Power of Three (Tripletes)

[Linette "Linny" Sanders]

((Yes, I was thinking Charmed))

Linette walked into the common room and smiled at the fact no one was really there. She made her way to the comfy chairs and sat down delacately. She reached into her book bag, which carried no books, but her make-up kit, and pulled out a bright red nail polish. As she waited for her sisters to show up, she opened the bottle and began painting a coat of the polish on her fingers. She didn't like the chipping her polish had been starting earlier that week, it looked nasty, so Linette made a mental note to re-do it once a week.

She heard someone enter the common room and looked up to see her sister enter the room. "Hey sweetie" she said to her sister with a smile.

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

Though their faces looked the same, Callie was really about as different from her older sister as could be. Linny was girly; she loved dresses and makeup and shoes. Callie didn't wear any makeup at all, except on special occasions. She really didn't think it did anything for her. Everyone knew that her eyelids weren't blue, so what was the point?

She walked into the common room wearing jeans and a T-shirt under her robes. She wore an old pair of sneakers, and had her hair pulled into a messy ponytail in the back. She was carrying a backpack as well, but it was actually filled with books.

Spotting her sister, she broke into a smile. "Hey, Lin," she greeted her as she came over to sit across from Linette. "What's going on?"

[Linette "Linny" Sanders]

She finished her left hand and was shaking it to dry off before performing the harder task of painting her right hand. She looked at Callie and smiled. Her middle sister and herself were almost polar opposites. Callie was much more tomboy, she was dressed more ragged than Linette would ever allow herself, and she never wore make up. Linette on the other hand, woke up a half hour earlier than her sisters to prepare her apperence.

"Nothing really," She said. "Have you seen Bobby?" she asked, wondering where the youngest of the three had disapeared to.

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

Callie shook her head and pulled her Arithmancy book out from her backpack. "No, I haven't seen her since lunch, actually."

She wrinkled her nose as the smell of nail polish wafted into her face. "Shouldn't you be doing that near a window or something? You're going to make the whole common room smell like nail polish."

While makeup had its occasional uses (and even she couldn't help putting on a little lip gloss every once in a while), nail polish seemed utterly pointless to Callie. Did boys really care what a girl's hand looked like? Would a guy reject a girl who didn't have red, shiny nails? No.... most of the time, guys were only looking at one thing.

[Roberta "Bobby" Sanders]

Laughter could be heard before Bobby could be seen, and that was usually the way it went with her. She made her entrances, but she was never blunt about them. It was just hard for her not to attract attention. All three of them did, really, in their own ways.

Linette was beautiful and always accentuated whatever she could to enhance her features. Guys practically lined up just to ask her out. Callie, on the other hand, was untouchable for most guys, which meant they watched after her in awe and a slight bit of fear... but that was exotic to most of them. And Bobby... well, Bobby was the easy the one to get close to, and she was so good at making people feel comfortable and at home that guys tended to realize what a good friend she was before they ever asked her out.

A moment later, two people came into the common room, Bobby and a seventh year boy. He said something about seeing her at the next quidditch skirmish, since they weren't really having games this year, and she nodded, smiling. When he left, climbing up the stairs to the boys' dorms, she glanced to her right and saw her sisters. Rolling her eyes, she came over to them.

"There was a time in my life when I actually did like Quidditch," she mumbled.

Despite being the youngest of them, she was really in the middle as far as her looks went. She was wearing jeans and a nice green blouse, and she wore make up, but never more than would take her five minutes to apply. "Sorry I'm late," she added. They hadn;t specifically set up a time to meet her, but it was just sort of tradition that they met up after the last class of the day before supper so that they could all walk to the Great Hall together.

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

Callie had heard Bobby's laughter and broke into a smile. Bobby's laugh was contagious and hard to resist. Callie could pick it out of a crowd.

"There you are," she said, turning to face Bobby. "You're not late; Linny's decided to paint her nails." She rolled her eyes playfully. "We're going to be another 20 minutes at least."

Then she looked at Bobby seriously. "You know, you don't have to pretend to care about something just because some guy is trying to impress you. Just be honest. And if they don't like it, then to hell with them."

[Roberta "Bobby" Sanders]

Bobby dropped next to Callie, putting her arms around her sister in a hug. "Down girl," she teased, always loving how quick Callie was to call someone on their bull. She was not afraid of anything, at least as far as Bobby could ever tell, and it was a trait to be admired.

