Keep Close in Durmstrang

[Elijah Zhefarovich]

There were some days when one never thought that Elijah Zhefarovich would be hanging out with just one member of the group that they were in. Instead there was only Alessine Styx with him, a cousin of his. Their fathers were not exactly close so in turn, neither were they. But from one pure-blood to another, they knew that they could rely on each other. Elijah himself thought that he was into boys, and his father was most displeased with that. But Elijah had a feeling that the attention would not be on him but rather on Athena and Kamaria. Kamaria was sneaking around with a boy, and Athena was bound to get in trouble again. Why should he have all of the fun? He sighed as he walked across the corridors, trying to find something to talk about with his cousin. Sometimes it was hard to talk about things when you are related to someone. To be fair, he kind of knew about Alessine’s fate. She was to be married to someone she did not even know. Elijah thought that was cruel, but apparently since Kalif was Head, he could do whatever he wanted. Elijah didn’t think it was fair since he thought that Alessine would have ended up with Samouel or someone like that. At least he was nice and all. But no one knew what blood status he was. Elijah was going to go with mixed-blood or half-blood. Elijah just did not even know. Then again he did not really care either.

“I honestly do not know what to tell you over what your dad is doing. It does not sound like him to get freaked out like that. Maybe he finally snapped.” Elijah shrugged those broad shoulders. If he were to try to get married, he would be killed because he would want a male. Oh his family would have a fit if he tried to bring home a male. He sighed and wanted to know what else he could do in order to achieve happiness. Was he even interested in males? He did not like anyone right now, and he did not find the girls here appealing, so there was no telling. He sighed and wondered what else they could do today except wallow in self pity. He looked over at Alessine and he spoke, “So, Sam and Alecto are getting pretty close. Want to bet on when Caiden loses his marbles?” It was no secret that the boy liked Alecto. It would be a matter of time before he managed to get with her. Even if she was annoying and not the brightest girl in the group. In fact it was like she was stupid. He could not expect much from a half-blood though. Maybe it was in their genes to not be so smart anyway. He had no idea whatsoever. He looked ahead and he could see another student lurking. The boy had to be in his year, but he didn’t know who it was. He nudged Alessine and nodded in the direction of the kid, wondering if they should go talk to him or not.​

 

[Alessine Styx]

Alessine Styx brushed a few strands of her straw blonde hair away from her line of vision and turned toward her cousin as he brought up the subject of her upcoming torturemarriage. Apparently everyone knew about her unfortunate situation. For the most part, it would seem like none of her friends, other than Elijah knew, and she intended to keep it that way too. "I've told my dad how much I hate the idea. But he refuses to budge! Not even my mom could get through to him, and she's normally refuses to take no for an answer. For some odd reason my dad thinks that we don't know how to choose our own futures anymore, and that's scary. I even had the chance to meet the guy, and he's nothing special at all." Alessine muttered, a deep scowl staying formed on her features the entire time. The guy she was supposed to marry was so quiet, she barely knew he existed, except when he would excuse himself or clear his throat. He was also quite big in stature and height, enough to where he could probably squish Alessine and she'd barely be able to defend herself. Alessine didn't like feeling like she was weaker than he was, especially with him being so quiet and scary. Alessine already felt like there was going to be something wrong and unhappy about her upcoming marriage, and that wasn't good. Alessine smirked the moment she heard Elijah bring up Alecto, Sam, and Caiden. It was nice to see someone stir the pot every once and awhile, without drama in their group, how were they supposed to have some fun? Alessine could already see that this was going to cause quite the commotion once Caiden was at his boiling point, which was pretty soon by the looks of it.

"Well once Sam and Alecto start to date, I give it less than twenty-four hours. That boy can not control his temper. Now Alecto and Sam.....I'd give it another week before they hook up." Alessine commented, the smirk never leaving her face the whole time she thought about how much fun all of this was going to be once she was able to witness the clashing. However, she had no idea what Caiden would do when the time came. Hopefully he wouldn't try to beat up Sam or anything. Alessine couldn't let her friends actually fight one another. They were supposed to be friends, not at one another's throats. When Alessine felt a nudge from Elijah, she looked over, only to see him gesture in the direction of another boy. One who happened to be pretty close, not that she thought he was spying or anything. "Hey!" Alessine called out to get his attention, then she gestured for him to come over. Hopefully he would do what he was asked the first time, otherwise, Alessine would come to him. Now the blonde didn't quite know what his name was, just that he was around their age, and he didn't look as if he had many friends. Alessine might just have to change that, and adopt him into the little group if he wanted a couple of friends. ​

 

[Maximilian Faber]

