Throwing pebbles

[Chace Harker]

Chace's fingers curled around a small, flat rock. The fifth year Slytherin, after weeks of chronic boredom, had decided to pick himself up again. He wasn't trying in his classes, but at least he found some things around the school to do. The sixteen year old would even have joined a club if he found something that suited him. Some of the clubs in his opinion were just plain stupid. S.P.E.W.? Besides the fact that the acronym sounded like what someone did when they puked out their insides, there wasn't really a point to it. House elves liked doing what they did- they lived to serve.

Pulling his arm back as if he were going to launch a frisbee, the Slytherin released the rock. It landed with a loud plunk and disappeared beneath the lake's skin. He swore loudly, picking up another from the pile he had gathered.. Chace had never been able to skip stones, but he had a lot of time on his hands.

 

[Kaede Okinawa]

Kaede was strolling on the edge of the lake, thinking about how much she missed her home. She had made a ton of new friends, but she missed her two sisters a lot, even though they were sometimes a pain. Sighing loudly she looked around. The first year Hufflepuff's eyes set on an older boy, alone and clenching a rock. I might as well try to talk to him she thought.

As she was about to say hello, a loud curse came out of nowhere. The rock flew out of his hand and sunk into the lake below. Not wanting to just give up and walk away, she came up next to him and said in a warm, friendly voice "Hello, my name is Kaede."

She smiled up at him, hoping he would respond back.

 

[Chace Harker]

Chace thought that he had his curve just right. The rock was leaving his hand as a voice infiltrated his ears. As the Slytherin was thrown off balance, the rock landed in the lake just like the others. His eyes narrowed as he turned to the girl who had interrupted him. An obviously first year Hufflepuff. To top it off, she was smiling at him. Didn't people know when to keep their distance? Hufflepuffs seemed to have a giant problem with this.

Bending down and picking up another rock, a slight smirk crept into his features. The old Chace had taken over him these days- and to be honest, he wouldn't mind having a bit of fun. "Is that how you always start up a conversation?" he retorted snarkily. His emerald eyes were lit with amusement, but it wasn't what anyone would consider the good kind.

 

[Kaede Okinawa]

The Hufflepuff's smile faltered as his expression contorted into a twisted kind of look. She refused to give up. Her back straightened, making her small frame seem larger. As he was asking her about the way she introduced herself, a confident air surrounded her. Not wanting to lose her confidence, she spoke in a loud, rich, but kind tone, "Yes, I always introduce myself that way. It's how I was raised." It was true, in Japan it was repectful to introduce yourself and bow, but Kaede felt bowing was not needed here, since when she first did it people gave her weird looks.

She kept her eyes on him and decided there was no way she was going to back down.

 

[Chace Harker]

Chace looked the girl over and snorted. First years. It was strange how friendly everyone was here. Didn't anyone have even a sliver of mean bone in their body? His tone quite sarcastic, he said, "Your parents sound like they're the sharpest knives in the drawer, telling their kids to introduce themselves to complete strangers." His lip twisted upward in a smirk. His emerald eyes glinting, he goaded, "But perhaps they wanted you carried off and out of their hair?"

 

[Kaede Okinawa]

Kaede's eyes widened with shock, and her head hung low, her fists clenching the bottom of her skirt. The boy had said that maybe her parents didn't really want her. She started to tremble with anger. It engulfed her whole being, sending off a dark aura. They hadn't cared for a long time. But he had no right to bring back her past with it's demons.

She lifted her head slowly, her black eyes narrowing into slits. Her glare could pierce metal as she looked upon him. She was usually never so dark and scary, but she had had enough of people making fun of her. Her whole life back home had been like that. Her parents treasured her sisters and even though they acted like they cared for her, they really didn't. They had never gone to her piano recitals, her performances, her plays. But they always made time for her older sister's academic assemblies, or her little sister's dance recitals. And because they weren't ever at any of her things, all the other children made fun of her.

