This Charmed Life

[Preston Paine]

Preston strolled out onto the school grounds eager to get away from the noise in his common room. This group of first years were a fairly chatty bunch and Preston wondered how he was going to get any work done in there this year. You can use the prefect room, Preston reminded himself. The idea that he, a muggle-born, had been made prefect of Slytherin house was crazy to the teenager. He knew that some of the others would have a field day with that information if they found out, which was why he was more determined than ever to keep his blood status a secret. The Slytherin walked across the lawn at a leisurely place, stopping only once he had come to an empty spot. Setting himself down on his back with his arms behind his head, Preston began staring at the clouds.

He thought back to his summer, thinking about all the fun he had at his family's vacation home. Preston had spent more time in the water than out, and he had a dark tan to show for it. Spotting a house in the clouds, Preston thought about the one negative to his summer. He hadn't written or heard from Indiana all vacation. His parents had put their foot down, refusing to let him bring his owl with him on vacation. To be honest, Preston hadn't fought that hard for it either. When he arrived home to find an envelope waiting for him, Preston was a mix of relief and panic, but that had quickly shifted to surprise when he found the prefect's badge within. Preston wondered if Indiana's father had anything to do with her not writing and vowed to find out more when he returned to school. Glancing around for her at the feast, Preston expected her to at least find him to offer him congratulations. When the feast came and went and she did not, Preston was a bit confused but he was too busy performing his duties to seek her out. Continuing to glance to the sky, Preston contemplated whether he should go find her or if he should let her find him.

 

[Clara Zhefarovich]

Clara was not in the best of moods. In fact, she was feeling terrible. Her Second Year had so far had many days like that. The young blonde was only twelve and she couldn't understand why she wasn't feeling as jubilant about Hogwarts as most of the other Second Years were. Clara had forced herself out of bed and chucked on whatever was lying closest to her. She knew she would feel worse as the day went on if she stayed in bed; even if that was all she wanted to do.
Clara plodded out of the Great Hall and out onto the grounds. She drearily looked into the sky, glad that there were clouds so the sun didn't burn her eyes - though that may have given her an excuse to turn around and go back inside. Forcing herself forwards, Clara tried to lift her spirits by giving herself a mental pep-talk. She hadn't seen many of her friends yet, but she knew that was her fault. The Hufflepuff hadn't written to them over the holidays, and she hadn't received any either. Though, she mused, who would want to write to her anyway? Apart from attending classes, Clara was barely out of her Common Room. She found she was most content while she slept, where her dreams were better than what she felt when she was awake. So Clara spent her time doing her homework, or sleeping. However, as she aimlessly walked across the field, she found she was enjoying the sun on her skin. Tilting her head back and facing the upwards, Clara felt tears begin to prickle at her eyes. What now? Clara thought, frustrated. Still walking, she curled her fingers in, and pushed the bottom of her hand into her eyes, hoping to stop any more leakage.
With her eyes closed, Clara felt her foot collide with something hard, and she opened her eyes quickly as she toppled over the log that seemed warmer than most wood. Clara barely had time to stretch out her arms as she fell on the ground, but she quickly moved away and turned to see what she had tripped over. Oh my gosh. Clara thought, blinking, wishing what had just happened away. She had fallen over somebody. And not just anybody - but a Slytherin! Nervous, Clara shrunk away, her hand moving across her body and clutching onto her upper arm, as if to protect herself. "I am so sorry. I didn't m-mean to! I wasn't looking, I didn't see you, I am so sorry!" Clara croaked, her voice brittle.

 

[Preston Paine]

“Ow…” Preston groaned as a clumsy someone tripped over his body. One second, the Slytherin was minding his own business, just staring at the clouds above him and thinking about his life, and the next second, his ribs were on fire. The boy rolled to his unhurt side and winced, his hand going to the right side of his torso, where it massaged the area for a moment. Pushing up on his elbow, Preston glared at the girl who was now falling over herself to apologize. She looked like she was a couple of years younger than him, but he was willing to bet that she wasn’t a first year. Most of them were still way too afraid to venture outside of the castle. “What the hell?” he hissed, through gritted teeth. The boy wondered what the symptoms were for a broken rib. He pressed the area delicately, wincing as he touched an area that felt extremely bruised. He'd probably need to head to the Hospital Wing to get it checked out.

