some study time [open]

[DOMINIQUE RHOSLYN WEASLEY]

The day had turned out to be quite nice actually and due to this Mini decided to spend her free time outside, studying of course. Mini wasn't one to ever leave her studying and homework until the last minute. At the moment she was sitting at one of the benches alone doing some work that had just been assigned today in her potions class. She like to start off her homework with potions because it was one of her least favorite subjects. She figured that if she got it done and out of the way first that she would be able to focus more completely on the subjects that she really enjoyed. At the moment her face was buried in her potions book, quill in hand and paper right next to her as she tried to finish up the assignment.

Starting to get a little frustrated she decided to take a moment to just take a break and breathe. She set her quill down and pushed a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear. She then pushed her glass back up onto the bridge of her nose. She was the only one in her family that had to wear the stupid things and though they didn't always bother her she didn't like having to have them on her all the time. It was evident that she was related to Victoire and Louis, the siblings all looked more like their mother than their father, none of them had taken on the Weasley red hair. Fleur claimed that this was because their veela blood was so dominant despite them only possessing one eighth of it.

Mini watched as students passed through the courtyard, some going to classes and some heading down to the lake and other places to relax. Mini rubbed her temples for a moment and then went back to her paper. Mini had friends that she could be hanging out with but she was just one of those girls that would rather get all of her work out of the way and then have her fun time. Grades and school was very important to her and most of her friends recognized that and knew to let her be when she was working. It would only be a matter of time before she would be finished and ready to hang out anyway. With her face and thoughts buried back in her book and papers she pretty much completely blocked out the rest of the world around her, oblivious to the happenings and people for now.

ATTIRE Gryffindor Uniform CREDIT sam ! of Confronting the Faceless. LYRICS Far Away – Nickleback (: NOTES First post :] 425 words.

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[JAMES SIRIUS POTTER]

James really had nothing better to do today and he brushed his dark brown hair back out of his way. Just enjoying the afternoon breeze that seemed to go through his hair and just blow it back in place causing him to get extremely annoyed no matter what he did. Why he was outside in this cold weather he rarely ever thought about it, but right now there was nothing much else on his mind aside from the fact he had heard rumors about his relative working around here. It wasn't unusual to run into any of his relatives these days since they seemed to litter the entire school, in almost every house you would spot a Weasley or Potter. Only one had made it into Slytherin though out of all their relatives, but he wasn't honestly going to complain about being placed anywhere.

Funny enough, James knew he was in the wrong about many things, but it would take a lot to get his ego out of his ass at times. Right now was no different as he had on a lovely gray jacket with a navy blue shirt underneath along with the jumper he had gotten from his grandparents. They were still alive, but that didn't make him any more of a target than others. Even right now as much as he wanted to just talk with many of the girls he passed, it wasn't really worth his time and Isabella had definitely made him consider a different strategy completely to actually getting with them. Whatever he had done to her had left an impression on him, but at the same time he no longer cared about that.

Catching sight of Dominique not too far off, he supposed he was in for an earful if she saw him crossing the court yard towards her. Right now, he could have hoped for something else, but he was bound to at least get what he had came for. Already being chewed out by other family relatives wasn't enough, but right now he had his whole sibling feud to deal with. Whatever, he was done with it, and if they wanted to dislike him all they wanted. There were others he could easily befriend and keep them close to him. Mainly Aubrey just cause she was like a little sister to him and he didn't want anyone messing with her at all. In fact, he seriously still wanted to know why Aubrey wanted to learn to be an Animagus aside from the other fact she just wanted to impress someone. Now he approached Mini and just said, "Hi Mini, how are you?" he asked her calmly as if nothing was wrong.

Oh loads of things were wrong, but he wasn't going to let them bother him anymore.

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[DOMINIQUE RHOSLYN WEASLEY]

It wasn't too long after she went back to her paper that a shadow fell across her book and paper. Finishing up her sentence she then looked up to see if it was at least someone she knew, hoping it was someone she wouldn't mind seeing. She sighed a little sigh of relief as she saw that it was none other than her older cousin, James. Upon seeing him she thought about all the rumors and things she had been hearing about involving James and his brother Albus. Sure she had an opinion on the matter but seeing James and knowing that he had been being pestered for days by all the rest of their extensive family she decided to keep her opinion to herself for now at least. She knew how annoying it could be to constantly hear the same thing over and over by different people and figured he already knew his opinion on the subject and that was all that mattered.

