The Lake (OPEN!)

[TAYLOR HOLLOW]

It was strange to think that this would be her last winter at the black lake. Taylor had been a particular fan of the view that she could get from it over the last six and a half years and it was uncomfortable to realize that she'd, eventually, have to find a new lake to look at when she needed a place to think. Right now, however, she wasn't in her usual lake-looking mood. In fact, she was quite irritated at life. The full moon was the following day so she was already agitated from that alone, but now she had just gotten into an argument with one of her dorm mates because someone had let a first year come study with them and said first year had set her sheets on fire. 

A simple spell fixed it, but that still didn't make Taylor any less irked at the situation. These were the last sheets she'd get in her entire Hogwarts career. So she had huffed and stormed out into the cold (which was much colder than she had anticipated and she was regretting not grabbing her warm beanie) and made her way to this simple lake that held so many memories for her. She had mostly walked on auto-pilot but it wasn't a surprise when she found herself there. She gritted her teeth and glared out at the water, as if that would change the small circumstance that had upset her in the first place.

[GIANNA LARA MILWOOD]

Gianna tended to grew restless and board at night. The Slytherin dungeons could be a little eerie if you were up by yourself at night, and sometimes it was refreshing just to escape. She was used to farmland and scrawling fields. Hogwarts castle was so large, and sometimes she liked to admire it from the outside. Slowly she crept through the stairwells and out the doors of the great building. Carefully she cut across the lawn, deciding on her way that the view would be viewed from the lake.

 A breeze tore through the grounds, and the petite brunette drew her cloak tighter around her. The cold always settled into the ground comfortably and quickly, like an old cat preparing it's spot for a long nap. It would be steadfast, unwavering until it was good and ready to go. She was thankful for the warm green-and-silver scarf wrapped around her neck several times, and her thick wool mittens that she had on. She thought of the creatures living in the Forbidden Forest and thanked her lucky stars for being born a witch.

 As Gianna neared the lake she made out the form of another person. Sighing, the fifteen-year old considered turning around. She liked time for herself, but she wasn't ready to return to her Common Room. Instead, she approached the girl, calmly. "Hello there. I see we have a similar love of the lake at night."

[TAYLOR HOLLOW]

Taylor was generally a sociable person. Sure, she enjoyed being off by herself every once in a while, but she had gotten really good at being in a crowd, hanging around with her friends and goofing off. She had gotten used to being around people so often so her introverted tendencies that she had when she had first arrived at Hogwarts had become less and less significant until she stopped trying so hard to find some privacy.

However, tonight was a particularly irritated situation and Taylor wanted nothing to do with people. This was unfortunate for the student who was approaching her. Taylor clenched her jaw, hoping that she could will this girl away but that wasn't how the universe worked.

"Hello there. I see we have a similar love of the lake at night."

Taylor did her best not to be too rude.

"Yep. She deadpanned. Taylor was almost always happy to talk to younger students, but this just wasn't the time. "This is a lake. It is night."

Surely that was enough to add to the conversation that she very much did not want to have. Maybe if she had just ignored the girl, she would've gone away.

[Deleted]

Professor Nigel Ravenhearst started to walk towards the lakwe. It was a particularly good night and the man enjoyed walks around the castle, especially when it was near the full moon. It was a quirk that he had gotten from being a Wolf Animagus, the love for the full moon. When he first transformed into his form, he was always outside during the nights, just running and leaping around the castle grounds. Of course, it was his fifth year that he first transformed so he had to do it outside of staff sights, which was the inner parts of the Forbidden Forest. Now, of course, he did not need to hide from the staff. He had the freedom to run everywhere and anywhere, as long as he didn't drift too far. He knew the dangers that lurked inside the Forest, and he was not about to test his abilities against creatures that may just tear him to pieces.

Smiling to himself, he began his trek, only to notice tow figures standing just by the shore of the lake. He noticed that one was a Slytherin, while the other a Gryffindor. He smiled at the sight and sighed, it was past the times where the two houses held animosity that they couldn't even talk to each other without strangling one another. Although the house rivalry remained, the camaraderie of the two houses became much better as years gone by.

Slowly approaching, he cleared his throat and said, "It is nice to see a Snake and a Lion mingling with one another."

