* - - - Die For Me ~ Jaycen

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

She never took much notice of the ceiling before. She knew it was an intricate design, something like what could be seen in parts of the castle, but she have never taken the time to really admire it. Instead she was often found with her head down, reading a book. It was pretty, all the different colours, like mosaic tiles except there was no gaps between tiles, no grout of any kind. It was seamless and oh so pretty. She wondered if anyone else took the time to look up at the roof. Probably not, she thought, who would spend their time in a bathtub looking up when people could simply fall asleep sitting here. She heard Jaycen speak yet didnt really pay attention to it.

She heard rustling of clothes. Ah so he was going to use the bath, was it simply because of the truce or because he wanted to now. Well she guessed it didn’t matter, they were being nice to one another and she hoped it would last. She figured if it didn’t, they could try around laugh at the idea of it and how stupid it was before insulting each other again, everything would go back to the way it always had been.

What did one do or say to their enemy after making a truce when all conversation seemed to have died down, she silently wondered. Hearing someone enter into the tub, she kept her eyes firmly up at the ceiling, afraid that if she snuck a peek she'd see something she'd like. A moment later Jaycen spoke, saying that it was much better and she took that as a sign that she could lower her gaze.
"Glad you listened to me?" she asked, meaning nothing by it as she smiled for what seemed like the millionth time since the truce only moments ago. Who knew Jaycen could make her smile so much, actually why was he making her smile so much, enemies with a truce should be smiling too much. Was there perhaps more behind it all? No, she told herself sternly, there was nothing, it was just her being friendly, yeah that was all, no emotional attachment, no feelings. Wait what did she just think, her having feeling for him, nope that wasn’t possible, well besides the whole hating one another for the past 6 years feeling. But she didn’t think that was what her mind thought. Merlin she needed to get a cleaner, more innocent mind. There was absolutely no feelings whatsoever, hatred couldn’t become anything other than hatred...right? A light tinge appeared on her cheeks, great now she was damn blushing. Turning her head, she wondered if Jaycen noticed it or not. She needed to do something, to keep herself busy. Reading her book would just be plain rude and well she wasn’t quiet ready to get out of the bath just yet. Her eyes fell on her bottle of body wash on the rim of the bath. Did Jaycen even bring soap...ah she could have hit herself then instead she pinched her leg, cause a sharp little pain to distract her.

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

What if one of the other prefects wandered in at this moment? It wasn't like the head boy and girl were the only ones allowed to know the password to this room... sure, not every student in the school could walk inside, but it was in no way a private room. It wouldn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence in the professionality of the head students if one of their charges or even a teacher walked inside to see them sharing the bath like this... not that there was too much professionalism between them, anyway. Professionals didn't loathe their co-workers and make no attempt to hide it from the said co-worker, right? But it was a large bath. If it wasn't, Jayce would never have gotten in.

The corner of his mouth twitched at her comment as he opened his eyes to look at the head girl. "...Maybe, but don't spread it around," he said, flashing her a quick grin before once more closing his eyes. Again he had to question his sanity. He was grinning at her, without it being mocking or a flustered mistake or anything! He was joking with her without any sort of snide remarks mixed in or sarcasm or plain old disdain hidden in his tone! The possibilities for this weird mood that circulated through his head seemed rather repetitive now... illness, lack of sleep, maybe he was drugged or had sniffed in some sort of mind impairing scent in potion's class... His brain hurt just thinking of how weird and, quite possibly, wrong this was, so he relaxed, leaning back a bit, just listening to the water and sweet silence of the room. The rest of the school might laugh at prefects sometimes for being all goody-goody, but they had no idea on what they were missing out on as far as the 'secret' private spaces that only prefects got access to went. Well, really this was the only one, but it was awesome to not have to share one of the many other bathrooms throughout the school with countless other students. You were generally almost guaranteed privacy here... today obviously being an exception.

When he opened his eyes again, only a few moments later, his eyes narrowed slightly at the blonde, though for once not in irritation or hatred but worry. Her cheeks were reddened, almost as though she were ill or something. "Are you alright? You look-" there was the slightest pause as he realized that the redness on her cheeks could possibly not be from feeling ill or anything or the sort... but that was silly. There was no reason for her to be blushing around him. None whatsoever. "er, flushed."

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

She caught his smile and laughed as he spoke, telling her not to spread it around. Oh she didn’t dare dream of it...well ok only in her dreams but she didn’t want to break the truce, not over something as stupid as a few words. Raychel was determined to at least try and keep the peace between them, how hard could it be? They had already lasted over five minutes without having a go at each other, surely they could last until the end of the year, or at least until the end of their NEWTs exams. She tried to imagine what people would think or say when they saw them getting alone, perhaps they might think the end of the world was coming. But what was to say that they couldn’t change, they weren’t children in their first years anymore, wasn’t it about time to make a change, and well that’s what they were attempting and it was all his idea. So it seemed that he must have thought along the same lines as she did.
"Oh I won't dare," she assured him.