Hey James!" she replied brightly pulling her glasses off her face. She only wore the glasses to read and write, if she tried to look at anything else that wasn't written text or something like that then it was blurry. "I am swell, would be even better if this stupid potion essay was so darn complicated" she replied with a laugh and set the quill down before moving her book to clear a spot on the bench in case he wanted to sit down. "How about you? Things going any better?" she asked wondering if he had been having an easier time dealing with the family. She knew that they could be a little overbearing and overwhelming.

If James wanted to not talk about his life right now she was fine with that. She knew that if she didn't want to talk about something she wouldn't want people bothering her about it. There were some days when she didn't even talk to Lor and he was her absolute best friend so she could understand if James was tired of people prying at him for answers that he probably didn't even know himself. "Wanna have a seat? Or were you headed somewhere?" she asked hoping that by talking to him that she wasn't keeping him from something more important that he had been on his way to do.

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[JAMES SIRIUS POTTER]

James wasn't sure if he should talk to her about anything at all, but perhaps his cousin was going to let him relax a bit. Yes, he was tired of people accusing him of how wrong he was for attacking his own brother, but he had his reasons for doing it. Figuring that it definitely wasn't Albus, but he knew that he wouldn't forgive him anytime soon at all. Surely, his ego was going to bring him a lot more pain in the future, yet he really didn't know how as he stroked his cheek where Isabella had struck it just the other day at the masquerade ball. If that hadn't been so tiring he would be able to just go about his business as usual and keep the usual kick he has to his step so that he wasn't going to let her know what was bothering him.

Just keeping his hands in his pockets as he heard her talking to him and he didn't even know how to respond to her in the first place. Finally looking up to meet her eyes he started to notice something odd about her homework, and when did she decide to start wearing glasses. That was a little too new to him but he doubted she had her reasons for it. Shrugging that thought aside for now as he addressed the papers strewn about her as she was attempting to study or some such non-such. "Ah not much really Mini, just the usual, tormenting Slytherins with how dull they are, but whatever. I'm guessing that you have had more luck with your homework than I have. Although mine's not relatively hard compared to last year it almost seems like. Although I could just be exaggerating, but still, I don't torment other Slytherins anymore. So anyone worth pulling a prank on?" he asked her.

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[DOMINIQUE RHOSLYN WEASLEY]

Mini wished she could say she was surprised that James had been tormenting Slytherins as always, but she wasn't. James was his fathers son and didn't like the Slytherin house or its students very much. It wasn't really an odd feeling for most people, many students from the other houses didn't like the Slytherins so it wasn't something that James was alone in. Mini personally didn't really have any problems no matter who they were unless they gave her a reason to not like them. House, gender, age, ethnicity or whatever else didn't really matter to her.

"Have you fallen behind on your classwork? Better make sure you graduate" she replied with a joking smile. She knew he would graduate, again he was his fathers son. Harry had never been much into school or homework and to think about it neither had Ginny from what she had heard. Of course Ginny had been a good student but not crazy about the work itself really. James seemed to be the same way, more interested in school because of the people there and things to do as opposed to the learning and the lessons. Mini was the opposite, she was pretty absorbed in the work itself and loved to learn, but she knew not everyone was like that and she didn't expect everyone to be.

"You could always get in a pranking war with Lorcan. He is quite the prankster and might give you a run for your money in that department at least. Darn boy is always doing something or another that is generally bad news for at least one person" she replied with a laugh. She hadn't seen Lorcan in a couple days and was lonely without her best friend. But lately she had tried hard not to think about him because when she did she tended to think past their friendship into what she hoped it would be, into what it would never be most likely. Mini and Lorcan were complete opposites in most ways, but somehow they got along like two peas in a pod and always had. "You should probably try to stay out of trouble for at least a little while though" she replied with a laugh. Out of the Potter and Weasley families, James was probably the most well known along with Albus.

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[JAMES SIRIUS POTTER]

"I'll have to figure that all out later after the events at the Masquerade ball, I mean, it's up all over the place now, and definitely not gonna live that one down. Although, what I do is live life and enjoy it as much as I can, Mini. Nothing more, nothing less, and gives what it gives me. Yes, studying, well, I could, but no, I'm fine without it I can easily pick up on things. Defense against the dark arts is my favorite class, and really the only one I should even bother sitting in. Although Potions is sort of fun too considering we do have quite the teachers here, just kidding, I wouldn't go for older people anyways, plus teacher and student relations are off limits. Just a little too weird for my tastes, bleh, might have to make it up to this girl in some way for acting like a complete jerk towards her," he said, rubbing the back of his head.

