Lion Sleeps Tonight

[Nina Patrokov]

The sky was darkening. The sun had nearly disappeared from the sky. The grey clouds that flooded the air were dispersing for the night, framing the sky almost directly above, allowing the view of the tiny, bright stars to be strong against the ink black sky. Nina's warm hazel eyes traced the billowing shadow on the clouds, and the horizon, which a cloud covered sun was sinking behind. After waiting, with her eyes locked clearly on the dissolving sun, she watched it finally disappear behind the horizon, the moon already blaring brightly in the night, the stars illuminating. At the second the sun disappeared, the streetlights surrounding her in Brightstone Village, like they had been charmed to ignite as the sun went. Nina sighed, leaning softly against the harsh stone wall outside some unknown shop. The stores were shut, locked up tight, and no one was in sight. The moon shone on the cobble stoned avenue, deserted.

One should ask why she was there at this hour, but it would create a very confusing series of events. Nina had woken in her boyfriend's home, she had been visiting for the weekend. After some difficulty rising, some breakfast and a warm good bye she left. Craving any sort of muggle activity, anything muggle. She hoped on the first trolley she found and disappeared to find a video store, to hire her all-time favorite child movie, The Lion King. She found a video store, rented the movie, and went to her Grandmother's flat, watched it, and loved it. But curious for something else to do, she set off in search of a contrasting wizarding thing he could do or see. Once more she hopped on a trolley to Obsidian Harbour once more, arriving through the Leaky Cauldron. She had moved through the disappearing hussle and bussle street, it was growing dark and night was falling. Eventually the shops shut and people left and Nina had nothing to do but sit and keep to herself. She could leave, obviously, but the night sky was peaceful and the air was icy and refreshing.

So she waited, for no one or anything in particular. Studying the glowing sky and imagining the Alley at daybreak. She grew tired, and her eyes narrowed in exhaustion, she almost drifted off into a sleep, but kept herself awake by pinching her leg through her skinny jeans. And she kept waiting.

lame topic title ^^

 

[Noah Lewis]

Noah rarely left the confides of his dorm anymore. His hopes of being more social this year had crashed and burned without a single attempt to stop it. Maybe he should have tried harder. Gotten his now rather tall frame out of bed and dressed to impress. Meetting and greeting others in hopes of creating friendships in his new surroundings.

Yet as this sunny day turned rather dark, the sky lighting up with not the sunlight but the stars. Wondering out of his dorm with his normal attire of a hoodie, his hood up still showing some of his now rather long and as always messy blonde hair. His simple blue jeans for once not containing the holes. Too many people wore jeans that were worn and had holes in them. Noah was never one to follow trends.

Walking slowly and silently, Noah walked through the empty halls of the corridors meeting no one on his travels. Without much hassel, actually without any at all, Noah walked out of the castle leaving the castle behind him.

Not exactly knowing where he was going, Noah was just glad that he was going. Yet without the mind of directions, Noah found himself in brightstone village, finding it completely empty except one figure that Noah saw in the distance.

Following the voice inside of him, the need to actually be social, Noah found himself drifting over to the figure leaning against the wall only realizing as he got closer that it was Nina. "Out a bit late aren't you?" Noah asked wondering what she was doing alone in a deserted brightstone.

 

[Nina Patrokov]

Nina's eyes were closing softly, her head drooping to the side, her hand dropping from her leg and she forgot to hit herself awake. She fell into a light half sleep, her eyes still blurred open slightly. She was drifting off into a blank mind until she heard a familiar voice, one that belonged to someone that she enjoyed the company of. "Out a bit late aren't you?" She sat up quickly, knocking her head hard against the stone behind her as she did so. She let out a quiet curse and moved her hand quickly to the back of her head, there was gonna be a bruise there tomorrow. She let his eyes adjust to the bathing moonlight and discover the tall frame of a boy. She looked at him, eyebrows raised. The figure standing on the cobble-stones was so familiar, she didn't even need the illuminated blonde hair, shining in the moonlight to recognize him. It was Noah Lewis. "Hello love," she said in a tired voice.

Then removed her small hand from the back of her head and shuffled over, offering Noah a seat silently, then offered one verbally, "Would you like to join me?" Nina half smiled at him, but returned straight faced because she was too exhausted to hold up her smile. Her hazel orbs set on his familiar blue eyes, showing her joy in seeing him once more, she missed him terribly.

 

[Noah Lewis]

Noah saw Nina hit her head and felt bad almost instantly. "I didn't mean to scare you" He added taking off his hood and ruffling his hair which made it look no different, possibly a bit more messy but that was nothing to different at all. "Are you ok?" He asked hoping that Nina didn't get hurt with the cause being him. Smiling slightly as she moved onto the next topic rather quickly. At least she is ok or at least yeah Noah thought as he took a seat next to her.

