When the moon looks like a toenail

[Lilyanna Hope]

After a long and boring holidays, Lilyanna was thrilled to be back into the swing of things again. She had missed classes and was willing to do her best this year than last, especially since she had more subjects to study for. The girl couldn't have been happier to have added more classes to her schedule and was looking forward to learning some more useful things. The Slytherin swung her heavy bookbag over her shoulder and headed out of her common room to find the perfect place where she could be alone. It was getting late and a lot of people were gathered in the great hall or the common room, so those two places were definitely a no-go-zone. The library would have been the most logical place to go, but the third year wanted to go somewhere different, and so she finally thought that perhaps the North Tower would be her best option as she walked along the castle's corridors.

Lilyanna held her head high as she began to make her way up the large number of stairs to the top of the tower. The exercise on the way up was never really a worry for her as she knew that it was going to be worthwhile every time. It was night time and so that meant the stars were out for her to admire. Stars had always been one of Lilyanna's favourite things. They were thousands of miles away and looked very small in the sky where nothing could ever bother them. Sometimes Lilyanna wished she was a star, but then she would have to watch down on everyone each night which seemed creepier than what she first imagined. Once Lilyanna made it to the top, she took a seat on the bench and looked up at the night sky. The moon was at Lilyanna's favourite phase and looking like a toenail. Lilyanna smiled at it before taking out a reading book from her bookbag and beginning to scan the page with her eyes. No night could get better than this.

 

[Alex Sheffield]

Alex never saw the towers up until this point, he heard you can see thousands of miles away from the top, but he thought it was just an exaggeration. He was kinda bored at the moment, so he thought it might be the perfect moment to explore a bit, even though it was already dark. The towers were also the home of Ravenclaw, so he might even run into his, what he considered friend, Margo on his way.

As he ran up the stairs, he made sure nobody was around. To pass the time, he started singing an old sea shanty he remembered his granddad used to sing when he was just a small kid. Alex had a pretty good singing voice, but this time he didn't bother hitting the notes, and just sang it because he could.

"Oh, man the stout caps'n an' heave with a will,
Way, ay, roll an' go!
Soon we'll be drivin' her 'way up the hill.
To be rollickin' Randy Dandy-Oh

Heave a pawl, oh, heave away,
Way, ay, roll an' go!"

He didn't even consider someone might be spending some time alone there. Strolling up the stairs was no problem for him. He finally reached the top, only to notice Lilyanna in the calm state she was.

"The anchor's on board an' the cable's all stored,
To be rollickin' Ra...." He quickly lowered his voice.
"Oh chuff me, sorry!"

 

[Lilyanna Hope]

As soon as the noise had begun, Lilyanna looked up alarmingly. At first it was only quiet as the source of the noise walked up the stairs, and so Lilyanna thought it was just her imagination and continued reading. But as it become louder and louder, it was getting much harder to block out and eventually it had reached the top of the tower, making Lilyanna extremely frustrated. Why was it that whenever she finally made herself comfortable in the North Tower someone always had to ruin her peace and quiet with ridiculous singing? The Slytherin sharply turned around and her eyes lay upon a small gryffindor first year whom she had luckily never seen before. "You better be sorry!" she snarled, casting the boy a dirty look. There was no need for him to be there. Stupid Gryffindors always liked exploring which had annoyed Lilyanna who thought that exploring always led to dangerous things. "Now go away." she added, reverting back to her book in hopes that he would do as told.

 

[Alex Sheffield]

Although she acted offensively towards him, Alex straightened up, continuing up the stairs with a smile one.
"Come on, don't be like that."
He approached even closer, observing the book. "I'm just exploring a bit, no harm in that.What are you up to?", he spoke in a calm, polite voice, keeping his hands behind his back.
The fact that she was 2 years older than him didn't discourage Alex to engage in a conversation with the Slytherin. He was going to be as polite as he could from now on.

 

[Lilyanna Hope]

Lilyanna's words didn't seem to affect the boy at all. She wanted him out of her sight as soon as possible but he wasn't going to do that. Instead, he tried to start a conversation with her which just fired her up even more. There was no way she would let him invade her personal space. She was there first and so it was her responsibility to get rid of him. "Actually, there is a lot of harm done in exploring." she told him as a matter of fact. "With no knowledge of where you're going or what you're going to do then anything dangerous could happen at any moment. Exploring is what gets many people killed so I suggest you go back to your dormitory or something and leave." Her words were harsh but she didn't care. Instead, she reverted back to her book, not answering his question about what she was doing. It was obvious and even a silly peanut would know the answer.

 

[Alex Sheffield]

Alex nodded, and shrugged, lifting his chin up.
"Fair point. But I'm not dumb you see, I know my limits. I see no danger here, just a really annoyed girl." He knew that he was quite a nuisance, but he had enough of being polite all the time. This time he can take some liberty in teasing the girl, if not befriend her even despite the bad start.
He sighed, walking around the place. He didn't address the girl anymore, but he too, took note of the moon outside.
"So what's the deal? Who set you off?"

 

[Lilyanna Hope]

Lilyanna was really not in the mood to have to deal with people. She completely ignored the boy's statement about not being dumb and continued scanning the page with her eyes. To want to go out and explore the unknown was the dumbest thing to Lilyanna and the fact that he saw no danger there was very absurd. After all, he was infuriating the third year and who knows what kind of danger could come from that? His next question however confused her. What did he mean by 'who set her off'? Wasn't it obvious? "You." she replied simply, not wanting to say anymore. She turned the page with her left hand and began reading the next chapter as if the younger boy wasn't there.

 

[Alex Sheffield]

Alex sighed, nodding along. He understood the situation very well, and his hopes of befriending the girl. He stuck around there for a few more minutes before turning on his heels and heading for the stairs once again. He's not an annoying person, he just wanted a shot, and he didn't get one. It was time to go.

"I hope you have a wonderful night!", he stopped and said before he reached the stairs, smiling at her even though she was staring at her book, and then proceeded to leave.