Welcome!

[Emaline Acker]

It was sleeting again, Emaline realized as she heard some noise beside her head, something was hitting the window. She looked up from the book she had been reading and affirmed her observation upon seeing the mixture of snow and water streaming down the windowpane and then looked out at it, wistfully. Wet days let everyone mope around and be depressed without having a real excuse because one could just say that the weather depressed them. Emay, however, felt better when it rained. What could she say? She loved weather that most people hated. There’s nothing wrong with being different, Emay thought as she stared at the drops dancing upon the glass.

The girl was bundled up in a navy sweater and a pair of jeans, muggle clothes which she preferred to wizarding ones and a pair of lambskin boots. What could she say? She was a creature who preferred her comfort! Especially on such a chilly day. Sure, she liked the weather outside. But she didn't want to have to feel the weather or the chill that accompanied it. She loved being toasty warm. Who didn't? One of her favorite pastimes was soaking in a warm bath, although she hardly ever had the chance to do so at Hogwarts. Hogwarts for Emaline generally was work, watching over everyone who she loved, and occasionally taking a break to hang out with her friends. Emay Acker was by no means a workaholic. She just didn't feel like getting horrible grades in each of her subjects, subjects which she had studied so hard in order to pass the O.W.L.S so that she could take these classes this year. Some of them she probably should have dropped out of boredom, such as Divination, but whatever. It entertained her sometimes to see how idiotic and fake that class was.

Anyway… At the moment she wasn’t really doing any work. She was just sitting in the library, reading over some letters, which she had recently acquired from her anonymous source. It scared her how into the missives she had become. She looked forward to them daily and when the replies took a longer time than usual, Emaline tended to become a bit depressed. Emaline read the latest one and smiled softly. Perhaps she truly preferred the uncomplicated relationship between two people on paper rather than face-to-face. At least then one was able to cross out mistakes rather than have to go through those awkward moments when one person tried to make an excuse for a slip up. And even when she did say something inappropriate or idiotic, she didn’t have to see this person’s reaction and he seemed too kind to hurt her feelings intentionally. He was a bit blunt, yes, but altogether he was a kind person. And she loved kindness.

Kindness… One person who most definitely did not have this trait was the bane of her existence, Beowulf Malloren. He didn’t even know the meaning of kindness! He thought that everyone in the world was there to worship him and when someone refused to do as he wished, he refused to take a step back. Instead, he managed to irritate them even more than he had before! Why in the world was she thinking of him when she had her Unknown on her mind? To try and rid her mind of unpleasant thoughts concerning a certain seventh year Gryffindor, Emaline took out a quill and a piece of parchment and started to write a missive in response to the one she had received several hours before.

She was thoroughly absorbed in her writing and it seemed as if nothing in the world could distract her. And then there was a bang and she glanced up, wondering what in the world was going on in the almost eternally quiet library.

((Sorry that it’s so bad.))

[Beowulf Malloren]

Beowulf sighed and shook his head, the snow falling from his chocolate brown hair and dripping in wet mounds onto the floor. He looked around and crossed his arms, attempting to keep some of the warmth from his dark gray leather jacket that was hung around a black and blood red hoodie, appropriately branded with a Nightmare Before Christmas logo and the head of Jack, the Pumpkin King on the back. He trekked across the snow covered ground and into the Great Hall. He sighed and ran up the stairs, for once not in the mood to run into any of his admirers looking to warm themselves up on this frosty day. He marched into the common room, humming 'This is Halloween', one of the songs from Nightmare Before Christmas, in his head. He looked around and dropped down into one of the armchairs, putting his feet up next to the fire. And closed his eyes.

Bey awoke to the sound of giggling and laughing. He peeked one eye cautiously open and found a group of fifth year girls across the room laughing and pointing at him. And other time, this would have thrilled him and he even might have flirted back, just to keep himself occupied in his time of boredom. But this time, all that was on his mind were the letters that he and Emay had been using to talk. Of course, she had no idea it was him, so it was probably for the best that they hadn't actually exchanged names, ever. He looked around and then groaned, dropping his head back on the chair, causing his disheveled hair to fly and then land in his eyes. He then proceeded to roll his green-gray irises and pulled his wand out from the hoodie pocket.

Standing and exiting the common room, he went to a hall he knew no one would be on and conjured up the letters from the bottom of his trunk. He knew that it would be such a scandal, the school heart breaker falling for the one girl who refuses to give him the time of day, but he (sorrowfully and angrily) knew that it would happen eventually. Luckily for him, Teddy and Lucien were out being loving couples with their girls. Beowulf did a quick flip to shake his hair form his eyes and then glanced down at the letters. Deciding the hallway wasn't a private enough place, he rolled them up and stuffed them into his jacket pocket.