"Of coarse I'll join you" Noah said flashing her a smile. He hadn't seen her in what seemed like ages. It was almost as if he was seeing a long lost friend. "You look so tired" He commented leaning his head back and closing his eyes for a moment, too awake to even consider nodding off. "Too much shopping today?" He asked guessing that was the only reason that Nina would still be in Brightstone, a busy day of shopping that just came to a dead hault.

 

[Nina Patrokov]

Nina looked at Noah through heavy eye lids and smiled tiredly as she heard his apologetic words. "I'm fine," she said honestly. She rubbed her eyes when Noah observed her tiredness. "Too much shopping today?" Noah asked and she promptly shook her head. "No, I've finished shopping about a week ago," she said with a small shrug.

She bit her lip and said, "I was just at my boyfriends house for the weekend, and then I went to watch a movie and now I wanted something wizarding to do." Nina shrugged her shoulders and hugged her friend happily, showing that she had missed him in their time apart. As she embraced him she sighed gently and asked, "What are you doing out at this hour?" She pulled away from him and pulled her legs up to her chest, then gently tilted her head backwards and closed her eyes, forcing herself to stay awake.

 

[Noah Lewis]

Noah smiled as Nina said she had finished shopping. The great thought that he hadn't done any shopping for the holidays or even at all this year, other than the school shopping at the start of the year. This was a task that Noah was more than glad to not have to take the time out to do.

As Nina explained more so as to why she was tired, Noah couldn't help but be a bit surprised. "your boyfriend's house" Noah repeated. He didn't know why he should be so surprised at this fact, really he didn't look too surprised but really inside he was. Shaking the thought mentally out of his head, Noah let out a small laugh. "You know sitting on a bench almost falling asleep isn't much of a wizarding thing to do" He teased a bit his bright smile clearly printed on his face.

Hugging right back when Nina embraced him, Noah realized how much he had really missed her. It seemed almost unbelievable that he wanted to be anti social when he could hang out with others and Nina, well that was when Nina wasn't with her boyfriend. Who was her boyfriend? The thought was not a jealous but more of a protective thought. "So whose house were you at?" Noah asked hoping that Nina would give him a name. Did he go to Hogwarts? Did Noah know this boy?

"Oh I was just sneaking out of the castle. Got bored" Noah said simply shrugging as if it was no big deal. After all it hadn't taken much to get out of the castle unnoticed, almost an insult to his sneaking and breaking away abilities.

 

[Nina Patrokov]

Nina saw surprise written on Noah's face clearly, she furrowed her brow curiously when he heard him say, "Your boyfriend's house." She nodded her head gently, then laughed softly at his joke. "Everything is closed," she retorted with a smirk. Nina smiled at Noah and said, "Brogan Swan, he used to go to Hoggies but he was expelled for playing some prank on Professor Theaton." She shrugged her shoulders gently and blushed inwardly, he had been one of her best friends for a long time. "He would have been a Hufflepuff 6th year this year," she said with a small shrug, not sure if Noah had ever met him.

When Noah said that he had snuck out of the castle she rolled her eyes sweetly. "You're bad," she teased playfully, knowing that it wasn't hard at all, in fact she had done that when Obsidian was closed to go to Brogan's house to get away from studying.

 

[Noah Lewis]

Still Noah didn't know how he felt about Nina having a boyfriend. She was old enough surely. There were little first year that had boyfriends though it was odd for Noah to accept. Sure when Nina used to go out with Alex it was easier to accept. They would all hang out in couples, Nina and Alex along with Asher and himself. Though the thought of Asher sent Noah's stomach in knots leading only to his thoughts reaching Abbey, a girl who was like his younger sister, someone that he couldn't really help out no matter how much he wanted to.

Thankfully Noah's thoughts were shoved back into the conversation when Nina mentioned the boy's name. "Brogan Swan" He repeated the name unique to his ears. Never had he heard of such a person and as Nina explained that he was indeed expelled it all made sense.

"I don't know him" Noah said almost wishing that he had. Now he had nothing to make a judgement on. "I hope he's a good guy" Noah said his tone hinting on protective older brother. "And I'm not the only one that sneaks out of the castle I bet you've done it enough times" Noah said nudging her playfully his eyes glancing about the empty area before them.

"How long are you planning on staying out? I mean if I hadn't shown up you may have spent the night on this bench" Noah said hoping that this wasn't what would of happened. Sleeping on a bench in a shopping area probably wasn't the best or safest move.