Oh damn, Raychel thought as he spoke, asking if she was alright. Damn it, why did he have to be observant...actually why had he been looking at her in the first place, she wondered. She looked flushed? Now how was she going to get out of this one, she asked herself, maybe she could answer him by asking a question, find out exactly why he was looking at her instead of somewhere else. No she didn’t want to seem too defensive.
"Oh am I?" she asked, reaching up to touch her cheek, "It is quite warm in here, it must be the heat." Ah blame it on the heat, she thought, very original...not. But how was he suppose to know that it wasn’t the heat? That was her story and she was sticking to it.
"No need to worry," she added, having detected the slight hint of worry in his voice. All she wanted to do was submerge herself underwater and forget the past minute.

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

Only a few months ago, hell, only a few hours ago, wouldn't he and Raychel have done everything in their respective powers to annoy the other? To make their blood boil and their faces set into permanent scowls? Even if they didn't actually tell others of what it was that would be so uncomfortable or humiliating for the other, they would milk the taunting and teasing for every drop it was worth just to see the fury in their victim's eyes? If Jayce had been in Raychel's position, and the truce wasn't going on, he would have used even a simple comment like 'don't spread it around' to his advantage. Mind you, if the truce were not on that little comment would not have happened in the first place. It was kind of weird, how the truce was making them act. A few words were meaningless as far as a deal went. Hell, anything was meaningless as far as a deal went. Words could be gone back on, and even written oaths could be broken. Only one type of oath couldn't be broken on human will, which would be the unbreakable vow, and that was way too extreme for a little feud between some seventh years. Their deal wouldn't be working if each of them didn't want it to work, which he supposed boded well for their future.

"Ah... yeah. The heat. Right." He was quick to accept that excuse, because there could be no other reason for her flushing, and she didn't look sick or anything... at least, he hoped she wasn't sick. He wasn't keen on the idea of her throwing up in front of him, or worse in the same water that he was currently lounging in. It would be unsanitary, to say the least. "Don't worry, I won't." Did that sound to harsh? There was really no other way to phrase it...

He wasn't sure what time it was at this point. Fifteen minutes could have passed since he walked into the room, or nearly an hour. No matter how late it might be getting, he could catch up on his sleep tomorrow. No, he wouldn't skip any classes to get some shut-eye, he'd just rest early. He wasn't supposed to be on any patrols tomorrow evening, there was no quidditch practice, and hopefully not too much homework. Even if he couldn't find the time to get some rest, big deal. He wasn't a little kid. Still, he felt as though he could almost fall asleep in the water. It was too relaxing in the water, despite company, so he spent a few moments of silence before speaking again.

"This isn't so hard, hey? We can manage it for another nine months or so... and then we never have to speak to each other again." He laughed slightly at an idea that crossed his mind, his tone portraying how ridiculous he thought it was. "Unless you're hoping to head to St. Mungo's afterwards, too." The thousands of jobs available in the wizarding world, not to mention those available in the muggle world if a wizard wanted to pull the strings to get one... what were the chances that the two of them could possibly have the same goals?

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

[atrb=style,background-image: url('http://www.desktopwallpaperhd.com/wallpapers/27/23276.jpg');,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][cs=2] if i leave my heart with you tonight promise me that you're gonna treat it right.

It sounded like he didn’t believe her. And why should he anyways? Could he see through the lie, perhaps, it was one of the oh so many common lies people used. Ah well she'd just forget about it and hopefully he wouldn’t bring it up. She sighed. It was so peaceful she could go to sleep and drift forever. She feared she would have done just that if Jaycen wasn’t sitting there. She heard him speak, breaking the silence, although she didn’t mind. She didn’t shudder at the sound of his voice, nor did she want to claw his throat out to make him stop talking, in fact she found it pleasant to listen to. What was she thinking, only a few hours ago she hated the sound of his voice and now she found it pleasant. She was losing it, she had to be. Manage it for another nine months. Yes, she thought, they could. Nine months wasn’t that long and through that there would be holidays, she'd get a break and not have to see or hear him for a couple of weeks. Yes they could definitely do this. The goal at the end of it was rewarding, not having to see or hear from him again after Hogwarts. She wished the school year could hurry up. She nodded towards him, agreeing that they could last nine months. But then the joy within her crashed with his next words. What did he mean by that...oh hell no, she thought. He couldn’t possibly be thinking of going there too. That would just not do, she wanted to get far away from him, not have to spend years working next to him. Couldn’t he have chosen another career, why did it have to be as a healer? "I'm not hoping," she replied, "I’m know I’m going there." She had a purpose as a healer, what purpose did he have. She vowed when she saw her twin die that she would help people, she would help develop cures for things such as those that claimed her sister. She would devote her life to saving others. "Why do you want to work at the hospital?" she asked, trying to figure out what reason he had to go, what purpose did he have? LISTEN UP! THIS POST IS FOR JAYCEN. IT HAS 380 WORDS. BY THE WAY, N/A. OH, AND THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY DUCK DUCK'S NOT A GOOSE AT CAUTION 2.0. DON'T STEAL. IT'S DOUCHEY.