Trying to walk and read was a more difficult activity than Maximilian had anticipated. It worked out well enough for him when he was at home, but at the school, where someone was racing down the corridor every few seconds, it was just asking for trouble. After nearly being banged into by two second years, one of which was his own brother, Max had given up any attempts at getting through the next chapter of The Day I Was Imperiused. He realized that he should have just stayed in the library where he’d been enjoying a nice, quiet afternoon doing school work. With a scowl, the fifteen year old watched his younger brother continue on running down the corridor. He had half a mind to use a trip jinx, just for his own amusement, but decided against it as he watched him round the corner. Max continued walking after he’d tucked his book into his backpack, turning in the opposite direction as he reached the end of the corridor. The teen didn’t have a destination in mind; mostly, he was just trying to keep busy. Glancing at the other people who were in the corridor, Max saw a few familiar faces, but he didn’t bother to say anything to them. It would probably be extremely weird if he did. Max had been in the school for four years now, but the amount of people that he actually spoke to was still abysmally low. While his younger brother was Mr. Popular for his grade, Max preferred to remain alone. Most of the conversations that he had with his classmates were about class. He simply wasn’t that interested in engaging in any further conversations with them. At least, that is what he told himself. The truth was that Max was beginning to realize just how lonely he was. While all of his dorm mates had groups of friends and girlfriends to spend time with, Max had no one.

Feeling stupid for not having a destination in mind, Max had decided to just head to one of the student lounges, hoping that it would be empty and he could continue his book. He didn’t realize that he’d become the topic of someone’s interest until he heard a female voice break through the low murmurs in the corridor. His head turned more out of curiosity than at any thought that he was the one being called. Green eyes widening at the intrusion, Max’s eyebrows rose as he found a blonde waving him over. Max looked from her to the guy with her. Both looked familiar, though he wasn’t entirely sure of either of their names. What he was sure about was that he had no business with them. Wonder what they want, he thought to himself, his feet shuffling him in their direction. “Yea?” he asked, a bit on the wary side as he waited for them to tell him why they called him over. His hands felt useless at his side, so he tucked them into the pocket of his jeans. The teen’s green eyes drifted from the blonde girl who had called him over to the taller guy who was standing with her, waiting for one of them to fill him in.

 

[Elijah Zhefarovich]

The pure-blood looked over at Alessine and nodded softly at what she was saying. The fact that Kalif refused to budge was not surprising. However Nicolette not getting through to him, that sounded like it was a bit more than just arranging marriages to continue the pure-blood line which was what they had intended anyway. He was thinking that there was something much more to this than meets the eye. He looked over at her, and he pointed out, “I don’t know, with Nicolette not able to get through to him, it might be a lot bigger than you think. If anything, go above him. Go to the Patriarch. He might be able to do something. Or he might tell you to suck it up or kill the guy. You’ll never know with him.” Elijah had never really talked to the guy. He was a bit too scared to even look at him in the eye. The fact that the guy did not even sound exciting made him just want to take the guy off of her hands. Maybe he was cute? He was about to offer it but it might be a little much, even for her. Elijah never knew what to say when it came down to things like that. However it was just something that he thought of. He smirked even more when he thought of others in the group that they had formed ages ago. There were five, though it started out as four. Three were fourth years, and two were fifth years. Alessine was the oldest at one point, but now there was Samouel. So it was hard to tell who was the oldest.

“Start dating? I did not think they were that close. But I give Caiden seventy-two hours before he snaps. Hopefully he won’t do anything to tear apart the group, you know? I think they will take a little longer. Sam seems to be well, I don’t know. Torn maybe.” He shrugged his shoulders to show that he was unsure. He did not really even care to be honest, but it would give them some entertainment. He was about to ask how Sam was doing with the family, but then remembered, there was another boy that needed to have some company or something. The boy was cute too. Maybe they could get another friend out of him? That would be something. At least he was not the type to be listening in. Alessine was the bold one to call him over. Elijah had no idea if the boy was a fourth year or a fifth year. He was one of those, he could definitely tell. Once he was over there, Elijah decided to take over the introductions at least. “We are Elijah Zhefarovich and Alessine Styx. What’s your name?” Alessine would probably take over on what else they would be trying to tell him, such as asking him to hang out with them and their other group. Though Caiden should probably stay away since he would scare off people. That temper of his was nothing short of legendary.​

 

[Alessine Styx]

Alessine shook her head. "I don't think the Patriarch will approve of me trying to defy my father. He'd think of me as being disobedient." Alessine admitted. Actually she was scared to go to Asparuh. There were times when even her own father scared her, and Asparuh was at least ten times worse than he was. What would he do if she expressed that she didn't agree with what her father wanted for her future. Elijah seemed to have no idea that Alecto and Sam were so close, and that was pretty scary considering the fact that Alessine saw it almost instantly. Either she was more observant of Sam than she usually was, or Elijah was lacking a skill that most Zhefarovich's were born with, natural observation. "Pretty sure I saw them kissing the other day. Three days sounds about good. I hope he doesn't either, Caiden should remember that this all could have been avoided if he had just grown a pair and told Alecto that he liked her." Alessine bit out, sighing at the very end. How sweet, almost. Alecto didn't have any idea that Caiden liked her because he also had the tendency to treat her like crap when he couldn't control his emotions. He needed to sort them out before he would ever be able to date someone like her.

