Summer Dawning

[Alex Corvus]

The sun rose in a sleepy fashion, burning brighter than usual. There was no rain, fortunately, and it looked to be a lovely day; birds were singing on their perches in the trees, aeroplanes flew through the seamless blue sky, faint trails left behind them. The streets of the towns and cities were bustling with life as many went to work, went shopping, or went to the park. It was in one of these lovely parks, a hedge outlining the property, the odd tree dotted about the place, shadowing tinted benches, that a young man lounged beneath a tree.
It was him.

Alex was back in the same land that he had last seen Liberty, but he was not too near the school grounds: The two had arranged to meet a short way from the little village that students were allowed to visit during their weekends. Liberty hadn't been given permission to roam a little further. No, it was Alex leading her astray, but he had promised her that no harm would come of it. And so it was that this scruffy Scottish punk relaxed beneath a slender tree, turning a penknife between his hands. It was such a small and discreet blade, that no-one would have noticed.

 

[Liberty Kaelen]

Libby had woken early that day, and while the rest of her dorm lay sleeping, she had crept out of her school with the attitude to get where she wanted quickly and quietly. The day was perfect, and although as prefect she knew the trouble she would be in if she was caught, she found herself willingly breaking the rules to sneak down to the local village.

It was actually a little further than that, and by the time Libby got there, the sun was already high in the sky. She was wearing a different outfit than she had the time she'd met Alex before, which she hoped most of the Dumstrang students would not have recognised her in. It was simple, and most would be surprised to catch her in anything white, especially these days..

She found Alex underneath a tree in a pretty much abandoned park, and she confidently proceeded towards him. They had only met once before, however that encounter had turned out to be quite deep, and they were already "together". She approached him, sitting down on the bench beside him. She didn't turn to look at him, but sat in silence, waiting. Waiting for him to make the first move.

 

[Alex Corvus]

Alex noticed Liberty out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't hold in that half smile, a cheeky grin which played upon his face. "You made it out, then?" He asked, turning to face her, flicking the knife away and pocketing it. His head was lazily facing her, his eyes studying the clothes she wore. He had no intention to ask why she was wearing what she was, or to pay her a compliment. Not right now, anyway, there were more important things on his mind. "Nobody saw you?" The way Alex spoke was as though this had all been a top secret and highly important mission. Which, in a sense, it had.

He forced himself up straight, and he twisted around, taking out his knife, reaching up and scratching into the bark. As he worked, he continued the chatter as though all of this was perfectly innocent. "Two more years at school," he stated, "and then you'll be free." He paused to rub the itch behind his ear with the rather blunt knife blade. "What you gonna do?" His Scottish accent would have stood out more among the people passing.. If they had cared to listen. Everyone was too busy to even notice the defacing of a tree, an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[Liberty Kaelen]

Libby reflected his half smile. "Of course they didn't" she replied in such a tone that would have made anyone believe she was almost offended by the possibility that her carelessness could've gotten them caught. Right now she wasn't entirely sure why she hung around with this..man, but she was following her heart, and she would have been disappointed not to, not to mention the tales she could tell Larissa when she returned to school.

Libby realized more and more that living in the holidays with her older brother, the one that hung around the dark Bleak Streets, was having an impact on her. She could no longer see herself as the kind Hufflepuff she was just a few months ago, and she would be surprised if she were able to returned to her old friends.

She thought about Alex's next question, as the answer had played around in her own head for the previous three years. "I'm going to return to Hogwarts probably." she paused, "That's if they'll have me back." she said. "I like the stars. I guess an Astronomy Professor would suit me" she gave a light shrug, showing her casual attitude as though it was merely something she'd thought up on the spot than something she'd planned her classes round. "what about you? I mean, When your not straying around young girls school villages, where do you go?" she asked him, watching him carefully as he cut into the tree.

 

[Alex Corvus]

Alex laughed, not looking back at Liberty as he gave his response, continuing to carve his masterpiece. "When I have free time from all the hundreds of teenage girls that I so eagerly hang around with," he said, humoring her, "I go to work, have a few pints, get the odd tat'oo. Last time I had a really good night, I ended up going inside fer two months." He bit down softly upon his tongue, turning to peer through the scruff of hair that had fallen over his jet black eyes. He was watching Liberty as he gave the tree one last hard scratch, before standing up and taking a step back to admire his work.

It was not the usual sort of graffiti with plain initials carved into the bark. No, this was a face, carefully picked out in detail. A female face. Liberty's. Alex seemed to be ignoring the normal human awkwardness of having created this perfect image of his girlfriend, and walked back to sit down, finally keeping his eyes on Liberty, reaching an upturned hand for her to take. "You really are beautiful." His accent practically sang out as he said the words. And yet, they had that tone of being a matter of fact. "I'm sure that no veela could even start to challenge that." The thing about Alex was that his relationships had often been 'no frills', but he was always honest with those he held close, and said things when he felt they needed to be said.