Not this time. This time I won't back down, she thought to herself. Her glare turned into a calm, composed look. "Oh, they arn't that sharp I'll tell you that now. But I doubt your very sharp either." She shifted her weight to one leg and put her hand on her hip. "I may be younger but at least I'm not as rude as you are," she said with a calm, emotionless voice.

If he wants to play the bad boy role, then I will play it too, she thought.

 

[Chace Harker]

Chace grinned ferally. His emerald eyes gleamed in amusement as he stepped closer to her. He still had to get over the fact that first years were so tiny. "Oh my- you're quite the wild card. You always have to appreciate someone who can deliver a verbal blow." He of course was mocking her. The fifth year Slytherin had no qualms about being rude, as the Hufflepuff had so proclaimed him. It was an upperclassmen's unspoken right to heckle with younger students, and he would exercise that right to the fullest.

Cocking his head to the side, he looked down at her and asked, "Where are you from, anyway? You don't sound like a kiwi to me." His smirk was blatant. He could have fun with this one. Harassing and confusing young first years was much more exciting than doing fancy tricks with rocks.

 

[Kaede Okinawa]

The small built Hufflepuff didn't move an inch when the older boy got closer to her. Moving was a sign of fear, and that was something that was absent from her body at that particular moment. She noticed his sarcastic tone, but paid no attention to it. It would take more than that to funk up her mind. She may be young but she wasn't stupid. The lifestyle she had been raised up in had no time for children's antics. "Too bad your comebacks don't fit that catagory," she muttered under her breath. Realizing how mean she sounded, she decided to take a different course of action. If he wanted to play mean, she would play nice. Playing nice affected people more than being mean did. Sure, he was much bigger than she was, a lot bigger actually, but she could handle it. If he really wanted to do anything to her, she would let him. Karma would just come right back around.

It seemed that he had stopped playing with his rocks, and he had asked where she was from. Giving the brightest, fakest smile she could give him she said, "Oh, that's because I'm all the way from Tokyo. You don't seem from here either. Where are you from?" Her voice was high and cheery. She had been practicing this act for awhile, considering she had to do it everytime her parents were home, which was barely ever. Kaede would get through this, and she knew it.

 

[Chace Harker]

Chace snorted. "I'm from Leeds, England, born and bred," he said silkily. He ran a hand through his hair. "What in the world are you doing here if you're from Tokyo? Didn't you have a school to go to?" His eyebrows were raised in amusement. It was obvious that the girl was being sickly sweet to get under his skin. After a few moments, he chuckled, "Or wasn't it good enough?"

 

[Kaede Okinawa]

Not breaking her beaming smile she said, "Well I could say the same thing about you. Why are you here? Probably the same reason as I am, you don't have anywhere else to go." Originally her parents hadn't wanted her to go, but realizing that they could get rid of Kaede for a year the changed their minds and sent her off right away. They hadn't even bothered to say goodbye. Kaede didn't even know if she could come back for Christmas or not. When she thought back on all the years they raised her as an adult instead of a child, she felt sad. The way she acted now was based on the fact that her childhood had been ripped from her right in front of her eyes. No silly games, no fun, just work work work. She was only eleven, but she already knew things only an adult should know.

She laughed at his chuckle, noticing that he could see through her act, but she wasn't going to give it up. Despite his mean remark, she felt that coming to Hogwarts had finally set her free. Here she could do silly stuff and not get in trouble, and in that way she could relive her childhood. There would still be responsibilities she would have to deal with, but she could laugh all she wanted now. "Oh, it was a fine school, but it wasn't good enough for my parents. They always treated me like I was an middle aged women, so I'm glad that I came here. Now I can act however I want without them scolding me all the time." Even though she didn't like this boy, she realized she was revealing more to him than she had to any of the friends she had met.

 

[Chace Harker]

Chace's nostrils flared, although he was far from being angry. He supposed it was only fair to make assumptions with the ones he had thrown at her. He shrugged. "Parents moved, and I moved with them," he said dryly. Smirking, he cut in, "They sound like prudes if you ask me."

