,,starry eyed,,lysander

[JASMINE ELIZABETH PARKER]

-- Jasmine was extremely bored. She sat in the Hufflepuff common room doing some studying. Only because she was that bored. Not that it was going to hurt or anything. Jazz knew she probably should kick up her studying time, but as long as her parents were happy with her marks, she wasn't going to change her routine. Her brain was beginning to go numb and she couldn't concentrate any longer. Other students were sitting around her and talking very loudly. Jasmine pointed a scowl their way, but they didn't seem to notice. She gathered up her books and tossed them on her bed in her dormitory. It was time for a walk.

-- Classes were done for the day and Jasmine liked just walking around the castle. She pretty much knew it forwards and backwards now. There was no more getting turned around on her way to class, or getting stuck on the moving staircases. She did have to giggle, however, when she saw first years turn the corners and jump when they saw one of the resident ghosts. It always frightened her as well when she was a first year. They didn't even waste their time trying to startle her; all of that was aimed towards the first years. There were still a few people walking around the hallways but most of the students were either finishing up dinner or in their dorms changing out of robes.

-- Jasmine stopped in front of an archway that opened into the courtyard and stepped into it. She turned around and spotted the astronomy tower. That's where she would go! It was one of her favorite places, if not her top favorite place to go in all of Hogwarts. She smiled to herself as she made her way up to it. The staircase always seemed forever long, but it was well worth the workout. She walked around, looking over the school, and into the sky. It was a magnificent view, and it was definitely something she was going to miss when her years at Hogwarts came to an end.

[LYSANDER JULIAN SCAMANDER]

pretty much anyone who knew lysander knew about his obsession with the sky. his mother had taught him a lot of the constellations, and they all fastinated him. pairing that with the fact that he never stopped talking about purple skies, you had one ravenclaw who spent hours and hours by himself in the astronomy tower, just staring through a telescope. he didn't take the astronomy course at hogwarts because he didn't believe in mixing his hobbies with classes. it would just end up making him stop loving the stars so much, if he was forced to learn about them. he wanted to do it at his own pace.

lysander's final class of the day was charms, and it seemed to drag on and on. he couldn't stay still while the professor spoke, he was too anxious to get out. he fiddled with the objects on his desk, he fidgeted, he tried to talk to lorcan, who ignored him like always. he got told off many times by the professor, and his classmates were obviously getting sick of her pausing in her lecture to tell him to sit still. so when the class finally ended, he picked up his stuff and raced out, running all the way down the corridor, up the moving staircase, and not stopping until he was inside the astonomy tower. there were still several hours of daylight left, but lysander enjoyed the challenge of trying to see stars during the day.

lysander had been up there for four hours, searching and searching for stars and finding nothing, when he heard footsteps coming up the staircase. he hoped it wasn't a couple coming up to the tower thinking they could be alone there, because that would be extremely awkward. he stood up, walking to the doorway and holding open the door for whoever it was coming. when they were in view, he grinned and waved wildly, almost closing the door on himself. "jazzy!"

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[JASMINE ELIZABETH PARKER]

-- jasmine finally reached to top of the steps, and was surprised to see the door being opened. she almost moved out of the way, figuring whoever was up here, wanted to come back down again. but when she heard the voice call out "jazzy" a huge smile broke across her face. there was only one person who called her jazzy, and it was lysander. he was very funny and always made her laugh.

-- she waved back, still smiling. "how are you!? i feel like i haven't seen you in ages!" jasmine gushed. of course they saw each other in the hallway, and during meals in the great hall, but she couldn't remember the last time they had sat and had a nice chat. she hoped he had been doing well. it was really nice to be up in the tower, and with a friend like lysander. he was sure to make everything fun.

-- jasmine stepped up into the tower, the door shutting behind her. she always hated standing on steps, it always made her feel funny. normally she didn't even really like heights, but there was something different about the tower. it wasn't like regular heights. everything about the castle felt safe, no matter where you were, even though the wizarding war had taken place here. her parents always shared stories about it with her.

[LYSANDER JULIAN SCAMANDER]

lysander couldn't remember how he had met jazzy. his memory was rotten, and it always had been. his mother said the nargles were probably taking his memories for themselves, because they had very short term memories and wanted to keep his. that was a little too far fetched for him to believe, but it still hadn't changed the fact that he couldn't remember much from before his fourth year at hogwarts. maybe jazzy had been one of the people he met on a train ride. or, she could have been one of the girls he had told was pretty, and asked to talk to for some lyric inspiration. since lysander hadn't experienced love, he needed something else to write his songs. that's what he had come up with.

it had been awhile since he and jazzy had actually taken the time to have a conversation. there had been brief hellos in the hallways, or glances from their opposite house tables at dinner, but he really had no idea what was going on with his friend at the moment. "i'm good! but of course, you must have guessed that by my wild flailing. how are you?"

he held the door, waiting as jazzy made her way up the last few steps. once she was in the tower, he let the door close, and turned to face her. with a wicked grin, he ran over to her and pulled her into a hug, spinning her around a few times. "i don't think i've talked to you since our few letters in the summer! nargles steal all your time, or something?"

