West Is West

[Andy Hydran]

To most, the Courtyard was probably scene as a rather nice, open area. Good for some light studying in the fresh air. It was probably better than being stuck inside all day to most. But to Andy, the only thing this disaster area had going for it was the fact that it was empty at the moment of time, except for a few bugs, which were enough to get Andy on edge. It was the new school year, fifth year, and still everything was foreign to the Ravenclaw. He didn't like things changing, and there were certainly a lot of changes, like first years, now they were terrifying. There was nothing more frightening than a bunch of young children acting like crazed lunatics, most were bumbling around the school getting all excited about everything and flipping out. It was just so frightening for him, since children were not something he liked, especially excitable children that would be staying in his relative area for the rest of his schooling life. It just wasn't right. Hogwarts New Zealand was an okay place, but the way these kids were all excited by the place just seemed to be a bit much, he couldn't remember ever being the excitable about anything. It was just like the start of last year, everything was new and horrible, and poor Andy had to learn to adapt to it all within the year, only for it all to change the next. It was a vicious cycle the Ravenclaw grew to expect, but that didn't mean he disliked it any more.

Andy sat quietly on one of the benches in the Courtyard. It was still empty of people, a dream come true. He had had enough of people for the time being, he just wanted to sit quietly and just breathe. He didn't want to be interrupted by people, or things, it was one of his edgy days and he just wanted to go unnoticed. It probably won't be that hard, even with the problems of last year, he doubted anyone would be bother to actually acknowledge his existence.
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[Athena Zhefarovich]

Athena had just finished a particularly un-noteworthy prefect patrol and had nothing to do. Normally, she would have simply returned to her common room, choosing to spend her free time there rather than dealing with the other students. At this time of the day, the common room was sure to be empty so it really was a surprise that the fifth year was choosing to head away from the steps that would lead to the dungeons. The tall blonde wanted to enjoy a bit of sun, still not used to the fact that it was time to get into study mode. Her vacation had been spent basking in the sun, swimming in a pool and relaxing with her family. Peeking into the courtyard, Athena realized that it wasn’t too full. She usually didn’t head to this particular area, not liking when the first years overtook it. She found them all incredibly annoying and couldn’t believe that Professor Styx thought she could handle being kind to them. She often thought he was testing her, but if Levi could do it she was sure she could too.

Stepping in slowly in her sandaled feet, the Slytherin prefect’s silver eyes lit up when she spotted another fifth year. He certainly wasn’t a friend of hers, not in the slightest, but Athena had other reasons for being happy to see him. Andy Hydran was the biggest scaredy-cat Athena had ever come across in her life. She was sure that the boy was afraid to breathe and often wondered if it was healthy for a person to faint or be near a faint as much as this boy was. A smirk crossed the teenager’s face as she made her way slowly to the bench that he was seated at alone. She was glad to see that no other prefects were in the area because she was in the mood for a bit of fun. Pulling her wand out of her pocket to make sitting more comfortable, Athena gave Andy a sickly sweet smile as she stopped right in front of him. ”Mind if I take a seat?” she asked and without waiting she sat down on the opposite side of the bench. ”I’m really surprised to see you outside, Andy. I thought you were afraid of…well everything” she added with an over-exaggerated roll of her silver eyes. She laid her wand right across her lap, the business end facing Andy.

 

[Andy Hydran]

Andy was starting to settle down. For several minutes now, he was just sitting quickly and breathing, that's it. Surprisingly, that was enough to keep Andy happy, just being left alone and not bothered by anything. Andy was more of an alone person, so even though he was outside, he couldn't really locate anything that would bother him, yet. But this might be because he was simply looking down at his shoes and nothing else. Occasionally a breeze would occur and he'd get goosebumps, which was quite worrying as they were a sign of the chills, or if someone was too hot or scared by something. Since it certainly wasn't hot, and for a very rare moment in history Andy wasn't scared, it must be too cold, which meant that he could catch a horrible flu and die because of it. Andy pulled on his sleeves to try and capture more heat to combat this. The flu was not something to be taken lightly at all, especially since Andy would get sick so easily and he would always have the illness really badly.

When Andy heard something pitter-patter his way, he turned around and saw one of his classmates. He didn't really know the girl because he never really spoke to anyone in class, unless they were a direct blood relation. They had gone through first to fourth year together, so he knew that her name was Athena, and she was a Slytherin, but other than that he didn't really know her. When she asked a question, Andy was quick to begin his answer. "Actually, I'd like to -" But before he even reached half of his sentence, the girl sat down anyway, obviously not caring about whether Andy actually wanted to talk to her, or be near her. Her didn't trust those he didn't know, and right now Athena was considered a borderline stranger to the Ravenclaw. "Nevermind..." Andy's shoulders where a little slumped by the fact that he was going to have to share his space with someone he barely knew. Especially since she seemed to be antagonising him, something he had half expected, but hoped wouldn't happen, what made Andy even more uncomfortable was the fact that her wand was facing him. Andy couldn't stand having other peoples wands facing him because it could be possible that they accidentally shot him with some sort of spell, or they could do it intentionally, either way it would spell out bad news for the timid blonde. With a heavy sigh, Andy decided to answer her, just so she wouldn't have anything to complain about. "Occasionally I enjoy being outside." He answered, forcing the worried feeling to remain in the pit of his stomach.
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[Athena Zhefarovich]

