You're the one they talk about

[Sapphire Bookchild]

Sapphire was walking down to dinner, her hair streaked a lighter brown. She had thought about going blond for a little while but when she cast the charm on her hair she knew she was not meant to be blond. Instead she settled for lighter streaks in her raven hair. She liked the real color of her hair because added to her richly colored eyes you had someone very rare to look at. Though she had heard of a woman in an orchestra with the same match up. The hall was swarming now that classed were out and they where nearing their end. Sapphire herself was looking forward to the holiday. She would see Ruby again and hopefully break her fear of the piano. It wouldn't be easy but she hoped with the song that she picked Ruby would see beauty again. Sapphire started to hum something she had heard no too long a go. "Like a bad film straight to video." It was the snippet of a song she heard coming out of someone's music device and only had a vague idea of what the term meant.

It was among the crowd that she saw a very pretty brunette girl that she had wanted to talk to for a while now. She cut through a few second years with a hurried apology and put her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Faxen right? Dymetris' girlfriend. We share classes together. I'm Sapphire Bookchild." She said holding out her hand to her. As if she didn't know how she was. She had seen a little bit of the reaction that happened when the mag accused her of fooling around with the girl's boyfriend but it was a good formal introduction away from the scrutiny that was RHI. Sapphire fiddled with the strap of her much too heavy book bag with her other hand as she waited for the girl's reaction.

 

[Faxen Lowart-Kozlova]

Faxen Lowart had been having a very good day. She had spent the afternoon studying for exams in the sunshine out on the Great Lawn. Dymetris had joined her for a bit. Faxen had been glad that he had found her. The brunette enjoyed every minute that they spent together. She didn't think that she would ever tire of Dymetris' company. They parted ways only when it was nearly time for dinner. Faxen had headed up to her dormitory to put her school things away before she went to the Great Hall for dinner. She checked her appearance in the long mirror in the dormitory room. Her bronzed skin showed her time spent out in the sun today. Faxen quickly brushed out her hair before she bounded out of the room. She didn't want to be late for dinner.

Faxen was in the entrance hall, almost to the Great Hall, when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. The sixteen year old turned around to look at the person to whom the hand belonged to. It was a girl in her year, Sapphire Bookchild. She smiled at the Hufflepuff girl that she knew to be friends with her boyfriend. Faxen shook the hand that was offered to her. "Pleasure to finally meet you, Sapphire." she said kindly. Her clear brown eyes looked the other girl over, noticing that she fiddled with her backpack. There had been an article about Sapphire and Dymetris earlier this year. It had said that Dymetris was no longer interested in Faxen but instead in the girl standing in front of her. The article had been complete rubbish. The pretty brunette had no negative feelings towards Sapphire. She wondered what Sapphire wanted to talk to her about, not that she regretted the opportunity to finally meet the once mute girl.

 

[Sapphire Bookchild]

Sapphire breathed out inwardly. She had been on the reseveing end of a a lot of dirty looks when it came out about her liking Jeremy and had wondered for a bit why she didn't gotten them for the rumored affair. Maybe the kiss that had rumored happened because of it had something to do with it. Sapphire smiled wide. "And me too you seem like a nice person and anything was true you would have been showing by now." She said jokingly. Sapphire didn't believe a word of what was printed and in fact the last issue had been turned into confetti and liner so that paint didn't get all over her room."Though sorry if it was out of line. I know that most people don't like to talk about it when they're written about but I find joking about it make it better for me." She nodding towards the Great Hall so they could keep walking and clear the door way.

A boy grinned at Sapphire and she smiled back. It didn't help her case any but if people where going to label her something they might as well have a reason for it and she never actually go to know any of the boys that flirted with her. She wasn't cold but she didn't give any sort of impression that she was interested either. The one that she had been interested she wasn't going to be talking to any time soon and this time he was not her best best friend. "What've you been up to now that classes are all in review mode?" She asked. Sapphire knew that she couldn't be the only one that drifted off in review classes. They where good for brushing up on what was needed but they where also dull as all hell. The corners of her notebooks now had doodles around the edges from the times her hands needed something to do.