Beowulf crossed the castle as quickly as possible, glad that his vintage black Chuck Taylor All Stars^© didn't squeak on the ground. He stopped outside the library and cuffed the bottom of his dark wash jeans and sighed, aware that he was entering a place he had only ever used to meet up with girls or escape them. He pushed open the doors and saw someone sitting in the far corner near the window. Looking around and glad that no one else was there, he dropped to a table near the 'Dragon History' shelves and pulled out the letters. He looked through them and couldn't help but grin at the sweetness that Emay was, when she didn't know it was him she was talking to. He pulled out a quill and tapped it against his chin and chewed the tip, trying to figure a way out of his head. He sighed and put his quill to paper, only to re-emerge twenty minutes late with a detailed sketch of how Emay looked when the sun hit her just right. He growled and his head slumped forward against the table, making a resounding thud that echoed through the quiet library.

[Emaline Acker]

She hadn't seen anyone enter the library, but then again, she had been pretty absorbed in her reading. And pondering. And irritating thoughts about a certain pompous jerk. Emaline glanced around the library and only spotted a single form, one sitting near the 'Dragon History'. Of course... It would have to be him who would ruin the peace and quiet of the Hogwarts library. Emay folded up the letters and put them back into the pocket of her bag where she had been keeping them, stoppered her ink, and put it along with her quill into the bag. And then she stood up from her seat and made her way slowly towards the direction of Beowulf Malloren.

Why did he have to ruin everything? Couldn't he ever just mind his own business? No... He had to create a tornado of tumult wherever he went, whenever he went somewhere. It wasn't enough that he infringed on her relationship with her friends (well, that was more Teddy and Lucien's bad choice of a friend...) but no... He had to be just about everywhere she was? Augh! How he frustrated her so!

The auburn-haired sixth year girl stood a few feet away from Bey, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes glaring daggers. "You know, you just have to cause some disaster everywhere you go, don't you?" she demanded as she took a step forward.

[Beowulf Malloren]

Beowulf sighed and then rolled his eyes, glancing down at the page before his orbs flickered up to the candles that lit up the library. He knew that this was a school of magic and all that jazz, but he failed to understand why they couldn't adopt the idea of electricity. After all, reading books by flickering candle made for poor eyesight. Not that he'd ever be caught dead reading a book. True, he did read, and not the books one might expect. but he had an image to uphold and a reputation to stick by. If he deviated, even a little bit, who knew what would happened. Especially to his sister. He knew that she could hold her own, but because he was who he was, she had never been in any real trouble. And if word got around that Beowulf Malloren read books, that weren't assigned, then who knew what would happen to her, and he refused to let it.

A sigh passed through his rosy lips and the greenish-gray orbs flickered slightly as he heard footsteps coming his way. They flashed in malice, ready to tell anyone off for disturbing him, until he glanced up and noticed the object of his torment and desires walking towards him. Emaline Acker. The girls of his dreams and nightmares. He sighed and the anger in his eyes dimmed down and he hurriedly shoved some blank parchment paper on top of his drawing, refusing to allow her to know how much he was truly enamored by her presence, how the mere thought of her could bring him elation no other could.

Bey knew that she didn't want to be near him and knew that she detested him so much. He truly didn't understand why. Sure he had picked on her and teased and humiliated her, but that was only after she gave him an earful. He thought he was being a gentleman, only to discover that maybe he really was raised around the wrong era. He looked up and brushed his hair out his eyes and sighed, rolling them and leaning back in his chair, arms crossed in a similar fashion to hers. "Perhaps. Or maybe you just happen to have a disastrous streak that only makes itself known when my presence lightens up the day." He knew that he was laying it on a little thick, but he just wanted to go back to thinking about the perfect relationship they had on paper, but then she had to show up and forced him to act like an ass.

[Emaline Acker]

Hazel eyes flashed with anger as the girl heard Bey's words. He was trying to claim that the disruption of the peace within the library was her fault? How in the world could he dare to pin it on her? It was most definitely not her fault! Augh... How he frustrated her! Now she had something else to add to her never ending list of his faults; not taking responsibility for his actions. Especially his rather idiotic ones that irritated her more than anything else. Couldn't he be like the average nice guy for just one moment in his entire life?

No... That was, of course, too much to ask from Beowulf Malloren. He didn't take credit for anything unless he was most definitely sure that it would only heighten his image in the eyes of others. Heaven forbid that he ever admit to fault. Or anything other than having met up with this and that girl. God, some day someone's just going to get so pissed off with him that he'll get hexed so badly no girl will want to look in his direction ever again. Which was a slight pity, in a way, for even though Emay did most ardently detest Bey, even she had to admit that he was a pretty good looking specimen of the male gender. Alright, he was damn hot. There, happy? She had admitted it. At least to her own thoughts. But those words would never, ever, pass through her lips.

