Harry Potter: A Dark New Era IC

[IntenseInsanity]

A soft sigh escaped dark lips, throwing a foggy cloud of hot air into the wind, taking with it small flakes of snow. Leila Clue, clinging tightly to her books, stared up at the snowy clouds, ankle deep in the white stuff already. She was a mere pace or two from the door connecting to the Entrance Hall, and simply outside to breathe in some cold air. Potions class had ended mere seconds ago, and Lelia, of course, had rushed out of the class before anyone else. She now had free, as she didn’t have Herbology until midnight and she had already completed all of her morning and afternoon classes. The dark-skinned girl sighed again, staring down at the book held snuggly between her arms and breasts. It was for History of Magic, something about The Forbidden Forest and Unicorns. To say the least, it was rather boring, Leila was a bit more interested in Phoenixes and Dragons and the history of Hogwarts and Quidditch. A shrug rose her shoulders up, and then she let them drop lazily, turning to return to the Hufflepuff common room as she had lost most of the feeling in her feet, but she was thrown sideways by something cold and rock-hard. It had been lazily thrown, but still left a stinging feeling. Leila landed with a thud on the snow, an audible ’OOF’ sounding from her chest as she hit the earth, throwing snow up into the air. Dark chuckles and sneers came from behind, and Leila turned to see three other students who appeared to be Syltherin-housed, third or fourth years. It was rare to see younger classmen picking on an upper classman. She grumbled, slowly standing up, dusting the freezing snow from her robes and hair. Her eyes turned upwards toward the group, as cold as the ice around them. The three simply released another chuckle,

“Mudblood?” questioned the smallest one.

“Mudblood.” The leader of the three said matter-of-factly before turning to run out into the snowy landscape. Leila frowned, a bit confused by the foreign term. She turned to pick up her dropped book, dusting the snow off as she did with everything else, hiding back the need to tear up. For some reason, the term ‘Mudblood’ sounded familiar, but she had never in her six years been called it. She felt choked up, her throat tight, but she held back tears and simply straightened and returned to the door.

---

Leila sat in the quiet, cozy Common Room of the HufflePuff house, her right arm bare as she inspected it. The snowball that had been thrown must have been filled with rock because it left a rather big bruise. Another sigh escaped her lips as she pulled her robe’s sleeve back down, curling up in one of the arm chairs comfortably, still clinging to the Forbidden Forest book. She stayed quiet, still, staring at the wall, even when others entered the common room. A rather noisy, nosey girl whose name escaped Leila’s mind wandered in with two of her friends, chatting up a storm. Leila stared at the wall, quietly listening to the gossip that began to spread through the room. Something about the Yule Ball… which Leila had put to the back of her mind until now. The Yule Ball, something Leila had missed the first two years she had been allowed to go. It was said to be fun, and a sudden interest made Leila slowly sit up. The three girls, who seemed oblivious to the comfortably seat Leila, jumped suddenly when they saw her move, turning silent once more. Leila flashed them a somewhat warm smile (which was more forced then anything) and leaned back in the armchair, closing her eyes once more.

The girls turned and returned to talking, back to ignoring Leila, who was now digging into her pocket to retrieve something. When she failed to find it and finally gave up, a scream filled the room. One of the girls was now pulled up fully on an arm chair, something white and black hanging from her robes. Leila nearly fell over when she noticed the creature and quickly scooped it,

"Bad Nova." she whispered quietly, scolding the small mouse. The three girls were now up, vanishing into one of two round doors that lead to the dormitories. Another sigh sounded and Leila sat back down, rubbing her pinkie over the small rodent rhythmically, humming a soft, lonely tune.

[EbonyNightmare]

(Now I'm afraid to post, but here goes.)
Rowan pulled open the library door, rapping loudly on the doorframe so the librarian would know she was here. She then entered, shutting the door gently behind her, and went to find a book for History of Magic. The class was one of her least favorites, but it wasn't an elective, so what was she going to do? Rubbing her hands together to warm them up, she scanned the shelves for the book she needed. To make sure she had the right author in mind, she pulled out a piece of parchment, which had the book's title and author written on it. Yep, she thought, that's the right one. The Slytherin girl continued to search for the book, and she was getting more and more frustrated by the second. <insert swear word of choice> Where is it?! Finally, her eyes landed on the book. "Good God," she muttered, casting her eyes up to the high ceiling of the library. Rowan had to grip it with her fingernails to tug on it, as the bookshelf was slightly cramped and the books were all smushed together with not a sixteenth of a centimeter's room between them. When that didn't work, she growled a curse silently and pinched the top of the spine, hoping to pull it out that way. That didn't work, either. Finally, she remembered her wand and took that out.
"Accio book," she muttered,flicking her wand and opening her hand to grab the book from the air. It wriggled for a moment before it flew off the bookshelf and into her open palm, sliding and nearly falling off. Rowan flinched slightly, and breathed a sigh of relief when the book stayed on her hand. She placed her wand on the ground and sat down cross-legged next to it, cracking open the thick volume.

[Taraneme]

Jerik jiggled the potion bottle in front of his face, grey eyes almost crossing but he quickly stuffed it back into his pocket with a shy, proud smile to himself. The same wave of pride that rattled through his gut came again - He had all of his fingers intact, a great potion and he was going to the Yule Ball with people for the first time since he'd moved into fourth year. The Hufflepuff grinned. Florence found Jerik quickly enough, uncannily able to just know when his lesson had finished and where her pet human happened to be at that time. With an affectionate meow, she trotted beside him as the pair descended into the kitchens towards the Hufflepuff common room so he could stow away his beloved work. Letting himself in with the correct rhythm of taps, Jerik and Florence made their way into the warm and cosy room.

The blonde flicked his fringe from his eyes like usual, scanning over the area. Finding nobody that was likely to laugh if he tripped up or something, Jerik plopped himself into an armchair, sinking deeply with a content smile. Florence hopped up onto his lap, putting her front paws on his chest and resting her head between them so he could softly stroke around her neck. She quickly fell asleep, but Jerik leaned over slightly to try and grope for his bag, which he'd dumped on the floor. He had some homework, but couldn't quite reach without moving Florence. Biting his bottom lip, he gave another lurch for his bag, but not without overbalancing and almost ending up in a heap on the floor. Florence hopped off him with a hiss, but whipped back round to take his place on the armchair, forcing Jerik to the floor to lean his back against the chair. He chuckled, rolling his eyes, trying to laugh off his own embarrassment and blush. Burying his nose in the book, Flo pawed at his head affectionately, purring merrily.

[IntenseInsanity]

Leila and Nova both seemed to jump when they realized someone else was in the room. The small moused reacted to the sound of a cat hiss and soon Leila was up and about, groping for the mouse that s now scurrying away to a safer place at her feet. The mouse had made to it the fireplace before it was snatched up by angered hands and shoved back into her poccket. Leila straighted, blushing slightly as she turned to investigate the new comer to the common room. Another barely familiar boy, Hufflepuff just like her (duh), with a cat sitting by him. Leila proofed up like a cat herself, having a slight fear of the furry little creatures, but this one didn't appear to do anything of interest to her. Her eyes went downwards more, to the boy. He was familiar, yes, maybe she had seen him somewhere... Leila racked her brain and the snapped her fingers when she remembered,

"The Hospital Wing...!" she whispered before blushing as she realized she spoke out loud. She turned to the boy, then rounded around, returning to the armchair that had hidden her so well. Maybe if he can't see her he will grow uninterested and go away.