can't stop my heart from calling you{open}

[Melusine Laurent]

I’ll never let you leave your tower,

Melusine stumbled out of bed. It was still very early in the morning, a couple hours at least until breakfast in the great hall. Shouts and laughter and all sorts of annoying things that she wasn't going to be able to handle today. She shrugged on a slim pair of jeans and a form-fitting black tee on, replacing her pajamas back into the truck at the foot of her bed. Her hair was ruffled, and she ran her fingers through it quickly as she stepped into a pair of converse, lacing them quickly. Melusine pulled on a light, midnight blue cloak (with a rich red interior), fumbling with the ties. She opened the door to her dormitory, shut it softly; sneaking out of the common room, avoiding the Fat Lady's snorting inquiries, and hurried down the stairs, and out the door.

Her dreams had always left her wide-awake. Especially this one. She'd been standing on top of the highest tower, and it was storming. She hated storms. And she'd slipped. Melusine had woken as she'd hit the ground. But she didn't let her wildly beating heart slow her down. She raced across the lawn, her cloak billowing behind her, as she neared the forest. She skirted the lake, grimacing slightly, and slid into the dark shadows of the trees. The cool darkness welcomed her, and she felt at ease, rather than afraid, almost instantly. The soft night whispers filled her ears, and she uttered a whispered, “Lumos,” of her own. The glow from her wand tip shone almost gloomily in the dark.

She walked into the depths as far as finding a small creek, trickling merrily in the darkness. A large sycamore stood gleaming, its pale silvery trunk and arms welcoming her. The light of the moon shone brightly enough through the trees that Melusine uttered a soft "Nox,", and pocketed her wand. Her tall, thin frame scampered almost easily into the tree, and she settled herself into what was almost like a natural seat, the fork between two huge branches and the truck. She felt safer in the tree's embrace, quite a few feet, nearly ten, off the ground. She heard the scuffle of animals underneath her tree, but otherwise she was undisturbed. Melusine liked it that way.

But as the morning grew older, Melusine's thoughts were rampant. She was alone. Always alone. It wasn't that she wanted some random guy to sweep her off her feet, but she didn't like any of the people she knew now that way, either. She wanted to feel wanted again. Heaven knew that she was fine during the summer, with Fox Bolivier to meander after, but this was now. School hadn't even started yet and she was already lonely. Melusine let one hand dangle into the air, lightly tracing patterns and shapes. She wasn't desperate, she was just- unable to admit she was desperate. She wanted a knight in shining armor (how cliche!) to sweep her off her feet, a prince, a soldier, somebody. But her chances of that were slim.

Melusine was secretive. Enigmatic, even. She didn't like anyone to know her completely, and rather liked holding other's at an arm's length. But though that strategy had been successful, she was now scrambling to find someone else. Someone who wouldn't mind her mysterious ways. She heard the tramping of hooves off to her right, and watched silently as three centaurs trotted by. One dappled grey, with short silvering hair. Another with a dark bronzed dun body, with thick and long brown hair. But the last. His horse half was jet black, with a single spot on his left shoulder of white, his human body pale and gleaming, with bright, white-blue eyes and spiked black hair. She felt, rather than saw, him look at her, hesitate, then continue.

Melusine sighed. Her she was a lonely sprite, but still a child. The centaur wars of before had died down, but she was still somewhat of a target here. And the sun was coming up now. Melusine slid from the tree, skittering down it like a bowtruckle, and landed lightly on her feet. She stood gazing down at the creek, her face alight with its jovial nature, but then it darkened as she turned away, and sat with a thump onto the mossy ground with her back facing it. Silent tears slid down her face. She was, indeed, alone.

Or ever take away your crown.

OOC || All I want from this is a guy for Melusine to like, perhaps lust after. She's boring all by herself. x] She won't be insane, I promise. Perhaps whoever comes could save her from a savage beast? ^^

[nicholas]

Nicholas Zabini

And you know I'll be there to catch you

Nick groaned. He opened his eyes and stared at the black and white ceiling for a moment. Then, abruptly, he rolled out of bed. He pulled on a casual white shirt. Then exchanged his pajamas for light colored jeans. He added a grey hoodie, the morning was still frosty. Finally, he slipped his feet into his favorite white tennis shoes. They were all holey and dirty. They had been his choice shoes for over a year now, so it wasn't surprising.

He slowly meandered down the halls, smirking at any Gryffindors he passed. The Gryffindors stared back with hostile eyes. Nick chuckled, they probably thought he was going to Burn them or something.

Nick casually slipped out the door. Outside, free at last. Not breathing the same air as those idiot Gryffindors. The green grass crackled softly as he stepped on it. The blades were frozen, after last night's rain and freezing temperatures.

Nick kept walking, staring at the ground. He didn't notice he was in the forest until he walked right into a tree. He scowled at the offending plant and side stepped it, wandering even further. He crossed some centaur tracks and decided to follow them. The wars were over, but you never knew...

Soon, he could hear the creatures rustling ahead of him. They were moving at a slow pace. Very slow. Nick looked closer at the foot prints. One set had drag marks. So, one of them was limping. Nick walked a bit faster, he didn't know why. Curiosity, he supposed.