Emaline's eyes narrowed and she ran her right hand through her auburn locks in frustration. "Oh! Don't you dare try and pin this one on me! I wasn't the one who was going and... What in the world were you doing , anyway?" She had figured that someone had dropped a book or two from a shelf but she knew for a fact that this human never picked up anything heavier than the sports section of the Daily Prophet.

[Beowulf Malloren]

Hair flicked back with a pale long hand as Beowulf rolled his greenish-gray orbs before casting them away from Emay's hazel ones. As mad as he knew she was at him, he couldn't help but smile a little, the corner of mouth turning slightly at the edges. It wasn't his fault that when she became angry, her cheeks flushed and the hungry huff of her voice and glint of her eyes made his eyes fog over slightly. But it was best not to think about that at the moment. He didn't want her to think something was going on, even though they had been corresponding for months now, and yet she still had no idea who he was. He had caught her a few times, when classes were being changed, looking around in hopes of seeing which one of Hogwarts boys might be her 'secret treasurer'. But he knew she would never figure it out.

Oh, it wasn't that he doubted her capabilities. It was just the simple facts. He knew how she saw him, as nothing more than a cheat or a scoundrel who tricks women into doing what he wants them to do. That wasn't the truth. He merely gave them what they told him they needed. But he knew she would never understand. After all, the true magnanimous nature and worshipper that the Giacomo Casanova was wasn't discovered until years after his untimely demise. He merely worshipped beauty, all kinds of it, the same as Beowulf did. But they would both forever be misunderstood by those who refuse to believe that good could come of their acts.

Beowulf's eyes glimmered slightly as she spoke, but then dimmed when he realized she only wished to scold him furthermore. At her words however, the rage that had made his father infamous to his lovers and business associates burned through his veins with a vengeance. "Sorry to disappoint, poppit. But what I do in my own time is clearly the business of my own and a select few individuals." Bey's brow furrowed here and then he blinked, as if shaking off a few distant memories. "Forgive me if I have disturbed you, but why don't you scamper back to your moping and leave the grown men to their business." He knew he was being excessively cruel, but no matter who they were, even Emay, he couldn't help but be a bastard when people made him mad. And it seemed as if that long fuse he had been known for his whole life was slowly shortening out.

[Emaline Acker]

The fire in her eyes was growing ever so slightly every little moment that she stood there. It was the fire that innately was within Emaline Acker, the passion that burned inside took its face in many forms; most often anger and a protective nature towards those whom she held dear. At the moment, it wasn't either of them, well at least not the modest anger and protectiveness which the auburn-haired girl was known for. No... This was the pure vehemence that only came to the surface because of a certain seventh year Gryffindor.

It had first appeared on Emay's first trip on the Hogwarts Express. She had always been independent, her upbringing had forced her to become self-sufficient at an early age when she had been thrust into the position of mother. And when she was confronted with some older students who were trying to bother her and then rescued by the second year form of Beowulf Malloren, she had been most definitely peeved. How dare he help her?? Had she asked for help? Of course not! Everything, however, had to deal with him in some how, at least according to his deranged mind. He couldn't have let her handle her situation on her own, no... Because had wanted to show his prowess. Well, ever since that day she had been making up for needing his help. She never asked for help and for the one time when she had needed it she would be making up for it by paying back the helper with scorn and disdain. It was the only way she could admit that she had been helped in some way; by making it his fault and not her own.

She would never admit that she was weak and needed someone to aid her some of the time. It was just like her position in Quidditch; the Seeker worked primarily alone. The Chasers and Keeper worked together and the Beaters were a pair. But the lone Seeker... Well, the Seeker didn't need any partners. She just needed someone to watch her back and make sure no bludgers hit her but she would never rely on someone else entirely. It wasn't in her nature. Just like it wasn't in her nature to forget about the past or to open up to people.

Emay let out a cry of anguish. "You know, Malloren, one day somebody's going to set you straight and teach you that the world isn't your private property and I really hope I'm there to see that!" Her time in the library was pretty much ruined with his presence so Emaline turned around and strode towards the library doors, her fury just about visible around her figure. In fact, she was trying to calm herself down by closing her eyes and counting backwards from ten. At least, she had her eyes closed until she walked straight into a bookcase and fell back down on the floor.