Alessine wasn't surprised the boy came over when she called to him, nor was she surprised when Elijah introduced the two of them and then asked what his name was. What Alessine was more interested in than anything, was why this boy was all alone. "Why are you all alone out here? Do you have any friends?" Alessine's tone was soft, which indicated that she wasn't making fun of him or anything. More or less she was just wondering why anyone would want to come out here by themselves. There were times when even Alessine wanted to be alone, but even then she tended to avoid being seen here alone. A lot of the school bullies and loners hung out here. Maybe he was new and that was why he was out here all alone? If he had no idea what usually happened around here, then maybe it was just an honest mistake or something. Either way, Alessine expected an answer.​

 

[Maximilian Faber]

Max looked at the guy and girl, waiting for one of them to speak to him. He’d seen them both before in class, as least he thought he had. They were always with a couple of others, one of those groups that Max always admired from afar and had never been a part of. Maximilian was always deemed too serious to belong to any sort of group. As the guy spoke up, Max shifted his green eyes to the guy’s face, staying on his silver eyes for a moment before he settled on looking at the guy’s shoulder. He had learned years ago that most people actually thought he was looking at their face when he looked there. Max nodded his head to both of them as Elijah introduced first himself and then his friend. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Maximilian Faber” Max introduced himself. To outsiders, it would probably seem overly formal, but it was a pretty average introduction as far as Durmstrang went. It still didn’t betray why they had called him over. He wasn’t naïve enough to think that they only wanted to know his name. Max wasn’t the type of guy to just come out and ask what they wanted with him. Instead, he shifted slightly as he waited. Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait very long at all.

As the girl spoke, Maximilian gave her a wary glance. The tone of her voice seemed genuine, but he was still unsure of whether her question was some sort of precursor to the two attempting to hit him with a spell or something. Many of the students at Durmstrang were jerks and finding someone who was alone so they could practice spells was just the sort of thing that was done in the school. Just last week, a seventh year had been given detention for convincing a group of first years to test potions he was creating. Max thought he should have been given more than a month’s detention, but it wasn’t like he could do anything about it. With a shrug, Maximilian responded. “Of course I have friends” he replied in a voice that was too defiant to be believed. “I was just kind of bored being in the library, so I decided to head to one of the lounges.” He gave another shrug as two girls walked past them, whispering to each other. Silence reigned for a few moments after he spoke, and then Max decided to continue the conversation. “Why?” he uttered, wondering which of them would answer him back. It was the girl who had called him over, so he figured that she was the one who was more curious about him wandering around. Taking a closer look at her, Max came to the conclusion that she wasn’t really beautiful or anything. Not to him anyway. She was really cute though, and he liked the way she dressed. Max hoped that they didn't think he was paranoid for asking. He was just really curious to find out why he had been singled out.

 

[Elijah Zhefarovich]

Elijah looked over at the new boy, choosing not the continue the conversation that he and his cousin were holding since it was probably a secret or something that she was in an arranged marriage. Plus he did not want others to know exactly either. It would just be worse and all that more real. He was shocked that his dad did not do the same to him. And then there was the Caiden thing, which everyone knew that was an explosion waiting to happen. He basically walked around with a fuse on his head, but now he did not look like a girl with his chin finally growing a beard or something of the sort. He himself was clean shaven, so he was good to go. He was sure that the whole mess could have been avoided if the guy had just told Alecto that he liked her. It was somewhat obvious to everyone except Alecto. Though, Elijah was also sure that Caiden might have liked Alessine at some point. Alessine asked the boy why he was all alone after the boy introduced himself as Maximilian Faber. Elijah thought that he had heard that name before. Not the surname but maybe they were in some classes.

This guy was formal too, but the tone that he had used that he had friends made Elijah doubt every word that he had said. He also mentioned on how he was bored of being in the library, so he decided to head to the lounges. "Oh? Well, the library is boring anyway. Why not hang out with us? I promise that we won't bite or torture you." Sometimes that was needed in order to convince someone to hang out with a Zhefarovich and a Styx. Both of their surnames meant something to those that had been attending here for a period of time. Elijah was actually one of the nicer ones of the group, considering he did not mind to hang around those that were not pure-blood, much to the dismay of his father. His father was more strict when it came to who he hung around than Alessine's, but Alessine's was forcing her into an arranged marriage, so it was hard to compare the two brothers.​