Athena wouldn’t have been surprised in the slightest if Andy had gotten up and walked away. She didn’t think he was brave enough to do something like that though, and sure enough it seemed she was right. Either that or he had found his backbone somehow over the summer and was now a new, improved Andy. Time would tell. As he spoke and stated that he did enjoy being outside at times, Athena didn’t have to bother to hide her surprise. She did exaggerate it, in an annoying way. “You do?” she said, her voice still low. Her silver eyes had widened in surprise and she leaned her head on her hand which was propped up by her elbow on the back of the bench as if Andy was one of the most fascinating people she had ever spoken to. “ I never would have guessed that, Andy” she added, still in that annoying tone.

The young Slytherin wished she had paid more attention in class because then she might be more aware of the different things that made Andy fearful. She was pretty sure it was everything, but his last comment had made her question that a little. She did know one thing he was afraid of for sure, and she turned so that she was facing Andy even more before she spoke again. “Do you even enjoy being outside when Professor Styx is in the same space?” she asked, hoping he would think that she had seen him heading for the courtyard. She had seen him earlier in the day but had no idea where the man was off to. She was related to him, and anytime she saw him, she always got the feeling that he was making sure she wasn’t breaking some family rule or doing something she wasn’t supposed to.

 

[Andy Hydran]

Andy wanted to go back inside. Admittedly, he didn't know Athena as well a he could, but he didn't want to. She wasn't exactly someone Andy would spend a reasonable amount of time with. To put it simply, Andy found Athena strange, and he was sure that she found him strange, which meant that he didn't want to be near her. He didn't know her, and by how she was acting right now, he doubted that she was interesting in getting to know him too well either. Athena's 'surprise' was annoying to say the least. For once, Andy wished that he would actually find the guts to get up and walk away, but he wasn't entirely sure if his legs were going to work, and if he ended up falling in a big heap, that would just give Athena more ammo to upset him with. Yes, it might be surprising to her that occasionally Andy did like to be outside, since sometimes walls seemed to close in on him, but she didn't have to act as surprised as she was right now. It was called courtesy, or maybe she didn't care enough to show it. The tone she used was annoying, but he wasn't exactly a person to act against annoying people, he would wait until they left, but the Ravenclaw was sure that the Slytherin had not plans of leaving just yet. "Yes, occasionally I do venture to the outside world. It does happen." His tone showed the smallest ounce of annoyance, but mostly it was quiet, shy and a little bit polite. The last thing he wanted was to offend the girl, otherwise she'd be able to destroy him without even raising a finger.

Andy sat very still. If it wasn't for his chest moving slightly because of his breathing, he could have been a statue. When Andy accidentally looked at Athena again, he realised that she was looking at him, and she spoke again. Andy tried to now totally ignore what she was saying. It didn't matter, nothing she could possibly say would effect his world. No matter what. This was Andy's belief, until Athena actually finished her sentence. Now Andy was worried. It wasn't that he hated the Professor, it was just that he found him absolutely terrifying and was wondering why the school would hire a man that could kid small children with a single glare. He didn't want to show his worry, but he was certain that it showed, which was why he looked away. He began observing the area around them, just in case he saw Professor Styx, but he had yet to find him. With a small sigh, Andy withheld the urge to start shaking and looked forward, trying to ignore Athena's presence. "I'm sure he has better things to do than to walk around here." He said, though he was telling that to himself more than to Athena. She was getting to him, and they had been talking for just a little while.
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[Athena Zhefarovich]

The Slytherin girl barely suppressed a scoff at the Ravenclaw’s attempt to sound annoyed. He couldn’t even pull that off well, though that was no surprise to Athena. For a person who was scared of everything, of course he had trouble being good at anything. It just made sense. The prefect fingered her wand, enjoying bothering the boy. It was mean, but so was she. She just wasn’t as vocal about how mean she was as her brother, Levi, was. They were related though. Holding a ill-natured smile on her face, she watched as Andy looked away after she’d spoken about Professor Styx. She just knew that he was looking around the courtyard for any sign that she was telling the truth. He’d never find one though. She had seen Professor Styx but it had been in the common room, and she had no more idea than Andy did about whether he was planning on coming to the courtyard. It’d be hilarious if he did though. Biting back a laugh, Athena pretended to not care about what Andy thought. In truth, she didn’t. She shrugged in a very exaggerated way and spoke, “Don’t believe me then. Don’t say I didn’t warn you though.” Athena picked her wand up and clumsily twirled it between the fingers of her left hand. She’d been working on making the movement smoother but it was slow going.

“I’d just hate to have to use the Rennervate charm on you if you fainted like you’re always on the verge of doing” she smirked. She actually hadn’t even learned that particular spell yet. It was a more advanced charm meant for sixth years, so if she did try it she was likely to get it wrong and who knew what she might end up doing to the boy. She found the thought highly amusing, ignoring the fact that attempting a charm that one didn’t know could have horrible effects. The prefect’s silver eyes were lit up, showing just how much pleasure she was taking from all of this.