"He's not trying to impress me. He wants me to come see him play, and I'm fine with that." Sitting in the cold bleachers, more or less alone, did not sound appealing to Bobby, actually. There was a difference between going with someone to watch something they enjoyed, or going and being alone while they ignored you and did their own thing. "Besides, he's just a friend."

She turned her attention to Linette, her chin resting on Callie's shoulder. "Your nails look pretty, Linny. Don't listen to Callie while she complains."

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

Callie made a face. "Oh, no, he's not trying to impress you by showing off his atheletic prowess or whatever. Seriously, Bobby, you realize you'll be sitting alone in the bleachers, braving the elements, just so he can show off how cool and manly he is, right?"

Maybe the boy really was "just a friend," but Callie felt that was the most dangerous kind of relationship to have. A lot of boys were "just a friend" to Bobby, but Callie knew better. Boys couldn't be friends with girls. They always wanted more. And Bobby was naive enough that she might just give them more if they were insistent enough. Linny inspired devotion; boys wanted to court her and treat her like a princess. They avoided Callie like the plague. She was not aware of how they watched her and admired her from afar. She just thought they were all scared of her, and they were... but that didn't mean they weren't drawn to her.

"If you're really going to go watch him play, I'll sit with you. You shouldn't have to sit there alone." Of course, it was mostly just to keep an eye on her sister, but Bobby didn't need to know that.

[Roberta "Bobby" Sanders]

Bobby rolled her eyes and looked at Linette, who was still painstakingly painting her nails. When Bobby did it, she always had to peel little pieces off of the skin surrounding her nails, but it was because she did it quickly. Linny always made hers look so pretty.

She smiled and nudged Callie. "You make everything sound so romantic," she deadpanned. "He's a friend and I'm supporting him." Even she made a face at this, like she didn't quite believe it. "Whatever. He really loves Quidditch and it doesn't hurt me at all to go watch him practice or whatever they're doing on Saturday."

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

"You may think he's just a friend, but I bet he doesn't think that," Callie said stubbornly. "He wants more; they always want more. Just promise me you'll be careful, OK?"

She closed her Arithmancy book, giving up all pretense of trying to study. She hoped Bobby understood that she was just trying to protect her. She saw herself as a realist; she didn't romanticize things, especially not boys. Even though she was just as attracted to them as the rest of her sisters, she preferred to keep her distance from them.

[Roberta "Bobby" Sanders]

((I lied... Bobby's gotta respond to that))

Bobby sighed. "Cal, he's just a friend. There's another girl he's interested in, anyway." Callie never quite understood the difference between her and the other two girls. It was like Callie and Linny were at opposite ends of the spectrum, extremes in their own right. Bobby was just in the middle... not girl enough to date, not tough enough to admire. And that made her one of the guys, so to speak. It never occurred to her that the 'girl next door' type was actually attractive to guys, and maybe she was naive in thinking that this guy was just a friend, but she'd never been properly asked on a date, either.

She sent Linette a helpless look, silently asking her sister to intervene and make the conversation end.

[Linette "Linny" Sanders]

Linette had let the girls have their little argument before looking up from her other hand, which was now at the stage of drying. "Callie, if Bobby says he's just a friend, he's just a friend," Linette said. She looked up in the direction the boy had went though and smiled. "He is kinda cute though," Linette smiled. "If I join you two to watch him, will you introduce me?" She asked with a sly smile.

She looked over to Callie who ad shut her arithmancy book. "I don't understand how you could take that class, its so hard!" Linette wasn't really one for studies. She perfered more practical classes, like charms or transfiguration, rather than the more "difficult" classes.

[Roberta "Bobby" Sanders]

"Thank you, Linny," Bobby said, and opened her mouth to say something to Callie when her other sister continued. She sighed.

"Yeah, I'll introduce you," she said quietly. The boy would probably fall over himself to talk to Linette anyway, and Bobby almost smiled at the thought of the normally confident seventh year tripping over his words. She finally let go of Callie and leaned back on the couch as she kicked off her shoes. She hated shoes. Life would be so much better barefoot, really.

She reached over and took the Arithmancy book, although closed, out of Callie's hands and started to leaf through it.

