Good Time

[Tybalt Archer]

The holidays had been less than fun. They'd called the Archer grandparents for some help, which meant that young Ty had the worst holidays ever. It hadn't helped that his mind had been completely preoccupied by the thoughts of that guy, that girl's friend. The other Archer boy. What on earth had been going on in his family. Tybalt had spent the whole holiday watching his grandfather, just watching him as he went about his normal day. As he stared down at Tybalt, he was beginning to more and more believe that all of them were lying to him. It hadn't been until a few nights before leaving for Hogwarts that he'd found the courage to ask about it. The chaos he had caused was still causing waves in his family. His grandfather had lost it, at Tybalt. Ty's father had told him to just admit to it. That the family existed. When Tybalt said had told them, that the uncle they had all told him was dead, had died recently and that he'd had a son. A boy, an Archer, with the same inability to see colour just like the rest of them. Tybalt had no idea what he had done wrong. In his mind he'd told the truth. Finally. He was tired of the constant lies in his family. His grandda had lost it. He'd been so angry. He'd rushed towards Tybalt with a look of such strong anger in his eyes that Ty thought he'd done something truly awful, like give his little sister something hot. However, Ty's father had stopped it. All in all, the meal had been a disaster, and Ty's grandfather had spent the night in prison, his father had spent the night in hospital. A lot more drama than he thought was necessary, but clearly his father had also been lied to. He had been given strict instructions by his father to ask the girl if they could help the Archer's connect. He was happy to do that. He wanted to meet him now. Let him join their family. He just had to find Kate. To tell her. Sure, they still weren't sure, but Tybalt had given a fairly convincing case as to why he had to be. But, he was back at school, finally. Second year, that would be nice. Different. Good. Everything he wanted it to be. He was determined to work harder. To work more. Just be better. If anything, his family had shown him that they were ruthless. Willing to do anything just to keep the skeleton's hidden away. He was wandering the corridors, feeling more confident than the previous year. He was still the small boy, not having grown too much. He was wearing his contacts, and the large oversized Gryffindor jumper. He was just happy, it was going to be a good year. He knew it. Things felt right. He was carrying less of burden this time around. The place was no longer new, he knew it more. It made more sense to him.

Eventually his walking began to tire him out. He stopped walking and figured out where he was. Which turned out to be the fourth floor. He noticed the student lounge and walked towards it. It was a generally busy room, but as he walked these steps, the young boy realised that he'd been walking around the school for the past 5 hours, and it was dinner time for most. While hungry he wanted a bit of a rest before walking down to the busy hall. A hall he still wasn't a huge fan of. Tybalt wandered over to the large couch in the middle of the room. He pulled off his shoes and crossed his leg upon the couch. Ty had ended up missing this place. He missed his best friend. He'd not seen Indiana in so long, and he missed her. She had been kind to him. She had shown to care, and she'd helped him when that silly Slytherin girl had been mean to him. This place had been good to him, but he really just wanted his friend back. He wanted to return a time when there weren't so many faces, and new people. The new first years seemed nice, but he was annoyed, he was a twelve almost thirteen year old and he was as small as the first years that surrounded him. He was however very happy to be back. More than it might appear. He was ready for another year of fun. He was ready to do more this year. He was ready to just be more individualistic. He was going to keep going to clubs, and doing such things. He was going to keep working hard at everything he did. he was going to show his family that no matter what was going on at home, it would never affect him in school. His mother would be proud of that. She'd be happy to hear about his successes. And it was better now. He had a home to go back to. There was no more sleeping out his car, and everything was indeed simpler. And his parents had gotten him a new wizarding camera for his birthday, for his work with Accio! Which was great. He was happy, everything was in a good place. Everything would work out. He just knew it. This would be a good year.
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So, this is a god awful start. I'm sorry.

 

[Jasmine Smith]

It's better than I could do at the moment!

Hogwarts was different to how Jaz has imagined it. She had dreamt for weeks of a fairytale castle somewhere where she would have freedom, be allowed to relax and finally enjoy herself without looking over her shoulder for her father. But it wasn't quite like that. There was still an order, a structure to the life that she had missed in her thought process. Not to misunderstand her, she loved the school, but it wasn't like she dreamed. The castle was brilliant though, with the moving staircases, the different levels and halls that moved with different sounds. The students, the older ones relaxed from the break, and the younger ones hyper at the excitement of a new school. Jaz had joined in with this excitement in her own way, a quiet but thrilled excitement. Her mother had written to her once, but not of anything exciting, just to check that Jaz had arrived safely and reply to her letter about being sorted into Hufflepuff. Her mother said they were all proud of her, but Jasmine doubted that greatly. Her father wouldn't ever use the word 'proud' when talking about Jasmine, and she knew that the only house that would have pleased her father would be Slytherin. Her mother may have been pleased that Jasmine was happy, but she would suffer at home without the young girl's help around the house. And her brothers, well they would find some reason to mock Jasmine for any house she was in, and so for her, it was better to try and forget about them. They weren't with her now, instead they had gone to Durmstrang to learn darker arts. Her sister was at Beauxbatons, and hopefully, when they all returned for summer, her siblings would have so much to say about their own schools, that she would be forgotten. She didn't mind being ignored, in fact, she welcomed the occasional freedom when she was forgotten. It was a single reason why she enjoyed being a child of many. She was not the 'special' one in the family, and rarely strayed out of the normality, so to not draw attention to herself.