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[JASMINE ELIZABETH PARKER]

-- jasmine was glad to hear that lysander was doing well. "i'm doing excellent!" she said smiling. this year was probably her best so far. everything was running smoothly, and her classes weren't giving her trouble...so far. she had been worried a little about this year. jasmine knew it was just beginning though, and there was plenty of time for it to change, but she wasn't going to dwell on things like that.

-- she nodded in agreement. "i don't think it was the work of nargles this time, i always become rather anti-social at the beginning of the year." jasmine giggled. the beginning of the year was always exciting and nerve wracking to her. jasmine always became worried over classes and the like. one would think after seven years, she would be calm, but it never worked out like that for her. especially since she was a prefect this year.

-- jasmine tried to remember the first time she met lysander. she remembered it being an interesting situation, but the particulars were lost on her. all she knew is that she was glad she had met him. he always made her giggle and laugh and he was nice to talk to. she also enjoyed the fact he was always upbeat and happy, very much like her own personality.

[LYSANDER JULIAN SCAMANDER]

since arriving at school for the start of his sixth year, lysander had done nothing but catch up with friends. socially, he wasn't the most popular kid at hogwarts. however, there were so many people in the school that even the mean slytherins were bound to have a lot of people to catch up with. he had promised his father that he was going to try his best in his classes as well, but that so far hadn't happened. lysander couldn't stay still for the time needed to study, and couldn't keep his mind focused on it either. and anyway, they had lorcan who would produce the amazing grades they wanted. so why did they need to make him a carbon copy of his twin? they already looked alike.

ly enjoyed spending time with jasmine. the girl was fun, and she understood most of his jokes. no one really understood him completely, the person that was closest was his mother. but jazzy seemed to at least to pretend to understand what was coming out of his mouth, and he appreciated that. "well that's good! congrads on prefect, by the way. you have all the power now."

the beginning of the year was the exact opposite of antisocial for lysander. he always used that time to talk to people he hadn't spoken to in summer, or to hang out with people he hadn't gotten to see. he became a very social person in september, and then as the year went on he fell back into his regular friendships, not seeing the others quite as often. "well that isn't good! you haven't seen people all summer, and then you are going to not talk to them when you finally come back to school?"

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[JASMINE ELIZABETH PARKER]

-- "thank you!" jasmine said excitedly. it was really awesome to be a prefect, and she took the responsibility with great honor. "it's great. i have to remind myself to use my power for good and not evil." she said giggling. of course she never had any temptation to use her prefect powers to get someone in trouble on purpose or anything like that. she would hate for the professors to think they had picked the wrong girl. this was very important to her, and she understood what a great privilege it was.

-- of course she felt bad for not catching up with her friends, but it was really hard to. she was always running around getting everything sorted, and especially since she was a prefect. "it's not that i don't want to, it's that i'm always buzzing about at the beginning of the year. around this time is when i start settling down and getting into my routine and whatnot." of course she didn't completely ignore her friends, but as far as catching up, it was saved for a couple weeks into the new term.

-- "what have you been up to? i feel bad that i didn't write very much." she did feel bad about not writing him, but to be honest, she didn't really write anyone. she had been busy with her parents. they had even traveled a bit. summers were always a time for her to just relax and not think about school or anything of the like. jasmine was ready to do all sorts of fun things in her last year of hogwarts. it was going to be the best year ever. sure she had more responsibilities with being a prefect, bu that wouldn't stop her from doing even more things with her friends, and talking to everyone. she really wanted to stay close with her friends, so they could still keep in touch when they eventually left the place that had been their home for seven years. jasmine would hate to lose contact with her close and dear friends.

[LYSANDER JULIAN SCAMANDER]

lysander would never be able to be a prefect. he just didn't care when students were sneaking out of bed, or doing something they shouldn't be doing. as long as it didn't hurt anyone else, he just didn't see what was wrong with them doing certain things. not to mention, he wasn't brave enough to tell slytherins to stop doing something. they'd just hex him, and he wasn't that great at defending himself, especially with magic. lysander wasn't the most talented wizard out there. in fact, he was probably one of the worst in the school. he just couldn't pay attention to all those spells and his memory was awful. lysander should have been born a muggle. he was a lot better at that.

"you couldn't be evil if you tried." he said with a grin. some of the prefects, slytherins most of the time, did abuse their powers. they would take points from students just because they didn't like them, or they would cause trouble because being a prefect would get them out of being turned in. prefects wouldn't turn in one another, because then it would turn into an all out war for who could take more points from one another.

lysander understood what she meant about being busy at the beginning of the year. getting everything sorted out could be difficult for people who actually cared about their school work, and jazzy was a prefect on top of it. "well, i'm sure your friends miss you."

what had he been up to? not much, to tell the truth. he hadn't done too many things in summer, because his father was off on business, meaning that the usual family vacation was off. the scamander's always went somewhere, they would take turns choosing where. last year, he had chosen to go to america. the year before that, they were in a rainforest in the amazon. this year it was his father's turn to choose, which is why they didn't go without him. "it's alright. i can't say i wrote as much as i should have either. but i haven't done too much. just been getting reacquainted with people i didn't see in summer."