 

[Faxen Lowart-Kozlova]

Faxen listened to the Hufflepuff girl talk so frankly. She remembered that it wasn't so long ago that the girl couldn't talk at all. She couldn't help but wonder what had caused the change. A grin spread across Faxen's pretty face as she decided that she liked Sapphire Bookchild. She shook her head as the other girl apologized for her comment about Faxen's stomach showing, or rather it's lack of showing. "No need to apologize. I'm not upset about the magazine anymore." Faxen said with a shrug of her slender shoulders. "No baby here." she said with a laugh as she patted her stomach.

Faxen grimaced as Sapphire asked what she had been doing since classes were in review mode. The truth was a bit lame on her part, but it was the truth. "Uh I actually have been studying my arse off." she admitted honestly. "I really want to do well on my exams this year." she said, omitting the reason why she was trying so hard. Faxen really wanted to be head girl next year. It had been a dream of hers since she was just a first year. The brunette smiled. "I guess I'm a bit of a nerd." she said with a slight laugh. "Other than that, I've been hanging with Dymetris and working on a new song. It's not quite finished though." Faxen said with grin towards her new friend. "What about you, Sapphire?" she asked pleasantly.

 

[Sapphire Bookchild]

Sapphire laughed. "Lets hope it stays that way or there would be one less Hufflepuff in the world and we need all the ones we can get. I kid." Sapphire said shaking her head. Sapphire had nothing against young mothers she had just heard about how hard it was. Sapphire herself had no intention of procreating before the age of twenty-five if at all. She was sort of afraid to really. What if whatever Dympna did to her leaked into he genetics and it somehow got into her kid? She didn't want to bring a mutant into this world. She would love her child just the same but she about ten pages of proof of how cruel people could be.

"At least your to a smart nerd. I feel I'll do well but I just can't keep my mind from wondering off. I drew a whole new character in class once but then again I had already gone over notes and I'm not a Prefect sooooo I'm not in the running from head girl." She said knowing that this was one reason for working so hard. Sapphire just got it most of the time. She took a lot of notes that was for sure and integrated everything he learned into things that she enjoyed. She was also an action learner, meaning that she learned by doing. This was why Transfiguration and Charms where so easy for her to understand even though they where not so easy to preform at times. "You compose? I do to. I'm putting the finishing touches on a song that the String Experiment is going play for the Yule Ball." She said excitedly. Art was her life and music was a from of art that she loved to experiment with. She also got really excited when she met others that loved music.

 

[Faxen Lowart-Kozlova]

Faxen grinned. Sapphire didn't know just how true that statement was. Faxen had two older brothers that she knew would kill Dymetris if he got her pregnant at sixteen, or anytime before marriage. There was nothing to worry about there though. Faxen was not doing anything that would result in a child. The brunette had no interest in getting pregnant any time in the foreseeable future either. She was much too young and much too pretty to be saddled down with a child to raise. She wouldn't even have the first clue where to start!

Faxen didn't know how Sapphire guessed that she aimed for Head Girl but she somehow managed to guess. Perhaps Faxen's motivations were more transparent than she thought. She laughed slightly and shook her head. "I'm sure that I will do well, but I just can't seem to make myself realize that." Faxen said with a grin. Sometimes, she thought she was going into overload. Faxen's mood perked up as the talk turned to music. "Yes, I do actually. My dad started teaching me to play piano at age two." she said with a grin. "I'm best on the piano, but I also play the guitar. My brothers started teaching me the drums over the last break but I'm not very good with them yet." she admitted. The sixteen year old also had a breath breathtakingly beautiful voice, but she didn't feel the need to mention that. "I want to try and make a career out of it after graduation." Faxen told Sapphire. "Are you in a band?" she asked curiously, wondering what the String Experiment was.

 

[Sapphire Bookchild]

Sapphire nodded. "I know what you mean. I have paint splattered sketchbook pages in my room that show the stress that put myself under. I want to be an illustrator when I leave Hogwarts but I still want to do well you know?" She said thinking at the massive blobs of rainbow residue that where in her lying in her room. "Then again I also have to make up for five years of not being able to speak. Made the lower year spells really difficult." She said thinking back to when she had been forced to practice non-verbal magic early because of her condition. They had made sure it was a condition though because if it had just been her refusing to speak she would never have gotten permission to. The school nurse hadn't gotten to the root of the problem but he had gotten enough information that he know that her vocal cords where not working.