Nigel moved towards the side of the lake and stared into the heavens before continuing, "So, love. What brings you two to the solitary grounds that is the Black Lake?"

[GIANNA LARA MILWOOD]

Immediatly at the blonde girl's repsonse Gianna narrowed her eyes. Crossing her arms across her chest she took in the girl, her lips drawing into a annoyed snarl. Immediately her mind jumped to her mother, constantly drilling in proper manners, and what the Italian woman would have to say about the rude greeting. "Well, aren't you a ha-"

Thankfully for the young Slytherin a voice cut her from her words. She turned to make out the figure, taking a few seconds to recginze the man. Professor Ravenhearst. She felt like she had only just conversed with the man, but shrugged. His words cabout a lion and snake coming together caused her to throw another glance at the blonde's way. She looked like she could be a Gryffindor. For all of Gianna that was modern about the House of Slyherin, there was always a trait to counterbalance it. One of them was the dislike she felt towards the rival house.

That explains her bad attitude, at least...

A feeling of smugness setteled into Gianna. If nothing else, she felt confident that she was a better witch than the girl before her. Since she didn't recognize her, she doubted that the girl was in her year. Maybe older. Not that it particularity mattered. A weak lion was a weak lion, regardless. She went about ignoring the other girl, already deciding her to be not worth her time.

 "Hello Professor Ravenhearst," Gianna chirped, bobbing a mock curtsy in greeting. "I just happened to want to go on a nice little walk."

[TAYLOR HOLLOW]

Taylor realized that she had spread her irritation to the other girl as she watched her cross her arms and start to reply, but yet another person interrupted them.

"It's nice to see a Snake and a Lion mingling with one another."

Great. Just the person she wanted to see. Her least favourite professor. Taylor was incredibly partial to any opinions of favourite professor, Eva. The two had bonded over the years on their similar lycanthropy but also found that they had plenty else in common and Taylor often viewed her as someone who almost filled the motherly role model that she had lost when her own mother left. Maybe more like an aunt. But that wasn't the point. Both women disliked the womanizer. It wasn't that he was a particularly bad person, no, he was actually quite nice, but the way he went about himself just got under her skin and tonight was not the night that she wanted to deal with him.

Furthermore, she couldn't give a rats arse about Houses. As a seventh year, Taylor had learned to have little interest about someone's house and have more interest in the person themselves, so that statement bothered her as well.

"So, love. What brings you two to the solitary grounds that is the Black Lake?"

Taylor blinked. Love? Did he honestly just call her 'love'?

"Hello Professor Ravenhearst. I just happened to want to go on a nice little walk."

So the other girl was partial to him. Also great.

"Excuse me," Taylor snapped, turning to look at her professor, "Did you just call me, 'love'? That is highly inappropriate and I would appreciate it if you refrained from referring to me like that in the future, professor." She folded her arms across her chest as if to dare either of them to challenge her. She was not in the mood. "And, too be frank, I came out here to get some space from other inhabitants of Hogwarts. It seems I've yet to accomplish that."

Good lord she was being rude, but the full moon was right around the corner and she had little care for either person in the conversation.

[Deleted]

Nigel turned to look at the girl that dared to even answer him that way. As a professor, he was rarely even talked to in that fashion, and as a former ICW Detail, nobody even thought of challenging him. Looking at the girl, he suddenly realized who this was. He had heard about the young girl that Eva had taken under her wing, and from the descriptions, he knew this was her. Smiling slightly, he turned back towards the lake to gaze upon the beautiful view that was reflected on its surface.

The girl had lycanthropy, that much was certain. She exhibited the symptoms of the disease whislt near the Full Moon. Nigel could only mentally sigh at the unfortunate to girl. To suffer from such curse was a burden, and he knew allot of Werewolves who had killed themselves just to escape all the pain. But this girl, this girl and Eva seemed to share something. They both had inner strength, the strength they needed to carry on. And this made Nigel proud of them both.

The professor decided to ignore the remark before saying softly, "The full moon is near, is it not?"

[GIANNA LARA MILWOOD]

Gianna couldn't stop the snort from passing her lips at the girl's words. While it was undeniable that Professor Ravenheart had a certain womanizing flare, she grew up surrounding by this backwards thinking and it didn't bother her half as much as she knew it should. More importantly, she found it incredibly rude to back sass a teacher. Silently, she judged the sort of parents she must have had to raise such an unfriendly child. Her mother, certainly, would have unleashed a wrath of punishments for even thinking along those lines.