[/COLOR][/div][/center][/td][/tr]
[/table]
[/center]

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

So… no luck on the ‘let’s remember that we’ll be rid of each other after this year!’ point. Jayce found himself rather unsettled when she assured him that she was heading to that hospital, too. Unsettled because… he should be annoyed that he wouldn’t be able to escape it, but there was that damned stupid voice in the back of his head suggesting that maybe being around her some more would be a good thing. Why the hell would it be a good thing? This encounter, this conversation, was a once in a lifetime occurrence. Never before had the pair said so many civil words to each other without a curse of the swearing or magic variety. For it to continue past school was pathetically optimistic, and Jayce for one did not want to lose his first job for arguing with a co-worker, however downright she might be. There was no reason that their being in the same work environment could possibly be a good thing. The voice in his head was just optimistic.

“You’re sure of himself…” he observed almost monotonously. Of course, he was rather sure he’d end up at St. Mungo’s, too. He definitely had the brains and grades for the job, and he doubted there were few more qualified than he. Okay, that sounded a bit jackassy. What he meant was, he doubted there were few who’d had this in mind for so many years to do the research and planning into it so that they could at least get an internship at the hospital as soon as they graduated their magical schooling.

“Maybe we won’t end up at the same hospital,” he reasoned aloud, more to himself than her though it seemed the words were spoken to her. “I mean, there are many out there…” but he knew that thought was ridiculous, even as he spoke it. Sure, many villages here and there would have magical hospitals, you couldn’t expect one to take care of all magical injuries, but since deciding in the very beginning of his fourth year that he wanted to be a healer, his mind was always on going to St. Mungo’s. Never to St. Albert’s Hospital for the Magically Crippled or whatever whacked up names other hospitals might have. He assumed Raychel was much the same. If you wanted to be a healer, you set your sights at the best hospital where you could be the most help. That was clearly St. Mungo’s.

As ‘great’ as it might be for Jayce to claim that he had some awe-inspiring story that set up his goals to be a healer… he didn’t. Everyone in his small family of three was healthy and, his parents each being only children as well, he had no aunts or uncles devastated by terrible diseases that only a healer could cure. He wasn’t one of those guys inspired to be something by a great tragedy, or even by hearing of another’s tragedy. He was just… him. That didn’t mean that he was any less serious of his goals, though. He knew how to dedicate himself to a cause. It was what he did as a beater, or the head boy, or even the champion. When he had a goal in mind he stuck with it, no matter how difficult it might be.

“It’s the profession that’d piss my father off the most,” he joked with a slight grin. While that was partially true, it wasn’t his reasoning for being a healer. If his only goal in a career was to annoy the hell out of his pro-pureblood parents, he would go for aurorship which was, in his father’s mind, ‘the most obvious mark of idiocy out there’. Ironic coming from a guy who’d vocally wished in front of Jayce, many times, that the dark mark was still used to show ‘the faithful’. “In all seriousness, though… I don’t know. It’s like a contagious idea that popped in my head in the fourth year. I want to be of some use. I want to help. What better way to do that than to be a healer?”

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

[atrb=style,background-image: url('http://www.desktopwallpaperhd.com/wallpapers/27/23276.jpg');,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][cs=2] if i leave my heart with you tonight promise me that you're gonna treat it right.

Of course she was sure, she was positive, the hospital would be losing out of what could be one of their finest healers if they didn’t accept her, but still she was determined to get into that place, even if she had to work her way through many other magical hospitals. Heck she'd go and work in a muggle hospital if she had to, although she didn’t like the idea of sitting down in some room writing theory about diagnosing patients, finding what drugs would work for them and such. Magic was a little easier, a swish of a wand, a goblet of potion, yea she could see how easier it was compared to a muggle hospital. But that didn’t mean St Mungos wasn’t good, it was by far the best hospital she knew of in both worlds. Muggles, if only they knew magic exists, she could just imagine them trying to recruit healers from the magical hospitals. There were a lot out there, she nodded agreeing with him, but she had already set her sights on St Mungos and that was where she was going no matter what. This was a completely different side of Jaycen, one she had never seen before. Not once had he spoken about his father in front of her, even though their constant bickering. And then he went on saying that it was like a contagious idea that popped into his head. Jaycen caring and wanting to help people, honestly she couldn’t see it, but then that perhaps was because she had seen the other side of him. Jaycen was full of surprises, first the truce, now the caring side of him, what was next, she wondered. Once more she nodded, allowing him to finish. He said it all in one sentence, what better way to help than to become a healer. Sure they could help by catching dark wizards and such like the aurors and hit wizards do, but there was something about the fact that as a healer, you could save people's lives, even if they were on the brink of death. Being a healer was a miracle in itself. "I want to help others too, I don’t want to feel so helpless again," she spoke more to herself, but loud enough for him to hear. She of course was referring to her sister's death, oh how helpless she felt back then, pleading with the healers to do everything and anything they could to help her, but in the end there was nothing she could do, nothing they could do. From the end of her second year she knew that was what she wanted to do, to help find cures, to help save peoples’ lives. LISTEN UP! THIS POST IS FOR JAYCEN. IT HAS 453 WORDS. BY THE WAY, N/A. OH, AND THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY DUCK DUCK'S NOT A GOOSE AT CAUTION 2.0. DON'T STEAL. IT'S DOUCHEY.