Obviously he was referring to the whole Isabella incident when he had been paired up with her at the Yule ball, and was glad it wasn't anyone else like Lorana. Otherwise he would have been in grave trouble or would have rekindled feelings with her for doing something that would have made them stay together in the long run. James was incredibly tempted to just walk out and say have a good day to her by the time the event was over. Now as he looked at Dominique for a change, and smirked softly at her running a hand through his own hair in exasperation from all the events for a change. The task was surely diminishing on his soul and he really just wished this whole thing would blow over soon. Hell, the year wasn't even finished yet and here they were already starting to get the second task underway soon. December could roll around the corner any minute now and the colder air was certainly welcome compared to the hot, humid days.

James preferred winter, just so he could throw snowballs at obnoxious people trying to get their way with some other person outside, and thinking they could do whatever they wanted. Those people James enjoyed bringing down a notch or two and soon was thinking about how great that would be this year. After all, he had to do something that would go out with a big bang like the failed champion prank that no one seemed even remotely intrigued in sadly. Oh well, plans always got ruined, "I can easily graduate, I'm more worried about what would happen if something held me back, but I have a feeling this year is going to be...more interesting than usual, I mean after what happened to Hugo, I think it's time I pay more attention to the marauder's map to find out what's going on," he said softly to her. Knowing that it hit a soft spot, but he wasn't going to mention or bring up Albus's name at all when he had gone to see Hugo.

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[DOMINIQUE RHOSLYN WEASLEY]

If she hadn't grown up with James she probably would have gotten lost during the span of their conversation at least five times. He tended to jump from topic to topic without much warning and sometimes it was rather hard to keep up with where exactly he was in the conversation. All in one breath of air, or so it seemed, he covered the topics of life, school, homework, studying and even girls. It was pretty crazy how he could do that, but Mini followed him rather easily because she was used to it. But because the statement had been so dense she had to think a moment before responding, especially cause she tended to discuss one topic at a time.

"Good philosophy on life" she replied with a smile and then thought on what subject she should discuss next, choosing the easier of the two which was school. "Of course you will catch up and graduate, I was only kidding. You have a knack for getting things done last minute, I could never do that. Would stress me out to no end. But then again you know me, always worried about something or another" she replied with a laugh. She really was a worry wart about most things, tending to stress herself out or be at the very least anxious. "As for the whole girl issue thing, can't really give any advice or insight in that situation. Me and dating are pretty much obsolete" she added with a shrug. She really couldn't help him out in that aspect, not that he needed nor asked for the help. She just liked to try and help if she could at least.

"There are some bad and mysterious things going on at school, that is no secret or lie. Everyone knows about the it, just not everyone talks about it. I don't think that anyone from our own family was responsible for what happened to Hugo but I am not here to lecture you on that. I belief what I belief and you are entitled to your belief as well. But I do think something fishy is going on and I think that all of us Potters and Weasleys as well as the halfblood and muggleborns should really start watching our backs. Never know who it could be next, only time will tell who the real targets are. Plenty of people hate us, it could have been anyone" she replied, she was serious. She didn't agree with blaming Albus but she did think there was someone to blame, just no one knew who it was yet. It would only be a matter of time before they would find out though.

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[JAMES SIRIUS POTTER]

James was reconsidering telling Mini any of this since he trusted her to keep it quiet from other certain prying family members whose noses could get too dirty by what they were rubbing it into. In fact, it was all of the Weasleys and Potters natures to just basically go with whatever their gut instinct was and the messes they got into were just their own problems they'd have to deal with. Funny, James knew that he would be at Hogwarts, but not trying to impress anyone by figuring out who would be so bold as to take on a fifth year then break his arm. It was rather tragic how it had happened, but as he was listening to Mini, his mind kept reeling in these thoughts hoping everything would just go away. Yes, this was scary to him, but he was going to get through it like always.

Chuckling when she said that, he supposed it was true, and had no trouble talking about multiple things at once. As random as his conversations were it was only due to the fact he hated running out of stuff to talk about in the first place. Nothing was more awkward than not having anything to talk about when you first start a conversation in the first place. Now all he had to do was actually get away with finding out who the real culprit was and had his eyes set on one particular Slytherin that stood out. At least he had heard from Hugo Jacob Warrington was the bully that picked on almost everyone, but he shook his head. That Romulus character seemed just as bad, and probably had more of an edge since Jacob did get beaten by Lyra.

Good news to him, honestly, but Lyra had ended up in the hospital wing too leaving him flabbergasted that she had been dating a fifth year. Okay, he needed to get his thoughts into order as he responded to Dominique with a simple reply for a change instead of trying to create some mass blog about his own life within his thoughts, "Well, yeah, I know, I honestly just wanted to make sure that he was not part of this scheme at all, and I'm happy knowing that he's not. Although, I can't say much more other than that," he said to her calmly, smiling softly.