“Your sorry is doing nothing for me right now. Nothing” he groaned as he slowly stood up, his hand still holding onto his side. “What was so important that you weren’t watching where you were going?” he demanded. He hoped she had a good reason too, not that he could do anything about it. Preston had learned at the prefect’s meeting that he only had the ability to take away house points for people in his own house. He didn’t think she’d know that though.

 

[Clara Zhefarovich]

Clara tried to blink back the tears that were threatening to spill. The boy in front of her had become hostile, and she blanched as he hissed. Her foot was throbbing, but she didn't dare complain or move her hand to comfort it in fear that it would make the Slytherin angry. This was her fault after all, what right did she have to be in pain?
Clara scuffled back slightly as the boy stood up, holding his side. The blonde avoided eye contact, fearful of his anger, and her tears. How weak must she look right now? A useless Hufflepuff, cowering on the ground as a strong Slytherin towered over her. Clara couldn't even walk properly, and now she had caused another person pain. As the boy demanded an answer, Clara realized that there wasn't even anything important happening that caused her to fall. She had no reason. Besides, she didn't want to tell the stranger that she was feeling upset for no reason. She had her eyes closed because she was crying? Laaame excuse Clara thought sadly. "Umm..." Clara started shakily, starting to get up slowly. "I don't - I was - my eyes were... closed." Clara stated lamely. "Are, are you okay? I don't think it should be too badly bruised... It's just a little foot..." Clara smiled weakly, hoping to diffuse the tension, and stare the conversation away from her no-good excuse. "I really am very sorry."

 

[Preston Paine]

Even without her uniform, Preston would have pegged the fallen girl for a Hufflepuff. A second year more likely than not. She couldn’t even look at him, the fear apparent in her pale face. It gave Preston some satisfaction to see that he could at least instill fear in the younger students even if he couldn’t really take house points from them if they weren’t from Slytherin. As she began to squeak out a response, Preston continued to massage his side, the pain slowly subsiding now that he’d given it some time. He was still certain that he’d have a decent sized bruise there. “Your eyes were closed” he repeated to her, a droll tone to his voice, as he rolled his eyes to the sky. He wanted to be sure that she realized just how lame her excuse was. Because it was. “And you thought you’d just go walking around like that” he added, a small shake of his head. It was just his luck that a girl with her eyes closed could find him but his girlfriend could not. “Great idea” he finished with a grimace as he lifted his shirt a little to see the damage. There, marring the skin was the start of a bruise. “Does this look ok to you?” he asked in an annoyed tone wondering why the girl was still even here. “You should be a soccer player” the boy grumbled more to himself than anything. She did have quite the kick.

 

[Clara Zhefarovich]

Clara closed her eyes in shame when the boy repeated what she had done. Then, quickly realizing that closing her eyes was what had gotten her into this mess, she opened them again, allowing herself to look at the Slytherin that towered over her. Was she ever going to allow herself to close her eyes again? Granted, she was very stupid for closing her eyes instead of watching where she was going. Clara moved her hand up to her cheek as she felt a tear drop down. She didn't want to look silly in front of the boy, especially since she wasn't the one who had been kicked, and she really had no reason to be crying. The thought was no help, and made her feel more upset.
The hufflepuff took a deep breath in, trying to hold back any other tears that were threatening to leak out. Clara looked down at the boy's side. She had never seen a boy without a top off before; this was probably going to be as much as she ever saw as she doubted she'd ever be lucky enough to get someone to be in a relationship with her. Clara saw a bruise beginning to form, and she was about to utter yet another apology, when she heard the boy mention a weird word. She had heard of the word before, but it definitely wasn't from this world. "Soccer player?" Clara asked, curious. "Like, the muggle thing?" She had blurted out the question before she quickly realized that she shouldn't have spoken out of turn, her hand shooting up to her mouth, pinching her bottom lip and looking down at the ground.

 

[Preston Paine]

Pulling his shirt back down, Preston realized that the girl had overheard his mumbling. He hadn’t meant for her to hear at all, but he probably should have expected it. As her hand clapped over her mouth, the guy took a small measure of pleasure at the fear that she seemed to have for him. He could do nothing but nod at her question, hoping that she would simply think that he was a muggle studies student, not that it mattered much. She was younger than him and he figured he had nothing to fear from the girl. She looked too afraid to utter a peep about what was taking place. “Go away now before I find some Hufflepuff prefect who can take some points away for me” Preston stated irritably, waving the girl away. He didn’t think he’d be able to convince any of the ‘Puffs to do that for him, but she had no way of knowing that. “And keep your eyes open” he added as an afterthought.