Chasing Shadows (Rubi / Open)

[Olivia Watson]

Olivia was waiting on a text message as she poked around the kitchen for something to spark her interest. The coffee machine was technically off limits but nobody had told the House Elves that students weren't allowed extra-strong cappuccino's and so she was left to her own devices as Tetris bustled around fixing her coffee. Where it not for DADA class she'd have skipped off to town hours ago but instead she was left hanging around wondering what to do with herself, now that Storm had graduated Olivia realised she was probably going to be forced to socialise with the other students.. this was something that tended to have not gone down so well in the past and so far she'd left to the occasional waves hello and keeping her head down now that she was a seventh year. Olivia didn't know what to think about that, she'd almost flunked out of her last wizarding school and there was no way possible that she could ever meet Storm's grade last year. The best she could hope for was to pass and maybe get a Exceeds Expectations if she was lucky.

Taking her mug of coffee from the house elf she gave a brief smile in thanks before putting it on the coffee table and sinking into the couch, technically she was studying though exactly how reading a Stig Larson novel counted towards study was anyone's guess but there was only so long she could try memorizing the names of famous wizards without falling asleep. Just as she was settling in there was a soft 'brzzzz' of her phone vibrating on the table, Olivia pushed aside her rather the worse for wear looking pigmy puff only to watch it roll onto the floor... sometimes she wondered if Doc wasn't intentionally trying to get away from her. Olivia was about to get up and pick him up when someone else walked in.. humm.. what was her name again? Olivia was disgraceful when it came to remembering peoples names.. it was one of the things about not being able to talk to people that she tended to have trouble committing them to memory unless they had done something noteworthy like fall off the roof or something. Either way she was trying to turn over a new leaf this year...as she had been attempting every year before her usual giving up and deciding people where just not worth it. She didn't know much about the girl.. actually it was better to say she knew close to nothing and so she just held her hand up in a brief 'Hello'. See, she was being social, people should be proud!

[Rubi Day]

Rubi was lost in her thoughts as she wandered around, un-sure of exactly where to go. Being the new student had never really appealed to her, but she'd heard this school was good and so she'd wished to go. She wondered how Mia was doing, and felt guilty for going away all year whilst Benji was left at home to take care of her, take her to work and all. But, she figured that she had no choice so she didn't let the guilt completely consume her thoughts. As Rubi walked, she stumbled upon the doors to the outside world and she peered out there. The trees swayed lightly in the soft winds and the clouds were beginning to relent and allow the sun to shine through. Rubi hoped that she'd be allowed to climb the trees out there, for they looked tall and easy to climb with many sweeping, thick branches. She turned her head with a soft sigh and continued walking until she reached the kitchen - which had been her main goal.

Rubi saw another girl in the kitchen, but she'd never been all to good at approaching people, so she pretended not to notice her as the house elf trotted up to her and asked what she'd like. "Hot chocolate, please." She mumbled softly, her eyes wide. She'd never adjusted to a lot of things within the magical world, and the house elves had been one of them. They were treated like slaves, and it made Rubi annoyed but she wasn't sure if she was allowed to help herself, meaning that she had to ask the elves. They seemed quite content - happy even - to make food, drinks and the likes for the girls here. The house elf returned with her hot chocolate and she took it gratefully. As Rubi moved past the girl to sit down, she lifted her head in greeting and Rubi halted in her path. "Hello," she said softly.

[Olivia Watson]

School was different with Storm gone and the year seemed to streach out longer then ever while her best friend was busy with University and all that. It wasn't that Olivia wasn't proud of her friend but it was hard to adjust to not seeing her every day when they where at school. Now she had to find other things to do with her time. It was all her own fault really for being kept down a year because there had been a 'Administration error' that had stopped the Ministry visiting her parents to explain the whole magic thing. Instead she'd just ended up with them thinking she was insane! Where it not for her coffee and all her stuff being spread out in front of the couch Olivia might have retired to her room rather then risk a run in with another student but she couldn't be bothered with the stairs and by the time she finished her coffee class would be starting and she'd have to just come down again.

Instead she eyed the new girl over the cover of her book, suspicious because she was honestly not very good at meeting new people.. especially when it came to knowing what to do when the other girl said 'hello'. A normal person would just talk but Olivia couldn't.. or at least not with her voice and so she signed / Hi / hoping it would be enough to avoid being rude, while at the same time warning the other girl not to expect too much. Taking a sip of her coffee she watched as the house elf wandered off to the TV room where Olivia could just hear the intro theme to The Cherry Clinger Show. Figuring that the new girl didn't know much about the place Olivia pulled out a piece of paper and wrote:

You must be new
Don't worry about the elves
they're 'Free' and work here.