[/COLOR][/div][/center][/td][/tr]
[/table]
[/center]

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

Contrary to the beliefs of those who didn’t like him, which Raychel proved to be among for the last six years, Jaycen was not a bad guy. He was more than capable of being an idiot or asshole sometimes, but all teenagers were. It went with the age range. It was just moreso those that knew him well, like Molly and Layla for example, that were most exposed to the caring side of him. It was generally an emotion extended to those less… capable than him. Not that he was trying to put down anyone he had ever helped out, or felt protective towards, but especially to younger students, or as a healer the ill, he had a strong urge to look after them and make sure they were all right. He hoped that that was a trait that would help him succeed as a healer. He couldn’t imagine it ever being a burdan, anyway. Empathy was never not a good thing to have.

He barely even realized that he’d let the comment about his father slip. He never mentioned his parents. In fact, the only two people who knew of the tension that existed between himself and them, moreso with his father though, would be Layla and Molly. He doubted even his ‘dear’ betrothed understood that this engagement had been a clearly desperate attempt by his father to rope Jayce in once more, and Jaycen was determined that it would fail if he could only work up the nerve to say so… He’d realized that Summer that, despite all of his attempts, there was no way to make his father accept him without becoming practically a mini-clone of the man. Thankfully, one way or another, he’d have to finally get his freedom soon. After all, how long could Soren Tate delude himself by thinking that he’d keep watch on his son when Jayce was living on his own after graduating Hogwarts?

“Er… sorry?” he asked, in way of saying he didn’t understand what she meant. Cool, collected, perfectly professional Raychel Entwhistle… when could she ever have felt helpless enough to drive her into a profession? If there was ever an example of a woman in control of her life, even at the age of seventeen, it would be Raychel. She always seemed so sure, so confident, and so independent because of her own abilities… maybe that was kind of what his issue with her was. Er… well, if you wanted to do the whole psychoanalysis thing, which Jayce wasn’t fond of doing on himself. He’d let himself be controlled entirely by his dad for a superficial relationship with a man he’d never really earn the respect of, anyways. He didn’t really know what it was like to be in complete control of your own life, so jealousy could easily make him lash out at her… oh jeez, what the hell was the point of thinking like that? There was no other reason for the tension between himself and Raychel than the fact that she was an annoying girl intent on getting under his skin since their first days at the school. Case and point.

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

[atrb=style,background-image: url('http://www.desktopwallpaperhd.com/wallpapers/27/23276.jpg');,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][cs=2] if i leave my heart with you tonight promise me that you're gonna treat it right.

“Er… sorry?” was all he said. Sorry for what, that he hadn’t actually heard her or sorry because he had no idea what she was on about. She leaned more towards the latter; he would have had to have heard to reply right. Oh how quickly people forgot the dead. Well it wasn’t like he knew of her twin right. After all she had been placed in Gryffindor. Maybe he saw the two of them together, but it was five years ago. Five years, wow she thought, it had been that long. It seemed like only yesterday it happened, she remembered every little detail of that day. Glancing down at the water, some of her curly hair hung in her face. How could she tell him? It still hurt thinking about it. Did he know why she was never in class on the seventeenth of February? Did he wonder why he also had a peaceful day? She bit her lip, closing her eyes hoping that the tears didn’t prick at her eyes every time she thought about it. Oh she thought about her sister often, it was just that one day, that one memory that always got to her. Would he even care to listen? Well he has sorta asked, right? Taking a deep breath, she moved her hands through the water, letting the ripples float away before more were created. How long had she remained silent, thinking of her sister, she wondered. She might as well just tell him, get it over and done with. So what if he saw her cry, it wasn’t like anyone hadn’t before. "My twin sister, Claire, she died and I felt so helpless watching it happen," she spoke, not opening her eyes or moving her head, not even bothering to brush her blonde locks away. "It happened near the end of second year, I don’t know if you noticed I was gone, I suppose you would have with the peace and quiet that you got." She smirked at the thought, feeling the familiar pressure behind her eyes. "Claire had cancer; inoperable cancer. Neither muggle nor magical hospital could help, no matter how much begging and pleading I did; there was nothing to save her." She felt the first tear leak from her eyes and she was glad her hair was in the way. But she didn’t want to cry, not in front of him, she willed herself not to, but the tears didn’t listen to her, instead the flowed more. LISTEN UP! THIS POST IS FOR JAYCEN. IT HAS 417 WORDS. BY THE WAY, N/A. OH, AND THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY DUCK DUCK'S NOT A GOOSE AT CAUTION 2.0. DON'T STEAL. IT'S DOUCHEY.

[/COLOR][/div][/center][/td][/tr]
[/table]
[/center]

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

This was the wrong train of conversation to go on. He should have changed the topic, or just sat in silence instead of commenting on what she’d said. C’mon, if someone is talking about feeling helpless, do you really think they want to relive that experience? a voice in the back of his mind scolded him. But it wasn’t as though Jayce could take back what he’d asked with a joking smile and a ‘so, how about this weather, eh?’ Raychel had gone extremely quiet, her mind was clearly already on whatever it was that had made her feel so terrible, and it was rather clear there was no going back. Jayce just hoped that thinking about whatever it was wasn’t making her too happy. He didn’t even bother to question why he didn’t want her unhappy right now. It was all right to torment her on his own sometimes when they weren’t getting along, but no one deserved to think about something that tormented them as clearly as whatever this was seemed to torment Raychel.

