Disenchanted [open]

[Shendeth Eleanor]

It was nearly four in the morning. Shendeth sat down on the stone steps and leaned his head against the wall. At the top of the steps was the entrance to the secret passage, and ahead of him was the dark tunnel that led back into Hogsmeade. He had a talent for finding secret and shady places, which also served him well in Hogsmeade. At the moment he'd just come from there, and was on his way back up to school. As slowly as possible, that is. He stared into the darkness for a moment. What if he never went back? He was tired of this, year after year, the same thing, the same place he didn't quite belong.

He pulled out a cigarette and lit it. So what if he had nowhere else to go? If he stayed, he'd still be on his own in two years. Two years of what? There was a part of him, somewhere, that loved learning and being there, but had no end goal. He was simply getting bored of Hogwarts. There was nothing wrong. Nothing wrong at all, and that was part of what was wrong. He closed his eyes. Maybe he could just melt into the wall and never be found.. he took a strange comfort in the cold, and the dark, and the effects of the cigarette and smoke wreathing around him.

. . .

At some point Shen must have fallen asleep, because he jolted awake suddenly and it took him a few seconds to remember where he was. He lit his wand and waved it around the small space, then tried to focus on his watch. 9 AM? His head hurt, and his bones ached from sitting in the tunnel so long. And even worse, he was supposed to be on his way to class. Groaning, he got up - making sure to fix his hair and straighten his clothes first - and ascended the stairs. A few seconds later he had emerged from behind the statue, onto the bright third floor without being seen. Narrowing his eyes against the light, he pulled his school cloak tight to cover his Muggle clothes and walked quickly away. He was going to go down to the common room until first period ended but suddenly heard footsteps behind him.

[Cassandra Tennyson]

All night. Cassie had been awake all night. Although she was far from thrilled about that fact all by itself, she was even less enthusiastic when it came to the idea of facing a long day of classes that awaited her. The struggle to stay awake was evident on days she actually did sleep. The agony of trying to stay conscious on a day like this promised to be especially unbearable. As she groaned steadily, she rolled out of bed, managed to groom herself so that she didn't look like a complete zombie, and pulled on her school uniform. "I would kill to not have to go to class today," she muttered to herself before grabbing her favorite Muggle notebook and spare pen and making her way down the hall.

Cassandra Tennyson was not a particularly needy person. She didn't need breakfast to function. She didn't need sleep to be in a good mood. Heck, she didn't even need friends to stay sane! In fact, she was fairly used to living without any of those things with hardly a single consequence. It was just that simple for her. One night without sleep wouldn't be the end of the world for Cassie. However, it wasn't just one sleepless night that needed to be accounted for. It was four. For four nights now, she hadn't slept very long, if at all, and the little shut-eye she managed to catch was plagued by horrible nightmares that quickly woke her. Naturally, she couldn't help but conjure up pathetic doodles and disturbing poems about these terrifying visions. Flipping through her notebook as she walked, she came to her last entry, a dark little piece that she wrote around two that very morning. "He's clawing at the back of my throat," she quietly recited, "and smothering my voice. He's mutilating my mind with a sinister coat, and leaving me without my own choice."

Somehow, in the midst of her analysis of the poem she barely remembered writing, she found herself clumsily shuffling her feet along the third floor where she just barely managed to catch a glimpse of a newly emerged dark figure before she walked straight into him. This boy took no apparent note of her having to stop in her tracks to avoid collision however, and kept on his way. Where in the world did he come from? She wondered. In a world of magic, people had the tendency to just appear out of thin air, but that didn't typically happen in the halls of Hogwarts. Now wide awake and armed with her notebook and pen, curiosity urged her to follow after him. Just for a little bit, she told herself, observations of a stranger who is either using magic when he shouldn't or has knowledge of some potentially beneficial hidden passageways never hurt anybody, right?

[Shendeth Eleanor]

Shen finally caught the sound of footsteps behind him and instinctively looked back over his shoulder. It was just another student; someone he did not know and did not care to know right now. In fact, he could have sworn that he'd never seen her before in his life, but she was obviously a student so that didn't matter. That sort of thing could happen here, and impossible to know or remember everyone.

He turned again and continued on his way, ignoring her completely. The soft footsteps followed. He let his mind wander again. After making two turns down the short, twisting hallways that he knew led to a quicker path downstairs and noticing that the same girl was still behind him, he picked up the pace in slight irritation. There was no point in being followed even if they were going in the same general direction.

Just as he was about to turn a corner he stopped short and backed up quickly. Some rather strange noises that were very likely made by Peeves sounded very close by, and that was the last thing he needed right now. He silently took a few steps back- right into someone.

[Cassandra Tennyson]

Cassandra raised an eyebrow and cocked her head slightly to the right as she followed behind him with almost inaudible steps. Where is he going? Another secret passage? She wondered, hoping to make some sort of valuable discovery by trailing after the stranger for so long. At Hogwarts, you never could know too many ways around the school. They always came in handy, whether it was to avoid people or bullies or even find a way out of some real trouble that seemed to lurk around every corner. Of course, Cassie wouldn’t ordinarily be so creepy as to stalk fellow students as they made their way through the halls. However, there was something about this boy whom she’d never met. Something eerie that made her both wary and a bit intrigued. Maybe it was his out-of-nowhere apparition, or maybe it was his dark exterior. Either way, she found herself becoming more and more curious the longer she shadowed behind him. After several turns, she began to smirk a bit. It was obvious he was trying to shake her. Guess I’m not as sneaky as I thought, she considered, realizing that he must have finally taken notice of her.

Picking up speed, are we? She amusedly observed as she too increased her pace. She should have been embarrassed by the fact that she’d been discovered pursuing a stranger. Yet, she kept on walking, too invested to give up now. They were nearing a corner when – “Umpf!” Cassandra yelped as she walked straight into the halted back of the very person whom she’d been following. So much for being even a bit sly about it, she grumpily thought from her place on the floor. Raising dark brown eyes hidden behind mascara-coated lashes, she slowly looked up at him. And after an internal war over what to say, Cassie finally spoke.

"Hey."