- Olivia

before sliding the paper across to the other girl. Storm had been big on the whole creature-rights thing, though Olivia was more indifferent to the point that as long as people left her alone she couldn't quite get to see the big deal about S.P.E.W and all that stuff. Olivia knew she should have been more 'pro-active' about the whole thing but for the most part she'd just gone along to make Storm happy.

[Rubi Day]

It seemed that the other girl in the room didn't really want to talk to her, and Rubi was fine with that. She wasn't very talkative, after all, though it would've been nice to make a friend. Rubi didn't neccassarily need a friend, she was quite content to be a loner, as it meant she had more time to be herself and focus on her own enjoyments rather than making time to socialise with other people. She sipped from her hot chocolate and went to take a seat in a chair near the couch when the girl passed a note to her. As Rubi always did, her eyes flicked straight to the bottom to see the name and she smiled. Olivia was a lovely name, and it had many possible nicknames for it. Rubi hated that about her name, as you couldn't really give her a nickname that was shorter than her own name. Once she'd read the message, she flipped it to the back of the page and scribbled back a response.

Yeah, I am.
Okay, im just a little bit hesitant with the whole house elves thing, makes me think they're slaves.
- Rubi.

Rubi slid the note back over to Olivia and took her seat on the chair by the coach, her hot chocolate placed on the counter as she ran her pinky along the top of the mug, her eyes fixated on the wall. She liked this school, it had a more homely feel than her old one in Adelaide which had been big, gloomy and empty. Rubi preferred small houses to big ones, for the big ones were filled with an emptiness that small ones rarely had. She felt her phone bleep in her pocket, and when she pulled it out she saw she was about to run flat. She made a mental note to charge her phone later.

[Olivia Watson]

Olivia had always figured she'd be one of those 'aloof' seventh years who where too cool to hang around with anyone younger then themselves. Alas that had been deemed impossible the first time she'd seen the size of the Australian wizarding schools. It was too quiet Olivia thought as she watched the girl read her note, a small frown of suspicion as the other girl smiled. She hoped nobody had made a dare to try and get the 'weird' girl to talk, Olivia had been though that at her last school, the bullies never did let up but before you knew it you where in the top year levels and there was nobody else above to look down on you. Trying to remain indifferent Olivia organised her books as the girl wrote, it was funny how people seemed to always write back rather then talk, even when they where outside of classes and not about to get in trouble for making too much noise.

Waiting for the other girl she took the paper and adjusted her glasses before reading the rest of the note, Rubi.. that was a interesting name. For a moment Olivia didn't quite understand what Rubi meant by saying the elves where slaves, until she remembered one of her other classes had mentioned that house elves where usually slaves to their masters and where never allowed to go against their wishes.. even to the point of punishing themselves quite horribly. It was one of the things the books had been quite right about.

My friend Storm says you can
tell because they're wearing clothes

Olivia started to write, only to look up as she heard a mobile phone beep. It was funny that not many people had mobiles when she'd started Wizarding school and then all of a sudden they'd gotten really popular once other students started learning how they worked. That and of course new mobile phones worked better, her old one was always dropping calls when she was at school because of all the magic messing about with the signals or something. Comparing her own phone to the other girl Olivia felt glad she had gotten around to buying a new one last year, it had been embarrassing to be stuck with a old model that couldn't even get onto the internet or run apps. Her new one was much better though of course it wasn't a iPhone or anything, just a cheap touchscreen one with a slide out keyboard so she could write texts faster.

Sliding the note over to Rubi Olivia wondered if she should add the whole thing about being unable to talk, but then again Rubi would probably find out soon enough when class started. The good thing was that they where doing more non-verbal spells these years where she had a total advantage, it almost made up for all the embarrassment and trouble her first year when she couldn't do anything because nobody had taught her how to 'say' the spells in her head. Glancing at her own phone Olivia noticed a suspicious trail of crumbs leading from her phone to the box of 'The Authentic' Bertie Bott beans, she let out a quiet sigh as she picked her pigmy puff off the table and put him in her bag where he couldn't get into as much trouble (she hoped). Brushing away the bits of nibbled beans she offered the box to Rubi to help herself, Olivia wasn't a huge fan of lollies and especially not ones that had a chance of being utterly disgusting half the time.

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