"My twin sister, Claire, she died and I felt so helpless watching it happen," Okay, now Jaycen felt really bad. He didn’t know… but he should have known. There were a lot of tragedies that cut through families in the wizarding world… spells gone wrong, flying accidents, and illnesses. It would be impossible to remember them all, especially when you didn’t care for the person that was affected by a tragedy, but still… Raychel was in his year. She was in his house. He should have known what had happened to her sister, instead of not even really remembering she had one. He had faint memories of her hanging around a girl that looked exactly like her, but those had been years ago and he’d never really thought of them since, attributing them to a kids memory and possibly dreams.

"It happened near the end of second year, I don’t know if you noticed I was gone, I suppose you would have with the peace and quiet that you got.” Jaycen honestly felt completely horrible, both for not remembering about her sister and that Raychel would think he’d be happy of a death just because he gave him a bit of peace. Mind you, she probably hadn’t meant it like that… of course she hadn’t. Still, he felt terrible. "Claire had cancer; inoperable cancer. Neither muggle nor magical hospital could help, no matter how much begging and pleading I did; there was nothing to save her."

Her beautiful hair was blocking his view of her face well, but he could still see her shoulders shake slightly. His normal reaction would be that she was laughing, probably at him, but that would be in any other situation on any other day. No, she was definitely crying, which made the head boy feel even worse. He felt like he needed to- he wanted to cheer her up, but what could he say? If it were Layla or Molly who was upset like this he was sure he could make them smile with a hug and a joke or something, but neither would fit in this scenario. More likely they would get him punched… actually, they certainly would get him punched. But he had to do something.

“I’m sorry…” his voice sounding so soft and gentle in her presence was more than weird. “I… I didn’t know. I guess I had tunnel vision back then.” He sighed, wishing words to cheer her up would flow as easily out of his mouth as insults and arguments did. "My... my mother's side of the family has this belief... even if people we care about that we lose don't come back as ghosts, the belief is that they're still around with us, and we just can't see them. So... she's still with you, and she'll always be in a way... and if she's anything like you I'm sure she'd be insanely proud of you." He shouldn't have opened his mouth. It sounded like the normal spiel someone would shoot off when they heard someone else's friend died, and in a way it was, just with the added 'my family believes in weird things' element. He'd just wanted to cheer her up, but he feared that she might just get pissed at him. After all, what right did he have to try and cheer her up after making her life hell for six years? Either that, or she'd just laugh at him... he was expecting either.

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

[atrb=style,background-image: url('http://www.desktopwallpaperhd.com/wallpapers/27/23276.jpg');,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][cs=2] if i leave my heart with you tonight promise me that you're gonna treat it right.

The tears just kept coming and she wished that she did not have the ability to cry. Why did she have to break down right there? Why couldn’t she have at least waited until she was alone? But no fate decided that she was to cry right this very moment, and in front of Jaycen of all people. She hated crying in front of people, she hated that one human weakness. No doubt her eyes were red and puffy but she just couldn’t stop, no matter how much she willed herself to, they just kept coming. Stupid damn tears she thought as she raised a hand to wipe at her cheeks. Why oh why did people have the ability to cry. She focused on breathing, taking deep breaths to calm her down, to help stop her tears. It was quiet for what seemed like hours before she heard him; his voice was soft, caring. Something she would never expect him to show in front of her. Raychel sat there, listening to him. He didn’t know, how could he not know? Did he not wonder why she wasn’t at school, why he had peace and quiet for a while. Maybe he couldn’t think that far back. It was after all near the end of second year. His mother's side of the family that had to be the first time she heard him speak about his mother's family as well. She nodded; she had something of a similar belief. She believed her sister was roaming around with the stars, the way she always went on about them; it was where Claire would have gone. It was why she was often in the astronomy tower; she'd sit and watch the stars all day and night if she could. There were often times where she missed out on dinner because of it and it was only when Izzy came to her with food that she'd realise what time it was. "I..." she took yet another deep breath, "I wish it was me instead of her. She was always the one that seemed like nothing could touch her, always laughing and having a good time. It was because of her I got my love for the stars and quidditch." She wiped at her face again, the tears were slowly stopping, "She tried out for the Gryffindor team and got on, so I tried out. We both were chasers and she was great, she would have been a professional player if she lived to graduate. It’s because of her that I continued with quidditch." It felt surprisingly good to talk to him, to tell him things that she hadn’t even told Izzy yet. No matter how many times Izzy tried getting her to talk about it, she would always change the subject. "I hate my birthday because it’s a reminder that she's not here," she cupped her hands under the water before splashing her face, letting the warmth soak in and wash the tears away. She had stopped crying, she didn’t realise until now. Perhaps all she needed to do was talk. She still didn’t dare show her face. She knew from countless times of having looked in a mirror after she cried that it would be red, and her eyes would be puffy. "I'm not the perfect person you think I am, Jaycen. I am far from perfect. My sister was more perfect than me," she added after a moment of silence. LISTEN UP! THIS POST IS FOR JAYCEN. IT HAS 577 WORDS. BY THE WAY, N/A. OH, AND THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY DUCK DUCK'S NOT A GOOSE AT CAUTION 2.0. DON'T STEAL. IT'S DOUCHEY.