[Beowulf Malloren]

Beowulf could see the fire simmering behind the calm and composed facade that Emay had built up. The only time he had ever seen it crack was when he would do something to piss her off. But, he knew that the fire was always there, Just like the rage and anger that Beowulf had spent years tuning out was still pulsing through his veins. But this was one of the things he and Emay had in common, not that either would ever admit it. Granted, the anger she was showing him was one that the knew was completely saved for him. Secretly, he appreciated it and was even thrilled about it. As much as she swore that she couldn't stand to be in his near vicinity, the fact that she had a reserved flow of anger ready to erupt just for him showed him that he was special enough for her to pay attention to. He knew it wasn't the attention that he desired, but until he could fix it, it was the best he would probably get from her at the moment.

Bey knew that this anger against him had been stewing for six years now. It had started in his second year. In his mind, he had seen a girl who couldn't have been older than barely eleven being harassed by some Slytherins. He had told them to back off, for two reasons. The little girl had been trying to hold her own, but he knew firsthand the Slytherin cruelty and felt reminded of his sister, who began her attendance that year also. Having just seen her, he wanted to help the girl who reminded him of the fire he constantly saw burning in his sister. The second reason was that these particularly Slytherins had been bugging him for a year and he wanted to show them up. But then the girl had turned on him and he felt intrigued. And annoyed. All he had wanted to do was help her, remembering the promise he had made to sister to help all those who had needed it. But after being scolded by a little puny...kid, he stopped bothering and resigned to only helping those who asked for it. The nerve of her! To assume that he had been helping her for personal vendetta. True, it was personal, but it was hardly self-helping.

Over the years, Bey had learned that as much as she hated to admit it, Emay needed someone to protect her. Someone who could be there to help her out when the burden became to heavy to bear or just to be there to back her up when that big mouth of hers inevitably got her in trouble. But he also knew that she would never admit that she needed someone. So, as much as he wanted to be her big bad protector, he had to stand by and watch as year after year she gained herself more enemies. He doubted she knew that a few of those enemies had been persuaded to enjoy other activities because of him. But he knew he would never tell her, lest he receive another scolding about being 'an egotistical brat who thought the world bended to his will and looks'. He was scared about what would happened to her when he went away to work for the Ministry, and all those enemies she kept making attacked when her 'secret protector' wasn't there anymore to help her. Bey flicked his hair and sighed, wondering when she would drop the illusion and just admit that the world was too big for her to handle alone.

Bey's eyes had turned from their cold steel gray that they were when he was angered to the normal stormy greenish-gray that they normally were. He sighed as he listened to Emay's speech about him receiving his comeuppance. He lowered his head, his shaggy hair falling around his face as he murmured, "You, my dearest Emay, have no idea that this has already happened." He was referring to the one girl that had made him see that no matter how good-looking he may be, that was no replacing for a good honest personality. That was why he wrote to her, so she could get to know the real him before she judged him based on his looks. In his mind, he was a better-looking Cyrano, but still having the outward appearance of a dashing Casanova. Bey heard her walking away and looked up to see the anger and fury almost rolling off her in tangible waves. He sighed and lowered his eyes back to the parchment he had slipped back out. The one of her likeness, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't capture her radiance on mere paper. He heard a groan and a thud as a body fell to the floor. His head whipped up and he saw his beloved on the ground. Without even thinking about it, or slipping the parchment back under the cover of books, he ran over to her and gripped her arm, attempting to pull her up. The concern for her showed in his eyes as he searched her face, his features twisted in agony at the thought of her being harmed.

[Emaline Acker]

Rubbing her head from the pain, she had just walked into a bookcase, Emay just sat there for a moment, having to get a grip on her surroundings. And before she knew what was happening, She felt a shadow come over her and someone was leaning down to help her up. The girl gratefully accepted the help until she was back in a proper standing position and realized who had helped her up. Someone who she most definitely did not want help from. In fact, he was the number one person in Hogwarts whom she did not want help from. Hadn't they been through the whole 'I don't need your help' six years ago?

She quickly removed her hand from his grasp and caught a glimpse of his face. "What the hell's wrong with you?" she demanded, not processing properly what she was seeing. "If you didn't want to help me than you could have stayed in your seat. I'm a perfectly capable human being who most definitely didn't need your help." He looked like he was a little dying bird with that look of pain in his eyes! And she was most definitely not amicable towards his help so he need not have caused himself the pain of touching her.

She had not asked for his help. She never asked for anyone's help. And he was the only one whose help she would not accept for the little things. Why? Because he was such an egotistical maniac! He had to always pretend that he was helping people while at the same moment it really caused him to do so. Emaline, with her now pounding headache, had no desire to hear Beowulf's response so she promptly picked up her books and The Letter's which had fallen from her bag and placed them back within the object. And then she practically ran out of the library.