continue conversation with his Slytherin companion, returning to the great outdoors so he could explore the castle grounds remained a very prominent thought in his mind.

blah.​

 

[Aliyah Wright]

The Gryffindor lit up like a Christmas tree when Aliyah told him what she was up to. The Slytherin shook her head as her lips spread into a small amused smile. Seriously, out of all the things to get excited about, campus maps and extracurricular clubs really didn't seem to warrant the amount of enthusiasm the boy was projecting. It was so absurd that she found the whole situation funny and the girl was tired to trying to guess the boy's motives. She could feel a soft ache spread along her shoulder blades from being so defensive and tense. Archie reminded Aliyah of an excitable puppy. Kind of fun to watch, but completely exhausting if you tried too hard to keep up with them. Whether or not Aliyah had the patience to train Archie into the type person she would want to keep around was still to be determined, but for now she would gladly take full advantage of his attention (no matter how attention deficit he seemed). "Aliyah Wright." The petite girl felt herself relax into her chair as she formally introduced herself. "And I am Heta Omega, the Student Defense Association, and Club Academia. There are more things I would like to do, but there are only so many hours in a day right? They should just give us all time turners." Of course the second year understood the rules surrounding time travel and that ministry would never allow it, but she really believed that students would much more productive if they were able to manipulate their own time.

Turing her attention back down at her parchment, Aliyah began filling in the few remaining holes in her schedule and chose not to change a thing. She decided that she would just make the most with the time she was given. She glanced back up at Archie, who seem to be losing interest. "So what do you do? I mean other than quidditch." The Slytherin was trying to think. She had never really seen the boy off of the quidditch. And in class she never really noticed him in class, so she really had no clue what he was about. "I've seen you play. Starting Keeper as a first year...not bad." she said, offering the Gryffindor a genuine compliment. Always one to give credit when credit is due, Aliyah was impressed with how well Archie was able to hold his own in the games last year. "You guys will still lose against Slytherin this year, but still good on you." she playfully joked.

 

[Archie Renner]

Archie opened his mouth to comment on Aliyah's extracurriculars because although they were very different people, a fact that was obvious within the first minute of their interaction today, he truly and honestly had no idea about these clubs. Of course he had heard of them within the two years he had been honored enough to attend Hogwarts New Zealand though his mind was at a blank as to what motives these clubs had or what on earth the point was behind them. With such an extensive list of clubs in the school, did any of it have a point besides quidditch? Before he could bother her with the many questions his mind conjured within the space of a few minutes, Aliyah mentioned quidditch on her own or rather asked what he did besides the sport before complimenting Archie's moderate success while playing. The Gryffindor boy could not help himself from forgetting every question in the back of his mind to drag the subject out for as long as possible. Although he was still interested in the Slytherin's extracurriculars by sheer curiosity it was no match for his interest in quidditch and never would be.

"Quidditch is all I do. I want to be the best, so I can't waste time with stupid things." While he was aware that everyone was different and found different things to be interesting, he could never keep himself from seeing other clubs or activities students used to waste time between classes as stupid. Stupid for him to consider joining, at least. "I'm lucky that my sister helped me learn the basics of flying at home before I started school." He felt he needed to explain why he had made keeper in his first year, because many of the students he spoke to about it never believed it made sense. "If it weren't for her showing me the ropes I would have been as clueless as the other first years." He ended his explanation with a shrug and was more than ready to return to the subject of Aliyah's clubs until she joked about Gryffindor losing to Slytherin. Anyone who knew a little about Archie knew his competitive side, it was the side of his personality that wanted to win at everything and shine above the rest no matter how much effort that entailed. So spite every instinct Archie had to unleash this side in full ferocity he had the ability to hold his competitiveness back an inch, though not enough to keep him from responding. "Hufflepuff is more likely to win this year than Slytherin. Get your facts straight."


i am the worst.​

 

[Aliyah Wright]

Aliyah tried to follow along with what Archie was saying, but something was getting a little lost in translation. "Hmmm...Right..." She could related to his need to want to be the best. The Sorting Hat had unceremoniously pointed that out in her last year when she was sorted into her house. The Slytherin knew she had an ambitious streak in her as well, but she was a bit confused on why anyone would just want to be the best at one thing when they could dominate in everything that they did. Archie could keep quidditch. Aliyah planned to have both the social and academic games at Hogwarts locked down by the time she graduated. That was one of the main reason why she found her selected clubs so useful. She could practice the skills and spells that she needed to do well in class all while getting to know people she might have not had a chance to meet otherwise. She purposefully ignored the boy's comment about his sister teaching him to fly with a polite smile. It was probably a perfectly endearing story, but lately whenever the twelve year old heard any mention sibling devotion she wanted to gag in disgust. In less than a year's time she was going to become a sister and that was a title she neither expected nor wanted. Any reminder of that was just sickening.

Aliyah laughed lightly at Archie's defensive response. "Whoa there Gryffindor! No need for the low blow." she said raising her hands with her palms facing forward indicating she meant no harm. She had no clue if he was being serious or not, but saying Hufflepuff was going to beat any house team this year was a serious stretch. Everyone knew that they were the worst quidditch team in the school. Maybe that was the reason they worked so hard to win the House Cup last year, to make up for all the ghosts of quidditch losses past. The Slytherin scoffed at the idea. "And really if we are talking about facts...how many times has Slytherin won the Quidditch Cup in the last 5 years?" She couldn't help but smirk. She wasn't trying to instigate anything. She was just merely trying to inform her clearly misguided table mate. "But anyways as a keeper, you shouldn't take a loss so hard. You could be the best, block every shot, and still lose the game because your seeker sucks. Sounds like a pretty blameless position to me." she added with shrug. She truly thought her unsolicited advice was helpful. The young witch was many things but a team player was certainly not one of them.