[/COLOR][/div][/center][/td][/tr]
[/table]
[/center]

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

Jaycen felt terrible… watching her cry, feeling completely helpless to stop it, and wanting to stop it. This wasn’t like she was upset because he was being a complete asshole to him. This type of sadness shining in her eyes was so different than the anger and frustration he always saw in her when he was bugging the hell out of her… there was no satisfaction in it, of course. No matter how terrible he had been to her in the past few years, he always wanted to annoy her. To make her scream in anger. He never wanted to just make her sad like this, so seeing her upset in this way was a far different effect than any other clear emotion he’d seen in her before. But all he could do to help her seemed to be to ramble like some damned fool, which would probably only succeed in making her laugh, mocking him for his idiocy. While that might bring a smile to her face, it wasn’t what he wanted to happen because it wouldn’t be a real smile lighting up her features… it would be harsh, and cynical instead.

This was obviously a vulnerability Jaycen had never seen in Raychel before. All the emotion he’d ever seen from her before had been, most often anger, or frustration, or something negative aimed towards him… never this. She’d never opened up to him about her family, especially not her sister, just as he’d never told her of his trials with his father, which all seemed rather trivial compared to Raychel and her sister. He felt rather spoiled, right now. He could mope and whine about how unfair and demanding his dad was, but here Raychel had experienced a real tragedy in her life… she had something clear to whine and cry over, not just the moping of a teenage boy. Suddenly Jaycen felt rather shallow.

“Don’t…” he found himself urging, though he was barely even aware of his mouth opening to speak the words. They just… came, without much thought or encouragement from his brain. “Don’t wish for that, Raychel. It’s not fair to yourself. Your sister… she sounds like an amazing girl, but so are you.” Okay. That sounded so out of character for Jaycen that even warning sirens went off in his brain. ‘Danger! Danger! Getting too sappy! Back away slowly!’. But… okay, what was the harm in being a ‘little sappy’? Raychel needed to be cheered up, that was obvious, and if he found the right words he had the power to cheer her up. But Jayce… he wasn’t good at cheering people up! He never had to. Well, okay, there were moments with Layla and Molly, but those were hardly worth mentioning because they were so trivial. “You can’t sell yourself short, Raychel. You just can’t. What happened to your sister isn’t fair, but I’m sure she wouldn’t want you to be like this…” He was failing miserably, in his opinion. Sure, she hadn’t laughed at him when he’d spouted off his mother’s beliefs, but maybe she wouldn’t laugh when his ‘nonsense’ became too much. Maybe she’d just throw something at him, or grab her wand and hex him… regardless, he kept trying.

Her birthday… he didn’t know when that was for her, he’d never had a reason to take interest in it, but hating your birthday… that just wasn’t right. Not at all. A birthday should be celebrated, not dreaded because of the memories it brought. “Focus on the positive memories, then… don’t let them become terrible just because she’s not around any more. On your next birthday you’ll be… eighteen, right? It’s a big birthday, Raychel… your sister wouldn’t want you to be sad on it.”

She thought he thought she was perfect? Ha! He didn’t think that… well, he thought she was controlled. He thought she had the appearance of perfection down pat, and she had amazing confidence sometimes, but… it was impossible for he to think someone as aggravating as she had been before to him as perfect. “No one’s perfect… not you, not your sister, and certainly not me. Flaws make us human."

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

[atrb=style,background-image: url('http://www.desktopwallpaperhd.com/wallpapers/27/23276.jpg');,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][cs=2] if i leave my heart with you tonight promise me that you're gonna treat it right.

Don't wish for it? Why not, she thought. Would he want her to have traded places so that he didn’t have to argue and fight with her constantly. Maybe it was the truce talking. It wasn’t fair, he was right about that part, no one so young should have to die, at least not from what her sister had. That was more for older people, ones that had already lived their lives, how could someone allow a child's life to be taken when they have yet to live. Was that a compliment, did he mean it or was he just saying what he thought she wanted to hear? A faint smile appeared on her lips. Who knew Jaycen had it in him to act like this. "Thanks," she spoke softly. Was she really amazing? Was she half as good as what her sister was, she had no idea. Before tonight she would not have thought so, always at Jaycen's throat, trying to knock him down a peg or two and him trying to do the same to her. If they had gotten off on the right foot, she had no doubt that they could have been friends. Ha them friends, it was an almost impossible idea. Yes, he was once again right, her sister wouldn’t want this, if she were still alive, she'd tell her to build a bridge and get over it. It was just a waste of time crying over someone that wasn’t coming back, especially since it had been years. "Life and death is never fair," she added, this time brushing her hair from her face to look up at the ceiling. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him, not yet anyways. The way he spoke sounded as if he would have known Claire. She wouldn’t want anyone to be like this, she'd rather them be happy and loving life. She sighed heavily. Finally she glanced at him. Eighteen, yes that was her next birthday, one of the big ones. It was easier said than done, focusing on the good memories rather than the bad ones. They were often tied in with one another, it was hard to separate them. She nodded again, she didn’t know why but she was willing to try for him. "It so hard though, but she wouldn’t want this. I'll try," she said, making a silent promise. Did the great Jaycen Tate just say he wasn’t perfect? Her smile grew a little more. Flaws definitely made people human, she had many flaws about her, but to hear Jaycen actually admit was something she never thought she'd hear from him. "I'm sorry," she spoke after a while, "I don't usually burst into tears. I’ve not really spoken much about her. I haven’t even told Izzy all that I told you. I guess all I needed was to talk to someone and not keep it locked up. Thank you," she was sincere, she was thankful to him, maybe she wouldn’t change the topic from now on whether someone tried getting her to talk about her sister. LISTEN UP! THIS POST IS FOR JAYCEN. IT HAS 513 WORDS. BY THE WAY, NOTES. OH, AND THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY DUCK DUCK'S NOT A GOOSE AT CAUTION 2.0. DON'T STEAL. IT'S DOUCHEY.