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[DOMINIQUE RHOSLYN WEASLEY]

Mini nodded in understanding. Everyone was happy that Albus had come up clear on the whole Hugo issue. She was sure that more people that just James suspected Albus and that many probably still did. Being a slytherin gave him a bad name that was hard to live down and despite being a Potter Albus had dealt with more than his fair share of stereotyping. Mini wasn't as close to Albus as she was with some of her other family members but he was family and that was enough for her. She didn't like to think that anyone in her family would ever be capable of causing harm to another member of their very own family. "We are all relieved, just not all of us will admit that we were thinking the same thing you were" she added, guessing that other members of the family just didn't speak up like James did or had. It wasn't something Mini would fault him for though.

Not really wanting to continue on with the depressing topic of their current family issues she tried to think of something else to change the subject to. The Yule Ball was about the only thing that could come to mind and so she decided to bring it up. "So you know who you are asking to the Yule Ball, not that you really want to think about it after the Masquerade but I figured I might as well ask" she replied with a small laugh. Her attempt at changing the subject to something happier wasn't exactly going as well as she had planned. It seemed like right now there were so many things going on in their lives between them all that anything you brought up would cause bad memories of one thing or another. Oh well.

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[JAMES SIRIUS POTTER]

James didn't think his thought process was wrong at all, but he always did stereotype Albus a lot just cause he liked to ridicule him quite a lot. Immensely amusing as it had bee, he needed to focus on his studies more and had more important things to do than focus on his nosy brother. There were a few events he wanted to look into, like when Hugo had actually defended himself against Jacob Warrington. James wasn't going to keep getting involved with his fights, but he was sure if Hugo kept it up Jacob would eventually just avoid him at every corner. Sadly that was exactly what James was afraid of and he needed to stop Hugo from driving Jacob into hiding just cause of a petty struggle that would end in his downfall again.

Finally just letting his mind reel in that awkward moment for a minute until she finally changed the subject to the ball and absently rubbed his cheek slightly. Isabella, of all the women he had to have as his partner, and having annoyed her hadn't really helped matters. Yes, the Yule ball was an entirely different story since he'd know who he was going with to begin with,and obviously he wasn't about to let anyone change his mind on who he was going with. Obviously it was a Slytherin which was kind of stereotypical of what he had done to Albus in the long run, but at least she was incredibly desirable. Not only that, a drink or two had something to do with this. At least he couldn't tell who she was when she had been drinking so much, but he had somehow asked her to the yule ball.

"Well, I don't like to brag, but I asked out Natalia from Slytherin, I think she's a sixth year or something...I know it's kind of unusual for me to do that, but it's not really out of the ordinary anymore, and please don't call me a hypocrite that's the last thing I need...she's also too nice for anything evil to occur," he added quickly chuckling softly as he looked at her and then spoke again. "What about you?" he asked her calmly.

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[DOMINIQUE RHOSLYN WEASLEY]

Mini couldn't help but laugh a little when James boasted about asking out Natalia Hamilton. Mini knew enough about the Hamilton's to form her own opinion about them and from what she had heard she wasn't too fond of them, mainly the younger one. Gabrielle Hamilton had quite the reputation and wasn't exactly the nicest person to be around so Mini didn't fancy spending her time around or even near the Slytherin girl. "Well I guess we can just hope that Natalia doesn't have the same reputation and attitude that her younger sister, Gabrielle, seems to have" she replied with a small smile. She didn't want to make fun of James's date but the Hamilton's were not someone she would associate with given the choice.

Me? I am not going with anyone. I didn't get asked and don't plan on asking anyone" she replied with a shrug. The only person she wanted to go with was someone she would never ask because they were just friends, at least in his and everyone else's opinions. It wasn't that much fun having to go to the ball alone but she would deal. It wouldn't be terrible and at least she would look pretty regardless. She liked the excuse to dress up and had decided that going stag wouldn't be the worst idea. Besides maybe she would dance with someone at the actual dance or something. She was sure more than just herself was going alone and generally people in the same boat tended to stray towards each other for company. She wasn't worried.

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[JAMES SIRIUS POTTER]

Funny, James knew he had everything in line, but he had never thought to consider getting dates for his family just cause his tastes were mainly different from everyone else. Mini's attitude seemed to him to be rather odd, but he shrugged his shoulders at her for a moment. Not caring whether or not she had a bad attitude towards certain things, but at least he knew Natalia loved the way he acted like a gentleman around her. James was just curious what would happen if he did tick her off and would have to deal with her 'little' sister Gabrielle. James wasn't scared of much and if she dared to try to put her foot down he would have a different say over it. It was easy to overcome anyone below a sixth year since he did have the advantage with experience.