He saw the swish of a long black tail ahead of him. He started jogging, his breath fanning out in front of him, the crystals easily visible against the darkness. He reached a small clearing, a large tree stood about fifteen yards away from him.

The three centaurs were just visible on the far side of the meadow. One had a huge frame, with silvering hair, and a long greyish tail. The human part of him had dark tanned skin, but had a wrinkled face and white hair.

The smallest of them had a bronze coat, with a black tail, trimmed short. The human part of him was juvenile. He guessed it was younger than the other two. His skin was lightly colored, and he had red hair.

The last caught his eye and held it. The muscled frame was covered in jet black hair, smooth and sleek. His tail was the one he had seen. There was a small patch of white on one shoulder. His human half was lightly muscled, not as bulky as the silver-grey one, not as slim as the bronze one. He had pale skin and spiked black hair. The contrast was almost funny. He had silver-blue eyes, the color so light that the blue was hardly present. But the reason he caught Nick's eye was because he was staring at something in the tree.

Nick followed his gaze to a Ravenclaw, sitting in the fork of branches. Because of human presence Nick stayed concealed in the fringe of trees. As he waited, he watched the young girl slide down from her perch and sit at the base of the tree. He watched the scarce sunlight reflect from the tears sliding down her face.

Nick stood there for a moment and let the girl cry. Then he decided it was time to announce his presence. He walked across the meadow, towards the weeping Ravenclaw.

He stopped about three yards away. He cleared his throat, unsure how to begin. "Um....Hi. Why are you crying?" He almost grinned. This was so unlike him. Usually he knew everything to do and say around a girl. He wasn't sure why it was different from this one.

Was it because she was crying? Was it because they were in the middle of a forest? Was it because they had just watched three centaurs walk past?

Nick's head was filled with all these questions. But he heard the low growl behind him quite clearly.

Even if you can't see me

[/color]

[Melusine Laurent]

I’ll never let you leave your tower,

She hated herself for losing control this way. After all, being alone now, one way or the other, didn't mean much. Everyone died alone. She smoothed her hair back, irritated, brushing stray tears off of her face. They kept coming, or course. Damn things never listened to her. Did anyone, really? She had friends that pretended. She had ones who did care. But it didn't matter. She'd held herself back for far too long without crying, and now she was paying the price.

Her hair had fallen in her face again, and she let it hang there. At least until she heard a twig snap. Her head jerked up immediately, and she eyes found and caught the cause. A knarl. The little creature trotted by, after glaring angrily, and vanished into the trees. Melusine sighed deeply. She was just being paranoid. She hadn't seen anything remotely dangerous in these woods in the six years she'd been here.

The woods had been her shelter when she'd been feeling down. Some, she knew, fled to the owlery, the dungeons even, or the kitchens. All relatively safe places. But Melusine was different. Her draw to dangerous things and mischievous acts had put an invisible wall between her and her yearmates, as well as everyone else in the school.

She brushed the last of the tears away. The sun was rising farther in the sky, and she probably should get back to her dorm before Maria woke up. Even though she was her best friend, Maria was a prefect first and foremost. She'd demand to know where she was, and as Melusine had avoided any detection of her slips into the trees, she wasn't keen to start now.

But then she heard the voice. " Um....Hi. Why are you crying?" From her sitting position on the ground, she'd spun and had her wand pointed directly between his eyes before she'd really thought about doing anything. "What are you doing here?" Her mouth was set, but tear tracks could be clearly seen on her face, even in the dim light. Her eyeliner and mascara was smudged and running.

She heard the growl as clearly as he had. "What was that?" she asked, suspicious. She pulled herself slowly to her feet, unconsciously preparing herself for a fight. Instead now, her wand was lowered to a shadow on the other side of the meadow, nearly ten yards away from the pair of them.


ooc || sorry. >__<

Or ever take away your crown.

[nicholas]

The growl continued, long and low. It was like a rumble of thunder drawn out. He noticed the girl's wand was now pointing at something on his right side.

He turned his head slightly, trying to see what she saw. There it was. A huge shadow, bulky and menacing. It sidled closer. Nick pursed his lips. But, before he knew what he was doing, his wand was in his hand as his lips were muttering a spell.

A small fireball shot out of the tip of his wand, racing towards the shadow. A second before it hit, he could see the long white fangs of a mutant wolf. It's fur was striped black and a ghastly green. Its eyes were crazed and wild, it was hungry. It was at least as tall as a horse, much more muscled though. It's skin was lotched and bloated, big bumps of nothing in particular on random spots across it's body. Nick's eyes bugged wide as the fireball bounced off harmlessly.

He began to back away, silently signaling in the general direction of the girl to do the same. The fireball had ricocheted to the base of a tree about five yards away. Nick sent a splash of water towards it before it could turn into anything to dangerous.

Many things were attracted by fire, and Nick hoped that nothing had seen it before he had put it out. The wolf took a menacing step in his direction. Nick had no plans. They might be able climb up the tree. He wasn't sure if the wolf would be able to follow. Magic was useless against it, he wasn't sure why. It was very strange. He was pretty sure they wouldn't be able to outrun it. Those huge legs look they could eat up ground with no problem at all.

He just kept right on backing, hoping the girl would come up with something better.