"The full moon is near, is it not?"


 The fifteen-year old could sense there was more to the words than what was being said at the surface. Taking in first her professor slowly and then the blonde she studied them as though something could be gathered from their body language to each other. She ended up pushing the notion aside. While Gianna could speculate on hidden meanings all day, she knew that in the wizarding world their were simply too many possibilities to even adequately get within striking distance. Her "Muggle" was especially prone of showing, as she knew even less than the average witch of her age. Instead, she made a mental note of the exchange and moved on.

 "It is. The full  moon gives the grounds a certain air of mystery." Gianna knew that her professor's words hadn't been for her, but she still triumphed forward, forming an answer to them. The young woman was never one to step down, allowing others to take the lead around her. She much preferred to shape her own destiny, controlling what she could. She might be left out of a conversation but she always found a way to force herself back in.

[TAYLOR HOLLOW]

Taylor wasn't phased by the other girl's snort. She probably would've done the same thing, had the situation been slightly amended.

"The full moon is near, is it not?"

Out of all the things her professor could've said, he chose those words. Not only did he completely ignore her entire previous statements, but he brought up the single sorest point he could. And surely he had to have known that. All the staff was aware of Taylor's condition, just for safety reasons. That did not, however, mean that it was any sort of appropriate for him to be hinting to that during this interaction, especially not with a stranger near by.

"It is. The full moon gives the grounds a certain air of mystery."

Taylor didn't know what to say. What did he expect her to reply to that? 'Oh, look at you, being so clever and picking at a 7th years most open wound.'?

"Incredibly observant, professor. You should take an interest in switching teaching positions and start in astronomy with that sort of commentary."

Taylor honestly had no qualms with the other girl, so she bit her tongue from making an equally sharp remark. Perhaps if the two had met over breakfast, the conversation would've turned positive. But Taylor was not in the mood.

"I don't actually mean to offend you," she said off hand towards the girl. It was genuine but could've been stated nicer and would likely get her no where. Oh well.

[Deleted]

Nigel looked at the girl once more before turning around and leaving. He knew that the girl needed space and space he was willing to give. But most of all, he needed to remind the girl who she was and just what she had done. As well, she needed reminding of her lessons with Eva.

"It would do well if we leave Miss Hollow alone, Miss Milwood. She needs her space at the moment and I would think she would enjoy it more if she was not accompanied by anyone but herself." Nigel started, slowly walking away before stopping.

"Also, Miss Hollow. Try to hold your tongue the next time you are in the prsence of authority. Not every professor, or staff in general, would be as lenient as I am towards disrespect. Especially when said person was just trying to alleviate the mood and possibly help. As well, try to keep calm and meditate, it usually helps with sour moods such as this one you are experiencing." With a last smile towards the two girls, Nigel Ravenhearst trudged back towards the castle, hoping to continue his readings. He was almost done with the Journal of one Remus Lupin and he had discovered somethings that could possibly help Eva, if only for a little bit.

Exit!~

[GIANNA LARA MILWOOD]

"Incredibly observant, professor. You should take an interest in switching teaching positions and start in astronomy with that sort of commentary."

Gianna dug her fingernails into her robe sleeve, channeling her frustrations over the girl's reactions into a source that it was acceptable to abuse. While the young witch was hardly one to ban people from having a foul mood, she tended to find fault in those who's tempers seem random. Still she admired the girl's bravery for being so brazen with a teacher. Gryffinder it was.

"I don't actually mean to offend you."

 

 The words took Gianna by surprised. So much so that the girl actually cocked her head to the left, like a puppy seeing snow for the first time. It certainly wasn't the nicest or best way to put it, but the Slytherin hadn't expected any sort of turn around from the girl. She only half heard her professor dismiss himself, also encouraging her to go. She was thoughtful enough with the exchange that Professor Ravenhearst's last jab almost went entirely over her head. A brief smile flitted over her face as she drew herself back into the presence.

 "You do a really bad job at showing it," was the response that Gianna finally gave after all of her contemplation. She shrugged her slim shoulders, not yet ready to go back inside. She was an honest person, and her words were spoken in a stated way, not necessarily intending to cause a conflict.