Well, that wasn't supposed to be his train of thought right now, and the other Slytherin's that James had heard of weren't so bad compared to that Jacob Warrington. Now that was one scary guy as well as the hufflepuff known as Romulus. Rumors about him were now flooding the school with fear that they were both working together, but James had a gut feeling they weren't. There were too many other people that were likely candidates to start terrorizing students, but he kept his thoughts positive while with Mini. Not wanting to drag her into his negative attitude as he smiled warmly. "Well, yes we all can't be perfect I'm afraid, and you'd be surprised. There are some nicer Slytherin's out there than you'd imagine that actually know how to party at least without being a party pooper," he said to her smirking.

Yes, James was the party animal of the family it seemed, and liked most of the attention being on him just like his grand-father. Sure, his arrogant attitude might get him killed at some point, but he would need to take someone down a few notches just to get them off of his own back. "Anyways, you think you'll at least be home for Christmas?" he asked calmly and realized that it was now this month. Everyone might be heading home for the holidays and James wasn't really sure he wanted to see his brother more than he had to. James would rather stay at the school or hang out with Frank at his place.

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[DOMINIQUE RHOSLYN WEASLEY]

Mini simply shrugged her shoulders when he mentioned that there were some rather cool Slytherins that knew how to party without ruining it all. She knew that in her own case she wasn't the partier, she was the party pooper type that he had mentioned. Not that it even bothered her, she had never even attended a party and didn't have any desire to do so. It wasn't in her personality to enjoy those things like James and so many others did. But it wasn't like it was odd, lots of others were just like her including some of the others in her family. "Well not everyone can love parties, if that were the case the parties would too big to contain" she replied with a light smile. She knew he wasn't trying to attack her or anything, he knew exactly how she felt about going to parties. It was no secret that in her family she was very much the studious, nose in the books, type of girl and no one seemed to object generally.

When he brought up Christmas she had to think for a moment, it was occurring to her that it was indeed December already. "Wow, Christmas really snuck up on me this year" she replied with a laugh. She needed to get on her Christmas shopping otherwise she would never finish in time, not with all the family members she had anyways. "I am always home for the holidays" she replied to answer his question. While she did miss some people at school when she went home she missed her family more so in turn she was home every holiday she could be. "How about you?" she asked wondering what his plans would be.

James had way more friends at school than she did and a lot of people that he would probably wish he was hanging out with during the holidays instead of his boring old family. Mini was lucky because her best friend was practically part of their family anyway so he was always there during the get-to-gethers that her family routinely held. Christmas and most other holidays were usually a Potter, Weasley, Scamander event with some other random people from other families thrown in at times as well. Anything involving her family was never small.

[JAMES SIRIUS POTTER]

James was just satisfied hearing Mini's answer and didn't really think much of it since he was preoccupied with other thoughts just then at the time of her answering him. "Say wha-Oh yeah for sure, I understand that completely, and it 's hard to come home when most of my friends stay here. I honestly think that me and Frank would have a lot more time setting up pranks for all the other students that remain here especially some Slytherins. Although there are some prudish Ravenclaws that deserve it and even some Gryffindors within our own house," he said to her. Grinning softly as he was mulling this over in his head at how devious it sounded. Although he had more entertaining things to do with his family, but he knew that they would all be spending Christmas together or something along those lines.

It almost seemed to James that he spent too much time with his family even at school since they were basically everywhere, and was related to almost every house at the time. Wasn't odd at all to see a Weasley in either of the houses, but he had to keep his mind focused on where he was at even with all these cousins. Hugo Weasley had surely been a mistake he planned to fix soon and wanted to keep himself rather preoccupied with school work to take his mind off of it. A deep part of James wanted to actually investigate whey Hugo had bothered to attack Jacob Warrington in the first place.

Such matters no longer concerned him. Finally hearing her say this he soon just turned his attention shrugging his shoulders gently as if he didn't have much more to say. It was almost time for him to head off to class since he had nothing better to do anymore, and even as much as he enjoyed chatting with his cousin there really wasn't much he could talk to her about at the moment. "Afraid I need to get going cause I might be late for my next class, but see you around Dominique, pleasure talking with you again, need to do it more often if you're not hanging out with your friends anytime soon," he said as he ran off in the opposite direction not waiting for her to say goodbye since he obviously had an agenda to stick to.

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