[/COLOR][/div][/center][/td][/tr]
[/table]
[/center]

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

Jaycen allowed himself to relax a bit when he saw a small smile begin to curve her lips. Apparently, however stupid and awkward his encouragement and comfort might seem to him, it was doing at least some good in cheering up his counterpart. He still thought that she was likely only smiling because of his obvious extreme stupidity, but a smile was a smile and he would take it over the tears falling fast from her eyes any day. If someone had told him earlier this morning that he would be trying to make Raychel Entwhistle smile, he would likely have suggested they go to St. Mungo's for immediate brain damage attention, but here he was, wanting almost more than anything to see her relax and get her mind out of such a sad state.

"No problem," he responded, though a bit awkwardly when she thanked him. His words kept running over in his mind... 'so are you'. He'd called the girl he'd considered himself 'mortal' enemies with for the last six years amazing... it didn't feel natural, but at the same time it did, which was incredibly confusing in itself. When he'd said it it hadn't felt like a lie... but he'd spent six years observing that she was the most annoying, infuriating girl to walk the face of the earth. How could he think her amazing?

She didn't seem to want to look at him... was she annoyed with him? Had he tried too hard to cheer her up until he had reduced himself, despite the truce, to nothing more than an irritating bug under her gaze? Probably. Or maybe she just didn't trust herself to look at him without becoming upset and releasing a torrent of tears again. He knew how it was... when you were upset somehow ignoring people around you made it easier to ignore the issue of whatever it was that was upsetting you. It was an old trick to him whenever he became even angry. "Life's not fair," he responded with a small sigh, thinking of his own scenarios though he'd already observed they weren't nearly as bad as Raychel's.

Finally she looked at him, nodding, and Jaycen found himself relieved to see that there was no immediate flash of anger or annoyance in her eyes as though he were just a bother. Nor did herhands move to her wand to grab it and hex him before he could say a word to defend himself. Despite his interference and awkward attempts at comforting, he appeared to be safe. Raychel even confirmed that she would try as he said, to leave memories on her birthday untainted by her sister's absence, which was a very good thing in Jaycen's opinion. He was a firm believer that birthdays should be celebrated, not left in the dust and forgotten for anything. "Go to Hogsmeade," he encouraged, "or anywhere, really. Just enjoy yourself."

She was smiling again, and Jayce had to answer it with one of his own. This conversation seemed as unlikely as a UFO crashing through the stained glass window near the tub and landing in the middle of the bubbly water, and yet it was happening. This went beyond a civil truce like conversation. This was intimate. Details he doubted she'd shared to many people, if any at all, and a moment later Raychel confirmed that not even her best friend had the information Jaycen now did. How could a simple truce bring about such familiarity? "You don't need to thank me," he assured her, shaking his head slightly. "We all need someone to talk to sometimes... I'm glad I could help." Was now when he was supposed to stay true to the 'cheesy, typical-things-to-say' Jayce that he'd been a moment before and assure her that if she needed someone to talk to, he'd be there? He wouldn't. He couldn't. Tomorrow they'd probably go back to practically ignoring each other in classes or in the halls, only not biting each other's heads off because of the truce... tonight was probably a one-of-a-kind night.

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

[atrb=style,background-image: url('http://www.desktopwallpaperhd.com/wallpapers/27/23276.jpg');,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][cs=2] if i leave my heart with you tonight promise me that you're gonna treat it right.