While he had set out to harass the small Hufflepuff girl, Chace was now confused. He was no longer being an ass, but he was simply curious. The sixteen year old had had to beg his parents to let him come back to school, so he was lucky to have Hogwarts New Zealand. It was strange that she was divulging so much to him- and even more strange that he was actually listening.

 

[Kaede Okinawa]

The Hufflepuff's fake niceness started to crumble to pieces. She had originally only been trying to get on his nerves, but seeing that it hadn't done anything, and he wasn't being so mean, she didn't see a reason why she should waste her energy faking something that was obviously being seen through. She noticed the tone of voice he used when he talked about his parents. It was the same voice she used when she talked about her parents. When she wasn't faking happiness that was. Somehow he didn't seem so much as someone to fight with. He had issues that were similar to hers. Or that's what it seemed like.

Her defensive posture dissapated as she started to let her guard down. "Oh, well, they are prudes. All they care about is money. Money, money, money, and more money." They had always told her that money was the key to happiness, but not for one second had she believed it. She had never had her own money when she was younger. If she ever wanted something her parents paid for it. But none of the toys they had ever gotten her had made her happy. At all. They were things like savings bonds or notepads. All the stuff that showed what they wanted her to become. "They never really treated me like a kid either. For Christmas one year they got me a stapler." Thinking about it, thats statement was a lie. "Well, they got me one thing that really made me happy, and it still does. My piano." The reason she had never believed that money made people happy was because she felt her happiest with her music. If money was supposed to be the only thing that would make you happy she reasoned, then why would playing a piano or singing a song make her feel that way?

Realizing how much she had revealed, she sighed. Never had she told anyone that before. It was even more of a suprise that she was telling it to someone who she had disliked so much just minutes before.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andromeda had been walking along the edge of the lake, her thoughts heavily on only one person as they had been for days now and yet she could not speak to him. The gentle breeze swept her hair across her face, so she pulled it up on top of her head in a rough pony tail, revealing where she had placed the tattoo that Carlisle had given her of the wolf and the triquandra down the length of her neck. It was a nice day and perfect for simply strolling, as she continued though she came slowly upon a familiar face and a younger girl.

Was he going to push his advances on this poor girl as well? she wondered. Andy sighed about to walk away and leave Chace Harker to whatever foolishness he was up to now, she knew Kat had spurned him and it made her smile to think he was reduced to first years. This thought brought out her mischievous nature and for some reason she felt up to goading someone, she hadn't done it in quite a while. Her perfectly poised frame made its way over to them.

"Hi there" she smiled, thanking herself for actually wearing her prefects badge for a change, "everything alright here?"

 

[Kaede Okinawa]

Kaede heard a voice behind her. Spinning around, she saw an older girl. She didn't look as old as the boy, but they seemed to be close to the same age. For some reason Kaede had a feeling that they knew eachother. Looking from one to the other, she decided that she should say something. "Hi." She said in a nice voice. She looked over at the boy. He had been mean to her before, but she had this feeling that telling on him would make her feel horrible. It was something about how viscious he had been when she had come up. Not that she felt any pity for him, but she still wanted to try and be his friend, and telling on him wouldn't help her at all. Especially she had told him more than she had wanted to about her life.

Turning back to the girl with a sort of fake smile, "Everything's fine, we just had a little tiff. We fixed it though. Right uh..." Her fakish smile turned down. Even though they had been talking for a little bit, if you would consider that talking anyways. He hadn't told her his name. Seeing that she might as well introduce herself to the older girl as well, she spoke out. "Oh, sorry to be rude, my name's Kaede." She smiled up at the older girl with a real smile this time.

 

[Chace Harker]

Although Chace thought he had several openings with which he could taunt the Hufflepuff girl, he didn't. Normal people didn't open up about their families to near strangers. Did she think that they had some sort of connection? That just didn't sound right. He was years older than her, and she was a Hufflepuff, for Merlin's sake. It even sounded like she was a muggleborn. The very thought should have made him cringe. For some reason, he could only stand there and listen in interest.