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[JASMINE ELIZABETH PARKER]

-- sometimes it was a little difficult to tell other houses' students to do something, especially the slytherins. and she hardly took points away, unless they really did something bad, or were a repeat offender. but she wasn't scared. being a seventh year, she figured she could defend herself fairly well but it never got heated enough for them to pull their wands on her.

-- jasmine giggled. who would even want to be evil? it was definitely better to be good, and to do good things. he parents would certainly know if she started being evil and whatnot. every fiber of jasmine's being was undoubtedly good. pure and simple.

-- "i miss them too, actually. i'm really going to be even more social this year!" jasmine said happily, clapping her hands together. this year was going to be the best ever, and she was going to make very sure that she talked and became even closer with her friends. she really wanted to keep in touch with them after they left Hogwart's and started their lives as official witches and wizards; no longer in training. she wondered what they would do. how many would work for the ministry, or go off to do incredible things. jasmine really didn't know what she was going to do.

-- she nodded, understanding. "yeah. it's so easy to just do nothing all summer. it's really nice to relax since we're busy all year." jasmine said. it was all homework and studying and learning all year, and when summer came, it was such a nice feeling to just relax and not really worry about anything. sometimes her parents decided to take a trip somewhere, but this year they had just stayed at home and did whatever they felt like. now jasmine was ready to get back to school and work hard to get excellent marks and graduate and start her adult life. she probably should start thinking about what she wanted to do. even though the year had just started, it was never to early. and jasmine hated not having a plan.

[LYSANDER JULIAN SCAMANDER]

lysander was attempting to picture jazzy running around the school taking points from people she didn't like and giving people detention for no reason. it was difficult to do, because first of all, he didn't think there was anyone that jazzy really hated and two, she was just too sweet to give detentions just to abuse her prefect power. she really was the perfect choice for a prefect, in his opinion. she was nice, kind and responsible. there wasn't an undecent bone in her body, by the looks of it. plus, she wanted to impress her professors and the headmaster. so she would do a good job this year. it would be nice to have at least one prefect who was going to do their job properly. sometimes he wondered how they managed to get their jobs. many of them certainly didn't deserve it.

talking about prefects, lysander wondered if she had come up here doing her rounds. how late was it? he hadn't really been keeping track, but he knew dinner had ended a little while ago. the sky wasn't dark yet, but it was still early september and the sun didn't set until late. was he up after curfew? it hadn't been that long, had it? and jazzy would have told him first thing, if that was the reason she was up there. so why was she there? did she like the stars too?

"so, what brings you up here? there isn't a class tonight, is there?" it would be disappointing if tonight there was a class. he had been looking forward to looking at the stars through a telescope for the first time since last june. "well then, what's keeping you from them?" he asked. homework wasn't a good enough answer for him, since he practically ignored the fact that it even existed. he didn't understand how people could sit so still for hours on end, writing essays or reading textbooks. it was ridiculous.

in the summer, lysander tended to get lazy. he would write his friends for the first couple weeks, and it would slowly decrease more and more until eventually, he hadn't written a letter in weeks. he spent most of the summer in his bedroom, writing songs or in the basement office with his mother, helping her out with the quibbler. it was obvious that once she retired, he would be the one taking it over. lorcan thought the magazine was nonsense. "did you do anything interesting this summer?" he asked.

most of the students in hogwarts always had some sort of cool story to tell about their holidays.

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[JASMINE ELIZABETH PARKER]

-- jasmine was glad she hadn't been forced to take points from the houses. most of the students were responsible. it was usually the older ones that gave her trouble. she remembered when her parents had sat her down and talked to her about being fair and responsible. of course this wasn't the first time she had heard the speech. jasmine didn't know how she would disappoint more, her parents and teachers, or herself, if she abused her powers.

-- "partly that, and i just wanted some peace and quiet. people were annoying me. but you are excluded from that. i'm really glad i ran into you up here!" jasmine said, smiling happily. lysander wasn't like her other friends, which was a wonderful thing. she never got bored talking to him. with the girls, conversations always led to gossip or talk about boys. not that she didn't enjoy it sometimes, but it got old. guys were just guys, and she really couldn't have a deep conversation with them. but lysander was just himself, and jasmine could really just be herself around him. "i don't think there's a class tonight. i'm pretty sure, anyway." she said, shrugging.

-- she pondered for a moment. "i really don't know." she laughed. "goodness, i'm so silly. i guess i just think everyone is busy or something." jasmine shook her head. "not really. my parents and i took a few trips to odd places. i really wanted to go to germany, but my parents said they would take me after the end of the year, as a graduation present." it would be wonderful to see the places her grandma grew up in as a child. maybe see some relatives and hear more stories and such. surely she had to have relatives back in germany, even though her mother hardly talked about them.

-- "what about you?! surely your summer was more eventful than mine!" jasmine said, waiting for some great story. she always figured other students did wonderful and exciting things. her parents were usually just too busy to leave for very long. and she liked staying at home and getting caught up on all the reading she missed while at school, and just hang out with her parents and just do whatever she wanted.