Never in her wildest dreams did she think she'd ever be grateful to the one she constantly fought with, but she was. He had been there and had listened without any sign of disrespect or judgement. Heck he even complimented her, which on any normal day would not have likely happened. Maybe there was something in this water that made them act like they were, maybe Professor Shacklebolt had charmed it to make people act nicer to one another. Indeed life was not fair, but neither was death, especially if one came back as a ghost. She didn’t think she'd like that, floating around, never really moving on, never resting in peace. No if she died, she'd want to stay dead, not come back as a ghost. Go to Hogsmeade for her birthday? Well there wasn’t much at the village to celebrate a big birthday. Sure the Three Broomsticks was a good place, but there wasn’t much else to do. Especially in the winter time. Where else could one hold a party in the wizarding world? Maybe she could use the room of requirement, that was always a good back up plan. Enjoy herself, and this was coming from the one guy that didn’t want her to enjoy herself in the past. Well now what a big turnaround this was. Well both of them really. She concluded that their behaviour had something to do with this room, that they'd walk out of the bathroom and carry on with their truce, no conversations of this sort, just a hi, bye in the corridors and not trying to kill each other. Of course she did, she was trying to be polite. She opened her mouth before closing it, thinking better than to argue with him. She had thanked him, whether or not he accepted it was out of her hands. Yes, everyone needed someone to talk to, she was just curious as to why she turned to him and not one of her friends. Perhaps people needed someone that wasn’t a friend to talk to. Either way it had done them good, it had shown them that they could talk and be civil to one another without sarcasm or any snide remarks. "Still I’m grateful, you have no idea how much talking to you has helped," she replied. She would have gone as far as saying that she owed him, but perhaps that was going just a little bit too far. One step at a time she thought. Perhaps she should get out and leave him to his own. It would nice to leave his presence without being frustrated or angry for once. Only problem was, she didn’t want to stand up and bare all to him. LISTEN UP! THIS POST IS FOR JAYCEN. IT HAS 455 WORDS. BY THE WAY, N/A. OH, AND THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY DUCK DUCK'S NOT A GOOSE AT CAUTION 2.0. DON'T STEAL. IT'S DOUCHEY.

[/COLOR][/div][/center][/td][/tr]
[/table]
[/center]

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

With the end of the talking came the silence, and with the silence came the awkwardness… when he first came into the bathroom Jayce might have preferred said silence to her actually speaking to him, sure that anything from her mouth would be nagging ‘better than you’ talk, but that hadn’t been the case and now that they’d actually had a pleasant conversation it felt like it should be continued, or at the very least ended completely without the uneasy silence of nothing to say. Was it because he enjoyed talking to her? The silence felt weird because he wanted to say more? Nuh-uh, he was not going to do the whole psychoanalysis thing on himself again… that would only succeed in driving himself nuts, and this year he had enough things in his life chasing him up the walls to insanity.

Birthdays, to Jayce, weren’t a huge huge deal. For his seventeenth he’d gone out to Hogsmeade and had a few drinks with pals, but that was about it. He wasn’t into the whole crazy party scene, and would much rather spend an important day with a few close friends than a whole house full of rowdy teenagers looking for an excuse to get drunk and mess around with each other. Not that he was opposed to a party once in a while… he just didn’t need a huge one to make his birthday complete.

"Still I’m grateful, you have no idea how much talking to you has helped," He smiled gently, warmly even, at her with a small shrug. He was glad that he could help her out, which was a miracle in itself, but didn’t really know how to reply. It wasn’t as though he could say ‘you’d do the same for me’ or anything seeing as they kind of had an extreme hate relationship before today and he doubted there would ever be a scenario when he would go to Raychel as someone to talk to. “No problem. Maybe you can take a patrol shift for me someday, or something,” he teased, not entirely serious. Well, not really serious at all, but he felt he needed to say something and that had been the first thing to come to mind.

He’d already been in the bath for quite a while, and Raychel had been here even before him… she was probably tired of sitting in the water, and with their conversation seemingly drawing to a close there was no reason for her to stick around but perhaps modesty and uncomfortableness. “If you want to get out, I won’t look. I swear,” he promised, already prepared to avert his eyes the other way and close his eyes the moment she made to move out of the water.

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

[atrb=style,background-image: url('http://www.desktopwallpaperhd.com/wallpapers/27/23276.jpg');,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][cs=2] if i leave my heart with you tonight promise me that you're gonna treat it right.

She nodded. She could do that, take on an extra patrol shift. It would be the least she could do for him after he sat listening to her. She was surprised that he didn’t try and shut her up or ignore her, instead he had listened. Maybe her views of the head boy were wrong, maybe he was a decent guy after all. Maybe that day on the train, she had caught him in a bad mood. There were too many maybes running around through her head. Had he been reading her mind...that was a stupid thought, since when did Jaycen know Legilimency, ha. Perhaps she had the look on her face saying she wanted to get out, yeah she'd go with that. A 'I wanna get out now' look on her red puffy face. She knew that crying always made her look unattractive, just like it did to many other girls, not that she particularly cared about beauty much. "Ok," she replied, reaching over to grab her towel. Damn it she couldn’t grab it. Stretching her fingers she felt the material at her fingertips. She didn’t want to stand up without the towel and expose herself more than she had to. She took a deep breath and stretched out just a little more, this time securing the towel in her hands. Ha success, she thought as she stood up, whilst at the same time wrapping the towel around her. Getting out of the bath, she grabbed a second towel and towel dried her hair before getting dressed with the towel still over her. Only when she was somewhat decent, she took the towel away and finished getting dressed, wrapping her Ravenclaw robe around her for warmth. This was it she thought. When she walked out of the room, would the go back to how they used to be or would the truce hold. "Good luck in the tasks," she said, gathering her damp hair and tying it up before picking her things and heading towards the door. LISTEN UP! THIS POST IS FOR JAYCEN. IT HAS 338 WORDS. BY THE WAY, SORRY ITS SHORT. OH, AND THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY DUCK DUCK'S NOT A GOOSE AT CAUTION 2.0. DON'T STEAL. IT'S DOUCHEY.

[/COLOR][/div][/center][/td][/tr]
[/table]
[/center]