His emerald eyes fell upon Andy, who was a Prefect. It took everything he had not to turn heel. Andy had brought nothing but bad news ever since he had met her. Besides the fact that he had inadvertently kissed her on a night that he would rather never remember, the fact of it had gotten to Kat. Now Kat hated him and was with a Ravenclaw boy, Sumner. It was for this very reason that Chace ditched class. He did not want to see the two together.

"Hi, Andy," he muttered. He couldn't exactly be warm and inviting, now could he? He glanced back to the Hufflepuff girl, before saying, "Yeah, I don't really think there's a problem at all." The Slytherin boy wished that the wolf girl- at least, he didn't know how else to refer to her- would just have kept her fat mouth shut. Did girls always have to tell their friends everything? But then again, he couldn't really blame her. Andy hadn't known that there was some sort of thing between him and her friend.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andy smiled at the girl, the implementing of any prefect duties always weighed heavy on her as she wasn't exactly the most perfect student in the school, far from it.
"Hi Kaede, I'm Andy" she turned to Chace who actually said hello to her, part of her felt really bad still for what had happened. Knowing himself and Kat could have been together because of her, knowing she had mucked up her friends chance of happiness but then again, Chace had no right to kiss Andromeda if there had been any kind of understanding between himself and her bestfriend.
"Hello Chace. Well I'm glad there's no problem" she wanted to move on but something made her stay put. She didn't know why, perhaps it was just instinct or something.

"So how are you finding the school so far?" she asked the young girl, "I'm sure Chace here will be able to give you a tour if you wanted one" for some reason she simply couldn't help herself, "just be careful in the dungeons with him."

 

[Kaede Okinawa]

Kaede smiled as the girl introduced herself as Andy, but her smile wasn't a sure smile. She felt tension all around her, causing her to hesitate. The boy said that nothing was wrong, which she was glad he did. If he hadn't there might have been an arguement, which she would try to avoid. It seemed that the two knew eachother, but she didn't know how.

Deciding that she would keep her mouth shut, she clamped her lips together. Right when she closed her lips the older girl addressed her. She felt awkward just standing there, but didn't know what else to do. The only thing to do was reply back. "School's good so far. I've met a lot of people, and friends." Smiling slightly at her offer for him to show her around, she gently nodded her head. "That's okay, I think I've got the hang of it, I'm sure there will be plenty of people around to ask if I get lost."

 

[Chace Harker]

Chace's gaze was elsewhere as Andromeda spoke. It was much easier to take in the lake than look directly at the Gryffindor girl. He did turn to her, his emerald eyes narrowed, at her last comment. His mouth a set frown, he snarled quietly, "Do you have to rub it in?" He wasn't going to stay here if all Andy wanted to do was harass him. The girl may get her kicks out of it, but Chace surely didn't.

Who are you to offer my services? Chace thought to himself. He didn't say anything however. He was glad that the Hufflepuff girl suggested that other people could help her. The Slytherin had enough of his own problems without a Hufflepuff, of all people, clinging to him.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

She was glad the younger girl was settling in fine, sometimes a new school was extremely daunting. Andy shook her head, she had enough problems of her own without piling more onto others. She saw the fleeting look of anger as he snarled at her.
"I'm sorry Chace, it was insensitive of me" and it had been, Andy owned up to her mistakes always had done. She smiled at Kaede as she put her hands into her pockets.
"I'll leave you too it then, just watch out for the squid yeah" she winked as she began to move away, Andy stopped and looked at Chace "I didn't know... about you and Kat. Otherwise I would never have hurt her by saying anything. I'll see you around".

 

[Chace Harker]

Chace's expression softened a little bit as he looked back to Andy. He really shouldn't have snapped at her like he had. "See you, Andy." If she wanted to go, he wasn't going to stop her. He glanced back at the Hufflepuff, and then to his pile of rocks. The Slytherin really didn't feel like skipping stones anymore.

 

[Kaede Okinawa]

Kaede just stood there as the older girl left. The boy looked back at her. She shuffled her feet, not knowning what to do, especially with his gaze on her. She stood there in silence, not moving a muscle.