[Linette "Linny" Sanders]

"Oh yay," Linette said excitedly. "It's been a while since I've had a little fun around here," and of course, by fun, Linette ment boys. She relished in her ability to have boys tripping all over her.

She watched Bobby take the book from Callie and rolled her eyes. Education was so over rated, she highly doubted she'd need dovination to be a fashion icon when she graduated Hogwarts. She tested the paint on her nails, checking to see if they were done, when they were, she put away the nail polish and retrieved a mirror from her bag. Her hair just wasn't sitting right and she began to play with it self-consciously. "So what have you ladies been up too?" she asked curiously.

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

Callie rolled her eyes at her sisters. Linny loved having the boys fall at her feet. And most of them did. She never worried as much about Linny, because she sort of seemed to tease the boys, instead of hanging around them. Maybe it was a good way to be; always leaving them wanting more.

Her hands now empty, Callie began to chew on her nails, a bad habit of hers that she couldn't seem to stop. In comparison to Linette's perfectly manicured nails, Callie's were ragged and uneven, bitten down as short as they could go.

"Well, I made a fourth year kid cry," Callie boasted proudly. "He was picking on a second year. I mean, really, what's wrong with boys, anyway? Why are they always picking on the weak? If they really think it makes them look superior in any way, they're wrong."

[Roberta "Bobby" Sanders]

Bobby laughed. "Callie, you can't go around making boys cry. Especially if they're younger than you. But I do agree... boys are stupid."

She closed the Arthimancy book and reach over to pull Callie's fingers from her mouth. "Stop that," she said. "You'll make them bleed. Here," she handed the book back. "I can't make any sense out of it." She wasn't much of a numbers person. In fact, it was difficult to be very detail oriented. She got bored and restless too easily.

"Did the smaller kid at least say thanks?"

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

Callie rolled her eyes again. "Oh, come on. Boys deserve to cry once in a while. They make us cry often enough, don't they? Besides, now at least that kid will think twice before picking on someone younger than him. I was just defending the second year. He did say thanks, by the way... although, then he ran away in terror. Am I really that scary?"

She let out an irritated huff when Bobby snatched her fingers out of her mouth. If she didn't bite her naiils, they would get absurdly long, because Callie did not like clipping her nails or filing them. The only times her nails looked even remotely decent was when Linny got disgusted and did them for her.

Shoving her Arithmancy book back into her book back, she rooted around for a minute and pulled out a tattered copy of The Feminine Mystique, her favorite book.

"What about you? What have you been doing besides fraternizing with the enemy?"

[Roberta "Bobby" Sanders]

"Boys aren't the enemy, Cal," Bobby replied, her fingers going to her bottom lip. That was her nervous habit, picking at her lip when she was bored or nervous or anything of the sort.

"And anyway, we were studying for Charms. Sort of." It had started out as studying, but they'd both gotten distracted, and the time somehow ended with him inviting her to watch him practice quidditch. "Things are too quiet around here, though. When's the next trip to Hosgmeade, again?"

She was changing the subject, though she didn't realize it. She didn't care to talk about boys anymore. Her moods could change pretty quickly.

[Linette "Linny" Sanders]

Linette looked over her hand-held mirror toward her sisters. "No, Bobby's right, boys aren't the enemy. They're more like..." well, truthfully, to Linette, they were more like toys. Instead of saying anything and risking sounding ridiculous, Linette shrugged.

"Studying for charms huh?" How many times had Linette used that aqs an excuse? Of course, knowing her sister, it probably didn't have the same meaning that Linette would have had.

"I think it's next week," Linette said. "We should go together this time," Usually, Linette would find a date for the Hogsmeade trip, but if she made plans to go with Callie and Bobby, they were number one priority, and she'd leave the boys be for the most part.

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

Callie sighed. She didn't really think boys were the "enemy," per se, but, to a certain extent, it really was a case of girls vs. boys. There were good guys out there, Callie was sure of it. Their father was one of them. But for the most part, boys their age were just not to be trusted.

"Boys are just distractions," Callie said firmly. "I, for one, don't need them."

At the mention of Hogsmeade, Callie buried her nose in her book. She often got left behind on Hogsmeade trips. Linny would bring a date, and Bobby would be surrounded by a crowd of boys who she swore were just friends. And Callie usually ended up alone, unless she could catch up to Rayne and Evelyn. But if Linny swore it would be just them....

"You mean it? No boys this time?"