Idle Hands/Devil's Playthings (open)

[Lyra Newbury]

There was nothing to do. Her homework was completed, she had finished her book, and every time she turned around there was a new guy fawning over Sam, so she was clearly in no position to hang out with Lyra. She had nothing to do but hang around the common room, waiting for something to fall into her lap.

She had already changed out of her school clothes and into a mauve colored skirt and a lace trimmed, black blouse. She hadn't bothered with shoes as she had no intention of leaving the common room, and she liked to look at her freshly painted toenails, which were currently a fierce red.

She dominated the best seat in the common room, which was angled to face both the entrance and the rest of the seating. The only thing she had no view of was the stairways to the dorms. She lounged on the high backed chair, one leg swung over the arm and swaying back and forth to a rhythm in Lyra's head. She allowed her head to fall back off the other arm, her neck arching in an unnatural way. Her dark hair hung free, nearly touching the stone floor.

[Seth Inophen]

Seth walked down the stairs from the dorm and spotted Lyra sitting, if you could call it sitting, in the more prefered chair in the common room. He raised an eyebrow, wondering how Lyra could sit at all those angles and still be comfortable. Seth took a seat on the couch, putting his feat up on the table in front of the couch and placing his hands behind his head.

"What's up Lyra?" Seth asked.

[Lyra Newbury]

She could hear Seth's footsteps on the stone floor before he spoke and she turned to look at him. Her eyes followed him until he sat, and then she looked back to the ceiling. "Nothing much. How about you Seth?" Her swinging leg hesitated a moment while the tune in her head changed, and then it began again at a different rhythm.

[Seth Inophen]

Seth yawned. "I'm tired," he said. The comfortable couch he was sitting on made him seriously consider falling asleep right there.

He looked back to Lyra. "Are you seriously comfortable sitting like that?" Seth asked.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra grinned, looking at the upside down image of Seth, and shrugged as best she could in her position. "I'm not uncomfortable. I'm rather fond of odd positions." She giggled, having told older boys that many times but with an entirely different meaning behind it. She swung her leg over and righted herself in the chair, feeling now the slight light-headedness from having been in her previous position.

Now that she was upright she folded her legs on the chair and let her hands lay on her ankles in front of her. She smiled at Seth. "So Seth, this must be an awkward position for you, with the House Champions and all. Who are you supporting? Slytherin or your little girlfriend?"

[Seth Inophen]

Seth blushed a bit, but kept his composer. "Maxi...isn't my girlfriend." He clarified. "And as much as I would like Slytherin and Sam to win, I'll be supporting my best friend." He was already the wired kid in Slytherin house, supporting Hufflepuff instead of Slytherin shouldn't be much of a surprise to Lyra or any other Slytherin member.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra grinned, Seth was such an outsider, and yet always so welcomed by his housemates. "You don't have to play like you don't fancy her, Seth. I'm not going to rat you out." Everyone in Slytherin knew Seth harbored secret feelings for Maxi Borale of the Hufflepuff House. Lyra didn't particularly care for the girl, but she wouldn't look down on Seth for liking her. Or, at least, she wouldn't let on if she did look down on him.

[Seth Inophen]

Seth blushed again, but decided to divert from the topic of Maxi.

"So Lyra, you excited to watch the Tournament?" Seth asked. Even if he did have conflicting support, it would be interesting.

[Lyra Newbury]

She let him change the subject, moving to something he seemed to handle better than his feelings about Maxi. She didn't care what the talked about, she was just glad to have something to do. She bent forward at the hips, folding herself over so that she was looking at the floor this time, her legs still folded on the seat. She spoke through layers of long brown hair. "Of course. I'm sure it will be quite interesting. Its a shame they've only started it this year, my last. I would have liked to see the House Champions had they done the tournament previously. See if they would have all been girls before." Lyra was sure that, had the school done the tournament in previous years, Rystain and Dorian would have been fine candidates.

[Seth Inophen]

"Yea, Strange how the champions are all girls," Seth agreed. "I wish i could have put my name in the Goblet though," he frowned. "I was a year shy. Did you enter?" He was curious to know if Lyra had that sence of adventure and danger.

[Rystain Quandry]

Rystain walked into the common room from the guy's dorms, he seemed a bit distracted but in a generally okay mood. He didn't notice the students in the room until he looked up from his silent thoughts. "Hello Lyra, Seth.. mind if I join you?" He walked over where they were seated but didn't sit down yet. He looked at Lyra when he spoke to them though, letting gaze trail across her without bothering to hide his approving smile.

[Lyra Newbury]

"I wonder if the Goblet is sexist," she said jokingly to Seth. It was quite odd that no guys had been chosen, and she knew there had been guys who put their names in. Could there be an agenda behind this all girl competition? "No, I didn't put my name in. What a waste of my seventh year that would have been..."

