Starlight ||OPEN||

[ROSE MARA WEASLEY]

Rose Mara Wealsey perched on the frigid stone floor of the Astronomy tower, parchment in lap, plume in hand. The moon had already crept out from its hiding place and greeted the red headed girl with a blanket of luminous beams, the light seeming to pour straight from heaven and into the castle. It was beautiful in its own, subtle way, like a normally plain looking woman with a certain secret gleaming in her eyes. The night in general was quiet, unmoving, peaceful, and very, very cold. She wiped her runny nose, hacked like a miserable old wench, and readjusted her coat. You see, Rose was sick as a dog.

She found herself up in the astronomy tower partially because it was a good place to think and partially because her dorm had struck her as utterly depressing, what with it being empty and all. Everyone else had happily hiked their way back home for the holidays and Rose, on the other hand, had taken the sacrifice to stay back, so as to not get everyone else sick. Well, that was kind of true. Another reason for her wanting to stay back was because, when a person is sick in her household, they're showered with unwanted attention- especially from mum who doddles over them with all sorts of syrups and health tips and nagging. It's utterly impossible to get the rest a sick person wants most.

So, she had stayed at Hogwarts. It wasn't all bad, she reckoned. She absolutely adored the castle, and there were plenty of people who had stayed behind as well. Still, she couldn't help but wish she hadn't caught whatever it was that she had. She waved the pessimistic thoughts away to continue scribbling down thoughtless words in her casually feminine handwriting. She was currently writing a letter to her dearest parents (whom of which insisted she wrote every other bloody day when she told them she decided she'd rather stay at Hogwarts than go home).

'Dear Mum, Dad, and Hugo,
I hope you're having tons of fun. Enjoy your Christmas as best as you can. Tell everyone that I'm sorry I had to stay back but we couldn't risk having a house full of sick Weasleys and we all know how horrid our immune systems are. Don't worry a bit about me; I'm managing to have a blast!' she wrote, not a single ounce of truth in the message. "Oh yeah, a total blast." she mumbled bitterly, coughing again and pouting to no one in particular. Rose was nothing but a pathetic carcass of her normal self, drained of her usual pep and cheer. She looked a mess, and felt a mess. She hadn't bothered making herself up. After all, she was sick and it wasn't like she would be seeing anyone but the glimmering stars here in the astronomy tower...




WORD COUNT: quality over quantity! (but a couple paragraphs would be nice)
STATUS: open
TAGS: anyone willing~
LYRICS: Starlight by Muse ( listen. :})
TEMPLATE BY: me!

[HAILEY LONGBOTTOM]

“Why am I awake?” Hailey murmured again, for perhaps the fifth time that night. It wasn’t like her to be up at this time. In fact, she was supposed to have been asleep awhile ago. It might have been simply because it was the holidays. She had no classes to attend, no essays to write, and so she apparently had no real reason to be in bed so early. In fact, it wasn’t even that late. It just felt so to Hailey because she had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do. Most had returned home for the Christmas break and it was rather quiet around Hogwarts. Hailey had stayed behind, not entirely sure why, but she had. Maybe it was that she didn’t want her parents bothering her about the status of where she stood on her allegiance. On the fence, was where, incase you were wondering. Hailey was still neutral and she planned to keep it that way until the entire thing was over. Nothing was going to change that. An annoyed sigh passed her lips and she folded her arms over her chest. Standing here, by a window in the common room, wasn’t helping with her situation. She was still bored out of her mind and not at all ready to curl up in bed. Wearing her pajamas hadn’t helped either, but they were quite comfy. Maybe a nice little stroll would help. Hailey grabbed a blanket from the couch and pulled it around her shoulders, and headed out of the Ravenclaw tower.

Her slippers made sssh-sshing sounds on the floor and she felt some need to pick her feet up as she walked, if only to make less noise. It wasn’t to big a deal, she decided shortly. It was the holidays after all. What sort of professor would scold her for being out right now, in her pajamas, nonetheless? Quite unsure of where to go, Hailey paused at the staircases and first glanced down, and then up. The fifth floor could take her many places. Deciding to do something she usually didn’t, Hailey closed her eyes and spun in a circle one, two, four times before stopping and looking to where she would be going. A corridor that looked familiar, but she wasn’t quite sure in the dim lighting of the landing. Hailey shrugged and headed down the hall, following her heart more so than anything else. Eventually, it all became familiar and she realized that her heart was taking her to the Astronomy tower. This worked out quite well, actually. What was more relaxing than time spent watching the stars? The further she traveled, the colder it got, until she finally reached the spiraling staircase leading to the top. Hailey took a deep breath and could, even from here, feel the fresh air in her lungs. She began up the steps, careful to not trip over her blanket-cape, and trying to ignore the dropping temperature.

Reaching the top step, the last one, Hailey looked around and was quite surprised to see that she was not alone. The girl’s back was to Hailey and she was sitting on the stone floor, hunched over what was most likely either a book or a letter or perhaps a sketching pad. It took a moment for Hailey’s eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness granted by the moonlight and she soon realized the girl in front of her was also in Ravenclaw. Hailey would know that bright red hair anywhere, any time. “Rose?” she spoke softly, hoping not to surprise her. She could hear her mutter something and that was followed by a cough and a few sniffles. Hailey moved closer until she was standing beside her friend. She knelt down and peered at the fifth year. “Rose, you’re sick!” Brilliant observation, her sub-conscious teased. “What’re you doing up here? You should be in bed!” Hailey glanced to the parchment Rose had been writing on and saw that it was a letter to her family. Hailey looked back to Rose and tried to look less concerned when, in reality, she was quite worried.