The young brunette was leaving the Hufflepuff common room. There were a few who had remained behind from dinner, but a few was too many for Jaz at the moment. She needed space to think. Her thoughts instantly strayed to the outdoors, but she remembered seeing rain clouds approaching when she was recently outside. She didn't want to be caught in a storm, and so decided it was safer to remain inside. Wandering down the corridor, she peered in at a few classrooms to see where they were free. Students were wandering down to the Great Hall to eat and Jaz was going against the tide. Pulling into an empty room to wait for the crowds to cease, Jaz looked around. She recalled it being called a student lounge on her tour, but she had never had the opportunity to check it out. Looking around, she couldn't see anyone so decided it was safe for her to stay where she was. Wandering a little bit further into the room, she flopped onto a squishy armchair. Closing her eyes, she let her thoughts fly free. However, before long, she opened her eyes, sensing, like a cat, that someone else was in the room. Looking over, she saw a youngish boy opposite. He seemed a little older than her but not too much older, so Jaz decided he must either be in his 2nd or 3rd year. Jumping up, she began to stutter. "I'm so sorry. I can go." She turned as if to make for the door, gesturing towards it, but hesitated, wondering if this boy would be friendly or if she would need to run.

 

[Tybalt Archer]

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<SIZE size="50">It was easy for the young Gryffindor to become lost in his own world. He stared in front and his mind just drifted away. He thought of other things. He attempted to think of other things. He thought of how great it would be for him during this second year of school. Of course his mind was not like most others. It worked in a completely different fashion. He always had to fight to keep his mind away from all the horrible things. All the ways in which he was imagining his families lies. What else had they never told anyone. Which was his question. Why hadn't they tried to reach this side of the family. He didn't make the connection between his family in New Zealand and the other guy. He was a young twelve year old boy, that was just a little bit beyond him. He was not ready to realise that his father had suddenly gotten the urge to look for his supposedly dead brother in a country where Ty's brother was meant to attend. His family he found it silly what they carried around. Imagine having to pretend and tell everyone he was dead. Having a fake funeral, everything like that. And that was just the top of his mind, much deeper, was far worse. The young gryffindor, put his head in his hands and sighed. When did everything come out as being so f##ked up. When did everything change? Tybalt half wondered why he had to be the one to bring up that there was perhaps another family member hidden somewhere. That a second monochromatic Archer existed. Aging around the same as Ty's brother. He shook his head and sighed again, as if in the hope the two motions would deal with all the problems that they had. Which he guess was a little bit silly. The young Gryffindor wanted his family back to normal. He needed normality. All this Archer drama was going to drive him insane. It would drive him towards the point of no return. Where it wouldn't matter what he did, all he could think of was the possibility of another surprise family secret. The school, he knew would provide him with all the normality that he needed. That he would need for the next few months while he figured out a plan for his family. What he would do. How he would deal with the craziness that was being an Archer. Of course he knew that being an Archer meant forever cursed with the worst kind of luck.

Though, out of all the current Archer children, the young boy had fared fairly well. In the grand-Archer tree of bad life cards, he was second, maybe third. For his generation of course. He heard someone enter the student lounge ignoring it, as he attempted to sink further into the couch. Bringing his legs close to his face, and curling into himself as much as possible. He was wearing the large thick Gryffindor jumper. It didn't fit him at all, but that was okay. It was all going to be okay. He was trying desperately to convince himself of this. It would be a different home to come to. It would be a much better home to go back to. None of the stressing that he knew he was feeling within his core. The stress that he really did feel was driving him. The stress that made it hard for him to know what to do. He had never been the guy with all the answers. That was much less him. He didn't do that sort of thing at all. He opened his eyes, and moved his face away from behind his knees as the other person seemed to notice him. He was slightly taken aback as the person, a young looking girl jumped up and almost made to head for the door. Though she hesitated. He didn't want to appear rude, after all, he was a Gryffindor and he knew how it felt to be a new little first year. "No, stay." He said,with his usual small smile. Not so sure of himself, not so sure she'd really want to stay. He didn't know her, and like he'd first been it was a daunting, a huge school with so many people everywhere. "There's plenty of space for the two of us." The boy's southern American accent playing with his words. He was from Georgia, happy to be living in New Zealand now, but his accent hadn't gone away. It stayed with him. "I'm Tybalt, or just Ty"
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[Jasmine Smith]

Jasmine let out a tiny sigh of relief as the boy invited her to stay. She looked around, checking to see what the other options were and decided that for now, the best thing she could do would be to stay and try at conversation. The young girl was petrified of talking in great quantities and found conversations with new people overwhelming. But, it was something that she recognised she needed to improve upon, so taking a subtle deep breath, she wandered back over to the sofa and perched down on a near-by chair. He introduced himself as Tybalt and she smiled weakly. "I'm Jasmine, or just Jaz." Finding herself copying his introduction, she blushed a shade of pink and tried to calm herself down. She looked around, unsure of what to say or do. It was an awkward silence that greeted her and she continued her evaluation of the room, trying to find something to occupy her from blushing a deeper shade of pink. There was a piano in the corner of the room, and Jaz looked at it longingly, her fingers itching to go and play. She hadn't ever been taught officially, but it was a gifting she had, to pick up any tune quickly with or without music. A teacher at her primary school had tried to encourage and nurture it in her, but Jaz had been paralyzed in her learning by the fear of telling her parents she wanted to take it further. Now, wishing she had more confidence, Jaz dreamed of a different version of her that would go and play something. But this different version would have already started up conversation with Tybalt and they would be chatting away by now. However, this wasn't the case and Jaz realised that she had failed and it was now up to Tybalt to take away the awkwardness. She had failed once again and wasn't proud of herself for it. It was humiliating.