Sapphire smiled wide. "I was started with the flute, then I moved on to the cello. I've just recently picked up the violin and the piano because of my little sister. She's really good but she also refuses to play." She said twisting her lips to the side to show how displeased she was. Ruby was an amazing pianist but her fears wouldn't let her play anymore. Sapphire wanted more than anything to make her sister see that there was nothing to be afraid of anymore. "Sort of. My friend, Kate and I started a quartet that I call the Hogwarts String Experiment. I hope that if we're good enough and enough people are interested it can stay as a sort of club in the school." She said thinking about next year. She hoped that the String Experiment didn't die when she left.

 

[Faxen Lowart-Kozlova]

Faxen smiled, glad that she was not the only one who felt the pressure to do well in school. "I know exactly what you mean. Even if we don't intend to pursue a career in magic, we still need to know it." Faxen said back to Sapphire. The brunette didn't want to be incompetent in any aspect of her life. She tried to excel at everything she did. Sometimes, she wondered if she should have been sorted into Ravenclaw. Her personality was too much in line with the typical traits and qualities of a Gryffindor though. Faxen listened to the problem that Sapphire had when she had been unable to speak. She could only imagine how hard performing non-verbal magic had to have been in her lower years. The Gryffindor's curiosity was growing as she wondered how Sapphire regained her voice. It was all so odd. Faxen shrugged. "It must have been hard, but it really says something that you were able to do it. It made you a better witch." the pretty brunette said, thinking on the positive side of things.

Faxen listened intently with interest as Sapphire described the quartet that she had helped create at Hogwarts New Zealand. The sixteen year old could not play any string instruments yet. She was always willing to learn more though. Faxen nodded her head. "That sounds interesting. I can't play any string instruments other than the guitar which doesn't really count as part of that musical family. I'm sure you will be able to find people to carry the club on." Faxen said reassuringly. She knew it could be hard to play in front of other people. There would be quite a few people at the Yule Ball. Faxen almost wished she had the opportunity to play the piano there. She really liked to perform. Still, her plans for the evening would be fun. She was going to the dance with Dymetris.

 

[Sapphire Bookchild]

Sapphire nodded. "Now that I can speak and are actually learning non-verbal spells I've got an edge because I've been attempting them since first year. It took two to master Accio but it was worth it. Guess that my determination to still study even though I couldn't speak is what made me a Hufflepuff in the first place." She said laughing. Sapphire knew what was said about Hufflepuff but Sapphire had a different view of it after looking at most that where in her house. They her usually shields, those that where not usually in the lead but still played a part, those that could have the world against them and still keep going with smile on their face. This was a Hufflepuff at their core, those that where usually the last ones standing, the archways after a earth quake. "Well I've reasently had an idea about a combination wizarding/muggle tattoo parlor. I would have to learn how to tattoo the muggle way but still I think it would be a very good idea." She said thoughtfully. She wanted to add it to comic book artist job that she was already working on. She had sent a few pages of the comic book that she had been working on since her first year but had redrawn some of them so that they knew what her style was now.

Sapphire tilted her head a little bit. "Really? Ah well Danielle is a good addition anyway. She plays guitar for us you see and I hope I can teach her a bit of the cello so she can do the last song that I was planning for the night but still it works if she can't I will just have to tweak a few thing if that happens." She said with a large smile. The closer the day got the more nurvice she got to the point where she was almost making herself sick with worry but she managed to calm down when she started a work on her flute. She wanted it to go well but there was the small mater that two of their number where under a large amount of judgment. Well when I leave I will entrust the quartet to Kate and then she can pick someone from the other two the carry the Experiment going. She said with a wide smile. "What do you write about if you don't mind me asking?" She asked. Sapphire's song usually sounded like nonsense until one dug deeper into the lyrics.