She heard Rystain's voice and uprighted herself again. This time she sat in a rather normal position, her back against the back of the chair and her feet on the floor. Boring, but comfortable. "Hello Ry. Of course you can join us. We were just exchanging thoughts on the tournament."

[Rystain Quandry]

"Oh you mean the all-girl olympics?" He was joking of course but it amounted to the same thing in his eyes. He sat on the seat closest to Lyra without really thinking about it and leaned back comfortably relaxing in a half sitting, half lounging position with his feet stretched out in front and his ankles crossed.

"I'm still trying to figure out how Sam got called over some of us seventh years who put our names in."

[Rabastan Lestrange]

"Popularity contest," Rabastan said, having come into the common room just in time to hear Rystain's last question. He was on his way up to his room, just to grab something, and was headed out again, but that question made him pause.

He stilled walked towards the stairs, but stopped at the bottom of them. "And Merlin knows how everyone loves that girl. Well, the men at least."

[Samantha Montgomery]

"Thanks for the confidence boys." she said amused while descending the stairs, she had just heard Rystain's question and Rabastan's answer. So that's what they thought? That the cup had chosen her for her popularity, well it would be a lot more interesting then they figured.

Sam had many faces, and the one she had given them all was proper and tempting, she looked an easy conquest fairly enough, but there was steel in her, and about a hundred layers of self defense mechanisms to penetrate through. Nobody knew the real Samantha Montgomery, but they would get a taste of her power come the competition.

[Lyra Newbury]

She was about to agree with Rabastan's statement about it all being a popularity contest when Sam spoke up, and quickly prompted Lyra to hold her tongue. She wasn't about to bad talk her friend with her standing right there. Instead, she changed her tactics. "I think the boys are jealous of you, Sam. They wanted to be the big, tough competitors."

She looked between Sam and Rabastan. "Well, are you two joining us or are you just passing through? I'd love to hear what prompted you to put your name in Sam." Perhaps she was just trying to win over the House, as a new student. Or maybe there was more.

[Rystain Quandry]

Rystain watched the other two enter but didn't say anything. Instead he sat back watching to see if either would stay or if they were passing through. Even when Lyra spoke he really had nothing to comment that wouldn't sound rude or petty. It was better to just keep silent than sound as if he was jealous, which he wasn't. But he did still think the Goblet was being messed with somehow when it chose out all girls and the slytherin one had been a fifth year. However he did give Lyra a look and wondered why she'd changed her tune so quickly.. because of Sam or Rab?

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra caught Rystain's look and simply smiled at him. She couldn't explain to him at that moment what she expected he was questioning. Sam was her friend and however much the younger girl got special treatment, she would never say anything to hurt her. Not in front of her. But if Rystain wanted they could have their own little chat about the 'All-Girl Olympics' later, where she would not be so candid.

[Seth Inophen]

Seth felt a little tension between Ry and Lyra, probably about his comment about the "all-girls-olympics". He looked over to Sam and Rab. "Yea please, join us," Seth offered politely. "Are you excited about competing Sam?"

[Samantha Montgomery]

"I'm very excited Seth." she answered with a carefree smile on her face and towards the rest of them she simply shrugged, " Maybe I wanted to shock you all." she smiled, "Everyone's due for their own surprises." she supposed. She was being carefree, flippant even. No one knew, not a single one of them knew how hard she had worked for this. Before Hogwarts, at Beauxbatons she had to be the best. She had to excel at everything or it was punishments. It was punishments anyway, but if she was learning new things or practicing old ones then she usually had an excuse to avoid her mother.

But being the best came with consequences. Jealousies. She was pushed, poked, prodded, beaten and molded into a monster by her mother and that monster had to be the prettiest, the wealthiest, the most talented, that monster had to taste victory and hunger for it, that monster had to be willing to do anything to win, and she had been. And people, well people they either loved her for it, or they hated her, there were no lukewarm feelings but everyone knew who she was. She planned on upholding that legacy now, but at the same time she didn't want to make the same kind of enemies.

Still winning the house cup had nothing to do with being in slytherin or trying to win the house's affection. It had nothing to do with 5000 galleons or 500 points. It had everything to do with earning the opportunity to compete in the Tri-Wizard tournament. At Beauxbatons she would have been a natural choice since the year for the tournament would be close to her end and she was (if it were a popularity contest) very popular. She had also trained for it daily. Now it was even sweeter competing against her old Alma mater, there was no love lost between her and those of Beauxbatons, oh perhaps some false suitors, and misplaced affection, but nothing true, nothing real except for the emnity and enemies she had left behind, and she would squash them once and for all by the time she was through.

Still, while all this malice raged in her mind she kept her smile light and easy, she was laughing along with them the jokes on how she was chosen for a popularity contest, "Although I don't think I'm half as popular with the men here Rabastan, as you are with the Ladies." she gave Rystain a look as well as if to include him in that statment, but because his seductions were much more covert so was her alluding to them.