 

[Nina Patrokov]

Nina tilted her head on Noah's shoulder as he spoke about Brogan and sighed comfortably. "Don't worry Noah, he's a decent guy," she said with a reassuring smile though she knew Noah wouldn't be satisfied until he had actually met Brogan. "I don't have a clue what you're talking about," she said, pretending to be innocent, though her lips formed a smirk.

"I probably would have fallen asleep," she said with a small shrug. "I can't exactly bring myself to stay with at my Grandmother's yet," she admitted sheepishly as she opened her eyes and glanced up at her best friend. A smile formed on her lips, she really had missed him, even more then she had missed Brogan. Is that odd? she asked herself, then blinked on deciding that it wasn't, or she didn't think it was.

 

[Noah Lewis]

Noah was tempted to lean his head on Nina's once Nina had rested her comfortably on his shoulder, but overall Noah decided not to. Instead he looked still out at the open and empty streets wondering how such a busy area could be so empty at even the latest of times.

"Decent" Noah said nodding once deciding that he might as let it go. There was no use worrying about Nina and her boyfriend now. Pushing it out of his mind, Noah glanced over at Nina for a moment. "Oh yes you are completely inocent. Perfect little angel" Noah said rolling his eyes of coarse in a playful manner.

Feeling slightly bad for Nina as she mentioned her own grandmother. It must be hard for her, as it seemed for everyone Noah knew this year. Everyone had their problems, Noah knew this, he was included in this, but still he had the compassion for those who were going through such things.

"Well you know that the school is always open" Noah added realizing how much he considered the school his home now. What would he do during the summer months. Probably consider sleeping on benches instead of staying with his father and new girlfriend. In Noah's opinion, his father had moved on way to fast after the death of his mother. "I don't want you falling asleep on benches now" Noah said looking at her with a soft smile before looking up to the now full of stars sky.

"At least you picked at good night to come out." Noah said thinking about how many nights like this years a go, Noah used to sleep out under the stars. Great fun those years were, yet so far into the past. "So things not working out with your grandmother?" Noah asked hoping it wasn't stepping on Nina's toes by bringing the subject up.

 

[Nina Patrokov]

Nina smiled at Noah as he called her an angel then stuck her tongue out playfully before saying, "That's right, I've never snuck out of Hogwarts." She broke into a gentle smile as he looked at her, his smile seemed to be contagious for her. "I know, it's beautiful," she murmured as she looked up at the small specks of light in the night sky.

She glanced back at him as he mentioned her Grandma. She sighed gently, it was a delicate thing they had going. Nina certainly didn't want to go back to living in London with her parents, but lying was one of the things she absolutely could not stand, and this had hurt, she had been lied to for 15 years. Her whole life, and the reason she was told was so petty. "I don't like liars," she whispered cautiously, wondering if he would understand what she meant by this. There was no doubt that she still loved her Grandma but her thought process was what else could she be lying about if she had lied about something as big as that.

Nina looked down between them but she instinctively moved closer to her friend, as she asked, "How are you doing?" By the caring tone in her voice it was clear that she meant in response to his mother's death. She was worried about him, death did weird things to people. She had never really experienced death first hand but she had known someone to block out their emotions then break down completely, and it seemed like Noah was doing just that, though she had never known him to break down.

 

[Noah Lewis]

Noah could only smile when Nina stuck her tongue out at him and still claimed to be so angelic. They both knew better but Noah didn't go on with the topic anymore as Nina went on the topic of her grandmother. "I know" Noah said her voice soft and rather understanding. "But she is family. There's that crazy rule out there that you got to love family" Noah added a small smile forming on his face as he attempted to lighten the mood. He really did hope everything with Nina and her grandmother would work out.

Though the smile faded from his face for a few seconds when Nina asked how he was doing. Really Noah would just let to forget about everything. Move into Hogwarts and never have to face his father or his father's new girlfriend or anyone that came along with that women, but Noah knew that Nina wanted an answer. If she was anyone else, Noah might have just blown the topic off, but this was Nina afterall.

"I'm Fine" Noah said not knowing what else to say about it. "My father met a new women. She's nice and they are already thinking about marriage" Noah said his tone hinting on bitter. It had not even been a year and his father was already considering mariage to another girl.

Noah paused for a bit. "She has a son and daughter" Noah said meaning of coarse his dad's new girlfriend. "ten and nine years old" He added. Noah didn't mean to dislike the two children but really he couldn't help it. Everything and everyone seemed to be moving too fast. His mother's memory was strong and he seemed to be the only one that was not trying to push it down.

"But really Nina I'm fine" He added flashing her a smile hoping that she understood that. After all it as true, Noah was fine, not good not awful just fine. "But I don't want to ruin the mood of such a grand night" Noah said changing the subject as best he could. "So which movie did you see?" Noah asked. "You did say you went out to see a movie"